If you know me—and I feel like y’all do—you know that I am a pretty voracious reader. And if you check out my Goodreads or StoryGraph stats, you’ll see that 99% of those books are romance novels. They get a bad rep for some reason (misogyny), but I just can’t get enough.

And neither can Mel Gill (she/her), founder of Steamy Lit. “I love romance novels, I always have,” she says, and when the pandemic first began in 2020, she was turning to romance books more than ever. I mean when everything is going to sh*t, the only thing that can make me giggle and kick my feet is enemies being forced to share 1 bed on a rainy night at a wayside inn. When searching for the next book to add to her TBR pile, she noticed a serious lack of representation in romance publishing, and Steamy Lit was born.

Because of her commitment to diversity, they sell steamy romance novels (standalone or on a subscription basis) written by marginalized writers. Some of the subscription boxes even come with vibrators because nothing says romance novels like a little self-love. And all of that’s important to Mel. She says, “I launched it to not only destigmatize conversations around pleasure and sexuality but I wanted to also create a platform to amplify the work of authors that have been underrepresented in publishing.” For her, it’s important for readers to relate to the characters they’re meeting. She continues, “Everyone deserves to see themselves in a romance book.”

If you haven’t yet found yourself buried in one of these kinds of novels, there really is so much to love. A lot of them have happy endings, but more than that, they encapsulate the human experience. It’s nice to have your literary escapism, but it’s even better when you’re so enamored while along for the ride that you’re laughing, crying, and celebrating alongside the characters. For Mel, these are the stories that marginalized authors get to tell that show the “happiness and love within our cultures and identities.”

Ok, now that you’re as sold on these books as me and Mel are, let’s get into her recs. She loves “a second chance romance, anything with an age gap, and… forbidden love!” What’s she trying to avoid? “I hate a pregnancy trope, any miscommunication that could have been a text (I find myself screaming at the characters), and anything about secret babies,” she says. Though I’m a second chance romance hater—unless it’s the very specific scenario of a city slicker going back to their rural hometown around Christmastime—I’m right there with her on the rest.

So while I go renew my Steamy Lit subscription, you should order one of these books that Mel loved. P.S. And check out Steamy Lit Con in Anaheim, CA in August if you live around there.

Mel’s Recent Romance Faves:
Reel by Kennedy Ryan
Because I’m Yours by Claire Contreras
King of Wrath by Ana Huang
Dating Dr. Dil by Nisha Sharma
The Doctor by Nikki Soane
Count Your Lucky Stars by Alexandria Bellefleur
A Lady For A Duke by Alexis Hall
Rafe by Rebekah Weatherspoon
Restore Me by J.L. Seegars
Hail Mary by Kandi Steiner
Heartless by Elsie Silver

Looooove,
Reina Sultan, associate editorial director