So you watched the Bridgerton Netflix series and you've torn through the books, and now you're desperate for more historical romance while you wait for Season 2 of Bridgerton? Don't worry, dear readers, these podcasters have you covered. Tuck into our What to Read if You Loved Bridgeron episode for a massive list of historical romance recommendation based on what you might have loved in Bridgerton! Is it boxing? Is it I don't know how sex works? Is it the wigs? Is it the scene with the spoon?! Whatever it is...we've got you covered. And when you're done with this one, go check out our episode on romance series featuring big families!Whether you're new to Fated Mates this month or have been with us for all three seasons, we adore you, and we're so grateful to have you. Please join us next week to chat with the fabulous Kate Clayborn about retellings in romance and to celebrate the launch of her new book, Love At First, which you can preorder now or get wherever books are sold (even your local indie!) next Tuesday, February 23, 2021. In two weeks, we're back with a read along of Mary Balogh's A Matter of Class, which is one of Sarah's favorite historicals. We'll talk about why then. Get it for only $2.99 at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple Books, Kobo or Google Books.Show NotesWe have some ideas about winter sports, which is that maybe they are best left to other people. But here are some photos of Chicago’s ice skating ribbon and the sledding hill at Soldier Field, which even has its own snowmaking machines! When the Obama Library is built, Michelle Obama requested they include a sledding hill because she remembered wanting to sled closer to home when she was a kid. In the 90s, they really let Hugh Grant do anything. The Luxe is a gilded age YA series, and the original covers were so gorgeous, as compared to the rejacketing. We are not taking questions at this time. We can't find the video Sarah talks about, probably because it was...

We are talking about Naima Simone this week — and honestly, we could have picked any of Naima’s series to read because she’s just. that. good. We chose the whole series so we could talk more about the complexities of category romances, about wild plots, about alpha heroes, and about how Sarah is absolute trash for a rich hero and the working class girl on the other side of the tracks. Don’t @ her. Next week, we’re back with an interstitial, and in two weeks, we’ve got Kate Clayborn joining us to talk about her upcoming book, Love at First! After that, we’re back to read alongs, but we’ll announce our next read on next week’s episode…see you then. 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 NotesWe had such a great time on Derek Craven Day. Check out our dedicated Derek Craven Day page. On Derek Craven Day, Lisa revealed the cover of her upcoming release, The Devil in Disguise, which comes out summer 2021. The article in the New York Times about three mothers during the Pandemic was a hard, hard read. We are all experiencing the strange time warp of the pandemic, but some of us even lost a hot year. Maybe you would like to watch the Jem and Holograms movie. Here are some fancy places: The Main Line, the Gold Coast, Park Avenue, and Scarsdale. Lake Forest is fancy, but it was also an actual sundown town, so yikes to that. Here’s a quick primer about category romance from Love in Panels. Right now in February of 2021, Harlequin publishes 66 titles every month in 12 different series. We’ve had two previous episodes that...

Happy Derek Craven Day! We’re wearing our t-shirts and buttons, and spending a whole lot of time talking about what Derek Craven would and wouldn’t do with one of our very favorites — Kate Clayborn. Thanks to everyone who played our silly Derek Craven games this year — don’t forget to visit our Derek Craven Day page for charts, graphs and hilarious memes made from your submissions! Also, if you haven’t read Dreaming of You, now’s your chance to get it at a special Derek Craven Day price — $2.99! We love you, and we’re thrilled we can celebrate this, the best of all holidays, with you. Next week, we’re back to our regularly scheduled programming with Naima Simone’s Blackout Billionaires series (With a little Derek Craven Day excitement in there, too!) In order, the books are: The Billionaire's Bargain, Black Tie Billionaire, and Blame it on the Billionaire. Find them at Amazon, Barnes &amp; Noble, Kobo, or Apple Books.Show NotesHere's&nbsp;the history of Derek Craven Day in tweets, but also our mantra: there are 2 kinds of Lisa Kleypas readers.Jen was shitposting&nbsp;about Kleypas heroes.&nbsp;Mary Jane Wells&nbsp;and&nbsp;Rosalyn Landor&nbsp;are great audiobook narrators.&nbsp;It’s not Talk Talk,&nbsp;it’s TikTok.&nbsp;All About fabric and paper scissors.No one should test the patience of Nora Roberts,&nbsp;part 231.Kate has strong feelings about&nbsp;Irish Spring.Don’t ever reply all.&nbsp;In case you need an explainer of&nbsp;what happened with Reddit and the stock market&nbsp;last week. We think Derek Craven would enjoy this story.&nbsp;Why backup cameras were invented.&nbsp;<p class=""...

This week, we’re releasing a new episode on Thursday with guest Kate Clayborn in honor of Derek Craven day, so today we’re rereleasing our Dreaming of You episode from Season 2 so that people can be all caught up before our extremely niche episode for the holiday itself! For full show notes, see: S02.3: Lisa Kleypas Does Spectacles Better than F. Scott Fitzgerald: Dreaming of YouNext week, we’re back to our regularly scheduled programming with Naima Simone’s Blackout Billionaires series (With a little Derek Craven Day excitement in there, too!) In order, the books are: The Billionaire's Bargain, Black Tie Billionaire, and Blame it on the Billionaire. Find them at Amazon, Barnes &amp; Noble, Kobo, or Apple Books.

Back in July we had a very fun crossover episode with Erin and Clayton of Learning the Tropes. It was a delight and you should absolutely listen to it. During the event, we received so many questions from listeners that we didn’t have enough time to answer them all…so here we are, answering them! We talk about the kinds of romances we love, Normal People, morality chain and villains turned heroes, COVID and Romance Novels, Ted Lasso, and romance main character names. And, of course, we talk about our mutual adoration for Lisa Kleypas, which is extremely timely, as next week, on February 4th, we will be celebrating Derek Craven Day 2021! So look for a very special episode on Thursday instead of Wednesday next week…and if you want to be a part of it, visit fatedmates.net and take our “Would Derek Craven?” poll (questions change every day until the 4th!). After that, we’re back to our regularly scheduled programming with Naima Simone’s Blackout Billionaires series (With a little Derek Craven Day excitement in there, too!) In order, the books are: The Billionaire's Bargain, Black Tie Billionaire, and Blame it on the Billionaire. Find them at Amazon, Barnes &amp; Noble, Kobo, or Apple Books.Show NotesSarah and Jen both adore Blackwing Pencils, but Sarah has really achieved new heights of nerd with her Carl CC-2000 Custom hand crank pencil sharpener.Tessa Bailey is a Fated Mates favorite, and has a new, very charming book out this week called The Sweetest Fix. You should read it.Stay tuned for more show notes later in the week.

Nearly two years since our first Curvy Heroines interstitial, which was short and sweet, we’re back with another that is longer and more meandering, but absolutely chock full of recs! We love a curvy heroine, and so do you all, apparently, as our original Curvy Interstitial is our most popular episode of all time! Next week, we’ve got a special crossover episode with Erin and Clayton from Learning the Tropes, and the week after, we’re back to the deep dives with Naima Simone’s Blackout Billionaires series (With a little Derek Craven Day excitement in there, too!) In order, the books are: The Billionaire's Bargain, Black Tie Billionaire, and Blame It on the Billionaire. Find them at Amazon, Barnes &amp; Noble, Kobo, or Apple Books.Show NotesThis piece in Book Riot by&nbsp;Carole Bell&nbsp;argues that fat representation is different than fat acceptance, which is something we grapple with as we’re talking. She also wrote&nbsp;this list of romances with fat representation.If you haven’t read books by&nbsp;Charlotte Stein, you should. Which ones? ALL OF THEM.&nbsp;Fat Monica,&nbsp;if you don’t know, is a reference to the TV show Friends.&nbsp;Watch Olivia Dade talk&nbsp;about where we are now with fat representation in romance.&nbsp;Cult of Glory, a 2020 book about&nbsp;the true history of the Texas Rangers&nbsp;paints a grim picture of the storied law enforcement agents.&nbsp;In case you’re interested, last week Jen was googling “anal hook” and this week she landed on a bunch of Christian websites when she googled&nbsp;the Magi, so she got freaked out and just used a wikipedia link. It's fine. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯Thea de Salle is one of&nbsp;author Hillary Monahan's&nbsp;pseudonyms. Back in the day,&nbsp;Jen wrote about Catholicism in romance based on a later book in the series, The Lady of Royale Street.Luciana Barroso is married to Matt Damon, and she’s a regular person.In Get a Life, Chloe Brown, the heroine suffers from&nbsp;fibromyalgia., and&nbsp;<a...

It’s 2021, and we’re back on the reading train with one of Sarah’s favorite erotic romances ever, Alexis Hall’s For Real. We dig into sex on the page, how sex and identity work together to make an erotic romance an erotic romance, power dynamics, and the difference between fear &amp; risk. Enjoy!You still have time to buy the Fated Mates Best of 2020 Book Pack from our friends at Old Town Books in Alexandria Virginia, and get the seven traditionally published books on the list, a Fated Mates sticker and a candle from the bookstore! Order here!Thank you, as always, for listening! If you are up for leaving a rating or review for the podcast on your podcasting app, we would be very grateful!&nbsp;Next week, we’re returning to Curvy Girls for an interstitial, and then we’re headed on to Naima Simone’s Blackout Billionaires series! In order, the books are: The Billionaire's Bargain, Black Tie Billionaire, and Blame It on the Billionaire. Find them at Amazon, Barnes &amp; Noble, Kobo, or Apple Books.Show NotesWe won Georgia, but then&nbsp;white supremacist terrorists attacked the Capitol. If you want to&nbsp;talk to your kids,&nbsp;here are some suggestions from Facing History and Ourselves, this is a resource for teachers but I think any parent with tweens and teens will find it helpful. If you have little kids, Jen’s friend Elisa is a children’s librarian and recommend the books&nbsp;When a Bully is President&nbsp;and&nbsp;What We Believe: A Black Lives Matter Principles Activity Book.&nbsp;Answering machines&nbsp;don’t exist anymore. (Well, they probably do, but no one we know uses them.)&nbsp;For Real won the&nbsp;2016 RITA for Best Erotic romance, and&nbsp;Alexis Hall wrote a blog entry about it.&nbsp;Fear vs. Risk,&nbsp;the short version. Or maybe you want to read whole book about fear, called&nbsp;Nerve by Eva Holland.&nbsp;Jen knows Eva from another online space, but they've never met in person.Bluebeard’s attic had&nbsp;some...

This week, we’re thrilled to be joined by the fabulous Sophia Benoit, sex columnist for GQ magazine and romance novel lover! We talk about romance, about why it’s so hard to talk about sex in the world, about the books Sophia has written and is planning to write, and about Jimmy Butler. Because, obviously.Happy New Year! Next week is our first read along of 2021, Alexis Hall’s For Real! Get it at Amazon, Barnes &amp; Noble, Apple Books, or Kobo.Show NotesWelcome&nbsp;GQ sex columnist,&nbsp;Sophia Benoit. She’s absolutely&nbsp;great on twitter&nbsp;and&nbsp;writes an amazing advice column, which is available as a Substack. Her book of essays,&nbsp;Well, That Was Exhausting&nbsp;will be out in the summer of 2021.The Sex and the City reference, of course, it to&nbsp;Carrie Bradshaw’s job as a dating columnist.&nbsp;Captain Sit on my Face.America has&nbsp;a sex education problem.&nbsp;Lollapalooza&nbsp;is very fun and the music is great and&nbsp;every time she’s attended, it has made Jen feel like she’s a million years old.&nbsp;Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina has a famous first line, but the rest of it is very long.&nbsp;HoCo, FauxCo, and&nbsp;Prom is Cancelled.&nbsp;If you’re looking for paranormal,&nbsp;all of season one is a read-along of the Immortals After Dark series by Kresley Cole.&nbsp;The&nbsp;Tom Selleck&nbsp;and&nbsp;Burt Reynolds&nbsp;mustaches of the 80s were quite a thing. And if you look at the&nbsp;original covers&nbsp;of&nbsp;romances from that time, you'll see them in action.Wigs were big in the 1700s.Reddit’s&nbsp;<a...

WELCOME 2021!As is customary on Fated Mates, we’re releasing a special New Year’s Eve episode that requires headphones if you’re in mixed company! We brought some of our most favorite people together for a very special crossover episode of Fated Mates and Andie J. Christopher’s Instagram TV Juggernaut: Drunk Romance History, during which we drink a delightful mix of alcohol and talk about a delightful mix of erotic romance by the queen of the quick and dirty novella—Jessa Kane. We’re talking priests and daddy kink, mafia hitmen, billionaires, husky heroes, stepbrothers and what Joanna Shape refers to as the Kane-Trope-Wheel. Tracey Livesay has a mug with penises on it. Bring in 2021 right. (Also, if you, like Joanna and Jen have read all of the Jessa Kane’s, no worries! She released a new one today—BURLY—just in time for this episode! Shero!)Head over to Andie’s IGTV channel for the video version.Next week, we have a special guest episode, and in two weeks, our first read along of 2021, Alexis Hall’s For Real. Get it at Amazon, Barnes &amp; Noble, Apple Books, or Kobo.Show NotesOne more chance for phone-banking is&nbsp;Monday 1/4/2021 at 5pm central.&nbsp;Listen to last year's&nbsp;New Year's Eve epsiode on Pegging&nbsp;with special guest, Sierra Simone!Have we mentioned&nbsp;Drunk Romance History on Andie's Instagram?&nbsp;We are joined today by our friends:&nbsp;Andie Christopher,&nbsp;Alexis Daria,&nbsp;Adriana Herrera,&nbsp;LaQuette,&nbsp;Tracey Livesay,&nbsp;Nisha Sharma, and&nbsp;Joanna Shupe.&nbsp;Get Tracey's penis mug&nbsp;here.Normalize sex toys. Today's guests are big fans of LELO products and recommend:&nbsp;The Ora2,&nbsp;The Sona2, and&nbsp;The Gigi2.

It’s the Holidays and the end of 2020 and we don’t really know what’s happening, but Eric is keeping us honest with another AMA! This one was recorded during our Fated States postcard writing party for Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock — the Democratic candidates for the Senate Runoff in Georgia — answering reader questions that came in during the live recording! We talk about pen names, working class heroes, whether or not you should DNF books, and Rasputin’s penis. Come back tomorrow for a special treat, and get ready for our first read along of 2021, Alexis Hall’s For Real. Get it at Amazon, Barnes &amp; Noble, Apple Books, or Kobo. Show NotesOne more phone banking opportunity for the Georgia Senate runoff is coming up on January 4, 2021 from 5-7 central.&nbsp;Join us!You should watch Drunk Romance History on&nbsp;Andie's Instagram.If you want more romance novels made into TV shows, you should watch&nbsp;Virgin River&nbsp;and&nbsp;Bridgerton.&nbsp;But everyone is watching Bridgerton, so that's great.&nbsp;Jen thinks you should DNF.&nbsp;We rattled off a bunch of historical romances with working heroes.&nbsp;Dreaming of You, of course, and American-set historicals, like&nbsp;Indigo&nbsp;by Beverly Jenkins. In England,&nbsp;A Matter of Disagreement&nbsp;by EE Ottoman,&nbsp;The Lady's Guide to Mischief and Mayhem&nbsp;by Manda Collins,&nbsp;Thief of Shadows&nbsp;by Elizabeth Hoyt,&nbsp;The Lawrence Browne Affair&nbsp;by Cat Sebastian,&nbsp;Honeytrap&nbsp;by Glen Aster Gray. Almost every&nbsp;KJ Charlesbook would qualify, as well as many by&nbsp;Sophie Jordan&nbsp;and&nbsp;Anne Mallory. Also, don't forget Sarah's&nbsp;Bareknuckle Bastards&nbsp;series.&nbsp;Annika Martin&nbsp;writes all the best bananas books.&nbsp;Rachel Hawkins is writing contemporary adult witches under the name&nbsp;Erin Sterling.&nbsp;Some historicals with characters from Imperial Russia? That's tough, but Sarah suggests the Stokehurst Duology from Lisa Kleypas, the first is&nbsp;Midnight Angel.&nbsp;And if you have

It's the holidays and we're talking family romances because many of us are with our families or thinking about them this week. No matter whether you have a perfect family life or one that's a bit more of a journey, romances focusing on families have been around from the beginning -- this week, we're talking royal houses like the Westmorelands and the Malorys, the LeVeqs and the Montgomeries, and the Holmeses and the Hathaways. We also talk a lot about our own families...which was unintended, but there it is.You still have time to buy the Fated Mates Best of 2020 Book Pack from our friends at Old Town Books in Alexandria Virginia, and get the seven traditionally published books on the list, a Fated Mates sticker and a candle from the bookstore! Order here!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! For the next week or so, we've got a lot of fun stuff in the hopper -- be on the lookout for a few extra episodes!&nbsp;And, if you're celebrating this week -- Merry Christmas!Show NotesRichard Gere wasn’t old&nbsp;when he filmed Pretty Woman, even though he was&nbsp;going gray.Samantha Jaxon posted a very upsetting TikTok, and that's all we have to say about that.&nbsp;The days of&nbsp;the big and small envelope in college admissions&nbsp;are over, but they do have&nbsp;the Common Appand that seems nice.&nbsp;Maybe, you too, would like&nbsp;a karaoke microphone&nbsp;for your future weather-person.&nbsp;The 1987 movie Roxanne&nbsp;with Steve Martin and Daryl Hannah is a Cyrano retelling, and it has&nbsp;lots of very funny jokes and one-liners.&nbsp;There is&nbsp;one more phone-banking opportunity on January 4, 2021. You should join us!Bridgerton drops on December 25th, along with&nbsp;Wonder Woman 1984.&nbsp;Virgin River&nbsp;is another Netflix show based on a romance series.&nbsp;Just a heads up about the photo array, I’m just including the first book of a family series because otherwise it will be overwhelming!&nbsp;70s and 80s Old School romance series with families include:&nbsp;the Malorys&nbsp;by Johanna Lindsey,&nbsp;The Montgomerys and Taggerts&nbsp;by Jude Deveraux, and&nbsp;the Westmorelands&nbsp;by Judith McNaught.&nbsp;90s families:&nbsp;the LeVeq...

BRIDGERTON is nearly here! Make sure you have batteries in your remote and your Netflix subscription is up to date, because on 12/25, Julia Quinn’s Bridgerton series is coming to your TV courtesy of Shonda Rhimes! We are EXTREMELY EXCITED, and in honor of the series, we’re reading Sarah’s favorite Julia Quinn romance which, *surprise!* isn’t a Bridgerton book!If you want Bridgerton deep dives, do not miss the series at Learning the Tropes with our amazing friends Erin &amp; Clayton. But we’re reading The Secret Diaries of Miss Miranda Cheever, and we’ve got a LOT to say! Content note: This book and episode discusses miscarriage and pregnancy.You still have time to buy the Fated Mates Best of 2020 Book Pack from our friends at Old Town Books in Alexandria Virginia, and get the seven traditionally published books on the list, a Fated Mates sticker and a candle from the bookstore! Order here!Thank you, as always, for listening! If you are up for leaving a rating or review for the podcast on your podcasting app, we would be very grateful!&nbsp;Next week, we’ve got an interstitial, and the following week…honestly, who knows? It’s December! It could be ANYTHING! Show NotesCan we brag for a minute?&nbsp;Our #FatedStates phone bank appeared in the Washington Post this week!&nbsp;Also, if you're looking for phone banking opportunites, we have one&nbsp;tonight 12/16 at 5 central, and&nbsp;another on 1/4/2021.&nbsp;Join us.&nbsp;December 25th is going to be a great day.&nbsp;Bridgerton&nbsp;drops on Netflix and&nbsp;Wonder Woman 1984&nbsp;will be on HBO Max.&nbsp;If you want a podcast tackling all of the Bridgerton books, check out&nbsp;Learning the Tropes.&nbsp;Sarah was on the episode for Sir Philip with Love,&nbsp;which is her favorite. Jen’s favorite is The Viscount Who Loved Me, and if it’s yours maybe you’d like&nbsp;a “mallet of death” t-shirt from Linda. Her shop is on hiatus right now, but she'll be back in the new year.&nbsp;Here’s&nbsp;the Ted talk with Elizabeth Gilbert, author of&nbsp;Eat, Pray, Love.&nbsp;Does Olivia get her own book? Of course she does, it’s called&nbsp;What Happens in London.&nbsp;Sarah’s favorite Jane Austen is Emma.&nbsp;Jen’s favorite Jane Austen is none of them.&nbsp;If you want to see some&nbsp;house party games in action, watch Season 4...

This week, we tried something a little different—recording a live interstitial episode! We’re talking about Jen’s formative queen, Julie Garwood, and we dig into dialogue, alphas who are instantly gone for their heroines, heroines who tame wild animals, arranged marriages between children, and why every Garwood historical feels medieval whether or not it actually is. We recorded this episode live during a Fated States postcard-writing party to get out the vote for the January 5th runoff election in Georgia. If you’re a Georgia voter, please vote for Jon Ossoff and Reverend Raphael Warnock, and let’s finish what we started with the blue wave! If you’re up for it, please consider joining us for a phonebanking session on the evening of January 4th!Next week, in advance of the launch of the Bridgerton series on Netflix (coming December 25th!), we’re reading Sarah’s favorite Julia Quinn novel, The Secret Diaries of Miss Miranda Cheever. Get it at Amazon, B&amp;N, Kobo, Apple or at your local indie via bookshop.org.Show NotesFated States is gearing up to&nbsp;phone bank on the evening of Jan 4 from 5-7 central time.&nbsp;Join us if you can!&nbsp;In Sarah’s&nbsp;OSRBC facebook group, there’s a longstanding search for a book where two people are on a beach and a wave throws them together, and then “oops they’re boning.” A few folks have suggested that maybe it was&nbsp;Pirate by Fabio. So check it out. His co-writer (a ghost writer is when they are unnamed) is&nbsp;Eugenia Rielly.&nbsp;A teenage horror/romance that both Jen and Kelly loved was called&nbsp;The Ghosts of Departure Point. Probably came from&nbsp;the Scholastic Book Club,&nbsp;if we’re being honest.&nbsp;In case you’re wondering,&nbsp;the copyright page will tell you if you’re holding a first printing or first edition. Here’s a bunch of people talking about&nbsp;why the edges of paperbacks were dyed.&nbsp;RT Book Reviews and the RT conference once had&nbsp;Julie Garwood and Jude Deveraux on stage at the same time, and YouTube has the video!&nbsp;When Coronavirus is over, I highly recommend going to&nbsp;KissCon.&nbsp;Nora Roberts is our Queen&nbsp;and last week&nbsp;<a...

There aren’t many recent romances you can point to and categorically label as game changers, but Sally Thorne’s The Hating Game definitely fits this bill. We talk about all the ways we love it, about sparkling dialogue and witty writing and what makes a romcom and how this book changed the cover game for a generation of romance. Oh, and yes, we get to the bottom (jk, there is no bottom) of Jen’s issues with first-person present. You still have time to buy the Fated Mates Best of 2020 Book Pack from our friends at Old Town Books in Alexandria Virginia, and get the seven traditionally published books on the list, a Fated Mates sticker and a candle from the bookstore! Order before December 5th for Christmas delivery!Thank you, as always, for listening! If you are up for leaving a rating or review for the podcast on your podcasting app, we would be very grateful!&nbsp;Next week, we’ve got an interstitial, and the following week, in advance of the launch of the Bridgerton series on Netflix, we’re reading Sarah’s favorite Julia Quinn novel, The Secret Diaries of Miss Miranda Cheever. Get it at Amazon,&nbsp;B&amp;N,&nbsp;Kobo,&nbsp;Apple&nbsp;or at your local indie&nbsp;via bookshop.org.Fated StatesWe were really thrilled to be interviewed by Kelly Faircloth for her article about How Romance Novelists Are Mobilizing Voters in Solidarity With Stacey Abrams.Show NotesThe Hating Game was a juggernaut&nbsp;and&nbsp;will soon be a movie.&nbsp;Bridget Jones’s Diary&nbsp;came out in 1996 and&nbsp;the movie came out in 2001.&nbsp;Enemies to Lovers&nbsp;is a completely beloved romance trope. Rivals to lovers lives within the larger trope and is very fun because it is often a perfectly matched pair on an even playing field. Sarah wrote&nbsp;Brazen &amp; the Beast&nbsp;after being inspired by The Hating Game.Here’s what we mean when we say&nbsp;situational comedy.<a...

The Best Romance Novels of 2020! It’s the best and worst task of the year for us, because we read so many AMAZING books over the course of the year, and choosing ten and not one hundred is hard for us, ok? But here they are — ten gorgeous books that we adored—books with badass heroines, larger-than-life heroes, brilliant structure, and outstanding writing. Buy the Fated Mates Best of Book Pack in one fell swoop from our friends at Old Town Books in Alexandria Virginia, and get the seven traditionally published books on the list, a Fated Mates sticker and a candle from the bookstore! Support fabulous authors and a woman-owned independent bookstore all at once! Thank you, as always, for listening! If you are up for leaving a rating or review for the podcast on your podcasting app, we would be very grateful!&nbsp;Next week, we get back to doing what we do best: Reading Romance! We’re deep-diving on Sally Thorne’s&nbsp;The Hating Game. Get it at Amazon,&nbsp;B&amp;N,&nbsp;Kobo,&nbsp;Apple&nbsp;or at your local indie&nbsp;via bookshop.org.The Best Romance Novels of 2020Fated StatesInterested in phone banking or writing postcards to voters in Georgia? Join us for our upcoming Fated States events: phone banking on&nbsp;12/2/20&nbsp;and&nbsp;1/4/2021&nbsp;and&nbsp;postcards on 12/5/2020.Show NotesConsider buying&nbsp;a Fated Mates pack of 7 of our 10 books&nbsp;(it doesn't include the self-published books) from Old Town Books in Alexandria, Virgina. You can also check out&nbsp;our Bookshop link.Can you believe&nbsp;that RWA debacle&nbsp;was 11 months ago?&nbsp;So you want to hear us talk about&nbsp;A Heart of Blood and Ashes,&nbsp;Like Lovers Do,&nbsp;Queen Move, or&nbsp;The Devil of Downtown?&nbsp;Cold War history is fascinating. Not only&nbsp;all the nuclear stuff, but Sarah's story...

It’s getting colder out there, so we’re getting hot in here! We’ve got the fabulous Katee Robert with us to talk about ménage romance and why she writes them so well. We get to the bottom of why it always gets shoved into the taboo corner of romance, the fantasy of the trope, and why we like it so very much. Also, we topple the TBR (as usual)!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! Slight change of schedule to accommodate a fun thing we’re up to…next week, just in time for your Thanksgiving sloth, we’re announcing our best books of 2020! The following week, we’re reading Sally Thorne’s The Hating Game! Get it at Amazon, B&amp;N, Kobo, Apple or at your local indie via bookshop.org.Show NotesWelcome Katee Robert! You can’t just make wikipedia pages about yourself. High fantasy has real meaning. When talking about romance, M and F (and NB for nonbinary) are used to inform readers about the gender identity of the main characters. This is an imperfect shorthand, but at this point in our understanding of sex and gender, it seems like the most respectful way to acknowledge that there is a huge range of sexual identities that exist for people of all genders. For example, if we call a book with two women “a lesbian romance” it might not take into account that one character is bisexual, which adds to bi-erasure. So if a romance is labeled M/F, we know there is a man and a woman in a romantic relationship, but that leaves room for the sexual identity of the characters to be fully explored in the book. In romance with more than two people, the order of the letters matters. A book that is MFM would mean that the two men do not have a sexual relationship with each other, while FMM or MMF means that they do. There is nothing taboo about polyamory. Jen liked the progression of menage in Elle Kennedy’s Out of Uniform series. The series starts with a non-swords crossing threesome, Hot and Bothered. The observing one was Heat of the Night (available in the Hot and Heavy anthology), where Ryan watches Annabelle have sex with his roommate. But as the series progresses, there is contact between the SEALs in Feeling Hot and a fully formed menage relationship in Hotter Than Ever. Ellora’s Cave and Samhain were two of the original (and now shuttered) indie publishers that specialized in erotic romance...

ONE HUNDRED EPISODES! You’ve seen us through Immortals After Dark, through Books that Blooded Us, and through a presidential election, so if there was any doubt that you’re stuck with us, put that right out of your mind! We love you so much for listening…and we hope you have as much fun listening to this episode as we had recording it!Thanks to Tracey Livesay, Andie J Christopher, Kate Clayborn, Christina Lauren, Adriana Herrera, Nisha Sharma and Joanna Shupe for joining us, and to Steve Ammidown for popping in to say hi! Next week, we have an interstitial coming, and the following week, we’re back on read alongs with Sally Thorne’s The Hating Game! Get it at Amazon, B&amp;N, Kobo, Apple or at your local indie via bookshop.org.Show NotesIn between when we recorded and when you're listening,&nbsp;something great happened.&nbsp;How did Hollywood Squares work? What did&nbsp;the theme song&nbsp;sound like? What does&nbsp;Whoopi Goldberghave to do with it?Fated States will be back! One of our dedicated phone bankers and the head of the OSRBC-IAD book discussion, Caroline,&nbsp;had an amazing experience when she was phone banking the week before the election.&nbsp;And we are&nbsp;not at all jealous about her amazing gift basket from Kresley Cole!&nbsp;Check out&nbsp;Milla Vane on the Wicked Wallflowers podcast.&nbsp;Andie Christopher hosts Drunk Romance History on her Instagram feed every Saturday and it’s hilarious. Sarah joined her Saturday after&nbsp;a full day of Election drinking&nbsp;to talk&nbsp;Suddenly You.Do you know the book where a wave causes accidental penetration for a couple on a beach? NEITHER DO WE!&nbsp;Here’s the link to&nbsp;all the slides...

The last six weeks have been rough, but Fated Mates listeners and a wild number of Romance Authors made them easier by being a part of Fated States, our weekly phonebanking initiative with Indivisible Action. We don’t know how yesterday went, but we know we are so incredibly proud to have worked alongside so many listeners who volunteered their time to phonebank, and so many amazing authors who donated books to phone bankers!On this episode, we rec books by every author who donated free books to Fated States — all 49 of them! Your TBR is going to be full for years after this one! We promise! Special shout out to Julia Quinn, Suzanne Brockmann, AJ Cousins, Carrie Ann Ryan &amp; Cassandra Carr, who each donated books to EVERY phonebanker, once a week for five weeks.Below, in Show Notes, you’ll find a full list of the books we recommend, and links to Amazon. You can buy print versions of books and support independent bookstores at our bookshop.org shop!AND…thanks to our sister pods, Heaving Bosoms, Learning the Tropes and The Wicked Wallflowers, who donated podcasting swag, and to BestFriendKelly for stickers!IMPORTANT UPDATE: This Thursday, November 5th, we’ll be recording our 100th Episode LIVE on Zoom, and we want you to be there! Join us and special guests, for games, laughter, romance recommendations, and as much joy as you can handle. Sign up here.Next week, we’ll release the 100th Episode for those of you who can’t make it Thursday, and the following week, we’re back on read alongs with Sally Thorne’s The Hating Game! Get it at Amazon, B&amp;N, Kobo, Apple or at your local indie via bookshop.org.

The fabulous Adriana Herrera is here for her fourth time to talk about Joy! We had a great time with one of the greatest people this week — talking about the American immigrant experience, how hope and bravery make for beautiful love stories, and listing a huge number of books that we love.IMPORTANT UPDATE: Next Thursday, November 5th, we’ll be recording our 100th Episode LIVE on Zoom, and we want you to be there! Join us and special guests, for games, laughter, romance recommendations, and as much joy as you can handle. Come on…you know you want something to look forward to next week! Let it be this! Sign up here.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!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 31st at 3pm Eastern to flip the country 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."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 bankVote early by mail if you are planning to vote by mail. At this point, the USPS is so slow that your best bet is to drive/walk/bike/rollerskate your ballot to the nearest polling dropbox rather than put it in a mailbox.Vote early in person if your state has early voting.Stay fired up!Show NotesWelcome back, Adriana Herrera! She’s been on a few times so far: Wicked Deeds on a Winter’s Night, the food romance episode, and she and Jen talked about trauma in romance. This week, her March 2020 release American Sweethearts appeared on the Publisher’s Weekly Best of 2020 List.Normalize pegging at all costs.If you’re going to come to the phone bank this weekend dressed as a romance heroine, might we suggest you drape a mantilla over your head and carry a pistol? You’ll be a dead ringer for Jessica Trent from Lord of Scoundrels. Sarah was on

It’s comfort read week! What makes a comfort read, why do we turn to them, what do we want from them, and why on earth do blue aliens fit the bill?! This week, we all need a comfort read, and we’re joined by Dani Lacey, host of Ice Planet Pod and Black Chick Lit Podcast, to talk about all things comfort reads!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 5 this Saturday, October 24th at 3pm Eastern to call South 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!Fated States!Join us this Saturday, October 24th at 3pm Eastern to call Iowa 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, and no confirmation hearings for the Supreme Court until January 22.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 NotesWelcome Dani Lacey, host of Ice Planet Pod and Black Chick Lit podcast. Black Chick Lit is a podcast Dani hosts with her friend Mollie, and the focus is books by and about Black women. Ice Planet Pod has different guests every week, and Jen has been on and Sarah will be on!Some of the specific Ice Planet Podcast episodes that Dani mentioned: she did one with her...

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!Fated States!Join us this Saturday, October 17th at 3pm Eastern to call Iowa 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 elections**Text bank**Phone bank**Write postcards**Vote 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 NYCand Pennsylvania).**Vote early in person if your state has early voting.**Stay fired up!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, <a...

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&amp;N, Kobo, Apple or at your local indie.When we recorded, the wildfire situation was particularly grim in California, and it’s still <a...

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!Fated States!Join us this Saturday, October 3rd at 3pm Eastern to call North Carolina on behalf of Biden/Harris and Cal Cunningham! 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 NYCand Pennsylvania).Vote early in person if your state has early voting.Stay fired up!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 <a...

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&amp;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 <a...

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&amp;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.First Things First"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.Vote early if your state has early voting.Stay fired up!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 <a...

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&amp;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...

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&amp;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 <a...

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&amp;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.In two weeks: A Heart of Blood and Ashes by Milla Vane. Has at The Book Pushers has a reviw with content warnings, so check that if you need to.Sarah has a contemporary novella in the Naught Brits anthology which comes out September 15, preorder today!

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 &amp; 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.

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 &amp; 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!

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 &amp; the Duke is officially here! Get it at Amazon, Kobo, Barnes &amp; 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 &amp; the Duke is officially here! Get it at Amazon, Kobo, Barnes &amp; 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 &amp; the Duke is officially here! Get it at Amazon, Kobo, Barnes &amp; 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 &amp; the Duke is officially here! Get it at Amazon, Kobo, Barnes &amp; 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 &amp; the Duke is officially here! Get it at Amazon, Kobo, Barnes &amp; 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 &amp; 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: <a...

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 &amp; the Duke is officially here! Get it at Amazon, Kobo, Barnes &amp; 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

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 &amp; the Duke wherever books are sold, including Amazon, Kobo, B&amp;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 &amp; 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.

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?<p...

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.

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.<a...

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...

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!Here'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...

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 <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/05/15/848706362/coronavirus-faqs-how-risky-is-it-to-fly-is-there-any-way-to-reduce-the-risks" rel="noopener noreferrer"...

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 <a...

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...

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...

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.<a...

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...