Today I’m chatting with author Nicola Cornick, whose newest timeslip novel, The Phantom Tree, recently kept Elyse and I reading nonstop. In this interview, we talk about the transition she made from writing romance to writing historical fiction, and the challenge and opportunity of basing historical fiction on a real person, and placing her amid fictional characters. We also discuss the real challenges of being an unprotected woman in the Tudor era, the ways in … Continue reading 317. Time May Not Be Linear: An Interview with Nicola Cornick →

Amanda and I catch up now that Amanda has moved into her new apartment – and unpacked probably a thousand books. Then we talk about Amanda’s current adventure re-reading a series she’s not enjoying, but continuing to read. We discuss the ending of series we’ve started, why we tapped out, and why we sometimes keep reading despite our own preferences. We ask important questions, such as: What are your stopping points in a series as … Continue reading 316. Sarah and Amanda Talk Book Nesting and Re-Reading Series →

Today I get to chat with a debut author, Alexa Martin, about her upcoming book, Intercepted, which comes out on the 11th of September. Intercepted is very much inspired by her own life as the spouse of an NFL player, and by her affectionate love of Real Housewives, and her very real friends from various NFL team communities. We talk about her start in Pitch Wars, her rewrites of the original story, and her own … Continue reading 315. Intercepted with Alexa Martin →

This week, RedHeadedGirl and I are interviewing Sonja Rouillard, author of the Romance Readers Guide to Historic London. We talk about the origin story to the travel guide, and how it helped RedHeadedGirl’s own trip to London. We learn about what locations may be next for her next edition, and what research is like when building a reader-focused travel guide. And we also talk about travel and favorite places. RedHeadedGirl asks a question that I’ve … Continue reading 314. Talking Travel with RedHeadedGirl and Sonja Rouillard →

In this episode, I’m chatting with Steve Ammidown, who is the Manuscripts and Outreach Archivist at the Browne Popular Culture Library at Bowling Green. We talk about what Steve’s job means, what he does, and what the Browne Popular Culture Library has within its collection. Board games, liquor decanters, promotional items, pogs, pins, cookbooks, marketing ephemera, books, and many, many other cool things live in the Pop Culture Library. We discuss some of the most … Continue reading 313. Tracking Changes: An Interview with Bowling Green Browne Pop Culture Library Archivist Steve Ammidown →

The paperback edition of Too Fat, Too Slutty, Too Loud: The Rise and Reign of Unruly Women came out on August 7th, and I had the opportunity to ask author Anne Helen Peterson about the book, and about her work on celebrity, the narrative of image, and how women are seizing control of their own stories. Her book is about unruly women who disrupt the world around them in unique and powerful ways, and our … Continue reading 312. Unruly Women, Camouflaging Misogyny, and Controlling Our Narratives: An Interview with Anne Helen Petersen →

After we recorded our interview about My Oxford Year, author Julia Whelan asked if I ever did more spoiler-heavy analytical conversations about books after they’re published. Well, we do now! In this episode, we do a deep-dive into the book, the themes and Easter eggs hidden within it, and the structural and stylistic decisions that went into the creation of the story. If you haven’t read it and you think you might want to, beware … Continue reading 311. A Nerdy Bookish Deep Dive into My Oxford Year with Julia Whelan →

First: my apologies. In this recording, Victoria sounds terrific. I’m somewhere underwater, and predominantly on the right side. Egads. I’m not sure what I did wrong, but I apologize in advance. But hey, this conversation is so interesting because of what she has to say! Victoria Helen Stone, also known as romance author Victoria Dahl, has a new book out, Jane Doe . I read it in one sitting – it was terrifyingly good. Her heroine, … Continue reading 310. Heroine Sociopaths and Emotional Suspense: An Interview with Victoria Helen Stone →

Alisha Rai and Melonie Johnson joined me for our live show at RWA 2018, where we played a very limited edition game, Cards Against Romance Tropes. We start with my learning that Julia Quinn’s Bridgerton series is being adapted for Netflix by Shonda Rimes. Then we start the games! Alisha Rai is captain of Team Kale, and Melonie Johnson is captain of Team Donut. It’s a little echo-y, which is my fault. Apologies. Special thanks … Continue reading 309. Cards Against Romance Tropes: Our Live Show at RWA! →

Amanda tweeted that she’s terrible at watching tv, which is something I’ve said about myself many, many times. When I asked her about it, we started a long conversation about series, storytelling in pieces, trusting the storyteller and fearing enjoyment. We talk about investing time, energy, empathy, and attention in tv shows, and watching series with another person who holds us accountable. We also touch on the difficulties in selecting things to enjoy when there … Continue reading 308. Sarah and Amanda are Terrible at Watching TV (But We Talk About it Anyway) →

Today I’m chatting with Jessica Luther, author of the book Unsportsmanlike Conduct: College Football and the Politics of Rape. She’s also one of the hosts of the feminist sports podcast Burn It All Down. Jessica’s writing covers the intersection of sports and sexual and gendered violence. I’ve been following Jessica on Twitter for a very long time, as we connected over loving the romance genre years ago. Since then, her career has been incredible, and … Continue reading 307. Witnessing History and the Vital Reassurance of Romance: An Interview with Jessica Luther →