665. RT Rewind - February 2015 Reviews

665. RT Rewind - February 2015 Reviews

Author: Sarah Wendell May 2, 2025 Duration: 1:57:04

We are traveling back to February 2015 to take a look at the new releases in RT magazine, and my guest is the cover author, HelenKay Dimon, who also writes thrillers as Darby Kane.


This was VERY fun because HelenKay is an author, so she has a different perspective on the magazine, the convention, the reviews, and the way different genres have changed. We cover how HelenKay discovered romance, and how her career has evolved over the years – and of course we talk about all the books.


This is a long one because I couldn’t cut anything! I hope you enjoy it – please let me know what you think. And if you like the show, please tell a friend or Reddit or a random stranger about it.


You can find HelenKay Dimon at her website, and you can find Darby Kane at her website, too!

HelenKay is on Instagram sharing book release news, too.


We also mentioned:


And don’t forget! If you join the Patreon, you get the full PDF scan of every issue – and very few of these are available online.


Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.


If you’ve ever felt a little defensive about loving romance novels, or just want to dive deeper into the books you can’t put down, Smart Podcast, Trashy Books: A Romance Novel Podcast is your perfect companion. Host Sarah Wendell approaches the genre with a critic’s sharp mind and a fan’s enthusiastic heart, creating conversations that are as thoughtful as they are joyful. This isn’t just author interviews, though you’ll hear brilliant voices like Ilona Andrews, Sarah J. Maas, and the wonderfully unique Chuck Tingle. The scope of the podcast is deliberately wide, bringing in reviewers, librarians, editors, and publishing professionals to examine every facet of the romance world. You’ll get honest talk about tropes and trends, the business behind the books, and why these stories resonate so powerfully with millions of readers. Regular appearances from Amanda Diehl add another layer of camaraderie and insight. Listening feels like being part of a smart, welcoming book club where no opinion is dismissed and passion is a given. It’s a celebration of a genre that dominates fiction, explored with humor, intelligence, and genuine curiosity. Whether you’re a longtime devotee or a curious newcomer, this podcast offers a rich, engaging, and deeply human look at the stories we love.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

Smart Podcast, Trashy Books: A Romance Novel Podcast
Podcast Episodes
624. Academic Research about Romancelandia with Christine M. Larson [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 44:25
Christine M. Larson is the author of the new book Love in the Time of Self-Publishing: How Romance Writers Changed the Rules of Writing and Success, published by Princeton University Press. This book is NIFTY - it’s abou…
623. RT Rewind: December 1997 Reviews [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 54:56
The book reviews in 1997 may be fewer in number but they are ample in wtfery.Prizefighter younger sons getting kicked out of brothels on their wedding night!Nicknames that follow you around the globe in the 1880s!Regency…
622. The Love of my Afterlife with Kirsty Greenwood [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 43:59
Kirsty Greenwood’s book The Love of My Afterlife is out now, and it’s bubbly and charming and funny, with a lot of emotion, so we’re going to talk all about it. We also talk about making friends as an adult, and how ther…
621. RT Rewind: September 2002 Ads & Features [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:05:16
We’re going back in time to look at the ads and features of the September 2002 issue of Romantic Times!This issue left us with many questions, such as:What the hell is Tart Noir?Are reviewers elsewhere too mean? (Not us…
620. Romance and Kickstarter with Oriana Leckert [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 54:31
Oriana Leckert is the Head of Publishing at Kickstarter, and works with the many, many authors who are finding community support on Kickstarter. They’re hosting a celebration all this month, Heartstrings & Hardbacks: Kic…
619. RT Rewind: September 2002 Reviews [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 46:58
We asked our Patreon community to vote on this month’s issue, and September 2002 won by a wide margin. So let’s dive into the book reviews, shall we?There are strange subcategories and overlapping genres, and also color-…
618. The Romance Reader’s Handbook with Steve Ammidown [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 55:02
In June 1989, Kathryn Falk published The Romance Reader’s Handbook, a 354 page spiral bound collection of everything a romance reader would need to know. Steve Ammidown leads us on a brief tour of this artifact of romanc…
617. A Romance Soundtracks Sampler [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 39:57
In episode 611, we talked about the ads and features in the April 2005 issue of Romantic Times, and there was an ad on the back cover for Romance Soundtracks. We could not find anything about them, but Malaraa in our Pat…
616. Reading Rubrics with Shana [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 50:04
In a review for Never Cross a Highlander, Shana came up with the ACAB scale, or the Alyssa Cole Anti-Slavery Book Scale, which ranks how central the horror of slavery is to the storyline. I asked her to tell me all about…

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