Fated Mates - Romance Books for Novel People

This week, as part of joy month, we’re joined by Nisha Sharma, author of The Takeover Effect and The Legal Affair, to talk about her favorite trope — Mafia Romances! We talk about why organized crime works in romance, fill your TBR to the brim…and share some real life mafia stories. Or, at least, Sarah does. It’s a lot.We’re putting read alongs on hold for a bit to spend the next few weeks hanging out with some of our favorite people and talking about books and tropes that give us joy, so we hope you’ll join us and keep a pen handy so you can add to your TBR list as needed!Also! please join us for a Fated States phonebanking session with Indivisible.org on Saturday — it’s so fun! We love seeing so many of your amazing faces there, hanging out, and lifting each other up through absolute anxiety! Please join us, fellow Fated Maters, and special guests for Fated States Phonebanking Part 4 this Saturday, October 17th at 3pm Eastern to call Iowa! It’s easy, not scary, and there will be prizes!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 Nisha Sharma! She is the author of some of favorites: the YA romance My So Called Bollywood Life, and the Singh family trilogy.The Fifty Shades movies are lying about lipstick.Maybe you’d like to learn more about organized crime in Rhode Island, Cleveland, and Scranton. Sarah grew up in Rhode Island and recommends you listen to Crimetown if you're interested in learning more about how far-reaching the mob is there.How car crushers work.When it comes to Capone, we recommend the Chicago tour (if life ever returns to normal) but not the movie with Tom Hardy.Nisha mentioned a 1970s Bollywood movie. It’s called Sholay, and Nisha said, “Technically it was like this small village bad guy...think old westerns but he had like a gang of hoodlums.”The big Western movies seem to pop up every ten years, and Brokeback Mountain was 2005!The list of mafia romance from Goodreads is here, and the queer mafia romance list is here.Does your gender determine how you relate to mafia movies, books, and TV shows? Or if you participate in real life?Maybe you want to watch Weeds or Traffic and see some kickass women who are antiheroes?Erin from Learning the Tropes is on the hunt for books that have heroines that are named Erin, so let her know if you’ve read any. Jen’s list is Ivan and an old Loveswept by Barbara Boswell called Sharing Secrets -- the hero’s name is Rad Ramsey!Speaking of Ivan and Erin, while working on show notes for this episode, Jen discovered that a second story with these two is coming out in a few weeks!It is MMA fighting, which stands for Mixed Martial Arts.We did a deep dive episode on Kresley Cole's The Master in Season 1. Listen to it here.Jen’s love of Russian mobsters started with Viggo Mortensen in Eastern Promises.Sons of Anarchy actually does predate the MC romance. The TV show aired from 2008 - 2014, and one of the first MC romances was Motorcycle Man (2012) by Kristen Ashley. After Sons of Anarchy ended, the MC romance genre did grow exponentially, including books like Reaper’s Property by Joanna Wylde (2016).Jen said the Molly O’Keefe book with the mafia guy and the secret baby was Bad Neighbor, but it’s actually Baby Come Back. You should just go ahead and read them both.All about the myth of the minotaur.The Oscars released a diversity rubric.The big, bad Russians influenced American media for decades.Online Advertising is the new cement shoes.Sarah learned about money laundering because of pinball machines. Today's kids get to learn about it because of the President. Sure.Books Mentioned in the PodcastMy So Called Bollywood Life by Nisha SharmaThe Singh Family Trilogy by Nisha SharmaThe Professional by Kresley ColeThe Master by Kresley ColeThe Player by Kresley ColeThe Bastard’s Bargain by Katee RobertThe Marriage Contract by Katee RobertThe Corruption Series by CD ReissIvan by Roxie RiveriaLies You Tell by LaQuetteThe Fighter’s Prize by Jessa KaneBaby Come Back by Molly O’KeefeThe Devil of Downtown by Joanna ShupeDark Mafia Prince by Annika MartinLuca by Theodora TaylorJudgment Road by Christine FeehanTurbulent Sea by Christine FeehanThe RestFor even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net/episodes/2020/10/13/s0310-mafia-romance-interstitial-with-nisha-sharma If you wish you had six more days in a week of people talking about...

It’s joy month! We’ve got two of our very favorites with us — Christina Lauren is here with us to discuss fan fiction, romance, their romance origin stories, what they love about fic and how fic makes romance better! We talk about about a thousand books and authors, and do a little giggling too, so strap in!We’re putting read alongs on hold for a bit to spend the next few weeks hanging out with some of our favorite people and talking about books and tropes that give us joy, so we hope you’ll join us and keep a pen handy so you can add to your TBR list as needed!Also! please join us for a Fated States phonebanking session with Indivisible.org on Saturday — it’s so fun! We love seeing so many of your amazing faces there, hanging out, and lifting each other up through absolute anxiety! Please join us, fellow Fated Maters, and special guests for Fated States Phonebanking Part 3 this Saturday, October 10th at 3pm Eastern to call Wisconsin! It’s easy, not scary, and there will be prizes!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!Fated States!Join us this Saturday, October 10th at 3pm Eastern to call Wisconsin and make sure it turns up blue! It’s easy, not scary, and there will be prizes! Sign up at the link, watch the video, and come hang out!Remember: "Despair is not a strategy."Call Your Senators. Tell them you want "the McConnell Rule" enforced.Donate Donate Donate (if you can). We're thrilled to support "Get Mitch or Die Trying" via ActBlue -- donations to this are immediately split evenly between Senate candidates in electionsText bankPhone bankWrite postcardsVote early by mail if you are planning to vote by mail. Be sure to check that your ballot has all the correct information, and is returned accorting to the instructions (this goes double for people in NYC and Pennsylvania).Vote early in person if your state has early voting.Stay fired up!Show NotesChristina Lauren has a new, delightful holiday romance out this week! Find In a Holidaze at Amazon, B&N, Kobo, Apple or at your local indie.When we recorded, the wildfire situation was particularly grim in California, and it’s still a huge problem facing many Western states. We hope you're all being safe out there.A brief overview of CLo’s story from fandom to bestselling authors. The first of their published books came from Christina's fic "The Office," and was published as Beautiful Bastard. Sarah loves it a lot.Wonder Woman 1984 has been postponed because of COVID, and according to the director the film is best seen in a theater. It is not because Robert Pattinson got COVID (He's back to business now). Sarah loves the preview of the new Batman movie.Our love of Days of Lives couples Jack & Jennifer and Patch & Kayla is eternal and everlasting. (Ps. Jen's favorite scene is not in that video, her search continues.)The Twilight fandom was vast, as we discussed in this episode. And there are important reasons why many folks are drawn to fandom. Last summer, Alexis Daria and Adriana Herrera talked about fanfiction and fandom on Instagram Live, and it's a great watch.Christina and Lauren mentioned “canon” and “AU” and AO3 and livejournal and fandom bootcamp and maybe you want a primer on some fanfic terms.Maybe you also need a primer on a cinnamon roll character.These hugely popular romance writers came up through fanfic: Sally Thorne, Alice Clayton, Nina Bocci, Tara Sue Me, Amanda Weaver, Rebekah Weatherspoon, Helena Hunting, Daisy Prescott, EL James, and Ruth Clampett. Present-tense, stream of consciousness flow, and intense character work are some of the hallmarks of fandom writing, and some of those stylistic choices have influenced mainstream fiction in multiple genres, including romance.Did you miss the community experience of The Submissive? Lucky for you, it's now available as a stand alone novel, and the next books in the series The Dominant and The Training also started as fic.Christina and Lauren and Nina Bocci worked on the Fandom Gives Back fundraiser to benefit Alex’s Lemonade Stand.Jen said she loves Beautiful Player, but honestly no one will be surprised that she got the title wrong and her real favorite is Beautiful Stranger. Just read all of them. You won't be disappointed.The question of who owns these stories and the legalities of fanfic is so interesting, and specifically the history of Fifty Shades of Grey as Fanfic.As promised, a list of CLo recommend fics:Tropic of Virgo by...

This week, we’re talking about a book and author who has given both of us a whole lot of joy — Alisha Rai! We’re reading Serving Pleasure, which is the story of the most relatable of heroines and the outrageously hot painter who moves in next door! Voyeurism, sex positivity and family in romance are all on the table here. We love it. We’re putting read alongs on hold for a bit to spend the next five weeks hanging out with some of our favorite people and talking about books and tropes that give us joy, so we hope you’ll join us and keep a pen handy so you can add to your TBR list as needed!Also! We had our first Fated States phonebanking session with Indivisible.org on Saturday — it was great and we loved seeing so many of your amazing faces! Please join us, fellow Fated Maters, and special guests for Fated States Phonebanking Part 2 this Saturday, October 3rd at 3pm Eastern to call North Carolina! It’s easy, not scary, and there will be prizes!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 NotesIt was March of 2015 (a kinder, gentler time) when Jen first Sarah Wendell talking about Alisha Rai on NPR. Later that summer, Sarah put Serving Pleasure in her Washington Post romance column. It was the first self-published book ever reviewed in the Post.Just this week, Carole Bell wrote about why readers don't pay enough attention to indie and self-published romance for Shondaland.Pregnant people don't actually get the greatest treatment in the workplace, so thanks Akira.Birth order seems like a real thing, but is it?Is it all that great to be an artist's muse?Alisha Rai loves a cute purse.The RestFor even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net/episodes/2020/9/28/s0308-serving-pleasure-by-alisha-rai 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.

Two episodes in one week! We are doing what we can to take care of you, Fated Maters!This week, we’ve got Julie Moody-Freeman, professor, self-proclaimed romance nerd, and host of the new “Black Romance Podcast” with us! We’re freewheeling about the importance of oral history, Black romance, romance and academia, her life as a romance reader, her favorite books and authors, and her dream interviews. Subscribe to the Black Romance Podcast at Apple, Overcast, Spotify, or your favorite podcasting service.We’re back on our regular Wednesday schedule next week, and with a deep dive on Alisha Rai’s Serving Pleasure, a fantastic erotic romance. Find it at Amazon, B&N, Kobo, Apple Books or Bookshop.org.Also, we had our first Fated States phonebanking session with Indivisible.org this week — it was great and we loved seeing so many of your amazing faces! Please join us, fellow Fated Maters and special guests for Fated States Phonebanking Part 2 on Saturday, October 3rd at 3pm Eastern to call North Carolina!Show NotesThis week, we interview Julie Moody-Freeman, a professor of African and Diaspora Studies at DePaul University. She's the host of the Black Romance Podcast. Julie wrote a chatper in the newly released Routledge Companion to Popular Romance Fiction.The Black Romance Podcast is an oral history podcast which has interviewed some of the greatest voices in Black romance both past and present.If you're interested readings some books of non-romance oral history, Jen recommends Voices from Chernobyl, Tower Stories, and anything by Studs Terkel. You might also enjoy the podcast Bughouse Square, which pairs interviews from the Studs Terkel Radio Archives and Eve Ewing interviewing poeple today. It's terrific.The era of the mall bookstore--Waldenbooks and B. Dalton-- is over. But then again, malls might be over.Vivian Stephens was the woman who revolutionized the American cateogry romance. You should listen to her two-part interview on the Black Romance Podcast, read this terrific profile of her in Texas Monthly, and listen to us read and discuss some of her early aquistions with Steve Ammidown.Julie teaches a class called Romance, Women, and Race at Depaul. On the reading list: Make it Last Forever by Gwyneth Bolton, Gabriel's Discovery by Felicia Mason, A Duke by Default by Alyssa Cole, Forbidden by Beverly Jenkins, and The Brightest Day Anthology.Although Season One of the Black Romance Podcast will be coming to a close soon, she listed some of the women she'd love to interview: Shirley Hailstock, Donna Hill, and Rochelle Alers.Rosalind Wells and Francis Ray are two Black romance trailblazers who are no longer with us.Next week, we'll be reading Serving Pleasure by Alisha Rai.The RestFor even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net/episodes/2020/9/24/s0307-an-interview-with-julie-moody-freeman-from-the-black-romance-podcat 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 is a tough week for everyone, so we did what we could do to make ourselves feel a little bit more ourselves despite existential despair—we recorded a podcast. We’re all over the place (we promise this won’t be a theme for the whole season!), but we recommend a TON of books, which is basically all we can do.Next week, we’ve got an interstitial for you! And the week after, we’re deep diving on Alisha Rai’s Serving Pleasure, which is a fantastic erotic romance. Find it at Amazon, B&N, Kobo, Apple Books or Bookshop.org.Also -- Sarah has a contemporary novella out September 15th! Preorder the Naughty Brits anthology, wherever you get your ebooks: Amazon, Nook, Kobo, Apple, or in print at bookshop.org.Show NotesGoodnight Stories for Rebel Girls is available wherever books are sold, and you can listen to the podcast wherever you listen to podcasts. The RBG episode is here.You can watch a documentary about RBG, or read the Notorious RBG book, or wear the RBG dissent collar now.RBG's "When there are nine," quote is: "When I'm sometimes asked 'When will there be enough {women on the Supreme Court}?' and I say 'When there are nine,' people are shocked. But there'd been nine men, and nobody's ever raised a question about that."Tom Hardy might be James Bond and we're fine with it. Melissa did some great work pairing pictures of Tom Hardy as Sarah MacLean covers. Here's a thread of Henry Cavill as Sarah MacLean covers, too. Let it be known Sarah has the best readers around.The Jurgen Klopp thread from comedian Laura Lexx is a thing of great beauty.These Fifty Shades movies are terrible but we can't stop watching them and we don't understand it either, you guys.Masquerades are great. We talked about how historicals do masquerades more than contemporaries, and we couldn't name any contemporaries with masquerades, but then Sarah immediately picked up the Dark Fairy Tales anthology, which is brand new, 99 cents, and in which all the stories are connected by a masque. You should get it. You deserve nice things.Also, the fact that we didn't mention Sweet Ruin is causing Sarah some pretty deep shame.You should wear your undies over your garters. Dita Von Teese confirms this. Apparently this is referred to as "The French Way."The lining is silver.Books mentioned in the podcast:The Notorious RBGThe RBG WorkoutGoodnight Stories for Rebel GirlsSweet Ruin, Kresley ColeMine Till Midnight, Lisa KleypasWarrior, Elizabeth LowellThe Raven Prince, Elizabeth HoytBlackout Billionaire series, Naima SimoneNaughty Brits AnthologyThe Blindfold Club series, specifically Three Little Mistakes, Nikki SloaneRun to You, Charlotte SteinThe Crossfire series, Sylvia DayHolt, Theodora TaylorThe Pleasure Principle, Jane O'ReillySlave to Sensation, Nalini SinghGood and Mad, Rebecca TraisterThe Seven Necessary Sins of Women & Girls, Mona EltahawayThe RestFor even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net/episodes/2020/9/21/s0306-we-are-grateful-for-you-freewheeling-with-sarah-amp-jen 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 begin the Season 3 read alongs, and we announce the first wave of work of romance we want to honor -- joy. Romance is supposed to be fun, and sometimes, especially now, as 2020 rages around us, it can be difficult to remember that.So, we begin talking about joy this week with a book that gave us both immense joy, Milla Vane's A Heart of Blood and Ashes. This one is a long one, y'all, so get ready. We're all over the place because we loved it so much, and it's a ride. Eric wants us to tell you that this is going to feel like an old-school IAD episode, so if you haven't read the book, good luck! We love you!Next week, we’ve got an interstitial for you! And the week after, we’re deep diving on Alisha Rai’s Serving Pleasure, which is a fantastic erotic romance. Find it at Amazon, B&N, Kobo, Apple Books or Bookshop.org.Also -- Sarah has a contemporary novella out September 15th! Preorder the Naughty Brits anthology, wherever you get your ebooks: Amazon, Nook, Kobo, Apple, or in print at bookshop.org.Show NotesPlease listen and suscribe to the Black Romance Podcast, a fascinating oral history of Black romance authors. For more recent interviews with authors, check out The Wicked Wallflowers podcast. There are so many amazing romance podcasts for every type of listener.After her death, readers shared their memories of their first Johanna Lindsey novels using the hashtag #MyFirstJohanna.Alisha Rai, we demand to know the name of your hairdresser.California and the entire West Coast and experiencing the worst fire season in 100 years. Climate Change is real.Sarah asked for maps, and Jen said "reading strategies are for everyone" because they are! While we're at it, making mental movies, models, and visual images of what you read is one of the best reading strategies out there and if you have little kids, teach them to do this and it will help them be better readers their entire life.This amazing thread by Alexandra Erin is about how sometimes genre is determined by plot and sometimes it's determined by setting.The audiobook for A Heart of Blood and Ashes is great, but Jen really recommends you slow it down to .9 if you want it at "regular" speaking speed.Ilona Andrews writes amazing books, and Jen wants you to read the Hidden Legacy series. IN FACT, NEVADA AND ROGAN DO KISS in the first book, but they don't do the business until the second.If you missed our bodily autonomy episode, we were real mad about ridiculous anti-abortion laws and we talked about how romance taught us about birth control and our bodies.Some interesting thoughts about poison, and the myth of the woman as poisoner and who is likely to use it. This is realted to the idea that manipulation (or as Maddek might call it, "sly tongue") is often used by the powerless as a way of getting around patriarchal power structures that silence them."She rescues him right back" is, of course, a reference to Pretty Woman.Up next, Serving Pleasure by Alisha Rai.Buy Fated Mates swag by clicking on the Merch link at the top of this page.Did someone say map?Milla Vane's website had it!Lost Limb Count (SO MANY SPOILERS!)For those listeners who missed Season One of Fated Mates, Kresley Cole really enjoyed removing limbs from her characters (They mostly regenerated). She liked it so much, that we tracked the lost limbs from the books in what is now an epic lost limb counter.Also, if you missed Season One, it's our pure joy in your earholes. We recommend it.Legs & FeetYears earlier, Yvenne attempted to escape with her mother. In retaliation, her father and brother shatter her knee. It never heals properly and she will never run again.At the end, Yvenne is trapped in her tower, and from that window she shoots her father Zhalen right through his knee and calf with her arrow, shattering his knee as hers had been.Arms, Hands, and FingersImmediately before the book begins, Yvenne used a bow and arrow to kill her brother Lazen. To punish her, her father cut off the first and second fingers of her right hand so she can never draw a bow again.Head, Face, and EyesYvenne throws a dagger at her brother Bazir’s eye. Although her aim is perfect, the handle hits him in the eye rather than the blade. Later that night, Bazir and his men attack, and Maddek rips out Bazir’s tongue, stabs and kills Bazir with his own poisoned sword.TorsoWhen Zhalen realized that Yvenne sent a message to Maddek’s parents, he whipped her back and left numerous scars.When Maddek kidnaps her from the wedding caravan, Yvenne stabs her brother Cezan in the back with her dagger.When Zhalen’s men come for her and kill Banek, she rips the arrows from the fallen bodies around her in order to shoot back at her father’s men.Total Body DestructionAfter Yvenne’s brother Aezil poisons Maddek, he is too weak to wield a weapon. He crawls to the edge of the cliff, drops his sword into the drepa (an evil bird dinosaur kind of thing) nest which causes them to attack and kill Aezil while Maddek and his wo

Two years in the making, we’re finally talking to one of our very favorites, Tracey Livesay, about friends-to-lovers romances! Ironically, for a group of people who say they don’t love friends-to-lovers, we sure had a lot of books to recommend! We’ll also peel back the curtain on Tracey’s feelings about Jamie Dornan, talk about the strangest places romance couples have sex, and get to the bottom of why this trope works so well when it works.Sarah wrote a contemporary novella during a pandemic, and it's coming out September 15th! Preorder the Naughty Brits (an anthology with Sophie Jordan, Sierra Simone, Louisa Edwards and Tessa Gratton), wherever you get your ebooks: Amazon, Nook, Kobo, Apple or Google, or in print at bookshop.org.Next week, we’re deep diving on Milla Vane’s A Heart of Blood and Ashes, which is a long fantasy romance. If you are a reader who needs content warnings, you might want to check out reviews on Goodreads.Find it at Amazon, B&N, Kobo, Apple Books or Bookshop.org.Thank you, as always, for listening — we hope you’re having a great (and safe!) summer! While we’re apart, if you are up for leaving a rating or review for the podcast on your podcasting app, we would be very grateful!Show NotesLinda is keeping a calendar of romance events. You should subscribe.The Fifty Shades movies aren’t well reviewed, but really who cares. We definitely recommend the unrated version if you have the money (editorial note: would we say "recommend?"). Some interesting facts about the movies, including the director change from Sam Taylor-Johnson to James Foley. The soundtracks for the movies are terrific, especially two Beyonce songs: the remix of Crazy in Love and the song Haunted. May all of your contract negotiations look like this. Tracey said “we see more of Jamie” in the next two movies, so maybe she didn’t know about his modeling career. All further 50 Shades questions should be directed to Nisha Sharma.Unrequited love is way more stressful than friends to lovers.In Like Lovers Do, Ben's ex-girlfriend is racist to Nic in a way that Ben doesn't quite understand, including a reference to Courvoisier, which Ben thinks is referring to an SNL skit.Unsurprisingly, we adore Like Lovers Do, but we're not sure we can give it a better review than this one by LaQuette, who really hits the nail on the head with the promise of this particular premise (aka, hammock sex friends-to-lovers).Martha’s Vineyard is for fancy people.A New York Times article about Interracial romance in media in 2020.Handstand. Hammock. Horse.Are bachelor auctions even a thing?A history of taxidermy.Bruno Kirby and Carrie Fisher are amazing in all ways in When Harry Met Sally, and the "pesto is the quiche of the 80s" scene gets quoted more than anyone in Sarah's house would like.Up next: A Heart of Blood and Ashes by Milla Vane.Books discussed in the episode:Like Lovers Do, Tracey LivesaySweet Talkin' Lover, Tracey LivesayThe Navy Seal's Christmas Bride, Cora SeatonScoring off the Field, Naima SimoneTrust Fund Fiancé, Naima SimoneHis Until Midnight, Reese RyanGoddess of the Hunt, Tessa DareMy Fake Rake, Eva LeighAn Unseen Attraction, KJ CharlesJosh & Hazel's Guide to Not Dating, Christina LaurenBeautiful Player, Christian LaurenBeautiful Stranger, Christina LaurenThe RestFor even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net/episodes/2020/9/6/s0304-friends-to-lovers-interstitial-with-tracey-livesay 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 we’re going to talk about the last 10 years of romance — what we’d call modern romance — it’s basically impossible to do that out in the world without someone who doesn’t know much about the genre asking about EL James’s Fifty Shades of Grey. This week, Fated Mates is talking about Fifty Shades. Or, rather, we’re talking about what we're really talking about when we talk about Fifty Shades of Grey.At no point in this discussion do we talk about tampons. You’re welcome.Next week, we’ve got an interstitial for you! And the week after, we’re deep diving on Milla Vane’s A Heart of Blood and Ashes, which is a long fantasy romance. If you are a reader who needs content warnings, you might want to check out reviews on Goodreads.Find it at Amazon, B&N, Kobo, Apple Books or Bookshop.org.Show NotesThere are honestly so many articles about Fifty Shades that Jen couldn't possibly even link to them. But the one about the increase in ER visits, necktie sales up 23%, and Jen wrote about the history of romance between Fabio and Fifty Shades.Drunk Austen went through a rather spectacular break-up last week; we promise never to do this and swear we are full legal partners in our current venture.Fanfiction brought Christina Lauren, Tara Sue Me, Sally Thorne and so many others to us. And lots of great BDSM was written after Fifty Shades by too many authors to count, but many think of The Original Sinners series by Tiffany Reisz as being truly excellent.There's a reason why women hate dealing with car salesmen and mechanics. Jen wants you to know that if you're in Chicago and looking for a mechanic, the guys at Ashland Tire and Auto will never treat you like that.Perhaps you're interested in whether or not Fifty Shades of Grey was copyright infringement?The 2010 He-cession vs the 2020 she-cession.Sarah reviewed Grey for the Washington Post, and just a few weeks ago, Midnight Sun (Twilight from Edward's Point of View was released.Ope. We forgot to talk about Thomas Hardy, so just read this article from The Guardian instead.Mrs. Robinson refers to a character in the 1967 film The Graduate.Flat Stanley is a character in a children's book, but here we are talking about the theory that readers insert themselves into a book and become the main character. Many people believed that teenage girls reading Twilight imaged themselves as Bella, for example, but that's deeply rooted in misogny. In Dangerous Men and Adventurous Women, Laura Kinsale suggested that women reading romance imagine themselves as the hero rather than the heroine.Fifty Shades of Grey sold a lot of fucking copies. A lot. A lot!Lori Perkins was the editor of Fifty Writers on Fifty Shades of Grey. You can also check out Hard Core Romance: Fifty Shades of Grey, Bestsellers, and Society by Eva Illouz.Jen refers to Christian as the Marlboro Man, a symbol of a kind of gruff, male, American renegade loner.BDSM contracts are a thing!Where does Kink come from? And what Fifty Shades gets right and wrong about kink and BDSM.The RestFor even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net/episodes/2020/9/1/s0303-fifty-shades-of-grey-by-el-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.

We’ve been gone for many weeks, as you know, and during that time we read a whole lot of books. In this, our first interstitial of Season Three, we’ll talk about some of those books…and also Jen will spend some really important time confirming that Sarah is, in fact, right. About everything. That’s canon now.Next week, we’ll read Fifty Shades of Grey. We'll talk fan fiction, Christian Grey, 1st person POV, billionaires, the early 2010s, why the book mobilized so many readers, why it made so many others angry, and what we talk about when we talk about Fifty Shades of Grey. It’s Season Three. We’re back on our bullsh*t. Find Fifty Shades of Grey at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple Books, Kobo, or at your local indie.Show NotesCats like boxes! Dogs like to chew things! Speaking of Rube Goldberg machines, if you're ever in Chicago, you should really see the one at the Museum of Science and Industry.Who is the CJ Craig of "Bless her cotton socks" fame, you ask?Speaking of Vivian Stephens...We mentioned our episode with Steve Ammidown on the books she aquired was one of our favorite episodes, but you should really read this terrific interview with her that was published in the September 2020 issue of Texas Monthly magazine.The iHeartRadio podcast awards are a thing, and Jen just wants to be recognized.Milla Vane also writes as Meljean Brook, check out The Iron Duke if you like steampunk. But all of us recommend against using blood as lube.John Cusack's starring role as a hit man was in the 1997 movie Grosse Point Blank.LaQuette left a perfect review on Goodreads of Like Lovers Do in case you need more convincing.Subscribe to Linda's calendar of virtual romance events.Did we mention there are Fated Mates t-shirts now? Check out the shop at JenReadsRomance for Kelly's romancelandia buttons, stickers, and cards, and her Resistance Buttons shop for Biden Harris 2020 buttons.Next week, Fifty Shades of Grey. Our next read along book is going to be A Heart of Blood and Ashes. That's the way we want it.Oh, and this hadn't been announced when we recorded, but Sarah wrote a contemporary novella during a pandemic, and it's coming out September 15th! Preorder Naughty Brits (an anthology with Sophie Jordan, Sierra Simone, Louisa Edwards and Tessa Gratton), wherever you get your ebooks: Amazon, Nook, Kobo, Apple or Google.The RestFor even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net/episodes/2020/8/25/s032-summer-reads-interstitial-the-sarah-was-right-edition 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.

SEASON THREE!It’s here, we’re back, and we’re back on our bullsh*t because it’s 2020 and it’s all we have, honestly.Season One gave us a full lAD deep dive (if you’ve never read Kresley Cole’s Immortals After Dark, pandemic anxiety is a really good reason to start), and Season Two gave us The Books That Blooded Us -- the books that made us the romance readers we are.Season Three will pick up where Season Two left off. This season, we'll tackle 15 (or so) books that did heavy lifting for the genre and for readers. Some of the books are transformative, some are juggernauts, and some are just truly excellent romance that shows how vast and magnificent the romance pool can get. All of them will show just how the genre works, and how it’s always changing the game.We’ve also got some great interstitials planned, including some fabulous, brilliant guests on deck…and when Munro is released, we’ll (obviously) be here for you!So...where do we begin? We begin in two weeks with a text that no one can deny transformed romance and the way the world looked at it: Fifty Shades of Grey. We'll talk fan fiction, Christian Grey, 1st person POV, billionaires, the early 2010s, why the book mobilized so many readers, why it made so many others angry, and the work it did to set the genre spinning in multiple directions over the last decade.Get reading, y'all, we've got a lot to say. You can find Fifty Shades of Grey at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple Books, Kobo, or at your local indie.Note: We are focusing on the first book in the trilogy, not the whole trilogy, though we will likely discuss the entire thing.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! Don't forget to like and subscribe in your favorite podcasting platform!Show NotesDid you notice our new intro music?All about carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, and nitrous oxide.In case you want to hear more about blood blow jobs (A Hunger Like No Other, Lothaire, and Sweet Ruin) and blood handjobs (A Heart of Blood and Ashes).Here are some things you can do if you want to save American democracy: make sure you're registered to vote (and keep checking), fill out the census, if you can sign up to be a poll-worker, text bank, phone bank, write postcards to voters, subscribe to the My Civic Workout newsletter, join a local Indivisible Group.If you're not following Celeste Pewter on twitter, you should. Here's her thread on what you can do to help save the Post Office.Shop your local indie bookstore! They need your support.Jen and Sarah met for the first time at the Printer's Row Lit Fest in Chicago. Catch up with season one-- a read along of Kresley Cole's Immortals After Dark series, and season two--the Books that Blooded Us.We love the Gaslighter album, the song Wet Ass Pussy, and Kamala Harris. All joking aside, there's nothing wrong with a wet ass pussy, and you can read The Vagina Bible to learn more about it.The Potentials were the pool of available women who might be tapped as Slayer.Jen's reading Jack Reacher books with her friend Ernie. Name is destiny.Katee Robert's taboo series is giving readers exactly what they want.You want Fated Mates shirts and buttons? Of course you do!Up next: Fifty Shades of Grey.The RestFor even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net/episodes/2020/8/18/s031-season-three-back-on-our-bullsht 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.

Surely the silverest lining of the Pandemic is how many fabulous conversations are happening all around us. A few weeks ago, Jen had an incredibly important conversation about the work of romance and writing trauma and trauma survivors. You can follow Adriana on Facebook and watch the video of the conversation there!Representation of Trauma Survivors in Romance: Adriana Herrera and Jen ProkopFated MatesDownloadAs you know, Adriana is one of our favorite people…preorder her next book, Here to Stay—you deserve a treat!Thank you, as always, for listening — we hope you’re having a great (and safe!) summer! While we’re apart, if you are up for leaving a rating or review for the podcast on your podcasting app, we would be very grateful!Oh, and did you know Sarah has a new book out? Daring & the Duke is officially here! Get it at Amazon, Kobo, Barnes & Noble, Apple Books, Books-a-Million or from your local indie.We’ll see you next week, for the first episode of Season 3!

Since the start of the Pandemic, brilliant VE Schwab has been hosting authors from across the spectrum of genres on Instagram Live Saturdays at 3pm et for her No Write Way series, talking about books, writing, the world and whatever else comes at them. Several weeks ago, Sarah joined her, and they had a great conversation about romance and writing, and we’re thrilled to share the audio with you this week!Follow VE on Instagram, preorder her next book, The Invisible Life of Addie Larue, and don’t miss her lives on Saturday afternoons!Thank you, as always, for listening — we hope you’re having a great (and safe!) July! While we’re apart, if you are up for leaving a rating or review for the podcast on your podcasting app, we would be very grateful!Oh, and did you know Sarah has a new book out? Daring & the Duke is officially here! Get it at Amazon, Kobo, Barnes & Noble, Apple Books, Books-a-Million or from your local indie.

We're still on hiatus between seasons, but your earholes don't have to be! This week, the Deerfield Illinois Public Library turned the tables on us and interviewed us for their podcast! We had a great time talking about romance and why it's the very very best. Subscribe to the DPL Podcast for more great interviews!Thank you, as always, for listening — we hope you’re having a great (and safe!) July! While we’re apart, if you are up for leaving a rating or review for the podcast on your podcasting app, we would be very grateful!Oh, and did you know Sarah has a new book out? Daring & the Duke is officially here! Get it at Amazon, Kobo, Barnes & Noble, Apple Books, Books-a-Million or from your local indie.

We are on hiatus for the rest of July, but never fear! We're still bringing fun content to your earholes! In June, we recorded a live crossover episode of Fated Mates/Learning the Tropes, during which we played delightful games, talked about books, and got to the bottom (or maybe not) of Learning the Tropes's Clayton's interesting romance kinks. We are delighted to share that episode with you this week! If you subscribe to both of our podcasts, this will be a duplicate episode this week. If you *don't* subscribe to both podcasts...you definitely should. Find Learning the Tropes wherever you listen to podcasts! Erin and Clayton are two of our favorite people. Thank you, as always, for listening — we hope you’re having a great (and safe!) July! While we’re apart, if you are up for leaving a rating or review for the podcast on your podcasting app, we would be very grateful! Oh, and did you know Sarah has a new book out? Daring & the Duke is officially here! Get it at Amazon, Kobo, Barnes & Noble, Apple Books, Books-a-Million or from your local indie, or order it signed from the wonderful independent bookstore, Savoy Bookshop in RI, where she is through the end of July!

It felt fitting that our final episode of Season 2—during which we celebrated so many of the vintage romances that blooded us—would be with someone we could fully geek out with! We are thrilled to have Steve Ammidown, romance nerd and archivist at the Browne Popular Culture Library at Bowling Green State University, with us today to talk about Vivian Stephens and early category romances. To prepare, all three of us read some of the earliest American category romances, and wow were they a ride! We’re talking women who work, marriage in romance, older heroines, the impact of Vietnam on 1980s romances, and more. Strap in!We’re on hiatus for the next three weeks, but you’ll hear some great alternative content on Wednesdays — including crossover episodes and interviews we’ve done in other places. Thank you, as always, for listening — we hope you’re having a great (and safe!) summer. While we’re apart, if you are up for leaving a rating or review for the podcast on your podcasting app, we would be very grateful!Oh, and did you know Sarah has a new book out? Daring & the Duke is officially here! Get it at Amazon, Kobo, Barnes & Noble, Apple Books, Books-a-Million or from your local indie, or order it signed from the wonderful independent bookstore, Savoy Bookshop in RI, where she is through the end of July!Show NotesWelcome Steve Ammidown, the Manuscripts & Outreach Archivist at the Browne Popular Culture Library at the Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio.Vivian Stephens was one of the original founders of RWA and one of the most important editors in romance. At the Browne Pop Culture library, there is a special Vivian Stephens collection. Vivian was instrumental in bringing category romance to America and created the Candlelight Ecstacy Romance line, which put sex on page in a new way. She also created the Harlequin American line.Vivian recruited a series of authors who changed the face of romance: Jayne Castle/Jayne Ann Krenz, Sandra Brown, and later Beverly Jenkins. Here is an early interview with Vivian about her work and the world of romance.At the last RITAs ceremony--in the future, it will be the Vivians!-- there was a great video of romance firsts. You should watch it.Dangerous Men and Adventurous Women was a 90s era collection of romance essays by romance writers to combat a lot of not great academic research on romance.The late 70s and early 80s were a tumultuous time in American history: the return of Vietnam soldiers, a finacial crisis, and a huge divorce boom.The mall bookstores, B. Dalton and Waldenbooks, were alive and well in the 80s. The buyers at these bookstores, including Sue Grimshaw, were powerful gatekeepers who had a great amount of power over the romance genre.Kathryn Falk and Romantic Times and Flavia Kngightsbridge was a famous RT columnist, and at RT conventions there was something called the Mr. Romance Competition, and everyone who has ever seen it is like...whoa.Marisa de Zavala, whose real name is Celina Mullan, also wrote as Ana Lisa de Leon and Rachel Scott. See more about Marisa on this great thread about her from Alexis Daria!Entwined Destinies was one of the first category romances with Black characters by a Black author, Elsie Washington writing as Rosalind Welles. Although it's very difficult to find a copy of Entwined Destinies, but BGSU has a great photograph of Vivian and Elsie together.The RestFor even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net/episodes/2020/7/6/s0245-vivian-stephens-acquisitions-with-librarian-steve-ammidown 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 so excited to have Kennedy Ryan with us this week — someone who was blooded not once, but twice by old school historicals! Listen to us talk powerful heroines, her brilliant Queen Move, how so much romance is political and why those old romances are still worth reading — problematic and all. Summer is here, and next week is the final episode of Season Two, with a few others to come while we take a few weeks off. To read romance novels. Obviously. Season Three begins in August!While we’re apart, if you are up for leaving a rating or review for the podcast on your podcasting app, we would be very grateful!Oh, and did you know Sarah had a book out last week? Daring & the Duke is officially here! Get it at Amazon, Kobo, Barnes & Noble, Apple Books, Books-a-Million or from your local indie, or order it signed from the wonderful independent bookstore, Savoy Bookshop in RI, where she is for the. month of July!Show NotesWelcome Kennedy Ryan! You know what they say about pastors' kids. Just kidding, she was a late bloomer.Teacher Jen would like a moment to talk about vocabulary acquisition: Parents can help kids learn new words by modeling, but reading is really the X factor. You can take this vocabulary test to see the rough size of your own vocabulary, but this information about how kids acquire new words is actually pretty simple: read lots of fiction when you're young.Believe it or not, there was never a Carole Mortimer book titled Frustration. But perhaps you might be interested in her other single word titles: Untamed, Gypsy (yikes!), or Witchchild.Prince had lots of protégées, including Vanity (Rick James's ex-girlfiend! thank you for that info Cheris Hodges!), Sheena Easton, and so many others. Speaking of Sheena Easton, Prince wrote the lyrics for Sugar Walls and it is pretty dirty. Ava DuVernay was slated to direct a documentary on Prince for Netflix, but stepped down over "creative differences." And if you can ever travel again, Jen highly recommends going on the tour of Paisley Park.Jen mentioned that Iris Johansen, Fayrene Preston, and Kay Hooper wrote several series about a family called the Delaneys, and Kay Hooper tells the story of how it happened on her website. PS. the original covers for The Delaneys: The Untamed Years are amazing. And in case you're looking for a house to buy, maybe Iris Johansen's place might be to your liking?Going back to the archives, Candace Proctor (who also writes as C.S. Harris) and Penelope Williamson are sisters?So, in romances, being a wet nurse is just a plot device. But the history of wet nurses is, to no one's surprise, rather grim. Sunset Embrace is the Sandra Brown book with the wet nurse. In Vanessa Riley's newest-- A Duke, The Lady, and a Baby -- the heroine has to sneak in to feed her own son and manages to get herself hired as his wet nurse. In Romeo and Juliet the nurse said that Juliet was "The prettiest babe that e’er I nursed." In a pinch, Enfamil is the way to go.Mary Queen of Scots didn't come to a good end. So maybe just read Shadowheart?The Tragic Mulatto is a harmful anti-Black trope.Meagan McKinney defrauded the government during Katrina and landed in jail, which is why we are never going to read one of her books for Fated Mates.

Sarah has a new book out, so Jen is playing host this week, and Sarah is playing guest, and Jen is really outrageously good at it…move over Terry Gross! Find Daring & the Duke wherever books are sold, including Amazon, Kobo, B&N, Apple Books, Books-a-Million, or at your local indie via Bookshop.org.Show NotesYou can listen to all of our walk-up music suggestions on the Fated Mates Spotify playlist. But in case you've never seen The Music Man, the song Marian the Librarian is very cute.Sarah wants to be a guest on Fresh Air. (Jen obviously does, too, but has to actual cause to be interviewed. So #TeamSarah.) Do we know anyone who knows Terry Gross?If you can't wait, you can listen to us on the Deerfield Public Libary podcast, but we're going to drop it into our own feed later this month. So no worries.Jen thinks Sarah is in her imperial period--a phrase Jen learned from listening to the Hit Parade podcast.The past year have had some great books about rage and feminism: The Seven Necessary Sins for Women and Girls, Good and Mad, and Hood Feminism are three we recommend.We put children in factories all day, so of course kids fought, too. Sarah recommends The Fair Fight, a historical novel, about bareknuckle fighting kids.Statler & Waldorf are the two old dudes up on the balcony during The Muppet Show.The Victorian Age wasn't so great for women and other marginalized people.That Jeffrey Epstein documentary is on Netflix.Ewan's year-long break was inspired by The Player.The myth of Apollo and Cyrene, and also a little about neo-classicism. One of our favorite myth retellings of the past few years, is Circe by Madeline Miller. Jessica Avery presented a paper at the Popular Culture Association about mythology in Sarah's books.The Master's Tools will Never Dismantle the Master's House is the name of the essay by Audre Lorde. You should read it.The RestFor even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net/episodes/2020/6/30/s0243-daring-and-the-duke 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 it's one of our very faves, Joanna Shupe is back! Joanna has a new book out June 30th -- The Devil of Downtown -- which is basically perfection, so we're talking about why Gilded Age romance is the best, and why everyone should be reading unusual historicals (historicals set outside the Regency in England). Get ready, your TBR will groan after this one!Oh, and did you know Sarah also has a book out June 30th? Order Daring &amp; the Duke from Amazon, Kobo, Barnes &amp; Noble, Apple Books, Books-a-Million or from your local indie, or order it signed from her local indie, WORD Bookstore, and get a special edition Fated Mates sticker with your purchase!As summer approaches, if you are up for leaving a rating or review for the podcast on your podcasting app, we would be very grateful!Oh, and did you know Sarah also has a book out June 30th? Order Daring &amp; the Duke from Amazon, Kobo, Barnes &amp; Noble, Apple Books, Books-a-Million or from your local indie, or order it signed from her local indie, WORD Bookstore, and get a special edition Fated Mates sticker with your purchase!As summer approaches, if you are up for leaving a rating or review for the podcast on your podcasting app, we would be very grateful!Show NotesThis is Joanna's second time on Fated Mates. The first was to discuss the enemies to lovers trope in Prisoner of My Desire and Kiss of a Demon King.Speaking of IAD: ever seen the IAD spreadsheet of Wonder, created be Sarah Hawley from the Wicked Wallflowers Podcast? Oh, and if you haven't read it, why not do it this summer? There's a group read going on right now on a subgroup of Sarah's Facebook Book Club!All about Homage, allusion, and allegory in case it's been a while since you were in an English class.Modern Library! Where are our romances?Sarah has a bunch of online events this summer.Many of the old American historicals support an ahistorical white settler, Manifest Destiny, story of Westward Expansion. Savage Thunder was a particularly problematic one, and Jen only read it for the "sex on a horse" scene. Maybe watch some Deadwood instead?Which came first? Eurocentrism or the Anglophiles?Gone With the Wind is just Lost Cause propaganda. Don't at us. Speaking of wars: The Napoleonic Wars took place during the Regency, but no one ever really talks about them in Regency romances.Romance's Regency blueprint was created by Jane Austen and Georgette Heyer.Nipple piercing has been around for a long time. Look for it in Joanna's next book.Joanna's fascination with The Gilded Age started with Edith Wharton. The time period is the setting for the Uptown Girls series, but the Gilded Age also has lots of uncomfortable parallels to today. If you're looking for more information about The Gilded Age, you should know that Jack Mulligan was based on real life mobster Paul Kelly. Joanna also recommends the following books: Low Life, The Gangs of New York, and Incredible New York. If you want to hear Joanna talk about The Gilded Age, join her Facebook Group on July 9th, 2020 for a virtual tour!If you haven't ever been to Ellis Island, it's excellent. It's a dynamic museum with tons of interesting facts about European immigration to New York. Speaking of history, if you're interested in learning about The Great Migration, the setting of A Champion's Heart, you should read The Warmth of Other Suns.Food is everyone's love language until the jello molds and casseroles start to arrive.You actually can read lots of books about the 60s.What do you mean you haven't seen The Hudsucker Proxy?The RestFor even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net/episodes/2020/6/23/s0242-unusual-historical-interstitial-with-joanna-shupe 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, <a...

This one’s for you, audio readers! We’re thrilled to have a freewheeling episode this week featuring the fantastically talented Justine Eyre, who has narrated Sarah’s last seven books! Sarah &amp; Justine had never talked until this conversation, when we were able to ask all the questions we’ve always had about how audiobooks work, and what makes them so great. And stay tuned until the end of the episode, when you can hear the first two chapters of the audiobook of Daring &amp; the Duke, available wherever audiobooks are sold, June 30th!We might not be doing read alongs until August, but that doesn’t mean your TBR won’t still be groaning under the weight of our recommendations — we’ve got a bunch of rec episodes lined up for summer…Oh, and did you know Sarah has a book out in two weeks? Order Daring &amp; the Duke from Amazon, Kobo, Barnes &amp; Noble, Apple Books, Books-a-Million or from your local indie, or order it signed from her local indie, WORD Bookstore, and get a special edition Fated Mates sticker with your purchase!As summer approaches, if you are up for leaving a rating or review for the podcast on your podcasting app, we would be very grateful!Show NotesWelcome Justine Eyre! Justine has narrated all of Sarah's books since Never Judge a Lady by Her Cover.Join Sarah's Old School Romance Book Club (OSRBC) on Facebook.Is Jane Eyre really "our favorite Jane"? Jane Austen would like a word.Justine talked a lot about how audiobooks are made, but here's another great explainer about the role of narrators and audiobook production.We recorded this before J. K. Rowling's latest terrible TERF rant, so take Jen's praise of Jim Dale's narrationwith a grain of salt.Justine mentioned Scott Brick as a mentor, and his site has a guide for those interested in becoming narrators.The RestFor even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net/episodes/2020/6/16/s0241-audiobook-interstitial-with-voice-actor-justine-eyre 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 the last read-along of Season Two! We’re reading Judith McNaught’s A Kingdom of Dreams, which is the actual book that blooded Sarah when she was wee. This week we’re talking old-school romance, what McNaught was doing with this book and this hero who is so unlike all the heroes who came before him, and why (book) Jennifer is the perfect namesake for (our) Jennifer.We might not be doing read alongs until August, but that doesn’t mean your TBR won’t still be groaning under the weight of our recommendations — we’ve got a bunch of rec episodes lined up for summer….oh, and did you know Sarah has a book out in three weeks? Order it from Amazon, Kobo, Barnes &amp; Noble, Apple Books, Books-a-Million or from your local indie, or order it signed from her local indie, WORD Bookstore, and get a special edition Fated Mates sticker with your purchase!As summer approaches, if you are up for leaving a rating or review for the podcast on your podcasting app, we would be very grateful!Show NotesMarty McFly, played by Michael J. Fox, was the main character in an excellent 1985 time-traveling movie called Back to the Future.Sarah's next book, Daring and the Duke, comes out at the end of the month. Preorder from WORD in Brooklyn and you'll recieve a limited edition yellow Fated Mates sticker.Whitney, My Love is an early McNaught historical romance that the author changed because in the original text, the hero rapes and horsewhips the heroine. The hero of A Kingdom of Dreams, Royce Westmoreland, is one of Clayton's ancestors, but we think he is McNaught correcting the record on the Alpha hero. In the IAD novella episode, we talked about the changes in Whitney, My Love. Whitney also came up in the Alpha episode that started the season, because it's impossible to talk about the primordial alphas without talking about the early Alpha.More on the four books that comprise the Westmoreland series.Who do we talk to get A Kingdom of Dreams on audio? Oh, you can email a request to Audible.Jen learned about 1497 on Wikipedia. As one does.Women could inherit a title in Scotland.Margaret Tudor was Henry VII's eldest daughter, married to James IV of Scotland to bring peace to the border. Fun fact, once James IV died (thanks for nothing, Henry VIII, you were the worst), Margaret acted as Regent until James V of Scotland, but when that didn't work out, she married two other dudes and also staged a coup, so we don't really know why we don't all sing her praise always. Yeah, we do. Patriarchy. Anyway. Sarah didn't learn about Margaret Tudor on Wikipedia, but you can.All about the bliaut. Sarah would like you to know she looked up bliauts on Wikipedia after we recorded and now she's an expert. High-fives to all Wikipedia editors. Nothing without you.Tinctures, tonics, and teas is Fated Mates shorthand for historicals where medicine women knew various herbal remedies for preventing or ending pregnancy. Or in this case, causing life-long impotence.We talked a little bit about the freedom of setting a romance in Medieval times on our Scottish Romance episode, so head over and listen to that if you're interested.Jen's obsessed with the idea of the Vietnam Hero, but doesn't know where to start. Probably with finishing the Ken Burns Vietnam documentary.Jousting. WTF.What would Jurgen Klopp say?While we're talking about Judith McNaught and Wikipedia, do not sleep on her page. Divorce celebrations, Coors Brewing Company tie-ins, the invention of the non-clinch romance cover, moving to Dallas after going there on book tour...it has it all.Support Black Lives Matter and bail funds in your city or state.Shop and support Black-owned Indie bookstores.Register to vote. Already registered? Double check.The RestFor even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net/episodes/2020/6/9/s0240-a-kingdom-of-dreams 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.

One of readers’ very favorite tropes this week…sometimes it’s friends-to-lovers and sometimes it’s friends-to-enemies-to-lovers and sometimes it’s friends-to-attempted-murder-to-lovers….we’re talking childhood friends to adult lovers and we will get to the bottom of it! Get ready for way too much music from The Saint. But first things first….Black Lives Matter.Next week, we’re officially OFFICIALLY reading Judith McNaught’s A Kingdom of Dreams! Get ready for Sarah’s favorite historical of all time. It’s HAPPENING. Find A Kingdom of Dreams at Amazon, Barnes &amp; Noble, Apple Books, or Kobo … and don’t forget your favorite indie, which is probably shipping books right now and definitely needs your patronage!Also, if you love the music in this or any of our episodes, check out our Spotify playlist, which includes it all!Show NotesLooking to donate? Here's why supporting community bail funds is so important. The Minnesota Freedom Fund has raised millions of dollars for protestors who have been arrested, and here is an exhaustive list of other collectives and organizaions spearheaded by Black activists.Sarah donated to The Brooklyn Bail Fund and Jen to the Chicago Community Bail Fund. Find one in your city or state through the National Bail Fund Network.Bookshop.Org has a special link if you want to shop and support Black-owned Indie bookstores.Register to vote. And make sure you're still registered. You can also donate to Stacy Abrams's nonprofit, Fair Fight, which is dedicated to ensure voting access for all Americans..Jen's friend Susan is putting together a service to help parents keep kids busy this summer, it's called My Camp Box.Maybe you'd like to find some more unrequited love romances? And, by the way, Requited is an actual word.Jacob imprinting on a baby in the Twilight series was...a thing. But in the MG (middle grade) graphic novel Fake Blood, a bookish boy has a crush on the coolest girl in school, and she just happens to be a vampire slayer.Friend of the Pod @Bandherbooks led a read along of Again the Magic a few weeks ago.Sarah loves The Saint, a Val Kilmer classic. The author of that NYTimes profile, Taffy Brodesser-Akner also wrote a LitFic novel Jen loved called Fleishman is in Trouble.Next time you need details about the exact details of what's happening in a movie, TV show, video game, or book for your kids, check out Common Sense Media.Mulan II is a romance. Don't @ Sarah; Alvin and the Chimpunks is a not a romance. Don't @ JenPreorder Daring and the Duke from WORD in Brooklyn and score a special edition yellow Fated Matessticker.Next up, A Kingdom of Dreams.The RestFor even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net/episodes/2020/6/2/s0239-childhood-friends-to-adult-lovers-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.

We’re talking about one of the best writers in erotic romance this week—Join us for a deep dive into Nikki Sloane’s Three Little Mistakes, which is one of Sarah’s favorite romances. We’re talking about kink, kink shaming, how to make sex discussions less awkward with new partners and how erotic romance is doing some of the best work in the genre right now…and we’re also going to talk about fruity drinks.In two weeks, we’re officially OFFICIALLY reading Judith McNaught’s A Kingdom of Dreams! Get ready for Sarah’s favorite historical of all time. It’s HAPPENING. Find A Kingdom of Dreams at Amazon, Barnes &amp; Noble, Apple Books, or Kobo … and don’t forget your favorite indie, which is probably shipping books right now and definitely needs your patronage!Show NotesHere's Jen Porter on Twitter talking about erotic romance. But just this week, Robin Bradford (winner of the RWA Librarian of the year!) was also talking about why it's a problem that we don't have a clear definition for erotic romance.Getting RWA to recoginize erotic romance was such a struggle that there was actually a petition! But now we can (hopefully) all move on to bigger and better things with The Vivian.YA books with queer characters are some of the most challenged books in America.Sarah also mentioned Sordid, which has non-consensual sex and therefore needs a content warning.Ron Charles is cool.Nikki Sloane used to live in Chicago and now lives in Kentucky. Looks like Jen's friendship plans have just been foiled.Having sex in a porche sounds excruciating, and so does having sex with a porche (WTF!), but Men's Health Magazine to the rescue with this handy (lol) list of best cars to have sex in.If you're interested in breath play, please do it safely.RIP Tumblr. We miss you.Decriminalize sex work.Maybe when we can go places again, you might want to rent or buy a yurt in Hawaii.Avoid those sugary drinks for yourself and your kids. If you are in Chicago and looking for a dentist, Jen LOVES her dentist Dr. Deaver and Dr. Casimir at Classic Smiles on South Wabash. And she really buried the lede and forgot to mention that Dr. Deaver is not only an amazing dentist, but he was President Obama's dentist!Next time: A Kingdom of Dreams.Preorder Daring and the Duke from WORD in Brooklyn and you'll get a sweet limited edition yellow Fated Mates sticker.The RestFor even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net/episodes/2020/5/26/s0238-three-little-mistakes-by-nikki-sloane 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 one of our favorite tropes this week — get your pens out, because we’re talking about about a thousand books that tackle Partner in Danger! You know what we’re talking about: “Oh no! This person I sometimes bone is in danger! WAIT! I am feeling feelings!!!” It’s great. We’re going to talk about why. Sarah would like to apologize in advance, because it was really hot in her house when we recorded, and it scrambled her brain.We love having you with us! — subscribe on your favorite podcasting platform and like/review the podcast, please!Next week, it’s erotica week! We’re reading a book that Sarah loves, Nikki Sloane’s Three Little Mistakes, which we’ve talked about before on the podcast, but we want to deep dive on. Get Three Little Mistakes from Amazon, Barnes &amp; Noble, Apple Books, or Kobo … and don’t forget your favorite indie, which is probably shipping books right now and definitely needs your patronage!Also, if you love the music in this or any of our episodes, check out our Spotify playlist, which includes it all!Show NotesAs of last week, going outside looks like a pretty safe thing to do.In fact, there is less central A/C in New York City. So watch out for the window units.Zoom fatigue is real.You know, there is quite a large assortment of "Dorothy in the Sheets, Blanche in the Sheets" merch on Etsy. In case you need to talk a call from your editor.We all struggle with the illusion of control.The trope of the damsel in distress has been around for a long, long time. So let's not fridge more women, mm'kay.Friend of the pod Adriana Herrera has some words of wisdom about writing trauma in romance. And also Jen and Adriana did a Facebook Live chat on the topic. (link &amp; audio forthcoming).Pour one out for planes. And cars. And alcohol from mysterious European lands.In case you missed Blood Blow Jobs: please refer to Fated Mates Season One, Lothaire and Rune.Jen looked it up a map. In Reborn Yesterday, the heroine is dropped onto the Belt Parkway, not the Long Island Expressway. Still seems bad.Edward saved Bella from a careening van in the school parking lot. And from a bunch of drunk guys.The Most Dangerous Game is a pretty great short story, classically used to teach person v. person conflict.Morality Chain is a great trope. Look for an upcoming interstitial on this topic soon!In Pretty Woman, she rescues him right back.Preorder signed copies of Daring and the Duke from WORD bookstore in Brooklyn and you'll get swag from Sarah and this special yellow Fated Mates sticker.Books referenced this week:Judith McNaught's&nbsp;PerfectLisa Kleypas's&nbsp;It Happened One Autumn,&nbsp;Devil in Winter&nbsp;&amp;&nbsp;Dreaming of YouJoanna Shupe's&nbsp;The Prince of Broadway&nbsp;&amp;&nbsp;The Devil of DowntownKresley Cole's&nbsp;LothaireMilla Vane's&nbsp;A Heart of Blood And AshesTessa Bailey's&nbsp;Reborn YesterdayEmmy Chandler's HunterClaire Kent's HoldStephenie Meyer's&nbsp;TwilightMolly O'Keefe's&nbsp;Everything I Left Unsaid,&nbsp;The Truth About Him, Burn Down the Night &amp; Wait for ItSarah's&nbsp;Wicked &amp; the Wallflower,&nbsp;Brazen &amp; the Beast,&nbsp;Daring &amp; the Duke,&nbsp;The Rogue Not Taken, and&nbsp;No Good Duke Goes UnpunishedSierra Simone's&nbsp;American QueenKati Wilde's&nbsp;Hellfire RidersHelenKay Dimon's&nbsp;The Secret She KeepsRobert Munsch's&nbsp;The Paper Bag PrincessNana Malone's&nbsp;Protecting the HeiressKresley Cole's&nbsp;The MasterThe RestFor even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net/episodes/2020/5/19/s0237-partner-in-danger-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...

It’s a Jen week this week! We’re reading Bet Me this week, the book many people put right on the top of Best Contemporary Romance lists — one of Jen’s favorite books and a book Sarah liked to tell people she loved but has now discovered she’d never actually read. Minerva and Cal are absolutely terrific, as is this book, and we’re having a rollicking conversation about fat rep, about friendships in romance, about food (Sarah’s love language), about shoes, and about why grown people at little league games are a weird thing.Show NotesWe're big fans of Carly Lane-Perry from SyFy Fangirls. We especially like her newsletter, Kissing Books--Jen wrote about grandmothers in romance.Is it criticism if it's all positive?Baby Foot is sold out, but there are lots of other terrifying alternatives you can try.Janet Dailey is famous for plagiarizing Nora Roberts. Before that happened, she wrote the Americana series, with one book set in every state. The one set in Ohio was called The Widow and the Wastrel, and Jen's twitter thread about the book unearthed several early covers for the book.Sarah asked if Jenny Crusie is from Ohio? She is.This was Sarah's first time reading Bet Me, just like it was Jen's first time reading Gentle Rogue.Minerva and Diana probably wish they weren't named after Roman goddesses.So: you want to be an actuary. You want to learn about chaos theory. You're wondering about the gender essentialsim of a book with a title like Men are from Mars; Women are from Venus. You want to learn more about the band Cake.Love Me Tender is a beautiful song.Penn and Teller explain the Cup and Ball trick. Oh, and did you hear Sarah mention it's going to appear in Daring and the Duke? Pre-order from WORD in Brooklyn, and you'll recieve a free limited edition yellow Fated Mates sticker.With these many characters, it might as well be a Robert Atlman movie.Learn about dyslexia, our understanind of which has dramatically changed over time. Erin McCarthy's Hard and Fast (2009) also has a dyslexic hero.Another utterly fantastic family dinner gone wrong scene is in Her Naughty Holiday by Tiffany Reisz.Jeanne Lin knows how to write some really sexy kissing.The fairy godmother is a hallmark of Cinderella, and Sarah's own magical modiste is Madame Hebert.There are so many homages to great rom-coms of the 90s. Diana loves the music from Julia Roberts movies. Elvis Costello's She appeared in Notting Hill, the lead up to the big wedding was like Four Weddings and a Funeral, and of course Diana turns into a Runaway Bride. Min's visit to the magical modiste is like one of the greatest makeover sequences in movies, Pretty Woman. The "I love your shoes" was like The American President. All the wolf references, of course reminded us of Moonstruck. Cynthie's sexy clothes at the little league game were reminiscent of this great scene in Bull Durham.Order buttons from Kelly in Jen's shop, and t-shirts from Jordan Dene.Next up, we'll be reading Three Little Mistakes from Nikki Sloan.Books We Mentioned This Week:Welcome to Temptation&nbsp;by Jennifer CrusieBet Me&nbsp;by Jennifer CrusieThe Widow and the Wastrel&nbsp;by Janet DaileyGentle Rogue&nbsp;by Johanna LindseyDaring and the Duke&nbsp;by Sarah MacLeanHard and Fast&nbsp;by Erin McCarthyThe RestFor even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net/episodes/2020/5/12/s0236-bet-me-by-jennifer-crusie 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.

Sophie Jordan is back again! She’s got a new book out, The Virgin and the Rogue, and she’s back with us to freewheel about old school romances, aphrodisiac plotlines and just what do we mean when we say “taking the finger?” It’s a delightful hour. You won’t regret it.We love having you with us! Subscribe on your favorite podcasting platform and like/review the podcast, please!Next week, we’re reading a book that blooded Jen, Jenny Crusie’s Bet Me! Which you can get bundled with Welcome to Temptation (get this one — it’s $2. cheaper than getting Bet Me alone!) from Amazon, Barnes &amp; Noble, Apple Books, or Kobo … and don’t forget your favorite indie, which is probably shipping books right now and definitely needs your patronage!Also, if you love the music in this or any of our episodes, check out our Spotify playlist, which includes it all!Show NotesWelcome Sophie Jordan, who was last on the pod talking about The Master. Come on five times and you get a Pink Ladies jacket.How are the Introverts faring during the pandemic?Chewy.com will deliver your cat litter and also massive bags of cat food.Annika Martin's Dark Mafia Prince inspired Sophie and Sarah to coin the phrase "taking the finger," which Jen has co-opted with glee. Not sure what counts as worthy of "taking the finger"? The Simone Scale TM is here for you.Jen's "control rods" metaphor is because she's a big old nuclear nerd.Aphrodesiac books we know of: The Virgin and the Rogue; Robin's Lovett's Planet of Desire series takes place on a planet where the atmosphere is an aphrodesiac; in A Taste of Her Own Medicine by Tasha Harrison, the grandmother whips up a "come to me" potion; Johanna Lindsey's Secret Fire sounds bonkers; Wild Card is one by Lora Leigh that Joanna Shupe recommends. Does the shortbread in How the Dukes Stole Christmas count? What else have you got?Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune taught Jen everything she needed to know about the backbone of good criticism, everything else she's making up as she goes along.We talked about bodily autonomy in season one.Sarah talked about watching the trailer for this very terrifying 60s movie The Lady in a Cage.Order Sophie's signed books from Katy Budget Books and Sarah's from WORD in Brooklyn -- including pre-orders for Daring and the Duke.Oh, you want to read Sophie's story about a stablemaster and a maid? No horses were harmed, so it's fine.The RestFor even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net/episodes/2020/5/5/s0235-freewheeling-with-sophie-jordan-a-taking-the-finger-explainer-episode-W1FeR 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.

Sometimes there’s a writer who’s so transformative to your experience as a reader that you forget she even was a part of it until you remember, and then you remember every book she’s written. It’s Sandra Brown week here at Fated Mates, and we have loved so many of her romances that we just didn’t know what to read, so strap in, because both Jen and Sarah read Texas! Chase, and then two roads diverged, only to discover some real deep-rooted kinky stuff. Strap in. This one left Eric shellshocked!We love having you with us! — subscribe on your favorite podcasting platform and like/review the podcast, please!In two weeks, we’re reading a book that blooded Jen, Jenny Crusie’s Bet Me! Which you can get bundled with Welcome to Temptation (get this one — it’s $2. cheaper than getting Bet Me alone!) from Amazon, Barnes &amp; Noble, Apple Books, or Kobo … and don’t forget your favorite indie, which is probably shipping books right now and definitely needs your patronage!Also, if you love the music in this or any of our episodes, check out our Spotify playlist, which includes it all!Show NotesJen's been thinking about how we're going to archive the Quarantine Times and so are historians. Steve Ammidown was kind enough to make some videos about archiving for Jen's TikTok.Turns out that tweet about the Spanish epidimologist was not true! Blessed be the fact checkers.Lori Lightfoot is Jen's mayor and her Coronavirus memes are the best.Everyone knows who Tom Brady is, but not many people seem to like him.Sandra Brown was in the first class of authors acquired by Vivian Stephens. Her Loveswept #1 was Heaven's Price, and her Harlequin American Romance #1 was Tomorrow's Promise. Steve Ammidown was also kind enough to dig into the archives and pull out some early interviews with Sandra Brown and about the founding of Loveswept.Benjamin Dreyer definitely wants you to know the difference between the em dash, en dash, and the hypen.The Rana Look cover has the author and McLean Stevenson from MASH as the cover models. Whoa.You can still join the Doubleday Book Club. Who knew!Jeff Wright has a very funny TikTok (which he crossposts to Twitter and Instagram) and a very distinctive way of saying Oh Wow.Sheikhs &amp; Native Americans in romance are full of racist, harmful stereotypes.Jennifer Porter took the hit on Texas! Lucky for us.Oil Futures aren't looking good for the Tyler family; it's not looking great for the rodeo, either.The primordal 80s Don. Not him. That was the 70s.Sunny Chandler's job as a Mardi Gras costume designer seems pretty sweet. Here's a cool interview with Patricia Halsell-Richardson, a woman who designs Mardi Gras costumes in Mobile.A quick primer to the waves of feminism and what people thought about working women in the 80s.Sandra Brown's house was blown up for an episode of Walker, Texas Ranger. A show that is making a comeback, as it turns out.Ann Richards was pretty great, and so is her daughter Cecile.GQ has some instructions on how to be a DILF, but our current favorite is by Katee Roberts.Slow Heat in Heaven has a plot about dogfighting, but Sarah mentioned a romance where the dogs fall in love back when we talked about non-Sandra Brown category romances.The 80s Primetime Soap Operas were a force to be reckoned with.Next time, we'll be talking about Bet Me by Jenny Crusie. For some reason, it's cheaper to buy it bundled with Welcome To Temptation. /rolls eyes at eBook pricing on a 20 year old book.

Tasha Harrison is joining us this week to talk about an old reliable trope — enemies to lovers! This is one of those that we return to again and again — and of course, since it’s a Pandemic, we have to ask…if you’re into enemies to lovers and you haven’t read Kresley Cole’s Immortals After Dark, what are you waiting for? Season 1 is here for you! Otherwise, we’re freewheeling with Tasha on everything from the best Chris to the real inspiration for The Wire, so strap in. It’s a ride!We love having you with us! — subscribe on your favorite podcasting platform and like/review the podcast, please!Next week, we’re reading Sandra Brown! Jen and Sarah will be reading Texas! Chase, but it’s dealers’ choice! Pick your favorite old Sandra Brown or ask us for a rec on Twitter or Instagram! Maybe you want That Rana Look? Or Slow Heat in Heaven? Or French Silk? You can find them wherever books are sold (but the Texas! series isn’t in ebook format yet, sadly) — and don’t forget your favorite indie!Also, if you love the music in this or any of our episodes, check out our Spotify playlist, which includes it all!Show NotesThe internet is so slow.Remember that time when Michelle from Destiny's Child felland then got right back up?The Fraggle Rock Trash Heap.Jen wrote about Enemies to Lovers for Kirkus.Apparently, it's called a Proprietary Eponyms when a brand name becomes a verb or common noun.The question of whether or not fiction should be "timeless" is one that authors deal with in different ways.Robert Redford was a snack. Kevin Costner was named The Sexiest Man Alive, but Jen thinks the only time he was truly sexy was in Bull Durham.Can there ever be a definitive ranking of the Chrises? Jen likes Pine, Sarah likes "the Australian one," and Tasha isn't interested in any of them. Sarah has Chris Evans blindness, but Tasha points out that he's got a little of the wild one in him. Check him checking out this reporter's boots.We just had Christina Lauren on our show! Beautiful Bastard is better than Fifty Shades in a lot of ways, especially for that elevator scene. Either way, it's a good illustration of the myriad problems with a workplace romance.Speaking of Lucy Eden, she and Jen had THE STRANGEST thing happen at the 2019 RWA conference.Babies are complicated in romance and complicated in real life. Maybe what we're really going to see is a boom in "marriage in trouble" romance. Kids are complicated, too, especially if you buy the wrong poop bags.Tasha's dad inspired the character of Norman Wilson on The Wire! The Baltimore paper The Afro-American can be read online. The real life Baltimore Mayor he worked for was Martin O'Malley.These Italian Mayors want you to stay inside. If only all the American governors and mayors were the same. Cardi-B is worried about Coronavirus-- so stay home and stay safe!The RestFor even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net/episodes/2020/4/21/s0233-enemies-to-lovers-interstitial-with-tasha-harrison-bwm6H 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 back to a more recent book that taught Sarah about contemporary romance, Victoria Dahl’s Taking the Heat. Use headphones for this one, because we’re talking about the best BJs in romance, the power of a great sex scene, and how we want you all to be in a sex pantheon. We’re also talking about flawed characters, true cinnamon rolls, and why Victoria Dahl is a fricken great author.We love having you with us! — subscribe on your favorite podcasting platform and like/review the podcast, please!In two weeks, we’re reading Sandra Brown! Jen and Sarah will be reading Texas! Chase, but it’s dealers’ choice! Pick your favorite old Sandra Brown or ask us for a rec on Twitter or Instagram! Maybe you want That Rana Look? Or Slow Heat in Heaven? Or French Silk? You can find them wherever books are sold (but the Texas! series isn’t in ebook format yet, sadly) — and don’t forget your favorite indie!Also, if you love the music in this or any of our episodes, check out our Spotify playlist, which includes it all!Show NotesSure, Sarah's new computer makes her feel like Lightning McQueen, but it's her new version of Scrivener that is the most exciting thing.Jen isn't the only one who likes Starburst jelly beans.Sarah has planner envy. We both love Blackwing pencils. If you also love Blackwing pencils, we highly recommend this video by comedian David Rees on Artisinal Pencil Sharpening. There's also a book! We don't quite understand washi tape, but we're happy for those who love it. If you want to talk planners, Nisha Sharma, Kate Clayborn, and Tracey Livesay are your people.RIP BEA 2020, we look forward to 2021.Jen is addicted to jigsaw puzzles, just like everyone else in the world.The city junk problem is actually pretty great.Victoria Dahl also writes as Victoria Helen Stone. Jen rediscovered contemporary romance with the Tumble Creek series, and also the Fast Track series by Erin McCarthy.Gabe's job was to introduce eBooks to the library. We've come a long way, baby.Jackson, Wyoming is the setting of this book, and apparently there's a lot to do there -- like skiing and rock climbing. It's all outdoorsy, so we can't really speak to it.The big city to small town trope is a cornerstone of romance. It's just not a corner we visit that often.The advice columnist is experiencing a huge resurgence these days, and in the age of the internet, everyone can give advice.Some useful resources if someone you know is sharing their thoughts of suicidal ideation.That Elizabeth Hoyt book with Winter Makepeace is called Thief of Shadows, and it also has a great blow job scene. In case you're into that sort of thing.Watch the Ending of Crocodile Dundee if you've never had the pleasure.If you are looking to try a new podcast app, we both love Overcast. Along with being a great listening device, you can use it to find and share any podcast clips online!Preorder Daring and the Duke! Support your local indie bookstore, Sarah's is WORD in Brooklyn and Jen's is 57th Street Books in Chicago. And everyone's is Love's Sweet Arrow or The Ripped Bodice.Next time, it's choose your own Sandra Brown adventure. We'll both read Texas! Chase, which believe it or not isn't on Kindle, but it is on audio! We'll also post a thread of some other Sandra Brown favorites. And if straight thriller is your thing, try OutFox, which is the one Sarah's mom enjoyed.The RestFor even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net/episodes/2020/4/14/s0232-taking-the-heat-by-victoria-dahl 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’ve got two tremendous guests and we’re coming to you from four different time zones! Coronavirus silver lining — time has literally no meaning any longer. We’re talking to the brilliant duo Christina Lauren about their new book, The Honey Don’t List, and forced proximity romances — which is a crowd favorite…or at least was a crowd favorite until we were all forced into forced proximity!Next week, we’re reading Victoria Dahl’s Taking the Heat. We know it’s tough to get it in print, but find it in e at your local library or at: Amazon, Barnes &amp; Noble, Apple Books, Kobo, or in print, mailed from your local indie (which is probably still shipping!)We hope you’re staying safe!Show NotesWelcome Christina Lauren! Check out their new release, a forced proximity romance called The Honey Don't List. Perhpas, like Sarah, you need to understand the "honey do" list.If you're worried about zombies running, there's an app for that.Christina and Lauren said their cover reminds them of Lizzo's big inflatable butt at the 2019 AMAs.Jen wrote a Kirkus column about why "only one bed" is one of the most delightful subsets of the "forced proximity" trope.Amanda Diehl reviews for BookPage and also for Smart Bitches Trashy Books. Here is her inteview with Christina Lauren.Sarah mentioned the great New York City Blackout of 2003, but it turns out a field in Ohio caused the problem."He is poison to everyone but her" is of course a reference back to Sarah's favorite IAD book, Sweet Ruin.All about wheelwrights.Wondering what it's really like for scientists on Antarctica is no place you'd want to be trapped, and certainly no place for a danger bang.Outbreak and Contagion are the top movies on Netflix right now.You can order The Honey Don't List with signed bookplates from Books a Million, not sure directly how to order from the one in Hunstville, AL, but try calling the store. Check out the audiobook of the Honey Don't List, starring Patti Murin and Jon Root.While you're whiling away the hours in self-isolation, don't forget to check out our Spotify playlist, which includes the full versions of every song we've ever used on Fated Mates -- or head over and watch all the music videos of all those songs on our site!The RestFor even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net/episodes/2020/4/7/s0231-forced-proximity-interstitial-with-christina-lauren 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 are feeling really proud of ourselves this week because Nobody’s Baby But Mine was the perfect isolation read for us both. The reread confirmed to both of us that this is, beat-for-beat, one of the best romcoms of all time. We’re talking problematic plots, the 90s, what we expect from jerk heroes and how Susan Elizabeth Phillips is better at flawed characters than anyone else in the game.We love having you with us! — subscribe on your favorite podcasting platform and like/review the podcast, please!In two weeks, we’re reading Victoria Dahl’s Taking the Heat. We know it’s tough to get it in print, but find it in e at your local library or at: Amazon, Barnes &amp; Noble, Apple Books, Kobo, or in print, mailed from your local indie (which is probably still shipping!)Show NotesAmericans are stress buying chickens. Yes, eggs are more expensive, but this is not a good idea.Speaking of chicks, now that Jen knows what happens to the chicks in the hatchery at the Museum of Science and Industry, she's back on Team Train Room.One day, we'll be able to visit the Butterfuly exhibit at the Museum of Natural History again.Nick Heath and Conor McGahey have figured out a way to keep those announcing skills sharp.Jen's interviewing YA authors on TikTok.When it comes to the SEP-Multiverse, we like the whackadoodle one at the circus (Kiss an Angel), the one with Bobby Tom (Heaven Texas), the one with the lazy golfer (Lady Be Good), and the one with Sugar Beth (Ain't She Sweet).What happened to the Lamont House romance collection?Charlotte Stein has a suggestion for authors of contemporary romance.Last year, Sarah wrote about technology in romance for the Washington Post.We talked about Prisoner of My Desire with Joanna Shupe, which is another book about a heroine who has done something very wrong.Maybe you're looking for actual secret baby books.The one with bad sex is Call Me Irresistible.After 9/11, Saturday Night Live and The Onion had to figure out how to be funny again.Our next book is Taking the Heat (aka Cunnilingus Gabe) by Victoria Dahl.

We are very pro health care workers these days — we love all of you…doctors, nurses, EMTs, home health aides…if you know how to work a stethoscope, we’re into you. This week, we’re taking about some of our favorite medical romances. Listen for Jen getting thoughtful, and Sarah getting wildly inappropriate. We’re all just doing our best.We love having you with us! — subscribe on your favorite podcasting platform and like/review the podcast, please!Next week, we’re reading Susan Elizabeth Phillips’s Nobody’s Baby But Mine, and we cannot WAIT. We know it’s tough to get it in print, but find it in e at your local library or at: Amazon (free in Kindle Unlimited!), Barnes &amp; Noble, Apple Books, Kobo, or in print, mailed from your local indie (which is probably still shipping!).Show NotesAs we all shelter in place, romance twitter has been very entertaining. Julia Kelly posted a thread where she posed her pets as romance novel covers, and everyone had fun with it. Sarah also loved this one about a dog who howls along with the Law and Order theme song.We forgot to tell you last week when we talked about Devil's Bride that Stephanie Laurens has a new book out, The Inevitable Fall of Christopher Cynster. We also have added information about how to pronounce Honoria and details about peach silk.Now is the time to get the BookBub daily romance email. Here's Sarah's Bookbub page.The nurse and doctor books were the backbone of early Mills and Boon romances, and the forerunner of the modern Harlequin Medical Romance; whereas Americans often find big, soapy hospital dramas on TV.Budleigh Salterton looks like a very nice place to hang out unless you are a bored American 12 year old.The roots of American and British romance are different, as proven by this absolutely WRONG LitHub romance essay. (They're wrong about romance a lot.)Sarah has talked about Radclyffe and the origin of Bold Strokes Books, but many of her romances are about doctors or set in hospitals.Jen doesn't really care too much about job details. Sorry not sorry.No one likes a Bloodletter. We want our historical doctors to be foreward thinking. Or as Eloisa James does in When Beauty Tamed the Beast, use a modern TV character like House as model for a hero.In Tempest, Jen spoke out inequities in acess to medical care for black patients, and that's still true today.If you're looking to see some "don't fuck your doctor" romances that definitely fall somewhere on the Simone Scale. Wrong by Jana Aston and Medicine Man by Saffron Kent.Jurgen Klopp wants you to put your hands away, and this amazing thread by comedian Laura Lexx and support all the Liverpool fans out there (especially Jen's brother).Jen's cool TikTok project is up and running, she's interviewing YA authors and hoping to get kids to read while they are sheltering in place.You can order buttons from Kelly and t-shirts from Jordandene.Next time, we'll be reading Nobody's Baby But Mine by Susan Elizabeth Phillips.The RestFor even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net/episodes/2020/3/24/s0229-health-care-workers-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 reading a favorite of both Sarah &amp; Jen — Stephanie Laurens’s Devil’s Bride! We’re so excited to talk about ridiculous (we mean amazing) nicknames, about 30 page sex scenes, and about how we crushed our SATs thanks to romances like this one! We’re also hoping you are keeping a safe distance from others and washing your hands lots!We love having you with us! — subscribe on your favorite podcasting platform and like/review the podcast, please!Next week, we’re reading Susan Elizabeth Phillips’s Nobody’s Baby But Mine, and we cannot WAIT. We know it’s tough to get it in print, but find it in e at your local library or at: Amazon (free in Kindle Unlimited!), Barnes &amp; Noble, Apple Books, Kobo, or your local indie.Show NotesPlease stay inside and stay safe if you can, and remember not to believe screenshots from your cousins.Here are some interesting and well-sourced tweets about coronavirus from a Fos (Friend of Sarah).Want to know the other books Jen ordered back in 2001? It was Grand Passion by Jane Ann Krennz, Prince of Swords Anne Stuart, and Innocence by Suzanne Forester. She still swears she didn't read any of them.Captain Jack's Woman was Stephanie Laurens' debut novel, not Devil's Bride. But it's the Bar Cynster that made her such a popular writer.Sometimes (ok, a lot) Jen shit-posts on twitter about conflict and writing. Sarah can't always have eyes on her, sorry.Jen thinks it was Amanda Quick that brought back old-fashioned names, but the only truly great Sylvesteris from disco."Eyes on stalks" is a real phrase, and so is rapaciously. On the other hand, here's a bunch of sex scene euphamisms.The Cynsters were at Waterloo, so we're not sure why busting through the hymen is such work for them.All about the Greek chorus.Lady Osbaldestone does have her own books, as do Devil and Honoria's kids.Veronica Mars illustrates the fan service problem.Jen is obsessed with the idea of "the imperial period" for musicians--and other kids of artists.Next time, we'll be reading Nobody's Baby But Mine by Susan Elizabeth Phillips.The RestFor even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net/episodes/2020/3/17/s0228-devils-bride-by-stephanie-laurens 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.

Sarah has the flu! She wants you to know it’s absolutely terrible and you should all get your flu shots even though she got one and still got the flu but vaccines are good for you. Also, we all want you washing your hands and air high-fiving your friends because it’s wild out there. But you are IN FOR A TREAT this week — as our fave Kate Clayborn is pinch hitting for Sarah, and we’re talking romance sickbed scenes this week! If we have to be hyper focused on sickness, shouldn’t there be yearning and vigiling and a veiled death threat against a doctor (don’t threaten doctors)?We love having you with us! — subscribe on your favorite podcasting platform and like/review the podcast, please!Next week, we’re reading Stephanie Laurens's Devil's Bride, starring Devil Cynster, who also happens to be the only romance hero Sarah's husband can name (yes, even now). Find it at: Amazon, Barnes &amp; Noble, Apple Books, Kobo, or your local indie.Show NotesWelcome Kate Clayborn! She joined Jen this week since Sarah was down and out with the flu.Kate loves a sick bed scene. When we talk about acute vs chronic illness, the sick bed scene is acute rather than chronic. And, as Jen points out, these are almost always about physical rather than mental illness.Some of Jen's favorite sickbed scenes are in Indigo by Beverly Jenkins and Managed by Kristen Callihan -- but we've talked about those books already! Same thing with The Master by Kresley Cole.Kate is a lot more interested in work of all kinds than Jen. It's okay. We're still friends. We even made a hashtag, #Claykop, so we can find all our discussions.We recorded this on Sunday March 8th, so who knows what the coronavirus situation will be by the time you listen to this.Andie Christopher was the first to bring the I'm Baby meme to our attention when she joined us for the cinnamon roll episode.Jen and Kate both suffer from insomnia. Sarah sleeps like a rock.Jen was procrastinating about her report cards--but they're all done now, it's fine.The bedside vigil is kissing cousin to Jen's cold storage fetish, and the way Kate loves it when a hero suffers.Endomitriosis is no joke.The man flu phenomenon.Wash your hands! Don't touch your face!We'll be back next week with Devil's Bride by Stephanie Laurens.The RestFor even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net/episodes/2020/3/9/s0227-sickbed-romance-interstitial-with-kate-clayborn 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 talking about women’s friendship in romance this week — how it works, why it’s important, and why we want all our romance heroines to have a squad.We love having you with us! — subscribe on your favorite podcasting platform and like/review the podcast, please!Next week, we’re reading Stephanie Laurens's Devil's Bride, starring Devil Cynster, who also happens to be the only romance hero Sarah's husband can name (yes, even now). Find it at: Amazon, Barnes &amp; Noble, Apple Books, Kobo, or your local indie.Show NotesWe know we shouldn't make the gallows humor jokes about coronavirus, but we did. We hope there won't be a pandemic, but if there is, get your TBRs ready. Jen's excited it won't have anything to do with RITA books.Have you preordered Daring and the Duke yet?Daddy is kind of sexy, but Mike Pence really does call his wife mother, and that's never gonna be sexy.We love Henry Cavill in season 1 of The Witcher. Just watch this video of them kissing. Jen stopped watching when they broke up in episode 7, and Netflix really wants her to finish.The idea for this week's episode came from listener Mary Ann Harlan who wondered, "Do you have an episode on how female friendships in romance disrupt the patriarchy? Or even just how female friendships work in a good way in romance?" I mean, probably just listen to season 1 where we talked about the witches and valkyries.Jen wrote about women's friendship in romance for Galentine's Day. So if you're looking for more recommendations, check it out.Some of the early proto-women friendships in historicals are Lisa Kleypas's Wallflowersand Penelope in the Bridgerton series.Adult friendships are important even if you don't have a best friend.Deficit modeling is a kind of thinking that assumes people can't move forward due to deficits or shortcomings. It's a phrase used in education that blames students and their families for lack of school readiness; for women, it's used when discussing the way they assert themselves.It would be really weird if your ex started dating Lady Gaga.It can be hard to be friends when the other person has more money than you.In abusive relationships, the abuser often separates and isolates the victim from their friends and family in order to control them.The Outsiders by SE Hinton is a really beloved book. One day, Jen's going to write a think piece about how it's all about American identity.Every woman loves the song "I Will Survive." We don't make the rules.Linda would definitely have your back, so follow her on Twitter if you're not already.Looking for new buttons from Kelly? Jen loves Danger Bang! while Sarah is Living Every Week like it's Rune Week. The full set of t-shirts and totes is available now from Jordandene.Wash your hands! Stop touching your face!Devil's Bride by Stephanie Laurens is next week.The RestFor even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net/episodes/2020/3/3/s0226-womens-friendship-in-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 mixing it up, talking about an author more than a specific book -- the Queen of Dirty Talk herself, Tessa Bailey. But we're not just talking about the sexybits -- we're also talking about working class heroes, women and worry and how awesome it is to watch authors evolve.We love having you with us! — subscribe on your favorite podcasting platform and like/review the podcast if you’re so inclined!In two weeks, we’re reading a book that blooded both Sarah and Jen — and approximately 50% of Romancelandia, we think -- Stephanie Laurens's Devil's Bride, starring Devil Cynster, who also happens to be the only romance hero Sarah's husband can name (yes, even now). Find it at: Amazon, Barnes &amp; Noble, Apple Books, Kobo, or your local indie.Show NotesSarah was heading to Birmingham for the&nbsp;Southern Voices Book Festival. The last time she was there, it was when she was a kid going to a&nbsp;Science Olympiad&nbsp;competition. Based on the description of that event, Jen suspects that she was outside&nbsp;orienteering. She's going to see&nbsp;Rachel Hawkins&nbsp;and&nbsp;Naima Simone!Meanwhile, Jen went to see&nbsp;Bug&nbsp;by&nbsp;Tracy Letts&nbsp;at the&nbsp;Steppenwolf Theater, which is known for being the home theater of&nbsp;John Malkovich&nbsp;and also where hope goes to die.Jen wrote about&nbsp;Johanna Lindsey and her New York Times obituary&nbsp;in a column for Kirkus.The hero of&nbsp;Protecting What's His&nbsp;is Derek Tyler, which is Jen's&nbsp;second favorite romance Derek. Derek and Ginger also appear in a follow-up novella,&nbsp;Protecting What's Theirs. Derek also appears as a secondary character in the&nbsp;Crossing the Lines series, where he assembles a team of ex-cons and misfits as a special crime fighting team. Ginger's sister gets her own book in&nbsp;Unfixable.The rise of eBooks made room for indie publishing and small presses like Entangled. Here's the story of&nbsp;how Barabara Freethy&nbsp;took advantage of&nbsp;the Kindle revolution.Enemies to Lovers&nbsp;is one of the most beloved romance tropes. Jen is going to talk about her whole energy theory in an upcoming Kirkus column.This is a romance that deals with&nbsp;class&nbsp;in an unusual way--she's the&nbsp;poor little rich girl, while he's working two jobs because of family obligations to his siblings.Tessa Bailey is the Queen of Dirty Talk. She just is.&nbsp;Jen's favorite is Duke from Worked Up, who is a perfect&nbsp;grunting hero.Jen noticed that several motifs that appear in Asking for Trouble appear in other books -- for example, there is a trip to Atlantic City in&nbsp;Worked Up, and connecting doors in a hotel room in&nbsp;Driven by Fate.Sarah identifies "heroine as rock" as part of Tessa Bailey's&nbsp;core story, Jen noticed the pull between familial duty and individual needs. At first Sarah thought Tessa's most recent book,&nbsp;Love Her or Lose Her, doesn't fit into the core story...but after talking it through, she thinks it fits perfectly.Sarah mentioned the one with a hero who is a recovering alcoholic called&nbsp;Indecent Exposure. Jen also loved it and&nbsp;reviewed it for The Book Queen.Some advice in case you ever need to&nbsp;stop a wedding.Buy&nbsp;buttons and stickers from Kelly at Jen's shop&nbsp;and the newly available&nbsp;full line of t-shirts from Jordandene.Listen to&nbsp;this week's music selections&nbsp;and peruse&nbsp;this episode's transcript.Next time on Fated Mates, we'll be reading&nbsp;Devil's Bride&nbsp;by Stephanie Laurens.The RestFor even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net/episodes/2020/2/24/s0225-asking-for-trouble 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 February and it’s winter and it’s grey and dark and we’re all just looking for some books that are quick, dirty and delicious. Or, at least, Sarah &amp; Jen are. If you are, too, this is the week for you!We love having you with us! — subscribe on your favorite podcasting platform and like/review the podcast if you’re so inclined!Next week, we’re reading the Queen of Dirty Talk! Sarah and Jen both love Tessa Bailey — so we’ll be talking about our two favorites of her books, Asking for Trouble (Sarah’s) and Protecting What’s His (Jen’s). Find them at: Amazon, Barnes &amp; Noble, Apple Books, or Kobo.Show NotesSarah had boozy brunch with the RITA Writer’s Room—Nisha Sharma, LaQuette, Adriana Herrera, Andie Christopher, Alexis Daria, and Joanna Shupe (Sierra Simone &amp; Tracey Livesay weren't there). You should maybe check out this awesome video of them in all their slow motion glory.Jen didn’t know what ASMR is either.Valentine’s Day is Go Week for Sarah. Jen wrote about Galentine’s Day for Kirkus. But one thing we can all agree on: Anna Karenina isn’t a fucking romance. Getting hit by a train does not qualify!The 2 for 1 rule: in a male/female romance, she comes twice for every time he comes.If you’re in Chicago, you can see Fated Mates Live at Spring Fling, and at KissCon, it’ll be a podcast ménage special with us, the Wicked Wallflowers, and Heaving Bosoms podcast.What will Craven Day 2021 bring? Stay tuned.Sarah’s friend Rachel Hawkins told Sarah to read A Heart of Blood and Ashes by Milla Vane, which is a pen name for Meljean Brook, author of The Iron Duke. Is there danger banging? Yes. Is there vengeance banging? Also yes.Jen read and loved White Out by Adriana Anders, which is a romantic suspense novel that takes place in Antarctica. It’s cold, but they still manage to danger bang.Speaking of Danger Banging, Jen’s favorite is in the first of the Kinky Bank Robbers series by Annika Martin. It's honestly more like heat-stroke banging.Jen and Sarah don’t think a quick and dirty read has to be InstaLust, but it does have to get right to the inciting incident.Sarah recommends London Hale (a pen name for authors Ellis Lee and Brighton Walsh) as a reliable quick and dirty read. Start with The DILF (if you're ok with taboo) or Talk Dirty To Me (if you'd prefer something a bit further left on the Simone Scale).Adopt don’t shop when it comes to real pet stores.Breastfeed if you can and if you want to, but if you can’t that’s fine, too. Even if you live in Fucking Berkeley. Or the Berkeley of Brooklyn.Some other of our favorite quick and dirty reads that are mostly in space: Grace Goodwin’s Interstellar Brides and Ruby Dixon’s Ice Planet Barbarians. But if you’re reading the Ice Planet Barbarians,please listen to our friend Dani’s Ice Planet Pod. It’s great.More space romances: Laurann Donner’s New Species series, or Cavas, the one that appeared recently on the USA Today Bestseller list (not the New York Times, Jen misspoke) is one from the Vorge Series. Cynthia Sax has a whole cyborg series. Jen also really liked The Grabbed series by Lolita Lopez.What we're trying to say is that these books are the romance equivalent of The Fast and the Furious series--which is the pinnacle of Jen's favorite movie genre, "Handsome men blow things up."Finally, check out Brill Harper’s alphamallow series. But Jen’s favorite was Altogether, which is very, very hot. Yum. This Mr. Plow is not quite as hot; unless your name is Marge, of course.Buy buttons and stickers from Kelly and t-shirts and totes from Jordandene.The RestFor even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net/episodes/2020/2/18/s0224-quick-and-dirty-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, it’s one of Sarah’s favorites, and by an author Jen has never read! Lorraine Heath is a master of the historical, and this one is near-perfect. It’s complex and nuanced and it has an infidelity plot and THERE IS SO MUCH ANGST!We love having you with us! — subscribe on your favorite podcasting platform and like/review the podcast if you’re so inclined!In two weeks, we’re reading the Queen of Dirty Talk! Sarah and Jen both love Tessa Bailey — so we’ll be talking about our two favorites of her books, Asking for Trouble (Sarah’s) and Protecting What’s His (Jen’s). Find them at: Amazon, Barnes &amp; Noble, Apple Books, or Kobo.Show NotesTurns out Sarah and Jen aren't the only people who think these Apple keyboards are trash--after winning a 2020 Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay,&nbsp;Taika Waititi had quite a bit to say on the subject.Tom Beer&nbsp;is one of Jen's editors at Kirkus, and you should follow him on Twitter.You can read&nbsp;The Smith College Sophian&nbsp;on line, and we'll link to the interview with Sarah onces it goes live.We have&nbsp;Leslie Knope from Parks &amp; Recreation&nbsp;to thank for the glory that is Galentine's Day.&nbsp;Read Jen's column about some books that celebrate women's friendship.A few years ago during #RomBkLove,&nbsp;Shantastic/@bardsong&nbsp;wrote a great piece about&nbsp;disability in romance. You can also check out the blog,&nbsp;Sense and Disability&nbsp;by&nbsp;@Callalily.Kate Reading&nbsp;is an amazing audiobook narrator, she's the one who narrates&nbsp;Lord of Scoundrels.Fridging&nbsp;is a word from comics that is when women characters are killed to motivate a male character, but can be used to describe any time a less powerful or privileged character is used as a plot device.&nbsp;Flat Stanley&nbsp;is a character in children's books, but&nbsp;flat characters&nbsp;you might remember from English class.Harry and Meghan are still taking money from&nbsp;the Duchy of Cornwall.Jen said she was going to go back and read the other books in the trilogy, and&nbsp;they are bundled together on Amazon for $10.The Bechdel Test&nbsp;is a pretty simple way of judging how inclusive movies are of women characters;&nbsp;it's limited&nbsp;but&nbsp;powerful. Jen wrote about&nbsp;external and internal conflict in romance, but we also talked about it on&nbsp;the Priest episode&nbsp;-- and we are always unpacking the way conflict works in romance.Dialogue tags get a bad rap, famously&nbsp;Elmore Leonard claimed that writers should only use "said" and "asked." In this part of the discussion, Sarah mentioned her friend&nbsp;Barry Lyga, a YA author.Jen thinks these three are&nbsp;codependent.Cheating is&nbsp;the third rail&nbsp;of romance. It is. There are some&nbsp;lists on Goodreads of romances that have cheating, but it's complicated and difficult. One Jen read recently was&nbsp;I Want You Back by Lorelei James, but the cheating happened in the past. If you're interested in reading another book about someone who discovers the other family, Jen recommends&nbsp;Silver Sparrow by Tayari Jones.Next time, we'll be reading Tessa Bailey, The Queen of Dirty Talk. Sarah's choice is&nbsp;Asking for Trouble, and a secondary text is the first one of that same series,&nbsp;Protecting What's His.Buy&nbsp;stickers and buttons from Kelly&nbsp;and&nbsp;t-shirts from Jordan.We are experimenting with some voice to text&nbsp;transcripts, so here's the first one for this episode.The RestFor even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net/episodes/2020/2/11/s0223-waking-up-with-the-duke 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 promised we’d get to the rest of our Holiday AMA questions eventually, and Sarah’s on deadline, so this seemed like the perfect week to do it! Join us for a freewheeling hour during which Sarah cannot remember Tessa Thompson’s name, we talk about how much we’d like to meet Sandra Brown, and how romance really does have something for everyone, including an entire series about romance during power outages.Also, we forgot to mention that Tuesday was Derek Craven Day! Lots of fun was had by all goofballs who joined us on the Internet to celebrate, and Lisa Kleypas herself even got involved! If you haven’t read Dreaming of You, you can get it for $2.99 right now in ebook! Also, do not miss this incredible Craven Day thread on Twitter from Steve Ammindown and the Browne Pop Culture Library. And if you want Derek Craven t-shirts? Those exist now!Next week, the book is in and we’re back in business! Lorraine Heath’s Waking Up With the Duke is our next read—a book that blooded Sarah. Get it at Amazon, Barnes &amp; Noble, Apple Books, or Kobo.Full Show Notes @ FATEDMATES.NET- Question 1: Weird but true: the more specific the request, the more likely we are to come up with a recommendation. So if you just need "enemies to lovers" and you've already read Her Best Worst Mistake, or "friends to lovers" and you've already read Scoring Off the Field, then you just need to google it.- Question 2: Who are we fancasting? These beautiful people: Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Henry Cavill, Tessa Thompson, and Tom Hardy. Also, listening to Henry Cavill and Tom Hardy grunt is one of our favorite things.- Question 3: Who do we want to have lunch or tea with? Kresley Cole, obviously! Sarah said Joanna Lindsey. Jen says Julie Garwood. We'd both love to meet Sandra Brown. Jen still can't believe the people she's met, and hopes she was cool like Yolanda.- Question 4: Do we have recommendation for lesbian and f/f romance? Is it more difficult to find? Check out Bold Strokes Books. strands of f/f, and others have different roots. We will keep looking for some history of f/f romance and link to them if we find one. But in the meantime, YA author, critic, and expert Malinda Lo wrote about "The Invisible Lesbian" in YA, and it's right on point and worth your time. But we do have lots of great f/f romances that we love in the photo array below.- Question 5: What about steampunk? Is that ever coming back? We don't know! But all we can do is recommend these ones we do know. Sorry!- Question 6: What is like Harry Potter for grown-ups? Burn For Me by Illona Andrews (Jen also liked the Kate Daniels series). That's it. That's the answer.- Question 7: Books with power outages? Read this Naima Simone series called Blackout Billionares.- Question 8: How to get started with reviewing and NetGalley? You should look at lists that big reviewing clearinghouses make--Kirkus (Jen writes that one!), Booklist, and PW. Just trying to look at some of these lists will give you a sense of what books will be coming out. The Book Queen is keeping a list of 2020 new releaes. But Estelle from Forever Romance wrote a great piece about how to get started with NetGalley.- Question 9: Looking for hardcore enemies to lovers with kids in the mix. Jen recommends Wait For It by Molly O'Keefe. Lord of Scoundrels is great for this, too!- Quesiton 10: Books that made us literally laugh out loud. Jen recommends I Think I Might Love You by Christina C Jones. Sarah recommends It Takes Two by Jenny Holiday. Christina has a huge backlist, and Jenny's newest book, Mermaid Inn, came out last week.- Question 11: Looking for books with a heist plot and polyamory. Jen thinks Katrina Jackson has cornered the market on this request and we have all been blessed by it.- Quesiton 12: A question if there are any romances with a Muslim hero and heroine with on-page sex. Jen couldn't think of any, but asked author Farah Heron. Farah also couldn't think of one, but we do recommend her book The Chai Factor.- Quesiton 13: Jackie from Elyria Ohio (where Jen went to high school!) is looking for historical with a murder and a twist. We recommend Kelly Bowen and Sarah's book No Good Duke Goes Unpunished.- Quesiton 14: Sarah is looking for books with virgin heroes--but hot!- Question 15: A book with a grovel so unconvincing that the character has to do it again. Oh, we have suggestions but also you should check out Jen's treatise on groveling.- Quesiton 16: What are some museums we love? Sarah talked about these in England: The Museum of London, The Foundling Museum, The Soane's Museum, and The British Library. She also loves the Museum of Sex in New York, and the Isabella Gardner Museum in Boston. Jen doesn't research, but in Chicago, she recommends The Art Institute and the National Museum of Mexican Art. If you're ever in Cleveland, the Rock &amp; Roll Hall of Fame is so cool, and in Houston, check out the most meditative place Jen has ever been, The Rothko Chapel.(when this aired in Feb 2020, the chape

This one is a RIDE, you guys! We wanted to do something really fun this week—something that would lighten the mood for us and for you. So, strap in, because we’re talking about our favorite Old School Category romances today! We’ve got something for everyone — wolves and dragons and marine biologists and single moms and more wolves! A word of caution this week — we didn’t reread these books before we recorded, and they’re all published in the 80s and 90s, so tread lightly if you decide to read them…and let us know just how wrong we got the plots! (Just kidding, we’re for sure rereading all of them now). Next week was supposed to be the deep dive of Lorraine Heath, but Sarah has a book due, so we’re putting it on hold—but stay tuned, because we’ve definitely got something coming! Waking Up With the Duke will definitely be the next read, though: Get it at Amazon, Barnes &amp; Noble, Apple Books, or Kobo.Show NotesIf you're looking for a real cool summer sleepaway camp, check out&nbsp;Camp Kupugani. They'll pick your kid up at O'Hare!You can order&nbsp;girl scout cookies online now. Good luck to all of us.If you're in Chicago, I guess you could go to&nbsp;Navy Pier; But if you're in Peru, you should definitely go to&nbsp;Machu Picchu.That American Dirt story is real wild.&nbsp;This review&nbsp;by Myriam Gurba is amazing, and&nbsp;Vox has you covered with an entire explainer.&nbsp;Remezcla has better recommendations&nbsp;for books about the border.If you want to know&nbsp;what makes something a category romance,&nbsp;Love in Panels&nbsp;has a very good explainer. Also,&nbsp;if you're interested in Harlequin covers now, Jen interviewed Tony Horvath for Kirkus.&nbsp;He's the creative director in charge of all of Harlequin series romance. You can also check out&nbsp;Kelly Faircloth's Instagram, where she posts pictures of her favorite old school romance covers.Buying old category romances is easy. Check out&nbsp;ThriftBooks&nbsp;for the best prices and best shipping (Amazon charges for individual items from sellers), but also&nbsp;Better World Books. And if you're lucky enough, local thrift stores and used book stores. For more recent&nbsp;remaindered books, try&nbsp;Book Outlet.We mentioned so many category series today. Check out this blog by&nbsp;Steve Imes&nbsp;with all the category series names and dates, and&nbsp;FictionDB&nbsp;for listings of books by series.Sandra Brown&nbsp;wrote as Erin St. Claire and also Rachel Ryan. She was an&nbsp;80s powerhouse&nbsp;who still writes romantic suspense. The book Sarah mentioned was&nbsp;Honor Bound, but Jen was thinking of a similar book called&nbsp;Hawk O'Toole's Hostage.&nbsp;Ope.Jen reread and reviewed several of&nbsp;her first category romances&nbsp;for the Book Queen. The one about&nbsp;Pink Satin&nbsp;compares the book to the&nbsp;Harvey Weinstein case. It's honestly shocking how little has changed for women in the workplace.White Satin&nbsp;was an early Iris Johansen about figure skating, but that author is also for being the book that inspired the&nbsp;"Who Did it Better on a Horse"&nbsp;post. And at the end of the episode, Sarah mentions that&nbsp;she had a house for sale&nbsp;if you're on the market, BECAUSE IT'S REALLY A MANSION.Brad Pitt is old and still working&nbsp;because of the patriarchy.Deep Tracks&nbsp;is the name of an XM radio station that plays B sides and less popular songs, which is very on brand for the books in this episode.Maybe you'd like to read those goodreads reviews for&nbsp;The Lady and the Dragon. And here is the obituary for the author,&nbsp;Regan Forest.Jen loved&nbsp;Barbara Boswell. She was a fan of the&nbsp;Brady/Ramsey series&nbsp;where a bunch of sisters married a bunch of brothers. And then this one that is&nbsp;Brady Bunch fanfic.&nbsp;Eight is enough, I swear! Was this all&nbsp;Roe v. Wade blowback?You actually can still get&nbsp;Harlequin subscriptions, but the best current Romance subscription is definitely the&nbsp;Bawdy Bookworms box.In Demon Lover, the heroine thinks the hero is a&nbsp;coyote, but he's really an undercover DEA agent.&nbsp;Jen asked the Smart Bitches to help her find it in 2018, when it was available as an eBook, but it isn't anymore! All you need to know is that these 80s covers celebrated the&nbsp;<a...

Don’t miss a single moment of our 2020 episodes — subscribe on your favorite podcasting platform and like/review the podcast if you’re so inclined!In two weeks, we’re reading one of Sarah’s picks, Lorraine Heath’s Waking Up With the Duke, which was a tough choice because Lorraine is amazing and Sarah wants you to read all of her books. Read Waking Up With the Duke at Amazon, Barnes &amp; Noble, Apple Books, or Kobo.Show NotesJen's disappointed with the iHeartRadio Podscast awards. It's an honor just to be nominated, and that didn't even happen! For your consideration: Best Pop Culture Podcast and Best Fiction Podcast! Come on! Literary Disco wasn't even nominated!Everyone loved The Pegging episode! Jen found this really interesting article too late for those show notes, but why not drop them here? We don't really think that we jumped the shark. Oh, and any chance to drop the "smashing from the back" rap.The 20 minutes Eric cut were about RWA. So just read Jen's article for Kirkus instead. Just kidding. We don't really need D &amp; O insurance. Do we? Either way, Eric should stop harshing our dream mellow.Scotty vs. Scottie.Our Kristen Callihan origin stories: Sarah recommends Evernight in the Darkest London series, but Jen can't help but think of Tony Stark. Jen wrote about Kristen's book The Hook Up in the Who Did it Better in the Library post.Slumpbusters from this week: The Player and Sweet Ruin for Sarah, and two Sophie Jordan books, While the Duke was Sleeping and The Scandal of it All, for Jen. And the shipbuilder book by Holley Trent is called Lowdown Dirty.If you're trying to find the sex scenes in books, Jenny Nordbak from the Wicked Wallflowers Podcast has the sure-fire keyword search word: thrust.The kind of super fancy first class where the seats turn into beds looks pretty great. Recently, we saw this happen in the movie Crazy Rich Asians.Unbuttoning a glove is a huge romantic moment in Lord of Scoundrels and The Age of Innocence.In case you have to travel with a rock band on a bus, the internet provides useful tips, of course! Jen loves this famous tour bus scene from the movie Almost Famous. Also, read Daisy Jones and the Six, which uses interview format to tell the story of the rise and fall of a 70s rock band.Our Rock Star Romance interstitial was our very first interstitial. It's 20 minutes long, and you can listen to it here.Revision is everything, but it is also very hard.Interested in more slow burn romances? Goodreads has you covered.Kerrelyn Sparks is the one who told Sarah romance is like a football game.If you're worried you have an STI like Chlamydia, please see a doctor. Also, if you have kids, make sure they get the HPV vaccination.Being a professional friend is a real job.More about the A in the LGBTQIA+ spectrum.If you're ever in Chicago, you should go to the dining room of the Chicago Athletic Association, check out the trophies, and play some bocce ball.Looking to hang out with us in April? We'll be at KissCon and Spring Fling.Buy buttons and stickers from Kelly and t-shirts from Jordan.Next up, Waking Up With the Duke by Lorraine Heath, a book that blooded Sarah.The RestFor even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net/episodes/2020/1/20/s0220-managed-by-kristen-callihan 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, <a href="https://fated-mates.tumblr.com" rel="noopener

Don’t miss a single moment of our 2020 episodes — subscribe on your favorite podcasting platform and like/review the podcast if you’re so inclined!Next week, we’re talking Kristen Callihan’s Managed, which you may recognize as “SCOTTIE,” which is how Jen refers to it because she loves him so much. We think you’ll love it, too, and if you have time, read the next in the series, Fall, which is one of Sarah’s top 10 romances ever. Read Managed at Amazon, Barnes &amp; Noble, Apple Books, or Kobo.Show NotesRWA imploded and it's such a long, complicated story, but this article from Vox and this timeline by Claire Ryan are what will catch you up.Let's start at the very beginning, a very good place to start: there are seven romance subgenres: historical, contemporary, romantic suspense, paranormal, inspirational, erotic romance, and YA.When it comes to the grandmother of historicals, don't forget that Jane Austen was writing contemporaries.Johanna Lindsey died in October, and her family announced it publicly in December. The New York Times obituary was trash, so read the Washington Post or Entertainment Weekly one instead. Check out the Twitter hastag #MyFirstJohanna for people's stories about their first book by Lindsey (including Sarah's), and maybe listen to our episode on Gentle Rogue.Support Farrah Rochon for an organ in her sister's memory. And come this summer, buy her upcoming book The Boyfriend Project.In Born a Crime, Trevor Noah wrote about what his mother said about her second husband wanting to put her in a cage: For a long time I wondered why he ever married a woman like my mom in the first place, as she was the opposite of that in every way. If he wanted a woman to bow to him, there were plenty of girls back in Tzaneen being raised solely for that purpose. The way my mother always explained it, the traditional man wants a woman to be subservient, but he never falls in love with subservient women. He’s attracted to independent women. “He’s like an exotic bird collector,” she said. “He only wants a woman who is free because his dream is to put her in a cage.”Mary Wollstonecraft is all the evidence you need that feminists have been around for a long time.Jen recommends In the Dream House by Carmen Marie Machado, which is about domestic abuse in a queer relationship. The quote from Jose Estaban Munoz is, "When the historian of queer experience attempts to document a queer past, there is often a gatekeeper representing a straight present."When talking about The Doctor's Discretion by EE Ottoman, Sarah is very excited about a book called The Butchering Art by medical historian Dr. Lindsey Fitzharris, whose sometimes very gross Instagram is amazing. Doctor James Berry was trans man who lived and worked in London in the mid 1800s.If you haven't listened to our episode about Beverly Jenkins's Indigo what are you waiting for?Avon Red was a short-lived series, but then again, so was The Red Shoe Diaries. Sarah recommends On These Silken Sheets by Sabrina Darby from that series.Whores of Yore is a great blog, and definitely proves Jen's assertion that as soon as someone invented cameras, someone else wanted to get naked in front of it. Dr. Kate Lister, who founded the site, has a book called A Curious History of Sex coming out Feb 2020.Next time you are in New York, visit The Museum of Sex. Sarah recommends Hallie Rubenhold's The Covent Garden Ladies: Pimp General Jack and the Extraordinary Story of Harris' List (which out of print, but available in audio, and is the book Harlots is based on). Hallie Rubenhold's The Five is not out of print, and also excellent--it is very not a romance, and about the victims of the Ripper killings.KJ Charles is so ridiculously good. Sarah's favorites are Wanted a Gentleman and Think of England and Jen loves Band Sinister. Nicola Davidson's Surrey Sexual Freedom Society series is fantastic. Alyssa Cole's An Extraordinary Union is amazing. Monica McCarty wrote a historical series that imagines Highlanders as being kind of like Navy SEALs. Sarah talked about one of the books in the series, The Arrow on the Scotland interstitial. Honestly, we talked about so many authors, so just click on any one of the images in the photo gallery below for some of our favorites by those authors.But stickers and buttons from Kelly, tees and bags from Jordandene, take our reading challenge, and answer our survey.The RestFor even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net/episodes/2020/1/14/s0219-so-you-want-to-read-a-historical 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/

Don’t miss a single moment of our 2020 episodes — subscribe on your favorite podcasting platform and like/review the podcast if you’re so inclined!In two weeks, we’ve got another of Jen’s pics, Kristen Callihan’s Managed, which you may recognize as “SCOTTIE,” which is how Jen refers to it because she loves him so much. We think you’ll love it, too, and if you have time, read the next in the series, Fall, which is one of Sarah’s top 10 romances ever. Read Managed at Amazon, Barnes &amp; Noble, Apple Books, or Kobo.Show NotesWho knows what the RWA situation is when you read this, but as of this podcast, the absolute best source is Claire Ryan's blog post outlining the timeline of events. There was lots of national news coverage, but the "come on girls" comment was on NPR.The 2019 RITA ceremony was amazing, and one that celebrated the history of romance. In between when we recorded this episode and when it was released, RWA cancelled the 2020 RITA awards. When Sarah said "it was a check the organization couldn't cash" she's alluding to a less well-known section of Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech."La Nora" is how many people refer to Nora Roberts. Sarah mentions some of her earliest category romances, including Gabriel's Angel, an early Nora from the Silhouette Intimate Moments line. She's also read Naked In Death (Jen hasn't), but Jen loved The Brides quartet, which was probably the last Nora Roberts series she read.Sarah said she feels like readers should at least have read ten percent of an author's backlist for full romance competency. Should the "Ten Percent Rule" be a plank of the official Fated Mates Romance Reader platform? Discuss.When we talk about Nora Roberts, we used a lot of superhero language: her origin story; her vanquishing of a villanous and duplicitous plaigiarist--twice!; owning her own town; her complete dominance of the bestseller lists. None of it is hyperbole. It's possible she actually is a superhero.Lots of authors made statements about the RWA situaton. Here is Nora's, and then JR Ward's.Virginity in romance has come a long way. PS. Virginity is a construct.Somewhere in the 43 minute mark, Jen says "ope," which is the most Midwestern of sayings. If the twitter account Midwest vs. Everybody doesn't make you laugh so hard you wheeze, you're probably part of the everybody.Jen isn't the only one who thinks smoking is a short cut for villainy. She thinks The X-Files is to blame. Also, PSA: vaping is really bad for you, too.Birth control in romance has changed so much, listen to our episode on bodily autonomy for more discussion of this topic.What does it mean to do something in a fugue state?Sarah wrote a column for the Washington Post in December 2019 about how technology is changing romance.Sarah's big thread about why authors shouldn't be afraid of the problematic content in their old romances.If you're interested in a big interesting book about The Troubles, Jen recommends Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe.What's a moor anyways?So you wanted to know what it was like to fly the Concorde?Buying a car? Sounds like that other Grey. Too bad this Gray was a Confederate apologist. Saying the Civil War was about "a way of life" instead of slavery is a classic Lost Cause myth. As Courtney Milan says, the devil doesn't need your advocacy.Buy buttons and stickers from Kelly, tshirt and swag from Jordan, particpate in a 2020 reading challengewith Jen and Sarah, and fill out this survey for Eric.In two weeks, we'll be discussed Managed and Fall by Kristen Callihan. If you have to pick one, make it Managed. As of this episode airing, <a...

Auspicious beginning, right? Don’t miss a single moment of our 2020 episodes — subscribe on your favorite podcasting platform and like/review the podcast if you’re so inclined!We’re back next week (WE PROMISE!) with Born in Ice, by none other than the queen herself, Nora Roberts. Read Born in Ice at Amazon, Barnes &amp; Noble, Apple Books, Kobo or your local indie. Show NotesJen misquoted a famous scene in Chinatown; it's actually "my sister and my daughter." Yikes.Pretty sure if you're fancasting us into this clip from Grease about the Pink Ladies, Sierra is Rizzo.We've talked a lot about Sierra's books on the podcast, but it was on the Small Town Romance interstitial that Sarah joked all of Sierra's books take place in Menage County, Kansas.The Romance for RAICES auction was the brainchild of Suzanne from Love in Panels and raised TWENTY THREE THOUSAND DOLLARS! You should definitely support her blog and patreon if you can. The crisis on the border is ongoing and getting worse. Please continue to support romance's teams at RAICES and The Young Center.We were going to rickroll you by talking about Peggy Sue Got Married and pirate romances, but we're nice that way and didn't. FWIW, Jen still thinks the plot of Peggy Sue Got Married is haunting.Sierra is also, of course, the founder, owner, and operator of The Simone Scale, which does not include teabagging even, but has been, because she loves us, updated to include pegging. The image is on our website in show notes.We did a lot of research for this episode!Everyone wants the right pegging playlist, and of course there's one on Spotify. What a world! Besides Ariana Grande's Dangerous Woman, we offer up for your consideration Back It Up, Boys by Peaches and Behind the Wheel by Depeche Mode.Here are some Sierra Simone recommended toys and harnesses. She says of the toys, "The small is VERY gently sized and some men may feel more comfortable with a toy is that isn’t a hyper-realistic reproduction of a cock."Elia Winters is a Fated Mates favorite, and we want to thank her for her help thinking through the implicatons for gender essentialism and cisnormativity in this discussion. Buy her books! Her latest Three For All has pegging.Sierra mentioned "that law about gas expanding to fill a space" -- well, I phoned Jonathan, a friend who teaches chemistry, and he says that's called entropy or Boyles Law of Kinetic Molecular Theory. Learn more about it here from Professor Dave, a Jonathan-approved chemistry youtube instructor.Samhain and Ellora's Cave (which was especially messy) were two earlier and now shuttered publishers of erotic romance.Jen Porter wrote a great twitter thread about erotic romance and character development.That's What She Said.Sarah mentioned "the RITA entry window" and goddamn if that's not a bitter pill to swallow right now. She's sorry.A little about what it means to be allosexual.Check out Roan Parrish's short story A Good Old Fashioned Chanukah Pegging, starring Ginger and Christopher from Small Change.Everyone knows you need a flared base on your butt plugs, or at least anyone who follows Jenny Nordbak knows.Romance as sex ed is complicated, but Scarlteen is on the job, and Teen Vogue would never steer you wrong.The Pegging Song that Adriana sent us from Twitter is amazing, and we want to thank @shutupaida for being so gracious about letting us play it during the podcast. Also, be sure to watch Big Mouth on Netflix, because she's writing for it now!I guess Katee Robert isn't the only one staging elaborate scenes with her Barbie dolls.The Rogue Anthologies are pretty great and there are quite a few of them.Jen had to do a major "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retroactive_continuity" rel="noopener noreferrer"...

If you want to give us a gift this year, please like/subscribe to/review the podcast in your favorite podcasting platform!We’re back next week with the seasonally appropriate (at least in title) Born in Ice, by none other than the queen herself, Nora Roberts. Read Born in Ice at Amazon, Barnes &amp; Noble, Apple Books, Kobo or your local indie.Show NotesSarah and Jen like a lot of Christmas songs: Silver Bells, Fairy Tale of New York, Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas (which in fact does have a sad and not-sad version!), God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, Carol of the Belles, Rockin' Round the Christmas Tree, Santa Baby, and Baby It's Cold Outside (which just might be super feminist?).This year, there's a new Chanukah romance anthology you should check out called Eight Kisses, and Roan Parrish just released a little snippet of a story about Ginger and Christopher from Small Change called A Good, Old Fashioned Chanukah Pegging.Oh, you aren't familiar with the Carina Dirty Bits line? They are quick and dirty--not thiccand dirty. But whatever works. Also, check out Jen's list of which romances have the best sex in the library.We have lots of favorite romance librarians, but we love Bandherbooks and our favorite archivist is Steve Ammindown at the BGSU Pop Culture Library in Ohio.The Sierra Simone story with the bear is from Hot for the Holidays anthology, but she also has a story with Kennedy Ryan in a 2019 release called Christmas in the City.Did someone say only one circulation desk? Just kidding. It's only one bed.If you want show notes for last year's holiday episode, click here.Our first episode of 2020 will be Born in Ice by Nora Roberts, a book that blooded Jen.The RestFor even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net/episodes/2019/12/19/s0216-christmas-romance-recommendations 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.

Don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast in your favorite podcasting platform — and while you’re there, please leave us a like or a review!Next week, we’re releasing a little stocking stuffer for our Christmas Day episode, but we’re back in business on January 1, with the seasonally appropriate (at least in title) Born in Ice, by none other than the queen herself, Nora Roberts. Read Born in Ice at Amazon, Barnes &amp; Noble, Apple Books, Kobo or your local indie.Question 1: Beth from Milwaukee asked, "I'm going to Iceland in December for my 10th wedding anniversary! I obviously need a book that has snow/cold and using body heat and -ahem- other activities for warmth. Bonus points if a volcano or other geological feature is a part of the story! Sub genre is not important, and yes I'm aware of the Ice Planet Barbarians."Our recommendations: From the deep recesses of Jen's brain, the only romance she can think of with a volcano, Eden Burning by Elizabeth Lowell. And that's from the 80s, so fair warning that it's likely to have problematic elements. When it comes to snuggly, warm, only one bed romances, you just need to use the internet! But Jen did write a piece about Only One Bed for Kirkus, which you should read. In the meantime, go watch Joe versus the Volcano, and then talking about Hawaii reminded Sarah of some bananas sounding book by Anne Stuart called Tangled Lies. But a few snowy romances: Beary Christmas Baby by Sasha Devlin or How the Dukes Stole Christmas.Question 2: Emily from Washington D.C. want our opinion aobut "the BEST star crossed lovers trope (it always gets me so good)."Our Recommendations: The reason Sarah thinks that star-crossed lovers have to end up unhappy is Romeo and Juliet, of course. But Jen thinks you should try Luck of the Draw by Kate Clayborn and Sarah recommends Long Shot by Kennedy Ryan, but comes with a whole suitcase of content warnings for domestic violence. In the interim, Jen read and recommends Forbidden Promises by Synithia Williams, the heroine falls in love with her sister's ex-husband! And of course, coming in the summer of 2020 comes Daring and the Duke by Sarah, which will also work. But you have to wait!Question 3: Megumi from San Antonio, TX is looking for "a contemporary of someone not Scottish going to Scotland and finding love. (Maybe England but mostly Scotland)"Our Recommendations: Jen lost her mind and said Unfixable by Tessa Bailey, but Willa is a heroine who goes to Ireland. She thinks it still counts. Sarah recommends a novella by Sophie Jordan called "In a Stranger's Bed" which was a Goldilocks retelling published in the Glamour anthology but which is currently unavailable so come on Sophie, get it together and put your stories up because they are ON FIRE. A few others you can try: A Duke by Default by Alyssa Cole, the Under the Kilt series by Melissa Blue, Getting Hot with the Scot by Melonie Johnson, and Ten Days With the Highlander by Hayson Manning. Also, we didn't know what Adriana Herrera had up her sleeve when we recorded, but Mangos &amp; Misteltoe is ADORABLE, and features to delicious Dominican heroines falling in love on a Scottish Baking Show. It's also a perfect holiday romance!Question 4: Becca wants "a funny contemporary, a true romcom, minimal trauma."Our recommendations: Jen thinks it doesn't exist. Sarah recommends going old school to Jennifer Crusie or Susan Elizabeth Phillips. If it helps, you should know that later this season, we'll be talking about Bet Me and Nobody's Baby But Mine. After we recorded, Sarah realized she should have recommended Christina Lauren, who she adores, and who she believes is one of the few authors writing real RomCom. If you haven't read Josh &amp; Hazel's Guide to Not Dating, it's a very funny, very romantic friends-to-lovers romance! "What happened to romantic comedy" is an existential question for our time.Question 5: Laurel from NC wants a book that "Has marriage of convenience, preferably historical."Our recommendations: Sarah says Sherry Thomas better than everyone and recommends Ravishing the Heiress. Jen thinks The Duke Buys a Bride by Sophie Jordan might work. Sarah points out that in order to qualify, the marriage has to happen pretty early in the story. The marriage has to be part of the plot the whole time. Once again, there are so many of these we had trouble thinking of them on the spot, but in hindsight, Sarah would like you not to miss Amalie Howard's The Beast of Beswick or Scarlet Peckham's The Duke I Tempted. Bonus story from Jen about a Sherry Thomas YA book about Mulan called The Magnolia Sword.Question 6: Cara from Finland wants a book that "Has chosen families strongly included in the plot. Extra points if it's enemies-to-lovers with the heroine's family ready to kick the pining-but-unfortunately-dumbass hero's butt."Our recommendations: Whoa! That's a lot of asks all at once. Just reread IAD, Cara! This is the plot of Sarah's book A Scot in the Dark, so that's a good place to st

Get ready for Hester, one of Sarah’s favorite heroines of all time — and Beverly Jenkins’s Indigo, which Jen just read for the first time! We’re talking historical romance, the way romances feel important, sex and intimacy, and all the reasons why everyone should read Beverly Jenkins right now. Don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast in your favorite podcasting platform — and while you’re there, please leave us a like or a review!Next week, it’s the second half of our book recommendation, stump Sarah &amp; Jen AMA. The following week we’ll release a tiny little stocking stuffer for our Christmas Day episode, but we’re back in business on January 1, with the seasonally appropriate (at least in title) Born in Ice, by none other than the queen herself, Nora Roberts. Read Born in Ice at Amazon, Barnes &amp; Noble, Apple Books, Kobo or your local indie.Show NotesJen now has critic crushes on&nbsp;Diego Baez&nbsp;and&nbsp;Walton Muyumba.&nbsp;Liz Taylor who is kind of a big deal&nbsp;in the book world wrote an amazing book about Chicago's first Mayor Daley called&nbsp;American Pharaoh.Thanks to the&nbsp;Lincoln RI public library&nbsp;for being awesome.There's actually a lot of great resources for&nbsp;how to teach slavery to kids, so&nbsp;do better white teachers.Here at Fated Mates, we are&nbsp;LaQuette&nbsp;stans. Listen to her talk about discomfort and how important it is&nbsp;in her RITA speech&nbsp;last year.Colson Whitehead's&nbsp;Underground Railroad&nbsp;is an absolute&nbsp;tour de force. Here is a cool site&nbsp;mapping the world&nbsp;of the novel.If you don't know about America's&nbsp;history of lynching, you should learn all about&nbsp;Bryan Stevenson, who spearheaded the effort to create a&nbsp;Lynching Museum. The site&nbsp;Without Sanctuary&nbsp;preserves the history of these postcards (Content warning on that site for obvious reasons.)Gone with the Wind&nbsp;is an example of the pervasive and terrible&nbsp;"happy slave"&nbsp;narrative, which appears over and over again. Know and reject this narrative, not just in adult books, but in those&nbsp;written for kids. And while I'm on the subject, that goes for&nbsp;picture books about monkeys, too.This amazing&nbsp;One Dot One Person map&nbsp;is a stark look at how the legacy of slavery and segregation still impacts where Americans live today.So you want to read all the books about the LeVeq clan? Start with&nbsp;Through the Storm. and although Sarah said "kids" she meant that Hester and Galen's descendents are the main characters in the&nbsp;Edge of Midnight&nbsp;series. One of our favorite romance people is When Fumni Met Romance, and you should definitley read her talking about&nbsp;her love for Indigo&nbsp;and&nbsp;Beverly Jenkins.The internet makes it so much easier to read the stories of enslaved people. Along with the rather amazing (but imperfect)&nbsp;WPA interviews, you can read any number of slave narratives. Remember it was&nbsp;illegal to teach slaves to read, so it's an especailly powerful experience to read slave narratives. If you've never read&nbsp;Frederick Douglass, you should, but Jen also recommends&nbsp;Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs.If you are looking for more resources to learn about American slavery, the&nbsp;New York times 1619 Project&nbsp;is amazing. If you are a listener, Jen recommends you listen the&nbsp;Yale open course about The Civil War with professor David Blight.Jen liked an early 80s novel called&nbsp;The Chaneysville Incident, which is about a historian trying to discover the truth about how his family's past intersects with a local legend about the Underground Railroad. Here's a&nbsp;recent interview with author David Bradley&nbsp;when the book was converted to an eBook.The history of&nbsp;the Underground Railroad&nbsp;is part legend, part myth, and part fact. This site talks specifically about&nbsp;the route people fleeing took north through Michigan&nbsp;on the way to Canada.Night Song&nbsp;was the first novel by Beverly Jenkins.All about&nbsp;the Fugitive&nbsp;Slave Act,&nbsp;why it was so terrible, and how we are&nbsp;seeing echoes&nbsp;of it today.Zeus and Athena.Some interesting sites that talk about&nbsp;indigo...

The rest of the internet is obsessed with best of the year lists, so we’re doing it, too! Jen and Sarah have both chosen five of our favorite reads of the year — or of 13 months, if you’re really counting. Tell us what we’ve forgotten here, on Twitter, on Instagram, on Facebook or in comments! Don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast in your favorite podcasting platform — and while you’re there, please leave us a like or a review!In two weeks, we’re moving across the pond to Beverly Jenkins’s Indigo, with one of Sarah’s favorite heroines ever—Hester Wyatt, Underground Railroad conductor! Read Indigo at Amazon, Barnes &amp; Noble, Apple Books, Kobo or your local indie.Show NotesIn between our recording and release of this episode, Kristen Callihan did release a new book, Outmatched, which is cowritten with Samantha Young. But don't miss Scottie from Managed, who will appear later in season 2 as a book that blooded Jen.Munro. That's it. That's the show note.Some of the best of 2019 lists from Bookish, NPR and Kirkus. Sarah's website has all of her past Best of the Year Lists for the Washington Post. Amazon also has a best of the year list, but the Goodreads Award list is strange.Emma Donoghue's Room was a big literary fiction book back in 2010, and it was on all the end of the year lists.Jen will be appearing at The Book Cellar on Dec 7, 2019 if you're looking for something to do. She'll be talking about the best books of the year with other critics.Around the same time we recorded this episode, Kini at SmexyBooks wrote this thoughtful piece about transparency in romance reviewing.Kylie Scott's Repeat was also on our Amnesia episode.Love's Sweet Arrow is a romance-only bookstore in Chicago's south suburbs.Quelle suprise!.Jen also likes Rebecca Zanetti, who also resists romantic suspense that is just "women in peril" plots.Face/Off is a very goofy movie from the late 90s. So of course they're going to remake it.In this Juno Rushdon series, Jen wants the boss's book.We're talking about historicals, but we're not talking about Brazen and the Beast even though Jen wants you to know it's spectacular and you should definitely read it.I guess we're singing this episode: Just One Night is a twist on Phil Collins's One More Night in the Moulin Rouge movie and All Night Long.Jenny Nordbak recommended Dare to Love a Duke to Sarah, and after the unreliable narrators essay, Amy Jo Cousinsrecommended Any Old Diamonds to Jen.Who wouldn't want to talk about Frankenstein, Shelley, and Wollstonecraft?Don't sleep on the Gilded Age.Kennedy's Basketball series is also great. But in The Kingmaker duet, she also tackles the problem of missing and murdered indiginous women and land grabs on Native land. Here is a list of #OwnVoices Native American authors from BookRiot, and another from Smart Bitches, but Jen specifically recommends Pamela Sanderson.Blood, Sugar, Sex, Magik.Jen interviewed Robin Lovett for Kirkus. And our friend @Bandherbooks was quite taken with the "space chaise" in this book.Jen and Sarah tried so hard to undersatnd the cinnamon roll phenomenon.Maybe you want to check out Jen's many amazing Pinterest boards featuring very specific romance novel cover kinks.Looking to buy some swag? You can buy Fated Mates buttons from Best Friend Kelly and Sarah has an awesome line of romance themed t-shirts and other swag from Jordanene.This week, our listener-recomended books are <a...

It may be Thanksgiving week in the US, but that didn’t stop us from recording a monster episode about one of our (and all of Romance’s) favorite books of all time! It’s Lord of Scoundrels week! We’re talking gloves and fans and prologues and why Jessica is one of the best heroines of all time! All that, and Sarah is on a rant about Byron…so don’t miss it!Don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast in your favorite podcasting platform — and while you’re there, please leave us a like or a review!In two weeks, we’re moving across the pond to Beverly Jenkins’s Indigo, with one of Sarah’s favorite heroines ever—Hester Wyatt, Underground Railroad conductor! Read Indigo at Amazon, Barnes &amp; Noble, Apple Books, Kobo or your local indie. Show NotesLord of Scoundrels has its own&nbsp;wikipedia page, which in case you're curious, is kind of unusual.Just look at this gorgeous&nbsp;Lord of Scoundrels embroidery.If you haven't listened to&nbsp;our episode on Dreaming of You, what are you waiting for?Maybe you want to find out&nbsp;what you first ordered in your Amazon account.Jessica Trent is not a&nbsp;Mary Sue.Erin from&nbsp;Heaving Bosoms&nbsp;is famous for&nbsp;not liking epilogues, but it's a pretty good reason why. But&nbsp;prologues are fine.You've been lawyered&nbsp;is from How I Met Your Mother.Sarah wrote the prologue to a new edition of&nbsp;The Transformation of Philip Jettan.Maybe&nbsp;watch out when taking DNA tests.&nbsp;Or not.Stronzo! And maybe&nbsp;some more&nbsp;if you're interested.Love's Sweet Arrow&nbsp;is a romance-only bookstore in the Chicago suburbs. It's awesome.Gentle Rogue&nbsp;started too late.More about Russian&nbsp;religous icons, but maybe you want to&nbsp;buy some.The gloves scene in the&nbsp;Age of Innocence movie.&nbsp;All that repressed longing from&nbsp;Daniel Day Lewis! In the book, it's&nbsp;this chapter&nbsp;where Newland Archer "bent over, unbuttoned her tight brown glove, and kissed her palm as if he had kissed a relic."All&nbsp;about&nbsp;Beelzebub.If you want to know about demon seals and&nbsp;the Wroth brothers, then listen to season one of Fated Mates.What does it even mean to&nbsp;dance a waltz&nbsp;in the Continental style? Probably not this&nbsp;Continental-style.The Beverly Jenkins book where the heroine shoots the hero is&nbsp;Tempest.Reading the banns&nbsp;and a list of&nbsp;people who were married&nbsp;at&nbsp;Saint George&nbsp;Hanover Square.You'll be shocked to know that&nbsp;Jen has some theories about internal vs. external conflict.When they're at the wrestling match, Dain says his friend could have "stayed comfortably at home and&nbsp;pumped&nbsp;his wife."She Walks in Beauty Like the Night&nbsp;is a glorious poem, but that doesn't make&nbsp;Byron&nbsp;any less of a&nbsp;scumbag. That&nbsp;Ada Lovelace&nbsp;was Byron's daughter is kind of wild, but we're glad she's known for&nbsp;being her own person. Despite Sarah trying to create an&nbsp;authorship question&nbsp;for Byron, that's not really a thing. There's no such person as the Duke of Summerville. Jen just made that up.If you're interested in The Romantics, you can find&nbsp;Jen's old college syllabus here. Lots of Wordsworth, but no Bryon, which is just fine. But we still love the way Loretta Chase used&nbsp;Don Juan&nbsp;in the text of Lord of Scoundrels.Friend of the pod Adriana Herrera&nbsp;has been reading&nbsp;Lord of Scoundrels&nbsp;for the&nbsp;first time&nbsp;and her&nbsp;tweets about&nbsp;it are&nbsp;honestly the&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/ladrianaherrera/status/1199494625637142540" rel="noopener noreferrer"...

Stay tuned for the second half of the episode in December! Next week, just in time for your tryptophan induced coma, we’re talking Loretta Chase’s Lord of Scoundrels, which was on both Jen &amp; Sarah’s list, and is on the lions’ share of Best Romance Novels Ever lists. We’ll get into why. Read Lord of Scoundrels at Amazon, Barnes &amp; Noble, Apple Books, Kobo or your local indie.Show NotesQuestion 1: Ennis from New York asked, "is like Lothaire by Kresley Cole or Cold Cole Heartby K Webster, where the hero is someone who would be a villain in any other book. A megalomaniac, horribly damaged, murderous, whatever- and a heroine who takes NONE of his shit and brings him to his knees."Our Recommendations: The name of this trope is "morality chain" which might help you on your search for books like this. Sarah's Summer 2020 release Daring and the Duke is perfect for this question, but since it's not out yet, try The Masterpiece Duet by Skye Warren. The first is The King.Question 2: Lesley from Washington DC asked for books "with Jewish heroes and heroines, does not have to be holiday themed."Our recommendations: : Jen suggests Knit One, Girl Two and Cinnamon Blade by Shira Glassman. In fact, Jen was a special guest on the Heaving Bosoms podcast taking about Cinnamon Blade. Sarah recommends Craving Flight by Tamsen Parker and Dalliances and Devotion by Felicia Grossman. Stacey Agdern also writes about Jewish representation in romance and has written some novellas in the Rogue Anthologies. We also mentioned a great point that inspired a great thread by Felicia Grossman about Jewish characters in literature.Question 3: Daniela from Winnipeg had this AMA question: If there was a battle royale between all the IAD heroes, who would win? Does the answer change if they can't use weapons?Our Answer: The Wroth brothers would band togehter, Declan Chase has a real shot, and Lothaire wouldn't care. No matter who wins, Thronos goes down first. Jen mentioned someone who wrote about what would happen if all the US Presidents were in a knife fight. Enjoy.FWIW, Daniela also asked a question we skipped because we couldn't think of anything: A historical that has a silver fox duke and a spitfire heroine who exhausts the hell out of him. IDEAS? Let us know on twitter.Question 4: Kristen from DC! asked, "LGBTQ romance easily available in PRINT for my book club???? We do it through a local indie bookshop, and are having a hard time finding things other than Cat Sebastian/Olivia Waite from Avon."Our Recommendations: Adriana Herrera's American Dreamer series! Red, White, and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston. We think Vanessa North and KJ Charles might be print on demand, which many indie bookstores won't carry. Dreamspinner is a mess right now, but many great authors are there, including LaQuette's latest, Under His Protection, which Jen bought a copy of at Love's Sweet Arrow. Carina titles might be more easily available, so try Syncopation and the rest of the Twisted Wishes series by Anna Zabo. Jen mentioned Being Hospitable by Meka James, but it's just in E. But you should still read it for fun.Question 5: Courtney from the Bodice Tipplers Podcast wants to know what books made us fall in love with the genre.Our answer: Well, just listen to all of season 2 of Fated Mates! But Sarah mentioned Nobody's Baby but Mine by Susan Elizabeth Phillips. Jen mentioned a new book that has made her feel that way is The Bride Test by Helen Hoang. Julie Garwood and Jude Deveraux were old-school authors we both loved back in the day.Question 6: Ali in NYC had an AMA and a question: How is Eric Mortensen so good at podcast editing?Our answer: Well, he just is and you should contact him if you need podcast editing help.Ali also wanted recommendations about historicals with witches/magic. Our recommendations: So many of these are old school, because this is not a very popular trope right now, so please proceed with caution. Sarah recommended Bewitching by Jill Barnett and Jen recommended a pair of books by Teresa Medeiros, Breath of Magic and Touch of Enchantment. In fact, Jen reviewed Touch of Enchantment for The Book Queen. Post-recording, we thought of Sex and the Psychic Witch by Annette Blair, which is the first of a series where three sisters use their "magic powers for good and their good looks for seduction."Question 7: Hannah from Texas asked for a romance that "has a Lucy Liu in "Set It Up" type heroine getting her actual HEA. I need ball-busting energy falling in love with a guy/gal/whoever that deserves her."Our Recommendations: Sarah recommended The Takeover Effect by Nisha Sharma which has a corporate espionage plot. Jen was maybe thinking of Set it Off and recommeded Elle Kennedy's Out of Uniform series. Jen mentioned Getting Hotter by Elle Kennedy, but upon further reflection, also thinks The Heat is On (in an anthology called Hot &amp; Heavy) might work. But since Hannah was actually talking about Set it Up, which is about assistants and

Next week, we’re switching things up and running a full recommendation podcast! You asked us questions, and we’re recommending a metric romance ton of books! Don’t miss it!In two weeks, we’re going to a classic of classics! The read was on both Jen &amp; Sarah’s list—Loretta Chase’s Lord of Scoundrels, which is on the lions’ share of Best Romance Novels Ever lists. We’ll get into why. Read Lord of Scoundrels at Amazon, Barnes &amp; Noble, Apple Books, Kobo or your local indie.Show NotesListen, it's Eric FONER. He's kind of a big deal.More about how brains develop.A twitter thread about Sarah's brain surgeon.The kind of Amnesia in books and movies isn't real, but in case you were wondering, all about global amnesia and aphasia.Jen &amp; Sarah have seen the 80s version of Overboard 100 times, and the 2018 version no times.Speaking of Pregneisa... on the podcast I Don't Even Own a Television, these two guys mostly read it to make fun of it, but then listen to just this snippet of Jeb Lund TOTALLY GETTING ROMANCE.Kylie Scott does write about zombies, and threesomes, and rock stars, and getting with your Dad's best friend.Jen did write about Lies as an example of an Unreliable Narrator, but she still enjoyed the book!Jen couldn't locate the future/present/past thread on twitter, but this is a placeholder in case she ever does.No one liked that Chris Pratt movie.All about that incel bullshit.The Silent Towns is a short story by Ray Bradbury in The Martian Chronicles---which Jen really liked for the most part! Try There will Come Soft Rains instead.The Last Man on Earth is a TV show and While You Were Sleeping was a movie.Jen likes the scummy, sexy white boy thing Matthew McConaughey has going on."Don't You Forget About Me" is the theme song to The Breakfast Club. No one had amnesia in the movie, they were just teenagers likely to be shitty to each other.What's Fair Use?Buy buttons from Kelly and shirts from Jordandené.Ashley from Southern California was blooded by The Duchess War&nbsp;by Courtney MilanNext week we're doing the first of our big romance recommendation podcasts, but get reading Lord of Scoundrels by Loretta Chase -- it's our next read!The RestFor even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net/episodes/2019/11/11/s0210-amnesia-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.