Sarah chats with Ashleigh Gardner, who is the Head of Content at Wattpad. You may remember that Wattpad sponsored the podcast transcript recently, and while emailing with them about it, I learned about some of the trends and popular stories they're seeing among their writers in the romance section. Ashleigh and I talk about how Wattpad works, and about some of the international communities that have embraced it very eagerly. We also discuss trends, recommended stories, and more. And then I answer some listener email about historical cover art. Join our Patreon for complete mayhem, shenanigans, and more!

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Sarah and Jane chat with bestselling author Susan Donovan about her writing process, her contemporary series, and writing character driven romance. We also discuss cover art, “gentle fiction,” how her illness affected her writing, and we get some surprise information about dinosaur holiday anthology. Join our Patreon for complete mayhem, shenanigans, and more!

Our GDPR privacy policy was updated on August 8, 2022. Visit acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Sarah chats with Sonali Dev, and her dog Simba, about romance reading, romance writing, increasing the diversity of romance in just about every respect, applying Bollywood film structure to romance, and we get some in-depth knowledge about her series. Do not miss her theory about publishing your first book vs. your second book. Join our Patreon for complete mayhem, shenanigans, and more!

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Continuing our series of reader interviews, Sarah chats with Tina Chaney, a longtime romance fan, about discovering romance, mystery favorites, living in Kentucky, and reader shaming. They also talk at length about Tina’s favorite books, and about pet peeves like “danger boner.” Join our Patreon for complete mayhem, shenanigans, and more!

Our GDPR privacy policy was updated on August 8, 2022. Visit acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Sarah chats with writer Kelly Faircloth from Jezebel, who has authored several kicking articles about the romance genre. They discuss writing about romance from a journalism perspective, the purposes of sexuality in romance, the shame visited upon romance readers, and the history of some of Kelly’s articles, as well as the cool research. Join our Patreon for complete mayhem, shenanigans, and more!

Our GDPR privacy policy was updated on August 8, 2022. Visit acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sarah talks with Petra Mayer, one of the NPR Books editors and chief wrangler of the NPR Summer of Love romance 100 list, which Sarah helped select. This was recorded before the release of the full list, however. They discuss discovering romance, forbidden books, cartoons, fantasy and science fiction romance, and how books are selected for coverage at NPR. Join our Patreon for complete mayhem, shenanigans, and more!

Our GDPR privacy policy was updated on August 8, 2022. Visit acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sarah sits down with Lauren Willig to talk about her book releases. Plural. That’s two books releasing in two weeks - no big deal! They also talk about multi-genre books which blend mystery, romance, and historical fiction. And we discuss what happens when you read historical gossip, the fashions of the 20s, the changes brought about by women working during WWI and WWII, and what romance as a genre owes to Napoleon. Join our Patreon for complete mayhem, shenanigans, and more!

Our GDPR privacy policy was updated on August 8, 2022. Visit acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sarah and Jane chat with Elizabeth Lowell about her writing process, all the genres she’s written, the different careers in science that she almost pursued, and how the romance genre has changed from her perspective as a writer. We also discuss her newest book, Perfect Touch. Join our Patreon for complete mayhem, shenanigans, and more!

Our GDPR privacy policy was updated on August 8, 2022. Visit acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sarah gets an update from Sassy Outwater on how her surgery went (spoiler alert: she’s doing good and the doctors seem to have removed ALL the cancer - woo!). We talk about her reading during her recovery, therapy to help her brain rewire itself, and disabled characters in romance. We also get a sample of what books sound like for blind readers. Join our Patreon for complete mayhem, shenanigans, and more!

Our GDPR privacy policy was updated on August 8, 2022. Visit acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sarah chats with Gloriamarie Amalfitano, a lifelong reader of romance, and self identified Christian feminist. We talk about feminism, Christian scripture and history, and, of course, romance reading recommendations. Join our Patreon for complete mayhem, shenanigans, and more!

Our GDPR privacy policy was updated on August 8, 2022. Visit acast.com/privacy for more information.