Fated Mates - Romance Books for Novel People

It's Election Day and we are just vibrating! We're not the only ones.

The first and best way to get through the day is to volunteer. Visit https://www.mobilize.us to find volunteer opportunities near (or not so near) you.

The second way is to listen to us yammer about Moonstruck.

The Rest

• For even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net/episodes/2022/10/11/s0505-were-moonstruck-on-our-200th-episode
• If you wish you had six more days in a week of people talking about romance, may we suggest joining our Patreon? Aside from an additional episode every month you get access to our Discord, where other romance readers are talking about books they love (and many other things!) all the time. It’s so fun! Learn more about the Patreon and go join those cool people who love romance as much as you do at https://patreon.com/fatedmates.
• Beyond your favorite podcast app, you can find us on Instagram, Threads, Blue Sky, Tumblr, and probably some other places, too, if you look hard enough.
• If you've never listened to our Stop Book Banning episode, there's no better time than now.

00:00 Start Your Romance Novel Today!

01:42 Our 200th Anniversary!

07:47 Moonstruck's Influence

11:38 The Moonstruck House

15:28 Frozen in Time

17:43 SPONSOR: Grand Central Publishing

20:08 Loretta's Bad Luck

26:48 The Multigenerational Family

32:33 Ronnie

37:39 Love and Loss

39:53 SPONSOR: Alyxandra Harvey

41:28 Marker 12

44:09 Loretta and Ronnie

49:46 Cosmo's Moon

55:58 The Next Day

57:46 SPONSOR: Lumi Labs

58:52 Marker 17

1:01:21 A Night at the Opera

1:06:57 Why do Men Chase Women?

1:11:05 A NIght of Speeches & Choices

1:18:31 A Reckoning (over oatmeal)

1:32:47 Outro

We started this podcast in October of 2018! Eight years and 420 episodes later, we came back to biting.

Join Fated States tomorrow, November 1st, for the final phonebank before Election Day. We're calling Michigan for Abdul El-Sayed!

Register now to join.

It’s demons and death and decorative gourd season, and we’re talking about all of them, along with sewer monsters and twelve-foot tall skeletons and a vampire or two! If you’re looking for a Halloween read, we’ve got you this week with a little something for everyone. This is the next in a long line of spooky reads episodes, so when you’re done with this one, head over and listen to the rest (a list of them is in show notes!)

Fated States, our democratic phonebanking initiative wraps up this weekend—we’ll be calling Michigan to get out the vote for Abdul El-Sayed ! There will be games, prizes and special guests! Learn more and register to phone bank with us at http://fatedmates.net/fatedstates.

If you’d like to come over and talk about Halloween reads with us, please join us on the Fated Mates Discord, where you’ll find a few thousand other listeners who love talking about these books we love. Join the Fated Mates patreon to get access, and You also get one extra episode a month from us!!

Books

• The Demon’s Curvy Angel by Brill Harper
• Decorative Gourd Season by DL White
• No Bones About It by Cassandra Elizzabeth
• A Date with Death by Kelly Creagh
• What Happens at Nightfall by Lauren Willig
• Fangbanger by Sophia Travers
• Demons and Diplomacy by Megan Frampton
• The Romance Revival by Christina Lauren
• Jenny Will Eat You Now by Gillian Daniels
• Die For Me by Shirlene Obuobi

Notes

• It’s (finally) Scorpio season!
• We’re talking about Michigan and Maps, which is just our regular brand of off topic nonsense and has nothing to do with this episode. South Detroit is actually Canada, and the Model T was invented by Henry Ford in Michigan, and that’s why all the American car companies were headquartered in Detroit.
• Sarah says you can just watch the end of Ted Lasso for Roy and Keely.
• Luckily, Brill Harper has rereleased Demon’s Curvy Mate on all platforms after we did email, that’s just how hard we are willing to work for you! But you should still get aBrooklyn Public Library cardif you want.
• It’s Decorative Gourd Season, Motherfuckers is a classic from McSweeney’s.
• Turns out a lot of classroom skeletons are real, and some schools found out and had funerals for their own Mr. Bones-Jangles. That’s a reference to famous dancer Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, and if you’ve never watched his stair dance from 1932, you should.
• If you’re looking for more Halloween reads, listen to our past episodes on: Spooky Stuff, Romance Demons, Devils, Ghosts, Morticians, and the Dead, Manimals!, Monsters, Witchy Romance, and Why Horror.

Sponsors

• The Nightstand App, a book tracking app for readers. Visit https://nightstand-app.com/fatedmates/ for your 7-day free trial, and use the code FATED MATES for 30% off your annual subscription.
• Maria Vale, author of Molly Molloy and the Angel of Death, available in print, ebook, audiobook at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books or wherever you get your books.
• Lucy Score author of The Dead Guy Next Door, the first in the Riley Thorn series, available in print, ebook and audiobook, or with your monthly subscription to Kindle+.

The Rest

• For even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net/episodes/2026/10/26/0908-halloween-grab-bag
• If you wish you had six more days in a week of people talking about romance, may we suggest joining our Patreon? Aside from an additional episode every month you get access to our Discord, where other romance readers are talking about books they love (and many other things!) all the time. It’s so fun! Learn more about the Patreon and go join those cool people who love romance as much as you do at https://patreon.com/fatedmates.
• Beyond your favorite podcast app, you can find us on Instagram, Threads, Blue Sky, Tumblr, and probably some other places, too, if you look hard enough.
• If you've never listened to our Stop Book Banning episode, there's no better time than now.

Early voting is happening in most states, with the remaining few coming online in the next few days. Enjoy this Season six episode on the way to or from the polls.

The Rest

• For even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net/episodes/2023/10/24/s0607-happy-halloween-devils-in-romance-novels
• If you wish you had six more days in a week of people talking about romance, may we suggest joining our Patreon? Aside from an additional episode every month you get access to our Discord, where other romance readers are talking about books they love (and many other things!) all the time. It’s so fun! Learn more about the Patreon and go join those cool people who love romance as much as you do at https://patreon.com/fatedmates.
• Beyond your favorite podcast app, you can find us on Instagram, Threads, Blue Sky, Tumblr, and probably some other places, too, if you look hard enough.
• If you've never listened to our Stop Book Banning episode, there's no better time than now.

We’re talking about the mythmakers again this week with a chat about romance’s sister genre, horror! We’re joined by NEA fellow, Bram Stoker Award winner and bestselling horror writer Stephen Graham Jones, and librarian and horror expert Becky Spratford. We talk about Stephen’s lifelong love of horror, the way horror reflects the world, the rules of horror and how romance and horror are actually two sides of the same coin. Happy spooky season, book lovers.

Fated States, our democratic phonebanking initiative continues this week—we’ll be calling Tennessee to get out the vote for Justin Pearson in the Tennessee 9th, and into Montana to get out the vote for Sam Forstag, candidate in the Montana 1st! There will be games, prizes and special guests! Learn more and register to phone bank with us at http://fatedmates.net/fatedstates.

If you’d like to come over and talk about horror with us, please join us on the Fated Mates Discord, where you’ll find a few thousand other listeners who love talking about these books we love. Join the Fated Mates patreon to get access, and You also get one extra episode a month from us!!

Horror Fiction, Film, and Television Mentioned in This Episode

• The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones
• Off the Reservation by Stephen Graham Jones
• Why I Love Horror by Becky Spratford
• Mongrels by Stephen Graham Jones
• Flowers in the Attic by VC Andrews
• The Howling (1981)
• The Wolfen by Whitley Strieber
• Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein
• A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
• Heart Eyes (2025)
• I was a Teenage Slasher by Stephen Graham Jones
• The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones
• The Indian Lake Trilogy by Stephen Graham Jones
• Widow’s Bay (2026)
• Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke by Eric LaRocca
• Our Cut of Salt by Deena Helm
• Angel Down by Daniel Kraus
• The Grip of It by Jac Jemc
• Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
• Japanese Gothic by Kylie Lee Barker
• Scream (1996)
• Sinners (2025)
• Horror for Weenies by Emily C. Hughes
• The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
• Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
• Headlights by CJ Leede
• This Movie Doesn’t End the Way We Want by Hailey Piper
• Kiss, Slay, Replay by Rachel Harrison
• The Reformatory by Tananarive Due
• The Devil Takes You Home by Gabino Iglesias
• My Best Friend’s Exorcism by Grady Hendrix
• Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix

Sponsors

• Avon Books, publishers of Emily Rath’s Devour Me, available in print, ebook and audiobook, at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books, wherever you get your books, or with your monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited.
• Piper Rayne, author of Chasing Smoke, available in print, ebook, audiobook at Barnes & Noble, wherever you get your books, or with your monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited.
• Meghan Quinn, author of Christmas Staycation, available in print, ebook or audiobook at Amazon, Barnes & Noble or wherever you get your books.
• Penguin Young Readers & Berkley XO, publishers of Charlotte B. Plumb’s Reap & Sow, available now in print, ebook or audiobook at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books or wherever you get your books.

The Rest

• For even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net/episodes/2026/10/19/horror-with-stephen-graham-jones-and
• If you wish you had six more days in a week of people talking about romance, may we suggest joining our Patreon? Aside from an additional episode every month you get access to our Discord, where other romance readers are talking about books they love (and many other things!) all the time. It’s so fun! Learn more about the Patreon and go join those cool people who love romance as much as you do at https://patreon.com/fatedmates.
• Beyond your favorite podcast app, you can find us on Instagram, Threads, Blue Sky, Tumblr, and probably some other places, too, if you look hard enough.
• If you've never listened to our Stop Book Banning episode, there's no better time than now.

Revisit this season four episode on your way to or from your local No Kings March!

The Rest

• For even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net/episodes/2022/4/16/s0431-vampire-romance-interstitial
• If you wish you had six more days in a week of people talking about romance, may we suggest joining our Patreon? Aside from an additional episode every month you get access to our Discord, where other romance readers are talking about books they love (and many other things!) all the time. It’s so fun! Learn more about the Patreon and go join those cool people who love romance as much as you do at https://patreon.com/fatedmates.
• Beyond your favorite podcast app, you can find us on Instagram, Threads, Blue Sky, Tumblr, and probably some other places, too, if you look hard enough.
• If you've never listened to our Stop Book Banning episode, there's no better time than now.

This one is very meta (complimentary): Fated Mates (the duo) explains Fated Mates (the trope) on Fated Mates (the podcast). We can’t believe all these years in, we’ve never talked fated mates! We’re rectifying that right now with a collection of paranormal romances (and a few that aren’t) that are going to give you a lot of joy. We talk about demons and vampires and alpha’s and ice planet barbarians, star-crossed lovers and soulmates and what it really takes to convince a reader you’re fated.

Fated States, our democratic phonebanking initiative continues this week—we’ll be calling Texas to get out the vote for James Talarico and democrats up and down the ticket! There will be games, prizes and special guests! Learn more and register to phone bank with us at http://fatedmates.net/fatedstates.

If you’d like to come over and talk about your favorite fated mates romances (or your favorite fated mates podcast), please join us on the Fated Mates Discord, where you’ll find a few thousand other listeners who love talking about these books we love. Join the Fated Mates patreon to get access, and You also get one extra episode a month from us!

Books

• Demon from the Dark by Kresley Cole
• Wicked Abyss by Kresley Cole
• Rejected by Jaymin Eve
• The Tyrant Alpha’s Rejected Mate by Cate Wells
• Ice Planet Barbarians series by Ruby Dixon
• Claimed by The Orc King by Roxy Taylor
• The Warlord Wants Forever by Kresley Cole
• MacRieve by Kresley Cole
• Hot Blooded by Heather Guerre
• Pack Darling by Lola Darling
• Feral Warriors series by Pamela Palmer
• The Mane Event by Shelley Laurenston
• Daring and the Duke by Sarah MacLean
• The Soulmate Equation by Christina Lauren
• Whiteout by Adriana Anders
• Bet Me by Jennifer Crusie

Notes

• Check out our website, especially the list of DRM audiobooks.
• Our first road trip romance interstitial was one that was really important to our evolutions (before we figured out the season numbering protocol!)
• This list of fated mates book on goodreads has nearly THIRTY THOUSAND TITLES, so good luck to you and I don’t actually know how that’s possible.
• It’s a portal fantasy!
• The way you know that Jen doesn’t read Omegaverse is the way she OVER AND OVER AGAIN say that Lilah in Pack Darling was a beta, but I think she was an omega. Sorry! What we do know is that no one in the book was a wolf, and honestly, that’s kind of a win for us?
• What is The Cut (or Vulture, or NYMag) going to say about romance this week?
• Of all the gin joints in all the world…
• Will Liz Lemon end up with Wesley Snipes, her future husband?

Sponsors

• Avon Books, publishers of Joanna Shupe’s The Gilded Rose, available in print, ebook and audiobook, at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books, or wherever you get your books.
• Elle Kennedy, author of Bad Idea, preorder now in print, ebook or audiobook at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo or wherever you get your books.
• Attic Wall Books, publishers of Isobel Lynn’s Godhunter, available now in print, ebook or audiobook at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books or wherever you get your books.

The Rest

• For even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net/episdoes/2026/10/12/0906-fated-mates
• If you wish you had six more days in a week of people talking about romance, may we suggest joining our Patreon? Aside from an additional episode every month you get access to our Discord, where other romance readers are talking about books they love (and many other things!) all the time. It’s so fun! Learn more about the Patreon and go join those cool people who love romance as much as you do at https://patreon.com/fatedmates.
• Beyond your favorite podcast app, you can find us on Instagram, Threads, Blue Sky, Tumblr, and probably some other places, too, if you look hard enough.
• If you've never listened to our Stop Book Banning episode, there's no better time than now.

00:00 BDE Bantr

03:00 Fated Mates (the podcast) Lore

14:57 How to Choose & How it Works

25:04 Demon from the Dark

29:04 AD: GODHUNTER

31:10 Wicked Abyss

37:21 Rejected

42:33 The Tyrant’s Alpha Rejected Me

46:51 AD: THE GILDED ROSE

49:20 Old School Suffering

53:21 Ice Planet Barbarians

57:21 Claimed by the Orc King

1:00:00 AD: BAD IDEA

1:04:25 The Question of Consent

1:06:50 Hot Blooded

1:14:24 Pack Darling

1:21:13 The Mane Event

1:34:20 Fated Mates in other Subgenres

1:46:47 Wrapping Up

We’re talking about romance with baking and sweet treats today! This is one of romance’s most common Romance Jobs, and we’re getting to the bottom of the appeal of the bakery in romance. Why do we love it when one character makes masterful desserts? What is so compelling about characters who know their way around the oven? We’ve got historicals, reality tv competitions, magic baking and menage — a little something for everyone this week!

Stay tuned at the end of the episode for a chat with Leah Greenberg, the co-Founder and co-Executive Director of Indivisible, our Fated States phonebanking partner! Fated States, our democratic phonebanking initiative continues this week! We’ll be calling Georgia to get out the vote for Jon Ossoff, Keisha Lance Bottoms, and democrats up and down the ticket! There will be games, prizes and special guests! Learn more and register to phone bank with us at http://fatedmates.net/fatedstates.

If you’d like to come over and talk about your favorite romance bakers, please join us on the Fated Mates Discord, where you’ll find a few thousand other listeners who love talking about these books we love. Join the Fated Mates patreon to get access, and You also get one extra episode a month from us!

Books

• Marrying Winterborne by Lisa Kleypas
• How the Dukes Stole Christmas
• Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel
• The Glass Kitchen by Linda Francis Lee
• Fake It Til You Bake It by Jamie Wesley
• A Legend in the Baking by Jamie Wesley
• Battle Royale by Lucy Parker
• Sweethand by NG Peltier
• Lips Like Sugar by Jess Hardy
• Craving It All by Kati Wilde
• Tart by Lauren Dane
• The Remaking of Corbin Wale by Roan Parrish
• Delectable Desire by Farrah Rochon
• Delicious Destiny by Yarrah St. John

Notes

• We’re discussing slang this week: a hilarious explanation of BDE at wikihow, check out urban dictionary for DTF, a fun new online site I just discovered called GenZ decoded turnt, and although the WNBA’s Washington Mystics Young Heaux nickname was covered in the New York Times, by far the funniest official usage of it was during the televised broadcast of a Mystics v. Storm game.
• The Cupcake Guys is a bakery owned by former football players, and it was also a reality TV show.
• We’ve mentioned them a million times, so they aren’t in the photo array, but the two books with baristas that Jen mentioned are Lick by Kylie Scott and Nero by SJ Tilly. The book with a femdomme is Candy by Torrance Sené.
• Learn more about Indivisible and find a local Indivisible chapter to help at https://indivisible.org/. Join us for phonebanking every weekend between now and Election Day at https://fatedmates.net/fatedstates.

Sponsors

• Rachel Grant, author of False Flag, available in print, ebook and audiobook, at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books, or wherever you get your books.
• Tierney Page, author of Lyrics of Summer, available in print, ebook or with your monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited.
• LJ Andrews, author of The Stolen Crown preorder now in print, ebook or audiobook at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books or wherever you get your books.

The Rest

• For even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net/episodes/2026/10/5/0905-sweet-treats-bakeries-amp-coffee-shops-in-romance
• If you wish you had six more days in a week of people talking about romance, may we suggest joining our Patreon? Aside from an additional episode every month you get access to our Discord, where other romance readers are talking about books they love (and many other things!) all the time. It’s so fun! Learn more about the Patreon and go join those cool people who love romance as much as you do at https://patreon.com/fatedmates.
• Beyond your favorite podcast app, you can find us on Instagram, Threads, Blue Sky, Tumblr, and probably some other places, too, if you look hard enough.
• If you've never listened to our Stop Book Banning episode, there's no better time than now.

00:00 Intro

02:38 Bantr (We Love You Baby Girl!)

14:24 Eric, the DRM King

17:36 AD: THE STOLEN CROWN

19:17 Sweet Treats

26:58 Fake It Till You Bake It & A Legend in the Baking

33:23 AD: FALSE FLAG

35:41 Battle Royale

42:02 Sweethand

47:20 AD: LYRICS OF SUMMER

49:04 The Luxury of Sweetness

53:49 Lips like Sugar

1:01:22 Craving It All

1:07:10 Tart

1:17:33 The Remaking of Corbin Wale

1:20:57 The Draysons: Sprinkled with Love

1:24:57 Baristas

1:28:00 Wrapping Up

1:30:38 Indivisible

It’s discoverabilibuddy time! We're dropping our Fall 2026 reads, in which we talk about an outrageous number of romance novels coming out in October, November and December. As a reminder, we have not necessarily read all these books, but they are on our TBRs — time to pour yourself a cup of something warm, get into a cozy sweater, and start adding to yours!

If you’d like to come over and talk about your most anticipated fall romances, please join us on the Fated Mates Discord, where you’ll find a few thousand other listeners who love talking about these books we love. You also get one extra episode a month from us!

Fated States, our democratic phonebanking initiative continues this week! We’ll be calling Ohio (Jen’s hometown) to get out the vote for Sherrod Brown and democrats up and down the ticket! There will be games, prizes and special guests! Learn more and register to phone bank with us at http://fatedmates.net/fatedstates.

Books

September Releases

• Jenny Will Eat You Now by Gillian Daniels
• The Invisible Roommate by Timothy Janovsky

October Releases

• To Vivian With Love Anthology
• False Flag by Rachel Grant
• The Lost Guardian by Natalia Hernandez
• Vengefully Matched by Audrey Goldberg Ruoff
• The Encore Effect by Cara Dion
• Gilded Rose by Joanna Shupe
• Engineering a Love Story by Kathleen Reidy
• Succubus by Kate Fox
• The Fall Fix Up by Karmen Lee
• Brown-Eyed Earl by Jenny Holiday
• Hexes Go Well with Tequila by LeAnna Ehrsam
• Bad Words by Ríoghnach Robinson
• Written in Starlight by Sloan Brooks
• Once in a Timeline by Iman Hariri-Kia
• The Ruby Ghost by June Calvin
• What Happens at Nightfall by Lauren Willig

November Releases

• The Love Operation by Melissa Collins
• Cut to the Ending by Maria Millage
• How to Hate a Prince by Jozette Allah-Mensah
• Sunflower Season by Danica Nava
• The Monster Hunter’s Librarian by Lauren Connelly
• You, Me, and the Conspiracy by Emma Barry
• Thunderstuck by Lissa Layland
• How to Court a Countess by Emma-Claire Sunday
• The Drakon King by Terry J Benton-Walker
• Engaged to the Enemy by Lucy Smoke
• Two Can Play that Game by Zakiya Jamal
• For the Love of K-Dramas by Lyla Lee
• Match of Fate by Annabelle Stehl
• Crash Into You by Simone Soltani
• The Best Revenge by Amy Carol Reeves
• My Neighbor, The Assassin by Michelle Heard

December Releases

• A Shy Heiress to Redeem Him by Parker J Cole
• Lovestruck by Andi Epimoni
• Falling for Evil by Celia Aaron
• Just In Time by Emily Wibberly and Austin Siegemund-Broka
• Cold Redemption by Nalini Singh
• Triple Threat by Katie Chandler
• Til Quest Do Us Part by Ivelisee Houseman
• Greek’s Dirty Little Secret by Dani Collins
• Off Season by Frankie Caracciolo
• Villain Edit by Rosie Danan
• Zahra, Unapologetic by Mina Zafri
• Lightning and Thunder by Sara Raach
• Almost Perfect by Nicole Snow
• The Lost Ones by Mia Sheridan
• One Step Closer by Laura Pavlov
• Vows and Vendettas by Trilini Pucci

Sponsors

• Little, Brown & Company, publishers of Elin Hilderbrand & Shelby Cunningham’s The Thoroughbreds, available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books, or wherever you get your books.
• Madison Score, author of Wild About You, available in print, ebook or audiobook at Amazon.
• Emily W. Andersen, author of The Midnight Book Club series. Available in print or ebook at at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, or wherever you get your books.

The Rest

• For even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net/episodes/2026/9/27/0904-2026-fall-preview
• If you wish you had six more days in a week of people talking about romance, may we suggest joining our Patreon? Aside from an additional episode every month you get access to our Discord, where other romance readers are talking about books they love (and many other things!) all the time. It’s so fun! Learn more about the Patreon and go join those cool people who love romance as much as you do at https://patreon.com/fatedmates.
• Beyond your favorite podcast app, you can find us on Instagram, Threads, Blue Sky, Tumblr, and probably some other places, too, if you look hard enough.
• If you've never listened to our Stop Book Banning episode, there's no better time than now.

06:36.500 September Revisited

10:40.000 AD: THE THOROUGHBREDS

12:16.500 October Releases

25:45.500 AD: THE MIDNIGHT BOOK CLUB

28:00.000 More October Releases

36:02.500 November Releases

01:03:18.500 December Releases

01:04:57.000 AD: WILD ABOUT YOU

01:06:50.000 More December Releases

01:29:23.500 Wrapping Up

01:36:40.500 Horny!

As they say on the Discord, this year’s theme is…Themes! This week, we’re talking about hammers, nails, drills, pipes and more — literal characters who are wielding literal (and metaphorical) tools! We’re hopping in the wayback machine to talk about books from the 00s and early 10s, on a continuum of content from “oh this has a whole plot” to “here’s a great one-handed read.” We’ve got plumbers, blacksmiths, contractors and a sentient screwdriver…there is literally something here for everyone.

If you’d like to come over and talk about romances, with or without tools (jk, they all have tools), please join us on the Fated Mates Discord, where you’ll find a few thousand other listeners who love talking about these books we love. You also get one extra episode a month from us!

Fated States, our democratic phonebanking initiative begins this week! We’ll be calling Texas to get out the vote for James Talarico and Gina Hinojosa! There will be games, prizes and special guests! Learn more and register to phone bank with us at http://fatedmates.net/fatedstates.

Books

• Roller Girl by Vanessa North
• The Scoundrel Falls Hard by Sophie Jordan
• Under Construction by Kate Cole
• Laying Pipe by Kiki Clark
• The Carpenter by Ramona Gray
• Entwined by Kristen Callihan
• Caulky by KM Neuhold
• Hard Time by Cara McKenna
• Kate’s Crew by Jane Rylon
• Laid by Brill Harper
• Screwed by CD Reiss

Notes

• This Saturday, we’re calling Texas to get out the vote for James Talarico and Gina Hinojosa at 1pm eastern time! Learn more and register to phone bank with us at http://fatedmates.net/fatedstates.
• Some books about unions and unionizing: Make Room for Love by Darcy Liao, and the 1984 Harlequin American Romance was The Third Time by Rebecca Flanders. Our listener Sylvia suggested two others: Don’t Forget to Smile by Katherine Gillis Seidel and Here Be Dragons by Jenny Redford. These titles are also in the photo array above!
• We did have an episode about renovation romance with Nikki Payne back in season 6 and one on quick and dirty reads back in season 2.
• Unfortunately, it seems Entwined by Kristen Callihan is no longer available for sale. Sorry, everyone!
• Samhain and Elora’s Cave were two early erotic romance publishers that closed and we’ve lost a lot of information about these publishers and their backlist of titles and authors.

Sponsors

• Lucy Score, author of The Dead Guy Next Door, the first in the Riley Thorn series, available in print, ebook and audiobook, or with your monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited.
• HarperCollins, publisher of A.T. Qureshi’s Rider of Dragons, available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books, or wherever you get your books.
• MJ Hastings’s Firstborn, available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books, or wherever you get your books.
• LJ Andrews, author of The Stolen Crown preorder now in print, ebook or audiobook at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books or wherever you get your books.

The Rest

• For even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net/episodes/2026/9/21/s0903-carpenters-plumbers-and-other-metaphorical-romance-jobs
• If you wish you had six more days in a week of people talking about romance, may we suggest joining our Patreon? Aside from an additional episode every month you get access to our Discord, where other romance readers are talking about books they love (and many other things!) all the time. It’s so fun! Learn more about the Patreon and go join those cool people who love romance as much as you do at https://patreon.com/fatedmates.
• Beyond your favorite podcast app, you can find us on Instagram, Threads, Blue Sky, Tumblr, and probably some other places, too, if you look hard enough.
• If you've never listened to our Stop Book Banning episode, there's no better time than now.

00:00 Bantr

07:25 People with Tools

15:47 AD: THE STOLEN CROWN

17:30 Organizing Principles

20:44 Roller Girl

27:38 The Scoundrel Falls Hard

32:05 AD: FIRST BORN

33:58 Under Construction

48:14 AD: RIDER OF DRAGONS

49:49 The Carpenter

55:43 Entwined

1:01:51 AD: THE DEAD GUY NEXT DOOR

1:03:58 Caulky

1:12:12 Hard Time

1:19:47 Kate’s Crew

1:27:17 Blue Collar Bad Boys

1:34:23 Screwed

1:42:11 Wrapping Up

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 talk about. We had a great time, and hope you do.

If you’d like to come over and talk about romances, with or without numbers, please join us on the Fated Mates Discord, where you’ll find a few thousand other listeners who love talking about these books we love. You also get one extra episode a month from us!

Fated States, our democratic phonebanking initiative begins this week! We’ll be calling Georgia to get out the vote for Jon Ossoff and Keisha Lance Bottoms! There will be games, prizes and special guests! Learn more and register to phone bank with us at http://fatedmates.net/fatedstates.

A Number of Books

• Below Zero by Ali Hazelwood
• Zero to Sixty by Marie Harte
• It Happened One Summer by Tessa Bailey
• One and Only by Jenny Holiday
• Party of Two by Jasmine Guillory
• Goldie and the [three] Bears by Hannah Murray
• Three Dirty Secrets by Nikki Sloan
• Three Way Split by Elia Winters
• Party of Three by C. Travis Rice
• Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros
• Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros
• Five Brothers by Penelope Douglas
• Six by Opal Carew
• Holiday for Six by Kelly Finley
• Seven Secrets of Seduction by Anne Mallory
• The Seven Rings by Nora Roberts
• The Seven Year Slip by Ashley Poston
• Seven Days in June by Tia Williams
• Chasin’ Eight by Lorelai James
• Eight Nights of Flirting by Hannah Reynolds
• Eight Seconds to Ride by Ashley James
• The Hell’s Eight Series by Sarah McCarty
• Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake by Sarah MacLean
• Ten Ways to Be Adored When Landing a Lord by Sarah MacLean
• Ten by Roxie Riveria
• Ten Hammers by Liz Archer
• Eleven Scandals to Start to Win a Duke’s Heart by Sarah MacLean
• Twelve Nights by Hope Tarr
• A Duke a Dozen by Shana Galen
• Cowboys by the Dozen by Tina Leonard
• Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler
• Fifty Shades of Gray by EL James
• 52 Reasons to Hate my Father by Jessica Brody
• 99 Percent Mine by Sally Thorne
• To One Hundred by Melissa Blue
• The 1001 Dark Nights Series
• 3000 Reasons to Act by Jamie P Bradley
• 10,000 Hours with a Rich Menace by Jahquel J.
• How to Marry a Millionaire Vampire by Kerrilyn Sparks
• The Blackout Billionaire Series by Naima Simone
• Infinite by Corinne Michaels
• Love Times Infinity by Lane Clark
• An Infinite Love Story by Chanel Cleeton

Sponsors

• Harpercollins, publishers of Laurie Gilmore’s Big Bad Wolf, available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books, or wherever you get your books.
• Orbit Books, publishers of Rachel Gillig’s The Knave and the Moon, available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books, or wherever you get your books.
• Little, Brown & Company, publishers of Elin Hilderbrand & Shelby Cunningham’s The Thoroughbreds, available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books, or wherever you get your books.
• Union Square & Co., publishers of Morgan Elizabeth’s Meet Cute Magic, available in print, ebook or audiobook at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books or wherever you get your books.

The Rest

• For even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net/episodes/2026/9/14/s0902-romance-by-numbers
• If you wish you had six more days in a week of people talking about romance, may we suggest joining our Patreon? Aside from an additional episode every month you get access to our Discord, where other romance readers are talking about books they love (and many other things!) all the time. It’s so fun! Learn more about the Patreon and go join those cool people who love romance as much as you do at https://patreon.com/fatedmates.
• Beyond your favorite podcast app, you can find us on Instagram, Threads, Blue Sky, Tumblr, and probably some other places, too, if you look hard enough.
• If you've never listened to our Stop Book Banning episode, there's no better time than now.

00:00 Bantr

04:23 Sarah Has a Story About Numbers

08:45 AD: THOROUGHBREDS

10:30 Nine Rules

18:00 The Stephanie Plump Series

20:50 From Zero to Two

25:55 AD: THE KNAVE AND THE MOON

27:45 From Three to Seven

43:20 AD: BIG BAD WOLF

45:00 From Seven to Twelve

55:55 AD: MEET CUTE MAGIC

57:50 From 20 to Infinity

1:27:39 Wrapping Up

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 in the sky — pilots, astronauts, plane crashes, astronauts and mile-high-clubs…and all of them featuring romance that won’t quit.

If you’d like to come over and talk about romances, both in the sky and on land, please join us on the Fated Mates Discord, where you’ll find a few thousand other listeners who love talking about these books we love. You also get one extra episode a month from us!

Fated States, our democratic phonebanking initiative begins next week. Learn more and register to phone bank with us at http://fatedmates.net/fatedstates.

Books

• The Vegas Top Gun Series by Katie Porter
• On Broken Wings by Chanel Cleeton
• Wild Card by Elsie Silver
• Beyond the Limits by Katherine Garbera
• The Last Man on Earth by Shae Sanders
• Puck Me Secretly by Odette Stone
• Crash Landing by Annie McQuaid
• Pregnant in the Italian's Palazzo
• Turbulence by Whitney G.
• The Skyland Series by Kennedy Ryan
• The Professional by Kresley Cole

Notes

• Fated States is back!We’ll be phonebanking every weekend on Saturdays starting September 19th, but the final weekend before the election, we’ll instead phonebank on Sunday Nov 1 to avoid Halloween.
• The way to find a book club is to read River Town by Peter Hessler and then go to your nearest local indie bookstore and let the bookclub reveal itself to you.
• Find out more about The Sunday Letter Project.
• Pilots have been hot since Top Gun, and not just because of the volleyball scene.
• Natasha Cloud is a baddie and she gave an irrelevant man the business for being transphobic, and Jen thinks she’s a literal hero.
• The Spanish Space Program, the Instituto Nacional de Técnica Aeroespacial was created in the 1940s and was replaced by the Agencia Espacial Española in 2021. According to Wikipedia, as of 2026, there have been Four Spanish astronauts.

Sponsors

• Harpercollins, publishers of AT Qureshi’s Rider of Dragons, available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books, or wherever you get your books.
• Rose Prendeville, author of The Unknown Birds, available in print, ebook or audiobook from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or with your monthly subscription to Kobo Plus. Use the code FATEDBIRDS at Rose’s website to get a signed print book and 30% off!
• Isabel Sterling, author of With All My Haunted Heart, available in print, ebook or audiobook, from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple Books, Kobo or your local bookstore.
• Orbit Books, publishers of Louisa Carmody’s The Shadows that Listen, available in print, ebook or audiobook at Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books, your local bookstore, or with your monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited.
• Blue Box Press, publishers of Ashley Eckstein & Samantha Chase’s Lucky 22 and David Eckstein’s Just Enough, available in print, ebook or audiobook at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books or wherever you get your books.

The Rest

• For even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net/episodes/2026/9/6/s0901-cloud-nine-romance-in-the-sky
• If you wish you had six more days in a week of people talking about romance, may we suggest joining our Patreon? Aside from an additional episode every month you get access to our Discord, where other romance readers are talking about books they love (and many other things!) all the time. It’s so fun! Learn more about the Patreon and go join those cool people who love romance as much as you do at https://patreon.com/fatedmates.
• Beyond your favorite podcast app, you can find us on Instagram, Threads, Blue Sky, Tumblr, and probably some other places, too, if you look hard enough.
• If you've never listened to our Stop Book Banning episode, there's no better time than now.

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, Sarah’s casino. We talk Bourne, turning around big ships, writing sexy stained glass windows, and what it means to look back on the early part of a career.

Next week, we’re taking a little break, and then we’ll be back with Season Nine of Fated Mates. As ever, we’re so grateful to you for listening, reading and being a part of this community. We’re nothing without you.

If you’d like to spend more time talking about romance novels, join our Patreon! You’ll get an extra monthly episode from us and access to the incredible readers and brilliant people on the Fated Mates Discord. Learn more at https://fatedmates.net/patreon.

Notes

• The jellyfish thing is a myth, you don’t have to pee on a jellyfish sting.
• All about the amygdala, or Amy for short if you think of her as that messy friend who will definitely lead you astray.
• JB Pritzker talked about the colors of school folders, and it’s A MESS. Feel free to report back on your preferences for folder colors if you, like Sarah, are outraged.
• New York Times hosted a conversation with Tressie McMillam Cottom, Nadja Spiegelman, and Mary HK Choi called “Have We Turned Personality into a Diagnosis?” It’s worth the listen!
• Is it true that Gen Z is this puritanical (the Puriteens!), or are they just worried that everything is cringe?
• JK Rowling is a piece of shit.
• Gambling has always been bad, but it’s especially bad on your phone. Please talk to your kids about sports betting and make sure these apps are not on their phones.
• Crockfords moved a lot of money in the Regency.
• One of the big influences for Bourne & Penelope was Alfred de Vigny’s poem Éloa, ou La sœur des anges about an angel who falls in love with a stranger who turns out to be Lucifer. English translations are tough to find, but here’s a website that has part of it in translation.
• When you think of the The Fallen Angel (the club), you might think of the famous painting by Alexandre Cabanel, but that’s from 1847!

Sponsors

• Megan Frampton, author of Demons and Diplomacy, available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books, or wherever you get your books.
• Madison Score, author of Wild About You, available in print, ebook or audiobook at Amazon.
• Tracy MacNish, author of Of the Ashes, available in print or ebook, or with your monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited.
• Hachette Books, publishers of Jennifer Givhan’s The Sleeping Sisters, available in print, ebook or audiobook at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books, or wherever you get your books.

The Rest

• For even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net/episodes/2026/8/25/s0849-a-rogue-by-any-other-name
• If you wish you had six more days in a week of people talking about romance, may we suggest joining our Patreon? Aside from an additional episode every month you get access to our Discord, where other romance readers are talking about books they love (and many other things!) all the time. It’s so fun! Learn more about the Patreon and go join those cool people who love romance as much as you do at https://patreon.com/fatedmates.
• Beyond your favorite podcast app, you can find us on Instagram, Threads, Blue Sky, Tumblr, and probably some other places, too, if you look hard enough.
• If you've never listened to our Stop Book Banning episode, there's no better time than now.

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 historical lover, what are you waiting for? We're so excited to be your discoverabilibuddies on this one!

Come talk about your favorite recent historical romances over on our Patreon! You’ll get an extra monthly episode from us and access to the incredible readers and brilliant people on the Fated Mates Discord. Learn more at https://fatedmates.net/patreon.

Our next read along, next week, is Sarah’s A Rogue By Any Other Name, the first in her casino series. This is one we’ve gotten a bunch of requests for, and so, it will be our final read along of the season. Get it at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books or wherever you get your books.

Books

• Across the Living Infinite by Logan Sage Adams
• To Covet a Countess by Sapna Bhog
• Centaur and Sensibility by Quenby Olson
• The Seduction of Mr Alfred Sainsbury by Lydia Lloyd
• The Magnificent Earl of March by Cecilia Rene
• You Had Me at Heist by Christina Britton
• I Shall Never Fall in Love by Hari Conner
• Favors From a Gentleman by Lauren Hayworth
• Mrs. Milner Gets a Kitchen by Jane Hadley
• His Awful Grace by Anne Knight
• Earl on Fire by Fe

Notes

• Listen to our Long Live Historicals, Volume I here.
• Fill out more about the Romance Novel Collective and fill out their survey.
• There was a salt water pool on Titanic.
• The centaur in The Lion, The Witch & the Wardrobe is not a centaur or a satyr, but a faun, and his name is Mr. Tumnus. Here’s a primer on the difference between satyrs and fauns. Apologies to the Greeks, Romans, and CS Lewis fans in the crowd. The OG Centaur books Sarah mentioned are also not centaurs, they are satyrs, but they are Holy Cannoli, Batman and by Elizabeth Amber. Proceed with caution.
• Some SFW and NSFW images about centaurs.

The Rest

• For even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net/episodes/2026/8/17/s0848-the-new-historicals-volume-iii
• If you wish you had six more days in a week of people talking about romance, may we suggest joining our Patreon? Aside from an additional episode every month you get access to our Discord, where other romance readers are talking about books they love (and many other things!) all the time. It’s so fun! Learn more about the Patreon and go join those cool people who love romance as much as you do at https://patreon.com/fatedmates.
• Beyond your favorite podcast app, you can find us on Instagram, Threads, Blue Sky, Tumblr, and probably some other places, too, if you look hard enough.
• If you've never listened to our Stop Book Banning episode, there's no better time than now.

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 end of summer TBR with them.

Come talk about your favorite romances with tattoos or about romance in general over on our Patreon! You’ll get an extra monthly episode from us and access to the incredible readers and brilliant people on the Fated Mates Discord. Learn more at https://fatedmates.net/patreon.

Our next read along, in two weeks, is Sarah’s A Rogue By Any Other Name, the first in her casino series. This is one we’ve gotten a bunch of requests for, and so, it will be our final read along of the season. Get it at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books or wherever you get your books.

Books

• The Montgomery Ink series by Carrie Ann Ryan
• The Duke with the Dragon Tattoo by Kerrigan Byrne
• To Desire a Devil by Elizabeth Hoyt
• The Magpie Lord by KJ Charles
• Daring and the Duke by Sarah MacLean
• These Summer Storms by Sarah MacLean
• Merry Inkmas by Talia Hibbert
• Repeat by Kylie Scott
• Written on his Skin by Simone Stark
• Three Dirty Secrets by Nikki Sloane
• Under Her Skin by Adriana Anders
• Permanent Ink by Avon Gale and Piper Vaughn
• Sin & Ink by Naima Simone
• Reaper’s Legacy by Joanna Wylde
• Hard as it Gets by Laura Kaye

Notes

• Tattoos have a long history tangled up with colonization, which is why for a long time they were thought to be stigmatizing. They are definitely more mainstream now, which means tattoo culture is changing which has caused its own clashes, but they also aren’t thought of as class markers anymore.
• All about sextants.
• Merry Inkmas is actually Talia’s second book, her first was Bad for the Boss, which is no longer in print. Jen reviewed both of those for The Book Queen when they were released.
• Check out the secret tattoos collection on our website.

Sponsors

• Ellie Devine, author of The Survival Guide to Alexander McBryde, available in print or ebook, or with your monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited.
• E. Kennedy, author of Thornbird, available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books, or wherever you get your books.
• Harpercollins, publishers of Spellfire by Agatha WIllow, available in print or ebook at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books, or wherever you get your books.

The Rest

• For even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net/episodes/2026/8/10/0847-romance-tattoo
• If you wish you had six more days in a week of people talking about romance, may we suggest joining our Patreon? Aside from an additional episode every month you get access to our Discord, where other romance readers are talking about books they love (and many other things!) all the time. It’s so fun! Learn more about the Patreon and go join those cool people who love romance as much as you do at https://patreon.com/fatedmates.
• Beyond your favorite podcast app, you can find us on Instagram, Threads, Blue Sky, Tumblr, and probably some other places, too, if you look hard enough.
• If you've never listened to our Stop Book Banning episode, there's no better time than now.

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 even historical nudes! You’re going to have a great time.

If you want to talk more about your favorite romances that feature photographers, or about romance in general, come join our Patreon! You’ll get an extra monthly episode from us and access to the incredible readers and brilliant people on the Fated Mates Discord. Learn more at https://fatedmates.net/patreon.

Our next read along is Sarah’s A Rogue By Any Other Name, the first in her casino series. This is one we’ve gotten a bunch of requests for, and so, it will be our final read along of the season. Get it at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books or wherever you get your books.

Books

• A Duke Worth Falling For by Sarah MacLean
• Best of Luck by Kate Clayborn
• Chase me if You Can by Heather Frances
• Lay it Down by Cara McKenna
• My Dirty Duke by Joanna Shupe
• To The Ends of the Earth by Elizabeth Lowell
• Taming Teddy by Lucy Lennox
• Flight by Laura Griffin
• Three Dirty Secrets by Nikki Sloan
• Managed by Kriste

Notes

• The WNBA all star game was pretty fun, and Sky player Sydney Taylor is both very beautiful and very good at basketball.
• Wicker the movie trailer, and our Sentient Object episode.
• Jen had a throwaway line about how “AI has ruined everything” in photography, but just like with everything else, that’s a real concern.
• Up Close and Personal (1996) is a movie with Robert Redford and Michelle Pfeiffer about television journalists.
• According to this timeline from Harvard about the history of photography, the first surviving permanent photograph dates back to the 1820s, but most people probably think of the daguerreotype, invented by Louis Jacques Mandé Daguerre in 1839.
• Um, in case you need to know what a darkroom is.
• There is a chain of 7 barrier islands in Texas on the Gulf of Mexico, Padre is probably the most well-known.
•

The Rest

• For even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net/episodes/2026/8/3/s0846-photographers-in-romance-books
• If you wish you had six more days in a week of people talking about romance, may we suggest joining our Patreon? Aside from an additional episode every month you get access to our Discord, where other romance readers are talking about books they love (and many other things!) all the time. It’s so fun! Learn more about the Patreon and go join those cool people who love romance as much as you do at https://patreon.com/fatedmates.
• Beyond your favorite podcast app, you can find us on Instagram, Threads, Blue Sky, Tumblr, and probably some other places, too, if you look hard enough.
• If you've never listened to our Stop Book Banning episode, there's no better time than now.

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 Costner. It’s the most 90s thing we’ve ever read, without question.

If you want to talk more about Perfect or Judith McNaught, or about romance in general, come join our Patreon! You’ll get an extra monthly episode from us and access to the incredible readers and brilliant people on the Fated Mates Discord. Learn more at https://fatedmates.net/patreon.

Our next read along is Sarah’s A Rogue By Any Other Name, the first in her casino series. This is one we’ve gotten a bunch of requests for, and so, it will be our final read along of the season. Get it at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books or wherever you get your books.

• Books
• Perfect by Judith McNaught
• A Kingdom of Dreams by Judith McNaught
• Remember When by Judith McNaught
• Double Standards by Judith McNaught
• Tender Triumph by Judith McNaught

Notes

• Jen said Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead but she meant Adventures in Babysitting, which was a 1987 movie where suburban kids go on a terrifying adventure in the terrifying big city of Chicago.
• We did a deep dive of A Kingdom of Dreams in Season 2.
• Kelly Faircloth sent Sarah an ad for the book from People Magazine. In print versions of the book, there was a letter from Judith McNaught explaining the literacy plot in the book.
• Interestingly, the Coors literacy push was covered by the New York Times in 1992, discussing the push by big companies to adopt a cause and use it to burnish their image.
• Okay, apparently fleece also had a bellwether year in 1993, but let’s be honest, it was Old Navy who made performance fleece happen for most of us and that was 1998.
• In America, our access to Abortion is much worse than it was in 1993 and America still has a devastating epidemic of suicide among queer teenagers, as The Trevor Project explains “LGBTQ+ young people are not inherently prone to suicide risk because of their sexual orientation or gender identity but rather placed at higher risk because of how they are mistreated and stigmatized in society.”

Sponsors

• Frayed Pages by Wattpad Books, publishers of EM Wilson’s Breakup for Two, available in print or ebook at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books, or wherever you get your books.
• Meghan Quinn, author of Just for the Plot, available in print, ebook and audiobook, or with your monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited.
• Kylie Scott, author of Runaway Rockstar, available in print or ebook at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books, or your local independent bookstore.
• E.W. Andersen, author of the Midnights on the Square series. Available in print or ebook at at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, or wherever you get your books.

The Rest

• For even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net/episodes/2026/7/28/0845-judith-mcnaughts-perfect-content-warning-the-90s
• If you wish you had six more days in a week of people talking about romance, may we suggest joining our Patreon? Aside from an additional episode every month you get access to our Discord, where other romance readers are talking about books they love (and many other things!) all the time. It’s so fun! Learn more about the Patreon and go join those cool people who love romance as much as you do at https://patreon.com/fatedmates.
• Beyond your favorite podcast app, you can find us on Instagram, Threads, Blue Sky, Tumblr, and probably some other places, too, if you look hard enough.
• If you've never listened to our Stop Book Banning episode, there's no better time than now.

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 pool.

If you want to talk more about these speculative romance novels, or about romance in general, come join our Patreon! You’ll get an extra monthly episode from us and access to the incredible readers and brilliant people on the Fated Mates Discord. Learn more at https://fatedmates.net/patreon.

Our next read along is an old school contemporary, Perfect by Judith McNaught. Sarah says it has the greatest all-is-lost moment in romance history. Read it to find out if she’s right. Get it at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books or wherever you get your books.

Books

• A Love Song for Ricki Wilde by Tia Williams
• My Date with a Pair of Gray Sweatpants by Cassie O. Peia
• The House of Now and Then by Edward Underhill
• Do Your Worst by Rosie Danan
• Every Version of You by Natalie Messier
• The Night Island by Jayne Ann Krentz
• The Dead Romantics by Ashley Poston
• The Someday Garden by Ashley Poston
• Losing Sight by Tati Richardson
• Struck Speechless by Tati Richardson

Notes

• This year’s men’s World Cup actually broke the Own Goal record with 14 of them. Get ready for the Women’s World Cup in Brazil next year in 2027! So these English fans made up a bunch of chants for a regular player, which is very charming. Speaking of soccer, Mamdani continues to show us all that politicians can just…help make people’s lives better?
• Here’s a handout Jen uses to teach the three genres that fall under the speculative fiction umbrella, and why magical realism isn’t a catch-all or synonym for any writing with speculative elements.
• The pink dress question: how do you decide if your characters need to heal themselves in order to fall in love, or if falling in love is what heals them?
• Matthew Rhys and Matthew Macfadyen are in fact different people, but everyone’s watching Widow’s Bay.

Sponsors

• Lumi Gummies. Go to http://lumigummies.com/and use code FATEDMATES for 30% off your order.
• Lucy Score author of The Dead Guy Next Door, the first in the Riley Thorn series, available in print, ebook and audiobook, or with your monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited.
• Harpercollins, publishers of Sleuths, by Samantha Moody, available in print, ebook and audiobook at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books, or your local independent bookstore.

The Rest

• For even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net/episodes/2026/7/5/s0843
• If you wish you had six more days in a week of people talking about romance, may we suggest joining our Patreon? Aside from an additional episode every month you get access to our Discord, where other romance readers are talking about books they love (and many other things!) all the time. It’s so fun! Learn more about the Patreon and go join those cool people who love romance as much as you do at https://patreon.com/fatedmates.
• Beyond your favorite podcast app, you can find us on Instagram, Threads, Blue Sky, Tumblr, and probably some other places, too, if you look hard enough.
• If you've never listened to our Stop Book Banning episode, there's no better time than now.

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 the rules of writing thrillers and mysteries, about the covenant mysteries and thrillers have with readers, and about Mystery Reasons™️. We had the best time with this one — you’re going to love it.

Learn more about Anders’s books at his English language publishers, Simon & Schuster and Harpercollins

If you want to talk more about Genre Carrying the Myth, Jayne Ann Krentz’s genius way of thinking about the work of genre fiction, or about mysteries and thrillers, come join our Patreon! You’ll get an extra monthly episode from us and access to the incredible readers and brilliant people on the Fated Mates Discord. Learn more at https://fatedmates.net/patreon.

Our next read along is an old school contemporary, Perfect by Judith McNaught. Sarah says it has the greatest all-is-lost moment in romance history. Read it to find out if she’s right. Get it at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books or wherever you get your books.

Thrillers and Mysteries Mentioned in This Episode

• The Mountain King by Anders De la Motte
• The Glass Man by Anders De la Motte
• The Rust Forest by Anders De la Motte
• Shutter Island by Denis Lehane
• The Usual Suspects
• Widow's Bay
• Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie
• Columbo
• Poker Face
• Murder, She Wrote
• Knives Out
• The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
• Killing Floor by Lee Child
• Orphan X by Gregg Hurwitz
• Small Mercies by Dennis Lehane
• The DaVinci Code by Dan Brown
• James Bond
• Evil Under the Sun by Agatha Christie
• Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie
• And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
• One of Us is Lying by Karen M. McManus
• The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman
• The Wire
• MemoRandom by Anders De la Motte
• End of Summer by Anders De la Motte
• Game by Anders De la Motte

Notes

Welcome Anders de la Motte, author of mysteries and thrillers. Many of his books have been translated to English, most recently The Asker series.

Many of the most famous fictional detectives we mentioned are on this list.

In fiction, unreliability is a narrative device meant to purposefully confuse or lie to the reader for the purposes of the story. We’ve argued that it’s more or less impossible to have an unreliable narrator in romance.

A good explainer on the difference between close 3rd (used in romance) and limited 3rd (used in mysteries/thrillers)

MacGuffins and other mystery and thriller tropes and vocabulary.

Sponsors

• Jill Shalvis author of Falling Into You, available in print, ebook, audiobook from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or your local independent bookstore.
• Jess Turner, author of The Only Catch, available in print, ebook or with your monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited.
• Hachette, publishers of In the Wake of the Ruined, by Kalie Cassidy, available in print, ebook and audiobook at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books, or your local independent bookstore.
• Oliver Heber Books, publishers of The Forbidden Duke, by Darcy Burke, available in print, ebook and audiobook at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books. Support the special 10th anniversary edition Kickstarter.

The Rest

• For even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net/episodes/2026/7/5/anders-de-la-motte
• If you wish you had six more days in a week of people talking about romance, may we suggest joining our Patreon? Aside from an additional episode every month you get access to our Discord, where other romance readers are talking about books they love (and many other things!) all the time. It’s so fun! Learn more about the Patreon and go join those cool people who love romance as much as you do at https://patreon.com/fatedmates.
• Beyond your favorite podcast app, you can find us on Instagram, Threads, Blue Sky, Tumblr, and probably some other places, too, if you look hard enough.
• If you've never listened to our Stop Book Banning episode, there's no better time than now.

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. Gird your loins, historical lovers!!

If you want to talk more about country house parties, about historicals, or about romance in general, come join our Patreon! You’ll get an extra monthly episode from us and access to the incredible readers and brilliant people on the Fated Mates Discord. Learn more at https://fatedmates.net/patreon.

Our next read along is an old school contemporary, Perfect by Judith McNaught. Sarah says it has the greatest all-is-lost moment in romance history. Read it to find out if she’s right. Get it at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books or wherever you get your books.

Books

• Day of the Duchess by Sarah MacLean
• Duchess by Night by Eloisa James
• Band Sinister by KJ Charles
• Any Old Diamonds by KJ Charles
• How the Duke was Won by Lenora Bell
• A Dangerous Man by Connie Brockway
• Forever Your Duke by Erica Ridley
• Do You Want to Start a Scandal by Tessa Dare
• Slightly Dangerous by Mary Balogh
• What I did for a Duke by Julie Ann Long
• The Fifth Avenue Rebels Series by Joanna Shupe
• Again the Magic by Lisa Kleypas

Notes

• It’s officially called The Obama Presidential Center, but you can also call it The Obamalisk OR the Taj Michelle. Whatever works for you! It’s a great place for a first date!
• The tall ships! It’s not the St. Charles, but the St. Lawrence waterways, it’s manmade, because you know, Niagara Falls. We know geography!
• Some people got married at Madison Square Garden and some other people got engaged at the top of the Empire State Building.
• In Tatler, author Lucy Foley wrote about the country house party.
• Noises Off is a farce.

Sponsors

• Rachel Griffiths, author of Just for the Season, available in print, ebook, audiobook from Amazon, Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, signed from the Ripped Bodice, or wherever you get your books.
• Max Monroe authors of Where I Should Have Been, available in print, ebook, audiobook from Amazon, Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, or your local independent bookstore.
• Kristin Jennings, author of A Legacy of Magic & Monsters, available in print, ebook or with your monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited.
• Union Square & Co., publishers of Pot Shot, by Laura Piper Lee, available in print, ebook and audiobook at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books, or your local independent bookstore.

The Rest

• For even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net/episodes/2026/7/5/s0842-country-house-parties
• If you wish you had six more days in a week of people talking about romance, may we suggest joining our Patreon? Aside from an additional episode every month you get access to our Discord, where other romance readers are talking about books they love (and many other things!) all the time. It’s so fun! Learn more about the Patreon and go join those cool people who love romance as much as you do at https://patreon.com/fatedmates.
• Beyond your favorite podcast app, you can find us on Instagram, Threads, Blue Sky, Tumblr, and probably some other places, too, if you look hard enough.
• If you've never listened to our Stop Book Banning episode, there's no better time than now.