Jennifer Prokop 1/25/23 Jennifer Prokop 1/25/23

S05.19: Homecoming Romance with Kate Clayborn

Seven-timer Kate Clayborn returns to the Fated Mates studio (lol, jk there is no studio) to talk about about going home again in romance and to celebrate the launch of her new book, Georgie All Along, which you can get this week wherever books are sold! We talk about all the ins and outs of homecoming romances, what sends characters back to the beginning, what readers expect from these books, why they hit so hard and in so many ways, and how this trope intersects with small town romance. All that, and Sarah’s brought an X,Y chart to class.

Notes

Welcome Kate Clayborn. Her newest release, Georgie, All Along came out yesterday. She’s been on Fated Mates so many times because we love to talk to her about romance. You can listen to them all here, but considering the time of year, might we recommend the 2021 Derek Craven Day episode?
In case you forgot what your English teacher told you about theme.
Here's Sarah's chart, as promised. Also, you can learn about all about the X and Y axis. And the Z axis. And coefficients. So mathy this week!

Books Mentioned This Episode

Georgie, All Along by Kate Claybron

Love at First by Kate Clayborn

Heaven, Texas by Susan Elizabeth Phillips

Ain't She Sweet by Susan Elizabeth Phillips

Again the Magic by Lisa Kleypas

Return to Cherry Blossom Way by Jeannie Chin

After Hours on Milagro Street by Angelina M. Lopez

Beauty and the Baller by Ilsa Madden Mills

Simply Irresistible by Jill Shalvis

Sweet Home Cowboy by Maisey Yates

Home at Last by Lily Everett

The Road to Rose Bend by Naima Simone

In a Jam by Kate Canterbary

A Lot Like Adios by Alexis Daria

Fury on Fire by Sophie Jordan

The Legend of Lyon Redmond by Julie Anne Long

A Rogue by Any Other Name by Sarah MacLean

The Earl Takes All by Lorraine Heath

It Takes Two to Tumble by Cat Sebastian

The Arrow by Monica McGarty

Taking the Heat by Victoria Dahl

Beach Read by Emily Henry

The Bollywood Bride by Sonali Dev

Delilah Green Doesn't Care by Ashley Herring Blake

S05.04: What to Read If You Liked The Love Hypothesis...

Today we start one of our new features for Season Five: If You Liked…Read This! We begin with Ali Hazelwood’s The Love Hypothesis, a book that took romance and BookTok by storm last year when it burst onto the NYT best seller list and hung out there for nearly a year, bringing so many new readers (and Reylos!) to romance.

This one is full of tropes romance loves, and we take them topic by topic, recommending read alikes for everything from grumpy/sunshine, to academic romance, to STEM heroines, to that spicy sex scene that was a delightfully unexpected surprise! That, and we’ve got a bunch of Reylo fic recommended from Ali herself (check the end of show notes)!

Notes

Tattoos are expensive!
ReyLo is the ship name for Kylo Ren and Rey from the Star Wars movies. And the actor who plays Kylo Ren is Adam Driver.
All about Pansexuality.
Censorship on TikTok is so widespread is has its own wikipedia page, which makes it rife for misinformation about sex and sex education.
Small point of order, Jen was at the LPI (Lunar and Planetary Institute), which is close to the Johnson NASA Space Center in Houston. Obviously, she wasn’t at the JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory), because that’s in California.