Whoa!mance: Romance and Ourselves

Can’t a girl just get some sleep? This week, Thornfield Hall is awoken in the night by sounds of struggle, Mr. Rochester runs defense to cover up prior transgressions, and Jane gets drafted to play doctor. Nothing a little old timey drugs and discretion can’t put to bed. Whoa!mance is a part of the Frolic Podcast Network.

Game of Thrones may have faded behind the penumbra of popular culture, but there will always be ardent believers keeping the fires burning. This week on Whoa!mance, Morgan and Isabeau lurk on fanfiction message boards with one such crowd in Spoiler Alert by Olivia Dade. When Marcus Caster-Rupp, heartthrob TV star of a GOT-esque show, asks regular person and superfan April Whittier out after her pl...

There’s something fishy about this party crashing fortune teller. This week, Jane confronts the unknown to ascertain her fate, an unveiling of hearts and identities leads to greater intrigue, and Mr. Rochester gets cancelled (again). But the question remains: who is this Mr. Mason fellow? Whoa!mance is a part of the Frolic Podcast Network.

As the party rages on, Thornfield Hall is electric with elites and lowly alike. This week, Jane spies an advantage in her battle for Mr. Rochester’s affections, a game of charades becomes a whole fucking thing, and mysterious travellers keep trickling in. Whoa!mance is a part of the Frolic Podcast Network.

Well Whoa!mantics, we made it one more time around. We asked, and you graciously sent us your favorite titles and titillations. And in exchange for the DMs, we stitched them up into something nice we can all sprawl out and get crumbs on. This week on Whoa!mance, Morgan and Isabeau reflect on their arc of years behind the mic, wax poetic with the luxury of hindsight, and share which books still smo...

Out of sight, out of mind - until he comes riding in with a full entourage. This week, our heroine’s affections hit a fever pitch, Blanche Ingram leaves Jane looking pale, and Rochester can barely keep his hands to himself. So much for a healthy work/life balance. Whoa!mance is a part of the Frolic Podcast Network.

When we last left our heroine, Jane was feeling rattled by a late night immolation. This week, Jane finds her employer has flown the coop, Mrs. Fairfax waxes poetic about some biddy named Blanche Ingram, and our lowly governess laments her self-supposed tepid appearance. A dark night of the soul indeed. Whoa!mance is a part of the Frolic Podcast Network.

Studies show that staying put is the number one cause of FOMO among freewheelers and ramblers. But the long term health benefits of deep roots and steady love are often, criminally, underreported. This week on Whoa!mance, Morgan and Isabeau clear their spit valves to hit the high notes with a selection from Decades: A Journey of African American Romance, in Sheryl Lister’s Love’s Serenade. Set pri...

Did you miss us? To celebrate the return of Whoa!mance’s Jane Eyre Public Access Read Along, Morgan and Isabeau are joined by author Rose Lerner to discuss the first 15 chapters of Jane Eyre, the life and work of Charlotte Bronte, and Rose's new book, The Wife in the Attic, available February 9th from Audible. Tune in for a spirited conversation of all things Jane, and be warned y’all: spoilers ab...

We are excited to return to The North and revisit our episode on Bear by Marian Engel. Be sure to check out the rest of our back catalog! Did you miss us? We were taking a brief sabbatical in the north woods of Ontario when we stumbled upon a seductive stranger. Full in form and stature, an imposing specimen really, with many *ahem* physical attributes that left us feeling replete in both mind and...

ONE. HUNDRED. EPISODES. Can you believe it Whoa!mantics? When we started out we had two shitty microphones and a Mac desktop cobbled together from two different Mac desktops. Now, three years and 100 episodes later, we have slightly better shitty microphones, and that same computer is still chugging along like goddamn Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. But more importantly y’all, we couldn’t have done it wi...

This week yr grls had the supreme pleasure of meeting up with @Shelflove to discuss Strange Love by Ann Aguirre. A mistaken identity trope leads to an alien abduction of a human Earth woman. Admitted she doesn't have a ton going on so why not compete in a Hunger Games style version of intergalactic Bachelor? It sounds crazy on paper but this romance is a thought piece on difference and accommodati...

Believe it or not y’all, yr girls Morgan and Isabeau have been behind the mic for 3 whole years. But now we want to hear from you! We are asking you, dear listeners, to send us brief recordings of yourselves that we will weave into a patchwork quilt of Whoa!s to keep us all wrapped and warm in this ever-encroaching winter of our collective discontent. What romance novel continues to hit that speci...

With intimacies on the table, Mr. Rochester has some explaining to do. This week, Adele’s origin story is laid bare, Jane suffers emotional anguish at the thought of losing her employer to greener pastures, and who knew bed curtains were so flammable? Stay safe and sleep tight y’all. Whoa!mance is a part of the Frolic Podcast Network.

It’s a New Year Whoa!mantics, but early forecasts are projecting the same holocaust of emotions. This week, Morgan and Isabeau cut through the red tape in A Lady’s Guide to Mischief and Mayhem by Manda Collins. When our heroine Lady Katherine Bascomb hastily publishes overlooked evidence to a recent murder case in her newspaper, Detective Inspector Andrew Eversham becomes seriously butthurt. But w...

What’s not to like about postprandial levity? This week, Mr. Rochester lets the wine do the talking, Jane plays it cool in the face of lustful advances, and Thornfield Hall proves it could do with an HR department. Whoa!mance is a part of the Frolic Podcast Network.

Mr. Rochester has come to Thornfield Hall, and the shift in energy is palpable. This week, our heroine is fully vetted by her new employer, Jane gets to show off some of her moody artwork, and Mrs. Fairfax sheds new light on Mr. Rochester’s treacherous family history. Whoa!mance is a part of the Frolic Podcast Network.

We know the solstice is the real holiday y’all are out here getting wild for, but like any bird of prey, the Christmas-Industrial-Complex must be fed. This week, Morgan and Isabeau take aim at propriety with Cecilia Grant’s Blackshear Family novella, A Christmas Gone Perfectly Wrong. When the uptight and proper Andrew Blackshear ventured to buy a falcon for his sister’s impending marriage, the las...

As routine takes hold at Thornfield Hall, Jane is getting restless. This week, our heroine journeys to post a letter, comes to the aid of an off-putting and unhandsome traveler, and finally puts a face to the swirling mystery of her employer. First time readers beware - spoilers abound in this chapter. Skip 28:10 - 33:17 to avoid spoiling more than the HEA. Whoa!mance is a part of the Frolic Podca...

Jane’s ad got a bite. This week, our heroine makes the acquaintance of her suspected employer, Mrs. Fairfax; Jane takes on the education of one Adèle Varens; and what’s the deal with Thornfield Hall? Whoa!mance is a part of the Frolic Podcast Network.

Holidays are hitting different this year, what with all the plague, but we at Whoa!mance are pledging to keep our Christmas humor to the last. This week, Morgan and Isabeau shack up with this festive friends-to-lovers novella, One Bed for Christmas by Jackie Lau. Our hero, Wes Chang, a freelance artist and barbershop quartet mascot, is thrown by fate or meteorological happenstance into close proxi...

Who knew bungling a health crisis could lead to a change in leadership? This week, conditions at Lowood improve when Mr. Brocklehurst files for unemployment, eight years fall away like a cartoon calendar, and our heroine has an epiphany about the classified ads. Whoa!mance is a part of the Frolic Podcast Network.

This chapter hits way different during a global pandemic y’all. This week, Spring brings typhus to Lowood, Jane, in good health, is free to wander the grounds, and the harsh reality of Helen’s health comes into sharp focus. Whoa!mance is a part of the Frolic Podcast Network.

Did you ever watch those Geico caveman commercials and think, “I bet that hoss can really lay some club?” This week, Morgan and Isabeau plow for answers in Transcendence, a prehistoric romp by Shay Savage. It opens with our heroine and unaccompanied minor, Beth, traveling tesseract-style through millennia to arrive in the welcoming and paternally minded arms of our hero, a Homo savage known only b...

Few things are worse than a poorly fact-checked public shaming. This week, Helen comforts our girl Jane in her post-Brocklehurst woes, Ms. Temple offers solace and a seed cake, and Jane finally gets to bask in the warm glow of absolution. Whoa!mance is a part of the Frolic Podcast Network.