category romance
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Why Heated Rivalry Boldly Refuses The Bigot Sandwich
Content tag: This post about Heated Rivalry contains references to intimate s*x, fandom bigotry, and Russia’s laws against homosexuality. Star: Friends, Heated Rivalry, both the novel by Rachel Reid and the HBO series, is a DUCK of a great time. Forbidden passion! Rivals to lovers! A love story that spans the decades! S*x that is… Continue reading
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It’s Gorgeous Romance. But Where The Duck Are Those Sex Scenes?
Duck and I are back! He’s been supporting me while I pen a romance novel, and I’ve actually now finished the final draft. But yesterday, as I was listening to the audiobook of Part of Your World by Abby Jimenez—beautifully narrated by Julie Whelan and Zachary Webber—I’d sudden burning urge to set Duck and my writing… Continue reading
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Why Characters Who Lie in Novels Make My Flippers Sad
Duck: Lies, Star? You read books about characters who lie? Star: I mean, I don’t mean to read books about characters who lie. It just, you know, happens. There I am reading a romance novel, and suddenly—poof!—a character tells a whopper. But Duck, I’m thinking maybe ducks don’t do a whole lot of lying. You… Continue reading
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Why I Still Haven’t Read Any Novels By Emily Henry (It’s To Do With Diversity. And Ducks.)
Duck: Waiting a ducking minute. You haven’t read ANY Emily Henry books? Star: Not a one. And you know why? Because these days, I’m finding I really need diversity. Can’t seem to live without it. Duck: I see. For you, diversity is like air in the beak-holes or water on the flippers. If you don’t… Continue reading
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Book Boyfriend by Kris Ripper Will Brighten Up A Duck of a Dark Time
Duck: Star, was that not a duck of a week? All that political pond-slop gave me beak-sag. Star: We urgently need romance right now. Like we need air. Duck: And to add some duck news—because we’ll have NO HUMAN POLITICS HERE, thank you—ducks have apparently been “executively ordered” to no longer enter fast food restaurants.… Continue reading
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Three Gorgeously Voicey Queer Romance Reads Recommended by a Duck
Friends, when a duck like me digs a narrative voice, he quacks about it for days. We love the music of words, and where do they tickle our beak-holes more than in romance novels? So, for those of you who are done with cold-fish narrative voices, here are three SUPER-DUCKING AWESOME romance reads that sound… Continue reading
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Frenemy Fix-Up (Afterglow Books) by Yahrah St. John, Reviewed by Sir Mallard and Jake
Just say the words “Frenemy Fix-Up” to me and I’ll instantly think: SHAY. Almost as soon as I started reading, I pretty much wanted her to get everything she desired. Continue reading
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The Devil in Blue Jeans by Stacey Kennedy (Afterglow Books) Reviewed by Star and Duck
Friends, from first dip, it took me a minute to get immersed in The Devil in Blue Jeans by Stacey Kennedy, but once I was hooked (no fishing lines involved, thank duck) I was shooting through this story like a coot on a speedboat. The chemistry between the protagonists Charly and Jaxon was electric from… Continue reading
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The Fake Dating Game by Timothy Janovsky, Reviewed by Duck and Star
Star (a human) and I (their duck) have been completely ducking enamored by The Fake Dating Game by Timothy Janovsky. It’s one of the first two releases from Afterglow Books, a brand-new Harlequin line that launched this month. Afterglow celebrates diversity—because everyone deserves a happily ever after. Duck yes! Continue reading
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About US
Welcome! I’m Star Tavares. I’m queer, nonbinary, and intersex, and I use they/them pronouns. My hubby Jake is LGBTQIA+ too, as is our duck, name of Duck—he’s super-ducking awesome. He likes to call himself an award-winning duck because we wrote a screenplay about him that won some awards, and who are we to argue?
We used to publish in the romance genres, but after we came out, we thought romance didn’t want us anymore. But you know what, toots? We were wrong.
Now we’ve rebuilt our confidence and are back to living our Romancey Pants life, writing, reviewing romance movies, reading romance novels, and doing a whole lot of stretching.
Want to know more about Star’s writing credits? Under another name, Star has published romance stories, novels, and novellas with presses like Harper Collins and Cleis, and has won awards for their shorter works from the likes of Glimmer Train, Screencraft, and Narrative, where they also worked as an editor. More recently, Star’s nonfiction about gender identity has appeared in The New York Times and at Huffington Post Personal.
Please follow us here for romance reviews and personal rambles. And thanks so much for reading.
Let’s do this!
Romancey Pants 