This week, Meg & Nikki are unpacking the latest Netflix romcom: Emily Henry’s People We Meet on Vacation.

In this episode, they dig into:

* Why this story feels like the romance version of a beef trifle: enjoyable, chaotic, structurally confusing

* Friends-to-lovers, long-term pining, and the danger of resetting the conflict instead of escalating it

* The When Harry Met Sally comparisons and differences in payoff

* The travel fantasy: gorgeous locations, fun moments, and being the best version of YOU while away from home

They also talk adaptation choices, missing connective tissue from the book, and why adult conversations could have solved… basically everything.

How You Can Support The Show

Discover your romance trope and get a custom play list at https://firstdatesandsoulmates.com/quiz/

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Share the show with a friend or loved one!

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Episodes 5 and 6 of Heated Rivalry deliver what can only be described as a masterclass in slow-burn payoff. We get hugs and cuddles, hard truths, loopy Shane declarations, the iconic cottage invitation, and finally (finally!!) two men who sit down and use their words like adults (growth!).

In this third Heated Rivalry episode, Meg & Nikki are once again joined by Andréa Jones to break down:

* Why Episodes 5 & 6 fully deserve being some of the highest rated TV episodes EVER

* The injury → hospital → cottage pipeline and what finally changes between Shane and Ilya

* That music drop, those callbacks, and the slow-burn payoff we were promised

* The “I love you” moment(s) and why language matters here

* What the show gets right that most romance adaptations don’t

* Nikki’s thoughts on finally reading the books (and why she’s FURIOUS at Montreal).

We wrap with big fandom questions, season-wide reflections, and what Heated Rivalry getting this right could mean for future romance adaptations (especially queer ones).

How You Can Support The Show

Discover your romance trope and get a custom play list at https://firstdatesandsoulmates.com/quiz/

Follow Us On Social:

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/firstdatesandsoulmates/

TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@firstdatesandsoulmates

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FirstDatesSoulmates

Download your copy of the 2025 book bingo card at https://bit.ly/fdsmbingo

Email us at [email protected]

Share the show with a friend or loved one!

Got a Little Extra Money to Spend?

Buy our official merch on TeePublic: http://tee.pub/lic/6TtnpmFagAk

Get Meg’s Latest Book: All Twerk No Play: https://amzn.to/3Ee2O9Z

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What happens when the NFL decides it wants Hallmark’s audience and Hallmark decides it wants football money? You get Holiday Touchdown: A Bills Love Story, a G-rated Christmas movie stuffed with snow, Bills Mafia, stadium lore, and enough exposition to qualify as cardio.

Nikki and Meg are joined by Buffalo native and Bills superfan Sara Frandina to break down Hallmark’s second NFL crossover, unpack why Buffalo was the obvious choice, and ask the real questions.

Like:

* Why is this doctor never at work?

* Why does every mystery require a receipt from 50 years ago?

* The “he falls first” trope being wasted on an oblivious heroine

* East Aurora standing in for “small-town Buffalo” (lol)

* Joe Pantoliano quietly acting circles around everyone

* Why this movie could have been 45 minutes shorter and lost nothing

If you came for holiday cheer, you’ll stay for the Bills culture, Hallmark logic, and a surprisingly deep dive into fandom economics.

How You Can Support The Show

Discover your romance trope and get a custom play list at https://firstdatesandsoulmates.com/quiz/

Follow Us On Social:

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/firstdatesandsoulmates/

TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@firstdatesandsoulmates

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FirstDatesSoulmates

Download your copy of the 2025 book bingo card at https://bit.ly/fdsmbingo

Email us at [email protected]

Share the show with a friend or loved one!

Got a Little Extra Money to Spend?

Buy our official merch on TeePublic: http://tee.pub/lic/6TtnpmFagAk

Get Meg’s Latest Book: All Twerk No Play: https://amzn.to/3Ee2O9Z

Shop our affiliate book recs on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/shop/caseboltcreative

Upgrade to a paid tier on Substack

It’s Christmas Eve, which means one thing in the FDSM universe: extremely specific holiday tropes, deeply unserious games, and a shocking number of dead bodies lurking just offstage.

This week, Meg and Nikki dig into the microtropes that make holiday romances and Hallmark movies so bingeable.

Then Meg unleashes not one but two games, including a rapid-fire “Love or Murder?” guessing round and a full-on fantasy-draft-style build-your-own holiday romance.

Yes, ornaments have traumatic backstories.

Yes, someone gets stranded on a bridge. Yes, we absolutely turn the romances into cozy murders at the end.

It’s festive. It’s chaotic. It’s extremely on brand.

If you’ve ever thought, “This movie exists solely to justify one kiss in falling snow,” this episode is for you.

Want to play along? Grab the “Write Your Own Romance” guide here: https://linktr.ee/firstdatesandsoulmates

How You Can Support The Show

Discover your romance trope and get a custom play list at https://firstdatesandsoulmates.com/quiz/

Follow Us On Social:

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/firstdatesandsoulmates/

TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@firstdatesandsoulmates

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FirstDatesSoulmates

Download your copy of the 2025 book bingo card at https://bit.ly/fdsmbingo

Email us at [email protected]

Share the show with a friend or loved one!

Got a Little Extra Money to Spend?

Buy our official merch on TeePublic: http://tee.pub/lic/6TtnpmFagAk

Get Meg’s Latest Book: All Twerk No Play: https://amzn.to/3Ee2O9Z

Shop our affiliate book recs on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/shop/caseboltcreative

Upgrade to a paid tier on Substack

This week, Meg and Nikki head back to small-town romance heaven with Norah Pritchard, author of “If You Were Mine”, the winter installment of her Northfield series. Think runaway bride, grumpy sheriff, snowed-in forced proximity, meddling aunts, and a Christmas tree lot that absolutely understands the assignment.

They talk:

* Grumpy/sunshine as an emotional ignition device

* Forced proximity, snowstorms, and why winter beats hurricanes every time

* Alpha heroes, protective instincts, and the fine art of emotional repression

* Why tropes are not the enemy and why leaning into them works

* Checkov’s Handcuffs (yes, really)

Learn More About Our Guest:

https://norahpritchard.com/

https://www.instagram.com/norahpritchard/

How You Can Support The Show

Discover your romance trope and get a custom play list at https://firstdatesandsoulmates.com/quiz/

Follow Us On Social:

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/firstdatesandsoulmates/

TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@firstdatesandsoulmates

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FirstDatesSoulmates

Download your copy of the 2025 book bingo card at https://bit.ly/fdsmbingo

Email us at [email protected]

Share the show with a friend or loved one!

Got a Little Extra Money to Spend?

Buy our official merch on TeePublic: http://tee.pub/lic/6TtnpmFagAk

Get Meg’s Latest Book: All Twerk No Play: https://amzn.to/3Ee2O9Z

Shop our affiliate book recs on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/shop/caseboltcreative

Upgrade to a paid tier on Substack

This bonus episode exists because the fandom demanded it. And because Episodes 3 and 4 of Heated Rivalry emotionally drop-kicked us into the boards.

Nikki, Meg, and Andrea are back to break down the tonal shift of Episode 3 (Hunter), the rise of Scott “Softest Boy Alive” Hunter, then spiral into Episode 4 (Rose), where the tuna melt scene detonates the emotional core of the show. First names are said. Panic ensues. Everyone suffers.

Tune in for:

* The difference between “can’t come out” and “won’t communicate”

* Why the women of this series are the best people in the room and deserve everything

* The bisexual green couch, frotting discourse, and why nobody gets Shane a ginger ale

* How the show visually tells us these idiots are in love long before they admit it

* Why the final club scene is cruel, perfect, and deeply personal

This episode contains yearning, pining, black sweatpants, and more emotional repression than a locker room in 2014.

Listener discretion advised. Emotional damage guaranteed.

How You Can Support The Show

Discover your romance trope and get a custom play list at https://firstdatesandsoulmates.com/quiz/

Follow Us On Social:

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/firstdatesandsoulmates/

TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@firstdatesandsoulmates

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FirstDatesSoulmates

Download your copy of the 2025 book bingo card at https://bit.ly/fdsmbingo

Email us at [email protected]

Share the show with a friend or loved one!

Got a Little Extra Money to Spend?

Buy our official merch on TeePublic: http://tee.pub/lic/6TtnpmFagAk

Get Meg’s Latest Book: All Twerk No Play: https://amzn.to/3Ee2O9Z

Shop our affiliate book recs on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/shop/caseboltcreative

Upgrade to a paid tier on Substack

In this holly-jolly chaos-fest, Nikki once again interviews Meg’s romance writer persona Bailey Seaborn to break down Making Spirits Bright, the 2.5 novella in the All or Nothing universe.

Expect:

* FULL SPOILERS from not only this novella, but also Peppermint Bark, All Twerk No Play, and early glimpses of Two Wrongs Don’t Make a Playwright

* An exhausted COO with a fixer complex who desperately needs a nap

* A burned-out whistleblower bartender rediscovering her confidence

* A meet-cute that is 0% drunken hookup and 100% “why are you in my bed?”

* Tinsel, feelings, unresolved grief, and Connor finally learning self-care (begrudgingly)

* Background drama from Kate, Nick, Grace, Alex, and Victoria that tees up Book 3

This episode is guaranteed to make your cinnamon-spiced holiday latte feel underdressed.

What We Cover

* How Connor went from “silent spreadsheet king” to full protagonist

* Why Hannah’s backstory flips the small-town trope on its head

* The ethics of caretaking when it becomes your entire personality

* The emotional grenade that is Connor’s grief arc (bring tissues)

* How Making Spirits Bright bridges Twerk No Play → Playwright

* Easter eggs and timeline chaos from books 1–3

* A sneak peek at early cover options and Bailey’s design choices

* Why squishy men who know the five stages of grief are superior

Making Spirits Bright Release Details

Release Date: December 5Price: $2.99Sale: 99¢ from December 11–13Where: Kindle Unlimited + Amazon purchase

Meg’s strategy corner: if you’re a KU reader, grab it there and then buy it so she gets both KU page reads and the sale. Iconic behavior.

For the bonus epilogue from Peppermint Bark + the first three chapters of Two Wrongs Don’t Make a Playwright …Visit baileyseaborn.com (or here’s the direct download link)

📣 Support the Podcast

* Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Substack

* Leave a rating & review to appease the algorithm deities

* Follow us: @firstdatesandsoulmates on TikTok, Instagram & YouTube

* Merch: TeePublic

* Take our

* Become a Substack supporter for bonus episodes & early drops

💌 What We’re Shipping This Week

Meg: Her ARC readers — the real MVPs fueling the indie romance machine.Want to join the ARC list? Email [email protected] or sign up for the bonus episode at baileyseaborn.com and reply to that email to let me know!

Nikki: The Thorn and the Spire by Catherine McIntyre — a dark, spicy, supernatural Beauty-and-the-Beast retelling with demons, casinos, curses, and a library scene worthy of feral screaming.

Heated Rivalry has arrived, and the FDSM household is officially in its Hockey Butt Era! Andrea Jones joins Nikki & Meg to dive into the first two episodes of the MM hockey romance adaptation turning the internet into a collective thirst trap.

They break down:

* Why the timeline jumps feel like surprise math homework

* Shane’s micro-expressions, panic spirals, and inability to say “dildo”

* Ilya as a consent king (and whether he gets “soft” too early)

* The All-Star bench flirting, room 1221, and the pec-grab heard round the world

* The accidental cuck chair and the cursed water-balloon intimacy garments

Come for the rivalry. Stay for the lighting crimes and the hockey butts.

Learn More About Our Guest Andrea Jones (aka author Olivia Carter):

https://authoroliviacarter.com/

https://www.instagram.com/authoroliviacarter/

How You Can Support The Show

Discover your romance trope and get a custom play list at https://firstdatesandsoulmates.com/quiz/

Follow Us On Social:

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/firstdatesandsoulmates/

TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@firstdatesandsoulmates

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FirstDatesSoulmates

Download your copy of the 2025 book bingo card at https://bit.ly/fdsmbingo

Email us at [email protected]

Share the show with a friend or loved one!

Got a Little Extra Money to Spend?

Buy our official merch on TeePublic: http://tee.pub/lic/6TtnpmFagAk

Get Meg’s Latest Book: All Twerk No Play: https://amzn.to/3Ee2O9Z

Shop our affiliate book recs on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/shop/caseboltcreative

Upgrade to a paid tier on Substack

Here in the FDSM universe Thanksgiving means one thing: sentient food erotica.

This year, Meg drags Nikki into Pounded by Produce: A Veggie Love Tale; a story about two hot Catholic priests, one trauma-baking heroine, and a harvest moon miracle that turns everyone into fruits and vegetables. There’s theology, there’s tomato juice, and there are questions no seminary could prepare you for.

We break down:

* Why Pounded by Produce might actually have too much plot

* How hot priests became cucumbers and tomatoes (and why they were fine with it)

* The dubious ethics of divine loopholes and vegetable consent

* VeggieTales flashbacks, Catholic guilt, and unexpected yeast infections

* The Sentient Object Romance rabbit hole: Ampersands, sweatpants, and Chuck Tingle’s entire cinematic universe

* A very serious discussion about cucumber-based UTIs and confessional booth logistics

Also featuring: Meg’s annual holiday erotica tradition, Nikki’s concern for Emily’s gynecologist, and the rise of sentient object romance as the weirdest subgenre in publishing.

Stay for the theology. Leave with more questions than God intended.

Featured in Discussion

* Peppermint Bark, No Bite by Bailey Seaborn — free this weekend on Amazon: https://amzn.to/4a3sWSo

* Pounded by Produce: A Veggie Love Tale by GM Fairy: https://amzn.to/4oeqf3H

* Back for Seconds: A Hedonist Holiday Erotica by J.L. Logosz & Vera Valentine: https://amzn.to/3LM5iQq

* Jingle Bell Mingle by Julie Murphy & Sierra Simone: https://amzn.to/3JPrusl

* Heart2Heart Anthology Vol. 8 by Multiple Authors: https://amzn.to/44nvtDa

* Sentient Object Holiday Series (multi-author collection): https://amzn.to/4pjB31w

* Ampersand, Rock, Paper, Scissors, Caps Lock, Edible Book, Gray Sweatpants

* Lesbian Cactus and My Water-Efficient Drought-Tolerant Landscaping by Chuck Tingle: https://amzn.to/43IRRqq

* My Neighbor’s 12-Foot Skeleton Gets Me Off (Also She Is a Lesbian) by Chuck Tingle: https://amzn.to/43GWLV4

* Pounded In The Butt By My Handsome Sentient Library Card Who Seems Otherworldly But In Reality Is Just A Natural Part Of The Priceless Resources Our Library System Provides by Chuck Tingle: https://amzn.to/3K3SLaw

* Pounded in the Butt by My Own Butt by Chuck Tingle: https://amzn.to/4phW5NW

* Bisexual Mothman Mailman Makes a Special Delivery in Our Butts by Chuck Tingle: https://amzn.to/43IW5hV

* Taken by My TBR by Holly Wilde: https://amzn.to/4ip58KT

* Pounded by a Pommel Horse by Sabrina Cross: https://amzn.to/4iclmXA

How You Can Support The Show

Discover your romance trope and get a custom play list at https://firstdatesandsoulmates.com/quiz/

Follow Us On Social:

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/firstdatesandsoulmates/

TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@firstdatesandsoulmates

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FirstDatesSoulmates

Download your copy of the 2025 book bingo card at https://bit.ly/fdsmbingo

Email us at [email protected]

Share the show with a friend or loved one!

Got a Little Extra Money to Spend?

Buy our official merch on TeePublic: http://tee.pub/lic/6TtnpmFagAk

Get Meg’s Latest Book: All Twerk No Play: https://amzn.to/3Ee2O9Z

Shop our affiliate book recs on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/shop/caseboltcreative

Upgrade to a paid tier on Substack

In this unhinged crossover episode, Meg & Nikki are joined by Onley James and Shannon Ezzell, hosts of the Feral Fandoms podcast to discuss psychopaths in romance, the parasocial relationships that fuel our favourite ships, and the appeal of morally gray characters who definitely need therapy (but we’d still risk it all for).

Tune in for:

* Why psychopaths in romance work only when they’re written with purpose

* The ethics of loving villains and the gray area between fantasy and morality

* Which conversations should happen in a Waffle House parking lot at 3am

* When “romantic obsession” crosses into “I could fix him” territory

* The psychology behind fan communities and what they reveal about human need for connection

It’s messy, meta, and mildly incriminating. Just how we like it.

Learn More About Our Guests:

* The Feral Fandoms Podcast

* Onley’s Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cw/OnleyJames

* Onley’s website: https://onleyjames.com

* The Burned Out Muse on patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cw/TheBurnedOutMuse

Books & Media Mentioned

* Necessary Evils series – Onley James

* Time Served series – Onley James

* Vitale Brothers series – Skyler Snow & Brea Alepou

* Monster series – Lily Mayne

* Vampire Chronicles – Anne Rice (Interview with the Vampire, The Vampire Lestat, Queen of the Damned)

* Fifty Shades of Grey – E.L. James

* Morning Glory Milking Farm – C.M. Nascosta

* A Court of Silver Flames (ACOTAR) – Sarah J. Maas

* Cruel Intentions

* Mads Mikkelsen’s Hannibal (NBC)

* You (Netflix)

* Killing Eve (BBC America)

* Dexter (Showtime)

* American Psycho

* Basic Instinct

* Fatal Attraction

* Khemjira (Thai BL drama)

* K-Pop Demon Hunters (animated film)

* The Untamed (Chinese BL drama)

* Life of a Showgirl (Taylor Swift Album)

* Waffle House by Jonas Brothers

* Elizabeth Taylor/Backstreet Boys mix by Lydia Getachew on SoundCloud

How You Can Support The Show

Discover your romance trope and get a custom play list at https://firstdatesandsoulmates.com/quiz/

Follow Us On Social:

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/firstdatesandsoulmates/

TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@firstdatesandsoulmates

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FirstDatesSoulmates

Download your copy of the 2025 book bingo card at https://bit.ly/fdsmbingo

Email us at [email protected]

Share the show with a friend or loved one!

Got a Little Extra Money to Spend?

Buy our official merch on TeePublic: http://tee.pub/lic/6TtnpmFagAk

Get Meg’s Latest Book: All Twerk No Play: https://amzn.to/3Ee2O9Z

Shop our affiliate book recs on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/shop/caseboltcreative

Upgrade to a paid tier on Substack