It’s December 1st, the deadline for my beta readers to return their feedback to me, and both of them hit the due date on time! I did a cursory read-through of their final commentary (overall impressions) and am saving for the line-by-line reactions later today.

One of my biggest concerns that I wanted them to address was whether or not the first book in my trilogy, The Name and the Key, could be qualified as a YA romantasy, as I had never written in the genre before. One beta reader said the book would qualify and that there was tension between the leads, Lily and Andresh. The other beta reader said that it couldn’t be called romantasy yet because the characters didn’t show enough attraction to each other aside from a lot of blushing–overall the relationship (and character of Lily) was passive.

I thought about this long and hard. It’s tricky when you get contradictory feedback, but I decided there’s no harm in upping the romance and tension in the book anyway.

A couple reasons why I only wrote some romance and not a lot in my first draft:

• The book is Young Adult and I want it low on spice. There are legitimate concerns out there that adult readers are pushing young readers and teenagers out of the YA space, and that’s because of adult demand for spice. As ireencbooks points out in her Instagram reel, part of the problem is that YA is marketed to 12-18 year olds, and that’s an enormous sample size. Kids and teens mature differently; their interest in sex varies and might not even exist at all; etc. So I wanted to be really careful with how heated the romance gets. I have one scene with heavier touching, and even then I wasn’t sure if I was crossing a line. It’s necessary to the scene, I think, but I hope it’s not too mature for readers.
  
• The book is set in an equivalent Regency period, and the rules were so strict that women had a formal chaperone with them so they wouldn’t be alone with a man. I thought because I was trying to emulate this period, it meant that Lily and Andresh couldn’t be as touchy feely or secluded with each other. However, I do break this rule for an important scene in the book, so… ┐(´～｀)┌
  
• I am not good with romance IRL and romantic gestures tend to freak me out, actually. That’s my own hang-up. With this in mind, I constantly questioned whether or not I was even qualified to write romance. So, I sort of pulled back on it out of fear and lack of confidence.

After I got beta reader feedback about the romance needing to be kicked up some notches to qualify the book as romantasy, I did some more research beyond what I learned in Regency House Party and blogs.

As it turns out, I really need to channel Bridgerton, and not just for the costumes. I have no experience reading the novels but I have watched Season 1 & 2 of the show, with Season 3 in my watchlist. And the Bridgerton series is spicy!! According to this article in the Los Angeles Times,

Weren’t Georgians known for being a little … decadent?

Yes, but as we see in “Bridgerton,” the lusty behavior is carefully excluded from the ballroom, says Greig. Many historians view the Georgian period (1714 to 1837), which includes the Regency era (1811 to 1820), as the real “sexual revolution” in the Western world, not the 1960s. Over the course of a century, British society became much more secular, and church laws regulating sexuality were left by the wayside.

“We know that Regency society is a very bawdy society, generally,” Greig says. “Extramarital sex is no longer illegal, most adult consensual sex is within the law, there’s a very open culture of prostitution in London. We get celebrity courtesans and mistresses.”

This permissiveness started at the top: The Prince Regent (later King George IV), who ruled as proxy for his father, the mentally ill King George III, from 1811 to 1820, had numerous mistresses, a secret illegal marriage and several rumored illegitimate children.

How the heck did I miss out on this? Like…this would’ve been important to bear in mind while writing the book.

Here’s another quote, from an article in The Conversation:

Double standards were hardwired into society. Debauched women were seen as the carriers of sexually transmitted diseases, infecting the male population. But there was no sense that men bore any responsibility. Unmarried aristocratic women were expected to be chaste and were chaperoned at all times when in public. For aristocratic men, there were no such strictures – sexual conquests were signs of virility and masculinity.

However, this was not the full picture, and behind the closed doors of country houses and London mansions, the reality could be quite different.

[…]

There are numerous examples of both aristocratic men and women having affairs, illicit relationships, dalliances and liaisons in Regency England. They graced the pages of the popular Tệte-à-Tệte series in the Town and Country magazine, which would thinly disguise their identities.

However, while men could generally escape condemnation (although particularly juicy gossip might result in bawdy ballads or caricatures), women who transgressed could face social ostracism and effective exile from polite society.

Romantic tension could be upped in The Name and the Key simply because dalliances between unmarried men and women were a danger zone…for the woman. This makes Lily and Andresh’s growing love for each other a little more dangerous, as Lily could lose her reputation, which was everything in society. Andresh, however, would probably be clapped on the back for it.

I kept trying to think of how subtle gestures could be incredibly romantic, and how to add these into the second draft of the book. This scene came to mind:

Just a simple touch. And Mr. Darcy’s hand movement after he lets go of Elizabeth communicates so much.

As of today, I have until the 26th of December to turn this rewrite in to my publisher. That’s not a lot of time, and it seems like I’ve got substantial stuff to fix. My biggest task will be going back through to add tender, intimate moments that still work within the YA age group but also honors the spirit of the Regency.

Please wish me luck!