Listen Now

Elissa Sussman has a new book, Once More with Feeling, so of course I could not WAIT to have her back to talk about the story, the pop culture inspirations for this novel, and her research methods. We also talk about the way stardom and pop stardom specifically has changed since the early 2000s, and how we’re now examining the way we talked about young women and young people at that time. TW/CW: I want to flag that because we’re talking about pop stars in the early 2000s, there are references to disordered eating, anti fat bias, and staggering misogyny. I have QUESTIONS: Do you have a favorite musical? Did you or do you have a favorite pop star? ... Music: purple-planet.com Join our Patreon for complete mayhem, shenanigans, and more! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In September of 2022, we snarked a cover, Planet Oster: Fertility Fusion. The cover designer, who is also one half of the writing team behind the series, reached out to me saying that they were unironically flattered that we’d snarked the cover, and asked if I’d like to talk about the process and the behind the scenes of the design work. Of course I said yes. Music: Purple-planet.com Coupon! Control Body Odor anywhere with @lumedeodorant and get $5 off off your Starter Pack (that’s over 40% off) with promo code SARAH30 at lumedeodorant.com/SARAH30! #lumepod Join our Patreon for complete mayhem, shenanigans, and more! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

You asked questions, and we have answers! We talk about paranormal worldbuilding mysteries, choosing recommendations to introduce folks to romance, and our origin stories - plus the enigma that is Amanda’s ability to remember book details. Thank you to Varian, Norette, Rachel, Elizabeth, Sandra, and Sol for the questions! ... Music: purple-planet.com Join our Patreon for complete mayhem, shenanigans, and more! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Amanda and I are back, trying to shock one another, and possibly you, with astonishing covers. We have Easter and bunnies and our latest guess as to what the next monster schtupping romance trend will be!  For extra fun, try to imagine what the cover looks like based on our baffled descriptions, then have a look at the show notes to see the cover in question. How close are you to the stunning reality? You can see all the covers right here. Join our Patreon for complete mayhem, shenanigans, and more! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Meredith Goldstein is the host of the Boston Globe’s Love Letters podcast, and she’s been writing their Love Letters advice column for years. The newest season of Love Letters has arrived, and this season is all about money. We talk about the stories from couples featured in this season, and what she’s learned about love and relationships writing an advice column for so long. And of course, we talk about books, too. Join our Patreon for complete mayhem, shenanigans, and more! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Amanda and I are answering listener questions about reading when you’re burnt out, saving the last book of a series, and mood reading. We also talk video games, cozy horror especially, and more. Thank you to Agatha, Malaraa, Clay, Ellen, and Abigail for the questions for this episode!  ... We also mentioned: The Merlin Bird identification app  Shana's review of The No-Show by Beth O'Leary ... Coupon! Control Body Odor ANYWHERE with @lumedeodorant and get over 40% off your starter pack with promo code SARAH30 at lumedeodorant.com/SARAH30! #lumepod Music: Purple-planet.com Join our Patreon for complete mayhem, shenanigans, and more! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jeff Adams, who you may know as one half of The Big Gay Fiction Podcast, is also a credentialed expert in web accessibility, and he’s co-written a new book, Content for Everyone. This book is for creative people to help ensure that all your online content, from websites to social media posts, is accessible to everyone. We’re going to talk about the top four things you can do to make your web content accessible, and spoiler: they’re really not difficult. Then, of course, we’ve got tv and book recs, because that’s what we do here. music: Purple-planet.com Coupons! Honeylove.com/SARAH - Get 20% off! Join our Patreon for complete mayhem, shenanigans, and more! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Chels, who is on TikTok as Chels_Ebooks, has been doing a series debunking the myths of BookTok, and let me tell you, when people say everything old is new again? Myths about the sales power of readers on social media are recycled with every new platform. We’re going to debunk some myths about romance and TikTok, and cover what Chels really loves about TikTok, too. And we have some very special discussions of classic romances and even more classic cover art. Join our Patreon for complete mayhem, shenanigans, and more! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Amanda and I make a startling discovery at the start of this episode! Author Karelia Stetz-Waters collects clitoris images and research and we have so many questions. After we take a side trip into the French Olympic mascot design, and cliteracy, a term coined by Sophia Wallace.Then we talk about Karelia’s latest book, Behind the Scenes, which was one of Amanda’s favorite books. Music: purple-planet.com Join our Patreon for complete mayhem, shenanigans, and more! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Olivia Waite joins me to talk about her New York Times romance column, and her best-of coverage for 2022. We talk about her favorite books of 2022, about writing grief, writing her column, and what’s next.  We take a side trip into discussing the emotionally intense books that are popular now, and the properties that had an emotional wallop on us when we were younger.  … Control Body Odor ANYWHERE with @lumedeodorant and get over 40% off your starter pack with promo code SARAH at lumedeodorant.com/SARAH! #lumepod ... Music: purple-planet.com Join our Patreon for complete mayhem, shenanigans, and more! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jessica Morgan and Heather Cocks, also known as The Fug Girls, have been blogging since 2004, and, like me, have seen a lot of changes in the business world online. We talk about how it seems like there’s yet another media contraction happening, and how that affects us, and about their new Substack, Drinks with Broads. But of course, we also talk about fashion, stylists, and current trends, too. If you’re still looking at pictures from the Oscars, this episode will be a treat. ... Music: purple-planet.com Join our Patreon for complete mayhem, shenanigans, and more! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In February, Tor announced their new romance imprint, Bramble, and we had some questions about it! Fortunately, VP and Executive Editor Monique Patterson sat down with me on her first day in her new position at Bramble to tell us all the things. We also discuss how romance has changed and evolved over her career as an editor, and about being a nerd about many things including sword collecting and baking. My favorite part of this conversation: How James Baldwin and Zora Neale Hurston influenced Monique’s acquisitions as a romance editor. … Music: purple-planet.com Join our Patreon for complete mayhem, shenanigans, and more! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Kelly Farmer is the author of the Out on the Ice series of hockey romances, including her latest, Calling the Shots, and a former improvisational actor. We talk about cover artist magic, her series, and identify a few reason why hockey is such a popular setting for romances. Then we talk about how improvisational theatre exercises and techniques influence and improve writing. So if you’re stuck in your writing, maybe this will help. I also finally learn to say Megan Rapino’s name correctly. WIN!  ... This is one of the episodes I didn’t run due to the HarperCollins Union strike. Kelly Farmer and I recorded this episode in October 2022 in anticipation of her book Calling the Shots.  I want to thank Kelly for her understanding and for her support of the strike. I’m very happy to share this episode with you now.   … Music: purple-planet.com Join our Patreon for complete mayhem, shenanigans, and more! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Not all contemporary romances are romcoms, but many are, and Melonie Johnson joins me this week to talk about both, and about her new romcom, Too Wrong to Be Right.  She too wrote a character who works in the funeral industry, so we talk a bit about that, too! The talk about different burial options and discussion of the funeral industry starts at 14 minutes in. We also touch on burnout in the publishing industry, and grieving the professional relationships that are lost. Music: purple-planet.com Join our Patreon for complete mayhem, shenanigans, and more! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I connected with author Helena Greer, who wrote Season of Love, which you might have heard me talk about, because I liked it a LOT. And I also connected with Sam Brody, the acquiring editor at Hachette who worked on the book with Helena! So we talk about behind the scenes details of writing and editing, and how this book came to be. There are a few audio skips or what I think of as sound bubbles, and my apologies for that. … Music: purple-planet.com Join our Patreon for complete mayhem, shenanigans, and more! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to Part II of our Heaving Bosoms Crossover! Some of our most popular episodes in our archive are our crossovers with Heaving Bosoms, and we have a new one for you! If you tuned in to the Heaving Bosoms episode this week for Part I, you’ll know that we are discussing and recapping The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie by Jennifer Ashley. Originally published in 2009, this book inspired So Much Discussion when it was first published. You can find part one of our conversation at Heaving Bosoms: https://bit.ly/HBXoverPart1 And let’s get started with Part II! … Music: purple-planet.com … Control Body Odor ANYWHERE with @lumedeodorant and get over 40% off your starter pack with promo code SARAH at lumedeodorant.com/SARAH! #lumepod Join our Patreon for complete mayhem, shenanigans, and more! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Melissa Blue tweeted that she wanted to talk about Spare.So did I! So, we did! We talk about the book itself, but we also look at the book from our perspective as romance readers and writers, and also as a larger narrative about dismantling propaganda. As Melissa points out, narratives constructed around Meghan and Harry echo narratives we’ve seen about other people, especially women, in public life who are subjected to propaganda to undermine them. I talk a lot about how dismissing romance ignores a lot of what romance says and does, and what it represents about people, about sexuality, and about relationships. I think the same is true about celebrity narratives: the public narrative, or the approved narrative, is also very distant from the messy, complicated reality, and this particular set of stories gives us a lot to think about and discuss. ... Spice things up this Valentine's day with the game Let's Get Deep from the creators of What Do You Meme? and get 20% off with promo code SARAH at whatdoyoumeme.com/letsgetdeep. Music: purple-planet.com Join our Patreon for complete mayhem, shenanigans, and more! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Emily Nagoski has a new podcast, Come As You Are! If you’ve read her books, you know what this is about. We dive right into questions of consent and enthusiasm, the way the ace/aro community has developed conversations about sexuality within the field of sex education, and how the pandemic has affected sexuality. So much of her show and this conversation center on how to address sexual satisfaction in your own life. We also talk about her next book, which is about how couples sustain sexual attraction over the long term. Music: purple-planet.com Join our Patreon for complete mayhem, shenanigans, and more! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode was recorded on Monday 23 January 2023. On Thursday, 26 January, the HarperCollins Union announced that HarperCollins has agreed to enter mediation. In this interview, we go over the breakdown in negotiations that led to the HarperCollins Union strike, and the demands of the union. Thank you to Barb, Bransler, Clay, Agnes, and Susan for the questions and to the Patreon community for the enthusiastic support and encouragement for this interview. Music: Purple-planet.com Join our Patreon for complete mayhem, shenanigans, and more! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ali Hazelwood has a new anthology in print, Loathe to Love You, and she joins me to talk about becoming a full-time writer and the development of the novellas in this anthology. And then I hit her with a series of silly questions. Woo hoo! Bring on the mayhem. Music: purple-planet.com Join our Patreon for complete mayhem, shenanigans, and more! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.