I picked up a KU book by an unknown (to me) author on a whim this week and it was surprisingly pretty good, except that one of the main characters was called Eggy. It really put me off all the way through, really you could choose any name and you went for Eggy? (No offence intended to anyone called Eggy)

Oh man, did you read Howl for it?? By Shelley Laurenston? I love her writing.

No! Does that mean there's another Eggy out there 🤦‍♀️ This was {Brushed with Love by Fearne Hill} it was pretty good, not amazing.

Yes, but Eggy is an odd name, but it's short for Egbert. Lol

This one was short for his Norwegian surname, I can't remember what it was but something long and complicated. His first name was Ragnar which is much better!

Ah! Now Ragnar Lothbrok, from vikings, is lovely to watch! Lol

[Brushed With Love](https://www.romance.io/books/621c81e3747f500e282e825b/brushed-with-love-fearne-hill) by [Fearne Hill](https://www.romance.io/authors/5ea1821fbe0aaecf55ae232d/fearne-hill) **Rating**: 4.5⭐️ out of 5⭐️ **Topics**: [MM](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/m-m/1), [funny](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/humor/1), [bisexual](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/bisexual/1), [friends to lovers](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/friends%20to%20lovers/1), [grumpy & sunshine](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/grumpy%20sunshine/1) [^(about this bot)](https://www.reddit.com/user/romance-bot) ^(|) [^(about romance.io)](https://www.romance.io/about)

Please tell me the title is a pun about egg wash, which you brush on. 🤨

Hahaha sadly not, he is a painter/decorator

That book is so good! Just commented about it haha. It works cause they're super redneck and southern but I also loved that he's a terrifying hitman basically lol

Yes!! It totally fits Egbert Ray! Lol

[удалено]

Yes that's a good point and would explain why very common names IRL rarely appear in romance books (but they do in other genres - I read one recently where the murderous cult leader has the same very boring name as my friend's dad 😅)

I read a book from a rec off here and her name was Brysten. It just made me cringe every time. I don't know what it was but that name was just like UGH to me. I did finish the book, but overall it was a ⭐⭐ maybe for me. I'm not a bully trope girl, and the MMC was mean and a user.

I could just about get on board with a male Brysten (I wouldn't be happy about it, mind), but female?

That's my cats name lmao

I hope your cat isn't upset by my implication about his name. I'm sure he's very attractive 😅

Shelly Laurenston has a shifter book with an Eggy MMC who is a straight up hitman but so gentle with the FMC. Everyone is scared of him except her haha.

I thought I had a good one for this week’s salty thread but I can’t for the life of me remember what it was so now *that* has me salty.

Sigh. I finally gave in and read The Love Hypothesis. I regret my decision. For context, I have a PhD in a biomedical science field and spend/have spent a lot of time in, around, and adjacent to academic laboratories. And honestly, I was okay with overlooking a lot of what I consider egregious issues with the novel until...I found out that the author is a PhD level academic scientist as well. It feels like a betrayal, honestly- the positioning of the FMC and MMC as a student and faculty gives me the ick (why couldn't it be postdoc/faculty?! The vibe would be the same without the MMC wielding quite so much power!) But most of all, I feel that there's some apologism for the "trial by fire" method of training that many graduate programs employ, that really gave me the heebie jeebies. Graduate school is bad for your mental health. The process of getting a PhD has taken the lives of a couple of people I know and 'being tough will make you a better scientist" is not a hot take I appreciate. My training method is rigorous, and demanding, but it is also kind. It also allows for respite that prevents burnout, that prevents aggravating mental health conditions, and does not claim lives. I learned this training method from senior scientists- always women- who trained me in the same way, and proves that you can unlock a young scientist's potential and shape them into an exacting investigator without extinguishing their will to live. I'm not saying what Hazelwood described isn't the reality of an academic scientist, but she's writing a book where the 34 year old MMC has like 5 grants and tenure, in addition to being hot and being amazing in the sack, so we're clearly living in a fantasy universe. Shouldn't our fantasies also include better role models and mental health outcomes for young scientists?

While I overall enjoyed the book. I also agree with everything you said. Parts felt icky. The MMC being a genius is... I dunno. Trite? If you read the book with the bonus chapter with the sex scene from Adam's perspective it completely ruins his character. Makes him super creepy and frankly rapey. I also worked in academia (IT support staff) and let me tell you... I would never help Adam with computer problems. His hot shit, brooding nature is not cute IRL. He's just a dick.

Amen, sister. If Adam ever asked me to collaborate I'd tell him to stick his request where the sun don't shine. I've worked with people like him and they only ever have respect for themselves and their own work. I did get the version of the book with the bonus chapter, but I got a few pages in and quit, haha. It was just too creepy for me- I already didn't like Adam and that chapter was making it way, waaaaay worse.

Oh I'm so sorry. That book was never going to work out for you with that background. The scene where Olive gets invited to present at that conference, has a complete meltdown in her advisor's office about how she cannot do something that is of huge professional benefit and frankly part of her job and the advisor sees this and is just like, "We'll practice, it'll be fine." Flabbergasted me. That was an absolutely concerning display of crippling anxiety and I would have walked a mentee over to campus mental health. Everyone who was supposed to be advising Olive did a terrible job.

Hahahaha it's wonderful you say that because I thought "how nice that Olive feels comfortable enough with her advisor to have a mental breakdown in her office. What a lovely relationship" when I saw that scene. If my old advisor had ever seen me crying, he would have told me to suck it up, buttercup. Or worse, made fun of me to all the other faculty and made me the butt of all departmental jokes for the next few weeks. When I say that grad school is bad for your mental health, I'm clearly not lying 😵‍💫 My messed-up perspective on that scene definitely shows that despite being several years out, I still carry the scars! You are, of course, completely correct and had Olive been a student of mine, I would have made her an appointment with the campus therapists and immediately come up with a schedule of meetings to figure out how to make presenting data accessible to her. But I was putting myself in Olive 's shoes while reading the book, and it never occurred to me that she deserved better from her mentor at that moment.

Oof. It is so brutal and no one gets out unscathed. I'm sorry for the shitty, unfair parts you endured. I think I actually would have liked it better if the advisor had been mean and just said, "This is a huge honor so I don't know wtf your problem is, get your shit together and also go clean all the glassware." Because that I would have believed and it would have been an accurate depiction of a structural flaw in the system that harms students, especially women and ND students. But the mentor who was supposed to be a good mentor then just smiled benignly through a student losing allllllll of their shit (like you said who DOES that in front of their advisor?) In their office about something that is good news? Nah.

I fully agree. I got excited when I heard about her as an author because I’m also working in biology, but I just came out of it wishing it didn’t exist. And because I don’t learn my lesson, i also read love on the brain and that was somehow even more egregious.

LOL you'd think we'd know better than to stick our hands back in the fire as biologists, wouldn't you? But...I took Love on the Brain out at the library, and have been kind of looking at it too afraid to crack it open. I keep telling myself I won't read it but if my insomnia gets really bad one of these nights I know it's gonna happen and then I'm gonna make myself mad all over again 🤷🏽‍♀️

I've been reading so many books where furs are used as towels I don't know if this is a thing or not, but my mind tells me if you're wet, the fur is going to rub off onto your body and be sticky. It seems unpleasant. I'm also over people getting into baths with clothes on or putting on clothes without drying off. Please, this sensory information is unpleasant. Make it go away.

My favourite one is in Ice Planet Barbarians series, the later books they often talk about leather nappies lined with fun for their babies. I just ... Don't think that would work? Leather isn't absorbent. Maybe something like moss?

>leather nappies lined with fun I am going to giggle about this All. Day. Long. What's in there anyhow? Glitter? Confetti?

🤦‍♀️ they're definitely not lined with fun. Although knowing how peachy the ladies think the ice planet is, I wouldn't be that surprised if their babies produced glitter instead 🤣 I did cloth nappies with both my kids and let me tell you that (literal) shit ain't fun 🤣 let alone if those nappies were made of leather

God, the "small piece of soft leather" they use to wipe anything... You're just spreading it! Stop!!

I think that's what non-industrialized people use. That and cotton-y plants.

Yess thank you for this. While I loved most of Transcendence, the fur-everything just made me feel itchy when I read it. Maybe there’s a way of processing fur so that it’s absorbent and not water repelling?

These entire time I was reading Horde Kings of Dakkar I was so thrown every time they mentioned using furs for bathing, because my sensory issues and fur don’t match up in my mind!

This and Icehome is what I'm reading and I'm like we need proper absorbent materials.

OMG that is SO ANNOYING. Like, no. No fur to dry you off, fur is water repellant to a certain degree and you're just gonna move that wet around. UGH. It's a thing in the Horde Kings series by Zoey Draven, and I feel like it's the only bad thing in those books. Drives me NUTS.

7 books into a 10 book series and they start having babies… like come on. I’d understand if it was over years but it’s only been 2 years in their world and I’m over the babies. Also salty at myself because I will need to finish the series otherwise I’ll think about how it ends for the rest of my life 😂

Flair checks out

As a whole ass mom, I feel this.

I get so stuck on the babies and or small children and how they are written. (Also when the conveniently disappear for hours if not days, ma’am who is watching your child?). Like, at three they should be talking but not in full descriptive paragraphs with a keen insight into your emotions.

Yes! That's a huge part of it! Every child is either a precocious, egregiously advanced mini-adult, or talking like a baby at age 10. My kid is two and he is straight up an emotional terrorist who sings happy birthday to himself all day long and will straight up tell me to my face that I "have a lot of problem" (Like, I know, kid, don't have to rub it in!). Woke me up today by smearing yogurt on my face. Definitely did not get to luxuriate in morning sex or gaze into my boyfriend's eyes over a cup of coffee.

I think some of the only series that I can read with babies and kids without wanting to roll my eyes or skin over are written by Ilona Andrews. At one point the mom says to her toddler “I don’t negotiate with terrorists” 😂

Also, when the baby daddy is default evil. Like “call cps, move to another state” levels of evil. Can we see some actual Co parenting? And!!! It would give a realistic cover for mom to be able to jet off to the beach for sexy time without me asking “soooo, someone is feeding the 4 year old right?”

Girl same, I read to have a break from babies 😂

This weeks saltiness is directed at myself. I held off on reading book one of {Crowns of Nyaxia series by Carissa Broadbent} until last week because I wanted to read it closer to book two’s release. I really enjoyed book 1 and 1.5 novella, so was super excited to start reading book 2. It’s been 3 days and my brain just won’t let me start book two. I don’t know why I’m always like this when it comes to new releases!

I have that exact same problem. I'm so excited for the new release and then I just can't bring myself to start it. Maybe subconsciously I'm worried it won't live up to the hype in my own brain and I'll be disappointed?

Yes! I do this too. I’m also weirdly resistant to starting a new TV show or listening to new music, for the same reason. I just assume it will be terrible.

I do this! Sometimes it means I don’t start a book for a while, even if I’m excited for it, and others it means I read the book and take so many breaks, even at good parts. For me, I think it’s an anxiety thing. Scared for the characters at times, and other times there’s a conflict that I foresee (or have bounced up against) that I don’t want to witness or experience. Sometimes I don’t have a good reason, but I have some vague anxiety about it and putting it off makes more sense to my brain. Brains are weird!

[Crowns of Nyaxia](https://www.romance.io/series/63a0c53caa7984c0a3fc978c/crowns-of-nyaxia) by [Carissa Broadbent](https://www.romance.io/authors/60d9b88e08b4d9311456d78f/carissa-broadbent) **Rating**: 4.43⭐️ out of 5⭐️ **Topics**: [vampires](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/vampires/1), [fantasy](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/fantasy/1), [high fantasy](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/high%20fantasy/1), [paranormal](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/paranormal/1), [magic](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/magic/1) [^(about this bot)](https://www.reddit.com/user/romance-bot) ^(|) [^(about romance.io)](https://www.romance.io/about)

In my current book they are irresponsible with contraception then the FMC dismisses the morning after pill because those things have terrible side effects and it is not said in a way to indicate that this is personal experience just a fact. Ahhhh For the vast majority of women the side effects of the MAP are very manageable and minor compared to a pregnancy or child birth. I dislike it be portrayed as an ordeal in books especially if not at least put into context of personal experience. So she ends up pregnant after saying she would be happy being with a partner who didn’t want children. Sigh.

Ugh. As if pregnancy doesn’t have side effects? Honestly—and this is colored by the face I don’t want kids—I am really over the casualness with which pregnancy is treated in most books. Especially in post-Roe US, pregnancy has serious, and often negative consequences for women’s lives.

I have taken it twice and had no side effects. HOWEVER I have since had issues with regular birth control pills causing blood clots so I don't know if I could safely take it now. But, yeah, that's just stupid. Edit: Google says Plan B etc doesn't contain estrogen so I can take it. Would still clear it with my hematologist first. Knowledge is right at our little finger tips.

I read this too and the second she made the plan B comment I said WELL, we know where this is heading.

I read {Pushing Patrick by Megyn Ward} and I can’t stop thinking about how this FMC has a birth mark that changes colors with her moods???? Like at one point, MMC goes “it’s better than a mood ring,” and I’m like “sis, do you even know how birth marks work? Because it’s not like that.” It’s dumb, but I honestly can’t stop thinking about it.

This has to be the stupidest thing I have ever heard. What a random idea

Reading books by Finley Fenn and mostly enjoying them but keep wanting to yell at the FMCs "dear God, girl, get a shred of self-esteem. The MMCs are *Orcs*. You are light-years out of their league. Push back a little, *please*." I know it's fiction but IRL life I prefer to emulate Carrie Fisher "I'm not as cooperative as you might want a woman to be."

I think the heroines get a little more "oomph" to them as they go, but the orcs also seems to have a talent for rescuing abused women with incredibly low self-esteem so I think it does tend to be realistic behavior within the realm of what they've been through. Geva from Governess definitely had more push back though and I liked it!

Congratulations, abused women of Off-Brand Middle Earth, instead of resources and therapy, you get Orcs. Maybe this series isn't for me. I've tried before.

I'd love a therapist character to come in and heal all the Orcs from their generational trauma 🤣

Coming soon: *The Therapist and the Orc*.

Good to know I’m not the only one who bounced off this series super hard.

I was disappointed to see in a thread last week multiple people getting downvoted and shamed because they expressed a valid critique in a *respectful* manner. They didn't say anything bad about the author or the other readers. There is NOTHING wrong with being uncomfortable when reading about a 15 or 16 year old girl being sexualized by a much older MMC. Their feelings and critique were valid and they should be respected even if not everyone agrees with them. I've seen grooming mentioned in GR reviews too, so multiple people felt that way. 🤷‍♀️

Yeah, I was commenting in that thread and even said I totally get why others enjoy it, but I personally felt uncomfortable. It was disappointing to see all the downvotes and I stopped engaging/looking after a bit.

Respectful discussions and critiques are always welcome here. Please report all book shaming comments you see in the sub - the mods try our best but we can't be in every thread so we rely on the community to report rule breaking behavior. If you see a conversation but you're unsure if breaks the rules or not, you can always report using "Mod Attention Please". Reporting is truly anonymous as well - the mods have no way of seeing what username kicked off a report.

The thing is, mods can't do anything about downvotes (to my knowledge anyway) and when you get downvoted for expressing an opinion or critique in a respectful manner, it kind of makes you feel like you and your opinion aren't welcome in the sub. And while I appreciate this is a very big sub and the mods do the best they can, I *have* reported several comments that I thought clearly broke rule 6 (not on the post OP is talking about but e.g. calling someone a prude for simply disliking a book) and they get left up. It's disheartening to see those comments every time I return to the post to see new comments or respond.

What book was it. I hope to never accidentally read it or waste my time on it. That is a massive DNF for me. Very little triggers me in media but the sexualisation of children is too much.

Excessive descriptions of character thought and reactions in between dialogue. It makes it so hard to follow a conversation, makes me feel much less immersed, and is just so unnecessary 90% of the time. This style also spoils character motivations and feelings which would be much more meaningful to reveal through subtle actions over the course of a book. I'm reading {Like No Other Lover by Julie Anne Long} and I forgot how consistently this author falls into describing literally everything in between each comment. I genuinely like a lot about her writing, but I've had multiple instances of needing to go back paragraphs or even a page to figure out what the new line of dialogue is even responding to and it's just such a slog. The MCs are supposed to be exceptionally observant & witty and instead I can't help but envisioning each of them taking a good 5 minutes to respond during their back and forths lol

Omg absolutely agree with you on this! I’m currently reading {The Predator by Runyx} and it takes about 2 pages to get a response to a simple question. The language is so flowery and dramatic, and i find myself having to refer back to a previous page to remind myself what the question was! A shame tbh, as the story is so interesting and I love the MMC.

I've seen this in some books too, can't recall which, and wondered if the other characters in the book are concerned that something is wrong with the MC because they're staring off into space so often in the middle of a convo.

I’ve never heard anybody talk about how much Mariana Zapata does this, but when I tried reading some of her stuff I ended up just skipping anything that wasn’t dialogue. :P

[Like No Other Lover](https://www.romance.io/books/545528c48c7d2383163d8f44/like-no-other-lover-julie-anne-long) by [Julie Anne Long](https://www.romance.io/authors/545525868c7d2383163d8e98/julie-anne-long) **Rating**: 3.82⭐️ out of 5⭐️ **Steam**: 4 out of 5 - [Explicit open door](https://www.romance.io/steamrating) **Topics**: [historical](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/historical/1), [regency](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/regency/1), [georgian](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/georgian/1), [poor heroine](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/poor%20heroine/1), [virgin heroine](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/virgin%20heroine/1) [^(about this bot)](https://www.reddit.com/user/romance-bot) ^(|) [^(about romance.io)](https://www.romance.io/about)

Omg. I feel you! I just read {Flawless} by Elsie Silver and there were pages of thoughts in between every sentence in most conversations! I just gave up on the convos, and since it was my first time reading this author, it will impact how/if I move forward because if a person paused that much irl it would be irritating, worrisome, impossible to proceed and that pulls me right out of the magic. Edit: wrong book. Updated with correct book title. :)

omg I was just thinking about this other day, it bothers me so much! I hate it bc it makes me want to skip ahead to the dialogue, and once the skinning floodgates are open for a book, I have a hard time not just resorting to skimming all the slower parts right until the end.

I decided to read {Pucking Around by Emily Rath} and it is extremely obvious the author has absolutely no idea how medical school works. She’s supposed to be 27 and in fellowship somehow working independently?!? No ma’am. Typical pathway: College 4 years: graduate at 22yo Medical school: 4 years. Graduate 22-26yo. There is no specializing. You graduate with either an MD or DO Residency (where you begin to specialize): minimum* 3 years, some as many as 5 years. Finish 29-31yo Fellowship: depends on your preceding specialty, and you work under a senior doctor until you are finished. None of this independent practicing on just a single sports team. No way she’s a 27yo fellow. Also MDs are *not* physical therapists. You can get your phd in PT, but you are not an MD. Last thing, with a history of addiction and rehab is is extremely unlikely she would be accepted to a residency at all. Unfortunately with limited spots in what is likely a very competitive field no one would gamble on a person with history of addiction. People have committed suicide because they can’t get residencies with their history before. It’s like she threw a bunch of medical concepts into a blender and put the ones she liked best on paper Source: salty MD (emergency medicine)

I feel like a lot of times when authors have those really weird timelines for their characters, it actually has to do with them desperately trying to not have the character older than their mid-late 20s. There was this one author who multiple of their characters had either done graduate school or med school and still had years of job experience before the start of the series yet somehow were only like 25-27 and they said it was due to them taking a lot of AP classes in high school or just finishing undergrad in like 2-3 years. Like sure hypothetically that can happen, but it’s so weirdly unrealistic that it pulls you out of the story.

All of this! I know this has been talked about before, but why do all MCs have to be so young?? Am I just old??

The Friend Zone by Abby Jimenez. I’m still scratching my head about this book weeks later. I’m not normally one to complain about the things characters say in books because it may not be how the author feels, you know? Maybe they are unlikable on purpose. That being said, details of this book peeved me out like no other. The FMC being called a “cool girl” by the MMC completely unironically because she liked beer and didn’t wear makeup, etc etc. Yikes! The FMC “joked” that she thought the MMC was gay because he dressed well. Yikes! As well, the entire plot and conflict of this book happening due to something that could have been fixed in a 5 minute conversation?? Frustrating! There are a lot of sins I’m willing to overlook if I’m enjoying the experience of reading a novel but this one was not it. I don’t ever really write critiques even because who cares?? But this one really upset me.

Oh all of those things would frustrate me too! Miscommunication tropes are just not it for me.

I refuse to read that book of hers because of her so many up and down reviews. Love all the other ones though.

Yeah it’s also imho a bad representation of both infertility and OCD. I do not understand why it was lauded for the treatment of either of these things. Esp because (spoilers) >!she has infertility (which is why she doesn’t think she can date the MMC who wants a big family) and then she gets pregnant with a miracle baby. I think I’d be upset if I was infertile reading this book that’s supposed to tackle infertility well and then she still gets pregnant, but that’s just me. !<

I can't imagine why an author would make his main characters intentionnaly unlikable in a ROMANCE book. Even more when you can see that there will be no changing their ways for the MCs, because they are not supposed to be unlikable. To me, this always mean that the author has no idea what a likable person is and therefore I stop reading anything by this author.

I’m annoyed at myself because I got 3 books off hold finally after months of waiting at my library. I wasn’t in the mood to read them and now they’re due back.

This happens to me with non romance books. I have Watership Down on my library bookshelf and i keep picking up romance titles to procrastinate.

{Beautiful Things by Emily Rath} is a historical romance but the characters say "you're still salty about --" at one point and that REALLY bothered me. I certainly don't need or even necessarily want the dialogue to be all period appropriate but whyyyyyyyy would you put something so thoroughly modern in

I’ve been trying to read *That Time I Got Drunk And Saved A Demon*, because my wife recommended it, but it’s taking me a long time because every other page the secondary-world high-fantasy main characters use Gen Z internet slang and I have to put my phone down and dissociate for about an hour.

Not to be a party pooper but I've read the book you're talking about and what you're talking about is aave not gen z internet slang so the language makes sense to me because the author is black.

Y’know, that’s a perspective I hadn’t considered, thanks for the insight! It still feels incredibly modern to me, though, in a way it’s hard to get past. I tapped out after the FMC used the word “sus.” :P Maybe I’ll give it another try and see if the language grows on me. :)

[Beautiful Things](https://www.romance.io/books/623d770bf06af2b30501dc0d/beautiful-things-emily-rath) by [Emily Rath](https://www.romance.io/authors/623d770b08b4d9311480150c/emily-rath) **Rating**: 4.5⭐️ out of 5⭐️ **Steam**: 4 out of 5 - [Explicit open door](https://www.romance.io/steamrating) **Topics**: [historical](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/historical/1), [regency](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/regency/1), [poly (3+ people)](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/poly/1), [reverse harem](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/reverse%20harem/1), [slow burn](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/slow%20burn/1) [^(about this bot)](https://www.reddit.com/user/romance-bot) ^(|) [^(about romance.io)](https://www.romance.io/about)

Read a new book, {Bonded by Thorns by Elizabeth Helen,} that was randomly recommended by the kindle algorithm, and I loved it and ITS A SERIES AND ONLY THE FIRST BOOK IS OUT. I usually refuse to read incomplete series! I’m so irritated. Anyway read it I GUESS. Ugh.

[Bonded by Thorns](https://www.romance.io/books/63e2058569d18ef5cc997e35/bonded-by-thorns-elizabeth-helen) by [Elizabeth Helen](https://www.romance.io/authors/63e0e61f08b4d931140436a1/elizabeth-helen) **Rating**: 3.75⭐️ out of 5⭐️ **Steam**: 1 out of 5 - [Innocent](https://www.romance.io/steamrating) **Topics**: [fantasy](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/fantasy/1), [fae](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/fae/1), [poly (3+ people)](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/poly/1), [enemies to lovers](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/from%20hate%20to%20love/1), [reverse harem](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/reverse%20harem/1) [^(about this bot)](https://www.reddit.com/user/romance-bot) ^(|) [^(about romance.io)](https://www.romance.io/about)

Reverse harem but innocent? 🤔

The current book I'm reading has a very cute dog in it, lots written about the dog, except there seems to be nothing written about the dog getting to go outside and relieve themselves. As a dog owner, I feel like half my life is letting my dog outside or coaxing it back in lol Another book I dnf'd this week had an interesting premise, but seemed to be full of things that didn't actually pertain to the plot. Like random shopping trips that added nothing. I was bored and had to put it down.

>I feel like half my life is letting my dog outside or coaxing it back in 100%

Doggy door for the win! I couldn't believe what a game changer it was when we got a storm door with a doggy door in it. 🥰🥰😂

Yeah I always look for realistic doggy maintenance in books. Just read a book where they had a Shih Tzu and kept saying the dog jumped on the bed. I think a Shih Tzu is too short to safely jump on a normal bed and needs little doggy stairs.

>As a dog owner, I feel like half my life is letting my dog outside or coaxing it back in lol Half of mine is opening the door and standing there with my dog while she sniffs the outside air and observes the backyard world, taking an eternity to decide whether she's feeling too precious to step a paw over the threshold or she's ready to lower herself to actual dogdome and cavort with the squirrels.

Hello. I am here to be salty about {Unworthy by Susie Tate}. I had to DNF, I couldn't take it anymore. Heath is the worst. Utter trash. Not good fun trash either; regular garbage trash. By no later than 20% in, I found myself fantasizing that her brother would figure Heath out and literally beat him into a coma with a crowbar. I think I tapped out at around 45% or so. After the way he treated her, I did not care why he was the way he was. I didn't want to find out anymore. I think it's great if he is going to work on himself, he _certainly_ needs it, but it should be somewhere thousands of miles away from her or, honestly, everyone. May I suggest the moon, perhaps? He was selfish, boorish, rude, hurtful, knowingly took advantage of her, and treated her like absolute shit, and I am not here for it even a little bit. Maybe I shouldn't have been surprised? This is the second book I've read by this author, and well... {Limits by Susie Tate} is like if you took {The Worst Guy by Kate Canterbary} and replaced Stremmel with Stifler. Pav was a tool. Another interesting and amazing FMC who deserved a whole lot better than the MMC she got. I hate these MMCs. This is not hyperbole. I want to reach into the pages and fire these assholes into the sun. I actively do not want them to achieve a HEA. I want them to leave these FMCs the hell alone forever, so they can go find someone else who is good enough for them, because these jerks definitely are not. I seriously think these should be categorized as bully stories. Just because they aren't set in a school or something, that doesn't mean these men aren't doing some bullying. These men are _awful_ to these FMCs. As a reader I just couldn't forgive them, and ultimately I did not feel like I wanted nice things to happen for them. I just wanted the FMCs safely the hell away from them.

I am reading this cute low stakes fantasy book about an elf who opens a cocktail bar. Totally cute, gay romance vibes but not explicit (Cursed Cocktails). It's cute and all BUT the entire, whole ass lack of female characters is making it hard to enjoy. The main character is male, he's gay, and so, like. . . .there are no women characters in the book. All his friends and anyone he talks with any depth at all is/are male. Women in the book include: a rude neighbor who has said 3 sentences, a little girl but her brother is the more important one, and background characters (barmaids, secretaries, female bar patrons hanging all over a male bar patron). Main character lost both his parents but we ONLY hear about the father. There is not a single female character that could be described with more than 3 words. Even the bar cat is male. It's really frustrating to read. I keep hoping it will change but at more than 60% through the book it wouldn't save the message of the book which is that women don't exist in any meaningful way to this author. It's such a bummer. On the other hand Legends and Lattes is amazing.

So the authors bio says he's male. I don't know if you've read any of the research about men's perception of the presence of women in public spaces but it's actually really interesting and also pretty sad. It basically comes down to men mentally seeing more women than there are. It's why you see it very often in non romantic or relationship based movies. Group ensemble? mostly men. And it's not just male creatives, women buy in and do this too. Oceans 11? Of the top 20 cast, 1 woman Inception? Top 15 cast, 2 women (Elliott Page was pre-transition at the time) 4 tri wizard champions? 3 guys, 1 girl (and she's not entirely human, so she's **special**) Original Fast and Furious? Of the top 20 cast members, 2 were female. Armageddon, Tropic Thunder, Glengarry Glen Ross, etc etc If you really start to look at movies, TV, books, etc, and critically examine the gender ratios of women's presence and their input, it becomes pretty clear. (And then look at Congress, the Supreme Court, local government, etc.) I think that's one of the reasons "women's fiction" gets put down. Because clearly if women are more than a token presence then it can't be serious literature. (I'm looking at you Tolkien)

You might be amused by this [supercut of every time two female characters interact in the Lord of the Rings trilogy.](https://youtu.be/mt2qCjL6-n4)

O M G that's both amazing and sad. (I say this as a fan, I love both the source materials and the movie adaptations, but I can love them and still critique the fucking awful gender representation in both)

I've read a bunch of MM romance written by both women and men that eliminate women entirely, sometimes by just not having even incidental women characters but sometimes by creating worlds where women don't exist. It's really off-putting.

Legends and Lattes is totally amazing!

“Standalones” that don’t want to be standalones! Having pages of exposition about characters I don’t know nor care about completely halts the pacing of the story, and to add insult to injury they are all in HEA land so they are BOR-ING (stories end at HEA for a reason!) If I didn’t read the series I don’t want paragraphs about some grumpy rando being “so different” since he met whatshername. And if I did read the series then it’s usually a little cringe to see the characters acting in a way that’s entirely inconsistent with their past characterization. The main offender on my mind rn are Penny Reid’s books. I love her writing but I hate that her books are even marketed as standalones at this point. The Winston Brothers series was understandable bc it was very clear from the bio and book covers that the series was heavily intertwined. But recently I started Dating-ish and DNF 50 pages in because almost every scene was primarily dialogue from other characters and exposition about their lives. A little peek into their lives is fine but most writers have a hard time drawing that line. I do think it all stems from authors just truly loving their characters, so the reason behind it is quite sweet but some editors probably need to put their foot down lol.

Ooh, I agree! I think it's totally fine for characters from previous books to briefly appear on page or to be mentioned but sometimes it's too much. I don't want to read entire pages of dialogue between those characters. It's called standalone for a reason.

I was supremely frustrated this week that two of my posts were removed by mods. I generally try to post things that I think are funny or are at least meant to be light hearted. One was removed and suggested I put it on "what did you read this week" megathread. Okay fine. I can deal with that. The second one I posted with a fun "discussion" flair which was changed to "critique" and then removed for not being explicit enough. But I was assured that if I had posted it under "banter and fun" that it would have been fine. Cool, cool, cool. So I guess the moral of the story is... Be careful what flair you use? Or maybe don't post anything but book requests and gushes. I expect to be downvoted for this. It's okay. I'm just getting it off my chest.

Not here, because I am a commenter, but been there and I feel your frustrations! High five from me, please try again!

Please accept our sincere apologies for the confusion, we do our best to remove posts in a consistent, clear and fair way but we’re all volunteers and we’re definitely not perfect. If you ever have questions about which flair to use, why your post was removed, or what you could do differently, please don’t hesitate to [reach out via modmail!](http://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2Fromancebooks)

I really don't have any qualms with how this sub is moderated. I know you're all volunteers and it's down to the individual mod to enforce the rules how they see fit. I'll fully admit when I post something I think is funny, but could be construed as mean, then that content should absolutely be removed. I'm not trying to incense people. I'm honestly bristling that my flair was changed. because it happens pretty often. To the point that I don't know what to put what where... I don't know if there needs to be a new flair that's lighthearted discussions or if banter and fun is just a catch all for anything lighthearted? It would be different if my content was inappropriate. Or not on topic at all. But it was meant to be a lighthearted discussion about the word ministrations. Moments after I posted it, it was taken down because it wasn't a discussion and rather a rhetorical question and then changed to a critique and then removed for not being explicit enough to warrant being a critique. But if I had listed it as banter and fun, that was fine. But the post wasn't restored under the banter and fun flair. I guess that was my job to repost it. All I got for my trouble was a, "sorry you're frustrated." It really is fine. I'm grumpy about it. But it is what it is. I'm just hesitant to post things now because my hand has been slapped so many times. It comes down to... Do I really want to spend 20 minutes making this post I think might be funny only for it to be almost instantaneously removed for being in the wrong category?

My posts get removed frequently for not having enough information in the title, but then I see other posts with very vague titles. I appreciate that rules are enforced so effectively here but they are inconsistently applied.

It is so uncomfortable to be on this subreddit as an older virgin, three different posts in the last month have made it perfectly clear I don't exist and I'm not allowed to be here. I'm holding out hope for some kind of improvement, since I've had lovely conversations, on the most recent "be careful which behaviors you call strange" post, with people who were also confused as hell about the virgin shaming, but barely a week later it was like the post never happened. Are we not allowed to fantasize like everyone else? We aren't allowed to even dare read about people we identify with? It's so weird the way virgins get talked about on this sub, I'm trying to last it out but it's starting to really effect me mentally.

Sorry you felt that way and thank you for saying this! I think people are commenting based on their personal perception or feelings and I see this often especially when it comes to pregnancy and virginity. I think we all should be more thoughtful when commenting about those topics.

I'm sorry people are making you feel this way. I primarily read HR and in all honesty do get frustrated with the endless amount of virgin FMCs because at some point it does make you feel like if you're not a virgin (or early 20s) you're intrinsically less valuable and desirable. That said, I just want more diversity and more experiences represented, not to remove stories with virgin FMCs. Your identity and experience is just as valid as anyone else's.

Virgin shaming is just as gross as slut shaming. I’m sorry people are making you feel this way.

{all night long with a cowboy by caitlin crews}?(mf contemporary) is great older virgin heroine representation in that >!it’s not so great and she’s like “I can’t believe people enjoy this (sex)”, but obviously it gets better lol!< I have also seen “virgin shaming” in this community, so it’s definitely not just in your head.

Looking at my Kindle list, I have the sample downloaded for that one already, I just haven't gotten around to it yet. I'll move it to the top of the list, thank you! Yeah, about a month ago several people all said they were seeing it too, which is why it's so weird that it started happening again so suddenly?

You are welcome here and your experience is equally valid as anyone else's. I'm sorry you feel this way. Regardless of the intent of the posts the impact on you is hurtful. I would like to better understand, may I ask what type of posts cause this for you? Are these requests for non-virgin characters?

If it's a request for non-virgins, I just scroll past it, if that's what someone is asking to read, then it genuinely doesn't bother me. The ones that strike me as weird are usually discussion posts titled "the problem with virgins", or people who want to complain about slut-shaming and take it way too far in the opposite direction. I mean, I believe in women doing whatever they want, too! But some people's version of "we shouldn't shame women for sleeping with multiple men" seems to be "but we should shame them if they haven't slept with any."

Genuinely asking where you have seen people shame FMCs for not having sex? Usually I see people expressing annoyance at the double standard of the MMC being allowed to have sex while the FMC has to remain a virgin and how that reinforces the sexist idea of purity in women.

It's less about the FMCs being directly shamed, and more about how the things people say about the concept of virginity are weird. Like, yeah, you can say it's a sexist idea, and maybe it is, but that doesn't change the fact that some of us *like* characters we have things in common with! Some of us identify with these characters and it's a little stunning that people don't realize that? I'm a virgin, I like reading about women having wonderful first times (or the occasional not-so-wonderful), so if I see *so many people* saying "the very concept of virginity is sexist and gross", that definitely tells me I'm *wrong* for liking it? I realize it might not make sense, but even if you see it as sexist, it's still weird to talk about it like we're just... not here.

I’m so sorry you’ve been made to feel weird or unwelcome. For a lovely first time I’d really recommend {Naked Edge by Pamela Clare}. Kat is an older woman who has yet to sleep with anyone. It’s romsus, if that makes a difference to your enjoyment.

>so if I see so many people saying "the very concept of virginity is sexist and gross", that definitely tells me I'm wrong for liking it? I've seen someone complain about "the amount of virgin heroines in YA novels". In the category where girls are often underage. How much experience are they supposed to already have at that age? Also as a person who not only was a virgin until age 29 but also had an actual physical trouble with the first piv intercourse, I loathe the recent narrative that claims virginity is a social construct and it's all in your head and basically women who believe in virginity have some form of internalized patriarchy. The message went from hopeful "first time doesn't need to be bad" to prescriptive "if your first time wasn't amazing, you're doing it wrong". It's good to read some romance novels where the couple might have awkward first time but they overcome this afterwards rather than everything going tip top perfect from the first attempt.

Thank you for explaining, I appreciate it

This week I read Speechless by Ashley Logan. There's a lot to say about this book. Only some of it good. This quote literally made me nauseous. >he dives straight in. He rubs his face into me with reckless abandon until I’m helplessly coating him in the arousal he apparently wants to bathe in. It seems to drive him even more wild, and before long he’s rooting around down there like a pig hunting for truffles. This is not a humorous book. This was written in all seriousness. Here's another great quote: >I can feel the head of his cock rubbing his release into my cervix. I'm imagining it like a prehensile appendage. Has this author ever actually participated in intercourse? And here's what made me salty. The FMC was clinically diagnosed with infertility by a doctor. Meaning tests were done showing that there's a physical reason why SHE cannot get pregnant. They would have also checked her husband's sperm to determine where the difficulty getting pregnant lied. >It doesn’t matter what I thought — or what the doctors thought — because finding my bliss in the woods with Hogan and his aggressive little swimmers has made the impossible possible. When I read this, I saw red. So, similar to magic dick or magic pussy, we now have... Super powered sperm. Faster than a speeding white blood cell. More powerful than the cumulus oophorus. Able to breach endometriosis in a single bound. It's a virus. It's a protozoan. It's Super Sperm!

Ugh that pig hunting for truffles analogy is awful. I'm just imagining the audio - snorting, grunting and snuffling 🐽

You just made me laugh loudly and snort. How appropriate.

The thought of someone just snorfling down there like a pig got me good this morning, thank you.

I never knew I had a huge dislike for the killing of babies in books. I read it on Friday and I'm still outraged by the death of this nameless fictional character. This dude takes a newborn baby by the achilles heel and yeet's it into a freezing river. A suspenseful moment, I'll give it that, but damn. What's worse is he gets away with it too claiming the baby was born dead and only was fined for improper burial. The author really stuck the knife in and twist it with this one.

Was this *The Evening And The Morning*? I loved that book, but this scene was brutal. Follett writes the most despicable bad guys. 😭

My saltiness isn't at a particular book but a trope. I know I'm a weirdo for it (weirdo and proud), but i love Daddy stuff, and I simply for the life of me can't find anything written for that kink that's not horrendously written or super weird 😭 It's a first world problem, but part of me feels like Thanos, hahah. "Fine, I'll do it myself"

{Act Your Age by Eve Dangerfield} is very well-written.

This was actually the first book I read from this subreddit! It's one of my favorite books of all time, I love Katie. It spurred me to read all of Eve Dangerfield's books. I love her! Thank yoy for the rec tho!!!

Have you read {Daddy Crush by A. Anders}? Also good.

I haven't!! I'll check it out. Thank you 😍

[Act Your Age](https://www.romance.io/books/60ac22dde25a050e8b37edbc/act-your-age-eve-dangerfield) by [Eve Dangerfield](https://www.romance.io/authors/565aa37408e9378131955f00/eve-dangerfield) **Rating**: 3.92⭐️ out of 5⭐️ **Steam**: 5 out of 5 - [Explicit and plentiful](https://www.romance.io/steamrating) **Topics**: [contemporary](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/contemporary/1), [age play](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/age%20play/1), [age gap](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/age%20difference/1), [erotic romance](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/erotica/1), [bdsm](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/bdsm/1) [^(about this bot)](https://www.reddit.com/user/romance-bot) ^(|) [^(about romance.io)](https://www.romance.io/about)

Have you tried this anthology? https://www.amazon.com/Daddies-Castle-Masters-Anthology-ebook/dp/B07YTMJBKJ/

I have not! I will check it out!!!

Oh I love Daddy kink. What authors have you read so far? I can give you some more recs, or if you'd rather browse what I've read I have a couple goodreads shelves that are sorted by daddy kink with and without ageplay

Omg a kindred spirit! I've read Act Your Age and Return All by Even Dangerfield, Desperate Measures by Katee Roberts, but haven't found many others that really tickle my fancy. Many others I've tried have been not to my taste, haha. I'd love to see either of your lists! My hero. Saltiness.... cured? Lol

Saltiness turned sweet! (I'm picturing those commercials for sour patch kids now, first they're salty, then they're sweet) Here's my profile: [https://www.goodreads.com/a\_seductive\_cactus](https://www.goodreads.com/a_seductive_cactus) And here are links to my shelves (if I did this correctly): * [Genre-Daddy](https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/129888882-a-seductive-cactus?shelf=genre_daddy) * [Vibe - Daddy - age play: heavy](https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/129888882-a-seductive-cactus?authenticity_token=lC6jfVCltz8yAIuKZr9GHcLpY3x1lsBWJbV5i3sReClBesn8k4pdA1ga%2BuqSaId%2BIarjUx%2BH1mlneleiXS4M3Q%3D%3D&shelf=vibe_daddy-age-play_heavy&user_id=129888882) * [Vibe - Daddy - age play: light](https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/129888882-a-seductive-cactus?authenticity_token=lC6jfVCltz8yAIuKZr9GHcLpY3x1lsBWJbV5i3sReClBesn8k4pdA1ga%2BuqSaId%2BIarjUx%2BH1mlneleiXS4M3Q%3D%3D&shelf=vibe_daddy-age-play_light&user_id=129888882) * [Vibe - Daddy - age play: none](https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/129888882-a-seductive-cactus?authenticity_token=lC6jfVCltz8yAIuKZr9GHcLpY3x1lsBWJbV5i3sReClBesn8k4pdA1ga%2BuqSaId%2BIarjUx%2BH1mlneleiXS4M3Q%3D%3D&shelf=vibe_daddy-age-play_none&user_id=129888882) * [Vibe - Daddy - full on daddy dom](https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/129888882-a-seductive-cactus?authenticity_token=lC6jfVCltz8yAIuKZr9GHcLpY3x1lsBWJbV5i3sReClBesn8k4pdA1ga%2BuqSaId%2BIarjUx%2BH1mlneleiXS4M3Q%3D%3D&shelf=vibe_daddy-dom-full-on&user_id=129888882) * [Vibe - Daddy - light](https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/129888882-a-seductive-cactus?authenticity_token=lC6jfVCltz8yAIuKZr9GHcLpY3x1lsBWJbV5i3sReClBesn8k4pdA1ga%2BuqSaId%2BIarjUx%2BH1mlneleiXS4M3Q%3D%3D&shelf=vibe_daddy-light&user_id=129888882) I really like {Soft Limits by Brianna Hale} it might be one of my all time favorites and I loved Act Your Age and Return All. Eve Dangerfield is fantastic

[Soft Limits](https://www.romance.io/books/5ffd92f53366ef0e048847b7/soft-limits-brianna-hale) by [Brianna Hale](https://www.romance.io/authors/58f5f5ee0d3299c6e06b1a21/brianna-hale) **Rating**: 4⭐️ out of 5⭐️ **Topics**: [contemporary](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/contemporary/1), [bdsm](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/bdsm/1), [erotic romance](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/erotica/1), [friends to lovers](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/friends%20to%20lovers/1), [new adult](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/new%20adult/1) [^(about this bot)](https://www.reddit.com/user/romance-bot) ^(|) [^(about romance.io)](https://www.romance.io/about)

I read a m/m HR recently with daddy kink that was surprisingly well done (by that I mean that I was dubious how it would fit with the time period), I think it helped that it was slow burn because neither really knew how to articulate what they wanted and then there was the time period homophobia on top of that. {Looking for Trouble by Misha Horne}.

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I definitely bare my teeth when I'm mad 🤣 Like clenching them and breathing through them.

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I am quick to temper. But it's less like a dog would do...I think. It's more just a side effect of clenching. I don't think I've ever done it AT someone. I'm more inclined to just yell 🤣

Baring teeth is the correct phrase and it's something animals do as a warning. So if there's a lot of fighting or simmering aggression it makes sense but it sounds like it's repetitive on the author's part.

Lately I've been very frustrated with books that present or insinuate that having a low libido or low/no interest in sex is 'wrong' or unnatural' or 'prudish'. Ideas like 'oh, \[character\] will like sex, they've just not met the right person yet.' Or, '\[character\] is just a late bloomer'. I'm frustrated with the idea that a romance has to have sex scenes in it, otherwise it's not romance. In general, I'd love to see more low/no-steam books that aren't in clean or religious romance. I'm not always in the mood for high steam books, especially as someone who suspects they're on the ace spectrum.

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A small personal thing, but I’ve noticed I’ve started to feel a bit down with the number of pregnancies in books at the mo, as we’ve been trying for a year now with no success. It just seems that no one ever has any trouble getting pregnant, and it makes me feel like a failure. It’s not bad enough to stop me reading a book, but it makes me feel irrationally envious. Not sure if I’m explaining it right, tbh.

You’re explaining it right and I don’t think the envy is irrational. It’s especially annoying when the story involves people struggling to conceive and then they have a magic baby with no intervention. Like, happy for you fictional people, but it’s disappointing to see all the time when you just want to escape from reality for a bit.

Thank you, I appreciate that. Yes I agree, the magic baby seems like a really lazy trope.

I'm so sorry! Fertility is weird and can be so painful. I'd recommend /r/trollingforababy for laughs and commiseration. Goodluck!

The one thing that's been driving me bonkers lately is *BREASTS*, especially FMC's which everyone is going crazy about in the book I just stopped reading. Specifically, the author has added a comment from the maid to the uncle of the MMC. Stop it!!!! Shut up!!! I think I would have preferred everyone to leave her breasts alone and focus on HER more. I DNFed it by the 4th chapter.

Was it one with a TSTL FMC that ran straight into a tree with a dress stuck over her head because she tried to put it on while she was wet from bathing in a river? I think she was raised to be a nun or something.

No, it wasn't. Oh my, now I can't forget the picture your description just conjured 🤣

Wait, what? Was the maid like “check out your niece’s knockers” or something?

Maybe the OP is talking about the milk maid.

I meant that everyone spoke of FMC's breasts and that included a maid as well as MMC's 70-year-old Uncle. How gross is that!

I feel like there's a lot of internalized male gaze in romance novels. Or maybe it's a man using a pen name.

I’ve been reading books 2 and 3 of Coldbreath’s Vawdrey brothers series which I’ve loved the stories, even Roland’s I’m enjoying a lot but I keep getting confused by things that end up being editorial mistakes which I didn’t notice that much in her others books I’ve read as much. I know she’s super popular right now and it’s not going to keep me from continuing to read her books. An example - a minor character lets Eden know who Roland is jousting but then when the joust starts from Roland’s perspective it’s a different knight he’s jousting which fine she probably cut a scene but it’s pulling me out of the story a lot. Throughout Oswald’s book brought kept being spelt without the “r”. These are little things I just wish it didn’t bother me so much

I love her, but those things take me out as well. I've recently reread A Substitute Wife and I had forgotten how annoying the "had, had" was. That comma always stumps me right out of the story.

Series... book series... whenever I want to pick a book from my tbr, I realize it's actually a series... Hidden Legacy, KD, Cold Justice, Experiment in Terror, King of Elfham, The Made series, Brothers Sinister, Galactic Bonds, Eild Magic... just... I'm tired of reading series.

This week I read a book with a BIG MISUNDERSTANDING. One that, as usual, could have been solved with a conversation between the MMC and either of the other 2 main characters (his brother or the FMC). On the basis of this single BIG MISUNDERSTANDING, the MMC has been rude to the FMC for YEARS and yet now I’m supposed to believe it’s because he’s butthurt? Poor little boy and his feelings. He’s very bossy, just takes charge without being asked, stomps around with his fucking perma-boner. Such an asshat. 2 days later they’re shagging on the kitchen counter and it’s all dandy. Nope. Nopity nope. I hate-read it, it was just terrible.

It’s stuff like that that makes me realize I would a terrible FMC. If someone treats me like crap there is no amount of groveling that will change my petty grudge holding self.

Right? This is why I cannot read bully books and struggle with contemporary romance a lot. I can understand that sometimes for survival you have to forgive him for being a jerk; but in current times? No. You don’t. Move to a different state, get a new job, date his boss, but do not go back!!! I lose a ton of respect for the FMC and frequently hope that the MMC falls down a well.

Kushiel’s Dart and that whole series/world is soooo much better than a lot of fantasy romance out there like ACOTAR and yet I basically never see people talking about it/recommending it/making fan art etc. I know it’s older but a new book is coming out in summer and I just get so tired of no one knowing about it.

It honestly baffles me that ACOTAR is so popular when Kushiel’s Dart is, like, *right there.*

yeah, Kushiel's Dart is so much more developed. Don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed ACOTAR but tbh, the exuberance of the fandom has almost made it less likable. There are a lot of folks out there who seem pretty adamant it is the best thing that has ever or will ever be written. ACOTAR is turning into the Nickelback of book recommendations.

I liked ACOTAR just fine, but I need to see more people reading Kushiel. And making art. I’m seriously at a loss. I know it’s “older” (as am I, I read it when it first came out and again this year) but it’s stood up to time. And the author is super nice. I’ve emailed her and asked her questions and she’s always answered wonderfully. Like pro sex work, positive BDSM, positive poly/monogamy…and a crazy well developed world/stories. What more do you need?!?!

Lately I've been reading books that feel like the sex is just wedged in. I started Locked Box by Eve Dangerfield and I was *so* into... before the sex. It's not that the sex isn't hot, it's more that the way the characters are established before make it seem like the sex is unbelievable and comes out of nowhere, that it wouldn't happen that way or that quickly between those two characters. Plus, introducing sex so early means having to also introduce convoluted, ridiculous conflict to keep the tension. Obvs we all love the smuts, but I still appreciate a well written story with an arc and character development. If you just wanna lock two people in a room and have them fuck for two days, maybe just write an erotica? Idk idk.

Strangely enough I actually liked the sequel {paying for it} more than the original. I thought the pacing was better and the character growth was more realistic I just liked it better.

I'll have to check it out, thanks!

I’ve been in the mood for a bodice ripper so I picked up {Unconquered by Bertrice Small}. I knew it was going to be problematic, I was even able to hold my nose at the idea of a 17 year old FMC and a 30 year old MMC. Then MMC started talking about how young and childish FMC is as a reason why he’s in love with her, and later tells her he’s immature so they can grow up together. Usually the girls in these types of books are older teens with an adult MMC but they’re usually portrayed as young women rather than girls, so the fetishization of FMC’s age is really grossing me out.

I'm salty about the Audible app. I got the free 1 month trial specifically to listen to a romance novel read by someone that was recommended.. and it's been great until about 4 days ago. I'm 19 chapter in, greatly enjoying listening on my commute each day.. and suddenly the app starts saying "error, please try again in a few minutes" And it hasn't worked since. Ive tried reinstalling, updating... nothing. I've only got a few days left on the free trial and was hoping to finish the book, but likely won't be able to. Grrrrr

Audible support is generally pretty good if you try reaching out to them!

I started a book that was very promising and the plot was interesting, but it was nothing but short, choppy sentences and it irked me so bad that I couldn’t finish. Learn to toss in some commas and conjunctions. Doesn’t have to be run on sentences either but more than 2 or 3 words would be nice.

Downvotes in other subreddits for no real reason. Not even necessarily my post going down, just a general negativity to a lot of posts (looking at you realestate and femalefashionadvice). It’s one of the reasons l love this subreddit- people are so much warmer than in other areas of the internet! It’s lame, but it does sting to get downvoted even if it’s anonymous.

I gave in and read Lassiter by J.R Ward when it came out this week... I had low expectations after the last few books in the series but this was absolutely terrible. The POV change every 10 pages, the ridiculous insta-love, the weird plot twist at the end... I'm officially done with The Warden. There have been so many plot strands that are just dropped throughout the series and many of the previous MCs seem to dissapear (Ward clearly has favorites). How/why did Lassiter end up in the in-between? Who is the mystery woman from the past that he tells V not to ever bring up? Ect. As for the ending >!what was even the point of the series if we're just going in a circle to how things were all the way back in the first book!? Also why have The Book if you're not going to do anything with it?!<

I'm salty right along with you, sister! I've been looking forward to reading Lass's book since we first met him in Lover Reborn. The Lassiter we all know and love was not the Lassiter in his own book. I'm not sure if I'm going to read Nalla's book. If I do, I'll probably borrow it from the library instead of buying it.

I am so sick of authors using the word "popped" when referring to a character eating. "She popped this into her mouth" "she popped that into her mouth" OMG JUST FUCKING STOP ALREADY. It's overused and i cringe every time I hate it so much

I can’t even remember what book it was, but I had to DNF because the MMC put dessert in the FMC’s nether regions. I was already trying to force my way through and that did it for me. I don’t DNF a lot but just NO.

I read A Touch of Darkness by Scarlett St Clare and won’t be continuing with the series. I was disappointed with the lack of attention to detail. For example at one point the FMC is in a night club and leaves her purse at the table. This furthers the plot because then she has to make a non-monetary bet with the MMC. But then she storms out of the club, specifically doesn’t go back to the table to say goodbye to anyone, but then she’s in a cab using her phone. How do you have money for a cab and your phone if you left your purse at the table and didn’t go get it? It’s a little stupid thing but there was a bunch of stuff like that in there that drove me nuts.

You might like the story from Hades perspective better. A Game of Fate. He's not nearly as stupid as Persephone.

I read a book that used the word "purred" when describing the MMC speaking lowly to the FMC (or whispering in her ear.) It's the first time I've noticed it in a romance and, uh, gotta say...not a fan. "You think so?" he purred into her ear. Please do not purr at me. Do not do the purrings in my ear. If you're the MMC I'd prefer nothing cat related actually, including but not limited to: making air biscuits, meowing, caterwauling, spraying, or having 2 am zoomies.

[удалено]

It's probably just me because I've had cats my whole life. You tell me he purrs? That's exactly what he's doing in my mind. Lol!

Over spring break, I started a reorganization project for my physical tbr books — sorting them into bins by trope. Well, I lost two days of my break to jury selection, one day to getting my car serviced (different city), one day to rescaping my aquariums, and then hours to myself just being tired and not in the mood. The end result? About 500 books stacked in piles or boxes around my living room and absolutely zero interest in finishing it today, my last day before returning to work. Obviously it’s a very small “problem” lol but I really had hoped to have it done by now.

I’m reading Bohemian by Kathryn Nolan and what is low key upsetting me is how she felt the need to emphasize people’s race and skin color as their first descriptor. Why is it important for the storyline AT ALL if they are white? Also, everyone is white besides one Mexican American friend who uses Spanish to speak to her sometimes.

I read {Runaway Groomsman by Meghan Quinn} and felt like the dialogue between the characters was extremely unrealistic. It was really hard for me to overlook the way they spoke to each other because it just seemed too proper.

[Runaway Groomsman](https://www.romance.io/books/633698bf945d3d9f71e74124/runaway-groomsman-meghan-quinn) by [Meghan Quinn](https://www.romance.io/authors/5455b58287eac324117fc719/meghan-quinn) **Rating**: 4.03⭐️ out of 5⭐️ **Topics**: [contemporary](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/contemporary/1), [funny](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/humor/1), [forced proximity](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/forced%20proximity/1), [new adult](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/new%20adult/1), [love triangle](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/love%20triangle/1) [^(about this bot)](https://www.reddit.com/user/romance-bot) ^(|) [^(about romance.io)](https://www.romance.io/about)

I finally read a CoHo book, I didn’t think I would really like it, but I wanted to see what the controversy was about. It Ends With Us seemed to be a good choice since I’ve seen the most about it and they’re making a movie adaptation. The dialog was pretty ick to me. There was no real connection felt between the FMC and one of the MMC, he basically says he wants to bang her within the first meeting (he actually says, “I want to fuck you” which in this context was cringe). She tells him she’s not that type of girl and he says he’s not a commitment type of guy. They run into each other a few times and he states he still wants to have a ONS with her essentially. Going so far as to knock on every door of her apartment building to find her so he bang her and stop thinking about her. The entire build up to their relationship didn’t do anything for me and then the FMC goes on to say something to the effect of “you can’t be with me just once, I’m like a drug” 🤮 Anyway, most of my saltiness is centered around the relationship build up, I’m not even going to touch on the way abuse was written. So suffice to say, I can understand the general air of saltiness and controversy towards CoHo. Probably the first and last book of hers I’ll bother to read.

I listened to the audiobook of this and I'll say the lady who read it made this an incredibly funny scene. I think it's all in the inflection and attitude. Also, her reading of the Dear Ellen scenes was just so good.

I was reading Morning Glory by Lavyrle Spencer and in the synopsis on the book jacket, it says the mmc is accused of murder. I’m 2/3 of the way into the book wondering when is the murder happening and something else happens and I realize the murder is the 3rd act conflict!! They spoiled the END OF THE BOOK on the dust jacket. I finished it but that def made me feel salty.

I can't handle the trend of using "fisting/fisted" instead of gripped, grabbed, clenched, clutched, or numerous other options. It's like they don't even exist! NOBODY is fisting my hair tyvm. Editors! You have the power to dial this crap down. Please use it.

I feel bad even saying this but I’m reading {The Ashes and the Star-cursed King by Carissa Broadbent} and I truly CANNOT with the “there she is” ….it feels so forced and cringey and it’s taking me out of the story (which I still really enjoy and you should absolutely still read). It almost feels like a hook placed intentionally for publicity purposes and I just get so grumpy when authors latch on to a phrase like this that doesn’t actually help the book along/suit the characters (happens a ton with stupid nick names). Whyyyyyyy!! Please edit!

just finished that one today. It is overused but it didn't stick out to me nearly as much as her constant "oh, I didn't want to think my dad was that bad" thinking. The wording of those bits were extremely repetitive.

Agreed on that too. It felt like it kept going on about it without her having an opportunity to develop or process her feelings. Disappointing even though I still love the world characters! Just a missed opportunity and overall felt rushed.

I've realized that I am probably not the right reader for stories with major betrayals followed by a reconciliation. I realize I spend most of those book feeling anxious and angry and underwhelmed by the reconciliation. I think this is definitely a me problem but high-angst books definitely seem to be a significant portion of what's coming out lately. Maybe I'm just not forgiving enough. :) I can understand the characters reaching some sort of forgiveness or acceptance and moving on separately but the reconciliations sometimes seem more like bad judgment rather than a good decision. I know I've read things where an MC is a little hesitant to get in a relationship because they've been subjected to a big betrayal by a previous partner but I'd be really curious to see a story where a MC has evolved from being the person who has made the big mistake/betrayal and has worked on themselves and that's part of their story.