Fated Mates - Romance Books for Novel People

We’re back with a deep dive on one of our favorite recent romances, Seven Days in June by Tia Williams! We talk about yearning in contemporaries, about books that have a powerful sense of place, about dual timelines, about secondary characters, about lines that stick with us years later, and about how fated mates works as a trope in a contemporary romance.
Tia also has a new book out this month, The Missed Connection. Get it wherever you get your books.
Listen to our Season 3 episode with Tia Williams about writers in romance and head over to talk about Seven Days in June or any of her other books on the Fated Mates Discord, accessible to our Patreon subscribers. By joining the Patreon, you meet other Fated Mates listeners and get an extra monthly episode from us. Support us and learn more at fatedmates.net/patreon.
Read Seven Days in June at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books, wherever you get your books, or with your monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited.
Notes
Sorry, we’re a Knicks podcast now, everyone. Sarah because of New York and Jen because of Villanova. Sarah did look up that Knickerbocker thing, but we never got back to it. Learn more about how those trousers became a symbol of NYC here.
Sports curses are bad, just ask Red Sox fans! Spike Lee has really been through it, Jalen Brunson’s interview after the game just shows you a man trying to deal with his feelings.
The World Cup, we just don’t know anything about that yet, but we’re gonna get up to speed on that, just like all the people of the world getting up to speed on America. Also, feels important to romance that we bring you the news that the Tartan Army cleared Boston out of beer.
We had Tia Williams on the podcast back in season 3 when Seven Days in June was released. Although there is not a sequel to Seven Days, Shane and Eva are secondary characters in the YA romance with Audre that came out in 2025. Find out more about Tia, and see all her books at her website.
Come see Sophia Benoit in conversation with us in NYC (June 23) and Chicago (June 24) to celebrate the release of her first historical romance, The Very Definition of Love.

Sponsors
Frederick Smith, author of Love is a Contact Sport, available in print, ebook, audiobook from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, or wherever you get your books.
Little Brown & Company, publishers of Lu Chekowsky’s Don’t Buy What I’m Selling: On Breaking Up with Advertising and Finally Learning to Love My Whole, Fat Self, available in print, ebook, audiobook from Amazon, Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, Kobo or wherever you get your books.
The What in the Smut? Podcast, available wherever you get your podcasts.
W by Wattpad Books, publishers of Nicole Alfrine’s Brain Games. Available in print and ebook from Amazon, Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, or wherever you get your books.

The Rest
For even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net/2026/6/16/s0838-seven-days-in-june-by-tia-williams
If you wish you had six more days in a week of people talking about romance, may we suggest joining our Patreon? Aside from an additional episode every month you get access to our Discord, where other romance readers are talking about books they love (and many other things!) all the time. It’s so fun! Learn more about the Patreon and go join those cool people who love romance as much as you do at patreon.com/fatedmates.
Beyond your favorite podcast app, you can find us on Instagram, Threads, Blue Sky, Tumblr, and probably some other places, too, if you look hard enough.
If you've never listened to our Stop Book Banning episode, there's no better time than now.

This week, we’re visiting with Mary Kay Andrews, a longtime writer and certified badass who we adore for her WTAF Wednesdays and her delightful books. We talk about her writing journey, her decision to get publicly, vocally political, and about her new book Road Trip. We had a great time chatting and talking about writing, about research, and about how we should all just take a road trip through Ireland. Of course, we recommend a few books!
Find Mary Kay Andrews (and catch WTAF Wednesdays) on Instagram, Threads, or her website.
Listen to our earlier romance road trip episode from Season 1 and head over to tell us all about your favorite road trips and find an endless list of road trip recs on the Fated Mates Discord, accessible to our Patreon subscribers. By joining the Patreon, you meet other Fated Mates listeners and get an extra monthly episode from us. Support us and learn more at fatedmates.net/patreon.
Next week, our read along is Seven Days in June by Tia Williams. Get it at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books, wherever you get your books, or with your monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited.
Books Discussed
Road Trip by Mary Kay Andrews
Summers at the Saint by Mary Kay Andrews
This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me by Ilona Andrews
Nevermind the Mistletoe by Louisa Darling
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
The Odyssey, Emily Wilson's Translation
The Mostly True Story of Tanner and Louise by Colleen Oakley
This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger
The Road to Tender Hearts by Annie Hartnett

Sponsors
Edward Underhill, author of The House of Now & Then, available in print, ebook, audiobook from Amazon, Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, or wherever you get your books.
Kristina Forrest, author of The Summer Girlfriend, available for preorder in print, ebook, audiobook from Amazon, Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, Kobo or wherever you get your books.
Little Brown & Co, publishers of Emily Adrian’s Seduction Theory. Available in print, ebook and audiobook from Amazon, Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, wherever you get your books, or with your monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited.
Lumi Gummies. Go to lumigummies.com and use code FATEDMATES for 30% off your order.

The Rest
For even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net/episodes/2026/6/9/s0837-road-trips-with-mary-kay-andrews
If you wish you had six more days in a week of people talking about romance, may we suggest joining our Patreon? Aside from an additional episode every month you get access to our Discord, where other romance readers are talking about books they love (and many other things!) all the time. It’s so fun! Learn more about the Patreon and go join those cool people who love romance as much as you do at patreon.com/fatedmates.
Beyond your favorite podcast app, you can find us on Instagram, Threads, Blue Sky, Tumblr, and probably some other places, too, if you look hard enough.
If you've never listened to our Stop Book Banning episode, there's no better time than now.

We’re celebrating the paperback release of These Summer Storms this week, and that means we’re talking about the weather! We talk about rain and snow and wind and tempests and tornadoes and monsoons, and we talk about why we all like weather in books so much (hint, it’s because it’s dialed up to 11).
Tell us all about your favorite weather in romance novels and find an endless list of books that are as wild and stormy as you like over at the Fated Mates Discord, accessible to our Patreon subscribers. By joining the Patreon, you meet other Fated Mates listeners and get an extra monthly episode from us. Support us and learn more at fatedmates.net/patreon.
Our next read along is Seven Days in June by Tia Williams. Get it at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books, wherever you get your books, or with your monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited.
Books
These Summer Storms by Sarah MacLean
Eleven Scandals by Sarah MacLean
Struck Speechless by Tati Richardson
A Tempest of Desire by Lorraine Heath
Beautiful Russian Monster by Odette Stone
Wild Rain by Beverly Jenkins
Uncharted by Adriana Anders
Whirlwind by Kayla Grosse
After Hours on Milagro Street by Angelina M Lopez

Notes
We are fans of Mayor Mamdani, texting Sarah about the weather. This lady didn’t get the memo, but we hope she’s okay. After this episode was recorded, the Knicks were headed to the MNBA finals, and the Mayor repealed bedtimes for all the kids in New York. Could we love him any more?
Eric was camping, which Sarah and I imagine is like Ferngully, but it was real rainy.
Half agony and half hope is from Persuasion, which just goes to show you that you can never read Jane Austen and still get the basics!
Send Help is a movie with Rachel McAdams and it’s basically light horror, maybe? Idk, Jen covered her eyes a lot, but it was super fun.
It was a dark and stormy night is from Snoopy, and also an 1830 novel called Paul Clifford by Edward Bulwer-Lytton, who was an aristocrat! He was the first Baron Lytton! Paul Clifford is an example of a Newgate novel.
Snowed-in is a subset of forced proximity, but the snowed-in is a symbol.
You can watch People We Meet on Vacation on Netflix.
Speaking of Crash Landing on You and weather.
James Joyce was afraid of thunderstorms.
Sophia Benoit will be with Sarah at Book Club Bar in Brooklyn on June 23rd, and with Jen at Women & Children First in Chicago on June 24th. Sarah will be with Mary Kay Andrews on Long Island on June 12th.

Sponsors
Rachel Griffiths, author of Just for the Season, available for preorder in print, ebook, audiobook from Amazon, Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, signed from the Ripped Bodice, or wherever you get your books.
Lulu Morris, author of The Dating Pact, available for preorder in print, ebook, audiobook from Amazon, Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, Kobo or wherever you get your books.
W by Wattpad Books, publishers of Sabrina Blackburry’s Half Wylde. Available in print and ebook from Amazon, Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, or wherever you get your books.

The Rest
For even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net/episodes/2026/6/1/s0836-weather-is-genre-these-summer-storms-paperback
If you wish you had six more days in a week of people talking about romance, may we suggest joining our Patreon? Aside from an additional episode every month you get access to our Discord, where other romance readers are talking about books they love (and many other things!) all the time. It’s so fun! Learn more about the Patreon and go join those cool people who love romance as much as you do at patreon.com/fatedmates.
Beyond your favorite podcast app, you can find us on Instagram, Threads, Blue Sky,

AH2's Historical Trailblazers Romance Collection is inspired by the Fated Mates Trailblazers series, so we thought it would be good to rerun each featured author's Trailblazer episode. This time we've got Loretta Chase, author of Lord of Scoundrels. If this leaves you hungry for more, you can revisit our Lord of Scoundrels deep dive episode.
The Historical Trailblazers Kickstarter runs until June 2. Don't miss out!

AH2's Historical Trailblazers Romance Collection is inspired by the Fated Mates Trailblazers series, so we thought it would be good to rerun each featured author's Trailblazer episode. This time we've got KJ Charles, author of The Magpie Lord. If this leaves you hungry for more, you can revisit our Magpie Lord deep dive episode.
The Historical Trailblazers Kickstarter runs until June 2. Don't miss out!