S04.38: These Books Bang: The Sexiest Romance Novels

This week’s episode is thanks to Julie Block, the Fated Mates listener who won an episode of the podcast in the Romance for Reproductive Justice auction sponsored by The Meet Cute Romance Bookshop and Fizzery in La Mesa, CA. Julie made a generous donation to the Collective Power Fund at the National Network of Abortion Funds, and in doing so, got to pick the episode topic — Books that Bang!

Headphones in, y’all. We have sixty-nine (that’s right, 69, by pure unplanned luck!) recommendations for you this week — everything from bonkers to bloody to blazing hot…naughty bits that we believe deliver the whole banana (and sometimes no banana at all, if you know what we mean). Pencils ready…your time starts…now.

Books

The WTF Bucket

• Laying Pipe by Kate Allure
• Nicholas by Elizabeth Amber
• The Navy SEAL's Christmas Bride by Cora Seaton
• Morning Glory Milking Farm by CM Nascosta

Bold & Bloody

• The Club by Lauren Rowe
• Lothaire by Kresley Cole
• Sweet Ruin by Kresley Cole
• A Heart of Blood and Ashes by Milla Vane

Fun & Toys

• I Think I Might Love You by Christina C Jones
• Act Your Age, Eve Brown by Talia Hibbert
• Her Night with Santa by Adriana Herrera
• Nights With Him by Lauren Blakely
• You Had Me at Hola by Alexis Daria
• Praise by Sara Cate

The More The Merrier

• Just Past Two by Elia Winters
• Three Way Split by Elia Winters
• Gifting Me to His Best Friend by Katee Robert
• Unconventional by Isabel Love
• Take Your Pick by Jasmine Haynes
• Altogether by Brill Harper
• Callie, Unwrapped by Amy Jo Cousins
• Fire on the Ice by Tamsen Parker
• Three Little Mistakes by Nikki Sloane
• Kate's Crew by Jayne Rylon
• Goldie & The Bears

Bondage and (Chastity) Belts

• For the Love of April French by Penny Aimes
• Giving it Up by Audra North
• His Leading Lady by Jenny Nordbak
• The Master by Kresley Cole

The Bad Boy Mystique

• Band Sinister by KJ Charles
• The Adrien English Mysteries by Josh Lanyon
• Fury on Fire by Sophie Jordan
• Heated Rivalry by Rachel Reid

Hot Historicals

• The Virgin and the Rogue by Sophie Jordan
• A Matter of Disagreement by EE Ottoman
• Simply Sexual by Kate Pearce
• The Sinner's Club by Kate Pearce
• The Devil's Submission by Nicola Davidson
• Passion by Lisa Valdez
• The Bride Goes Rogue by Joanna Shupe
• A Caribbean Heiress in Paris by Adriana Herrera

Just Add Milk

• All the Sweet Tomorrows by Bertrice Small
• Dreaming of You by Lisa Kleypas
• The Princess by Gaelen Foley

Consent & Dubcon

• Toxic Desire by Robin Lovett
• Grabbed by Vicious by Lolita Lopez
• Captivated by Tessa Bailey and Eve Dangerfield
• Asking For It by Lilah Pace
• Hold 'Em by Katie Porter

Voyeurism & Exhibitionism

• The Prince of Broadway by Joanna Shupe
• Beautiful Stranger by Christina Lauren
• Being Neighborly by Meka James
• Eyes On Me by Sara Cate

I Have Tremendous Upper Body Strength

• The Captains' Vegas Vows by Caro Carson
• Hard and Fast by Erin McCarthy

Oh, No! Feelings!

• Kiss of Snow by Nalini Singh
• Sin & Ink by Naima Simone
• Wait For It by M. O'Keefe
• Caressed by Ice by Nalini Singh

Just F'ing Hot

• The Red by Tiffany Reisz
• Judgment Road by Christine Feehan
• Her Last Line of Defense by Marie Donovan
• American Royalty by Tracey Livesay
• Like Lovers Do by Tracey Livesay
• The Hostage Bargain by Annika Martin
• The Roommate by Rosie Danan
• Lover Eternal by J.R. Ward
• Lover Avenged by JR Ward
• Waylon by Theodora Taylor

Notes

• Thanks to Julie Block for suggesting this episode and donating to abortion funds for the Romancing for Reproductive Justice Auction, sponsored by The Meet Cute Romance Bookshop & Fizzery, opening fall of 2022 in La Mesa, CA. It is not too late to donate to the Collective Power Fund at the National Network of Abortion Funds.
• While we name checked some Fated Mates classic recommendations like Tessa Bailey, Jessa Kane, and London Hale, somehow we recorded this episode without once mentioning the name of Charlotte Stein. So raise a glass to her and all the other authors writing super hot books that we forgot to mention.
• Probably you want to see Jen Porter's illustrations of the drilldo. (PS. Protip: you might put "drilldo" in the search field of twitter thinking that Jen's tweets will come up, and that would be a mistake unless you want to see it real and in action. Ask me how I know.)

The Rest

• For even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net/episodes/2022/6/7/s0438-these-books-bang
• 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.

00:00.000 Bantr

04:55.000 How we Made the Lists

10:04.500 The WTF Sex Scene

23:28.000 SPONSOR: Melissa McTernan

24:57.000 Fun (and Toys)

31:44.000 The More the Merrier

39:53.500 SPONSOR: Microdose Gummies

41:33.500 In the Club

46:14.000 Bad Boys

49:01.000 Historicals

53:55.500 It's Basically Erotica

55:13.500 DubCon & NonCon

59:54.500 We Like to Watch

01:01:44.500 Some More Microtropes

01:16:25.000 Outro