Not Another Heroine

Hi Readers and Happy May!

We're still on a reading hiatus but found this rant of an episode in our 2025 library.

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Thank you Reddit for inspiring yet another H&B episode: this week we're getting judgy. What is your book? You know the one. If someone says it's their most favorite, artistic rendering of the genre, an utter masterpiece. and you just, can't? Every single recommendation they make is tainted by it.

Books and authors mentioned this episode:

Daughter of No Worlds by Carissa Broadbent

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/49826643-daughter-of-no-worlds?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=9pUDfXymEa&rank=1

Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13928.Daughter_of_the_Forest?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=6XPbWHXyby&rank=1

Ice Planet Barbarians by Ruby Dixon

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25128811-ice-planet-barbarians?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=jPaU0ULUMi&rank=1

Zodiac Academy

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/46261182-the-awakening?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=JBiMKOnXaD&rank=1

Blade Dancer by S.L. Viehl

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/664640.Blade_Dancer?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=FfyIT0V8pY&rank=1

Legendborn by Tracy Deonn

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/50892338-legendborn?ref=nav_sb_ss_1_9

Linnea Sinclair

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/202269.Linnea_Sinclair?from_search=true&from_srp=true

As promised Readers, we present some of our older rant sessions on random book-adjacent topics. This episode was originally recorded in February 2025 and focused on Kindle Unlimited.

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Is Kindle Unlimited unduly influencing the writing/editing game? Romantasy books keep getting longer, plot predictability is at an eye-rolling level, and if we meet one more shadow daddy on page 2 we're both going to convert to full-time hockey smut.

Readers,

We never want books to feel like a chore or for our episodes to be an endless nitpicking critique, but we've found ourselves drifting closer to that reality. We want to return to why we started Not Another Heroine in the first place: love of reading and the desire to share that excitement with another reader. Our first episodes on Sherwood Smith's "Crown Duel," while entirely too long, were exactly that.

On that note, we're taking a hiatus. All of our episodes will still be available on all platforms (except Patreon), and we'll start posting some of our back catalog that wasn't originally available on all the sites. We'll still be reading in the meantime, and when the book feels rights, we'll turn the mics back on for a new Monday episode.

Thank you for sticking with us through four seasons of readings. The book recs, the encouragement, and every like, subscribe, or follow gave us so much joy. To know that we're not alone in the library, that our shelf may look like your shelf, and that our silly episode titles made you giggle too, well, that's why we're still going.

Goodbye for now Readers, but we'll see you on the next page.

Katie & Jordan.

Books Mentioned In This Episode

Wicked, Ugly, Bad by Cassandra Gannon

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/201821045-wicked-ugly-bad?ref=nav_sb_ss_1_15

Divergent by Veronica Rothe

goodreads.com/search?q=divergent&ref=nav_sb_noss_l_9

The Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61431922-fourth-wing?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=8xcgHt8JZT&rank=1

Weavingshaw by Heba al-Wasity

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/234943536-weavingshaw?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=6bShtRni2g&rank=1

While it looks fluffy and silly, Boyfriend on Demand offers a surprisingly dark commentary on modern dating. Jisoo from Blackpink and Seo In-guk (Doom At Your Service) star as almost enemy coworkers who each harbor secret feelings for the other. And if you like an extra helping of eye candy, there are many other recognizable actors who make appearances as Jisoo's virtual boyfriends.

https://www.netflix.com/title/82007623?source=35&fromWatch=true

Similar Shows

Business Proposal

https://www.netflix.com/title/81509440

Doom At Your Service

https://www.netflix.com/title/81488912

Her Private Life

https://www.netflix.com/title/81205812

Marry My Husband

https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B0CPYQKXW5/ref=atv_dp_share_cu_r

This book is over 40 years old and a product of its time, but we enjoyed the accurate (but digestible) historic setting, character development, and well-paced romantic tension. Warning for romance readers who like their side of spice...there is none in this book.

Similar Books and Shows

The Illusionist

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0443543/?ref_=fn_i_1

The Sound of Music

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059742/?ref_=fn_t_1

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17899948-rebecca?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=IjmyceMHkz&rank=2

Under the Stars of Paris by Mary Burchell

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3343881-under-the-stars-of-paris?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=hOEz8dLmNT&rank=1

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5711852-the-reluctant-heiress?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=2SZizHV5TF&rank=1

If you liked The Reluctant Heiress, just make this one your next read. Same tropes, same characters, just new names and a South America setting.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/963274.A_Company_of_Swans?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=2ulW7hj6nx&rank=1

Similar Books

Edenbrooke Julianne Donaldson

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12820360-edenbrooke?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=NaZfzrZPRr&rank=1

Blackmoore by Julianne Donaldson

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15795628-blackmoore?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=9pmrBB61fe&rank=1

The Reluctant Heiress by Eva Ibbotson

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5711852-the-reluctant-heiress?ref=nav_sb_ss_1_22

This book is over 40 years old and a product of its time, but we enjoyed the accurate (but digestible) historic setting, character development, and well-paced romantic tension. Warning for romance readers who like their side of spice...there is none in this book.

Similar Books and Shows

The Illusionist

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0443543/?ref_=fn_i_1

The Sound of Music

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059742/?ref_=fn_t_1

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17899948-rebecca?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=IjmyceMHkz&rank=2

Under the Stars of Paris by Mary Burchell

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3343881-under-the-stars-of-paris?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=hOEz8dLmNT&rank=1

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5711852-the-reluctant-heiress?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=2SZizHV5TF&rank=1

Once Upon a Time (the TV show) get a spicy, modern setting where all the traditional fairy tale characters are flipped on their heads. What makes a Good or Bad person? How do you get sent the to WUB Club? Is Cinderella really doing that with her mice?

This is the first in a seven book series, but each can be read as a standalone (the characters are interconnected a la Bridgerton style).

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/201821045-wicked-ugly-bad?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=RrPVWFhPmg&rank=1

Similar Books

Throne in the Dark by A.K. Caggiano

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/62232755-throne-in-the-dark?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=dgldHUSRNK&rank=1

Assistant to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/123257687-assistant-to-the-villain?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=9gUlIRiQNF&rank=1

The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy by Megan Bannen

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58510253-the-undertaking-of-hart-and-mercy?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=j8K91zwf3X&rank=1

Katie makes an attempt at extroversion during a Heated Rivalry event and runs a marathon instead of a turkey trot. The list of DNFs continues to grow and the reading slump persists.

Please leave a comment and help us narrow down our future reads, some options:

Wild Reverence by Rebecca Ross

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/222376906-wild-reverence

Divergent by Veronica Roth

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13335037-divergent?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=u1NAVWLnkk&rank=1

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2767052-the-hunger-games?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=7ooMmIhHUc&rank=1

Legend by Marie Lu

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29863662-legend?ref=nav_sb_ss_1_6

This Woven Kingdom by Tahereh Mafi

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56554281-this-woven-kingdom?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=10pQnM14d3&rank=1

The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10429092-the-girl-of-fire-and-thorns?ref=nav_sb_ss_1_17

Other Books Mentioned This Episode:

The Moon Raven by Grace Draven

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/241601258-the-moon-raven?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=sL9FLvZVOy&rank=1

Gods of Jade and Shadow by Sylvia Moreno-Garcia

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36510722-gods-of-jade-and-shadow?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=kj5pdzLePE&rank=1

How to Find a Nameless Fae by A.J. Lancaster

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/215760963-how-to-find-a-nameless-fae?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=1XYOGGPUqN&rank=1

Binding 13 by Chloe Walsh

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/146943294-binding-13?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=HAA7zLGXmS&rank=1

Sight Unseen by Alexis Marie

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/238750605-sight-unseen?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=uLRoWT0GwW&rank=2

The Raven Scholar by Antonia Hodgson

goodreads.com/search?q=The+raven+scholar&ref=nav_sb_noss_l_17

Teach Me How to Forget by Scullymurphy

https://archive.transformativeworks.org/works/41597901/chapters/104337864

Creep by Cr0ftisprocrasting

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/157237417-creep

A slow start (Katie had to persevere through the first 50 to 60 percent), but thorough world-building and a rewarding friends-to-lovers romance make this worth the effort. Not quite as emotionally immersive as others in the genre, but this does tend to lean more traditional fantasy.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/220137908-the-second-death-of-locke?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=Ap0AyVJDDV&rank=1

Similar Books

The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/133286777-the-familiar?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=liEHuV2Lof&rank=1

One Dark Window by Rachel Gillig

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58340706-one-dark-window?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=IZmg5nlTcO&rank=1

Realm Breaker by Victoria Aveyard

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54513688-realm-breaker?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=mPD3Fcq83j&rank=1