Romance Trends, Tropes, and Themes that I Do Like

I recently made a post about romance trends, tropes, and themes that I don't like. I figured that to balance that out, I should make a post sharing those that I do like! While we're past Valentine's Day, and February is over, I think we can celebrate romance and love all year round, including the awesome love and romance books that captivate and entertain us.


Disclaimer: My opinions shift around a lot. What I love today, I might hate a few months from now. Also, just because I mention a certain trend, trope, or theme, doesn't mean that books without these trends, tropes, and themes are somehow lesser. I love, and have loved, many books that don't feature any of the following!

Diversity 

 I love reading books with diverse or minority characters! I especially love it when a book contains characters of all different skin colours, genders, and sexualities. I love seeing books that take a step away from the general, heterosexual, white, perfect-body romances. Of course I enjoy many books that aren't diverse, but it's exciting to see a bigger selection of different kinds of romances and characters!

Polyamory

 

 I've been reading more books featuring polyamorous romance and I love it! I've always thought that its weird that everyone can love multiple siblings or friends or parents, but we act like its strange to love more than one person romantically. I love reading about groups of people who love each other. The Hostage Bargain is the first book in a series about one woman and her three lovers, and its often very sweet and I love it!

Paranormal romance

I love a good contemporary romance, but paranormal romance holds a special place in my heart. I enjoy reading about romantic tension, but I also love vampires. Put those two things together into a good paranormal romance and you've got me satisfied. 

Enemies to Lovers

I like books where the main characters start out as enemies of some kind, but end up in love. I think the journey from hating each other, to loving each other can be beautiful, scary, exciting, and hopeful. 

Dark Romance

 

Dark romance is my guilty pleasure! I love romances that take place in dark situations, with less-than-moral characters and taboo themes. Some people might find themselves upset by the content in these books (which is fine, we all have our limits) but I like the way that these books take me out of the real world, out of my values and beliefs, and take me to a purely fantasy world, even if the setting is simply contemporary. A great example is Captive in the Dark. 

So what do you think of these trends, tropes, and themes? Are you also a fan of any of them? 

Happy reading, everyone!

Top 5 Favourite Bookstore Names

Hey everyone! I've come across lots of awesome bookstore names and I wanted to share five of my favourites with you. Unfortunately, I haven't actually been to every bookstore on the list, but I hope to visit them all someday!

1. Murder By The Book

2. Carpe Librum Books

3.  Indigo

4. Shakespeare and Company  

5. Novel Idea 

What are some of the awesome bookstore names you've come across? 

Discounts & Deals

Today I wanted to discuss discounts and deals on books and where to find them!

One site I subscribe to is BookBub. I'd say its basically the same as eBookStage, another site I subscribe to. Both are free for readers to use.

I get daily emails from both alerting me of deals in my favourite genres, and while both usually show me the same deals, sometimes one will have a listing which the other does not. This makes subscribing to both worthwhile.

Deals generally cover all eBook options from Kindle to Kobo to Apple iBooks. One difference is that for the author 'follow' option, there is a larger selection on BookBub than eBookStage.

A newer site similar to these has been brought to my attention. Book Swag is also free for readers to subscribe to, and lists discounts and deals on various books. It's rather new and there does not appear to be many listed deals as of yet, but as time goes on, I'm sure it'll grow and prove to be just as useful for the reader as BookBub and eBookStage. A bonus, for myself personally, is that I love the aesthetics of the site itself. I can't speak to the quality of the actual service, but I'm going to give it a try!

What sites or services do you use to keep track of the latest book deals and discounts? Let me know in the comments.

Banned Books?

So I was reading a post about banned books on bookjourney.net and it got me thinking....

I am 100% against censorship when it comes to books. While I may not enjoy every book, I feel that all books are a work of art. Somebody took their time to write something, to express something, to spread ideas and provoke thought....and I feel that every author has the right to have their work out in the world, shared for others to enjoy, critique, or recommend.

I understand banning books under certain circumstances, such as an elementary or high school banning books due to inappropriate content for the age range. But I feel this is the only real, acceptable excuse for banning books.

Click here for a list of frequently challenged books by decade.

Click here for a list of frequently challenged books of the 21st century.

Click here for a list of banned and challenged classics.

I'm surprised by some of the books that have been challenged or banned. The Goosebumps series by R.L Stine? The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie? Twilight by Stephenie Meyer?

In the end, I find banning books is generally a silly practice meant to silence voices, prevent diversity, prevent free thinking and diversity of thought, and to control through censorship. In other words, I don't like it.

What are your thoughts on banning books? What's your favourite banned book? Comment below!