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Telegraph
18-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
Fairy porn and a ‘smut hut': I visited Britain's new romance-only bookshop
The plot springs straight from a Richard Curtis film: an intrepid, single, flame-haired American abandons her high-flying life as a tech executive to open a dedicated romance bookshop in Notting Hill named Saucy Books. On the first day of business in mid-June, just as she's unlocked the door, three fire engines pull up outside to investigate a gas leak. The first man to disembark is so devastatingly attractive that our heroine asks if he'd like to venture inside for a browse. I'd love to report that this promising set-up ended with a smooch, but real-life shopkeeper, 38-year-old Sarah Maxwell, laughs and admits her Adonis was swept back to the fire station before conflagration could take place. What a shame. My script already had Maxwell selling the fireman the brand new novel Consider Yourself Kissed by Jessica Stanley, ' the must-read love story of the summer ', which is prominently on display. Instead, we end up spending a lively 10 minutes discussing why firefighters are so much sexier than policemen. Maxwell says it's because police officers have an overdeveloped 'sense of their own authority, law enforcement is all about power and control.' While firemen not only risk their lives on a regular basis, 'they rescue kittens from trees'. Mind you, it's fair to say – judging from my sun-drenched afternoon at Saucy Books – that women are around 50 times more likely to seek out the shop than men. The only chap I spot there is the spouse of a visitor, although Maxwell protests she does have male customers. Her assistant, Jessica Roberts, points to the chairs on the street outside the shop and says, 'That's the man park,' where women can seat husbands and boyfriends while they shop. Girlfriends, too: a number of women customers arrive with female partners and Maxwell and Roberts are busy planning a Pride celebration when I visit. The shop is already en fête, decked out in candy pink, yellow, lilac and blue, with a yellow-striped awning billowing overhead to bestow what Maxwell summarises as a summery 'beach-hut' feel. It's all so Barbie bright, cheerful and uncluttered, that I'm slightly fazed at first, as when it comes to book shops, I am more accustomed to the Black Books vibe of an eccentric grouch cramming books on dusty shelves. But it doesn't take long for me to realise that Saucy Books is an artfully curated experience for romance aficionados, where devotees can hang out with fellow fans and get personally tailored advice from Maxwell, rather than an ordinary bookshop. Our conversation keeps breaking off, as fresh shoppers pick her brains for the latest volume of ice hockey love stories (a very popular genre, I'm told, even with UK readers). Maxwell says she's delighted to order in any volume on any topic, even Antony Beevor's Stalingrad, if a husband demands it. However, the mood remains defiantly Bridget Jones's Diary – a major influence on Maxwell – with Helen Fielding's original book displayed prominently like a totem and joined on the shelves by evergreen love expert, Jane Austen. These are just about the only authors' names I recognise, as my habitual reading (Tessa Hadley, Elizabeth Strout, Hilary Mantel) often focuses on the messy fallout from unhappy marriages, including the odd beheading. I have completely missed out on major trends such as romantasy – a genre which draws upon Tolkien's and Ursula K Le Guin's elves, wizards and dragons – but unlike their chaste storytelling, throws in lashings of pining, smooching and sex. Or, as a publisher friend puts it, 'Fairy Shades of Grey'. But Saucy Books exists to remove the blinkers from novices like me, as well as to bolster aficionados. Resistance is useless in the face of Maxwell's radiant enthusiasm; she's been a devotee of romance – or what we then called chick lit – since her teens in LA, when her family nicknamed her 'Saucy' for her sassy attitude. She used to queue for hours for book signings with British authors like Marian Keyes, Helen Fielding and Sophie Kinsella, and was known as the storyteller among her siblings. Yet she ended up doing a law degree and then working for a number of newly emerging tech companies like Uber, Spotify and Epic Games, before moving to London 10 years ago to take up an executive role at cryptocurrency company Even so, it seems she never strayed far from the values that mark a successful publishing campaign. Her LinkedIn profile states: 'My background blends product strategy, brand storytelling and creative innovation'. It's clear Saucy Books will be as active online as it is in the physical shop, setting up a book club, building a virtual community, holding events and maybe opening fresh stores, if this one is a rollicking success. Maxwell may even get to promote her own work, since it transpires she's an aspiring author, with two manuscripts on the back-burner. The first was written in her 20s and features a bereaved heroine 'who's been left the Orange County magazine in her mother's will, and has just one issue to turn around its fortunes'. The second was penned during a 2022 sabbatical, after Maxwell developed long Covid; she says it's The Devil Wears Prada, but set in tech. I point out that she appears to be living a 21st-century romance story all of her own, with her candy-bright shop that's a tonic for jaded souls – rather like Vianne Rocher's magical cocoa emporium in Joanne Harris's novel, Chocolat. All the scenario needs now is a gorgeous love interest, but when I ask Maxwell about her dating experiences in London she replies, 'It's been really mixed, nothing that stuck.' A lament that feels emblematic of a woman who started dating in the restless, digital, 'swipe right' era, when, according to a comic skit I viewed on Instagram recently, you'd prefer to hear a date had died than realise he'd chosen to ghost you. No wonder so many female readers choose to retreat to fantastical lands, where women have magic powers and men are warriors, or quite literally beasts – like the prince who's cursed to take horse's form in one of the shop's bestsellers, Behooved by M Stevenson. This means the heroine gets to ride him in every sense of the word. (Puns seem wildly popular in the new genres of romance.) Many of the books on display are best-selling romantasy, such as Onyx Storm ('think Hunger Games meets Fifty Shades ') by Rebecca Yarros, an American mother-of-six married to an army veteran who served in Afghanistan. The foreword solemnly states: 'The following text has been faithfully transcribed from Navarrian into the modern language by Jesinia Neilwart, Curator of the Scribe Quadrant at Basgiath War College'. Taking me to Miss Jean Brodie's immortal line, 'For those that like that kind of thing, that is the sort of thing they like.' And countless legions of women readers do like it – and indeed seem to live by it. Annual sales from the romantasy genre alone were predicted to hit $610m (£448m) by the end of last year, while the genre's leading light, Sarah J Maas (famed for her Throne of Glass and Court of Thorns and Roses series), has, to date, sold 75 million copies of her novels worldwide. I get it. Young people are living in dark times with endless talk of WWIII, just as the boomers and Generation X were during the Cold War. These volumes are their version of Jilly Cooper, Shirley Conran and all the wildly entertaining, escapist bonkbusters I read in my teens and early 20s. So big is the craze in the UK, that last weekend saw a Romance Readers and Reader Event, RARE25, staged at London's ExCel centre, with 400 authors attending. Judging from my visit, shoppers tend to come from a younger demographic. Many first found out about Saucy books from TikTok, or more specifically BookTok, where romance threads are legion and a coded language has evolved to rate raunchy reads, since 'sex' and associated terms can lead to censorship on the platform. Instead, books are critiqued on their 'spice' levels, with red pepper emojis liberally employed for the strongest 'fairy porn'. Maxwell even has her own 'smut' hut in the shop, decked out in Hawaiian Tiki style, where some of the stronger romance is displayed. Obviously, I headed straight there where I picked up Swift and Saddled by Lyla Sage, the torrid tale of divorced interior decorator Ada, who finds herself summoned to glam up Rebel Blue Ranch in Wyoming, encountering steer wrangler Weston Ryder in the process. For a man of few words, Wes has plenty of interior monologue: 'I trailed my hands down her back and gripped her hip for leverage as I guided myself inside her.' Maxwell protests that these novels aren't erotica, but I'd disagree. And why not? Romance exists to fulfil women's fantasies, both the writer's and the reader's. I had lively chats with young Americans, Australians and a couple of girls who'd trekked over from Highgate, but Maxwell says that there's a devoted set of older readers too. Such as the 60-something 'petite, blonde woman in leopard print leggings with bags of attitude' who travelled from Plymouth to pay pilgrimage. She also had two women in their 40s who were on the trail of mafia romance to the point one declared, 'I keep going to Italy and trying to get myself kidnapped.' This is a bookshop that's full of banter and camaraderie. It's easy to see how the genre bonds pleasure-seekers. One of my super-smart nieces confirms this, messaging me to say that when she lived in Australia during a gap year, she was part of a romance-orientated book group. She described the sense of belonging as 'a kind of collective validation that makes engaging with those books feel less stigmatised'. I felt myself wince a bit at my niece's candid comments. I have definitely been a bit snooty about the new wave of romances, when I now see they stand in a clear line from books I loved in the 1980s, like Anne Rice's eroticised Interview With a Vampire and, perhaps even more so, her unabashedly filthy Sleeping Beauty Quartet. Another bookish niece recommends the Boys of Tommen series by Chloe Walsh, for covering 'difficult topics like sexual assault, suicide and abuse', while remaining 'totally impossible to put down'. Resistance, it seems, is useless. I leave Notting Hill with every novice's favourite Maas, A Court of Thorns and Roses, after another Gen Z browser told me I had to 'get with the programme' and read it. As I head off, two young women from Sydney are begging Maxwell to open a Saucy Books out there, 'We need you!' I suddenly realise who the twinkling, naughty-but-wholesome shopkeeper reminds me of: she's Mary Poppins, but her chosen 'spoonful of medicine' for deflated, crosspatch souls, is a romantic novel.
Hamilton Spectator
14-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Hamilton Spectator
The 8 top beach reads of the summer, from Emily Henry's latest to a Toronto foodie romance
Sunscreen, hand-held fan and refreshing beverage of your choice? Check, check and check. Permission to leave the world behind, albeit briefly? Granted. A sizzling summer read that feels like the literary equivalent of sinking into cool water on scorching hot day? Awaiting you — almost certainly on bended knee, and with a naughty twinkle in its eye — in the roundup below. With happy endings and high-velocity page-turning guaranteed, these are our eight best summer beach reads for 2025. Emily Henry Berkley, 544 pages, $41 If you're looking for the ultimate blend of heart and humour, look no further than the genius behind 'Beach Read,' the No. 1 bestseller that kicked off a new golden age of the genre when it was published in 2020. 'Great Big Beautiful Life,' by Emily Henry, Berkley, $41. This time, Emily Henry whisks us to coastal South Carolina, where a reporter has stumbled onto the scoop of the century: After decades out of the public eye, an infamous heiress is looking for someone to write her memoir — and it's going to be juicy. (Cross the tragedy of the Kennedys with the wallets of the Vanderbilts and spritz in some Evelyn Hugo-era Hollywood intrigue.) There's a small problem. The reclusive heiress is auditioning someone else at the same time, giving them both a month to prove who's the right fit to tell her story. Naturally, said rival is irritating and attractive in equal measure, with a rumpled charm that would be irresistible if he didn't stand between our heroine and her big break. You'll love this if you liked: 'People You Meet on Vacation,' 'Funny Story' and anything else by Henry, the thinking woman's romance writer. Spice level: Low. A few steamy moments, but this one's all about the banter and the slow burn. Tropes: Grumpy man, sunshine woman; the one-bed trope, but instead of a single place to sleep, they're stuck on a tiny island and can't help bumping into each other. Jessica Stanley Doubleday Canada, 336 pages, $26 Sometimes you can suspend your disbelief and believe that fairy tales really come true. Other times, you need a book that's clear-eyed about the limitations of human relationships while still managing to tell a joyful story that affirms our faith in love, even the imperfect sort. 'Consider Yourself Kissed,' by Jessica Stanley, Doubleday Canada, $26. If you're not in the headspace for a gloriously fantastical tale of happily ever after, may we introduce you to Jessica Stanley's charming, wise debut novel? Set across the years of a long-term relationship, it tells the story of an Australian woman who moves to London to escape a predatory boss and quickly falls in love with a Mark Darcy-esque Englishman. With wit and gorgeous prose, Stanley takes us through the stages of their relationship — and all the life that happens along the way, including grief, growing apart, even a trial separation — to tell a story that is somehow all the more romantic for feeling so realistic. You'll love this if you liked: Helen Fielding's ' Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy' and its pitch-perfect mix of light and shade. Spice level: Low. A pinch of cayenne, but honestly, you're more likely to cry than anything else. Tropes: Bookish-but-also-hot British man. Cecilia Edward Saga Press, 320 pages, $25.99 Finding love in 2025 is baffling enough when you aren't a late medieval witch who accidentally brewed a true love potion that catapulted you forward several centuries and directly into the path of a cute-and-kind man who looks as though he's about to trap your feline familiar (who journeyed with you) for nefarious purposes, but turns out to be a vet who provides charity medical care for stray cats. 'An Ancient Witch's Guide to Modern Dating,' by Cecilia Edward, Saga Press, $25.99. Delightfully daffy — but with a deeper message about how real love often comes when you're not trying to cast a spell in order to manipulate the world into thinking you're something you're not — this is a bewitching beach read that gets bonus points for a heroine who is closer to 40, not the standard 28 (which is the new 23). You'll love this if you liked: 'Practical Magic' by Alice Hoffman . Spice level: Mild. It's G-rated enough that you can listen to the audiobook on a drive with your ultra-conservative Aunt Pearl Clutcher. Tropes: Time travel, like 'Outlander,' but much, much breezier in tone and with way fewer burning of witches. Brittney Arena Random House Canada, 448 pages, $38 Once upon a time, Vasalie was King Illian's favourite dancer, his 'Jewel' whom he showered with gifts and shared late nights, long conversations and more than one yearning glance with. Then, she was framed for a murder she did not commit and thrown into a cell, the king not lifting a finger to save her. 'A Dance of Lies,' by Brittney Arena, Random House Canada, $38. Two years later, Vasalie — broken by captivity and isolation; barely able to walk, let alone dance — is summoned and given a choice: She can spy for the king at a gathering of rulers, or she can die. Despite the damage done to her physically and mentally, Vasalie seizes her chance — and finds herself caught up in a dark game of revenge, courtly intrigue and mysterious prophecies. And the most dangerous part of all? The feelings she develops for someone we won't name because it's a spoiler, sorry. Not only is this a particularly beautifully written romantasy, it's got a lovely backstory: Brittney Arena lives with several chronic illnesses and wrote this book as a 'declaration that our limitations do not define our worth or limit our ability to live wonderfully romantic and impactful lives.' Bring on book two … You'll love this if you liked: 'A Court of Thorns and Roses' by Sarah J. Maas . Spice level: Medium. Green chili with the seeds scraped out, as in just a few hot-and-heavy kisses, but not nearly the sort of action you'd see in, say, 'Fourth Wing.' Tropes: Forbidden romance with a splash of enemies-to-lovers. Meghan Quinn Bloom, 432 pages, $28.99 This book has a wonderfully silly premise: Newly divorced Scottie works at a golf putter manufacturer where everyone is married and obsessed with their spouses. To fit in, she pretends to have a husband. 'Till Summer Do Us Part,' Meghan Quinn, Bloom, $28.99. As lies tend to do, this snowballs into her recruiting her best friend's brother — who has nothing better to do now that he's sold his app for zillions — to join her for an eight-day couples camp run by her boss's therapist husband. Cue the forced-proximity tingles, amplified by the fact that Wilder Wells is not only up for anything, but he's also perceptive, kind and has a lip piercing that makes Scottie (frustratingly, thrillingly) weak at the knees. As with all Meghan Quinn books, it's very funny, with just the right amount of heart to ground it from absurdity. You'll love this if you liked: 'It Happened One Summer' by Tessa Bailey . Spice level: Scotch bonnet. Tropes: Fake dating, although in this case it's pretending to be a long-term married couple with a host of fabricated issues. Its amplified by some classic forced proximity in their camp cabin and kitted out with various erotic accoutrements prescribed by their therapist to help save their relationship. Amy Rosen ECW Press, 280 pages, $24.95 If you want a book that feels like diving into a buffet stacked with everything you love, immediately pull up a chair to the glorious smorgasbord served up by Amy Rosen, one of Canada's most talented food writers, making her romance debut. 'Off Menu,' by Amy Rosen, ECW Press, $24.95. Our heroine is Ruthie, a professionally adrift 20-something who inherits a nice chunk of change when her beloved grandmother (and noted dispenser of life advice, like 'Never buy green bananas, and never wear banana yellow') dies in a Jet Ski accident. It's enough money for her to quit her job and follow her bliss — that would be food — all the way to a year studying at Toronto's French cooking academy. On her first day, she's partnered with Jeff, a dreamy musician who irritatingly has a girlfriend who has the temerity to be both pretty and nice. The fallout from this — and all the hijinks in between — are told to us by Ruthie, chatting away Bridget Jones-style in her diary. The real love story here, of course, is the food. Whether Rosen is shouting out fictional Toronto spots — pistachio sandwich cookies from Cafe Forno, tofu with garlic sauce from Legendary Asian — or writing about dishes Ruthie prepares so vividly the smells practically waft from the pages, this is a book filled with good eating. Come for the giggles and mishaps (accidentally icing a carrot cake with cocaine!), stay for a lemon meringue pie made with tea biscuits and condensed milk that sounds so easy and delicious you actually wrote down the recipe to try this weekend. You'll love this if you liked: 'Julie & Julia' by Julie Powell. Spice level: Habanero, but only in small, infrequent doses. Tropes: Unrequited love. Noreen Nanja Random House Canada, 368 pages, $26 If you've already gobbled up (even reread) this year's Carley Fortune (very good, maybe even her best yet), we've got just the Canadian debut to fill that emotional-romance-on-a-cottage-country-lake-shaped hole in your heart. 'The Summers Between Us,' by Noreen Nanja, Random House Canada, $26. 'The Summers Between Us' is the story of first love's second chance after a 15-year separation, told as a nuanced exploration of the cross-cultural differences that can sometimes make people go their separate ways. In this case, that means Lia — the high-achieving daughter of immigrant parents — dutifully dating someone her mother approves of, while secretly pining for the boy that she fell for during long, heady teenage summers at her cottage. She never thought she'd return there, but life has other plans — and that boy from Pike Bay turned into a rather dreamy man. You'll love this if you liked: 'Every Summer After' by Carley Fortune. Spice level: More sweet and yearning than spicy and steamy. Tropes: Your classic 'we fell in love as teenagers, but fate forced us apart and now here we are as adults who never quite got over that cataclysmic first love.' 'Only Between Us,' by Ellie K. Wilde, Simon & Schuster, $25.99. Ellie K. Wilde Simon & Schuster, 416 pages, $25.99 We couldn't compile this list without a sports romance. First draft pick on our roster? Canadian phenom Ellie K. Wilde's latest instalment in her series set in the small town of Oakwood Bay. This time, our heroine is a former WAG desperately trying to save her family's business and smart enough to realize that fake-dating one of the hottest football players of the century could be her ticket to turning things around. This scheme has something in it for our hero too, as he's trying to make a comeback and could use a bit of good publicity. We really aren't spoiling anything when we say things get complicated — feelings develop between two people who pretend to be married while being secretly attracted to each other (what a plot twist) — and, also not a shocker if you've read her other work, pretty hot. You'll love this if you liked: Tessa Bailey's 'Fangirl Down.' Spice level: What they refer to on romance subreddits as 'explicit door open' — meaning trés, trés chaud. Tropes: Fake dating.
Hamilton Spectator
14-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Hamilton Spectator
Emily Henry and Meghan Quinn lead our list of the 8 best beach reads
Sunscreen, hand-held fan and refreshing beverage of your choice? Check, check and check. Permission to leave the world behind, albeit briefly? Granted. A sizzling summer read that feels like the literary equivalent of sinking into cool water on scorching hot day? Awaiting you — almost certainly on bended knee, and with a naughty twinkle in its eye — in the roundup below. With happy endings and high-velocity page-turning guaranteed, these are our eight best summer beach reads for 2025. Emily Henry Berkley, 544 pages, $41 If you're looking for the ultimate blend of heart and humour, look no further than the genius behind 'Beach Read,' the No. 1 bestseller that kicked off a new golden age of the genre when it was published in 2020. 'Great Big Beautiful Life,' by Emily Henry, Berkley, $41. This time, Emily Henry whisks us to coastal South Carolina, where a reporter has stumbled onto the scoop of the century: After decades out of the public eye, an infamous heiress is looking for someone to write her memoir — and it's going to be juicy. (Cross the tragedy of the Kennedys with the wallets of the Vanderbilts and spritz in some Evelyn Hugo-era Hollywood intrigue.) There's a small problem. The reclusive heiress is auditioning someone else at the same time, giving them both a month to prove who's the right fit to tell her story. Naturally, said rival is irritating and attractive in equal measure, with a rumpled charm that would be irresistible if he didn't stand between our heroine and her big break. You'll love this if you liked: 'People You Meet on Vacation,' 'Funny Story' and anything else by Henry, the thinking woman's romance writer. Spice level: Low. A few steamy moments, but this one's all about the banter and the slow burn. Tropes: Grumpy man, sunshine woman; the one-bed trope, but instead of a single place to sleep, they're stuck on a tiny island and can't help bumping into each other. Jessica Stanley Doubleday Canada, 336 pages, $26 Sometimes you can suspend your disbelief and believe that fairy tales really come true. Other times, you need a book that's clear-eyed about the limitations of human relationships while still managing to tell a joyful story that affirms our faith in love, even the imperfect sort. 'Consider Yourself Kissed,' by Jessica Stanley, Doubleday Canada, $26. If you're not in the headspace for a gloriously fantastical tale of happily ever after, may we introduce you to Jessica Stanley's charming, wise debut novel? Set across the years of a long-term relationship, it tells the story of an Australian woman who moves to London to escape a predatory boss and quickly falls in love with a Mark Darcy-esque Englishman. With wit and gorgeous prose, Stanley takes us through the stages of their relationship — and all the life that happens along the way, including grief, growing apart, even a trial separation — to tell a story that is somehow all the more romantic for feeling so realistic. You'll love this if you liked: Helen Fielding's ' Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy' and its pitch-perfect mix of light and shade. Spice level: Low. A pinch of cayenne, but honestly, you're more likely to cry than anything else. Tropes: Bookish-but-also-hot British man. Cecilia Edward Saga Press, 320 pages, $25.99 Finding love in 2025 is baffling enough when you aren't a late medieval witch who accidentally brewed a true love potion that catapulted you forward several centuries and directly into the path of a cute-and-kind man who looks as though he's about to trap your feline familiar (who journeyed with you) for nefarious purposes, but turns out to be a vet who provides charity medical care for stray cats. 'An Ancient Witch's Guide to Modern Dating,' by Cecilia Edward, Saga Press, $25.99. Delightfully daffy — but with a deeper message about how real love often comes when you're not trying to cast a spell in order to manipulate the world into thinking you're something you're not — this is a bewitching beach read that gets bonus points for a heroine who is closer to 40, not the standard 28 (which is the new 23). You'll love this if you liked: 'Practical Magic' by Alice Hoffman . Spice level: Mild. It's G-rated enough that you can listen to the audiobook on a drive with your ultra-conservative Aunt Pearl Clutcher. Tropes: Time travel, like 'Outlander,' but much, much breezier in tone and with way fewer burning of witches. Brittney Arena Random House Canada, 448 pages, $38 Once upon a time, Vasalie was King Illian's favourite dancer, his 'Jewel' whom he showered with gifts and shared late nights, long conversations and more than one yearning glance with. Then, she was framed for a murder she did not commit and thrown into a cell, the king not lifting a finger to save her. 'A Dance of Lies,' by Brittney Arena, Random House Canada, $38. Two years later, Vasalie — broken by captivity and isolation; barely able to walk, let alone dance — is summoned and given a choice: She can spy for the king at a gathering of rulers, or she can die. Despite the damage done to her physically and mentally, Vasalie seizes her chance — and finds herself caught up in a dark game of revenge, courtly intrigue and mysterious prophecies. And the most dangerous part of all? The feelings she develops for someone we won't name because it's a spoiler, sorry. Not only is this a particularly beautifully written romantasy, it's got a lovely backstory: Brittney Arena lives with several chronic illnesses and wrote this book as a 'declaration that our limitations do not define our worth or limit our ability to live wonderfully romantic and impactful lives.' Bring on book two … You'll love this if you liked: 'A Court of Thorns and Roses' by Sarah J. Maas . Spice level: Medium. Green chili with the seeds scraped out, as in just a few hot-and-heavy kisses, but not nearly the sort of action you'd see in, say, 'Fourth Wing.' Tropes: Forbidden romance with a splash of enemies-to-lovers. Meghan Quinn Bloom, 432 pages, $28.99 This book has a wonderfully silly premise: Newly divorced Scottie works at a golf putter manufacturer where everyone is married and obsessed with their spouses. To fit in, she pretends to have a husband. 'Till Summer Do Us Part,' Meghan Quinn, Bloom, $28.99. As lies tend to do, this snowballs into her recruiting her best friend's brother — who has nothing better to do now that he's sold his app for zillions — to join her for an eight-day couples camp run by her boss's therapist husband. Cue the forced-proximity tingles, amplified by the fact that Wilder Wells is not only up for anything, but he's also perceptive, kind and has a lip piercing that makes Scottie (frustratingly, thrillingly) weak at the knees. As with all Meghan Quinn books, it's very funny, with just the right amount of heart to ground it from absurdity. You'll love this if you liked: 'It Happened One Summer' by Tessa Bailey . Spice level: Scotch bonnet. Tropes: Fake dating, although in this case it's pretending to be a long-term married couple with a host of fabricated issues. Its amplified by some classic forced proximity in their camp cabin and kitted out with various erotic accoutrements prescribed by their therapist to help save their relationship. Amy Rosen ECW Press, 280 pages, $24.95 If you want a book that feels like diving into a buffet stacked with everything you love, immediately pull up a chair to the glorious smorgasbord served up by Amy Rosen, one of Canada's most talented food writers, making her romance debut. 'Off Menu,' by Amy Rosen, ECW Press, $24.95. Our heroine is Ruthie, a professionally adrift 20-something who inherits a nice chunk of change when her beloved grandmother (and noted dispenser of life advice, like 'Never buy green bananas, and never wear banana yellow') dies in a Jet Ski accident. It's enough money for her to quit her job and follow her bliss — that would be food — all the way to a year studying at Toronto's French cooking academy. On her first day, she's partnered with Jeff, a dreamy musician who irritatingly has a girlfriend who has the temerity to be both pretty and nice. The fallout from this — and all the hijinks in between — are told to us by Ruthie, chatting away Bridget Jones-style in her diary. The real love story here, of course, is the food. Whether Rosen is shouting out fictional Toronto spots — pistachio sandwich cookies from Cafe Forno, tofu with garlic sauce from Legendary Asian — or writing about dishes Ruthie prepares so vividly the smells practically waft from the pages, this is a book filled with good eating. Come for the giggles and mishaps (accidentally icing a carrot cake with cocaine!), stay for a lemon meringue pie made with tea biscuits and condensed milk that sounds so easy and delicious you actually wrote down the recipe to try this weekend. You'll love this if you liked: 'Julie & Julia' by Julie Powell. Spice level: Habanero, but only in small, infrequent doses. Tropes: Unrequited love. Noreen Nanja Random House Canada, 368 pages, $26 If you've already gobbled up (even reread) this year's Carley Fortune (very good, maybe even her best yet), we've got just the Canadian debut to fill that emotional-romance-on-a-cottage-country-lake-shaped hole in your heart. 'The Summers Between Us,' by Noreen Nanja, Random House Canada, $26. 'The Summers Between Us' is the story of first love's second chance after a 15-year separation, told as a nuanced exploration of the cross-cultural differences that can sometimes make people go their separate ways. In this case, that means Lia — the high-achieving daughter of immigrant parents — dutifully dating someone her mother approves of, while secretly pining for the boy that she fell for during long, heady teenage summers at her cottage. She never thought she'd return there, but life has other plans — and that boy from Pike Bay turned into a rather dreamy man. You'll love this if you liked: 'Every Summer After' by Carley Fortune. Spice level: More sweet and yearning than spicy and steamy. Tropes: Your classic 'we fell in love as teenagers, but fate forced us apart and now here we are as adults who never quite got over that cataclysmic first love.' 'Only Between Us,' by Ellie K. Wilde, Simon & Schuster, $25.99. Ellie K. Wilde Simon & Schuster, 416 pages, $25.99 We couldn't compile this list without a sports romance. First draft pick on our roster? Canadian phenom Ellie K. Wilde's latest instalment in her series set in the small town of Oakwood Bay. This time, our heroine is a former WAG desperately trying to save her family's business and smart enough to realize that fake-dating one of the hottest football players of the century could be her ticket to turning things around. This scheme has something in it for our hero too, as he's trying to make a comeback and could use a bit of good publicity. We really aren't spoiling anything when we say things get complicated — feelings develop between two people who pretend to be married while being secretly attracted to each other (what a plot twist) — and, also not a shocker if you've read her other work, pretty hot. You'll love this if you liked: Tessa Bailey's 'Fangirl Down.' Spice level: What they refer to on romance subreddits as 'explicit door open' — meaning trés, trés chaud. Tropes: Fake dating.
Yahoo
03-07-2025
- Yahoo
Family and friends rally at courthouse in Goshen in support of murder suspect
GOSHEN — The sister of a man accused of killing a convicted pedophile right after his release from prison, led a rally near the Elkhart County Courthouse Wednesday. On June 24, Nicolas Stanley, 35, allegedly shot and killed Allen Cogswell, 35, at the Daylite Inn in Elkhart. Police were called shortly after midnight with reports of a shooting. According to police reports, a witness told investigators a man with a long gun, later identified as Stanley, looked in the window of a room and knocked on the door. When Cogswell opened the door, the armed man began shooting, the report reads. Stanley was taken into custody later that day without incident. It was soon revealed that Cogswell was a convicted sex offender who was recently released from prison after serving six and a half years of a 12-year sentence for child molestation. The victim was a relative of Stanley's. On Wednesday afternoon, Stanley's sister, Jessica Stanley, led a rally on the sidewalk adjacent to the Elkhart County Courthouse in Goshen. She was hoping to draw as many as 100 supporters, although about half that number was present 30 minutes after it began at noon. Many of those in attendance held handmade signs while others wore shirts bearing a anti-pedophilia logo and the hashtag '#freenic.' Although many drivers honked their horns in obvious support of the demonstrators, a few also hurled derogatory insults toward them as they passed by. Both types of actions were met with in-kind reactions from those gathered on the sidewalk. 'My brother is a very good dad, obviously; he cares about both of his children,' said Jessica Stanley. 'Had Allen Cogswell not been released so soon, I don't think we'd be here in this position. It's been really difficult for our family, but we stand behind Nic 100%. We just need better reform and stricter laws when it comes to sentencing of child sex abusers.' Stanley said the abuse of the child took place over an eight-month span during 2017. Cogswell was caught and arrested in January 2018 and sentenced that April. According to Stanley, Cogswell was a distant relative of the victim, which was how he gained access to the child. 'We are advocating for my brother,' Stanley said. 'We are hopeful for a minimal sentence. We're hoping for 10 years at most, but we understand that it could be upwards of 65 years. We've got hope that the prosecuting attorney and the jury will see that, due to the circumstances of the case.' She has had the opportunity to speak with her brother, who is being held without bail at the Elkhart County Jail. He has seen both of his children. She said her brother has received a lot of support from the community including Bikers Against Predators whose president attended the rally. Supporters have even made financial contributions to his commissary account. She said he knows he has received numerous messages of encouragement, as well. 'Right now he's remaining hopeful,' she said. 'He's pretty cheerful despite the circumstances. He's remaining positive that this will get down to the lowest possible sentencing time. My brother needs to be here with his children instead of being in jail.'
The Guardian
01-06-2025
- General
- The Guardian
Working from home? It's so much nicer if you're a man
I'm wary of gendered generalisations. They rightly raise hackles: we are unique, not defined by gender, not all men! But I was struck by one I read from Ella Risbridger in her review of Jessica Stanley's recent novel, Consider Yourself Kissed. Exploring one of its themes, Risbridger wrote: 'I have long noticed that in a house with one spare room and a heterosexual couple who both work from home, the spare room is where he works – with a door that shuts and perhaps even a designated desk – and she works somewhere else. (Always for good reasons, but always.)' This stopped me in my tracks. Not because it's my experience: my husband and I are lucky enough to have an office each, and mine is bigger and objectively nicer. I get the garden view; he has the ballet of Openreach and Amazon vans. (See – not all men.) It's not Stanley's experience either: she uses the spare bedroom; her husband has half the living room, she told the Cut's Book Gossip newsletter. Rather, I was struck because having just read the Australian writer Helen Garner's recently published diaries, How to End a Story, this is exactly the irreconcilable, constantly rehashed point of contention between her and her ex-husband, anonymised in the diaries as 'V'. V, also a writer, insists not only on appropriating the available room in their shared apartment for his office, but on Garner leaving while he works, her presence incompatible with his sacred need for silent isolation. Garner describes the quotidian pain of this situation (she wants to potter, play music, cook, see friends; her creativity is fuelled by these ordinary kinds of life), and the growing realisation of what it said about their relationship with shocking, powerful eloquence. V is aware of, but apparently unmoved by, her distress. They argue about it regularly. Garner's experience was so egregious as to be eye-poppingly enraging, but this happens more often in quieter, easier-to-overlook ways. I read and enjoyed Consider Yourself Kissed too – it's a romance, but it also subtly builds a picture of the insidious sidelining of women's work as expressed through domestic space. Set between 2013 and 2023, it's particularly good on how this was amplified by Covid: the heroine's political journalist husband sees his career go stratospheric and their spare room 'somehow' becomes his study. He's a nice man; he loves her; it just … happens. This rang true because it is: it did just happen. Structural pay equalities meant men – habitually the higher earners – staked the more obvious primary claim on working space in locked-down homes. Research shows women experienced more non-work interruptions, compounded when they didn't have a 'dedicated unshared workspace' – their emotional wellbeing suffered, but so did their professional lives. 'My husband locks the room from the inside when he needs to concentrate,' a participant in an Indian study on pandemic working habits reported. 'I don't have that liberty. I have no room of my own.' In 1929, Virginia Woolf wrote A Room of One's Own as a riposte to the physical and economic exclusion of women from intellectual and professional spaces. In 2025, they can't bar us from libraries, but intimate domestic spaces have proved stubbornly intractable. Back when men had inviolable studies and smoking rooms, there was an assumption that the domestic sphere was feminine, so they 'needed' to escape the noise and mess of childrearing and homemaking. Now we're ostensibly all in it together, doing conference calls in our slippers, but there are still more man caves than women's. Because Risbridger is right: the recently released UK 2024 Skills and Employment survey found 60% of men had a dedicated room for work at home and only 40% of women. We still can't manage to meet Woolf's prescription. There are not-all-men exceptions and happy endings. Garner escaped, thank God, eventually; and, without spoilers, Stanley's heroine reclaims some space. But in real life, generally, women's work is still given less and worse space, while the gender pay gap narrows agonisingly slowly. The two are surely related. When do we get that room of our own? Emma Beddington is a Guardian columnist
