I think I'll be stepping away from TikTok. Booktok was a great place to meet people and see what everyone is reading, and writing, but I don't want to get sucked down into the rabbit hole of addictive algorithms anymore 😬

I know I can't change the publishing world by posting to my social media, but I wanted to share because this book made me sad for contemporary romance readers who have trouble finding quality works out there. They exist, I assure you. Sometimes, you just have to look a little harder.

But I do want the publishing world to take more time with books. I want things to be treated less like content to consume and more like stories being told. I want authors to feel invested in and not like their quick cash, for readers to have access to quality books in the market place.

Simple prose that everyone can relate to? Not the issue. Prose that are confusing and make the story hard to follow? That's the issue.

Again, reading is subjective, and we all like what we like. Sometimes, we just like books that aren't good, and I won't hate you for that. I'd be a hypocrite.

It's books like these that give Booktok a bad rep. These books are poorly edited and published for quick cash, and romance readers deserve better. Specifically, contemporary romance readers deserve better. The authors who wrote this deserve better editors too to help their books come to life.

The prose were significantly more simple than I was prepared for in an adult romance, but that doesn't mean anything. When books reach huge success like this, they are often easy to market to a lot of people, hence simple prose that everyone can relate to.

I find it difficult to connect to romance books, so I know I am not the target audience here, but I feel as though romance readers deserve better. This book's writing style is like that of a note's app short story. I believe there's a possibility for better from it, but it's not edited well at all.

I am reading one currently that I will leave unnamed. I don't want to leave anyone feeling insulted for enjoying this book, because I believe thoroughly that reading is subjective.

However, I am finding this book to be VERY difficult to read, and I think it's more than just the subject matter.

Why, you might ask? Because I like chunky books. I love me a good world that's built and explored, and most importantly, I'm writing these books for me.

There are readers out there who have similar tastes to me, so I'm writing these books for them too.