Whoa!mance: Romance, Feminism, and Ourselves
Episodes
Episode 69: From Missives To Madness - My Sweet Folly by Laura Kinsale
27 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Folie Hamilton thought nothing of corresponding with her husband’s cousin, Lt. Robert Cambourne, deployed across the world in the interests of the E...
Boner-On-Us: WebToon
20 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Are we at a point in history where our passions have become our capital? And what are the repercussions, if any, that sometimes it might be totally wo...
Episode 68: Lust In Translation - The Lady’s Guide to Celestial Mechanics by Olivia Waite
13 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Lucy Muchelney is in a rut. But when she’s commissioned to translate a celebrated astronomy text by the deceased husband of Countess Catherine St. ...
Episode 67: Floating In The Blood - Carmilla by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu
30 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Long before Twilight, and 26 years before Ol’ Abe Stoker had visions of Dracula, there was another drinker lurking in the annals of western lit. Th...
Boner-On-Us: Blow Jobs
23 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
One could say this is a boner about blow jobs. But blow jobs are about so much more than just blow jobs. This is a boner about power. A boner about...
Episode 66: Bear Head Revisited - My Boyfriend Is A Bear by Pamela Ribon
16 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Why bears? What is it about our ursine cousins that prompts such a curious and violent fascination? This week, Morgan and Isabeau turn these questio...
Episode 65: A Numbers Game - The Right Swipe by Alisha Rai
02 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
What are the rules of modern dating? For many this is an ethical or existential question, but for app developer Rhiannon Hunter, providing the correc...
Episode 64: Live at Love’s Sweet Arrow - Gorgeous by Motzie Dapul
18 Sep 2019
Contributed by Lukas
There’s a lot to be excited about with this one y’all. Not only is there now a bookshop in Tinley Park, IL dedicated exclusively to the genre, bu...
Boner-On-Us: Cover Art
13 Sep 2019
Contributed by Lukas
This one's for all you toons creeping in on Fabio's turf. Morgan and Isabeau discuss trends in cover art, the ethics of disguising a novel’s heat, ...
Episode 63: Casual Friday - The Hating Game by Sally Thorne
04 Sep 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Have you ever despised someone so much you wet your desk chair? Or been so blinded by hate that you popped a boner? Of course you have. We all have....
Episode 62: Leg Up - The Proposition by Judith Ivory
21 Aug 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Shake the sand out of your corset and get ready for a cockney romp. This week, Morgan and Isabeau return to Judith Ivory to examine her 1999 novel Th...
Episode 24: The Devil In Winter....Begrudgingly
14 Aug 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Do you like gaming hells? Bad dudes who become good dudes and heroines who find their voices? US TOO!!! In this week's episode Morgan and Isabeau tack...
Episode 61: A Lot Of Sand (Aha Sheik Heartbreak #3) Hired: The Sheikh's Secretary by Lucy Monroe
07 Aug 2019
Contributed by Lukas
It's been quite the sojourn y’all. This week marks the third and final in our triptych on sheik romance, a series that we hope has never ceased to ...
Boner-On-Us: RWA Reflections
31 Jul 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Last week, yr girls Morgan and Isabeau took a trip to the Big Apple to speak on a panel for the Golden Network as part of the Romance Writers of Ameri...
Episode 60: Learn to Love Everything (Aha Sheik Heartbreak #2) - Savage Sands by Christina Nicholson
17 Jul 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Ok. A lot of trigger warnings y’all; we’re talking about rape, human trafficking, colonial occupation, castration, and handsy nuns. But plz know...
Episode 59: Somebody’s Gonna Be First (Aha Sheik Heartbreak #1) - The Sheik by E. M. Hull
03 Jul 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Back in the center ring, as promised, for the first of many sheik downs. To kick things off, Morgan and Isabeau crack the OG model for so-called “d...
Boner-On-Us: Critique the Sheik
26 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
If you’ve been around this whole mess long enough you know we love kicking up some dust. So that’s why we felt it was high time one of the elepha...
Episode 58: Liminal Spaces - Sleeping Together by Kitty Cook
19 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Here at Whoa!mance, we believe wet dreams are always better with a buddy. That’s why this week, Morgan and Isabeau took a trip to the 206 to hang o...
Episode 57: Lithe Yet Womanly (ICEWINE #4) - Morning Comes Softly by Debbie Macomber
05 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Much like a long day, ICEWINE could only set in the west. This week, Morgan and Isabeau put the series out to pasture with Debbie Macomber’s 1993 n...
Episode 56: Author Interview - Suleikha Snyder
29 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
BRAINFREEZE - all this ICEWINE’s got to our heads y’all. This week, Morgan and Isabeau take a break from the box to rub shoulders with the courte...
Episode 55: To The Lifeboats (ICEWINE #3) - No Greater Love by Danielle Steel
22 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Before James Cameron tackled the greatest sinkable metal of the modern era, Danielle Steel did it first and regrettably, with more chastity. This wee...
Episode 54: Take a Look at These Hands (ICEWINE #2) - Indigo by Beverly Jenkins
15 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Did you know yr average box wine fits FOUR bottles of that sweet sweet Dionysian nectar? I hope you didn’t go to hard out the gate cuz we back for ...
Episode 53: Duchess or Dead (ICEWINE #1) - Devil’s Bride by Stephanie Laurens
08 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Break out the Franzia and give that bag a big ol’ slap y’all because it’s time for some motherbitchin’ ICEWINE. And what better way to begin ...
ICE WINE SEASON APPROACHING
03 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
While we’re still in the midst of fool’s spring here in Chicago, Morgan and Isabeau have their sights set on summer; and what better way to will i...
Episode 52: We All Deserve French Seams - The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang
01 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Break out your graphing calculators for this one y’all. Celebrated for its depiction of a non-neurotypical heroine, econometrician Stella Lane is o...
Episode 51: Full Frontal Floriculture - The Secret History of the Pink Carnation by Lauren Willig
24 Apr 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Well if it isn’t another twofer. This week, Morgan and Isabeau are taking a trip to the flower shoppe with the first installment of Lauren Willig’...
Episode 50: Author Interview - Melonie Johnson
10 Apr 2019
Contributed by Lukas
It’s a Whoa!mance double whammy this week y’all! Not only are Morgan and Isabeau joined by the brilliant and talented Melonie Johnson, but we’r...
Episode 49: But For Whom? - Wanna Get Lucky? by Deborah Coonts
27 Mar 2019
Contributed by Lukas
This week’s a little bit of everything y’all. We got murder. We got Las Vegas. We got snakes. Morgan and Isabeau are joined by friend and OG L...
Episode 48: For the Troops - A Mermaid’s Kiss by Joey W. Hill
20 Mar 2019
Contributed by Lukas
We’re going hard this Pisces season with some more fresh caught fish fuckery y’all. Have you ever wanted to fuck Ariel, but also Tinkerbell? Doe...
Episode 47: Fish Sticks - The Pisces by Melissa Broder
13 Mar 2019
Contributed by Lukas
If The Shape of Water tickled your sashimi, Melissa Broder’s New York Times dubbed “romance novel for intellectuals” The Pisces will either turn...
Episode 46: Outsides Are Insides - The Flame and the Flower by Kathleen E. Woodiwiss
06 Mar 2019
Contributed by Lukas
When something is deemed a watershed moment, that something denotes that a larger thing is forever altered; often the phrase suggests a positive evolu...
Episode 45: Pass the Honey - Bear by Marian Engel
27 Feb 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Did you miss us? We were taking a brief sabbatical in the north woods of Ontario when we stumbled upon a seductive stranger. Full in form and statur...
Shameless Boner - Patreon Announcement
15 Feb 2019
Contributed by Lukas
We're taking a break from languishing in our post-JANEuary bliss to share some exciting news: Whoa!mance has a Patreon! What does this mean? Well, b...
Episode 44: The OG (JANEuary #5) - Persuasion by Jane Austen
30 Jan 2019
Contributed by Lukas
We did it y’all; we’ve been through the now, the then, the if only, and the as if; it’s been a month dedicated to yr grrl Jane; a celebration of...
Episode 43: The Fans (JANEuary #4)- A Certain Persuasion by Julie Bozza et al.
23 Jan 2019
Contributed by Lukas
JANE-U-VERSE - n. the world(s) expanded within and beyond Jane Austen’s novels as imagined by her readers through the act of emulation. This week, ...
Episode 42: The Adaptation (JANEuary #3) - Clueless (1995) and Emma (1996)
16 Jan 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Crash positions listeners: it’s a JANEuary charm bomb. This week, Morgan and Isabeau pour one out for the chaste and stationary in their discussion...
Episode 41: The Speculative (JANEuary #2) - For Darkness Shows The Stars by Diana Peterfreund
09 Jan 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Dear Listeners, prepare to enter a tale as much yr grrl Jane as it is yr boi Aldous because this week Morgan and Isabeau are taking a trip to the othe...
Episode 40: The Remix (JANEuary #1) - Pride by Ibi Zoboi
02 Jan 2019
Contributed by Lukas
It’s JANEuary in this beautiful New Year of yr grrl, and we’re going all in out the gate y’all. This week, Morgan and Isabeau are breaking off ...
A Boxing Day Boner: Enemies To Lovers
26 Dec 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Dismissive actions. Furtive eyes. Arguing and making out in the rain. Hate fucking that becomes love fucking. This week, for a special Boxing Day ...
Episode 39: Fuckin’ Dukes - How the Dukes Stole Christmas by Tessa Dare et al.
19 Dec 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Whether they’re kicking you and your loved ones off their property, enjoying a solitary brood on the snow swept moors, parroting Ebenezer Scrooge, o...
Boner-On-Us: JANEuary Announcement
12 Dec 2018
Contributed by Lukas
We said we wouldn’t do it. We said we’d never talk about Jane Austen on this show. She’s played out. Old hat. But this January, get ready fo...
Episode 38: Every Rose Has Its Thorn - Until Forever by Johanna Lindsey
06 Dec 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Tenured and bespectacled Roseleen White, Professor of Medieval Studies, has just discovered a rather peculiar sword. Tethered to the sword is Thorn,...
Episode 37: Xmas Redux - A Christmas to Remember by Lisa Klepas et al.
28 Nov 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Last year, two burgeoning podcasters recorded what was to be a true and undoctored account of their mental and emotional experience reading A Christma...
Episode 36: Fumbling Memories - Turkey Day Tryst by Mia McAndrews
21 Nov 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Thanksgiving is a time for indulging in corporeal comforts to distract from the guilt of America’s colonialist origin; the type of bad feeling that ...
Episode 35: An Unbridgeable Breach - Never Sweeter by Charlotte Stein
14 Nov 2018
Contributed by Lukas
At some point we’ve all felt bullied. But did you ever think, as you stared out through the slits of a locker, your new home, that perhaps your tor...
Episode 34: Stunned and Humbled - Hidden Sins by Stacey Abrams
31 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
A first love. A religious cult. A hundred corpses. This week, Morgan and Isabeau join Mara Reed as she tries to outrun the violence of her past and su...
Episode 33: Covered in Victims, Looking Like a Snack - Anna Dressed In Blood by Kendare Blake
24 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
You know that feeling when you’ve been entrusted with your dead dad’s bloodknife to keep the spectral world from culling human victims, but you’...
Episode 32: Ripped and Hairless - Dark Desires by Eve Silver
17 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
What tempts you? What fixations lurk in the corners of your mind? Is it leather? Lace? Or perhaps...MURDER? This week, Morgan and Isabeau take a carr...
Episode 31: A Dispora of One - The Prince by Katharine Ashe
10 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Art. Passion. Surgeries. This week, Morgan & Isabeau explore the fourth installment of Katharine Ashe’s Devil’s Duke Series, The Prince. Is th...
Episode 30: Dick, Dork, Dong--Hot Head by Damon Suede
03 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
In this week's episode Morgan and Isabeau tackle Damon Suede's Hot Head a pun-tastic m/m romance about firemen in NYC. These friends to lovers just do...
Episode 29: Not Outlander We Promise---Awaken, My Love--Robin Schone
26 Sep 2018
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode Morgan and Isabeau discuss a time traveling romance. And it's not Outlander. Our modern day heroine (who lives in Chicago!) is thrown ...
A Very Special Website Announcement Boner
21 Sep 2018
Contributed by Lukas
WE GET A WEBSITE YOU GET A BONER!But seriously y'all check out our brand new, state-of-the-art, all-mod-cons with water and gas included WEBSITE where...
Episode 28: Witchy Murder Ballad
19 Sep 2018
Contributed by Lukas
On this week's episode Morgan and Isabeau interrogate a new medium for romance--Graphic Novels! Wild Rose is a graphic novel retelling of a popular Ir...
Episode 27: "Married with Children" Making It Last by Ruthie Knox
12 Sep 2018
Contributed by Lukas
On this week's episode Morgan and Isabeau tackle series ender and novella "Making it Last" by Ruthie Knox. The last book in the author's Camelot serie...
Episode 26: Lisa Kleypas-ter Syndrome--Suddenly Who?
05 Sep 2018
Contributed by Lukas
On this week's episode, our last in our Lisa Kleypas Series, Morgan and guest star Sean tackle Lisa Kleypas's stand alone novel "Suddenly You". A nove...
Episode 25: Lisa Klepas-ter Syndrome Part 2: Who has the right to talk about Lisa Kleyas?
29 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Lisa Kleypas-ter Syndrome Part 2: On this week's episode we welcome back our good friend Kim and talk about what it's like to grow through an author's...
Episode 24: Lisa Kleypas-ter Syndrome--The Devil In Winter....Begrudgingly
01 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Do you like gaming hells? Bad dudes who become good dudes and heroines who find their voices? US TOO!!! In this week's episode Morgan and Isabeau tac...
Episode 23: All Revved Up on Hair--Sylvia Day
27 Jul 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Buckle up Buttercups because on this week's episode Morgan and Isabeau deep dive into secret babies, body shaming, body hair of all kinds, but most of...
Boner On Us--Special Request
25 Jul 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Whoa!mance wants to know! We've got questions and you've got answers! Morgan and Isabeau pose a series of questions that we are dying to hear our fans...
Episode 22: Author Interview Donna Thorland--Romance Across Mediums
18 Jul 2018
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode Isabeau talks to author Donna Thorland about her craft, and romance across mediums. If you loved the TV show Salem, Buffy, and are int...
Episode 21: Love in the Time of Reagan - Wild Orchids by Karen Robards
11 Jul 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Ever wonder what Romancing the Stone would have been like with a strong neoliberal bias? Unlike the big hair, there's a lot about the Reagan era that...
Episode 20: HBD America 🎆🎆🎆--Donna Thorland's Mistress Firebrand
04 Jul 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Hey There Listeners! Do you love conversations about consent, safe sex, and revolutions internal and otherwise? Well this star spangled episode is jus...
Episode 19: 177fic
27 Jun 2018
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode Morgan and Isabeau tackle some of Isabeau's particular tipples--namely 1776 Fanfiction, America in general, and what it means to want ...
Episode 18: Bromancing--Dudes Read Romance: Paradise by Judith McNaught
20 Jun 2018
Contributed by Lukas
In this special episode Isabeau interviews long time friends Nigel and Maarouf about the time in their early twenties when they read a romance novel o...
Episode 17: "Flock of Mongooses/geese" Mr. Impossible by Loretta Chase
06 Jun 2018
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode Morgan and Isabeau welcome a dear friend to discuss one of her favorite romance novels. In this particular discussion we tackle cultur...
Episode 16: The One Where We Agree on Everything----The Suffragette Scandal by Courtney Milan
30 May 2018
Contributed by Lukas
It's our Sweet Sixteen! And on this week's episode we talk about Courtney Milan's delicious and scintillating "The Suffragette Scandal". Do you love m...
Episode 15: "An Inconvenient Booty" A Pirate's Love by Johanna Lindsey
23 May 2018
Contributed by Lukas
On this episode Isabeau and Morgan tackle a sea monster of a Classic in Johanna Lindsey's A Pirates Love--Readers be Warned this book deals explicitly...
Episode 14: "Tempest" by Beverly Jenkins
16 May 2018
Contributed by Lukas
For this episode Morgan and Isabeau tackle a western! Do you love cowboys, history, and sex positivity? Got secret hots for the country doc? This book...
Episode 13 Interview with a Romance Author: Caroline Linden
09 May 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Whoa!It's Whoa!mance's first ever author interview! Listen as Isabeau fangirls all over one of her favorite authors--the Rita Award Winning Caroline L...
Episode 12: Gaywyck by Vincent Virga
25 Apr 2018
Contributed by Lukas
If you love the sound of the ocean, sexual awakenings, murder plots, candles and late 19th century New York--this new Whoa!mance is just for you! The ...
11: "Love And Other Scandals" by Caroline Linden
18 Apr 2018
Contributed by Lukas
This week Morgan blows Isabeau's mind on the social construct of flattering fashion and what constitutes a freudian sex scene. If you love fancy balls...
Boner-on-us (Bonus) Episode: The Rita Awards
14 Apr 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Isabeau patiently explains to Morgan the Rita Awards - especially the recent controversy over long-standing, systemic problems therein.Apologies for t...
10: "A Princess In Theory" by Alyssa Cole - Part Two
11 Apr 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Pt. 2 of our two-part series on A Princess in Theory by Alyssa Cole. LISTEN as Morgan and Isabeau argue the difference between a strain and a reach, s...
9: "A Princess In Theory" by Alyssa Cole - Part One
04 Apr 2018
Contributed by Lukas
This week on Whoa!mance we're talking about Alyssa Cole's new and delectable book A Princess In Theory. If you love PhD candidates trying to scrape by...
8: "No Other Duke Will Do" by Grace Burrowes
28 Mar 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Do you love libraries, castles, house parties and discussion of gauche merchants? You'll love Grace Burrows regency delight--this one takes place in W...
7: "Improper Arrangements" by Juliana Ross
22 Mar 2018
Contributed by Lukas
In which we tackle "Improper Arrangments" (a novella-ella-ella eh eh by Juliana Ross), perspectives, family planning, sea sponges, underpants and more...
6: "Shanna" by Kathleen E. Woodiwiss
14 Mar 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Hold on to your stays for this romance classic! Shanna has it all! Pirates! A marriage plot! Assumed names! A feisty heroine and a Caribbean island. I...
5: "Montana Sky" by Nora Roberts
07 Mar 2018
Contributed by Lukas
We tackle "Montana Sky" by lioness in her field NORA ROBERTS while discussing the vanilla candles, The American West, and 1996 in general. Warning: Th...
4: "Priest" by Sierra Simone
01 Mar 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Heads up--there is discussion of rape and violence in this episode.WOW! We talk about religion, Three Billboards, the complexity of complicity, the co...
3: "About Last Night" by Ruthie Knox
22 Feb 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Whilst talking about "About Last Night" we also cover the mob, naughty knitwear, colonialism, and the quality of egg dish you DESERVE to be served by ...
2: "Beast" by Judith Ivory
13 Feb 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Morgan and Isabeau get weird with Judith Ivory's "Beast" and talk identity, whales, consent, Lynch, Baudelaire, Americans and aristocracy, and persona...
1: "A Week to be Wicked" by Tessa Dare
13 Feb 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Isabeau and Morgan kick off the podcast by talking about "A Week to be Wicked" by Tessa Dare, dinosaurs, agency, labor, the border between England and...