← Fated Mates - Romance Books for Novel People
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- [00:00]
A
Best of the year. Can you believe it? We survived. Well, barely.
- [00:09]
B
Everybody. This is an episode that, like, as soon as we are done recording, I start stressing about the next one.
- [00:15]
A
You've already put a book on next year's list.
- [00:17]
B
I did. That's true. I'm so proud.
- [00:19]
A
I have not done that, but I am very proud of you.
- [00:23]
B
You know, we're recording this on November 13th, and so it could be like, this year, for example, there is a book on the list that was actually published in December of 2023 because it came out after we recorded.
- [00:36]
A
Yeah. We don't operate the way other places operate where they, like, are sticklers about the calendar. And part of the reason why we don't is because we like for you to be able to get the books. And so if you can't get the books, then they can't be on the list. So. And I might have a book for next year already on. On the list, too, but I just haven't. I haven't pulled the trigger yet. I mean, it feels very, like, prematurely ejaculating to, like, put a lit book.
- [01:03]
B
On the list in November, the year before 2025. Sarah. And so. So does everybody else. Everybody else is like, good job, Jen.
- [01:12]
A
I mean, I am still very impressed. And when you told me what book it was, I was like, oh, yes, I approve. So there it is. It worked out great.
- [01:19]
B
All right. We'll come back to that in a year.
- [01:21]
A
Welcome, everyone, to Fated Mates. I'm Sarah maclean. I read romance novels and I write them. And this might be my favorite episode of this. Of the year.
- [01:29]
B
Yeah. I'm Jennifer Prokup, a romance read editor. And I am also very excited. It feels like, you know, with great, like, it feels. This is the episode where I feel the greatest sense of, like, responsibility.
- [01:44]
A
Yes. Because we. So let's talk about that. Let's talk about the, like, responsibility, because I feel the same exact way. And I don't think that is always the case with people who make best of the year lists.
- [01:55]
B
Oh, God, no.
- [01:57]
A
I sometimes think, listen, I know some of the people out there who make their own list, make these lists for, like, very important places. And, like, sometimes I feel like you people just, like. It's just, you know, you're, like, raw dogging it.
- [02:12]
B
Oh, boy. Listen, if. If Merriam Webster does not make raw dogging the word of 2024.
- [02:19]
A
Oh, don't do it. Okay. Well, it's not. But I, like. I sometimes think, like, it's like, I don't know. I like that and that's it. That's it. But I think we do like, y'all. We stress. We stress. There are many emails that go back. And for us in Pocketbooks in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, our independent bookseller that sells the.
- [02:41]
B
Best of the year box, it's stressful in different ways in different years. So sometimes it's really, like, narrowing it down. Like, I have so many options, and I just feel completely overwhelmed about how to pick them. And then it's kind of like.
- [02:54]
A
And then it's like, well, we put that person on the list once, so take them off. Like, Right.
- [02:59]
B
Or is it too many of this sub genre? So sometimes it feels stressful that way. This year felt stressful because I felt like we got to June and I really was like, I don't really. Nothing's on the list. Right. And that was not true. Right. You know, you have to feel like you're slowly putting things on the list, and then do they stay on the list or they drop off the list? So if you get to, like, September or October and you're still like, I'm still kind of reading, trying to find that perfect book, that feels stressful. And I felt like I did that a little bit this year where I couldn't quite find the right books. And then one of the other things I really like about the list this year is a lot of quite a few of them are books I read very early in the year. And that is also hard cause of recency bias. Right. Which is when you're really prioritizing the stuff that you just read. And so I really tried. So I really like. You know, we all know this in romance, right? You read a book and you think it was a. You think, oh, I enjoyed it. It was a good book. But then it really sticks with you. But you need time to feel that feeling. And so a couple of these books are books that, if you would ask me right after I read them what I. If I was going to put them on Best of, I. I probably would have said no. But they just stuck with me in such a powerful way. So I think that's part of the stress is just kind of like finding that right mix.
- [04:30]
A
Yes, I think so.
- [04:33]
B
You know, the other thing I always feel guilty about everybody, I'm just gonna, like, name it here is, you know, we're not huge romantic suspense or romanticy readers. And so it's always like, a best of list from us is always gonna be a lot of contemporary and a lot of historical. You know, that's like, we in that way, even though we're different readers, I think we. We both are drawn to that. And so it's always. I always feel so guilty about it. Like, oh, my God, I didn't try hard enough to.
- [05:04]
A
Yeah, I mean, I think that is true. And I think that if we do put a romantic suspense or a paranormal on the list, it's because it's, like, really risen to the top for us. Like, it feels like, wow. And I think we're just not. That's not. But I don't think our listeners come to us for the best romantasy of the year. Like, surely that list exists. And it should. If it doesn't, it should. Somebody should put it up somewhere because there was so much romanty this year. But we do not have a romantasy on our list this year. Although I do have at least one that has, like, a little bit of something else in it.
- [05:41]
B
Yeah, I agree. I have something that I would say is magical realism.
- [05:46]
A
Yeah. So, I mean, we do limit ourselves so that everybody knows here are the rules that we keep for ourselves. Although it's our thing, so sometimes we break them. We limit ourselves to 10 books, although there have in the past been 11 lists of 11. But this year it's a 10. A 10, a 10. And we also try very hard not to put our friends on these lists. So we may know someone on the list. You may be. You may be familiar. Like, we may have, for example, had somebody, like, on the podcast before. But we try to keep, like, people who we text daily are not usually on these lists. And part of the reason why we do that is to keep some level of, like, editorial integrity. I don't know what are we. We don't even know what we're doing, but that's in our heads. This keeps us from being, you know, biased to our friends. But a fun thing that happens is then we give Pocketbooks in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, a list. So they put together the box, and then you can supplement the box. You can add to the box individual books by our friends that we have also loved. Like, also books we think are bangers, but that we appreciate. You may think we are just trying to sell our friends books, which, I mean, you should also buy our friends books. I don't know what to say about that.
- [07:00]
B
I think, yeah, I think we. We have tried. Although I. I just thought of a second book that I feel like is going to be so good next year that we'll probably put it on the list and you know what? Everybody would be like, whatever.
- [07:11]
A
Oh, yeah, That's a good book.
- [07:12]
B
You know what I'm talking about? It is a good book. Okay? Everybody already is like, These bitches have three books on the 2025 list, and they are bitching about not getting enough books on the 2024 list.
- [07:24]
A
Well, here's what I want, though. When we, like, when we talk about why we put them on the list, I want to know also, like, what is the. Like, what is the itch that this book scratches? Because, like, I feel like, for me, there was a lot of that this year where I was. Like, this book made me really feel good reading it, and this is why. So I just want to put that out there that, like, I would like us all to. I would like us to do that.
- [07:48]
B
Every book on the list is a book that I couldn't put down. And that is something I think I really value in the, like, the reading experience of a romance. It should sweep me away. If I can put it down seven times, then, you know, it might be.
- [08:07]
A
A book that I. I'm not going to finish it.
- [08:09]
B
Yeah, it might be a book I admire or a book that eventually I get to. But, like, I will say this. Some of these books have stuck with me in some ways, but every single one of these books, the first time I read it, I was like, okay, I'm in it. And so I do think that that is, like a. Regardless of, like, what other thing I liked about it, what other itch it was scratching, what other thing it was doing that I thought was interesting, what other perfections or imperfections? I would not say that I think that these are perfect books. Right. And I think one of the things that's, like, really interesting about, like, the Best of is, like, what does that mean? And, you know, so for some of these books, it's like, I was swept away. I couldn't put them down, and they made me feel big feelings. And so even if there's like, a moment or a part where I'm kind of like, you know, if you, like, set me down at a bar, I'd be like, okay, I wish XYZ would have been different in this book in some way that doesn't take away from, like, that. Like, that really powerful, like, kind of the romance reading trifecta for me. Right? Like, big feelings, being swept away and not being able to put it down and then just speaking to something, I don't know, like, really beautiful about, like, what it means to be human.
- [09:27]
A
Yeah, I am glad that you said that, because that last part, especially because I was Looking at my list this morning and I was thinking to myself, like, oh, interesting. I could probably take these five books and group them together as like all having a very similar theme, despite the fact that that is not why I selected them. Like, but I feel like also this, this whole exercise gives me a real sense of, you know, we talked about this. I don't know, we've talked about this a lot over the course of the last couple of weeks on the podcast. But this exercise kind of is a nice little portrait of you say all the time, like, oh, you'd love to go back and do like the best books of 2007. Right.
- [10:17]
B
Right.
- [10:18]
A
Because now in hindsight, those books are different books for you potentially. I do think, like, when you choose the best books of a year, when you alone, like one person and this means you out there too, not just us, but, like, select your five favorite books of the year, often there is something to be said about you that year in the selection of those books.
- [10:42]
B
Yes.
- [10:42]
A
And I think when they are romance, often, I think for us, because we like it or not, read a ton of romance. Right. So like when we, we can. We are good at saying, at seeing what a good romance, like, I, I'm not confident in a lot of things, but I am very confident that, like, I can tell you if a book is a good romance or not. Right. And so, and even if I don't like it necessarily, I can tell you if it's a good romance.
- [11:08]
B
Correct.
- [11:09]
A
And so I think when we choose like five great romances from a year, often it's also, it's not just saying like, oh, these are the, this is what Sarah was experiencing in 2025 or what year is it? 2024. But it's also like, what is romance going through in 2024?
- [11:28]
B
So everybody, there's a page on our website. It's fatedmates.netbestof and if you've never been to this page, it has all of our best of which this is now our sixth time doing it. Our first year, we didn't make a best of list, which cracks me up.
- [11:45]
A
This is like a brassy decision. Like, let's be the. Let's be qualified to list. I'm. I'm proud of us for not doing that in the first year. Like, we were not ready.
- [11:55]
B
Yeah, we are also. It would have been six weeks. Right. Who know what we were talking about. So. But then I think about it. So if you look at it. So it has all of the lists and so this will be 60 books now.
- [12:10]
A
Good luck to you everyone. Enjoy your reading.
- [12:13]
B
Right? And that's like kind of the thing I do feel like when I look at that as a whole list, I'm like these are great lists, right? Like there are books that are shorter, there are books that are longer, there are self publooks, there are, you know, there are traditionally published books. There are, you know, there are queer books, there are books by every kind of author. There are books by trans authors. Like I, I feel like if you want to like, I don't know, like that, that is the part that I think is really exciting because I feel like when the best part about romance for me is like you can read any type of story.
- [12:52]
A
Who do you want to be today? Yeah.
- [12:54]
B
And when I look at this list, it's really fun to think about. You know, it's historical, it's contemporary. I mean it's okay. There's not a lot of dragons. I'm sorry, there's no dragons on our list, I believe.
- [13:08]
A
Well, for what it's worth, dragons are new.
- [13:10]
B
Dragons are new.
- [13:11]
A
I mean in the last six years in romance. We didn't start out with dragons in romance six years ago.
- [13:18]
B
Now I'm gonna cressily promised us a.
- [13:20]
A
Dragon and never delivered. Kressley Cole. I'm still mad about it.
- [13:24]
B
Yeah. So I think that's the other part is I really do feel like if someone, if you had a friend in your life who's like I might be interested in reading a romance, like I feel confident that you could send them that page and they could. Anyone could find a book that they would like to read on that list. And that's the part that I think is really cool too. I think it's a really. It really like looking at it today really reminded me like romance is fucking cool as shit.
- [13:52]
A
Surprise, surprise everybody. We love romance novels here at Fated Mates. If you don't love romance novels, get the fuck out. What are you doing here?
- [14:01]
B
Maybe they're listening for a loved one. Sarah.
- [14:04]
A
Maybe you know what you should. Okay, before we start, here's what you should do. If you are listening for a loved one and you just don't know if you can tolerate the two of us just talking at you for an hour. Head to fatedmates.net bestof Click on the link right at the top of the page that says buy this year's best of box. You'll be taken to our amazing partners Pocketbooks in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. A queer woman owned social justice oriented romance friendly bookshop in a glorious Victorian house there and you can purchase all the books we talk about with some additionals for your loved one to be tucked under the tree or set aside on Hanukkah or just because you love a person and you want to give them a gift, you know what the.
- [14:58]
B
Page will tell you when you have to order?
- [15:00]
A
Yeah, it will tell you everything and we'll tell you too at the end of the episode. But if you order by December 10, you are guaranteed delivery before Hanukkah and Christmas.
- [15:11]
B
Well, there you go.
- [15:12]
A
So that's fatedmates.netbestof and thank you for your patronage and your romance. Loving loved ones will be very they will love you a lot. This week's episode of Fated Mates is sponsored by Melanie Green, author of Common Ground.
- [15:31]
B
So this is the first in a series called the Hearts of Honeywine. And Honeywine is a small town in the Texas hill country. So this is like beautiful land. Lots of people go there to do touristy stuff. And so Livia Delacroix has quit her day job in the city and has been like saving up her money to buy this bed and breakfast, right? Like running a small town B and B and you know, has been her dream. And so, you know, she had her eyes on this property and she like kind of swept it and bought it. Meanwhile, Gregory Forrest grew up in this town and he, he is coming back home with the idea to essentially revitalize the town's tourist industry by creating sort of like a ropes course, adventure course, kayaking, I don't know what people do, all that kind of stuff, right? And so he is really angry because it was his goal to buy that BNB and essentially annexed it to his property so his visitors could have a place to stay. And there is a common border between the two properties and they are, they are bickering and arguing over. And this is a great small town romance. You know, it's about being an insider versus an outsider. It really has a lot of the, like, small town characters that you love so much, but also really a great story about two people who are searching for home and, you know, trying to like tie that to the idea of like a future where they can own a small business and be part of a community. All those things that we love in row. So this is a terrific, terrific story.
- [17:18]
A
Well, if you would love to try this contemporary small town romance that features dislike at first sight and a true fish out of water heroine, you will love Common Ground by Melanie Green. You can get it in print and ebook. And if your podcasting app supports it, you can Click on the chapter title right now to be taken to buy the book. Thanks to Melanie Green for sponsoring this week's episode. Jen, I think you should go first.
- [17:50]
B
Okay.
- [17:51]
A
I'm curious about how you're going to start.
- [17:53]
B
So I'm going to start with A Love Song for Ricky Wilde by Tia Williams. And I probably talked about this book last, you know, at the beginning of the year when it came out. It came out in February and it really was a book that was perfectly primed to be read in a leap year. Because what it was about was essentially like a really a literal, timeless romance. Ricky Wilde is kind of her. She comes from a really like well heeled Atlanta family that actually has made its money in funeral homes. But Ricky is a florist and she does not want to work for the family business. Like one of the things I liked about the book is there's like a lot of really richly layered setup. Ricky ends up meeting a 90 something year old woman, Ms. Della, who essentially tells Ricky that she can move and live in her. Like the bottom floor of her Harlem townhouse is available for Ricky for a flower shop for Ricky, and then there's like a, like a little apartment in the back so that she essentially offers Ricky like, you know, here's this, there's a space, you can come, you can, you know, be a florist and move to New York, which was your dream. And so Ricky, I love this about her. Like she's so like, okay, yeah, I'm gonna go do this. She's just like bold and brash and kind of gonna follow her dream. And what happens is that she like meets with some limited success as a florist, but it's really hard to break into the business. And so what she ends up doing is taking her flower arrangements, like if they're essentially like too old to be sold, like they're last legs. And she takes them to famous sites around Harlem from the Harlem Renaissance and takes photographs and is making like an Instagram where she's talking about the history of Harlem and like her honoring these places with her flower arrangements. And so like it's a really big part of the story. Like, right, like the background of Ms. Della who's in her 90s, so she like remembers some of this stuff or she was around right now. At the same time, Ricky meets a very mysterious man named Ezra who she figures out essentially is cursed. And he. And I'm not gonna like really give away the whole thing. It has to do with time and it has to do with leap years. And he and Ricky I think are like literal star crossed lovers. Like he's cursed, there's no way for them to be together. And one of the things that I think I struggled with when I read this book the first time was like the ending because I was kind of like, how's, you know when a book like this a lot it's always, you're like, how's it gonna wrap up? And the thing I ended up feeling like, really, I've read this book eight months ago, ten months ago. It's just really feeling like now how brilliant it is that Tia let Ricky and Ezra feel like romance is almost always people are like the captains of their fate. And I think she was really comfortable with letting them instead be feel like victims of it. And yet with the help of Miss Stella and a lot of magic, they, they find a very like hard won and impossible happy ending.
- [21:44]
A
I also really loved that book. And you talk about the kind of, the way that it like fate kind of washes through them. And I think that's something that I have seen a lot in books this year. And actually I have a book on my list that sort of feels that way, but also has this magical realism piece to it. So I'm gonna talk about Kylie Scott's the Last Days of Lila Good Luck, which is also an early book. It came out in February. I don't know. So maybe this was like vestigial of last year.
- [22:19]
B
Right.
- [22:19]
A
But so you all, everybody knows that we really love Kylie here. We think, I mean we think she's a really genuinely terrific writer. And this book gave me a lot of joy because the premise itself, Kiley is very good at a premise. And the premise of this book is Lila Goodluck, who is a librarian for those of you looking. She is at a party and she leaves. At the very beginning of this book, she leaves the party and she's crossing a busy street or she's about to cross a busy street and a woman steps out in front of traffic and, and Lila saves her life and like grabs her back and like there's a sort of very chaotic moment. And then the woman turns to her and very calmly reveals that she is a witch. And that. And she says, I have five, I'm going to give you five predictions. And Lila's like, no, no. And she's like, be quiet and listen to me. I'm giving you five predictions. And she says, your boyfriend is cheating on you. You will be passed over for like the promotion that you are up for at work. That you really want. Your soulmate's name is Alistair George Arthur Lennox. And the winning lottery numbers are. And she rattles off a list of numbers and then she says, and I'm very sorry to tell you this, but you will die next Sunday. And Lila's like, what? And then the witch, like, disappears, like, basically, like, is gone into. Into the crowd. And, like, she's like, that's crazy. Like, obviously that's. This is. That's like a Los Angeles crazy thing that happened, right? Except, like, the next day, within 24 hours, her. She. It's revealed that her boyfriend was cheating on her. She does not get the promotion she thought she was going to get, and she has one. She couldn't remember all the classic, Right. Like, really, this is one of those moments where, like, in the hands of the wrong author, would have been mishandled, but, like, she couldn't remember all the numbers, but she remembered some of them, so she played them. So she made, like, an enough amount of money, like a, like, enough for, like, say, to take a week off out of your life and, like, do some shit. And then she almost gets hit, but she gets into, like, a kind of other car situation. And the driver of that car is Alistair George Arthur Lennox, illegitimate son of the King of England.
- [24:51]
B
Kylie, I love you.
- [24:53]
A
It's perfect.
- [24:55]
B
I love it.
- [24:57]
A
And so. And then, of course, she's like, oh, shit. Like, that's four. There were five predictions. That's four. And then she basically tells him, right in that moment, she's like, you're. This happened to me. She tells him everything and he's like, I'm not your soulmate. And she's like, no, you're not my soulmate. And then she's like, but what if you are? And what if I'm gonna die? And then he's like, you're not gonna die. And Jen, there is this through line in this book that is so great because what Kiley does is she takes this, like, you know, the, like, old school romance. Like, she's, you're not gonna die. I won't let you die.
- [25:35]
B
Of course I'm not gonna let you die.
- [25:37]
A
Grab the doctor and say, if she dies. You do, like, you know, that kind of thing. And he is so arrogant and so.
- [25:45]
B
Like, well, he's the King of England son, Sarah.
- [25:50]
A
Illegitimate, but yes. And he is basically like, no, this is stupid. You're not dying. And then, like, it becomes his, like, mantra, because as they start to fall for each other, they are both like, oh, shit. Like, that's the Fourth prediction. What if she's gonna die? And the fear produces his just like constant calm assurance that she is not gonna die. And then like, and you guys, then she. So then she like creates a bucket. It's basically a bucket list book. She like creates a list of things she wants to do. Like in her last week before. Like if you have one week left, like, what do you do? And like she has this man who like is a decent, kind dude who's like, yeah, okay, I'll do that stuff with you. And so they like do her bucket list. And some of it is like, I just want to like watch my favorite movie again. Like, it's really a beautiful book about like time and who we want to be and like the things we want from our world and the things we want from the people around us and like how lucky we are to just have each other. And it's really. I'm getting like teary thinking about it. It's like really a beautiful book and I'm very happy to put it on the list.
- [27:18]
B
I love it. Kylie is a two timer. On the list we put. You put her book repeat on the very first list in 2019.
- [27:31]
A
Kylie loves a crazy plot. That one, the woman has amnesia and she has to go and like figure out her life from her ex husband or boyfriend.
- [27:41]
B
Kylie has a real gift for high concept in that way. Like, right. Like there are not. And not all of her books are like that. But when she comes up with a really good one, it really, it really hits.
- [27:52]
A
Yes.
- [27:53]
B
Okay. Another early book that I read probably I think this one came out in May or June, is called Everyone I Kissed since youe Got Famous by May Marvel.
- [28:05]
A
I have this on my shelf because of you. And I haven't read it yet, but here, tell me again why I should.
- [28:10]
B
So one of the things I really love about this book is how it really like, I don't love a slow burn, but I loved this book and it was a slow burn. And so sometimes the books you put on the list, right. Are the books that kind of make you rethink something that you thought about yourself as a reader. So in this case we have Katie Price and Will Green. And these two women were best friends when they were in high school because their moms were best friends. This like is in Green Bay, Wisconsin. And they have like sort of big plans for college and what's going to happen next. And what happens instead is that Katie ends up becoming a movie star. But the way she became a movie star is she ended up this this man who married her, right. And then told everybody he made her a star, but it was an abusive relationship. And now it's, I don't know, 10 or 12 years later, and Katie is still wildly famous, and she's escaped this marriage and escaped this man and escaped this relationship, but it has left really deep scars. And so she is at home with her parents, who, you know, because of the publicity and I mean, you know, this, this man, like, wasn't going to really let her go. He still constantly talks about her and, you know, makes it about him. And, you know, so she. And of course, she's like gazillionaire. She bought her parents a home that was. Has a lot of property and a big fence around it and can be protected. And, you know, her parents go out of their way to protect her, even though her mom is still best friends with Will's mom. So they're having a Christmas party and like, Will shows up and Will is famous in her own way. She's lowercase as famous. And she. It's really interesting that there's. There was an Instagram angle in Ricky Wilde, and in this one, it was a TikTok angle. Will has a TikTok where she. She only puts up two videos a week, and in these two videos, she kisses a stranger. That's the whole thing. And one of the things I found really, that worked so well about both of these books is really, both these books captured exactly like the zeitgeist of those two particular social media platforms. Right?
- [30:42]
A
Yeah. Right.
- [30:43]
B
I don't know if that makes sense. Like, sometimes people put social media in a book and you're kind of like, well, that's not gonna really. But it was very believable that Will's. So Will would just like, kiss a stranger, kiss twice a week. And it was, you know, she would meet people and sort of they would know who she was or she would explain it to them. And, you know, these are people she was attracted to or not, or women, men, you know, non binary people, you name it. And the whole thing is that, like, it's made her kind of a star because people are so fascinated by the intimacy between strangers.
- [31:17]
A
Yeah.
- [31:17]
B
And so Katie really knows about Will's small F theme, and Will knows about Katie's capital F theme, but not about the truth about her marriage. And so what happens, of course, is that, like, Katie stays in Green Bay and they, like, get to know each other again and they kind of like, realize like, oh, God, we weren't best friends in high school. We were in love with each other. But we were like two girls in Green Bay and we didn't know that that's what we were feeling. And, you know, Will is really wants to, you know, has always wanted to go to law school, and instead she's. I mean, so there's like, this whole thing, again, like, very similar to the way you were talking about Lila. Good luck is like, what do you want your life to be? And that's not over just because you are not 22 anymore. Right. You can change your life in a lot of really meaningful ways. And the thing that I thought was really beautiful about this book that really stuck with me is just this idea of, like, how careful. How careful Will was with Katie once she figured out what was going on and how beautiful it was for the two of them to realize, like, I don't know, look back at their own past and see, like, a different version of the truth than they thought existed. The other thing I. I want to say, and this is, it's not a spoiler, but it's something I admired about the book, which is I really sometimes look it, romance sometimes goes for big feelings. And sometimes the way they do that is, let's be honest, it can be a little bombastic. And I really thought that what was going to happen is that, like, this evil ex husband was going to show up in Green Bay and, like, swing his dick. You know what I mean? I really kind of was dreading it because this is such a. Like, a gentle romance about building feelings carefully over time. And I just. And I really respected that the authors, like, he never appeared on page. The specter of him was there, but, like, she was free of that man. And even when they go back to Hollywood, right, they, of course, you know, Katie has to return to her life. The question of he never, like, appears to ruin anything. It never felt, like, dramatic like that. It just felt that May Marvel, who's, like, two authors. I don't remember their names. I'm not gonna say it. It really felt like May Marvel knew exactly what they were gonna do and then, like, did it. And it's just a beautiful. A beautiful book, a slow burn. Like a sensitive, beautiful portrayal of feelings. And also, if you are a book where you're like, I really want to read a book where, like, there's great kissing. Will knows how to kiss, right? And this is a book that deeply respects the art of kissing. And I loved it.
- [34:27]
A
I love that.
- [34:29]
B
Yeah, it's great.
- [34:31]
A
This week's episode of Faded Mates is sponsored by Lois Templin author of Heart of the Hawk.
- [34:37]
B
All right. Historical romance, girlies. We have a medieval.
- [34:41]
A
Oh, boy. Lay it on me, Jen. I'm ready.
- [34:44]
B
Hawk Grogan is the king's most trusted knight. He's, of course, never failed on a mission. But the king sends him off to Hawksburg Castle, which is in the Welsh marshes. There's some treason the king needs to get to the bottom of it, so he's gonna send his best guy. And Hawk, of course, you know, roams around the castle of it as if it's his own and is, you know, brooding, as one does. So he is trying to figure out what's going on, but he is really drawn to Lady Alice. This is the lord's sister, and he just finds her beguiling, but also really doesn't trust her, right? She's so flustered, she seems to be lying about things. What is going on? Meanwhile, Lady Alice is sure that everybody is loyal to the king. And this is like, my favorite plot in every medieval is, like, who's really loyal to the king or not? And so she is determined to prove, like, save the village, right? Like, if it turns out that something's going on, the king is gonna come down like a ton of bricks. So I think Hawk is the ton of bricks. Anyway, something is amiss at the castle, and so Hawk and Alice have to team up and figure out what's going on. There's growing attraction between them, of course, but there's still this lingering feeling of, can we trust each other?
- [36:06]
A
I love. Can we trust each other? If you also love, can we trust each other? And medievals and enemies to lovers and forced proximities and hero defies the king for the love of the heroine, Then this one is. Yes, listen. I mean, of course you do. Who are you kidding? Heart of the Hawk is for you. You can read it right now in print, ebook, or with your monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited. And if your podcasting app supports it, you can click on the chapter title right now to be taken to buy the. Thanks to Lois Templin for sponsoring this week's episode. Okay, I'm gonna go to Jess Hardy, because I think. I think one of the things that really struck me about what you were just talking about was this sort of sense of all the layers of life that come into these romances with characters who have been through it, right? And so Jess Hardy is currently writing a series called the Bluebird Basin Series. And these are all I talked about. The first book in that series, Come as yous Are last year It's a. And it. Because it's like they're billed as Gen X romances. So as somebody who is like a baby Gen Xer elder millennial, this really speaks to me and in a. In a way. And so this book, Lips Like Sugar, which came out at the beginning of this year, is the second in the series the hero. And what I love about the romance reader in me, the romance lover in me, and the rockstar romance lover in me really likes that. Jess does not just give us like two normal people, right? Just, it's like everyone I kissed since you got famous, right? Like, they're like, like, so Cole, the hero is a former punk rock, like band drummer. Like, basically think like, you know, Dave Grohl, but not a dirtbag, right? And so, and so he. He is the bandmate and best friend of the hero in the first book. So it's like, it has a real like romance, classic romance setup, right? Like, here is our next couple and he turns up in town because the first. The couple from the first book is getting married. And the heroine of this book, Mira, is. She is the small. It's a small town romance. She is the baker. The small town baker. And Cole walks into. So she is, you know, having her day and she is older. She is a woman of an age who has a teenage son and an aging parent and a business and an ex husband. And like, she has a. A big life full of big problems and big love. Right on all. And love in all the different ways that love exists for us. Like when we get to a certain age, like, she's struggling with like, her mother's mental. Like her mother has, like, is showing early signs of dementia. Her teenage son is like, pulling away and like, starting to make friends. And like, like, doesn't want to sit and watch TV with her every day. Like, she's like going through it. So anyway, as though that is not enough, on this morning before the wedding, into her bakery arrives her ex husband, who has also been invited to the wedding with his new beautiful girlfriend. And she is just like, like, and now this. And she doesn't want this man back. There is no like, if only, you know, she does not pine. But she's just like in that place, you know, when something happens and somebody from your past shows up and you just want them to think you're doing great.
- [39:56]
B
Yeah.
- [39:57]
A
Well, luckily Cole walks in the door right at that moment. And so Mira's like, I'm doing super great. Here's my boyfriend.
- [40:07]
B
Right?
- [40:08]
A
Aging rock star. She kisses him full on the mouth. He of course, is like, all right, let. I'm in. Let's do it. Let's do it.
- [40:18]
B
He's a rock star. He's used to women throwing themselves at him.
- [40:22]
A
Except, like, he's of course, like, oh, my God, she smells like vanilla or whatever. And like, she's perfect. And she's like, will you be my date to this wedding? Like, because then of course, it comes clear that they're all going to the wedding. And then. And so the ex husband's like, well, obviously this is your date to the wedding. And she's like, I guess it is. And like, and then, oops, they're in a fake relationship. And it's just so darling. But what's cool about it is this. The book does not. Is not about the wedding. Like, the wedding happens and then Cole has to go home to Seattle, like, far away, where he has an adult child and a grandchild. And like, he's a young grandpa, right? And so, I mean, grandpa can get it in this. In this one book, right? So. And he's like, no, like, that's my. My daughter, who I love more than anything. I'm. They. He lives with them. Like, they are like that. He has a life there, and she has a very real life in Montana. Right. And you know, Jen, you and I have talked about this, I think, on the podcast. Like, we often talk about, like, the problem with long distance relationship romances, or distance being a problem, a conflict in a romance, is that it just feels like logistics.
- [41:37]
B
Right?
- [41:37]
A
But in this scenario, like, it actually doesn't feel like logistics. She cannot leave her, like, aging mom and her teenage son. Like, he has this, like, real relationship where he, like, wants to see his family daily, right? Or, like, regularly.
- [41:56]
B
Yeah.
- [41:57]
A
And so, like, love starts to look different. So they have to has these, like, really sexy, sexy text messages. And like, you know, they have this long distance relationship, but there is this sort of rain cloud that feels like, very intense that maybe they won't be able to make it work, because grownups can't always make it work.
- [42:15]
B
Right.
- [42:16]
A
The benefit to this is that he has a terrific relationship with his adult daughter, who is basically like, you love this woman. Like, you deserve happiness. Like, we are happy. Like, you are a rock star. We will figure it out. And it's this kind of really. I spoiled the sort of like, how it all sorts itself out, but nobody cares. You're all gonna read it or not read it. But, like, there is something very powerful about all the secondary characters in this book just being Decent. Like, this is a book about decent people who fall in love and, like, have decent people around them who help them, like, overcome what does feel like a real conflict. And I will also say this book is very hot and so. And which is not like. Look, if you're looking for a seasoned romance that, like, does not pull the punches and, like, really feels authentic, but also is extremely hot.
- [43:16]
B
Perfect.
- [43:17]
A
Good for you. You're about to have a lovely holiday. So that was Jess Hardy's Lips Like Sugar.
- [43:25]
B
Okay, so I'm gonna talk about historical. Everyone knows I am a real sucker for a Beauty and the Beast retelling, and so I was powerless to resist. The Beast Takes a Bride by Julie Ann Long. Now, everybody, this is, from what I can tell, the eighth book in a series called the palace of Rogues. And because I love the chaos, this is the first book in this series that I've read. Right. So you don't need to have read the entire series. I mean, I think you would probably have a nice time if you wanted to.
- [44:01]
A
You would. I can confirm that you would definitely have a nice time.
- [44:04]
B
I have no fear. And I started at book number eight and partly. And one of the things I want to talk about with this book is just how much a great beginning will just suck me in like a vacuum. And now I'm reading. And in this case, we have Alexandra, who is in a jail cell. I don't know where in jail was in London. Where was jail in London?
- [44:28]
A
Was it Newgate?
- [44:30]
B
I don't know if they even said. Whatever, probably. Anyway, she's in a jail cell with four other women. And it starts off by saying, right, three of them were thieves. A silver candlestick, half dozen handkerchiefs, a wheel of cheese. One was a forger. The fifth one had stabbed her husband in the leg. And Alexandra is in with these women, and they don't believe her story about how she got there. And her story is that she stole a carriage and the horses belonging to a duke. And so now she's in jail. And they all think that. Cause she's in, like, a ball gown. They all think that she's essentially, like, telling tales, right? Like this hilarious rich lady telling this funny story about how she's in there. You know, they are, like, making fun of her accent and, you know, and she's really, like, playing along with them because she is completely terrified about what's gonna happen next when all of a sudden a silence falls over the jail and a man appears. And, Sarah, who could it be when you know it was her husband, and it says she hasn't seen him in five years. And I gotta tell you, I was.
- [45:45]
A
Completely in it right now.
- [45:46]
B
Yes. And her husband is Colonel Magnus Brightwall.
- [45:51]
A
Oh, Magnus. Name is Destiny.
- [45:53]
B
Exactly. And he essentially has been overseas making war for five years. And the great thing about this is, like, Julieanne Long, first of all, her writing is amazing. She is such. If you're like a. Kate always uses the phrase, like, prose, forward, right? Like, if you really care and you want to read some great writing, read a Julie M. Long book. It's just spectacular. And she. What. What essentially ends up being revealed is that her family, you know, was destitute. She knew it was her job to marry. Well, Magnus essentially, like, falls in love with her at first sight and offers for her hand, but it's clear that that offer is going to come with, like, a lot of financial assistance. He's buying himself a bride. And she doesn't actually really realize that he has these feelings for her. And she's had, like a flirtation with a young, you know, a young guy, you know, a young gentleman or whatever. And it's literally the night before their wedding. And he sees her kissing this boy. And what he doesn't know is this is the first and last time she ever kissed him. He. But his pride. I talked about this book on the pride when we did the Seven Deadly Sins, right? His pride gets in the way, and he is just so horrified that he felt feelings for her and she feels feelings for this other man that he essentially goes back to do war for five years and leaves her, like, leaves her alone. And she exists in this strange kind of in between land, right? She's the famed, you know, the wife of this famous colonel, the hero. This hero, yet she barely knows him and she doesn't know why he's not home. And he basically like breaks it to her, like, you're gonna go to America. I'm selling everything here. And you're, you know, you can take this money and go to America and you'll never see me again. And she is so helpless in the face of this man who has the right to tell her what to do. And so anyway, they end up at the palace of Rogues, which is like sort of a rooming house that they're gonna live in. And there's this, you know, a lot of the former characters appear. I did not find them overwhelming. I found them charming. I was, you know, compelled to go back and want to read all their books. But the whole business for her is really like getting Past his. I mean, obviously getting past his pride, but also getting past his. There's something about his determination to, like, make the world the way he wants it. And she, as a woman, is sort of tired of that. And so she is like, you know, and at the same time realizes, like, okay, if this is the out he's offering me, I'm gonna go along with what I have to go along with. We're gonna kind of make nice so that in the press, and then I'm gonna have a chance to, like, go my own way.
- [49:07]
A
Yeah.
- [49:08]
B
But the whole time they're just longing for each other, and then it all explodes and they have amazing sex and figure it all the fuck out. Yeah. It is a terrific historical romance. I loved it. It's funny. It's like. There's a whole, like, running gag in the. In the book about a young couple at the boarding house who just got married, and they're having, like, super noisy sex and everybody else is, like, completely horrified by it. It gives off vibes in a historical of that, like, great scene from Black Dagger Brotherhood where, like, Bella is in her kneading and everybody's, like, super horny. But, like, these two young people do not realize that everyone else knows what the noises are coming from their room. I mean, it's so. It's, like, funny. It's. I mean, it's just. But it's just so beautiful. Like, I just really. I mean, it just felt to me a book that had a lot to say about, like. About duty, right? Like, his feeling of, like, I'm a colonel and I have a duty and I have to act a certain way and be a certain way, and I will get rewarded for that. And you were supposed to act a certain way and you didn't. And her feeling that he didn't do right by her either. I loved it. Loved it. This week's episode of Fated Mates is brought to you by Vai Keelind, author of Bossman.
- [50:33]
A
So this one is an old school Vi Keeland book. It came out in 2016 originally, but it's. If you love a Vikilin book, you're gonna love this. This is a classic. So our heroine, Rhys, is on a terrible date, a terrible first date, and we meet her outside the bathroom at the restaurant where she is, and she's deeply bored by this man that she's on a date with, and she's trying to get through to her best friend and basically tell her best friend to come save her from this. This date. And she turns around and she. There Standing in the hallway is this, like, incredibly handsome, tall, dark, beautiful, perfect man who says, you know, you're pretty terrible for, like, for what you just did. And then he gives her kind of a series of dating advice.
- [51:23]
B
Amazing.
- [51:23]
A
And she tells him off because how dare he. And goes back to her table and to her bad date. And he returns with his, like, stunning girlfriend, or date his own date. And, like, basically teases her, pretends that she. He's.
- [51:37]
B
He's.
- [51:38]
A
They're. You're their old friends, that they grew up together, that he was once in love with her. You know, he really lays it on thick. And she's just, like, enraged by this irritating man. He leaves. And wouldn't you know it, Jen, she happens to be getting a new job at a corporation somewhere in town. And can you imagine who might be the boss?
- [51:58]
B
I think it's gonna be him.
- [51:59]
A
It's gonna be Chase, our hero. Chase, our hero, who is just, like, into Rhys from the jump, which will surprise no one who knows Vi Keeland. This is gonna be a real cat and mouse book. He is going to relentlessly pursue. Her name is Destiny when it comes to a hero named Chase. And I'm gonna wager that he's gonna be a great dirty talker. I would bet a 12 pack for.
- [52:29]
B
Days.
- [52:32]
A
And some real energy in the sack.
- [52:37]
B
What more could you want right now? So, everybody, if you would like to check out this alpha male boss workplace romance, it is available in print, ebook, or audio, and with your monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited. If you click on the chapter title right now, you can be taken to buy the book. Thanks to Via Keeland for sponsoring this week's episode.
- [52:59]
A
Okay, I'm just gonna go to somebody who I think writes a great book. How about that?
- [53:03]
B
There you go.
- [53:04]
A
That is the connection. Pick a book they wrote and you're gonna enjoy it. And that is Nikki Paint. I want to talk about Sex, Lies and Sensibility, which we talked about a little bit while she was. When she came on the episode on the podcast when Sex, Lies and Sensibility came out, and we. We did an episode with her about home renovation romance and why renovation is so great, which you should go back to and listen to, because it's going to expand on part of why I really love this. This book. But Sex, Lies and Sensibility is the second in Nikki's. Nikki's written two books that are retellings of Austen novels. And if you know me, you know I love Jane Austen. This is a retelling of Sense and Sensibility, but with a Kind of really terrific, modern twist. The heroine of this book, Nora, and her sister Yan, are. They discover upon the death of their father that they are the other family. Like, that he has been married and had a full family, and they believed that he was their father and, like, their family, and they are actually the other. He leaves his entire estate and holdings to the other family, with the exception of a plot of land and a rundown home building on that plot of land in, like, the backwoods of nowhere, Maine, to these two girls and these two city girls, one of whom Nora, who is. Well, these two city girls get. They realize that they. They have to go to Maine, right? Like, this is. This is the next thing for them at Maine, which is very white, very rural. Like, it is not a place where, like, two black women from the middle from, like, an actual city want to go necessarily. But what is really interesting here is Nikki gives them the kind of added problem, which is Nora has a leaked sex tape, and so the whole world has basically seen her in a compromising position, and she likes, like, needs to get the hell out of, like, anywhere with WI Fi. Honestly, like, she could do with just, like, having a quiet moment of, like, not being the most famous person on the Internet for the week. So they head out to Maine, where they end up at a kind of rundown, dilapidated building that was owned by their father. Thinks, if you're thinking, like, Schitt's Creek here, like, you're on the right track. Except there is a man there, a very handsome Abenaki man named Bear, and he is squatting essentially, on this land and giving. He's pretending to be a fake park ranger. If you learned anything from Fated Mates Live, you know that Nikki herself was a park ranger. So there's a lot of, like, park ranger excitement in this book. He's pretending to be a park ranger, and he's giving tours of their land, and she turns up with the deed and is basically like, get the hell out. And he is not gonna do that.
- [56:22]
B
So.
- [56:23]
A
Because this is his land, too, in many ways. And so what we actually have here and what I love about this book. So aside from it being blazingly hot from Bear, kind of being gone for Nora from the jump, um, I'm, like, wild about her sister Yan, who is, like, obsessed with Tarot. I mean, there are a bunch of these characters who. There are a ton of, like, side characters in this book that are really, like, charming and funny and clever. And what Nikki does. For those of us who love Austen and who think of Austin as Being really like a truth teller about society and also like having a real incisive way of telling on. On a society. Yeah, I mean, Nikki does that so well. This book is riotously funny in places in this and not. It is not situational comedy. It is like truly funny. These characters just see everything and say what they are thinking and it is a real delight to read. She is, you know, there are of course a ton of like little side notes and shout outs. So if you're an Austin Faniel, you're predisposed to love this. But I really think that what is that? The cool thing about this book is this sort of like big cast of characters who all kind of rally around these like true fish out of water. And I love a fish out of water story. I also really especially love one when they're not fully alone as fish out of water. Like the sister piece here is really powerful and like the complexity of like coming to terms again who you are when like the secrets your family holds, like the secrets that your culture, you know, sort of requires you to keep. And then on top of it, a real sense of like being loved for being loved by and for someone who be in love. Like by someone who is like so completely out of your. Your world, right? Like showing up from the city and like you know, meeting a fake park ranger and then also being loved for like or in spite of, you know, all your little flaws. And like Nora is very flawed and very perfect in every way.
- [59:04]
B
I love it. All right, I am going to talk about. Okay everybody, if you look back, remember I was like, oh yeah, look at the best of list. You're going to see that like I have a real affinity for like a certain kind of like I guess like it must be like mafia romance. These are not really dark romance, I guess. You know, it's like, you know, like kind of the ass. Anyway, so we got an assassin with a heart of gold here and his name is Hans. This is Hans is the name of the book by S.J. dilley. This again the fourth book in the alliance series. I read it first and I would recommend actually that you do the same. And this is a book that is notable. Sarah, I was thinking about how to describe it for what I am going to call a man who is angry pining, exasperated man. But like in the furious with himself.
- [59:57]
A
How dare you make me feel a.
- [59:58]
B
Feeling furious with himself for how obsessed he is with his across the street neighbor Cassie. Now as I was saying, I really there's like a kind of like I have A real affinity for a book, like, for a book like this, like, Run Posey, Run. And I think that beautiful Russian Monster by Odette Stone. Like, there's like a certain kind of book that just really scratches this itch. And this is a book like I opened up and literally just like read straight through. And it was. And then like got to the end and was like, I could read that again. And in this book. So Hans is an assassin. He lives on like a cul de sac in like outside of, I think St. Paul or, you know, Minnesota. Like, so whatever, they're bad guys in Minnesota, which, I don't know. I just feel like Tim Waltz would never. But he just had eradicated all of that out of that state. Except for these couple of guys. They run like a, like a bad guy firm called the Alliance. And Hans is so controlling because his sister was like kidnapped and he essentially has been avenging her his entire life. Like, she was, you know, essentially kidnapped and like raped and like trafficked. So Hans is basically like, ever since been like, finding people who are trafficking others and he is just like gonna kill them. That's like his whole job. He's like a self made man. But, like, this is his, his calling. And he controls his whole, like, street. He owns several homes on the street. Nobody would know this, right? Like, there's all these safe houses and tunnels and so this is like his, his little fiefdom. But he's away on a job for like, you know, a couple of weeks. And in that somehow magic amount of time, the street, the house across the street is available. And Cassie, like, rents it and moves into it. And she like, he pulls up and she's so like, boy, I thought this street would be busier. Why doesn't anybody live on it? So he pulls up and she like, toddles across the street and like meets him and he is just like instantaneously in love with her. And I was like, I am in it for this book. But it's now a year later and he cannot let himself talk to her. But she is really determined. And so she is cooking for him, baking for him every week. And so she'll come over once a week. And he watches her on his cameras and leave it on the front step. And no Book, listen, no book has ever done this trope better. She is a terrible cook. But because he is making it for her, he, like, forces himself to eat this food and it like, just sounds insane. Like at one point she gives him like charred corn cookies. He's just like, cassie, what Are you doing?
- [62:55]
A
But he, like, can't help himself, right?
- [62:58]
B
He. He loves, like forces himself to eat it because she made it for him. And of course, she has no idea, right? She has no idea. Listen. So of course, you know, you know, it's like the bad guys find him and find her and they're off on these adventures. And you know, at one point he goes to her family's home. Like, they're kind of on the run. And they like, stop off at her parents for some reason. And her dad, like, recognizes that he is a dangerous man. Like, she's like, this is my neighbor Hans. And her dad totally clocks that. This guy is like a killer. Anyway, everything about this book delighted me. I am not gonna lie to you. It was completely over the top at every moment in feelings and execution and plotting, and I could not get enough of it. And I literally, like, just thinking about it brings me great joy. It's like I put it back inside the vault because I know I'm gonna need it one day. That's how good it was.
- [63:57]
A
Oh, I love that. Putting a book in the vault. Very. That's big.
- [64:03]
B
Yeah, it's Good. Hans By S.J. tilly this week's episode of Fated Mates is brought to you by Avon Books publishers of when the Moon Hatched by Sarah A. Parker.
- [64:19]
A
So, on this. In this particular fantasy world, there is a massive war going on. There are the sort of tier, the tyrannical leaders and the rebel. The rebel group. The rebel.
- [64:36]
B
Who could have guessed Sarah?
- [64:37]
A
Exactly. And our heroine, Rave, is a rebel assassin and she is legendary. And she is sort of set out to commit a sort of a very significant crime. And at the very beginning of this book, she trusts the wrong person. She. She makes a huge mistake and. And through a kind of tragic event, ends up imprisoned herself by a group of powerful fae who intend to hold her up as like a model of why the rebellion must be quashed. At the same time, the king of this world, Khan, has lost his. His greatest love. He is in absolute kind of emotional turmoil. He has donned this kind of crown that he doesn't really want. And now he is out looking for something to give his life meaning. And he is drawn inexorably, Jen, toward a high security prison. What could possibly be in there? He stumbles upon, of course, Rave imprisoned. And suddenly, like the emotions between them, there are a bunch of feelings that flood between them. They've never met each other, but somehow they know each other and they have like these intense emotions toward each other. And he breaks her out and there begins this kind of epic and very epic. This is not a small book. An epic story of us against the world in a lot of ways.
- [66:10]
B
So if you would like to read an Enemies to Lovers assassin and a king romantasy where he. He falls first, you should check out when the Moon Hatched. It is available in print, ebook and audio. And the audiobook features dual narrators. Also, we've got cool paperback and special hardcover editions. And the sequel, the Ballad of Falling Dragons, will be coming soon. 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 Avon Books and Sarah A. Parker for sponsoring this week's episode.
- [66:46]
A
Okay, so my next pick is Elizabeth Hoyt's no Ordinary Duchess.
- [66:51]
B
Elizabeth Hoyt.
- [66:52]
A
Listen, we've been waiting for years, it feels like, for this new Elizabeth Hoyt. And I am, I mean, I've talked about this before on the podcast. Like, I love an Elizabeth Hoyt book because for lots of reasons, like they, they feel real old school in the, like, in the bones of them, but they are first of all, like completely filthy, everyone. And also have these really modern through lines that, you know, there's always a heroine who like, just has such, like, such a spine anyway. And also I love a hero. I love an Elizabeth Hoyt hero because they all think that they are just revolting and terrible. Like no one should ever love them. They are just the worst of men. And they know that, like, they're. Well, they are not the worst of men. Everybody. They just think they deserve.
- [67:47]
B
They just think they are.
- [67:48]
A
They just literally think they deserve to just like live in the muck and like no one should ever touch them. And this book begins. So, okay, this. Okay, Julian, take a deep breath.
- [68:00]
B
Sarah.
- [68:01]
A
Okay. Julian, our hero is. I mean, he just thinks he has such disdain for himself. He is the heir to a dukedom and. But the duke who holds the title is like the worst of men. Like, he is. There is sort of speculation that he murdered Julian's mother. There is speculation that he's caused the death of a number of different people. And Julian, in order to prove this, is looking for. There's this sort of of there. He knows his mother kept a journal and he doesn't. He's trying to find it. At the same time, we have Lady Elspeth, who is friends to Julian's sisters, a friend of Julian's sisters and also raised to be. She's trained as a wise woman. And this is the sort of, you know, Women, a secret women's organization that has existed over the centuries. And it is. They pledge. The members of this organization pledge their, like, energy and time to helping women out of difficult situations. And this is, like, millennia old, this organization. They are essentially thought.
- [69:14]
B
They.
- [69:15]
A
Everybody who knows about them thinks that they're witches. They are not witches. There is no magic in this book. But, like, there is this kind of, like, what's the deal with this coven of women? She was trained as their librarian, and she is on the hunt. And there is, like, a bad faction of these witches called the Hags, and they are. You know, they've changed the rules of the. Of the Wise women. And so she is on the hunt for the original kind of guiding text of the Wise Women, which is rumored to live in the Gracourt family libraries. So we're together. So this book begins. Elspeth is, like, high on a Beauty and the Beast library ladder. In comes Julian. He's immediately like, holy. Look at this woman. She's immediate. He, of course, is like, I'm not.
- [69:58]
B
Good enough for her.
- [69:59]
A
Why would she even look at me? I'm miserable. I'm disgusting. Don't even touch me. Like, how nobody should ever want to touch me. I'm filthy. I'm awful. And she's like, holy crap. Look at his mouth. Because, of course. And then, like, she smells like oak.
- [70:13]
B
Leaves in library and papers.
- [70:17]
A
Yeah. So. But, Jen, this book. So, first of all, like, very layered. Like, if you were looking for a book to just lose yourself in, this is the book for you. There are all sorts of things going on in here. Like, Julian's sister's being married off to, like, a terrible old man. There's, like, a witch assassin in the woods, like, coming for Elspeth. There's a winter storm that, like, washes out the road while all the servants are away from Julian's house. And so it's just Julian and Elspeth for, like, the middle of this book alone, going, like, they're cataloging his library, each searching for their own thing, and then also discovering that they just want a bone. Like, it's so sexy and intense and private, and you really feel like you're in a phone booth in this book a lot of the time. But also, there's this massive world. Like, it feels so much bigger and so much smaller in so many different ways. Like, she's just such a talented. It felt like coming home. Like, if you are a Elizabeth Hoyt fan, this book is gonna really hit for you. Also, I should say this book was very for Sarah and not really for Jen, because it turns out that one of the reasons why Julian thinks he is just, like, the worst and, like, nobody should ever touch him is because he has a very particular kind of need, which is that he is a sexual submissive.
- [71:41]
B
Well, there you go.
- [71:42]
A
And Elspeth is like. Like, I'm into it. She finds a book, like, tucked between his mattresses, like, under his mattress, and she's like, oh, what's this? And then she's like, I can. I can do this. I can play. Anyway, it's really fun. It's a great historical. Like, if you. If you love historicals, you will be very happy with this. It is out December 10th. It is the only December book on the list, and it is available in the box.
- [72:14]
B
The good people at the bookstore contacted the good people at Forever and our good friend Dana, who is their publicist, and we're gonna get it to you in the box. So that's really exciting. You must have loved it, Sarah.
- [72:32]
A
I really had a great time.
- [72:33]
B
Sarah, you guys. As you know, if you're not a longtime listener of the podcast, Sarah is. Is always on the hunt for sexual submissive. And so to have one fall into her lap, totally.
- [72:43]
A
Like, I would have loved this book even if he had, like, if it had been the reverse. And, like, when it happened, I was like, oh, my God, perfect. But, of course. But, like, of course it went this way. Like, I feel like this also was the right book. I read this immediately after the election. I did not choose this, but I did not read this book, like, prior to the election. And I. It is the latest addition to the list, I think. And it was just the right book at the right time. Like, this, like, coven of women, like, all of it, it just. It hit real great for me. So enjoy, everyone. That is Elizabeth Hoyt's no Ordinary Duchess.
- [73:20]
B
Okay, so my last pick is Sleeping with the Frenemy by Natalie Kenya. This is the third book in the Vega family love story series, which I. Everybody knows. I really loved the series a lot. We did a deep dive of book two. I talked about re listening to these as, like, comfort reads, because I think the audio for this series is terrific. And in this book. Here's the thing. This book, God, it does so many things so well. And one of them is that book number one in the series had Camila and Liam in, like, a fake relationship. And, you know, of course, everybody finds out. And this book starts with Camila's best friend Sophie, being so hurt that she was lied to that she. Right. And it's really interesting because we never really get the fallout of fake dating on the people that were lied to. And I was like, oh my God, this is such a, such a top notch, God tier way to start this book because I just thought it was so brilliant. And meanwhile though, the reason Sophie, I think is so upset and feeling so guilty is because it turns out that she has basically been having a secret on again, off again affair with Camila's brother Leo for 15 years.
- [74:44]
A
Which we kind of saw.
- [74:45]
B
Yes, right. We kind of saw like the, you know, the, the like something was up there, Something was up, up, you know, and so it opens with him having this fight essentially right as book one ends, you know, where she's like, I can't believe she didn't tell me. And I'm so outraged. And he's like, you didn't tell her, right? Like there's all this back and forth and she's like, you know what? I'm not doing this anymore. I'm leaving. You know how I love this? You know how I love when they leave? She is not just gone, Sarah, for a month, she's gone for over a year. She like picks, she works for her father, she picks up, she goes to Paris and she is like, peaced out. She's yet to Paris. Listen, Sophie, you brilliant thing, you. She comes back to Chicago, right? She makes peace with Camila, but like, her and Leo are like just like in this push, pull and they can't figure out how to like get past the way they were when they were young, especially because it's all kind of secret. Now, halfway through the book, you realize that essentially, again, like, meddling grandparents are like one of my favorites. The meddling grandparents, his abuelo, her abuela are like kind of secretly dating themselves. And they have been like arranging things so that like Leo, like Sophie's apartment where she was gonna live, falls through, but Leo has an extra space, so she's gonna be his roommate. And then there's like this scene, this, like, here's where this book won me over there. There's a scene where they find. They find a dog, like a stray dog, and they take it up into their apartment and she is just like, there is no way, you know, we're gonna do this. And Leo is calling the dog Dumpy because they found it at a dump. And she's like, you can't call the dog Dumpy. She's so outraged. And of course she like falls in love with the dog, right? And so it's like this very, like, kind of, you know, he knows that she's gonna love the dog. Like, it's this very, like, I don't know, it's just this great moment between them, and then you find out that Abuelo had basically put the dog there, knowing that they would find it so they could bond over it.
- [76:52]
A
It's not Lucky's meddling. Grandpa's there.
- [76:54]
B
Are you fucking kidding me? It is amazing. Now here's the part, though, despite how much. I mean, listen, I don't think anybody does the genuinely funny, like, I laughed out loud a lot when reading it, but also, like, all of the, like, oh, my God. Like, I. I had. I did a panel with Natalie and she talked about, like, how much she loved telenovelas when she was growing up. And like, all of, like, there's so much going on in this book, but it is all perfectly done. And here's the thing. When the breakup arrives, I'm not even gonna call it the third act breakup, because it is it you. I really was like, oh, yeah, God, they broke up. Broke up. It is over. And it's all because of the, like, completely, like, they can't again, like, the, like, the way they were in the past just, like, comes roaring up to meet them on a day when both of them just sort of, like, experience huge failures. And it's. And yet so, so believable to me, like, the emotional weight of this. So if you're one of those people who's like, like, third act breakups are so fake or, you know, like, this is a book that I think really does it well, that really just shows, like, there is a time when people just feel like they are at an impasse and that there's no way forward. Of course there is a way forward. It involves the meddling grandparents.
- [78:20]
A
More.
- [78:21]
B
It is, you know, just terrific. This book I loved from beginning to end. I have a really funny, like, footnote to the story. Remember earlier I was like, don't let me forget to tell you about Poppy.
- [78:33]
A
Okay?
- [78:34]
B
So they're having sex, and it's super hot. And she calls him Poppy and he's super into it, and he spanks her. And I was like, oh, yeah, this is super. So hot, right? So hot. I was at work today, and my colleague Max, who has a very adorable little girl, you know, she, like, came in and was like, poppy. And I was like, jennifer, this isn't sexy anymore. I'm so sorry. I'm sorry, everybody, but I'm gonna get over it and go back to it. Being really sexy, but it's just really funny. Like, it was so cute. So anyway, this book, this whole series, I think, delivers, like, again, that, like, gut punch emotion. The, like, the fall in and keep reading it, you can't wait to find out what's gonna happen next feeling. And because it's so richly layered and really, like, I think does more with, like, a big meddling family than a lot of books. Like, there's a ton of characters moving and moving parts in these books, and it all just, like, kind of perfectly wraps up not just this book, but the whole series. And I think people will be reading these three books for a really long time.
- [79:46]
A
Yeah. Well, it's interesting, right, because I said at the beginning that I think that, like, there's. There are through lines on all the lists and, like, these big families are definitely. I feel like there are more big families in romance this year than ever before.
- [80:02]
B
Yeah.
- [80:04]
A
And so I guess it sort of makes sense that I. My last. My last choice, my last pick is Rules for Ghosting by Shelley J. Shore, which I'm not gonna spend a ton more time talking about because I did talk about it on the death and dying. The death and more I read. What did we call about it? Yeah, the. Basically the pandemic episode. What I didn't talk about enough, and I sort of regretted after that episode not talking about was the romance piece of it. Right. Because I was. We were so focused on a very particular kind of thing. But what I do want to say before I get into the romance. So this book, Rules for Ghosting, Ezra is a child of a sort of big Jewish family. He has a brother and a sister and his parents. And it begins on Passover, like, with a Passover Seder, where everything just goes fully to pot. Like, they are at this. At this dinner, his mother reveals that she and the rabbi, their rabbi, have been in a relationship, are in love, and are in a relationship now. And both she and the rabbi are leaving their husbands for each other. And, like, it's chaos. Right. And so one of the things that's really interesting about this, and then on top of it, the family owns a funeral parlor. And Ezra is a doula, a baby doula, who, like, then is sort of called in because mom and the rabbi go on the run for a little while. They go kind of walk about while, you know, everything is left in chaos. And he's kind of brought in to, like, help doula or not doula, to help handle, like, the business of death and the, like, emotions of death. So I talked about all that in the other episode. Ezra can see ghosts. He can. He can see ghosts. And in his experience since he was a child, ghosts kind of haunt a place and then they move on. Or maybe they haunt a person, but they move on. And genuinely, he does not. There are, like. There are no bad ghosts. He's just, like, these are just spirits and he can see them. He meets a man named Jonathan right at the very beginning of the book. And Jonathan is kind of connected to the family. And Jonathan comes to that Passover dinner, that one where everything sort of falls apart. And there's a great moment before everything falls. Falls apart where, like, this is a. This is a group of people, a family that has had this, along with the rabbi and her husband, have had this kind of dinner every year, every holiday. These are the people that they spend holidays with. So, like, there are things that happen every year. And the kids who are now out, adults play this, like, very funny drinking game, right? Where, like, if anybody ever mentions, like, none of them are married, they all drink, right? And so, like, there's. They have a. Like, a list of things that they drink. Anytime one of the adults says, anytime they. They argue a very particular piece of scripture, like, part of the Torah, part of the, like, ceremony, they, like, all drink. And Jonathan, who is brand new to this world, does not know, has not been told that this is a drinking game, but he picks up on it right away and immediately understands the rules and immediately is able to collide the things that they are drinking to. And he starts to play. And it is a really beautiful moment in this romance, like, right at the very beginning, I mean, I don't know, 40 pages in, where, like, it's just clear that what Shelly J. Shore is doing here is, like, really laying a long game of the romance. But, like, I love that Jonathan understands all of Ezra, like, from the jump. And it is. He doesn't know so many things about Ezra. He doesn't know, like, much about this family. He is struggling with his own grief. It becomes clear that, like, Ezra starts to be sort of haunted by a particular. A young man ghost. And it turns out that the ghost that. That he. That is haunting him is Ben, Jonathan's former husband. Yeah, I mean, Jonathan is a widower, and Ben died. And so, like, there are all these kind of secrets and layers and, like, truths that come out. And Ezra, like, has his own, like. Like, life where he has tried to, like, he's. He's done a lot of work to, like, understand who he is. He is Trans he is. He has a job that runs, like, in many ways he feels counter to his family's business. Right. Like, he doesn't always feel, like, well connected to his family. He doesn't always feel like at home in the world, as comfortable as he could in the world. But like Jonathan. And also he sees dead people. Right. So it's a lot. It's a tall order. And Jonathan, like, really sees all. Every time a layer gets peeled back of Ezra on Ezra, like, Jonathan just, like, seems to just get it. And it's a really comfortable read in the sense that. Or comforting read where, like, you just feel like that's really what love is. Right. Like in its purest, most kind of. And I don't say this pejoratively, like, in its most ordinary form. Love is like, I see the challenges that you face and I love you for them. Like, I love you. I understand you. I. I feel like what is being explored in Rules for Ghosting is like, how we have to understand each other, to love each other. And it's really beautiful. It's debut. And I just. I just think it's such a. It's a book that. Again, I. I think I said this on that episode too, but, like, really shows, like, the. The way romance can do immense work, like, when it comes to healing.
- [86:14]
B
Oh, I love that. Yeah, I love that. What a year. It turned out all right, 2024 for these reads.
- [86:23]
A
Yeah. But like some really great books this year. Yeah, really, I think special books. I don't always feel like the. The list is special, but this year feels like there are some special books on it.
- [86:34]
B
Yeah. Yeah, I agree.
- [86:36]
A
Weird how much magical realism is on it.
- [86:38]
B
I think that's related to the. Right.
- [86:40]
A
The pandemic, what we're doing.
- [86:42]
B
There's a. There's a chemtrail.
- [86:46]
A
Yeah, well, like.
- [86:46]
B
Right, right.
- [86:47]
A
Like, Ricky Wilde has all that time stuff. Lila Goodlock has the Witch Rules for Ghosting has an actual ghost and even that. Elizabeth Hoyt has, like, witches.
- [86:59]
B
Yeah, it has a witch in it. Well, Sarah, I'm gonna order myself this box and then listen. So if you've already read or own some of these, what I do is I order the box and I, like, pass them around to my friends. I put them in little free libraries.
- [87:13]
A
So you can buy the whole box from Pocketbooks.
- [87:17]
B
The website will be very clear about, like, kind of what's in the box. I think, obviously, Hans is an indie book. Hans is an indie book and couldn't be ordered some of the other. You know, there's a hardcover in there. Ricky Wilde so I think you'll see like they do a great job. There's usually like additions. So for example, like maybe you can add other books from series, etc. So just they do a Pocketbooks does a great job setting up the page that will direct you through like ordering a box in all of those directions. So we're really happy to have them.
- [87:49]
A
As partners in this. You can find all the information on these books, the full list of these books, and the information on how to order the box from Pocketbook shop in Lancaster, Pennsylvania at fatedmates.net bestof and it'll be right there at the top of the page. So enjoy yourselves, treat yourselves because we all deserve it more than ever this year. And then as a reminder, you can always find the individual books on our website. We link to bookshop.org so you can support your local indie and many of which are becoming community centers and community organizing hubs in the next now and through the next few years. So support your local indies because bookstores are important and if you are if the book is not available through indies, you can find them through Amazon. We keep all the links there.
- [88:47]
B
Thanks for listening, thanks for reading and thanks for romance.
- [88:51]
A
Happy 2024 everyone. We did it. I am Sarah McLean. I'm here with my friend Jen Prokop. We are Fated Mates. You can find us every Wednesday wherever you get your podcasts. Please like and subscribe on your favorite podcasting app. Reviews are a delight for us and for others to read to know if they should come listen to us. You can find show notes and full lists of all the books we talk about every week in show notes@fatedmates.net and in general, we love you. Thanks for coming back every week and we will be here again next week.