S09.01: Cloud Nine: Romance in the Sky

0:00nine seasons of our nonsense. And people are still listening. We love you all. What's wrong with you though? Uh, did love romance and we are very predictable. And we're the only channel available. There are lots of other channels. I don't know. Many channels available. I don't know if those channels are coming out 50 weeks a year. I mean, there's plenty of like tick tock tocks and Instagrams and stuff too. I mean, you know, no shortage of places. I guess that you all like to listen to us, yeah, M.R. So wait, can't I tell you the story? I tell the story of the podcast about mysteries romance and his cousin being in town. Okay, so everybody, his cousin will was like really fascinated by the idea of like, they're being like a podcast and having been ongoing on for so long. And people wanting to listen to you. Yeah, yeah, that wasn't part of it. So mystery's romance. He was being polite. Do you ever think you're going to run out of things

1:00to talk about your new year season nine? And I looked at these two domains and I said, could you and Will talk about football? They love football. Could you two sit down every week for nine years and have something new to talk about football for like an hour a week? And they looked at each other like, yeah. And I was like, exactly. And here we are. They keep making new football. Actually, they make less new football than new romance. So it's true. It's true. I mean, here we are. Here we are talking about romance another week. I mean, but you know, it's really shocking. And I think this won't be too much of a surprise for our long-term listeners, but like people who've like recently come to the podcast or recently come to romance, like the thing that's, I think, would shock a lot of people is how we also talk about romance all the time when we're not recording. Oh, yeah. It's like, of course.

2:01Like, you're only getting really like the top layer of the cake. You're not getting any way down. Really, like sometimes we're really in all. Oh. It's so true. You're not getting the screens, the constant screenshots. The constant, constant. I mean. Yeah. So anyway, and that is probably a blessing. For you should all think whatever it is that you think that your top layer is also the most coherent layer. Exactly. But it's been nine seasons. It hasn't been nine years because our first season was short. But now we're like every week really focused. Now we have people who listen regularly and there are a lot about the episodes that new episodes coming out last week. We did not have an episode out. I know. Right. And this is a good example of like you actually did

3:02all kind of slightly experience what it's like in our brains all the time. Yes. So first of all, welcome everyone to season nine of Faded Mates. I'm Sarah McLean. I read romance novels and I write them. And I'm Jennifer Procop, Arboromites Reader, and Editor. And last week we took a by week because we just sometimes do. We took a little break. That's the only reason there is a difference between seasons of eight and nine is like that week off right around Labor Day. And that was a new season. Now it's a new season. Everything a new and fresh in the fall. And so we ended up, but Eric, our producer, who does not get, he is the unsung in our own Faded Mates. He never takes a week off. He is the perfume email ads at FadedMates.net or any other Faded Mates email. You're probably getting Eric. He is, you know, he's the engine.

4:03We are the gas. I'm up. So I don't know. I don't know if that works. Just go with it everybody. So we're the gas. So Eric was like, okay, I'm going to release an episode. He always so that there's a new episode. Because not everybody listens to us all the time, you might be a new listener. Sure. There's always even when we take a break, Eric releases a new episode or re-releases an old episode. And they run last week, we ran. Don't want to gen's top five episodes, I think, probably. Absolutely top five episode. Yeah. Men in fur. Men in fur. Men in fur. Vikings, warlords, and something else. It just meant in fur. Yeah. And he was like, okay, we're re-releasing men in fur, which is like two years old. Do we, we should update the photo array? The photo array of men in fur.

5:03And we spent a full hour going over adding new images to the men in fur gallery. And then there was like, at one point, there was a discussion because like, I had a scars guard in there, an Alexander scars guard, but then we're pretty sure he was wearing sheerling. And then Eric was very opposed to call, like anything with a fur collar, like it had to be a fur coat. Chris Pine used to be in the minority. On a fur photo array. Got booted. A fur collar was not enough. I mean, the producer came in and was like, no, wrong, out. And then we were like, what will we do? And what we did was Hudson Williams and Pager. Joe Pascal and I mean, a big, a big, big question mark, a dark space in our first episode was bad bunny. I mean, it was literally like, how did we not? Yeah, I mean, it was also like, sort of here's how it works for at least what we started doing, right? So you're like basically doing like an image searching.

6:04You're like, putting in like, okay, you're like, okay, which man would wear feels like he wears fur. And then it's like finding the right image. And I was like sort of kind of going through like my mental list. And then I was like, literally, I was like, bad bunny. Of course. It's like hard to find a photo where he's not wearing. Same thing, honestly, there's now Lenny Kravitz and Prince. And I was like, how do we miss that? How do we miss that? Like almost like, what did I have men in fur like brain fur? I think we always, we had that Winston Duke photo. And that sort of fries my brain every time I look at it. Although I will say everybody, I'm pretty sure Winston Duke is insurling also, but it does matter. I mean, he did not get booted because nobody who's Winston Duke from anywhere ever, I don't think so. So that was really fun. If you listen last week, you got one of Jen's favorite episodes. I mean, one of my favorite episodes too, but it's really a Jen episode, that episode. And it's also just like the kind of silliness. Honestly, this episode is gonna be,

7:04I think a similar level of silliness. People are always like, oh, there used to be themes for the seasons. There was a theme for season nine and Eric actually popped into my office earlier this morning. It was their theme for this year. And I was like, there is not. The theme is we're on a bullshit again. Like once more. Right, once more I'm the breach. But he asked for today's, he was like, what's today's episode? And I told him and then he said, oh, he was like, yeah, I like that. I think you should, you're your best episodes over ones where you do this. And I was like, oh, okay, well, happy to oblige Eric. Eric, by the way, speaking of him, he wants you all to know that chapter art should be working again. The only place that doesn't work everybody is Spotify. And that's because Spotify just does not support that. But like most other podcasts apps do. So it's also September, which means that we're ranked September 26th, means we're ramping up by an election everybody in November. And you may or may not know that we're in a fucking state

8:06here in the United States. But every other year we ramp up and we faded, when faded mates launches faded states, a phone banking initiative where we bring romance readers together on Saturday afternoons at 1 PM Eastern. We're super excited. We are phone banking into some big Senate races starting next weekend, the 19th of September. You can learn more at fadedmates.net slash faded states. You'll see where we're calling into. We're starting, we're starting strong, calling into Texas for James Tallerico. Here's the way this works. You all come, you get on a big Zoom, Gen and me do our little dog and pony show. And then you get a photo of it. And then you get a full training in the moment. So if you've never picked up the phone and made a phone bank

9:08and call no problem, you'll be trained in on the actual event. And then we call registered Democrats in these states. So do you sometimes get a Republican? Sure. But you're supposed to be getting registered Democrats who have voted or not voted in the last election or two. So what ends up happening is sometimes we have really nice conversations. One time we did a phone bank for John Assof and we got his mom on the phone, which was an A plus phone banking experience. Last election cycle, Vanessa Riley phoned banked with us for a little while. And she got a woman on the phone who was dating a Republican and convinced her to dump him. So listen, we do a full service for banking operation, really, correct. There are fun games. We play bingo, like Jen puts together these bingo cards. Our friends Susie and Sam who are magnificent firebirds join us and run the phone banks and run the prize patrol.

10:12Authors come and they, we have special guests lined up to come and say hi to you at the midpoint, at the break in all of these phone banks. Authors from across romance, landia like deliver, they offer free books. Everybody who phone banks gets free books from authors who want to support the work. This is really, really fun. And we try to make it like a really fun party. We won the award from Indivisible. We partnered with Indivisible.org. And we have made the most number of phone calls in a phone bank ever. The faded the faded states team. Jen and I really like to win. So I hate to be like this, but you know what? It's, since it's about an election, there is in fact, like winning as the end of the line, feel bad in this case, exactly. To channel that urge. And listen, it's just we're all on edge. We're all going to be on edge between now and the beginning of November. And I said to Jen earlier, I really do. I'm confident and I feel strongly

11:12that we're going to do some shlacking in November. But we got to work hard to get there. And this is a really fun, good way to do it. Like we all hang out, we all talk, we all like share our anxiety. And also have fun talk about romance novels, meet fun people, do fun things, play games, etc. Right. So I guess here's the one thing. If you right now are just feeling really down about the state of our country, the thing about phone banking is you might be like, I don't know, that's so nerve wracking. I don't know if I can do it. It's a really high impact voter activity. It really makes a difference. And I think the thing to remember is like, this way of doing it, right? Like it's building a community that you will have with romance people because we all get on the Zoom together and there's like a really active chat of people being like, oh my god, I've had a great call or I just had somebody curse me out or I've just had seven hang ups in a row or like whatever it is. But it just feels like you're not alone.

12:13And I promise you, this is a really fun way to sort of make a difference. And the thing that there's so much evidence that like Doom scrolling is not gonna make you feel better. Being a keyboard warrior and just like reposting angry memes about things that are upsetting you is not gonna make you feel better. Getting on a phone bank and doing something is gonna make you feel better, right? And if that is too much for you everybody and I understand phone banking might not feel like you were interested, but find a local group of people who then are doing something and join them, right? Working together, building community, this is the way that we make the world we wanna live in. So just give it a shot, everybody. Like we have a great time. We have a great time. And if you're like nervous and you don't know, like I hate phone calls, we have people sometimes they join us and they write postcards to vote for us. While they're just on the Zoom. They're just in, yeah. You just throw them things out and you get hyped up to do it.

13:13Like I've had people make their first call halfway through a phone bank because they're like, okay, I'm ready. And then they make it and then they're like, that was not hard. It was not that hard, exactly. I was wrong, we don't start off strong with, I mean, we do start a strong, but we don't start off in Texas. We start off with John Assof in Georgia on the 19th. So maybe we'll call his mom. And then we're doing Talarico, Sherrod Brown, Ohio, represent. Amazing, Ohio represent. Another Assof, another Talarico. And then on the 24th we're calling into for Justin Pearson in the 10th, the 9th. And Sam Forsyge in the Montana first. So like we're doing some congressional districts on the 24th just to mix it up. And we finished strong on November 1st with Abdul El Sayed in Michigan. And just everybody, just please note, that's a Sunday because we understand that like phone banking on how we day, but you can wear a costume. That's a, you could please wear a costume

14:15we'd love to hear about it, sure. But yeah, just please note, it's all Saturday except for that one Sunday. Yeah, the first is a Sunday. And we are, so that's it, that's our list. Like I saw that list come through the other day and I got pumped. I was like, early, before I got this list, I was like, oh, we gotta do phone banks again. And now I'm like, oh no, this is gonna be awesome. We're super into it. So join us. It's so fun. And like, and yeah, if you're gonna have anxiety, having anxiety with a bunch of other romance readers. So that's the faded states of it all, everybody. There'll be all the links in show notes at the top. It'll be all over everywhere. It won't be hard to find. Yeah. But you can go there right now, fadedmates.net slash faded states. It will click on the chapter title. If you're a podcasting up supports it and you will be taken to faded states.net or fadedmates.net slash faded states. To sign up to register, you do have to register. This week's episode of fadedmates is sponsored

15:15by Rose Prendaville, author of the Unknown Birds. So this is romance that starts in World War I, where we have Charlotte Ashley in order to save her runaway brother from the angry crown. She disguises herself and takes his place as a runner in the Great War, never expecting to find her soulmate in the trenches of France. Sullen Sniper, Alex Rook. Nice. They are torn apart in battle. She's convinced that he has died and she spends the next 20 years haunted by the ghosts of what might have been. When they're unexpectedly reunited, can their battle scarred hearts overcome the deception of the past? Their fear of the future or will the clouds of the next Great War sever their connection once and for all? Talk about high stakes. I am so into it. I'm into it, right? The picky blinders family really isn't to it, I'll be honest. Yeah. The dual timeline book and Rose says this is one of the best things she's ever written.

16:16I love it when leaders feel that. Me too. Here's the truth, everybody. Writers know when it's the best thing. This one is historical romance through time. It has mistaken identity. For me, it feels a little like if you really wanted that sort of pre-story on picky blinders, this could be it for you. And it's available right now in print, e-book, audiobook, and at Kobo Plus. But here's a really cool thing. If you want to buy this book in paperback and support Rose directly, you can get a signed copy from her website, roseprendaville.com, and use the code FadedBirds for 30% off. So that's special for Faded Mates listeners. That's roseprendaville.com FadedBirds for 30% off a signed print copy of this book. If you're podcasting on supports it, you can click on the chapter title and be taken right there to use that code and get your 30%. Thanks to Roseprendaville for sponsoring this week's episode.

17:17I made people mad on the internet. Everybody, I want you all to know that I want back to work. And so that's why she's not making anybody mad on the internet now. I'm not making anybody mad on the internet. I don't even know Sera said that I was like, you were? I have no idea even. Literally like two weeks ago, we were in Rhode Island and Eric goes, Jen's really making people mad on the internet right now. That was like, yeah, well, she's bored. I'm bored. Typically, that is the way you know I'm about to go back to work. I'm like, is once I start just like really not giving, like I'm gonna make people mad on the internet and then be like, I'll see you again next summer. Is she going through something? I was like, yeah, she's got the Sunday's carries for a couple weeks. So yeah, I don't even remember what I was making people mad about. I don't know. I wasn't paying attention either. So it's fine. But anyway, I made, I made people mad on the internet and I made the mad with a very hot take. All right, everybody. I said that if you are in a rotating book club, okay, the host provides snacks.

18:19Brett. And then also maybe a beverage, but like somebody, then you bring like a bottle of wine or whatever, bring whatever you want to drink. And I was like, this is how I feel. Like this is my hot, and I said this is my hot, it's take. And I had this take for reasons that I'm afraid to admit on the internet or on the podcast. I don't need to know what cause to take. I realized, I didn't, I didn't develop this take. I realized I had this take. Yes. So I posted about this thinking like, oh, here's a funny little thing. Like everybody follows me. People who follow me are book people. Like I'm sure every people are in book clubs. This is my like fun little feeling about how book clubs should run. Tell you what everybody. People are anxious about this. They didn't, a lot of ladies did not like that. They were like, no, you bring your own food to book club. I don't want to. I'm under like that. I was like that. Take it. Well, again, I like everyone to my take. I don't know that bring your own food to book club. No, my thing is like if you're going to somebody's house,

19:20like I don't have to unpack a lunch. Like I'm like, I'm like trying to like pick a world's pretzels and like maybe like a birdie. Maybe, maybe not. My book club does like, it's like, well, we meet it, like we use to meet at eight, and then we all like, that's him to the fact that this is and now we're 730, which even then I'm like, we start the bubbles back to seven. And so everyone's like pretty much pet dinner. And so like it's kind of like a light snack. Like usually there's some fruit, some cheese and crackers. Like somebody went to Costco, got some cookies. I'm not asking you to cook. And then there's like, you then we talk about the book. And then dessert is served. Listen, and I feel I should qualify for some, like some people really hot about this on. And honestly, I mean, everybody's really going through it. Like I'm trying, I understand this. You people are, people were mad at me about this take and they were not mad at me about this. They were very cold. They're sure. So let me just, like you built a little levy

20:21for their anger to go a different way. You're mad about book club now. Okay. I do think there, like some book clubs, I mean, some people tag me in their book club, you know, if they read storms, right, for book club. And like sometimes people do a whole thing, like they, everybody, they make a spread of food related to the book. Now listen, that's not that's fine. That's simply not my business. I mean, that is definitely not Jen's business. But like the year book club is a book club where like everybody makes a thing that is related to the book, that's, I'm not talking about that, but no. I'm just saying like if we're all rotating and I'm going to like Janet's house for, sure. You know, for for for flowers, yeah, for my reading of yesterday year, like Janet can provide pretzels and I will bring Janet a lovely bottle of rosé, which we love. We don't even drink or not drink. Yeah, we don't even do that. Like basically the rule at our book club is like you put out your little snacks. Yeah, it's a dessert. I would fail. It's like the main thing people are invested in. And then yeah, and then it's, you bring a,

21:21there's like the host also. It's like a bottle of red, a bottle of white, in case what people want. And that's it. The perfect. I love it. Right now, I'm actually a little worried about my, okay, I call it my old lady, Hyde Park Book Club, but like it kind of is. And we've had some people dropping off for like actual series reasons because they're getting older. You've created that. I know. I'm sorry, everybody. I felt like somebody died. I didn't get hurt. But like no, like one husband, one woman's husband's really sick. And so she's had to stop coming. And that's right. I mean, I had to like weave her building because it was like a walk up shit to go to like a dorm and building, but that's all the way uptown. So she doesn't want to come down anymore. And now I'm like, we need to shake up some new members. We're dying here. Like there's not enough people. Last week it was at my house. There were only four of us. I was like, four is too small for a book. Yeah. You, okay, everybody, here's my other thing. All right. So for how many people does it take? Right. The exact right number of people for a book club is 10. And the reason for this is so that people don't show up and you still have enough people to talk about. I talk about the book.

22:22Now, can I ask you, I've never been in a book club before. So yeah. But can I ask you, does everybody, do people read all the duets? Everybody read the book at your book club? Well, so this is the other thing. You have to actually, you have to find the level of reading that is right for you. My book club is a book club full of readers. Now, if you don't read, you can still come. Like I sometimes don't. You know, I can't read the book. And I didn't read it. You know, I, or like you read part of it. But like I would say the way it works is, okay. So it starts at 730 in our book club. There's like maybe like, you know, 15 or 20 minutes of people just like catching up and chit chatting. Then, okay, I always like this part. Then we give one deb calls of the book report. And the book report is actually like the author bio. Like you just sort of like, here's who this author is. I'm here, you know, like it's really cute to prepare your book report. And then there's maybe like 45 minutes of talking about the book. And then it's, do you use the book, do you use the questions at the back of the book ever? No, we're grown as adults.

23:23We everybody had to tell you when the paper back of storms came out. Yeah. They sent me, I don't know who it is that random house that makes the book club questions, but they made the book club questions. And I got them all and I was like, I feel like, I feel like I could jazz these up a little. Not that they weren't good, but I like sent them to Jen and Jen was like, I got it. Jen just rewrote all the questions. I was like, for the back of the store. It's like, what is this? There's no, but listen, if you have the paper back of storms, you should check out those questions because they actually are pretty good. I don't even remember doing that. That's like how low of a, like that was not even a memorable activity for me. I'm like, yeah, it's my job to have people, you know. But anyway, it's, so, but then you talk about the book for 30, 45 minutes, then you have dessert, you picked the next book and everybody's gone and you have relationships with these people outside of the book club. I don't. Interesting. Well, do you've heard the story about how I joined this book club, right? No.

24:23And then we do have to get into, you know. Okay, these dummies have listened to us for nine years, though. Yeah. Okay. I will just say, when I moved to Hyde Park, I, one of my favorite books, I was in 57 Street Books and there was a stack of them, like behind the shelf. It's called River Town by Peter Hussler. It's a book I really like and I was like, what are those for? And he's like, oh, that's like a local book club. Like they order the books and then they all come and get them. And I was like, yeah, I want to be in that. I can't leave them a letter. And this guy was like, are you for real? And I was like, uh-huh. Oh, Jen, I love that. Yeah. And then they emailed me back and they're kind of like, okay, tell us about yourself. But I've been in that book club for 20 years. So guess what? That's amazing. You guys, this should be inspiration to everybody. Go to your local indie. Yeah. The problem is there's a lot of people now. We don't even do that anymore. Right now, it's like everybody just gets it on their own or people ordering online. I mean, it's just kind of like an idol, right? So I did, when I was in Rhode Island, there was, there's a little local, a little local book club in Little Compton, everybody.

25:26And it's, and about 10 women. And they read storms this summer. And they reached out to me because they knew my sister or they sort of figured out that I, you know, whatever. And they asked me if I would go to their book club for the reading of storms. And here's what I will tell you all. It was kind of amazing because these women had no bucks to give. Like I was there and they were like, and they were like, well, I hated that guy. And I hated that character. And Emily pissed me off. And I was like, oh my God. Yeah, sure. I basically like sat quietly while they talked about the book in front of me, which was a very bizarre experience. But like kind of cool. I mean, I sort of enjoy, you know, I mean, yeah, sure. Listen, I'm a child of immigrants, I can take it. So, so what I would say though is they, they always do buy. There's a tiny little independent bookstore in little comps and called the Yellow House.

26:27If you're in Rhode Island, it's so cute. It's in this like 1700s, like, you know, revolutionary war era home, like old house. And it's very creaky and tiny and it's so cute. And they order and copies of every book of their book club pick every month and they all buy them from that little house. Little store, which is so cute. Love it. That's also, and then we really will talk about this and talk about what we're here to talk about. But this is how I discovered the Sunday Letter Project. Did we talk about this, Jen? I sort of referenced it online. I feel like yes, maybe. So there's this organization called the Sunday Letter Project dot com, you can go to it at the Sunday Letter Project dot com. And it's, and it is created by a couple who own a stationary store in the UK. And they had a moment like during the pandemic where they were like people are getting or post pandemic where they were like people

27:27are becoming more and more disconnected like from the world. And like, could we figure out a way where we build a letter writing project? And so they have a master group of stationary stores and independent book stores from around the world, around the globe. And they operate as postal centers, like little, little like post offices for letters that go back and forth between like Pem pals. And so you can write a letter to any store that is participating in this project. And it goes into like a file at the store and then people who go into the store can read your letter and write back to you at your own bookstore. Like so. Oh, that's so cool. Yeah. It's not your personal address. Like your personal address, right? Sure. Like eventually you could share your personal address if you felt connected in that way. But what's also cool about it is like it makes the bookstore and the stationary store another little hub. So you go into like check your mail. So cute. My daughter wrote a letter to a woman in Virginia

28:31when she was in Rhode Island in early summer. And then when we were back last month, she went into the store and there was a letter waiting for her. And I have like stickers and lights. It was really sweet. So I love that. That's called the Sunday Letter Writing Project or the Sunday Letter Project. And we'll put links and show notes. But you can go and like you can see how it works. And if you have an indie bookstore, you can become a letter keeper and it's very cool. And now. On to our show. This week's episode of Fade of Made, sponsored by Isabel Sterling, author of With All My Haunted Heart. Okay, so Pippa is the witch. And she has like a very successful business where she essentially helps people correct their magical maladies. But there is a new DIY magic shop on the other side of town that has basically been like sort of ceiling current business because people are just gonna take a chance on this sort of cheaper but more unpredictable

29:35sort of like vibes that are happening in this store. So Pippa's best friend hires her to inspect her newly acquired Ben and breakfast for ghosts. Now, Pippa doesn't really think about this. Even though she's pretty sure this is gonna like be really at the edge of her magical abilities, but she's desperate. So things get even stranger when she meets the attractive co-owner, L Thompson and L does not want Pippa to get rid of these ghosts because she thinks it's gonna be great for business to actually have a haunted Ben and breakfast. I mean, kind of. I think there's probably something to this. Very weirdo's back. The widow's back, five exactly. So this is like really a great chance of, you know, Pippa and L have to work together to sort of figure out the limits of this and figure out what's safe. But also, you know, Pippa is really finding herself drawn to L, but L has a painful mysterious secret that is making her hold herself back from what could be a witchy, perfect time together. Well, if you love a cozy fall romance with sapphic witchy vibes,

30:38then you are going to love with all my haunted heart. You can buy it right now in print, e-book or audiobook. And if you're podcasting up supports it, you can click on the chapter title to be taken to buy the book. Thanks so much to Isabel Sterling for sponsoring this week's episode. Sometimes we each have like these ideas for episodes. And like we audition these ideas into a text. So at some point I texted Sarah and I was like, okay, I have a, and this especially feels very wavy when it's like the first episode of the season, right? Right, because we used to have a theme. Yeah, exactly. We used to have a theme. So it was kind of like introducing the theme or whatever. And so I feel like there have been years where it's like more clear than others. Like, right, remember when we did the seven deadly sins but there'd be another season seven? Adorable. Adorable. I'm not sure what we did last year. I think we're just like the state of romance. We already have an amazing idea for season 10 that's locked in, right? But for this one, I was like, okay, Sarah, I think what we should do is like have it be like cloud nine.

31:42And she's like, what are we going to talk about? And I was like, pilots, the sky. That's like romance in the sky. Characters named Skylar. Like, oh, I just do that. That's a good one. Right? Like I was basically like, if you think that it is going to fit into that topic, then we are going to do it. And there was like, okay, I see the merit in this suggestion. And so here we are. And so I see the merit. I see the merit in this suggestion. Especially because Sarah, I am now going to tell you something really funny. So sometimes when you're doing these topics, I go back through the discord and I'll sort of like plug in like the word pilot. And like, you know, kind of be like, have we talked about this before? Like a people talked about it. And apparently someone wrote this down. Apparently, at some point earlier, you said the following, all pilots are pirates. And so this person's like, I disagree with myself. And I was like, could you please support or defend that statement, Sarah?

32:43That's a, I think that's probably true. I think all pilots, I think, listen, I think in romance, especially, well, first of all, I think like, there's so much like gossip or lore around like real life pilots. Like whenever you interact with a thread that's about like a sexy pilot, there it's filled with flight attendants who are like, listen, do not. You stay away from that man. So funny. And I do think like there's like a lot of lore that like pilots have like, you know, someone in every port. Of course, of course. And also they're like genuine, like there's something like, you know, it's the uniform medieval. There's sort of a genuine hotness, the idea of like a pilot. Yeah. Of course, you know, I'm watching season four of Ted Lasso right now. And Rebecca's hot like Dutch pilot is, or not, I don't think he's Dutch. He's from Copenhagen. So he's Danish. Danish.

33:44He's hot Danish pilot. Like he's very sexy. This man, like I get it. I'm into it. And I also think like, yeah, there is sort of like a sense of like, at any moment, he could like be off to his next adventure. Right. Or like seeing everybody or like, it's like a real daredevils. Like they're in a tube flying through the air. It doesn't seem right. Yes. So I was like, I do I was really like laughing. I was like, I'm nervous. Yes. I confirm you're like, I'm so smart. I stand by it. This is also like the funniest thing. Sometimes people like, oh yeah, do you remember when I said that on the podcast? I'm like, no, I don't really fucking know. I never said that. And then I'm like, yeah, I guess I didn't say that. So that really made me laugh. And so like, okay, so and also, yeah, go ahead. You're going to say something. No, I was just going to say, I want, no, you keep going because I want to talk about like pilots and how they maybe installed buttons for us. Well, I think for sure, like I was thinking a lot about like the top gun of it all.

34:47That's where I go too. Like, first of all, like, Val, you guys, when I, my first password ever on the internet in 1994, whatever was Val Kilmer. So like, sure. That man was installed deep, like core deep. No, of course. I mean, I feel like I can like play many scenes from that movie just like right in my brain without even trying to talk about it. Right? I'm not in my mind now. Him like a zoom around in his little motorcycle. Yeah. Nobody likes Maverick. You're, you're hot shot. You're, you're dangerous. You're going to get somebody killed and then he does it back at some way. They're all right. He grew or are I be Anthony Edwards. I think I'm going to definitely get off of this and like be watching us. So I, yeah, I mean, I think that was like a big part of it, right? Is that for me, that's like definitely like a very early like this is a sexy job.

35:48Plus like, yeah, there's the, I mean, yeah, there it there just isn't. I'm actually I'm not sure. I don't know. I know one pilot. He is not super sexy. So like, that's mean, but he can fly a plane and that's pretty great. That's pretty cool. Yeah. So I also think there's that there's like the mystique of being able to fly. Now, here's a question that I have for you, Jen, because this morning, so I had my list. I like locked my list. Yeah. Me too. As I was like walking to my desk to start this recording, I thought to myself, now what book am I thinking of? And we've read it recently or we've probably not recently, but we talked about it on the podcast before. We're like, he is a motor. They're on like a motorcycle and they drive out east on Long Island and she was raised by like a pilot, like a aerial like tricks pilot, maybe. And then he sleeps on the like on a pullout couch in their guest room and she is in her

36:50bedroom, is in a bedroom and then she comes down and they like fuck on the guest bedroom and the old guy like the the next morning is like, am I, I don't know. And then they like get in, get on the motorcycle and they zoom back to Manhattan the next morning. Top good. It does sound like that, right? It does. Yeah. Listen, somebody out there is screaming the title. So just make sure just put it in the discord or like put it on. So somebody will pass this information. Replied a list. But I literally and they go and I can't remember if he goes up in the air with her, but like, it's like a reveal that like she's showing him like a part of herself that she doesn't show people that like she can do these like loop deloops. Yeah. I have. That's not ringing about at all. None. Anyway, you guys, it's a great romance novel. I can't remember what it is. Welcome to Faded Mates, right? Welcome to Faded Mates. Pairman Abositition. You know, the other reason I was sort of excited, okay, I'm going to like step off the pilot

37:52train for a minute and talk about like, so the in our, like this was always sort of called like cloud nine. And in the original like sort of vision of this, it was going to be that we were only going to talk about like nine things, right? Like essentially, I was like, we'll do four books each and then I'm going to talk about Natasha Cloud, who is a player on the Chicago sky. And I was like, it all felt right. Her number nine. Perfect. Telling them, I was like, I don't understand, but you're going to explain it. You're like, I don't know anything about this person. And I was like, okay, so she's, you know, it's funny. She's, she played for the Liberty last year. She played for the Mystics for a really long time. Then it sort of been at like different teams. And I was really excited to have her on the sky, because she's just like one of my favorite players. Like a real stand up person. She's like one of the few WNBA players who will like always speak out for like whatever she feels is right, right? Like so she's gone on record talking about like people in Palestine, like, right? And so she has been someone who has just had a real like, I don't know. I just think when you think about the idea that like sport people and sports are heroes,

38:56right? And then you get people are kind of like, no, I'm just like playing a game. Like she to me really is someone I think is like heroic in that way, because she really like stands up for what's right. And then she would she doesn't like sort of live up to her own kind of promise. Like she got really pissed at a ref in one game and sort of made fun of him for being bald. And then her mother apparently was like gave her the business and she got on social media and apologized and was like, I shouldn't have done that, right? So I just think like she's really an interesting person. And then she's really fun to watch play, which is like why you know, like her game to me is really appealing. You know, she could tell she's one of those people on the court who just like really like supports her teammates and gets everybody going and you know, that's like a really great person have on your team. So I've been really happy with her this year. But then here's what happened is there's been a lot of really negative attention on the WNBA coming from men and coming from transphobes, right? And there's a woman named Sophie Cunningham on the fever who is really like whipped a lot

39:57of this into being sort of saying that like she only wants to play women. And it's been honestly like and she means like, you know, assigned female birth women. And it's honestly been really disgusting. First of all, because there are actually not trans players in the WNBA. This is just like a totally made up problem. But then you get really cool players like there's a woman named Gabby Williams who plays for the Valkyrie who's like, I would welcome a trans player on my team or as an opponent, right? It's like so easy to say like we just want to support people. It's just been like really hateful. There's been a lot of hateful things happening, including then a couple of men who used to play for the NBA, mostly like in a very unsuccessful way. Right about this. Yeah. Yeah, saying like, oh, I'm going to like declare for the WNBA draft. And it's like, yeah, no better way to show you support women than being like a total dirt bag about this, right? This is not a trans person. This is bad in the MNBA. You're probably going to be bad in the WNBA.

40:58Yeah. These women are going to thump you. And so at a recent game, this one of these men and one of the things I love about Natasha Cloud is she refuses to refer to him by name. She just calls him an unimportant person. So that an irrelevant person came to the game. He's like seven feet tall dressed in a t-shirt that said something very like right was clearly transphobic and was really like taunting her from the sidelines. And at one point, like then got up and was like sort of standing with his arms out. This is a big guy and he took this couple steps towards the court. And she was like just like completely yelling him. She had to like be dragged away by her teammates. And he ended up getting ejected from the game. I'm also very proud of my team for then basically giving him a ban on being at any other games WNBA as an organization has done nothing to protect his players. And now he's like suing the team and the stadium saying that like his freedom of speech has been abridged and they're like, no, you broke the rules by intimidating player and taking

42:00and getting on the court. But I just want to say like for me, Natasha Cloud is like a person who really makes me feel like, I don't know, proud of the ways that people can like stand up for what's right and say, you know, this is not, these are not the problems that are harming women. So then she like did this thing where every day she was like, here are things to harming women. She talked about like violence against women and how those acts that like protect women have never been passed again by Congress about food insecurity about whatever. And so like this is just like a person who Natasha Cloud Cloud 9 really supports and like stands up for what she believes in and talks about like what it means to really support women. And like trans people are not a threat to any of us. Right. This man is. Yeah. Right. So anyway, I just was like, it'll be a great opportunity for me to be like, let me talk about how much I love Natasha Cloud. I love it. Yeah. Listen, everybody, nobody loves WMBA. The way Jen loves it. WMBA.

43:00I mean, a lot of people do. I know. But I mean, yeah, it's like a really, I think she's an inspiring person. I really do. Well, I'm happy to learn about her. Thank you. Natasha Cloud. Natasha Cloud. A baddie. A baddie. This week's episode of Faded Mates is brought to you by Orbit Books and Louisa Carmody, author of The Shadows that Listen. So this is a debut dystopian romanticist for fans of Crescent City and Shadow Hunters. It's been five years since the world was brought to its knees by an immortal war when demons crawled from the depths of hell and the sky-bled gold as the angels arrived. Humanity has born witness to a war between the angels and demons and nobody has come to protect the humans. Amara is a human warrior working for the Angel Intelligence Agency and she spends her

44:03days searching for humans who don't make it home after curfew. One night when her boyfriend goes missing, she decides to venture into the shadows to bring him back even if it means death. Now, Nathaniel is in the shadows. He is an archangel tasked with leading the destruction of humanity for which he cares not even a little. He doesn't have time to protect humans running around in the dark, especially the ones who stab him in the stomach. Way to go, Amara. But Nathaniel and Amara will soon realize that they share a common enemy, one who lurks in the shadows and stalks them from the skies. And while she might long to kill him, she knows that having an angel at her side is the only way she will survive. All right. So if you would like to check out this slow burn, dystopian romanticy, it is unputdownable with great chemistry and banter. I've been told it might make you one throw your copy across the room because of emotional devastation. Oh boy. A vibe I actually love in a book. So this has been previously self published, but in this new, traditionally published book

45:09by Orbit, it has all new scenes and a bonus chapter from Nathaniel's point of view. It's available in print, ebook, and audio. And if you're podcasting, I support it. You can click on the chapter title right now to be taken to buy the book. Thanks to Orbit Books and the Weasel Carmide for sponsoring this week's episode. So now that we have talked about our cloud nine, yes. And then I think that also I wanted to say, I have brought, I thought broadly about the sky. Yes. So they are not all pilots. They are not all there. You know, it's a, it's a range of things. Yes. So where would you like to begin? Hmm. Okay. I would like to say the same thing. Some pilots, some more like airplanes, one crash. I don't know. I feel like I want to maybe bury that in the middle because that one's kind of intense. Okay. I don't know. You start. Okay. Well, I want to start.

46:09I want to stick with top gun. Okay. The top gun theme. Because the immediate first thing I thought about was the Katie Porter top series. Now listen, I love this series. You guys back in the day, there were a lot of these series where they're all pilots. There was a lot, there was some discussion on the internet. Some, you know, sometimes I pissed off the internet a lot of times the internet pisses off me. So what a shock. Okay. There was some discussion this week on the internet about how like books, like romance novels, in like the late, odd early, tense, not sexy. So please, you're all wrong. I was there. Do not quote the deep magic to me. Go pick up any random contemporary romance from 2014 and you're going to be like, whoa, fucking books. Okay.

47:10This is called the Vegas top gun series by Katie Porter, who is actually a writing team, Carrie Lofty and Laura Ly Brown. And I want to say Laura Ly passed away a couple of years ago, I think, after a long bout with cancer. And I am, she is very missed because they, they as Katie Porter were a tremendous pair. Carrie still writes as Carrie. But this series, the Vegas top gun series is the concede is here are a bunch of us Air Force pilots. Maybe, obviously, who like are in the Air Force near Vegas and it's five books and each of them explores a particular kink. Yeah, such a great series. It's such a cool idea.

48:11And so like in the first one, which is double down, he's like, he discovered and what's kind of great about is some of them, they already know their kink and then some of them like they discover their kink. And it's really like a very fun, wildly sexy series. Like, yes, I mean, send your fingers sexy series. The first one, which is called double down, is one of my favorites. It is hero. Discover's that he has like a costume kink. Yeah, it's really sexy. She like, if a woman dresses up like in like a maid's outfit, like a schoolgirl outfit, he like can't control himself. And it is tremendously fun reading because and so she needs so like, his name is Ryan, his code name is fang. Listen, code names are also really fun. That's a little piratey too, like the kind of see.

49:14Exactly. You're going to get to it. I see it. His call sign is fang. And he like, he's like, I don't know, like they're out drinking like he and his buddies are all like out like drinking on in Vegas. And he meets this like waitress who is wearing like seam stockings and he just like sees her walk away. And he's like consumed by the scenes of her stockings. And then he like, for some reason, I don't know for romance reasons, like she gets fired or like something. And then they spend the night like they go to a costume shop, she buys a bunch of costumes and then like they get back to his hotel, they go to a hotel or something. And then she puts on like a French maid's costume and he shows up wearing his like formal lighter pile. Yeah, right. Like he's like dress blues or whatever. And she, you guys, I'm not in the military. So I apologize if I'm using all the wrong words, but like he shows up wearing his like dress uniform. And she's like, oh, he's like really into this because he's dressing up as like a Air

50:18Force pilot. And then it turns out he isn't in there. And it's so incredibly sexy and like fun. This book. Yeah, super fun. And then there are like, but there are different ones like they get more and more kind of complicated, right? Like there's one where, called Hardway and they were married. And then her husband, you know, the wife, she like asked for divorce and it's not really clear to him like how this happened. But then it's like very much like it becomes clear that like she, there's like, she's into bondage and like they're into like pain play and like, well, there's like some like kind of primal play type stuff, like some not like, you know, like, consensual non-condition. Yeah. And so like that becomes like a very, very like, and it's clear that like that is what

51:21they need for their relationship to, you know, be, be open and intense and like revealing enough for them to like get past their insecurities as people. And then there's like, there's one where he's like a boxer and she's, you know, a ring, like a ring girl. And I mean, it is, they are so each one of them is really fun. And then of course, there's like, there's a woman, there are five, five in the crew and one of them is a woman. And her, her call sign is princess. And she has, oh, they're actually six in the crew. And she has always had a thing for like, there's, there's been sort of dancing around with another member of their crew. And that one is alpha submissive. So she is the dumb and he is the submissive. And it's, if you are into that, that's which I am. He is very, that's great. That one's called hold them. Anyway, so the whole series is really fun.

52:24They are compulsively readable. Like you will sit down and then you will read like one and then another and another and another. And it is really fun because there are five books. And when was the last time you found five books from a new author that you just read? Back to, back to, back to, back in like one weekend. This is going to be a great time for you. That's the Katie Porter of Vegas, tell concern. Yeah, I'm going to just draw since, okay, since you are mentioning a fighter pilots, I'm going to just mention a book that I'm actually not going to talk a lot about. But if you instead are like what I want is like hardcore yearning, there's a book by Chanel. Clayton wrote a series called Remember the Wild Aces. Yes. And the third books. Yeah, they're, again, all they're all fighter pilots, I think. And the third book is called Unbroken Wings and his name is Easy and her name is Danny. And her husband died in a crash. And he was like his, you know, playing buddy or whatever.

53:25I don't know, like they were, I don't know what their official affiliation was. But this was like his best friend. And he was in love with her when they were married. And now it's a couple years later and he is still in love with her. And listen, I don't think there is a, if, when people say, I don't know, I don't know, people say like I want a book with yearning. This is always the first book I think of. So if you would like more fighter pilots, then you should read these wild bases romances. Yes. Really good. Okay. Confirmed. Yeah, they're great. Okay. I am going to talk about an LC silver book called Wild Card. Yeah. So everybody, it's not like I, I almost was kind of like, this is dumb. Everybody's already read LC silver. So I'm not even like probably spend as much time on it. And this is although I am also a chaos reader, everybody, although this is the fourth book in the Rose Hill series, I read this book called it was not, and it wasn't really a problem.

54:30Like there's some mention of previous things. This is also, I would say, a very, like, there's not a lot of external conflict here. This is very much like a book that is all about like sort of internal conflict and feelings. So we have two main characters, Bash, who is a wild, lind fire pilot, right? He flies over fires and he drops like fire retardant on fires or water or like, right? So he's always doing really dangerous stuff. And when, is that right? Hold on. Wait, sometimes I'm mixing up their names because I had 20 at when. Okay. And what happens is they meet in an airport. And this is like a year before, like kind of the primary part of the book. And he's a little older. He's like 30 dimes. He's 27. And what happens is, is essentially like all the flights out of the airport are canceled. But it's 11 p.m. And his flight is at 6 a.m. And he's like, I'm just kind of like kill time in the airport.

55:32And a lot of people are it's like kind of they're all of the hotels are full kind of situation. So he is sitting in a like a restaurant, like a hotel, like the airport restaurant. And he is like one seat is free at the table. And this woman, Gwen, shows up and she's just like totally beautiful and amazing. And, you know, and he's like, and basically he's kind of like, I didn't invite you to sit here. And she's like, look buddy, we're all in here. And that's an empty seat. It's like I'm going to sit there. And they end up sort of like striking up this really interesting conversation where she convinces him to essentially like, he's like, I'm going to go find a place to sleep. They like share a drink and kind of make conversation. And she's like, what are you talking about? Like, this is a core memory. Like how often are you going to be stuck in an airport overnight rather than being miserable about it? Like let's have a great time. And they like kind of like walk all through the airport and like, you know, like read all of the little, you know, you know, kind of museum, like kind of pieces and all this stuff. And then they exchange numbers.

56:32Like, that nothing happens. It's not like everyone I stand, they don't kiss, but like there's a sentence chemistry between them and the exchange numbers. And he never, she never returns his call or his texts. And then eight months later, he like runs into her again at his son who was 24 and he like only recently found out that he was 15 when he like got this girl pregnant and never knew that she was pregnant. Like they kept it all a secret from him. So he's got this 24 year old son and it turns out that like Gwen is kind of casually dating this, this son, right? And he's just like, you didn't answer my phone calls and she's like, you didn't ever text me. I was trying to, I was waiting and it turns out he had like transposed a number or whatever. But of course now it feels like it's too late, right? Like all he is, all he is, and you know, I think one of the things I liked about this book is it really leans into the grumpy of grumpy sunshine.

57:33Like it's truly like sometimes it books says that and it just feels like a little fake. But like this dude is in fact really grumpy, right? Like he really wanted a family and his, you know, wife didn't. So they got divorced and then like he finds out later that she has had kids and that breaks his heart and he was too afraid to like love again. And you know, now he's almost 40 and he finds out he has a child and he got cut out of all of those like sort of things that you would want to do as a father and you know, so it just I found that part of it really interesting. So of course she ends up like living in his town and sort of being kind of becoming part of like the small friend group that he's a part of. And what I really liked about the pilot part of it is because his job is so intense, like during the whole non-fire season, which I would imagine is like the winter, he like just stays in town. He doesn't fight fires all year long and that's kind of when he decompresses.

58:34So we don't actually get that much of him as a fight like as a pilot until like halfway through the book. And so basically the whole first half is them like torture, like him being tortured about how much he wants her, but like feeling like if I go after my son's ex-girlfriend, what will this mean? All I want is my son, right? I want to sort of build that relationship. So anyway, the pilot thing comes online when he takes her up in his plane, gives her flying, like takes her flying on her birthday. And then like they finally cannot like resist each other anymore. And like they have sex in the cockpit of this plane. And I will take you. Is there room in the cockpit for sex? I do not think so. Now they are back on the ground. I mean, this is romance cockpit. It's correct. And it really is. I was literally like like he like kind of pulls her over on his lap and she's facing him. And I was like, there's literally no room for this.

59:35If you've ever been in a small plane, those cockpicks are teeny tiny. They do anyway, whatever they have sex in the cockpit. And I was like, for that alone, I really did feel like I had talked about it on this episode. No. So anyway, it's all about feelings. Like I said, very grumpy sunshine. If you want that vibe and yet like Sebastian, he bash is such a good person. You know, he's really taking care of the people in his life, but like really struggling with how to take care of himself and like let himself kind of love again, which is a very classic romance hero thing and have sex in the cockpit. So wildcard by Elsie Silver. Fun. This week's episode of Faded Maces brought to you by Bluebox Press, publisher of Lucky 22 by Ashley X. Dean and Samantha Chase. This is such a cool book, Jen, because it shows that sometimes romance really can be inspired

1:00:35from real life. Ashley X. X. And Samantha Chase have written a book that is loosely based on Ashley's own love story. Ella or heroin believes in magic. She is chasing her acting dreams. She believes that like the world sometimes she just delivers you a moment that changes your life. And this life changing moment for her is a chance encounter and a not so blind blind date with a baseball player, Christian Lucas, who does not believe in magic. He believes in discipline, dedication and the game he loves. He does not have time for spontaneity and he is not ready for love. These two, this unexpected blind date becomes something deeper, a friendship and then a trust. And then they have to figure out if they can make space between his baseball career and her acting career for a romance that is kind of undeniable. This is really a lovely, a lovely story. And what's very cool about it is that you can both read the novel, Lucky 22, and then head over to read the book Just Enough, which is by David X-Dine, Ashley's major league

1:01:41baseball playing husband who St. Louis Cardinals fans will recognize as the MVP of the 2006 World Series, which seems like a big deal. Yeah, his autobiography will tell you the kind of real life story of his coming to love Ashley to experience the game to be such a success in the game. And so you can read both real life heroes and heroines amazing from Blue Box Press. If you'd like to check that out, Lucky 22 is available in print, ebook and audio, and Just Enough is available in print and ebook. You can get them wherever books are sold and if you're podcasting up supports it, you can click on the chapter title right now to be taken to buy the books. Thanks to Blue Box Press for sponsoring this week's episode. Okay, so I think we'll stick with uniforms. Sure, why not? Why not? But I, as you know, when I took a broad definition of sky, and I figured we can't do

1:02:50this without a astronaut. So obviously. What was I thinking? So I've got one that has two astronauts and even better gen we're going in the wayback machine back, back, back to a simpler time when Harlequin blaze dominated the market. Those were good times. They've really honestly were. I read this book in an hour and ten minutes and I had the best time. Let's talk about Catherine, Garbera's space cowboys series. There are three of, there are three of them. They are all about astronauts and this one has not one but two astronauts. Izzy, who is a woman trying to get herself to space, an Antonio who's been on the International Space Station because he's Spanish and gets around even into the sky.

1:03:52So these two are on, it's not a, it's not a government space mission. Like there's like a man space mission that they're like competing to be a part of. There are maybe 30 astronauts who are all like, you know, in competition and it's like a little, I don't know, Hunger Games, but like sexy Hunger Games. And we meet them. It's not really important how the system, how it all works. It's just, you know, romance space mission and we meet them and they are in the gym. And in the gym, it's like in the gym at this like, you know, on this like compound where they're all like working to, they're going to whittle the 30 of them down to six. And Izzy is very focused. She is like, I'm going to get myself to space. And she is focused on one thing and one thing only Jen and that is getting to space, except on page two, Antonio comes in and she's like, I'm going to focus a little.

1:04:55I'd also like to get on that. So Izzy starts like, she's working out and they're like having like work out banter. I don't know when I go to the gym, I don't want to talk to anybody, but these two, they are like perfect specimens of humanity and they are talking to each other and bantering with each other. And it becomes clear that like both of them want to, yeah, yeah, sure. Whatever. I mean, these are good looking people who want to go to space and also to each other. They want to go to space with other people and now like a small rock. And here's the thing, you lay in person. They're like bantering and bantering and bantering and then wouldn't you know, then suddenly they're kissing. In the gym on like a Tuesday, those were the days of romance. Because God, we didn't need any of this nonsense. Chapter one, let's get down to the swimming pool. You piss me and ring the doorbell. Someone came into the gym. Yeah. And then it's over. What the fuck? It's fine. So okay, so they kiss and then Antonio, he's not a dummy.

1:05:59He's like, hey, maybe we shouldn't be kissing in the like main room of the gym. And then he lifts this lady up. And carries her to a private room in the gym. Sure. Because he's a gentleman. Yeah. And then he puts her into the wall and they bang. And it's, I have no notes on this. Oh, it's a trap, Jen. Then there's a fire. In the gym, Chapter three, there's a fire. Chapter one, we banter and kiss. Chapter two, they bang in a private room. Chapter three, oh no, there's smoke. And I am just like, this is great. This is great. I don't have any notes. This sounds totally plausible. So then there's a fire and then they separate because there are like 30 people working out in this building and like they got to make sure that everybody gets saved. And so they separate and he goes and he saves a bunch of people and she goes and she saves a bunch of ladies, well, women who are working to like also be astronauts.

1:07:03And they all get outside and they're like, but and everybody's like, oh my god. She was smokey fire time and is he an Antonio are like, this seems species. I'm pretty sure this was a test. Oh, okay. Sure. But the two of them solve, like they pass the test because they. Situation awareness. They were tested. The group, right? The mission, the community. And then they're separated. Then they're put on like this. I don't know. The mission control people decide that they're going to separate everybody into teams. And there's like a situation where they have to like separate into teams and work together. But they all have to go live like kind of on this compound. Like there's a ranch slack going on in this book. And they are not on the same team, but they see each other continually like in the gym. And sometimes they see each other like at dinner. And sometimes they see each other like out having drinks and singing and dancing time. Sure. And like top gun. Exactly like top gun.

1:08:05It's top gun. It's top. But make it astronauts. Astronaut. And so top rocket. Because here's the thing. They have to. So like then they're like, we can't like that. Has to have been like the one time thing because they're definitely space is definitely going to not going to or like this. These like space people are definitely not going to let. Two people who are fucking go into space like that. Easy responsible space work. Yeah. So they have to like hide their relationship. And then they're basically like, well, let's just not. Let's just try really hard to not. Jen. It's hard. Like when blaze do you think they're able, I mean, no, they I'm sure they're begging him by chapter five at least. I think I said, I'm like, I'm from there. I'm like, I need to hard. Let's just bang some more. Anyway, I had a great time reading about his and Antonio. He's Spanish. So I don't know if the Spaniards have, if like Spain has a state, international space station, Sarah.

1:09:08I mean, yeah, but yeah, I mean, you don't hear a lot about the Spanish space program, but maybe. And I had a great time beyond the limits. You can read this one. This is the third one I think. There are two others. You can see other space cowboys doing their, you know, it's interesting now that I just said the word space cowboys this time. And then I had talked about the ranch being weird. Now it's all kind of connecting. Space plus cowboy. Also he's wearing cowboy hat on the cover, which I did think was odd. Well, he's not out in space yet. I mean, don't wear the little helmet until you actually need to, you know, he probably makes his own atmosphere. Yeah. I mean, how hard is it all cowboys are actually astronauts? It's possible. We cracked the code once again, doing hard work for you at Faded Mids. Okay. So tell us how everybody you can get. I will say, I'm sorry, before we go anywhere, I will say there are about 40 astronaut books

1:10:09from Harlequin Blaze and Harlequin Desire. Many of them are out of print. Sure. You just got to find out. Well, they're all out of actual print, but there are very few of them. They're still available. I can't believe this is one of the few that's available in E. Got it. But you, if you went looking, if you are like, you're looking at astronauts, there are a lot of them. Sure. Of course, Sarah. Okay. Now, Sarah, I am going to now talk about the book that I feel has like the highest barrier entry in the sense that like it really is intense at the beginning. And so, but I feel like it is clearly forecast like, but I'm just going to go ahead and say that I was like, whoa, this book goes really hard. Whoa. Whoa. Okay. So the book is called The Last Man on Earth by Shay Sanders. And the little like underneath, it says a survival romance. All right. And I was like, okay. So the book is, so what it is is, okay, Ariana is 37.

1:11:11And she is a, like an infl, like a flight attendant on like a private airplane, you know, like she flies private flights. And she though is like sort of like ready to, you know, kind of hang it up and, you know, maybe do something else. And so this is like her last scheduled flight. And listen, she flies with lots of celebrities and things like that because of just like the nature of the business. So in this particular case, she famous rapper, his rap name is a villain, which, you know, I mean, I just feel like it's just right there. And he's, oh, he's also a young girl man. He's like, he's like 27 or 28, I think. And she's 37. So she's like 10 years older than him gets on the plane with his like guys, his nephew, who is like young like in his very early 20s, like his sister's only child. And then like I think there's, he and it's like five other guys total and they are going

1:12:11to Brazil for his bachelor party because his baby mama has essentially like been really pressing him to get married. And he's kind of finally like, alright, I guess we're going to do this thing. I think his little boys like to now they are not on the plane. The other person on the plane in his like on tarage is his personal photographer, a woman who he thinks of. I can't remember her name right now. I was very traumatized by this book, frankly, in a good way. Who is like kind of almost like a motherly figure to him, right? So her job is just like constantly you're taking photographs so that he can like live his life without having to like sort of, you know, be responsible for like, you know, the social media and all that stuff. You know, that's like part of the job, right? So yes, I have content. All right, Ariana, it's, she's the only flight attendant and then there's the two pilots. And so they are flying down to Brazil and the thing is is like these immediately like the party starts as soon as the plane takes off, right? Like they are smoking, you know, pot, they are like drinking and like they're actually

1:13:14being like kind of rude to her. And she sort of decides that villain is like even though he's incredibly wealthy and incredibly successful in his industry, she's also like, you're a spoiled brat. Like the way you're talking to me and she kind of puts him in his place and tells me I still like buckle his seat belt or whatever and he's being a jerk to her. And so like the whole thing is kind of really messy. And then Sarah the plane crashes now. The thing is is you're like, wow, okay, this is me. I'm like, oh, but all there's all these people. And this is a part of this hard like basically everyone dies with the two of them. Oh, no. And I was like, wow, this is a really intense way for a romance to start. But I think it was also just like really important to, I mean, frankly to his character, right? Like everything that has supported him gets really stripped away. And so she is kind of like, we got to get everything off the plane. This is the older woman who is a photographer does sort of live like kind of the first 24 hours. But they are pulling like all the water bottles.

1:14:15So any food, any clothing, any blankets right off the plane because she's like, we don't know how long we're going to be here. Well, Sarah, when I tell you that they were on this like the question island, of course, we're like 10 months. Oh my God. So you're reading along and like the furt, like the chapters are like day one, day two. And I was like, I got a look at this table of contents everybody. And then it's like a few months later. And then it's like months later. And of course, Ariana and then it becomes like Ari and Vincent, right? And it's like really cool the way like he stops being villain in his chapters and Vincent. Like he becomes himself, right? They like survive on this island. Like they figure out how to eat and you know fish and do all that stuff. And then they fall in love and they basically are like, well, we're going to have to pass a lot of the time by fucking because what else could we possibly do? And then the other thing that I thought was really, and I was really like one over by this book in the way that it was like him like sort of like letting go of the persona of villain

1:15:17and being able to sort of like name that, right? Like this is who I was in my job. But that's not who I have to be as a person. And here's this woman who like really believes that I can be, I can be there for her, right? Yeah. Anyway, it was very like the survival romance of it all was like a very hardcore. Like kind of like White House by Audra and Anders or the second book in that series is called Uncharted. And that actually is a female pilot who crash lands into Alaska. But it really like does not like kind of skimp on that. And then other thing I thought was great about this book is, I mean, obviously they're going to have to get rescued. She is. Okay, this spoiler alert in case you're right. I'm spilling this book. She gets pregnant and you're like, okay, they're clearly going to have to get rescued. There's no way that they're going to like, you know, be raising a baby on the deserted island. Like it's just too scary. And so I really also thought the journey that they go on when they get rescued was really good too. Because now you're going back into the world and back into those expectations and back into,

1:16:25in this case, because he's a ma- like a major celebrity right back into the like TMZ of it all. And of course, this is like super salacious. He was supposed to be going on his bachelor party. He was supposed to be getting married, right? Like, so I did- anyway, I thought this book was really interesting. Yeah. I thought it was really like, I don't know, I thought it was bold. You know what I mean? Like I really thought it was doing something really interesting and really kind of examining not just like, could you survive? Could you let go of who you are? Like what would that look like? But then like, how do you then stay together once you're back in the world? Yeah, right? So anyway, I thought it was great. It's like I said though, not for the faint of heart at all. Like the beginning is so intense. And that is the last man on earth by Shay Sanders. Well, that sounds great. As you know, I love a playing crash book. I mean, and I was like, oh, it's this is a crash crash.

1:17:25It's like a real playing crash because I feel like now is the time for me to just like flag that one of my favorites, a playing crash books, is puck me secretly by Odette Stone, which we've talked about on the podcast and will no doubt talk about it yet on the podcast. I'm not going to sort of dig deep into it. But that's a very different kind of playing crash. That like begins with a playing crash and then- and it's very like emotional. And then they crash and they're both fine and so is everybody else. Right, right. Then they go on like the grieving and the sense of, I mean, it really, I was like, whoa, I'm scaredy and interesting. Yeah, it was. Yeah. I also for this episode looked at crash landing, which came out last year. We, I think we maybe even read it ran an ad for it. Or like, yeah, maybe we mentioned it on like a preview episode. Yeah, but Annie McQuade. And that's also a book where, you know, the playing crashes, but that's a very different thing. So that premise is the heroin and the here and the heroin have had this, it's a second chance,

1:18:33romance. So they like, she is like certain that she is like, they do not speak. They do, they do not interact in any way. She has to get to the Bahamas for her best friend's wedding. And he is, he is a pilot and he is flying his own plane to the Bahamas. And he offers her like, a ride basically. And then they get into bad weather and she, the beginning of this book is very sort of emotional in that she sort of like, it starts to get out of control and she goes up to, goes to the him, like, to the cockpit. And he's like, you need to go back and like lock in and like, and sit down and they crash. And like, the plane basically, like, the middle of the plane, like, wrecks itself. And she, because she was in the, the cockpit with him, survives. Like, and then they crash.

1:19:34And then it's, you know, they are, and then it's sort, but it's much more of like a rom, comedy sort of like, no, this is it like, I was like, wow, I really, and you know what? Like, I think that's kind of what I admired about it. Like, here is, yeah, took the finger. Yeah. And like I said, I feel like the, it by saying a survival romance, like to me, it really was signaling like, this is no joke here. Like we're really, and once he is on the plane with all of his buddies, you realize, like I think at that moment as a romance reader, I was like, okay, I understand that this is going to be the two of them. And that means that none of these people are going to survive. But it was still really devastating. And yet, I really loved reading it, right? Kind of just for how, I don't know, like really, like I said, leaning into its own premise in a way that was like, really serious. Yeah. I'm 100%. This week's episode of Fade in Mainz is sponsored by HarperCollins.

1:20:34Publishers of AT Koreshi's Writer of Dragons. All right. So everybody, this is the first in a thrilling new romanticy duology. And it's for the dragon girlies. So Jenna Veeves family has forbidden her from joining the deadly dragon races, but she's not going to let them stop her. But without her family's money, nobody is going to train her. So desperate for help. She agrees to probably a pretty terrible deal. Kias, a very handsome, very spectacular, of course. And also, right, an alleged member of a dragon poaching gang is going to train her to win the races if she agrees to give him her prize money. And she's like, kind of down with this because she's not really in it for the money. Like she just wants to do this. So the dragon races, however, aren't just about being the fastest. There's often sabotage or attacks or even outright violence. So the devastatingly handsome Kias is going to teach her how to sort of win in this cunning and cruel world.

1:21:35But Jenna Veeves will have to answer a ruinous question to win. Is she willing to lose everything? Well, if you love a romance, see a love triangle, a forbidden romance, fake dating, and a fair amount of spice, then writer of dragons just might be for you. You can read it right now in print, evoke, or audiobook. And if you're podcasting up supports it, you can click on the chapter title to be taken to learn more. Thanks so much to AT Koreshi and to HarperCollins Publishers for sponsoring this week's episode. All right, let's talk about pregnant in the Italians Pilotso by Amanda Sinelli because we're going to do a romance in the sky. You got to do a mile high club. Yes. Okay, this one is great because so she's like a plus size, like fashion designer, kind of modally character, very beautiful.

1:22:35And he is, I don't know what Italian billionaire with a Pilotso. Sure. And they like he, they for reasons they end up on his, his private jet. And I mean, what else is there to do on a private jet with a sexy, like billionaire Italian and a big bed that's like made with silk sheets or whatever on a plane? I mean, I'm, this is too rich for my blood, Jenna. I've never been on a, on a private jet period, let alone one with a beautiful bed. But anyway, they, he's like super intern and she's super into him. And so they're like, okay, let's, let's do this. Let's do it. Yeah. So they do this in the air. They end up like they land and turns out. And then she's like, okay, I guess we're done here.

1:23:36And she takes off. She's sort of like nice time. This is great, but you are, you know, this clearly isn't going to happen. And she wanders off and turns out everybody. Bad news because my ally club designed, started with two and now is ending with three. Because this lady is a pregnant, of course she is. And he is like, well, you're not going anywhere now. Yeah. I'm taking you to my, my palace. So, and I'm going to feed you beautiful food and tell you all the ways that you're going to become my wife and the mother of my child. And it's a little, listen, this is a hard look when you present. I had a great time reading a lot of contemporary, a lot of category romances for this one. And I will say this is a really fun book. She is, you know, this is not an old fashion. Like he's not, he's not grumpy and obnoxious. He is like into her and he's like, I'm going to treat you like a princess.

1:24:37And she's sort of like, but I would like to go live my life. And like we could share custody maybe. And he's like, aren't you? Adorable. And so like she ends up like kind of living her, she's like fashion designing from the Italian Palazzo while he sort of, you know, walks around being like moody. And it's really actually very fun. It's also this is the third in like a series about like three brothers who have all, we're all like in the mix to inherit their Greek tycoon father's world, you know, sure inheritance billions. And so and they don't know, they're not like connect, they don't know each other at all. And so there's a lot of found family in this book. The heroin you all, often we get requests for like, oh, are you guys ever going to do an episode about like all neurodivergent characters?

1:25:38And the answer is no, we're never going to do an episode where we just like talk about one identity. That's not how Fato made works. But if you're interested in neurodivergence, the heroin of this book is autistic. And so like that's really interesting like Amanda threads that needle really carefully, I think. But then like more importantly, it feels like this is just a book about like two kind of people who, you know, like don't they're sort of floating in the ocean, like finding each other. And that's I think what all of Amanda's books really are. And this one is it's just it's fun. There's like a whole thing where she like loses her past, she like can't find her passport. And he's like, I've got a private that at the beginning, he's like, no problem. I've got a private jet. And she's like, I don't have my passport. He's like, it doesn't matter. Like we don't, people like us don't need passports. We don't. We're going, we don't need passports. Exactly. You're just going to my, we're landing

1:26:41in the lots of. I mean, that's how that works. I'm landing, writing your Pilots. Oh, okay, I'm fighting. I'm fine. Our love is too big for, you know, maps. Yeah. And, you know, international boundaries, you know, identity papers. It's fine. It doesn't matter. So anyway, it was, this is a fun one. I think Amanda's great. And we all love Amanda here. So yes. So that is pregnant in the Italians Pilots. So you're probably also never really going to get a secret baby episode from us. So no, but I think we didn't do it. Is this a secret baby? It's sort of a, it's more like I just didn't tell you it was a baby. Not just like a secret baby drive by. Exactly. Okay. So I'm going to talk about turbulence by Whitney G. Oh, I looked, I read this one too. Oh, did you really? Is this your last one? No, I'm okay. Oh, me too. So you know,

1:27:43if what I like Whitney G a lot. Yeah. God, this was a great read. And you know, okay. So in this one, we have Jake and Jillian and this is like an amazing look. It's honestly, it's great. So, okay, Jillian. He's a great hero. He's a great hero, right? So he is a pilot and she and it's, okay, I want to talk about the writing of it on the back end. First, let me just like briefly the plot. So Jillian works has like a couple different jobs because she has some past where she was like working as a reporter at the New York Times and they like shit canned her. And it's clearly like something traumatic happened and she's been lying about her to her family about it. They think that she so works there. They all like, you know, or scientists at MIT or something. And she's just like this black sheep and she just doesn't want to talk to them about it. And so she has a new job as a as a flight attendant on this elite airlines, but she only gets like sort of like the like the drugs of these shifts, right? So like if there's leftover shifts, then she can get some of them,

1:28:45but she doesn't have like sort of like the full-time gig. Then something happens where she does get the full-time gig. And then, but she so in the meantime, she had been working as like a housekeeper at this like really fancy apartment building in New York where of course Jake has the penthouse. Now you might be like, how does this pilot have a penthouse? Don't worry about it for right now. But so what she's doing is they meet at like a party where her friend has basically been like, you need to go out and get laid and have one night stand enough of this boyfriend business you're always doing. So she meets this guy and she's like, my place is closer. And she takes him back. Basically everybody, his own apartment. Like she, yeah, it's perfect, right? Because she can get in there and she's just as far as she knows like the owner of this apartment just like hardly ever there. And so she will sometimes essentially crash there because it's so really really smart.

1:29:46And so of course he's like furious and they have great sex anyway. And then like he's like, they're never. Of course, I'm so angry in my house. Let's do it. I mean, oh, this Whitney G's not gonna lay down Sarah. And so then the part that's kind of amazing is then they like, there's kind of like a couple weeks where they, you know, they agree that they're never going to see each other again. And he's going to like get her fired from her house keeping job. And then it turns out that of course, like he is a pilot on the same airline that she is a flight attendant for. And so then they start to essentially like anytime they're in the same airport or in the same city, they are just like, hooking up. Now here's the part that I think was actually really fun in terms for me of the reading, which is like, this is a great book. If you're at all interested in like, I don't know like how to let a character's backstory kind of reveal itself over time, this is incredibly well done. Right. We can tell that something is going

1:30:53on with her in her past and the stuff with her family. There's clearly something going on with him. How does he have this crazy apartment building? How is he? Right. Like why, you know, how can you afford this? Like what's going on with all of that? And so I think it's really smart though, like how long it takes for like their backstories to get uncovered to each other and to the reader. And so this is like a really, it's a great romance. I think it's probably from like 2016. And again, my new theory in life is like, you know, this year, Sarah, okay, we're going to have 2016 episode because my I've never picked up a random contemporary for 21 from 2016 and been disappointed. That's when everything went wrong after. And so I just want you to know like that was a nice time for me. I had a great time. And like these two, it is. Oh, it is all the like texting back and forth the like where he's like, meet me in this like, bathroom, bathroom. Yeah. Yeah. Where are we going in the hotel? And he's like, no, we're doing it right here. I only have 30 minutes. And like,

1:31:56which he's you like, there's one moment where he like uses the airport. She's like, no, you need to say, how is your day to me? First like, by a text and he like gets on the airport, like, intercom. And I got like me at the bathroom. Yeah. Right. You know, it's honestly, it's great. And I just think like the whole, I don't know, it's like a really good example of how you can use like sex to further intimacy for sure in a romance, but also just like how to let, like, I don't know, like let characters reveal themselves to you. I was really, that felt it was a great part of me feel this way about all of Whitney G's books. Like there's, there is a way that she writes that is really unique to her. Yeah. And I've, I mean, I, I have never been disappointed by one of your books. Yeah. So it was great. It's called turbulence turbulence. And then there's a like novella that is like a after the after the end novella. That is amazing. I will be checking that out

1:33:03directly. Okay. I, well, we said sky. So we did. Obviously, I have to just talk about the Skyland series by Kennedy Ryan, which we've talked about many, many times. I mean, you guys, I know, sometimes I'm doing a lot of repeat, but I'm actually not doing that many repeat, but this is, this is a good one. So first repeat is Scott. I mean, it really is. So Skyland, the Skyland series is Kennedy's, it's really interesting because I, so it begins with, can't get in with before I let go. And then this could be us. And then most recently last year it came out, can't get enough, right? And these three books are about three friends who are like connected by this like small town. It's not really a small town, but it's like a small community or very tight-knit community outside of Atlanta in, in Georgia called Skyland. And you know, Kennedy writes

1:34:03an incredibly sexy, an incredibly romantic, like a really like banger of a romance novel. You cannot go wrong with any Kennedy Ryan books. But these books, these three books specifically are books that I would press into the hand of like anybody who was like, I don't think I'm really a romance reader. I'm part of the reason why I feel this way. And like we did an episode kind of really early in season like one or two. We did an episode that was like books, romance books for like first time romance readers. And obviously these books didn't exist then because we are so old and so as this podcast. But put on the list to redo. But like we should redo them because I do think like this is a good example of a series that like really lives right at the far edge of where romance edges into commercial fiction. Like I don't think that I would put these in commercial fiction. But like they are books that are about like these are these are books that get so close to being

1:35:07the heroin story without not being a hero story too. If that makes sense right. Like I think if we're going to talk about like the line between romance and commercial fiction, I think that line really is like, you know, what's the story we're telling? I'm retelling the heroin story. We're telling both characters stories moving together. I think before I let go remains my favorite of the three, although can't get enough is really top notch as well. And the reason why I love before I let go so much is it is a second chance romance. Kennedy writes a second chance romance probably better than almost anybody in the business. This is a book that's about like two people who just couldn't get it right the first time around and really had to grow and learn about themselves before they could love each other the way they deserve. And so they're like hope. But then on top of it, they're doing all this other stuff. They're like running businesses and co-parenting and

1:36:07struggling with like depression and struggling with like the kind of the hard work of being in those middle years of life. Like these are grown people having grown and grown problems. And really grown problems. Yeah. And this could be us Solida the heroin of that book is a single, a single mom who is the parent of twin boys. And there's an autism thread that runs through like the the boys have autism. And so like she like there's a very real sense of like how do you make space for your own relationship to grow and flourish. And like the hard work of an early relationship. Yeah. And the hard work that it takes to have a relationship grow into something really powerful in long standing while you are giving 110% to other people in your life. Right. And then it can't get enough. There's a there's a through line of you know Alzheimer's care like the

1:37:11the work of a grown person with an aging parent. And like what's fascinating to me and what I am constantly in awe of when it comes to Kennedy. And particularly in these books like I know she is a careful researcher in a million different ways. But like these books really are about real people and real problems. And also layered with this like incredible sex in incredibly romantic heroes. Incredibly romantic love stories like the happily ever after's in these books are top tier. And like Kennedy is really knitting. She is building the genre in her corn in her corner of the genre. She's really changing what romance looks like. And I mean I just think these books are too a book terrific and Skyland I couldn't not. And also obviously it was announced

1:38:13a couple of what weeks ago month maybe a couple months ago now. That these books were all I have all been sold to Universal and so hopefully we're all. Yeah. What an amazing TV show. Yeah. They're going to make a big gorgeous you know juicy TV show. So be the be one of those people who's like this is great. I've read all the books. I can't wait for the show. Yeah amazing. Okay. I have a last book which is sort of a faded mates classic. And because again it was really funny when you think about like when you're kind of like okay you're like sky like you know what I mean you're like what do I think you have like airports airplanes. I have to bring up a Crestley Cole book the professional because if you remember in this book there are two really perfect scenes that have two with planes. Okay so the first one is so basically her her name is Natalie and she essentially is sort of

1:39:16looking for her birth father and she's hired a private investigator and basically they'd be getting a good this this like you know mafia enforcer named Sebastian shows up in Nebraska where she is from and you know has one does know six foot eight in Russian has ever been nowhere. Clearly and you know he follows her and for a while and basically like it turns out that her birth father is like one of the most powerful like mafia guys in Russia and so he like breaks breaks into a apartment one night walks in under on the bathroom as she's like having a little me time and then is like okay well I'm gonna take you to your father and she's like no you're not that's crazy and he's like no you're the one who pursued this and that's what's happening now and like there's this real I'd read this rereading this there's this really she's like you can't do this any like boosts up over you know his shoulder and he's like doing it you know doing it too late and then he's like okay well I'm gonna take you to the plane and she's thinking like okay well you

1:40:20know I'll be able to like sort of check it out at the airport or whatever and then it turns out that like you know this private plane had landed in the middle of a cornfield in Nebraska and she it's you know in a robe that's it yeah so she has to run away through the cornfields what other options are there Jen I don't understand none and he has to catch her and her robe becomes all slippery oh and anyway so then he like you know gets her on the plane and yells at the pilot for looking at her and it's all of course and then the part of course and it's like this crazy private plane which like a private bedroom and he like tells you to go to a nap or whatever and then even though he's been like super distant then he like gets up in that room with her and well I mean she lost her whole robe she did he cannot hold back anymore and like they like 69 have a plane they barely know each other and I think it's great so anyway

1:41:24uh then later on in the book she is trying to get she like finally kind of had enough of his bullshit and she's been but at this point like they're in Paris and he's essentially like kind of keeping her captive in Paris and he's told her like you know I don't have any family and they've been like doing it for like weeks now or whatever and then his brother shows up and she's so pissed it's a fact that he's like lied to her that she decides it's time to make her get away so she does what any normal American would do which is like you know make sure escape which of course you're like wait if it was this easy why don't you do this before but that's simply not my business make say then make say like a a reservation on the way to the airport for a nonstop from Paris to Nebraska no I was like I'm gonna need everybody to be real fucking serious about this because this lady definitely has to go to her first like I'm sorry but they're simply as no way and while you I'm just gonna check the delta uh the delta for nonstop from Paris to Lincoln

1:42:28Nebraska go ahead and check it out for me you can tell you already I'll report it in a little bit you don't have to I already know the answer to this um so anyway so she's like in the airport like sort of like sneaking to the gate which is like boarding like her whole goal is to get out of there before he finds her and then he's like literally like she sees him at security and he sees her across the airport I'm like Charles to gall airport my understanding is probably very large it's not small anyway doesn't matter probably just the terminal where the flights to Nebraska leave from I gotta tell you there's some spanish bad news for everybody but it's fine because it was 2016 or it probably actually was 2016 like there were more flights and romance than anyway he like runs across the airport it's like you will not leave me it's terrific and I feel like has a lot of great airport action even though neither of them is a pilot it really leans hard into the like the pilots the flying the planes the like airport the dramatic airport scene and the

1:43:34the milehead club that's it that's it I mean terrific work correct you can always rely on Cressley to get to get that business done correct all right well I also have oh wait you can however just so that everybody knows oh okay hang on hang on I I feel like it's important for me to get there but I think oh maha you can at least get from oh maha to somewhere that will get you to Paris but I don't think Lincoln gets you really anywhere yeah I don't really know the lodge the you know no it's not it's not direct of course not there no you gotta go through it looks like it looks like you could go through New Orleans or you can go through Dallas or at least depending on your airline it's gonna be Chicago if you're on United or New York Newark yeah

1:44:35Atlanta Atlanta all my gonna be Charles De Gaulle to her if you're on flying Americans on through Dallas now I'm sure the listen romance she flew romance air she did fly romance air don't stop from Paris you know the romance air work it's like a private plane you just like there's just one going wherever you need to go whenever you need to get there sure I am all of the airport all of the bathrooms big enough for multiple you know two people to get in there and take care of business yeah although I will say I I've read a lot of mile high club romances not one of them inside a bathroom because an airport bathroom an airplane bathroom is disgusting and ants tiny and small yes but and disgusting it's just mainly gross yeah you don't like anything touching that floor in there and you gotta you know you gotta in this Whitney G book there's like some standup there is some but I mean that's that's still wrote that's romance plane

1:45:38also romance airline plane is very clean so that is that's just that uh it's like it's like romance Duke romance Duke has all his teeth and a six pack I don't make the rules in fact well I kind of do so um anyway yeah I think we did the job I certainly hope so I think we you have a variety of a smorgasberg bored bored a smorgasbord of options in space or in the sky I did wanted to I did sort of on my list was the Beth Revis series as well which I have talked about in the past that is like space related but I I held off on space and I did not talk specifically about um sex planet because I felt like aliens were too far afield like I got really I kept it inside largely inside the you know the orbit

1:46:46I was really convinced that I had read an anabeth Albert series where they were all like smoke jumpers you know what I mean I was like smoke jumping series but then I was like and then I was looking at them and I was like I think they're just wildland firefighters like on the ground right and so then Andre right smoke jumpers maybe I don't know so I did so then there were ones that I was like sure that I'd sort of remembered yep and we skipped we did not talk specifically about nine we're getting we'll do nine's another time everybody sure um and I do feel uh yeah I just feel strongly that it's important for us to recognize that today's date the date of this episode releasing is September 9th so it's meant to be season nine nine nine I don't like the rule of nine I just tell you cloud that's it cloud nine it's very exciting it is nine is fine anyway it's gonna be great we're excited uh we have a lot already lined up for you this year we've

1:47:50got special guests coming we've got cool read-along setup we have faded states happening we're gonna win back the house and the senate amazing amazing um we are we have fun topics that we're already planning we've already started reading our end of year books we've already started reading our holiday books we've got best of the year best debuts of the year we've got holiday romances coming the it's just a huge amount of stuff we've got on the calendar already um we're here at least for another year because Eric won't let us stop no but we are taking some extra weeks off this year next week we're gonna do a union episode we you know you laugh but I I'm gonna put my feelers out for that for sure yeah I think we could do union jobs that whole bril harper series

1:48:53of all union jobs fuck late stage capitalism I'm putting that on the list right now the episode we'll do it right before we take a week off a plus um we're very very very very excited to have you all we are honestly like as much as we joke that um we can't believe you're still here the reality is we actually really can't believe that you're still here listening to us we can't believe that you let us do this thing that you make it happen for us to be able to do this thing every week um so that we're not actually just like on the phone with each other all the time we actually like can say it's work um we're so grateful to all for being here for being a part of this for making theta mates everything that it is that it has become over the last nine seasons you can find more information about theta mates at theta mates dot net that's our website at our website there's all sorts of fun stuff you can find if you go to episodes you can find all

1:49:55the show notes for this week's episode and all the other episodes where Jen puts together a whole list of all the books that we talk about if you if we talked about a book that sounded good and you weren't able to write it down it's all there at theta mates dot net just click on episodes while you're there if you click on collections you can see like fun quick human built collections of great romance novels built by listeners by experts by people we love by authors we love by like people who just are into certain things in romance you can find 10 books with heroes who have moustaches or 10 books with like heroes who have tattoos or 10 books with you know Asian couples you know there's all sorts of cool so many different ones yeah all sorts of cool stuff on the collections page go check that out we talked about faded states at the beginning of the episode I'm gonna be talking we're gonna be talking about faded states for the next few weeks so get ready join us please find all of the faded states foam banks at theta mates dot net slash faded states

1:50:59you can find a full list of all the foam banks that we're doing there and registration links if you are an author and you are listening and you want to donate some books to us we would love to have them there's a link right there where you can click and donate some books for foam bankers we will see you all next weekend to phone john asaf or for john asaf in in Georgia and finally last but definitely not least if you really just love talking about romance novels love listening to people talk about romance novels love asking questions about romance novels or answering questions about romance novels you can do that all the time 24 seven on the faded mates discord which is available through our patreon any donation any amount of donation gets you access to the to the discord you can find information about the patreon at fadedmates.net slash patreon the members of the patreon also get one episode of just us yammering for another another hour

1:52:00likes us but more like this but more once a month that's what you get from us and you get early access to like tickets to fade a mates live if maybe we do one next year which we probably will um and that's that what else john what else you got nothing we're so much it's so much um but we do love you and we do appreciate you and um god nine let's let's get it done we're doing it okay