A typical question often asked of authors is, “are you a plotter or a pantser?” It means, in the simplest of terms, do you plan out your books or do you fly by the seat of your pants. As a reviewer, recommender of books, I tend to lean more towards the plotter line of thinking. I mean, you have to plan out your post and research your books. The Seasoned Romance books on my radar for May made me straddle the plotter/pantser line in a way that would make a wedding reception line dancer proud! The more I researched and read, the more I realized I was going to have to wing this post and perhaps, invent (with the help of an author) a new category of books to fully get my point across.
Some of this month’s books on my radar are full-fledged, died in the wool, Seasoned Romance books with main characters 35+ years of age. Let’s look at those first…
Teach Me by Olivia Dade
TEACH ME comes out on May 30 and you really want to get this one on your TBR. It’s set in a high school but it’s a teacher/teacher romance, not a teacher/student situation. Thank goodness for that, a seasoned romance teacher/student trope set in high school would pose a whole set of issues I’m not sure my creative category casting could cope with! Teach Me gives us a slow burn romance between a curvy, feminist, outspoken ice queen AP History teacher and the deliciously cinnamon roll-y new teacher that lands the course she’s been itching to teach for years. She wants to hate him for it, but as the tag line suggests, even Ice Queens can melt…when the cinnamon roll hero is just that good! Olivia Dade has a knack of crafting deeply compelling stories complete with all the bells and whistles needed to hit many a Best of 2019 list.
To Tame a Wild Cowboy by Lori Wilde
TO TAME A WILD COWBOY is book #7 in Wilde’s Cupid, Texas series and it releases on May 21st. Our hero is a love ‘em and leave ‘em bull rider that finds himself with a little missy he can’t walk away from. And by “little missy” I mean an oops baby that’s undeniably his and a momma nowhere in sight. Baby Girl is left in the care of a loving foster mom that agrees to a marriage of convenience with our hero Rhett, so she can keep the sweet baby in her life. Too much trope-y goodness to pass up! Yes, this is book #7 in Wilde’s series but it can easily be read as a standalone.
Now we are entering the pantser portion of the show! Kate Meader and Elia Winters are two of my beloved authors. They are the stop, drop and read variety that never let me down. When I initially discovered the books they have releasing in May I thought they were of the Seasoned Romance variety. Upon further investigation, I learned they don’t quite make the 35+ cutoff. In for a penny, in for a pound, I couldn’t, in good conscience, not tell you about them. Undaunted and with a creative verbiage assist from Elia Winters, I’d like to present to you two “lightly seasoned” romance books. In my opinion, they are close enough for government work and demand a spot on my radar list of book recommendations!
Then Came You by Kate Meader
THEN CAME YOU is book #3 in Kate Meader’s Laws of Attraction series. You can get this book in your hands on May 7th. While they have been mentioned as secondary characters in the two previous books, you can easily jump in with this one and not miss out on too much. Our couple are actually law school sweethearts who are now divorced. Funny enough, they are divorce attorneys who just couldn’t get their crap together well enough to work out their issues. Occupational hazard maybe? A little forced proximity by way of a road trip to visit our heroine’s dear old granny inspires our hero to get his girl back. What makes this story “lightly seasoned” is the fact that our main characters are 31 and 30 years of age. See what I mean? Close enough for government work for me!
Also of note, Then Came You deals with some pretty heavy emotional things. Have your tissues at the ready because when these two let their walls down and actually talk about the things that drove a wedge in their marriage, well, Meader has no trouble hitting you right in the feels.
Just Past Two by Elia Winters
JUST PAST TWO by Elia Winters graces the “lightly seasoned” stage on May 20th. Our married couple is attending their college reunion, so that brings them in at 32 years old, just under the full-blown seasoned stage. Winters writes kink with a masterful edge and this book is not one to be missed. This somewhat straight-laced, comfortably married duo explores their exhibitionist side which surprisingly opens up our hero Sam to the idea of watching his wife being pleasured by other men. This story packs an erotic punch that will leave you breathless. As I mentioned earlier, Elia Winters is one of a few erotic authors that I will read no matter what, she just doesn’t disappoint. Even when I think the subject matter of Winters’ books aren’t for me, she somehow creates these emotionally compelling stories that draw me in and usually, teach me something new about the complexities of relationships.
