The Smut Report Podcast

We're talking about fancy special editions today. Show notes (with copious links and other fun things) at smutreport.com/podcast

It's Ingrid's week to host, so it should not come as a big shock that we're talking about craft. However, Holly hijacked the conversation a wee bit, so we spent a lot of time talking about historical fashion.Show notes at smutreport.com/podcast.

This month, we dig deep on the reasons this fluffy romcom didn't work for us, because you can do literary analysis on any piece of media if you read it carefully. (Note: this is a slightly edited version of the episode)Buy You Complicate Me: Amazon  |  Bookshop  |  Libro.fmShow notes at smutreport.com/podcast

We are extra chaotic this week. Sorry, not sorry.Show notes (including a link to that pineapple / chicken abomination) at smutreport.com/podcast.

Holly asks Erin and Ingrid: how do they decide what to read?Show notes at smutreport.com/podcast

AKA culture shifts and reader preference shifts and how they play together.Full show notes at smutreport.com/podcast

When family members (in romance books!) stomp on boundaries but the characters in the book shrug it off…that's not cute. But what's actually going on with these scenes?Full show notes at smutreport.com/podcast

Are you ready for some poly pirate action? Are you also ready for lots of detail (in a good way) about 19th century naval warfare? Join the Smut Report team as we discuss Rears & Vices by E.M. Caro.Full show notes at smutreport.com/podcast

Holly didn't have a plan, so she asked Erin and Ingrid what they were reading and they excitedly yelled about books for the entire time. As we do.Show notes at smutreport.com/podcast

Ingrid challenges the Smut Report team to come up with 10 ways authors can ruin a kiss.Show notes at smutreport.com/podcast.

The Smut Report Team talks fanfic, and honestly, we barely skimmed the surface on this one.Show notes (including a link to the infamous Ask a Manager story) at smutreport.com/podcast

Ingrid leads this month's Book Club discussion, in which we talk about whether Swordheart is a romance and get deep into the reasons Erin didn't like the bleak moment. Full show notes at smutreport.com/podcast.

Holly got big mad at a hero, which prompted the team to talk about identifying with the characters in a book. This conversation could have been five hours, but we kept it to 30 minutes.Shownotes at smutreport.com

In which the team comes up with 10 ways to ruin a black moment.Show notes at smutreport.com/podcast

This week, we chatted for a while about what we're reading, and then Ingrid got real nerdy about how weather can impact the tension in a book.Show notes at smutreport.com/podcast

Welcome to the first Smut Report book club! We’ve done buddy reads before, of course, but this year we’re going a little more unstructured. Our plan is for each of us to take a turn picking a book to read—any book, for any reason—and our discussion may be based on a specific idea or it may simply be a discussion of what the book is doing on its own merits.Our first book discussion is An Extraordinary Union by Alyssa Cole.Show notes at smutreport.com/podcast

We cannot believe that we've been Smut Reporting for 8(!) years on the blog, and 2 years on the podcast! Shownotes at smutreport.com/podcast.

In which Ingrid embraces her brave side and leads the Smut Report team in a conversation about the words we use to talk about those parts of our bodies. NSFW.Show notes at smutreport.com/podcast.

It’s a new year, which means it’s time to look back on the past year. We were tired and found comfort in books. We were tired and struggled to read books. But no matter what, we reaffirmed how much we love to read and talk about books. So instead of a best-of list, we bring you without further ado: The Sixth Annual Smut Report Superlatives.Superlatives in list form can be found at smutreport.com/podcast

Isn't it amazing how some people are good at making and analyzing art?!?Full show notes at smutreport.com/podcast

We went serious this week and are talking COVID in contemporary romance.(This is a slightly modified version of the previously-posted Tumblereads 13)Show notes at smutreport.com/podcast

Erin squees about Heated Rivalry and Ingrid leads the Smut Report team in a game of This or That.Show notes at smutreport.com/podcast

In honor of Thanksgiving, we're talking about family in romance book today: the families we leave behind, the families we reconcile with, and the families we make ourselves.Full show notes (which this month is a long list of all the books we mentioned) at smutreport.com/podcast.

Erin had a plan to talk about something serious and erudite but got distracted by *big television announcements* and spent the first half squeeing.Show notes at smutreport.com/podcast

We're talking about characters doing chores in romance books today: what purpose they might serve, and if we like reading about them. If you know if a romance book where characters clean the toilet, please tell us about it.Full show notes at smutreport.com/podcast.

In which the Smut Reporters talk about dark heroes, and the line between hotness and troubling. This conversation was inspired by Ingrid reading the Alliance series by S.J. Tilly.Show notes at smutreport.com

This week on Tumblereads, the Smut Report Team is talking about self-publishing powerhouses getting picked up by Big 5 Publishers.Shownotes at smutreport.com/podcast

We're revisiting Monster Romance (read about the first time we did so here)!Buddy reads:Maneater by Emily AntoinetteReady for Her Yeti by Neva PostMail-Order Minotaur by Lilith StoneFull show notes at smutreport.com/podcast

This week on Tumblereads, we're talking about what makes some sex scenes so great—and some of the authors make it happen.Shownotes at smutreport.com/podcast

This week on Tumblereads, we're talking about things we don't like. Full list of books we mentioned can be found on the show notes at smutreport.com/podcast.

Today we talked about diversity in books. What does it mean when someone calls a book "diverse"? (Turns out, different things to different people.) Shownotes (aka a list of the books we talked about) at smutreport.com/podcast

This month on the podcast, we're talking about Hottie McScotties and why Ingrid loves Highlander Romances.We buddy read The Making of a Highlander by Elisa BradenShow notes at smutreport.com/podcast

The title pretty much says it all.Links to the books we're reading at smutreport.com/podcast.Have thoughts? Leave us a comment or drop us a line on bsky.

This week on Tumblereads, we're talking about what we're reading and how we're feeling about those books. Honestly, the conversation went all over the place. And ended with madlibs.Our current reading, all the show notes, and a link to the madlibs can be found at smutreport.com/podcast.If you like what we're doing, please rate or recommend us to a friend. 

We're Tumblereading again, and this time we started talking about those things that just pull us out of books when we read—and also about AI (and reader responses to it).Some links to things we talked about at smutreport.com/podcast.Have a question or a discussion point for us? Leave us a comment!

We're trying something a little different here at The Smut Report Pod, where we just talk about whatever we're reading and see where it takes us. What we got was 30 minutes of unedited chit chat, mostly about Romantasy.For a list of all the books we talked about, go to smutreport.com/podcast.Like the format? Hate it? Have a question you'd like us to answer? Leave us a comment here.

The Smut Report Team is back, and this month we're talking about the criminal archetype in romance books. What characteristics does a criminal love interest have—and what makes them so dang sexy?For our conversation, we read Hard Time by Cara McKenna.Full show notes at smutreport.com/podcast

This month, the Smut Report team is talking Metaromance. Not romances that take place at Facebook, but romance books that are talking about romance books.To prepare, we all read Unromance by Erin Connor.Full show notes at smutreport.com/podcast.

We're wrapping up our Hoedown Showdown! Holly, Erin, and Ingrid all share their Yee Haws and Hell Naws from this project, talk about their favorite microtropes, and share recommendations of other Western Romances. Full show notes at smutreport.com/podcast.

We're in Week 4 of reading Romance Westerns, and this week we're focusing on queer and poly romances. We read: Heart and Hand by Rebel Carter (Amazon | Bookshop)   They Ain't Proper by M.B. Guel (Amazon | Bookshop)Warning: This conversation includes ranting.Full show notes at smutreport.com/podcast.

For the third week of the Hoedown Showdown, we're in the 2020s! What's changed in Western romance? What's stayed the same? We read: Wild Rain by Beverly Jenkins (Amazon | Bookshop) Marrying Off Morgan McBride by Amy Barry (Amazon | Bookshop)Full shownotes at smutreport.com/podcast

For the second week of the Hoedown Showdown, we read two books from the early 2000s:  Silver Lining by Maggie Osborne (Amazon | Bookshop) Knight on the Texas Plains by Linda Broday (Amazon | Bookshop)Full show notes at smutreport.com/podcast

It's time for a Hoedown Showdown! Every Friday in April, we'll be dropping an episode where we talk about two western romances. We're starting things off Old School with two romances from the 90s: The Touch of Fire by Linda Howard (Amazon | Bookshop) and Texas Destiny by Lorraine Heath (Amazon | Bookshop). Come for the dusty coats and the snake venom, stay for our discussion of how we imagine American history. Plus, of course we're talking about the swoon factor!Full show notes at smutreport.com/podcast.

Erin explains spoke and wheel romances (along with other forms of ethical non-monogamy…and non-ethical non-monogamy). Holly and Ingrid are along for the read. To prepare, we all read Four Psychos by Kristy Cunning, but we ended up talking about a ton of different books.Show notes and book list at smutreport.com/podcast.

We're talking Enemies to Lovers this month, and in preparation, we all read The Hating Game by Sally Thorne. We talk about what we want from an Enemies to Lovers romance, whether The Hating Game is a good example of one, and whether it's creepy to paint your walls to match your crush's eyes.Full show notes at smutreport.com/podcast.

Now Presenting…The Fifth Annual Smut Report SuperlativesIt’s a new year, which means it’s time to look back on the past year. We were tired and found comfort in books. We were tired and struggled to read books. But no matter what, we reaffirmed how much we love to read and talk about books. So instead of a best-of list, we bring you without further ado: The Fifth Annual Smut Report Superlatives.Note: These are books we read this year. We might have reviewed them or not, and they may be published in 2024 or not. We just like books.If you'd rather read the list, full show notes are available at smutreport.com/podcast.

Holly and Ingrid buddy-read Emily Wilde's Encyclopedia of Fairies, Emily Wild's Map of the Otherlands, and Emily Wilde's Compendium of Lost Tales.Now they're discussing such hard-hitting questions as: Is this a satisfying romance? Is Wendell a himbo? How scary are fairies?Full show notes at smutreport.com/podcast (includes some bonus recs that we didn't think of until later)

The Smut Report is getting festive with an in-depth discussion of those cute, small town, witchy rom-coms. Full show notes available at smutreport.com/podcast

Erin and Ingrid imprinted on the American Dreams series by Jean Ferris back when they were baby romance readers. Holly had never read them, so we decided it was time.So without further ado, here's our discussion of Into the Wind, Song of the Sea, andWeather the Storm.Full show notes at smutreport.com/podcast.

Holly, Erin, and Ingrid all read Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros. They talk about how horny this book is, whether it's YA, and what is Romantasy, actually. Full show notes at smutreport.com/podcast.