Episodes
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202. Ranch Water, baby! "His Secondhand Wife" by Cheryl St. John
Whoa!mance is back in the saddle with a cozy sleeper set on the Colorado front range. In Cheryl St. John's His Secondhand Wife (2005), Noah's rakish brother is murdered in a saloon, leaving behind a pretty new bride, and a baby on the way! Honor demands Noah take Kate home. And boy howdy is Kate...
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201.1: Harry Potter x Handmaid's Tale - "Alchemised" by SenLinYu [Part 1]
Is that a wand base metal in your pocket, or are you just happy to see us again? This episode yr grlz begin their conversation about ALCHEMISED by SENLINYU.You're probably wondering how Helena ended up in a storage facility with most of her memory gone. So is she! And so is the High Reeve. The...
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200. The Time War is Foreplay--"This is How You Lose the Time War" by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone
We dive into the exquisite love-letter architecture of This Is How You Lose the Time War and ask what happens when desire is literally written into existence. We linger on what it means to love with (or without) a body—across a multiverse full of potential and very real war crimes. Red and Blue,...
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199: Forty Shades of Green - "The Ground She Walks Upon" by Meagan McKinney
And now we arrive in Ireland. Finally. To discuss THE GROUND SHE WALKS UPON by MEAGAN MCKINNEY (1994).Ravenna is a social outcast who is also magically bound via geish to the Lord of her home, County Lir. Either Niall, at 20 years her senior, woos her, a lowly peasant, or his family looses the…
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Whoa!nus 2025 Year In Review
What was 2025, really? What did we say we were going to do—and did we do it? In this Year-in-Review episode, we take stock of the year with clear eyes. We revisit the wins, the misses, and the pacing problems from our shelf this year—from Ali Hazelwood’s Deep End to the dark-romance chaos of...
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198: The Reason for the Peenin' - The Earl's Christmas Pearl by Megan Frampton
Man the canons, yr Colonels in the War on Christmas are attacking THE EARL'S CHRISTMAS PEARL by MEGAN FRAMPTON.The titular Earl meets the titular Pearl after her family abandons her in London over Christmas a la (kind of, vaguely) Kevin McAllister. He uses his skills as a Welshman to care for the...
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197.2: Return to SpookyU: Nocticadia by Keri Lake
In part two of our discussion of NOCTICADIA by KERI LAKE yr grls dive into chapters 39 - epilogue. Does the ambiguity of an HEA in horror make it impossible (if already strange) bedfelllows with romance? What is the appeal of "dark" romance and what is the bright side for those of us who don't…
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197: Gothy McGotherson: Nocticadia by Keri Lake
Stop twitching, that isn't the fluttering of dusty moth wings in your ear - its yr grls discussing NOCTICADIA by KERI LAKE.Lilia Vespertine is a destitute but extraordinarily hot smart orphan in evil Baltimore who happens to get a mysterious full ride to spooky Dracadia University - a private...
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196: NOThic: The Ruin of Evangeline Jones by Julia Bennet
Don't be scared! That is just the loud cracking of our ankles over a totally normally recording of Whoa!mance's discussion of THE RUIN OF EVANGELINE JONES by JULIA BENNET.The titular Evie is a psychic medium scammer under the control/support of a Svengali type. Harcastle is a Due under the...
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The Final Four: Who's Your Shadow Daddy?
Welcome to the Shadow Daddy Bracket: Final Four, where our pleasures are interrogated and pitted against one another. Our contenders? Rochester brooding in his attic-bound domestic gothic, Rhysand a fae High Lord wielding sovereignty and seduction, a couple of aristocrats flexing thier authority,...
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The Shadow Daddy Bracket
Shadow Daddy's abound. But how do you pick the best one? what would the best even mean? How do you quantify or categorize the shadows and the daddies?Morgan and Isabeau developed a tournament style bracket ranking the shadow daddies of the past, present, and super natural--follow along and make...
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195.2 A Kingdom of Cocks and Shadows: Quicksilver Part 2: by Callie Hart
Morgan and Isabeau return to the back half of Quicksilver—and yes, the vampires have arrived. With plenty of biting insights, they unpack what makes for a strong first-person narrative (and what can throw it completely off kilter). Then it’s on to the heart of romantasy: shadow daddies and fated...
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195.1 Shadow Daddy: The Sum of His Parts: QuickSilver By Callie Hart
This week we’re diving deep into the shadowy (haha) corners of QuickSilver—where Saeris Fane finds herself escaping a burning kingdom in the arms of a shadow daddy by the name of Kingfisher. Badass tattoos and appellation aside what makes a shadow daddy? Is it literally just commanding shadows…
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194. Kit is the whole caboodle: A Shore Thing by Joanna Lowell
Doff your strawiest cap, we're on a summer holiday to Cornwall with "A Shore Thing" by Joanna Lowell.Muriel has been pigeon-holed into presenting on seaweed instead of her preferred botany interests. Thankfully, the English seaside is not only home to many kelps but also one Kit, a painter who...
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193. Intergalactic Gothic: Thrum by Meg Smitherman
Do...do you hear that? That-that...throbbing hum? Then adjust your speakers! You're gonna wanna hear us discuss THRUM by MEG SMITHERMAN.Astronaut Ami is the lone survivor of a mysterious accident that killed the rest of her crew. It also means she is the lone Earthling guest of the...
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192.2 What is Romance without Affection? Yield Under Great Persuasion by Alexandra Rowland
We read the second half and discovered that you can live with a heart murmur, but maybe a romance can't exist well without some critical affection for its main characters. Join us as we investigate the missed opportunities and stumbling blocks holding this "cozy" would be charmer back.
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192.1 Profoundly Un-cozy: Yield Under Great Persuasion by Alexandra Rowland pt. 1
It is a renn fest season and Pride month. Perfect time to chat about chapters 1 through 8 of Yield Under Great Persuasion by Alexandra RowlandTam and Lyford get it on like all the time. Much to Tam's chagrin. Not that it is like a non-con situation, just that he hates how much he likes having sex...
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191.2 Give to the Poor: Through a Dark Mist By Marsha Canham prt. 2
Well we stood and are now delivering to you part 2:This episode covers chapter 15 through the epilogue of THROUGH A DARK MIST by MARSHA CANHAM, book 1 of the Black Wolf Trilogy.To recap we learn that not only is Lucien Wardieu Lord of Bloodmoor Keep, he is also a highwayman, is not dead in the...
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191.1 Steal From the Rich: Through a Dark Mist By Marsha Canham pt. 1
What ho! A new challenge faces yr grls as they attempt a new format. An intentional two-parter! This episode covers the prologue through chapter 14 of THROUGH A DARK MIST by MARSHA CANHAM, book 1 of the Black Wolf Trilogy. Lucien Wardieu is Lord of Bloodmoor Keep. Or he is a highwayman. Or he is...
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Time Sucks
On this whoa!nus listen along as Morgan and Isabeau engage with Time magazine's 50 Best Romance Novels to Read right now (August 2024). You can hear in real time (haha) as Isabeau is faced with the dubious metrics of 'acclaim and social impact'. What books did the list get right? What books did...
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Emily Henry is a romance novelist. [Whoa!nus]
Over one frenzied month Morgan read all five of Emily Henry's original adult romance novels. Along the way, she lost herself. She turns to Isabeau to help her trace her way back, though the work and the public and personal reception.What differentiates a romance novel from everything else? And…
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190. Water Bored: Deep End By Ali Hazelwood
Hold your nose and close your eyes - we're jumping feet first into DEEP END by ALI HAZELWOOD. Scarlett Vandermeer attends real-life American University Stanford on a diving scholarship. Tall, blond, Swedish, heavily-siblinged (ring any bells?) Lukas Blomqvist (...sure) attends the same very real...
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189. Resurrection Boyfriend: Angelika Frankenstein Makes Her Match By Sally Thorne
It's an Easter Miracle! Christos Anesti--or in this case handsome dead stranger is risen, in more ways than one! Sacrilegious dick jokes aside--this one has it all! Earnestly weird heroine with a mean brother and rambling estate. Hot stranger who doesn't get why the smart and pretty rich lady is…
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188. Your Mask doesn't make you cool: Velvet Chains by Constance O'Banyon
Isabeau found a romance from a free library--the cover was gorgeous, the title bananas. The premise: a revolutionary American privateer kidnaps a british artisto named Season and then proceeds to gaslight her and the reader about his varied identities against the backdrop of the American War for...
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Whoa!nus Goes To The Movies with Andrea Martucci from Shelf Love: Your Monster
Join fan fav and beloved friend of the pod Andrea Martucci from podcast Shelflove as we discuss 2024's 'Your Monster' a love story about female rage and personal growth. This discussion spans personal taste, romance conventions as adapted by other mediums, and of course that great white way:...
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187. Try Hard Tropes--When Grumpy Met Sunshine by Charlotte Stein
This week, we tackle Charolette Stein's When Grumpy Met Sunshine, a listener request that's keeping us honest! We've reviewed this author previously and concluded then that we would like to read her again later. Listeners we did. When Grumpy Met Sunshine is a romance that pits supposed opposites...
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RE!Mance - "Never Sweeter" by Charlotte Stein
A listener held us accountable. A listener reminded us that at the end of this very episode from 2018 we said we'd be curious what this author wrote in the future. And now, ahead of that discussion of a very new book by this very same author coming out next week, we want to give all of you the...
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186. Re-straint: Meet Me At the Anvil by Kate Prior
Please, no need to swoon - it's just us, talking about MEET ME AT THE ANVIL by KATE PRIOR.Prior isn't just the author's surname, it also describes when we talked about this author re: LOVE, LAUGH, LICH - look it up in the feed where you found this one!Diane is fine marrying Martin - as long as…
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185. True Love Waits...IN HELL! - The Saint of Heartbreak by Morgan Dante
Trigger warnings abound everyone - sexual assault, dubious consent, Biblical characters of Judas and Satan falling in love, child death and miscarriage, suicide. Tread lightly, be gentle with yourself - it's just a podcast. The Devil is a lie, The Devil is in the details, The Devil is afraid to…
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Baggage Claim Paging Billionaires
Morgan and Isabeau are joined by romance author Esme Brett as we discuss In Flight--a romance that took off in the wake of Fifty Shades. In this free wheeling discussion we tackle fanfiction's influence on the genre, the rise of self publishing, and the ethics of depicting BDSM in romance. What…
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Whoa!nus - Maybe it's not Twenty Twenty for you??? 2024 in Review
We were in the books in 2024 and now 2024 is in the books. Hardest and softest no!s and whoa!s, the places we visited the most in literature, what we did great at and where we came up short. All that and more as we look back on the year that was...2024.
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Meet Me in Los Feliz by Kelly Reynolds
One last round of eggnog, we're talking "MEET ME IN LOS FELIZ" by KELLY REYNOLDS. Nora accidentally barges in on Bowie peeing and catches feels for the (sort of) Short King. Is king a slur if you're a Brit in LA who inherited a house and tea shop(pe)? Amid the hustle of trying to make it as an...
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Whoa!nus at the movies: Carol (2015) w/ Ellie from Butt Out Baby podcast
Ellie from the Butt Out Baby Podcast had the best idea. For all of us to watch Carol (2015) directed by Todd Haynes and then talk about it. Therese gets a funny feeling when she first sees the glamorous Carol, and it isn't just because its Christmastime. But it is the 1950s, and Carol is going...
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182. Short Days, Long Teeth - "Cold Hearted" by Heather Guerre
If Whoa!mance had a nickel for every time we discussed a novel featuring a werewolf who flies personal aircraft, we would have TWO nickels. Thanks for the hypothetical pay raise, COLD HEARTED by HEATHER GUERRE. Grace has to Teach for America her way away from her terrible ex and terribler…
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Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen: Chapter 61 - Public Access Read-a-Long
Here it is, the last chapter. The bow tie. The final thoughts. The Darcy. The Rochester. The end.
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A Little Dark(romance) Meat: Lights Out By Navessa Allen
Ready for some dark romance this holiday season? Sure you are! The days are short anyway. We've got a labrador retriever male main character who makes masked man thirst traps and does some stalking. And we've got a snarky female main character who loves those thirst traps and is looking for a...
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Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen: Chapter 60 - Public Access Read-a-Long
Pride and Prejudice gets PENULTIMATE! In this, the second to last chapter of Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, there are lots of sweet nothings and victory laps to be had. And the conversation begins circling the drain that leads to...romance novels?
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Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen: Chapter 59 Read A Long
Darcy and Lizzy need to tell the Bennets what's what
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180: Actually, it's Frankenstein's Incel - "Pride and Prometheus" by John Kessel
What webs we weave, indeed! This episode we attempt to unknot that cross-over of the century - the NINETEENTH century that is - PRIDE AND PROMETHEUS by JOHN KESSEL. Mary Bennet decides to take one last crack at life before resigning herself to spinsterhood and two people wind up dead. That's what...
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179: Kingdom of Newtstria - The Falcon and the Sword by Patricia Werner [ICE WINE 2.4]
We're back, and we're going totally medieval on THE FALCON AND THE SWORD by PATRICIA WERNER for the final act of this Ice Wine season. Judith, the most normally named character in this whole book, abandons a convent to find herself in the kingdom of Neustria amongst a bunch of Franks who will…
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Re!Mance PLUS Secret Baby Revealed! - Nobody's Baby But Mine by Susan Elizabeth Phillips
A Re!mance for an extremely special ocassion. Plus an update on Ice Wine Deux. <3 We did it y'all. Yr girls have arrived at the final stop on this Entrop[e]y tour with one last trope: the secret baby. This week on Whoa!mance, Morgan and Isabeau tackle the culture wars relic, Nobody’s Baby But…
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178: Newturopathic Medicine - Fever Rising by Maggie Ferguson [ICE WINE 2.3]
Naturopathic Practicioner Raven is thrown back into the measured embrace of regular, degular Dr. Jeff when she is accused of poisoning her clients. Because he loves her so darn much, and because it is obviously not her fault, and because it is 1997 and these things just happen, the McSteamy and...
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FIXED: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen Chapter 58 Public Access Read A Long
Wherein Darcy and Elizabeth have one conversation and Darcy makes all men, and romance heroes look like fools for the next two hundred odd years. #ThanksJaneAusten
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Pride and Prejudice Jane Austen Chapter 58 Public Access Read A Long
In this chapter Darcy shows up and all the young people go for a walk. On the walk Darcy makes all other romance heroes look like fools, for the next 200 odd years. #ThanksJaneAusten
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177: Newtucket Sound - Heaven Knows by Elaine Coffman [ICE WINE 2.2]
One last time to Nantucket before the cold winds blow! Free-spirited, head-strong Lizzie trades her youthful exuberance for matronly measure and stead-fastness in exchange for the love of one Tavis Mackinoon in 19th Century Nantuckey. Or...maybe "trades" has too much agency? What was America's...
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Pride and Prejudice By Jane Austen: Chapter 57 Read A Long
Mr Bennet receives a letter he can't wait to share with his favorite kid. Spiraling ensues
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176. Manifest DestiNewt, Brat Summer - A Dangerous Man by Rosemary Rogers [ICE WINE 2.1] LIVE
Ice Wine Deux launches LIVE and in style from Love's Sweet Arrow (in Tinley Park, IL) with a real bi-coastal bitch - A DANGEROUS MAN by ROSEMARY ROGERS. Tory doesn't care what her dad thinks, or her uncle, or even Sexy, Dark and mysterious "Texas Ranger" Nick Kincade. But she is forced to rely on...
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Whoa!nus ICE WINE RETURNETH
When the dog days of summer start barking, the cubes start clinking. Yr grls are revisiting their ICE WINE project, a time to interrogate texts published by and for a previous generation. This round, we're pouring (over ice, of course): A DANGEROUS MAN by ROSEMARY ROGERS HEAVEN KNOWS by ELAINE...
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Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen: Chapter 56 - Public Access Read-a-Long
Knock knock! Who's there? Why! It is Catherine De Burgh! Here to rip Lizzie a new one while Jane and Bingley canoodle in the shrubbery. The worst part is? No one even visits the hermitage. That was here the whole time???? A split decision on this chapter folks, with a scathing rating of three out...
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174: Gentle(bildungsro)man - A Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzie Lee
Monty is all set up for one sexy summer when he embarks on his Grad Tour with hot friend he's falling for, Percy. But this would-be teen sex comedy get real weird as Monty and Percy face a vengeful duke, a sinking crypt, a dead alchemists lonely adult children, their own marginalized identities,...