When In Romance

Jess and Trisha discuss an unprofessional move by a writer in New Zealand, authors who aren’t getting paid by a romance publisher, and the romance authors, series, and subgenres they came to a bit late.

This episode is sponsored by Book Riot’s mysteries giveaway, Shadow Mountain Publishing, and the Recommended podcast.

Subscribe to the podcast via RSS, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Stitcher.

To get even more romance recs and news, sign up for our Kissing Books newsletter!

NEWS

Check out the new inclusive romance podcast RomBkPod!

Here is what a professional article about romance author Nalini Singh looks like.

And if you want to learn more about a literary charity supporting New Zealand romance writers, check out the Sandra Hyde Romance Writers Trust.

Tweets about the Dreamspinner Press non-payment debacle from Anna Zabo (not a Dreamspinner author), Avon Gale, and TJ Klune.

We’re discussing The Lady’s Guide to Celestial Mechanics for the Great Big Romance Read in our next episode! Send us your thoughts before Sept 19!

BOOKS

I Think I Might Love You by Christina C. Jones

Slave to Sensation by Nalini Singh

Wolfsong and How to Be a Movie Star by TJ Klune

The Preacher’s Promise and A Champion’s Heart by Piper Huguley

The Princess Trap, A Girl Like Her, and Damaged Goods by Talia Hibbert

It Takes Two to Tumble by Cat Sebastian

Stripped by Zoey Castile

Fix Her Up by Tessa Bailey

Let us know your thoughts and questions about The Lady’s Guide to Celestial Mechanics and what series, authors, and genres you came to late. As always, you can find Jess and Trisha at the WIR email address ([email protected]) or you can still catch us at [email protected] and [email protected]. You can also find us on Twitter (@jessisreading and @trishahaleybrwn), or Instagram (@jess_is_reading and @trishahaleybrown).

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Jess and Trisha are not surprised that romance sales are up, talk a little about romance book printing and supply decisions, and recommend books in which the geographic setting is integral to the story.

This episode is sponsored by Book Riot Insiders; Libro FM; and TBR, Book Riot’s new subscription service offering tailored book recommendations for readers of all stripes.

Subscribe to the podcast via RSS, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Stitcher.

To get even more romance recs and news, sign up for our Kissing Books newsletter!

NEWS

Barnes & Noble is selling more romance (and the bestselling books are listed at that link).

Podcast high-five for all of the booksellers involved in Bookstore Romance Day!

The Great Big Romance Read caused a spike in sales for The Lady’s Guide to Celestial Mechanics – and don’t forget we’re discussing that next month!

Here are Esi Sogah’s threads on book availability and on romance covers and trade paperback.

And here’s the Book Riot piece on illustrated covers by Kelly Jensen.

BOOKS

The Big Burn by Timothy Egan

We Are Never Meeting In Real Life by Samantha Irby

Misadventures of a Curvy Girl by Sierra Simone

The Lady’s Guide to Celestial Mechanics by Olivia Waite

Once Ghosted, Twice Shy by Alyssa Cole

Virgin River by Robyn Carr

Three Part Harmony by Holley Trent

Pride by Ibi Zoboi

Wicked and the Wallflower by Sarah MacLean

Brazen and the Beast by Sarah MacLean

The World Turned Upside Down by Elyse Springer

Indigo by Beverly Jenkins

Rebel by Beverly Jenkins

I Think I Might Love You by Christina C. Jones

The Coincidence of Coconut Cake by Amy E. Reichart

Let us know your thoughtful thoughts on romance sales, supply, covers, and geography! As always, you can find Jess and Trisha at the WIR email address ([email protected]) or you can still catch us at [email protected] and [email protected]. You can also find us on Twitter (@jessisreading and @trishahaleybrwn), or Instagram (@jess_is_reading and @trishahaleybrown).

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Jess and Trisha celebrate important progress at the RITAs, talk through romance authors writing outside their own experience, and brainstorm what romance series they’d like to see get the fanfic treatment.

This episode is sponsored by the podcast Hot and Bothered from Spoke Media; The Rogue to Ruin by Vivienne Lorret; and The Right Swipe by Alisha Rai, published by Avon Books.

Subscribe to the podcast via RSS, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Stitcher.

To get even more romance recs and news, sign up for our Kissing Books newsletter!

NEWS

Ripped Bodice giveaway! Ripped Bodice Great Big Romance Read!

You can still watch the RITAs AND the Romance Trailblazers video – lucky you!

Here’s the post Jess wrote about the RITAs, the full list of RITA winners, and the statement about the process from the RWA Board.

Jess mentioned this thread about writing and representation from the exceptionally thoughtful and talented Adriana Herrera.

And here’s the list of new Smarty Pants Romance books.

BOOKS

The Color of Love by Sandra Kitt

The Winston Brothers series (first book is Truth or Beard)

Merry Inkmas by Talia Hibbert

The Reluctant Royals series by Alyssa Cole (first book is A Princess in Theory)

Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes

Let us know what you think of romance written outside an author’s experience and what extended or alternate universes you’d like to see in romance! As always, you can find Jess and Trisha at the WIR email address ([email protected]) or you can still catch us at [email protected] and [email protected]. You can also find us on Twitter (@jessisreading and @trishahaleybrwn), or Instagram (@jess_is_reading and @trishahaleybrown).

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Jess and Trisha are delighted about a new award for excellence in romance fiction, discouraged by some publishing news, and thinking about how tragedy in a romance can impact the “happily” in an HEA.

This episode is sponsored by Libro.fm audiobooks, The Rogue to Ruin by Vivienne Lorret, and Mom’s Perfect Boyfriend by Crystal Hemmingway.

Subscribe to the podcast via RSS, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Stitcher.

To get even more romance recs and news, sign up for our Kissing Books newsletter!

NEWS

Get excited for The Great Big Romance Read from The Ripped Bodice! We’ll discuss The Lady’s Guide to Celestial Mechanics by Olivia Waite on Sept 23, so feel free to send us your thoughts about it between now and then!

And then get excited about the Ripped Bodice Awards for Excellence in Romantic Fiction!

This Harlequin/Carina Press news is less exciting, and here’s Angela James’ farewell to Carina.

And some people are pretty frustrated about this Entangled Publishing news as well. (If you need a reminder about book stuffing, we talked about it last year in Episode 17, “Look How We Accidentally Recommended All the Strippers.”)

Less Than Three Press is also closing because this week is full of publishing bummers.

And here’s the list of 50 Must Read Romances from the 2010s that we talked about.

BOOKS

The Lady’s Guide to Celestial Mechanics by Olivia Waite

Desire and the Deep Blue Sea by Olivia Dade

The Perfect Date by Evelyn Lozada with Holly Lorincz

Her Other Secret by HelenKay Dimon

Let us know what you think of the new Ripped Bodice Awards and tragedy in romance, and what your favorite romances of the last decade are! As always, you can find Jess and Trisha at the WIR email address ([email protected]) or you can still catch us at [email protected]and [email protected]. You can also find us on Twitter (@jessisreading and @trishahaleybrwn), or Instagram (@jess_is_reading and @trishahaleybrown).

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Jess and Trisha are joined by the wonderful Sarah Wendell of Smart Bitches, Trashy Books for a mid-year check in, and they discuss all things romance in 2019 so far – big news, breakout authors, and books we’ve loved and want everyone to read.

This episode is sponsored by Libro.fm audiobooks, Sourcebooks (featuring Kingdom of Exiles by Maxym M. Martineau), and Lifelines by Heidi Diehl.

Subscribe to the podcast via RSS, Apple Podcasts, or Stitcher.

To get even more romance recs and news, sign up for our Kissing Books newsletter!

NEWS

Sarah’s website and podcast will both add delight and books to your life.

Sarah talked about a 1997 lawsuit involving Nora Roberts, and you can read about it here and here.

Allow Courtney Milan to remind you about the #CopyPasteCris situation. (You can also revisit some of our episodes from the spring.)

Listen to Sarah’s interview with Kristy (CaffeinatedFae) and Claire Ryan, and visit the website for Claire’s software in progress that will help detect plagiarism.

Here are a couple of links to remind you about what went very wrong with the RITA nominations, and a statement from the RWA Board about what they want to do differently.

The Bridgerton Series made some great casting announcements.

Here’s that Book Riot “Best of 2019 So Far” list we mentioned.

And here’s the episode of Smart Podcast, Trashy Books featuring Jess and Trisha.

BOOKS

Beyond Heaving Bosoms: The Smart Bitches’ Guide to Romance Novels by Sarah Wendell

Everything I Know About Love I Learned from Romance Novels by Sarah Wendell

Lighting the Flames by Sarah Wendell

These are the authors who are breaking out in 2019 (or who are about to!) along with where you can start with their books:

Linda Holmes – Evvie Drake Starts Over

Alisha Rai – The upcoming book is The Right Swipe

Jasmine Guillory – Coming this month is The Wedding Party, and the holiday book Jess mentioned is Royal Holiday

Anna Zabo – The Twisted Wishes series starts with Syncopation

We also talked about these books that we’ve loved so far this year:

The Key to Happily Ever After by Tif Marcelo

Wolf Pack by Abby Wambach (which is non-fiction, not romance…and while you’re at it with commencement speeches turned into books, also listen to Dream More by Dolly Parton)

Kiss and Cry by Mina V. Esguerra

The Flatshare by Beth O’Leary

The Bookish Life of Nina Hill by Abbi Waxman

American Dreamer and American Fairytale by Adriana Herrera

Can’t Escape Love by Alyssa Cole

The Ultimate Pi Day Party by Jackie Lau

A Prince on Paper by Alyssa Cole

Pride, Prejudice and Other Flavors by Sonali Dev

Ayesha At Last by Uzma Jalaluddin

Let us know what romance authors you think are having a big 2019 and what you’ve been reading and loving this year! Find Sarah online at smartbitchestrashybooks.com or (for the podcast) smartbitchestrashybooks.com/podcast; on Instagram and Twitter @smartbitches; OR you can email her at [email protected]! As always, you can find Jess and Trisha at the shiny new WIR email address ([email protected]) or you can still catch us at [email protected]and [email protected]. You can also find us on Twitter (@jessisreading and @trishahaleybrwn), or Instagram (@jess_is_reading and @trishahaleybrown).

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Jess and Trisha do a bit of follow-up, discuss an article about the online abuse romance writers face, mention a few releases for the second half of 2019 that they’re looking forward to, and shout out some underrated romance authors.

This episode is sponsored by Libro.fm audiobooks, Her Other Secret by HelenKay Dimon, and Brazen and the Beast by Sarah MacLean.

Subscribe to the podcast via RSS, Apple Podcasts, or Stitcher.

To get even more romance recs and news, sign up for our Kissing Booksnewsletter!

NEWS

Apologies again for our error when talking about Thaw by Elyse Springer last week!

By way of follow-up, you might want to check out the Patreon for The Lesbian Review.

Here’s that Nicholas Sparks statement we mentioned.

Jess tracked down a few tweets that relate to the “sex on the page” conversation we had, and you can find them here, here, here, here, and here.

Here’s the Glamour article we discussed about the ways romance writers are targets for abuse online. As we mentioned on the podcast, CW for abuse.

Support Rediscovered Books and Mostly Books! They support romance!

Feel free to email us at the sparkly new When In Romance email address! It’s [email protected]!

BOOKS

Her Perfect Affair by Priscila Oliveras (but like we said, also read Her Perfect Partner)

Craving Flight by Tamsen Parker

The Key to Happily Ever After by Tif Marcelo

The Ballad of Whiskey Jax by Avon Gale

The Lady’s Guide to Celestial Mechanics by Oliva Waite

One Day to Fall by Therese Beharrie

Sapphire Flames by Illona Andrews

The Wallflower Wager by Tessa Dare

Blitzed (and Intercepted and Fumbled) by Alexa Martin

Love On My Mind by Tracey Livesay

The Unleashing by Shelly Laurenston

Only for a Night by Naima Simone

Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors by Sonali Dev

Taking the Lead by Cecelia Tan

The Fandom series by Cathy Yardley (Level Up is the first book)

Perfect Rhythm and Not the Marrying Kind by Jae

Let us know what books you’re excited about and who your favorite underrated authors are! Find us on email at the new WIR email address ([email protected]) or you can still catch us at [email protected] and [email protected]. You can also find us on Twitter (@jessisreading and @trishahaleybrwn), or Instagram (@jess_is_reading and @trishahaleybrown).

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Jess and Trisha discuss new revelations about discrimination at the school Nicholas Sparks founded; suggest some romance-focused Patreons you might consider supporting; and recommend books featuring characters who are asexual, aromantic, grey-asexual and greyromantic.

This episode is sponsored by Libro.fm audiobooks, This Time Will Be Different by Misa Sugiura, and Fix Her Up by New York Times bestselling author Tessa Bailey, published by Avon.

Subscribe to the podcast via RSS, Apple Podcasts, or Stitcher.

To get even more romance recs and news, sign up for our Kissing Books newsletter!

NEWS

Like we said, no more comments section at Book Riot – but you can just contact Trisha and Jess! Our info is below!

Here’s the link to the Romance GenreCon! It’s free!

Click here to learn about how Nicholas Sparks went from sucking generally to being the actual worst.

Here are the Patreons (PAtreons? PaTREons? PatreONs?) we talked about:

BOOKS

Hot Licks by A.M. Arthur

That Kind of Guy by Talia Hibbert

Shadows You Left by Taylor Brooke and Jude Sierra

Perfect Rhythm by Jae

Writing Her In by Holley Trent

Syncopation by Anna Zabo

Thaw by Elyse Springer

Correction: In discussing Thaw by Elyse Springer, our host incorrectly identified the asexual character. Abigail, rather than Gabrielle, is asexual; our apologies for the error.

Play It Again by Aidan Wayne

Let us know what Patreons you love (no matter how you pronounce it!) and what your favorite books are that feature characters who are asexual, aromantic, grey-asexual and greyromantic. Find us on email ([email protected]and [email protected]), Twitter (@jessisreading and @trishahaleybrwn), or Instagram (@jess_is_reading and @trishahaleybrown).

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Jess and Trisha talk through what they want from book cons, respond to a reader request for own voices romance by Asian and Asian-American authors, and recommend some “unputdownable” romances for summer reading.

This episode is sponsored by Book Riot’s All The Books podcast; Read Bliss, presented by Harlequin; and Rebel by Beverly Jenkins.

Subscribe to the podcast via RSS, Apple Podcasts, or Stitcher.

To get even more romance recs and news, sign up for our Kissing Books newsletter!

NEWS

The book and romance conventions we discussed are:

Book Lovers Con

Kiss Con

Apollycon

BookCon

The Tucson Festival of Books

The Baltimore Book Festival

Romance GenreCon, sponsored by the Mid-Continent Public Library (We actually forgot to mention this one, but we meant to!)

BOOKS

Hidden Impact by Piper J. Drake

My Beautiful Enemy by Sherry Thomas

A Study in Scarlet Women by Sherry Thomas

Tikka Chance on Me by Suleikha Snyder

Bollywood and the Beast (the third in the Bollywood series) by Suleikha Snyder

Seared by Suleikha Snyder

A Bollywood Affair by Sonali Dev

The Bollywood Bride by Sonali Dev

Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors by Sonali Dev

His Cocky Valet by Cole McCade

The Bride Test by Helen Hoang

The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang

Teach Me by Olivia Dade

Talk Me Down (and the whole Tumble Creek series) by Victoria Dahl

Riven by Roan Parrish

Think of England by KJ Charles

Ayesha At Last by Uzma Jalaluddin

Let us know what you want from your book cons, what your favorite own voices books by Asian and Asian-American writers are, and what romance books you just couldn’t put down. Find us on email ([email protected] and [email protected]), Twitter (@jessisreading and @trishahaleybrwn), or Instagram (@jess_is_reading and @trishahaleybrown).

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Jess and Trisha are together at Book Lovers Con in New Orleans talking about the good and bad things about using series to tell romance stories and the upcoming books they’ve heard about at the convention that they’re excited about.

This episode is sponsored by Audible; Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors by Sonali Dev, published by William Morrow; and Read Bliss, presented by Harlequin.

Subscribe to the podcast via RSS, Apple Podcasts, or Stitcher.

To get even more romance recs and news, sign up for our Kissing Books newsletter!

BOOKS:

The Reluctant Royals series by Alyssa Cole (starts with A Princess In Theory and ends with A Prince on Paper)

The Twisted Wishes series by Anna Zabo (starts with Syncopation and ends with Reverb)

The Ravenswood series by Talia Hibbert (starts with A Girl Like Her and ends with That Kind of Guy)

The Girls Meets Duke series by Tessa Dare (starts with The Duchess Deal and is ongoing!)

The Regency Imposters series by Cat Sebastian (starts with Unmasked by the Marquess and is ongoing!)

The Bromance Book Club by Lyssa Kay Adams

The Widow of Rose House by Diana Biller

The Friend Zone by Abby Jimenez

Bringing Down the Duke by Evie Dunmore

Arctic Sun by Annabeth Albert

Three Part Harmony by Holley Trent

Let us know whether you can drop into a series or whether you have to start from the beginning and let us know what your favorite series are. Find us on email ([email protected] and [email protected]), Twitter (@jessisreading and @trishahaleybrwn), or Instagram (@jess_is_reading and @trishahaleybrown).

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Jess and Trisha have updates, talk about how they became romance readers, and recommend some titles for the beginning of #RomBkLove.

This episode is sponsored by Book Riot Insider, Every Last Breath by Juno Rushdan, and BookCon.

Subscribe to the podcast via RSS, Apple Podcasts, or Stitcher.

To get even more romance recs and news, sign up for our Kissing Books newsletter!

NEWS:

Nora Roberts is putting her lawyers where her mouth is: she’s filed a plagiarism lawsuit against Cristiane Serruya, better known on Twitter as #CopyPasteCris.

Huge congratulations to Valen Cox, who is the first recipient of Avon Books’ Beverly Jenkins Diverse Voices Sponsorship.

As we mentioned, here’s Ashley’s post about how a bunch of Rioters were turned on to romance.

And read/share along with #RomBkLove! Here’s Jess’s post from last week.

BOOKS:

Legend by Jude Deveraux

Insatiable by Meg Cabot

She Went All the Way by Meg Cabot

Neanderthal Seeks Human by Penny Reid

About Last Night by Ruthie Knox

Let It Shine by Alyssa Cole

Romancing the Duke by Tessa Dare

Slave to Sensation (Psy-Changling Book 1) by Nalini Singh

An Extraordinary Union by Alyssa Cole

Think of England by K.J. Charles

In the Middle of Somewhere by Roan Parrish

A Fashionable Indulgence (Society of Gentleman Book 1) by K.J. Charles

Lover at Last by J.R. Ward

Fumbled by Alexa Martin

Rebel by Beverly Jenkins

Getting Hot with the Scot by Melonie Johnson

The Rose by Tiffany Reisz

Ghost by Robin Covington

A Prince on Paper by Alyssa Cole

Let us know how you came to romance reading and what your #RomBkLove picks are. Find us on email ([email protected] and [email protected]), Twitter (@jessisreading and @trishahaleybrwn), or Instagram

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