#gaywyck | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

bloody-wonder · 3 months

Text

mid-year book tag

1. Best Book You’ve Read So Far in 2024? i have read so many good ones this year but no particular one stands out to me as The Best so i'll name top 5 instead (in the order i read them in): a thousand stitches, doctrine of labyrinths, in other lands, big swiss, my brilliant friend - so, quite a range of genres and tones, as usual :)

2. Best Sequel You’ve Read So Far in 2024? the virtu is definitely my favorite part of doctrine of labyrinths and the tropic of serpents, the second book in the memoirs of lady trent, was just a perfect historical fantasy adventure novel - it's like if jane austen wrote indiana jones except it's also a nature documentary about dragons. last but not least, empire of the damned which came out in march solidified jay kristoff's empire of the vampire as my favorite vampire book series. you might have heard me screaming about it from the rooftops. all three of these sequels, i find, are even better than the previous book in their respective series.

3. New Release You Haven’t Read Yet, But Want To? i'm saving kj charles' death in the spires for the fall since it's a spooky campus murder mystery (i think?) and i also want to read apostles of mercy and so finish lindsay ellis' sci fi series (which i have lost interest in somewhat tbh but i'm nothing if not a completionist lol). i was curious about the familiar but the reviews i've seen don't look too promising so i'm probably not going to prioritize it.

4. Most Anticipated Release For Second Half of 2024? i'm looking forward to kj charles' new romance book, the duke at hazard, as well as the new evander mills mystery, rough pages, but the piece of fiction i'm anticipating the most is actually the radioapple southern gothic au by my favorite fanfic author reminiscentbells. she's going to write the whole thing this summer and start posting in september - i'm so excitedddd😱

5. Biggest Disappointment? emily wilde's encyclopaedia of faeries is the book equivalent of a ghoul wearing the skin of your beloved. i wasn't a fan of a deadly education either😒 was very excited to read gaywyck but the expectations of "jane eyre but gay" which the cover of that book gave me were unfortunately not met🤷‍♀️

6. Biggest Surprise? i didn't think i might be into extreme horror and neither did i fancy myself a sally rooney girlie so i was quite surprised that i liked her conversations with friends as well as the sluts by dennis cooper. will definitely read more from both authors next year. an even bigger surprise however was solitaire which i picked up on a whim after tori came out as ace in the last heartstopper volume. i have a complicated relationship with alice oseman's books mostly due to the fact that i'm years past the target demographic age but still feel compelled to read them bc it seems they're the only mainstream books with prominent aro/ace rep out there. so i didn't expect much and was astonished to discover that tori spring is like looking at a mirror reflection of my 18yo self - uncanny in a fun way. ig i shouldn't be so surprised this turned out to be my favorite oseman book since it's the one with the most mixed reviews lol people like to hate a depressed teenage girl😬

7. Favorite New Author? i have devoured doctrine of labyrinths and the cemeteries of amalo in february so now i can safely say sarah monette aka katherine addison is one of my favorite authors. each of her series has a different tone but there are consistent themes of real or magical disability and non amatonormative relationships which are explored in creative ways throughout her stories. i also like her worldbuilding quite a bit, especially the naming systems and fantasy terminology. i read more books by celeste ng as well as by vale aida - both are likely to become favorite authors too. in the latter's case - provided she writes a sequel to hostis. if not, i shall never forgive her😅

8. Newest Favorite Character? okay this is just impossible to narrow down! first of all, liathe from empire of the damned bc i want her Gender: wearing a porcelain mask and a splendid crimson coat, formally bowing to her adversaries before she beats the shit out of them with her blood sword, referring to herself by the royal we and hissing every time she speaks - character of all time material right there. behold my beautiful girl who has done nothing wrong!🥰

(official illustrations by bon orthwick)

secondly, elliot schafer bc he's the most obnoxious prickly boy in other lands and yet everyone wants him carnally lol. i adore his internal monologue - probably the best i've read in ya. his dialogue too tbh - his cutting repartee game is off the charts. honestly, he's just my favorite type of character: a mean bisexual gremlin who scolds people so creatively that they fall in love with him on the spot. what more can you ask.

finally, i have to mention that to my great surprise i liked mildmay more than felix harrowgate🤯 idk felix is this cunty traumatized savant which is a character archetype i'm used to liking so it was a safe bet. the opposites attract sidekick or love interest of such a character is usually not my cup of tea but mildmay is the exception that proves the rule ig. mostly it's bc of his unusual manner of speaking with those funny slang turns of phrase and just generally the contrast between his expressive internal monologue and his reserved demeanor. as a result, he easily rivals felix as the most interesting guy in the book. such excellent character work! taking my hat off to monette🎩

9. Newest Fictional Crush? i reserve this question for that special kind of obsession only a very particular character can inspire and this year it's alastor from hazbin hotel. which, i know, is not a book but i have read so much alastor fanfic in the last few months that he's basically like a book character to me at this point lol

💕Best Ship💕 elliot schafer and luke sunborn are very cute. i don't usually go for cute but here we are. especially after reading that short story from luke's pov i realized i just need more of these two together😌 felix and mildmay with their unholy magic bdsm union - need i say more? forbidden ship that watered my crops. last but not least, i'm currently trudging through the realm of the elderings bc of fitz and the fool and as of assassin's quest it finally started paying off: i'm being queerbaited and asking for more🥲

10. Book That Made You Cry? a thousand stitches is such a wholesome cozy book and it made me cry multiple times the way that a nostalgic movie from childhood can make you cry sometimes. especially the pug scene😭 the scenes of thara celehar walking the corn maze in the cemeteries of amalo made me cry a lot too. the symbolic depths addison is able to achieve with the labyrinth motif, the exploration of grief and forgiveness and letting go - unparalleled🤌

11. Book That Made You Happy? a thousand stitches made me happy! especially the pug scene!!😅 honestly it was like watching a disney movie back when they were good except also more relatable bc atwater's characters read neurodivergent and aspec-coded to me. love how she maintains that the kiss of true love that breaks the faerie curse doesn't have to be romantic. re-reading the three musketeers made me very happy too - it's one of my top 10 favorite books of all time and i was kinda nervous i might not like it as much as an adult. well the joke's on me bc now i can confirm it's one of the best books ever written😊 reading in other lands and big swiss cheered me up a lot too bc they're just so damn funney😄

12. Favorite Book Adaptation You Saw This Year? haven't seen a lot of adaptations so ig dune part two wins by default. twas a fine movie. the wheel of time is also a nice show in my opinion but i didn't read the source material so idk how good it is adaptation-wise🤷‍♀️

13. Favorite Review You’ve Written This Year? my favorite ones are probably the ones i wrote about the three musketeers and in other lands but i think i also wrote some good critical/negative reviews of the mask of mirrors and of the vorkosigan books i read this year (1 2 3)

14. Most Beautiful Cover? behold the cover of the voyage of the basilisk!🤩 i want to frame it and hang it on my wall so that i can gaze at it adoringly and connect with my inner ishmael

(art by todd lockwood)

i also like this vintage romance cover of gaywyck and the uk covers of the farseer trilogy. it's a shame that the books are not as good as the covers led me to believe. especially in the case of gaywyck - this cover is Such A Vibe! but alas

15. What Books Do You Need To Read By The End of The Year? in terms of series i want to finish the memoirs of lady trent, read one more witcher book, at least a couple vampire chronicles and then reread swordspoint and hopefully complete that series too. other fantasy i want to get to at last is fire & blood and the hands of the emperor - both are big and intimidating tho. for my classics challenge i need to finish a couple of tomes i'm reading slowly throughout the year and then also read the name of the rose. american psycho and mona awad's bunny have been on my tbr for ages - maybe i'll finally read them this fall. and i also want to finish reading kj charles' backlist bc the completionism drive is stronger than the fear of having no kj charles to read lol

i never do things a normal amount - every time i take up new media i go all in. so i had a musicals phase, a movies phase, a tv show phase - each lasting a few years and then i barely watched any of these once the phase ended. which is why i've been wondering if my current Book Phase is about to wrap up soon but, given how many books i managed to read since january, it sure doesn't seem that way. instead, it feels like the more i read the better i am at finding books that i'm likely to enjoy - which leads to more reading. and i cannot complain about that tbh😁📚

tagging @magpiefngrl @doh-rae-me @oliviermiraarmstrongs @fugitoidkry @pinkasrenzo @counterwiddershins @figuringthengsout @sugarbabywenkexing @fandomreferencepending @venndaai @weirdsociology @sixappleseeds @theodoradove

please tell me what you've been reading this year (if you want)! one can't have too many book recs👀

goodreads │ old mid year tags 2020 2021 2022 2023

#book tag #you can add or remove questions as you like btw #and as always if you're not on the list but want to talk to me about books - consider yourself tagged :)

21 notes · View notes

crossdreamers · 1 year

Text

How the horrible anti-transgender policies of Russia became a reality

Putin has decided to make queer and trans people scapegoats for his own failure as a leader. He has signed legislation that bans people from officially or medically changing their gender. It annuls marriages in which one person has transitioned and bars transgender people from becoming foster or adoptive parents.

Over at eX-twitter Jeannie the Gaywyck Owl 🏳️‍⚧️ has written a thorough and very helpful thread about what has happened and the reasons for it.

Yes, this is depressing reading, but given that transphobes all over the world is inspired by Putin's bizarre traditionalist and violent fakery, we must learn from what is happening, and do whatever we can to help transgender people everywhere, including Russia. Putin is to blame for the war and the oppression, not the Russian LGBTQIA community.

Here are some extracts from the thread. You can read it all, with additional comments, here.

Jeannie the Gaywyck Owl 🏳️‍⚧️ writes:

//Okay, a lot of people asked for it, so here I go: Russian government is approving the biggest anti-trans law RIGHT NOW, featuring COMPLETE BAN of all documental and medical transition for trans and intersex people: A THREAD With great help of @TomoAyu13 and @aalien.

The previous pro-trans ID law

Let’s start a bit earlier: not so long ago, in 2018, Ministry of Justice approved new changes to medical laws made by the Ministry of Healthcare of Russia. It stated the new form of approval and procedure for issuing a gender change document by a medical organization.

Here’s the document itself: http://publication.pravo.gov.ru/Document/View/0001201801220016?index=0&rangeSize=1… The form itself allowed a lot of people to change their documents faster and more freely after they are approved by a medical commission, either governmental or private, and allowed trans people to transition easier.

Here’s Pravo Trans issue about this document: http://pravo-trans.eu/novaya-forma-spravki-chasto-zadavaemye-voprosy/… With the Note 087/y you were able to change your documents within a year since the date of issuing. If you used it only for gender affirming surgeries/HRT, you could come to commission again asking for reissue

For the first time in its existence, Russian Federation, despite having homophobic and transphobic tendencies since the day of forming, actually was the best country for fast and mostly easy documental and medical transition, especially great for people who wanted to go “stealth”

The transphobic tipping point

Back to 2023: after the news of lack of volunteers and armed forces in Ukraine, the flaming eye of State Duma is seeking for a scapegoat and a potential “living meat” solution for the front. After the “ban on LGBT propaganda” in late 2022, they came for trans women, men, enbies.

May 30, 2023. A draft law has been submitted to the State Duma establishing a complete ban on “medical interventions aimed at changing sex”, as well as “excluding state registration of sex change without surgery”.

The main authors were mrs. Muzulina who actually tried to give that law a chance way back in 2020 and was stopped by other fractions and protests of trans people, and mr. Volodin, the Chairman of State Duma. Let’s dig into it, shall we?

The content of the law proposal

I’ll try to translate it as close to the original as possible.

"Medical workers are prohibited from acting in medical interventions aimed at changing the sex of a person, including the formation of primary and/or secondary sexual characteristics of the other sex in a person"

“Medical interventions related to the treatment of congenital physiological anomalies of sex formation in children (aka intersex and birth anomalies) are allowed by decision of the medical commission of the the health institution the interventions are done in” Now let’s simplify:

These passages mean:

- complete ban on any medical interventions, including psychiatrists issuing 087/y and F64.0 by ICD v.10 “Transsexualism” (HA60 in International Classification of Diseases v.11), HRT prescriptions and all possible cosmetic and gender affirming surgeries;

- complete ban on any documental changes for a transgender person - you couldn’t change your gender marker in your ID. Ever. Need to inform that due to a complex documentary system Russia inherited from the USSR, you need to change your birth certificate first, passport second.

Due to having that documentary system, every Russian’s main ID is their passport, if they’re going abroad - add a separate “foreign passport” to in. Add to it your individual taxpayer number and social security number.

- this law draft also comes with all ban on gender reassignment surgeries, HRT and changes in gender marker for intersex people. If you’re born intersex and your doctor decides you’re a boy/girl - you couldn’t change ANYTHING when you’re hitting puberty or in your adult life.

Of course, after this law becomes reality, it’s basically governmental restriction of body autonomy. The main motivation for this law? “They’re mutilating children and doing it with America’s money” but also “they’re changing their gender to avoid special military operation”.

For reference: in 2020, due to “sex change” Russia issued 428 passports, in 2021 - 554 passports, in 2022 - 936 passports. The leaders in changing the gender marker were Moscow with the Moscow region and St. Petersburg with the Leningrad region. People are scared of you, Volodin.

Severe transphobia

Chairman of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation Alexander Bastrykin also spoke about anti-trans laws and is very supportive of them. He called men who decided to change sex “on paper” scammers:

“The change of sex on paper is a deception, fraud. If it’s a fraud, this deception violates the interests of the state, our defense capability. … We will act taking into account new realities”:

It was clear that President Putin with his response on “who are they, transformers?” is also not very fond of trans folk existing. May 30 was not a random date - it was right before June 1, The International Children’s Day (or “Day of Children’s Protection” from literal Russian).

Inspired by US right wing

Of course, after literally using the words of American pastors that Mrs. Mizulina and Co used in favor of their “anti-LGBT propaganda law”, they would cover with children - just like judicial society in Florida and other states of America who cleared the way for anti-trans laws.

After the May 30, the law was reconfigured into its current “max ban state” and then everything escalated quickly. June 12, The Day of Russia. State Duma announces that this law will go in hearings without any half-measures - it’s still a full blown ban.

June 13, evening. State Duma issues a note that the hearing will be “out of order because it’s an emergency case”. They’re speeding up the process. At the same time, this law is considered “adjustments” to an existing Federal Law 323 Paragraph 45 - ban on EUTHANASIA.

Before the hearings started, Russian-speaking trans and non-binary twitter users (especially @aalien) tried to gather publicity from the main figures of Russian opposition in emigration. It resulted into ban waves by some of them and bragging about “Putin is oppressing everyone”.

After days of trying to get the support from people who, as LGBT community in Russian thought, are seeking for “the great future Russia without Putin”, trans people started to realize that in this battle they’re the lone legion. The hearings are rushed and set to June 14.

Traditionalist "family values"

During the day another stone strikes - Mr. Vitaliy Milonov, famous for his “Orthodoxy or death” t-shirt and immense hate towards LGBT and whose laws about “ban on LGBT-propaganda towards children” later grew into ban on basically speaking about LGBT (even for LGBT themselves).

Of course, Mr. Milonov is a big fan of conservative families and “Domostroy” mindset. He said: “If the (anti-trans) bill is adopted in Russia, it may subsequently cancel the already issued certificates of sex change.” They’re willing to break marriages and people’s lives for it.

SOMEHOW, by his words, “the law will not be retroactive, but the cancellation of certificates can be worked out after the bill’s adoption”. How is that NOT retroactive - cancelling the documents for people who already live in their preferred gender - I can’t understand.

“This bill is an indicator of our attitude to these terrible things. And it’s not just about those who want to avoid military service. There can be no sex change in a normal society, because it’s anti-scientific, obscurantism”:

“I hope that we will be able to further work out this issue and all these fake certificates, which corrupt doctors and so-called psychologists issued about sex change, will be canceled.” He is the Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Family, Women and Children Affairs.

“If we recognize that sex change is an impossible phenomenon, respectively, those who tried to do it on paper will be, I hope, in a hanged-in-the-air position,” Milonov explained. “Emigrate or die trying, we don’t see you as equal citizens” is the “hanged-in-the-air position”.

Stigmatizing health personnel

Again, full pack of documents in Russian is accessible by the link: https://sozd.duma.gov.ru/bill/242098-8 (you might need Russian VPN to download the texts). Some citations from the explanatory note to this law draft: “Currently, there is already a developed sex change industry in Russia“

“It consists of unscrupulous doctors, psychologists, a developed network of LGBT organizations and activists, and other persons. They direct all their destructive activity to teenagers and young people”. So basically DeSantis words, but for “the big evil US gay lobby”.

“The Constitution of the Russian Federation enshrines norms on the preservation of traditional family values and the protection of the institution of marriage as a union of men and women.“ These changes were made in 2020 alongside with extending Putin’s ruling abilities.

Upholding the binary, endless lies

“The basic law of the country provides for only two sexes - men and women, no “intermediate” and “additional” variants of sex or “gender”, neither categories like “parent No. 1” and “parent No. 2” are acceptable, nor the possibility of “sex change”.” No comments.

Diving down:

After that, the explanatory note covers the existing laws about LGBT-propaganda and how trans people’s existence is basically propaganda. They lie about “the existing evidence of parents of affected and mutilated children” - the children are 20+ y. o. lads and lasses.

They lie about “sex change operations for children less then 14 y.o. in the US of A” and “medical commissions taking only several tens of minutes”. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, in the period from 2016 to 2022, 2,990 people applied for “sex change” in passports.

June 14 2023, the day of hearings, 1st hearing for full-blown ban on trans & intersex medical help and change of documents. “The worst thing is the corruption of children,” Mr. Volodin said at the plenary session. A lot of media claimed before that he’s a closed gay man himself.

In the United States, where these new pseudo-values are promoted, the share of transgender people among teenagers is already three times higher than among the adult population.” More lies, more covering of absolutely barbaric measures with “children”. But there’s more:

“The number of children receiving hormonal therapy has more than doubled in 5 years. They start pumping children with hormones at the age of 8. From 2017 to 2021, more than 2000 sex reassignment surgeries in children aged 13 to 17 years have been performed.” No statistics added.

More from the State Duma (lower house in parliament)

From this point, I’ll cover the citations that were saved by @Metroff4k3 from live translation on State Duma site: Minister of Health Care supported the bill, said they should have some high-level consiliums of federal institutions and about the need to improve the demography.

Deputy Ostanina began to stuble that he wanted to soften the law, she was shushed. Despite the words about corrections of organs on intersex children (they still want to ban it for people over 18), deputy Tolstoy says about restrictions and forming a list of “approved anomalies”.

Deputy Tolstoy yells that the law has no retroactive effect and that the figure of 2990 trans people changing their docs is growing exponentially, if the bill is not adopted, it will be 5000 next year. Laughter and noise can be heard in the background at the same time.

After that they recite to the claims of the Health Committee and Family Committee. You can read them via Google Translate in this post and links, this is the official position of State Duma deputies.

Ministry of Health Care tries to say that it will lead to waves of suicides and “black market of surgery and pharmacy” Chairman of the State Duma Volodin instructs to promptly finalize the initiative and submit the document to the lower house of parliament ASAP.

Attacking the Russian Ministry of Health for following the WHO health manual

“The initiative is supported by the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation, but the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation “have not yet decided.” In this regard, when considering the bill in the next reading, we will invite the leadership of the Ministry of Health”

“We need to find out why it is uncertain and why, when signing an agreement with WHO, they made a gross mistake that contradicts our Constitution and the values we must protect,” Volodin says. The “gross mistake” is signing the agreement about implementing ICD v.11 in Russia.

ICD-11 was presented in January 2019 and approved in May 2019. By it, F64.0 “Transgenderism” is no longer a psychic disability snuck in near schizophrenia and epilepsy. ICD-11 is working in Russia since January 1 2022, the transition period to new ICD has been extended until 2027

Mr. Volodin claims that “HRT and operations are blooming in other countries” and that “Europe and the USA are full with them, with complete sodomy”. “The man gets up in the morning, goes to buy a certificate in paid clinics,” he says.

“There are no psychiatrists and psychologists in the commissions - no one who would studied his condition… And then provides a document on the change of sex, surname, first name, patronymic.” Another lie. Every commission has a clinical psychologist, sexologist and psychiatrist.

Mr. Volodin says that the lower house of Duma would like the Ministry of Healthcare, preparing amendments to the law prohibiting sex change in Russia, not to invent changes “by caring for people”. According to him, the caring would be “forbiding all this debauchery.”

Did you see that? “Don’t you dare caring about people, simple governmental medical man, end with this and lay back. If they start killing themselves, well just make suicides illegal and shoot them for unaliving!” At this point it’s an absolute circus of horrors.

Preparing for conversion therapy

The Minister of Health noted that in addition to the said initiative, he is conducting research for conversion therapy. One deputy is concerned that people with a «a different perception» of their gender should be psychologically and psychiatrically «bred to reality» This is hell

“The Minister replied that work in this direction on behalf of the President is already underway, an appropriate institution is being created, where other “behavioral violations” and forms of antisocial behavior will be considered” So it’s back to electric chairs and haloperidol.

Connected to abortion ban

Vice-speaker Tolstoy concludes the meeting and appeals to the Minister of Health. The deputy asked the Ministry to consider banning abortion in commercial clinics and “take control of hormones for sex change, contraceptions and abortion”. THEY’RE ALREADY SPEAKING OF ABORTION BAN.

Before that, in March 2023, First Deputy Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Family, Women and Children Affairs pointed out the need to prohibit abortion for commercial clinics to make it easier for the state to monitor it. They want to “be there to help”, she says.

The vote is not anonymous, everybody’s advised to have their name shown near the vote. First reading, first hearing, ban of trans healthcare and documental transition - Duma agrees unanimously, 365 “yes” out of 369 deputies who signed the original draft (4 people didn’t show up).

IN CONCLUSION: The state ban on any medical help and change of documents for transgender and intersex people is in after the first hearing. Mr. Volodin says they’re gonna come to full sign and conclusion over the spring-summer sessions. That means trans people are now outlaws.

[This is what happened in July. The law has been accepted and signed by Putin. The main changes are that the final version of the law annuls marriages in which one person has transitioned and bars transgender people from becoming foster or adoptive parents. Added by Transgender World.]

PLEASE SHARE THIS THREAD EVERYWHERE YOU CAN. Show it to your mom, to your local liberal party chamber, news, streamers, everywhere. Help trans people of Russia to go through the medical commissions now, while we still have time - you can donate to @QueerSvit or @QueerSvitUK.

You can also donate to individual fundings of Russian trans people I retweet here. You can also donate to @gero444a and her initiative that helps queer refugees in Italy or to queer medias like @kvir_media who help covering this in mass media. Trans liberation now. Stay in touch.//

More comments here.

See also “Russia will ban everything for transgender and non-binary people, leading to an underground surgery market,” say human rights activists (The Insider)

#transgender #trans #lgbt #lgbtqa #queer #Russia #Putin #fascism #transphobia #politics #lgbt+

22 notes · View notes

bookthroneking · 9 months

Text

January TBR: This time, something completely different

I decided to try something fun this January that I've never done before, so for a month I'm only going to read LGBTQIA+ books. I've made myself a list to choose from (it's unlikely that I'll finish all of these, but I wanted some variety), so here's my very queer January TBR list.

Sarah Waters: Tipping the Velvet Sarah Waters: Affinity Vincent Virga: Gaywyck Felice Picano: The Lure Oscar Wilde: The Picture of Dorian Gray Alison Rumfitt: Tell Me I'm Worthless Eric LaRocca: Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke Katie Daysh: Leeward Ocean Vuong: On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous Caitlín R. Kiernan: The Red Tree John Green, David Levithan: Will Grayson, Will Grayson William S. Burroughs: Naked Lunch Yvonne Heidt: Sometime Yesterday

#lgbtqia books #queer #tbr list #tbr pile #bookworm #bookish #booklr #my posts #queer lit

9 notes · View notes

kuslalumonka · 15 days

Text

“The eye of Polyphemos,” I said aloud, and shuddered. “The cyclops is watching! He whom Odysseus tricked, declaring, ‘I am No One.’”

#gaywyck #Donough Gaylord #Robert Wyatt #art #kusla lumonka

0 notes

cosynopsis · 1 year

Text

my depression vs gothic mlm novel retelling on twitter

#traditional art #art #artists on tumblr #gaywyck

12 notes · View notes

mermaidsirennikita · 2 months

Note

I was shocked they chose A Night to Surrender by Tessa Dare over A Week to Be Wicked, Any Duchess Will Do or The Duchess Deal. Obviously Tessa is incredibly talented but I don’t feel like that’s one of her best (or even most popular) books. What was the selection process like???

Lol yeah that was when I went "... hmm." It's like, they wanted to be approachable, and yet they DIDN'T, and it really comes off as so low effort. I appreciate the nod towards racial diversity (though it could still be better) BUT I also found that the queer representation was very lacking, and virtually everything is tradpub, and monogamous, and it's overwhelmingly cis.

Not only does this not reflect where romance is GOING (not just in terms of diversity, which it still needs a lot of work on and you get that work done in part by PROMOTING AND ENCOURAGING PEOPLE TO BUY DIVERSE BOOKS; but also in terms of the increasing presence of indie/selfpub influence) but it's not going to appeal to people who need to see themselves in the genre.

So yeah now I have to break it down

Cecilia, P&P, Friday's Child--I honestly find it very difficult to reconcile any book written before the 20th century with genre romance. Haven't read Cecilia, to be honest. P&P is social commentary with a romance subplot—a great one, but it's not genre romance, and tbh I wouldn't even call it Austen's most romantic book.

I struggle with Heyer, because her books are beloved and readable, and she is a huge influence. However, I first think that any "read romance right now" list meaning to get people to read the genre shouldn't feature books because they're influential. This is not an academic list lol. Recommend books that give people what the genre is more recently, what will HOOK them. And I struggle with Heyer because she was a major antisemite, so.

The Price of Salt--obviously very influential; would not consider it a romance despite that, and we could've recommended an explicitly sapphic ROMANCE. If this is about influence, where is Gaywyck?

Lord of Scoundrels--it's a classic, Loretta is one of the GOATs, I've never been in the right mindset to read this but I'll try again soon

Indigo--a mega classic and a great representation of what makes Bev so great, I'd recommend this to anyone

If Only It Were True--never read but ngl the summary makes me skeptical

Jewels of the Sun--Nora is another GOAT, but uh, this??? WTF??? Nora has written SO diversely in terms of subgenre, and you could pull from literally hundreds of books, and THIS is what you choose??? Okay lmao nah

The Viscount Who Loved Me--let us be real, it's a Bton book. Not the best in the series, but the second best, and if Bton had to be here (I wouldn't put it there whatever) this is one of the ones I'd choose. People who loved s2 might be startled.

Twilight--lmao crazy, not only does this not represent the genre well, but it's essentially Mormon propaganda that leads to a massively racist subplot that is even more problematic when you consider the history of Mormonism and indigenous people. Also, I say this as someone who considers Twilight a formative part of my girlhood.

A Hunger Like No Other--An amazing book, love it, a fab representation of early 2000s PNR, however I do think it will be a shock to the system for many readers due to how intense it is and how much Lachlain... doesn't respect consent. Nonetheless, I adore this book.

Devil in Winter--obviously a banger and a great representation of Kleypas's work. I think it's hard to recommend as a standalone as it functions better IMO after Autumn, BUT. Otherwise, no notes.

Lover Awakened--I've never been able to get into JR Ward, but I'm gonna try again someday, she's obviously very influential

Slave to Sensation by Nalini Singh--a really good book and a great intro in my experience

All Through the Night--I've never read this so I can't speak to its romance quality, but it's so weird to me that the summary talks about it being one of the first romances with a gay main character and then discusses the protagonist and his female fiance as the main couple...? I am... confused. Is it a queer romance? It doesn't sound like it. Is it supposed to be a representation of queer people in romance...? Just recommend a queer romance.

Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake--great, awesome intro to MacLean

A Night to Surrender--I feel like they literally recommended this because it's the first Spindle Cover but you literally don't have to read them in order lmao read A Week to Be Wicked??? And I say this as a series reader? If you can only recommend one, recommend that?

Crazy Rich Asians--not a romance, basically satire, next

The Lotus Palace--haven't read this yet but I adore Jeannie Lin

The Luckiest Lady in London--a great intro to Sherry and a great book

To All the Boys I've Loved Before--YA coming of age girlhood with a romance subplot imo

All In--never read it

An Extraordinary Union--need to read

Wildfire--never read

Intercepted--couldn't get into

The Wedding Date--Jasmine Guillory's comments about being like... the first Black woman to write romance... make me upset... but also, her books are terminally unromantic to me

Ayesha At Last--haven't read, heard great things

Forget Me Not--haven't ready, happy to see Brenda Jackson here

Get a Life, Chloe Brown--love, great intro to Talia

Red, White, & Royal Blue--I get why it's here... I like the movie a LOT more

The Bride Test--this is very good, would definitely recommend The Kiss Quotient as your Hoang intro

The Flatshare--I didn't find this romantic

Xeni--I hate to say it, but I couldn't get into this

Boyfriend Material--I love Alexis Hall so fucking much. Glitterland was RIGHT THERE. A Lady for a Duke was RIGHT THERE. For the love of God, streeeetch a little

The Duke Who Didn't--haven't read, have heard great things

You had Me at Hola--I won't lie, I don't looove this, but I respect it

It Happened One Summer--apologies, I'm not a Tessa Bailey girly but I know how popular this is

Last Night at the Telegraph Club--Malinda Lo is a talented writer... I've never considered a book of hers romance so much as a book with a romance subplot... and I'm curious to see if this is different. If not, it's kinda depressing that this is one of a couple sapphic books here and isn't romance.

Seven Days in June--this is well-written and I get it, I could not get into it

A Caribbean Heiress in Paris--love this book, deserving, can't help but wish An Island Princess Starts a Scandal was here for more sapphic rep

Before I Let Go--this is so good and Kennedy should be here; I would've chosen Reel, personally, for several reasons

Book Lovers--y'all know I don't like Emily Henry's books

Dating Dr. Dil--haven't read, Nisha is very talented

Honey & Spice--have heard great things

Icebreaker--... choices!

Part of Your World--the one Abby Jiminez book I read was not for me

The Very Irregular Society of Witches--haven't read

The Vibrant Years--haven't read, Sonali Dev is very talented tho

Chef's Choice--I really like this book! It's so good. But I would've picked Triple Sec for a few reasons. If they were looking for their One Romance About People Who Aren't Cis... you still get it with that book...

Love, Theoretically--was my favorite Hazelwood until Bride and Not in Love! I get why she's here

#romance novel blogging #romance novels #what frustrates me too is that several of these authors write things underrepresented in the list #see: an island princess starts a scandal or one of alexis's books about people who aren't cis

2 notes · View notes