Unexpected

Well, that was a surprise.

Hello readers,

As many of you have probably guessed, I am currently frantically writing this on the 13th after deleting my previously composed and planned newsletter containing the aforementioned part two of bridgerton adjacent recommendations. If you’re still looking for bridgerton-esq recs, please check here.

I still have a historical fantasy recommendation with no smut and a slow burn romance that has me clutching my chest, but more about that later— there’s controversy and also, I’m a part of a free book bash featuring an assortment of fantasy titles.

So, you know.

Let’s talk Bridgeton and historical romance, then about the Fantasy edition of Stuff your Kindle.

In which B. A. Lovejoy Reveals the Truth About Herself

Many of you are already aware of the fact that I am a huge historical romance fan. Many of you are also aware of the fact that I love bridgerton and have read through the whole series three times, including the two sequential series, and am currently on my fourth read through of the whole line.

Most of you, however, are not aware that I am in the majority of all reddit communities for historical romance and bridgerton, plus several discord servers, a few tumblr groups (unless they discontinued that feature again?), and so on.

I’m a weird woman.

And as a weird woman I woke up today, received my mandatory google news alerts (I have a google pixel—I’m afraid of most apple product!) and my stomach dropped at the Bridgerton news— you know, the Michael news.

Literally my only thought was, “everyone who read the books is going to be pissed, and everyone who read the wiki for the plot summaries because they couldn’t bother to read the books will also be upset.”

And so, fearing the worst, I opened instagram, went to Shonda and Julia Quinn’s pages and yep.

And then I went to Tiktok, and yep.

It’s highly controversial and the sort of thing that I really don’t want to touch with a ten foot pole because my main motto when it comes to writing and engaging in the bookish community is don’t be dumb.

And opening that can of worm or inviting people to open that can or worms through my channels is not a smart idea. So, I withheld my bridgerton recs and will roll out another historical adjacent romance newsletter later so no one can assume my position on anything.

Well, mostly anything.

Because I get to have another great news item today where I really have to lay in on something.

It’s Pride

As it is pride, I want to make sure to reaffirm my support of the LGBTQAI+ community, particularly of trans and nonbinary people, asexual individuals, and people of color within the community who suffer injustice on many fronts.

I also want to remind readers that sexuality comes in many forms and that the decision to come out and be visible is a personal one. You are not entitled to anyone’s sexuality nor to assume it. The decision to remain in the closet is a personal one, and people choose to remain closeted for a variety of reasons including personal and professional ones. We live in a diverse world, but not a kind one.

I want to really strongly emphasize this because unfortunately there is a small pocket of people in minnesota who are trying to pressure cities to celebrate dairy month instead of pride and/or protest twin cities and Rochester pride. (How they think signing a petition is going to work when twin cities pride is widely known to be one of the biggest and best in the midwest, I do not know.)

There are no words for how I feel about that or my lack of surprise.

With that in mind, I do not actually check the sexuality of the authors I read, and sadly I have not had many LGBTQAI+ reads this year— I’m looking forward to adding some, but I’ve actually not been as heavy on reading romance in general this year. I’m working on it, but still.

So, I’m defering to Bookriot’s list of LGBTQ+ romantasy reads, a well as their list of under the radar queer books, as well as telling you about the Bookshop and the Barbarian, a Sapphic romance that I’m afraid will ruin my life that also happens to be on kindle unlimited. I’ve been reading far slower this year, but it’s in my kindle library as we speak and will be picked up once I finish the Wolf’s Eye.

I again want to reaffirm that I do not in any way support anti lgbtq+ or poc language or actions and that I find it unfortunate that while Minnesota has a reputation for being a kind, progressive state, there are still persistent pockets of hate. Racism and homophobia are ugly things, and it is so genuinely disgusting that people choose to cause pain to others.

Another recommendation

The Witch’s Lens is a historical fantasy book with a tinge of slow burn romance taking place in another world around what would probably be our world war one, where a witch in hiding is chosen to join the front lines and solve the mystery of the dark magic beings that have begun killing soldiers. It’s currently available on Kindle Unlimited, and I’m addicted to the series and slowly reading through all of the author’s available works.

It does have a slower beginning, but the writing is absolutely beautiful, and I am beyond jealous of the front half of the book. It does get a little more whimsical fantasy towards the back, introducing more familiar yet possibly overwhelming elements and pretty much drenching a world that was originally like ours but with magic hidden in secret with magic and fantasy, but I still recommend it.

No spice, slow burn. I’m not being paid to promote the book, nor do I know the author, but I still love it.

Mandatory break for a fairytale fantasy event before we talk about the Fantasy Stuff Your Kindle Event.

Wow, look at this collection of fairytale fantasy book recommendations, including Alice. Many of the titles available are also on kindle unlimited. Find recommendations about an assortment of books like mine, many of which have kissing involved. Just click the image to be transported.

Fantasy Stuff Your Kindle

Fantasy Stuff Your Kindle is taking place on the 23rd of June, and features an assortment of free fantasy books on amazon that you don’t have to sign up for anything or give any information away to get.

This event includes fantasy novels in several genres, with fairytale, historical, romance, and new adult being some of the subgenres that I’m also involved in.

I’ll be sending out a newsletter the day of to remind everyone, as I do just about every stuff your kindle that I’m involved in, and featuring a few books that I’m interested in as well as books by friends for readers who feel overwhelmed and want recommendations or at least to get an idea of what someone else is picking up. I’ll also be sharing more in genre graphics that showcase some of the books involved.

I love events like this and the interactions they allow, as well as the life that they breathe into older series, allowing more people to experience Whynne and Alice, as well as a few others.

This is also the only event I’ll be taking part in for the summer as I take time to focus on drafting and life, so please check it out!