vibes are bad

I am in the mood to complain. To be quite honest, I am often in the mood to complain. Who amongst us? Things are bad. All I really care about is Alien Earth and not being responsible for making dinner. I don’t usually waste my time complaining about things I know other people love. And I don’t want to yuck anyone’s yum. But I do have strong, and maybe offbeat, opinions. I like pineapple on pizza. I think in places where they do wolf population management, we should just let the wolves have the land back. It’s theirs too! I think whether or not Jack could fit on the door is irrelevant because if he had survived, the entire movie is different and loses a lot of its emotional weight. I love boats but I don’t ever want to go on a cruise again. Michelle Pfieffer can only ever be evil to me because of how much White Oleander scared the living shit out of me. Mostly I am here to air some bookish grievances…every time I am on Threads, I think “maybe we should delete this app from Earth!” Everyone on there is talking too much.

• You think clinch covers are embarrassing when really it is sprayed edges. They are too many places! They belong on a limited amount of YA and romantasy novels. I don’t want to wade into cover discourse because trends change and new covers help to find new readers. HOWEVER! Take the new Tessa Bailey for instance. This cover combined with the color scheme and the sprayed edges. It’s giving Paw Patrol! Stop that! A deckled edge? Sure! But a brightly colored sprayed edge is not necessary and if it is any way increasing the price…let it go. 

• Simultaneous release of hardcover and paperbacks. PARTICULARLY for contemporary and historical romance (historical romance should be in mass market but I have lost that war for now). I am so frustrated by wanting a book on release day, finding out it is the first of like a five book series, and locking into having to buy all hardcover or wait. Silly situation but come on! Hardcovers are currently $30+ and paperbacks creeping towards $20+ so just give us that $10 choice. 

• Too many special editions! I have kept my mouth shut through all of the Taylor Swift references in books but now…the Taylor Swift style of limited release stuff is a bridge too far. Target, Walmart, Barnes & Noble each get their own version?Those should not all get slightly different special releases. I want everyone to be allowed to spend their money irresponsibly BUT I ALSO want authors and indie bookstores to thrive and this is a cash grab that does not seem to involve them!

• I also think we don’t need to be posting when the “spicy” chapters are. I think content warnings for various things are important and usually can be found on an author’s website but. . .giving you the outline of what chapters to skip over for sex? Idk man, if the author is giving that to you then what’s the point? Did they mean to write a closed door? Do they not think their own writing there is important? Do we need to be handholding the reader? Sometimes I think reading was better when we all talked to each other less.

• It goes without saying we are anti AI here. For covers, for blurbs, for social media, for books, for captions. Get thee away from me. Don’t y’all like drinking water?

What have I read?!?!?

• Look! I did not expect Rescued by the Alien Bull Rider to have the most accurate representation of pregnancy, a high risk birth, and postpartum recovery (both mental and physical) than most other pregnancy books I have read in recent memory…but it did! 

• Tessa Bailey’s Pitcher Perfect - I complained and I still read it (my memoir). Bailey hasn’t really hit it big for me since It Happened One Summer. This book is sooooo much like five of her other books. I did still laugh, I did still think “oh, that’s hot!” but really…can we free Tessa from the chains of sports romance and gender essentialism?

• Wild Card by Elsie Silver - Why do I do this to myself? I guess you could say I am like a hater anthropologist. Go ahead, girl, give us nothing! Make my ex’s dad trope boring! I dare you 🙁

• A Love Most Brutal by Kate Richards. Hot evil bisexual mafia enforcer in arranged marriage to Russian Mob Boss teddy bear man. Little gory, lot sweet. 

• Slipstream by Madge Maril. LOVED THIS. Now THIS is an F1 romance from someone who loves, watches, and understands F1. It’s quite cerebral, you are mostly in the heroine’s head and her voice is so unique. It felt familiar. It felt like me. I really connected to this heroine and her adorable connection with this Charles LeClerc at McLaren with evil Flavio Briatore uncle. There is a sexy dance scene in a club on David Bowie night (!!!) where he explains the concept of slipstream to her and reader, I clutched my pearls. Sensual and fun and kinkier than I ever could have predicted. This is a top 2025 one for me. Thank you, Madge!!

• Zomromcom by Olivia Dade. Bit too zany for me and Penelope is one of my favorite movies. But I am glad it exists. Very Lothaire style hero (Kresley Cole is in the room with us) and an interesting take on both post apocalypse and paranormal. I am intrigued to see what this series offers next but I won’t lie that some of this book felt cringy. And I typically embrace the cringe!

• Out on a Limb by Hannah Bonam-Young. Another pregnancy book and while it was much less fraught than my alien book, it was still realistic. The foreword to this book made me cry. What a lovely exploration of parenthood, first loves, disability, and friendship. This book is very low conflict and very minimal? plot but it really warmed me up. A perfect book for the autumn sads and a Kim rec!

• I want to support Jen Deluca so bad because I loved her first Renaissance Faire romance but GOD I am struggling not to DNF Ghost Business (I did DNF Haunted Ever After). 

talk soon,

Britt