Thanks to the popularity of the Bridgerton TV show adaptation, more readers are discovering the historical romance genre. Steamy love stories with dukes, waistcoats, and forbidden romance, plus a happily ever after guaranteed... What's not to love?Well, as you dig through those HistRom recs, very soon you realize that they only feature one type of love. The white cis-heterosexual love. Traditional romance publishers...
[INTERVIEW] Alicia Jasinska - The Midnight Girls
November 08, 2021 / BY Frankie
🌙🌙🌙Cover designed by Nicole Hower with art by Charlie BowaterEarlier this year I received an ARC of The Midnight Girls by Alicia Jasinska. It's an upcoming YA fantasy featuring two rival witches who fight, flirt, and fall in love to the backdrop of 18th century Poland. I was already a fan of the author's debut The Dark Tide (also featuring sapphic witches), and...
5 Books with Dark, Vicious Fae
October 26, 2021 / BY Frankie
YA fantasy has romanticized the fae so much that they're now associated with humanoid sexy beings rather than the nasty, inhuman tricksters of yore. While the fae characters in this list may also be complex beings that are sometimes smoochable, they are definitely not tender or selfless, and you can tell. Beware, as these stories have a darker tone. The YA category doesn't...
Most military fantasy, like most Adult fantasy in general, is written by cishet white men. And as a consequence, they bore me to death. Whether that's because there are zero female characters with depth, or because they just care more about tanks than emotions, the reasons vary. I'm super picky with my grimdark fantasy for similar reasons. While I LOVE the genre on...
[BLOG TOUR] The Dragon of Jin-Sayeng by KS Villoso
May 10, 2021 / BY Frankie
The Dragon of Jin-Sayeng is the third and final book in the Chronicles of the Bitch Queen trilogy by K.S. Villoso. This is an Adult grimdark fantasy novel series with a Filipino-inspired world.Book 1 is titled The Wolf of Oren-Yaro. In case you haven't read it yet, you can check out my review here, add it on Goodreads, or purchase it on Amazon.Back in...
adultcontemporarydiverse readsfantasyffromancehistoricallisticlemm romanceretellingromanceround-upsci-fiYA
17 Diverse Retellings
March 20, 2021 / BY Frankie
Humans have passed down the same myths and folk tales for millennia. But it would be boring if the stories stayed exactly the same, so we've been adding flair with retellings forever. Same themes, similar beats, a whole new book. Sometimes you can identify the original, but sometimes the retelling is so unique that it's unbelievable.Despite that, with the Western-centricism and whiteness in...