Smart Podcast, Trashy Books: A Romance Novel Podcast

It’s never too late for Holiday Wishes, right? We had such a record number of interviews for the Holiday Wishes episodes this year, and I truly love doing them. Thank you. But many of you asked about Amanda’s recs and wishes, so to wind up our holiday extravaganza, Amanda and I are talking about the books that we loved in 2025, our wishes for everyone in 2026, and of course we talk about a LOT of...

Happy 700th Episode!!  Amanda Matta  is a debut author (her book is coming in 2027!), media commentator, royal analyst, and an art historian. I’ve mentioned Amanda, and her podcast Art of History, which I love. In that show, she focuses on one particular piece of art and explains the history, context, symbolism, and even the details of how it was made. I like it. So I thought, why not ha...

Happy New Year! This week we are talking with Katie, Kate, and Adam – we’ve got book recs, wishes, spreadsheet discussions, dungeons, and some wishes that don’t violate the Hatch Act. There’s also rather appalling poo adventure immediately after my first interview. Pew pew! Check out the complete show notes at SBTB.com! Thanks to your Patreon pledges, we have reached our goal with the F’ICE c...

This week we are talking with Jenna Grinstead, Stephanie Violet, Lisa, and Bull! Yup, we’re visiting Norway this week. Bring a hat. As always we have book recs, including one from the 1500s, wishes, and terrible jokes. Please note: during my conversation with Lisa, we discuss true crime and historical murders. We also mentioned: The Bridge (tv show)  Simple Happy Zen Podcast Playing for Keeps...

This week we are talking with Shana, Sue, and Rhonda about book recs and wishes, plus fantasy and magical bureaucracy, grief in romance, schtupping by volume, and inventions for readers to find even MORE books. We also mentioned: The Library Extension –  This is an extension for Chrome browsers that will load a list of your preferred libraries with availability for a specific book you’re look...

We’re back with more Holiday Wishes! This week we’re talking with Rae A., Josephine, and Sneezy! This week we are talking romance bookstores and road trips, luxurious bidets, webtoons, and, of course, books. And some ranting about women artists in history. We are traveling as far as Taiwan in this episode – and this should be the last of my laryngitis – hooray for all of us! We also discussed: Web...

We’re back with more Holiday Wishes! This week we’re talking with Garlic Knitter, Claudia, Christine, and Jo. A few notes: First, my voice is not great. Some of these were recorded when I had a dreadful cold, so I apologize in advance. Second, if you’re a sympathetic crier like I am, please know that when Christine and I are talking, we both get a little choked up while talking about grief and the...

Ready for more wishes and recs? And bad jokes? I bet you are! This week we’re talking with Agnes, Emily, Sarah Jane, and Jenn – and Min the cat. And in the outro, you’ll hear from ShoesforAll, aka Sarah. And! Important announcement 1: thanks to your Patreon pledges, we have reached our goal with the F’ICE campaign, and all dynamic ads will be turned off permanently for everyone who listens. Thank...

It’s time for our annual Holiday Wishes episodes! Every year I connect with listeners around the world, where we talk about books, wishes, and bad jokes. So this time of year, my guests are…all of you! In this set of wishes, we’ve got classics, new mysteries, and series romances. And we’ve got Sapphic yearning! I have a record number of people signed up to do holiday wishes conversations with me,...

Amye Archer, host of Little Miss Recap, was a guest on a recent paywalled episode of Fixing Famous People talking about soap operas. I was entranced. Amye is a fan of soaps, going way back, and I was very eager to have her as a guest to talk about soaps, the romances within soaps, and some of the overlap between soap fans and romance readers. After we talk about the matrilineal cultural inheritanc...

After mentioning Heather Graham, one of the Grande Dames of RT, so many times while recapping issues of Romantic Times, I got to sit down with her to talk about her career, the way the industry has changed, and of course, her memories of Romantic Times, both the magazine and the convention. We talk about… Her memories of meeting Kathryn Falk The earliest Romantic Times Conventions Her incredible R...

My guest today is Lux Raven, author of the Siren’s duology that starts with  Siren’s Mark , which came out – together – in early October. Lux wanted to join me on the podcast to talk about disability portrayals in romance, and about her own journey to diagnosis and how it influenced her writing – and vice versa. We talk a lot about the pernicious ableism in the writing of disabled characters,...

We’re going back to May 2016 to look at the Ads & Features in Romantic Times magazine. The kilts are kilting and the abs are ab-ing, and we’ve got some questions. How do we feel about the terms “book boyfriend” and “pre-con”? How much of the 2016 conference depended on Twitter to announce pop up signings and special limited time events? And do you remember how important Twitter was to a confer...

I’m bringing back a classic episode from the archives of the show, and because she has excellent taste, Amanda said it should be this one. When I originally published this episode, I focused on how silly we were – and we are plenty silly. But since then Amanda and I have talked about the fact that when we recorded this, we were, in fact, baked out of our gourds. So it’s a different kind of time tr...

Grab your carry on, your snacks, and a blanket, because we’re hopping in the time machine again to go back to the May 2016 issue of Romantic Times to look at the new releases and reviews! This issue caused some big questions. Coke or Pepsi? Backstreet Boys or NSYNC? Did you worry about spontaneous combustion? Should I read the Midnight, Texas trilogy by Charlaine Harris? How many erotic romance ti...

Alexandra Vasti is back, because her new historical romance  Ladies in Hating  is out this week! We are going to talk about: Good angsty yearning When a character is their love interest’s bitch eating crackers Lesbians in history! Erotic Victorian fiction Side trips include historical publishing houses, how nothing in romance is new, and how a lot of our current erotica, including that b...

It’s the 90s so the Ads and Features from the August 1996 issue of Romantic Times are a treasure trove of confusion. We’ve got: A tour of Jude Deveraux’s Grade II Listed Home in Suffolk Barbara Cartland perfumes How should emoji faces be written? Nose or no nose? What is the appeal of “nursing him back to health” plots? And RT is going to answer the eternal question that has plagued womankind thro...

The second book in Holly Black’s Night duology,  Thief of Night , is out now, and I was so excited to talk with her about it. We start right off by talking about creepy places – like, what kind of magic comes out of Jersey? Then we talk about world building, starting with atmosphere instead of plot, and the intricacies of shadow magic in her duology. Plus, we squee about books we’ve loved, ma...

We’re going back to August 1996 – that’s a bit of distance – to take a peek at the new releases and the book reviews in Romantic Times magazine. We’re back in the era of time travel, a scifi imprint named Avonova, and probable worms. NSFW worms. As usual, we learn astonishing amounts of unexpected information from this magazine. For example: we’re both obsessed with the 1996 movie  Twister &n...

Valerie Bowman returns to talk about her new book,  The Honeycrisp Orchard Inn , out September 9. Valerie has written over 30 historical novels but when asked by her agent if she’d be interested in pivoting to contemporary, Valerie jumped on the opportunity. Please join us as we puzzle through the reasons why historical romance isn’t as popular, and what led to the pivot that so many authors...

It’s July 2016, and we’re back in the time machine to check out the ads & features from this issue of Romantic Times Magazine! We spot an SBTB friend in the letters to the editor, and we talk about romances translated into English, the appeal of the wounded hero, and we spot an ad that’s very clearly some Tay-fic, as I’m calling it. We also discuss an article about Kickstarter in romance – and...

Molly Horan is a YA author, playwright, and professor who is writing a dissertation on aromantic and asexual characters in YA literature. Molly also teaches classes about YA literature, so we have a LOT to talk about. Examining relationships between people within the context of aro/ace characters requires a re-examination of how we portray human bonds in media, and how they work in real life. Ther...

We’re back! Amanda picked this month’s issue and so we are journeying back to July 2016! We tackle vague reviews that tell us no things. I try to coin a new portmanteau! We come up with the most unhinged romance bingo squares ever – tell us if we should use them! We have some plot summaries that are a RIDE, folks. Hop into our newly refurbished time machine – we needed a bigger drinks fridge – and...

Recently,  I posted a collection of cozy, mostly British mysteries that all mimic the Richard Osman  Thursday Murder Club  covers  in just about every way. Then,  Kayleigh Donaldson  said she had many thoughts about them. One of the worst things you can do is be one of my favorite people to listen to and then tell me you have thoughts about something I posted on SBTB....

Jo Piazza’s new book,  Everyone is Lying to You , is a trad wife influencer murder mystery out this month. I loved this book. Jo has been covering trad wives and influencers for a long, long time – she has a podcast called “Under the Influence,” and has been writing about celebrity culture for most of her career. We are talking about trad wives, celebrity influencers, and how celebrity has ch...