Two things in which I pride myself as a “spooky librarian” are (1) leaping into scary unknowns and (2) finding opportunities to make a believer out of skeptics of the horror genre. So when an idea to swap fiction genres with my LPL colleague Lauren arose—yes, this means I too will have to cross the threshold into a genre I rarely engage with—I leaped at the challenge to introduce her to a reading experience that would thrill the senses–but maybe not in the way she’s used to.
Lauren is a voracious romance genre reader who has dipped her toes into horror just a bit with Jade Song’s aquatic literary horror Chlorine and Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s menacing Mexican Gothic. But she’s now looking to swim out to the deeper end of horror’s depths, and I am excited to be her water wings!
Before choosing Lauren’s book, she made it very clear I should stay clear of tropes like cannibalism (gosh darn it) and insect horror. However she informed me that she doesn’t mind plenty of gore (yippee!), is not against zombies or ghosts, and wants a good page turner, something that’ll grab her from page one.
My first instinct was to recommend Delilah S. Dawson’s Bloom for its short length, compelling plot, and “fun” twist. But this book unfortunately features one of the two tropes she specifically asked me to avoid. My second instinct was to reach for Isabel Cañas’ The Hacienda—historical horror about a house that needs exorcising and has a touch of romance throughout. But this book isn’t quite the challenge she’s looking for seeing as it’s got a few similarities to Mexican Gothic.
However, we finally shook hands on an unhinged favorite of mine, CJ Leede’s Maeve Fly –ingredients include a quirky but psychotic female protagonist, a dash of dark humor, a pinch of lust, and several spoonfuls of violence. (Mwahahaha!)
My hope is that, after finishing this book, Lauren will gain a newfound lust for blood as much as sensual spice. And as for me, my hope for the book she’s thoughtfully chosen for my end of the challenge is that it will inspire a desire to cherish romantic matters of the heart—instead of the usual urge to rip said hearts out of chest cavities.
Wow. Christina has written such a fab introduction. How do I even follow it up? I guess I’ll jump right in and hope Christina thinks the water is nice! I’m not sure which one of us had this idea to exchange genres and try to win the other over to a genre that is so antithetical to where they like to spend their time, but I too was tickled by trying to get a consummate horror reader to love the sappiest of genres: Romance.
When Christina and I sat down to chat about what our likes and dislikes would be for our book exchange, we talked a little bit about her interest/previous experience as a romance reader, which I found out was lackluster (and made me weep a little). The last time she read a romance was 2016! (Fangirl) And most of the other romance books she could remember reading were YA like Anna and the French Kiss. She said that romances sometimes make her cringe because she remembers being that over the top, swoony girl and she wanted to avoid second hand ick. But let’s face it, who wasn’t a little awkward and weird with their first crushes, kisses and love interests? Christina also shared some tropes, vibes, plot points that she wanted included and some that were a hard pass. It kind of shook out as follows.
Christina’s Wish List
- Up for something spicy, doesn’t want wall to wall smut
- Cozy town is great
- Witchy vibes, Practical Magic (liked books & movie)
- Quirky one could be fun too (like grave digging in Scotland)
- Not opposed to monster romance (but maybe not her first choice)
- Wants to be just as excited about both protagonists in the novel
- HARD YES to queer romance (any variety of LGBTQ+ is good with Christina)
- Tropes she likes: enemies to lovers, morally grey
Absolutely nots
- No trigger or content warnings she can think of
- A cardboard dude (a male protagonist with literally nothing interesting about them)
So if you haven’t noticed from my previous blogs, I like a romance spicy and full of monsters. Early when we were plotting out how we’d do this exchange, Christina mentioned that it would be fun to keep a little bit of each genre: horror and romance in each other’s books. Plus, she threw me a little by wanting something cozy! My first thoughts had been Her Soul to Take which is SPICY and cult-y with cabin in the wood vibes – not exactly cozy. Then I thought of The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches, but it’s very low on spice and has more of a found family/fantasy feel than a true Romance. (If you want to see more books Lauren thought of for Christina– click here!) Which ultimately led me to Ladies in Hating by Alexandra Vasti. It’s queer; it’s cute; it has a haunted house. The romance is swoon worthy. Hopefully, it’s just cozy and smutty enough to satisfy Christina’s wish list. I can’t wait to hear what she thinks about it in our follow up blog post on XXX date! You can also read along and let us know what you think of both books. Comment on this blog and we'll put the highlights in along with our own!
THE WINNER! It's cute, cozy, a little spooky and it's WLW which means there's no boring dudes! Plus it's spicy and full of swoon. Rivals to lovers! I mean I checked a lot of boxes with this pick and I hope it's a home run!
Runner up: okay this is pretty spicy, monsters, cults and no cozy vibes to be had. Lots of "you might get murdered in the woods" vibes, but while I think Christina might still enjoy this one, it didn't feel quite right.
Runner up: this had witchy vibes, but I didn't feel like it had enough horror (or romance!) running through it to entice Christina to the Romance Dark Side. It also doesn't have a lot of spice...
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