Hispanic Heritage Month: For Dark Romance Readers
As Hispanic heritage month comes to an end I would like to let you know what it means to me. I remember growing up, how excited I was for this month in school - to bring my parents country traditional dishes, to wear Colombian traditional clothing, to play Colombian cumbia and to talk about the country my parents came from.
From a very young age I remember my parent’s telling me the story of how they came to this country and how hard they worked to make it here. How their parents made sure they made it here to give them a better life than back home but always kept their traditions in our lives present. From talking Spanish, to learning how to read and write in Spanish. Listening to hispanic music, learning to dance different genres of hispanic music, cooking, you name it- my parent’s made sure I was always proud to be American Colombian, to know where my family came from.
If you don’t know, every year from 9/15-10/15 Hispanic heritage month is celebrated here in the United States and during that month it recognizes the contributions and cultures of Hispanic and Latinos. Since 2021 when I joined bookstagram, every year during Hispanic Heritage Month, lists of latin/hispanic authors and their books would be talked about and featured among a lot of readers and influencers and here I would be making a list or saving them to read them, though most of them were romance or a different genre, but that wasn’t really my vibe since I started to gravitate more towards dark romance and as I got more into dark romance I didn’t really hear or see hispanic/latin dark romance authors.
Now I would be lying if I said since I started reading again that I read Latin or Hispanic authors - I didn’t. It wasn’t until I believe I read Marie Maravilla’s Skeletons of Society and my life was forever changed. She was my first Latina author who featured a Latina FMC who was such a baddie! I was hooked. I looked forward to seeing her come up on my feed and I couldn’t wait for her next work. Since then I have read a few more but not much and I would say that is my own fault. It’s easy to grab something you're more familiar with and what’s being recommended or talked about. And like now that it has been Hispanic heritage month I have a list saved, but I don’t want it just to be a list saved or a list me or people save to read ONLY during one month. These authors should be read ALL the time. They should be spoken about and featured ALL the time. I, myself have to and will do better.
I’m glad I have followed more Latin/Hispanic bookstagrammers / tiktokers who read the genres I love. I have followed more Latin/Hispanic dark romance authors. I will make sure to speak about them and I’m so proud to see more latin/hispanic dark romance loves. So with that, a few of my favorite Latin/ Hispanic authors are SJ Ryder, Marie Maravilla, Santana Knox, L.M. Ramirez. Since I am a “baby reader”, in relation to reading Latin/ Hispanic authors, some faves that are all over my tbr are: NJ Weeks (I have so many books of hers on my TBR and honestly I just gotta do it), Shae Ruby (same with her), Alexia Onyx, Nix Murguia, Lexie Axelson, Cynthia Rodriguez, Izzy Ravas, Elle Maldonado, Luna K Wicked, Darcy Dahlia, Thalia Sanchez, Carmen Rosales, Xochitl, Dee Garcia, Valeria Crow. I have to thank my babes - Willie, Isis, Mailene, Wavel who honestly read these awesome authors.
I don’t want these authors and others to just to be read for the month but all the time! And I will be doing just that. Respresenting my Latin/ Hispanic dark romance lovers!
“Why does everyone ask me if I’m latina? Isn’t it obvious.”