It's Thanksgiving week in the United States, which means capitalism! We're skipping (mainly) the talk of the midnight electronics runs, and heading straight to Small Business Saturday, when your local independent bookseller is doing their very best to put great books in your hands. Ever been in your local bookstore and thought -- I wish this place was the setting of a romance novel? We've got you, friends.

We talk about the magic of bookstores, about the importance of small businesses, about bookshops as sites for revolution, and about the appeal of running your own little shop around the corner. And we recommend a bunch of books that are...honestly? Charming AF.

Want more indie bookstore content? Support some booksellers at a bookstore we really love by purchasing the Fated Mates Best of 2024 Book Pack from our friends at Pocket Books Shop in Lancaster, PA. Don’t forget to tag us on Instagram or Threads or Bluesky when you unbox!

If you were shouting book names at your car stereo during this episode and want to shout them at other people, 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 is Judith Ivory's The Proposition, a terrific Pygmalion retelling and one of Sarah's favorites. Find it at your local independent bookseller, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books or Amazon.

Books

• Meet Me by the Fountain: An Inside History of the Mall by Alexandra Lange
• The Rogue Not Taken by Sarah MacLean
• The Vampire in the Bookstore by Elle M. Drew
• Booked on a Feeling by Jayci Lee
• Once Upon a Charming Bookshop by Heatherly Bell
• A Seditious Affair by KJ Charles
• Love in Winter Wonderland by Abiola Bello
• Taken by Charlotte Stein
• Rock Chick by Kristen Ashley
• Better than Fiction by Alexa Martin
• Nice Girls Don’t Live Forever by Molly Harper
• The Earl Takes a Fancy by Lorraine Heath
• Seven Secrets of Seduction by Anne Mallory
• Beach Read by Emily Henry
• Bookshop Cinderella by Laura Lee Guhrke
• The Wrong Mr. Right by Stephanie Archer
• The Adrien English Mysteries by Josh Lanyon

Notes

• A guide to upcoming shopping holidays, because America: Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, Cyber Monday, and Giving Tuesday.
• Some more info about the best time to buy a TV. Returning a perfectly good item after you’ve used it for a holiday (do we call the Super Bowl a holiday? Probably, if Taylor Swift is in attendance.) is called “wardrobing.” Back in 2018, LL Bean changed their famous lifetime return policy. 
• I guess if you need some Chicago stuff, you should check out The Silver Room, and you can use Bookshop.Org to find a local indie bookstore to support. 
• It’s not called Library Thing (that’s an app to catalog your own library), what Jen was talking about is the Library Extension.
• WTF, You’ve Got Mail, the 90s what an innocent time. You've Got Mail is a retelling of the 1940s Jimmy Stewart, Margaret Sullivan film The Shop Around the Corner which, incidentally, is a perfect movie for a lazy holiday weekend with several generations in attendance.

Sponsors

• Book of the Month, bringing the best new fiction to your door. Go to bookofthemonth.com to pick a book and join. For a limited time, you can get your first book for just $5 with code STUFFED before December 2nd, and TINSEL anytime in December! Remember to tell them Fated Mates sent you!
• Sara Cate, author of Keep Me, available in print, ebook or audiobook from your local independent bookstore, Kobo, Apple Books, Barnes & Noble or Amazon.
• Blue Box Press, publishers of Darynda Jones's Graveyard Dog, available in print, ebook, and audiobook from Amazon.
• Melissa Dymond, author of Holiday Wedding, available in print or ebook from your local independent bookstore, Barnes & Noble or Amazon.

The Rest

• For even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net/episodes/2024/11/24/bookstores-and-booksellers
• 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.