Congratulations to J.E. Cluney on the release of Corviticus University: Siren Song.

Happy release day to Leigh Kelsey for their latest release Eternal Night!

It’s release day for Lacey Carter Andersen! Their book, Shadow of the Crown, is available now!

Congratulations to Bre Rose on the release of The Prophecy Series: The Complete Collection.

Congratulations to Crystal North on the release of Prettiest Psycho.

Happy release day to Leighelle Stone for their latest release I’m Sorry!

Congratulations to Lyra Winters on the release of Tenderly Bewitched.

Congratulations to Sinclair Kelly on the release of He’s So Slick.

Congratulations to Leighelle Stone on the release of I’m Sorry.

Congratulations to Melissa Adams on the release of The Auction.

Protected by Outcasts by Traci Lovelot is out now! Add it to your TBR list!

It’s release day for Yve Vale! Their book, Charming Her Monsters, is available now!

Savage Trap by Roxy Collins is out now! Add it to your TBR list!

It’s release day for Katie May! Their book, Blood, is available now!

The Family Fortune by S.L. Sinclair is out now! Add it to your TBR list!

Congratulations to Dolly Kalasin on the release of Half Baked Runes.

It’s release day for Mika Lane! Their book, From No to O, is available now!

Clouds & Daydreams by Elizabeth Knight is out now! Add it to your TBR list!

Congratulations to Maggie Alabaster on the release of Sword of Balm and Shadow.

It’s release day for Letty Frame! Their book, Destiny, is available now!

Congratulations to A.J. Moran on the release of Gambling with Time.

It’s release day for Kris Butler! Their book, F*ck Steal Kill, is available now!

Dragon Secrets by November Sweets is out now! Add it to your TBR list!

Happy release day to Nicky Shivers for their latest release Totally Shipped!

Happy release day to Holly Bloom for their latest release Deadly Seduction!

This post was written by Why Choose?’s very own Super Mod but published by Serenity (because only she has the ability to do this). The only changes from the original version are to remove the names of a particular retailer.

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Hello all! Your friendly Super Mod here to introduce myself. Sort of. When I got the opportunity to help Serenity and Charlie on the site, I decided I would prefer to remain anonymous. I did this for two reasons. The first is that I truly believe ALL the recognition and kudos belong to the folks who came up with and executed this gorgeous site. The second, and possibly most important reason, I’m a huge introvert. But I’ll still tell you a bit about myself. Or at least, how I got here.

I have always been a voracious reader. Once I learned to read, that was how I spent almost all of my free time. It still is. However, I have never been a romance reader. Not judging there, it just wasn’t ever my thing. Then, relatively early in the pandemic, [an ebook retailer] suggested a book to me. It looked like it fit my urban fantasy taste, and also like it contained some humor. Excellent way to distract myself! I downloaded it and started reading. Ya’ll, it was Grave Mistakes by Ivy Asher & Raven Kennedy! Maybe it’s been a while since you’ve read that blurb, but let me tell you, it says nothing about being romance, much less reverse harem. After my initial shock wore off, I was completely hooked. And calling my BFF so I could get her hooked too. (it worked)

That first year of the pandemic, I read over 800 books, almost all reverse harem. I’ve always read a lot, but with all that free time, I was absolutely inhaling anything I could get my hands on. And, as I am sure you are all aware, it got more and more difficult to find RH books through the normal searches on the [retailers]. For whatever reason, they seem to revel in hiding our books from us. I was beyond frustrated trying to find books to read, thought maybe I had just read them all. But no! I came across a magical site that showed me I had in fact NOT read all the RH books. Not even close. I don’t remember exactly how I found it, but find it I did. I was in awe, it was a glorious thing. At that point, there were over 6,000 books I could search through to my little hearts content, and I was in heaven. But wait! I could add books to existing lists and make my own, tracking the books I had read and the ones I wanted to?!? I could check out the release calendar every day and not miss new books?!? I could search by tags for exactly what I wanted, and exclude what I didn’t?!? What is this sorcery??? And who were the magicians who manifested this masterpiece? I next realized that I had books on my Goodreads that were not yet on the site. That’s when I found I could suggest books to be added. And tags! I realized I could help. I could help the owners of the site, other readers, and the authors, the whole community who had been helping me maintain some sanity during the pandemic. So I sent all the book suggestions, so many tag suggestions, just… so much.

After a little deeper look into the site, I learned there were two (yes, only TWO) people who had dreamed up this site, created it, and were populating it with all these books. Two people who had full-time day jobs, plus part-time side gigs, PLUS one who was also an author on top of all that! I was then utterly gobsmacked that they were doing all of this for free. Free for authors, free for readers, just… completely free. All those hours they each have devoted to this site, all the expenses running a big site like this incurs, all of it, just unselfishly provided for all of us to reap the benefits of. That’s when I knew I had to do more. I had found out who the magicians were behind this magical site and immediately messaged Serenity & Charlie asking (read: begging) to be allowed to help in any way possible. I had no idea if they would accept volunteers, but I had to try. I’m in my mid-50’s, retired, love books, it was a pandemic, I had the time to give. It felt like a perfect fit.

At a time when so much seemed so awful, here were these two people, just quietly giving so much of themselves to others, generously making life a little easier for so many. It healed a little something in me. Even more amazing, these two incredibly kind, generous, beautiful people said I could be part of what they had created! I hear you, this probably isn’t changing the world, really, I get it. I just disagree. Because I think putting more kindness out in this world makes it better. Making even one little thing a little easier on another makes it better. An author providing huge support to other authors makes it better. So many readers still suggesting books and tags to help their fellow readers makes it better. None of that is trivial. I am in constant awe of Serenity & Charlie, and being a small part of their vision is an enormous joy and honor for me. I had read Serenity’s books, but we were all complete strangers. For them to put this much trust in me, make me feel part of their team, be so welcoming, and again, kind, well, there are not enough words to express my gratitude.

For Charlie & Serenity, I hope all the good they have put out into the world is returned to them multiple times. For us readers, may we all find our next favorite read and book boyfriend (or 6). For all the authors, may your audience increase in a big way, just as Serenity and Charlie intended.

Congratulations to Gwyneira Blythe on the release of A Siren & Her Sea Monsters: Omnibus.

Happy release day to Jillian West for their latest release The Monster’s Desire!

It’s release day for Lucy Scott Bryan! Their book, Knot Letting You Go, is available now!

Congratulations to Romy Lockhart on the release of Stolen Omega.

It’s release day for Ginna Moran! Their book, Omega’s Reign: Platinum Shores Pack, is available now!

It’s release day for Rosemary A Johns! Their book, Jewel & Her Kings, is available now!

It’s release day for Amber Nicole! Their book, Quiet Confessions: Part Two, is available now!

Valhalla is Full of Hunks by C. Rochelle is out now! Add it to your TBR list!

We’re only a week into our survey, but after scanning the responses so far, I’ve realised there are a lot of suggestions for things we already have on the site!

Which means we’ve not done a very good job of telling you what the site can do already. For the next couple of weeks, I’m going to make a series of blog posts to tell you about these things!

But I’m starting with telling you a little bit about “us” – who are the people behind Why Choose?

From the feedback we’re getting it seems like you think there are a lot of us, but there are two Admins, one Super Mod, and 3 Mods.

The site admins are also the site owners and creators. They consist of me, Serenity Ackles (I am a reverse harem author myself), and someone who is actually a friend in real life, Charlie.

Charlie and I met at university – we worked in the same nightclub. I was the DJ and he was the SLT (Sound and Light Tech). It was a beautiful friendship cemented when I had to tow his car to the garage because he forgot to put petrol in it… We’d just finished working and it was about 3 in the morning. He’s also going to kill me when he realises I’ve included this titbit of information, and that I’ve still not forgotten this ten years later.

The two of us both have full-time jobs. He is actually a developer, and he is also a volunteer in his local lifeboat crew. I work in a global company, I’m a DJ, and I’m also an author.

And in case the spelling on the site didn’t give it away, we’re both based in the UK.

When the site went live, four people were asked if they wanted to be mods. There was no minimum requirement asked of them – they were just active users who could update tags and add books. Of those four, three are still mods.

One of these wonderful people reached out, asking if she could do more, and we ended up creating a special user permission for her – Super Mod. (Personally, I refer to her as a goddess). The difference between a Mod and a Super Mod is that a Super Mod can do a little more editing. When an author becomes verified, their profile is locked to them. Only they can update book covers, the blurb, and approve/reject any book tags suggested. My Super Mod has the power to update the blurbs. And while the site also checks for updated book covers, while this is still locked to verified authors (hence why you might still see covers with “Coming Soon” on them), she is also able to force an update on the remaining books.

How much does a Super Mod do?

I want to put this into a bit of perspective for you, so let me give you some stats.

This year, 2340 books have been added to the site.

Of those, 46 were added by the authors themselves.

There are two people adding the remaining books. Me and my goddess.

I added 34.

And this is why I call her a goddess… Our Super Mod has added 2260 books – that’s an average of 8.8 books per day.

In addition, this year to date, she has made 20,782 edits to books (we’ve just about to hit 15,000 books on the site), and that translates to 26,988 tag amendments (mainly additions). Fun fact, that works out to be an edit every 17 minutes since the beginning of the year.

Every single day, this goddess is on book selling sites looking for new books. Earlier this year, she literally went through every author already on the site to see if they had new books out that we had missed. If a book is showing as unpublished, she looks to see if it’s republished and sends me the new ASIN to be able to update information.

And that is our team.

But you wouldn’t miss me…

The site was my idea. I take full credit for that. I wanted a place where it was easy to find reverse harem books – because if you’ve looked on retailer sites, you know how difficult that can be. And while I agree with the books that are always recommended in the various Facebook groups are done so with good reason, it can be harder for baby authors to get visibility.

I wanted a place where readers could find their next favourite authors, and authors could find new readers.

So I made it.

Lie: I conned Charlie into making it.

However, I’m in this strange place where, without me, no one would notice.

Wow… That sounds more morbid than I intended!

Charlie builds the site. If he goes, f*ck knows what I’d do (I mean, we’re official business partners and at this point, his escape route isn’t going to be easy), but my coding skills are limited to being able to make font bold or italic in a html editor.

If my Super Mod decides that one day, she’s just sick of it all (and honestly, I can’t begin to imagine how many hours a day she spends – FOR FREE – adding books and tags), I would also curl into a ball and cry.

The fact is, these two people are how this site is running.

Sure, I do a fair bit of admin (you’d be surprised how much time I spend on working through things manually – updating ASINs, making sure there aren’t contradicting tags, sanity checking all the tag suggestions that come through for the unverified authors), but my time is limited and without my Super Mod, I wouldn’t be able to do that. I certainly am not in a position to update the site with new books daily like she does.

But Serenity, that book has the wrong tag!

In amongst the feedback we’ve had so far, there were a few comments about book information being incorrect or books missing, and you know what? You’re probably absolutely correct!

Now, I don’t want anyone to feel like this is personally directed towards them, nor as criticism, because, if anything, I think it’s clear that we’ve never really made this known properly – and that’s on us.

Hence this blog post!

But I also wanted to let you know the limitations we’re working with.

First and foremost is the number of people adding books to the site.

I’ve just laid those figures out for you.

I know I’ve added a few, as have a few authors, but the rest – all one person.

We’re also as limited as you are when it comes to finding the books. Unless we’re certain a book is reverse harem, we’re not adding it (and yes, we do make mistakes – books are frequently labelled as reverse harem or even why choose, when they’re not).

Okay, slight segway here…

You’re called Why Choose?

Our website address is www.why-choose.com, but if you look at our banner, from day one, we’ve been shouting that we’re “Why Choose? A Reverse Harem Book Tracker.”

When this site was created back in 2020, this was when we authors started experiencing the troubles that went along with declaring your book as reverse harem on certain retailers. To get around this, we had to find “code words”. Mostly, this was either RH or why choose. At some point, mainly in the last year (2023), why choose seems to have grown to become a catch-all phrase for anything that is more than just two individuals in a relationship.

Regardless of this, Why Choose? will remain a reverse harem site.

Why Choose? wasn’t just about a not so secret in-joke with what we have to call our books, but it was also to show that there were really that many books and authors, why would anyone need to choose just one favourite?

But now, more than that, there is one person adding these books – we do not have the manpower to add everything else that “why choose” now covers. This site was also supposed – and will continue to be – a resource for reverse harem books only. One woman and THREE or more guys.

Yes, this has become somewhat grey as we have RH with MM or FF in the harem, but at the heart of it, the woman is the centre of that relationship.

Now, we are considering, in the not too distant future, allowing any non-RH book in a series which currently features an RH book to be added to the site. This won’t include non-RH series written by the same author (if they have an MF-only series, for example). And it certainly won’t be until we can properly identify these books as readers are coming here for reverse harem books.

While I also wanted to create a sister site called Y-Choose? for MM books, that dream died when I realised how much work was needed just for this site…

Anyway, sometimes books which aren’t reverse harem do end up on the site, but as soon as we’re made aware, they’re removed. We’re not trying to trick you!

When we add the books, we try to tag them with as much information as possible. For me personally, I stop at what I see on the retailers. I know for a fact that my Super Mod will go the extra mile to use the “Look inside” feature, and if the author is one known to write darker books, check their websites.

But even then, unless we actually read the books, we can’t put every tag on there. (Remember, Super Mod is adding nearly 10 books a day, and they’re not always in the genres she reads!)

And sometimes, the wrong tag gets on them. Back in the early days, I assumed (wrongly), that most of the time, the same tag applied to the whole series. I also have fat thumbs. Mistakes have happened – sometime the wrong tag is there, and sometimes they’re missing.

All of this is data which isn’t added automatically.

So what is automatic?

Every single day, this site is checking what is on our site vs a certain retailer in particular. It starts simply by checking that the book is still published. Despite this literally running on a loop, it takes about a week to cycle through every book.

This means, if an author pulls a release day forward and releases early, sometimes the dates aren’t accurate in the calendar. Unless we get a waaaay more powerful machine – which we won’t because they cost a fortune – we can’t speed this process up. In fact, as we get more and more books on the site, it will take even longer. The best we can do is prioritising the imminent releases, and even then, I still cannot guarantee anything.

We also have authors doing live releases – completely their prerogative, but we can’t guarantee when we will see them in time to add them on release day.

I wanted to read that book, but it’s unpublished

Authors have a habit of pulling books – pre-orders or published. It happens a lot more than you probably realise. What this means is that there are books on this site listed as unpublished. Some of these will get republished and sometimes the only difference is a new ASIN (most common with pre-orders). Sometimes they’ve been reworked and have new titles.

Unless the book was never released, that unpublished book will stay on the site.

How frustrating is it when you know you’ve read a book and then you can’t find it again? We want you to be able to look back and see it did exist, which is why they’re staying.

Now, I hold my hands up and acknowledge this is a slight flaw. We are working on improving this though – making sure it’s clearer that the book is unpublished (I’m not exactly sure how yet, but it will happen), and incorporating a book history into the book page – which I will probably have to do manually!

So, if you see that there’s a book missing – let us know.

If you see a book has the incorrect information – let us know.

If you see the books has missing tags – LET US KNOW!

Seriously – we want the suggestions!

This site works best with the tags. The more tags we have, the more we can help protect those with triggers. The more we can help you find what you want to read. The more we can help you find your next favourite book!

Which leads me to my last point of the post…

You’re making bank, right?

What money do we make from this site?

Honestly?

Pretty much nothing.

Our income comes from two places. Firstly, from any wonderful person who has a few spare $ in their pocket to “buy us a coffee”. The second, recently too, is from the ads. Last month, that was less than $5.

Hell, I’m just gonna tell you.

Since 2020, that has all amounted to less than $100. Don’t get me wrong, I’m beyond grateful to anyone who has donated and I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

But that really is it.

The statements about affiliate links? We keep getting rejected. They’re up because we keep trying.

Now, I do not say this to guilt you into donating or anything. Honestly.

But no one is paying to use the site – readers or authors.

The books which appear in our blog posts are those that belong to verified authors. When we first set that up, it was done with the belief that if an author joined the site, they would check and update their tags, which meant that you as a user would be shown books with correct tag information. Sadly, very few of the authors are active, and in the future, how we handle this will change so that an author needs to confirm the information is correct. But these posts/books – they’re not sponsored. Should that happen, we will say that (we need to for legal reasons anyway).

For real – if people are paying sites to promote their products, they need to declare it. It’s the law in both the US and the UK, at least (which is why some sites have statements about affiliate links, and certain book retailers have “sponsored” products related to this one.)

Being verified gives no preference on how the books are shown in the search either. (I mean, let me be blunt, I love the search and it is a huge improvement on what it was, but that girl currently doesn’t remember what page you were on when you click on a book and then hit the back button – do you think we’re able to push the verified authors to the top?)

Early on, I offered those authors ‘ads’. These were banners that I created myself, and there was no charge. You don’t see them anymore as it’s just not a feature that authors seem to want to use.

And I’ve just realised that I never made one for my own release, so before I trap myself in a sort of lie, that might appear for a week or so of you reading this post. *Ahem* XXXVII: The Elite by Serenity Ackles – that’s the same Serenity Ackles writing this blog.

As for the “Featured” books suggested on the bottom of the home page?

I have fun – I go to the random book feature and I pick four books at random. My two rules are that if they are not a standalone, I share the first book in the series, and also, I don’t repeat a book. This is why sometimes, they end up in the same genre, and sometimes, they’re from verified authors.

I’m going to wrap up here, and I hope that this blog post has provided some transparency for you. Please, please do not think this was written with any ill intent towards anyone, because it truly wasn’t.

Over the next few blog posts, I’m going to work on sharing details about different existing features, and in the background work on creating a much better Help/FAQ section for the site.

If we’re missing tags or have something wrong, please let us know. If you know we’re missing books, please let us know (please help us by suggesting tags too), and we’ll get them added. And if anyone wants to be a Mod, please drop us a message on the Facebook page (if you’ve already expressed interest via the survey, you don’t need to do this again. I’ll be reaching out to people soon).

Thank you for reading!

Serenity

Congratulations to Maya Nicole on the release of Stuck On Them.

Catapult by Alba Lockwood is out now! Add it to your TBR list!

Congratulations to Jayce Carter on the release of Selling Innocence.

Congratulations to Lara G Elmore on the release of Seyah.

Happy release day to Gray Holborn for their latest release Dark Before Dawn!

Happy release day to Belle Harper for their latest release Harley!

Happy release day to Miranda May for their latest release Wickedly Depraved!

It’s release day for Elle Thorpe! Their book, Rebel Obsession, is available now!

Congratulations to Mona Black on the release of Unlikely Omega.

For the first time, we’re asking YOU exactly what you like and don’t like, want and don’t want, on this site.

It has been a little over two years since Why Choose? went live, and although real life slowed our development down this year, we’re back with a vengeance.

We have a very long list of features and builds that we want to implement, including the App.

BUT we want your feedback first!

Why?

Simply, we want to make sure the features we think you want are the ones you’re going to use before we spend time building them. We want to make sure the site as currently is works for you, or if there is more we can do to improve what’s already here.

We’ve compiled a bunch of questions, which should take about ten minutes to complete, and in doing so, you’re in with the chance of winning a $50 Amazon gift card.

The Why Choose? database has grown far beyond our expectations (do you see how close to 15,000 books we are now??), and that’s largely due to you guys using it, so we want to make sure this site is the best it can be.

We hope to hear back from you!

Serenity and Charlie

xoxo

It’s release day for Mila Sin! Their book, Embers & Effigies, is available now!

Congratulations to Story Brooks, Cassie Hargrove on the release of Deadly Seven: The Complete Series.

Happy release day to Jenee Robinson for their latest release The Creeper Saga: Complete Series!

Happy release day to Jaye Pratt for their latest release Liar Liar – Part One!

Congratulations to Harper A. Brooks on the release of Vile Creatures: Kingdom of Monsters Complete Collection.

Crown of Mist and Heat by Maggie Alabaster is out now! Add it to your TBR list!

It’s release day for Zoe Ashwood! Their book, The Nora Moss Trilogy, is available now!

Rapture by Devyn Sinclair is out now! Add it to your TBR list!

It’s release day for Tessa Hale! Their book, Destiny of Ashes, is available now!

It’s release day for K.C. Dixon! Their book, The Culling, is available now!

Perilous by Elle Lincoln is out now! Add it to your TBR list!

Congratulations to M. Susan Potter on the release of Whimsical Witch.

XXXVII: The Elite by Serenity Ackles is out now! Add it to your TBR list!