In the Club 01/27/21

I give you this blurb from April 2020 as proof of my When In Romance fandom: “I was in theeeee worst reading slump for weeks and decided I’d try some gothic fiction with a romance at its core; I’m still newish to the romance game, so thanks once again to Trisha and Jess from When in Romance for the inspo. The Widow of Rose House by Diana Biller is the book that not only snapped me out of the slump, but keep the reading well past my bedtime. Gilded Age New York, a gothic mansion, a ruined widow with a tragic past, and a sexy nerd type who loves consent, sexy times, and science in equal, passionate measure. Oh and some ghosts, maybe? What a remedy! Read this now.” (tw: domestic violence)

Book Club Bonus: There is plenty to talk about with respect to Alva and how many hoops she (and any woman from that time period) has to go through to live life on her terms. But! Please also talk about how awesome it is to see such explicit requests for consent in sexy times scenes! It was so refreshing, as is how open and communicative Sam is so consistently.

This is the second book in Sonali Dev’s The Rajes series of Austen rom-com remixes. Chef Ashna Raje is not okay; she’s struggling to run the failing restaurant that was her father’s legacy and is desperate to prove to her estranged mother that she knows what’s best for her own life. When she gets a last-minute offer to be on a celebrity cooking show, Ashna agrees to be on it mostly to avoid having to see her mother, but also because winning the competition means a giant cash prize that could turn her restaurant troubles right around. But plot twist!! The sexy retired pro soccer player she’s paired with is the former love of her life, the one who ghosted her at the lowest point in her life. He has reasons of his own for wanting to be on the show, and he remembers the end of their relationship quite differently. Is this partnership a recipe for disaster, or one for…persuasion? You don’t need to read the series in order, but I do very highly recommend Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors! (tw: suicide, sexual assault; descriptions aren’t extremely graphic, but may still be much for some)

Book Club Bonus: Sonali Dev’s books are hilarious and fun, but they tackle some heavy issues (see trigger warnings above). Both Ashna and her mother have made decisions about the way they move in the world that are easy to judge if you don’t examine them through the lens of trauma. Why is Ashna so attached to the restaurant, and why does she idealize her father? What would you have done in her mother’s shoes? This is such a good one to unpack.

April is a geologist who writes fan fiction of her favorite show, Gods at the Gates, and cosplays in her free time. She’s always kept her “real life” separate from her fandom, but she decides to be more open about it when she gets a new job. When she posts her latest costume creation on Twitter, a plus-size take on Lavinia, it goes viral. Then the star of the show, Marcus, surprised everyone by first defending her from fatphobic trolls online and then asking her out on a date IRL. It’s on that date that Marcus—a secret fanfic writer who goes by Book!AeneasWouldNever online—realizes that April is his longtime online friend. Eek! This part I had to rip from the publisher copy: “With love and Marcus’s career on the line, can the two of them stop hiding once and for all, or will a match made in fandom end up prematurely cancelled?” (tw: fat shaming—but it’s not the whole point of the book, know what I mean?)

Book Club Bonus: We’ve recently seem some progress in the body positivity movement, and with that some moves in fat positivity, too. But wow, is there still a long ways to go. Was I jazzed when Ashley Graham became the first plus size model to book a Sports Illustrated cover? F*ck yes! Am I also tired of *only* seeing plus size bodies with those hourglass proportions in content that alleges fat positivity? Also yes. Discuss fat representation in media and in this book.

This third book in the Twisted Wishes series is one I keep meaning to read, and I remember that every time Trisha gives it a shout out on the show. Bass player Mish Sullivan is a rockstar goddess who can fend for herself, thankyouverymuch. But when a stalker gets too close and puts her in the hospital, Mish finds herself stuck with a bodyguard she doesn’t need or want. That bodyguard is David, a badass, ex-army martial arts expert who feels an instant attraction to this person he’s supposed to protect. Neither of them can deny the attraction and whoops! They wind up in bed together (again and again and again). But when the stalker up his game, David will have to choose—lover or bodyguard?

Book Club Bonus: Mish is cis femme and David is trans masc, and that’s why I think this makes such a great book club book: not because it has a trans character (because that should just be normal), but because it centers trans joy. As Zabo said themselves, “…people aren’t only their gender—even cis people. It’s an aspect of their lives, sure, and maybe a big one, but at a certain point, you’re just yourself. You’re the sum of all the things about you, and then some.” Discuss how representation is more than just seeing yourself on the page; it’s also about the quality and diversity of that representation, like in this lovely HEA.