S07.25: Sci-fi Romance: There’s No Book Banning in Space
Maybe you're rooting for the asteroid, but you gotta have a plan! To help, this week, we're keeping track of what romance is looking like off-planet--it's Romance! In! Space! (Part 2, but the first episode we did was six years ago, so we figured it's time.) Headphones in, loves, this one covers space scavengers, aliens, anatomy, crash landings, abductions, talking lions and people in Space Army (what happens in Space Army stays there, unless it's here).
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.
Show Notes
Bad news: the asteroid can’t save us, so we’ll just have to save ourselves.
You can read Jen’s newsletter here, she’ll be writing about the grand gesture in Fiasco next.
We did space romance back in season 1, Claire Kent’s Hold back in season 5. And speaking of Claire Kent, she’s been writing dystopian books lately that you might want to check out.
Insane colonialist fantasies are running rampant in the USA right now, so we don’t really need them in our romance, now do we….
You’re a virgin who can’t drive.
All about the legendary imprint Ellora’s Cave.
Our next read along is What I Did for a Duke by Julie Anne Long.
Eric’s old friend Elaine Walker has a lot of songs about space.
Divinyls has a great one, too. 👇
Books Mentioned This Episode
Sponsors
Chandra Wicke, creator of The Happily Ever After Sociey: A Book About Romance Novels. Back the Kickstarter.
Yvette de Oro, author of Mine to Match, available in print or ebook, or with your monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited. Enter to win the Mine to Match giveaway on Yvette’s Instagram by making a donation to your local foodbank — winners will win a copy of her book and a matching gift to the foodbank of their choice!
Amy Spalding, author of On Her Terms, available in print, ebook, audio, from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple Books or wherever you get your books.
Elle Kennedy, author of The Charlie Method, available in print, ebook or audiobook, or with your monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited.
S07.24: He’s *Not* a Billionaire
It's been the longest month of our lives and as self-care, we're not thinking about billionaires this week (or at least for the duration of this episode). Instead, we're talking about those men who are rich in other ways, in throwing a punch, chasing a tornado, camping, playing an instrument, you get it. We've got a bunch of books we love and not a ten-figure bank account to be seen!
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.
Enter the Macmillan Audio sweepstakes to win one of five free copies of the audiobook of Charlotte Stein's My Big Fat Fake Marriage.
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.
Show Notes
There have always been rich people in romance, but we think it could be argued that Christian Grey and 50 Shades invented the billionaire romance trope/subgenre.
Jen started writing a newsletter, leaning back into the romance reader “and critic” part of the job. You can check it out here. It’s free and who knows how long it will last.
Bobby Tom is the hero of Heaven, Texas by Susan Elizabeth Phillips.
If Jen refers to something being “a basic” please know she is referring to a line from Strictly Ballroom.
Maybe you want to learn about a rookery.
Anti-miscegnation laws in the United States prevented people from marrying someone of a different race.
Storm chasing seems honestly like a very dangerous activity. There is no evidence that I could find that a tornado can rip your clothes right off your body, but Kayla Grosse probably read this webpage for research. (lol)
Dyscalculia is a learning disability rooted in math and number.
books mentioned this episode
The Sponsors
Piper Rayne, authors of Mr. Heartbreaker, available in print, ebook, audio, from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books or wherever you get your books.
Megan Frampton, author of The Devil's Charm, available in print, ebook, audio, from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books or wherever you get your books.
1001 Dark Nights, publishers of Riches and Romance: A Billionaire Romance Anthology from Dylan Allen, Kendall Ryan, Lexi Blake and Melissa Foster, available with your monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited.
Charlotte Stein, author of My Big Fat Fake Marriage, read by Imogen Wilde, available from Audible, Kobo, Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, Libro.fm, or wherever you get your audiobooks. Enter the Macmillan Audio sweepstakes to win one of five free copies of the audiobook.
Lucy Score, author of Story of My Life, available in print, ebook, audio, from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple Books or wherever you get your books.
S07.23: Long Live Historicals!
Historicals are dead! Long live historicals! This week, we're talking about fourteen (and change) historical romances that we've never talked about before -- all published recently, some already this year. Every book we talk about is available right now for download and reading pleasure--and we have a stack of them ready to talk about in future episodes! We're so excited to be your discoverabilibuddies on this one!!
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.
Enter the Macmillan Audio sweepsteakes to win one of five free copies of the audiobook of Stephanie Burgis's Wooing the Witch Queen.
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.
Show Notes
Check out Bookshop’s Black Romance List and you might want to use their new digital books app to read The Co-Op by Tarah DeWitt or any other eBook on a Boox Palma 2.
Budleigh-Salterton seems like a nice place to visit if you’re ever in England.
Bicycle jousting sounds like that whole scene in Footloose.
Exit, Pursued by a Bear is a stage direction from a Winter’s Tale.
A bike with a big front wheel is called a penny-farthing.
Books Mentioned This Episode
Sponsors
Rien Gray, author of Double Exposure, available in print, ebook, or with your monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited.
Stephanie Rose, author of Just One Favor, available in print, ebook, audio, or with your monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited.
Stephanie Burgis, author of Wooing the Witch Queen, read by Amanda Leigh Cobb, available form Audible, Kobo, Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, Libro.fm, or wherever you get your audiobooks. Enter the Macmillan Audio sweepsteakes to win one of five free copies of the audibook.
Lumi Labs, creators of Lumi Gummies. Go to lumigummies.com and use code FATEDMATES for 30% off.
S07.22: Adriana Herrera on the Power of Historical Romance: When We’re Up Against a Corner, Baby, Let’s Fight.
There's a new Adriana Herrera book out this month, so that means we get to have one of our very favorites back on the pod to talk about not only her banger of a book, A Tropical Rebel Gets the Duke, but also about historical in general! This week, we talk about historicals, in general, about why everyone seems to think they're dying (spoiler: they're not!), and do some myth busting on perceptions of the historical romance. We're extremely grateful to friend of the pod Alexandria Bellefleur for offering up her collected data on historical romance and readers -- check out her books (below), as well, and come back next week for more historical recs!
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.
Show Notes
Welcome Adriana Herrera, author of A Tropical Rebel Gets the Duke, the third in the Las Leonas series set during the Exposition Universelle in 1889 Paris.
In this book, Aurora is running a women’s health clinic and the text is a fierce call for reproductive justice, and we’re back there. If you’re interested in checking out some of the books she used to do her research, try Sex, Herbs, and Birth Control: Women and Fertility Regulation Through the Ages by Ann Hibner Koblitz and The Story of Jane: The Legendary Underground Feminist Abortion Service by Laura Kaplan. The Comstock Act of 1873 was a problem then, and sooner or later, they’ll be a problem again.
Thanks to Alexandria Bellefleur for sharing the results of her poll about historical romance. You can check out her latest contemporary romance, Truly, Madly, Deeply.
Books Mentioned This Episode
The Sponsors
Jenn Bouchard, author of Considering Us, available in print or ebook, or with your monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited.
1001 Dark Nights, publishers of From Friends to Forever: A Love Grows Collection , available in print or ebook, or with your monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited.
Chloe C. Peñaranda, author of The Night is Defying audiobook, read by Corvin King and Jacci Prior, available from Audible, Kobo, Apple Books, 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.
Sophie Lark, author of Kingmakers: Year One, available in print or ebook from Amazon, or with your monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited.
Annabelle Slator, author of The Launch Date, available in print, ebook or audiobook from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books or wherever you get your books.
New York Public Library Best New Romance List
Jen had a great time chatting with the New York Public Library's Best New Romance List Committee Co-Chairs Kate Fais and Grace Loiacono this week. They talk about the list and how they built it, about the power of libraries, and, as always, about joy.
See the full list
Visit the New York Public Library
S07.21: Meet My Vibe Criteria: V.E. Schwab on writing, obsession, and romance outside of Romance
We're mixing it up today with a fabulous special guest! The brilliant V.E. Schwab joins us for a far-reaching chat about writing romance outside of romance novels™️, about the difference between obsession and love, about the way we can't help but ship characters who will never get together, and about writing in general... and how we tackle character, conflict, and power in storytelling. We had a great time, and you will, too.
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 Emma Lord's The Rival.
Show Notes
Welcome V.E. Schwab to the podcast! You can check out her podcast about writing called No Write Way, and you can click her to sign up for her newsletter.
Sarah has a new birdfeeder for her office, and maybe you want one, too.
You, too, can watch Lee Child playing chess.
Philip Larkin wrote a great poem about parents, This Be the Verse.
books mentioned this episode
The Sponsors
Max Monroe, author of Playing Games, available in print or ebook from Amazon.
Adriana Herrera, author of A Tropical Rebel Gets the Duke, available in print or ebook from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books or wherever you get your books.
Macmilllan Audio, publishers of The Rival by Emma Lord, read by Jesse Vilinsky, 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.
Allison A. Andrews, author of The Winning Ticket, available in print or ebook from Amazon, or with your monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited.
A Taste of Craven (Happy Derek Craven Day!)
It's February 4th, the most important romance holiday in February: Derek Craven Day! We're celebrating this year with a little reminiscing of the past years' episodes, and a close reading of the first chapter of that classic, Lisa Kleypas's Dreaming of You.
Read Dreaming of You at: Bookshop, Amazon, B&N, Kobo, Apple Books, or wherever you get your books.
Learn more about the holiday, and the man who inspired it, and listen to past Derek Craven Day episodes at our Derek Craven Day museum .
If you want more discussion of Derek Craven 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.
S07.20: Tarot, Astrology, and Psychics in Romance
We'll be honest, we don't know what the heck is going on, either. If we could find someone or something to make all this chaos make sense, we'd be very, very happy. And so, we're reading books this week about people and things that make sense of chaos--that realign the universe. It's tarot, astrology and psychics this week!
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 Jenny Elder Moke's She Doesn't Have a Clue.
Show Notes
Eric listens to the ATP (Accidental Tech Podcast) and this week, they gave a little pep talk. It helped us to remember we aren’t alone. It’s not going to be easy and lots of people are going to be hurt. But we are a community and we love you.
BTW, that's Marco Arment doing most of the talking at the beginning of the ATP episode. He's the creator of our favorite podcast app, Overcast.
We did a witchy episode this past summer.
Maybe you want to learn about tarot. The Cards of Love series has a very nice website that is still functioning.
Books Mentioned This Episode
The Sponsors
Jillian David, author of Dr. Alaska, available in print or ebook from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books or wherever you get your books.
Macmilllan Audio, publishers of She Doesn't Have a Clue by Jenny Elder Moke, read by Sarah Mollo-Christensen, 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.
Avery Maxwell, author of The Renegade Billionaire, available in print or ebook from Amazon.
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.
