So what do I do now?
2019 was a heck of a year for me, reading-wise. I started out the year ending a stint on a reading committee, then had the opportunity to participate in another reading jury just a couple months later. Kissing Books, the Book Riot romance newsletter that I write, moved from every Monday to twice a week. There were books everywhere I turned, and I tried to get through as many as I could in a short amount of time.
I spent the majority of January 2019 wrapping up the previous year’s reading for my committee work as part of the Rainbow Round Table of the American Library Association building the 2019 Rainbow Book List, which collected works for youth (birth-18) that display excellent representation of LGBTQ+ people and their communities. I had originally been an alternate on the committee, so I didn’t start out doing as much reading as the other members, but when some people weren’t able to carry on the commitment, there I was, reading as many things as possible. There were so many books coming into my house, and eventually I had to rearrange the whole book room to fit them. I spent a lot of time weeding out the ones others determined had no content (or bad content)…and once everything was all over, I got rid of the ones I wasn’t particularly interested in reading. But that left a lot that I still wanted to read…and they’re still there.
Note: that’s only one side of the room…
Once I got back from Seattle, I was excited to catch up on some romance. This was the year I shifted to writing Kissing Books twice a week instead of last year’s weekly, and I had to figure out how I was going to meet the need for additional content. I read some amazing books from last year, like Untouchable by Talia Hibbert and Thirsty by Mia Hopkins. Like seriously, my heart floats every time I think of either of these.
And then, March brought a whole new (amazing) challenge.
I got a missive asking if I’d be interested in being on the inaugural jury for the brand new Ripped Bodice Awards for Excellence in Romantic Fiction, and of course my answer was “Hell Yeah!” There were no packets, no categories, just read as much romance released in 2019 as humanly possible, and go from there. Who doesn’t want a carte blanche to just read hella romance and then want to curl up and die in a ball when trying to pick the ten best books from a year that felt nine thousand years long?
(It actually really helped me spend less money when I went to New Orleans for Book Lovers Con just days later—I could only take books that were released in 2019, so I probably emerged with a third the number of books I came back from Reno with in 2018. Same goes for going to DC for ALA…I picked up way fewer books than I usually would, even though there were a lot of “I’ll-get-these-for-next-year” picks.)
All of this to say: I read a lot of amazing and not-so-amazing romances throughout 2019. I recorded the ones I read on Goodreads, but kept the most meticulous track (and ratings) on my dandy Reading Log, which I am going to continue to use in 2020. (Don’t know what I’m talking about? Get your own; it’s amazing. I also added a “fics” tab to mine, so I can try to really keep track of the fanfiction I’m reading, and look at the trends. It’s been fun!)
This year, it was pretty hard to decide on the best books vs. my favorite books. It’s hard, right? Like, when I went to Seattle to deliberate for the Rainbow List, I had trouble deciding if my favorite YA novel of 2018 (Heart of Iron by Ashley Poston…it’s an Anastasia retelling!) was really right for the Rainbow Top Ten. Eventually, I decided it wasn’t. But that doesn’t mean I didn’t love it.
It’s still a little too early to talk about which books I chose for my top ten romances, but you should definitely keep an eye out for The Ripped Bodice’s announcement. Follow them on social if you don’t already; it’s going to be so amazing.
Moving Forward
I loved the experience of jurying, and am so grateful to Bea and Leah Koch for inviting me to join them in this endeavor, but I’m so excited to slow down. Even though I still have to write the newsletter twice a week and record When In Romance every other week, I can still fit in some other stuff. I’ve already read two utterly fantastic graphic novels, Stage Dreams and Mooncakes. I’ve checked out Beyoncé in Formation and The Pretty One from the library, and I might even manage to read them before I take them back!
I have over 1,000 unread print and digital books and ARCs in my possession, and I am going to make some kind of leeway with them this year, even if I don’t get to last year’s total of 174 books read.
Maybe I’ll even make it through Read Harder this year. I’ve already completed three tasks, and it’s not even halfway through January.
Did I mention I also want to start doing proofreading and copyediting this year? Because I don’t have enough on my plate. I’m also trying to publish a nonfiction anthology and at least one romance novel, so who knows what happens there…:cringe-emoji: :lolsob:
Overall, I’m looking forward to a nicely rounded 2020. Reading, writing, editing, I want to do it all. I’m going to continue my goal of reading more authors, instead of always falling back on my favorites. I’m also going to try to do this Girl Have You Read challenge, which should introduce me to a few more Black authors writing Black romance.
What are you doing with words this year?
—Jess
Currently Reading:
The Good, The Bad, and the Dad by Jaxon Knight on Kindle Unlimited
(Note: I am trying out Libro.fm’s Bookstore Link in this post, which will benefit whatever indie bookstore you want it to, as far as I understand. Tell me what you think!)