Celebrating Plus-Size Love Stories with Curvy Girls Read Romance

Fatphobia and fat shaming are so deeply entrenched in society that traditionally, only a narrow set of beauty standards were represented in romance. Luckily, more and more authors, seeing how unrealistic this is, are transforming the literary landscape by writing curvy, confident, and complex characters that more closely represent their readers. In this episode of the podcast, Alesia sits down with Aimee from Curvy Girls Read Romance as they take a deep dive into body representation in romance books, specifically, celebrating authors who write real, authentic love stories with plus-sized characters. 

Aimee has been a romance reader for a few years now and, in the last year, has been solely focused on plus-sized protagonists. She wanted to see more realistic body types reflected, to see herself in the stories she spent so much time reading. Now Aimee has built a small community on Instagram and surrounded herself with people looking for the same thing. Sharing book recs, trope recs, and author recs and hoping to normalize body positivity.

In this episode, we're discussing:

• Finding books with plus-sized representation, both on the cover and within the pages. 
• Be cautious when using the word “curvy,” as it can often be misconstrued.  
• Ways in which plus-size romances go beyond the weight of the character, giving more representation to multifaceted people. 
• Representation has evolved significantly in the last 10 years, with authors being more conscientious of how they write these characters.  
• Indie authors are the ones leading the charge in body-positive storytelling. 

Whether you're a size 2 or 22, romance is about connection, passion, and seeing yourself reflected in stories that celebrate every curve, every stretch mark, and every beautiful, complex human experience. Today's conversation isn't just about books—it's about breaking down barriers and expanding what love looks like.

CONNECT WITH CURVY GIRLS READ ROMANCE:

Instagram

Good Reads

BOOKS/AUTHORS MENTIONED:

CC Monroe (Amazon)

Sloane Spencer (Amazon)

Sleet Kitten by S.J. Tilly  (Amazon)

Kat Baxter (Amazon)

Mia Brody (Amazon)

Anna P. (Amazon)

Nicola Davidson (Amazon)

Running list of books mentioned (Doc)

Thank you for listening to the We Read Smut Podcast! If you enjoyed this episode, take a screenshot of the episode to post in your stories and tag @WeReadSmut. Don’t forget to follow, rate, and review the podcast.

Connect with Alesia:
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This podcast was produced by Galati Media.
Proud member of the Feminist Podcasters Collective.

Chapters

• 0:00 Introducing Curvy Girls Read Romance
• 2:51 The Challenges of Plus-Size Representation in Romance
• 9:04 The Importance of Accurate Representation
• 18:30 Evolution of Plus-Size Characters in Romance
• 29:54 Depth and Empathy in Romance Novels Has Expanded
• 35:53 Author/ Book Recommendations by Genre
• 40:45 Where to Find Plus-Size Romance Recommendations

Transcript

Alesia Galati: 0:00

Just like any other representation, fat and curvy representation is such an important part of romance. Today, we're talking with Amy of curvy girls read romance on why it's important for us to have this representation and some incredible recommendations for you based on what genre you enjoy most. We'll also be sure to have a link to that full list in the show notes and the description if you are looking for any of those recommendations. Hi, Amy, I was so excited to have you on and you are the face behind curvy girls read romance. When I started following your account, and I was like, Oh my gosh, yes, we need to be friends. This is gonna be great. So if you could start by telling everyone a bit about your reading journey, especially as your adult reading journey goes,

Unknown: 1:00

I found my way to romance in grad school because I just desperately needed to read something that was not a textbook or a journal article or something like that. So I'm a historian, so I started with like historical mystery, and then from there went to like historical romance, which will always be like one of my favorites, I realized it's not for everybody. But then from there, I went into contemporary and paranormal. And for like, the month of October, I did a bunch of monster romance readings, which was really fun, nice. But then, you know, as I was reading with historicals, in particular, there are very few plus size in historicals, especially. And I think what I found more like with traditionally published authors, they'll tend to have one per series, one like, just for that representation, there's one plus size person per series, especially with traditionally published authors, it was hard to find them. I wanted to see myself represented in the books that I was reading, and so I started seeking out specifically plus size heroines to start. And now I'll read anybody who's like a plus size protagonist. That sort of led to my like, jump out of historical and into contemporary. Just because there are so few, I was able to compile, like a list of some historical authors who are starting to do this more. But yeah, that's sort of how that came to be. And then as I started to compile this list on my goodread shelves and everything, I thought, well, if I'm looking for this, someone else must be looking for this. So that's when I started the Bookstagram account, and just went from there. I think that plus size representation is so important, especially with how societally plus size folks are viewed. I recently was editing a client's podcast, and I wanted to throw this woman out

Alesia Galati: 3:06

just like, Nope, this episode is terrible because you had a lot of like opinions on people's weight, and if you're not sleeping well at night, or if you're not the weight that you want to be, then it's probably because of your mindset. And I was like, oh, no, you're You're the problem, lady, yeah, and yeah. And so we see a lot of that, and a lot of opinions about what someone looks like being a representation of their healthiness. And I'm using bunny ears here for people who are listening and can't see me and think that it's such a huge problem. So I think that it is important that we see plus size characters in love, being loved, not despite their weight or despite what they look like, but also because of just who they are and their love interests. Seeing the roles and being like, I love all of it, and I love it. We're seeing that a lot more in the romances, at least the ones I've been reading where there's a plus size character. You can from one of the other characters point of view, they'll mention, I can see the stretch marks on her legs, and I just yeah, it's all up on them. And I'm just like, yeah, yeah. What are your thoughts on all of that?

Unknown: 4:24

I absolutely agree. And I think there's also, like, the fat phobia and fat shaming is so deeply entrenched in society and in romance as well. I did a post a few months back about how I go about and asking other people how they go about finding specifically plus sized heroines or protagonists in general. I said, I really like when someone does an Instagram post with the micro tropes, and I can see it, you know that it says plus size heroin, or it'll say Husky hero, or something like that. But then at the same time, I would get friends. Frustrated like this shouldn't have to be singled out because it is about more than weight. And so it's like writing this fine line between making it easier to find these characters and then not wanting them to have to be singled out by their weight. And then it sort of went into this discussion of plus size rep not taking place on cover. So even if the romance is about a plus size hero or heroine, the cover doesn't reflect that whatsoever. And so I did some posts like, all of these are books with plus size heroines, but none of them are reflected on the covers. And I did other ones later about here are ones that actually have plus size rep. And like you said, Oh my god, she has stretch marks. And you can like, it's just so nice to be represented on that. I remember the first cover that I absolutely fell in love with was curves for days by Laura Laura Moore, something like that. And it just has this beautiful, curvaceous woman on the front, and it's just her, and she looks just so confident. And it was just like, it was the first one that I really was like, Oh my God, this representation is awesome. So now every few months, I'll do posts like, Here are more authors who are doing this plus size rep on their covers. And from there, people were saying, okay, you know, I go to romance IO, and I'll look up a specific author, and then you can select heroin and curvy heroin, and that's a way to do it. But it's also sometimes not as accurate. I'm not sure what their process is, but, like, I've gotten wrecks from there, and then they weren't plus sized. I also sometimes message the authors directly, and I'm like, Hey, is this a plus size heroine? And they'll let me know, oh, she's mid sized. Or, you know, this one's not. But I have this book that is, which is really helpful, and most authors are really great with that. Then I had one author who wrote a plus size character in an upcoming release, okay, she looked plus sized on the cover. And so I wanted to write to verify, because none of her promotional materials specified that this was a plus size character. And so I wrote, and I was saying, I'm just wondering if this is a plus size character. I you know, I'd like to feature it, if so? And she said, I've been told not to market this as plus sized, but this character is, she is more reflective of realistic body types. And like, I thanked her, and I did a post on it later. I didn't name her because I wasn't trying to put someone on blast. I wanted to talk about, like, the discourse. And I was like, you know, I'm not going to end up reading this book, but I thought about this all afternoon, and it's incredibly frustrating to see that even if someone is trying to write this, they feel like it needs to be concealed. It was just so disheartening. But at the same time, when I did that post, so many authors came forward, and they're like, I write unapologetically fat women, plus size women, curvy women, however, or, you know, I write plus size men. I write these Husky heroes, and it was just like the discourse we had in that comment section all day. It made me feel so much better after feeling so shitty after that, like really disheartening interaction. So finding these types of protagonists, you have to do quite a bit of work for it, unless someone is willing to put it on their marketing, which we're learning. You know, it feels like one step forward, two steps back. So we see some authors are really end of body positivity and others, they'll do it almost like, Well, to me, it felt like tokenism. I'm going to write this person, and she's plus size, but we're not going to say anything about that. It's just really difficult trying to navigate that sometimes. So,

Alesia Galati: 8:59

yeah, I know that I've seen very similarly with books that maybe have what look like a browner person on there, or maybe it's showing them as B or they'll describe them as more olive tone. And I'm like, what ethnicity are they?

Unknown: 9:19

I feel like I need more thing,

Alesia Galati: 9:24

not at all that could be Italian, like, or, right, you know? Like, what is it? Yeah, so I think that it one. I love that you approach the author, and that's something that I've been doing as well. Like, hey, I want to promote bipoc authors. Feel free to say you don't want to answer, or you don't feel comfortable answering 100% but I would like to do a Latinx post, and I believe you're Latinx, so please let me know if that's accurate or inaccurate. Like I want to make sure that I represent you properly, right? Everyone I have reached out to has been more than welcoming of saying, Oh yes, I am or. I do identify that as that, or I I identify as this, and I don't identify as Latinx, and I'm like, okay, cool, that helps me right, be able to one promote them in the right way and not do a disservice to my followers of misrepresenting these people. But then also, I think that it's so important as readers and as people who want to read more diversely, that we do follow the accounts that are taking the time and effort to actually get shit about this stuff right, like your account, like our account, where we are going the extra step to say yes, even though these covers might not show that these characters are curvy, or maybe it's a colorful floral cover, or they're illustrated characters. We don't say cartoon characters, illustrated characters, then these are actually curvy, mid size or plus size women or Husky heroes, or whatever it is, right? It's good that we have people that are doing the work, and I think that it gives even less of an excuse for people who are like, Oh, I can't find anything. You literally just need to search.

Unknown: 11:07

Yeah, there are ways of finding when it comes to like terminology, I feel fine using the term fat. I do not see the word fat as a bad thing, as an insult whatsoever. And so I try to integrate that a little bit more in my posts. Most people use plus size, and I'm fine with doing that. The term curvy, I love it, but it's also it can be misused, because a lot of times authors will say she had curves in all the right places, and they like came into the tiniest waist. So, yeah, you're like, Okay, this is also not very realized. No, are we talking about Dolly Parton here? I mean, it's just the idea of, like curves in all the right places. So curve is something that can be absolutely misused. And I fully realized that when I chose my name for the Instagram profile, but more people identified with that. But I also think we have to be really careful with it, and now that we're starting to see a little bit more representation of plus size men, we have to figure out what men are comfortable being called, because the idea of Husky heroes that can have that same idea of curvy like, what does that mean? Are men going to want to be called plus size? I've been such a feminist for so long, and I like, I I don't always be like what the men think on this, but it is the representation of those characters in the stories. So obviously that makes sense, but trying to condition ourselves to figure out what is going to be like, the appropriate terminology in that sense too. So,

Alesia Galati: 12:45

oh, that's so interesting. Yeah, I even think about so I have boys, and they are not in the Husky men's section or the Husky boys section, but when I think of like even my brothers as they were growing up, you would have the difference of the size 12 kids, or the 12 size Husky kids, and where it has a little more room to it, right? And so that might be a term that they're like, that seems plus for women's. Of those are the plus sizes. Those are the Husky sizes. And so it could have a negative connotation, and that's not even something that I've even considered. So thank you for bringing that and, yeah, I think that it's really important that we're considering all of these things mid size. We're specifically talking in US sizes, right? I understand that there are other sizes in other countries that you're like, Wait, what are you even talking about? Right? Like the fact that mid size can be anything from a 10, which makes no sense to me at all, Oh, my God, to a 16 or an 18, like I feel like 18. Then you start getting into the more fat sizes, or the plus sizes, where people think, oh, mid size is anywhere from 10 to 1618, and then 18 and up is more plus size. And it's like, okay, who made those rules?

Unknown: 14:08

First of all, yeah, there's no like definition, and so everybody's scale is different. It's completely arbitrary. Just the entire

Alesia Galati: 14:19

Yeah, I can even think of one book I read. I believe it was a book by Alexandra house. She writes a lot of plus size women and curvy women into her stories. I absolutely love that. And she mentioned, I believe she mentioned the size as a 22 and in my head, I was like, I'm trying to think of like people in my life that I maybe know her a size 22 to be able to imagine that I am personally like a 1618 imagining this character. But I was like, who cares? She is getting dicked down. Let's keep going

Unknown: 14:57

like she's living her best life. That's enough. Other thing, like, I love when the size is mentioned and it's high double digits, but at the same time, I'm like, shouldn't have to do this. CeCe Monroe, she just had a dark romance release, and she's like, this is a size 26 heroine. And I'm like, great, get it. I love it. Like, I love it just for reading purposes. It helps me visualize better. But I love when they do that. I really do. But yes, I read one that was, like, labeled as a curvy heroine, and then they described her measurements, and she was five 960 pounds. That's not plus size that's not curvy. That's just a purpose. Wow.

Alesia Galati: 15:47

To give reference, I am about 220, and I am five, five, and I'm a size 16 ish, so like to give people a scale that's four inches

Unknown: 16:00

I am, and, you know, a lot of pounds less than I am. I'm around, like, 215 220 and then I'm a size 18, and I'm five four, so I'm thinking, Oh, my God, 160 pounds and you're five nine. This is like, real fit,

Alesia Galati: 16:18

yes, and then you have to think too about, like, shape, right? That's something that, for me, personally, has changed so much, like weight versus shape. As I've gone through two pregnancies, a lot more of the my fat is in my belly and in my butt and my hips, my legs are thick too, like, and the but that my upper body is like, All right, we're fine. My arms, yeah, very fatty. I've got some rolls on my bag. But, like, I don't know it's my weight has been so different, like when I was like, thinking about after my first pregnancy, and being like, 170 and being like, Oh my God, I am getting so fat. And then being like, Man, I am healthy. I am birthed children. So much with this body, and this body is powerful. And then being active versus being like, I need to lose weight, or being strong versus being like, I need to lose weight. And so I think one, there's like, so many different ways that we could take this conversation, but bringing it back to like, reading and romance, I think that it's so important that these characters are described, and that we don't have to fluff over what they look like or if they are curvy or are plus size, that we don't have to say, you know, curves in all the right places just to make everybody happy. Like, no, let's get away with that.

Unknown: 17:41

I started highlighting every time an author mentioned stretch marks in a book, and I have a whole shelf now on Goodreads of all these romances that mentioned stretch marks. And it just makes me so happy. Like I remember the first time I read that that was mentioned, and I was like, Oh my God, this was incredible. And it's something so small, but it just like that, that representation matters. That just made my whole day.

Alesia Galati: 18:07

Yes, oh, it's so good. So what do you think that some authors maybe could do better, or we as readers could request from authors to do better in this realm? Actually, I was just thinking

Unknown: 18:21

about this last night. Somebody had done a post on Instagram of like, free paranormal romances that had plus size characters, and so I went and downloaded a bunch of them, and I read one of them, and it was written in 2014 I actually read it last night. I DNFed it because I've noticed that plus size characters written in the early 2000 plus size characters written now are incredibly different. So this was 2014 and it was the paranormal romance, like it's a MFM, and they find their faded mate, and one of them is shocked that he is attracted to this plus sized woman, and keeps telling her that she is so not his type, and he's like, I keep waiting to be turned off by you. This is only 10 years old. It was horrifying, and so I DNFed it. It was not for me, but now finding authors who do this is easier because authors who are like devoted to this cause, they do it proudly. When I did that post that I mentioned a few weeks ago, LM drew commented, she's wrote, she goes, I write fat women getting railed, and it's fantastic, my sales don't suffer because of it. Yes isn't tagline. I believe, yes, I love her so much.

Alesia Galati: 19:50

It's the unapologetic that we love, right? Like, even unapologetic midsize too, I think is really good too, because I think the representation. One of the average woman is about mid size. It is the 16 to 18 size. Like that is pretty normal, and we're just not seeing that reflected in a lot of media. And so to see that reflected, even looking okay, we could talk about bridgerton season two, and how societally everybody was like, oh my goodness, a fat woman being the love interest. We never see this or right there was a an Instagram personality. I can't think of his account right now, but he was sarcastically saying, Wow, we've never seen a fat person and a thin person on media before. That's crazy. And then he just rolled through all of these, like pictures of a fat male main character and a very skinny or attractive female main character. And he was like, wow, we've never seen that before. I cannot believe it. And it just kept going. And there were like 15 different cartoon shows, real people's shows, all of this stuff where it's a fat man in love with a skinny woman, but nobody bats an eye. And he was like, why is this foundationally a big deal? Guys? It's not anything new. Get over it. Yeah.

Unknown: 21:28

Like, nobody in history was fat, going back to bridgerton, just the idea that there was just the one fat person in the entire social book.

Alesia Galati: 21:40

Oh, my God, yes, yes, guys, come on. But that is something that I don't think that people talk about enough is people having to eat whatever was available to them. They didn't have grocery stores. They had whatever they could make, whatever they could access. No one had a Harris Teeter. Like, go get the groceries that the, you know, the organic foods. Like, no, it was whatever you had, is what you had, you know. And then you've got the rich people getting all the foods and the poor people like, look, we got potatoes. That's all we got. It's a weird gonna eat these potatoes? That's it.

Unknown: 22:22

Yeah, to imagine

Alesia Galati: 22:23

that fat people is only now, no, that is not at all how

Unknown: 22:29

it works. So I'm a historian. That's my trade. There's a notion that if you were fat historically, it meant you were wealthy. And sure, this is, you know, likely true if you have more access to more food, sure, but the idea that there no fat poor people, no plump poor people throughout history, is also insanity

Alesia Galati: 22:59

for real, like everybody who's poor just has no food or what? Yeah, it doesn't make any sense either. Yeah, they just don't understand how this works.

Unknown: 23:13

Think about it. If the foods you have access to are only grains, and that's the cheapest food too, and that's all you're going to be able to eat, that's gonna affect you, depending on

Alesia Galati: 23:23

where you live in the world, what you have access to, like, there's so many different elements to this that it is silly that we would look at history and be like, Nope, it was just one, one black or white statement that encompasses everybody. It's like, that's not how it works at all, and that's not how it works now. So looking even deeper than plus size is really important, that we understand that. And this is something that I feel like I've been having a lot of conversations about lately, is that we as humans are so multifaceted, and I think that as women, we tend to be viewed very one sided. You're a mother, you're a sister, you're a daughter, you're a woman in society, right? Like, there's only the one view that we tend to have, or that people tend to see us as, and then, ergo, we see ourselves as if we haven't done work to like, really sit with ourselves and see what makes us ourselves and so multifaceted as human beings, beyond just being, oh, these characters are fat. There's so many more experiences to these people. How do you feel that plus size romance is specifically go beyond just focusing on the weight and giving even more representation to humanity as a society and multifaceted people. I

Unknown: 24:50

just finished reading Kelly Reynolds her new release pitches be crazy. It's baseball romance, the second one in her Rose City Roasters series. 90s, and it's a by hero and a by heroine, and they're both just they have no intention of having children exploring this notion of being child free by choice. I loved that, and I every time I read one of Kelly Reynolds books, I tell her that I wish I could live in the world she wrote because she does such a good job of emphasizing mental health. She does such a good job of repping neurodiversity and sexuality. And I just absolutely love the worlds that she writes all of her books right now. I believe have plus nice women. I also recently read settle Myers beyond the bright lights. It wasn't published this year, but I read it this year, and it was the most impactful representation of grief that I've ever read. So the protagonist is a plus size woman in a small town, and she had this great love story with her fiance, and then he gets cancer and passes away. And she's obviously devastated, and then they're gonna make a movie about what happened in his life, because he was like this football star, and then became this advocate for cancer research, and she falls in love with the actor who comes to town to play her fiance, and it's just this journey through grief. I sobbed through it. It's also this huge representation of addiction, because the actor's an addict. And these stories have so much more than just weight, like it was a heavy read, but it was so beautifully done, and he is so obsessed with her. It's a reverse age gap also, and he is absolutely gone for her from the moment they meet. He like, loves her stretch marks, and she's so soft and she's so lush. And so yes, there is that aspect of, yes, she's a plus size woman, and let's acknowledge it, but also there's all this other stuff going on. Settle Meyer just knocks me off my feet all the time right now, for me, she's, like, the most versatile, because she's got contemporary she just did some monster romances. She's got a dark romance with rival contract killers. That's so good. And so she's like dabbling and everything, and she's so good. And then Sloan Spencer was another one who I'm absolutely obsessed with lately. It's an mmf romance, and so we get some bi rep. And one of the heroes is just absolutely trying to connect with his identity, because he was adopted as a child. He's Korean, I believe, but raised by white people, and he wants to find his cultural identity, and his parents are really offended by it. There's also the other male protagonist, has PTSD, and then the female heroine, yes, she's plus size, but she's also dealing with grief over a miscarriage, and so there's huge mental health rep in that. And I just think that especially books published within the last maybe not 10 years after last night, but maybe the last five years, we're getting so much depth in terms of representation and just lived experiences. And I think that's what it is. It's highlighting, yes, we get to understand what these lived experiences of plus size people are like, if an author mentions boob sweat, I'm there. If she, you know, mentioned stretch marks, or she mentioned laying down in your boobs, go to the side. It's just realistic. But then you're also getting these other lived experiences that like, yes, fat people are fat, but they're also people that is not the sum of their identity. I just have been really pleased with authors who are doing this today. I

Alesia Galati: 28:52

could not agree enough. And I think that when you have things like grief and addiction and mental health, rep and so much more. I think that it really does allow us to have more of an empathy. And I'm finding this has to be the through line through season one, because a lot of these conversations I'm having are, it's not, oh, wow, it's it's romance. And even though it's romance, you're getting this it's because it's romance. We're getting all of this depth, and we're getting so much more to these characters than just, oh, they fall in love and everything's fine like no these authors are putting in so much effort to create a well rounded story that really does tackle real issues, and I think can allow us as readers, whether you're fat or not, get a better empathy for others. And I did mention this on another episode. I don't know when it's going live, but I know myself. Of when I started reading romance, you know, I would just read it for the smut, because we read smut, that's just what I wanted to read, also exactly. And I was also, like, after my second pregnancy, my libido was really low, and that helped me a lot. I did not want to take any type of medications from my doctor. I didn't want to use any cream. I just wanted to be naturally more lubricated. And this worked for me. And that's okay, right? And so like, then it got deeper. I'm learning so much of these characters, and when I got the autism diagnosis for my son, being like, well, I've read books with autistic main characters that are close on the spectrum to where he is. I know what he might be going through. I might be able to empathize a lot better, to be able to bring him back to center when he feels like he's spiraling, or find ways that I can work with him, because I've seen this in books, and wait a minute, I feel like that sometimes. Maybe I need to go get a check with the doctor to the CF. Maybe I am on the spectrum as well, right? Like, it can teach us so much of not just ourselves, but also the people around us. I can have that empathy, and I can see it from outside of my own lens, beyond just oh, they're fat and they have boobs wet here. Totally get it right. So much more to these characters that we can get, and so much that we as readers can get from romance that can honestly heal us in ways that I don't think we even realized when we started reading

Unknown: 31:36

like you, I started for the smut. My anti depression, anti anxiety, is an SSRI, and it just absolutely kills your sex drive. And, hey, look, yeah, free material. And so, yeah, that's where it started. Then you start, you know, looking for more story. I recently read Katie dugans from the start. She's a new indie author. She has two books out right now, but from the start, was her first one. Have you read this one? Yes, I love that one. So good Nick gets this, like autistic diagnosis as an adult, and it's been recommended that I go get an autism type of success as an adult. You know, just trying to relate to it from that perspective. But then the first person she tells is this like, childhood enemy that she had, and he is just so sweet to her, and he's so, like, accommodating and accepting of her autism, and she wants sex lessons because she wants to be able to, like, have sex with people in a way that she doesn't want to be too much for people, And him telling her that she's not too much, and he Oh, my God, he makes a sex syllabus is the best thing for that. Let's know he's a professor too. So like but and then she always has a weighted blanket, but she loves when he will be her weighted blanket. And it was these these stories that people are writing now. They just, it's so good, it's so good, so much better than, I guess, what we were getting 10

Alesia Galati: 33:10

years ago. Yeah, oh man, it's so true. And, I mean, I love it. I'm here for it. It's such an important direction that we're taking for sure. What are some other authors that you're like, really enjoying right now?

Unknown: 33:27

I did a list. I saw your list, and I was like, Oh, I love all of this. Okay, so I will try. I did a really long one, but I will try to go through by section. So if we start with sports romance, I guess we'll start with sports romance. So as I mentioned, Kelly Reynolds has the Rose City Roasters series. In both of those that are out so far, we have plus size protagonists, also by Rep and queer rep, really good. And then Mary Warren has the Glendale Magic series. It's a hockey series, and Mary Warren runs fat girls in fiction, which is a huge collective on a much more bigger scale than what I do of highlighting fat girls and fiction. Obviously, Amy award has the cocky Kingman series. It's a football romance series, all plus size protagonists. The second one is like a Taylor and Travis like a retelling, but with a plus size heroine. And then Sloane Spencer's doing. She started the rugby lover series. She's working on the second one of that right now. And the first one was one of my favorite reads of this whole year. It's a friends to lovers and a surprise pregnancy one. And then SJ Tilly has the sleet series, which is so good. It's a hockey one. In terms of contemporaries, I love Talia hibberts, the brown sisters series. They're all three plus size heroines. And then Kayla gross, who's dubbed the queen of smut. She writes. Is the hottest romance. She's got the Cowboys at Nighthawk series, but then she also has a couple of novellas that came out this year and last year that are insanely hot. Oh. Kelsey host has her Hello series that's like small town all plus size heroines. Mary Warren, who did the hockey series also has her Mystic Falls series, Leonor Solis, who is a Latina writer. I'm half Mexican, so I'm always looking for Latina rep in my reads also, but she has the cozy Latina billionaire series. If you're looking for like shorter reads, I like to use them as palette cleansers between longer reads. Cat Baxter is my absolute favorite for that. Mia Brody is another one too. I will say, for Mia Brody, the covers are never plus size ramp, which can be frustrating. And then Anna P writes plus size South Asian characters. They're so good. Georgina Kirsten, she's a bipoc author with bipoc heroines and heroes, and she in her more to love books she's got. It's a male romance with a plus size hero. Danielle Allen's that came out over the summer, her curvy girl summer. It's part of her curve series. There are more coming, also by POC, author and heroine there. So yeah, those are really good ones. Evie Mitchell is huge for diversity, and she writes shorter reads her book thunder thighs was one of the first plus size rep ones I read. And this gorgeous Viking looking gunner just absolutely is obsessed with Ella, and, oh, he's just gone for her immediately. And I, I loved seeing it. Julia wolf also has a lot of plus size heroines. PS, you're intolerable is probably one of my all time favorite reads. I don't know if you've read that one, but it's,

Alesia Galati: 37:01

I have not, no, I'll check it out for sure.

Unknown: 37:04

Yeah, so you get like, a neuro diverse hero. It's a boss employee romance, and she's pregnant, trying to hide it, to get the job. It's not his, obviously, but he like takes claim over this baby, and it's so good. Actually, one of my posts that has gotten the most likes is the breastfeeding heroines, and they are heroes who benefit. And that's a big one in terms of historical romance, it is harder. It's been the hardest for me because I don't know of any authors in historical who write specifically plus size heroines. So anybody that I've put has plus size heroines, but they're not like exclusively, like you find a lot with Monster romance or paranormal romance or contemporary Sarah McLean has quite a few, like nine rules to break rogue not taken, which is one of my favorites, knockout Grayson and the Beast Felicity Niven also has ved me Baron and voluptuous. Nicola Davidson, hands down best historic erotica. So good. And there's a new, like, yeah, we just released one, like, a week ago. That's like, it's a FEM Dom, mmf, so good. So yeah, there's also a new series of novellas that just finished releasing called curves and cravats, and it's all historical novellas, all with plus size heroines and different authors. So that's yeah, that's a good one. Should I keep going?

Alesia Galati: 38:33

Yes? For anyone taking notes, it's okay. We will try to list as many of these, and we'll also make sure that we link to your roundup posts in the comments. For anyone. Wait, I need more. Even if I have to hyperlink to this list, y'all will

Unknown: 38:50

get the list for Monster romance. Meg Rhodes is a new indie author she did, just released, called her sweet orc, and it's the first in a series, and is basically like Halloween Town, but with sexy times. Oh, and it was fantastic. Yeah, Emily Antoinette is another one who has a lot of plus size heroines. She has a minotaur romance escaping the friend zone. That was hot.

Alesia Galati: 39:18

I have that on my TBR, like it's in my channel right now.

Unknown: 39:21

Yeah, that was my first Minotaur romance. And I was like, Why did I like this? But I really liked and then there's also a series of novellas that just finished releasing as well, called the faded date series. So it's multi author, and it's a mix of monster and paranormal romances. So like Ellen drew settle Meyer, who else had the Lizzie strong had one in there. So yes, lots of novellas for Monster and paranormal readers. For Omega verse. I just finished an arc of Emilia Emerson's a pack for autumn. Oh my gosh. The series was called. Called cozy person. It was a cozy romance, which is very hot, cozy romance. So good. Love it. I can't recommend it enough. It comes out, I think November 13. That's such a good one. And then in terms of paranormal Stephanie cazaus, she started the Midwest monster series earlier this year. And there is not a week that has gone by that I have not cried over one specific thing that happened on this book, and I message her about it all the time. She's very patient with me, but she has the next one coming out soon. It like challenges this notion of faded dates, and where does personal autonomy come into it? So it's not just like a regular shift of romance, and we get this female Alpha leading a female led pack, and she's this gorgeous, plus size wolf shifter. Awesome. Lm Drew has two shifter series. She's got the shifters of Guru garur, I believe, is how it's pronounced, and it's wolf shifters. But then she also has the shifters of bear valley, and those are bears, obviously. Sam Crescent writes a lot of plus size heroines, and she's got the Alpha shifters collection. Oh, and Kate C wells, also, you always have to prepare yourself to read a Kate C wells romance. Her five packs theories, a couple of them have plus size heroines. His curvy, rejected mate is so good. So those are my very quick rec,

Alesia Galati: 41:23

yeah, I love it. So many good ones are there. But I think literally, if you just take one from one of the categories that you're like, Yes, I love these. Start there, you'll be fine. Where are some other places that you are finding that you're able to we mentioned romance.io which is kind of it, because we don't really know how their algorithm works, or how they're categorizing things, or who's giving that information, but I think following accounts like yourself, like fat girls in fiction, ones that are specifically promoting fat and curvy and plus size main characters, I think is such an important Part of making sure that we're seeing that in our feed so often, we're like, oh, I can't find it. Or I hear people say, I can't find that. I can't find anything. With this type of representation, you literally just need to follow creators who are talking about this. You're going to have so many recommendations. You have a ton of roundups, but where are some, maybe one or two places that you recommend that people also go to.

Unknown: 42:27

It's difficult, but if you can find these creators on Goodreads, like, if you look at my Goodreads, I have four pages of like, specific lists. And so anytime I'll mark something that says stretch marks. Or I'll mark something that says mmF. Mark something that says mmF. Or, you know, gray sweatpants is another bookshelf I have. And so finding those users on Goodreads and looking at their shelves, if they do, you know, multiple shelves, that's really helpful. I've not delved into book talk because I keep reading a lot of drama about it same, yeah, no, I can't say whether that's a good place to find that. Honestly, for me, again, following accounts like minor fat girls in fiction books with love handles is a place where I get a lot of my recs. That's another Instagram user, so Bookstagram has been really useful for that I message the authors is, you know, one way that I find it, most of them, especially the indie authors, are really quick to respond. And I will say that I really have better luck finding not only plus size rep, but positive plus size rep from those indie authors, because, you know, they're not necessarily writing to the requirements of a traditional publishing company or being encouraged not to market something as plus size. Yeah. So yeah. Finding those indie authors fat girls in fiction doesn't just have her Instagram page. She's got a whole website that's a really useful place for that as well. Other podcast, faded mates, has a few episodes that highlight Kirby girls. That's another one. I can't say much for like, threads or x because I don't do that much. But yeah, Bookstagram has been where it's at for me. And deep diving good reads as well. So,

Alesia Galati: 44:15

yeah, oh, those are so perfect. Yeah. If anyone who knows mirror has heard listen to this podcast notes. I don't do book talk. I can't. It's just they're too young for me over there, I think. And I just, yeah, yeah, not interested in arguing about why I read smut to people,

Unknown: 44:35

right? No, thank you. Yeah. And I just keep hearing that there's so much like drama with certain book talk things I'm I have no I got other stuff. I got a life and smoke to read. Thank you exactly. Better use of your time. Amy, this

Alesia Galati: 44:51

has been so much fun, and you've given us so many different recommendations, yes, and ways that we can get out there. And read some curvy or fat romances. Where can people find you? We did mention your handle, but where can people find you? Hang out with you, send you a DM and tell you thank you for all of these recommendations. Yeah,

Unknown: 45:12

so I'm at curvy girls read romance all just one word, no punctuation, on Instagram and on Goodreads, and then I also have, there's a book Bub account too. It's just the exact same thing. So yeah, that's where I am,

Alesia Galati: 45:27

perfect. Thank you so much. Amy, this has been so much. Thank you for having me.

Unknown: 45:39

You.