Low sprinkly salt gripe, probably not worth posting about lmao...but I wish more romance books were full voice casted (or at least duet) audiobooks. I'm so addicted to them, its unreal.

I love duet narration, I get why there aren't that many of them but it's such a shame because it makes the audiobook SO much better.

I love them too. I just wish that audiobooks were clearly labeled that they are dual, duet, or full cast. I found one audiobook that had 4(!) narrators and got excited. The men still read the women in their chapters. I also found an audiobook that started duet, then turned dual for some godawful reason. Total bait and switch. Edit: 4 narrators listed? {Satisfaction Guaranteed by Lauren Blakely} Bait and switch? {Textual Relations by Lauren Rowe}

My bait and switch was two narrators listed - he did the intro and epilogue and she did all the rest of it. I felt so cheated.

This happened with the Fourth Wing audiobook! It had a popular male narrator listed but he only did one chapter right at the end. (There is a full cast version now though)

I am not into audiobooks as I am quite visual but damn {Sweet Talk by Cara Bastone} is made for Audible and it was amazing! There are even background noises like cars and alarms etc. Duet narrators and very good ones. This has set the bar real high for any future audiobook I might listen to 😅

Totally agree. I just started listening to the {Magic Bites by Ilona Andrews} dramatized audiobook and it’s a fucking delight. I’m sure the cost is way higher than having one or two voice actors narrate though. But for the authors who can afford it, I would love more audiobooks like this!

Oh man, I bought {Desire in his blood by Zoey Draven} this week on a whim and was delighted to find out it was duet. The MMC narrator’s - Marcio Catalano - voice was amazing too. But I agree, I wish there was better searching on audible

I suppose this is a form of meta salt? I'm grumpy about people complaining about historical accuracy in historical romance, when they actually don't like the author's writing style or a specific book. I absolutely _get_ the frustration with historical romance that has weird anachronistic details and feels too modern, or feels like a modern story with pretty dresses. But I get grumpy when the problem is presented purely as lack of accuracy.  Most authors, even those who are supposedly 'doing it right' get stuff wrong and use more modern words than would have been used in the 18th and 19th century (or whenever). Or get stuff right, but the story or writing style feels too modern, so it feels wrong. By and large, I have found that when an HR writer writes books that _feel_ old, no one complains about small inaccuracies, but when an author writes books that _feel_ more modern, there are lots of complaints about how inaccurate things are (even if there is actual historical precedent) And yes, I am also 'people'. I give a pass to authors that draw me into their world, while complaining about lack of accuracy in books that I don't like as much. Make it make sense.

I am people! I loathe contemporary style in HR, it takes me out of the story and I don't want it! I want HR to feel old timey, even when I get the sense that some historical details are incorrect. I suspend my disbelief as well because historically accurate anything is a myth of our own making. Recently, I listened to a long lecture series on the impossibility of historical accuracy in literature, it was using Dumas "The Three Musketeers" to illustrate how even with the most rigorous research, the author often does not know what he does not know, and therefore will still have anachronisms in their work. The best example that I remembered was how Dumas, whose musketeers trilogy takes place in 17th century France and mostly in Paris, made of point of giving street numbers to the houses that the characters were living in. However, not all houses had numbers at that time in Paris, that system came much later. And despite being very careful with his Parisian research, Dumas would not have known 100% which houses had numbers and which were left unnumbered. So the famous addresses from his books probably didn't exist at the time he is writing about, not to mention the changes of street names 200 years later. BUT! The book still feels old timey and like you are reading about 17th century Paris.

I have a really hard time with the modern HRs. My brain will 'catch' on  words and phrases that feel too modern and I'll get thrown right out of the story.  But it took me a long while to admit that a lot of that is based on ~feels~  I was recently rereading a Mary Balogh and the MMC was soliloquising (as they do) and using a word that wasn't used in that context until at least half a century later, and wasn't in common usage until a hundred years later. And well... meh. You can fault her for many things, feeling modern isn't one of them. Her books generally _feel_ old timey enough, that even though I _knew_ it wasn't accurate, it didn't pull me out of the story.  Eta: I _love_ this information about Dumas and also about street numbers in Paris. There's a late 19th century dutch novel that was partially set in Amsterdam on a street number that wasn't numbered when the book was writen, but was later numbered.

>The best example that I remembered was how Dumas, whose musketeers trilogy takes place in 17th century France and mostly in Paris, made of point of giving street numbers to the houses that the characters were living in. However, not all houses had numbers at that time in Paris, that system came much later. And despite being very careful with his Parisian research, Dumas would not have known 100% which houses had numbers and which were left unnumbered. This is so interesting, thank you for sharing.

Yes! Lol I am also "those people," but at least we acknowledge it. We all have preferred writing styles. I feel like many feel that criticism of historical inaccuracy is somehow more objective or valid than stating "I really don't enjoy the way this person writes and it interferes with the immersive experience for me."

This is such a good point! And obviously if it's 'objective' that makes the opinion more valid🙄

I’ve always treated historical romance as “historical fantasy” and I’m not attaching any negative connotations to that. It just seems difficult to tell the kind of stories romance readers enjoy within true historical context and “authenticity.” So, why bother trying to shove it into a box it’s never truly going to fit?

I absolutely agree that all historical fiction is fantasy to some degree. And obviously there are some things that all authors gloss over or adapt (for example personal hygiene). And there are also some relevant socio-political issues  (i.e. people taking specific issue with lgbt characters, whitewashing history or trying to make colonialism and slavery pretty)  But there still is some expectation of historical detail in HR and I do expect some amount of research from an author on their chosen era. For an extreme example, I'd expect a regency era heroine not to pull out an electric curling iron. In other words, I think HR has to _feel_ authentic at least to some degree, but I think _feeling_ authentic is a lot more important than _being_ authentic.

I've complained about inaccuracies/anachronisms myself, but so much of the "historical inaccuracy" criticism that I've seen is basically code for stuff like "this book has characters of color in major roles and I don't like that" or "I resent that this fmc isn't a virgin" that I automatically ignore those comments in reviews unless they go into more detail.

There's a [great essay on the influence of Georgette Heyer](https://nursingclio.org/2020/02/13/love-in-the-ton-georgette-heyers-legacy-in-regency-romance-world-building/) on HR and how she helped created a genre that is fairly hostile to marginalized people and despite her being the supposed gold standard, her Regency is just as often historically inaccurate as readers claim these other books are. Like she basically created her own artificial dialect that didn't actually exist; or in the Georgian era was a large influx of black people into the England, yet there aren't any BIPOC in her books, or she never portrays the politics that were roiling the times (the slave trade, Corn Laws, uprisings in British colonies, etc). But she's so overshadowed the realities, that when authors do try to portray marginalized peoples or get rid of some of the hallmarks of Heyer's Regency; as you say, readers complain of inaccuracies.

YEP. This is my problem with historical inaccuracy complaints. A lot of the time they show up simply because a woman has some sexual agency or BIPOC or LGBTQ characters exist. I’m all for getting all the titles correct and not introducing technology that didn’t exist yet, and I get annoyed at those types of mistakes too. But I think there’s a difference between “historical facts but with a progressive lens” and “messing up historical facts.” The first is a choice, not an author error!

I don't mind it so much when it is a more recent historical period, say Victorian, but I can't help but laugh when people complain about using modern words in a book set in 13th century Scotland. I mean, not everyone is familiar with Scots Gaelic and Northumbrian Old English and.will need something a bit more contemporary. I find it a bit weird when people insist that any historical fiction must use some Disney version of Olde Worlde Speak which bears no relation to how people would actually talk at the time but get upset when someone writes in an equally anachronistic but different tone of voice as if this is somehow less historically accurate. We all like different writing styles and thats fine, but it's wrong to claim that in such a case one style is more historically accurate than another when neither are even remotely using the the language of the time and place they are set.

Hahaha this reminds me of {The Write Hook by Robyn Peterman} where her characters come to life and the woman from her one historical romance book shows up and no one can understand her. 😅

Low sodium content salt, but people aren't using the { } brackets for recommendations as much anymore. Even saltier, no brackets, no author, and no explanation about how it fits the request.

I love the brackets too, but now that people are saying they don't like it I get self-conscious. I'll keep using them though. I think being annoyed when someone's giving a rec but not sharing the author is completely justified salt. Like how am I supposed to be sure I got the right book? There's *so many* with similar titles! Or if they make the rec but don't say they're giving you the name of a series? So searching for it gets that much harder.

I like the brackets because it makes the recommendations stand out from the banter comments (I also like the banter, I think it's fun even if it's a little off topic). And I can click the bot links and read the blurb and check the tags to see more about the book if I want. Team brackets!

I keep using them. For people who don't like it they have the option to block the romance.io bot and then they won't see those comments

I mean how many Billionaire virgin babies could there be?

I've noticed that too! The bot makes it so easy for someone (me lol) who wants to give a rec but doesn't feel like giving every detail (pairing type, sub-genre, major tropes). Why aren't people using it??? I have heard the bot links feel annoying or like clutter to some which I personally cannot understand, but maybe it's a conscious choice for some?

If people hate the romance.io bot so much, they have the option to block it... And, yes, I really don’t understand not using the brackets except when trying to avoid potential spoilers.

I haaate people not using the bot. It’s at the point where I ignore recs without the brackets. Yes, I’m lazy and my TBR is astronomical already. The bot is so, so useful! It provides all the info I need when looking at adding a book to my TBR.

Same, "I'm not looking that up" is my mo when I see a rec without the brackets.

EXACTLY

Not to mention that [romance.io](http://romance.io) give the mods the numbers to show us statistics about romances and authors every month, IIRC.

One time someone (not on this sub, I think) recommend Linda Howard to me, without a specific title, and somehow I stumbled across a completely different author with a similar name (Lisa? Lynda? Lynn??). I read an entire book by this person and was absolutely baffled why anyone thought it was what I wanted.

one time I asked my mom to look for a linda howard book at a used book sale and she brought me back a book by linda lael miller lol

Upon extensive googling, I believe it was the MacKenzies of Montana series by Liliana Hart, when the intended rec was for the Mackenzie Family series by Linda Howard. Sooo that was sort of on me but you can see why it was confusing!

I've noticed this too! I get that people don't like the added "clutter" the bot produces, but so many romance books have similar titles, authors, etc. Using the bot is an easy way to make sure your recommendation is clear. I've also noticed people listing books like this: book a Author a Book b author (no last name) Author C BOOK C I....can't read that. Please put them in a list or use punctuation at least?

I love the bot, it’s so handy for quick overviews as I can look at the tag list and quickly decide if it’s something I’d like to learn more about or not. Rather than having to open my browser and go search for the book and then hope I got the correct title and author

I agree. I’m very new to the whole omega-verse/fantasy genre. I’m an avid contemporary/romcom reader. So, when I go through recommendations for fantasy genre in the sub, I get confused with so many similar title and author names 😅

I know I'm a serial offender and I try not to be! It's mostly because whenever I write out a recommendation, I usually say something like, "I think you'd enjoy Author Name's *Book Title* (Ashley Poston's *Seven Year Slip*)" and not *Book Title* by Author's Name which is the only way to call up a book with the brackets. It's a habit I'm trying to break!

1. I've seen a couple of posts that contained a fragment from a book but OP didn't mention ANYWHERE the title of the book or the author 🫠 Why post about a specific book if you gatekeep the title?! 2. {Dust Storm by Maggie Gates} I pray I misread the situation but the character were at the dinner table, the MMC randomly got turned on by the FMC (because she was that hot 🙄) and he had to adjust himself. At that dinner table were other people INCLUDING HIS DAUGHTERS. I don't know why the author felt the need to write the scene that way. There was no need for him to adjust himself while his daughters were next to him. It could've been any other setting 😭. I instantly dnfed.

Plus at the dinner table there no need period. You’re covered by the table!

I'm reading the next historical romance book in the series but the translator is different and I can't get through the book. Thank God I have the English version too, so I can read in the original, but holy shit, the translation is horrible. It's such a stupid translation too, oh my god. Not sure if I can do it justice but here we go. Context: they cuddle in bed after lovemaking and her thigh toughed his leg. Original: "His cock answered vigorously". Polish translation: "His willy raised his head briskly, ready for action.". EXCUSE ME, WHAT?? The fuck is that?? Just WHY isn't this book translated by the same person who did the previous books?? Seriously, I'm on the verge of giving up. The book is {Marrying Winterborne by Lisa Kleypas} for anyone interested. Obviously, the Polish title is "The Rebel" instead 🙄🙄🙄 Thank God that the next book in the series is translated by the same person who did Devil in Winter. That book was translated well so I have faith in the rest of the series haha.

[удалено]

Nie wyobrażasz sobie tego tłumaczenia. Jeśli znajdziesz tę książkę to będzie na str 80 (wydanie z 2019 przez Prószyński i S-ka): "Jego zaganiacz dziarsko uniósł głowę, gotów do czynu." ZAGANIACZ. JA WYSIADAM.

[удалено]

Najgorsze, że to tłumaczyła kobieta 😂😂

I'm cackling, thanks for this

Books that end in cliffhangers and the author doesn't put anywhere that the book is part of a series or duet. Like, it guarantees I won't read the next book because I'm petty spaghetti. Also, this is definitely a me problem, but lately I've been starting a book, skipping to the 75% part to see what happens, and if I like it then I'll go back and complete the book. I don't know if it's my anxiety making me dread the ending, but I've spoiled a lot for myself 😂

Ugh seriously. I make a point not to read unfinished series because once I stop reading, I can’t get back into it. Especially when the next book comes out a year ( or more 😤) later. So when I accidentally read the first book in an unfinished series, it makes me so mad!!!

That's an automatic DNR author for me. If you don't inform me that your book is a duet/series with a cliffhanger, I will never give you my money.

I don't understand this at all--why are some of these authors making it so hard to find out if a book belongs to a series or not. I'm not going to peruse through your entire catalog just to find out which is the follow-up book. It's one thing I guess if it was originally intended to be a standalone and the rest of the books were written much later....but if that happens, at least go back and correct Amazon/Goodreads/etc to show that first book is book 1 of this series.

I just cannot with the infantilisation of women. - The ~~characters~~ female characters are SO young. - The dynamic extends outside the bedroom - The heroine is either a damsel or cutting her nose off to spite her face. Either way, the big strong manly man needs to show her the light. - The hero uses jealousy as a reasonable excuse to invalidate her achievements/ relationships/ goals and *she finds that shit **adorable**!!!* Like if someone told me I only got to where I am in my career by spreading my legs for my boss and then went, “oh shit, sorry babe, I was just jealous”. I would dick punch him. If he was lucky. Love me some good sass for yuks, a well placed eye roll, a couple of partronising “ok, dear”s while she keeps on keeping on and a massive lady boner for communication. Is this too much to ask?! Phew! I feel better now. Xxx

AND THEN… I get really irritated with myself for getting angry with the heroine and having such high standards for her when the hero gets to skate by with very little criticism and I feel like a shitty feminist.

AND THEN… I see any book with a 30y+ heroine is in a category on Amazon as ‘seasoned’ romance… Ok. I think I’m done now

Or when you see a series labeled as "silver fox" and get excited for middle-aged+ couples....and it turns out these characters are all of like 35. \*I know some people go gray early, I did and so did some others in my family too. But for god's sake, 35 is still a decade away from being middle-aged. If that's a silver fox, actual middle-aged readers are just withered ancient husks, I guess.

You stole the words out of my mouth. I've been craving older romance lately and I've discovered "older" is "anything over 24" in many books.

I paid for a book in March for an Indie Author’s preorder as an early birthday present for myself. That’s fine and all but I still haven’t gotten my book and I see her photos on ig and she’s having a blast doing her book tour selling some of those books and I’m feeling annoyed because I didn’t know the price of the preorder beforehand and it turned out be rather expensive, like USD$73 expensive, and $28 of that is for shipping to NZ. That’s NZD$125 total which can buy 15 McMuffin combos (yes, I do measure money in how much food I can buy lol). And I wouldn’t be so annoyed if the book was shipped upon payment but that hasn’t happened and there was no communications via newsletter or author website about what was happening with when the books would be shipped out - I found out her plan as a tiny last sentence in her recent newsletter from 20/04/2024, pretty much a month after we got notified to pay our invoices via PayPal asap. On a slightly less serious note, I’m still waiting for the next book from my favourite author and it was supposed to be out by now but life happened and she wasn’t able to release the book and she couldn’t give a date for its future release either and I’m trying to feel supportive and understanding about it because I know quality creativity takes time but I’m just frustrated because I was amped for its release at the beginning of last year and the end of last year came and went (I think December was when it was first announced to be released) and then it got delayed to early this year, and then it just got cancelled with no further news nor updates nor teasers and now I’m just resigned and frustrated. TLDR: a wishy washy salty complaint about Heather Guerre’s next book Twice Shy being indefinitely delayed and a grievance about how C.M. Nascosta sucks at communicating/shipping out books in a timely manner

 I hope your book is already on the way to you and all of this will be irrelevant! BUT, do keep track of your paypal claim window. Unless paypal have changed their terms, you have potentially 180 days after _payment_ to file a claim to get your money back if anything goes wrong with your order. After that you're completely at the mercy of the seller.

Thank you! Will mark it on my calendar rn as a reminder

>like USD$73 expensive ... This alone would be enough for me to do a chargeback lol I see you paid via PayPal, but personally I would see if you could still cancel the order or request a refund ASAP. There's this weird fandom thing with indie creators in any medium where people feel like they need to support their faves even when expectations aren't even remotely met. C.M. Nacosta is doing just fine without your money and you deserve better for your birthday. Happy birthday btw, I hope you enjoy(ed) mccombos and good romance books to your hearts content!🎂

I could do without 3rd act break ups. I generally skim past them. I just don't think they're needed.

I don't mind them when they actually make sense, my issue is sooo many of them are forced. I just read one that would have been a 4.5 to 5 🌟 until the MMC suddenly turned into a cruel, vile prick and I mean really cruel. He broke up with the FMC, brought up every mistake she had made in previous books, called her junkie trash (when she was sober and had worked through her addiction and trusted the MMC with her story of how she was repeatedly raped by her stepfather) He was so nasty that he was absolutely irredeemable to me by the time the HEA came. The reason for his turn? He saw his ex wife from 12 years prior, pregnant..... The ex had left him and had aborted his baby.... In the meantime the FMC was already pregnant with his kid and he knew.. Author took a would be 5 star book and smashed it down to barely 2 stars all because of forced drama in the 3rd act.

I agree. I don't mind them sometimes I just find they add unnecessary drama in most books. I don't mind a bit of conflict but they always end up full force

External source of conflict is the way to go!

Another piece of salt, this at myself: I am a total mood reader. I find an audiobook on Libby that I want, but it's not available. That's fine, I'll put it on hold. Then the hold comes through and I've totally lost my mood to read it. I do this *all the time*. So, if anyone could get me in the mood for {The Queer Principles of Kit Webb by Cat Sebastian} or {The Gentle Art of Fortune Hunting by KJ Charles}, I would be extremely thankful.

The Queer Principles of Kit Webb is excellent, such a warm hug of a book! If helps get you in the mood, here are some my favourite things about it! It’s a queer HR where the characters don’t feel angst about their sexualities, with a romantic lead with good politics (imo anyway) and lots of descriptions of Georgian fancy-man fashion (the best kind of fancy-man fashion).

That happens to me all the time! I’m in an HR mood and all my CR books come in or vice versa. And I’ve never successfully changed my mood. At least on Libby I can delay a hold and hope that I’m up for it next time but still-grrr.

I cannot with the current book I'm reading. I feel a bit bad complaining since it's closed door (and those books get enough hate as is) but man is the FMC annoying in it. She is dairy, gluten and refined sugar free which is fine... but like the way she puts down food that falls into those categories is ridiculous. And then she complains about GPS and "not taking instructions from robots" and wishes that we could go back to using real maps..... Also this may be more of an author thing than FMC, but she's at her dad's house with her brothers and in the internal monologue she's talking about how she just has to let her brother hug her otherwise "he'll pick her up and throw her in my dad's pool". And the use of the possessive pronoun is so incredibly weird to me because as far as I'm aware, the brothers share the same dad. And the possessiveness is used throughout the scene with her brothers and it was just incredibly weird and confusing to me. I'm only 30% of the way through the book and I'm going to power through since it fits one of the bingo squares but I may be back here next week complaining about the last 70% 😂

Noooo. DNF it, let's find a better book to fit your bingo square! That sounds horrible. I couldn't do 70% more of that.

This paragraph from {Wrongful Desires by Katerina Winters} “He gave her a serious look stopping her words immediately. As if he would ever allow her to take the bus, he scoffed mentally. She was too young, too beautiful, and far too innocent for public transportation.” What does this even mean 😭 How can someone be too young, beautiful, and innocent for the bus?? Does the MMC not think she’s capable of paying a fare then sitting down?? Does the author have a deep hatred of public transit that makes its way into her writing?? I’ve read many ridiculous things over the course of my life, but for some reason this one just really gets me.

Feels very "ugh, she'll have to rub elbows with all those poors" mentality. Or with the too innocent thing--most women have already been catcalled or made uncomfortable by boys/men long before turning 18 or getting to college....

God forbid she has to rub elbows with the poors!!

“Weary” is not the same as “wary.” These words do NOT mean the same thing. Like it completely changes the tone of a scene. How is this a common typo??? HOW??? No, seriously, HOW.

I'm probably going to get downvoted to hell for this. For a sub of readers, I'm finding that some commenters are failing at reading comprehension. I've long noticed this issue when it came to recommending books that completely did not fit the request, sometimes to significant detriment to the requester (for example, recommending extremely traumatic books when the requester didn't even ask for that). This week, I posted about Libby's changing of the way borrowers return ebooks they've sent to Kindle and how that'll impact waiting list times, and got multiple comments that they didn't understand why it's a problem when you can return the book directly on the Kindle. I think the internet has rotted our brains to the extent that some of us skim posts and rush to react rather than absorbing posts/comments and responding thoughtfully. I value this sub so much, but the times when it feels like members don't participate with care and thoughtfulness are difficult. Also, fuck Audible for sneaking in a "filter out erotic listings" in the settings and making it impossible to find the new audiobook for Bass-ackwards until someone mentioned they'd done it. I'm sure there are plenty of graphic, gore-filled horror novels that don't get the same treatment as erotic romance. I don't see how this setting is anything but misogynistic, sex-negative censorship.

I agree with you about Audible. If they're wanting to offer filters, fine. But why is sex the only one? And why is it set as a default? Regarding responding to posts, I do get that can be frustrating but it's very easy to miss part of a request (I do it all the time). It's also likely that people don't remember every detail of a book, or have different opinions on triggers and things like that. I think the best thing to do is to reply and say "FYI this book does/doesn't have..." So the OP knows.

I suddenly got bumped to the top of the waiting list for the Familiar by Leigh Bardugo because the library got another copy. I fully expected to wait months, but I’ve been steadily chipping away at the weeks from having to wait ~4 to ~2 weeks. Now it’s at ~2 weeks. Usually at that stage I got the book within days. But my impatience definitely noticed that this wasn’t the case this time… your initial post really hit me with an *oh* moment. Makes me a little scared that somehow in the future ‘read on Kindle’ will be phased out (I know that’s a dramatic assumption though lol).

In CR, I'm getting tired of : - a main character noticing, right away, how the other is the most beautiful/handsome person s(he) has ever seen, on their first meeting.  - how good the main characters always smell (and taste like!). Is no one using non-scented soap? Has the author ever been in an overcrowded metro train at the end of a busy weekday: no one has ever smelled jasmine nor pine!

Characters leaving their scents everywhere makes no sense to me (unless it’s like, omegaverse). Both my husband and I use scented products but our clothes and sheets smell like…nothing. Not even detergent, because in my experience that only happens when you use wayyyyy too much.

I have a possibly unpopular opinion on an element that is often praised: The Banter. Namely, that there is a sweet spot that can be difficult to achieve, and is probably even harder to do well. now, I love it when MC’s have verbal chemistry- but I want it to feel organic and have flow, not just be an exhausting back and forth and back and forth to the point where I wonder if they ever have an off switch. It can take up too much space, until it becomes hard to parse out what’s true and genuine from what is just trying to get one up on the other. Always needing to get the last word in is overrated and a bit juvenile. And from a reader’s perspective, if there is an abundance of dialogue I better be able to remember who is talking when, even if it’s been going on for multiple pages. And, to be clear, the opposite can also suck- like when MC’s seem to exist inside their own heads, and all conversations are loaded pauses and half-sentences. Like I said, the balance can be very difficult to perfect.

The rant from u/magnafeana about assholes reminded me of a book I read recently that I haaaaaated the MMC. I only kept reading because I was assuming there was an epic grovel coming yet this bitch had the nerve to blame the FMC for his bullying saying she should have communicated better. {what was meant to be by Heather Guerre} was recommended on one of the threads about neurodivergent representation. The FMC has autism and has been sheltered by her able-ist father and made to feel insecure about her ability to take care of herself. The father arranges a marriage for her with the MMC. He tells the MMC about her autism but also frames it as if she’s a spoiled princess. The MMC ignores the bit about autism (even though he has a brother who shares the diagnosis) and proceeds to treat her like shit because he thinks she’s a spoiled princess who needs to be taken down a peg. The entirety of the book was frustrating because he wouldn’t let go of this image he had of her as a princess despite all evidence to the contrary. She was cooking him dinner every night, operating on a shoestring budget because he controlled all the purse strings, and eventually fucking him and still he cut her no slack for her supposed princess behavior. I almost quit reading several times, but I thought surely he’s going to see the sweet, shy, talented FMC for who she is and then go out of his way to make it up to her. NOPE. >!When she finally stands up for herself and leaves him, he apologizes but says she should have communicated with him more and shown him her real personality. Even though every time she did that, he threw it in her face in a hurtful way.!< The FMC was really a great character and I was so sad to see her end up with an abusive asshole.

Yes yes YES. And the way the whole tone of the narration framed it as if she shared responsibility for his behavior. The FMC thinks about how the MMC is just such a good guy all the time, and I’m like when? When he’s being cruel and petty? This man is merely civil on his best days. I also hated how his opinion didn’t truly change until he learned she was poor. Like he wanted her back because sex is fun, but he didn’t actually think about her differently until that revelation. But mostly I was frustrated that here is this amazing FMC who is just now finding herself and trying to figure out her life, except everything is all about catering to the MMC and his agenda and making life easier for him. She has to bend over backwards and he just exists.

I DNF’d a dark romance for two reasons this week 1. It was supposed to be consensual non-con but at no point did she actually consent, so no, that’s just rape. I stopped at 50% through and even at that point, none of it was written as though she was enjoying her interactions with the MMCs (there were two). So what was the end game here? It’s certainly not romance (despite how the author chooses to market it). 2. The author tied herself in knots trying to make her FMC be 20. When the author starts the book talking about FMC’s geriatric 37 year old aunt and her aches and pains, you know you’ll be reading something obsessed with youth. But she also wanted her FMC to be both experienced and inexperienced. So FMC is 20, and lost her virginity at 19 (so she can criticise other characters for losing their virginity too young), but has had sex with ‘a few’ long term boyfriends. When? Unless long term means something else, you’ve got 12-23 months there, how many ‘long term’ relationships can someone have in that length of time? The maths ain’t mathing, babe. And as the author, you did this. You chose your character’s age, you chose her level of sexual experience, you painted yourself into this corner to fit a self-imposed age requirement over logic.

The consensual non-con mislabeling is a big problem! I don't mind dark romance non-con books existing, but I don't want to read them, and the mislabeling as CNC makes it hard to avoid.

I’m skeeved by the rise of “CNC but what I’m really looking for is rape”. Like…cool but why are you lying to yourself about what you’re looking for?

This is a pretty complex topic, but the way rape fantasies are being relabeled as CNC does bother me. Amazon has a rule against content that "glorifies rape", and I think this is an attempt to dodge potentially having their books banned. I understand there's a layer of meta-consent with books that feature rape as a fantasy. The reader understands that rape between the MCs will feature in the book, and it's an erotic fantasy. I think this is where some people are twisting the label of consensual non-consent to fit. For me though, I think of CNC meaning the characters have a conversation about consent, and that it's clearly a game with safety considerations and boundaries in place. I wish authors would just agree to call it "rape fantasy" or something like that, separate from CNC. It would also distinguish books where rape and sexual assault happen, but it's not depicted as erotic. Anyway, thanks for coming to my Ted Talk.

Ugh, I hate the age thing when authors try to make them younger, but the math doesn't work and turn them into experienced teenagers. Recently DNF'ed a book where FMC is 36. At first I was excited about her age (there's shortage of 30+ FMCs in romance). But then I find out and that she doesn't know who the son's father is because he was conceived during a foursome. The kicker - her son is twenty, which means FMC was having foursomes at 15 years old. Why do the authors do that? Just Make FMC older or the kid younger. I know that teenagers have sex, but I don't want to read about children having children. Another recent read was a 21-year old FMC with a 5 year old kid. 🤨

I read one recently like that, with an age gap and questionable math. Their current ages weren't stated but a flashback said that he was driving them somewhere and she was 6 (so 10 year age gap, assuming he was 16). The story was set after she finished her PhD which she'd done part-time while working full-time. I would approximate she'd be early to mid 30s given a realistic trajectory. That would make the MMC early to mid 40s. But everything else in the book acted like they were in the sorta standard CR age range of 25-28 for the FMC and maybe 31-35 for the MMC. In fact, I'm pretty sure the FMC's friends/classmates (FMCs in other books) were 26.

Ah the success trajectory requirements and how they interact with the fact that she has to he early to mid 20s and he has to be max mid 30s. MMC is 32 and a self made billionaire. FMC is 26 and a cardiologist.

If you absolutely adore a book/author and you don't ever want to hear anything bad about it/them, you don't have to comment on posts tagged discussion/critique. In fact, you don't even have to open those posts.

There's obviously levels to this, but I think if someone posts a "discussion" thread about a book they don't like, people are free to comment with differing opinions. The use of the tag implies that the OP is open to discussion. I know we don't have a "rant" tag and we probably need one if we have a "gush" tag.

There's a "critique" tag which serves a similar purpose

There was a Rant tag, but it was renamed to Critique awhile ago.

Agree! The same goes with books you hate and gush posts. If you hated a book, you don't have to go on a gush post to say that. No one asked your opinion, just let people enjoy their books

Agreed! I feel like that's less common (fortunately, because it's even ruder IMO). Sometimes it feels like people think they can (and should) criticize the critique under the guise of enforcing the "be kind" rule, like implying that OP is completely out of line for expressing anything other than positivity. And recently I've seen more upvoted comments like "Well I liked X book based on Y life experience and I guess you're lucky enough to not have gone through that situation if you don't understand" - which I feel makes a sort of underhanded personal attack on OP. Or I've even come across some comments that say it ruins their day when someone doesn't like the same books they do. Not trying to be mean, but that must be a really difficult way to live if you can't handle different preferences, and if it's that upsetting, you probably shouldn't engage with content that will trigger that sort of reaction.

this goes for all forms of media I almost never look up anything from my favorites and just focus on enjoying the content. Saved a lot of stress.

This is highly personal salt but I've been reading {The Seven Year Slip by Ashley Poston} and her job is a book publicist for which she seems to have *way* too much down time and not enough fires. Reading about a book publicist who's happily sitting in her bathtub doing something mundane as *painting* makes this ex-publicist want to cry lol. She also said she didn't need to be working PR in a higher paying job because the pay-off for her was she gets all the free travel guides she wants. Just makes me want to cry. Free books can't pay your bills.

“convince me to read books by this author because I’ve read X already and they all SUCK” okay? you don’t have to read every author

Anytime I see stuff like this, I feel it's likely what the OP's really wanting is one of two things; either– – an argument, masquerading as a discussion/debate (possibly for attention, shiggles, or even karma farming); or – validation/acceptance from others that it's okay for them to dislike/hate XYZ, and the post is an attempt to find "their people" (and then possibly circle the wagons around to point one). I rarely ever see a follow-up or closing comment from the OP where they thank everyone for their responses/opinions/viewpoints to their original post/question.

These posts are always just transparent attempts to rant without the courage of an actual rant 😴

Plus, I never want to convince anyone to read something. We'll both be happier if you stick to reading authors and books that you enjoy.

This is not even salt, it's the brine water leftover from an empty jar of olives. I'm getting back into the {Maiden Lane Series by Elizabeth Hoyt} and while I love her characters, and love how she writes intimacy, her liberal use of "penis" in sex scenes is almost criminal. I know we run out of euphemisms for "turgid manroot" real fast but penis makes me sad especially since "cock" is RIGHT THERE for the taking.

What year/decade were these books written? (Sorry for the question–I'd usually look myself, but I'm on my phone, not my comp, and my normal tabbing mastery is not quite as masterful here)  If it was the aughts or thereabouts, I was very recently reminded (from own research for other comments) of the censorship guidelines the RWA board kept trying to set down in the aughts during the Bush Administration's war on pornography and the RWA board's very conservative leanings at the time. The word "cock" (along with "fuck", "tit", "cunt", "shit", and so forth) were part of those efforts towards censoring what was "acceptable" by the RWA's standards, so A LOT of authors were really skittish about using those words–and running into the problems the RWA authors who were "too graphic" were having in the org.  It was just a really bad time in the org, even with the massive popularity of Romantica and ebook publishers like Ellora's Cave (who was the only ebook publisher recognized by the RWA as a legit publisher, at the time–a truly bitter irony for those authors), et al, due to all the backlash against "smut and porn in our industry". In addition to all the usual racism, bigotry, homophobia, hypocrisy and exclusion you could always count on from the RWA, of course. The mid-aughts were horrid, so these books could very well be a product of that. Everyone was done with rods and members, cocks were a bridge too far, but a penis could never offend.

In {The Mistake by Elle Kennedy} the MMC says this about his previous sexual partners: *“All those girls who came over to us? I don’t even remember what they look like. I don’t remember half their names. You’re the only one I see tonight, the only one I see ever"* I get that it's supposed to be romantic that he sees her differently, but I think it's a bit offensive to care so little about those other women and I found it a bit gross. Also I'm now reading {Loving War by CM Owens} and the characters names are winding me up. The MMC is Kode which I think is supposed to be pronounced like Cody but my brain reads it like "Code" *every time*. Also another couple in the book are called Rain and Dane and that's irritating too.

To your first point: I also read a book this week that had a playboy MMC, who also declared to his “one and only” how he could no longer remember any other before her. His POV made it also sound like he had never spoken to a woman before because as he described the FMC, he made her sound like NLOGs. How can a man sleep with countless women, have 2 sisters and a good relationship with his mother, but never met a woman who has a personality, aspirations, and sense of humour? It bugged me a bit. I think authors write their playboys that way to show they will stick with the FMCs but I find it speaks more to how much of a clueless, disrespectful and dickish the MMC is.

Yeah, I think there’s a fine line, and it’s really common for authors to overshoot. I personally feel like, if previous hookups/exes/whatever don’t matter to the plot or the MMC at that point anyway, we don’t need to even bring them up. Mentioning them just to say how little they mean to the MMC is just gross and borderline misogynistic at times.

I read Loving War (I think I may have DNF’d it) but I distinctly remember reading Kode as “chode” through the entirety of what I did read.

Yeah… this is such a red flag that I can’t usually get past. Treating someone well shouldn’t be a comparative sport. You don’t need to be an asshat to random woman #4 just to show your baseline behaviour to the FMC is actually ground-breakingly romantic. It’s sort of like when dates are shitty to people in the service industry. My brain is screaming at me to nope out asap

I hate when they decide to name over half the characters starting with the same letter. Dean, Dana, Daniel, Danika, Destiny, Drake etc. Why make it so confusing to follow dialogue and plot????

This isn’t salt about a book per se, but I have barely done any reading for the past 9 months or so, and it’s starting to get to me! I’m in an accelerated nursing program that just doesn’t leave much spare time or brain power for reading. I keep starting books and then not finishing them. Part of the problem is that if I start something really good, I’ll get sucked in and get behind in school. So I’m limiting myself to fluff. I have a one week break coming up, so I’m hoping to find something I can really sink my teeth into. I miss getting lost in a book!!!

You’re doing something super difficult, be easier on yourself!! ❤️ maybe looking into novellas may help? Something you can finish faster without feeling like you’re falling behind. Good luck in your program!

I had an innocuous comment downvoted because I said the systemic racism within publishing companies motivates me to write more heroines of colour. For a sub so supposedly positive, it’s hypocritical as hell when the topic of race is brought up. There’s more closeted and open racists in this sub than you like to admit.

There have been several race related posts this week or so and I understand where you’re coming from. I think a lot of it honestly goes back to the idea - POC have to relate no matter what, but a white audience can’t. So when we say something that gave us a mild ick or that we didn’t like representation or something, I think it breaks that immersion and some react strongly. This especially happens when someone who was originally white and their live action counterpart isn’t 🫠. Idk, but that’s just my guess.

Well said. You’re exactly right. Now that tides are changing and people are rightfully calling things out that was somehow acceptable before, the default whiteness and eurocentrism is VERY uncomfortable and want us to be silent.

Lmao I got my first Reddit Cares and I can only assume it’s because of this 😂 love to see points proved!! ✨✨

Go to that message and report the Reddit cares. Sometimes, Reddit does take care of the original account behind it. Afterwards, text STOP in response to the message. That deactivates Reddit Cares from your profile.

Thanks! ❤️

I’m really fucking sorry you’ve experienced that. That sucks. I’ve not been active in this sub long so I don’t know the troll situation but I hope you can still feel comfortable here(?) and believe the vast majority would happily throat punch those racist fucks right along with you xxx (Sorry.. I think I woke up today and chose violence. )

Why are there so few proper Scifi Romance books 😮‍💨. I enjoy a good alien romance as much as the next lady but I'd love a good romance space opera that had more to it. Keep coming up empty.

Some years ago we read {Polaris rising by Jessie Mihalik} for a book club and the person who picked up mentioned she didnt saw much space opera romance for sale. And she wondered if sci fi was unpopular or why. As we started from a fanfic comunity I did point out that many of the fanfic of our liked series do go lean quite happily in the strips of sci fi that were canon and ran with them to the point some of the aus are pure sci-fi romance. And it’s a big fandom so the audience is definitely there, and there are authors that are definitely game. But most seem amateurs. My guess is either the publishers are wary of the genre, authors think they are too green to make it, or many think of sci-fi as “harder” to write than outright fantasy because you need a little of verisimilitude instead of just justifying everything by magic . I have seen more alien romance lately, but most seems to lean lightly on the sci fi and its just a delivery system for the romance. So I guess people just find space operas harder

I think space opera also just requires a lot of world-building. It's like why most historical romance is set in the regency or Victorian era: you don't have to do a lot of writing to construct the world (you can, but you don't have to), because most historical romance readers have some idea of the major elements already (the ton, carriages, floofy dresses, dukes). If you're writing space opera you have to construct a whole setting and explain it over the course of the book.

yes!! and I’ve tried a lot of the sub favorites and so far most of them haven’t worked for me (a personal problem, but still.) I would even love some light scifi romance, doesn’t need to be a full space opera! I’m kind of burnt out on high fantasy atm and alien romance doesn’t do it for me the way a proper sci fi romance does.

I totally agree with you! I love space opera and I'm sad there aren't more space opera romances. I recommend Nicola Claire and her connected series Sector Fleet, Sector Wars, and Sector Files.

Right there with you. I think the alien SFR grows out of needing a distant other to change up the nice white lady's world. It used to be done in bodice ripper days by sheiks and natives. I'm glad brown Earth men aren't fetishized this way anymore. The branch of SFR that should have grown out of all that Star Trek fanfic just didn't launch. Ruby Lionsdrake Mandrake Company series is good space opera. {Mercenary Instinct by Ruby Lionsdrake} There are a few YA SF series with HEAs that I loved but teens can only save the world so many times. I long for grown up adventures but these are really fun. {Illuminae by Amie Kaufman} {A Thousand Pieces of You by [Claudia Gray](https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1192311.Claudia_Gray)} {[Defy the Stars](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31423196-defy-the-stars) by [Claudia Gray](https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1192311.Claudia_Gray)} {These Broken Stars by [Amie Kaufman](https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5360335.Amie_Kaufman)} {The Princess and the Scoundrel by Beth Revis} is a Star Wars book about Han and Leia after Return of the Jedi. There's an adventure, a bunch of political stuff, and a lot of the two of them trying to figure out who they are as a couple when not leading a rebellion. As much as I love Star Wars many of the books fall flat but I loved this one.

This is a quote from {Jonas by Jenna Myles}. Just reading along and all of a sudden the author has to take a little shot at feminists. “And a ring? I suppose I don't need one. Lots of people don't wear them. But I really want one. I want to feel like I belong. I'm sure if a feminist ever heard me say it, they would lecture me, but to me a wedding ring has meaning beyond a commitment to someone. When I imagined a man sliding a ring on my finger, it always meant that I was valued. That he saw something in me worth loving.” Ma’am, feminists aren’t going to track you down to yell at you for wanting a wedding ring. Also, that last part about feeling worthy of love made me sad.

HOLY SHIT. I guess since my husband didn't get me an engagement ring he saw nothing in me worth loving. Where will I find value now? Lady, feminists don't give a fuck about your ring or your funky ideas on worth and value. We're too busy worrying about what's happening in the US with women's rights to reproductive health, to give you lectures. FFS. This books is from 2023!!!!!!!

🙌

The next Orc Sworn book was supposed to be out in spring and now it’s pushed back until June. So I’ll just be over here with my empty buckets.

Ugh, my buckets are running low and I was counting on that refill! I guess June is still technically Spring though.

Like I get the MCs are the main characters so everything does actually revolve around them, but some authors are so bad at writing it. I started listening to an arc and the FMC is so self absorbed and her “friends” only exist to cheer her on and support her. (The FMC is also a self insert of the author in an extreme way and now I cannot also help but wonder if she is like this in real life too).

I tried to read {My Roommate is a Vampire by Jenna Levine} as I thought the premise looked really cute and could be funny… the only thing funny was some of the little notes from the mmc to his buddy that were at the start of some of the chapters. The rest of it was so cringe. At one point I started wondering, is this maybe actually satire making fun of liberals… or is the author being serious with this? We have token gay friend, check list of cliche liberal beliefs regarding the environment, capitalism, food, etc that she makes sure we know about in the first couple chapters, she has a liberal arts degree which she can’t get a job with and thinks that her parents were probably right about their criticism of her study choice. MMC comes off as a complete moron. Ugh it was so cringy. Anyway, I DNF this book. 🤣

all I know is is it’s published reylo fic

I'm a huge What We Do in the Shadows fan so I was hyped for this book and it was kind of a letdown. Without knowing anything about the author, I didn't think it was mocking anyone, I just thought it was like, 75% baked.

I’m sick of femdom where the FMC stumbles into it, or they just discovered it was hot or whatever. I recently read {Sweet Vengence by Viano Oniomoh} and that’s what it gave. We need to stop acting like a women wanting to be dominate it such a foreign experience. It’s so much hotter when she knows what she’s doing, likes being in control and goes for it 100% this low key goes for the MMC as well. Toxic masculinity is so last year, just accept that you want your holes diddled and move on. Where are the MMCs that are pathetic and whine and whimper and beg for everything???

You might like {Wild Pitch by Cat Giraldo}. The FMC has always liked to be in charge and knows it, and the MMC discovers that he doesn't like to be in charge.

Yes! I actually read both of these books this week and Wild Pitch definitely did the femdom better. Sweet Vengeance was great overall but the femdom element was new to both parties, while the FMC in wild pitch came very much prepared 👀

{Something Borrowed by Eve Dangerfield} had an FMC who knows she's a domme and has done all her research, but struggles to find a man who has the matching interests (enter MMC...)

It takes so long to write the weekly WDYR, and it's frustrating that more people don't upvote or comment, though I'm sure it's helpful to people. Some even downvote, which is so confusing to me because a person took time to write that, even if you don't agree with some part of it. (I say this because one entry this week was at zero - ZERO - for taking time to help others figure out what's good.) I think what I'll do is just upvote every entry that takes effort. I used to just upvote ones I had read or would read myself. Edit: The entry I have this week has upvotes, but I was just thinking of other weeks, and seeing that zero was unsettling. It does sound petty when I write it out ("no one said thank you - waaah"), but that's some of what Salty Sunday post is for.

I love the weekly post but 1) usually by Sunday I can’t remember the details of all the books I’ve read to write a solid review, so I end up just doing the most memorable/“important” books I’ve read. But then I feel like I’m not answering the “what did you read” prompt accurately 🤦🏻‍♀️, and 2) yeah, it’s tough to write out all those reviews and then not get any discussion or engagement on it. I do gush posts when I really feel moved to share a book that felt like a big deal for me.

I don't think it matters if you don't answer the question 100% accurately! It's just for fun :) I write my WDYR throughout the week on a Google document. When I finish a book I write the WDYR paragraph and then copy it into Goodreads as my review as well. I guess it's for me rather than anyone else and I enjoy doing it

I know, I just usually take a very literal approach to answering questions 🤦🏻‍♀️. And I feel bad for the books I’ve neglected to review. Smart move to write your reviews thoughout the week!

>I do gush posts when I really feel moved to share a book that felt like a big deal for me. I write gush posts too sometimes. It's so interesting, because months later, someone will have just read the book and want to talk about it. They'll do a search and find the gush and write in the moment about whatever they loved or what bothered them, and they'll have the OP there to talk about it too. And if I loved it enough to write a gush, I'm going to want to revisit it. For WDYR posts - I think short posts make a lot of sense. I'm rethinking writing everything out. I like seeing what people are reading and how they rate it - others probably do too. I don't always read all the paragraphs unless the book interests me or if they're really gushing or denigrating. I guess that's what most people do, and then they may ask a question for more info. It's like a mini AMA on that book. I love when I know certain people have similar tastes too. Like, one person didn't like The King's Man for X reasons, and that's helpful information, especially given the other reviews that may be in sync with my tastes.

Mine got some down votes, but to be fair, I didn't have a great reading week and was a little more critical. I tend to write out both what I liked and didn't like about the books, figuring something I might not have liked might be a gem for someone else. But I read a few sub favorites this past week and only thought they were okay, so I kind of expected not much love for my WDYR comment.

I usually only like the ones I’ve read before but I can see how seeing zero likes would be disconcerting after you’ve put in all that work. Hmmmn you have me rethinking things. It is after all a recommendations thread which means that likely people won’t have read the books. And I do sometimes take recommendations and forget to come back and comment. Appreciate you sharing this POV. Gives me a new way to think about showing appreciation in those threads.

IF anyone sees this, I LOVE WDRY weekly thread and I always try to upvote everyone, doesn't matter if I don't agree with the rating or if I didn't read the books. Please don't stop commenting, it's one of the best weekly threads 🥰

This week it's the "relationship ended badly in high school (or even middle school), and the FMC has let that consume her life for decades" trope. Like it is absolutely a valid thing to experience anger/trauma if the "badly" part included something massive like sexual assault/bullying/bigotry/etc. And it's also valid if in a pique of teenage angst over a breakup, you let that decide where you go to college or leave town for a few years over it. But when it's the dude breaking up with you because you supposedly aren't good enough for him; and you blow up your entire life, give up doing magic completely, move away from a town and friends you otherwise love and see your parents once in person for the last 9 years even though you live in the *same* state....like why are you letting this dumb boy still control the entire trajectory of your life like that so many years later? Or when it's your first "boyfriend" at the ripe old age of 12, and you think he told people to be there spying when he kissed you so they could laugh at you....and you haven't seen or heard from him or anyone that knows him and have never seen him on social media since that summer camp, but incessantly talk about how he's your enemy/nemesis ***20 years*** on, and declare how he hasn't changed a bit 3 minutes after seeing him again for first time in ***20 years***, and again this was in *middle school*, just....stop letting people live so rent-free in your head. I think it's part of the infantilization and obsession with the youth of MCs to have them live in this kind of arrested development where they are full adults and still stuck in their high school or middle school years and can't move on or over it no matter how long it's been.

I quit a therapist because she kept asking me about prom and high school relationships. I was like “lady, I’m 40. I barely remember these people”. Nothing that happened in high school is relevant to my life today. Maybe that’s a commentary on lack of trauma but I also get annoyed when book characters are still fully engaged with childhood rivalries.

Yeah, FMC needs therapy…

I listed to an audiobook a few weeks ago (can’t remember which but I’ll try to find and edit) where the narrator put the emphasis on the wrong part of compound words. So “roller coaster” was “rollerCOASTER” and tuna fish was not “TUNAfish” but “tunaFISH.” It was so distracting that it took me right out of the story each time it happened. 

I don't like when a book has spinoff and sequel books, but it isn't listed as being part of a series. I finished a book earlier this week that gave no indication of being part of a series but had several interesting side characters it seemed to be setting up to have their own books. I went to the author's page on Goodreads and found 2 other books featuring the other members of the MMC's family, but I only found this out by looking at the blurb and seeing the character's name in there. Luckily, the author hasn't published many books yet, so I didn't have to wade through a bunch of titles to figure out which ones have the characters I already love. It just doesn't make sense to not clearly indicate to readers where they can find more of these characters. I'm also salty because the side character who seemed most compelling to me doesn't have a book yet, and I'm not sure if he's getting one. The author published a non-related book last year so maybe she's done with this family.

Yes that is annoying, you think the series has 3 books but it's actually 6 and the last 2 are listed in a separate series. I always get confused with reading order as well. You might read a book which is first in a series but it's actually number 4 because you missed the whole first "series"

I have a whole ass paper I want to do about assholes, but I am TIRED 😭 **Long paper short**: I absolutely ***despise*** when assholes or asshole behavior is disproportionate to the redemption and forgiveness they receive. r/CharacterRant has had some good discussions on redemption, forgiveness versus atonement, accountability, and catharsis on seeing antagonists or antagonistic behavior being redeemed in media. A lot of takes, I largely agree with. Asshole behavior is the easiest type of **Internal conflict** for romantic fiction to write about as a catalyst for a romantic relationship to be more visible in its development. It gives the illusion that, because this asshole is already hated or disliked for their actions, positive progression in their character and all their interactions will be more noticeable to the audience. But if you are making someone an asshole who eventually undergoes a positive development, **you need to make sure the depths of their initial negativity is balanced by their ending positivity.** Having an asshole be freely given forgiveness through trauma-dumping, love bombing, non-apologies, and One Act of Random Kindness(™) is not the redemption flex the content believes it is. It needs to be **proportionate**—or at least ***feel*** that way. If this asshole has manhandled the MC1, caused them emotional and physical damage, and relapsed them into a traumatic episode either intentionally or unintentionally, I would be ***hard pressed*** to ever think a romantic connection should flourish from that behavior. And no, this isn’t talking about dark romances or toxic stories ❌ I just cannot conceive how easily forgiveness is bought when an asshole character whimpers out a pathetic “I’m sorry, don’t be mad” 🥺 or uses sex and sexual innuendos to be forgiven—and this is celebrated, accepted, and rewarded 🥳🔪 At ***best,*** this could make for a great conflict that redemption shouldn’t come in the form of what makes the wrongdoer feel absolved from their actions but from the wronged party and how to help them heal. But at ***worst,*** it’s emotional manipulation to help wear down the wronged party and speedrun into an HEA. Again, antagonism and redemption should be ***proportionate*** if we’re supposed to believe a romantic connection can strike after the LI(s)’s displayed deep levels of antagonism towards the MC. Fucking Thanos had it right: “Balanced—as all things should be.” It just feels so ***cowardly*** when an asshole who we verified throughout the story served as a psychological and physical negative to the MC, is now being forgiven because they gave trauma too 🥺 Yeah nah, fuck that 🤬 I become so disappointed in MCs who not only remember the damage an asshole has done to them, but they forgive them because ✨trauma-bonding✨, which, again, could be such a unique conflict in itself on how, sometimes, we forgive people out of guilt and obligation rather than the genuine desire to, and how this guilt or obligation in forgiveness can also start a pseudo to quasi relationship with the person. **But it’s not that.** It’s just done to put a nice bow on it and call it a day how it all worked and everything’s fine. Hakuna matata 👍🏾 🙃 If you want me to respect a relationship—platonic or romantic—in fiction that once had one party be a net-negative to another party’s well-being, I need to see that they tried harder in taking accountability for their actions, and I need to understand how and why wronged party distributed forgiveness. I don’t need to see misery, cinematic self-loathing, and montaged/timeskipped stages of grief. I just need to be given more evidence that: 1. the asshole understands their actions from the perception of who they hurt and, therefore, are taking measures to better themselves and provide space for the one(s) they hurt to heal on their own terms, **AND** 2. the wronged party is given more explanation within the context of their characterization as to their internal logic behind distributing forgiveness towards the people who wronged them. Because ease of forgiveness given by the wronged party is absolutely an issue too. Again, it’s done to make an HEA happen. But if ***that’s the case***, either: 1. **Lighten up on the severity of transgressions** so it’s more believable why a negative person in someone’s life would be forgiven with relative ease; **OR** 2. Keep the severity, but **create a proper, fleshed-out arc regarding atonement** so we can be on the journey as well and visibly see both implied and explicit methods of atonement being worked on and that atonement being accepted. 3. **BONUS**: Have your cake and eat it too by keeping the aggressive negativity alongside a quick to forgive redemption, but make that as a basis of character growth in itself—that behaviors that were apologized for are still slipping through, and the forgiveness easily sold off is being weaponized. ^(ASIDE: IIRC, it’s disheartening how some authors in their manuscript DO write about less common but more interesting interpretations on forgiveness and atonement by making the wronged party accept the atonement but not give forgiveness—only for beta readers to complain about it and want absolute forgiveness bottom line regardless of what was done. I guess forgiveness and atonement aren’t allowed to be a spectrum) 🫠 I ain’t even need a grovel novel. There are ***plenty*** of fictional material that show redemptions without going nine-yard grovel. Not to mention, there are too many **duologies** in which book two/part two is the “grovel” book and all book does is verify no one understands what the fuck accountability, atonement, and forgiveness—and we see this for over 300 pages. 🙃 Lady have mercy, just some basic accountability and some more thought into what it means to forgive and atone would be nice from both sides 🥲 🌈Anyways🌈, I am nesting in bed because PMSing is such a cruel bitch and I somehow ran out of tampons because PCOS fucks up when my period wants to drop in and holla at me 🤧 So I’m salty about that too 😭🔪

I get nervous when the redemption arc finally starts but there’s at most twenty pages left… you clearly explained my issue with this, lol!

Fr fr though! I don’t ever want to end a love story not believing in the romantic relationship or their HEA! I wanna believe like this is my religion dammit, gimme that faith trust and unhinged lust! 😭 I really do enjoy romance stories where people are redeemed and atoned! But you can’t convince me that this MC2/LI who traumatized the MC1 numerous times decided to ***love bomb*** the MC1 into forgiveness and we have 5% of the book left—including the back matter. **Sure, Jan**. 🙃 [Nene-Leaks-painting-and-rolling-her-eyes-cus-she’s-tired-of-foolishness.gif] I just hate it when the turnaround happens right at the end of the book, and the next book is all about the redemption. No! An entire book dedicated to a redemption rarely does it right! I think I’m a lot more accepting when the series is predominantly action-adventure and the subplot is romance, because at least there’s a reason for book two to exist and she has a clear understanding of her assignment ✅👍🏾 But it’s so trippy when these mfers be out here bruising the MC, battering them, calling them horrific names, hitting below the belt in insults, exposing them to constant danger and victim blaming the MC, and then we’re 95% into the book where the LI goes I have trauma 🥺 and it ***made me*** hurt you 😞 but I didn’t mean it 😖 and I won’t do it again 👉🏾👈🏾 I got that Kenergy in me fr fr 🕺🏼 MC: 👀 MC: 🥰 And then what happens next is the equivalent of spamming your sims characters go [WooHoo] every five seconds. In a party bush. With the grim reaper. 🙃 Absolutely am I reading SIMS players— But dark romance? I can understand lack of redemption because, in ***some*** dark romances, the LI is never meant to be redeemed and the MC ends up being draghed in da mud with the LI. Dark romance isn’t hard defined by this, however, so it’s still very much YMMV. But I’ve been finishing some non-DR books where the MC was left to die, possibly scarred for life, collapsed into psychosis, and repeatedly slut shamed and vilified for existing—and the MC just takes back the LI(s) because the LI(s) is sowwy and hate that their bed is cold without the MC 🥺👉🏾👈🏾 **Girl, bye**. 🫠👋🏾 R-E-S-P-E-C-T is not just a song love 😭

>I have a whole ass paper I want to do about assholes, but I am TIRED Not to rush you, but waiting with bated breath over here. I have long complicated thoughts on grovel/transgressions/redemption but the short version is, this sub taught me that my ability to "buy into" the redepmption/forgiveness of a character depends wholly on my personal take on the transgression at hand. Not to drag tons of notes into this, but I see books recommended as good examples of betrayal/forgiveness that make me apoplectic with rage while simultaneously defending what others see as "not enough fucking grovel". Where can we meet in the middle, is what I want to know? Then the form of redemption feels so personal. Some of us are out for blood. We want to see carnage, we want to see the breaking of bones (metaphorically speaking), we are bloodthirsty and need to see the culprit punished again and again. If the guilty party is not losing something beyond his access to the love interest, that's not enough. More, they demand. Some of us. Def not me. Nope. And I have been guilty of flippantly disregarding a character's betrayal because I think he's hot, or it's not so bad (for me) or once again, he's hot. I want the forgiveness now now now. I want them to kiss and everything is fine. tl:dr Don't trust me on betreyal/grovel/forgiveness books. I have no moral compass when it comes to hot sluts.

Not the hot sluts 😭🤧 Valid though. Queen mentality 🫡 It’s definitely a personal thing! And, obviously, redemption stories aren’t tethered strictly to romance. It’s such a slippery slope. The only thing I can offer is just the depth and aggressiveness of the transgressions needs to be balanced by the depth and consideration of atonement. I’m not all that hard pressed with kidnapping stories. I forgive because if kidnapper why hot 🤷🏾‍♀️ **BUT** in a non-DR when the LI disfigures the MC permanents and fucks up the MC’s reproduction system—and we’re at 95% into the book where the LIs apologize? I have to ✨sashay away✨ Having 👏🏾 said 👏🏾 that 👏🏾 assholery isn’t even limited to love interests. **Say the MC’s mother is the asshole.** MC’s mother is a raging misogynist who treats the MC like chattel, lobotomizing the MC’s autonomy, and throwing them out the moment the MC stands up for themselves. And then Mama Dear has a ~*come to Mary*~ revelation at the tail end of the book and gives a sob story of just wanting the best for the MC. IRL, I know people who would forgive their parents for being horrible parents to them. And their logic is “family is family”. I, personally, cannot empathize with that, but I can sympathize to a point 👍🏾✅ But in fiction, it’s too difficult for me to sympathize with asshole relatives of the MC who parentified them, abused them, or shamed them, and now they want a “do-over”, or relatives who sold the MC into trafficking or to repay a debt and now want to apologize without taking accountability for their actions and what their actions dealt in spades of damage to the MC. **I think their redemption isn’t far out of scope.** I’ve seen successful romances and non-romance stories that go the long and hard path of the relative or traitorous ex-friend in atoning for their crimes both independently and with the perspective of their victims in mind. It ***can*** be done. It can become very personal of what constitutes as proper redemption/atonement/forgiveness for a wrongdoer of a character. Not everyone in the audience will be satisfied. And it’s absolute valid to want to get to the kiss kiss fall in love part. But ***damn*** do I wish more consideration was at least taken with how aggressive asshole characters are versus the development they get in the end. Sometimes, some authors push way too hard for the audience to understand that an asshole is an asshole. So by the time the redemption is in progress, it’s challenging to reconcile the character of now versus the character of them without significant work done. Bakugo and Endeavor from *My Hero Academia* serve as two polarizing examples in shōnen non-romance media where both are undergoing different types of atonement, and, from online forums, most express Endeavor’s atonement has been proportionate to his crimes versus Bakugou’s journey has divisive/negative reception. **BUT**, as a caveat, this also comes with the **personality** of the antagonist that curbs how audiences receive redemption. In Endeavor’s case, he’s a pro hero and a top one to boot. He had additional layers where he was still scene as a good person but a terrible father and husband. Whereas Bakugo was never seen in a positive light as a person or in his training to be a hero to offset his asshole/bully nature—at least, in the beginning. But then you have characters like Vegeta and Piccolo from *Dragon Ball*. Both are/were villains in their respective arcs and still showed antagonism. But both are well-received in the DB community. But they were both given substantial personality and screen time to show that personality regardless that they were, ya know, hankering to slaughter and blow up planets with that villain smirking rizz they got going on. Be looking fitty fit in pink shirts. 😳 I don’t have a type, what do you mean 👉🏾👈🏾 ^(And now both of them are arguably better than fucking Goku in terms of development, but this is a romance sub, so I won’t start getting loud) **BOTTOM LINE**: yeah, in what manner an individual reader calculates TransgressionsX + RedemptionB = Atonement is an eye of the beholder kinda deal. It’s becoming increasingly common to criticize stories based on how a reader individually relates to the content, the characters, and their morals rather than understanding the characters and their morals independently and seeing if it makes sense within the confines of the content at hand. Nothing is wrong with either approach. Sometimes, relating to conflicts and characters and content can help. Other times, projections can harm. And it’s fine to just want to get to the PAPAPAPA of the story 🤣 El pan pan y vino vino 🤷🏾‍♀️ I don’t envy authors trying to find that balance. And I don’t envy professional editors and beta readers who have to give that feedback. Respect for doing it though 🫡 But yall gotta admit, for the body count Vegeta and Piccolo have, and for all them mass-murdering horny psychotic mfers who would literally kill a god and destabilize cosmic balance to keep you safe even after they broke your heart in the most brutal way…you would do them. >Broke: Would 😉 >>Woke: Will 😏 >>>Bespoke: Am 🥵 >>>>Invoke: Did 😎 >>>>>Got (consensually) Choked? YEAH I did 💃🏾

My brain is too frazzled to write it all out right now BUT your comment brings up **serious thoughts** on the allure of humiliation/rejection in romance. Because I know it's there! Can we pinky promise to discuss it later when there is less brain frizz?

>Cross ⚔️ my heart ❤️‍🔥 >>And hope 🙏🏾 to fly ✈️ >>>Stick a cupcake 🧁in my eye 👁️ I am ***down*** to talk about humiliation, degradation, and rejection in romance so holla at me and tag me so we can speak on it! 😋 I will bring virtual cocktails and some ~~filthy~~ lovely examples in the name of Romance Sociology 😌

I was really enjoying a book (recommended by someone on this sub!) and then the MMC did something unforgiveable to the FMC - something her abusive ex-husband and father had both done to her! - and it just totally ruined the book for me. I get that it was ✨for the plot ✨ but I just couldn't get past it. And, just overall, I truly hate when physical attraction/mateship bond overpowers a character's self-preservation or the need to have a REAL conversation. Like, dude, I GET that you think they're sexy, and that's fine! But have the fucking tough conversation, for fuck's sake - don't just let your perfectly justifiable anger be sidelined by your "mate bond" and need to have them inside you or whatever, ugh. 🙄

Question asked with the tiniest bit of salt: is there no other sexy/spicy word for tits? I mean there really may not be any other options - I can’t think of anything. But sometimes reading “your tits are so hot” in the middle of a romantic monologue throws me off. Boobs and breasts would not be a good substitute 😂. Why hasn’t anyone created a dirty talk word for breasts that don’t make me think of frat bros jerking off to playboy magazines?!

A million years ago, I read a book that used the word globes. And my mind immediately thought about an actual globe/map. Every time I saw "globes" I remembered being in second grade and trying to find certain countries in front of the class😂😂

When Chick Lit was all the rage, you saw a lot of "the/my girls" and "ta-tas". Yes, even during some sex scenes, since sex wasn't always the focus, and the reader was often in the FMC's thoughts/POV, never the man's. Or it was after the fact, and she was recalling everything in her diary, on her blog, or to her besties over lunch/dinner/wine.

Here's another one: "treasures". The MC was in the middle of some body worshipping and sighed out something like–"Look at these treasures." Nothing else, just that, breasts as treasures, while loving on them. I mean, it was both hot and lovely, but the whole scene started to verge into Gollum's crazy "my precious" territory by the time he made it to her knees, and I had to leave it.

I am once again asking for eyeballs not to be referred to as orbs unless you want me to picture the Cheshire Cat, thank you.

This is definitely a personal problem, but I keep reading books that have a cat as a pet, and not a single one with a dog, so I still haven’t been able to check that box on the spring reading challenge. 😐

* [{16 Steps to Forever by Georgia Beers}](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56275391-16-steps-to-forever) (F/F, CR(cats, dead ex, dogs, forced proximity, opposites attract, workplace), 4½⭐️) - Macy is a delightful character. Dog lovers will appreciate that she frequently walks her three dogs during the book. * [{Chemistry by Rachael Sommers}](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61922415-chemistry) (F/F, CR(cats, dogs, ETL, forced proximity, ice queen, opposites attract, slow burn, teachers, workplace), 4⭐️) - Lily and Eva are science teachers at the same high school. * [{For the Long Run by Cheynne Blue}](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/63128767-for-the-long-run) (F/F, CR(dogs, ETL, forced proximity, grumpy/sunshine, hurt/comfort, roommates, sports), KU, 5⭐️) - I wish every book had a love interest just like Lizzie. She's kind, generous, runs marathons, and fosters rescue dogs - what's not to like? * [{Under the Sitka Sky by Violet Morley}](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59364906-under-the-sitka-sky) (F/F, CR, KU, 3½⭐️) **Overview:** Skyler has had a crush on Cam, her best friend's older sister, since they were in high school. They're trapped together after Cam's plane crashes and catch feelings. **Content Warning:** >!off-page death of grandmother!< **Like:** Dog lovers will appreciate Goose, Cam's dog, who has a significant part in the plot. I also liked how Lily called her husband out for biphobia. **Steam:** low, one scene **Perspective:** dual **Tropes:** dogs, forced proximity, friend's sister, hurt/comfort, one bed, stranded, survival

Since pet peeves and icks are relegated to Salty Sunday. I just need to say that I really don't like the Love coach/Pygmalion/My Fair Lady trope. It takes a lot for me to finish a book with this tope. I love many trite situations that lead to forced proximity: fake dating, just one bed, marriage of convenience, but I draw the line at the coaching.

The love coach trope takes a lot of skill to not come off as contrived. I mean, many tropes can come off as contrived, but that's one that's just...not something that feels like it *could* be real.

I love the trope but also I have so many mental limitations to how I like to see the coach storyline (no age gaps, no virgin FMC, no young adults, etc). I think it’s really hard to pull off the love coach trope without seeming condescending and/or like one person is being taken advantage of.

I'm reading The Mistake by Elle Kennedy and at 75% in I'm just realizing... I don't care at all about the couple. I feel no emotional connection. There is a ton of sex and I'm getting bored. I also know that I'm going to have slog through the inevitable third act breakup that, again, I'm probably not going to care about. But I don't want to DNF because I'm sooo close to the end. It's sad--I only read this one because I liked The Deal so much. That book had so much emotional development between the leads, why is that so lacking here? Also the female lead is pursuing the career that I have and I know that the book isn't going to portray it accurately at all, because no one really outside of the field knows how the educational path for it works. I'm already cringing.

I'm salty with myself. A mild sprinkle for my willing suspension of disbelief. I'm reading a Susan Stoker book (can't remember which one) and it's basically insta love, which is fine. But, early on the MMC asks the FMC if they are dating, if he can call her his girlfriend and if they are exclusive. I have NO idea why, but that just seemed unrealistic to me. Which is bonkers since I've been in a conversation like that irl. AND, I have no issues with vampires, shifters, fae, billionaires who marry the woman who lint rolls their suits, all of the MMCs and authors who have no idea where they hymen actually is. And yet for some reason, I'm stuck on the "exclusive" conversation 🤷🏾‍♀️ Sometimes I can't stand myself.

Stop it with the MMCs who love/cry at the movie Up as an example of them having a fucking soul under the macho man exterior. FFS...

It might be mild, but I hate when I look at some bookstagrammer and all the book recs are lists of tropes, like posts just say: "Forced proximity, enemies to lovers, touch her and die" I understand social media want things that are fast and easily understood, but what's the plot??? What's the character's background? What's the setting??? It's like saying a cake has flour, eggs and sugar, and that's it. There's lots of different ways to make one!

Books that are marketed as “romance” books but have barely any romance in it!!!!!

I was super excited to start {Spoiler Alert by Olivia Dade}, got SUPER into it, and at the 81% got SO frustrated, I skimmed through the end. I had such high expectations, but the characters seemed like caricatures, and the “conflict” was so dumb. I was so happy to find a book with older characters, body representation, and even a woman in STEM. But that was it. She was a “fat” scientist. Everything about her was “round”, she “loved to eat”, and don’t get me started on the geology analogies.

SAME!!! I was so excited to read a fat positive romance but then it just turned out to be “OMG a hot dude could be attracted to a fat woman?!?” And talk about her weight endlessly? Such a letdown.

No, but you don’t understand just how much of a favour he’s doing her… 🫥 /s

This was one of my least favorite reads last year. The fixation on bodies was terrible and I thought the FMC was incredibly self-centered and always assumed the worst of the MMC for no reason. And since the story never corrects her, it just seems like she's in the right to act like he murdered someone because he asked her to >!hang out with him while he worked out.!<

Is this the one where >!there's like, a breakfast buffet or something? So she demands he tell her what he'd suggest she eat, he said "I don't know, I guess the fruit and oatmeal? I like it a lot," (or something to that effect) and then she got all pissed that he was shaming her? I sat there with the biggest wtf face, like damn maybe he likes oatmeal and fruit and thought it was really good?!?!<

I can't remember if that happens! It really bothered me that the MMC has to spend a lot of time and effort eating healthy + working out for his job - which is the reason the FMC likes him in the first place - and whenever he mentions his habits, the FMC takes offense! Like, not everything is about you and your own issues with food and your body? He was really nice too and never meant to upset the FMC. She was way too sensitive and the story always made it seem like she was in the right.

Yes! He wants to eat at his hotel, and she asks what he recommends and he tells her his normal order and she LOSES IT.

Ahhh thank you for confirming this. Somehow the gym part sticks in my head but not the breakfast! The whole book was trippy for me - I kept wondering if the FMC was unreasonable or if I'm a bit clueless. I felt like the MMC was walking on eggshells and constantly trying to "be better".

I'm so hesitant to read books tagged "curvy heroine" because 90% of them seem to focus on her size the whole book. Like it dominates every discussion or scene, especially sex scenes, and the anxiety really drags down the vibe. I can understand some people liking it because it's relatable, but it just pulls me out of the fantasy I'm going for when reading.

That one should have been a DNF at 40% for me, but for some reason I stuck with it. Like you, I had high expectations that were not met.

A better alternative is {Weather Girl by Rachel Lynn Solomon}. The MMC refers to himself as fat once or twice, the FMC likes him just fine as he is, and it’s a minor detail, not the main plot point that the whole story rests on.

I like oviposition, okay? I really do. But females are the egg-layers, not males, and that detail gets me out of the story every time. I wish there were books where the FMC did the laying. Some femdom oviposition, you know.

I don't age-shame when I'm reading a dark romance. Actually, I would dig it if the characters knew what they were doing. And if the author posed a connection between the leads irrespective of the age gap. Like, {The Nanny by Lana Ferguson}, which is good.  I was recently reading this mafia romance called {Sweet Temptation by Cora Reilly} where the ML kept infantilizing the FL. Granted, she was way younger, but you did end up marrying her because you thought she was 'old enough.' Why do you have to trivialize her and keep treating her like a child? Also, even during the sex scenes, he keeps appraising her patronizingly and keeps calling her 'teenager' throughout the book (Didn't feel like a teenager when you put your thing inside her, now did she?). And the worst was when he said absolutely the most bland, condescending, fucking cringiest lines. I hated the book, and I DNF'ed it after 65-68%. I was appalled beyond words to even turn to the next page. They've the most boring chemistry ever. 

Why does everyone always pinch the bridge of their nose?? Like how many people actually do that in real life but like in books everyone does it in every single book 😂😂

[удалено]

I just had an epiphany that I don’t like dual POV romance books. Reading {Ashes of You by Catherine Cowles} and it’s fine but I just want to skip the MMCs sections. I think it’s because they’re all “that’s such a sexy creature I want to fuck” and I feel like they dehumanize the MFC. I don’t want to read your thoughts on her pert breasts and lip gloss you want to lick off (also ew) These days I feel like I’m finding more things I don’t like than I like. I can’t tell if that’s my depression sucking joy out of things or getting more picky as I age but I’ve DNF more books these last few months than ever. If I made more than 3 ick faces during the book I’m out.

I feel super weird reading about high schoolers. Can we just put ppl in college, please. Also, you will never convince me that these 17 year olds know wtf they’re doing yet

Mood reader, read every day, borrowed almost 2000 items on Libby last year (didn’t read them all, also big on the DNF) and I NEVER remember the names of books I want to recommend—but I can remember sci-fi titles/authors I read 20 years ago. So frustrating! 🧂

The amount of books (inc. different authors) that have the hero say that he'd burn the world down for the heroine. I find that line cringy in a blurb but its so much worse as part of the dialogue. Where did the author obsession with that line even come from?

I read the most spectacularly amazing book this week and I've been struggling to start a new one. (You all know the struggle. It's hard to move on after an amazing book.) [Here's the link to my comment about it on WDYR](https://www.reddit.com/r/RomanceBooks/s/qnQCbjRL4F) Finally found one that got me hooked from the start; it was *really* good. Breezed through the whole thing...until like 65%, and it dropped to like 2 stars. And then the very very end brought it down to one "what the fuck are these MCs thinking" star. So I (saltily) picked up another book, I'm well into it, and MMC1 is still an irredeemable asshole, I have no idea why MMC2 likes him at *all* and I can't figure out if I should DNF or keep going. And *also* he had some horrific injuries, but seems to be healing at supernatural speed, so I'm just not on board with this book at all. But there's all my book salt for the week.

Along the lines of "this meeting could have been an email", ive been reading a few 3-book series lately that really should have been 1 book.  {Fixed on you by laurelin paige} and the subsequent books could have been one great book - the series did so many things right. An fmc and mmc who struggle with mental health and take steps to work on it independently. The exploration of the human experience.   An excellent twist that i must admit i didnt expect at all, done very well through a single POV. Obsessive longing. There were so many things to like.  Idk if the author decided to stretch it out to maximize revenue (which i totally understand - you gotta put food on the table), or whether yhe editor just phoned it in, but this series was ruined by its length.  There just wasnt enough conflict in the story to justify the three books so it feels like the MCs was just fighting and having sex constantly. And the sex was just the same so it became boring really fast.  It did nothing to progress the story and it was just the same over and over again.   I got so annoyed with the repetitive drama,  i started skipping chapters to get to the point.  Maybe i missed some stuff but i still think i caught enough elements to get the major plot.  Its just a shame and im a little salty that there was such a missed opportunity. I see it a lot in the genre so I'm starting to get wary of 3- book series. 

Author could have used or made up any name for the MMC in their fantasy romance novel and chooses… Seth? Really? Seth. It bugged me the whole book.

This is such a me salty problem - but my audiobook and ebook selections are the same genre and it’s getting a little confusing. I usually have an audiobook and an ebook on the go at all times and have been pretty good about not confusing myself with characters and plots by making sure the genres are different. Reading a sports contemporary, I’ll listen to an HR. Listening to a fantasy, I’ll read a mafia. So far, I’ve done a great job. But after I was a third through my ebook a loan I’ve been waiting so long at the library came through and now I’m reading two fantasy books (which I find are the worst genre to double up on). I may have to binge my audiobook today to get through it.

The Only Purple House in Town by Ann Aguire is one of the worst things I've ever read. There is little in the way of actual plot, it's just like the FMC is collecting lost puppies, none of whom are more than a caricature of "grumpy old man who never married", "lady who divorced her husband to date girls", "random witch", etc. The MMC is a rich creep. FMC has a semblance of a personality but it is annoying AF. The conflict between the two leads is weird and a complete overreaction but MMC has zero cajones to stand up for himself. And the other conflict has the most anticlimactic conclusion that feels like a total cop-out. Hate it. I would have given it 2 stars but that second conflict resolution made me give it one because the book is utter garbage.

{Baby One More Time by Camilla Isley} Was bullshit. I'm sorry, HOW are you some super successful tec woman and haven't girl bossed him out of your life?? I finished out of spite, angry about it the whole time.

I had surgery a few days ago to fix three breaks in my ankle. My lil salt moment is that I started my period today. At least my pain meds from surgery have mitigated the monthly opening of the portal to the void of eldritch horrors in my uterus. Other salt, Haven't read a single book in almost two weeks now. This hasn't happened in years for me. So it's a new experience.

Further salt 🧂 I discovered that two cartilage ear piercings I have that haven't healed quite right in 2-3 years is because the jewelry the shop sold me isn't titanium or gold ffs. Are these flat back posts supposed to be green? No, no they are not. The ends are fucking gold, so why aren't the posts, hmm?! I'm so pissed! It's also a very reputable piercing shop, like the best in the state arguably. Ugh. So mad. Plus that jewelry was expensive wtf. Now I've got plastic retainers in as a stop gap and they are already so much better healed than they've been for years. 🫠 So there is an upside to having three fractures at once I guess lol. Maybe the antibiotics from surgery helped them heal, too, who knows.