Category: Kissing Books

9 Free Romances and Some Recent Backlist

Post author By Jessica Pryde
Post date June 10, 2019

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!

Kissing Books

“Ugh. Emotions” Is Right

Post author By Jessica Pryde
Post date June 5, 2019

It may be D-Day, but there are no wars here. Unless we’re talking battle of the sexes. Or angels and demons, if you’re as hooked on Good Omens as I am.

Romance Written In Ink

Post author By Jessica Pryde
Post date June 3, 2019

Happy Pride, y’all! I live in a place where we don’t actually have Pride in June cause it’s too damn hot, but I have been enjoying all the rainbows and book recommendations on the socials.

Sponsored by The Boy Next Story and PiqueBeyond

The YA series where classic literature comes to life is back with a story inspired by Little Women! Fourteen-year-old Rory Campbell knows there’s no one better than the boy next door. She’s been in love with her neighbor Tobias since their first sandbox kiss. But Tobias is in love with her sister, Merrilee, who is dating one of Tobias’ best friends. When Rory is assigned to read Little Women for extra credit, she discovers more than she expected—both about herself and Toby. Maybe she wasn’t in love with the boy next door. . . but the boy next story.

News and Useful Links

Romance BINGO is back!

Adriana Herrera was one of the people featured in this article about the lagging nature of featuring marginalized voices in publishing, particularly discussing print romance.

#RomBkLove was absolutely amazing! It was so wonderful to be able to participate, and hoo doggy, the recommendations.

Did you hear? Even though Love’s Sweet Arrow didn’t meet their Kickstarter goal, they’ve set a date to open, and it’s soon! If you’re in the Chicagoland area, definitely drop in when they open.

Nisha Sharma and Sonali Dev talked about arranged marriage in romance novels with Bustle. This was interesting to read as I am in the middle of Ayesha At Last, which heavily features that kind of arrangement.

And here’s your reminder that Always Be My Maybe is now available to watch on Netflix (it’s so freaking delightful) and Pride and Prejudice: Atlanta is available to watch if you have Lifetime.

Deals

Have you read Wicked and the Wallflower yet? As Brazen and the Beast is set to come out at the end of next month, it’s a great time to pick it up—especially since it’s 1.99 right now. It’s the first in the Bareknuckle Bastards series and features a grumpy crimelord and the ambitious lockpick he falls in love with.

Do you like psychological thrillers? Selena Montgomery’s Never Tell is a romantic suspense featuring a criminal psychologist on the hunt for a serial killer and the journalist helping her prove it. It’s 2.99 right now.

Recs!

I’ve read a disproportionate number of books focused around tattoo artists recently, which made me want to do a little retrospective of the ones I’ve enjoyed over the years. I haven’t read a lot, but the ones I have read I’ve enjoyed. I don’t know if it’s because this is an artistic group that I am less familiar with, or just because tattooing is amazing. Maybe a bit of both.

Back Piece
LA Witt

This was probably the first book of any kind featuring a tattoo artist that I had ever read. I already had a tattoo, so I wasn’t completely unfamiliar with the process…in fact, it made me able to empathize with Daniel, the young sailor who is interested in getting the titular back piece from Colin, who is his own kind of quiet. These two young men are both flawed, in different ways, and have their own reasons for keeping secrets and keeping to themselves. It doesn’t help that one is in the military, even with the repeal of DADT. But it’s written with LA Witt’s signature heart-wrenching style, and the art is definitely its own character as the story progresses. This is the first in a series of books about Skin Deep, the tattoo parlor near a military base, so once you get through this one, you can dive into Pounding Skin and Cover Up.

Hate to Want You
Alisha Rai

This is…a very different kind of book. If you’ve been reading Kissing Books for a while, you might remember my squeals about this book. It’s the perfect kind of angsty, longing-filled story about two lovers who broke up but still got together once a year to…uh. Bang it out, shall we say. But when Livvy shows up back in their hometown, where Nicholas still lives and runs the family business—the family business his family underhandedly acquired from her family—Nicholas wants answers. And maybe more, since they both still have unresolved love-related issues with each other. It’s way better than I’m describing, I swear. And since I’m including it here, you can bet your ass there’s some sexy tattoo action. (While the second in the series,Wrong to Need You, doesn’t feature sexy tattoo action, Livvy’s boss/friend Gabe is the lead in Hurts to Love You, and there is a very small amount of talk about tattoos. Mostly his.)

Shadows You Left
Jude Sierra and Taylor Brooke

This is a recent release, and it was an amazing angsty frustration-fest, just what I needed after a long line of (also amazing) romcoms. It’s funny, I had just been talking to someone about how I loved romcoms, but also loved that heartbreaking, angsty kind of romance that made you want to hug people while simultaneously punching them in the face until they got their shit together. And then lo and behold, Erik and River fall into my lap, with their dragons and bad life choices and intense, intense love for each other. Both of these boys have to find themselves as much as they find each other, and on the way, they get some hard life truths. At least they have amazing friends to help them get there.

New Ink On Life
Jennie Davids

This is Jennie Davids’ debut novel, and it does not disappoint at all. Her heroines, MJ and Cassie, are at different stages of their lives as tattoo artists. MJ is a veteran who runs her own shop—an all-female roster catering primarily to women and nonbinary clients—and Cassie is an apprentice looking to complete her training. Having studied under MJ’s former mentor, Cassie wants to finish the job with the next best thing, now that she’s gone. MJ doesn’t really trust new blood easily, having been severely betrayed by her former partner, but she’s willing to take Cassie on. Doesn’t mean she has to like her.

I am curious about other books featuring tattoo artists and the people they tattoo…and love, eventually. What have you read and enjoyed?

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!

Kissing Books

Teachers In Love

Post author By Jessica Pryde
Post date May 29, 2019

Happy Thursday, folks. I hope, if you live in the States that you had a meaningful holiday weekend, and also maybe got some reading done. Let’s have a quick rundown of what’s been going on.

Latinx Rep Turned to Fifteen

Post author By Jessica Pryde
Post date May 23, 2019

Hi there, readers! It’s Thursday, and I’ll tell you, it’s been a week (if you follow me on Twitter you know what I’m talking about.) But I’m back from a great Book Lovers Con (even though my books aren’t, just yet) and I am happy to be surrounded by my own books once again.

“Kissing Books” is sponsored by Flatiron Books.

From the award-winning author of If I Was Your Girl, Meredith Russo, comes a heart-wrenching and universal story of identity, first love, and fate. Six years of birthdays reveal Eric and Morgan’s destiny as they come together, drift apart, fall in love, and discover who they’re meant to be—and if they’re meant to be together.

Over on Book Riot

So many single parents and OMG Sil, so much reading I have to do. Darn it!

Any book is a beach book if you’re reading it on the book, but I definitely agree with the recommendations in this list (the one’s I’ve read anyway). Not all of them are romance, but it’s always good to branch out.

I have also read very few of the books on this list, but I definitely recommend trying out some of the historicals set in unusual situations that I’ve read, like The Suffragette Scandal and Agnes Moor’s Wild Knight.

I’ve tried a couple different book subscription boxes, and I’ve realized that they’re just not for me. But if you’re like D.R., you might enjoy this one.

A couple of these are YA, but this is definitely a solid list of enemies-to-lovers romances for you to check out.

I took this quiz and it told me to read a book I legit considered starting two days ago (hint: it was Tamsen Parker’s If I Loved You Less) and I am actually going to take its advice.

Deals

cover of Listen to Me by Kristen Proby If you haven’t tried Kristen Proby’s Fusion series, I would definitely recommend trying Listen to Me, which is 1.99 right now. Even as late as it came out in my romance-reading career, this was the first book I looked at and realized…hey, I do like low-angst, like-you-from-the-start kind of romances. I’ve fallen behind in the series, but it’s definitely one I’d love to pick back up someday.

I’ll always mention The Duchess Deal when it’s on sale. It’s 1.99 right now, and since The Wallflower Wager comes out later this summer, it’s a great time to start the trilogy.

New and Upcoming Books

American Fairytale
Adriana Herrera

If you’ve read American Dreamer, it should be no surprise to you that I am just ready to gush about this book. It’s the second in the series, and you definitely don’t have to have read the first one (but you should, anyway, because it’s great). As Adriana herself puts it, this is her take on the billionaire romance with the Latinx rep turned to fifteen.

After a Very Hot encounter at a gala (don’t listen to chapter one waiting in the school pick-up line) Milo and Tom encounter each other again in a very unexpected place: the organization for survivors where Milo works. Tom has made an incredibly large endowment (which happened before the two met) that will make amazing changes for the organization. With Milo being the point person for the project, he and Tom will meet regularly…which is totally not necessary but Tom wants to be around him as much as possible. The two have such obvious chemistry that it hurts when they’re not together, but they’re also in such a position that it’s completely understandable why they shouldn’t move forward with their relationship. Until they do, of course.

This is an amazing effing book, y’all. Also, there are great conversations about privilege and passing, among other fun things around the Latinx and LGBTQ+ communities. Read it immediately.

Ice Cream Lover
Jackie Lau

I know I just talked about Ultimate Pi Day Party, but I couldn’t help picking this one up when I was stuck on a plane in Denver. We met Chloe in Pi Day, when she’s establishing her ice cream shop and making friends with Sarah. Now, she’s chugging along, and can’t help but notice Drew, the guy who orders black coffee when he brings his niece in for ice cream. He doesn’t like ice cream and she just can’t change his mind. Drew, who used to love ice cream, hasn’t been able to stomach it since his runaway bride wrote a very silly-sounding book about inner ice cream sandwiches. It left a mark on him, and he’s got a lot to work through. But Drew and Chloe have obvious chemistry, and it’s fun to watch Oscar the Grouch and and Rainbow Sparkle fall in love.

Others I’m excited for:

cover of Kitten by Jack Harbon Kitten by Jack Harbon
End Transmission by Robin Bachar (I have never actually read any of her books before, but someone mentioned the cover model looked like sci-fi-AOC and I can’t unsee it. Also the first words of the blurb are “Firefly meets James Bond” and hello sold.)
Summer by the Tides by Denise Hunter (possibly because I looked at that cover every day in NOLA; it was on the elevator, it was on my keycard, it was definitely subliminal)
To Love a Prince by Nana Malone
Star-Crossed by Minnie Darke
To Tame a Wild Cowboy by Lori Wilde
Starfish by Lisa Becker

Reading anything new this weekend?

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!

Kissing Books

Romances For Roe Is Happening

Post author By Jessica Pryde
Post date May 20, 2019

Hey, folks, it’s Monday and I’m back in your inbox again as usual. I had a great time at BLC, but as you might remember me mentioning…I need a nap.

Sponsored by Somewhere Only We Know from Maurene Goo and Fierce Reads

“The perfect rom-com for dreamy spring afternoons.” —Bustle Sparks fly between a K pop starlet and a tabloid reporter in this heartwarming rom-com from Maurene Goo. 10:00 PM.: Lucky is a huge K-pop star who just performed her hit song to thousands of adoring fans. She’s tired but dying for a hamburger. 11:00 PM: Jack sneaks into a fancy hotel on assignment for his tabloid job. He runs into a cute girl wearing slippers — a girl who is single-mindedly determined to find a hamburger. 12:00 AM.: Nothing will ever be the same.

News and Useful Links

After the mess in Alabama (and Georgia, and Ohio, and Missouri, and…) this past week, there was a lot of conversation among romance writers about romances with abortions. I have read a couple in which the lead has had one at some point in their life, but only a couple. The conversation itself brought us all to the realization that there are a very small number (comparatively speaking) of romances in which it’s not an aspect of someone’s life that villainizes them, especially in traditional publishing. Jackie Lau, who is one of the authors of one of the said books featuring a protagonist who has had an abortion, had some interesting things to say about what it might have been like for her if she had chosen to go the traditional route.

All of this to say, Jackie Barbosa is pulling together a Romances for Roe charity anthology and I’m very much looking forward to it.

#RomBkLove is still going on and this is a great post about fat rep in romance.

Adriana Herrera has a new book set in Ethiopia coming out and is it here yet?

There is casting news about the movie adaptation of The Hating Game, if you forgot (okay, I’m the one who forgot) the film had been optioned.

If you like Libro.fm as an alternative to audible etc, check out Kiss Club, which will allow you to buy one or more of the available romance audiobooks for 3.99 and part of that will go to the indie bookstore of your choice. (Also, bonus: you can join a la carte so you don’t end up wasting a monthly membership fee.)

Check out this NPR review of Sonali Dev’s Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors, and then read the book because gender-swapped Pride and Prejudice thanks.

Speaking of Avon (were we speaking of Avon? I dunno), We’ve got a Save the Date for KissCon 2020! (Honestly, I think the biggest setback for this year’s KissCon was that I didn’t know it was happening until a month before. That’s a bit short notice to plan a weekend trip to Chicago.)

Deals

The nice thing about awkwardly wandering through a giant ballroom full of people trying to sell their books is that the ones who themselves are not awkward (and honestly, the ones who are and are just good at working around it) have ways to pitch their books to the people who end up awkwardly making eye contact with them. (I’m not speaking from experience; no sirree, I do not know what this is like at all.) While these authors were selling print copies, most of them have their books available online, so here’s KB Deals – BLC style.

cover of unlawful desires by sassy sinclair While she usually writes legal thrillers under the name Pamela Samuels Young, Sassy Sinclair writes sexy legal thrillers, still with all the legal and the thirll, but also with the sexy. Unlawful Desires is the first in her Lawyers in Lust series, and it’s 99 cents right now! If you want the two books that are currently out, you can get them both for less than 6 dollars.

Sienna Snow’s Celebrity is FREE right now, and this one also features a lawyer. But she is the wife of a judge who used to keep her a secret, and now he wants to get back into her good graces. I haven’t read this book yet, and the conversation is mixed. But I look forward to giving this one a try.

cover of delicious temptation by sabrina sol Or if you’re tired of lawyers and the law, check out Delicious Temptation by Sabrina Sol, which features a young woman trying to help her parents with the family Mexican bakery. An old friend—apparently cast off in part because of his bad-boy ways?—comes back into town, and there’s chemistry and lusting involved, I guess.

Y’all. I did not set out to make this a completely alliterative deals section, but I’ll take it.

(Also, my y’alls, which you all know to be effusive and overused, have just gotten so much more so here in New Orleans.)

Recs

I swear, all I’ve been doing this weekend is eat, so I might as well talk about a few of the books that made me hungry, in their own ways.

The Ultimate Pi Day Party
Jackie Lau

I mentioned this book when it came out a long time ago, but I think it’s always worth mentioning a wonderful book multiple times. It starts just before Valentine’s Day, when Josh, the CEO of a local app development company, wanders into Happy as Pie, Sarah’s shop. After having some of the most delightful pie of the sweet and savory kind, Josh comes up with a way to lure his estranged father—a math nerd extraordinaire—to visit him in Toronto and speak to him again: the ultimate Pi Day party, complete with a total smorgasbord of pies. He and Sarah have to meet to figure it all out, but there’s also a chemistry between them. Has been since they met. What can they do about that, while also maintaining their professional relationship?

Eat, that’s what they can do.

Or at least it feels like it. There’s so much hungrifying stuff in the pages of this book, and it makes it all the better for it. The pies are scrumptious (yes, scrumptious!) and there’s plenty of other food to drool over while you’re reading. Which isn’t great if you’re trapped on a two hour flight with pretzels and cookies that you can’t eat because flour. And then of course there’s the people, who both have strong but complicated relationships with their families, particularly their parents. The resolution of the story has more than one resolution, which is great, and more food, which is also great. I can’t wait for Ice Cream Lover, which is out…very very soon! Tomorrow!

Team Phison Forever
Chace Verity

This book isn’t quite a romance, as the established couple is not completely the focus so much as one of them dealing with their shit—it follows the adorable romance novella Team Phison, which you should definitely read if you haven’t. Tyson and Phil (Team Phison) are chugging along happily after three years together, and Tyson is planning on proposing. But before he does, he discovers he has a half-sister, and falls into some serious despair about the word family. Maybe he and Phil are fine as they are, because families are toxic. Why would he want to deal with that again? This is a darling book with much more serious themes and some serious coping mechanisms—including food. That doesn’t stop me from being hungry when I read about the food that is often being used to deal with depression, anxiety, or some other form of sadness.

The Bride Test
Helen Hoang

If you haven’t picked this one up yet, or if you fear the hype, I will use the food to tempt you. Esme is a young Vietnamese woman who has come to the United States to potentially marry Khai. While she lives with Khai, she also works for his mother at her restaurant. They have a communication barrier—in more ways than one—but Esme is willing to work through it, because she actually likes Khai, even though she doesn’t understand him. She also makes and eats a lot of food (which is hilarious because Khai is very much a protein bar kind of dude). The food in this book also has a life of its own, and you can smell the fish oil and taste the noodles whether you’re in Khai’s house or a restaurant or a wedding. It’s all very delicious.

Pride Prejudice and Other Flavors cover image I’ve heard tell that the only way to read Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors is with a very large order of Indian food to satisfy your cravings; I’ll let you know if that’s true when I (hopefully) finish it on my travels back from New Orleans.

What are your favorite hungry books?

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!

Kissing Books

Hello From Book Lovers Con!

Post author By Jessica Pryde
Post date May 15, 2019

Hey, guess what? As you’re reading this, I’m either on a plane or hanging out with way too many people in New Orleans. By the time you read Monday’s newsletter, I will be in serious need of a nap! But it’s Book Lovers Con, and I’m happy to hang out with a bunch of my fellow romance lovers for a bit.

Sponsored by Happy Messy Scary Love and PiqueBeyond

Olivia’s only plans for summer are to binge-watch horror movies and chat with her online friend, Elm. Olivia doesn’t know much about Elm, other than his age and their mutual love of horror films, but when he suggests they exchange pictures, Olivia learns something new: Elm is cute. In a moment of panic, assuming they will never meet in real life, she sends a photo of her gorgeous friend Katie. Things are about to get even more complicated when Olivia’s parents send her to the Catskills, and she runs into the one person she never thought she would see.

Over on Book Riot

Let’s just get this out of the way: one of our baby rioters has recently discovered Jasmine Guillory, and that is awesome. But she is not as familiar with the genre as many of us, and missed out on doing some very useful (and exceedingly delightful) research into the history of black women, oral sex, and consent in romance. There was a lot of response to it (mostly on Twitter). And honestly, maybe I’ll get Trisha to offer a romance in-service to contributors, just in case.

Speaking of Trisha, I am legitimately terrible at self-promotion, which is the only thing I can think of that can explain how I forget to share the week’s episode of When In Romance basically every time. Last week’s, that is.

Deals

There are times when you just have to take an author’s word as a reader, and I tend to usually do that with whatever Talia Hibbert is reading. So when I happened across a raving review of Rebel Carter’s Heart and Hand a couple weeks ago, I went immediately in search of it….only to find no trace of it. Well, I don’t know when to leave well enough alone so I…might have stalked her Twitter to see if I could find out where this masterpiece had gone. Turns out, the author was republishing it with a new press, and a new cover (with a Talia Hibbert blurb!) and it is now once again available, for 3.99. What’s it about, you ask? Oh, your typical MMF interracial mail-order bride frontier romance. Because who doesn’t want that?

(Also, this is the second book I’ve picked up in two weeks that feels like it started out as Stucky+1 fanfiction…which is NOT A BAD THING AT ALL.)

And if you think you’ve read all the Beverly Jenkins (which…who of us can claim that?) Check out the novellas that have only recently been released as standalones, both of which are 1.99. Hawaii Magic involves a workaholic and a pilot, and You Sang to Me gives us a songbird and a producer. Both were in anthologies before, but never published on their own.

New Books!

I don’t read a lot of mystery, but when they’re written by my favorite witticists of romance, I will take them. This time, it’s a space-based sci-fi mystery starring a middle-aged black detective and a wonderful, lavender, sentient-haired alien named Tris.

In GL Carriger’s The 5th Gender, Tris is the only one of his kind on the space station where he works. He has been exiled from his planet, and rarely encounters other Galoi. But when a Galoi ship approaches the space station in need of a criminal investigator, Tris joins Drey on board in order to help with any cultural mishaps that might occur—especially since the Galoi don’t even have a word for murder. Since Tris is basically hopelessly in love with Drey—and what? it might even be mutual?—Tris is happy to spend the time with him, even as he’s looked past or through by his own people. But how does someone from a planet with no crime turn up dead?

This is a fun, funny, sexy book, and I’m so happy it exists. It hits you in the feels, makes you laugh and cry, and makes you think about matters of family, kin, and the heart. Also I’ll include that it does discuss unwanted pregnancy, which is a particularly touchy topic right now.

If you want something else fun, funny, and sexy, that also might touch upon some nerve endings, I’ll just reiterate that Red, White, and Royal Blue (which I mentioned on Monday but hadn’t yet finished) is effing delightful. Alex Claremont-Diaz, the brilliant, outspoken, half-Mexican son of the first female president of the US who also…might not be straight? …provides his point of view in this New Adult romance in which said FSOTUS goes from hate to respect to friendship to oh-shit-I’m-in-love in five hundred very fast pages. (Seriously, I read it in…three? sittings?) The most annoying thing about reading the debut of an amazing author two days before it releases? Not even knowing when their next book is coming out! How do I already have no Casey McQuiston books to read?

Other books I’m looking forward to reading soon:

Why We Fight by TJ Klune
Team Phison Forever by Chace Verity
The Key to Happily Ever After by Tif Marcelo
The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren
Crooked Rock Braves by Pamela Sanderson
Play It By Ear by Tara Frejas

What are you reading this week? Will we see you at BLC? 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, book recs, or just want to say hi!

Kissing Books

Royals In Situations

Post author By Jessica Pryde
Post date May 13, 2019

Happy Monday, folks. What does your week look like? Mine involves frantic scrambling as I make sure I’m ready for Book Lovers Con later in the week—also, I happened to look up at Legends of Tomorrow, which I have on in the background, and there is definitely a Romanti-Con 2019 happening. How timely!

Sponsored by Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me by Mariko Tamaki and Rosemary Valero-O’Connell, and Fierce Reads

Laura Dean, was Frederica Riley’s dream girl: charming, confident, and SO cute. There’s just one problem: Laura Dean is maybe not the greatest girlfriend. Reeling from her latest break up, Freddy’s best friend, Doodle, introduces her to the Seek-Her, a mysterious medium, who leaves Freddy some cryptic parting words: break up with her. But Laura Dean keeps coming back, and as their relationship spirals further out of her control, Freddy has to wonder if it’s really Laura Dean that’s the problem. Maybe it’s Freddy, who is rapidly losing her friends, including Doodle, who needs her now more than ever.

News and Useful Links

Want to know what Helen Hoang’s been reading recently?

There’s been a lot of talk about this article and Danielle Steel, and I honestly don’t know where I stand. I do acknowledge that she has done something amazing and continues to kill it when it comes to romance. But this lifestyle can’t be healthy. Focus is awesome. So is sleep. But everyone figures out what they’re doing and what their limits are, and she’s obviously figured out hers.

There’s lots to say about romance, and there are a lot of different kinds of people writing about it. Check out #RomBkBlog and the call to support and boost romance bloggers.

Anna Zabo shared their favorite nonbinary romance authors in this list. I have some reading to do, as usual.

Have your friends all been sharing that article about how men have no friends? Well, in romance, women don’t always have to bear the burden. Here’s a great article about guys and their friends.

INTERCEPTED!!!!

And don’t forget to regularly check in on #RomBkLove and #RubOneOutBingo!

Deals

Adriana Herrera’s American Fairytale comes out very soon, which means it’s time to read the first in the series, American Dreamer! (If you haven’t already read it.) It’s 4.99, which is high for some readers, but totally worth it. There is so much food, and passion, and love, that you just want more only to hang out with these people. And also salivate.

Have you ever read a romance series in episodes? I’m not talking about connected novellas, either. These are all 200+ page novels telling episodic stories based on a couple’s existence. Cole McCade’s Criminal Intentions is also a crime series, and Malcolm and Seong-Jae are at the middle of them. There are…a lot of them, already, so you might as well start now!

Recs!

We’ve all been talking about the royal family thanks to a certain young Archie, so I figured now was a good time to talk royals! It doesn’t hurt that we’ve had some new additions to the abundance of royals from all time periods and places we’ve been acquiring for the last several decades.

You know what are my favorites, though? When royals find themselves in Situations.

My favorite Situations? Oh, let’s see:

Fake Engagement – Obviously, the most recent example of this is A Prince on Paper by Alyssa Cole, which I adored. Nya and Prince Johan have been skirting around each other for quite some time, until they are thrown together at the wedding celebration of mutual friends (A Princess in Theory’s Naledi and Thabiso). There, they find themselves in A Situation. If Nya accepts Johan’s accidental proposal of marriage, they can both help some of the related situations they’ve got to deal with. It’s just…so delightful. (Also delightful? The rest of the Reluctant Royals series. Both novels and the supporting novellas.)

But if you want to go back a little further, there’s also Talia Hibbert’s The Princess Trap, in which a similarly not-inheriting prince makes a deal for a fake engagement and trip to his home. But these two have a very different kind of relationship, and Cherry is a very different kind of fake fiancee than Nya. This one has a content warning at the beginning that you should check out.

Pretend Bros – Okay, so there’s only one of these that I can think of, but if you know about any, please let me know. Because Red, White, and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston is just…delightful. And I need more like it. Here, we’ve got Alex, the college-aged First Son living in the White House while he goes to Georgetown. He’s Draco Malfoy-level obsessed with hating Henry, the Prince of Wales, and it all comes to a head at Henry’s brother’s wedding. The solution their People agree on? They pretend they’ve been best friends forever and were just horsing around. But then they…might actually have become friends? And maybe…something else?

Hiding in Plain Sight – Sometimes, princesses seem to need to go on the run. This could be in part because their whole family has to go into exile. A delightful execution of this need is in How to Tame Your Duke by Juliana Gray. Sophie is a princess in disguise, working as a tutor in a duke’s household. There’s some Beauty and the Beast vibe, and secret liaisons, and some super witty, fun writing.

Want to go to a different place and time? There’s also Butterfly Swords, in which a princess needs out of an arranged marriage and accepts the help of a white traveler when her first plan goes wrong. It’s a road trip romance, with a princess and a soldier, and is also a lot about family, communication, and duty. All of the Tang Dynasty books are just great, and this is the perfect place to start with Jeannie Lin if you haven’t yet.

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, book recs, or just want to say hi!

Kissing Books

Win a Waterproof Paperwhite, Because There are Too Many Books

Post author By Jessica Pryde
Post date May 8, 2019

This is the first full week of May, and holy forking shirtballs, this is a good month for books. I don’t even understand how all of these books are coming out at the same time. If the film industry understood that the only movie that would really come out during Avengers weekend was Avengers, the book industry knows that we need to build some kind of time-extension machine so that only one book comes out per week. Because damn. This week.

Sponsored by The Way You Make Me Feel from Maurene Goo and Fierce Reads

An NPR Best Book of 2018 Clara Shin lives for pranks and disruption. When she takes one joke too far, her dad sentences her to a summer working on his food truck alongside her uptight classmate, Rose Carver. Not the carefree summer Clara had imagined. But maybe Rose isn’t so bad. Maybe the boy crushing on her is pretty cute. Maybe Clara actually feels invested in her dad’s business. What if taking this summer seriously means that Clara has to leave her old self behind? “It’s sexy, it’s silly, and it’s super-sweet without being saccharine.” —Bustle

Over on Book Riot

This list might make you grumpy, because none of these books are out yet, but this is a promising list of baseball romance to try at the height of the season.

Dana was busy, and also wrote about some awesome friendships in romance. Who are your faves?

You have all month to enter this giveaway for a waterproof Kindle Paperwhite, but might as well enter now, right?

Looking to start a book blog? Here are some tips.

Deals

TJ Klune’s books are basically never on sale, so it’s definitely time to celebrate that two of them are! Tell Me It’s Real, the first book in the At First Sight series, is 1.99, and The Queen and the Homo Jock King, the second, is 99 cents. Until You, the third, is 4.31, so technically not too bad. The fourth, Why We Fight, comes out next week, so now’s definitely a good time to catch up.

Did you know you could get the mass market paperback of Can’t Escape Love now? If you’re working on a print collection of The Reluctant Royals, both novellas are available to fulfill that dream. So go for it! It’s 4.99 (as is Once Ghosted, Twice Shy, if you haven’t gotten that one yet).

Recs

Holy crap, this week. Let’s talk about some of the books out this week.

The Bride Test
Helen Hoang

Even if you haven’t yet picked up The Kiss Quotient, you need to get this one right away. It’s a devourable little book with almost more heart packed into it than the average person can stand. Esme, who has lived as a very poor person in Vietnam, meets Khai’s mother in the bathroom where she is cleaning, and is surprised by her proposal: come to California for the summer, and maybe marry her son. Esme is hesitant, but in the end can’t say no. She doubts she’ll want to marry the woman’s handsome son, but she’ll at least be able to make some money, and maybe find her father, an American who went back to the states before she was born.

When she meets Khai, though, there is a disconnect between them. Khai is autistic, and doesn’t process emotions or communication the same way Esme does. This leads to some interesting interactions, especially as they get to know each other. But Khai doesn’t think he has the ability to love, so things get much more complicated than they need to be, very fast.

This is a beautiful book, a beautiful story, and there’s a sobworthy author’s note at the end.

Reverb
Anna Zabo

This wraps up Anna’s Twisted Wishes series, and wow. All the subtle ways it gets you.

Mish, the last standing single person in the band Twisted Wishes, has to deal with a lot of unwanted attention. This comes to a head when she sprains her wrist after a guy comes at her with a pair of scissors. (She punches him, but swears the sprain is actually from falling wrong afterward.) The band thinks it’s time to bring in personal security, especially after concluding that she might have a stalker. David, a trans man, takes to the band immediately, but is hesitant to form relationships with the job. But damn, is he attracted to Mish. Not just for sex, though. He could see something more happening with her. But getting involved with the person you are protecting could make him sloppy. We’ve all seen The Bodyguard. (By the way: the stage musical? Terrible book, great song placement. And I like the replacement of the country bar with karaoke. The end.)

Anna is yet another master of their craft, and they have built such an insular family, I am sad to leave them behind. Maybe they’ll consider revisiting Twisted Wishes with a novella or two.

And then there’s all the ones I am itching to read (Seriously. Publishing. Take a break.)

Rogue Ever After (By ALL THE PEOPLE)
Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors by Sonali Dev
I Think I Might (Love You) by Christina C. Jones
Proper English by KJ Charles
Hot to the Touch by Jaci Burton (I have been watching a LOT of 9-1-1 on Fox and am very eager to read this book)
Tightrope by Amanda Quick
Her Royal Highness by Rachel Hawkins

Like, seriously? You do this on the FIRST TUESDAY OF MAY? Can you even imagine what the rest of the month looks like?

What are you reading this weekend? 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, book recs, or just want to say hi!

Kissing Books

Celebrate #RomBkLove (and Other May Fun!)

Post author By Jessica Pryde
Post date May 6, 2019

Happy Monday! I’ve got some news and some follow-up to last week’s Monday newsletter.

Sponsored by Somewhere Only We Know from Maurene Goo and Fierce Reads

News and Useful Links

Congrats to Golden Heart finalist Valen Cox, the first recipient of the Beverly Jenkins Diverse Voices Sponsorship, which covers the necessary funds for attendance at this year’s RWA conference and a one-on-one with a member of the Avon editorial team. While the sponsorship is named for Beverly Jenkins (as well it should be), it is a complete project of Avon Books.

Did you see? Suleikha Snyder is writing “bonkers romantic suspense” for Sourcebooks Casa. I’m down. But seriously, is it 2021 yet?

I had to read a different Book Riot newsletter to come across this list and see ya, I’m going to be busy for…a while.

As I mentioned last week, it’s #RomBkLove, with daily prompts (mostly on Twitter) about inclusive romance. I have added so many books to my TBR, and it’s only been a week.

You know what else it is? It’s National Masturbation Month! Bawdy Bookworms is hosting #RubOneOutBingo, collaborating with 19+ romance authors, sexperts, and romance book bloggers to encourage romance readers to try their hand at something new. (Hah. Hah.)

Do you have a favorite “there’s only one bed” book? Here are a few to check out!

The Bride Test is out tomorrow, and Helen Hoang had a chat with NBR. Get ready for the tears, and then get ready for more of those tears when you actually read the book because oh man.

OH MY GOD THIS ILLUSTRATION. (Have you read A Prince on Paper yet?)

And also: Jasmine speaks the truth.

Deals

With the newest, latest, last book in Talia Hibbert’s Ravenswood series out, now is a good time to start at the beginning (if you haven’t been listening to me, or somehow missed my gushing in previous Kissing Books). A Girl Like Her is 2.99 right now, and I recommend you just…go ahead and buy it all because you’ll want to marathon the whole thing. This one starts with a grump who gets lured out of her comics-filled apartment by the food her new neighbor makes. It’s good food. And he’s a good neighbor 😉

Looking for a big anthology that will introduce you to a bunch of authors? Check out the Crossroads anthology, featuring almost 2000 pages by Savannah J. Frierson, Aliyah Burke, LaVerne Thompson, and a bunch more. It’s got stories in all kinds of subgenres, and is 2.99 for 21 of them.

Recs!

Last week, I gushed about The Rose, my third Tiffany Reisz book and my first in a long time that centered mythology. I wondered aloud about other romances featuring gods and myths (because we’ve all read plenty that weren’t romantic at all, or if they were, they didn’t end well). Well, I found a few!

A Touch of Greek
Tina Folsom

This book is definitely much more fun than The Rose. Here, we’ve got a scorned god in need of a lesson gets tossed into the human world to get his act together and the human woman who allows him to get there. Tina Folsom’s writing is fun and funny, and can make books featuring tropes that I don’t expect to enjoy…enjoyable.

Making Love by Aidan Wayne and Crazy Cupid Love by Amanda Heger

These are both books featuring Cupids, which I’ve discovered is actually not an infrequent occurrence in romance. These two stand out in particular, not just because they’re pretty recent, but also because they feature Cupids as the people falling in love, instead of creating love between others or acting as secondary characters in a larger series.

How to Reprimand Your Rock Star
Mina Vaughn

I’m including this here because the heroine has some kind of oracular powers that are not really explored as much as they could be—though maybe that changes in later books, I dunno. What really drew me to this book was the characters: a college athlete and the rockstar who wants her to tie him up. Seriously, y’all. This book. And there’s some kind of magic involved.

Have you read any of these? I’d love to see an approach or two to this kind of thing from authors of color and maybe some more queer authors (or both!). Do you have any favorites?

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, book recs, or just want to say hi!