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It’s the last Monday in June and honestly I’m looking forward to July. Everything is still horrible, but hey, at least TV studios have finally realized that they shouldn’t cast white voice actors to play characters of color. :shrug emoji:
Let’s talk about romance.
News and Useful Links
Cue the fireworks is right! Check out the lineup at this event from East City Bookshop.
Remember when Dreamspinner Press stopped paying a lot of their authors their royalties until legal action was taken (by a select few)? While Dreamspinner announced that they would be working to pay back royalties until they’ve all been paid out, RWA 2.0 is taking up the advocacy role, which has been an element of RWA’s work since its infancy—or at least, it was supposed to be. This time around, they’re actually planning to put effort into it, so hopefully a lot of authors will be paid their back royalties and I can start recommending Dreamspinner books and authors again.
Danika at The Lesbrary synthesized a heretofore less-known issue with racism in lesfic, particularly at conferences.
This is a long read, but there’s lots of good stuff in it.
Romance Class web series, yes!
Deals
Everyone wants to read a novella featuring a millionaire hair and skincare mogul, right? Especially if she wants to start a family and accepts a family recommendation to hold off on a sperm bank and go to a matchmaker instead. Well, if she matches with an old lover, we are definitely into it. And you can get B. Love’s Last Chance to Love for 99 cents right now, so check it out!
Recs!
I spent a surprising amount of time talking about Disney movies with a newish friend over the weekend, which made me think it was a perfect time to talk about fairy tale reimaginings! I started reading one last week which is HOO DOGGY HAWT if that’s the thing you’re looking for.
Femme Tales: A Modern Day Fairy Tale Trilogy
Anne Shade
This collection features three semi-connected novellas that all tell a contemporary, magic-free version of familiar stories. The first, for example, is about a staid music producer whose nickname is The Beast and the woman who she hires to help her mother-figure after she has a stroke. They have immediate chemistry but it exposes itself in…semi-aggressive behavior. And so the two take a while to warm up to each other, and the pathway to that is…precious. The other two stories are written on the theme of Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella, so if you need to refill your fairy tale bucket, this is a great place to start.
Briarley by Aster Glenn Grey is another queer retelling that I love. It’s a mid-20th century reimagining of Beauty and the Beast, featuring a cleric who ends up in a weirdly enchanted estate in the middle of England. The creature he befriends is some kind of dragon-creature who was cursed long ago and isn’t into this whole twentieth-century thing. It’s quick, but so lovely.
I’ve already mentioned Dithered Hearts by Chace Verity, but I’ll toss it in with this group, because it is quite the story. This Cinderella story features a young person whose fairy godfather is an actual fairy, and who—much like most of our favorite Cinderella stories—mostly wants to look nice at a fancy party. Cin quickly makes friends with the prince, but is about as attracted to him as he is to Cin, so they utilize their friendship with each other to help with other romantic interests. Cin also develops a romantic relationship with their stepsiblings, so heads up if you’re not interested in that. There’s also a lot of verbal and a bit of physical abuse by Cin’s parental figures, so also heads up for that.
I guess Salt Magic, Skin Magic counts as a fairy tale or folk tale retelling, but to tell you which would be a spoiler, lol. But I definitely recommend checking it out, and if you can get the audio, even better. Joel Leslie is a fantastic narrator. And there’s lots of magic and unresolved sexual tension. I promise, it’s great.
There are others that I’d love to check out someday, like Cinder Ella by ST Lynn or Braided by Elora Bishop.
What are your favorite fairy tale romance retellings?
As usual, catch me on Twitter @jessisreading or Instagram @jess_is_reading, or send me an email at wheninromance@bookriot.com if you’ve got feedback, bookrecs, or just want to say hi!