Credit: Hayley Fleming/Substack
Romance novels usually evoke terms like “spicy,” “steamy,” “cute” and “Is it bestiality if it’s not a real animal?” But rarely is the term “healing” tossed around, even for a booming genre.
But that’s the word author Hayley Fleming uses to describe writing her debut romance novel, “Thighs Wide Shut.” In an essay for People published last week, Fleming opened up about having vaginismus. The condition involves pelvic floor muscles surrounding the vagina involuntarily contracting, making penetration—whether for sex, managing periods, or pelvic exams—painful or impossible.
Fleming gave her main character, Emma, the same condition in “Thighs Wide Shut.” It’s a genuine, relatable tension in a genre saturated with tropes and escapism. The resulting book, as she describes it is “a love letter to anyone who’s ever felt their body is a barrier to their happiness.”
“In her worst moments, Emma believes she could never be a good partner because of her vaginismus,” Fleming writes for People. “My task was to show her outgrowing that misguided belief over the course of the story. In doing so, I reflected on the million and one different reasons that someone having vaginismus does not make them a bad partner—even when that someone is me.”
The Florida-raised author now lives in Washington, D.C., but she returns to the Sunshine State next month to discuss “Thighs Wide Shut” at St. Pete’s Tombolo Books with fellow Florida romance writer Alicia Thompson, bestselling author of “Love in the Time of Serial Killers,” “With Love, from Cold World,” “Never Been Shipped” and more.
This article appears in July 16 – 22, 2026.
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