Shelf Love: Romance Novel Discourse

030. A Seditious Affair by KJ Charles with Emma Barry

Episode Summary

Romance novelist Emma Barry is my guest, and we read A Seditious Affair by KJ Charles. This male/male Regency romance features a cross-class romance that gets us discussing if there is an element of coercion in most cross-class romances. Plus, does this book end with a happily ever after, or just a happily for now? What is “ever after” anyway? What is permanence? It’s possible I had an existential crisis in the middle of recording this one, but thank goodness I had Professor Emma Barry to guide me through this discussion. We talk about how academics are intellectual colonizers, plus how one of the best oral sex scenes saved Emma from the trauma of the ‘90s, and I ask the question: Is it bad to read escapist trash?

Episode Notes

Shelf Love:

Guest Host: Emma Barry

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/author.emma.barry/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AuthorEmmaBarry
Website: https://authoremmabarry.com/

We Read A Seditious Affair by KJ Charles

Emma’s Modern Romance Novel Canon recommendation:

The Winter Sea by Susanna Kearsley (2010)

Books/Media

Thief of Shadows by Elizabeth Hoyt
Broken Knight and Ruckus by LJ Shen
Peterloo - Amazon Prime: Like the prequel to A Seditious Affair
Jean Valjean and Javert Kiss in Les Mis
Felicia Grossman: Georgette Heyer was an Antisemite and her work is not foundational historical romance

Historical romance that confronts politics of the time:

Lydia San Andres: https://lydiasanandres.com/
Felicia Grossman: https://feliciagrossmanauthor.com/
Alyssa Cole: https://alyssacole.com/

Related Episodes:

#23 with guest Katrina Jackson: The episode in which we discuss HEA/HFN
#17 with guest Katrina Jackson: The episode in which we discuss An Unconditional Freedom by Alyssa Cole
#11 with guest Kate Clayborn: The episode in which we discuss A Midnight Feast by Emma Barry and Genevieve Turner

What’s next for Emma:

A story in this upcoming anthology: He’s Come Undone (May 12, 2020 release)
- "Appassionata" by Emma Barry
- Piano technician Brennan Connelly lives to control details: the tension on a piano string or the compression of hammer felt. But he's never faced demands like those heaped on him by Kristy Kwong, the diva who's haunted his dreams for two decades. Kristy's got her own secrets--the debilitating stage fright that's kept her from performing publicly for years to start--and this concert is the last chance to save her career. But can he locate her lost passion without losing his precious control?
- Also stories by Olivia Dade, Adriana Herrera, Ruby Lang, and Cat Sebastian
Red Shift with Genevieve Turner (out in 2020) - part of the Fly Me To the Moon series and featuring Soviet and US spies!