Stop Playing With Romance Readers

These are not recommendations, they aren’t opinions. This is a convention. A tried, true, and CORRECT way of doing things. I know in the writing community we say “break the rules”! But we’re talking about adding more adverbs and gerunds, not BREAKING GENRE VOWS.

A vow is the finding out who the killer is in a whodunit. It’s seeing the creature in a creature feature horror. It’s the hockey player in a hockey romance. It’s an action-adventure WITH action and adventure. The romance vow is a promised and EXPECTED HAPPILY EVER AFTER OR HAPPY FOR NOW. This is non-negotiable. But play with romance readers if you want to. Travel on down the edgelord path and see where it takes you. Good luck, honey. You gon’ need it.

Zombie Bake-Off By Stephen Grahm Jones

Per usual, SGJ delivers gorey vibes, fun, and cringe-worthy scenes! This being my third title by him in under a month, I have something to say about his style. I don’t hate it, in fact, I think it’s great. But! Don’t jump me! I think his horror is kinda cozy. It feels like it’s cozy, dark, fiction instead of straight horror. Granted, I have a lot more to read by SGJ so my opinion might change. For now, yes, it’s cozy and dark.

Now, onto the book! Let me be clear, Movie zombies scare the shit outta me. The idea of zombies is terrifying and I used to love Resident Evil, Doom, and Zombieland. One nightmare changed that for me. Anyway, this is my first zombie novel in fifteen years and I loved it! I think zombie fiction might bring me back to this world. I don’t know, we’ll see.

SGJ is heavy-handed with them icky vibes. I mean the description of brain-eating is ON POINT.

SPOOOOILERS AHEAD!

I enjoyed the characters and their journey. I knew Johnny T. had to go, and after Kent’s confession, I was hoping for him to have his head lopped off.

I wasn’t happy about Tiny Giant! I didn’t want him to turn or die. I screamed, “Nooooo you poor thing! I hate this so much!” But this isn’t a fuzzy found family romance so I was SOL. I wanted a kiss between Xombie and Terry! Again, as someone who reads romance pretty heavily, I needed it! (a me problem) But, I love the pinch of cute we got from them.

That is my one complaint. Other than SGJ breaking my heart with Tiny Ginat, I have NO NOTES! 4.5!

My Favorite August Reads

I made it, I’m here y’all! Six days late but here we are. I’m still getting the hang of this blog thing. Anyway! August was DARK! I read a ton of horror that involved darker themes such as murder, death, and trauma. An honorable mention is Briardark, but it didn’t quite make it on the list. Now, before I crown my number one pick let me tell you to read all content warnings. If you’d love to read Library At Mount Char but have triggers i will give you a heads-up. Intense acts of violence, violence against kids, murder, gore, blood, death, assault, SA (caught me off guard)

i don’t have triggers and don’t read them, so I just grimaced and turned the page. LAMC is a horror book. I know some will say it’s dark sci-fi fantasy but there are horrific moments )in my opinion) that catapult this into the horror genre. It’s by no means extreme horror but it toed the boundary.

Midnight Rooms is another you must understand from the beginning, it is gothic horror darning on the jagged rim of Dark Romance. Which remember, is seldom healthy. If you don’t read said sub-genre great, move along. The other two are light romance reads I thoroughly enjoyed. No complaints. There might be one or two acts of violence in each book but nothing heavy.

I adored these books for my emotional response. Each novel pulled a visceral reaction from me and that’s what I call good storytelling. It’s my type of glorious word weaving. I will say the ending in LAMC left a sour taste on my tongue, and maybe that’s what the author wanted, I have no idea. I wanted blood-stained justice and didn’t get it. BUT! My expectations are a me problem, not an author problem.

With the talking bits done, I wanna give that five outta five, number one spot to Midnight Rooms. I have to! I was smelling mold and drinking down honey thick tea. it was a terrific dive into a surreal fantasy world with many secrets and some were left shrouded in mystery. Whatever this author writes i will buy!

Silver in the Wood

This book wrapped me up in a warm hug and fed me snacks. I found Silver in the Wood to be a comforting read. I loved it. I adored it. Will rec often. Keep in mind, if you want spice, steam, and heat, you will get nothing. That’s not what this sweet-pea romance is about. I’m someone who💗LOVES💗 spice, smut, and erotica, but I don’t NEED it.

Steam is not a requirement for me. Character development and story matter here. If a romance is closed door or light with glimpses and kisses, fine, but the story had better come together.

Silver in the wood did just that.

There was life in this book and much of it. I thoroughly enjoyed the lore and world-building. I’m sooooooo excited to read the next book. It’s on hold at the moment so I’m counting the days!