Kissed a Ghoul, Liked It: Diversity in paranormal romance authors panel & book signing

Vampires, werewolves, and witches…oh my! On Sunday, October 26, gather your coven and ghoul-friends for a spooktacular bookish afternoon hosted by Read My Lips Boston at Arts at the Armory, featuring a panel of amazing authors sharing their experiences writing trans, queer, plus-size, and disabled main characters in paranormal romance. 

During the panel, you’ll hear from:

📖 Tori Anne Martin (This Spells Disaster)

📖 Emilia Emerson/Rossi (A Pack for Autumn)

📖 Shelly Jay Shore (Rules for Ghosting)

📖 Kass O’Shire (A Polar Expedition)

📖 And moderator M.J. Etkind (The Witch of Wall Street)

You can purchase these authors’ books to be signed after the panel.

Afterwards, the magic will continue as you:

📚 Shop diverse romance books and bookish merch at Read My Lips Boston’s onsite pop-up

✍️ Get your books signed during the author signing

🍷 Enjoy hauntingly good drinks and food from ROOTED Cafe

About Read My Lips Boston:

Read My Lips Boston is a diverse romance bookshop that partners with breweries, cafes, and other establishments to host monthly mobile shops all around Boston. Their curated selection of love stories centers authors and main characters identifying as BIPOC, disabled, queer, big-bodied, and members of other groups historically underrepresented in the romance genre. Read My Lips donates 10% of their proceeds to local and national non-profits and social causes.

About Tori Anne Martin:

Tori Anne Martin is a USA Today bestselling author of sapphic witchy romance and fantasy for teens and adults, as well as the author of a book series (or two) under not-so-secret identities. She lives in northern New England, along with her partner and their two cats, where she collects pen names, tattoos, and hoodies in shades of gray and black. If you can’t find her reading a book, it’s because she’s lost in the woods.

About Emilia Emerson (a.k.a. Emila Rossi):

Emilia writes Mafia Romance under Emilia Rossi and Omegaverse Romance under Emilia Emerson. Emilia loves that writing romance allows her to explore worlds with guaranteed happily ever afters, cozy characters who love each other, and found families who overcome challenges together. She believes that everyone deserves to see themselves in romance, and includes meaningful disability and mental illness representation in her stories. When she’s not writing, Emilia is probably embroidering, making pottery, napping with her dog, or reading romance books. An adventurer at heart, growing up in a multi-cultural Swedish-Iranian home instilled in her a love of travel and experiencing new cultures.

About Shelly Jay Shore:

Shelly Jay Shore (she/they) is a writer and nonprofit strategist living in Western Massachusetts, situated on the Mohican homelands. Her debut novel, Rules for Ghosting, was a USA Today bestseller and was named one of the New York Times Book Review’s Top Romances of 2024. Shelly’s writing on queer Jewish identity has been published by Autostraddle, Hey Alma, and the Bisexual Resource Center. When not writing or working, Shelly reads a truly alarming number of books (and writes the occasional review), single-handedly sustains their local coffee industry, and attempts to wrangle one large dog and two small children.

About Kass O’Shire:

Kass O'Shire is a reluctant human who uses she/her pronouns. She lives in America's own little Shire with her husband and son and loves it a ridiculous amount. Her writing focuses on body, sex, and equality positive stories with high heat levels and cozy vibes. Her book tastes run to monster romance/paranormal romance, gas-lamp fantasy romance, historical romance, sci-fi romance (ok, all things romance), epic fantasy and space opera. In her free time, she reads, bakes, and plays tabletop and board games.

About M.J. Etkind:

M.J. Etkind lives a double life. By day, she is a corporate girly with a business degree. By night, she writes romance novels in a cozy book filled apartment. When she is not writing, she can be found walking her dog and getting coffee. M.J. Etkind’s most favorite fun fact is that she once took an entire vacation to visit a bookstore.

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