Not Another One

Top of the week, fellow romance readers! I hope this Monday morning finds you well. Mondays are really a hit or miss for me. Sometimes, I wake up very much ‘the hills are alive with the sound of music’ a la Maria. Others I wake up like Garfield, detesting every second of the day. It’s always a dice roll how it will turn out. At least the week starts off with a surprise of sorts amirite? 

One particular challenge I faced over these last few weeks was getting the teenager back into the routine of going to school. You’d think only have one week wouldn’t throw us completely off track, and that he would have dived right back into it ready to count down the days to summer break. 

You’d think wrong. 

And, even if we had gotten back into our routine, it would go right back out the window, since this last weekend was a four day one for him. At least it’s the last for the school year so it should be steady from here on out. 

Still, send well wishes my way. 

In Romance News

Yet another ‘hot take’ article made its way around the Internet and came within our orbital pull. The one was about one woman’s journey into writing a ‘horny’ book about females tailored for women just like her. Fictional women who are empowered by sex and their expressions of lust. It also touched on how much of a shortage there was for books like that in the publishing market. 

*slow blink*

Because you know it’s not like there’s a genre that matches that already. 

Unsurprisingly, it didn’t set well with a majority of Romancelandia. It came across as yet another attack on the genre. The piece came off as wanting to be edgy and discussed wanting to have a literary safe space for women who may be more amorous than others, but it fell on angry ears. And with good reason. The initial reaction that I and many other romance readers had can be summed up by this image that was created by Ally Only Reads. 

In one exceedingly small defense of the article, it doesn’t outright pooh-pooh romance. The same can’t be said for other articles that come out on this topic. But, that doesn’t mean I’m giving it credit. This is because it doesn’t even acknowledge romance or erotica, which, based on the description, is what her novel would be classified as. It’s almost more insulting to not even acknowledge the genre you describe as trying to pioneer.

I’m all for wanting to write a book that speaks to your heart that you weren’t finding. If the options out there aren’t horny enough for you, go forth and pound the keyboards to write one that fits all your kinks. But don’t act like it’s something that is brand spanking (talk about kinky) new. It’s like deciding to put a brand new topping on cheesecake and then claiming that you’re the creator of cheesecake.. 

No, you’re not. You didn’t discover anything new. Yes, you put your own spin on a base that was already there and (ideally) made it uniquely you. But that is not the same as creating it or making it new. 

As per usual, I’m not linking to it here, the reason being that while it’s slightly better than other articles in that vein, it is still a garbage take. 

And also in a bit of maybe not surprising but still heart breaking news, Regé-Jean Page will not be joining the second season of Bridgerton. While we should be expecting the focus to have been off the Bassets, we still expected both of them to be around. Daphne, as a natural Bridgerton, will still be there. Optimistic me is hoping that he will at the very least do a cameo for the Pall Mall scene…which better be in there. *nerd glare*

From Book Riot and Around the Web

Looking to curl up with some steamy vampire reads? Silvana has got your back…or neck, if you prefer, on that.

Easter may have been yesterday, but you can still enjoy the sweets and books recommended here! Even better? Today is also Half-off Candy Day: The Bunny Edition!

For Outlander fans, news broke out that the new book has finally been finished. Here is a quick article for all that is known about it so far.

New Releases & Deals

Here are some of the highly anticipated new releases hitting the shelves this week. 

The Intimacy Experiment by Rosie Danan

Life’s too Short by Abby Jimenez

Twice Shy by Sarah Hogle

To Love and to Loathe by Martha Waters

And here are some of the deals I found when writing this newsletter up:

Deliver Me by Farrah Rochon is currently free

He’s Not My Boyfriend by Jackie Lau is available for $0.99

Real Men Knit (Real Men Knit series)n Knit by Kwana Jackson is currently available for $1.99*

The Care and Feeding of Waspish Widows by Olivia Waite is also available for $1.99

*Some readers have said this reads more like women’s fiction with a romantic element. But others do consider it a romance hence the reason for the share.

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And that’s all for now. Catch up with me during the in-betweens @Pscribe over on Twitter. Until next time.