S07.19: Back in Time with Harlequin Blaze
We're getting into the romance time machine and setting the course for 2001, when Harlequin decided that those Temptations could get scorching hot and become a Blaze. We scoured ebay for boxes and boxes of old Blazes, dug deep into the back catalogues of our Kindles, and are celebrating the OG one-handed read, the Harlequin Blaze. We had a great time, but we knew what to expect -- if you need content warnings, make sure you check them. And let us know if you want us to explore some other category lines!
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.
Our next read along is Julie Anne Long's What I Did For a Duke, available in print, ebook and audio at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books or wherever you get your books.
Enter the Macmillan Audio sweepstakes to win one of five free audiobook copies of Amy Buchanan’s Let’s Call a Truce
SHOW NOTES
Sarah is teaching her beginner Start Your Romance Today class virtually on February 23rd at 1pm eastern.
What is a category romance? Maybe you should listen to our episode from season 5.
The Blaze line, from 2001-2017, was a spin off from the Harlequin Temptation line. The Kimani romance line ran from 2006 to 2019.
We had an episode about Tiffany Reisz’s Men at Work trilogy, a 2016 Blaze series, back in season 4.
Join Sarah with Rebecca Romney at The Strand’s rare book room on Feb 18, 2025 to celebrate the release of Rebecca’s book, Jane Austen’s Bookshelf.
Jen is SCREAMING because the sequel to Certified Male? You guessed it.
If you read Hot Island Nights first, go back and check out Her Best Worst Mistake.
Harlequin shared it’s guidelines for writing Blazes at tryblaze.com.
Flash animation from blazeauthors.com circa 2004.
Books Mentioned This Episode
A selection of readers’ thoughts about the Blaze line from a piece in the August 2000 issue of Romantic Times Magazine. From Rob Imes’s Unofficial ROMATNIC TIMES Index.
The Sponsors
J. Winifred Butterworth, author of A Bloomy Head, available in ebook from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books or wherever you get your books.
Jill Shalvis, author of Better than Friends, available in print, ebook or audiobook from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books or wherever you get your books.
Macmilllan Audio, publishers of Let's Call A Truce, by Amy Buchanan, and read by Charlotte North, available from Audible, Kobo, Apple, Barnes & Noble, Libro.fm or wherever you get your audiobooks.
Enter the Macmillan Audio sweepstakes to win one of five free copies of this audiobook.
Maureen Lee Lenker, author of His Girl Hollywood, available in print, ebook or audiobook from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books or wherever you get your books.
S07.18: Winter 2025 New releases: The Quarterly Edging Episode
We're toppling TBR piles and preorder lists today with our quarterly "Books we're excited to read" list! We're name-checking more than 50 romance novels we're looking forward to, and looking forward to hearing about the ones you're waiting for, too!! If you're a romance novelist and have a book coming this year, please head over and fill out this Google form to let us know!
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.
THE SHOW Notes
Los Angeles, we are thinking of you.
After our very silly firefighter episode, we chatted with magnificent firebird and wildland firefighter, Emma, who gave us the lay of the land as a woman firefighter. While it was originally available only to patrons, you can now listen to that conversation on YouTube.
Emma recommends the following resources: the Grassroots Wildland Firefighters account on Instagram, and you can make donations to the Wildland Firefighter Foundation. If you are looking for factual, reliable information, check out the website of the National Interagency Fire Center, inciweb is the national situation report with information from wildland firefighters. If you are looking to make donations to aid those impacted by the fires, we recommend World Central Kitchen, Baby2Baby, the Pasadena Humane Society, and Octavia’s Bookshelf which has details mutual aid collection efforts on their Instagram. The Ripped Bodice has free wifi and period products .
If you have a 2025 release you have written or you are a reader looking forward to something this year, please use our handy form to submit books for upcoming episodes in spring, summer, and fall.
For more Romantasy recs, follow Jen’s friend Gabriella Guava on Instagram.
Our friends at Pocket Books have a standing 15% discount on all preorders with code PREORDER.
January 2025 Releases
February 2025 Releases
March 2025 Releases
The Sponsors
Jamie P. Bradley, author of 3000 Reasons to Stay, available in print or ebook from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books, or wherever you get your books.
1001 Dark Nights, publishers of Love Rekindled: A Second-Chance Romance Collection from Tessa Bailey, Sawyer Bennett, Alexandra Ivy, Corinne Michaels, and Kennedy Ryan. Available in print or ebook, or with your monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited.
Jenni Bara, author of Mother Maker, available in print, ebook or audiobook, with your monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited, or wherever you get your books.
S07.17: The Proposition by Judith Ivory
Happy New Year, Magnificent Firebirds! We don’t know what 2025 is going to bring, so we’re starting with a bang—the long awaited deep-dive of Judith Ivory's The Proposition, featuring that rakish rat catcher, that ferret-loving firebrand, the man himself, Mr. Mick Tremore! We’re talking sexual tension so overwhelming it makes a girl cry, horse-faced ladies who bring men to their knees, kissing on omnibuses and legs! All that, and Sarah and Jen disagree heartily on the issue of mustaches, but agree heartily that lionhearted virility is the energy we want this year.
Get the book at your local independent bookseller, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books or Amazon.
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
We did some holiday movie watching, as one does: Moonstruck, Sleepless in Seattle, and some scenes in particular were great to watch with our kids, the bus scene in Almost Famous and the underwear scene in Bridget Jones’s Diary.
Lil Romance and I also watched When Harry Met Sally. There’s a new book called Nora Ephron at the Movies you might like, and this TikTok is great. Sometimes I just find cool stuff when I’m working on show notes, like this 2014 article from The Cut about the visual storytelling in When Harry Met Sally.
A rolodex, including Marie’s portable version.
Sarah was wrong about Nightime radio host Delilah, but you know. We aren’t apologizing for anything in 2025.
Judith Ivory published 6 historicals, and then another 4 as Judy Cuevas.
The Proposition is a Pygmalion/My Fair Lady retelling with a side of Trading Places.
Do we think the dormouse is Ravishing the Heiress was inspired by Mick?
Legs is a ZZ Top song
Judith had the following to say about the book when it came out: “I was in a particularly up and happy time. I fell in love with Mick myself as he began to take shape on the page. I loved Winnie. Such a sweet, vulnerable human being. The book was a joy to write, and I'm not surprised that it shows. It was fun. Probably the best time I've ever had writing a book. [..] It's nice to know I have this big old happy piece to me.”
The Sponsors
Mila Finelli, author of Empire of Temptation, available in print, ebook, audiobook or with your monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited.
A.E. Merriweather, author of Marin in the Moonlight, available in print, ebook or audiobook, from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple Books or wherever you get your books.
Max Monroe, author of What I Should've Said, available in print, ebook or audiobook at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, from your local indie, or with your monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited.
S07.16: Hear Me Out: New Year’s Romance Eve 2024
It's New Year's Eve, and we're ringing it in with our standard silliness, this year with brilliantly funny duo Adriana Herrera and Nikki Payne, playing the current internet sensation game, Hear Me Out, where we share the people, illustrations, and vibes that can get it in our respective corners of the world.
While there is no specific call for headphones in on this episode, you may choose to wear them to save yourself having to explain what exactly you're listening to!
If you are looking for something a bit more headphones in, you should try one of our past episodes!
In 2021 we released the Season 2 Ted Lasso Roy Kent lovefest on New Year's Eve, but we were still pandemic-ing, so please don't blame us for the detour in brand that year.
Our first read along of 2025 is Judith Ivory's The Proposition, a terrific Pygmalion retelling and one of Sarah's favorites. Find it at your local independent bookseller, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books or Amazon.
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
Nikki Payne and Adriana Herrera are friends of Fated Mates, but they are also the hosts of their own romance podcast, Unbound Pod. The first season was all about the Western and was six episodes. You can listen on all the podcasting apps. Preorder Adriana’s upcoming release, A Tropical Rebel Gets the Duke or go see her on tour.
This TikTok thing, who knows what will happen!
Hear Me Out is a fun meme, but in our case, no cakes were involved.
”That’s not my praxis” is a funny thing to say in a text thread.
Sorry Bambi’s Dad, from Abe Froman, the sausage king of Chicago.
Listen, everyone was hot in Romeo + Juliet, so they aren’t in the photo array below. But the real ones know. Same with the NBA: Angel Reese and DiJonai Carrington, no need to convince people about it!
HEAR US OUT FROM ADRIANA, JEN, NIKKI, AND SARAH
The Sponsors
Meghan Quinn, author of The Path to Loving Him, available in print, ebook or with your monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited, on January 7th.
Avon Books, publisher of Jillian Meadows's Give Me Butterflies, available in print, ebook or audiobook, at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books or from your local indie.
Kayla Grosse, author of Axes & Os, available in print, ebook or audiobook, or with your monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited.
Kate Cole, author of Under Construction, available in print, ebook or audiobook at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or from your local indie.
S07.15: Holiday Romances for 2024: Put It in the Lilly Library
It's the holiday season, which means holiday romance!! This year, we're talking about Princes of Christmas falling for heirs to Halloween, Hanukkah treats, retellings ofThe Holiday, sexy cabins in the woods, second chances, Harlequin Presents, and yes, an online site called OnlySantas. It's truly something for everyone!
We are taking next week off, but we’ll be back with some special guests for our annual New Years Eve episode, which promises to be a banger. In the meantime, we hope you get everything you want from whomever you believe in.
After New Years, our first read along of 2025 is Judith Ivory's The Proposition, a terrific Pygmalion retelling and one of Sarah's favorites. Find it at your local independent bookseller, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books or Amazon.
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
It’s the most wonderful time of the year. We’ve had lots of previous episodes around the winter holidays, as well.
Rare book dealer Rebecca Romney was on the podcast back in season 4, talking about how to collect books. You an read the catalogue for her collection, The Romance Novel in English, which was sold to the Lilly Library at Indiana University. You can see an exhibit of this collection, called Love in the Library, in Bloomington, Indiana through early February of 2025.
The real line from Pulp Fiction is “check out the big brain on Brad.” Balls obviously had nothing to do with it.
Here’s a pretty solid overview of all the different ways to get audiobooks into your earholes without breaking your wallet.
Two very funny posts on Threads about category romance, one from Kate Clayborn and Amanda Cinelli’s reply.
Sweetest Day isn’t even a real holiday, unless you’re from Cleveland, that is.
The Holiday (2006) is a great movie and everyone is rewriting this plot this year for some reason.
Support your local indie by using Bookshop.Org to buy this week’s books in print.
Books mentioned this week
The Sponsors
Lumi Gummies, THC gummies available nationwide. Go to Lumigummies.com and use code FATED50 for free gummies with a limited time $50 off coupon, or use code FATEDMATES for 30% off.
Sophie Lark, author of Brutal Prince, available in ebook or with your monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited.
Avon Books, publisher of Ally Carter's The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year, available in print, ebook or audiobook, at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books or from your local indie.
Lark Maitland, author of Ash and the Butterfly, available in print and ebook at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, or from your local indie.
S07:14 Excellent 2024 Debut Romance Novels
We're so excited to be talking about some of the bright new voices in romance this week -- every book we talk about in this episode is a debut romance from 2024. We're introducing you to eighteen new authors, all of whom you'll be able to meet years from now and say, "I've been reading you from the beginning!"
From chefs to film directors, baseball players to librarians, spies to playwrights, there's a little something here for everyone. You're going to love it.
Guess what? There's a debut romance in the Fated Mates Best of 2024 Book Pack from our friends at Pocket Books Shop in Lancaster, PA! There's still time to order...and get a box of our favorite books of the year and support booksellers at a fantastic indie bookstore all at the same time!!
If you want to talk romance more ofte, maybe you want to join our Patreon? You get an extra monthly episode from us and access to the incredible readers and brilliant people on the Fated Mates Discord! Support us and learn more at fatedmates.net/patreon.
Our next read along is Judith Ivory's The Proposition, a terrific Pygmalion retelling and one of Sarah's favorites. Find it at your local independent bookseller, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books or Amazon.
Show Notes
It’s not too late to buy the Fated Mates best of 2024 box available from Pocket Books Shop in Lancaster, PA.
Jen was on Reset with Sonali Dev and Bryn Donovan, a Chicago public radio show on WBEZ.
Jackwagon, defined.
Take a look at the feelings wheel.
The Prom, a broadway show.
Sneakers, a movie.
You can support your local indie bookstore by shopping this week’s books on bookshop.org
Books mentioned this episode
The Sponsors
Book of the Month, bringing the best new fiction to your door. Go to bookofthemonth.com to pick a book and join. For a limited time, you can get your first book for just $5 with code TINSEL! Remember to tell them Fated Mates sent you!
Pippa Grant, author of The Worst Wedding Date, available in ebook or with your monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited.
Lydia Lloyd, author of When the Viscount Wanted Me, available in print, ebook or audiobook, at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books or from your local indie.
S07.13: Getting Pearl Jammed: Romance After 40
Let's talk about the over 40s and how they deserve love, too! This week, we're diving into what the industry calls "seasoned" romance, though we're not wild about this phrasing and prefer "Women over forty can get it!" We're talking about romances where, yes, the heroines are older, but they still get to go on adventures, in and out of the bedroom...and with rock stars and incubi, even!
If you were shouting book names at your car stereo during this episode and want to shout them at other people, maybe you want to join our Patreon? You get an extra monthly episode from us and access to the incredible readers and brilliant people on the Fated Mates Discord! Support us and learn more at fatedmates.net/patreon.
Books Mentioned This Episode
Notes
We had an episode about Daddy romance and age gap romance, but that’s not what this episode is about, this one is about characters over 40. Basically, if you loved Pearl Jam’s Ten, then you are probably the age of the characters in this episode. Now that “spicy” is used to describe sexy books, the word seasoned seems less useful.
Veteran’s Day, Armistice Day, and how the wikipedia editors are making war on AI slop.
Allie Parker is the host of the Romance Ever After podcast, and she recently suggested “the next wave of historical romance would be the 80s and 90s,” but there’s been way more historical romance kerfuffles happening since then.
Sandra Antonelli is a key advocate for romance with older characters. Her site has an essay called Ignored and Misrepresented, which describes why characters over 40 should be leads and not stereotypes.
This NYTimes article answers a pressing question: Why Do So Many Women Wear Giant Eyeglasses?
A new name for middle aged folks: the sandwich generation.
Sponsors
Book of the Month, bringing the best new fiction to your door. Go to bookofthemonth.com to pick a book and join. For a limited time, you can get your first book for just $5 with code TINSEL!Remember to tell them Fated Mates sent you!
Jenni Bara, author of Finding Out, available in ebook or with your monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited.
Avon Books, publishers of Julie Murphy and Sierra Simone's A Jingle Bell Mingle, available in from your local independent bookstore, Kobo, Apple Books, Barnes & Noble or Amazon.
Kayla Grosse, author of Axes & Os, available in print, ebook or audiobook, or with your monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited.
S07.12: Bookstores and Booksellers
It's Thanksgiving week in the United States, which means capitalism! We're skipping (mainly) the talk of the midnight electronics runs, and heading straight to Small Business Saturday, when your local independent bookseller is doing their very best to put great books in your hands. Ever been in your local bookstore and thought -- I wish this place was the setting of a romance novel? We've got you, friends.
We talk about the magic of bookstores, about the importance of small businesses, about bookshops as sites for revolution, and about the appeal of running your own little shop around the corner. And we recommend a bunch of books that are...honestly? Charming AF.
Want more indie bookstore content? Support some booksellers at a bookstore we really love by purchasing the Fated Mates Best of 2024 Book Pack from our friends at Pocket Books Shop in Lancaster, PA. Don’t forget to tag us on Instagram or Threads or Bluesky when you unbox!
If you were shouting book names at your car stereo during this episode and want to shout them at other people, maybe you want to join our Patreon? You get an extra monthly episode from us and access to the incredible readers and brilliant people on the Fated Mates Discord! Support us and learn more at fatedmates.net/patreon.
Our next read along is Judith Ivory's The Proposition, a terrific Pygmalion retelling and one of Sarah's favorites. Find it at your local independent bookseller, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books or Amazon.
Notes
A guide to upcoming shopping holidays, because America: Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, Cyber Monday, and Giving Tuesday.
Some more info about the best time to buy a TV. Returning a perfectly good item after you’ve used it for a holiday (do we call the Super Bowl a holiday?? Probably, if Taylor Swift is in attendance.) is called “wardrobing.” Back in 2018, LL Bean changed their famous lifetime return policy.
I guess if you need some Chicago stuff, you should check out The Silver Room, and you can use Bookshop.Org to find a local indie bookstore to support.
It’s not called Library Thing (that’s an app to catalog your own library), what Jen was talking about is the Library Extension.
WTF, You’ve Got Mail, the 90s what an innocent time. You've Got Mail is a retelling of the 1940s Jimmy Stewart, Margaret Sullivan film The Shop Around the Corner which, incidentally, is a perfect movie for a lazy holiday weekend with several generations in attendance.
Books Mentioned This Episode
The Sponsors
Book of the Month, bringing the best new fiction to your door. Go to bookofthemonth.com to pick a book and join. For a limited time, you can get your first book for just $5 with code STUFFED before December 2nd, and TINSEL anytime in December! Remember to tell them Fated Mates sent you!
Sara Cate, author of Keep Me, available in print, ebook or audiobook from your local independent bookstore, Kobo, Apple Books, Barnes & Noble or Amazon.
Blue Box Press, publishers of Darynda Jones's Graveyard Dog, available in print, ebook, and audiobook from Amazon.
Melissa Dymond, author of Holiday Wedding, available in print or ebook from your local independent bookstore, Barnes & Noble or Amazon.
S07.11: The Best romance novels of 2024
The Best Romance Novels of 2024! This is our favorite episode of the year, where we get to shout at you about the terrific books we read this year, and tell you all the ways romance continues to excite us.
It's the best and worst job, because we get to shout about books we love, but we are limited to only ten! And choosing ten favorites is very difficult! That said, we persevered, and here they are: Ten books we loved, books that delivered all the things we love in romance: bold heroines, big heroes, banter, complexity, conflict, impossible situations, and stories that swing for the fences. You're going to love these books.
This year, you can buy the Fated Mates Best of 2024 Book Pack from our friends at Pocket Books Shop in Lancaster, PA, and get eight of the traditionally published books on the list and a Fated Mates sticker! A Love Song For Ricki Wilde (hardcover) and Lips Like Sugar (independently published) can be added to the box for an extra fee. As always, you can add other 2024 books by some of our favorite people (or a signed Sarah MacLean book!) to the box if you’d like.
We love the idea of you gifting yourself this box (you deserve it!), but maybe you’d like to slide into someone’s text messages with the link as a very excellent gift for you! Or…you can do what Sarah does, and buy the box and spread the love around—sending each of the books to someone on your list. Let us know what you end up doing with these fabulous books, and don’t forget to tag us on Instagram or Threads or Bluesky when you unbox!
Check out our “Best Romance Novels” lists from previous years: 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, and 2019. (We were 5 minutes old in 2018 and didn’t do a list that year), and please tell us what your favorite books of 2024 were!
If you want other people to discuss this list with, maybe you want to join our Patreon? You get an extra monthly episode from us and access to the incredible readers and brilliant people on the Fated Mates Discord! Support us and learn more at fatedmates.net/patreon.
Our next read along is Judith Ivory's The Proposition, a terrific Pygmalion retelling and one of Sarah's favorites. Find it at your local independent bookseller, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books or Amazon.
the best romance novels of 2024
The Sponsors
Avon Books, publishers of Sarah A. Parker's When the Moon Hatched, available in print, ebook or audiobook from your local independent bookstore, Barnes & Noble, Apple Books, Kobo or Amazon.
Vi Keeland, author of Bossman, available in print, ebook or audiobook from your local independent bookstore, Barnes & Noble or Amazon.
Lois Templin, author of Heart of the Hawk, available in print or ebook from your local independent bookstore, Barnes & Noble or with your monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited.
Melanie Greene, author of Common Ground, available in ebook from Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books or Amazon.
S07:10 Comfort Reads and Finding Solace in Romance
Like many people, we don't know what to say this week, and whatever we might have said probably wouldn't have been very eloquent, so we've decided to talk about something we know about: Comfort reading and the way romance provides us solace, peace and hope.
This week's books are our old reliables--books that we turn to again and again for a reminder that love triumphs, hope sings and romance is resolute. We're so happy you're here; we are, too, for as long as you'll have us.
If you want more romance content, maybe you want to join our Patreon, where you get another episode from us each month, and access to the incredible readers and listeners and brilliant people on the Fated Mates discord! Support us and learn more at fatedmates.net/patreon.
Our next read along is Judith Ivory's The Proposition, a terrific Pygmalion retelling and one of Sarah's favorites. Find it at your local independent bookseller, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books or Amazon.
Show Notes
We’ve talked about “Break in Case of Emergency” reads on an episode back from 2022, and comfort reads with Dani Lacey back in 2020.
Kaitlyn Greenidge sent out a substack with her 2016 interview with Dorothy Allison, who died this week.
Pat the Producer and Clayton have a podcast called The BO Boys, and a few weeks ago they recorded a live episode with guests Sean Donnelly and Brett Arnold. The question was: are we okay?
If you happen to be in Chester, Connecticut, visit the romance bookstore Montgomery & Taggert. You should just call them directly and order that romance card game called Romance vs. The World.
Follow Fated Mates on BookBub, you can select your preferred eBook platform and get emails when books we’ve recommended go on sale. You can also follow Sarah for information about her books and upcoming releases..
Books Mentioned This Episode
The Sponsors
Max Monroe, author of Meet Me at Midnight, available in print or ebook from Amazon or with your monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited.
Blue Box Press, publisher of Heather Graham's The Ghost of a Chance, available in print, ebook or audiobook from Amazon.
Jaime P. Bradley, author of Wait: A 3000 Series Novella, available in print or ebook from Barnes & Noble, Kobo, or Amazon.
Lumi Gummies, THC gummies available nationwide. Go to Lumigummies.com and use code FATED50 for free gummies with a limited time $50 off coupon, or use code FATEDMATES for 30% off.
