This is our first intentional entry in a little project we're doing - friend of the podcast Steve Ammidown posted this fascinating spread with a list of all the books Melinda Helfer, a Romantic Times editor, awarded five hearts in a review. Sixteen books out of ten thousand! Well, it turns out we'd already done two of them - Lightning that Lingers …

He's Pierce, a hot guy with a secret (and it's not that he's part of the military industrial complex, he's proud of that part!) She's Alicia, a widowed mother of two who works in a romance novel boutique! Welcome to Send No Flowers by Sandra Brown - if you'd like to listen to our previous book by her way back in Episode 36, which believe you me is …

He's Ben, a cinnamon roll who bakes cinnamon rolls! He's Adam, a hockey coach and a pain in the ass! It's our annual modern gay Hannukah book - chag sameach, y'all! This year we read Ben's Bakery and the Hannukah Miracle by Penelope Peters. This one does have some serious religious gatekeeping - we mention it because it is really upsetting because …

He's Tagg, a Christmas-obsessed single dad! She's Leslie, a woman immobilized by a broken leg who cannot escape the holiday despite driving several states away and telling everybody she would prefer not to! He would probably be okay except that he's always "smirking" or "mocking" or whatevering his dialogue at her! For some reason his hair is very …

He's Scott, the dumbest fighter pilot to ever be trusted with a top secret time travel experiment! She's Rachel, a Civil War spy who has somehow never worn a corset! It's Till the End of Time, a 1994 time travel romance by Suzanne Elizabeth that has twenty whole reviews on Goodreads! This is a silly book, so there isn't much to warn you about excep…

Happy Halloween! He's Clare, a baron with a very expensive contractor's bill and a suspicious number of black armbands in his wardrobe. She's Lucy, a sheltered seventeen year old girl with a big inheritance and absolutely no friends anywhere. What a great combination! It's Greygallows by Barbara Michaels, who is also Elizabeth Peters and Barbara Me…

Welcome to our fourth (!) annual AnneRiceoween extravaganza featuring The Vampire Armand! We skipped Memnoch the Devil because we just did not want to read it, but don't worry, this book makes us find out what happened in it anyway! As usual, this episode features Friend of the Podcast Dr. Claire Mischker, weird audio (we had to change our remote r…

He's Vanyel, the whiniest teenager ever chosen for a top government position by a horse! He's Tylendel, doomed twin and bad decision maker! Forget it, Jake, it's Valdemar! This is the first in Mercedes Lackey's Last Herald Mage trilogy, Magic's Pawn - it is not a romance novel, there is no happy ending, there are only tears. The tears are, in fact,…

She's Merry, a naïve teenager who mostly sits around waiting for something to happen. He's Devon, the evil pirate who kidnaps her mostly by accident. It's the War of 1812! Laura London is actually Tom and Sharon Curtis; we previously did a Loveswept by them that was a lot of fun, Lightning That Lingers. Check it out! We've been sleeping on this boo…

Welcome to the second episode of our Jackie July extravaganza! This one is on Hollywood Wives, which was reissued this month. Many things happen in this book to many people! Some of them seem medically improbable! Watch Elaine, Ross, Neil, Montana, Gina, Buddy, Angel, Randy, Karen, and more as they call each other on the telephone and have exhausti…

Welcome to Jackie July! We're dedicating this month to listener favorite Jackie Collins because we're in the middle of a Jackaissance - a fancy new 40th anniversary edition of Hollywood Wives is coming out (introduction by Colleen Hoover!) and two of her daughters, Rory and Tiffany, are doing press for it. We had a blast sitting down for an intervi…

She's Luna, in witness protection! He's Elar, a horny eel monster! It's Courtney's birthday so we're going off script and reading Electrified by the Eel, a modern paranormal romance short! (Come for the eel sex, stay for the heartfelt tangential argument about the number and location of centaur dicks.) So the book itself notes trigger warnings for …

Buckle up Jane, it's the Regency! Harriet is a fossil hunter! Gideon is a viscount, which is evidently a job! He's grim and broody and has an Evil Past full of Scandals and also a cool scar! She's Tracy Flick in a pelisse! There are smugglers! And parties! It's Amanda Quick's Ravished! Surprise - nobody actually gets ravished in this book. I know, …

Gwynne is theoretically a powerful druid! Neil is clearly a date rapist and also a bard! Anyway, here's Wonderwall! This is Talisman of Valdegarde, which - I swear I am not making this up - is an official Dungeons and Dragons Choose Your Own Adventure-style romance novel! Unsurprisingly there are no content warnings here except for the anxiety that…

It's time for our fourth annual check-in with Martha Waters! That does not seem possible! And yet! Her latest book in the Regency Vows series is To Swoon and to Spar. Viscount Penvale has been working for years to buy back his ancestral home, Trethwick Abbey, from his estranged uncle. And so he’s thrilled when his uncle announces that he is ready t…

Welcome to the second episode of our Valentine's Day 90's Bad Boys-a-thon! This time we read Lisa Kleypas' Dreaming of You, knowing full well that we dare the wrath of the Derek Craven fan club. He's a moody emo Cockney kid from the mean streets, made his money and unsure of what to do with it now that he's got it! She's a spectacled young authores…

He's a rake, a dastardly dastard, a blackened heart in a big nosed body! She's Spunky and extremely wee! There's a really hot scene with a glove! It's Loretta Chase's Lord of Scoundrels! This February for Valentine's Day we're reading all your favorite 90's bad boys. The spiritual heirs of Edward Rochester. The rakes, the scoundrels, the emo ones. …

Billy Ikehorn-Orsini is IT. Extraordinary wealthy, profoundly chic, and her diamonds have names. Valentine is the next big couture designer. Spider is a photographer who somehow now is the guy who makes a store cool. Whatever, just go with it - together they are the minds behind Scruples, the boutique that sounds suspiciously like a Cracker Barrel …

Honey is a figure of legend, a giantess astride the world! She is five feet and nine inches tall! She is a private investigator! Lance (YES LANCE) is a prince! His way hotter friend is sheik-adjacent! This all sounds awesome but in fact it is sadly very boring! We wanted to read one of the Sedikhan books that everybody seems to really like - but we…

Chag sameach! Welcome to our traditional holiday episode, where we do a modern gay Hanukkah romance ever year! This one is Eight Nights in December by Keira Andrews, where Lucas meets Nate and then everybody around them has to go buy a new mop! It's very sweet but also very sticky. Check out our previous years' holiday episodes - there's only enoug…

Lady Emma has two weeks in American to lose her reputation and not be forced to marry the dastardly duke. Kenny has to drive her around Texas to get back in the good graces of the PGA Tour so he can play pro golf again. Why yes, this does seem radically mismatched stakes! It's Lady Be Good by Susan Elizabeth Phillips! This is one of those wild Susa…

Welcome to our All Souls Day Spoooooooktacular Tradition! In accordance with the ancient scrolls, every Halloween we read another Anne Rice book and invite Dr. Claire Michker to drink too much and talk about it! This year, we read The Tale of the Body Thief, and we have nobody to blame for it but ourselves. If you're watching the show but haven't r…

It's a happy Halloween in Bodice Tipplers land! Get your spooky season on with Vivian, who's 16 and a pain in the ass and a werewolf! She doesn't care what you think, Mom! He's Aiden and he's that kid you thought was so deep and mysterious and hot in high school! Other He is Gabe and he's... 24, and has a job, and is also a werewolf! It's Blood and…

Glynna is a beautiful teenager living on the Virginia frontier on the eve of the French and Indian War. Kane (seriously) is... what does this guy do, actually? He's a rich dude masquerading as a tutor but really on the hunt for a tiara his mom misplaced. Is that really a career path? Anyway, this is Fiery Virginia Jewel, by Elizabeth Leigh.... or i…

They're a bunch of nuns on the run! He's a... Basque terrorist! Sure! Whatever! There's also a rich dying New York boss lady and a missing orphan, a secret society that runs all of Spain, several bullfights, at least two prison breaks, a Swiss bank account, and some sex murders! Look out, y'all, it's The Sands of Time by Sidney Sheldon! You heard u…

Welcome to Nora Roberts' Opposites Attract! Their names are, and I am not kidding, Ty Starbuck and Asher Wolfe. They are tennis champs! Second chance romance! Will they go all the way (heh)? Well table (tennis) that because BUCKLE UP BUTTERCUP to our shock and disgust this is a surprise abortion-shaming book! Seriously, we wanted to do a fun sports…

Jake is a biographer (is that a job if you're not Kitty Kelly?) and Dixie is... oh come on. So there's a Missing Star, Devon, and then there's Dixie, the tow truck driver, do I have to draw a map for you or have you ever read a book before? The Law of Economy of Characters is absolutely in play here. This is a surprisingly charming book in that "th…

Nick is an ex-football player! Vanessa is a shopping network hostess lady! I know, it sounds cute, but it was completely overshadowed for us by her terrifying stalker ex! If you or someone you know is experiencing intimate partner violence, which is what we used to call domestic violence, you can get help. Start with these resources: National Domes…

Douglas is a mean-ass, uh, spy? and lord of something or other. Alex is the plainer sister of The Most Beautiful Woman in England but she's got some knockout knockers. They throw chairs at each other and get kidnapped. It's our sixty-ninth episode, The Sherbrooke Bride by Catherine Coulter! By the way, there's some discussion in this about whether …

A threepeat! The best part of our year is always catching up with Our Friend Martha, who is now celebrating the release of her third book! Lady Emily Turner has been a debutante for six seasons now and should have long settled into a suitable marriage. However, due to her father’s large debts, her only suitor is the persistent and odious owner of h…

Sarah is a plucky girl reporter! Lyle is a hot war correspondent who's also a news anchor I guess? (Maybe he's a far more uncool Morley Safer?) Anyway he isn't a print journalist but he's decided he's going to restart the weekly newspaper on Compostela, a Caribbean island that we might as well call Smasrshbuda. She wants the job! He's incredibly in…

He's Justin, a doctor who just moved to Cookoutville, moved on from his dead wife, and about to move into a swank ranch property. She's Lorren, a children's book author not interested in love since she divorced an Awful Husband. It's Tonight and Forever, Brenda Jackson's first book! Generally all of the potentially troubling stuff in this book happ…

Y'all. It's been a month. It's just been so much January. So very January. We didn't actually... uh, read two books this month, so in the finest American scholarly tradition we watched a movie instead! Thrill to the very Canadian film adaptation of LaVyrle Spencer's Morning Glory (you may want to listen to our episode on the book first, but you tot…

He's an international jewel thief trying to catch another international jewel thief! She's a museum... employee? Evidently? It's All for Quinn by Kay Hooper, a Loveswept that's also somehow fourth in a series with real continuity and the expectation that you have read the others! And yes, the cover on both Amazon and Goodreads is just a photo of th…

Adam is a Jewish sub who's tired of seeing Christmas all over the place. Tate is a trans Daddy who's looking for somebody to take care of. In our annual December tradition of reading gay Hanukkah novellas, we present His for Hanukkah by Reese Morrison! No real triggers in this book - it's very sweet. The only thing that might be upsetting is that A…

We recorded this one in... September, maybe? Who knows! Life is weird these days! Anyway it's December and that's appropriate because this book has cabins! Spies! Amnesia! It's White Lies by Linda Howard! He's... possibly her ex husband but probably not her ex husband and he's got amnesia and is in full body traction! She quit her high powered fina…

GOBBLE GOBBLE YO! He's America's Farmer. She's America's Guilt. Together they are our tryptophan turd - Stella Bagwell's Their First Thanksgiving. Seriously, y'all, this book is awful. He gaslights her, she's got a white savior complex, every woman in his family puts a solid 80 hours of work into Thanksgiving for five people... it is a damned mess.…

We had a lot of fun talking with Denise Williams, author of The Fastest Way to Fall. If you'd like to purchase a copy, please consider doing it from Dog Eared Books, Denise's local independent bookstore in Ames, Iowa. Britta didn't plan on falling for her personal trainer, and Wes didn't plan on Britta. Plans change and it's unclear if love, career…

HAPPY HALLOWEEN to those who celebrate! We're continuing our Halloween tradition by bringing you another Anne Rice jam with Special Guest Dr. Claire! Last year we covered The Vampire Lestat and you should totally go back and listen to that one too. This time we didn't go for three hours - two and a half hours is not three hours. We got off the rail…

Welcome to spooky season, where we get ghosts in our brains that make us incapable of remembering the name of the book or half of the characters! So so sorry, "Ted"! OooooooOOOOOoooo spooooky! We love Halloween here at Bodice Tipplers so we decided to give you not one but two Halloween books - the first is Devil May Care by Elizabeth Peters. The se…

He's Brig McCord (no really), a Hatchet-scenario survivor, ex-soldier of fortune, and rancher. She's Johanna something or other, hot redhead-in-certain-lights and general doer of nothing in particular (except for, of course, big game hunting with her dad.) It's a tale of murder, mystery, and doing it - it's Ride the Thunder by Janet Dailey! Content…

We had the great pleasure of sitting down with Alison Cochrun to talk about her very buzzy book, The Charm Offensive. If you'd like to purchase a copy, please consider buying from Alison's local independent bookstore, Vintage Books! At this time there are signed copies available! Dev Deshpande has always believed in fairy tales. So it’s no wonder t…

If you're seeing two Navy Wife episodes in your aggregator, this is the one that doesn't have a bunch of weird audio problems! We couldn't figure out how else to make sure that people set to automatically download episodes would get the corrected version once we replaced the file - our apologies. Life comes at you fast! When we recorded this episod…

She's brought her masters' degree in performance piano and her new Trans Am to the bright lights big city Detroit to... engage in corporate espionage for her eighteenth cousin once removed. He's a 36 year old high flying executive with the world and all the women in it at his feet. Together they do crimes cry a lot have a gross 80's boss-secretary …

Banner O'Brien is the worst possible lady doctor in 19th century Washington State, which I guess also makes her the best lady doctor around (but no, she is not good at this doctoring thing.) Adam Corbin is the biggest assholes in 19th century Washington State and he does have plenty of competition. They yell. They slap. They do it, a lot. He's alwa…

She's a pilot and owns her own charter service! He's an actor preparing for a role! Together they are oh my god they are so boring you guys. Welcome to a super short episode of Bodice Tipplers where our luck in series romance runs out! It's got... well, it's got planes. It's got a cute flight suit. It's got a shuttle launch, which you would think w…

Welcome to Robin Schone's The Lady's Tutor. She's a wealthy Victorian politician's wife, proper in every way. He's a halfbreed bastard... oh god I can't with this racist book, I just can't. It's about a woman who asks for sex lessons with no lab component, and then she realizes her husband sucks and opts for the lab after all. This is one Sara had …

Today we have a special treat for you - we got Henry from FireStarters to read Grace Metalious' Peyton Place with us and let me tell you... it's a real Peyton Place in there. I honestly can't even describe the plot of this book so let me just give you the trigger warnings, I guess? So this book is trying really hard to shock you, which shouldn't sh…

Meet gentle Lady Madelyne, kidnapped by the studly Baron Duncan! Meet a lot of people whose names we cannot recall! Wonder why "honor" is spelled the American way but "splendour" got that extra u! Thrill to dastardly deeds, "dastardly deeds" if you know what I mean, and last minute court intrigue for no reason! It's Honor's Splendour by Julie Garwo…

We have had all our shots and we are back in the same room so get ready for some seriously overexcited people! (That would be us but it would also be the people in this book.) Fancy Pants by Susan Elizabeth Phillips - she's a British socialite with big "See You Next Tuesday" energy, he's a hot redneck golfer with a self esteem problem, they slap ea…