Thank you!

Photo of Beyoncé staring into the middle distance

I do developmental editing and other projects for Black Girls Who Edit, and work under my own banner for the audiences that BGWE doesn’t serve. I’m hoping to get into audiobook narration, and probably forgot something.

Most importantly: I now do all of this full time.

Today’s a big day so let me reintroduce myself:

My name is Jessica P. Pryde, and I am a Professional Book Person. I write and podcast about books, write my own books, and co-founded a romance bookstore (@whychoose-tucson).

This Is RAYE Playlist · Spotify · 50 items · 171.3K saves

YouTube autoplay sent us down a Raye rabbit hole last night and I will be listening to absolutely nothing else for the next several weeks. What a master of her craft. Whoosh.

Black urban romance deserves to be taken seriously In 2025, Sweet Nothings Book Co. opened as Baltimore’s first romance-only bookstore. It’s truly a romance book lover’s dream — it’s cozy and welcoming, clearly created with readers in mind. The shelve...

Important article. Nothing burns me up more in the literary space than the same folks who praise dark and mafia romance with their whole chests denigrating urban romance. Tell us why you find one genre acceptable but not the other. I’ll wait.

baltimorebeat.com/black-urban-...

Hey Reactor Mag, I know you're focused on publishing timeless media convos instead of news, but when you're publishing a review of a movie there are a few things I expect you to put somewhere in the article: has it been released? Is it in theaters? Streaming? This is media journalism basics.

So in year two, when the collection could be broader and deeper, it actually follows the same pattern that publishing does and goes back to being all white.

JQ could have used that Bridgerton influence to really do something to show the broad reach of historical romance but instead we have nine romances across two years with two authors of color and one protagonist of color, the latter of which is in the first year.

I mean, proper technique and all 🤣 also probably better with like crochet than individuals… I am going to think too much about this.

Do you listen to podcasts about romance novels? One of the romance scholars (Dr. Precie A. Schroyer) is inviting you to take part in a research study: forms.office.com/pages/respon...

16 of the Best New Romances by Black Authors A bounty of new and recent Black romances await you, including a golf romance, enemies to lovers stories, great romantasy, and more.

Article by @jessisreading.bsky.social, librarian with Tucson Library and cohost of “When In Romance” podcast, in @bookriot.bsky.social

16 of the Best New Romances by Black Authors.

bookriot.com/best-new-bla...

#Romancelandia #RomanceBookSky #BlackBookSky #BookSky

I'm 48 today! You don't have to buy 48 of my books but one or two would be nice!

#romancelandia

Tikka Chance on Me books2read.com/u/mKKrNv
Kick at the Darkness books2read.com/u/4Xrqqv
Frostburn books2read.com/u/47aYWq

Spoiled Brit books2read.com/u/3LBQjw
Nobody's Bargain books2read.com/u/bxD0no

#uspoli (sadly not just the US #worldpoli) - goosebumps and tears

Fake Fated Mates - BOOK RIOT Jess and Trisha talk a LOT about adaptations - including their dream adaptations - and a little bit about other news and updates.

Another enjoyable When In Romance podcast episode. Hosts @trishahaleybrown.bsky.social & @jessisreading.bsky.social discussing romance novels that would make great adaptations to tv, film, or miniseries. Great conversation as always! 📚💕🎧

bookriot.com/listen/fake-...

#Romancelandia #RomanceBookSky

Now available in audio! Haven, Sanctuary and Harbor by Rebekah Weatherspoon Three romances with shirtless buff guys on the cover, standing in front of the mountains, in front of a farm and in front of the ocean. All three books have plus size black heroines and all three books feature BDSM elements. Haven - he saves her from serial killers. Months later they reunite and do the nasty instead of going to therapy. Sanctuary - She saves herself from a professional hit and ends up hidding at his farm. They do the nasty Harbor is a polyam story with three black folks. Their cheating partners are killed and they try to find meaning in it all. The meaning involves a threesome on the beach. Now available in audio! Haven, Sanctuary and Harbor by Rebekah Weatherspoon Three romances with shirtless buff guys on the cover, standing in front of the mountains, in front of a farm and in front of the ocean. All three books have plus size black heroines and all three books feature BDSM elements.

Small town romantic suspense with a BDSM chaser. Check out my Beards & Bondage trilogy today!

😈 print: www.therippedbodice....
😈 e: amzn.to/48lbAfm
😈 audio: www.chirpbooks.com/a...

#booksky #romancelandia #blacksky

Publishers' marketplace screenshot about A True Gentleman, "a queer historical romance fllowing a trans teen grappling with masculinity, diability and empire after his dreams of proving himself at sea take a turn - and his sweetheart's secret plans to see him again. to Caitlin O'Connell at Penguin Workshop, for publication 2028, by Jessica Mileo - Rights to S&S UK by Louise Lamont at LBA books."

HELLO I'm so delighted to finally officially share A TRUE GENTLEMAN, the graphic novel I’ve been working on for the last few years & is very close to my heart.

Inspired by a lot of real queer & trans history and my own disability, with big marsh, big ships & BIG YEARNING #books

Why yes, I did pantomime a hairflip for knowing the answer to the first question on Jeopardy when none of the contestants did—fellas should have watched Bride and Prejudice on repeat like the rest of us

Large Type books should be printed in Open Dyslexic.

Four Oglala detainees located, three still in ICE custody - ICT The four Lakota detainees were reportedly sent to a former concentration camp used during the Dakota Wars

This is surreal. 4 Oglala Lakota men kidnapped by ICE in Minneapolis have finally been located. One of them was released but the other 3 are being held at Fort Snelling, a former concentration camp used to imprison Native people incl. the Dakota 38 during Dakota Wars.

ictnews.org/news/north-c...

Well, I have found myself back on Substack, but I’m going to use it to give more Black women money and my feed is basically 98 percent that anyway. Masters tools masters house and all that, but if I gotta use it, it will be me doing this to the white supremacists

Tablet with cover of Grumpy Fake Boyfriend by Jackie Lau, surrounded by raspberries and pink popsicles. Cover: serious white man in white T-shirt.

Tablet with cover of Her Big City Neighbor by Jackie Lau, next to bottle and apples. Cover: side profile of tattooed Asian man, green background.

I have two ebooks that are always free at all retailers!

1) Grumpy Fake Boyfriend (Kwan Sisters 1)
2) Her Big City Neighbor (Cider Bar Sisters 1)

jackielaubooks.com/books/

Instead of ending the constitution and murdering people, we could have high speed trains and universal health care.

TIL Alexandre Dumas wrote a two-volume Robin Hood story and am even further upset that we got whatever dark ass bs is coming out this year. Adapt this one instead. Make everybody Black and clever. As God and Dumas intended.

Walking around in my comfiest lounge pants with a stomachache and realized why I have leaned fully into the oversized romper life: no awkward shifting of waistlines, no drawstring geometry, just a comfortable nightgown without the chub rub and much deeper pockets lol

Does anyone have a non-AI randomizer that I can upload my entire TBR into that will tell me what to read next? I’m talking export my Goodreads and Storygraph (because they’re different 😩), my Kindle, my Libib, my Libro, all of it—so many gems that I only remember when I’m looking for something else

I haven’t but I’ll check it out!

Ooh excited for that one!

Love this book!

📖Faux Ho Ho by ‘Nathan Bourgoine
🎧 You Make it Feel Like Christmas by Toni Shiloh
🎧 The Christmas War Paws by Terreece M Clarke
🎧 We Don’t Need Another Santa by Bix Barrow

What are you reading?

Graphic with lights in the background and four covers: Faux Ho Ho, You Make it Feel Like Christmas, The Christmas War Paws, and We Don’t Need Another Santa

‘Tis the season to see what holiday novellas your library has available! These were all enjoyable reads from the last couple of weeks, and I’m looking forward to checking out more from each of these authors, who were all technically new to me (I was aware of all of them but hadn’t read them yet lol)