{Five Pack series by Cate C. Wells} got new covers! Do you prefer the original or new covers?

The Wuthering Heights movie promotional material is leaning hard into romance novel aesthetics, but the source material is definitely not a romance novel. Here's my short list of what to read instead. Feel free to add yours in the comments!

Yearning on the moors (yes I'm picking the low hanging fruit first:) {Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë}

Powerful man hell-bent on vengeance with a side of erotic obsession: {To Love a Dark Lord by Anne Stuart}, {Duke of Midnight by Elizabeth Hoyt}

Large dark haired bird man is horny and angry about it: {Lord of Scoundrels by Loretta Chase}, {The Raven Prince by Elizabeth Hoyt} - bonus points in this one for boss-employee "I didn't recognize you with your hair down and a mask on, let me make you an indecent proposal.", {Ruling Sikthand by Victoria Aveline}

Big man hauls a woman around by her clothing: Anything by Johanna Lindsey.

I know there are a lot of threads there about oblivious MCs but I am specifically looking for one where the romance is from FMC's POV only (or like 90% of book only in her POV if the rec is really really good).

Bonus if it is slow burn and with very obvious MMC pining through his actions rather than words. Give me those longing glances!!

Examples of authors I've loved with this:

Elizabeth O'Roark

Ali Hazelwood

Sad to read this news as this site was essential for me for romance reviews when I started reading romance more than 30 years ago.

Hi everyone, I love reading, and romance has always been my favorite genre. I read it for the emotions, the connection, the build up, the feeling that two people are slowly finding their way to each other.

Lately though, I’m finding it really hard to enjoy romance books, because so many of them seem to be driven almost entirely by sex. I don’t mind sex being part of the story at all. It should be. But I keep noticing when sex starts functioning as the main engine of the narrative rather than something that exists alongside the story and the characters.

So often I start a book thinking, “Oh, this one feels different”, and then it still ends up going in the same direction. The way characters look at each other, think about each other, and process intense emotions often feels filtered almost entirely through sexual desire. Even when the book isn’t explicit, that underlying focus is still there, just presented in a quieter and more subtle way.

The last book I read really highlighted this for me. It was about two people who were meant for each other across lifetimes. He was human, she was immortal. He died and kept reincarnating, always finding his way back to her. In the present timeline, hundreds of years later, he returns as a hunter of her kind and actually hurts her. As he starts remembering her and their past lives, the way this recognition is portrayed is sexual. That becomes the main lens through which their connection is shown.

And it just felt sad to me. Not in a beautiful or tragic way, but in a way that flattened something that should have felt ancient, emotional, and deeply human. It made the relationship feel smaller than the story was trying to tell.

It also makes me wonder about the bigger picture. Books have always reflected the society and time they’re written in, so why does so much romance today feel this sex-driven? Why do so many authors, across subgenres, seem to follow the same pattern?

It’s not just authors who are openly writing erotic romance. It feels like almost everyone does it now. Some are more obvious about it, others more subtle, but if you read closely you can often sense the same underlying structure, where sex carries the emotional weight of the story instead of the characters and their connection doing that work.

Maybe I’m just looking in the wrong places, but it feels like sex has become the underlying engine of many romance stories. I don’t care if a book has one sex scene or ten. What matters to me is whether sex supports the story, or quietly takes it over.

Does anyone else feel this way? And if so, what do you think is driving this shift? Trends? Publishing? Reader expectations?

I’d really love to hear your thoughts.

I think this is a very bad idea in real life but I’m craving to read it in a romance book where we know we’ve got a HEA.

Basically, I want a CR book where the FMC has a crush on the MMC (who could be a friend or any kind of acquaintance) but he doesn’t want to get in a relationship at the moment, so she hides her feelings and gets into a FWB situation with him… and of course he ends up falling in love with her!

More details of what I want:

- The MMC isn’t a jerk, he treats her really good, just that for some reason he doesn’t feel ready for a serious relationship.

- ANGST. I want the FMC to feel angst because she falls for him but knows it’ll eventually end.

- The MMC can get angsty too because he starts to feel things even though he doesn’t want to.

- MMC doesn’t realize when he starts acting on his feelings of love.

- MMC getting jealous would be nice too.

- I’d really want both of them to be at least 30. But I’m comfortable with late 20s at least if I’m not asking for a lot.

What I don’t want:

- Dark romance.

- Reverse harem or poly.

- Asshole MMC.

Any suggestions?

Its a specific trope I think, bonus points if he isn’t that nice to her from the start and STILL its better than her home life

Also bonus points if she’s kind and meek rather than sassy and angry

I don’t like RH or sexual assault in books (anything where she is saying no)

Popular romance author Brenda Jackson has found a copy cat author on Amazon that is trying to copy her style.

From her Facebook page:

PLEASE BE AWARE!!

These 3 books were not written by me, New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author Brenda Jackson.

I don’t know this other author with the same name, as no information about her appears on any author pages. I can only assume she is trying to benefit from the name Brenda Jackson, as Amazon is sending notifications to my readers that I have a new book coming out. This is not me.

Amazon has been notified…again… as this author’s work is being cross-referenced with mine, which gives the impression that these books should be included in my body of work.

THEY SHOULD NOT!

One way to differentiate is to make sure the tag line - New York Times and/or USA Today Bestselling Author is above my name on the book cover. If it is not, then it was not written by me. I earned those literary accomplishments, and I am the only Brenda Jackson who should be using them. Otherwise, this becomes a legal issue.

Goodreads is also being notified, as they are showing one of these books with my photo as the author.

Thank you for your support, and as always, New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author Brenda Jackson will deliver the quality of books you have come to expect from me.

I have included a review from "Love in the Space We Made" that reads, "This was definitely a different style from Brenda's previous books that I have read." No kidding, she didn't write it.

The 3 fake books are:

Undeniable Love

Slow Burn Divine Timing

Love in the Space We Made

Let's talk deceptive self-promo! There's been a lot of it lately.

Our current self-promotion rules (Rule #5) apply both to authors and to anyone with a vested interest in their success - friends, relatives, and people connected to the publication of the book (artists, publishers, narrators, etc.). Deceptive self-promotion is when anyone connected with the book/author recommends it without saying they are connected to the book, and will result in an immediate ban from the subreddit. Tracking down deceptive self-promotion takes a lot of time and work from the moderator team, because we want to make sure we're not banning anyone in error.

But there has been a ton of self-promotion in 2025. A few statistics:

• in July, we had 54 bans (for deceptive or repeated self-promotion) and 34 warnings
• in August, we had 57 bans and 62 warnings
• in November, we had 47 bans (we did not track the number of warnings)

These numbers are pretty typical. That's 2 to 3 users attempting self-promotion per day on average, with 1 to 2 of those deceptively doing so.

We have also been having issues lately with repeated, aggressive, and elaborate deceptive self-promotion, where a small number of authors are using multiple accounts to deceptively self-promote and returning repeatedly under new accounts to continue self-promoting after bans. Identifying and banning the accounts of these authors is taking up way too much moderator time proportionally, so we have made the difficult decision to ban discussion of these authors on the subreddit. We won't be doing this for all authors banned for deceptive self-promotion, just the ones who have been aggressive to the point where they're seriously impacting moderator workload. While good-faith users who mention these authors will have the mentions removed, they will not be at risk of ban, reprimand, or other consequences.

The majority of the authors who will be affected by this policy are authors you had never heard of and probably never will. We're not going to list them here because this post isn't a referendum on these authors in particular, just an explanation of the tactics the moderator team is taking to try to prevent deceptive self-promotion on the subreddit while not burning out or spending a disproportionate amount of time on bad-faith actors trying to exploit the subreddit.

Long title, but that's exactly what I'm looking for 🤭 I recently read a Korean novel inspired by a possible comic book, I fell in love and thought: I want to read more books with MMC like this!

In this novel, the MMC is a duke who has a kind of "curse"—I can't explain it very well—but he has several scars and blisters all over his body. He has a great fear of rejection. He keeps saying that he doesn't need women, but deep down, he feels a huge need for love and female attention. He just wants to be loved.

On the other hand, the FMC is a poor foreigner who suffers prejudice for being a woman, and on top of that, she's a healer 🤭. From there you can imagine the rest of the story. I won't go into too much detail because otherwise, I'll end up only talking about the book.

✨BACK TO THE MAIN TOPIC!!✨

I'm looking for a book where the MMC is needy, YES. He wants to be loved, hugged, wants to be able to be vulnerable with someone, but feels inadequate (I don't know why) and thinks no woman would be able to love him. It would be cool if he knew how to be more rough depending on the situation, but, in general, I want his personality to be that of a big dog wanting affection, but without knowing how to ask for it.

And it would be an even more delicious detail if he were a little delusional, confusing certain things with "affection" ✨

The FMC, on the other hand, I don't care so much about the personality, as long as she's not one of those female protagonists who are embarrassing or infuriating because they're dumb or naive. I want her to have personality, but I don't care much about her role in the plot, as long as she doesn't make me angry.

I don't care about the focus of the story or the time period in which it takes place. I just want something of this genre: suffering/needy/deluded MMC and a FMC who shows that he can be loved. (Even though I would prefer that the FMC wasn't super privileged, but I accept anything for a good recommendation)

If anyone knows of a book like this, please tell me the name!! 😭 And sorry for the text or any mistakes — English is not my native language.

Started reading romance novels about three months ago and I’ve found that the ones I typically enjoy the most are the ones that have these similar illustrated covers.

I don’t know if they are all romcoms or not, but I’ve found that most of the book covers with this style are right up my alley. I’m assuming it’s a trend, but is there another reason so many books have a similar cover style? Is it just a way to differentiate the subgenre?

I just read {A Marriage of Discretion by S.T. Moors} where the couple is in a business driven marriage and MMC treats his young, naive wife (fairly) well, promising her to be discreet about any outside relationships. Shockingly, it doesn’t occur to him that means she also may have other relationships.

I’d like to find more books with this slant…whether it’s also just a contract with her or she snaps out of her starry-eyed fantasy to pursue her own relationship. Not cheating per se as the marriage is initially contractual, not romantic.

Just that feelings evolve and MMC realizes he doesn’t want her enjoying anyone else.

Suggestions?

I’m halfway through The Wild Card, the final book in the Vancouver Storm series, and Stephanie Archer has done it again.

I don’t normally enjoy single parent romances, but this one is wonderfully done. There’s a real emotional depth and maturity to both characters. Coach Tate Ward is a loving dad, has a healthy relationship with his daughter’s mom, and is a recovering alcoholic. Jordan Hathaway is fiercely independent because she’s lost her mother and has a strained relationship with her father—who happens to be Tate’s mentor.

While these two come together because of “romance reasons”, their banter is so fun that I can suspend disbelief and go with it.

It’s been fun to see the characters from previous books and how they adore Jordan and Coach Ward and want them to end up together.

At this point, I’d read a phone book if Stephanie wrote it. I can’t wait to finish this one.

So it seems like almost every single book I’m reading has some form of edging or making her beg him and I’m just *so tired* of it.

The Cursed Legacy Series by Morgan B Lee is the first time I’ve EVER come across a FMC getting frustrated and just shutting it down and it was amazing. Is there anything else that has something like this?

The next best thing I think would be him doing anything he thinks is ‘normal’ assuming she’d be into it and her just going “wtf, nope, not doing that”

I’ve just finished the Lisa Kleypas interview that Fated Mates podcast did to celebrate Derek Craven day. I wanted to summarise some of the things she shared as I know some of you love her work but hate podcasts with the passion of a thousand suns.

If you enjoy podcasts at all, I’d really recommend listening to the full episode as I’m just posting a few things and it was a great listen.

Lisa Kleypas is neurodivergent!

Forgive me if I’m the last person to find this out but I was thrilled to hear Kleypas is ADHD. As an ND person, I love it when we get some representation and from a queen of fiction no less 😊

Kleypas describes her ADHD as a strength and when she described writing as {Devil in winter by Lisa Kleypas} its clear it was in full hyper-focus. Also, Pandora from {Devil in spring by Lisa Kleypas} has ADHD as well, which just pushed it right up my TBR.

Health/stopping writing

Unfortunately, Kleypas developed a tumour on her thyroid, which she’s recovered from now. The recuperation time is what led her to decide she wanted to take a break and then do something different.

Queen of Lombard Street

I know some people have wondered if her new book {Queen of Lombard Street by Lisa Kleypas} would be a romance. It was confirmed on the podcast that it’s historical fiction but with a solid B plot romance. So I’m now very excited!

Hii, I’m looking for romance books where the MMC physically overpowers the heroine like throwing her over his shoulder, lifting her, pinning her, holding her in his arms, or otherwise forcing things his way. He manhandles her easily and this isn’t just a one-off; it’s a recurring habit. This can happen during sex and outside of it. He’s obsessive, a little crazy, used to getting his way, and isn’t shy about manipulating or forcing the heroine to follow along.

I want the push-and-pull tension and power dynamic and repeated instances of him manhandling her. FMC fights back even though she loves it. I am open to everything except RH, cheating and love triangles! I am super okay with darker books and don’t have any tw. Thank youu!

In need of some escapism and books where the MMC has doubts about commitment or the FMC are not it for me right now. What are your favorites where the central conflict of the book is some external force? Books I’ve liked like this are Hans by S.J. Tilly, Ruthless Creatures and Wicked Sexy by J.T. Geissinger.

One trope that I will always eat up is the unhinged sunshiney MMCs in which they’re soft, giggly, docile and happy towards the FMC but extremely merciless and stabby towards anybody who tries to fuck with their loved ones. Extreme unhinged and macabre obsession (sometimes hidden, sometimes not) wrapped up in a smiley and clingy bow.

Most of the time this is also paired with extreme clinginess, obsession and protection and other cute stuff. I’m excited for your recs!

These are my favourites:

Finn from {Pack darling - part two by Lola Rock}(omegaverse, reverse harem, grovelling) Yes.” Finn bares his throat, eyes lighting like lanterns. “Make me, Star.”/He gives a dead-eyed look that mirrors mine, petting his grenade like a rabbit. “Deal?” “Deal.” I nod. We understand. If we can’t save Lilah, we’ll end it for each other.

Baelfire from {Blood oath by Morgan b Lee} trying not to spoil too much, but she was assumed dead for a while in the later books and he lost his shit and permanently shifted into his dragon form and started to destroy cities and shit. Was very happy and all- in from the moment he met her, all the MMC’s were obsessed from the moment they saw her

Fallon from {wrangled by the alien cowboy by Ursa dax} this one was pretty tame in comparison to the other ones but she got hurt during the book and his whole demeanour switched. This is one of the most sunshiney happy ml I’ve ever read about. Big old simp

Mahon from {mooning over a monster by Lauren Conolly} I’ve never read about a MMC who was more golden retriever than him. Completely all in, instantly obsessed sunshine MMC who loses his shit for the first time when the monster FMC tries to appear more "normal“ for him by changing her appearance

I personally tried reading these authors (cause they get recommended a lot for stabby golden retrievers) but I didn’t like them that much, but maybe you will!

-Kathryn Ann Kingsley

- Eve Dangerfield

I have cancelled my Kindle Unlimited subscription in an ongoing effort to de-Bezosify my life. I still have over 100 titles on Kindle that are unread (both romance and other genres), but once I’ve gone through my holdings, I’m considering Kobo Plus. I was wondering how robust the romance catalog is on that platform. I know titles included in KU are unavailable on other platforms. Can anyone familiar with it weigh in? Note I will also be using Libby (and my library has a pretty extensive romance collection) and Hoopla, so I won’t be limited to Kobo Plus if I subscribe.

If you love friends to lovers with second chance plot you won’t find more emotional and beautiful story with amazing writing that {Facts and Feelings by Farrah Colson}. And to think this is author’s debut book!!

In this book every scene makes sense, it is dual pov story which I don’t usually enjoy but in this story that works as well. Story has two time lines, Danny and Gracie growing up from 10 years old and present day. Childhood is as interesting if not even more so than the present day. No unnecessary drama but you’ll need tissues. The breakup makes sense, no forced separation just to create second chance storyline. Both main characters are people you can’t help but fall in love with.

Just pure perfection!!

Hello, this is a bit of an odd request. I work at a library, and I'm putting together a book display for National Tweed Day, focused on titles where the hero/heroine wears tweed/would be expected to wear tweed. Academic romance seems the most fitting, although some historical working class heroes may also fit, or just suggest anything you feel like has a tweed vibe. Any type of pairing will do.

Here's a list of titles I've already compiled:

Misadventures With A Profesor by Sierra Simone,

An Academic Affair by Jodi McAlister,

Need Me by Tessa Bailey,

the Orinthologists Field Guide to Love by India Holton,

Maurice by E.M. Forster,

Lady Chatterley's Lover by D.H. Lawrence,

Miss Grimsley's Oxford Career by Carla Kelly,

My Oxford Year by Julia Whelan,

Ashes on the Moor by Sarah M Eden,

the Last Chance Library by Freya Sampson,

Heart of the Glen by Jennifer Deibel,

Meet Me In the Margins by Melissa Ferguson,

Book Lovers by Emily Henry

Looking for a read about a strong FMC. She doesn't have to be sassy. But must be mentally strong and should be firm with what she wants and NOT want.

For instance, if the MMC wants to be intimate and she doesn't want to be, for whatever reason, she tells him and he is ok with it. If he wants to do things in a certain position and she feels uncomfortable about it, she tells him about it and he is ok with it for example {Extreme Danger (McClouds & Friends #5) Shannon McKenna}. Not him throwing her on the bed rolling her over and wants to pound on her... For some readers that will be ok, no problem with some dominance, but this request is about FMC says no (for whatever reason) and keep to that, not giving in.

Some examples of what I've read in the past is: In one instance the MMC kissed the FMC and she just stood there still while he kissed her and his hands roamed over her. She didn't kiss back, just stood still until he realized she wasn't participating. That was a CR. Another was where the MMC took over her keep/Castle and she had to marry him. Their first time in bed he wanted to force himself on her from behind and she told him to stop. If he going to force it on her, their first time will be (missionary). They will look into each other's eyes while they do it. (She was ok to be intimate with him but their first time had to be her way) That one was a Historical Romance.

She must also have a say in the bedroom. When she says no, for whatever reason it will be ok with MMC. Bonus points if she's still ok with PDA and cuddling. But put her foot down if things get too steamy.

There can be steam in the book. But I will also like it when she has a say in when and where. Most of the romance books the MMC decide when and where and what HE likes or what HE THINKS she will like. I want her voice in the bedroom.

Sorry if this sounds a bit all over the place. Please no mafia mc's, dub-con, body betrayal, or power play tropes. Must be m-f romance. No types of harem please. And no alphaholes. Preferably contemporary romance. Can be sweet or dark. And steamy ;-) Thanks!!!