First Encounter—A Historical Romance Podcast

I had such a great time chatting with Melissa this week about my first Meredith Duran, THE DUKE OF SHADOWS! In this book deep dive for September, we are talking about the bold choice to not only set this book in India, but also in the midst of the Sepoy Rebellion in 1857. We appreciated the way Duran condemns colonialism while still presenting the violence on both sides of the conflict, and the br...

I had a fantastic time this week chatting with historical romance author Addy Du Lac about the books in her Troublemakers Trilogy. I absolutely loved these books—they are incredibly romantic with bold heroines and swoony heros and are a great blend of more modern approaches to representation in histrom along with an old school feel of dramatic plot points, and proper villains! We discuss the need...

Today’s show brings together all of the authors participating in the A Match Made in Autumn collaborative series, being released in Fall 2026. A series of eight novellas by Indie historical romance authors, all the stories center characters finding themselves with a second chance at finding love, and all are set in Autumn! I’ve loved collaborating with these ladies and I can’t wait for all of you...

This month we are discussing DEVILISH, by a new to me author, Jo Beverley! I am joined in discussion of this book by my friend and fellow historical romance author, Sri Savita. Sri loves this book and I had heard her talk about it (and re-reading it) several times, so I asked her to come on the podcast and talk about it, and to lend us her expertise in psychology as we examine core themes in the s...

I was so grateful that Nichole Van was willing to sit down with me again for this episode after our bonus episode last week where we discussed AI in publishing. Nichole is one of my favorite historical romance authors. I think she writes some of the most romantic, swoon-worthy, intimate stories with all the yearning you could ever want, and she manages to get all that deeply sexy emotion across wh...

After I announced that I’d invited fellow historical romance author Nichole Van onto the podcast, I had a listener reach out to me asking if hosting Nichole came into conflict with my no Gen AI stance as they believed she had used Gen AI images in promoting her books previously. So, I reached out to Nichole and said, “hey—my bad for not looking into this. I’m leaving it up to you if you still want...

This week was an important episode as I sat down with two lovely guests, Krista and Eleanor to discuss none other than one of the greats in historical romance, Ms. Beverly Jenkins herself! I’m absolutely ashamed to admit this is only the second Jenkins of read, but I loved it and it certainly won’t be the last! While we do talk about the book we read for the episode, Night Hawk with its famous cov...

*My apologies to my fantastic guest this week, Alison, and listeners—somehow the last six minutes of our conversation was lost (Alison’s feed kicked out). Our conversation was basically done by then; we were discussing future projects from Alison and where to find her books. This week for the July Indie Author chat I talk with the wonderful Alison McKenzie about her upcoming release, THE TAILOR’S...

Join us this week as I discuss a HistRom classic with our guest, Jen Prokop of Fated Mates fame, The Bride, by Julie Garwood! Jen and I talk about how tense and POV has shifted over the years, how the pacing of love scenes has shifted as well as whether the focus is on the falling in love or the steam, the comfort of a great Scottish Highland romance, and Garwood’s skill at writing humor, allowing...

This week’s episode features hybrid historical romance author, Harper St. George! Harper just released the final book in her Doves of New York series (which I LOVED!), The Dove and the Rogue , and we talk all things Gilded Age, Western romances, and the state of publishing in historical romance (what’s next?) You can find information on Harper and all of her books on her website And the Kickstarte...

I had an amazing time talking Sherry Thomas with my guest, Seth, this week as we broke down what makes Private Arrangements such a standout in the Historical Romance genre. Listen in as we discuss his own first encounter with HistRom (and how Sherry set him up to love the genre!), emotional stakes, insights gained through a dual timeline, and how Sherry Thomas is like Taylor Swift! You can find mo...

Guess what? I'm trying to start a publishing company for historical romance—Besotted Books! I’m so grateful to my friend and fellow historical romance author, Misty Urban, for agreeing to chat with me about Besotted Books today! You can learn more about Misty and her series, The Ladies Least Likely, here To read more about Besotted Books, please visit the website And follow us on Instagram @besott...

I had such an amazing time this week discussing what historical romance can be and the fun of learning about history, queer joy, and gender fuckery! Jane’s latest release is Mr. Milner Gets Divorced, and you can find out more about it, as well as Jane’s other books and where to find/purchase them on her website AND if you sign up for her newsletter, you can get the companion story to Mr. Milner, M...

Today is a fun bonus episode where I chat with Olivia (@nottheolivia on Instagram) about some of her thoughts on Historical Romance. I follow her on Instagram and think she is able to articulate what makes Historical Romance a unique genre within Romance beautifully, so I was excited to get some of her takes on where historical romance is headed (and if it should be). You can follow Olivia on Inst...

I really enjoyed this month’s book—An Extraordinary Union by Alyssa Cole. It’s American Civil War setting makes it stand out, and it unfortunately felt sadly too relevant to current attitudes today as we see our heroine, Elle, a Union spy who is posing as a slave in the home of a Southern Senator, confronting all the ugliest sides of discrimination and being othered and disregarded. BUT, while it...

I had such a wonderful time discussing Jenna Bigelow’s Ancient Rome set historical romances with her this week and looking at ways we can expand the genre while still keeping the core elements of what makes HR unique (which Jenna does exceptionally well in her novels) and the genre we know and love! You can find Jenna and information about her books in both the Roman Heirs and Imperial Games serie...

I had so much fun this week finally figuring out what Derek Craven lore is all about! For our third deep dive into a historical romance classic, we are reading and discussing Dreaming of You, the 1994 release from HR queen Lisa Kleypas that changed the rules of who could be a romance hero! This book absolutely had to be discussed with none other than Devan ( @diagnosed romantic on Instagram ) as s...

Today is a special episode to celebrate the Spring session of Romancelandia University (RU), which opened this week! I’m joined by the headmistresses of RU, Emily ( @veryromance ) and Kelsey ( @yourbookishbff ) to talk about why they started RU, what they love about historical romance, why this community is so special, and how this session of RU is going to be different. I absolutely love this pro...

I had an amazing conversation this week with Indie Historical Romance author Katherine Grant. Katherine recently finished her long running series, The Prestons, about the Preston family and their unconventional (an inspirational!) estate, Northfield Hall. We discuss writing about social issues and working for change in Historical Romance, her use of the Peterloo Massacre for her novella, In The Wi...

I had so much fun this week discussing In Bed with the Devil by Lorraine Heath with our resident expert and Harlequin Historical (RIP) hype woman, the ever lovely Pam (@pammie823_reads)! We chat about what makes Lorraine able to pull off a bonkers plot like no one else, her writing historicals to fit and subtly comment on current cultural and political circumstances, making love triangles acceptab...

This week I am joined by historical romance author Colleen Kelly! We discuss Colleen’s novella, A Midsummer Night’s Duke, as well as what we love about Historical Romance, including—high vs. low stakes, the virgin hero trope, and of course, Bridgerton! You can get your own FREE copy of A Midsummer Night’s Duke when you sign up for Colleen’s newsletter The Duke’s Somerset Sins, and anthology with n...

In our first deep dive into a classic of historical romance, how could we read anything other than Loretta Chase's Lord of Scoundrels? What's not to love about a heroine who literally shoots the hero? Jessica Trent is indeed the GOAT of heroines, and I had a fantastic time discussing her, as well as what makes this book a classic of the genre, with Meg—hostess extraordinaire of the Plot Trysts pod...

I absolutely LOVED this conversation with Alexandra Vasti and Felicity Niven, both incredible historical romance authors. In this episode we talk about what readers love in HR, what we may need to do in the genre to bring in new readers and keep it alive in Traditional publishing, and what makes both of their own books so readable and memorable! You can find out more about Alex and her books, as w...

In this Introductory episode, host Andie James discusses why she is starting this podcast—focused on Historical Romance—and how it will be structured, with fellow Indie Historical Romance author Lindsay Barrett. First Encounter is a podcast exploring both the foundations, and the future, of Historical Romance. Hosted by Andie James, Historical Romance enthusiast and author. Support First Encounter...

Welcome to First Encounter, a new podcast exploring both the foundations, and the future, of Historical Romance. Hosted by Andie James, Historical Romance enthusiast and author.