Rachel Reid's Weirdest Romance Novel Tropes

Added: 2026-05-27

[00:00:00]Speaking as someone who became the world's most successful author on the on the back of uh same-sex hockey romance, what is the most specific type of romance that you personally have enjoyed? Oh, wow.

[00:00:16]Um that I've enjoyed? Cuz I've definitely [laughter] tried a few things.

[00:00:22]>> I say this as somebody who recently read for our our show Reading Smut, I recently read a book it was a called a reverse harem novel.

[00:00:32]>> Uh-huh. Um and it and it was but it was among shape-shifting mermen and mermaids, and also the mermen were in a biker gang.

[00:00:47]Yeah.

[00:00:47]>> was very violent, also. Extreme lots of vi- biker gang violence. That is a lot.

[00:00:53]I've definitely read books like that.

[00:00:55]I've read I know I read one that was like a merman who >> [laughter] >> got impregnated by a dragon shifter?

[00:01:04]>> Yes. Now we're talking.

[00:01:06]>> his eggs.

[00:01:08]>> [laughter] >> And, you know, it wasn't for me, but I'm glad it's for someone. [laughter] I mean, it speaks to >> I feel embarrassed that I'm not as familiar with merman reproductive biology [laughter] as I should be, but is it like seahorses where the >> seahorses where the there's an egg sack >> Traditional male presenting mermen carry the eggs. Interesting. Cool.

[00:01:27]Yeah.

[00:01:27]>> That's fun. I I think it speaks to books, though. Like the the more the the more uh and I say this without value judgment, absurd edges of fantasy romance speak to the power of books because uh in a book that can feel exciting and tangible and real in a way that if you were looking at a moving picture of it, you might only be able to roll your eyes. Whereas, you can engage in the kind of feelings that something like a merman getting impregnated engender uh without it just being silly because it's it lives in a slightly abstracted imaginary world cuz it's words on a page.

[00:02:08]>> Yeah, I don't think I'd want to watch a merman lay a dragon's eggs, but Okay, we agree to disagree. Yeah, we just got a hundred letters. [laughter]