S02.13: Best Romance Novels of 2019

The rest of the internet is obsessed with best of the year lists, so we’re doing it, too! Jen and Sarah have both chosen five of our favorite reads of the year — or of 13 months, if you’re really counting. Tell us what we’ve forgotten here, on Twitter, on Instagram, on Facebook or in comments!

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In two weeks, we’re moving across the pond to Beverly Jenkins’s Indigo, with one of Sarah’s favorite heroines ever—Hester Wyatt, Underground Railroad conductor! Read Indigo at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple Books, Kobo or your local indie.

Show Notes

• In between our recording and release of this episode, Kristen Callihan did release a new book, Outmatched, which is cowritten with Samantha Young. But don't miss Scottie from Managed, who will appear later in season 2 as a book that blooded Jen.
• Munro. That's it. That's the show note.
• Some of the best of 2019 lists from Bookish, NPR and Kirkus. Sarah's website has all of her past Best of the Year Lists for the Washington Post. Amazon also has a best of the year list, but the Goodreads Award list is strange.
• Emma Donoghue's Room was a big literary fiction book back in 2010, and it was on all the end of the year lists.
• Jen will be appearing at The Book Cellar on Dec 7, 2019 if you're looking for something to do. She'll be talking about the best books of the year with other critics.
• Around the same time we recorded this episode, Kini at SmexyBooks wrote this thoughtful piece about transparency in romance reviewing.
• Kylie Scott's Repeat was also on our Amnesia episode.
• Love's Sweet Arrow is a romance-only bookstore in Chicago's south suburbs.
• Quelle suprise!.
• Jen also likes Rebecca Zanetti, who also resists romantic suspense that is just "women in peril" plots.
• Face/Off is a very goofy movie from the late 90s. So of course they're going to remake it.
• In this Juno Rushdon series, Jen wants the boss's book.
• We're talking about historicals, but we're not talking about Brazen and the Beast even though Jen wants you to know it's spectacular and you should definitely read it.
• I guess we're singing this episode: Just One Night is a twist on Phil Collins's One More Night in the Moulin Rouge movie and All Night Long.
• Jenny Nordbak recommended Dare to Love a Duke to Sarah, and after the unreliable narrators essay, Amy Jo Cousinsrecommended Any Old Diamonds to Jen.
• Who wouldn't want to talk about Frankenstein, Shelley, and Wollstonecraft?
• Don't sleep on the Gilded Age.
• Kennedy's Basketball series is also great. But in The Kingmaker duet, she also tackles the problem of missing and murdered indiginous women and land grabs on Native land. Here is a list of #OwnVoices Native American authors from BookRiot, and another from Smart Bitches, but Jen specifically recommends Pamela Sanderson.
• Blood, Sugar, Sex, Magik.
• Jen interviewed Robin Lovett for Kirkus. And our friend @Bandherbooks was quite taken with the "space chaise" in this book.
• Jen and Sarah tried so hard to undersatnd the cinnamon roll phenomenon.
• Maybe you want to check out Jen's many amazing Pinterest boards featuring very specific romance novel cover kinks.
• Looking to buy some swag? You can buy Fated Mates buttons from Best Friend Kelly and Sarah has an awesome line of romance themed t-shirts and other swag from Jordanene.
• This week, our listener-recomended books are When He Was Wicked by Julia Quinn and Truly, Madly, Yours by Rachel Gibson.

The Rest

• For even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net/episodes/2019/12/1/s0213-sarah-and-jens-best-romance-novels-of-2019
• 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.