S07.23: Long Live Historicals!

S07.23: Long Live Historicals!

Author: Fated Mates February 16, 2025 Duration: 2:08:24

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 we talk about is available right now for download and reading pleasure--and we have a stack of them ready to talk about in future episodes! We're so excited to be your discoverabilibuddies on this one!

If you want more Fated Mates in your life, please join our Patreon, which comes with an extremely busy and fun Discord community! Join other magnificent firebirds to hang out, talk romance, and be cool together in a private group full of excellent people. Learn more at patreon.com.

Enter the Macmillan Audio sweepsteakes to win one of five free copies of the audiobook of Stephanie Burgis's Wooing the Witch Queen.

Our next read along is Julie Anne Long's What I Did For a Duke, available in print, ebook, and audio at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books or wherever you get your books.

The Books


The Notes


Sponsors


The Rest

  • For even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net/episodes/2025/2/13/0723-the-new-historicals
  • 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.

00:00.000 Heavy is the DiscoverabilityBuddy Crown

11:09.500 Upstairs Downstairs Reading

14:37.500 The New Historicals

18:56.000 AD: DOUBLE EXPOSURE

21:03.000 Lyon's Lover

27:38.000 The Sapphire Heiress

33:15.000 AD: WOOING THE WITCH QUEEN

35:50.000 A Shore Thing

43:48.500 The Duke's Bartered Mistress

49:36.500 AD: JUST ONE FAVOR

51:31.500 The Villain

59:14.000 Exit, Pursued by a Baron

01:04:12.000 AD: LUMI GUMMIES

01:06:30.500 Seduced in a Storm

01:11:56.000 A Bloomy Head

01:19:19.000 Never Woo the Wrong Lady

01:27:07.500 Dionysus in Wisconsin

01:32:52.000 All About that Duke

01:40:48.000 The Wayward Duke

01:45:59.500 Where Have all the Scoundrels Gone

01:52:13.000 Winnie West Has an Agenda

02:03:22.000 AD: WOOING THE WITCH QUEEN


Co-hosted by bestselling author Sarah MacLean and critic Jen Prokop, Fated Mates-Romance Books for Novel People digs into the genre with a blend of scholarly enthusiasm and pure fandom. This isn't just a book club; it's a deep, weekly examination of why romance novels work, how they mirror and challenge our world, and why they are often dismissed despite their massive cultural impact. The conversation is always grounded in the text itself, often through structured read-alongs of seminal works, where Sarah and Jen unpack character motivations, tropes, and narrative structure with the detail they deserve. You'll hear lively discussions that treat the genre seriously-analyzing its function as a subversive force and a powerful tool against patriarchal norms-while never losing the joy and sheer fun of a good love story. The tone is inclusive, insightful, and famously without kink-shaming, creating a space where appreciation and critical analysis coexist. Tune into this podcast for a dialogue that celebrates complexity, champions the reader's experience, and consistently argues for the intellectual and emotional heft of romance fiction.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

Fated Mates - Romance Books for Novel People
Podcast Episodes
S07.42: Jen & Sarah and These Summer Storms [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

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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 an…
S07.41: Audiobooks with Julia Whelan [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 2:18:10
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 o…
S07.40: Hot 2025 Summer Reads [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:59:36
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 quarter…
S07.39: Dysfunctional Families (The Fun Kind) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:25:27
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 famil…
S07.38: Second Chance Romance Redux [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:39:09
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 talki…
S07.37: Run Posy Run by Cate C. Wells [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 2:42:26
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 moralit…
S07.36: Celebrity + Normie Romance [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:56:20
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, Sarah…
S07.35: On the Shelf with Spinsters and Wallflowers [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:20:10
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 woma…
S07.34: The Third Act Break-Up (Complimentary) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:28:12
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 it…
S07.33: Heated Rivalry by Rachel Reid [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:34:10
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 u…