This week your girls disembark on a two parter on Catherine Coulter’s EVENING STAR aka SWEET SURRENDER.

We delve into the kinky, sweaty bordellos and just sweaty dinner parties of 19th Century Rome where young Giana is getting a pretty shallow lesson in womanhood from her uncle and meets an American, i.e. tall, businessman who is equal parts well-meaning and ruthlessly horny. I & M answer the questions Coulter has posed to her erstwhile reader and discover some Rome Truths along the way.

Why start with shock? Can we girlboss our way out of ideology? Does anyone have good intentions or are we just negotiating different ways to live with our selfish choices?

Sidle up to the velvet curtain and behold the one-way mirror to our conversation, we promise we don’t mind if you listen. ;)

Whoa!mance is a part of the Frolic Podcast Network

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Is that a bottle of Pom Wonderful in your pocket or are you just excited for another modern retelling of Hades and Persephone? Either way you came to the right podcast! This week yr kores spring into “Neon Gods” by Katee Robert.

Modern It Girl Persephone runs away to the mysterious Under City (see what they did there?) to wait out her trust fund to move to Berkeley (pardon???). In order to stave off the unwanted amorous notions of Zeus she gets publicly f*ng’d by cinnamon roll in a black on black suit Hades. And then guess what happens!

Are we ever done reaping what 50 Shades of Grey has sown? Do you like bad boys or do you just like a project? Is world building the world of Romance?

Take a bite. We’d like you to stay a while.

This episode of Whoa!mance is sponsored by “Sweet Talking Rancher” by Kate Pearce from Kensington Books.

Whoa!mance is a part of the Frolic Podcast Network

You can find Neon Gods on GoodReads here: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54659771-neon-gods

We mentioned Rose Lerner's Audible Original, here it is: https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Wife-in-the-Attic-Audiobook/B08W2P8GZN

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This week, I & M tackle the multi-decade family saga slash love story “The Ties That Bind” by Brenda Jackson. When Rand meets Jenna at a college party in 1965, they kick off a romance (or twelve) that overcomes the ravages of time, distance, the Vietnam War, the fight for Civil Rights, classism, colorism, and a woman named Angela.

Is there such a thing as bad girl, or are they all just drawn that way? Is a villain’s relatability a form of carbon dating? Speaking of dating, does anyone date outside their family anymore in these books or are we just sensitive?

Whoa!mance is a part of the Frolic Podcast Network.

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Mama, we made it!

This week we are so excited to share our conversation with Sarah — she of ICONIC Smart Bitches Trashy Books fame. We discussed a brand spankin' new category romance. She got us an ARC and everything. Notes below!

And if you don't know about SBTB yet, check out the pod and go to https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/ to consume all of the delicious romance content they just let you have for free!

Also be sure to dip into our recent "Category Is..." series for some classic category content.

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I’m joined by Morgan and Isabeau from the Whoa!Mance podcast! They are celebrating three years of podcasting, and their latest exploration of romance has been to look at category romances. I thought it would be fun to take a deep dive into a brand new contemporary romance, so we all read Awakened by the CEO’s Kiss by Therese Baharrie.

This episode is a low-spoiler discussion of the book, and of all the interesting and subversive things that it does. We cover kiss tension, books that give you chest tingles, and more. You can listen if you’ve read it, or if you haven’t, but you might really like this book so we recommend it either way!

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Whoa!mance is a part of the Frolic Podcast Network

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Baby batter up!

This week on Whoa!mance Isabeau and Morgan chew gum in the dugout of "Fix Her Up" by Tessa Bailey.

Former baseball superstar Travis returns to his charming home village sore from more than a career-ending shoulder injury. When a new opportunity comes knocking, he teams up with his friend's kid sister for a mutually beneficial (aren't they always?) fake relationship. Thankfully, her "baby" status in her family isn't an impediment to his affections.

Why don't more characters in fiction just, you know, meet? Are we all slowly boiling in the waters of incest-adjacency? Is cognitive dissonance in the boudoir any less dissonant?

It's 11:00pm. Do you know where your Baby Girl is?

Whoa!mance is a part of the Frolic Podcast Network.

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Risky Business eat your heart out. This week on Whoa!mance, Morgan and Isabeau visit NEW YAWK but better in “One Last Stop” by Casey McQuiston. August is still putting the “new” New York City when she meets timeless punk hottie Jane on the Q. When she discovers just HOW timeless, our gal Auggie puts her hereditary gumshoe skills, and chosen family slash roomies, to use is breaking Jane free from the amber of the MTA.

Is freaky the new vanilla? Does greater visibility equal meaningful progress? Did people like “Red, White & Royal Blue”?

Stand clear of the sliding doors, this episode is about to disembark.

Whoa!mance is a part of the Frolic Podcast Network.

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• Available at The Ripped Bodice