"Romance novels aren’t meant to explore a utopia — they’re a fantasy of succeeding in a world with the same challenges, power imbalances, and constraints as the one we live in." #romancelandia shelflovepodcast.substack.com/p/i-want-you...

Why is being desired by someone with power the ultimate fantasy? In today’s Shelf Love post I unpack how desire + power shape our stories, and why we don't fantasize about utopia. #romancelandia Read now open.substack.com/pub/shelflov...

What you have to understand about Kristen Ashley is she will write Daenerys/Khal Drogo GoT fanfic, she will create a new language, and she will also describe in great detail the fabulous outfit, makeup, and hairstyle the heroine wears to an execution. #romancelandia

Dear Holiday Fairies and @shelflove.bsky.social, Tiny loves the present y'all sent!

Sprinkle the fairy dust, babes! It’s #Romancelandia Holiday Fairies season! 🧚‍♀️🎁 Share the link, grant a wish, or just hype up the magic. RHF is a mutual aid effort for the romance reader community to support anyone who needs help with gifts this season. Join us: bit.ly/holidayfairies

thank you to the @shelflove.bsky.social holiday fairies!

Meet the Fairies behind #Romancelandia Holiday Fairies, a gifting initiative for our Romance loving community! 🧚‍♀️✨ Andrea & Gretchen are here to sprinkle some fairy dust on your festive season along with all of you! 📚🎁 Learn more and get involved: shelflovepodcast.com/holiday-fair...

Did you hear?? ✨ #Romancelandia Holiday Fairies is a simple, community-driven initiative, back for its 6th year: → Friends in need share a wishlist → Fairies swoop in to buy what they can Every gift matters. All the info & wishlists can be found at bit.ly/holidayfairies

It would be amazing if #Romancelandia came together to buy these wishlists out.

Giving directly to humans on giving Tuesday, 10 stars.

I try to buy one item off at least one wishlist every year, and even though I don’t have a lot, it feels good to make someone’s holiday a little better.

With all the Black Friday sales, it’s a good time to check some of these out if you would like to make someone’s holiday a little better this year.

The Romancelandia Holiday Fairies wishlist form is officially open! Romancelandia Holiday Fairies is a no-gatekeeping, community-led gifting initiative for anyone in Romancelandia who wants support.✨ Submit / learn more: bit.ly/holidayfairies #romancelandia #romancebks

Can you help? Please share if you would. Thx!

A note from one recipient. With @shelflove.bsky.social's stewardship this has grown beyond what I ever imagined, and has touched hundreds of people. And Romancelandia is vast & welcoming. Even if you don't usually go here, romance readers will invite you in & work for your HEA. It's our thing.

If you are having a rough year and are worried you can't get gifts for the people in your life, you can sign up here and submit your wishlist. If you are someone who has a little bit extra and wants to give someone else joy? Find one & buy them something! shelflovepodcast.com/holiday-fair...

Many years ago, I was feeling stressed by the state of the world and I started a Holiday Fairies thing where people sent me their wishlists and I publicized them to try to get everyone gifts for the holidays. @shelflove.bsky.social skillfully took it over and made it An Actual Thing! Like SRSLY!

#Romancelandia Holiday Fairies is BACK for our 6th year! 🎁✨ This community-powered gifting initiative is all about mutual aid, kindness, and making sure no one goes without a little magic this season. Let’s make 2025 our most generous year yet! Learn more: bit.ly/holidayfairies

The benefit of not being by financially tied to the romance industry is that I will absolutely say something when I see something. #romancelandia

I don’t think I’ll do interviews about romance with “journalists” anymore. The same boring shit about romance gets published over and over because any viewpoint that doesn’t validate the romance stereotype or “romance is different now and bigger than ever!” narrative is excluded. #romancelandia

This call may be of interest to our readers!

Sooo fanfic phenomenon "Manacled" by SenLinYu was transformed into a trad pub book: "Alchemised." Join @fangirljeanne.bsky.social & I for a critical discussion on the ramifications of turning #fanfic into published romantasy. shelflovepodcast.com/episodes/sea... #romancelandia #romancebks

Well that’s a nice wake up surprise! This piece I wrote for @zocalopublicsquare.bsky.social is a finalist for a Los Angeles Press Club National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Award! www.zocalopublicsquare.org/romance-genr...

Oh no, now @smutreport.com put zombies removing appendages to facilitate creative intimate moments into my brain…. And the only part I hate is that I WILL be thinking about it. overcast.fm/+ABBEh76UzvA

Anyone work in book publishing PR who would be interested in doing an informational interview with a PR student I’m mentoring? She’s a romance reader! She’s ready to hear the real story on what it’s like to work in the industry as she figures out her career path. #romancelandia

I find no pleasure in being right: the heroine absolutely can’t come to terms with him owning a BDSM sex club, but nothing about her characterization or behavior explains that stance. And even worse: book ends with a cliffhanger and it’s like…4 books. I am worse off having read this book.

I’m reading a romance that I’m pretty sure is just contemporary but I feel like some of the intense attraction and vagueness could only be explained by “he’s a secret vampire” or “she lost her memory and they used to be lovers!” But it’s probably just that his hotel is a bdsm club… #romancelandia

There's still time! JPRS is still accepting reviews of recent YA scholarship for our special issue on YA series romance. See our Padlet for more details: padlet.com/bookreviews/... #RomanceResearch @jprstudies.bsky.social @iaspr.bsky.social

Ooh, really like the idea of the neo-Gothic in here.

How has Lisa Kleypas ret-conned her characters for modern readers, or the idea of what modern readers want? Tehyah Carver shares revisions made to Kleypas's Wallflower series and the project of rehabilitating villains like Sebastian St. Vincent. #romancebks shelflovepodcast.com/episodes/sea...

Me, whenever I see someone claiming romance novels in general are rotting brains/suspect/a problem/addictive because of the (too much) sex: #Romancebks shelflovepodcast.substack.com/p/why-did-li...

I really wish more people would cite their sources. Either there is none, it’s not a credible source, or the conclusion has been misrepresented like, 90% of the time. This is true in general, but as I am ostensibly a romance podcaster/essayist/scholar, I specifically mean in romance discourse.

Can’t help thinking about how the Swift-E disk horse is so similar to romance disk horse around problematic favorite authors and books. You can like something AND acknowledge its issues… People who criticize something you like aren’t HURTING YOU. Just saying. #romancelandia

What a magical night in a London speakeasy!

@shelflove.bsky.social tricked me into listening to philosophy and ENJOYING it. Pretty fucked if you ask me! Anyway, I’m 2/3 through Andrea & Jodie’s extremely ~exploratory~ episode: DOMINATE YOUR DESIRE (below) and it’s really good. Recommend it strongly. Would cannibalize again!

Why are people drawn to scary media? Do romance readers like dark romance and bodice rippers because they're morbidly curious!? @morbidpsych.bsky.social shares his research on horror fans & insights from his new book, Morbidly Curious! #romancebks #horror shelflovepodcast.com/episodes/sea...

Is it true that 1 in 5 adult fiction print book sales are romance novels? Sure! But let’s put that into perspective… #romancebks open.substack.com/pub/shelflov...

No matter how much money romance books net for publishers, it’s a drop in the bucket of what the entire corporate parent makes. They will easily drop imprints with any sexual or “deviant” content so fast & double their investment in political memoirs, tradwife cookbooks & religious books.

Publishing is a capitalist enterprise. Don’t forget it. It’s not a bastion of creativity and art that is exempt from the same exploitative and biased systemic forces that drive capitalism writ large. The dynamics are amplified bc it’s not just about profit: it’s about what (& who) gets a platform.

Don’t be like the author who emailed their media outreach template to me without filling out the fill-in the blank sections. I understand the need to templatize outreach but I’ve only ever invited people to come on the podcast when the email was so specific it was ACTUALLY personalized. #romancebks

Have you dominated your desires into submission yet & figured out how to only fantasize about the things that align with your values? Me neither. Join me & Jodie Slaughter as we discuss navigating romance community in the personal panopticon of late-stage capitalism. #romancebks #romancereader

Does anyone have any recommendations for romance novels that include a high school reunion? I was hit by nostalgia when I realized I missed my 20th. (Ok I wasn’t going to go even if I knew about it before hand…)

#Romamcelandia #BlackRomance #SmallTownRomamce Need a quick read this weekend? "Omar & Cherie Finally get Married" is in Kindle Unlimited. Check out this sweet, sassy, and sexy novella. 🫶🏾 www.amazon.in/Omar-Cherie-... #BlackRomance #OlderCouple

Stressful week at work. Maybe I should buy 100 vintage paperback romances off eBay to feel better? #maladaptivecopingmechanisms #romancelandia

I have a theory that there are two kinds of people in this world: those who love Mariana Zapata’s books and those who can’t stand them. That’s it. That’s the theory.

Ug reading a romance where the MCs both cycle through repetitive and way-too-astute internal thoughts for paragraphs every sentence of dialogue. Just have things happen! Show me how they feel by what they say or how they react! Let them have an emotion & not know why!

Have we talked about how the sudden transition of romance print books from mass market paperback to trade paperback and hardcover formats, and their higher price points, is a huge enabler for romance-only bookstores to flourish? #romancelandia

Hey #romancelandia, the immensely talented and wonderful Jodie Slaughter is fundraising for her sister who was just diagnosed with cancer. Let's show up! www.gofundme.com/f/support-an...

Romance novels begin by presenting a world that is familiar to us: an unjust world. The fantasy element of a romance novel is that throughout the story, the unjust world is repaired into a just world. #romancelandia #romancebks shelflovepodcast.substack.com/p/the-fantas...

I’m not proud. I did a search early in my read for certain words to see when things spiced up. 92%. Like, exsqueeze me?! I’m a very busy woman and I haven’t got all day. This is my life, slipping through my fingers! #romancelandia “slowburn” -more like waiting for water to boil coming out of the tap