All posts tagged: lovers

The NHL Is Releasing Its Own ‘Hot’ Fanfic. Romance Lovers Hate It

The NHL Is Releasing Its Own ‘Hot’ Fanfic. Romance Lovers Hate It

Published by skeptic

For better or for worse, romance lovers have never been hornier for hockey. Now, the National Hockey League wants to cash in. As part of its new “Hot for Hockey,” campaign, the NHL is rolling out romance novel-inspired short stories starring the league’s players on audiobook platforms. According to the Sports Business Journal, the league contacted popular hockey romance writers to write and narrate the 60 to 90 second stories, and will tap creators on BookTok, the romance-heavy literary subculture on TikTok, to promote the content. The first batch of short stories, which dropped this week, feature players including the Philadelphia Flyers’ Trevor Zegras, the Carolina Hurricanes’ Sebastian Aho, and the Las Vegas Golden Knights’ Jack Eichel. They’re written by Pucking Wrong author C.R. Jane and more closely resemble back-cover summaries than actual romance novels. And, despite the nods to genre tropes, the players aren’t paired with romantic partners. Much more boringly, the stories appear to be a bid to get people to watch the actual games. The entirety of The Summer I Turned Gritty …

The Best Gifts for Book Lovers (2026): E-Readers, Handy Accessories, Book Sets

The Best Gifts for Book Lovers (2026): E-Readers, Handy Accessories, Book Sets

Published by skeptic

I love losing myself in a good book, and I’m not the only one. Finding great gifts for book lovers isn’t just about testing for the best e-reader (which we have!) or rounding up all the accessories worth adding to your Kindle (we’ve done that too), but rather it’s about setting up your favorite reader to keep enjoying stories. You can help them with anything from a new reading gadget or a handy accessory to cozy items to settle in for a nice, long reading session. After all, if there’s anything we’ve learned from the rise of #BookTok, it’s that there’s no lack of accessories and items that can make a reader happier than ever. Here are our favorite gifts for book lovers we’re shopping this season. Be sure also to check out our other buying guides, including Best Kindles, Best E-Readers, Best Kindle Accessories, and Best Digital Notebooks. If you’re on the hunt for more gifts, don’t miss the rest of our gift guides. Updated September 2026: This guide has been refreshed with current …

Scent Lovers Won't Want To Miss 10% Off Sentier's Stunning Fragrance Advent Calendar

Scent Lovers Won't Want To Miss 10% Off Sentier's Stunning Fragrance Advent Calendar

Published by Sam Flores

Sentier Fragrance There’s so much to love about Christmas: delicious food and drink, great company, and don’t get me started on presents. Personally, though, I reckon one of the best things about the most wonderful time of year is the scents. It’s ot just the smell of baked spices: I’m a big fan of the seasonal scents that get released each year, too. I’ve already waxed lyrical about Jo Malone’s Advent Calendar and Lush’s S’mores body wash, but when I found out there was a whole Advent calendar dedicated to warm and spicy festive scents, I was gripped. Packaged in a gorgeous watercolour box with velvet ribbons, the Sentier calendar feels like something you’ll want to keep in your house and cherish for a long time.  Considering it costs just £109, it promises serious savings on the 12 scents you’ll find inside – because the whole thing is worth £529. Everything about the experience of opening the calendar is special. By the end of the 12 days, you’ll have six 60ml scented candles and six 10ml …

AI Friends and Lovers: Promise and Peril

AI Friends and Lovers: Promise and Peril

Published by Jenni Sidey

OpenAI released ChatGPT to the public in 2022. Instead of learning commands or writing code, you simply talked to it. This created a radical shift in our culture that we are just beginning to appreciate and dread. OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic all worried at that time that giving their chatbots too much personality, or letting users form emotional bonds with them, was too risky. Smaller startups saw an opportunity and jumped in, constructing the kinds of artificial intelligence (AI) companionship tools that the giants were reluctant to build. Some of the most popular have been Nomi.AI, Character.ai, and EVA. Many smaller ones like Paradot, Anima, and CrushOnAI provide similar services. Nomi.AI is representative of this genre. I visited its website, where it describes itself as “an AI companion with memory and a soul.” It promises users they can “build a meaningful friendship, develop a passionate relationship, or learn from an insightful mentor. No matter what you’re looking for, Nomi’s humanlike memory and creativity foster a deep, consistent, and evolving relationship.” To register, it asks you …

The Lovers the Liars and Me by DeAndra Davis

The Lovers the Liars and Me by DeAndra Davis

Published by Jenni Sidey

Some books hand you a plot. This one hands you a deck of tarot cards and dares you to trust the pull. The Lovers, the Liars, and Me by DeAndra Davis is the second novel from the Morris Award winning author of All the Noise at Once, and it might be the most emotionally honest YA romance of the year. Part coming of age story, part queer awakening, part love letter to Jamaica written by someone who clearly adores the island and refuses to lie about it, this book earns both its swoons and its stings. The Opening Pull: What the Story Is About Jaliya Powell is a valedictorian who has never been kissed, never thrown a punch for herself, and never quite figured out how to be seen. Days before graduation, a battered, unsigned letter arrives at her Florida home. The return address is destroyed, but the message is clear: someone misses her and wants to see her. Jaliya becomes convinced it came from her mother, who left for Jamaica when she was four …

5 Monster Romance Manga and Manhwa for Monster Lovers

5 Monster Romance Manga and Manhwa for Monster Lovers

Published by Jenni Sidey

For many of those who love monster romance, everything started with Beauty and the Beast, and its tale of a beastly being taking a human girl hostage in his grand manor. Despite everything, you could see he had layers, like an onion. Layers that you wanted to rip apart to see what was inside. And then, once he fell in love with the human girl and wanted to be more, he wanted to be able to give her what she deserved. Isn’t that beautiful? In this list, you’ll find five monster romance manga and manhwa that will make you fall in love with beings you never expected to. Most of the time, when you encounter a monster in a story, they are the bad guy. They tend to be shoved into a box of “not possible to be the hero,” but if you encounter a monster in a monster romance, the monsters are center stage. They are the protagonists of their own stories, and you get to peel back those onion layers that hide so …

Cheese Lovers Are Learning How Babybels Are Made

Cheese Lovers Are Learning How Babybels Are Made

Published by Sam Flores

Babybel is a popular cheese snack We’ve written before at HuffPost UK about how the secret flavour behind Biscoff biscuits likely comes from sugar, and the little-known nut responsible for Cola’s taste. We’ve shared what’s actually in red velvet cake, too. But if (like me) you were obsessed with building intricated wax figurines from the outer layer of Babybels as a kid, you’ll probably be unsure about what type of cheese that oh-so-malleable skin contains.  After all, its fudgy, creamy, slightly chewy texture seems to be completely its own.  Babybel is its own cheese, but it has similarities to other cheeses Babybel’s site says that there’s not really a name for the kind of cheese it contains.  “It is a semi-hard cheese, made from four ingredients – pasteurised milk, vegetarian rennet, lactic ferments and salt,” they shared. But if they have to compare it to another dairy product, Dutch Edam cheese is the closest.  “Mini Babybel is an edam-style cheese made from pasteurised milk,” Babybel says.  That makes sense. Named after the Edam town in the north …

Taco Bell’s rumored new menu items leave some fast food lovers disappointed

Taco Bell’s rumored new menu items leave some fast food lovers disappointed

Published by Daniella Wilson

Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more Taco Bell is rumored to be bringing back its crispy chicken menu later this month for a limited time, sparking mixed reactions online. The popular Tex-Mex fast food chain has been testing crispy chicken recipes for years, finally debuting its crispy chicken nuggets nationwide in December 2024. Following the success of the nuggets, it expanded its crispy chicken lineup in June 2025 with burritos, tacos and standalone strips, which were discontinued this past January. However, according to popular Instagram food influencer @markie_devo, the restaurant is supposedly bringing back its standalone crispy chicken strips, crispy chicken avocado ranch meal and pineapple freeze July 23. Posting a self-made graphic of the expected July menu, featuring the returning specials and new menu items: pepper jack steak burritos, …

7 New TV Shows and Movies for Book Lovers to Watch in July

7 New TV Shows and Movies for Book Lovers to Watch in July

Published by Jenni Sidey

Grab your popcorn buckets and your M&Ms, book lovers. If you’re looking for some fun new shows and movies to watch at home or in theaters, there are a lot of fun book adaptations coming out this July. From sequels to series to epic blockbuster movies perfect for a summer at the movie theater, this month has it all! Let’s take a closer look at what will be gracing our screens in July 2026. Enola Holmes 3 (Netflix, July 1) Netflix returns to the world of Sherlock Holmes in Enola Holmes 3. This is the film adaptation of the third book in Nancy Springer’s Enola Holmes mystery series, The Case of the Bizarre Bouquets. Millie Bobby Brown reprises her role as the title character Enola, who is preparing to marry Lord Tewkesbury (Louis Partridge). But the wedding is derailed when Enola’s brother Sherlock (Henry Cavill) is kidnapped. Himesh Patel, Helena Bonham Carter, and Sharon Duncan-Brewster also star. The third film is directed by Philip Barantini (Boiling Point), who takes over the reins from the director …

Gozney Dome Gen 2 review: a pizza oven for serious pizza lovers | Pizza

Gozney Dome Gen 2 review: a pizza oven for serious pizza lovers | Pizza

Published by Sam Flores

Whether you like yours thin-crust, deep-dish, simply margherita or loaded with extras, for pizza-lovers everywhere, there’s nothing more satisfying than making your own. And while a compact or mid-size pizza oven will more than suffice for a weekly family pizza night or casual entertaining, if you’re serious about pizza – and I mean super-serious about pizza – you’ll need a big oven, such as the Gozney Dome Gen 2. The Guardian’s journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. Learn more. Spacious inside, back-strainingly heavy, and complete with an all-singing, all-dancing display and control panel, the Gozney Dome will cook two 10in pizzas at once (or a single 16in one). Its size allows it to handle full meals, too: an included pair of meat probes means you can roast anything from a whole chicken or fish to lamb chops or a joint. More versatile than its first-gen gas-only predecessor, the Gozney Dome Gen 2 can cook with hybrid fuel. Add the optional wood-fire control kit (£174.99), as I …