Fated Mates - Romance Books for Novel People

It's that time of year, when we highlight some of our favorite new voices in romance! This week, we're talking about eight new writers who are making us excited about what's to come in historical, contemporary, cozy fantasy and more. Here's to reading them all for years to come! From horse girls to divorcees, hair stylists to magical tea shop owners, basketball coaches to jewel thieves, there's something in here for everyone. It's going to be great for you!Don't forget--you can buy the Fated Mates Best of 2025 Book Pack from our friends at Pocket Books Shop in Lancaster, PA, and get eight of the books on the list! Scoundrel Take Me Away and Lazarus, Home from War (independently published) are not in the box. As always, you can add additional romances, or one of Sarah's books to your box. If you want other people to discuss brand new romance authors with, 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. You can also ask for it as a gift, or give it as one at fatedmates.net/gift.Our next read along will be Ruby Dixon's Ice Planet Barbarians (you’re welcome). Get it at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, from your local indie, or with your monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited.The BooksThe Best Worst Thing by Lauren OkieOnce Upon a Time in Dollywood by Ashley JordanCosmic Love at the Multiverse Hair Salon by Annie MareHopelessly Teavoted by Audrey Goldberg RuoffSavannah Royals by Lindsay BarrettPlay You For It by Samantha SaldivarThe Trouble with Anna by Rachel GriffithsCelebrity Crush by Christy SwiftNotesCheck out our Debuts of 2024 episode here. It’s not frod (Friend + rod), it’s frotting. Here’s the wikipedia page. Sarah apologizes for not knowing the proper spelling.Jenny Hamilton wrote a terrific piece about

We’re so excited for our deep dive of KJ Charles’s The Magpie Lord, first in her magical, gothic series, A Charm of Magpies. We talk about the clear chops displayed in this romance --strong plotting, complex characterization, and a beautiful understanding of what happily ever after looks like. And yes, we get to the tattoos. Obviously.Don't forget--you can buy the Fated Mates Best of 2025 Book Pack from our friends at Pocket Books Shop in Lancaster, PA, and get eight of the books on the list! Scoundrel Take Me Away and Lazarus, Home from War (independently published) are not in the box. As always, you can add additional romances, or one of Sarah's books to your box. If you want other people to discuss great romance series, 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. You can also ask for it as a gift, or give it as one at fatedmates.net/gift.Our next read along will be Ruby Dixon's Ice Planet Barbarians. Get it at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, from your local indie, or with your monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited.NotesThis is our second KJ Charles deep dive. The first was Band Sinister. We were lucky enough to speak to KJ Charles about her work and her pathway through romance as part of our Trailblazers series. Listen to that interview here.It’s been the snowiest start to winter in Chicago since 1978! The Great Lakes can freeze, kind of. Here’s what the Great Lakes ice prediction for this year. The Ice Fishing town hall meeting, as promised. Heated Rivalry is great and Jen (and everyone else) thinks you should watch it. The Magpie Lord was published in 2013 by Samhain Publishing, which

It's winter, which means that it's time to get cozy, build a blanket nest on the couch, and read a million books one right after the other in the great tradition of our ancient forbears. Today, we're talking about series that deliver one banger after another and, yes, that also bang. We'll talk historicals, contemporaries, and of course, the paranormal series that started it all for us. Don't forget--you can buy the Fated Mates Best of 2025 Book Pack from our friends at Pocket Books Shop in Lancaster, PA, and get eight of the books on the list! Scoundrel Take Me Away and Lazarus, Home from War (independently published) are not in the box. As always, you can add additional romances, or one of Sarah's books to your box. If you want other people to discuss great romance series, 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. You can also ask for it as a gift, or give it as one at fatedmates.net/gift.Our next read along will be KJ Charles's The Magpie Lord. Get it at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books or wherever you get your books.NotesGo to Sarah’s site to sign up for her newsletter. Apparently, it’s going to be a snowy winter because of squirrels, the Farmer’s Almanac is over, and social media is ruining your life and your brain, or maybe it’s just your whole damn phone. Heated Rivalry, baby. Also this fall, the CW has unveiled a bunch of movies based on Harlequin books, including Savvy Sheldon Feels Good as Hell, Mason Deaver’s YA romance I Wish You All the Best and in January we get Season 4 of Bridgerton, and Netflix's adaptation of Emily Henry's People We...

S07.33, originally released on April 29, 2025.The RestFor even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net/episodes/2025/4/28/0733-heated-rivalry-by-rachel-reid 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.

The end of the year is nigh, and it's our holiday romance novel episode! We're talking about a collection of romances that are entirely new to us (except for the one moment where Sarah talks about that old McNaught short story that installed all her cold-weather romance buttons). We've got Austen retellings, Regency cats, characters playing with holiday toys, CIA agents and, of course, some sexy Santas. You deserve nice things. Don't forget--you can buy the Fated Mates Best of 2025 Book Pack from our friends at Pocket Books Shop in Lancaster, PA, and get eight of the books on the list! Scoundrel Take Me Away and Lazarus, Home from War (independently published) are not in the box. As always, you can add additional romances, or one of Sarah's books to your box. If you want other people to discuss holiday (or other) romances, 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 KJ Charles's The Magpie Lord. Get it at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books or wherever you get your books.NotesThere are several accounts as to where Irving Berlin wrote White Christmas. Sarah stayed at the Arizona Biltmore Hotel, which claims it inspired the song (by being the opposite of snowy), but there's also an account that he wrote it in La Quinta, CA at the La Quinta Hotel (not to be confused with just any LaQuinta). Check out our prior holiday romance episodes:2024, including Sara Raasch, Vivian Mae, Evie Rose, Timothy Janovsky & more2023, including Holly June Smith, Oona Grace, Kayla Grosse, Tracey Livesay & more2022: Here Comes Santa Claus2021: Short & Sexy Christmas Recs2019, including Adriana Herrera, Delilah Peters, and several anthologies2018, including Therese Beharrie, a Chanukah anthology, Cecilia Grant, Tiffany Reisz & moreBooks