Raging Romantics

Top off your december with some fun festive reads! Any recommendations for us? Email us at [email protected].

We wish you a safe an happy holiday season, and a warm end to your 2022!

XX,

Jackie + Jen

Raging Romantics booklist

Storygraph (free!)

Books we recommend:

• Kiss Her Once for Me by Alison Cochrun
• Sleigh Bells in the Snow by Sarah Morgan
• You're a Mean One, Matthew Prince by Timothy Janovsky
• Secret Santa by Kati Wilde
• Merry Little Meet Cute by Julie Murphy and Sierra Simone
• Ruby Dixon holiday "No-Poison Day" novellas
• Ice Planet Holiday
• The Barbarian Before Christmas

Jen and Jackie may not be the most coordinated, sporty people out there, but we sure do love sporty romance books! Jen leads this discussion this time into the history and objectives of sports, and why we, romance nerds, feel so attracted to all those...tight ends.

(Jackie's buzz word this month is apparently "zeitgeist;" she's so sorry)

Books we mention:

• Playbook series by Alexa Martin
• Fake It Till You Bake It by Jamie Wesley
• Playing For Keeps by Nichole Rose
• Icebreaker by Hannah Grace
• Bromance Book Club series by Lyssa Kay Adams
• Jen Frederick
• Pucked series by Helena Hunting
• Leviathan Fitness series by Ashley Bennett
• Kennedy Ryan
• Melt For You by J.T. Geissinger
• The Forbidden Man by Karina Halle

Sources:

• The Anthropology of Sport: An Introduction (Blanchard, 1995)
• "History of Sports" (Wikipedia)
• "Sport and preparing troops for war" (National Army Museum, n.d.)
• "A Brief History of Sports" (Bellis, 2019)
• "Drill and Kill: How Americans Link War and Sports" (Stark, 2010)
• "The Benefits of Play for Adults" (Robinson et al., 2022)
• "Drama, Testosterone, and Passion: The Appeal of M/M and Sports" (Andrews, 2013)
• "Sports And Romance Novels: A Match Made In...Hockey" (Given, 2019)
• "Can college athletes get paid? Can they make money on social media?" (Alikpala, 2022)

Content warning: witch hunts and why women in the past were accused of being witches, misogyny, the clash between the Christian and non-Christian societies, toxic masculinity, and effects of the 2016 American Presidential election.

Timestamps to skip if you don't want to listen to politics after sitting through thanksgiving dinner: 40:18 - 46:54.

Hey there witches, let's talk witchy romance books, witchy history, the linguistics of witchcraft and the sociopolitical influence of witches today! Aka yes, we're talking about witches. We'll talk about where the word "witch" comes from, discuss the 1612 Pendle and Lancashire witch trials, look at witchcraft and the 2016 election, and why we think witchy romances are so popular!

Questions/comments/concerns? Email us at [email protected]!

Raging Romantics booklist

Books we mention:

• Grace Year by Kim Ligget
• Red Queen series by Victoria Aveyard
• Dread Nation by Justina Ireland
• Wilder Girls by Rory Power
• If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio
• Babel by R.F. Kuang
• Atlas Six by Olivie Blake
• Legendborn by Tracy Deonn
• Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin
• Grishaverse (Shadow and Bone series) by Leigh Bardugo
• House of the dragon (for the book version read Fire and Blood by GRRM)
• Rings of Power (not a book but you can read The Silmarillion by Tolkien)
• The Women's War by Jenna Glass
• Once and Future Witches by Alix Harrow
• Circe by Madeleine Miller
• Crescent City series by Sarah J. Maas
• The Crucible (play) by Arthur J. Miller
• Malleus Maleficarium read free online
• "Demonology" (Daemonologie) by James VI (read free online)
• Bromance Book Club by Lyssa Kay Adams
• Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston
• Demon Slayers/Biker Witches series by Angie Fox
• Babes on Brooms by Vicki Lewis Thompson
• Practical Magic series by Alice Hoffman
• Year One series by Nora Roberts
• Little Shop of Found Things by Paula Brackston
• Witch of Willow Hall by Hester Fox
• Blacksmith Queen by G.A. Aiken
• Cackle by Rachel Harrison
• Witch Please by Anne Aguirre
• Ex Hex by Erin Sterling
• Payback’s A Witch by Lana Harper
• A Letter to Three Witches by Elizabeth Bass
• Not the Witch You Wed by April Asher
• League of Gentlewomen Witches by India Holton
• Go Hex Yourself by Jessica Clare
• Small Town, Big Magic by Hazel Beck

Episodes to listen to:

• #21 Into the Unknown with Paranormal Romance
• #32 To Shun or Not To Shun Amish Romance Novels

Sources:

• "European Witch-Hunting (A Brief History)" (Nitschke, 2022)
• "Pendle Witches" (wikipedia)
• "The Pendle Witches" (Castelow, n.d.)
• "Witch" (Online Etymology Dictionary)
• "Witchcraft" (ibid.)
• "Old English—an overview" (OED online)
• "Anna Göldi" (wikipedia)
• "Blake Morrison: under the witches' spell" (Morrison, 2012)
• The Lancashire Witches : a chronicle of sorcery and death on Pendle Hill (Almond, 2012)
• "Lancaster Castle" (Wikipedia)
• The Wonderfull Discoverie of Witches in the Countie of Lancaster (Thomas Potts, 1613)
• "'Broad City' ’s Excellent, Witchy Answer to the Trump Effect" (St. Felix, 2017)
• "Labeling and oppression: Witchcraft in Medieval Europe" (Campbell, 1978)
• "Is Exodus 22:18 a Command for Christians to Kill Witches?" (Goble, 2010)
• "Queen Elizabeth I and government" (bbc.co.uk, n.d.)
• "Queen Elizabeth I and Catholics" (elizabethi.org, n.d.)
• "Trends in YA since the 2016 election and what they say about current society" (Jensen, 2019)
• "This Exhibit About Witch Hunting Is Not About Donald Trump (But It’s Still Politically Spellbinding)" (Keats, 2020)
• "This Halloween, witches are casting spells to defeat Trump and #WitchTheVote in the U.S. election" (Keller and Mulvey, 2020)
• "How the 2016 Election Led to Lyssa Kay Adams’s Bromance Book Club" (Reading Women, 2020)
• "Impact of Witch-Hunting on Feminism and Legitimacy of Donald Trump’s Politics" (Chadha and Narang, 2021)

Looking for a little office romance? We have some recommendations! (obviously...)

• The Ex-Talk by Rachel Lynn Solomon
• The Billionaire's Wake Up Call-Girl by Annika Martin
• The Orc from the Office by Kate Prior
• Live, Laugh, Lich by by Kate Prior
• The Season of Love by Helena Greer
• The Fastest Way to Fall by Denise Williams
• In the Event of Love by Courtney Kae

And yes, Jackie now knows she pronounced "shiva" wrong, she apologizes!

Questions? Comments? Concerns? Email us at [email protected]!

Ever wondered at how we run the podcast? Well here's your look behind the curtain! We recently had the opportunity to present the podcast at the New York Library Association's 2022 annual conference, and we recorded that for you to listen to!

Questions/comments/concerns/suggestions? Feel free to email us at [email protected]!

Link to the presentation so you can view the slides!

Books we mention:

• Bromance Book Club by Lyssa Kay Adams
• Ice Planet Barbarians series by Ruby Dixon

**Correction, the "blue snowball microphone's" price has increased now to $45

Monster romance? We love her! Here's some of our new recommendations for you:

• A Deal with a Demon series by Katee Robert (Dragon, Kraken, Demon, more to come)
• The Kraken series by Tiffany Roberts
• Spider's Mate series by Tiffany Roberts
• Such Sharp Teeth by Rachel Harrison
• Cackle by Rachel Harrison
• Stalked by the Kraken by Lillian Lark
• Found by the Lake Monster by Lillian Lark
• Blood Moon by Jillian Graves
• Charming Your Dad by Sarah Blue

Questions/Comments/Suggestions? Email us at [email protected]!

Raging Romantics Booklist

Do you like horror books? Me too! I get to sit down with Rachel Harrison! Join us virtually on November 28@ 630 pm EST!

Himbo werewolves? Spicy gargoyles? Domineering Kraken? In case you weren't aware, Jen and I are obviously on board with monster romances. What about you, dear listener; where do you stand on the monster escalator?

Questions? Comments? Concerns? Email us at [email protected]!

Raging Romantics Book List

• Blood Moon by Jillian Graves
• Titan by Jillian Graves
• A Caress of Twilight (Merry Gentry #2) by Laurell K Hamilton
• Moan for Bigfoot by Virginia Wade (I will not be linking this for fear of our technology director yelling at me)
• Morning Glory Milking Farm by C.M. Nacosta
• Sweet Berries (mothman) by Nacosta
• A Soul to Keep by Opal Reyne
• Den of Vipers by K.A. Knight
• Kraken series by Tiffany Roberts

Other Episodes to brush up on

• Folklore and Fairytales #37 and #38
• Banned Books #50

Spooky Season movies Jackie recommends for monster vibes

• The VVitch (2015)
• M. Night Shyamalan's The Village (2004)
• Shape of Water (2017)
• The Invitation (2022)

Let's keep spooky season rolling with a whole slew of witchy romance books!

Raging Romantics book list

Questions? Comments? Concerns? Email us at [email protected].

Make sure to go listen to the interview with Jillian Graves, available now!

Books we mention:

• Dark Witch by Nora Roberts (Cousins O'Dwyer trilogy)
• Witch Please by Ann Aguirre (Fix-It Witches series)
• Take a Hint, Dani Brown by Talia Hibbert (Brown Sisters trilogy)
• Not the Witch You Wed by April Asher
• The River Has Teeth by Erica Waters

Other witchy books Jackie recommends

• Practical Magic series by Alice Hoffman
• Spells for Forgetting by Adrienne Young
• Cackle by Rachel Harrison
• The Witch's Curse by J.A. Hoyt
• The Winternight trilogy by Katherine Arden

We're so happy to welcome monster romance author extraordinaire, Jillian Graves, onto the podcast! Jillian's debut published book, Titan, was a breakout bestseller, and is synonymous with monster romance. In this episode we look at what Jillian thinks of the recent rise of monster romance, and what could have influenced its popularity!

Questions? Comments? Concerns? Recommendations? Email us at [email protected]!

Raging Romantics booklist

Thank you again to Jillian for joining us; everyone go check out her books!

Books and authors we mention:

• Titan by Jillian Graves
• Blood Moon by Graves (out Oct. 18!)
• Duskwalker Brides series by Opal Reyne
• Sea Creatures Prefer Redheads by Brianne Gillen (out Oct. 13)
• Judith McNaught
• Beatrice Small
• Sherrilyn Kenyon
• Sandra Brown
• Nora Roberts
• Katee Robert
• Neon Gods by Robert
• Dragon's Bride by Robert
• Sing Me to Sleep by R.M. Virtues
• Exodus 20:3 by Freydis Moon
• Uncommonly Verdant by Daria Vernon
• Lillian Lark
• Run, Rabbit, Run by C.M. Nacosta

Jillian's links!

• Website
• Tiktok @jilliangravesauthor
• Instagram @damewithapen
• Twitter @damewithapen