Blush & Bindings
Blush & Bindings is your new favorite romance book podcast, where we break down stigmas, lift up love stories, and get cozy with the pages that bind us together. From contemporary and historical to paranormal and fantasy, we explore all the romance sub-genres you love (and some you didn’t even know you needed!). Join your three hosts for fun book club discussions, trope breakdowns, and TBR recommendations—all with plenty of humor and heart. Whether you're new to romance or a seasoned pro, there’s a story waiting for you here at Blush & Bindings!
Blush & Bindings
Modern Affections- Contemporary Romance Series Opener
Welcome to the series opener of Modern Affections, where, your hosts—Kacy, Lauren, and Lindsey—dive into the wonderful world of contemporary romance. From small town meet-cutes to grump sunshine pairings, they break down why contemporary romance is often considered the "gateway" romance genre and tease the exciting sub-genres they’ll be covering in upcoming episodes for this series.
Each host also shares their top TBR picks in the contemporary romance genre, Including ones they have read and loved and ones that are on their own TBRs, giving you plenty of must-reads to add to your list. Whether you’re a seasoned romance reader or just starting your love affair with the genre, this episode will get you excited for what’s to come!
This episode contains mature themes and explicit content recommended for those who are 18+. Listener discretion is advised.
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The views and opinions expressed in this episode are those of the hosts and do not necessarily reflect the views of any affiliated authors, publishers, or platforms. All content is for entertainment and informational purposes only and should not be considered professional or legal advice. Blush & Bindings and its hosts are not liable for any decisions made based on the content of this podcast.
Welcome to Bush and Bindings. I'm Lindsey here with my amazing co-hosts Lauren and Kacy. In this podcast, we explore the romance genre in all its glory. Today's episode is a series opener for Modern Affections. Where we'll crack the cover of the contemporary romance sub genre with our Romance 1 0 1 Segment. Give you a sneak peek of what's coming up in, Book Club, and share our top genre TBR recommendations.
Kacy:Yeah, we're talking about everything from small town meet cutes to those grumpy sunshine pairings we love so much.
Lauren:So grab your favorite drink, get cozy, and settle in for a great episode.
Lindsey:All right, so let's start with the basics. What is considered contemporary romance anyway? Obviously the word contemporary makes you think modern, but in literary terms, when does contemporary romance really start?
Kacy:When I think contemporary, I think today. Like, it could happen right now, in my apartment, with me.
Lauren:On the couch.
Lindsey:haha
Kacy:So,
Lindsey:In the bed
Kacy:haha. I think that it is very easy to imagine that sort of world because it's happening today, and I don't really have to think about what was the world like 100 years ago or 500 years ago or on another planet or so on and so forth. So when I think contemporary, I think it happened in the last 20 or so years.
Lindsey:Just really keeping it in the here and now.
Kacy:Yeah, keep it in the here and now is I think the way contemporary really is. A lot of people online have said it's post World War I or post World War II, which I think could be argued, but I think most people think of contemporary as recent years.
Lindsey:I do understand the argument for that post World War contemporary romance, but I think the caveat to that is that if the writer was writing during those times. So obviously not going quite back that far, but you know, in the late sixties, early seventies, we have Jackie Collins, and if they were writing, in that day and time, so they're writing like it's the late sixties, early seventies, then I would consider that contemporary because it's the writer's here and now. However, if they were writing something that was 50 years prior, then that would be a historical period piece.
Kacy:Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. If you're writing something that is back in the 80s or the 70s or the 20s, I would consider that you were writing not contemporary, you're writing some sort of period piece of the 1900s or the 20th century.
Lindsey:No, I do think it's really interesting because everyone has a different definition of when contemporary romance starts for them. I would say contemporary romance starts for me in the late 90s, early 2000s because in those early 2000s I could have picked up a contemporary romance novel and been reading it and relating to it. I think that the contemporary period for maybe readers who have been reading contemporary romance longer, it might span a little bit further because maybe the first pieces that they read were written in the late 80s and 90s. So I do think it really can vary from person to person, but it could be something that we would see generally in the here and now.
Lauren:And I think a great distinction to make is it's in this world without magic, because we do have paranormal, which happens in a contemporary setting. It's not a fantasy world. That is a paranormal romance versus a contemporary it's happening here. We've got your everyday people doing everyday things to an extent. I know you get into some, darker romance where you have things that...
Lindsey:You're not so everyday stalkers?
Lauren:Yeah, you're not so everyday stalkers, right? Or you're not so everyday mafia people. I'm not sure. I'm not going to speak to the real mafia. But it's relatable. It could be happening to people in this, day and age. You've got real characters without any sort of magical element.
Kacy:Magical, sci-fi anything outside of what literally could happen in my apartment. I'm just kidding. Literally in this world.
Lauren:Yeah.
Lindsey:Yeah.
Lauren:We can talk about the tropes that we find most often in contemporary romance. I'm talking... second chance, grumpy sunshine, forbidden loves, like age gap or best friend's brother, you name it. Contemporary Romance is a huge umbrella for the subgenres. And you can find multiple of those subgenres within one contemporary romance novel.
Kacy:Yeah, I would say most contemporary romance novels I have read have always been second chance or friends to lovers or childhood friends to lovers once they're adults and they re-meet as adults. Grumpy sunshine is definitely popular in contemporary, because I think everyone really likes, a grump man, typically. At least, I do.
Lauren:Did you know the opposite of a grumpy sunshine? Normally the man's the grump, the woman's the sunshine, but you could have a golden retriever black cat energy.
Kacy:Oo, I really like that one.
Lauren:Where he's the sunshine, he's got golden retriever energy and she's the grump black cat energy. I've heard that term used I and I like it.
Lindsey:I like that better than just reverse grumpy sunshine. That's kind of boring. I do like the golden retriever black cat. That's fun. I hadn't heard that before.
Kacy:I feel like I've heard of, the golden retriever boyfriend stereotype, but I don't think I've heard black cat for women, which honestly makes a lot of sense. I like it.
Lindsey:I do feel like some of the contemporary that I've read, and I haven't read a lot, but there is some of that forced proximity. Where they're kind of stuck together and they can't escape.
Lauren:It's very common in the workplace rival.
Lindsey:Yes
Lauren:I would say, where they're forced to work together on a project or they're sent somewhere where they have to be together. That's very common or in the mafia romance where, you've got your marriage of convenience or arranged marriage trope. That forced proximity is what drives that storyline, and brings the characters together kind of against their will.
Lindsey:That's one of the tropes that I really like, is that forced proximity. I think the forced proximity is a fun trope to explore in a contemporary romance.
Kacy:Yeah I feel like in the subgenre of contemporary, in the military commando police subgenre, forced proximity is a fairly large trope that goes in there because there is also the trope that it's the damsel in distress that they need to save somehow. The big alpha protective commando needs to swoop in and save the day, but usually that comes with... you have to stay by my side so I can protect you. But then, the FMC is like, nah... and then she tries to do her own thing. And then it turns out not to be good and he has to come save her anyways. It's very, very typical.
Lindsey:So she's like trying to be this strong, independent FMC, but not really quite getting there?
Kacy:More she's trying to be like, I don't need your help but then she ends up needing it because let's say the mob's involved, and she gets kidnapped, and then the commando has to come in to the mob house and be like, give me back my woman. It's very common.
Lindsey:Yeah.
Lauren:Yeah, and that's pretty common in the motorcycle club.
Kacy:Oh yeah, very common. They get kidnapped by the rival motorcycle club.
Lauren:Yeah, another trope too, especially with motorcycle club is found family. Where... they have a troubled past and they found community and family within the motorcycle club.
Lindsey:I love found family. It is very common in romantasy.
Kacy:Yeah.
Lindsey:And that is something in doing my little contemporary walkabout that if I see that trope listed in a book description, I'm all for it. I'm gobbling it up.
Lauren:Yeah. Add so much character dynamics and different relationships that you get to experience, throughout a series and often leads to more books. So you don't have to say goodbye to that storyline and that world. You get more of it, which I really like.
Lindsey:Well, and that's one thing I've noticed a lot in searching for more contemporary romance novels to read is those series that I'm so used to, okay, here's the first book and there's so much world building. there's so much whether it's paranormal, whether it's romantasy, whatever, there's so much world building that needs to happen that the character arcs take multiple books, but generally it's following the same couple across those books. What I'm coming to learn is that in Contemporary Romance, it'll be those characters that are like side characters in the other novels. And they're technically standalone.
Lauren:It's interconnected standalone.
Lindsey:It is. Yeah. And do I need to read them in order? And people are like, you don't have to read them in order, but then there's this like internal struggle because some people are like, yes, you do. It's a very different dynamic that I was not expecting.
Kacy:Yeah, one of my favorite things about contemporary is the fact that you can have a series about literally eight different couples that are all in periphery of each other within the same town, or even the same friend group. And so you get to experience all those relationships and what they each individually go through. But you also get to revisit those other couples that you've already read and get like a little inside look of what's happened to them since their book ended.
Lauren:You get a little check in!
Kacy:Yeah, which is honestly one of my favorite things about contemporary is the fact that, oh, I get to see what's happened to this couple that I got really invested in later on after their happy ever after.
Lauren:Yeah, I think you get little mini epilogues.
Kacy:Yeah.
Lindsey:That's what I was going to say.
Lauren:Which is great. And also you get to see the development of certain characters in previous books too. Sheds a little bit of light. You just get a little bit more. I love how contemporary reflects, the real world relationships and everyday struggles mixed in with the romance. It can be more relatable for people than fantasy or paranormal because in general, these things can happen in real life. But on the contrary to that, I know some people who don't like contemporary at all because they don't want that in a book. They want to escape. Yeah, I see Lindsey raising her hand. They don't want nothing to do with the real world. And they don't want to read about it. They don't want to read about the complicated relationships that could happen. They want something different.
Kacy:Yeah.
Lauren:Something out of this world.
Kacy:Yeah literally, that's me. I love alien romance, or sci fi romance. And that's because it literally takes me off Earth most of the time, or it starts me off on Earth, and then I'm shipped somewhere else, and it's great, because I get to learn about a new world, a new culture, a new species, and it's a form of escapism, I think we can all agree on that, and that's what's so great about the romance genre as a whole, is it can give you the level of escapism you desire from a novel, to the level you want it to be, because you can go with contemporary, which is a base sort of escapism, where you're in reality. It could happen, but then it goes all the way to an eight foot tall lizard alien man with a split tongue on a desert planet. You know?
Lauren:Dragon Shifter?
Kacy:Dragon shifters, spiders, velociraptors, doors. It gets crazy out there.
Lindsey:It does. It does get crazy out there, but I think for a lot of people, contemporary romance is the gateway into the romance genre because it is a little bit more palatable. It's easier to relate to.
Kacy:It's typically what's on your mother's shelf.
Lindsey:right? Right. Yes. And how many people started with a rom com or a breezy romance set in the real world versus some of these really intricate world building. Now, from my perspective, and my own personal reading journey is I went straight from that. YA fantasy deep into the land of romantasy. I never looked back. Not only did I want, but I needed that escapism. I wanted the world building. It's all I really knew. And I just, listened to one of my first contemporary romance novels a little while ago, and I was like, whoa, that was a nice read. That went quickly. I don't have such a massive book hangover, and not to say that contemporary romance novels cannot give you a book hangover.
Lauren:It's different. I like to layer. Fantasy, contemporary, fantasy, contemporary, because it's hard to jump from one new fantasy world to the next once you're done with the series. So I throw in a nice little contemporary in there as a palette cleanser, if you will. Yes.
Kacy:Yeah
Lauren:Can I just say the thing I love about contemporary is the variety you can get in a single book. Take Elsie Silver's novel from the Chestnut Spring series, Flawless. The first book in her series, and I have it right here because I love it so much, is in the single book. It's a cowboy romance, forced proximity in a workplace. It's a sports romance because the MMC is a professional bull rider. It's got so much to offer. And there are so many more books like it out there with all those sub genres in it.
Lindsey:You can find that unique combination of tropes and themes and subgenres that, you love, or that are perfect for you, and there's going to be one out there. You just have to find it.
Kacy:Yeah, that's definitely one of the best parts about contemporary is that you can find a mixture of subgenres and a mixture of tropes in what you want without branching into paranormal, or sci fi, or historical, or anything like that. You can find what you want through contemporary, which is why I think a lot of people see it as a gateway genre, because you can find what you want, and when you want to step out of your box, it's very easy to do so, because you're so used to contemporary and what you can find there, and then you can step into another genre like paranormal and be like, well, I want shifters now, but I don't really want them to shift into like wolves. I just want them to have the whole Alpha Omega thing. Right. Which is, a slight step into the direction outside of contemporary.
Lauren:And you can jump around too, just because you're a contemporary reader doesn't mean you can't bounce back and forth like we do. It's great out there. It's a amazing time to be a reader.
Lindsey:Well, what's really cool is we can grow and adapt as readers and our journeys aren't static. You know, we're going to have times where we want to read certain things. I would say I'm probably a bit of a mood reader I don't know about-you-guys?
Kacy:Yes.
Lindsey:But you don't have to just stay in one place. Our tastes, who we are as people grow and what we need from our books grows and changes as well and romance is such a wonderful genre because it can adapt to all those different needs.
Lauren:And the growing diversity in romance books as well. I just read one of my first sapphic romances and it was amazing. It was Tryst Six Venom by Penelope Douglas and I loved it.
Lindsey:So I know there's a lot of things to love about the contemporary romance genre on the flip side, though, are there some things that maybe aren't your favorite or trope offs that you might have that you see that are pretty common in the contemporary romance genre?
Lauren:I know one for all of us, and it's the bully romance.
Kacy:Yeah
Lindsey:Yeah.
Lauren:Particularly like college bully, starting in high school and moving up, bully romance. We've had this conversation offline. I think it's worth saying it here as well. It's just, it feels a bit toxic.
Kacy:Yeah and I think I struggle with toxicity, but I also struggle with miscommunication and a lot of the bully romances start from a miscommunication, whether that be someone tell the bully something about the FMC or the MMC, and that starts the bullying, and then it's just a circle of toxicity, but I won't yuck someone's yum.
Lindsey:Yeah. We're trying to break down those stigmas. We want to lift up every type of love story, whether one person thinks it might be a little toxic and someone's like, I'm here for it. Just because you enjoy reading about something does not mean that that's necessarily what you want in real life. Like Kacy said, everyone can have different preferences. We're here to bring everyone together and see what we like, If you don't like it, don't read it.
Lauren:If you like it, more power to you. I mean, I'm definitely one of those people. I like dark romance. Doesn't mean I want a stalker in real life.
Kacy:I like... haha
Lauren:You like aliens!
Kacy:I like aliens, and I like the big alpha possessive man, and I do not want that in real life. Like, no thank you! I Just like reading about it sometimes. And those split tongues, you know, the, unique anatomy... they might have
Lauren:anatomy!
Kacy:laughing
Lindsey:Seven foot wing spans... anybody?
Lauren:Oh yeah
Lindsey:Anyways.
Lauren:So, going back to bully romance there is a lot of books out there right now that are really popular that are college bully romances. You know, more often than not, they kind of ride that line of contemporary dark romance.
Kacy:Yes.
Lauren:Like Shantel Tessier's The Ritual, which is classified as a dark college romance, and I started listening to that one. I haven't quite finished it yet, but it starts out very much as like a bully romance, or Corrupt by Penelope Douglas.
Kacy:That's very popular.
Lauren:It's super popular. It's reverse harem, kind of why choose and it's such a bully romance and I started reading that one and honestly I dnf'd it because they were just being so mean to her and I couldn't get past it. And there's often something more going on with the characters that kind of prompt the bullying, like you said, Kacy, or sometimes it's a way to build tension between the main characters. But sometimes it can come off to me as immature expression of emotions. Taking your issues out on somebody else.
Kacy:Yeah, which is why I think us as a whole being in our 30s, it's not something that's attractive to us anymore, right? Whereas when I was in my early 20s, I definitely was into the miscommunication trope, really terrible enemies to lovers tropes like not the well written ones, bully romances I definitely read my fair share all that sort of stuff and I think as you grow what you like changes, which is totally fine It just so happens that we notice that bully romances tend to be college or right outside of college.
Lindsey:So if you're looking for that and you want that bully romance, or you like that trope searching for books that are written for that college setting, you might find more of that trope Just trying equip everyone with the tools to find what they're looking for.
Kacy:Mm now, since this is the first episode of our Modern Affection series, we're not diving into a specific book today. Instead, we want to give you a little sneak peek at what's coming up in this series.
Lauren:Yeah, we've got some fun sub genres to explore in our upcoming episodes, including sports, military commando, cowboy, and motorcycle club,
Lindsey:And for our next episode, Love in the End Zone, we're getting into world of sports romance with our book club pick. The book we will be reading For that episode is Icebreaker by Hannah Grace. We know this book is all over BookTok and Bookstagram. It's got over 900, 000 ratings on Goodreads, guys.
Kacy:Mygod.
Lindsey:My Yeah. So many of you have probably already read it, but if you haven't, grab a copy and read up so you can join us in our book club session.
Kacy:Yeah, there is a huge cult following for this book and it's been recommended as one of the sports romance novels to get new readers into sports romance, but it does seem as if there's either a five star love it reaction or a nope one star did not enjoy.
Lauren:Personally, I'm super excited to read it. I've prioritized a lot of other sports romances over this one, and I've yet to jump on the bandwagon. It'll be interesting to see what all the hype is about and see if it holds up. I've seen on BookTok various hockey players actually reading excerpts of the spicy scenes and showing their reactions. And honestly, it's kind of drummed up some interest for me to read it, just because their reactions are, are funny. But you know what? We'll have to wait and see.
Lindsey:Yeah, agreed, agreed. We've said it multiple times, but the contemporary romance genre is so expansive and we're by no means experts, but it's going to be so fun to expand our horizons and see what this book is all about.
Lauren:For our series opener episodes, like this one, we're each going to share two things. First, one of our all time favorite contemporary romances. And second, a book that's on our TBR and that falls into the contemporary romance genre that we really want to read.
Lindsey:But before we dive in, don't forget to check out our host reader profiles on our website or our socials. You can see what genres, tropes, and themes each of us loves, as well as the things that kind of turn us off. So you'll know whose recommendations might match your reading tastes.
Kacy:Okay, I'll kick things off. My all time favorite contemporary romance has to be Rock Chick by Kristen Ashley. The whole series, which each book follows a different couple, which is very typical in contemporary romance, I have read or listened to them all about a million times. The entire series is great, but the first book is just what I would consider a chef's kiss. You get a second chance romance as well as a protective badass who will do anything to keep the FMC safe, even if that means handcuffing her to the bed. Which we all love.
Lauren:I love that.
Kacy:And the top book on my TBR right now for contemporary romance is Butterface by Avery Flynn. I've heard great things and I'm interested to see how they'll dive into the social commentary on attractiveness in a relationship and how it affects all types of relationships, whether it be intimate or casual. And I'm really looking forward to digging into it.
Lindsey:Oo, those sound like really good choices. Let's see... for me, I have to admit that I've only had a few contemporary romances that I've read. So my list of all time favorites is probably a little small. It's slim pickings over here, but I'm working on it. One that I read recently that did kind of become an instant favorite more so than some others that I've read was The Summer Proposal by Vi Keeland. It's short. It's sweet. I listened to it on Audible. I believe it was like an eight hour listen, but coming from the romantasy world, it was a nice palette cleanser, so to speak. Not to say that it didn't hold its own in its beautifully written story. It was just a nice change of pace. The, unique approach to how the FMC and MMC met was really fun. He kind of crashed her blind date. Side note. It is a bit of a sports romance because he is a hockey player. Now it's not the main focus, but you know, I guess the theme is hockey. The conflict that emerges is something that I personally haven't read before. She is in a open relationship that she doesn't want to be in, and so you can read the cover of the book, but there were moments that I really liked, that really hit home for me, it was really cool, like, he planned something for her and she didn't have to do anything. It was, oh, it was great. I was like, this is turning me on and it's not even a spicy scene.
Lauren:It's the little, things sometimes in the romance, the little romantic things that have nothing to do with the spice.
Kacy:No, it just proves he cares.
Lauren:Yeah.
Lindsey:Right. Right. It was so nice. I mean, there were a few that fell short. There are some, elements in it, that deal with family loss and, sickness, but it wasn't so heavy. It was done in a really nice way that still made the story feel light. But so that one was really good. On my TBR is Ana Huang's King of Sloth, which is book four of the Kings of Sins series. I know it's not the first one. I usually feel the need to read things in order. I picked it for the character dynamic. I really wanted that reverse grumpy sunshine or, golden retriever black cat energy. I wanted to try it and I have a very long TBR list. So I was like, well, what if I just jump right into this one? So that's on my TBR.
Lauren:I'm going to add to your TBR list, Lindsey.
Lindsey:Ohno.
Lauren:I do have to say, so I'm a huge fan of Ana Huang. You've got to start with the Twisted series before moving on to the Kings of Sin series. Only because there are character cameos from the Twisted series in the Kings of Sin books. And both series are set in the same world, so you get kind of, like we talked about before, mini epilogues on the lives of the Twisted couples in the Kings of Sin series. And also sometimes those couples come back and interact with the others. That's the only reason that I would highly suggest reading the Twisted series first. You could get away with just jumping into the Kings of Sin. But it's one of those interconnected stand alones that just is better if you read it in order.
Lindsey:Okay.
Lauren:That would be my advice.
Lindsey:I guess okay my TBR is going to explode because what that's like eight books, but I'll get to it sometime.
Lauren:Okay.
Lindsey:We'll get there. we'll get there.
Lauren:It's just a better experience in my opinion, because you know what? I actually read the Twisted series, the fourth book first, because I did not know. I just stumbled upon it. From BookTok and I was like, this sounds great. And I read it and then I was a little bummed because I already knew what happens with the previous characters. And I wish I could have experienced their love story from the beginning instead of jumping in halfway through.
Lindsey:Can you tell we're influenced by BookTok here at all?
Kacy:I love BookTok even though I don't have TikTok anymore.
Lauren:I think for my TBR pick for this category, which was really hard. I feel like I read the most contemporary romance out of all of us, I may be tied with you Kacy. I love contemporary romance. I think also I read a lot of dark romance which, tends to be contemporary. My TBR pick is Give Me More, which is part of the Salacious Players Club series by Sarah Cate. Man, that author can write the most dynamic spice while also doing a fantastic job of educating a reader in kink without shame. To me, it seems like she's done her research, she did a really good job. This one follows the development of a throuple relationship. There's bi awakening in the book. It's fantastic. I dive more into this series and others like it on a upcoming after dark romance episode with Kacy. We go into contemporary subgenres like stalker romance, dark-e r mafia romance, serial killer storylines like Butcher and Blackbird by Brynn Weaver. My gosh, this book is amazing. I would recommend listening to it on Audible or the Mindfuck Series by S. T. Abbey, also serial killer related. It's amazing. Trigger warnings, so many trigger warnings with all of these. And for my TBR want to read, I am adding, going completely opposite direction, is Wild Eyes by Elsie Silver. I will read anything by her. Her Goldrush Ranch, and like I mentioned earlier, Chestnut Springs series, have me in a chokehold. And this new Rose Hill series I can tell is going to be really good. Wild Eyes is the second book, and I'm really excited about this one. I may be wrong, but I think the entire series is focused on the single dad trope, which seems to be growing in popularity. I'm seeing more and more of the single dad trope and I think I read the first one in the series, Wild Love, and I think this one is also a single dad trope, so.
Kacy:Oh, well all of those sound amazing and my TBR list is just gonna explode, per usual.
Lindsey:Guys, that's it for today's episode. We hope you enjoyed this deep dive into contemporary romance. Make sure to join us next time as we dive into sports romance with our book club pick Icebreaker by Hannah Grace and our episode titled Love in the End Zone.
Kacy:And don't forget to follow us at Blush and Bindings with no spaces on all socials for more updates and behind the scenes fun.
Lauren:Thank's for tuning in to Blush and Bindings where we're breaking down stigmas, lifting up love stories and getting cozy with the pages that bind us together.
