This weekend, the world is celebrating the second most important romance holiday in February (see last week’s episode for the most important)—Valentine’s Day! To lean into the traditions of the day, we thought we’d offer you a dozen roses this week, in the form of books! We’re taking the topic broadly—from character names, to author names, to rose scented things, to roses on the page — historical, contemporary, mafia and more…there’s something in here for everyone. 🌹

Why do we love a casino so much? Why are we so into ladies being wagered by the idiot men in their lives? What makes these places that are so not sexy in real life so incredibly hot in a) James Bond movies, b) heist movies, and c) historical romances? We’re getting to the bottom of it.

We’re talking books that start with a bang — and we mean literally. It's hard to thread the needle on romance that starts with sex, but there are tropes that lend themselves to this particular theme. Enjoy!

We're talking the ones where they do it on a horse, the ones where she's a horse whisperer, the ones where the horse dies, and the ones where she just really likes horses. Giddyup!!

Not novellas, not short novels, but actual short stories under 15,000 words (or about 50 pages). This is such a difficult goal for a writer to hit, as romance lends itself to longer formats, but short fiction is a really great way to keep reading when things feel chaotic.

(Please note that some of these titles are collections that many not be made up entirely of romances.)

Pistols at dawn!

Romances so good that we're jealous of people who haven't read them yet, because we know what they're in for.