Ofelia Torres, the teenage Chicago Public Schools student whose fight against cancer while her father was detained by ICE came to represent the federal government's overreach during Operation Midway Blitz, has died. Brave young woman. I will never forget her. RIP.

I just had the Saturday night call with the parental unit and spoke fluent Bengali for 95 percent of it. Maybe because my brain is tired and my defenses are down? I wasn’t second-guessing the vocab. Or using English to maintain distance like usual. My accent was perfect. 🔥

I was hoping to get some writing done today since I had a good writing day yesterday, but Maneka and Rukh’s voices got drowned out by other noise.

There’s an hour-long “ear break” in the nearby punk festival so I’m eating dinner. Pasta with serviceable homemade arugula pesto. Let’s hope I can keep it down once the music and my headache dial back up.

It’s nice for a punk show to donate to mutual aid, but could they mutually aid the un-warned people in the residential neighborhood by not being so goddamn loud? Aren’t you supposed to be underground? Go be underground.

There's a band outside somewhere playing screaming heavy metal. They've been at it for at least an hour. My head is killing me. I actually put on shoes and stomped outside, ready to shake my fist at someone with a car radio like a crabby old lady. And a creepy dude almost followed me back in. 😭

In honor of Romance Day, we put together a special list of sixteen books that swept us off our feet.

Roses are red While I mean no offense

I'm a little late to #RomComBracket and will likely drift in and out, but my strategy is as it ever was: I'm rooting for all the movies starring POC that white audiences tend to overlook. 😂

Entergalactic is animated and it's so good! There's smooches and sexytimes. A grown-up romance cartoon! I think it's still on Netflix. #RomComBracket

Wedding Season is a classic tropey rom-com like the ones from the '90s and early 2000s that we all miss—with two desi leads! And I am so glad it is currently winning. #RomComBracket

I’m fairly certain Nice Indian Boy is going to lose, but it’s on Hulu and you should watch it. Immigrant kid angst that made me cry + Jonathan Groff as a temple-attending Bollywood fan. 🥹 #RomComBracket

Times Suleikha shouldn’t use sharp objects: -while stoned -while drunk -while half awake -while sugared up -ever, really

I’m so sugared up after a slice of dense and rich bourbon maple fudge pie. Plus a pint of black pilsner. 🤣 The toddler crash is imminent.

Give the gift of more romance nonsense this Valentine's Day! After Dark subscriptions are 10% off with code VDAY26 https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/2026/02/you-can-gift-a-smart-bitches-after-dark-membership/

I have officially reached the “hoodie and fleece vest when it’s 35 degrees out” level of Chicagoan and I’m so proud.

Someone on Threads said DoorDash reminded them of the Indian TV station Doordarshan*, and now I keep hearing it that way in my head and giggling. Also, "door" means "far/distance" so it fits with a delivery app. *the top of the Wikipedia entry even says "Not to be confused with DoorDash." lol!

Sometimes it cracks me up that I’m a romance writer who has no use for Valentine’s Day. It’s a Saturday. I’m meeting a friend for a winter market and brunch. Other people in love? Great! Me in love? I’m almost 50, tired, and just trying to live.

The talk to your friends app and the witness the horrors app being the same app is not great for the mental health is it

Xena: Warrior Princess and LOTR are embedded so deep in my cultural memory that I looked at the setting of Predator: Badlands and went "Is that New Zealand?" I was 100 percent correct. lol.

Me at 20: I’ll have it all figured out by the time I’m 40. Me at 40: wtf do you mean they rearranged the grocery store

It must be incredibly challenging for a Predator to give head. But I believe in them. If they can kill a Xenomorph, they can get you off.

I'm going to spent Valentine's eve as God intended. Watching Predator: Badlands in my pajamas.

I've written 1300 words. I have no idea where it's going or what to call it. It might not amount to anything. But I wrote!

I will always be singing "Gavin Newsom is a piece of shit" to the tune of "Gavin Newsom is a piece of shit."

What the fuck is wrong with this guy. I was just writing about this Reagan today and referenced the time he laughed it up with Richard Nixon in 1971, calling a UN delegation from Tanzania monkeys and laughing that they weren't wearing shoes. I am not voting for this guy so find a better candidate

This week's #FridayFling is another one from Frostburn, my new-ish MMF romantasy novella. For the prompt word "question." #romancelandia #BookSky Buy links: books2read.com/u/47aYWq

Oh no. Am I about to put this brand-new character in a lungi? You're damn right I am.

Did a half-hour stroll around the neighborhood since it’s gorgeous out. Periodically stopping to write in my Notes app. Did *not* pop into any watering holes for a beverage.

Turns out Maneka from Frostburn is really annoyed about being stuck in a political quagmire while her bestie is off banging two dudes on a boat. And, oh, she has an ex-boyfriend from back home. This is all new information I am unearthing today. lol

I took a 5HTP capsule before bed last night. It's probably pure coincidence that I woke up with enough pep to shower, do two loads of laundry, cook lunch, and write 400 words. 😂

This sounds fantastic, but I'm going to be sad for a minute that the review indicates there is absolutely no possibility of Halle Berry and Chris Hemsworth making out. *cries in bisexual film enthusiast*

I'm all for pardons and second chances. But it's a hell of a juxtaposition to pardon millionaire NFL players convicted of drug distribution while you're summarily executing impoverished fishermen making a few hundred bucks to shuttle drugs around the Caribbean.

This week's #FridayFling is another one from Frostburn, my new-ish MMF romantasy novella. For the prompt word "question." #romancelandia #BookSky Buy links: books2read.com/u/47aYWq

Every Friday, share a #FridayFling snippet from your WIP or published work. :) This week’s prompt is QUESTION! You don’t have to match it exactly, just go with vibes. And if it’s published, drop those links in a reply to your main post so people can find it! #Romancelandia #BookSky

Greatly enjoyed @suleikhasnyder.bsky.social's "Tikka Chance On Me". M/F romance, but a lot of that queer gaze in how communication is handled, how conflicts resolve, and how much care is shown. www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/...

Infuriating to watch black and trans people warn folks about Newsom--JUST LIKE THEY WARNED FOLKS ABOUT TRUMP--and see everyone respond with "But he's a Democrat."

It did not arrive in the early afternoon drop. Which means it’s the evening drop. I cannot obsess for the next five hours. But I probably will obsess for the next five hours.

Comedian Gary Owen, I think? I vaguely remember that somebody in a 1970s rock band was also an alum, but I cannot, for the life of me, remember who it was.

If you live in Seattle, 140 years ago to the month in Feb 1886, a mob started forcibly rounding up and violently deporting Chinese migrants. This is immediately after a similar mob did the same in Tacoma a few month before. Remind you of anything? www.historylink.org/File/2745

Much like the theory that infinite monkeys at infinite typewriters will write Shakespeare, a large enough concentration of evangelical American Protestants will produce Magdalene laundries

I reordered the book that got stolen by package thieves on Saturday. Now I'm aggressively refreshing my email so I don't miss the delivery notification.

Did you know you can cut your lip on a sandwich? That was a fun discovery to make mid-bite. 😂 Trader Joe's sourdough...? More like Traitor Joe's. I trusted you to be safely crispy!

The three titles I pubbed to Bookshop are live. Do people actually buy ebooks through Bookshop and use their proprietary app? I guess we'll find out! #romancelandia Tikka Chance on Me: books2read.com/u/mKKrNv Frostburn: books2read.com/u/47aYWq Nobody's Bargain: books2read.com/u/bxD0no

"Billie's orgasm tore through her like a lightning bolt." The first sentence of Beverly Jenkins's 2013 romance Destiny's Surrender—and a classic. I've written people having sex in the first chapter. I can't remember the last time I read a romance with the below template.

People have shit-talked romance and the skill it takes to write it since the inception of the genre. Calling the HEA predictable, etc. But you can know an HEA is coming and still bawl your eyes out because it feels like it won’t. A talented author built that tension, mined those emotions.

Not me crying at 9AM during the Dark Moment in A Chance at Love. 😭💔 I know @authormsbev.bsky.social will make it better in a chapter or two but this hurts! Oof!

Dear loved ones, Help us – my child’s condition is life-threatening and urgently needs treatment outside the Gaza Strip. Without urgent medical attention, my son may not survive. Please show mercy and help us survive. 🙏 Please donate if you can and share his story. chuffed.org/project/168482

Just saw a list of books that give "swoon worthy Valentine's Vibes." How many times must we point out that Anna Karenina, about a woman who throws herself in front of a train because of a fuck boy - is NOT a romance. Article adds disclaimer about the methodology. *sigh*

I am halfway through my ARC of this and I am pleased to report that IT'S FUCKING DELICIOUS. you should pre-order!! you should also come see me ask TJ some questions about it at Lovestruck Books in Cambridge on March 11