Fated Mates - Romance Books for Novel People

Spooky stuff is timeless, so we're sharing a Halloween episode from back in season five. Please consider contributing to our Fated States Project Giving Circle. We're only half way to our goal and we're running out of time. The Rest For even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net/episodes/2022/10/24/s0507-halloween-and-other-spooky-romances-interstitial#spooky 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.

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 Marrying Winterborne by Lisa Kleypas How the Dukes Stole Christmas Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel The Glass Kitchen by Linda Francis Lee Fake It Til You Bake It by Jamie Wesley A Legend in the Baking by Jamie Wesley Battle Royale by Lucy Parker Sweethand by NG Peltier Lips Like Sugar by Jess Hardy Craving It All by Kati Wilde Tart by Lauren Dane The Remaking of Corbin Wale by Roan Parrish Delectable Desire by Farrah Rochon Delicious Destiny by Yarrah St. John 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

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 Jenny Will Eat You Now by Gillian Daniels The Invisible Roommate by Timothy Janovsky October Releases To Vivian With Love Anthology False Flag by Rachel Grant The Lost Guardian by Natalia Hernandez Vengefully Matched by Audrey Goldberg Ruoff The Encore Effect by Cara Dion Gilded Rose by Joanna Shupe Engineering a Love Story by Kathleen Reidy Succubus by Kate Fox The Fall Fix Up by Karmen Lee Brown-Eyed Earl by Jenny Holiday Hexes Go Well with Tequila by LeAnna Ehrsam Bad Words by Ríoghnach Robinson Written in Starlight by Sloan Brooks Once in a Timeline by Iman Hariri-Kia The Ruby Ghost by June Calvin What Happens at Nightfall by Lauren Willig November Releases The Love Operation by Melissa Collins Cut to the Ending by Maria Millage How to Hate a Prince by Jozette Allah-Mensah Sunflower Season by Danica Nava The Monster Hunter’s Librarian by Lauren Connelly You, Me, and the Conspiracy by Emma Barry Thunderstuck by Lissa Layland How to Court a Countess by Emma-Claire Sunday The Drakon King by Terry J Benton-Walker Engaged to the Enemy by Lucy Smoke Two Can Play that Game by Zakiya Jamal For the Love of K-Dramas by Lyla Lee Match of Fate by Annabelle Stehl Crash Into You by Simone Soltani The Best Revenge by Amy Carol Reeves My Neighbor, The Assassin by Michelle Heard December Releases A Shy Heiress to Redeem Him by Parker J Cole Lovestruck by Andi Epimoni Falling for Evil by Celia Aaron Just In Time by Emily Wibberly and Austin Siegemund-Broka Cold Redemption by Nalini Singh Triple Threat by Katie Chandler Til Quest Do Us Part by Ivelisee Houseman Greek’s Dirty Little Secret by Dani Collins Off Season by Frankie Caracciolo Villain Edit by Rosie Danan Zahra, Unapologetic by Mina Zafri Lightning and Thunder by Sara Raach Almost Perfect by Nicole Snow The Lost Ones by Mia Sheridan One Step Closer by Laura Pavlov Vows and Vendettas by Trilini Pucci 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!

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 Roller Girl by Vanessa North The Scoundrel Falls Hard by Sophie Jordan Under Construction by Kate Cole Laying Pipe by Kiki Clark The Carpenter by Ramona Gray Entwined by Kristen Callihan Caulky by KM Neuhold Hard Time by Cara McKenna Kate’s Crew by Jane Rylon Laid by Brill Harper Screwed by CD Reiss 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

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 Below Zero by Ali Hazelwood Zero to Sixty by Marie Harte It Happened One Summer by Tessa Bailey One and Only by Jenny Holiday Party of Two by Jasmine Guillory Goldie and the [three] Bears by Hannah Murray Three Dirty Secrets by Nikki Sloan Three Way Split by Elia Winters Party of Three by C. Travis Rice Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros Five Brothers by Penelope Douglas Six by Opal Carew Holiday for Six by Kelly Finley Seven Secrets of Seduction by Anne Mallory The Seven Rings by Nora Roberts The Seven Year Slip by Ashley Poston Seven Days in June by Tia Williams Chasin’ Eight by Lorelai James Eight Nights of Flirting by Hannah Reynolds Eight Seconds to Ride by Ashley James The Hell’s Eight Series by Sarah McCarty Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake by Sarah MacLean Ten Ways to Be Adored When Landing a Lord by Sarah MacLean Ten by Roxie Riveria Ten Hammers by Liz Archer Eleven Scandals to Start to Win a Duke’s Heart by Sarah MacLean Twelve Nights by Hope Tarr A Duke a Dozen by Shana Galen Cowboys by the Dozen by Tina Leonard Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler Fifty Shades of Gray by EL James 52 Reasons to Hate my Father by Jessica Brody 99 Percent Mine by Sally Thorne To One Hundred by Melissa Blue The 1001 Dark Nights Series 3000 Reasons to Act by Jamie P Bradley 10,000 Hours with a Rich Menace by Jahquel J. How to Marry a Millionaire Vampire by Kerrilyn Sparks The Blackout Billionaire Series by Naima Simone Infinite by Corinne Michaels Love Times Infinity by Lane Clark An Infinite Love Story by Chanel Cleeton 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