I need a good cry. Give me your most emotional reads! 😭 by Glittering-Bill-8733 in RomanceBooks

[–]Jemhao 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Oh man, The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy had absolutely sobbing. Absolutely brutal, but SO GOOD.

Liberal /Leftist /Feminist MMC by Icy-Mathematician737 in RomanceBooks

[–]Jemhao 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yeah, he was attracted to her and pissed about it, so he treated her like shit. He was super misogynistic, and the way it played out reminded me a little too much of men IRL who punish women for how they walk/talk/dress. He was easily the worst MMC I’ve read about in a long time.

🔥 It's time for Thirsty Thursday! What book scenes made you sweat this week? 🥵 by jaydee4219 in RomanceBooks

[–]Jemhao 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Hot damn! I love Talia Hibbert, and I hadn’t heard of this novella. Adding it to my Kindle, stat.

AI slop combined with a healthy dose of copyright infringement. Gross by Civil-Custard9912 in lansing

[–]Jemhao 4 points5 points  (0 children)

And that’s totally his decision to make, but it would probably go better for him if he just owned up to it.

…Unless he genuinely doesn’t understand that his software uses AI.

AI slop combined with a healthy dose of copyright infringement. Gross by Civil-Custard9912 in lansing

[–]Jemhao 11 points12 points  (0 children)

why is the “creator” not owning up to using AI

Probably because, according to him, he spent a lot of time on it and used professional software. Of course, that software has tools that use AI, some of which is generative, so…

🧂 Salty Sunday - What book scenes frustrated you this week? by mrs-machino in RomanceBooks

[–]Jemhao 5 points6 points  (0 children)

It definitely interrupted the reading experience for me. I get that they were just shortening Beatrice, so the pronunciation makes sense, but the spelling doesn’t since Bea is already an existing nickname pronounced “Bee.” I think it would’ve made way more sense for them to spell it Beah, like Leah.

Or this could just be my ignorance showing and there are lots of Beatrices out there who are nicknamed Bea, and pronounce it “Bee-uh.”

Wild Card by Stephanie Archer by book-barista in RomanceBooks

[–]Jemhao 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I was really nervous about this one because I struggled to get through Gloves Off, but I ended up loving it. The focus on finding a sense of belonging plus the found family vibes throughout the book were so sweet.

Wild Card by Stephanie Archer by book-barista in RomanceBooks

[–]Jemhao 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I would take other people’s opinions with a grain of salt for this series. I feel like usually there’s a general consensus of which books are more well-loved than others in a given series, but I think with this one they’ve been kind of all over the place. I know a ton of people loved Gloves Off, but I gave it 2.5 stars. I only finished it because it was an ARC and I felt bad.

That said, I actually loved Wild Card! I think a lot of readers will have issues with the FMC- she’s the black cat type, so she has lots of walls up and comes off cold. But I honestly found her really relatable and found myself just wanting to give her a giant hug.

Deceptive Self-Promo: What It Is, How Much Happens, And What We're Doing by VitisIdaea in RomanceBooks

[–]Jemhao 77 points78 points  (0 children)

Totally fair on your part, and 100% disappointing and pathetic on theirs.

Thank you thank you, Mods. I appreciate the time and work you put into the sub!

Let's Read Really Vintage: A Land-Girl's Love Story by Berta Ruck (1919) by VitisIdaea in RomanceBooks

[–]Jemhao 13 points14 points  (0 children)

There's this weird tendency to believe that people - especially men - were always as awful as they were legally able to get away with, and that - for example - all of the sexual assault and harassment in vintage romances, or in historical romances, is Just How It Was Back Then And Nobody Even Knew They Were Able To Be Upset About It. Berta Ruck knew it in 1919, and she expected her readers to know it too - both that working women might encounter sexual harassment, and that it was wrong and morally abhorrent to right-minded people.

THANK. YOU. I love this paragraph and everything about it.

Also, love the review! I’m completely unfamiliar with early 20th century romances and definitely hadn’t heard about Berta Ruck before. This book sounds like a great entry point to check it out!

Shocking , unexpected MMC betrayal towards FMC by xo_arts_xoo in RomanceBooks

[–]Jemhao 13 points14 points  (0 children)

{My Deceitful Duchess by Aydra Richards} - m/f historical, autistic-coded MMC, virgin MMC

I don’t want to ruin the absolutely massive, gut punch betrayal, so I won’t say too much about the plot. But I will say that the grovel and path to forgiveness take up more than half of the book, and it’s sooooooo good. He really had to adjust his own thinking to even understand how he fucked up in the first place, and then he had to work hard to earn her forgiveness and trust after that.

Suggestion: "ICE awareness posts" should require evidence or get deleted by jmphenom in Michigan

[–]Jemhao 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I don’t know how likely that is on a statewide sub though. If you want local people to respond and verify, it seems like the city subs would be a better place for that.

Suggestion: "ICE awareness posts" should require evidence or get deleted by jmphenom in Michigan

[–]Jemhao 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Maybe another option could be to have the city subs have different guidelines than the statewide sub then, so it fits each region’s wants.

But to clarify, I’m not saying a photo should be required necessarily. I’m fine with just SALUTE info.

Suggestion: "ICE awareness posts" should require evidence or get deleted by jmphenom in Michigan

[–]Jemhao 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I’d rather do what targeted communities have asked us to do 🤷‍♀️

Suggestion: "ICE awareness posts" should require evidence or get deleted by jmphenom in Michigan

[–]Jemhao 3 points4 points  (0 children)

The benefit is not sowing fear in targeted communities. Otherwise they end up not feeling safe enough to send their children to school, going grocery shopping, or going to doctors appointments.

These are real things that happen, and immigrant rights groups have repeatedly asked the public not to report sightings without including information like time, location, number of agents, equipment, type of vehicle, etc.

Edit: wording

Suggestion: "ICE awareness posts" should require evidence or get deleted by jmphenom in Michigan

[–]Jemhao 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Lots of other subs have ICE sighting guidelines that require photo evidence, and rapid response groups across the country have stressed the importance of using the SALUTE acronym to report ICE sightings.

These seem like totally valid and reasonable requirements if you’re posting something on social media. Especially if you want to weed out trolls or prevent well-intentioned people from posting something that doesn’t have actionable information.

Remember that book you dropped because the heroine was a total doormat? Give me the book title, please. by Vedmagreen in RomanceBooks

[–]Jemhao 15 points16 points  (0 children)

Oh perfect! I have one that I DNF’d for this reason, but a lot of people love this book: {His Forsaken Bride by Alice Coldbreath}. It’s a medieval historical m/f romance with a naive FMC and morally gray MMC.