Podcast Summary: Fated Mates S08.17 – Setting New Year’s Reading Resolutions

Hosts: Sarah MacLean and Jennifer (“Jen”) Prokop
Date: January 14, 2026
Theme: Approaching the New Year with intentional reading resolutions and organizational strategies, reflections on technology and publishing, plus favorite books and upcoming releases.

Episode Overview

In this lively, thoughtful conversation, Sarah and Jen embrace the beginning of 2026 by examining their own reading habits, strategies, and hopes for the year. While both admit to being ambivalent about traditional New Year’s resolutions, they find real value in resetting reading goals and systems, from embracing new tech to tracking books on paper. They reflect on industry changes, the value of debut authors, the necessity of intentionality when choosing what (and how) to read, and share anticipations for upcoming releases in romance and beyond.

1. Rethinking Resolutions & Organizing The Reading Year

The Skepticism of New Year's Resolutions

• Sarah wonders why resolutions are made in the winter, citing biological rhythm misalignment:

  “I read this, like, really interesting thing that was, like, biologically, like, the winter is actually a terrible time to do resolutions because… we're designed to just like, shut down, to, like, fatten up and, like, go under the covers.” (00:27)

• Jen, a teacher, quips that January is “just the middle of school.” New Year's as a reset feels arbitrary compared to the academic/calendar rhythms.

Geography and Seasons

• Anecdotes about friends living in the Southern Hemisphere disrupt default assumptions about when “the year” begins—a reminder to question ingrained habits.

  “My friend Brittany… moved to Botswana with her family… her daughter being on summer break. I was like… my brain just, like, glitched.” (01:35)

2. Tech Talk: Kobo vs. Kindle, NetGalley Issues, and Amazon’s Policies

Sarah’s New Reading Gadgets

• Sarah shares her Christmas gift: a Kobo e-reader and a Kobo remote, delighting in the ability to “read my book [with a clicker]… never in my life felt more lazy.” (08:13)
• She critiques the lack of NetGalley support on Kobo, calling out both publishers and Kobo for the technical disconnects.
• Larger frustrations surface over Amazon's “locking books down” on KU (Kindle Unlimited), and both vent about the increasing use of AI in publishing:

  “I'm also real pissed off at Amazon right now as an author for the way they are just like dumping AI tools into our books and for sure, scraping the books.” (13:00)

Amazon vs. Kobo: Weighing Ethics and Practicalities

• Both acknowledge wanting to diversify away from Amazon, but note the real-world difficulties:

  Jen: "I've tried several times and failed every time to leave… I had to, like, forgive myself for not being able to do it…" (12:36)

• Real talk about where books “live”—switching platforms is cumbersome for heavy readers.

3. Banishing the Book Clutter: Systems and Strategies for Tracking What You Read

Tracking Books Read: Paper Planners vs. Digital Tools

• Sarah describes her low-key new system: simply jotting down each finished book (title, author, brief thoughts) in her daily paper planner:

  “I have a planner… I've started… marking the books that I finish on the day I finish them… put in like a couple of little notes, like, you know, like, kind of rating… or, you know, a trope.” (25:04)

• She rejects Goodreads as “torture” due to its public ratings and the temptation for authors to spiral.

Jen’s Perspective: Minimalism and Multipurpose Devices

• Jen mostly reads on an iPad loaded with all relevant reading apps, admitting she does not track books individually anymore. “The podcast is me tracking what I've read to some extent.” (29:40)
• Misses sometimes leaving herself wry one-sentence notes about books on old spreadsheets.

The TBR Backlog & Digital Organization

• Jen uses e-reader collections/folders to keep new, unread books organized by year, arcs, holiday, etc.:

  “I call them all the year first… as I am buying new books, I am trying to put them into these folders…” (36:26)

• This keeps the most relevant books handy when preparing themed podcast episodes.
• Both share that the stacks—both physical and digital—can get overwhelming, and they take comfort in slowly culling through.

4. Reading Intentions: Debuts, Backlists, and Breaking Your Own Patterns

Intentional Reading Goals

• Both are committed to boosting debut authors: “Without debut romances, the genre will fail… we need fresh meat.” (57:01)
• Recommendations for debut authors: identify yourself as “debut” for increased discoverability.

Expanding Horizons

• Sarah intentionally reads historical romance by authors she’s never read, remembering the genre thrives with new voices, contrary to the “historical is dead” narrative.
• Jen vouches for “meta-reading” (reading your own TBR), finding it grounding and affirming as a reader.

  “You spend an hour… go to your… content and devices… just kind of like go through and you're like, what have I not read?” (61:04)

5. Producing the Podcast: Behind the Scenes

• Monthly planning meetings: “Every kind of month or so… we sort of go like, all right, what are we doing?... tropes that we want to tackle…” (40:18)
• Fluid episode scheduling—sometimes tracking “themes” months in advance, often collecting notes and title ideas in the Notes app or digital spreadsheet.

6. Readers' Advisory Philosophy: Why Fated Mates Picks What It Picks

• The show avoids hyper-popular books when listeners already know them (e.g., no “Hockey Romance Episode,” not doing readalongs for juggernaut authors like Emily Henry)

  Jen: “If you’re going to be reading to recommend things… You don’t need to do the stuff that is already so freaking big.” (46:45)

• Sarah, as an author, reads the major titles even if not for enjoyment—“it’s the work.”
• The emphasis: Fated Mates wants to showcase the best and introduce listeners to new and excellent work rather than reiterate the obvious.

7. Print vs. E-books: Preferences, Bookstores, & Lending

• Both enjoy supporting independent bookstores—if Sarah needs to read for work or a podcast blurb, she asks for print copies to better retain details.
• Jen’s print purchases largely come from indie romance bookstores in Chicago. Her print-to-ebook ratio is about 10%.
• Both love sharing print finds—donating to Little Free Libraries or coworkers.

8. Book Anticipation & Recommendations

Upcoming & Recent Titles Mentioned:

• She Fell Away by Lenore Nash (Lenora Bell writing as Nash) – noir mystery, March release.
• As Far as She Knew by Diana Awad (Diana Quincy) – suspense novel, an upcoming Mindy Kaling pick, April.
• The Romance Revival by Christina Lauren – July.
• The Paris Match by Kate Claiborne – “the one for me… early April,” highly anticipated by Jen. (65:19)
• Just for the Season by Rachel Griffiths – next historical, post-debut.
• The Duke by Anna Cowan – Sapphic historical, coming in April.
• Upcoming Lisa Kleypas – excitement for the legendary author’s new book.

Jen's Print Book Recommendation

• Alphabet in How Letters Got Their Shape – “a big, huge, like pop up book about the Alphabet and how letters became letters.” (85:01)
• Jen prizes paper books that do what no other book can do, e.g. beautiful illustrated editions.

9. Memorable Quotes

• On tracking:

  “I'm not ever going to put them into a Google spreadsheet. Like, that's just never going to be it.” – Sarah (26:35)

• On intentional debuts:

  “If you're out there and you're a debut, first of all, tell people … say, like, it's your debut romance. I think a lot of people are really eager to try new people.” – Sarah (57:44)

• On reading as identity:

  “This is me saying, like, reading is an important part of me and who I am, how I process the world and the things around me.” – Jen (61:04)

• On culling print books:

  “On a Saturday afternoon, [I] just pull out all the books that came in the mail that week and I can call half of them into the little free library that day. Like, not for me. Not for me, not for me.” – Sarah (73:19)

• On the labor behind podcasting:

  “Can you imagine? That would be amazing… No, this is our brains.” – Jen (43:59)

10. Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:27 – New Year's skepticism and seasonal resets
• 08:13 – Sarah’s experience with Kobo and critiques of e-reader interoperability
• 13:00 – Frustration over Amazon and AI in publishing
• 25:04 – Sarah’s minimalist paper-based tracking system
• 36:26 – Jen explains organizing ebooks with digital folders/collections
• 40:18 – Behind the podcast: choosing themes and scheduling
• 46:45 – Why they don't cover major, mega-popular books on the podcast
• 57:01 – Commitment to debuts, concrete encouragement for new authors
• 65:19 – Upcoming anticipated releases (Kate Claiborne, Christina Lauren, etc.)
• 73:19 – Culling print books and the pleasure of sharing them
• 85:01 – Jen’s appreciation for “books as art”—recommendation for a pop-up alphabet book

11. Closing Thoughts

Both hosts encourage listeners to develop systems—however imperfect—for staying engaged and excited in their reading lives, whether that means tracking, culling, making digital folders, or simply forgiving yourself for unread books. The most important takeaway: Be intentional, be curious, and let joy and discovery drive your reading year.

“If you have a system… designed for people who are bad at systems, you're welcome to share it with me, but at this point, I'm just gonna try and keep on with my paper planner system because it seems like the lowest hanging system…” – Sarah (86:49)

For full book recs and discussion, check Fated Mates show notes and join their community on Patreon or Discord.