Dear Reader,
Your time is precious and finite, like diamonds. Reading 100 pages only to DNF a book because of content is a travesty. You’ll never get that time back, and you could have been reading your next favorite book instead.
I want you to find your next favorite book. What follows is a very transparent discussion of my content, shared with the hope that it will help you determine if my books are worthy of your valuable time.
My books are closed-door romance. I also use the terms “sweet” and “no-spice.” This means that there is no on the page sex scenes or sexually explicit content. The reason I write closed-door romances is pretty simple. Once upon a time, when I was navigating very challenging pregnancies followed by very challenging postpartums, I was a whale reader–consuming high quantities of books on the regular. Sex (with my husband to whom I’d been happily married to for years) was the reason for my current physical and emotional predicament. At this time I found nothing romantic, glamorous, or escapist about sex. I didn’t want to read about it, but I desperately craved the escapist comfort of a happily-ever-after. Pregnancy and postpartum were the hardest chapters of my life. To honor the sacrifices and work that I accomplished during this time, I write the books that I wanted and needed to read. My guidelines when it comes to “spice” are: would this make pregnant Amy throw-up or postpartum Amy nauseous?
Moving on to language. My romantasy books contain the infrequent use of the swears damn and hell. My latest cosplay rom-com and new edition of my first cosplay rom-com contain no swears at all. None of my books contain blasphemy or take sacred names in vain.
Violence is deeply upsetting to me. Physical danger and life and death stakes are agonizingly stressful for me as a reader and writer. I, therefore, pursue cozier and lower stakes stories. There are no descriptions of violence whatsoever in Turnabout Is Fair Cosplay. There is one description of an altercation in an alley in My Cosplay Escape. Smoke, Steel, & Ivy contains some descriptions of fantasy violence as well as the threat of fantasy violence. Clever, Cursed, & Storied contains the threat of fantasy violence and descriptions of physical suffering due to illness. Curses, Diamonds, & Toads contains no violence, but if nausea and vomiting are a trigger don’t read it.
In my life there are people who I know, love, and admire who are gay. My life would not be the same without them. In my books there are characters who my protagonists know, love, and admire who are gay. My books would not be the same without these characters.
My books do not take themselves too seriously, but they do reflect my values of kindness, compassion, empathy, love, and whimsy. They are not inspirational or devotional. They do not espouse any hidden agenda. When it comes to my fiction, I’m not interested in epic quests of good versus evil or matters of faith. I’m interested in escaping, embracing small moments, and character growth. The magic system in all my books is soft, and it’s love.
I write for women. My books are smart, clever, and often have elements of sweetpunk in them. Technology, science, the arts, literature, and innovation are included and celebrated in my stories. My books are well written and professionally edited by humans. Books connect us. I am not interested in outsourcing any part of my books to artificial intelligence because I want to maintain the human connection. I want to connect with my characters. I want to connect with the story. I want to connect with the folklore or source material. I want my readers to be able to do the same.
I want to connect with my readers, which is hard because I am a writer and an anxious introvert. I read my reviews. I sob happy tears over the five starts and frequently share them here and in my newsletter. I make a lot of graphics in CanvaPro.I respond personally to all my emails. I have a newsletter brimming with goodies that I love and this blog where I hide bonus content for all my books.
I do my best to avoid the word “clean” to describe my books because “clean” means too many different things to too many different readers. Sometimes clean means not making a pregnant woman nauseous. Sometimes it means something that isn’t me and is never going to be the books that I write. It’s okay. Not every book is for every reader, but your next favorite book is out there waiting for you like a long lost friend. I know you’re going to find it. And if it happens to be one of mine, tell me! I just might write another.
Wishing you joy and happy reading always!
XO,
Amy Trent