Raging Romantics

Blue covers? You got it!

Recommend us a cover color to cover (tehehe), email us at [email protected]!

Books we mention:

• One to Watch by Kate by Kate Stayman-London
• Book Lovers by Emily Henry
• Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang
• It Happened One Summer by Tessa Bailey

Spoilers for One Night In Hartswood @ 24:14-27:00

Raging Romantics welcomes author Emma Denny to the podcast! She and Jackie sit down (from opposite sides of the Atlantic) to talk all about Emma's debut novel, One Night in Hartswood. They also talk about the hallmarks of medieval romance, the gentleness of the genre, the need for more queer historical romance books, and they bond over lady knights kicking butt and rescuing damsels in distress.

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

You can find Emma on Twitter @Emma_denny_ and on her website. Make sure to preorder ONIH now so you can hunker down with it come November 7th (or right now if you're a lucky UK listener), and convince your local library to get it!

Books we mention:

• One Night in Hartswood by Emma Denny
• Library of the Unwritten by AJ Hackwood
• Gwen and Art Are Not in Love by Lex Croucher (out November 28th in the US)
• Rose and the Dagger by Renee Ahdieh
• Solomon's Crown by Natasha Siegel
• Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir
• A Power Unbound by Freya Markse
• Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett
• We Could Be So Good by Cat Sebastian
• The Red Scholar's Wake by Aliette de Bodard
• Taste of Iron and Gold by Alexandra Rowland
• A Strange and Stubborn Endurance by Foz Meadows

Books we mention:

• Ice Planet Barbarians by Ruby Dixon
• Black Dagger Brotherhood by JR Ward
• Only His by Elizabeth Lowell
• Return to Me by Shannon McKenna
• Heat Stroke by Tessa Bailey
• Everything for Her by Alexa Riley
• The Nanny by Lana Ferguson
• Merry Little Meet Cute by Sierra Simone and Julie Murphy
• Priest by Sierra Simone
• Dating Dr. Dil by Nisha Sharma
• Waiting for a Scot Like You by Eva Leigh

Jackie finally gets to use her first master's degree, and dive into as much medieval history as she can fit into a 40 minute episode! Buckle in for this first part of a medieval series in our continued lost genre series.

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

Go listen to our Viking episode (#45) and our Scottish episodes (#47 and Minisode #22)

Books/movies we mention:

• Connie Mason
• A Knight's Tale (starring Heath Ledger) inspired by Chaucer!
• The Last Duel by Eric Jager
• The Way Through the Woods: Of Mushrooms and Mourning by Long Litt Loon
• Love Theoretically by Ali Hazelwood
• Unfortunately Yours by Tessa Bailey

Curious about the medieval period? Here are some books Jackie recommends!

• Life in a Medieval City by Joseph Gies
• The Bright Ages; A New History of Medieval Europe by Matthew Gabriele
• The Time Traveler's Guide to Medieval England by Ian Mortimer
• The Great Mortality by John Kelly
• She-Wolves; the women who ruled England before Elizabeth by Helen Castor
• Literally ANYTHING by Alison Weir

Sources:

• "Feudalism and Knights in Medieval Europe" (Norris, 2001)
• "Feudalism" (Cartwright, 2018)
• "Why 536 was ‘the worst year to be alive'" (Gibbons, 2018)
• "Effects of the Black Death on Europe" (Mark, 2020)
• "William I 'The Conqueror' (r. 1066-1087)" (royal.uk)
• "Knight/cavalryman" (Brittanica)

We hope you've had a lovely pride month! Here are some books in case you're behind on your reading, or looking for some big old gay love. Happy reading!

Books we recommend:

• Delilah Green Doesn't Care by Ashley Herring Blake
• Astrid Parker Doesn't Fail by Blake
• Iris Kelly Doesn't Date by Blake
• Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall
• The Girl From the Sea by Molly Knox Ostertag
• That Summer Feeling by Bridget Morrisey
• Xeni by Rebekkah Weatherspoon
• The Fiancee Farce by Alexandria Bellefleur
• When a Scot Ties the Knot by Tessa Dare

June 28, 1969 - a day that shall live forever as a monument in queer history. On that day, the Stonewall Riots started in a bar in Greenwich Village. Let's take a look at that history today before we talk about the importance of queer romancelandia today with fellow librarian, Thomas!

Books we mention:

• Red White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston
• The God Box by Alex Sanchez
• The Rainbow trilogy by Alex Sanchez
• City of Bones by Cassandra Clare
• Harry Potter by She Who Shall Not Be Acknowledged
• The Miseducation of Cameron Post by Emily Danforth
• Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz
• They Both Die At the End by Adam Silvera
• Simon Vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli
• David Levithan
• Tessa Dare
• Float Plan by Trish Doller (prosthetic leg on cover!)
• Titan by Jillian Graves
• Sarah J. Maas
• Book of Gothel by Mary McMyne (Google Lens Cover)
• Something Wild and Wonderful by Anita Kelly
• Too Hot To Handle by Tessa Bailey
• Virginia Heath (the author Jackie couldn't remember but likes the illustrative style)
• Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
• Mortal Follies by Alexis Hall
• Girls and Their Horses by Eliza Jane Brazier
• Dear Prudence by Daniel Laverly
• Marriage, A history by Stephanie Coontz

Sources:

• "Stonewall Riots" (history.com, 2017)
• “Stonewall then and now” (Walsh, 2019)
• “‘Queer, hilarious and full of joy’: the rise of LGBTQ+ romance fiction” (Braidwood, 2022)
• “‘I Just Want Something That’s Gay and Happy’: L.G.B.T.Q. Romance Is Booming” (Harris, 2022)
• “The Rise of Queer ‘New Adult Romance’ Literature,” (Beggs, 2022)
• “I ONLY READ QUEER ROMANCE AND I FEEL GREAT ABOUT IT” (Sackton, 2017)
• “Love is for everyone. Modern romance writers are breaking barriers to show it” (Asmelash, 2023)
• “A Brief History of the Path to Securing LGBTQ Rights” (Davidson, 2022)
• “Repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"” (Human Rights Campaign.org)
• “Stonewall at 40: The Voice Articles That Sparked a Final Night of Rioting” (Village voice, 1969, ed. 2009)

Bookstagram Examples

• @Mariannareads
• @lilys.bookcase

For more information on book bannings and censorship, please visit the American Library Association at ALA.org/advocacy. Thank you for continuing to support libraries and librarians. We ❤️ you too!

Sources:

• "Montana First to Ban Drag Performers from Reading to Children" (Hanson, 2023)
• "A fight over the book Gender Queer led the Liberty Lake City Council to take control of the city library — before the mayor vetoed the plan" (Sandstrom, 2023)
• "Central Arkansas Library System’s board authorizes legal challenge to library materials law" (Flaherty, 2023)
• "Inaugural Poem by Amanda Gorman Banned After Single Complaint" (Ezeifedi, 2023)

Who's Hungry? Because the kitchen is open, and it's time to talk about food in romance novels!

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

Books we mention:

• Accidentally Engaged by Farah Heron
• Sorry, Bro by Taleen Voskuni
• No Parm, No Foul by Linda Reilly
• Cheddar Late than Dead by Linda Reilly
• Lobster Shack Mystery by Shari Randall
• Ellery Adams
• The Nanny by Lana Ferguson
• Merry Little Meet Cute by Julie Murphy and Sierra Simone
• Love Her Or Lose Her by Tessa Bailey
• After Hours on Milagro Street by Angelina Lopez
• Ramon and Julietta by Alana Quintana Albertson
• Something Wild and Wonderful by Anita Kelly (PCT book)
• How to Break Up with Your Phone by Catherine Price
• You, With a View by Jessica Joyce

Spring is full of new flowers, new leaves, new adventures...and new books! Here's some of the ones we recommend:

• Happy Place by Emily Henry
• Queen Charlotte by Julia Quinn
• Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen by KJ Charles
• The Bride Wore White by Amanda Quick

Are you, dear listener, a believer? Do you look for things that go bump in the night? Do you listen for a haunting call between the trees? Well then, buckle in, Jackie's taking us on a tour of three of the most popular cryptids in North America, including the rougarou, mothman and (of course) sasquatch, and their appearances in romance novels!

Questions/comments/suggestions/cryptid sightings? Email us at [email protected]!

Books we mention:

• Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris
• Dark Hunters series by Sherrilyn Kenyon
• Interview with a Vampire by Anne Rice
• Sweet Berries by CM Nascosta
• I'm In Love With Mothman by Paige Lavoie
• Moth Wanted by Loki Renard
• Subterranean by James Rollins
• Beverley Green's First Adventure by Andrea Neil
• Twice Shy by Sarah Hogle
• Off the Map by Trish Doller
• How to Be a Good Creature by Sy Montgomery
• My Life On the Road by Gloria Steinem
• Delilah Green Doesn't Care by Ashley Herring Blake

Pictures:

• Mothman over bridge
• Eurasian Eagle Owl
• Patterson's photo of sasquatch
• Tourons (instagram)

Sources:

• American Monsters by Linda S. Godfrey
• “The Science Behind Bigfoot and Other Monsters” (Hartigan, 2013)
• “Save the Swamp: But, Beware the “Rougarou”” (Renfro, 2019)
• ROUGAROU - The Cajun Werewolf EXPLAINED (Freaky Folklore Podcast)
• "Native American Legends: Stikini" (Native Languages of the Americas, 2020)
• "Uncanny Georgia: The Ishkitini" (Purciful, 2015)
• "The Atchafalaya Basin" (Atchafalaya.org)
• The Atchafalaya River Basin" (The Nature Conservancy)
• “History of the Rougarou: Louisiana’s Werewolf” (Kerner, n.d.)
• “New Orleans Bayou Creature: The Rougarou" (Poulton, 2019)
• "Legend of Bigfoot" (Washington National Guard)
• “Sasquatch” (Encyclopedia Britannica)
• “Beyond Bigfoot” (American Museum of Natural History)
• “Why Bigfoot is Getting Nervous” (Blake, 2014)
• “Bigfoot (Sasquatch) legend” (Walls, 2022)
• "Halq’eméylem" (Indigenous Education, Abbotsford School District"
• “How the Bigfoot Legend Began” (Little, 2020)
• “Big Foot, 1958” (Buhs, 2009)
• “The Legend of Mothman – Paranormal W.Va.” (Klein, 2021)
• “The Terrifying Tale of West Virginia's Legendary Specter: The Mothman” (Overdeep, 2022)
• “An Ode to a Hometown Creature: Mothman of Point Pleasant, West Virginia” (Mallow, 2021)
• “All About the Blue Ridge Mountains" (Bluridgemountainlife.com, 2023)
• "The 8 Oldest Mountain Ranges in the World and Where to Find Them" (Haase, 2023)
• “Geology of the Appalachian Mountains” (Britannica)
• “Witchcraft in West Virginia” (ToSalem, 2022)
• “Cherokee had high regard for owls (Ellison, 2019)