Whoa!mance: Romance, Feminism, and Ourselves

Whoa!nus: Deeper Cuts, Thicker Bindings, 2024 - The Year in Review

·1 hr 2 min·5 clips

Isabeau and Morgan agree Megan Bannon's 'The Undertaking of Heart and Mercy' was the year's best romance, defying Goodreads scores.

Morgan and Isabeau open their year-in-review episode by thanking listeners and promoting their Patreon. They list all 19 books discussed in 2023, including 'Rose in Winter' by Kathleen Woodiwiss, 'The Love Hypothesis' by Ali Hazelwood, and 'A Court of Wings and Ruin' by Sarah J. Maas. The hosts share superlatives, with both choosing 'The Undertaking of Heart and Mercy' by Megan Bannon as their hardest 'whoa', praising its epistolary format and world-building. They compare Goodreads scores, noting 'A Court of Wings and Ruin' has the highest at 4.46. Isabeau names 'Twisted Pride' by Cora Riley as her softest 'whoa', while Morgan selects 'The Darkness Outside Us' by Eliot Schrefer, questioning if it qualifies as romance. They discuss hardest 'no's, including 'Jinxed' by Tori Heat for its heteronormativity and 'Twisted Pride' for excessive violence. The conversation turns to favorite main characters, with Isabeau highlighting Sebastian from 'Lord of Scoundrels' by Loretta Chase and Morgan praising Heart and Mercy. They debate sexiest books, choosing 'Rose in Winter' and 'To Have and To Hold' by Patricia Gaffney. Analyzing their reading list, they note seven historicals, six contemporaries, and five fantasies. The hosts critique trends like consumerism in romance, deceptive algorithm-driven marketing, and the flattening of genre terms like 'rom-com'. They set goals for 2024, aiming for more queer romance, own-voices authors, and confrontational criticism. The episode concludes with a shout-out to 'The Astronaut and the Star' by Jen Comfort and reflections on the year as a 'rebuilding' period for their critical skills.

As heard by us

A loose, thoughtful year-in-review conversation about erotic charge, difficult scenes, and reader response.

Whoa!mance's year-in-review episode uses its sexiest-book discussion to get at why certain romance scenes work on the reader. Morgan and Isabeau compare Rose and Winter with To Have and To Hold, treating Rose and Winter as sexy from start to finish while positioning To Have and…

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Press play when your romance shelf needs heat and a sharper look at why that heat works on you.

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