Fated Mates - Romance Books for Novel People

We're on hiatus until September 14, when we'll start Season 5, but you won’t miss us, because this week, we have the recording of Fated Mates Live, our first-ever in-person live! Headphones in for this one, y’all. We were joined in Alexandria, VA by Kate Clayborn, Adriana Herrera, Tracey Livesay, Naima Simone, Ali Hazelwood, Diana Quincy, Andie J. Christopher, and Sophie Jordan, and we had the best time! This audio is imperfect, but there’s so much laughter here — we hope you’ll join us for the next one (which will hopefully be in the spring)…stay tuned on that front! Be sure to subscribe to the podcast in your favorite podcasting app so you know the moment we return.Thanks to Fox & Wit, creators of the Foxglove Special Edition Book Box of Kennedy Ryan's Before I Let Go, available for preorder now. The box comes with a special edition cover of Before I Let Go, a signed book plate, and a letter from Kennedy herself.Season 5 starts in two weeks! Our first read along of the season is Lisa Kleypas’s Marrying Winterborne. Get it at Amazon, Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, or at your local indie. Show NotesOur first in-person Live event was a smashing success! We welcomed Kate Clayborn, Adriana Herrera, Tracey Livesay, Naima Simone, Ali Hazelwood, Diana Quincy, Andie J. Christopher, and Sophie Jordan. Thank you to Old Town Books for partnering with us on this event. Thank you to the audience for their participation! We used a platform called Menti, which turned the screen behind us into an interactive platform (like an Instagram Live) where our audience could respond and comment. If we all have a reaction to something you can't hear....it's because someone in the audience said something brilliantly funny using Menti.The book Sarah accidentally interstitialed during the recording is C.M. Nascosta's Sweet Berries.

Sarah has a new book out, so as is tradition for our last episode of the season, Jen is playing host, and Sarah is playing guest, and we’re talking about journeys vs. quests, how being a romance heroine is political, and why Heartbreaker just might be Sarah’s most romantic book. It’s mostly a spoiler free episode, but you might prefer to finish your read before listening. Enjoy! And don’t miss the first two chapters of the magnificent Heartbreaker audiobook, narrated by the incomparable Mary Jane Wells, at the end of the episode! If you haven’t purchased Heartbreaker yet, you can get it at Amazon, Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, at your local indie, or signed and with special swag (and a Fated Mates sticker!) from Sarah’s local indie, WORD in Brooklyn!Thanks to Alyxandra Harvey, author of How to Marry a Duke; to Amazon’s Kindle Vella, publishers of Rebecca Zanetti’s Knife’s Edge, Alaska series; and to Lumi Labs, creators of Microdose Gummies, for sponsoring the episode. Use the code FATEDMATES for free shipping and 30% off your first order at microdose.com.This episode wraps up Season 4 of Fated Mates! Jen’s returning Lil’Romance to college, Sarah’s taking a break from social media, and we’ll be back in September with Season 5, which will look similar to Season 4, with read alongs, interstitials, trailblazer episodes and some other fun things we’ve got cooking. Thank you, as always, for listening! Please follow us on your favorite podcasting app, and if you are up for leaving a rating or review there, we would be very grateful.Show NotesNext time you’re in Brooklyn, check out The Center for Fiction. You can register (it’s free!) to see Sarah and Adriana Herrera in conversation with Greta Johnson from the Nerdette Podcast at the Printer’s Row Lit Fest in Chicago. The panel is at 11:30am on Saturday, Sept 10, 2022. If you’re in MA, check out the Rom-Con, a full day celebration of “rom”ance at the “Con”cord free public library on Sept 24.Jen’s planning a pilgrimage to The Book Barn in Niantic CT on Labor Day Weekend.Pick your local gathering spot: The Peach Pit, Central Perk, Luke’s Diner, or in the MacLeaniverse, The Place.Every book in the Hell’s Belles series has a cold open.Adelaide stole the tesseract!On TikTok, check out this amazing video by emmkick that compares MacLean to Kleypas, and friend of the pod Brittney has an entire TikTok series about the MacLeaniverse. Start with the first one here.What’s a Himbo? I bet you’re glad you asked.Speaking of Kleypas, our first read along for Season Five (what!) will be Marrying Winterborne, but we recommend that you read Cold-Hearted Rake first to get “the full Winterborne.”

The final Trailblazer of Season 4 is a very excellent one—we’re welcoming JR Ward to Fated Mates! Best known as the author of The Black Dagger Brotherhood (a series that blooded Jen), JR began her career writing contemporary romances under the name Jessica Bird before turning to the vampires the romance world adores. In this episode, we talk about the twists and turns of her early career, about the influence of her mother and other powerful women in her life, about the business of being JR Ward, about her process of writing the Black Dagger Brotherhood, and about her relationship to her characters. We hope you enjoy this conversation as much as we did, and we are so grateful to JR Ward for spending some time with us.Thanks to Avon Books, publishers of Beverly Jenkins’s To Catch a Raven, Blackstone Publishing, publishers of Nora Zelevansky’s Competitive Grieving, and Alyxandra Harvey, author of How to Marry a Duke, for sponsoring the episode. Stay tuned at the end of the episode for an audio excerpt of Competitive Grieving.Next week, we finish out Season 4 as is traditional — with a deep dive episode on Sarah’s summer release, Heartbreaker! Get it at Amazon, Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, at your local indie, or signed and with special swag (and a Fated Mates sticker!) from her local indie, WORD in Brooklyn! Show NotesWelcome J.R. Ward, author of the Black Dagger Brotherhood, a series of paranormal romances. She also wrote category romance under the name Jessica Bird.We did a deep dive of JR Ward's Dark Lover in Season Two. Listen here. People Mentioned: editor Hannah Braaten, publisher Jennifer Bergstrom, publicist Andrew Nguyen, editor and publisher Kara Cesare. Authors Mentioned: Sherilyn Kenyon, Laurel K. Hamilton, Christine Feehan, Kresley Cole, Nora Roberts, Kristen Ashley, Christopher Rice, and Gena Showalter.

Our final interstitial of Season 4 and we’re talking Antiheroines! If she’s a criminal, a grifter, a villain or a generally bad dude, we’re here for her, we support her, and we’re rooting for her to fall in love! Today we’re talking about the way antiheroines play in romance, about how we hold them to different standards than antiheroes (it’s the patriarchy, that’s why!), and about why they seem to be more prevalent in historicals and paranormals than they are in contemporaries. Please tell us about all the bad b*tches in books you love so we can love them, too! Thanks to Alyxandra Harvey, author of How to Marry a Duke, and Lumi Labs, creators of Microdose Gummies, for sponsoring the episode. Use the code FATEDMATES for free shipping and 30% off your first order at microdose.com.Next week, we have a trailblazer (so exciting!), and then we will finish out Season 4 as is traditional — with a deep dive episode on Sarah’s summer release, Heartbreaker! Get it at Amazon, Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, at your local indie, or signed and with special swag (and a Fated Mates sticker!) from her local indie, WORD in Brooklyn! Show NotesLots of housekeeping this week: Bookstore Romance Day is coming! We will be hosting a kickoff event online with Christina Lauren and C. Travis Rice. Check out the official Bookstore Romance Day site to sign up for any of the virtual panels. If you’re in NY metro area, you can see Sarah live in conversation with Tessa Bailey at RJ Julia on Saturday, Aug 20, 2022 at 4pm.Sarah will be on a panel with Adriana Herrera and other authors for the Printer’s Row Lit Fest in Chicago the weekend of Sept 10-11, 2022. Check the site, which should have a schedule of events coming soon. Jen will be in the audience! You can preorder signed copies of Heartbreaker from Word in Brooklyn, and you can order signed copies from the authors at Fated Mates Live from Old Town Books in Alexandria.You don’t have the library extension on chrome yet? You should! Here’s an interesting article that tries to define the antiheroine archetype. Check out Harley Quinn from movies, and Alice from the show Luther as examples. That article in the Atlantic was called The Subversive Power of Romance Novels. The book Sarah talked about is Inventing the It Girl: How Elinor Glyn Created the Modern Romance and Conquered Early Hollywood.The RestFor even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net/episodes/2022/8/8/s0447-antiheroines-in-romance If you wish you had six more days in a week of people talking about romance, may we suggest joining our Patreon? Aside from an additional episode every month you get access to our Discord, where other romance readers are talking about books they love (and many other things!) all the time. It’s so fun! Learn more about the Patreon and go join those cool people who love romance as much as you do at patreon.com/fatedmates. Beyond your favorite podcast app, you can find us on Instagram, Threads, Blue Sky, Tumblr, and probably some other places, too, if you look hard enough. If you've never listened to our Stop Book Banning episode, there's no better time than now.

You’re getting the full banana this week, y’all, because we were together! Like, actually face to face, across a table in a hotel room! We’re talking Apollycon and Fated Mates Live, answering your questions, recommending fun books, and generally being delightful in your earholes (listen, if we’re not delightful, don’t tell us, we had a great time)!Thanks to Grand Central Publishing, publishers of Farrah Rochon’s The Hookup Plan, Blair Babylon, author of Rogue, and Amazon’s Kindle Vella, publisher of Audrey Carlan’s The Marriage Auction series, for sponsoring the episode.We’ve got interstitials and trailblazers coming your way this month, and we will finish out Season 4 as is traditional — with a deep dive episode on Sarah’s summer release, Heartbreaker! Get it at Amazon, Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, at your local indie, or signed and with special swag (and a Fated Mates sticker!) from her local indie, WORD in Brooklyn! Show NotesYou can check out The Steam Box, which is a great romance + toy subscription box. A very funny twitter thread about what Mary Shelley might have to say to Joyce Carol Oates. Speaking of Joe Manganiello, he was in the news this week after finding out about his racial ancestry on the TV show Finding Your Roots.Sarah says the best feminist double feature is Magic Mike XXL and Mad Max Fury Road and you should try it and report back. You can not only watch Mad Max Fury Road, you can read about it, too. Don’t forget to order signed copies of Heartbreaker from Word in Brooklyn.

This week, we’re talking about one of our (and many of your!) favorite recent contemporary romances, Talia Hibbert’s Get a Life, Chloe Brown. We’ve talked about Talia on a number of episodes before, and we’re so happy that our final read-along for Season 4 is this one — which is a straight shot of sexy joy directly into readers’ hearts. Also…these two are so thirsty for each other and it’s great. We talk about artists and handymen and cats in trees and heroines with bucket lists who are just a delight. Sarah goes on a Seth MacFarlane tangent, and yes, we’re still cataloguing the greatest romance grandmas around. Fated Mates Live, in person is happening — if you have tickets to the live show in Alexandria, VA on July 30th — let us know on our Twitter thread (and find friends!). If you didn’t get a ticket, but want to order signed books from participating authors, you can do that at Old Town Books in advance of the event! Thanks to Alyxandra Harvey, author of, How to Marry a Duke, Kate McBrien, author of One Night Together, and Amazon’s Kindle Vella, publisher of Nikki St. Crowe’s Hot Vampire Next Door series, for sponsoring the episode.We’ve got interstitials and trailblazers coming your way in August, and we will finish out Season 4 as is traditional — with a deep dive episode on Sarah’s summer release, Heartbreaker! Get it at Amazon, Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, at your local indie, or signed and with special swag (and a Fated Mates sticker!) from her local indie, WORD in Brooklyn! Show NotesGet a Life, Chloe Brown is the first book in the Brown Sisters Trilogy by Talia Hibbert. Here’s a great interview with Talia Hibbert in Kirkus, written by Jen's editor Laurie Muchnik. Jen reviewed some of Talia’s books for The Book Queen back in 2017.If you would like to help out with Kansas’s constitutional amendment vote, you can phone bank on your own with the ACLU. Fated States will return in late August or Early September.You can still sign up for Sarah’s “Mastering the Art of Great Conflict” class! Check out all these starred reviews of Heartbreaker from Kirkus and Library Journal. You can order signed copies from Word in Brooklyn. Um, there are a lot of songs with lyrics about heartbreaker, soulshakers, and lovemakers, but the one Jen was mangling was Don’t Let Go by En Vogue.Here’s the story about Seth MacFarlane oversleeping on 9/11. Here’s a great twitter thread about ableism in fictional characters.Some great romance grandmas: Gigi in Chloe Brown, Grandma Frida in the Hidden Legacy Series, Genevieve in Lord of Scoundrels, and Grandma Carol from Every Road to You by Phyllis Bourne.Here’s a quick primer on potential vs kinetic energy in case Jen’s deranged cat explanation didn’t make sense.The RestFor even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net/episodes/2022/7/26/s0445-get-a-life-chloe-brown-by-talia-hibbert If you wish you had six more days in a week of people talking about romance, may we suggest joining our Patreon? Aside from an additional episode every month you get access to our Discord, where other romance readers are talking about books they love (and many other things!) all the time. It’s so fun! Learn more about the Patreon and go join those cool people who love romance as much as you do at patreon.com/fatedmates. Beyond your favorite podcast app, you can find us on Instagram, Threads, Blue Sky, Tumblr, and probably some other places, too, if you look hard enough. If you've never listened to our Stop Book Banning episode, there's no better time than now.

Four seasons in, we’re just throwing caution to the wind now. It’s Daddy week! Yes, that kind of daddy. No, it’s not for everyone, but it is for us and we’re talking about the whys and hows and wtfs herein. Headphones in, obviously. Fated Mates Live, in person is happening — if you have tickets to the live show in Alexandria, VA on July 30th — let us know on our Twitter thread (and find friends!). If you didn’t get a ticket, but want to order signed books from participating authors, you can do that at Old Town Books in advance of the event! Thanks to Avon Books, publishers of Charis Michaels’s A Duchess by Midnight, and to Juniper Butterworth, author of Priest Queen (Goblins & Cheese, Book 2), for sponsoring the episode. Next week, we’ve got another interstitial coming your way, but the final read along of season four, in two weeks, is Talia Hibbert’s Get a Life, Chloe Brown. Get it at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple Books, or Kobo. Show NotesIt’s Daddy week on Fated Mates. Here’s a few classic articles and explainers that might help you understand the phenomenon: a Daddy explainer from Esquire, an advice columnist from The Cut helps you get over your feelings about Daddy Kink, a woman in a relationship with a Daddy helps you understand the appeal, and why it’s totally find to think Oscar Isaac is the best (stern brunch) Daddy, even if he is having some sort of Daddy-off with Pedro Pascal. Sarah’s newest release is Heartbreaker, and it comes out Aug 23, 2022. You can preorder signed copies from Word in Brooklyn.A local Chicago indie, [Women and Children First],7 sponsored a panel on historical romance. You can watch the recording of Adriana Herrera, Harper St. George, and Joanna Shupe in conversation with Jen.Tickets for both Apollycon and Fated Mates Live are sold out, but you can still get books signed and shipped from: Andie J Christopher, Kate Clayborn, Ali Hazelwood, Adriana Herrera, Tracey Livesay, Sophie Jordan, Diana Quincy, Naima Simone or Sarah by ordering from Old Town Books! If you are coming, we hope you’ll say hi! You might also want to order an avatar button from the Romancelandia Shop. The TikTok where a woman calls her husband Daddy and he’s surprised at how much he likes it. Here’s Bill Pullman’s speech from Independence Day, which is so weirdly hopeful I don’t even know what to say about it.The RestFor even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net/episodes/2022/7/13/s0444-daddy-romance-interstitial If you wish you had six more days in a week of people talking about romance, may we suggest joining our Patreon? Aside from an additional episode every month you get access to our Discord, where other romance readers are talking about books they love (and many other things!) all the time. It’s so fun! Learn more about the Patreon and go join those cool people who love romance as much as you do at patreon.com/fatedmates. Beyond your favorite podcast app, you can find us on Instagram, Threads, Blue Sky, Tumblr, and probably some other places, too, if you look hard enough. If you've never listened to our Stop Book Banning episode, there's no better time than now.

It’s July, which means it is officially summer reading time in the northern hemisphere! We’re so excited to share this week’s episode, in which we talk about Beach Reads that aren’t just beach reads but are actually beach reads, by which we mean, romances in which the characters — *ahem* — on the beach. It’s all part of the service we provide here at Fated Mates. We’re taking little trips to Spindle Cove and Lucky Harbor before we take a tour of some very naughty beaches indeed. We hope you’ve got 🔥🔥 beach plans this summer! Fated Mates Live, in person is happening — if you have tickets to the live show in Alexandria, VA on July 30th — let us know on our Twitter thread (and find friends!). If you didn’t get a ticket, but want to order signed books from participating authors, you can do that at Old Town Books in advance of the event! Thanks to Avon Books, publishers of Tracey Livesay’s American Royalty, and to Julie Puckrin, creator of SkyMed for CBS Studios and Paramount+. Next week, we’ve got another interstitial coming your way, but the final read along of season four, in two weeks, is Talia Hibbert’s Get a Life, Chloe Brown. Get it at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple Books, or Kobo. Show NotesHumidity is terrible! And it really does make it difficult to line dry clothes if you're into that sort of thing.You can see Sarah at Apollycon (Jen will be there, but at the bar); Fated Mates Live in Alexandria is sold out; and preorder signed copies of Heartbreaker from Word in Brooklyn. You can also sign up for Sarah's conflict in romance class, which will be happening virtually the first week of August. Jen is looking to do a book event at RJ Julia in Middletown CT, or anywhere in CT. Even better if it’s Labor Day weekend. For reasons.The pineapple thing and the Adirondack chairs thing.Seal training is called BUD/S. Sure.The RestFor even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net/episodes/2022/7/12/s0443-sex-on-the-beach-reads If you wish you had six more days in a week of people talking about romance, may we suggest joining our Patreon? Aside from an additional episode every month you get access to our Discord, where other romance readers are talking about books they love (and many other things!) all the time. It’s so fun! Learn more about the Patreon and go join those cool people who love romance as much as you do at patreon.com/fatedmates. Beyond your favorite podcast app, you can find us on Instagram, Threads, Blue Sky, Tumblr, and probably some other places, too, if you look hard enough. If you've never listened to our Stop Book Banning episode, there's no better time than now.

Our Trailblazer episodes continue this week with Brenda Jackson, contemporary romance juggernaut, the first African American romance novelist to hit the New York Times and USA Today bestseller lists, and the author of more than 140 romance novels. In this episode, we talk about her journey to romance writing — from writing in high school for her friends, while parenting, while thriving in a completely different career. We also discuss her career at multiple publishing houses including BET Arabesque, Silhouette Desire, Kimani, Mira, HQN, and now, with her own publishing company. We also talk about Brenda Jackson’s legendary families — the Westmorelands, the Steeles, the Madarises and the Grangers — about her relationship to readers, about her writing, about covers, about why 36 is a magic age in romance, and about keeping romance alive beyond the pages. We are thrilled to share this incredible conversation with all of you, and we are so grateful to Brenda Jackson for taking time to talk with us.Thanks to Blair Babylon, author of Blair Babylon, author of Once Upon a Time, and Lumi Labs, creators of Microdose Gummies, for sponsoring the episode. Visit microdose.com and use the code FATEDMATESfor 30% off and free shipping on your order. Interstitial next week, but our next read along is Talia Hibbert’s Get a Life, Chloe Brown. Get it at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple Books, or Kobo. Show NotesWelcome Brenda Jackson, author of over 140 romance novels, with more than 15 million copies of her books in print. Her first romance, Tonight and Forever, was published in August of 1995 and there was a short bio of both Brenda and author Angela Benson in that month's Romantic Times, and her 2001 novel A Family Renuion was the cover story. RT also covered the launch of the Kensington Arabesque line in 1994. Several authors mentioned in today's episode were also guests on the Black Romance Podcast: Brenda Jackson, Gwyneth Bolton, Rochelle Alers, In November of 2021, Brenda Jackson signed a deal with The Cartel to bring 25 of her books to the screen. You can learn more about Truly Everlasting, the film Jackson financed, here.People Mentioned: Romantic Times publisher Kathryn Falk, editor Monica Harris, publisher Walter Zacharius, General William Westmoreland, author Gwynne Forster, author Marcia King-Gamble, author Gwyneth Bolton, author Rochelle Alers, publisher and editor Linda Gill, editor Glenda Howard, and editor Mavis Allen.

We don’t even know, y’all, so this week, we’re doing a little bit of flailing and a lot of talking about books we found unputdownable when we read them the first time. We did our very best to avoid repeats — which is difficult this many episodes in! We talk about what makes a book unputdownable (we’ve got buckets!) and about other things too…like our annual reader survey and how skilled a musician Sarah is. Fated Mates Live, in person is happening — if you have tickets to the live show in Alexandria, VA on July 30th — let us know on our Twitter thread (and find friends!). If you didn’t get a ticket, but want to join the wait list, you can do that at Old Town Books! The event is mask required, so plan accordingly!Thanks to Avon Books, publishers of Julie Anne Long’s You Were Made to Be Mine, and to Leighann Hart, author of Darling Descent, for sponsoring the episode. Next week, we’ve got a Trailblazer coming your way, but our next read along is Talia Hibbert’s Get a Life, Chloe Brown. Get it at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple Books, or Kobo. Show NotesAbortion is lifesaving healthcare. We are devastated and urge you to support the National Network of Abortion Funds, which removes financial and logistical barriers to abortion access by centering people who have abortions and organizing at the intersections of racial, economic, and reproductive justice. They partner with organizations already in place on the ground in places where abortions are banned to do the work of helping people who need abortions. We’ve talked about bodily autonomy in romance novels before, and in our trailblazer conversation with Elda Minger, she spoke extensively about what birth control and abortion were like for people back in the 70s.We remain Big Mad. Also, we are here for you, always. Find Jen (mostly) at Twitter and Sarah (mostly) on Instagram.Sarah broke her ukulele, which is a pretty cool instrument. It's Lizzo leading the charge to donate proceeds from her tour to Planned Parenthood, joined by (of course) Rage Against the Machine. Although Harry Styles did make a statement about the Dobbs decision.Don’t forget to take our Season 4 listener survey!London Has Fallen is a deeply silly and very entertaining movie that absolutely does not even try to pass The Bechdel Test.Back when Jen read the first Scorpius Syndrome book, she did notice a funny thing about the main character’s sense of smell.The RestFor even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net/episodes/2022/6/28/s0441-unputdownable-romance-novels If you wish you had six more days in a week of people talking about romance, may we suggest joining our Patreon? Aside from an additional episode every month you get access to our Discord, where other romance readers are talking about books they love (and many other things!) all the time. It’s so fun! Learn more about the Patreon and go join those cool people who love romance as much as you do at patreon.com/fatedmates. Beyond your favorite podcast app, you can find us on Instagram, Threads, Blue Sky, Tumblr, and probably some other places, too, if you look hard enough. If you've never listened to our Stop Book Banning episode, there's no better time than now.

We were going to do a deep dive this week, but then we read the book and decided that was a hard pass! So, we do a very shallow dive and then get to the good stuff this week…talking about Royal romances! We talk about the strange fascination the world has with royalty, about the way fake countries hit the spot, and about why it’s so rare to see a gender-swapped Cinderella story. Sarah also offers a peek at her newest research project, preliminarily titled—Alexbastian: Is Name, In Fact Destiny? It’s better than a deep dive, we promise.Fated Mates Live, in person is happening — if you have tickets to the live show in Alexandria, VA on July 30th — let us know on our Twitter thread (and find friends!). If you didn’t get a ticket, but want to join the wait list, you can do that at Old Town Books! Thanks to Adriana Herrera, author of A Caribbean Heiress in Paris, for sponsoring the episode. Thanks, also, to Lumi Labs, creators of Microdose Gummies. Visit microdose.com and use code FATEDMATES to get free shipping & 30% off your first order.Show NotesTurns out we are not reading The Dragon and the Jewel…because yikes. Eleanor Plantangenet and Simon de Montfort were real people, but this 1991 romance is too problematic for a full discussion. Yes, we talked about royalty in romance with Nana Malone back in season 1, but there’s always fresh content! The Oprah interview with Prince Harry & Meghan Markle is worth a watch, if you can stand all the commercials.The launch event for American Royalty will be in Richmond on June 28, 2022. Go check it out— Tracey will be joined by Kate Clayborn.There is a real His Royal Highness Prince Sebastian in Luxembourg, if you’re into that kind of thing. Order an avatar button from The Romancelandia Shop! This is a great way to announce your presence at in-person events and help people find you. It really works!

This week, we’re talking Superheroes! Why is it so rare to see a great romance in a superhero story? Is there really no room for love and capes? Do heroes eat? (spoiler: obviously) — We’re joined by author Barry Lyga, a comics and superhero expert, to discuss all this and more…and to chat about the new YA Superhero anthology, Generation Wonder, in which Sarah has a short story (it’s a romance). We also recommend some great superhero romances and comics, because of course we do. Do yourself a favor — be sure to check out show notes this week. The visuals are a delight.Fated Mates Live, in person, is happening!!! We’ll be in Alexandria, VA on July 30th — join us there! We’ll be joined by a ton of our favorites…find more information about the event and get tickets through Old Town Books! Thanks to Penguin Random House, publisher of Andie J. Christopher’s Thank You, Next, for sponsoring the episode. Thanks, also, to Lumi Labs, creators of Microdose Gummies. Visit microdose.com and use code FATEDMATES to get free shipping & 30% off your first order.Our next read along is Virginia Henley’s The Dragon and the Jewel, a deep cut from Sarah’s childhood. Check your content warnings and remember this one is from 1991, so we don’t even know, honestly. We’re flying without a net here. Get it at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple, Kobo or your local indie.Show NotesThanks to Old Town Books, we are going to have a real Fated Mates Live event at Apollycon at the end of July. It will be Saturday evening July 30th in Alexandria. Stay tuned for details. Welcome Barry Lyga, comics author and editor of the YA superhero anthology Generation Wonder. Sarah has a story in the anthology, and we’ll hope you’ll buy one for the young reader in your life. There was no kissing in Doctor Strange, but we’ve been promised there will be in Thor: Love and Thunder. In fact, Taika Waititi said Mills & Boon, so...that's official.Back in the day, romance comics were just as popular as superhero comics. Check out the site Sequential Crush to see the history of romance comics. If after this episode you think you might want to check out more comics, Suzanne’s site Love in Panels is the best place to start. Comics writer Mark Waid wrote about manhood and comics in an essay that is no longer available online, but Mark is also the author of Irredeemable, a comic about Superman turning villainous. Another essay about how modern superhero movies are romance and sex-free is called Everyone is Beautiful and No One is Horny.If you have little kids, check out the Mia Mayhem series of graphic novels. Jen was on Heaving Bosoms to discuss Cinnamon Blade.The TV Show about the superheroes going to work is called The Boys.Exactly one year ago (well, one year ago yesterday), Justin Halpern and Patrick Schumacker, co-creators of the DC Entertainment-HBO Max adult animated series “Harley Quinn,” told Variety that DC Comics removed a scene from the show of Batman "dining feline" (h/t bleedingcool for this delightful euphemism), saying "Heroes don't do that." As is right and just, the internet disagreed and #HeroesWhoEat and #BatmanGoesDown were born. It was a great day.For what it's worth, it wasn't just the internet that disagreed. Zach Snyder confirmed that Batman in fact does eat, with one of the greatest tweets of all time. At least, we think so. DC apparently did not care for it. While we like Snyder's version very much, here are some other NSFW images we like almost as much (eye headphones in): From artist @Mrs_Van_Damn; commentary from @realAgdtwinkie; from artist (with excellent commentary) @ArtKhobra; and this one, from artist @rpace, with special love for the pegging crew.

This week’s episode is thanks to Julie Block, the Fated Mates listener who won an episode of the podcast in the Romance for Reproductive Justice auction sponsored by The Meet Cute Romance Bookshop and Fizzery in La Mesa, CA. Julie made a generous donation to the Collective Power Fund at the National Network of Abortion Funds, and in doing so, got to pick the episode topic — Books that Bang! Headphones in, y’all. We have sixty-nine (that’s right, 69, by pure unplanned luck!) recommendations for you this week — everything from bonkers to bloody to blazing hot…naughty bits that we believe deliver the whole banana (and sometimes no banana at all, if you know what we mean). Pencils ready…your time starts…now.Thanks to Melissa McTernan, author of Married to the Fae Queen, the second book in the Fairy Realm series, for sponsoring the episode. Thanks, also, to Lumi Labs, creators of Microdose Gummies. Visit microdose.com and use code FATEDMATES to get free shipping & 30% off your first order.Our next read along is Virginia Henley’s The Dragon and the Jewel, a deep cut from Sarah’s childhood. Check your content warnings and remember this one is from 1991, so we don’t even know, honestly. We’re flying without a net here. Get it at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple, Kobo or your local indie.Show NotesThanks to Julie Block for suggesting this episode and donating to abortion funds for the Romancing for Reproductive Justice Auction, sponsored by The Meet Cute Romance Bookshop & Fizzery, opening fall of 2022 in La Mesa, CA. It is not too late to donate to the Collective Power Fund at the National Network of Abortion Funds.While we name checked some Fated Mates classic recommendations like Tessa Bailey, Jessa Kane, and London Hale, somehow we recorded this episode without once mentioning the name of Charlotte Stein. So raise a glass to her and all the other authors writing super hot books that we forgot to mention.Probably you want to see Jen Porter's illustrations of the drilldo. (PS. Protip: you might put "drilldo" in the search field of twitter thinking that Jen's tweets will come up, and that would be a mistake unless you want to see it real and in action. Ask me how I know.)The RestFor even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net/episodes/2022/6/7/s0438-these-books-bang If you wish you had six more days in a week of people talking about romance, may we suggest joining our Patreon? Aside from an additional episode every month you get access to our Discord, where other romance readers are talking about books they love (and many other things!) all the time. It’s so fun! Learn more about the Patreon and go join those cool people who love romance as much as you do at patreon.com/fatedmates. Beyond your favorite podcast app, you can find us on Instagram, Threads, Blue Sky, Tumblr, and probably some other places, too, if you look hard enough. If you've never listened to our Stop Book Banning episode, there's no better time than now.

If there isn’t a grovel, is it even a romance? This week, we’re getting to the bottom of one of our favorite moments in a romance novel — the grovel. Love it or hate it, some of the best loved books of the genre go all in on hero (because let’s face it, it’s almost always the hero) on his knees…and we are here. for. it. We talk about the hows and whys of the grovel, about the reasons we love it, about the difference between a grovel and a grand gesture, and about the books that installed this particular button for us. This episode is sponsored by Janna MacGregor, author of Rules for Engaging the Earl, and Adriana Herrera, author of A Caribbean Heiress in Paris. Our next read along is Virginia Henley’s The Dragon and the Jewel, a deep cut from Sarah’s childhood. Check your content warnings and remember this one is from 1991, so we don’t even know, honestly. We’re flying without a net here. Get it at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple, Kobo or your local indie.Show NotesWe love a good grovel here at Fated Mates, and back in 2018, Jen wrote an essay on groveling for #RomBkLoveMerriam Webster is the world’s greatest dictionary.We don’t come from chimpanzees, but we do have a common ancestor. If you think a character hasn’t suffered enough, you can leave them in cold storage. You have the power!Jen did the entire breakdown on Kiss an Angel with Erin & Clayton from Learning the TropesWe did a deep dive on Milla Vane's A Heart of Blood and Ashes because we love it so much. We also did episodes on Lothaire, Sweet Ruin and The Master. The first five seconds of the Sweet Ruin epsiode are a straight shot of Sarah's joy, if you are looking for that sort of thing. More about the problem of captive (and presumably lacking telepathic prowess) Tigers in America. Molly Bloom totally would love a good romance novel, btw.The American President is a pretty great movie, but it also came out back in 1995 when we some of us were still capable of positive feelings about politicians. Our next read along is The Dragon and the Jewel by Virginia Henley.The RestFor even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net/episodes/2022/5/30/s0437-groveling-in-romance-novels If you wish you had six more days in a week of people talking about romance, may we suggest joining our Patreon? Aside from an additional episode every month you get access to our Discord, where other romance readers are talking about books they love (and many other things!) all the time. It’s so fun! Learn more about the Patreon and go join those cool people who love romance as much as you do at patreon.com/fatedmates. Beyond your favorite podcast app, you can find us on Instagram, Threads, Blue Sky, Tumblr, and probably some other places, too, if you look hard enough. If you've never listened to our Stop Book Banning episode, there's no better time than now.

Our Trailblazer episodes continue this week with Jude Deveraux, an early historical romance author who broke several publishing barriers over her more than forty year career. In this episode, we talk about her journey through the Wild West of romance in the late 1970s, her publishing career at Avon Books, Pocket Books and Ballantine. We talk about the judgement and misogyny that circles romance, the buying power of readers, and the way the genre and bookselling has changed. We also talk about her writing process, and what it’s like to be Jude Deveraux. This one is a real joy for us, as we wouldn’t be the readers or writers we are without Jude Deveraux. This episode is sponsored by Avon Books, publisher of Joanna Shupe’s The Bride Goes Rogue, and Amazon’s Kindle Vella, publisher of Eloisa James’s The Seduction Series. Our next read along is Virginia Henley’s The Dragon and the Jewel, a deep cut from Sarah’s childhood. Check your content warnings and remember this one is from 1991, so we don’t even know, honestly. We’re flying without a net here. Get it at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple, Kobo or your local indie.Show NotesLike many of our trailblazers, Jude Deveraux’s first brush with romance was Kathleen E Woodiwiss’s The Flame & the Flower. The publisher with “the prettiest covers” in the 1970s she references was Woodiwiss’s publisher, Avon Books. Books of Jude Deveraux’s that we talk about in depth include: The Enchanted Land (her debut novel), A Knight in Shining Armor (early time-travel romance), Sweet Liar, The Providence Falls series with Tara Sheets, The Girl from Summer Hill, Twin of Ice (the twins!!), and “The Matchmakers” a short story in The Invitation collection (featuring Cale & the angel sex scene).The Four Js were Jude Deveraux, Julie Garwood, Johanna Lindsey and Judith McNaught.People mentioned in the episode: Kate Duffy, editor at Silhouette Books and Pocket Books; Joan Schulhafer, publicist at Pocket Books; Richard Gallen, publisher & packager; Ronald Busch, publisher of Pocket Books; Robert Gottlieb, agent; Linda Marrow, editor at Ballantine/Doubleday/Dell; Kathryn Falk, publisher of Romantic Times Magazine; Kathe Robin, reviewer at Romantic Times Magazine.

This week, we’re talking about one of our favorite historical romances, Jeannie Lin’s Butterfly Swords. This is one we’ve mentioned on previous episodes, and discussed at length during Jeannie’s Trailblazer episode, as it is the first own voices Asian-set historical romance. Aside from setting the standard for adventure romance, it’s also a near-perfect road trip romance with one of the hottest slow burns you’ll ever read. We talk about all of it, including the absolutely devastating first kiss—one that should go down in romance history. TL;DR: We love this book hard.Thanks to Charlotte Howard, author of Secret Verses, and Mila Finelli, author of Mafia Mistress, for sponsoring the episode. Stay tuned after the episode to hear the first chapter of Mafia Mistress in audio!Our next read along is Virginia Henley’s The Dragon and the Jewel, a deep cut from Sarah’s childhood. Check your content warnings and remember this one is from 1991, so we don’t even know, honestly. We’re flying without a net here. Get it at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple, Kobo or your local indie.Show NotesThis week, we’re reading the debut novel Butterfly Swords by romance trailblazer Jeannie Lin. This is the first book in her Tang Dynasty series. It’s not too late to see Sarah with Christina and Lauren in Connecticut on May 18th, 2022, or Jen with Christina, Lauren, and Sonali Dev in Naperville on May 19th, 2022.We’re looking for an artist to draw us a magnificent firebird. Maybe it’s you? So, it’s classic Jen to get titles wrong. Farewell, my Concubine is a movie, and the third book in the Tang Dynasty series is called My Fair Concubine. But, that’s not Li Tao’s book, either–it’s The Dragon and the Pearl. We talked about Road Trip romance back in season 1. Time for an interlude from The Princess Bride.Our next read along is The Dragon and the Jewel by Virginia Henley, first published in 1991.The RestFor even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net/episodes/2022/5/15/s0435-butterfly-swords-by-jeannie-lin If you wish you had six more days in a week of people talking about romance, may we suggest joining our Patreon? Aside from an additional episode every month you get access to our Discord, where other romance readers are talking about books they love (and many other things!) all the time. It’s so fun! Learn more about the Patreon and go join those cool people who love romance as much as you do at patreon.com/fatedmates. Beyond your favorite podcast app, you can find us on Instagram, Threads, Blue Sky, Tumblr, and probably some other places, too, if you look hard enough. If you've never listened to our Stop Book Banning episode, there's no better time than now.

We’re tackling one of Sarah’s favorite tropes this week — the celebrity romance! We talk about all the ways that her buttons were installed (thanks Judith McNaught) and about how rare movie stars are in romance even now, all these years later. We discuss The Chrises, the appeal of celebrity/normal person pairings, the difference between film/tv romance and rockstar/sports star romance, and about why Americans especially love a celebrity. Oh, and we get into our own existential despair. Visit fatedmates.net/fatedstates for past episodes of us being Big Mad if you want some inspiration. Thanks to Avon Books, publishers of Eloisa James’s How to Be a Wallflower for sponsoring the episode. Thanks, also, to Lumi Labs, creators of Microdose Gummies. Visit microdose.com and use code FATEDMATES to get free shipping & 30% off your first order. Our next read along is Jeannie Lin’s Butterfly Swords. Get it at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple Books, or Kobo. Show NotesA leaked memo from The Supreme Court makes clear the fate of Roe V. Wade, and the other civil rightsthey’re looking to eliminate next. We’ll be reactivating Fated States soon, and you can listen to some of our previous episodes (RBG, bodily autonomy, elda minger) related to these topics. It’s terrifying and feels like its all unraveling, so just fight where you can, remember we’ve been here before, and you should organize in your local community to help others. Check out the Auction for Reproductive Rights being organized by The Meet Cute Book Shop, and donate to an abortion fund near you. Good Chrises only, please: Hemsworth, Pine, Pang, and Evans. As we say, name is destiny. We feel bad about it, but both of us thought about the book Perfect after hearing about the shooting on the movie set Rust. Here is a timeline of how Alec Baldwin ended up with a live weapon.Perfect takes place is some part of Texas where it snows, and Judith McNaught partnered with Coors to raise awareness of and adult literacy. We love it when Normal people and movie stars get together.Harry Styles will be on tour later this year, everyone. I’m not sure why photographers love “the wet suit photoshoot”, but it’s definitely a thing. If you think you've bought a book before on Amazon, but it's showing you the buy button. Go to Your Content and Devices and search for the book. You can also search your digital orders. Charlevoix MI is a cute tourist town on the shores of Lake Michigan, which is very big by the way. Unsure about whether or not merpeople live there, but there are lots of shipwrecks. The final girl is a horror trope.Our next read along is Butterfly Swords by Jeannie Lin.

This week, we’re talking about a beloved contemporary romance, the first in Julie James’s FBI/US Attorney series — Something About You. This one is a fascinating look at a series connected by not the romance standard of friends or families, but by work. Set in Chicago, it contains all the mystery of a romantic suspense without ever straying from the contemporary romance path. The characters are sharp, the writing is clever, the structure is fascinating, and it will likely make you read the rest of the series almost immediately. Thanks to Avon Books, publisher of Lynsay Sands’s Immortal Rising, and Kelly Cain, author of An Acquired Taste, for sponsoring the episode.Show NotesJulie James is the author of 9 books in the FBI/US Attorney series. They are stand alone novels in the world of the Chicago criminal justice system. The Hyatt Lodge in Oak Brook has a lap pool with lane lines in case you’re into that sort of thing. The U.S. Attorneys are federal prosecutors and there are 94 districts. Saying out each letter separately “A-U-S-A” is in fact the right way to shorten this title. Jen confirmed it with Erin.The Peninsula is a fancy hotel in Chicago. Jen is unsure of whether or not it has a lap pool. After refinishing hardwood floors, you really do need to wait a while before walking on them! Vocation vs Career vs a bunch of other things.“Taste her blood in her throat” as someone (ahem, Nora Roberts) might say. You definitely want to see that scene Jen referenced from The Old Guard with Nicky & Joe. Unfortunately, Channing Tatum’s stirring defense of romance in The Lost City is not yet available on YouTube. Watch thisas a placeholder. Or this. You’re welcome. Christina Lauren is going on a book tour! You can see them with Sarah in Connecticut on May 18th, or in the Chicago suburbs with Jen on May 19th. Join us! Spiaggia has closed, but it was very fancy in its heyday. It’s not weird pizza, okay.The RestFor even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net/episodes/2022/5/2/s0433-something-about-you-by-julie-james If you wish you had six more days in a week of people talking about romance, may we suggest joining our Patreon? Aside from an additional episode every month you get access to our Discord, where other romance readers are talking about books they love (and many other things!) all the time. It’s so fun! Learn more about the Patreon and go join those cool people who love romance as much as you do at patreon.com/fatedmates. Beyond your favorite podcast app, you can find us on Instagram, Threads, Blue Sky, Tumblr, and probably some other places, too, if you look hard enough. If you've never listened to our Stop Book Banning episode, there's no better time than now.

Trailblazer episodes continue this week with EE Ottoman, the first out trans author of romance novels. EE joins us to talk about his journey into romance, about the evolution of trans romance novels, and about the importance of representation in romance. This is a fascinating conversation, and we’re so grateful to EE for joining us to tell his story, and the story of trans romance to date. An important note: While books by LGBTQ+ authors have been targeted by book bans across the country for decades, the recent bans on books and language around queerness in schools and public spaces make this issue even more pressing. This episode was recorded in the fall of 2021, which is why this specific issue is not a part of our discussion. Thanks to Kelly Cain, author of An Acquired Taste, and Ava Wixx, author of Virtual Reality Bites, for sponsoring the episode.Our next read along is Julie James’s Something About You. Get it at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple Books, Kobo, or at your local bookstore.Show NotesWelcome EE Ottoman, a romance trailblazer for being the first trans writer to write romance with trans characters. You can watch the RWA video of romance firsts here. People and publishers mentioned: Less Than 3 Press; We discussed the shifting landscape of LGBTQ bookstores during our trailblazer interview with Radclyffe and Oprah daily has an extensive list of LGBTQ bookstores searchable by state. The zine bookstore in Chicago is called Quimby’s. EE Ottoman mentioned authors KJ Charles and May Peterson as being especially supportive on his journey through romance, and notes that Carina Press has been several trans romance titles. Books with queer characters continue to be the target of book banning across the country, and books with trans characters are the most likely to be targeted.

At the request of Instagram, we’re talking Vampires today! We’re doing some deep cuts, returning to Kresley Cole for a minute or two, and then digging into worldbuilding, morality chain, why these books lend themselves to massive series, and ultimately…why we love these big toothy jerks. If you’re a paranormal reader, get your pencils ready — especially if you’re new to it, because we’re taking everyone way back to the beginnings of the subgenre! Thanks to Kelly Cain, author of An Acquired Taste, and Alyxandra Harvey, author of How to Marry an Earl, for sponsoring the episode.Our next read along is Julie James’s Something About You. Get it at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple Books, Kobo, or at your local bookstore. NotesWe’ve talked about vampires on past episodes: Kresley’s IAD vampires (Conrad is our favorite); Dark Lover by JR Ward; and last fall, we had Jenny Nordbak on for a monster interstitial. If you’re in Brooklyn and looking for a bookstore that carries lots of PNR, try The Bookmark Shoppe.In film, after 9/11, the rise of the anti/superhero to reconcile America's participation in a war. After the economic downturn, it was the rise of zombies to justify the way America was leaving poor people behind. And in this TikTok by Virgolikebeyonce, she suggests we're about to see media that reconciles our obsession with work/capitalism. We at FM have been noting a rise of the regular, blue-collar hero, which would track with this.A hegemony explainer.Tessa Bailey hit #1 on both the USAToday and New York Times bestseller lists with Hook, Line, and Sinker.The Sherilyn Kenyon situation is truly weird. Even eBooks can go out of print, for example, The Faustian Brothers series by Evie Byrne.Our next read along is Something About You by Julie James.The RestFor even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net/episodes/2022/4/16/s0431-vampire-romance-interstitial If you wish you had six more days in a week of people talking about romance, may we suggest joining our Patreon? Aside from an additional episode every month you get access to our Discord, where other romance readers are talking about books they love (and many other things!) all the time. It’s so fun! Learn more about the Patreon and go join those cool people who love romance as much as you do at patreon.com/fatedmates. Beyond your favorite podcast app, you can find us on Instagram, Threads, Blue Sky, Tumblr, and probably some other places, too, if you look hard enough. If you've never listened to our Stop Book Banning episode, there's no better time than now.

This week, we’re talking about one of Sarah’s favorite recent historicals, Diana Quincy’s beautiful Her Night With the Duke, which was on our 2020 Best Romance of the Year list. This one fires on many cylinders, and the conversation it inspired covers a lot of ground. We talk about how you won’t get a better Bridgerton read-alike than this one, about the third-act breakup, why it works and the work it does in a romance, about why widows are allowed to be sexy, about responsibility and aristocracy, about hot golf, and about how modern historicals are really doing the business. Thanks to Avon Books, publisher of Eva Leigh’s The Good Girl’s Guide to Rakes, and Kelly Cain, author of An Acquired Taste, for sponsoring the episode.Our next read along is Julie James’s Something About You. Get it at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple Books, Kobo, or at your local bookstore. Show NotesDiana Quincy has written many romance novels, and she also published Regency era mysteries under the name D.M. Quincy. You can find information about her books on her website, on twitter, or on Instagram. Her Night with the Duke was one of our best of 2020 romances.Leela taking her knife to her evil brother-in-law's face was just as satisfying as this great scene with Inigo Montoya from The Princess Bride.Here's a brief overview of the history of the Arab community in Manchester, England.Craft in the Real World by Matthew Salesses dives into storytelling around the world, makes the case that conflict-driven plots are not universal and advocates for making diverse storytelling traditions welcome in literary spaces. This essay from LitHub is a good primer to his argument.The RestFor even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net/episodes/2022/4/10/s0430-her-night-with-the-duke-by-diana-quincy If you wish you had six more days in a week of people talking about romance, may we suggest joining our Patreon? Aside from an additional episode every month you get access to our Discord, where other romance readers are talking about books they love (and many other things!) all the time. It’s so fun! Learn more about the Patreon and go join those cool people who love romance as much as you do at patreon.com/fatedmates. Beyond your favorite podcast app, you can find us on Instagram, Threads, Blue Sky, Tumblr, and probably some other places, too, if you look hard enough. If you've never listened to our Stop Book Banning episode, there's no better time than now.

The Trailblazer episodes continue this week with the Queen herself! Nora Roberts joins us today to talk about her longstanding career in romance—from her extremely relatable roots as a mom going mad in a snowstorm, to her deep rooted work ethic, to the plagiarism that rocked the publishing world. We talk about her place in the romance pantheon, about the reasons she thinks her books are so beloved, and about that one time her publisher called to tell her she was writing too much. It was an absolute pleasure to have Nora Roberts personally explain things to us; we’re beyond grateful to her for making time for Fated Mates. Thanks to Piper Rayne, authors of Sneaking Around With #34, and Kenya Goree-Bell, author of California Love, for sponsoring the episode.Our next read along is Diana Quincy’s Her Night With the Duke, which was on our Best of 2020 year-end list! Get it at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple Books, Kobo, or at your local bookstore. You can also get it in audio from our partner, Chirp Books!Show NotesWe are thrilled to have Nora Roberts on the podcast today. Take a moment to read this 2009 New Yorker profile about Nora and her career. This 1982 article from the Washington Post, Sharpsburg Writer Turning Romance into Profits, is one of the earliest mentions of her career in the mainstream media. Nora’s bookstore Turn the Page is located in Boonsboro, Maryland. She hosts a community of readers at her website Fall into the Story, which includes a definitive list of things Eve and Roarke will never do.Nora Roberts is a staunch defender of writers who have been victims of plagiarism, starting in 1997 when Janet Dailey stole from several of her books. In December 1997, Romantic Times wrote about the plagiarism scandal, and the previous month there were several letters to the editor from romance readers. More recently, Nora sued a Brazilian writer who plagiarized the work of more than 40 romance novelists authors.Nora Roberts took some time to explain the process to Debra.Listen to our deep dive episode of Nora Roberts's Born in Ice.Authors mentioned: Violet Winspear, Anne Mather, Phyllis Whitney, Victoria Holt, Mary Stewart, Janet Dailey, Kathleen E. Woodiwiss, Rosemary Rodgers, Ruth Langan, Dixie Browning, Patricia Gaffney, Mary Kay McComas, Elaine Fox, Mary Blayney.Other people on Nora's team: Silhouette editor Nancy Jackson, agent Amy Berkower, editor Isabel Swift, editor Leslie Gelbman, and publicist Laura Reeth.

We’re on a roll delivering interstitials about all our very favorite wild tropes, and this week we’re tackling boss/assistant romances! We’ll unpack the problematic bits, discuss the book that installed these deeply troubling buttons in us both, and fill your TBR pile to overflowing. Get your wallets and library cards ready! Thanks to Avon Books, publisher of Nisha Sharma’s Dating Dr. Dil, and Piper Rayne, authors of Lessons From a One Night Stand for sponsoring the episode.Next week, we’ve got a trailblazer episode! Our next read along is Diana Quincy’s Her Night With the Duke, which was on our Best of 2020 year-end list! Get it at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple Books, Kobo, or at your local bookstore. You can also get it in audio from our partner, Chirp Books!Show NotesThe Scholastic Inc. succession drama is honestly deserving of it's own Netflix series. Learn more about it from The Wall Street Journal, the New York Times and Vanity Fair. Publishing loves drama but this is honestly almost too much.If you're not receiving the Bookbub daily romance deal emails, you should be. Follow Sarah while you're there!Killing the dog is a very bold writing choice.Harlequin Blaze was a high heat category romance line from Harlequin that published monthly romances from 2001 to 2017. It was replaced with Harlequin Dare, a high-heat digital line.Mystic Pizza remains a pure problematic fave here at Fated Mates, but we will always stan pouring fish bait in your rich boyfriend's Porsche. He should have told you he had a sister, Kat.

It’s a Very Special Episode™️ of Fated Mates today, celebrating the rerelease of Sarah’s first book, Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake! We talk about the book that started Sarah’s romance career, about why it still resonates, about new covers during a pandemic, and yes…we get to the bottom of the age old question: Will Benedick Ever Get a Book?You can buy the new Nine Rules at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop, and get signed copies at WORD. This episode is sponsored by Adriana Herrera, author of The Duke Makes Me Feel and The Romancelandia Shop.Our read along next week is Diana Quincy’s Her Night With the Duke, which was on our Best of 2020 year-end list! Get it at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple Books, Kobo, or at your local bookstore. You can also get it in audio from Chirp Books!Show NotesThis tweet about Car Talk made Jen laugh. It really was the greatest NPR show of all time, and since they are no dummies, they have in fact made it into a podcast.Buy the books with stepbacks now, because we aren’t sure how long they are going to last. Lots of folks participate in #StepbackSaturday on Twitter and Instagram to share their favorites. Sarah's agent at the time was Alyssa Eisner-Henkin, who is still a great YA and children's agent!Sarah's editor is still Carrie Feron, who has edited romance for her entire career. Authors she has edited include Lisa Kleypas, Susan Elizabeth Phillips, Sally Thorne, Jude Deveraux, Elizabeth Lowell and Eloisa James. The name of the documentary about romance is called Love Beneath the Covers (2016), which is a fascinating look at the romance genre. Where's My Hero is a romance anthology that featured some of the good guys, and it's available in eBook and print.

Our Trailblazer episodes continue this week with Jeannie Lin, one of the first authors to write historical romance featuring Asian characters set in Asia. Her debut romance, Butterfly Swords, is set in Tang Dynasty China. In this episode, we talk about the craft of romance, about preparing for and resisting rejection while finding her own path to publication, about how she honed her storytelling, and about the way cultural archetypes find their way to the page. We also talk about the lightning fast changes in romance over the last twelve years. Thank you to Jeannie Lin for making time for Fated Mates. This episode is sponsored by The Steam Box (use code FATEDMATES for 10% off) and Chirp Audiobooks.Next week, we’re talking Sarah’s Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake, which will release March 22 in a new trade paperback format. After that, our next read along is Diana Quincy’s Her Night With the Duke, which was on our Best of 2020 year-end list! Get it at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple Books, Kobo, or at your local bookstore. You can also get it in audio from our partner, Chirp Books!Show NotesThis week, we welcome romance author Jeannie Lin, whose newest book in the Lotus Palace Mysteries series, Red Blossom in Snow, comes out next week on March 21, 2022. Hear us talk about Jeannie Lin's books on our 2020 Best of the Year episode, our Road Trip Interstitial, and our So You Want to Read a Historical episode.The Tang Dynasty lasted from 618-907, and Empress Wu reigned from 624-705. RWA's Golden Heart Award was phased out in 2019. Twitter was launched in 2006 and Goodreads in 2007. Goodreads was acquired by Amazon in 2013. Borders Books closed in 2011. People mentioned: author Jade Lee, who also writes as Kathy Lyons; author Barbara Ankrum; author Shawntell Madison; author Amanda Berry; author Bria Quinlan; author Eden Bradley of Romance Divas forum; author Kate Pearce; actor Tony Leung; Piatkus editor Anna Boatman; agent Gail Fortune.The RestFor even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net/episodes/2022/3/15/s0426-jeannie-lin-a-trailblazer-episode If you wish you had six more days in a week of people talking about romance, may we suggest joining our Patreon? Aside from an additional episode every month you get access to our Discord, where other romance readers are talking about books they love (and many other things!) all the time. It’s so fun! Learn more about the Patreon and go join those cool people who love romance as much as you do at patreon.com/fatedmates. Beyond your favorite podcast app, you can find us on Instagram, Threads, Blue Sky, Tumblr, and probably some other places, too, if you look hard enough. If you've never listened to our Stop Book Banning episode, there's no better time than now.

We’re still doomscrolling, so we’re still releasing goofy, bantr-y episodes about tropes we cannot quit! This week, we’re talking about a very specific one that we adore — Waking up Married! We talk about Vegas, about why you shouldn’t drink and espouse, about The Hangover, and about how…when a trope ain’t broke, you definitely shouldn’t fix it.This episode is sponsored by Christi Caldwell, author of For Love of the Duke, and BetterHelp Online Therapy.Next week, we’ve got a trailblazer episode! Our next read along is Diana Quincy’s Her Night With the Duke, which was on our Best of 2020 year-end list! Get it at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple Books, Kobo, or at your local bookstore. You can also get it in audio from our partner, Chirp Books!Show NotesYou might be wondering how Las Vegas became the wedding capital of America.Jen and Sarah have some strong feelings about phones! The rotary phone was a real trip. Back in 1996, when Jen was in Houston doing TFA, they added 281 to the Houston area codes (yes, she said zip code on the pod, but you know what she meant!), but by now we’re over having area code pride. Meanwhile, we still want to know why international dialing is so expensive.I’m sorry to report that we don’t ever think we’ll have a Fated Mates Discord, and whatever Quordle is, that’s not the way Jen’s brain works.Help us make a Fated Mates glossary by filling out this form. You should all listen to On Being with Krista Tippet, which is a podcast dedicated to answering questions about what it means to be human.It’s not wonder kid, it’s wunderkind. Just ask Nate. Not that kind of Prince Albert. The Hangover is a very funny movie.

Welp, we’re back in a doom scrolling spiral this week, so why not take a visit to a small town full of hot single dads and firemen? We’re reading London Hale this week, and talking about the appeal of the quick and dirty romance! We’ll also talk about the value of a genuinely hot read and where all the stops are on the romance-to-erotica spectrum. We’re also talking about kinks and why daddies are installed in so many of us. Basically, we’re telling y’all to read these London Hale books so they’ll write more of them for us. Thanks for listening! This episode is sponsored by Kennedy Ryan, author of Reel, and BetterHelp Online Therapy.Our next read along is Diana Quincy’s Her Night With the Duke, which was on our Best of 2020 year-end list! Get it at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple Books, Kobo, or at your local bookstore. You can also get it in audio from our partner, Chirp Books!Show NotesAuthors Ellis Leigh and Brighton Walsh are the two authors who write as London Hale. Sarah talked about their books back on the Quick and Dirty interstitial in Season 2. You should read Circe. And Jack Reacher. If you've run out of Jessa Kane books, try Chloe Maine. There is not a Harlequin Presents called The Pregnant Billionaire’s Italian Mistress, but you can find The Italian’s Pregnant Mistress, The Italian Billionaire's Pregnant Bride,  The Italian’s Pregnant Cinderella, The Italian’s Pregnant Virgin, The Italian’s Pregnancy Proposal, and The Italian’s Pregnant Prisoner. Robert Redford was a snack. So was Richard Gere both in Pretty Woman and in “the one where he’s an Air Force pilot.” (An Officer and a Gentleman, and it was the Navy. Fine.) We also admire the silver fox good looks of Benecio del Toro, Idris Elba, and George Clooney. Andie J. Christopher coined the phrase “stern brunch daddy” and we’re all better off for it. Unfortunately, she’s the kind of person who deletes old tweets so you can't see that picture of Oscar Isaac with an eating utensil that inspired it, but luckily they talked about it on Reddit and Andie talked about it on the Wicked Wallflowers Podcast. We’re constantly trying to explain the difference between Romance vs erotic romance vs erotica.The Great Stepbrother Explosion was mostly 2015-2016, but I’m willing to talk some more about it or cite sources if you have them.The 2020 Netflix movie 365 Days was originally released in Poland under the name 365 dni and was based on a book by Blanka Lipinska. Apparently, there will be a sequel. It doesn’t have a release date, but we’ll keep you updated, baby girl. Jo Brenner and her friends have a gray scale for dark romance, and I hope she’ll explain it all on twitter so I can link to it. Does calling a stranger for phone sex still exist–I bet you’re shocked to find out that there was an uptick in demand during the pandemic. In editing, TK means “to come” as in I’ll fill it in later. In Fumbled by Alexa Martin, it stands for Trevor Kyle. Eucalyptus is native to Australia and was introduced to England in 1774. You should follow the Male scent catalog on twitter, and if you want to read more about it, check out the book Nose Dive: A Field Guide to the World’s Smells.

You can’t throw a stone in romance in 2022 without hitting a fake dating story, so we figure it’s time to do an interstitial on it! We’re talking about when it works, why it works, how it works, and by whom it works, so get your library cards ready because this one will topple your TBR! While this one is, as always, for the readers, there’s lots of goal/motivation/conflict here for the writers, too. Thanks for listening! This episode is sponsored by Isla Moore, author of The Jennifer Files, and BetterHelp Online Therapy.Our next read along will feature some of Sarah’s favorite quick & dirty books by London Hale, the pen name of authors Ellis Leigh and Brighton Walsh. Their Temperance Falls series is full of kinks and tropes and HEAs and while we won’t be talking about all ten books, we’ll definitely be talking about a few of them, including Nanny With Benefits, Reunion, Daddy’s Best Friend and Sarah’s favorite, Talk Dirty to Me. The whole series is free in KU.Show NotesHey, dating during the pandemic was, and still is, hard! Sarah suggest that there are 3 questions an author must address for each character in order to make the fake dating plot work: Why is this happening/why a fake relationship the only option?Why this person and not some other person?What happens if it all goes south?In other words, what is the the stake, the thing the reader has to care about? In other words: goal, motivation, conflict. One of our very earliest interstitials was on Escort romances, and another was on fake engagement/marriage of convenience, tropes that has a lot in common with fake dating.#RomanceClass is the name for a group of authors from the Phillipines writing in English. You can learn more about the romance class authors and their story, which is strongly influenced by the fact that divorce is illegal in the Phillipines.Fuck Me Gently with a Chainsaw is something from a very dark 80s teen movie called Heathers.There is a Canadian equivalent to the Navy SEALs, it's called Joint Task Force 2. The Mounties (which stands for Royal Canadian Mounted Police) definitely do not have that same vibe, but here is a nice video of a gentleman talking about his the training of the RCMP dogs.Fake Dating Romance NovelsHell Breaks Loose by Sophie JordanHold by Claire KentGigolo All the Way by JN WelshFix Her Up by Tessa BaileyIsland Affair by Priscilla OliverasTotally Engaged by Mina EsguerraLike Lovers do by Tracey LivesayLuck of the Draw by Kate ClaybornA Caribbean Heiress in ParisWritten in the Stars by Alexandria BellefleurWorked Up by Tessa BaileyThe Penalty Box by Odette StoneBeauty and the Baller by Ilsa Madden-MillsFake Fiancee by Ilsa Madden MillsSponsorsThis week’s episode of Fated Mates is sponsored by: Better Help online therapy. Fated Mates listeners get 10% off their first month at betterhelp.com/fatedmates.andIsla Moore, author of The Jennifer Files, available free in KU.Visit Isla at islamoore.com, or follow her on Instagram at @islamoorebooks or Twitter at @islabooks.

Oh boy have we got an episode for you! We’re thrilled to have Sarah J. Maas with us to celebrate the release of the second in her Crescent City series, House of Sky and Breath — in this episode, we talk about second books in series, why second books are often so unique and different from the other books in the series, and about how fandom informs Sarah’s work. And of course, because it’s Sarah, we talk about fantasy, about worldbuilding, about moving between YA and adult fantasy, and about writing romance (and sex) on the page. All this, and we talk about some favorite second books, too!This episode is sponsored by Sara Wetmore, author of Brush Strokes, and Mila Fanelli, author of Mafia Mistress.Next week, we’ve got an interstitial coming your way, but our next read along will feature some of Sarah (MacLean)’s favorite quick & dirty books by London Hale, the pen name of authors Ellis Leigh and Brighton Walsh. Their Temperance Falls series is full of kinks and tropes and HEAs and while we won’t be talking about all ten books, we’ll definitely be talking about a few of them. Specific titles to follow, but Sarah is for sure going to want you to read Talk Dirty to Me, which is older mayor of the town heroine, younger firefighter and also phone sex operator hero because…obviously. The whole series is free in KU.House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J. MaasHouse of Sky and Breath by Sarah J. MaasShow NotesSarah’s new book, House of Sky and Breath, was released yesterday on February 15, 2022.In case you don’t know who MacGyver is, ope.The Empire Strikes Back is the second in the original Star Wars trilogy, and a perfect example of how the second installment can be influential.In Arrested Development, it was George Michael with the light saber in the garage.Some of Sarah’s original fandoms: My Little Pony, Sailor Moon, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Star Wars, The Lord of the Rings, and Goonies.These kids acted like real jerks on an airplane, and Please don’t do that.Jen is writing Tommy and Imogen fanfic on twitter with the hashtag #TommyGoBoom.

Annnnd….we’re back! This week, we’ve got a new Trailblazer episode: Sandra Kitt—the first African American author at Harlequin (Rites of Spring, Harlequin American #43)—joins us to talk about the early days of writing category romance in the US, about writing for Vivian Stephens, about launching romance lines at Kensington and BET, and about her longstanding career. She also talks about writing the books that speak to you first and finding an audience for them later. This conversation is far reaching and could have gone for hours longer — our hope is that it is not the last time Sandra will join us at Fated Mates. We are so grateful to her for making time for us. Find the full list of trailblazer episodes here. For more conversations with Sandra Kitt, please listen to her episode of the Black Romance Podcast. Join us LIVE tonight, Feburary 9th, for our special edition IAD celebration/Fated Mates funtime/Munro/Very likely Derek Craven too episode! Tickets are “pay what you wish” at live.fatedmates.net, you’re welcome to join us for free, or make a donation to help offset the costs of transcribing this season’s Trailblazer episodes. Our next read along will feature some of Sarah’s favorite quick & dirty books by London Hale, the pen name of authors Ellis Leigh and Brighton Walsh. Their Temperance Falls series is full of kinks and tropes and HEAs and while we won’t be talking about all ten books, we’ll definitely be talking about a few of them. Specific titles to follow, but Sarah is for sure going to want you to read Talk Dirty to Me, which is older mayor of the town heroine, younger firefighter and also phone sex operator hero because…obviously. The whole series is free in KU.Show NotesPeople Sandra mentioned: Vivian Stephens, Elsie Washington/Rosalind Welles, Georgette Heyer, Walter Zacharias, Beverly Jenkins, Jennifer Enderlin, Julie Moody Freeman, Kathryn Falk, Kathleen Woodiwiss, Patricia Veryan, Janet Dailey, Jayne Ann Krentz, Anita Richmond Bunkley, Eboni Snoe, Donna Hill, Gwynne Foster, Marcia King-Gamble, Brenda Jackson.

Thanks to romance reading sisters Cait & Kara for their donation to the Romance for Haiti auction last year, and for this fabulous episode idea! We’re talking about the books we’re saving for the darkest of dark hours…the ones we know will be warm blankets of joy. What are the books we keep under glass, for serious break in case of emergency moments? We talk about them here. Also, Eric has informed us that this episode gave him big “up is down vibes” so here we go! There are some big secrets here, too, so please share your own! Let us know which books you’re keeping in the vault by filling out the “What’s in the Vault” form on the main page of the website. Our next read-along will be Kresley Cole’s Munro, Book 18 of the Immortals After Dark series. You’ve probably heard of this series because Fated Mates began as an IAD fan podcast. You can take the girls out of Monster Mash, but you can’t take Monster Mash out of the girls…so we’re reading Munro, obviously. Stay tuned for information on that episode…but also, if you’re inclined to go back to the beginning, here you go. Preorder Munro at Amazon, Apple, Kobo, or B&N.Thank you, as always, for listening! If you are up for leaving a rating or review for the podcast on your podcasting app, we would be very grateful! Show NotesThe Romance for Haiti auction was last fall. You can still support Haiti relief efforts via:Ayiti Ademen: Haiti Tomorrow: providing disaster reliefSt. Boniface Hospital: providing medical reliefAyiti Community Trust: providing social services/long term recoveryHow much does it cost to move your books?Our next read along is Kresley Cole's Munro. Stay tuned for more information!

 On this episode, we’re talking about a historical that we like to think of as the full banana. A descriptor which, now that we’re typing it, really covers a lot of ground. It’s Passion week — we’re talking about how Lisa Valdez shook up the traditional historical world in 2005 when she released this erotic historical featuring a widow and a dude who has an extremely large…you know. We talk about what it means for a romance to be erotic and about how this might also be inspirational. We also talk about this as a marker of a significant shift in the content of romance novels, and ask some questions about basic anatomy. Headphones on for this one, y’all!Our next read-along will be Kresley Cole’s Munro, Book 18 of the Immortals After Dark series. You’ve probably heard of this series because Fated Mates began as an IAD fan podcast. You can take the girls out of Monster Mash, but you can’t take Monster Mash out of the girls…so we’re reading Munro, obviously. Stay tuned for information on that episode…but also, if you’re inclined to go back to the beginning, here you go. Preorder Munro at Amazon, Apple, Kobo, or B&N.Thank you, as always, for listening! If you are up for leaving a rating or review for the podcast on your podcasting app, we would be very grateful! Show NotesPassion by Lisa Valdez was the first book in a series named the Passion Quartet, but only two were published. Passion in 2005 and Patience in 2010. Passion takes place during Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations, commonly called the Crystal Palace Exhibition. The Great Exhibition was well-documented in the book Dickinson's Comprehensive Pictures of the Great Exhibition, which is available in its entirety online. Charlotte Bronte was a visitor and wrote about her impression of the exhibits.Lisa Valdez wrote about sex in romance on Jess Michaels's blog back in 2014.America is full of weird controlling shit about sex, like abstinence only education, and the fact that people don't know where the hymen is. You should follow Dr. Jen Gunter and tell your kids about Scarleteen.Sarah mentioned that Marc is a hero very much in the model of Dain from Lord of Scoundrels.Up next, Munro. Stay tuned for more details.The RestFor even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net/episodes/2022/1/2/s0419-passion-by-lisa-valdez If you wish you had six more days in a week of people talking about romance, may we suggest joining our Patreon? Aside from an additional episode every month you get access to our Discord, where other romance readers are talking about books they love (and many other things!) all the time. It’s so fun! Learn more about the Patreon and go join those cool people who love romance as much as you do at patreon.com/fatedmates. Beyond your favorite podcast app, you can find us on Instagram, Threads, Blue Sky, Tumblr, and probably some other places, too, if you look hard enough. If you've never listened to our Stop Book Banning episode, there's no better time than now.

Our Trailblazer episodes continue this week with Jayne Ann Krentz, who has done it all: writing for Vivian Stephens, writing historicals, writing contemporaries, writing space-set, fantasy, and paranormal romance, writing nonfiction about romance. In addition to managing life as JAK, Amanda Quick, Stephanie James and more, she’s also a legend of the genre because of her vocal resistance to the way society, literature and academia talks about romance novels. In this episode, we talk about her journey and the way she continually reinvented herself to keep writing, about the importance of writers’ core stories, about genre and myth making, and about the role of romance in the world. We could not be more grateful to Jayne Ann Krentz for making time for Fated Mates. Next week, our first read-along of the year will be Lisa Valdez’s Passion, an erotic historical published in 2005 that is W-I-L-D. There is a lot of biblical stuff at the world’s fair. Also some truly bananas stuff that…sticks with you. Get it at Amazon, Apple, Kobo, or B&N.Thank you, as always, for listening! If you are up for leaving a rating or review for the podcast on your podcasting app, we would be very grateful! Show NotesWelcome Jayne Ann Krentz, she has had lot of pen names, including Jayne Taylor, Jayne Bentley, Stephanie James and Amanda Glass. Now she publishes under 3 names: Jayne Ann Krenz (contemporary), Jayne Castle (speculative fiction romance), and Amanda Quick (historical). She has said, “I am often asked why I use a variety of pen names. The answer is that this way readers always know which of my three worlds they will be entering when they pick up one of my books.”We read Ravished for the podcast in 2021, or three decades ago. You know how it goes in these pandemic times.People mentioned by Jayne: editor Vivian Stephens, author Barbara Delinksy, author Amii Loren, agent Steve Axelrod publishing executive Irwyn Applebaum, author Susan Elizabeth Phillips, author Kristin Hannah, author Debbie Macomber, author Christina Dodd, author Rachel Grant, author Darcy Burke, editor Leslie Gelbman, editor Cindy Wong, editor Patricia Reynolds Smith.

It’s New Year’s Eve and that means it’s time for a special episode of Fated Mates! Also, Ted Lasso Season 2 is complete and that means it’s time for another Roy Kent episode, so we’re saying, “Why not both?” Both it is! Come for this two-hour deep dive on former AFC Richmond team captain and current AFC Richmond coach, Roy Kent and his bangin’ girl, Keeley Jones, Independent Woman…stay for the Bantr about Isaac, Rebecca, Ted and more. We’re talking about the whole season (except for that one episode we’re going to pretend doesn’t exist). Spoilers abound, so if you haven’t watched, do that first!Happy happy new year, Magnificent Firebirds. You were the best thing about 2021 for us. Thank you, as always, for listening! If you are up for leaving a rating or review for the podcast on your podcasting app, we would be very grateful! We are starting as we mean to go on in 2022 — our first read-along of the year will be Lisa Valdez’s Passion, an erotic historical published in 2005 that is W-I-L-D. There is a lot of biblical stuff at the world’s fair. Also some truly bananas stuff that…sticks with you. We haven’t read it in a while, so we’re telling you to be careful because…honestly, it’s just good sense with this one. Get it at Amazon, Apple, Kobo, or B&N.Show NotesIn January of 2021, sex columnist Sophia Benoit was our guest, and we talked about Ted Lasso. In June of 2021, we aired our first Roy Kent episode. Doc Martens have never been gone, but they are definitely back.Cheers was one of the all great sitcoms, which aired from 1982-1993. Jen's Christmas gift from Mr. ReadsRomance was the BusyBox; Sarah’s Christmas present from her in-laws came from Spare Time Used Books in Paso Robles, California.Hearst Castle is pretty wild, and not just because it has literal wild zebras roaming around on its grounds.You, too, can make a donation to Flatbush Cats. To clarify, Jen watched The Bear Episode the first time around, but skipped in on this rewatch. The “Roy is sorry for not understanding keely” playlist on apple music and also on Spotify. Apple TV+ is available nearly everywhere people watch video. An Apple device is not required. You can binge both seasons with a seven day free trial.

Holidays are about traditions and it's a Fated Mates tradition to rerun the previous year's holiday episode. So here we are! This year, we’ve added 30 minutes of chatter about two Christmas romances we loved in 2021. You can take Fated Mates to work, but you can’t take the very unsafe for work discussion out of Fated Mates, so headphones in! Much love and many thanks for being with us!Please enjoy this short playlist of holiday music featured on the podcast.For full show notes, see: S02.16: Christmas Romance Novel Recommendations3.5: Holiday Romances: InterstitialRoy and Keely's Sexy Christmas.Check out Whores of Yore. Seamen sing shanties. Sarah's talking about something else.Jen did not make up this thing about St. Nicholas and shoes. The Black Forest in both a place in Germany and a delicious cake. Best Friend Kelly saved this baby's christmas ornaments!TYRANNOSAURUS REX FOR CHRISTMAS!

We’re back to paranormal romance this week — and so excited! It’s been literal years since we’ve done a deep dive like this one, talking about a beloved, long-standing, many booked, series — Nalini Singh’s Psy Changeling series. We’re deep diving on Caressed by Ice, which features a hero who literally experiences physical pain whenever he feels a feeling, so…of course he’s Jen’s favorite. We talk paranormal world building, patriarchy, hero’s feeling feelings, and try to explain the universe of this book. We’re not great at it, but there is about 20 minutes of bantr, so you’ll be fine! There’s still time to buy the Fated Mates Best of 2021 Book Pack from our friends at Old Town Books in Alexandria, VA, and get eight of the books on the list, a Fated Mates sticker and other swag! Thank you, as always, for listening! If you are up for leaving a rating or review for the podcast on your podcasting app, we would be very grateful! We are going to set some wild intentions for 2022 with our first read-along of the year, Lisa Valdez’s Passion, an erotic historical published in 2005 that is W-I-L-D. There is a lot of biblical stuff at the world’s fair. Also some truly bananas stuff that…sticks with you. We haven’t read it in a while, so we’re telling you to be careful because…honestly, it’s just good sense with this one. Get it at Amazon, Apple, Kobo, or B&N.Show NotesCaressed by Ice is the third book in the Psy/Changling series by Nalini Singh. If you want more read-alongs and critiques, check out Melinda and Melanie’s write ups on the Psy/Changling channel at Smexy Books, and the Changeling Cast by Mara/BooksLikeWhoa on YouTube.Johnnie Walker Blue is pretty fancy, and definitely wants to be served over an ice ball.Jeremy Renner is a jerk. If there is a GBBO (which stands for Great British Bake Off, so no need to google it) and Ted Lasso crossover, they better bake biscuits with the boss. Speaking of GBBO, one of the hosts dressed up as Santa and that's nice.We talked about the paranormal explosion of 2006 when we recorded our first IAD episodes, so just listen to season 1 again because Munro is coming. You might also want to listen to our fantasy romance episode with Zoriada Cordova.More about the monster of the week model.If you're having sexytimes with a telekinetic, the promise of the premise is that they're gonna use those powers during sex! Mad Rogan in the Hidden Legacy series knows his job.Do you know how powerful serging is? If not, check out this story from Talia Hibbert about the time she did some [VERY IMPORTANT romance research.][14] Shadow Dancing is actually a song by Andy Gibb, younger brother of the other Bee Gees. You might want to watch the Bee Gees documentary. You can watch 6 hours about the Beatles, or this three minute clip. Your call! The RestFor even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net/episodes/2021/12/8/s0415-caressed-by-ice-by-nalini-singh If you wish you had six more days in a week of people talking about romance, may we suggest joining our Patreon? Aside from an additional episode every month you get access to our Discord, where other romance readers are talking about books they love (and many other things!) all the time. It’s so fun! Learn more about the Patreon and go join those cool people who love romance as much as you do at patreon.com/fatedmates. Beyond your favorite podcast app, you can find us on Instagram, Threads, Blue Sky, Tumblr, and probably some other places, too, if you look hard enough. If you've never listened to our Stop Book Banning episode, there's no better time than now.

The Trailblazer series continues this week with Elda Minger—author of contemporary and historical romances, including Untamed Heart, which is the first contemporary romance to feature condom use on the page.  Elda talks about writing for Vivian Stephens, about writing about women’s bodies, about reproductive choice and about the way romance made space for women during the 70s and 80s. She shares a collection of gorgeous stories about her life as a reader and writer (and a particularly wonderful detour as a bookseller). About the boom of category and contemporary romance in the 1980s, and about the way writing made her who she is. We are thrilled to have found Elda, and that she took time to speak with us and share her wonderful perspective on the genre with us. We can’t think of a better week to share this episode with you. There’s still time to buy the Fated Mates Best of 2021 Book Pack from our friends at Old Town Books in Alexandria, VA, and get eight of the books on the list, a Fated Mates sticker and other swag! Order the book box as soon as you can to avoid supply chain snafus. Thank you, as always, for listening! If you are up for leaving a rating or review for the podcast on your podcasting app, we would be very grateful! Next week, we’re reading Nalini Singh’s Caressed by Ice, number three (and Jen’s favorite) of the Psy-Changeling series. Get it at Amazon, Apple, Kobo, B&N or at your local indie.Show NotesWelcome Elda Minger, author of over 30 romance novels, including Untamed Heart, Harlequin American Romance #12, the first contemporary romance with condoms used on page. In 1987, Elda wrote a column in RWR (the Romance Writer’s Report, an RWA publication) defending the use of contraception in romance novels. Elda was selling Kathleen Woodiwiss's Shanna at the Chicago bookstore chain Kroch and Brentano’s.Elda first Harlequin American Romances were edited by Vivian Stephens. In this interview with Vivian Stephens from the Browne Pop Culture Library archives, she describes the founding of RWA and her move to Harlequin.Names Elda mentioned: Harlequin editor Evelyn Grippo, Harlequin editorial director Fred Kerner, writing coach Marilyn Lowery, Mills & Boon editor Frances Whitehead, Mills and Boon editor Jacqui Bianchi,Loveswept editor Carolyn Nichols, Harlequin editor Debra Matteucci, Harlequin editor Birgit Davis-Todd, Avon editor Nancy Coffey.

We’re joined this week by author Piper Rayne, who is two authors! Elizabeth Grace (Piper) and Michelle Lynn (Rayne) have written dozens of wildly tropey, wonderfully romantic contemporary romances together. They join us for a few minutes at the start of the episode to talk about how they came to romance and how they write together, and then leave us with a list of questions about publishing, books, and romance recommendations.There’s still time to buy the Fated Mates Best of 2021 Book Pack from our friends at Old Town Books in Alexandria, VA, and get eight of the books on the list, a Fated Mates sticker and other swag! Order the book box as soon as you can to avoid supply chain snafus. Thank you, as always, for listening! If you are up for leaving a rating or review for the podcast on your podcasting app, we would be very grateful! Our next read-along will be Nalini Singh’s Caressed by Ice, number three (and Jen’s favorite) of the Psy-Changeling series. Get them at Amazon, Apple, Kobo, B&N or at your local indie.Show NotesWe are joined today by Piper Rayne, an author duo who are about to publish their 50th book, My Unexpected Surprise on December 14, 2021. They won the right to decide the topic of an episode after winning an item in Kennedy Ryan's Lift4Autism auction with Kulture City. We mostly talked about and recommended books today, so check out the photo array for all the books we mentioned in today's episode.

It’s autumn which means it’s time to start talking holiday seasons and holiday romances here at Fated Mates, so this week, we’re talking about one of Jen’s favorite category trilogies—Tiffany Reisz’s Men At Work series from Harlequin Blaze. These are sexy, subversive romances that turn tropes on their head while delivering delight. There’s still time to buy the Fated Mates Best of 2021 Book Pack from our friends at Old Town Books in Alexandria, VA, and get eight of the books on the list, a Fated Mates sticker and other swag! Order the book box as soon as you can to avoid supply chain snafus. Thank you, as always, for listening! If you are up for leaving a rating or review for the podcast on your podcasting app, we would be very grateful! Our next read-along will be Nalini Singh’s Caressed by Ice, number three (and Jen’s favorite) of the Psy-Changeling series. Get them at Amazon, Apple, Kobo, B&N or at your local indie.Show NotesTiffany Reisz is the author of the Original Sinners series and several category length romances. The Men at Work series was a Harlequin Blaze, a line that ran between 2001-2017. The ghost story one is called The Headmaster, part of a tiny stand alone Harlequin eBook series called Shivers.We’ve talked about the history of category romance on many episodes: our favorite bonkers old categories from the 80s/90s, with Steve Ammidown on the first acquisitions of Vivian Stephens, and with rare book dealer Rebecca Romney. Harlequin at the end of 2021 has 11 different lines: Desire, Heartwarming, Historical, Intrigue, Medical Romance, Presents, Romance, Romantic Suspense, Special Edition, Love Inspired, and Love Inspired Suspense. The Romance Wars section of Rebecca Romney’s romance catalog starts on page 125, and it’s fascinating. Amazon began in 1994, it had 180 thousand accounts in 1996 and a million accounts by the end of 1997. The Sony Reader was on the market starting in 2004, and the first Kindle was in 2007. Kindle Unlimited started in 2014.The Invention of Thanksgiving is a video from The Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, it features an interview with Paul Chaat Smith, a member of the Comanche tribe. Debbie Reese has a great thread with resources for children’s books with Native American characters to read or avoid.Sarah recommends the TV show Happy Endings, and Flashdance is has a music video vibe rather than a movie with a plot.Compare and contrast original Loveswept back cover copy to the updated version for Sunny Chandler’s Return by Sandra Brown. Here is an explainer about how there was a traditional belief that Judaism is matrilineal, it is not a belief held by all Jewish people. This essay explains how a 1983 decision from Reform rabbis made room for children of mixed marriages to claim patrilineal descent. Order soon if you want to make sure your Fated Mates Book Pack— 8 of our 10 Best Romance Novels of 2021— from Old Town Books in Alexandria, VA.The RestFor even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net/episodes/2021/11/19/s0412-the-men-at-work-trilogy-by-tiffany-reisz If you wish you had six more days in a week of people talking about romance, may we suggest joining our Patreon? Aside from an additional episode every month you get access to our Discord, where other romance readers are talking about books they love (and many other things!) all the time. It’s so fun! Learn more about the Patreon and go join those cool people who love romance as much as you do at patreon.com/fatedmates. Beyond your favorite podcast app, you can find us on Instagram, Threads, Blue Sky, Tumblr, and probably some other places, too, if you look hard enough. If you've never listened to our Stop Book Banning episode, there's no better time than now.

This week, we’re continuing our Trailblazer episodes with Vincent Virga—author of the Gaywyck trilogy, the first m/m gothic romance, and one of the first m/m romances ending with a happily ever after.&nbsp;He talks about writing gay romance and about the way reading about love and happiness change readers lives. He also shares rich, wonderful stories about his vibrant life as a picture editor in publishing, about the literary set in New York City in the 70s and 80s, about writing during the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s, about the times in a writer’s life when the words don’t come easily, and about the times when they can’t be stopped.&nbsp;We are honored and so grateful that Vincent took the time to speak with us, and we hope you enjoy this conversation as much as we did.&nbsp;There’s still time to buy the Fated Mates Best of 2021 Book Pack from our friends at Old Town Books in Alexandria, VA, and get eight of the books on the list, a Fated Mates sticker and other swag! Order the book box as soon as you can to avoid supply chain snafus. Thank you, as always, for listening! If you are up for leaving a rating or review for the podcast on your podcasting app, we would be very grateful!&nbsp;Our next read-alongs will be the Tiffany Reisz Men at Work series, which is three holiday themed category romances. Read one or all of them: Her Halloween Treat, Her Naughty Holiday and One Hot December.Show NotesWelcome&nbsp;Vincent Virga, author of&nbsp;Gaywyck, the first gay gothic romance, and one of the earliest gay romances with a happily ever after.&nbsp;It was published by Avon in 1980. He has written several other novels, including&nbsp;Vadriel Vail&nbsp;and&nbsp;A Comfortable Corner. He was also the premier picture editor in the book industry. He has been with his partner,&nbsp;author James McCourt,&nbsp;author of&nbsp;Mawrdew Czgowchwz, for 56 years. Their collected papers are housed at the&nbsp;Beinecke Library at Yale University.&nbsp;Today is&nbsp;the 41st anniversary&nbsp;of&nbsp;The Ramrod Massacre&nbsp;in New York City, where&nbsp;Vernon Kroening&nbsp;and Jorg Wenz were killed. Six other men were shot and injured inside the bar or on the streets near the Ramrod.&nbsp;Author&nbsp;Malinda Lo&nbsp;and Librarian&nbsp;Angie Manfredi&nbsp;sound&nbsp;the warning bell&nbsp;about the fights that we are facing around access to books and libraries and calls for&nbsp;book banning&nbsp;happening all around the country.&nbsp;Here is what you can do to help support your local library. Check out&nbsp;Runforsomething.net&nbsp;for ideas about local races where you live.&nbsp;Want more Vincent in your life? Here is a great interview from 2019 on a blog called&nbsp;The Last Bohemians, and this&nbsp;2011 interview on Live Journal.&nbsp;Daisy Buchanan cries that she's never seen such beautiful shirts in&nbsp;The Great Gatsby, and&nbsp;We Get Lettersis a song from the Perry Como show.People Vincent mentioned:&nbsp;Susan Sontag,&nbsp;Maria Callas, opera singer&nbsp;Victoria de los Ángeles, editor&nbsp;Elaine Markson,&nbsp;Jane Fonda,&nbsp;Armistead Maupin, poets&nbsp;John Ashbery&nbsp;and&nbsp;James Merrill,&nbsp;Hillary and Bill Clinton,&nbsp;editor Alice Mayhew, Gwen Edelman at Avon Books,&nbsp;&nbsp;Gwen Verdon and Bob Fosse, publisher&nbsp;Bob Wyatt,&nbsp;John Ehrlichman&nbsp;from Watergate, author&nbsp;Colm Tóibín, poet&nbsp;Mark Doty,&nbsp;Truman Capote, poet and translator&nbsp;Richard Howard,&nbsp;Shelley Winters,&nbsp;John Wayne,&nbsp;Lauren Bacall, and&nbsp;Kim Novak.&nbsp;The museum Vincent was a part of in County Mayo, Ireland, is&nbsp;<a...

This week, we’re continuing our Trailblazer episodes with Beverly Jenkins—the first Black author of historical romance featuring Black main characters. We talk about her path to romance writing, about how librarians make the best writers, and about her role as the first Black historical romance novelist. We’re also talking about writing in multiple sub genres, about lifting up other authors, and about the importance of the clinch cover.Thank you to Beverly Jenkins for taking the time to talk to us, and share her story. There’s still time to buy the Fated Mates Best of 2021 Book Pack (which includes Beverly’s Wild Rain!) from our friends at Old Town Books in Alexandria, VA, and get eight of the books on the list, a Fated Mates sticker and other swag! Order the book box as soon as you can to avoid supply chain snafus. Thank you, as always, for listening! If you are up for leaving a rating or review for the podcast on your podcasting app, we would be very grateful!&nbsp;Our next read-alongs will be the Tiffany Reisz Men at Work series, which is three holiday themed category romances. Read one or all of them: Her Halloween Treat, Her Naughty Holiday and One Hot December.Show NotesWelcome&nbsp;Beverly Jenkins, the author of&nbsp;more than 50 romance novels, and the recipient of the 2017 Romance Writers of America Nora Roberts Lifetime Achievement Award, as well as the 2016 Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice Award for historical romance.&nbsp;You can hear&nbsp;Beverly’s interview on the Black Romance History podcast, and last February,&nbsp;Jen interviewed her for Love’s Sweet Arrow when Wild Rain&nbsp;was released. Wild Rain was also one of our&nbsp;best of 2021&nbsp;romance novels.&nbsp;Beverly Jenkins's first agent was Vivian Stephens. You can listen to Julie Moody-Freeman's interview with Vivian&nbsp;in two&nbsp;parts on&nbsp;the Black Romance Podcast.&nbsp;Some of the people Beverly mentioned: sweet romance author&nbsp;Laverne St. George, author&nbsp;Patricia Vaughn, author&nbsp;Anita Richmond Bunkley, publisher&nbsp;Walter Zacharius, editor&nbsp;Ellen Edwards, editor&nbsp;Christine Zika, cover designer Tom Egner, author&nbsp;Shirley Hailstock, author&nbsp;Donna Hill, author&nbsp;Brenda Jackson, editor&nbsp;Monica Harris, author&nbsp;Gay Gunn, marketing expert&nbsp;Adrienne di Pietro, editor&nbsp;Erika Tsang, agent&nbsp;Nancy Yost, Romantic Times owner&nbsp;Kathryn Falk, and&nbsp;Gwen Osborne from The Romance Reader.&nbsp;Here’s more information about&nbsp;1994, the summer of Black love, and here’s a PDF of&nbsp;Beverly Jenkins’s 1995 profile in People Magazine.

It’s time for our favorite episode of the year — the one when we topple TBR piles! It’s our Best Books of 2021 episode — ten books that got us through this wild, not always great year—books with fabulous heroines, heroes who aren’t sure about feelings, delicious sexy bits, and stories that swing for the fences. You will not be disappointed. Buy the Fated Mates Best of Book Pack in one fell swoop from our friends at Old Town Books in Alexandria, VA, and get eight of the books on the list, a Fated Mates sticker and other swag! Order the book box as soon as you can to avoid the snafus arising all over from supply chain issues. Thank you, as always, for listening! If you are up for leaving a rating or review for the podcast on your podcasting app, we would be very grateful!&nbsp;Our next read-alongs will be the Tiffany Reisz Men at Work series, which is three holiday themed category romances. Read one or all of them: Her Halloween Treat, Her Naughty Holiday and One Hot December.Best Romance Novels of 2021Hana Khan Carries OnCareless Whispers by Synithia WilliamsScoundrel of My Heart by Lorraine HeathRun Posy Run by Cate C. WellsFor the Love of April French by Penny AimesAll the Best Nights by Hanna EarnestIt Happened One Summer by Tessa BaileyWild Rain by Beverly JenkinsAfter the Billionaire's Wedding Vows... by Lucy MonroeThe Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels by India HoltonShow NotesYou can order the Fated Mates Best of 2021 box from Old Town Books in Alexandria.&nbsp;The&nbsp;supply chain is a mess,&nbsp;especially for books.Why does it always seem like&nbsp;cosmetics companies are discontinuing&nbsp;your favorite products?&nbsp;“Big mistake, huge,”&nbsp;is a quote from Pretty Woman, of course.&nbsp;Dario is a psychopath, but Jen wasn’t about to let that stop her.&nbsp;Everyone loves Schitt’s Creek, but you don’t need to know about&nbsp;Alexis Rose&nbsp;to enjoy It Happened One Summer.&nbsp;A Star is a Born has&nbsp;a truly terrible ending,&nbsp;no matter which version&nbsp;of the movie you watched.&nbsp;Author Aviva Blakeman&nbsp;wrote some really&nbsp;thought-provoking&nbsp;threads about&nbsp;groveling and&nbsp;the grand gesture. Jen still loves the grovel, but Aviva's threads are a great reminder of how many ways there are to write a romance.&nbsp;A Carl Sandburg poem&nbsp;about the fog. You know how Jen is.

2021 has been kind of a mess, honestly, and Sarah hasn’t been reading as much as usual, because *waves hands at the world.* But Hana Khan Carries On is a total delight and exactly the book she needed this year, so we’re reading it with you! We’ll talk about romcoms, authorial voice, podcasting heroines, about how much we enjoy heroes who deserve a bit of cold storage, about writing contemporaries that reflect the time we live in, and about first person narration and why it works really well when it works really well. Also, Sarah tries to get herself invited to hang out with Uzma Jalaluddin and tries to trademark a Ted Lasso reference all in one episode. It’s rough out here. Leave her alone.Get ready for more trailblazers and our Best of 2021 episode this month! Our next read-alongs will be the Tiffany Reisz Men at Work series, which is three holiday themed category romances. Read one or all of them: Her Halloween Treat, Her Naughty Holiday and One Hot December.Show NotesThis week’s book is Hana Khan Carries On by&nbsp;Uzma Jalaluddin. Her first novel was&nbsp;Ayesha At Last, which was a Pride &amp; Prejudice retelling.&nbsp;Mindy Kaling is adapting Hana Khan for Amazon.&nbsp;The&nbsp;Folio Society has a new version of Georgette Heyer’s Venetia. The introduction is by&nbsp;Stephen Fry, who is&nbsp;a real champion of poetry, including a great book about the joys of reading and writing poetry called&nbsp;The Ode Less Travelled.The dating app invented for Ted Lasso is called&nbsp;Bantr.&nbsp;If you can’t identify different voices, maybe it’s because we all have&nbsp;podcast voice.&nbsp;In the ReadsRomance family,&nbsp;we call Toronto Clean Chicago….because well, I think it explains itself.&nbsp;The Golden Crescent might be an invented neighborhood for this book, but it seems similar to Toronto’s&nbsp;Crescent Town. If you’d like more information about what it means when food or a restaurant is&nbsp;Halal. Perhaps you do not know about&nbsp;&nbsp;biryani, an Indian delicacy, or&nbsp;poutine, a Canadian one.Jen was right about the meaning of&nbsp;the word pillory.This book has aspects of the 1998 movie&nbsp;You’ve Got Mail&nbsp;with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan, which had&nbsp;a terrible ending.&nbsp;From what we can tell, the NPR of Canada is&nbsp;CBC radio.In some recent books, we get an unflinching portrayals of toxic white women on page---characters like Marissa in this book,&nbsp;or Misty in American Dreamer. Adriana Herrera was a guest on last year for&nbsp;an interstitial about the immigrant experience.Our next read-alongs will be the Tiffany Reisz Men at Work series, which is three books. Read one or read them all:&nbsp;Her Halloween Treat,&nbsp;Her Naughty Holiday, and&nbsp;One Hot December.The RestFor even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net/episodes/2021/11/1/s0408-hana-khan-carries-on-by-uzma-jalaluddin If you wish you had six more days in a week of people talking about romance, may we suggest joining our Patreon? Aside from an additional episode every month you get access to our Discord, where other romance readers are talking about books they love (and many other things!) all the time. It’s so fun! Learn more about the Patreon and go join those cool people who love romance as much as you do at patreon.com/fatedmates. Beyond your favorite podcast app, you can find us on Instagram, Threads, Blue Sky, Tumblr, and probably some other places, too, if you look hard enough. If you've never listened to our Stop Book Banning episode, there's no better time than now.

This week, we’re thrilled to have Rebecca Romney with us! Rebecca is a rare books dealer and the woman behind The Romance Novel in English, a 100-lot collection of rare romance novels and other romance-adjacent paraphernalia. We had a great time talking to her about the collection, her motivation to develop it, her hopes for its future at the Lilly Library at the University of Indiana, and about how romance lovers can start thinking about collecting books! We hope you love this one as much as we did!Our next read along is Uzma Jalaluddin’s Hana Khan Carries On. Find it at:&nbsp;Amazon,&nbsp;Barnes &amp; Noble,&nbsp;Apple Books,&nbsp;Kobo, or&nbsp;at your local indie. Show NotesWelcome&nbsp;Rebecca Romney. She is the cofounder of&nbsp;Type Punch Matrix, a rare books firm based in Washington DC. She started out working at&nbsp;Bauman Rare Books in Las Vegas.&nbsp;You can also watch her in action from old appearances on Pawn Stars where&nbsp;she routinely broke people’s hearts about the values of their rare books.Rebecca recently put together a collection that was purchased by the&nbsp;Lilly Library at the University of Indiana&nbsp;called&nbsp;The Romance Novel in English: A Survey in English 1769-1999.&nbsp;You can follow Lilly Librarian&nbsp;Rebecca&nbsp;on twitter; they sound like a great resource for romance, and for planning a visit!&nbsp;On the episode, we extensively discuss some of the general themes and specific items in the catalogue. Two authors that didn’t make it into the catalogue because Rebecca couldn’t find copies:&nbsp;Eliza Haywoodand&nbsp;Evelina by Frances Burney.The Elizabeth Lowell book&nbsp;about a gold dealer in Las Vegas is called Running Scared&nbsp;and is part of the Rarities Unlimited series.&nbsp;Gold books aren't really a thing, but&nbsp;gold leaf and illumiated manuscripts are.&nbsp;Here’s an explainer on&nbsp;The Gutenberg Bible&nbsp;and&nbsp;a clip from Pawn Stars where an individual leaf is available, and here is a page from&nbsp;a 2021 auction site selling a leaf. But remember that&nbsp;bookmaking in China&nbsp;was far more advanced at that time. Or maybe you’d be interested in knowing more about&nbsp;Newton’s Principia.&nbsp;Although I couldn’t find an article about the history of Jewish booksellers, I did find&nbsp;an interview with Adam Kirsch, an author who wrote a book called&nbsp;The People and the Books,&nbsp;about the importance of books to Jewish people throughout history. On our Trailblazers episode with Radclyffe, she&nbsp;talked about the importance of queer bookstores.&nbsp;What is the&nbsp;difference between ARCs and first editions? Time to check and see if your copy of&nbsp;The Flame and the Flower&nbsp;to see if it's a&nbsp;first edition.Jen called it a garage sale and Sarah called it a Tag sale,&nbsp;which is exactly right considering where they grew up.&nbsp;Foxing&nbsp;isn’t as sexy as you’d think when we’re talking about rare books.The 2019 Rita ceremony included&nbsp;a video of romance firsts.In John Markert’s&nbsp;Publishing Romance: The History of an Industry, 1940s to the Present,&nbsp;he discusses a series called Adam that failed because they were romances only from the hero’s point of view.Time to shake all your&nbsp;Sweet Valley High&nbsp;books out of your closet, fellow Gen-Xers.

We’re talking minotaurs and spiders and orcs and gargoyles…it’s Monster Romance week at Fated Mates! Jenny Nordbak of the Wicked Wallflowers and Bonkers Romance podcast joins us to talk about this explosive, extremely popular genre that both intrigues and perplexes us. Our next read along is Uzma Jalaluddin’s Hana Khan Carries On. Find it at:&nbsp;Amazon,&nbsp;Barnes &amp; Noble,&nbsp;Apple Books,&nbsp;Kobo, or&nbsp;at your local indie. This episode sponsored by Radish: Bottomless content; one cute app. Visit radish.social/fatedmates for 24 free coins and to read your first Radish story.Show NotesWelcome Jenny Nordbak. Her first romance,&nbsp;His Leading Lady, was just released, (Jen did the final developmental edit!) and she just started&nbsp;the Bonkers Romance podcast&nbsp;with Melody from the Heaving Bosoms podcast. Check it out!Although there is lots of crossover with paranormal or alien, Jenny defines monsters as: creatures who don’t shift into humans, you’d definitely scream if you saw them running down the street, but human enough to be able to bang. Although no one mentioned on the episode, here is&nbsp;the single greatest monster explanation ever seen on twitter.&nbsp;The cartoon Sarah refered to&nbsp;is called&nbsp;The Harkness Test, and it's a reference to Dr. Who.&nbsp;More about what it means to go into&nbsp;the Amazon dungeon--this, of course, is related to&nbsp;attempts to deplatform sex everywhere on the internet. Besialisty cartoon that Sarah is going to look for&nbsp;Baby Jenny imprinted on Fantasia, specifically&nbsp;the centaurs&nbsp;and&nbsp;Chernabog. She also loved&nbsp;the Gargoyles TV show&nbsp;and the&nbsp;orcs in Lord of the Rings.What is Knotting?Here’s listener&nbsp;Alyssa Long’s terrific thread about monsters and disability. Often, writers use&nbsp;ableist tropes in their monster-creation, and Alyssa’s thread talks about how and why this is harmful. (Any mistakes in the summarizing of this thread are Jen’s!) In that thread, Alyssa shared&nbsp;a great article about ableism in the horror genre, and although we loved&nbsp;The Witcher, it reinforced some of the most common problems&nbsp;with putting disabilities on the screen.Sarah is hosting a writing workship to kick of NaNo--register here!

This week, we’re continuing our Trailblazer episodes with Radclyffe—author of lesbian romances and founder of the LGBTQIA+ publisher, Bold Strokes Books. We talk about her path to romance as a reader and an author, and a publisher, about the early days of queer romance, about the importance of independent booksellers to the queer community, and about how readers find themselves in books.Thank you to Radclyffe for taking the time to talk to us, and share her story. Our next read along is Uzma Jalaluddin’s Hana Kahn Carries On. Find it at:&nbsp;Amazon,&nbsp;Barnes &amp; Noble,&nbsp;Apple Books,&nbsp;Kobo, or&nbsp;at your local indie. This episode sponsored by Radish: Bottomless content; one cute app. Visit radish.social/fatedmates for 24 free coins and to read your first Radish story.Show NotesWelcome&nbsp;Radclyffe, romance author and&nbsp;founder of Bold Strokes Books.&nbsp;The internet archive has preserved&nbsp;her fanfiction site.&nbsp;Bookstores mentioned:&nbsp;Giovanni’s Room in Philadelphia,&nbsp;Womancrafts in Provincetown, and an article about the current state of&nbsp;Queer bookstores in America.&nbsp;Publishing and Distributors Radclyffe mentioned:&nbsp;Naiad Press, founded by&nbsp;Barbara Greer,&nbsp;Sarah Aldridge, and Muriel Crawford; Regal Crest Enterprises is now&nbsp;Flashpoint Publications;&nbsp;Fawcett;&nbsp;Bella Booksfounded by Linda Hill; and&nbsp;Alyson Books.Awards mentioned:&nbsp;Lambda Literary Awards, and&nbsp;the RWA Prism awardFurther Reading: Creating a Literary Culture: A Short, Selective, and Incomplete History of LGBT Publishing,&nbsp;Part I,&nbsp;Part 2, and&nbsp;Part 3&nbsp;by Michael Neva in the LARB.The RestFor even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net/episodes/2021/10/10/s0405-trailblazer-radclyffe If you wish you had six more days in a week of people talking about romance, may we suggest joining our Patreon? Aside from an additional episode every month you get access to our Discord, where other romance readers are talking about books they love (and many other things!) all the time. It’s so fun! Learn more about the Patreon and go join those cool people who love romance as much as you do at patreon.com/fatedmates. Beyond your favorite podcast app, you can find us on Instagram, Threads, Blue Sky, Tumblr, and probably some other places, too, if you look hard enough. If you've never listened to our Stop Book Banning episode, there's no better time than now.

At some point, we were going to have to talk about fossils, right? Ravished is the bluestocking book that started it all for Sarah, and an absolute classic for Jen. On the reread, we absolutely loved it, which just goes to show that Amanda Quick (aka Jayne Ann Krentz) is a total legend. We’ll talk about the appeal of big heroes who know what they want and just go for it, about how difficult it is to write two people who genuinely enjoy each other’s company from the jump, about how awesome it is when a heroine is totally down with doing it in a cave, and about the broad appeal of greatcoats. Our next read along is Uzma Jalaluddin’s Hana Kahn Carries On. Find it at:&nbsp;Amazon,&nbsp;Barnes &amp; Noble,&nbsp;Apple Books,&nbsp;Kobo, or&nbsp;at your local indie. Sponsored by Radish: Bottomless content; one cute app. Visit radish.social/fatedmates for 24 free coins and to read your first Radish story.Show NotesRavished was originally published in 1992 by&nbsp;Jayne Ann Krenz, who has a lot of pen names, including Jayne Taylor, Jayne Bentley, Stephanie James and Amanda Glass. Now she publishes under 3 names: Jayne Ann Krenz (contemporary), Jayne Castle (PNR), and Amanda Quick (historical). She has said, “I am often asked why I use a variety of pen names. The answer is that this way readers always know which of my three worlds they will be entering when they pick up one of my books.”The Bluestocking archetype is about a woman who is interested in science and learning in her own right, and is a reference to the&nbsp;Bluestocking Society, which was founded in the 1750s by Elizabeth Montagu and Elizabeth Vesey.&nbsp;Some hallmarks of a&nbsp;gothic novel&nbsp;are “the discovery of mysterious elements of antiquity” and also&nbsp;handsome men in great coats.&nbsp;All about the&nbsp;waltz and why it was so scandalous.&nbsp;Jen’s thread about fossils, which are just&nbsp;a McGuffin.&nbsp;Maybe you are more interested than Jen and would like to learn about&nbsp;how to fake a fossil.&nbsp;Author&nbsp;Vanessa Riley&nbsp;is committed to reviving bananas regency names for men.&nbsp;In A Duke, The Lady, and a Baby, the hero’s name is Busick.The RestFor even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net/episodes/2021/10/3/s0404-ravished-by-amanda-quick If you wish you had six more days in a week of people talking about romance, may we suggest joining our Patreon? Aside from an additional episode every month you get access to our Discord, where other romance readers are talking about books they love (and many other things!) all the time. It’s so fun! Learn more about the Patreon and go join those cool people who love romance as much as you do at patreon.com/fatedmates. Beyond your favorite podcast app, you can find us on Instagram, Threads, Blue Sky, Tumblr, and probably some other places, too, if you look hard enough. If you've never listened to our Stop Book Banning episode, there's no better time than now.

We’re doing a big one this week — secret babies! We’re talking the babies and the pregnancies—and why they are such a juggernaut in romance. We’re talking about why people are all in on secret babies or absolutely all out on them, we’re pinpointing the itch they scratch and why have they installed such buttons in so many of us, and we’re getting to the bottom to why these secret babies are often sired by billionaires. It’s a ride.Next week, our first read along is Amanda Quick’s Ravished—which Sarah describes as “Harriet, in a cave, with a rake.” It’s great. Get reading at:&nbsp;Amazon,&nbsp;Barnes &amp; Noble,&nbsp;Apple Books,&nbsp;Kobo, or&nbsp;at your local indie. Sponsored by Radish: Bottomless content; one cute app. Visit radish.social/fatedmates for 24 free coins and to read your first Radish story.Show NotesThe secret baby trope can be broken down into secret baby or secret child. Secret pregnancy is just earlier on the timeline, while surprise pregnancy. Often, a secret baby plot happens because there is a fear that the baby is in danger.&nbsp;More about the word&nbsp;Interstitial.&nbsp;We recently re-released our&nbsp;bodily autonomy interstitial&nbsp;from 2019.&nbsp;If you are on Facebook, join Sarah’s&nbsp;OSCRB group (Old School Romance Book Club) if you want more romance talk.&nbsp;On some old school covers, you see lots of people with&nbsp;gravity defying hair.&nbsp;Sarah mentioned the “Four Js” and she meant these old school historical romance powerhouses:&nbsp;Johanna Lindsay,&nbsp;Jude Deveraux,&nbsp;Julie Garwood, and&nbsp;Judith McNaught.&nbsp;The most&nbsp;dangerous third rail in romance is cheating.&nbsp;More about&nbsp;“the heir and the spare.”The Right Stuff&nbsp;is a movie about astronauts, but&nbsp;Terms of Endearment&nbsp;is the movie where Jack Nicholson plays an astronaut. The movie was released in late 1983, and Long Time Coming was released in 1988.&nbsp;The Cut went ahead and published two pieces about Sally Rooney’s latest book, and&nbsp;they loved the sex in Rooney's book&nbsp;and think&nbsp;folks want more, but somehow they’ve&nbsp;never heard of genre romance.&nbsp;Given that description of the book Sarah was looking for, Jen thinks if it exists, it could have been&nbsp;a Harlequin Blaze, rather than a Loveswept or a Desire. But who knows!&nbsp;Next week, we’re reading&nbsp;Ravished, a 1992 historical about fossils by Amanda Quick. Yes,&nbsp;actual fossils.

The Trailblazers conversations begin this week with the brilliant, fearless Sandra Brown—aka Erin St. Clair and Rachel Ryan. We talk about everything from her first books, acquired by Vivian Stephens for Candlelight Ecstasy, about how Slow Heat in Heaven was her personal game changer, about the beginnings of romantic suspense, and about what makes a Sandra Brown novel, the most recent of which, Blind Tiger, was released last month.Thank you to Sandra Brown for taking the time to talk to us, and share her story. We’ve got an interstitial episode coming your way next week, but our first read along (in two weeks) is Amanda Quick’s Ravished—which Sarah describes as “Harriet, in a cave, with a rake.” It’s great. Get reading at:&nbsp;Amazon,&nbsp;Barnes &amp; Noble,&nbsp;Apple Books,&nbsp;Kobo, or&nbsp;at your local indie. You have two weeks to read, but in the meantime, sit back, relax, and let us give you a preview of what's to come!&nbsp;Don't forget to like and follow in your favorite podcasting platform!Show NotesWelcome to our first trailblazer,&nbsp;romance legend Sandra Brown. Her latest release is Blind Tiger, which was her 73rd book on the New York Times bestseller list. Blind Tiger is a thriller set in Texas during the 1920s.Prohibition went into effect on January 1, 1920. In Texas, the town of&nbsp;Glen Rose was the Moonshine Capital of Texas.The Ford Model T&nbsp;was the first mass produced American car. Here’s a&nbsp;video of the actual driving experience&nbsp;of the 1915 model. If you’d like to see a bunch of Model Ts in the same place, you can&nbsp;visit the winter home of Thomas Edison in Fort Myers, Florida. Henry Ford visited so often that he eventually bought the home next door. Prohibition and&nbsp;moonshining gave birth to NASCAR.Sandra’s first books were bought by Vivian Stephens&nbsp;for Candlelight Ecstasy under the pen name Rachel Ryan. She wrote for Silhouette under the name Erin St. Clair, and for Pocket as Laura Jordan.&nbsp;Carolyn Nichols at Loveswept wanted authors to use their real names, and now all of Sandra's books have been rereleased under her own name.Sandra appeared on the cover of one of her own Loveswepts,&nbsp;The Rana Look, with actor&nbsp;Mclean Stevenson.&nbsp;Some of the romance authors Sandra mentioned:&nbsp;Paris Afton Bonds,&nbsp;Candace Camp,&nbsp;Mary Lynn Baxer,&nbsp;Nora Roberts,&nbsp;Jayne Ann Krentz,&nbsp;Barbara Delinksy.&nbsp;Some of the thriller/mystery writers Sandra mentioned:&nbsp;Helen MacInnes,&nbsp;Evelyn Anthony,&nbsp;Gayle Lynds,&nbsp;David Morrell, and&nbsp;Lee Child.

Season Four starts today, you Magnificent Firebirds!Season One gave us a full lAD deep dive (if you’ve never read Kresley Cole’s Immortals After Dark, general existential malaise is a really good reason to start), and Season Two gave us The Books That Blooded Us&nbsp;-- the books that made us the romance readers we are. Season Three was during a pandemic, so just let us live (but also, there was a Roy Kent episode)! Now, Season Four is here, and we have — dare we say — a plan? We’re going to deep dive on books that are new and fabulous, old and transformative, and generally reveal how vast and magnificent the romance pool can get. We’ve got some great interstitials planned, including some fabulous, brilliant guests on deck…and when Munro is released, we’ll (obviously) drop everything and read with you!But we’ve got something new and different to add to the mix — a collection of interviews with trailblazers of the genre—the people who have built the romance house over the last fifty years. We’re already blown away by who we have on deck, with many many more to come! Stick with us, it’s going to be a terrific ride. We begin our read alongs in two weeks with a delicious book that did not bring romance the bluestocking, but definitely made sure we all knew who she was. It’s Amanda Quick’s Ravished—which Sarah describes as “Harriet, in a cave, with a rake.” It’s great. Get reading at:&nbsp;Amazon,&nbsp;Barnes &amp; Noble,&nbsp;Apple Books,&nbsp;Kobo, or&nbsp;at your local indie. You have two weeks to read, but in the meantime, sit back, relax, and let us give you a preview of what's to come!&nbsp;Don't forget to like and follow in your favorite podcasting platform!Show NotesThe only Fated Mates episode where one of us was absent was back when&nbsp;Sarah was sick&nbsp;and&nbsp;Kate came on to talk about sickbed scenes--It was&nbsp;March of 2020&nbsp;and we weren’t as Coronavirus-aware as we thought.Keeping our fingers crossed that&nbsp;the FDA will approve the vaccination for kids between 5 and 12.&nbsp;Health care workers are facing&nbsp;increasingly hostile and frightening aggression from anti-vaxxers.&nbsp;We were ahead of the ball on calling&nbsp;Ted Lasso as a romance.&nbsp;You should follow&nbsp;Phil Dunster, the actor who plays Jamie Tartt, on Twitter. Last week,&nbsp;Roy and Jamie had a heartbreaking and perfect moment.All about&nbsp;gaffing&nbsp;and&nbsp;scatting.Hannah Waddingham&nbsp;is from the theater world, so maybe that’s why we didn’t realize her brilliance before this show. Apparently we just didn’t realize she was on&nbsp;Game of Thrones, which sounds terrible.Kresley&nbsp;sent a newsletter&nbsp;and let everyone know that she might have news this month about Munro and the next book in the Arcana chronicles.You can change the time zone of your Kindle, but I don’t think the books arrive any earlier.&nbsp;The Flame and the Flower&nbsp;was published in 1972. We will not do a read along of the book, but we will talk about its influence on the genre.&nbsp;Julie Moody-Freeman, host of&nbsp;the Black Romance Podcast, was a&nbsp;guest on Fated Mates at the end of season two.&nbsp;Here’s&nbsp;a New Yorker profile of Nora Roberts&nbsp;from 2009, and a&nbsp;People magazine story on Danielle Steel from 2014.Many of romance's writers and editors have already passed. Two we mentioned:&nbsp;Carolyn Nichols, the original editor for Loveswept, died in 2017, and&nbsp;legendary author Johanna Lindsey died in 2019.&nbsp;24 ounces is a lot of fluid.&nbsp;Our first season four read-along will be&nbsp;Ravished by Amanda Quick.