Friday Fun #2: Treat Your Self

Happy Friday lovely readers!

The world is a wee bit wobbly right now. There is a lot of uncertainty which is why we are here to remind you that now more than ever, remember to stop, take a breath, and take care of yourself and your mental well being. This is especially the case if you are a parent, a caregiver, a provider, whether you are working from home or out of it right now, self care is monumental to keeping everything together.

So, today we here at Sword & Silk want you to Treat Your Self, and by that we mean, embrace those ‘guilty pleasure reads’ sans the guilt.

Some real talk here. The reading world comes with its own pressures and judgments about good and bad literature, but the cornerstone of this activity is to read what you enjoy. We firmly encourage you to read, and read whatever you love, want, and need.

Whether that is a nostalgic series you read as a kid, that stack of Harlequins on your nightstand, or that YA series you’ve read nine times, these are your go to comfort reads. And now more than ever, we need this outlet in our lives.

And these genres provide much needed therapy for the soul. They give us warmth, happy endings, beautiful moments, and mental nourishment. So please, take a few hours where you can today, tomorrow, soon, and sink into a book or genre you love, guilt free.

Here are the Sword & Silk Staff's Favorite Guilt-Less Pleasure Reads:

MB: Definitely, Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series. Give me some Jamie Fraser, please and thank you. A Court of Mists and Fury is my I WANT TO READ IT ALL THE TIME read.

Laynie: Cheezy, smutty old Harlequin romances and feel good ya contemporaries.

JM: Not one in particular but I am trash for a smutty paranormal romance with all the clichés or a quick contemporary romance with my favorite tropes a la Vi Keeland/Penelope Ward or Karina Halle

Lucy: For sure, R.L. Matthewson’s Neighbors from Hell series And Sweet Valley High.

Nicole: Jude Devereaux’ A Knight in Shining Armor! Oh! And Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go. All the Middle Grade! Wendy Mass’ A Mango Shaped Space and Natalie Babbitt’s Tuck Everlasting are two of my favs of all time, I could read them a million times.

Jennia: I still like reading the Gossip Girl novels!

Kristin: I am absolute trash for the Immortals After Dark series by Kresley Cole. Give me all the smexy Valkyries and Vamps. Kelly Armstrong’s Darkest Powers trilogy, which I reread just about every year. I also adore all the Historical Romance. Dukes, manners, and misbehaving, love it.