u/BackgroundBudget5206

{Beyond scandal and desire by Lorraine Heath} introduced me to Mick Trewlove. This man seriously thinks hes the most villainous man to ever commit treachery. In reality, hes just a really nice guy, who loves his mom, respects women, is deeply involved in community service and spends most of his revenge plan helping take care of orphans, and or using his money for good.

I just couldn't get over how different Micks thoughts and introspection were, vs. His actual actions. One second hes brooding thinking about how much he hates Kip, and the Duke and Duches. Then the next hes holding an orphan in one arm, a kitten in the other, while giving the FMC the exact support she needs in that moment. So inconsistent..... because hes a terrible villain. I loved it.

{Ravished by Amanda Quick} is the story of Autism marrying CPTSD.

The FMC's flavor of autism is fossils, but in general she has great, consistent pattern recognition. Unfortunately, she kind of oblivious to others malicious machinations.

The MMC has rip roaring CPTSD from his old fiance being generally terrible then leaving him to pay all of the costs of her choices.

I did find a consistent theme of the FMC being excessively people pleasing to everyone other than the MMC. As you read on you realize its because he's the only one she can actually trust with her full feelings.

Its one of those books thats very very well layered. Is the FMC annoying and way too obsessed with keeping her "friends" unruffled? Yes, its because she struggles socially and now will keep the trash just to have something.

Its so funny because shes such a mess, but she sees the MMC and is like "I can fix him." And he's like "I like this lil goblin, I think i will keep this little cave beast." They are both on the same page number, but separate books for a decent amount of time, but in a funny way. They also communicate a lot. The main characters speak to each other a ton and you see growth in them and how they speak to each other. My particular copy is just under 300 pages. It really doesn't read like that short of a book. Every word in here was essential and never too little either.

The one I read was printed in 94' so if she has ever revised or altered the current version and it sucks now, don't tell me. I stopped looking up whos mutilating good books that should be viewed as a product of when they were written and the time they are set in.

As I have referenced a few times in the last few weeks, I am reorganizing all of my books because my basement library was finally finished.

Well, I got to the plastic tubs of physical copies I DNF'ed.

I have to say, I must have been in some mood because {viscount in love by eloisa James} was actually very good. The MMC learns and grows. The FMC has learning disabilities, and struggles with people's opinions on her intelligence because of that. Its a really good book. Im not sure why I didn't finish it.

{The naked Duke by sally MacKenzie} is another one im not sure why I put down. The whole series is really fun, older from the 90's, but not a bodice ripper. More of a rom coms.

I think, sometimes books might get tossed in the DNF bucket that dont deserve it just because we're in a mood.

Then theres {a week to be wicked by tessa dare } i stand by DNF'ing that one. The MMC is, for me, very annoying and unlikable.

Also, {about an earl by Diana Lloyd} the FMC KNOWS the MMC and at half way through the book hears 1 thing he says in a drunken PTSD riddled haze and decides hes a horrible, despicable person. She doesn't speak to him, not have the full story, just completely ignores everything shes ever seen of his behavior first hand, and frames him as a monster on fractured drunk ramblings.

So, if you have a DNF pile, plastic bin, bag, kindle list, whatever I highly recommend revisiting it. There might be gems in there you just weren't in the right mind to appreciate at the time.

One of my favorite books is {The Muse of Maiden Lane by Mimi Matthews} Simply because the main female character grayed prematurely.

I personally saw my first gray hair at 13. I have been completely gray since 23. I've been fully gray a lot longer than my hair was black. So much so that I recently wore a wig for a wedding at the brides request and felt really uneasy looking in the mirror because I didn't look like me.

What other books have a main character with prematurely gray hair? Im not talking about a strip of white or blonde. Im talking 23 and fully gray style.

Im not picky on pairings. MM, FF, MF, MMF, FFF, MFMMF, I really dont care. Just no cheating by main characters.

{How the Wallflowerwas won by Eva Leigh} had so so much potential to show a "radicalized" FMC and an MMC dealing with learning disabilities. The story itself has good bones, unfortunately its a victim of telling too much and not showing. The narrator repeats over and over that the educational society needs more diverse perspectives, and not just of women, but other cultures. Thats great, and absolutely had its place in the early crawling of the suffragette movement. However, it was repeated over and over, just phrased differently to the point I stopped reading to look the author up, because it started to feel like right wing satire mocking liberals.

If it had shown scenes with dialog, maybe conversations where one person is given new information and softens views would have been a more productive way to tell the narrative.

It also missed the opportunity to show consequences of the progressive views like these in the Regency period. It was all just far far too modern. Not like the content couldn't have fit because its historical. We have plenty of feminists from the 1800s to know they existed.

It had a ton of potential. Eva Leigh has been writing historicals for well over a decade, she also writes fantasy. Like I said, the story had potential, but I felt lectured to the point of brow beaten reading this. Im not sure if her other titles are any better. This was my first time reading one of her books.

Was it just this book was her coming in a lil bit hot on subject matter close to her heart?

If you have read her books and can make better recommendations from her catalog, please do.

Very few self published books ever take off. The primary issue in fiction is quality. 90% of whats published are just not good books worth reading.

Now, I don't actually think all of those authors suck. I think people see publishing as quick, easy money. They rush to publish the first book they write. They dont want to slow down, and make sure the book is the same quality as professional publishing. Honestly, rushing to publish, and publishing the first book They have ever written, and not cutting their teeth in short stories is the primary issue.

So, give your best advice that improved your writing/ finished product.

#1, pay for a professional editor. Thats not a place to cut costs. If you are tight on funds, this is where you should put it all.

#2, if its your first book, and its going to be part of a series. Have the whole series written before you pull the trigger, or at least most of it mapped out. Continuity matters and you cant change anything in book 1 to help with book 3 if you published hastily.

#3, if its your first book ever, sit on it for a year minimum before you take steps to publish it. That gives it time for the rose colored glasses to come off and you can look more objectively at the quality.

I highly suggest writing and posting shorter things places where you can get peer feedback on your writing style to hone your craft before going straight to publishing. Its not essential though, helpful, good networking, great way to learn, but not essential.

Too many people probably fall in the 90% of failed books that dont deserve to be there just because they rushed to publishing. I would like far fewer people to fall into that category. I also want to stop trying to read books that are great ideas, terrible execution and its not a story issue.

Im looking for a book where the MMC witnesses the FMC being mistreated by her family, employer, solicitor, whoever. Then he's like "not on my watch!" Swooping in to defend her.

Im thinking about a specific book I cant remember where MMC is at some titled gentleman's home, probably a Duke or something. They are supposed to be doing business together. MMC notices the eldest spinster daughter whos about 30ish is used like free labor/ childcare for her stepmothers younger children since her mother died after giving birth to her and no heir. He calls them out on it subtly several times, and after getting to know her, and how little she thinks of herself he gets pissed off, and offers to sign the deal right then and there as is if her father tosses in marriage to the oldest daughter. Thats not even the primary plot of the book, just the beginning if I can remember correctly.

If you know the title of that book, I'd love to reread it. Otherwise, anything with this premise will do for me.

So, to preface I am a writer who lost interest in the genre I wrote in for 13 years and transitioned to doing marketing, publishing support. I now promote for self publishing authors. I self published 15 of my 18 books, I am a huge advocate for creative control over your content.

What I am struggling with is getting my new/younger writers to understand they are going to have to put some money into their book if they want it to be successful.

They dont want to pay for editing. They can "self edit" for free.

They don't want to buy covers. They want to use AI to "create" *cough... steal* their cover using "their" idea.

They don't want to put the footwork in to build an audience BEFORE launching their book.

They don't want to pay for formatting.

There are about a dozen other things that need investment before you successfully self publish, but more and more people refuse. I have consultations with authors who want me to make all of their marketing for free.

I just saw an author I declined to work with asking why they only had 5 sales of their book, all family, very low KU reads, and why people aren't interested in their book. Basically, everyone in the comments told them they needed a non AI cover, the only reviews mentioned poor editing causing DNFs. Saying not to just depend on ads alone.

Please, help me understand why so many new and young artists want to charge people money to read their art, but they dont want to invest anything into making their art good quality. Not to mention the disrespect to other creatives by using AI in so many cases.

I get that we live in an economy, but this isnt food or Healthcare. Selling your art for profit is a privilege not a right. You have to invest in your art. If you dont have the money right now, why not wait until you can publish correctly? ​

Kate Archer is another author who is criminally over looked.

{Lady Ferocity by kate archer} is my personal favorite. Its the first book in her 'A series of senseless complications' series. The side characters in this series are amazing the Duke, the the siblings, the antics.

{The Meddler by Kate Archer} is the first in her series of worthy young ladies, which is very very worthy. Just make sure you respect the very advanced baby. The who series is amazing. This group of boy moms took victim after victim and you will love every second.

{The Viscount’s Sinful Bargain by Kate Archer} is the first book in the Dukes pact series where 6 aging dukes make a pact to marry off their heirs, in response the heirs make a pact not to marry. Obviously, the ladies are coming and all their attempts to avoid love are for nothing.

She has another series called {a very fine muddle by kate archer}​ I haven't read any of them.... yet, but I feel confident blind recommending it.

So.... everyone is a Duke. Occasionally, they toss a Viscount or Marquess at you. Sometimes, you encounter an Earl in the wild. Its rare though. Hard to spot them over the 47,000 Dukes who are 6'3".

Give me your best recommendation for stories about the lower rungs of Nobility during the regency period. Give me Barons, squires, Knights, 9th sons of a recently granted Viscountcy who are considered "bad ton".

Absolutely, under no conditions do I want to see a single Duke MMC. No surprise, secret ducal inheritance. If there is a Duke, he has to be the antagonist, and he must lose.

so I read {Earls Trip by Jenny Holiday} and it was..... very historically inaccurate. Two unmarried women staying two weeks with three unmarried men and no chaperone? IN THE 1800S? No never. Not to mention some vocabulary is both out of time, and Americanized. Much of the themes pull from modern pop culture.

Now, lets set all of that aside and pretend we dont care about that.

The story covers things like caregiver burnout, domestic violence, sibling strains, depression, grief, platonic friendship and family relationships having value equal to romantic relationships. The content of the story itself is actually pretty decent if you can get past how aggressively modern it feels despite it being a regency historical.

Normally, I DNF anything thats way too crazy with being out of the time period because its distracting to me. However, in this case I kept going because I actually wanted to see how everyone's problems ironed out in the end.

This book might not be for everyone, theres definitely an audience for it. Its good enough that I stuck it out because I was interinterested, even though it is very modern and kind of American.

I have read another book by this author. A hocky romance about a fake Canadian boyfriend named Mike. This book has the same vibe, I didn't hate it though.

Soooooooo, I work in publishing on the self publishing side. I will obviously have stronger opinions because I see cover artists as people, very specific people I know and like.

With that said I'm really struggling to deal with the rise of AI covers, even from large publishing houses who I KNOW have artists on staff.

I bring this up because I just dropped a client who didn't want to take my advice to invest in a proper cover, done by an actual artists, prior to launching her book. I just don't want to have to push marketing with every 5th comment about the use of AI again. I dont want to have watch the writing scrutinized for AI use.

To be frank, the books.... particularly romance where the audience is almost entirely women that have AI covers do not sell as well and are plagued by AI discourse over the content of thr story.

This problem seems especially bad in historical romance. Do you pass on books that have obviously identifiable AI use on the cover? Was I dramatic dropping an author because the idea of another book launch where no one wants to talk about the actual book, just the AI use?

Whats the horniest book you have read. Im not talking about a book with sex from chapter 1-the epilogue.

Im talking about a horny book. Sexual tension, innuendo, yearning, small touches, excessive/ obsessive interest, masturbation with thoughts of.... like these characters are crazy into one another.

Im not saying no actual sex.... im saying im looking for a book with significant horny build up. ​

So, I was reorganizing my books and separating out my daughter's books/giving her a starter TBR of things I know she will like. As one does....

Now, I obviously went way way too far and there are books everywhere and I decided to dig around on EVERY book shelf like a shameless raccoon. Upon doing this I realized I own nearly Vivienne Lorret's entire catalog. Apparently, I love her. I only buy/keep books I love at this point because I work in publishing and get sent so sooooooo many books. I realistically cannot keep them all. I had to get picky.

I didn't even realize I'm Apparently a super fan of hers until I started making piles by author.

{The Wrong Marquess by Vivienne Lorret} is my personal favorite, but the entire mating habits of scoundrels series is great. I dont just own the whole thing, but i have three copies of {Lord Holt Takes a Bride by Vivienne Lorret} since I either have too many books, or amnesia and couldn't remember I already own it. Thats a great one too. She kidnapped him, then he kidnaps her back, then they like... uno revenge reverse kidnap. It makes sense when you read it.

{It Had to Be a Duke by Vivienne Lorret} is also a delight.

{The Devilish Mr. Danvers by Vivienne Lorret} its your typical he wants revenge on the FMC's whole bloodline, but he cant stop seducing her to save his life. He tries, he really cant stop.

Theres others, but I just feel like we arent talking about her enough.

So..... I think {About an Earl (What Happens in the Ballroom) by Diana Lloyd} might be the most miscommunication heavy book I have ever encountered.

It's consistently inconsistent also. Sometimes, the FMC magically finds two brain cells to rub together and understands conversation has to happen outside of her own brain. Then other times she overhears something, misunderstands it, then makes a rash decision twice in a row.... like the exact same thing twice within 60 pages. This happens shortly after she says something she knows could be misunderstood and quickly seeks the MMC out to explain.

Anyway, this takes place right when the American revolution is kicking off. The descriptions tend to be giving 1830's not 1760's though. There is narry a wig or powder mentioned. None of the men are in their fancy tippy toe shoes. Some of the "technology" is before its time. If you arent a stickler for that its fine. It doesn't make it unreadable.

The majority of the strain on the reader is the brain dead FMC.

Oh, and the MMC has a face scar. Face scar, face scar, face scar. Which I personally think would be less noticeable under a powder wig, and with him in some fancy heels.... you know, with some pantaloons and stocking. I'm just saying, maybe he wouldn't have to keep mentioning the scar every other page if he had a wig to wear. ​​

There, I said it. I think there are several of Julia Quinns books that are better, less formulaic, and dont feel like plot points are reused.

Did I dislike the Bridgerton series? No, it was fine. I finished all of the books, and Im not scared of DNF'ing things. There wasn't one I found amazing enough to buy a physical copy of. They are great books to listen to while you do dishes, or read before bed when you just want to relax. They arent BAD.

Its just, there are better. I even thought the Smythe-Smith prequels were more fun.

Now, what do i think are the best cuts in her catalog?

{The Secret Diaries of Miss Miranda Cheever by Julia Quinn}

{The Lost Duke of Wyndham by Julia Quinn}

{Mr. Cavendish, I Presume by Julia Quinn}

I just think shes at her best when the romance isn't the only story line going on. The extra intrigue when theres more going on than just a push and pull romance really makes her pop off as an author.

I haven't watched the show yet, should I watch the show? Is Anthony still a lil bit of a trash bag with his 'be my mistress' nonsense, or did Netflix gussy that part up? Tell me.

Im seeking books where the couple is running away to get married. Basically, they are trying to not get caught on the road to Scotland.

Theres no way this isnt a relatively common trope and I just haven't stumbled upon it yet.

The trip to get hasty married is basically my only criteria. I have no preference on pairings MM MF FF MMF FFF... . Really, skys the limit. Im just in it looking for a chase.

I cultivate my reading by season. I collect and tuck away books with themes or settings of Christmas all year round, I like to make a marked collection effort in July. Here's some of my favorites.

{The Girl is Not For Christmas Emma V. Leech} he's trying to reform, and shes just not making it easy. Its set at a Christmas house party.

{Duke the Halls by Felicity Niven} the MMC in this is super Autism coded. He runs away from his Christmas plans, and everything takes off from there. This one has class difference as the main issue.

Theres no parameters other than "Christmas". All different tropes, dynamics, and gendered couples welcome.