Being a romance reader outside the States, I don’t have a library that I can turn to so it means if I want to read it, I gotta buy it. (I hope no one takes this the wrong way ;w;) It took me a long time to get going because one, physical copies take up space. I don’t have a lot of it left. And the other reason, region restrictions.
(Note: Internet Archive and OpenLibrary’s Controlled Digital Lending (CDL) are said to be potentially infringing on the copyrights of authors as well as intellectual property rights, according to the Romance Writers of America as well as other organisations.)
Imagine my surprise when I found romance novels (or simply, copyrighted books!) available for digital loans at the Internet Archive!
Users can use the Internet Archive and OpenLibrary interchangeably. The former is where the content is but OpenLibrary has a better UI specifically for borrowing books, making list and etc. You still have to create an Internet Archive account for access.
I have been on a huge reading marathon since I found it, by the way.
Anyhow, there might be missing pages for scanned materials (if they’re not ePUBs) and the Internet Archive suggests to leave a review so the uploader will be notified. I’m not sure whether the error will be corrected but it’s nice to have an idea of missing pages and the like, don’t you think?
Books can be borrowed up to 14 days. If it’s your turn to borrow it, you have 48 hours to do it otherwise it’ll go to the next person. There are also books that can be borrowed anytime, which I think you can read immediately.
You’re limited to 5 loaned books at a time. They can be read on your browser as well as anything that is compatible with Adobe Digital Editions (ADE). I personally use Bluefire Reader. If you do use Bluefire, keep in mind that book returns cannot be done via the app and must be returned either on Internet Archive or OpenLibrary.
Anyhow, if wading region restrictions seem like tackling a big bad wolf (especially for those outside the usual suspects of supported regions), I can recommend Google Play Books.
Especially for their availability across the globe and that you are able to pay in your currency. (Also good if your country’s exchange rates swing from one end to the other.) A lot of books can be found there, even independent releases!
Audiobooks are also making a splash on Google Play Books and both ebooks and audiobooks can be easily accessed via their app. I find it a breeze when reading on their app.
Rakuten’s Kobo would be a fair choice too. That is if you can’t or don’t have access to Amazon’s Kindle store (regardless of region) for any reason.
I’ll end this post with several recommendations 🙂
The Perfect Rake by Anne Gracie
In Pursuit of the Green Lion by Judith Merkle Riley
(Not strictly romance but it does end well ✨)
I Kissed An Earl by Julie Anne Long
Not sure why the embeds aren’t working and swapped them for links instead. Enjoy!
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