Fated Mates - A Romance Novel Podcast

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Our next read (in two weeks) will be Dark Desires After Dusk — the beginning of the Rage-Demonarchy duology, featuring Cadeon Woede, who is forced to choose between familial loyalty and his human (or is she?!) fated mate, brilliant mathematician, Holly.

Get ready for the read along at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple Books or your local indie. Also, the Audible versions of IAD are on sale right now -- and WORTH EVERY PENNY! Listen on Audio!

Show Notes

- Ghosts are a human problem and preoccupation.

- According to the Washington Post, "nearly half of the women who were murdered during the past decade were killed by a current or former intimate partner." Huge content warnings for everything in this article.

- The Flame and the Flower, Shanna, and some of Sarah's thoughts about rape in romance.

- We talk about Id a lot on Fated Mates, and we use it as a shorthand for our most primal, deep-rooted desires.

- "All happy families resemble one another; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way" is the famous first line of Anna Karenina. This New York Times article about the many Tolstoy translations is fascinating.

- Kresley Cole isn't the only one to use the menstrual cycle as a symbol; but others wonder why menstruation is almost always absent from fiction.

- A crescent moon (or "sliver moon" as Neomi calls it) is never up at midnight. Literally never.

- Jen rants a lot about first person narration a lot on Twitter, but it's super OTT, so just read this thread about first person narration that was started by Rebekah Weatherspoon.

- Shortly after they recoreded this episode, Jonathan Franzen stanned for third person narration and Jen realized she's just a handmaiden to the patriarchy.

- Jen strongly recommends Heavy: An American Memoir by Kiese Laymon. She saw Kiese Laymon being interviewed by Lolly Bowean at the Chicago Humanities Festival, and it was amazing.

- All people deserve birth control that's right for them.

- Some romance readers love breaking in the ponies with a virgin hero.

- Arguably, agency is the most important character trait.

- There are 45 cemetaries in New Orleans, 31 are historic, and 5 are listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

- If you're planning to write a sitcom, know the formula.

- In IAD, it's Thrane's Key; it Harry Potter, it's a time turner.

- Get yourself some IAD ringtones.

- Holly Ashwin and Cadeon Woede are up next in Dark Desires After Dusk.

Lost Limb Count

Legs (2)

- Lachlain tears off his own leg to reach Emma. He regenerates. (A Hunger Like No Other)

-Mariketa's skull is fractured and her leg is torn from her body. She heals herself after Bowen lays on the ground. Ivy grows over her and heals her. (Wicked Deeds on a Winter's Night)

Arms (1)

-Sebastian pulverizes most of his right arm during the Hie. He regenerates. (No Rest For the Wicked)

Eyes (1)

- Bowen loses an eye and most of his forehead during the Hie. Mariketa has cursed him and he can't heal until he returns to her. (Wicked Deeds on a Winter's Night)

Hands (1)

- Conrad cuts off his own hand with a rusty axe so he escape the "witched" chains his brothers locked him in. (Dark Needs at Night's Edge)