Sidney Ivens grew up in a suburb of Chicago, and forged a career in corporate communications. A former contributor to a popular Mom blog network, her articles appeared in the L.A. Times and in other magazines. She is a wife, mom of two grown sons and a dog owner.

What are your novels about?
Conflict, change and passion. There’s a dark edge too, because human nature can be dark. My novels can almost be seen as a throwback with a modern twist. The male leads are flawed and sardonic. At times, they can be vengeful, even cruel, but they’re always redeemable. My heroines are strong but they fight insecurities and can trip over themselves. They don’t have all the answers.

What do you mean, the romance reading audience
is divided between Darcys and Rhetts & Rochesters?
A healthy amount of women adore Jane Austen’s Darcy. To me, traditional publishing’s heavily favored the Darcy archetype for decades. Isn’t Joshua Templeman from Sally Thorne’s marvelous The Hating Game an updated Darcy? These novels often have a theme of female empowerment, too, and they feature a very engaging narrative voice.

Then there’s the romance reader who responds to the wry, more wicked men. The broken men. Men who don’t always comply with society’s niceties, even openly defy them. Heathcliff. Mr. Rochester. Rhett Butler. (An updated version is Harrison Ford’s Han Solo and Indiana Jones) While there are romance novels out there featuring the gruff, protective type, the man of few words, I write about the rascal, the rogue, the wisecracker a woman can’t entirely trust. I see glimpses of this guy in self-pubbed phenom books like Reasonable Doubt by Whitney G., and in the traditionally published 2013 smash hit by Emma Chase, Tangled. Author L. J. Shen features darker alphas, too.

What makes you different from other romance authors?
Glad you ask “different” as opposed to “better.” Can anyone really state with absolute authority that one romance author is better than another? No. For me, it’s akin to musical tastes. Some love the Rolling Stones. Others are Beyonce fans. Classical aficionados can’t even agree on Bach or Mozart. Like the wide variety of music that’s available, choosing to read a certain type of novel reflects one’s personal taste. Finally, it’s good for readers to know who you are versus who you aren’t, especially when you’re emerging as an author. For example, I’m not a Chapter 1 instant love connection kind. The relationships in my novels build intensely, but the leads don’t always meet in Chapter 1.

My leads share the billing, the heroes aren’t always the second bananas to the heroines. There’s a “love empowerment” theme, too, in that love makes both of the leads stronger. They’re better together.

Check out romance influences.

Explore the heroes & heroines section under THE SIZZLE.

Do these film scene snippets resonate with you?

Read excerpts from the novels.