Fated Mates - Romance Books for Novel People – Listen to All Episodes Online

S09.02: Romance by Numbers Sep 16, 2026 01:30:54 This is a fun one! We’re talking romance novels with numbers in the titles today, a wide collection of books from zero to infinity! While we came prepared to talk about four or five books each, we ended up playing a little impromptu game where we name books for every number we can. We haven’t reread most of these, but you’ll hear that there are a few peppered through here that we were prepared to

S09.01: Cloud Nine: Romance in the Sky Sep 9, 2026 01:52:40 Nine seasons of talking about romance, and no signs of quitting! We’re starting a new season, full of much of our same old nonsense, now with more nonsense, because who needs tropes when you can talk about microtropes! Today, in honor of Season Nine, we’re talking about Cloud Nine — both the WNBA star and the feeling you get when you fall in love. We’ve got a whole lot of books featuring romance i

RERUN: S06.10: Men in Fur: Aliens, Warlords, and Vikings Sep 3, 2026 01:07:36 Today we're revisiting a 2023 episode. It's a fun one. While the episode is unchanged, we did spend a full hour of our morning updating the Men in Fur Mood Board. (revA)The RestFor even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net/episodes/2023/11/14/s0610-men-in-fur-aliens-warlords-and-vikings If you wish you had six more days in

S08.49: A Rogue By Any Other Name Aug 26, 2026 01:36:50 It’s the end of Season 8 (what! how!), and we usually celebrate the end of the season with a read along of Sarah’s new book, but since there is no new book, we have no choice but to go back to the beginning of “The Casino Series,” which is what Sarah calls The Rules of Scoundrels. We’re reading A Rogue By Any Other Name, the first in the series focused on the rakish owners of The Fallen Angel, Sar

S08.48: Long Live Historicals, Volume II Aug 19, 2026 01:53:14 We are once again celebrating a wide swath of historical romances that are recently published and by authors we’ve not talked much about on the podcast! Saddle up, because we’re talking the Titanic, submissive heroes, heroines against the wall, bodily autonomy and even centaurs! If you’re a historical lover, you’re going to have a great time finding your next read in here, and if you’re not a hist

S08.47: Romance Tattoo Aug 12, 2026 01:25:45 We’re talking tattoos and body art this week! You might not have a tattoo, but odds are you’ve read a few thousand of them, as romance novels love a main character with a message…right on their skin. We talk about some of our favorite tattoo romances, about what tattoos represent, why they’re so sexy, and why romance loves a tattoo artist. Every one of these books is a banger…enjoy filling your en

S08.46: Photographers in Romance Aug 5, 2026 01:40:24 Why is photography so hot? We’re tackling this question this week, talking about why romance novels featuring photographers work so well and push so many sexy buttons. We’re talking about characters who notice, about characters who are patient, and about characters who carry sexy bags around the world. We’ve got storm chasers, nature photographers, CSI photographers, about darkrooms on boats and e

08.45: Judith McNaught's Perfect: Content Warning, the 90's Jul 29, 2026 01:51:58 We’ve been talking about the end (almost end) of this one since we started the podcast, so it seemed high time we did a deep dive on it! Judith McNaught’s Perfect is the most 90s thing we’ve ever read, so gird your loins for both the best all-is-lost scene in romance, and also Zach, Julie, prison breaks, illiteracy, the Coors corporation, Romance Cashmere, and so so many references to Kevin Costne

S08:43: Romance with Magical Elements Jul 22, 2026 01:23:23 The last few years have brought a wave of romances with magical elements—not really paranormal, not really witches, not really contemporary — books where something is just slightly ✨magic✨. Today, we’re talking about those books, how they work, what they’re saying, and how they work in terms of character, plot and POV. We’re also discussing how the books exist on the outer edges of the romance poo

S08.42: Romance Reasons Meet Thriller Reasons with Anders de la Motte Jul 15, 2026 01:37:22 Once upon a time, Sarah went to Sweden and met a thriller writer who likes talking about the rules of writing in genre as much as we do. We’re so excited that to be able to bring Anders de la Motte’s brilliant thoughts about thrillers and mysteries to Fated Mates in this far-reaching conversation on romance’s sister genres—thrillers & mysteries. We talk about Anders’s path to writing, about th

S08.41: Country House Parties Jul 8, 2026 01:39:54 It’s summer, so we’re talking Country House Parties! We’re skulking around, having scandalous meetings in cupboards, getting caught in the rain near the groundskeeper’s cottage, and generally causing chaos during a summer party at an enormous country house where someone is definitely ending up married (or at least ruined). This is another one where we’re pretty shocked we haven’t done it before. G

BONUS: Sports Romance Rerun + Jen Chats with Gina Prodan Kelly [FIXED] Jul 3, 2026 01:48:09 F1! WNBA! NY Nicks! World Cup! We swear we're not turning into a sports podcast, but we did feel like it's a great time to rerun our most recent Sports Romance episode with the brilliant Jessica Luther. But first, Jen talks with Cleveland Soccer Group CMO and Cleveland Astra cofounder Gina Prodan Kelly about women's soccer and the World Cup.GOOOOOOOOOOAL!Show Notes: S06.09: Sports Romance with Jes

S08.40: Summer 2026 Preview Jul 1, 2026 01:38:45 We’re filling summer reading lists and making sure that you have plenty of beach reads ready for whatever your plans are! It’s hard to believe it’s July, but we’ve got another quarterly upcoming romance episode here to ease the pain of half the year already passed! Here’s a huge list of books arriving in July, August & September 2026—historical, paranormal, speculative, contemporary, a YA or t

S08.39: Romance Birthday (Do Men Have Them?) Jun 24, 2026 01:19:26 Is it our birthday? It is not! But who says you need to celebrate a birthday in real life to celebrate birthdays in romance novels? Not us! Today we’re talking about books that focus on birthdays — something that you would think would be more common in romance. We talk about birthdays that are cursed, about mistakes made on birthdays, about why heroes don’t seem to have birthdays, and about old re

S08.38: Seven Days In June by Tia Williams Jun 17, 2026 03:07:26 We’re back with a deep dive on one of our favorite recent romances, Seven Days in June by Tia Williams! We talk about yearning in contemporaries, about books that have a powerful sense of place, about dual timelines, about secondary characters, about lines that stick with us years later, and about how fated mates works as a trope in a contemporary romance.Tia also has a new book out this month, Th

S08.37: Road Trips and a Chat With Mary Kay Andrews Jun 10, 2026 01:18:02 This week, we’re visiting with Mary Kay Andrews, a longtime writer and certified badass who we adore for her WTAF Wednesdays and her delightful books. We talk about her writing journey, her decision to get publicly, vocally political, and about her new book Road Trip. We had a great time chatting and talking about writing, about research, and about how we should all just take a road trip through I

S08.36: The Rain Fell in Torrents: Weather Is Genre Jun 3, 2026 01:27:42 We’re celebrating the paperback release of These Summer Storms this week, and that means we’re talking about the weather! We talk about rain and snow and wind and tempests and tornadoes and monsoons, and we talk about why we all like weather in books so much (hint, it’s because it’s dialed up to 11).Tell us all about your favorite weather in romance novels and find an endless list of books that ar

S08.35: Sad Boys Who Punch Things with Veronica Roth May 20, 2026 01:31:30 This week, we’re joined by one of the greatest, Veronica Roth, whose new book, Seek the Traitor’s Son, features one of her most beloved of tropes: Sad Boys Who Punch Things. We were delighted when she suggested we do an episode on this very particular, very delicious romance concept, and of course, we invited her to join us! We talk about how it works, why we love soft boys who are full of rage, a

S08.34: Historical Romance with Ali Hazelwood and Adriana Herrera May 13, 2026 01:53:28 We are thrilled to have two of our favorite people with us today to discuss one of our favorite genres! Ali Hazelwood and Adriana Herrera, the masterminds behind the AH2 Kickstarter of Historical Trailblazers are here to talk about all the ways historical romance is unmatched! We talk about the new Historical Trailblazer special edition box set that AH2 launched this week, about the power of histo

S08.33: Ian Mackenzie is DTF: The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie May 6, 2026 01:36:46 We’re deep diving into one of our favorite historicals from the 00s today — Jennifer Ashley’s The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie. It’s a great follow up to our Paris episode last week, but we also talk about how Ashley really wrote the heck out of this book. We talk about widows, about sex in historicals, about autism rep in historicals, romance families, and the way this series electrified us as r

S08.32: Paris Romance with Kate Clayborn Apr 29, 2026 01:34:24 We Love Paris in the Springtime and we love Paris in The Paris Match by our very favorite, Kate Clayborn. Today, we’re talking about the City of Love itself, with Kate! We talk about the magic of the City of Lights, about the weight it has in romance, and about the mythology it carries with it whenever it’s included in a book. Yes, of course, we talk about Jessica and Dain, but we also celebrate K

S08.31: Trailblazer Ruby Dixon Apr 22, 2026 01:46:02 This season, we’re expanding our traditional Trailblazer series to include the romance writers who are trailblazing today. Our first guest on this branch of the legend tree is Ruby Dixon, author of the Ice Planet Barbarians series. Ruby joins us to talk about how she became Ruby Dixon, what inspired the Ice Planet Barbarians series, how she thinks about writing this ever expanding world, the busin

S08.30: Irredeemable Characters: Morality Chain Redux Apr 15, 2026 01:30:12 By request, we’re talking about the characters who have been exiled from family, from community, and from themselves—the irredeemable characters in romance. This is Morality Chain all over again. We’re talking about characters that have done terrible things on and off the page, to the detriment of their reputations in the text and outside, with readers, and somehow, by the end of their own book, a

S08.29: Jen & Sarah Answer Your Burning Questions Apr 8, 2026 01:24:32 As always when we’re together, today we’re answering listener questions! In here, we’re recommending sex lessons books, motorcycle romance, books set in Toronto, Ohio and more — we’re also talking about the evolution of the trade paperback, how Jen edits, when Duchess is coming, and if we have favorite dinosaurs. It’s a full service episode for you, our faves.If you have more burning questions for

S08.28: Spring 2026 Preview Mar 31, 2026 01:37:38 It’s time to fill those TBR piles again! April means the start of Spring and also another quarterly upcoming romance episode! We’re talking about romances hitting shelves and ereaders during April, May & June 2026! Whether historical, paranormal, contemporary or Romantasy, we’ve got something for everyone in fifty or so recs across every single genre. As a reminder, we haven’t read most of the

S08.27: Romance Baby: Not the Secret Kind Mar 24, 2026 01:37:58 It never fails to surprise us when we realize we’ve never talked about a really classic trope even now…eight years in. This week, we’re talking about kids in romance—which we’ve somehow never done before?! We’re covering Romance Babies, Romance Kids, and Single Parents in Romance — but so sorry to the Secret Baby lovers out there, that one deserves its own episode (someday). We’re talking babies,

S08.26: Ballet and Opera in Romance Mar 17, 2026 01:38:54 Someone said something real stupid, and that means we get to hit back in the best way possible — with romance recommendations! Today we’re talking about the Opera and the Ballet in Romance! We’re talking about historicals and contemporaries, about mafia enforcers and exasperated dukes, about football players and yes, of course, our sweet baby Conrad Wroth. You’re going to have a great time. Congra

S08.25: Heated Rivalry Read-Alikes with Christopher Rice Mar 10, 2026 01:44:08 Calling all Loons! You’ve heated and reheated the rivalry, and now it’s time for us to talk about what you should read between now and Season 2. We’re joined by friend and fave of the pod, Christopher Rice, who writes m/m and sometimes m/m/m romance as C. Travis Rice. We talk about our feelings about Heated Rivalry, about the books and their impact, and about the transformational work of the show…

S08.24: Sincerely, Your Inconvenient Wife by Julia Wolf Mar 3, 2026 01:41:55 Things are looking very wild out here in the real world so you deserve a deep dive on a book by an author with a big backlist and we are here to give you just that! Today's episode is on Sincerely, Your Inconvenient Wife, a modern day marriage of convenience story from Julia Wolf's The Harder They Fall series. We talk about fake husbands down bad, family drama, and the charm of an author building

S08.23: The Chemise Protects You From Boning: Romance Wardrobe Feb 24, 2026 01:28:20 Continuing our series on Romance Vibes, we’re talking about Romance Wardrobe this week! We’re talking corsets and chemises, falls and Hessian boots, Armani suits and underpants that rip right off. We also get to the bottom of the pronunciation of bliaut. Do we recommend books? Not really, but it’s ok, we all deserve a week of goofing off sometime. All that, and Sarah saw “Wuthering Heights.”If you

S08.22: Chart Topping Songs and Their Perfect Romance Novel Pairings Feb 17, 2026 02:01:02 Our old pal Billy Shakes told us that music is the food of love, and we’re taking that to heart this week! By request from Eric (who’s never requested anything before), we’re looking at songs that charted in February over the years and matching them with romance novels that suit! We’ve got a little bit of something for everyone here, from historicals to paranormals, motorcycles to mafia to magical

S08.21: 🌹A Dozen Roses for Valentine’s Day🌹 Feb 10, 2026 02:06:56 This weekend, the world is celebrating the second most important romance holiday in February (see last week’s episode for the most important)—Valentine’s Day! To lean into the traditions of the day, we thought we’d offer you a dozen roses this week, in the form of books! We’re taking the topic broadly—from character names, to author names, to rose scented things, to roses on the page — historical,

S08.20: Trailblazer Lisa Kleypas Feb 3, 2026 01:58:10 It’s finally happened! In a perfect Derek Craven Day celebration, our Trailblazer conversations continue this week with thee Lisa Kleypas, historical romance royalty, who changed the game when she brought working class heroes to historicals. We discuss her four decades of work in romance, from historical to contemporary to magical realism and now into historical fiction, touching on the Kleypas he

S08.19: Ice Planet Barbarians Jan 28, 2026 01:29:33 It’s a snowstorm, Jen’s from Chicago, and we’re feeling extra qualified to talk about Ice Planet Barbarians! It’s the book, and the series that took the world by storm back in 2015, and we’re revisiting the absolute powerhouse it was then, before it launched an entire subgenre of romance and changed the romance landscape. We’re also talking about Ruby Dixon’s clear skill, her obvious love of the g

S08.18: Shotgun Weddings with Jayne Ann Krentz Jan 21, 2026 01:33:09 The brilliant Jayne Ann Krentz, romance trailblazer and royalty, joins us this week to talk about one of her favorite tropes--the shotgun wedding! We're talking all things forced marriage...how it differs from marriage of convenience, how it underscores the inherent conflict in romance, and how it often ends up being more like romantic suspense than one would expect! We also talk a bit about how s

S08.17: Setting New Year's Reading Resolutions Jan 13, 2026 01:29:08 As it's the beginning of 2026, we're talking about how we think about our reading years. What kind of strategies does Jen use? How is Sarah attempting to control the chaos? Which books do we already have on our TBR piles for 2026, and how do we structure our reading year to make ourselves happy and prepare for the podcast? We're also talking about some books by romance novelists who are publishing

BONUS: Fated Mates All Stars talk Heated Rivalry Jan 8, 2026 01:05:15 Sarah's still catching up, but Jen, Adriana Herrera, and Joanna Shupe have seen it and they have a lot to say.

S08.16: Winter 2026 Preview Jan 7, 2026 02:00:36 Your discoverabilibuddies are back! It's a new year which means we're dropping our Winter 2026 reads episode, in which we talk about the million trillion 2026 romance books coming out in January, February and March (ok, not a million trillion, but enough that Eric came out of his studio this morning with a thousand-yard stare!). As a reminder, we have not necessarily read all these books, but they

S08.15: Jen & Sarah's New Year's Milkin' Eve! Dec 31, 2025 01:39:07 Another year, another chaotic New Year's episode, with one of our favorites, the Lauren half of Christina Lauren! Y'all. When we say headphones in, we mean HEADPHONES IN. This is not for your kids, or your mechanic, or Kate. Today, we're getting into the kink Sarah has been dancing around at Fated Mates Lives for years...the one Sandra Brown and Bertrice Small installed, and Lisa Kleypas and Chris

S08.14: Terrific 2025 Romance Debuts Dec 17, 2025 01:53:14 It's that time of year, when we highlight some of our favorite new voices in romance! This week, we're talking about eight new writers who are making us excited about what's to come in historical, contemporary, cozy fantasy and more. Here's to reading them all for years to come!From horse girls to divorcees, hair stylists to magical tea shop owners, basketball coaches to jewel thieves, there's som

S08:13 KJ Charles’s The Magpie Lord: We’re Gonna Get to the Tattoos Dec 10, 2025 01:44:04 We’re so excited for our deep dive of KJ Charles’s The Magpie Lord, first in her magical, gothic series, A Charm of Magpies. We talk about the clear chops displayed in this romance --strong plotting, complex characterization, and a beautiful understanding of what happily ever after looks like. And yes, we get to the tattoos. Obviously.Don't forget--you can buy the Fated Mates Best of 2025 Book Pac

S08.12: Fantastic Romance Series Dec 3, 2025 01:30:25 It's winter, which means that it's time to get cozy, build a blanket nest on the couch, and read a million books one right after the other in the great tradition of our ancient forbears. Today, we're talking about series that deliver one banger after another and, yes, that also bang. We'll talk historicals, contemporaries, and of course, the paranormal series that started it all for us. Don't forg

S08.11: Holiday Romance 2025 Nov 25, 2025 01:41:07 The end of the year is nigh, and it's our holiday romance novel episode! We're talking about a collection of romances that are entirely new to us (except for the one moment where Sarah talks about that old McNaught short story that installed all her cold-weather romance buttons). We've got Austen retellings, Regency cats, characters playing with holiday toys, CIA agents and, of course, some sexy S

S08.10: The Best Romance Novels of 2025 Nov 19, 2025 01:51:30 It's that time of year! We're talking about the Best Romance Novels of 2025. We've chosen ten books that we love and that cover a range of historical, contemporary and paranormal, featuring romance with werewolves and cowboys, vaudeville actresses and vikings, Dukes and the actual Devil. This year, you can buy the Fated Mates Best of 2025 Book Pack from our friends at Pocket Books Shop in Lancaste

S08.09: Our Favorite Romance Microtropes Nov 12, 2025 01:27:03 We had a great week, and so we decided we all need nice things, which means it's time to just talk about the stuff we love in romance. We're talking about our favorite microtropes in romance novels--the things that give us pure shots of joy. There's all sorts of stuff in here: contemporaries, historicals, paranormals, mafia, hockey, tattoos, piercings, kilts, families getting their comeuppance, an

S08.08: Romance Short Stories and the Ladies in Waiting Anthology Nov 5, 2025 02:10:01 We definitely have a hope became reality hangover this morning, but we also have a very fun episode for you today! We're talking romance shorts -- not novellas, not short novels, but actual short stories under 15,000 words (or about 50 pages). We talk about why this is such a difficult goal to hit, about why romance lends itself to longer formats, and about why short fiction is a really great way

S08.07: Romance Demons: Problématique (Italics) Oct 29, 2025 01:23:13 It's Halloween which means we're talking about monsters (complimentary)! We've done devils and witches and an entire season on monsters of all ilk, but we haven't done demons yet, and so here we are! Come one come all as Sarah confesses one of her weirdest (charming) kinks and we discuss the age-old adage: "If a demon's horns aren't sexual organs, why are they even there?" We're heading back to th

S08.06: Gorilla Twins! The Earl Takes All by Lorraine Heath Oct 22, 2025 01:22:44 It's Gorilla Twins Week! We couldn't be happier to be talking about The Earl Takes All, a book we love so much we gave it a nickname that all of Romancelandia uses now. Whether you're reading it for the first time or the fiftieth, we're so happy to have you. We talk about Jane Goodall, Romance Gorillas, Lorraine Heath's brilliant mind, how she's easily a top-five romance novelist and possibly the

S08.05: Governesses with Louisa Darling Oct 15, 2025 01:43:36 How is it possible we've never done a governess episode? And how is it possible Louisa Darling hasn't been a guest on the pod yet? We're rectifying both of these injustices this week. We talk about Jane Eyre, The Sound of Music and other primordial governesses, and discuss exactly what kind of buttons these books installed--almost entirely thanks to old school historicals. We also talk about how g

S08.04 We love you Chicago, DC and LA Oct 8, 2025 02:00:28 We're thinking about Chicago, DC, and LA this week, and standing in solidarity with the people living and resisting in those cities. While reading isn't action, it can supplement it, and keep us joyful as we do the hard work of standing up. To that end, this week, we're recommending books that feature Chicago, Washington, DC & Los Angeles as settings. We're also sharing resources and ways you

08.03: Fall 2025 Preview Sep 30, 2025 01:51:54 It's October, which means we're thinking about fall, which comes with spice, heat and hanging out under the blankets! Today, our Fall 2025 romance novel preview, guaranteed to fill your TBR pile. There’s something here for everyone — historicals, contemporaries, a splash of magic, princesses, superheroes, time-travel, widows, F1 drivers...a real ideal dinner party roster.If you'd like more romance

S08.02: Feminism in Romance with Adriana Herrera Sep 24, 2025 01:53:18 Our fave, Adriana Herrera, is with us this week to talk about feminism, romance, and how the two intersect. We talk about the history of the genre, about the evolution of feminism within it, and about what we want from the texts we're reading now, as the world does whatever it is it's doing. Oh, and we recommend some feminist romance, because of course we do.If you'd like more romance chat in your

S08.01: Cold Open: Craft, Criticism, and Summer Vacation Sep 16, 2025 01:40:17 Season Eight! How is it possible you're all still here?! We're so incredibly thrilled to have you all with us for another season. We've got big plans for talking to your favorite people, getting under the hood of your favorite tropes, and filling your TBR pile with your new favorite books. We quickly find ourselves in the deep end, talking about craft, criticism, and romance’s place in 2025. But f

Between Seasons Palate Cleanser: Fated Mates Live St. Louis! Sep 3, 2025 01:16:57 This year's Fated Mates Live was a little different than those we've hosted before, as it was also launch day for Sarah's These Summer Storms! We celebrated in style in the Midwest, hosted by the fabulous team at indie bookstore (and romance lovers), Novel Neighbor and joined by our absolute favorite, Kate Clayborn. So many Firebirds turned out to celebrate with us from across the midwest to help

07.49: Season Seven Ends Not With a Bang, but With a Kombucha Girl Aug 26, 2025 01:14:51 We’re wrapping up season seven by asking ourselves a simple question. Do we like this stuff? Yes? No? Maybe so? We’ll be back in two weeks for the start of Season Eight of the podcast. Honestly, we remain amazed that y’all are with us on this journey. In a world full of madness, you bring us calm, joy and purpose, and we couldn’t be more grateful for you. Thank you so much for listening.While

S07.48: Con Artists & Criminals With Joanna Shupe Aug 19, 2025 01:28:54 Joanna Shupe joins us this week to celebrate her new book, The Gilded Heiress, and talk about one of our favorite things—baddies with a heart of gold! We talk about the book, about our mutual love of criminals, of noble scoundrels, of con artists and basically anyone willing to do crime in the name of love. We also talk about how everything Gilded Age is back again, which…ugh. We love Joanna and h

S07.47: Bodyguards Aug 12, 2025 01:30:23 It’s Bodyguard Romance week, which feels impossible, honestly, considering we’ve definitely done this before, haven’t we? According to Eric and also the internet, we haven’t, which means we get to talk for the first time in seven seasons about why Bodyguards work so well for so many romance readers, including us! We talk about the basics – the innate joy of having an Exasperated Man™️ willing to p

07.46: Natural Born Charmer by Susan Elizabeth Phillips Aug 5, 2025 01:28:37 We're back with a deep dive episode on one of our favorite Susan Elizabeth Phillips books, Natural Born Charmer. Jen thinks this one marks SEP's Imperial Period, and Sarah looks askance at the term romcom to describe romance novels. We're back on our bullsh*t, is what we're saying. We're talking plot, character, risk-taking, and how romances can feel wildly expansive.This is our last deep dive of

S07.45: Reading Down Under: Australian Romance Novelists Jul 29, 2025 01:38:37 By request (and because Sarah needed books for her upcoming trip), we're talking about romance novels by Australian authors this week, with a nod to some New Zealanders as well. We discuss how historical romance has much maligned Australia, recommend some absolutely terrific books, many of which we've actually done deep dives on, and we talk about why so many Australian romances hit the spot with

S07.44: Relentless Competence & Fixers in Romance Jul 22, 2025 01:30:18 It's been several years since the last time we talked about the allure of competency in romance, but it's a topic we adore, so here we are again, talking about characters with relentless competence and the characters who love them beyond measure. If you're new here, welcome! We're happy to have you!If you want more Fated Mates in your life, please join our Patreon, which comes with an extremely bu

07.43: Trailblazer Pamela Sanderson Jul 15, 2025 01:36:44 Our Trailblazer series continues with Pamela Sanderson, the first Native American author to write contemporary romance about Native characters in Native community. Pamela joins us to talk about her writing journey, about her decision to write and independently publish romance, about the need for more Native American romance in the world. We so enjoyed this conversation, and we’re grateful to Pamel

S07.42: Jen & Sarah and These Summer Storms Jul 9, 2025 02:01:44 Last night’s Fated Mates Live was so much fun, but now we’re back in your earholes. It’s time again for our annual Sarah MacLean deep dive (with no spoilers!). As per tradition, Jen asks Sarah a bunch of fun questions and forces Sarah to talk about her book. And it all ends with Julia Whalen reading two chapters of These Summer Storms! It was a delight to see so many of you in St. Louis yesterday,

S07.41: Audiobooks with Julia Whelan Jul 2, 2025 02:18:10 We're thrilled to have audiobook queen and Voice of the Summer (USA Today), Julia Whelan with us today! Aside from being the voice of Emily Henry, Taylor Jenkins Reid, VE Schwab and Kristen Hannah, she's also an author of her own delicious books and the founder of Audiobrary, an audio book company that pays narrators on a royalty structure. She's here to talk about her journey to writing and to na

S07.40: Hot 2025 Summer Reads Jun 26, 2025 01:59:36 We're both staying very still in front of air conditioners this week, so that means we're very very happy to have a pile of summer reads at the ready! We're teeing up your piles of summer reads this week with our quarterly romance roundup! As a reminder, we haven't read most of these books -- but they're the ones toppling our TBR! As a reminder, preorders mean a lot more than they should these day

S07.39: Dysfunctional Families (The Fun Kind) Jun 17, 2025 01:25:27 This week, we're talking about romance's most common family: the dysfunctional one! Sarah wrote a book about one, so we're thinking about what makes them special to romance, and what sets the romantic dysfunctional family apart from the ones that live outside of the genre. Jen has five categories. There's a game involved. You can play along at home! If you love this one, you can listen to our Dadd

S07.38: Second Chance Romance Redux Jun 10, 2025 01:39:09

S07.37: Run Posy Run by Cate C. Wells Jun 3, 2025 02:42:26 Another deep dive episode, and this one feels like it shouldn't have taken so long! We're reading Run Posy Run, talking about the way Cate C. Wells walks a fine line of mafia romance while keeping the book on the morality chain side of the line from dark romance. We talk about heroines against the wall, heroes who have to suffer, the way violence fits into these romances, and about sex and how it'

S07.36: Celebrity + Normie Romance May 28, 2025 01:56:20 Sarah is over the moon that we're talking about celebrities again, especially because we're keeping it tight this time around and limiting it to celebrity/normal person romance (mostly -- Jen is ungovernable)! Yes, Sarah is going to talk about Perfect, but also we're going to talk about celebrities who fall for stranger normies, for normies they knew before they were celebrities, for normies who w

S07.35: On the Shelf with Spinsters and Wallflowers May 13, 2025 01:20:10 One of the og romance tropes is on the table today -- we're talking about heroines who are on the shelf! It's not quite wallflowers, not quite ruined, not quite spinsters...it's a very particular flavor of unmarried woman, and one we basically only find in historicals (can you tell Sarah is writing?). We're talking about the subtle nuances of heroines on the shelf and honoring some of the classics

S07.34: The Third Act Break-Up (Complimentary) May 6, 2025 01:28:12 We're gonna get people excited with this one (it's us. we're the ones who are getting excited). Back by popular demand, we're talking craft this week--digging deep into the third-act breakup, what it really means, why it's misunderstood, and why it really is essential to romance. Sarah suggests that every romance has one whether people like to admit it or not, Jen is, as always, ready to fight. St

S07.33: Heated Rivalry by Rachel Reid Apr 29, 2025 01:34:10 Today we're headed back in the time machine to before the pandemic when everyone but us read this one m/m hockey book and lost their collective minds! Heated Rivalry is one of those books that romance lovers place high up on their keeper shelf, and we're talking about why, about how it really knocks sports romance out of the park (yes, we're aware that there is no knocking out of parks in hockey),

S07.32: Ruination! Apr 22, 2025 01:53:23 We're talking about the worst possible thing that can happen to a romance heroine today (it's always the heroines) -- ruination! Whether the hero did it, another man did it, or society simply decided that she's ruined, there's simply nothing to be done about it...except revenge, a triumphant return, or the crowning of a new reigning queen. We cover all three here, with almost entirely new to the p

S07.31: Romance on the Run Apr 15, 2025 01:34:38 Yes, Sarah has a longtime fantasy of being on the lam, but let's be honest, she'd be caught reading a book in the nearest diner as soon as anyone got serious about looking for her. This week, we're talking about books in which characters are much more serious about being on the run! We break the category into people on the move and people in hiding, but also talk about secrets, about lies, and abo

S07.30: Getting Things Done (to them): Romance with Lists Apr 8, 2025 01:32:42 We're crossing off a classic romance novel structure this week -- the list! Whether life changing to-do lists, bucket lists, or lists for kinky exploration, these romances take characters and readers on remarkable rides, reminding us all that sometimes it really does pay to be organized. If you want more Fated Mates in your life, please join our Patreon, which comes with an extremely busy and fun

S07.29: Spring 2025 New Releases: Teasing Your TBR Apr 2, 2025 01:56:44 It's our quarterly discoverabilibuddy episode! Get your TBR piles structurally sound and exercise that preorder clicking finger, because here are nearly 50 books coming out in the next three months that we're excited to read! Eric said next time we have to split it into two if we're going to keep talking about what's coming for hours... In the meantime, we're ungovernable! Tell us about the books

S07.28: Everything We Know About Horses Comes From Romance Mar 25, 2025 02:16:59 This week, for some reason, we're talking about romance novels with horses in them! Do we know anything about horses? Of course not! Do we let that stop us? It never has before! We're talking about the ones where the horse dies, the ones where they do it on a horse, the ones where she's a horse whisperer, and the ones where she just really likes horses. Giddyup! If you want more Fated Mates in you

S07.27: What I Did for a Duke: This Gentleman is Completely Composed of Revenge Molecules Mar 18, 2025 01:26:56 It's deep dive day here at Fated Mates and we're reading an absolute banger of a historical -- Julie Anne Long's fifth Pennyroyal Green book, What I Did for a Duke. We talk about great romance kisses, about age gaps and how they operate in books, about house parties and art and sacrifice and how sexy it is when someone actually sees you for who you are. If you haven't read this one yet, do yoursel

S07.26: Romance Novels With a Ticking Clock Mar 12, 2025 01:45:17 This one's for those of you who've been asking us to talk more about craft on the podcast! We're talking romances with ticking clocks and clear time frames, about how this impacts conflict and makes books more breathless, and of course about the books that deploy this strategy perfectly. Inside, you'll find road trips and adventures, vacation romances and romantic suspense, house parties and that

S07.25: Sci-Fi Romance: There's No Book Banning in Space Mar 4, 2025 01:39:12 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 (w

S07.24: He's *NOT* a Billionaire Feb 24, 2025 01:54:50 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 mo

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