1 hour 6 minutes

ANNIVERSARY RERUN: We're Gonna Come Back to Biting

We started this podcast in October of 2018! Eight years and 420 episodes later, we came back to biting.

Join Fated States tomorrow, November 1st, for the final phonebank before Election Day. We're calling Michigan for Abdul El-Sayed!

Register now to join.

31 October 2026, 2:35 pm

1 hour 31 minutes

S09.08: Halloween Grab Bag

It’s demons and death and decorative gourd season, and we’re talking about all of them, along with sewer monsters and twelve-foot tall skeletons and a vampire or two! If you’re looking for a Halloween read, we’ve got you this week with a little something for everyone. This is the next in a long line of spooky reads episodes, so when you’re done with this one, head over and listen to the rest (a list of them is in show notes!)

Fated States, our democratic phonebanking initiative wraps up this weekend—we’ll be calling Michigan to get out the vote for Abdul El-Sayed ! There will be games, prizes and special guests! Learn more and register to phone bank with us at fatedmates.net/fatedstates.

If you’d like to come over and talk about Halloween reads with us, please join us on the Fated Mates Discord, where you’ll find a few thousand other listeners who love talking about these books we love. Join the Fated Mates patreon to get access, and You also get one extra episode a month from us!!

Books

Notes

It’s (finally) Scorpio season!
We’re talking about Michigan and Maps, which is just our regular brand of off topic nonsense and has nothing to do with this episode. South Detroit is actually Canada, and the Model T was invented by Henry Ford in Michigan, and that’s why all the American car companies were headquartered in Detroit.
Sarah says you can just watch the end of Ted Lasso for Roy and Keely.
Luckily, Brill Harper has rereleased Demon’s Curvy Mate on all platforms after we did email, that’s just how hard we are willing to work for you! But you should still get aBrooklyn Public Library card if you want.
It’s Decorative Gourd Season, Motherfuckers is a classic from McSweeney’s.
Turns out a lot of classroom skeletons are real, and some schools found out and had funerals for their own Mr. Bones-Jangles. That’s a reference to famous dancer Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, and if you’ve never watched his stair dance from 1932, you should.
If you’re looking for more Halloween reads, listen to our past episodes on: Spooky Stuff, Romance Demons, Devils, Ghosts, Morticians, and the Dead, Manimals!, Monsters, Witchy Romance, and Why Horror.

Sponsors

The Nightstand App, a book tracking app for readers. Visit nightstand-app.com/fatedmates for your 7-day free trial, and use the code FATEDMATES for 30% off your annual subscription.
Maria Vale, author of Molly Molloy and the Angel of Death, available in print, ebook, audiobook at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books or wherever you get your books.
Lucy Score author of The Dead Guy Next Door, the first in the Riley Thorn series, available in print, ebook and audiobook, or with your monthly subscription to Kindle+.

The Rest

For even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net/episodes/2026/10/26/0908-halloween-grab-bag
If you wish you had six more days in a week of people talking about romance, may we suggest joining our Patreon? Aside from an additional episode every month you get access to our Discord, where other romance readers are talking about books they love (and many other things!) all the time. It’s so fun! Learn more about the Patreon and go join those cool people who love romance as much as you do at patreon.com/fatedmates.
Beyond your favorite podcast app, you can find us on Instagram, Threads, Blue Sky, Tumblr, and probably some other places, too, if you look hard enough.
If you've never listened to our Stop Book Banning episode, there's no better time than now.

00:00 Scorpio Season

03:32 Fated Maps

14:20 AD: MOLLY MALLOY AND THE ANGEL OF DEATH

16:40 The Demon’s Curvy Angel

26:15 Decorative Gord Season

31:22 AD: NIGHTSTAND

33:25 No Bones About It

40:35 A Date with Death

48:41 AD: THE DEAD GUY NEXT DOOR

50:23 What Happens at Nightfall

56:07 Fangbanger

1:02:47 Demons & Diplomacy

1:08:07 The Romance Revival

1:13:26 Jenny Will Eat You Now

1:21:50 Die for Me

1:28:19 Wrapping Up

28 October 2026, 4:00 am

1 hour 38 minutes

S09.07: Why Horror with Stephen Graham Jones and Becky Spratford

We’re talking about the mythmakers again this week with a chat about romance’s sister genre, horror! We’re joined by NEA fellow, Bram Stoker Award winner and bestselling horror writer Stephen Graham Jones, and librarian and horror expert Becky Spratford. We talk about Stephen’s lifelong love of horror, the way horror reflects the world, the rules of horror and how romance and horror are actually two sides of the same coin. Happy spooky season, book lovers.

Fated States, our democratic phonebanking initiative continues this week—we’ll be calling Tennessee to get out the vote for Justin Pearson in the Tennessee 9th, and into Montana to get out the vote for Sam Forstag, candidate in the Montana 1st! There will be games, prizes and special guests! Learn more and register to phone bank with us at fatedmates.net/fatedstates.

If you’d like to come over and talk about horror with us, please join us on the Fated Mates Discord, where you’ll find a few thousand other listeners who love talking about these books we love. Join the Fated Mates patreon to get access, and You also get one extra episode a month from us!!

Horror Fiction, Film, and Television Mentioned in This Episode

Sponsors

Avon Books, publishers of Emily Rath’s Devour Me, available in print, ebook and audiobook, at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books, wherever you get your books, or with your monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited.
Piper Rayne, author of Chasing Smoke, available in print, ebook, audiobook at Barnes & Noble, wherever you get your books, or with your monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited.
Meghan Quinn, author of Christmas Staycation, available in print, ebook or audiobook at Amazon, Barnes & Noble or wherever you get your books.
Penguin Young Readers & Berkley XO, publishers of Charlotte B. Plumb’s Reap & Sow, available now in print, ebook or audiobook at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books or wherever you get your books.

The Rest

For even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net/episodes/2026/10/19/horror-with-stephen-graham-jones-and
If you wish you had six more days in a week of people talking about romance, may we suggest joining our Patreon? Aside from an additional episode every month you get access to our Discord, where other romance readers are talking about books they love (and many other things!) all the time. It’s so fun! Learn more about the Patreon and go join those cool people who love romance as much as you do at patreon.com/fatedmates.
Beyond your favorite podcast app, you can find us on Instagram, Threads, Blue Sky, Tumblr, and probably some other places, too, if you look hard enough.
If you've never listened to our Stop Book Banning episode, there's no better time than now.

00:00 Why Horror?

10:10 Goosebumps or Babysitters Club

16:21 AD: CHASING SMOKE

18:51 Tropes & Horror Shorthand

21:16 The Emotionally Satisfying Ending

27:53 AD: REAP & SOW

29:34 A Worthwhile Fight

33:10 The Bully Dynamic

36:12 Comedy and Genre

42:14 AD: CHRISTMAS STAYCATION

44:15 The Stakes in Horror

50:57 AD: DEVOUR ME

54:45 The Literary Circus

59:51 Thee Dread vs. Terror Axis

1:03:14 Cozy andthe Difficulty of Levels

1:07:11 What do you Love? What are we Carrying?

1:21:01 Horror Recomendations

1:31:55 Wrapping Up

1:33:00 AD: CHASING SMOKE

21 October 2026, 4:00 am

1 hour 52 minutes

S09.06: Fated Mates: You Are Our Mystical Battery

This one is very meta (complimentary): Fated Mates (the duo) explains Fated Mates (the trope) on Fated Mates (the podcast). We can’t believe all these years in, we’ve never talked fated mates! We’re rectifying that right now with a collection of paranormal romances (and a few that aren’t) that are going to give you a lot of joy. We talk about demons and vampires and alpha’s and ice planet barbarians, star-crossed lovers and soulmates and what it really takes to convince a reader you’re fated.

Fated States, our democratic phonebanking initiative continues this week—we’ll be calling Texas to get out the vote for James Talarico and democrats up and down the ticket! There will be games, prizes and special guests! Learn more and register to phone bank with us at fatedmates.net/fatedstates.

If you’d like to come over and talk about your favorite fated mates romances (or your favorite fated mates podcast), please join us on the Fated Mates Discord, where you’ll find a few thousand other listeners who love talking about these books we love. Join the Fated Mates patreon to get access, and You also get one extra episode a month from us!

Books

Notes

Check out our website, especially the list of DRM audiobooks.
Our first road trip romance interstitial was one that was really important to our evolutions (before we figured out the season numbering protocol!)
This list of fated mates book on goodreads has nearly THIRTY THOUSAND TITLES, so good luck to you and I don’t actually know how that’s possible.
It’s a portal fantasy!
The way you know that Jen doesn’t read Omegaverse is the way she OVER AND OVER AGAIN say that Lilah in Pack Darling was a beta, but I think she was an omega. Sorry! What we do know is that no one in the book was a wolf, and honestly, that’s kind of a win for us?
What is The Cut (or Vulture, or NYMag) going to say about romance this week?
Of all the gin joints in all the world…
Will Liz Lemon end up with Wesley Snipes, her future husband?

Sponsors

Avon Books, publishers of Joanna Shupe’s The Gilded Rose, available in print, ebook and audiobook, at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books, or wherever you get your books.
Elle Kennedy, author of Bad Idea, preorder now in print, ebook or audiobook at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo or wherever you get your books.
Attic Wall Books, publishers of Isobel Lynn’s Godhunter, available now in print, ebook or audiobook at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books or wherever you get your books.

The Rest

For even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net/episdoes/2026/10/12/0906-fated-mates
If you wish you had six more days in a week of people talking about romance, may we suggest joining our Patreon? Aside from an additional episode every month you get access to our Discord, where other romance readers are talking about books they love (and many other things!) all the time. It’s so fun! Learn more about the Patreon and go join those cool people who love romance as much as you do at patreon.com/fatedmates.
Beyond your favorite podcast app, you can find us on Instagram, Threads, Blue Sky, Tumblr, and probably some other places, too, if you look hard enough.
If you've never listened to our Stop Book Banning episode, there's no better time than now.

00:00 BDE Bantr

03:00 Fated Mates (the podcast) Lore

14:57 How to Choose & How it Works

25:04 Demon from the Dark

29:04 AD: GODHUNTER

31:10 Wicked Abyss

37:21 Rejected

42:33 The Tyrant’s Alpha Rejected Me

46:51 AD: THE GILDED ROSE

49:20 Old School Suffering

53:21 Ice Planet Barbarians

57:21 Claimed by the Orc King

1:00:00 AD: BAD IDEA

1:04:25 The Question of Consent

1:06:50 Hot Blooded

1:14:24 Pack Darling

1:21:13 The Mane Event

1:34:20 Fated Mates in other Subgenres

1:46:47 Wrapping Up

14 October 2026, 4:00 am

1 hour 46 minutes

S09.05: Sweet Treats: Bakeries and Patisseries in Romance

We’re talking about romance with baking and sweet treats today! This is one of romance’s most common Romance Jobs, and we’re getting to the bottom of the appeal of the bakery in romance. Why do we love it when one character makes masterful desserts? What is so compelling about characters who know their way around the oven? We’ve got historicals, reality tv competitions, magic baking and menage — a little something for everyone this week!

Stay tuned at the end of the episode for a chat with Leah Greenberg, the co-Founder and co-Executive Director of Indivisible, our Fated States phonebanking partner! Fated States, our democratic phonebanking initiative continues this week! We’ll be calling Georgia to get out the vote for Jon Ossoff, Keisha Lance Bottoms, and democrats up and down the ticket! There will be games, prizes and special guests! Learn more and register to phone bank with us at fatedmates.net/fatedstates.

If you’d like to come over and talk about your favorite romance bakers, please join us on the Fated Mates Discord, where you’ll find a few thousand other listeners who love talking about these books we love. Join the Fated Mates patreon to get access, and You also get one extra episode a month from us!

Books

Notes

We’re discussing slang this week: a hilarious explanation of BDE at wikihow, check out urban dictionary for DTF, a fun new online site I just discovered called GenZ decoded turnt, and although the WNBA’s Washington Mystics Young Heaux nickname was covered in the New York Times, by far the funniest official usage of it was during the televised broadcast of a Mystics v. Storm game.
The Cupcake Guys is a bakery owned by former football players, and it was also a reality TV show.
We’ve mentioned them a million times, so they aren’t in the photo array, but the two books with baristas that Jen mentioned are Lick by Kylie Scott and Nero by SJ Tilly. The book with a femdomme is Candy by Torrance Sené.
Learn more about Indivisible and find a local Indivisible chapter to help at Indivisible.org. Join us for phonebanking every weekend between now and Election Day at fatedmates.net/fatedstates.

Sponsors

Rachel Grant, author of False Flag, available in print, ebook and audiobook, at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books, or wherever you get your books.
Tierney Page, author of Lyrics of Summer, available in print, ebook or with your monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited.
LJ Andrews, author of The Stolen Crown preorder now in print, ebook or audiobook at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books or wherever you get your books.

The Rest

For even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net/episodes/2026/10/5/0905-sweet-treats-bakeries-amp-coffee-shops-in-romance
If you wish you had six more days in a week of people talking about romance, may we suggest joining our Patreon? Aside from an additional episode every month you get access to our Discord, where other romance readers are talking about books they love (and many other things!) all the time. It’s so fun! Learn more about the Patreon and go join those cool people who love romance as much as you do at patreon.com/fatedmates.
Beyond your favorite podcast app, you can find us on Instagram, Threads, Blue Sky, Tumblr, and probably some other places, too, if you look hard enough.
If you've never listened to our Stop Book Banning episode, there's no better time than now.

00:00 Intro

02:38 Bantr (We Love You Baby Girl!)

14:24 Eric, the DRM King

17:36 AD: THE STOLEN CROWN

19:17 Sweet Treats

26:58 Fake It Till You Bake It & A Legend in the Baking

33:23 AD: FALSE FLAG

35:41 Battle Royale

42:02 Sweethand

47:20 AD: LYRICS OF SUMMER

49:04 The Luxury of Sweetness

53:49 Lips like Sugar

1:01:22 Craving It All

1:07:10 Tart

1:17:33 The Remaking of Corbin Wale

1:20:57 The Draysons: Sprinkled with Love

1:24:57 Baristas

1:28:00 Wrapping Up

1:30:38 Indivisible

7 October 2026, 4:45 am

1 hour 39 minutes

S09.04: Fall 2026 Preview

It’s discoverabilibuddy time! We're dropping our Fall 2026 reads, in which we talk about an outrageous number of romance novels coming out in October, November and December. As a reminder, we have not necessarily read all these books, but they are on our TBRs — time to pour yourself a cup of something warm, get into a cozy sweater, and start adding to yours!

If you’d like to come over and talk about your most anticipated fall romances, please join us on the Fated Mates Discord, where you’ll find a few thousand other listeners who love talking about these books we love. You also get one extra episode a month from us!

Fated States, our democratic phonebanking initiative continues this week! We’ll be calling Ohio (Jen’s hometown) to get out the vote for Sherrod Brown and democrats up and down the ticket! There will be games, prizes and special guests! Learn more and register to phone bank with us at fatedmates.net/fatedstates.

Books

September Releases

October Releases

November Releases

December Releases

Sponsors

Little, Brown & Company, publishers of Elin Hilderbrand & Shelby Cunningham’s The Thoroughbreds, available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books, or wherever you get your books.
Madison Score, author of Wild About You, available in print, ebook or audiobook at Amazon.
Emily W. Andersen, author of The Midnight Book Club series. Available in print or ebook at at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, or wherever you get your books.

The Rest

For even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net/episodes/2026/9/27/0904-2026-fall-preview
If you wish you had six more days in a week of people talking about romance, may we suggest joining our Patreon? Aside from an additional episode every month you get access to our Discord, where other romance readers are talking about books they love (and many other things!) all the time. It’s so fun! Learn more about the Patreon and go join those cool people who love romance as much as you do at patreon.com/fatedmates.
Beyond your favorite podcast app, you can find us on Instagram, Threads, Blue Sky, Tumblr, and probably some other places, too, if you look hard enough.
If you've never listened to our Stop Book Banning episode, there's no better time than now.

06:36.500 September Revisited

10:40.000 AD: THE THOROUGHBREDS

12:16.500 October Releases

25:45.500 AD: THE MIDNIGHT BOOK CLUB

28:00.000 More October Releases

36:02.500 November Releases

01:03:18.500 December Releases

01:04:57.000 AD: WILD ABOUT YOU

01:06:50.000 More December Releases

01:29:23.500 Wrapping Up

01:36:40.500 Horny!

30 September 2026, 4:00 am

1 hour 45 minutes

S09.03: Hammered, Nailed & Drilled: Romancing the Tool

As they say on the Discord, this year’s theme is…Themes! This week, we’re talking about hammers, nails, drills, pipes and more — literal characters who are wielding literal (and metaphorical) tools! We’re hopping in the wayback machine to talk about books from the 00s and early 10s, on a continuum of content from “oh this has a whole plot” to “here’s a great one-handed read.” We’ve got plumbers, blacksmiths, contractors and a sentient screwdriver…there is literally something here for everyone.

If you’d like to come over and talk about romances, with or without tools (jk, they all have tools), please join us on the Fated Mates Discord, where you’ll find a few thousand other listeners who love talking about these books we love. You also get one extra episode a month from us!

Fated States, our democratic phonebanking initiative begins this week! We’ll be calling Texas to get out the vote for James Talarico and Gina Hinojosa! There will be games, prizes and special guests! Learn more and register to phone bank with us at fatedmates.net/fatedstates.

Books

Notes

This Saturday, we’re calling Texas to get out the vote for James Talarico and Gina Hinojosa at 1pm eastern time! Learn more and register to phone bank with us at fatedmates.net/fatedstates.
Some books about unions and unionizing: Make Room for Love by Darcy Liao, and the 1984 Harlequin American Romance was The Third Time by Rebecca Flanders. Our listener Sylvia suggested two others: Don’t Forget to Smile by Katherine Gillis Seidel and Here Be Dragons by Jenny Redford. These titles are also in the photo array above!
We did have an episode about renovation romance with Nikki Payne back in season 6 and one on quick and dirty reads back in season 2.
Unfortunately, it seems Entwined by Kristen Callihan is no longer available for sale. Sorry, everyone!
Samhain and Elora’s Cave were two early erotic romance publishers that closed and we’ve lost a lot of information about these publishers and their backlist of titles and authors.

Sponsors

Lucy Score, author of The Dead Guy Next Door, the first in the Riley Thorn series, available in print, ebook and audiobook, or with your monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited.
HarperCollins, publisher of A.T. Qureshi’s Rider of Dragons, available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books, or wherever you get your books.
MJ Hastings’s Firstborn, available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books, or wherever you get your books.
LJ Andrews, author of The Stolen Crown preorder now in print, ebook or audiobook at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books or wherever you get your books.

The Rest

For even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net/episodes/2026/9/21/s0903-carpenters-plumbers-and-other-metaphorical-romance-jobs
If you wish you had six more days in a week of people talking about romance, may we suggest joining our Patreon? Aside from an additional episode every month you get access to our Discord, where other romance readers are talking about books they love (and many other things!) all the time. It’s so fun! Learn more about the Patreon and go join those cool people who love romance as much as you do at patreon.com/fatedmates.
Beyond your favorite podcast app, you can find us on Instagram, Threads, Blue Sky, Tumblr, and probably some other places, too, if you look hard enough.
If you've never listened to our Stop Book Banning episode, there's no better time than now.

00:00 Bantr

07:25 People with Tools

15:47 AD: THE STOLEN CROWN

17:30 Organizing Principles

20:44 Roller Girl

27:38 The Scoundrel Falls Hard

32:05 AD: FIRST BORN

33:58 Under Construction

48:14 AD: RIDER OF DRAGONS

49:49 The Carpenter

55:43 Entwined

1:01:51 AD: THE DEAD GUY NEXT DOOR

1:03:58 Caulky

1:12:12 Hard Time

1:19:47 Kate’s Crew

1:27:17 Blue Collar Bad Boys

1:34:23 Screwed

1:42:11 Wrapping Up

23 September 2026, 4:00 am

1 hour 30 minutes

S09.02: Romance by Numbers

This is a fun one! We’re talking romance novels with numbers in the titles today, a wide collection of books from zero to infinity! While we came prepared to talk about four or five books each, we ended up playing a little impromptu game where we name books for every number we can. We haven’t reread most of these, but you’ll hear that there are a few peppered through here that we were prepared to talk about. We had a great time, and hope you do.

If you’d like to come over and talk about romances, with or without numbers, please join us on the Fated Mates Discord, where you’ll find a few thousand other listeners who love talking about these books we love. You also get one extra episode a month from us!

Fated States, our democratic phonebanking initiative begins this week! We’ll be calling Georgia to get out the vote for Jon Ossoff and Keisha Lance Bottoms! There will be games, prizes and special guests! Learn more and register to phone bank with us at fatedmates.net/fatedstates.

A Number of Books

Sponsors

Harpercollins, publishers of Laurie Gilmore’s Big Bad Wolf, available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books, or wherever you get your books.
Orbit Books, publishers of Rachel Gillig’s The Knave and the Moon, available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books, or wherever you get your books.
Little, Brown & Company, publishers of Elin Hilderbrand & Shelby Cunningham’s The Thoroughbreds, available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books, or wherever you get your books.
Union Square & Co., publishers of Morgan Elizabeth’s Meet Cute Magic, available in print, ebook or audiobook at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books or wherever you get your books.

The Rest

For even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net/episodes/2026/9/14/s0902-romance-by-numbers
If you wish you had six more days in a week of people talking about romance, may we suggest joining our Patreon? Aside from an additional episode every month you get access to our Discord, where other romance readers are talking about books they love (and many other things!) all the time. It’s so fun! Learn more about the Patreon and go join those cool people who love romance as much as you do at patreon.com/fatedmates.
Beyond your favorite podcast app, you can find us on Instagram, Threads, Blue Sky, Tumblr, and probably some other places, too, if you look hard enough.
If you've never listened to our Stop Book Banning episode, there's no better time than now.

00:00 Bantr

04:23 Sarah Has a Story About Numbers

08:45 AD: THOROUGHBREDS

10:30 Nine Rules

18:00 The Stephanie Plump Series

20:50 From Zero to Two

25:55 AD: THE KNAVE AND THE MOON

27:45 From Three to Seven

43:20 AD: BIG BAD WOLF

45:00 From Seven to Twelve

55:55 AD: MEET CUTE MAGIC

57:50 From 20 to Infinity

1:27:39 Wrapping Up

16 September 2026, 4:00 am

1 hour 52 minutes

S09.01: Cloud Nine: Romance in the Sky

Nine seasons of talking about romance, and no signs of quitting! We’re starting a new season, full of much of our same old nonsense, now with more nonsense, because who needs tropes when you can talk about microtropes! Today, in honor of Season Nine, we’re talking about Cloud Nine — both the WNBA star and the feeling you get when you fall in love. We’ve got a whole lot of books featuring romance in the sky — pilots, astronauts, plane crashes, astronauts and mile-high-clubs…and all of them featuring romance that won’t quit.

If you’d like to come over and talk about romances, both in the sky and on land, please join us on the Fated Mates Discord, where you’ll find a few thousand other listeners who love talking about these books we love. You also get one extra episode a month from us!

Fated States, our democratic phonebanking initiative begins next week. Learn more and register to phone bank with us at fatedmates.net/fatedstates.

Books

Notes

Fated States is back! We’ll be phonebanking every weekend on Saturdays starting September 19th, but the final weekend before the election, we’ll instead phonebank on Sunday Nov 1 to avoid Halloween.
The way to find a book club is to read River Town by Peter Hessler and then go to your nearest local indie bookstore and let the bookclub reveal itself to you.
Find out more about The Sunday Letter Project.
Pilots have been hot since Top Gun, and not just because of the volleyball scene.
Natasha Cloud is a baddie and she gave an irrelevant man the business for being transphobic, and Jen thinks she’s a literal hero.
The Spanish Space Program, the Instituto Nacional de Técnica Aeroespacial was created in the 1940s and was replaced by the Agencia Espacial Española in 2021. According to Wikipedia, as of 2026, there have been Four Spanish astronauts.

Sponsors

Harpercollins, publishers of AT Qureshi’s Rider of Dragons, available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books, or wherever you get your books.
Rose Prendeville, author of The Unknown Birds, available in print, ebook or audiobook from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or with your monthly subscription to Kobo Plus. Use the code FATEDBIRDS at Rose’s website to get a signed print book and 30% off!
Isabel Sterling, author of With All My Haunted Heart, available in print, ebook or audiobook, from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple Books, Kobo or your local bookstore.
Orbit Books, publishers of Louisa Carmody’s The Shadows that Listen, available in print, ebook or audiobook at Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books, your local bookstore, or with your monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited.
Blue Box Press, publishers of Ashley Eckstein & Samantha Chase’s Lucky 22 and David Eckstein’s Just Enough, available in print, ebook or audiobook at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books or wherever you get your books.

The Rest

For even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net/episodes/2026/9/6/s0901-cloud-nine-romance-in-the-sky
If you wish you had six more days in a week of people talking about romance, may we suggest joining our Patreon? Aside from an additional episode every month you get access to our Discord, where other romance readers are talking about books they love (and many other things!) all the time. It’s so fun! Learn more about the Patreon and go join those cool people who love romance as much as you do at patreon.com/fatedmates.
Beyond your favorite podcast app, you can find us on Instagram, Threads, Blue Sky, Tumblr, and probably some other places, too, if you look hard enough.
If you've never listened to our Stop Book Banning episode, there's no better time than now.

9 September 2026, 1:55 pm

1 hour 36 minutes

S08.49: A Rogue By Any Other Name

It’s the end of Season 8 (what! how!), and we usually celebrate the end of the season with a read along of Sarah’s new book, but since there is no new book, we have no choice but to go back to the beginning of “The Casino Series,” which is what Sarah calls The Rules of Scoundrels. We’re reading A Rogue By Any Other Name, the first in the series focused on the rakish owners of The Fallen Angel, Sarah’s casino. We talk Bourne, turning around big ships, writing sexy stained glass windows, and what it means to look back on the early part of a career.

Next week, we’re taking a little break, and then we’ll be back with Season Nine of Fated Mates. As ever, we’re so grateful to you for listening, reading and being a part of this community. We’re nothing without you.

If you’d like to spend more time talking about romance novels, join our Patreon! You’ll get an extra monthly episode from us and access to the incredible readers and brilliant people on the Fated Mates Discord. Learn more at fatedmates.net/patreon.

Notes

The jellyfish thing is a myth, you don’t have to pee on a jellyfish sting.
All about the amygdala, or Amy for short if you think of her as that messy friend who will definitely lead you astray.
JB Pritzker talked about the colors of school folders, and it’s A MESS. Feel free to report back on your preferences for folder colors if you, like Sarah, are outraged.
New York Times hosted a conversation with Tressie McMillam Cottom, Nadja Spiegelman, and Mary HK Choi called “Have We Turned Personality into a Diagnosis?” It’s worth the listen!
Is it true that Gen Z is this puritanical (the Puriteens!), or are they just worried that everything is cringe?
JK Rowling is a piece of shit.
Gambling has always been bad, but it’s especially bad on your phone. Please talk to your kids about sports betting and make sure these apps are not on their phones.
Crockfords moved a lot of money in the Regency.
One of the big influences for Bourne & Penelope was Alfred de Vigny’s poem Éloa, ou La sœur des anges about an angel who falls in love with a stranger who turns out to be Lucifer. English translations are tough to find, but here’s a website that has part of it in translation.
When you think of the The Fallen Angel (the club), you might think of the famous painting by Alexandre Cabanel, but that’s from 1847!

Sponsors

Megan Frampton, author of Demons and Diplomacy, available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books, or wherever you get your books.
Madison Score, author of Wild About You, available in print, ebook or audiobook at Amazon.
Tracy MacNish, author of Of the Ashes, available in print or ebook, or with your monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited.
Hachette Books, publishers of Jennifer Givhan’s The Sleeping Sisters, available in print, ebook or audiobook at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books, or wherever you get your books.

The Rest

For even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net/episodes/2026/8/25/s0849-a-rogue-by-any-other-name
If you wish you had six more days in a week of people talking about romance, may we suggest joining our Patreon? Aside from an additional episode every month you get access to our Discord, where other romance readers are talking about books they love (and many other things!) all the time. It’s so fun! Learn more about the Patreon and go join those cool people who love romance as much as you do at patreon.com/fatedmates.
Beyond your favorite podcast app, you can find us on Instagram, Threads, Blue Sky, Tumblr, and probably some other places, too, if you look hard enough.
If you've never listened to our Stop Book Banning episode, there's no better time than now.

26 August 2026, 4:00 am

1 hour 53 minutes

S08.48: Long Live Historicals, Volume II

We are once again celebrating a wide swath of historical romances that are recently published and by authors we’ve not talked much about on the podcast! Saddle up, because we’re talking the Titanic, submissive heroes, heroines against the wall, bodily autonomy and even centaurs! If you’re a historical lover, you’re going to have a great time finding your next read in here, and if you’re not a historical lover, what are you waiting for? We're so excited to be your discoverabilibuddies on this one!

Come talk about your favorite recent historical romances over on our Patreon! You’ll get an extra monthly episode from us and access to the incredible readers and brilliant people on the Fated Mates Discord. Learn more at fatedmates.net/patreon.

Our next read along, next week, is Sarah’s A Rogue By Any Other Name, the first in her casino series. This is one we’ve gotten a bunch of requests for, and so, it will be our final read along of the season. Get it at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books or wherever you get your books.

Books

Notes

Listen to our Long Live Historicals, Volume I here.
Fill out more about the Romance Novel Collective and fill out their survey.
There was a salt water pool on Titanic.
The centaur in The Lion, The Witch & the Wardrobe is not a centaur or a satyr, but a faun, and his name is Mr. Tumnus. Here’s a primer on the difference between satyrs and fauns. Apologies to the Greeks, Romans, and CS Lewis fans in the crowd. The OG Centaur books Sarah mentioned are also not centaurs, they are satyrs, but they are Holy Cannoli, Batman and by Elizabeth Amber. Proceed with caution.
Some SFW and NSFW images about centaurs.

The Rest

For even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net/episodes/2026/8/17/s0848-the-new-historicals-volume-iii
If you wish you had six more days in a week of people talking about romance, may we suggest joining our Patreon? Aside from an additional episode every month you get access to our Discord, where other romance readers are talking about books they love (and many other things!) all the time. It’s so fun! Learn more about the Patreon and go join those cool people who love romance as much as you do at patreon.com/fatedmates.
Beyond your favorite podcast app, you can find us on Instagram, Threads, Blue Sky, Tumblr, and probably some other places, too, if you look hard enough.
If you've never listened to our Stop Book Banning episode, there's no better time than now.

19 August 2026, 4:00 am