Exploring the Decline of Historical Romance

May 9, 2026annabowling Leave a comment

Today is the start of this year’s Tulip festival in the city where I live. We are across the street from the park (and down the block) so it’s not far. Housemate and I are going tomorrow. Real Life Romance Hero loved the tulip festival, so it’s going to be different going without him. It’s Housemate’s birthday tomorrow, though, so celebrating her will be fun. I will probably take pictures, and hopefully put something on Tik Tok. I am still figuring that out, but I am there, as anna_log_writes. Do I know what I am doing there? No. Am I having fun? I think so. If you’re there, I’d love to connect. Right now, I am mostly getting the lay of the land, especially as it pertains to Booktok.

One of the things I’ve noticed in my very brief time there, is that I’m not seeing very much about historical romance on Booktok. As I’m getting ready to oh so finally release A Heart Most Errant, this has become relevant to my interests. Not that there aren’t any, it’s that I would like there to be more.

Those who have been here for a while know that I am coming out of the biggest reading slump of my life. Things have of course changed since I was last able to read the way I like, and some of those changes are big. Harlequin Historicals, which I’d always appreciated offering a variety of historical settings, went first to nineteenth century only, and now are closing. Mass market paperbacks in general are a dying breed. Perusing shelves in book and mortar bookstores now show lots of contemporary, romantasy, and dark romance on the shelves, but I’m not seeing as much historical as there used to be.

Ask one hundred people why that is, and you’re likely to get a hundred different answers, at the very least. My educated guess? I’m not sure. I don’t know how history is being taught in schools/ Bridgerton is popular, sure, though not exactly my speed. The Sims 4 is even having a Bridgerton themed event starting on May twelfth. I will be playing that for sure, since Sims is my relaxing place, and it will probably also be fun.

Historicals in the here and now, however? That’s a topic I am investigating. Several of my favorite romance related YouTubers have had a lot to say, such as PeaceLoveBooks:

She’s got a lot of really good points, as usual. I wouldn’t say there’s nobody reading historical romance anymore. There are a bunch of us, reading and writing both, and that does extend beyond the nineteenth century. Medievals, ancient world, Tudor, Stuart, Georgian, Edwardian, US Western, Australia, the high seas, and pretty much any place on the globe, in any time before living memory. Right now, that sits roughly around WWII, which can feel modern to those of us who had parents who served at that time. Then again, WWII is a pretty popular era in historical fiction, which may or may not have a love story, which may end any sort of way.

Recently, I’ve noticed some of the historical romance authors I have followed for years, even decades, are taking well deserved retirements from the publishing world; Pamela Clare, Shirl Henke, Marsha Canham, and others. Others are coming back in fine feather. Danelle Harmon’s meta memoir, featuring characters from her beloved historical romances, is coming out at the end of the month, and I can’t be more excited. I gulped the ARC of that one, and it has me even more pumped for the next historical romance.

So, where am I going with this? I do not know. All I know is that I wanted to get a blog out this week, and here it is. Expect babbling, because that seems to come easily even when the brain fog is fogging. If you do follow any historical romance Booktokers, drop their names or links in the comments below and I will definitely check them out.

Mermay

April 30, 2026annabowling Leave a comment

So, tomorrow is May. I’d ask how that happened, but life is like that. For us planner and journal people, this becomes one of the highlights, because it means new themes, chances to play with our pretty things, etc. For this month, the theme is easy: Mermay. Mermaids. I love mermaids. Back when I was but a wee princess, someone gave me a book of British folklore, from the UK. We had a few family friends who were from the UK, so it may be from one of them. I was probably ahead of my peers when it came to knowing the difference between mermaids, sirens, and selkies. Also the whole manatee theory (yes, that is a nod to How I Met Your Mother. Still love the show, apart from the ending.) I don’t remember the name of the standup comic (likely from the UK as well) who talked about finding an old fur coat in the attic, then her dad got mad and nobody ever saw her mom again, but I very much got the joke. If you know, you know.

I am doodling more these days, largely when whatever is going on in my brain says “absolutely not” to sleep. That means time to watch some scripted drama and slap some shapes and colors on the page. I can sort of doodle mermaids, as in the tail half at the top or bottom (or side, come to think of it) going out of frame. We will see how that goes as the month progresses. Back when I was a teen, I used to doodle a lot more, often faces, not with any great detail, but it was fun and maybe a good thing to bring back into my repertoire.

Reading is, thankfully, back, which means May is a great time to take another look at some sort of reading journal…of which I have no idea how I want to set up. Probably watch a bunch of videos how other people do such things, make a couple of false starts and then hit my stride. Things usually work like that. My current romance read is Just in Time For a Highlander, by Gwyn Cready, the first in her Sirens of the Scottish Border series (nope, no mermaids, just time travel.) I love that the historical period in her time travels appears to almost always be the eighteenth century, but a little disappointed that there are no new titles since 2016. I am happy that I correctly guessed the heroines in the second two books, so looking forward to those.

Perhaps what has me most excited for May is that one of my top tier favorite historical romance and gothic authors, Aola Vandergriff, sadly no longer with us is now on Kindle Unlimited. Since some of her titles are very hard to find, and pricey, this is very, very, very good news for those interested in finally getting to read those. I have House of the Dancing Dead preordered for a May 8th release. Yes, I am excited. Yes, I will be dropping everything else to read this as soon as it arrives on my device. I also plan to reread the author’s Wyndspelle and McCleod Daughters series, historical gothic, and American historical romance saga, respectably. Probably all of her books, to be honest, because she is one of my top top top favorites and it has been a while.

That’s about it for today. I have a planner to prep for the new month, and Netflix and art journal sounds wreally really good right now. What are your plans for May?

Summer Vibes and Romantic Reads

April 14, 2026annabowling Leave a comment

Today feels like summer. I did not authorize that. I do have summer dresses on hand, so there is an upside to that. Today is blog day, so I am here, blabbering on the page.

Reading is looking up, after a library run. Current read is A Lady For a Duke, by Alexis Hall. This is not my first historical romance with a trans lead. That would be Artemis, by Jessica Cale. It will likely not be my last. It will assuredly not be my last Alexis Hall novel. I am thinking possibly Glitterland or Never After. I love the rich and intricate language the author uses, and oh my stars, the emotion.

A contemporary YA romance that I loved with similar vibes would be Birthday by Meredith Russo. Two leads who grew up together, loved each other deeply, yet something wasn’t quite right. Nobody is presumed dead in Birthday, but the intimacy of emotion, the shift in the relationship when one lead figures out something very important. Birthday does have a traditional HEA, likely much easier (though not exactly easy) in our modern day. I have questions about how things will turn out for Viola and Gracewood in A Lady For A Duke, but I this is a romance, so they will be together and happy about it, and that satisfies.

Also, Meredith Russo is on my auto-read list. If her name is on the cover, that is enough for me. I have already read her debt novel, If I Was Your Girl, and it looks like I still have some anthologies to read.

Also on my TBR are

A historical romance where both leads are Jewish? Yes, please. It looks like the first scene takes place in a synagogue, and there are more books in this story world. I am going into this mostly blind, ready to discover its delights. I am always up for recommendations of books with Jewish characters and would love to see more in romance. For a historical where being Jewish has a strong influence on the romance, I recommend A Bed of Spices, by Barbara Samuel. .This is a medieval, where Christian heroine and Jewish hero bond over a passion for medicine. Yes, HEA, but realistic for the time.

Third in line is Just in Time For a Highlander, by Gwyn Cready. I have been looking forward to trying this author for a while now, and greatly appreciate that I have stumbled upon a series starter. Scottish borders always mean lots of plausible conflict, and I love the idea of a historical reenactor finding themself plopped down in the middle of the real thing. Odds are high that I will like this.

For a Scottish time travel recommendation, I will suggest:

First in Terri Brisbin’s MacKendiman series, this came out in the 90’s, when time travel was so much of a thing that it had its own line. This was also my first ever Terri Brisbin, leading me to her historical and fantasy romances as well as time travel.

This is only my physical short term TBR. I am saving the e-book and audio lists for future posts. What’s on your TBR?

Bed Time and Other Stories

March 25, 2026annabowling Leave a comment

I am starting off with a cat picture because it’s been a while, she’s cute, and there is never a time when a cat picture is not a good thing, so hi. March sixteenth was the three-month mark of Real Life Romance Hero’s passing, and it hit hard. That was also the day that Housemate and our building super, Maintenance Dude, helped me get the old bed out of the apartment, and the next day, Housemate and I, with Storm’s help, put together the new bed. Lovely new memory foam mattress, and pink floral sheets I have wanted since I was but a wee princess. It’s comfy, it’s pretty, Storm has her big bed on it, and with my lap desk, the soft office is back in action.

new standalone (for now) novel from my contemporary cohort

New books are always a good sign. I am delighted for Melva over the release of Angel Whisperer, one of her solo titles. I would call this cozy romantic suspense with a dash of something extra. Melva wrote the first draft of this in our longstanding critique group, so I am very happy to see it out in the world for all to see. Review coming soon.

Spring does seem to be a season of new life. We are working on the reissue of Chasing Prince Charming, and doing some adjustments to the current draft of the third Love by the Book title, Queen of Hearts. Future Love by the Book titles are currently in discussion, so stay tuned.

Besides those, late spring or early summer will bring my first independent historical romance, A Heart Most Errant, which means that I need to get my ducks in a row for A Heart Most Ardent (I will get the hang of this series thing yet.) Thanks to the Write Stuff program in Romance Writers of America (RWA) I have been matched with a fabulous historical romance critique partner, Roma Cordon, which means back to work on my Georgian era Her Last First Kiss. If you like Georgian era Scottish historical romance with a little something extra, definitely give her a try.

This brings me to the newest news, that being my interview on Roma’s blog. This was super fun, and she asks great questions about writing with a partner versus writing solo, and about Drama King in particular.

Here is the point where I like to loop around to close where I started, so back to bed we go. I fully expect that having a comfy and lovely bed will indeed help make reading more comfortable, and dare I say even romanticized. The briar rose linen spray and lily shaped lamp definitely help in that regard. Tea will probably fit in there, but I need to get milk first, and possibly a petticoat or two of shortbread

How is your spring starting?

illustrated image of a redheaded woman writing in a journal as her calico cat observes. — as always, Anna

VT State of Mind

November 11, 2025annabowling Leave a comment

I have been thinking lately about Vermont. I lived there in my freshman and sophomore years of college, and fell in love with the place. It’s been a while since I’ve been back there, and never to the actual campus (well, two of them, but I am not sure on the plural of “campus.”) In a romance novel worthy bit, that school I went to before transferring to the school where I met Real Life Romance Hero? That was RLRH’s second choice school, so if he’d gone there, we would have met anyway. That’s not what I’m thinking about, though.

What I’m thinking about is that last night, we got our first snow. I did not get to witness it, that I was hard at work on Queen of Hearts edits, or I was before Melva found the draft I was supposed to be editing, which is now the job before me. We got snow flurries again today, nothing sticking, (please play an acoustic instrumental version of Noah Khan’s “Stick Season” softy in the background here) because of a delicious nap that can only happen on a gray November day.

But Vermont. The image that comes first to mind when I think of Vermont is the first time (there were more) I stood under a streetlight as the snow poured down, my head tilted up, captivated by the beauty of the snowflakes dancing their way down to earth. Vermont was where I learned that my favorite part of prepping the daycare classroom was mixing unique shades of tempera paints for the standing easels. Vermont was where I found a small used bookstore that became my second home, where my ire that there were Traditional Regency romances but no Traditional Tudors, Traditional Medievals, or Traditional Any Other Era, first took form. Vermont is where a friend chased me across campus to put what she promised would be one of my favorite books in my hand (she was right.)

Vermont was also where I wrote my first historical romance novel, now thankfully lost to the vicissitudes of fate. I would race back to my dorm from class, turn on the electronic typewriter (dating myself, but that’s fine. I’m delightful.) stick in a fresh sheet of paper, and off I went. In time, my dormmates figured out what I was doing, and it was common enough that I had an audience as I wrote. It’s not realistic to expect people to physically stand behind me, urging me to write faster, because they are reading the lines as they appear on the paper, but I can come close. This is the interwebs, after all. I do have a blog, and two websites, and the serial format does exist.

In a broader sense, I do associate Vermont with higher education, and that makes sense. It’s been a wild ride for the past few years. I prefer to think of multiple attempts to get back up on the metaphorical horse to point to a survivor’s spirit rather than a series of failures. I have been making notes lately on things I would like to blog (and vlog) about. There’s the fact that I feel like a stranger in a strange land in many bookish spaces. Mass Market paperbacks are no longer so “mass,” as trade size seems to be more prevalent. Historical romance is going through some changes (down but not out, broken bones heal stronger, all that) and I am back in the freshman phase of being the adult new kid once again. Now go make friends. Start with others in your major (genre? I am the very model of a modern major genre?) or those in your dorm.

The more I think on it, the more it fits. Beginner’s mind. Lots of reading. Take many notes. Talk to others doing the same thing I am. Study. Find your place. Fall down five times, get up six. Apple cider donuts are delicious (another important Vermont lesson) and the right hot beverage can be a boost like no other. This isn’t the blog I planned to post today, but it is the one that feels the most genuine, so this is what you get. Turned in on time is a good thing.

Welcome Back, Super Powers

September 23, 2025annabowling Leave a comment

Do not adjust your screen. This is really a blog post from me. There were leaves on the ground as recently as this past Saturday. I see hints of foliage in the trees around here. Our temperatures will be in the seventies or lower (Fahrenheit) for this entire week, and we are looking at sixties very soon, which will mean sending Koolio to his winter home (aka Housemate’s closet.) Our maintenance dude turned on the furnace. I had two cups of tea this morning and am currently wearing an oversized sweatshirt and leggings. The season of pumpkin spice and apple cinnamon is upon us. Store shelves have moved from back to school, to Halloween, which means time to stock up on things I will use all year long.

After watching a few (dozen) videos on turning a composition book into a more visual journal, I tried my hand at it, and it’s working extremely well. Plain pages don’t give my eyes anywhere to rest. The best stationery advice I have ever heard is that if I am stumped by a blank page, draw a box around it. There. It’s not blank now. The above is that, with decorative washi creating the box. Add some stickers, stamps, various ephemera, and pens with a bold nib — 1mm or higher– and I am off and running.

The book above is my landing pad, which means it gets everything that pops into my head, much of it to be transferred to its proper place at another time. I am one hundred percent more comfortable composing anything in longhand first. Once the whatever is on a page, I can move it to the dedicated one later. I work out a lot of stuff in this book, though I do have a separate place for mental health/therapy things. I grabbed a bunch of these books when they were on sale for under fifty cents a pop and know I am well supplied for the year to come.

Another thing that comes to mind this time of year is planners. I haven’t been clicking as well as I would like with my Happy Planners, though I will see out the year in the two I am using. For 2026, though, the above is what feels most natural. I eyeballed the layout of the Archer and Olive planner, available in dated or undated, and gave recreating it in a dot grid journal (also A&O) a whirl. It makes sense. It’s fun to decorate. The biggest change I made was splitting the section the printed planner calls “notes” into Saturday and Sunday, then using the bottom two sections, which the printed planner has labeled for the weekend, and making those my note section. I am equally comfortable with customizing the dated version or dating an undated one myself.

Since I am well stocked with journals (but never averse to adding to the family) I am leaning toward using what I have. This fits well with wanting to have separate home bases as it were for each individual project. I love what I am working on this autumn. I am currently reading a wonderful medieval romance ARC, and just finished listening to a medieval romance from a favorite author in audio, which added a whole other level to the experience. Reading is getting better, which I welcome. I have a contemporary Christmas romance novella on the front burner, the second novella in my medieval romance series queued after that, and then it’s back to my standalone Georgian romance, which has been waiting for far too long.

This week is our move-in-iversary, which I celebrate. Real Life Romance Hero and I are making plans to make the kitchen more usable, and more aesthetic. Housemate is working on her room, and I am fine tuning not one but two desks, one for my desktop and one for laptop and longhand. Fairy lights are involved in both, and milk crates are my friends. Other bits are slipping into my daily routines. Wax melts in autumnal scents, sweaters and blankets coming into play, and a tea cabinet well stocked for the season.

How is autumn finding you this year?

Intentional Writing: Writing a Holiday Romance

August 1, 2025annabowling Leave a comment

Finally, it is August, and I am doing what many of my romance writer comrades are doing- writing a holiday romance novella. This one will center around Christmas, for a planned collection my contemporary cohort, Melva Michaelian, and I have in the works for 2026. While we have written a novel with holidays in it (Queen of Hearts gets three holidays plus a wedding) this is the first time I have set out to write a story where the holiday is the whole point. Never mind that it’s technically a few days before the holiday story and most of it takes place in a car. (forced proximity, yep, plus second chance at love)

This time, I am being very intentional in my pre-writing, and paying attention to what works for me now. For new people, hi. I’ve been through some stuff and it kind of affects this writing thing. Anyway, this time around, I am leaning into the way that makes the most sense for me. This also plays into my desire and intention to use the good stuff because I am worth it, dangitall.

Part of that is setting up the sections I can envision myself reaching for/turning to, which I figure out by putting the blank dividers in, with filler paper that has nothing on it, and then see what I would like to have there. If that doesn’t make sense, that’s fine. It only has to make sense for me. Results may vary with others. Right now, I am working on my character lore.

Normally, when I am the only person writing the story, A) I am writing historical, and B ) I stare at the screen, making noises like “huh” when I run into something I don’t know. This time, I am going at the character lore (or backstory; I will use the terms interchangeably.) in a different way. Part of that is influenced by the improv class I started taking this past week (awesome, loved it, will probably blog about it more later) — think of the next obvious thing.

If my classmates noticed the lightbulb that popped up over my head when the teacher mentioned that, well, they rolled with it because that’s what one does in improv. When researching a historical romance, for instance, I have a framework of where I need to look for what I need to know about the people, places and things in my story. Contemporary, though, has always been different. It’s now. I live now. Shouldn’t I know about now?

Well, yes, but I am me. I was born where I was born, brought up the way I was brought up, and my characters are different people. The hero (I am Gen X; I’m going to say hero and heroine) has a different career than he did when the heroine knew him. Okay. How did he get to be a Career One Guy? What degree did he need? Where could someone who grew up where he grew up get one of those? When he changes to a Career Two Guy, not only why, but how? What does he need to do to get to do that? Commence searching. In most cases, a few clicks gives me what I need, because this story is about a couple (re)connecting and not their professional CVs.

I won’t go into all the questions I have been asking myself and/or the interwebs, but my goal is to create a master character sheet that I can use for all my projects, historical, contemporary, or otherwise. Things like birth order (it’s more than just first, second, third, etc) and enneagram, MBTI, archetypes, etc. I have books on all of those things, as well as history, and my beloved books of names from the dark ages to today, in various specificities. I don’t want e-book copies (though I may acquire some) and I don’t want to take out library copies (though I may, if absolutely needed) and I would prefer not to buy new copies. I want my copies.

The issue with that is that they are in the back of the storage unit, where we have not been since we started the dang thing. I don’t know exactly where I drew this line in the sand, but there I am, setting up the binder for this story, and I’m working on what I need to know about my characters, and I Want My Existing Books. This is not negotiable. This will involve blocking out a day or days to haul furniture out of the unit (it’s indoors, climate controlled) locate the research books and my top tier keeper classic historical romances, and Bring Them Home. (cue Alfie Boe’s “Bring Him Home” from Les Miserables)

There’s probably something symbolic about this, and I will be mentioning it to Therapy Dude at our next session. For right now, though, I will be taking it at face value, yes-and-ing the heck out of that and doing the next obvious thing. Behave as if. Tell the story I want to read. Hopefully, you’ll want to read it, too.

When do you, as a writer or reader, start thinking about holiday romances?

Typing With Wet Paws: Fully Nipped Edition

July 27, 2025annabowling Leave a comment

Tails up, Storm Troopers! I’m Storm, you’re awesome, and this is Typing With Wet Paws.

Mama Anna went to her first improv class in many cats last night, and she loved it and is going back next week. According to her, there were zero cats there, but she had fun otherwise. She also was working on her next project with Aunt Melva before and after class, and today, she worked on cover design for Aunt Melva’s nonfiction project. Safe to say there is stuff going on around here. In case you were wondering, I sat on the pizza box for about an hour. That’s how comfy Koolio keeps us here. The flowery thing behind me is Aunt Linda in her new dress. she looks nice.

Speaking of nice, I have a new toy. It has catnip in it and my humans tell me that Bigger Sister Olivia and Biggest Brother Ginger both loved this toy. Big Sister Skye was a straight edge kitty and did not indulge in catnip. This one was so nippy that I smelled it before it was even out of the packaging and came from another room to yell at Mama Anna to tell her that was mine and I needed it right away. Thankfully, she understood and opened it on the big bed so she and Aunt Linda could both watch me play with it. Papa is off at work. Suffice it to say I love this toy. It is great. I will be playing with it a lot.

Mama Anna and I binged a show on Netflix the other night. It is called The Survivors, and it is Australian. At first, she thought it was going to be some kind of zombie or adventure story. She likes both of those kinds of stories, but this show is not one of them. It is a drama, which Mama Anna also loves, and one of the characters appears to have some form of dementia, which she knows because of some people in her life. She says the representation there was excellent, both of the person with dementia and their caregiver. There was also a story about a missing person and an unalived person and some caves in the ocean. It also had two timelines, and she really, really likes two timelines.

She also finished The Survivor Wants to Die at the End, by Adam Silvera. It is number three in the Death-Cast series and she wants the next one right now, please and thank you, but it is not out yet. I suggested she read something else. Reading got hard again, but she is working on that. In case you want to read this series, she says it is one hundred percent a read in order series. I don’t know what book she will pick next, but probably a historical romance.

Oh wait. She is reading Tears of the Wolf, by Elisabeth Wheatley. It is a fantasy romance but heavily Viking-flavored. If you are new to this author’s books, this is a good place to start. She still wants to read a historical romance, so I will keep you updated on that.

What are you all reading this week?

Embracing Change: My Journey to a Fresh Start

July 1, 2025annabowling Leave a comment

Happy Canada Day to all who celebrate. June was an interesting month, so let’s call this a fresh start. Right now, my desk area, and most of the apartment, for that matter, looks like the middle of a hurricane, which means I am organizing stuff both physical and otherwise.

I can attribute part of this to the marvelous Eryka Peskin and her Reclaiming Your Dreams and Desires workshop, which is a-ma-zing, and I will be sharing some of my personal experiences with that in future entries here. She recommends starting a new journal for her workshops, and as a stationery dragon, I am waaay ahead of her on that front. Combine that with my current excitement over back to school season and other matters, and I have plenty of material for future journal posts.

As of last week, The Wild Rose Press has returned rights to Chasing Prince Charming, the first book in my Love By the Book contemporary romance series with Melva Michaelian, to us, the authors. If you haven’t yet grabbed your copy (hi, new folx) you will have about ninety days (more like eighty-three?) to get it from current sources. This does not mean the end of the story, of the collaboration, as Melva and I are going indie with the trilogy and beyond, so CPC will be available again, with hopefully a bonus epilogue. Our time with TWRP was lovely and hopefully, we can work with them again in the future. I will go into more details on Melvaandanna.com, because I find this new adventure actually exciting. We have many more ideas for couples in this story world to get their unique HEAs.

Then there are the historicals. I have had the rights back to My Outcast Heart and Orphans in the Storm for quite a while now, and they are in queue. I am most excited about getting my ducks in a row for A Heart Most Ardent (still dealing with red tape on the release of A Heart Most Errant) and finally, finally bringing Her Last First Kiss to fruition. There is new stuff brewing, and I love that feeling.

Storm will also be back at regular blogging this week, with lots of pictures and lots to say. I did not act quickly enough yesterday to capture her grand feat of turning my office chair so that she could sleep in it, not only directly in the sunbeam but directly in Koolio’s path. She’s a smart one.

Reading is coming back. I am still early chapters into Lace, by Shirley Conran, and am already super invested. I can already tell this is going into the idea soup already populated by The Wilds, Yellowjackets, and other similar shows, with a historical romance twist. I’m thinking gently-bred girls from some far-flung location, sent by ship to a fancy school in London, but a shipwreck delays things for a while. Better get an inbox started for that. I need to focus on the current projects first.

Gaming-wise, I am in love with the idea of a Sims 4 Forever Save. I may babble about that some here, possibly following one of my families. I think it has a lot to teach me about continuing story worlds. I still normally think in standalones, but this is a series market at the moment, so I want to find out how *I* do story worlds these days.

What’s going on with you?

YA Recommendations For Pride Month or Any Month

June 19, 2025annabowling Leave a comment

Back in 2013, I picked up Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell, because I was intrigued by the concept of the protagonist being a fanfic writer. I have ficced a few things in my day, so wanted to see how this would play out in an actual novel. Not only did I end up liking the book (and more by Rowell) but that started on me reading YA novels for the first time since I was a young adult myself. There is a bit of time in between those two things.

From there, I read more Rowell and beyond that, more YA. A lot of that has had LGBTQ+ flavor, be it the writer, protagonists, supporting characters, or all of the above. I’ve been wanting to make a post with YA recommendations for a while now (also classic historical romance, but that’s another story (pun intended.) Since we are in Pride month, I figure that’s a good place to start. I can definitely recommend other YA in the future. Believe it or not, there are quite a few YA novels that use fandoms as a large part of the plot, and you know I grab those as soon as I see them.

Whittling this down to five choices has been hard. I do have a larger list, which I can post later. For now, if I could only take five such books to a desert island, these would be the ones, in no particular order.

Told out of chronological order, we get to piece together the events that led up to Nathan, aka Nate, being violently attacked by his best friend, Cam. Heartfelt, angsty, taking an unflinching look at the intersectionality of Christianity and queerness (Nate is both) and what a battlefield adolescence can be for a lot of people. I also highly recommend Mr. Smedley’s other novel, Tonight ,We Rule the World (unrelated) A list of trigger warnings for both books can be found on the author’s site here.

*History is All You Left Me* — Adam Silvera

For this one, I will let my Goodreads review do all the talking:

In some alternate universe, I am still reading this book. In some alternate universe, Griffin and Theo and Jackson and Wade are together, in some configuration, as the complete squad. Heck, Jackson could pull in Annika and Veronika, though the gals are supporting characters, but that’s how relationships go sometimes.

Griffin and Theo and Wade were best friends, until Griffin and Theo came out to each other, at the same time. Griffin and Theo dated until Theo left for college on the opposite coast, but still figured they’d be endgame…until Theo met Jackson. Still, they were young, they had time to find their way back to each other…until Theo drowned, sending both Griffin and Wade spinning out of control, and toward each other. Griffin and Jackson should hate each other, but they both love (present tense) Theo, so that’s something, isn’t it?

It is something, but exactly what it is would be telling, and that’s not even counting the important part of the puzzle Wade has been holding onto all this time.

Emotional, engaging, and utterly filled with raw emotion, this book is a touching tale of friendship, first love, grief, and the new normal

My original Goodreads review:

This is one of the most raw, affecting, and poignant descriptions of grief I have read in a long time. I will likely write a proper review later, but I did read this book in one sitting. Quick read, and an extremely effective one, stark and cold as a lonely winter, but full of the warmth that comes from friendship and memory, with the sparkle of new beginnings.

I don’t want to think about this book right now, as I want to feel it a while longer. It’s one of those books, an unexpected treat wrapped around the nothingness and crushing weight of loss, the madness that comes in its wake, and the promise of a new normal.

I have indeed thought more about this book but have not written a proper review, but OOF. Our protagonist, Marin, left California with the clothes on her back to go to college on the East Coast. Now it’s Christmas break, and Marin is not going home. She is not going to her roommate’s home. She is staying in the dorm, the only student doing so, her only human companionship a visit from her best friend, Mabel, which means facing everything that made her flee like her life was on fire. To be fair, it kind of was. Nina LaCour wraps this all up in achingly beautiful prose. Be prepared for gut punches and a happy cry at the end.

Dual timelines. Two queer women, sixty years apart, and the pulp novels that tie them together. Once again, I need to write a fuller review, but here’s this for now:

Better review coming later, as I want to hold onto the feeling of having read this book for a while before sharing my impressions, but I knew I had to read it as soon as I first saw the title. Modern day Abby discovers the world of 1950s lesbian pulp fiction, and sets off on a quest to not only write her own novel in the genre, but discover what happened to the author of her favorite pulp novel, who disappeared after only one release. That alone makes for an interesting storyline, but when Robin Talley adds the second point of view, that of the abovementioned author, and that author’s own entrée into the world of the pulps, and weaves in the novels both women write, what we get is a nuanced story on a greater scale.

This book has a lot of what I love best about historical fiction with romantic elements. There may not always be a happily ever after for the couples involved (especially f/f couples in the 1950s) but there is love, and the history directly impacts the relationships of all couples, in both timelines. Though I don’t know much about this area of history, the story, and characters, spurred me to research and learn more about the era and people that created this branch of pulp fiction. That research led me to pick up on some of the Easter eggs (I am sure there are more) sprinkled throughout, referencing real life components of the genre and its time.

Update: Yep. Buying my own copy to annotate. Talley gets it right about the impact a genre can have on a writer.

*How They Met and Other Stories* — David Levithan

This feels like cheating, as it’s not a novel but a short story collection, but if I could have only one Levithan, it would be this one. Very, very, very short review on this one, which I will let stand, as my advice is to go in blind.

I am head over heels in love with the way David Levithan uses language and how he taps into the raw, bleeding hearts of young lovers. Some of these loves turn out well, some don’t, and every point in between, but this is an unforgettable collection that will stay with you long after your first read.

My favorite story in this collection is “Breaking and Entering.” I don’t think I have healed fully yet from that one, and I can identify with both characters.

~*~

Five books is, of course, only scratching the surface. Keen observers will notice this list skews heavily toward emotional and angsty, though that is not at all the only option for YA, or even for the authors listed here.

What are you reading these days?

Typing With Wet Nails

for the love of romance

romance