Riot Headline Book Riot’s 2025 Read Harder Challenge

Not Surprising But Still Disappointing

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Jess and Trisha discuss the way the RWA debacle somehow keeps getting worse, celebrate the Ripped Bodice Awards, offer you some short reads for this short month, and toss out a couple of romances that fit the 2020 Read Harder Challenge.

This episode is sponsored by Book Riot’s Read Harder 2020 Challenge, The Handsell, and Chasing Cassandra by Lisa Kleypas.

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News

The entire RWA board resigned.

You can read the RWA audit report for yourself, but you should definitely read some of the reactions to it as well.

Here’s a thread from the CIMRWA chapter (And quick clarification – as of our recording, the board of that chapter had voted to bring a vote of dissolution to their membership and the results of that vote aren’t public yet, so we don’t know yet whether they’ve voted to dissolve.)

The Ripped Bodice awards for Excellence in Romantic Fiction have been announced!

Books Discussed

House Rules by Ruby Lang

Team Phison by Chace Verity

Baggage Claimed by Alexandra Warren

Unsolicited Duke Pic by Nico Russo

Taken by Charlotte Stein

The Heart is a Universe by Sherry Thomas

White Whiskey Bargain by Jodie Slaughter

A Cowboy to Remember by Rebekah Weatherspoon

The Good, The Bad, and the Dad by Jaxon Knight

Send us your favorite short romances and the romances you’re Reading Harder in 2020! As always, you can find Jess and Trisha at the WIR email address (wheninromance@bookriot.com). You can also find us on Twitter (@jessisreading and @trishahaleybrwn), or Instagram (@jess_is_reading and @trishahaleybrown).