Rebel Ever After

My guest this week is New York Times best-selling author Allison Raskin, whose first rom-com Save The Date was published this April by Canary Street Press. You may know Allison from her podcast Just Between Us with Gabe Dunn, her mental health newsletter Emotional Support Lady, or her previous life as a BuzzFeed star.

As traditional publishers adapt to Trump Era Part II, there is concern in Romancelandia that books are about to get a lot whiter, straighter, and more conventional. Luckily, indie authors don't have to deal with gatekeepers. Is self-publishing the future for diverse, queer, progressive romance novels? What should you know before you decide to go indie?

My guest this week is Georgina Kiersten, who also writes as Jasper Hale. Their w...

My guest this week is Joanna Shupe, best-selling historical romance author whose books take place during the Gilded Age. Her latest book The Gilded Heiress publishes this August with Avon. 

Joanna’s books have always been political, but apparently some of her readers didn’t exactly pick up on the undertones of her work. When she wrote a newsletter reacting to Donald Trump’s re-election, quite a few of them...

My guest this week is Amy Spalding, author of many YA novels and the adult sapphic Out In Hollywood series. The latest installment, ON HER TERMS, was published in February by Kensington Books. 

Topics tackled include: How much queer representation in the YA genre has improved in the last decade, and coming out as bisexual “later in life.” Is “adulthood” a scam, and what does it look like outside of a cis-h...

This week's guest is Adriana Herrera, author of many contemporary and historical romances including a A Tropical Rebel Gets the Duke. Adriana leads the pack when it comes to writing love stories that are bold, sexy and unwavering in their values. We talked about what it means to write brave romance novels, where the happily-ever-after includes a better world for everyone, not just the main characters. Has the idea that...

This week's guest is TJ Alexander, author of several queer contemporary romances including Chef’s Choice and Second Chances In New Port Steven. TJ shared what readers can expect from their first historical romance, A Gentleman’s Gentleman, publishing on March 11th. We talked about writing queer and trans identity back into history, and the many forms that masculinity can take. 

Then I pestered them with qu...

My guest is Andie J. Christopher, the author of many contemporary romances including Unrealistic Expectations, Thank You Next, and Hot Under His Collar. She is also the creator of Stern Brunch Daddy, both the concept and the Substack.

Together we dissected the never-ending “smut” discourse. Why do we keep having the same circular conversations about romance novels getting too explicit, and is that even tru...

My guest this week is Elizabeth Everett, the author of The Secret Scientists of London series and The Damsels of Discovery series. We discussed her book The Love Remedy, about a female apothecary in Victorian England who provides reproductive healthcare to women, and The Lady Sparks a Flame, which comes out in March. As a content warning, this episode includes a lot of discussion of abortion through a historical and po...

Put on your cryptid-hunting gear! My guest this week is Mallory Marlowe, author of the contemporary romance Love and Other Conspiracies. Her 2024 debut was one of my favorite books of last year and features a heroine healing from an emotional abusive relationship. We talked about leaving behind toxic partners and workplaces, and how Mallory wrote a healthy romantic partnership worth swooning over. We also discussed gra...

[As a head's up I apologize for the low volume in this episode. I edited myself into a corner and cannot fix it. Normal volume episodes will return next week!]

My guest this episode is Liana De la Rosa, the author of fantastic historical romances — most recently the Luna Sisters series, which takes place in England during the second Franco-Mexican War. Gabriela and His Grace, the last book in the trilogy, ...

In this week’s episode I interview my friends Lydia Wang and Annabel Paulsen, the writing duo behind the sapphic Bachelor-inspired rom-com HERE FOR THE WRONG REASONS. We talked about reality television romance novels, the toxic polyamory of dating competition shows, and how compulsory heterosexuality hurts us all. Then we had a gossip about GoodReads review culture and the unfair burden readers place on sapphic books t...

My guest this week is Laura Piper Lee, the author of Hannah Tate, Beyond Repair and Zoe Brennan First Crush, which comes out Tuesday January 21. We talked about putting the comedy back in romantic comedy, the intense power of your first crush, why we need more casually queer characters, and the subversiveness of the single mom as a romantic hero. 

Follow Laura on Instagram @laurapiperlee, and order her boo...

My guest this week on Rebel Ever After is Jessica P. Pryde! She is a contributing editor at Book Riot and the co-host of their biweekly romance podcast, When In Romance. In 2022, Jessica edited the essay anthology Black Love Matters: Real Talk on Romance, Being Seen, and Happily Ever Afters. Most recently, her short story “Why Won’t you Die?” was published in Someplace Generous: An Inclusive Romance Anthol...

My guest this week is Nellie Wilson, a teacher and historian who is the author of romance novels including Curated, Corporate Mandated Holiday Romance, and Steel My Heart: An Appalachian Romance. Her fiction is proudly anti-capitalist, and we talked about the need for romance novels about folks who don't live in Stars Hollow or Hollywood. If you hate JD Vance, you’ll love this episode.

Other topics discuss...

It turns out I owe Blake Lively, and all of you, an apology. In this quick episode, I go over the allegations against Justin Baldoni and the smear campaign he orchestrated of his It Ends With Us co-star.

You can read my essay about how I fell for the smear campaign and the specific allegations against Baldoni and his co-producer Jamey Heath here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/i-fell-for-act-118745786

And here's my reading list of r...

My guest this week is the effervescently funny Danica Nava, author of The Truth According to Ember, and the forthcoming Love Is a War Song, hitting bookstores in July 2025. Ember and Danuwoa's story is the first traditionally published romance novel by a Native author! 

We talked about the woeful history of Native representation in pop culture and how little has changed (I’m looking at you, Taylor Lautner)...

This week my guest is Jenny L. Howe, the author of The Makeup Test, On The Plus Side, and How to Get a Life In Ten Dates, which comes out this Tuesday December 10th. She’s also the author of the forthcoming YA romance, Love at Full Tilt. 

Topics discussed in this episode include: why every man in romance has the body of Chris Hemsworth, how romance often celebrates toxic masculinity, the fatphobia of (some...

My guest this week is Shelly Jay Shore, the author of the best-selling novel Rules For Ghosting. We talked about writing escapism versus resistance in romance, and the role of authors and artists in fighting the Trump administration. We also discussed how romance creates a safe way for readers to engage in hard emotional topics like mourning and death, and why we want to see more abortion stories in romance! Plus: horr...

In this episode, I interview Erin Baldwin about her debut novel Wish You Weren't Here, a sapphic YA romance about two girls who can't stand each other but are forced to share a cabin at beloved summer camp Fogridge. We talk about writing the enemies-to-lovers trope for a young audience, accurately representing Gen Z teenagehood, and what Erin wishes she didn't have to cut from her final draft. 

Purchase yo...