S04.19: Passion by Lisa Valdez: The Romance Equivalent of "I Have an Extra Stomach for Dessert"

On this episode, we’re talking about a historical that we like to think of as the full banana. A descriptor which, now that we’re typing it, really covers a lot of ground. It’s Passion week — we’re talking about how Lisa Valdez shook up the traditional historical world in 2005 when she released this erotic historical featuring a widow and a dude who has an extremely large…you know. We talk about what it means for a romance to be erotic and about how this might also be inspirational. We also talk about this as a marker of a significant shift in the content of romance novels, and ask some questions about basic anatomy. Headphones on for this one, y’all! Our next read-along will be Kresley Cole’s Munro , Book 18 of the Immortals After Dark series. You’ve probably heard of this series because Fated Mates began as an IAD fan podcast. You can take the girls out of Monster Mash, but you can’t take Monster Mash out of the girls…so we’re reading Munro, obviously. Stay tuned for information on that episode…but also, if you’re inclined to go back to the beginning, here you go . Preorder Munro at Amazon , Apple , Kobo , or B&N . Thank you, as always, for listening! If you are up for leaving a rating or review for the podcast on your podcasting app, we would be very grateful! Show Notes Passion by Lisa Valdez was the first book in a series named the Passion Quartet, but only two were published. Passion in 2005 and Patience in 2010. Passion takes place during Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations, commonly called the Crystal Palace Exhibition. The Great Exhibition was well-documented in the book Dickinson's Comprehensive Pictures of the Great Exhibition , which is available in its entirety online . Charlotte Bronte was a visitor and wrote about her impression of the exhibits . Lisa Valdez wrote about sex in romance on Jess Michaels's blog back in 2014. America is full of weird controlling shit about sex, like abstinence only education, and the fact that people don't know where the hymen is . You should follow Dr. Jen Gunter and tell your kids about Scarleteen . Sarah mentioned that Marc is a hero very much in the model of Dain from Lord of Scoundrels . Up next, Munro . Stay tuned for more details. The Rest For even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net/episodes/2022/1/2/s0419-passion-by-lisa-valdez If you wish you had six more days in a week of people talking about romance, may we suggest joining our Patreon? Aside from an additional episode every month you get access to our Discord, where other romance readers are talking about books they love (and many other things!) all the time. It’s so fun! Learn more about the Patreon and go join those cool people who love romance as much as you do at patreon.com/fatedmates . Beyond your favorite podcast app , you can find us on Instagram , Threads , Blue Sky , Tumblr , and probably some other places, too, if you look hard enough. If you've never listened to our Stop Book Banning episode , there's no better time than now.