The Gay-For-You debate

Hey everyone,

I don’t normally got involved in the wider debates that happen within the romance community. Partly because I hate conflict, but also because someone has usually said what I feel already, but in a way more articulate why than I myself could manage. However, the recent debate about the GFY (Gay-For-You) trope and its role within the M/M romance book world is close to my heart.

I love M/M romances, or any romance with an LGBT+ plus main character. I love that the rise in popularity with M/M romances has led to more diverse LGBT+ romance books across the sub-genres. Yet the rise in popularity has led many people to question the role of M/M romances in a primarily female-led genre. That isn’t to diminish the present of the wonderful male readers, publishers, writers and reviewers in our community, but it is a fact that the romance community is largely female. I myself am all for more men in the romance community as discussed in this post. But questions are rightly being asked. Questions like ‘'do M/M romance books written by straight women for straight women actually damage the LGBT+ community?’.

All the books I need to read!

Hey everyone,

It would probably be fair to say that the following blog post is fairly self-indulgent, and could therefore be of no interest to anyone else in the world. It is quite simply a list of all the books I own but still to read, commonly referred to as a To-Be-Read pile or TBR for short. As some of you may know from having read previous posts on this blog I have banned myself from buying a new book until my TBR pile is destroyed. That means I haven’t brought a book  since the 15th April 2015, almost a month and half!

For that reason alone I’m fairly proud of myself and just think of all the money I’ve saved to spend on future books! Now that I am below fifty books on my TBR pile I thought it would be a good idea to create a list, mainly so that future me can look back with a sense of pride and achievement at reading all those books... Without indulging in new ones.

Also to make this list more interesting you we’re gonna split it into seven categories, starting with... Drumroll please...

Harry Potter Fan Fiction

Hey everyone,

Today I want to talk about Fan Fiction, more specifically Harry Potter Fan Fiction. I’ve been reading Fan Fiction for roughly three years now and in that time I realised that finding a well written, grammatically correct, complete and engaging Fan Fiction is HARD. Seriously sometimes it is like finding a needle in a hay-stack, but when you do find a good one, it can be incredible. Below are some of my personal favourite Fan Fictions set in the Harry Potter Universe, most of which are Next Generation, AU or Post Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. They all have a strong romance plot and often, but not always contain adult situations (for example sex, drugs, alcohol etc)

Also to clarify I have not written any of these, I don’t know any of the authors and this post is all based around my own personal opinions and I have only included completed Fan Fictions.

This incredible image doesn’t belong to me I found it here: Fanpop

Narcissa & Lucius:

Clearly a more controversial pairing to write fluffy romantic fiction about.

Where I’ve Been

Hey everyone,

So you might have be wondering where I’ve been for the last two weeks. Of course you might not, but I’m going to assume you where for the sake of my own self-worth! The truth is a multitude of things but fundamentally life got in the way, I had to focus on my job, family matters and all this accumulated in a reading slump.

Twenty Things I Learnt from Fangirl

Hey everyone,

Over the Easter Weekend I read Fangirl and fell completely in love with it and the characters! I knew straight away I wanted to do a post about it but as this book has been reviewed and obsessed over to high heaven I decided to do something a little different. Instead of reviewing the book I’ve created a list of twenty things I learnt from reading Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell, some are serious, some are humorous and others are just a bit random. Enjoy!

• Its okay to not have all your sh*t figured out.
• I really, really like character driven novels.

Romance Reading Stereotypes

Hey everyone,

The romance genre and the people who read it are a misunderstood bunch. We’re maligned by the press, public and publishing houses alike, despite being an industry worth $1.4 billion. Therefore I thought I’d share some of the questions I’ve received over my favourite genre.

People: Aren’t romance books just all about sex?

Me: No, unless you’re reading erotica.

People: Romance, like Fifty Shades of Grey?

Me: Did I say I was reading badly written, mis-informed BDSM erotic romance?

People: Isn’t that just all Mills and Boon, you know the charity shop books?

Let's talk about re-writes

Hey everyone,

So this week I was all set to review a paranormal M/M romance novel, however, at the start the author acknowledged it was a re-vised and re-written version of a previously published novel. This simple statement got me thinking about re-writes or revisions or whatever people want to call them. Do we like them? Do we think they're just a publishing scam to make more money? Do we think the author is just trying to improved a book for his/her readers?

I don't have the answers but I'd thought it'd be interesting to start a dicussion about authors and publishers re-vising, re-writing and then re-publishing old novels.

Like most arguments there are always mulitple sides to the same coin, and like most arguments there is no clear cut right and wrong answer, what I hope to achieve with this post is other all sides of the arguments and perhaps (although unlikely) start a discussion on this topic.

Romance Covers and What They Mean

Hey everyone,

Whether you've been reading romance books for decades or have just discovered the genre, one thing all of us have in common is that we will have looked a romance cover. Perhaps that cover, or covers, may have convinced you to pick up the book in the first place. I know the first romance book I read was partly chosen because of the pretty cover. Today I want to take an indepth look at what a romance cover can tell us and the key identifiers you should look out for when trying to find you're favourite sub-genre within the romance world.

Most, if not all, of what I'm about to say is purely based on observation and therefore it could all be fairly obvious, however, I thought it be interesting to discuss the differences between the sub-genres of romance covers. Partly because despite what people think they are not all the same.

Contemporary Romance

Contemporary is a huge category and in many ways is a bit of a catch-all as it can incorporate mutliple sub-genres under one roof. Due to this I would argue that there are different styles within the Contemporary Romance Covers umbrella.

Perhaps the most obvious to identify from their covers are small-town romances. Often it'll feature a smiling couple who are probably hugging or embracing or just about to kiss, and the background will most likely be some rural setting. Perhaps a mountain and blue skies in the distance, or a deck with a lake/sea/river in the background. I've also noticed that pastel colours, particularly pink is extremely popular for small-town romances. If you like this genre look for nature, a happy couple and pink.

Bookshops: Canada vs Britain!

Hello everyone,

So i'm currently on a five month trip around Canada and America. So after spending a week in Toronto without visiting a single bookstore, on my first full day in Ottawa I stumbled into something amazing... The Canadian bookstore (Chapter's on Rideau Street to be specific). Now I'll be honest I mainly wandered in due to the cold rather than any real need to buy books, of course being a self-confessed bookoholic I always want them but rarely need them.

Also just for complete disclosure that picture isn't mine and is actually of the Chapters in Dublin not Ottawa but it was the best I could do. Anyway back to the main reason I'm writing this post despite planning on writing a completely different one today. When I went into this bookstore I was expecting it too be fairly similar to a large Waterstones back home. A large selection of general fiction, a whole floor for non-fiction in varying sub-genres, a children's section etc etc. If I was lucky this store might even have a reasonable sized romance section. Potentially even a whole shelf. I was not prepared for what I saw once I went up the stairs.

Gender and the Romance Community

Hey everyone,

Since starting this blog I have become more aware, shall we say, of the trends and pattern in romance books. Why I have no idea because honestly I'm not reading anymore than usual! Perhaps I'm just more aware/involved with the romance community as a whole? Your guess is as good as mine. Anyway I transgress as what I really want to talk to you about to day is the increasingly male present in our traditionally female dominated community.

For decades the Romance genre has been classified as the 'female' genre. When the genre first started to gain popularity in the 1980s and 1990s it was seen as the trashy and intellectually lacking book genre that was only for women. It was the books nobody admitted to reading. The books you hid from prying neighbours. If we're being honest with ourselves a lot of people are still dismissive of the romance community today.

I myself have been known to highlight the less romantic parts of the book I'm reading in favour of the sub-plot. For example when asked by my mum what book I was reading on holiday (A Gentleman's Madness) I described it as a book that showed the distreatment of gay men in the Victorian period. Conveniently missing out the love story between one of the patients at the mental asslyum and his ward attendant. I know my own brother refuses to read my blog because he doesn't want hear about 'heaving chests' and men in kilts (I may have left a scottish romance book with a bare-chested man in his room by accident when he was ten and apparently the incident scarred him for life).

Romance, Chick Lit & Saga!

Hey everyone,

So I have something slightly different for you all this week, rather than a book review I’ve decided to do a expose style thing on the differences between Romance, Chick Lit & Sagas. 

Now as some of you may know, I don’t really like Chick Lit despite having read quite a lot of in my teenage years, and I have never read a Saga in my life! So to help me with this post I’ve invited two of my closest friends in the world to help. Like any good romance blogger I convinced these two to try the romance genre and since then they have found their own sub-genres to enjoy. So without further ado I’ll let them introduce themselves.

Hi there! So I’m Rachel, I met Lucy at university and as an avid reader myself, we soon became firm friends. I had never intentionally picked up a romance book before meeting Lucy, but I increasingly do so now although I tend lean towards historical Sagas.

Hey, I’m Catherine, like Rachel I met Lucy at university, and as expected with these two enjoy reading. I rarely pick a Romance for the romance, but instead the sub category, with paranormal and regency being my favourites. I have to say that Lucy has opened my eyes to the romance genre, though I still adore my non-romances.

So now everyone is introduced I think it’s time to get on with the topic in hand. Now when I first started exploring the romance genre I would often accidentally pick up a Chick Lit or a Saga thinking it would be a Romance. I know some people will happily switch between Romance, Chick Lit and Saga without any problem, but for me their has always been distinct differences.

Romance: