Smut Street: Sword Crossing and Anna P.
In between load of laundry and trash TV, don't forget to casually harass your state representatives.
Some girls wear their rattiest pair of period panties on laundry day; the rest of us sport our lacy, candy cane thongs, because cotton comfort is our go-to.
That’s right, it’s laundry day in Portland, Oregon, as I’m fresh off from my back-to-back trips to Minneapolis for Sports Romance Con—in depth post coming soon—and Los Angeles.
And yet somehow, in between my travels, I was still able to polish off Season 8 of Love is Blind (absolute trash), Season 3 of Traitors (absolute gold), and Season 3 (so far) of Reacher (absolute arm porn).
To offset this week’s doom scrolling and continued attacks on American democracy (please take two minutes to call, text, and harass your reps to stand strong against the GOP’s funding bill), please allow me to share a bit of exciting, local news—some Positively Portland, if you will.
First, Portland is getting our first alcohol-spiked ice cream shop called Tipsy Scoop. How we didn’t already have one, I’m not sure. Nonetheless, I’m very much looking forward to sampling some Strawberry Sangria sorbet. Second, this May, Portland will also get it’s first USL League Two men’s pre-professional soccer team… and their name is the Portland Bangers.
I guess it’s time I start consider writing a soccer romance series set in Portland. A spinoff of my Rose City Roasters series, perhaps?
Word of the Week
If the viral “I want two boyfriends, and I want the boyfriends to be boyfriends” clip was a romance term, it would be sword crossing.
Anybody who reads, writes, or blogs about Why Choose romance knows that one of the most common questions asked in any comment section about polyamorous romance is, “But is there sword crossing?”
Also, please consider this my official petition to coin a sword crossing sapphic equivalent. Might I suggest shield smashing? Or rubbing leathers? I’m open to other suggestions. Please please please drop them in the comments.
I’ll kick off this week’s recommendations with a recent holiday read: The Perfect Gift by Clio Evans. I’m a holiday romance reader—and writer—through and through, so it should come as no surprise, that every December, I host a month-long special on my podcast, Boobies & Noobies, called The 12 Days of Boobsmas.
This past December, we read Clio Evans’ cuckold Christmas novella, and SWEET. LORD. I freaking loved it. Seriously, I’ve been missing the boat on cuckold romances. This is also one of those books where everybody fucks everybody, and who doesn’t love that?
I’ll include the link to listen to our podcast discussion about the book below.
I’ve been a Katrina Jackson fangirl for years, so naturally, I was thrilled to find an excuse to recommend one of her books—which just so happens to be one of my favorite Katrina Jackson books. From Scratch kicks off Katrina’s four book series set in the fictional small town of Sea Port. It’s a “fresh start for the FMC” kind of story, which is basically my kind of catnip.
Unfortunately, from what I can tell, the entire Sea Port series has been pulled from Amazon and it’s not currently available on Katrina’s website. Hopefully, the author has other plans for the books and we’ll see them again soon? I’ll keep my fingers crossed.
Over the last few years, I’ve seen a tremendous influx of romance featuring sex workers—some more respectful than others—so if you’re looking for more books to add to your “Sex workers in Romance Novels” Goodreads list, be sure to add Viano Oniomoh’s Just for the Cameras. They’re fat, Black, queer, and yes, one of them has a pierced penis. What more could you ask for in an MMF romance?
If you still haven’t read Emily Rath’s Jacksonville Rays series, you’re truly missing out. While most of the books in the series feature polyamorous relationships—in a variety of dynamics—I definitely recommend starting with Pucking Around—or That One Night, the shortie prequel. Rachel, Jake, Caleb, and Mars’ relationships lay the foundation for the rest of the series, as well as the in-betweener bonus scenes that Emily has gathered together in multiple Pucking Ever After volumes.
Oh, and there’s another pierced peen.
Author of the Week
There have been a lot of authors I’ve connected with during my tenure in the book community, several of whom, like me, have bridged the gap from reader to writer. One of those authors is Anna P, who, in my opinion, writes some of the best fat, queer, and South Indian characters around.
Her latest release, Almost Always, is the sixth and final book her Love is Wildes series, an interconnected, smalltown romance series. I’ve been a fan of the series from the very beginning, and I’m pleased to say that Daisy and Raff’s love story was well worth the wait.
*Cue SNL’s Stefan* This book has everything—tattoos as a love language, childhood friends-to-lovers, a single dad with meddling kiddo (and more importantly, a man bun), queer and BIPOC characters. I said it before and I’ll say it again; Anna’s diverse representation is unmatched. It’s also very casual, meaning that her bigger bodied characters and queer characters are just that—fat and queer.
Their body types and sexual identities are not treated as plot lines or negative personality traits, but rather, elements of who they are.
Just as they should be in real life.
Hot Take of the Week
Apparently, I woke up this morning and chose violence. This might be more controversial than some of my previous takes, especially when you consider the conventions of the genre, but (sigh) it’s 2025, and it needs to be said.
We need to retire the “one true pairing” or “one true love” trope.
Hear me out. This is coming from a romance author who does not and has never believed in one true love or love at first sight. On the contrary, I believe there are hundreds, if not thousands, of people out there that we could love. So, why are we still perpetuating an idealized, Disney princess idea of love?
I recognize that subgenres like Omegaverse—or at least, my rudimentary understanding of Omegaverse—rely on this trope, and that’s fine. I guess. That being said, I would love to see it retired from contemporary romance immediately, if not sooner.
Got any more sword crossing romance books to recommend? How about a word or author you’d love to see highlighted in a future issue of Smut Street? Please let me know in the comments! In the meantime…
Be feral. Stay dangerous.
xo
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