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.

MAKING HER MARK: A Guest Post by Renee Dahlia

2018 is the year I discovered I’m bisexual. In hindsight, it’s odd that it’s taken me so long to figure this out. I’ve always had plenty of friends who are various types of queer, or as one of my gay friends C* says ‘part of the QUILTBAG’ – a joke that toes that line between cute/funny and offensive depending on who you are (which is on brand for C*). I’m sure they all knew before I did. The low-key queer representation in my 2018 release, The Heart of a Bluestocking, simply reflects my friendship group in real life. My own discovery came about when I started writing the second book in my Merindah Park series (out 2019 with Escape: Harlequin Australia Digital). The heroine demanded to be bisexual, and so I started doing a bunch of research to figure out what was happening in my brain and in her story. I discovered the Kinsey Scale – and as a trained scientist, this scale spoke volumes to me.

WOLVES & TIGERS & DRAGONS OH MY!: A Guest Post by Piper Vaughn

Hi, all! Thanks to Leah for having me today! It’s no secret I’m a big fan of shifters and paranormal romance. I eat them up like candy—or maybe like Pringles, “Once you pop, you can’t stop!” (I’m showing my age here, aren’t I?) I just love the idea of being able to shift into a completely different creature, and I’m always interested to see how the traits of the animalistic side might carry over into the human side, and also how the author portrays things like pack/pride/sleuth/clan dynamics, depending on the shifter type. And on a baser level, well, I do adore fated mates and biting/marking and possessive declarations of “mine!” But, of course, I have some definite favorite (mostly queer) series, and today, I’m here to talk about a few of those. Let’s jump right in!

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PRACTICAL MAGIC: An Interview with Brooklyn Ray

LEAH: Hi hi, Brooklyn! It’s so great to have you back!

BROOKLYN: I’m so glad to be here! Thank you for having me.

LEAH: Okay, so. Today, we’re here to talk magic and every day witch life. To start off, can you talk a little bit about how you were introduced to witchcraft and how you came to realize it was important to your life?

BROOKLYN: I started practicing when I was really young. I bought my first book, a Llewellyn title, from my local Borders when I was in seventh grade. It was actually confiscated by the principal at my private Christian school. I kept doing research and reading at the bookstore and library whenever I could. Once I entered high school, I bought more books, got my own grimoire and did my first spell in the desert hills behind my house. It was intense and new. After that I did more research into my family history. My mother’s maiden name is Llewellyn, and I found out that we were Welsh and had some magic in our blood. Quite a thing for a young witch to learn. When I was in my late teens my friends and I started dabbling in… Well, we’ll say heavier magic. It was a wild ride. I miss being as reckless, curious and just… So charged with power as I was back then. It was truly a magical time in my life.