New and Improved DBSA Romance Fiction Podcast

Happy New Year! Ready for some fun? In this episode, Sarah quizzes Jane. WITH HIGHLANDERS. AND BILLIONAIRES. And milky pirates with clipart!

Jane and I discuss an email from a reader looking for historical recommendations. Plus, we find out what happens when an author emails us a pitch: Sarah does something terrible (unintentionally!) to Jane. This bit, which starts about about 9 minutes, is a bit of a spoiler, but the description is very intriguing. And we end with a pronunciation correction for Sarah (oops) and a glowing recommendation for a book - with a request for more like it.

Recently, during Digital Book World, Jane and I were in the same place- in the same room, event. A rare event! So we recorded a podcast together about recent author reactions and responses to reviews.

Katie Dunneback/@YoungLibrarian called in with a question about ugly cry books, whether there's ugly cry at the beginning, or at the end. We do our best to answer. We also talk about DNF books, and when or why we might assign a DNF grade. Then, Sarah shares some email from listeners that is both awesome and adorable - don't miss that.

It's time for recommendations! First, an email from Maeve, who is looking for recommendations for books similar to The Last Hour of Gann, and another email from Bobbie, looking for romantic suspense. Bloodthirsty Jane is here to help! We also chat about what we're currently reading, and I share some of the responses to our last podcast about uglycry books and DNFing books you aren't enjoying.

Sarah and Jane talk about the 2013 DABWAHA: what it is, what it means, and how it works! We also talk about what we're reading, plus we answer listener voicemail and email.

More reader mail! Jane and Sarah answer letters about cheating and infidelity in romances, and one reader's ethical concerns about male/male romance.

We answer a reader letter from Elyse about kids and pets in romance - and how often they become matchmaking plot devices. We also talk about what we're currently reading, including a discussion of Lisa Kleypas' upcoming novel, Crystal Cove.

We start with a quiz that was entirely inspired by Linda Holmes' Television Pop Quiz on Pop Culture Happy Hour. Sarah challenges Jane to identify which book description is an actual book. Jane does abominably well - five correct, two wrong.Then we tackle reader mail. AWESOME reader mail.

Jane and Sarah discuss getting the habits and attitudes of billionaires right - and when depictions of wealth in some romances leave us laughing. We also talk about burgling Nalini Singh's home, and the books we're looking forward to in 2013.

In this episode, we attempt to define blue collar heroes - and figure out whether they really exist. We talk about what drives Sarah nuts about sex scenes and erotica. And then, can Jane convince Sarah not to read the Kristen Ashley books?

Sarah and Jane talk holiday romances! What we don't like about them (kind of a lot of things) and a few books that we do like. Plus, we attempt to answer the burning question, "How many Christmas brides are there?" Plus Jane tells us about one of her favorite old-style Regency romances.

Sarah sits down with Kat from BookThingo.com.au to talk about reading, reviewing and romance readers in Australia. She also shared some authors and book titles she was most excited about, particularly Australian authors.

In this episode, Sarah and Jane talk about books as gifts! We've crafted a mini book gift guide for different folks, talking about books we've given as gifts in the past. We've got suggestions if you're looking to give someone a book - and not just romances.

In this podcast, Jane and Sarah disagree mightily about a book they've both read, Study in Seduction by Nina Rowan. Jane liked it, Sarah did not, and we debate the reasons why some parts of the book worked for one but didn't work for the other. We also answer some more reader mail about our podcast episode on serial fiction, and Jane answers some of Sarah's questions about the Department of Justice settlement.