u/Gum-Fairy

I read a dystopian short story in college alongside Franz Kafka's "The Law." It was written in the mid-1900s. The most significant part (that pretty much made my jaw drop open because it was so accurate) was a man reading something in the newspaper and thinking he would decide what to believe after he watched TV and saw the broadcast's opinion. Again, it was a short story--not a full-length book like 1984, Fahrenheit 451, The Trial, We, Animal Farm, or Brave New World. It wasn't Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegat.

I described it to ChatGPT, which is actually helpful sometimes, but it didn't help.

If you have a very niche taste of wanting all the romance and romantasy tropes (shape-shifter, one bed, handcuffed to him, kissing lessons, etc.) but zero spice, try author Mary Mecham. Her writings are exciting and swoony. She does fairy tale retellings targeted towards young adults, and they're dark, but so far, there's nothing I wouldn't allow my kids to read. (I'll edit this if I read another book of hers and my mind changes.)

I know the tropes, like a shape-shifter, sound impossible to have without getting spicy or inappropriate, but she makes it work.

And be warned... she has an Instagram account with A LOT of followers, and if you say something negative about her or her books, she'll probably find it funny and put it in a reel. If you don't want that happening to you, just leave a rating and move on with life.

(Personally, I've resolved to always review self-published authors to support them IF their books are at least 3/5 stars. If the book is 2/5 or 1/5, I just rate and don't review it. At least it has another rating on Goodreads and people can see that it wasn't read by only family members and friends who automatically liked it 5/5.)

TLDR: as I've read her books and watched her content, I've realized this is a very specific area and someone out there might be wanting a dark romantasy w/o spice but still not know about Mary Mecham. I love what I've read of her so far.