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hey @MaddieDucharme and @sethmaxon. so you put your foot in it yesterday and maybe you're wondering how to make it better (to be honest from the snide tone of your article and the few responses you deigned to give the romance community i'd guess you're not but...
i want to give you the benefit of the doubt). here's how you can fix it:
1) if you wanted to actually critique the Bridgerton series you could have absolutely done that. you could have tackled the handling of consent, the lack of diversity.
instead you went with:
1) if you wanted to actually critique the Bridgerton series you could have absolutely done that. you could have tackled the handling of consent, the lack of diversity.
instead you went with:
fabio (who hasn't been on a book cover in decades and isn't on this book cover so...?) and "ha ha sex".
2) you could have read MORE THAN 1 BOOK. imagine if i judged your entire career off your 1 shitty take of a slate article?
2) you could have read MORE THAN 1 BOOK. imagine if i judged your entire career off your 1 shitty take of a slate article?
for example you could have started with Bridgerton, then read:
Alyssa Cole, the Black woman you tried to hold up as the reason why we shouldn't be rightfully mad about your shitty article. She writes historical romance as well as diverse queer stories.
Alyssa Cole, the Black woman you tried to hold up as the reason why we shouldn't be rightfully mad about your shitty article. She writes historical romance as well as diverse queer stories.
Talia Hibbert is changing the landscape of our genre. she centres BIPOC and queer voices. she tackles mental health and celebrates neurodiversity.
if you wanted to read more ND characters in romance check out Helen Hoang. her debut The Kiss Quotient was life changing for me. not only did it celebrate neurodiversity it also has a sex worker hero.
looking for more sex workers in your books? lucky for you Rosie Danan has TWO of them. Rosie does a deep dive into sexuality, shame, and what it means to embrace the former and let go of the latter.
getting bored by my cis het suggestions? i've got a rec for that!
getting bored by my cis het suggestions? i've got a rec for that!
Olivia Waite writes sapphic historicals. i'd be remiss if i didn't mention Cat Sebastian or KJ Charles, who have a huge queer romance backlist! if you want queer contemporary, you've likely already heard of Casey McQuinston's Red White and Royal Blue and follow up One Last Stop.
how about Meryl Wilsner's Something to Talk About, which is just about the slowest burn possible with the best pay off.
what about Adriana Herrera?
and then of course, you could have just READ romance books. ANY romance books.
what about Adriana Herrera?
and then of course, you could have just READ romance books. ANY romance books.
yes. you used Bridgerton as a jumping off point but have you read Sherry Thomas? read her and know, like the rest of us do, that you will NEVER be as talented as she is and just feel blessed to exist in the same fucking timeline.
dabble with Kate Clayborn and fall in love with falling in love. pick up Jen DeLuca and visit a Ren Faire. try Rebekah Weatherspoon and understand eroticism.
you had an opportunity to be original and an opportunity to do better then so many journalists who looked at romance and thought they were better then us. i hope you'll still take it and once you've actually read romance then decide how you feel about the genre.
my recs are obviously lacking. with romance being the best selling genre in the industry, there are so many authors i haven't mentioned here and my list leans heavily on trad pub. if any of my romance friends have suggestions for recs i'd love to see them here too.
i'm not under the impression that maddie or seth have actually read this but if you have i look forward to the future when i will hopefully read your next, better informed, well researched take on romance.
and happy fucking valentine's day.
and happy fucking valentine's day.
in my ire it looks like i've tagged the wrong Maddie. my apologies @MaddieDucharme, you definitely didn't need to get dragged into this.
And slate's @MaddyDucharme this was for you and seth
And slate's @MaddyDucharme this was for you and seth
