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...