Since we aren’t quite where we need to be on book reviews, I’m extending this puppy by another week. Because I really, really, ridiculously want to give away a gift card for books, and by the rules I set out, there’s no dollar amount associated with the number of reviews we have. And there’s nothing more sad-making than a gift card with a $0 balance.

Just thought of an empty card, and now I need my Puggy.

So we have another week to get those reviews up on these four books. If y’all have ideas for other ways you can earn points and get excited about this so random people decide they MUST leave book reviews in all the places, hollah. I’m always listening. Especially on Twitter. I tend to skulk there. A lot.

What about Sharpie body art that celebrates the novella lines at Entangled? Or that gives a shout out to your fave Entangled author? Or what if I post stock photo WTFkery, and y’all have to caption? That would be fun. Especially if we turned it into a drinking game. Just sayin’.

Oh, and here’s the widgetry for the gift card shiz again:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Why, prithee, are most non-het (that would be m/m and f/f pairings) romances erotic? This is a question that has really harshed my chi over the last year. Don’t get me wrong–I love a good erotic romance with any sexual pairing. But it seems like the only way to read a romance about two dudes or two gals falling in love is if at least half the story is about what they do in bed. Or on a counter. Or in a tree.

And frankly, I find that othering.

Just as non-white characters need to be mainstreamed on romance shelves, the LGBTQ’s need love, too. They deserve to be mainstreamed in romance, appearing in sweet and hot love stories. When they’re shoehorned into an erotic corner, m/m and f/f romances receive an “other” label. They’re not really  romances, says the label. They’re erotica or–if we’re being generous–erotic romance. So the natural assumption when someone wants to read a story about LGBTQ characters is that they’re looking for erotica. Because apparently the only significant element in a non-het relationship is the sex.

Sure.

What I’d love to see is less othering, less focus on non-het sex, less implied insistence that the only thing LGBTQ characters are good for is titillation and (if it’s a mainstream story) comedic relief (because we all know teh gayz are universally hilarious people, just like they’re tidy and love Streisand). I’d love to see sweet m/m and sweet f/f stories.

I’d love to read them. I’d love to acquire them and release them into the world. And I’ve learned in the last few months that I’m not alone.

So let’s do this. Let’s see the romance shelves become a melting pot of characters. Let’s really push to see PoC stories are told as part of the mainstream. Let’s make sure LGBTQ stories are told as part of the mainstream. It’s 2013, for crying out loud. We live in a global community. Let’s act like it. And while we’re at it, let’s shelve our books like it.