Welcome to Litsy!

A little more seriousness to the topic of romance with a Duke, a headstrong genteel girl of questionable origin, friendship and social issues. Fast, and while there are things about the trope I both expect and get irritated by have no regrets that this was my #auldlangspine pick - #2 on your list @DGRachel and easily available via Libby. I‘m reading Blackwaterfalls also but only a couple chapters in and won‘t finish this month.

I‘ve always heard good things about Courtney Milan (and I love her Twitter) but this was my first novel of hers… definitely won‘t be my last. Love the unconventional heroine and hero, the smart and funny banter, and the spice was perfection. 🌶🔥

Rosalyn Landor‘s narration on the audible version is excellent, and I‘m definitely going to read the rest of the series.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I‘ve read so many books recommended by Jenny over the years, and I have even more on my tbr thanks to her posts here and on Goodreads. Tagged my current audiobook, which I bought because I trusted her romance recs.

So very sad for her family, friends, and all of us that she is gone. 💔

#RememberingJenny

I‘ve had this on my Kindle since 2018 and I hate that I waited so long to read it. Milan is now one of my top 3 historical romance authors. The book is delightful from start to finish. The writing is compelling, the romance development is believable, the MCs are smart and sassy (I LOVE witty banter between characters-give me all the snark, please), and there were multiple laugh-out-loud moments. I miss Robert and Minnie already.

I am definitely a fan of Courtney Milan's writing

I am not doing so well on my Mount TBR challenge right now LOL

Picked up this historical romance to see if that sub-genre was for me. Wasn't a huge fan tbh, I think I'll stick to my contemporary and YA fluffy picks.

I appreciated the politics, Violet and Sebastian were delightful (albeit underused), and my heart ached for both leads' experiences with shitty parents. The central relationship was relatively believable and sweet, but it wasn't particularly captivating. I would have preferred less of all the unnecessarily drawn out plotting and more little moments between the two of them--it's a romance, after all.

I read the prequel novella for this series last month and after this one I can say I‘m definitely going to read more from Milan. I loved Robert and Minnie‘s story. I loved that the she included important issues of the time. I loved the found family aspect. I freaking loved that their first sexual encounter is not perfect! I laughed out loud and I cried. Book 3 of #BookspinBonanza

Apparently this is the only book I own with #Brothers in the (series) title, and I have not even read it!
#MagicalMay @Eggs

I can‘t believe it took me this long to find another good historical romance series. It draws you in at a good pace. And let‘s not forget how badass the heroine is. Kudos to Milan for this start of what will hopefully be a great series.

The next temptation struck in a moment. He‘d thrown his bag on the seat next to her. Only a single metal buckle separated her from his papers. His potentially damning papers. He had to be importing the handbills from somewhere. Maybe he had a bill of sale or a note in that satchel. But…it would be a tremendous breach of #privacy. And what would she do even if she found something? His word against hers would still leave her ruined. #QuotsyJan20

I‘ve been in bed almost all day reading this one. A wallflower with a sordid past, a duke with radical beliefs, this was more complex than the typical romance novel. Milan explores women‘s roles and the meaning of family and the beginning of unions and the fight against the peerage status quo. I love a brilliant heroine and a hero that falls for her mind. And the sexy sex was fumbling and fantastic. On to the second in the series. 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼

#2020reads #IStandWithCourtney

It remains to be seen what the fate of RWA will be but this article provides a lot of context of not just the most recent events but of events leading up to the current problems the organization faces.

https://jezebel.com/inside-the-spectacular-implosion-at-the-romance-writers-1841...

I've read this one before, but I wanted to rearead it as I've decided to actually read the series in order instead of just randomly reading her books as they go on sale on Amazon. Enjoyed reintroducing myself to this world, and excited to move on to the rest.

#BookishBingo: Character lets go of bad habits
#Pop20: By an author who has written more than 20 books

More updates but also I actually worked at work and had to find out while eating dinner that Meghan and Harry have broken up with the Royal Family? What the what? This is a wild timeline we‘re in, to be honest.

Avon and Harlequin have pulled out of supporting the annual conference RWA holds. That‘s two of the biggest romance publishers. From what I‘ve seen both have made at least some efforts to publish more diverse romance so this backs those choices as well.

It looks like a complaint against the RWA and/or a call for an investigation of the RWA has been submitted to the Texas State Attorney General‘s Office. The RWA is headquartered in Houston and it‘s the AG‘s office that investigates non-profits.

Even just getting one side(ish) of the story and being an outsider there‘s enough happening to make me wonder if something‘s going on.

RWA has decided to cancel the RITAs and refund everyone their money.

Romance Sparks Joy has put together a list of books pulled from the RITAs that are by underrepresented authors. They‘ll use proceeds from the affiliate links to fund bookish related activities. I think they‘ve helped with the RITA submission fees in the past. You can find these books at: http://www.romancesparksjoy.com/rita-withdrawls-list/

There are agents groups pulling support for the RWA and one of the women who complained about Milan is saying she was encouraged to do so by staff (she initially claimed to have lost a 3 book contract but that‘s apparently a lie???). A lot of books have been pulled from the RITAs and you can buy them from a storefront - link is to tweet with the Amazon link because it‘s shorter - https://twitter.com/AllAboutRomance/status/1213521532812759040?s=20

Romancelandia on Twitter is still willing to burn the RWA to the ground. There was an email from the RWA to members telling them they to be nice (I‘m WAY oversimplifying this). There were complaints against Milan that were considered in the sanctions but she wasn‘t told about them so she couldn‘t respond. SECRET complaints. Authors are calling for the new President to resign and a forensic audit.

Wow! Nora Roberts is a class act. She has a statement on her website regarding what‘s happening. She pulled out of RWA years ago and admits to not always being aware of lack of inclusion AND points out that it‘s likely she‘s been problematic and she apologizes for that and will strive to do better. Her website keeps crashing but I have a link to a Google doc that has her statement https://t.co/GcZgmb2uq4?amp=1

Ok, Chuck Tingle called out Damon Suede for lying about knowing him. Neil Gaiman is now aware of what‘s going on. Now, Chuck Tingle is calling for people to cancel their RWA memberships, although a number of people have pointed out that needs to wait until the petition to recall Suede is in and the vote is held. Yes, I follow Chuck Tingle in Twitter and Facebook. No, I really don‘t think RWA thought this through.

Ok, this sums up most of what‘s going on and gives at least some indication of how this all started. It doesn‘t highlight all the local chapter issues that are also coming to light. https://twitter.com/RomancingNope/status/1211025913128902657?s=20

You shouldn‘t need Twitter to read this. You should also be able to read it in a browser, I did.

There are offshoots. It‘s nearly impossible to keep up now. Damon Suede, who is now the President of RWA, told people Tessa Dare hates them. She‘s now had to correct that with several people. And it looks like he makes this kind of a habit??? He tells people he has closer relationships with people than he has, etc. - and says to those people‘s actual close friends so.... 🤷‍♀️It‘s like every messed up thing is coming out now.

Ok so Damon Suede is the new President of RWA. I don‘t know who he is other then he writes for Dreamspinners and that company has not paid people regularly in at least a year. There are authors that say he lies. I don‘t know where he said this (another tweet shows a small clip of Suede‘s statement) but Chuck Tingle has taken issue with his claim. Chuck Tingle is now involved. There‘s probably gonna be a story!

I don‘t even know where to begin because now it sounds like there were “secret” complaints or different versions or something - none of which Milan was told about and given an opportunity to respond to. Also, the new President has released a statement to chapter leadership and it sounds like there‘s some shenanigans with his role in all of this (and not just that he‘s a Dreamspinners author who is still being paid).

Well, this was lovely. I'm starting to really appreciate Courtney Milan's flair for writing characters with trauma in their pasts. It's a gift to find the right happily-ever-after for people who've been badly hurt before, and not paper over the hurt with a smarmy love-fixes-everything message.

I think Romancelandia on Twitter is going to burn the RWA to the ground. Board members have resigned, local chapters are asking about leaving, authors are letting their memberships lapse, some have pulled out of judging the RITAs, and others have pulled their books out of the RITAs. Several authors have come forward with complaints that the RWA has ignored in the past. The floodgates are open!

And this latest fiasco with RWA has been linked to the Dreamspinners fiasco - which I realized I‘ve not posted about and oh boy is that not a huge hot mess that RWA has not addressed for authors.

Holy hot biscuits! Two days prior to Christmas the RWA decided to sanction Courtney Milan for calling out racism because at least one white woman was unhappy about what she says on Twitter. I think they‘ve set their organization on fire and they‘ve had to take back their statements pending legal advice. They did all this with some sort of special committee. It‘s wild. I‘m in a semi break from social media so I don‘t have all the details. Yet.

4/5

I'm really enjoying this series so far. I thought the references to Jane Austen and Lady Catherine were particularly fun.

Wait, Milan is banned, what?

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/2019/12/wtaf-rwa-courtney-milan-banned-suspe...

My top 5 books of the decade (by genre) -- Romance

I ran one of those procrastinatory “do my faves have anything on sale?” searches earlier and discovered Courtney Milan DOES! You can currently get the entire Brothers Sinister series for $2.99. You should jump on it if you like historical romance, or if you‘re one of those anti-romance types who‘s open to rethinking the genre. Milan might just change your mind.

This is why Courtney Milan is a g--d Queen

Had a great reading day! Mainly listening to this wonderful #romantsy book. This was a reread inspired by the plagiarism scandal, that began with this book being plagiarized and a reader noticing. A big mistake as Milan is a lawyer...
#24B4Monday #audiobook

Alternating between tagged book on #audiobook and One Night Wife by by Ainslie Paton. Also continuing #24B4Monday!
#fridaynightbookclub @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @JoScho

And it begins! #24B4Monday #audiobook #romantsy

Courtney Milan always makes me laugh and cry, and this time was no different. It was mostly delightful but three critiques: A smattering of ableist language, a fake disabled boy to show how Kind and Lovely the hero was—and I am bummed our heroine‘s BFF is married in the epilogue because I wanted her to get her own book. Other than that, it was a lovely, sexy, feelsy book.

If you read or have read Milan, read romances, or just generally don‘t like plagiarism please show some support for Milan, who just found out an author in another country lifted passages from the tagged book. She‘s tweeted about it and is going to look into what options she might have. It‘s pretty clear plagiarism too. I bought the ebook and plan to read and review soon as a show of support.

😁

This is an outstanding romance. I haven't read a lot of romance for pleasure (I don't count what I've read for work), but what I have read, while enjoyable, is pretty simple and cookie-cutter. This is neither. The characters are complex. There is a mysterious back story. There are a lot of great minor characters. Most importantly, the strong leading lady has agency.

I've been inching my way into reading romance novels again; 1 or 2, here and there as I hear good things about them. I grew up in a house full of Harlequins so I'm not a stranger but I got burnt out by the genre. This book however was really good. Strong female MC, interesting take on the sexual relations, and the tackling of PTSD. For me it read less like a typical historical romance and more like a romance that just happens to be set in history.

But they're the highest form of literature!

Wow. I loved this book!! Amazing complex characters (even supporting ones) and wonderful integration of fascinating historical details of 1860s England (scientific advancements, working class rights, chess competitions and more!). Also, super funny! I was so rooting for Robert and Minnie. Milan does this incredible thing with their first sex scene: it doesn't go very well and they have to talk about it afterwards and figure out how to do better!

And suddenly I kind of like the Duchess of Clermont.

Man, I love Courtney Milan's writing! Maybe almost as much as I love tea.
#Romantsy