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Street corn nachos, a cucumber margarita the size of a goldfish bowl, and enough romance novels to take us from cozy bookshops to briny underwater kingdoms. Season two wrapped up with everything we love: the reads that made us swoon, the ones that shocked us, and the moments that had us snort-laughing into our drinks.

We talk about the couples that stayed with us, from board-game tenderness to a demon who adored a heroine’s pocket snacks. Heat levels became a running character: one of us is a jalapeño-level, closed-door loyalist. The other keeps testing the Scoville scale. We break down the scenes that delivered heat, the ones that didn’t, and the small gestures that built real intimacy — texting side by side, building blanket forts and making romance feel cozy.

Along the way, we celebrate the settings that did heavy lifting: snowed-in luxury retreats where writers finally write, small-town series you wish you could move into, and fantastical oceanic worlds that made us believe. And because we’re us, we also crown the anatomy metaphors that will haunt us forever (hello “man root” and “snug clasp”), confess the creature-feature moments that broke plausibility in spectacular fashion, and share our favorite cocktails of 2025.

We shout out authors who owned our hearts, including Heatherly Bell, Emma Hamm, Serena Bowen, Elle Kennedy, Charlotte Stein, Kimberly Lemming, Paige Lavoie and Emily B. Rose. We admit our biases: instant heat versus slow burn, mystery-driven plots versus contemporary comfort.

Looking ahead, we’re letting fate guide our TBR with a martini-glass number draw, trimming segments that feel forced, and planning more meetups with readers, writers and fellow romance nerds.

Hit play for a warm, candid, end-of-year debrief full of spice scales, monster mayhem, nachos,and genuine affection for romance. If you laughed, discovered a new favorite author, or added a title to your list, follow, share with a friend, and leave a review. What was your most surprising romance read this year?

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Theme Music Created by Adam Wroblewski
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Pop the cork with us as we open season three and get real about how a half-joking idea turned into a ritual that changed our reading lives. We trace our path from sneaking dog-eared paperbacks to championing today’s expansive romance universe, and we talk about what happened when we let romance back in — more joy at home, a revived writing habit, and a community that feels like a warm, rowdy book club.

We swap origin stories and gateway reads, then dive into tastes that reveal who we are: forced proximity for pressure-cooker growth, friends to lovers for rock-solid foundations, enemies to lovers when the heat needs a sharp edge. Spice gets its own spotlight as we map jalapeño slow burns to habanero thrills and draw the line at Carolina Reaper chaos. Along the way, we shout out our insta-buy and comfort authors — Lisa Kleypas, Emma Hamm, Heatherly Bell, Ashley Herring Blake, B.K. Borison, Katie Robert, Fallon Ballard — and the singular books we’d be buried with, because some stories become part of your DNA.

You’ll also hear how this show actually gets made: racing two-week cycles, editing transcripts that mistake our voices, migrating a website without losing our minds, and keeping the marketing engine humming. Through it all, the laughs steady us. We’re building something welcoming and interactive, where your recs flood our DMs and your niche tropes find a home. On the desired horizon: playful staged reenactments with actor friends, reader retreats, maybe even a romance cruise if we can convince Meghan to board.

If you love smart, spirited talk about romance novels, from historical comfort reads to dark fantasy detours, you’re in the right place. Hit follow, share this with your bookish bestie, and tell us your ride-or-die trope and your latest auto-buy author. Your rec might be our next favorite read.

Support the show

Our The Ripped Bodice Affiliate Link: https://www.therippedbodice.com/aff/romanceontherockspodcast_26867
(the best way to get your smut while supporting a fabulous women-owned business and our podcast!)

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Facebook ... https://www.facebook.com/romanceontherockspodcast
Instagram ... https:/www.instagram.com/romanceontherockspodcast
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Credits:
Theme Music Created by Adam Wroblewski
Main Art by PersonalisePortrait

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Candy Cane Cocktails in hand, we dive into two very different holiday romances and come up for air with laughter, side-eye and a few hard truths. First up: Good Spirits by B.K. Borison, a contemporary paranormal charmer where a Ghost of Christmas Past lands in a modern woman’s living room and promptly breaks every rule — starting with her heart. We dig into the banter that actually crackles, the clever sensory limits on ghosts (Hot Tamales, anyone?), and the soft-boy off-season where knitting and stray cats reign. Then we pick at the seams: why does a world with cosmic HR underuse its best haunter and what happens when a century-old ghost gets a mortal body with zero paperwork? The snow-globe spice scene delights but the ending raises questions the book doesn’t answer.

Next: a small-town second-chance romance set in Door County that trades genuine intimacy for tourist brochure vibes. Lila returns home with writer’s block, Conrad is mid-proposal arc with his long-term girlfriend, and the story asks us to cheer for kisses before clean breakups. We talk through the stiff dialogue, relentless name-dropping and the deeper issue: how ambition and choosing to be childfree get framed as moral failings, while cooking and caretaking are used as a wife test. It’s a clash between nostalgia and agency, and it makes the so-called happily ever after feel smaller than it should.

We close with clear takeaways: apologies mean you want to try again and cheating isn’t romantic. If you crave holiday romance with heart, look for stories that balance cozy settings with consent, accountability and characters who get to be whole. Hit play for ghostly giggles, spicy snow and frank talk about what makes a winter love story actually warm. If this resonated, subscribe, share with a romance-loving friend, and leave a review. What’s your holiday romance green flag or dealbreaker?

Books for the Episode:

Good Spirits by B.K. Borison

A Christmas Kind of Perfect by Christine Schimpf

Cocktail for the Episode:

Candy Cane Cocktail

Support the show

Our The Ripped Bodice Affiliate Link: https://www.therippedbodice.com/aff/romanceontherockspodcast_26867
(the best way to get your smut while supporting a fabulous women-owned business and our podcast!)

Follow us on our socials:
Facebook ... https://www.facebook.com/romanceontherockspodcast
Instagram ... https:/www.instagram.com/romanceontherockspodcast
Pinterest ... https:/www.pinterest.com/romanceontherockspodcast

Credits:
Theme Music Created by Adam Wroblewski
Main Art by PersonalisePortrait