S07:10 Comfort Reads and Finding Solace in Romance

Summary

Fated Mates - A Romance Novel Podcast
Episode S07:10: "Comfort Reads and Finding Solace in Romance"
Release Date: November 12, 2024

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1. Introduction

In this emotionally resonant episode, co-hosts Sarah MacLean and Jennifer Prokop delve deep into the theme of "Comfort Reads" within the romance genre. Set against the backdrop of a tumultuous political climate following the recent U.S. election, the hosts explore how romance novels serve as a sanctuary, offering hope, joy, and solace to readers navigating challenging times.

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2. Navigating Personal and Political Turmoil

Sarah MacLean opens the discussion by sharing personal anecdotes about managing unexpected social commitments and the impact of external events on her personal life. Jennifer Prokop echoes these sentiments, emphasizing the importance of not being alone with one's feelings during stressful periods.

Notable Quote:
Sarah (03:00): "I am, as I said to somebody this morning, half agony, half hope when it comes to the House of Representatives. And then I qualified 90% agony, 10% hope."

The hosts candidly address the emotional aftermath of the election, acknowledging their own struggles while setting the stage for a conversation focused on healing and comfort through literature.

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3. The Power of Romance as a Cultural Force

Both Sarah and Jen discuss the intrinsic elements of romance novels—agony and hope—and their role in reflecting and potentially reshaping societal norms. They ponder whether romance can combat toxic masculinity and promote progressive values within its narratives.

Notable Quote:
Jennifer (17:37): "I really believe about romance is that it can. That it has the power to change culture."

Sarah adds that while initially expecting romance to return to themes of antagonistic masculinity post-2016, there has been a shift towards more supportive and partnership-based relationships in recent narratives.

Notable Quote:
Sarah (19:29): "I prefer thinking about the genre as didactic through break them and rebuild them."

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4. Highlighting Comfort Reads and Recommendations

The core of the episode revolves around recommendations for "comfort reads"—books that provide emotional warmth and an escape from external stresses. The hosts share personal favorites and discuss recent additions to their reading lists.

• Louisa Darling's "Lorraine Heath" Series: Sarah praises Lorraine as a paragon of competence and resilience.

  Notable Quote:
  Sarah (12:40): "Lorraine Heath. And I've said it before, and I will say it until I die. Just knows the job."

• Black Dagger Brotherhood Series: Jen expresses a desire to revisit these books, reflecting on their themes of strong, unyielding heroes.

• "Heart of Blood and Ashes" by [Author]: Sarah appreciates the portrayal of angry heroines who stand up against mistreatment.

• "Run Posey, Run" by [Author]: Jen lauds the book's dynamic of heroines escaping toxic relationships, aligning with her preference for strong, independent female characters.

Notable Quote:
Jen (45:04): "But I think that's why Run Posey, Run to me was so brilliant."

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5. The Role of Audiobooks and Other Comfort Strategies

Jennifer shares her recent engagement with audiobooks, highlighting how narrators like Valentina Ortiz enhance her listening experience. She discusses balancing multiple books and the therapeutic effect of integrating audiobooks into daily routines.

Notable Quote:
Jen (38:40): "Listening to be very, like, soothing, and it allows me to, like, be carried away while I'm doing whatever else I'm doing right there."

Sarah complements this by talking about her daughter's repeated listens to favorite audiobooks, pointing to the deep comfort these stories provide.

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6. Supporting Independent Bookstores and Libraries

A significant portion of the episode is dedicated to advocating for independent bookstores and libraries as vital community hubs, especially during crises. Sarah emphasizes the importance of supporting these institutions to maintain cultural and communal resilience.

Notable Quote:
Sarah (70:17): "Build the community building piece. You know, I've been saying this to Jen and to others in my life, but, like, like, we weren't going to talk about the election, and we're still not."

Jennifer introduces listeners to Bookshop.org as an alternative to Amazon, allowing support for indie bookstores with every purchase.

Notable Quote:
Jen (71:47): "We created a Faded Mates account on Bookshop.org and have been backloading a lot of the books that we have talked about as our recommendations."

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7. Community Engagement and Upcoming Episodes

The hosts invite listeners to join their Discord community and Patreon for deeper engagement and exclusive content. They tease upcoming episodes, including a "best of the year" segment and a holiday romance feature.

Notable Quote:
Jen (77:36): "So if you are looking for a romance reader space that is not like the wide open social media Internet, then join our Discord. Join our Patreon."

Sarah reassures the audience about the continuity of the podcast amidst personal and global challenges, affirming their commitment to providing a supportive and enriching space for romance enthusiasts.

Notable Quote:
Sarah (76:08): "Love."

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8. Conclusion

"Comfort Reads and Finding Solace in Romance" encapsulates the therapeutic essence of romance literature. Sarah and Jen adeptly intertwine personal experiences with literary insights, reinforcing the genre's significance as a beacon of hope and joy. Their heartfelt recommendations and community-focused initiatives underscore romance novels' enduring power to heal and connect individuals in times of uncertainty.

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Join the Conversation:
For more insights and book recommendations, visit fatedmates.net. Connect with Sarah and Jen on Threads, Instagram, and Blue Sky at @FatedMatesPod or @FatedMates. Support independent bookstores and libraries by using their recommended links when purchasing books.

Stay Tuned:
Don't miss upcoming episodes featuring best-of lists, holiday romances, and exclusive community discussions. Join their Discord and Patreon to be part of a vibrant, supportive romance reader community.

Transcript

[Sarah MacLean]

I have a friend who today, this morning was like, I'm driving upstate. I'm going to. I scheduled a silent meditation retreat for today. All right. And I was like, how's that going to go?

[Jennifer Prokop]

I would like to not be alone with my feelings right now, thank you very much.

[Sarah MacLean]

I don't know. I scheduled a meeting with a stranger this week for some reason unknown to anyone, and Adriana was like, sarah, you cannot be raw dogging strangers this week. Raw dogging them for coffee. But then. Then that person. Actually, that person canceled because there was a train fire. And I was like, listen, that feels on brand. Let's do it another way.

[Jennifer Prokop]

Welcome to the train fire.

[Sarah MacLean]

Anyway, how is everyone out there? Um, we're terrible. But we are here for you. Welcome, everyone, to Faded mates. I'm Sarah MacLaine. I read romance novels and I write.

[Jennifer Prokop]

And you cure ballads.

[Sarah MacLean]

Yeah, well, I'm curing ballads right now. We'll talk about it after. This other person here introduces herself.

[Jennifer Prokop]

I'm Jennifer Prokop, a romance reader and editor.

[Sarah MacLean]

And it's election. It's the week after the election here in the United States. And I don't know if you've heard, but it didn't go super great for Jen and me, and it's really about us.

[Jennifer Prokop]

Oh, listen. Okay, so let's talk about what we're going to do today, and then people can decide their bandwidth for listening.

[Sarah MacLean]

I think we're going to do great today.

[Jennifer Prokop]

All right.

[Sarah MacLean]

Everybody should listen. Everybody should listen. We're not going to do this. We're not going to talk about the election, Jen. Look, go online and everybody's talking about the fucking election.

[Jennifer Prokop]

Oh, and see, this is a good choice I have made is that I have not been online. I took all of social media chronically online, Jen. Chronically online.

[Sarah MacLean]

Jen was, like, chronically offline.

[Jennifer Prokop]

She's not serving me at this moment. The goal today is to not talk about what happened. Right. But rather to talk about eventually we will talk about moving forward.

[Sarah MacLean]

We're not really ready for that right now because we're having. We're each having sort of a mental break in our own way.

[Jennifer Prokop]

Yeah, right.

[Sarah MacLean]

Like a real Jen has, like. You have, like.

[Jennifer Prokop]

I'm, like, left the Internet. I have left the Internet. That's true. I took all of the social media apps and all the news apps off my phone.

[Sarah MacLean]

Good job.

[Jennifer Prokop]

And at school, the paywall is very intense, so I can't get through to them anyway. And you know what? I have needed that. But, yeah, that's not usually Me, I'm like, let me go fight it with these idiots. Nope, not anymore.

[Sarah MacLean]

And I have been obsessively carrying ballots, which I don't know if that's useful or not, but it's a thing I'm doing.

[Jennifer Prokop]

One of the states you were working on did flip, so, in fact, back.

[Sarah MacLean]

Here, North Carolina, we flipped a district.

[Jennifer Prokop]

See?

[Sarah MacLean]

Or I don't know if we flipped it or held it, but.

[Jennifer Prokop]

What?

[Sarah MacLean]

It doesn't matter. It's blue.

[Jennifer Prokop]

It's blue.

[Sarah MacLean]

Listen, everybody, by this time, we might actually know about the state of the House of Representatives. But I am, as I said to somebody this morning, half agony, half hope when it comes to the House of Representatives. And then I qualified 90% agony, 10% hope, which is, you know, less poetic for Jane Austen purposes, but more accurate for my purposes.

[Jennifer Prokop]

So that's all to come. And I think a lot of us have been. All of us have been doing a lot of soul searching about lots of things this week. And so before we launch into any of it, I would like to say that, like, our soul searching, Sarah's or mine might be directly at odds with your soul searching. And we are not. You know, we just are trying to, like, talk about our feelings, which romance loves, and, you know, and hopefully do it in a way that just, like, feels like personal to us. And maybe you will find solace in those thoughts or you can. Can help you with yours, or you're like, I hate these women. Whatever, that's fine, too.

[Sarah MacLean]

Listen, it's all welcome here. I don't think you will hate us, though, because we're just like. I think, ultimately, Jen. Okay, here's what I was thinking aside. I mean, I've been thinking a lot of things, but when I sort of have been thinking about romance, here's what I've been thinking.

[Jennifer Prokop]

Tell me.

[Sarah MacLean]

I was trying to do the math on this podcast that we do because it's seven years in, and so, like, we started in 2017. 2018. 2018. I don't know how to do math. It wouldn't be 27. Yeah, 20. It's seven years.

[Jennifer Prokop]

Yeah. We just started our seventh year.

[Sarah MacLean]

Just started our seventh season.

[Jennifer Prokop]

Yeah.

[Sarah MacLean]

Okay, fine. So. So it's been, you know, whatever, however long it has been, and things got rough. Like, we. We started during the first administration, Things got rough. ROE was overturned. And then we sort of said, like, well, what the are we gonna do? Right? Because season one was IAD and season two was the books that blooded us. Like, the books that we really think made us romance. Readers. So if you actually are a new romance reader and, like, thinking about, like, how, where do I go from? Wherever we are right here in romance. And, like, there are a lot talking right now about, like, where we are in romance. And we're not going to do that today because we're not in. We're not in that mix right now. But, like, season two was a real banger because, like, we really did revisit a bunch of books that really made us who we were. So, I mean, obviously it was banger because it was about us, but the. And then season three was Joy, and it was Joy because Roe got overturned. And we thought to ourselves, like, well, if we think about romance as being just sort of designed to give us the promise of joy, right? And hope, whatever that means, right. Like, hope is. Hope is essential to romance. It is. It's bedrock to us, then here we are again.

[Jennifer Prokop]

Yeah.

[Sarah MacLean]

Right. And, like, it is very hard this week to think about joy. Right? But. And hope. But the reality is, like, we are, we are half agony, half hope, and that's what the books are. And I know that's a platitude, I should say, but, like, I don't actually think, like, I really do believe that this is part of the DNA of the genre.

[Jennifer Prokop]

Right. And that's what I was going to say, too. Like, I, I, I found myself thinking a lot about the, like, the beginning of the, like, the beginning of the, like, modern genre, right? Like the Flame and the Flower and, and like, the books about men coming back from Vietnam and about. Right. Which I've always been super interested in, about, you know, historicals that were not just about, like, you know, white people in ball gowns. And romance, to me has always been about not just, like, joy, but hope. Like, the idea that no matter how bad the world might be, that there was a kind of radical, almost solace in the idea that you could find a peace and love at home, in your home or. And acceptance, right. That no matter how bad things have been ever in the world, there have been people who had the bravery to look around and say, not going to give up. Right. Like, I care about these people in my life. I care about the people I love. That this is an important thing to feel and let myself experience. Right. And that no matter how bad things are, that people have always longed for that. And, and, you know, I mean, I think many people have heard me say this. Like, I have all. I always read romance, but I didn't ex. But when, when in 20, after 2016, I exclusively read romance, really through a lot of that presidency, because I was just like this.

[Sarah MacLean]

I don't.

[Jennifer Prokop]

I just want to read about people who are like, I want. I can find happiness in some way despite these dark times. So, yeah, I think, of course we'll return. Will return to that. You know, that there still will be a place for. I mean, I think I said, like, on Wednesday morning, I woke up and saw, you know, that, like, it had been called for Trump. And I thought, oh, my God, we should take down the mermaid episode. Like, that's crazy. What on earth? And then I was like, no, you know what? And all day long, I got messages from people that were like, thank you for this today. You know, And I just thought, you know what? Like, it can't just be like this joyous march.

[Sarah MacLean]

No. And this is the other thing that I want to say sort of tacked on to this. I have talked a lot about authors against book bands. We've talked about it on the podcast. Book bands are here. They exist. They are ubiquitous. They are all around the country. You know, we expect they will get more frequent. What I want to say to the writers out there who are listening, and this is specifically for writers, is nothing has changed. We need your stories. Do not obey in advance. And, you know, lots of people have been talking about how, you know, art and art and storytelling becomes more and more critical in times like this, when we are at sea and trying to figure out, like, where we go, what we do, how we fight, whatever. The question is that is, you know, floating through your mind right now. We need it. We need your stories, and we need stories of hope and joy more than ever.

[Jennifer Prokop]

So what we're going to talk about today is kind of comfort reads, the.

[Sarah MacLean]

Warm blanket of romance, just like reading in general. So can we talk about a couple things? I have. I have things I want to start with. We did an episode a year or so back, maybe longer, about break in case of emergency.

[Jennifer Prokop]

Oh, it was years ago, I'm sure.

[Sarah MacLean]

And Eric was like, yeah, what is time? And Eric at the time was like, this is an insane concept. Like, I remember when he was doing the. When he was editing, you're talking about.

[Jennifer Prokop]

Books you haven't read.

[Sarah MacLean]

He's like, this is dumb. Like, I don't understand what your problem is. Like, just read the books. And I was like, that. You don't understand. Like, you don't understand. But. And then what was especially amazing is then the. The episode went w. Went live. And a bunch of people were like, oh, yeah, here are my Break in.

[Jennifer Prokop]

Case of emergency was like, what is up with you?

[Sarah MacLean]

Which was really.

[Jennifer Prokop]

That was actually in 2022. And it was a re. I don't remember a reader requested it. Like, two. I think sisters won it and. Yeah, yeah, right. What's in the box?

[Sarah MacLean]

So it's very funny because I was talk to Louisa Darling, who has not been on the podcast yet, but I expect will someday be on the podcast. But we have really enjoyed her historicals and she used to write as Luis Edwards, and I really love her contemporaries as well. And we were talking and she told me she was reading Gorilla Twins last week. And listen, couldn't. Couldn't pick a better. She was like, it was a Breaking Case of Emergency book. And like, I knew on Monday, I was like, I just. I can't. Like, I'm gonna have to read. And so she had a Lorraine locked and loaded. She had. You know, I still don't know the title of that book. The Earl Takes All. And then it's funny because I told my daughter this morning, oh, I have to record a podcast when we get home. And she said. And she said, what's it about? And I said, like, comfort reads like books that you go back to and you read again and again, like the A Warm Blanket book. And she went, are you going to talk about Gorilla twins without even knowing? And I was like, no, but I am going to tell everybody that you told me that.

[Jennifer Prokop]

That you are amazing. A plus.

[Sarah MacLean]

Here's the truth. Lorraine Heath. And I've said it before, and I will say it until I die. Just knows the job.

[Jennifer Prokop]

Yeah. Yeah. That's amazing. I love it.

[Sarah MacLean]

So I know I will say so before we're. I don't know if we're doing this now and talking about books, but doing.

[Jennifer Prokop]

What we're doing today.

[Sarah MacLean]

Sarah, I downloaded the ebook copy of the book that she has coming out on New Year's Eve because I was like, usually everybody, I think I said this.

[Jennifer Prokop]

You don't read it Lorraine in advance.

[Sarah MacLean]

I don't. I read Lorraine when she comes out because I am always afraid that, like, if I read it too early, there might be too long of a. Like, I don't know, it's break in case of emergency, but not. And then I was like, no. That I have access to this book. Yeah. It's about a hot air balloonist, like, and a desert island duke. Come on.

[Jennifer Prokop]

Come on.

[Sarah MacLean]

Like the dream. Would you not. What would you give to be a hot air balloonist crashing on a desert island where a duke is today?

[Jennifer Prokop]

Very Nice. It really does. It really does. Yeah. That sounds great.

[Sarah MacLean]

Yeah.

[Jennifer Prokop]

So I mean, it's like kind of like reading is solace, romance. You know what I mean? Like, all that is like.

[Sarah MacLean]

Did you break. Have you broken glass yet? I haven't really been able to focus.

[Jennifer Prokop]

No. So I have been. Okay. So ready?

[Sarah MacLean]

Okay.

[Jennifer Prokop]

I'm gonna admit something I'm a little embarrassed by, which is like, I. So I took all these things off my phone.

[Sarah MacLean]

By the way, I'm really proud of you for that. I haven't said that to you, but I'm very proud.

[Jennifer Prokop]

Yeah. It's because I just know how I am. Right? Like, the. It's like muscle memory. And I was just like, I need to power down. I'm gonna have to, like, pace myself. And so I just. And you know what else? I. Here's another thing that happened this morning. So I have, everyone knows, I think, an uneasy relationship with Litvik in many ways, just for whatever reason. I used to read tons of it, and now I. I don't as much anymore. I sometimes just find it frustrating. It's whatever. I love genre fiction, but I do subscribe to. There's a Litvik author I really like named Caitlin Greenidge. She's a black woman who I think teach. I'm not sure where she teaches or if she teaches, but she has an occasional substack. And she. One dropped into my mailbox this morning, and it was Dorothy Allison died this week, who wrote Bastard out of Carolina. Remember that? When everybody was reading?

[Sarah MacLean]

Vaguely. I remember that, yes.

[Jennifer Prokop]

And it was an interview that she had with Dorothy Ellison. I'll put this in show notes, everybody, so you can click on it. Then in 2016, right after Trump was elected, and it. And I found myself reading it, and what I found myself thinking was, oh, I think what I probably am going to end up doing is reading nonfiction. Right? Like, I. I find that there's a. Like, my comfort reading for me often is like. I don't know, like, it goes in lots of different directions. All reading is comfort reading for me because I love it so much. But in this interview between the two of them, they're talking about essentially, like, Trump winning in 2016. And Dorothy Allison, along with writing Bastard out of Carolina, was like a feminist thinker and a scholar and all this stuff, and it was really interesting. And so Caitlin Greenidge asked her, what are some of the limitations of fiction writing? And Dorothy Ellenson said, well, contrary to popular belief, it can't save your life. It can't buy you justice. God knows For a long time I thought it could and worked very hard in that direction. And the other complicated thing is I do believe that a great novel can change a culture, but at the same time, the culture resists being changed mightily. And it goes on to talk about essentially, like, culture as being like a river. And one of the things about American culture is that it is just deeply misogynistic. Right? And she was talking about Hillary, but of course I was thinking about Kamala and I found myself thinking a lot about, you know, that idea that, like, what I really believe about romance is that it can. That it has the power to change culture. Right. And that is both good and bad, right. And really thinking to myself about, like, the kinds of stories that I am going to value in romance now. And, you know, I found myself thinking, like, I will be very interested in going back and reading some of those old Vietnam hero romances, which were really explicitly for me about undoing the damage that war had done to these men. Yeah, right.

[Sarah MacLean]

Toxic masculinity. Breaking down toxic masculinity. And I think you're absolutely right. I think when I, like this week, when I sort of loaded up the books that I wanted to read, you know, my comfort reads do not change, right? Like, I have a standard and I don't know that we have done that episode that's like, these are the books that I go back to every freaking time. Like, I think I have talked about all those books, but, like, not in that. Never explicitly in that through that lens. But for me, my comfort reads are all to almost a letter. Toxic men who must be destroyed and the women who do that. And I was so certain post 2016 that that was the thing we were going to return to as a genre, because it felt right to me in a lot of ways. And now and then I think what we actually did is we went to a partnership romance, right? We went toward like, imagine heroes who are on your side from the jump. And for me, I think that is a true fantasy culturally for us. And I prefer thinking about the genre as didactic through break them and rebuild them. Do you know what I mean? Like, I want. I want to see them crawl so that, like, I feel like I want to see the work. Like, I want. I want. I want them to show their work.

[Jennifer Prokop]

Right? Right. Not arrive.

[Sarah MacLean]

Not arrive. Like post. Post patriarchy. And I think that that's a thing that I. I can't. I. It is difficult to find those books right now in front list is what I will say largely this week's episode of Faded Mates is sponsored by Lumi Gummies free THC gummies delivered legally nationwide. Lumi Gummies have a whole rainbow of flavors and feels and offer sativa, hybrid and indica effects so you can choose the kind of vibe you're looking for. And our listeners really came out for Lumi this week.

[Jennifer Prokop]

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[Sarah MacLean]

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[Jennifer Prokop]

Yeah, well, exactly. And any number of them. So I everybody really have been using them this week. This is. Sleeplessness has been plaguing me. So if I wake up in the middle of the night and I felt sleepless, I would like take a gummy which would just really help me relax and be able to get back to sleep. You know, we have to be able to function. And so, you know, having something that helped me reduce my anxiety and let me sleep has been super helpful. I just re upped recently and I really like the cotton candy ones and I think that is what I have been enjoying this week.

[Sarah MacLean]

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[Jennifer Prokop]

I think I'm going to be digging back into the Kindle, into like reading some of these old, you know, Elizabeth Lowell and much to my shame, probably Linda Howard books.

[Sarah MacLean]

We never support it but you know.

[Jennifer Prokop]

What are you gonna, what are you gonna do?

[Sarah MacLean]

Oh no. For me it's like iad. Oh yeah, like I opened up sweet ruin last night because like that's a warm blanket for me. He is poison to everyone but her again.

[Jennifer Prokop]

Yeah, I found myself wanting to go back and read like Black Dagger Brotherhood.

[Sarah MacLean]

God, those men break.

[Jennifer Prokop]

Yeah, like, like Lover Rage and Mary.

[Sarah MacLean]

Listen, Rage Lover Jane and vicious. No, and so listen, like, this is. This is where. Where I am. But also, I pulled out a heart of blood and ashes yesterday, too.

[Jennifer Prokop]

Yeah, well, because that's like the angry heroine.

[Sarah MacLean]

I mean, listen, everybody, I'm really mad. And I want. I want heroines who are mad. I want heroines who won't take his shit. And I have wanted them for many years. And so now I'm like, you know what? This is a difficult week. And so I'm going back to, like, the old Reliables.

[Jennifer Prokop]

One of the critiques I have of a lot of current, like, kind of the current rom com, the current contemporary state of it in general is just like, how. Not, like, it's not that. Just there are no fangs, there's no teeth, right? And I'm fascinated by it because I'm like, wow, look around. It's all teeth. It's all fangs. I found myself thinking a lot about the episode we did for, like, Day of the Dead and Halloween, which was about. Right, like, the pandemic. Like, how we thought the pandemic showed up in romance and that, you know, that was a episode we did in 2024, four years later. Because one of the things I also firmly believe is that the evolution of, like, how romance processes any given societal change can not be predicted in advance and cannot be planned in advance. Like, I really believe in, like, sort of whatever mystical power that is that just, like, makes that happen. And so I am not necessarily. I'm curious about what will happen next, but I would never, I think, be foolish enough to make a prediction about what I think will happen next, because I don't think it can be predicted.

[Sarah MacLean]

No, I mean, I think if anything, I was so flatly wrong about what came after that. But I mean, now, like you said, like, Hindsight really is 2020. Like, there are some things that are very clear to me now, like, like the, you know, the rise of death in the books. Right. Like, is such an obvious. This connection. Right. But I think there are a lot of other things that I'm sort of like, not interested in talking about today that feel very obvious to me now. Like, oh, that's what that was like, I see it now with a very clear vision because the reality is, and we've said this a million times and, like, it's so funny because the other day I. I have not been completely distant from social media, but, like, I have been quiet on. So I've just been watching A Silent observer and I saw a very new, like, sparkling new romance novelist this Week say like, oh, hey, it's possible that romance is reflecting society. And I was like, it is possible that that is happening.

[Jennifer Prokop]

Well done.

[Sarah MacLean]

No, listen, we all have to listen.

[Jennifer Prokop]

We all have to.

[Sarah MacLean]

So I'm. This is not me. I'm not criticizing. I'm just saying, like, yeah, we all, like, she is very new and like, figuring it out. And I think that sort of reflection piece, we knew something was happening, but when you're in it, you can't see it.

[Jennifer Prokop]

I guess I would also say, like, the things that have worried me, the things I have seen that I've been like, what's this all about now feel like, oh, portense.

[Sarah MacLean]

I also think we are well served as a genre to not throw the idea of fantasy out. And I mean that with a small F. Like when I said, like, these kind of like, white men who are very supportive of their heroines and like, sort of fade into the background and like, really just like, lift her up. That is a underlying italicized fantasy. And it feels like, what does that mean? Like, what are we. What are we saying? What are we asking for? What are we choosing for ourselves, for the people around us? What are we hoping people will take away from our books? Like, there are a lot of questions. I think I. I am always worried when people look to genre and say, oh, that's just like entertainment.

[Jennifer Prokop]

Genre carries the myths, right?

[Sarah MacLean]

Like, genre carries the myth. And so I think, like, don't get bog. Don't get tricked into believing that, like, the books don't matter because they are all saying something. And whatever is about to come in the next four years, the books are going to say something and we won't know what they are saying.

[Jennifer Prokop]

So everybody after our. The I see dead people up. So I read Dead People episode. Molly Harper said something really interesting on social media, which was basically like, I don't think I realized I was writing a pandemic book until I listened to them talk about it. And then I realized I did. Of course I did.

[Sarah MacLean]

Yeah. But, like, why would you know that in the moment? Right.

[Jennifer Prokop]

But then, like, looking back, she was like, oh, wait, I wrote about this woman literally trapped on an island, couldn't get off. Yeah. And so I think. Right. I think about that a lot. One of the things I have been also really curious about is. And everyone knows I dabble in other genres, right. Like, I, you know, read Reacher and I'll read a thriller, I'll read a mystery. But I am in no way, like, entrenched. I would be really fascinated to know what the horror people and what the mystery people are feeling right now.

[Sarah MacLean]

Oh, my God. Wait, I have something I want to talk about. We, at the beginning, everybody, we were like, I don't know what we're gonna talk about. Wait, you guys. Okay, but. And then we really do have to get into books because, like, we have, like, sponsors and things. Okay. So producer Pat and Clayton, from Learning the Tropes, have a podcast of their own. It's called the BO Boys, and the BO stands for box office. And it's like a comedy podcast about, like, movies. And essentially what they do is they release an episode at the end of the week where they make predictions for, like, which movies over the weekend are going to be the biggest movies. And then they release, like, a second episode or first episode in the week, like, post weekend, where they then, like, talk about those movies. Like, talk about. You know, but also it's very funny. And, like, it's. If you're into movies, this is a very fun thing. It's a fun episode, a fun podcast for you. Anyway, they are both horror aficionados. Like, both of them love. Well, I think Pat really loves horror, but, like, Clayton. And Clayton, you know, likes horror. And we went to a live taping, right.

[Jennifer Prokop]

I was.

[Sarah MacLean]

It was either right before Halloween or right after. I think it was right before for Halloween of their podcast, because we support live podcast recordings here in our house. And so. And they had a guy who is, like, an expert on horror movies up, and he was talking about. There's a movie that was very, like, incredibly popular, like, top of the box office. That was an indie horror movie that, like, was so gruesome. And grab. It's called Terrifier 3. It's, like, about a clown who's, like. Also, it's basically like gore. It's torture porn, but with a clown, which sounds.

[Jennifer Prokop]

It's too scary for Jen.

[Sarah MacLean]

I mean, like, it sounds horrifying. And it's really just, like, so bloody and, like, you know exactly what I'm talking about. And, like, an indie. And horror is really interesting because I. I've talked about this many years ago on the podcast. We talked about this. But I'm really fascinated by horror. I'm a scaredy cat, but I'm really fascinated by it in general because I think it is the film version of romance in books. Meaning, like, I think people in movies, like, in cinema look down on horror.

[Jennifer Prokop]

Right, Right.

[Sarah MacLean]

The way people in literature look down.

[Jennifer Prokop]

Like, you're just making me schlocky. Movies, like.

[Sarah MacLean]

Like, they don't Mean anything. And this guy. And I wish I remembered his name. I'll put it in show notes. And the episode is in. They released the episode. So, like, we'll link to the episode if this is something you're interested in. But he was basically talking about how, like, Terrifier three is so up. And he was like. And I actually left the movie theater thinking, like, are we okay? And then he was like, and I don't think we are okay. We were all like, we are not okay. And now. And so now I'm like, wait a second. Is horror? And honestly, like, I also, like, in the taxi on the way home, I was like, eric, maybe we should have, like, a horror guy on the ep on the podcast, like, talk about, like. Because it does feel like we're all kind of connected in a way. I don't know if everybody would like that. Tell us if you would like to hear that. But. But, you know, he was like, I don't think we're okay. Like, and when a horror guy is like, it's so weird and gross and up that, like, I'm worried that horror is not, like, the world isn't okay. And I think horror. Indie horror films fall into the same bucket in a lot of ways as, like, indie romance is doing, too. And, like, I appreciate the Indian romance is doing two things right. Like, it's making space for marginalized authors that traditional publishing is not making space. But. And we have to talk about that in a bit, but it's also making space for just like, this kind of, like, pool of indie romance that. That's doing something very different than what traditional publishing is doing in the same way.

[Jennifer Prokop]

I think. Yeah, I would agree. Yeah. But that's it. I found myself thinking, like, what are the other, like, genre people? You know, like, how are. Like, what.

[Sarah MacLean]

How are they all feeling?

[Jennifer Prokop]

Like, what's the experience? Like, right? What are. What were. What are all the signs that we were like, oh, yeah, those were signs.

[Sarah MacLean]

Yeah. And like, what? So it. I mean, I guess, like, if you're out there and you write sci fi, like, you're. I know we have listeners who, like, do these other genres, but listen to us, like, please, like, shoot us an email or, you know, I'm Sarah, faded mates. Jenna's Jenna, faded mates. Like, we, you know, tell us what you're thinking, too, because we would love to maybe we do a roundtable episode and just drop it in the feed. Right? Like, it wouldn't be a regular episode and. But a bonus. And I would really be interested in that.

[Jennifer Prokop]

Yeah. No, me too. Because I do. I think that now that I understand. I mean, look, however many seven seasons in, I feel like I could say, like, look, I understand what romance does. I understand what it does for itself. I understand what it's saying about the world. And I'd be really interested to talk to, like, other genre experts and be like, what did you see?

[Sarah MacLean]

Yeah.

[Jennifer Prokop]

Yeah, right?

[Sarah MacLean]

And I mean, I think there's something to this in the sense of, like, Butcher and Blackbird, right? Like, two serial killers. Like, one waking up and, like, next to a cadaver covered in maggots in a romance novel. Are we okay? You know, like, well.

[Jennifer Prokop]

And I was like, no. And you were like, well, I like.

[Sarah MacLean]

It, but you don't like gore, but, like, you don't like bodies, but, like, I'm. But, like, are we okay? And maybe we're not. Yeah, seems like maybe we're not. But literally, I was sitting in this bar, this, like, dark bar, listening this horror guy go, even this might have been too much for me. And I was like, oh, okay, I see. Like, but, Jen, you're that guy. Like, this might be too much for me, the expert who just is like, something's off here.

[Jennifer Prokop]

This isn't. Yeah, we're doing something, but it's not what we've been doing.

[Sarah MacLean]

What's going on? And you know what?

[Jennifer Prokop]

I think it's. But I think the tension is always between expanding the tent and then, like, wondering or, no, is this something that, like. Right. Like, what is this a signal or a sign of. Right. Like, genres change.

[Sarah MacLean]

But it's interesting, especially. Especially because this genre. I mean, obviously we've talked about it. It's like a million generations worth of romance in 50 years, right? But for the first 40 of those 50 years, there was no. The pool was limited, Right? It was traditional publishing. And then, like, Radcliffe in her print shop in her barn, right? Like, doing, like, a very different kind, like, inventing Bold Strokes books so that there was space for lesbian writing. Right? And then suddenly Internet came and. Or. Or, you know, ebooks came, and suddenly the pool just exponentially expanded.

[Jennifer Prokop]

This week's episode of Fated Mates is brought to you by Max Monroe, author of Meet Me at Midnight.

[Sarah MacLean]

This one is, like, made in a lab for Sarah. Jen. Okay. Juniper Perry, our heroine, has had a crush on Beau Banks, her best friend's older brother, for basically ever. He's, like, perfect in every way. He's so charming. He's so funny. He's so handsome. He's got these beautiful eyes and this warm Smile. And she's just like, oh, she is gone for him. She has it bad. Problem is, Beau does not have it bad. Like, Juniper is just, like his sister's friend, and he gives her.

[Jennifer Prokop]

He.

[Sarah MacLean]

He gets her an internship at his company where she basically, like, pines for him all day and pretends not to. And then, like, by accident, it turns out that they're. They become neighbors because he's, like, temporary temporarily living in the condo next door. And it's just like, oh, it's awful, because she just wants him so much. And then they get access to. At the company they're doing some marketing for a new app called Midnight. And the concept behind the app is that it's all anonymous. Like, there are no photos, no videos, no messages get saved. It's just you and another person talking, like, in the darkness. And Juniper figures out a way to interact with Max over midnight. Over Midnight, the app. And he doesn't know that the woman who he's talking to and falling for is his kid sister's best friend. And when he finds out, Woof. It's gonna be good. I believe in Max Monroe.

[Jennifer Prokop]

So if you are interested in this best friend's older brother boss employee romance, you could check it out in print, ebook, or 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 Max Monroe for sponsoring this week's episode. See you at midnight. I believe in the power of romance. For me to. To bring me solace and joy and comfort. Right? To be the warm blanket I cozy up with. And so for me, one of the things that has been this week has been some audiobook listening.

[Sarah MacLean]

Oh, really? What are you listening to?

[Jennifer Prokop]

So I have been re. Listening from the top to Natalie Kenya's Chicago series. The first book is called A Dish Best Served. No, that was the second one. The first book is called oh, A Proposal they can't Refuse. I really like this narrator quite a bit.

[Sarah MacLean]

What's her name? Do you know?

[Jennifer Prokop]

Her name is Valentina Ortiz. And I'm pretty sure that she does all three because the. But I have a. Let me just double check that that's true. Her name. Yeah. Valentina Ortiz. And one of the reasons I really like this series is because I am a. Like, all politics are local, and it is set in Chicago. Right. And so it's like, it just feels really, like, comforting and close to home. The other thing I really like this about this book is I, of course, have read These books with my eyes, the whole series. I listened to the second audiobook. I've never listened first one. So I'm kind of. My plan is to, like, re. Like a 1, 2, 3, is. I do not speak Spanish. And this. But quite a bit of the. You know, the dialogue. This is a big Puerto Rican family. They're talking to each other in Spanish a lot. You know, the sounds of the streets, the sounds of the places that, you know, the bars that they're in, the restaurants. And so one of the things I also really like about this book is that, like, it feels like being out on the block in Chicago and hearing people's voices and hearing people talking. And so I have been. I, like, basically turned on book number one as I was driving to work one day this week and found that to be, like, a real anchor, right. Like, pulling me back down to earth in the place that I already am because I just felt so numb. So that. They're terrific, terrific audiobooks. And again, one of the things that's interesting about audiobooks is sometimes the narrator is. There's one narrator, even though it's dual point of view. So she's kind of just reading the whole book. So it's not like a full, like, two off, two narrators. But I'm really loving it, so. Oh, it's the Vega family Love Stories is the name of the series by Natalie Kenya. And the first one is called Proposal. They Can't Refuse.

[Sarah MacLean]

I also.

[Jennifer Prokop]

So I.

[Sarah MacLean]

The way that I thought about the books that I wanted to talk about today was I went to my kids.

[Jennifer Prokop]

Yeah.

[Sarah MacLean]

And I was like, all right, what are the books that kind of like, sit.

[Jennifer Prokop]

Yeah.

[Sarah MacLean]

Like, in the top.

[Jennifer Prokop]

Yeah, right.

[Sarah MacLean]

The first few pages. And, like, Sweet Ruin is there. I said, like, there are some Lorraine Heaths there scoring off the field. Naima Simone scoring off the field. And Adriana's on the Hustle, right. Which is a similar. Like, a very similar vibe. Like, these are both two women who are like, everything. I am done with these men. Like, I have to get out of here. And then the men are just, like, on the back foot. And, man, do. I mean, like, I just love that. I love it when they take off, you know, which. Why now, while I'm talking about it, like, I feel here the holy trinity of that concept. Listen, I'm about to say a thing. The holy trinity of she takes off because she cannot deal anymore is. And, like, kind of in order of intensity is the lowest to highest is scoring off the field on the Hustle Run Posey run. What is it? Jen? Run, Posey, run.

[Jennifer Prokop]

Listen, Art, agree.

[Sarah MacLean]

I just created the greatest week of reading of your life. You're welcome, everybody.

[Jennifer Prokop]

Yeah, I mean a hundred percent. Yeah. Those cut.

[Sarah MacLean]

Imagine that. Wait, I might do that. I might read those three. In that order.

[Jennifer Prokop]

Those. This is. Listen, this is a trope that I really love. And I think I realized that it was like. There are a lot of old Elizabeth Lowell's. Essentially. She's like, peace out. Oh, she loved. There was a book called Chain Lightning. Do you remember this one? Have I talked about this? Tell me about it. I've talked.

[Sarah MacLean]

I never remember any of the titles in this book. You've talked about this before. Chain. Like it's been. Oh yes, you have.

[Jennifer Prokop]

Seasons. Sarah, they. She is like afraid of flying or something. I don't know. They end up in Australia. She works for like a. I don't know, she's. I don't remember the plot details. I do, but I'm too embarrassed to go into it. Anyway, they end up. And you know, he's like, I don't trust women, of course. And she's like, I just, you know, I'm a marine biologist who's afraid to fly. So how am I going to see the ocean? Yes.

[Sarah MacLean]

Oh my God.

[Jennifer Prokop]

Right?

[Sarah MacLean]

Yes. Damon Sutter is his name. So anyway, Strangers in Paradise.

[Jennifer Prokop]

So they.

[Sarah MacLean]

Oh, Mandy Bly.

[Jennifer Prokop]

Mandy.

[Sarah MacLean]

I. I'll tell you what it's about, Jeff.

[Jennifer Prokop]

I just told you, Sarah.

[Sarah MacLean]

She is scared of three things. Water, boats and planes.

[Jennifer Prokop]

Sure. So she ends up in Australia through like a. A, you know, they go to see the coral reefs. And listen, at the end of this fucking book.

[Sarah MacLean]

This is an accidental vacation book.

[Jennifer Prokop]

Yeah, at the end of this book they go, you know, she like leaves him, gets back to the mainland by herself or whatever and he cannot find her. And then he goes back to the office because his aunt, his aunt is the one who like did this whole thing. And he's like, where is she? And this is like the 80s. So apparently you could just go into HR and just clean out your file and then no one could ever fuck talk to you again.

[Sarah MacLean]

Yeah, cuz it was online.

[Jennifer Prokop]

There's nothing was online. They couldn't find you.

[Sarah MacLean]

No paper trail. She's. So what does he do?

[Jennifer Prokop]

He just search the world. And then when he finds her, he.

[Sarah MacLean]

Just runs back and forth across the.

[Jennifer Prokop]

Country, just does laps. When he finally finds her, of course at the end she's like pregnant. And he's like, it's fine, we're gonna have this baby. And I'm in love with you. I reread that at one point.

[Sarah MacLean]

Do her clothes make noise? Have we talked about this?

[Jennifer Prokop]

This, the bells? Oh, yeah, we've definitely talked about the bells. That was my other favorite, Elizabeth. A woman without lies. But this whole business of, like, I was like, oh, that is where that got installed. That button was her just being like, peace, the out. Then.

[Sarah MacLean]

Yeah. Judith McNaught does it, too, all the time. God, they just get the out. And usually, like, without a coat in this, in the winter. Like, they're real dumb about it. Like, there's no, like, I need to stockpile food and, you know, money. It's just, I'm out in the snow now because this man made me mad.

[Jennifer Prokop]

But I think that's why Run Posey, Run to me was so brilliant. Because it starts there. It's not the thing that ends the book.

[Sarah MacLean]

That's all three of these books. It starts there. And then we break the. We break the hero right away. Yes.

[Jennifer Prokop]

He's immediately like, that's what I want.

[Sarah MacLean]

I don't understand what the problem is.

[Jennifer Prokop]

Everyone, can I take a. Can I have a small detour? So last weekend before the election, in the Before Times, I went to Connecticut to see Little Romance at college. As I think also looking back, I felt very compelled to see him before the election. Like, I was just like, look, if it all goes wrong, I will. I would want to have been the last time I saw him to be one where we were happy and not, like, full of existential dread. And he had class on the afternoon. I got in Friday, and I was reminded by Ella Dawson that there was a. In Chester, Connecticut, a romance only bookstore called Montgomery Integrity. So I drove out there because I was like, well, Little Romance is in class.

[Sarah MacLean]

Wait, I have questions.

[Jennifer Prokop]

Okay.

[Sarah MacLean]

It is so because Montgomery and Taggart indicates that these people are our people.

[Jennifer Prokop]

Yeah, Listen.

[Sarah MacLean]

Because many. Many of you out there know the reference, but many of you out there do not know the reference.

[Jennifer Prokop]

It is a.

[Sarah MacLean]

And the Montgomery's and the Taggarts are like the greatest.

[Jennifer Prokop]

Yeah.

[Sarah MacLean]

Two families in Rome.

[Jennifer Prokop]

Yes. Right. Are they both Devereaux? No. Yeah.

[Sarah MacLean]

Yeah. So they marry each other.

[Jennifer Prokop]

That's right. Of course. So anyway, James Montgomery drove out to this tiny little Connecticut town and walked into this place, and I'm always like, you guys, I'm so fucking weird. If I ever walk in your romance only bookstore, I'm going to be so weird about it. And I ended up, like, greeting the proprietress. And she was literally like, oh, my.

[Sarah MacLean]

Did you Introduce yourself.

[Jennifer Prokop]

No, I'm too weird about it.

[Sarah MacLean]

Sarah, she heard your voice.

[Jennifer Prokop]

She was like, oh, my God. And it was very cool. She was really excited to see me, which was nice. And it was a gorgeous little bookstore in a very cute little town. And it's like, I want to go there. Listen, I told her. I was like, well, come. We should. Because, you know, little romance, we graduating, and then I will be in town. And so I was like, yeah, we should go. But anyway, they had hard copies, like, paper copies of Run Posey Run. And I was like, I didn't buy it. I really thought about it. But I did buy a lot of really cool stuff in there, including. It's a book. It's a game called Romance versus the World.

[Sarah MacLean]

No. What is that?

[Jennifer Prokop]

It's like, cards against humanity, but romance.

[Sarah MacLean]

Oh, my. That's unopened.

[Jennifer Prokop]

I know. Who am I gonna fucking play it with?

[Sarah MacLean]

Me. Okay. We play it online.

[Jennifer Prokop]

I don't know. I have to add it. Like, I guess I could, like, deal your cards and take a picture.

[Sarah MacLean]

I'll just get a cop. Montgomery and Tagger. I'll go get my own box. And then we'll play it, you guys. We'll play it on the discord, right?

[Jennifer Prokop]

I feel like that was it. I literally did think that. I was like, there's gotta be a way we can play this with people. This is so fun. Isn't that the cutest? They have.

[Sarah MacLean]

That is really fun. You know what? And listen, I knew from the moment they followed me on. I remember cutting and pasting it to you. They followed me on Instagram, and I was like, what are these? This is a romance bookstore.

[Jennifer Prokop]

Cute in there. It's adorable.

[Sarah MacLean]

I can't wait. Well, it's not, like, super on the way to my mom's house, but it's on the way enough that, like, it'll add an hour. So I might. I think the next time I drive up there, I'm gonna do that.

[Jennifer Prokop]

It was really cute inside. It was adorable.

[Sarah MacLean]

They had so fun.

[Jennifer Prokop]

They had great selections of, like, books, but also, like, really cute stuff. You know, like romancy stuff. I bought some mu dang stickers and sent them to Kate. So they had. Let's. You know, really adorable. So anyway, look at this other cute book I got. I'm sorry. This is. Okay. Another comfort thing for me. Everybody is reading Christmas books. That's fine, right?

[Sarah MacLean]

You're allowed.

[Jennifer Prokop]

I'm allowed. So check. And I also.

[Sarah MacLean]

You sure you want to talk about that right now?

[Jennifer Prokop]

I'm going to talk about this to do physical item.

[Sarah MacLean]

Oh, okay.

[Jennifer Prokop]

Which it's funny because I am not really hugely into like sprayed edges, but this book really thrilled me because I thought it was real. So it's a Katie Wilde book. And on one side it's like Secret Santa and so you're like looking at it but then you flip it over like, you know what I mean? One of those books where it's like flipped over cute. And then the other side is all he wants for Christmas.

[Sarah MacLean]

Listen, this is what's cool about indie romance right now.

[Jennifer Prokop]

Yeah.

[Sarah MacLean]

Is like, like traditional romance isn't doing cool stuff like that.

[Jennifer Prokop]

Oh, it's so cute. Right? So it's like you essentially like flip it over. Like half of it looks upside down to the other half.

[Sarah MacLean]

I love it.

[Jennifer Prokop]

So yeah, I love it everybody. It was really cute in there. And I also, I got some Julianne Long books. I bought this cute game. I got that Katie Wilde book and it was just like, it was really cute. It was adorable.

[Sarah MacLean]

This week's episode of Fated Mates is sponsored by Jamie P. Bradley, author of a 3,000 Reasons novella.

[Jennifer Prokop]

Okay, so this series starts off with a this Christmas novella where Gina Smith essentially is back home in her small Oklahoma town for the holidays at the annual Christmas party that her family always holds. And basically the problem is, is that even though she's well in her 20s and is like a serious businesswoman living in Delaware and has a great job at this hotel, everybody in town remembers her as like this reckless young, wild thing, including some shenanigans she got up to back when she publicly proposed to her high school crush and her sister's ex, Ben Richardson. And wouldn't you know who Sarah is about to walk into this holiday party?

[Sarah MacLean]

Is it gonna be Ben Richardson?

[Jennifer Prokop]

It sure is. He is now a smoking hot Marine. He's still grumpy as ever. And what happens is they end up like sort of chatting this party and then the next day they get stranded together at the airport as they're trying to exit Oklahoma. And they have this really hot, sexy one night stand. And Ben is like, all in. Like, okay, Gina, like, we're different people now. Let's go for it. But Gina is like, no, you have to wait. I have things I need to prove to myself before I could accept a man full time into my life. And so this book, this novella has it all. Like, part of it is he's overseas. So there's, you know, texting and letters and emails and so, you know, are they going to be able to figure out how to make a Christmas miracle happen and bring these two back together again.

[Sarah MacLean]

Who can say? It's going to be amazing either way. So if you would like to read. Wait. You can do that right now on your local e reader if your podcasting app supports it. You can also click on the chapter title right now to be taken to buy the book. Thanks so much to Jamie P. Bradley for sponsoring this week's episode. Don't forget, everybody, we've got best stuff coming very soon.

[Jennifer Prokop]

Next week.

[Sarah MacLean]

Oh, yeah. Next week. Next week. How exciting. So get ready for that. We've got Chris. Chris. We've got a holiday. Holiday.

[Jennifer Prokop]

Once again, our wonderful friends at Pocketbooks will be able. Will be.

[Sarah MacLean]

Yeah, I don't think you can pre order yet.

[Jennifer Prokop]

You'll have to wait.

[Sarah MacLean]

But you will be able to order the box for yourself or a friend or maybe, like, put it on your list for Santa or Hanukkah or any number of just genuinely lovely holidays in December. And then we have a holiday romance episode coming. And we've got a new thing coming this year, a new thing that might become a tradition. Yeah.

[Jennifer Prokop]

I'm very excited about this.

[Sarah MacLean]

I know I'm deep in the reading for that.

[Jennifer Prokop]

This is gonna also be. I think what today's comfort read is gonna be for me is like, remember I said I'm gonna get into bed with a stack of books. This is the stack.

[Sarah MacLean]

Nice.

[Jennifer Prokop]

We are. Should we talk about what it is? We're just keeping it a secret.

[Sarah MacLean]

I think we should keep it a secret because I think it'll be very surprising and delightful for the people that we talked about.

[Jennifer Prokop]

Perfect. I agree. I agree.

[Sarah MacLean]

And you know what? Everybody deserves something surprising and delightful.

[Jennifer Prokop]

Yes. Yes.

[Sarah MacLean]

What else. What other books do you. So, yeah, we. You know, what we haven't talked about? I know I said IAD I said. I said sweet room, but we should really talk about. About the fact that everyone. And I'm taking credit for this, by the way, because. Because, of course I am. Because I'm allowed.

[Jennifer Prokop]

We.

[Sarah MacLean]

So there is. There are reissues in trade. Pocketbooks is re. Or Gallery is. Which is an imprint of Simon and Schuster, is reissuing all of the IID books with these, like, new, beautifully illustrated covers.

[Jennifer Prokop]

Yeah. Really very distinctive style.

[Sarah MacLean]

Came out in October. And a hunger like no other.

[Jennifer Prokop]

And I know our names are on the back. Like, not just, like, dated names, our actual names. I was like, what?

[Sarah MacLean]

I know. And we say Cressley Cole is the unrivaled queen of Romantasy, which I stand by. You know, we didn't say that. We didn't have that word then. But if you're a romantasy girly and you haven't read Kressley, get. Get going. And I just. I'm so delighted that these books are in the world again that people can get them in, like, real bookstores on the shelf. And so that. That makes me happy.

[Jennifer Prokop]

Yeah, they're really. I really love that. The illustration style a lot. What else has been a comfort read for me, I think. Okay, so back to my, like, audiobook thing. I am going to start a puzzle after we are done with this that has. Oh, then a. A real. I did, like, a. You guys. I did, like, two puzzles a week during the pandemic. That was a huge coping strategy for me, and it was always paired with, like, listening again. Back to listening. So I think, obviously, I'm gonna be on that Natalie Kenya trip for a while, because there's three books. But the other audiobook I have ready to go is the Proposition by Judith.

[Sarah MacLean]

Ivory, which you've never read.

[Jennifer Prokop]

Never read.

[Sarah MacLean]

And we have to. Should we just do that as our next read along?

[Jennifer Prokop]

I think so. I think that's the idea.

[Sarah MacLean]

All right, everybody, we just made the decision. Our next read along is Judith Ivory's proposition, which is great. He's a rat catcher. It's a retelling of My Fair lady, which is a retelling of that myth, which right now also left my Aunt Pig Billy.

[Jennifer Prokop]

I was like, let me help you out there.

[Sarah MacLean]

That myth. I've always wanted to write a version of that one.

[Jennifer Prokop]

That one. So, yeah, I have a lot of comfort. Listens, believe it or not. Like, I've listened to the Hidden Legacy series Audio Listener. Yeah, I do. I think it's. You know what it is? I find it listening to be very, like, soothing, and it allows me to, like, be carried away while I'm doing whatever else I'm doing right there.

[Sarah MacLean]

So there is a. A child in my house, and she has an iPad, and she is not allowed, like, basically everything locks down. Right? She can only play with, like, for it. So for so long, the only thing that is not locked down is Libby, because, of course. So. So it actually does force her. Like, at some point, she's just like, okay, I can't do anything else, so I might as well just read. And so. But of course, Libby also has audiobooks, right? The library also gives you audiobooks. And the other day I was like, kid, have. This is all very familiar. Like, have you been listening to this audiobook for, like, A long time. Is it a long one? She was like, oh, no, this is like, my eighth time listening to it. And I was like, amazing. And so. And then I was like, you know, this is a series. There's a second one. And she was like, what? But then Jen, the other day, I went in there, and she was listening to the first one again. She just. Now I'm like, oh, no, that's just your. Like, it's your warm blanket for everybody. This is. These are the Drew LeClaire books, which I think I've talked about vaguely. But if you have a middle schooler, Drew LeClaire gets a clue. So cute is the first one, and it's very cute. Drew is like a little sleuth.

[Jennifer Prokop]

She's like, yeah, adorable. So, yeah, I think I'm gonna puzzle and listen to some Natalie Kenya today. What else have I been reading? Oh, you know, okay, I have a. I want to talk about managing your. Your Warm blanket reads. So if you like me, like, whatever, you know, e reader you use, I actually have a collection called Comfort Reads. Actually, I like. It is called, I don't know, a plus Comfort Read. So that it is always first look at you.

[Sarah MacLean]

You're like a phone.

[Jennifer Prokop]

I'm like a phone book, right? And one of the things about it is, you know, comfort reads change over time. And so sometimes I look and I'm like, oh, these. I haven't read this book in forever, right? But I do think that, you know, the other thing and like, Sarah and I have talked about this is like, you know, like, just looking at your Kindle in a different order. You know, like, let yourself find something that you used to love. I mean, I think that's the thing about romance that I find so fascinating is it's like the things that I love, you kind of forget, and then you're like, I love that book. You know, I mean, so for another thing that I did is I went back and looked. So there is a page on our website, everybody, that has our top 10 books of the year. And we started in 2019. So 2018 was the first year of the podcast. 2019 was our first best of list. So this would have been only a few months before the pandemic, right? The pandemic all happened in season two. Looking back at some of those, I'm like, I love this book, right? So I think that part of the way that I am, like, trying to, like, remember my favorite books or remember what I read is just, like, kind of, like doing some of that stuff, right? Looking at those lists because, of course, those are literally my favorites. Like, looking at my comfort reads collection on my Kindle. Right. Things like that.

[Sarah MacLean]

And then I think there's also, like, I want to just shout out novellas because one of my favorite comfort reads is Joanna Shoup's Tycoon, which is, I think, like, a textbook perfect novella. I also, because I came from historical, my comfort reads are largely like. Are often, like, I lean toward, like, oh, I'll go read a clapist. I'll go read a. Whatever. Joanna, as you all know, we are on the record for thinking she is just, like, some of the best of us. And. But tycoon is, like, 120 pages of just, like, perfect novella. And it is fast, and the pages turn so fast, and the conflict's so tight, and it's so sexy, and it's just like, you can get into bed at 10 and it is done by 11:30, and you are, like, delighted.

[Jennifer Prokop]

Yeah.

[Sarah MacLean]

Go to sleep. You dream of, you know, a handsome man on a train. Imagine if that worked that way, if you were like, I read this great book before bed, and now I just dream about that.

[Jennifer Prokop]

Well, that was that one Teresa Bahari book, remember?

[Sarah MacLean]

Yeah, yeah. You talked about it. It. Yeah, no, that was the first.

[Jennifer Prokop]

The first one. Yeah. I can't remember the Night and Shining Armor, the second one. But the first one was when that happened.

[Sarah MacLean]

Yep. We did a novella. You know what, Jen? We should do another novella episode, because we did a novella episode a million, trillion years ago. Alyssa Cole was our guest on it. It was, like, season. It was maybe during the pandemic, probably.

[Jennifer Prokop]

The end of season two was my guess. Yeah.

[Sarah MacLean]

And so I. But, like, we should do another novella episode, because novellas are really, like, a beautiful. If you, like. Like me, I'm just having a lot of trouble, like, focusing. Like, I've been trying to write an email to the Faded States callers all week. By the way, everybody, we love you. Thank you so much. It was amazing working with you. You're gonna get an email from us at some point. And, like, every time I sit down, I write, like, two sentences, and then I'm like, not even. I read a sentence and a half.

[Jennifer Prokop]

Right.

[Sarah MacLean]

And then I'm like. Then I, like, wander off a comeback, and I'm like, what was I planning on saying here? What's going on in this email? So a novella is a nice, like, you know, a tight. A tight set.

[Jennifer Prokop]

This week's episode of Faded Mace is brought to you by 1001 Dark Knights, publishers of the Ghost of a Chance by Heather Graham.

[Sarah MacLean]

So this is a novella in Heather's 38 book Long Crew of Hunters series. And the crew of Hunters is f is a elite secret ghost like paranormal investigation crew that is part of the FBI. Angela Hawkins Crow is the heroine of this novella. She and her husband Jackson have their own book that predates this. But Angela's just like going to the bank in this book, just doing bank stuff, normal bank stuff, when oops, wouldn't you know it, the bank has a robbery and she gets host. She gets taken hostage into the underground bank vaults.

[Jennifer Prokop]

Here.

[Sarah MacLean]

Jackson is outside with other members of the Crew of Hunters freaking out trying to figure out how she he can get in and save the day. But Angela is on her own down there until she realizes that there is a ghost of a Civil War hero amazing in that tunnel who will not stand for her or anyone else to get hurt. So if you've ever read a Heather of the Graham book, this is going to be a really fun romantic suspense where some wild stuff happens but the pages turn and you are just in for a ride.

[Jennifer Prokop]

So if you would like to read this paranormal romance, find out whether or not Angela is going to be reunited with her loved ones on the other side of this bank robbery, then you should check out the Ghost of a Chance. If your podcasting app supports it, you can click on the chapter title right now to be taken to buy the book. Thank you to 1001 Dark Knights and Heather Graham for sponsoring this week's episode. I am an aspirational book buyer, everyone.

[Sarah MacLean]

Oh, nobody who listens to us.

[Jennifer Prokop]

No one know what I'm talking about. Yeah. So I think the other thing that I find really helpful at times like this is I will again like it's I just move a stack of books with me to wherever I am and I just allow myself to start them right and then see, like, okay, am I going to stick with it? How interested am I in this right now? Is this the like, I'm done with it or is this the like and. And this isn't only. This is not only Roman romance. Like, this is literally like you know anything.

[Sarah MacLean]

Oh, I know piles of them everywhere.

[Jennifer Prokop]

But I feel like sometimes the thing that I appreciate about that or I enjoy about it is that feeling of like, okay, this book is maybe not for me right now or this book's just not for me, but often I find I just find great solace in reading always. And so I think that I will be doing quite a lot of of sitting around with my Stacks.

[Sarah MacLean]

Yep. Hey, I have a. I have a question. Or I have, like, a thought. I have a thing I want to say to people. I have a little free library outside my house, and it has brought me a lot of joy. And actually, in the last week, it has brought me even more joy because, like, people have stopped, and. And we had our, like, poster. Our, like, signs right underneath the library, and people have stopped, and they've, like, said hello. You know, I live in New York City, so, like, it's very. You know, there's In a very big yard. Like, if I'm outside, like, putting tulip bulbs in the ground, like, they have no choice but to say hello to me if they stop. Although I am always amused when people, like, pretend I'm not there. And I'm like, you're literally looking at my thing. But okay, so. So I will just say, if you have ever sort of. If you like me for many years, thought maybe I would like to have a little free library, but haven't done it. This is your sign to do it, because it is actually really nice. And it does give you a sort of sense of, like, community in a weird way. Like, people stop and they put their books in, and then, you know, you sort of get to know your neighbors in a weird way. Like, it's a sort of. You know, you never know who left the. Like, like, this morning, I came. I came up. We went for a walk. We came back, and somebody had put, like, Barack Obama's a promised land, Promised land in the little free library, like, face out. So it was like, yeah, Obama. And I was like, this is my people. Like, who. You know, and you're like. And I. I just, like, get a lot of joy from that. I will say. Eric spends a lot of time, like, cure. We live in New York City, so curating out, like, religious pamphlets.

[Jennifer Prokop]

You do have to curate it. I do think that really makes it.

[Sarah MacLean]

Because, like, sometimes there's, like, heart. How to. How to perform heart surgery from 1983.

[Jennifer Prokop]

Like, you know what? We're gonna weed this. This person could not. Surely. These are notices.

[Sarah MacLean]

I know. But then somebody. I think. I don't know if I ever told this story on the podcast, but last. Last Christmas, around last the holidays, last Christmas, somebody put their, like, relative. Like an actual cookbook. Like, not a. Like a person's binder.

[Jennifer Prokop]

Yeah. Oh.

[Sarah MacLean]

And it was like, punch. And I took it. I was like. It was like punch and, like, fruit salad. And, like, it was like, you know how to cook a turkey for 15? And I was like, I'm taking this, like this, this. Somebody, like, put this in a binder, like, cared, and it had all, like, their personal notes. It was really lovely. So it now lives on my cookbook shelf. And I love that. So anyway, that is. This is your sign. And if you do decide to put up your little free library, please send me a picture or something.

[Jennifer Prokop]

I love it. Okay, so as we are heading towards, like, wrapping up this episode, which I don't know that we did anything useful, but we are here and so are you. And maybe there's some. Maybe there's something to be said for that. We want to talk about a couple of things that we've talked about in terms of changing a couple of things about moving forward. Moving forward. Okay, so we are going to start changing some of the ways we do links on the podcast page itself. So we have pretty much always done Amazon. We will of course still be doing Amazon for people that are in ku. We are. I. I am a KU reader. Sarah is a K reader. This is, like, a really important place that many, many people are putting their books. Discoverability is easier there. People are more likely to take a chance on you. Right. So we really want to support the fact that, like, if a book is in ku, that is the only place it is. However, we also want to support bookstores that are not owned by that person who owns people.

[Sarah MacLean]

Yes. And also libraries. And I want to say this, I want to speak specifically to the fact that immediately, I mean, within hours of the election being called on Instagram, so many bookstores were like, we are open. We are here. Come. We are a safe space. We are a community center. You don't have to buy books. You can come and just be with us and, like, sit with us. And I want to speak to libraries doing that too. Librarians are just so important to this community. Build the community building piece. You know, I've been saying this to Jen and to others in my life, but, like, like, we weren't going to talk about the election, and we're still not. But I will just say, like, apropos of nothing, fascism puts its boot on your neck by, like, limiting your ability to build community and independent bookstores if you are privileged enough to have one in your community libraries, if you, you know, have. Have a supportive librarian and library staff and you are in a position to be able to use those shots. And we want to. I want to acknowledge that, like, some people's, like, financial situation means that, you know, Amazon is the best choice, and that is okay. Like, we are not judging you for that. But what we are saying is like we see indies and libraries and we honor the work that they are doing so. And will be doing.

[Jennifer Prokop]

Right? And will be doing. Yeah. So we are going to encourage everybody, whoever, you know, buys books that we recommend using, you know, like our links or whatever, to create an, an [e-mail] because what this allows you to do is indicate which indie bookstore you want to support. Right. So it happens on like your end, not on our end. And so then any book that is in wide release. Right. So Natalie Cana's books, for example, I might use a bookshop.org link or a Libro FM link rather than an Audible or an Amazon link. So what you're going to kind of see now is like a hybrid kind of style of, of using those links. We are going to keep using BookBub. And one of the reasons for that is because if you are not.

[Sarah MacLean]

Do we tell everybody we're using book.

[Jennifer Prokop]

Oh, maybe this is like a new thing.

[Sarah MacLean]

Okay, go for it, Jen.

[Jennifer Prokop]

All right, so everybody, we have started to really put. We created a Faded Mates account. Eric did. Everybody. Eric created Faded Mates account on bookbub and has been backloading in a lot of the books that we have talked about on as our recommendations. Right. And basically we're not doing a whole lot of other things. It's like it's a five star read. We call it, say it's an hea. Like, right. Because we talked about it. We just talked about it on an episode. And if you follow us on bookbub and if you have not created a bookbub account, this is for E readers. But when you set up your profile, you can say what, where you buy your ebook. So you can say Amazon, Kobo, Apple Books, you know, Google, Playbooks or whatever. You can click all of them if you want. And then if a book that we recommended goes on sale, you get an email and so, and you know, so again we really want to. So what we're trying to do is essentially like find as many different ways to get you the books that we have talked about on as many different platforms as possible. That is kind of like a, just a goal for us moving forward. And you know, again, no one's abandoning Amazon. We support everybody. We understand the kids is so great for so many indie authors. We want to support that and we will continue to, we will continue to link directly to your books if they are there, but if they are wide, then we are going to try and use some of these Other outlets just so that we can have the like that trickle down effect hopefully go to indie bookstores as well.

[Sarah MacLean]

I also just want to say out loud that as we are moving forward there, it is not the worst idea for you to purchase your favorite books in print. So think about that as you're making your holiday lists. You're as people who in your life are saying like what can I get you for your birthday? Or what can I get you for Christmas or for Hanukkah or for, you know, whatever because I love you. Print copies of your favorite ebooks may someday be very valuable to you.

[Jennifer Prokop]

Yeah, exactly. That's a good way to say it. And you know what, listen, who knows what's to come. But I think that one of the things is when we. Because our relationship with romance is so comforting, right? It's. It's just like a thinking to yourself and listen, I've been doing this for years, right? Like I have like, you know, paper copies of Manage and Lead and all that stuff, right? So you know, this is like, you know a, A lot. This is. These are just ideas that may or may not speak to you. But I think what we are just really interested in is moving forward is thinking how can we just support. How can we support the community bookstores that are helping their communities? And so we think that like kind of transitioning to having this bookshop.org links for books that are wide and you know, converting to Libro FM links. And again, you can use whatever platform is you are using but just it just might be a slight difference in what happens when you click on a link from us. That's it.

[Sarah MacLean]

Terrific. Look at us. Thanks to indies. Thanks to booksellers. Thanks to librarians.

[Jennifer Prokop]

To librarians. Yeah.

[Sarah MacLean]

All right everybody. Well, romance is here for you. We are here for you.

[Jennifer Prokop]

We have some really great episodes planned through the end of the year. Year.

[Sarah MacLean]

Yep. We are not going away. No. I said to Jen the other day, I was like, we're pirate radio. I. Yeah.

[Jennifer Prokop]

I'm really excited about some of the episodes that we have planned coming up through the end of the year. So keep listening.

[Sarah MacLean]

Also we, we are aware of next year. We know people are already asking about we're we. I have seen a bunch of people recently ask about Fademates Live and I just want to say we are not like it is not happening in March everyone, so do not worry. Yes, there will probably be a fade of Mates Live next year, but it is not in March because that ended up being. I mean, why do we do that to Ourselves.

[Jennifer Prokop]

Well, because it was my spring break. But yeah, it'll be in the summer. It'll be in the summer, everybody. So more information will be coming on that and hopefully, hopefully sooner rather than later. But yeah, that's a good point. It will not be in March.

[Sarah MacLean]

And we are here and we will definitely have things to say. I mean, we said at the beginning we were not going to have things to say and here we are. We've said some things, but we'll have things to say. And we are here.

[Jennifer Prokop]

And yeah, I want to say I found great. I was not on social media this week. I took all that off my phone. But I did go to our Discord quite a bit and I found it very comforting to be around.

[Sarah MacLean]

Why don't you tell everybody?

[Jennifer Prokop]

So if you are looking for a romance reader space that is not like the wide open social media Internet, then join our Discord. Join our Patreon. It. You can get it for five bucks a month. And we, it gives you full access to our, our page, our. Sorry, our Discord, but also to one episode a month that we record. That's like just an extra banter episode. We actually just ran that on the live feed for everybody last Tuesday. Look at how smart we were, Sarah. And so if you like to just hear us yapping, then that might be for you.

[Sarah MacLean]

But mostly, but more importantly, if you just want to yap with other people.

[Jennifer Prokop]

And that's the part that's best. And there are a million different channels. Like, there is literally like a channel for everything. And if you're like, I want a channel for recipes or books I found in my little free library, then we will create a channel for you. And so it's a really robust conversation.

[Sarah MacLean]

In my little free library would be such a good channel. I'm going to start that today.

[Jennifer Prokop]

I'm starting it right now.

[Sarah MacLean]

I am. That's.

[Jennifer Prokop]

And you know, there's just like, people talk about what they're reading. There's like a daily question, which is really fun. There's, you know, all sorts of stuff and I think you'll have a great time. So we would, would, we would hope.

[Sarah MacLean]

To see you there, everyone. That was our show this week. Next week we're back with our best of the year episode. So get ready. We're gonna fill your TBRs. Get ready to purchase your box from a queer feminist bookstore in Pennsylvania. And so that'll be next Wednesday. But as of right now, I am Sarah McLean. I'm here with my friend Jen Prokop. We are fated Mates. We are here for you every Wednesday wherever you listen to your podcasts for as long as you will listen to us. You can find [e-mail] where show notes exist. We list all the books that we talk about every week there. We also, you know, try to put the links that we to things that we discuss there. Show Notes are are often really robust and you'll enjoy them. We think we are now on Threads, Instagram and Blue Sky. You can find us at Fated Mates Pod or Fated Mates at all of those places. And yeah, please support your local independent bookstore or your local library when you click on the links to buy the books that we talked about this up on the show.

[Jennifer Prokop]

Love.