Whoa!mance: Romance and Ourselves

In which Mrs. Bennet schemes (but is it smart...maybe?), Lydea and Kitty dox some soldiers, and Jane's life is in everybody else's hands. And we come up with a good band name - Boy Sphinxes.

In which Darcy keeps blowing it.

There is even more to talk about regarding the ball but this time featuring the Lucases.

Yo ho, ye Swee'peas! Welcome back on board The Black Joke for the thrilling conclusions of our discussion on the more thrillingier THE WINDFLOWER by LAURA LONDON with the yet even more thrilling @chels_ebooks. We pick up where we left off with the love story between Merry and Devon (but also Cat, Raven, a dream Unicorn, and the rest of the crew) and finally settle on our sexiest parts and weirdest...

Elizabeth and her best sister, Jane, reflect on that ball we just talked about. And it got Isabeau and Morgan thinking - is Bingley even that cool?

Avast me hearties! This week the gals are the gang when @chels_ebooks of TikTok fame shares one of their favorite romances - THE WINDFLOWER by LAURA LONDON a.k.a. Sharon and Tom Curtis. Merry is a sheltered lil’ patriot who gets in over her head when she’s kidnapped by pirates. The least pirate-y pirate, Devon, takes a shine to her….and so do all the other dreamy, fatherly, omnipotent, mysterious...

In which Darcy is tall first, handsome second, a real asshole third. Or is he? Whoa!mance is a part of the Frolic Podcast Network

Puttin’ the ghost back in ghost writer and the cock back in Hitchcock, this week yr grls go down into the creepy basement of VERITY by COLLEEN HOOVER Lowen gets the opportunity of a lifetime - to assume the ready-made career (and romance) of an iconic suspense novelist. Too bad the best/worst thing Verity Crawford ever wrote is her own autobiography… Can a person be a liminal space? Is this meta c...

Introducing - The Bennet Bunch!

Bon-joooor, mess aymees! Yr grls are dusting off their berets to make a novella-sized meal of "The Duke Makes Me Feel" by Adriana Herrera, originally pubbed in "Duke I'd Like to F" but now its very own thing! Victorian business woman Marena works hard to keep clientele and kiss'n'tell separate. Enter Duke of Linley and a trip to The City of L'amour and some very fancy lace to shake prod her bounda...

Netherfield Hall is let at last. Do with that information what you will.

It's like all the fun parts of Encino Man with Brendan Fraser but somehow backwards and more tender? With a weirder age gap? Whoa!mance is a part of the Frolic Podcast Network.

What can the self reflection of a divorced heterosexual man tell us about the Happily Ever After secret sauce - THE APOLOGY. More importantly, perhaps, what does that secret sauce say about us as Romance Consumers and Straight, Yt Ladies? Like, what is that secret sauce covering? Whoa!mance is a part of the Frolic Podcast Network.

Yr grls return once again to their be-hatted author safe space with THE PRINCE OF MIDNIGHT by Laura Kinsale. Don't get too comfy though, the Marquis Du Sade and a Murder Cult are here, as well. They say never meet your heroes, and by they we mean Leigh. She has sought out infamous highwayman The Prince of Midnight to save her village and get vengeance from the man who stole her family from her. Sh...

In which Isabeau tries to answer Morgan's questions about "Bridgerton". Because, perhaps like you, we are just two assholes coughing up the dust Bridgerton has left us in. Join us as we bumble through Blibberton - from Anthony to Cletus to Ghouly, totally forgetting about Francesca and Gregory. We unearth Twitter controversies, desperately try to get on the same page about The Bridgerton Ball and...

We're just as susceptible to a novel (as in new) title/cover combo, gang. And this week yr grls are taking vows for "A Nun for the Viking Warrior" by Lucy Morris. Sweet baby novitiate Amée isn't super into the Viking husband her nobleman dad springs on her, until he's like really into revitalizing her 912 A.D. Francia community. Is this book about a viking and a nun woke? How important is an outfi...

At the conclusion of Jane Eyre, yr grls reflect on what brought us to Jane Eyre and where Jane Eyre has brought us - including, but not limited to, it’s contrasts with “Pride and Prejudice”. Is Jane Eyre a self aware text or does it mostly benefit from modern readers seeing its Id? Is the Darcy more prevalent than The Rochester? Is an archetype it’s arc? What’s next? What’s wet is always wet.

The story loose ends are tied and theory loose ends are frayed.

Jane is doing much better, thank you. And so is Rochy. That doesn't mean there aren't some...weird...moments. But there are lots of flirty, teasey, sitting in the sunshine moments.

We're back and so is Jane! Our Jane heeds to whispering, walloping call of Rochester's voice and finds her way back to Thornfield Hall. And boy, does she have a surprise coming.

1 month ago, suspicion and Kindle Unlimited ruled. It was a time of darkness, it was a world of fear, it was the age before we read a bunch of monster romance. Swept up by a magic spell for a thousandish pages. Now here in Chicago....the spell is broken! AND WE MARCH AGAIN!! To round out our Monster March with DECEIVED BY THE GARGOYLE by Lillian Lark. Grace the witch is(gently, apologetically) man...

Our hearts take wing and our air mattress deflates in this installment of MONSTER MARCH featuring Dragon Bound by Thea Harrison. Pia manages to steal from a dragon's - or rather THE Dragon's - hoard but doesn't manage to not leave highly incriminating personal evidence at the scene. Lucky for us, and lucky for her, that means one powerful man-dragon can seduce her! And also some stuff about corpor...

Heeey listener, how's it going? Living the dream? Listen, we just wanted to touch base with you about "Love, Laugh, Lich" by Kate Prior? Yeah. Yeah. It is a romance novella about the executive assistant to a Lich who has office--you know--with her boss. Yeah, well the thing is, the Lich, has a real out-of-the-box...you know. Uh huh. I think we can circle back to that offline. And just to be clear,...

So he said what's the problem baby What's the problem I don't know Well maybe I'm a GOD(GOD!) Searchin' for the killer of my acolyte Tuckin' my tentacles in tight Avoiding my family and Fallin' for a PI... Monster March begins with the Cthulhu-adjacent, pun-apparent, politic-of-death-exploring, Acsquidentally in Love by K.L. Hiers. Is it reasonable to approach a book with expectations as a reader?...

Yr grls were working in the lab late one night, when their eyes beheld an eerie sight.. For a monster rose (a-wink) from the slab, and to their surprise THEY DID IT IN MARCH! They did a MOoOnster March... Join us for a seasonally inappropriate announcement. And then join us for the rest of the month as we read: "Asquidentally in Love" by K. Hiers "Love, Laugh, Lich" by Kate Prior "Dragon Bound" by...