u/LAffaire-est-Ketchup

I’m looking for a very specific type of story:

I want a hateful, grudge-filled small town who HATES the MMC, the way everyone hates FMC in {This heart of mine by Brenda Novak}, but not for a real reason. I want small-minded small town folks who decided that MMC is bad news. Not some cutesy small town, with kind people.

But FMC needs to be liked by the townspeople — and fall for MMC anyway.

And here’s where I get more specific: I want the FMC to be in DANGER but the townspeople misunderstand and think MMC is the problem, but he wants to save her

❌ Bad Boy MMC (he doesn’t deserve the hate

❌ no one hates the FMC!

✅ Mean, quick to judge small town like in {Cain: a short story by Maya Alden} except MMC instead

✅ FMC in danger!! (Not from MMC)

❌ no cheating

❌ no RH or poly

Thank you!

I want rockstar/popstar but not JUST that. I want specifically the OTHER partner not knowing that they’re famous when they first meet and begin to fall in love.

❌ {If you don’t love me we both die by CM Stunich}
She knows he’s a pop star before they meet, so not like this!

✅ {The Comeback by Lily Chu}
She doesn’t know he’s famous at all!!

✅any pairing m/f, m/m, f/f etc

❌no cheating

❌no poly OR RH

❌no real people!!

Thank you!

I’ve been yearning for a MMC that is celibate for a long time (maybe he’s Demi, maybe he’s got other priorities) but everything changes when he meets FMC. I want someone a relationship that people are SURPRISED to see. Maybe they figured he’d “do his duty” someday with a ton marriage but never imagined he would be…obsessed/into someone.

Examples:

{Slightly Dangerous by Mary Balogh}

Wulfric’s family is surprised and pleased that he is into Christine (he has been celibate for I think 10 months since his mistress passed away)

{Manic Pixie Dream Earl by Jenny Holiday}

Effie’s friends are kinda surprised but happy to see him fall for Julianna. (He’s a virgin)

I really want that reaction from family or friends!! This is an important part (and literally the only reason I didn’t say M/M — so if you have a queer story like this, I am interested!)

No cheating please!

Thank you

There I marked it spoiler.

{Cherry Baby by Rainbow Rowell} is a bait and switch. The blurb suggests that it’s about a woman moving on from a bad marriage with an old crush, but then if you sacrifice your sanity to the pathetic whiny mess that is her main character (“oh NO! I’m fat! I’m so fat” 24/7) then you are disappointed with the realization that actually no, this is a hot mess taking back her loser hot mess husband.

I hate it. I’m returning it to the store and never buying another Rainbow Rowell. And I’m taking note off the publisher as one that CANNOT be trusted with blurbs

I picked up {Cherry Baby by Rainbow Rowell} and I have rarely been this pissed off at a book that I haven’t even read yet.

I always check reviews just to make sure I’m prepared for anything that I might find triggering — I don’t always want a full spoiler, but I just want to know if I need a box of tissues (for tears you perverts!) or a fluffy book ready for after wards.

But what I learned about this book? The blurb on the back says that she is divorcing and she meets up with her college crush who “sees her.” It MORE than implies that this is a second chance and she will be getting together with college guy.

BUT INSTEAD SHE GETS BACK TOGETHER WITH THE EX!!

I was so mad that what I was sold is not what I’m getting. Honestly I wouldn’t have even bought this book if I knew that.

What books have you been tricked by?

I reread {What I did for a Duke by Julie Anne Long} because I find it absolutely delicious that Harry gets a taste of his own medicine >!by Genevieve dumping him for the Duke, after he told her he planned on proposing to Millicent JUST TO FIND OUT IF SHE CARED!<

My discussion questions are these:

1. How do YOU feel about Harry Osborne and his >!plan!<?

I really don’t like him. And I’m GLAD he’s not the MMC.

2. Does heartbreak make a person more interesting?

Genevieve thought to herself >!”that heartbreak might just give his character the shadows and corners and angles it needed to make it truly interesting. To deepen and shape it.!<

Is she just consoling herself or does she have a point?
I suppose that >!Harry won’t pull that stunt with the ‘I’m going to propose to someone else’ trick again…!<

I searched first, but what I have in mind is a heroine who is considered “a lot” and who worries that her own natural exuberance and impulsivity make her “too much.” I’m looking for more books with this type of FMC.

Examples:

{The Famous Heroine by Mary Balogh}

A heroine who cannot resist trying to help people and animals — even when it risks her socially or even risks her life.

{Maid of Disaster by Poppy Fairweather}

A heroine who jokes a lot because she has trauma from all the times people (her sister, her ex) have called her “too much,” and said that she makes everything about her.

The Heroine who is too much:

- might have ADHD (but not necessarily)

- has an exuberant personality — cannot help herself from speaking up out of turn, or acting out

- may be perceived as a “bitch” by some other characters but is actually a nice person who only lashes out when she is scared and trying to protect herself (because she assumes everyone is looking down on her)

- is chaotic and somewhat disastrous on occasion.

CR/HR/Romantasy all welcome
Please no cheating, no poly or RH. Thanks

This is everything I remember:

- MMC is acting in a popular series
- he is on some sort of chat (website? Discord? I don’t know) for the fandom under a pseudonym and no one knows it is him.
- FMC is a fan or something, and something she said or wrote about it made people mad
- the angry people criticized FMC for her plus size body in some way
- This made MMC ask her out for a very public date.

I know someone recommended it recently here but I couldn’t find the post…

I absolutely love stories that are basically WHAT IF Ebenezer realized he screwed up by caring more about money than Belle waaaaaay sooner, and was able to get her back?

An example of this is {Felicity Cabot sells her soul by Aydra Richards} — Ian keeps putting off their wedding to make more money, and decides he’s going to move to London to make LOOOOTS OF MONEY, even though Felicity’s home is nowhere near there, and she’s a teacher. 7 minutes after she dumped him, he realized he was wrong — and he spent the next decade (until the beginning of the book) figuring out how to get her to talk to him again.

- Doesn’t have to be Historical, contemporary, fantasy or sci-fi are ok too

- NO other relationships by EITHER in the interim if at all possible

- no cheating

- no poly or RH.

Here is what I’m looking for (it’s pretty specific)

MMC is EXPECTED to become engaged to someone that his family wants him to marry. There is no engagement yet, and he HAS not been courting the woman he’s expected to become engaged to. This would be like Jeremy Vance ten years ago, in {A foolish flirtation by Alice Coldbreath} but I want a guy who MANS UP and decides he’s going to marry FMC *instead* like in {A devil in silk by Adele Clee}.

- It is ok if that doesn’t happen until later in the book, but I want it BEFORE the engagement to OW is announced.

- please no cheating. Only OW is the one he barely knows and is not interested in

Thank you!!

Have I got your attention yet?

I reread {The Chief by Monica McCarty} and I feel like this book is emblematic of the misuse of the “childfree” tag on romance.io. I have noticed recently that unless the FMC is actively pregnant during the main part of the book, the childfree tag is selected on EVERY SINGLE BOOK.

In The Chief, Tor (MMC) has two sons (11 and 13) but they are being fostered elsewhere. He and Christina (FMC) never use any form of birth control, and in fact, she is pregnant in the epilogue.

Obviously, using it on EVERY book kinda makes it useless, doesn’t it? Because it’s not used because the book is childfree.

Also can we discuss exactly what constitutes child free? Because silly me, I assumed it needed these ingredients:

- main characters actively trying NOT to have children or past childbearing age*

- the main characters do not HAVE any children (present or elsewhere)

- the main characters have expressed at some point that they DO NOT want children in the future

* infertility is NOT the same thing, and frankly unless the infertile person never wanted children, it’s offensive to put infertile characters in this category.

I like reading with or without kids, but I’m getting sick of tags misused because I use them to decide whether to read books or not, and frankly when I see childfree sometimes I’m in the mood and sometimes I’m not but it’s frustrating when the tag doesn’t match the book (which has been happening a LOT)

I swear I’m not coming up with this out of nowhere.
In A Christmas Carol, Ebenezer Scrooge’s fiancée breaks it off with him because he keeps putting off their marriage so he can earn more money. All he seems to care about is money. I’ve already read one book that takes this premise as the initial relationship, and runs with it - as in the OG, Scrooge doesn’t get the girl.

In {Felicity Cabot sells her soul by Aydra Richards} she does a second chance romance with this being the reason they initially failed. I’m just wondering if there are other historical romances that are inspired by THIS particular aspect of A Christmas Carol: the obsession with money breaking up the couple.

Please no cheating, no poly, and ideally BOTH people celibate while they are apart.

I found it! My slumpbreaker!!

{This girl is not for Christmas by Emma V Leech} starts with Livvy’s brother Charlie bringing home his acquaintance/rescuer at school “friend” King. King is struggling badly with alcohol withdrawal, and basically drops him in her lap to care for until he’s better. Despite being an Earl, King is broke because his father cut off his allowance when he refused to agree to (eventually when she comes of age) marry a girl who was 13 now while he was 32. Livvy’s brother is a spendthrift, a poor investor and a complete ninny. His wife (who he can’t stop knocking up, 8 kids and counting) barely spends time with the children, does none of the household work that the mistress of the house should be doing, and has an extensive collection of beautiful gowns and jewels while her children’s clothes are threadbare.

Anyway, this book takes place over Christmas and new year’s and our MCs start to fall for each other pretty quickly, but then of course the big quandary is how they could ever be together — because neither has any money.

It was the perfect antidote to all the cynical books I had been reading before. This book was so hopeful and loving, and filled with King’s discovery of what it’s like to feel like part of a family.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ out of ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I know it’s July. But I am in pain and depressed and in a terrible book slump. So I’ve decided to read Christmas books. I found a lot of FLUFFY, happy, cozy ones (and borrowed them) but what I would REALLY like is something a little more adventure/thriller background for the romance. Obviously the romance is the most important part; and the adventure should exist to put them together, make them closer, etc.

- maybe they meet-cute, or meet AGAIN in the midst of some sort of adventure? I’m thinking like the movie Kiss Kiss Bang Bang where RDJ meets Michelle Monaghan (his childhood BFF) right when they both wind up caught up in a murder/missing person’s case.

- absolutely NO CHEATING or OW/OM.

- murder is ok, kidnapping is ok, but I am not up for SA of the MCs.

Thank you!

I am in a terrible slump. I have been DNFing books left and right. Help me out.

What is your go to book to fix a slump? Popular rereads are ok too.

No cheating and no long separations or “separated seeing others” please.

I just finished reading {A hint of scandal by Fil Reid} and I don’t know why I bothered. It has the SAME problem as the last book I read by this author {An unusual wager by Fil Reid}: pacing gone berserk.

The blurb for this book says:

Fate throws a shy wallflower into the path of a handsome wounded soldier. Major Max Aubrey, invalided out of the army, has to marry before he turns thirty in a few months' time—or he'll forfeit the property left to him by his late father. Along with his much older brother, the Earl of Westbury, his mother and sister-in-law are determined he should marry forthwith and receive his inheritance. It's with marked reluctance that he agrees to escort his sister-in-law and niece to London for the season. Serafina Gilbert, the orphaned half-sister of Sir Ogden Gilbert, is very much the poor relation in the Gilbert family. When the parsimonious Ogden takes a small house in London for the season, he and his wife, who hates Serafina, bring her along so she can act as an unpaid companion to their oldest daughter. Being already twenty-two, Serafina has had it drummed into her that she's an unattractive old maid. At her first ball, Serafina bumps into Max. When they both inadvertently end up escaping to the safety of the dark summerhouse, Max offers to escort her to the British Museum. Each acknowledges, without saying anything, that they're attracted to one another. After Serafina accepts Max's almost businesslike proposal of marriage, his mother invites her to visit Bratton Park, the seat of Max's ailing brother. There, they discover the earl has a problem that could cause a terrible a woman is claiming to be his lawful wife. And now, it seems, she's determined that her adult son is the true heir to the earldom. Suddenly, it falls to Max and Serafina to discover the truth before they can even think about the growing—and real—feelings between them.

But the vast majority of this? DOES NOT HAPPEN UNTIL 70% into the book. The first 70% is just “boohoo, my family sucks but I can’t tell anyone” and “no one could love me because my family says I’m poor and ugly” (FMC) or “no one could love me even though I’m super hot, because my one arm doesn’t work” (MMC). They don’t get engaged and go to see his family home until 70%. They don’t find out about The Mystery that was IN THE BLURB until 74%. Did I mention that these percentages are counting the preview chapter for another book?!!! I mean, I can let go of the editing problems (the FMC’s brother is her brother then her uncle then her brother, her niece is named Hetty for 3 pages then back to Letty), but the pacing? Nope. Nope. Nope.

This is the second time that I’ve wasted my time reading a book by this author and had slow slow slow followed by “oh shit, better cram the whole plot into all the pages I have left!!” I’m done giving Fil Reid chances.

I had no idea this was coming out until it popped up today!! It has my FAVOURITE trope: best friends in love.

{The subtle craft of courting Kate by Aydra Richards} is about Lord Elliot, the son (and now brother) of a Duke, and his best friend Kate, who is the daughter of the late vicar in his father’s village. Elliot has loved Kate since he was 13. But he just has NO IDEA how to go about convincing her of that, because she seems to take all his hints as a joke. She is 27, and since they grew up together I think they must be very close in age. Anyway, Elliot convinces Kate that he needs her to go to London with him (and her mother for chaperone), so that she can pick out a wife for him.

This is simultaneously a brilliant idea — because he can spend so much time with her this way (staying at his brother, the Duke’s townhouse) — and a really really awkwardly bad idea, because she’s actively trying to “help” him.

- naturally Kate gets jealous AF, but because she’s not of the same class, keeps believing she hasn’t got a chance and she will have to watch him marry another woman before losing him entirely.

- Elliot gets jealous that other men are asking her to dance, and enraged when one of them is actually trying to butter her up so Elliot will marry his sister.

My favourite things:

- Elliot is a little ray of sunshine >!when he’s not worried that he will lose Kate!<

- Elliot and Kate >!are both virgins. Aydra never uses the V word but makes it clear that all of their education is from books!<

I really really liked this book.

I’m looking for books where the heroine (or hero, I’m cool with either) is given as a SACRIFICE to a creature/god(s) to protect the people. The relationship needs to save the sacrificed/would be sacrificed individual from death. It’s ok if there isn’t actually fantasy, and the villagers are just deluded too!!

Examples include:

{Once every never by Lesley Livingston}

{Mountain of dragons and sacrifice by Tara Grayce}

Ideally, I’d like to find one that ISN’T YA (both of the above are YA). I like smut, but I’m ok with lesser spice. But can there be grownups?

Please no:

RH

Poly of any kind

Cheating