Raging Romantics

Go ahead, we give you permission to judge books by their covers. Cover art is an important aspect of your reading experience!

Designs we appreciation

• Amanda Quick
• Dara Joy
• Lisa Kleypas
• Ruby Dixon
• My Lady's Choosing by Kitty Curran
• Lyssa Kay Adams and Bromance Book Club series
• Deceived by the Gargoyles by Lillian Lark
• Titan by Jillian Graves
• The Witch's Curse by J.A. Hoyt

Cover Design videos

• The Art of Book Cover Design (Youtube)
• Designing a book cover with Casey Moses (Youtube)
• Storywrappers book designer (TikTok)

Lyssa Kay Adams interview!

Content Warning: Discussion of censorship, sexual material in books, sex workers, racism, Nazi "romances," dog whistles, "cancel culture," and subversive librarians



Banned Books Week in America is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read. It spotlights current and historical attempts to censor books in libraries and schools. It brings together the entire book community- librarians, booksellers, publishers, journalists, teachers, and readers of all types - in shared support of the freedom to seek and to express ideas, even those some consider unorthodox or unpopular.

For more information visit ala.org!

Don't forget to go listen to our Elinor Glyn for more background for this discussion!

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

Books we mention:

• Three Weeks by Elinor Glyn
• Fanny Hill by John Cleland
• Lady Chatterley's Lover by D.H. Lawrence
• Nichole Rose book, name got changed
• A Lady For a Duke by Alexis Hall
• Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe
• Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James
• Flocked by Kate Stewart (We don't necessarily recommend this author because of things she had done or said; but use your own judgement!)
• Willow Winters (same thing)

Banned and Challenged book links

• Top 100 Most Banned and Challenged Books: 2010-2019
• Banned Books Week
• "Book Banning" (Webb, 2009)

Resources for this episode:

• "When the Supreme Court Had to Read an 18th-Century Erotic Novel" (Little, 2019)
• "Banned Romance: What's So Bad About Happily Ever After?" (Rodale, 2013)
• "Is Censorship Ever OK, Even When It Involves Nazi Romance Heroes?" (Adams, 2015)
• Kingsley-International Pictures (Wikipedia.com)
• Kindle Direct Publishing Content Guidelines
• "5 Secrets I Know About Women (From Writing Their Weird Porn)" (Evans & Hayward, 2015)
• "Anne Rice Calls Cultural Criticism, "Censorship"" (Colyard, 2015)

Fancy a binge read? We've got you covered! (get it? book covers?)

• Spiders Mate trilogy by Tiffany Roberts
• Beach Kingdom trilogy by Tessa Bailey
• The Rules of Scoundrels by Sarah MacLean
• Three Sisters Island trilogy by Nora Roberts

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

Raging Romantics Book List

Content warnings: Discussion of book banning, divorce, adultery, Post Partum Depression and chronic illness.

For a woman who was so incredibly influential on the genre of romance and the early Hollywood, Elinor Glyn has been relegated to the shelves of history. Let's bring this incredible woman, mother, and author back to the limelight today.

The majority of the research for this episode was done thanks to the book Inventing the It Girl: How Elinor Glyn Created the Modern Romance and Conquered Early Hollywood by Hilary Hallet (2022)

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

Raging Romantics Book List

Books by Elinor Glyn we mention:

• The Visits of Elizabeth (1899/1900)
• The Reflections of Ambrosine (1901/1902)
• Beyond the Rocks: A Love Story (1906)
• Three Weeks (1907)
• When The Hour Came/His Hour (1909/1910)
• The Reason Why (1911)
• Halcyone (1912)
• The Contrast and other Stories (1913)
• The Point of View (1913)
• The Sequence (1913)
• Three Things (1915)
• The Career of Katherine Bush (1916)
• Letters From Spain (comp. 1924)

Other Books:

• Vanity Fair (Becky Sharp is the heroine)
• Fanny Hill by John Cleland
• Flame and the Flower by Kathleen Woodiwiss
• Life's Too Short by Abby Jimenez
• Behind the Screen by Samuel Goldwyn

Sources:

• "The Case for Bodice Ripping/Don't Call Them Trash" (Atlantic Article, Gilbert, 2022)
• "Meet Elinor Glyn, "Shocker of Grandmothers" and Founder of the Modern Sex Novel" (Hallett, 2022)
• "Elinor Glyn" (Women Film Pioneers Project, 2013)
• "Elinor Glyn" (Britannica.com)
• "Elinor Glyn Recognized "It" Before Anyone Else -Because She Had "It"" (Welch, 2022)
• "Belle Époque or the "Beautiful Age" in France" (Wilde, 2019)
• Philip Alexius de Laszlo's painting of Elinor Glyn 1912

Calling all fellow cosplayers, rennies, and knight-obsessed! There's a whole genre for us to talk about! Help us welcome Alexander Schulz, life-long ren faire player, as we talk about some of our favorites.

• Well Met series by Jen De Luca
• Renaissance Man by Tessa Bailey
• Hard Day's Knight by Katie MacAlister
• Blow Me Down also by Katie MacAlister

Raging Romantics book list

Email us at [email protected]!

Content Warnings: Discussions of sex workers and sex work, colonialism, racism, religious persecution, sexually transmitted diseases, virginity, serial killer Belle Gunness, miscarriage, murder

What do pilgrims, Benjamin Franklin, and Tinder have to do with one another? Don't take it personally if you don't know; you'll just have to listen to this episode!

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

Raging Romantics Book List!

Sources:

• Matrimony Inc. by Francesca Beauman
• "Marriage, a History" (Psychology Today, 2005)
• "How Dating Has Changed Through History" (Lane, 2021)
• "10 Fascinating Facts About the Evolution of Dating and Courtship" (Brown, 2016)

Books we mention:

• Amelia Peabody mysteries by Elizabeth Peters
• Dances with Wolves by Michael Blakes
• The 1619 Project by Nikole Hannah-Jones
• Heart and Hand by Rebel Carter
• Alien's Mail-Order Bride by Ruby Dixon
• Claimed by the Mountain Man by Frankie Love
• Bridge Kingdom by Danielle Jensen
• His Human Nanny by Michelle Mills
• Never Seduce a Scot by Maya Banks
• Bride Test by Helen Hoang
• Bittersweet Bride by Vanessa Riley
• Sunset Embrace by Sandra Brown
• Only Mine by Elizabeth Lowell
• Duchess Deal by Tessa Dare
• When the Scot Ties the Knot by Tessa Dare
• The Billionaire's Wake Up Call Girl by Annika Martin

*Reconstruction, not Reformation @41:00

Please help us welcome Dr. Euan Hague of De Paul University in Chicago onto Raging Romantics! Dr. Hague is an urban and cultural geographer whose work explores the politics of place. In this episode he sits down with Jackie to talk about the perception of the Scots in modern romance novels.

Raging Romantics Book List

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

Thank you again to Dr. Hague for taking the time to sit down and chat with us!

Dr. Hague's article with Word Wenches

Books we mention:

• Outlander (Cross Stitch) by Diana Gabaldon
• Only For a Knight by Sue-Ellen Welfonder
• Laird of the Wind Susan Fraser King
• Starlight by Carrie Lofty
• The Flame and the Flower by Kathleen Woodiwiss

**Note, Jackie said the wrong date for The Flame and the Flower - it was published in 1972, not 1982!**

CONTENT WARNING : discussions of racism, colonialism and cultural appropriation as it pertains to romance novels. Also loud bagpipe sounds.

This week we're taking a look under the kilt at the dark(?) history behind Scottish romance novels. Do you agree with Jackie- is there something a little off about Scots in romance books? Or is she thinking too deeply about all this...after all, these are *just* fiction books.

Shoutout to Dr. Euan Hague at De Paul University for sitting down with Jackie to talk cultural geography! Make sure to tune into minisode #22 to hear that entire interview!

Raging Romantics Book List!

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

Authors/Books we mention

• Dragon Fever by Donna Grant (quote Jackie reads at the beginning)
• Diana Gabaldon
• Jennifer Ashley
• Karen Marie Moning
• Lyndsay Sands
• Maya Banks Highlander series
• Kinley MacGregor MacAllister series

Recommended reads:

• How the Scots Invented the Modern World by Arthur Herman
• A History of Scotland by Neil Oliver
• The Highland Furies: The Black Watch by Victoria Schofield
• Literally ANYTHING by Alistair Moffat but especially Scotland; A History From Earliest Times ; The Highland Clans ; and Scotland's Lost Frontier
• The Lowland Clearances: Scotland's Silent Revolution, 1760 - 1830 by Aitchinson and Cassell
• The Highland Clearances by Eric Richards
• To the Ends of the Earth: Scotland's Global Diaspora, 1750-2010 by TM Devine

Other resources:

• "Why Scottish Romances?" (Somerville Public Library, 2006)
• "Romance Unlaced: Exploring the appeal of Scottish heroes" (Hunter, 2014)
• "'Och Aye': Reading Scottish Romances as an Actual Scottish Person" (Donaldson, 2017)
• "The Fetishization of Scottish Highlanders" (Jane, 2009)
• "Outlander tourism effect a 'double edged sword'" (BBCnews.com, 2020)
• "The Outlander Effect" (Drysdale)
• "From tartan to bagpipes: the story behind Scotland’s brand" (Dickie, 2019)
• "A Professor Studies Scottish Romance" (Wordwenches.com, 2013)
• "Why do Americans love Scotland so much? We visit California's Scotsfestival to find out" (Stephenson, 2020)
• "Romanticism in Literature: Definition and Examples (Somers, 2019)
• "Tartan and the Dress Act of 1746" (Scottish Tartans Authority)
• "Tartan Repeal" (ibid.)
• "Ancient Highland Dress" (ibid.)
• "The Act of Proscription" (ibid.)
• "Mythbusters!" (ibid.)
• "Scots Gaelic language" (Britannica.com)
• Jacobite Rebellion of 1745 (British Heritage)
• "The Scottish Enlightenment and the Romantic Movement" (Rosslyn Chapel)
• "The Aftermath of the 1745 Jacobite Rebellion: How British Reformatory Measures and Chief Complicity Destroyed Clanship in the Scottish Highlands" (Jones, 2021)
• "1746 – Highland Dress Proscription Act" (Scotlans.com)
• "The Act of Proscription, tartan and Gaelic culture" (Sassenach Sticher, 2021)
• "Scottish Enlightenment" (britannica.com)
• "The Seventh Romantic: Robert Burns" (Burch)
• "Gaelic language erosion and revitalization on the Isle of Skye, Scotland" (Smakman, 2008)
• "UNESCO Project: Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger" (UNESCO.org)

How many times can Jackie and Jen say "aww" in one minisode? Answer- the limit does not exist when we're talking about romance books that feature all the good puppers.

• Anyone but You by Jennifer Crusie
• Sweet Little Lies by Jill Shalvis
• Kiss of Crimson by Lara Adrien
• The Search by Nora Roberts
• So Good by Nicola Rendell
• City Girl, Country Vet by Cathy Woodman

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

Raging Romantics booklist!

CONTENT WARNINGS: Discussion of slavery and the transatlantic slave trade, and colonization.

Ahoy mateys! Let's set sail onto the Caribbean-blue waters of pirates in romance books. In this episode Jen and Jackie discuss what led to the Golden Age of Piracy, where pirates entered the literature, and what the differences between romantic pirates and popular pirates (Jack Sparrow anyone?) look like. Dive on in...the water's fine!

Raging Romantics Book List!

Email us [email protected]

Vocab:

• lestai - Greek for "thieves" - early reference to maritime pirates
• peirato - latin for "pirate"
• Buccaneer - From French "boucanier" meaning a pirate; a curer of wild meats, a user of a boucan, or a native grill for roasting meat
• Privateer - a private merchant/ship owner who carried a letter of marque that gave them permission on behalf of their monarch/country to capture enemy merchant ships, take a profit, and then give the rest of the profit back to the state.
• Golden Age of Piracy - Appr. 1690-1730 CE and refers especially to European pirates who operated in the Mediterranean, Atlantic, and Caribbean theaters

Books/authors/poets/plays we mention:

• The Iliad and The Odyssey
• The Buccaneers of America by Alexandre Exquemelin (1678)
• A General History of the Robbers and Murders of the Most Notorious Pyrates by "Captain Johnson" (1724) 
• "Blackbeard or The Captive Princess" (play/musical 1798)
• "The Corsair" by Lord Byron (1814)
• Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson (1883)
• Peter Pan by JM Barrie (1904 play, 1911 book)
• Longarm series by Tabor Evans
• The Gift by Julie Garwood
• Gentle Rogue by Johanna Lyndsey
• The Flame and The Flower by Kathleen Woodiwiss
• The Rogue Pirate's Bride by Shana Galen
• The Other Miss Bridgerton (Rokesby series) by Julia Quinn
• Corsairs and Corsairs Brothers series by the queen, Ruby Dixon
• Fable duology by Adrienne Young
• All The Stars and Teeth duology by Adalyn Grace
• Bridge Kingdom series by Danielle Jensen
• Sea of Ruin by Pam Godwin
• Rogue Booty by Golden Angel
• A Worthy Opponent by Katee Robert
• Hooked by Emily McEntire
• The Reef by Nora Roberts
• Sabrina Jeffries

Sources:

• "The Chinese Female Pirate Who Commanded 80,000 Outlaws" (Banerji, 2002)
• "History of Piracy" (abdn.co.uk)
• Greek inscribed marble fragment descr. Cleomis
• Polycrates
• "Medieval Pirates" (Vallar)
• "The Lure of Piracy; Realty vs. Romanticism" (Vallar)
• "Golden Age of Piracy" (Cartwright, 2021)
• "8 Reasons Being in a Pirate Romance Novel Would Actually Be Awful" (Passell, 2014)
• "Ahoy, Romance! Pirates As A Romantic Hero In Fiction" (Harris, 2018)
• "Pirates: Romance Versus Reality" (Houston Museum of Natural Science2010)
• "The Radical Romanticism of Piracy" (Waite, 2019)
• "Why Do We Love Pirates?" (Kennedy, 2015)
• "The Timeless Allure of Pirates" (bbc.com)
• "The Sea Dogs - Queen Elizabeth's Privateers" (Cartwright, 2020)
• "A Brief History of the Age of Exploration" (Briney, 2020)
• "Letters of Marque" (Royal Museums Greenwich)
• "History of the Spanish Doubloon"
• "A Glimpse of Genre: The Gothic Romance" (2017)
• "Fantasy or Reality: Analyzing Pirates in Peter Pan" (Krebs, Levine, 2011)
• "Why J. M. Barrie Created Peter Pan" (Lane, 2004)

TV shows/movies mentioned:

• Black Sails
• Our Flag Means Death
• Pirates of the Caribbean
• Firefly
• Into The Blue

Recommended reads/podcasts!:

• Under the Black Flag by David Cordingly
• Black Flags, Blue Waters by Eric Jay Dolin
• Empire of Blue Water by Stephan Talty
• Cinnamon & Gunpowder by Eli Brown
• The Pirate History Podcast by Matt Albers