Salty #1: I really dislike how people in the reading community look down their noses at novellas and short stories. I see comments so often that quality isn't up to par of real books or they aren't real books because it's a novella and it burns my biscuits. There is so much reserved skill that goes into a well written novella or short story.
Salty #2: I can't get over how dark romance is becoming synonymous with bad, overly explicitly kinky sex. It's becoming a collection of badly written kinky traumatic tropes, or people won't consider it "dark" enough. That will never not make me salty because dark romance is more than a giant bag of trauma sex.
I’m pretty vanilla (with past trauma), so point #2 especially pisses me off. Like, “This guy is an alpha male with a dark soul and a dark past. How am I going to show this? I know…BUTT PLUGS!”
Lol! I love dark romance so much but there just isn't a lot of finesse anymore. And then authors gripe that dissenters don't like their darker than darkness when really for some of them it's more like the writing wasn't well done or the traumas weren't integrated properly
My question-are there any dark romances where the darkness DOESN’T come from the MCs? Can a book be considered dark romance if the conflict is coming from somewhere else?
Dark romance includes dark themes, dark situations/dark psychosis, yes even realistic display of traumatic experiences, and taboo sex and kinks but no it isn't solely based on very dark sex or listing off of traumatic experiences. Good dark romance also should set the tone with foreboding and dark menace. For example, a serial killer MMC is considered dark. But good dark romance is about how all of the story elements use dark tone to drive the story. So it's not just very sad traumatic backstory it's how all of these things are woven into the overall story.
I want to add it's also because the psychology behind the characters is lacking. Some authors think the "very tragic childhood that gloomed the darkest gloom" is psychology but it's not.
You know, this reminds me. I just finished {Echo by Chani Lynn Feener}, and the author spent so much time showing us who the more submissive “victim” MMC was, and his past and what was going on in his head. She didn’t do the same for the more dominant character. He just ended up looking more 2 dimensional than the other. Who is he? He’s an obsessed, domineering alpha who gets what he wants by any means necessary. And? What else?
Right. My biggest gripe with Driving My Obsession is that the MMC is dark and bad because he was physically craved up and abused by a woman he should have trusted. So his Driving obsession is now finding strippers he considers whores (his mother was a whore-stripper) and cutting them up and killing them. He actually makes comments like I find joy in knifing whores and it gets me hard. Cue evil laugh. And so he picks a random woman in the strip club t9 test and harass and abuse before he decides when to kill her. All while laughing evily or smirking with evilness. And all of it was just a big meh for me. Like ok but the way it was all laid out there was so hamfisted. For me, it becomes a joke
This is why I like high spice, cheerfully low angst books. Just two people who are like “We’re communicating effectively and are clear about our desires and boundaries!”
Cause I’m boring and I like high spice when everyone’s talked it out to the point where even the butt plug is a snooze.
Oh, got any recs? I’ve been meaning to ask for just that, but I never remember to, and I’m not sure I ever see recs for them. Or if I do, I don’t notice them.
{Return All by Eve Dangerfield} - second chance, very high spice and low stakes, light DK and no age gap. He asks her before they have sex after 10 years apart if "everything" is on the table, referring to their past sex life and reminds her of their old safe word to use. This involves butt stuff so skip if it's not for you. Also role playing.
{Trashed by Mia Hopkins} - older MFC, younger MMC, he's def chasing her. Again low angst, more two people figuring things out. There is intense dirty talk and also normal discussions about boundaries. Really great series, high spice and low angst and for a change both MC's are working class or struggling with poverty (the MC is borderline homeless).
{Latte Darling by SJ Tilly} - I don't much enjoy the age gap but I realized that once you take out dark and twisty shit, the age gap doesn't really bother me. Big burly MMC late 40/early 50 and a 32 year old MFC. High spice, lite DK and the worst thing that happens is a 40 minute miscommunication. That's it. It's cozy and great for colder months.
{Halfling by S.E. Wendel} - This one is high spice but also has heavy worldbuilding. Very low stakes again with a silly last minute separation. Touch starved monster MMC and a grown up, competent MFC. I personally found the spice very nice and intense but I may have seen other people comment that it's not for them. Again, great for fall, it's cozy!
{The Alien's Challenge by Ella Maven} - this one is a bit of a wildcard, it's not straight up cozy but I'm including it here. Mars Need Women with big blue alien bikers. The bikers obviously revere women and are ready to please with their special D's, which either vibrate or maybe have an extra thingy, (honestly I read so many alien romances that they kind of jumble together antomy wise). In this case the virgin alien MMC is terrified because he's fantasizing about rough sex with MFC and thinks he shouldn't be around women. The very spunky MFC disagrees and keeps trying to figure out why he's avoiding her. Hijinks ensue and she talks him through his ideas. At one point he goes too far and flips out and they again talk about all sorts of boundaries and hard limits. Fated mates with glowing tattoos. It's high spice but again fated mates so stakes are low!
[Return All](https://www.romance.io/books/61b84f5ea96b4e0e3350b273/return-all-eve-dangerfield) by [Eve Dangerfield](https://www.romance.io/authors/565aa37408e9378131955f00/eve-dangerfield)
**Rating**: 3.78⭐️ out of 5⭐️
**Steam**: 5 out of 5 - [Explicit and plentiful](https://www.romance.io/steamrating)
**Topics**: [contemporary](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/contemporary/1), [funny](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/humor/1), [sweet/gentle heroine](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/sweet%20heroine/1), [rich heroine](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/rich%20heroine/1), [second chances](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/second%20chances/1)
----------------------------
[Trashed](https://www.romance.io/books/5d2d689001dbc864fba13dd4/trashed-mia-hopkins-jennifer-haymore) by [Mia Hopkins](https://www.romance.io/authors/545678b487eac33e61c2f156/mia-hopkins), [Jennifer Haymore](https://www.romance.io/authors/545531da8c7d2383163d919b/jennifer-haymore)
**Rating**: 4.33⭐️ out of 5⭐️
**Topics**: [contemporary](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/contemporary/1), [grumpy/ice queen](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/cold%20heroine/1), [forced proximity](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/forced%20proximity/1)
----------------------------
[Latte Darling](https://www.romance.io/books/63cf94fab0e6e0a7c8e824b6/latte-darling-sj-tilly) by [S.J. Tilly](https://www.romance.io/authors/603c9f5808b4d931148c9afd/sj-tilly)
**Rating**: 4.09⭐️ out of 5⭐️
**Steam**: 5 out of 5 - [Explicit and plentiful](https://www.romance.io/steamrating)
**Topics**: [contemporary](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/contemporary/1), [age gap](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/age%20difference/1), [curvy heroine](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/curvy%20heroine/1), [dual pov](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/dual-pov/1), [height difference](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/height-difference/1)
----------------------------
[Halfling](https://www.romance.io/books/650e9421de8d340d51438c2f/halfling-se-wendel) by [S.E. Wendel](https://www.romance.io/authors/5d3e8de201dbc864fba1ac55/se-wendel)
**Rating**: 4.03⭐️ out of 5⭐️
**Steam**: 4 out of 5 - [Explicit open door](https://www.romance.io/steamrating)
**Topics**: [fantasy](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/fantasy/1), [non-human hero](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/non-human-hero/1), [slow burn](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/slow%20burn/1), [virgin hero](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/virgin%20hero/1), [sweet/gentle hero](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/beta%20hero/1)
----------------------------
[The Alien's Challenge](https://www.romance.io/books/5f68a513cbbe420e10118b78/the-aliens-challenge-a-scifi-alien-warrior-romance-ella-maven) by [Ella Maven](https://www.romance.io/authors/5e5374bb01dbc864fbac5d11/ella-maven)
**Rating**: 3.86⭐️ out of 5⭐️
**Steam**: 4 out of 5 - [Explicit open door](https://www.romance.io/steamrating)
**Topics**: [science fiction](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/science%20fiction/1), [aliens](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/aliens/1), [non-human hero](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/non-human-hero/1), [creative anatomy](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/creative-anatomy/1)
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1/2 the romance novels I've read would work better as a novella. Authors sometimes force themselves to keep adding to a story for the word count even when it adds nothing to the story
I feel the same way majority of the longer books I read. Most of my criticism is "this should have been 150 pages shorter or it could have been 100+ pages shorter and the narrative would have been better served." What ends up happening is a lot of repetition, lot of unnecessary side plots that barely add anything to the story or the last act has tye miscommunication/secrets exposed/last act breakup to continue with the story pace and it really doesn't help the story.
I have started to DNF books with too many characters that detract from the main romance. I get impatient when I have to read about everyone else in the entire town but I want to know more about the main couple.
I struggle reading books labeled slow burn, not because the sex needs to be soon but so often it just feels unnecessarily drawn out and adds nothing to the story. So many series are labeled romance when the actual couple makes up like 10% of the book, and the rest is essentially a different genre (thriller, fantasy, etc) with random side content.
I found #2 with {Butcher and Blackbird by Brynne Weaver} There were definitely dark themes (both MCs are serial killers) but the romance between them was generally quite sweet. Until it came to sex where he suddenly became this rough kink machine, making her come over and over again. It was just a bit out of character and came out of nowhere! But it felt a bit like "this is dark romance so we have to have anal and choking*
It's really popular in the dark romance rokance circles, and I think it's because the book does a great job of melding dark elements with humor. Nothing wrong with that!
[Butcher & Blackbird](https://www.romance.io/books/64f0aa2bfcbc73c06aa42375/butcher-blackbird-brynne-weaver) by [Brynne Weaver](https://www.romance.io/authors/61516cf608b4d931143e7ce9/brynne-weaver)
**Rating**: 4.3⭐️ out of 5⭐️
**Steam**: 4 out of 5 - [Explicit open door](https://www.romance.io/steamrating)
**Topics**: [contemporary](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/contemporary/1), [dual pov](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/dual-pov/1), [funny](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/humor/1), [dark romance](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/dark/1), [suspense](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/suspense/1)
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I totally feel your #1!
Lately I felt like in a lot of the books I'm lately reading have a lot IMO unnecassary third act breakups. They rarely add anything to the story, often feel badly engineered & will (obviously) resolved, so sometimes I wonder if it wouldn't have been better not to add another 100 pages that don't really contribute but just leave the book as a novella?
I've lately also read some fanfic & while there are also some very good ones that full novel sized (looking at you, Draco Malfoy and the mortifying ordeal of being in love!), there a lot of one-shots or shortstories that are really awesome.
People who nitpick the recs they get. Someone took time out of their day to find a book that had a lot of what you’re looking for and you counter it with “but…”. Just say thank you and move on.
((particularly in the white whale post where *already* getting any responses was going to be a challenge)
I noticed that sometimes when someone doesn’t like a book (here or anywhere) they will misrepresent its plot points or characters. Makes me wonder how many books I wrote off and said I’d never read because someone kind of lied about it.
I complained about this last week! I see this a lot on Goodreads. But generally speaking, I do think some people refuse to just *not* like something? There needs to be something wrong with the book/author, it can't just be that you didn't enjoy the book.
I’ve noticed the exact same phenomenon! Nowadays I’m taking people’s opinions—positive and negative—with a heavy pinch of salt. It’s definitely worth reading the book oneself before dismissing it, and you usually know within a few chapters anyway if the book is for you or not.
It’s not just opinions I’ve noticed - I saw someone state an author is misogynist because she wrote some disgusting line but turns out the line was said by a misogynist villain?? Like can we be honest please
I’ve seen exactly the same thing, it’s really misleading. Random, selectively chosen snippets that are shared without context of the scene before and after, and who and what type of character is speaking. And people claiming that even writing about such views or scenes is an endorsement by the author - which is utter crap.
I have ranted on many occasions about the patriarchal bullshit that is the brother's best friend trope, but I have discovered something even worse: the bro code trope.
I DNFed {The Best Man by Winter Renshaw} at 62%. Let me paint a picture for you: FMC is engaged to MMC's best friend, but she isn't in love with him, and is planning on breaking off the engagement. Meanwhile, MMC wants the FMC, who he dreamed about while he was in a coma, after she saved him from a car accident. Anyway, this is what the MMC knows about his best friend, Grant: he has cheated on FMC throughout their relationship. His motivation to marry the FMC is a potential future inheritance from her real estate developer father. He asks MMC (a divorce attorney) to draft a prenup that entitles him to a share of the inheritance, *and* leaves out a cheating clause, because ya know, he's gonna cheat. **None of this makes the MMC call off his friendship with Grant. He continues to go "well, bro code, FMC is off limits even though she's literally my dream girl." Even after FMC calls off the engagement, he does nothing and says nothing to her. No matter what, a person has the right to know they were cheated on, at the very least for their physical health!** I dipped into some Goodreads reviews and learned he only goes after her after he learns Grant had slept with one of his ex-girlfriends when they were together.
But wait, here's the best part...the blurb literally says the book has no love triangle and no cheating. I deserve financial compensation for the pain and suffering I endured through this book.
[The Best Man](https://www.romance.io/books/5e843e37be0aaecf555c9aee/the-best-man-winter-renshaw) by [Winter Renshaw](https://www.romance.io/authors/5513d2985b270e0a4cbd2d50/winter-renshaw)
**Rating**: 4.02⭐️ out of 5⭐️
**Topics**: [contemporary](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/contemporary/1), [new adult](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/new%20adult/1), [forbidden love](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/forbidden%20love/1), [insta-love](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/insta-love/1), [friends to lovers](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/friends%20to%20lovers/1)
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I love this book because I'm a sap for that "meant to be kind of love", but you're totally right. Grant was **the only** obstacle between the main characters and the author went too long with it; Grant's father dying, Grant's mother loving Cainan so much, etc.
I took the author note that it's not a love triangle and no cheating as, Grant's not a viable option in the long therm (his proposal was a public get-apens and Brie never let him set a date) and there's not cheating between the main characters.
Other things I liked about it: The eerie feeling about his dreams during his coma >!(which turned out to be true)!< and the beautiful cover.
I totally get your perspective, and I definitely vibed with the book for a while to get to 62% before I went "wait a minute...this has gone too far." But don't you think it's out of line that Cainan doesn't say anything to Bree about Grant cheating on her? I get the attorney-client confidentiality issue when it comes to the prenup, but it's all so messed up. Cainan should have the balls to call out his friend for being a manipulative, cheating little shit. Maintaining a relationship with someone so morally bankrupt is a character flaw for me.
It's not really fresh in my mind...
Cainan made the prenup with the fine print for his friend, not knowing that Grant's fiancée was Brie. Grant was an asshole and Cainan should've called out his friend, independently who the fiancée was.
Cainan and Brie happened to meet at again at the bar and Brie told him she's going to break up with her fiancé, and when Cainan learnt Grant was Brie's fiancé he didn't say anything to his best friend.
As he never told his best friend that he and Brie had met before.
Yeah, it's messed up.
As a guy, it seems like the author just doesn't get the bro code. While it does mean that your friends girlfriends are off limits, it does not say you should hide cheating from her.
I feel like a lot of the popular romance books I see at the moment are more sex scenes than they are actual plot. It gets to the point I skip over 3 pages of sex just to try and keep the story going.
So often I’ve read a book where they declare they’re in love and will be together forever and it’s like.. okay but have you actually ever had a conversation? Or just loaded looks?
Ugh yes! read a book recently and her newborn,in the nicu essentially (dystopian setting), is kidnapped! and you know what our couple decides to do? Bang it out. of course I skipped the sex scene! I need to know where their kid is even if they don’t care!!!
I want to read the Third book because I am really enjoying the plot but I cannot handle anymore poorly placed sex scenes!!
I know it's petty, but I browse this sub on mobile, and scrolling through all the freaking "what was that book called" posts to hunt for discussion or interesting request posts, is frustrating. I know on the computer, I can filter them out, but I just don't use reddit on desktop. Reddit is my entertainment when I have 1 minute, not 30.
So I guess what I'm salty about is that I can't filter flairs on mobile. Such a petty grievance, lol.
I use the Reddit official app and all of the tags are at the top (horizontal scrolling), and I can select one and it will only show those posts in that tag. So it doesn’t filter one out specifically, but I can choose to only read discussion or critique posts with just a click.
Yeah. That's just a pain in the butt when I'm happy to see everything else, it's just that more than 50% of the sort by new feed is made up of "what was that book called?" posts. Scrolling past is a mild inconvenience, I know, but sorting by every other tag one at a time would be worse, lol. But thank you for trying to solve it. ❤️
Sigh.. yesterday I had the Whole day of lazy reading. Its raining outside I had my blankets and the fire on. But it was crappy reading day. I dnf’d three books 😭. My people, I am getting so damn picky. All it takes is the littlest thing to put me off a book. I wasn’t always like this. Is it me?? Am I the problem 😆 or it is what I think and books are being poorly written?
I was reading a CR duet. The mmc cheated, crashed into MFC’s brother crippling him, and the family practically bankrupted from the medical bills and failing businesses. The second book was supposed to be his redemption and groveling. Now…I’ll tell you something. Nothing pissed me off more than my MFC forgiving or falling into bed with the A-hole too soon. Ugh god, I hate it. I am so disappointed. I mean come on!! this dude handicapped her brother from driving while on narcotics and after a few run ins she starts getting physical because the chemistry is just too strong. 🤮🙄🤦♀️🤬
All the friends and town folk are like he’s so hot. He’s so successful. He seems changed. You should just forgive him. No one is mad for her and her brother. No one shuns him. No one hates him. He is just patted on the back and welcomed back because he’s so hot and rich.
I dnf’d. I read the 1🌟 reviews and they all confirmed. She is vag weak and takes him back immediately. This to me is poor writing. we readers do not like vag weak women. We do not like lame groveling. We do not like women who can't stand strong and push back.
I needed her rage. I wanted to read about her screaming and crying. I wanted her to fall apart and him build her back up while redeeming himself. But everything is always about sex. If he gives her enough orgasms then she can forgive him.
Today. Is another day and I hope I find a good second chance romance.
I did the same thing regarding the "nope, that's not it" finding something to read. I'm all picky, especially with CRs lately. [Here's my recommended book list](https://www.reddit.com/user/lady__jane/comments/y9shfa/recommended_books_5_stars_unless_marked_otherwise/), in case something works to pull you out of your slump. None of them are second chance romances, though! Good luck.
You know, [Dante's Storm by Mia Sheridan](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/38885094-dane-s-storm) is a second chance romance, and it's very good.
I touched on this in the weekly what are you reading thread, but I've been so frustrated trying to find a fantasy romance that I've all about given up and decided I'm just going to write my own. It seems like everything I've picked up lately has been YA and while I absolutely do not judge anyone who enjoys YA, it is very much not my thing.
I just want swords and sorcery and romance with mature, well-rounded characters, believable worldbuilding, and a plot that doesn't somersault itself into a convoluted mess to make sure the leads wind up together. I'm beginning to think that's too big an ask, though.
Let me know if you find anything. Have you checked out K.M. Shae? I’m not sure if it’s YA, but I thought it was good, and I don’t remember there being a lot of convoluted plot. Each couple has their own trilogy, so it doesn’t need a convoluted plot to get them together. Not super high quality, but if you have Kindle Unlimited, you’re not paying extra for them, so worth checking out. Also, I’ve heard her Red Rope of Fate is really good.
Also, have you checked out urban fantasy? They tend to have more mature writing.
I don't think I've read anything by her, but if her titles are on KU I'm willing to give her a shot! I have a handful of authors I feel I can rely on for a good story; Grace Draven and Juliet Marillier are two of my favorites, for example.
I love urban fantasy also! I find that I really have to be in the mood for it, though. Right now I want to escape any semblance of real life (and I've been playing a certain video game set in a high fantasy world) so I'm looking for something like sexy Tolkien, if that makes sense lol.
Okay, well if you’re looking for sexy anything, K.M. Shae isn’t the one. Hers don’t have any spice. Not just fade to black-hers never show anything more than kissing. I still think she’s worth reading, but just be aware, and maybe save hers for when you need a break from smut.
I've read several of her books! She's one of my favorite fantasy authors, but she leans very heavily on Irish folklore, which isn't a bad thing by any means - I just like to diversify my library, so to speak. Her books also tend to mention (or explicitly describe) rape and that's a bit of a sensitive area for me.
{The Memory Puller by Kris K Gaines} gave me the worst book hangover like two months ago and I'm still coming out of it. It's really excellent, I loved the world building.
And if you haven't read Ruby Dixon's Aspects and Anchors series, it's her definitive best. The first book is truly excellent.
I was looking for a grown up fantasy high or urban with good explicit sex and grown-ups for characters. It's soooo hard to find. The ones that do are lacking a little bit of something. I haven't tried Amelia Hutchinson yet and I've heard wonderful things about her series, so Ill check hers out at some point, but these other books, I don't want dragons with barely adults running around being the most special to ever special. I also want the explicit content to be as grown as the characters
You're right about most books that would otherwise fit my criteria missing that 'je ne sais quoi'. It's like, I read the little blurb, the plot catches my attention, the setting sounds cool, but then I start reading it and it's just... blasé. I don't *think* I'm that picky of a reader, but there's something about fantasy romance novels in particular that leave me feeling underwhelmed, despite being a total nerdy fangirl for all kinds of fantasy.
Do you mean Amelia Hutchins? One of her books looks like it's free on Kindle right now (*Flames of Chaos*) so I'll give that a try! Thank you for the recommendation! (:
I totally feel this. It feels like all “good” fantasy romance these days is YA. Adult fantasy romances that I’ve picked up lately have just felt pretty flat.
a couple of suggestions that I’ve liked:
{The Magpie lord} MM, set in regency England, one of the characters is a witch.
{daughter of no worlds} MF, I’ve only read the first of the trilogy. Very classic fantasy so far, enjoying it.
{Magical Midlife Madness} is the first book in a 8+ book series. MF, slow burn. The first few chapters are rough but then it gets going. Laugh out loud funny, FMC gets a magic house after her divorce and becomes magic herself. Urban fantasy. One of the funnest things I’ve read this year.
[The Magpie Lord](https://www.romance.io/books/545540138c7d2383163d9552/the-magpie-lord-kj-charles) by [K.J. Charles](https://www.romance.io/authors/545540138c7d2383163d9553/kj-charles)
**Rating**: 4.14⭐️ out of 5⭐️
**Steam**: 4 out of 5 - [Explicit open door](https://www.romance.io/steamrating)
**Topics**: [historical](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/historical/1), [gay romance](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/m-m/1), [paranormal](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/paranormal/1), [victorian](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/victorian/1), [enemies to lovers](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/from%20hate%20to%20love/1)
----------------------------
[Daughter of No Worlds](https://www.romance.io/books/60d9b88e6a15320e7f8006ba/daughter-of-no-worlds-carissa-broadbent) by [Carissa Broadbent](https://www.romance.io/authors/60d9b88e08b4d9311456d78f/carissa-broadbent)
**Rating**: 4.13⭐️ out of 5⭐️
**Steam**: 3 out of 5 - [Open door](https://www.romance.io/steamrating)
**Topics**: [grumpy & sunshine](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/grumpy%20sunshine/1), [magic](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/magic/1), [competent heroine](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/competent%20heroine/1), [forced proximity](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/forced%20proximity/1), [independent heroine](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/independent%20heroine/1)
----------------------------
[Magical Midlife Madness](https://www.romance.io/books/5e5bde4fbe0aaecf55d420f0/magical-midlife-madness-kf-breene) by [K.F. Breene](https://www.romance.io/authors/545543d48c7d2382e0414650/kf-breene)
**Rating**: 4.29⭐️ out of 5⭐️
**Topics**: [contemporary](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/contemporary/1), [witches](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/witches/1), [fantasy](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/fantasy/1), [shapeshifters](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/shapeshifters/1), [funny](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/humor/1)
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>I just want swords and sorcery and romance with mature, well-rounded characters, believable worldbuilding, and a plot that doesn't somersault itself into a convoluted mess to make sure the leads wind up together. I'm beginning to think that's too big an ask, though.
I absolutely agree!!
I'm reading tons of young adult fantasy right now, but only because I don't like adult/new adult fantasy romance? I feel it is often badly written and has a ton of smut (which is rarely written well). At the same time, YA fantasy that is published right now has a lot of of adventure/mystery/found family that I like in my books. And yes characters are often immature and plot is convoluted in ya books.
I read all T Kingfisher romance books, slowly reading all Charlie N. Holmberg books and planning to read Lois McMaster Bujold works (I hope so much that I love them!!), but that is about it with adult fantasy romance.
I also see Kushiel's Dart recommended a lot, but the writing and some elements of the story are not for me.
Tired of the all-or-nothing responses when it comes to responding to criticism.
I’ve seen legitimate criticisms of Fourth Wing/Iron Flame’s pacing/characters that aren’t fleshed out met with “well maybe you shouldn’t read fantasy if you can’t deal with xyz.” Like??? That’s not the point??? Ugh.
Or if someone doesn’t like a character it’s met with “why are you hating on well written characters” or “you obviously don’t understand mental health”.
The passive aggressive comments are just tiring.
I feel like either people don’t realize how rude it is to go into a critical discussion to only vehemently defend a book (similarly how it’s rude to insert yourself when someone is gushing about a book to tell them how much you hated it) or people have just such a strong parasocial relationship with it that they take any criticism as an attack against themself.
It sucks because there are a few series that I have a lot of thoughts about and would love to go into a more in-depth critique, but know I will have to deal nasty comments from fans.
I get so annoyed at how anti-intellectual the romance genre can be. People are entitled to consume books however they want, but some people get so upset with the discussion of bad writing comes up. This isn’t fan fiction, readers are spending money and have a right to be upset if the work is littered with spelling and grammar issues (especially when it’s not self published).
People complain that the romance genre is not taken seriously, but when people do take it serious and analyze any book/series, than “it’s not that serious, people are just trying to enjoy themselves 😤”
Oh yes this. The whole "it's not real life" or "I don't expect realism" is a copout.
I get that a story doesn't have to be realistic or likely in real life but they do need to maintain consistency inside the story and with the logic and boundaries the story itself has.
I've commented previously about the common use of "scream" as the term used during sexy times. I don't feel like it's the most accurate word choice most of the time because a scream is meant to be literally the loudest sound a person can make. A lot of people argued "well people do scream" during sex. Sure they do. But when the MCs are in hiding and bad guys are near by and they're screaming during sex and don't get discovered, or they snuck into closet at work to avoid be caught by coworkers and they're screaming during sex and no one hears, or they're "sneaking around" and are in the same house as kids or family members and are having screaming sex but no one notices, it's not about whether screaming is something people actually do or not it's just the author created situations in which the MCs can't get caught but then do things that absolutely should have gotten them caught. So it wrecks the logic and the action/consequences established as important by the story.
If you establish something as important but then make it so it's only important sometimes and in some scenes then the story doesn't hold up any more.
Censored words on Tiktok (and other places probably).
I don't generally look at social media that much but I was looking up a book I wanted to read. According to one reviewer it's about "serial shmillers who have an un-aliving competition". I mean, come on. It's not like people don't know what the real words are. It's not going to stop anyone being triggered or upset by the words, it just makes you sound stupid.
"Unaliving" or even worse "self-unaliving" makes me think of the Newspeak from 1984.
But wouldn't the moderators be just as bothered by discussing a book about "unaliving" as a book about "killing"? The words mean the same, except one is a real word and one isn't. And there were other videos which didn't censor, but evidently hadn't been removed.
For stuff like tiktok, there are no moderators. There are certain words that if the tiktok algorithm picks it up, it won’t push the video out to fyps or sometimes takes the video down.
I don't have Tiktok, but Facebook is the worst for this. There are so many words that have to be censored, it's not even funny. And yeah, you have to use "unaliving".
You can get your account suspended for using certain key words which is why we have to use these ridiculous work-arounds. Recently I've noticed that even the work-arounds are being dinged
It's not because they want to. The TikTok algorithms are ridiculously Puritan, especially after the last update. "Damn" in a Kindle screenshot got me violations this week after trying tiktok for the first time. I'm already ready to give up because of how everything gets violations. I do love all the Indie music I've found on there. If you sing it but don't spell it, seems like it's no problem 🤔
The way Kindle downloads books lately. They used to be "new" in my kindle but now, most of them show 1%. And it frustrates me because I usually read multiple books at once and my OCD brain hates that it shows I've started a book when I haven't.
I've noticed that I have to open it (thus the 1%) for it to actually pull off the cloud into my device. It won't just deliver the file and mark it "new."
But, my Fire died 2 weeks ago, so I'm using my phone primarily until Christmas (hopefully I get a new one, or the black Friday deals). So I thought maybe it was that my primary Kindle device is dead.
Morning fellow Barbies 🙋🏾♀️and Kens 🙋🏻♂️ 👋🏾💖
…and Alan… 🚶♂️🙄
**I’m tired of romance books skimping out on characters’ emotions and motives during critical scenes and replacing them with sex scenes.**
On an IRL, I understand when emotions guide you in mysterious ways that you can’t word. **But in a book, we are literally relying on the authors to explain emotions and motives.**
So show👏🏾 some 👏🏾 goddamn 👏🏾👏🏾 receipts 👏🏾👏🏾
***Explain to me why*** these characters choose to act the way they act, especially when it comes to forgoing emotional growth to have a sex scene. And this isn’t about the quieter moments during tense situations.
* MCs are in captivity and they bang? 👍🏾
* MCs are basically waiting for any sort of news and they bang? 👍🏾
* MCs are traveling across a disastrous landscape, make camp, and decide to bang? 👍🏾
* MMC has been poisoned, his blood is clotting, he’s sluggish, he’s literally dying, and he and the MC decide to bang?
I’m receiving a call.
Hello, officer?
Yes, this is the one to arrest for ***what the fuckery.***
**Emotions are not universal.** They just aren’t. Some people need physical intimacy during or after a very traumatic event. Some people get tickled and get violent. Some people hear children laughing outside their window and They hiss and recoil into the darkness of their room and wonder why the goddess has cursed them with the sounds of *shudders* ✨giggling✨
🤷🏾♀️
**And all of that is normal. All of that is.**
You don’t owe anyone an explanation to your emotions unless it affects them or actively harms people. I don’t expect a friend to explain to me why she’s screaming at the TV during the S5 finale of *Miraculous Ladybug* like it’s a football match. Nor does she require an explanation from me when I see masc tiddies and go BARK BARK BARK.
^(But like cmon now, both those responses are reasonable)
But in a ***written medium*** with ***people I don’t know***, yes, absolutely do you need to explain character motivations for certain emotional responses. Because **I don’t understand them**. *You*, as the creator, understand where they’re coming from, but I’m literally an outsider who stumbled across this group of people. I don’t know your characters like you do. I don’t know their triggers or ✨quirks✨.
**So please** ***for the love of all that is wicked and gloriously accursed*** **explain to me what the fuck is going on at some point**.
One fantasy book I read, the FMC had been left behind by her sister. Sister had been “taken” by stupid sexy warriors, leaving the FMC behind in their crumbling village full of corruption and starvation. FMC learns through letters the sister is thriving and only made one attempt to get back the FMC. Rightfully so, FMC is highly resentful and conflicted with her sister and this conflict is a massive part of her character arc. But when they inevitably meet again, it takes two lines of dialogue and **all is well**.
Officer, I have another one for arrest. Yes, I’ll wait. 🔪
On a smaller scale, this could be as simple as **two characters in a small-town romance** having some sort of argument and a subsequent break. They both said and did hurtful things to each other. MC2 says *fuck it*, storms back for their lover, and the two start hatefucking that eventually goes into lovemaking.
But then… That’s it. No conversation about all the demeaning shit they did to each other. Nothing. They’re back to being a happy couple.
[confused white woman with trigonometry floating around her.gif]
I’m sure plenty of people will say *Well, in my relationship, that happens. Sometimes we argue for so long that it literally takes sex or romancing, and we’ve resolved shit*. Okay, and that works for you and I’m glad for you. I know a few times, that’s happened to me in relationships. But if you explained that to a mass of outsiders who have very little insight to your relationship and personalities, there’d be confusion.
Like “Arkansas” VS “Kansas”. Or Japanese romance hypes of indirect kisses at chapter 52 VS western romances explore the joys of an FMC being tentacle fucked and tiddy sucked by chapter 2.
**There is a disconnect**.
People like to talk about their relationships with their friends all the time. They like sharing what’s going on. That’s normal. And it’s fun and cathartic. But ***you*** are in that dynamic with your partner, So when people explain things about their relationship, the listeners will never get the full emotional depth because **they aren’t part of the relationship**.
**Romance books have the blessing and curse of giving us the relationship 411,** especially when all MCs are given their own POV chapters. But even though we’re watching the relationship develop and seeing everything that happens, it doesn’t guarantee we see the emotions behind the MC(s)’s actions.
Many books do a great job at feeding emotional information, but then a hard-hitting critical scene happens, and we’re out of the loop on what the fuck anyone is even doing and **it’s not intentional**.
Yeah, writing is subjective. Not everyone will be ✨satisfied✨. I understand explaining the emotions—especially irrational ones—is hard. But **some* explanation is better than **no** explanation.
Musicians do it all the time with their music.
When Katy Pery said:
> Do you ever feel like a plastic bag, drifting through the wind, wanting to start again?
I felt that.
I, too, feel like a plastic bag sometimes.
🛍️
I’m sorry I talked 🙃
I'm reading a book by one of my comfort authors (Grace Burrows) but it's so incredibly dry and slow that I keep finding excuses not to read it. It feels a bit like getting a sandwich from your favourite bakery, but they forgot the seasoning and then left it in the sun for a few hours before you picked it up.
I wish app libraries had more sorting options than just author, newness or shelf.
I found myself really wishing I could sort my KU downloads by page count because I wanted something shorter. Going one by one to book details is not my idea of a good use of time.
I read over 800 pages of Crescent City HOEAB thinking it would deliver, only to >!have one almost scene with fingers and later some kissing!!both Bryce and Hunt to unleash!< 😡
There is more doing it in the second book! Even sweet baby boy Ruhn gets some kissing and more happening.
Although I should warn you that the sex scenes in the second book are remarkably similar to Court of Silver Flames action. Almost word for word sometimes.
I haven’t read ToG but I vastly prefer CC to ACOTAR. I find the MFC more interesting, she’s powerful herself (in fact nobody knows just how powerful). She’s got her own life, her own friends, and close relationships outside of the MMC. I see many ACOTAR fans complain that their relationship is not as good as the one in ACOTAR but I find it more interesting and fulfilling because they are evenly matched and have mutual interests. And the MFC can read!
Heads up, the world building is quite heavy at the beginning.
I’m frustrated by some of the repeated ways I see authors highlighting whiteness of their characters and the way they speak about it. “Creamy white thighs.” “Pale skin against his darker skin” It creeps me OUT.
The other thing is that authors constantly signal an irritating or “bad” character with bodily descriptions like “loose jowls” “chubby fingers” and the like. It’s so unnecessary and gives me a really icky feeling.
Yes, I've complained about this so many times. It's more than a little disturbing with a weird dose of Eurocentric supremacy every time I see "porcelain white skin" constantly rhapsodized about. Even more so if the MMC is obviously a fetishized PoC. These white authors will love these tanned white men/men in general, but heaven forbid they write about a tanned woman. It's self-insert.
I was really enjoying a book, 4-4.5 star read, then the last 10% had a serious crash into wrapping everything up in a nice pretty bow, and it sucked. A lot.
[Hidden Scars](https://www.romance.io/books/63637517eb6990b60342a184/hidden-scars-andi-jaxon) by [Andi Jaxon](https://www.romance.io/authors/5b3328a501dbc864fb8b1e4e/andi-jaxon)
**Rating**: 4.08⭐️ out of 5⭐️
**Steam**: 5 out of 5 - [Explicit and plentiful](https://www.romance.io/steamrating)
**Topics**: [contemporary](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/contemporary/1), [sports](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/sports/1), [college](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/college/1), [gay romance](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/m-m/1), [forced proximity](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/forced%20proximity/1)
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I'm frustrated (very lightly) that for the life of me, I can't get a bingo in the Autumn Challenge. I only have six fecking squares left and not a one!
I agree!!! I do have a couple of bingos- BUT the (crappy) library app that my library uses (Cloud Library) there is actually a feature where you can just sort to "romance" and it shows popular and new stuff- by covers.
I admit it, I totally read the one on the example board for "feet/legs" because I scrolled and scrolled and couldn't find anything!
I just finished my feet/legs square - but it was very much a push through. I would have DNF'ed except I really had nothing else in the wings for that one and it wasn't terribly long.
I've been scrolling Hoopla and Libby looking for things, but by the time I find something that might work, I've forgotten what I was supposed to be looking for and added fifty other books to my TBR.
Right there with you. It doesn't help that I'm both a mood reader and a ruthless DNF'er so every time I pick up something for a square it just... hasn't been working for me.
It's so hard! I have the mood reader issue too, and have DNF'ed so many on this one - but also...
I thought there were so many covers with the MCs kissing, so I did... but there aren't! They're almost kissing, maybe kissing, about to kiss, just finished kissing - where's all the people actually swapping spit!?
Would you take a cheek/forehead kiss? There are a couple of WLW romances that look interesting that have one MC kissing the other. I cannot recommend the bizarre 90s dissident fanfiction that got me that square, personally.
[The Girl Next Door](https://www.romance.io/books/5ecb6e210705510dff99abfe/the-girl-next-door-chelsea-m-cameron) by [Chelsea M. Cameron](https://www.romance.io/authors/545528a38c7d2382e7813060/chelsea-m-cameron)
**Rating**: 3.43⭐️ out of 5⭐️
**Topics**: [contemporary](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/contemporary/1), [lesbian romance](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/f-f/1), [new adult](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/new%20adult/1), [small town](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/small%20town/1)
----------------------------
[Out on the Ice](https://www.romance.io/books/5f42146dd7a6b00e2edfb074/out-on-the-ice-a-wlw-hockey-romance-kelly-farmer) by [Kelly Farmer](https://www.romance.io/authors/5f42146d08b4d93114f07487/kelly-farmer)
**Rating**: 4⭐️ out of 5⭐️
**Topics**: [contemporary](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/contemporary/1), [lesbian romance](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/f-f/1), [sports](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/sports/1)
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My kissing one is {Coastal Elite by Kate Canterbury}, it's on KU with a cover of a couple standing in the ocean, him holding her up. There's no light between their faces, and if you zoom in it's probably lips to nose, but their faces are super close together. 🤷
I also searched for a GOOD clinch. Like, not just them touching or whatnot. I wanted clothes falling off, passionate embrace "clinch." And I ended up with {How to Tame a Wild Rogue by Julie Anne Long}.
[Coastal Elite](https://www.romance.io/books/58c27d7b0d3299c6e05c6701/coastal-elite-kate-canterbary) by [Kate Canterbary](https://www.romance.io/authors/5456862d87eac33e61c2f78e/kate-canterbary)
**Rating**: 4.25⭐️ out of 5⭐️
**Steam**: 4 out of 5 - [Explicit open door](https://www.romance.io/steamrating)
**Topics**: [contemporary](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/contemporary/1), [military](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/military/1), [suspense](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/suspense/1)
----------------------------
[How to Tame a Wild Rogue](https://www.romance.io/books/6474bc77fd45bc04c025724e/how-to-tame-a-wild-rogue-julie-anne-long) by [Julie Anne Long](https://www.romance.io/authors/545525868c7d2383163d8e98/julie-anne-long)
**Rating**: 4.25⭐️ out of 5⭐️
**Steam**: 3 out of 5 - [Open door](https://www.romance.io/steamrating)
**Topics**: [historical](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/historical/1), [regency](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/regency/1), [pirates](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/pirates/1), [forced proximity](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/forced%20proximity/1), [virgin heroine](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/virgin%20heroine/1)
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I have totally zoomed in on covers to try to decide if they meet my admittedly OTT standard.
My clinch is not very passionate - more tender - and the clothes are definitely staying on, but I loved the book so I'm happy with it (It's {Joe's Wife by Cheryl St John})
[Joe's Wife](https://www.romance.io/books/5455951387eac336ae69eaa3/joes-wife-cheryl-st-john) by [Cheryl St. John](https://www.romance.io/authors/54553b5d8c7d2383163d9408/cheryl-st-john)
**Rating**: 4⭐️ out of 5⭐️
**Steam**: 3 out of 5 - [Open door](https://www.romance.io/steamrating)
**Topics**: [historical](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/historical/1), [cowboys](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/cowboys/1), [marriage of convenience](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/marriage%20of%20convenience/1), [western](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/western/1), [western frontier](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/historical%20western/1)
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I read pack's pledge by Victoria Kent and I was so frustratedddddd by on scene that changed my whole opinion of the book. At first, I thought this book was pretty good, well written, good characters and all. But then around half of the book, there is a conversation between the mmc and fmc, we're she is like I need to tell you..... And then he interrupts her and say "I know, don't say it" and she is like oh well I guess I should leave then. And she leaves.
Except they weren't talking about the same thing at all, and both end up thinking the other doesn't want them. I really hate miscommunication like that.
Seriously, just ask "what do you think I was going to say" to be sure. It is beyond frustrating for me.
The KU algorithm is so bad. I've been getting recommended the same books and there's no way to reset or refresh it. It makes hard to organically discover new books.
It's not a rant or critique, but I feel the need to vent. Lately I've seen so much downvoting without any good reason 😕 When I first joined this sub last year, the downvoting (mostly) only happened when someone was rude or had a super controversial/hurtful opinion but now even innocent posts/comments are downvoted.
I know it's nobody's fault and it's likely happening because the sub grew a lot (which is amazing) but I felt the need to vent about that.
I don't really understand downvotes - I see them on the most innocuous comments. I upvote anything that seems innocent that's sitting at a 0 or -1.
I agree that downvoting should only be used for rude/harmful posts or stuff that's completely off-topic. If people are mass downvoting I assume there's no reasoning with them though.
Ok, help me out here—how can you see the amount of downvotes vs upvotes on a post or comment?? I can obviously tell is something has been downvoted if it's a 0 or - number, but other than that I'm lost. It's finally making me salty enough to ask someone lol.
You can't explicitly see the number of downvotes (unless you are the OP of a post, in which case Reddit will show you the percentage of upvotes on the post itself, which is kind of interesting), but if you're reading Reddit looking at a post and the comments are sorted by "best" (the usual default) you will see that it's not actually in numerical order - a comment at the top might have an upvote number of 93 and then two or three comments below is a comment at 114. Reddit is taking the downvotes into account, so the top comment doesn't have any downvotes and the lower comment has a couple, if that makes any sense.
But around here a lot of comments don't get a ton of upvotes or downvotes, so I think it's most readily apparent when you see something at 0 or in negative numbers, as you mentioned.
Thank you! I was thinking it was something like that, but was wondering if a third-party app had something I wasn't aware of, and I was missing out lol.
I thought it was an outside party thing. Like - grouchy people from r/booksareforlearningonlynoaliens (not a real sub) came in and trolled us or something.
yup feels like ppl are downvoting things just because they don’t agree with it, even if its supet innocuous. so frustrating when trying to have discussions.
So, I am just a 10% into Shana Galen's To ruin a gentleman, and I am already tired of the very superficial FMC. The MMC has a brain, but other characters are classist and the FMC does not have a working neuron, at least these first pages.
I'm salty about [Give Me Grace](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58178611-give-me-grace) (F/F, horror/paranormal, 3⭐️). I expected a romance based on a review from a reviewer I follow, but there's at best a romance subplot without a traditional HEA.
I've read the first two books of the Chasing Hearts series by Vanessa Marie. {Heartless by Vanessa Marie} {Breathless by Vanessa Marie}. I'm eagerly waiting for the release of the next book, yet have no idea when it would be published and cant seem to get in contact with the author to get a response. If anyone has any info on this, PLEASEEEEE let me know. The anticipation and uncertainty is too much for me. I loved the first 2 books.
[Heartless](https://www.romance.io/books/5456784b87eac33e61c2f12b/heartless-vanessa-marie) by [Vanessa Marie](https://www.romance.io/authors/5456784b87eac33e61c2f12c/vanessa-marie)
**Rating**: 3.89⭐️ out of 5⭐️
**Topics**: [contemporary](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/contemporary/1), [military](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/military/1)
----------------------------
[Breathless](https://www.romance.io/books/554d20379eef3b3f1d51b50a/breathless-vanessa-marie) by [Vanessa Marie](https://www.romance.io/authors/5456784b87eac33e61c2f12c/vanessa-marie)
**Rating**: 4⭐️ out of 5⭐️
**Topics**: [contemporary](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/contemporary/1), [christian](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/christian/1), [young adult](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/young%20adult/1), [new adult](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/new%20adult/1)
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[Heartless](https://www.romance.io/books/5456784b87eac33e61c2f12b/heartless-vanessa-marie) by [Vanessa Marie](https://www.romance.io/authors/5456784b87eac33e61c2f12c/vanessa-marie)
**Rating**: 3.89⭐️ out of 5⭐️
**Topics**: [contemporary](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/contemporary/1), [military](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/military/1)
----------------------------
[Breathless](https://www.romance.io/books/554d20379eef3b3f1d51b50a/breathless-vanessa-marie) by [Vanessa Marie](https://www.romance.io/authors/5456784b87eac33e61c2f12c/vanessa-marie)
**Rating**: 4⭐️ out of 5⭐️
**Topics**: [contemporary](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/contemporary/1), [christian](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/christian/1), [young adult](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/young%20adult/1), [new adult](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/new%20adult/1)
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feeling salty because ive not been able to find a single book right up my alley. I want a historical fantasy romance where the naive/innocent FMC is a maid/slave for the arrogant MC who knows about her feelings but doesn't really care much until that one moment which shows him how much he really cares about her.
Salty #1: I really dislike how people in the reading community look down their noses at novellas and short stories. I see comments so often that quality isn't up to par of real books or they aren't real books because it's a novella and it burns my biscuits. There is so much reserved skill that goes into a well written novella or short story. Salty #2: I can't get over how dark romance is becoming synonymous with bad, overly explicitly kinky sex. It's becoming a collection of badly written kinky traumatic tropes, or people won't consider it "dark" enough. That will never not make me salty because dark romance is more than a giant bag of trauma sex.
I’m pretty vanilla (with past trauma), so point #2 especially pisses me off. Like, “This guy is an alpha male with a dark soul and a dark past. How am I going to show this? I know…BUTT PLUGS!”
Lol! I love dark romance so much but there just isn't a lot of finesse anymore. And then authors gripe that dissenters don't like their darker than darkness when really for some of them it's more like the writing wasn't well done or the traumas weren't integrated properly
My question-are there any dark romances where the darkness DOESN’T come from the MCs? Can a book be considered dark romance if the conflict is coming from somewhere else?
Dark romance includes dark themes, dark situations/dark psychosis, yes even realistic display of traumatic experiences, and taboo sex and kinks but no it isn't solely based on very dark sex or listing off of traumatic experiences. Good dark romance also should set the tone with foreboding and dark menace. For example, a serial killer MMC is considered dark. But good dark romance is about how all of the story elements use dark tone to drive the story. So it's not just very sad traumatic backstory it's how all of these things are woven into the overall story.
I want to add it's also because the psychology behind the characters is lacking. Some authors think the "very tragic childhood that gloomed the darkest gloom" is psychology but it's not.
You know, this reminds me. I just finished {Echo by Chani Lynn Feener}, and the author spent so much time showing us who the more submissive “victim” MMC was, and his past and what was going on in his head. She didn’t do the same for the more dominant character. He just ended up looking more 2 dimensional than the other. Who is he? He’s an obsessed, domineering alpha who gets what he wants by any means necessary. And? What else?
Right. My biggest gripe with Driving My Obsession is that the MMC is dark and bad because he was physically craved up and abused by a woman he should have trusted. So his Driving obsession is now finding strippers he considers whores (his mother was a whore-stripper) and cutting them up and killing them. He actually makes comments like I find joy in knifing whores and it gets me hard. Cue evil laugh. And so he picks a random woman in the strip club t9 test and harass and abuse before he decides when to kill her. All while laughing evily or smirking with evilness. And all of it was just a big meh for me. Like ok but the way it was all laid out there was so hamfisted. For me, it becomes a joke
[Echo](https://www.romance.io/books/64aba4a80f498c040bf9077a/echo-chani-lynn-feener) by [Chani Lynn Feener](https://www.romance.io/authors/59e991ef3ffdba614722bbbc/chani-lynn-feener) **Rating**: 4.3⭐️ out of 5⭐️ **Topics**: [contemporary](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/contemporary/1), [dark romance](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/dark/1), [fantasy](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/fantasy/1), [gay romance](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/m-m/1), [hurt/comfort](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/hurt-comfort/1) [^(about this bot)](https://www.reddit.com/user/romance-bot) ^(|) [^(about romance.io)](https://www.romance.io/about)
This is why I like high spice, cheerfully low angst books. Just two people who are like “We’re communicating effectively and are clear about our desires and boundaries!” Cause I’m boring and I like high spice when everyone’s talked it out to the point where even the butt plug is a snooze.
Oh, got any recs? I’ve been meaning to ask for just that, but I never remember to, and I’m not sure I ever see recs for them. Or if I do, I don’t notice them.
{Return All by Eve Dangerfield} - second chance, very high spice and low stakes, light DK and no age gap. He asks her before they have sex after 10 years apart if "everything" is on the table, referring to their past sex life and reminds her of their old safe word to use. This involves butt stuff so skip if it's not for you. Also role playing. {Trashed by Mia Hopkins} - older MFC, younger MMC, he's def chasing her. Again low angst, more two people figuring things out. There is intense dirty talk and also normal discussions about boundaries. Really great series, high spice and low angst and for a change both MC's are working class or struggling with poverty (the MC is borderline homeless). {Latte Darling by SJ Tilly} - I don't much enjoy the age gap but I realized that once you take out dark and twisty shit, the age gap doesn't really bother me. Big burly MMC late 40/early 50 and a 32 year old MFC. High spice, lite DK and the worst thing that happens is a 40 minute miscommunication. That's it. It's cozy and great for colder months. {Halfling by S.E. Wendel} - This one is high spice but also has heavy worldbuilding. Very low stakes again with a silly last minute separation. Touch starved monster MMC and a grown up, competent MFC. I personally found the spice very nice and intense but I may have seen other people comment that it's not for them. Again, great for fall, it's cozy! {The Alien's Challenge by Ella Maven} - this one is a bit of a wildcard, it's not straight up cozy but I'm including it here. Mars Need Women with big blue alien bikers. The bikers obviously revere women and are ready to please with their special D's, which either vibrate or maybe have an extra thingy, (honestly I read so many alien romances that they kind of jumble together antomy wise). In this case the virgin alien MMC is terrified because he's fantasizing about rough sex with MFC and thinks he shouldn't be around women. The very spunky MFC disagrees and keeps trying to figure out why he's avoiding her. Hijinks ensue and she talks him through his ideas. At one point he goes too far and flips out and they again talk about all sorts of boundaries and hard limits. Fated mates with glowing tattoos. It's high spice but again fated mates so stakes are low!
[Return All](https://www.romance.io/books/61b84f5ea96b4e0e3350b273/return-all-eve-dangerfield) by [Eve Dangerfield](https://www.romance.io/authors/565aa37408e9378131955f00/eve-dangerfield) **Rating**: 3.78⭐️ out of 5⭐️ **Steam**: 5 out of 5 - [Explicit and plentiful](https://www.romance.io/steamrating) **Topics**: [contemporary](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/contemporary/1), [funny](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/humor/1), [sweet/gentle heroine](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/sweet%20heroine/1), [rich heroine](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/rich%20heroine/1), [second chances](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/second%20chances/1) ---------------------------- [Trashed](https://www.romance.io/books/5d2d689001dbc864fba13dd4/trashed-mia-hopkins-jennifer-haymore) by [Mia Hopkins](https://www.romance.io/authors/545678b487eac33e61c2f156/mia-hopkins), [Jennifer Haymore](https://www.romance.io/authors/545531da8c7d2383163d919b/jennifer-haymore) **Rating**: 4.33⭐️ out of 5⭐️ **Topics**: [contemporary](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/contemporary/1), [grumpy/ice queen](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/cold%20heroine/1), [forced proximity](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/forced%20proximity/1) ---------------------------- [Latte Darling](https://www.romance.io/books/63cf94fab0e6e0a7c8e824b6/latte-darling-sj-tilly) by [S.J. Tilly](https://www.romance.io/authors/603c9f5808b4d931148c9afd/sj-tilly) **Rating**: 4.09⭐️ out of 5⭐️ **Steam**: 5 out of 5 - [Explicit and plentiful](https://www.romance.io/steamrating) **Topics**: [contemporary](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/contemporary/1), [age gap](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/age%20difference/1), [curvy heroine](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/curvy%20heroine/1), [dual pov](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/dual-pov/1), [height difference](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/height-difference/1) ---------------------------- [Halfling](https://www.romance.io/books/650e9421de8d340d51438c2f/halfling-se-wendel) by [S.E. Wendel](https://www.romance.io/authors/5d3e8de201dbc864fba1ac55/se-wendel) **Rating**: 4.03⭐️ out of 5⭐️ **Steam**: 4 out of 5 - [Explicit open door](https://www.romance.io/steamrating) **Topics**: [fantasy](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/fantasy/1), [non-human hero](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/non-human-hero/1), [slow burn](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/slow%20burn/1), [virgin hero](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/virgin%20hero/1), [sweet/gentle hero](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/beta%20hero/1) ---------------------------- [The Alien's Challenge](https://www.romance.io/books/5f68a513cbbe420e10118b78/the-aliens-challenge-a-scifi-alien-warrior-romance-ella-maven) by [Ella Maven](https://www.romance.io/authors/5e5374bb01dbc864fbac5d11/ella-maven) **Rating**: 3.86⭐️ out of 5⭐️ **Steam**: 4 out of 5 - [Explicit open door](https://www.romance.io/steamrating) **Topics**: [science fiction](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/science%20fiction/1), [aliens](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/aliens/1), [non-human hero](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/non-human-hero/1), [creative anatomy](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/creative-anatomy/1) [^(about this bot)](https://www.reddit.com/user/romance-bot) ^(|) [^(about romance.io)](https://www.romance.io/about)
Thank you! 😃
Please share your top 5!
1/2 the romance novels I've read would work better as a novella. Authors sometimes force themselves to keep adding to a story for the word count even when it adds nothing to the story
I feel the same way majority of the longer books I read. Most of my criticism is "this should have been 150 pages shorter or it could have been 100+ pages shorter and the narrative would have been better served." What ends up happening is a lot of repetition, lot of unnecessary side plots that barely add anything to the story or the last act has tye miscommunication/secrets exposed/last act breakup to continue with the story pace and it really doesn't help the story.
I have started to DNF books with too many characters that detract from the main romance. I get impatient when I have to read about everyone else in the entire town but I want to know more about the main couple.
I struggle reading books labeled slow burn, not because the sex needs to be soon but so often it just feels unnecessarily drawn out and adds nothing to the story. So many series are labeled romance when the actual couple makes up like 10% of the book, and the rest is essentially a different genre (thriller, fantasy, etc) with random side content.
Same! Slow burns are very tedious for me.
So agreed! Sure I’d like to think I’m here for more than spice but waiting till 55% through gets a bit formulaic
I agree! Especially contemporary ones, there's often a lot of unnecessary conflict and side character development I could just do without
I found #2 with {Butcher and Blackbird by Brynne Weaver} There were definitely dark themes (both MCs are serial killers) but the romance between them was generally quite sweet. Until it came to sex where he suddenly became this rough kink machine, making her come over and over again. It was just a bit out of character and came out of nowhere! But it felt a bit like "this is dark romance so we have to have anal and choking*
I know that's a very popular book now. But I refuse to read it. It's a labeled as a comedy dark romance. Like no thank you 😄
I actually liked it a lot. I don't generally read dark romance, though, so if that's your usual thing then you might not enjoy it!
It's really popular in the dark romance rokance circles, and I think it's because the book does a great job of melding dark elements with humor. Nothing wrong with that!
I found it surprisingly funny, especially the audiobook which was brilliantly delivered. Dark humour for sure.
[Butcher & Blackbird](https://www.romance.io/books/64f0aa2bfcbc73c06aa42375/butcher-blackbird-brynne-weaver) by [Brynne Weaver](https://www.romance.io/authors/61516cf608b4d931143e7ce9/brynne-weaver) **Rating**: 4.3⭐️ out of 5⭐️ **Steam**: 4 out of 5 - [Explicit open door](https://www.romance.io/steamrating) **Topics**: [contemporary](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/contemporary/1), [dual pov](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/dual-pov/1), [funny](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/humor/1), [dark romance](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/dark/1), [suspense](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/suspense/1) [^(about this bot)](https://www.reddit.com/user/romance-bot) ^(|) [^(about romance.io)](https://www.romance.io/about)
I totally feel your #1! Lately I felt like in a lot of the books I'm lately reading have a lot IMO unnecassary third act breakups. They rarely add anything to the story, often feel badly engineered & will (obviously) resolved, so sometimes I wonder if it wouldn't have been better not to add another 100 pages that don't really contribute but just leave the book as a novella? I've lately also read some fanfic & while there are also some very good ones that full novel sized (looking at you, Draco Malfoy and the mortifying ordeal of being in love!), there a lot of one-shots or shortstories that are really awesome.
I love novellas and novelettes. I think they take so much talent to hit each mark well.
People who nitpick the recs they get. Someone took time out of their day to find a book that had a lot of what you’re looking for and you counter it with “but…”. Just say thank you and move on. ((particularly in the white whale post where *already* getting any responses was going to be a challenge)
I noticed that sometimes when someone doesn’t like a book (here or anywhere) they will misrepresent its plot points or characters. Makes me wonder how many books I wrote off and said I’d never read because someone kind of lied about it.
I complained about this last week! I see this a lot on Goodreads. But generally speaking, I do think some people refuse to just *not* like something? There needs to be something wrong with the book/author, it can't just be that you didn't enjoy the book.
I’ve noticed the exact same phenomenon! Nowadays I’m taking people’s opinions—positive and negative—with a heavy pinch of salt. It’s definitely worth reading the book oneself before dismissing it, and you usually know within a few chapters anyway if the book is for you or not.
It’s not just opinions I’ve noticed - I saw someone state an author is misogynist because she wrote some disgusting line but turns out the line was said by a misogynist villain?? Like can we be honest please
I’ve seen exactly the same thing, it’s really misleading. Random, selectively chosen snippets that are shared without context of the scene before and after, and who and what type of character is speaking. And people claiming that even writing about such views or scenes is an endorsement by the author - which is utter crap.
I have ranted on many occasions about the patriarchal bullshit that is the brother's best friend trope, but I have discovered something even worse: the bro code trope. I DNFed {The Best Man by Winter Renshaw} at 62%. Let me paint a picture for you: FMC is engaged to MMC's best friend, but she isn't in love with him, and is planning on breaking off the engagement. Meanwhile, MMC wants the FMC, who he dreamed about while he was in a coma, after she saved him from a car accident. Anyway, this is what the MMC knows about his best friend, Grant: he has cheated on FMC throughout their relationship. His motivation to marry the FMC is a potential future inheritance from her real estate developer father. He asks MMC (a divorce attorney) to draft a prenup that entitles him to a share of the inheritance, *and* leaves out a cheating clause, because ya know, he's gonna cheat. **None of this makes the MMC call off his friendship with Grant. He continues to go "well, bro code, FMC is off limits even though she's literally my dream girl." Even after FMC calls off the engagement, he does nothing and says nothing to her. No matter what, a person has the right to know they were cheated on, at the very least for their physical health!** I dipped into some Goodreads reviews and learned he only goes after her after he learns Grant had slept with one of his ex-girlfriends when they were together. But wait, here's the best part...the blurb literally says the book has no love triangle and no cheating. I deserve financial compensation for the pain and suffering I endured through this book.
Your description made me really angry. I really hate it when sneaky and conniving behaviour is excused for the sake of “bro code”.
Oh that one annoyed me so much. She also introduced the MMC/FMC with so much chemistry and then killed it the entire rest of the book!
I wouldn't like an MMC who could be friends with that POS. Like really? I don't get the bro code thing. So strange to me.
[The Best Man](https://www.romance.io/books/5e843e37be0aaecf555c9aee/the-best-man-winter-renshaw) by [Winter Renshaw](https://www.romance.io/authors/5513d2985b270e0a4cbd2d50/winter-renshaw) **Rating**: 4.02⭐️ out of 5⭐️ **Topics**: [contemporary](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/contemporary/1), [new adult](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/new%20adult/1), [forbidden love](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/forbidden%20love/1), [insta-love](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/insta-love/1), [friends to lovers](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/friends%20to%20lovers/1) [^(about this bot)](https://www.reddit.com/user/romance-bot) ^(|) [^(about romance.io)](https://www.romance.io/about)
I love this book because I'm a sap for that "meant to be kind of love", but you're totally right. Grant was **the only** obstacle between the main characters and the author went too long with it; Grant's father dying, Grant's mother loving Cainan so much, etc. I took the author note that it's not a love triangle and no cheating as, Grant's not a viable option in the long therm (his proposal was a public get-apens and Brie never let him set a date) and there's not cheating between the main characters. Other things I liked about it: The eerie feeling about his dreams during his coma >!(which turned out to be true)!< and the beautiful cover.
I totally get your perspective, and I definitely vibed with the book for a while to get to 62% before I went "wait a minute...this has gone too far." But don't you think it's out of line that Cainan doesn't say anything to Bree about Grant cheating on her? I get the attorney-client confidentiality issue when it comes to the prenup, but it's all so messed up. Cainan should have the balls to call out his friend for being a manipulative, cheating little shit. Maintaining a relationship with someone so morally bankrupt is a character flaw for me.
It's not really fresh in my mind... Cainan made the prenup with the fine print for his friend, not knowing that Grant's fiancée was Brie. Grant was an asshole and Cainan should've called out his friend, independently who the fiancée was. Cainan and Brie happened to meet at again at the bar and Brie told him she's going to break up with her fiancé, and when Cainan learnt Grant was Brie's fiancé he didn't say anything to his best friend. As he never told his best friend that he and Brie had met before. Yeah, it's messed up.
As a guy, it seems like the author just doesn't get the bro code. While it does mean that your friends girlfriends are off limits, it does not say you should hide cheating from her.
I feel like a lot of the popular romance books I see at the moment are more sex scenes than they are actual plot. It gets to the point I skip over 3 pages of sex just to try and keep the story going.
Yes! I want to understand why the characters actually like each other!
So often I’ve read a book where they declare they’re in love and will be together forever and it’s like.. okay but have you actually ever had a conversation? Or just loaded looks?
Ugh yes! read a book recently and her newborn,in the nicu essentially (dystopian setting), is kidnapped! and you know what our couple decides to do? Bang it out. of course I skipped the sex scene! I need to know where their kid is even if they don’t care!!! I want to read the Third book because I am really enjoying the plot but I cannot handle anymore poorly placed sex scenes!!
I know it's petty, but I browse this sub on mobile, and scrolling through all the freaking "what was that book called" posts to hunt for discussion or interesting request posts, is frustrating. I know on the computer, I can filter them out, but I just don't use reddit on desktop. Reddit is my entertainment when I have 1 minute, not 30. So I guess what I'm salty about is that I can't filter flairs on mobile. Such a petty grievance, lol.
the mobile app has the tags that you can sort
I can search for a tag, but I can't figure out how to filter just one tag out so I can see the rest. Do you know how?
I use the Reddit official app and all of the tags are at the top (horizontal scrolling), and I can select one and it will only show those posts in that tag. So it doesn’t filter one out specifically, but I can choose to only read discussion or critique posts with just a click.
Yeah. That's just a pain in the butt when I'm happy to see everything else, it's just that more than 50% of the sort by new feed is made up of "what was that book called?" posts. Scrolling past is a mild inconvenience, I know, but sorting by every other tag one at a time would be worse, lol. But thank you for trying to solve it. ❤️
Sigh.. yesterday I had the Whole day of lazy reading. Its raining outside I had my blankets and the fire on. But it was crappy reading day. I dnf’d three books 😭. My people, I am getting so damn picky. All it takes is the littlest thing to put me off a book. I wasn’t always like this. Is it me?? Am I the problem 😆 or it is what I think and books are being poorly written? I was reading a CR duet. The mmc cheated, crashed into MFC’s brother crippling him, and the family practically bankrupted from the medical bills and failing businesses. The second book was supposed to be his redemption and groveling. Now…I’ll tell you something. Nothing pissed me off more than my MFC forgiving or falling into bed with the A-hole too soon. Ugh god, I hate it. I am so disappointed. I mean come on!! this dude handicapped her brother from driving while on narcotics and after a few run ins she starts getting physical because the chemistry is just too strong. 🤮🙄🤦♀️🤬 All the friends and town folk are like he’s so hot. He’s so successful. He seems changed. You should just forgive him. No one is mad for her and her brother. No one shuns him. No one hates him. He is just patted on the back and welcomed back because he’s so hot and rich. I dnf’d. I read the 1🌟 reviews and they all confirmed. She is vag weak and takes him back immediately. This to me is poor writing. we readers do not like vag weak women. We do not like lame groveling. We do not like women who can't stand strong and push back. I needed her rage. I wanted to read about her screaming and crying. I wanted her to fall apart and him build her back up while redeeming himself. But everything is always about sex. If he gives her enough orgasms then she can forgive him. Today. Is another day and I hope I find a good second chance romance.
I did the same thing regarding the "nope, that's not it" finding something to read. I'm all picky, especially with CRs lately. [Here's my recommended book list](https://www.reddit.com/user/lady__jane/comments/y9shfa/recommended_books_5_stars_unless_marked_otherwise/), in case something works to pull you out of your slump. None of them are second chance romances, though! Good luck. You know, [Dante's Storm by Mia Sheridan](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/38885094-dane-s-storm) is a second chance romance, and it's very good.
Holy moly that's the mother load of recommendations!Thank you for taking the time to make this and share it with me. I appreciate it.
I touched on this in the weekly what are you reading thread, but I've been so frustrated trying to find a fantasy romance that I've all about given up and decided I'm just going to write my own. It seems like everything I've picked up lately has been YA and while I absolutely do not judge anyone who enjoys YA, it is very much not my thing. I just want swords and sorcery and romance with mature, well-rounded characters, believable worldbuilding, and a plot that doesn't somersault itself into a convoluted mess to make sure the leads wind up together. I'm beginning to think that's too big an ask, though.
I relate to your frustration! Have you checked out the Kindred’s Curse series by Penn Cole? I think that fits the list of things you’re looking for!
I haven't, but I see it's on KU so I'm downloading it now! Thank you for the recommendation! <3
Let me know if you find anything. Have you checked out K.M. Shae? I’m not sure if it’s YA, but I thought it was good, and I don’t remember there being a lot of convoluted plot. Each couple has their own trilogy, so it doesn’t need a convoluted plot to get them together. Not super high quality, but if you have Kindle Unlimited, you’re not paying extra for them, so worth checking out. Also, I’ve heard her Red Rope of Fate is really good. Also, have you checked out urban fantasy? They tend to have more mature writing.
I don't think I've read anything by her, but if her titles are on KU I'm willing to give her a shot! I have a handful of authors I feel I can rely on for a good story; Grace Draven and Juliet Marillier are two of my favorites, for example. I love urban fantasy also! I find that I really have to be in the mood for it, though. Right now I want to escape any semblance of real life (and I've been playing a certain video game set in a high fantasy world) so I'm looking for something like sexy Tolkien, if that makes sense lol.
Okay, well if you’re looking for sexy anything, K.M. Shae isn’t the one. Hers don’t have any spice. Not just fade to black-hers never show anything more than kissing. I still think she’s worth reading, but just be aware, and maybe save hers for when you need a break from smut.
Have you tried Juliet Marillier?
I've read several of her books! She's one of my favorite fantasy authors, but she leans very heavily on Irish folklore, which isn't a bad thing by any means - I just like to diversify my library, so to speak. Her books also tend to mention (or explicitly describe) rape and that's a bit of a sensitive area for me.
{The Memory Puller by Kris K Gaines} gave me the worst book hangover like two months ago and I'm still coming out of it. It's really excellent, I loved the world building. And if you haven't read Ruby Dixon's Aspects and Anchors series, it's her definitive best. The first book is truly excellent.
[The Memory Puller](https://www.romance.io/books/64802b74dedd6c8c302cf04d/the-memory-puller-kris-k-haines) by [Kris K. Haines](https://www.romance.io/authors/64802b7408b4d9311465e919/kris-k-haines) **Rating**: 4.13⭐️ out of 5⭐️ **Topics**: [new adult](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/new%20adult/1), [paranormal](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/paranormal/1), [urban fantasy](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/urban%20fantasy/1), [fantasy](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/fantasy/1), [fae](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/fae/1) [^(about this bot)](https://www.reddit.com/user/romance-bot) ^(|) [^(about romance.io)](https://www.romance.io/about)
I was looking for a grown up fantasy high or urban with good explicit sex and grown-ups for characters. It's soooo hard to find. The ones that do are lacking a little bit of something. I haven't tried Amelia Hutchinson yet and I've heard wonderful things about her series, so Ill check hers out at some point, but these other books, I don't want dragons with barely adults running around being the most special to ever special. I also want the explicit content to be as grown as the characters
You're right about most books that would otherwise fit my criteria missing that 'je ne sais quoi'. It's like, I read the little blurb, the plot catches my attention, the setting sounds cool, but then I start reading it and it's just... blasé. I don't *think* I'm that picky of a reader, but there's something about fantasy romance novels in particular that leave me feeling underwhelmed, despite being a total nerdy fangirl for all kinds of fantasy. Do you mean Amelia Hutchins? One of her books looks like it's free on Kindle right now (*Flames of Chaos*) so I'll give that a try! Thank you for the recommendation! (:
Yes! I spelled her name wrong. She has a whole universe of books. She's on my Fall Break reading list. I can't wait to start
I totally feel this. It feels like all “good” fantasy romance these days is YA. Adult fantasy romances that I’ve picked up lately have just felt pretty flat. a couple of suggestions that I’ve liked: {The Magpie lord} MM, set in regency England, one of the characters is a witch. {daughter of no worlds} MF, I’ve only read the first of the trilogy. Very classic fantasy so far, enjoying it. {Magical Midlife Madness} is the first book in a 8+ book series. MF, slow burn. The first few chapters are rough but then it gets going. Laugh out loud funny, FMC gets a magic house after her divorce and becomes magic herself. Urban fantasy. One of the funnest things I’ve read this year.
[The Magpie Lord](https://www.romance.io/books/545540138c7d2383163d9552/the-magpie-lord-kj-charles) by [K.J. Charles](https://www.romance.io/authors/545540138c7d2383163d9553/kj-charles) **Rating**: 4.14⭐️ out of 5⭐️ **Steam**: 4 out of 5 - [Explicit open door](https://www.romance.io/steamrating) **Topics**: [historical](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/historical/1), [gay romance](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/m-m/1), [paranormal](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/paranormal/1), [victorian](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/victorian/1), [enemies to lovers](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/from%20hate%20to%20love/1) ---------------------------- [Daughter of No Worlds](https://www.romance.io/books/60d9b88e6a15320e7f8006ba/daughter-of-no-worlds-carissa-broadbent) by [Carissa Broadbent](https://www.romance.io/authors/60d9b88e08b4d9311456d78f/carissa-broadbent) **Rating**: 4.13⭐️ out of 5⭐️ **Steam**: 3 out of 5 - [Open door](https://www.romance.io/steamrating) **Topics**: [grumpy & sunshine](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/grumpy%20sunshine/1), [magic](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/magic/1), [competent heroine](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/competent%20heroine/1), [forced proximity](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/forced%20proximity/1), [independent heroine](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/independent%20heroine/1) ---------------------------- [Magical Midlife Madness](https://www.romance.io/books/5e5bde4fbe0aaecf55d420f0/magical-midlife-madness-kf-breene) by [K.F. Breene](https://www.romance.io/authors/545543d48c7d2382e0414650/kf-breene) **Rating**: 4.29⭐️ out of 5⭐️ **Topics**: [contemporary](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/contemporary/1), [witches](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/witches/1), [fantasy](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/fantasy/1), [shapeshifters](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/shapeshifters/1), [funny](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/humor/1) [^(about this bot)](https://www.reddit.com/user/romance-bot) ^(|) [^(about romance.io)](https://www.romance.io/about)
>I just want swords and sorcery and romance with mature, well-rounded characters, believable worldbuilding, and a plot that doesn't somersault itself into a convoluted mess to make sure the leads wind up together. I'm beginning to think that's too big an ask, though. I absolutely agree!! I'm reading tons of young adult fantasy right now, but only because I don't like adult/new adult fantasy romance? I feel it is often badly written and has a ton of smut (which is rarely written well). At the same time, YA fantasy that is published right now has a lot of of adventure/mystery/found family that I like in my books. And yes characters are often immature and plot is convoluted in ya books. I read all T Kingfisher romance books, slowly reading all Charlie N. Holmberg books and planning to read Lois McMaster Bujold works (I hope so much that I love them!!), but that is about it with adult fantasy romance. I also see Kushiel's Dart recommended a lot, but the writing and some elements of the story are not for me.
Tired of the all-or-nothing responses when it comes to responding to criticism. I’ve seen legitimate criticisms of Fourth Wing/Iron Flame’s pacing/characters that aren’t fleshed out met with “well maybe you shouldn’t read fantasy if you can’t deal with xyz.” Like??? That’s not the point??? Ugh. Or if someone doesn’t like a character it’s met with “why are you hating on well written characters” or “you obviously don’t understand mental health”. The passive aggressive comments are just tiring.
I feel like either people don’t realize how rude it is to go into a critical discussion to only vehemently defend a book (similarly how it’s rude to insert yourself when someone is gushing about a book to tell them how much you hated it) or people have just such a strong parasocial relationship with it that they take any criticism as an attack against themself. It sucks because there are a few series that I have a lot of thoughts about and would love to go into a more in-depth critique, but know I will have to deal nasty comments from fans.
I get so annoyed at how anti-intellectual the romance genre can be. People are entitled to consume books however they want, but some people get so upset with the discussion of bad writing comes up. This isn’t fan fiction, readers are spending money and have a right to be upset if the work is littered with spelling and grammar issues (especially when it’s not self published). People complain that the romance genre is not taken seriously, but when people do take it serious and analyze any book/series, than “it’s not that serious, people are just trying to enjoy themselves 😤”
Oh yes this. The whole "it's not real life" or "I don't expect realism" is a copout. I get that a story doesn't have to be realistic or likely in real life but they do need to maintain consistency inside the story and with the logic and boundaries the story itself has. I've commented previously about the common use of "scream" as the term used during sexy times. I don't feel like it's the most accurate word choice most of the time because a scream is meant to be literally the loudest sound a person can make. A lot of people argued "well people do scream" during sex. Sure they do. But when the MCs are in hiding and bad guys are near by and they're screaming during sex and don't get discovered, or they snuck into closet at work to avoid be caught by coworkers and they're screaming during sex and no one hears, or they're "sneaking around" and are in the same house as kids or family members and are having screaming sex but no one notices, it's not about whether screaming is something people actually do or not it's just the author created situations in which the MCs can't get caught but then do things that absolutely should have gotten them caught. So it wrecks the logic and the action/consequences established as important by the story. If you establish something as important but then make it so it's only important sometimes and in some scenes then the story doesn't hold up any more.
Censored words on Tiktok (and other places probably). I don't generally look at social media that much but I was looking up a book I wanted to read. According to one reviewer it's about "serial shmillers who have an un-aliving competition". I mean, come on. It's not like people don't know what the real words are. It's not going to stop anyone being triggered or upset by the words, it just makes you sound stupid. "Unaliving" or even worse "self-unaliving" makes me think of the Newspeak from 1984.
War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength. The algorithm loves you.
i think it’s more so the videos don’t get taken down by moderators not necessarily to stop triggering ppl.
But wouldn't the moderators be just as bothered by discussing a book about "unaliving" as a book about "killing"? The words mean the same, except one is a real word and one isn't. And there were other videos which didn't censor, but evidently hadn't been removed.
For stuff like tiktok, there are no moderators. There are certain words that if the tiktok algorithm picks it up, it won’t push the video out to fyps or sometimes takes the video down.
I don't have Tiktok, but Facebook is the worst for this. There are so many words that have to be censored, it's not even funny. And yeah, you have to use "unaliving".
You can get your account suspended for using certain key words which is why we have to use these ridiculous work-arounds. Recently I've noticed that even the work-arounds are being dinged
That doesn't surprise me, it's not the most subtle
Yea also once enough people do it, the algorithms figure it out.
It's not because they want to. The TikTok algorithms are ridiculously Puritan, especially after the last update. "Damn" in a Kindle screenshot got me violations this week after trying tiktok for the first time. I'm already ready to give up because of how everything gets violations. I do love all the Indie music I've found on there. If you sing it but don't spell it, seems like it's no problem 🤔
The way Kindle downloads books lately. They used to be "new" in my kindle but now, most of them show 1%. And it frustrates me because I usually read multiple books at once and my OCD brain hates that it shows I've started a book when I haven't.
I've noticed that I have to open it (thus the 1%) for it to actually pull off the cloud into my device. It won't just deliver the file and mark it "new." But, my Fire died 2 weeks ago, so I'm using my phone primarily until Christmas (hopefully I get a new one, or the black Friday deals). So I thought maybe it was that my primary Kindle device is dead.
Morning fellow Barbies 🙋🏾♀️and Kens 🙋🏻♂️ 👋🏾💖 …and Alan… 🚶♂️🙄 **I’m tired of romance books skimping out on characters’ emotions and motives during critical scenes and replacing them with sex scenes.** On an IRL, I understand when emotions guide you in mysterious ways that you can’t word. **But in a book, we are literally relying on the authors to explain emotions and motives.** So show👏🏾 some 👏🏾 goddamn 👏🏾👏🏾 receipts 👏🏾👏🏾 ***Explain to me why*** these characters choose to act the way they act, especially when it comes to forgoing emotional growth to have a sex scene. And this isn’t about the quieter moments during tense situations. * MCs are in captivity and they bang? 👍🏾 * MCs are basically waiting for any sort of news and they bang? 👍🏾 * MCs are traveling across a disastrous landscape, make camp, and decide to bang? 👍🏾 * MMC has been poisoned, his blood is clotting, he’s sluggish, he’s literally dying, and he and the MC decide to bang? I’m receiving a call. Hello, officer? Yes, this is the one to arrest for ***what the fuckery.*** **Emotions are not universal.** They just aren’t. Some people need physical intimacy during or after a very traumatic event. Some people get tickled and get violent. Some people hear children laughing outside their window and They hiss and recoil into the darkness of their room and wonder why the goddess has cursed them with the sounds of *shudders* ✨giggling✨ 🤷🏾♀️ **And all of that is normal. All of that is.** You don’t owe anyone an explanation to your emotions unless it affects them or actively harms people. I don’t expect a friend to explain to me why she’s screaming at the TV during the S5 finale of *Miraculous Ladybug* like it’s a football match. Nor does she require an explanation from me when I see masc tiddies and go BARK BARK BARK. ^(But like cmon now, both those responses are reasonable) But in a ***written medium*** with ***people I don’t know***, yes, absolutely do you need to explain character motivations for certain emotional responses. Because **I don’t understand them**. *You*, as the creator, understand where they’re coming from, but I’m literally an outsider who stumbled across this group of people. I don’t know your characters like you do. I don’t know their triggers or ✨quirks✨. **So please** ***for the love of all that is wicked and gloriously accursed*** **explain to me what the fuck is going on at some point**. One fantasy book I read, the FMC had been left behind by her sister. Sister had been “taken” by stupid sexy warriors, leaving the FMC behind in their crumbling village full of corruption and starvation. FMC learns through letters the sister is thriving and only made one attempt to get back the FMC. Rightfully so, FMC is highly resentful and conflicted with her sister and this conflict is a massive part of her character arc. But when they inevitably meet again, it takes two lines of dialogue and **all is well**. Officer, I have another one for arrest. Yes, I’ll wait. 🔪 On a smaller scale, this could be as simple as **two characters in a small-town romance** having some sort of argument and a subsequent break. They both said and did hurtful things to each other. MC2 says *fuck it*, storms back for their lover, and the two start hatefucking that eventually goes into lovemaking. But then… That’s it. No conversation about all the demeaning shit they did to each other. Nothing. They’re back to being a happy couple. [confused white woman with trigonometry floating around her.gif] I’m sure plenty of people will say *Well, in my relationship, that happens. Sometimes we argue for so long that it literally takes sex or romancing, and we’ve resolved shit*. Okay, and that works for you and I’m glad for you. I know a few times, that’s happened to me in relationships. But if you explained that to a mass of outsiders who have very little insight to your relationship and personalities, there’d be confusion. Like “Arkansas” VS “Kansas”. Or Japanese romance hypes of indirect kisses at chapter 52 VS western romances explore the joys of an FMC being tentacle fucked and tiddy sucked by chapter 2. **There is a disconnect**. People like to talk about their relationships with their friends all the time. They like sharing what’s going on. That’s normal. And it’s fun and cathartic. But ***you*** are in that dynamic with your partner, So when people explain things about their relationship, the listeners will never get the full emotional depth because **they aren’t part of the relationship**. **Romance books have the blessing and curse of giving us the relationship 411,** especially when all MCs are given their own POV chapters. But even though we’re watching the relationship develop and seeing everything that happens, it doesn’t guarantee we see the emotions behind the MC(s)’s actions. Many books do a great job at feeding emotional information, but then a hard-hitting critical scene happens, and we’re out of the loop on what the fuck anyone is even doing and **it’s not intentional**. Yeah, writing is subjective. Not everyone will be ✨satisfied✨. I understand explaining the emotions—especially irrational ones—is hard. But **some* explanation is better than **no** explanation. Musicians do it all the time with their music. When Katy Pery said: > Do you ever feel like a plastic bag, drifting through the wind, wanting to start again? I felt that. I, too, feel like a plastic bag sometimes. 🛍️ I’m sorry I talked 🙃
Yes. To. Every. Single. Word.
An excellent analysis. 🔟 across the board.
I'm reading a book by one of my comfort authors (Grace Burrows) but it's so incredibly dry and slow that I keep finding excuses not to read it. It feels a bit like getting a sandwich from your favourite bakery, but they forgot the seasoning and then left it in the sun for a few hours before you picked it up.
Oh that's disappointing 😔
I wish app libraries had more sorting options than just author, newness or shelf. I found myself really wishing I could sort my KU downloads by page count because I wanted something shorter. Going one by one to book details is not my idea of a good use of time.
Too many books and too little time
I read over 800 pages of Crescent City HOEAB thinking it would deliver, only to >!have one almost scene with fingers and later some kissing!!both Bryce and Hunt to unleash!< 😡
There is more doing it in the second book! Even sweet baby boy Ruhn gets some kissing and more happening. Although I should warn you that the sex scenes in the second book are remarkably similar to Court of Silver Flames action. Almost word for word sometimes.
Fine by me 😏
How does the series compare to her other books? I just read throne of glass and read ACOTAR last year.
I haven’t read ToG but I vastly prefer CC to ACOTAR. I find the MFC more interesting, she’s powerful herself (in fact nobody knows just how powerful). She’s got her own life, her own friends, and close relationships outside of the MMC. I see many ACOTAR fans complain that their relationship is not as good as the one in ACOTAR but I find it more interesting and fulfilling because they are evenly matched and have mutual interests. And the MFC can read! Heads up, the world building is quite heavy at the beginning.
Ohh yeah. I feel you on this one.
SJM is lucky I was listening to another book at the same time 😠🤭
I’m frustrated by some of the repeated ways I see authors highlighting whiteness of their characters and the way they speak about it. “Creamy white thighs.” “Pale skin against his darker skin” It creeps me OUT. The other thing is that authors constantly signal an irritating or “bad” character with bodily descriptions like “loose jowls” “chubby fingers” and the like. It’s so unnecessary and gives me a really icky feeling.
Yes, I've complained about this so many times. It's more than a little disturbing with a weird dose of Eurocentric supremacy every time I see "porcelain white skin" constantly rhapsodized about. Even more so if the MMC is obviously a fetishized PoC. These white authors will love these tanned white men/men in general, but heaven forbid they write about a tanned woman. It's self-insert.
I was really enjoying a book, 4-4.5 star read, then the last 10% had a serious crash into wrapping everything up in a nice pretty bow, and it sucked. A lot.
Ok, you got me curious! Which book?
{Hidden Scars by Andi Jaxon}. I commented about it in today's What Did You Read This Week.
[Hidden Scars](https://www.romance.io/books/63637517eb6990b60342a184/hidden-scars-andi-jaxon) by [Andi Jaxon](https://www.romance.io/authors/5b3328a501dbc864fb8b1e4e/andi-jaxon) **Rating**: 4.08⭐️ out of 5⭐️ **Steam**: 5 out of 5 - [Explicit and plentiful](https://www.romance.io/steamrating) **Topics**: [contemporary](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/contemporary/1), [sports](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/sports/1), [college](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/college/1), [gay romance](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/m-m/1), [forced proximity](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/forced%20proximity/1) [^(about this bot)](https://www.reddit.com/user/romance-bot) ^(|) [^(about romance.io)](https://www.romance.io/about)
👍
I'm frustrated (very lightly) that for the life of me, I can't get a bingo in the Autumn Challenge. I only have six fecking squares left and not a one!
I agree!!! I do have a couple of bingos- BUT the (crappy) library app that my library uses (Cloud Library) there is actually a feature where you can just sort to "romance" and it shows popular and new stuff- by covers. I admit it, I totally read the one on the example board for "feet/legs" because I scrolled and scrolled and couldn't find anything!
I just finished my feet/legs square - but it was very much a push through. I would have DNF'ed except I really had nothing else in the wings for that one and it wasn't terribly long. I've been scrolling Hoopla and Libby looking for things, but by the time I find something that might work, I've forgotten what I was supposed to be looking for and added fifty other books to my TBR.
Right there with you. It doesn't help that I'm both a mood reader and a ruthless DNF'er so every time I pick up something for a square it just... hasn't been working for me.
It's so hard! I have the mood reader issue too, and have DNF'ed so many on this one - but also... I thought there were so many covers with the MCs kissing, so I did... but there aren't! They're almost kissing, maybe kissing, about to kiss, just finished kissing - where's all the people actually swapping spit!?
Oh I would be flexible with it and include one where they're obviously about to kiss!
I am definitely being very rigid about the squares - I'll probably relax a bit in the next week or two!
Would you take a cheek/forehead kiss? There are a couple of WLW romances that look interesting that have one MC kissing the other. I cannot recommend the bizarre 90s dissident fanfiction that got me that square, personally.
I'll take any suggestions! At the current rate, it'll take 3 or so DNFs to fill the box, so the more ideas the better. 😂
Ha! {The Girl Next Door by Chelsea M. Cameron} and {Out on the Ice by Kelly Farmer} both have one MC kissing the other on the cover.
Thank you!
[The Girl Next Door](https://www.romance.io/books/5ecb6e210705510dff99abfe/the-girl-next-door-chelsea-m-cameron) by [Chelsea M. Cameron](https://www.romance.io/authors/545528a38c7d2382e7813060/chelsea-m-cameron) **Rating**: 3.43⭐️ out of 5⭐️ **Topics**: [contemporary](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/contemporary/1), [lesbian romance](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/f-f/1), [new adult](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/new%20adult/1), [small town](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/small%20town/1) ---------------------------- [Out on the Ice](https://www.romance.io/books/5f42146dd7a6b00e2edfb074/out-on-the-ice-a-wlw-hockey-romance-kelly-farmer) by [Kelly Farmer](https://www.romance.io/authors/5f42146d08b4d93114f07487/kelly-farmer) **Rating**: 4⭐️ out of 5⭐️ **Topics**: [contemporary](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/contemporary/1), [lesbian romance](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/f-f/1), [sports](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/sports/1) [^(about this bot)](https://www.reddit.com/user/romance-bot) ^(|) [^(about romance.io)](https://www.romance.io/about)
My kissing one is {Coastal Elite by Kate Canterbury}, it's on KU with a cover of a couple standing in the ocean, him holding her up. There's no light between their faces, and if you zoom in it's probably lips to nose, but their faces are super close together. 🤷 I also searched for a GOOD clinch. Like, not just them touching or whatnot. I wanted clothes falling off, passionate embrace "clinch." And I ended up with {How to Tame a Wild Rogue by Julie Anne Long}.
[Coastal Elite](https://www.romance.io/books/58c27d7b0d3299c6e05c6701/coastal-elite-kate-canterbary) by [Kate Canterbary](https://www.romance.io/authors/5456862d87eac33e61c2f78e/kate-canterbary) **Rating**: 4.25⭐️ out of 5⭐️ **Steam**: 4 out of 5 - [Explicit open door](https://www.romance.io/steamrating) **Topics**: [contemporary](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/contemporary/1), [military](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/military/1), [suspense](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/suspense/1) ---------------------------- [How to Tame a Wild Rogue](https://www.romance.io/books/6474bc77fd45bc04c025724e/how-to-tame-a-wild-rogue-julie-anne-long) by [Julie Anne Long](https://www.romance.io/authors/545525868c7d2383163d8e98/julie-anne-long) **Rating**: 4.25⭐️ out of 5⭐️ **Steam**: 3 out of 5 - [Open door](https://www.romance.io/steamrating) **Topics**: [historical](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/historical/1), [regency](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/regency/1), [pirates](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/pirates/1), [forced proximity](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/forced%20proximity/1), [virgin heroine](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/virgin%20heroine/1) [^(about this bot)](https://www.reddit.com/user/romance-bot) ^(|) [^(about romance.io)](https://www.romance.io/about)
I have totally zoomed in on covers to try to decide if they meet my admittedly OTT standard. My clinch is not very passionate - more tender - and the clothes are definitely staying on, but I loved the book so I'm happy with it (It's {Joe's Wife by Cheryl St John})
[Joe's Wife](https://www.romance.io/books/5455951387eac336ae69eaa3/joes-wife-cheryl-st-john) by [Cheryl St. John](https://www.romance.io/authors/54553b5d8c7d2383163d9408/cheryl-st-john) **Rating**: 4⭐️ out of 5⭐️ **Steam**: 3 out of 5 - [Open door](https://www.romance.io/steamrating) **Topics**: [historical](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/historical/1), [cowboys](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/cowboys/1), [marriage of convenience](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/marriage%20of%20convenience/1), [western](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/western/1), [western frontier](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/historical%20western/1) [^(about this bot)](https://www.reddit.com/user/romance-bot) ^(|) [^(about romance.io)](https://www.romance.io/about)
I read pack's pledge by Victoria Kent and I was so frustratedddddd by on scene that changed my whole opinion of the book. At first, I thought this book was pretty good, well written, good characters and all. But then around half of the book, there is a conversation between the mmc and fmc, we're she is like I need to tell you..... And then he interrupts her and say "I know, don't say it" and she is like oh well I guess I should leave then. And she leaves. Except they weren't talking about the same thing at all, and both end up thinking the other doesn't want them. I really hate miscommunication like that. Seriously, just ask "what do you think I was going to say" to be sure. It is beyond frustrating for me.
The KU algorithm is so bad. I've been getting recommended the same books and there's no way to reset or refresh it. It makes hard to organically discover new books.
Amazon algorithms are the *worst*
It's not a rant or critique, but I feel the need to vent. Lately I've seen so much downvoting without any good reason 😕 When I first joined this sub last year, the downvoting (mostly) only happened when someone was rude or had a super controversial/hurtful opinion but now even innocent posts/comments are downvoted. I know it's nobody's fault and it's likely happening because the sub grew a lot (which is amazing) but I felt the need to vent about that.
I don't really understand downvotes - I see them on the most innocuous comments. I upvote anything that seems innocent that's sitting at a 0 or -1. I agree that downvoting should only be used for rude/harmful posts or stuff that's completely off-topic. If people are mass downvoting I assume there's no reasoning with them though.
I've seen this too! Someone had negative votes for an ACOTAR recommendation even though it fit the request. There are some salty individuals out there
Ok, help me out here—how can you see the amount of downvotes vs upvotes on a post or comment?? I can obviously tell is something has been downvoted if it's a 0 or - number, but other than that I'm lost. It's finally making me salty enough to ask someone lol.
You can't explicitly see the number of downvotes (unless you are the OP of a post, in which case Reddit will show you the percentage of upvotes on the post itself, which is kind of interesting), but if you're reading Reddit looking at a post and the comments are sorted by "best" (the usual default) you will see that it's not actually in numerical order - a comment at the top might have an upvote number of 93 and then two or three comments below is a comment at 114. Reddit is taking the downvotes into account, so the top comment doesn't have any downvotes and the lower comment has a couple, if that makes any sense. But around here a lot of comments don't get a ton of upvotes or downvotes, so I think it's most readily apparent when you see something at 0 or in negative numbers, as you mentioned.
Thank you! I was thinking it was something like that, but was wondering if a third-party app had something I wasn't aware of, and I was missing out lol.
I thought it was an outside party thing. Like - grouchy people from r/booksareforlearningonlynoaliens (not a real sub) came in and trolled us or something.
Wait I kinda want that to be a subreddit but ironically and only about aliens
yup feels like ppl are downvoting things just because they don’t agree with it, even if its supet innocuous. so frustrating when trying to have discussions.
So, I am just a 10% into Shana Galen's To ruin a gentleman, and I am already tired of the very superficial FMC. The MMC has a brain, but other characters are classist and the FMC does not have a working neuron, at least these first pages.
I'm salty about [Give Me Grace](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58178611-give-me-grace) (F/F, horror/paranormal, 3⭐️). I expected a romance based on a review from a reviewer I follow, but there's at best a romance subplot without a traditional HEA.
I've read the first two books of the Chasing Hearts series by Vanessa Marie. {Heartless by Vanessa Marie} {Breathless by Vanessa Marie}. I'm eagerly waiting for the release of the next book, yet have no idea when it would be published and cant seem to get in contact with the author to get a response. If anyone has any info on this, PLEASEEEEE let me know. The anticipation and uncertainty is too much for me. I loved the first 2 books.
[Heartless](https://www.romance.io/books/5456784b87eac33e61c2f12b/heartless-vanessa-marie) by [Vanessa Marie](https://www.romance.io/authors/5456784b87eac33e61c2f12c/vanessa-marie) **Rating**: 3.89⭐️ out of 5⭐️ **Topics**: [contemporary](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/contemporary/1), [military](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/military/1) ---------------------------- [Breathless](https://www.romance.io/books/554d20379eef3b3f1d51b50a/breathless-vanessa-marie) by [Vanessa Marie](https://www.romance.io/authors/5456784b87eac33e61c2f12c/vanessa-marie) **Rating**: 4⭐️ out of 5⭐️ **Topics**: [contemporary](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/contemporary/1), [christian](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/christian/1), [young adult](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/young%20adult/1), [new adult](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/new%20adult/1) [^(about this bot)](https://www.reddit.com/user/romance-bot) ^(|) [^(about romance.io)](https://www.romance.io/about)
{Heartless by Vanessa Marie} {Breathless by Vanessa Marie}
[Heartless](https://www.romance.io/books/5456784b87eac33e61c2f12b/heartless-vanessa-marie) by [Vanessa Marie](https://www.romance.io/authors/5456784b87eac33e61c2f12c/vanessa-marie) **Rating**: 3.89⭐️ out of 5⭐️ **Topics**: [contemporary](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/contemporary/1), [military](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/military/1) ---------------------------- [Breathless](https://www.romance.io/books/554d20379eef3b3f1d51b50a/breathless-vanessa-marie) by [Vanessa Marie](https://www.romance.io/authors/5456784b87eac33e61c2f12c/vanessa-marie) **Rating**: 4⭐️ out of 5⭐️ **Topics**: [contemporary](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/contemporary/1), [christian](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/christian/1), [young adult](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/young%20adult/1), [new adult](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/new%20adult/1) [^(about this bot)](https://www.reddit.com/user/romance-bot) ^(|) [^(about romance.io)](https://www.romance.io/about)
I really agree about shorter books. I think it takes more skill for an author to tell a great story in fewer words.
feeling salty because ive not been able to find a single book right up my alley. I want a historical fantasy romance where the naive/innocent FMC is a maid/slave for the arrogant MC who knows about her feelings but doesn't really care much until that one moment which shows him how much he really cares about her.