On February 17, Mazur Hall played host to romance author and comedian Betty Corrello for a lecture and reading from her 2025 novel, 32 Days in May. The event, coordinated by the Center for Humanities at Temple (CHAT), also featured a Q&A in which Corrello spoke with students about writing, finding inspiration and tackling heavier subjects in the romance genre.

32 Days in May tells the story of Nadia, whose life has been turned upside down by a recent lupus diagnosis, and Marco, a former sitcom actor (“He’s intermittently referred to as a D-list, a K-list and a P-list celebrity,” said Corrello) battling substance abuse issues. Over the course of their turbulent romance, which takes them from the Jersey Shore to Rome, Nadia struggles with keeping her health issues from Marco.

Corrello drew inspiration for the novel from an unlikely source: Sweet November, a fairly obscure 2001 romantic comedy that sees Charlize Theron’s Sara hide a terminal cancer diagnosis from Keanu Reeves’ Nelson, ending the relationship before her illness can alter his perception of her.

“The movie starts off goofy, and we’re all laughing about it because it’s silly, old and problematic, but by the end I was really upset by this idea,” explained Corrello. “This idea that a sick person doesn’t deserve to be loved in all her forms is not flipped around. There is no subversion. First of all, that’s a lie, and second of all, while I don’t like the message, it’s a really good plot—what if I rewrote it?”

A native Philadelphian who attended college all four years of college at the American Academy in Rome, Corrello noted that personal experience colored much of the novel’s geography. Additionally, living with an autoimmune disorder herself, it was important to Corrello to bring visibility and representation to Nadia’s illness and the emotions surrounding it. 

“I think I’m just really attracted to the idea of writing romance that pushes back on a slow, creeping cultural conservatism that says all sorts of things about who deserves love and who deserves to be center stage,” said Corrello. “So it feels really great to write not only characters that are chronically ill, but anything that pushes back against harmful ideas about love and who is and isn't attractive.”

Before closing, Corrello was also able to share details about her latest release, a “delicious and campy” paranormal romance titled My Italian Vampire. The new book, she says, is the product of her love for mythology and late-aughts vampire fiction. “If you haven’t seen True Blood, you should really watch it,” she told the students in attendance. “They really don’t make ‘em like that anymore.” 

For readers enamored by the novel’s setting, student ambassadors from Temple Rome were also on hand to speak about studying abroad at the university’s Italian satellite campus.  You can learn more about 32 Days in May and My Italian Vampire at Corrello’s web page or her Substack, Hello Corrello.