WHERE FOOD MEETS ROMANCE: A Guest Post by Xan West

Food threads its way through so much of my newly released novelette, Nine of Swords, Reversed. Food as love, cooking as part of service-based submission, food as a sensory experience, feeding yourself as necessity and ongoing difficulty to manage, food as comfort and healing, baking together and shared meals as a way to stay connected, food as an ongoing set of access issues, and a thing daily life winds itself around.

I love food-themed romances dearly, and cannot really imagine writing a romance where food isn’t featured, as it’s one of my own most core love languages. It’s one of the core ways Noam shows love and devotion as a partner and as a submissive.

ENEMIES TO LOVERS & FRIENDS: A Guest Post by J Emery

I debated for a long time about what to discuss today for this guest post (and thank you again, Leah, for hosting me), but there’s one topic that’s especially near and dear to me: the enemies-to-lovers trope. So naturally it had to be that.

Anyone who knows me knows that I’m a huge fan of the enemies-to-lovers/friends trope in whatever form it takes. Rivals turned lovers. Accidental enemies turned friends. The once-villain who has to team up with the heroes and stays on when the danger is past. I like it as the backbone of a plot. I love it as a subplot in a greater story. And I adore it whether it leads to romance or friendship. Or both. Both is good.

THE RHYTHM OF LIFE: An Interview with Twisted Wishes

LEAH: Good morning, everyone! Today, we’ve got some exciting guests! Everyone’s favorite Queer Squad–Twisted Wishes! *mimics cheering noises* Thanks so much for agreeing to come by, y’all!

Ray: Hey, it’s no problem at all.

Others: *make agreement noises*

LEAH: Let’s start with your basic interview question. *laughs* Are y’all currently working on anything new? Anything you can tell us about?

Ray: *looks coy*

Zavier: *rolls his eyes at Ray*

Mish: Ray’s always working on something new. He’s got pages and pages of notes and shit in that little black book of his.

Domino: Most people have phone numbers in little black books…

Zavier: Ray only needs my number, if he wants a good time…

Ray: *blushes* Hey! Phones are for phone numbers. And there’s nothing little about my black book, sheesh. But yeah, there’s always new stuff in the works. Plus rehearsing for touring and all that.

Zavier, to Ray: So you don’t want a good time?

Ray: I– You– This is how all the rumors about us on the internet get started, you know.

Zavier: *just smiles*

5 HEROINES WHO MAKE MY HEART SWELL: A Guest Post by Katrina Jackson

I’m a heroine-centric reader. Heroes are great and all, but when reading m/f, it’s the heroine I fall in love with, every time. Sometimes it’s because I relate to them, sometimes it’s because they shock me and I love it, and other times I admire them fiercely. But when I finish a book I love, it’s usually the heroine I gush about to anyone who will listen. So here are the five heroines I love to the moon and back.

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BLOG TOUR: Revelry by Nicole Field

Hello, hello!

We’ve got a pretty packed day on the blog today with two guest posts, but I jumped at the chance to feature a stop on Nicole Field’s blog tour for their latest release, REVELRY, an F/F and F/M polyamorous, speculative fiction series! They’ve stopped by to talk a bit about the polyamory aspect of the story, so have a read and then be sure to pick up books one and two!

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WRITING & READING ALONG MARGINALIZATIONS: A Guest Post by Molli Moran

Hello! When Leah talked about wanting authors and bloggers to appear on their blog, I jumped at the chance to guest post and spend some time with their readers today. I immediately circled a few topics I’m passionate about and could easily talk about, but ultimately, I knew there were two that I wanted to speak on and tie together.

I have a confession: I didn’t always feel confident enough to write characters like me. Throughout the last five-six years, I’ve slowly begun to embrace various aspects of the pieces of me and found a lot of peace in doing so. Today, I identify as biromantic demisexual, as a demigirl, and I live with both depression and anxiety. My marginalizations are often things the world doesn’t think kindly of, but every label, every bit of understanding has helped me love myself more—struggles (with mental health for example) and all. It’s a relief to think of labels like demisexual and demigirl and queer and hold fast to them and say this is me.

But, when I started writing, I mostly wrote straight white characters. It’s what I’d read and it’s what I knew and it’s all I thought I “could” write. But as my reading diversified and I began to seek out OwnVoices books and began to stretch my own wings, challenging my internal biases and misconceptions, I found the confidence to step out of my comfort zone in so many ways.

8 CUTE MOMENTS IN QUEER GRAPHIC NOVELS: A Guest Post by Dov Zeller

Hello. My name is Dov, and I’m doing a guest post on Leah’s blog. Here are some of my favorite awkward and/or cute moments in queer comics/ graphic novels. (There are many many many wonderful queer comics and GNs, and I just picked a few.)

I suppose doing such a post requires definitions. For me, what are queer comics? Comics in which queer characters are central characters. What is a cute and or awkward moment? Well, mostly I was thinking of moments related to romance, particularly romances in which the romance is not yet an official thing. But, really I tend to be so excited about queer cute moments in general so most of these are romance related, but not necessarily all.