Introducing... my romantasy book club!
This newsletter is now rated PG-13.
Dearest gentle readers,
What’s the name of the mental illness where you’re tired all the time, you can’t stop quoting TikToks out of context to people you don’t know, and if you get one single extra task added to your daily To-Do list, you shut down like a 1998 Microsoft Windows desktop computer, complete with synth-y power-down sound? Interested to know because I think I have it.
“But Emma,” you might say, “how could you possibly have another mental illness? You’ve already written two whole books about your eating disorders and crippling OCD?”
To which I would respond: “An excellent question, and one I ask my therapist nearly every week.”
As you might be able to tell, humor is my drug of choice when it comes to speaking about mental health. (Clonazepam is also occasionally my drug of choice, though that one must be used less liberally as it can be, how you say, extremely addictive.) Sometime in the last five years, I decided to stop using all of my mental energy to hide the fact that I am mentally unwell and to in fact do the exact opposite: speak about it as publicly as possible. This choice has been liberating in a way I cannot adequately describe within the confines of an electronic newsletter. As is to be expected, not everyone understands my humor (certain friends and loved ones do blink blankly at me when I refer to the phone next to the toilet in certain hotel rooms as the bulimia phone), but, at the ripe old age of 29, I have come to the groundbreaking realization that not everyone needs to like me.
As a cheeky 90-year-old lady on YouTube once said: other people’s opinions of me are none of my business.
Humor and openness are just two of the many things I’ve found to be conducive to dealing with my generally poor mental health. Another one of those things (as you may have guessed from my choice of career) is reading fantasy romance. There’s truly nothing like disappearing into a far-off realm filled with magic and hot, grumpy men.
If that sounds like escapism, it’s because it is.
Do you feel like you’re reading the unnecessarily long introduction to a Mommy Blogger’s recipe post, when all you wanted was the instructions for how to make 3-ingredient guacamole?
Let me get straight to the point: life is hard, escapism helps, and for both of those reasons, I’m starting a romantasy book club!
I’m super proud to be hosting my club on Allstora. If you haven’t heard of them before, Allstora is a book shop/book club platform created specifically to uplift queer and marginalized voices. Current club hosts include RuPaul, Dylan Mulvaney, Adam Silvera, and more.
So, what can you expect from my book club?
Well, your first month is only $1 (!!!), and by subscribing, you get…
a romantasy book hand-selected by me and shipped to your front door each month
access to an exclusive reading community & chat rooms to discuss the book
30% off all titles on Allstora
AND… 1 subscription = 1 book donated to an LGBTQ+ youth
Or, if you choose to subscribe for the whole year, each month is 45% off AND you get an adorable tote bag I helped design that says “SORRY, I CAN’T, THE ENEMIES JUST BECAME LOVERS.” (I’m obsessed.)
I’m always looking for ways to connect more with readers, and what better way to do so than by screaming about the romantasies I love most? If you’re interested, you can join the club here.
Last thing!! If you haven’t already, please preorder Soul of Shadow! Every single order helps in my push to finally hit one of the bestseller lists. :)
