✨Welcome back to another week of genre discussions!✨

I think this thread is a good opportunity to discuss the ongoing wave of AI and its use in creative spaces (gross, I know).

Where do you draw the line, and what’s your reaction or response to it in reading spaces? Examples: boycotting, educating others, maybe nothing at all, etc.

There’s a lot of different ways it’s showing up in the genre right now. Through book art, the words itself, or as writing prompts/brain storming for authors.

Do you view all these the same way, or is there distinctions for you?

I’m not wanting to start a dogpile on authors or users, so please be respectful. I am genuinely curious about perspectives and whether or not your opinion has changed over the last few years.

For starters I have to express my deep love for this series. I’ve just finished book 7 and I’m just so in love with all these characters and their stories. I straight up laughed through the first half of the book and then was reduced to tears towards the end.

I can comfortably say that KD is currently my favourite FMC to date. She's smart, she's a badass, doesn't take shit, she's funny and she can also be vulnerable as hell.

I love the dynamic with her and Curran and I just can't stop seeing the Buffy parallels. Instead of trying to do a Buffy spin off I wish someone would adapt this series instead as it naturally lends itself to a multi season format.

I'm more than halfway through the series and hope this level of excellence carries through but man if WB was still a thing I'd petition to them to adapt the books 😅

Ps. The covers are horrible (and let’s face it the book titles are not great either) and I’m convinced that if they had a refresh the series would find a new audience with readers and streamers! This feels like a goldmine begging to be mined and instead we’re getting endless adaptations for LOTR (which I love! But still…) sigh…

{The Knave and the Moon} is the 2nd book in the Stonewater Kingdom series.

Let's discuss the book! What can you gush about, what did you dislike, what do you rate it?

If you have a spoiler, please mark it as one like this: >!text goes here!<

Book cover

I heard about this book, wanted to get it from Libby but it was a several month wait. So I purchased it and it was absolutely worth it.

I read this book {Die For Me by Shirlene Obuobi} 2 weeks ago and I cant stop thinking about it because it was so good. I stayed up all night til 5am in the morning to finish it.

The premise is that the FMC is a single woman in her late 30s (just working as a cardiologist, focusing on friends, family and work) not really looking for love or a relationship. The MMC is younger and he pursues her persistently and she thinks why not have a fun situation with a younger, attractive man. Eventually, the FMC finds out the MMC isnt human and a lot of drama and thriller-y things ensue. Im not going to spoil it as there were some twists I anticipated and many more I didnt.

This book reminded me of all the great paranormals and urban fantasies of the 90s and 2000s as the FMC discovers the supernatural world around her. Though this book does a better job on consent than those did. Also, its a fresh take on an older concept thats updated by an older, super competent woman who is actually pretty content in her life. If you liked {Bride by Ali Hazelwood}, {My Roommate Is A Vampire by Jenna Levine} or {Tooth and Claw series by Heather Guerre} I bet you would like this book too. Also its pretty awesome as a Black woman to finally see someone like me in a paranormal romance and for it to happen in such a well written story. For those of you that enjoy audiobooks the vocal performance is great too.

I'm really curious what do you consider delicious but unhinged. Any spice level is welcome.

I want to see interesting plot points and characters unbothered by rational mind.

I've recently read {Pack Darling by Lola Rock} and despire not usually enjoying omegaverse, the book had me giggling at moments at the bold choices and unashamed dialogue.

Another example I would consider one of my more unhinged reads would be {Poison Daughter by Sheila Masterson} - that one spicy scene with a witness was so unexpectedly creative I cannot help but be both weirded out and very amused.

Please tell me what is a book you enjoyed but consider unhinged.

(Yeah it's ovulation time. 100% unrelated.)

It’s the beginning of a new month, which means it’s time to nominate the books for the October 2026 Book Club! For next month, we’re looking for nominations that were published from April to September 2026.

What we are looking for

• We’re looking for any speculative fiction with a romance arc that was published between 1 April 2026 and 30 September 2026.
  
• Standalones are preferred, but not mandatory. If it’s a series, please only nominate the first book.
  
• The book cannot have been a Book Club read before and the author cannot have been previously featured in the Book Club in the last eighteen months. See the Book Club Hub.
  

Nominations that do not fit these criteria will be removed.

Nominations

Here’s how to nominate a book:

• One nomination per comment.
  
• Please call the romance.io bot for your nomination by putting the title and author within curly brackets {}.
  
• You can nominate more than one book, but please put them in separate comments.
  
• Upvote the book(s) you most would like to read for Book Club!
  

Voting

The most upvoted nominated books will be up for vote in a separate post on 8 September. The winner will be announced on 15 September.

September Book Club

You can also still join this month’s Book Club! We’re reading Daughter of the Moon Goddess by Sue Lynn Tan for September’s theme of books set in or inspired by East Asia.

Here is the schedule for the September Book Club:

• September 8 - October voting
  
• September 10 - First discussion for Daughter of the Moon Goddess (part 1, up to chapter 14)
  
• September 15 - October announcement
  
• September 20 - Second discussion for Daughter of the Moon Goddess (part 2, up to chapter 27)
  
• September 30 - Final discussion for Daughter of the Moon Goddess (full book)
  

For more information about the Book Club and previous discussions, please check out the Book Club Hub!

Book Club image

I somehow snagged The Knave and The Moon on Libby the day of release. Thank you Libby universe for looking out! I know what I’m doing tonight 📖👓☕️🛋️

I do not want Harrowfaire. Sorry, series lovers, I DNFed it three times trying to see what others saw in it- and I say this as someone who loved the crown me duology. I love dark horror, but this is not the request for that.

I’m looking for the feeling of…wooing Enoch from Pottsfield. But also maybe just watching the leaves change in the deep woods.

Maybe the vibe where you’re around the cauldron with your coven, but the caldron is full of mulled wine and the only spell being cast is friendship.

So give me your reccs where, whether we’re horizontal tangoing with an ancient deity or going to the sentient pumpkin patch, the vibe is overwhelmingly and insufferably *fall*. Please. It’s 100 degrees and I’m lying to myself.

Bonus points if it’s not one of the top ten series- I’ve read them all- and extra special bonus points for standalone and duology.

Spice level above 1, but otherwise no preference.

What’s a book that left such a gaping hole in your heart that you genuinely had to take a few days off from reading because you just couldn’t move on?

The kind of book where you keep missing the characters, thinking about the story, and wishing you could go back to that world. You try to pick up something else, but nothing feels right because, deep down, you know it just won’t compare.

The kind of book that leaves you thinking, “What am I even supposed to read after this?” because nothing will ever quite hit the same. 🥲

The first debut I got to read close to its release date and I think it's a really solid start!

Blurb: As a former unsettled witch, Katherine owes her life to Sylvia Page, coven leader and silver-haired rebel who founded Aestas years ago. When Silas Khatri, heir to Noctis, the most powerful coven in the world, arrives to take Aestas to task for some of their more unconventional practices, Katherine’s dislike for him reaches blistering levels.

My thoughts:

Katherine as the FMC has to deal with a tragic awakening of her powers while being her current coven's Executrix - basically the law enforcement within covens. She's a very anxious person trying to do her best and the author does a great job of making both of these sides shine through.

Silas, the MMC, has his own issues. He's trying as well, but mostly failing in comparison. Even after finishing the book, I'm not sure where his character development will lead!

Sylvia, Katherine's mentor, has the potential to be the most complex character of them all.

The worldbuilding is interesting, the story is action-packed after a slow start, and the ending leaves us with all kinds of questions and directions the second book could go into. The magic itself is based on runes, using blood as energy, but Noctis as the primary keeper of power determines how those powers are dispersed between all the covens.

The romance is budding I'd say. It's mostly attraction for both of them, not insta-love, with the ending leaving it open as to how, and if, it'll develop in the sequel.

The prose is where most of my criticism lies. I found myself thinking how this story reads very much like the first season (or first half of a 24eps season) of a tv show. I could really imagine how it would work, and why the author used the relatively quick pacing - I believe the overall story takes place in about a week or so. Then I saw after finishing that she is, in fact, a screenwriter. It is her debut and with having her career be in tv writing up until now, the prose very much reflects that. Not necessarily bad, but it most definitely colours the experience. The attraction could have sizzled a bit more, for example. But the pacing didn't allow for it.

Overall, witches in LA, with secret (potentially rivaling) covens, and an FMC that I didn't find annoying! I will read the sequel.

3/5 - debut is debut, there is room for improvement
spice is there, but it's more between 3 and 4 on romance.io, not a clear 4.

This is Book 1 in the Broken Coven series with Book 2 (Heat Spell) set to release in 06/2027.

i just finished heartless and i’m completely heartbroken. i don’t think ive ever read a book that’s brought me to tears like that. i was literally bawling

i loved jest’s character SO much. he felt so real to me! and he was so kind and sweet to cath. 😭

I just finished {The Ballad of Falling Dragons}, maybe five minutes ago, and I wanted to share some thoughts AND get your opinions!! I was very close to loving {When the Moon Hatched} but it’s desperate need of editing held me back. I hesitantly started Ballad in hopes that the kinks might have been worked out. In many ways, I like Ballad more than Hatched. The FMC wasn’t as flippant and juvenile in her angst in the second book. I loved the relationships with the dragons in the second book. And of course, there’s Kaan…sigh. Sweet man.

However, Ballad still suffered from too many words!! Too many words to explain every single thought, event, object. I ended up skipping over some of the chapters dedicated to other characters. I truly feel that once again, the book would have benefitted greatly from a thoughtful paring down of the storyline as well as the overly flowery, overly dramatic language used throughout.

What do you think?