January 15, 2025 • 39 mins
As readers, it's important to diversify our bookshelves and seek out stories that reflect the rich tapestry of cultures and experiences. In this episode, Alesia sits down with Carla Is Reading to discuss the significance of Latinx representation in romance novels. Carla shares her personal journey of discovering diverse authors and the importance of empathy and authenticity in literature.
Carla is a plus-size Boricua who discovered her love of reading through romance novels and later delved into the world of diverse romance, particularly Latinx and Black Romance. She finds joy in platforming, reviewing, and uplifting marginalized authors and their books. Through this work, she has learned about community and experiences outside of her own.
In this episode, we're discussing:
- Carla's evolution from casual reader to active book reviewer.
- The impact of discovering Latinx-centered stories.
- The value of reading across cultures to foster empathy and broaden perspectives.
- Understanding the nuances between Latinx and Hispanic heritage.
- Best practices for addressing stereotypes and misrepresentation in books.
- Carla's recommendations for must-read Latinx romance authors.
- Strategies for intentionally diversifying your reading habits throughout the year.
Diversifying our reading choices is a powerful way to celebrate the richness of Latinx culture and amplify underrepresented voices. By supporting Latinx authors, engaging in thoughtful discussions, and continuously expanding our literary horizons, we can create a more inclusive and empathetic reading community. Remember, there's a world of smutty, heartwarming, and empowering Latinx stories waiting to be discovered.
CONNECT WITH CARLA:
BOOKS/AUTHORS MENTIONED:
Alexis Daria (Amazon)
Adriana Herrera (Amazon)
Ofelia Martinez (Amazon)
Alexandria House (Amazon)
Mia Sosa (Amazon)
Natalie Caña (Amazon)
Jade Hernández (Amazon)
Aleera Anaya Ceres (Amazon)
A.H. Cunningham (Amazon)
All podcast books/authors mentioned (Doc)
Thank you for listening to the We Read Smut Podcast! If you enjoyed this episode, take a screenshot of the episode to post in your stories and tag @WeReadSmut. Don’t forget to follow, rate, and review the podcast.
Connect with Alesia:
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Alesia Galati (00:00):
As readers, we know how important it is to
(00:02):
diversify our shelves. Today wehave Carla is reading to talk
about why it's important to readLatinx stories and really be
able to diversify ourbookshelves in a way that's
intentional and tons of smuttyfun. Listener discretion is
advised. This podcast containsmature content intended for
(00:23):
adult audiences only. Carla, Iam so excited to have you here.
I want to know before we getinto all things Latinx
representation in romance. Howdid you get started on this
reading journey?
Carla Is Reading (00:37):
Hi. Oh, my God, thank you for having me
here. I'm so excited to talk toyou. So how did I get on this
journey? I think I've alwaysbeen a reader. What happened,
though, that really got me full,full into reviewer mode, is that
I started to interact more onInstagram as a bookish person
versus regular content, thestuff that you threw out there
(00:59):
for family to keep in touch withthe kiddos and stuff. I started
to post book reviews, and I sawthe hashtag Bookstagram, and
then from there on, that justkept evolving. Then it was like,
I don't care what's happening inmy life, let's talk about this
book, because then that's howyou start making the friends.
And it's really the communitythat came along with Bookstagram
that kept me on there, and whathas now evolved into what it is
(01:22):
today that I have a book talkand a Bookstagram and stuff like
that with the Instagram Liveseries. So that's really just
like the love of reading, anddefinitely romance, more
specifically, is what reallybrought about this journey of
mine.
Alesia Galati (01:37):
Yeah, and we're all about romance over here. And
read the open door stuff. Weread smut, obviously, like it is
all about that you are a Latina.
How does that incorporate intoyour reading journey? I know,
for me as an afro Latina, when Ifirst started on Bookstagram and
started, first started, likegetting into this community, it
(01:57):
was very whitewashed. And like alot of the authors that I was
being pushed were white, a lotof the authors that I was
personally reading were white.
And I had to at the end of theyear looking at my stuff,
saying, This is a core value ofmine to lift up voices that are
underserved. How can I make surethat I'm doing that, not just in
(02:20):
my business and how I show upthere, but also in what I'm
reading and the content that I'mconsuming and the content that
I'm promoting. So I know thatwas kind of my journey. What was
yours?
Carla Is Reading (02:30):
The same as you I wasn't conscious of what I
was consuming. I was justwhatever. What was there the
best sellers, right? That wouldbe my next pick. It wasn't until
I encountered during COVID.
Alexis Darius, you had me atHola. I knew that there was
Latinx representation, but whatI didn't know was, like, the
beautiful Puerto Ricanrepresentation. And it wasn't
(02:50):
anything that was like corny,like how I've seen in media that
some things can make you cringe,and you're like, Oh no, that's
not how we are. This was a verymuch a contemporary Puerto Rican
woman that she's here. She's afan girl of things. She's an
actress. She's trying to makeit. She's trying to be a better
person every day. Meanwhile, shestill has the parents like
(03:11):
bugging her in her ear askingfor updates. And I was like,
I've never had this kind ofrepresentation. Like I had like,
a crazy, mind blowing momentthat I was like, What is this?
It started this hunger. I waslike, well, now I need more of
this. If this book exists, theremust be more, right? And so then
I started searching. And I haveliterally, like a breadcrumb
(03:31):
trail. It was from Alexis Dariato Priscilla, liveres to
Adriana. Very distinct. I knowexactly how I got to where I am.
Now, not only that, it was alsoblack romance, because, like, I
grew up here in Florida with somany cultures. I'm in a racial
marriage as well. So like, allthis language, this verbiage,
(03:54):
all this culture, this is me. Iwas inside these groups. And so
it was like, through AlexisDaria, like Alexandria house,
all these people that was like,Okay, no, no, no, this is the
romance that I've been lookingfor. These are the people that
are talking like me, that aretalking like my friends. I
understand this wound. Thiswound actually makes me swoon
more than that swoon. You know,that's kind of how it happened.
(04:16):
Then, not only that, I noticedthat no one else was talking
about these books, right? And Iwas like, Hey, did you know that
I got the same heart flutters?
Did you know that are like thisalso made me drop the book
because, like, I couldn'tbelieve the smut I was reading
just the same as these whitecounterparts that we love. And
then I didn't see the samedrive, I didn't see the same
(04:38):
push for the book. So thatalmost makes me want to push the
books even more, you know, like,that's just how my brain works.
Like, I'm like, Oh, well, youwant this kind of panty dropping
line. Oh, okay. Let me introduceyou to alecus Dario. Let me
introduce you to Adriana andFreda. Like, read this and then,
and then you'll go, yeah.
Alesia Galati (05:00):
Yeah, I think it's such an important part too.
Like we were talking before wehit record, we're all for
reading what you love, readingto escape reading for whatever
reason it is that you arereading, and no buts here, and
it is so important that ifyou're thinking, Okay, I would
(05:21):
love to read a second chanceromance. Cool. Have some variety
in there. There are SecondChance romances across all of
these, whether that is Latinx,whether that is black romance,
whether that is, you know,literally, monster smut, you can
read that second chance.
Carla Is Reading (05:40):
But all there in so many forms, yeah, yes.
Alesia Galati (05:44):
And so like finding that variety, I think,
really helps people to say, Oh,I like this trope. Wait a
minute. I didn't know that thesebooks had those tropes too. And
there's also this idea that Ihas been going around of people
saying, Oh, well, I can'trelate. Hmm. I have lots of
feelings on this.
Carla Is Reading (06:05):
Feelings on this in
Alesia Galati (06:07):
the middle of, like, two really distinct
cultures of like, I was toowhite to be black. I was too
sure Hispanic to be white. Youknow, I was very in the middle,
and then also having a verywhite passing Hispanic and
Italian mom, and then, likebeing with my cousins on the
(06:29):
black side, and just not reallyfeeling like I could fit in
anywhere, like there are booksfor people who look like me,
that are mixed, that have theseMore interracial upbringings,
and to see that reflected, youcan also see that reflected in
anything else. But I think thatpeople get this idea of like, Oh
well, I can't relate to thatperson's lived experience, then
(06:52):
what a great opportunity tolearn.
Carla Is Reading (06:55):
Is what I like to say, it's already proven that
reading enhances your empathy.
Usually, we hear thisconversation coming from, like,
those people that read likeliterary fiction, like, Oh, I
was in this person's shoes, andI felt the grief and I felt them
lost in the forest. Like, youknow, we hear in that
conversation, and those studiesand those statistics always
(07:15):
brought up with that. But like,of course, reading romance is
reading a book as well, and ifyou read someone from a
different experience, good foryou. Now, your horizons are
broad, and like you're openingyourself up for more. And number
two, you'll always see peoplereading alien romance, like
goblin romance. And how can yourelate to being called by a
goblin or alien with an extralittle spur. Can you really
(07:40):
relate to that a blue personcame to your door and, you know,
showed you the stars. Let'sreally talk about life
experiences and relating tosomething that's so outside of,
like, really, really, really,really, are you really claiming
that? To me, I feel like that'snot a believable stance,
because, like, you readoutlandish things that you have
(08:01):
never, probably will never gothrough, even though I believe
in aliens, like, you'll probablynever go through this, you know
when you're out here, like, oh,so in love. So apply the same
principles, babe. Like, open upa Latinx romance book. Come on.
You can do it. I mean,
Alesia Galati (08:19):
I'm right there.
Speed me up. Space, Daddy, I getit. I get it. But it's
important, you know, we're here,we're on Earth. Let's get
grounded and like, read aboutthese pieces. And you're so
right. The Empathy part, Ithink, is such a beautiful part
that I know I personally haveexperience in reading what
(08:39):
people are struggling with, tobe able to empathize with that.
I think that it reading, andespecially in romance, because
it is lighter, it is fluffier,but it still tackles really deep
issues. And I just think it'ssuch a beautiful, beautiful
thing that we're able to use asa tool.
Carla Is Reading (09:00):
I love romance for that same exact reason.
Kennedy Wright has that famouspoet that she says, like, to me,
romance is the perfect space toexplore all sorts of life
experiences. She's a really goodauthor to bring up about that
too, because she's she writesall sorts of women, the
complicated the ones with a lotof backstory, with health
issues. I think romance, that'sone of the reasons why it is my
(09:21):
favorite, I could read just onlyromance and be happy more. So
these past couple of years, I'vebeen like, let me, you know,
include this. Let me includethat. This year has been like my
non fiction year. I've beentrying to squeeze in some non
fictions here and there, but Icould absolutely just read
romance and I will be like thehappiest person, because you can
(09:41):
explore so much just with thatgenre. Yes,
Alesia Galati (09:44):
absolutely. When we say Latinx community, what
exactly? And I actually foundthis really interesting when we
had Latinx Heritage Month. Oflike, what is Latinx heritage
versus Hispanic heritage? And Iknow there's a lot. Lot of
interchanging of that language,which isn't really accurate. So
can you break down Latinxheritage and like what that
(10:06):
looks like?
Carla Is Reading (10:08):
So when we speak about first of all,
Latinx, Latina Latin we'retalking about the influence of
both Portugal, Spain and otherLatin rooted countries that came
into what is now Latin America,right? And when I like to talk
about the Hispanic versusLatinx, Hispanic has to do with
(10:33):
Spain and a Spanish speaker. Sowhen we look at Latin America,
we're talking about Colombia,Chile, Ecuador, you know, all
those countries. But then whenwe talk about Brazil, when we
talk about Haiti, those areLatin American countries. They
don't speak Spanish, so wewouldn't label them Hispanic,
because in Haiti's, they speakthe French, French, and in
(10:56):
Brazil, they speak Portuguese.
So they can't be calledHispanic, right? But there is a
label to that covers all of ushere, that we're all part of the
people that were pillaged bythem Europeans. And that
influence has is all over theCaribbean, right? So when we
celebrate Latinx Heritage Month,we are celebrating us, the
(11:16):
people that have been influencedSpain isn't really part of that.
Spain is doing just fine, right?
It's more so about thesecountries that now, after all
these years, they have developedtheir own culture and their own
ways of speaking. So we'recelebrating that heritage, and
that's what the month fromSeptember 15 to October 15.
(11:39):
That's what we celebrate thatheritage, that diaspora, and
that's the main difference. Soyou might need somebody who just
prefers to be called Hispanic.
They might prefer to be calledLatina, Latino, Latinx and
Latina, and even the evils orthe gender neutral, because
Latina and Latino, that's veryfor her and for him. And then
(11:59):
there's people that justidentify in between. So they
rather use Latinx, Latina.
That's where all that comes fromin the Heritage Month. And it
really depends on the person.
What they prefer to be labeled.
How you can find out is just bysitting and observing to see how
a person labels themselves.
Sometimes they prefer to just becalled Panamanian, Puerto Rican.
It's very confusing because it'sa self identifying thing. And
(12:22):
then we also evolve. Andsometimes we're like, I don't
like this label, so we mightchange it. So it's just one of
those things that I knowsometimes the non Latina people
don't know how to approach andlabel, which is completely fine
to be confused. So were we, Ihighly just recommend just doing
research on a person, sittingback and seeing how they label
themselves. And you can alwayshave you find a confident way to
(12:45):
approach someone and ask whatthey prefer to be labeled. You
could do that as well. Hopefullythere's enough like trust in
there that you can have somesort of exchange like that,
where you can find out what theyprefer to be
Alesia Galati (12:57):
labeled. Yeah, and just to like name a few that
tend to be labeled during LatinxHeritage Month, but actually do
not fall under that category.
Alena armas, she's she's Spanishlike Spain. And then Abby
Jimenez, that's her husband'slast name, and she is not
Hispanic. And she has come outand said, No, please don't put
me on those lists, because I'mnot and that takes place from
(13:20):
other people. So those are twothat I know off the top of my
head, that a lot of people tendto categorize in Latinx roundups
and things like that, sure, andI think that it's really
important that we do, like youliterally could ask I was
creating a Latinx heritage kindof collage. And I said, Hey, I
think that person might beLatinx, but let me just send
(13:41):
them a DM. And so I did. I sentthem a DM. I said, Hey, I'm
doing a roundup, and you don'thave to specify. You can say, I
don't want to answer. That'stotally cool, too. But do you
identify as Latinx? Can I putyou in this roundup? And they
said, Yes, I do. I am this. Goahead and add me. Thank you so
much for thinking about that.
(14:03):
And so like, you literally justask it really is that? So, yeah,
Carla Is Reading (14:07):
literally, yeah. I love that you said that
experience, because usuallythat's how it is. If somebody
knows you're coming in withlike, with respect and like, I
want to correctly label you. I'mabout to do a roundup, a
recommendation. Do you mindsharing this perfect approach,
honestly, and
Alesia Galati (14:23):
also being like, it's okay to say no, right?
Like, if you don't want to beincluded,
Carla Is Reading (14:27):
a little discrepancy, hey, by the way,
ignore this. Say that you don'tfeel comfortable. And, you know,
yeah, got it, not a problem.
Yeah,
Alesia Galati (14:35):
I think that it's so important. Why do you think
that it's important that thereis Latinx representation in
romance, specifically, sinceobviously this is we read smut.
Why do you think that's reallyimportant?
Carla Is Reading (14:48):
I think that we are more than our trauma
stories. There are beautiful,wonderful, in depth stories of
people, of immigrants, of peoplethat have. That have overcome
something and as those storiesshould exist as they should, but
we are more than that too. Wefall in love. We have epic love
(15:10):
stories to make you believe inlove as well. We have epic love
stories to be told and to belearned from and to be gushed
after. Right? We look at media.
We look at the shows on TV, themovies, put out the Latina
population. We hardly get anyrepresentation. It's very
difficult. Our shows are likethe most canceled on HBO, on
(15:30):
Netflix, like when you have afull Latinx cast, it's so
difficult to find a long runningshow. So when you think about it
in romance and romance books,it's like even more vital. It's
even more vital to buy thebooks, to read them, to rate
them, to review them, to alsorecommend them, because that
representation is so currentlysilenced in other forms of media
(15:52):
right now, and just like I hadmentioned earlier, we're just
more than the trauma. We're morethan the heartbreak. We're out
here also looking for heartflutters, and we're out here
looking for the next book Bobbyto fall for.
Alesia Galati (16:08):
We do deserve to see ourselves in these books,
just like anybody else deservesto see themselves. There's this
new show. I want to say it'sNick Jr or Disney Junior. One of
those. It's called Primos, andit's all about these cousins
that are home together for thesummer. And there's like, seven
of them, and they all are there.
It's so good. And what Iliterally only saw one episode,
(16:32):
and I was like, This is my newfavorite show, because the
representation of all thecousins looked like my family
get togethers of like, such avariety of color, right? You
have the, you know, the whitecousin with red hair. You've got
the really dark cousin with,like, very, you know, kinky
(16:52):
hair. And it's like, that iswhat Hispanic families look
like. That is what all thepretty almost look like. And I
underperson. I loved seeing thatbecause especially my kids,
they're even less Puerto Ricanthan I am, and so like being
able to show them like this iswhat our family get togethers
would look like. Like this iswhat that is. This is why, if
(17:13):
you see someone who looks oneway, you don't know for sure if
they don't have Hispanicheritage or Latinx heritage, so
sure, don't judge someone justby how they look. And so being
able to present that to my kids,I thought it was so fun, but I
think is such a step in theright direction for seeing
ourselves, whatever color youknow we are on TV, and not just
(17:37):
as the George Lopez or theJennifer Lopez or any of those,
right like the very prominentstereotypical which I hate that
so watch, because we are sodiverse in how we look, how we
approach life, how we feel aboutour culture. And then you add in
(17:58):
the fact of like, those of usborn in the US versus those of
us immigrated or otherwise,there's so much to these stories
that I think is worth saying.
Carla Is Reading (18:11):
There's so many experiences. And you bring
up a really good point aboutlike, the stereotypical type of
Latina or Latino that we grew upseeing with the very little
representation that we saw herein the US, there is a very
there's a phenotypical commonuse, and that's why, the reason
why, exactly, like youpinpointed in perfect like,
we're like, the J Lo type oflook, right? And there's so much
(18:34):
more. There's Afro Latinos,especially, that have been so
underrepresented. And as someonewho has like raising biracial
children, it's really importantthat I show them that there's
that existence and it'sbeautiful and has always been
around, you know. So I loveThank you for saying that
absolutely we there's such awide range of how we look, you
(18:54):
know, such a wide range.
Alesia Galati (18:57):
Yeah. So let's get to the not so fun part of
Carla Is Reading (19:03):
these questions.
Alesia Galati (19:06):
There are quite a few authors that you know with
intentions, whether good or bad,have done work to portray good
work or bad work, work toportray Latinx characters. How
do you think that authors couldmaybe do better, or even we as
(19:30):
readers, could do better topinpoint maybe those
stereotypical things or thosethings that are really not
authentic, and like keeping itrespectful, sure,
Carla Is Reading (19:38):
sure. I wholeheartedly believe in
calling in, not call out, butcalling in, where you come with
like empathy from one human toanother, that you recognize
Somebody's here. They don't knoweverything you're learning, just
like how I am. I have spottedthis, you know,
misrepresentation here is thisinformation. Question. You know,
(20:00):
I am from this experience. Thisis like, done incorrectly,
right? There should be some sortof two way communication where
that can happen. I thinkcurrently, as a books, the grand
population, book talk, a bookinfluencer, book reviewer, we
don't have that equipped yet,right? I think, and it makes
sense, because this is very newthe seeing rep in books, right?
(20:23):
It's a very new thing. Whetheryou are from the experience or
you're writing about experience,it's a very new thing. So
pinpointing the errors and theharmful stereotypes, how to
bring that up to someone, is avery new thing, right? But this
has happened, right? We haveauthors that have done very
harmful stereotypes. And I wouldsay honestly, the best advice I
(20:46):
could give is to just listen.
Right? Just listen. We do knowthat others evil flags to
everything right. We have thepeople that just ride the
coattails of a controversy andthey just want to create noise,
we know. And then we have thepeople that take the time to
teach why this was harmful,right? Obviously, I can imagine,
as an author, that caused harm,what's going to cross my
(21:09):
algorithm first is probably thepeople that are just out here
trying to make noise, right? Anddon't care about how much you
learn, they just want to makenoise. I can imagine it could be
such a scary thing to be calledout, to be called in. But the
best advice I can give as anauthor that just found out that
it caused harm is to just listenlike simply listen, avoid
reactions, just those innatereactions that some you know
(21:33):
when you're being called out foranything, whether your wife and
your husband said, Hey, you didthis wrong, you might go on to
the defense, right? That's avery humid reaction. It's very
understandable, right? So itmight be a very innate and
natural thing to go on thedefense, but because this isn't
an experience outside of yourown, the best thing that you
could do is sit back and learn.
(21:55):
I believe that in the future ofus, and I don't know how
distant, how near the future is,that we will have like pillars,
people that you can come to forinformation, right, people
appointed like you wrote hurtfulAmex identity in this book,
let's trace you to this team.
Let's put you over to this teamfor a consultation so that you
can know right, what you can donow as an author, definitely
(22:18):
sensitivity reads and you want awide array of experiences,
right? It's really important notto get like, a team of the yes
people that are like, yes,everything your own is perfect.
You're good, you're good. Youknow, you want someone that's
that's non biased, and that saysyou shouldn't use this word, and
you shouldn't use thisdescription. This is actually
has a really harmful history toit. You know, you know you want
(22:40):
someone that's going to give youthat honest feedback,
understanding that this is notyour experience, so it's okay to
get feedback, right, so that youcould put out the best work that
you can put out as a community.
Though, I honestly it's so hardfor me to say anything, because
we're there's so many of ushere. There are really good
(23:00):
books out there that I follow. Acouple of people that are really
good at recommending nonfiction, about calling in in a
community, then I really I needto find out the books they've
showed them, like in theirstories. I need to go back and
see it. But I believe in like,at least us as a community,
reading these type of booksright, and learning how to
actively communicate with theauthor, the person that did
(23:23):
harm. Are you bringing thisfeedback to better something?
Are you bringing this feedbackjust to call Shane, I think, as
a question, that's an importantquestion we should all ask
ourselves. This topic is socomplex in that manner, because
there's so many moving parts,right? My wish and hope is for
world peace. But like, it'sreally like both the the person
(23:46):
giving the feedback, the personreceiving to like, develop a
healthy exchange, right in aperfect world, that's what it
would look like. But as for now,I authors need to, I feel like
they need to really examine, whyare you writing this experience
outside of your own? What's thepurpose? Is it that important to
include this? And are youequipped to outsource and make
(24:08):
sure that this representation iscorrect? You know? Yeah. So,
yeah, I know. Complex issue.
Alesia Galati (24:19):
It can get really sticky, really fast. I mean,
really fast. There's twoexamples I can think of. One, an
author posted on threads. Theyhave since deactivated their
account. They were like, shoutout to the three black women who
said my book was great, and thenscrew everybody else in the
bipoc community. And it waslike, Whoa. That is, that is not
(24:42):
now you respond. Sometimes youjust need to sleep on things
before you click clack on yourphone. You know? Yeah. And then
another example that wasactually really great was one I
had where someone had wrotesomething in their book, and it
wasn't any even. Anything likeheritage or that it was they had
(25:05):
mentioned an audio Narrator Thatwas definitely not someone you
would want to mention in yourbook. I did not realize that she
just made up the name, and itwas a coincidence that this
other person was a narrator andwas a trash human. So I reached
out to her, and I was like, I am100% sure that you did not mean
(25:27):
to do this, but heads up, thisperson has harmed people. And,
you know, like, and she waslike, wow, I had no idea. Scary
Carla Is Reading (25:36):
message to say no, and I was terrified.
Unknown (25:39):
So I applaud you. I honestly that's a scary message
to send.
Alesia Galati (25:43):
Yes. I was like, I know you, and I know that you
would never do this, and so Ijust want it to, like, be
brought to your attention. And Ifeel so terrible because I was
part of her arc team, and Ididn't get to read the book
before it came out, so it wasalready out in the world, and
then she ended up going back anddoing edits, changing the name,
and like, made a post about it,and she was like, I'm so sorry
(26:05):
for anyone I've hurt. And I waslike, No, I 100% knew, like,
there's no way that she wouldactually do this intentionally.
And like, I know your heart wasin the right place. And I was
really happy that when I sentthe message, but did it from a
place of like, not well, youknow, you did this thing wrong,
and how dare you? I thinksometimes too, as the offended,
(26:27):
we can also come across thatway, and sometimes we do need to
100 sit and think on it and say,Okay, I'm a human. They're
human. Humans make mistakes.
Yes, this was harmful, or thisreally bothered me. What is the
next step for me personally? DoI need to talk to a friend? Do I
need to talk to a therapist? DoI need to just wash my hands of
it and look away like there arelots of options I think, for us
(26:48):
that we can take, but this iswhy it's so important to read
own voices, and I think that itreally helps us to be able to
see a more accuraterepresentation beyond what we
see in Hollywood or what we'veseen in, you know, the top the
Big Five publishing companies,seeing those Own Voices, I
think, really helps us to beable to experience these stories
(27:11):
and these heritages in adifferent way.
Carla Is Reading (27:15):
Correct? I totally agree. It's definitely a
two way street. This is aconstant exchange. When you're
calling in a constant exchange,like me, the person calling
someone in to inform and educateand hopefully help correct, and
then also the the colleagueright, the person that's hearing
this feedback and maybe learningthat there's a Content Exchange
(27:36):
where people need to evaluatethe feelings, the emotions. It's
really hard on the internet,though, because a lot of people
want justice now, yeah, you knowthey want it now they're like,
you did it wrong. Now you burninto flames.
Alesia Galati (27:53):
It's so true. So now we got the not so fun part
of the way. Let's go throughsome of your favorite Latinx
authors. I want to know all ofthem. Like, if someone's like, I
want to make sure that I'mincluding Latinas, Latinos into
my reading. Where do yourecommend that they begin with
(28:14):
some of these stories?
Carla Is Reading (28:15):
Oh, yeah. Oh my god. I hope you guys are
ready. Warm up your wreck.
Alesia Galati (28:21):
We'll make sure we have all of these linked in
the show notes as well. So ifyou're like, Wait, what was
that? I didn't write fast enoughwe got you. Good,
Carla Is Reading (28:28):
good. Okay, definitely my OG girly pops,
Alexa starria, some really greatromance. I love that. First of
all, she cares equally about herfemale and male leads in her
books, as in their mental healthalso matters. The male's mental
health and where they are,they're also actively working on
(28:49):
themselves, which is sometimes,as readers, we're like, oh my
God, why doesn't he have histogether? Like he's only
supposed to make me swoon. Butshe equally takes care of both
her characters individually.
That's something I really loveabout Alexa starvia is writing
andreana etrera. She is thequeen of, just like Afro Latinx
representation, like if you wantto see yourself, do you want to
you want to hear about thebeautiful curls? You want to
(29:12):
hear about just how feeling alittle bit different? And she
also has, like her historicalromance series, she does such
avid research. For me, since I'msuch a fan girl of her, whenever
she goes like, this is all theresearch I did, I just lap that
up because, like, it's amazing.
She'll really go in. She'll befriend librarians and
(29:33):
historians, as she finds out,like, about historic facts while
she's building her books. Thebest thing about her is all her
female leads are so headstrong,and they tend to be first or
second gen immigrants, sothey're also like the mothers of
the friend group that they needto learn how to say no and how
(29:53):
to grab less responsibilitiesand how to let the male lead
that she's introducing take careof her because he. Takes care of
her. That's something about hermen, too. They take care from
head to toe, and sometimes spendtime in other areas for a really
long time.
Alesia Galati (30:09):
I love it. And then we
Carla Is Reading (30:11):
have Mina, Sosa, that she's the rum come
queen. She's the one that I willjust like tilt my head back and
cackle out loud because she's sodang funny. And I love that all
her books, you can finddifferent kind of Latinx
representation. And sometimesit's like, the double couple,
sometimes it's a girl, sometimeshe's the guy. She gives us,
(30:31):
like, this wide range of allthese experiences, all while
making laugh. And she does somegreat sting too. Yeah, it's so
funny when you talk to her,because she's like, she speaks
like she has this cute littlegirl. And you wouldn't think
that she writes like this, myyou know, I love you. So I would
also recommend Natalie Kanya.
She's a Puerto Rican writer,Puerto Rican Dominican writer,
and she is also rom com queen,like she Oh, my God, her her
(30:54):
conversations and the chat onher book. I can't tell you how
many people that take my Rexfrom her will send me voice
notes like this. Lady is sofunny, so funny. Her third book
is about to come out. Well,we're gonna air this later, but
it's about to come out at theend of this month, and it's like
her seniors one, yet they'relike a really messy couple that
(31:16):
would secretly hook up, and theymeet again and they can't stop
secretly hooking up. I love thatkind of stuff. Oh, that's like
my catnip. Yeah. I alsorecommend Jade Hernandez. She's
a Mexican writer, MexicanAmerican writer. She writes
like, learn to love you when Iread that. What was that last
year that was such a standoutread. She really is reminds me a
(31:37):
lot of Alexis Daria and the factthat she really takes care of
both her characters. They bothhave a storyline to overcome,
and she writes the dirtiest smutscenes, including, like Spanish
dirty talk, like the man willsay the dirtiest, filthiest
things in Spanish to the femalelead, and that like
Alesia Galati (32:02):
and she has some like diverse genres, right? So
not just she
Carla Is Reading (32:07):
has a pen name for fantasy and paranormal
called alira Anaya series. Andin that one, because people are
creatures, you get all sorts ofrepresentation in those books.
You get like worldly and out ofworldly representation in those
books, I love her. She'll tickleall your fancies, whether you're
just like rom com. She does darkromance too, because she has a
(32:29):
Motorcycle Club series. Then shealso has, like the paranormal
and fantasy. With her pen name,I cannot not talk about, ah,
Cunningham. Oh, I, I cannot nottalk about, ah, Cunningham,
okay. Like that. Woman is amaster at smut, at kink. She
takes care of the kink that shewrites. She's the one that does
(32:49):
research. So when she includessomething that's like a clamp
here, a slap there, she has doneher research. And then, not only
that, she's the perfect exampleof an afro Latina that she
writes both from just the blackexperience. She'll write just
black love, black romance, andshe'll write Latinx romance too,
and she writes all in between.
And she does it so wonderful.
(33:12):
Like, sometimes I'll read abook, I'm like, Are these people
even Hispanic? Are they Latino?
I don't even know. I don't evencare. Like, I love their slang.
Like everybody in here is brown.
I don't know where they're from,but like, she does that so
expertly. And even though I maybe confused, I know that she did
it correct, because there'ssomething about her, when she
puts out a piece of work, shemakes sure things are done
correct when it comes torepresentation through the scope
(33:35):
of things, I think if you'restarting with Latinx, if you
start with these like this willopen you up for even more like
it's so easy to keep branchingout. Not only that, I feel like
these Latina authors, theythey're always like cheering
each other on. If you followthem on social media, they're
always praising each other's pupday and stuff like that. And
they equally look indie authorstoo. So they like exalt in the
(33:58):
authors. They also exalt theTRad pub. So if you start with
those, I feel like I'm alreadytreating you. So some really
yummy stuff, yes.
Alesia Galati (34:06):
And I think you can find a trope in there that's
like, one that you like, yes,read what you love, and yes,
branch out and find new things,find new experiences. It's gonna
be great. I promise. Yes. Ithink Mia Sosa was the first one
that I read in like, thiscurrent reading journey that I
was like, yeah, oh, my God. Whatis this? I want to eat it. I
(34:30):
love Yes. It's
Carla Is Reading (34:32):
kind of funny because you kind of enter and
you're like, laughing, laughing,laughing, hahaha. This is funny
that you're like, oh, oh, oh,NIA Sosa, you made me laugh, and
you've tickled me.
Alesia Galati (34:47):
Yeah, I had a friend. I was telling her, I was
like, You need to read her. Youneed to check her out. And then
she got to a certain scene, bentover a car in the side of the
floor field. You know I'msaying. And I was like, yep. She
was like, dang, yum. So good.
Now, obviously we are hugeproponents of don't just read
(35:14):
Latinx during Latinx HeritageMonth. Don't just read Black
romance during Black HeritageMonth, like just guys, come on
all year round, all year, do it.
So what are some things that yourecommend, or ways that you
recommend that people are ableto like hold themselves
accountable to reallydiversifying? I know some things
(35:36):
that I have off the top my head,following people like you,
people who are from thiscommunity that are sharing these
representations. Also, thediverse baseline Challenge is a
really great one as well.
They've got lots of prompts thatwill really broaden your
horizons. We're going to bedoing the alphabet bipoc
challenge again in 2025 sothat's awesome. Finding
(35:59):
something in there. There's somany different ones. But what
are some ways that yourecommend?
Carla Is Reading (36:05):
I definitely think that people assess
readers, if we adapt like a verymuch like the diverse baseline,
a 5050, rule for every whitebook you buy, buy something.
Bipoc, tell yourself, well,okay, I'm gonna go buy this Ali
Hazelwood, but I recently heardabout Alexis Daria. I recently
heard about Ophelia Martinez.
I'm also gonna go find OpheliaMartinez book. I want to buy
(36:29):
this Colleen Hoover or whatever.
Let me buy this other darkromance by a black author,
right? Like tell yourself whenyou go purchase at a bookstore.
Don't leave that bookstorewithout something bipoc. And I
mean bipoc, I mean non white,you know, as well as, like you
said, following people who readlike this all year, doing the
(36:50):
challenges, they're fun, butthey also just like attending a
book club. That makes you knowthat maybe a book club will pick
a book for you, and you justhave to write along and you say,
Oh, well, I ended up liking thisbook. I would have never liked
it. That's what the challengesare for very it's very much like
that they give you this prom.
You try and fill it in. How doyou fill it in? You already
following the creators to giveyou the Rex, right? So you read
(37:12):
that book, and then you find outthat this is a great writer.
Because a great writer is agreat writer. No matter what you
know, sometimes we don't knowthat we're like ingrained. We've
been taught all our lives tolook away from things and not
find things appealing that areoutside of us. So that's how you
follow the people that recommenddiverse all year as well.
Because then you go and you pickup that book and you find out
(37:34):
that it's excellently writtenwith great swimmers and great
SMUD and great this and you hada great experience. So
definitely like the diversebaseline, if you can create that
as your motto, every time you goto purchase a book, when you go
and purchase on Kindle, or anyof your ebook providers, also
pick up a counterpart. Just tellyourself, I just got this white
(37:57):
author. Now I remember that I'mgonna be holding myself
accountable. Let me pick thisone up. Also following the
authors. Authors are alwayslike, sharing when their book is
free for the week. Yeah? Like,that's how I get like, half of
the books that I have like, whenthey're like, oh, it's free
today only, I'm like, searchesthe book and grabs it that day.
Yes, yeah. I
Alesia Galati (38:20):
mean, honestly, I feel like this is a whole side
tangent and could be a wholeepisode on itself, but like
there is no reason to bepirating books. There are so
many, especially in the romancecollection, there are so many
times that authors have them forfree. I mean, people like you
and actually constantly sharingwhen things are free. I mean,
(38:40):
once we're recording. There areover 560 books that are free
literally today
Carla Is Reading (38:47):
and stuff your kid all day literally. And they
even gave you the categories forbipoc, like, just go in there
and grab them. They are free.
Alesia Galati (38:55):
Yes, free. Come on, guys. Carla, this has been
so much fun. Thank you so muchfor being on where can people
find you? Get to know you, hangout with you. Thank
Carla Is Reading (39:04):
you so much. I really appreciate you having me
on here. I love ourconversation. This is so
special, but you can find me onInstagram and Tiktok with the
same name, Carla is reading, andI'll be posting reviews. I'm
kind of chaotic, I'm kind ofcrazy, but I'm here for a blast.
Alesia Galati (39:22):
Yes, and I love your lives. You always do a
bunch of lives with authors, andlike getting new authors in
front of people. And I just, Ilove that aspect as well. If I'm
if I notice that you're live, Iusually try to pop in for a few
seconds if I can what's going
Unknown (39:37):
on over here.
Alesia Galati (39:41):
Exactly. I
Carla Is Reading (39:44):
love it. So thank you so much, Alesia. I
appreciate your time. You.
As readers, we know how important it is to
(00:02):
diversify our shelves. Today wehave Carla is reading to talk
about why it's important to readLatinx stories and really be
able to diversify ourbookshelves in a way that's
intentional and tons of smuttyfun. Listener discretion is
advised. This podcast containsmature content intended for
(00:23):
adult audiences only. Carla, Iam so excited to have you here.
I want to know before we getinto all things Latinx
representation in romance. Howdid you get started on this
reading journey?
Carla Is Reading (00:37):
Hi. Oh, my God, thank you for having me
here. I'm so excited to talk toyou. So how did I get on this
journey? I think I've alwaysbeen a reader. What happened,
though, that really got me full,full into reviewer mode, is that
I started to interact more onInstagram as a bookish person
versus regular content, thestuff that you threw out there
(00:59):
for family to keep in touch withthe kiddos and stuff. I started
to post book reviews, and I sawthe hashtag Bookstagram, and
then from there on, that justkept evolving. Then it was like,
I don't care what's happening inmy life, let's talk about this
book, because then that's howyou start making the friends.
And it's really the communitythat came along with Bookstagram
that kept me on there, and whathas now evolved into what it is
(01:22):
today that I have a book talkand a Bookstagram and stuff like
that with the Instagram Liveseries. So that's really just
like the love of reading, anddefinitely romance, more
specifically, is what reallybrought about this journey of
mine.
Alesia Galati (01:37):
Yeah, and we're all about romance over here. And
read the open door stuff. Weread smut, obviously, like it is
all about that you are a Latina.
How does that incorporate intoyour reading journey? I know,
for me as an afro Latina, when Ifirst started on Bookstagram and
started, first started, likegetting into this community, it
(01:57):
was very whitewashed. And like alot of the authors that I was
being pushed were white, a lotof the authors that I was
personally reading were white.
And I had to at the end of theyear looking at my stuff,
saying, This is a core value ofmine to lift up voices that are
underserved. How can I make surethat I'm doing that, not just in
(02:20):
my business and how I show upthere, but also in what I'm
reading and the content that I'mconsuming and the content that
I'm promoting. So I know thatwas kind of my journey. What was
yours?
Carla Is Reading (02:30):
The same as you I wasn't conscious of what I
was consuming. I was justwhatever. What was there the
best sellers, right? That wouldbe my next pick. It wasn't until
I encountered during COVID.
Alexis Darius, you had me atHola. I knew that there was
Latinx representation, but whatI didn't know was, like, the
beautiful Puerto Ricanrepresentation. And it wasn't
(02:50):
anything that was like corny,like how I've seen in media that
some things can make you cringe,and you're like, Oh no, that's
not how we are. This was a verymuch a contemporary Puerto Rican
woman that she's here. She's afan girl of things. She's an
actress. She's trying to makeit. She's trying to be a better
person every day. Meanwhile, shestill has the parents like
(03:11):
bugging her in her ear askingfor updates. And I was like,
I've never had this kind ofrepresentation. Like I had like,
a crazy, mind blowing momentthat I was like, What is this?
It started this hunger. I waslike, well, now I need more of
this. If this book exists, theremust be more, right? And so then
I started searching. And I haveliterally, like a breadcrumb
(03:31):
trail. It was from Alexis Dariato Priscilla, liveres to
Adriana. Very distinct. I knowexactly how I got to where I am.
Now, not only that, it was alsoblack romance, because, like, I
grew up here in Florida with somany cultures. I'm in a racial
marriage as well. So like, allthis language, this verbiage,
(03:54):
all this culture, this is me. Iwas inside these groups. And so
it was like, through AlexisDaria, like Alexandria house,
all these people that was like,Okay, no, no, no, this is the
romance that I've been lookingfor. These are the people that
are talking like me, that aretalking like my friends. I
understand this wound. Thiswound actually makes me swoon
more than that swoon. You know,that's kind of how it happened.
(04:16):
Then, not only that, I noticedthat no one else was talking
about these books, right? And Iwas like, Hey, did you know that
I got the same heart flutters?
Did you know that are like thisalso made me drop the book
because, like, I couldn'tbelieve the smut I was reading
just the same as these whitecounterparts that we love. And
then I didn't see the samedrive, I didn't see the same
(04:38):
push for the book. So thatalmost makes me want to push the
books even more, you know, like,that's just how my brain works.
Like, I'm like, Oh, well, youwant this kind of panty dropping
line. Oh, okay. Let me introduceyou to alecus Dario. Let me
introduce you to Adriana andFreda. Like, read this and then,
and then you'll go, yeah.
Alesia Galati (05:00):
Yeah, I think it's such an important part too.
Like we were talking before wehit record, we're all for
reading what you love, readingto escape reading for whatever
reason it is that you arereading, and no buts here, and
it is so important that ifyou're thinking, Okay, I would
(05:21):
love to read a second chanceromance. Cool. Have some variety
in there. There are SecondChance romances across all of
these, whether that is Latinx,whether that is black romance,
whether that is, you know,literally, monster smut, you can
read that second chance.
Carla Is Reading (05:40):
But all there in so many forms, yeah, yes.
Alesia Galati (05:44):
And so like finding that variety, I think,
really helps people to say, Oh,I like this trope. Wait a
minute. I didn't know that thesebooks had those tropes too. And
there's also this idea that Ihas been going around of people
saying, Oh, well, I can'trelate. Hmm. I have lots of
feelings on this.
Carla Is Reading (06:05):
Feelings on this in
Alesia Galati (06:07):
the middle of, like, two really distinct
cultures of like, I was toowhite to be black. I was too
sure Hispanic to be white. Youknow, I was very in the middle,
and then also having a verywhite passing Hispanic and
Italian mom, and then, likebeing with my cousins on the
(06:29):
black side, and just not reallyfeeling like I could fit in
anywhere, like there are booksfor people who look like me,
that are mixed, that have theseMore interracial upbringings,
and to see that reflected, youcan also see that reflected in
anything else. But I think thatpeople get this idea of like, Oh
well, I can't relate to thatperson's lived experience, then
(06:52):
what a great opportunity tolearn.
Carla Is Reading (06:55):
Is what I like to say, it's already proven that
reading enhances your empathy.
Usually, we hear thisconversation coming from, like,
those people that read likeliterary fiction, like, Oh, I
was in this person's shoes, andI felt the grief and I felt them
lost in the forest. Like, youknow, we hear in that
conversation, and those studiesand those statistics always
(07:15):
brought up with that. But like,of course, reading romance is
reading a book as well, and ifyou read someone from a
different experience, good foryou. Now, your horizons are
broad, and like you're openingyourself up for more. And number
two, you'll always see peoplereading alien romance, like
goblin romance. And how can yourelate to being called by a
goblin or alien with an extralittle spur. Can you really
(07:40):
relate to that a blue personcame to your door and, you know,
showed you the stars. Let'sreally talk about life
experiences and relating tosomething that's so outside of,
like, really, really, really,really, are you really claiming
that? To me, I feel like that'snot a believable stance,
because, like, you readoutlandish things that you have
(08:01):
never, probably will never gothrough, even though I believe
in aliens, like, you'll probablynever go through this, you know
when you're out here, like, oh,so in love. So apply the same
principles, babe. Like, open upa Latinx romance book. Come on.
You can do it. I mean,
Alesia Galati (08:19):
I'm right there.
Speed me up. Space, Daddy, I getit. I get it. But it's
important, you know, we're here,we're on Earth. Let's get
grounded and like, read aboutthese pieces. And you're so
right. The Empathy part, Ithink, is such a beautiful part
that I know I personally haveexperience in reading what
(08:39):
people are struggling with, tobe able to empathize with that.
I think that it reading, andespecially in romance, because
it is lighter, it is fluffier,but it still tackles really deep
issues. And I just think it'ssuch a beautiful, beautiful
thing that we're able to use asa tool.
Carla Is Reading (09:00):
I love romance for that same exact reason.
Kennedy Wright has that famouspoet that she says, like, to me,
romance is the perfect space toexplore all sorts of life
experiences. She's a really goodauthor to bring up about that
too, because she's she writesall sorts of women, the
complicated the ones with a lotof backstory, with health
issues. I think romance, that'sone of the reasons why it is my
(09:21):
favorite, I could read just onlyromance and be happy more. So
these past couple of years, I'vebeen like, let me, you know,
include this. Let me includethat. This year has been like my
non fiction year. I've beentrying to squeeze in some non
fictions here and there, but Icould absolutely just read
romance and I will be like thehappiest person, because you can
(09:41):
explore so much just with thatgenre. Yes,
Alesia Galati (09:44):
absolutely. When we say Latinx community, what
exactly? And I actually foundthis really interesting when we
had Latinx Heritage Month. Oflike, what is Latinx heritage
versus Hispanic heritage? And Iknow there's a lot. Lot of
interchanging of that language,which isn't really accurate. So
can you break down Latinxheritage and like what that
(10:06):
looks like?
Carla Is Reading (10:08):
So when we speak about first of all,
Latinx, Latina Latin we'retalking about the influence of
both Portugal, Spain and otherLatin rooted countries that came
into what is now Latin America,right? And when I like to talk
about the Hispanic versusLatinx, Hispanic has to do with
(10:33):
Spain and a Spanish speaker. Sowhen we look at Latin America,
we're talking about Colombia,Chile, Ecuador, you know, all
those countries. But then whenwe talk about Brazil, when we
talk about Haiti, those areLatin American countries. They
don't speak Spanish, so wewouldn't label them Hispanic,
because in Haiti's, they speakthe French, French, and in
(10:56):
Brazil, they speak Portuguese.
So they can't be calledHispanic, right? But there is a
label to that covers all of ushere, that we're all part of the
people that were pillaged bythem Europeans. And that
influence has is all over theCaribbean, right? So when we
celebrate Latinx Heritage Month,we are celebrating us, the
(11:16):
people that have been influencedSpain isn't really part of that.
Spain is doing just fine, right?
It's more so about thesecountries that now, after all
these years, they have developedtheir own culture and their own
ways of speaking. So we'recelebrating that heritage, and
that's what the month fromSeptember 15 to October 15.
(11:39):
That's what we celebrate thatheritage, that diaspora, and
that's the main difference. Soyou might need somebody who just
prefers to be called Hispanic.
They might prefer to be calledLatina, Latino, Latinx and
Latina, and even the evils orthe gender neutral, because
Latina and Latino, that's veryfor her and for him. And then
(11:59):
there's people that justidentify in between. So they
rather use Latinx, Latina.
That's where all that comes fromin the Heritage Month. And it
really depends on the person.
What they prefer to be labeled.
How you can find out is just bysitting and observing to see how
a person labels themselves.
Sometimes they prefer to just becalled Panamanian, Puerto Rican.
It's very confusing because it'sa self identifying thing. And
(12:22):
then we also evolve. Andsometimes we're like, I don't
like this label, so we mightchange it. So it's just one of
those things that I knowsometimes the non Latina people
don't know how to approach andlabel, which is completely fine
to be confused. So were we, Ihighly just recommend just doing
research on a person, sittingback and seeing how they label
themselves. And you can alwayshave you find a confident way to
(12:45):
approach someone and ask whatthey prefer to be labeled. You
could do that as well. Hopefullythere's enough like trust in
there that you can have somesort of exchange like that,
where you can find out what theyprefer to be
Alesia Galati (12:57):
labeled. Yeah, and just to like name a few that
tend to be labeled during LatinxHeritage Month, but actually do
not fall under that category.
Alena armas, she's she's Spanishlike Spain. And then Abby
Jimenez, that's her husband'slast name, and she is not
Hispanic. And she has come outand said, No, please don't put
me on those lists, because I'mnot and that takes place from
(13:20):
other people. So those are twothat I know off the top of my
head, that a lot of people tendto categorize in Latinx roundups
and things like that, sure, andI think that it's really
important that we do, like youliterally could ask I was
creating a Latinx heritage kindof collage. And I said, Hey, I
think that person might beLatinx, but let me just send
(13:41):
them a DM. And so I did. I sentthem a DM. I said, Hey, I'm
doing a roundup, and you don'thave to specify. You can say, I
don't want to answer. That'stotally cool, too. But do you
identify as Latinx? Can I putyou in this roundup? And they
said, Yes, I do. I am this. Goahead and add me. Thank you so
much for thinking about that.
(14:03):
And so like, you literally justask it really is that? So, yeah,
Carla Is Reading (14:07):
literally, yeah. I love that you said that
experience, because usuallythat's how it is. If somebody
knows you're coming in withlike, with respect and like, I
want to correctly label you. I'mabout to do a roundup, a
recommendation. Do you mindsharing this perfect approach,
honestly, and
Alesia Galati (14:23):
also being like, it's okay to say no, right?
Like, if you don't want to beincluded,
Carla Is Reading (14:27):
a little discrepancy, hey, by the way,
ignore this. Say that you don'tfeel comfortable. And, you know,
yeah, got it, not a problem.
Yeah,
Alesia Galati (14:35):
I think that it's so important. Why do you think
that it's important that thereis Latinx representation in
romance, specifically, sinceobviously this is we read smut.
Why do you think that's reallyimportant?
Carla Is Reading (14:48):
I think that we are more than our trauma
stories. There are beautiful,wonderful, in depth stories of
people, of immigrants, of peoplethat have. That have overcome
something and as those storiesshould exist as they should, but
we are more than that too. Wefall in love. We have epic love
(15:10):
stories to make you believe inlove as well. We have epic love
stories to be told and to belearned from and to be gushed
after. Right? We look at media.
We look at the shows on TV, themovies, put out the Latina
population. We hardly get anyrepresentation. It's very
difficult. Our shows are likethe most canceled on HBO, on
(15:30):
Netflix, like when you have afull Latinx cast, it's so
difficult to find a long runningshow. So when you think about it
in romance and romance books,it's like even more vital. It's
even more vital to buy thebooks, to read them, to rate
them, to review them, to alsorecommend them, because that
representation is so currentlysilenced in other forms of media
(15:52):
right now, and just like I hadmentioned earlier, we're just
more than the trauma. We're morethan the heartbreak. We're out
here also looking for heartflutters, and we're out here
looking for the next book Bobbyto fall for.
Alesia Galati (16:08):
We do deserve to see ourselves in these books,
just like anybody else deservesto see themselves. There's this
new show. I want to say it'sNick Jr or Disney Junior. One of
those. It's called Primos, andit's all about these cousins
that are home together for thesummer. And there's like, seven
of them, and they all are there.
It's so good. And what Iliterally only saw one episode,
(16:32):
and I was like, This is my newfavorite show, because the
representation of all thecousins looked like my family
get togethers of like, such avariety of color, right? You
have the, you know, the whitecousin with red hair. You've got
the really dark cousin with,like, very, you know, kinky
(16:52):
hair. And it's like, that iswhat Hispanic families look
like. That is what all thepretty almost look like. And I
underperson. I loved seeing thatbecause especially my kids,
they're even less Puerto Ricanthan I am, and so like being
able to show them like this iswhat our family get togethers
would look like. Like this iswhat that is. This is why, if
(17:13):
you see someone who looks oneway, you don't know for sure if
they don't have Hispanicheritage or Latinx heritage, so
sure, don't judge someone justby how they look. And so being
able to present that to my kids,I thought it was so fun, but I
think is such a step in theright direction for seeing
ourselves, whatever color youknow we are on TV, and not just
(17:37):
as the George Lopez or theJennifer Lopez or any of those,
right like the very prominentstereotypical which I hate that
so watch, because we are sodiverse in how we look, how we
approach life, how we feel aboutour culture. And then you add in
(17:58):
the fact of like, those of usborn in the US versus those of
us immigrated or otherwise,there's so much to these stories
that I think is worth saying.
Carla Is Reading (18:11):
There's so many experiences. And you bring
up a really good point aboutlike, the stereotypical type of
Latina or Latino that we grew upseeing with the very little
representation that we saw herein the US, there is a very
there's a phenotypical commonuse, and that's why, the reason
why, exactly, like youpinpointed in perfect like,
we're like, the J Lo type oflook, right? And there's so much
(18:34):
more. There's Afro Latinos,especially, that have been so
underrepresented. And as someonewho has like raising biracial
children, it's really importantthat I show them that there's
that existence and it'sbeautiful and has always been
around, you know. So I loveThank you for saying that
absolutely we there's such awide range of how we look, you
(18:54):
know, such a wide range.
Alesia Galati (18:57):
Yeah. So let's get to the not so fun part of
Carla Is Reading (19:03):
these questions.
Alesia Galati (19:06):
There are quite a few authors that you know with
intentions, whether good or bad,have done work to portray good
work or bad work, work toportray Latinx characters. How
do you think that authors couldmaybe do better, or even we as
(19:30):
readers, could do better topinpoint maybe those
stereotypical things or thosethings that are really not
authentic, and like keeping itrespectful, sure,
Carla Is Reading (19:38):
sure. I wholeheartedly believe in
calling in, not call out, butcalling in, where you come with
like empathy from one human toanother, that you recognize
Somebody's here. They don't knoweverything you're learning, just
like how I am. I have spottedthis, you know,
misrepresentation here is thisinformation. Question. You know,
(20:00):
I am from this experience. Thisis like, done incorrectly,
right? There should be some sortof two way communication where
that can happen. I thinkcurrently, as a books, the grand
population, book talk, a bookinfluencer, book reviewer, we
don't have that equipped yet,right? I think, and it makes
sense, because this is very newthe seeing rep in books, right?
(20:23):
It's a very new thing. Whetheryou are from the experience or
you're writing about experience,it's a very new thing. So
pinpointing the errors and theharmful stereotypes, how to
bring that up to someone, is avery new thing, right? But this
has happened, right? We haveauthors that have done very
harmful stereotypes. And I wouldsay honestly, the best advice I
(20:46):
could give is to just listen.
Right? Just listen. We do knowthat others evil flags to
everything right. We have thepeople that just ride the
coattails of a controversy andthey just want to create noise,
we know. And then we have thepeople that take the time to
teach why this was harmful,right? Obviously, I can imagine,
as an author, that caused harm,what's going to cross my
(21:09):
algorithm first is probably thepeople that are just out here
trying to make noise, right? Anddon't care about how much you
learn, they just want to makenoise. I can imagine it could be
such a scary thing to be calledout, to be called in. But the
best advice I can give as anauthor that just found out that
it caused harm is to just listenlike simply listen, avoid
reactions, just those innatereactions that some you know
(21:33):
when you're being called out foranything, whether your wife and
your husband said, Hey, you didthis wrong, you might go on to
the defense, right? That's avery humid reaction. It's very
understandable, right? So itmight be a very innate and
natural thing to go on thedefense, but because this isn't
an experience outside of yourown, the best thing that you
could do is sit back and learn.
(21:55):
I believe that in the future ofus, and I don't know how
distant, how near the future is,that we will have like pillars,
people that you can come to forinformation, right, people
appointed like you wrote hurtfulAmex identity in this book,
let's trace you to this team.
Let's put you over to this teamfor a consultation so that you
can know right, what you can donow as an author, definitely
(22:18):
sensitivity reads and you want awide array of experiences,
right? It's really important notto get like, a team of the yes
people that are like, yes,everything your own is perfect.
You're good, you're good. Youknow, you want someone that's
that's non biased, and that saysyou shouldn't use this word, and
you shouldn't use thisdescription. This is actually
has a really harmful history toit. You know, you know you want
(22:40):
someone that's going to give youthat honest feedback,
understanding that this is notyour experience, so it's okay to
get feedback, right, so that youcould put out the best work that
you can put out as a community.
Though, I honestly it's so hardfor me to say anything, because
we're there's so many of ushere. There are really good
(23:00):
books out there that I follow. Acouple of people that are really
good at recommending nonfiction, about calling in in a
community, then I really I needto find out the books they've
showed them, like in theirstories. I need to go back and
see it. But I believe in like,at least us as a community,
reading these type of booksright, and learning how to
actively communicate with theauthor, the person that did
(23:23):
harm. Are you bringing thisfeedback to better something?
Are you bringing this feedbackjust to call Shane, I think, as
a question, that's an importantquestion we should all ask
ourselves. This topic is socomplex in that manner, because
there's so many moving parts,right? My wish and hope is for
world peace. But like, it'sreally like both the the person
(23:46):
giving the feedback, the personreceiving to like, develop a
healthy exchange, right in aperfect world, that's what it
would look like. But as for now,I authors need to, I feel like
they need to really examine, whyare you writing this experience
outside of your own? What's thepurpose? Is it that important to
include this? And are youequipped to outsource and make
(24:08):
sure that this representation iscorrect? You know? Yeah. So,
yeah, I know. Complex issue.
Alesia Galati (24:19):
It can get really sticky, really fast. I mean,
really fast. There's twoexamples I can think of. One, an
author posted on threads. Theyhave since deactivated their
account. They were like, shoutout to the three black women who
said my book was great, and thenscrew everybody else in the
bipoc community. And it waslike, Whoa. That is, that is not
(24:42):
now you respond. Sometimes youjust need to sleep on things
before you click clack on yourphone. You know? Yeah. And then
another example that wasactually really great was one I
had where someone had wrotesomething in their book, and it
wasn't any even. Anything likeheritage or that it was they had
(25:05):
mentioned an audio Narrator Thatwas definitely not someone you
would want to mention in yourbook. I did not realize that she
just made up the name, and itwas a coincidence that this
other person was a narrator andwas a trash human. So I reached
out to her, and I was like, I am100% sure that you did not mean
(25:27):
to do this, but heads up, thisperson has harmed people. And,
you know, like, and she waslike, wow, I had no idea. Scary
Carla Is Reading (25:36):
message to say no, and I was terrified.
Unknown (25:39):
So I applaud you. I honestly that's a scary message
to send.
Alesia Galati (25:43):
Yes. I was like, I know you, and I know that you
would never do this, and so Ijust want it to, like, be
brought to your attention. And Ifeel so terrible because I was
part of her arc team, and Ididn't get to read the book
before it came out, so it wasalready out in the world, and
then she ended up going back anddoing edits, changing the name,
and like, made a post about it,and she was like, I'm so sorry
(26:05):
for anyone I've hurt. And I waslike, No, I 100% knew, like,
there's no way that she wouldactually do this intentionally.
And like, I know your heart wasin the right place. And I was
really happy that when I sentthe message, but did it from a
place of like, not well, youknow, you did this thing wrong,
and how dare you? I thinksometimes too, as the offended,
(26:27):
we can also come across thatway, and sometimes we do need to
100 sit and think on it and say,Okay, I'm a human. They're
human. Humans make mistakes.
Yes, this was harmful, or thisreally bothered me. What is the
next step for me personally? DoI need to talk to a friend? Do I
need to talk to a therapist? DoI need to just wash my hands of
it and look away like there arelots of options I think, for us
(26:48):
that we can take, but this iswhy it's so important to read
own voices, and I think that itreally helps us to be able to
see a more accuraterepresentation beyond what we
see in Hollywood or what we'veseen in, you know, the top the
Big Five publishing companies,seeing those Own Voices, I
think, really helps us to beable to experience these stories
(27:11):
and these heritages in adifferent way.
Carla Is Reading (27:15):
Correct? I totally agree. It's definitely a
two way street. This is aconstant exchange. When you're
calling in a constant exchange,like me, the person calling
someone in to inform and educateand hopefully help correct, and
then also the the colleagueright, the person that's hearing
this feedback and maybe learningthat there's a Content Exchange
(27:36):
where people need to evaluatethe feelings, the emotions. It's
really hard on the internet,though, because a lot of people
want justice now, yeah, you knowthey want it now they're like,
you did it wrong. Now you burninto flames.
Alesia Galati (27:53):
It's so true. So now we got the not so fun part
of the way. Let's go throughsome of your favorite Latinx
authors. I want to know all ofthem. Like, if someone's like, I
want to make sure that I'mincluding Latinas, Latinos into
my reading. Where do yourecommend that they begin with
(28:14):
some of these stories?
Carla Is Reading (28:15):
Oh, yeah. Oh my god. I hope you guys are
ready. Warm up your wreck.
Alesia Galati (28:21):
We'll make sure we have all of these linked in
the show notes as well. So ifyou're like, Wait, what was
that? I didn't write fast enoughwe got you. Good,
Carla Is Reading (28:28):
good. Okay, definitely my OG girly pops,
Alexa starria, some really greatromance. I love that. First of
all, she cares equally about herfemale and male leads in her
books, as in their mental healthalso matters. The male's mental
health and where they are,they're also actively working on
(28:49):
themselves, which is sometimes,as readers, we're like, oh my
God, why doesn't he have histogether? Like he's only
supposed to make me swoon. Butshe equally takes care of both
her characters individually.
That's something I really loveabout Alexa starvia is writing
andreana etrera. She is thequeen of, just like Afro Latinx
representation, like if you wantto see yourself, do you want to
you want to hear about thebeautiful curls? You want to
(29:12):
hear about just how feeling alittle bit different? And she
also has, like her historicalromance series, she does such
avid research. For me, since I'msuch a fan girl of her, whenever
she goes like, this is all theresearch I did, I just lap that
up because, like, it's amazing.
She'll really go in. She'll befriend librarians and
(29:33):
historians, as she finds out,like, about historic facts while
she's building her books. Thebest thing about her is all her
female leads are so headstrong,and they tend to be first or
second gen immigrants, sothey're also like the mothers of
the friend group that they needto learn how to say no and how
(29:53):
to grab less responsibilitiesand how to let the male lead
that she's introducing take careof her because he. Takes care of
her. That's something about hermen, too. They take care from
head to toe, and sometimes spendtime in other areas for a really
long time.
Alesia Galati (30:09):
I love it. And then we
Carla Is Reading (30:11):
have Mina, Sosa, that she's the rum come
queen. She's the one that I willjust like tilt my head back and
cackle out loud because she's sodang funny. And I love that all
her books, you can finddifferent kind of Latinx
representation. And sometimesit's like, the double couple,
sometimes it's a girl, sometimeshe's the guy. She gives us,
(30:31):
like, this wide range of allthese experiences, all while
making laugh. And she does somegreat sting too. Yeah, it's so
funny when you talk to her,because she's like, she speaks
like she has this cute littlegirl. And you wouldn't think
that she writes like this, myyou know, I love you. So I would
also recommend Natalie Kanya.
She's a Puerto Rican writer,Puerto Rican Dominican writer,
and she is also rom com queen,like she Oh, my God, her her
(30:54):
conversations and the chat onher book. I can't tell you how
many people that take my Rexfrom her will send me voice
notes like this. Lady is sofunny, so funny. Her third book
is about to come out. Well,we're gonna air this later, but
it's about to come out at theend of this month, and it's like
her seniors one, yet they'relike a really messy couple that
(31:16):
would secretly hook up, and theymeet again and they can't stop
secretly hooking up. I love thatkind of stuff. Oh, that's like
my catnip. Yeah. I alsorecommend Jade Hernandez. She's
a Mexican writer, MexicanAmerican writer. She writes
like, learn to love you when Iread that. What was that last
year that was such a standoutread. She really is reminds me a
(31:37):
lot of Alexis Daria and the factthat she really takes care of
both her characters. They bothhave a storyline to overcome,
and she writes the dirtiest smutscenes, including, like Spanish
dirty talk, like the man willsay the dirtiest, filthiest
things in Spanish to the femalelead, and that like
Alesia Galati (32:02):
and she has some like diverse genres, right? So
not just she
Carla Is Reading (32:07):
has a pen name for fantasy and paranormal
called alira Anaya series. Andin that one, because people are
creatures, you get all sorts ofrepresentation in those books.
You get like worldly and out ofworldly representation in those
books, I love her. She'll tickleall your fancies, whether you're
just like rom com. She does darkromance too, because she has a
(32:29):
Motorcycle Club series. Then shealso has, like the paranormal
and fantasy. With her pen name,I cannot not talk about, ah,
Cunningham. Oh, I, I cannot nottalk about, ah, Cunningham,
okay. Like that. Woman is amaster at smut, at kink. She
takes care of the kink that shewrites. She's the one that does
(32:49):
research. So when she includessomething that's like a clamp
here, a slap there, she has doneher research. And then, not only
that, she's the perfect exampleof an afro Latina that she
writes both from just the blackexperience. She'll write just
black love, black romance, andshe'll write Latinx romance too,
and she writes all in between.
And she does it so wonderful.
(33:12):
Like, sometimes I'll read abook, I'm like, Are these people
even Hispanic? Are they Latino?
I don't even know. I don't evencare. Like, I love their slang.
Like everybody in here is brown.
I don't know where they're from,but like, she does that so
expertly. And even though I maybe confused, I know that she did
it correct, because there'ssomething about her, when she
puts out a piece of work, shemakes sure things are done
correct when it comes torepresentation through the scope
(33:35):
of things, I think if you'restarting with Latinx, if you
start with these like this willopen you up for even more like
it's so easy to keep branchingout. Not only that, I feel like
these Latina authors, theythey're always like cheering
each other on. If you followthem on social media, they're
always praising each other's pupday and stuff like that. And
they equally look indie authorstoo. So they like exalt in the
(33:58):
authors. They also exalt theTRad pub. So if you start with
those, I feel like I'm alreadytreating you. So some really
yummy stuff, yes.
Alesia Galati (34:06):
And I think you can find a trope in there that's
like, one that you like, yes,read what you love, and yes,
branch out and find new things,find new experiences. It's gonna
be great. I promise. Yes. Ithink Mia Sosa was the first one
that I read in like, thiscurrent reading journey that I
was like, yeah, oh, my God. Whatis this? I want to eat it. I
(34:30):
love Yes. It's
Carla Is Reading (34:32):
kind of funny because you kind of enter and
you're like, laughing, laughing,laughing, hahaha. This is funny
that you're like, oh, oh, oh,NIA Sosa, you made me laugh, and
you've tickled me.
Alesia Galati (34:47):
Yeah, I had a friend. I was telling her, I was
like, You need to read her. Youneed to check her out. And then
she got to a certain scene, bentover a car in the side of the
floor field. You know I'msaying. And I was like, yep. She
was like, dang, yum. So good.
Now, obviously we are hugeproponents of don't just read
(35:14):
Latinx during Latinx HeritageMonth. Don't just read Black
romance during Black HeritageMonth, like just guys, come on
all year round, all year, do it.
So what are some things that yourecommend, or ways that you
recommend that people are ableto like hold themselves
accountable to reallydiversifying? I know some things
(35:36):
that I have off the top my head,following people like you,
people who are from thiscommunity that are sharing these
representations. Also, thediverse baseline Challenge is a
really great one as well.
They've got lots of prompts thatwill really broaden your
horizons. We're going to bedoing the alphabet bipoc
challenge again in 2025 sothat's awesome. Finding
(35:59):
something in there. There's somany different ones. But what
are some ways that yourecommend?
Carla Is Reading (36:05):
I definitely think that people assess
readers, if we adapt like a verymuch like the diverse baseline,
a 5050, rule for every whitebook you buy, buy something.
Bipoc, tell yourself, well,okay, I'm gonna go buy this Ali
Hazelwood, but I recently heardabout Alexis Daria. I recently
heard about Ophelia Martinez.
I'm also gonna go find OpheliaMartinez book. I want to buy
(36:29):
this Colleen Hoover or whatever.
Let me buy this other darkromance by a black author,
right? Like tell yourself whenyou go purchase at a bookstore.
Don't leave that bookstorewithout something bipoc. And I
mean bipoc, I mean non white,you know, as well as, like you
said, following people who readlike this all year, doing the
(36:50):
challenges, they're fun, butthey also just like attending a
book club. That makes you knowthat maybe a book club will pick
a book for you, and you justhave to write along and you say,
Oh, well, I ended up liking thisbook. I would have never liked
it. That's what the challengesare for very it's very much like
that they give you this prom.
You try and fill it in. How doyou fill it in? You already
following the creators to giveyou the Rex, right? So you read
(37:12):
that book, and then you find outthat this is a great writer.
Because a great writer is agreat writer. No matter what you
know, sometimes we don't knowthat we're like ingrained. We've
been taught all our lives tolook away from things and not
find things appealing that areoutside of us. So that's how you
follow the people that recommenddiverse all year as well.
Because then you go and you pickup that book and you find out
(37:34):
that it's excellently writtenwith great swimmers and great
SMUD and great this and you hada great experience. So
definitely like the diversebaseline, if you can create that
as your motto, every time you goto purchase a book, when you go
and purchase on Kindle, or anyof your ebook providers, also
pick up a counterpart. Just tellyourself, I just got this white
(37:57):
author. Now I remember that I'mgonna be holding myself
accountable. Let me pick thisone up. Also following the
authors. Authors are alwayslike, sharing when their book is
free for the week. Yeah? Like,that's how I get like, half of
the books that I have like, whenthey're like, oh, it's free
today only, I'm like, searchesthe book and grabs it that day.
Yes, yeah. I
Alesia Galati (38:20):
mean, honestly, I feel like this is a whole side
tangent and could be a wholeepisode on itself, but like
there is no reason to bepirating books. There are so
many, especially in the romancecollection, there are so many
times that authors have them forfree. I mean, people like you
and actually constantly sharingwhen things are free. I mean,
(38:40):
once we're recording. There areover 560 books that are free
literally today
Carla Is Reading (38:47):
and stuff your kid all day literally. And they
even gave you the categories forbipoc, like, just go in there
and grab them. They are free.
Alesia Galati (38:55):
Yes, free. Come on, guys. Carla, this has been
so much fun. Thank you so muchfor being on where can people
find you? Get to know you, hangout with you. Thank
Carla Is Reading (39:04):
you so much. I really appreciate you having me
on here. I love ourconversation. This is so
special, but you can find me onInstagram and Tiktok with the
same name, Carla is reading, andI'll be posting reviews. I'm
kind of chaotic, I'm kind ofcrazy, but I'm here for a blast.
Alesia Galati (39:22):
Yes, and I love your lives. You always do a
bunch of lives with authors, andlike getting new authors in
front of people. And I just, Ilove that aspect as well. If I'm
if I notice that you're live, Iusually try to pop in for a few
seconds if I can what's going
Unknown (39:37):
on over here.
Alesia Galati (39:41):
Exactly. I
Carla Is Reading (39:44):
love it. So thank you so much, Alesia. I
appreciate your time. You.
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