#jadesola james

[triviareads]

do you have diverse modern romance recs?

Yep! I've (mostly) organized it by author:

Naima Simone: I'm obsessed with literally everything this woman writes, both Harlequin and not Harlequin. Naima writes a lot of fabulous Black heroines (and she writes great body diversity as well) and a decent amount of POC heroes as well. My favorites include . Black Tie Billionaire (Black heroine, Asian hero), Secrets Of A One Night Stand (Black heroine, Pacific Islander hero), and Trust Fund Fiancé (both the hero and heroine are Black). The best thing about Naima's books is just the uniformity in how she writes every body type as attractive and desirable and the sex is very hot. Would absolutely recommend.

Katrina Jackson: I haven't talked about Katrina enough, when she's out here doing the most for mafia romances and spy romances with diverse characters. I could happily read her novella Beautiful & Dirty over and over, but it's a prequel to the mafia series which ends with my favorite, The Don, which has a Black heroine. Katrina also wrote a spy series (The Spies Who Loved Me!) and the first in that series, Pink Slip, has a Black heroine who's lusting over her married bosses (the wife, Monica, is Latina I believe) and surprise, they're both into her too.

Angelina M. Lopez: Angelina writes excellent Latino rep. Her fictional town Freedom, Kansas, which is the setting in multiple stories, has an amazing Mexican-American community she builds on. I'd recommend After Hours on Milagro Street, which has a Mexican-American heroine, as well as her upcoming Full Moon Over Freedom, which is next in the series. The way she melds culture, magic, and romance is gorgeous. Also! Lush Money, which is set within this universe, has a Latina heroine and is very fun and worth reading.

Tara Pammi: If you want to read about Indians in India or Bollywood-centric romances, Tara is the author. I liked Claiming His Bollywood Cinderella and The Secret She Kept in Bollywood (that man is suuuch a DILF he's great).

Jadesola James: I've talked about her before (see here) but Jadesola has written a couple Harlequin Presents stories set in Africa. I'd recommend The Royal Baby He Must Claim and The Princess He Must Marry, which are about sisters who are Nigerian princesses.

Talia Hibbert: The Brown Sisters books are bangers, sexy and emotionally comforting at the same time. I'd recommend all of them: Get a Life, Chloe Brown, Take a Hint, Dani Brown, and Act Your Age, Eve Brown. I also love her novella Guarding Temptation, which has both a Black hero and heroine and Wanna Bet? which has a Black heroine and a British-Indian hero (thanks for reminding me @viscountessevie).

Wrong to Need You by Alisha Rai: The hero and heroine are in-laws (well, her husband, his brother, is dead) so the romance was very emotional and slow-burn, but the pay-off was absolutely worth it. The heroine Sadia is Pakistani-American, and the hero Jackson is of Japanese and Hawaiian ancestry. Alisha also delves pretty deep into South Asian family dynamics which hit a liiiittle too close to home, but I can't deny the accuracy.

Reel by Kennedy Ryan: This a romance between an actress and her director (both are Black) and I particularly appreciate the amount of research Kennedy Ryan put into the Harlem Renaissance, Black artists of that era (she created a fictional artist to base the movie off of), as well as their contributions to the Civil Rights movement which I think isn't discussed enough.

Sink or Swim by Tessa Bailey: See here.

From what I recall, Katee Robert did a pretty good job of body diversity without super explicitly mentioning race in her Fairytale Villains Who Fuck Wicked Villains series.

#naima simone #angelina m lopez #talia hibbert #tara pammi #jadesola james #kennedy ryan #alisha rai #tessa bailey #katee robert #contemporary romance #book recs #ask

[timpac-capstone]

Week 3

Started this week by looking at past capstone projects to get an idea as to what level of professionalism is expected of me. Also what topics have been tackled and how the use of animation was better able to get the artist's message across. It does relieve some stress seeing that there are some obvious corners cut from these projects but every idea I have had so far is so ambitious that I don't think I have the time or skill to make it come to fruition.

Artists: Khianna Byrne, Jadesola Colpa, Jasmine Hoagland, Katie Owens, James Ring, Christine Drobish.

One of the initial ideas I had for my capstone was about a rat that goes to a rat city that becomes more monstrous over time due to the toxicity of the city itself and its populace. This week I looked at the trailers and concept art for "The Tale of Despereaux" and "Flushed Away" since they both are set in a rat city. I was going to watch both of them but they look so bad, story-wise and design-wise, that I felt my energy was better spent somewhere else. I also looked at an animation by Steve Cutts called "Happiness" which is the concept that I want to go for which is rats that do human things and criticizing the rat race we are put in because of our desires. However, I don't think I'm gonna go with this idea because I have zero experience in making backgrounds and obviously the rat city is going to play a huge role in the story so it has to look interesting and polished.

This is a recent assignment I did for a Creative Programming class in which we had to create a drawing using a very specific set of rules that we chose for ourselves. I am someone who hates the feeling of cringe and I feel that I often think back at my most embarrassing moments more than most people do. So I thought why don't I try exploring that?

The rules were:

1). Watch an old video of yourself and every time you cringe draw a continuous line

2). When you stop cringing you stop drawing and make a dot where you stopped, If you start to cringe again continue from the dot you left off at.

3) The pencil must be on the paper at all times and you can't pause the video.

I have one specific YouTube video that I made when I was a sophomore in high school that my friends make fun of me to this day about. Every time I've tried rewatching it I couldn't even get past the first second and this gave me a good excuse to force myself to sit through the whole thing. I was surprised by the results, sure there were a few moments that were agonizing to sit through but overall it wasn't that bad. I think this might be something worth exploring further in my capstone.

REFLECTION:

This week I'm feeling that things are slowly coming together, ever since I've started this capstone I've been looking a lot into the production side of things, which I've always enjoyed doing in my free time but it's especially hard to find anything for animated shows. I have a better idea as to how ambitious my project should be but still no specific idea that I'm dead set on doing, maybe if I look through more old personal projects or assignments maybe I'll find something to latch onto.

#animation #study motivation #capstone #Youtube

[reeseryan]

I love this Presents cover by Jadesola James. https://www.instagram.com/p/CPOB33uDYPN/?utm_medium=tumblr

[triviareads]

I feel like everyone should know how much The Royal Baby He Must Claim by Jadesola James has a hold over me. Harlequin Presents vary a lot in terms of content and writing, but this is genuinely one of the best. First, this book has some of the best Black rep I've read in romance. Jadesola describes various cultures within modern Africa (Nigeria specifically) beautifully and very evocatively, from the food to the language to traditional weddings. And in line with Harlequin Presents usually taking place in exotic locales, this one is set in Abuja and the Seychelles mostly.

The conflict is classic Harlequin Presents: one night stand, pregnancy, marriage of convenience, two people deluding themselves (the hero especially) about their ability to love. But the chemistry in this one?!?! Insane. I'm not usually one for *softer* sex scenes straight off the bat, but Jadesola really sold it. Kemi and Luke meet at a club and share a dance, and they're trying so hard to contain themselves because they've just met, and because they both have been hurt in the past. But they're so drawn to each other sexually and emotionally. That first sex scene especially hits all the right notes when you want something emotionally comforting but very very hot. Like, when you talk about the female gaze, Luke is the manifestation of that. I'd strongly recommend this book to anyone looking to diversify their romance novel selection.

#harlequin presents #jadesola james #book rec #contemporary romance

[triviareads]

I'm happy people are still reading Harlequin and Mills & Boon. I read my mom's old paperbacks when I was younger and they get a bad rep. Or maybe I thought they were good because they were spicy and I was young. Do you have any newer M&B Harlequin suggestions?

I love that! I think Harlequins were probably the first adult romances I read back in the day and honestly, the dream would be to write something for them someday (it has been... a slow work in progress). So from my understanding Mills & Boon is the British romance imprint of Harlequin so idk how much overlap there is for the books I'm gonna recommend. I've sorted them by author mostly, and they all fall under Harlequin Dare (super hot, now defunct 😔), Harlequin Presents (the fun international ones inevitably with some kinda billionaire/prince/sheikh), or Harlequin Desire (mostly rich Americans):

Caitlin Crews: Here is a list of my absolute favorites by Caitlin, and to add to that, The Secret That Can't Be Hidden (ft. my favorite insta-sex scene during which he basically beckons her forward and fingers her on the spot... no conversation necessary), Crowning His Lost Princess (warlord touches down in a field in.... Kansas? and tells a farm girl she's a lost princess and he's gonna marry her), and Her Deal with the Greek Devil (he has hella beef with the heroine who's his stepsister so he makes her go around his house naked— don't ask me how he gets to that point but it makes for some great tension).

Jackie Ashenden: On the Harlequin Dare front I'd recommend, King's Ransom (ft. the world's biggest kidnap girlie who also has sex for the first time after she's caught sniffing her kidnapper's clothes), Dirty Devil (A heist story that takes a delightful "can I seduce him into letting me free?" turn), Sexy Beast (the only kind of friends-to-lovers I condone, namely the kind that begins with her taking him up on his offer to give her an orgasm) and In the Dark (brother's best friend except she's filling in for her escort friend and he's the client). On the Presents side, I really like Promoted to His Princess (he's a playboy prince and she's the elite soldier meant to guard him).

Naima Simone: Naima writes diverse romances with really hot sex scenes. My favorites include Black Tie Billionaire (they have anonymous sex during a blackout and it turns out he wants to ruin her brother... by getting fake engaged to her), Secrets of a One Night Stand (another anonymous encounter, and it turns out he's her boss, and she's pregnant), and Vows in Name Only (they're both blackmailed by her dad into marrying each other and the hero is suuuuuper resentful of her... until he isn't). Honestly, I'd recommend everything Naima has ever written, even outside Harlequin.

Tara Pammi: Tara writes great Indian-forward Harlequin Presents. I'd recommend Claiming His Bollywood Cinderella and The Secret She Kept in Bollywood. This post has a more in-depth description of both.

Lauren Hawkeye: Lauren wrote a modern series based on Little Women under the Harlequin Dare imprint. They're all pretty good but my favorites are Beth's book, Playing Dirty (she's a mechanic, he's a rich man who's *ashamed* of his bedroom proclivities) and Meg's book, Sweet Temptation.

Jadesola James: She writes lovely Harlequin Presents set in Africa; Here is me gushing about The Royal Baby He Must Claim, and that heroine's sister has her own book in The Princess He Must Marry (ft. marriage of convenience... until they actually need to be together).

Miscellaneous:

The Greek Billionaire's Innocent Princess by Chantelle Shaw: She's a princess but she's so "frumpy" he thinks she's waitstaff, but then he sees her skinny-dipping and they have sex in a cave on the beach.... and the next time he sees her, surprise! she's a princess.... and she's pregnant. This one was basically my Harlequin awakening.

The Prince's Forbidden Virgin by Robyn Donald: The first vineyard-based book I ever read; he's the king of a small Mediterranean country and she's his cousin (at least they think.... until the near-end) who's back to rescue the vines from blight.

The Cost of the Forbidden by Carol Marinelli: The first Russian hero to really do it for me; she's his PA and she's given her notice (because she's too attracted to him) so now he basically thinks she's fair game. What a smooth man.

Hold Me by Anne Marsh: The greatest and most seamless roleplaying I've read (until very recently). Here's a hint at what it includes.

Pure Satisfaction by Rebecca Hunter: I'm a sucker for a shame-boner because "she's too young for me" and this book really delivers (especially when she makes him say "you're too young for me" while she's in his lap with her top off lolol).

#harlequin #harlequin presents #harlequin dare #harlequin desire #caitlin crews #jackie ashenden #naima simone #tara pammi #lauren hawkeye #ask #book recs