Guest Post: Peekaboo's Corner ~ Romantic Nonfiction

Peekaboo has written another amazing guest post for us today, this one about romantic nonfiction. When she pitched this idea to me, my literal response was "What? That's a thing?" PREPARE TO BE AMAZING, THIS IS A THING.

For hardcore fiction readers, especially readers of romance, nonfiction books can be hard to read. It’s an incredibly broad category of fiction, encompassing everything from serial killer stories to the microhistory of salt. Occasionally when you deep dive, you’ll find those books that read more like a college text book, and are heavy on the dry explanations. But don’t let this put you off non-fiction! Even if you are a romance reader who craves that Happily Ever After, there are still non-fiction books out there for you.

Everything I Know About Love I Learned From Romance Novels - Sarah Wendell

That would be Sarah Wendell, founder of the amazing romance book blog Smart Bitches Trashy Books, who did her college thesis on homerotic subtext in the modern cowboy novel. Yes, that Sarah Wendell. She wrote this amazing book on life and love, and the lessons she learned from romance novels that apply to both. It’s a funny and fun read, and great for romance readers because it takes the things we read about every day and shows it in a new light.

The Vow By Kim and Krickett Carpenter

Remember that movie with Channing Tatum and Rachel McAdams about the couple who gets married, and then the woman is in a car crash and totally forgets her husband, and they have to fall in love all over again? Welp, it’s based on this couple's memoir. It’s not exactly like the movie, of course, but it’s still supposed to be a good read.

Sidenote: It is very Christian-themed, so if that’s not your jam, maybe skip this one.

Modern Romance by Aziz Ansari

Comedian and actor Aziz Ansari (a.k.a Tom Haverford in Parks and Recreation) teams up with a social scientist to present an in-depth study of how romance and dating has evolved over the years, and become something new, strange, and wonderful.

Offbeat Bride  - Ariel Meadow-Stallings

Part of what we love about romance novels is that happily ever after, the pretty wedding, the exchanging of romantic vows. And the wedding industry is almost disgustingly huge these days, and overwhelming, and very monochromatic for the most part. (Which some people are into! Go with what you love.) This book was written by the creator of the blog/website Offbeat Bride (who, incidentally, is amazing on Instagram so go check her out at arielmstallings) and is a guide to having the wedding you want, even if what you want doesn’t conform to the mainstream. I’ve never been married, but I am obsessed with weddings, so reading this book was delightful for me. It's got antecdotes from non-traditional weddings (both hers and others), tips on planning your offbeat wedding on the cheap, and vendor suggestions/etc. A great read even if you are just into weddings.

How to Be Married by Jo Piazza

Piazza is a travel editor, and so has to navigate the first year of her marriage while traveling the globe. She also interviews 25 women from all around the world on their marriages, and how they make things work even when life gets tough and you want to turn into a praying mantis and bite your partner’s head off. She gives a framework that she and her husband used to get through incredibly tough times, and even the stupid little stuff. It’s a charming read!

How about you, folks? What are your favorite non-fiction reads? Doesn’t have to be romance related! My favorite is The Hot Zone by Richard Preston, which is all about the ebola virus. Not exactly smooching material.

Guest Post: Peekaboo's Corner - ARC life (or why being a rabid book fan is actually really hard sometimes)

Today, I have a lovely guest post from my very good friend Peekaboo to share with you. I relate to this post SO HARD, and without further ado I'm going to let you get to reading it. I'll post a few of my own thoughts at the end. Enjoy! ~Elley

ARC life (or why being a rabid book fan is actually really hard sometimes)

When did go from being a wonderful, leisurely pastime to taking over my entire freaking life?

The answer probably is “college” when I first got the inkling that I wanted to be a librarian, and I discovered GoodReads, and my GoodReads TBR pile quickly shot up to over 2,000 books.

Or possibly when I started working full time as a librarian, where I get bombarded by at least ten new books I want to read every single day.

Ooooor maybe it’s when I decided reading ARCs (or “advanced reader copies” for those of you not in the know) and suddenly not only was I reading on a deadline, I needed to write decent enough reviews so that people could make decisions about their own reading habits through them.

Don’t get me wrong. I LOVE my job. I LOVE having free access to books all day long (be it through ARCs, or through the public library.) I love being in the know about what’s buzzing in the book world! But some days, like today, it does get overwhelming.

I now have weird guilt associated with reading anything that isn’t a) on my GoodReads currently-reading list (of which there are 8 books), or b) an ARC that is due. I have 40 physical books and 10 e-books checked out from the library, and can I even remotely read that much before they come due? Hell no! And don’t even get me started on the whole shelf of books I own that I haven’t read yet. Sometimes I lay awake at night, panicking about all the books I want to read that I will never have time to. (Did I mention I have severe anxiety?)

The reason I am writing this in truth is because I know I am not the only person to have such thoughts. Especially for people who dedicate good chunks of their lives, be it professional or hobby, to the world of books, it can get overwhelming sometimes, and that’s not a great feeling.

So here’s what I think.

I think we should give ourselves permission to read WHATEVER WE WANT, even if it’s not an ARC, or a best seller, or something that’s due.

I think we should focus more on the sheer enjoyment we get out of reading.

I think we should give ourselves permission to DNF a book if we don’t like it, because dude, not all books are gonna be good, or hold your interest, and there are SO MANY other good books out there waiting for you.

I am going to approach taking back reading like I need to approach self care and change. Focus on the now. Try not to panic so much. Remember it’s going to be okay, and also why I am doing this in the first place: because I love books!

Current recommendation: The Darwin Elevator by jason M Hough

Well that hits me right where in the feels. On top of the ARC guilt and the physical TBR guilt, I've also got Kindle Unlimited guilt... My mom gave me a a year's subscription to Kindle Unlimited for Christmas last year, and so far I've read only about 4-5 books via KU (if even that). That ends up being $20-$25 per book - NOT GOOD, guys. So now on top of trying to plow through the 73 digital ARCs I have (I made a spreadsheet, not sure if that's good or bad?), 10 physical ARCs, so many books on my physical TBR "shelf" it's more like multiple bookcases that are taking over my bedroom and my husband is likely to disown me if I bring in any more books... Now I'm also trying to read ALL THE BOOKS on my KU TBR before December 31 when my KU subscription runs out so I make it "worth it" and don't 1) ask for it for Christmas again and 2) get it for Christmas and don't USE IT all year again. /sigh

I have started being gentler with myself about not always writing a review for EVERY SINGLE BOOK I read, especially books I'm kind of "meh" and don't have very strong feelings about, and that's helping some. It's not so much that I can't read them all, but then it takes a lot of time to write a GOOD review (more than just a line or two, something that will actually inform someone reading the review to help them decide if they want to read the book or not) and then posting to the blog - which people may or may not ever even read... It can feel like screaming into the void sometimes, and takes away from valuable time that could be spent chipping away at the book mountain. Add in to that the full time job and family and... Yeah, I'm never going to actually read all these books.

If I could choose one superpower, it would be to only need 4 hours of sleep each night, which would effectively give me more time each day to read!!

Guest Post: Peekeboo's Corner - New Author Alert! Richard Lloyd Parry

Good evening friends, and welcome back to Peekaboo’s Corner.

This week, we are going to start a new segment that I like to call “New Author Alert.” New to me, anyway. Thanks to my (overwhelming and overstated) love of natural disasters, I picked up “Ghosts of the Tsunami” by Richard Lloyd Parry, and damn, guys, I fell in love.

Our New Author Alert for this week is, you guessed it, nonfiction author, reporter, and world traveler Richard Lloyd Parry.

I won’t be discussing him as a person, because that’s too much effort, and also I don’t really care.

What I do care about is that he wrote a book that punched me in the gut.

The premise of Ghosts of the Tsunami is simple. Parry wrote about the 2011 earthquake, and resulting tsunami, the people it affected, the lengths they had to go to, the horrors they had to endure, and the way the country came away from it. (This is the one that also resulted in a nuclear powerplant meltdown, but Parry doesn’t discuss that as much.)  

This was the first thing I’d read by Parry, but I immediately went to the library and got his other books, and since I was impatient, I began reading them both at the same time.

My thoughts so far:

People Who Eat Darkness - the story of the murder of Lucie Blackman, a British woman living in Tokyo. I have literally never heard of this murder before, but I started it tonight during my dinner break, and I burned through 50 pages real fast. It’s un-put-downable (except for working. Stupid job.)

In The Time Of Madness - This is a deep dive into the events of Indonesia and the fall of General Suharto. I know nothing about this place, or this person, but it’s gripping so far.

Are you into nonfiction? Do you have any recommendations for me? I’ll take all of them.

Peekaboo's Corner: Books to make you run away from the beach this summer

We’re hitting peak summertime here in the United States. The sun is our constant companion, temperatures are spiking, and all people want to do is flock to the beach to relax and cool off. Especially if you live in Minnesota, land of (over) 10,000 lakes.

Elley did a post last week about her favorite beach reads, fun, relaxing reads that are perfect for sitting under a giant umbrella with a delicious drink and whiling away the summer hours.

But what something were to go wrong? What about the things that lurk in the water? What if you want your relaxing summer beach trip to be a little more… scary?

Don’t worry, boo. I got you covered.

Into the Drowning Deep - Mira Grant.

This was also Elley’s rec for “books to make you run away from the beach” because we both loooooved it, and also there are killer mermaids in here.

Basic premise: Woman joins a reality film crew/research team on a ship to find out what happened to the last crew that went out and violently got muderized by an unknown something out in the ocean trenches. Chaos ensues. Also, queer characters. Also spoiler: they were murderized by killer mermaids. I’m not saying this book made me stay away from water for a long time, but also I haven’t gone to the beach since I read it soooo…

The Meg - Steve Alten

I didn’t care for this one quite as much, but it does have 4 stars on GoodReads, so obviously some people did.

Basic Premise: Hotshot scientist survives an attack by the biggest fucking shark in the whole world (see: Megalodon), and becomes gunshy, but is convinced by his equally hotshot ladyfriend sub pilot that he should join her team to go down and help deal with the shark because it’s gonna start nomming on people soon. I am gonna give this one another go. It’s coming out as a movie this fall staring My Boyfriend Jason Statham.  I didn’t make it far enough into the book for the feasting to start, but judging by the movie trailers, A LOT of people are about to become a huge shark buffet.

Beast - Peter Benchley

I immediately added this to my TBR as soon as I found out it existed. It’s by the same guy who did Jaws. (Yes, Jaws WAS a book too.)

Basic Premise: The main character’s name is Whip Darling, which is a romance hero name if ever I heard one. From the (frankly excellent) cover art, I gleaned that a giant squid-type-creature awoke from it’s eternal slumber and is ready for human tar tar. And our Whip Darling is leading the charge to stop it, while being no doubt rugged and also damnably down on his luck. My biggest issue with these books is I so often root for the monster, because the characters are so often twatty and dumb. So Squiddy McSquashson, I shall root for you.

Cujo - Stephen King

We’re diverting a bit here from “things that lurk in the sea” to “things that lurk on land”, and we’re going with the classic Cujo.

Basic Premise: A kid’s two hundred pound Saint Bernard gets rabies and terrorizes a small Maine town. It sounds kinda dumb, but let me tell you a thing. 1) It’s Stephen King, so it’s guaranteed to be creepy as hell and very atmospheric, and 2) I made the mistake of reading this book in a cabin in the middle of the woods (where lake time often occurs in Minnesota!) and I spent the rest of the weekend being terrified that every noise I heard was Cujo coming to eat me.

Grab one of these reads, your drink, your sunscreen, and prepare for a different kind of beach experience.

Peekaboo's Corner: Bookcover Snark

In which Peekaboo and I look at some book covers and get snarky, and I end up adding way too many books to my Kindle Unlimited TBR. /sigh

WARNING: Swear words ahead. Not a lot of them, but the effin-heimer is dropped a few times. You’ve been warned.

Peekaboo: His back looks like someone took a wrinkly old man back, and photoshopped muscles onto it.

Elley: Also I think there might be a couple of babies trapped under there.

Peekaboo: Dear god I think you're right.

Elley: Is that… is that the actual book title? Them Back Dimples?

Peekaboo: What if the whole book is about her seeing what she can fit in/drink from those back dimples?

Elley: I mean, what ELSE could it possibly be about?

Peekaboo: The small furry animals attempting to escape from under his skin? IRL tho, he hires her to be his maid, and then refrains from wearing pants. Not at all sure what back dimples have to do with anything. Except that his are cavernous.

Elley: I know we're supposed to be talking about covers, but what the heck is up with the titles in this series? Bring on the Psychobitch and Scrooge McFuck? I am DYING.

Peekaboo: Wait, one of them is Scrooge McFuck? Can we buddy read that? That sounds recockulous. Oh hey, I actually own Shy Girls Write It Better by her. I haven't read it yet though.

Elley: Read it and if it's any good, then I'll shell out the $3.82 for Scrooge McFuck for a buddy read. OK, enough of this series. Next cover.

Guest Post: Peekaboo's Corner - Romance Novel Conventions

Welcome, dear ones, to this edition of Peekaboo’s Corner. Grab a drink, a chair, a fancy hat, and let’s get started. This week, we will be discussion romance conventions.
What is this tom-foolery, you might be asking yourself? Have you heard of Comic-Con? That great big gathering where hundreds of thousands of people gather to revel in their shared love of nerdery and wonder?
These are sort of like that, only on a much smaller scale. Also, it’s for romance fans. Nerds also welcome. (And get this: COSTUMES also welcome. I’m dying.)

RT Booklovers Convention

The biggest one is RT, which is the Romantic Times Booklovers Convention. This actually starts TODAY, so sorry I didn’t get you the news sooner, but start saving your pennies for next year because you’re going to want to go. Basically everything your romance-loving heart could possibly want will be at this convention. Nearly every big name romance author (INCLUDING NORA ROBERTS, Y’ALL) will be in attendance, speaking on panels, signing books, generally milling about. There will be panels about all manner of subjects, raucous parties, delicious food - it’s heaven, people. It moves around the country every year too. Six days of frivolity, giddiness, and more free books than you can reasonably expect to carry home in the spare suitcase you brought. Last year it was in Atlanta, this year it’s in Reno, next year… who knows? I’d love if it came somewhere close so I could go without shelling out for air fair, but MN is one of those states that is not by a whole lot of other things, so we’ll see.
Website

KissCon

As far as I can tell, so far these KissCons, put on by Avon publishing, are one day affairs, usually hosted at libraries, bookstores, and other similar venues. A couple of hours long, they will feature some great authors, discuss different topics pertaining to romance publishing, writing, etc, usually there’s snackies, some door prizes, that’s that.
BUT.
Avon just announced that in April of 2019, they will be doing a WEEKEND convention. THREE DAYS. IN CHICAGO, which is drivable from where I live. You bet your ass I am going to be there. So far they have been incredibly sparse on details, but I just signed up for the mailing list (which you too can do here ) so we can squee about it as soon as more becomes apparent.
Website

RWA

This one is geared less towards readers and more towards writers. RWA, or the Romance Writers of America, puts on an annual conference every year. This year it’s going to be in Denver, near the end of July. There will still be massive amounts of free swag, book signings, plenty of authors, and good food to be had, but it’s also got great panels and classes on the craft of writing. They also announce the RITA awards every year, which are like the Oscars for romance novels. I would adore going to this as well, because even though I don’t publish my work, I definitely write romances as a hobby, and would love to fall deeper down that writing rabbit hole.
Website


Tell me, dear readers, have you been to any of these? Would you like to go? What would be the part you’d like to go to most?
Tell me in the comments below, and start saving those pennies. If you go, I will most definitely sit with you!

Guest Post: Peekaboo's Corner - Dewey's 24 Hour Readathon

Lovely readers! It’s almost that time again! No, I’m not talking about a sportsball season finale. I’m talking about the Dewey 24 Hour Readathon Challenge, April edition!!

Welcome once again to Peekaboo’s Corner, please feel free to browse through the stacks of books I’m attempting to back for the readathon because it’s almost upon us!

What is this miraculous event, you might be asking yourself? Let me give you some knowledge.

http://www.24hourreadathon.com/

Click the above link for more info, but I’ll give you a brief summary.

The Dewey challenge (April 28th this time)  is exactly what it sounds like - challenge yourself to read for 24 hours straight. Now I know what you’re thinking. “Peekaboo, please. We have lives! We have to sleep and eat to function as humans!”

I for one never manage to make it the full 24 hours, because frankly I really enjoy sleeping, but what Dewey does give me (and you!) is an excuse to block off a day on my busy schedule and just READ. Nothing else. I make sure that I shuffle all the guilt at not cleaning, or playing video games, or doing one of a million other things I could be doing out the door, because this day is dedicated solely to reading.

In my case, myself, Elley, and a few others are going up to my cabin in the woods for a whole weekend of reading bliss. The key to a great readathon is, of course, luxurious food and plenty of snacks and drinks, and you have several routes you can take with this. Standard chips/cookies/munchies are always a good standby. They’re cheap, so you can even readathon snack on a budget. If you want to get a little more fancy, pre-make some meals you can heat up and nom while still reading.

Going out to restaurants and reading while you eat is a good idea too, but that didn’t work so well for us last time, and there were some scary salsa-on-the-pages close calls.

The same rules apply to readathon as to any time of marathon, so remember to stay hydrated (water or tea, please! Alcohol does not count!), and get up and walk around once every hour. This doesn’t have to be far, just walk in circles around the room a few times while still reading. Your body will thank you later.

Now we’ve come down to the most important part of readathon. WHAT TO READ. How many books can you read in 24 hours? Or in my case 15 hours? The answer is probably somewhere in the vicinity of 2-3, but you bet your ass I’m packing more than that. I want to have options! What if I get all the way up to the cabin and suddenly decide all my romances won’t do, and I want to read a horror? Or a mystery? Remember to keep your options open. OVERPACK on books. Feel free to give your books their own bag.

Here are the books I’ve got lined up so far for readathon:

And that’s just to start!!

Lastly, remember to have fun! Read books you WANT to read. If you get ⅓ of a way into a book for readathon and are struggling, switch to a different one. If you’re with a group, pause every few hours for conversation and a snack break. Treat yourself to some fun new bookmarks or a new Kindle case for the occasion.

Let me know in the comments below what your readathon plans are, and what books you are planning to read!

Toodles for now, lovely readers!

-Peekaboo

Guest Post: Peekaboo's Corner - The Student Prince (a review)

It's that time again - time for a guest post from the lovely Ariel, aka Peekaboo. Today she's talking about one of her favorite fanfics.

*pats the overstuffed chair*

Take a seat! Don’t mind the dust. Welcome to Peekaboo’s Corner.

 

This whole idea of gay romance is pretty new, as far as publishing goes. Especially if you are looking for particular niches (like NOT BDSM erotica or a coming out story), the pickings are slightly more slim. For a long time, what I relied upon to get my guy lovin’ was fanfiction. And actually, not a few authors have transitioned from fanfiction to published works. (Hellooooo 50 Shades of Grey, I’m looking at you!)

Today, my lovely friends, we are going to be talking about one fanfiction in particular that is my go-to for not only the best gay fiction I’ve ever read, and one of the best romances in general, but even the best audiobook I’ve ever listened to.

That’s right. Triple threat time.

 

This sacred and holy text is known as The Student Prince, written (and read!) by FayJay.

 

To steal the description off Archive of our Own:

A Modern day Merlin AU set at the University of St Andrews, featuring teetotal kickboxers, secret wizards, magnificent bodyguards of various genders, irate fairies, imprisoned dragons, crumbling gothic architecture, arrogant princes, adorable engineering students, stolen gold, magical doorways, attempted assassination, drunken students, shaving foam fights, embarrassing mornings after, The Hammer Dance, duty, responsibility, friendship and true love...

This story was inspired by the thought of Prince William of Wales (and indeed the current Max von Hapsburg) studying at the University of St Andrews; it is also, as the title suggests, at least a little inspired by the operetta 'The Student Prince'.

Now I know what you’re thinking. “But I’ve never seen BBC’s Merlin!” To that, I reply “what the heck are you standing around here for?! Go watch it!” But also, dear one, the story of Arthur and Merlin goes back far further than 2008, so technically the whole show is fan homage to the original myth? (Nailed it.) Because this story is so timeless, and the characters so well known, you don’t even need to watch BBC’s Merlin. Just read the fanfic. Honestly, this fanfic has become more Merlin to me than the show has.

It’s novel length, the audiobook is 15 hours long, it’s a complete fantastic love story about the Prince of England and his roommate-turned-friend and their college adventures. (In which they fall in love, and actual magic happens.) Yes, there is sex. Not loads of it, but what there is is HOT. More importantly, they don’t rush the love story, but the tension is off the frickin’ charts, practically from moment one.

I adore every single one of the characters. I tried to pick a favorite, and then my brain went “oh but so-and-so did THIS in that scene”, and I get a big goofy grin on my face, and feel the need to listen to it all over again. (I recommend listening, which is how I consumed it - I’m on my 4th go through - but reading would be just fine too.)

If you are new to fanfiction, but don’t mind long reads, this is a great place to start.

If you are new to gay romances and want a good intro story, this is a good place to start.

If you are looking to fall in love with a book… *gestures dramatically, ala Will Smith*

Trust me, guys, you’re going to LOVE IT.

Here’s the link, but it’s got a downloadable option so you can stick it on your e-reader if you want.

Book: https://archiveofourown.org/works/91885

Audiobook: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1309975

OK, I didn't even know fan fiction came in an audiobook format!! That's seriously cool. Thanks for sharing with us, Ari. ^_~ <3