Romance on the Rocks

Send us Fan Mail It's time for another round of seasonal romance, magical mayhem and questionable cocktail choices! In Season 3 Episode 22, Nicole Danielle and Meghan Leigh are celebrating Halloween with two very different reads. Meghan dives into Binding Shadows by Jasmine Silvera, a dark, magical romance set in a dystopian version of 1990s Prague. Expect witches, werewolves, necromancers, m...

Send us Fan Mail It’s officially spooky season on Romance on the Rocks and we’re kicking things off with witches, ghosts, curses, monsters and plenty of questionable decisions. Nicole and Meghan are diving into two Halloween-season romances: The Ex Hex by Erin Sterling and Pumpkin Spice & Poltergeist by Ali K. Mulford and K. Elle Morrison. Nicole’s book brings us witches, a second-chance roman...

Send us Fan Mail We’re doing something a little different on Romance on the Rocks this week. Instead of reviewing romance novels, we’re talking to the people who bring them to life: audiobook narrators. Nicole and Meghan are joined by three romance audiobook narrators — Wren Lockley , Max Davidson and Lauren Robin Amanda . We’ll get to know our guests, talk about their favorite romance sub-genres...

Send us Fan Mail Our back to school theme continues at Romance on the Rocks and this time we’re heading to science labs and high school reunions. Meghan reads The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood , following a PhD student at Stanford who finds herself fake dating a grumpy professor. Nicole reads The C🍆ck Down the Block by Amy Award , where childhood friends and next-door neighbors turn a fake rel...

Send us Fan Mail September's theme for the podcast is "back to school" and we're picking romance books with college campus settings for this episode. Nicole reads Heartless Game by Jo Brenner , the second book in the Kings of Reina University series. It features a star hockey player with ties to organized crime and a journalism student determined to uncover his secrets. Meghan...

Send us Fan Mail Arr-gust continues with our second pirate romance episode and this time we're sailing into very different waters. Meghan reads Hunt on Dark Waters by Katee Robert , a fantasy romance featuring a witch, a vampire, a powerful sea captain and a band of monster-hunting pirates. Nicole tackles Pirate by Fabio , a 1993 historical romance featuring a privateer, a tropical island, ki...

Send us Fan Mail Ahoy, romance readers! Arr-gust is officially underway and we're setting sail with two very different pirate romances. Nicole reviews Poppy and the Pirate by Elizabeth Cole , a historical romance featuring a spirited wallflower, a charming sea captain who's more privateer than pirate, and a murder mystery set along the Cornish coast. Between smuggling rings, enemies-to-l...

Send us Fan Mail It's Christmas in July, and we're embracing the holiday spirit ... even if we're sweating through our Santa hats. In this bonus episode, Meghan reviews It's a Fabulous Life by Kelly Farmer , a sapphic retelling of It's a Wonderful Life featuring a trio of drag queens instead of Clarence, a charming small-town holiday festival and a sweet second-chance roma...

Send us Fan Mail Summer Lovin' month continues with an episode full of beach towns, Wisconsin traditions and romances where first impressions are anything but accurate. In Season 3 Episode 15: Naughty by Nemesis , Nicole and Meghan review two summer romances featuring grief, ghosts, fake enemies and a whole lot of unexpected chemistry. First up, Nicole reviews Sun-Kissed Nemesis by Willow Win...

Send us Fan Mail July's Summer Lovin' theme kicks off with two forced proximity romances that transport Nicole and Meghan from the shores of Door County, Wisconsin, to the rolling hills of Tuscany. First up, Meghan reviews The Other Room by Katherine Hastings . Jo has spent years avoiding her former best friend, Matt, after he broke her trust. But when Matt suddenly finds himself without...

Send us Fan Mail Lumberjacks, lobster fishermen and dirty wood jokes take center stage as Nicole and Meghan continue June's Great Outdoors theme with two romances proving love can flourish in even the most remote corners of the map. First up, Nicole reviews The Catch by Amy Lea . What begins as a disastrous work trip to Nova Scotia quickly spirals into a fake engagement with a local fisherman...

Send us Fan Mail June's "Great Outdoors" theme is officially underway and the bookish biddies are heading into the mountains with two romances delivering adventure, emotional depth and some surprisingly thoughtful conversations about mental health. Meghan reviews Highest Point by Kels and Denise Stone , a grumpy sunshine romance set in Alaska featuring a struggling ballet dancer, a...

Send us Fan Mail In Season 3 Episode 11: Meg’s Got a Mother of a Book, the bookish biddies wrap up their “Mothers of Romance” month with two wildly different historical romances — one delightful Scottish murder mystery romance and one rage-inducing classic that sparks one of the most passionate discussions in Romance on the Rocks history.  Nicole reviews The Bride by Julie Garwood , a 1989 histori...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, the bookish biddies climb into a Wisconsin hotel bed to tackle the “Mothers of Romance” — the legendary romance authors who paved the way for the genre we know today.  Nicole read Until You by Judith McNaught and Meghan suffered through The Dawn of Love by Dame Barbara Cartland , leading to a LOT of questions about rich aristocrats, manipulative men, unnecessary l...

Send us Fan Mail We’re wrapping up our April Pick a Number month with two very different reads and some very honest opinions about what worked, what didn’t and what we’re willing to forgive when the vibes are vibing. Nicole dives into A Fate of Onyx & Ivory   by O’Junea Brown , a 2024 romantasy featuring a fierce heroine, a magical kingdom called Solaris, and a fae king who may or may not be w...

Send us Fan Mail Wine in a paper cup. A break-in “just to pee.” And somehow … a dead body in a closet. Welcome to this episode’s chaos. Meghan kicks things off with Savannah Blues by Mary Kay Andrews — a Southern, antique-filled, mystery-heavy read that may or may not qualify as a romance (jury’s still out). We dive into estate sale strategy, messy divorces, rich people behaving badly, and how one...

Send us Fan Mail Bakery heat meets alien heart in this delightful episode of Romance on the Rocks . Nicole dives into Tart by Lauren Dane , a 2012 contemporary why-choose romance that serves up a habanero-level throuple between bakery owner Juliet Lamprey, steady farm boy Gideon Carter and longtime best friend Cal Whaley. When Cal makes an aggressive play for Jules just as her relationship with Gi...

Send us Fan Mail Bonus Episode: We Tried to Get Drunk. We’re Just Too Professional. Two Wisconsin bookish biddies set out to record their “drunkest episode ever.” What happened instead? Competitive drinking stamina, chaotic games and way too much honesty. This bonus episode skips the book review and goes full chaos mode: 🍸 Co-Host Compatibility Challenge – We test how well we really know each oth...

Send us Fan Mail In this week’s episode of Romance on the Rocks, w e’re pairing Odd Girl Out by Ann Bannon with Savor It by Tarah DeWitt , mixing brambles and beer while we dig into jealousy, growth and the kind of love that forces you to choose who you want to be. First, we head back to 1957. Odd Girl Out follows college freshman Laura as she falls for magnetic upperclassman Beth in a relationshi...

Send us Fan Mail What happens when a rugby surprise pregnancy rom-com collides with a lapsed Catholic love story? Season 3 Episode 5 of Romance on the Rocks dives headfirst into two contemporary romances that blend real-world complexity with serious heat. Nicole Danielle reviews Every Version of You by Sloan Spencer , a sports romance in the Rugby Lovers series that delivers friends to lovers, sur...

Send us Fan Mail It’s tequila. It’s pergolas. It’s slow burns and snark. On this episode of Romance on the Rocks , Nicole Danielle and Meghan Leigh dive into two contemporary romantic comedies while attempting to keep their cocktails (and themselves) upright. Meghan read is It Happened One Summer by Tessa Bailey . It's a grumpy-sunshine, small-town romance where an LA party girl lands in a Wa...

Send us Fan Mail If a book hooks the world but fumbles consent, can it still be called a great romance? We pour a drink and dive straight into the tension between cultural phenomena and reader well-being, starting with Fifty Shades of Grey and its legacy of billionaire control dressed up as care. We unpack why rules about sleep and snacks aren’t romantic, how a contract can miss the point of infor...

Send us Fan Mail Street corn nachos, a cucumber margarita the size of a goldfish bowl, and enough romance novels to take us from cozy bookshops to briny underwater kingdoms. Season two wrapped up with everything we love:  the reads that made us swoon, the ones that shocked us, and the moments that had us snort-laughing into our drinks. We talk about the couples that stayed with us, from board-game...

Send us Fan Mail Pop the cork with us as we open season three and get real about how a half-joking idea turned into a ritual that changed our reading lives. We trace our path from sneaking dog-eared paperbacks to championing today’s expansive romance universe, and we talk about what happened when we let romance back in — more joy at home, a revived writing habit, and a community that feels like a...

Send us Fan Mail Candy Cane Cocktails in hand, we dive into two very different holiday romances and come up for air with laughter, side-eye and a few hard truths. First up: Good Spirits by B.K. Borison , a contemporary paranormal charmer where a Ghost of Christmas Past lands in a modern woman’s living room and promptly breaks every rule — starting with her heart. We dig into the banter that actual...