Fated Mates - Romance Books for Novel People

S09.01: Cloud Nine: Romance in the Sky

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 n

RERUN: S06.10: Men in Fur: Aliens, Warlords, and Vikings

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)

S08.49: A Rogue By Any Other Name

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 ch

S08.48: Long Live Historicals, Volume II

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, becaus

S08.47: Romance Tattoo

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

S08.46: Photographers in Romance

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

08.45: Judith McNaught's Perfect: Content Warning, the 90's

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

S08:43: Romance with Magical Elements

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 jus

S08.42: Romance Reasons Meet Thriller Reasons with Anders de la Motte

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

S08.41: Country House Parties

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 c

BONUS: Sports Romance Rerun + Jen Chats with Gina Prodan Kelly [FIXED]

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 wi

S08.40: Summer 2026 Preview

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 an

S08.39: Romance Birthday (Do Men Have Them?)

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 book

S08.38: Seven Days In June by Tia Williams

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

S08.37: Road Trips and a Chat With Mary Kay Andrews

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 w

S08.36: The Rain Fell in Torrents: Weather Is Genre

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 tempest

S08.35: Sad Boys Who Punch Things with Veronica Roth

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 Thin

S08.34: Historical Romance with Ali Hazelwood and Adriana Herrera

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

S08.33: Ian Mackenzie is DTF: The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie

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 episo

S08.32: Paris Romance with Kate Clayborn

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! W