Book 2 of The Navarros, The Best Man’s Problem is now up on NetGalley! ⁠ If you are a reviewer or blogger and have a NetGalley account, request your copy today!

From the publisher:

He can’t forget the kiss he shared with the best man.

But is he the best man for him?  

His sister’s wedding isn’t the ideal place for Rafael Navarro to reconnect with the man he kissed in a moment of reckless abandon. But it’s impossible to avoid best man Étienne Galois! The gorgeous Haitian photographer hasn’t forgotten the intimate moment they shared, even if Rafi is the most maddening person he’s ever met. Can the two find common ground, proving opposites not only attract—they can become lovers for life?

From Harlequin Special Edition: Believe in love. Overcome obstacles. Find happiness.

The Best Man’s Problem, the second novel in The Navarro’s Series, available for preorder now! ⁠

Sign up for my newsletter in my bio to stay up to receive updates on The Best Man’s Problem and my other writing projects.⁠ 

I’m what you might call a NaNoWriMo veteran. A member since 2016, I’ve “won” seven out of the nine times I’ve participated and written over 440K words. This includes Camp NaNoWriMo, which takes place in April and July of every year. My debut novel, A Delicious Dilemma (Harlequin Special Edition), was drafted and revised during two separate NaNoWriMo challenges. Now, I’ve just completed a very rough draft of book two in the Navarro Family Series which I began before this last NaNoWriMo, one of two additional books that I contracted with Harlequin Special Edition.

I experience a thrill every time NaNoWriMo rolls around, feeding off the energy that comes from a collective decision to make nothing else matter more during the month of November than getting the damned book written. It leads to the rush of reaching what appears to be the insurmountable goal of writing 50K words in one month, a reward for so many sacrifices.

What began in 2016 as a quest for community to ameliorate the otherwise lonely business of writing has become a a ritual reminder to honor my writing. It is the permission I give myself to organize, if only for thirty days, the entirety of my energies around the singular purpose of getting 50K words onto a page in one month. NaNoWriMo has become indispensable to my writing life, and never more so than during the disorienting trauma of a global pandemic.

Here are five things I learned from NaNoWriMo.

Your writing is worth prioritizing

For one month (not taking into account the time to plan a project – more on that shortly), I have permission to think of my project and only my project with unapologetic zeal. As a published author who is also juggling a full-time career and a family, there is something incredibly self-indulgent about making one month all about my writing. In November, I give myself the luxury to do what the realities of my day-to-day life do not always allow me to do – make writing my laser-focused priority, a necessary reminder that it’s okay to put myself and my passions first.

The devil is in the planning

One important thing NaNoWriMo taught me to do is to plan for success. I spend a couple of weeks in October planning my life in the service of chasing those 1600 words per day – precooked meals, transportation for after school activities, lesson plans, regular exercise, even sleep. I’ve done NaNoWriMo, both during the big event in November as well as the Camps in April and July. I am most effective when I begin the month with either projects in progress or novels that are already extensively outlined. I also have a system in place to document my word count, with rewards built in for milestones, and flexibility for downtime to recover from the inevitable exhaustion of the last stretch of writing. This habit of planning carries over to other projects I start during the remainder of the year as well. Not everyone needs this level of detailed planning to reach their writing goals, but I’ve found that I do better when I predict obstacles and have a plan in place to address those. Whether you are a planner, panster, or some combination of the two, what matters is to create habits that work for you.

Writers write – any way they can

To reach the goal of writing 50k in one month, I have to be ruthless about grabbing time to write. I learned to take advantage of any increment of time greater than 10 minutes – including waking up early to do a Pomodoro sprint, sneaking in words during lunch, utilizing the precious hour and a half between the end of my work day and the afternoon race to pick up my son, get him to his after school activities, work a little exercise in of my own, throw dinner together, and check school/homework before hustling the family to their bed times. No sliver of time is left unused. It’s relentless, but the way I calculate it, with the Thanksgiving break I get each year as a school teacher, I only have to keep up that grind for 15 out of the 30 days available in November, so I’m merciless about making that time count.

The only way to get through it is to…get through it

Inevitably, there’s always that moment when, even after all the planning, preparation, and hustling, you look at your manuscript and ask yourself what hell you’re doing. Everything you write is horrible, you keep dropping threads or themes as you race to the end. Or worse, you get to a place beyond which you can’t write. Some gnarl of plot that you didn’t predict, some aspect you didn’t think through deeply enough. NaNoWriMo forced me to work through strategies to keep those obstacles from stopping my progress. I learned that the only way to get to the end of the manuscript is to write through, over, or around the problem. I leave myself notes, either in the margin or in the manuscript itself, describing what I am trying to accomplish and just keep going. Sometimes it’s nothing more than <Write this out> or <Transition>. I don’t have the luxury of looping back and revising the problems I find. I have to keep going and get to the end. If the problem is an impossible one, I take a day off and let my mind work on the problem, but no more than one day, for fear I’ll lose my momentum. There is only one way to reach my goal and that is to plow through to the end. After all, that’s what editing is for!

Even when you lose, you win

Out of the nine times I took on NaNoWriMo, I successfully reached my goal seven times. However, I don’t consider those two times I didn’t reach my goals as losses. On one project, I wrote nearly 33k towards my 50k goal and wrote 26k towards the second one. In each case, I ended the month with more words than I started and, especially with the 26k project, I didn’t give up on it but kept writing, using the subsequent NaNoWriMo to revise it. That draft became my debut novel, A Delicious Dilemma, which also won the Write for Harlequin mentorship. Every single word is one word more than I had before and if nothing else, NaNoWriMo taught me to celebrate every step that got me closer to my goal. Because that’s how books are written. One word, one sentence, one challenge at a time until you finally write The End.

From the publisher:

Can one man’s crowded, messy life fill another man’s empty heart?

Raising a family was always Adam Mills’ dream, although solo parenting and moving back to tiny Garnet Run certainly were not. After a messy breakup, Adam is doing his best to give his young daughter the life she deserves—including accepting help from their new, reclusive neighbor to fulfill her Christmas wish.

Though the little house may not have “the most lights ever,” the Mills home begins to brighten as handsome Wes Mobray spends more time there and slowly sheds his protective layers. But when the eye-catching house ends up in the news, Wes has to make a choice: hide from the darkness of his unusual past or embrace the light of a future—and a family—with Adam.

Review:

I’ve been a huge fan of Roan Parrish’s books ever since I read The Remaking of Corbin Wales, which really showcases the power of Parrish’s prose and word craft, as well as her ability to write unconventional characters with deep wounds who are nonetheless ready and open to love when it arrives.

This entry into the Garnet Run series does not disappoint.

The Lights of Knockbridge Lane is a holiday romance, much in the spirit of Corbin Wales without the magical realism. The novel features Alex Mills, who has moved back to Garnet Run after a brutal breakup with his partner, Mason. Alex is accompanied by his daughter, August (or Gus), who is in reality his sister’s daughter whom he has raised together with Mason since she was a baby. However, when Mason decides that he no longer wishes to co-parent Gus and prefers an unfettered, single life, Alex returns to Garnet Run, and his sibling, River, who promises to help Alex care for Gus.

Wes Mobray is the town’s boogey man, a recluse around whom stories of every kind have been spun to explain his unconventional way of existing – mostly at night, in a house with windows that have been papered over. The novel cleverly introduces him in chapter one via his reputation, a device that skirts the info dump trap that is nonetheless required to understand him.

Gus’s shenanigans are the reason for the meet-cute. Alex has to bail his too-curious daughter out with his neighbor after she breaks into Wes’s basement. Gus, who is quirky and brilliant in her own way, has found a kindred spirit in Wes, and serves as the impetus that brings Alex and Wes together. Gus’s characterization is one of the bright spots in this already lovely novel, a precocious eight -year old who speaks and acts like a precious eight -year old. I spend much of my life surrounded by children of all ages so young characters in novel who ring true are a delight for me. Parrish also doesn’t shy away from showing the challenges of single-parenthood, from the scarcity of money to constantly arranging for child-care, making Alex’s situation feel more realistic.

Wes turns out to be a bit of a scientific genius who carries very real PTSD from a childhood spent overexposed to the scrutiny of others. For a sensitive introvert, he has substantial reasons for protecting his anonymity. He finds a fitting counterpart in Alex, who is the beating heart of this novel, a man who feels his emotions deeply and loves Gus with a passion that makes you want to curl around him and protect him from the world. Wes and Alex’s coming together is a real meeting in the middle, two opposites who find commonality in their kindness and in their ability to accept each other’s quirks, allowing understanding to segue into love.

The central tropes unifying the The Garnet Run series are hurt/comfort and opposites attract. Each novel sets up these characters along a series of binaries – physical vs. ethereal, logical vs. emotional, practical vs. artistic – and in those binaries, there are intersection where these supposed opposing spirits meet and heal each other. Each character in this series carries deep wounds from their pasts, wounds that isolate them, whether by design or circumstance. Parrish makes an astute observation about the nature of trauma – it isolates people, making them feel strange in a world that refuses to accommodate them. The heart of her series is how love bridges the loneliness created by trauma and pulls disparate people to create the kind of community they need to thrive. In Alex and Wes’s case, they bring each other out of the isolation caused by their respective traumas through sensitivity and understanding, with a hefty side of passion.

As a holiday novel, there is also the side plot of Alex fulfilling Gus’s wish to decorate their house with all the Christmas lights they can, a promise Alex makes in an effort to give her a bright Christmas that will compensate for his ex’s abandonment. As you can predict, this promise takes on a life of its own that I won’t spoil, but it is perfectly threaded into the black moment and the resolution of the novel. The Lights of Knockbridge Lane also has the distinction of being the first m/m romance in the Harlequin Special Edition Line, and it is a worthy groundbreaker. Parrish’s writing style, themes and heat level are a continuation of the work she started with Carina Adores, but shortened to fit the length requirements of Special Edition. It’s perfect for this contemporary category line, with its emphasis on varied queer representation, found family, and the power that love possesses to bridge the darkest traumas and bring light, both literally and figuratively, into the lives of people who open themselves up to its power.

It’s a perfect romantic read for any season of the year.

Where to buy:

Roan Parrish’s books

In A Delicious Dilemma, Philip Wagner is the thirty-two-year-old, only son of the successful real estate developer Andreas Wagner. Heir to Wagner Developments, Philip specializes in project design, specifically, the brilliant, eco-friendly city and community designs that have helped Wagner Developments become one of the most competitive corporations in the world. His father, Andreas Wagner, is the grandson of Felipe Wagner, the founder of Wagner Developments, who famously sold his farm equipment to emigrate to the United State with his family to establish the corporation his grandson presently helms. Philip’s mother is descended from the older, horse-raising families in Kentucky. She established and currently runs the Wagner Charitable Foundation.

Philip Wagner has always aspired to earn his father’s respect while pursuing his career of interest. A self-described workaholic, he enjoys architecture, Star Wars, and sports. He has a particular fondness for expensive cars and currently drives an Alfa Romeo Quadrifoglio. While not ostentatious, his tastes tend towards the expensive. He runs to keep in shape, but has trouble keeping up with Val when they run together.

Ten Questions:

1. What are you most proud of but afraid of sharing?

I’m most proud of my work. What I hate to share is that, sometimes, I identify with my work too much, which leaves a lot of other important things in my life.

2. Do you consider yourself liked or disliked by others? Why?

People seem to like me. I don’t worry about strangers but I would like to have my father’s respect.

3. Are you afraid of being your true self around others? Why?

The only person I feel I have to perform for is my father.

4. More than anything, I want to …”

Do work that matters to me and take care of the people I care about.

5. If I could change anything about myself, I would…

Make myself a better dancer. I am, quite possibly, the worst dancer in the world.

6. I think my greatest strengths, abilities, and skills are…

I’m organized, not afraid of working hard, and I’m not interested in screwing anyone. I have a strong sense of fair play and it rules my behavior.

7. What is your biggest regret?

My biggest regret is that in the past I sometimes used my design work to hide from the more unpleasant consequences that Wagner Developments work in different communities.

8. What are some lessons in life you’ve had to learn the hard way?

Dishonesty, even the smallest lie, can tank a relationship. It’s best to just be yourself, tell the truth and meet your consequences head-on.

9. What is your greatest fear?

Being unworthy.

10.  I wish I had someone with whom I could share…

I have someone who understands me. There’s no one else I’d rather share myself with.

Adapted from How to Interview Your Character Like a Pro

***

ICYMI, my debut novel, A Delicious Dilemma is coming 8/24 with Harlequin Romance Special Edition (preorder link here). Different worlds collide in Sera Taino’s debut novel. 

It’s hard to remain enemies when you’ve broken bread together 

Val Navarro’s first mistake: going out dancing after a bad breakup when the chef should be focused on her family business. Her second mistake? Thinking the handsome, sensitive stranger she meets could be more than a rebound – until she discovers he’s Philip Wagner of Wagner Developments. His father’s company could shut down her Puerto Rican restaurant and unravel her tight-knit neighborhood. When Philip takes over negotiations, Val wants to believe he has good intentions. But is following her heart a recipe for disaster?

 From Harlequin Special Edition: Believe in love. Overcome obstacles. Find happiness.

Preorder now to receive a copy of a free recipe collection, Sabor de Casa, featuring recipes from A Delicious Dilemma:

In A Delicious Dilemma, Valeria (Val) Navarro is the thirty-two-year-old owner of Navarro’s Family Restaurant together with her father in the fictional New Jersey town of East Ward. Her parents, Enrique and Gabriela, moved from Puerto Rico to the United States in the late seventies and established the family restaurant before starting a family. Val has two younger siblings: her brother, Rafael (Rafi) Navarro, a math teacher at the local high school, and Natalia (Nati) Navarro, a medical school student who is close to the end of her studies.

Val participated in track and field in high school and is an avid runner. She loves reading, especially Star Wars novels, watching cooking shows at home, and blockbuster movies on the big screen. She is familiar with Puerto Rico, having visited the island with her family on vacation. As the oldest, she has the best memory of her mother, who passed away when she was almost sixteen. She wears her mother’s rosary in remembrance of her, though her.

When a light rail station is built in East Ward, the tight-knit, working-class community comes to the attention of a large development corporation. As the co-founder of the fair housing coalition, Val finds herself fighting not only for her neighborhood’s future but for her family-owned restaurant as well. When she meets Philip Wagner, a reserved, handsome stranger, during a night out, she thinks she’s met someone special, until she learns of his connection to Wagner Developments, the company bringing changes to her neighborhood. Now the fight is on, not only for the survival of her business, her home, and her neighborhood but her heart as well.

Ten Questions:

1. What are you most proud of but afraid of sharing?

I’m most proud of helping my sister learn to read, despite her dyslexia. I don’t usually share this because it’s her disability and hers alone to share, but I got permission from her to answer this.

2. Do you consider yourself liked or disliked by others? Why?

I think most people like me, but you can’t please everyone. So why try?

3. Are you afraid of being your true self around others? Why?

I wish I had time to think about who I am around others. I’m too busy just trying to get through my day. I am what I am and that’s all there is to it.

4. More than anything, I want to …”

Take care of the people who matter. If they’re okay, then I’ll be okay, too.

5. If I could change anything about myself, I would…

I wish I could care a little less about things. I’m a worrier and that’s not always a good thing. It means I dwell on things too long and smother others with too much concern.

6. I think my greatest strengths, abilities, and skills are…

I’m good at getting things done and I have the energy and management skills to follow through on the things I try to do.

7. What is your biggest regret?

It’s more of a “what if”…what if I had gotten my mother to the hospital sooner the day of her accident? What if I had been more careful about my surroundings and seen the motorcycle before it clipped her? Maybe I could have saved her. I never talk about it, but it haunts me.

8. What are some lessons in life you’ve had to learn the hard way?

Not everything works out in your favor, no matter how hard you try. It means you can’t control everything, which I have a hard time accepting. Truth is, there are just some things you can’t do anything about.

9. What is your greatest fear?

Something bad happening to the people I love. I know how horrible that is and I’d rather not repeat the experience.

10.  I wish I had someone with whom I could share…

I don’t need to wish for this because I have that person in my life already. I just hope everyone I love will find their special someone as well.

Adapted from How to Interview Your Character Like a Pro

***

ICYMI, my debut novel, A Delicious Dilemma is coming 8/24 with Harlequin Romance Special Edition (preorder link here). Different worlds collide in Sera Taino’s debut novel. 

It’s hard to remain enemies when you’ve broken bread together 

Val Navarro’s first mistake: going out dancing after a bad breakup when the chef should be focused on her family business. Her second mistake? Thinking the handsome, sensitive stranger she meets could be more than a rebound – until she discovers he’s Philip Wagner of Wagner Developments. His father’s company could shut down her Puerto Rican restaurant and unravel her tight-knit neighborhood. When Philip takes over negotiations, Val wants to believe he has good intentions. But is following her heart a recipe for disaster?

 From Harlequin Special Edition: Believe in love. Overcome obstacles. Find happiness.

Preorder now to receive a copy of a free recipe collection, Sabor de Casa, featuring recipes from A Delicious Dilemma. Just screenshot/forward your receipt to seraspromos@gmail.com.

Over the course of the next few blog posts, I’m going to be talking about my debut novel, A Delicious Dilemma. As a debut, it already occupies an important place in my writing life, being my very first full-length publication. But it is also a love letter to the NJ community of my childhood, and finds its inspiration in the people who once lived there.

ICYMI, my debut novel, A Delicious Dilemma is coming 8/24 with Harlequin Romance Special Edition (preorder link here). For today’s post, I’d like to introduce my novel by sharing the publisher’s summary below:

Different worlds collide in Sera Taino’s debut novel. 

It’s hard to remain enemies when you’ve broken bread together 

Val Navarro’s first mistake: going out dancing after a bad breakup when the chef should be focused on her family business. Her second mistake? Thinking the handsome, sensitive stranger she meets could be more than a rebound – until she discovers he’s Philip Wagner of Wagner Developments. His father’s company could shut down her Puerto Rican restaurant and unravel her tight-knit neighborhood. When Philip takes over negotiations, Val wants to believe he has good intentions. But is following her heart a recipe for disaster?

 From Harlequin Special Edition: Believe in love. Overcome obstacles. Find happiness.

**

This novel owes a great debt to the Jersey City of my childhood, before it became part of the Gold Coast and was effectively transformed into another suburb of Manhattan. Small businesses, apartment buildings were full of people who knew, supported, and sometimes fought with one another. Open fire hydrants in summer, and collective snow shoveling in winter, loud Caribbean music blaring from apartment windows as people worked and studied and lived – it’s that transformation of a community of a few blocks to high-end housing that fuels the plot of A Delicious Dilemma, as residents find themselves part of an inexorable change. I will discuss the setting of A Delicious Dilemma in more depth in a future post.

In my next post, I’ll introduce my main character, Valeria (Val) Navarro and how she came to be.

Be sure to preorder your copy of A Delicious Dilemma and receive a free recipe collection. Just screenshot/forward preorder receipts via DM or email them to seraspromos@gmail.com, and I will send you Sabor de Casa, an exclusive recipe book, courtesy of the Navarro Family Restaurant. Includes 10 recipes for dishes mentioned in the novel, with detailed instructions on how to prepare them as well as a few snippets of Val’s opinion. Because she has opinions. So many opinions.⁠

From the publisher:

She’ll inherit an empire…but only if she can resist her ex—in this Sambrano Studios novel by Adriana Herrera.

She’s on track to be the new CEO.

Her ex is the only one standing in the way.

When Esmeralda Sambrano-Peña unexpectedly inherits her father’s media empire, it ruffles more than a few feathers. And no one is more conflicted about it than Rodrigo Almanzar. Esmeralda knows her father’s longtime protégé—and her ex-lover—wants the executive job for himself. Making matters worse, their renewed passion grows undeniable with every late-night meeting. Will Rodrigo prove to be the perfect partner in business and pleasure…or her professional undoing?

From Harlequin Desire: Luxury, scandal, desire—welcome to the lives of the American elite.

Love triumphs in this uplifting romance, part of the Sambrano Studios series.

Book 1: One Week to Claim It All 

Review:

Esmeralda Sambrano-Pena, the illegitimate daughter of the late media mogul, Patricio Sambrano, whose involvement in her life extended to financial support, including paying for her education and nothing more, has just inherited 25% in his media empire, Sambrano Studios. A household name in Latin America, Sambrano Studios is responsible for the most successful Latinx programming.

However, her claim to her father’s empire is met with resistance, not only from Patricio’s widow, Carmelina, and their two children. She must also contend with Rodrigo Almanzar, Patricio’s protégé and heir apparent to the company. He is also her former ex with whom she shared a passionate, clandestine love affair that ended when he betrayed her many years earlier. He is vying for the same position Esme is determined to claim and is hell-bent on winning it, no matter how much he still wants her.

If only the intense chemistry that still exists between them would cool down long enough to allow Esme to prove that she is the best person for the job.

The influence of Spanish telenovelas is clear in this start to a beautiful new Latinx romance series. There are twists and turns and over-the-top plots that grip you and leave you wanting more. But, in Herrera fashion, even with a storyline that never ceases to surprise you, there is also thoughtful commentary on colorism in Latin-American media and the erasure of Afro-Latinx people in the stories we collectively love so much.

Also, the chemistry between Esme and Rodrigo is so hot, it’s inevitable that their attraction will make their rivalry next to impossible to resist. It leaves you at the edge of your seat, wondering how they are going to work things out. Steamy, sexy, wild, and smart, One Week to Claim it All is a romance that gives the reader everything they could hope for.

I received an ARC from NetGalley/Harlequin in exchange for an honest review.

Where to buy:

Adriana Herrera’s books

Screenshot/forward preorder receipts via DM or email them to seraspromos@gmail.com, and I will send you Sabor de Casa, an exclusive recipe book, courtesy of the Navarro Family Restaurant. Includes 10 recipes for dishes mentioned in the novel, with detailed instructions on how to prepare them as well as a few snippets of Val’s opinion. Because she has opinions. So many opinions.⁠
⁠
This offer will be good for all preorders including paperbacks. ⁠

It’s hard to remain enemies when you’ve broken bread together⁠
⁠
Val Navarro’s first mistake: going out dancing after a bad breakup when the chef should be focused on her family business. Her second mistake? Thinking the handsome, sensitive stranger she meets could be more than a rebound – until she discovers he’s Philip Wagner of Wagner Developments. His father’s company could shut down her Puerto Rican restaurant and unravel her tight-knit neighborhood. When Philip takes over negotiations, Val wants to believe he has good intentions. But is following her heart a recipe for disaster?⁠

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I’m going to forgo the prompt today but I am going to talk a little bit about an aspect of my writing process that has taken me some time to embrace. It has to do with discovery writing.

Discovery writing is when you start writing your story and “discover” where it goes. People often refer to this as “pantsing.”

Now, I am most certainly an outliner or a “plotter,” and a rather meticulous one, at that. But through writing books and short stories over the last decade, I have come to realize that I am also a discovery writer as well. That realization led me to further conclude that maybe pantsing and plotting are really two sides of the same writing coin.

I’ll illustrate the point. In my short romance, “Mar y Sol” (currently out of print but I will be putting it up for sale for the summer of 2022), I had a solid outline, including the tropes, central romance, characters and plot beats. However, it took me 30 pages to get into a story that would, in its final version, come in at about 15K words. That’s at least 10K words of “aimless” writing. Luckily, I have a wonderful editor friend, at Gray Plume Editorial Services who I contract to professionally edit all my self-published work, who figured me out right away after editing several short romances and informed me that I was, in fact a discovery writer. In other words, even with a detailed outline in hand, I had to “write my way” into the story and when I finally arrived at a point, my story would officially “begin.” Thirty pages. As long as the story itself.

I’ve learned to embrace this quirk of writing, this thinking on paper that takes place before I can go anywhere with my story. I go through the same process with my characters; when I can’t figure out what their goals or motivations are, I write about them, put them in situations, build backstories, anecdotes, even character interviews until I figure them out. Using character tropes and archetypes help to get the broad strokes of their personality, but it’s only through extensive exploration that I come to understand who they are.

There are many ways to accomplish these objectives that don’t involve so much writing, and there are as many ways to build a story as there are authors to write them. But I’ve found that this sort of aimless writing helps me understand, not only my story, but also the characters and sometimes, when journaling or free writing, even myself.

So when I am asked if I am a panster or a plotter, I tell people I’m a little bit of both. And that’s probably true of almost everyone.

***

For more about the #100daysofwriting challenge, check out https://www.tumblr.com/tagged/100daysofwriting to see all the posts for each day. Thanks to @the-wip-project​ for organizing this fascinating challenge!If you get stumped on what to write, check the #100daysofquestions for prompts to help you write.

My debut novel, A DELICIOUS DILEMMA is now up on NetGalley! ⁠ If you are a reviewer or blogger and have a NetGalley account, request your copy today!

From the publisher:

Different worlds collide in Sera Taino’s debut novel.

It’s hard to remain enemies when you’ve broken bread together

Val Navarro’s first mistake: going out dancing after a bad breakup when the chef should be focused on her family business. Her second mistake? Thinking the handsome, sensitive stranger she meets could be more than a rebound – until she discovers he’s Philip Wagner of Wagner Developments. His father’s company could shut down her Puerto Rican restaurant and unravel her tight-knit neighborhood. When Philip takes over negotiations, Val wants to believe he has good intentions. But is following her heart a recipe for disaster?

From Harlequin Special Edition: Believe in love. Overcome obstacles. Find happiness.

A Delicious Dilemma, my debut novel with Harlequin Romance Special Edition, drops on 8/24/2021. ⁠

Sign up for my newsletter in my bio to stay up to receive updates on A Delicious Dilemma and my other writing projects.⁠ Don’t forget to follow me on all Social Media.

Imagine waking up on a Monday morning to this little morsel of news! Publisher’s Weekly published a lovely review of my debut novel, A Delicious Dilemma, available 8/24 (paperbacks on shelves 9/1). If you’d like to read the complete review, click the link below:

https://www.publishersweekly.com/9781335408068

I made a couple of graphics with some of my favorite quotes below!

If you’d like to preorder my little morsel of a novel, you can take advantage of the preorder bonus and receive a free collection of recipes. Screenshot/forward preorder receipts via DM or email them to seraspromos@gmail.com, and I will send you Sabor de Casa, an exclusive recipe book, courtesy of Navarro’s Family Restaurant. Includes 10 recipes for dishes mentioned in the novel, with detailed instructions on how to prepare them as well as a few snippets of Val’s opinion. Because she has opinions. So many opinions.⁠
⁠
This offer will be good for all preorders including paperbacks. ⁠
⁠
https://books2read.com/u/mvqP7X⁠
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⁠Summary:

It’s hard to remain enemies when you’ve broken bread together⁠
⁠
Val Navarro’s first mistake: going out dancing after a bad breakup when the chef should be focused on her family business. Her second mistake? Thinking the handsome, sensitive stranger she meets could be more than a rebound – until she discovers he’s Philip Wagner of Wagner Developments. His father’s company could shut down her Puerto Rican restaurant and unravel her tight-knit neighborhood. When Philip takes over negotiations, Val wants to believe he has good intentions. But is following her heart a recipe for disaster?⁠

From Harlequin Special Edition: Believe in love. Overcome obstacles. Find happiness.

Upcoming events to promote my 8/24 release of A Delicious Dilemma. In case you’d like to get to know me or spend time with my incredible hosts:

6/21 – 8:00pm EST Telenovela Talks IG Live
Hosted by Adriana Herrera @ladriana_herrera

7/8 – All day
Preorder Blitz
Multiple Platforms
Hosted by Meet Cute Creative @MeetCuteCreative

7/21 – 7:30 pm EST Inside the Romance Buzz Live Chat, Writers Space FB page
Hosted by Nina Crespo @ninacrespowrites, Valerie Clarizio @valerieclarizio, and Gail Chianese @authorgailchianese

https://www.facebook.com/Writerspace

8/11 – 7:00 pm EST Anchored Hearts Silver Linings IG Live Chat
Hosted by Priscilla Oliveras @prisoliveras


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Today’s Prompt:

How do you create your characters? Do you make a profile of them? Do you know your character before you start writing the story?

My writing process is a little wild. I usually start with a premise, prompt, trope or idea and almost simultaneously, my characters show up. They are fully formed people, in need of a name and something to do.

Of course, I do all the things – character profiles, GMC, interviews, exploratory writing, etc., – but it’s not for the purpose of creating characters but simply to get to know them – their backstories, their passions, their wounds, their fears. I also hear the cadence of their voices and none are the same. I know it sounds a little metaphysical but it’s the best metaphor I can use to describe what is happening when a character makes their appearance.

Because I write primarily romance, I’m usually a little in love with my characters. It’s not something I can help. Each of them has to be an object of desire to another character, so they have to be appealing to me as well, defects and all. As I write them, I feel intense love for all of them. Sometimes it gets in the way of plotting the sometimes painful events that they need to grow and complete their arcs.

I think there are writers for whom the plot arrives first, some for whom the characters appear first, and many who skirt this continuum. Maybe the same author will have a different process depending on the project. What matters is that whatever a writer does, it works for them.

About the 100 Days of Writing Challenge

For more about the #100daysofwriting challenge, check out https://www.tumblr.com/tagged/100daysofwriting to see all the posts for each day. Thanks to https://the-wip-project.tumblr.com​ for organizing this fascinating challenge!

If you get stumped on what to write, check the https://www.tumblr.com/tagged/100daysofquestions for prompts to help you write, the way I did today.

Writing Projects

Today’s question:

Tell us about ideas you have floating around. World building snippets, or ideas for new stories. Just a few bullet points.

I have so many ideas! I have notebooks full of ideas to write. In fact, that’s how I keep track of them – I keep a daily journal (almost) and as ideas or tropes occur to me, I write them down. For each new idea, I affix a sticky strip (or Post-it strip) with a quick phrase about what it might be, then I set them aside.

For example, I signed up for a second chance romance anthology, which I love writing. I had the bones of a novella in my notebook (it’s set in Italy so it is very romantic!) so I pulled it out and, between projects, I plug away at it.

One thing I’ve learned very quickly in this endeavor is to have projects at different stages of the pipeline. I have two projects that area already drafted, two being edited currently, two proposals submitted and one project I’m trying to finalize (the one mentioned earlier). That way, I always have something ready to go when the opportunity presents itself.

Other projects at different stages of development

• Age-gap romance between an older woman cyclist and her trainer (f/f)
• Romance between the owner of a vacation home on the same lake as their permanent residence and the divorcee who rents their home (m/f)
• Romance between the owner of a beachside restaurant and the skipper of the fishing boat that provides fresh fish to all the restaurants on the waterfront (m/f)
• Historical romance set in Puerto Rico in the 1950s (series featuring multiple pairings)
• Four additional books in my category romance series (series featuring multiple pairings)

Hopefully I will publish all these stories one day!

About the 100 Days of Writing Challenge

For more about the #100daysofwriting challenge, check out https://www.tumblr.com/tagged/100daysofwriting to see all the posts for each day. Thanks to https://the-wip-project.tumblr.com​ for organizing this fascinating challenge!

If you get stumped on what to write, check the https://www.tumblr.com/tagged/100daysofquestions for prompts to help you write, the way I did today.

Structure

Today’s question comes from this tweet:

Structure as offense and characterization as defense, or the other way around. Is this something you think about? Do you have other metaphors when you think about your stories and how they work?

Being a person who is largely indifferent to teams sports (I prefer individual sports so maybe there is an equivalent analogy works there?)

I’m thinking about the relationship between dialogue and structure as presented in the prompt (or characterization and structure according to the tweet). Reflecting on the analogy above, I’m not sure that this is the way I would convey the relationship between all the different parts of a story. I see structure as the skeleton of a story made manifest through its plot. The different essential elements are like organs necessary to make the story work. So story elements like characterization, dialogue, conflict, theme – these are essentially attached to the skeleton to elevate a story from mere abstraction to something that lives and breathes, conveying emotions and themes.

Story structure is what has come down to us after thousands of years of oral and written storytelling. The hero’s journey and, according to Gail Carriger, also the heroine’s journey, are examples of Western story structures that people instinctively recognize. That doesn’t mean it is the only one, but the hero’s journey specifically comes down to us from a long Western tradition of storytelling.

That’s why people who read a lot are able to intuit the structures and make successful predictions about the stories they read. As writers, being mindful of those structures will help us better internalize them to such a degree, they come naturally to us. With that fundamental, almost primitive knowledge in place, we can proceed to write stories that are at once recognizable and surprising for our readers.

Structure is the scaffold of storytelling.

About the 100 Days of Writing Challenge

For more about the #100daysofwriting challenge, check out https://www.tumblr.com/tagged/100daysofwriting to see all the posts for each day. Thanks to https://the-wip-project.tumblr.com​ for organizing this fascinating challenge!

If you get stumped on what to write, check the https://www.tumblr.com/tagged/100daysofquestions for prompts to help you write, the way I did today.

Tropes

I’m using today’s question to keep the streak going, courtesy of https://the-wip-project.tumblr.com

What is your favorite trope to write and/or read? And is there a difference between reading and writing the trope?

It’s ironic that today’s question is about writing tropes because it’s been on my mind a lot lately.

Tropes are literary devices that are used so often in a genre, they are considered part of its conventions. When a writer masters them, they not only give readers something to expect but, when subverted, can provide a reader with something fresh and new.

I will read almost any trope, as long as it contributes to a well-written story that provides me with a satisfying reading experience. However, regardless of the trope, there should be a slow burn element to it for me to truly enjoy it. So I like second-chance romance, friends-to-lovers, enemies-to-lover, fake dating, fated mates, etc. as long as the romance takes time to flourish.

Slow burns are my favorite because they make me wait for the big pay-off. This is true for me both as a reader and a writer. I’m not sure how many people realize this but when a writer works on a novel, it’s like we are its very first readers. We are discovering and reading the story as we write it. The longer I can prolong the agony of a resolution (without boring my own pants off), the more the romance feels earned. Those are the stories I go back to over and over again.

So the trick is to not only find a good trope but to execute it well. And if a writer is very good, they’ll surprise you with something new, defy your expectations and deliver a story that is unforgettable.

About the 100 Days of Writing Challenge

For more about the #100daysofwriting challenge, check out https://www.tumblr.com/tagged/100daysofwriting to see all the posts for each day. Thanks to https://the-wip-project.tumblr.com​ for organizing this fascinating challenge!

If you get stumped on what to write, check the https://www.tumblr.com/tagged/100daysofquestions for prompts to help you write, the way I did today.

A Late Start

For more about the #100daysofwriting challenge, check out https://www.tumblr.com/tagged/100daysofwriting to see all the posts for each day. Thanks to https://the-wip-project.tumblr.com​ for organizing this fascinating challenge!

If you get stumped on what to write, check the https://www.tumblr.com/tagged/100daysofquestions for prompts to help you write.

I’m starting seven days late on this project, according to how the organizers have set this up, so it’s only day one for me. And I guess that’s where I’ll start my reflection.

I am a bit of a perfectionist. It’s the kind of thing that has gotten me into trouble in the past – leading me to start and stop things because I’m not doing it as well as anyone else, or because I can’t keep up with the workload (I have a corollary problem, and that’s my inability to say no sometimes, but that’s another post).

The old me would have looked at this challenge, said “Oh, I’m too late, It’ll be too messy on my dash) and give up on the entire endeavor. Or the opposite would have happened – I’d go back and answer all the question posts up to this day and then be too burned out to continued.

This version of myself will do neither. I’m old enough to know how avoid these perfectionist tendencies. In fact, it’s one of the benefits of getting older – the ability to play tricks with yourself so you don’t fall into destructive habits.

I’m going to start from where I am. On day 7. I’m worrying about today and only today. What gets done gets done. If it doesn’t, I’ll start all over tomorrow and do day 8. I’ll start where I’m standing.

It’s a kindness to yourself to realize that you can’t always be on time, or caught up. Instead of fretting over what you can’t control (I can’t control that I saw this challenge 7 days too late), I am working with what I can control. I can write this post starting at this very moment, so it is exactly what I’m going to do. I’m not procrastinating. I’m not perfectionism-ing (??). I’m just doing. And this is all I can do.

I will try my very best to write here each day for my next 100 days, but sometimes I won’t. I can only do my best. And that’s okay, too.

From the publisher:

Carlton Monroe is finally getting his groove back. After a year playing dad to his nephew and sending him safely off to college, it’s back to his bachelor ways. But when his teenaged niece shows up on his doorstep looking for a permanent home, his plan comes to a screeching halt. Family is everything, and in the eyes of social services, a couple makes a better adoptive family than an overworked bachelor father. A fake relationship with his closest friend is the best way to keep his family together.

If things between him and Deion are complicated, well, it only needs to last until the end of the semester.

Living with Carlton is a heartbreak waiting to happen, and once the adoption goes through, Deion’s out. He’s waited two decades for Carlton to realize they’re meant for each other, and he’s done. It’s time to make a clean break. But it’s hard to think of moving away when keeping up the act includes some very real perks like kissing, cuddling and sharing a bed.

Even the best charades must come to an end, though. As the holidays and Deion’s departure date loom, the two men must decide whether playing house is enough for them—or if there’s any chance they could be a family for real.

Review:

I read the first installment of this series, Learned Behaviors, as well as Andre and quickly became addicted to Jayce Ellis’s writing. She gives such a beautiful and nuanced depiction of the lives and loves of queer men of color.

Learned Reactions overlaps a bit with Learned Behaviors, which is a great way to prime readers for the couples to come. Carlton and Deion are the slow burn to end all slow-burns. They’ve been pining, unaware of the feelings the one has for the other for twenty years. A combination of insecurity and the confusion at having real feelings when they should be a pretend family leads to a denouement that is so poignant, I still get emotional thinking about it.

Olivia, or Ollie, as the fourteen-year-old girl they are trying to raise is a wonderful character, and steals the scenes she is in. She is the perfect depiction of a beautiful, brilliant, and somewhat tremendous teenager.

Ellis is such a fine writer and so far have enjoyed every book she’s written. Now on to book 3!

ARC received from the publisher Carina Press via NetGalley in return for an honest and unbiased review.

Where to buy:

Jayce Ellis books

From the publisher:

He lives in secret service to the Crown—a man of duty, deception, and an undeniable attraction to a woman who threatens to tear his whole world apart.

They call him the Devil of Dorset. He stands alone, a man of undeniable power. Moving in and out of shadows, back alleys and ballrooms, he is unstoppable and one of the Crown’s most dangerous weapons. However, when he sets his sights on the undeniably beautiful Countess of Mont Claire, Francesca Cavendish, he doesn’t realize that he has met a match like no other.

TRUE LOVE WEARS NO DISGUISE

Francesca is a countess by day and stalks her prey—those responsible for the death of her family—by night. What she does not expect is to be thrown into the path of the devil himself, the Earl of Devlin. She has secrets of her own and he seems determined to lay them bare. Can her heart survive finding the love of her life and losing him when all is revealed?

Review:

Kerrigan Byrne is one of my favorite historical romance writers. Her heroines are complex, her heroes subversive, and she is not afraid to defy the expectations of a subgenre that can often constrain the types of characters that can be depicted.

I received an eARC of The Devil in her Bed quite unexpectedly. I’d read the first two installments and find the story flows better when considered against the backdrop of the larger trilogy.

Francesca’s story was always teased throughout the previous books as compelling and this book proves this true. There is a real payoff in all the world and relationship building from the first books, and all the friendships that came to fruition in this book.

Francesca is out for revenge and won’t be stopped. She’s a formidable adversary against Lords, Assassins, and her friend’s husbands and it is thrilling to see a historical lead so fully in her power.

The mystery surrounding the male lead is compelling and speaks to why he has been watching over Francesca, and what he wants from her. The slow-burn is really slow, but delicious for the expectation it creates. When it’s resolved, it’s explosive and very satisfying.

Excellent, modern sensibility in the guise of the beloved historical romance. Well-done!

Where to buy:

Kerrigan Byrne’s books

From the publisher:

When a man on a mission is derailed by a beautiful woman, will one night ever be enough?
Will one night be his undoing?

Alessandro Cardenas isn’t stepping out on the Miami art scene only for the hottest parties. Someone is forging his late grandfather’s paintings—and he’s determined to uncover the culprit. But when he crosses paths with gallerist Angeline Louis, the boundaries between mystery and seduction become blurred. Does Angeline suspect his ulterior motives…even as she surrenders to his kisses? Does she have secrets of her own? Or can Alessandro trust that their once-in-a-lifetime connection is real?

Review:

In Nadine Gonzalez’s second novel in the Miami Famous series, What Happens in Miami, Miami’s annual Art Basel serves as the backdrop of both a feverish romance, and a possible forgery scandal. Alessandro Cardenas, or Sandro, is an actor on the cusp of international success. Nominated for a Golden Globe and able to make or break an establishment simply by darkening its doorsteps, Sandro is enjoying the fruit of years of hard work and sacrifices. However, not everything glitters in his past. Abandoned by his parents to be raised by his beloved Cuban grandfather, Sandro is on the hunt for the person who is forging his grandfather’s paintings, making a tidy fortune selling them to art collectors both in Miami and all over the country.

As Sandro’s drama unfolds, Angeline Louis, or Angel, is struggling with a difficult history of her own. Smarting from the end of a relationship for which she uprooted herself from Orlando to Miami, Angel is adrift, employed by Gallery Six to be close to the art she loves, but does not believe herself talented enough to create.

Their paths cross when Angel fills in for her injured colleague and delivers a painting to Sandro’s exclusive island for his examination and eventual purchase. However, the mysterious painting comes in second place behind the explosive connection between Angel and Sandro, a chemistry so palpable, everyone in attendance can sense it.

As someone who currently lives in Florida, it’s always exciting to read romances set anywhere in the state, but especially in Miami. Glamorous but also accessible, Miami is a fabulous fusion of Caribbean culture and international influences that is hard to find anywhere else. Gonzalez manages to convey this cultural density through the use of characters and settings that hint, with a broad stroke, at the diversity that makes up this city. The setting is a fitting backdrop to an equally intense, fully textured romance between Sandro and Angel. These are two people who carry the weight of their cultural histories, Sandro in the quest to preserve and protect his grandfather’s art, and Angel, whose family expectations threaten to suffocate the most authentic part of her.

As a romance, What Happens in Miami hits every emotional and sensual beat. The black moment is less an explosion and more of a natural unraveling of a bond that has formed too quickly, and under too many misapprehensions, despite the many things Sandro and Angel have in common. The return from that moment is organic and mature, emerging from a sense of honest emotional growth between the main characters. The setting and events of Art Basel may seem fabulously beyond our reach, but the emotional connection between Sandro and Angel rings natural and true.

Where to buy:

Nadine Gonzalez’s books

From the publisher:

From celebrated author LaQuette comes a sizzling opposites attract Texas Ranger romance that will leave you breathless…

Aja Everett longs to turn her old family ranch into a place where anyone can find rest and healing. But her big heart’s bound to get her in trouble if she’s not careful—someone wants her gone, and they’ll do whatever it takes to drive her away from the land that’s her lifeblood. Whether she’s willing to admit it or not, she needs help.

She needs a man like Ranger Jackson Dean.

Jackson doesn’t trust love. He once made the mistake of following his heart and all he’d gotten was pain in return. But when city-slicking do-gooder Aja Everett asks for his help, he can’t stay away…and as attraction sizzles and protective instincts flare, she may be the only woman able to restore the heart of this Texas Ranger.

Get out your fans for this steamy contemporary romance which features a hunky Texas Ranger with trust issues and a confident, sexy, full-figured heroine who believes in the best in people. Sometimes oil and water are meant to mix.

Review:

All Aja Everett wants is to renovate the ranch that has been in her family since the Reconstruction era and turn it into a bed & breakfast. However, she is plagued by accident after accident as she tries to reach her goal. It’s clear someone wants her to fail. When the local sheriff ignores her umpteenth complaint that someone is trying to hurt her and her project, her uncle contacts his friend, Ranger Jackson Dean, to find out what’s going on. Aja doesn’t count on the sparks that fly between her and the gruff, no-nonsense Texas Ranger.

Jackson is used to being in control. Therefore, he finds strong-willed Aja incredibly infuriating – and irresistible. When yet another incident comes too close to being deadly and is so obviously not an accident, he is on the case, determined to find the evidence needed to put the saboteur away before the unthinkable happens.

Jackson is a complex protagonist, burned by his mother’s abandonment and his ex’s betrayal. Aja is plagued by guilt and unhappiness so great, she is her own worst enemy. There is so much hurt between them, but also a sizzling chemistry they can’t deny. They both have to find a way to overcome their deep wounds to fulfill the promise of their attraction.

I’m not one for cowboy romances or suspense, but ever since I read LaQuette’s Under His Protection, I have been eager to read more. LaQuette creates strong, independent leads full of passion and agency. Aja is capable, beautiful, and willing to take on the impossible, whether in her work as an attorney, the renovation of her ranch, or in trying to find love with the skittish Jackson. She’s also plus-sized and the representation is absolutely perfect.

A wonderful start to a new suspense series.

My thanks to NetGalley for a review copy of the novel.

Where to buy:

LaQuette’s books

From the publisher:

Sixteen years ago, a teenaged Will Sterling saw—or rather, heard—the girl of his dreams. Standing beneath an apartment building balcony, he shared a perfect moment with a lovely, warm-voiced stranger. It’s a memory that’s never faded, though he’s put so much of his past behind him. Now an unexpected inheritance has brought Will back to that same address, where he plans to offload his new property and get back to his regular life as an overworked doctor. Instead, he encounters a woman, two balconies above, who’s uncannily familiar…

No matter how surprised Nora Clarke is by her reaction to handsome, curious Will, or the whispered pre-dawn conversations they share, she won’t let his plans ruin her quirky, close-knit building. Bound by her loyalty to her adored grandmother, she sets out to foil his efforts with a little light sabotage. But beneath the surface of their feud is an undeniable connection. A balcony, a star-crossed couple, a fateful meeting—maybe it’s the kind of story that can’t work out in the end. Or maybe, it’s the perfect second chance…

A sparkling and tender novel from the acclaimed author of Love Lettering, full of bickering neighbors, surprise reunions, and the mysterious power of love that fans of Christina Lauren, Sarah Hogle, and Emily Henry will adore.

Review:

Shakespearean retellings are my jam, and especially those inspired by Romeo and Juliet.

We have it all – star-crossed lovers, a balcony, meddlesome secondary characters, and a love written in the stars.

This is a novel about choices – choosing to be the kind of person you want to be, choosing your family, choosing the love that is meant for you.

The story begins with the fateful meeting of Will and Nora met as teenagers. Taking inspiration from the masque scene when Romeo first sees Juliet, the meet cute turns this fateful meeting on its ear, Will does not actually see Nora’s face at all, but falls for her laughter and her antics as she launches tomatoes from her balcony to run off squirrels.

16 years later, they meet in the same building: but now Will owns his deceased uncle’s apartment and has plans to rent it out. Those two houses both alike in dignity are actually Will vs. the quirky occupants of Nora’s apartment building and they are not happy about his intentions to rent the apartment. Nora sets out to thwart Will’s dastardly plans.

What begins as an adversarial relationship grows into friendship, then love as Will learns to open his heart to Nora and the personalities that populate her building. Will’s journey is particularly poignant, given the emotional wasteland of his upbringing and the difficulties he has in expressing his feelings.

Clayborn has a wonderful command of language, delivering emotional descriptions with luminous precision. The promise of beautiful writing in Love Lettering is realized in Love at First. I look forward to the third installment of this lovely series.

Special thanks to NetGalley for the review copy.

Where to buy:

Kate Clayborn’s books.

From the publisher:

Can a perfect love heal even your deepest wounds?
As a helicopter medic, Daniel Bliant saves other people’s lives. He’s cool under pressure, a calm presence for trauma victims on the worst day of their lives. So why can’t he heal himself? When he answers an emergency call at Phil’s Bar, he can’t believe who the bartender is: the beautiful woman he saw in his ER months ago and hasn’t been able to stop thinking about. But even though Annika is intelligent, lively, and gorgeous, he knows he should forget her. He hasn’t worked through his own trauma after the incident that left him shattered, so how can he possibly think about love?
 
Annika Mehta loves her job as a kindergarten teacher, even if the low pay means she has a side gig tending bar at Phil’s. She may be reeling from a bad breakup and the terrible event that caused it, but she knows she’s resilient. What she doesn’t need is Daniel. He’s wrong for her in every single way, but somehow, she can’t let him go. 

This tear-jerker of a romance follows two souls in need of healing—when all roads lead back to each other.

Review:

I have a soft spot for romances that revolve around grief and love’s power to overcome even the worst wounds. Shroff doesn’t hold back in showing the self-destructive ways people grapple with grief. In this way, the romance arc doesn’t start with falling in love, but with growing and giving yourself a chance to release the pain.

I found this story incredibly touching. As a person who has had to deal with sudden, traumatic grief, the depiction is as real as it gets. This is especially true with the SPOILER ALERT storyline about a school shooting, which struck me particularly hard as an educator myself. The story does not trifle with this topic or any of the more serious topics it presents. It demonstrates enormous respect, not only for its characters, but for all aspects of the grieving process, including the parts we cannot do by ourselves. Therapy and professional mental health services are depicted in a refreshingly positive way.

Love cannot in itself be the the cure for catastrophic loss, but is the result of proper healing.

Annika and Daniel’s story was sweet and authentic, and Shroff manages to convey the weight of such topics as racism, grief and maladjustment without miring the story in its own heaviness. This alone is a feat. But I also loved the way their Annika and Daniel’s Indian culture is served up as fact, and the source of love and support that Annika and Daniel receive. There is so much love in this story, it’s impossible not to get lost in it.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a review copy.

Where to buy:

Mona Shroff’s books

Friday Kiss is one of many weekly Twitter writing challenges. If I have an excerpt that is relevant to the challenges, I will post it on my Twitter and here on Fridays.

Today’s theme is: Evening.

From my co-writing work-in-progress, Rumble (#ownvoice, #contemporary romance) with R.L. Merrill.

“The evening tasted metallic. Beni had fought against the nostalgia, given vent to his resentment & worn out all the excuses for why he couldn’t have this. He’d had enough. He lifted his face, found Tor’s mouth, & melted into the spun candy of his kiss.”

About Rumble:

Torrance Gallagher made a choice to leave Florida—and the love of his life—ten years ago to earn an advanced degree from Stanford University and land a coveted spot on the R&D Team of a lucrative electric car company. Now he’s come home an educated and wealthy man, no longer the nobody from Daytona, and he’s on a mission. Part of his mission involves confronting his past, including his secret affair with his best friend’s younger brother, Beni Soto, the man he left, but never got over. Rumble Custom Cars, the shop owned by the Soto family, is losing money—fast. Torrance has a plan that could save the shop, but it means working alongside Beni—the one person he’s never stopped loving, and the one person who is determined to keep him at arm’s length.

Benicio Alexander Soto has always gotten along better with machines than with people. After a bad breakup with the only person outside his family that he ever connected with, Beni lives solely for the satisfaction of making cars do what he wants them to do. It’s a safe passion, one that burns bright without risking the kind of heartbreak that once brought him to his knees. But the commitment to keeping his heart safe comes under fire when Torrance returns, dredging up feelings he thought long extinguished.

Rumble Customs needs a lifeline and Torrance’s business plan might be the answer. Beni doesn’t trust him—not when it comes to his business and certainly not when it comes to his heart. They say you can’t change the past, but can Tor and Beni find a way to alter course and drive into the future together?

I’m so excited to share with you the cover of my debut novel, A Delicious Dilemma, from Harlequin Special Edition.⁠
⁠
This book is the result of my participation in the Harlequin Includes You Mentorship, a year-long opportunity to support writers from underrepresented groups that allowed me to work with an experienced editor who walked me through the entire publishing process. ⁠
⁠
I’m especially grateful that I got to work with Charles Griemsman. He became my mentor, but also my sounding board, my cheerleader, and my staunchest advocate. He went above and beyond what was required from the mentorship. I should know. I’m a teacher. I know a good one when I see one⁠.⁠ He’s, in my opinion, one of the best.
⁠
I also have to give a shoutout to the Art Department at ⁠HarlequinBooks. COVID threw a wrench in everything, but they came through and gave me this beautiful cover. It embodies the spirit of joy I was hoping to convey in A Delicious Dilemma. I’m honored that my book will carry this cover. ⁠
⁠
I’ll never have another debut experience. Everyone at Harlequin conspired to make it the best one an author can ask for. Mentorships are precious opportunities for growth and I couldn’t have asked for a better one. I hope you love this novel as much as I loved bringing it to you.⁠
⁠
A Delicious Dilemma will be available on August 24th, but you can preorder your copy today:⁠
⁠
https://books2read.com/u/mvqP7X
⁠
From the Publisher:⁠
⁠
It’s hard to remain enemies when you’ve broken bread together⁠
⁠
Val Navarro’s first mistake: going out dancing after a bad breakup when the chef should be focused on her family business. Her second mistake? Thinking the handsome, sensitive stranger she meets could be more than a rebound – until she discovers he’s Philip Wagner of Wagner Developments. His father’s company could shut down her Puerto Rican restaurant and unravel her tight-knit neighborhood. When Philip takes over negotiations, Val wants to believe he has good intentions. But is following her heart a recipe for disaster?⁠

From Harlequin Special Edition: Believe in love. Overcome obstacles. Find happiness.

From the Publisher:

For him, control is everything…until it shatters, and now he’s come undone.

“Appasionata” by Emma Barry
Piano technician Brennan Connelly lives to control details: the tension on a piano string or the compression of hammer felt. But he’s never faced demands like those heaped on him by Kristy Kwong, the diva who’s haunted his dreams for two decades. Kristy’s got her own secrets–the debilitating stage fright that’s kept her from performing publicly for years to start–and this concert is the last chance to save her career. But can he locate her lost passion without losing his precious control?

“Unraveled” by Olivia Dade
Math teacher Simon Burnham–cool, calm, controlled–can’t abide problems with no good solution. Which makes his current work assignment, mentoring art teacher Poppy Wick, nothing short of torture. She’s warm but sharp. Chaotic but meticulous. Simultaneously the most frustrating and most alluring woman he’s ever known. And in her free time, she makes murder dioramas. Murder dioramas, for heaven’s sake. But the more tightly wound a man is, the faster he unravels–and despite his best efforts, he soon finds himself attempting to solve three separate mysteries: a murder in miniature, the unexplained disappearance of a colleague…and the unexpected theft of his cold, cold heart.

“Caught Looking” by Adriana Herrera
When best friends Yariel and Hatuey’s gaming night turns into an unexpected and intense hook up, Hatuey can’t wait to do it again. Yariel is less certain–the major leaguer might seem to all the world like he has a heart of stone, but he’s been carrying a torch for his friend for years, and worries this will ruin the most important relationship in his life. That means Hatuey has to do all the work, and he’s planning to give it all he’s got. Yariel may be the one hitting home runs on the field…but Hatuey is playing a game of seduction, and he knows exactly how to make Yariel crumble.

“Yes, And…” by Ruby Lang
When rheumatologist Darren Zhang accidentally sits in on acting teacher Joan Lacy’s improv class, he’s unprepared for the attraction that hits him–and he’s a man who likes to be prepared. Joan is caring for her ailing mother and barely has time to keep up her art, let alone date. But as the pair play out an unlikely relationship during stolen moments, they both find themselves wanting to say yes, and… much more.

“Tommy Cabot Was Here” by Cat Sebastian
Massachusetts, 1959: Some people might accuse mathematician Everett Sloane of being stuffy, but really he just prefers things a certain way: predictable, quiet, and far away from Tommy Cabot–his former best friend, chaos incarnate, and the man who broke his heart. The youngest son of a prominent political family, Tommy threw away his future by coming out to his powerful brothers. When he runs into Everett, who fifteen years ago walked away from Tommy without an explanation or a backward glance, his old friend’s chilliness is just another reminder of how bad a mess Tommy has made of his life. When Everett realizes that his polite formality is hurting Tommy, he needs to decide whether he can unbend enough to let Tommy get close but without letting himself get hurt the way he was all those years ago.

Review:

“Appassionata” by Emma Barry (m/f)

Pianist Kristy Kwong is struggling with performance anxiety and it’s hindering her ability to perform. Brennan Connelly is a piano technician who once dreamed of a career as a pianist and has always admired Kristy from afar. Most telling, Kristy cannot perform in front of anyone except Brennan. The writing in this story is gorgeous and the pacing of the story matches the music tempos that title each chapter. The relationship develops sweetly and it’s a thrill to see Brennan slowly let go of his rules. The black moment came out of nowhere but when it does happen, it makes sense in the context of what took place before. One of my favorites of the collection.

“Unraveled” by Olivia Dade (m/f)

Dade is an efficient storyteller and she does the short form very well. I found Poppy to be absolutely quirky and hilarious and Simon is the quintessential, buttoned-up math guy. Being a teacher myself, I got all the references and kept nodding my head, saying, yes, yes, all this! The romance arc was adorable and look, there are murder dioramas, okay? I generally hate misunderstandings as the basis for conflict but Dade wraps it all up very well and you feel good when it’s all over. Excellent read.

Caught Looking by Adriana Herrera (m/m)

I love that Yariel and Hatuey are secondary characters from the American Dreamers series, one of my favorite romance series ever. Friends to lovers has never been so hot, and in fact, this is the steamiest of all the stories. The story begins the morning after Yariel and Hatuey have given in to their ever growing attraction and it’s all an emotional mess-fest from there. Herrera does a wonderful job of showing the relationship between these two best friends evolving into something more. Yariel, in particular, struggles to accept that the friend he thought was straight might actually be in love with him as well. Hatuey, for his part, is patience with Yariel and gets him to accept that his feelings are a natural consequence of who he is, that they are rooted in both his identity and the deep bond he shares with Yariel. Herrera handles issues of the Dominican diaspora, family conflict and homophobia with the respect and sensitivity she brings to all her writing. One of the standouts of the collection.

“Yes, and…” by Ruby Lang (m/f)

Biter sweet and lovely, this story highlights Lang’s delicate and precise writing style. Dr. Darren Zhang accidentally finds himself in the wrong class and finds himself captivated by the instructor, Joan Lacy. Joan cares for her mom who is suffering from dementia. The relationship that blossoms between Darren and Joan is so gentle, it left me thinking about them long after the story was done. I hope she considers extending this story because I would love to read it.

Tommy Cabot was Here by Cat Sebastian (m/m)

Set in the 50s, this second-chance romance follows Tommy Cabot, who’s fallen out of favor with his wealthy and politically powerful family; and Everett who has pined so long for Tommy, it’s like an aching wound in his psyche. So many things just work in this story – the setting, the slow trust that Everett gives Tommy as they rediscover each other, Tommy’s son and ex-wife. Oh, and about the ex – she such a great character, I truly enjoyed her characterization. Without spoiling this story further, it’s just an incredible romance and has turned me on to Sebastian’s other works. One of the wittiest writers in the collection.

Where to buy:

Anthology

From the Publisher:

He doesn’t believe in happy endings.
She’s lost her faith that they exist.
But could they find one together?

January is a hopeless romantic who likes narrating her life as if she’s the heroine in a blockbuster movie.
Augustus is a serious literary type who thinks true love is a fairy-tale.
January and Augustus are not going to get on.

But they actually have more in common than you’d think:

They’re both broke.
They’ve got crippling writer’s block.
They need to write bestsellers before the end of the summer.

The result? A bet to see who can get their book published first.
The catch? They have to swap genres.
The risk? In telling each other’s stories, their worlds might be changed entirely… 

Review:

I honestly have no words for this novel. It is a virtually perfect romance. January and Gus are both published authors who find themselves in neighboring beach homes hoping to break their writer’s block. They write in different genres (he in lit fic, her in romance) and decide that if they switch to each other’s genre, they will break their creative dry well. But what starts as a very clever plot twist ends up being a depiction of deep friendship that turns into a love that challenges and heals them. January and Gus come with so much baggage and it is beautiful – and at times painful – to see them come at these ghosts of their pasts (and present!) to find love. There is a little bit of everything – rivals to friends to lovers – but also heavy issues revolving around parental relationships, abuse, and cancer. Each piece is orchestrated perfectly in the service of creating beautiful, complex characters full of chemistry and wit. This is a debut and it completely blew me away. One of my favorite romances of 2021.

ARC provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. 

Where to buy:

Emily Henry’s Books

From the Publisher:

House Rules:
Do your own dishes.
Knock before entering the bathroom.
Never look up your roommate online.

The Wheatons are infamous among the east coast elite for their lack of impulse control, except for their daughter Clara. She’s the consummate socialite: over-achieving, well-mannered, predictable. But every Wheaton has their weakness. When Clara’s childhood crush invites her to move cross-country, the offer is too much to resist. Unfortunately, it’s also too good to be true.

After a bait-and-switch, Clara finds herself sharing a lease with a charming stranger. Josh might be a bit too perceptive—not to mention handsome—for comfort, but there’s a good chance he and Clara could have survived sharing a summer sublet if she hadn’t looked him up on the Internet…

Once she learns how Josh has made a name for himself, Clara realizes living with him might make her the Wheaton’s most scandalous story yet. His professional prowess inspires her to take tackling the stigma against female desire into her own hands. They may not agree on much, but Josh and Clara both believe women deserve better sex. What they decide to do about it will change both of their lives, and if they’re lucky, they’ll help everyone else get lucky too. 

Review:

I just finished the audiobook for The Roommate and trust me, the hype is well worth it. Sex positivity, empowerment, and slow burn with lots of sizzle. Lots of delicious tropes – forced proximity, opposites attract, slow burn, friends with some benefits, pining for the wrong love – it’s all here. The banter is wonderful and there are no real villains except the system. There’s really nothing that brings a couple closer together than taking down the patriarchy.⁠
⁠
Quick note on the audiobook – excellent, dual POV delivery. The voice actors for both Josh and Clara are perfect for their roles. Excellent work!

Where to buy:

Rosie Danan’s Books

From the Publisher:

Starting over is more about who you’re with than where you live…

Julia del Mar Ortiz is not having the best year.

She moved to Dallas with her boyfriend, who ended up ditching her and running back to New York after only a few weeks. Left with a massive—by NYC standards, anyway—apartment and a car lease in the scorching Texas heat, Julia is struggling…except that’s not completely true. Running the charitable foundation of one of the most iconic high fashion department stores in the world is serious #lifegoals.

It’s more than enough to make her want to stick it out down South.

The only monkey wrench in Julia’s plans is the blue-eyed, smart-mouthed consultant the store hired to take them public. Fellow New Yorker Rocco Quinn’s first order of business? Putting Julia’s job on the chopping block.

When Julia is tasked with making sure Rocco sees how valuable the programs she runs are, she’s caught between a rock and a very hard set of abs. Because Rocco Quinn is almost impossible to hate—and even harder to resist.

Review:

Herrera does it again! I felt Julia’s simultaneous love for her Afro-Caribbean family and the frustration she feels at their constant hovering over her. Julia is determined to make a life for herself in Texas, despite a breakup with her faithless ex that nearly brings her life grinding to a halt.⁠
⁠
Rocco, Julia’s love interest, has his own struggles with his family, and a problem whose only solution might require him to crush Julia’s dreams. ⁠
⁠
The chemistry is fantastic, the element of family, community, and doing good in the world is always a trademark of Herrera’s stories. It’s a gorgeous romance where the HEA is well-earned and believable. There are so many Easter eggs for the Latinx reader, it was so much fun to see those aspects reflected in the narrative.⁠
⁠
Another five-star read!⁠

Where to buy:

Adriana Herrera’s Books

From the Publisher:

PROBLEM:

You are a failed novelist about to turn fifty. A wedding invitation arrives in the mail: your boyfriend of the past nine years now engaged to someone else. You can’t say yes–it would all be too awkward–and you can’t say no–it would look like defeat. On your desk are a series of half-baked literary invitations you’ve received from around the world.

QUESTION: How do you arrange to skip town?

ANSWER: You accept them all.

If you are Arthur Less.

Thus begins an around-the-world-in-eighty-days fantasia that will take Arthur Less to Mexico, Italy, Germany, Morocco, India and Japan and put thousands of miles between him and the problems he refuses to face. What could possibly go wrong?

Well: Arthur will almost fall in love in Paris, almost fall to his death in Berlin, barely escape to a Moroccan ski chalet from a Sahara sandstorm, accidentally book himself as the (only) writer-in-residence at a Christian Retreat Center in Southern India, and arrive in Japan too late for the cherry blossoms. In between: science fiction fans, crazed academics, emergency rooms, starlets, doctors, exes and, on a desert island in the Arabian Sea, the last person on Earth he wants to see. Somewhere in there: he will turn fifty. The second phase of life, as he thinks of it, falling behind him like the second phase of a rocket. There will be his first love. And there will be his last.

A love story, a satire of the American abroad, a rumination on time and the human heart, by an author The New York Times has hailed as “inspired, lyrical,” “elegiac,” “ingenious,” as well as “too sappy by half,” Less shows a writer at the peak of his talents raising the curtain on our shared human comedy.

Review:

My first finished book of 2021 is actually an audiobook I began last month. Less, by Andrew Sean Greer is a book so full of heart, I’m still rereading parts of it. Arthur Less is a gay, middling author arriving at 50, fearing the sum total of his writing life will be an ode to mediocrity, while his long-time lover has just gotten engaged to be married. As a result, Less accepts every possible invitation to appear or teach in the most far-flung places in an effort to escape his life and embarks on a tour of the world that is at turns catastrophic and hilarious, all of which teach him about himself, all of which prime him for love.

This book has a huge heart – it’s warm, funny, and generous towards the reader and its main character. I am surprised such a beautifully humorous book would land the Pulitzer Prides but this bodes well for the American literary establishment, which seems to revel in human misery and pathos. The writing is positively lyrical – the author, as well as the character, find joy in wordplay, and the structure of the novel allows for the kind of digressions that easily invites the reader to reflect alongside Less about what his life has ultimately meant and how much more he has left to experience and give. And it’s unabashedly in favor of love. Passionate, life-affirming, enduring romantic love. A beautiful gem of a novel. 

Where to buy:

Andrew Sean Greer

From the Publisher:

Two strangers. One bed.

And a kiss as scorching as the Miami heat!

When Nina Taylor peeks into the luxury hotel suite that should have been hers, she’s caught by the room’s occupant, Julian Knight. The Hollywood bad boy quickly offers a compromise: why not share? Soon, the paparazzi is jumping to scandalous conclusions–and Julian and Nina share an incredible kiss. Good thing they’re only booked for a week…because, boy, is she in trouble!

Review:

Annnnnd my first Harlequin of the year!

My first novel of 2021 by Nadine Gonzalez is a tropetastic delight. Nina and Julian end up in the Oasis Suite – the most luxurious digs in the X hotel in Miami. The attraction is instantaneous – eyes locking on a magnificent staircase, a mixup that leads to an aspiring writer and her scandal-prone leading man finding love in the Miami heat.

The chemistry between Julian and Nina is palpable throughout the story and it just made sense that they should be together. The novel is fun and grows sweeter as you read, the heavy emotions of doubt and drama balancing well with the delight of falling in love. There’s everything you would expect from an action-star leading man and an aspiring writer but the story felt unexpected and fresh nonetheless.

And wooh, how about that cover?

ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.

Where to buy:

Nadine Gonzalez’s Books

From the publisher:

Love triumphs in this uplifting workplace romance, part of The Heirs of Hansol series. Come along for the ride as Jayci Lee transports you into the glamorous world of high fashion where passion clashes with familial duty!

Mixing business with pleasure changes the entire script…
But that’s no reason to stop…

Jihae Park’s icy heiress facade is quickly melting—all because of Colin Song. A fling with the sexy film producer could jeopardize her one shot at achieving her own success—and the movie they’re making together. But resistance to her searing attraction—and Colin’s breathtaking bedroom skills—proves futile. Even as Colin’s ulterior motives threaten to destroy their chance at a picture-perfect ending…

From Harlequin Desire: Luxury, scandal, desire—welcome to the lives of the American elite.

The Heirs of Hansol:
Book 1: Temporary Wife Temptation
Book 2: Secret Crush Seduction
Book 3: Off Limits Attraction

Review:

Book 3 of Jayci Lee’s The Heirs of Hansol series brings back Jihae Park, the president of Rotelle Entertainment who, in Book 1, was promised in marriage to Garrett Song in the hopes that together, their Korean families could forge a massive business empire. If you read the first book, you’ll know that this didn’t happen, and their engagement ended when Garrett decided to marry for love instead.

Now Jihae is looking for independence from her family by making her own business decisions and taking on new ventures. Her latest project brings her into collaboration with Colin Song, Garrett’s cousin.

Colin is attracted to Jihae but he doesn’t entirely trust her. He fears, in retaliation for Garrett breaking his engagement to her, her family might have retaliated by sending an industrial spy into his family’s company. He can’t be sure of her and because she does not know of his connection to the Hansol empire, there is a lot of mistrust going around.

However, things get hot pretty quickly and there is no denying their growing attraction. Jihae can let her guard down with Colin and Colin can’t get enough of Jihae. However, Jihae knows her family won’t approve of Colin and Colin is trying to appease his grandmother by getting close to Jihae and discovering the identity of the spy. The fun for me was watching this couple untangle all their subterfuge to find a way to happiness.

This might be my favorite book of the series. I loved everything about the Heirs of Hansol, from the strong characters and the drama to the fantastic covers. I hope Lee doesn’t stop with this trilogy.
ARC provided by NetGalley/Harlequin in exchange for an honest review.

Where to buy:

Jayci Lee

From the publisher:

With nods to Bridget Jones and Pride and Prejudice, a charming #ownvoices queer rom-com debut about a free-spirited social media astrologer who agrees to fake a relationship with an uptight actuary until New Year’s Eve—with results not even the stars could predict!

After a disastrous blind date, Darcy Lowell is desperate to stop her well-meaning brother from playing matchmaker ever again. Love—and the inevitable heartbreak—is the last thing she wants. So she fibs and says her latest set up was a success. Darcy doesn’t expect her lie to bite her in the ass.

Elle Jones, one of the astrologers behind the popular Twitter account, Oh My Stars, dreams of finding her soul mate. But she knows it is most assuredly not Darcy… a no-nonsense stick-in-the-mud, who is way too analytical, punctual, and skeptical for someone as free-spirited as Elle. When Darcy’s brother—and Elle’s new business partner—expresses how happy he is that they hit it off, Elle is baffled. Was Darcy on the same date? Because… awkward.

When Darcy begs Elle to play along, she agrees to pretend they’re dating to save face. But with a few conditions: Darcy must help Elle navigate her own overbearing family over the holidays and their arrangement expires on New Year’s Eve. The last thing they expect is to develop real feelings during a fake relationship.

But maybe opposites can attract when true love is written in the stars? 

Review:

Darcy Lowell has a few complications in her life. Between her overprotective brother and her rather disastrous dating life, Darcy has had enough. This becomes even more true when her latest date, arranged by said brother, goes completely awry and she decides not to share how badly it went. Instead, she pretends it was perfect. Except her date, Ella Jones, knows this is true and further, knows Darcy’s gone and lied about it. Why? Because even though our famous astrologist is looking for her own connection, she knows without a doubt that Darcy is not it.

However, Ella plays along with the subterfuge, embarking on a fake relationship with Darcy until New Year’s Eve. After all, Darcy’s brother is a business partner and Ella’s got family issues and things to prove as well. Except here’s the problem with fake relationships – they can all-too-quickly start to feel real.

I love the dynamic between Darcy and Ella. Darcy brings the grump and seriousness, while Ella is a lovely, bright star. Their characters are very much in keeping with the spirit of Darcy and Elizabeth from Pride and Prejudice and it’s honestly one of the freshest retellings in a year of so many.

I especially loved the side characters – Brenden, who will likely get a book, and Margo, who is pan, like me! The setting and timeline were also brilliantly managed and the love scenes were hot and perfect.

My only quibble is I wanted more and that’s not a bad complaint to have about a book.

Lovely read – I am looking forward to more from this author.

Where to buy:

Alexandria Bellefleur’s Books

From the publisher:

Olivia Dade bursts onto the scene in this delightfully fun romantic comedy set in the world of fanfiction, in which a devoted fan goes on an unexpected date with her celebrity crush, who’s secretly posting fanfiction of his own. 

Marcus Caster-Rupp has a secret. While the world knows him as Aeneas, the star of the biggest show on TV, Gods of the Gates, he’s known to fanfiction readers as Book!AeneasWouldNever, an anonymous and popular poster.  Marcus is able to get out his own frustrations with his character through his stories, especially the ones that feature the internet’s favorite couple to ship, Aeneas and Lavinia. But if anyone ever found out about his online persona, he’d be fired. Immediately.

April Whittier has secrets of her own. A hardcore Lavinia fan, she’s hidden her fanfiction and cosplay hobby from her “real life” for years—but not anymore. When she decides to post her latest Lavinia creation on Twitter, her photo goes viral. Trolls and supporters alike are commenting on her plus-size take, but when Marcus, one half of her OTP, sees her pic and asks her out on a date to spite her critics, she realizes life is really stranger than fanfiction.

Even though their first date is a disaster, Marcus quickly realizes that he wants much more from April than a one-time publicity stunt. And when he discovers she’s actually Unapologetic Lavinia Stan, his closest fandom friend, he has one more huge secret to hide from her.

With love and Marcus’s career on the line, can the two of them stop hiding once and for all, or will a match made in fandom end up prematurely cancelled?

Review:

If you love fandom and dream of one day meeting your celebrity crush, this book is definitely up your alley.

April is a geologist by day but writes fanfiction by night for Gods of the Gates, a popular fantasy series based on a book series of the same name.  Her fellow fanfic writer and online friend is none other than Marcus, one of the actors of the series. He becomes aware of her fanfic identity when he sees a picture of her cosplay online but chooses to keep his own identity a secret from her.

There is so much I love about this book – the positive plus-size rep, the unabashed passion April has for fanfiction that any of us who has indulged in fandom can recognize. She’s a fantastic, independent, talented woman who is confident and easy in her own skin and it is just such a refreshing depiction.

I was also excited to see the dyslexic rep in the person of Marcus, the gorgeous lead who doubles as fanfic writer about his own show (it sounds insanely cool, doesn’t it?). Marcus is easy to admire and these details provide complexity for his characterization.

I am a sucker for fanfiction and have been indulging in fandom for decades. The references to fandom in this novel are really little gifts to those of us who have ever been so committed to a story that they can’t help but consume everything about it and are even compelled to create art around it. April and Marcus are so lovely – there’s nothing better than a partner who shares your passions and doesn’t judge you for them. These two are relationship goals, and this novel is romance novel writing goals. Excellent read.

ARC provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Where to buy:

Olivia Dade’s Books

From the publisher:

An intriguing proposal
mixes romance and finance…

His friend needs a fianc� to claim a fortune.

But they both know it’s about more than money…

Ezekiel Holloway’s proposition could save his friend Reagan Sinclair’s inheritance and give her the freedom she craves. But when family scandals force Ezekiel to end their fake engagement, the heiress comes up with a counterproposal–and they elope to Vegas after all! Is there something more than mere convenience at stake here?

Review:

Trust Fund Fiance is part of the Texas Cattleman’s Club: Rags to Riches shared universe series and like everything else from Naima Simone, it is a steamy delight.

Reagan Sinclair is the heir to receive of her grandmother’s trust fund money. Only problem is, she either has to wait one year or be married to receive the money. She works with a charity that supports pregnant teens and doesn’t want to wait another year to be able to commit to her work full-time. The solution comes to her in the form of Ezekiel Holloway, her long-time friend, with whom she arranges a marriage of convenience.

Zeke agrees to marry Reagan in the hopes of helping his family overcome a crushing scandal, so it’s a win-win for everyone, if only they can keep those pesky romantic feelings from threatening to tank their best-laid plans.

Reagan and Zeke both come from a place of deep hurt involving their families, especially Reagan, who has her own secrets that her family won’t let her forget. The emotional journey for these characters is to arrive at a place where they can share these traumas, leaning on their long friendship as well as their mutual feelings to achieve a happy ending that is deeply satisfying.

Naima Simone is one of the best at writing complex characters and sexy situations in the tight space of a category romance. While this novel reads well as a standalone, it’s part of a shared universe featuring contributions from multiple authors. Simone does a great job of incorporating compelling secondary characters and fusing her story with the larger storyline, and never leaves you wondering what’s happening.

ARC provided by Netgalley/Harlequin in exchange for an honest review.

Where to buy:

Naima Simone’s Books

From the publisher:

Dig into this delectable journey through the dark, sensual, and ravishing poetry of Frank Watson. Ruminate the searing to the sultry as you absorb this haunting lilt of burning carnality. The poems ignite rapid and surprising shifts in focus and perspective as they twist and turn your preconceptions, allowing the implications to linger in your thoughts.

Vignette verses explore the workings of love, nature, spirituality, and dreams with sprinklings of tarot symbolism and jazzy blues. Together these verses contemplate the subtle underpinnings of a soft earth.

Review:

In the Dark, Soft Earth is a poetry collection that is not one, but ten “books” unified by common themes. The poems in each book are linked to a central image (visual or metaphorical) so that each poem is part of a movement of thought. The result of this organization is that the poems build on each other in a kind of crescendo or resolution that is very satisfying for the reader.

In addition to poetry, the book is also a visual delight. The poems are often inspired by surreal art, or image are paired to suit each theme. The section featuring Tarot cards is probably the most evocative, and the poems correspond to them perfectly.

This is more than a poetry book – it melds visual art and poetry to create a complete experience.

The poems also reflect the varied influences of traditional short poetry, especially the haiku. He also leans into the imagists like Wallace Stevens and William Carlos Williams. In this, he demonstrates not only his range, but also his ability to engage each art form in a conversation that circles back to the preoccupations of nature, spirituality and interconnection. Simple and elegant, these poems belie their deeper significance. This is perhaps their greatest accomplishment, to trick the reader with their direct prosody, while delivering deep and abiding truths about the soft, dark things that tether us to this earth.

Where to buy:

Frank Watson’s Books

From the publisher:

Summer Hemlock never meant to come back to Omen, Massachusetts…

But with his mother in need of help, Summer has no choice but to return to his hometown, take up a teaching residency at the elite Albin Academy—and work directly under the man who made his teenage years miserable.

Professor Fox Iseya.

Forbidding, aloof, commanding: psychology instructor Iseya is a cipher who’s always fascinated and intimidated shy, anxious Summer. But that fascination turns into something more when the older man challenges Summer to be brave. What starts as a daily game to reward Summer with a kiss for every obstacle overcome turns passionate, and a professional relationship turns quickly personal.

Yet Iseya’s walls of grief may be too high for someone like Summer to climb…until Summer’s infectious warmth shows Fox everything he’s been missing in life.

Now both men must be brave enough to trust each other, to take that leap.

To find the love they’ve always needed…

Just like that.

Review:

As part of the Carina Adores, Just Like That is a gorgeous, atmospheric, and lyrical addition to the line. I’ve never read Cole McCade before, so it was a real treat to find a new-to-me writer and enjoy him so much.

The story centers around Summer who returns home and to the very school he once attended to be a TA to professor who both intimidated and fascinated him as young man. Albin Academy is a kind of school for wayward boys brought by parents in need of an intervention to help their sons.

Professor Fox Iseya, a formidable personality, has been mourning the loss of his wife for 20 years. Despite this emotional isolation, he is attracted to Summer. A scorching kiss sets off a challenge – for every risk Summer takes, Fox rewards him with more kisses, each one drawing them deeper into shared intimacy. This game quickly spirals out of control as the attraction that simmers beneath the surface reaches a boiling point that refuses to be denied.

The writing is absolutely lovely. I love description and detail, so this type of narrative suits me. However, I also know many readers go into a contemporary romance searching for plot and immediacy and might be put off by the prose. I was not. In fact, I gloried in it. There is a haunting, gothic quality to the atmosphere, and the romantic elements are so movingly described, I felt emotionally hung over when I was done with the book. There’s something enormous about this love story and that is such a wonderful feeling in which to get lost as a reader.

Relevant tropes include age-gap, second chance and a bit of hurt-comfort, as Fox breaks out of both his grief over his wife and his feelings of inadequacy for being involved with a man so much younger than him. I am looking forward to the other installments in this series.

ARC provided by NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.

Where to buy:

Cole McCade‘s Books

From the publisher:

A fake relationship could help Princesa Sofia save her kingdom. Only problem: she’ll have to fake it with the man who broke her heart.

Ten years ago, wild child Princesa Sofia Maria Isabel de Esperanza y Santos fell in fast crazy love with heartbreaker Aish Salinger during one California harvest season. Now, all grown up and with the future of her kingdom on her shoulders, she hates him as passionately as she once loved him.

Even if her body hasn’t gotten the hate memo.

Faking a relationship with the now-famous rock star for the press and public will ensure the success of her new winery and the prosperity of her kingdom. All she has to do is grit her teeth and bear his tattooed presence in her village and winery—her home—for a month.

Trying to recover from his own scandal, fallen superstar Aish Salinger jumps at the chance to be near Sofia again. Leaving her was the biggest mistake he’s ever made, and he’s waited ten years to win her back.

He never counted on finding a woman who despised him so much she didn’t want to be anywhere near him.

A war of wills breaks out as the princess and rock star battle to control their fake relationship. She wants to dictate every action to keep him away from her. He wants to be as close as he can be. She’s already lost so much because of Aish—he won’t be the reason her people lose even more.

But he also won’t make her break her life’s most important vow: to never fall in love again.

Review:

Second book in the Filthy Rich series (first novel is Lush Money), Hate Crush zings with Lopez’s signature writing style – crisp, sharp prose that is as bad-ass as her heroines.

The story begins with Aish drunk out of his mind, reminiscing about a woman he loved and lost ten years earlier. She is also the inspiration for his popular song, “In You.” Her identity has long been speculated about by his fans. Except he makes the mistake of revealing her identity in front of a stranger who then turns around and sells the bombshell to the tabloids – the inspiration for “In You” is none other than Princess Sofia of Monte del Vino Real, a small wine growing principality in Northern Spain. The gossip forces her family to agree to a fake relationship for one month to bring much needed publicity to Sofia’s new winery, as well as help redeem Aish’s reputation, which is rocked by a plagiarism scandal involving his deceased partner.

However, Sofia wants nothing to do with Aish beyond their public spectacle. They have a fiery history and the pain runs deep. It’s a past Sofia wants nothing to do with, a past Aish hopes he can get back to.

Lopez does a wonderful job of showing the intense chemistry between Sofia and Aish. They essentially spent the decade apart, partying hard and doing their level-best to forget each other. They each share a similar reputation for wildness, but Lopez does a good job of showing how women tend to be held to an unfair standard for their sexual exploits. The details about wine-making and music making add a layer of authenticity to the narrative.

But it’s the back story that really drives home the conflict between the two characters in a way that is relatable. These are not too people, dancing around each other because the writer said so. The events in their past have created a real wedge between them, sowing resentments and anguish that the MCs have to really work hard to dismantle. It is the motive for Sofia’s rage and her nearly intractable resistance to any kind of romance with Aish.

On his side, Aish wants Sofia so badly, it’s palpable. But he has inflicted terrible pain on Sofia and he has work to do to win her back, which he is willing to do. It’s so great to find MCs who are willing to do whatever it takes to get their partners back.

There is a real telenovela vibe in this novel – from the intense, wild emotions, the secret pain that Sofia hides, the almost warrior-like engagement between the couples, the anger, the fights and the sex – everything is so over-the-top that, if you are looking for a quiet, gentle read, this may not be the book for you. The enemies-to-lovers/second chance/fake relationship trope cocktail is strong, Sofia is tough and sexy, Aish is completely at her feet and the feelings are everywhere. But this wild and bonkers train ride has my name stamped all over it and I couldn’t help but gobble it right up. And if this is your jam, then you’re going to love it as well.

I was provided with an ARC by NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review

Where to buy:

Angelina Lopez’s Books

From the publisher:

Sparks in the boardroom and the bedroom! Indulge in this sexy workplace reunion romance from Reese Ryan, part of The Bourbon Brothers series.

She can’t let anything derail her passion project, not even a second chance with the sexiest man alive…

The deal that could bring Quinn Bazemore’s career back from the brink has one catch: she must partner up with her ex-lover Max Abbott. Quinn can’t forget the pleasure-filled summer they shared. But now she’s butting heads over business strategy with the mouthwatering marketing VP, even as their reawakened desire threatens to expose her deepest secrets…

Review:

A Reunion of Rivals is the latest installment of The Bourbon Brothers, by Ryan Reese and it is as hot and engaging as that gorgeous cover suggests.

The trope cocktail served up for our pleasure includes second-chance-romance, enemies-to-lovers, office-romance and secret-affair. And I am here for all of it.

The story centers around Quinn Bazemore and Max Abbott, who had an intense summer romance when they were both teenagers. Everything comes to an end when, to Quinn’s confusion, Max ends things without reason and disappears from her life. She carries that heartbreak within but it doesn’t stop her from becoming a successful business woman with an exemplary career.

The meet years later, Quinn and Max find themselves forced to collaborate after a merger between their two family businesses. Of course, feelings come roaring back to life, with Max regretting the way he ended things with Quinn and Quinn understandably hesitant to rekindle things and risk getting hurt again. However, the attraction grows inescapable, leading to a secret affair that threatens to overturn all their best intentions.

I absolutely loved Quinn’s character. She’s confident in her area of expertise and willing to assert herself. She is no wilting flower. Max is used to being in control and truly cares for his family’s company, so sometimes it’s hard or him to back down when he disagrees with Quinn. But Quinn is more than his match and this story sizzles as a result.

I also love the depictions of Max’s family, especially the real strength of the sibling’s bonds. I love seeing characters from previous books come through and add to the texture of a wonderfully rendered world. Bonus points for Quinn’s grandfather, who is absolutely lovely.

This is the second book I’ve ready by Reese Ryan and I look forward to reading more books by her.

Where to buy:

Reese Ryan’s Books

From the publisher:

Feel the drama and passion in the Dynasties: Seven Sins series!

She’s just a friend but he craves so much more…
His unbridled appetites could cost him everything.

Ryan Hathaway isn’t about to let his friend marry the wrong guy—not when the right guy is him. But getting out of Jessie Acosta’s friend zone could destroy his plans to become Black Crescent’s CEO. He can’t afford to give in to the overwhelming temptation of wanting her. But with another man looming in Jessie’s life, Ryan can’t afford not to…

Harlequin Desire: Luxury, scandal, desire—welcome to the lives of the American elite.

One man’s betrayal can destroy generations. Fifteen years ago, a hedge-fund hotshot vanished with billions, leaving the high-powered families of Falling Brook changed forever. Now seven heirs, shaped by his betrayal, must reckon with the sins of the past. Passion may be their only path to redemption. Experience all Seven Sins!

DYNASTIES: SEVEN SINS

Book 1: Ruthless Pride by Naima Simone
This CEO’s pride led him to give up his dreams for his family. Now he’s drawn to the woman who threatens everything…

Book 2: Forbidden Lust by Karen Booth
He’s always resisted his lust for his best friend’s sister—until they’re stranded together in paradise…

Book 3: Insatiable Hunger by Yahrah St. John
His unbridled appetite for his closest friend is unleashed when he believes she’s fallen for the wrong man…

Book 4: Hidden Ambition by Jules Bennett
Ambition has taken him far, but revenge could cost him his one chance at love…

Book 5: Reckless Envy by Joss Wood
When this shark in the boardroom meets the one woman he can’t have, envy takes over…

Book 6: Untamed Passion by Cat Schield
Will this black sheep’s self-destructive wrath flame out when he’s expecting an heir of his own?

Book 7: Slow Burn by Janice Maynard
If he’s really the idle playboy his family claims, will his inaction threaten a reunion with the woman who got away?

Review:

Insatiable Hunger is a standalone novel in the multi-authored Dynasties: Seven Sins series and features a ‘friends to lovers’ trope romance.

The story actually begins fifteen years earlier, when a swindler, Vernon Lowell steals millions of dollars from both his family and clients at Black Crescent Hedge Fund. He later disappears, leaving the wreckage of destitute families in his wake, including Jessie Acosta’s. The Dynasties: Seven Sins series follows the stories of the heirs and families impacted by Lowell’s actions. It’s a compelling premise and a great way to tie all the stories in the series together.

We learn that while the loss of everything they own sends Jessie’s father into a spiral of depression, while her mother holds it together, working to keep a roof over their heads and pushing Jessie and her brother to be their best in school, resulting in a scholarship to their private school. Ryan Hathaway is Jessie’s best friend who’s been secretly in love with her since he was six. He’s sweet, a bit reserved and sometimes picked on at school. When Jessie goes on to her new school, their friendship fades.

Fast forward to Ryan and Jessie’s 10-year high school reunion. The attraction between Ryan and Jessie sparks from across the room. It turns out Ryan’s in the running to be the new CEO of Black Crescent, which is a dream job for him, but is also the company that led to the ruin of Jessie’s family.

I really loved Ryan as a protagonist. He’s my kind of hero – an overlooked beta with a good heart. Jessie is compelling because she’s had to work hard all her life to rise above her family’s losses. She’s an attorney who wants to make partner but it’s unclear if she’s doing it for herself or to make her family proud.

Friends-to-lovers is a favorite trope and St. John pulls it off wonderfully, giving us a surprisingly sweet and hot story at once. Yahrah St. John is a new-to-me author and I look forward to reading more by her.

ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review 

Where to buy:

Yahrah St. Johns’s Books

From the publisher:

He’s going to claim his child and the woman who got away…from USA TODAY bestselling author Naima Simone.

Will they ever learn…

that giving in to desire is playing with fire?

After discovering he has a secret son, oil heir Ross Edmond isn’t letting Charlotte Jarrett walk away again. He proposes they move in together–to share their son…and a bed. But Charlotte has secrets, and Ross doesn’t know the real reason his family’s former chef left town three years ago–and they still have a powerful enemy who could bring them both down…

From Harlequin Desire: Luxury, scandal, desire–welcome to the lives of the American elite.

Visit Royal, Texas, and find out if the Edmond family is all that they seem in Texas Cattleman’s Club: Heir Apparent.

Review:

The first book in the Texas Cattleman’s Club: Heir Apparent, Back in the Texan’s Bed is a second-chance romance with a secret baby in the mix. While second-chance romances are my catnip, the secret baby trope is less interesting to me. But I’m on board for Naima Simone’s steamy writing and excellent plots so I dived right in and happily wasn’t disappointed.

I enjoyed Charlotte and Ross, though their path to the bed seemed a bit quick for my slow-burn heart. It worked for this story because there was history between them. There is a good amount of angst between this strong, independent woman and her emotionally compromised love interest. Charlotte is a fabulous character who deserves all the good things, while Ross has a bit of growing to do, given his dysfunctional family and emotional baggage. But I really rooted for them as a couple and their coming together was highly satisfying.

Simone also handles the baby reveal so well – I didn’t end up wanting to slap anyone for being willfully clueless (which is mostly the issue I have with this trope). Instead, there are real external obstacles and a credible threat that has the power to do real damage to this couple.

I’m a fan of Simone’s category romances – she can pack so much character development and steam into a tight space. And she describes desire like no one can. She gives the same care to her primary characters as she does to her secondary ones and now, I want all their stories. A quick, tight, well-developed read that I’ve come to expect from a writer on her A-game.

Where to buy:

Naima Simone’s Books

From the publisher:

After a week filled with nonstop work, André Ellison heads to the club to blow off some steam. One night off is the perfect distraction from the project that’s about to make his career—or tank it completely. A few drinks in and he leaves with a smoking-hot stranger for some scorching, burn-the-sheets-up sex.

Marcus Thompson is going places, so he can’t think of a bigger waste of time than being put on loan to a two-bit firm to prepare some small-time report. The last thing he wants—or needs—is his impeccably dressed, hot-as-hell one-night stand as his boss.

As they work side by side, their attraction grows to a fever pitch, but there will be no kissing, no touching and absolutely no sex until the project is over—if they can wait that long.

Review:

André is an intelligent, low conflict, sexy romance between two ambitious Black men that I thoroughly enjoyed. Andre Ellison goes out one night to unwind after a difficult work week and meets Marcus Thompson, with whom he shares an explosive one night stand.

What neither men guess is that their lives are about to be critically intertwined. André’s former employer asks him to submit a proposal for an important project, and offer him an intern to help him get the job done. Andre accepts, knowing this move could be good for his career but the intern turns out to be none other than Marcus, the man he spent that incredible one-night-stand with. Thought they are attracted to one another, they agree to keep things friendly in order to not jeopardize the project, which serves up tension after tension as the two men spend more time together.

Ellis writes the evolution of Andre and Marcus’s relationship with care and authenticity. While the pining was evident and the attraction undeniable, it was a pleasure to watch the two men navigate their way from lust and attraction to professional collaboration, friendship and finally, love. The conflict was real, but not contrived, including family issues that come into play. But they work their way through those in a way that felt honest and true.

Ellis also addresses microaggressions and the real world implication of race in workplace dynamics. This couldn’t come at a better time, when racial inequality is on everyone’s mind. She doesn’t shy away from examining the way white privilege negatively impacts the lives of black men, but she does so in a way that doesn’t overwhelm the story. I really appreciate when romances at least acknowledge the real challenges of existing in this world and Ellis makes space for this.

Andre works on so many levels – as friends-to-lovers, workplace romance, one-night-stand that turns into more. But at it’s heart, it is an honest, authentic and generous depiction of two people navigating real obstacles that many face in their lives on the way to reaching their happily ever after.

Where to buy

Jayce Ellis

From the publisher:

The second novel in USA Today bestselling author Beverly Jenkins’ compelling new Women Who Dare series follows a female rancher in Wyoming after the Civil War.

A reporter has come to Wyoming to do a story on doctors for his Black newspaper back east. He thinks Colton Lee will be an interesting subject…until he meets Colton’s sister, Spring. She runs her own ranch, wears denim pants instead of dresses, and is the most fascinating woman he’s ever met.

But Spring, who has overcome a raucous and scandalous past, isn’t looking for, nor does she want, love. As their attraction grows, will their differences come between them or unite them for an everlasting love?

Review:

Wild Rain is the second of the Women Who Dare series, but is part of the interconnected universe of the Carmichael/Lee family. However, the novel works perfectly as a standalone.

Wild Rain begins with Spring Lee, an independent rancher heading home during a blizzard after assisting in the arduous and protracted birth of a foal (who arrives stillborn). She’s bone-tired, freezing cold, and just wants to go home but plans change when she catches sight of a rider-less, fully laden horse. According to the novel, had she been anyone else, she might have let the horse go on, given the horrendous weather conditions, but instead, she hitches the horse to her wagon, keeping an eye out for the owner. She soon comes upon a downed man, whose knee has been injured when he was thrown from his horse, and helps him into her wagon.

Turns out the rider is an East Coast newspaperman named Garrett McGrady who has traveled all the way from Washington DC to interview Colt Lee, her brother and the town doctor about life on the frontier. His father owns the “sundown paper” which will publish the story. Spring Lee, who has survived a savage past, isn’t bedazzled by Garrett’s strong build or exceptional good looks and warns him that, while she will let him stay with her and will tend to him, she will not be trifled with.

However, the blizzard and Garrett’s injured knee forces them into close proximity. After a few days, Garrett, a former slave, navy sailor, educated in the law and a carpenter to boot, makes an impression on her, together with his mild manner and gentlemanly ways. And he cooks! What woman can resist a man who knows his way around a kitchen?

When trouble from Spring’s past rears it’s ugly head, Garrett steps up and shows himself to be more than an intelligent man with good manners, but a decent man with an iron character who is determined to stand up for Spring and love her the way she needs to be loved.

This book is fantastic. Spring is no one’s doormat and, after a harsh and relentless life, knows exactly what she needs to be happy. Garrett is a priceless cinnamon roll, the kind of perfect, self-possessed, sensitive beta hero a woman like Spring can be with – one who sees Spring’s extraordinariness and loves her exactly as she is. I need more books like this one, where the HEA is perfect for the couple but might not look the same as everyone else’s.

This novel is a natural follow-up to Tempest, part of the Old West Series, but it is also the second book of the Women Who Dare series. I love interconnected novels – they, create a series of deep relationships between characters that you invest in and grow to love with each installment. For example, Reagan and Colt (Tempest) make their reappearance in this novel and it is such a pleasure to see how their family – and love – continues to flourish. I am eager to see which other couple will be featured in future novels.

ARC provided by NetGalley/publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Where to buy:

Beverly Jenkin’s Books

From the publisher:

Some people are extraordinary. Some are just extra. TJ Klune’s YA debut, The Extraordinaries, is a queer coming-of-age story about a fanboy with ADHD and the heroes he loves.

Nick Bell? Not extraordinary. But being the most popular fanfiction writer in the Extraordinaries fandom is a superpower, right?

After a chance encounter with Shadow Star, Nova City’s mightiest hero (and Nick’s biggest crush), Nick sets out to make himself extraordinary. And he’ll do it with or without the reluctant help of Seth Gray, Nick’s best friend (and maybe the love of his life).

Review:

TJ Klune writes fun, hilarious YA stories and The Extraordinaries is a book in this vein. I’m not a huge fan of superhero novels, only because I feel like our media has been saturated with them, but this is an adorable entry featuring Klune’s excellent, writing. It’s hard not to love it.

Nick Bell is an ordinary teenager with ADHD who lives with his dad. He’s the author of popular fanfic about The Extraordinaries based on his favorite superhero, Shadow Star. Nick has a thing for Shadow Star, and when he meets him in real life, I felt it so hard. I would have been the extra idiot in this scenario and Klune pulls it off beautifully.

I love recommending this story to older teen readers because it handles the romance, Nick’s disability, his relationship with his father, and his support/friendship group with such grace and humor, I want everyone to be wrapped in that kind of warmth and understanding.

Where to buy:

TJ Klune’s Books

For such a short anthology, Enemies to Lovers: Volume I has an incredible range. With all the variety of settings and identities, each one revolves around one of my favorite tropes – enemies to lovers. The wonderful thing about tropes is you can rework them any way you like and that’s what our  authors have done here. A rare delight – each story in this anthology works is excellent, making it a wonderful pleasure to read. I also have some new-to-me authors I can’t wait to follow up on.

Let’s get to it!

Sugar and Spice by Rebel Carter
Austin and Daisy have so much animosity, the tension practically leaps off the page. Daisy stalking to give Austin a piece of her mind after she finds out the pickle he and her assistant have gotten her into is glorious – she is a force to be reckoned with. When fake marriage moves into the territory of desire that is far closer to our MCs hearts, the reader knows these two will never be a placid couple. But their fire is what makes this story more than bakery-sweet. Love it so much!

Works of Friction by Marie Lipscomb
I’m here for the two treats Lipscomb offers in this story – wit, wordplay, and body positivity. Jess and Benjamin are hilarious together and what they discover beneath all that sniping is something hot and wonderful. The scene where Jess is doing her little read aloud while poor Benjamin listens to her is absolutely scorching.

Cul-de-sac Cupid by Lauren Connolly
As the niece of a woman who decorates her house as if it were her one and only spiritual calling, I recognize Diana’s competitiveness. But it also masks a deeper heartache, one her fixation with both decorating and her neighbor helps her resolve  A lovely sapphic romance that hits all the beats.

Loathe to Love by A. Perveen
I was beyond excited to see A. Perveen’s contribution to this anthology. A gorgeously lyric writer, she delivers a beautiful romance of place, rich in her native language and culture. Mahnoor and Ishraaq have a long and serious history. When Ishraaq returns from his long absence, Mahnoor doesn’t know what to make of him. But it’s clear whatever spark had existed before has hardly been extinguished. This mashup of second-chance and enemies-to-lover is delivered in the lush writing I’ve come to love in Perveen’s work. I have first dibs on her eventual debut novel!

Queen of Thieves by Natalia Andrews
Having lived in Florida a good part of my life, I know a thing or two about hurricanes and the power they can unleash. But the real story is in the cliffs and rumbles of passion between Ramona and John. Fascinating historical piece – the setting alone grabbed me for its unconventionality. I truly enjoyed this story.

The Flip by Inga Gardner
I love, love, love the long and agonized history between Ian and Jackie. The first-person narration really sinks you into Jackie’s thoughts, her resentments but also attraction to Ian. He is nothing like she remembers him and there is much to be said for a kind MC. If you enjoy home renovations and quiet pining, this is definitely the story for you. And it’s set in Central Florida, where I live? Sold!

Hard to Swallow by Emily Hemenway
The premise is brilliant and the food descriptions are exquisite. Chef romances (like those set in cafés and restaurants) fuse my two great passions – reading and food. Jacques’s dislike of Kat is realistic, rooted in the traditionally fraught relationships between artists and critics, exacerbated by Kat’s negative review of Jacques’s and this romance delivers on all these delights.

Where to buy:

Enemies to Lovers: Volume 1

From the publisher:

For five hundred years, all Stela had known was a roving life in service to her maker, Fane. But in the last century her family has built a permanent residence in the abandoned freight tunnels beneath Chicago, where anonymity reigns supreme.

Navigating the modern world is not easy and Stela, once a fierce warrior, has traded the heat of battle for petty negotiation, her sword for a pen, and her station as Fane’s enforcer to now serve as her family’s financial liaison.
When a late meeting forces Stela to visit a nearby hospital, she crosses paths with the beguiling Elizabeth Dumas—a brilliant nurse who sacrificed her academic career to care for her ailing mother. Their charged encounter will threaten the secrecy Stela has sworn to uphold, and the bond they unwittingly forge will irrevocably alter both their lives.

Worlds collide and entwine in Terrible Praise, Book One of the The Redamancy Series.

Review:

I thought I had exhausted my appetite for vampire stories, but this book proved me wrong. Here you will find intense darkness and a commentary on the hierarchies societies create in the service of the powerful . It is also a powerful love story and, as a romance reader, this is right in my wheelhouse. A debut novel, the writing is exceptional. I got the ARC for the second book and the moment I started reading it, I knew I needed to come back to this one and read it first. And I have no regrets for having done so.

The premise is fascinating. There are two kinds of vampires, born and made. Born vampires are powerful and bond according to family, like mafia clans. Made vamps are made by born vampires and work for them as a servant class. The main character, Stela is the Enforcer for Fane, her Lord and Maker, the Moroi of his family. For many centuries that meant she was a fierce and ruthless warrior who has now been put in charge of the family finances. Predictably, this lifestyle generates a restlessness as Stela longs to break out of the stifling monotony of the equivalent of a banker’s life.

Stela meets Elizabeth, a human nurse who has basically put her life on hold to care for her acerbic, ailing mother. Stela has spent a lifetime killing humans and continues to do so, a result of her biological imperative. Those scenes are described with elegant, if chilling immediacy. Elizabeth, the human, is essentially prey. Despite these differences, they find commonality in lives that are beholden to others. Elizabeth responds to Stela’s nature with curiosity, typical of her scientific training, which is surprises Stela, because most humans fear her. And their attraction, holy hell, is so powerful, they are willing to risk everything for it.

And here is where we see the power in Hayes’s writing. She gets deep into the character’s feelings, describing their attraction so intensely, you get the feeling that they sense each other at a granular, almost atomic level. The response is animalistic and the descriptions get the reader there quickly. I absolutely loved how lost I became in this couple.

Stela’s maker, Fane is a clear obstacle to their romance, exercising a proprietorship that is also sexual in nature. The scenes between them felt almost nonconsensual and while essential I believe to showing Stela’s change in feelings, these moments rightfully make the reader uncomfortable.

The strength of this book is in its writing and the ideation of a worldview in which vamps serve other vamps, leaving humans to function as prey to those in power. This is not new in itself, but there are a lot of metaphors here for patriarchy that a sensitive reader won’t miss. The easy acceptance of sexuality is also a bonus. The ending is hopeful and appropriate to a book that is the first in a series. I have the second one and I’m looking forward to getting to it.

Where to buy:

Bella Books

From the publisher:

Elizabeth Dumas is under quarantine. As the newest Strigoi in Fane’s family, she must prove her loyalty and discretion before she can leave the freight tunnels they call home to hunt on the streets of Chicago. Publicly, she answers to Irina—the name Fane gave her. But how long can Elizabeth deceive the Moroi before he discovers her true allegiance lies with her Maker, Stela?

Stela is in debt. When she killed a human associate to protect Elizabeth, she terminated a lucrative business endeavor. Now her fledgling Elizabeth is yet another Strigoi Fane must feed, clothe, and protect. And he will have his recompense.

Together in blood, body and mind, Stela and Elizabeth must keep the truth of their bond and the depth of their love hidden from Fane and the rest of the family.

After all, one Strigoi cannot belong to another.

All Together Stranger is the riveting sequel to the ground-breaking Terrible Praise. Book Two of The Redamancy Series.

Review:

I read the first book of this series and had to jump into this one immediately. It picks up right after the events of Terrible Praise, so it’s best to read that book first. Otherwise, you miss the two protagonists falling in love. Closer to obsession than passion, book 1 hit all my love beats and then some. You will miss a lot of the motivation for their actions in this novel if you don’t commit to reading the first one.

The intensity and suspense is much higher in this novel because the stakes just got wildly complicated. Stela loves Elizabeth more than her maker, but she can’t reveal her connection. Doing so would risk both her and Elizabeth’s existence. It makes for a much more tense novel. Also, you get to really see what vampires are made of. They are gorgeous, seductive and utterly lethal, and the circumstances of a hidden love affair just made everything that much more engaging, especially when the couple in question are often at odds with each other. There is a dark realism to this that makes Stela and Elizabeth a compelling pair.

I can’t say enough about Fane, either. He is an excellent, well-written antagonist who is intelligent, patient, even heroic but also grows even more creepy as he senses that something is off between Stela and Elizabeth. When it all falls apart, it is brilliant and gutting.

The pace of this novel is slower but the writing and tension keep you turning the pages (I honestly didn’t mind that the pace was slower than that of the first book, because I was fully engaged in the world building). Warning, it does end with a cliffhanger but I would have been desperate for book three anyway if it had not. And I’m sincerely desperate, because book 3 is nowhere in sight and I’m dying to know how this series ends.

I received an ARC from Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

Where to buy:

Bella Books

From the publisher:

Will Sedgwick can’t believe that after months of searching for his oldest friend, Martin Easterbrook is found hiding in an attic like a gothic nightmare. Intent on nursing Martin back to health, Will kindly kidnaps him and takes him to the countryside to recover, well away from the world.

Martin doesn’t much care where he is or even how he got there. He’s much more concerned that the man he’s loved his entire life is currently waiting on him hand and foot, feeding him soup and making him tea. Martin knows he’s a lost cause, one he doesn’t want Will to waste his life on.

As a lifetime of love transforms into a tender passion both men always desired but neither expected, can they envision a life free from the restrictions of the past, a life with each other?

Review:

Will Sedgwick and Martin Easterbrook are lifelong friends. When they grow up, Will goes off to sea while Martin spends much of his time in convalescence from consumption. When Will returns, he takes up a search for Martin, whose gone missing. Will finds him living in a damp and squalid conditions which trigger a consumptive episode. To save him, Will is constrained to kidnap him and install him in an abandoned gamekeeper’s cottage to tend his fever and make him well again.

This period of recuperation gives the two friends an opportunity to get to know each other again. Here, feelings that have long lain dormant under the guise of friendship bloom, leading to one of the gentlest love stories I’ve read this year.

Will is earnest, carrying his share of trauma from his time at sea, while Martin is deliciously acerbic – his biting wit provides some of the most humorous moments in the novel. Tropes abound – one bed, friends to lovers, opposites attract – and that cocktail yields a tender, slow burn filled with so much emotion, I found my self sighing often or smiling like a big dummy as I read.

In addition, there is excellent disability rep. Martin suffers from a chronic condition and it contributes to his bracing wit and apparent lack of sentimentality (apparent because the reader soon sees that Will can unlock all the tenderest feelings in Martin). But it is refreshing to see chronic illness so realistically and well treated in a romance.

I haven’t read the previous books, so it means I certainly missed something in the way of secondary or supporting characters, but Two Rogues Make a Right worked well as a standalone.

I recently read Sebastian’s “Tommy Cabot Was Here” in the He’s Come Undone Romance Anthology and it was brilliantly written. Her wit seems to be a signature of her writing and makes me want to explore her back list. I look forward to reading more by her.

I received a copy of this book from Avon/NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Where to buy:

Cat Sebastian’s Books

From the publisher;

The first-ever collection of essays by one of our most distinguished and distinctive poets, Pulitzer Prize-winner and former Poet Laureate of the United States, Kay Ryan

Synthesizing Gravity gathers for the first time a thirty-year selection of Kay Ryan’s probings into aesthetics, poetics, and the mind in pursuit of art.

A bracing collection of critical prose, book reviews, and her private previously unpublished soundings of poems and poets― including Robert Frost, Stevie Smith, Marianne Moore, William Bronk, and Emily Dickinson― Synthesizing Gravity bristles with Ryan’s crisp wit, her keen off-kilter insights, and her appetite and appreciation for the genuine. Among essays like “Radiantly Indefensible,” “Notes on the Danger of Notebooks,” and “The Abrasion of Loneliness,” are piquant pieces on the virtues of emptiness, forgetfulness, and other under-loved concepts. Edited and with an introduction by Christian Wiman, this generous collection of Ryan’s distinctive thinking gives us a surprising look into the mind of an American master.

Review:

Synthesizing Gravity is a collection of Ryan’s prose written over thirty years. It includes comments on poems and notes about some of my favorite poets, including Philip Larkin, Robert Frost, Marianne Moore, Wallace Stevens (his letters), Emily Dickinson, and William Carlos Williams. I’m a wonk. I love to read about the writers who influence my favorite creators and Kay’s commentaries are insightful and almost like overhearing her think-alouds through a closed door.

In addition to her thoughts on other poets and their influence on her, I enjoyed her essay about the dangers of keeping a writing notebook. Her assertion is that the essence of creativity is in capturing the essence of memory itself, that what is needed to create is already in the mind. By writing things down, we imbue those particular utterances with an importance that may ultimately come to nothing when it is time to create. She tells you, “Almost everything is supposed to get away from us.” It’s not the concrete we rely on to create, it’s the abstract, that ephemeral quality that is left behind when time and memory have had its way with something. We want to see, but not so much that we obfuscate the abstraction we are trying to reach for.

We need to let memory assert its power. Writing them down and relying on those writings robs the writer of that power to simply associate what is in the mind, and trust that instinct to connect and create something meaningful.

I get the feeling, each time I read the memoirs and meditations of the most powerful writers, what I am discovering is that there is power in crushing the obstacles that stand in the way between the artist and their creation. In other words, the more direct conduit we can find to our subconscious and the seat of our creativity, the more authentic and powerful our art will be.

A stunning, revealing read.

How to buy:

Kay Ryan’s Books

From the publisher:

A forbidden attraction grows even more complicated when the guy Lane Jamison has crushed on for years suddenly becomes her step-brother in this sexy and gorgeously written debut novel about the lines between love, desire, and obsession.

What happens when the boy you want most becomes the one person you can’t have?

Lane Jamison’s life is turned upside down the week before her senior year when her father introduces her to his new fiancée: mother of Grey McIntyre, Lane’s longtime secret crush. Now with Grey living in Lane’s house, there’s only a thin wall separating their rooms, making it harder and harder to deny their growing mutual attraction—an attraction made all the more forbidden by Grey’s long-term girlfriend Sadie Hall, who also happens to be Lane’s friend.

Torn between her feelings for Grey and her friendship with Sadie—not to mention her desire to keep the peace at home—Lane befriends Sadie’s older brother, Connor, the black sheep of the strict, evangelical Hall family. Connor, a metalworking artist who is all sharp edges, challenges Lane in ways no one else ever has. As the two become closer and start to open up about the traumas in their respective pasts, Lane begins to question her conviction that Connor is just a distraction.

Tensions come to a head after a tragic incident at a party, forcing Lane to untangle her feelings for both boys and face the truth of what—and who—she wants, in this gripping and stunningly romantic debut novel. 

Review:

Together We Caught Fire was a delightfully surprising read for me. When I requested the novel, I expected there to be some aspects of forbidden love, even a possible love triangle, of which I am not particularly. However, what I found was an exquisitely written novel about the effect profound trauma has on deeply flawed characters, written in gorgeous prose. It is a fully immersive read and you don’t find that very often.

However, please, if you have certain triggers, do head the warnings at the beginning of the novel. The mental illness rep is strong but it doesn’t pull any punches.

Elaine “Lane” Jamison, our protagonist, is a complex and talented young woman in her senior year of high school Her father marries the mother of her long-time crush, Grey McIntyre. They are now forced to grapple with their attraction in the intimate space of their homes. This are further complicated by the fact that Greyson is dating her close friend, Sadie Hall. As she struggles with having her love interest under her roof, the narrative introduces Connor Hall, Sadie’s brother, a misunderstood artist who seems to be able to do what no one else in this story can do – see Lane for who she really is.

Lane is intense. She is independent, smart and full of heart. But she can also be a bit abrasive and she is not sure who she is. She has to come to terms with so many things – her impending adulthood, her depression, and her confusion over who, ultimately, she should love.

I really loved this story. Gibson’s writing is lyrical and gorgeous, the beautiful prose enhancing the reading experience for me. This novel is also excellent for learning the find art of writing round, complex characters. There are no throwaways in this novel – craft-wise, everything is absolutely precise and well done. Based on the sheer brilliance of the writing, I’m going to be keeping my eye on this author

Where to buy:

Eva V. Gibson’s Books

From the publisher:

Some people ARE illegal.

Lobizonas do NOT exist.

Both of these statements are false.

Manuela Azul has been crammed into an existence that feels too small for her. As an undocumented immigrant who’s on the run from her father’s Argentine crime-family, Manu is confined to a small apartment and a small life in Miami, Florida.

Until Manu’s protective bubble is shattered.

Her surrogate grandmother is attacked, lifelong lies are exposed, and her mother is arrested by ICE. Without a home, without answers, and finally without shackles, Manu investigates the only clue she has about her past–a mysterious “Z” emblem—which leads her to a secret world buried within our own. A world connected to her dead father and his criminal past. A world straight out of Argentine folklore, where the seventh consecutive daughter is born a bruja and the seventh consecutive son is a lobizón, a werewolf. A world where her unusual eyes allow her to belong.

As Manu uncovers her own story and traces her real heritage all the way back to a cursed city in Argentina, she learns it’s not just her U.S. residency that’s illegal. . . .it’s her entire existence.

Review:

Lobizona is a richly layered narrative that is at once a mythological retelling, a coming of age story and social commentary. It’s interesting that the opening scene in the novel shows an ICE raid, the thing that Manu’s family and community fear the most. Manu and her family have well-practiced strategies for hiding from the government authorities bent on hunting down undocumented people and apprehending them for forced repatriation. The fear for ICE is on par with the danger represented by the supernatural elements Manu encounters throughout the novel and that, in itself, was a powerful statement about the fear too many in this country are forced to confront.

Manu is a wonderful, rich representation of the gifts that immigrants carry with them, gifts that make them so indispensable to the new countries they call home. She is bilingual, reads voraciously, and dreams of one day working for NASA as an astronaut. Originally brought to the US by her mother from Argentina, Manu has never met her father and this theme of identity occupies the first part of the novel, together with the harsh realities and fears of living as a undocumented person.

Lobizona is very successful at conveying the immigrant experience and all its terrors and triumphs. There is relentless hope even as Manu’s family fears discovery, and they rely on their dream that somehow, things will work out for them, the way it has worked out for so many others.

But Lobizona is also a young adult fantasy novel – and it is true to its genre. It relies heavily on Argentinian folklore which, after the millionth retelling of Cinderella and Beauty and the Beast, is a refreshing change of pace. The magical realism spliced with portal fantasy, the world-building and the use of Argentinian Spanish did my multi-culti heart so much good. I want more books featuring other Latin-American cultures and in this, the book delivers.

Manu is unique, as we discover. She blacks-out for three days during her monthly cycle, during which she occupies a dream world. She is the seventh daughter, so she should be a witch, but instead she is a Lobizona or a female werewolf, in possession of powers usually reserved for the seventh son. She has silver, star-shaped eyes she must cover with sunglasses because they are so odd. She comes into possession of super hero – like powers like supernatural strength, speed and overdeveloped senses.

Without spoiling the remaining plot points, there is a forbidden love, a very cool friend group, and excellent queer representation. This story grapples with the big issues: the ethics of assigning legal status to humans for any reason, immigration, and the fascist nature of ICE. It also confronts issues of misogyny, the flaws of a binary gendered system, and the way privilege is awarded and the harm it brings to everyone, whether that privilege is in the world we live in or the world where magical beings vie for meaning and power.

I look forward to reading the next installment of this series. 

ARC provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Where to buy:

Romina Garber’s books

From the publisher:

New Orleans, four months after the events of THE QUEEN…

Søren has been suspended from the Jesuits for a minimum of one year after confessing to fathering a child. To say he’s struggling with his newfound freedom is an understatement.

Kingsley is about to be a father again and is convinced something very bad is about to happen. Nerves? Or is he right that the time has come for the Sinners to pay for their sins?

And if things couldn’t get worse, a handsome private detective shows up and tells Mistress Nora that a priest has just committed suicide, and she was the last person he tried to call. He would like to know why…

She doesn’t know, but Nora and her new detective friend will turn over the city to find out, meeting liars, vampires, and witches along the way. When she finds what she’s looking for, she may wish she’d never stepped foot in New Orleans.

Review:

The Priest begins with an investigation into the death of a priest. His last phone call was to a Mistress Nora. Why would he call Nora, someone hes’ never met? Nora sets out to solve the mystery in spite of the risks to herself and everything she holds dear.

I don’t usually read romantic suspense but Reisz is one of those authors I will read, regardless of what she writes. Part of a series, it really helps to read the previous installments before taking on this book, as it deepens the readers’s understanding of the relationships and side characters who play such an important role in this book.

Reiz’s books are a masterclass in showing, not telling, and is one of the primary reasons I read them. She goes deep into her characters and shows you who they are. As a writer, she virtually disappears from her story. I’ve only read a few writers who can do this and when I find them, I stick to them. It makes her writing so mesmerizing, you don’t realize what is happening to you until you’re half-way through the book and wondering where the time has gone. And Reisz’s characters are not entirely, purely good. They are complex, make wrong decisions, and have sometimes terrible motivations but you can’t help but want them to succeed nonetheless. Nora is very much such a character and it is both terrifying and delightful to see her make her way through this mystery.

The Priest also makes great use of the city of New Orleans as its own character. A fascinating city, full of contrasts, secrets and the overtones of the supernatural, Reisz capitalizes on all these associations to add another layer to the story. One person I hope to read more about it Cyrus, her fellow investigator, who seems to have an almost reverential relationship towards his wife, which reveals so much about his own psyche. Nora’s relationship with Søren is also fascinating in its own right and you never know if things are going to go sideways with them or the other side characters. The Priest is erotic, chilling and always emotional. You can never assume anything. Excellent read!

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Where to buy:

Tiffany Reisz’s Books

Friday Kiss is one of many weekly Twitter writing challenges. If I have an excerpt that is relevant to the challenges, I will post it on my Twitter and here on Fridays.

Today’s theme is: Perfect. I’ve included two excerpts this week.

From my completed manuscript, Incomparable (#ownvoice, #contemporary romance). Estimated publication date: Fall, 2021, Harlequin Special Edition:

Excerpt:

“I got tired of waiting for the perfect moment to give it to you.” His eyes, always so gentle no matter the tempest in his soul, gazed at her with an expression she’d only ever seen when her parents looked at each other, a look she recognized as adoration. #fridaykiss

About Incomparable:

Incomparable is a contemporary romance set in New Jersey that follows a young woman from a Puerto Rican family who thinks she’s met Mr. Right, only to find out his family’s real estate business has plans that could change her beloved community forever. 

Friday Kiss is one of many weekly Twitter writing challenges. If I have an excerpt that is relevant to the challenges, I will post it on my Twitter and here on Fridays.

Today’s theme is: Undone. I’ve included two excerpts this week.

From my completed manuscript, Incomparable (#ownvoice, #contemporary romance). Estimated publication date: Fall, 2021, Harlequin Special Edition:

Excerpt:

“Off,” he ordered.

“You mean the lights, amór?”

“You know very well I don’t mean the lights, amór.”

She bit back a smile.

“Now who’s being ruthless?”

“You’re stalling.”

She smirked, the hiss of her zipper coming undone a sharp counterpoint to his shallow breathing. #fridaykiss

About Incomparable:

Incomparable is a contemporary romance set in New Jersey that follows a young woman from a Puerto Rican family who thinks she’s met Mr. Right, only to find out his family’s real estate business has plans that could change her beloved community forever. 

From the publisher:

For him, control is everything…until it shatters, and now he’s come undone.

“Appassionata” by Emma Barry
Piano technician Brennan Connelly lives to control details: the tension on a piano string or the compression of hammer felt. But he’s never faced demands like those heaped on him by Kristy Kwong, the diva who’s haunted his dreams for two decades. Kristy’s got her own secrets–the debilitating stage fright that’s kept her from performing publicly for years to start–and this concert is the last chance to save her career. But can he locate her lost passion without losing his precious control?

“Unraveled” by Olivia Dade
Math teacher Simon Burnham–cool, calm, controlled–can’t abide problems with no good solution. Which makes his current work assignment, mentoring art teacher Poppy Wick, nothing short of torture. She’s warm but sharp. Chaotic but meticulous. Simultaneously the most frustrating and most alluring woman he’s ever known. And in her free time, she makes murder dioramas. Murder dioramas, for heaven’s sake. But the more tightly wound a man is, the faster he unravels–and despite his best efforts, he soon finds himself attempting to solve three separate mysteries: a murder in miniature, the unexplained disappearance of a colleague…and the unexpected theft of his cold, cold heart.

“Caught Looking” by Adriana Herrera
When best friends Yariel and Hatuey’s gaming night turns into an unexpected and intense hook up, Hatuey can’t wait to do it again. Yariel is less certain–the major leaguer might seem to all the world like he has a heart of stone, but he’s been carrying a torch for his friend for years, and worries this will ruin the most important relationship in his life. That means Hatuey has to do all the work, and he’s planning to give it all he’s got. Yariel may be the one hitting home runs on the field…but Hatuey is playing a game of seduction, and he knows exactly how to make Yariel crumble.

“Yes, And…” by Ruby Lang
When rheumatologist Darren Zhang accidentally sits in on acting teacher Joan Lacy’s improv class, he’s unprepared for the attraction that hits him–and he’s a man who likes to be prepared. Joan is caring for her ailing mother and barely has time to keep up her art, let alone date. But as the pair play out an unlikely relationship during stolen moments, they both find themselves wanting to say yes, and… much more.

“Tommy Cabot Was Here” by Cat Sebastian
Massachusetts, 1959: Some people might accuse mathematician Everett Sloane of being stuffy, but really he just prefers things a certain way: predictable, quiet, and far away from Tommy Cabot–his former best friend, chaos incarnate, and the man who broke his heart. The youngest son of a prominent political family, Tommy threw away his future by coming out to his powerful brothers. When he runs into Everett, who fifteen years ago walked away from Tommy without an explanation or a backward glance, his old friend’s chilliness is just another reminder of how bad a mess Tommy has made of his life. When Everett realizes that his polite formality is hurting Tommy, he needs to decide whether he can unbend enough to let Tommy get close but without letting himself get hurt the way he was all those years ago.

Reviews:

“Appassionata” by Emma Barry (m/f)

Pianist Kristy Kwong is struggling with performance anxiety and it’s hindering her ability to perform. Brennan Connelly is a piano technician who once dreamed of a career as a pianist and has always admired Kristy from afar. Most telling, Kristy cannot perform in front of anyone except Brennan. The writing in this story is gorgeous and the pacing of the story matches the music tempos that title each chapter. The relationship develops sweetly and it’s a thrill to see Brennan slowly let go of his rules. The black moment came out of nowhere but when it does happen, it makes sense in the context of what took place before. One of my favorites of the collection.

“Unraveled” by Olivia Dade (m/f)

Dade is an efficient storyteller and she does the short form very well. I found Poppy to be absolutely quirky and hilarious and Simon is the quintessential, buttoned-up math guy. Being a teacher myself, I got all the references and kept nodding my head, saying, yes, yes, all this! The romance arc was adorable and look, there are murder dioramas, okay? I generally hate misunderstandings as the basis for conflict but Dade wraps it all up very well and you feel good when it’s all over. Excellent read.

Caught Looking by Adriana Herrera (m/m)

I love that Yariel and Hatuey are secondary characters from the American Dreamers series, one of my favorite romance series ever. Friends to lovers has never been so hot, and in fact, this is the steamiest of all the stories. The story begins the morning after Yariel and Hatuey have given in to their ever growing attraction and it’s all an emotional mess-fest from there. Herrera does a wonderful job of showing the relationship between these two best friends evolving into something more. Yariel, in particular, struggles to accept that the friend he thought was straight might actually be in love with him as well. Hatuey, for his part, is patience with Yariel and gets him to accept that his feelings are a natural consequence of who he is, that they are rooted in both his identity and the deep bond he shares with Yariel. Herrera handles issues of the Dominican diaspora, family conflict and homophobia with the respect and sensitivity she brings to all her writing. One of the standouts of the collection.

“Yes, and…” by Ruby Lang (m/f)

Biter sweet and lovely, this story highlights Lang’s delicate and precise writing style. Dr. Darren Zhang accidentally finds himself in the wrong class and finds himself captivated by the instructor, Joan Lacy. Joan cares for her mom who is suffering from dementia. The relationship that blossoms between Darren and Joan is so gentle, it left me thinking about them long after the story was done. I hope she considers extending this story because I would love to read it.

Tommy Cabot was Here by Cat Sebastian (m/m)

Set in the 50s, this second-chance romance follows Tommy Cabot, who’s fallen out of favor with his wealthy and politically powerful family; and Everett who has pined so long for Tommy, it’s like an aching wound in his psyche. So many things just work in this story – the setting, the slow trust that Everett gives Tommy as they rediscover each other, Tommy’s son and ex-wife. Oh, and about the ex – she such a great character, I truly enjoyed her characterization. Without spoiling this story further, it’s just an incredible romance and has turned me on to Sebastian’s other works. One of the wittiest writers in the collection.

Where to buy:

He’s Come Undone

From the publisher:

As his twenty-sixth birthday approaches, Desta Joy Walker finds himself in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the one place he’s been actively avoiding most of his life. For Desta, the East African capital encompasses some of the happiest and saddest parts of his life–his first home and the place where his father died. When an unavoidable work obligation lands him there for twelve weeks, he may finally have a chance for the closure he so desperately needs. What Desta never expected was to catch a glimpse of his future as he reconnects with the beautiful country and his family’s past.

Elias Fikru has never met an opportunity he hasn’t seized. Except, of course, for the life-changing one he’s stubbornly ignored for the past nine months. He’d be a fool not to accept the chance to pursue his doctoral studies in the U.S., but saying yes means leaving his homeland, and Elias isn’t ready to make that commitment.

Meeting Desta, the Dominican-American emergency relief worker with the easy smile and sad eyes, makes Elias want things he’s never envisioned for himself. Rediscovering his country through Desta’s eyes emboldens Elias to reach for a future where he can be open about every part of himself. But when something threatens the future that’s within their grasp, Elias and Desta must put it all on the line for love. 

Review:

Finding Joy is so many things – a recognition of the longing for the places we call home, a gentle love story between two people who are a little lost and searching for a path to the future, and a beautiful love letter to Ethiopia as it is, not as a caricature of the Western imagination. It also depicts both the universality and the infinite variety of the immigrant experience. Books like these are never more important than they are now, when forces on all sides strive to rigidly define the experience of entire groups of people into digestible, homogeneous little narratives.

Desta leaves Washington DC for a job with AID USA to escape a bad break up and come to terms with what he needs to be satisfied in his life. Ethiopia is particularly poignant for him. He spent the first three years of his life there with his parents, a time described as the happiest they’d ever been, but it is also the country where his father died.

Elias is part of the local staff for the humanitarian organization and works as driver, translator and manager of logistics as Desta and the aid team make their way around the country. Elias is pure light – happy, wise and full of the kind of energy Desta desperately needs. He is also gay in a country where living openly as a gay man is socially taboo and illegal.

With all the discussions about who is allowed to tell certain stories, Herrera’s work is a refreshing burst of empathy and talent. She treats her subjects with respect, infusing her stories with a powerful love and admiration for the human condition in any way it comes. She addresses the big questions – colonialism, bi-culturalism, grief, homophobia, and microagressions – with seriousness without drowning out the romance. She doesn’t shy away from the physicality of love, either, as demonstrated in intensely passionate love scenes in the novel. And Desta kind of hints at his desire for Elias through a shared listening of Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe which excuse me, is pretty freaking amazing. These touches of humanity and sensitive understandings have made Herrera an auto buy author for me.

“Desta” means “joy” and this story, as all Herrera’s stories, are a testament to the universal joy of love, a right that belongs to everyone, in every iteration that it appears.

Where to buy:

Adriana Herrera’s books

From the publisher:

Alyssa Cole returns with a fun, sexy romance novella in the Reluctant Royals series!

While her boss the prince was busy wooing his betrothed, Likotsi had her own love affair after swiping right on a dating app. But her romance had ended in heartbreak, and now, back in NYC again, she’s determined to rediscover her joy–so of course she runs into the woman who broke her heart.

When Likotsi and Fabiola meet again on a stalled subway train months later, Fab asks for just one cup of tea. Likotsi, hoping to know why she was unceremoniously dumped, agrees. Tea and food soon leads to them exploring the city together, and their past, with Fab slowly revealing why she let Likotsi go, and both of them wondering if they can turn this second chance into a happily ever after.

Review:

We first meet Likotsi in A Princess in Theory as the personal assistant to Prince Thesolo. In that novel, Likotski finds a connection with Fabiola, an accountant and Instagram personality who wants to turn her jewelry-making side-hustle into her main hustle. However, things end abruptly, leaving Likotsi with a broken heart.

Fast forward nearly a year later, Likotsi takes a vacation in New York City with the intention of exploring the city, but also of letting go of the memory of her time with Fabiola. However, the Goddess has other plans. On a broken down train, Fabiola sees Likotski again and persuades her to allow her to accompany her as she wanders the city. This encounter sets off the events of that take place in Once Ghosted, Twice Shy.

This novella has a prominent place on my keeper shelf for multiple reasons. First, it’s just so damned well-written. The second-chance romance (as well as the friends-to-lovers and enemies-to-lovers tropes) work really well for the novella format because the hard work of creating a connection is already done at the start of the novella. This is important in a short form in which stories often come off rushed when not executed well. Cole capitalizes on the shared history of Litkosi and Fabiola, providing the reader with efficient narrative short-hands to convey that connection without showing every moment leading up to it. You arrive at the conclusion with the feeling that you’ve read a fully-developed romance even if brevity is the nature of the genre.

In addition to the skillful use of structure is the on-point characterization. One of the most frustrating things as a reader in a multi-POV narrative is the inability to distinguish the speaker. The problem is nonexistent in this novella. Cole does a skillful job characterizing both Fabiola and Litkosi, making it clear that these are two distinct individuals, down to the language and physical descriptions.

Finally, the representation is authentic, illustrating the power of an own voices narrative. Fabiola is bisexual, a fact that is not minimized in her characterization, while Litkosi is a lesbian who relishes her relationships with other women. In addition, Fabiola is the daughter of Haitian immigrants, and the issue of immigration does play a pivotal role in the plot without overpowering the love story. Litkosi, is the definition of competence. If competence porn is your thing, Litkosi is your romantic lead. She’s just so smart and in possession of herself, you can’t help but fall a little in love with her as well.

In many romances, royalty is strongly associated with white monarchies, and I love that Cole has carved out a space with her Reluctant Royals series within this subgenre of romance. Similar to what The Black Panther did for the largely monochromatic Marvel Movie Universe – she’s broadened that representation and it’s what writers of diverse representations all aspire to do.

As an aside, I also recommend This Could Be Enough, a gorgeously wrought historical novella in the category of f/f romances. In every category, Cole’s blacklist is a treasure trove of brilliant writing.

Where to buy:

Alyssa Cole’s Books

From the publisher:

The light, for as far as
I can see, is that of any number of late
afternoons I remember still: how the light
seemed a bell; how it seemed I'd been living
inside it, waiting - I'd heard all about
that one clear note it gives.

--from "Late Apollo III"

In “The Rest of Love,” his seventh book, Carl Phillips examines the conflict between belief and disbelief, and our will to believe: Aren’t we always trying, Phillips asks, to contain or to stave off facing up to, even briefly, the hard truths we’re nevertheless attracted to? Phillips’s signature terse line and syntax enact this constant tension between abandon and control; following his impeccable interior logic, “passionately austere” (Rita Dove, “The Washington Post “Book World), Phillips plumbs the myths we make and return to in the name of desire–physical, emotional, and spiritual.

Review:

I learned of Carl Phillips when I was still in college. My poetry professor contributed a forward to his first poetry collection and used one of his poems while teaching class.

I remember holding a copy of In the Blood in my department library. I didn’t think to buy the book at the time because money and time and coursework and blah blah blah. I was also working two jobs and doing the usual college things so how could I have known?

I have few regrets in life but among those is not picking up In the Blood when I had the chance. I had the illusion of abundance, if not of money, at least of time and opportunity. I missed my shot at owning this now out-of-print book and can only read it on Google books, where thankfully, a scanned copy can be found.

Now, 20-plus books later. I’ve quietly consumed each one – some on airplanes on the way to one place or another, most at night, before I fall asleep. They populate my dreams and sometimes, their influence is felt in the small things I write. I’ve woken up more than a few times with one of Philips’ collections wrapped up in the blankets.

One of my favorites, The Rest of Love is a meditation on what remains after love, or the rest of love. Whether it’s the death of the speaker’s dog or the dissolution of a relationship, there is something after – the treachery of memory, the echoes of touches and promises that are no longer our entitlement.

Phillips’ poems, first and foremost, are little puzzles you unravel, where the solution, even when they take shape, can never be known with certainty. Phillips is a classicist, a translator, a teacher, and in interviews has described the influences of Thucydides and Cicero on his work, but this collection also teases John Donne and the metaphysical poets. He is one of the most allusive poets I’ve ever read.

...First always
comes the ability to believe, and then the need to.
The ancient Greeks; the Romans after. How they

made of love a wild god; of fidelity - a small,
a tame one.

-"All It Takes"

Most of the time, he doesn’t provide a key within his poetry for the allusions he uses. His poems are meant to be read as works in themselves, the allusions more like amusements he adds for his own pleasure, because in those references is where his imagination is filtered, and the reader is asked to keep up, simply tag along as the speaker processes the world. For example, you cannot read the poem “North” and not sense that Phillips is mining some classical association, but he leaves you with it to work out on your own.

The only thing between the reader and the image is syntax and it is manipulated until you don’t know if a word is being used as a noun, a gerund, or a verb because any way you turn the word, it feeds a different flavor into the meaning of the text. As a student of the Roman rhetoricians, Phillips uses the structure of language to craft meaning. It doesn’t condition your reading – you can also remain blissfully unaware of the particulars. But if you are one for details, there are more nuances in his use of language than can be explored in one sitting.

He’s a black poet. He’s a gay poet. He is also the poet of universals. And of incidentals. He speaks of horses racing across the landscape in the same sentence (if you can call it a sentence) as Achilles, of being a rusted gate even as he falls to his knees before his lover. There is this tension between the human and humanity, between the quotidian and the divine and the line is not there for you to define, but to observe, absorb and experience, like a caress. His poetry flourishes in the interstices of his identities but also ties them to the classic traditions, asserting his right to be a part of this dialogue.

And if it is his right to mine that tradition, it is our right, as readers, to take our place as well.

Where to buy:

Carl Phillips’ Books

From the publisher:

“A haunting story that reimagines the consequences of Shakespeare’s The Tempest.”

After the tempest, after the reunion, after her father drowned his books, Miranda was meant to enter a brave new world. Naples awaited her, and Ferdinand, and a throne. Instead she finds herself in Milan, in her father’s castle, surrounded by hostile servants who treat her like a ghost. Whispers cling to her like spiderwebs, whispers that carry her dead mother’s name. And though he promised to give away his power, Milan is once again contorting around Prospero’s dark arts. With only Dorothea, her sole companion and confidant to aid her, Miranda must cut through the mystery and find the truth about her father, her mother, and herself. 

Review:

Given the paucity of details about Shakespeare’s personal life, it’s left to his body of work to speak of his ideas of sexuality. And his writings do not disappoint. There is an undercurrent of homoeroticism and the flouting of the sexual binary in plays like As You like it, The Merchant of Venice and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (I am still convinced the text of Othello supports a reading of Iago’s actions being driven as much by sexually possessiveness of Othello, as by a malevolent nihilism that takes pleasure in destruction for its own sake).

As a result, I enjoy queer retellings of Shakespeare because I can’t help but think the Bard seeded his text in such a way to enable queer readings of his work, whether intentionally or not (here is an excellent layman’s article in The Guardian about reading homoeroticism in Shakespeare’s sonnets).

Miranda is Milan is an excellent example of a Sapphic retelling of events at the end of The Tempest that relies on implications already present in the original text. To summarize, The Tempest begins with a literal tempest created by the powerful magician, Prospero, the former Duke of Milan who was deposed by his brother, Antonio and exiled to a remote island together with his young (and now grown, very beautiful daughter) Miranda. The storm is created to shipwreck a vessel carrying, among others, Prospero’s treacherous brother, Antonio, the King of Naples and his handsome son, Ferdinand so that Prospero can carry out his plot to avenge the usurpation of his kingdom. However, hijinks ensue involving Prospero’s servant-sprite, Ariel and a deformed island creature, Caliban, while men on the ship plot to kill the King of Naples, who believes his son, Ferdinand, has drowned in the storm. When Ferdinand turns out to be alive and falls in love with Miranda, and the plan to kill the King is thwarted, Prospero forgives all ills and everyone returns to Italy to live happily every after.

Except, that’s not exactly how things end, according to Duckette’s retelling. The novel pays on some of the more sinister aspects of Prospero’s characterization – his ruthless pursuit of absolute magical power and his vindictiveness. He is set up, not as the doting father of a wild girl but the extreme expression of patriarchy’s oppression. Miranda returns to Milan in the hopes of marrying Ferdinand but instead of a wedding, she is held in her father’s castle and greeted with suspicion and outright hostility by Prospero’s subjects. Confined to her rooms, she can leave only if she covers her face.

She finds a confidante in Dorothea, a Moroccan serving woman who also practices witchcraft. Miranda takes a chance and trusts Dorothea and their friendship goes from trust to a deeper, truer love. Dorothea’s declaration of desire for Miranda is probably among one of the most beautiful I’ve ever read. When Miranda seeks to uncover the mystery of her mother’s death and the reasons for Prospero’s exile, it is Dorothea who ties her fate to Miranda’s in pursuit of the truth, at great risk to their lives.

This story engages with themes of female solidarity and fragility in the face of patriarchal power. Miranda’s mother and her aunt, as well as Dorothea’s mother, are all women who were diminished or crushed by the rage and desires of men. It also engages oppression based on race in the person of Dorothea, Miranda’s love interest, who speaks of the weight her otherness adds to her existence in Italy, how very vulnerable she is, even moreso than Miranda, who is treated as a savage by the court. Dorothea’s punishment for defiance is more pronounced, her class disadvantages compounded by the color of her skin.

The story suggests that the answer to the destructive power of patriarchy lies in the bonds that women form to fight against that power and to protect each other. The learn to take male power for themselves, wielding it against their oppressors. This should transcend race, and benefits all women. In the play, Prospero chooses forgiveness over vendetta to restore balance. In Miranda in Milan, love and solidarity are the forces unleashed to overcome the pursuit of absolute male dominance, themes that befit even the greatest of Shakespeare’s plays.

Where to buy:

Katharine Duckett’s Books

From the publisher:

Staggerlee is used to being alone. As the granddaughter of celebrities and the daughter of an interracial couple in an all-black town, she has become adept at isolating herself from curious neighbors. But then her cousin, Trout, comes to visit. Trout is exactly like Staggerlee wishes she could be: outspoken, sure of herself, beautiful. Finally, Staggerlee has a friend, someone she can share her deepest, most private thoughts with. Someone who will teach her how to be the strong girl she longs to be. But is Trout really the girl Staggerlee thinks she is?

Review:

When I read The House You Pass on the Way, I had just returned from living abroad for six years and had landed my first job teaching remedial Reading and English to struggling high school students in a racially diverse, Title I school. Talk about a reverse culture shock. After teaching English to German speakers in tech companies and private schools, I was back in the US, in a classroom filled with eleventh graders who would not graduate if they couldn’t pass the standardized English test or get a concordant score on some other test.

After a class survey, I realized a few of things. First, they really didn’t like to read. In fact most of them hadn’t even read a novel all the way through on their own.

Second, this was a Title I school. Even if the mood struck them to read anything, finances were tight and my students had neither books nor excess money laying around to buy them. It was pretty daunting.

Third, I had a little bit of everyone in class the first year. Mexicans, Puerto Ricans and Black students made up the majority, but also, I had openly LGBTQ+ kids in my class. I knew I had to cover a lot ground in terms of race, gender and sexuality if I wanted to keep them engaged.

Remember, I’d been living in Germany for six years. They don’t have a whole lot of hangups regarding sexuality. Pride was celebrated everywhere, people of all sexes walked the streets hand in hand and no one cared. Now I found myself along the I-4 corridor of Central Florida in one of the most conservative counties in the country. I was experiencing my own culture shock, struggling to navigate a mine field with conservative colleagues and parents who were culturally different from me. Compound that with being Latinx out the gate and I might as well have been living in a new country again.

I remember walking into the school library and asking the librarian for diverse, coming of age books. The librarian was this tall, super-intimidating biker guy who came to school on a Harley-Davidson. He gave me a wry look as he went back into his office and shuffled through his boxes of books before coming back out to hand them to me.

“I’ve got class sets of these I can’t get rid of,” he said. Translation: parents had contested them.

“Sounds like the kind of books I want,” I answered.

That’s how I picked up The House You Pass on the Way by Jacqueline Woodson. The librarian, by the way, turned out to be really enthusiastic over the book, convincing me to to take it home and read it (contrary to his imposing appearance, he was an unrepentant book worm who is now one of my best friends). At barely over 100 pages, I expected a fairly quick and easy read. But it was also one of the first YA books I’d ever read featuring a biracial, lesbian lead and it was transformative for me as well.

The House You Pass on the Way is a treasure of a book written in spare, lyrical language and features remarkably well-rounded characters. Woodson packs so much emotional energy into a small space. Staggerlee is a thoughtful, introverted biracial girl in a small town where her grandparents were killed in an anti-civil rights bombing, a stature of whom graces the center of town. In her person, Staggerlee almost ascends to the level of metaphor except that she is also very much a confused young lady who struggles to understand who she is, and at the center of that struggle for understanding is her crush on her ex-best friend, Hazel. Staggerlee feels different, which isolates her even further.

Things change when her cousin, Trout comes to stay with her for the summer. They instantly understand each other in more ways than they could have anticipated. They spend that all-important summer between middle school and high school together, and they each gain from the other the strength to figure out who they really are. Staggerlee comes to terms with her bi-raciality but also with her sexuality. It’s a story of the importance of friendships in becoming, and the narrative is rendered with elegant simplicity.

Because the book is short and it was my first book of the course, I read it out loud to the students as they followed along before stopping to discuss. It was the best decision I made, because it created a bond that year between those students and opened up a safe place to talk about personal topics. For most, it was their first novel with a queer lead, and for at least three of those students, it was their permission to relax because I was not going to allow them to be judged in my class. One girl came to me at the end of the unit to tell me how happy she was that the first book she read all the way through was about a lesbian girl, like herself, and now she would be looking for more. In more ways than a test can measure, that was my sign of success. The end of year test was besides the point.

As for me, personally, I learned that I had to think of my students first, teach them to be honest with themselves and others, and respect the power of a good book to build community and understanding, especially among marginalized readers. Books can be a model for collective love but also self-love and that’s not a lesson anyone soon forgets, if the number of students who come back to visit me is any indication.

Where to buy:

Jacquelin Woodson Author Website

Friday Kiss is one of many weekly Twitter writing challenges. If I have an excerpt that is relevant to the challenges, I will post it on my Twitter and here on Fridays.

Today’s theme is: Want. I’ve included two excerpts this week.

From my completed manuscript, Incomparable (#ownvoice, #contemporary romance). Estimated publication date: Fall, 2021, Harlequin Special Edition:

Excerpt #1

“Coño,” she purred. “That turned me on way more than it should have.”

He nuzzled her neck, dragging his nose across her shoulder, down her bicep where he kissed the tender skin. “You’re going to have to stick around if you want any part of that freakery.”

Excerpt #2

Desperation gnawed at her, the need to experience the glide of sweat-slicked heat making her anxious. She wanted his politeness to disappear & leave only him, unfettered, behind. Burying her fingers in his dark-blond curls, she pulled him towards her.

About Incomparable:

When Val Navarro meets Philip in a club in East Ward, the only thing she knows about him is that he can’t dance, loves Star Wars and is irresistible in every way. Little does she know that they are on the opposite sides of a multi-billion-dollar property development project that might make – or break – her urban neighborhood.

Philip Wagner is the son of a legendary property developer. He’s spent his whole life working his way to the top to be worthy of a place at his father’s side. But his attraction to Val threatens to make him forget everything that matter to him except one – to have her, any way he can.

Take one Puerto Rican restaurant owner and one billionaire property developer. Add two sides of a multi-billion-dollar development deal. Season with equal parts chemistry and simmer until you have the potential for love – or disaster.

From the publisher:

In Alisha Rai’s second novel in her Modern Love series, a live-tweet event goes viral for a camera-shy ex-model, shoving her into the spotlight—and into the arms of the bodyguard she’d been pining for.

OMG! Wouldn’t it be adorable if he’s her soulmate???

I don’t see any wedding rings [eyes emoji]

Breaking: #CafeBae and #CuteCafeGirl went to the bathroom AT THE SAME TIME!!!

One minute, Katrina King’s enjoying an innocent conversation with a hot guy at a coffee shop; the next, a stranger has live-tweeted the entire episode with a romantic meet-cute spin and #CafeBae is the new hashtag-du-jour. The problem? Katrina craves a low-profile life, and going viral threatens the peaceful world she’s painstakingly built. Besides, #CafeBae isn’t the man she’s hungry for…

He’s got a [peach emoji] to die for.

With the internet on the hunt for the identity of #CuteCafeGirl, Jas Singh, bodyguard, friend, and possessor of the most beautiful eyebrows Katrina’s ever seen, comes to the rescue and whisks her away to his family’s home. Alone in a remote setting with the object of her affections? It’s a recipe for romance. But after a long dating dry spell, Katrina isn’t sure she can trust her instincts when it comes to love—even if Jas’s every look says he wants to be more than just her bodyguard… 

Review:

If you’re looking for a bodyguard, friends-to-lover, slow burn romance with a bit of forced proximity thrown in for good measure, this book is it.

This is not my first Alisha Rai romance but there’s just something about her voice that I enjoy – fresh, brisk and modern. And it’s the perfect voice to tell this kind of story. It strikes on very relevant themes of internet privacy, shaping the narratives of real people to suit the voracious desire for others to live vicariously through the celebrity du jour, especially the story of people’s love lives regardless of whether it hews close to reality or not. Rai handles these themes deftly, without burdening the narrative.

Katrina Jackson is funny, intelligent, and somewhat reserved with her feelings. A combination of factors contributes to her reticence. She lives with panic disorder and anxiety, a condition that is depicted realistically, with an emphasis on therapy and good friendships. Katrina has also constructed her life in just such a way as to keep her anxiety from being triggered. She has a wonderful support group of friends who love her unconditionally, and to whom she is generous in turn.

Likewise, the depiction of Jasvinder’s PTSD is compassionate and conveyed skillfully. He has a tragic past that has contributed to his PTSD, but he is considerate and very careful with Katrina. It takes time for him to come into his own, to learn to build his own support system, and open up to Katrina but it is a beautiful journey to watch.

The novel is also very diversity. In the author’s note, Rai discusses diversity of the Punjabi culture, which she generously shares with readers.

Katrina and Jasvinder are a lovely couple. There is no question they are perfect for each other, despite their mutual issues. Their love grows organically over time – they have many years of friendship behind them and in consequence, they know and understand each other well. When they give in to their feelings, it is deeply satisfying. A gentle romance filled with funny, tender moments, and a couple you can’t help rooting for.

Where to buy:

Alisha Rai’s books

From the publisher:

Her first marriage was an epic fail.

Lady Avalon Warwyk never did love her husband. Arrogant, selfish, and cruel, it’s a blessing when she’s widowed and left to raise her son all by herself. Finally, Avalon can live freely and do the work she loves: helping fallen women become businesswomen. She’s lived these past ten years with no desire to remarry―that is, until Mr. Devan Farris comes to town.

Can he convince her to take another chance at happily ever after?

Devan Farris―charming vicar, reputed rake, and the brother of Avalon’s son’s guardian―is reluctantly sent to town to keep tabs on Avalon and her son. Devan wishes he didn’t have to meddle in her affairs; he’s not one to trod on a woman’s independent nature and keen sense of convictions. But she’ll have nothing to do with a vicar with a wild reputation―even though he’s never given his heart and body to another. If only he could find a way to show Avalon who he really is on the inside―a good, true soul looking for its other half. But how can prove that he wants to love and care for her. . .until death do they part?

Review:

This is another example of me, starting in at the middle of a series and hoping that it won’t impact my ability to enjoy the book. But MacGregor has written a book that stands on it’s own merit and was a pure delight to read. I’m not a fan of prologues, but this one was so heartrending, it puts you firmly on the side of Lady Avalon Warwyck. This is super important because the heroine is not particularly lovable all the time. However, MacGregor deftly uses the prologue to earn the reader’s sympathy. You understand why she behaves as she does and honestly, I will always throw hands for Avalon. She had a terrible husband who humiliated her in front of his mistress, resulting in a brittle and unhappy marriage.

When her husband eventually passes away, Avalon is left with a son she must raise on her own. But the boy’s guardian sends a disreputable, wild rake of a Vicar by the name of Devan Farris to supervise her upbringing of the boy. Avalon can’t stand him. However, as time passes, she finds herself attracted to the Vicar and grows feelings for him. She realizes that the reputation and the man have little to do with each other.

I was a little put off sometimes by Avalon’s and Devon’s interaction at the beginning, as it appeared a bit harsh. However, as their relationship progresses, there is less bite to their sniping and turns into banter heavy with the promise of physical passion. Avalon and Devon are well-rounded, complex characters who engaged me and made me buy into them as a couple. They are courageous, honorable, passionate and good. Avalon’s son is sweet and sees in Devon someone who can make him and his mother happy.

The best part is that Devon’s reputation is completely unearned. Our rakish Vicar is really a virgin and that’s always a treat in a genre that prizes sexual virility, even promiscuity in the male lead. Devon is gentle and kind, and he handles Avalon with the gentleness she should have always received. She has a lot to work through, but Devon is just the man to have at her side.

Wild, Wild Rake left me with all the feelings. I love a cranky heroine and a sweet hero and all the sparks and warmth that come from such a union.

I was provided an ARC by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Where to buy:

Janna MacGregor’s Books

You call that first darkness sleep.

Is that the name for the nothing from which you pulled me?

***

You call that first vision a dream and I want no part of it.

I am fully at its mercy in the dark,

As I am at your mercy in the day.

***

When I am awake, I learn words. I name things. I grow ideas.

In my dreaming nothing, the things I name come to life.

I possess infinite largess,

And unto my created world, I give bountifully.

***

I caress the marble in your studio.

And in the dreaming nothing, I become the sculptor.

And discover another name,

One I carry with me when the dreaming nothing becomes waking.

***

I find you. I look upon your face.

Your real face.

I, forged of marble.

You but from clay,

Breakable bones held together by a frayed mortal thread

Covered in crepe-paper skin,

Sun-starved arms, moon-bleached shoulders, thighs as brittle as sand,

And mawkish lips that taste of blue-flavored madness.

***

In the dreaming nothing,

I cast and carve and chisel and coerce.

You remain where I command you,

As I coax forth your breath.

You will pose on the glacial marble

According to my will.

And when I am finished, I will step down from the uneven altar

Made more treacherous with the promise of falling

And call out the name I have christened myself.

You will not wake.

From this place, you will not wake.

–Sera Taino (6/5/2020)

From the publisher:

Can he tell her the truth… this time?

Will he risk everything for a reunion?Will she give him the chance?

Discovering he’s a long-lost heir isn’t the only surprise awaiting Darius Taylor-Pratt in Royal, Texas. He’s next door to his ex after five long years. Darius broke off his red-hot relationship with designer Audra Covington without explanation. He still has regrets…and truths he’s hiding. Rekindling their flame may cost him…especially when new secrets surface to threaten their second shot at seduction.

Review:

Darius Taylor Pratt is a Harvard-educated, self-made businessman. Owner of Thr3d active wear, he has earned every single one of his successes. So when he discovers he is the secret heir to a billionaire father who kept track of him all his life but never once deigned to contact him, it rocks his carefully constructed world. More surprises await Darius, including the return of his love interest, Audra Covington. Her appearance after their love affair during their MBA studies causes complications when it becomes evident that the chemistry has not abated with time.

This is a second-chance love story. Ryan’s writing is tight and the pacing is perfectly orchestrated, giving you one twist and reveal after another. You are never pulled out of the story. The romance between Darius is sexy, fraught and well-earned. These are two highly intelligent people with history and emotional baggage to work out, coming together in an already tense situation. Their HEA is convincing and well-earned.

The secondary characters are fascinating in their own right, which is important, because the couples in the novel receive their own stories in other books in the series (I walked in to the middle, so I have some catching up to do). However, Secret Heir Seduction can easily be read as a stand-alone and I did not feel like I was at a disadvantage for not having read the previous ones. That being said, there is also an over-arching storyline that spans all the novels, engaging the reader to follow the story to the very end.

Great world building, excellent characters, and the romance is fuego! I’m looking forward to catching up to this series.

Where to buy:

Ryan Reese’s Books

From the publisher:

Six years ago, Zoey Roux secretly married her best friend Sawyer. But all that did was destroy the best relationship she’s ever had. They went their separate ways, but Zoey never could go through with a divorce. Seeing him again at her sister’s charity event is a shock, but also enlightening: no matter how much she still loves him, it’s time to let him go.

Zoey was Sawyer Wilson’s first love. She broke his heart, but his feelings never died. Love was never their issue—only timing. Seeing her again is a shock: in a perfect world, she would run back into his arms. Instead, she’s asking for a divorce.

But a lot can happen in twenty-four hours: old wounds can heal, first loves can be reunited. And a second chance might just lead to happily ever after.

Review:

I confess, I have yet to read book 1 of this series, starting directly with the second book, One Day to Fall. Despite this fact, I quickly fell in love with Therese Beharrie’s writing, which is very precise, demonstrating a deep understanding of why people do the things they do. Though meant to read as a standalone, the advantage belongs to the reader who’s read all three books. Having already read the middle book, I had a clearer understanding of the family dynamics that have built up over the series. Zoey is set up as the reckless Roux sister, given to impulsiveness and in need of stability.

The height of Zoey’s impulsivity is demonstrated when she secretly marries Sawyer, her childhood friend, and essentially wrecks the most important relationship of her life. It’s their journey towards understanding themselves and what they did wrong that constitutes the emotional journey of this novel.

One thing I really appreciated about the two books I read was Beharri’s willingness to take structural risks with her romances. In book 2, the events of the novel take place in one day. In this novel, she alternates timelines between past and present. Many readers might be thrown by this, preferring a linear narrative but I love her willingness to find the structure that would work best for each story. I could not see this particular story being told any other way without pages of info-dumping. Her editor and publisher deserve all the kudos for allowing her space to do that.

Despite the struggles and angst between Zoey and Sawyer, you never lose the feeling that these two lovers were meant to be together. They simply needed to be in the right emotional place to make things work between them. The narration and internal dialogue of the characters is thoughtful and honest, making you believe even more in their HEA. And the return of earlier couples in the series leaves the reader satisfied. A terrific series that has made Beharrie an autobuy author for me.

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley/the publisher in exchange for an honest review. 

Where to buy:

Therese Beharrie’s Books

I was going to publish a variation of this blog post on June 1^st, the first day of Pride Month. However, this year is turning out to be one for the books. Between the COVID-19 pandemic and civil unrest brought on by the endless plague of racism and police brutality, it’s more relevant than ever to think deeply about what we read and how we project our self-knowledge out into the world. The Black community is hurting and it has been very hard to think of anything else besides the gross injustices that have been allowed to go on for far too long in this country.

I wanted this June to be a celebration of the books I love, and I still wish to do so, but I also want to be intentional about it and make room for voices that need to be heard.

I’m going to make every effort, during Pride and beyond, to use the ideas of intersectionality and intentionality to select books to review . Like the quote from Hooks says, paying attention to where our identities meet and how they are affected by patriarchy is the only way to really understand the culture we live in.

Black citizens are fighting for justice and equality. Pride would not have come about without the fearlessness of Black and Latinx trans activists who started the Stonewall Riots. There’s so much to work left to be done.

For a comprehensive explanation of the origins and evolution of intersectionality, I recommend Vox’s long-form article, The Intersectionality Wars.

From the publisher:

Debut author Jayci Lee transports you into the glamorous world of high fashion where passion clashes with familial duty—don’t miss the first book in the Heirs of Hansol series!

“You want me to find you a wife?
“No. I want you to be my wife.”

Will he get more than he bargained for?

Garrett Song is this close to taking the reins of his family’s LA fashion empire…until the Song matriarch insists he marry her handpicked bride first. To block her matchmaking, he recruits Natalie Sobol to pose as his wife. She needs a fake spouse as badly as he does. But when passion burns down their chaste agreement, the flames could destroy them all…

From Harlequin Desire: Luxury, scandal, desire—welcome to the lives of the American elite.

Review:

Temporary Wife Temptation features a variation on the fake engagement/fake marriage trope. It involves two very competent, driven people, Natalie and Garret, each of whom need a fake relationship, though for very different reasons.

Garrett needs a wife to thwart his grandmother, the matriarch of the Song family dynasty, who has already arranged an engagement with the daughter of another wealthy family.

Natalie needs a husband to solidify her petition to adopt her dead sister’s daughter, an adoption being contested by the paternal grandparents.

I like the insantaneous connection between Natalia and Garrett and their struggle to not give in to their attraction. I also like the way they seemed to not only want each other but genuinely like and respect each other, convincing the reader their relationship is worth investing in. I also loved Garrett’s family and the way their culture was depicted, without being overly didactic.

The plot was a bit choppy, with time jumps that were not immediately clear. I think it was because I wanted more of the events that were relegated to behind the scenes, the like the lead-up to the wedding and the solidifying of the relationship between Natalie and Garrett’s sister. The black moment was handled well but I would have loved more happy times after Garrett’s grovel. Then again, that’s just me being a greedy little romance reader.

I fell in love with the cover of this book (a common theme with me!) and knew I had to read it.

Jayci is an excellent writer and I can’t wait to read the other installments to this series.

Where to buy:

Jayci Lee’s Books

From the publisher:

High school wasn’t the right time or place for their relationship to grow, but now, fifteen years later, a chance encounter changes both of their lives forever.

No one in the charming river town of New Hope, Pennsylvania, needs to know that Vince Amato plans on flipping The Hideaway Inn to the highest bidder and returning to his luxury lifestyle in New York City. He needs to make his last remaining investment turn a profit…even if that means temporarily relocating to the quirky small town where he endured growing up. He’s spent years reinventing himself and won’t let his past dictate his future.

But on his way to New Hope, Vince gets stuck in the middle of nowhere and his past might be the only thing that can get him to his future. Specifically Tack O’Leary, the gorgeous, easygoing farm boy who broke his heart and who picks Vince up in his dilapidated truck.

Tack comes to the rescue not only with a ride but also by signing on to be the chef at The Hideaway for the summer. As Vince and Tack open their hearts to each other again, Vince learns that being true to himself doesn’t mean shutting down a second chance with Tack—it means starting over and letting love in.

Revew:

When I learned that Carina was producing a romance line specifically for LGBQT stories, I became ridiculously excited. I’ve long been a fan of the Carina line – they’ve made a real commitment to publishing diverse, #ownvoices romances and some of my favorite writers are published by them. When the Carina Adores titles showed up on my Netgalley, I was first in line with my grabby hands to read each one.

This book brings together a few favorite tropes – big city vs. small town pairing, forced proximity and second chance romance. Vince Amato returns to his hometown to renovate The Hideaway Inn, with the intention of flipping it and selling it to a franchise vacation business for a profit before returning to the city. He has no intention of sticking around, since New Hope holds difficult memories of a poor upbringing and his first – and greatest – heartbreak.

He runs into Tack O’Leary within the first five pages of the book and it is clear that there is history between the former “Skinny Vinnie” and the popular high school football star turned chef. But there is serious history and Vinnie barely hides his resentment behind a veneer of toxic masculinity that often made me cringe.

But beneath all that bluster is still the slender, courageous, poetry-loving boy who loved Tack from afar and spent his life compensating for Tack’s apparent rejection of him by armoring himself in a take-no-prisoners maleness that only serves to crush any tender feelings Vinnie might possess. Vinnie is aggressive and rude and frankly obnoxious, but there is no doubt that, no matter how hard he tries to push those feelings away, they refuse to disappear.

Tack, meanwhile, has changed, owning his bisexuality and raising a gender-nonconforming child with his ex-wife, with whom he is friendly and has bonded because she has come to terms with her own queerness. He is handsome, competent, gregarious and easy to love.

The romance builds slowly and when they get together, it is steamy and heart-felt. Vinnie slowly grows into his feelings and even when he botches everything, he is always the poet who pines for his first love.

The rep in this book is excellent, featuring not only the full spectrum of the LGBTQ community but also disabled and neurodivergent representations. New Hope is a wonderful creation – a town that exists as a safe haven for everyone. It’s an excellent example of found family and an inclusive society that does not interfere, but supports the full spectrum of human expression and it is, frankly, magical. As an #ownvoices offering, it was a must-read for me.

I received a copy of this book from Carina Press in exchange for an honest review.

Where to buy:

Philip William Stover Books

About Carina Adores:

A new Carina Adores title is available each month:

The Girl Next Door by Chelsea M. Cameron

Just Like That by Cole McCade

Hairpin Curves by Elia Winters

Better Than People by Roan Parrish

Full Moon in Leo by Brooklyn Ray

If You Can’t Stand the Heat by KD Fisher

Just Like This by Cole McCade

from the publisher:

In the dark, he kisses her…

Not knowing who she really is…

When a blackout hits Chicago, billionaire Darius King makes the most of it with an irresistible stranger. But then the lights reveal the woman in his arms is the woman he hates — his best friend’s widow! His new plan: entice her into marriage to protect his friend’s legacy. But wild attraction and explosive secrets could make that arrangement very inconvenient…

Review:

The Billionaire’s Bargain is the first book in the Blackout Billionaire’s series (Harlequin, Desire). I read the books completely out of order because I fell in love with the cover of Blame it on the Billionaire and, superficial creature that I am, I read that one first. Obviously, series order matters.

However, this books takes the cake so far as the most wonderfully bonkers book I’ve read in a minute. Bonkers because the plot is absolutely implausible (I know we’re talking about sexy billionaires so plausibility is a casualty of escapism but bear with me). The premise, at first glance, is incredibly flimsy but because Naima Simone is such a good author, she successfully convinces the reader that Darius and Isobel not only connect in the dark, but get up to sexy times as well. The two possible obstacles that would normally impede such a scenario – that they are strangers and no, strangers that I’ve never seen simply cannot put their hands down my pants; or that they somehow recognize each other – are completely discarded.

Even spicier, Isobel turns out to be falsely maligned widow of Darius’s best friend, Gage, and the entire family hates her. The only thing that keeps them from obliterating her from existence is the presence of Gage’s son, whom they have refused to recognize because of Isobel’s refusal to take a DNA test.

So, of course, Darius makes the next logical decision, which is to marry Isobel. Because what better way is there to take care of Gage’s possible son (who, it turns out, is the spitten image of his father) but to marry the horrible woman who birthed him and is indirectly (not so indirectly) blamed for Gage’s death.

Y’all, that’s the first twenty pages.

And here’s the thing – I could not put the book down! I became so invested in this impossible novel for two reasons – Naima Simone possesses the incredible ability to write desire, and Isobel is actually a pretty remarkable character. Because the book starts in her POV, you get a sense of who she is and why, after two years away, she has returned to the hornet’s nest that is Gage’s family and their connections. Her motivation becomes very clear and you can’t help but empathize with her. You also gather very quickly that the things the family says about her are completely false. I spent the remainder of the novel, utterly outraged on her behalf.

You also come to see something that is very typical of Simone’s stories – She writes excellent female characters. They are strong, but not caricature-strong, and fully realized, so that you can’t help but admire them. I was on Isobel’s side for the entire novel and that’s really a testament to how well she is written.

And yeah, this book is also sexy as hell.

It’s well worth the pushing through the some of the opening implausibilities because it does turn into a very entertaining read.

Where to buy:

Naima Simone Books

From the publisher:

A dramatic chemistry-filled contemporary romance from USA TODAY bestselling author Naima Simone.

She fell into his arms… now she’s falling for his trap.
Will a blackout change everything for these unlikely lovers?

It was a night filled with secrets, lies…and soul-stealing passion. And now the blackout that turned lowly executive assistant Nadia Jordan and start-up billionaire Grayson Chandler into insatiable lovers leads to a proposal Nadia can’t refuse. As she steps into Grayson’s privileged Chicago world, will his matchmaking mother and vengeful ex destroy her dreams? Or will her fake fiancé make those dreams a reality?

Review:

This novel is tropetastic fun together with the bonus of incredibly well-developed characters. Secretly cinnamon roll billionaire meets the one-night-stand, a fake engagement, and the inevitable falling in love against their wills rounds out the play-by-play action.

It’s an excellent example of the fake-engagement trope, which gets quite a bit of play these days in some of the best romances. The characters are irresistibly drawn to each other and it is visible on absolutely every page. Simone writes some of the best sexual and romantic tension and she can pack in the heat without wasting a single word on the page.

A fantastic read!

Where to buy:

Naima Simone Books

From the publisher:

Juan Pablo Campos doesn’t do regrets. He’s living the dream as a physical therapist with his beloved New York Yankees. He has the best friends and family in the world and simply no time to dwell on what could’ve been.

Except when it comes to Priscilla, the childhood friend he’s loved for what seems like forever.

New York City police detective Priscilla Gutierrez has never been afraid to go after what she wants. Second guessing herself isn’t a thing she does. But lately, the once-clear vision she had for herself—her career, her relationships, her life—is no longer what she wants.

What she especially doesn’t want is to be stuck on a private jet to the Dominican Republic with JuanPa, the one person who knows her better than anyone else.

By the end of a single week in paradise, the love/hate thing JuanPa and Pris have been doing for sixteen years has risen to epic proportions. No one can argue their connection is still there. And they can both finally admit—if only to themselves—they’ve always been a perfect match. The future they dreamed of together is still within reach…if they can just accept each other as they are.

This book is approximately 90,000 words

One-click with confidence. This title is part of the Carina Press Romance Promise: all the romance you’re looking for with an HEA/HFN. It’s a promise!

Review:

I’ve been waiting for JuanPa’s book with alternate joy and sadness. Joy, because he will round out the dynamic foursome that form the central protagonists of Herrera’s American Dreamers series, a series that has brought me an immense amount of joy; but also sadness because it will soon be over (thought I notice there is a Christmas novel being planned for release, so this takes some of the sting out of the series coming to an close).

When I saw the excerpt for this book at the end of American Love Story, I knew I was going to love it.

JuanPa and Pris have been dating on and off for most of their lives. They and their family have a lot of history and it is interesting to note just how vested their respective families are in the outcome of their relationship.

JuanPa and Pris meet on a private plane after having had their last breakup over a year before. The plane carries not only their families but also the Patrice and Easton (American Love Story) to the Dominican Republic for the wedding of Camilo and Thomas (American Fairy Tale). Nesto is already there with Jude (American Dreamer), coordinating the catering for the event. It’s amazing because all the couples from the previous books play their parts in this novel.

Meanwhile, JuanPa and Pris try to play it cool but their chemistry gets the best of them – and the reader. The remainder of the book deals with how they’re going to make it last this time.

This is definitely a second -chance romance, and in this dynamic, Juan Pa has really done the hard work of trying to be a different man for Priscilla. Here, it is Pris who has to re envision what she wants out of life, what sacrifices she is willing to make to live authentically and how vulnerable she is willing to be to accept the love she wants.

The sex-positivity is amazing in this book. Priscilla engage in what Herrera has referred to as sex activism – based on the work of Audrey Lord. Pris runs sex positive workshops teaching elderly clients about sex toys. It is this side hustle that presents her with her internal conflict – should she give up her career as a police officer, a job that she not only once loved but also honors her family’s ambitions for her (her father is a retired police officer). As the daughter of Dominican immigrants, expectations for her success are high but what if her definition of success is different from the one her family has envisioned for her? And can she risks the collective dreams of her family if there is a possibility of failure?

The sex positivity doesn’t end there. While the other books in the Dreamers series are m/m, this one is m/f. However, JuanPa is bi, and there is an incredible pegging scene that blows the roof off the hotness in this novel.

As I’ve already mentioned – everyone wants these two to win. The sense of community in this series culminates with the families and friends all conspiring to help these two idiots build a love that lasts. But first they have to get out of their own way. Juan Pa fighting his old, bad habits and Pris learning to be vulnerable, take risks and give herself permission to live authentically is one of the best plot arcs in this entire series.

Adriana Herrera delivers the goods in this installment of a series that has nothing short of excellent. I never want it to end.

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley/the publisher in exchange for an honest review. 

Where to buy: Adriana Herrera Books

Note: I fell off the earth for a bit, but I’m back and working on my blogging habit.

Friday Kiss is one of many weekly Twitter writing challenges. If I have an excerpt that is relevant to the challenges, I will post it on my Twitter and here on Fridays.

Today’s theme is: Wish.

From my in-progress manuscript, Incandescent (#ownvoice, #contemporary romance, #amdrafting).

‘He liked Rafael, was moved by his unexpected tenderness and his unconscious vulnerabilities. It went dangerously beyond an infatuation.

“He would have made a perfect friend,” Etienne continued, “If I did not wish to lick his face each time we met.”’

About Incandescent:

Book 2 – Incandescent m/m romance featuring Latinx/Haitian leads

Blurb-in-Progress:

Rafael (Rafi) Navarro is an educator who won’t let anything get in the way of the dreams he has for himself and the community he serves.

Étienne Galois is an rising star in the art world with secrets that keep him from finding the connection he craves.

Their chemistry is explosive but can they convince themselves – and each other, that this is a love worth fighting for?

Friday Kiss is one of many weekly Twitter writing challenges. If I have an excerpt that is relevant to the challenges, I will post it on my Twitter and here on Fridays.

Today’s theme is: Silent.

From my completed manuscript, Incomparable (#ownvoice, #contemporary romance). Estimated publication date: Fall, 2021, Harlequin Special Edition:

‘Having made his silent point, Philip turned away from Luke & handed Val the flowers. “Red hibiscus. Because they don’t sell flor de maga in downtown Hoboken.”

Val smiled down at the bouquet. “No. Can’t see the demand being very high.” ‘

About Incomparable:

When Val Navarro meets Philip in a club in East Ward, the only thing she knows about him is that he can’t dance, loves Star Wars and is irresistible in every way. Little does she know that they are on the opposite sides of a multi-billion-dollar property development project that might make – or break – her urban neighborhood.

Philip Wagner is the son of a legendary property developer. He’s spent his whole life working his way to the top to be worthy of a place at his father’s side. But his attraction to Val threatens to make him forget everything that matter to him except one – to have her, any way he can.

Take one Puerto Rican restaurant owner and one billionaire property developer. Add two sides of a multi-billion-dollar development deal. Season with equal parts chemistry and simmer until you have the potential for love – or disaster.

Friday Kiss is one of many weekly Twitter writing challenges. If I have an excerpt that is relevant to the challenges, I will post it on my Twitter and here on Fridays.

Today’s theme is: Believe.

From my completed manuscript, Incomparable (#ownvoice, #contemporary romance). Estimated publication date: Fall, 2021, Harlequin Special Edition:

“Can’t believe I’m touching you,” he whispered, fingers skimming the column of her throat. “I would have regretted not knowing you like this.” “Let’s…let’s not fight again.” She pushed him back, glaring at him. “Don’t lie to me again and we won’t.”

About Incomparable:

When Val Navarro meets Philip in a club in East Ward, the only thing she knows about him is that he can’t dance, loves Star Wars and is irresistible in every way. Little does she know that they are on the opposite sides of a multi-billion-dollar property development project that might make – or break – her urban neighborhood.

Philip Wagner is the son of a legendary property developer. He’s spent his whole life working his way to the top to be worthy of a place at his father’s side. But his attraction to Val threatens to make him forget everything that matter to him except one – to have her, any way he can.

Take one Puerto Rican restaurant owner and one billionaire property developer. Add two sides of a multi-billion-dollar development deal. Season with equal parts chemistry and simmer until you have the potential for love – or disaster.

I’m celebrating a couple of events this week. First, Harlequin Books Blog conducted a Q&A with me for Mother’s Day, where I discuss the shared passion for romance novels among the women in my family, my aunt who still gets Harlequin romances mailed to her each month & the amazing mentorship opportunity I’ve been given

Second, it’s Mother’s Day in the US. I love spring, the month of May and being a mother so it’s one of my favorite holidays.

And finally, it’s my birthday month. Every seven years, Mother’s Day and my birthday fall on the same Sunday. Double the blessings. Double the cake.

This year, I’m celebrating by giving away a $25.00 e-gift card to The Ripped Bodice. Click on this link here so you can find out how to participate.

The winner will be announced on Sunday night.

During a time such as this one, let’s find ways to celebrate as well.

ST

Note: I fell off the earth for a bit, but I’m back and working on my blogging habit.

Friday Kiss is one of many weekly Twitter writing challenges. If I have an excerpt that is relevant to the challenges, I will post it on my Twitter and here on Fridays.

Today’s theme is: Hug.

From my in-progress manuscript, Incandescent (#ownvoice, #contemporary romance, #amdrafting).

“Etienne wanted to hug him the way lovers in movies did after a long separation – scoop him up and swing him in a wide circle until they became dizzy. But the idea was excessive even to him so he settled on a handshake instead.” #fridaykiss

About Incandescent:

Book 2 – Incandescent m/m romance featuring Latinx/Haitian leads

Blurb-in-Progress:

Rafael (Rafi) Navarro is an educator who won’t let anything get in the way of the dreams he has for himself and the community he serves.

Étienne Galois is an rising star in the art world with secrets that keep him from finding the connection he craves.

Their chemistry is explosive but can they convince themselves – and each other, that this is a love worth fighting for?

Today’s featured poem is “I’m Dreaming of Your Body All Nude” by Lyonel Trouillot, from the collection Open Gate: An Anthology of Haitian Creole Poetry, edited by Paul Laraque and Jack Hirchman.

Happy viewing!

Today’s featured poem is “White Night” by Boris Pasternak, from his novel Dr. Zhivago – The Poems of Yurii Zhivago, translated by Max Hayward and Manya Harari.

Happy viewing!

National Poetry Month was launched by the Academy of American Poets in April 1996. As an educator, I normally plan poetry activities during this month, culminating in a class poetry event as well as participation in Poem in Your Pocket Day, taking place this year on Thursday, April 20th.

However, in this pandemic reality we live in, I am unable to do these activities with my students, since all instruction has moved online. What’s more, I don’t have the heart to ask them to do more than what they are doing for their classes, their families and themselves.

Instead, I’ve taken to making a video of myself, reading poetry to them and posting it on the online instructional platform.

Since I was already dressed and wearing makeup, I’ve decided to do something similar on my author blog.

Each day, I will post a video of myself reading a poem which is related to my writing. Or a poem which I simply love. There’s no rhyme or reason to the selections. In a time of anxiety and social separation, we look to art, among other things, to comfort us. As someone much smarter and more talented once said, beauty will save the world. Or at the very least, it can make things a little easier.

So, without further ado…

Today’s featured poem is “Rio Grande de Loíza” by Julia de Burgos, from her collection Song of the Simple Truth (Canción de la verdad sencilla), the first bilingual edition of Julia de Burgos’s complete poems.

PS: I realize today is April 4th, which means I should have done this on April 1st, but CampNaNoWriMo also takes place in April and I’m participating in that as well.

Happy viewing!

Friday Kiss is one of many weekly Twitter writing challenges. If I have an excerpt that is relevant to the challenges, I will post it on my Twitter and here on Fridays.

Today’s theme is: Rain.

From my completed manuscript, Incomparable (#ownvoice, #contemporary romance). Estimated publication date: Fall, 2021, Harlequin Special Edition. This week, I featured two excerpts:

1.

“It had rained the night before, so she and Philip had spent it indoors, where they’d whipped up a Spanish omelet stuffed with chorizos, paired with a simple salad. They’d then made a pretense of watching a film on Netflix until things ended the way they always did. #FridayKiss” #ownvoices #contemporaryromance

2.

“It didn’t matter that the sauce bubbled, water boiled, rain fell outside, cars moved in controlled chaos, the moon was rising and the galaxies spun. He held her like a man who was inches from falling over a cliff, and she was ready to plunge off the edge with him.” #fridaykiss

About Incomparable:

When Val Navarro meets Philip in a club in East Ward, the only thing she knows about him is that he can’t dance, loves Star Wars and is irresistible in every way. Little does she know that they are on the opposite sides of a multi-billion-dollar property development project that might make – or break – her urban neighborhood.

Philip Wagner is the son of a legendary property developer. He’s spent his whole life working his way to the top to be worthy of a place at his father’s side. But his attraction to Val threatens to make him forget everything that matter to him except one – to have her, any way he can.

Take one Puerto Rican restaurant owner and one billionaire property developer. Add two sides of a multi-billion-dollar development deal. Season with equal parts chemistry and simmer until you have the potential for love- or disaster.

I’m not a full-time writer. I write in the interstices of my life – early in the morning, during my lunch break, and in the space between the end of my work-day and the time my youngest comes home from school.

Now, with the quarantine imposed by the COPVID-19, I have more time on my hands, but with the presence of housebound children as well, it’s become trickier for me to write.

I needed something to keep me on track so I wouldn’t faff my day away, tweeting aimlessly or trying to convince my little one that 8 hours of Rome:Total War is an inadequate substitute for actually reading a book about Roman history.

So I went to my fall-back position. I logged onto nanowrimo.org and created a project. Then I started writing like it was November.

Just to be clear – though NaNoWriMo occurs in November and CampNaNoWriMo takes place in April and July, the website is available all year round.

The great thing about the NaNoWriMo platform is that it tracks your word count, creates projections and helps you stay on track towards your word count. For example, I’ve set a goal for writing a 70K draft of the second novel of my Navarro family series, Incandescent (the first installment, Incomparable, has a publication date of Fall 2021 with Harlequin’s Special Edition Line). You can see my project below:

As you can see, each time you hit a milestone, you get a badge. For an affirmation-whore like me, I like unlocking the different rewards. Psychologically, it works to incentivize further positive behaviors.

In addition, if you like hard data, the platform gives you a ton of it.

According to my goal (70K by April 30th), I’m on track as long as I write the required word count per day (which is somewhere around 1300 words ). I can see how many words I’m missing and how many continuous days I’ve updated my word count.

Other valuable metrics are offered as well, such as average writing time (I actually update between 8-9 am because that’s usually when my writing sessions end; I actually start writing at 6am) and average words per day.

An important metric that I keep my eye on is the “At this rate, you’ll be done by” tile, which is supposed to be, at the minimum, the original date I set when creating my project. My goal is to shorten that time but if it rolls over into May, that metric encourages me to get some more words in on that day so that the estimated date goes back to the one I’ve set.

Plus, you can’t beat the banners for each challenge, like the adorable one at the top of this post.

For a results-oriented person like me, seeing the word count build up and the incremental arrival of end my goal is a source of powerful motivation for me. In other words, this platform works for my personality.

If you are the kind of writer who gets stressed out by external motivators, then this might not be the accountability method for you. Like anything else, you have to find what works for you. But if you are a person who needs structure and measurable benchmarks to get things done, this might represent a possibility for you.

There are also so many writer resources, you’ll never exhaust all the pep talks and craft posts.

So if you are the kind of person who needs a little encouragement to get your writing done, I’d suggest giving it a try. And don’t forget to make a donation to help maintain an invaluable resource in the writing community.

I’m a teacher in a public high school with children who attend school in the same district. That means we spend our spring break holidays together, and, as most families do, we were planning a trip for that week. My oldest son is graduating high school this year and we were going to tour college campuses to help him make a decision on where to go to college next year.

We hadn’t counted on the coronavirus disrupting our plans. Now our spring break has become a spring pause of at least two weeks and social distancing seems to be the order of the day.

My oldest is much like me – self-sufficient, busy with dozens of hobbies and not afraid to get on the phone with a friend or three to pass the time. But the ten year old has a quick brain and lightening in his veins, so it was time to pull some teaching tricks out of my tool box to get this boy busy.

These suggestions are seasonally appropriate to spring in Florida but could be modified for your needs.

Get Outside

If you are fortunate to live near a green area or a park, and you aren’t on complete lock down, get outside for a walk in the park or a bike ride. Even sports between family members, like tennis or one-touch soccer are an option. Getting fresh air and sunlight will improve your fitness and stave off depression or cabin fever.

Webquests

Webquest.org has an entire library of up-to-date webquests on every topic under the sun. I usually choose the level above my youngest’s grade level for higher engagement but don’t let grade level limits stop you. If your kids is into ancient Egypt, let them have a go at the more challenging material.

Virtual Museum Tours

I got this idea from @AlyssaColeLit‘s tweet about virtual museum tours. You can find a comprehensive list here. If you have an art history book, you can flag favorite works and have kids hunt for them in virtual collections.

A derivative of this is the Virtual City Tour. Most major cities have some variation of this. Here’s one for New York City.

Read Alouds

Try going Victorian and choose a book to read aloud. Audiobooks are also great in a pinch. Though expensive, you can check out popular titles for all ages through online libraries or, if you have a hankering for the classics, Librivox offers free audiobooks of classics read by volunteers.

Found Visual Art

All you need is a smart phone or a digital camera. Take pictures in your community (don’t touch anything!) and upload them to free photo shopping sites like Canva, which offers a powerful free digital editing option. Edit pictures, make a digital collage or create postcards to send to far-off friends and family you may be staying away from for their own well-being.

You can also imitate some of great found art collections, such as this André Vicente Gonçalves worldwide Doors of the World collection. You could photograph the doors in your community – just make sure you don’t take pictures of anything inside without their permission.

Found Poetry

Like Found Visual Art, Found Poetry is an art form that uses the writing of others to create unique connections between words that becomes poetry. I’m a huge fan of Blackout Poetry, in particular. Popularized by Austin Kleon, old, moldy books and magazines regain a new life as you blackout, with a Sharpie or paint, words all the words except for ones you’ve selected. Best when you scan and don’t actually read the page your working with. Once done, your poetry book becomes a work of art. I’ve included a video from my Instagram of one of my blackout poetry books.

Coloring Books

I find with my son, adult coloring books work better than some of the available kid versions. Mandalas, nature diagrams, and reproductions of great works of art offer more opportunities for complex designs and higher engagement. Invest in a large box of colored pencils and glitter pens for more extravagant results.

World Games

I’m not a huge fan of unlimited video games for kids, but games like Halo and Skyrim offer full immersion, epic storylines that engage players with more than just shooting. Check ratings for violence and sexual themes but just play alongside the kids. I still have a soft spot for John the Masterchief. You can expand to online/multiplayer games, just be careful not to send kids to roam in those online places without supervision.

Family Game Night

Things get ugly in my house when we play Carcassonne but if strategy games aren’t your thing, choose from other classics like Monopoly, Chutes & Ladders or Uno and make a game night out of it. Snacks, prizes and even Skyping in friends and relatives can make for a great time.

Mixed-Media Journals

I love these just as a creative and often decorate my writing journals to give myself a creative boost. Stickers, glitter, origami, sketches, photographs – everything is game to encourage your kids to take on an activity that leads to greater reflection and mental serenity. As a variation, choose a theme-per-day for the entire family, let everyone collect artifacts, draw pictures and write narratives about the theme. Share at the end of the day and see who made the coolest connections.

I’m a writer and a teacher, so my ideas might tend toward the cerebral or focus on the written word. If you have any other ideas for engaging children during this period of social isolation, please feel free to add them in the comments.

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This month was an incredibly satisfying reading month. I DNF’d very few books (which we will not discuss) and really hit romance harder than in January. There are just too many great titles being published in the genre and I had to dive into that bounty. Reviews are presented in no particular order.

• 

The Earl I Ruined/The Duke I Tempted/The Lord I Left – Scarlett Peckham (Audiobooks)

This month, I was fortunate to attend a panel on historical romance during Coastal Magic Book Convention. One of the panelists mentioned the importance of virtue as necessary for a reader to accept a romance heroine. I am so glad I had just finished Scarlett Peckham’s Secrets of Charlotte Street series because one thing these alpha-heroines are not is entirely pure…and I am glad of it!

Each of the leads in the trilogy are women who, in one way or another, represent unconventional femininity in Georgian-Era England. The women are true “alpha women,” turning the typical power dynamic between common women and landed men on its head.

Book 1, The Duke I Tempted, centers on the story of Poppy Cavendish, a self-taught botanist who will go to great lengths to fulfill her ambitions to own her own nursery and maintain her freedom – including entering into a marriage of convenience with the secretive and legendary Duke of Westmead. The Duke surrenders his heart to Poppy but struggles to come clean about his desires, which creates constant emotional tension as both he and Poppy try to arrive at what they both most want – each other.

Book 2, The Earl I Ruined, is about Lady Constance Stonewell, who accidentally ruins the life of the Earl of Arthorp with her anonymous gossip column and offers her hand in marriage to save his reputation. What she doesn’t know is that he’s been secretly in love with her, making for endless misunderstandings and frustrated feelings that are at the heart of this trope.

And finally, book 3, The Lord I Left, my favorite installment, tells the story of Alice Hull, a country girl who’s escaped to London in search of freedom and goes to work at Charlotte Street, the most secretive and notorious whipping house. Lord Lieutenant Henry Evesham, who readers meet in Book 2, is an Evangelical reformer bent on reforming the pleasure trade in London. The unlikely love affair of a “fallen” woman and a vigin minister is one of the best inversions of this trope I’ve ever read.

There is a planned fourth book in this series, which I am eagerly awaiting. The audiobook experience was worthwhile, though the changes between POV characters happened fairly frequently, leaving me at times confused about who was speaking.

A Taste of Sage by Yaffra S. Santos

The premise of A Taste of Sage is irresistible – Lumi (Illuminada) Santos is the owner of a failed restaurant who goes to work for the Julien Dax, an arrogant, pretentious head chef at his famous French Restaurant. Lumi has a special gift – she can sense the emotions of a person through the foods they cook. This is an incredible gift, giving her insights into the people’s emotions, no matter how they mask them from others.

However, Lumi’s first encounter with Julien leaves her so infuriated, she promises never to eat his cooking. Thankfully, this doesn’t last long and soon Lumi discovers there is a disconnect between the nearly intolerable Julien and the emotions he transmits into his food. She learns who he is and slowly falls in love with him.

The novel’s sensibility is well-developed – there is no question Lumi lives for and through food. Her relationship with food reminds me of Tita de la Garza in the novel Like Water For Chocolate, and in fact, Santos makes reference to this novel as an inspiration in her author’s note (fun fact – the first novel with romantic elements I read which featured Latinx leads was also Esquival’s masterpiece). Santos does a very good job of imbuing the food in the novel with meaning beyond that of mere sustenance – the care for the recipes and dishes created by Lumi’s hand is obvious throughout the narrative. The romance develops well, though Lumi’s character is more richly developed than Julien’s, even with the benefit of his POV chapters. There is more to Julien’s character than meets the reader’s eye, though he does too good of a job convincing everyone otherwise.

For me, the story was a lovely elegy to the importance of food as a means of communicating, not only culture, but value, affection and, eventually, love. There are strong elements of women’s fiction which might make a romance reader a bit impatient but in the end, what emerges is a delightful book that had me craving the delicious dishes featured within and the desire to share them with as much love as I could muster.

ARC graciously provided by the author.

Salt + Stilettos by Janet Walden-West

*cover reveal end of March

I was fortunate to receive an ARC of this book from the author. Set in Miami’s South Beach, this forced proximity romance is one of the best books I’ve read this month. Brett Fontaine is a celebrity image consultant fresh from a traumatic stalker and abduction situation that has left its mark on her in the form of panic attacks and insomnia. She is tasked by her best friend and restaurateur Richard with reforming chef Will Te’o’s image in advance of their four star restaurant opening. Will Te’o, an American Samoan who’s left his family and his island to realize his dream of opening a restaurant one of the most competitive culinary communities. What starts off with preconceptions and skewed first impressions turns into an undeniable attraction that threatens to up-end both their lives.

The representation is on point in this novel. Brett, coming from an impoverished background, possesses all the fears and flaws of a woman who has had to depend on herself and can’t afford the weakness that comes with surrendering herself to someone else. Will is ambitious but carries the wounds of a person rejected for nothing more than who he is and struggles to reconcile his insecurities, ambitions and culture, all while trying to build something solid with a woman who wants nothing to do with commitment. It’s nice to see the such a wonderfully strong female character depicted unapologetically, and a male character who is strong but also given permission to be vulnerable and emotional. Wonderful read.

With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo (Audiobook)

Acevedo’s verse narratives speak to the poor, somewhat confused teenager in me, the one who was raised by a single mom in Jersey City with small resources and big dreams. With the Fire on High presents us with the utterly compelling story of Emoni Santiago, a teen mother who possesses the extraordinary ability to create magic from nothing in the kitchen. The steretypical story of a single latinx teen mom is turned on its head by a story that highlights the aching beauty of a young mother for her daughter, the importance of dreams, and the sustaining power of love in all its forms. I identify powerfully with both Emoni and Xiomara, the protagonist of The Poet X, in the way lives that are often discounted by the dominant culture are often the ones that sparkle the most brightly with the rich beauty and significance. I had the pleasure of listening to Acevedo read this book in audiobook format, which added immensely to the experience.

The Worst Best Man by Mia Sosa

ARC provided by NetGalley

This book is everything I want in a romcom – Carolina (Lina) is sassy, driven and so much more in need of a real connection than she lets herself believe. Max Hartley wins it as a patient, witty and hot partner who proves himself worthy of being with her. Their chemistry makes for some swoon-worth and hot scenes. The fact that he should be the off-limits brother of the Lina’s ex-fiancé and is now forced into close proximity by their respective work situations makes for a delicious and passionate read, and both Lina and Max really grow as characters by the end of the novel. Brazilian culture informs Lina’s character and it is one of the pleasures of reading an #ownvoices novel, because the authenticity is undeniable. The tias in this story remind me of mine, women who have been through real challenges and confront life with high expectations, wisdom and not a little bit of racy humor.

I am so happy to see the success of this novel because it is well-earned.

• 

Shadows & Dreams by Alexis Hall

Click here for blog post/review of Iron & Velvet.

Book two in the Kate Kane, Paranormal Investigator series, Shadows & Dreams continues Kate’s escapades as she avoids the usual cabal of supernatural beings while not being murdered, possessed or otherwise fed too many bananas by her assistant. Previously self-published, Carina Press reissued the trilogy with a new cover and some revisions to the writing. The third, never-released book, Fire & Water, is set for release later this year.

If you’ve been following the series, you’ll know Kate is the daughter of the Queen of the Wild hunt in Fairy who would like nothing more than to take over her mortal body each time Kate exercises her power. This makes Kate obviously hesitant to unleash her significant abilities, a problem she confronts with her typical sangfroid. Her ex is the Witch Queen of London, and her current squeeze is a Vampire Prince (catch all that?). She’s currently working a case in which she has to discover who is creating a vampire army all while trying to keep from being executed for murder.

Being an older book of Hall’s, I still struggle to find his voice in all the dry sarcasm and devil-may-car badassery that characterizes Kate. Still, the books are funny, ironic and just a ton of fun to read.

Fire & Water by Alexis Hall

Unlike many other readers, I came at this series in the last 12 months, so I never saw their previous iterations, nor did I have to wait so long for the third installment.

So I had another sensibility altogether when I picked up this series. While I found the first two books to be witty and engaging, I felt the writing was strongest in this installment. There is still a lot happening in these books, so many creatures betraying and realigning their allegiances, engaging plot twists and a break-neck pace that sucks you in, as is fitting of a suspense novel. Elise really comes into her own, and enjoyed the concept of her “sisters,” running amok (the scene between Kate, Russell, Lisbeth & Elise had me cackling more than it should have).

This installment really hiked up the stakes, which I think was hinted at in the earlier books, but is now coming to fruition in this book (god, it’s hard to write without spoilers but I’m trying!). The ending is…wow. But it’s good, even somehow appropriate, and opens up the possibility of future installments. I really liked this novel on its own merits and I’m not at all put out by the direction it’s taken. It’s perhaps my favorite of the three books.

*Note: The author has recently announced that there are, in fact, two more books in this series!

ARC provided by Netgalley

Pansies by Alexis Hall

Click here for original Goodreads review of Pansies.

And since we are on the subject of Hall’s work, I had the pleasure of listening to Pansies on Audiobook (released in January, 2020.) Just as with Acevedo’s With the Fire on High and Scarlett Peckham’s books, listening to an audiobook is another experience, especially if it is a book that you’ve read before. While I’d enjoyed the reading of Pansies the first time around, there was definitely an improvement in my opinion of the book after listening to it, so much so that I upgraded my 4-star rating to 5-stars. If you get an opportunity to do so, I highly recommend you listen to the Spire’s novels in addition to reading them. They are novels of place, and the audio allows listeners to capture the different dialects of the characters and get a better sense of who they are.

Best Women’s Erotica of the Year, Volume 5
This collection contains excellent erotica . It’s well written and diverse, offering a range of kinks and tastes for everyone. Consent is a big and safety is addressed, which I matters to me as a reader because I like a dose of reality with my fantasy (if that makes any sense whatsoever).

In addition to writers I recognized, such as Sierra Simone, Sabrina Sol and CD Reiss, there were a few new-to-me writers that now I’m eager to read and follow.

Of course, not every story landed for me. I’m not interested in dubcon or intimations of abuse but, honestly, that was maybe one story out of all of them and I happen to have very firm personal limits that should not constitute the rule for anyone else.

An excellent read, probably one of the best collections I’ve read in a while. The representation is strong and there’s really something for everyone.

You Deserve Each Other by Sarah Hogle

A hilarious story with a biting humor that borders on meanness, I had mixed feelings about this novel. If you enjoy an enemies to lovers story, this one of the most refreshing ones I’ve read in a while, because the trope takes place within an already committed relationship. The premise is about a couple that no longer wishes to be together, so they do everything possible to get the other to break it off without being the one to call it quits. It becomes a cautionary tale on the ways resentment can build in a relationship until the relationship sours, revealing what we all know to be true about relationships – if they are not well-tended, it doesn’t matter how passionate or promising their coming together is, the relationship will fracture until there is nothing left.

It’s sad, gutting, and amusing at the same time, which speaks to the talent of the writer. At times harsh, it is nonetheless an excellent read.

When We Were Vikings by Andrew David MacDonald

This novel is simply epic! The MC, Zelda is born with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome from an alcoholic mother, who later dies. Her father is also deceased and she is raised by an abusive uncle. Here, the enemy for both Zelda and her brother, Gert, are the cycle of poverty and generational trauma that manifests in subtle and sinister ways in their lives.

Zelda is a triumph of characterization, embarking on her own heroic journey to protect her small group and save herself and those she loves from the tragedy that seems to lurk at every turn. The disability rep is powerful in this book and I found myself cheering for Zelda at every turn.

My thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for a free ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review

The Bear by Andrew Krivak

The Bear is a post-apocalyptic novel in the spirit of The Road, by Cormac McCarthy, except our archetypal characters are a father and his daughter. Girl is born during the summer solstice and they climb to the top of a mountain to visit the mother, who rests under a ledge shaped like a bear.

Each day is a struggle to survive, but also a grappling with the immense loss, not only of the human community, but the more personal loss of family and love. Less violent than The Road, the journey in The Bear is an emotional one that leaves you with a deep appreciation for the myths and stories that bind us to one another, and keep the memory of our loves alive.

Night of the Scoundrel by Kelly Bowen

This novella works well as a standalone, which is good because I hadn’t read any of the other books in the series. I love that Adeline is an assassin – making her a formidable love interest or King. The plot moves quickly and the sexy times are hot but King’s vulnerability and trust in Adeline make this novella worth reading. Suspense, heat, emotional depth and an excellent plot make this historical novella a worthwhile read.

Friday Kiss is one of many weekly Twitter writing challenges. If I have an excerpt that is relevant to the challenges, I will post it on my Twitter and here on Fridays.

Today’s theme is: Trust.

From my in-progress manuscript, La Trovadora (The Troubador) (#ownvoice, #historical romance, #amdrafting).

“I want to trust you, but I won’t recover if things go wrong.”

“Élena,” I pleaded. I hadn’t lived the life she’d lived these last ten years, but the same things bound us together – the land, our childhood & this living thing that pulsated each time we came together. #fridaykiss

About La Trovadora:

m/f romance featuring Latinx leads

Blurb-in-Progress:

(Tentative blurb – will change):

When two childhood friends reunite after ten years in post-WWII Puerto Rico, their lives reflect the trauma and changes of an island in flux. They must discover whether the changes in their circumstances – and themselves – is to great to find a way back to each other again.

The Turkish carpet lay across the uneven floorboards that night,

Whorls of brocade that gleamed in the distance spiraled to faded gold.

My heel caught on the raised stitch and I stumbled.

You caught me and led me in a slow dance to the rhythm of a ballad,

That could have been a battle hymn

Ground out on a scratched guitar,

Strings worn down, notes off-tune,

A premonition of things to come.

The rug had been striking once,

Woven into existence by mechanical hands in a warehouse in China,

(Don’t worry, the label Made in Turkey wasn’t added until it arrived in Ohio, stitched into place by an undocumented girl who pricked her finger on the needle and smeared the droplets of blood along the rug’s matching border)

Things only age in one direction,

Solid and ephemeral alike – carpets, ballads, love,

The gold thread and sharp notes worn to mustard yellow monotones,

Red-burgundy thread the color of dried blood turned rusty brown down to the mesh backing.

(Image credit: djedj from Pixabay )

Friday Kiss is one of many weekly Twitter writing challenges. If I have an excerpt that is relevant to the challenges, I will post it on my Twitter and here on Fridays.

Today’s theme is: Blanket.

From my completed manuscript, Incomparable (#ownvoice, #contemporary romance). Estimated publication date: Fall, 2021, Harlequin Special Edition.

“She pulled off the blanket, exposing them both to the morning chill as she rose from the bed. When she stretched, he couldn’t help reacting to her nakedness. Her body was an invitation to worship & he wanted to be the one, the only one, at her mercy.” #fridaykiss #ownvoices #contemporaryromance

About Incomparable:

When Val Navarro meets Philip in a club in East Ward, the only thing she knows about him is that he can’t dance, loves Star Wars and is irresistible in every way. Little does she know that they are on the opposite sides of a multi-billion-dollar property development project that might make – or break – her urban neighborhood.

Philip Wagner is the son of a legendary property developer. He’s spent his whole life working his way to the top to be worthy of a place at his father’s side. But his attraction to Val threatens to make him forget everything that matter to him except one – to have her, any way he can.

Take one Puerto Rican restaurant owner and one billionaire property developer. Add two sides of a multi-billion-dollar development deal. Season with equal parts chemistry and simmer until you have the potential for love- or disaster.

Fortress

I don’t trust.

It has nothing to do with you.

It has nothing to do with our time

together on this earth.

My heart is a fortification

confining the transgressions of generations,

detaining their retributions from rampaging

across the sugar cane fields,

or scorching

the newly bloomed hibiscus flowers,

tearing

the wings off hummingbirds,

and leaving

nothing

but the tread of claws

scraped deep in the freshly-ashed soil.

Spirits of ancient offenses

sealed behind a wall slick with resentment

shielding others from contagion.

I’m not protecting myself from you

I’m protecting you from

Me.

Friday Kiss is one of many weekly Twitter writing challenges. If I have an excerpt that is relevant to the challenges, I will post it on my Twitter and here on Fridays.

Today’s theme is: Snuggle.

From my in-progress manuscript, La Trovadora (The Troubador) (#ownvoice, #historical romance, #amdrafting).

“Élena’s stomach quivered. She would be sleeping in the same house as Adriano. But it would be nothing like those days so long ago, when she’d dared to climbed through his window and snuggle into his pillows, dared to share all her dreams and secrets with him.” #fridaykiss

About La Trovadora:

m/f romance featuring Latinx leads

Blurb-in-Progress:

(Tentative blurb – will change):

When two childhood friends reunite after ten years in post-WWII Puerto Rico, their lives reflect the trauma and changes of an island in flux. They must discover whether the changes in their circumstances – and themselves – is to great to find a way back to each other again.

My reading list for the first month of 2020 was characterized by the randomness that is typical of my reading tastes. While querying Incomparable, I’ve been making headway on research for my historical romance set in post WWII Puerto Rico, tentatively entitled La Trovadora (The Troubador), and many of my reading selections over the last few months have centered on researching for this manuscript.

I overloaded on romances in December so my selections this month tended a bit more towards lit fic and nonfiction, but a few wonderful kissing books made their way into my reads. I grouped each book accordingly.

Inspiration and Creativity:

Steal Like an Artist / Show Your Work / Keep Going by Austin Kleon

Every single one of Austin Kleon’s books are must reads for me. They are easy to carry around, visually striking, and topically streamlined. They speak from an authentic place about the creative process and all the complications that come from balancing creativity with…everything else.

How to Do Nothing by Jenny Odell

I expected a book about the merits of a social media purge, something I’m fond of doing periodically. However, what emerges in these pages is a reflection on the commodification of free time as a result of the gig economy and the resulting dissipation of boundaries between the personal and the professional. Odell covers multiple topics from the narrowing of focus in the context of art and social media to the history of unions in the United States. If you are really interested in harnessing the tools of the information age without being drowned in them, this book is a must read.

Latin American history and literature:

Sugar, Slavery and Freedom in Nineteenth-Century Puerto Rico by Luis A. Figueroa

This selection is part of the research I am doing on my current work in progress – a historical romance set in post WWII Puerto Rico. This is a continuation of a now six-month research project to understand the important changes on the island as a result of the transition from agricultural to industrial economies. To accomplish this, I had to school myself on the role of slavery and sugar production to get a sense of the cultural, political and economic climate in Puerto Rico in the 1950s. This is an excellent non-fiction companion to Conquistadora, by Esmeralda Santiago, a novel set on a sugar cane plantation in southern Puerto Rico during the late 1800s.

A Summer for Scandal by Lydia San Andres

When I discovered that Lydia San Andres’s romance novels set in the Caribbean, I squealed with joy. It is my dream to write a historical romance series set in Puerto Rico, my current WIP being the first in that series. She creates a fictional island and proceeds to set a delightful array of characters to the task of falling in love. Lush descriptions, and steamy, passionate scenes capture the sensibility of living on a Caribbean island and I, for one, became an instant fan. I’m looking forward to reading The Infamous Miss Rodgriguez in these upcoming months.

Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado

I have a soft spot for short story collections. When I read the reviews for Her Body and Other Parties, I knew I had to read it. She crosses genres, fusing elements of magical realism, horror, and psychological suspense for a collection that fixes its gaze on the way women’s bodies become the battleground for society’s prizes and punishments. For a writer, it is rich in lessons on pushing through prescribed literary forms to achieve narratives that resonate through the senses to strike at the secret travails of women’s lives.

National Book Award Finalists

There There by Tommy Orange

A narrative composed of 12 separate storylines, Orange’s novel reminds the reader that Native American culture is a living, breathing thing rooted in the luminosity of spirituality, the generational pain of historic injustice, and the negotiation of vitality and relevance in a modern world. Orange manages the intersection of so many interconnected narratives with deft and delicacy.

The Tiger’s Wife by Téa Obreht

There is something masterful and controlled about the writing in this novel, a true feat considering the young age of the novelist. Layers upon layers of stories run through this story, compounding the mystery, not only of the village Natalia, the main characters, visits as a physician, but also of her grandfather’s mysterious choices before his death. It is a novel about the power of stories, and the impossibility of secrets to remain hidden. Gorgeous.

Romance:

The Sheriff of Wickham Falls by Rochelle Alers

I was recently awarded the Romance Includes You Mentorship Grant, hosted by Harlequin Romance. My debut novel, Incomparable, will be published in the Fall of 2021. In consequence, I began to snap up copies of recently published novels in Harlequin’s Special Editions and Desire lines, including this entry by Rochelle Alers. A veteran romance writer with dozens of novels to her name, Alers writes a steamy, delicious story about a physician who relocates to a small town and the sheriff who captures her heart. I’m looking forward to the other books in her series.

Friday Kiss is one of many weekly Twitter writing challenges. If I have an excerpt that is relevant to the challenges, I will post it on my Twitter and here on Fridays.

Today’s theme is: Seduce.

From my in-progress manuscript, Incandescent (#ownvoice, #contemporary romance, #amdrafting).

“Rafael’s laugh possessed a cadence that both warmed and seduced Étienne. He cursed this assignment, even though his agent had fought hard to acquire it for him. He would have thrown the whole thing over to return to Rafael and listen to his laughter in person.” #fridaykiss

About Incandescent:

Book 2 – Incandescent m/m romance featuring Latinx/Haitian leads

Blurb-in-Progress:

Rafael (Rafi) Navarro is an educator who won’t let anything get in the way of the big dreams he has for himself and the community he serves.

Étienne Galois is an rising star in the art world with secrets that keep him from finding the connection he craves.

Their chemistry is explosive but can they convince themselves – and each other, that this is a love worth fighting for?

Friday Kiss is one of many weekly Twitter writing challenges. If I have an excerpt that is relevant to the challenges, I will post it on my Twitter and here on Fridays.

Today’s theme is: Home.

From my completed manuscript, Incomparable (#ownvoice, #contemporary romance, #amquerying).

“I spent a chaste night being fed the most wonderful food and then I came home like a perfect gentleman.”

Étienne laughed. “You are a romantic. Don’t deny it.”

An unfamiliar flood of heat raced over Philip’s skin. He couldn’t be blushing. “Aren’t we all?” #FridayKiss #ownvoices

About Incomparable:

When Val Navarro meets Philip in a club in East Ward, the only thing she knows about him is that he can’t dance, loves Star Wars and is irresistible in every way. Little does she know that they are on the opposite sides of a multi-billion-dollar property development project that might make – or break – her urban neighborhood.

Philip Wagner is the son of a legendary property developer. He’s spent his whole life working his way to the top to be worthy of a place at his father’s side. But his attraction to Val threatens to make him forget everything that matter to him except one – to have her, any way he can.

Take one Puerto Rican restaurant owner and one billionaire property developer. Add two sides of a multi-billion-dollar development deal. Season with equal parts chemistry and simmer until you have the potential for love- or disaster.

Friday Kiss is one of many weekly Twitter writing challenges. If I have an excerpt that is relevant to the challenges, I will post it on my Twitter and here on Fridays.

Today’s theme is: World.

From my WIP, tentatively titled The Troubador (#ownvoice, #historical romance, #amquerying).

“When the shock of her words wore off, I went after her, calling for her throughout the house, the open field, a madman who’d lost all scale of reality. Because Élena was my reality now and I did not know how to reshape the world without her in it. ”

About The Troubador:

(Tentative blurb – will change):

When two childhood friends reunite after ten years in post-WWII Puerto Rico, their lives reflect the trauma and changes of an island in flux. They must discover whether the changes in their circumstances – and themselves – is to great to find a way back to each other again.

Nights of Lights

Suspended lights whose glow glides against a smoldering sunset,

While the color of navy eyeshadow creeps an ashy stroke along a darkening sky.

Lightning bugs flutter between incendiary bodies,

Propagating waves across the uncompromising emptiness of space,

Landing like stardust on our already over-heated skin.

We wait for talismans,

Some message in defiance of the chaos,

Against chance and unforeseen encounters.

We take flight on brittle wings in search of a compass,

Any indication that this direction is better than that one,

This path is worth forgoing another,

Chasing, fluttering, darting, surging after the smallest hint

That our journey is something more than a Möbius strip,

An infinite path of repetitions and failures,

Or an endless flitting of moth wings around a rusted gas lamp,

Each flinging themselves against the flames,

All the while dreaming of the sun.

– from “Slant Rhyme,” a short romance featured in Heart’s Desire: A Contemporary Romance Collection from The New Romance Cafe.

All proceeds from this collection go to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

About Slant Rhyme:

Belmira Saez (Bel) is a poet who struggles with anxiety.

Daniel Parker is an engineer whose life is at a crossroads.

Two lives in flux when Daniel stumbles into a bookstore during Bel’s poetry reading.

Two ordinary people in need of an extraordinary connection.

Gah, of course I would be this late! But I’ve spent January of 2020 writing and revising so I forgive myself for waiting till nearly the end of January to talk about last year in reading.

For those of you, like me, who like to track your reading stats, Goodreads has a nifty feature that allows you to look back at the titles you’ve read. I made a conscious effort to include as many diverse reads as I could this year and I am satisfied I’ve made progress. I’d set a goal of 75 books but read 118 of them. When you consider that I wrote two romance shorts of 10k, revised a 95k manuscript and drafted 65k of a new book, all while working full time and raising an active family, I think I’ve done okay!

I’m not going to go through and count up each type of book I’ve read. If the curiosity moves you, you can always hit up my Goodreads author profile here. You might even be enticed to buy a copy of Hot Summer Nights: A Summer Romance Collection from the New Romance Cafe to read my story, “Mar y Sol” or you can preorder Heart’s Desire: A Contemporary Romance Collection from The New Romance Cafe, featuring my short romance, “Slant Rhyme.”

• 

• 

All proceeds from both collections go to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.See what I did there? I’m getting better at marketing already!

As regards to my favorite books of 2019, I’m going to link to my Best Books of 2019 thread from Twitter because I think it does a fairly good job of summing up, in prompt format, the great books I’ve read this year. Are there books missing? Absolutely! I’ll add those honorary mentions below.

Love this idea! #BestBks19. I'll keep adding to this thread.

A fave I've read in 2019 that…

Day 1: Made me cry

Long Shot by @kennedyrwrites

The Poet X by @AcevedoWrites

Tolstoy and the Purple Chair by Nina Sankovitch @readallday

Black and Blue by Anna Quindlen https://t.co/bV0TwzMlYl

— Sera Taíno 🇵🇷📝 (@serataino) December 2, 2019

Day 2: Made me laugh uncontrollably

Chloe Brown, Get a Life by @TaliaHibbert
Chloe is witty & brilliant but bonus laughs every time her sisters are on the scene.

— Sera Taíno 🇵🇷📝 (@serataino) December 2, 2019

Day 3: Broke my heart

The book that caused me to openly weep in public was a collection of poems by Paul Monette called Love Alone: Eighteen Elegies for Rog. In this work, he processes, in raw form, the stages of his grief over the death of his partner, Roger. It wrecked me.

— Sera Taíno 🇵🇷📝 (@serataino) December 4, 2019

Day 4: Scared Me

Let the Old Dreams Die by John Ajvide Lindqvist. The title short story, a followup to the novel Let the Right One In, was nearly as terrifying as the novel itself which, btw, was made into a brilliant Swedish horror movie (the US remake was nowhere near as good)

— Sera Taíno 🇵🇷📝 (@serataino) December 4, 2019

Day 5: Brought me joy

American Dreamer by @ladrianaherrera Dreamers reminds me the struggles my family faced coming to the US & the connections we made with others like us. Nesto, Milo, Patrice, Juanpa – those are the faces of the men I grew up with. This series owns my heart.

— Sera Taíno 🇵🇷📝 (@serataino) December 6, 2019

Day 6: Made Me Swoon

Red, White & Blue by @casey_mcquiston .

"Should I tell you that when we're apart, your body comes back to me in dreams?"

Difficult because this RW&RB filled so many prompts.

I could read an entire novel of just Alex's & Henry's swoon-worthy emails.

— Sera Taíno 🇵🇷📝 (@serataino) December 6, 2019

Day 7: Surprised me

The Captive Prince Trilogy by @cspacat

Was ready to give up on book 1 at chapter 3. But the writing was so good, I kept going. The biggest surprise was the way Laurent & Damen's relationship develops from emnity into something tender & abiding. Stunning.

— Sera Taíno 🇵🇷📝 (@serataino) December 8, 2019

Day 8: Had the best romance

This was so hard! I'm going with Our Souls at Night by Kent Haruf. The intimacy that develops between Addie & Louis, both in their 70s, is delicately drawn; a story of second chances that's also a meditation on the enduring need for human connection.

— Sera Taíno 🇵🇷📝 (@serataino) December 9, 2019

Day 9: Made me grip the edge of my seat

I don't do many thrillers but I finished Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Süskind last night. Jean-Baptiste Grenouille is one creepy MC and I kept wondering what terrible thing would happen next.

— Sera Taíno 🇵🇷📝 (@serataino) December 9, 2019

Day 10: Took me ages to finish

I'm a fast reader so my books rarely linger but it took me a few weeks to read Conquistadora by Esmeralda Santiago. Though excellent, it was a busy work period & I could only read or listen to snippets at a time (since I also had the audiobook).

— Sera Taíno 🇵🇷📝 (@serataino) December 11, 2019

Day 11: Best side characters

Southsayer by @chimera__jack (Travelers Book 4) . Part of a cozy dystopian series, every character, even the minor ones, are precise. The fact that you want each side character in the series to have their own book speaks to how well they are written.

— Sera Taíno 🇵🇷📝 (@serataino) December 12, 2019

Day 12: Had the best friend group

The group of characters I've met so far in the Reluctant Royals Series (I've read Can't Escape Love and A Princess on Paper so far) by @AlyssaColeLit. I love solid, positive friendships between strong women and these books deliver on that.

— Sera Taíno 🇵🇷📝 (@serataino) December 12, 2019

Day 13: Book that stayed with me

I read Glitterland by @quicunquevult for the first time last year. I reread it every few months when I want the certainty of something beautiful. As a writer, it's an aspiration, a reminder of what is possible.

— Sera Taíno 🇵🇷📝 (@serataino) December 13, 2019

Day 14: In which animals play a big role

Perhaps monsters? In the YA novel, A Curse So Dark and Lonely by @BrigidKemmerer, a lovely modern retelling of Beauty and the Beast, the specter of the monster hangs over everything, lending a sinister edge to the popular fairy tale.

— Sera Taíno 🇵🇷📝 (@serataino) December 14, 2019

Day 15: Had the best mystery

Tana French's The Witches Elm is the kind of novel I like – slow burn, psychological drama that's also a study of the perception of a series of events from differing perspectives. The mystery is well done, emerging slowly & unpredictably.

— Sera Taíno 🇵🇷📝 (@serataino) December 16, 2019

Day 16: Had the best sex scene

I loved the ethereal, otherworldly quality of the sex scenes in The Remaking of Corbin Wale by @RoanParrish Everything Corbin experiences is intensely connected to the natural world, a sensibility that is skillfully conveyed during intimate moments

— Sera Taíno 🇵🇷📝 (@serataino) December 17, 2019

Day 17: Had the best I Love You

“My heart works in a different way, but it’s yours. You’re my one.”
😭😭😭

The Bride Test by @HHoangWrites

— Sera Taíno 🇵🇷📝 (@serataino) December 17, 2019

Day 18: Had the best narrator

Dread Nation by @justinaireland
Trained zombie fighter Jane McKeene is smart, resourceful, & drops Shakespeare with the same precision as she wields her scythes. Her voice is brilliant. Looking forward to Deathless Divide, out next year.

— Sera Taíno 🇵🇷📝 (@serataino) December 19, 2019

Day 19: Made me nostalgic

Their Perfect Melody by @PrisOliveras because Lili reminds me of my sister – short, spunky, loves to dance, says everything a little too loudly, but also willing to take on a person twice her size if provoked. Me, except at full volume 😆🥰 .

— Sera Taíno 🇵🇷📝 (@serataino) December 20, 2019

Day 20: Made me think of a song

Every romance I read gets assigned a song. In my unpublished manuscript, Incomparable, Val and Philip dance to Billie Holiday's Crazy He Calls Me. I've come to associate the song with that story.

— Sera Taíno 🇵🇷📝 (@serataino) December 22, 2019

21: I want adopted into a film@NaliniSingh's Guild Hunter series, especially the first 3 books. @STARZ or @netflix could produce a book per season, like Outlander.Then they could do the Psy Changeling series and we would be set with programming for at least 20 years.

— Sera Taíno 🇵🇷📝 (@serataino) December 22, 2019

Day 22: Was absolutely underrated/not talked about enough.

All my diverse novels. I go into box stores, libraries, & bookstores With very few exceptions, it's a sea of straight, white romances. I've been exposed to true excellence this year & those books deserve more attention.

— Sera Taíno 🇵🇷📝 (@serataino) December 23, 2019

Day 23: Had the best cliffhanger

I'd been saving Bks1/2 of Alexis Hall's Arden St. Ives series to read when How to Belong With a Billionaire came out in Sept. By July, I couldn't wait anymore. ¿Pa' que fue eso? I suffered so much, when Bk3 came out, I devoured it like an addict

— Sera Taíno 🇵🇷📝 (@serataino) December 23, 2019

Day 24: I got because of the cover@O_Waite's The Lady's Guide to Celestial Mechanics is sublime. Beautiful astronomers being brilliant, smashing the patriarchy, and falling in love. A passionate & erudite novel. Just look at this beauty. How can anyone resist? pic.twitter.com/OOhCcEVOS3

— Sera Taíno 🇵🇷📝 (@serataino) December 25, 2019

Some books simply didn’t fit any of the prompts but deserve mentioning. These would include, in no particular order:

Mangos and Mistletoes by Adrianna Herrera

Paris in the Present Tense by Mark Helprin

In the Middle of Somewhere by Roan Parrish

The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates

Song of the Simple Truth: The Complete Poems of Julia de Burgos by Julia de Burgos

Lord of Scoundrels by Loretta Chase

For Real by Alexis Hall (actually, the entire Spires series. And the Arden St. Ives Series. Yeah, pretty much anything he writes).

Winter Hours by Mary Oliver

The Craft of Love by EE Ottoman

Speak Low/Silverchest/The Rest of Love by Carl Phillips

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Friday Kiss is one of many weekly Twitter writing challenges. If I have an excerpt that is relevant to the challenges, I will post it on my Twitter and here on Fridays.

Today’s theme is: Hold.

From my work in progress, the short romance, Slant Rhyme (#ownvoice, #contemporary romance, #amdrafting).

“A more incendiary form of curiosity took #hold of me as his hands pressed against my back, imprisoning me against the hard lines of his body, against every swell and bulge that signaled that he wanted me.” #FridayKiss #amrevising #amwritingromance

About Slant Rhyme:

*I updated the blurb and will likely do so again by the time it’s done. Also, this is likely the last #FridayKiss I do for this WIP. Cover reveal for the collection containing this story coming soon!

Belmira Saez (Bel) is a poet who struggles with chronic anxiety.

Daniel Parker is an engineer whose life is at a crossroads. 

Two very different lives in flux when Daniel stumbles into a bookstore during Bel’s poetry reading. 

Two ordinary people in need of an extraordinary connection.

 

Featuring Belmira Saez’s original poems.

 

I ask the darkness

What is woman?

I have no map to that country,

Etched in the moon’s blood.

When mother left, she took the compass with her.

I have not received

Such secrets as pass

From mother to daughter.

What else is there to find but a changeling.

A poor facsimile made of barely-sculpted clay

Abandoned in an unused kiln,

The form fashioned from an absent mold

Painted by the hand of an artist

Who only just recalls

The fleeting beauty of her model.

By Sera Taino

Friday Kiss is one of many weekly Twitter writing challenges. If I have an excerpt that is relevant to the challenges, I will post it on my Twitter and here on Fridays.

Today’s theme is: New.

From my work in progress, the short romance, Slant Rhyme (#ownvoice, #contemporary romance, #amdrafting).

“He was restless, his eyes flickering from my lips to my hair before sliding away to land on his drink. It was the first time I admitted to myself the possibility of kissing him. Once this #new idea settled in my mind, it grew deep roots and refused to let go.” #fridaykiss

About Slant Rhyme:

Belmira Saez (Bel) is a poet who struggles with chronic anxiety.

Daniel Parker is an engineer whose life is at a crossroads.

Two very different lives in flux when Daniel stumbles into a bookstore
during Bel’s poetry reading.

Two very different people in need of that little bit of courage to chase
after their heart’s desire.

Featuring Belmira Saez’s original poems.

Coming soon on Valentine’s Day! Check back for more details.

Thurds is one of many free Twitter writing events designed to motivate writers to show their best work. If I have an excerpt that is relevant to this challenge, I will post it on my Twitter and here on Thursday.

From my work in progress, tentatively titled “Slant Rhyme.”

“I glowed beneath the fairy lights, caught snatches of odd conversation like sea-tinted perfume, and relished the bombardments of pleasure this night had gifted me. “Love is a many-splendored thing,” I quipped, but it was no joke. I’d never been more serious in all my life. #Thurds

About “Slant Rhyme“

Belmira Saez (Bel) is a poet who struggles with chronic anxiety.

Daniel Parker is an engineer whose life is at a crossroads.

Two very different lives in flux when Daniel stumbles into a bookstore
during Bel’s poetry reading.

Two very different people in need of that little bit of courage to chase
after their heart’s desire.

Featuring Belmira Saez’s original poems.

Coming soon on Valentine’s Day! Check back for more details.

There are two of you,

Training ground for how to be

Both whole and fragmented.

I am me but I am also your mother.

I belong to me but I also belong to you.

There is enough of me for a multitude,

But sometimes, I am barely enough for myself.

The moon goes through phases –

New, waxing, full, waning,

With some quarters and halves in between –

So is the trajectory of my love,

The heart that empties,

Knowing it will grow full again.

– Sera Taíno

Image by Paul Brennan from Pixabay

WIP Wednesdays is one of many weekly Twitter writing challenges designed to motivate writers to show their best work. If I have an excerpt that is relevant to this challenge, I will post it on my Twitter and here on Wednesdays.

From my work in progress, tentatively titled “Slant Rhyme.”

“The bridge possessed the same quality as the streets we walked along, everything bathed in ornamental light, while the Atlantic sloshed against the pillars, conspiring with me against its wilder nature to gift me this moment of rare, undulating serenity.”

About Slant Rhyme:

Belmira Saez (Bel) is a poet who struggles with chronic anxiety.

Daniel Parker is an engineer whose life is at a crossroads.

Two very different lives in flux when Daniel stumbles into a bookstore
during Bel’s poetry reading.

Two very different people in need of that little bit of courage to chase
after their heart’s desire.

Featuring Belmira Saez’s original poems.

Coming soon on Valentine’s Day! Check back for more details.

There was nothing remarkable about the way they died-
The usual love-hate-fight-leave-comeback lovedance,
The comfy dysfunction, the bruises and curses,
The scattered pictures, toys and books,
trappings of some shared yesterday.

But most deaths do not expose such fractured domesticity
Nor lay the burning embers of a humiliating need
To the examination of public opinion
or the recriminations of those who always know better.

So goes the reconstruction:
Another rejection, her firm resolve,
His refusal, a chase across the living room,
Flip-flops flung in flimsy flight,

A plea,
A scream,

And three bullets launched from the metal casing of darkness
Into the soft craniums of blood clots and love knots.

Not just two bodies sprawled on the yellow-tiled floor,
But love desiccated and pinned on its dried back
To be examined, buried, exhumed, and x-rayed
Under the righteous derision of youthful dreams.

Originally published in BellaOnline Literary Magazine, Winter Solstice Issue, 2017

Friday Kiss is one of many weekly Twitter writing challenges. If I have an excerpt that is relevant to the challenges, I will post it on my Twitter and here on Fridays.

Today’s theme is: Goodbye.

From my completed manuscript, Incomparable (#ownvoice, #contemporary romance, #amquerying).

“They said their goodbyes, after which Val stood for a minute longer in the kitchen, holding and releasing as much air as her lungs could take. She willed herself to come back down to earth and seek out her father, the only person who could ground her in reality. ”

About Incomparable:

When Val Navarro meets Philip in a club in East Ward, the only thing she knows about him is that he can’t dance, loves Star Wars and is irresistible in every way. Little does she know that they are on the opposite sides of a multi-billion-dollar property development project that might make – or break – her urban neighborhood.

Philip Wagner is the son of a legendary property developer. He’s spent his whole life working his way to the top to be worthy of a place at his father’s side. But his attraction to Val threatens to make him forget everything that matter to him except one – to have her, any way he can.

Take one Puerto Rican restaurant owner and one billionaire property developer. Add two sides of a multi-billion-dollar development deal. Season with equal parts chemistry and simmer until you have the potential for love- or disaster.

From the publisher:

The Mantle that separates the kingdoms of Elsira and Lagrimar is about to fall. And life will drastically change for both kingdoms.

Born with a deadly magic she cannot control, Kyara is forced to become an assassin. Known as the Poison Flame in the kingdom of Lagrimar, she is notorious and lethal, but secretly seeks freedom from both her untamed power and the blood spell that commands her. She is tasked with capturing the legendary rebel called the Shadowfox, but everything changes when she learns her target’s true identity.

Darvyn ol-Tahlyro may be the most powerful Earthsinger in generations, but guilt over those he couldn’t save tortures him daily. He isn’t sure he can trust the mysterious young woman who claims to need his help, but when he discovers Kyara can unlock the secrets of his past, he can’t stay away.

Kyara and Darvyn grapple with betrayal, old promises, and older prophecies—all while trying to stop a war. And when a new threat emerges, they must beat the odds to save both kingdoms.

Review:

Note: I have not read the first book of the series.

A great epic fantasy captures you in an alternative world and envelopes you in its magic, but also delivers characters who live up to the call to adventure and the pursuit of goals that require resilience and self-sacrifice. L. Penelope’s Whispers of Shadow and Flame does exactly that. In book 2 of the Earthsinger Chronicles, the world-building is internally consistent but the characters of Kyara and Darvyn ol-Tahlyro are so well written, you have no choice but to follow helplessly in their wake.

One thing I always look for is excellent writing and L. Penelope’s writing is perfect for the story she writes. She builds a world that is on the edge of war, the tension razor sharp at every turn. The scenes are tautly written and no one is as they appear. As a romance reader, I was also deeply satisfied with the primary romance. The protagonists are the epitome of opposites – Kyara is a Poison Flame and Darvyn is the most powerful Earthsinger in the Kingdom, which makes their relationship fraught with all the contradictions of bringing life and death together in the bond of love. Watching them come together was an intense experience.

Plus, the covers!

Highly recommend this series.

I received an ARC courtesy of Net Galley.

Where to buy:

 

 

 

The brown ceramic cups
Decorated in painted flowers
Peonies in amber
Meant for your morning tea
We found a pair of them while searching through the used shop
Rummaging for something useful
Something, but I no longer remember what
The memory has long been
Swallowed up in the recollection of those peony fields
Pink on bronze
Hairline chip
On the bottom
Slim handle
Easy to hold
Easier than holding onto you

The fissures inside us were too deep to keep us together
When you left, you took the unmarred one with you

Somewhere, in this boundless world
On a dawning day soaked in rain
Watering bouquets in the heart of spring
I will sip from my chipped cup
At the same time you sip from your whole one
And remember the smell of mold from the shop’s wooden shelves.

Originally published in BellaOnline Literary Magazine, Summer Solstice 2018 Issue

When I joined the Romance Writers Association (RWA) two yeas ago, I never thought to identify it as a racialized institution. I didn’t have the benefit of knowing its history, because I had always interacted with romance as a reader, not a writer. However, after the release of documents from the Ethics Committee outlining the complaints and sanctions against Courtney Milan (two days before Christmas, no less), I decided I need to know more about the behavior of an organization of which I am a part.

It is clear, the RWA has a history of failing to create a safe space for Authors of Color (AOC) in the organization. And it isn’t just AOC. Queer, handicapped, neurodivergent authors – anyone who is not from a background that is not straight and white are told, through policy and practice, that they are not welcome.

There’s too much of this openly, exclusionary behavior in our government, in our institutions, in our national culture. I thought for sure, RWA should be the place where things would be different. I mean, the RWA is in the business of depicting love and isn’t love supposed to be about acceptance, tolerance and justice?  But love without justice is just cheap emotion. And organizations who fear to exact a cost from individuals who behave in a discriminatory way become another tool of oppression. I cannot support that.

In light of the ruling of the ethics committee against Courtney Milan and the manner in which it was released, I will not be renewing my RWA membership and will not join again until such time it can demonstrate that it is taking measurable steps towards inclusion and developing a culture of courage in the face of blatant racism. It must demonstrate that it is willing to take on the bigoted elements entrenched in its midst and make an incontrovertible stand against institutionalized hatred. It must demonstrate that authors of every background and identity have a safe place to learn, work, and grow. It must become the champion of tolerance that it purports to be.

#Istandwithcourtney

Short Romance: Thiago goes into cardiac arrest on the operating room table. Clara has been in a catastrophic car accident. That’s only the beginning.

Code Blue is a 6,000 word short story originally published under the title “White” in Moonlight, Monsters & Magic: A Paranormal Sexy Shorts Collection (2018).

Subscribers can download this story – and others – from the Subscribers Only page by signing up for my newsletter. There, you will receive instructions on downloading Code Blue in epub or mobi format with a choice of cover.

Soul mates. Christmas story. Heat Level 1.

Code Blue

By Sera Taíno

My attending nurse pushed my hospital bed relentlessly toward the operating room.  I was under the care of Dr. Avery Major, one of the youngest and most successful cardiologists in the country—or so my mother told anyone she met.  His team was attempting an emergency open-heart surgery on my weak heart, though the incongruence of possessing a heart in need of repair at the age of twenty-eight still left me burning with the unfairness of it all.  

When the gurney stopped, a group of masked faces loomed over me, while somewhere out of sight, I heard the clanging of instruments, most likely the ones that would be used to cut me open. I swallowed hard against the fear-induced nausea that rose in my throat.

“Here we are, Thiago,” Dr, Major said, patting my hand with a joviality bordering on the inappropriate given my precarious footing on the line between life and death. I was a young man confronting the specter of my demise, a prospect that didn’t invite humor. However, I passed on the opportunity to give voice to my annoyance and politely returned his greeting. We knew each other well enough after dealing with my heart condition for the last two years. If I died, I didn’t want to leave the mortal world in a fit of pique with someone who was so clearly happy. That’s no way to greet eternity, I thought as the mask descended over my face and I slipped into the dreamless darkness of a medically induced sleep.

***

When I woke, I expected disorientation—a feeling I knew well from my multiple surgeries. Instead, I was frightfully alert. I passed my hand over my chest in search of the tangle of IVs and heart monitor leads, but they were not attached. The staples in my sternum were in place, but the soft skin beneath was free of swelling and pain. To my surprise, I was able to sit up without the hint of dizziness.

I stared at an unfamiliar room. The walls and floors gleamed white, with surfaces as sleek as stainless steel, so bright, they shimmered as if they could take form or dissolve at a moment’s notice. The long, wide room contained straight lines of hospital beds, some empty, some occupied with other patients like me, in varying stages of sleep, wakefulness, or confusion. I wore my hospital gown and a remarkably fashionable pair of house slippers in a classic Burberry design. A mystery, as I had not worn slippers going into the surgery and could only assume my mother had put them on at some point.

My weak heart, long-protected from surges of strong emotion, pounded wildly in my chest. My breath came short and shallow. I wasn’t where I was supposed to be. One of the orderlies, a gruff man of about fifty with dark, silver-streaked hair and sharp gray eyes passed at the foot of my bed. He wore a white tunic with a peculiar feathery cape dragging behind him. I waved to capture his attention.

“Excuse me? Where am I?”

He halted, peering down at me, then at a chart in front of him. “You haven’t been checked in yet, have you?”

I spread my hands in confusion. “Checked in for what? Is this post-op?”

The man’s eyes widened before he burst into guffaws of laughter. “No, no, no,” he drawled. “You aren’t in the OR, or anywhere near where you’ve been before. You’re in The Waiting Room until we figure out where you need to go.”

“The Waiting Room? Am I in another ward of the hospital?”

“Hospital? No! Now pay attention. You’re in The Waiting Room. The. Waiting. Room.” He repeated each word as if I were hard of hearing. “Your kind have many names for this place but you might recognize it as Purgatory.” 

My confusion must have been broadcast across my face because he added, “Not particularly religious, are you, boy?”

Disbelief, then terror settled in my heart. Maybe I was dead, and I would finally get the reckoning I deserved after years of agnosticism or occasional, outright atheism. “Not very.” 

“It’s where mortals who aren’t quite dead or alive come to wait until their souls figure it out. Now let me get Ms. Betty. She’ll be able to check you in properly.” He searched the room and called out, “Betty! Here’s another one.”

A blonde woman in similar attire sashayed her way towards my bed, gesticulating at her clipboard as she spoke. “Viktor, I didn’t see this one come in.” She flicked her hand with a limp wrist that she insisted on flinging about as she flipped through her chart. 

“Oh, yes. Thiago Limeira, aged twenty-eight, came in during an open-heart surgery.” She wrinkled her nose and tutted. “Surgery. Ugh.” Her agitation caused her “cape” to undulate of its own accord and before I knew it, a pair of giant wings unfurled behind her—broad, white, feathery wings that shivered the way a bird’s did when it ruffled its feathers before settling into place again. I stared, dumbfounded, as she waved her hand over my chart.

“I’ll have to ask you to follow me, Mr. Limeira,” she said as she floated away. I scrambled behind her into another room, just as white as the one I’d left. My brain had given up processing this reality, leaving me to lurch from place to place as I took in the state of my environment. Vaulted ceilings stretched high above our heads, buttresses soaring like enormous winged birds frozen in mid-flight. Gigantic windows stretched from floor to ceiling, outside of which was visible an endless panorama of blue skies and bulbous white clouds in every direction, as far as the eye could see.

Plush chairs and sofas formed a sitting area around small tables piled high with books and magazines. The most extraordinary feature, though, was a labyrinth of mammoth bookcases that towered up to the vaulted ceiling, stopping at the buttresses above, filled with every kind of book imaginable. The contrast in color of the various book-bindings and spines against the whiteness was shockingly vivid, mitigated only by the natural light streaming in from the large windows and the warm glow of strategically placed lamps.

“You’ll wait here until you are told which door you may pass through,” she said before turning to walk away.

“Wait!” I said, recovering my wits. “I have no idea what’s going on. Doors and rooms and angel wings?” The panic in my voice echoed in the lofty space, while fear cascaded through me, constricting my lungs.

 “Purgatory? I need to know where I am and when I can get discharged from here.” 

Betty sat on a divan and pulled me down next to her. She flopped her wrist, patting my hand delicately. “At this very moment, you are experiencing a complication from your surgery, resulting in a Code Blue. You’ve entered into a semi-comatose state in which your soul has left your body but isn’t quite severed from the realm of the living.” She smiled, attempting to reassure me. “Your doctors are working very hard to revive you, and your body is not so far gone that it has given up on you. If they are successful, you will leave The Waiting Room and return home through that door there.” She indicated with a tilt of her head toward an ornate white door on the opposite wall. “Otherwise, you will leave through the blue door and go on your way.” 

I stared at the blue door, a large brass handle reflecting the perpetual whiteness of the place, and shivering at the idea of what lay beyond. The concepts of heaven and hell played no role in my day-to-day existence, nor did the general uncertainty of all things metaphysical interfere with the enjoyment of my life. However, this experience called into question everything I believed. I considered the possibility that I might be having an elaborate hallucination, experiencing some alternate state of consciousness in high resolution.

Ms. Betty stood, gathering her clipboard. “Now, you wait here. We’ll keep you posted on your progress. Feel free to relax or read a book from the library. Every piece of writing that has been written or will be written is on those shelves. Just think about what you would like to read, and it will appear.” She closed her eyes as if demonstrating the technique before her eyes flew open and she clapped in excitement. “It’s the neatest thing!” She floated back to the anteroom to attend to other patients.

I swallowed my panic, attempting to admire the books and dredge up some modicum of the joy I once took in their company. Under normal circumstances, finding myself before a collection of every book ever conceived or to be written would have been a temptation without limits, but my agitation prevented me from settling down enough to read. My mind struggled to comprehend this new reality and failed. I paced, pausing every so often to ponder the two closed doors and what lay beyond.

As I continued my pacing, convinced that my eternal punishment had begun through forced confinement in this infernal white room, I heard unsure footsteps behind me. I turned to see a young woman of about my age standing in the doorway. Rather than my hospital gown, she wore a pair of tight jeans, medium length boots, and a green cotton sweater that hung off her shoulder. She scanned the room. When her eyes fell on me, she approached and I nearly forgot where I was. 

Her eyes were a deep violet I’d never seen before, her irises rimmed with a solid dark outline that made the color pop out. They contrasted with her olive-colored skin. Waves of tousled brown hair tumbled over her exposed shoulder.

She tilted her head and we each stared at the other. I stared because she was striking, and she stared because there could be nothing more arresting than a man in an open-backed hospital nightgown and plaid house slippers. I resisted the urge to dive behind the settee. To her credit, she managed to keep a straight face.

“Excuse me, but is this The Waiting Room?” she asked, and I felt a furious blush creep over my skin at the shallowness of my previous thoughts. We both had more serious problems than my attire. I remained rigid, several seconds ticking by before I finally convinced my mouth to work.

“It is. I guess … you’re waiting too?” 

She relaxed, exhaling. “That’s what that Viktor guy …” she jabbed towards the door behind her with her thumb. “That’s what he said.” I observed how the realization of this new state burdened her in much the same way it did me and, while I pitied her, I was also relieved that I was no longer alone.

“I’m Thiago,” I said, extending a hand.

“Clara. Pleasure to meet you.” Her hand rested, warm and silky, in my palm. What were the social conventions between two wayward souls in a place like this? Her touch aroused images of physical pleasure, the joy of skin against skin, reminding me that I was still alive. The thoughts also mortified me with their inappropriateness and I pulled my hand away before she could read them on my face.

“It would probably be a greater one if it weren’t for the circumstances,” I said, making every effort to not sound like the bodiless pervert I was. 

She lapsed into silence, lost in her own thoughts. Many minutes passed, though time was fluid and difficult to determine here. I was at a loss for how to proceed under such extraordinary circumstances and nearly gave up any hopes of conversation when she spoke again.

“You know,” she said as she straightened her sweater, the smooth glow of her skin distracting me. “It’s kind of, I don’t know … anticlimactic, don’t you think?”

I smiled. “You mean the fact that there are no singing angels flying around with harpsichords, greeting us at the pearly white gates?” I chuckled and watched in amazement as her frown softened, altering the lineaments of her small face. 

“Well, they got the white part down, I’ll give them that,” Clara answered. Her eyes fell on the towers of books lining the wall of the room. “I have always imagined that Paradise will be a kind of library,” she said, almost to herself.

“You like Borges,” I said. She was beautiful—breathtaking, even—and she could quote Borges. If I’d ever come close to falling madly in love with a stranger, it would have been for these reasons alone.

She turned toward me, smiling as she nodded, and my weak heart lunged. I didn’t half mind being in this place if I could keep company with someone like her.  

“How did you get here?” she asked, interrupting my thoughts.

I indicated with my hand towards two plush chairs and invited her to sit. “I’m being operated on as we speak. I guess the procedure … didn’t agree with me.” I smirked. “They’re trying to revive me. You?”

She sighed. “I was driving home from work. Running late, as usual, because I had to pick up cat food for Maria’s cat. Maria is my cousin, and I’m supposed to be housesitting. The last thing I remember is a truck and bright lights—”

“Car accident,” I interjected.

“A bad one, from what I gathered. At Christmas time, no less. I came to a few times, but then they put me under and I woke up here.” 

I remembered the mask descending over my face, the slide into unconsciousness, the jarring confusion upon waking to the wonders of a working body, and an existential mystery. We were nothing but souls in transit, stuck at a waystation, moving neither forward nor backward. My fate, I had always believed, was mine to make. However, when it mattered most, such a consequential transition from life and death ultimately had nothing to do with me.

“I hope I don’t die,” she blurted.

“I know. I kind of enjoy living too.”  

She chuckled, then grew sober. “It’s more than that. My parents don’t have anyone else besides me.” She rubbed her palms along the length of her thighs and my eyes followed the trajectory made by them. “If it was me alone, I could even resign myself to it. But children … they should never leave before their parents.”

Seized with an unexpected boldness, I took her hand. She didn’t protest, but instead, gripped mine in turn. “If we’re still here, that means there’s still some hope of going home, right?”

She nodded briskly, taking a deep breath to steady herself. I pulled my hand away, just in time to feel a tear land on the back of one. She swiped at her cheek and I pretended to ignore it. “Do you have any family?” she asked.

I rubbed at the tear as if I could massage its essence into my skin. “My parents and my brother.” I imagined the implacable way my mother was probably demanding that I live, my father’s tenderness, and my brother hovering close, all clueless as to what would happen next. “But I have my writing, too.”

“A writer? Any famous books I should know about?” she asked with real curiosity.

“No, not at all. But I’d hoped, one day … In the meantime, I work as a freelance journalist to make a living. I like it. I’m doing what I love, which is more than most people can say.” How to explain the acute awareness of my mortality that my writing provoked: the growing understanding that now I might never have enough time to develop into the type of writer I wanted to be. 

Clara stretched out her hand and showed me her calloused fingertips. “I teach, but I’m also a rock climber. I’m pretty good at it.” Despite their bumps and bruises, I admired their elegant strength. “I actually won a few competitions.”

“Impressive.”

“Impressive,” she repeated, glancing at me with eyes gone hard as flint. “And ironic that I hang off the sides of rocks but I’d meet my end on the I-75. I don’t want to be selfish. I mean, I’ve been lucky in a lot of things. But … I’m not done with life.” 

I offered her my hand again, which she took, unfurling her fingers and capturing mine in turn with a grip that spoke of both her determination and desperation. I understood because I felt this fear too, a paralysis that threatened to strangle me. I glanced at the blue door, which drew her eyes also.

I wasn’t ready either. I think no one is ever really ready and it’s this fact that renders life precious beyond measure, with all its fragility and finiteness. We clutch at life as if clinging to fog, grasping at what we could never truly hold. I didn’t want to give up, but neither did I want to drown in fear, something which I was very much in danger of doing. 

I glanced around me, remembering the stacks that towered over us. “Books,” I said, pointing to the first giant bookcase with one hand, while grasping the opening at the back of my gown with the other as I stood. “I know we’ve only just met, but I feel I should confess that I had no say in the dress code.”

“Oh!” Clara noticed, perhaps for the first time, the predicament of my dressing gown. She dissolved into giggles which began low and husky until they grew so loud, they bounced off the walls and ricocheted against the buttresses, filling the empty, hollow space. A discharge of tension more than true mirth, the sound was lovely all the same. “That’s no way to meet St. Peter!” She laughed again; it was no longer laughter but music, like the call of angels. I couldn’t help but laugh along with her.

“I bet you could change into whatever you want to,” she added, openly admiring my legs beneath the gown.

I looked down at myself also, instantly regretting the reminder of my slippers.“It never occurred to me.”

She stood winking at me. “Let me try it.” She closed her eyes and, without warning, she shimmered before me, her jeans and sweater melting, replaced by a green and white polka dot summer dress, her slender arms revealed by spaghetti straps. The hem stopped just above her knee; long, shapely legs ended in simple white sandals.

“You’re beautiful,” I murmured, unable to take my eyes off her. She looked down at herself and smiled in satisfaction.

“Now, you,” she said.

I shook my head. “I’m a putz at dressing myself.”

“Then let me.” She stepped forward. “I’m new at this, so if you end up in a potato sack, you’ll have to forgive me in advance.”

I shivered at her touch. “Anything is better than this getup.”

Clara closed her eyes again and my gown shimmered into non-existence, replaced by a light blue, striped dress shirt and jeans. She opened her eyes and stepped closer to undo the top button of my shirt. Her forehead was just at my chin, and when she lifted her eyes to look into mine, our noses were close enough to touch. I swallowed hard, and her eyes followed the movement of my bobbing Adam’s apple.

“Do you want to see yourself?” she rasped, her voice unsteady.

I shook my head. “I trust you.”

“Do you?”

“Implicitly.”

Her lips parted, her breath fanning out over my skin.  With a boldness I did not normally possess, I lowered my lips to hers, brushing over her tender skin. Her breath hitched but she pressed her lips against mine in one of those passes that was more a touch than a kiss before pulling away. In another context, my lack of restraint would have horrified me. But we were trapped between life and the afterlife, and so far, we’d discovered no impediments except perhaps death, which had, in both of our cases, decided not to come yet.

I cleared my throat. “I bet I know what you like to read.” I turned toward the bookshelf. I closed my eyes, and as Betty had instructed, thought very hard of a book. When I opened them again, the spine stood before me. Soft, worn leather, laced in gold trim, the edges of the pages painted the color of tinsel. I pulled the supple volume from the shelf and experienced the pleasure of holding something hefty, solid yet so infinite, and I understood how men could go mad in a labyrinth of endless words.

I turned and handed the book to Clara. She took the tome carefully, her slender fingers gliding over the cover. She read the title and smiled, nodding in approval. I lifted the cover and flipped to one of the pages before reading aloud:

“The spotted hawk swoops by and accuses me, he complains
      of my gab and my loitering.

“I too am not a bit tamed, I too am untranslatable, 

“I sound my barbaric yawp over the roofs of the world.”

Clara set the book down and looked at me, the fear gone from her eyes. Her serenity filled me with inexplicable joy, and I wondered briefly how it would feel to be responsible for the happiness of someone like her.

“How did you guess I’d be a Whitman kind of girl?” she asked playfully, sitting down on a large white settee, making room for me also.

“I don’t know. There’s Borges, of course, who loved Whitman. The rock climbing. The unpretentious way you have about you.” I swallowed, and a tingle raced over my scalp, flooding the skin of my neck and back. “I imagine you hanging off the side of a mountain, as close to freedom as anyone can get.” I stopped myself, turning my gaze away from her. “I’m sorry. Under normal circumstances, I would never be so effusive, but given the limited nature of our time in this room, keeping my dignity is not enough to motivate me to shut up.”

Clara smiled, warm and humorous. “You’re a funny one, you know that? Here. Let me give it a try.” She closed her eyes and, another softly bound volume appeared on the shelf. She reached over to take it, balancing it in her open hand while she thumbed the pages until she found what she was looking for and read it to me.

“Hope is the thing with feathers –

That perches in the soul –

And sings the tune without the words –

And never stops – at all -”

“An optimist? Is that what you’re accusing me of?” I asked as she handed me the book. I left my thumb on the poem she’d read while flipping through the pages of Dickinson’s untitled works. I wondered briefly if there were poems here that no one had ever read before. 

“Yes,” she said, gently. “You’ve been nothing but encouraging since I arrived. Thank you.”

I opened my mouth to speak, to tell her that she had added something immeasurable to my life, or post-life, or whatever this state was, but I experienced a powerful pull, like an invisible hand grasping the top of my head, tugging hard at it. It frightened me—as if I was being drawn away by a giant magnet. Clara caught my expression and grasped my hand.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m not sure,” I choked out. Viktor floated into the room.

“Okay, boy. They’ve sorted you out. It’s time to get you back home.”

Clara and I stiffened at the same time. I finally understood what was happening, and a wild thing unfurled inside of me. “They’ve revived me, haven’t they?” 

“Yep, but you have to get going now. We can’t hold things up for you.”

The savage thing inside of me exploded. I needed more time to talk to Clara, to understand who she was and what other things could make her happy. I needed to know everything about her, but in a place where time was infinite, ours had quickly run out. I gripped her shoulders, not caring if I squeezed too hard.

“Hurry! What hospital are you in?” I asked, my heart pounding in a way that would have been dangerous if I were in my body.

“South … Southside General,” she exclaimed, her eyes wide with fear again.

Relief burst through me. “Me too. When I wake up, I’ll find you.”

“No you won’t,” growled Viktor. “Neither of you will remember what happened here.” He tugged impatiently at my arm with a vise-like grip that exceeded human strength.

“But I don’t want to forget.” I turned towards her, my voice breaking. “I need to remember you.”

“Rules are rules.” Viktor’s words bludgeoned my hope. “That’s just the way things are around here.”

Clara moved in a daze, following us as Viktor dragged me out of the room. When he opened the door, she came to life and blocked us from going further.

“Good bye, Thiago!” she said, hesitating before closing the space between us and pressing her lips hard against mine. Ignoring Viktor’s death grip on my arm, I wrapped the other around her and gave myself over to the abandon of kissing. My tongue grazed her soft lips, the electricity of sudden desire warring with terror when her lips parted, deepening our kiss. It was everything I imagined it would be. She smelled like summer and tasted of things that would never come to pass. 

“Alright, now. Let him go. We’ve put the universe on hold here,” Viktor admonished, though somewhat more gently, while his wings ruffled restlessly. I had no choice but to release her and allow myself to be dragged toward the white door, the door that would take me home and away from Clara for all of eternity.

***

The light of the hospital room blinded me, and I thought how happy I would be if someone shut the curtains. Even with my eyes closed, the glare was strong, but I was too weak to turn my head away. 

Time meandered aimlessly; the outside world entered my awareness in stages. I wasn’t always alone—I sensed another presence in the room. At length, I found the strength to turn my head and search for my mysterious companion, but I discovered an empty hospital room. It went on like this for an indefinite amount of time—the sun waxed and waned through the window, sometimes blotted by sheets of falling snow, until one day, everything took hold and I remembered where I was again.

During those lost nights, I dreamed of a beautiful dark-haired girl. Her tight blue jeans and long green sweater that slipped off her dark shoulders morphed into a summer dress of whispering softness. I watched her speak; I studied her smoky, purple-blue eyes; I listened to her laughter and the poetry of her soul. The dream recurred so many times that when I finally woke, I couldn’t be certain if she had simply been a figment of my imagination or a memory of a time lost to oblivion. Her name, when I struggled through parched lips to speak it, provoked a wave of loss for something I was certain I’d never had.

Clara.

I had never known anyone by that name. Yet, it was as familiar to me as my own. 

I feared I would never hear it again.

***

“And a lovely Christmas Eve to you, Thiago!” said Dr. Major as he came to check my chart. My family had left for the night, much to my relief. They had spent most of the evening with me, decorating my room, serving eggnog, and watching Ben-Hur on the hospital-issued television, but I was still tired from the surgery and wanted nothing more than to settle in with one of my new books and have a good read. When the doctor came in, I gave him a polite nod, too worn out to carry on another conversation, I returned to my reading. My eyes were drooping, and I knew my Christmas Eve would soon end.

He set the chart on the table. “Let’s see what’s going on with your sutures.”

As he examined the surgical entry point, my gaze wandered over to my miniature Christmas tree. It was a real evergreen, potted and heavily adorned. Underneath lay gifts left by everyone in my family and a handful of friends who’d come to visit. They had been generous; it paid to have surgery around Christmas. 

“How are you feeling when you walk?” Dr. Major asked.

“A little dazed, still, but I can manage it. It’s a good thing I have my ride.” I pointed toward the wheelchair decorated with tinsel and small gold ornaments.

“Mom?” asked the doctor inquisitively.

I sighed sheepishly. “She loves doing things like that. She makes decorations, ceramics, pottery, and origami. You name it, she can craft it.”

Dr. Major laughed, making notes on his chart. “Well, I’ll be on duty tonight, so if you need anything at all, just give the nurse a call. You got that?”

“Got it, thanks,” I said as he left to complete his rounds. 

I returned to my book. After two chapters, my eyes drifted shut. As usual, I fell asleep without knowing at what point I’d lost consciousness. I dreamed of the mysterious girl in a white room full of bookshelves that reached the ceiling. My head lay on her lap; one of her hands threaded through my hair, the other held the book she was reading to me, and even in the dream, conflicting feelings of contentment and desire wreaked havoc on me. I missed her, though I couldn’t place who she was. My confusion jarred me so much that I woke with a start, disconcerted from a melancholy that would not settle on any one thing. I was missing something integral to my well-being, but I didn’t know what it was. 

The sense of not being alone struck me again. I searched the room. Assuming it was a nurse who’d come and gone, I almost missed the strange package that sat beneath my tree, one that had not been there before. Careful not to pull at my staples, I swung off the edge of the bed and slid on my slippers – fluffy things in a Burberry print that didn’t belong to me but were vaguely familiar. I crossed the space between my bed and the tree, panting as if I’d crossed the Death Zone on Mount Everest.

I picked up the package, wrapped in heavy white paper and tied with a simple gold ribbon. The purity and unwrinkled quality of the wrapping defied description. Curiosity got the best of me, and I carefully undid it. 

Beneath the wrapping was a book of bound, supple leather and gold trim entitled Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass. As I returned to my bed, something tugged at the corner of my mind like a veil tightened by a rope whose knot was fast coming undone. I flipped through the smooth pages, the black letters flickering like a living flame beneath my fingers.

The veil lifted slightly, and the memory of a girl’s kiss assaulted me. As I searched the vastness of the words before me for something that would dispel the fog of forgetfulness and bring clarity, I pulled a small folded note which served as a makeshift bookmark. I read the verses before me:

“The spotted hawk swoops by and accuses me, he complains
      of my gab and my loitering.

“I too am not a bit tamed, I too am untranslatable,

“I sound my barbaric yawp over the roofs of the world.”

My hands shook as images tumbled through me, images from my dreams that appeared so real. I knew with clarity that I’d experienced them in this life, this reality. Shaking my head to clear out the visions, I unfolded the note and read it.

“Merry Christmas. Make your life a good one, – V”

Like the breaking open of a sealed chest, my mind flew open. She came to me in a white room filled with books where, for the briefest moments, we had buffered each other against our most primitive terrors. The stopped heart, the winged orderlies, the windows that looked out onto eternity, and the preposterous events that I’d not only lived but also shared with another soul—a soul that had become so rooted within mine, even the spell of amnesia couldn’t keep her from appearing in my dreams.

I mashed down the call button that lay next to me on the bed, impatient to resolve everything. Dr. Major, who had not left the ward, came rushing in, expecting to find who knows what.

“Are you okay?” he asked, scanning my face, searching perhaps for signs that my frailty had caved under the pressures of my still-healing heart.

“It’s Christmas Eve, doctor. Would you like to grant a wish to a half-dead man?” 

***

Thankfully, Dr. Major granted me a few minutes alone that I’d requested. Clara was nothing like I remembered her in The Waiting Room. She lay unconscious on a bed similar to mine, her arms and legs suspended in a prison of white plaster casts. Her head was bandaged, the luxurious brown hair a tangled disarray on the pillow. Dr. Major was right: she’d suffered nearly fatal wounds and it was a miracle she’d survived. 

It both shocked and filled me with tenderness that the beautiful, witty girl I’d met in The Waiting Room was the same one who now lay broken before me, the stark white of the hospital linens highlighting each purple bruise and angry contusion. I desperately wanted to take care of her, tell her we’d miraculously delayed entry through the blue door for a little while longer; ask her if she wanted to spend that earned time with me.

Something captured my attention, drawing me closer to the bed. Next to her unbandaged arm rested a book like mine. My hands shook at the realization that her volume of Emily Dickinson’s poems had likely slipped onto the bed when she’d fallen asleep reading it, much as I had done. In her small hand she clutched the corner of a slip of paper. I knew, without her having to open it, who it was from and what it said. Even then, I had a moment of hesitation: it wasn’t every day that people met their soulmates in Purgatory.

As I absently stroked the pages of the book, her eyes fluttered open. The quick intelligence which had captivated me from the moment they’d settled on me in that strange, immortal room, lit up her face. My heart, which could not endure the force of so much expectation, sputtered painfully in my chest. She blinked several times to clear her vision, the dim light of the lamp perhaps too harsh for her. I stood from my wheelchair and carefully switched off the lamp over her bed, leaving us in the half-glow of a small fluorescent light above the sink behind us. This movement drew her eyes toward me. I was close to bursting with happiness, grateful to whomever had designed the universe for decreeing that I should belong to her. For at that moment, I understood why my life had been given back to me.

If only she would remember.

“Merry Christmas, Clara,” I said slowly, resting my fingers over hers.

She searched my face briefly. A flash of confusion erupted, then passed over her like a gentle wave. The recognition transformed her, and she gave me a tired smile. Her hand floundered weakly as she said through parched lips, “Merry … Christmas … Thiago …”

fin

From the publisher:

Tony award-winning musician Reese Matheson’s life resembles a natural disaster, and caregiver Jude De La Torre is caught in the eye of the storm. Can the love these two opposites find together survive caring for an ornery octogenarian with wayward balls and a meddling family insistent upon tradition?

A public break-up is not what Reese expects upon returning from the successful run of his musical in London. All he wants to do is spend time with his beloved grandfather and musical mentor, who suffers from Alzheimer’s. Reese knows he doesn’t have much time left before the elder Matheson doesn’t remember him. In classic “Hurricane Reese” form, he moves into the cottage by the sea, displacing Jude, the intriguing caregiver he’d hired two years before. When Grandpa proves too much for Reese to handle on his own, Jude comes to his rescue, taming Grandpa… and the Hurricane as well. Soon all Reese can think about is how to get Jude out of his scrubs and into his bed. Permanently. Will Hurricane Reese destroy everything in its wake, or will this gay odd couple learn to harmonize together?

Review:

A fun, quick read, I found the characters to be delightful and moving. Merrill tackles difficult subjects like Alzheimer’s, religious intolerance and coming out in a non-sensationalist way. I found the writing to be solid and the pacing good, except for the second half of the novel but that was because I was impatient for the characters to come together, and not a writing flaw.

Reese is impulsive and overbearing and Jude is stubborn and hard to read. But their character defects made them relatable to the reader and even complimented each other. Jude is Filipino and I really appreciate the author using Filipino culture in a meaningful way, addressing not only their food and religion, but she also captured the importance of family. Refreshingly, family also matters to Reese and it is another place in which their compatibility intersects. His care of his grandfather feels authentic and endears the reader even more to Reese’s character.

The book is part of a trilogy. I look forward to reading the other books in the series.

Booksellers

Dreamspinner Press     Amazon

From the publisher:

As Lucy Muchelney watches her ex-lover’s sham of a wedding, she wishes herself anywhere else. It isn’t until she finds a letter from the Countess of Moth, looking for someone to translate a groundbreaking French astronomy text, that she knows where to go. Showing up at the Countess’ London home, she hoped to find a challenge, not a woman who takes her breath away.
As Lucy Muchelney watches her ex-lover’s sham of a wedding, she wishes herself anywhere else. It isn’t until she finds a letter from the Countess of Moth, looking for someone to translate a groundbreaking French astronomy text, that she knows where to go. Showing up at the Countess’ London home, she hoped to find a challenge, not a woman who takes her breath away.

Catherine St Day looks forward to a quiet widowhood once her late husband’s scientific legacy is fulfilled. She expected to hand off the translation and wash her hands of the project—instead, she is intrigued by the young woman who turns up at her door, begging to be allowed to do the work, and she agrees to let Lucy stay. But as Catherine finds herself longing for Lucy, everything she believes about herself and her life is tested.

While Lucy spends her days interpreting the complicated French text, she spends her nights falling in love with the alluring Catherine. But sabotage and old wounds threaten to sever the threads that bind them. Can Lucy and Catherine find the strength to stay together or are they doomed to be star-crossed lovers?

Review:

I read this novel over the summer, picking it up for several reasons, but primarily because of the lavish cover and the promise of a fascinating f/f romance. Rich and passionate, the novel delivers on the promise of its cover. It is a particular delightful read because it is smart, gets the science right and captures the concerns of scientists of the time. But more importantly, and central to the primary romance, is the depiction of the way women were relegated to supporting roles in the lives of male scientists, even when their contributions and insight were far more significant than their spouse’s. Or in the case of Lucy Muchelney, that of her recently deceased father.

I’ve read a few ff romances and I find they are either euphemistic in their approach to feminine passion or they emphasize the sweetness of the affection of the characters and not the passionate nature of their love. While there is a great deal of affection and respect between Lucy and Catherine, their physical passion is also powerful and the author does not hesitate to show that. Each love scene increases in intensity as they give themselves over to their mutual attraction, giving both women their due agency and sexual expression.

Excellent novel – I enthusiastically recommend it.

Where to purchase:

Avon — IndieBound — Amazon — Barnes & Noble — Google — iBooks

From the publisher:

A Haitian American woman survives a brutal kidnapping in this “commanding debut novel” from the New York Times–bestselling author of Bad Feminist (The New Yorker).

Author and essayist Roxane Gay is celebrated for her incisive commentary on identity and culture, as well as for her bestselling nonfiction and short story collections. Now, with An Untamed State, she delivers a “breathtaking debut novel” (The Guardian, UK) of wealth in the face of crushing poverty, and the lawless anger produced by corrupt governments.

Mireille Duval Jameson is living a fairy tale. The strong-willed youngest daughter of one of Haiti’s richest sons, she lives in the United States with her adoring husband and infant son, returning every summer to stay on her father’s Port-au-Prince estate. But the fairy tale ends when Mireille is kidnapped in broad daylight by a gang of heavily armed men, just outside the estate walls. Held captive by a man who calls himself The Commander, Mireille waits for her father to pay her ransom. As her father’s standoff with the kidnappers stretches out into days, Mireille must endure the torments of a man who despises everything she represents.

An Untamed State is a “breathless, artful, disturbing and original” story of a willful woman attempting to find her way back to the person she once was, and of how redemption is found in the most unexpected of places (Meg Wolitzer, author of The Interestings).

Review:

I needed days. Days to recover from this book. It is not a book for the faint of heart. I’m only going to say this – if you are a sexual abuse survivor, heed all the warnings, because this book is not written to be comfortable and easy. It is made to confront and challenge the dominant narrative about women’s subjugation and abuse at the hands of a patriarchal society and what it takes, at the level of individual and culture to recover from that.

I’m not going to waste my time on review and summary. I had to walk away, cry, and bite my fist to get through parts of it. There’s a telling sentence in this novel – it’s the women who bear the price of what men want. The protagonist bears it all during 13 days of captivity, and spends the novel after her experience returning from a personal hell that renders politeness and easy conversation impossible. PTSD is depicted, not in a superficial way, but in all its terrifying implications. Gay has taken the powerlessness of victimhood and womanhood and augmented it a thousand times, forcing the reader to stay with Marielle during the entire ordeal. The signs are written into Mireille’s body and soul and the reader is not spared one moment of her torture.

Besides being intensely personal, Marielle’s trauma is also useful metaphor for the trauma that the Caribbean islands have experienced at the hands of the West. But make no mistake – while Gay also puts on striking display the way history has victimized the island of Haiti, this does not distance the reader from the intensely personal and visceral consequences of Marielle’s captivity and abuse. We are not allowed to use pat cultural narratives to anesthetize us against what as many as 1 in 5 women will experience at some point in their lives, experiences we are told repeatedly that we are responsible for, that are not as bad as we say they are. She shows rape, trauma and recovery in all its unmitigated horror. Nothing in this novel spares us from this truth.

Where to purchase:

Amazon     Barnes&Noble    Kobo     iBooks

 

Booksellers:

Kindle      Google Play     Harlequin     Barnes & Noble     Kobo

From the publisher:

Of all the taxis in all of Cape Town, Sophia Roux had to stumble into his.

She should be at her “perfect” sister’s bedside, awaiting the arrival of the newest member of her family. But the thought of spending hours at the hospital with her suffocating relatives has Sophia hailing the first taxi she sees. Only to realise too late that the man at the wheel of her getaway car is the most unpleasant one she’s ever had the misfortune to meet.

Parker Jones, the handsome yet surly driver in question, is used to dealing with baggage of the family variety. And it just so happens he’s in need of temporary escape from his own. Witty banter with a beautiful—if exasperating—woman while chauffeuring her around the city on a gorgeous spring day makes for an ideal break from reality.

But a lot can happen in twenty-four hours: babies can be born, family can reconnect. And maybe the most unlikely pair can fall in love.

Review:

One Day to Fall is the second novel about the Roux sisters set in South Africa, though in the interest of full disclosure, I did not read the first novel. This is an oversight I hope to rectify, as this novel was a pleasure to read.

Beharrie’s romance takes place in the course of an intense and emotional day. There aren’t many circadian novels, and the ones that come to mind are not romances, such as  Michael Cunningham’s The Hours, Saturday by Ian McEwan and Christopher Irshwood’s A Single Man, so I was particularly excited to see her take on this particular structure and execute it so well. The emotional intensity is heightened but it is punctuated with moments of humor that keep the narrative from being claustrophobic.

A further variation that I truly enjoyed in this novel is the Sophie, a heroine who is prickly, bad-tempered and not in a particularly good place, emotionally. Parker, the driver for the car service who picks her up and with whom she falls in love, is also suffering from his own personal complications. They essentially use each other to distract themselves from the distressing facts of their lives but in doing so, discover that they have stumbled on the one person who might understand them better than anyone else in their lives.

I also enjoyed the way the author used the premise to treat readers to a tour of Cape Town, the setting of the romance. I’ve never visited so my natural wanderlust was stimulated by the descriptions of the places they visit.

A well-written, thoroughly satisfying romance.

ARC provided by Netgalley.

 

Available Here:

Harlequin| Amazon|Barnes & Noble

From the publisher:

No one should have to choose between love and justice.

Haitian-born professor and activist Patrice Denis is not here for anything that will veer him off the path he’s worked so hard for. One particularly dangerous distraction: Easton Archer, the assistant district attorney who last summer gave Patrice some of the most intense nights of his life, and still makes him all but forget they’re from two completely different worlds.

All-around golden boy Easton forged his own path to success, choosing public service over the comforts of his family’s wealth. With local law enforcement unfairly targeting young men of color, and his career—and conscience—on the line, now is hardly the time to be thirsting after Patrice again. Even if their nights together have turned into so much more.

For the first time, Patrice is tempted to open up and embrace the happiness he’s always denied himself. But as tensions between the community and the sheriff’s office grow by the day, Easton’s personal and professional lives collide. And when the issue at hand hits closer to home than either could imagine, they’ll have to work to forge a path forward…together.

Review:

American Love Story is the third novel in Adriana Herrera’s American Dreamers series. I’ve enjoyed this book series so much, both for its multicultural aspects and the relationship between the love stories and social issues. Every novel in this series addresses some aspect of power and race, featuring leads from Afro-Caribbean backgrounds. But nowhere is this concern illustrated more powerfully or compellingly as in the romance between Professor Patrice Denis and Assistant District Attorney, Easton Archer.

The relationship between Denis and Archer throws into sharp relief the issues of institutionalized racism and the responsibilities of those in power to agitate and work in favor of change. Even allies who see the repeated aggression against oppressed peoples and identify with the victims at times hesitate to act because of internal pressures that hinder positive change, thereby making them complicit in the abuse. The police harassment of young men of color (specifically, black men) in the fictionalized version of Ithaca, New York offers the opportunity to both test the growing relationship between Denis and Archer, as well provide an illustration of how environments in which police feel enabled to profile and misuse their power are often allowed to flourish while allies turn away from fear of reprisals, or simple indifference.

The actions (or lack thereof) on behalf of the DA and the Sheriff’s offices have real consequences on the circle of friends that constitute the core characters of this series. But the consequences on the central love story are direct and immediate, and drive the romantic plot forward. It’s a credit to Herrera’s writing that she can center the issue of power and law enforcement in a narrative that never forgets that it is, first and foremost, a love story. The attraction between Denis and Easton is explosive and leaps off the page, but there is also genuine respect between the two leads derived from common values around serving the public good. I’ve read reviews calling out Denis for being strident in his beliefs and allowing them to potentially sabotage a relationship he deeply wants and needs. But the fact is, if you live our life constantly aggrieved by microagressions and you are victimized for things you can’t control (your race, culture or sexuality), then situations that are merely abstract for some become realities for others. This reality is lived every day and I absolutely love that the novel doesn’t relent in showing this.

And yet, despite the constant possibility that things will go sideways, love flourishes. Denis and Archer share a relationship that is built on mutual trust, vulnerability and the desire to learn and grow, to be active in their support, not only of each other, but of their beliefs. Easton, as a privileged white man, does not hesitate to be humble, to admit he is still learning, and willing to be guided in his desire for justice. His allyship is a verb and exists independent of his relationship with Denis. It makes their romance that much stronger because they already come to it with similar values.

Romance, at its heart, is always about the negotiation of power. Romances contend with power structures that inform the settings and cultures of the main characters, whether the author is conscious of this or not. I love that Herrera’s romance doesn’t shy away from showing how central this negotiation of power can drive a narrative, with consequences that are a reflection what is happening in the broader culture. It is a different kind of idealization from the one we come to expect in romance. This version of the romance fantasy says that, even in an imperfect world, where injustice is a rot that must be battled constantly, love and dignity can flourish. One informs the other, but in the best scenario, you can have both love and justice.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

From the publisher:

Fairy-tale endings don’t just happen; they have to be fought for.

New York City social worker Camilo Santiago Briggs grew up surrounded by survivors who taught him to never rely on anything you didn’t earn yourself. He’s always dreamed of his own happily-ever-after, but he lives in the real world. Men who seem too good to be true…usually are. And Milo never ever mixes business with pleasure…until the mysterious man he had an unforgettable hookup with turns out to be the wealthy donor behind his agency’s new, next-level funding.

Thomas Hughes built a billion-dollar business from nothing: he knows what he wants and isn’t shy about going after it. When the enthralling stranger who blew his mind at a black-tie gala reappears, Tom’s more than ready to be his Prince Charming. Showering Milo with the very best of everything is how Tom shows his affection.

Trouble is, Milo’s not interested in any of it. The only thing Milo wants is Tom.

Fairy-tale endings take work as well as love. For Milo, that means learning to let someone take care of him, for a change. And for Tom, it’s figuring out that real love is the one thing you can’t buy.

Review:
American Fairytale is the second installment of Adriana Herrera’s American Dreamer series. I read the first book, American Dreamer, and fell in total love with Nesto and Jude (check out my review here). This book is a perfect followup to the brilliance of her debut novel.

American Fairytale centers on the relationship between Camilo (Milo) Santiago Briggs, a Cuban/Jamaican social worker, and Thomas Hughes, a wealthy, Dominican/American tech CEO who, together with his two friends and co-owners, sells the company for an obscene amount of money. Milo and Thomas have an explosive hook up that, over the course of the novel, results in a relationship based on hard-earned understanding and mutual respect.

There is so much to unpack in this novel, so much that is done well. The negotiations between Milo and Thomas, given the huge wealth differential are critical to their blossoming relationship. They also share cultural understandings that can only come from people who come from a similar background. Kudos to Herrera for representing mixed identities in romance, something that doesn’t get depicted often. Both protagonists are of mixed parentage and this influences the way they navigate the world and their romance.

The only tiny complaint I have is that, at the end, I grew a bit exasperated with both characters – Thomas is a bit pig-headed about throwing money at problems after he is told, over and over, not to do so. Camilo, though, is also very stubborn about accepting help and complicates his existence in consequence. However, this also makes the novel more realistic because sometimes our biggest obstacles to happiness are not in external conflicts but in our own inability to get over intrinsic flaws that cause us to repeat the same damned mistakes over and over. Refreshingly, our protagonists are guilty of just that.

And can I say, I love an m/m romance that features every kind of relationship, including straight ones in a non-toxic way? Especially friendships with straight women.
I get the feeling sometimes in m/m romances that women and straight folks are characters-non-grata and, while I understand why this is the case, in the real world, things are a bit more nuanced. So kudos to Herrera for depicting that dynamic and generally giving primacy to healthy friendships as well.

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from the publisher:

Previously published; newly refreshed by the author

I like my women like I like my whiskey: more than is good for me.

Name’s Kane, Kate Kane. I’m a paranormal private investigator, which is like a normal private investigator except—and stop me if you’re having trouble following this—more paranormal. This business comes with a few basic rules: don’t start drinking before noon, don’t get your partner killed, don’t sleep with the woman who killed him.

Last year I broke all of them.

The only rule I didn’t break was the one that said don’t work for vampires. But then a dead werewolf showed up outside the Soho shag palace of Julian Saint-Germain—a bloodsucking flibbertigibbet who’s spent the last eight centuries presiding over an ever-growing empire of booze, sex and hemoglobin.

I shouldn’t have taken the job. The last thing I needed was to get caught in a supernatural smackdown between a werewolf pack and a vampire prince. Even if the vampire prince was dangerously my type. But what can I say? I was broke, I’m a sucker for a pretty face and I gave up on making good decisions a long time ago.

This is my first foray into the Kate Kane, Paranormal Investigator series, which is being re-released through Carina Press, with the second and third books slated for release in December and February, respectively.

Kate Kane is a heavy drinking, hygiene shy, part fairy paranormal investigator who’s recently been left by her ex-girlfriend for a startup and still grieves the death of her partner who was killed by said ex-girlfirend (Did you get all that?). She’s hired by a super-sexy vampire to solve a mystery which grows ever more complex as her investigation continues. Any number of supernatural creatures with a million and one motives could be behind the crime (and a subsequent attack), which only makes her job that much more difficult. Most of the novel is taken up with her following leads that end nowhere, while she stumbles into one adventure after another.

Review:

As a huge fan of the author’s writing, I went into this book with a certain set of expectations. Having devoured the Spires series, the Arden St. Ives series and then The Affair of the Mysterious Letter, I had another kind of prose in mind and found myself having to restart this book a few times before I could really settle into it. The book itself is excellent – well written, funny and subtly drawn characters, a (well-populated) array of interesting secondary characters, and a plot that, as far as mysteries go, keeps you engaged. There are also a ton of references to other books and films, which makes me think the author is poking fun or paying homage to some of these things.

The style simply wasn’t what I was expecting.

Upon reflection, of course, this makes sense. Kate’s not exactly a metaphorical thinker. She is intelligent and observant but she’s very rooted in facts, like any good investigator is. Even when she is flooded with her own supernatural power (she is the daughter of a powerful Fairy Queen), she is direct in expressing her thoughts. In this, the writing does exactly what it should do. Kate is a consistent character and the writing reflects her personality. The moments where the author’s natural exuberance and delight for language burst through are actually jarring, not because the words aren’t beautiful in themselves, but because they arrive in contrast to a character who is not given to waxing poetic on anything, not even her incredibly powerful and sexually alluring girlfriend. Where such descriptions would be the nuggets I would search for in other books, here they are out of place.

So, if you go in expecting Glitterland, you’re not going to get it. Kate isn’t Ash – she has her own personality that has little time for such verbal acrobatics. However, if you like strong, complex characters who kicks ass and prefers to meet the world directly, without any filters or obfuscation, then Kate Kane is the investigator for you.

I received this ARC from Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

Booksellers

From the publisher:

Helmed by USAT Bestselling Author Caitlyn Lynch, 18 authors explore several lesser-known holidays. Featuring sweet country romance and sex in the big city, there’s something for all romance readers. Polar bear plunges. Sexy neighbors. Even a cute shifter or two. This anthology has it all!

Come celebrate the year with us!

Review:

I had the pleasure of reading this collection this week and was satisfied with both the quality of the stories as well as the variety. The anthology features both USA Today bestsellers as well as fresh, new writers and the result is a collection that will have something for everyone. The organizing theme – that of unconventional holidays – is a unique one and results in some interesting entries. For example, there is one of my favorite days, Pi Day, offered as the context for a lovely m/m romance, National Pride Day, the holiday for a Latinx F/F coupling, and an absolutely bonkers and delightful entry for Pins and Needles Day that features an M/M/F pairing that is as witty as it is sexy.

The anthology itself is very reader friendly, listing the Holiday, the day, a well-defined heat rating and, most importantly, extensive trigger warnings. It’s one of the most comprehensive I’ve seen in a collection of this type and, as a reader who may want to avoid certain topics, the listings are very considerate. I would highly recommend this anthology as an entry point for getting to know new writer as well as established ones in a way that is very accommodating to readers.

I was provided an ARC by the publisher.

Amazon

From the publisher:

A RESTLESS ROMANTIC
Felix Pascual misses being someone’s boyfriend, which is why he’s willing to get set up by the only Hernandez he’ll admit to liking (out loud)—Lola. But when he gets to the restaurant he finds that Lola has matched him up with none other than Joaquin Delgado, a man who has never shown one iota of interest in him.. And Joaquin doesn’t seem any more open to Felix’s unique charms this time around . . .

A SKEPTICAL SUITOR
Joaquin will do anything for his grandmother. Even give a foul-mouthed, flashy Puerto Rican caterer who gets on his nerves—and makes him thirsty all at once—a chance to run his kitchen after he’s injured. After all, it’s just a few weeks. And he won’t be tempted since he’s given up on dating anyway . . .

A MATCH MADE IN SOUTH BEACH
But Felix won’t give up without the satisfaction of getting Joaquin to admit that he wants him. Felix is stubborn, and his growing desire for Joaquin is about proving a point. After all, it can’t possibly turn into something real . . .

Review:

I picked up this book, excited because it featured Puerto Rican leads. Given the growing interest in diverse characters, I was thrilled to give this book a try.

There are many aspects of the novel to recommend it. The characters are likeable and there is a lot of chemistry between them. They have great dialogue and their motivations are clear. Joaquin is a work-a-holic who could use some training in employee motivation and retainment. Felix is getting over a broken heart and plan on moving to New York for a new chance at life. There’s no question that the conflicts in this story promised to be strong, internal ones and I was ready for it.

However, I quickly got lost. Part of the problem was certainly me – perhaps I should have read the other installments of the series. There were a lot of assumptions about things I should have known but simply didn’t. For example, what could have been a great chance to reinforce the nature and importance of extended family in Latinx culture ended up being a kind of name-dump because I missed out on the earlier installments. As a result, I couldn’t assign importance to anyone outside of the main pairing and Lola.

This carries me to my next major point. These are Puerto Rican/Cuban/Caribbean folks. But I just didn’t feel it. Like, what about the food and the language, the code switching and the Spanglish, the funny habits and quirks that make us who we are? There is the fact that there is no one way to be Latinx but perhaps a concession would have made me happy. For example, Lola is a transplant – what else is she besides match maker? Again, I lay the blame squarely on myself, for reading the books out of order so I’m going to assume that her background, as well as others, was addressed and developed in those books.

Structurally, the beats were good and the leads adorable together. I felt the conflict could have been solved with a quick conversation. Roman was not a formidable villain and was almost cartoonish. However, he was intriguing because he served to make Felix desirable and sometimes, that’s a goal in itself.

Overall, I’m giving it a 4 because it’s a quick, fun and engaging read that you’ll certainly enjoy more if you’ve done the work of reading the other books. Now I’m off to look for a book featuring Lola 😊.

I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

 

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From the publisher:

If you love someone, set them free…

I thought I’d be okay when Caspian Hart left. He was a brilliant, beautiful billionaire with a past he couldn’t escape. And I was … just me: an ordinary man lost in his own life. It would never have lasted. It should never have happened. Not outside a fairytale.

And I am okay. I’ve got my job, my family, my friends, and everything Caspian taught me. Except it turns out he’s going to marry his ex-boyfriend. A man who doesn’t understand him. A man who almost broke him. And I’ve finally realized it’s not enough for me to be happy. I need Caspian to be happy too.

Problem is, I’ve already done all I can to help him. I’ve followed his rules and broken his rules and learned his secrets. And he still won’t believe I can love him. So now it’s his turn. His turn to fight, and trust, and hope. It’s time for Caspian Hart to choose me.

Review

Check out my combined review for the two previous books:

How to Bang a Billionaire

How to Blow it With a Billionaire

Warning: Contains some spoilers

Initially, this review was intended to be a joint one together with my friend, handsfullmama. We’d broken down all the elements to discuss but realized, 5k words later, that maybe we’d taken the task beyond its intended purpose. Plus, 5k is very long for a review so we decided to cancel that project and take our observations back to our respective sites. As it is, this review is still insanely long so I apologize in advance.

So this series – I almost wish I could go back and review the series all over again with the third book in mind. What started off as a rejoinder to 50 Shades of Grey has in fact turned into a genre-challenging novel on sexuality, sexual abuse recovery and the subversion of the most toxic elements of mm romance. When looked at in its entirety, I have to kind of sit back and take a deep breath because there is a lot to work with here. I’m going to start with the craft stuff.

TL;dr – This series is excellent and worth all the stars. All. The. Stars.

Proceed at your own risk.

Structure/Beats

Obviously, being the third act of a trilogy and the post cliffhanger book, the beats differ from a standalone novel. There is a significant portion in the first half of the novel where Arden and Caspian do not spend actual time together on page. But Caspian’s presence is everywhere – he’s always on Arden’s mind as Arden actively works to get over him. Still, there’s lots of emotional tension from not knowing what form the resolution would take. It’s a credit to Hall as a writer that, even writing in the romance genre where an HEA is guaranteed, I was genuinely unsure until the very end if he would pull it off.

Characterization

Arden

My favorite character after Darian and Ash in Glitterland. Perfectly drawn, distinct voice, thinks like an English major steeped in pop culture. There’s a comment his aunt makes about Arden that sums up his character – he’s not a cynic. I don’t want to exaggerate his perfection because he’s not – Nathaniel wasn’t too far off base to call out Arden for wasting the privilege of studying at Oxford. But Arden’s faith in the goodness of people and general openness to life makes him precious. The way he sees Caspian is the perfect counterpoint to the way Caspian sees himself. Arden sparkles and you want to keep him safe even though he doesn’t actually need it. Arden is strong because he knows who he is, a sense of self that gets stronger as the narrative progressive. He also has a solid moral core, the result of being well-loved, and an intuitive understanding of what is right and wrong.

Caspian

Ah, Caspian, Caspian. He did not give me the kind of satisfaction as a reader that I wanted from a romantic lead. Hall does a good job of retooling the character of Christian Grey, with his need for control and his extensive emotional damage, to give us Caspian Hart. And considering the prime material, it’s a miracle we got what we got. Caspian has a lot of shortcomings. He pissed me off so many times because his own issues caused him to hurt Arden.

However there is no moment in the narrative where I doubted that Caspian loved Arden. Through all his misguided decisions, his self-loathing (“such a self-masturbatory vice”), his gift for hurting Arden, I knew he loved him. Caspian is himself wounded in so many ways and honestly, for as much as I kick and scream and whine about him, I get him. I’d have a hard time giving in to something that I felt reduced me as a human being and reminded me of my trauma. And if I considered my preference to be beyond deviant (the way Caspian describes himself, you’d think he was eating newborn babies), then I’m going to question who and how I love.

Arden fights this toxic belief throughout the series. It goes back to a persistent theme in Hall’s novels – that sexuality is fluid, that your preferences are your own and it doesn’t matter why want who you want, it’s the wanting that matters, if that makes sense. Arden keeps telling Caspian this – it’s just sex in the end. Who cares where your compulsions come from? It’s who Caspian is now. But Caspian takes a long time to accept what Arden is saying and he is still hesitant by the end of the novel.

His damage wrecks my heart. But he hurts Arden and really, I’m #protectArden all the way.

Also, as I’m rambling, this reminds me of a blog post that Hall made about Buffy the Vampire Slayer where he talks about the amorality of love – you can be evil and cruel and still be able to love someone. It isn’t that love, objectively speaking, is some sort of redeeming trait. Anyone can love. They may not love well, but they can love. Consider Ellery and the way Caspian responds to her. Caspian loves her but he has a tragic way of showing it.

After finishing the novel, I reread the blurb – “So now it’s his turn. His turn to fight, and trust, and hope. It’s time for Caspian Hart to choose me ” I can’t help but feel that, yet again, it’s Arden, who fights to the bitter end and eventually saves Caspian.

Tropes

Billionaire Dom trope is completely upended. Caspian is a reluctant dom. I can see this being frustrating for readers who are ready for a bit of tie-em-up (and they get that through a secondary relationship) but Hall demonstrates a deep understanding and great respect for the experience of sexual abuse survivors. We never get to see actual BDSM between Arden and Caspian on the page and, given where the characters are in their personal development and in their relationship, this is appropriate. Not only, but the role of the dom and sub are subverted. Though Caspian will certainly take the lead in the role playing, it is Arden who is most at ease and will have to follow Caspian’s readiness and teach him to be comfortable.

In 50 Shades, we see an (overbearing) Christian Grey navigating Anastasia into a poorly interpreted BDSM space. In this series, the hesitation is on Caspian’s side, because of the association he makes with his sexual abuse, complicated by the fact that he takes too much responsibility for what took place. He is coming from a place where he sees his preferences, and by extension, himself, in a dirty light. Whereas James asks us to take at face value that Grey’s predilections were caused by his own abuse and can be “cured” by love’s true light (give me a moment while I barf), Hall has his Caspian suffering through the connection he has made between his abuse and his preferences. Caspian then enters into a truly toxic relationship with Nathaniel because it reinforces this image of himself, assumptions Arden continues to challenge. It is a neat role reversal and it works, again, because it’s very respectful of the experience of sexual abuse.

Another trope that is essentially trashed in this novel is the slutty bisexual trope. Because Arden is so sex-positive, he embraces the exercise of his sexuality like a maniac (yasss, son!). However, he then turns its ear completely because he is insanely in love with and committed to Caspian. He’s comfortable with the fluid nature of his sexuality and expresses pleasure with George without guilt (as well he should) but emotionally, he is all about Caspian. He demonstrates his commitment to Caspian by fighting for him to the very end, even when all evidence of Caspian ever reconciling with him seems absent. I’m all about smashing this trope. I honestly think you can’t label Ardy’s sexuality and that’s the point. We shouldn’t. Wherever our impulses come, they are valid, and sexuality is as much a part of a person’s character and their temperament as their other preferences.

So did I love this series? Sometimes I didn’t, but not because it wasn’t good. It was hard and demanding and intense but it was worth the roller coaster ride. There are so many fun references to pop culture and literature. Jane Eyre and Roland Barthes keep popping up (Barfes!). I’m not much for the post-structuralists but I’m going to have to go back and read something of Barthes now, dammit. All in all, this series is worth reading and rereading, as long as you don’t mind being emotionally shredded along the way.

Check out my combined review for the two previous books:

How to Bang a Billionaire

How to Blow it With a Billionaire

ARC provided by Netgalley

There’s been some advice floating around social media which shouldn’t have surprised me but did. I won’t reference the specific tweet because some variation of this advice/belief has been circulating since probably forever.

The statement was essentially: To be successful as an artist*, you have to lose your concerns about money.

Out of this declarative sentence, one can derive several corollaries:

If you are concerned about money, you are not an artist.

If you are a true artist, you won’t care about money.

If you are doing anything other than your art, you are not an artist

If you expect payment for your art, you are not an artist (this one also implies that if you create anything for the sake of being paid, you are not a true artist).

*I’m using the term artist to refer to anyone who creates, regardless of media.

I’m about to give you a declarative sentence of my own: That’s the most privileged pile of hot sh*t I’ve ever heard.

See, this belief, that you should not care about money, that you should somehow starve for your art because if you are not suffering, you can’t be doing this creator thing correctly, is an extremely toxic and crippling one. A little bit of anecdotal information for you regarding famous writers and their day jobs:

1. TS Eliot – Bank Clerk

2. William Carlos Williams – general practitioner until he retired.

3. Stephen King – High school English teacher

4. Andrea Camilleri – Lawyer

5. Agatha Christie – Pharmaceutical assistant

Even writers who do manage to write for a living often have to hustle together a series of activities to make ends meet, like conduct workshops, book speaking engagements, edit either for a publishing house or as a freelancer and write articles not always related to their projects. I know of many independent writers who monetize their review blogs to create an income stream. And with the altered landscape brought on by the monolith that is Amazon, writer salaries continue to plummet. When the average writer makes $10,000 per year, it’s no wonder writers keep multiple jobs to sustain themselves.

But most of us don’t start writing right out the gate. Or if we do, we often do it as a hobby while pursuing other careers. In my case, I was first a project manager and then went into secondary education before I even conceived of a scenario where I might want to publish anything from the loads of stuff I’d written over the years. By the time I gave myself permission to write and publish anything, I was 15 years into a teaching career and had two children to care for. The last thing I was going to do was ditch my hard-earned tenure, health insurance and retirement to run after an unstable career, no matter how satisfying it was or how good at it I thought myself to be.

It irks me when I see such “wisdom” pushed onto writers. We already struggle with doubts, impostor syndrome and the stress of working in a volatile industry. Very few of us have the luxury of relying on the salary of a well-payed spouse (though if you do, yay you!), an inheritance or a sponsor who will give us a year’s salary to get our career off the ground. This is especially true of diverse writers who come from medium to low socioeconomic backgrounds and don’t possess accumulated family income to support their efforts.

Now, I purposely didn’t use the phrase “Don’t starve for your art” in my title because art, for many, is their job and if you work, you deserve to get paid. This is another fallacy that is promoted by this kind of advice – that somehow, because we are creating art, we should not be paid for it. This is the same kind of rationale that is used to justify underpaying teachers – it’s a vocation, so we should do it for something other than money.

That’s also a steaming pile of sh*t.

I agree that if you don’t like kids and you don’t like the pedagogy of getting people to learn things, sometimes against their will, you will not do well as a teacher. However, as much as I love teaching, I also like to eat. Underpaying me increases my stress because I am engaged in a demanding profession that does not pay me sufficiently to meet my basic needs, hampering my ability to perform. This is not a sustainable expectation.

It’s the same with being a creator. Yes, there is an impulse beyond getting paid that inspires a person to create. But it’s work and if it is done well and provides a product others enjoy, a person should not be shamed for expecting remuneration for said work. We don’t expect engineers and CEOs to work without pay. Why would you expect the same of artists?

This also extends to creating products that have a better likelihood of paying the bills. I might write a contemporary novel because it sells well when what I really want to write is a genre mashup of magical realism and prose poetry. I’ll plug away at the latter, all the while promoting the former because, again, I have bills to pay. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with making that kind of decision.

The truth is, part of being a functional adult member of society is meeting your obligations. Artists are not exempt from such things as mortgages, utilities and insurances. That an artist should be made to feel guilty for meeting their basic needs without resorting to crime or debauchery not only reeks of entitlement, it’s facile at best and tone-deaf at worst. We live in a society where for the first time in history, our children will have reduced metrics of success compared to their elders, including health, social mobility and longevity. It is out of touch with the reality to suggest that a writer not consider economics when they are trying to create a work of art. At the very least, art takes time and time is money. We should be able to pursue our goals while providing for the very stability that allows us to be successful.

So going back to those corollaries, I instead suggest that:

If you are concerned about money, you are not still an artist.

If you are a true artist, you won’t will still care about money.

If you are doing anything other than your art, you are absolutely not an artist

If you expect payment for your art, you are not very much an artist.

There is no shame in creating art for the sake of gain.

There is no shame in working jobs other than the one that feeds your soul.

There is absolutely no shame in demanding that you be paid for your work, like any other productive member of society.

__

*I use the term artist to refer to anyone who creates, regardless of media.

From the publisher

In this charming, witty, and weird fantasy novel, Alexis Hall pays homage to Sherlock Holmes with a new twist on those renowned characters.

Upon returning to the city of Khelathra-Ven after five years fighting a war in another universe, Captain John Wyndham finds himself looking for somewhere to live, and expediency forces him to take lodgings at 221b Martyrs Walk. His new housemate is Ms. Shaharazad Haas, a consulting sorceress of mercurial temperament and dark reputation.

When Ms. Haas is enlisted to solve a case of blackmail against one of her former lovers, Miss Eirene Viola, Captain Wyndham is drawn into a mystery that leads him from the salons of the literary set to the drowned back-alleys of Ven and even to a prison cell in lost Carcosa. Along the way he is beset by criminals, menaced by pirates, molested by vampires, almost devoured by mad gods, and called upon to punch a shark.

But the further the companions go in pursuit of the elusive blackmailer, the more impossible the case appears. Then again, in Khelathra-Ven reality is flexible, and the impossible is Ms. Haas’ stock-in-trade.

Review:

I read several novels this summer but this novel marked the beginning of my summer vacation. I loaded The Affair of the Mysterious Letter onto my kindle and, as soon as I was settled into my airplane seat, I began reading. And, of course, it was everything I expect Hall’s novels to be – fully immersive, clever and witty. I didn’t finish it on the flight – I fell asleep from the sheer exhaustion of going from one continent to another. But when I did finish it, I found it such a delightful novel, I shared it with my husband, with whom I normally share nothing in common in terms of books (I’m an avid fiction reader and he’s content to read Whitehead or Popper).

Hall writes the most distinct character voices. Some writers seem to write the same stock characters over and over in their novels but I have yet to find two characters in the books Hall has written that are the same. I enjoyed being in Captain Wyndham’s head. He’s a fitting stand-in for Watson, sort of the straight man to the sorceress, Shaharazad Hass. Conservative to the point that he won’t recount a swear word to the reader and possessing an endless store of euphemisms, he’s recently returned from fighting in a war in another universe to escape the disapproval of his people because he is trans male. But before you go imagining that sexual orientation or preference becomes some sort of extrinsic plot device in this novel, it’s not. It is part of Captain Wyndham’s backstory but it seems almost everyone in this fabulous novel is queer.

The world building is detailed and completely bonkers, featuring alternative universes, divergent timelines and weapons that defy the space-time continuum. And sorcery. Lots and lots of sorcery. The narrative is populated by the strangest creatures, not all of whom are humanoid or even mortal, and some beings who will just as soon take your soul as eat you alive. It’s really all delightful.

The character of Shaharazad Hass is a wonderful, well-wrought creation. She very clearly is a reworking of Holme’s character – unabashedly secular, intelligent and addicted to all kinds of substances. She simply does not give an absolute f*ck about anything. Cleanliness is optional. So are manners, politeness or punctuality. Everything bores her but when something crazy is about to go down, there is nothing she loves more. Her complete indifference to even the cursory exercises of the ordinary are thrown over in her gleeful pursuit of adventure and something upon which to engage her extraordinary mind. The blackmailing of her former lover provides just this opportunity and forms the mystery at the heart of the novel.

Talking about the mystery in the novel, it’s fun, it holds the plot together but is almost secondary to the pleasure of watching Hass get herself – and Captain Wyndham – in and out of mischief. Of course I wanted to know who was blackmailing Miss Eirene Viola (who stands in very nicely for the esteemed Irene Adler), but honestly, I just wanted to sit back and see what other complications Ms. Hass was going to drag her (somewhat) unwilling side-kick into. I wouldn’t mind a few more books featuring them in their wild adventures.

As books go, it’s a strong start to what I hope is a long series.

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• Publisher: Vintage (May 26, 2015)
• Publication Date: May 26, 2015
• Sold by: Random House LLC
• Language: English

 

Amazon

From the publisher:

In the familiar setting of Holt, Colorado, home to all of Kent Haruf’s inimitable fiction, Addie Moore pays an unexpected visit to a neighbor, Louis Waters. Her husband died years ago, as did his wife, and in such a small town they naturally have known of each other for decades; in fact, Addie was quite fond of Louis’s wife. His daughter lives hours away, her son even farther, and Addie and Louis have long been living alone in empty houses, the nights so terribly lonely, especially with no one to talk with. But maybe that could change? As Addie and Louis come to know each other better–their pleasures and their difficulties–a beautiful story of second chances unfolds, making Our Souls at Night the perfect final installment to this beloved writer’s enduring contribution to American literature.

Review:

I made up my mind I’m not going to pay attention to what people think. I’ve done that too long—all my life. I’m not going to live that way anymore.

I’ve been a fan of Kent Haruf’s writing ever since I read Plainsong when I lived in Germany many years ago. Maybe it was the dreary winters, the constant busyness of a young, stay at home mother juxtaposed with the loneliness of being an expat in a foreign country, but his novels spoke to my state of mind at the time. It is no coincidence that this was my Raymond Carver/Denis Johnson period. I was drawn to writers who stripped their prose bare, their streamlined narrative full of subtext. Like the low skies and barren landscapes of a cold day in Erlangen, the emotional life of the novel lay below the surface of pragmatic prose and simple sentence structures.

I’m clearly in another place in my readings these days, so that this reading was pregnant with nostalgia. Not unlike Addie and Louis who, also designing a pragmatic solution to the solitude of their late years, launch into an affair of companionship and memory, where their comfort in each other is simultaneously the excitement of a newly discovered experience coupled with the familiarity of a life, if not shared, at least experienced along parallel lines that only rarely converged on the peripheries.

Addie and Louis are widow and widower to others, respectively. Their age means they are now supporting actors in the lives of their loved ones – Addie’s son and grandson and Louis’s daughter. Addie, unable to sleep at night, proposes a solution to their loneliness by inviting Louis to sleep next to her. She tells him it isn’t about sex, but about getting through the night. After some hesitation, Louis agrees, embarking on a relationship that surprises their neighbors and dismays their children.

I do love this physical world. I love this physical life with you. And the air and the country. The backyard, the gravel in the back alley. The grass. The cool nights. Lying in bed talking with you in the dark.

This idea that the ability to care and nurture others is not exhausted with age is a prominent one in this novel, exemplified by the Addie and Louis, but also further explored in Addie and Louis’s relationship with her grandson, Jamie. Abandoned by his mother and left with a father overwhelmed by the failure of both his marriage and his business, Jamie is left with Addie until his family life is sorted out. Many of the insights into helping Jamie come from Louis as they established a mini family unit of lonely people who find comfort and belonging with each other.

Who would have thought at this time in our lives that we’d still have something like this. That it turns out we’re not finished with changes and excitements. And not all dried up in body and spirit.

There are simply not enough stories about deep relationships, much less love, between older couples. Though we live in progressive societies, the infantilization of the elderly is very common, as if the desire for connection, for the excitement of knowing a new person deeply bears an expiration date.  I enjoyed the development of Addie and Louis’s intimacy. Being of a certain age and knowing each other, at least superficially, for so long, there is a kind of short-hand to their intimacy that is paralleled in the paired-down narration.

I just want to live simply and pay attention to what’s happening each day.

Addie and Louis’s connection is firmly rooted in the natural world. Very little in the way of religious sentimentality is present in the novel. Even Louis’s ideas of the afterlife harken to the Romantic belief in man’s connection to nature (I’ve come to believe in some kind of afterlife. A return to our true selves, a spirit self. We’re just in this physical body till we go back to spirit). Many of their shared experiences take place during excursions to the mountains or camping in the woods, experiences that include Jamie.  Haruf equates human connection with nature, placing this need on par with the most fundamental needs of human survival.

People need each other, not in a superficial way. We can spend an entire lifetime creating fragile bonds that turn brittle and dried up by habit or neglect. Haruf’s novel shows us that we not only need to connect, but that we are capable of this communion long into the twilight of our lives.

 

 

 

 

• Publisher: Carina Press; Original edition (June 3, 2019)
• Publication Date: June 3, 2019
• Sold by: Harlequin Digital Sales Corp.
• Language: English

Amazon

From the publisher:

Hotshot attorney Reuben Graham has finally agreed to take a vacation, when his plane suddenly plunges into the Alaskan wilderness.

Just his luck.

But his frustrations have only begun as he finds himself stranded with the injured, and superhot, pilot, a man who’s endearingly sociable—and much too young for Reuben to be wanting him this badly.

As the sole provider for his sisters and ailing father, Tobias Kooly is devastated to learn his injuries will prevent him from working or even making it back home. So when Reuben insists on giving him a place to recover, not even Toby’s pride can make him refuse. He’s never been tempted by a silver fox before, but something about Reuben is impossible to resist.

Recuperating in Reuben’s care is the last thing Toby expected, yet the closer they become, the more incredibly right it feels, prompting workaholic Reuben to question the life he’s been living. But when the pressure Toby’s under starts closing in, both men will have to decide if there’s room in their hearts for a love they never saw coming.

Review:

I clicked on this novel in Net Galley for one superficial reason – I liked the cover. The series is set in Alaska and I’m a sucker for mountains and the wilderness, being an avid outdoors person myself.

Arctic Wild features two leads who are opposites in every way – Ruben Graham is a much older, successful lawyer who reluctantly goes on an Alaskan vacation after the couple who’d booked the trip with him bail at the last minute. He’s an intense workaholic, out of touch with his teenage daughter who just wants to a solid internet connection and a few hours of peace to get some documents read. Regarding the quest for internet and a few hours of peace, I can totally empathize.

Toby Kooley is a tour guide whose laid-back, social personality hides the burden of being the sole provider for his family. He is intrigued by Ruben’s intensity but, because of his work, he doesn’t pursue right away the spark of heat between them.

The romance between the two leads develops very slowly, accelerating after they experience a plane crash together in which Toby is seriously wounded. Ruben, out of a desire to be close to his daughter and a sense of duty towards Toby, takes a sabbatical from his work to care for Toby while he heals from his injuries.

I enjoyed the central love story of the novel. Often, I feel like mm romances tend to have less of a buildup and rush directly into the sex. This romance was a slow burn, where Ruben and Toby grow to genuinely enjoy each other’s company, becoming friends after the crash, and finally, acknowledging their attraction to become lovers. There is a bit of the frustrated love trope, where the leads think their romance cannot last beyond a certain expiration date and struggle to avoid investing emotionally in the relationship to minimize the pain of certain separation.

The descriptions of the Alaskan wilderness were pleasurable. I particularly appreciated the realistic reminders of the limits of living near the arctic circle – cold winters and short days. I love an idealized setting as much as the next reader, but I respect an author who does their research to provide as much verisimilitude as possible about the place they’re describing.

There were times when I found Toby to be a bit too limited in his thinking and it made me impatient with him. A lot had to do with his financial duress resulting from his inability to work. But his father also contributed to this idea that he should handle his own business, not ask for help and bear the weight of total financial responsibility without complaint. This expectation of excessive self-reliance hampers Toby’s ability to see his way to a long-lasting relationship with Ruben and while it made the father unlikable, it went a long way towards understanding Toby’s behavior.

Toby’s father and sister’s resistance to Ruben was a bit baffling to me. I understand a wariness of outsiders, but I found their concerns to be bordering on the paranoid. Without enough clarity from the narrative as to why they were so hell-bent on disliking Ruben, despite his wealth, selflessness and obvious feelings for Toby, it felt like a plot device dropped into the narrative to generate external conflict. On the other hand, Ruben’s teenage daughter, Amelia was very well drawn character and furthered Ruben’s development during their interactions.

Overall, it was a well-earned and satisfying love story featuring characters I mostly rooted for. The setting is wonderful and the path to intimacy felt authentic.  I have a soft spot for the slow burn and that was the case here. The writing was very pared down, as is often the case with contemporary romances, but it made for an easy read.

4 out of 5 stars.

 

 

• Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin (May 14, 2019)
• Publication Date: May 14, 2019
• Sold by: Macmillan
• Language: English

From the publisher:

When his mother became President, Alex Claremont-Diaz was promptly cast as the American equivalent of a young royal. Handsome, charismatic, genius—his image is pure millennial-marketing gold for the White House. There’s only one problem: Alex has a beef with the actual prince, Henry, across the pond. And when the tabloids get hold of a photo involving an Alex-Henry altercation, U.S./British relations take a turn for the worse.

Heads of family, state, and other handlers devise a plan for damage control: staging a truce between the two rivals. What at first begins as a fake, Instragramable friendship grows deeper, and more dangerous, than either Alex or Henry could have imagined. Soon Alex finds himself hurtling into a secret romance with a surprisingly unstuffy Henry that could derail the campaign and upend two nations and begs the question: Can love save the world after all? Where do we find the courage, and the power, to be the people we are meant to be? And how can we learn to let our true colors shine through? Casey McQuiston’s Red, White & Royal Blue proves: true love isn’t always diplomatic.

Review:

RW&RB is brilliant. One of the reasons I treasure this book is because it is one of the few modern LGBQTA+ romances that demonstrates an awareness of the history of the LGBQTA+ movement. To a degree, that makes sense. After all, romance is the genre of escapism and hope. Talking about the AIDS crisis or Stonewall or Compton’s Cafeteria Riot might not make for escapist reading. However, given the political environment of the novel and both Alex’s and Henry’s roles in their families and respective governments, history and politics form a central preoccupation. The main characters are the sons of world leaders. Therefore, their romance, as it grows, has the power to alter history and our main characters know this, a fact encapsulated in Alex’s phrase, “History, huh?”

But there’s more to it, right? Because LGBQTA+ people have had to contend with more than just violence and intolerance. We’ve had to deal with outright historical erasure. It becomes a major theme of the novel. Alex and Henry are constantly analyzing their place in history, especially given the consequences of their growing love for each other. The moment they both embrace the fact that they will occupy a glaring spot in the history of both countries, it is both epic and humbling for both characters. One of the most powerful moments is Alex speaking in a press conference and he tells his audience, “I am the First Son of the United States, and I’m bisexual. History will remember us.” A constant theme, McQuiston’s answer to historical erasure is to place the First Son of the United States and the Crown Prince of England on a world stage and in love and dare history to ignore them.

The book is also a coming out narrative. Alex comes to terms with his bisexuality as he falls ever deeper in love with Henry. There is forced exposure of the main character’s sexuality – if this is a trigger for a reader, be forewarned that it plays a central role in the plot. But the writer handles this deftly, and the responses by the different parties involved (Alex’s mother, his sister and best friend, Henry’s family and, finally, the public) are internally consistent for the novel but also realistic on a larger scale. McQuiston paints an optimistic world where some people are ogres about the revelation of Alex and Henry’s romance but most are cheering for them and take courage from their love. Essentially, all the right people are on their side, including the British and American public. America comes off a bit better in this novel than it does in real life.

Let’s talk romance a minute. There is a wonderful mashup of tropes in this novel: enemies-to-friends, fake relationships here and even forbidden love as Alex and Henry work to find reasons to see each other. The emails between them are a work of art on their own. McQuiston models their communications on the love letters of famous people throughout history. I have a collection of letters somewhere on my hard drive that I once collected by Virginia Woolf, Alexander Hamilton and Simon Beauvoir, among others and it was thrilling to see some of these show up in the letters between Alex and Henry. Their love and longing is palpable and is one of the highlights of the novel. I could read a book based on their letters alone and be happy. Alex goes from brusque American braggadocio to poetically waxing about his love for Henry and Henry’s responses are positively literary. The wit and banter is hip and clever but when they talk about love, the words smoulder on the page.

And the love scenes – if you are an aspiring writer, each love scene is worth studying as an exemplar of how to write love scenes rooted in strong characterization. They are a splendid combination of sexual desire, emotional intensity and delicacy – truly some of the best love scenes I’ve ever read.

Favorite Quotes:

Thinking about history makes me wonder how I’ll fit into it one day, I guess. And you too. I kinda wish people still wrote like that. History, huh? Bet we could make some.

But the truth is, also, simply this: love is indomitable.

Should I tell you that when we’re apart, your body comes back to me in dreams? That when I sleep, I see you, the dip of your waist, the freckle above your hip, and when I wake up in the morning, it feels like I’ve just been with you, the phantom touch of your hand on the back of my neck fresh and not imagined? That I can feel your skin against mine, and it makes every bone in my body ache? That, for a few moments, I can hold my breath and be back there with you, in a dream, in a thousand rooms, nowhere at all?

You are a delinquent and a plague. Please come.

Never tell me the odds.

An enthusiastic 5-star read.

 

• Publisher: Berkley (May 7, 2019)
• Publication Date: May 7, 2019
• Sold by: Penguin Group (USA) LLC
• Language: English

I read The Kiss Quotient last summer and was delighted with Stella Lane’s character. She has Asperger’s Syndrome and Hoang does an exceptional job of giving us a glimpse of how Stella processes the world. I’m a massive fan of unconventional female leads and Stella reminded me of Eleonor Oliphant in Eleonor Oliphant is Competely Fine (another excellent read).

In The Bride Test, she gives us Khai Diep, an autistic male lead. His mother, desperate over the fact that he doesn’t date, goes to Vietnam to get him the perfect wife. The title refers to the test she devises to help her select a suitable bride for her son, a test Esmeralda Tran, a hotel maid, easily passes. For the sake of her mother, grandmother and daughter, Esme accepts the proposal to go to America with the purpose of persuading Khai to marry her before the end of the summer. Instead of simply seducing Khai, she falls in love with him as well and the novel hinges on whether Khai can divest himself of the idea that he doesn’t have feelings to admit he loves Esme, too.

If you read all the reviews, you will get a sense of why this book is so successful – dual POVs with distinct character voices; a swoon-worthy male lead who is kind, considerate, intelligent, a bit clueless and utterly unaware of his worth; a resilient female lead to understands her value and is willing to fight for her future and the future of her daughter.

But this book impacted me for other reasons, as well. Khai’s autism isn’t really acknowledged by his family. Therefore, to some degree, he is left to his own resources to interpret for himself what his unique way of processing the world means. Having years of experience teaching children, I’ve learned that if we as adults don’t define in clear terms what makes an exceptional child unique, whether they have autism, Asperger’s or giftedness, they will rationalize for themselves what makes them different and many times, they don’t choose the best explanation.

Khai believes he is simply incapable of love and grief and comes to the conclusion that he is bad when he fails to respond the way others do to the death of his best friend, Andy. This conditions his behavior for years, until Esme comes along and proves otherwise.  But the point I’m making is this: if Khai’s autism had been addressed in a way that made clear to him and his family that he simply has a different way of processing stimuli and emotions, he might not have drawn the conclusion that he was bad. Hoang nails the power of these mistaken self-beliefs and how they can negatively impact our lives, simply because the adults left the explanation of a complex dynamic in the hands of a child instead of acknowledging the thing directly.  Khai’s journey of self understanding and acceptance makes me love him a thousand times more.

The Bride Test also contains elements of the immigrant narrative. Hoang explains in the author’s note how Esme moved from being a peripheral character to the main love interest in the novel. Hoang derived her inspiration for Esme’s character from her mother, and used the writing of this book as an opportunity to get to know her own mother’s immigration story. This made an impression on me. As a first generation Puerto Rican, born and raised in the United States, I will never know what it’s like to pick up your family, leave a way of life to come a country where you don’t speak the language, armed only with hope and a dream.  I lived in Europe for many years but I had a good job, knew the languages and had the expectation of returning home some day.

Stories like Hoang’s mother, Esme or my grandparents are completely different. We come to understand these experiences by becoming familiar with our parent’s histories. There’s so much in Esme’s determination and spirit that I recognized from the stories of my parents and grandparents, what they did to go from being barely literate farm workers to entrepreneurs to having children who went on to go to college and beyond.  That’s why I was rooting for Esme, independent of her relationship with Khai.

Romances like these are why I love this genre so much.

5 enthusiastic stars.

 

• Publisher: Bold Strokes Books (June 11, 2019)
• Publication Date: June 11, 2019
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services LLC
• Language: English

Amazon

When I first read the description of this novel on Netgalley, I was genuinely excited. It hits a lot of my soft spots – #ownvoices writers, m/m romance, socially aware, complex characters and diverse leads. I am particularly enjoying the number of romances being published that are either diverse or engage in social issues. I want novels like these to be successful and try to support them every way I can.

This is how I approached In Case You Forgot by Frederick Smith and Chaz Lamar. Told in the first person present, the story althernates POVs between Zaire and Kenney. Each chapter title ties in with the main title to complete an aphorism. For example, ICYF: Be Honest, ICYF: Leave on Read, and so on, implying that each chapter should serve as a lesson reinforcing the aphorism presented. It’s a clever way of organizing the novel and provides thematic structure to each chapter.

We meet our first main character, Zaire, in chapter one when he asks his huband, Mario, for a divorce. This act sets off Zaire’s search for self-realization as he recognizes the need to be free of his partner in order to find the fulfillment he seeks. In contrast, Kenny Kane is not the agent of his own change in the beginning. When we meet him, he is at his mother’s funeral, where his on-again/off-again boyfriend, Brandon-Malik, breaks up with him by text. It’s an act that haunts Kenny throughout the entire novel and, while it is clear Brandon-Malik is not an ideal partner, Kenny spends the better part of the novel pining after him.

And here is where we get to the crux of my struggle with this novel. On Amazon, this novel is categorized as African American Romance Fiction and LGBT Romance. Therefore I went in, fully expecting a romance read, complete with a meet-cute, beats, declaration, resolution including an HEA/HFN. Instead, the main characters don’t even meet until about 30% through the narrative and spend the better part of the book apart. Because of the expectations, I kept trying to read this novel as a romance and grew frustrated with it.

This is not an indie publication, therefore I hold the publisher responsible for the miscategorization. I’m certain I would have enjoyed the novel much more if I had gone into it expecting an LGBT fiction read without the expectation of romance. Realizing the dissonance between genre and content, I reread the book in an attempt to reframe the narrative in my mind and give it a chance to be successful.

Apart from that, the novel is enjoyable on its own terms. It serves as tableau of black youth trying to find connection and love in West Hollywood, complete with all the racial, social, and personal challenges that implies. Zaire and Kenny’s struggles feel very relateable and there’s a hipness to the characters that I find refreshing.

The point of view was a bit of a struggle for me. I normally don’t favor any one viewpoint over another – whatever works for a novel works for me. However, the first person point of view reminds me of the YA genre, in particular when paired with the present tense. As a reference point, The Hunger Games trilogy is told in this very specific pov/tense. It lends immediacy and intensity to the narrative but it’s hard to pull off if the internal dialogue isn’t rich and engaging. In ICYF, there were times where the transition from internal dialogue to action was jerky and took me out of the reading.

What really works in this novel is the worldbuilding. The setting and supporting characters provide a convincing backdrop against which the characters grow. When I ignored the flaws in narration, I was able to enjoy the realistic character arcs of  Zaire and Kenny overcoming their respective struggles to arrive at a place where they are doing what they like to do and are satisfied with the outcome of their lives. As I stated earlier, this journey felt real to me. If I had read it that way from the beginning, I would have gotten more out of it. While there are romantic elements, this novel would be better marketed as straight fiction. Knowing this in advance will allow reader to better manage their expectations and choices.

4 out of 5 stars

ARC provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I should be writing the draft for my second novel.

Instead, I just finished drafting the synopsis of a short story that has been nagging me since last week. It got me thinking about writing for its own sake, as opposed to writing for the sake of a project. Obviously, a writer can’t be successful if they can’t get sh*t done, so there is something to sticking to a thing and getting it done.

But the thing with me and projects is that every step of it is planned. I have an outline (which I deviate from all the time), a word count which I try to hit or exceed each day, and a self-imposed deadline.

With short stories or things like this that hit me randomly, there is no plan. That kind of freestyle writing is fun and liberating, though most of the time, such stories will sit in my famous bin when I’m done. Sometimes they are useful when an opportunity to contribute to an anthology presents itself and I can dust them off and edit them. But mostly they are there. Five or ten hours of my life in a file somewhere.

It all goes back to the tension between productivity and creativity – I have a ton of ideas but what do I dedicate my time to? What am I trying to accomplish? There are as many ways to manage this as individuals struggling with question. I found some great ideas in this blog post, How to Decide Which Writing Project to Focus On.

Personally, I like to get the nagging project down on paper. I do a fair bit of journaling and have notebooks full of half-ideas. For example, this morning, I handwrote eight pages of my story, in synopsis form. I’ll type it up so it’s backed up in my drive. Having worked it out of my system, if it doesn’t fit in my current project, I’ll set it aside. It might come back as a project of its own later. Or it might just sit somewhere, a bit of writing practice that went nowhere.

What I didn’t do was let it cannibalize what I have in front of me. Yeah, I wrote for a couple of hours and it might look like wasted time. But I’m still on track and, after today, I probably won’t dream about the thing like I’ve been doing for the last week. It frees up some intellectual bandwidth and I’m not anxious because I haven’t wrecked my potential manuscript by going on a tangent.

The post referenced above also discusses the value of using a calendar. I print them up from Outlook and staple them into my journal.  By having projects chunked and scheduled, you give yourself less permission to veer away from your objective because, sorry, that plot bunny is not on the schedule.

A side note on journaling: bullet journals and other kinds of creative organizational systems are nice but sometimes, they become a project unto themselves. I’m not interested in getting all fancy with what is essentially a brute tool. If you’re like me and are looking more for streamlining, below are two posts with some great suggestions on using both calendars and journals to maximize productivity:

 9 Calendar Hacks to Maximize Your Productivity

How to Boost Writing Productivity with Calendars or To-Do Lists

For those of you who like to get creative and colorful, there are some great Pinterest boards dedicated to just that.

Whatever you choose, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with chasing the bright shiny object, if that’s what your creativity demands. But being able to finish a thing is a big deal. If an idea continues to persist even after a project is complete, then you know it’s a keeper.

 

 

 

 

You can download this graphic here, courtesy of Austin Kleon.

When I set out to try to become a published writer, the first advice I recieved was to get a social media presence. Be accessible on all social media outlets. So I got everything – Tumblr, Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Instagram, Pinterest – you name it, I have it. Then I got Hootsuite at the time and I spent hours setting up posts and graphics to post on a schedule, all with the object of being seen. By whom, I don’t know, I’d barely written anything and most definitely did not have a book to promote.

But I felt like I was doing something. I was creating an author’s platform. Woo-hoo for me!

Now, the conventional wisdom seems to have swung away from the author’s platform for fiction writers. Better to just write the book. And here I am with a bunch of social media outlets I don’t enjoy having.

Like, serioulsy, if I thought I had any future as an influencer, I would have gone ahead and done some influencing, or something. Instead, I wasted a butt-load of time doing things, none of which involved the actual writing I needed to do.

There’s also the whole generalized anxiety disorder thing. When I go on different platforms and see, not constructive dialogue, but trolls and rabble-rousers instigating on threads that otherwise have actual value, my anxiety shoots through the roof. Self-care demands that I not expose myself to things that are bad for me. I come from family who suffers from anxiety and would prefer to not have to treat it with a half-pill of Xanax each day the way my grandmother and aunts used to do.

So I was encouraged when I read about Roni Loren’s 30-Day Social Media Ban. First, because bans are definitely a thing and second, I wasn’t the only creative feeling ambivalent about the pressure of being on social media instead of doing what we (well they) do best, which is create cool stuff. If you have a chance, scroll to the end of the post and check out all of the great things Loren accomplished by not being on social media.

For the month of June, I’m going to go on a 30-Day Social Media detox. I will allow myself two exceptions – lending my promotional efforts towards a short story collection designed to raise money for cancer research, a collection that features my novelette, Mar y Sol; and this blog. If things go the way I hope, I should be super-productive. I want to draft my manuscript for the second installment of my novel series (I queried the series and submitted a manuscript – might as well keep on working while I wait). To do that, I need focus and time. I’m out of school for the summer and these two months tend to be precious in terms of carving out time for my own pursuits. This is especially true if we don’t take our annual month-long holiday to see the relatives. I’d like to make the most of these days.

We’ll have to see how I adapt to not having the dopamine high of checking my phone 80 times a day. Since keeping up a blog is another one of the habits I’d like to develop, I’ll post my progress here.

So if you guys see me out on social media doing anything other than promoting my novelette after June 1st, shout at me. I’m all about extrinsic motivation.

Other resources:

Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life

Read a Book Instead (blog post by Austin Kleon)

9 Positive Benefits of Social Media Detox

 

 

 

 

Booksellers:

How to Bang a Billionaire/How to Blow It with a Billionaire 

Note: This is a review of both books together. Might be a bit spoilery. Definitely long-winded.

I’d been putting off reading both novels since I found out about them because the third novel is scheduled for release in September and I wanted to read them all at once. Especially with a writer like Hall, you get so much out of reading his series all the way through.  But I broke down and, while the books were amazing, I’ll now have to wait the entire summer for the third installment. That is the not-so-fun-part

On the surface, this series functions as a rebuttal to 50 Shades of Grey.  It takes the larger beats of that series and reworks them into a completely different story that, in the most simplistic terms, fixes most of what was wrong with James’ series. All the ick factors that characterized 50 Shades, from the poor writing and ridiculous depiction of BDSM to the worrisome message it sends about romance and abuse, are demolished and replaced with, like, good stuff in Hall’s novel. And it works.

In Book 1, we meet Arden, a young but resolutely un-virginal, soon-to-be Oxford graduate who will probably just barely pass his classes. However, he is sharp, witty, and bookish, but not in an academic way. He is positively gleeful in the pursuit of his sexual pleasure. When his friend, Nik, comes down with laryngitis, he takes over for him to man the telephones for an alumni fundraiser. This is when he speaks to Caspian Hart for the first time.  A reclusive, incredibly successful billionaire, the attraction is instantaneous. Caspian surprises Arden by meeting him at the fundraising dinner later that week. The chemistry hinted at in their telephone call explodes in person and it is off the charts.

Arden is understandably lost as he approaches the end of his schooling but he is full of joy and intelligence. I’ve only read this series and the Spires series so I might be talking out of my ass but I always believed that Ash in Glitterland was the smartest of Hall’s creations. However, Arden possesses a wittiness and cultural withitness that makes his character literally sparkle on the page. It’s no wonder Caspian is so taken by him.

About Caspian.

Caspian is mysterious, wealthy, handsome, and ruthless, with an edge of cruelty. The mystery of Caspian Hart is sustained by using Arden as the first-person narrator. We discover Caspian as he does, and trust me, there is a lot to excavate there, especially as more is revealed about his backstory in Book 2. Basic forms of intimacy are an issue with him and many times, when he speaks, he sounds almost robotic. While he is clearly attracted to Arden, he tries to resist the attraction at first and, when he no longer can, arranges a short-term arrangement wherein Arden is put up in an apartment, his bills and expenses paid for, all in exchange for a sexual relationship with Caspian. Arden, and the reader, quickly suss out that Caspian has dominant tendencies he is not comfortable with, even though he has a willing partner in Arden.

One thing I like about these books is that Arden rightfully frames their sexual preferences as healthy kinks, whereas Caspian sees those impulses as deviant and dangerous. This was one of the great (among many) failures of 50 Shades – the idea that Christian Grey was a dominant because of his sexual coercion as a boy, a condition that he needed to be cured of, whereas Caspian has, along the way, been manipulated to believe that these tendencies are unnatural and it is Arden tries his hardest to liberate him of that misperception.  In fact, sex in all its forms is depicted positively and isn’t used as a deviant crutch to manufacture false conflict. There is conflict around Caspian’s discomfort with his kink but it isn’t the kink itself that’s portrayed negatively. It’s one of many instances in which Hall inverts the roles and dynamics found in 50 Shades and the results are much more effective.

There’s so much to work with in this series. The first installment leaves the reader with a satisfactory ending, while the second ends with a heart wrenching cliff hanger. As a reader, you are rooting for this couple but each of them contribute to tensions in the relationship. Caspian’s are obvious – he is just this side of fucked up. And Arden can be impatient with Caspian, pushing him at times when he would do well to slow down.

Caspian is mesmerizing when he lets his guard down. He may have ruthless tendencies, but there is something vulnerable, painful and loveable about him. There were several instances where I kept saying, “Ardy, baby – Run, don’t walk, away from that man!” I spent much of both novels in fear for Arden because I knew Caspian had the power to hurt him deeply. When Caspian inevitably does, I truly ached for him. However, Arden, grows in personal power throughout the novels until he comes into his own in book two. Watching that development is one of the best things about this series.

And Hall’s writing? Besides the craft stuff, at which he is a master, and his use of language, which is pure poetry, he can, in one page, go from invoking Harold Bloom to Mace Windu and it’s so thrilling to see someone so intellectually nimble at work. It’s scary.  And intimidating. And downright humbling.

Now, the hardest part for me as a reader is to get through this summer before the last installment comes out.

Of course, both books are 5-star reads

PS – I couldn’t stop listening to Energia by Camila, which reminds me of Arden in the preview chapter for book 3. If you do decide to spear your soul by reading the preview of How to Belong to a Billionaire at the end of the book 2, this song is the perfect accompaniment.

I haven’t posted lately. The nice thing about being relatively unknown is there is no actual pressure to produce content because no one is waiting for you to post. Each blog post is a shout in the void and, for an anxious person like me, that works out just fine.

With that established, I’ll tell you (my nonexistent audience) what I have been up to.

I kinda-sorta finished editing my first novel. And it’s…well, it’s not what all that I want it to be.  I’m not saying that to garner sympathy of any kind or publicly flog myself with my clear and evident insecurities, of which I possess in abundance. I’m saying this because it’s a truth universally acknowledged that all first novels are kind of crappy.

That’s why I have one of those large, plastic bins next to my desk. All my middling, experimental or dissatisfying work ends up in there. Just like my first poems and short stories are all safely hidden in the bottom of that bin, to be pulled out when I want to convince myself that in all the time I’ve spent, well, being alive, there is some material evidence of my existence, beyond the launching of my DNA into the human gene pool. So I almost stuffed this bit of writing down there, too.

But there’s something in this manuscript which I believe, with more polishing, might be worth sharing. There’s also a lot to build on – I’m thinking a family saga of interconnected stories, the first four contemporary, followed by a side series of historical novels. I think I could pull it off, and if the conventional wisdom is true, the more I write, the better I will hopefully get.

Such was my optimism that I sent my manuscript, after a professional edit, and a few passes through a beta group, to one (just one) publishing company. Instead of blanketing the world with my magnum opus, I’m playing this game with myself. I want to see what happens. I might get a rejection (the most likely outcome). I might get a revise and rewrite (a solid win). Or something bigger. Who knows.

The game is simply – when I (most likely) get it back, I’ll attack it again. And send it out, this time to perhaps three publishers. Or five. Because, for once, I have something that I think might not be half-bad.

This is the part where I should add value to your lives. I enjoyed this blog post, which isn’t too old, called Know Thyself…By Writing Your First Novel.  It’s a bit abstract, in the sense that it gives you the rah-rah about writing your novel, but doesn’t actually give you the how. That’s what all those courses and craft posts and organizational strategies are for. But the article does position writing as a path to self-knowledge, which is not an entirely a bad approach, especially if you aren’t aspiring to add your voice to the great Western Canon or whatever, but you simply want to tell a story.

Just don’t be so quick to dump your stuff in your giant, plastic bin.

 

This post is one of a series of writing exercises that I’ve used, either in a writing course or on my own. Each post includes this disclaimer, a description of the exercise, and an example from my own writing. If you would like to try out the exercises on your own blog, refer to the exercise in the title and ping back to this post (if you have a WordPress blog). Or you may simply leave a link in the comment section so I and others can check out your work.

We experience the world through our five senses. When we write, we are limited to filtering our ideas and emotions through the mode of our bodies. That’s why abstract writing is often very difficult for us to connect to as readers. We have no way of absorbing the dimensions of those ideas through purely intellectual means (one would argue that mathematicians and philosophers are able to do this but even they avail themselves of symbols to stand in for abstractions, not unlike our use of language).

Therefore, to create immediacy and engagement when conveying abstractions such as love, justice, courage, jealousy, hatred, etc., it’s important to try to make the reader feel these ideas through their senses. One way we can do this is through the use of figurative language.

Metaphorical or figurative language is the bread and butter of poets and writers. One way to understand the use of this type of language is to remember that all figurative language is a comparison. The metaphor, simile, hyperboles, personification, synecdoche – all of these modes exist to concretize abstractions through the use of comparisons involving the senses. Mastering the use of this tool can bring power, resonance and immediacy to a scene or description in a larger work.

Exercise: Choose a concept, emotion or idea and create or revise a piece of writing that uses concrete comparisons to convey the abstraction. You may choose to use one overarching comparison or a series of related ones to convey your meaning.

Be aware that in a short writing piece, it is best to limit your use of figurative language to a central motif so that your piece is not overwhelmed by a flurry of imagery.

In “The Red Dress,” I choose to convey the limitations agoraphobia imposes on a relationship. Pay attention to the way the concept of space is manipulated as well as the persistent use of bird imagery.

The Red Dress

“It’s all so public, isn’t it? The dancing, the music, the way people touch each other,” Rachel said, her hands waving like a pair of hummingbirds searching for a place to land. They found peace when she reached across the kitchen counter to test the latch on the window above the sink.

Joshua walked very deliberately towards her, careful to not startle her with his movements. Outside of his home, he moved with careless abandon, his body free to lumber along, make noise, swing itself out in wide arcs, and stretch into space as far as he could reach. But in the home he shared with his wife, he contracted inward, careful not to move with even natural suddenness for fear she would relapse and retreat into the fortress of their bedroom again.

“Just this once, Rachel. You’ll like it. I have that striped suit I’ve never worn before,” Joshua answered. “You know, the one I bought for Marianne’s Christmas Party?”

She twitched slightly, a ripple of motion that crawled over the surface of her skin. “So many people. I wonder if I would even remember how to dance? Do you remember that one party boat we took from Manhattan?”

“I do. You could wear the red dress from that night. I’ve always liked that one.”

She moved away, fidgeting with the lock on the door leading to the garden, cocking her head to the side with quick, jerky movements to admire, as she often did, the blooms unfurling beneath the endless blue sky.

“I wouldn’t want to expose my back to the cold,” she answered, shivering as if she’d already put on the dress. He wanted to scream at her, shake her hard and tell her she was safe, that the world was not conspiring to crush her, that neither of them were worth the effort. But she’d never believe him and he’d only feel worse for making her cry. So he trailed behind her as she jimmied locks she’d sealed that morning.

“A shawl, then. Or a bolero jacket. It would keep you warm.”

She slipped her fingers behind the venetian blinds, then turned to stare at him, looking older than fear, older than a woman should ever look. Lines appeared around her eyes, crinkling the smooth skin at the corners of her lips. Her skin morphed into something pallid and sallow, provoking his pity and rage in equal measure.

“I did very much love to dance.”

• Publisher: Zebra Shout
• Publication Dates: September 26, 2017, March 27, 2018, November 27, 2018
• Sold by: Penguin Random House Publisher Services
• Language: English

Hispanic American Literature/Fiction; Women’s Fiction, Contemporary Romance, Latinx

I had long looked forward to reading a novel by Priscilla Oliveras, not only because I’d read so many positive things about her work, but also because she writes about our shared Puerto Rican culture, which I was sure I’d enjoy. When I stumbled on the Matched to Perfection series and noticed it was complete, it was like hitting the jackpot.

Each book is centered on one of the three Fernandez sisters. They are as different from each other as any set siblings can be. Yazmine (Yaz), the oldest, is a dancer who has performed on Broadway and currently run’s Mrs. Hanson’s Dance Academy in the Chicago suburb of Oakton. She possesses a powerful sense of personal and familial responsibility, a quality that makes it hard for her to understand what she really wants. Rosa, controlled and sometimes too well-behaved for her own good, is a librarian who is just finishing school and has a job already lined up at the local Catholic school, if one moment of abandon doesn’t derail all her plans. And Lilí is a party girl who settles into her work as a counselor for a domestic violence center and struggles to be taken seriously by her own family. Artist, bookworm, social justice warrior – I love that Oliveras diversifies the strengths, talents, and therefore, potential conflicts of each sister.

Yazmine’s conflict in book one has to do with reconciling her father’s desires for success with those of her own. This perception of what she thinks she should want for herself and her career informs her relationship with Tomas, a single father whose ex-wife chooses her professional ambition over her family. Maria, his daughter, is a truly enchanting creation, As one of Yaz’s dance students, she is the reason Yaz and Tomás enter each other’s sphere. Tomás is an ambitious advertising executive in his own right, struggling to play a meaningful role in his daughter’s life. The resolution of this disparity of ambitions on the part of both Yaz and Tomás forms the primary conflict which of the novel.

Rosa’s book revolves around her unresolved crush for Jeremy Taylor, a close family friend. Little does she know, Jeremy pines for her also. This intense attraction leads to a moment of abandon, resulting in unintended consequences that force both of them to examine what they truly want out of a romantic relationship. Here, the backdrop of the family’s Catholicism plays an important role in augmenting the tension and stakes of the relationship. Much of the conflict is internal, with one obvious and enormous external conflict that nearly eclipses every other one. Neither Rosa nor Jeremy are quite sure of the other’s true intentions or feelings.

Finally, Lilí’s book features the very real conflict generated by the mutual attraction between her and Diego Reyes, a Chicago police officer. Diego at first thinks Lilí is a disconnected, rich social justice warrior, while Lilí is hesitant about entering into a relationship with a police officer, after having experienced a failed one in the past. For this couple, their greatest challenge is one of achieving emotional intimacy through honesty and admitting vulnerability, especially on the part of Diego, who hides so much of himself. His challenge is to break down the emotional walls he’s created to protect himself and others, while Lilí struggles to be understood.

I was absolutely thrilled that both books one and three features two latinx leads. A lot of romances I’ve read so far have featured interracial couples, which I actually love. There are many opportunities for conflict at the level of culture and language and make a novel interesting. However, there is something very refreshing about watching two latinx characters negotiate the pitfalls of their budding relationship without the added angst of cultural conflict.

Book two has an interracial pairing. However, the writer does not resort to the easy fallback of emphasizing Rosa and Jeremy’s differences. Jeremy has spent so many years in close proximity to the Fernandez clan as a close friend that he is a defacto part of the group. The othering of the latinx culture in this novel is sidestepped. This universe belongs to the Fernandez family and everyone operates in that status quo.

Olivera also doesn’t shy away from problems that are part of even the best possible life – the care of an elderly parent, the dangers of public service and the destruction caused by domestic violence. But the books don’t get carried away by these tough topics. Each one is confronted and overcome, making the HEA all the more sweeter in the end.

Olivera’s ouvre (I like the word!) appeals to me because, as a fellow Puerto Rican, I caught on quickly to the cultural shorthand she uses to describe the space in which the Fernandez sisters to live and fall in love. I understood the food, the mini-expressions in Spanish, the superstitions and cultural beliefs. There is a common refrain from book one, familiar primero or family first, that resonates throughout the novels and makes sense to me. When Lilí, in book three, prays to both her parents for guidance, it is a second-nature, authentic gesture I recognize from my own experience.

Music plays a major role in the novels, also. In book one, the beloved patriarch, Rey, has spent his life playing with a band and frequently jams in the makeshift studio in his basement. As in many Hispanic families, music forms the back drop of nearly every social gathering or important event. The motif of music comes full circle in the character of Diego, who plays the guitar and sings, becoming the music man Lilí has always been looking for.

Music and dancing are accompanied by descriptions of wonderful Puerto Rican cuisine. The three sisters cook together, reminding me of the comforts and pleasures of my family’s kitchen when my grandmother, mother, aunts descended en mass to make pasteles or other complicated dishes while the men roasted pork and played dominos in the backyard, the children always underfoot.

This series was a true pleasure to read. Oliveras is a master of emotional beats and pacing. Because these books are relatively low heat, the onus of the emotional payoff rests heavily on the relationship between the characters and the work they have to do to obtain a happy ending. That is not to say there isn’t sexual tension, and in fact, the books grow progressively steamier, but when it is resolved, it is done off the page.

Romantic, full of rich characters and cultural details, this series provides the joy of full immersion. Pair it with a warm blanket, a glass of wine and a bowl of asopao for the perfect book weekend.

His Perfect Partner – 5/5 Stars

Her Perfect Affair – 4.5/5 Stars

Their Perfect Melody – 5/5 Stars

I was fortunate enough to participate in EOT Publications’ Shamrocks, Shillelaghs and Shenanigans: A St. Patrick Day’s Sexy Shorts Collection. As happens with these collaborations, after a specific period of time, the rights revert back to the author. As for my story, Dream of the Fae, I’m collecting together my short and novelette length paranormal romances for publication next year in a collection.

Below, you will find four of the released shorts, including their buy links. If you are interested in a quick, erotic morsel, these sexy shorts might be just what you’re looking for, regardless of the holiday.

Amazon

Submissive Fiona Tay signed a contract with Mr. H. O’Brien. Little did she know there are three of them. She can handle one Dom or two. For three, she needs Luck. (m/f, m/f, m/f, mmm/f).

Amazon

Devin McDiarmuid is on a mission. When a priceless family heirloom is accidentally donated to a famous library, she travels all the way to Dublin only to find it’s been lost. The library is like heaven, and she knows the book is somewhere inside. She is determined to find it herself, even if that means sneaking in after dark.

Amazon

A funny thing happens in Boston every March 17: everyone becomes Irish. The lasses shake their shamrocks. The lads party with their shillelaghs out. Liam, Jenna, and Max are up to some naughty shenanigans. Join them in Getting Lucky!

This book contains explicit sexual situations including male/male activities. If these things offend you, please do not download this book. All characters are of legal age and consent.

Amazon

Jason is reluctant to catch up with his best friend, Luke, at a frat party of all places, especially with Luke’s annoying girlfriend, Sarah, tagging along. She was always coming on to him, even in front of Luke. But Sarah has plans that include both Luke and Jason, and this St. Patrick’s Day party is the perfect setting. She will just have to use all her charms to get Jason on board. (m/m/f)

3/23/19

I decided to participate in Linda G. Hill’s weekly Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompts. The original link for this week’s prompt can be found here if you would like to participate.  Rules of engagement are at the end of this post.

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “the last piece of mail you received.” Talk about the subject of the last piece of physical mail you received, i.e. a gas bill – talk about gas, not the bill itself. Have fun!

University of Chicago.

Brown University.

California Institute of Technology.

I graduated from high school with the family expectation that I would become a secretary. I wouldn’t need a FAFSA. What use were those AP classes anyway, my grandfather (step-grandfather; it’s important to make the distinction) used to ask while I slaved away, happily, as it were, on my AP Lit essay. I mean, the world was going to end anyway. Best to save your energy preparing for the second coming of Christ.

But I graduated and Jesus never came.

I had my first boyfriend and Jesus never came.

I grew bored and disconsolate in my job as a medical billing clerk. Still, Jesus never came.

Finally, I figured out that Jesus was like my junior high school prom date, who never knocked on my bedroom window to pick me up. I made it to the dance anyway. I climbed out of the window, just as I had planned and hitched a ride with my neighbor’s son, who would do anything for a couple of bucks to buy a dime bag. He even shared a toke with me before I stumbled into the high school gym, all self-righteous and defiant in a purple dress the size of church bell and proceeded to have me a good time. (Turns out my poor date had had a car accident and, this being the time before cell phones and me being the kind of girl who couldn’t give her home phone away, I didn’t find out what happened until half way through YMCA).

Back to those letters. I eventually went to community college. Then I went to state college. Waiting for damnation to rain on my head. That never came, either.

Those college letters are for my daughter.

She isn’t waiting for Jesus. Or damnation. Or a jilted date.

She won’t have to climb out a window to have a good time.

 

Here are the rules:

1. Your post must be stream of consciousness writing, meaning no editing (typos can be fixed), and minimal planning on what you’re going to write.

2. Your post can be as long or as short as you want it to be. One sentence – one thousand words. Fact, fiction, poetry – it doesn’t matter. Just let the words carry you along until you’re ready to stop.

3. I will post the prompt here on my blog every Friday, along with a reminder for you to join in. The prompt will be one random thing, but it will not be a subject. For instance, I will not say “Write about dogs”; the prompt will be more like, “Make your first sentence a question,” “Begin with the word ‘The,’” or will simply be a single word to get you started.

4. Ping back! It’s important, so that I and other people can come and read your post! For example, in your post you can write “This post is part of SoCS:” and then copy and paste the URL found in your address bar at the top of this post into yours.  Your link will show up in my comments for everyone to see. The most recent pingbacks will be found at the top. NOTE: Pingbacks only work from WordPress sites. If you’re self-hosted or are participating from another host, such as Blogger, please leave a link to your post in the comments below.

5. Read at least one other person’s blog who has linked back their post. Even better, read all of them! If you’re the first person to link back, you can check back later or go to the previous week by following my category, “Stream of Consciousness Saturday,” which you’ll find below the “Like” button on my post.

6. Copy and paste the rules (if you’d like to) in your post. The more people who join in, the more new bloggers you’ll meet and the bigger your community will get!

7. As a suggestion, tag your post “SoCS” and/or “#SoCS” for more exposure and more views.

8. Have fun!

This post represents the first in a series of writing exercises that I’ve used, either in a writing course or on my own. Each post includes this disclaimer, a description of the exercise, and an example from my own writing. If you would like to try out the exercises on your own blog, refer to the exercise in the title and ping back to this post (if you have a WordPress blog). Or you may simply leave a link in the comment section so I and others can check out your work. Please feel free to comment on mine, also.

I took a flash fiction course some years ago with the venerable Barbara Henning (check out her bio over at the Poetry Foundation). One thing flash fiction teaches you is the importance of focus, something I confess to struggling with in my own work. If you know even a little about me, I tend to range far in wide in terms of subject and genre, both in my reading and writing. This is great in terms of providing multiple perspectives on subject matter and form, as well as learning the value of versatility.

But even in a long work of fiction, focusing on what a character is saying or doing, providing a strong sense of place, or slowing down action during a critical scene so the reader receives the full impact of that narrative moment is an important skill to develop.

In the interest of respecting the sanctity of Henning’s coursework, I offer a variation of the exercise, as well as the resulting flash fiction piece. If you are interested in using this prompt or would like me to read and share your work, please take a glance at the disclaimer above for instructions on how to bring your writing to my attention.

Exercise: Using an image, character, or plot from a myth (religious or otherwise), create or reinvent a story in a modern context. Write in any form you like (poetry, flash fiction, short story). Note: flash fiction word counts are traditionally anywhere from 50 words (microfiction) all the way up to 2000 words. I leave it to your muse to decide what you come up with.

The Fruit Stand

737 Words

The fruit stand on Market Street opens at seven o’clock every Wednesday and Saturday in springtime. Percy loves nothing more than her fresh fruit. Well, fresh fruit and rest. She doesn’t understand how these modern people get by on so little sleep. It keeps them busy in the Underworld – don’t mortals know how dangerous it is to go around on only five hours of sleep each night? Just watching them scurry about is downright exhausting. There’s no sense of beauty in all that hecticness. They wear their fatigue like medals of honor, their deprivations as things to be proud of.

An image bursts into her mind. Apples. Percy is in an epic mood and apples fit the bill. Apples are big in the modern world. In ancient times, the preferred fruit of minstrels and storytellers was the pomegranate, or at least, that was the fruit assigned to her legend. But here, where everything appears to function upside down and backwards, the unglamorous, common apple stands for all kinds of things – wisdom, sexual pleasure, forbidden desires. The apple is everywhere, in multiple iterations. She’s discovered during all the infinite years of her existence that when people repeat an idea enough times, it gains the substance of credibility. Like the monotheism. Say it enough times and soon, entire civilizations end up jumping on the same band wagon.

Percy shrugs to no one in particular, apples on her mind again. The air is heavy with the smell of fructose and an underlying fragrance of rot so typical of all things mortal. She picks up a medium-sized, brown paper bag and puts two of the swollen, red fruit inside. An old farmer with deep, wrinkled jowls approaches like a coil of frigid air from the depths of a crypt.

“$3.00 a pound,” he offers.

“$3.00? You sell them as if you created them! $1.98. They’re in season.”

“They’re always in season, ma’am. And they’re organic.”

“Hmph,” she says, peering at the man with knowing eyes. “There are trace pesticides in the skin of this apple. And anyway, if these were really organic, they wouldn’t be in season all year-round. Still, I have sympathy for your paltry existence. I’ll take them for $2.00.”

The fruit seller wrinkles his nose at her. “Sympathy? Look, lady, I’m just trying to make a living here. What do you know about fruit anyway?”

Percy leans in, giving him a glimpse of her true form, if only for an instant – a field of spring wilting and blossoming under a benighted sky that is continuously rent open like the stone doors of a mausoleum. She reveals her rapacious husband, her howling, over-bearing mother, the conniving innocence that won her a throne. How good it feels to be herself.

“I, more than anyone in all of existence, understand the importance of taking in fruit.” She straightens, satisfied at the look in the old man’s cataract-glazed eyes, terror burbling beneath like volcanoes ready to erupt. “There, there,” she says, the hard tone of her voice now soft and lilting. She pats the old man’s hand, the skin the color of dirty, grey marble. He jerks back at her touch, crossing himself as he steps away from her.

“H-How…b-b-bout…y-y-you take…them…th-there apples…?”

“Why, I think I just might.” She picks up the bag, pulling out one of the objects in question, and folds the lip down to keep the remaining contents from spilling out. “Everybody’s just crazy about apples, aren’t they? Apple pie, apple juice, apple fritters…apples, apples, apples.” She stuffs the bag in her giant purse. “But I can appreciate why people love them. That’s how my husband seduced me, you know. With fruit, I mean,” she says cheerily, taking a perverse pleasure in the way the man tries to shrink into invisibility behind the stall. “I was young and my mother was all wrath but I knew what I was doing.” She slings the bag over her shoulder. “Things aren’t ever the way people say they are.”

She stands solemnly before the old, trembling gentleman, as if ready to salute him. “If I like them, I’ll be sure to come back.”

She turns in the direction she came from and takes a greedy bite of the crisp fruit, ignoring the chemical tang, savoring its delectable sweetness, the binds to the wretched, dying earth tightening with each drop of sticky juice.

ST

 

American Dreamer by Adriana Herrera

• Publisher: Carina Press; Original edition (March 4, 2019)
• Publication Date: March 4, 2019
• Sold by: Harlequin Digital Sales Corp.
• Language: English

Amazon

Multicultural, Own Voices, M/M Romance, Latinx Lead

When I first saw the marketing push for American Dreamer, I was ecstatic. M/M Romance? Check. Interracial romance where the other half is a sexy librarian? Check.

Wait, Afro-Latino from the Dominican Republic? Are you kidding me? This is what I LIVE FOR! Throw all the check boxes away.

The level of personal anticipation that I experienced for the March 4th release of Adriana Herrera’s debut novel was nothing short of ridiculous.  I haven’t waited for a book in this way since, well, forever.

Nesto is wonderful. An immigrant from the Dominican Republic, you understand his priorities right from page one. He’s moving to Ithaca from NYC to launch his food truck, OuNYe Afro-Caribbean Food, with the help of his family and life-long friends (all of whom get their own novel). He has one goal – to become successful within six months or go home.  He enjoys the support of his people and possesses the willingness to put in the sweat and blood to make success happen. But Nesto’s x-ray focus wavers when Jude, an adorable librarian, arrives at his food truck to buy his scrumptious food.

The attraction between the two men is palpable. Nesto and Jude’s respective culture and sexuality are presented as a fact of life, something the author reinforces by making sure that the novel is populated by diverse characters as a matter of course, including several of Jude’s gay friend, and Carmen, his Dominican co-worker and best friend. Jude speaks Spanish and has lived in Central American, which lifts the onus on Nesto being solely responsible for teaching Jude the ins and outs of his culture.

Every aspect of this novel is respectful of the full humanity of each character. There is no stereotyping, no othering of anyone. The landscape of the novel is a reflection of a diverse world. The challenges Nesto and Jude confront are rooted in aspects of the character’s personality and the way they feel about intimate relationships. Nesto and Jude’s journey takes center stage, and it is such a refreshing take for a novel featuring an interracial couple.

As a daughter of Puerto Rican parents who relocated to the US with the same dreams as Nesto and his mother, I can identify with Nesto’s ambition and his mother’s pride as well as the pitfalls of being a brown person in a white world. As one who was also brought up in a fundamentalist faith that grew increasingly inconsistent with the way I viewed the world, I can also identify with the pain Jude experienced of not feeling fully accepted by those whose job it was to love him unconditionally. Herrera captures so many dynamics in this novel, which serves as equal parts romance, equal parts commentary on what it means to function, find love, and eventually flourish in a world that is not always willing to accommodate your existence.

Oh, and the food descriptions are divine! That absolutely has to be said.

This debut novel recieves an enthusiastic 5/5 stars.

 

By the Currawong’s Call by Welton B. Marsland

• Publisher: Escape Publishing (November 1, 2017)
• Publication Date: November 20, 2017
• Sold by: HarperCollins Publishers
• Language: English

Bisexual, Victorian Romance

Amazon

I was just coming off reading Holding the Man and missing the Australian setting when Marsland’s debut novel, By the Currawong’s Call came across my desk. Anglican priest, Matthew Ottenshaw, finds himself posted to the small town of Dinbratten, where he forms a deep friendship with Jonah Parks, the police sergeant in residence. This novel does something I love – it gives a chance for the relationship between the MCs to grow slowly before they give in to their romantic feelings, made doubly complicated by Matthew’s vocation and the historic period. It’s excellently written, just skirting the lyrical as the relationship between Matthew and Jonah escalates into something irrevocable.

In addition, each character, even the minor characters, are distinctly drawn. The author takes advantage of the differences in dialect and vocabulary to mark each character. This is particularly effective between Matthew and Jonah, because Matthew is more formally educated than Jonah. Even without dialogue tags, there is no question who is speaking.

This novel commits only one forgivable misstep – it sometimes uses Jonah as a vehicle for promoting the modern attitudes towards what were then illegal, same-sex relationships. There is nothing wrong with this, but if I, as a reader, am consuming this genre, it had better be because I’ve sorted my feelings about queerness. On the strength of this assumption, it’s a bit like preaching to the choir. Oh, and that epilogue can go for the same reason.

Everything else in this novel is divine.

Favorite quotes:

“You’d better decide quick-smart whether ya reckon I’m worth it, as well. Or else we should stop it all, right here.”

“The match flame illuminated the angles of his face. He was a god of myth, inhaling fire and sighing out incense.”

‘We are a wonder together,’ Matthew thought. ‘An absolute wonder.’

4.5/5 Stars. Great debut!

Note to writers:

• Excellent example of using vocabulary and dialogue to sharpen characterization
• Sex scenes escalate intimacy and are tied to the story and characters. Integral to the emotional arc.
• Illustrates the pitfalls of using epilogues that do not enhance the story.
• Powerful sense of place.

And the rating (drumroll)… A solid 4.5 out of 5 stars.

Great debut novel!

How to Stop Time by Matt Haig

• Publisher: Viking
• Publication Date: February 6, 2018
• Sold by: Penguin Group (USA) LLC

Fantasy, Literary Fiction

Amazon

Note: This is my first book review on this site. I tend to read like a writer, so my reviews will be filtered for whatever writing lessons I can derive. If you aren’t a writer, just ignore the bullet points at the end.

I started it in December of last year and forced myself to stop in January because of a deadline I’d placed on myself to complete the manuscript on my very first novel. Therefore, I didn’t touch this novel for a good month before returning to it.  Unheard of for me and yet somehow appropriate, given the central conceit of the novel.

Tom Hazard is over four hundred years old, though he doesn’t look a day over forty. He suffers from a genetic condition called anageria, which results in significantly slowed aging in its subjects, about one year of aging for every fifteen normal years. More than any other consequence, this condition causes him to be an outsider in time. As normal people age and die like mayflies, Tom is increasingly isolated by his quasi-immortality. This condition is further reinforced by the Albatross Society, a shady group whose goal is to find other albas, or albatrosses, like Tom and protect them from a supposed government conspiracy to perform genetic experiments. However, to remain safely within the Society, members must follow the cardinal rule – never fall in love.

The mood of the novel is that of nostalgia tempered with humor – Tom suffers for his condition and loses much over the centuries because of it. Tom’s story alternates between the past and the present. This structure allows Tom’s backstory to emerge gradually, creating and satisfying the reader’s curiosity. Not all stories manage this shuttling back and forth in time very well but it is essential to this story.

Tom’s isolation is also important to the story, as it places him in the position to make broader observations about the nature of human beings. He comments on the circuitous nature of history, and the way human beings repeat their mistakes over and over, unable to rise above the constraints of their age. To Tom, life is nothing more than a series of moments slipping away, impossible to hold onto because the next moment rushes in, and the next and the next afterwards in unrelenting succession.  He’s desperately adrift, having lost touch even with himself, living in quiet despair and profound loneliness. The only reason he doesn’t end his life is because he is searching for his daughter, Marion, who has also inherited his condition.

Haig’s writing is engrossing, describing a man who has lived too long, seen too much and is disconnected from all of it. Tom is fond of music – he plays over thirty instruments by the time we encounter him in the narrative. The author chooses this talent wisely – music is an impermanent pleasure, demanding full immersion from the listener. Like time, music belongs to the moment, slipping away into the past as soon as it is experienced. There is no way to hold it.

The narrative is also full of references to literature and culture, and the reader is treated to meetings with historical figures such as William Shakespeare and F. Scott Fitzgerald which are not as lingering – or interesting – as the reader would hope. At one point in the narrative, Bertrand Russell’s A History of Western Philosophy is referred to as a “m*therfucker” and, as one who took on the task of reading it, I couldn’t help but chuckle in agreement.

However, the reader learns there is a way to stop time, as the title proposes.  You can’t escape the hungry maw of time, as it crawls ever forward. But there is the power of memory to recapture lost moments, and the inevitable vulnerability of surrendering to love, which can make time seem irrelevant. The lesson is the same whether one is a mayfly or an albatross.

It’s easy to get lost in this novel, which is the number one requirement for a good read. The writing is controlled and precise. The plot was credible, though the writer does expect a certain suspension of disbelief towards the end, as if he’d out-plotted himself and needed some way to undo the knot. No matter; it doesn’t detract from the overall pleasure of the book.

Note to writers:

• Excellent example of threading back story through the narrative
• Shifts in time clearly marked with chapter changes
• First person narration that is not claustrophobic because focus is on both the internal life of character and the descriptions of the external environment (balance between navel gazing and physical setting)
• Writing can be aphoristic but just skirts the realm of the “fortune cookie.”

I should rate these, shouldn’t I? I think it’s a solid 4.5 out of 5 stars.

 

 

 

I write.

That makes me one out of about a billion aspiring writers.

I’ve published a few poems and short stories, which you can check out in my Publications page. I’m currently writing a novel (again, take a number, right?).

The conventional wisdom is, as a writer in this age of publishing, I should have a social media presence. I have the entire social media soup. You name your distraction of choice and I will most likely have a username somewhere to follow. I can say I’ve checked off that box, also. When I’m active on social media, I can be found on the following platforms (in order of frequency): Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr, Pinterest, Bookbub, Google+, and Twitter. I often take week-long breaks from my platforms. It’s good for my soul.

Now, I’ve added this blog.

I’ll be honest. I’m a busy woman. I’m married with two school-age children. I work as a full-time high school instructor. I pitch in to help my husband run his business. And I’m a bit of a fitness nut. Writing is one of the most important aspects of my life but it isn’t the only thing I have going on.

Oprah Winfrey said you can have it all, just not all at once.

Like you, reader, I’m divided into several hefty pieces. A kind of human pie. Apple flavor. Or cherry. Whatever metaphorical pie you prefer. I’m a big fan of pecan, myself.

In that sliver dedicated to writing, I’m choosing to keep a blog. Maybe you will get to know me this way. Maybe you will find something useful. I certainly hope for one or both outcomes.

My only blogging schedule for now is one post per week, most likely on Wednesdays. At the minimum, I will post book reviews and things relating to sustaining creativity. I’ll put up short stories and occasionally discuss my writing, but not often, unless it is to share some useful tip with you. I might even try to sell you a book, but only half-heartedly. I’ve never been much of a marketer.

So, welcome to my tiny corner of the internet.

Let’s see how this little experiment goes, shall we?

PS – If there is anything wonky with this site, feel free to leave a comment. I’m still working through the rough patches.

ST

1/16/19