*Flushed from the success of reading all the Old School Historicals set by those modern doyens of the Romance genre, Sarah and Jen from ‘Fated Mates’, Kelsey and I embark on Phase 2 of our Besties Book Club: Current Chart-Toppers.

The Sofa Complex – I’m not really sure what else to call a seating structure that’s so large it could sleep three adults comfortably – in Kelsey’s living room is a space conducive to many important activities: binging K-drama, hosting afternoon tea, half-watching As Time Goes By on New Year’s Day while simultaneously sleeping, hydrating and eating Chinese take-out. But undoubtedly the most important activity the Sofa Complex has facilitated came in the first days of 2022 when Kelsey and I sat down after TWO YEARS APART to decide our new Romance Book Club selections.

The first challenge was how to top ourselves. This is always substantial when you’ve had such an outrageously successful friendship as ours. For literally decades, we’ve made lists of great things we’d like to do, from which European capitals we’d like to see on our obligatory interrailing experience, to the food we absolutely have to have for our campfire cookouts (smore fixings and a can of Grands biscuits every time). And, what’s more, we’ve actually done, like 60-70% of the things on those lists. So the performance pressure is real. To make matters even worse, in Peak Pandi-times, we started a Besties Book Club and read all the books on our list. All seven. Whoa.

With Blood Sisters, our ‘Books That Blooded Us’ read-along, our focus was very much on the stories that made (and, in Kelsey’s case, unmade) us as Romance readers. There was much gleeful reminiscing and outraged breakdowns as we confronted the face of nineties and early oughts Romance. It was glorious. This time, we want something now. The authors who are currently bossing the genre, the ones who have substantial back catalogues and whose new releases get lots of attention. And yes, the ones podcast hosts like Sarah and Jen won’t shut up about. There will be a set text if you will, a designated jumping off point into the pool that is the author’s oeuvre. We can do an author deep dive or a free-floating associative approach. We also want to read a variety of sub-genres, romantic pairings, and author backgrounds. And damn if I don’t think we came up with yet another amazing list. Check it out:

Jan: Kennedy Ryan – Queen MoveFeb: Katee Robert – ElectricMar: Suleikha Snyder – Bollywood and the BeastApr: Sara MacLean – Wicked and the WallflowerMay: Kresley Cole – Sweet RuinJun: Adriana Herrera – American DreamersJul: Sierra Simone – Misadventures of a Curvy GirlAug: Rebekah Weatherspoon – XeniSep: Kate Clayborn – Love LetteringOct: Kristen Callihan – FirelightNov: Rebel Carter – Heart and HandDec: Alexis Daria – You Had Me at Hola

So, did we manage to read a book in January? No, but fortunately I’ve noticed that calendars are these circular things so we absolutely will read Kennedy Ryan in her assigned month. Did we deep dive into the phenom that is Katee Robert in all her pop-culture retelling glory? Er, not really. Did I even manage to write a Book of the Month blog in the book’s month? Not even close. But did we purchase said Book of the Month, read it, and send gifs to each other that loosely pertained to said book? WE DID. 

In the amplifying and indirect way that we consume all media now, I am very familiar with Katee Robert, the fangirl author of whom everybody is a fan. I have heard Katee personally dissect the appeal of menage romances and Brendan Frazer with equal perspicacity. I know that she somehow manages to write four books a year despite having multiple children under the age of four and only twenty minutes at a time to write (how?!) I have heard much squealing on podcasts and twitter about her very grown up retellings of Disney films and Greek Myths. But I haven’t actually read anything she’s written.

Kelsey chose Electric Heart, Katee’s newest release, because of its gorgeous cover. The throbbing neon pink heart set against a black background that you know instinctively is not jewellers’ velvet but the darkness of the human soul. Specifically, it is the black of Eros’s soul before he meets Psyche. He’s supposed to kill her on mummy’s orders but pulls a fast one and proposes – can you imagine? – getting married as a possible alternative. I love me some Marriage of Convenience romance. It’s so superior to Fake Dating, and not just because the trope gets much more mileage in my beloved Historicals than in Contemporaries. I know, because I am a person that listens to smart podcasts, that Robert works in something called Urban Fantasy. And while I’m not familiar with the style, I immediately appreciated what Robert has achieved with her Dark Olympus setting. It’s basically the Romancelandia equivalent of Gotham, a fantastical version of metropolitan life where the elites are all sexy, dangerous, and at the centre of some nepotistic power-play drama. It’s not the kind of fantasy where superheroes fly around, but it is one where Marriage of Convenience plots have wings.

So far, so good. But damn, I wish we’d started with one of Robert’s menage romances or something a bit kinkier, because Eros and Psyche are just about the sweetest hitman-falls-for-his-mark romance ever. There’s like, no friction between them at all. Monogamy? Kids? Redecorating his soulless bachelor pad? Whatever Psyche wants. All the obstacles to them becoming a couple are exterior, Kelsey complained. Totally. The relationship drama all comes from asshole corporate patriarchs and society climbing bitches.

Actually, I messaged, “you know what this setup reminds me of: soap-opera Supercouples!” Then I had to fill Kelsey in on the law of Supercouples. Of Luke and Laura and John and Doc. Of how they are simply meant to be together. Always. And it doesn’t matter how many times they have amnesia or are abducted by some obsessive villain to a private island, they will always find their way back to each other. Once viewer approved as a Supercouple, shows will follow these pairs, and their improbably numerous hospitalizations, for decades. And you know what that spirit reminds me of? Yep, the super couple that is Kelsey and me.

Here’s to our latest Book Club, my Superfriend, and to another three decades of battling it out against externalized drama!

Next time: Get your tuk tuk fare ready, we’re off to India with Suleikha Snyder.