To my rock star romance loving friends:
As you might know, since June of 2021, I have been obsessed with finding every single rockstar romance book that had ever been published, even if it’s no longer available to purchase and read anymore. I wanted to find them all, because I figured it was a newer subgenre of romance (unlike, say, historical romance, which has been around for decades)—and I confirmed that with my research. Rockstar romance really picked up speed in the middle ’00s.
Finding them all (sounds like an anime phenomenon, doesn’t it? *wink*) was my goal. I started out by finding all the books I could remember and then branching out from there. I scoured lists (“shelves” on Goodreads), utilized Google to find blog posts and pages, and searched Amazon for currently published books, and I began organizing titles by their first original publishing date. I had a lot of fun doing it and it quickly became an obsession. I had to find every single one.
The problem? Every time I thought I was reaching the light at the end of the tunnel, I found more. Not just one more, but dozens. So I’ve updated those original blog posts dozens of times now. And I keep finding more.
So here it is, nine months later, and I am still finding books, both old and new. In everyday life, I would be getting close to having a baby. But this baby’s nowhere near finished—I know that now. Looking back, I wonder why I thought I could take on this monumental task but I think it was naïveté. At the time, it looked like a hill when it was actually Everest. Today, I think I may have located most of the books published prior to 2021, but if someone told me I hadn’t, I would believe them. There’s no way I’ve catalogued every single book.
My original plan consisted of a few ideas that fed into a larger collection of those books cross-referenced. I’d also hoped to share new books as they were released. But I now know that I cannot continue devoting my precious time to this project. It really has eaten up more hours and days and weeks than I’d ever dreamed. I won’t take down the posts I’ve already created, but I’m not going to add to them anymore—unless, of course, another author or reader tells me, “Hey! You forgot this one!” But I’m not going to go searching anymore. What I thought would take a month or two has now taken far longer than that and has become never ending.
I should be publishing my own books, not blog posts about others! That’s not to say I don’t want to share my friends’ releases. I just need to keep my readers happy, too!
So, even though I originally bit off more than I could chew, I’ve found a way to have my cake and eat it, too. (Two eating clichés in one! Imagine that!) One offshoot of this project (that wasn’t my original intention but worked out well) is a weekly Rockstar Romance Deals page that I update every Wednesday. I’ve also incorporated these books into my weekly newsletter. So, even though I’m not completely abandoning my original project, I’ve scaled it back quite a bit. So folks following me can still get weekly rock star romance picks AND get a new book from me regularly!
I’m no longer delusional. 😉 I know what I can handle and what I can’t, which is most of the battle!
One thing I can assure you, though, now that I’ve put in hundreds of hours of research: rock star romance isn’t going anywhere, and there are dozens of new titles published every single month. On top of that, you can find just about any subgenre or trope your heart desires (we’re talking sweet or steamy, adult, YA, or NA, other music “flavors” like country or pop, MM, enemies to lovers, small town, female rockers, ménage, single father, second chance, instalove, standalones or series…the list really does go on and on).
So…for those of you who’d been taking a trip down memory lane with me when I first started this project or those of you who found out what I was doing later, I apologize if you were wanting me to keep going. I hope this new angle keeps you happy and buried in rockstar reads anyway!
But, if you stumbled upon this page and wonder what the heck I’m talking about, you can check out the scope and endgame of this project here:
The Ultimate Compilation of Rock Star Romance
Rockstar Romance Reads (new list every Wednesday)
If you want weekly reminders, you can subscribe to my newsletter.
Rock on,
Jade
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