J.R. Rogue

It’s going to hit you below the belt. You’re going to reach for the closest stand-in lover you can find & you’re going to make a home in their body & you’re going to pretend your childhood memories are hung in his chest & you skinned your knee tripping over the curve of his arm & you have always been here.

Jo I’m not bad; they just write me that way. That’s what I tell myself—the lie I peddle in interviews. If they want a bad girl, I can be their bad girl. Their villain. “Everyone loves a scandal. And you’re the queen of scandals..” Years ago, I broke the heart of the biggest pop star in the world. And then I became the Sexiest Man Alive’s biggest regret. I am not that venomous girl anymore. But I know a life-changing role when I see one. “At his name, my heart stills. The man I hate and want. The bane of my existence…” Being Tristan Kane’s on-screen love interest will be good for my career. And bad for my heart. For him? I aim to devastate both. Tristan The world thinks it’s easy being the son of Hollywood royalty. But they don’t know the burdens I wear. Or the regrets in my chest—that all say her name. “We will be nothing more than co-stars. Not friends. Not anything more...” Loving Josephine Ouellette goes against my late father’s wishes. Fits into my meddling manager’s plans. And pisses my sister off. “...forget the world, they can’t have this moment. This is our story, and no one gets a say in it.” But I’m tired of living in his shadow. Living for their games. I fell in love with a villain. And no one loves harder than the scorned.

A collection of poems sharing fears, confessions, and hopeful moments as the world cries out during a time of turmoil. Each poem in this collection is in response to reader confessions during the COVID-19 pandemic.

J.R. Rogue has self-published five novels and ten poetry collections. Several of her poetry collections have become bestsellers, including Tell Me Where It Hurts, La Douleur Exquise, and Exits, Desires, & Slow Fires, two of which were also Goodreads Choice Nominees for poetry. In her latest book of poems, I'm Not Your Paper Princess, the author focuses on love, heartache, and continuously discovering old truths in new ways.

My love is poison. His kiss is mine. “The first time he saw me I was shattered glass, and he was a shadow. If I had stayed, he would have just faded away.” It’s strange how easy it is to tell our stories to a stranger’s eyes. The truth about Connor Stratford and I had always been a sad tale. Over ten years of chasing, tears, lies, vows, and leaving. Two people who never loved each other at the same time, but couldn’t let each other go. Now here I was telling our story over drinks midday in an airport bar with my old diary clutched in my hand. Telling some version of our story, anyway. I left him once with no goodbye. Now I was returning home to give him what he needed to move on. “It’s important. It’s what you’re thinking.” I knew what his message meant, sent in the middle of the night after I woke from a fever dream. He was finally ready, and so was I. I just needed to finally give him the kiss he begged for. The one that meant goodbye.

What happens when you meet your soul mate at the wrong time? What happens when you meet your soul mate but you aren't theirs?

Can we, for tonight, 
just be the moon?

 Curve into me like that 
cheshire grin in the sky.

 Press your heart into my back. 
Let me forget my own. Letters To The Moon is a short series of personal, custom poems written for fans of J.R. Rogue's writing.

What happens when you meet your soul mate at the wrong time? What happens when you meet your soul mate but you aren't theirs?

"Some love affairs aren’t meant for the public eye. Some love affairs won’t survive the fallout." International pop star Sean das Dores has two loves in his life: his music and his long-term girlfriend Jo—though not necessarily in that order. So when he finds himself in the throes of a panic attack before a show, he chooses her over the arena of fans chanting his name. What he doesn’t expect to find when he makes it home, is Jo...in bed with his uncle Apollo. "Maybe we are all looking for something that feels a little wrong. Maybe we all get off on that kind of thing." Ignoring his uncle’s ominous warnings, Sean decides on a betrayal of his own: to seek comfort in the one person Apollo wants this hidden from—Calliope das Dores. But when he arrives at her lake house—just before his twenty-first birthday—he quickly learns he was the last to know of their partners’ deception. "Are we really going to do this? Rebound with each other?" What starts as an act of revenge rekindles long-buried desires between the forbidden lovers. As Sean and Calliope drive across the country, their stunned exes follow—and so do the secrets they hoped would stay hidden. But all road trips, and some love affairs, have to end somewhere.

Rogue's latest collection speaks to the witch in each of us. To the magic we hold inside. This poetry reminds us to wield our words for good, and to burn for no one.