full-length episode, read along, S05 Jennifer Prokop full-length episode, read along, S05 Jennifer Prokop

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

 

Books Mentioned This Episode

Sponsors

This week’s episode of Fated Mates is sponsored by:

Meet Cute Bookshop in San Diego, CA
visit their website at meetcutebookshop.com.

and

Lumi Labs, creators of Microdose Gummies
visit their website at microdose.com,
and use the code FATEDMATES for 30% off and free shipping!

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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!

This episode is sponsored by Isla Moore, author of The Jennifer Files, and BetterHelp Online Therapy.

Our next read along will feature some of Sarah’s favorite quick & dirty books by London Hale, the pen name of authors Ellis Leigh and Brighton Walsh. Their Temperance Falls series is full of kinks and tropes and HEAs and while we won’t be talking about all ten books, we’ll definitely be talking about a few of them, including Nanny With Benefits, Reunion, Daddy’s Best Friend and Sarah’s favorite, Talk Dirty to Me. The whole series is free in KU.


Show 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 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.

Fake Dating Romance Novels

*The Fix Her Up audiobook is currently on sale for $5 at Chirp. Visit our Audiobook Deals page for more.


Sponsors

This week’s episode of Fated Mates is sponsored by:

BetterHelp online therapy.
Fated Mates listeners get 10% off their first month at betterhelp.com/fatedmates.

and

Isla Moore, author of The Jennifer Files, available free in KU.
Visit Isla at islamoore.com, or follow her on
Instagram at @islamoorebooks or Twitter at @islabooks.

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