Opposites Attract by Nora Roberts

Bodice Tipplers

Welcome to Nora Roberts' Opposites Attract! Their names are, and I am not kidding, Ty Starbuck and Asher Wolfe. They are tennis champs! Second chance romance! Will they go all the way (heh)? Well table (tennis) that because BUCKLE UP BUTTERCUP to our shock and disgust this is a surprise abortion-shaming book!

Seriously, we wanted to do a fun sports book where they're both athletes! Summer! Tennis whites! Tennis puns! NO. Content warnings abound: half the people in this book has gone no contact with the heroine without her knowledge because her abusive ex lied that she had an abortion! (I shouldn't have to say this, but if she HAD had an abortion that would have been entirely her right and her decision. But she didn't!) In fact she had a miscarriage after he... maybe tried to kill her? It's unclear! Don't worry, the book doesn't care! Her father hasn't spoken to her since, and he's also her tennis coach! She has no idea! Also the dude is kinda grabby in that romance novel way, and when he thinks (ugh god this is so fucking enraging) that he knows what happened he shakes her and fantasizes about slapping her. You, the reader, know none of this for the first 80% of this book! There's lots of sex but it's really boring! Probably there was more awful stuff in this but I have a hard time keeping anything in focus after the big one!

The ability to decide when and if to have children and what happens to your body is a fundamental human right. Forcing people into being broodmares for the state is a dire obscenity and, if there is such a thing, a grievous sin. Are you mad? I'm mad. If you want to directly help people who can become pregnant retain control over their lives, consider donating or volunteering at a direct action abortion fund. Abortion funds act to directly fund procedures and often give direct support to enable pregnant people to travel, get child care, escape intimate partner violence, and handle whatever they need to handle to terminate a pregnancy. To donate nationally, give to abortionfunds.org. If you want to give to a fund local to us, the Carolina Abortion Fund serves both South and North Carolina. And as always, subscribing as a monthly donor multiplies the value of your dollar immensely because it's money they can budget for.

Don't forget to keep calling your elected officials, too. Even if they're absolute wastes of skin. (Believe me, Lindsey Graham is my senator.) They tally their calls and every one counts.

Try to take care of yourselves and remember, you're not alone. There are a lot of us out here and we are not done fighting.