Kara > Recent Status Updates

Feel like I need to update my safety requirements to say that I don't tolerate virgin heroines with non-virgin heroes, and sis, if you don't understand why that shit isn't okay with me, then maybe we shouldn't be friends.

Does anyone else have a particular book that, if someone you follow gives it a good review, you have to unfollow them immediately, or is that just me and I'm a horrible person?

I know authors need to keep their books from getting stale by writing the same thing every time, but I get really bummed when I read a book with an awesome feminist hero and a strong independent heroine and completely love it, and then the author's next book is some bs with a manwhore and a doormat. Like, I get that you can't keep dipping into the same well, but you can keep the respect and still make it new.

Tired of female romance authors who claim to be woke, but continue to work in sexist tropes. You can insert feminist ideals into your works all you want, but if the work entire doesn’t support your dogma, then wtf even are you? Y’all just straddling the line to get twice the pay.

Me: I'm so sick of paranormal reverse harems. I wish someone would write something set in the normal world.
Authors: HERE ARE 3,000 HIGH SCHOOL BULLY RHs! WOMEN FALLING IN LOVE WITH MEN WHO TREAT THEM LIKE CRAP! HE HITS YOU BECAUSE HE LOVES YOU!
Me:...not exactly what I meant...

The whole “Until” series is based on four dudes who relentlessly slut-shamed and treated their former lovers like absolute shit, and in two cases didn’t get their heads out of their asses and kept screwing around with other women. But yeah, sure - I’ll buy a whole industry based on the mythology of these worthless fuckbois. Why not. This fucking genre is whole-ass garbage.

Almost a DNF on page two for this abomination:

“With the blaring lyrics to “Feeling Good” by Muse—because that was the only copy that counted—...”

Girl come on in and sit down. Nina Simone’s ghost and I have some words for you.

Muse...ffs.

Author just commented on my notes on her book, calling me and others who criticized it “nasty”. This is a first for me - do I get a special prize now, Goodreads? I feel like I’ve finally arrived.

On this International Women's Day, can I please get a book to read that isn't so full of internalized misogyny and toxic masculinity that it oozes out around the pages in cartoon stink lines that reek of cheap tequila, drugstore cologne, chlamydia, and self-hating femininity?

No? Oh. Okay. Back to the parade of manwhores and the spineless virgins who love them, I guess.

I’m so jaded and leery of bs reviews and lying authors that I’m just constant re-reading favorites that I know won’t hurt me. Authors want readers to get invested in their books, then get mad when readers feel like they’ve been betrayed. There are too many problematic males in the real world for me to deal with them in the fictional.

Romance authors, please do not include a dog in your stories as an adorable plotfloof only to ignore it later in the story. Because as your H and h are banging their way through to an HEA, I’m frantically dialing the SPCA for fictional-character abuse.

(This may apply to a book I’m reading now and otherwise enjoying but that will lose a star for dog neglect.)

The bs with trolls is getting ridiculous lately. A lot of my friends have been attacked lately for not liking books that contain tropes that are objectionable to a lot of readers. Reviewers have every right to give a low review to a book that they dislike. Goodreads and authors, y’all need to get a handle on this shit.

I understand that authors feel they have stories to tell, and that it doesn’t always fit into a specific box. But please, for the sanity of your readers, please ensure your stories are categorized appropriately so that anyone wanting to read a traditional HEA isn’t disillusioned with something more appropriate to dark erotica or chick-lit.

Authors, Imma drop some knowledge on you.

Mafia: collective noun; Defined as a close-knit group of associates engaged in criminal activity.

Mafioso: singular noun; defined as an individual member of said mafia.

I've learned to accept that y'all can't tell the difference between "vice" and "vise", but please, ffs, STOP USING "MAFIA" IN YOUR TITLES IF YOU'RE REFERRING TO ONE PERSON!

Y'all see that Buzzfeed article about Sherrilyn Kenyon? That is some next-level crazy.

"After filing for divorce in March, [she] got tested for toxins and found she had high levels of lithium, tin, barium, platinum, and thorium in her body.

The longer she stayed away from her husband, "the better Ms. Kenyon's health was getting," the lawsuit states."

I hope she's okay.

Hero in a futuristic romance: “Females are scarce in our world.”

Same hero: “I have been with many women.”

Maybe don’t subvert your world building to make sure your male lead is a certified manho, authors. Inexperience isn’t just for women. Just a thought.

Why do people argue with others on their reviews*? Sis, I'm glad you think the book is a masterpiece, but I think it's horseshit. It's not that I just "don't get" the author's vision. Some authors are crap, and not all reviewers are going to kiss their asses just to get a like from some shill who writes tropey tripe.

(*I admit I did it once, and realized what a tool it made me immediately. Sorry, Sue!)

I'm not trying to cause drama or throw any shade, but I'm genuinely curious here. Readers who prefer virgin heroines: why?

Petition to have a new genre created to encapsulate cheating, abuse, and whatever the hell it is that one author is doing with her current series that includes a hero who gang-rapes the heroine’s friend. Because I’m not about censorship, but that shit for sure ain’t romance. Y’all feel free to write and read what you want, but don’t label misogyny as romance. Women have it hard enough as it is.

Any time someone follows my reviews, I feel like I should preemptively apologize. So uh, sorry y'all. Hope you enjoy rants against the patriarchy!

Pretty sure Kristen Ashley hates women. Her heroines are always less sexually experienced. They love shoes and diet soda and only eat what they like on major holidays. Meanwhile, the men are major manhoes, who can do whatever they like as long as they put a hand on the heroine's neck and say "babe" in a gruff voice. Secondary male characters are forgiven everything, while secondary females are always bitches.

Why are women in romance usually chaste? Explain why single fathers and widowers can be sexually active, while single mothers and widows are celibate until the hero. Why is it never a big deal if the heroine is a virgin, but there are thirteen pages of explanation if the hero is? What purpose does slut-shaming serve? If you think that's the way things just are, then you can stuff your sexist ideology and block me.

Me: (desperately browsing Amazon for something to read) Why is every damn romance book the same plot?!

Author: I've written something fresh and new! Revolutionary!

Me: (cautiously optimistic) Go on...
Author: So there's this jacked-up billionaire manwhore and this virgin, right?...I

Fangirls: OMG BRILLIANT! SO FRESH! DARING STORYTELLING! SEVENTY STARS!

Me:...Guess I'll just re-read the "Mindf*ck" series again.

Shout out to my safety gang. Even though some authors and readers don't respect the concept, triggers are a thing. I appreciate readers who identify problematic content.
I don't believe in censorship, but I believe in informed readership. So thanks for everyone who has read and revealed potentially-damaging content. It's not about hurting authors' sales; it's about protecting people from unnecessary angst.

Promiscuous men in romance: "I have sex a lot. Like every ten minutes. I'll eventually give it all up for the right girl. But for now, I'm banging like a screen door in a hurricane, baby, because that's what men do. No shame or regrets!"

Promiscuous women in romance: "Someone hurt me, so I sleep around. I'm so damaged. Who will love me? Who will change me so that I don't drag my vagina all over every man I meet?"

Into the breech...

Pray for me, my friends.

I'm debating reading the "In Death" series, but I have issues with manwhore heroes and with his ex-hookups showing up all over the place. Is it worth it, my people?

I wish Amazon's recommendations for me were based on actual books I'd be interested in, and not what they're trying to promote at the moment. #least helpful app ever

Also, since-fucking-when did Knox sleep with Isla? I'm pretty sure he was very clear about not having had a sexual relationship with her, because Harper was jealous of her. I distinctly remember being relieved that Knox hadn't fucked at least one woman from his past.

You guys, I'm struuuuggling to finish this one. So bored. I'm soooo boooored.