Taylor Swift Fans Outraged Over Local Author’s “Smutty” New Erotica Book
Ivy Smoak said she wrote Roughing the Princess in just three days. It took Taylor Swift fans much less time to hate it.
Local writer Ivy Smoak, a.k.a. Amanda Hauge, author of the erotic fan fiction book Roughing the Princess. The book is inspired by the romance between Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce (Ivy Smoak publicity image)
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Local Author Ivy Smoak Gets Heat Over “Smutty” Taylor Swift-Travis Kelce Fan Fiction
Every author dreams of getting their book into the vaunted pages of the New York Times. But local author Amanda Hauge, who goes by the pen name Ivy Smoak, got a little more than she bargained for after publishing Roughing the Princess, an erotic eBook inspired by the romance between Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce.
If you think an erotic tale featuring stand-ins for the hottest couple in pop culture right now might draw some controversy, Roughing the Princess sure has. And the New York Times picked up on that brewing controversy on Wednesday.
Smoak, a Wilmington, Delaware, resident who describes herself on her website as an “international bestselling author” with over four million book sales, recently released Roughing the Princess after claiming she received many requests from her fans to take the Taylor Swift-Travis Kelce relationship to a new level. Philly media outlets have covered some of her previous releases.
Here’s a Roughing the Princess promo video Smoak released on social media, complete with a Taylor Swift soundtrack:
Smoak published Roughing the Princess at the very end of September via Kindle. Some sites were selling the eBook for $6.99.
The book opens with one of those standard Law & Order-style clauses: “This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is purely coincidental.”
Which, look, is hogwash. The resemblance to actual persons is hardly coincidental, let alone “purely coincidental.” Smoak made it clear from the outset that she was writing a book inspired by the Taylor Swift-Travis Kelce affair. (See above video.) No, she didn’t name the characters Taylor and Travis. But Smoak has described one character in the book as a “pop star princess.” The other is a “football superstar,” who is maintaining a “secret relationship” with the “sassy heroine.”
The cover of Roughing the Princess, the Ivy Smoak book inspired by the Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce romance (image via Barnes & Noble website)
Lots of details from the actual biographies of Swift and Kelce make it into the book. Same goes for details from their relationship. And there are quotes from said football superstar in Roughing the Princess that closely resemble Kelce’s own quotes on the podcast he co-hosts with his brother, Eagles star Jason Kelce. Oh, and in the book, the football superstar also happens to have a podcast with his brother.
As for what happens in Roughing the Princess, well, I read it, and let’s just say that my editors probably wouldn’t let me do too much quoting from it here. The book is extremely graphic. Straight-up literary porn. Not that there’s anything wrong with literary porn. Well, not until you start essentially putting America’s sweetheart into it.
Soon after the book’s release, Swift fans took to pretty much every social media platform imaginable to express their outrage and suggest that Roughing the Princess represents an outright invasion of privacy. And fans also took to platforms where the book was being sold to write reviews. Those reviews included quotes like “100 pages of yuck,” “I felt embarrassed reading each page,” and “I’m a smut reader through-and-through but this is cringe.” There were also readers who found Roughing the Princess “entertaining,” “perfection,” and “exactly what we asked for.”
Here’s one critical review making the rounds on TikTok.
It’s a little unclear what happened to the book. Roughing the Princess is no longer available through Kindle. It was available through Barnes & Noble’s website as of Wednesday morning. But by Thursday morning, poof! (Because the internet is the internet, it’s not too hard to find the text, should you want to read it for yourself.) The New York Times speculated that there may have been legal issues surrounding the publication of the book that led to its removal.
Smoak hasn’t responded to several requests for comment. (She also didn’t respond to the New York Times, so I don’t feel too dissed.)
Former Philly Cop Who Shot Eddie Irizarry Faces Murder Charges Again
Many of us were shocked when, on September 26th, a Philadelphia judge dismissed all charges against former Philly cop Mark Dial, who shot and killed Eddie Irizarry while Irizarry was behind the wheel of his stopped car with his window up and no gun present. Dial became a free man. But one month later, a different judge has reinstated murder charges against Dial, who is once again being held without bail.
Dial’s lawyer wants to move the murder trial to a different county or bring in a jury from another county, because he said he doesn’t think he can get an impartial jury in Philadelphia.
Police Arrest Suspect in Josh Kruger Murder
Philadelphia journalist and activist Josh Kruger was shot and killed at his Point Breeze home on October 2nd, a murder that made national news. Within days of the murder, police named 19-year-old Robert Davis as the prime suspect, just as the family of Davis made troubling allegations against Kruger, namely that he had been sexually abusing Davis and providing him drugs since Davis was 15.
Josh Kruger, the murdered Philadelphia journalist (photo via Facebook/Josh Kruger)
On Wednesday, police announced that they finally had Davis in custody. Early reports indicated that Davis had turned himself in. But late on Wednesday evening, police sent out an email stating that Davis did not turn himself in and that he was captured and arrested by police. At the time of publication, the exact charges against Davis were unavailable.
By the Numbers
$300,000: Value of jewelry and other items that a man says a robber stole from him at gunpoint on Tuesday night outside a South Philly gas station. And I thought I was living dangerously when I carried more than $50 in my pockets. Fortunately, nobody was injured.
$150,000: Value of additional free rides Uber is giving to Temple students over concerns about campus safety after students claimed the $200,000 in free Uber rides offered initially.
0: Number of days between now and Saturday that won’t see temperatures hit the high 70s or even low 80s, according to the latest forecast. I’ll take it!
And from the Hoops-La Sports Desk …
The Sixers open the regular season tonight with a 7:30 game vs. the Bucks in Milwaukee. Do you still give a rat’s ass about James Harden? He isn’t traveling with the team, though he did finally show up for practice this week. I’ve come to think of him as team kryptonite; I’d prefer he stay far, far away.
.@stephenasmith says James Harden showing up to 76ers practice "means nothing."
"James Harden just went Beast Mode, 'I'm just here so I don't get fined.'" pic.twitter.com/I0sU6Ktfm8
— First Take (@FirstTake) October 25, 2023
Tyrese Maxey, this is your time to shine.
The Flyers also play.
All Philly Today sports coverage is provided by Sandy Hingston.
