Mood readers need an easier way to pick their next read.
We're Aleia and Christine — Aleia's Library and Tropes and Kisses. We both review romance. We both center BIPOC books. And somewhere between the DMs and the shared TBRs, we realized we were basically running the same operation from different corners of the internet.
So we teamed up and Double Booked Club was born. And now we're expanding to connect more readers to their next diverse romance.
This fall we're launching a searchable database of diverse romance novels written by diverse authors.
If you're looking for …
- a book giving "slow burn" + "Black love" + "secret identity", or
- a book that sounds like "paranormal" + "magical creatures" + "road trip"? or
- or a "YA" + "competition" + "frenemies" story …
We'll help you find it.
Double Booked brings OUR stories to the front. Our stories deserve not to get lost on page twelve of the algorithm. We don't want a Black/Brown/Queer/Neurodivergent version of "insert popular author" here. We want to find books that feed our moods or remind us of our faves. As told by us.
We hope our database will be a tool you run to — to find your favorite curated list, reviews that make you want to read immediately, or filter through our database to find books that meet the random subgenre and microtrope combination you've been fixated on.
You can filter by representation, trope, or mood (maybe more!). The database launches with hundreds of curated romances — and this is where The Prologues come in. We need to build our backstory.
Every book. Every feeling. Actually searchable.
The database launches with 2026 releases and grows from there. Each entry is tagged with everything that matters — not just genre, but the specific tropes, the emotional texture, the rep, and the context that makes a book findable when you need a particular kind of story right now.
You can filter by genre, trope, microtrope, age range (from sweet to adult), and review status. If a book has a DB review, you'll see it. If it's got a Bookshop.org link, it's there. If we're currently reading it, there's a little "currently reading" indicator — because the site should feel alive, not archived.
We need betas to offer feedback before we unveil our shelves.
We're looking for 15–20 BIPOC romance readers to be inside the site before it goes public. Not to test it like QA engineers — to use it like readers. Look for your next book. Try to find that perfect trope combination. Notice what's missing, what's confusing, and what looks perfect.
Your feedback shapes the site before everyone else gets the meet cute. That's The Prologue role. Make sure it's not a meet ugly that ruins everything before the story even starts.
Founding reader credit. Always.
Being a Prologue isn't a one-time thing. The founding reader cohort is permanent — your name (or handle, your choice) lives on the site as part of the people who were here before the doors opened.
- Early access to the full database from May 2026 — weeks before public launch in August
- Every major launch moment (Best Of features, the grand opening, Annual 'Best of Lists') reaches you days before it goes public
- Founding reader credit on the site. Permanent. Not a thank-you note — an actual record that you were first in line
- A direct line to us throughout beta. Your feedback gets read and responded to so there's something else in this bookish space that you can absolutely use
- First look at The Double Down — our annual year-in-BIPOC-romance feature, dropping every January
"The Prologues. The founding beta readers. Before the story starts."
What happens when.
Want to be a founding reader?
We're selecting 15–20 readers. Applications close June 5. Just your name, email, and a little about what you're reading — we'll take it from there.
Applications close June 5, 2026 · We'll reply to everyone