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40 +/and More...

Happy endings and happily ever afters for all consenting adults!  
["40 + MORE..." with "and" handwritten across the center of the plus sign] 

Struck Speechless by Tati Richardson 
The Blessings series by (Ms) Beverly Jenkins 
Hot Flash Hookups series by Marika Ray & Sylvie Stewart 
Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn 
After Happily Ever by Jennifer Safrey 
A Fire at Romanticon by H.L  Brooks (my The Bitchy Quill podcast co-host and partner in bookish adventures) 
an upcoming PNR release from Bea Paige 
> honorable mention Chocolate Chip City by Be Steadwell, a youngster who writes real grown 

An idea suggested during a chat with the founder of The Feminine Rebellion has me brainstorming ways to support fun fiction, particularly romance, written by* and about grown women/femme-identifying/non-binary/gender neutral people. 

Please share your 40+/and More... authors and titles in the comments! 

Halle Berry, Naomi Watts, Melani Sanders and her We Dot Care Club, Dr. Marie Claire's The Pause Life, Ren Reads Too Much, and many more embody a shift and expansion in how we think and what we know about and expect from aging up. 

Fun fiction needs to catch up in the variety, volume, and frequency of its offerings to readers who may still enjoy reading about the angsty uncertainty of fledgling adulthood even while seeking to satisfy a growing desire for stories by and about grown women with more: 

self-knowledge, self-love, self-confidence, pleasure, peace, satisfaction, joy, audacity, healing, rest, exploration, recognition in learning the hard lesson sooner, acceptance of what is true, saying no without guilt, enthusiastic yeses, necessary goodbyes, leaps of faith, adventures, respect for one's instincts, contemplative moments, vibrancy, love in real life and fiction.  

Those of us who are 40+/and More... are living a gift that not everyone receives.

Happy reading & thriving! 

*human authored, not generative AI

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