full-length episode, IAD, read along, S01 - IAD Sarah MacLean full-length episode, IAD, read along, S01 - IAD Sarah MacLean

3: A Great Lay or All the Knowledge in the World: Wicked Deeds on a Winter's Night

We’re three books into IAD this week, and it is happening! We're joined by the brilliant Adriana Herrera to talk Wicked Deeds on a Winter's Night, starring Bowen (the werewolf trapped in a tunnel of fire) and Mariketa the Awaited (the witch who is going to run him ragged)!

Adriana, Jen & Sarah cover everything from Snow White to trauma survivors, jungle warfare to May-December romances, sexism and Cardi B. And we still find time to fangirl over Kresley's heroines.

Don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast in your favorite podcasting platform — and while you’re there, please leave us a like or a review.

Our next read (in two weeks) will be Dark Needs at Night's Edge — complete with a broken hero tied to a bed (vampire, obvi) and a haunting heroine who just wants to be seen (literally). This one makes for a LOT of opinions among IAD fans...you won’t want to miss it.

Get ready for the read along at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple Books or your local indie. Also, the Audible versions of IAD are on sale right now -- and WORTH EVERY PENNY! Listen on Audio!

Show Notes

Show Notes

- Our special guest this week is romance author Adriana Herrera. American Dreamer, her debut novel with Carina Press, comes out in March of 2019.

-Jen interviewed Adriana about domestic violence in romance for the Smart Bitches.

- Jen and Sarah both loved The Opposite of You, a food truck romance by Rachel Higginson, and Sil at Book Riot made a list of food truck romances.

- Kresley's historical trilogy is called The MacCarrick Brothers, and you can get all 3 bundled together, of course.

- There's nothing more amazing than warring think-pieces. So here's Huffington Post and Slateteaching us about fuckboy, and Jezebel telling us how they're doing it wrong.

- The five witches' castes are warrior, healer, enchantress, conjurer, and sorceress. Jen's going to make a Buzzfeed Quiz that tells you which witch strength you'd have. (This is a lie. Jen does not know how to make Buzzfeed quizzes. But it's a good idea, right?)

-Speaking of vibrators, the best Romancelandia blog is the Bawdy Bookworms, which features review of both books and sex toys!

- Here's a serious video explainer of the Hero's Journey, and also a slightly more silly one.

- This blog is dedicated to looking at feminism and Snow White in American culture.

- Deconstruct Disney for yourself or for your kids.

- There's an IAD wiki, and it's pretty useful for when you're listing Hekate, Haxa, and can't remember the third one is Hela.

- As symbols, apples do a lot of heavy lifting.

- Mirrors and feminism have a long complicted history. And since we're talking action movies, check out this think piece by Carolyn Petit about feminism, movie criticism, and John Wick's house of mirrors. And then I found this article about Sylvia Plath's senior thesis at Smith and it's very far afield from the current topic, but this is a super interesting read.

- Jack Ryan on Amazon.

- There isn't a video for Cardi B's Money yet, but here are the lyrics.

- How young women have internatlized the Girl Power vs. Feminism dichotomy.

- There's a famous image that illustrates the difference between equality and equity. It's most often used in the context of race, but can be used as a way to envision any kind of oppression.

- Romance has been thinking about consent for a long time. Jen wrote a review of a graphic novel for teenagers called What Does Consent Really Mean?

- Our next Dark Needs at Night's Edge is next.


Lost Limb Count
(Leg - 2, Arm - 1, Eye - 1)

  1. Lachlain tears off his own leg to reach Emma. He regenerates. (A Hunger Like No Other)

  2. Sebastian pulverizes most of his right arm during the Hie. He regenerates. (No Rest For the Wicked)

  3. Bowen loses an eye and most of his forehead during the Hie. Mariketa has cursed him and he can't heal until he returns to her. (Wicked Deeds on a Winter's Night)

  4. Mariketa's skull is fractured and her leg is torn from her body. She heals herself after Bowen lays on the ground. Ivy grows over her and heals her. (Wicked Deeds on a Winter's Night)

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2: The Best Led Zeppelin Song is by Pink Floyd: No Rest for the Wicked

We’re two books in this week, reading No Rest for the Wicked, starring Kaderin the Cold-hearted and Sebastian Wroth, participating in the Talisman Hie…Kresley’s version of The Amazing Race.

Sarah & Jen cover everything from pop-culture in romance novels to the lengths we’ll go for the people we love, and the immense trust required when we fall in love…all while marveling at the way Kresley sets the stage for a series that will subvert tropes and genres again and again.

Don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast in your favorite podcasting platform — and while you’re there, please leave us a like or a review.

Our next read (in two weeks) will be Wicked Deeds on a Winter’s Night and the witches are coming! WDOAWN is the story of Bowen MacRieve (werewolf) and Mariketa the Awaited (witch)…and the book that really breaks open the wide world of IAD. We’ll be joined by the brilliant Adriana Herrera, and you won’t want to miss it. Get ready for the read along at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple Books or your local indie.

Show Notes

  • The Valkyeries in mythology, and maybe you didn't notice that "Val Hall" is a play on Valhalla.

  • Vampires in pop culture & literature.

  • Remember your high school English teacher talking about characters who are foils of each other? This is not to be confused with your algebra teacher talking about how to solve quadratic equations.

  • On Urban Dictionary, I want to kiss the person who defined Frigid it as "An outdated, Victorian term used to describe women who aren't interested in sex. Only used today by drunk men in bars to explain why the woman they attempted to pick up wasn't interested."

  • A wacky look at some potential real life examples of time travel.

  • Just out of curiosity, this is what you'll find if you google "Bad Ass Estonian General." IMPRESSIVE.

  • Sarah's wet noodle joke is part of a long literary tradition where vampires just need a good dose of viagra.

  • All about beta heroscinnamon roll heroes, and a link to a lot of talk about the latter from Ana Coqui's November 2018's #RomBkLove.

  • Sarah mentions "the vampire chained to a bed" and she's talking about Conrad Wroth, the hero of Dark Needs at Night's Edge (book 4).

  • Just a brief review of birth control, how we use it, and why it is so important to women's rights.

  • In case you were wondering why Jen talked about "no one ever has to go to the bathroom." It's a thing. Sarah accused Jen of RUINING ROMANCE, but clearly that's not the case because here we are.

  • More about lightning and planes.

  • Chicago's Bubbly Creek. That's real. If you ever want to nerd out on this history, Jen recommends a book called Nature's Metropolis. Honestly, you really have no idea how fascinating grain elevators are.

  • The short and incomplete list of magical items introduced in this book: Kaderin gives the Furies armor that can't be pierced and a battle axe that can kill Lore beings without having to behead them. The New Zealand coven of Valkyeries has a choker that allows the person wearing it to sing a siren's song. No one knows what happend to the armband that makes the wearer feel overwhelming sexual desire. Amphitrite's tear is a bead that will heal any wound. The Blade of Honorius never misses its target. Thrane's Key was the time-traveling prize in this Hie, and at the end of the book, Riora gives Sebastian one to use at his discretion.

  • Deus Ex Machina is fun to say, but kind of a bummer when that's how an author gets her characters out of a jam.

  • All the cool vampires from the mid-2000s carry RAZR phones.

  • Diamonds are a construct, just like virginity.

  • Sarah is pro-Kardashian.

  • Bowen & Mariketa are coming up next, but the thing she was excited about at the end of that book actually happened at the end of Dark Needs at Night's Edge.

  • Swineherds vs. shepherds, and the only time Jen ever felt truly understood on Reddit.

  • The Battle of Evermore by Led Zeppelin, and if you think Jen wasn't dying to update Genius with this Kresley Cole reference, you don't know her at all. But maybe the video is more your speed.

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1: We're Gonna Come Back to Biting - A Hunger Like No Other

Sarah & Jen talk A Hunger Like No Other, why reading Alphas in 2018 is a tricky situation, how Kresley instantly changed the game with Lachlain MacRieve, and why Emma's bite sets the standard for the whole series.

Don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast in your favorite podcasting platform — and while you’re there, a like would be awesome!

Our next read (in two weeks) will be No Rest for the Wickedthe story of Sebastian Wroth (vampire) and Kaderin the Cold-Hearted (valkyrie), and the beginning of the IAD Amazing Race mini-arc!

Show Notes

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Intro: A Wolf Without A Foot

Welcome to Fated Mates! Author Sarah MacLean and critic Jen Prokop launch their fan podcast about Kresley Cole’s Internationally bestselling paranormal romance series, Immortals After Dark. Sarah and Jen introduce themselves and the series, and talk about its place in the romance genre. Topics include feminism, patriarchy, modernity and Moonstruck. Yes, the one with Cher. Also included, an introduction to the first book in the series, A Hunger Like No Other…the book they’ll be rereading for Episode 1.

Buy A Hunger Like No Other at Amazon, B&N, iBooks, Kobo, or your local indie.

Show Notes

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