S05.45: Emotional Navy SEALs: Divorced Main Characters in Romance Novels
After literal years of requests for this one, we’re finally tackling the divorced main characters in romance! We talk about romance between grown ups, about bad exes and good ones, about marriages that were mistakes and ones that help characters learn. This one is full of contemporaries and historicals, and you definitely don’t want to miss it.
After Sarah’s Knockout (preorder it signed, with exclusive FM swag, from her local bookstore), our next read along, the first of Season Six, 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
Jen saw Beyonce for the Renaissance Tour at Solder Field this week for the Renaissance Tour, and also Barbie and Oppenheimer, although not on the same day, so not the full Barbenheimer experience.
Divorce is becoming less common in America, but it might not be a good thing.
A folder with PDFs of this week's articles.
Books Mentioned This Episode
Sponsors
Andie James, author of Lost and Found by the Duke,
available in print and ebook, or with a monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited
and
Delphine Ross, author of The Poetics of Passion,
available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books
and your local independent bookstore
S05.44: New Romance Novels For Summer 2023
Today, we’re talking about books we’re excited about this Summer! We’re toppling TBRs with books you can get now, books you can preorder, books that are terrific beach reads, books that gave us big feelings, and books that made us really very happy. Enjoy!
For the readers in the group, preorder Sarah’s book, Knockout, now. For the writers in the group, register for her conflict class, at her website.
Our next read along, the first of Season Six, 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.
Books Mentioned This Episode
Sponsored By
Alyxandra Harvey, author of The Duchess Games,
available in print and audio, or with a monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited
and
Lumi Labs, creators of Microdose Gummies
use the code FATEDMATES for free shipping and 30% off your order
S05.43: Twilight by Stephenie Meyer with Christina and Lauren
We go back to the OG DNA of the contemporary boom of the early 2010s today, with a read along of Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight, with fabulous fan fic writers turned brilliant romance novelists, Christina Lauren. Christina and Lauren talk about the way the books inspired them to write, helped them find a community, and their fated mates (each other). Jen talks about reading Twilight as a middle school teacher, and Sarah talks about never reading it at all…until now.
Within, we’ll talk about characters feeling big feelings, about how Twilight inspired romance novelists across the board, about third acts that go hard, and about how Alice is unquestionably the best character in the whole thing.
Get Christina and Lauren’s most recent book, The True Love Experiment, wherever books are sold, and this week from Bookshop.org, where you get free shipping and help your local independent bookstore.
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 Christina and Lauren! After listening to them talk about Twilight, don’t forget to pick up their latest book, The True Love Experiment. We’ve had Christina and Lauren on a bunch of times to talk about FanFic, The Soulmate Equation, and the forced proximity trope.
Not sure of the exact article that Lo read about brain scans and married couples, but this seems like a good overview.
And a selection of some of our favorite articles about Twilight:
From The Atlantic: At Its Core, the ‘Twilight’ Saga Is a Story About
From Entertainment Weekly: The Twilight Effect
From The New York Times: Love and Pain and the Teenage Vampire Thing
From Slate: All 349 “Murmurs” in the Twilight Saga, Charted and Ranked
From Salon: Meet the Twilight Dildo Inventor
From Vogue: 56 Thoughts I had While Rewatching Twilight
From Vulture: The Most Horrific Twilight Character Backstories, Ranked by Absurdity and a video about The Rise and Fall of the Vampire Romance Craze in Film and TV.
A Google Folder with PDFs of this week's articles.
The Twilight Series
Sponsored By
Alyxandra Harvey, author of The Duchess Games,
available in print and audio, or with a monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited
and
Lumi Labs, creators of Microdose Gummies
use the code FATEDMATES for free shipping and 30% off your order
S05.42: The Bride by Julie Garwood: A Primordial RomCom
We were devastated to learn of the passing of Julie Garwood, honest to God romance doyenne, last month. Garwood installed many of our buttons, and the buttons of so many romance readers who came up reading “The Four J’s,” and, more importantly, paved the way for romcoms with her wonderfully funny historicals. She was, without question, a trailblazer. While we were unable to interview her for our trailblazer series, we couldn’t let her passing go without an episode, so please enjoy our read along of The Bride, which is a nearly perfect book even now, decades after she wrote it.
While our thoughts are with with Julie Garwood’s family, her friends, and the legions of readers she delighted over her long and legendary career, our endless gratitude is with Julie Garwood herself—for the laughter, the sighs, and the absolute bangers that were her books.
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.
Notes
We were devastated to learn about the death of romance great Julie Garwood. You can read her obituaries in the New York Times and the Washington Post. In 2022, Julie Garwood was a guest on the Smart Bitches Trashy Books podcast.
Are we at the end of the usable internet?
A google folder with PDFs of this week's articles.
Books Mentioned This Episode
Sponsors
Trilina Pucci, author of Knot So Lucky,
available now from Amazon, or with a monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited
and
Jessica Martin, author of The Dane of My Existence,
available now in print, ebook and audio from
Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple Books, Kobo,
or from your local independent bookseller.
and
The Smut Lovers Conference,
September 21-24 in Orlando, FL
Use the code FATEDMATES for 15% off all available tickets
S05.41 Worldbuilding in Romance Novels
We’re talking about worldbuilding this week, and you’re getting a glimpse into Jen and Sarah’s everyday non-podcasting romance chatter.
This one is for everyone — we talk about paranormal and historical romance, about what we think fantasy means when it comes to romance, and (most importantly) about how contemporary romance just might require the most worldbuilding of all of it?
Separately, Eric points out the irony of us referring to “two people in a phone booth” in an episode where we talk about how kids today don’t know about cassette tapes.
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
Donald Trump was indicted and was storing his documents, including some with nuclear secrets, in his bathroom at Mar-a-Lago.
Thread by Angus Johnson about ChatGPT and writing, which was in response to this article at PW about how AI will soon replace editors.
Sarah’s editor Carrie Feron says, “Your opening has to tell a story and leave the reader asking a question.”
A classic reaction video from Tim and Fred Williams to In the Air Tonight, Questlove was nervous about In the Air Tonight, and a terrific episode of Hit Parade about how Phil Collins changed the sound of drumming.
NPR did a terrific piece about Kennedy Ryan and why she’s so big right now, and we were briefly interviewed talking about her legacy.
Jen tries to make as many of those links as possible into PDFs! Thinking of you in the future times, wondering wtf we were talking about.
Books Mentioned in this Episode
Sponsors
Victoria Lum, author of The Coldest Passion,
available now from Amazon, or with a monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited
and
Avery Flynn, author of Anger Bang,
available now from Amazon, or with a monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited
and
Lumi Labs, creators of Microdose Gummies
Visit microdose.com and use the code FATEDMATES for free shipping and 30% your order
S05.40: STEM Heroines in Romance Novels
It’s heroines in science week here at Fated Mates! STEM heroines are having a resurgence in romance, in no small part because of the rise of “STEMinist romcoms” (citation: Ali Hazelwood and Elena Armas), but we’re talking about everything from astronauts and archeologists to explosives experts and healers and we’ve got a list of books we love throughout romance history. That, and we already talked about The Love Hypothesis earlier this season, so we’re filling your TBR with books you might not have found already. You’ll find historicals, contemporaries, and paranormals on this episode — pick your pleasure!
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
The Canadian wildfires have been exceptionally bad this year, and here’s why.
Climate change continues to impact the way we live now, including announcements from State Farm and other insurance companies that they will not be writing new homeowner’s insurance policies in CA. This was already happening in Florida.
What is a portmanteau?
What is a bluestocking?
A link to our episode recommending read-alikes for The Love Hypothesis, including some other recommendations for STEM heroines.
On Variety’s Actors on Acting series, Ellen Pompeo talked about how humiliating she thought it was to give the “pick me” speech.
A link to a folder with PDFs of links in this week's show notes.
Books Mentioned This Episode
Sponsors
Cara Dion, author of Undeniable,
available now from Amazon, or with a monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited.
and
Sonia Hartl, author of A Touch Magical,
available now from Amazon, or with a monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited.
S05.39: Trailblazer Mary Balogh
The Trailblazers conversations continue this week with historical romance juggernaut Mary Balogh, whose decades-long career has shaped the Regency romance in both category and single title. We talk about historical accuracy, about research, about love, about staying true to your voice and your purpose, and about who Mary Balogh thinks is writing at the top of the game (spoiler: we agree).
We are so grateful to Mary Balogh for making time for us, and for her beautiful books.
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.
Notes
Welcome trailblazer author Mary Balogh. She has written over 80 bestsellers and 37 of her books have been New York Times Bestsellers. Her forthcoming book, Remember Me, will be released next week on June 20, 2023. Preorder now!
Authors Mentioned Catherine Coulter, Barbara Hazard, Edith Layton, Joan Wolf, Mary Jo Putney, Joan Johnson, Jo Beverley
Publishing Professionals Hilary Ross at Harlequin and Claire Zion at Berkley.
Books Mentioned This Episode
Sponsors
Megan Frampton, author of His Study in Scandal,
available now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple Books, Kobo
and your local independent bookseller.
and
Stephanie Rose, author of The Marriage Solution,
available now from Amazon, or with a monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited.
S05.38: Prologues & Epilogues in Romance
It’s hard to believe it’s taken us this long to do a prologue and epilogue episode! We talk about beginnings and endings and why they exist and why writers should ignore every piece of broad strokes nonsense advice people want to throw at them. Jen says “Prologues are plot and epilogues are character,” and blows Sarah’s mind with her genius (jk, Sarah already knew she was a genius). And yes, we talk about babies. Fair warning!
This interstitial idea came from the Fated Mates Discord, which all of our patrons have access to. 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
You know, Animal Farm is a good book and King Lear is a good play.
There is a very cute family of foxes living in Chicago’s Millennium Park
Apparently this dogs and rosetone thing is a known issue.
Here is an example of the hardline “Prologues are Bad” stance. || ed note: I’m not mad about it, since I have some known hardline stances myself. Ahem. ||
Our list of things good romance prologues do: provide needed backstory, historical information, an inciting incident in the past, an unusual set-up, and showcasing the relationship between the primary characters.
Our list of things romance epilogues do: fan service, bringing the whole gang back together in a series,providing a glimpse into the other character’s POV, The HEA fulfilled, the babylogue, and surprise motherfuckers!
A link to a folder with PDFs of links in show notes.
Books Mentioned this Episode
Sponsors
Adriana Herrera, author of An Island Princess Starts a Scandal,
available now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple Books, Kobo
and your local independent bookseller.
and
Juniper Butterworth, author of Bewitched,
available now from Amazon, or with a monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited.
and
The Noveltea Shelf Assured Book Box,
available at novelteabooks.co
S05.37: Fated Mates Live
In March, we had the absolute best time with some of our favorite people at Fated Mates LIVE in Brooklyn! Here, for your enjoyment, is the recording of the wacky, wild night, which we spent with 250 Magnificent Firebirds, including: Tessa Bailey, Andie Christopher, Adriana Herrera and Joanna Shupe, who took the opportunity to announce that evening that she also writes mafia romance as Mila Finelli (*GASP!*)!
We cannot stress this enough: Headphones in!
We were also joined by Amanda Litman, the co-founder and co-executive director of Run for Something, and by Erin Leafe, the host of our sister podcast, Learning the Tropes! Special shout out to Producer Pat from Learning the Tropes, who helped Eric get the whole event recorded beautifully. You can read more about the whole event at Brooklyn Magazine! [PDF here]
We’re approximating the experience of Fated Mates Live every day over on the Fated Mates Discord, which you can access by becoming a Patron of the podcast! Find out more at: fatedmates.net/patreon.
Books By Our Guests
Books Recommended By Our Guests
S05.36: The Best Kisses in Romance
We’re talking kissing today! So simple and so powerful, there’s no doubt that that first kiss in romance is always an important one. This episode was inspired by our recent readalong of Her Best Worst Mistake, but we talk about some other great books (most of which we’ve talked about before) with truly excellent kisses. Enjoy…and tell us about your favorite kisses in books, movies, tv shows…wherever you get your superior smooching.
Notes
Kissing is the best, and we are obsessed with the first kisses from the following movies and TV shows: Maddie and David from Moonlighting, lots of Angel and Buffy kissing, jump in the wayback machine for Sam and Diane from Cheers, and more recently Jim and Pam from The Office.
The first gay kiss on network TV was on LA Law back in 1991.
In the 80s and 90s, we imprinted hard on movies with great kissing scenes: The primordial kiss that was Han Solo and Princess Leia in The Empire Strikes Back, the “No Kissing on the Mouth” from Pretty Woman and Jen forgot to mention another 90s classic, Poetic Justice with Tupac and Janet Jackson. Hello to that last scene from Never Been Kissed with Drew Barrymore. People have made entire YouTube videos of great movie kisses.
Why did people use a metaphor about “Rounding the bases” to discuss sex back in the day? Who knows!
Most of today's links are YouTube videos, but here are PDFs of the things that are text-based links.
Kissing Books
Sponsors
Meghan Quinn, author of Royally in Trouble,
available from Amazon, or with a monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited.
and
Megan Frampton, author of His Study in Scandal,
available now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple Books, Kobo
and your local independent bookseller.
and
Lumi Labs, creators of Microdose Gummies
Visit microdose.com and use the code FATEDMATES
for 30% off and free shipping on your order
