Jennifer Prokop 1/17/24 Jennifer Prokop 1/17/24

S06.18: Firefighter Romance Novels

Is it getting hot in here? It is! We’re talking about firefighters this week — arguably the best of the hero(in)es in uniform because, let’s face it, there’s something pretty sexy about someone who will run into flames to save a stranger…let alone to save you. We’re talking about primordial firefighters, about patriarchy (obviously), about the difference between city firefighters and smoke jumpers, and about about the nature of a love interest who puts themself in danger for a living. All that, and they can dead lift you, too.

Our first read along of 2024 is Natalie Caña’s A Dish Best Served Hot. Find it at Amazon, B&N, Apple Books, Kobo or your local indie.

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

You can watch some movies and shows about firefighters and paramedics: Backdraft, Chicago Fire, and Sky Med.

Here’s a snipped of the scene from Backdraft where they break a car window to get the hose to the hydrant.

Wildland firefighting is dangerous and often underpaid, and the Marshall Project has written extensively on prisoners forced into these jobs. Also, here is a first person account of two men who used emergency fire shelters to survive a wildfire.

Firefighting demographics are actually pretty bad in Chicago, and here’s a libguide (a library designed portal for collecting links/info on a certain topic) from the University of Illinois about this history of women in firefighting.

Too bad about Charmed by the Alien Vampire Firemen!

Books Mentioned This Episode

Flirting with Fire

Playing with Fire

Down in Flames

Heat Exchange

Hero

Passion Ignited

Seeing Red

Blue Smoke

Heating up the Holidays

Firefighters

Set on You

Anchored Hearts

Talk Dirty to Me

Strike a Match

Fanning the Flames

Hottie Scottie and Mr. Porter

S04.29: Nora Roberts: Trailblazer

The Trailblazer episodes continue this week with the Queen herself! Nora Roberts joins us today to talk about her longstanding career in romance—from her extremely relatable roots as a mom going mad in a snowstorm, to her deep rooted work ethic, to the plagiarism that rocked the publishing world. We talk about her place in the romance pantheon, about the reasons she thinks her books are so beloved, and about that one time her publisher called to tell her she was writing too much.

It was an absolute pleasure to have Nora Roberts personally explain things to us; we’re beyond grateful to her for making time for Fated Mates.

For more Nora Roberts content, Listen to our Born in Ice deep dive episode from Season 2!
Full transcription now available.

Thanks to Piper Rayne, authors of Sneaking Around With #34, and Kenya Goree-Bell, author of California Love, for sponsoring the episode.

Our next read along is Diana Quincy’s Her Night With the Duke, which was on our Best of 2020 year-end list! Get it at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple Books, Kobo, or at your local bookstore. You can also get it in audio from our partner, Chirp Books!