Episode 03
Before BookTok, There Were Book Bloggers
Shauna Casey on Indie Romance, AI in the Book Community & Why Human Connection Matters
About This Episode
Before BookTok, romance readers found each other on blogs and in Facebook groups, and Shauna Casey was right in the middle of it. A Navy veteran and breast cancer survivor, Shauna started blogging about books in 2014. Today she co-owns The Author Agency, which helps authors launch their books with cover reveals, ARCs and release promotion.
Alli and Shauna talk about the romances that made them readers, why older romance like Judith McNaught's Paradise feels so different from today's books, the great cover debate, the "witch hunt" around AI in the book world, the 2010s authors who deserve more love, and Shauna's best advice for authors and creators: talk about what you love.
- Book blogging before BookTok
- Why older romance feels different
- The great cover debate
- AI and the book world
- The 2010s authors who deserve more love
- Building The Author Agency
In This Episode
- 01:48 Our first romances: Carolina Moon, Danielle Steel and Lurlene McDaniel
- 04:55 How Shauna started book blogging in 2014
- 06:43 Why older romance feels different
- 13:13 The great romance cover debate
- 14:54 AI in the book world
- 18:17 The 2010s authors who deserve more love
- 23:05 Today's favorites: Julia Wolf, L.J. Shen, Natasha Madison and Jessica Joyce
- 30:26 Shauna's favorite books from The Author Agency
- 36:13 How Shauna built The Author Agency
- 39:30 Why human connection matters more than hot takes
- 46:29 Why older romance deserves respect
- 50:49 What The Author Agency does, and how to join their ARC team
"It's really about the human connection. Keep talking about what you love."
Shauna Casey
Meet the Guest & Host
Guest
Shauna Casey
Shauna started blogging in 2014 and has more than ten years of experience in the indie book industry. A Navy veteran and breast cancer survivor, she co-owns The Author Agency, where she helps authors level up with every release.
Nostalgic Picks (1980s–2010)
The books that made us readers. Swipe or use the arrows to browse.
1990
Public Secrets
A rock star's daughter survives a childhood tragedy and spends years untangling what really happened. Shauna rereads it every year.
Buy on Amazon
1990
Almost Heaven
A kind-hearted woman falls for a mysterious man, and a scandal leads to an unexpected marriage.
Buy on Amazon
1991
Paradise
Two former spouses meet again eleven years after their brief, disastrous marriage.
Buy on Amazon
1992
French Silk
A lingerie designer becomes a murder suspect, and the prosecutor on the case falls for her.
Buy on Amazon
1994
Dreaming of You
A shy novelist researching London's underworld saves a ruthless gaming-house owner's life.
Buy on Amazon
1994
It Had to Be You
A showgirl inherits a football team and clashes with its hot-headed coach. The first Chicago Stars novel.
Buy on Amazon
2000
Carolina Moon
A woman returns to her South Carolina hometown to face the murder of her childhood best friend.
Buy on Amazon
2004
Bet Me
Min overhears a charming man taking a bet that he can get her into bed, so she decides to play along.
Buy on Amazon
2007
Sisters
After a tragedy, four very different sisters move into their parents' New York townhouse together.
Buy on AmazonChildhood & YA Favorites
The tearjerkers and thrillers we read way too young.
1967
The Outsiders
Greasers vs. Socs. One of Shauna's all-time favorite books.
Buy on Amazon
1971
Go Ask Alice
The diary of a teenage girl's spiral into drugs. A rite of passage for a generation of readers.
Buy on Amazon
1973
I Know What You Did Last Summer
Four friends are stalked by someone who knows their secret. Alli read every Lois Duncan she could find.
Buy on Amazon
1990
The Face on the Milk Carton
A teenager sees her own childhood photo on a missing-child milk carton.
Buy on Amazon
1997
Till Death Do Us Part
Two teens facing serious illness fall in love. Peak Lurlene McDaniel tearjerker.
Buy on Amazon2010s Favorites
Books from romance's wild west era, right before BookTok took over.
2010
Corralled
Book one of the Blacktop Cowboys series. Spicy Wyoming cowboys, and some of the first ménage romances Shauna ever read.
Buy on Amazon
2011
Lady Luck
One of Shauna's first indie authors. A man wrongly sent to prison tries to clear his name. Big, emotional books that remind her of McNaught and Nora Roberts.
Buy on Amazon
2013
Until November
Book one of the Until series. "You're going to feel like you're visiting old friends."
Buy on Amazon
2016
Vicious
A former classmate who made her life miserable in high school comes back into it years later.
Buy on Amazon
2019
Broken Knight
The second generation of the Sinners of Saint. Shauna sobbed.
Buy on Amazon
2019
Fast Lane
One of Shauna's favorite books of all time. A rock band's rise and fall in the '80s and '90s, told like a magazine interview.
Buy on AmazonMore Books We Talked About
Shauna's favorites, Alli's favorites and a few coming soon.
2020
Maggie Moves On
A home-renovation YouTuber moves home to flip a house, and the grumpy neighbor comes with it.
Buy on Amazon
2022
Beautiful Graves
One of Alli's favorite L.J. Shen books, and one she rarely hears anyone talk about.
Buy on Amazon
2023
You, with a View
A road trip to retrace her late grandmother's lost love story, with her high school nemesis along for the ride.
Buy on Amazon
2023
What Saves Us
A former military operator turned paramedic falls for his best friend's sister, a brand-new mom.
Buy on Amazon
2023
Made for You
A hockey romance about mental health, getting help and knowing it's OK not to be OK.
Buy on Amazon
2024
The Ex Vows
Exes who haven't seen each other since the breakup are both in their friends' wedding.
Buy on Amazon
2024
Odd Man Rush
A hockey romance about loving your best friend, and the husband who's part of the story too.
Buy on Amazon
2024
King of Nothing
Two strangers carrying grief take a road trip to scatter her mother's ashes. Shauna cried reading it.
Buy on Amazon
2024
Unexpected Proof
A grandmother's wartime love story and a granddaughter's worst day in Boston. "Ten out of ten, no notes."
Buy on Amazon
2024
The Sweetest Taboo
Book one of A Modern Vintage Romance. Shauna loves this series for its covers, which look just like the old-school Harlequins.
Buy on Amazon
2025
Shattered Dreams
The last night of summer ends in tragedy, and years later she comes home to the man who blames her.
Buy on Amazon
2025
Buried Dreams
Shauna's favorite in the Dream series.
Buy on Amazon
2026
Soul
Twisted Kings MC #6: a rival club, a surprise baby and a hero who's all in. Shauna's favorite read this year.
Buy on Amazon
2026
Let's Be Real
A fake-dating, best friend's brother wedding romance with way more depth than the tropes promise.
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2026
Smoke Ring
Childhood best friends to lovers in the Beaufort Poker Club world. Out in December.
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Sports Romance, Alpha Heroes, Epic Grovels & the Evolution of Romance
Next · Episode 4
Coming soon
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