The Meet Cute BookPod

Today, we have Becca’s chat with author Liana De la Rosa, whose next novel, Isabel and the Rogue , is a Victorian-set historical romp about a Mexican wallflower unofficially spying on the British aristocracy and an actual British spy unofficially spying on her. It’s out June 4 th . Liana talks about: Her personal history of romance reading; What is so compelling about historical romance; Writing c...

Today, we have Becca’s chat with author Alexandra Vasti, whose debut novel, Ne’er Duke Well, is a delightfully steamy regency romp in which a rakish Duke with radical politics in need of a respectable wife hires a seemingly proper matchmaker who secretly runs an erotic circulating library. Hijinks ensue. It’s out July 23 rd . Alexandra talks about: Her long family history of romance reading and he...

Today, we have Becca's chat with author Kaliane Bradley, whose debut novel, The Ministry of Time, which she somewhat jokingly describes as “a time-travel romance about empire, bureaucracy, and cigarettes,” just came out May 7th.   Kaliane talks about the theatrical production that made her start writing again after university, the experience of being a debut author, how she thinks...

Today, we have the audio recording of our February 13th, 2024 virtual event celebrating Amy Lea’s latest book The Catch , a romcom about an influencer who heads to a rural fishing village in an attempt to rescue her floundering career and ends up in a fake engagement with a burly and bearded bed-and-breakfast owner slash fisherman. Amy is in conversation with the great Lynn Painter. They cha...

Today, we have the audio recording of our April 3rd, 2024 virtual event celebrating Alison Cochrun’s latest book Here We Go Again, a sapphic romcom about death in which two childhood friends to enemies to lovers take their beloved, terminally ill former teacher on a cross country roadtrip. Alison is in conversation with the great Mazey Eddings.   They chat about   Alison’s wr...

Becca chats with Mazey Eddings, author of A Brush With Love, Lizzie Blake's Best Mistake, and the forthcoming sapphic rom-com Late Bloomer.   Mazey talks about h er introduction to genre romance and what is so much fun about historicals; How she drafted her first book during dental school lectures; Why including neurodiversity in her books is important to her and how she approaches writing ne...

Becca chats with author KT Hoffman whose debut, The Prospects, a queer baseball romcom, is out April 9th!

Today, we have Becca’s chat with audiobook narrator and indie author Natalie Naudus. You may know her voice from such hits as One Last Stop , Starling House , She Who Became the Sun , and Daughter of the Moon Goddess , among many more.   Natalie talks about how she got in to audiobook narration, and what the process for narrating an audiobook looks like; she has some advice for people l...

Today, in celebration of the Trans Rights Readathon which is returning for a second year (running from March 22-29th) we are re-sharing the recording of our panel on Writing and Publishing Trans Romance with Anita Kelly, EE Ottoman, and Emory Lee, moderated by TJ Alexander.  You can find out more about the readathon and sign up to participate at https://transrightsreadathon.carrd.co/

Today, we’re talking about book bans. What are they? Where are they happening? And, most importantly, what can we do to fight them? Philomena Polefrone from the American Booksellers for Free Expression project is here to break it down.

Today, we have Becca's chat with author C.M. Nascosta, an indie author who writes cozy monster romance. You may know her from her breakout hit Morning Glory Milking Farm.    C.M. talks about h er introduction to genre romance, w hat she thinks was behind her first viral book a nd what going viral felt like from her perspective, h ow she approaches indie publishing as a business and how s...

Today, we have the audio from our second virtual Mind the Gap panel, focusing on the politics of diversity in writing, reading, and publishing romance with Nisha Sharma, Nana Malone, Kennedy Ryan, and Adriana Herrera. This conversation was recorded in July 2023. They discuss t he way that talking about “diversity” broadly masks anti-Blackness specifically, w hat the subtext is when peo...

Today, we have Becca's chat with author Kelly Farmer, whose most recent novel, It’s a Fabulous Life, a sapphic retelling of the classic Christmas movie It’s a Wonderful Life, was released last fall from Alcove.  In this episode, Kelly talks about h er introduction to genre romance and her early attempts at writing a novel, t he growth in traditionally published sapphic romance, w...

Becca chats with author Regina Black, whose debut, The Art of Scandal, a sexy drama about a political wife, a young artist, and some very messy (very wealthy) families, was released last year in hardcover and is coming out April 23rd in paperback.    Regina talks about h er introduction to genre romance, t he strange feeling of having your “debut” novel be the 11 th book you&...

Becca chats with author Virginia Heath about t he Mills and Boon romances Virginia snuck from her mother’s stack of library borrows, t he bumpy start of her writing career, her take on category vs. single title romance in the world of historicals, w riting humor and the roots of her particular sense of humor, h er writing process and what happens when the characters take control of the narra...

Today, we have Becca's chat with author Lana Ferguson, whose debut, The Nanny, cam out last spring, and whose second book, The Fake Mate, a paranormal shifter romcom, came out in December.  Lana talks about t he Harlequin romances she discovered on her grandmother’s bookcase as a teen, w hy The Nanny is set in San Diego and why she gave her debut main character a background in sex work,...

Long time no see! We are back! It’s season two! And we are starting off with a bit of romance history because we love context! Today, we have Becca's chat with archivist and romance historian Steve Ammidown . We hope you find this conversation both accessible and fascinating! If you'd like to learn more about romance history, you can follow Steve  on Instagram and YouTube @romancehistor...

We just wanted to pop in to let you know that the Meet Cute Book Pod is coming back for Season 2 later this month!  Until that drops, you can catch up on Season 1. And, as always, please rate, review, and tell your friends and lovers about us.

Today, we have Becca's chat with author and editor Camille Kellogg, who works as a Middle Grade and YA editor during the day, and whose debut novel, Just As You Are, a queer Pride & Prejudice retelling set in modern day New York City, came out this past April. Camille talks about t he romcom movies of her childhood and how she ended up as a Middle Grade and Young Adult book editor.  Then...

Today, we have the recording of our delightful panel celebrating the launch of Uzma Jalaluddin’s latest book, Much Ado About Nada , with Uzma, Sahar Jahani, and Ausma Zehanat Khan! This conversation was wide ranging and a lot of fun. Our panelists talk about writing process, book to film adaptations, growing up with a lack of industry representation, being ambitious Muslim women, and then ta...

Today, we have the recording of our panel on Writing and Publishing Trans Romance with Anita Kelly, EE Ottoman, and Emery Lee, moderated by TJ Alexander. They talk about f inding community as a writer and how to deal with the tough parts about the business side of publishing, the books they  haven't seen enough of and would really want to read, the first time they saw themselves reflected in...

Today, we are doing something a little different. You may know that Meet Cute Bookshop has an ongoing Romance for Reproductive Justice initiative, and, as part of that we are running our second annual auction benefitting abortion funds on June 10th and 11th. (You can find it at 32auctions.com/r4rj2023) So, as part of the run-up to the Romance for Reproductive Justice Auction, this episode won&rsqu...

Today, we have the audio from our in-store event with Diana Biller, the author of The Widow of Rose House, The Brightest Star in Paris, and, most recently, Hotel of Secrets. Much like the book, Diana is brilliant and funny and gives good banter. She talks about the time a professor called her essay on jury selection “elegant”, taking herself seriously as an artist, the underrated hotness of ethica...

Becca chats with author TJ Alexander, whose next book, Chef’s Choice, comes out May 30th. TJ talks about their early years as a romance reader, growing up in their family’s restaurant, the glory days of Food Network (particularly Iron Chef), the joys of writing a T4T romance, which of their characters they’re most like and would most like to be friends with, the hardest scene to write in Chef's Ch...

Becca chats with Sarah Adler, whose debut romance Mrs. Nash’s Ashes comes out May 23rd. Sarah talks about the process of getting her novel from manuscript on her laptop to book on store shelves, finding a community of writers, her favorite tropes to read and write, what’s up next for her, and, of course, some books she’s loved recently. You can grab a copy of Mrs. Nash's Ashes in our shop or on ou...