Fated Mates - Romance Books for Novel People

Things are looking very wild out here in the real world so you deserve a deep dive on a book by an author with a big backlist and we are here to give you just that! Today's episode is on Sincerely, Your Inconvenient Wife, a modern day marriage of convenience story from Julia Wolf's The Harder They Fall series. We talk about fake husbands down bad, family drama, and the charm of an author building a big universe for all their characters to live in forever.
If you want more Fated Mates in your life, or you want to talk more about Julia's books, please join our Patreon, which comes with an extremely busy and fun Discord community! Join other magnificent firebirds to hang out, talk romance, and be cool together in a private group full of excellent people. Learn more at patreon.com.
Read Sincerely, Your Inconvenient Wife in ebook or paperback, or with your monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited.
Notes
How the great blizzard of 2026 stacked up with previous blizzards. Seems like Providence was a bad place to be. The winner of this year’s Chicago’s snowplow naming contest: Abolish ICE.
Everyone loves Bad Bunny.
Ryan Coogler gave a beautiful speech about love at the BAFTA awards. Watch Jayme Lawson from the NAACP Awards give a brilliant explanation of why BAFTA and BBC are to blame for the events at this year’s BAFTA awards.
We have both been reading a lot of Julia Wolf books ever since our New Year’s Milkin’ Eve episode.
Wyoming is a very big state with a very small population, so small in fact that there are 117 counties that have a bigger population than the entire state. You can play around with comparing populations using this map tool from Slate.
The other books we mentioned this episode by Julia Wolf: a rock star romance, Built to Fall. Saoirse’s brother’s book is Sweet Like Poison. Luca’s sister’s book is In the Details.

Sponsors
Melanie Greene, author of New Flames, available in print or ebook. Get it at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books or wherever you get your books.
The Romantasy Letters, a new kind of romantic fantasy storytelling, delivered right to your door twice monthly. Use the code FATED to get 20% off your year's subscription. Learn more at RomantasyLetters.com.
The What in the Smut? Podcast, available wherever you get your podcasts.
Vedentro, premium leather accessories. Use code FATED at checkout to get an additional 10% off the best offer on the site.

The Rest
For even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net
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.

Continuing our series on Romance Vibes, we’re talking about Romance Wardrobe this week! We’re talking corsets and chemises, falls and Hessian boots, Armani suits and underpants that rip right off. We also get to the bottom of the pronunciation of bliaut. Do we recommend books? Not really, but it’s ok, we all deserve a week of goofing off sometime. All that, and Sarah saw “Wuthering Heights.”
If you want more Fated Mates in your life, or more romance lovers who love music, please join our Patreon, which comes with an extremely busy and fun Discord community (complete with a music channel)! Join other magnificent firebirds to hang out, talk romance, and be cool together in a private group full of excellent people. Learn more at patreon.com.
Next week, our read along is Sincerely, Your Inconvenient Wife by Julia Wolf. Find it in ebook or paperback, or with your monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited.
Notes
Sarah went to see Scare Quotes Wuthering Heights, but Jen hasn’t seen it yet. According to New York Magazine, you don’t have to read Wuthering Heights to see “Wuthering Heights.” But the costumes sure are beautiful.
Those Bronte sisters!
Desmond Morris’s 12 Steps to Intimacy
All about smelling salts.
A woman and her baby stroller were blown into Lake Michigan last week! The Windy City is no joke!
Am I to understand these are not historically accurate Kilts?
Beau Brummell was a real person.
The Armani suit was a big deal in the 80s.
We are not rich enough to do anything but read about stealth wealth.
You should watch Deadwood.

All About:
Chemise
Reticule
A beaver hat is this, not that.
Bliaut
Kirtle
Buttons
Waistcoat
Greatcoat
Pelisse
Union suit

Sponsors
Blue Box Press, publishers of Larissa Ione’s Demonica Legacy series rereleased paperbacks, available in print, ebook or audiobook. Get the redesigned paperbacks at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or wherever you get your books.
The Romantasy Letters, A new kind of romantic fantasy storytelling, delivered right to your door twice monthly. Use the code FATED to get 20% off your year's subscription. Learn more at RomantasyLetters.com.
Lumi Labs, creators of Lumi Gummies. Go to lumigummies.com and use code FATEDMATES for 30% off your order.
Amy Spalding, author of In Her Spotlight, available in print, ebook and audiobook at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books or wherever you get your books.

The Rest
For even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net
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!...

Our old pal Billy Shakes told us that music is the food of love, and we’re taking that to heart this week! By request from Eric (who’s never requested anything before), we’re looking at songs that charted in February over the years and matching them with romance novels that suit! We’ve got a little bit of something for everyone here, from historicals to paranormals, motorcycles to mafia to magical realism. Eric’s put together a playlist, and you can find links to that and articles about a bunch of these songs in show notes, or you can just head straight to reading the books. We don’t judge!
If you want more Fated Mates in your life, or more romance lovers who love music, please join our Patreon, which comes with an extremely busy and fun Discord community (complete with a music channel)! Join other magnificent firebirds to hang out, talk romance, and be cool together in a private group full of excellent people. Learn more at patreon.com.
Our next read along (in March) is Sincerely, Your Inconvenient Wife by Julia Wolf. Find it in ebook or paperback, or with your monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited.
Notes
You can listen to the accompanying playlist on Apple Music and Spotify
You, too, may want to learn about this mahjong situation brewing in the Midwest with Barbara.
It’s the Olympics. Defector is covering all the news stories we want to know about, including the Curling Drama between Sweden and Canada, the ice dancers are super villains, and this Norwegian skier is an idiot.
Happy Black History Month! Jen did something cool at The Newberry Library. It was part of the Douglass Day transcribe-a-thon, transcribing information about the Colored Conventions. You can still participate using Zooniverse, and looking for the Douglass Day Project.
Sarah enjoyed learning about the Asking Dumb Questions class at Yale.
Tom Breihan writes a column The Number Ones at Stereogum, and Jen also enjoys a similar Slate podcast called Hit Parade.
Here’s the spreadsheet of February hits, and a playlist of songs we talked about today! The Macarena is a song about love triangles! Bad Romance by Lady Gaga is on this list, but we only talk about books we like.
The DJ book Jen couldn’t remember was Rival Radio by Kathryn Nolan.
The Stud Budz, WNBA players Courtney Williams & Natisha Hiedeman, did a long livestream during the 2025 All Star Weekend, and they sang and danced to Pink Pony Club. Check out Babes Sports Bar if you’re ever in Chicago. Jen did an event there, cohosted by 831 Stories & Off the Dribble Chicago, an organization for basketball-playing women and girls in the city.
Prince renamed himself as a symbol when fighting with his record label.

Sponsors
Blue Box Press, publishers of Dylan Allen’s Rivers Wilde rereleased paperbacks, available in print, ebook or audiobook. Get the redesigned paperbacks at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or wherever you get your books.
The Romantasy Letters, A new kind of romantic fantasy storytelling, delivered right to your door twice monthly. Use the code FATED to get 20% off your year's subscription. Learn more at RomantasyLetters.com.
MA Wardell, author of Peaches & Pucks, available in print, ebook and audiobook at Barnes & Noble, bookshop.org or with your monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited.
Jennifer Iacopelli, author of Game, Set, Match, available in print, ebook and audiobook at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books or wherever you get your books.

The Rest
For even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net
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

This weekend, the world is celebrating the second most important romance holiday in February (see last week’s episode for the most important)—Valentine’s Day! To lean into the traditions of the day, we thought we’d offer you a dozen roses this week, in the form of books! We’re taking the topic broadly—from character names, to author names, to rose scented things, to roses on the page — historical, contemporary, mafia and more…there’s something in here for everyone. 🌹
If you want more Fated Mates in your life, please join our Patreon, which comes with an extremely busy and fun Discord community! Join other magnificent firebirds to hang out, talk romance, and be cool together in a private group full of excellent people. Learn more at patreon.com.
Our next read along (in March) is Sincerely, Your Inconvenient Wife by Julia Wolf. Find it in ebook or paperback, or with your monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited.
Notes
Ladyhawke is a 1985 movie starring Michelle Pfeiffer, Rutger Hauer, and Matthew Broderick.
Go see “Wuthering Heights” if you want! It has Jacob Elordi ( even though Heathcliff should be a man of color) and Margot Robbie, but mostly it’s about capturing a vibe.
Sinners was terrific, it stars Michael B Jordan playing twins, was nominated for a record-breaking 16 Oscars, and includes both an extraordinary sequence about the history of music and a hero who enjoys a meal.
Well, we actually talked about a bunch of rose adjacent stuff outside of our official dozen roses. Here they are:
Rose DeWitt Bukater from Titanic
Rose Nylund from The Golden Girls defending Minnesota
The first book in Lorraine Heath’s Rogues and Roses series is A Duke of Her Own
SJ Tilly (who we think is great) has an epistolary romance called Dear Rosie
Orca is the official name of the killer whale
We wouldn’t wish Hyperemesis gravidarum on anyone
Please don’t fuck around with measles—get your kids vaccinated and your titers checked
You should probably read The Red before you read The Rose
The covers and/or stepbacks of Sarah’s Rules of Scoundrels series feature roses, and in One Good Earl Deserves a Lover, Pippa is breeding roses
Lilah Rose is the name of the heroine in A Duke Worth Falling For
We love author Stephanie Rose
Here’s a list of romances with rose in the title, and another list of books with characters named Rose.

Jen will be at Babe’s Sports Bar on Thursday, Feb 12, 2026 to talk about Rooting Interest by Cat Disabato and at the White Oak Library in Romeoville at 10:30am on Saturday February 21, 2026.
On Saturday, March 7th, Sarah will be at the Ballrooms and Beyond Conference in Bristol, RI. The event is free, but registration is required. Also, there’s a (not free) cocktail party!
Sponsors
Blue Box Press, publishers of Jennifer L. Armentrout’s The Primal of Blood and Bone limited edition paperback, available in print, ebook or audiobook, at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or wherever you get your books.
Harpercollins, publishers of AT Qureshi’s The Baby Dragon Bookshop, available in print, ebook and audiobook at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books or wherever you get your books.
Lyx Books, publishers of Brittany Cherry’s Eleanor & Grey, available in print, ebook and audiobook at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books or wherever you get your books.
Tarina Deaton, author of Day in the Knight, available in print, ebook and audiobook at Amazon,

It’s finally happened! In a perfect Derek Craven Day celebration, our Trailblazer conversations continue this week with thee Lisa Kleypas, historical romance royalty, who changed the game when she brought working class heroes to historicals. We discuss her four decades of work in romance, from historical to contemporary to magical realism and now into historical fiction, touching on the Kleypas hero, the way she builds series, and the ways that she continues to push herself as a storyteller. And yes, she was kind enough to play a round of Derek Craven Would Never.
We are so grateful to Lisa Kleypas for making time for us, for her amazing books, and for Derek Craven Day.
If you want more Fated Mates in your life, please join our Patreon, which comes with an extremely busy and fun Discord community! Join other magnificent firebirds to hang out, talk romance, and be cool together in a private group full of excellent people. Learn more at patreon.com.
Our next read along (in March) is Sincerely, Your Inconvenient Wife by Julia Wolf. Find it in ebook or paperback, or with your monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited.
Lisa Kleypas Books Mentioned This Episode
Then Came You by Lisa Kleypas
Dreaming of You by Lisa Kleypas
Chasing Cassandra by Lisa Kleypas
Forever My Love by Lisa Kleypas
The Vallerands Series by Lisa Kleypas
The Wallflowers Series by Lisa Kleypas
Again the Magic by Lisa Kleypas
The Devil in Winter by Lisa Kleypas
Marrying Winterborne by Lisa Kleypas
Love in the Afternoon by Lisa Kleypas
Devil in Spring by Lisa Kleypas
Hello Stranger by Lisa Kleypas
Sugar Daddy by Lisa Kleypas
The Queen of Lombard Street by Lisa Kleypas

Notes
Welcome Lisa Kleypas. This fall, she’s releasing her first historical fiction novel, The Queen of Lombard Street.
People mentioned: editor Carolyn Nichols, editor Ellen Edwards, author Laura Kinsale, author Rebecca Brandewyne, author Stephanie Laurens, author Julia Quinn, editor Jen Enderlin, editor Carrie Feron, author Eloisa James, author Jennifer Crusie.
Other notable mentions: Louisa May Alcott’s House in Concord MA, William Crockford the inspiration for Derek Craven, the observation about industry vs crime was (of course) made by Sanj, and Elizabeth Garrett Anderson the inspiration for Dr. Garrett Gibson.
Keep up with everything Derek Craven!

Sponsors
Blue Box Press, publishers of Audrey Carlan’s Marriage Auction Series novellas Madam Alana and A Christmas Auction. Available in print or ebook, or with your monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited. Learn more at TheBlueBoxPress.com.
The Romantasy Letters, A new kind of romantic fantasy storytelling, delivered right to your door twice monthly. Use the code FATED to get 20% off your year's subscription. Learn more at RomantasyLetters.com.
Jennifer Iacopelli, author of Game, Set, Match, available in print, ebook and audiobook at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books or wherever you get your books.
Lumi Labs, creators of Lumi Gummies. Go to lumigummies.com and use code FATEDMATES for 30% off your order.

The Rest
For even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net/episodes/2026/2/2/0820-trailblazer-lisa-kleypas
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...