Smart Podcast, Trashy Books: A Romance Novel Podcast

We’re traveling back to April 2006 in this month’s RT Rewind ! We take a look at the reviews in this issue and we’ve got some one-star reviews, and curiously paranormal is part of contemporary? It’s weird. Things I initially pronounce wrong: demesne TW/CW: mention of suicide in book reviews, plus snakes and rat infestations. Link to visual aids ! ... Music: purple-planet.com Coupon! LUME: New cust...

It's our 600th episode!! Emily Nagoski is back to talk about her new book Come Together: The Science (and Art!) of Creating Lasting Sexual Connections. We talk about the genesis for this book, which is in part that writing a book is stressful and hard, and while writing Come As You Are , Emily noticed that her own interest in sex was missing. By diving headlong into all the research, she realized...

We’re traveling back to December 2015 in this month’s RT Rewind , and we're taking a look at the ads and features in this issue! We’ve got LONG series from Elizabeth Hoyt, Kresley Cole, and Shannon Stacey, plus SWAT team shifters, Navy SEAL Highlanders, and some memories, some not so great, of the 2016 RT convention in Vegas…at the Rio. And then! We have a supplement that only appears in the digit...

Mimi Matthews returns to the show to talk about her latest novel, The Lily of Ludgate Hill , which is the third book in her Belles of London series. Among the major themes of this book? PINING. SO MUCH PINING. Which I love. But this is also a book about grief: characters are pining for what was as much as other characters are pining for what could be. So we talk about grief, loss, hope, and about...

We’re traveling back to December 2015 in this month’s RT Rewind! We take a look at the reviews in this issue and along the way talk about audiobook series, historical romance, Jesus by Volume, and the ever-so-small range of grades in each genre. We also take a side trip into JR Ward’s Black Dagger Brotherhood series. You can find the  visual aids for this episode right here ! You can find all...

Our final holiday wishes episode - thank you to everyone who makes these episodes such a treat. It’s an honor to connect with all of you! This week, Sneezy, Sandra, Tiffany, Lisa and Shana share recommendations, wishes, and terrible jokes. CW: we start off and end with some talk about anxiety brain gremlins, so FYI. Thank you again for making these episodes so fun! Happy New Year! We also mentione...

We've got books, wishes, and wonderful jokes from Amanda, GarlicKnitter, Alanna, and Claudia! We’re traveling around the world with this episode! We’ve got many, many books to tell you about, and also wishes for cozy light and joy. Music: purple-planet.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

More holiday wishes, book recs, TV recs, and bad jokes, with you as my guests! This week, I’m joined by Verity, Elyse, Carrie, and Rich, aka Mr. Elyse, and we talk about So Much Entertainment! Verity and I chat about books, tv, and writing - so if you’re looking for some British tv shows, you’re in a lot of luck. We do start with some critique of the early 2000s language about women, bodies, body...

It’s July 2004, and the ads and features are a wild ride. I might say that every month but this month it is especially true. We learn about a bunch of different bookstore that are still in business - and encounter a lot of ads for small presses that are, alas, long gone. There’s a lot of romance history in this issue. Bonus: I solve a HaBO for Amanda! Live! I’m so proud of me. Important: Do NOT mi...

It’s time for holiday wishes, book recommendations, and absolutely dreadful jokes, with listeners and reviewers as my guests! Each year I invite the review team from SBTB and the members of the Podcast Patreon to connect with me to offer recs, wishes, and, if they wish, a bad joke. These episodes are so popular and are like weekly hugs for your ears and your brain, with some potential hugs toward...

Thanks to Kay Sisk for sending us this issue! We’re taking a look at the book reviews from the July 2004 issue of  RT Book Club  – yup, the magazine had a different title back then. This issue predates the founding of SBTB, in fact! The genres are different, and so are the books inside. And! We have some one-star reviews! We’re going to talk about Color changing taffeta! Sex in departmen...

Recently, Mara Wilson was talking about her favorite (and least favorite) romance tropes on social media, so I invited her onto the podcast to tell us all about it. You may know Mara Wilson from Matilda or Mrs. Doubtfire , but she’s currently working very happily as an audiobook narrator, most recently for Chuck Tingle's Camp Damascus! Please note: we don’t talk a lot about the films she has been...

We are back with the June 2014 issue of RT Book Reviews, and we are taking a look at all the advertisements and features – and it’s a ride. We discuss the RT awards, the ads congratulating the winning authors, strange distorted feet, and wolf eyed vikings. No, we don’t know what that means, either. But we do have a question! Amanda, it seems, has never read a Harlequin  Presents ! Which one s...

Sarah Weinman joins me to talk about true crime, a genre which I absolutely cannot read! We talk about how true crime “can be a catalyst for social change” and why people, especially White women, obsessed with true crime. Plus we talk about Sarah’s latest books, Scoundrel , which has a surprising (to me) literary angle for true crime, and the anthology, Evidence of Things Seen . We discuss at leng...

We’re heading back to June 2014 to look at the nearly three hundred new books reviewed in RT Book Reviews. Come on a journey with us through historical, contemporary, thrillers, and inspirational, and learn more about cattle fraud. We are obsessed with boilers. Also: apologies in advance for the fact that I cannot say "minutiae," which, my bad. It's a word that never comes out of my brain correctl...

In the May 2014 Ads and Features episode of our Romantic Times Rewind series , the cover feature was all about Valerie Bowman, her latest book - and inside was a mention of her appearance on Say Yes to the Dress: Atlanta in 2014 ! So Amanda and I connected with Valerie to hear all the details! We talk about weddings and dresses and reality tv, including a side trip discussion to the real housewive...

We’re back, traveling in time to May 2014 to take a look at the ads and the features inside RT Book Reviews magazine! Side trips include Say Yes to the Dress: Atlanta , the immortality of strange stock images on book covers, and the importance of alligator fritters in the marketing budget. You can find all the ads and images on SBTB ! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

THIS is episode 584 (I said in the intro that last week was 584 but I was wrong. Oops - my bad). Maggie Tokuda-Hall returns as a guest to talk about The Siren, The Song and the Spy, and so much has changed since our last conversation in Episode 406 when the first book, The Mermaid, The Witch, and the Sea released in May 2020. We also talk about racism and her experience with Scholastic regarding h...

It’s our first Romantic Times Rewind episode, starting with May 2014! We are looking at all 298 (!) book reviews in issue 363 of RT Book Reviews Magazine. Amanda and I are going to pick a book from each of the review collections by genre, from historical to urban fantasy to the Teen Scene. We also discuss the very narrow grading rubric, and the rarity of two- and one-star reviews. Journey back to...

Typically on Tuesdays I release bonus episodes for the Patreon community, but this week, everyone gets the bonus because Amanda and I are introducing Romantic Times Rewind, a new series of podcast episodes where we look back at old issues of RT Book Reviews and Romantic Times Magazine. WOO HOO! Amanda and I are going to re-read old issues of RT, and record two episodes each month. One issue will b...

Lorelei King has been a guest on the show before, and you may recognize her name and her voice from her work in romance audiobook narration. This week, Lorelei joins me to talk about her role as a core participant in the official UK government COVID Inquiry, which begins its second phase on October 3. We also discuss her volunteer work on the COVID Memorial Wall in London. A content warning: We’re...

Several years ago, Amanda had coffee with Maria Vale at a conference, and Maria mentioned a book she was working on that sounded really cool. And now, Molly Molloy and the Angel of Death is available to read! So we got together to talk about the book, what it’s like to write something that feels risky, different, and comes with warnings about HEA-expectations. This becomes a conversation about the...

I had a whopping good time talking with Jennifer Armentrout about her new book, Fall of Ruin and Wrath , about ApollyCon - which is now almost 10 years old! We’re going to talk about the behind the scenes of ApollyCon, her launch title for the new Bramble imprint of fantasy romance, plus she takes questions from some of you about disability advocacy, living with a visual impairment, and what chang...

Dr. Chuck Tingle is back! My  episode with Chuck Tingle from 2016  remains one of my most popular, and I was very excited to have Chuck back on the show while he was in the middle of his tour for Camp Damascus. We’re going to talk about eliciting joy, proving love, the three most maligned genres and why they’re denigrated, and Chuck’s ever-evolving trot as an artist and a person. Thank y...

Louise Hare is the author of the Canary Club mystery series, and book two,  Harlem After Midnight   is out this week! Louise joins me to talk about her main character, Lena Aldridge, and how Lena uses every asset at her disposal to navigate both a transatlantic cruise in book one, and Harlem in the 1930s in book two. We also talk about writing in dual timelines and the fun of writing fam...