Jennifer Prokop 11/9/22 Jennifer Prokop 11/9/22

S05.09: Hold by Claire Kent: There is Nothing Soft in This Book

We’ve talked about this week’s read along so much it’s kind of impossible to imagine that we haven’t read it with y’all, yet! But here we are, finally cracking open Claire Kent’s brilliant novella, Hold. Set on a prison planet, this one dials forced proximity up to 11, and does the excellent job of answering just how horrifying a world can you write a romance in? The answer is very. Very horrifying. We talk about sex and consent and strength and humanity and how love blooms in even the darkest of places. Is it possible we needed this book this week? It sure is.

Content warnings for the book and headphones in for the episode, magnificent firebirds!

Get Hold at Amazon, free in Kindle Unlimited.

Thanks to the Meet Cute Bookshop in San Diego, CA and Lumi Labs, creators of Microdose Gummies, for sponsoring the episode. Visit the Meet Cute website to browse their Space Romance list, and use the code FATEDMATES for 30% your order at Microdose.com

Show Notes

If you like astrology, check out the CoStar app.
Claire Kent also writes as Noelle Adams. Hold was released in 2015 and is the first book in a series, the next books in the series are Release, Fall, and Rise.
It doesn’t take much digging to find out about the inhumanity and injustice of the American Justice System. It is absolutely unjust and racist to the core.
Alcatraz and Ellis Island are tourist destinations worth seeing, but also…who the fuck invented Alcatraz.
Emma on TikTok and abolitionism and romance. Also here. Just follow her!

Books Mentioned This Episode

Hold by Claire Kent

Release by Claire Kent

Fall by Claire Kent

Rise by Claire Kent

Guardian by Emmy Chandler

Hunter by Emmy Chandler

Grabbed by Vicious by Lolita Lopez

Caught by Menace by Lolita Lopez

S04.23: Fake Dating Romance

You can’t throw a stone in romance in 2022 without hitting a fake dating story, so we figure it’s time to do an interstitial on it! We’re talking about when it works, why it works, how it works, and by whom it works, so get your library cards ready because this one will topple your TBR! While this one is, as always, for the readers, there’s lots of goal/motivation/conflict here for the writers, too. Thanks for listening!

Fake Dating RomanceS

Hell Breaks Loose by Sophie Jordan

Hold by Claire Kent

Gigolo All the Way by JN Welsh

Fix Her Up by Tessa Bailey*

Island Affair by Priscilla Oliveras

Totally Engaged by Mina Esguerra

Like Lovers do by Tracey Livesay

Luck of the Draw by Kate Clayborn

A Caribbean Heiress in Paris

Written in the Stars by Alexandria Bellefleur

Worked Up by Tessa Bailey

The Penalty Box by Odette Stone

Beauty and the Baller by Ilsa Madden-Mills

Fake Fiancee by Ilsa Madden Mills

Notes

Hey, dating during the pandemic was, and still is, hard!
Sarah suggest that there are 3 questions an author must address for each character in order to make the fake dating plot work:
- Why is this happening/why is a fake relationship the only option?
- Why this person and not some other person?
- What happens if it all goes south?
In other words, what is the the stake, the thing the reader has to care about? In other words: goal, motivation, conflict.
One of our very earliest interstitials was on Escort romances, and another was on fake engagement/marriage of convenience, tropes that has a lot in common with fake dating.
#RomanceClass is the name for a group of authors from the Phillipines writing in English. You can learn more about the romance class authors and their story, which is strongly influenced by the fact that divorce is illegal in the Phillipines.
Fuck Me Gently with a Chainsaw is something from a very dark 80s teen movie called Heathers.
There is a Canadian equivalent to the Navy SEALs, it's called Joint Task Force 2. The Mounties (which stands for Royal Canadian Mounted Police) definitely do not have that same vibe, but here is a nice video of a gentleman talking about his the training of the RCMP dogs.