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Hello again, romance readers. I’m PN Hinton, your companion for the world of romance. If you’re new to the Kissing Books newsletter, welcome and enjoy your stay. If you’re a long-time reader, welcome back; it’s good to see you again.
Y’all…it’s the last week of school. The last day is Thursday and it’s a half day which, virtually, almost means like no day at all. I’m. So. Happy. Cue “Everybody Rejoice” from The Wiz because that is the level of joy that I am feeling right now.
Am I being a drama llama? Yes. Do I care? Not even a little bit. I never wanted to be a homeschool teacher, and this year only reinforced what a blessing teachers are. I have always appreciated teachers, but even more so now. Y’all truly are angels on earth.
I also got to see my book club peeps this last weekend, which was wonderful. I consider myself an ambivert but I tend to lean towards the introvert. That said, I have been missing social interactions and have been getting out more. I’ve been safe, but the social interactions have been amazing for my mental health. Here’s hoping we can get to whatever will be our new normal soon so it can be a regular thing.
In the World of Romance
There was quite the hiccup in Romancelandia late last week when Violet Gaze Press, an independent publisher publishing diverse and inclusive romance, tweeted out that Amazon had unceremoniously closed their Kindle Direct Publishing account. Happily, it has since been resolved and their account was reinstated, but it took over a day for this to happen, and the entire experience was stressful and anxiety-inducing to observe. I can’t imagine having to go through it. My heart broke as I saw all the tweets from VGP and its various authors through those 24 plus hours of uncertainty.
The news came via this tweet on Wednesday afternoon/evening. The reason given was that they had multiple accounts open, which is a violation of their Terms and Services. As of the writing of this newsletter, Amazon had yet to provide proof of this accusation. VGP appealed this action. Unfortunately, their numerous appeals were initially met with the same copy/paste reply.
VGP and, by extension, the authors that this publishing house serves, was shut down without Amazon providing proof. The initial notification stated that all books associated with this publishing house would be taken down and all unpaid royalties would be forfeit. It was alarming how quickly they seemed to turn on a publishing company that actively promotes and publishes diverse content. It’s not a good look at all, especially when you consider all of the other things that they do allow to be published and sold on their site.
Authors were getting emailed that their books will be taken down. Readers got notices that the publishing house, not Amazon, canceled the publication for pre-orders. I don’t know if this would have affected books purchased but that would have been a whole new ballgame. I know that technically no one owns their digital books but still…I would be hotter than a sinner in church in the South on a Sunday had a book I paid any amount of money for been removed from my Kindle library by anyone other than me.
This was resolved Thursday afternoon after multiple appeals and retweets from the Romance loving community. We showed once again that we are a force to be reckoned with. However, while I’m very happy it was resolved, I also don’t want to forget that it ever happened. My mindset is and always has been that if something happens once, then it can happen again. And who knows if the next publishing company will have as much luck as VPG did.
Around the Web in Romance
Don’t forget to remember to enter our giveaway for a free iPad mini.
Previously I wrote about the different genres in romance including category ones. Check out this post from our archives which further expands on their allure.
If medical romance is your catnip, check out some of these must reads; you’ll notice that some of them do overlap into category romance as well.
We’re still in AAPI month so I’m going to keep on keeping on with the recommendations from Asian authors
New Releases and Recommendations
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We have more than a few new releases this week, including Alexandria Bellefluer’s Hang the Moon (super excited for this one), Playing the Palace by Paul Rudnick (excerpt available here), and Heart and Seoul by Jen Frederick. Some other releases include:
Make Me Burn by Marie Harte
Destination Wedding by Diksha Basu (may be considered more romance adjacent)
Cowboy Fire by Kim Redford
How to Survive a Scandal by Samara Parish
As for some deals, Queen Move by the amazing Kennedy Ryan and All the Better Part of Me by Molly Ringle can be snagged for $0.99. My Kind of Earl by Vivienne Lorret is on sale for $1.99 and Sophie Jordan’s The Duke Effect for $2.99.
That’s all for now folks. Give me a follow at Twitter under @PScribe801 if you want a little bit more of me before the next newsletter. I’ll see you next time.
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