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Fated Mates - Romance Books for Novel People

Fated Mates

300 episodes · Explicit

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.

Episodes page 2 of 6

  1. S08.09: Our Favorite Romance Microtropes

    · 1 h 27 min · S8 E9 · Explicit

    We had a great week, and so we decided we all need nice things, which means it's time to just talk about the stuff we love in romance. We're talking about our favorite microtropes in romance novels--the things that…

  2. S08.08: Romance Short Stories and the Ladies in Waiting Anthology

    · 2 h 10 min · S8 E8 · Explicit

    We definitely have a hope became reality hangover this morning, but we also have a very fun episode for you today! We're talking romance shorts -- not novellas, not short novels, but actual short stories under 15,000…

  3. S08.07: Romance Demons: Problématique (Italics)

    · 1 h 23 min · S8 E7 · Explicit

    It's Halloween which means we're talking about monsters (complimentary)! We've done devils and witches and an entire season on monsters of all ilk, but we haven't done demons yet, and so here we are! Come one come all…

  4. S08.06: Gorilla Twins! The Earl Takes All by Lorraine Heath

    · 1 h 23 min · S8 E6 · Explicit

    It's Gorilla Twins Week! We couldn't be happier to be talking about The Earl Takes All, a book we love so much we gave it a nickname that all of Romancelandia uses now. Whether you're reading it for the first time or…

  5. S08.05: Governesses with Louisa Darling

    · 1 h 44 min · S8 E5 · Explicit

    How is it possible we've never done a governess episode? And how is it possible Louisa Darling hasn't been a guest on the pod yet? We're rectifying both of these injustices this week. We talk about Jane Eyre, The Sound…

  6. S08.04 We love you Chicago, DC and LA

    · 2 h 00 min · S8 E4 · Explicit

    We're thinking about Chicago, DC, and LA this week, and standing in solidarity with the people living and resisting in those cities. While reading isn't action, it can supplement it, and keep us joyful as we do the…

  7. 08.03: Fall 2025 Preview

    · 1 h 52 min · S8 E3 · Explicit

    It's October, which means we're thinking about fall, which comes with spice, heat and hanging out under the blankets! Today, our Fall 2025 romance novel preview, guaranteed to fill your TBR pile. There’s something here…

  8. S08.02: Feminism in Romance with Adriana Herrera

    · 1 h 53 min · S8 E2 · Explicit

    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…

  9. S08.01: Cold Open: Craft, Criticism, and Summer Vacation

    · 1 h 40 min · S8 E1 · Explicit

    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…

  10. Between Seasons Palate Cleanser: Fated Mates Live St. Louis!

    · 1 h 17 min · S7 E56 · Bonus · Explicit

    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…

  11. 07.49: Season Seven Ends Not With a Bang, but With a Kombucha Girl

    · 1 h 15 min · S7 E55 · Explicit

    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…

  12. S07.48: Con Artists & Criminals With Joanna Shupe

    · 1 h 29 min · S7 E54 · Explicit

    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…

  13. S07.47: Bodyguards

    · 1 h 30 min · S7 E53 · Explicit

    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…

  14. 07.46: Natural Born Charmer by Susan Elizabeth Phillips

    · 1 h 29 min · S7 E51 · Explicit

    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…

  15. S07.45: Reading Down Under: Australian Romance Novelists

    · 1 h 39 min · S7 E50 · Explicit

    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…

  16. S07.44: Relentless Competence & Fixers in Romance

    · 1 h 30 min · S7 E49 · Explicit

    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…

  17. 07.43: Trailblazer Pamela Sanderson

    · 1 h 37 min · S7 E48 · Explicit

    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,…

  18. S07.42: Jen & Sarah and These Summer Storms

    · 2 h 02 min · S7 E47 · Explicit

    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…

  19. S07.41: Audiobooks with Julia Whelan

    · 2 h 18 min · S7 E46 · Explicit

    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…

  20. S07.40: Hot 2025 Summer Reads

    · 2 h 00 min · S7 E45 · Explicit

    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…

  21. S07.39: Dysfunctional Families (The Fun Kind)

    · 1 h 25 min · S7 E44 · Explicit

    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…

  22. S07.38: Second Chance Romance Redux

    · 1 h 39 min · S7 E43 · Explicit

    We're taking a second run at second chance romance this week, and while we intended to recommend a million books, we ended up talking about all the ways this trope really works and really doesn't work for us! We're…

  23. S07.37: Run Posy Run by Cate C. Wells

    · 2 h 42 min · S7 E42 · Explicit

    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…

  24. S07.36: Celebrity + Normie Romance

    · 1 h 56 min · S7 E41 · Explicit

    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,…

  25. S07.35: On the Shelf with Spinsters and Wallflowers

    · 1 h 20 min · S7 E39 · Explicit

    One of the og romance tropes is on the table today -- we're talking about heroines who are on the shelf! It's not quite wallflowers, not quite ruined, not quite spinsters...it's a very particular flavor of unmarried…

  26. S07.34: The Third Act Break-Up (Complimentary)

    · 1 h 28 min · S7 E38 · Explicit

    We're gonna get people excited with this one (it's us. we're the ones who are getting excited). Back by popular demand, we're talking craft this week--digging deep into the third-act breakup, what it really means, why…

  27. S07.33: Heated Rivalry by Rachel Reid

    · 1 h 34 min · S7 E37 · Explicit

    Today we're headed back in the time machine to before the pandemic when everyone but us read this one m/m hockey book and lost their collective minds! Heated Rivalry is one of those books that romance lovers place high…

  28. S07.32: Ruination!

    · 1 h 53 min · S7 E36 · Explicit

    We're talking about the worst possible thing that can happen to a romance heroine today (it's always the heroines) -- ruination! Whether the hero did it, another man did it, or society simply decided that she's ruined,…

  29. S07.31: Romance on the Run

    · 1 h 35 min · S7 E35 · Explicit

    Yes, Sarah has a longtime fantasy of being on the lam, but let's be honest, she'd be caught reading a book in the nearest diner as soon as anyone got serious about looking for her. This week, we're talking about books…

  30. S07.30: Getting Things Done (to them): Romance with Lists

    · 1 h 33 min · S7 E34 · Explicit

    We're crossing off a classic romance novel structure this week -- the list! Whether life changing to-do lists, bucket lists, or lists for kinky exploration, these romances take characters and readers on remarkable…

  31. S07.29: Spring 2025 New Releases: Teasing Your TBR

    · 1 h 57 min · S7 E33 · Explicit

    It's our quarterly discoverabilibuddy episode! Get your TBR piles structurally sound and exercise that preorder clicking finger, because here are nearly 50 books coming out in the next three months that we're excited…

  32. S07.28: Everything We Know About Horses Comes From Romance

    · 2 h 17 min · S7 E32 · Explicit

    This week, for some reason, we're talking about romance novels with horses in them! Do we know anything about horses? Of course not! Do we let that stop us? It never has before! We're talking about the ones where the…

  33. S07.27: What I Did for a Duke: This Gentleman is Completely Composed of Revenge Molecules

    · 1 h 27 min · S7 E31 · Explicit

    It's deep dive day here at Fated Mates and we're reading an absolute banger of a historical -- Julie Anne Long's fifth Pennyroyal Green book, What I Did for a Duke. We talk about great romance kisses, about age gaps…

  34. S07.26: Romance Novels With a Ticking Clock

    · 1 h 45 min · S7 E30 · Explicit

    This one's for those of you who've been asking us to talk more about craft on the podcast! We're talking romances with ticking clocks and clear time frames, about how this impacts conflict and makes books more…

  35. S07.25: Sci-Fi Romance: There's No Book Banning in Space

    · 1 h 39 min · S7 E29 · Explicit

    Maybe you're rooting for the asteroid, but you gotta have a plan! To help, this week, we're keeping track of what romance is looking like off-planet--it's Romance! In! Space! (Part 2, but the first episode we did was…

  36. S07.24: He's *NOT* a Billionaire

    · 1 h 55 min · S7 E28 · Explicit

    It's been the longest month of our lives and as self-care, we're not thinking about billionaires this week (or at least for the duration of this episode). Instead, we're talking about those men who are rich in other…

  37. S07.23: Long Live Historicals!

    · 2 h 08 min · S7 E27 · Explicit

    Historicals are dead! Long live historicals! This week, we're talking about fourteen (and change) historical romances that we've never talked about before -- all published recently, some already this year. Every book…

  38. S07.22: Adriana Herrera on the Power of Historical Romance: When We’re Up Against a Corner, Baby, Let’s Fight.

    · 2 h 06 min · S7 E26 · Explicit

    There's a new Adriana Herrera book out this month, so that means we get to have one of our very favorites back on the pod to talk about not only her banger of a book, A Tropical Rebel Gets the Duke, but also about…

  39. New York Public Library Best New Romance List

    · 23 min · S7 E25 · Bonus · Explicit

    Jen had a great time chatting with the New York Public Library's Best New Romance List Committee Co-Chairs Kate Fais and Grace Loiacono this week. They talk about the list and how they built it, about the power of…

  40. S07.21: Meet My Vibe Criteria: V.E. Schwab on writing, obsession, and romance outside of Romance

    · 1 h 37 min · S7 E24 · Explicit

    We're mixing it up today with a fabulous special guest! The brilliant V.E. Schwab joins us for a far-reaching chat about writing romance outside of romance novels™️, about the difference between obsession and love,…

  41. A Taste of Craven

    · 23 min · S7 E23 · Bonus · Explicit

    It's February 4th, the most important romance holiday in February: Derek Craven Day! We're celebrating this year with a little reminiscing of the past years' episodes, and a close reading of the first chapter of that…

  42. S07.20 Tarot, Astrology, and Psychics in Romance

    · 1 h 37 min · S7 E22 · Explicit

    We'll be honest, we don't know what the heck is going on, either. If we could find someone or something to make all this chaos make sense, we'd be very very happy. And so, we're reading books this week about people and…

  43. S07:19 Back in Time with Harlequin Blaze

    · 1 h 44 min · S7 E21 · Explicit

    We're getting into the romance time machine and setting the course for 2001, when Harlequin decided that those Temptations could get scorching hot and become a Blaze. We scoured ebay for boxes and boxes of old Blazes,…

  44. S07:18 Winter 2025 New Releases: The Quarterly Edging Episode

    · 1 h 44 min · S7 E19 · Explicit

    We're toppling TBR piles and preorder lists today with our quarterly "Books we're excited to read" list! We're name-checking more than 50 romance novels we're looking forward to, and looking forward to hearing about…

  45. S07.17: The Proposition by Judith Ivory

    · 1 h 44 min · S7 E18 · Explicit

    Happy New Year, Magnificent Firebirds! We don’t know what 2025 is going to bring, so we’re starting with a bang—the long awaited deep-dive of Judith Ivory's The Proposition, featuring that rakish rat catcher, that…

  46. S07.16: Hear Me Out: New Year's Eve 2024

    · 3 h 07 min · S7 E17 · Explicit

    It's New Year's Eve, and we're ringing it in with our standard silliness, this year with brilliantly funny duo Adriana Herrera and Nikki Payne, playing the current internet sensation game, Hear Me Out, where we share…

  47. S07.15: Holiday Romances for 2024: Put It in the Lilly Library

    · 1 h 51 min · S7 E16 · Explicit

    It's the holiday season, which means holiday romance! This year, we're talking about Princes of Christmas falling for heirs to Halloween, Hanukkah treats, retellings ofThe Holiday, sexy cabins in the woods, second…

  48. S07:14 Excellent 2024 Debut Romance Novels

    · 1 h 36 min · S7 E15 · Explicit

    We're so excited to be talking about some of the bright new voices in romance this week -- every book we talk about in this episode is a debut romance from 2024. We're introducing you to eighteen new authors, all of…

  49. S07:13 Getting Pearl Jammed: Romance After 40

    · 1 h 54 min · S7 E14 · Explicit

    Let's talk about the over 40s and how they deserve love, too! This week, we're diving into what the industry calls "seasoned" romance, though we're not wild about this phrasing and prefer "Women over forty can get it!"…

  50. S07:12 Bookstores and Booksellers

    · 1 h 29 min · S7 E13 · Explicit

    It's Thanksgiving week in the United States, which means capitalism! We're skipping (mainly) the talk of the midnight electronics runs, and heading straight to Small Business Saturday, when your local independent…

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