Happy Monday, all! I don’t have anything clever to say, except I hope you have been enjoying the influx of new GIFfable Keanu Reeves content on Twitter as I have. I dunno. Let’s talk about stuff.
Sponsored by If It Makes You Happy by Claire Kann and Swoon Reads
Winnie is living her best fat girl life at her Granny’s diner, Goldeen’s, in the small town of Misty Haven. She’s poised for one last perfect summer twirling around the diner floor in her 50’s-inspired uniform before starting college in the fall. And then she becomes Misty Haven’s Summer Queen, a highly anticipated matchmaking tradition that she wants absolutely nothing to do with. Newly crowned, Winnie discovers almost immediately that she’s deathly afraid of it all: the spotlight, the obligations, and the way her Merry Haven Summer King, wears his heart, humor, and honesty on his sleeve.
News and Useful Links
The Pink Heart Society announced the finalists for their Reviewers’ Choice Awards, and I’m excited about all of them, even though I…haven’t read very many.
Jackie Lau did a cover reveal for her next Baldwin Village book Man vs. Durian on Frolic and not only is it a great cover with a very nice looking gentleman on it, but now I know what durian looks like!
If you are currently jonesing for more words from Adriana Herrera while we wait for American Love Story to come out, read these. They are very important words.
Speaking of American Love Story, DID YOU SEE THAT COVER.
Olivia Waite also had good words, this time in the other Kissing Books.
This is a really nice thread of romance recs for all the letters in the full LGBTQ+ acronym.
Randall Park is an amazing human being and so is Keanu Reeves. Obviously I’m still living for Always Be My Maybe.
And as always, a reminder that wocinromance is a thing that exists, that they post new releases every week on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, and that Rebekah Weatherspoon, who runs it, is awesome. Also they have a book club if you join their Patreon, so that’s cool.
Deal
Do you want nine FREE romcoms by authors including Helena Hunting, Talia Hibbert, and more? Check out Hilariously Ever After, a collection of previously released but potentially not-read-by-you books!
If a queer, Hawaii-set retelling of Jane Austen’s Emma is what you didn’t know you were looking for, you definitely want to check out Tamsen Parker’s If I Loved You Less, which is 99 cents right now. We rarely get Emma retellings of any kind, and this one is a particular treat.
Recs!
One thing that happens when I try to read for Thursdays is that I mention a lot of new books, maybe even buy them, and then keep moving forward. I’ll bet this is something that happens to a lot of us, especially if we’re sort of…power readers. So I wanted to share a few books I mentioned in the collection of new books out, or maybe at even longer capacity, and didn’t get around to reading the first time around. I guess we can call them 2019 backlist, because we’re almost halfway through 2019 already! These books are also first-time reads for me with these particular authors, even though I’ve mentioned them multiple times and might have put other books of theirs on my to-read list. I’ve mentioned on When In Romance that one of my goals this year is to read more authors, instead of going to the same favorites, and I haven’t been very good at it but this is a good start for me!
Play It Again
Aidan Wayne
There is only one word for this book, and that word is adorable. Some people whose reviews I’ve read think it suffers from a lack of conflict, but sometimes that’s exactly the kind of book I’m looking for. There is a conflict here: YouTuber Dovid, who does a regular online show with his twin sister in Seattle, basically falls in love with gamer Sam, whose narrative videos he really enjoys. That’s a problem, because Sam lives in Ireland. So boom: conflict. But even with some moments of angst and suffering, there isn’t a Big Misunderstanding or Blowout of any kind. It’s complete fluff, and it was the perfect thing (for me) to break a week-long streak of setting books aside very early on. This book is also a smorgasbord of representation, which I think Wayne does incredibly well and respectfully: Dovid is blind, bisexual, and Jewish, and his twin is sex-repulsed asexual. Sam has some form of low-grade anxiety, and is also somewhere on the ace/gray scale. Aidan Wayne is TGNC (I do not know their exact gender identity) and uses they/them pronouns.
Under His Protection
LaQuette
I don’t read very many books about cops. But there are books with police officers falling in love, and as long as they’re not out looking to shoot some unarmed people of color, they deserve love, right. LaQuette is also an author whose books I’ve been meaning to read for years, and this seemed like the perfect place to dive in. New Lieutenant Elijah thinks he’s about to begin a desk job after being attacked out in the field, but instead he’s greeted with a different kind of assignment: protect the ADA, who is being hunted by a group of Big Baddies. The catch? They’ve met before, many years ago, when they shared a soul-changing date, which ended with ADA Camden leaving without a by your leave. Forced proximity, a touch of fake relationship, amazing family dynamics, a knock-down, drag-out game of Spades, food porn, and excellent sexytimes? I will take the occasional hit of Extreme Sappiness and let it all pour over me, thanks. Also, that cover, hello?
Next up I’m going to try Love To The Rescue by Radclyffe, who I have also never tried before. I don’t actually know how that’s possible; she’s been writing f/f romance since f/f romance has existed. (Okay, not true, but she is the founder of Bold Strokes Books. You’d think I’d have picked up one of her books at some point.) This is one of the books I picked up in my local indie to help contribute to the queer romance numbers (they don’t have a general romance section, but the majority of their “lesbian fiction” section is BSB romances, so I guess that’s something). So I should probably read it.
What are you picking up this week?
As usual, catch me on Twitter @jessisreading or Instagram @jess_is_reading, or send me an email at jessica@riotnewmedia.com if you’ve got feedback, bookrecs, or just want to say hi!