S06.33: A Mug is a Mug until it's your Boyfriend: Sentient Object Romances
Headphones in! This is not for beginners. Our second Fated Mates Live episode is live! During the event (which was so so fun we love every single one of you who came!), the fabulous Nikki Payne selected one of the most challenging interstitial topics we’ve ever tackled—Inanimate (and sentient!) objects! So! This one is very very odd, and filled with a number of recs that just prove that there is literally something for everyone in this big, beautiful romance pool.
We also want to thank the following publishers and authors for their incredible generosity in making sure that almost every attendee of the Live went home with a romance novel. We are so lucky to share Romancelandia with you: Avon Books, Ballantine Books, Blue Box Press, Dell, Grand Central/Forever, Gallery Books, Lauren Blakely, LJ Evans, Pippa Grant, Ana Huang, Parker S. Huntington & LJ Shen, Elle Kennedy, Avery Maxwell, Ava Miles, Max Monroe, Kathryn Nolan, Amari Nylix, Meghan Quinn, Piper Rayne, P Rayne, Stephanie Rose, Lucy Score, & TL Swan.
If you want more discussion of banana-pants romance, join our Patreon and get access to our Discord, where a thousand other listeners are hanging out and giggling all day long.
Show Notes
Jen’s working theory is that maybe this is all because of Han Solo in carbonite. I don’t really know what else we could possibly say, except we love you Nikki Payne.
Books Mentioned This Episode
Sponsors
Blue Box Press, publishers of J. Kenner’s
Touch Me, A Stark International Novella
available in print or ebook from
Amazon, Apple, Barnes & Noble & Kobo
Stephanie Rose, author of Raising the Bar,
available at in print or ebook, or with
your monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited
Jennifer Safrey, author of Against All Obstacles,
available in print or ebook from
Amazon, Apple, Barnes & Noble & Kobo
06.32: Secret Babies, Friends-to-Lovers and More — Books we love with tropes we don’t
This is the first of three episodes inspired by the incredible time we had at Fated Mates Live in Brooklyn. During the event (which was so so fun we love every single one of you who came!), we asked guests Nikki Payne, Kate Clayborn and Lauren Billings of Christina Lauren to choose an interstitial topic they would like us to tackle on the show. Lauren chose a great one: Exceptions to our rules, meaning…tropes we don’t care for that are done really really well.
So! This one is for everyone who’s ever asked Jen for Secret Baby or Virgin Heroes and anyone who’s ever asked Sarah for Friends to Lovers or Spies. We talk about the books that make us go…not that…but maybe that?
We also want to thank the following publishers and authors for their incredible generosity in making sure that almost every attendee of the Live went home with a romance novel. We are so lucky to share Romancelandia with you: Avon Books, Ballantine Books, Blue Box Press, Dell, Grand Central/Forever, Gallery Books, Lauren Blakely, LJ Evans, Pippa Grant, Ana Huang, Parker S. Huntington & LJ Shen, Elle Kennedy, Avery Maxwell, Ava Miles, Max Monroe, Kathryn Nolan, Amari Nylix, Meghan Quinn, Piper Rayne, P Rayne, Stephanie Rose, Lucy Score, & TL Swan.
Photo credits: Stephanie Keith
Show Notes
We had the very best time at Fated Mates Live, and it wouldn’t have been nearly as fun without Lauren being there. Christina Lauren’s newest book, The Paradise Problem, is out May 14th. Preorder it now, and check out their tour schedule to go see them (they’re even more terrific in person) when they’re near you!
Solar eclipses are very cool, and Jen really should have gone home…. as it turns out, 95% is not anything like 100%! If you have the chance, you should go get in that path of totality. Jen’s brother Erik was at his office rooftop in downtown Cleveland and saw people getting married, and also took a very cool video at totality. New York earthquake twitter was pretty funny, too.
Jen, staunchly anti- virgin heroes since 2018.
Kevin Costner’s speech about luck from Bull Durham.
The book about women in the CIA is called The Sisterhood: The Secret History of Women at the CIA by Liza Mundy.
Books Mentioned This Episode
Sponsors
Pippa Grant, author of Until It Was Love,
available in special edition hardcover, paperback, audiobook, ebook or
with your monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited
and
Charis Michaels, author of Say Yes to the Princess,
available at Amazon, Apple, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, or
your local independent bookstore
and
Adriana Herrera, author of The Bootlegger’s Bounty,
available in print or ebook, or
with your monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited
Fated Mates Live -- Guest Announcement!
We are so so excited to announce our incredible guest lineup for Fated Mates Live in Brooklyn, NY, on March 23, 2024! Get tickets and more info at fatedmates.net/live!
We’ll be joined by some of our very favorites:
Kate Clayborn, Fated Mates five-timer and author of Georgie, All Along and the upcoming (three days after FML!) The Other Side of Disappearing.
Nikki Payne, author of Pride & Protest and the brand new Sex, Lies & Sensibility, and
One half of Christina Lauren! Lauren Billings (aka Ivy Owens) is coming from the other side of the world (ok, LA, but STILL) to join us—and just might have a few early copies of The Paradise Problem to share!
The Ripped Bodice will be on hand to sell books the night of, but we urge you to preorder your books (especially Kate’s latest, The Other Side of Disappearing, which is available early at this event exclusively) before you come at The Ripped Bodice, Brooklyn website! In addition to these amazing authors, we’ll be joined by some of our favorite people, in general, and by so many Firebirds! We’ve reserved the room at The William Vale for after the event so people can hang, make new friends, and meet the authors.
Get tickets and more info at fatedmates.net/live, and preorder books now from The Ripped Bodice!
S05.37: Fated Mates Live
In March, we had the absolute best time with some of our favorite people at Fated Mates LIVE in Brooklyn! Here, for your enjoyment, is the recording of the wacky, wild night, which we spent with 250 Magnificent Firebirds, including: Tessa Bailey, Andie Christopher, Adriana Herrera and Joanna Shupe, who took the opportunity to announce that evening that she also writes mafia romance as Mila Finelli (*GASP!*)!
We cannot stress this enough: Headphones in!
We were also joined by Amanda Litman, the co-founder and co-executive director of Run for Something, and by Erin Leafe, the host of our sister podcast, Learning the Tropes! Special shout out to Producer Pat from Learning the Tropes, who helped Eric get the whole event recorded beautifully. You can read more about the whole event at Brooklyn Magazine! [PDF here]
We’re approximating the experience of Fated Mates Live every day over on the Fated Mates Discord, which you can access by becoming a Patron of the podcast! Find out more at: fatedmates.net/patreon.
Books By Our Guests
Books Recommended By Our Guests
Fated Mates Live!
It’s happening LIVE, in New York City! Join Jen, Sarah, and an absolutely fire lineup of special guests for a Fated Mates LIVE recording, in person, in Brooklyn. Time to book tickets, flights, and make plans to spend the weekend in NYC with your romance loving friends!
The recording will take place Friday, March 24th from 7-9pm at the William Vale Hotel in Williamsburg, Brooklyn! A live episode extravaganza, the whole Fated Mates crew will be on hand for an episode with book recs, chats with some of our favorite people!
Click here for tickets. Tickets are $60 and include a $10 credit from WORD Brooklyn, to be used at the pop up romance bookshop at the event. There will be a cash bar and lots of time to hang with other Magnificent Firebirds!
If you are interested in staying the weekend at the William Vale, there is a small block of rooms availalbe. You must use this link for 20% off the regular king size room rate.
We can’t wait to see you there!
