Category: Conversations with Kav

I am very much a mood reader so it’s pretty much impossible for me to stick to a monthly TBR like a lot of people do. Content creators on Booktube create lovely monthly TBR videos, sharing the books they plan to read in the next month. So, right now, I’m being inundated with these goal-oriented videos and, while I love watching them, I can’t imagine anything more torturous than having to make up a reading list and sticking to it for a whole month!

EXCEPT….

I have noticed a definite inclination towards certain genres and tropes in different seasons.

Summer

Like I discovered an affinity for Contemporary Rom/Coms this summer. It was like I couldn’t get enough of fun, flirty meet-cutes, witty banter and plots filled with comedic flare. I could read one after another and never grow bored. It wasn’t that I didn’t read other genres as well, but I craved rom/coms…especially ones set in summertime.

Autumn

So, then things get kinda strange when the crisp cool weather heralds in the fall. Oh, I’ll still read a rom/com if it catches my eye but what I can’t live without, literally, I would pine away without… a healthy dose of Romantic Suspense! And, as the days get shorter and the nights grow colder and I start making a hot cocoa to sip while I read, just any Romantic Suspense won’t do. It has to be a Stalker trope! Yes, I know that sounds really odd…maybe even creepy to some of you…but I cannot make it through the fall without a few good stalker books!

Winter

I live far enough north that the snow starts to fly in November so that’s when I officially feel like winter has arrived. And my reading cravings become oddly specific. I’m still on the Romantic Suspense kick BUT now I need a snowed in with a crazy stalker guy / damsel in distress / brooding hero to the rescue trope. Bwahahaha. Don’t judge. It’s really more than a craving…it’s a deep rooted bibliophile need and I have no idea why. I can settle for being stranded by another kind of natural disaster, but snow is my first choice. And while I love a strong heroine to the rescue other times of the year, the first chill of winter screams ‘damsel in distress’ to me. Isn’t that odd? Oh, and the brooding hero is very important. All noble intentions but miffed that he’s been put in that position. And he shouldn’t communicate well. Like, if he doesn’t talk for the first 50-100 pages, you know just heavy sighs and annoyed grunts kind of thing, well, then I’m swooning in bibliophile bliss. (Told you my reading cravings became oddly specific!)

Christmas

Guess we can’t talk seasons without mentioning Christmas. I can happily read Christmas books any time of the year but I start looking for them in September and read most of them before December. That’s because I want to make sure giveaway books reach winners in a timely fashion so they can be enjoyed during the holidays. This is the time of year that I actually look for novella collections. And I’m particularly fond of Regency Christmas novellas. And Amish Christmas books in general…which is kinda weird since they really don’t celebrate the holidays with the same gusto us Englishers do. Then again, maybe it’s the simplicity of the festivities that are the draw.

So, what about you? Do different seasons spark different genre interests in you too? Or am I just peculiar? 🙂

Oh — and you’ll notice I didn’t mention spring and that’s because I really don’t think I have a genre/trope preference in the spring. I think I’m so gobsmacked giddy over no more snow and getting back into my garden that I’m happy to read anything that strikes my fancy.

This is me feeling uber guilty over one of my ten reading goals for this year. That would be to read more independently published books. Because my reading year looks like this so far:

Yikes! It looks really bad put into a graph! So I have just two months left to sort this and I need your help!

LET’S TALK INDIE AUTHORS AND THEIR BOOKS

I need some guidance and a whole lot of encouragement to help me navigate the indie world of Christian Fiction. So, what’s a reader to do but turn to her bookish besties who always have her back?!

I’d love to hear about:

• some of your favourite indie authors (can include hybrid authors (publish both indie and traditional)
• a specific indie book recommendation you think I would enjoy
• how you source indie books

No worries if some of you end up recommending the same author(s )– that’ll just push them higher up the priority list since they are so popular. But I’d also like to end up with a healthy Indie TBR list by the end of the day. And, as a special thank you for sharing your love of Indie Christian Fiction:

INDIE CHRISTIAN FICTION GIVEAWAY

At the end of your comment, include the title and author of an indie CF book you would like to win and I’ll enter you in the draw. Books MUST BE CHRISTIAN FICTION and can be independently published any time up through the end of this year.

This giveaway is for a print or ebook copy. Winner’s choice.

US – available in print or ebook — winner’s choice

Canada – available in print or ebook or audible (if available) — winner’s choice

International – ebook copy if you have a US Kindle account.

If you would like a chance to win a copy of a Christian Fiction Indie novel, leave a comment below or email me at kavluvstoread AT yahoo DOT ca. If you add an email to your comment, remember to use AT and DOT instead of @ and . in order to protect yourself from spammers. If you enter the draw via email, please add the title to the subject line so it’s easy to spot your entry. Draw will be held and winner announced on Saturday October 26 2024.

I was recently scrolling through my Instagram feed and I came across a post announcing an upcoming November Clean/Closed Door Romance promotion. First — I love they have coined the phrase ‘Bell Pepper Romance’ to describe these romances. I’ve always been uncomfortable with defining books as ‘clean’, ‘wholesome’, ‘sweet’ etc. Makes them sound so…well, ‘meh’. Like there won’t be any substance to the stories which is so far from the truth as these kinds of romances often deal with difficult subject matter, have emotionally layered characters and complex plots. So, Bell Pepper Romance is not only fun, but perfectly compliments its sister, ‘Spicy Romance.’ I really hope this trend catches on.

Anyway, the definition of a Bell Pepper Romance is no sex on the page and no swears….except for bible swears? I’ve never heard that term before and wonder if any of you have? I’m assuming it means words found in the bible that are generally considered as ‘mild’ cuss words? Like um, well, the other word for donkey or h-e-double hockey sticks (true confession, I’m super conservative about language as you can tell by my inability to even spell the words out here! 🙂 )

So, this got me thinking — what does ‘clean’ actually mean to you? Just the absence of physical intimacy and no crude cursing in a story? Because, that’s not what I am looking for when I am reading Christian Fiction (especially!) or a Bell Pepper Romance.

For example, if you take the biblically acceptable h-e-double hockey stick word and turn it from a place name noun into an exclamation, then it becomes swearing as far as I’m concerned. I recently read a contemporary rom/com which used that word as a form of cussing a few times and it totally took me by surprise. Enough that I won’t be reading any other books by that new-to-me author. I mean, if you’re only going to use the word a handful of times, why even bother? Surely there are other ways to show a character’s shock, dismay or other strong feeling.

And don’t get me started on using the Lord’s name in vain — another bible word that is all to often used as a curse word. I stopped reading a Historical Romance author I loved when I noticed this kind of profanity creeping into her stories more and more. I finally DNFed one where a number of male characters kept using the Lord’s name in vain…as if that was somehow an acceptable ‘clean’ alternative to coarser language. Now, this is a secular author, so totally understandable that she is fine with that type of language in her books, but it’s just not content I want to read.

So, tell me, am I too conservative? Could some of these milder examples of swearing be more acceptable in some regions/countries than in others? Or am I just a prude? (I won’t be offended if you say I am.)

And how do you source out your really, truly ‘clean’ (for lack of a better word) contemporary and historical romances? Any recommendations? I’m excited to have chance to discover new authors and books during this special November promotion…just not sure how I can avoid the ‘bible swears’.

Stay tuned for details on the Bell Pepper Romance Bookstagram Event in November!