Rebel Ever After

It is spooky witchy season, and this week's guest is Celestine Martin! She is the author of the Elemental Love series, including Witchful Thinking , Kiss and Spell , and Deja Brew . We talked about finding inspiration in the history and liminal magic of the Jersey Shore, and giving black women the paranormal fairytale romances they deserve. Plus why cozy low-stakes romances are having a moment! As...

My guest this week is Elissa Sussman, author of Funny You Should Ask and Once More With Feeling . She walked me through writing her new book Totally and Completely Fine , about a widow and single mom still grieving her late husband when she meets a famous, younger actor. Then we talked about her new podcast But How's the Sex about the sex lives of fictional characters, and how romance novels celeb...

This week on Rebel Ever After, my guest is the wonderful London Sperry, author of the 2024 rom-com Passion Project . London and I talked about the range of mental health representation in romance and her quest to write a self-destructive, grieving baddie who deserves love. Content warning that this episode touches on depression, anxiety, mourning and some light references to suicidal ideation. I p...

This week my guest is Eva Leigh, the author of My Fake Rake , Scandal Takes the Stage , Forever Your Earl , and many more historical romances. Her new romantasy The Sea Witch publishes this August with Canary Street Press. Eva writes fantastically bold heroines who find freedom and power despite the patriarchy. We talked about sustaining a career in the romance genre, why pirates should be your ne...

This week my guest is Olivia Dade, the author of Spoiler Alert, All The Feels , At First Spite , 40-Love and many others. She has two books coming out this year, ZOMROMCOM in August and Second Chance Romance in November. We had a sprawling conversation about her dive into paranormal romance, writing fat heroines who are older than 27 years old, and the unique challenges of editing sex scenes.  Fol...

My guest for Pride month's premium episode is Nina Haines, the founder of the virtual sapphic book club Sapph-Lit and the brand new publishing imprint of the same name. Nina is an advocate for queer authors and a community builder both online and offline. I asked her about her career as a bookish content creator, her thoughts on sapphic representation, and her decision to partner with Bindery to p...

My guest this week is author, actress, and journalist Keah Brown. She has published three books, the 2019 essay collection  The Pretty One: On Life, Pop Culture, Disability, and Other Reasons to Fall In Love With M e; the 2022 children's book Sam's Super Seats , and her YA romance debut The Secret Summer Promise in 2023. Keah, like the protagonist of  The Secret Summer Promise , has cerebral palsy...

My guest this week is Tara Tai, whose debut novel SINGLE PLAYER came out this January. It's a queer rom-com about two video game developers who clash over whether or not to include romantic storylines in their blockbuster new game Compass Hollow. Tara and I talked about what it was like for them to write a romance novel about gaming culture, and the similar social stigma of romance and gaming as a...

My guest this week is Chip Pons, the author of You And I, Rewritten and the forthcoming reality TV romance Winging It With You . He walked me through his publishing journey, from querying agents to self-publishing to making his trad pub debut during Pride 2025. Then we talked about the radically beautiful cover of his rom-com. Finally, how can we bring more gay men into the romance community as re...

Welcome to PRIDE, y'all!! This week's guest is Joanna Lowell, the author of historical romances including A Shore Thing , The Duke Undone , and A Rare Find , which comes out on June 10th. She is also a Professor in the English Department at Wake Forest University.  We talked about her experience teaching modern romance novels alongside classics like Jane Austen in the classroom, and the threat the...

Buckle up for the first ever Rebel Ever After quarterly romance discourse round-up. This month I analyzed the bad vibes of 2025: Why is the Chicago Sun Times recommending books that don't exist? Has publishing abandoned diverse voices? Why are popular books by black authors so hard to find in bookstores lately? Is Silver Elite a worthy successor to The Hunger Games ? And what the hell is up with s...

This week's guest is Harper St. George, the author of many historical romances including The Heiress Gets A Duke, The Stranger I Wed, and Eliza and The Duke (out on June 24th). We talked about writing relationships between equals across different time periods, from Vikings to the Victorian Era to the Wild West. Plus: Is indie publishing the future for historical romance? Are progressive heroes "hi...

This week's guest is Betty Cayouette, author of TELL ME HOW YOU REALLY FEEL and ONE LAST SHOT. We talked about writing a romance that starts with a third act breakup, if the miscommunication trope deserves the hate it gets, and why a second-chance needs an excellent apology. Then Betty and I talked about sneaking the wage gap into a rom-com, and romance heroines who have experienced sexual violenc...

This week's guest is Myah Ariel, the author of two contemporary romance novels that take place in the entertainment industry. First we discussed how her mother's real life experience integrating an all-white school in the 1960s inspired her debut novel WHEN I THINK OF YOU . Then we dove into her new book NO ORDINARY LOVE , a deliciously sexy romance about a singer who falls in love with a baseball...

My guest this week is Leanne Schwartz! She is the author of several YA fantasy novels and the adult contemporary rom-com My Kind of Trouble, a brilliant homage to The Music Man . We talked about bringing a mid-century musical into the modern day with a stern librarian battling book bans in his community and a smoke show con artist who targets corrupt wealthy white men.  We also talked at length ab...

My guest this week is New York Times best-selling author Allison Raskin, whose first rom-com Save The Date was published this April by Canary Street Press. You may know Allison from her podcast  Just Between Us with Gabe Dunn, her mental health newsletter Emotional Support Lady , or her previous life as a BuzzFeed star. In this episode Allison shares the true story that inspired Save The Date , an...

As traditional publishers adapt to Trump Era Part II, there is concern in Romancelandia that books are about to get a lot whiter, straighter, and more conventional. Luckily, indie authors don't have to deal with gatekeepers. Is self-publishing the future for diverse, queer, progressive romance novels? What should you know before you decide to go indie? My guest this week is Georgina Kiersten, who...

My guest this week is Joanna Shupe, best-selling historical romance author whose books take place during the Gilded Age. Her latest book  The Gilded Heiress publishes this August with Avon.  Joanna's books have always been political, but apparently some of her readers didn't exactly pick up on the undertones of her work. When she wrote a newsletter reacting to Donald Trump's re-election, quite a f...

My guest this week is Amy Spalding, author of many YA novels and the adult sapphic Out In Hollywood series. The latest installment, ON HER TERMS , was published in February by Kensington Books.  Topics tackled include: How much queer representation in the YA genre has improved in the last decade, and coming out as bisexual "later in life." Is "adulthood" a scam, and what does it look like outside...

This week's guest is Adriana Herrera, author of many contemporary and historical romances including a A Tropical Rebel Gets the Duke . Adriana leads the pack when it comes to writing love stories that are bold, sexy and unwavering in their values. We talked about what it means to write brave romance novels, where the happily-ever-after includes a better world for everyone, not just the main charac...

This week's guest is TJ Alexander, author of several queer contemporary romances including Chef's Choice and Second Chances In New Port Steven . TJ shared what readers can expect from their first historical romance, A Gentleman's Gentleman , publishing on March 11th. We talked about writing queer and trans identity back into history, and the many forms that masculinity can take.  Then I pestered t...

My guest is Andie J. Christopher, the author of many contemporary romances including Unrealistic Expectations , Thank You Next, and Hot Under His Collar . She is also the creator of Stern Brunch Daddy, both the concept and the Substack. Together we dissected the never-ending "smut" discourse. Why do we keep having the same circular conversations about romance novels getting too explicit, and is th...

My guest this week is Elizabeth Everett, the author of The Secret Scientists of London series and The Damsels of Discovery series. We discussed her book The Love Remedy, about a female apothecary in Victorian England who provides reproductive healthcare to women, and The Lady Sparks a Flame , which comes out in March. As a content warning, this episode includes a lot of discussion of abortion thro...

Put on your cryptid-hunting gear! My guest this week is Mallory Marlowe, author of the contemporary romance Love and Other Conspiracies . Her 2024 debut was one of my favorite books of last year and features a heroine healing from an emotional abusive relationship. We talked about leaving behind toxic partners and workplaces, and how Mallory wrote a healthy romantic partnership worth swooning over...

[As a head's up I apologize for the low volume in this episode. I edited myself into a corner and cannot fix it. Normal volume episodes will return next week!] My guest this episode is Liana De la Rosa, the author of fantastic historical romances — most recently the Luna Sisters series, which takes place in England during the second Franco-Mexican War. Gabriela and His Grace , the last book in the...