Author: Jessica Pryde

Well, folks. The universal conversation on racism continues, and so it goes in romance. But we do have some exciting new things to talk about!

“Kissing Books” is sponsored by Hot and Badgered by Shelly Laurenston from Kensington Publishing Corp.

In the first of a brand new paranormal romance series about three outrageously snarky sisters, New York Times bestselling author Shelly Laurenston returns to the shape-shifters genre and the animal her readers have been clamoring for since the release of her fan-favorite novel, BITE ME: the fearless honey badger!

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News and Useful Links

There has been quite a bit of social media chatter around this transcribed presentation by Elizabeth Kingston, which was originally given at Researching the Romance, a conference held at Bowling Green last week.

(If you’re interested in other happenings from that conference, check out #bgsuromcon18 on twitter.)

This list on goodreads has some great examples of romances featuring people fighting for various kinds of social justice, actively or interpersonally. Do you know others that could be added?

NEW ALISHA RAI ANNOUNCEMENT! I couldn’t have been the only one who finished Hurts to Love You with a need for more of my girl Rhi, right? Well, she’s kicking off a new Forbidden Hearts spinoff series, and I need it to be then, right now.

Finally, how about a little Q&A with Courtney Milan?

Deals

Jamie Wesley’s Slamdunked By Love is 2.99. It’s always nice to see sports romance featuring black players. In any sport.

A Seditious Affair by KJ Charles is 1.99!

If you haven’t yet acquired it, Talia Hibbert’s The Princess Trap is 2.99! It’s a great intro to this fabulous new author, who apparently just…can’t stop writing.

Rachel Van Dyken’s The Matchmaker’s Playbook is 1.99. Read it, then check out the adaptation on Passionflix!

Rhythm, Chord, and Malykhin by Mariana Zapata is 1.49 right now.

Maybe you’ve been hearing a lot of chatter about Kit Rocha’s Ivan? Start the series with Ashwin, which is 99 cents!

Over on Book Riot

I wrote about my mom’s vacation reading. It was the idyllic romance reader’s vacation (and well deserved)!

Do you go to library book sales? How about a survival guide?

And don’t forget to enter to win 15 of the year’s best mysteries so far!

Recs

Unmasked by the Marquess
Cat Sebastian

Let me start by saying thanks to reader Marianne for pointing out a misstep I made last week: in my zeal to announce Cat Sebastian’s first non-M/M novel, I called this one M/F, which it isn’t. It’s distinctly in the M/NB category. I apologize if anyone was hurt by my inadvertent erasure of this protagonist’s identity.

Okay, on to the story! Unmasked by the Marquess brings us the story of Alastair and Charity, two people trying to get things done and move on with their lives. For Alastair, it’s to get his family’s reputation back in order after his father destroyed it. For Charity, living as Robert Selby, it’s to get her sister married and fade into the woodwork. Unfortunately for their plans, they cross paths. While their first meeting leaves much to be desired, Alastair finds himself drawn to Selby in ways that are very inconvenient. Not to mention, his younger brother is one of those seeking the affection of Selby’s sister.

In what is becoming regular fashion, Cat Sebastian weaves a spectacular tale of real people in a time that can leave a reader oversaturated relatively easily. While Charity is a trailblazing character, the first nonbinary protagonist I have ever crossed in a historical romance, the Marquess of Pembroke himself is a noteworthy romance hero as well: older, staid, bisexual, and bespectacled. Not a duke, though still a peer of the realm. The two of them together are pretty magical. You won’t want to miss them.

The Viking Queen’s Men
Holley Trent

Twitter is funny, sometimes. Sometimes, romance twitter accidentally causes book clubs. In this case, someone exclaimed about this book, and then more people did, and then someone shared that it was a very low price on Amazon, and here we are. I haven’t read a good contemporary fantasy romance in a while, and this one checked off quite a few of my boxes. A matrilineal society right in the middle of the desert. A woman flailing with new and unknown responsibilities. Two men who are right for her, and whose only goals are to make her happy. Yeah, this was a good one for me. It might have been the first on the path to Holley Trent completion I set out for after One in Waiting, but it will definitely not be the last, and the Afótama series is a good place to start.

Next up, Her Perfect Affair by Priscilla Oliveras. This is the pairing I was drooling for at the end of His Perfect Partner, and I’m glad to have gotten it so quickly. If you haven’t read either book, now is definitely a good time. Also, if you prefer books more on the sweet scale than the super smexy books I’ve been discussing recently, His Perfect Partner is one of those books in which you don’t realize there isn’t any sex until you’ve reached the end. Or maybe you do, I don’t know, but I was surprised to realize how much it didn’t matter to me in the course of things. We’ll see if Her Perfect Affair is the same.

New and Upcoming Releases

Stay With Me by Love Journey (I know nothing about this book but I LOVE the cover!)

High Heels and Haystacks by Erin Nicholas

Startup Fiance by Shilpa Mudiganti

Rebel Heir by Vi Keeland and Penelope Ward

Misadventures with a Rookie by Toni Aleo

A Match Made in Bed by Cathy Maxwell

My Oxford Year by Julia Whelan (April 24)

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 or just want to say hi!

News

We have had some interesting developments since last week.

First, NPR was doing so well, and then they did this. Courtney Milan was regretful about having expanded her recommendations to non-black POC, but really, how could she have known the reporter would pick the one person who wasn’t black. Alisha was unaware the reporter would be framing it around anything besides the general diversity problem, or she would have stepped aside. NPR eventually apologized for their misstep, but leaving out black voices when you’re talking specifically to issues relating to black authors was a big editorial mistake.

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Sponsored by the New York Times bestselling author of The Secret of Flirting, Sabrina Jeffries.

The moment spymaster Baron Fulkham meets the stunning Princess Aurore of Chanay, he’s positive her royal persona is a ruse and that she’s actually Monique Servais, the mysterious actress he met three years before in Dieppe. But as he pursues his suspicions, he uncovers a plot of attempted assassination and betrayal that could very well destroy his career, expose his own secrets…and ruin the woman he’s rapidly coming to love.

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And then All About Romance posted a 100-book-long list of top romances of all time…that had no books by black authors on it. The discourse around their revision of the list and the poll that produced it also led to a good conversation around the term POC and when to use it.

In happyland, Alyssa Cole wrote this magical essay for Bustle about princess stories. (Also, if you missed her list of princess books to check out, here tis!)

Also, I saw the hashtag #RomanceWakandia on twitter and I need every black romance from the US and other nations ever to somehow to be linked to it. Don’t ask me how, but it’s gonna happen. 

Deals

Savannah J. Frierson’s Go With Your Heart is 99 cents.

The Viking Queen’s Men by Holley Trent is FREE right now, and the rest of the series is all 3.99 or less!

Jamie Wesley’s This is True Love is 99 cents.

Hometown Hero: Boys of Brockview by Sasha Devlin is also 99 cents.

Over on Book Riot

It’s National Library Week! Not only are we giving away a Kindle Fire, but there’s plenty of library related content. And check out this list of librarian romances from last year! (ALSO. I finally found one: a librarian by an AOC. The second book in the Sea Port series, the first of which I peddle below, features a librarian. What are your favorites?)

In a hurry? How about some erotic short stories?

Lacey had a guy friend visit The Ripped Bodice in her stead (because she lives very far away). He didn’t explode upon entry. 

Erotic audiobooks, you say?

Trisha and I talk about some stuff on When in Romance.

And don’t forget to enter to win 15 of the year’s best mysteries so far!

Recs

This has been quite the week of reading for me. The two books I finished are both four-alarm-fire hot and the one I started is probably not going to be any tamer.

Priest
Sierra Simone

This book is one of those that was once destined to hang out on my Want to Read shelf forever, until it repeatedly came up on the Insiders forum. When it was finally a reduced price, I decided to get it, and then we decided to read it for one of our chats. So it was time to try it out.

And y’all. This book. It’s not for everyone. I’ll just…tell you what she says in the author note:

There is sex, more sex, and definitely some blasphemy.

You’ve been warned.

Yeah. So if lots of sex and some seriously uncomfortable locations for sex (it’s right there in the blurb: “I broke my vow of celibacy on the altar of my own church.”) are your thing, give this one a try. Here, we have Tyler Bell, Catholic priest in a small Missouri town, and Poppy, a potential convert who has never been to confession. The two have immediate chemistry, leading to a few issues for Tyler. He loves his work, but he is also unwilling to let go of the vowbreaking sex (and potential love?) he has with Poppy. My biggest problem is actually that Poppy is a less developed character than Tyler, in part because he’s the narrator of the story. But if you’re interested in a bizarre intersection of theology and sex, this book is definitely for you.

CW: discussion of suicide, childhood and sexual abuse. And, you know, sex in sacred places.

From Scratch
Katrina Jackson

I came across this book on Twitter on Saturday afternoon and found myself immediately downloading it. I didn’t get to it then and there, but when I found the time, I was ready. The first few pages are a bit jarring, but the author picks up her stride pretty quickly. In this novella, Mary moves to the tiny town of Sea Port to start afresh after an unsatisfying life as a college professor. In her endeavor to win the town’s support for her bakery, she runs into Santos and Knox, old Marine buddies and BFFs who have since moved to Sea Port to become the fire chief and a member of the small police force. The three have an immediate chemistry, and Mary—surprising herself—isn’t shy about her desire to become involved with both of them.

Short, hot, and approaches morality from a very different perspective than Priest.

CW: discussion of child abuse, drug abuse, and homophobic violence.

(Also, From Scratch is one of those books that doesn’t currently have a romance ranking but has an erotica one. Figure your shit out, Amazon.)

I just started Unmasked by the Marquess, which comes out next Tuesday. A genderfluid heroine trying to get her childhood friend married and a stodgy Marquess butt heads in Cat Sebastian’s first M/F romance. And of course, since it’s Cat, she went ahead and made it hella queer. I can’t wait to get back to it! (Which I’m gonna go do now, byeee.)

New and Upcoming Releases

The Art of Love by Suzette D. Harrison

Pretending He’s Mine by Mia Sosa

One Unforgettable Kiss by AC Arthur

Beauty and the Biker by Jamila Jasper

My Lady’s Choosing: An Interactive Romance Novel  by Kitty Curran and Larissa Zageris

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 or just want to say hi!

Well, since we last spoke, romance twitter has been calling out the racism in romance that so many authors have not felt the confidence to speak of before. Having never gone to the RWA national conference and having only ever gone to one chapter meeting for my local RWA, and of course, having never made any attempt to publish, I don’t have anything worthwhile to contribute.

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Sponsored by Flatiron Books

Following two sisters in their pursuit of passion and independence, this is a genre-bending novel that is part coming-of-age, part historical fiction, with elements of mystery and paranormal. When one of the sisters goes missing, the other must put aside her books to find her–and start living.

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So here are some words:

• Courtney Milan, dropping some knowledge
• Piper Huguley on some history
• Jen has thoughts on structure and purpose
• Barbara Ferrer tells a horrifying story

This is just the tippy tip top of the iceberg, and I recognize that three of the people I’ve listed here are not black women. If you’d like to read more (because it’s exhausting, painful, and uncomfortable work that needs to be done), I’ve retweeted countless other stories of what it’s like to be black in romance. Just hit my twitter feed and start scrolling (there is also some other, much more fun stuff, which you probably need). These tweets include some stories, yes, but their authors are often engaging white readers to help do something about it. If this is you, take their words to heart, and see how you can contribute to the breaking of the cycle.

This is not the end of this story, and I imagine you’ll be hearing more about it from me as things evolve. Which we hope they will, because we’ve apparently been here before. (RWA made a statement about diversity and inclusion in 2016, which has different goals than their 2018 statement, and members of the board have spoken to that statement, but I don’t know what has been done in practice.)

In other news, which muse are you? I got Thalia, the muse of Comedy. Here’s what it says:

When it comes to romance novels, your taste runs to biting dialogue, witty remarks and ridiculous plots. The more over the top it is, the more cutting the criticisms characters make, the more helplessly everything goes wrong, the better.

If you’ve seen any of my book reviews ever, you know they are…very much not wrong.

And speaking of over the top and cutting criticisms, have you seen the cover for Jasmine Guillory’s new book, The Proposal? I can’t wait!

Also, let’s celebrate NPR’s most recent coverage of Alisha Rai. NPR is doing Good Work.

Finally: Harlequin date videos are back. This one isn’t as hilarious as the Viking or the Highlander, but I still enjoyed it a very great deal. Though with A Princess in Theory (I know, that’s not Harlequin) and books like Therese Beharrie’s Falling for his Convenient Queen, they missed their opportunity to throw in a little bit of not-white-ness. (Though of course, with Kimani closing and only a portion of their authors being signed to other series, who knows what they’re thinking over there.)

Deals

Invaluable by Alana Albertson is 99 cents.

K.M. Jackson’s Through the Lens is 3.99.

Deliver Me, the first book in Farrah Rochon’s Holmes Brothers series, is FREE right now.

Savannah J. Frierson’s Reconstructing Jada Channing is 3.99.

Feud by Phyllis Bourne is 2.99.

Over on Book Riot

Bookworm on Tinder? It’s like a romance novel come to life. Or something.

Sonja makes us really glad we have access to huge amounts of romances wherein this doesn’t happen.

We’re excited about some books coming out this month, including some good-looking romances.

Have you seen Rah’s list of affirming trans books? Good books in all categories.

Recs!

Here are some books I’ve recently finished or am reading right now and have every intention of finishing someday, when I’m not wildly busy. Three of them are non-Regency, US-set historicals, and the last is a queer retelling of a classic. If either of those are your jam, you’re in for a treat.

The Doctor’s Discretion
EE Ottoman

This historical romance, written by a trans author, features two doctors—one black, one white—in nineteenth-century New York. They have been hired to catalog a deceased doctor’s library, but that’s not what matters. What matters is that they are ridiculously attracted to one another, and after an evening together one doctor enlists the other to assist him in saving a patient. This is not the conventional style of saving, though; this patient, on the verge of imprisonment, would first have to undergo the most intrusive analysis imaginable by the hospital’s senior doctors and other interested parties from all around, all because he lives as a man but has the body of a woman. It’s a quick, surprisingly light read. Also, you’ll learn a lot about mid-nineteenth-century medicine.

Night Song
Beverly Jenkins

When I picked this up, I didn’t realize that it was a reprint of Beverly Jenkins’s first novel. This is where the original Henry Adams story lives. Our heroine, who grew up in Georgia before, during, and after the Civil War, joins the earliest part of the Great Migration and joins one of many black communities in Kansas. She isn’t too keen on the hero, in part because he is a cocky bastard, but also because he wears Union Blues—the same color as the men who killed her grandfather in cold blood and destroyed her family home. But they’re growing on each other.

Let Us Dream
Alyssa Cole

I know. I KNOW. What took me so long, right? It’s been sitting on my shelf, waiting for me to pick it up. This story first appeared in Daughters of a Nation, an anthology featuring multiple novellas about women fighting for women’s suffrage. Here, Bertha owns a club in 1917 Harlem. She uses her influence and space to help educate the women who might be gaining the vote, and that same influence to sway the thoughts and minds of the men who would be voting for the vote. What she wasn’t expecting is to be so smitten with her new dishwasher, Amir, an Indian immigrant who wants more rights for people like him.

Pride and Porters
Charlotte Greene

I’ve only just started this book, and the writing is a little off-putting, but I can’t resist a good Pride and Prejudice retelling. This one particularly stuck out as one that features a lesbian (f/f, wlw, whichever way you want to say it) romance. Erin and her sister Jen run a brewery in a small city in Colorado, and Charlie Betters is looking to learn more about the trade. Charlie’s friend Darcy is…not a great person. She’s a snob who might say she’s looking out for her friend, but she’s also more than a bit of an asshole. But people can change, right?

New and Upcoming Releases

Still Loving You by Sheryl Lister

Scoring Off the Field by Naima Simone

Cheeky Prince by Nana Malone

The Thief by JR Ward (April 10)

Love and Other Words by Christina Lauren (April 10)

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 or just want to say hi!

Look, I know I said last week was quiet, and it really wasn’t. This week, it really has been quiet, so let’s look at the big newsmakers that I might have only touched upon last week:

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Sponsored by FALLING STAR, a Nashville-set contemporary romance from bestselling author Terri Osburn.

A country star looking for a comeback has one last shot at fame—and maybe one last shot at love.

Naomi Mallard is a fixer by nature. And as PR manager for Nashville’s Shooting Stars record label, she’s facing her biggest fix: redeeming country music bad boy Chance Colburn. Chance has spent his life running from demons and making tabloid headlines that have sent his career into a tailspin. Now he’s struggling to find his muse and maintain his newfound sobriety, all while counting on the woman he once betrayed to repair his tattered reputation.

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News

The Romance Writers of America RITA and Golden Heart finalists were announced last week, and while I mentioned them cursorily last week, now we have time and space to discuss it. The first thing I noticed, that many others did as well, was that while there are authors of color on both lists, there are no black authors. Some people, confused after reading some awesome books last year, wondered at that. And I think I can say we were all amazed when authors like BEVERLY FUCKING JENKINS saying she’d never submitted because back in the day, Bozo the Clown would have been named a finalist before she did. I’m sure this would no longer be the case, since, you know, she has a RWA Lifetime Achievement Award. But authors of color who don’t have her name, don’t have her titles, might see the limited number of RITA winners of color as another place where the gate is kept, locked against them. It was mentioned in that same thread that the RITAs could benefit not only from some restructuring, but also from better recruitment practices for the judges. We all know that publishing has a problem when it comes to representation, and it’s not surprising that it’s also trickled down into organizations for people in publishing. This is one of those “I have no solutions, just stating the problem” issues, but if you have thoughts, I’d love to hear them.

Alexis Hall wrote a really good blog post about it, too. (Which resulted in this thought-provoking tweet thread, too.)

And in case you missed it last time, there is a brand new, amazing site created and maintained by queer authors of color. The database alone is amazing for finding new authors to explore, but there are other parts that are definitely going to be awesome to have regular access to. Also, the statement they make on their homepage, which addresses various stakeholders individually, is incredibly powerful.

Deals

RITA nominee Take The Lead is 3.99. If you haven’t read it yet, you should!

Alessandra Torre’s Love, Chloe is 99 cents right now.

A Fashionable Indulgence by KJ Charles is 1.99 through the month. Be forewarned: you will get hooked.

Over on Book Riot

Trisha and I had hella fun talking about indie publishing and some of our favorite new recs on this week’s When In Romance. Also, seriously. Let’s take back that hashtag.

Wondering what you should read next? This quiz is surprisingly helpful.

We’ve still got a giveaway for a $250 Barnes and Noble gift card!

Recs!

This week’s recommendations brought to you in part by People Who Can’t Words. I loved all three of these books in very different ways, but boy, did all six of these people have issues with wordsing.

Hurts to Love You
Alisha Rai

That’s right, y’all. It’s out, and I’m done, and I’m still crying at how beautiful this whole trilogy is. The third installment of the Forbidden Hearts trilogy centers on Gabe, Livvy’s boss at the tattoo parlour and old friend of both sides of the family, and Eve, the youngest member of the Chandler family. Both have family issues up the wazoo, and also have their own opinions on what the other deserves in a mate. Even when they make the decision to try using their words, they end up not doing it right, leaving them with what both thinks is the only option. Which isn’t an option at all.

Overall, a beautiful, melodramatic, conclusion to a magnificent series.

Baby Daddy
Kendall Ryan

This one is definitely a different style, and a different pace. Emmett and Jenna also have trouble wordsing, and we as readers will share a similar kind of frustration as they go through their own stuff. Of course, their stuff is not the stuff of the Chandlers and Kanes. Instead, their stuff is all about sex. Of the baby-making kind. The two get stuck on an elevator when Jenna is on her way to a fertility clinic in Emmett’s building (y’all know how much I love stuck-in-an-elevator stories), and make the outrageous decision to go the old-fashioned route. So these two people, who have only just met, decide to work as hard as humanly possible to get Jenna pregnant, because that’s what she wants, and when it’s done, they’re done. Or at least that’s what they keep telling themselves. Neither’s very happy about it, though.

Cute, frustrating, and a nice introduction to a new-to-me author (though I just read another of her books, Dirty Little Secret, only to discover that it did not stand alone and I was not happy. FYI.)

A Girl Like Her
Talia Hibbert

If you’re at all active on romance twitter, this is a book and a name you might have heard a bit about recently. Talia Hibbert sort of popped up out of nowhere, and she hit the ground running. This was my first book by her, but it will definitely not be the last. In A Girl Like Her, Ruth is the girl that people don’t understand. She’s blunt, she’s forward, and she doesn’t suffer fools. This is, in part, the way that her autism presents itself. Evan is former military (did I mention that he was inspired by that gif of Infinity!Cap walking?) and also has a habit of trying to take care of people like he wishes someone had him when he was younger. How does that play out between the neighbors? Evan can’t stop feeding Ruth, of course.

Seriously, this story is adorable, and heartwarming, and heartbreaking. Read it, and then join me in devouring the rest of her stuff.

New and Upcoming Releases

Her Perfect Affair by Priscilla Oliveras

Invitation to the Blues by Roan Parrish

Hot and Badgered by Shelly Laurenston

Twice Bitten by Lynsay Sands

Eight Simple Rules for Dating a Dragon by Kerrelyn Sparks

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 or just want to say hi!

And that’s a good thing. Really.

News

Simon and Schuster released their official statement about Crimson, stating that the market had changed. Which, really? I’d like to see their research. My guess is that the ebooks there weren’t selling at the same pace as their bestsellers, and they cut their losses. That’s just a guess, but I have no other one. What do you think happened there?

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Sponsored by The Marquis and I by Ella Quinn

In the latest of Ella Quinn’s Worthington series, Lady Charlotte Carpenter’s brother-in-law put a brothel out of business—but it’s Charlotte who suffers the consequences. After being abducted by thugs, she’s rescued by a dashing gentleman, only to realize later she’s seen him before—with two courtesans! Unwilling to tarry with such a man, Charlotte escapes again…but a gossiper has spied on Charlotte, and rumors spread quickly. Soon, everyone knows Charlotte spent the night with Constantine, Marquis of Kenilworth, and all agree the only answer is marriage—including Constantine. Yet, Charlotte’s abductors aren’t finished, and Constantine will do anything to protect her.

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Also, The Guardian published an interesting piece highlighting race issues and the Riptide and Crimson happenings, with some perspective from either Bea or Leah Koch (it actually just says “Koch says” so nice work, Guardian).

The other thing we’re still hearing about is the Audible Romance Package Paygate, which I hope is on its way to a satisfactory resolution for the company, for Audible, and for us readers/listeners. Isobel Starling wrote about it at the beginning of this month, and recently tweeted about there being no change (also tweeting at Publisher’s Weekly to see if they were looking into it). I don’t know what’s going to happen there, but we’ve seen what happens when companies pay enough in licensing or royalties for unlimited romance (they stop doing it because it’s too expensive).  

In happier news, this is just perfect. I want to be a Writer in Residence at a completely random, unexpected place.

The Wall Street Journal asked a few romance authors about the workplace romance in the age of #metoo, and Sarah MacLean had good words. In one tiny space, she touches on the history of consent in romance, big cornerstone romances, and the continuing evolution of the genre. She also links to the Journal article, but since it’s behind a paywall, I’ll let you check that one out on your own if you’re able (if you’re not a subscriber, see if your local library does!).

Also, here’s some news! Here’s hoping that means NYT will actually be worth looking at again.

As someone who keeps randomly picking up books set in Australia (like the adorable Cutie Pies, a recent release), it was awesome to get a tip from an Australian KB reader (hi Kat!) about the Australian Romance Readers Awards, which is an interesting blend of international titles. The shortlist is a combination of books I’ve never heard of and ones I love dearly, so I look forward to hearing the results in May!

Some awesome people got together and did an awesome thing.

Also, Chrissy Teigen whined on Twitter about there not being enough rom coms, and we’re banking on her influence to get that shit done. Hopefully by this time next year there will be 30 announced, all adapted from awesome romance novels. In the meantime, the new adaptation of Rachel Van Dyken’s The Matchmaker’s Playbook is available on Passionflix. The trailer looks pretty great.

Finally: contest finalists yaaaaaaas.

Deals

Fraternize by Rachel Van Dyken is 2 dollars, if you’re interested in more after checking out The Matchmaker’s Playbook.

If you’re still in that princess mood, Delaney Diamond’s new Princess of Zamibia is 3.99.

Are the Forbidden Hearts books the only ones you’ve read by Alisha Rai? You should check out Glutton for Pleasure, which was the first romance with a South Asian heroine that I ever read. (Warning: if you have a twin squick, this one is not for you.)

Over on Book Riot

Do you love the Black Dagger Brotherhood? Erin collected some quotes for you.

Dana tried really hard to listen to audiobooks, but just can’t.

Want to win a $250 gift card to Barnes and Noble? Read on!

Recs

I started picking up those not-big-name #ownvoices books immediately after the last Kissing Books, starting with one that’s more romance adjacent than romance, but it would definitely appeal to romance readers (especially if said romance readers are working on the Read Harder challenge and are looking for science fiction by a woman with a lead woman).

Ascension
Jacqueline Koyanagi

Alana is a Sky Surgeon. She falls in love with ships faster than she would any woman. But she and her aunt are both in need of higher pay to maintain their flow of meds for a debilitating disorder, and she’ll do anything to get it, especially if that means leaving her dusty planet. She stows away on the Tangled Axon, home to a darling crew of loyal folks looking for a way to save their pilot, who has her own secrets. What Alana doesn’t expect is the sudden influx of feelings she has for the ship’s captain. Of course, while all of these feelings are happening, there are explosions, manhunts, metaphysical activities, and a spacewalk or two. CW for chronic pain and maiming.

Signs of Attraction
Laura Brown

As of writing this, I’ve still got a quarter left, but something incredibly significant will have to happen for me to not recommend this book now (I’ll tell you next week if that changes). Reed and Carli are both hearing impaired—Reed has been deaf since birth, Carli hard of hearing and reliant upon hearing aids since she can remember. Laura Brown is also hard of hearing, and brings that experience and her experiences with the deaf community to the forefront of this story, bringing readers into a world we might not be familiar with. The two, a college senior and graduate student, meet the first day of class. While their attraction is mutual, their bond is solidified by Reed introducing Carli to the world of accomodation, which she hasn’t experienced thanks to a…less than happy childhood. While the love story is sweet, and both Reed and Carli have some awesome character growth and resurrection, this one definitely has a CW: talk of suicide (past and present), child abuse, non-sexual assault, and addiction. Somehow the sweet and the heavy balance each other out, but you have to be ready for it.

Next up, A Girl Like Her by Talia Hibbert, which has been exploding in my Twitter feed. I haven’t yet encountered a reviewer who didn’t love it, so I hope I do. Have you read it? What did you think? I’m really looking forward to reading a book featuring a black woman on the Autism Spectrum, something that is overpoweringly white and male in literature, with a few recent exceptions.

New and Upcoming Releases

Wanderlust by Lauren Blakely

With this Man by Jodi Ellen Malpas

Hurts to Love You by Alisha Rai (!!!) (March 27)

Her Perfect Affair by Priscilla Oliveras (March 27)

Invitation to the Blues by Roan Parrish (March 28)

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 or just want to say hi!

Oh man, y’all. It’s been…a week.

News

When we last spoke, there had been a collection of evidence, including tweets, screenshots from blog posts and public forums, and a few other pieces of evidence indicating that the person writing under the name Santino Hassell was misrepresenting themselves to us. If you’ve been reading Kissing Books long enough, you know that I spoke recently about pseudonyms and authors’ right to privacy, which I still stand behind. BUT. But. Misrepresentation is a completely different thing. It involves deception, manipulation and, to some extent, betrayal.

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Wishlist upcoming releases you’re dying to read. Get exclusive podcasts and newsletters. Enter to win swag. Do it all when you join Insiders.

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After Kissing Books went out last week, Riptide announced that they had severed ties with Santino Hassell, ended contracts, removed previously published works, and offered money to people who had previously purchased books by that author. (Probably just those who purchased them via Riptide, though.) But there was another element to this whole thing.

Apparently the person writing as Santino Hassell is also…not a great person. Intrepid folks on twitter have been talking about it for a couple of years, but backlash was such that they pulled away. But now, there have been accounts of manipulation, gaslighting, harassment, and other forms of misconduct, on top of the things said and done to tender sympathy and gifts. It was bad.

By the end of the week, Dreamspinner had also ended any contracts. Berkley Romance announced their dissolution of ongoing contracts earlier this week. We’re still waiting to hear from St. Martin’s Press about a not-yet-published series.

But that wasn’t the end of it, folks.

SH withdrew from most social media and posted this on their website, and since, there’s been mostly silence from that front. But that was not the only thing happening, apparently, and romance was ready to take it down.

Queer POC author Xen Sanders posted this report which indicates some deeper issues at Riptide. Not much later, Riptide made another statement, in which they announced that the executive in question, Sarah Lyons, had resigned. They also remarked on Sanders’ statements regarding institutional level racist activities. (They have quite a history, it seems, and did not handle most of them well. If you want to know more about that, Courtney has words.) After an incredible response, they issued this statement, announcing how they’re moving forward. 

This part is particularly important, and I am hoping they stick to their word:

It’s our responsibility to produce media that is helpful, not harmful, and given our current environment, we cannot be assured of fulfilling that responsibility. So, we’re going to change. The anger that has been directed toward us in the past days is justified, and we thank those who were willing and able to point out our flaws to us. We have work to do.

Seriously, we were getting to the burn it all down and start afresh phase, so I’m hoping this helps, and that this isn’t just another empty promise. Even still, authors like Jenny Holiday, Alexis Hall, and KJ Charles are ending their contracts with Riptide and reacquiring the rights to their work. Other big names have announced that they will no longer submit their work to Riptide to publish. 

If that wasn’t enough, there was icing on this cake of nails: Crimson Romance, who we saw in the 2017 Ripped Bodice report on Diversity in Romance, had the highest percentage of romances published by authors of color and one of the highest increases between 2016 and 2017, announced its closure. There has, as of writing this, not been any statement from Simon and Schuster regarding reasons for this, but authors, editors, publicists, and other members of the Crimson team have expressed their sadness, uncertainty, and thanks.

What. A. Week.

With all that, here are some tidbits of happy:

• There has been a resounding response to all this Riptide mess from people willing to support authors who want to pull their works.
• The RWA Award Winners were announced
• Robin Bradford, a familiar name if you’re on Romance Twitter, was named one of the Library Journal Movers & Shakers
• This exchange brought us all back to life
• Courtney’s next book! It’s real!
• Have you seen the cover of Making Up?
• Talia Hibbert sounds like someone I want to be my BFF. Also, a WOC writing #ownvoices autistic rep is Important. 

Deals

Do you love a good song-pun title? Cathy Maxwell’s If Ever I Should Love You is 1.99.

I don’t read a lot of romantic suspense, but Silent Threat sounds pretty damn intriguing: a former Navy SEAL who has lost the use of an arm and his hearing, and a peace-loving ecotherapist he can’t help but arguing with. Sounds good, right? It’s 2 dollars.

500 pages for 99 cents? Lingus by Mariana Zapata is your book.

Mourning the end of the Knitting in the City series? Check out Penny Reid’s Kissing Tolstoy, which is 3.99!

Over on Book Riot

This week’s episode of When in Romance is called This Is Very Complicated and yeah.

Sometimes you want something long, and sometimes, you just want something quick. Here are some erotic short stories for you.

This is totally my kind of vacation. Doing stuff? No. Reading with a view.

Recs

One thing the whole SH thing made me realize is that many of us are guilty of finding our favorite examples of #ownvoices authors and end up falling back on those authors as recommendations for pretty much any situation. With that in mind, I’ve been looking at other authors and works by those authors—authors of color, queer authors (especially men and enby authors writing m/m and other queer romance)—to share, more varied and more often. Sure, I still love books written by white ladies and will share them with you magical readers, but let’s have a look at some people who can fill those spaces of our go-to authors.

Love Comes Silently
Andrew Grey

If you listen to When in Romance you know that I’d realized with my constant centering of SH, I had neglected this author, who just got the RWA Centennial Award for publishing one hundred books. So you’ve got plenty of backlist to check out. Love Comes Silently has a sad setup: a young father caring for his cancer-stricken daughter; and his neighbor, a former singer who can no longer use his voice. This is a quiet, sweet novel, and I can’t wait to see more of what Grey’s got for me. (And like I said, there’s a lot.)

One in Waiting
Holley Trent

Okay. Y’all. I read it. The novel with the confusing cowboy hat. And this time, there is a cowboy! Since he plays minor league baseball, his offseason time is occasionally spent on a ranch or two, and he brings his expertise with him when he and our other hero spend some time on the heroine’s ranch.

If you follow my compatriot Trisha on Twitter or Instagram, you might have seen the magnificent diagram she made while I was explaining this book to her during When in Romance. Leary and Ren, our heroes, are partners and teammates, and they run into Emilie, the mother of Leary’s now-teenaged daughter. Ren certainly finds her attractive, but doesn’t really pursue anything until he realizes she can help with something else: he’d like to know more about BDSM, and wants Emilie to help her, since Leary doesn’t get it. And that, folks, is where I’ll leave you. It’s Very Complicated. But it’s damn fun.

Here are some others I want to try:

From the Ashes by Xen Sanders

Buildings: A New York Love Story by BL Wilson

The Doctor’s Discretion by EE Ottoman

Signs of Attraction by Laura Brown

The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang (It doesn’t come out till June but I’m putting it on my list now)

I’m also going to try to spend as much time hanging out on Queer In Color as I do WOC In Romance.

What romance by an author from a marginalized group do you love to recommend? Let me know!

New and Upcoming Releases

Princess of Zamibia by Delaney Diamond

A Girl Like Her by Talia Hibbert

Sinner by Sierra Simone

Running to You by Andrew Grey

With This Man by Jodi Ellen Malpas (March 20)

Also, I just discovered that there are gorgeous new releases (with new covers!) of Josephine and Belle by Beverly Jenkins, if you’ve been holding out on those.

Have thoughts? 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!

Well folks, we definitely have a few things to talk about.

Let’s get to it.

News

The Ripped Bodice released their second annual Diversity in Romance Publishing report. They acknowledge that racial and cultural diversity is not the only kind of diversity we should be looking at, but it is what they chose to focus on. If you’ve seen their report for 2016, you know that their first look at mainstream traditional romance publishing—the Big Five imprints and the big romance-dedicated publishers—was pretty damning.

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Beneath the Surface  by Lynn H. Blackburn and Revell Books, a Division of Baker Publishing Group

Leigh Weston thought she’d left a troubled past behind when she moved back home to Carrington, North Carolina. But when dive team investigator Ryan Parker finds a body in the lake near her home, she fears the past hasn’t stayed where it belongs. Can Ryan find a way to protect her, and maybe win her heart in the process?

Award-winning author Lynn H. Blackburn grabs readers by the throat and doesn’t let go until the final heart-pounding page.

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2017? It got worse. More than half of those polled either stayed the same or published an even smaller percentage of books by authors of color than the previous year. Since they were working in percentages, even if the number published might have gone up, the number published by white authors must have gone up exponentially more.

I’d like to say it was a surprise to me, but considering the number of emails I get highlighting new books from Netgalley and the like, especially from the major imprints, I’m not surprised at all.

Bustle does a pretty good dive into the numbers.

And WOC in Romance has some words as well.

In happier news, Lisa Kleypas acknowledged a big misstep in her most recent novel and is going to work to fix it in future printings.

But. We’ve still got to have a few conversations in romance about exoticizing certain people and ethnic groups. Like this one.

We’ve also got to keep talking about supporting authors writing f/f romance (especially queer women doing so), as either part of or in addition to the conversation about boosting women writing m/m romance over queer men doing the same. (She says in the same breath that she touts Cat Sebastian. I know. But they’re so good. There’s room for both.)

And speaking of women in m/m romance, a Twitter moment came out yesterday that has a bunch of us reeling. An intrepid human pulled together a very damning argument that author Santino Hassell is indeed not a bi white dude. We’ve talked about not being owed anybody’s name or identity, but what we are owed is a person’s honesty and respect. When “Santino” “revealed his face” in a moment of apparent exasperation, I was glad to see it, and proud to see an author say “this is me, mfers.” But when you’re that big name people like to use as a compelling example of what it can be like when men write queer romance, and it turns out you are not male and probably not queer? That’s…I have no words.

But in even happier news, events like this bring me joy. They also make me miss living in a big metropolitan city, but I can still work to make my corner of the desert romance central. (And as a bonus, here’s Alyssa Cole on why her novels are always political.)

Someday.

In the best of news, filming for the adaptation of Beverly Jenkins’ Deadly Sexy is starting! (You might even be able to get into it as an extra!)

Deals

Still in a royals mood after A Princess in Theory? Falling for His Convenient Queen by Therese Beharrie is 3.99.

The adorable It Takes Two To Tumble by Cat Sebastian is 99c.

Tracey Livesay’s Love On My Mind is 1.99 right now. Her other two, Along Came Love and Love Will Always Remember are also on sale!

Over on Book Riot

Annika talked about the Ripped Bodice report.

Book Riot is starting a new feminist book club called Persist! Will you join?

We asked, here’re your answers: Book Riot’s favorite unusual love stories.

Recs

I don’t pick up a lot of romance with guys in cowboy hats, but Lori Wilde is coming to the big book festival where I live. When I realized that her newest book was based on Jane Austen’s Emma, I knew I had to pick it up. Her titles are fun and punny, which you know I love, and I’m always down for a modern adaptation.

How the Cowboy Was Won
Lori Wilde

Ember Alzate is outrageous, or at least that’s what people say. She’s blunt, forthright, and likes to take risks—something that some people in Cupid, Texas don’t find so great. Neither did her ex husband, who really threw her for a loop. Even in her family, she’s the odd one out. The only person who really gets her is Ranger, the absent-minded astrobiologist who has been her best friend since childhood. After a year of research in New Zealand, Ranger is back in Cupid, surprised to discover that Ember has taken her need to control things to the next level: she’s taken to matchmaking. Now, Ember has set her sights on finding him the perfect wife, but he wishes he could help her make her realize what he’s finally discovered: they belong together.

I’ll be the first to say that Emma Woodhouse is my least-favorite Austen heroine. I appreciate the process she goes through to grow as a person and learn about seeing beyond your own nose, though. And while I thoroughly enjoyed this book, Ember’s journey is more about learning to accept yourself, warts and all. Just so you know.

The most interesting thing about this novel is that “cowboy” is a bit of a stretch for Ranger Lockhart. Sure, he lives in Stetsons and boots and grew up on a ranch, but he’s a research scientist with multiple advanced degrees. Cowboy is a bit of a misnomer, but I guess I’ll take it.

And start working my way backward in Lori Wilde’s repertoire, starting with Cowboy, It’s Cold Outside because yeah.

The whole cowboy/not cowboy thing did get me thinking about some of the other novels with barechested men in stetsons who aren’t really cowboys on the covers, and I have two more in my possession that I look forward to investigating soon:

His Secret Son by Brenda Jackson

Laramie Cooper is a Navy SEAL, but the stetson on his head reveals that somewhere in his heart, there is a rancher. Maybe he grew up on a ranch, or inherited one? Maybe by the time the exposition in this book gets moving, he’ll have quit the Navy and bought a ranch? All I know is he fathered a child and then was presumed dead during a military action, so any kind of thing can happen after captivity.

One in Waiting by Holley Trent

The current cover on Amazon and Goodreads might show that this is a menage romance, but I have a different cover on my Kindle. Here, we’ve got the same old barechested half-face with the outline of a stetson, and I imagine said chest, face, and stetson belong to Ren Thompson, the third person mentioned in the description of the book. He’s a baseball player, but the blurb calls him a cowboy. I’m guessing he’s from Texas or the southwest or the mountain west and wears cowboy boots and a rimmed hat. Maybe he even likes horses, I dunno. But Emilie, the heroine, does have a ranch in Texas, so let’s see what happens!

New and Upcoming Releases

Highland Dragon Master by Isabel Cooper (y’all know I LOVE these books, and this one is so good!)

A Secret Desire by Kaia Danielle (this is the second in that Decades series I was excited about; the author fell a little behind but is out now!)

Accidental Tryst by Natasha Boyd (sounds like Kryptonite to me!)

My Royal Temptation by Riley Pine (new Harlequin DARE book)

As You Wish by Jude Deveraux (I haven’t read one of hers in a long while but this one intrigues me!)

Dragon Redeemed by LC Alleyne (March 9) (WOC writing dragons? I’m down. Just gotta read the first one…)

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 or just want to say hi!

Happy March, Kissing Books! I hope you’ve had a chance to look out for The Ripped Bodice’s Diversity in Publishing report, which was supposed to release this morning, but if not, we’ll definitely talk about it next week.

News

Feeling Olympic withdrawal? The fabulousness that is Lacy Literacy has given us exactly what you need: The Master List.

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Sponsored by Penguin Random House Audio

Love is in the air when you play an audiobook.  Find your perfect match for your next galentines day book club pick with some great listening suggestions.  Get started at PenguinRandomHouseAudio.com/bookclub.

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Emma Chase’s newest novel, Getting Schooled, is audio-first. What this means is that the audio is available now, but print and kindle won’t be available until June. I don’t know if this is a thing that Audible is going to be doing regularly, but it was definitely news to me. I don’t listen to a lot of audiobooks, but this is definitely a gamechanger. Are you interested in this new development?

AAAAAAAAHHHHH LOOOOOK!

Wendy the SuperLibrarian has taken her monthly Unusual Historicals picks over to Love in Panels, making it even more awesome.

I know the Olympics are over, but I still gotta know: who’s working on this novel? Like, seriously, how have there not been a million ice dancing romances since 2010? I expect at least three by the next Nationals.

Jen started a pretty comprehensive Content Warnings list, and has a really good thread on why it’s important.

Do you need more Science Fiction and Fantasy romance in your life? I definitely do. And these folks are going to help us all out.

Finally, Courtney Milan talks about the intersectionality of romance and it’s awesome as usual. (Also, I have got to up my historical research game.)

Deals

KJ Charles’ An Unsuitable Heir is 1.99 right now. It’s the third in a series, but you can kind of figure out what’s happened previously. Or you can just read the others when you’re done 😉

If you’re looking for some slooooooowww burn and want some Olympics nostalgia, Mariana Zapata’s From Lukov With Love is 2.99 (down from 4.99, which is still a pretty good deal, especially for the number of pages you get in a Zapata book.)

I’ve been hearing a lot of chatter about Talia Hibbert—she’s a lot of people’s new favorite. Her newest, The Princess Trap, is 2.99 right now.

Over on Book Riot

We’re having a giveaway still!

I said I’d get to it! Here are some The Wedding Date readalikes. Well, not quite, but close.

Also, Jenn got to talk to Alyssa Cole and I am aflame with the amount of jealousy I feel. But that doesn’t matter because the words are awesome.

The Ripped Bodice and Changing Hands in Phoenix are doing the damn thing.

Do you read when you wake up? Here are a few perfect picks for you.

What’s your favorite unusual love story?

Did you see this really thought-provoking essay about erotica?

There’s a new tee in the BR store and it’s Pretty Effing Amazing.

And finally, this week on When In Romance, we get serious and then get super silly.

Recs!

There are a few books I want to talk about this week, and they do actually have something in common: they’re one-sitting reads! (If you’re not doing the Read Harder challenge, this probably means nothing to you, but then the question is why aren’t you doing Read Harder?!)

Just kidding. Do what you want.

Anyway.

I’ve got three potential one-sitting reads for you, whether you’re looking for something sweet, something spicy, or something goddamn. The first is the only one that can be read in less than an hour, but if you’ve got a couple hours, you can get through the others pretty quickly as well (unless you’re taking breaks to breathe, which might be necessary, not gonna lie).

Bingo Love
Tee Franklin et al

I don’t recommend comics very often in Kissing Books, but this one needs your eyes and your heart. It will be a joy to both of those, I promise.

Hazel and Mari meet when they are barely teenagers, but their connection is instant. They become the best of friends, sharing a love like no other. Their relationship is platonic, but there’s always something…more, just under the surface. When they finally act on that more, they’re torn apart for almost fifty years. Imagine what can happen when the love of your life randomly shows up at bingo. Tears. Fat, gross, sobby tears, that’s what. (Or maybe that’s just me.) This book is written for crying of all kinds: joy, sadness, grief, delight, they’re all there.

This one can also work for your protagonist over 60, or your comic written or illustrated by a POC. If you’re doing Read Harder.

Two Dukes are Better than One
Lorna James

Let’s go back into prose for this menage romance (if you couldn’t tell from the title). I know some of us are tired of dukes, but come on. Two. Dukes. They’re BFFs, but their family has been feuding since they can remember, so they find excuses to get involved in fisticuffs whenever they’re both at the same event. Meanwhile, Sophia, an Occult enthusiast and accidental reader of a very naughty book, might have let slip to one of said dukes that she has some interest in and curiosity about being intimate with two men at once. Good thing for them, they like to share women.

I do have a few qualms about this book: for once, it could probably have used ten pages or so of exposition, just to make a few things more clear—the actual process of falling in love, for instance, is a little…skipped over. So there’s loooooots of sex and less of the feelings. But it’s tons of fun.

Play With Me
Alisha Rai

If you’re thinking: Jess. You just gave me a menage novella about two dukes. And you’re telling me this is beyond that in the spice level?

Then I’m responding: you’re damn right I’m telling you that. This is Alisha Rai we’re talking about. If you loved Hate to Want You and its follow-up, Wrong to Need You, this is definitely something you need to read. (If you haven’t read it, this is a good introduction to her writing.) Tatiana and Wyatt are old flames who are reunited a decade later, and the sex isn’t just as hot—it’s better. Of course, there are also those annoying feelings that show up too.

I will warn you: this is not a standalone, and therefore does not really end in a HEA. But don’t worry; you’ll want to pick up the other two Bedroom Games novellas pretty much immediately. Well, after you’ve cooled off.

New and Upcoming Releases

A Princess in Theory by Alyssa Cole (YAAAAAAAAYYYY!!!)

Then There Was You by Claire Contreras

Switch it Up by Sara Brookes (you might remember I wrote about another one of her books in an earlier Kissing Books)

My Once and Future Duke by Caroline Linden (I’ll always take title puns)

One and Only by Jenny Holiday

Baby Daddy by Kendall Ryan

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 or just want to say hi!

Welcome back, KBers!

There were some interesting thinkpieces going around last week. I’d rather read this over and over.

Also, I missed this one last week. There are some great moments discussed here.

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Sponsored by Fierce Reads

When star soccer player Peyton Rios receives an offer from her first-choice college, senior year starts off exactly as planned. But when Peyton uncovers her boyfriend’s dark secret, she confronts him—and finds herself falling down a flight of stairs. Peyton’s knee—and maybe her dream of going pro—is shattered. Everyone is talking: Was she pushed, or did she fall? Peyton knows the truth, even if no one believes her.

With her future on the line, Peyton goes to stay with her uncle in a small Tennessee town to focus on her recovery. Dating is the last thing on her mind—until she meets sweet, sexy Owen Law. But Peyton doesn’t trust her heart, especially when she senses that Owen is hiding something. When their secrets are finally exposed, Peyton has to decide if love is worth fighting for.

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More missed coverage last week – RT had a chat with Beverly Jenkins about Deadly Sexy and positive representation.

The issue of sexual harassment in publishing has been picking up like a tumbleweed, and we’ve been talking about it in romance, too. Here’s a good thread about romance conventions.

I am in complete support of everything said here.

Oh, dear.

Consent is sexy. Don’t let anyone ever tell you differently.

Ooh, Cat Sebastian on writing queer romance. We’ve all had that discussion of what it means that women write the majority of M/M romance, but we can also agree that Sebastian writes amazing books.

Have you read any Penny Reid yet? She’s not for everyone, but I love her Winston Brothers.

Jen at The Book Queen wrote a long, hard piece about miscarriages in romance.

There’s been some commentary recently about “dark romance” that redeems characters with deplorable pasts. It came in part from USA Today coverage of a novel featuring a hero who was Stasi. As the author of a series that builds more and more justice into a horrible world, Bree has a good point of view and good words in response.

Deals

Renfester gets flung into 15th Century Scotland? Yes, please. True to the Highlander by Barbara Longley is 2 dollars.

The Immortal Collection by Eva García Sáenz is 99 cents. I’ll admit to being super intrigued.

Lynsay Sands’ Immortally Yours is 1.99. It’s pretty late in the Argeneau series, but that one is fun to jump into anywhere.

Over on Book Riot

Author Fulgani Kuthari dropped in to talk about Indian romance and the Desi HEA.

We seriously can’t stop talking about figure skating romances. Jessica Avery has compiled a good list (and there are a couple more in the comments).

Kristan Higgins recommended reading a romance on Valentine’s Day. I mean, I’d recommend that every day, but I get what she’s saying 😉

We’re still having a giveaway! Check it out on Instagram.

Recs!

Like most of the world, I was excited to see Black Panther this weekend. A couple years ago, an entire production filmed a super busy action flick, then turned around and took some time after wrap to make a beautiful rendition of Macbeth.

I wish this book had been published just a little before now, just so Ryan Coogler and crew might have been inclined to do something similar. Because it needs to be filmed. It was written to be the next romantic comedy.

A Princess in Theory
Alyssa Cole

If the dedication doesn’t wrap around your heart and warm it from the inside, the first paragraph will make you cackle and keep reading. You know those spam emails that are definitely not a thing anymore but still live as the most prominent type: the Nigerian Prince In Need. Well, Naledi has been getting emails from the same person from some random African country, determined that she is the betrothed of the crown prince. Ledi doesn’t have time for games; she just wants to finish grad school and move on with her career. But Thabiso is determined to find the woman whose parents absconded with her when she was only a child, setting his life completely on its side. A misapprehension at one of Ledi’s jobs leads to Thabiso becoming Jamal, just another guy who need work in New York. The two build an easy rapport as Thabiso-Jamal works his way through Naledi’s skillfully crafted emotional walls, but his efforts to reveal his true self are constantly thwarted. Time spent as a normal person is life changing for a prince, however, especially as he strives to be a better person for his would-be princess. 

From start to finish, this book is nearly perfection. Personally, I did not give this book five stars, just based on the fact that I am wary of deception between heroes and heroines, even if the deceiver has a logical reason for it (or goes along with a misplaced identity). But as a book, it has all the things you might look for in a romance: excellent supporting characters, natural personal growth, excellent worldbuilding, and a pair of people you can’t help but root for, even if you want to commit violence upon them.  

Have you put this book on preorder yet? You should. You’re going to want to read it immediately. And if you watch Black Panther first, you’ll have the lovely experience of reading with Chadwick Boseman and Lupita Nyong’o in mind. Or at least with their voices in your head.

One thing that I’ve been thinking about since reading A Princess in Theory and seeing Black Panther is Afrofuturism. There is a wealth of Afrofuturist literature about at the moment, and everything that I have read is pretty fantastic.

BUT.

I want some Afrofuturist romance. Not just Afrofuturism with a romantic element, but a story in which the central plot is multiple people falling in love and having an emotionally satisfactory ending. Have you read any? Tell me!

If you want to look at some interesting spec-fic romance by black authors who were influenced by the Afrofuturist tradition, here are some worth having a look:

Radio Silence by Alyssa Cole – Post-apocalyptic, first in a series

Chained by Elise Marion – Medieval fantasy, first in a series

To Find You by Cerece Rennie Murphy – Soulmate romance, standalone

And while it’s not out for several months, keep an eye out for Song of Blood and Stone by L. Penelope.

New and Upcoming Releases

Baby Daddy by Kendall Ryan

One and Only by Jenny Holiday

Midsummer Delights by Eloisa James

Hello Stranger by Lisa Kleypas

Best Laid Plans by Brenda Jackson

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 or just want to say hi!

Howdy, loves! I hope you’re planning to cash in on that discount candy today! (Apologies if you’re sugar free or have other dietary restrictions; I know how annoying the pink and red whirlwind gets when you’re in that situation.)

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Sponsored by Penguin Random House Audio

Love is in the air when you play an audiobook. Find your perfect match for your next galentines day book club pick with some great listening suggestions. Get started at PenguinRandomHouseAudio.com/bookclub.

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News

So it’s Romance Week at Goodreads (because of course it is). The name generator is kind of terrible (and not in that fun way) but there’s some other good stuff over there.

We’ve got more great romance rep at BuzzFeed! Let’s hope this continues to be a trend.

Passionflix now has “quickies” and let me tell you…they’re exactly what they sound like. The first one was actually written by Jodi Ellen Malpas, and you can watch the trailer here.

Librarians know where it’s at.

HAVE Y’ALL SEEN THIS?! It’s beautiful.

Check out this pretty cool thread (via Mina V. Esguerra’s very interesting #romanceclass thread) delineating the basic eras of romance.

Finally, Bree has thoughts, as usual, and they’re definitely thinking thoughts.

Deals

Tawna Fenske’s At the Heart of it is 1.99! Seriously, that cover should come with floss.

Debbie Macomber’s Dr. Texas is 1.99. If you’re looking for an entry point, it’s no worse than any other.

Looking for more time travel romance? Once Upon a Time Travel by Sariah Wilson is 2 dollars.

If you’re looking for some retellings, A Katherine Reay Collection, which includes Dear Mr. Knightley, Lizzy and Jane, and The Bronte Plot is 3.99.

Over on Book Riot

Have you tried shojo romance yet? Vernieda pulled together a nice list of complete manga romance series to try out.

We’re having a giveaway! Don’t forget to head over to our Instagram account to enter to win $500 of Penguin Clothbound classics!

This week’s When in Romance was lots of fun. The next one will be called “Trisha and Jess try to talk for the recommended amount of time instead of going long”, I promise.

And don’t forget you can always peruse our Romance page or the romance/erotica tag for the backlist of your dreams!

Recs

A Delicate Affair
Lindsay Evans

This novel is the first of a series called Decades: A Journey of African-American Romance. A group of authors are each writing a novel highlighting a specific decade in history, starting with the 1900s, the era of ragtime. In A Delicate Affair, Golden is a banjo player in a ragtime band in Washington, DC. Having moved up from further south after threat of lynching, Golden has been using his ample talent to get ahead of the curve. When he gets an offer of something better, he’s all ears. But what he’s not expecting is the beautiful Leonie, a rich Washington socialite who pursues him after seeing him play. The two have strong chemistry and quickly develop a deep emotional connection, even when Leonie constantly finds herself saying the wrong thing. But what happens when Golden isn’t sure that DC is where he belongs? This is the first novel I’ve read by Lindsay Evans, but will definitely not be the last. She has major talent not only pulling you into the story, but the place. Setting might not be a character in this like it is in some stories, but you can feel yourself in a dance hall, or churchyard, or even walking down a DC street. I can’t wait to see what happens in the rest of the decades.

(Unfortunately, there was a delay with the release of the second, but the third, Love’s Serenade by Sheryl Lister, is available for preorder! Check it out!)

So…I got so distracted by figure skating that I failed in my plan to read more figure skating romance! But my plan is to start the Red Hot Russians series (the first of which is Pairing Off), and apparently Mariana Zapata (whose work I have frequently peddled on this platform) has given us From Lukov With Love, the newest addition to our figure skating romance collection. Have you read The Winning Edge? I’m all about M/M Olympics romance! And when I’m done with those, I’ll maybe check out The Magic Broom, which is about CURLING. So there’s that.

New and Upcoming Releases

Whiskey Sharp: Unraveled by Lauren Dane

By the Book by Julia Sonneborn

Broken Beautiful Hearts by Kami Garcia

For Always: A Donovan Friends Novel by AC Arthur

Make Me (Dirty Royals) by Kaye Blue

Have I mentioned that Tempest is finally out? And that A Princess in Theory will be out in less than two weeks’ time?

That’s good for now, right? 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 or just want to say hi!