675. Celebrating Confident Fat Black Women with Danielle Allen

675. Celebrating Confident Fat Black Women with Danielle Allen

Author: Sarah Wendell July 11, 2025 Duration: 52:57

Danielle Allen is the author of 55 books, including the new release Plus Size Player, part of the Curve series alongside Curvy Girl Summer, and Big Girl Blitz. And the player, as you’ll find out, is the heroine.


The trilogy focuses on three best friends, and so we talk about friendship, loyalty, and about centering fat Black women as romance heroines. Danielle has also written contemporaries inspired by Poe stories, so of course we talk about interpreting Poe as well.


You can find Danielle Allen at her website, AuthorDanielleAllen.com, and on her Patreon, Curvy Girl Confessions. You can also follow her on TikTokInstagramFacebook, and BlueSky.


Her cover artist is Keo Majoy. 



A special invitation: free samples of our bonus content!

Inspired by other Patreon folks, including Chris DeRosa at Fixing Famous People, I’ve made some of the Patreon content free so you can sample what we’ve got.

This collection of special previews is available now to all listeners, and there’s a link in the show notes to dive in. And if you like our free samples, join us in the Patreon community where there’s bonus content and more.





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
721. Exploring Platform Decay with Martha Wells [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:02:11
Martha Wells is back, and we are taking a deep spoilery dive into Platform Decay.I want to be clear here: if you haven’t read Platform Decay, we are about to spoil the dickens out of it. Yes, Charles Dickens is in Platfo…
720. RT Rewind: December 2012 Ads & Features [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:18:50
We’re back in the time machine, heading to December 2012 to look at the ads and features from Romantic Times magazine. This episode features a high amount of extreme zany. We’ve got so many treats for you this week, incl…
719. Tropetails, Books and Drinky Chatting with Amanda [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:05:12
We’re sampling Tropetails cocktail mixes, discussing what we’re reading and playing, and what books we’re looking forward to in the coming months.We were not paid to promote them, but we did receive free samples and they…
718. RT Rewind: December 2012 Reviews [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:32:22
We’re back in the time machine, heading back to December 2012 to see what new books were reviewed in Romantic Times magazine.We’ve got “multicultural” books, beefy paragraphs, big thorns, Schroedinger’s baby, and “charmi…
717. Archangel’s Finale with Nalini Singh [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:24:35
Nalini Singh is back to talk about Archangel’s Eternity, which I have been calling “Archangel’s Finale.”We’ve got questions from readers and listeners, and some behind the scenes details about how Nalini organizes the ma…
715. Books, Wine & Nachos at Joie de Livres, with Claire Trottier [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 55:40
Thanks for Geoffroy in the podcast Patreon (merci, Geoffrey!) my guest this week is Claire Trottier, owner of Joie de Livres, a romance and speculative fiction bookshop in Montreal, Canada. Hi Neighbors!We’re going to ta…
714. The Edge of Space-Time with Dr. Chanda Prescod-Weinstein [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:18:01
When you subscribed to this podcast, I bet you thought, “When is Sarah going to interview an expert on theoretical physics ?” Today is your day!My guest is Dr. Chanda Prescod-Weinstein author of the book The Edge of Spac…
713. Enemies to Lovers with Alisha Rai [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:16:20
My guest this week is podcast community favorite Alisha Rai! We start off catching up on our history of podcasting together, our life changes, and the challenges of making children wear coats.Then it’s enemies to lovers…