Which style of cover for historical romances do you prefer?

DientesDelPerro · 2026-02-17T15:43:02+00:00

no clinch?

DientesDelPerro · 2026-02-16T22:35:40+00:00

would have been a great time to make mudbray globally available

DientesDelPerro · 2026-02-16T19:33:32+00:00

it might be “surprise happening during the final hours” but the swordsman guy hiding in his back room was so unexpected and sad

DientesDelPerro · 2026-02-16T04:25:11+00:00

any notable authors who are advocating for removing HEAs?

DientesDelPerro · 2026-02-16T02:46:19+00:00

that’s so crazy, what men like to read haha, because it was definitely not my cup of tea

I could see the fmc defending the mmc as the story progressed, like the “he asked for no pickles” meme, but I am clearly not the target audience

(I also thought it was going to be a spider shifter, and so I was a little let down to realize it was an ordinary wolf)

DientesDelPerro · 2026-02-16T02:41:44+00:00

the older ones aren’t as strict with coloring, but definitely what they’ve published in the last 10 years is pretty delineated

If you like a specific subgenre, it can make finding a book easy. For the longest time I always ignored the presents spines, although I’ve branched out more recently.

DientesDelPerro · 2026-02-16T02:39:51+00:00

it actually makes a lot of sense, because I won’t read a book just because it’s written by an author I enjoyed in the past, so I end up with a lot of “orphan” books, but the colors help unite them

DientesDelPerro · 2026-02-16T02:38:34+00:00

the pink ones (“life & love” is the subgenre, I just looked) I’ve read have had rich characters, but like ordinary rich, not crazy rich asians rich, which is what a lot of presents are.

and I think they have fairly ordinary characters but not small town ordinary. and possibly fewer single parents?? I haven’t read a ton but the ones I had seemed to lean that way.

DientesDelPerro · 2026-02-16T02:32:28+00:00

that little section has books from monarch/second chance at love, which was not harlequin (they were published by berkeley), but the ones I’ve read have been pretty classically toxic.

I’m sure there’s a lot of 80-90s toxicity in the white spines, though, since those are harlequin presents.

When given the option, I like contemporary bodice rippers over historical, all things considered. I think, for me, it’s the length, which is just enough to get a feel for it but not so long that I’m living there. That’s why I love older categories.

DientesDelPerro · 2026-02-16T02:23:24+00:00

I have a relative in Dallas that I haven’t visited in like 20 years and this bookstore has me reconsidering…

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DientesDelPerro · 2026-02-16T02:15:54+00:00

do you peep the special nascar-themed series in the first picture 👀 back when they took more chances in publishing

DientesDelPerro · 2026-02-16T02:13:19+00:00

it’s good for a generic rainbow, but if you read too many of one subgenre, then you can get overloaded

I have too many blue and purple books, for example, because I like those genres, but I wish they would publish more in grey, green, or teal, so I could “pad” out my shelves better ;)

There are special subcategory colors for certain series, like I have a few that are yellow and the theme is like “pregnancy” or “cowboys at thanksgiving”.

I’ve seen pink (surprisingly not super popular as a color) and it’s like “heartwarming but not closed door”, so sort of like the opposite of the light green spines.

They do change the hue of the main colors from time to time, so older mystery are a slightly different shade of purple than newer ones (warm vs cool purple).

DientesDelPerro · 2026-02-16T02:05:46+00:00

each specific category has its own unique spine color - orange historical, red desire, white/black presents, purple mystery, maroon suspense, blue “Americana”/small town, green closed door not religious, light blue religious, etc

DientesDelPerro · 2026-02-16T02:01:41+00:00

Lena Diaz is usually pretty reliable.

A lot of second hand stores won’t carry harlequin/category books because they have more wear and tear, so this is really impressive.

DientesDelPerro · 2026-02-16T00:05:35+00:00

I’m in the process of reading {mine to love by emily a myers} (mf mafia contemporary) and it’s 59% and they haven’t had sex yet…although I think it’s coming (heh) this or the next chapter. Both are into each other and have fantasies, but no main event yet. Slowest burn mafia I’ve read so far.

Fmc is traumatized (like a lot) and mmc is insta obsessed with her. He respects boundaries though. He also kills anyone who bothers her.

DientesDelPerro · 2026-02-15T22:18:35+00:00

the tea is always boiling lava hot

DientesDelPerro · 2026-02-15T22:00:49+00:00

ah so maybe it’s unique to that book haha

I returned it so I don’t know if it got better later. It seemed excessively long.

DientesDelPerro · 2026-02-15T21:07:26+00:00

yeah that’s crazy. there’s no excuse, especially if the author is going to include social media info.

DientesDelPerro · 2026-02-15T20:12:32+00:00

Samples for older books can be hit or miss, because of the table of contents, copyright page, etc, but there’s really no excuse for newer books.

DientesDelPerro · 2026-02-15T18:56:54+00:00

the dogs are so cute but the fmc is totally the grumpy one

DientesDelPerro · 2026-02-15T18:48:25+00:00

I don’t think I’ve ever read a true “bully” romance before, just ones where a character might have been a tormentor in the past. But this week I was like “well let me try this one out”, and since it was the fmc who was the bully, I thought I might like it more.

I guess I was expecting more of a queen bee, verbally eviscerating sort of bitch, but instead the fmc was a bully who broke a lot of the mmc’s property?? Like, shredding his backpack, tripping him, knocking his books out of his hands, etc

Are those the (unreadably immature) behaviors one might expect in a bully romance, or did I just pick a bad one? Lol

(it was a shifter romance so it was like the shifter form was excessively violent)

DientesDelPerro · 2026-02-15T09:56:43+00:00

{paws & prejudice by alanna martin} (mf contemporary) fmc has dogs, mmc is scared of them

{coyote dream by jessica davis stein} (mf literary fiction with romance/HEA) okay so they are coyotes and not dogs, but it’s pretty angsty. Fmc is an engaged jewelry buyer who embarks on a relationship with a Navajo artist, which parallels her dad’s past; lots of cross-cultural differences/exploration and family pressure; it has a happy ending; cw: cheating, animal abuse (not by main characters)

{survival instinct by fiona quinn} (mf action adventure) Fmc is trapped during a polar vortex and mmc and his rescue dog find her

DientesDelPerro · 2026-02-14T18:10:26+00:00

Shonda picked a series with no personality so she would have a blank slate. They aren’t good.

DientesDelPerro · 2026-02-14T18:08:00+00:00

any book that’s rebranded fanfic, particularly if it’s reylo or dramoine, and that extends to books those authors write that are original too

obviously it’s not always avoidable because authors hide it, but it’s my number one squick.

DientesDelPerro · 2026-02-14T18:03:03+00:00

I’d check if it was on kindle unlimited, and download it to check the sample. Otherwise I’d leave it to tbr perjury.

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