Oh hey, it’s that time again!
Let’s talk about the bad news before we get into all the good stuff. If you haven’t yet heard, we’re not having Book Riot Live this year. The past two years have been awesome, and romance greats like Beverly Jenkins and Sarah MacLean have been known to be in attendance. So we’ll be sad not to have that kind of readerly fellowship, but it sounds like we’ll have some other kinds of Rioty awesomeness as we move forward.
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I can’t stop watching this video that Harlequin put out. The Cowboy one is out, too, but I can’t tear myself away from the original. Would you go out with a romance hero? I wouldn’t mind.
Over on Book Riot, we’ve got a giveaway of Alexa Riley’s His Alone, open until April 7. Go forth and enter!
I’ve been pretty good about including LGBTQ+ romance in Kissing Books, but if you’re still not sure where to start, here’s a post about some of the ins and outs. I probably could have written about it all night; but if I’d gone into the unfortunate truth that LGBTQ+ romances (much like romances by POC) are priced stupid high in comparison to their straight peers, or broken suggestions down into genres and heat levels, or contemplated the breakdown of straight woman authors vs. non-straight authors in the more popular publishing houses, we probably would have been there all night. Hmm. Guess there’s room for a part two…
Natalya Muncuff, who first wrote about her love for romance, occasionally enjoys romance without the HEA. Are you one of those people? I’ll admit, I’m very much not. Sure, I’ve bitterly read a couple romances hoping against hope that it would end without the couple getting together. But that was usually the authors’ fault, for making situations that shouldn’t have ended well, but they were obligated (by the genre, by a contract) to provide a HEA. But otherwise, when I go into a romance, I’m in it for the HEA. YMMV, though, and I’ve definitely seen more being either open ended or downright UEAs.
What are you reading, lovers?
I just finished Tiffany Reisz’s The Night Mark and I am obsessed. Have you read it? You should. It just came out last week, and neither the ebook nor the paperback are horribly priced.
Faye is a miserable woman stuck in a miserable marriage. Her first husband, Will, died too soon, and she’s spent the past few years married to his best friend. She finally calls it quits and moves to a small island off the coast of South Carolina, where a lighthouse calls to her, and to her camera. But what does she do when she gets pulled under the waves on the lighthouse’s beach only to be pulled out by a man who is the spitting image of her dead husband? And finds herself on that same island, only in 1921? Fall in love, of course.
I am a sucker for time travel romance, so if you’re looking for something to ease your Outlander itch and you’ve read all the classics like Knight in Shining Armor, Susanna Kearsley’s novels and the All Souls Trilogy (spoiler?), this one is for you.
And now I want to read All The Things about old lighthouses. And I can’t get “Brazzle Dazzle Day” out of my head (you’re welcome).
And of course, here are some books out this week and coming soon:
What Matters Most, Georgia Beers
Rescued by a Space Pirate, Nina Croft
Dutch, Madhuri Pavamani
Loose Cannon, Sidney Bell
Boss, Tracy Brown
A Fare to Remember, Opal Carew (points for movie pun!)
72 Hours, Bella Jewel
Buck Naked, Evangeline Anderson
Catch me on Twitter @jessisreading or Instagram @jess_is_reading, or send me an email at jessica@riotnewmedia.com if you’ve got feedback or just want to say hi!
Until next time, m’loves!