Frannie Cassano's Reading List

"I really did pick it because of that opening. I’ve never seen or read anything like it before, this surprise proposal via jumbotron at Dodger Stadium. It goes spectacularly wrong. It’s not meant to be funny—you’re kind of shocked, actually, and a little worried about Nik, who is the heroine. This guy proposing, Fisher, spells her name wrong; he didn’t really discuss any intentions with her. She didn’t know that he liked her this much, allegedly. And then it unfolds in front of, like, 45,000 people at Dodger Stadium. There are some onlookers who feel sorry for her and just as the camera people are about to descend on her, so Carlos and his sister Angela whisk her away to spare her this further embarrassment. As the story continues we learn that Fisher had an agenda all along. Get the weekly Five Books newsletter Carlos and Nik find themselves in a fling, but then it becomes something more. Just like anybody spending time together, they share food and treats and booze. It’s really nice to read those moments. It’s like people who need to heal from something, where they’re not really sure why it all happened to them. Real life comes into their spending time with each other. Jasmine Guillory’s secondary characters become as important as her main characters. Her first book was The Wedding Date , and this one, The Proposal, is her second. There’s a new one coming out soon in the summer, The Wedding Party , and she has another title towards the end of the year. And the characters she chooses weave nice connective threads."

"The months in pre-publication of Red, White and Royal Blue took everybody by storm. It’s just come out in the US and it’s already a breakout. It stood out, for me, because of the royal connection. In romance, the royals have always been big; it’s a sub-genre, and all the tropes that come along with that. But Red, White and Royal Blue was interesting to me because of the United States politics side of it. In the book, the tabloids feed this tension between the US president’s son Alex, and his Royal Highness Prince Henry—a fictional Prince Henry. They don’t really like each other at all, but they have to smooth over this huge international mishap, and it turns into a media frenzy. So they sit down and have to agree to go out and pose as “best” friends. But as Alex and Henry are thrown together, they enter into a real secret relationship. There’s a lot of layers of politics in this story, which seems to be something that readers are looking for right now, especially younger romance readers. That’s because American politics is such an important thing to people right now, especially if they’re on social media. They like to exchange what’s happening and try to make sense of it and this book is really excellent for that. And for those of you who don’t know, Red, White and Royal Blue is a male-male romance. It’s been part of romance for quite a long time, but it’s really starting to reach mainstream audiences now. That’s a good thing because it’s our community, it’s our family, it’s our friends, it’s us. I’ve been a librarian for almost 20 years and I’ve been part of an increasingly diverse community. We don’t really like to call it ‘diversity’ anymore because this is just who we all are. But we mention diverse characters, so patrons and readers know how to find what they’re looking for. As far as in-person conversations go, this our community. We have people who are LGBTQ+; we have people who are neurodiverse. This shouldn’t be anything that’s labelled a “special” or “other” thing anymore in fiction. It’s more like, ‘I’m suggesting this book to you because you like the Royals. Oh and it just happens to be male-male.’ But, with any patron, if I know a trope or theme is not their jam, I wouldn’t suggest it. Except how could you not want to read a story about something that’s not only Royal, but a fun twist on diplomacy?"

"This is another topic that’s mainstream now. Stella, the heroine, is an econometrician. She’s super, super smart and she hires an escort, Michael, to teach her sex. The reason why is because she happens to be autistic—she has not had a good experience with sex at all. She wants to learn it and she feels that if she hires somebody who’s an expert, or who she perceives as an expert, then she’ll get good at it and be ready to have an actual relationship with somebody. Initially, she’s hired him to teach her sex, and there are some moments where it’s uncomfortable for her. Michael eases her through it. But then she realizes she actually needs to learn about relationships and interactions with people in general. She rewrites the proposal and says, ‘Okay, actually I want you to teach me relationships.’ “You have neurodiversity, you have the STEM heroine, and you have the escort with the heart of gold” This story is mainstream erotic romance. It could also be considered a romance with erotic elements, if you want to label it. There are scenes where they are really describing what’s happening. And it’s actually perfectly approachable because you’re going through it with Stella. It’s often very light. So you have neurodiversity, you have the STEM heroine, and you have the escort with the heart of gold—so you’ve got tropes going on with him. As I read it, I kept thinking about how Stella’s like all of us, she just processes things in her own way. As she says in the book, she’s just her. Her autism isn’t a label; it’s just who she is. She uses lists; she sets boundaries. But Michael sets boundaries, too. Hoang puts us in the analytical mind of her heroine and allows us to understand her. The way that Stella is depicted, we believe why Michael is captivated by her and falls in love with her. Her vulnerability is a universal thing. Helen Hoang goes to great lengths to show us that Stella lives in a world that is often misunderstood. People are easily used when they are vulnerable or are in a situation where they don’t understand what is going on. For Stella to go through these lessons is actually a pretty smart way of teaching herself how to receive something good instead of it just being merely a function. Stella and Michael are beyond deserving of something good. Support Five Books Five Books interviews are expensive to produce. If you're enjoying this interview, please support us by donating a small amount . What I also really loved about The Kiss Quotient is the fact that it’s a flipped Pretty Woman . I really enjoyed that aspect of it a lot and I hope that readers will as well. It’s just really, really well done. Helen Hoang does such a great job with her writing. It isn’t like any other book out there, it really is in its own category. Right now, I couldn’t do a read-alike for it. Which is a good thing."

"Technically it’s from 2017, but this book won the RITA Award for best first book in 2018, so I felt like I could slide it in. It’s for fans of Dancing With the Stars or I guess in the UK it’s Strictly Come Dancing . The heroine, Gina, is in her fourteenth season of this Dancing with the Stars -like show called Dance Off and it might be her last because she hasn’t had a win. Stone is in his fourth season of his family’s Alaska-based, reality TV series called Living Wild. It’s an off-the-grid, survivalist kind of deal. With her talent and his build, they’re paired up and maybe also set up by the producers for what’s called a ‘showmance.’ That’s like a fake romance just for the length of the show to garner interest and maybe vote the dancing couple through. But Gina takes all of this very seriously. She’s trying to buck all the stereotypes. She’s Puerto Rican and she’s trying to avoid this “hot Latina” stereotype they want to pigeonhole her into. She says, ‘Nope, (not happening) I’m a serious dancer and I’m going to do this. I have to do this.’ Being paired with Stone could equate to this win for her. But what she and Stone didn’t count on was having actual chemistry with one another. We find that Stone is equally dedicated, even though he’s really not keen on Hollywood. He’s reluctant as she’s trying to teach him. He’s not really feeling it, but then he ends up finding that he does have a knack for dancing and he definitely has that chemistry with Gina. Stone realizes that he just needs to give in and have fun with it, let loose a little bit. The thing that I really loved about this story is that their happily ever after is rooted in hard-earned teamwork and totally for the right reasons. They both have their baggage, of course. The way they come together is so much fun because Alexis Daria has us following along in this dance competition: all of the prep, all the behind-the-scenes work. There are some heartfelt (family) moments, but it’s just a great ride, it really is. Yes, super hard work and a little bit heartbreaking. It really is."

"The Accidental Beauty Queen is an example of women’s fiction with romantic elements and also romantic comedy. I chose it because this also seems to be a direction that a lot of publishers are going in when it comes to their romance acquisitions. I know a bit about what goes on behind the scenes because, as a librarian, buying is also a huge part of the job. When books are marketed to you and you start to hear different buzzwords you want to put your finger on the pulse of that on behalf of your readers. Teri Wilson has written for Harlequin. She has also had a few of her books adapted into Hallmark movies. She’s very popular among my own readers, so that’s one of the reasons why I selected her as one of my top five. In this book Ginny is up for Miss American Treasure. This is a pageant that her mother has previously won, so there’s pressure from the get-go. Ginny brings along her school librarian twin sister, Charlotte, for luck. Charlotte agrees to come because it a vacation and she’s a huge Harry Potter fan (it’s set in a somewhat fictionalized Orlando). But Ginny has an allergic reaction almost as soon as they get there and it’s not a pretty scene. Her face is a disaster (pageant-wise) and the doctor tells her, ‘Guess what? You’re going to be out a couple of days.’ She’s like, ‘a couple of days! This is my last chance. What am I going to do? ’ So she pleads with her sister Charlotte to pose as her until she recovers. So Charlotte has to go through this makeover. Think Miss Congeniality meets The Parent Trap , with the twins trading places. Charlotte very, very reluctantly agrees. There’s a little bit of backstory, because she’s trying to get over why she called off her engagement. She meets one of the pageant judges on the stairwell with their respective dogs, and they begin to flirt with one another. It’s actually Ginny’s dog, Buttercup, who is adorable. He starts it, but he doesn’t realize that she’s a contestant—because she’s Charlotte when he first meets her. She doesn’t know she has to pose as Ginny, yet, then. It’s very innocent. There’s nothing nefarious about it or him. “You have the erotic romance becoming more mainstream, even more than Fifty Shades of Grey ” Charlotte spends a lot of time getting to know herself through this process. She gains a sense of self-confidence that she didn’t know she was missing. She didn’t care that she dressed down and is considered too bookish: not in a bad way, just in a different way from her glamorous sister. She also uses this time to get to know her twin. And that’s a really beautiful thing. The romance part of the story is delightful and funny and Wilson really does allow you to suspend your disbelief. While I love the Miss Congeniality and The Parent Trap combination, there are also all these little nods to Harry Potter and Pride and Prejudice . The author is popular and certainly since this came out it’s been very popular. You’re rooting for the romance between Charlotte and Gray but you’re also rooting for the bond between the sisters—how Charlotte comes to her sister’s aid and all the hilarity and the problems that ensue. That is the great joy of this book, and it’s really a direction that romance seems to be going in. So with Helen Hoang, you have the erotic romance becoming more mainstream, even more than Fifty Shades of Grey . It’s a different version of erotic romance. Then you also have this other piece of romance where it’s going more in the direction of women’s fiction with these rom-com elements. So that’s why I wanted to select this book as well."

"Set in Nashville, Adams draws a familiar-feeling, small town vibe where everyone seems to be connected to one another. Liv Papandreas goes toe to toe with her celebrity chef boss who she inadvertently witnesses in a compromising position and who is now threatening to destroy her reputation. She very reluctantly accepts the help of Braden Mack, who starts off wanting to right his part in the events that ultimately got her fired. But when Mack hears the full story from Liv, he goes all-in, and for the right reasons. Members of ‘The Bromance Book Club’ assist their leader with hilarity and sincerity. And the Me Too moments here will resonate. Support Five Books Five Books interviews are expensive to produce. If you're enjoying this interview, please support us by donating a small amount . Adams crafts a fabulous cast of characters who embody what it means to have someone’s back, especially when they think they don’t need it. That said, at times when Liv and Mack are judgmental, or when they lie, their ‘armor’ and defense mechanisms are totally relatable. Readers will root for Liv and Mack the whole time. This is a series hit. Right?! So do I. I love that talon-wielding rooster, Randy, too. I had two male patrons at my library who read romance. I told them about this series back when The Bromance Book Club was still forthcoming, and they were so delighted. Yes. Liv is the sister of Thea from the first book, The Bromance Book Club . I am really looking forward to the third book, Crazy Stupid Bromance , which is slated to drop in the States this October. I feel like romance authors definitely have more works in progress going on than many other writers. The statistic we often see is about one to two books published per year. According to NPD BookScan , romance represented 18% of total fiction sales in the U.S. in 2019 in both print and eBook formats (as of Feb 14, 2020—and their data did not include audiobooks). 40 million+ romance books were sold in the U.S. in both print and eBook formats, with a market value of $336+ million. And according to them, during the quarantine, contemporary women’s fiction and Westerns were up in terms of genre (that’s data from May 30, 2020). I average about a book a week nowadays."

"Yes, a ton of excitement around this one. Samiah Brooks just found out that she’s been duped by the man she is dating. Coincidentally, two other women have been duped by the same guy, too. They decide to turn the tables by teaming up to say buh-bye to him, and saying hello to real friendship with one another. Dubbing themselves ‘Squad Goals,’ they make an oath to take half a year off dating to focus on personal endeavors. Thus Samiah begins revisiting an idea for an app, only this time it will be for making ‘global connections with like-minded people’, instead of ‘dating’. Meanwhile, Daniel Collins has just started over in R&D and once they begin working together, Samiah quickly realizes she won’t be able to keep her vow to her new besties, no matter how slow she tries to take things with the adorably written Daniel, for all the right reasons. Get the weekly Five Books newsletter Rochon establishes true bonds between these women who are in the tech, medical, and fitness industries respectively, and allows each to really support one another. Readers will come to The Boyfriend Project for a totally witty rom-com, but they are also definitely staying for a story of real friendship and strong female agency. Break out the watermelon margaritas and dive right in!"

"I’m wondering if it’s because of Alice, the town librarian. But, seriously… Roaming cowboy, Ford Jarvis, is back after two years to take a much needed, though expressly temporary, stint as foreman for Gerome Kowalski’s ranch. Gerome’s daughter, Claire, remembers what having Ford around is like and tries very hard to keep him and the pull between them at bay. Too bad Ford’s wandering spirit and cursed heart can’t get her off his mind either. Bloom’s will-they-won’t-they tension is great fun as it unfolds. Full of witty banter, lots of heat, a sprinkle of superstition, and a strong sense of community, this ‘second chance romance’ firmly places Carly Bloom at the top of the contemporary western genre."

"Jesse Strong and his three brothers just lost their adoptive mother, who owned the venerable shop, Strong Knits, in Harlem. After losing Mama Joy, do the four brothers sell or don’t they? Kerry Fuller not only grew up in the store, she now works there part time. Strong Knits is as much a part of her as anyone. Jackson’s novel really embraces a sense of community, a sense of space, and takes the time to build what family not only means, but is. The theming will give readers all the feels. And the secret-crush-on-the-player scenes exude plenty of witty banter—which, considering how many times I mention witty banter, is something I personally love in romance. A sense of loss felt throughout the story isn’t just about Mama Joy, it’s about the potential loss for neighborhood institutions and how we might step up for them."

"Leigh’s books is a super witty mashup of Working Girl and The Secret of My Success , with a hint of The Breakfast Club . ‘Jess McGale’? Cynthia? Lord Trask? The use of the newspapers? Whitfield? Seriously, I caught every reference and had the best time reading this. It’s definitely in the contemporarily-written set of historical romances , with sharp pacing and cheeky world-building. Leigh’s heroines are always skilled and accomplished. And her heroes celebrate that. But it’s her play on 1980s feminism in 1817 England for a 2020 audience that is truly nuanced. Without giving too much away, there are aspects in the story, which are a necessary plot driver that those familiar with the films Leigh pays tribute to will pick up on, and will definitely keep readers rooting for her leads. It’s great fun to let go and be reminded of beloved Yuppie-era characters like Tess McGill and Brantley Foster. Also, I kept wanting that honey soap to be a real thing. If you’re looking for additional comfort reads for 2020, here are five more I’d love to recommend: A Cowboy to Remember by Rebekah Weatherspoon, Where the Lost Wander by Amy Harmon, Jace by Sasha Summers, Island Affair by Priscilla Oliveras and Stay With Me by Becky Wade. Thank you all so much for having me!"