Bookwild - More Than Dragons & Spice: Bridget Howard's The Romantasy Lover's Journal

Episode Date: May 1, 2026

This week, MacKenzie Green and I talk with Bridget Howard about her new Romantasy Lovers' Journal. Listen to hear about: Bridget’s journey from book blogger to Bookstagram creator to marketing professional for publishers and authors How romantasy evolved from YA and paranormal roots into today’s booming genre Why romantasy, fantasy, and romance deserve the same literary analysis and cultural respect as “serious” fiction The creation of the Romantasy Lover's Reading Journal and how it helps both seasoned readers and newcomers engage more deeply Beginner-friendly romantasy recommendations, from gateway reads like ACOTAR to duologies and standalones Check Out Author Social Media PackagesCheck out the Bookwild Community on PatreonCheck Out My Stories Are My Religion SubstackGet Bookwild MerchFollow @imbookwild on InstagramOther Co-hosts On Instagram:Gare Billings @gareindeedreadsSteph Lauer @books.in.badgerlandHalley Sutton @halleysutton25Brian Watson @readingwithbrianMacKenzie Green @missusa2mba 

This week, McKinsey Green and I talk with Bridget Howard about her Romanticie Lover's Reading Journal. It's a really fun conversation about the genre itself and how it has grown and changed a little bit in the last decade or so. And also it's really interesting hearing from Bridget, who's been a part of bookish communities and Bookstagram for many years as well. And it was really cool getting to hear her story with that. and then also just discuss how sometimes some genre fiction, especially genre fiction that is consumed by mostly women, kind of gets looked down on, but there's something to gain from almost everything we read. And it's just a really fun conversation around those topics. So that being said, let's hear from Bridget. I am so excited we're with Bridget Howard to talk about the Romanticie Lover's Reading Journal. And I just, I have a all the questions so i'm super excited and mackenzie green is with me too oh yeah always here always here when a great author is on book wild i magically appear whether kate likes it or not i do like it for the record um well bridget i guess like what was your journey to bookstagram initially

because i'm assuming that's kind of where some of this like really started yeah so actually originally I was, I joined a book blog called Dark Fairy Tales, like way back in the day. I, I don't know how many years ago it was. It was a while ago kind of when book blogs were really popular. And it was before, I think Instagram might like have been created, but it was like really new. And so I did that for a few years where I would read and white reviews and things like that. And a lot of the book bloggers decided to kind of transition into Bookstagram. So I actually went to a convention. I think it was in Texas and it was like it was one of the library conventions or something and I met a bunch of my blogger friends and they were all doing bookstagram.

They're like, you have to start. And I was like, okay, I'll try and see how this goes, you know, because it wasn't like something I was necessarily felt I was good at. But I was like, I'll try and see, see how it goes. And I ended up being really good at it more so that I would be. So, I kind of ventured into the journey and that's where my name comes from is because it was kind of part of the blog because the blog was called dark fairy tales. So I was like, I'll just kind of transition it over and use that. And yeah, so then I started that. And about a year into it is when I started, I have a, like, it's called Storygram Tours. It's like a marketing business where I work with authors promoting books through Instagram and TikTok now as well. And that came about about a year. after I started Bookstagram. Wow. That's awesome.

What was like surprising about Bookstagram? Because I think it like it can have its own kind of pitfalls and processes of getting onboarded. Like what was that initial process? Like were you surprised even? You know, it was it was really interesting. And it's so different now than, okay,

because let's be fair meta, but Instagram. So this, I started when Instagram was still owned by. the original creators and I like so a lot has changed now but when I originally started we would post I would post four times a day which is insane like I think about that now and I'm like how did I do that I'm like I don't even know how I can come up with one post a day now but so many pitchers and and it was it was such a fun community and just like everything about it was like I got to like combined like my creative skills with the pictures with what I loved in books and create these masterpieces of like art with books in a way and so that was like a surprising thing to me because that wasn't really

something I was expecting when I originally went into it because like I said it was more like a reader reviewer and then it kind of just ventured into something totally different and I love that. Yeah, that's awesome. Did you, was it always romanticized? that well i mean in some ways that has kind of blown up in popularity more in the last like five to seven years but um what was was that mostly what you were reading like kind of from the beginning too yeah so a lot of it was way a because that was more what let's because honestly way a was what everybody that reads romanticcy now was reading back then because while romanticcy like existed because sarah j moss like came around right around the same time i started like

books of grams she had been right before but she's kind of like you know the queen of like what started romanticese a little bit i i would say not 100% stream yeah yeah and so a lot of people were read and for the tonograph glass was technically a ya book i don't know how right it was published as a ya book and a quarter thorns and roses was too right as well yeah so yeah that's like more so i mean yeah it was romanticcy, but it was more YAA Romanticy that has now like kind of evolved into more adult romanticcy

which I definitely prefer just because I am an adult and yeah okay and I feel like while I love a lot of the old YA books, none of those characters actually felt like teenagers because they were doing things that teenagers actually wouldn't do

yeah I have teenagers so I'm like yeah this is not how a teenager would think or act or be you're unless you have like the most mature teenager in the world but like hunger games is like that yeah that's a prime example of like yeah i was about to say also romantasy sometimes feels very uh euphoria coded in the sense that you're like this could be written with older people we didn't have to do this in high school yeah exactly and so like that's i mean so yes it was always like more fantasy style of books that i was reading but i mean i read across all genres i like everything

but Romanticcy is just my favorite. Yeah. Yeah, that was my curiosity is like, what drew you to Romantasy? Because, like, to your point, like, some people's entry point might be that they're, like, lovers of YA. Other people are like,

I'm really kind of like sci-fi curious, but I don't know how to venture into it. Like, even to me, it's almost like, to a certain respect, like, Romanty is almost to fantasy novels, what, like, cozy gaming is to gaming. It is like an entry point into a very established genre that can feel intimidating.

So I'm just curious, like, what drew you to Romantic? So it's, uh, my mom was always a really big reader. And so when I was like a teenager, she got me to start reading. And like, I was a huge reader. I read all the Fear Street novels. So like all those types. And then she introduced me to like this sort of Chenera and David Eddings. So I was always kind of a fantasy.

reader even as a teenager and then of course twilight i mean twilight is definitely a version of a romanticcy i know it's set here but it's like another entry level type of thing it's more paranormal but yeah you start and i read that when i was i was newly married i think i might have actually been pregnant with my first baby when i started and i so when i started that that kind of just started this like snowfall of me reading pretty much the YA books and then went romantasy like adult books like you know serjeet mouse fourth wing all that stuff came out i actually got to be one of the earlier readers for fourth wing i got to read an art oh that's cool yeah yeah so i actually um yeah like did a really early like review and like uh i had a bunch of

tictox blow up for fourth wing so i actually have a blurb in fourth wing that is so cool. That's so cool. Like the newer, like, so they release the holiday edition and they have a blurb of mine in it. And it might have even been in the second book. I can't remember how to look. It's cool. That's cool. That's so cool. Blurbs at the front of the book. Yeah. Like, I have a book in there. I'm like, oh, look at that. That's so cool. It's cool. So, yeah, that's kind of, I guess I've always been a fantasy reader. And I think, I love romance as well. I mean, you kind of, and so like just mashing them together is perfect. yeah totally that's the fun part once you've been on or once you've like read arcs for a few years and all of a sudden you're like oh this one is like getting all this attention like two or three years later and you're like i remember when that was like a debut novel from someone yeah it's such a

cool feeling yeah like car of all by stephanie garber like i'm i've been friends with stephanie since before she was published like i mean because my so my business part and there's really, really good friends with Stephanie. So that's kind of how I like met her. And so I've met her in person. She's lovely and so cute and talked to her a million times online or Trisha Levinsellor. She's amazing. And I've worked with her a ton.

She actually lives in Utah. So it's funny though, because I look and it's been like 10 years since they've been published almost. And I'm like, oh, can I go? It's crazy to see like how their careers have just like blown up. It's awesome. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, I really enjoyed Stephanie's The Alchemy of Secrets that just came out. I love that. It was so fun. I, like, quick chapters. Really cool urban fantasy. Yes. Yeah. Yes. And then like how every chapter was like five pages. I'm like, I can just do that thing so fast. Yes. Anyone who's listening to the audiobook is narrated by Sutton Foster. And it made me want her to narrate more audiobooks. because I really loved her narration too. So that part was fun too. That's so dope. Yeah.

So with Romanticy and then with this journal as well, what made you want to like create a journal for readers that specific to Romanticcy? Okay. So this story is a little, it's kind of funny. The publishers actually came to me. Oh, that's cool. Yeah. So they came, they wanted a Romanticy journal and they emailed me.

I think they emailed a few different candidates. I wasn't the only one that they interviewed. And like, I think I did. I can't remember. It was at least, I think it was at least two interviews with my editor. And eventually they're like, okay, we've decided that we really like you and that we think you're a good fit and would you want to do this. And I was like, yeah, I think that this would be really fun.

And I obviously romantic is something like I'm hugely passionate about. And so yeah, that's how it came to be because it wasn't really something I was looking to do. But yeah, they came to me and I was like, yeah, I think this would be really fun. So that is how the idea came about. What was like, I guess what's interesting. So like I'm a huge commonplace person marginalia like crazy. What was like surprising to you in trying to almost like. proactively think through predict maybe how other people read that might be different from how you

read in regards to like creating the journal. So like for example, like maybe you're like, oh, I love highlighting like morally gray book boyfriends. So like let me make a whole page dedicated to that as where maybe like you're also trying to think through like, oh, maybe somebody else wants to like track all the themes they're seeing or maybe they want to track the spice level of the book. Like how do you get into the mind of another person's usage of maybe your process of reading. Yeah. So I think, I mean, being in the book community for such a long time, I have seen a lot of the things that people talk about in their reviews. A lot of the things people will feature in that people get excited about. And that's like what I wanted to include in the journal is things that people

were, when they read and when they do reviews and things like that, what they get excited about. So that's kind of how I, that's, yeah. Yeah. Does that make sense? It's, you know, it totally makes sense. And I think what's so interesting with both you and Kate on this call is both of you also get to put on the hat of thinking through how to help authors market and be more of a brand first. And I can imagine it's got to be a little crazy to now kind of like switch that to yourself. Like, the best analogy I could think of is, is exit through the gift shop. I don't know if you ever watch that documentary. But it was a gentleman who was fast. fascinated with street art, like, Banksy and all of these guys.

So he follows them. And then the course of the documentary is him going, well, wait, what if I turned myself into a street artist? Like, I'm with these guys. I'm seeing the process. Like, how can I take what I'm seeing from them and mold that? And it's almost to a certain respect, like, hearing, having to have spoken with Kate a lot and even hearing from you, it's almost this idea of like, when you've been sitting with these authors and you're like, hey, you can adjust this, you can change that. Like does that start to inform even not only just how you went about the journal, but as you're thinking through the process of like, how is the user going to receive it? How do I want it to look? Because like, you know, ostensibly similar to Mr. Brainwash, like, you know what's working, what's not. You've seen in real time. So like, how much does that play into it as well? Oh, yeah. Like, I mean, it just having like, yeah, years and years of experience of trying to help

people market their books. Definitely, yeah, like you said, like with the cover when, because they asked me for like a color pellet when you were doing the cover and I'm like dark, like very specific. And they did a really good job with the cover. I think they did a beautiful job. And yeah, just like, and it's like switch things of like actually having to market myself and so like that's been interesting too because I'm like, I always helped other people market their stuff. but marketing itself is like the author has been sort of an interesting journey and it's been fun but yeah and with um what you like i said with what you include in the journal it's just like with all my experience i tried to like incorporate that as much as i could into the journal to make it

a reader friendly and yeah i don't know it's it's been an interesting experience but it's been fun it's been good like is there anything in this process that like has surprised you where now you're like, ooh, I have like a newfound respect for authors or maybe like what they're getting wrong. Like are there is it even now you're like, I'm going to approach my clients differently because now I I see a little bit more of how the sausage gets made. So I mean, yes, I mean, we don't work as much with indie author. We do a little bit. Ours is more publishers. So they do a lot of the market like like that part of the marketing. and stuff like that.

But it's been really interesting talking to the publicists and having my meetings with my publicist. And I'm like, oh, this is how you operate. Because like, I work with publicists. And I'm like, sometimes I, sometimes I'm like, okay, I don't understand how difficult certain parts of their job can be. And I'm like, seeing just like the flip side of them and trying like what they do and stuff like that.

I'm like, okay, it gives me a lot more appreciation for the publicists I work with. Not saying that I didn't have one, I appreciate it before. But I'm like, they actually do a lot and a lot of different things that like for a lot of offers. Yeah. Yeah. In my sphere. And I mean, and it's funny because they always, every time they have a meeting with me, they're like, oh my gosh, we love you. You're so easy to work with.

You know so much. And I'm like, oh, oh, thank you. You know. Yeah. Well, I mean, I think from just being somebody who works in social professionally, like I can even say to the same way we talk about founder generated content, it feels like this new frontier of at least, not just like publicity and all this stuff, but just of literature in general is author generated content, which I think like you do so well that you think through like,

yeah, you're thinking through it as a user because I think it's very easy, you know, we all love books. We love esoteric, lit fic and all. But like sometimes I think book people can forget, like, this is still a business and there is a person there is a potential customer on the other end like think like a consumer and I think you just do that so smartly and I'm just like yeah I'm just curious of like if any of this process has either like made you be like oh I got to teach more people how to think this way or if you're like ooh I really do have a secret sauce people haven't tapped into yeah no like it's I feel like it's kind of a hard thing to teach other people like authors especially like I feel like authors and readers are quite different, especially like when it comes to social media and stuff, because authors just don't quite grasp it the same way as readers do.

And that's totally fine. Some of them do. And honestly, the ones that do. I think the younger generation is more used to it. Like some of those indie authors, and a lot of them have now been traditionally published because they got it and they figured it out. And they also are the ones that generally were following the trend. which is obviously how you're going to sell books anyway. But like coming from it as more of like starting as a reader and being more of like a content

creator has definitely benefited me when it comes to like trying to promote my own book and things like that. It's been a very interesting. And I feel like that like authors like when you're in writing mode and things like that. And I think that the best advice and I've heard this for many, many authors is that you need to read. You need to read what you want to write. And you also need to consume content that you want to produce. Like I feel like that's like a really good piece of advice. There's stuff that you like. Follow the content creators that you feel are doing what you want to do. And don't copy them,

but at least try and like duplicate that same feeling of what they're creating and trying to create that for your audience. Because I think that that's definitely the way to go about getting better at that. It sounds like the Austin Cleon thing of like you steal like an artist. Like, you know, it's like everything is an iterative process. I'm very embarrassed to say. I just found out Netflix

is adapting Lord of the Flies. And so I'm rereading Lord of the Flies for the first time since like middle school. And to your point of like stealing like, talking about like iterative processes and learning from what does and does not work, I literally said as I was reading the first chapter, I go, oh, they like ripped off law.

And then I stopped and I went, no, no, lost. This is the first one. Like, to that thing of like, you know, this idea of like, there is truly nothing original, so to speak. It's like everything is kind of looking at something you like and going like, oh, how would I do this? Or to your point of just, what is, a Twilight. It's like, that is fanfic.

Yeah. That is somebody being like, I love 50 shades. I want to make, now I'm going to take this thing I like and make something. from it and now everybody and their mother when they see like you said, YA that has like team this, team that. They're like that's a rip off of Twilight and I'm like and Twilight is a rip off of 50

Shades. And 50 Shades is a rip off, so to speak, to Jane Eyre of like woman comes into man's life, has her whole life changed. Yeah. And it's like taking something original and putting your own unique spin on it, making it your own to, yeah.

And that's just like what all creators I feel do. And and if you can do that. So that's where I was like, follow your favorite creators. Use what tools you have to get yourself out there. Yeah. I will punt it over you, Kay, because I have now a million questions about Romantasy. So I'll let you.

That was kind of my next thing that I was thinking about. And I know you said it was kind of the publisher approached you. But there's also like in the book community, which McKinsey and are not on board. with the anti-intellectualism that's happening. But on the flip side, I think there's this tendency, especially in genres that women like romance itself and then like especially romanticity together for people to like not take it seriously

or to kind of like roll their eyes about it or think that you couldn't do literary analysis of it. So what was it like kind of like building this journal and being and like pointing out the things that like you can still analyze stories like this. Oh, see, okay. I, like, yes, reading Romanticcy is a form of escapism. And I, like, there is an

entertainment level to it, of course. And that, I think, is why a lot of people do read it. And that's a lot of the reasons why I read it. But that doesn't mean that there's not substance and substance, sorry, I said that around, to all of the stories. These authors are usually extremely intelligent people that are creating these worlds and it is amazing to me like the breadcrumbs that they can put in some of these stories you create and the the lessons like I mean like fantasy okay I mean this one's not a romantic see but if you ever read Skype by Neil Streeterman yeah my gosh yeah I have never had

like a book make me think so much like literally in my life it is because basically nobody can die in this society it's kind of yeah apocalyptic sci-sy-fi type of world where literally no one can die you can do whatever you want and they can revive you and go to control the population they've created the cycineph and if a siph you know gets rid of you you you stay dead and there's so like it's a lot of drama it is a y-a but like mortality and just like the thought of like what would you actually do if you could live forever and what type of person would you be and things like that like that that's what these people are writing about too it's not just a form of escapism even though there's that entertainment level to it these books have a lot of depth

and it's it's very healing like there's a lot like there's a whole genre of like the dark romanticy and dark where it's very healing for victims I'm not in that boat but I know I see that all the time people talking about it and reading other people's experiences and things that. So there's so much depth to these books that you're getting way, way more when you're reading them than just pure entertainment. I love what you said about like the authors because when you were like, oh, they're so smart and there's breadcrumbing. It makes me think about after the Oscar when Lupid and Yango did Black Panther and people were like, oh, superhero movie. And she was like, do you know how much skill it takes and how much of a, like, you have to be an

expertly trained actor to do this. She was like to stand in a room with nothing there, a bunch of green screens and be like, I am driving a spaceship to an intergalactic war. So like to your point, I'm like, even to write like romanticity, it takes a level of intellect to be able to have restraint, know what needs to be in there, create these worlds. So like, yeah, I love even what you're saying because Kate and I talk about this all the time where we're like, no, read all of it. Like nothing is throw away.

No. Like you don't have to read a masterpiece of literary fiction to get something from it. And like I, I, okay, I mean, like I said, I, and I have a very short attention span. So I struggle reading like, really like slower books and stuff like that. I have to have something that's quick pace that keeps my attention. Or I just don't finish it because I just have too much going on in my life. Maybe when I'm older or whatever. And for all the people that love that.

that they're that's and that's their thing that's totally fine too but right don't ever take away from what somebody else enjoys and what they get from it because why why do that why tear each other there's no reason to do that and I'm curious if you because even hearing you talk I'm curious if you feel like maybe even this kind of like rise of like the literary RPGs or like the kind of like I'm in a household where I have a partner who loves Matt didaman and also reads like these Dresden file books. And I'm like, babes, the only difference between that book is the vampires don't kiss. Like, in the Dresden files.

Or I'm like, the only difference in Dungeon Crawl, Carl is there's no love triangle at any point. And I'm like, but it's the same thing to me. So I'm like, even that part is like, are you finding like, oh, everybody kind of wants a little bit of what like us romanticie girlies have? Is this like space for escapism and a tale in here as well? Exactly. I feel like, and I love a good book that doesn't necessarily have romance. Same. I, Boneshar daughter by Andrea Stewart, has like no romance, but it is a fantastic fantasy.

Or Brandon Sanderson's books have very little romance in them. And he is amazing and hugely popular. So you don't necessarily, like, but that's the thing. Yes, I feel like everybody wants a form of escapism in today's society. Just, I mean, we, you know, actual society is a little sad sometimes. So sometimes you just need something to pick you up and leave the real world behind for just a little bit. And there is, I think there's, it's healthy. I think that's super healthy.

And reading generally a less expensive version of entertainment. And it's good for your minds. It's because when you're reading or doing audio, I love audiobooks as well. I know there's a whole spew of people being like reading audiobooks. doesn't count. They are not. I know. Those people are ridiculous.

Yeah. I'm like, let it go. Like, let it go. I mean, I think all of it is, is needed and healthy and

good for everybody. So I love the fantasy and all that is just getting more and more popular in many different circles. Yeah. And I think it is interesting. And I think we're at an interesting inflection point. were like quote unquote girl things like kate said get kind of denigrated of like oh is that a real

book and it's like are you serious there's so many words in here this is a real book i know i agree it's so it's well and even um like chicklet the the the genre that like got names like yeah we never had man lit it was only like the girls literature or women's fiction even we don't You don't see men's fiction as a tab on good reads, but you see women's fiction. It's crazy. Don't get me started. Don't get me started. I know.

I'm like, I can go on so many rants. But even to a certain respect, like what you were saying earlier about this idea of, like, it started with Y.A. It's like even then I think about when rest is resistance. It talks about the power of Afro-Futurism to getting people to see themselves. And I can only imagine within YA and even to a certain respect, romanticcy, for a largely female audience to see a woman at the center of it. She has space for romance.

She can also topple an entire regime, oppressive regime. It's like sometimes even just seeing it in these, seeing yourself in these fantastical situations, all of a sudden makes you go like, oh, what if I was like a powerful warrior? And then that shows up and you going, I'm going to stop saying sorry all the time when I like bump into someone or whatever, but it is that snowball effect where that is the power of these kind of

quote unquote silly genres. Yeah, it gives you confidence. It gives women, like they can see themselves in these characters, especially when you can relate to a character. And because there's been certain books where just certain characters, I'm like, that is me. Like I can see myself of my traits. And knowing that they can move past it gives you just a little boost of confidence

that you may need to move past it to, whatever the case may be, whatever the circumstances are. And I think that's beautiful. And why ever, you know, degrade that? I agree. Yeah. It's like when you walk out of a movie theater and you, like, still feel like you're basically like in that world, like books are kind of that same thing where you can feel like,

you know what? I can't be a badass. Yes. Yeah. I was having that happen with, well, not that. But I'm reading The Ravens Scholar right now. And oh my God, it's so good. It's really just, it's high fantasy.

Like it's not, it's, I would not be called Romance. Is he? But the main character, she's like naturally, a scholar and bookish and has questions for everything. And I just keep giggling because I'm like, I have definitely. Yeah, you're like same girl. They're like, well, Nima's going to have a lot of questions. And I'm like, because she's thorough.

Yeah. So, yeah, it is fun when that happens. The other thing I was wondering about, too, is like, does tracking reading or like doing analysis, does it change your experience when you're reading books as well? Yes. So I, you know, because the whole tabbing and like highlighting thing kind of became popular, I don't know how many years ago.

And I was like, I'm going to try this. I'm going to see how this goes. Just, you know, is it curious? Yes. It really does because. So definitely. as someone who, at least in the past, I don't necessarily consume as many books now as I used to, but I used to like just consume a ton of books. And so you would kind of speed through them and not

necessarily get as much out of them. So but when you're like highlighting or tabbing, you catch so many more like quotes and little things that you're like, oh, that was good or like that like that, like that make you think. And I, so I think when you want to keep track of like journaling and doing like that version of it. It definitely does enhance the reading experience because it just makes you remember it better and you write down those little moments and you're like, okay, this is something I want to reflect on later. And so I think it definitely helps do that.

Yeah. I often joke with friends who like are kind of getting back into reading. I'm like reading is a full contact sport, so to speak. I'm like, you can have a conversation with the author in the margin of the books. And they're always kind of like, what? I'm like, no, write the notes, be like, what? Why? How come you mention this? And to your point, it's also like the journal creates a structured way of doing that.

Because I think that process can be intimidating for people is to, this idea of like, Kate's that literary analysis sounds so scary. But in reality, it's going like, oh, who's this character? Huh. I wonder where his name's Leaf, you know, or it's like, I wonder why, you know, he's being introduced here. Oh. how come she's, you know, 19 instead of 21?

Like, does that change the story? And I think that is, I think you're also giving people a really beautiful entry point into the process of actually engaging with what they read. Because I, and you can tell me if you feel the same way, that's when I think this concept of like the right or wrong way of reading comes in, that if it's a thing that just washes over you, that like, by all means, if you're popping in an audiobook and you're just like, I was going to let the words wash over me for the next four hours.

and hear none of it, then yeah, that's not reading. But I feel like if you're listening to the audiobook texting your girlfriend and being like, girl, have you heard about fourth wing and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, then I'm like, that's engaging with the text. Like, you're doing it. And so, yeah, I think you're, like, lowering the barrier to entry through this journal to that process. Exactly. Well, and I think that that's, like, another part of reading that's so fun is being able to talk

to others about it. And, like, that's what's so great about the books of gram book talk, all of that, is like you're talking to others about these books. Like I have, I'm in a book club. And it's so fun. And we read majority Romantici books. And it's funny because we've had like people ask us about it. They're like, well, do you actually discuss the book?

We're like, yes. Of course we do. Like we're a book club. Yeah. We're discussing these books. They're like, okay, you know, like, and I'm like, there's a lot to talk about in these romanty books and far beyond the romance. And I love it.

And we've been doing it for over a year. And it's like this month we read, We Who Will Die by Stacey. I can't remember her last name. But and it's like gladiator meets vampire diaries. And it's really good. That sounds awesome. And I'm so excited to talk. Like I think we're meeting in a couple weeks, but I'm like, I'm so excited to talk about it and see everybody's perspective on what they got out of it.

Yeah. I mean, now I'm interested. I'm curious, like, what is your gateway romance? to see, like, for, like, whether it was, like, the book that got you into the genre or, like, the one that you recommend, because, like, I know for me, there are certain books that, like, depending on the genre, when the person's like, oh, I want to get into romance, I'm like, ooh, start here. Like, I think this will be an entry point.

Like, I want, like, for you, what is that when friends maybe who are romanticcy curious are, like, Bridget, where do I start? Yeah, like, if you have never read. Yeah, never read it. 100% Accatar, like, according to Jordans and Roses. is like I feel like that is your like go to. That one or like fourth wing is really good too. The only reason I wouldn't recommend fourth wing per se is because it's not finished.

And a lot of people hate starting in the series. So I would probably recommend Akatar or if we're going to go more like OG like Y.A. One of my all time favorites is the kiss of deception by Mary E. Pearson. Now, if you want like a fantastic, like, developed world, that book is so good. And I pride myself on, like, being able to, like, guess pretty much all plot points because I've read so much, you know, and things are a little repetitive. And there was a plot point twist in that that. I literally had to go back and read. And I was like, there's no way this actually works.

And it did. And I was, I was like, my mind was well. It was so good. So I really love that one. And but like if we're going to go like maybe more plot driven with just a side of romance one dark window by Rachel Gillig. It's like one of my all time favorite. I've recommended that book so many times and I've never had anyone not like it. Oh yes. I keep seeing this one.

It's gorgeous. Her writing is just amazing and it's just so she does a lot of imagery. So it's just beautiful and she just the story is so intriguing and the cat, how just everything. about it. I loved that. Oh my God. Now you're selling me on it. I'm like, okay. Is it a duology or is it gonna, do you know if there's another one? Like I see there too. Is it, okay. So it is a duology and that is complete. Okay. Cool. Oh, nice. Okay. Yeah. So it is complete. That's another reason I recommend it is because it's done. And it's two books, which is really nice, I feel, because then you don't have to, like, commit to a series. I really like sometimes reading stand-alones because sometimes committing to a

series is a lot and it takes a lot of time. I'm trying to think of some really good standalones that I've like. Blood over Bright Haven was one of my favorite. It's not romanticcy though. It's just just fantasy, but the author ML Wang, she specifically does standalones for fantasy. And I'm like, I remember when I first saw that that was like in her bio. I was like, why does that matter? And then I was like, Kate, you don't even start really big series. Like, that's why that matters. Yeah, it does. And I, like, I'm one of those people that has a hard time finishing trilogies. Like, I'm like, I really am. So, like, one or two books is, like, really good for me. So that's, like, definitely why I love one dark window. It's just the two books. And yeah, that's just, it's, that's nice. And Akatar is only

the three books, so it's not too bad. But, like, if you recommend throwing a glass, it's like nine books, eight or nine books. I'm like... I love what you're saying, though, about the trilogy, too, because I heard, I'm forgetting the name of the author, but she wrote Anna Kay, which was like the modern adaptation of Anna Karenina, and she did that as a trilogy. But what's so funny to me is she talked about how hard it was to write the second book, and that another author just told her, oh, well, the whole point of the second book

is just to keep the characters going and to remind people they exist. And I was like, then why are we writing three books? Give me two then. Exactly. 100% like because I know I know that like so stand alone sometimes with a fantasy book can be really difficult to pull off because you're creating this huge world yeah huge story and wrapping it all up in one nice bowl that actually works is I like authors that can do that chef's kiss because it is hard so I feel like two books though you can really wrap up a story with two books and then you don't have

filler book yeah yeah no I've had many a course crash out. Kate knows this. I have, I had a meltdown about, uh, Leobardo the, the, the, the, the, the house. Yes. The, yes, the ninth house series. When I knew there was a third book, I said, you know what, Leah, since you want to wait so long between books, I'm not even going to read this second one until the third one is coming out because now I got to reread the first one and read them. Exactly. Yeah. And who has time to reread books? Yes. Or, or, or I, or I, make fun of my partner because he literally will be like, oh, there's a new dungeon crawl Carl out. So he will read all like 10 prior books to read the newest. And I'm like, absolutely not.

I am not built for that. That is not my ministry. I am leaving. I am never joining this family. Right. Especially now that there are like, like a super summary is something I use sometimes too. Especially now that there's that. Like it is easier to like get that because I used to be that way was TV shows like years ago. I haven't for a while. But like when the new season would air, I'd be like, I need to be in the right emotional setting and like re-experience at all. And then YouTube happened and now you can watch recaps, thankfully, which I think is

what made a big difference for me. And I think stuff like super summary, there's something called So Brief that does it too where like you can get really good like one sentence or one or two sentence chapter summaries. And that makes it a little bit easier. But it doesn't help that you still would have to wait for the third leaf. barred you go. They never come out? I mean, now that you've got

like Michael B. Jordan adapting fourth wing, all this stuff, like, where do you think the genre is going? Like, is it? Because I feel like thrillers went through this era that Romanticie is having now where people are like, it's girly, it's silly. You know, oh, it's just for women sitting around

bored, housewife. Now it's like, we've greenlit every brand you know, McFadden book ever written because we need this money now. Like, I'm curious, like, do you feel like this next kind of content renaissance is maybe going to like coalesce around

romantacy. Yeah. I mean, I think that a lot of the TV well, I mean, I feel like a lot of the TV shows like the vampire diaries was 100% romance to see. Like, yeah. I've been rewatching True Blood too and I'm like oh, I always like that. Yeah. It's always been

around. It's just going to like more venture into actual fantasy. Because I think that it's now that they have like a lot more cGI and it's a little bit maybe hopefully like affordable to do fantasy type of things because I think for a long time there it was just too expensive to try and wait these worlds and they kind of just you know stayed away from it unless it was some like lord of the rings which like you know that big box office exactly budget but now that I feel like it's possibly a little bit more affordable to do it I do think that

Romanticie TV is going to be, especially with the success of the dragon. Oh, my gosh, what's it called? Oh, Game of Thrones. Yeah. I'm like, I never watch Game of Thrones, but like at the success of Game of Thrones, I'm like, obviously there's a craving for fantasy type of content in TV. I do think that it's going to definitely go that route. I think I'm excited. And even hearing you talk, it's making me go like, yeah, there was a huge group of people that fell in love with Game of Thrones strictly for the fact that they were like, oh, there's a queen in it. Yeah.

Right. And that was like all people needed to hear. They were like, great. I don't need to hear anymore. There's a queen. She's in love with Jason Mamoa. Grega, great, great. What time does it come on on Sundays?

Yeah, dragons. Like, what time does it come on? Yeah. It's real, though. I think, because I think that especially for like our age group, well, my age group, I don't really know where age group does. I mean, I feel so old at all times. But yeah.

I grew up like, Lord of the Rings was coming out when I was in like high school. And it was like a phenomenon. You know, like, it was, I love. And like Pirates of the Caribbean came out when I was like a senior. And just like that, that a whole genre of like movies. And so like that's what I grew up on. So like that, I love that kind of content with within the movie and TV. Well, I think it was funny as like even talking to you, I'm even realizing like, oh, this isn't

new genre. Like, Bridget's so right. Like, yeah, I was obsessed with Pirates of the Caribbean and I was like, oh, I want to be a pirate when I grow up. Or like, you said, it's like, or that my whole personality for a while was true blood, you know, that I was like, I was like, this is, this is the answer are all our problems guys. And we could just let vampires live among us. So it's like, it's so funny even talking to you that I'm like, oh, I am a Romanticie fan. This whole time I've been very like, I would dabble in the genre. I'm curious about it. But now hearing you talk, I'm like, oh, a lot of us that are reader girlies have always been in this space to begin with. Yeah, I agree. I think it's kind of just like the internet came up with a term. Yeah.

The trendiness of it. Which I'm almost curious. It's been a, well, I was going to say, like, then I'm curious to know, like, do you think there's going to be that, that kind of pendulum swing of gatekeeping from people who've been in this space? Like, do you predict, like, maybe some of your peers who've been in the space longer and be like, ugh, now you guys. are into fourth wing. I was here like ages ago. I don't really, okay, and maybe it's just me, but I don't really feel like our community's petty though. Yeah. You're not like, listen, because I mean, but like I love hearing that because again, I live with a gamer who like things will happen. Same thing with dungeon crawl, Carl will walk into Barnes & Noble and he's like, oh, now everybody's

into Carl. And I'm almost even in talking to you. I'm like, oh, right, because this is a predominantly female space. Women are going to be like, come in. No. He's joined me. Come. Come. Come. please join us what we do in our community it's like please come yeah yes i don't know like i feel like that generally speaking i mean are there some like maybe offshoots of it or whatever that people like being like that sure because people can be petty but i think the majority of people just want everybody to read and want everybody to love what we're loving and like jump on board with us i don't think they care when they jump on board as long as they jump on board like yeah and they don't like make fun of us or degrade us and they don't like those people but if you want to join us join us

i feel like our community's always been really good about that yeah that's good i mean and to bring it back to the journal i think that's also a great entry point to help people figure out like how do i even discuss this if i'm new to this genre because i think to your point it's like people are like oh do i go to book club and talk about like all the the spicy scenes and it's like no no we're actually even just well you can also talk about the book you don't have have to feel like if you don't want to yeah exactly it's like if that's if that makes you uncomfortable then you'll be like oh i don't want to talk i don't want to talk about that part but can we talk about the dragons yeah like my book club we talk about it all like we have one of one of the girls

she loves discussing all the spicy scenes and it's hilarious we have so much fun with it we're all adults like yeah and so and i think also with the if you are new to romancesy and you are going to do a book club, this will give you ideas of what more seasoned Romanticty readers are going to like, you love that. Like in the journal. Like that's going to be like like the book boyfriends or like the people you shit or the villains that you love to hate and things like that. Like that's because, you know, the things that are in the journal and things like the prompts

for you to discuss. Those are going to be things that like the more seasoned romanticity readers are going to want to discuss because that's what they're looking for in a book. And so it'll make you look like you belong. I love that. I love that you're like, you're almost helping newbies like enter the fold. Yeah.

For sure. Because we want everybody to enter and be. Yes. I was wondering. I mean, I think that's the best part about book communities like Romanticie is I think it really is coming from a place of like, no, no, we want more people in here. We want more conversation because I guess where my brain is going is even sometimes the controversy where people are like, ah, not enough diversity.

It even sounds to an effect. Like, the point of the journal is to say, like, hey, if you've been standing outside and maybe you didn't see yourself or you don't understand, hey, now you can come in and to your point, too, of like iterative and building off of what others have done, it's like, now that you're here, if you're sitting in an Akitar reading group and being like, I wish this person was like a Latino woman, it's like, hey, well, now you have in your journal a breakdown of themes, how to think about the book. maybe you can sit down and like try your hand at a short story for substack and see if people are

interested for sure or like there's definitely you can look and I feel like the diversity like there has been a lot of yeah in that so it's like okay this is what I liked about Akitar but this is what I want yeah this is and so and you can look there's so many books and I love that and that you can be like yeah what I want this is what I need where can I find this what type of book has this because it's almost in a way like you're saying it's like if you're saying it's like if you you start working through the journal and you're like, oh, Akatar was fun, but I wish it was this. It's like, then you might find that you're like,

oh, actually, I think I want to read children of blood and bone next. Or like, you know, or, yeah, or like, Kate and I joke, like, maybe you do Akitar and you're like, I don't know about the medieval thing. I like all of this, but I want it like set in like Greek mythology. Well, now you've made, you open the door to be able to identify what you like. And then you're like, all right, I'm going to go read I'm Medusa. I was going to say that. Yeah, it's like, yeah, it's like, it's like, it's.

Like I love stuff do the blood of Hercules. Literally. I love like and I love that idea too of like getting people to think through the journal is not just for seasoned users. But like, hey, are you a newbie who's curious about this genre? Like you should pick up this journal so that you can start maybe identifying what you love in the genre so you can be just as much of an evangelist. Yeah. Yeah. I love that.

I was wondering for anyone for anyone who I don't know why I'm saying it that way, I feel like other people. might wonder to you. Is it like how many books like can be logged in this one and like kind of what or do you know? And then are there like separate sections or is it kind of all like here's what you fill out per book? So it does. Okay. It has so it has like an introduction. Okay. So I have a couple different things in it. So I have that discussed how to use the journal. So a couple of different things that I wanted to include in it is like a romance reader because as a romanticist, reader. You have books that have very little romance, kind of a mix of the two, and then you have ones that are mostly smut. And that's okay. And there are people that all across the board. So like you can

rate how much romance it was in it. And then I have the make your own spice reading because everybody's spice ratings are different. Yeah. A one chili pepper is a is a zero churly pepper or like a five, like a three churly pepper. Yeah. One chileper to somebody else who reads really, really spicy books. because I'm not usually a super super spicy person so you can make your own um spice rating that you know I love that something back of throughout the book I'm not sure exactly how it okay the journal's like um it's like 221 pages oh okay for each one it has four pages um for one book so I don't know you can probably 50 how many you can actually track but um because there's also it's really cute because it's got like little color coded and then it changes colors and every time it changes colors

there's like top 10 lists so like kind of like cute little things here where I've created like ways to keep track of like the best book covers or your favorite ships of all time or the best secondary characters epic fantasy worlds things like that so that those kind of are dispersed throughout the journal as well so you can kind of to keep track us to me your favorites there. And then at the end, they had me, well, we did, we did a cute little home library tracker. So if you went down, um, yeah, you can say what title borrowed by who and when they borrowed it, which is really nice for me, because I let people borrow my books all the time and I don't remember because I have so many books. I don't know that it's missing. So, yeah. And then there's also a at the very end, a, a, recommendation where I recommend I don't even know how many they had me recommend

Romantasy books like there's YA there's cool, nice there's all sorts of like a bunch of my favorites of Romantasy books that you can try so that's kind of what's inside of it I don't know how many you can keep track of but it's it's it must be around 50 yeah and the nice thing about it too is if you do fill it up you can just get a new one

and right again so yeah I think my favorite thing about the romantacy girl is and the fantasy girl is like the fact that these books are like sometimes like a thousand pages long. And I just think nothing is more cool and badass that's saying somebody with like a huge meaty book. And they're like, this is my chill way of spending by Saturday. And I'm like, you are so cool. It's so true. Like the Sarah J. Moss ones are huge.

And I know Brandon Sanderson isn't romanticcy, but his books are like 1,200 pages. I'm like, yeah. Dang. The audio books are. I know. That's wild. Like they're really, the audio books really are so long at that level, too. Yeah. It is wild. That's so much talking. Now that I think about it, I'm like, oh, my God, somebody send him all the tea. Yeah. Like I narrated an audiobook last year and it was about seven hours. And I co-narrated too. So like I edited it all or I produced it all, but I co-narrated with the author. And that's what I think. Anytime I, I see like, well, like the Raven Scholars 24 hours that I'm listening to right now. And I'm like,

how did they space that out? Because you really only, you really only have a limited amount of time with your voice each day. So I'm like, was this person narrating the Raven Scholar for like three months? They had to have been. Yeah. Because you, like you said, you only have so much time for your voice before it's gone. And you want it to be clear and crisp and sound good, clearly. expressive. And it's very impressive how they can, I couldn't do it. I know. I'm going to interview some narrator at some point. Yeah. We're going to happen. They're a little, you're even more reclusive than authors. A lot of them are, except for Ray Porter, who is cracking me up. He's the voice of Project Hail Mary. I don't blame them, though. How could you not? How could you not? When there's little astronauts going, oh, maize, amazing, maize. And you're like, I did this. You're all welcome.

I know. I know. I do. Yeah. Are there any like romantasy titles coming in 2026 that you're like super geeked for? Yeah, good idea. Ooh. So I really, really loved Rose and Chains by... What was my own? Rosedo. And so the sequence of that is coming out later this year. And I'm super excited about that. And I'm really excited for the last of the Blood Wing Academy. So that one's by Briar Bowlin. The first is on the Wings of Blood. It is Dragon. vampires, fay set at an academy. Like it's so good. And like, political entry.

It's like, oh, it's good. It's a little dark, but it's so, oh, it's addictive. And so the fourth one of that is coming out later this year. And I just love her. She was one of the people who, like, she was an indie author. They became a traditionally published author. Oh, nice. I just love her.

She's such a sweetheart. And anything by Carissa Broadbent, I absolutely love her too. She also is someone like I've worked with, for a long time was an indie author to traditionally published and she's just amazing. Yeah. I'm so excited. Like, thank goodness for Kate and the notes that we now have like the Bridget Howard reading list.

I'm like, I can't wait to dive into these. I could give you all the reading. Yeah. Well, we do have some authors who listen. So do you want to talk about storygram just like briefly? Like what you do with storygram? Sure. So I, like I said, we're coming up on 10 years.

of being in business which is insane. Congrats. I know. I think it's the beginning of next year. The only way I could keep track is the first book we did was Daughter of the Pirate King. That was like, gave me the idea to do the business. I really loved that book by Trisha.

And I was like, I want to do, because Block Tours was a thing before. And I was like, we're going to do this on Google on Instagram and we're going to do Books on Instagram and that's so it's coming up on 10 years. And honestly, like what we do is we work.

with like yeah we work with publishers and authors we've been doing it for 10 years and basically we're the in-between uh like you hire us and we run sign-ups and influencers sign up to feature your book so they you we'll run signups we'll pick the hosts and we'll make sure that they post on their date you were in charge of sending them books and so yeah it's just like a pretty easy way for you to embark at your book through instagram and t-tac-tac-tok so Nice. Yeah, that's really cool. I also saw you have Owl Crate listed in your, is the Owl Crate. Did I type that right? Yeah, it's Alcrate. Okay. Okay. So are you a part of that? Are you like an affiliate? I'm an affiliate. So I'm, Alcrate and Fairy Lute. I don't have that made by bio anymore. I don't think because I don't have a code for them. But I've been like a rep for Alcrate probably for 10 years now too. And Fairy Lute. Like literally like Anisa, like I've known her since she almost like I think I started like reping for them maybe like four or five months after fairly started.

So I've learned them forever. But like so yeah, I do affiliates with them like and I know the owners but like I don't officially work for them. I just help. Okay. And they do special editions of fantasy specifically, right? Or is it special editions of anything? They have a lot of different ones now.

They've both. Oh, okay. So they do contemporary. romance too. It is mostly fantasy, I would say, but they definitely have, like, Alcrate, well, no, they both do it because, like, um, Fairy Lou did like, like all those ones on top there, they're all contemporary, right? And they're all Fairliebitions. Oh, cool. Okay. They do a mix. Fairlude is definitely a little more difficult to get their books. They sell out really, really quick. So I think it's a little easier to get Alcrate books if you're one in special editions, just FYI.

But, yeah, and Ferry Lutz also, they are based in the UK. They do have a U.S. distributor, though, so they only have to pay for shipping within the U.S. Oh, nice. Okay. Yeah, they're both amazing companies, and I love supporting both of them. So I would definitely recommend using both of them. Nice. Yeah, that's awesome.

Well, where should people follow you so that they can get all these good recommendations and journals? Yes, where do you want to be found? Yeah. So, I mean, my, I would say, of it definitely Instagram. So it's Dark Fairy Tales and it's F-A-E-R-I-E. It's how you spell fairy with an underscore at the end is my main place I do. But I do, I'm on TikTok under Dark Fairy Tales as well.

Same name just doesn't have the underscore. So those are probably the best places. I don't do anything else though. I can't do threads and stuff like that. It's a little bit toxic for me. I don't know. like i so i most yeah instagram's the best way to follow me if you want to see my content yeah perfect awesome well as of the day this is airing everyone can go buy this and start journaling and all of those

links will be in the show notes as well let's be waiting yeah thank you for coming on and talking with us and like mackenzie said i think anything that makes reading more accessible is really important, which is not worth to use. Yeah. Thank you for creating something that allows people who've maybe been looking at the genre from the outside to join in with the folks that have been there and to, yeah, make new bookish friends. Yeah. I'm very excited.