The brilliant Jayne Ann Krentz, romance trailblazer and royalty, joins us this week to talk about one of her favorite tropes--the shotgun wedding! We're talking all things forced marriage...how it differs from marriage of convenience, how it underscores the inherent conflict in romance, and how it often ends up being more like romantic suspense than one would expect! We also talk a bit about how secret babies (and babies in general) play into this trope. Did Jayne also say something that Sarah had to stop the interview to write down? Of course she did!

If you have favorite forced marriage/shotgun weddings, maybe you want to join the Fated Mates patreon? There, you get an extra monthly episode from us and access to the incredible readers and brilliant people on the FM Discord! Support us and learn more at fatedmates.net/patreon.

Our next read along will be Ruby Dixon’s Ice Planet Barbarians (you’re welcome). Get it at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, your local indie, libro.fm, or with your monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited.

1. The Shop on Hidden Lane by Jayne Ann Krentz
2. Into the Storm by Rachel Grant
3. A Kingdom of Dreams by Judith McNaught
4. Broken Whispers by Neva Altaj
5. The Duke’s Shotgun Wedding by Stacy Reid
6. Stolen Touches by Neva Altaj
7. Mafia Virgin by Mila Finelli
8. The King’s Spinster Bride by Ruby Dixon
9. Ravished by Amanda Quick

1. Welcome Jayne Ann Krentz, who also writes as Jayne Castle and Amanda Quick. Her new book is The Shop on Hidden Lane. Listen to Jayne...

As it's the beginning of 2026, we're talking about how we think about our reading years. What kind of strategies does Jen use? How is Sarah attempting to control the chaos? Which books do we already have on our TBR piles for 2026, and how do we structure our reading year to make ourselves happy and prepare for the podcast? We're also talking about some books by romance novelists who are publishing outside the romance genre this year.

If you want to talk to more people about reading strategies this year, maybe you want to join our Patreon? You get an extra monthly episode from us and access to the incredible readers and brilliant people on the Fated Mates Discord! Support us and learn more at fatedmates.net/patreon.

Our next read along will be Ruby Dixon's Ice Planet Barbarians (you’re welcome). Get it at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, your local indie, libro.fm, or with your monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited

1. Vaccinations are good, actually. In between recording this episode and when it aired, Caroline Kennedy’s daughter Tatiana Schlossberg, who wrote about her cancer diagnosis in the New Yorker, has sadly died.
2. It will shock no one to learn that Jen learned about immunizations from books. In her childhood, the books The Great Brain by John Dennis Fitzgerald. We also recommend Everything is Tuberculosis by John Greene and On Immunity by Eula Biss.
3. Amazon is forcing AI tools into the kindle books themselves, and it’s all awful. Use your own brain, we don’t know what else to say.

1. Everything is Tuberculosis by John Green
2. On Immunity by Eula Biss
3. The Paris Match by Kate Clayborn
4. The Romance Revival by Christina Lauren
5. She Fell...

Sarah's still catching up, but Jen, Adriana Herrera, and Joanna Shupe have seen it and they have a lot to say.

Your discoverabilibuddies are back! It's a new year which means we're dropping our Winter 2026 reads episode, in which we talk about the million trillion 2026 romance books coming out in January, February and March (ok, not a million trillion, but enough that Eric came out of his studio this morning with a thousand-yard stare!). As a reminder, we have not necessarily read all these books, but they are on our TBRs and should be on yours!

If you want more recommendations and more people with whom you can discuss 2026 romance novels, maybe you want to join our Patreon? You get an extra monthly episode from us and access to the incredible readers and brilliant people on the Fated Mates Discord! Support us and learn more at fatedmates.net/patreon.

Our next read along will be Ruby Dixon's Ice Planet Barbarians (you’re welcome). Get it at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, from your local indie or with your monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited.

1. Champagne Taste on a Bad Boy Budget by Zuri Day
2. Drive me Crazy by Lizzy Dent
3. Silver & Blood by Jessie Mihalik
4. A Scandal Changes Everything by Josie Johns
5. Dom-Com by Adriana Anders
6. Only on Gameday by Kristen Callihan
7. Janae Sanders’ Second Time Around by LaQuette
8. The Lust Crusade by Jo Segura
9. The Ex Dilemma by Elle Wright
10. Wish I May by Hannah Murray
11. Almost One Night Stand by AJ Pine
12. The Re-Do List by Denise Williams

Another year, another chaotic New Year's episode, with one of our favorites, the Lauren half of Christina Lauren! Y'all. When we say headphones in, we mean HEADPHONES IN. This is not for your kids, or your mechanic, or Kate. Today, we're getting into the kink Sarah has been dancing around at Fated Mates Lives for years...the one Sandra Brown and Bertrice Small installed, and Lisa Kleypas and Christina Lauren continued in a grand, noble tradition. Strap in, friends, we're talking lactation kink! You're welcome!

Happy New Year, pervs. We love you.

If you want other people to discuss brand new romance authors with, maybe you want to join our Patreon? You get an extra monthly episode from us and access to the incredible readers and brilliant people on the Fated Mates Discord! Support us and learn more at fatedmates.net/patreon.

Our next read along will be Ruby Dixon's Ice Planet Barbarians (you’re welcome). Get it at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, from your local indie, or with your monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited.

1. Sunny Chandler’s Return by Sandra Brown
2. Another Dawn by Sandra Brown
3. All the Sweet Tomorrows by Bertrice Small
4. Dreaming of You by Lisa Kleypas
5. Fresh Cream by X Callisto
6. The Milky View by Luna Stark
7. Heaven, Texas by Susan Elizabeth Phillips
8. Milking the Rabbi by Violet Dare
9. Bigger by Casey Cane
10. A Splash of Cream at the Alabaster Cafe by Astra Rose
11. Morning Glory Milking Farm by CM Nascosta

As per tradition, Eric's here to introduce a holiday episode rerun. Cheers! 🎅

• For even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net/episodes/2022/12/12/s0513-here-comes-santa-claus
• 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.

It's that time of year, when we highlight some of our favorite new voices in romance! This week, we're talking about eight new writers who are making us excited about what's to come in historical, contemporary, cozy fantasy and more. Here's to reading them all for years to come!

From horse girls to divorcees, hair stylists to magical tea shop owners, basketball coaches to jewel thieves, there's something in here for everyone. It's going to be great for you!

Don't forget--you can buy the Fated Mates Best of 2025 Book Pack from our friends at Pocket Books Shop in Lancaster, PA, and get eight of the books on the list! Scoundrel Take Me Away and Lazarus, Home from War (independently published) are not in the box. As always, you can add additional romances, or one of Sarah's books to your box.

If you want other people to discuss brand new romance authors with, maybe you want to join our Patreon? You get an extra monthly episode from us and access to the incredible readers and brilliant people on the Fated Mates Discord! Support us and learn more at fatedmates.net/patreon. You can also ask for it as a gift, or give it as one at fatedmates.net/gift.

Our next read along will be Ruby Dixon's Ice Planet Barbarians (you’re welcome). Get it at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, from your local indie, or with your monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited.

1. The Best Worst Thing by Lauren Okie
2. Once Upon a Time in Dollywood by Ashley Jordan
3. Cosmic Love at the Multiverse Hair Salon by Annie Mare
4. Hopelessly Teavoted by Audrey Goldberg Ruoff
5. Savannah Royals by Lindsay Barrett
6. Play You For It by Samantha Saldivar
7. The Trouble with Anna by Rachel Griffiths
8. Celebrity Crush by Christy Swift

1. Check out our

We’re so excited for our deep dive of KJ Charles’s The Magpie Lord, first in her magical, gothic series, A Charm of Magpies. We talk about the clear chops displayed in this romance --strong plotting, complex characterization, and a beautiful understanding of what happily ever after looks like. And yes, we get to the tattoos. Obviously.

Don't forget--you can buy the Fated Mates Best of 2025 Book Pack from our friends at Pocket Books Shop in Lancaster, PA, and get eight of the books on the list! Scoundrel Take Me Away and Lazarus, Home from War (independently published) are not in the box. As always, you can add additional romances, or one of Sarah's books to your box.

If you want other people to discuss great romance series, maybe you want to join our Patreon? You get an extra monthly episode from us and access to the incredible readers and brilliant people on the Fated Mates Discord! Support us and learn more at fatedmates.net/patreon. You can also ask for it as a gift, or give it as one at fatedmates.net/gift.

Our next read along will be Ruby Dixon's Ice Planet Barbarians. Get it at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, from your local indie, or with your monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited.

• This is our second KJ Charles deep dive. The first was Band Sinister.
• We were lucky enough to speak to KJ Charles about her work and her pathway through romance as part of our Trailblazers series. Listen to that interview here.
• It’s been the snowiest start to winter in Chicago since 1978! The Great Lakes can freeze, kind of. Here’s what the Great Lakes ice prediction for this year.
• The Ice Fishing town hall meeting, as promised.
• Heated Rivalry is great and Jen (and everyone else) thinks you should watch it.
• The Magpie Lord was published in 2013 by Samhain Publishing, which