Category Archives: Guest Post

Are You Scared? (Do You Wanna Be?)

Editor’s Note: Hi friends! So Dave actually sent me this post last year šŸ™ƒ but I didn’t get it posted prior to surgery, and … well, if you’ve ever recovered from major surgery I think you know basically continuing to breathe takes all your focus and energy. Anyway. Here we are a year later, and with Halloween right here, we’ve got some “scary” book recs for you.

This post is supposed to be about a book. Specifically, a collection of gothic horror. The New York Public Library defines gothic horror as ā€œthe battle between humanity and unnatural forces of evilā€¦with an oppressive, inescapable, and bleak landscape.ā€ Itā€™s the stuff of haunted mansions (Shirley Jackson), ghosts (Susan Hill), and supernatural creatures (Bram Stoker). That wasnā€™t this book.Ā 

There was no sense of foreboding or dread. There were no chills or scares. But then I had to ask myself, ā€œIs it me?ā€ Would someone else who isnā€™t a fan of horror novels, comics, and movies enjoy this more? Perhaps. Or did I not enjoy it because the horrors weā€™ve faced for the past year and a half are far scarier than anything I could read? Perhaps. Itā€™s for these reasons that Iā€™ll refrain from naming the book.

But it got me thinking what is scary or frightening? What makes me turn on the lamp while reading or even makes me put down the book? It is of course different for every person. I have a friend terrified of clowns, my wife is petrified of snakes, I detest daddy-long-leg spiders aka cellar spiders. Vile long-legged ticks is what they are. But I digress. Whether itā€™s clowns or snakes or walking ticks we all have that thing that sends chills down our spine.

Here are ten books that might make you stop reading and put on a Hallmark Christmas movie because the book has begun to haunt you and you need a change. Continue reading

Women’s History Month Guest Post: Morgan Elektra on The Mysterious Mrs. Radcliffe

Hi friends! We’re back with a WHM post! As you know I welcome any and everyone fro Smithsonian [Heritage] Month posts, and Morgan was someone who stepped up. Thank you, Morgan! I have to say – I didn’t know much about Mrs. Radcliffe. Of course I knew she was a very popular author. It seemed for a while you couldn’t read a historical romance that didn’t snark about her in some way – so I appreciated Morgan providing her take and more information. I also desperately need to know more about ~what happened to her … but that seems like something we’ll never know. Anyway – read on!

The Mysterious Mrs. Radcliffe
by Morgan Elektra

The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe book coverMost of you donā€™t know the name Ann Radcliffe, despite the fact that, in her heyday (1789-1797), she was the most popular novelist in perhaps all of Europe. However, this sad oversight is hardly your fault. Unlike names like Jane Austen, Mary Shelley, and the BrontĆ« sisters, Radcliffeā€™s name is hardly ever uttered in a classroom setting. Prior to college and any specialization classes taken at that time, there is very little attention paid to the Gothic novel at all, despite how those authors, like Radcliffe, helped shape the world of both horror and romance.

So, who is Ann Radcliffe and why should you know her name? Born Ann Ward in Holborn, London on July 9, 1764, she moved with her mother and father to Bath as a small girl, where her father managed a china shop for the Wedgewoods. She married William Radcliffe, a lawyer who would go on to edit The English Chronicle newspaper. The two lived in seclusion in London and had no children. Little more is known of her life, aside from a few quotes about her shyness.Ā  Continue reading

From the Owners of Love’s Sweet Arrow

Hey all! So Marissa emailed the site “Hello!” about the Kickstarter for Love’s Sweet Arrow … which was unfortunately unsuccessful but they persevered and decided to open anyway! Also, she and her mother eventually sent other articles … so here we are though! Today is the grand opening of Love’s Sweet Arrow, and this is what Marissa and Roseann sent!

From Roseann:

It all started last summer, the lottery was up to some really high millions and millions, and as people are wonā€™t to play when it gets really high, we all start dreaming! Well our dream was, we would open a Romance Exclusive Bookstore, well, we did not win. However once a seed starts to take hold, the dream becomes a reality. So for a couple of months we kicked around ideas, brainstormed, had a lot of back and forth discussions with family and decided to do it!

Continue reading

Release Day Guest K.M. Jackson Discusses & Shares an Exclusive Excerpt of “As Good as the First Time”

Hi friends! I’m so excited to welcome back K.M. Jackson, who has a new book outĀ today! She’s absolutely fabulous, and I’m thrilled we get her on her release day too! šŸ˜€ Extra bonus, she’s provided ALBTALBS with an exclusive excerpt! *fist pump*

AS GOOD AS THE FIRST TIME

K.M. Jackson

Ladies Night

Though As Good as the First Time is at its core a romance, I had lots of fun exploring the family dynamics of this story, especially the female family relationships and how they intertwined throughout the romance.

As the oldest in my family and the only girl grandchild, I always wondered what it would be like to have a tribe of sisters and girl cousins to hang with, bond and of course argue with during my formative years. Thatā€™s why it was such a treat to create the female characters inĀ As Good as the First Time.

We have the business minded, type ā€˜Aā€™ baker sister, Olivia, then there is her opposite, carefree sister, Drea, next is their fun and exuberant cousin, Rena then there is their long suffering, wanna be southern beauty Queen cousin, Pearl.

Each woman is very different in her thinking and they often times butt heads, but at their core they are family though and through. And with that family always takes priority, so even though they have different outlooks on life and have grown up in different parts of the country they always come through for each other and have each otherā€™s backs. Continue reading

SHM Pride Encore Guest: Sadie on Being Queer Enough

Hi friends! So, scheduling and craziness and look- things happen and it’s July but who wouldn’t want to revisit Pride? So that’s what we’re doing today with another delightful “guest” … only not, because Sadie is also a reviewer and formatter etc extraordinaire at ALBTALBS! <3 <3 But more seriously … I think so many of our Smithsonian Heritage Month posts are absolutely glorious, with so many people sharing such important parts of themselves, so I hope you take some time to read this post, and the others if you’ve missed them!

Sadie is a new reviewer on ALBTALBS and first time guest poster. Sadie is our final Pride guest for 2018! We hope you’ve enjoyed this month’s posts!

Being Queer Enough

When Rosa Diaz came out as bisexual on Brooklyn 99’s 100th episode, I felt this quiver deep in my belly. This glorious Latinix badass was one of us, and stood proud in her identity as a bisexual woman. I cried when I watched that episode. Cried even more when I learned that Stephanie Beatriz, the actress who plays Rosa, is bisexual. When I read her article in GQĀ I felt seen, acknowledged by someone who has never met me but who somehow knows my struggle just the same. Stephanie is so proud of her identity and so happy to be engaged to a heterosexual man who loves her deeply. She’s secure in her sexuality and in who she is. And she’s free to be out as queer. As bisexual. She embodies what so many people I know in the bisexual community want to feel – that they too are queer enough. Continue reading

Guest Release Day Review: Wicked and the Wallflower by Sarah MacLean

Laura’s Review of Wicked and the Wallflower by Sarah MacLean
Historical romance released by Avon on June 19, 2018

Wicked and the Wallflower by Sarah MacLean Book CoverWhen Wicked Comes CallingĀ . . .
When a mysterious stranger finds his way into her bedchamber and offers his help in landing a duke, Lady Felicity Faircloth agreesā€”on one condition. Sheā€™s seen enough of the world to believe in passion, and wonā€™t accept a marriage without it.

The Wallflower Makes a Dangerous BargainĀ . . .
Bastard son of a duke and king of Londonā€™s dark streets, Devil has spent a lifetime wielding power and seizing opportunity, and the spinster wallflower is everything he needs to exact a revenge years in the making. All he must do is turn the plain little mouse into an irresistible temptress, set his trap, and destroy his enemy.

For the Promise of PassionĀ . . .
But thereā€™s nothing plain about Felicity Faircloth, who quickly decides sheā€™d rather have Devil than another. Soon, Devilā€™s carefully laid plans are in chaos and he must choose between everything he’s ever wanted . . . and the only thing he’s ever desired.

Sarah MacLean has wrecked me. This book. THIS BOOK.

I wanted to read this book because Sarah MacLean has never let me down. One of my favorite books of all time is Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake, and with that book, MacLean hooked me. Add that to the fact that Iā€™m a sucker for a wallflower/bad boy romance, and Iā€™m hooked. With this book, she showed me once more what love really is, or what I want it to be. In Wicked and the Wallflower we see the heroine embarrassingly announce to a room full of the tonā€™s biggest gossips that she has landed the reclusive Duke of Marwick. (spoiler alert: she hasnā€™t. In fact theyā€™ve never met). And the man who offers to help her land him in truth becomes the man she actually wants. I LOVE this trope! Continue reading

SHM Pride Guest: Adriana Herrera on Who Runs in Your Pride

Adriana HerreraĀ is our second Pride guest for 2018 and a first time guest on ALBTALBS! Adriana is an author and one of the co-founders of the Queer Romance Authors of Color Community Page, an amazing resource for authors and readers alike. If you haven’t visited this website, I wholeheartedly encourage you to do so!Ā 

Who Runs in Your Pride?

ā€œThere is no such thing as a single-issue struggle because we do not live single-issue lives.ā€ Audre Lorde

Audre Lorde is one of my role models. She was a queer, black woman, and a poet, and I often look to her writings for comfort. Iā€™ve been thinking about those words a lot in the past few weeks, and how they relate to this month when we celebrate Pride.

So what does that have to do with LGBTQIA+ romance?

In my opinion, a lot. Ā I love the idea of Pride. That the LGBTQIA+ community has fought and forged for space where we can march and celebrate who we are in our terms. I love that pride means, satisfaction, joy, fulfillment, and how for those of us who at times may have struggled with who we were, we can now we can come to celebrate our community, with pride. Ā I particularly love that pride is also the word for a pack of lions who run together. There is something so right and beautiful about the image of our community being able to running together, fiercely and proudly. Continue reading

SHM APAHM Special Guest: Chachic on #romanceclass

Hi friends! I “met” Chachic on twitter – and I’m super excited for her to be the “kick off” guest for APAHM 2018! I hope you’ll join me in welcoming her – and read on for some great information about #ownvoices books and authors!

Hello everyone! My name is Chachic and Iā€™m a book blogger, bookstagrammer and foodie from the Philippines. I have been chatting with Limecello on Twitter for a while now and Iā€™m so glad to be here on her blog for a guest post for Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. To be honest, I was super flattered when Limecello asked me for a guest post but I had no idea what I should write about! But then I remembered that one of my favorite genres is romance (the other is fantasy, in case you were wondering) and that I love supporting Filipino authors so why not talk about romanceclass? Continue reading

Guest Post On Cruises: Tips and Tricks You Need to Know

Hi friends! I often put out calls for guest posts, and FormerlyHurogGirl responded on twitter, saying she could talk about cruises. I’ve never been on a cruise, but have always wanted to – so I was like “YES!” This is a lot of information, so I hope you find it helpful like I did! Because this is something I know nothing about I did a copy and paste job, just tweaked some formatting. šŸ™‚ Feel free to ask FormerlyHurogGirl any questions!

Fiction makes cruising look simple.
I’m here to tell you ā€“ fiction lies!

Cruise ShipIn days of old, when covered wagons and dinosaurs thundered across the plains, you could look at your significant other, and say ā€œhey, let’s go on a cruise next week!ā€Ā You’d find something that left from a local port on the appropriate day, didn’t last longer than you had time for, and if you could pay for it, you packed your bags and went. Nary no more, my lasses and lads, nary no more, no more my dears. Cruising can be very good ā€œbang for the buckā€ as a vacation, One pack/unpack and no travel arrangements between destinations, food and basic drink unending, entertainment included in fare. But you need to be aware of several pitfalls, and that’s most of what I m going into here, the potential negatives, so that you can avoid them. Continue reading

SWHM Guest: Eileen Dreyer on Remarkable Women

Hello lovelies! I’m really excited to welcome Eileen Dreyer to A Little Bit Tart, A Little Bit Sweet for Women’s History Month. I’m loving these posts on amazing women that really should get more attention than they do, and be studied more. I definitely learned something, and hope you will too! (Eileen is also a first time guest to ALBTALBS – which … how is that even possible?! <3)Ā 

Remarkable Women

By now we all know that the contributions by women in many fields have been lost over time. Weā€™re even enjoying rediscovering them. Anybody who saw Hidden Figures (and if you havenā€™t, do. Immediately), youā€™ll see that it wasnā€™t only women who were erased from the ledgers of NASA accomplishments, but women of color. We were there. They just didnā€™t think anybody really needed to know.

I hope the movie inspired a lot of people to look back for other women who had their discoveries commandeered, like Mary Anning, who in 1815 unearthed the first intact echthyosaur skeleton, thereby revolutionizing geology and introducing the first accepted proof of extinction, only to have her discoveries credited to men who never considered her eligible for the scientific societies that should have sponsored her work. Continue reading