*I probably accidentally stole this title from somewhere because it’s just so cutely witty and I do not have that much faith in my originality.
I have previously discussed my relationship with the romance genre on the blog, and since I’ve been tempering the heaviness of my recent non-romance reads with quite a lot of romance, I thought I would say a little something about some of my recent favorites.
SEAL Camp by Suzanne Brockmann. If I could pick any characters who could be real life people that I’m friends with, it would obviously be everyone from HP, but Brockmann’s SEAL Teams are a close second. SEAL Camp is a long-overdue continuation of her Tall, Dark and Dangerous series (the first book was published in 1996!). I loved getting to revisit these characters and meeting Jim and Ashley. Jim is dealing with some actual real-life-style shit and I’m pretty sure I’ve met Ashley before. Brockmann is very open and vocal about her politics, so she also includes some very up-front scenes addressing sexism, rape culture, and domestic violence that I think she did very well. I recommend pretty much anything she writes, especially the TDD or Troubleshooters series. (My particular favorites are Forever Blue, Hawken’s Heart, and Get Lucky from TDD; and The Defiant Hero, Gone Too Far, and Force of Nature from Troubleshooters.) Fair warning: while I often laugh out loud at some of the descriptions and dialogue, many of Brockmann’s books include some heavy subject matter including rape. They are not what I would call fluff romance books.
The Duchess Deal by Tessa Dare. I had been hearing about this one for ages from romance lovers and I finally gave in. Since discovering Courtney Milan, I have opened my mind to other feminist writers who do historical romance. The Duchess Deal is clearly inspired by both Beauty and the Beast and Phantom of the Opera, which just made the whole thing too easy because I love those stories. Ash is the epitome of the gruff, I-don’t-do-love romance hero. He just has some baggage that makes him believe he’s unlovable, so he did that thing where you swear off love so your heart can’t be broken. Emma is sassy, independent, and smart, and knows how to throw some verbal barbs. The banter between them is squealing-laughter-inducing. I immediately bought and read Any Duchess Will Do just to make sure it wasn’t a fluke and I really like Tessa Dare. Which I do. Because that book featured a nerdy heroine whose dream is to open a lending library of naughty books. I mean, come on. *swoon*
Wanna Bet? by Talia Hibbert. After discovering this author, I immediately gobbled up three (or was it four?) of her books in two days. I don’t read a lot of contemporary romance because I tend to find the plots pretty useless and they seem to feature a lot of girl-waiting-around-for-guy story lines. But Talia Hibbert’s plots, though certainly plenty silly at times, are written well enough to make me feel like I’m reading a book and not just a porno script. That’s a feat, because the sex scenes are practically porno-level dirty–in a good way. Consent is an ever-present part of the X-rated bits, so even when venturing into more taboo territory (like dom/sub play) it is way less gross and much more romantic than Fifty Shades could ever hope to be. Wanna Bet? is one of her heavier ones, but still so entertaining. And if you’re craving more diversity in your romance, all her heroines are black women. Wanna Bet? also features a non-white hero (he comes from a Muslim family).
I also recently started reading Eva Leigh (aka Zoe Archer) and am working my way through her Wicked Quills of London series, which features working women writers. So basically, ball-bustingly smart women galore stories.
Are you a romance reader? What are some of your recent favorites?
Readvive 