Uzma Jalaluddin

But now it's a little bit more marketable.

So I'm interested in this conversation because I think this is a thing that a lot of romance readers find really frustrating, and I, this may be an unpopular opinion, I'm not that bothered by it.

Mm-hmm.

I don't know.

But it's a little, I don't know, it's a little complicated.

I'm not sure it's really about the relationship anymore

anymoreYeah, and, uh, and like we, we have that problem also with authors who are familiar to romance readers as romance authors-

Yes

And it's not just horror doing this heavy lifting either.

Like, Mind Win and Uzma Jalaluddin use the mechanics of mystery and dark comedy to achieve this similar kind of psychological unearthing.

Oh, absolutely.

In Cleo Dang Would Rather Be Dead by Mind Win, Cleo's navigating the unimaginable trauma of losing her baby daughter.

The dark comedy acts as a pressure valve.

It totally does.

And then you look at Uzma Jalaluddin's Moonlight Murder, where we move into the cozy mystery genre.

A great genre.

Exactly.

We have Three Holidays and a Wedding by Uzma Jalaluddin and Marissa Stapley.

Such a great book.

This is a brilliant 2023 novel that explores the comedic and emotional overlap when Christmas, Ramadan, and Hanukkah all occur at practically the same time.

Oh, this is a great pivot.

Look at Ayesha At Last by Uzma Jalaluddin and, uh, Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert.

In Ayesha At Last, we have an aspiring poet, Ayesha, who falls for Khalid, a man who's deeply conservative and judgmental of her choices.

And then in Get a Life, Chloe Brown, Chloe is a chronically ill, fat computer geek who wants to take risks, but she has to rely on her neighbor, Red, who deeply resents her based on these surface level assumptions about her wealth.