s07, interstitial, full-length episode Jennifer Prokop s07, interstitial, full-length episode Jennifer Prokop

S07:08 I Read Dead People: Ghosts, Morticians, and the Dead in Romance

This is a bit different than our usual Halloween adjacent episodes -- we're talking about the rise of romance centered around ghostly secondary characters (Jen) and funeral homes and mortuaries (Sarah). These two themes have become more and more prevalent in romance over the last few years, and we talk about how and why they've risen and what they might mean -- considering the way romance reflects the world we live in.

We talk about the pandemic, about grief, about community and about the way humor and love find their ways into the cracks left by death.

If you want more romance content, maybe you want to join our Patreon, where you get another episode from us each month, and access to the incredible readers and listeners and brilliant people on the Fated Mates discord! Support us and learn more at fatedmates.net/patreon.

Also! We stay phonebanking! Join us this Saturday and next to phonebank with fellow romance lovers. Jen & Sarah are joined by special guests who will knock your socks off! Learn more and register at fatedmates.net/fatedstates.

If phonebanking isn't your thing, we're also raising money for downticket house and senate races, because state legislatures may not be sexy, but they sure hold all the power. Learn more, and give what you can at fatedmates.net/givingcircle.


Show Notes

 

Books Mentioned This Episode

THE SPONSORS

Read More
read along, S07, full-length episode Jennifer Prokop read along, S07, full-length episode Jennifer Prokop

S07.06: The Everything I Left Unsaid duology

We're starting our Season 7 read alongs off with a bang! M. O'Keefe's Everything I Left Unsaid duology is some of the best contemporary romance out there, and if you need proof, here it is: The first book ends on a cliffhanger and it holds a prime spot on Jen's keeper shelf. We're talking about all the ways this book works, the way O'Keefe wields tension and description and narrative voice and point of view like an absolute master and delivers a series that is not only deeply representative of the contemporary romance of the mid 2010s, but also a near perfect example of how contemporary can fire on all cylinders. Clear your calendar, you're going to want to read all four books in this series back to back.

If you want more romance content, maybe you want to join our Patreon, where you get another episode from us each month, and access to the incredible readers and listeners and brilliant people on the Fated Mates discord! Support us and learn more at fatedmates.net/patreon.

Also! We're back on the phonebanking train this election season! Join us Saturdays between now and Election Day to phonebank with fellow romance lovers. Jen & Sarah are joined by special guests who will knock your socks off! Learn more and register at fatedmates.net/fatedstates. If phonebanking isn't your thing, we're also raising money for downticket house and senate races, because state legislatures may not be sexy, but they sure hold all the power. Learn more, and give what you can at fatedmates.net/givingcircle.


Show Notes

The Everything I Left Unsaid Series


Sponsors

Don't forget to keep listening for an audio excerpt of June Westwood's Grave Temptation, available in print, ebook, audiobook or with your monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited.

Read More
full-length episode, interstitial, S07 Jennifer Prokop full-length episode, interstitial, S07 Jennifer Prokop

S07.05: Some Light Kidnapping: Restraints are for Amateurs

An episode for the old school romance readers in the audience, we're talking about kidnapping this week! A trope that either absolutely works for readers (aka us) or absolutely doesn't, we talk about why that is, how the original romances of the 80s and 90s installed these buttons and how we still see the bones of old school kidnapping in delicious romances of today. That, and Jen reminds Sarah of books she wrote one time.

If you want more romance content, maybe you want to join our Patreon, where you get another episode from us each month, and access to the incredible readers and listeners and brilliant people on the Fated Mates discord! Support us and learn more at fatedmates.net/patreon.

Next week, our first read along of Season 7 will be Molly O'Keefe's Everything I Left Unsaid duology, selected by Jen which despite the first book being a cliffhanger should not surprise you because she contains multitudes. The second book is The Truth About Him. Read them both and get ready for Jen to talk to you for hours. You will thank us.

Also! We're back on the phonebanking train this election season! Join us Saturdays between now and Election Day to phonebank with fellow romance lovers. Jen & Sarah are joined by special guests who will knock your socks off! Learn more and register at fatedmates.net/fatedstates. If phonebanking isn't your thing, we're also raising money for downticket house and senate races, because state legislatures may not be sexy, but they sure hold all the power. Learn more, and give what you can at fatedmates.net/givingcircle.


Show Notes

 

Books Mentioned This Episode


The Sponsors

Read More
S07, interstitial, full-length episode Jennifer Prokop S07, interstitial, full-length episode Jennifer Prokop

S07.03: Wife Guys in Romance: Just look at Her!

There's a particular kind of romance hero who makes us feel all kinds of warm and fuzzy, because all he wants to do is stare in awe at his partner and tell everyone in the world to do the same. The Wife Guy is everything we love when it's done right, and we're so very excited to share a list of books that deliver this straight shot of serotonin every single time.

If you also love romance, maybe you want to join our Patreon, where you get another episode from us each month, and access to the incredible readers and listeners and brilliant people on the Fated Mates discord! Support us and learn more at fatedmates.net/patreon.

Our first read along of Season 7 will be Molly O'Keefe's Everything I Left Unsaid duology, selected by Jen which despite the first book being a cliffhanger should not surprise you because she contains multitudes. The second book is The Truth About Him. Read them both and get ready for Jen to talk to you for hours. You will thank us.

Also! We're back on the phonebanking train this election season! Join us Saturdays between now and Election Day to phonebank with fellow romance lovers. Jen & Sarah are joined by special guests who will knock your socks off! Learn more and register at fatedmates.net/fatedstates. If phonebanking isn't your thing, we're also raising money for downticket house and senate races, because state legislatures may not be sexy, but they sure hold all the power. Learn more, and give what you can at fatedmates.net/givingcircle.


Show Notes

Books Mentioned This Episode


Sponsors

Read More
full-length episode, S07 Jennifer Prokop full-length episode, S07 Jennifer Prokop

S07.02: Fall 2024 New Releases

Everything is new and crisp in the fall, as F. Scott Fitzgerald likes to say, and the romance novels are no different! We're starting to think about cozy fall reads under warm blankets with cider and pumpkin spice...and we're talking today about our massive autumn TBR piles! There’s something here for everyone — chefs, witches, sexy anthologies, vampires, sports, dragons, hot air balloons and, of course, dukes.

If you also love romance, maybe you want to join our Patreon, where you get another episode from us each month, and access to the incredible readers and listeners and brilliant people on the Fated Mates discord! Support us and learn more at fatedmates.net/patreon.

Our first read along of Season 7 will be Molly O'Keefe's Everything I Left Unsaid duology, selected by Jen which despite the first book being a cliffhanger should not surprise you because she contains multitudes. The second book is The Truth About Him. Read them both and get ready for Jen to talk to you for hours. You will thank us.

Also! We're back on the phonebanking train this election season! Join us on Saturdays between now and Election Day to phonebank with fellow romance lovers, Jen, Sarah, and special guests who will knock your socks off! Learn more and register at fatedmates.net/fatedstates. If phonebanking isn't your thing, we're also raising money for downticket house and senate races, because state legislatures may not be sexy, but they sure hold all the power. Learn more, and give what you can at fatedmates.net/givingcircle.


Show Notes

 

Upcoming Contemporary & YA Romances

 

Upcoming YA Romance

Upcoming Romantasy

 

Upcoming Historicals

 

Upcoming Romantic Suspense


The Sponsors

  • Aethon Books, publishers of KW Foster's A Curse of Breath and Blood, available in print or ebook.

  • Blue Box Press, publishers of J Kenner's Craved By You, available in print, ebook, and audiobook from Amazon.

  • Meghan Quinn, author of Bridesmaid Undercover, available in print or ebook or with your monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited.

  • Lumi Labs, creators of Lumi Gummies. Go to Lumigummies.com and use code FATED50 for free gummies with a limited time $50 off coupon, or use code FATEDMATES for 30% off.

Read More
S07, joy, full-length episode Jennifer Prokop S07, joy, full-length episode Jennifer Prokop

S07.01: The Magnificent (Season) Seven with Kate Clayborn and Adriana Herrera

Seven is heaven! Today, we are celebrating seven seasons of Fated Mates and this genre that we just can't get enough of with two people we just can't get enough of--Kate Clayborn and Adriana Herrera! We're talking about books, about the tropes we love, about the little bits of romance that make it the very very best. We're also thanking you for listening for seven seasons--and also being the very very best.

If you also love romance, maybe you want to join our Patreon, where you get another episode from us each month, and access to the incredible readers and listeners and brilliant people on the Fated Mates discord! Support us and learn more at fatedmates.net/patreon.

Our first read along of Season 7 will be Molly O'Keefe's Everything I Left Unsaid duology, selected by Jen which despite the first book being a cliffhanger should not surprise you because she contains multitudes. The second book is The Truth About Him. Read them both and get ready for Jen to talk to you for hours. You will thank us.

Also! We're back on the phonebanking train this election season! Join us on Saturdays between now and Election Day to phonebank with fellow romance lovers, Jen, Sarah, and special guests who will knock your socks off! Learn more and register at fatedmates.net/fatedstates.


Show Notes

Welcome Kate Clayborn and Adriana Herrera, we’ve had both of them on more episodes that we can count. Kate’s latest book is The Other Side of Disappearing, and Adriana’s is An Island Princess Starts a Scandal. 

 

Books Mentioned This Episode


The Sponsors

Anybody can say "good girl." But can you execute "good girl?"
Read More
full-length episode, interstitial, S06 Jennifer Prokop full-length episode, interstitial, S06 Jennifer Prokop

S06.49: Mafia Romance Reasons

This week, we're back to Mafia books, because it's been a few years since we've tackled this one and the landscape has changed drastically. We're talking about the appeal of the organized criminal, the way the genre is the direct descendant of the Medieval romance, and the fact that it underscores some of the deepest seeded patriarchy in the genre--for good and bad. Sarah shows off the Italian and the Italian American in her past, and tells a few stories about people and places she doesn't name because did she see anything? No she didn't.

If you wish you had six more days in a week of people talking about romance, may we suggest joining our Patreon? Aside from an additional episode every month you get access to our Discord, where 1000 other romance readers are talking about books they love (and many other things!) all the time. It’s so fun! Learn more about the Patreon and go join those cool people who love romance as much as we do at patreon.com/fatedmates.


Show Notes

Back in 2020, we recorded our first mafia romance interstitial with author Nisha Sharma, that season we also had a dark romance interstitial, and those two genres have only become more popular over time.

If you’re interested in the real life story of how Providence RI was a hotbed of organized crim activity, check out season one of the Crimetown Podcast. But every town has their famous mobsters: Al Capone in Chicago, John Gotti in New York, etc, etc. As Jen was preparing show notes for this episode, she discovered there is a Mob Museum, The National Museum of Organized Crime and Law Enforcement in Las Vegas, so add that to your bucket list. 

Lorenzo Lamas was a favorite 80s Hottie, and the movie The Shawshank Redemption had a very important scene with a tunnel behind a movie poster.

Watch this scene with the horse head and tell Jen she didn’t NAIL it with her impersonation of the guy’s scream. Part of the reason he sounds so horrified…that head was real and he didn’t know it?!?!? 

Apparently Joseph Campbell said, “Women don't need to make the journey. In the whole mythological journey, the woman is there. All she has to do is realize that she's the place that people are trying to get to.” And well, we hate it. You might be interested in reading The Heroine’s Journey by Gail Carriger if you would like to learn more about other ways stories can be organized, and also The Heroine with 1001 Faces by Maria Tatar.

 

Books Mentioned This Episode


The Sponsors

Read More
full-length episode, read along, Sarah's Books, S06 Jennifer Prokop full-length episode, read along, Sarah's Books, S06 Jennifer Prokop

S06.48: Wicked and the Wallflower

It's coming up on the end of Season 6, and that means we're talking about one of Sarah's books! We're finishing up (or beginning?) the Bareknuckle Bastards series today with a deep dive of Sarah's Wicked and the Wallflower, the first in her Bareknuckle Bastards series--part Rumplestiltskin retelling, part Peaky Blinders fic, all justifiable face punching and ode to the darkness. This is the series she loves the best, and Jen just might agree.

You can get Wicked and the Wallflower in print, ebook and audiobook at: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple Books, Kobo, or wherever you get your books. It's also currently free with your monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited.

If you wish you had six more days in a week of people talking about romance, may we suggest joining our Patreon? Aside from an additional episode every month you get access to our Discord, where 1000 other romance readers are talking about books they love (and many other things!) all the time. It’s so fun! Learn more about the Patreon and go join those cool people who love romance as much as we do at patreon.com/fatedmates.


The Books


The Notes

Wicked and the Wallflower was so early in the life of the podcast that we didn’t do a deep dive, so here you go! You can follow up by listening to deep dives of Brazen and the Beast and Daring and the Duke, both available wherever you get your books, and free with your monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited.

Last week, Sarah and Jen were at Steamy Lit Con in Anaheim. There was a terrific panel on the 30th anniversary of the publication of Beverly Jenkins's Night Song. Artist Shannon Donahue made a very cool sketch of the panel, which along with Beverly Jenkins included Jeanne Lin, Adriana Herrera, Diana Quincy, and Alyssa Cole.  

Some of the influences on Wicked and the Wallflower include the fairy tale of Rumpelstiltskin, Tommy Shelby from Peaky Blinders, the 99% Invisible podcast about Perfect Security, the Disney movie Frozen, and Gavin Weightman's The Frozen Water Trade

This is only the most recent dive into the the MacLeaniverse. See below for all seven episodes.

.

The Sponsors

Read More
bantr, full-length episode, S06 Jennifer Prokop bantr, full-length episode, S06 Jennifer Prokop

S06.46: Romance and The New York Times Best 100 Books List

This week, we are doing something a little different, talking about the New York Times's Best 100 Books of the 21st Century, a list that Sarah was asked to contribute a ballot for. We talk about how Sarah made her list, what she put on it, and why...and why we think there are no romance novels on the final top 100 list.

Don't fret, though -- on the Discord, FM listeners have started collecting nominations for the 100 Best Modern Romance Novels (since the publication of The Flame and the Flower)! Join the group to submit your own nominations and vote on the final list throughout August.

We're coming up on the end of Season 6 (what?! how!?), which means a deep dive of one of Sarah's books, even though she doesn't have a new one this year! We're talking Wicked & the Wallflower, the first of her Bareknuckle Bastards series. Get it at: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple Books, Kobo, or wherever you get your books.


After Hours on Milagro Street, Again the Magic, Bet Me, Circe, Dark Needs at Night's Edge, Forbidden, Georgie All Along, Hana Khan Carries On, A Heart of Blood and Ashes, and Ravishing the Heiress

The 10 books that appeared on Sarah’s ballot.

The Notes

In between the recording of this episode, about two hours after Biden dropped out of the race, and the time we released it on Wednesday: Kamala Harris has locked up the delegates for the nomination and raised 100 million dollars from small donors, a majority of whom are first time donors.

Click here to express your interest in joining us for Fated States phonebanking. If you’re an author who is looking to donate books, please fill out this form.

We’re mad at Aaron Sorkin for writing a boneheaded oped in the New York Times, which was truly the dumbest thing, and then retracting it later.

The New York Times Best 100 Books of the 21st Century list is interesting, not only for the list itself but for how it was made. If you don’t want to go to the New York Times site, You can see the entire list on Goodreads or Instagram. You can see Sarah’s ballot and those of other authors and literary luminaries, as well, and they also compiled a reader’s list. You can also listen to the New York Times Books Podcast for discussion of the process and the final product!

Sarah Jessica Parker is a big reader who loves libraries.

We still don’t actually know who Elena Ferrante is, so it's not officially not Scott Turow's sister.


The Sponsors

Read More
AMA, full-length episode Jennifer Prokop AMA, full-length episode Jennifer Prokop

S06.45: Our Favorite Episodes, Tropes we Love, and Books that Take the Finger

Jen and Sarah are together at last (again), and we’re taking your questions! Listen as we revisit some of our favorite past episodes of the podcast, as we discuss our favorite books with our least favorite tropes, and recommend a bunch of books that take the finger. We’re also talking about historical romance, and why it remains an absolute bop.

We're coming up on the end of Season 6 (what?! how!?), which means a deep dive of one of Sarah's books, even though she doesn't have a new one this year! We're talking Wicked & the Wallflower, the first of her Bareknuckle Bastards series. Get it at: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple Books, Kobo, or wherever you get your books.


Show Notes

 

Books Mentioned this Episode


The Sponsors

  • Blue Box Press, publishers of Audrey Carlan's The Marriage Auction, Season 2, available in print or ebook from Amazon.

  • Lucy Score, author of The Body in the Backyard: A Riley Thorn Novel, available in print, ebook or audiobook, from Amazon.

  • Jess K. Hardy, author of Lips Like Sugar, available in print or ebook from Amazon.

  • Liana De la Rosa, author of Isabel and the Rogue, available in print, ebook or audiobook from Amazon, Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, or wherever you get your books.

Read More

S06.42: Witch Romances (are not just for Halloween)

Who says it has to be Halloween to celebrate witches? It’s 2024 and frankly, we could do with a few more powerful, spell-casting women around here. We’re talking about our favorite witch romances, many of which (see what we did there) have nothing at all to do with spooky season! There are rumors of a new Practical Magic in the air, which (ope!) makes us extremely happy, and we’re just trying to decide which (!!!) of these fabulous books to reread this week. We’re going deep into romance history to talk about why witches are so compelling, why they’re perfect for a light, frothy romance, and why magic in the hands of men doesn’t hit the same way.

We are the weirdos, Mister.

If you wish you had six more days in a week of people talking about romance, may we suggest joining our Patreon? Aside from an additional episode every month you get access to our Discord, where 1000 other romance readers are talking about books they love (and many other things!) all the time. It’s so fun! Learn more about the Patreon and go join those cool people who love romance as much as we do at patreon.com/fatedmates.


Show Notes

If you liked the post-it note situation in The Fall Guy, or the low-tech pre-post it note version from Romancing the Stone, Aqua Notes may be for you. 

Today banter portion was very into “Great Lakes, Great Times.” If you would like to talk to Sarah about the Wisconsin fish boil from Top Chef, please take that up with her and leave Jen out of it. Or travel across Lake Michigan on the SS Badger ferry. (But you cannot drive across Texas in one day). 

The entry point for witches tends to the fun, silly ones: Bewitched and Hocus Pocus, but also because it’s the realm of women, we love movies like Practical Magic, The Witches of Eastwick, and The Craft. Willow’s arc on Buffy the Vampire Slayer goes from rom-com witch to strong witch to evil witch. Here’s a critique of Yennefer’s transformation in The Witcher.

Emily Alexander and Heidi Rehwaldt host a Nora Roberts podcast called Romancing the Shelf, so check it out if you love La Nora!

The Winchester Mystery House in California is pretty wild and worth going on a tour!

Listen to Iris Johansen’s Trailblazer episode.

Books Mentioned This Episode


Sponsors

Blue Box Press, publishers of
C. Travis Rice’s Sapphire Dawn,
available in print, ebook, or with your monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited

Lumi Labs, creators of Lumi Gummies.
Go to Lumigummies.com and use code FATED50
for free gummies with a limited time $50 off coupon.
Or use code FATEDMATES for 30% Off.

and

Grand Central Publishing, publishers of
Iris Johansen and Roy Johansen’s Flashback,
available in print, ebook, or audiobook at
Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books or your local bookseller

Read More
full-length episode, read along, S06 Jennifer Prokop full-length episode, read along, S06 Jennifer Prokop

S06:41: The Devil of Downtown (Yeah, He Is) by Joanna Shupe

We are talking about a full on banger this week — Joanna Shupe’s The Devil of Downtown, which is Sarah’s favorite of the Uptown Girls series (Jen is a The Prince of Broadway fan, but honestly, all three are basically perfect). We love this one so much, you’re about to get an hour or so of squeeing and sighing — Jack Mulligan is everything you could possibly want in a romance hero, Justine Greene is the do goodingest do gooder who ever was, and the way they adore each other is enough to wreck you. If you haven’t read this one yet, do yourself a favor and go read the whole series right now…Joanna Shupe proves that historical romance is everything you want.

If you wish you had six more days in a week of people talking about romance, may we suggest joining our Patreon? Aside from an additional episode every month you get access to our Discord, where 1000 other romance readers are talking about books they love (and many other things!) all the time. It’s so fun! Learn more about the Patreon and go join those cool people who love romance as much as we do at patreon.com/fatedmates.


Show Notes

The Uptown Girls Series


Sponsors

Dr. Melissa Dymond, author of Paging Dr. Hart,
available in print or ebook, or
with your monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited

Mary James Ketch, oil painter
find her new series of paintings and prints,
Book Lovers, at her online studio

Pocket Books Shop in Lancaster, PA
Check out their new $40 Swoony Subscription Box for a monthly delivery of brand new, hand-selected romance novels and access to a discussion Discord. July’s box includes
TRIPLE SEC by TJ Alexander, 
FOR REAL by Alexis Hall, and
A LIAISON WITH HER LEADING LADY by Lotte R. James

Read More

S06.40: Siblings in Romance Novels

We’re talking about brothers and sisters as secondary characters in romance today — by popular demand from listeners, it’s our sibling episode! We get to the bottom of why we all love secondary siblings—the overbearing olders, the wild child middles, the delightful youngers, the equally handsome and broad shouldered boys, the snarky, stunning girls, and everyone else who’s ever caught our eye and made us say “now where’s there book?!” We tackled complicated relationships, shared history and the perfect fantasy of family that romance delivers so well.

Next week, we’re reading Joanna Shupe’s The Devil of Downtown, from her Uptown Girls trilogy. There are sisters! Also, it’s Jen’s favorite in the series and an absolute banger. Get it at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple or your local indie.

If you wish you had six more days in a week of people talking about romance, may we suggest joining our Patreon? Aside from an additional episode every month you get access to our Discord, where 1000 other romance readers are talking about books they love (and many other things!) all the time. It’s so fun! Learn more about the Patreon and go join those cool people who love romance as much as we do at patreon.com/fatedmates.


Show Notes

We’ve done twins, and we’ve done siblings’s best friend, but this time we’re talking about plain old siblings in romance. We’re definitely not talking about anything Tangled Lies adjacent this time.

If you want the deep dives we mentioned, they are Preferential Treatment, Gentle Rogue and Devil’s Bride.

Illinoise is playing on Broadway if you’re in New York this summer. 

They’ll be a meet-up at Steamy Lit Con for us with our listeners, details coming soon! 

There’s a dark romance podcast called Trigger Warning you might want to check out, and in case you want to read that romance with mummification but no cheating, it’s Dead Love by Audrey Rush 

The Orphan X book with the evil killer siblings is Prodigal Son.

In case you have ever wondered about the provenance of the beloved Fated Mates phrase, “take the finger” this is an episode where Sarah talks about the book that inspired it.

Books Mentioned This Episode


Sponsors

Frederick Smith, author of One and Done,
available at in print or ebook from
Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, or wherever you get your books

Aethon Press, publishers of SK Horton’s The Concealed,
available in print, ebook or audiobook, or with
your monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited

Avon Books, publishers of Alexandria Bellefleur’s Truly, Madly, Deeply,
available at in print, ebook, or audiobook from
Amazon, Apple, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, or wherever you get your books

Read More

S06.39: Summer 2024 Reads

School’s out for Jen’s summer and Sarah’s in the final stretch so we’re dreaming of romance beach reads and talking about our massive summer TBR piles! There’s something here for everyone — hot librarians, superheroes, heists, funeral homes, wedding planners and baseball players and F1 drivers and, of course, dukes.

Our next read along is Joanna Shupe’s The Devil of Downtown, from her Uptown Girls trilogy. It’s Jen’s favorite in the series. Get it at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple or your local indie.

If you love a fire hose of romance recommendations, may we suggest joining our Patreon? Aside from an additional episode every month you get access to our Discord, where 1000 other romance readers are talking about books they love (and many other things!) all the time. It’s so fun! Learn more about the Patreon and go join those cool people who love romance as much as we do at patreon.com/fatedmates.


Show Notes

Maybe men shouldn’t cover the WNBA, tbh. 

All about The electric slide.

You can follow DodoTheBookBitch on Instagram; follow Sarah there to see the scratch-off TBR poster. 

Jacque is one our romancelandia faves, and she has a Pride reading challenge for you all. RomanticallyInclined is on Threads reading books with fewer than 100 reviews all through June.  

For reviews in advance of publication, your best bet is Kirkus (Jen reviews for them), but you can also try Booklist or Publisher’s Weekly. We also talked about NetGalley and Edelweiss to discover upcoming books.

If you’re in NYC, don’t miss the launch event for Liana de la Rosa’s Isabel and the Rogue next week! She’ll be at The Ripped Bodice with Sarah and Adriana Herrera…and Sophie Jordan will be there, too! Tickets and info here.

Books Mentioned This Episode


Sponsors

Blue Box Press, publishers of Lexi Blake’s My Royal Showmance
available in print, ebook or audiobook from
Amazon, Apple, Barnes & Noble, Kobo or wherever you get your books

Lotte R James, author of A Liaison with Her Leading Lady,
available at in print, ebook, or audiobook from
Amazon, Apple, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, or wherever you get your books

Ava Miles, author of A Very Un-Shakespeare Romance,
available at in print or ebook with
your monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited

Read More

S06.38: Curvy Heroines #3: Curvy Girls Get Railed in Carriages, Too

One of our most popular interstitial topics, we had to come back for a third run at Curvy Heroines this month in celebration of Bridgerton-mania online and our absolute delight that we finally get to see Penelope get that handsome man who is just back from his long trip to glow-up-land (we deserve nice things, and so do curvy heroines)! Sarah’s talking exclusively about historicals today, and Jen is bringing new-to-the-pod authors to the table…all that, and we’re naming the six historicals Sarah’s written with curvy heroines (There’s also a contemporary! Check the photo array, below). This one is a lot of fun.

Our next read along is Joanna Shupe’s The Devil of Downtown, from her Uptown Girls trilogy. It’s Jen’s favorite in the series. Get it at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple or your local indie.

Happy anniversary to our founding Patreon members — May marks one year of our Patreon and our Discord! We love you a whole lot. Learn more about the Patreon and go join those cool people who love romance as much as we do at patreon.com/fatedmates.


Show Notes

You can visit the Sleeping Beauties Exhibit at the Met, which sounds pretty fascinating, is there all summer through September 2nd. 

All about smelling salts, Kardashian levels of rib removal which is called tight lacing, Each and Every brand deodorant, and retinol. If you’re interested historical fashion and lingerie, follow Cora Harrington on twitter, she wrote about corsets on her blog back in 2012. If you’re interested it watching a guy talking about cologne, here is link to Joshua Godfrey, the guy with the labyrinth tattoo and his journey

If you loved Fury Road, you should read Blood, Sweat, and Chrome, which is the story of how the movie was made. Here’s a supercut of Tom Hardy grunting.

If you missed the first two Curvy Heroines episodes, you can catch up here and here.

Books Mentioned This Episode


Sponsors

Felicia Grossman, author of Wake Me Most Wickedly
available in print or ebook from
Amazon, Apple, Barnes & Noble & Kobo

Lucy Score, author of The Dead Guy Next Door,
the first book in the Riley Thorn series,
available at in print, ebook, or audiobook with
your monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited

Amita Murray, author of Unladylike Rules of Attraction,
available in print, ebook, or audiobook from
Amazon, Apple, Barnes & Noble & Kobo

Read More

S06.36: The Romance Matriarchy: Moms, Grandmothers, and Aunties

We don’t often talk about secondary characters in romance, but this week, we’re talking about the women who provide wisdom, council and laughs in romance—moms, grandmothers and aunties! We talk about the shocking epidemic of orphaned main characters in romance, about how extended family provides nuance in the books, and about our very favorite mothers, grandmothers, aunties and adopted older ladies in books.

Thanks to all the women who provide care and sage advice out in the world. We appreciate you.

Our next read along is Joanna Shupe’s The Devil of Downtown, from her Uptown Girls trilogy. It’s Jen’s favorite in the series. Get it at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple or your local indie.

Happy anniversary to our founding Patreon members — May marks one year of our Patreon and our Discord! We love you a whole lot. Learn more about the Patreon and go join those cool people who love romance as much as we do at patreon.com/fatedmates.


Show Notes

Crush, the new apple ad is honestly so bleak, and the backlash was so extreme that they pulled the ad. Look how easily they could have made it cool, though.

The Matriarchy isn’t just a dream, as it turns out.

The Gaza Evacuation Fund Auction raised $160,000 and it’s not too late to donate to one of the funds of people trying to get to safety.

 

Books Mentioned This Episode


Sponsors

Elle Kennedy, author of The Dixon Rule,
available in print, ebook or audio from
Amazon, Apple, Barnes & Noble, Kobo & your local indie

Sophie Sullivan, author of Love Naturally,
available in print or ebook from
Amazon, Apple, Barnes & Noble, Kobo & your local indie

Aethon Books, publisher of A.N. Skye’s Keeper of Scarlet Petals,
available in print or ebook, or with
your monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited

Read More
full-length episode, interstitial, S06 Jennifer Prokop full-length episode, interstitial, S06 Jennifer Prokop

S06.35: All About Dukes (in Romance)

This one is for our historical lovers! We’re talking about everyone’s favorite title — Dukes! We get to the bottom of many duke questions, including: Why so many? Why are they always dukes? What’s wrong with princes? How do these guys make their money anyway? What’s with all the normies inheriting dukedoms? What about duchesses? And more! Please remember that everything we are about to say is romance fact. Don’t @ us with real life fact. We don’t want it.

Happy anniversary to our founding Patreon members — it’s one year of our Patreon and our Discord today! We love you a whole lot. Learn more about the Patreon and go join those cool people who love romance as much as we do at patreon.com/fatedmates.


Show Notes

The tree thing about pollen and allergens is called botanical sexism (god it’s everywhere) and this claim, like all things, is complicated. 

Defining the title of duke.  What are the corn laws or the laws about chimney sweeps? You don’t really care—it’s just fossils. 

The Reformed Rakes podcast had a recent episode about pregnancy.

The Unites States Congress is comprised of incredibly wealthy people

In 2009, Tatler got 10 of the 24 living non-royal dukes to sit down for lunch. There’s a photo. It’s exactly what you would expect. This 2021 article from Tatler lists the 4 living single dudes that either are or will be a duke. Shoot your shot, ladies.

Question: has Sarah really written more dukes than fewer?
A Duke: Eleven Scandals to Start to Win a Duke’s Heart, No Good Duke Goes Unpunished, The Rogue Not Taken, A Scot in the Dark, The Day of the Duchess, Daring and the Duke, Heartbreaker, The Duke of Christmas Present, and A Duke Worth Falling For (9)

Not a Duke: Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake, Ten Ways to be Adored When Landing a Lord, A Rogue by Any Other Name, One Good Earl Deserves a Lover, Never Judge a Lady by Her Cover, Wicked and the Wallflower, Brazen and the Beast, Bombshell, and Knockout (9)

Books Mentioned this Episode


Sponsors

Louisa Darling, author of
The Matrimony Trap available in ebook from
Amazon, Apple, Barnes & Noble & Kobo

Faye Delacour, author of The Lady He Lost,
available in print or ebook from
Amazon, Apple, Barnes & Noble & Kobo
or wherever you get your audiobooks.

Beth Gelman, author of Always Falling Behind,
available in print or ebook, or with
your monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited

and

Stephanie Rose, author of Second Time’s the Charm
available in print or ebook, or with
your monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited

Read More

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

Read More

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

Read More

06.31: Romance Novels and Film Adaptation with Yulin Kuang

This week, we’re talking about film adaptation and romance novels with Yulin Kuang, filmmaker and romance novelist. We discuss her work as both a screenwriter and director (she’s writing and directing the adaptation of Emily Henry’s Beach Read), and her debut romance novel, How to End a Love Story, set inside the writers room on a television show between the author of the books the show is adapting (the heroine) and one of the writers in the room (the hero). We talk about why romance adaptations are so difficult to find, why they don’t often hit quite like we expect, and we pitch a few books we’d like to see Hollywood take a crack at.

If you just can’t get enough of us, consider joining our Patreon! You get an extra episode of banter every month and access to the Fated Mates discord, full of people who love romance as much as we do. It’s pretty great, we have to say. Learn more at patreon.com/fatedmates.


Show Notes

Mr. Sunshine is the name of the K-Drama that Jen’s friend Sunhee recommended, but also everyone loves Crash Landing on You.

If you’re in New York City, you can see Sarah and Yulin together in conversation Thursday, April 11, at The Ripped Bodice in Brooklyn. Get tickets here.

Find and follow Yulin Kuang at her website.

Books Mentioned This Episode


Sponsors

Avery Maxwell, author of Love Notes and Lifelines,
available in print, ebook or
with your subscription to Kindle Unlimited
and
Mila Finelli, author of Mafia Devil,
available in ebook, or
with your monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited.

Read More