March 2025 Lopt & Cropt Releases

This month, we’ve got an angsty Austen variation where Elizabeth's independence is threatened and Darcy can't intervene without questioning that independence, and a second-chance rom-com where the golden retriever hero is desperate to win back the black cat heroine, and a soapy second-chance romantic suspense with lots of intrigue and glamour.

Without Undue Pride by Heather Moll

Elizabeth is a war widow who’s been deeply traumatized by being on campaign with her late husband and has been terribly disappointed by all the men in her life, so much so that she’s never going to let anyone—and especially not any man—have any power over her again. But it’s 1811, and her husband has died without a will, which means she has no money and her unborn baby can be taken away by her husband’s hateful family.

Darcy is the only one willing to help her find her own independence. The problem is he’s also falling in love with her, and Elizabeth MEANS it when she says she’s not going to let any man have any power over her—and that includes marriage. How far will she go to assert her own autonomy and prove that she can cope on her own? Find out on KU today!

Coming Swoon by Sarah Estep

Big black cat x golden retriever vibes here! Peter loves love, and he’s never forgotten his first, Sybil—and has been certain that serendipity will bring them together again. He didn’t expect she would be his best friend’s wife’s best friend, but now that he’s back in her life—and back in her hometown shooting a movie—he’s going to do everything he can to win her back.

Sybil’s heart was broken when she and Peter split, and she doesn’t trust love at all. But Peter is doing all he can to show her that this is real and he’ll never let her go again—if only Sybil would believe it.

This was supposed to be book 2 of the series, but I managed to convince Sarah to make it book 4 because Peter is so freaking charming and an absolute scene-stealer that we had to keep you waiting for him. And he is worth the wait. Coming Swoon is out now on KU!

Lush by Tinia Montford

Laurene left town after her fiancé Conrad's tragic death. She also left because she was having an ill-fated affair with his brother Reese Ashbourne...and maybe there are things about the brother's death they don't want coming to light.

But now Laurene's back in town after six years, and her family is again trying to arrange a marriage with the Ashbournes for both families to maintain their legacies... this time with Reese, who hates her for leaving him.

Laurene's return and arranged marriage coincides with threats against her and Reese about what happened when Conrad died. They'll have to work together to protect themselves--if their chemistry doesn't explode first.

A morally grey heroine, an intense bad boy hero, and TONS of drama in this deliciously soapy romantic suspense. Check out Lush on KU today!

How to Write Memorable Sex Scenes in Romance

In eight years of being a romance editor, I have never done a post on writing sex scenes! An oversight I will be rectifying now.

So what makes a sex scene one of those ones that a reader will bookmark and come back to again and again? It can be a setting (an unusual, unexpected place or moment, e.g. carriage sex), an object being used in the scene (e.g. Haunting Adeline—iykyk), another person present (e.g. in a voyeuristic sense or a group sense), a position (let’s go tamer for this example: something like the man who never submits down on his knees), and of course, words that become iconic (if it has an acronym that BookTokkers can identify without any help, e.g. stfuattdllag).

But all these are really just gimmicks (which I’m not knocking—you gotta sell this book, and sex scenes can be great marketing), so let’s get into what’s really going to connect with the reader in these scenes in terms of craft.

Choose the right POV

For any scene, your POV character (if you’re do alternating POV) should be the one who is most vulnerable or has the most to lose in this moment, and this is especially important in a spicy scene. There’s a stronger emotional impact if you show your POV character leaning into that vulnerability or how the other character helps them let go by making them feel safe or uninhibited.

Be comfortable with what you’re writing

Choose your steam level. How descriptive are you going to go? Are you worried about your mom or your grandma reading it? Here’s one time I will say not to write with an audience in mind—just go straight from the id here and write what you think is sexy. If you’re feeling way too self-conscious writing about sex, scale back or even just fade to black—your words will probably come out stilted and readers know when you’re holding back.

Engage the senses AND the emotions

Sensory details are important here—what’s going on with sight, sound, taste, hearing, touch? Unexpected details can make a scene much more memorable—for example, the scratch of lace against skin and the reaction that feeling provokes in the partners. If you’re a writer who falls prey to white room syndrome (i.e. description isn’t your strength), this is a good opportunity to stretch a bit! 

Start with the sensory to ground the reader in the scene, and then get into the feels. What kind of emotions are these physical details evoking? Sex can bring up big emotions—are they overwhelmed? Are they afraid of feelings and wanting to run? Are they feeling affirmed or at peace by the end? Play with the tension between the physical and emotional.

Match the tempo of the scene to the writing

Pace your scene based on the kind of sex the characters are having. If it’s a quickie, the pace should feel fast to match that intensity. (My favourite trick for this in editing is to take out commas where I can—commas are there to pause for a breath, but we ain’t got time for that!) If it’s slow and languorous, you can draw out the sensuousness of the moment in the pacing. 

Should the sex scene move the story forward?

This is a debate: can you just write a sex scene for the sake of writing a sex scene, or does it have to move the story forward? Some claim the former is too gratuitous, but I come from fanfic where there is literally a sub-category for this: PWP (either Porn Without Plot or Plot? What Plot?). I think it’s easier to get away with this in fanfic, but as an editor, I lean toward the sex scene doing some kind of work for you—either moving the plot forward or showing character growth.

(By the way, I swear that any innuendo that you think you see here was purely unintentional.)

How do you write sex scenes? Are they fun for you to write or stressful? 

This was originally published in my newsletter. If you want more on what’s new and important in romance writing, marketing, and the romance industry at large, join me and get my Romance Resource Roundup, a collection of the BEST romance books/websites/podcasts you should be consuming as a romance writer.

January 2025 Lopt & Cropt Releases

Just one this month!

The Power of Refusal by Mary Alice Alexander

This is a Pride and Prejudice variation in which Elizabeth realizes the only power she has in life is the ability to choose her husband and to refuse the men who will not make her happy. And she gets to experience FIVE increasingly terrible proposals, but comes to regret turning down only the second one (Darcy's).

Through misunderstanding, miscommunication, and missed chances, it's never the right place or the right time for Darcy and Elizabeth. But what if it finally could be? Find out on KU now!

What romance writers need to be doing in 2025

With every new year comes new resolutions, new goals, new outlooks. Even if you’re not a resolutions person (and I’m not, personally), there’s still something about a new year that’s hopeful about the ways you can change in the next 12 months.

To make 2025 a great year for you, I want to offer this piece of what is maybe tough love to keep in mind:

What you’ve been doing has to change.

Listen, I’ve said this many times before: I HATE change. I like my comfort zones. And there’s something to be said for consistency in doing the same thing over and over again, right?

Consistency is great, but there comes a point when consistency becomes stagnancy. And stagnancy means you aren’t growing. Sooooo…something’s gotta change, even if you really don't want it to.

Doing the same thing you’ve been doing in your writing career—whether that’s in your writing itself or in your marketing—is probably no longer serving you, especially if you haven’t adjusted it in a while.

And things are changing rapidly right now for romance writers. If you’ve been using TikTok, after the bait-and-switch where they almost disappear and then magically returned, I would be very wary of its continued existence and of the potential reach being limited if you say anything political. (And romance? VERY political. I won't even get into the precarious space romance is in as a target of conservative censorship with the new American administration.) 

(If the TikTok social media frenzy has shown us anything, it’s that you can’t rely on platforms owned by billionaires who only care about their bottom line. Your newsletter is your direct line to your readers—cultivate that! Here are some ideas for newsletters if you need them. Also, make sure you download your list regularly in case anything goes wrong with your newsletter distributor—my friend just had a heartstopping moment where all of her accounting data disappeared because the app stopped service, so this is a good reminder to always back up info you store online!)

If you didn’t use TikTok and have been congratulating yourself for choosing Instagram instead, how will you react to an influx of TikTokkers coming onto IG and taking up more space in an already saturated platform? If you want to get seen there, you're going to have to innovate and stay on trend.

We’re going to have to learn to pivot to adjust to changes out of our control. (Which I know is a big ask when so many other things not related to romance are even more frightening and out of control.) So what can we do to be more adaptable?

It’s honestly a good time to take some risks and stretch a little outside of your comfort zone. Experiment, try something new—and stick with it for a while so you can see some actual results and whether they’re positive or negative. Don’t just try something once and say “welp, didn’t work” and go back to what you were doing before. What worked before isn’t going to work forever.

So maybe you write the story that you’ve been working yourself up to write for years. Maybe you forget all the fear and go unhinged with it. Maybe you try a new subgenre, or even a whole new pen name. Maybe you put your face out there more on the socials. Maybe you forget about the socials entirely and pour all of your focus into building your newsletter and turning your readers into lifelong fans.

What happens if it doesn’t work? Hey, at least you tried. And like I said, staying stagnant and not changing isn’t doing you any favours. You’re going to have to constantly adapt in this industry, and you have to get used to flexing that muscle so you can adapt faster.

So try something different this year. I dare you.