Fated Mates - Romance Books for Novel People

The last few years have brought a wave of romances with magical elements—not really paranormal, not really witches, not really contemporary — books where something is just slightly ✨magic✨. Today, we’re talking about those books, how they work, what they’re saying, and how they work in terms of character, plot and POV. We’re also discussing how the books exist on the outer edges of the romance pool.
If you want to talk more about these speculative romance novels, or about romance in general, come join our Patreon! You’ll get an extra monthly episode from us and access to the incredible readers and brilliant people on the Fated Mates Discord. Learn more at fatedmates.net/patreon.
Our next read along is an old school contemporary, Perfect by Judith McNaught. Sarah says it has the greatest all-is-lost moment in romance history. Read it to find out if she’s right. Get it at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books or wherever you get your books.
Books
A Love Song for Ricki Wilde by Tia Williams
My Date with a Pair of Gray Sweatpants by Cassie O. Peia
The House of Now and Then by Edward Underhill
Do Your Worst by Rosie Danan
Every Version of You by Natalie Messier
The Night Island by Jayne Ann Krentz
The Dead Romantics by Ashley Poston
The Someday Garden by Ashley Poston
Losing Sight by Tati Richardson
Struck Speechless by Tati Richardson

Notes
This year’s men’s World Cup actually broke the Own Goal record with 14 of them. Get ready for the Women’s World Cup in Brazil next year in 2027! So these English fans made up a bunch of chants for a regular player, which is very charming. Speaking of soccer, Mamdani continues to show us all that politicians can just…help make people’s lives better?
Here’s a handout Jen uses to teach the three genres that fall under the speculative fiction umbrella, and why magical realism isn’t a catch-all or synonym for any writing with speculative elements.
The pink dress question: how do you decide if your characters need to heal themselves in order to fall in love, or if falling in love is what heals them?
Matthew Rhys and Matthew Macfadyen are in fact different people, but everyone’s watching Widow’s Bay.

Sponsors
Lumi Gummies. Go to lumigummies.com and use code FATEDMATES for 30% off your order.
Lucy Score author of The Dead Guy Next Door, the first in the Riley Thorn series, available in print, ebook and audiobook, or with your monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited.
Harpercollins, publishers of Sleuths, by Samantha Moody, available in print, ebook and audiobook at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books, or your local independent bookstore.

The Rest
For even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net/episodes/2026/7/5/s0843
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.

Once upon a time, Sarah went to Sweden and met a thriller writer who likes talking about the rules of writing in genre as much as we do. We’re so excited that to be able to bring Anders de la Motte’s brilliant thoughts about thrillers and mysteries to Fated Mates in this far-reaching conversation on romance’s sister genres—thrillers & mysteries. We talk about Anders’s path to writing, about the rules of writing thrillers and mysteries, about the covenant mysteries and thrillers have with readers, and about Mystery Reasons™️. We had the best time with this one — you’re going to love it.
Learn more about Anders’s books at his English language publishers, Simon & Schuster and Harpercollins
If you want to talk more about Genre Carrying the Myth, Jayne Ann Krentz’s genius way of thinking about the work of genre fiction, or about mysteries and thrillers, come join our Patreon! You’ll get an extra monthly episode from us and access to the incredible readers and brilliant people on the Fated Mates Discord. Learn more at fatedmates.net/patreon.
Our next read along is an old school contemporary, Perfect by Judith McNaught. Sarah says it has the greatest all-is-lost moment in romance history. Read it to find out if she’s right. Get it at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books or wherever you get your books.
Thrillers and Mysteries Mentioned in This Episode
The Mountain King by Anders De la Motte
The Glass Man by Anders De la Motte
The Rust Forest by Anders De la Motte
Shutter Island by Denis Lehane
The Usual Suspects
Widow's Bay
Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie
Columbo
Poker Face
Murder, She Wrote
Knives Out
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
Killing Floor by Lee Child
Orphan X by Gregg Hurwitz
Small Mercies by Dennis Lehane
The DaVinci Code by Dan Brown
James Bond
Evil Under the Sun by Agatha Christie
Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie
And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
One of Us is Lying by Karen M. McManus
The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman
The Wire
MemoRandom by Anders De la Motte
End of Summer by Anders De la Motte
Game by Anders De la Motte

Notes
Welcome Anders de la Motte, author of mysteries and thrillers. Many of his books have been translated to English, most recently The Asker series.
Many of the most famous fictional detectives we mentioned are on this list.
In fiction, unreliability is a narrative device meant to purposefully confuse or lie to the reader for the purposes of the story. We’ve argued that it’s more or less impossible to have an unreliable narrator in romance.
A good explainer on the difference between close 3rd (used in romance) and limited 3rd (used in mysteries/thrillers)
MacGuffins and other mystery and thriller tropes and vocabulary.
Sponsors
Jill Shalvis author of Falling Into You, available in print, ebook, audiobook from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or your local independent bookstore.
Jess Turner, author of The Only Catch, available in print, ebook or with your monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited.
Hachette, publishers of In the Wake of the Ruined, by Kalie Cassidy, available in print, ebook and audiobook at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books, or your local independent bookstore.
Oliver Heber Books, publishers of The Forbidden Duke, by Darcy Burke, available in print, ebook and audiobook at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books. Support the special 10th...

It’s summer, so we’re talking Country House Parties! We’re skulking around, having scandalous meetings in cupboards, getting caught in the rain near the groundskeeper’s cottage, and generally causing chaos during a summer party at an enormous country house where someone is definitely ending up married (or at least ruined). This is another one where we’re pretty shocked we haven’t done it before. Gird your loins, historical lovers!!
If you want to talk more about country house parties, about historicals, or about romance in general, come join our Patreon! You’ll get an extra monthly episode from us and access to the incredible readers and brilliant people on the Fated Mates Discord. Learn more at fatedmates.net/patreon.
Our next read along is an old school contemporary, Perfect by Judith McNaught. Sarah says it has the greatest all-is-lost moment in romance history. Read it to find out if she’s right. Get it at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books or wherever you get your books.
Books
Day of the Duchess by Sarah MacLean
Duchess by Night by Eloisa James
Band Sinister by KJ Charles
Any Old Diamonds by KJ Charles
How the Duke was Won by Lenora Bell
A Dangerous Man by Connie Brockway
Forever Your Duke by Erica Ridley
Do You Want to Start a Scandal by Tessa Dare
Slightly Dangerous by Mary Balogh
What I did for a Duke by Julie Ann Long
The Fifth Avenue Rebels Series by Joanna Shupe
Again the Magic by Lisa Kleypas

Notes
It’s officially called The Obama Presidential Center, but you can also call it The Obamalisk OR the Taj Michelle. Whatever works for you! It’s a great place for a first date!
The tall ships! It’s not the St. Charles, but the St. Lawrence waterways, it’s manmade, because you know, Niagara Falls. We know geography!
Some people got married at Madison Square Garden and some other people got engaged at the top of the Empire State Building.
In Tatler, author Lucy Foley wrote about the country house party.
Noises Off is a farce.

Sponsors
Rachel Griffiths, author of Just for the Season, available in print, ebook, audiobook from Amazon, Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, signed from the Ripped Bodice, or wherever you get your books.
Max Monroe authors of Where I Should Have Been, available in print, ebook, audiobook from Amazon, Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, or your local independent bookstore.
Kristin Jennings, author of A Legacy of Magic & Monsters, available in print, ebook or with your monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited.
Union Square & Co., publishers of Pot Shot, by Laura Piper Lee, available in print, ebook and audiobook at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books, or your local independent bookstore.

The Rest
For even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net/episodes/2026/7/5/s0842-country-house-parties
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.

F1! WNBA! NY Nicks! World Cup! We swear we're not turning into a sports podcast, but we did feel like it's a great time to rerun our most recent Sports Romance episode with the brilliant Jessica Luther. But first, Jen talks with Cleveland Soccer Group CMO and Cleveland Astra cofounder Gina Prodan Kelly about women's soccer and the World Cup.
GOOOOOOOOOOAL!
Show Notes: S06.09: Sports Romance with Jessica Luther

We’re filling summer reading lists and making sure that you have plenty of beach reads ready for whatever your plans are! It’s hard to believe it’s July, but we’ve got another quarterly upcoming romance episode here to ease the pain of half the year already passed! Here’s a huge list of books arriving in July, August & September 2026—historical, paranormal, speculative, contemporary, a YA or two and a romantic suspense or two, we’ve got something for everyone. As a reminder, we haven’t read most of these, but we have big plans!
If you want more recommendations and more people with whom you can discuss 2026 romance novels, maybe you want to join our Patreon? You get an extra monthly episode from us and access to the incredible readers and brilliant people on the Fated Mates Discord! Support us and learn more at fatedmates.net/patreon.
Our next read along is an old school contemporary, Perfect by Judith McNaught. Sarah says it has the greatest all-is-lost moment in romance history. Read it to find out if she’s right. Get it at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books or wherever you get your books.
AUTHORS: Do you have a book coming out in 2026 that you’d like to make sure we know about? Or, are you a debut romance author who’d like to make sure we know about your debut? Fill out the forms here:
2026/2027 Upcoming Romance Novels
2026 Debut Romance Novels

June Releases (Better Late Than Never)
Love is a Contact Sport by Frederick Smith
A Deal at Dawn by Vanessa Riley

July Releases
Seduced by the Werewolf Highwaymen by Eva Leigh
FIRE on Fire by Lukas Gaines
Princess Bride with Benefits by Bella Mason
As Long as it Takes by Jill Francis
Die For Me by Shirlene Obuobi
Kiss, Marry, Kill by Cara Tanamachi
The Paddock Club by Madge Maril
Affairs of State by Calvin James
Formula Zero by Meredith Lanzen
A Date with Death by Kelly Creagh
Dearest Beast by Felicia Grossman
Falling For You by Natasha Madison
The Romance Revival by Christina Lauren
Eclipse of the Crown by AK Caggiano
Their Summer Rescue by Sera Taíno
Maggie and Arthur’s Magic Moment by Leslie Rene
Foxx by Paisley Hope
Ravenous by Kresley Cole
An Education in Longing by Charlotte Stein
One Shattered Crown by Rebecca Zanetti

August Releases
I Punched an Alien and Now We’re in Couples Therapy by Kimberly Lemming
Steelborn by Taylor LaRue
Embrace by Bal Khabra
The Cozy Nook Bookshop by Jeannie Chin
In What World by Bridget Morrissey
It’s a Business Doing Pleasure With You by Lindsay Lewis
Roped by Saffron Kent
Don’t Say Mafia by CR Jane
See you at the Sunset by Susan Lee
Old Flames by Nadine Gonzalez
Sex Positive by Brooklyn Rose
International Relations by Zac Hammett
Her Undercover Protector by Kayla Parrin
The Marriage Rebound by Meka James
Full Throttle by JK Maclaren
Vow of Eternal Night by Lily Crozier

September Releases
Love Me like a Rock Song by Shelley Jay Shore
Hexy Beast by Avery Flynn
You’re the One that I Haunt by Katie Jung
A Spell of Heart and Havoc by Kristen Vale
The Alibi Club by Carrie Talick
The Invisible Roommate by Timothy Janovsky
From Beijing With Love by Bei Lin
Demons and Diplomacy by Megan Frampton
With all my Haunted Heart by Isabel Sterling
Isn’t He Romantic by Adib Khorram
How to Ruin a Rake by Kate Pearce
Ghost Me, Maybe by Manda Collins
See you Next Tuesday by Kate Stayman-London
Game Over by Bella North
Formula He’s the One by Andie J Christopher
Doomsdate by Laura Piper Lee

Sponsors
Felicia Grossman, author of Dearest Beast, available in print, ebook, audiobook from Amazon, Barnes & Noble,