* Instant NEW YORK TIMES and USA TODAY bestseller ** GOODREADS CHOICE AWARD WINNER for BEST DEBUT and BEST ROMANCE of 2019 ** BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR* for VOGUE, NPR, VANITY FAIR, and more! *What happens when America's First Son falls in love with the Prince of Wales?When his mother became President, Alex Claremont-Diaz was promptly cast as the American equivalent of a young royal. Handsome, charismatic, genius—his image is pure millennial-marketing gold for the White House. There's only one Continue Reading
Top Ten April 17, 2020
I've read at least ten books (current and back list) that I want to tell y'all about but also every day is exhausting. I hope everyone is staying at home as much as they are able, washing hands, and being healthy. So instead of a round up and mini-reviews, here is today's Top Ten. 10. This video had me cackling. 9. File this under cats with jobs 8. Is she wrong though? 7. This is just adorable 6. I just finished Nadiya's season of GBBO recently. I am so excited about this Continue Reading
Guest Post: Feeling My Way Home by Alice Archer
Where is home for you? Are you happy there? Over the two years I wrote The Infinite Onion, I thought a lot about Home with a capital H, wondering if a deep feeling of Home would be possible for me after living in eighty places in three countries. I felt homeless in a conceptual way, and longed for an easy answer to my dilemma of where to settle, where to put down roots for good. Storytelling, especially the long form of a novel, allows me to explore extremes to a degree I can’t in real Continue Reading
Guest Post: Strong Female Characters by Cecelia London
There’s a certain difficulty inherent in being a strong female character. Their complexity leaves them vulnerable to criticism, and we all know that complex women bear the brunt of criticism more frequently than complex men. Strong female characters are not allowed to be too angry, too aggressive, too sexual, too anything, while the over-the-topness (yes, I just created a new word) of strong male characters (alphas, if you will) is overlooked or even praised. But the complexity is worth Continue Reading
Smexy Deals
"Jessie Mihalik is an author to watch.”--Ilona Andrews, #1 New York Times bestselling author To save her brother and protect her family’s future, a powerful princess must join forces with a dashing man from her past in this thrilling space adventure, the second novel in the Consortium Rebellion trilogy.As the dutiful daughter of High House von Hasenberg, Bianca set aside her personal feelings and agreed to a political match arranged by her family, only to end up trapped in a loveless, Continue Reading
Guest Post: Blending Hard Topics with Romance by Jennie Davids
Thank you so much for having me here today. I was invited to talk about how I blend hard topics and romance in my Thorn & Thistle series which follows the queer women that work in a tattoo shop. Two books into the series and I’ve already tackled cancer, alcoholism, and the death of a parent. Those topics might not scream romance to some, but they do for me. In fact, as I’ve learned when I try to write lighter things and failed, they are a necessity. For me, the presence of heavy subjects is Continue Reading
Smexy Deals!
Wanted: Personal Buffer Often snarly, workaholic executive seeks “buffer” from annoying outside distractions AKA people. Free spirits with personal boundary issues, excessive quirks, or general squeamishness need not apply. Salary negotiable. Confidentiality required. Workaholic billionaire Sawyer Carlyle may have joked he needed a buffer from their marriage-obsessed mom, but he didn’t need a waiting room filled with candidates to further distract him. Continue Reading
Smexy’s Top Ten 3/10/2020
10. Have y'all seen this? CLEAR YOUR MF’N SCHEDULEShttps://t.co/12HmmlaFSI— Jennifer Laughran (@literaticat) April 8, 2020 9. Soooo, my week has basically been watching Netflix or cute animal videos. This made me smile. 'Peanut, get out of that mud puddle.' 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 pic.twitter.com/t3oGeGrS3k— Southern Sister Resister (@ResisterSis20) April 6, 2020 8. So damn cute. This morning's mental health must: what Continue Reading
Smexy Deals!
The truth won’t set me free—but it will probably get me killed ... As Gin Blanco, aka the assassin the Spider, I’m used to having a target on my back. But ever since I started investigating the secret society known as the Circle, that target seems bigger than ever. Still, I’m trying to relax and enjoy the events leading up to my friends’ wedding when I learn that an old enemy has returned to Ashland. And that’s the just beginning of my latest nightmare. Soon, I have Circle goons watching Continue Reading
Smexy Rewind April 10
I have nothing fresh for y'all today so I thought I would take a look back and see what we were talking about on Smexy in years past. If I skipped a year it is because there was no post. I hope you enjoy this glimpse into the past. 2018- Review: It Happened in the Highlands by May McGoldrick 2017- Review: At Attention by Annabeth Albert 2016- Smexy Scene Sunday Hard Ball by CD Reiss 2015- Smexy’s Top Ten – April 10th 2014- Review: Special Interests by Emma Barry 2013- Ten Continue Reading