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
Wicked and the Wallflower by Sarah MacLean
Brazen and the Beast by Sarah MacLean
Daring and the Duke by Sarah MacLean
The Day of the Duchess by Sarah MacLean
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
Kayla Grosse, author of Silver Foxed, available in print, ebook, and audiobook, or with your monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited.
1001 Dark Nights, publishers of Lexi Blake's The Bodyguard and the Bombshell, available in print, ebook, and audiobook from Amazon
Leslie Hachtel, author of Come Back to Me, available in print, ebook, or with your monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited.
Serena Akeroyd, author of Broken, available in print, ebook, or with your monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited.
S06.07: Happy Halloween: Devils in Romance Novels
Jen’s been asking for this for six literal years, and we’re finally doing it! It’s Halloween and we’re talking Devils! Sure, we’ll touch on demons, but aren’t the scariest Devils the granite-jawed feelingless scoundrels who are definitely never going to fall in love? We’re talking Wicked Cynsters in Winter, Scoundrels of Downtown, Deals in Bed with Hades. You’re going to love it. All trick, no treat.
If you want more Fated Mates in your life, please join our Patreon, which comes with an extremely busy and fun Discord community! Join other magnificent firebirds to hang out, talk romance, and be cool together in a private group full of excellent people. Learn more at patreon.com.
Show Notes
The Las Vegas Aces won the WNBA championship for the second year in a row, and twitter was actually fun for a few days.
Jen ranted about this dumb Washington Post article about Lee and Andrew Child.
We have some documentaries to recommend: Sarah liked Beckham on Netflix and Jen liked The Supermodels on Apple Plus. Linda Evangalista’s “We don’t get out of bed for less than $10,000 a day” has aged better than Kate Moss’s, “Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels.” Either way, GenX has some body issues.
Devils are just morality chain when you think about it.
There actually is a place in VA called the Devil’s Bathtub! I wonder if there are any camps nearby.
Here’s a handy explainer on the difference between homophones, homographs, and homonyms from the good people at Merriam-Webster. Looks like Cynster and Sinister would be homophones.
Speaking of Cynsters, listen to our deep dive of Devil's Bride.
Here’s the video about the audiobook of Unhinged.
Are you in Florida? Sarah will be at the Off the Page Book Festival in Sarasota in November.
Books Mentioned This Episode
Sponsors
Monique Fisher, author of Hot for Teacher,
available at Amazon, or with a monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited
and
Alyxandra Harvey, author of The Countess Caper,
available at Amazon, or with a monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited
and
Megan Montgomery, author of Undertaking Love
available at Amazon, or with a monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited
S05.47: Fairy Tale Retellings with Zoraida Córdova
We’re talking fairytale retellings today with Zoraida Córdova, the author of Kiss the Girl, a new retelling of The Little Mermaid. We talk about the responsibility of authors when they tackle retellings, about the relevance of fairytales in the world, about the history of fairytales, and about why they resonate so powerfully with us as authors and readers.
After Sarah’s Knockout (preorder it signed, with exclusive FM swag, from her local bookstore), our next read along will be Laura Kinsale’s Flowers from the Storm. Get it at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple Books, Kobo or from your local indie.
If you want more Fated Mates in your life, you are welcome at our Patreon, which comes with an extremely busy and fun Discord community! Join other magnificent firebirds to hang out, talk romance, and be cool together in a private group full of excellent people. Learn more at patreon.com.
Show Notes
Welcome back, Zoraida Córdova. She was on the podcast back in Season 3 talking about fantasy romance. Kiss the Girl is a Little Mermaid retelling, and the third book in the Meant to Be series. You can check out her other mermaid books, a YA series that starts with The Viscous Deep, or the forthcoming anthology Mermaids Never Drown.
Are we billionaires from winning the MegaMillions? Probably not. But if we did, Jen is planning to renovate the Jackson Park Beach House. The great thing about helping refugees and immigrants is you can do something about that even if you haven’t won the lottery.
Books Mentioned This Episode
Sponsors
Chloe Angyal, author of Pas de Don’t
available now at Amazon, B&N, Kobo & Apple Books.
Use the code FATED25 at chicagoreviewpress.com for 25% off your order.
Jess Bryant, author of Unbreakable Bond,
available at Amazon, or with a monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited.
Melanie Harlow, author of Hideaway Heart,
available at Amazon, or with a monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited.
Preorder Sarah’s Knockout at
Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books,
at your local independent bookstore, or signed with goodies and
special edition Fated Mates stickers from her
local independent bookstore, WORD in Brooklyn.
S03.27: Retellings in Romance Novels with Kate Clayborn
We are joined by the fabulous Kate Clayborn — the first in the Fated Mates five-timer club! — to talk about about retellings in romance and to celebrate the launch of her new book, Love At First, which you can get wherever books are sold. We talk about the difference between retellings and homages, about Shakespeare and mythology and retellings of classic texts versus modern ones. And of course, we fill your TBR.
Whether you're new to Fated Mates this month or have been with us for all three seasons, we adore you, and we're so grateful to have you.
Next week, we're back with a read along of Mary Balogh's A Matter of Class, a short historical novel. Get it for only $2.99 at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple Books, Kobo or Google Books.
Show Notes
Welcome Kate Clayborn, our first five-timer. She was with us for the Best Friend’s Sibling Interstitial, Kresley’s The Player, the Sickbed Scenes Interstitial, Derek Craven Day 2021, and today’s interstitial on Romance Retellings.
Texas and the rest of America got hit with some espically bad winter weather this February. This is climate change.
Kate released Love at First this week, which is an homage to Romeo and Juliet. Kate’s 2020 book, Love Lettering, is an Overdrive read. Get it today with no wait!
Dr. Jill Biden loves Valentine’s Day.
JK Rowling is a problem, and it’s changed the way many Harry Potter fans think about her books.
Yes, yes, the English Teacher memes are so funny. Well take that.
Tl;dr: archetypes are about character,while retellings are about plot.
In Where Dreams Begin, Zachary Bronson is a hero that follows the Beast archetype, and Jen saw it in the scene where Holly first enters his house.
Story can be a safe way to explore terrifying ideas about society and people. For example, both La Llorona and Medea are about mothers who kill their children, but have a kind of distance that the story of Andrea Yates does not.
Dr. Jennifer Lynn Barnes writes about storytelling and the universal ID.
Maybe you don't know about the story of Salman Rushdie and the fatwa against him for his novel The Satanic Verses.
Our next read along episode will be A Matter of Class by Mary Balogh.
Music
Retellings from Literature
Retellings of Fairy Tales
Retellings from Pop Culture
S02.43: Daring & the Duke: It's Grace and Ewan Week!
Sarah has a new book out, so Jen is playing host this week, and Sarah is playing guest, and Jen is really outrageously good at it…move over Terry Gross! Find Daring & the Duke wherever books are sold, including Amazon, Kobo, B&N, Apple Books, Books-a-Million, or at your local indie via Bookshop.org.
Show Notes
You can listen to all of our walk-up music suggestions on the Fated Mates Spotify playlist. But in case you've never seen The Music Man, the song Marian the Librarian is very cute.
Sarah wants to be a guest on Fresh Air. (Jen obviously does, too, but has to actual cause to be interviewed. So #TeamSarah.) Do we know anyone who knows Terry Gross?
If you can't wait, you can listen to us on the Deerfield Public Libary podcast, but we're going to drop it into our own feed later this month. So no worries.
Jen thinks Sarah is in her imperial period--a phrase Jen learned from listening to the Hit Parade podcast.
The past year have had some great books about rage and feminism: The Seven Necessary Sins for Women and Girls, Good and Mad, and Hood Feminism are three we recommend.
We put children in factories all day, so of course kids fought, too. Sarah recommends The Fair Fight, a historical novel, about bareknuckle fighting kids.
Statler & Waldorf are the two old dudes up on the balcony during The Muppet Show.
The Victorian Age wasn't so great for women and other marginalized people.
That Jeffrey Epstein documentary is on Netflix.
Ewan's year-long break was inspired by The Player.
The myth of Apollo and Cyrene, and also a little about neo-classicism. One of our favorite myth retellings of the past few years, is Circe by Madeline Miller. Jessica Avery presented a paper at the Popular Culture Association about mythology in Sarah's books.
The Master's Tools will Never Dismantle the Master's House is the name of the essay by Audre Lorde. You should read it.
