Fated Mates - Romance Books for Novel People
Episodes
S08.37: Road Trips and a Chat With Mary Kay Andrews
10 Jun 2026
Contributed by Lukas
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 book...
S08.36: The Rain Fell in Torrents: Weather Is Genre
03 Jun 2026
Contributed by Lukas
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 s...
RERUN: Trailblazer Loretta Chase
01 Jun 2026
Contributed by Lukas
AH2's Historical Trailblazers Romance Collection is inspired by the Fated Mates Trailblazers series, so we thought it would be good to rerun each feat...
RERUN: Trailblazer KJ Charles
30 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
AH2's Historical Trailblazers Romance Collection is inspired by the Fated Mates Trailblazers series, so we thought it would be good to rerun each feat...
RERUN: Trailblazer Jeannie Lin
27 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
AH2's Historical Trailblazers Romance Collection is inspired by the Fated Mates Trailblazers series, so we thought it would be good to rerun each feat...
S08.35: Sad Boys Who Punch Things with Veronica Roth
20 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
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:...
RERUN: Trailblazer Beverly Jenkins
18 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
AH2's Historical Trailblazers Romance Collection is inspired by the Fated Mates Trailblazers series, so we thought it would be good to rerun each feat...
S08.34: Historical Romance with Ali Hazelwood and Adriana Herrera
13 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
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 masterm...
S08.33: Ian Mackenzie is DTF: The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie
06 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
S08.32: Paris Romance with Kate Clayborn
29 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
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 Lov...
S08.31: Trailblazer Ruby Dixon
22 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
This season, we’re expanding our traditional Trailblazer series to include the modern romance writers who we believe will be considered trailblazers...
S08.30: Irredeemable Characters: Morality Chain Redux
15 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
By request, we’re talking about the characters who have been exiled from family, from community, and from themselves—the irredeemable characters i...
S08.29: Jen & Sarah Answer Your Burning Questions
08 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
As always when we’re together, today we’re answering listener questions! In here, we’re recommending sex lessons books, motorcycle romance, book...
S08.28: Spring 2026 Preview
01 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
S08.27: Romance Baby: Not the Secret Kind
25 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
S08.26: BALLET AND OPERA IN ROMANCE
18 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
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...
S08.25: Heated Rivalry Read-Alikes with Christopher Rice
11 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
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. W...
S08.24: Sincerely, Your Inconvenient Wife by Julia Wolf
04 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
S08.23: The Chemise Protects You From Boning: Romance Wardrobe
25 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Continuing our series on Romance Vibes, we’re talking about Romance Wardrobe this week! We’re talking corsets and chemises, falls and Hessian boot...
S08.22: Chart Topping Songs and Their Perfect Romance Novel Pairings
18 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
NotesYou can listen to the accompanying playlist on Apple Music and SpotifyYou, too, may want to learn about this mahjong situation brewing in the Mid...
S08.21: 🌹A Dozen Roses for Valentine’s Day🌹
11 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
This weekend, the world is celebrating the second most important romance holiday in February (see last week’s episode for the most important)—Vale...
S08.20: Trailblazer Lisa Kleypas
04 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
It’s finally happened! In a perfect Derek Craven Day celebration, our Trailblazer conversations continue this week with thee Lisa Kleypas, historica...
S08.19: Ice Planet Barbarians
28 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
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 tha...
S08.18: Shotgun Weddings with Jayne Ann Krentz
21 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
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'...
S08.17: Setting New Year's Reading Resolutions
14 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
As it's the beginning of the year, we're talking about how we think about our reading years. What kind of strategies does Jen use? How is Sarah attemp...
BONUS: Fated Mates All Stars talk Heated Rivalry
08 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
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
07 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
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 trill...
S08.15: Jen & Sarah's New Year's Milkin' Eve!
31 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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...
RERUN: Here Comes Santa Claus
24 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
As per tradition, Eric's here to introduce a holiday episode rerun. Cheers! 🎅The RestFor even more info about this episode, and to explore everythi...
S08.14: Terrific 2025 Romance Debuts
17 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
S08:13 KJ Charles’s the Magpie Lord: We’re Gonna Get to the Tattoos
10 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 cle...
S08.12: Fantastic Romance Series
03 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 grea...
RERUN: Heated Rivalry by Rachel Reid
28 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
S07.33, originally released on April 29, 2025.The RestFor even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit...
S08.11: Holiday Romance 2025
26 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 (exc...
S08.10: The Best Romance Novels of 2025
19 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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,...
S08.09: Our Favorite Romance Microtropes
12 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 a...
S08.08: Romance Short Stories and the Ladies in Waiting Anthology
05 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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...
RERUN: Spooky Stuff! Halloween Romance
31 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Happy Halloween! Please enjoy this episode from October 26, 2022. For more info, including all the books we mentioned, visit fatedmates.net.
S08.07: Romance Demons: Problématique (Italics)
29 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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, bu...
S08.06: Gorilla Twins! The Earl Takes All by Lorraine Heath
22 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 Roman...
S08.05: Governesses with Louisa Darling
15 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 bo...
S08.04 We love you Chicago, DC and LA
08 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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...
08.03: Fall 2025 Preview
01 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 nov...
S08.02: Feminism in Romance with Adriana Herrera
24 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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, ab...
S08.01: Cold Open: Craft, Criticism, and Summer Vacation
17 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
Between Seasons Palate Cleanser: Fated Mates Live St. Louis!
03 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 cele...
07.49: Season Seven Ends Not With a Bang, but With a Kombucha Girl
27 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 fo...
S07.48: Con Artists & Criminals With Joanna Shupe
20 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 gol...
S07.47: Bodyguards
13 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
It’s Bodyguard Romance week, which feels impossible, honestly, considering we’ve definitely done this before, haven’t we? According to Eric and ...
07.46: Natural Born Charmer by Susan Elizabeth Phillips
06 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 Imper...
S07.45: Reading Down Under: Australian Romance Novelists
29 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 s...
S07.44: Relentless Competence & Fixers in Romance
22 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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, talk...
07.43: Trailblazer Pamela Sanderson
15 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Our Trailblazer series continues with Pamela Sanderson, the first Native American author to write contemporary romance about Native characters in Nati...
S07.42: Jen & Sarah and These Summer Storms
09 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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...
S07.41: Audiobooks with Julia Whelan
02 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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, Tay...
S07.40: Hot 2025 Summer Reads
26 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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!...
S07.39: Dysfunctional Families (The Fun Kind)
17 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 t...
S07.38: Second Chance Romance Redux
11 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
...
S07.37: Run Posy Run by Cate C. Wells
04 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 wa...
S07.36: Celebrity + Normie Romance
28 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 celeb...
S07.35: On the Shelf with Spinsters and Wallflowers
14 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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,...
S07.34: The Third Act Break-Up (Complimentary)
07 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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-...
S07.33: Heated Rivalry by Rachel Reid
30 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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!...
S07.32: Ruination!
23 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
S07.31: Romance on the Run
16 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
S07.30: Getting Things Done (to them): Romance with Lists
09 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 explor...
S07.29: Spring 2025 New Releases: Teasing Your TBR
02 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
It's our quarterly discoverabilibuddy episode! Get your TBR piles structurally sound and exercise that preorder clicking finger, because here are near...
S07.28: Everything We Know About Horses Comes From Romance
25 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 st...
S07.27: What I Did for a Duke: This Gentleman is Completely Composed of Revenge Molecules
19 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 D...
S07.26: Romance Novels With a Ticking Clock
12 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 f...
S07.25: Sci-Fi Romance: There's No Book Banning in Space
05 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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--...
S07.24: He's *NOT* a Billionaire
25 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 episo...
S07.23: Long Live Historicals!
16 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Historicals are dead! Long live historicals! This week, we're talking about fourteen (and change) historical romances that we've never talked about be...
S07.22: Adriana Herrera on the Power of Historical Romance: When We’re Up Against a Corner, Baby, Let’s Fight.
11 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
There's a new Adriana Herrera book out this month, so that means we get to have one of our very favorites back on the pod to talk about not only her b...
New York Public Library Best New Romance List
11 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Jen had a great time chatting with the New York Public Library's Best New Romance List Committee Co-Chairs Kate Fais and Grace Loiacono this week...
S07.21: Meet My Vibe Criteria: V.E. Schwab on writing, obsession, and romance outside of Romance
04 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We're mixing it up today with a fabulous special guest! The brilliant V.E. Schwab joins us for a far-reaching chat about writing romance outside of ro...
A Taste of Craven
04 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
It's February 4th, the most important romance holiday in February: Derek Craven Day! We're celebrating this year with a little reminiscing of the past...
S07.20 Tarot, Astrology, and Psychics in Romance
27 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We'll be honest, we don't know what the heck is going on, either. If we could find someone or something to make all this chaos make sense, we'd be ver...
S07:19 Back in Time with Harlequin Blaze
21 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We're getting into the romance time machine and setting the course for 2001, when Harlequin decided that those Temptations could get scorching hot and...
S07:18 Winter 2025 New Releases: The Quarterly Edging Episode
13 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We're toppling TBR piles and preorder lists today with our quarterly "Books we're excited to read" list! We're name-checking more than 50 romance nove...
S07.17: The Proposition by Judith Ivory
07 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Happy New Year, Magnificent Firebirds! We don’t know what 2025 is going to bring, so we’re starting with a bang—the long awaited deep-dive of Ju...
S07.16: Hear Me Out: New Year's Eve 2024
31 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
It's New Year's Eve, and we're ringing it in with our standard silliness, this year with brilliantly funny duo Adriana Herrera and Nikki Payne, playin...
07.15: Holiday Romances for 2024: Put It in the Lilly Library
18 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
It's the holiday season, which means holiday romance! This year, we're talking about Princes of Christmas falling for heirs to Halloween, Hanukkah tre...
S07:14 Excellent 2024 Debut Romance Novels
10 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We're so excited to be talking about some of the bright new voices in romance this week -- every book we talk about in this episode is a debut romance...
S07:13 Getting Pearl Jammed: Romance After 40
03 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Let's talk about the over 40s and how they deserve love, too! This week, we're diving into what the industry calls "seasoned" romance, though we're no...
S07:12 Bookstores and Booksellers
24 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
It's Thanksgiving week in the United States, which means capitalism! We're skipping (mainly) the talk of the midnight electronics runs, and heading st...
S07:11 Best Romance Novels of 2024
19 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The Best Romance Novels of 2024! This is our favorite episode of the year, where we get to shout at you about the terrific books we read this year, an...
S07:10 Comfort Reads and Finding Solace in Romance
12 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Like many people, we don't have much to say this week, and whatever we might have said probably wouldn't have been very eloquent, so we've decided to ...
November 2024 Bantr+
05 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
It’s just a very normal first Tuesday in November, and you need — and deserve — a distraction! We’re here to help with an episode that not onl...
S07:09 Mermaid Romance with Zoraida Córdova/Zoey Castile
05 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Today we're talking mermaids with our friend, Zóraida Cordova, an author of many genres who also writes romance under the name Zoey Castile. We talk ...
S07:08 I Read Dead People: Ghosts, Morticians, and the Dead in Romance
27 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This is a bit different than our usual Halloween adjacent episodes -- we're talking about the rise of romance centered around ghostly secondary charac...
S07:07 The Seven Deadly Sins: Let's Fire Up Wikipedia
23 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Happy anniversary, Firebirds! Seven years ago this week, we launched Fated Mates with our first Episode, "A Wolf Without a Foot," in which we planned ...
S07:06 The Everything I Left Unsaid duology
16 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We're starting our Season 7 read alongs off with a bang! M. O'Keefe's Everything I Left Unsaid duology is some of the best contemporary romance out th...
S07.05: Some Light Kidnapping: Restraints are for Amateurs
07 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
An episode for the old school romance readers in the audience, we're talking about kidnapping this week! A trope that either absolutely works for read...
S07.04 Trailblazer Meg Cabot
01 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We are so thrilled to have thee Meg Cabot with us, one of the original queens of YA romance. We talk about her longstanding writing career, about the ...
S07.03 Wife Guys in Romance: Just Look at Her!
23 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
There's a particular kind of romance hero who makes us feel all kinds of warm and fuzzy, because all he wants to do is stare in awe at his partner and...
S07.02 Fall 2024 New Releases
18 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Everything is new and crisp in the fall, as F. Scott Fitzgerald likes to say, and the romance novels are no different! We're starting to think about c...
S07.01 The Magnificent (Season) Seven with Kate Clayborn and Adriana Herrera
11 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Seven is heaven! Today, we are celebrating seven seasons of Fated Mates and this genre that we just can't get enough of with two people we just can't ...
Stop Book Banning 2024
04 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
While we're off this week, we're encouraging everyone to listen to our Stop Book Banning episode, rereleased with new content! This week, we're talkin...
S06.51: College Bound: New Adult Romance
27 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Everything old is new again...or young again? We're talking about New Adult romance today, that is, romance novels where the love story is set at or d...