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PODCAST

Fated Mates - Romance Books for Novel People

The most listened to romance novel podcast, Fated Mates is co-hosted by bestselling author Sarah MacLean and romance critic Jen Prokop. Weekly episodes include romance novel read-alongs and lively discussions of the work of the genre, highlighting the romance novel as a powerful tool in fighting the patriarchy…with absolutely no kink shaming.

arts books

All Episodes

01:53:18

S08.02: Feminism in Romance with Adriana Herrera

Fated Mates - Romance Books for Novel People ·

2025/09/24

Our fave, Adriana Herrera, is with us this week to talk about feminism, romance, and how the two intersect. We talk about the history of the genre, about the evolution of feminism within it, and about what we want from the texts we're reading now, as the world does whatever it is it's doing. Oh, and we recommend some feminist romance, because of course we do.If you'd like more romance chat in your life, please consider joining our Patreon, which comes with an extremely busy and fun Discord

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01:40:18

S08.01: Season Eight Cold Open: Craft, Criticism, and...

Fated Mates - Romance Books for Novel People ·

2025/09/17

Season Eight! How is it possible you're all still here?! We're so incredibly thrilled to have you all with us for another season. We've got big plans for talking to your favorite people, getting under the hood of your favorite tropes, and filling your TBR pile with your new favorite books. We quickly find ourselves in the deep end, talking about craft, criticism, and romance’s place in 2025. But first, we share what we did on our summer vacations. Season Eight. Wowzer. Honestly, we love knowing

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01:14:29

RERUN: Daddy Romance

Fated Mates - Romance Books for Novel People ·

2025/09/10

Welcome to week two of our hiatus! As we prepare for season eight, we're sharing an old favorite: Daddy Romance! For all of the recs and more, check show notes. See you next week! The RestFor even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net/episodes/2022/7/13/s0444-daddy-romance-interstitial 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

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01:16:57

Between Seasons Palate Cleanser: Fated Mates Live St....

Fated Mates - Romance Books for Novel People ·

2025/09/03

This year's Fated Mates Live was a little different than those we've hosted before, as it was also launch day for Sarah's These Summer Storms! We celebrated in style in the Midwest, hosted by the fabulous team at indie bookstore (and romance lovers), Novel Neighbor and joined by our absolute favorite, Kate Clayborn. So many Firebirds turned out to celebrate with us from across the midwest to help Sarah learn the intricacies of Midwestern Romance Heroes™️, to talk about Derek Craven and others, and

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01:14:51

07.49: Season Seven Ends Not With a Bang, but With a...

Fated Mates - Romance Books for Novel People ·

2025/08/27

We’re wrapping up season seven by asking ourselves a simple question. Do we like this stuff? Yes? No? Maybe so?We’ll be back in two weeks for the start of Season Eight of the podcast. Honestly, we remain amazed that y’all are with us on this journey. In a world full of madness, you bring us calm, joy and purpose, and we couldn’t be more grateful for you. Thank you so much for listening.While you’re waiting for Season Eight, you’re welcome to join our Patreon, which comes with an extremely busy and

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01:28:54

S07.48: Con Artists & Criminals With Joanna Shupe

Fated Mates - Romance Books for Novel People ·

2025/08/20

Joanna Shupe joins us this week to celebrate her new book, The Gilded Heiress, and talk about one of our favorite things—baddies with a heart of gold! We talk about the book, about our mutual love of criminals, of noble scoundrels, of con artists and basically anyone willing to do crime in the name of love. We also talk about how everything Gilded Age is back again, which…ugh. We love Joanna and her book – come see us with her in Chicago on August 28th and in Brooklyn on September 9th.You can get

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01:30:23

S07.47: Bodyguards

Fated Mates - Romance Books for Novel People ·

2025/08/13

It’s Bodyguard Romance week, which feels impossible, honestly, considering we’ve definitely done this before, haven’t we? According to Eric and also the internet, we haven’t, which means we get to talk for the first time in seven seasons about why Bodyguards work so well for so many romance readers, including us! We talk about the basics – the innate joy of having an Exasperated Man™️ willing to put himself in front of a bullet for you, the absolute delight of the books that turn the whole thing on

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01:28:37

07.46: Natural Born Charmer by Susan Elizabeth Phillips

Fated Mates - Romance Books for Novel People ·

2025/08/06

We're back with a deep dive episode on one of our favorite Susan Elizabeth Phillips books, Natural Born Charmer. Jen thinks this one marks SEP's Imperial Period, and Sarah looks askance at the term romcom to describe romance novels. We're back on our bullsh*t, is what we're saying. We're talking plot, character, risk-taking, and how romances can feel wildly expansive.This is our last deep dive of Season 7 -- more in Season 8, which begins in September. If you want to talk in depth about specific

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01:38:37

S07.45: Reading Down Under: Australian Romance Novelists

Fated Mates - Romance Books for Novel People ·

2025/07/29

By request (and because Sarah needed books for her upcoming trip), we're talking about romance novels by Australian authors this week, with a nod to some New Zealanders as well. We discuss how historical romance has much maligned Australia, recommend some absolutely terrific books, many of which we've actually done deep dives on, and we talk about why so many Australian romances hit the spot with American readers. If you want more Fated Mates in your life, please join our Patreon, which comes with

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01:30:18

S07.44: Relentless Competence & Fixers in Romance

Fated Mates - Romance Books for Novel People ·

2025/07/22

It's been several years since the last time we talked about the allure of competency in romance, but it's a topic we adore, so here we are again, talking about characters with relentless competence and the characters who love them beyond measure. If you're new here, welcome! We're happy to have you!If you want more Fated Mates in your life, please join our Patreon, which comes with an extremely busy and fun Discord community! Join other magnificent firebirds to hang out, talk romance, and be cool

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01:23:54

RERUN: S06.09: Sports Romance with Jessica Luther

Fated Mates - Romance Books for Novel People ·

2025/07/19

In honor of tonight's WNBA all-star game, we're releasing our delightful Sports Romance episode from 2023: It’s another sports interstitial! We’re talking sports, balls & sports balls with the brilliant Jessica Luther, sports romance lover, podcaster, and author of Unsportsmanlike Conduct: College Football and the Politics of Rape and Loving Sports When They Don't Love You Back: Dilemmas of the Modern Fan. Everyone came to this one with their own strategy, so we’re talking everything from beach

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01:36:44

07.43: Trailblazer Pamela Sanderson

Fated Mates - Romance Books for Novel People ·

2025/07/15

Our Trailblazer series continues with Pamela Sanderson, the first Native American author to write contemporary romance about Native characters in Native community. Pamela joins us to talk about her writing journey, about her decision to write and independently publish romance, about the need for more Native American romance in the world. We so enjoyed this conversation, and we’re grateful to Pamela for joining us to tell her story.Listen to all the Trailblazer episodes.If you want more Fated Mates

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02:01:44

S07.42: Jen & Sarah and These Summer Storms

Fated Mates - Romance Books for Novel People ·

2025/07/06

Last night’s Fated Mates Live was so much fun, but now we’re back in your earholes. It’s time again for our annual Sarah MacLean deep dive (with no spoilers!). As per tradition, Jen asks Sarah a bunch of fun questions and forces Sarah to talk about her book. And it all ends with Julia Whalen reading two chapters of These Summer Storms! It was a delight to see so many of you in St. Louis yesterday, and to everyone else, we’re just as glad you’re here with us today. NotesIt’s finally time for These

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02:18:10

S07.41: Audiobooks with Julia Whelan

Fated Mates - Romance Books for Novel People ·

2025/07/01

We're thrilled to have audiobook queen and Voice of the Summer (USA Today), Julia Whelan with us today! Aside from being the voice of Emily Henry, Taylor Jenkins Reid, VE Schwab and Kristen Hannah, she's also an author of her own delicious books and the founder of Audiobrary, an audio book company that pays narrators on a royalty structure. She's here to talk about her journey to writing and to narrating, about the way she thinks about her work, her advocacy, and the world of audiobooks. We are so

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01:59:36

S07.40: Hot 2025 Summer Reads

Fated Mates - Romance Books for Novel People ·

2025/06/22

We're both staying very still in front of air conditioners this week, so that means we're very very happy to have a pile of summer reads at the ready! We're teeing up your piles of summer reads this week with our quarterly romance roundup! As a reminder, we haven't read most of these books -- but they're the ones toppling our TBR! As a reminder, preorders mean a lot more than they should these days, so if there's anything on this list that makes you go "oh, yes. that's for me," and you're able to

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01:25:27

07.39: Dysfunctional Families (The Fun Kind)

Fated Mates - Romance Books for Novel People ·

2025/06/17

This week, we're talking about romance's most common family: the dysfunctional one! Sarah wrote a book about one, so we're thinking about what makes them special to romance, and what sets the romantic dysfunctional family apart from the ones that live outside of the genre. Jen has five categories. There's a game involved. You can play along at home! If you love this one, you can listen to our Daddy Issues (not the fun kind) episode with C. Travis Rice. And if you just want to listen to an episode

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01:39:09

07.38: Second Chance Romance Redux

Fated Mates - Romance Books for Novel People ·

2025/06/11

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02:42:26

07.37: Run Posy Run by Cate C. Wells

Fated Mates - Romance Books for Novel People ·

2025/06/04

Another deep dive episode, and this one feels like it shouldn't have taken so long! We're reading Run Posy Run, talking about the way Cate C. Wells walks a fine line of mafia romance while keeping the book on the morality chain side of the line from dark romance. We talk about heroines against the wall, heroes who have to suffer, the way violence fits into these romances, and about sex and how it's deployed in these books to enormous effect. We love this one (as you all know), and we were so excited

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01:56:20

07.35: Celebrity + Normie Romance

Fated Mates - Romance Books for Novel People ·

2025/05/28

Sarah is over the moon that we're talking about celebrities again, especially because we're keeping it tight this time around and limiting it to celebrity/normal person romance (mostly -- Jen is ungovernable)! Yes, Sarah is going to talk about Perfect, but also we're going to talk about celebrities who fall for stranger normies, for normies they knew before they were celebrities, for normies who work with them, and for normies who protect them. The episode is 1200 books long and honestly, we're not

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01:06:52

RERUN: S04.43: [Sex on the] Beach Reads

Fated Mates - Romance Books for Novel People ·

2025/05/21

We're on hiatus this week. We planned this long ago, but forgot to tell you about it. Honest! Please visit the original season four episode page for more info.

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