Last month I attended the Wisconsin RWA Write Touch conference. The keynote speaker was Maya Rodale, and her topic was wrapped around the heart of her book the Dangerous Books for Girls. It was a powerful speech about how throughout history women have been looked down on for many things, including reading. Because reading might give us thoughts. It might send our feeble minds into a tizzy. Rodale was insightful and witty and she made us look at our craft with new eyes and a fresh perspective. I highly recommend reading the The Dangerous Books for Girls and see for yourself how romance novels helped forge paths in history.

Dangerous Books for Girls: The Bad Reputation of Romance Novels, Explained

Long before clinch covers and bodice rippers, romance novels had a bad reputation as the lowbrow lit of desperate housewives and hopeless spinsters. But why were these books—the escape and entertainment of choice for millions of women—singled out for scorn and shame? Dangerous Books for Girls examines the secret history of the genre’s bad reputation—from the “damned mob of scribbling women” in the nineteenth century to the sexy mass-market paperbacks of the twentieth century—and shows how romance novels have inspired and empowered generations of women to dream big, refuse to settle, and believe they’re worth it. For every woman who has ever hidden the cover of a romance—and every woman who has been curious about those “Fabio books”—Dangerous Books For Girls shows why there’s no room for guilt when reading for pleasure.

Find your copy of the Dangerous Books For Girls

Next month I will reveal my new release! See you then! 

Nicolette Pierce