By request (and because Sarah needed books for her upcoming trip), we're talking about romance novels by Australian authors this week, with a nod to some New Zealanders as well. We discuss how historical romance has much maligned Australia, recommend some absolutely terrific books, many of which we've actually done deep dives on, and we talk about why so many Australian romances hit the spot with American readers.

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Our next read along (next week!) is Susan Elizabeth Phillips's Natural Born Charmer. You can get it at Amazon, B&N, Kobo, Apple Books or wherever you get your books.

Notes

• French Kiss is not available on streamers and it's very upsetting for those of us who know the deep magic of Kevin Kline & Meg Ryan.
• Australia is not the nation of criminals historical romance novels would like you to believe, but a lot of criminals did get sent there over an 80 year period from 1788-1868.
• Sarah is going to talk to the Romance Writers of Australia and the  Romance Writers of New Zealand next month. Yes, she'll be going to Port Arthur in Tasmania to check out the place where all those criminals were sent.
• Victor Gadino illustrated the stepback for Dream Fever by Katherine Sutcliffe
• Mills & Boon is a British romance imprint, in North America these books are published under the name Harlequin.
• When Sarah talked about The Australians in the early years of Mills & Boon, she was wrong, and likely thinking of Diana Palmer's 1985 The Australian. The Australians series was a 12 book series in the early 2010s from Harlequin Presents.
• The book Raising the Stakes by Jess Dee is no longer available in Kindle, but maybe it is in other countries or maybe you downloaded it in the past? Check out her available titles here.

Books

• Dream Fever by Katherine Sutcliffe
• The Sydney Smoke Series by Amy Andrews
• Claiming the Courtesan by Anna Campbell
• Devil’s Bride and the Cynster family by Stephanie Laurens (listen to the deep dive)
• Wildflowers, Lies, and It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time by Kylie Scott (listen to the deep dive of Kylie's Stage Dive series)
• Captivated and Act Your Age by Eve Dangerfield
• Office Affair by Jess Dee
• The Milvus Files by NR Walker
• The Last Binding Series by Freya Marske
• A Baby in his In-Tray by Michelle Douglas
• The Autumn Bride by Anne Gracie
• The Return of Her Billionaire Husband by Melanie Milburne
• Fugitive Bride by Miranda Lee 
• Home by Jezz De Silva
• Caressed by Ice by Nalini Singh (listen to the deep dive)
• The Devil’s Submission by Nicola Davidson

Sponsors

• World Gone Wrong: A fictional chat show about friendship at the end of the world, available at audaciousmachinecreative.com and wherever you listen to podcasts.
• Sophie Morgan, author of Season of the Witch, available at Amazon, B&N, Kobo, Apple Books or wherever you get your books.
• Louisa Darling, author of Scoundrel Take Me Away, available at Amazon, B&N, Kobo, or Apple Books.

The Rest

• For even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net/episodes/2025/7/29/0745-australian-romance-authors
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• If you've never listened to our Stop Book Banning episode, there's no better time than now.