#obviously i;m not saying the UK is like Egypt!

[wild-at-mind]

I’ve been thinking about the reason I feel so weird about people on tumblr who aren’t living in the UK making jokes about how great it would be if the UK split up and abandoned England (where I live) and made the great Celtic aliance and whatnot....like, I acknowledge I really have no good social justice approved reasons for feeling weird about this. I’m English in England and I do understand the long history of England oppressing and colonising all the other nations. This isn’t in question. I’m sure it would be better for all the other nations if they left England, and if there was a way it could be done very easily and quickly for everyone, then I’d say do it in a heartbeat. It feels really daft of me to be like thinking about actual logistics because of a fucking joke post which no one really needs, but I always do for some reason and it’s just so stressful to think about. The UK is fucking falling apart right now, it can’t manage anything. Our last Prime Minister lasted 49 days. No one has been elected as PM for like a decade, they all just take over from the last failure in this fucking endless conservative government. It feels never ending. I feel like it was also really easy for people outside the UK to judge Brexit as a terrible idea, but from the inside it was never that simple. It was a really bad idea for sure, and it caused this massive influx of xenophobia, but while it was going on it was all so complicated and there was so much shit on both sides. You would think it would be easy to say like ‘I don’t want to be on the side of xenophobia so I’m anti-Brexit’, but then you would get accused of being in an ivory tower and not affected by the employment issues concerned caused by EU workers or w/e. Someone would write a thinkpiece calling you classist or something, using the exact same emotive language people deploy all the time on here for their good causes. It’s not so easy to be like ‘ok this is good emotive language making me think the right thing, and this is bad emotive language making me think the wrong thing’. In reality, of course, it was never a case of just working class people wanting Brexit and just middle class people wanting remain, that was more fucking propaganda and it was sooooo much more complicated than that. I hope this is starting to get across the problem a bit. A few people were even arguing that Brexit was good because more workers of colour could come into the country if we stopped having so many white EU workers so Brexit could actually be anti-racist. (As if the current government would willingly do anything like that...lol.) What I’m trying to say is it split the country in so many ways, it was a really ugly time. I have heard similar things from people living in Scotland about the last push for Scottish Independance. Whether you were pro or anti, it got ugly and caused massive painful rifts. Now, i do think at some point Scotland will gain independance and I will cheer them on. But it won’t be an easy split, because they never are. The other thing I think gets glossed over is that we aren’t a very big country, of course there’s a lot of movement, many people in England have very recent roots in Scotland, Wales and/or NI. When you make it more distant roots, then it’s a vast percentage. And it’s worth noting that identifying as English specifically, if you live in England, has some connotations of racism and xenophobia against immigrants. (England for the English, that kind of fucked up thing.) People who do not want those connotations who live in England will tend to use the term British to self describe. I don’t know what it means to be ‘English’, specifically, without racism coming into the frame pretty quickly. I think that’s why these posts also read a bit as if annexing England will free the other nations from racism, whether or not that was the intention.

#uk politics #english politics #politics #this post was probably a bad idea i know #i'm being 100% sincere in it if that helps it's not irony poisoned #i think it may be something to do with the fact that it's always weird when people who don't live where you live talk about it #i remember in 2011 during the protests in egypt my housemate who was anglo-egyptian and had lived there for several years #was really bothered by the press coverage and i think this was part of the reason why #because he often couldn't really identify what was bothering him other than the focus on brits leaving (v fair) #but it wasn't just that i think it was also the way Egypt's politics were talked about from an outside perspective #obviously i;m not saying the UK is like Egypt! #in any way other than this specific thing #americans also quite rightly hate the way other nations use them as the butt of a joke about the country being regressive #like there aren't real people there who are living it #it makes me cringe tbh i hate that brits and other nations are so obsessed with the 'lol Americans!' jokes #so there you go that's my ill thought out post

[respectingromance]

Romances set outside the US or England/Scotland

… well, mostly.

Recently I put out a call for romance novels set outside the United States, England, or Scotland – for extra difficulty, you could suggest ones without American or English main characters.

We ended up with a decent list! Because I have not personally read most of these, I can’t guarantee that every one has an HEA. If I suspect or know that a book doesn’t have a happy ending, I’ll note so with an ***. 

The notes below are a mix of comments from the contributor and my own research.

Contributed by @honeybeeshepherd

***The Bronze Horseman by Paullina Simons. Set in the Soviet Union during WWII. The first book does not have an HEA, but @honeybeeshepherd says the series ultimately ends happily.

Contributed by @lizabethstucker​

Shoma Narayanan (author). Writes Harlequin-style romances set in India. Her top-rated romance, Take One Arranged Marriage…, has a 3.55 rating on Goodreads.

Haveli by Zeenat Mahal. Set in 1970s Pakistan, this one has a funny, snarky heroine.

Hidden Husband by Shikha Kaul. Set in India with Indian main characters.

Contributed by @jamjamque

Juliet by Anne Fortier. Set in Sienna, Italy. @jamjamque says there’s no sex in this one.

Contributed by @sequinedably​

@sequinedably​ says Mary Balogh has a book set in Venice, Italy. I don’t doubt this at all, but after spending a not-insignificant amount of time trying to find the title, I gave up.

As You Desire by Connie Brockway. Set in Cairo, Egypt in 1890.

Contributed by @diehard-fangirl​, @not-your-average-romance​, @lucyreadsromance​, and @customerservicebotdolores

Basically everything by Jeannie Lin, whose books are all set in historical China. Specific recs were for The Lotus Palace and Gunpowder Alchemy.

Contributed by @not-your-average-romance​

Rise of a Queen by Chanta Rand. Set in Ghana in 1071. Fair warning: It’s pretty clear from the book summary that the heroine rapes the hero. Rand has also written other books set in Africa.

Mystic Cove series by Tricia O’Malley. Set in Ireland. First book is Wild Irish Heart.

Contributed by @lobsterhug​

Jillaroo by Rachael Treasure. About a lady farmer in Australia.

Contributed by @raspberriesandbumblebees

Victoria Holt (author). Specific recs were The House of a Thousand Lanterns (Hong Kong), The India Fan (India/France), The Pride of the Peacock (Australia), and The Road to Paradise Island (Indonesia). @rasperberriesandbumblebees says these were written in the 60s/70s and none are steamy.

Contributed by @thecrankyagnes​ and @yuubisensei

Hell Squad series by Anna Hackett. Currently at 12 books, all set in post-alien-invasion Australia. First book is called Marcus.

Contributed by @theduchessapproach​

A Company of Swans by Eva Ibbotson. Set in 1912, a significant portion of the story takes place in Brazil.

Magic Flutes by Eva Ibbotson. Set in Austria in 1922.

Contributed by @mariaslozak​

The Gladiator by Carla Capshaw. An inspy set in ancient Rome. The author has others.

The Gladiator’s Honor by Michelle Styles. Set in ancient Rome.

MacEgan Brothers series by Michelle Willingham. Set in Ireland in 1102. First book is Her Warrior Slave. 

Forbidden Vikings series by Michelle Willingham. Set in Ireland in 875. First book is To Sin with a Viking.

***The Forbidden Wish by Jessica Khoury. Set in Middle East. This is a YA Aladdin retelling.

Heart of Flame by Janine Ashbless. Set in 9th century Arabia.

Storm Winds by Iris Johansen. Set in France during the French Revolution.

Dance by Judy Cuevas. Set in Paris, France during the Belle Epoque.

A Midnight Dance by Lila DiPasqua. Set in France. First in Fiery Tales series, others also set outside US/UK. Fairy tale adaptations, this one is Cinderella.

Maiden of Fire by Deborah Johns. Set in France in 1331.

The Wind Dancer by Iris Johansen. Set in Rome, Italy during the Renaissance. 

The Prince of Cups by Gayle Feyrer (or Yves Fey). Set in Florence, Italy in 1493.

Shadowheart by Laura Kinsale. Set in medieval Italy. Heroine was raised in England.

The Thief of Poompuhar by Nila Iyer. Set in India. 

Mistress to the Yuvraj by Sanyogita Rathore. Set in India.

Ghazal in the Moonlight by Alessandra Shabaz. Set in India.

Sonali Dev (author). The book of hers that most fits our parameters is A Change of Heart, although all three of her books feature Indian characters.

Contributed by @alexbookpages​

Anna and the French Kiss and Isla and the Happily Ever After, both by Stephanie Perkins. Set in France. YA romance.

***Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel. Set in Mexico.

Contributed by @meags09

Natasha Anders (author). According to the contributor, she writes romances set in South Africa. I couldn’t confirm settings for her books, the closest I came is A Ruthless Proposition, which includes a one-night-stand in Tokyo.

Contributed by @elenajohansen​

Escape to New Zealand series by Rosalind James. Obviously, set in New Zealand. First book is called Just This Once.

Contributed by @mariesbookblog​

Bound to Be a Groom by Megan Mulry. Set in Spain in 1808.

Contributed by @maddie-grove​ and @mariaslozak​

A Bed of Spices by Barbara Samuel. Set in Strassburg, Germany in 1348. Hero is Jewish. Apparently has a sexist subplot, according to one contributor.

Contributed by @maddie-grove

The Raven and the Rose by Doreen Owens Malek. Set in ancient Rome.

The Iron Rose by Marsha Canham. Set in the Caribbean with a French pirate heroine.

Truly by Mary Balogh. Set in Wales.

Blood Moon Over Bengal by Morag McKendrick Pippin. Set in 1930s India. Hero is half-Indian.

Contributed by @iartiyochi

***Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak. Set in Russia. If the book is anything like the movie, there’s no HEA. (Great movie though.)

Contributed by @romancetherapy

Rock Hard by Nalini Singh. Set in Auckland, New Zealand.

49th Floor series by Jenny Holiday. Set in Toronto, Canada. First book is Saving the CEO.

Contributed by @lucyreadsromance

Patchwork Paradise by Indra Vaughn. Contemporary m/m set in Antwerp, Belgium. One hero is half-American but raised in Belgium.

Roman Crazy by Alice Clayton. Majority set in Italy. The heroine is American but the hero is Italian.

Chocolate Cake for Breakfast by Danielle Hawkins. Set in New Zealand.

The Raven by Sylvain Reynard. Paranormal set in Florence, Italy. 

Finding It by Cora Carmack. NA romance with backpacking heroine, set mostly in Ukraine, Croatia, and Spain. 

Prince of Deception by Valentina Luellen. Set in St. Petersburg, Russia in 1716.

Contributed by @sonya-heaney

This contribution was a list of authors without specific books mentioned, so I went through their most popular books on Goodreads and picked the first one that fit the rules.

Sarah Mayberry (author). The Other Side of Us is set in Australia, at a beach, if I’m not mistaken.

Karina Bliss (author). What the Librarian Did is set in New Zealand.

Amy Andrews (author). No More Mr. Nice Guy is set in Brisbane, Australia.

Nicki Edwards (author). Intensive Care is set in rural Australia.

Bronwyn Parry (author). As Darkness Falls is set in rural Australia.

Barbara Hannay (author). Zoe’s Muster is set in North Queensland, Australia.

Rachael Johns (author). Jilted is set in rural Australia.

Stefanie London (author). The Rules According to Gracie is set in Australia.

Contributed by @linotte-melodieuse 

***The Oracle Glass by Judith Merkle Riley. Set in France.

Thanks for the contributions, everyone! Happy reading!

#romance novels #books #romance recs #long post