saw some friends! and i'm reading

I’ve had a lot on my plate at work and I’ve had a lot of travel and events and preschool graduation! I was in Greensboro, NC this past weekend for a Celebration of Life for a good friend’s mom and whew, it was really a beautiful experience. I wish every Celebration of Life could have the energy of brightly colored clothes and tablecloths, of kids running around laughing and dancing, of friends embracing and handing each other drinks. I’ve been to a few funerals of friend’s parents lately and I am not quite ready for this season of life. Tragedy and grief is always ready in the wings and lately, it has caught too many people I love so well. I am clinging desperately to the types of moments Greensboro gave me. 

I got to see so many people I mostly talk to online (meet your online friends!) and so many other friends that I haven’t seen in at least five-ish years (many of them are subscribers, hi!). I spent two days back to back with my friend, Nicole C. (she made my logo! And has her own banger newsletter), in a bookstore and in an Irish pub…we bought a lot of books for two people who are always buying books. We were maybe in that Irish pub for a combined 8+ hours over two days….but like who cares! You only live once so get another glass of water and always stay a little longer with your friends. I got a good laugh out of the fact that the bookstore I was in had a GREAT romance collection but alas, I owned almost all the books I saw. 

High notes:

• Was involved in a friend buying We Could Be So Good and The Pairing as he wanted to try romance, gay romance, and a good book for vacation! That’s all three, baby!

• Spoke the gospel of romance novels with plus size heroines AND heroines over 40. Authors, please write more. Kim! Write that book!

• We have enough romances with bakers. Give the bakers a rest!

• Discussed Lorraine Heath’s famous Gorilla Twins. Can always find a way to make this book relevant. 

• Got to meet my friend, Lauren of Tropes & Trifles, for the second time IRL. The first time we sat at the DC Waterfront and ate a bucket of crabs. The second time we screeched about books over the course of two days in various settings. 

• There is a real joy in hanging out with a small child that is not my own small child. Love my son! But it was great to get to be the fun aunt with a truly cool little girl this weekend. My Little Pony + Pink Pony Club forever. Ask me how many times I googled the names of the ponies. 

• I was in NC. You know I ate pimento cheese, Biscuitville, deviled eggs, Cookout, mini ham biscuits, two full bowls of grits, sausage balls, grape jelly + bbq sauce meatballs (IYKYK), and much more. I also had “Irish Nachos”, an evil yet satisfying combination of shepard’s pie filling and homemade potato chips. 

• The only book I bought for myself (I bought 3 picture books) was Much Ado About Hating You which seems to involve rival Shakespeare fan fic writers dueling over their university jobs. Say less.

All in all, I was celebrating the life of my friend Nicole W.’s mom, Lupino. Nicole is a friend who has connected me with so many other friends, who I first worked with almost 10 (!) years ago, who encouraged this newsletter, who has a vast network of hilarious, interesting, gorgeous freaks (complimentary!) and it felt just right that we all came together exactly this way this weekend. If you are moved by this in any way, know Nicole, or want to support this newsletter, make a donation to the Clarksville Food Pantry this week. Mutual aid is how we care for each other.

What I’ve been reading:

Did I mention I HAVE BEEN BUSY!? I have been reading short hot bits and revisiting cherished audiobooks:

Second Chances in New Port Stephen - TJ Alexander. Loved this. Lots of reviews find Eli to be insufferable and he’s a newly out sober trans man visiting his family in Florida for the first time in years! I would be grumpy too! He’s lost his job. He has no prospects and he runs into his still hot high school ex at the Wine Barn. He obviously doesn’t recognize him but thankfully, eventually, falls back in love with him. With the exception of the rage-inducing ex-mother in law, this was a delight. Fun to be in some random town in Florida, very hot, and just generally a great capture of the feelings we all have about hometowns. Nostalgia on the one hand, trauma in the other. 

The Midnight Arrow - Zoey Draven. NOTHING and I mean nothing fixes my broken brain quite like an erotic paranormal book. Something about the lack of serotonin and alien vampires maybe. I read almost all of the remaining Zoey Draven. The Midnight Arrow is very short and her coziest work. Cottagecore but blood drinking. Brides of Kylorr has some of the most heinously behaved heroes that could use a little more suffering (yes, I KNOW one of them almost dies but he could almost die harder). There was a little too much pregnancy talk and the third one is almost exactly like one of her Hordes books but they are propulsively readable. The Horde King of Shadow jumps on the dragon rider theme and succeeds. She falls off a bit too much! We get it! She sucks in the beginning! Let’s not rub it in. The chemistry here was especially fun as Draven pairs a man determined to feel nothing with the unloved daughter of a shit king. Obviously, she goes from weak and worthless to Khalessi status in 300 pages. SKIP Draven’s Warriors of Luxiria and just READ The Winter King ALREADY!

The Legionary Seduction - Jenna Bigelow. We’ve got a better way of discussing enslaved characters in this one. Better character development and more intense chemistry! More queer characters (that are not alllll villians) and overall I enjoyed it. I always like a himbo. One note is that the actual big bad was named Petronax and in my head I only ever called him Pentatonix. HAHA. 

A Warlord Wants Forever and A Hunger Like No Other. What was Britt to do with a five hour car ride this weekend? (Ten if you count my journey home!) Listen to Kresley Cole audiobooks. To be fair, I did also catch up on Maintenance Phase and listen to a NOAA podcast (containing multitudes part 59325480298) but nothing can top Robert Petkoff’s absolutely sublime narration. These aren’t even my favorite of Cole’s books but I do like to start the 20 book series from the top at least once a year…

talk soon,

Britt