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- [00:00]
A
Autumn.
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B
Fall is here.
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A
Listen, my favorite season.
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B
Oh, me too.
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A
Welcome to, like, jeans and, like, cozy sweaters.
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B
I ordered some new sweaters already.
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A
I am going to Denmark and Sweden at the end of the month. And so I was like, oh, it's going to be like crisp fall. So I did. I ordered a new pair of jeans and some new boots. And I'm going to try to be stylish in Scandinavia for a cold weather snap. But listen, it's just nice. The whole place turns different colors here in the northeast. And that's before. I'm not a pumpkin spice person, but I understand there are a lot of people who love those spices. And I support you, as Jen would say. And not in an ironic way, like Jen would say. Like Jen. Jen often texts me when I say I'm enjoying a book that she doesn't like. She's like, well, I support you. I never say it that way. I always just support you.
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B
La dee da.
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A
Welcome to Fade It Mates, everyone. I'm Sarah McLean. I read romance novels and I write them.
- [01:16]
B
And I'm Jennifer Prokop, a romance reader and editor. And this is our, like, fall preview episode. Right. So it's October 1st.
- [01:24]
A
We do four a year.
- [01:25]
B
Yes. Right. And so we are going to be talking about books that are coming out in October, November and December.
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A
Now, a caveat on the December.
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B
We also are planning a big holiday episode. So we. I imagine the December offerings are going to be slim because we are mostly going to save anything holiday related to any holiday for that episode. Right.
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A
I did not put a single. There is not a single holiday book in my list for the next three months. And that is because we're not ready.
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B
Yeah, that requires that.
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A
That requires a level of loin girding that I have not done to date because I have to start once. Once you get into holidays, then we have to actually start thinking about, oh, all the bits of the holidays, so.
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B
Oh. Can I tell you an exciting thing, though, that's happening around my Thanksgiving, which is maybe I mentioned this already. I don't remember. Paul McCartney is on tour and he is coming. I know this is everybody.
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A
One moment. I really honestly. You said my Thanksgiving and then you sub Paul McCartney and I. Yeah, well, he's gonna end.
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B
He's gonna be in Chicago on the Tuesday. On the Tuesday before Thanksgiving at the United Center. And so I bought tickets for me and mystery dramats and we're taking my mom.
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A
Oh, you guys are such good children.
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B
And she's really excited because, you know.
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A
My mom, she grew Up.
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B
She was that eight? Yeah.
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A
Was she a Paul girl?
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B
I. You know, I'm not sure I know who was her favorite for sure. I want you to report back right in, like, the Beatles, finally, in the.
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A
Beatles Mania era, my parents were too old for the Beatles. They were already, like, in their 20s. And also they were, like, European, living in New York City. Like, who knows what they were up to, but they were not. They were too old for the Beatles to, like, be in Beetle Mania. But my aunt, my mother's youngest sister, was a big Beatles fan, and she was a Paul girl. And Eric's parents were, like, outrageously Beatles people and also a Paul girl there. And I feel strongly that I would not have been a Paul girl.
- [03:37]
B
I could see that about you. You were definitely a John kind of lady.
- [03:41]
A
Was I a John or was I? I think I was probably more like a George Harrison girl, because I would have to, like. Because obviously I didn't know anyone were George Harris. Listen, here's the thing, though. Some girl who was like, I'm just gonna wear black in my bedroom was like, George Harrison, because he's the misunderstood, like, unloved one. Sure, that's what that would have been for me.
- [04:01]
B
I'm really excited. We saw Paul McCartney at Lollapalooza several years ago, and at the time, I was like, this man puts on a great show, and he is quite a bit older than me, and I anticipate I'm gonna feel the same way this time.
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A
Well, I'm gonna tell an Eric story, and then I'm probably gonna get it wrong. And then if I do, everybody, he'll just, like, pop in and tell. Tell you what the real story is. That would be lovely if you just, like, joined the podcast for a moment. But one of Eric's, like, big New York stories is that he was literally walking down the street and a taxicab pulled up directly in front of him, and Paul McCartney got out.
- [04:37]
B
What?
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A
And he was like, holy shit, that's.
- [04:39]
B
Paul McCartney just getting out of a.
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A
Taxi right in front of me. And then he was going to play a surprise concert, like, in the street in Times Square. And so eric followed Paul McCartney to a surprise concert in Times Square and then watched him play, which, like, for some, I would say, amazing. Raised by Beatles fans. Eric is also a huge Beatles fan. And so, like, this was. And it was early in his time in New York, so I think it, like, was a really magical, like, holy shit, New York experience.
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B
I would imagine that's pretty cool.
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A
Well, anyway, I have never had such a New York experience.
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B
I haven't either, but. So my Paul McCartney experience, sadly, is being planned in advance, but I still think it will be very nice. I know.
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A
That's so exciting.
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B
What?
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A
I mean, a beetle.
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B
A beetle. A beetle, exactly.
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A
A beetle. I do not have such an exciting plan for Thanksgiving. But like I said, I am actually, if this. This is the October 1 episode.
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B
Yes.
- [05:42]
A
I am currently in Scandinavia wearing my autumn. Wearing autumn togs, as the English would say. So, anyway, here we are. Let's do this. Also caveat. We always, in this episode, do the last week of September, too, because it always feels like that very last week of September or of the last bit of the season sort of codes into the next season. So I have a few September, late September books that I'd like to talk about. If you don't, that's fine.
- [06:17]
B
I'm gonna say one more thing before we dive into late September, which is as a reminder, everyone, we have not read these books. Usually when we talk about books on the podcast. Right. Like, we'll kind of flag it if we have, for whatever reason. So these are just books that we think look interesting or look good to us or we think, you know, we're kind of excited about. So this is more of a, like, fire hose of here's what's coming. And so sometimes, basically, what I'm trying to say is, if you don't like.
- [06:45]
A
A book, don't add.
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B
Sorry, don't.
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A
I mean, for what it's worth, that's what we always say. Like, we don't. We don't know. We don't know what you're gonna like out there. In fact, here's what I would say, and I think we've talked about this in the, like, long ago, we had talked about this, but I would bet there are people who, like. Who are like, oh, I don't like what Sarah likes, but I do like what Jen likes.
- [07:05]
B
Oh, I'm sure it's gotta be the case, right? Absolutely.
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A
But either way, we don't know what we're doing here. All we're doing is basically judging books based on cover and catalog copy.
- [07:15]
B
Correct? So as God intended, Right?
- [07:18]
A
I mean, that's how romance gets read. I don't. I don't know what to say exactly. All right. Also, wait, before we do this, I do just want to say I am reading currently right now. Andy Christopher's Faster, which comes out. We are recording very early, everybody, because I'm traveling, and that's just the way it goes. But it comes out Beginning of September. And I don't know if we talked about this on the summer preview episode, so I just want to say that not only am I reading Andy's Faster, but I have also been influenced by Andy and Adrianna into Drive to survive, the F1 show. And now I'm, like, truly having, like, an F1 Renaissance. And I know that those of you out there know that my feelings. My, like, very strong feelings about F1 romance. But I will tell you that I'm really enjoying Andy's Faster, which is, you know, a threesome book. You're gonna have a great time. Very sexy, like she. It starts with a bang, just the way you want an Andy Christopher book to start. And so, yeah, and if you, like, drive to survive, you're gonna have a great time with us. And before anybody asks, it's the answer is Toto, the coach of the Mercedes team is where I'm at right now. And I'm really enjoying myself. Anyway, so now we've done that.
- [08:42]
B
Jen, I support you.
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A
I know you do. Everybody, if you're in the discord, just tell me if you're watching this F1 show, because I'm really enjoying myself. I'm only on season two, but. Okay.
- [08:55]
B
All right. September, you go.
- [08:57]
A
Yeah. Do you have September books, or am I just fire hosing September?
- [09:00]
B
I think you're. I didn't. Okay. I don't think I have any.
- [09:03]
A
I'm gonna be quick. First of all, on this past week, actually, what, 30 days, half September. So yesterday, Diana Quincy's the Earl that Got Away came out. You all know I am a huge Diana Quincy fan. I will read whatever she writes in whatever format, in whatever genre, forever and ever. This one is about. It's a second chance. The heroine who is an Arab American. Nyla has always regretted calling off her engagement to the man she loved because he wasn't successful enough for her family. And she was, like, kind of pushed to it by her family, despite the fact that she deeply, deeply loved him. And when she gets to England for her sister's wedding, she is shocked beyond measure when she runs into Basil again. But Basil is not the same man Nyla rejected all those years ago. He is now. He's inherited a title, and he is the Earl of Hawkesworth, and he is a very sought after bachelor, and he is pissed that she rejected him all those years ago. This is one of those, like, revenge second chance stories. It's got a little bit of an again, the magic feel to it. And Diana knows the job, so that's The Earl that Got Away, that's out this week. Maggie Weston has a harlequin historical out this week called Resisting the Forbidden Widow, a more harlequin title you could not find. And basically it is the heroine, Mary is. Has. Has lost her husband. He died. She didn't just like misplace him. Sorry.
- [11:03]
B
She put him in a closet and couldn't find him again.
- [11:05]
A
She's married. Oops. And so she's basically vowed like, I'm never doing this again, I'm never marrying again. Like, this is it. I did, I did the thing and now I'm just a straight up widow. She takes a position. She needs money. So she takes position as Cameron Sykes assistant. And she's like, this is perfect. He's going to pay me money. I'm going to be independent if this is everything I could possibly want. And then Cameron's like, hey, I need a titled wife because I'm like a working man and I need to like level up in society. And so a titled bride will do the job. And so they end up working together to find him a perfect bride. And Jen, what do you think happens? Mary realizes maybe she would like to be said bride. So that's a boss secretary historical.
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B
Love it.
- [11:55]
A
And then Megan Frampton has one out this week too, called the Scots Seduction, which is about Lady Drusilla Courtenay who has sworn off marriage, our favorite kind of independent romance heroine. She does not. She has not sworn off sex or romance, but she is not interested in getting married. So we love a kind of evolved historical heroine and she is working to help battalion of other women also sort of throw off the shackles of dependence on men. Unfortunately, she does this, she does this to the niece of, or to. To the niece of a. Of a particular kind of grumpy earl. And he, he convinces her that if instead she assists with his niece's debut into society, he'll give her enough money to. To really like make a go of like helping other women stay independent. So she has to sort of reckon with that. She decides she's going to take him up on his offer. How hard could it possibly be? And these two end up falling in love. And then this one, this one I paused at on netgalley and then I immediately record requested it. It's called the Dreamer and the Deep Space Warrior by TK Tucker and the tagline is Predator meets Bridgerton.
- [13:34]
B
Wait, how did I miss this? It's amazing.
- [13:37]
A
Wait. And I'm pretty sure, though I can't be certain, that it is simultaneously a Regency and an alien romance, which, like, fuck, yes. Like, that's what I. Listen. I don't. I just want everybody to be like, what if. What if I took Predator and Bridgerton and smashed them together? That's the vibe I'm looking for for the end of 20. So here's the deal. Isabel is about to be married in, like, a marriage that she doesn't want. And so she's basically decided that, like, if she's going to spend every single moment she possibly can before she marries into this, like, you know, before she marries into this loveless kind of union, doing, like, whatever she can, whatever, like, she feels like doing. So she finds herself one night in the woods investigating two strange lights, like, flying objects that crash land in the woods on her property. And then she gets there, and there are, like, massive, armored, beasty men battling, obviously. And the winner claims her as his spoil onto his alien ship.
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B
We are starting with a literal bag. And I'm.
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A
Do I need to say more, Jen? Do I need to say more?
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B
I. I do not believe that you.
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A
Do, Lady Isabelle on an alien ship. I have no idea where this is going, but I super duper hope it goes into smashing. I can't imagine that it wouldn't, is what I'm saying. Like this, if it doesn't, it's a failure on all counts if it does. So that's the dreamer and the deep space warrior. And honestly, the COVID of this book, Chef's Kiss, I'm delighted by it. So that is September with Sarah.
- [15:38]
B
September with Sarah. Okay, everybody, so let's jump into October with Jen, I suppose.
- [15:47]
A
This week's episode of Faded Mates is sponsored by the authors of the Monsters in Movies moonlight series, a collection of Halloween romances.
- [15:56]
B
Okay, everybody knows I love when a bunch of authors get together and they all write unlike a theme. So if you go to Kindle Unlimited and look for the Monsters in Moonlight series, you're gonna see these six different books, so you can get each one individually. And so it's like a collaboration of authors that all agreed to tell Halloween tales with a monster romance twist. So I know. I love it. So every book has at least one monster main character and the person or people they fall in love with. And the stories vary from novella to novel length. And they're all standalone. Right. Heat levels also vary from low to scorching. So it's got every possible trope. Right? Every possible kind of, like, romantic, like, I want to say pairing, but some of them are.
- [16:43]
A
There's one called Auctioned to the Orc Warrior.
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B
Click right. So they have. And they have that for every kind of like different trope and theme. All within this like really fun Halloween like sort of setup. So if you are interested in like a bunch of really fun Halloween romances written by a group of people who clearly love the fun side of romance, then you should check out this Monsters and Moonlight collection.
- [17:13]
A
This is so fun. These books are some of them are out now, some of them are coming, but they will all be published by Halloween. And if you're interested in learning more about the collection or getting a taste of the books which are named Shift in the Heart, Savage Harvest, Labyrinth's Heart, In My Veins, A Tangle of Vipers and Auctioned to the Orc Warrior, then you can click on the chapter title right now and be taken to the Monsters in Moonlight page. The books are available in ebook and Kindle Unlimited. And thanks to RM Fire, Natasha Wilco, Jaylee Austin Teagan, Lud BL Lucas and Bri Blackmore for sponsoring this week's episode.
- [18:00]
B
Okay, so one of the books I am looking forward to in October is called Hell's Heresies by Kat D. Coffin. In this book we have a mischievous demon poltergeist in Emory Fox's new home. So this thing is redecorating the house, stealing her stuff and leaving blood soaked messages on the mirror. Now some of these messages are helpful like reminding some her to buy milk or grab an umbrella, but she's just not really like that type of girl. So in a desperate attempt to get rid of this supernatural nuisance, she has like a kind of a DIY exorcism that goes wr. She accidentally opens up a rift between worlds and unleashes the forces of hell into her quiet New England town.
- [18:51]
A
Don't you hate it when that happens?
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B
So anyway, now there is a dangerously attractive and seriously irritated demon named Samael on her side. And obviously Emery now has like a real important job to do in hell, which is she has to track down and exorcise every demon before the portal Dell consumes everything. And so there you go. That's Hel's Hair by Kat D. Coffin. Perfect.
- [19:20]
A
Terrific work. All right, I want to Talk about Female Fantasy by Iman Haririkiah. So here. This is really interesting. Juni, our heroine is a copywriter by day and a fanfic writer by night. And she has some trouble because of her sort of high expectations, if you will, of men in this day and age locking one down. And that is because she is constantly dating and dumping disappointing men. But every potential suitor has one flaw and that the. Their fatal flaw is that they cannot hold a candle to her book boyfriend. Like the prototypical, kind of the platonic ideal of boyfriends. And he is the protagonist of her favorite fantasy romance and a sexy mermaid. And she is like, if not merman, then nothing. So what she realizes, though, over the course of this book is that this character is based on someone the author knows in real life. So she embarks on this, like, quest, this road trip, to track him down, meet him in person, and determine if in fact he is, as she expects, her soulmate. Unfortunately, he goes, she. She ends up sort of telling the wrong person. And now her brother's annoying best friend insists on hitching a ride with her. And so these two end up on like an epic road trip. And this one is a brother's best friend and Junie romance. Because I'm pretty sure she's gonna not end up not finding her soulmate in some rando guy from a book. But anyway, what's interesting about this is everybody's talking about this book. It's sort of a meta romance about romance and romance about romance novels. It's, I think it. I'm excited to read it and multiple people have recommended it to me.
- [21:28]
B
So, yeah, it's getting great reviews.
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A
Female fantasy by Iman Haririkia. And I apologize if I mispronounced your name.
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B
Have you told we have to text Zoraida immediately? Well, that merman and all.
- [21:44]
A
Oh, I know. Yeah, I'll make sure she knows.
- [21:47]
B
Okay, so I am going to talk about a book called Wrecking Cane by Amelia Shay. This is one of my, like, favorite kind of indie authors. She has like a couple series. This one is book five in a series called the Reign of the Underground, which is like, you know, a bunch of. Bunch of bad guys or whatever, do a bad guy stuff, but like, you know, in that romance way where they just all wear nice suits and like.
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A
Yeah, there's plenty of each other to like bring women to orgasm in the middle of all of it.
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B
Correct. And in this one, Keely Carmichael, who has been a character, she is a waitress and a bartender at like, the Underground is the name of a club. And she is just like, for a couple of books, just been this like, real wild child, right? Like, she's constantly like running late for work and like kind of, you know, like, club in for me. She's that kind of friend. So she is slightly irresponsible, horrible caretaker of her own finances and a magnet for trouble. But what happens, apparently one night is she makes a small mistake, but it lands her in the unsavory position with her unfriendly, unattainable obsession. That is a bad guy named Kane. He is the lead of King Security. So he's like super into, like, you know, just listen. It describes him as being mean as a Joan car dog. And I like that about him. And so he's serious and angry and she is like, you know, just like reckless in a free spirit and constantly flitting around. And so how could these two be right for each other? Well, I am about to find out. So that is Wrecking Kane by Amelia Shay.
- [23:27]
A
Terrific. I have Sophie Jordan's A Scar in the Bone comes out on the 14th of October, and I just. This is the second in her fire in the sky series. This one is we left hero. We left the hero of this series buried underground. Dying buried underground in the first book. And this book begins with the heroine of the series, like, training, believing that she is about to be taken next training to be a warrior. And then she realizes that the love of her life wasn't actually dead the whole time. Instead, he was buried underground and comes out from underground, like, kind of wrong. Like a little zombie action here. Although he's not a zombie, but he comes back a little bit wrong and they have to fall in love again. All while fighting to save the world and keep the bad guys at bay. So that is, I'll. You see, Scar in the Bone. And that comes out October 14th. And if you are in Orlando, Sophie and I will be at Barnes and Noble in Orlando on the 14th to celebrate the release of A Scar in the Bone. So come see us there.
- [24:54]
B
Well, that's really fun. Orlando, look at you traveling all over. Yeah. Okay. I am going to talk about Cowboy It's Cold Outside by Maisie Yates in this one. This is the, I think the 12th book in a long series called the Four Corners Ranch. And what we have here is. And listen, everybody, I'm a chaos reader. So I read this book. I've not read a single one other in this series. It doesn't matter. You're still gonna have a nice time. I actually have read this one. Sheena Patrick essentially has a plan which is she essential was left to raise her sisters after her like kind of deadbeat dad he is, you know, gambled away all their money and so she kind of raised her sisters and now the, you know, her two younger sisters. Starting when she was like herself only in her late teens. And so she never got a chance to like leave town. Or go to college or do the things that she wanted to do. But now that her father has died and her sisters are in college themselves, she really feels like she is ready to like, kind of move on with her life. So she wants to open a bar and like an ax throwing bar, which is kind of fun, but she needs essentially like some. She has a plan, but she needs some startup capital. And so she goes to Denver King, who. His father got her father killed. And so he has been sort of like helping her financially for years. And so she kind of figures, like, he's gonna help me with this. And they've never really talked about what went down between their fathers or what went down, you know, just. But so she approaches him and he kind of makes a counteroffer, which is like they're about to open up like, like almost like a hotel and, you know, like sort of the final evolution of the thing, this ranch they're doing is, you know, and so he's like, this would actually be great for the ranch because people want to do things. Not just people in town, but like our guests. So he offers her a. Instead of essentially building from scratch, he offers her a building on his property. And she's kind of like, I don't know if I want to do that. I wanted this to be my own thing, but agrees to go into business with him and these two real prickly people find love together. And I, I just was really delighted by it. I think it's a great read and it is, like I said, the end of a long series and I might go back and read some more. So that is Cowboy It's Cold Outside by Mais Yates.
- [27:33]
A
I Want to Talk about Strings Attached by Noel Bailey, which feels like a real October, October book. This one is about a grumpy warlock with too many rules and a cellist on sabbatical. So after nine months of non stop touring, the heroine of this book is headed to a tiny town called Magnolia Cove to take a. A break from her rigid, crazy cellist life. And while she's there, she's hoping that she will just like, reconnect with her music. She will just like have a calm, quiet like autumn in Magnolia Cove. What she is not looking for is Dean Markham, the town's intimidating council leader, who is very grumpy and a very big stern scroud scowler and has to approve her extended stay in this small town. Here's the thing. Dean is a warlock, and this island full of magic is kind of a secret. And our heroine is not supposed to notice that the island is full of magic. So he. The problem is that like the moment that Dean meets her, he's immediately drawn to her and he finds it very difficult to push her off of this island, even though her being there is going to be a little bit tricky for him. So the more she's there, the more things get out of hand and the more Dean has to figure decide if he's willing to sacrifice all the hard work that he does to protect the island to maybe not protect his heart very much. So these two. This looks, it looks like a fun, like cozy, a little bit magicky read for October, that is. Strings Attached by Noel Bailey.
- [29:41]
B
Okay, so I'm going to talk about A Pack for Winter by Eliana Lee, which everybody, I'm not gonna lie to you, the COVID of this book really does look like a. I don't know, like a Mary Poppins type. Librari is about to like blow out of the school library. But then you read the blurb and you realize that's not it at all. In fact, Ivy Noel Winter is content with being a 31 year old unbonded Omega with no prospects of a pack. She is in fact, a fifth grade teacher. She has wonderful friends and a baking show marathon isn't going to watch itself until a snowstorm and a power outage traps Ivy in her classroom after hours with three men. Rome, the new Alpha music teacher, James, the flirtatious Beta vet he's bonded to, and Logan, the town's grumpy Alpha electrician. I don't know what's about to happen, but I think it's going to be real sexy. Whether or not this should be happening in anyone's classroom, I'm just going to have to leave that up to you. So that is A Pack for Winter by Eliana Lee.
- [30:46]
A
Jen on the 21st, there's a book called Isn't It Obvious Coming out and I feel like it's for both of us in a certain way it feels so. It's by Rachel Runia. Cat Cats. And it's about a woman who has to maintain. She has a. She has a sort of surprisingly popular podcast and she has to maintain her secret identity as a high school librarian because God forbid anybody really notice that she who she is. But it's gone sort of viral, this podcast. And so she needs a producer. She's decided, like, it's just too much work. She needs a producer to help her, like, make sure that it all succeeds. So she hires a remote freelance producer with the understanding that they will Never. They will only discuss, only talk to each other in pseudonyms. Like, because she has to maintain her secret identity. So she hires this guy Kevin and they fall in love over email only to discover that in real life they fucking hate each other.
- [31:54]
B
Oh, I love it.
- [31:54]
A
Sure. So this is a you've Got Mail retelling that I think is going to make people really happy. I immediately downloaded it and that is. Isn't it Obvious? By Rachel Runya Katz.
- [32:07]
B
Okay, so I am going to talk about London Calling by Rita A. Gordon. This is a modern day marriage of convenience, which I feel like is kind of a tough one to come across sometimes. Right? So Jasmine Ross is one of those people who has just like, like she's done everything right. She's trained in self defense and martial arts and kickboxing and has multiple degrees and is globetrotted everywhere. And her current gig is in London where she's filling in for a historian who specializes in black British history. She doesn't want to stay in London, but she essentially gets like, trapped into London when she needs to extend her visa in order to, like, help a young girl that, you know, kind of needs her support. This solution comes because she can marry Aaron Adler. This is a friend of her sister. So her sister. Jasmine's sister's name is June. June and Aaron are friends and Aaron is under a lot of media scrutiny after scandal and, you know, sort of is going to impact his company. And so they essentially are going to like, getting married. He's going to like, solve all of their problems. Only, of course, is it going to solve all their problems once the feelings become involved. So this is a fun, satisfying romance set in London and it is called London Calling.
- [33:39]
A
I have won. Nora Dahlia's backslide. So this is Nora's second romance and backslide is told in two timelines. Nelly Hurwitz, the heroine, does not have a first love. She has a first hate. And back in high school, she and Noah had a kind of first love, first relationship. And it fell apart in high school. And now it's 20 years later and they have avoided seeing each other. But now everything's up because their best friends, Ben and Kara are getting married. Or actually they're having their vows renewed in Sonoma, California. Now here's the thing. It's 20 years. They have both gone. Their separate place, their separate ways. Nelly is like, this is ancient history. I refuse to allow, like, this like, thing that happened in the past to ruin this trip that we have all, you know, agreed to be on. But the reality Is that like them being in such close quarters in Sonoma with these old friends brings up a lot of the memories of the past and it reminds them, or maybe teaches them again that whatever happened in the past, these two right now in the future are feeling big feelings for each other. This one, like I said, is written in alternating timelines, so you get the kind of 90s New York vibe of their, their relationship just like at the tail end of high school and then the present day kind of, I don't want to call it like reconnecting because it really, it's, it's second chance in name, but like they really do fall in love with each other for the first time in this book in the current, in the current timeline. So that is Backslide by Nora Dalia. And if you're in New York City, Nora and I will be at the ripped bodice on October 21st talking about this book.
- [35:41]
B
This week's episode of Fated Mates is brought to you by Pippa Grant, author of the Spite Date a Single dad rom com.
- [35:49]
A
So Simon Luckwood is a famous British actor.
- [35:54]
B
Love it already.
- [35:55]
A
For romance reasons, he has moved to a small town in America for where our heroine be is a restaurateur or at least a cook. And she has come up with a number of recipes that she thinks are terrific and bad news. Jen, her terrible X has taken these recipes and gone off and opened a restaurant or is opening a restaurant. Simon happens to be the sort of like perfect himboy man. He's like a big golden retriever who lives in her town and she does not trust this man. Everyone loves him, everybody thinks he's the greatest thing ever, but he smiles all the time. No one smiles as much. And she simply won't have it. Unfortunately, she also she's going to have to have it because he his twin teenage boys did some shenanigans and got be arrested. And now Simon is trying to figure out like how he can apologize and make it right with her. And she just so happens to have a good way that he can do this. Her ex is having the grand opening of his new restaurant, a menu filled with her creativity. And so she takes the opportunity to take this like super mega movie star on a date to this restaurant for its grand opening where she plans to have a big blow up, embarrass her husband and use this movie star to do it. A plan.
- [37:19]
B
I love it.
- [37:20]
A
I love it too. Of course, nothing goes as she's planned as is planned because at the end of this, she's not putting these Men out of her mind forever. She can't stop thinking about Simon, and now she's in love with the celebrity Jen. And you know how I love that.
- [37:38]
B
Of course. So if you would like to check out the spite date, it is available in paperback, audiobook or ebook, and with your monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited. If your podcasting app supports it, you can click on the chapter title right now to be taken to buy the book. Thanks to Pippa Grant for sponsoring this week's episode. Okay, so I'm going to talk about Play you for it by Samantha Saldivar.
- [38:05]
A
This is I. I pulled that one for you to tell you about it.
- [38:09]
B
Oh, yeah, sure. I'm like, I was. I'm so excited about it. So this is a Sapphic romance between a sports journalist and her latest source, the first woman to be named as head coach of a Division 1 men's basketball team. So, yeah, exactly. I'm so down with this. So Jordan d' Amato is the first woman who's named the head coach of a top level men's college basketball team. And journalist Caroline Beck is determined to get the story. So Beck, Caroline has been essentially like, I guess everyone calls her Beck, has been determined to, like, sort of. She's been like, fighting her way into the world of sports reportings. And so being the person to get like the first one on one interview with this elusive head coach could be a big break. But Jordan, of course, is wary of the media and feels that they are going to just, you know, like, spike her chances, right? Like treat her as a spectacle and not as like a serious coach. So. And of course, there is, like, a deal, right? So Jordan's, you know, the, the president of the university or whatever has made it really clear that this is basically a temporary assignment. If she can't lead them to victory, then this is not going to be a permanent job. So when the two sit down for an interview, there is an intense and undeniable chemistry. But you are, as a journalist, can not fall for your source or certainly someone you're interviewing. And so this is going to be a big problem between them, especially as a national tournament is in sight and both of their careers are on the line. So that's Play you for it by Samantha Saldivar.
- [39:45]
A
So I'm going to do a Sapphic one, too. Now I want to talk about the Devil She Knows by Alexandra Bella Flor. I was fully charmed by this book. This, I have read this one. It is, it has a terrific, mean, cute. The premise is that Samantha Our heroine is. Has had, like, the worst day of her life. Her life is unraveled. She had her. She thought, like, she was going to get married to this, like, perfect woman who she was dating and living with. And now, like, it's. Her relationship has ended. She has nowhere to live. And she gets trapped in an elevator. Like, she gets into an elevator and like, boom, Suddenly it goes wonky. It's on the fritz. And there's like this great sort of like, very cinematic moment where the lights flicker and then boom, there's this beautiful woman standing in the elevator with her. She is, like, perfect. She is. She is dressed beautifully, she is beautiful, and she's very funny and charming. And it turns out she's a demon. And she is there to offer Samantha a Faustian bargain. Basically, she gets six wishes in exchange for one tiny little thing, her soul. And there is a very. And so it's this. She only needs, like, one wish in order to win her ex back. Like, basically that's all Samantha needs. She doesn't want the other five. So, like, her whole thing is if I only take the one wish, right, And I leave the other five on the table, then my soul is never traded. Right.
- [41:24]
B
It.
- [41:25]
A
Very clever. A little clever. A clever little loophole. So unfortunately, Daphne, the. The demon is. Was not born yesterday. In fact, she was born a long, long, long, long time ago. And here's the deal. She needs to buy 1,000 souls in order to accomplish her own kind of success and then get out from underneath her own kind of, like, bad deal. And Samantha's is the 1000th soul. And so she realizes pretty quickly that Samantha has this, like, loophole, has, like, conceived of this loophole. And every time Samantha asks for something, Daphne gives it to her with a twist, requiring her to use the next piece of the next wish in the six wishes. So it's this very cool. It actually reads a lot like a road trip because it's like one thing leads to another, leads to another, leads to another. Everything is really chaotic. There's a great, like, the pages turn really quickly in this. Alexandrev writes a great book, and it's sexy and fun and that ultimately it ends up with these two having, like, listen, they've fallen for each other. But it's pretty tricky when the devil is involved. The literal devil is involved in your romance. So it's very fun. And that is called the Devil She Knows by Alexandria Belfry Floor.
- [42:50]
B
Okay, so I have all of us Murderers by K.J. charles. This is a kind of gothic, like, it has like the greatest cover. Just what you would imagine, right? Like, like a gothic house and like two men in, you know, very, I don't know, like Victorian looking suits running away. So who will survive lacaday House? When Zeb Wickham is summoned to a wealthy relative remote gothic manor, he is horrified to find all of the people he least wants to see in the world. His estranged brother, his sneering cousin, and his bitter ex lover, Gideon Gray. Things could not possibly get worse until the master of the house announces the true purpose of the gathering. He intends to leave his vast family fortune to whoever marries his young ward, setting off a violent scramble for her hand. Zeb does not want any part of this or his greedy family. But when he tries to leave, the way is barred. The walls of Lackaday House are high and the gates are locked. The mists are rolling in and there's no way out. So fear and paranoia are ramping up pretty high for Zeb. He has nowhere to turn but to the man that once held his heart. So as they can, these two warring lovers reunite, uncover the murderous mysteries of Lackaday House, and live to tell the tale.
- [44:17]
A
Ooh. Well, we love a K.J.
- [44:19]
B
Charles book, so 100%. What?
- [44:23]
A
I have so many October books. Okay, let's talk about. Oh, well, let's talk about Kate Pierce, because I was very excited about this. Kate Pierce has a new book coming out, and I love a Kate Pierce book. She writes a very, very sexy historical, and in this new series, she is flipping Regency London on its head. She's got this. The book is called Only Rakes Need Apply, and it's about a woman who. Carenza Smythe Harding, who is a widow and basically is like. Like, the only thing I miss about my husband is that he was great in bed. And now I would really appreciate it if somebody else would be great in my bed with me. So she does two years of mourning as required, and now she is like, how do I get myself done to? And so she goes out and she finds out. She finds. She leaves an advertisement in a newspaper, leaving very little to the imagination, and has multiple men from all over the town trying to figure out, like, who she is and also applying for the position that she has advertised, which is basically like, I don't need you to talk. I just need you to be good in bed. And here's the deal. Like, confirmed bachelor Julian Laurent is very happy to apply, only to discover that his longtime friend and widow is behind the advertisement. And so he's basically like, no, wait a second. Like, I am very happy to provide whatever you might need in bed and to avoid anyone else discovering that it's you and ruining your reputation. And so she's like, well, I mean, prove it.
- [46:41]
B
Amazing.
- [46:42]
A
And this is exactly the kind of book I want from Kate Pierce. It's Kate writes a very, very sexy historical. You guys are going to love it.
- [46:51]
B
Okay, so I have. Julia Song is undateable Susan Lee in this one, which comes out at the end of October. Julia Song is the CEO of Light Cosmetics. So this is like she is really at the height of her career. She is in charge of this big, huge Korean beauty company. But she is single and 30. She has a terrible track record record at dating. And in the eyes of her Korean family, that's just like unacceptable, right? Like her professional, you know, her professional achievements are not up to par if it means that, you know, she isn't married. When her beloved grandmother drops the bomb that she's sick and her dying wish is for Julia to get married, she realizes that she is going to need help. Or at least in a moment of weakness, she asked her family to help. They set her up on three dates to find the one. But it's never gonna work. She's undateable. Um, if only there was a coach for that. So she taps her old family. Her old friend Tae Kim. He is sort of currently unemployed, living in his parents basement. He's caring for his ill father. He's become like a bit of a fix it man. He's, you know, like the guy, but that's not a real job. So the pressure to get his life together is a lot. But when Julia asks him for help, maybe this is just the distraction he needs. But maybe they are dateable to each other. So that's. Julia's song is undateable.
- [48:24]
A
That was on my list too. I want to talk about Ava Wilder. Some kind of famous famous. I think Ava's a great writer and this one is about. She always. All her books sort of edge up on celebrity culture. So in this case, Merritt Valentine is the heroine. And she about 10 years ago was an incredibly famous like singer, songwriter. And then she had a pretty massive public breakdown and had to kind of like, like disappear from. From the, the public eye. She abandoned Los Angeles. She moved into a tiny little Colorado ski town with her sister, hoping that she would like, be able to mend and like avoid the stoplight. The stoplight. Avoid the spotlight. Hopefully forever. Right? Maybe forever. Except. And everything would be fine. Except she has a pretty inconvenient crush on a Local handyman. And listen, I love a local handyman. I actually have another handyman book on my list for October too. But. And Nico the handyman is extraordinarily handsome and a little. And like, very kind. And they're sort of the wrong fit in a lot of ways because for all of his, like, chill, even kindness, she has all of this, like, kind of unworked through baggage in her past, which is something that Ava's books always kind of negotiate with their heroines and. But he has gone through sort of a pretty significant heartbreak and he is kind of done dating anybody in town. That said, like, he can't really stop thinking about Merit. And she also. And everybody, even though the whole town is basically like, she's a mess. You shouldn't. That's not a real thing. You shouldn't go there. But she needs to fix up her house because her sister is getting married. So she needs to like, move out of her sister's house and buy a new house and like, fix it up. And Nico is the obvious person to help. So this one is for anybody who loves a home renovation romance. It's for anybody who loves a kind of like two people who are pretty broken, finding the right. Figuring out that, like, they have found the right person. And yeah, I love Avia's books, so I'm excited about this one. Some Kind of Famous by Ava Wilder.
- [50:57]
B
Okay, so do you want to still do a little. You want to wrap up October or.
- [51:01]
A
Do you have a couple? Are you all done? Because I have a few.
- [51:05]
B
I mean, I have many more. Yeah.
- [51:07]
A
But I have. So I. There are a few that I want to just tap. Like, I just want to say there one. I just want to say Dark needs. At Night's Edge is getting a re. A reissue October 7th. Dark means at Night's Edge is a Cressley Cole book, part of the Immortals After Dark series. It's available now in trade paperback or will be next week. And it is the book that I always recommend as the first of the Immortals After Dark books to read. If you're willing to read out of order. This is where I would always begin. I think it is. It's like as close to the kind of. Of like soft romantasy, softer romantasy vibe that you will get. And I think it is wildly sexy. And Jen, I think will agree with me that if you're interested in POV as a concept in romance, this book.
- [51:59]
B
Oh yeah, it's a really fun one.
- [52:01]
A
Terrific read for how to think about that. I want to Tap Maureen Lenker's A Star is Scorned, which is the next next book in her kind of like Hollywood golden age romance series. These are like very rompy 1930s Rom com set in the 1930s. Again, a kind of like notorious womanizer who is a movie star finds his reputation in like big, big trouble and the studio insists that he fake date publicly his new co star. Except he, a man who is unwilling to even think about feeling a feeling, accidentally starts to feel very big feelings for this fake, this woman who has definitely clocked him as being a complete reprobate. So that's a fun one. That's A Star Is Scorned by Maureen Lenker.
- [53:02]
B
And then keep going. I have some others to add to the like the roundup for October.
- [53:07]
A
Yeah, I said that there was a handyman. Another handyman romance on my list. Amy Andrews.
- [53:13]
B
Is blue collar billion going to mention Amy Andrews? You know I love her.
- [53:17]
A
Well, you know, I should tell you I met Amy in Australia when I was there and I told you this already, Jen, but like she like, she specifically said to said to me, tell Jen that yes, that coach she's been waiting for from the Sydney smoke for years is hopefully turning up sometime soon in a book. But this book, Blue Collar Billionaire, was already published as Going down, but now it's being republished as Blue Collar Billionaire. It's like a ER doctor and like a sexy handyman, except oops, he's also a billionaire.
- [53:57]
B
Listen, Amazing.
- [53:58]
A
That's what I want from romance. Like secretly a billionaire is really a fun time. Oh yeah, go ahead.
- [54:04]
B
Oh, okay. So Jess Michaels, who if you are like a historical reader, she just is really prolific and writes a great novel, has Once Upon a Courtesan coming out and I was like, okay, I like that. And then two yas to keep an eye out for if you are looking for a young reader in your life. Heartsick by Christina Forrest is about a high school senior named Margo Whitman who has invented a company where she created a pill that can erase a person's heartbreak overnight. But she has a heartbreak of her own. And Isaac Fisher is going to is walked in and looking for the pill. Presumably that's going to help him stop loving her, which is awesome. And then one that sounds really fun. Another YA that sounds really fun is called Real Love by Addie Woolridge. And in this one there are two teenagers who both help their like grandmas, like run really big social media accounts. But like their grandmas essentially are like social media rivals. And so these two teenagers are gonna like fall in love as they are, like, trying to navigate college admissions and keeping their grandmas from, like, being mad that they're falling in love because, you know, we're enemies, which I just think is really cute. So that one just sounds really fun too. Real Love by Addie Woolridge.
- [55:32]
A
I want to tap two more very quickly. Charis Michaels, who we've talked about on this podcast before, has the next book in her princess series coming out. Princess Danielle Alar Dorland grew up believing she was no kind of princess. She just thought she was like a normal girl being raised in Kent by, like, normal people. But when she discovers she's actually a princess in hiding, the reason reason she does is because she's been married to or she has been like, sort of promised in marriage to a war hero she's never met. Luke Bannock, who was not trying to become a hero, but, like, is now pretty happy because he gets a reward. And his chosen prize is Danielle, because marrying her will effect some revenge against his sworn enemy, which everyone knows. Like, the second I see the word revenge in a description of a book, I'm online. So anyway, this is an arranged marriage. Like, they have to fall in love. He has to realize that revenge is stupid and so is he. And it's going to be a great time. And then. Are you done?
- [56:46]
B
Yes, I'm done.
- [56:47]
A
And then my last one is Fall at Once by Nora Everly, which is. Is a steamy small town rom com. It says with a swindy. A swindy, A swoony single dad firefighter. So this. Listen, there are a lot of, a lot of keywords here for beta maze listeners. So the heroine is there to get over her breakup. She's gone home to Cozy Creek. I mean, what a name. To help her grandmother run the family baker. I mean, like, it's just like, basically just like plug and play for all of the things that small town romance should deliver. She's absolutely not there to fall in love. But when grandma's smoking hot firefighter neighbor keeps rescuing her from the side of the road, from up a tree, from her terrible ex with a steamy kiss at a bar, how can she say no and listen?
- [57:43]
B
I don't think she should.
- [57:45]
A
That's Fall at Once by Nora Everly.
- [57:49]
B
This week's episode of Faded Mates is brought to you by Jamie Varen, author of Charlie Quinn. Let's go.
- [57:56]
A
So this is women's fiction with a romantic subplot, and it's exactly the kind of book that I love. Charlie Quinn has spent her life Playing by the rules. She is a full control freak. But she has everything in order. Jen. She is about to turn 30. 30 and she will just not have anything. Even a step out of line on her 30th birthday. No one has told the rest of her life that though it appears because she is laid off. Her boyfriend leaves her because their life is too predictable and she gets violent food poisoning.
- [58:29]
B
Oh no.
- [58:30]
A
I don't know. Happy birthday, Charlie. She hits rock bottom and she has no choice but to go home to her childhood home in Los Angeles, where her free spirited little sister strikes up an idea.
- [58:41]
B
Idea?
- [58:42]
A
Can control freak Charlie go a whole month saying yes to anything her sister requests? Charlie agrees, if only to prove that living by one's whims will result in nothing more than disaster and disappointment. But a serendipitous encounter with a high school crush leads to a month of steamy no strings romance and Charlie starts to question her monotonous existence. Can she learn to loosen up, to let go of past heartbreak, to say yes to a big bold life and to get a little messy? I believe in Charlie. We are all Charlie.
- [59:19]
B
I love. I'm turning 30 and need to turn my life around. Book. They are the best. Me too. So if you also love this trope, then check out Charlie Quinn. Let's go. It is available right now in print, audio and in paper, so you can check it out anytime you're ready. If your podcasting app supports it, you can click on the chapter title right now to be taken to buy the book. Thanks to Jamie Varen for sponsoring this week's episode. So November. Here we go.
- [59:50]
A
November.
- [59:52]
B
So. Oh yeah, I'm going to talk about the dramatic life of Jonah Penrose by Robin Green. This is the gay romance set in the world of London's world West End. And so what we have here is a fake publicity stunt between rival co stars that essentially creates real sparks between them. So Jonah Penrose is the star of a West End musical called the Wooden Horse. I don't know why that makes me laugh, but it does. Anyway, he has had a recent breakup. He is full of self doubts and you know, his father is not doing well and so he is struggling in kind of his personal life. When Dexter Ellis, West End's golden boy and the newest cast member of the show, right? He's like sort of cycling on and of course Jonah thinks he's intolerable and arrogant, but. And everything about him is just infuriatingly perfect. Right? He's got dashing good looks and you know, he can just really make, like, a casual but cutting note on Jonah's performance. And he's got these obnoxious, beautiful sweaters, and it's awful. So anyway, Dexter is supposed to play Jonah's enemy on the show, but his role switches to being the love interest after a bout of illness sidelines half the cast. So Jonah and Dexter are planning to stay as far away from possible when a fan. Fans essentially mistake their onstage tension for romantic chemistry. And all of a sudden, tickets are selling, like, so everybody wants to see West End's hottest couple. And so the show's producer pushes them to essentially, like, play up into it, because obviously that's gonna be better for everybody. So Jonah does not want to pretend to be head over heels in love with Dexter, but as they fall spend more time together, he discovers there's more to him than meets the eye. And all of a sudden, these feelings are real feelings. And I love it. So that is the dramatic life of Jonah Penrose by Robin Green.
- [61:55]
A
Nice. I want to talk about not you again by Aaron LaRosa. This is a very cool setup. Every day in Julian, California, is April 23, and they are stuck in a time loop.
- [62:10]
B
All you need is a light jacket. Okay, I'm sorry. That's actually April 25th, I think.
- [62:14]
A
Sorry.
- [62:17]
B
If you know. You know everybody. If you don't, check show notes.
- [62:20]
A
Okay, okay, but. So they're trapped in this. The whole town is trapped in a. In a time loop. And you would think that this would be, like, a pretty cool thing and very inspiring for a screenwriter, but Carly Hart is waking up every morning at her father's funeral, and she wants out of this. Well, it just so happens. Listen, you know that I love a funeral. Funeral director Adam Rhodes is equally frustrating with this time loop. I mean, I think probably everyone's frustrated with this time loop, but these two have it particularly bad because Adam regenerates every loop in the middle of a fight with his ex wife where she is, like, confessing or at least, like, admitting to her infidelity. And now, like, every time he regenerates into this time loop, he has to, like, kind of relive this confession. There is only one solution, which is they have to figure out how to break the time loop, which would be fine, except Carly and Alex, Adam, honestly can't stand each other, so they have to work together to solve this kind of big cosmic mystery, which has something to do possibly with a solar flare and possibly with a daily solar eclipse and possibly with magical astrology, stuff that Carly thinks and possibly with actual facts and figures and science, like Adam thinks. And these two are at each other's throats, but they know that they are the only two who can work together to end this time loop. Except when they do, they will have no more reason to be near each other. So that is not you again by Erin LaRosa.
- [63:59]
B
Okay, I'm gonna talk about these Violet Delights by Madeline Roche. Honestly, God, what a title. Just really nice pleased by that title. So this is a historical romance where a of star crossed kind of lovers and like, involved in a big family feud. Can they, like, find love together? So Violet Arden is a painter and she's just one of these, like, women who's like, I'm just gonna lead a life of passion. But she meets with scandal and humiliation at her artistic debut in London where. Alistair. Alastair. Alastair. How do you sell that? How do you say that? Regency name? Alistair.
- [64:41]
A
Alistair.
- [64:42]
B
Yeah, whatever. I don't know. It's got a lot of vowels in it. Anyway, Alice Dare Care essentially gives like a withering critique and everyone sees it. And then her illicit affair with her art instructor is exposed at the same time. So she flees London and essentially is going to hide out at her cousin Emilia's country estate. Perfect. And she's just going to like, lick her wounds. Well, who shows up, of course, but Al Asdair, and he is returning to his family's estate, but there was a tragic fire there. His beloved father dies and he is. Had died there. And he is really determined to like, rebuild the home and like, kind of step into the role of being like, kind of the man of the house and of the family. But his rakish younger brother Freddie can't seem to, like, leave things alone with Amelia. So Amelia and Fred Freddy are having this affair which is dragging Violet and Alistair into, like, all of this business. Right. So Violet is determined to ignore him. But in the end, the they there are new fires that are something else going on. There's an overbearing clergyman. And so they're gonna like, kind of team up together, find the arsonists, but also try to ignore these new feelings blazing between them. Sounds good. I know these. Violet Delights by Madeline Rue.
- [66:07]
A
We're in November still.
- [66:08]
B
Yes.
- [66:08]
A
Okay, I want to talk about. What do I want to talk about? Let's talk about All Superheroes Need Photo Ops.
- [66:16]
B
Sure.
- [66:17]
A
So Elizabeth Stevens kind of blew things up earlier in the year when she produced, when she published All Superheroes need pr. And now this is the next in the series called All Superheroes. Need photo ops. This one is, you know, alien. Alien superheroes have crash landed on Earth. Photographer Monica Newman has always had a little bit of a soft spots for a particular alien superhero who she thought was pretty hot the moment he crawled.
- [66:46]
B
Out of his pod.
- [66:49]
A
Unfortunately these days nobody is looking at Teranis and saying like oh yeah, he's cute. They're all sort of saying oh, he's sort of a mess and he needs an image boost. Monica is the logical person to give him that one great photo op and she is going to make him a star once again. The the best part. This will bring her closer to him and she will be able to maybe lock down this handsome superhero. Except an accidental recording reveals that he might not be a superhero after all. He might actually be a super villain. And now she has no choice. If she's going to save the world, then she had better spy on this hot man man and make sure that he is good and not evil. And so what is a girl to do? Except I don't know smash.
- [67:47]
B
Sure.
- [67:50]
A
I really loved all superheroes need PR and so I think this one is going to be really fun. It's top of my, top of my tbr.
- [67:59]
B
Okay, so I'm going to talk about. Violet Thistlewait Is Not a Villain Anymore by Emily Krempholz in this, Violet Thistlewade, our heroine, is determined to start over after her being the right hand man to a dark source. A right hand woman, I guess. Sorry. To a dark sorcerer named Guy Shadowfade. Like he's died. And so she's like listen here. I'm not gonna be a bad witch anymore. I'm gonna be a good witch. I'm gonna be kind. I'm gonna be better. I'm gonna be good. And so she moves to the tiny town of Dragon's Rest. This will be where she's gonna like sort of like set up shop, you know, as just like a regular like sort of witch who can help you with your plants. And she's gonna set down roots, perfect. Open a flower shop and like keep her homicidal houseplants in check. But when this. And you know, and as things are going well, she's charming the townsfolk and you know, the only person she can't impress is prickly and yet dashingly handsome Nathaniel Marsh. He is an alchemist sharing her greenhouse. He has a struggling business and his second chance is sort of seems to be out of reach. He doesn't have time for Violet and her flowers and all this stuff until a mysterious blight endangers every living plant in town. And Violet and Nathaniel must work together in order to save their community. But when a figure from her past knocks on the door and these secrets threaten to uproot everything she has built, Violet can't help but wonder, does a former villain truly deserve a happily ever after? I don't know. I bet you do, Violet.
- [69:39]
A
I think it's okay. Okay, I want to talk about Max Monroe, who has a book coming out called Call Me Anytime. Hannah May is in a pickle. She needs to get a new job. She. Or she needs to get a job. How about that? So she takes a job that finally turns up at a telemarketing company, only to discover that it is a phone sex hotline. Unfortunately. Unfortunately, Hannah is not very good at phone sex because she is not very good at sex. She has never had it before. And so she is really. She is. She is really having a tough time of it. Except. And what ends up happening is, turns out one of the other people who works for this phone sex company has been murdered and one of the other operators and Detective Dominic Gun is investigating this murder. And when he meets Hannah, he is like.
- [70:52]
B
Like, oh, boy.
- [70:53]
A
Like, this is. She's super cute and there is a kind of instant attraction, but he. She is now playing amateur sleuth for this person's murder. He is trying to figure out, like, how he can protect all the other operators and all of you know, and everybody involved in this from being killed again, from the killer striking again. And the two of them are going to hopefully save the day and find a way to get Hannah to a place where she's pretty good at being a phone sex person.
- [71:25]
B
Amazing.
- [71:26]
A
I believe in you, Hannah. Dominic's gonna take care of you.
- [71:30]
B
This week's episode of Fated Mates is brought to you by Avon Books, publishers of the Earl that Got Away by Diana Quincy.
- [71:38]
A
So this one we've already talked about today. This is Diana's second in her Sirens in Silk series, and it features Arab American Nyla Darwish, our heroine who has always regretted calling off her engagement to a man she really loved eight years ago because her family disagreed with the match and felt that he wasn't successful enough for her. Now eight years has passed and she travels to England for her sister's wedding and gets the shock of her life when she runs into Basil Trevlin again. She is overjoyed because the fates have given her a second chance at this opportunity to have Basil, the man she loves. For his part, though, Basil's pretty pissed and he has rebuilt himself in the years that they've been apart. He is bruised and broken from the rejection that she gave him. And now he's inherited an unexpected title. He is Earl of Hawkesworth, which makes him rich, titled, and powerful in England and one of England's most sought after bachelors. He is incredibly bitter. He is unwilling to let himself feel for Nyla ever again. Cold and distant and everything we want in a historical hero. And I think it's gonna be a big mess.
- [73:08]
B
And we're gonna love Rita reading it, of course. So if you'd like to check out the Earl that Got Away, it is available right now in print, ebook and audio. If your podcasting app supports it, you can click on the chapter title right now to be taken to buy the book. Thanks to Avon Books and Diana Quincy for sponsoring this week's episode. So I love this upcoming one. This is called the Maid of Sherwood Forest by CNN Bessie.
- [73:36]
A
And.
- [73:37]
B
And this is part of a series called the McQuivies Costume Shop Romance series. So basically what happens is you are just like a regular person shopping for a costume and then when you put it on, if, like, the things all work out the way they're supposed to do, you end up time traveling into like, the book or the costume. Right. Like into that story. Sure. In this case, Mariah Clinton has a passion for archery. She works as a sous chef in a contemporary London and a contemporary London restaurant. And so she is goes to the costume shop to rent a medieval gown, but next thing she knows, she's standing in a castle kitchen in 12th century Nottingham with no idea how she got there or how to return.
- [74:23]
A
That's all I want.
- [74:24]
B
Yes, I know. To modern times. So she's forced to pose as a kitchen servant and she has to draw on her ingenuity and courage to survive in a world in which she should exist. But when her skill with a bow draws the attention of outlaws in Sherwood Forest, she's swept into a conflict that is more dangerous and thrilling than she could have ever imagined. Terrific work. I mean, I don't know, like, listen, if you, like me, grew up with a certain love of, you know, that cartoon fox. Yeah. And I'm like, kind of embarrassed to admit that Kevin Costner movie. Sorry.
- [75:00]
A
Oh, sure. Anyway, that terrible song that I listened to a million times.
- [75:06]
B
Nobody needs to talk about it. Wait, wait.
- [75:08]
A
Sting, Rod Stewart and Brian Adams. Am I correct? A real, like, holy trinity of old lady music.
- [75:20]
B
Listen, don't let's not curse Mariah like this. Everything I do, I do it.
- [75:26]
A
Yes.
- [75:29]
B
Oh God, I'm so, so humiliated right now. Anyway, the Maid of Sherwood Forest, everybody.
- [75:39]
A
Well, I'm into it. Listen, I'm. You know what else? You know what else that movie delivered? It was Alan Rickman.
- [75:48]
B
Chewing so much scenery, let's say, yeah, I'll cut you.
- [75:54]
A
What is it? I'll cut your eye out with a spoon or like something.
- [75:57]
B
And they're like, why not a knife?
- [75:59]
A
And he's like, cuz it's duller.
- [76:00]
B
Stupid.
- [76:01]
A
I think about that spoon being dull every time I open my cutlery drawer. Anyway, Alan Rickman was amazing. Jury's out on everyone else.
- [76:14]
B
We're just gonna pretend none of that happened?
- [76:16]
A
Okay, wait, it's my turn.
- [76:19]
B
Yes, it is.
- [76:20]
A
How about Pick Me by Victoria Sh. Rashad. So here's one of these. Here's something that's interesting to me. Pickleball has had a little bit of a time here in romance. And I think that's interesting because I don't think pickleball is like the most sexy of sports, though I'm happy to be told wrong. But this is interesting because Brooke Murphy, who is a cowboy romance ghostwriter, is looking for inspiration. And she has a little bit of a crush on a guy who seems to take pickleball, like, very seriously. Like, possibly too seriously. I'm gonna say too seriously. Just like, as me, Sarah, that's my take on your take on this.
- [77:09]
B
Okay?
- [77:09]
A
She has a crush on this guy. And so she's like, what if I learned to play pickleball and then I could like throw myself into the.
- [77:17]
B
Be.
- [77:18]
A
Into the, I don't know, path of this handsome man? And so she decides she is going to hire a. She's very not athletic. And so she's like, I'm gonna go and hire a coach for this. So she hires Owen Miller, who is like a pickleball coach to the stars. And he is like, like, okay, fine. Like he is. He. He is happy to be paid to teach idiots to play pickle ball. Like, he does not take this seriously in really any way because he also teaches. He's like kind of famous for he. Or he's the guy like all the finance bros in. In New York go and hire to teach them how to play pickle ball. And he thinks everybody who wants to learn pickle ball is just like a nonsense person. So he. But he's like, fine, you can pay me whatever. I don't care. And her game starts to improve and she's like, I'm going to get this guy, this handsome, serious pickleballer to fall in love with me and accidentally falls in love with her grumpy coach who. And listen, I love a. I love a book that tees it up this way. Like I love a. I have a crush on somebody else. I'm asking you to help me get them. And now, oops, we're in love. And instead. So this is sort of the way that I want pickleball in my romance. Like, I, I'm, I'm not sure I want pickleball ever in my life, but I do. This feels like the right place for pickleball in my romance. So that is Pick Me by Victoria Shaw.
- [79:00]
B
I am going to talk about Ellie Hayes and the Himbos by Vanessa King. Now, before I tell you, have I told you the story about the himbos in my Hyde park book club? Have I told you the story? Yes.
- [79:10]
A
You told the podcast this story?
- [79:12]
B
Yes. Okay. Right. So when I saw this, I was like, well, obviously I have to talk about this. So. Okay. Ellie Hayes is a 30 something who essentially just like, feels like she's, you know, generally prepared for the worst. She has been living with endometriosis, and so she's like, really used to living with sort of this chronic pain. But when a new flare up points to a possible Ms. Diagnosis, all of her careful plans fall apart. Suddenly she needs a new lease, literally, on life, and unexpectedly lands on the doorstep of a. A house shared by a trio of collegiate beefcakes. Grant, Alistair and Diego are both beautiful and short on practical skills. All right, now she's not going to fall in love with these three. Everybody. This is not that. Grant has an older brother, Ian, and the night before she moved in with these three himbos, she essentially made out with him. And so Ellie and Ian are getting closer. And, you know, her little break from reality is feeling like this amazing a life choice. So she is like living with the hippos and teaching them how to be adults as she's falling in love with one of their older brothers. So what's going to happen as the story continues? Only we only have to read to find out. So that's Ellie Hayes and the Himbos by Vanessa King. Perfect.
- [80:35]
A
I have one more.
- [80:37]
B
I think. Think I have many more, but fine.
- [80:40]
A
Okay, great. I have Jesse K. Satanto. Next time will be our turn, which is a little. There's something very charming about this. It's sort of new adult, but also not new adult. It's like a grandmother's love story through time. So Izzy Chen, who so current day Izzy Chen is dreading her family's annual Chinese New Year Year celebration where everyone's going to come together. They always come together at this like very fancy restaurant. They flaunt their status. These are like very wealthy people and they like one up each other. So she, Izzy is young and she has always considered herself the black sheep of the family. She is, she is a lesbian. And so she gets to this dinner just sort of dreading it. But her 73 year old grandmother, who has like always been like the doyenne of the family, like glamorous, formidable, walks in with a stunning woman on her arm and kisses her in front of everyone. And Izzy is like, holy shit, I'm not the black sheep. Like my grandmother and I are very similar. And the whole story is that Magnolia, the grandmother in this situation has sort of like acknowledged that Izzy is struggling like with identity and acceptance within the family. And, and so she tells Izzy her own story of how when she was a teenager she was sent by her Indochinese parents from Jakarta to Los Angeles for school. And while she was in the United States she fell in love with Ellery, an American college student who became her best friend and the love of her life. But like was not allowed to be Magnolia's the love of Magnolia's life. So the story is, is stretches across decades. It tells, I think as far as I can tell, it's definitely Magnolia's story and I think there's probably an Izzy plot line here as well. And essentially it sounds like a really beautiful kind of multi generational story. And I think Jessie K. Setanto is terrific. So that's. Next time will be our turn.
- [82:58]
B
So I'm going to talk about Son of the Morning by Akwaeke Omeze, which a romantasy kind of paranormal romance set in the black South. And so it says tender hearted Galilee is our main character. She has been raised by the Kincaid, which is a formidable clan of black women sequestered deep in like sort of like, you know, kind of like think about like, I don't know, like the weeping willows and you know what I mean? Like just sort of like when you think of like the Deep south, like that landscape. So Galilee has always known that she's different, that there's some kind of secret around her existence and there's something like hollow inside her. And she's just assumed that like she has to live with this until she meets Lucifer Halel. He is the head of security for her wealthy friend's family. He's protecting some sort of mysterious artifact. But from the moment she lays eyes on him. Gally knows that he is not quite human. And so when they touch, she realizes something about herself that she didn't know until that moment, which is that she isn't human either. Exactly. So enter. Then all of a sudden, Leviathan. He is Lucifer's most trusted prince of Hell. He's determined to eliminate her because she is danger. And so, you know, she doesn't even really realize what's going on here. But now we've got like Lucifer and Galilee. There's this attraction between them and all of the secrets of her family are like clashing with the princes of Hell. And everything is. It just sounds really like rich and dramatic and really original. So this is a really kind of cool book. It has a beautiful cover. This Lucifer and Leviathan. He's got some big wings, everybody. So this is like angels and demons and Southern Gothic, which I think will just be a really delicious, delicious book. So Son of the Morning.
- [85:04]
A
Awesome. Awesome.
- [85:07]
B
Yeah, right? Doesn't that sound cool?
- [85:08]
A
So fun.
- [85:09]
B
You want to talk about yours and then I can just like do a bunch of wrap up at the end?
- [85:13]
A
Yeah, sure.
- [85:13]
B
Okay.
- [85:14]
A
So I want to just. I want to just name check. I happen to have a short story coming in an anthology on the 4th of November. That anthology is called Ladies in Waiting and it is a collection of short stories, mostly romance, although I think there are a couple that are slightly less romance, that are giving secondary and tertiary characters from Austen novels their own happily ever after, their own happy ending. And what's exciting about this is it is the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen's birth. That is why this is coming out. You're going to see a lot of of Austen stuff coming just around over the course of the next few months. Jane Austen's birthday is December 16th. And this series is Besides Me has stories from Adriana Triggiani, Eloisa James, Eleanor Lippman, Audrey Bellezza, Karen Ducass, Emily Harding, Nikki Payne and Diana Quincy in it. So obviously you've got straight down the middle romances from Diana, Nikki, Eloisa and me. I have read Nikki and Diana's stories. They are fantastic. My story is a retelling or not a retelling, but it's a sort of an ending or a beginning for Ms. Bates from Emma. And I hope you'll really love it. That book is called Ladies in Waiting. We'll be talking about it in November as well. Yes.
- [86:53]
B
Okay, so a couple. Let me just wrap up with a couple quick ones that I think will be Interesting. So Juno Rushin, who I love, writes a great Harlequin entry, has one called Big Sky Safe House. Nora Santana is the only woman to ever escape the notorious Yuletide Strangler. And so she is going to. And she's like, put down roots in a small Montana town. But when a chilling holiday message from her Secret Santa tells Nora that her cover has been blown, she has to rely on the Ironside Protection investigator, Bo Letox, to keep her alive. And so Bo and Nora are going to be on the run and running from their attraction with a killer on their heels, which is pretty great. Then I would like to talk about Snowball. Sorry, let me get this title. Snowbound and Royally Forbidden by Maya Blake. This is a Harlequin presents, essentially. Listen, I love this. It's Guardian Ward. What else do you need to know? So perfect he is. Valenti is the heir to the cartoon, to a throne. Of course he's a prince. He's a billion dollar security consultant. But he's got a headstrong Ward, Lott Lilrad, and he's just going to keep watch from her from afar. But when her life is threatened, Sarah, he has no choice but take her to his Icelandic hideaway out of harm's way.
- [88:31]
A
Have you not. Wait, did you notice? And I pulled this.
- [88:33]
B
Iceland.
- [88:34]
A
Iceland everywhere.
- [88:36]
B
Iceland everywhere.
- [88:36]
A
We're going to talk about Iceland in the Christmas. The holiday episode as well. But yes, I was really shocked by how much Iceland there is out there.
- [88:44]
B
Yeah, I feel.
- [88:44]
A
So somebody explained to me why I. Iceland.
- [88:47]
B
I don't know why else. Okay. So, yeah, I noticed the same thing. Okay. The Reluctant Reaper by Mary Jane Davidson actually just looks. I don't know, it just looks great, everybody. So in this one, it says, what's a death God to do? Amara Morgan has. Most people in their 20s are like, oh, good, I'm gonna inherit the family business. Amara does not feel that way because her family father is death. So her childhood included. Watching her, all of her favorite people sometimes being taken away from her dad, like by her dad. And you know, she knew that he wasn't doing it on purpose. But this is not a job that she wants. So. And you know, and so it's. And one of the things is that she has is because of this is she can sense when someone's fine. She can. When she meets someone, she can tell when their final moment will be. Including her best and only friend, Gray. So even though he's the funniest and the kindness and the most understanding guy she's ever met, she can't allow him to get any closer because she knows his moment is coming all too soon. But now her father is dying, and what's going to happen? So death is comatose, and Gray doesn't want to be left behind, and Amaro's mother is a mess, and. And the death gods are gathering in North Dakota, as one does. So that is the Reluctant Reaper by Mary Jane Davidson. And then I have one other one. This one is a book I actually worked on as an editor. It is a. What I'm gonna call, like, a cozy, like, essentially almost like a cozy mystery kind of romance. So this is if you were ever, like, you know, you just want something sweet. There's no, like, absolutely like, no sex in this book at all. Like, if you're like, I want to, like, share this with, you know, like, maybe like, someone in your. You know, who's, like, kind of maybe interested in a little romance, but a little in this one. Aurelia Lindham inherits a London bookshop from her beloved aunt, and she finally, like, moves into the building. Like, the bookshop is on the ground floor and the flat is up above. And so she moves into the flat and she hears all these sounds coming from the bookshop, and she thinks it's like a burglar. And she goes out there, and it turns out that this bookshop has a secret, right? Which. A magical secret, which is there's a table. And if you put books on this table at night, at midnight, the characters, two characters from each book will appear into the bookshop. And you can, like, talk and interact with them if you are the owner of the bookshelf.
- [91:40]
A
Listen, this is perfect. This would immediately make me open a bookstore.
- [91:44]
B
Yeah. And it's, like, a really fun premise. And what happens is, in this case, it's characters from Sense and Sensibility, Little Women, Anna Karenina, and then, like, her aunt's favorite book. And she, like, basically realized her aunt, like, left that one book out because this one guy is gonna, like, explain to her how the bookshop works. And so she starts rewriting a book, like, rewriting, essentially, the ending for Count Vronsky, who is unhappy at the. His story ended and in doing so, falls in love with the editor who is going to help her, like, kind of bring the story to life. It's just like, a really delightful kind of, like a literal, like, when someone says cozy, and you're kind of like, I'm not sure what that means. This is a great book. So this one comes out in November, and it is called The Midnight Book Club by Emily W. Anderson.
- [92:37]
A
Adore.
- [92:38]
B
Adorable.
- [92:39]
A
I love it. December.
- [92:45]
B
Yeah, we'll do some quick Decembers, but mostly December, I think is going to be, you know.
- [92:50]
A
Oh, no, I have four.
- [92:52]
B
Okay, perfect. Yeah.
- [92:53]
A
Okay. My first one is December 2nd. The bodyguard affair by Amy Lee. So a secret romance writer discovers that the highest, hottest story of summer might be the one happening between her and her boss's bodyguard. So listen, Andy Ziegler, our heroine, she lives a double life. By day she is the absolutely Cracker Jack, perfect personal assistant to the Prime Minister of Canada's wife. By night, she writes romance novels under a top secret pen name. And when her steamiest book, the Prime Minister and Me, unexpectedly becomes a bestseller, rumors begin of a secret love affair between her and this Prime Minister. It's a big problem. Enter the Prime Minister's close closest bodyguard, Nolan Crosby, with whom Andy had a failed one night stand three years ago. Nolan is in town when the scandal erupts and Andy immediately ropes him into a fake dating situation to protect everyone's reputation in this, like, basically. And also their bosses. Like everybody thinks that it's actually that the Prime Minister's having an affair. So as loyal to the end to their bosses, these two pretend to date for the summer or expect to date for the summer just long enough to end this case scandal and save everybody's reputation. But what happens when the summer heats up, Jen? And they don't want to end it. So that is the Bodyguard Affair by Amy Lee.
- [94:43]
B
That sounds super fun.
- [94:44]
A
Delightful.
- [94:46]
B
Okay, so I have Audrey Lane Stirs the Pot by Alexis Hall. This is the third book in the Winner Bakes all series. A lot of people I know really loved Rosalind Palmer Takes the Cake. That was like the first one. And so in this one, Audrey Lane is perfectly fine, really. So she left her high powered job as a very important journalist and her even higher powered long term girlfriend to live a quiet life as a reporter for the second biggest newspaper in Shropshire, which doesn't sound like a very big place at all. So anyway, she keeps hearing that her high powered ex is essentially, you know, she, Audrey, keeps hearing all this stuff and judge and you know, is feeling judged. And Audrey is, you know, really happy with her small life. She is sure that everything is great and you know, people in the group, surely they get like drunk during the day and impulsively apply for the UK's most beloved baking show. Okay, so maybe things are not going so great for Audrey. So either way, one of the things that happens is, is it opens up her world again. One of them is through her fellow contestant, Doris, an older woman who shares the story of like queer love through World War II. This really captures Audrey's heart and her imagination and really like, sparks this journalistic interest, but also through Jennifer Hallett, the foul tempered and fouler mouth producer woman and menace Audrey has ever met. So Jennifer should be on off limits, but Audrey instead finds herself falling in love with Jennifer as they tell the story of Doris and all of the other goings on on Bake Expectations. So that's Audrey Lane stirs the pot.
- [96:42]
A
I have Fallon Ballard's Something Wicked, which is a romanticy that's little bit Macbeth and a little bit Moulin Rouge. So the country of Avon is in deep turmoil and there is an uprising, a sort of rebel uprising that has overthrown Avon's monarchy. And a decree has been issued that candidates for the first presidential election of this country will be selected by completion of a special task, which is to kill the former monarch of the country, which feels intense. Callum, the son of the recently dethroned king, is determined to be in the running for this presidential election, which feels, ooh, Callum, you have some daddy issues. But to do so, he has to come to terms with killing his father, obviously. So the key lies in the hands of Lady Catrin, a gifted courtesan at a premier sex club there, because Katrin has always had the magical ability to manipulate the emotions of anyone who experiences an orgasm in her presence. Listen, my favorite, if Callum can open up to Kate, then he'll be able to commit the newly faded murder without suffering the guilt. So he's basically like, I'll go there, I'll have an orgasm, and then she'll like manipulate me and into not feeling guilty about killing my father, which feels a lot going on here. But Callum has this sort of like deep seated mistrust of Kate, obviously, because once he opens himself up to her, she can basically do whatever while she's in there. But the fate of the country is at stake and Callum and Kate have to figure out way a way to work together to manage what is all of a sudden a very sort of unexpectedly undeniable connection between them and also handle the kind of dark forces at play here that are going to do what they can to make sure that the first president of this country is exactly who they wanted to be and not necessarily Callum. So that is Something Wicked by Fallon Ballard.
- [99:02]
B
Okay, I have her Time Traveling Duke by Bryn Donovan. And so in this one we have Rose Novak. She's a free spirited museum employee who dabbles in a little magic and she's listen, had her share of disappointment. So when she tries a little spell for romance inside the museum, hoping for an old fashioned gentleman, she doesn't really expect it to work. Especially when it pulls a duke from a painting she admired in the museum and now he's standing in her apartment demanding to know who abducted him.
- [99:33]
A
Sure, Absolutely dissolving.
- [99:37]
B
Henry Leighton Lyons, the Duke of Beresford has searched tirelessly for a way to turn back time and be with his late wife again. And instead, just as he's about to pose for his portrait, he's ripped centuries forward by this feckless, scantily dressed and utterly bewitching young woman who believes in nonsense like magical crystals and astrology. So Rose cannot figure out how to reverse her spell and return Henry to his own center. And so there's a bunch of hijinks as they try to get their hands on an enchanted astrolabe to master the art of time travel and send him back. But maybe Henry doesn't really want to go back. Oh boy. That is her time traveling Duke by Bryn Donovan.
- [100:26]
A
Okay, I want to talk about how to grieve like a Victorian. I know you guys, I'm so easy. Were you like, this is for Sarah. Okay, so how to Grieve Like a Victorian by Amy Carol Reeves. So here we go. We have another widow story. A lot of widows this year or this season. So Lizzie Wells is a professor of British literature. She is a best selling author. And she is not. Okay, she, her husband died unexpectedly. She loved him madly. And while everybody sort of thinks that she has to grieve in a very particular kind of way in 20, 20, 25, she is going to grieve how she wants. She's going to do some Victorian here. She's going to keep a lock of his hair and a choke around her neck. She's going to wear black and her entire. She's going to tell her colleagues and her students that she will only accept paper letters. She's going a little bit round the bend. Poor Lizzie. And while everybody is sort of like, what's going on? You seem like you're maybe kind of in a place. Elizabeth. She is determined to not be in a place, at least with them. Even when she almost nearly kisses her late husband's best friend, Henry, which is.
- [101:42]
B
Yikes.
- [101:43]
A
So she's offered a trip to London and she takes it. She wants to get the hell out. She escapes. She's going to go to the same city where, you know, Mourning was basically invented this kind of crazy shit. So she is like headed to London to just like embrace the grief that she feels. To like find a new space for herself. To like be a little less messy. The problem is like that almost kiss with Henry sort of is lingering and he is a good friend to her husband and to her. And he's like checking in over FaceTime and making sure she's okay. And those kind of late night facetimes and those text messages and all the like interactions that they're having, all the little check ins are starting to like maybe like dent some of this armor that Lizzie has created. And then he shows up in London and oh shit, what if she is falling in love?
- [102:45]
B
Woof.
- [102:46]
A
A real mess. And I'm going to enjoy reading about it.
- [102:49]
B
You sure are.
- [102:50]
A
That is how to Grieve Like a Victorian by Amy Carol Reid.
- [102:54]
B
It's a great title.
- [102:55]
A
It really is. It really is.
- [102:56]
B
The COVID Did you see the COVID Yeah, it's amazing.
- [102:58]
A
The COVID is terrific.
- [103:00]
B
I did not mention it in my list only because I knew it was Sarah Bate and I figured you would. Okay, so A Most Worthy Husband by Fay Delacour is the third book in the Lucky Ladies of London series. In this one, Hannah Williams is going to pick the most unsuitable bachelor in London to ruin her reputation because she has always wanted a marriage like her parents. She would be really happy to spend her life as a spinster if it meant that she couldn't like have that kind of marriage or, sorry, she never wanted a marriage like her parents. So she's like, I'd rather be a spinster and run the gambling club than have be trapped in a marriage, right? But no matter how many schemes Hannah hatches to repel her suitors, her mother will not accept defeat. So Hannah is like, I'm gonna take control once and for all. I'm gonna ruin myself with a man so. So unsuitable that no one will force us to the altar. So therefore I'll be unmarriageable forever. What could possibly go wrong? Everything. So Silas Corbin is nothing but trouble. He has been disinherited, dishonorably discharged and dismissed by the tom without hearing his side of the story. So when his old friend gives him a work as a dealer at a ladies gambling club, he's like, okay, I'm just gonna like, keep my, you know, keep my nose down and take my job. Hannah offers him an obscene amount of money for just one kiss. And he's going to take this money and build a new life for himself. But Hannah's mother is, like, awesome, let's get these two married off. What is going to happen? So this is a most worthy husband by Faye Delacour. Love it. I. Yeah, it looks great.
- [104:46]
A
Okay. My last one is Love Letters for Other People by Shailing Gandhi. So mathematician Aubrey's career kind of implodes, and she has no choice but to return to her rural Indiana hometown in disgrace. And when she does, she is going to have to come face to face with Nick Thacker, the boy who broke her heart years ago. Nick's life is very different than Aubrey's was before her career imploded. He does long shifts at the steel mill. He has a side business, though, where he writes love letters for other people. He is doing it to, like, numb his own regrets, to feed his own desire for emotion and for feelings and for something magical. And he does it and is really satisfied with how it works, even though he basically is Cyrano. And then his first love returns, and he has to sort of reckon with it. Aubrey, for her purpose, is returned to rebuild and refocus. And then she starts to get these love letters in the mail from. From some, like, secret person, and they start to feel very familiar to something that she had felt a long, long time ago. And as this. This connection deepens, she starts to really sense that, like, maybe this mystery love letter writer is somebody she does know and somebody she used to love. And now she's going to have to choose between leaving this tiny little town she was desperate to leave and staying for a love that is worth it. Maybe. So that's Love Letters for Other People. Everyone knows I love a book about love letters. You do, And I'm looking forward to that one. That's Shailen Gandhi.
- [106:52]
B
Okay, I have one more, and then we'll wrap up December and wrap up this very long episode. So that is Sparks Fly by. Zakaya Jamal. And in this one, a late bloomer named Stella Renee Johnson. Her roommate invites her to a sex club party, but fails at the last minute. And so Stella is like, I'm going to use this opportunity to finally cash in my V card. She's, like, tired of dealing with it. And, like, what? This is the perfect opportunity. But just when things are heating up between Stella, Stella and a sexy stranger, they realize that he doesn't have a condom. And Stella takes it aside. This was not meant to be, and, like, takes off, frustrated in more ways than one. Stella. Stella, shortly thereafterwards, of course, is shocked to learn that the digital media website where she works is partnering with an AI company. And that stranger is not only her CEO's brother, but also the CEO of that company, the AI company that is going to build something that's of course threatening her job. So despite this conflict of interest, Stella and Max can't resist this magnetic attraction they have towards the each other and agree essentially, they keep their personal lives separate from what's happening at work. But the more they discover that they have so much in common and are falling in love, the more they are at odds at work because he's, you know, gonna get rid of her job for her. So Stella and Max have to decide whether or not they can think with their heads and walk away from this relationship or follow their heart. Hearts and take a chance on love, no matter what the cost. And that is Sparks Fly by Zakiya.
- [108:34]
A
Jamal well, what a list. Yes, we have really done the job here. I know that a lot of you out there listen to these episodes and like take copious notes, but you don't have to worry about taking copious notes because we keep a big list for you. You can head over right now to fatedmates.net and click on Episodes where you'll see the show notes for this week's episode in which Jen puts together a very beautiful array of covers. You'll be able to see the covers of the books that we have have talked about and also you'll be able to click through, see the plots of everything and, and you'll get, you'll. You'll find everything you need. We make it all very easy traditionally, but we do traditionally. No, I'm not going to say that. So this is Sarah McLean. I'm over here with my friend Jen Procop. We are Faded Mates again. You can find us every single Wednesday wherever you get your podcasts and online at Feed Mates. Just hit Episodes to see all the show notes while you're there. You can also click on Collections where you can see groups of romance novels recommended by microtrope or unique categorization from our listeners, from some of our favorite authors and from other people who we think are experts in making little batches of romance novels to. So you can, if you're ever just sort of thinking, thinking to yourself, oh gosh, I don't know what to read. I wish I had some recommendations from a real person and not an algorithm. You can head over to fadedmates.net and click on Collections to see that while you're over there. You can also check out Faded States, which is the political arm of Faded Mates. That's where we are raising money right now for next month's election in Virginia through the State States Project. If you head over to fatedmates.net and click on Faded States or you can go to fatedmates.net fatedstates to find out more about our partnership with the States Project. We are raising money for the Virginia Obstacle elections right now. This will be the first election post Trump where so we're hoping that the Democrats will just dominate. But in order for them to dominate dominate, we're going to need they need help in Virginia and we are raising money to help them. Also, you can find us online at Beta Mates Pod, on Instagram, @fademains pod on Threads and @fademates on Blue Sky. Also in Show Notes this week, you'll be able to see information on my October 14th event with Sophie Jordan in Orlando and my October 21st event with Nora Dalia at the RIP Bodice. And anything else, Jen?
- [111:32]
B
No, just go read something great or tell us about it.
- [111:35]
A
Yeah. Thanks to all of our sponsors and we'll talk to you next week. Bye, everyone.