When In Romance

In this ultimate (final) episode of When in Romance, Jess and Trisha reminisce about the last 198 episodes, Trisha subjects Jess to one last WIR quiz, and they close with some final book recs and a little gratitude.

News

The podcast may be ending, but the backlog of When In Romance will be here for you on the Book Riot site! (And Jess and Trisha will be there too, just in different ways.)

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Books:

Hot Desk by Laura Dickerman

The Missed Connection by Tia Williams

Enemies to Lovers by Alisha Rai

Burn of Summer by Rebecca Zanetti

Rafe by Rebekah Weatherspoon

Thirsty by Mia Hopikins

A Girl Like Her by Talia Hibbert

Even If We’re Broken by A.M. Weald

Molly Molloy and the Angel of Death by Maria Vale

The Widow of Rose House by Diana Biller

Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

We Could Be So Good by Cat Sebastian

Rookie Mistake and Scoreless Game by Anna Zabo

Stay in touch with Jess and Trisha to keep the conversation going and find out what they’re doing next! You can find Jess by email at [email protected] and on Instagram and Threads @jess_is_reading. And Trisha is on email at [email protected] and at Instagram and Threads (and even occasionally Bluesky) @trishahaleybrown.

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Jess and Trisha share some When In Romance news, reflect on the last eight years in romance, and talk about what they’ve read - and want to read - this year.

News

Check out all the great work Jane is doing at Romancing the Data

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Books Discussed

Shoot Your Shot by Lexi LaFleur Brown

Check, Please! Book 2 by Ngozi Ukazu

A Vow in Vengeance by Jaclyn Rodriguez

Enemies to Lovers by Alisha Rai

Cleat Chaser by Aimee Rivkin

Star Shipped by Cat Sebastian

The Night We Met by Abby Jimenez

How to Fake it In Society by KJ Charles

Pot Shot by Laura Piper Lee

By the Bootstraps by Alexa Martin

I Punched an Alien and Now We’re in Couples Therapy by Kimberly Lemming

Sunflower Season by Danica Nava

Fire Power by Mir Benitz

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Jess and Trisha talk about continuing the story with long series, interlocking series, and series that feature the same couple in multiple books.

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Books Discussed

Cleat Chaser by Aimee Rivkin

Speak Now by Ash Perez (

Father Material by Alexis Hall

The Psy-Changling series by Nalini Singh (starting with Slave to Sensation)

The Play by Play series by Jaci Burton (starting with The Perfect Play)

The Immortals After Dark by Kresley Cole (starting with A Hunger like No Other)

Check, Please! by Ngozi Ukazu

The Book Witch by Meg Shaffer

The Dark Olympus series by Katee Robert (starting with Neon Gods)

The Wallflowers and Ravenels series by Lisa Kleypas (starting with Secrets of a Summer Night)

The Irons and Works series by EM Lindsey (starting with Free Hand)

The Reluctant Royals and Runaway Royals series by Alyssa Cole (starting with A Princess in Theory)

The Decades romance series

The Baes of Juneteenth romance series

The Clover Hill Romance series

The Blessings series by Beverly Jenkins (starting with Bring on the Blessings)

The Rebekah Weatherspoon and Christina C Jones extended universes

The Parasol Protectorate by Gail Carriger (starting with Soulless)

And for those wondering, Jess’s Tiffany Reisz (aka Meg Shaffer) recs are The Rose and The Night Mark

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Jess and Trisha talk about Harlequin and AI and then do a dive deep into fan fiction, discussing the who/what/where/why and some of the current discourse in the romance fanfic world.

News

Here’s the “Why is Harlequin making weird AI movies?” piece by Maris Kreizman we talked about [Literary Hub]

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Books Discussed

The Catch by Leonor Soliz

Mayhem and the Mortal by Shanora Williams

Enemies to Lovers by Alisha Rai

The Idea of You by Robinne Lee

Enemies to Lovers by Aster Glenn Gray

The Winston Brothers series (starting with Truth or Beard) by Penny Reid

Spoiler Alert by Olivia Dade

Plus! Some bonus HR fic recs from Jess and Trisha:

Jess: 

"Please Leave a Message" by Ravenesta

"It’s Too Close for Comfort" by theoneiam2277

"Influential" by 409_conflict

"The heart is hard to translate" by catknives

Trisha:

The Secret Society of Stick Handlers collection by gurlsrool

"Hoya" by GingerBaggins

"Mistakes Have Been Made" by Ugly Green Jacket

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Jess and Trisha talk about what they’ve been reading and then get into Book Club with Futbolista by Jonny Garza Villa and sports romance broadly.

News

No news this week because it’s a Book Club week!

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Books Discussed

The Starter Ex by Mia Sosa

Back and Forth From New York by alphalupi

Futbolista by Jonny Garza Villa

Please Don’t Go by E. Salvador

Out On the Ice series by Kelly Farmer

His Convenient Husband by Robin Covington

Summer Official by Rebekah Weatherspoon

The Playbook series (starting with Intercepted) by Alexa Martin

Shoot Your Shot by Lexi LaFleur Brown

Flagrant by Alexandria House

The Long Game by Elena Armas

Rookie Mistake by Anna Zabo and LA Witt

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Jess and Trisha discuss the end of Harlequin’s category romance line and offer some category romance recs (some of which are delightfully bananas).

Hooray for Book Club in 2026! Read Futbolista by Jonny Garza Villa with us - send us your thoughts before we record on March 25 (episode goes live March 30)!

Get a bit of category romance background from Love In Panels and author Therese Beharrie.

Books Discussed:

Silver & Blood by Jessie Mihalik

The Brightest Blaze by Kelly Farmer

Futbolista by Jonny Garza Villa

The Lights on Knockbridge Lane by Roan Parrish 

Compromised into a Scandalous Marriage by Lydia San Andres

Bane (and others!) by Brenda Jackson

Daring to Fall For the Prince by Heba Helmy

Backcountry Cover-Up by Denise N. Wheatley

Pregnesia by Carla Cassidy

Road Trip Rivalry by Mona Shroff

Her Fake Wedding Date in Sicily by Jenny Lane

The Duke’s Sister and I by Emma-Claire Sunday

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Jess and Trisha talk about a new option for indie authors and talk about some of their favorite independently-published romances.

News

Hooray for Book Club in 2026! Read Futbolista by Jonny Garza Villa with us - send us your thoughts before we record on March 25 (ep goes live March 30)!

Learn more about the Draft2Digital and Bookshop.org partnership.

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Books Discussed

10,000 Hours with a Rich Menace by Jahquel J

What If…I Love You by Yvonne Marie

The Taming of Jessi Rose by Beverly Jenkins

Futbolista by Jonny Garza Villa

Written on Ice by Smardline S.

Craving Flight by Tamsen Parker

Now You See Him by Nina Saxena

Meegan by Rebekah Weatherspoon

Expanded Roster by Aimee Rivkin

The Probability of Us by Elizabeth-Jade Taylor

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Jess and Trisha talk (very enthusiastically) about Book Riot’s list of the best romance novels of the century so far.

Follow the podcast via RSS, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.

To get even more romance recs and news, sign up for our Kissing Books newsletter!

News:

Hooray for Book Club in 2026! Read Futbolista by Jonny Garza Villa with us - send us your thoughts before we record on March 25 (episode goes live March 30)!

Find Sarah Wendell’s discussion with Julia Quinn on the SBTB podcast here.

And of course, please enjoy Book Riot’s list of The Best Romance Books of the Century So Far as much as Jess and Trisha do.

Books Discussed:

Hearts on the Fly by Toni Shiloh

Two’s Better by Viano Oniomoh

The Long Game by Rachel Reid

Futbolista by Jonny Garza Villa

And all of the other books discussed can be found in one convenient place!

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Jess and Trisha talk a LOT about adaptations - including their dream adaptations - and a little bit about other news and updates in romanceland.

Follow the podcast via RSS, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.

To get even more romance recs and news, sign up for our Kissing Books newsletter!

News:

Hooray for Book Club in 2026! Read Futbolista by Jonny Garza Villa with us - send us your thoughts before we record on March 25 (ep goes live March 30)!

Find a loooooong sample (if you’d like) of This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me by Ilona Andrews.

Julia Quinn is curating a romance box - check out the Kickstarter here.

Books Discussed:

A Vow in Vengeance by Jaclyn Rodriguez

Restore Me by J.L. Seegars

Visions of Heat by Nalini Singh

Game Changer by Rachel Reid

Futbolista by Jonny Garza Villa

The Charm Offensive by Alison Cochrun

Dating Dr. Dil and the whole If Shakespeare Was an Auntie series by Nisha Sharma

Bring on the Blessings and the whole Blessings series by Beverly Jenkins

Better Than People and the Garnet Run series by Roan Parrish

It Had to Be Him by Adib Khorram

Sherry Thomas’s Heart of Blade duology, starting with The Hidden Blade

The Christina C. Jones Cinematic Universe, starting with Getting Schooled

The Unleashing and the Call of Crows series by Shelly Laurenston

We Could Be So Good by Cat Sebastian

Unwritten Rules - and the whole series - by K.D. Casey

Kit Rocha’s Bound to Fire and Steel series, starting with Consort of Fire

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Jess and Trisha finally get around to closing out some recommendations and backlist favorites from 2025 (it’s still January, so it’s fine!).

Follow the podcast via RSS, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.

To get even more romance recs and news, sign up for our Kissing Books newsletter!

News:

Hooray for Book Club in 2026! Read Futbolista by Jonny Garza Villa with us!

Books Discussed:

The Wren in the Holly Library by KA Linde 

Tommy Cabot Was Here by Cat Sebastian

Game Changer by Rachel Reid

This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me by Ilona Andrews

Love is a War Song by Danica Nava

The Heart Principle by Helen Hoang

It Had to Be Him by Adib Khorram

No Ordinary Love by Myah Ariel

The Enchanted Hacienda by J.C. Cervantes

The Romantic Agenda by Claire Kann

The Bodyguard by Katherine Center

Bring on the Blessings by Beverly Jenkins

Role Playing by Cathy Yardley

The Uptown Girls series by Joanna Shupe (start with The Rogue of Fifth Avenue)

The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels by India Holton 

After Hours at Dooryard Books by Cat Sebastian

The Monsters We Defy by Leslye Penelope

The Redemption of Philip Thane By Lisa Berne

Luca by Grey Huffington

Just Right by Shon

Hana Khan Carries On by Uzma Jalaluddin

Iris Kelly Doesn’t Date by Ashley Herring Blake

Janine: His True Alpha by Chencia C Higgins

Jana Goes Wild by Farah Heron

Cash Delgado is Living the Dream by Tehlor Kay Mejia

Murder Most Actual by Alexis Hall

A Fellowship of Bakers and Magic by J. Penner

The Seven Year Slip by Ashley Poston

Cross the Line by Simone Soltani

Let us know what you’re reading, what you’re thinking, and what you’re thinking about what you’re reading! As always, you can find Jess and Trisha at the WIR email address ([email protected]). You can also find us on Twitter (@jessisreading), or Instagram (@jess_is_reading and @trishahaleybrown), and Jess is even on TikTok (@jess_isreading).

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