Hi everyone! Today on Pop! Goes The Reader I’m super excited to welcome two of my favourite authors, Rebecca Podos and Ashley Herring Blake, to the blog to share the exclusive cover reveal for their upcoming young adult anthology, Fools In Love: Fresh Twists on Romantic Tales!
Coming to a bookstore and library near you December 7th 2021 by Running Press Kids, Fools In Love gives fifteen phenomenal authors the opportunity to reimagine some of the most popular tropes in the romance genre, including fake relationships, enemies-to-lovers, mistaken identities and much, much more! The contributor list for this collection is absolutely incredible and it’s easily one of my most-anticipated releases in the latter half of 2021.
Please read on to learn more about Fools In Love, including an exclusive cover reveal and a note from its editors, Rebecca and Ashley, as well as a chance for three lucky readers to win advance copies of the book. I dare you not to fall head-over-heels in love with this book!
About Rebecca Podos
Rebecca Podos is the Lambda Literary Award-winning author of YA novels. Her forthcoming books include the co-edited anthology Fools In LoveE (Running Press Kids, 2021), and From Dust, A Flame (Balzer + Bray, 2022). By day, she’s an agent at the Rees Literary Agency. (Author Photo Credit: Zaynah Qutubuddin)
About Ashley Herring Blake
Ashley Herring Blake is an award-winning author and literary agent at Rees Literary Agency. She is the author of six novels for young adults and middle grade readers, as well as the adult romance novel Delilah Green Doesn’t Care. She lives on a very tiny island off the coast of Georgia with her family. (Author Photo Credit: Craig Pope)
Dear Readers,
When we sold this anthology and recruited our contributors, it was January 2020. None of us could’ve guessed how the world would change in the months to come, or how our relationships would change — with our families and friends, with partners and potential partners. Some grew stronger under the pressure, or more intimate despite the distance. Some did not.
It’s no surprise that romance stories set before or beyond the pandemic (or in a different world altogether) have been a welcome escape. Romance tropes are familiar and beloved blueprints for relationships that take on lives of their own, and we’ve loved disappearing into these characters’ lives for a while. There’s struggle and sadness, sure, but the Happily Ever After on the horizon always keeps us going and gives us hope.
As the months passed and the world seemed to fall to pieces, reading these stories and writing our own was a balm. With every word penned by the amazing contributors we’re lucky to feature — whether they’re about finding your soul mate across time and space, rival superheroes realizing they don’t hate each other at all, or two teens at a Passover Seder faking and then falling in love — we found a respite. Not only was it entertaining and just damn fun, but it was also sustaining. Love, as it turns out, still conquered all.
By the time this anthology is published, we have every hope that the world will be a brighter and healthier place. We hope we’ll get to see our readers in bookstores and gush over our contributors in person. And, in the meantime, we hope you’ll enjoy escaping into these stories, losing yourself in your all-time favorite trope, and rooting for the happy ending we all deserve.
Love,
Ashley Herring Blake and Rebecca Podos
Cover design by Marissa Raybuck, Cover art by Abbey Lossing
Title Fools In Love: Fresh Twists on Romantic Tales
Edited By Rebecca Podos and Ashley Herring Blake
Contributing Authors Rebecca Barrow, Gloria Chao, Mason Deaver, Sara Farizan, Claire Kann, Malinda Lo, Hannah Moskowitz, Natasha Ngan, Lilliam Rivera, Laura Silverman, Amy Spalding, Rebecca Kim Wells, Julian Winters
Intended Target Audience Young Adult
Publication Date December 7th 2021 by Running Press Kids
Find It On Running Press ● Hachette Book Group ● Goodreads ● Amazon ● Chapters ● The Book Depository ● Barnes & Noble ● IndieBound
Fake relationships. Enemies to lovers. Love triangles and best friends, mistaken identities and missed connections.
These are the tropes that romance is made from. Then add in powerful flora, a superhero and his nemesis, a fantastical sled race through snow-capped mountains, a golf tournament, the wrong ride-share, and even the end of the world. This collection of genre-bending and original stories shows how love always finds a way — whether at a family party or transcending space and time.
Join fifteen bestselling, award-winning, and up-and-coming authors as they reimagine some of the most popular themes in the romance genre that are sure to steal your heart.
Three lucky readers will advance reader copies of Fools In Love: Fresh Twists on Romantic Tales edited by Rebecca Podos and Ashley Herring Blake! This contest is open to U.S. residents only. Winners will be chosen at random at the conclusion of the giveaway and the prizes will distributed once ARCs become available.
14 Responses
All the tropes!!!! I’m into it. Can’t wait!
So excited for this!!!
I enjoy friends to more and enemies to lovers.
my all time favorite trope is childhood best friends to lovers, with TONS of angst!
friends to lovers for the win
i absolutely love the enemies to lovers trope — just one bed? gasp!! guess we’ll have to make do…. just don’t cross ur side!!
Enemies to loverrrrrrs!
fake dating
enemies to loverrrs!
enemies to lovers and friends to lovers
Enemies to Lovers and Friends to Lovers will always be my favorite romantic tropes! They are just so fun to read!
I’m huge fan of the fake dating trope! I especially love when the couple in question have to spend a holiday with family members. You get the *yearning* and the domestic fluff.
This sounds so good! My favorite trope is friends-to-lovers.
It’s a tie between enemies to lovers and childhood friends 🙂
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