Journalists in Love | 2.10.23
Filing this story just in time for Valentines Day
I find writing about journalists to be a joy for a lot of reasons, despite the career path feeling more and more like a fictional one as the world descends into digital chaos (I say this as a Day 1 Internet Lover Whose Whole Career Is Online). Honestly, a big thing for me is that journalists are detectives-but-with-a-liberal-arts-degree, who are ideal protagonists if you (like me) love mysteries but hate cops! So I wanted to give some love to the lovers in journalism this week.
Seducing Mr. Knightly by Maya Rodale. The final book of the Writing Girls quartet (Maya Rodale’s debut series!), about “four ladies who scandalously write for a newspaper in Regency London and the rogues who love them.” This fourth lady is Annabelle Swift, advice columnist, and this fourth rogue is her long-time unrequited crush Mr. Derek Knightly, the editor of the paper she and her friends write for. Frustrated by how overlooked she is, she decides to wield the power of her beloved long-time readers by flipping the script- asking those same readers to give HER advice on how to woo a man determined to see right through her and documenting the process. It’s a surprising hit, though of course the dense Derek doesn’t realize he’s the target (and Annabelle’s doing her best to conceal that fact until she’s sure he reciprocates). And of course, Derek’s furiously trying to uncover the identity of this boneheaded man overlooking such a wonderful lady, but not out of jealousy. No no, of course not!
I liked this whole series, and other books from it will likely get called out in future newsletters, but this was an incredibly strong conclusion chock full of dramatic irony, mutual pining, defending freedom of the press to the ends of the Earth, feminist employers pretending it’s all capitalism to them, and my favorite… shenanigans. I love me a good shenanigan, and this book has a good balance of tomfoolery without making it frustrating to read (a harder thing to do than you’d think!).
Rating: 5/5
How hot? 🔥🔥
After The Kiss by Lauren Layne. The first book in the Sex, Love & Stiletto series following the columnists of the Manhattan women-focused Stiletto magazine and their male-focused counterpart Oxford from the offices a few floors down. After The Kiss has a “How To Lose A Guy In Ten Days”-style set up, with our lovebirds coming together with very different (and secret) goals for the relationship. Julie, the dating columnist at Stiletto, is the Manhattan queen of firsts — first dates, kisses, weekends away — and woefully unprepared for literally anything that goes deeper. Not that she’s a commitment-phobe! Nah, she just knows her beat! That is, until her editor changes her beat for her, asking her to write a first-person account for moving from casual to serious dating. So Julie needs to find a guy with movie nights on the mind rather than a condom subscription… let's just say it’s not her usual type.
When she meets Mitchell, a buttoned-up accountant, at a work function, she can tell instantly that he fits the bill. Unfortunately for her, he’s fresh out of a long-term relationship and historically stays too long to make a bad thing work, whose buddy has just made him a bet that he can’t sleep with a woman without getting attached. Mitchell knows Julie’s the first date girl, and figures he can win the bet, have some fun, and get his over-commitment issues out of his system all at the same time.
Cue: a battle of the wills between two people working against type to prove something to themselves, desperately trying to pretend that they haven’t found their match.
This series is light and fluffy, but this book in particular was sweet, sexy, and didn’t pull its punches. Say it with me, friends: I love pain, and this book hit me right where it hurts more than once, which made the inevitable conclusion all the sweeter.
Rating: 4/5
How hot? 🔥🔥🔥🔥
Happenstance by Tessa Bailey. My first foursome! I find polyamory in fiction fascinating, because in my real life as an introverted asexual in a long-term monogamous relationship it sounds complicated and frankly exhausting. So imagine my delight that one of my favorite romance authors jumped right into the deep end with a FMMM HEA in multiple POV first person narration!
Let’s set the stage: we have former army brat Elise, who can’t seem to finish… anything. She’s always diving into new aspirations and careers and hobbies but, due to a childhood of zero continuity, abandoning them just as quickly. One thing that’s always managed to stay exciting to her is writing, though, so now that she delivers sandwiches to a newspaper office in NYC she’s determined to get her foot in the journalism door by pitching a story so impressive the editor has to give her a shot. Elise heads to Roosevelt Island to follow a lead, and on her way back to Manhattan on the cable car in the middle of winter when she’s missing her coat, the power goes out, trapping her with…
Gabe, the sweetheart construction worker whose wife left him for his neighbor… who’s also his brother and coworker.
Banks, the control-freak rugby coach with mommy issues.
Tobias, the chronically unserious former porn star with a chip on his shoulder.
An instant attraction while trapped in a suspended cable car over the Hudson leads first to competition, then frustration, then collaboration as these four lonely people who desperately need a stable support system become just that… for each other. FOUR each other. Get it??
I can’t pretend to understand the logistics of three men simultaneously dating one woman but not each other and how that emotionally works in reality, but in fiction… it’s one of the most wholesome relationships I’ve ever read? And at the time of writing this review I’ve read 343? Also… is it not peak fantasy that three people not at all interested in each other are so obsessed with you that they share and it all works out?
Rating: 4.5/5
How hot? 🔥🔥🔥🔥
Next week, I’ll be recommending friends-to-lovers romances!
What should I be reading next? Let me know in the comments!