As a creative, I very seldom leave critical reviews because I know how much effort is output for creative endeavors. But after listening to several episodes in order to form a balanced opinion, I must share some, hopefully constructive criticism. After rebooting my teenage love for historical romance in the past year, I have listened to many romance review podcasts, and of all of them, this is my least favorite. Most podcasts tend to have enthusiasm for the things they are reviewing. But this show tends to lean heavily into lambasting the books and authors they review. Many times I’ve had to DNF an episode because the criticizing and misunderstanding of a novel was so egregious.
Understandably, opinions are subjective, so I won’t fault them for not liking everything I enjoy, but it’s absolutely puzzling to me that they so often misremember or completely misrepresent situations that were clearly stated in the book. I’ll also admit that I rarely read contemporary or fantasy romance, so perhaps these hosts prefer those novels and review them more positively than historicals, but they are constantly judging 17th and 18th century characters through a 20th century lens, and admonishing characters for not being as enlightened as they are. Maybe the author in a book may point out the wrongs of a societal norm, but I do not expect a character from 1876 to act like a modern day man or woman. I would not expect them to look at “diet culture” or “body image” (thoroughly 20th century concepts) the way we do now. There are many other romance review podcast that actually share my enjoyment for the genre that I will continue to listen to. Maybe I will jump back in on this one in the future to see if their opinions have turned more to the lighter side of literature, because reading should be enjoyable.
