I love reading romance! I think it's ridiculous that so many look down on people who read romance and the romance genre as though it's just trash. If only some people would take the time to realize that the romance genre is all over the place and yes there is smut but also as you mentioned- there's space for those who may want to read romance without the smut. It's just as valid of a genre as the others and I will continue to enjoy it no matter the criticism.
Congrats in 30 in 20, that's amazing! So exciting that you got to use your new Kindle, I completely understand that fear of using it without a case. I feel that 'not a manga reader', this month was the first time I got back into manga in yearsss, and I loved it, but I'm not sure how consistent I will be with it. October is going to be wild, super excited for it!💜
I think it's conditioned behavior. Romance and girly are synonymous. It's easy to put down romance because it isn't considered serious. It is easy put down girly things because women historically haven't been respected. Insecure people hide behind claims of logic and reason, failing to recognize that they are exhibiting anything but. All we can do is be happy when people expose themselves like this, because we know their words carry no weight.
good for you with the 30 manga volumes!!! congrats! September was a reading month.... it happened for me but my diversity stats are not good. i'm going to do so much better in october with that trying to dabble in Blackoween and Love in the Night.
Love love this video!! This topic is SO important to me!! There’s an interesting movie called Love Between the Covers that touches on a lot of this and it’s really interesting!
Romance is definitely picked on a LOT, online I’ve seen many people, especially men complain that woman who read romance with smut are just addicted to “corn” with a p and try to make US feel bad for what we read when we simply read these to get away from people/men like them. It’s ironic and almost poetic in a sense due to how easily they prove our points. It’s safe, doesn’t hurt real people, and it makes us happy. I’m not sure why people are so upset over that. (I’m also Demi and love romance, though I greatly prefer slow burn. 100% appreciate your viewpoint ♥️)
I love romance while I have friends that love non-fiction/classical. Neither genre is better than the other and I’m not going to sit around and get mad when I can actually enjoy life with a nice book! Thanks for another great video, Heather 😊
as a romance reader who is also a nonbinary aroace person who works with people with an intellectual disability, I agree with this video so much. I especially thank you for mentioning how ableist a lot of the attitudes and language used to discuss what types of books people read and enjoy.
The Alpha of Bleake Isle had a really good couple in it. I'm thinking about reading Dark City Omega for the readathon and comparing Cold Hearted to Cate C Wells intrigues me. Oh and T. A. White has an amazing "Dragon Rider" series on KU, I had a lot of fun with that one.
Before reading romance books I only experienced romance as a subplot in fantasy. I HATED IT! I thought I hated romance overall until I read an actual romance book. Now it’s my most read genre. I love it! Romance subplots suck so much to me because the authors usually don’t know how to write a good romance. It’s a skill!
I used to think I didn't like romance but then I started reading historical romance and loved it! It was like watching period custom drama's I love watching or classics but just the romance part. They aren't all great but some writers truly are good and do a lot of research. Romance books are pretty personal in taste just because someone read two books in a subgenre doesn't mean everything is the same. Read plenty of bad thriller mysteries and sci-fi books but it's not trendy to hate on those I guess.
@@booksandthings8297 I also think having to actually like the relationship dynamics contributes to loving or hating any specific romance book that isn’t a factor for a lot of other genres. If you hate the term of affection “babe” that’s going to be present in your reading too. 😅
Congratulations on 30 in 20! I really feel you with the "not being a manga reader", as I also don't read manga regularly. I think part of it is that the culture can feel a bit exclusionary for casual readers (not on Shay's discord of course), because there are a LOT of die-hard manga readers who tend to look down on new manga readers. I think these people sometimes forget that they also started somewhere...
@@Ella-ku1rd I know for me it’s not anyone else making me feel this way (because I don’t generally engage in manga spaces so I haven’t been subjected to it.) But given the choice between a novel and a manga, I’m going to choose the novel 99% of the time. But ya know, my reading also continues to evolve, and I’ve read more manga than I ever thought I would, so my future reading might look different too. But probably not the immediate future. 😂
Cathcing the replay, got my pen, notebook and GoodReads ready!📝 So I'm copying pretty much this whole list🤣 Seriously though, the buzzword summaries were so helpful, you're a star, Heather💖 Blood Moon was short and fun! Would recommend. I'm also diving into the Guild Hunter series at the moment, though I have read the first book before (apparently, but I don't remember it at all...). I'm liking it so far, so curious to hear what you think, the TBR anxiety is reallll. One that's on my list to reread soon is Ours for Halloween by Violet Taylor, it's a dark smutty time, MMMF, monsters/demons, masks, and a surprisingly expansive plot (imo). Will have to recommend that you check trigger warnings (i.a. death, gore, violence), but I had a fantastic time with it, it's one of my recent favourites!💜
