In An Extraordinary Union, published in 2017, is the first in Cole’s The Loyal League series, both main characters are attempting to shape the politics of their time through espionage. Elle Burns is a freedwoman who has been living in New England with her parents after their enslaver died and his son freed them. She has an eidetic memory that has been treated somewhat as a party trick for most of her life, including by well-meaning, but thoughtless white abolitionists in the North. Elle joins the Loyal League, a network of spies aiming to aid the Union in the Civil War, to try and use her gift to help the cause. While Elle is working she meets Malcolm McCall, who has been sent by the Pinkertons to collaborate with Elle. He is also undercover—though he lives as a Rebel soldier, using his easy charm and good looks to ingratiate himself into Southern society. Cole takes a setting that has a history in romance, but one that ignores the people most subjugated by it and gives us a story that is part espionage thriller, part slow burn enemies to lovers.

Last episode, we covered Fabio’s not-so-humble upbringing, his journey to America, his early romance career, and his rise to fame. In this episode, we’ll start at the height of Fabio Mania in 1994 and end in present day, thirty years later. We’ll be taking you through viking battles, chivalry lessons, an A-list celebrity beef, and, unfortunately, a right wing rabbit hole. As a spokesman, Fabio billed himself as “a gentleman,” but what did he become instead? 

In the 90s the face of romance was the Italian cover model Fabio Lanzoni, who broke out of the insular romance fandom into mainstream superstardom, an act that has not been repeated by any cover model since. Known briefly as “The Fabulous Fabio,” he and his managers parlayed his success in romance modeling into an internationally recognized brand. Fabio was no longer just a model, but a spokesman for romantic, courtly love.

But what some people might not know is that even during the height of his fame, he was a lightning rod amongst romance fans and authors. Some embraced him for increasing book sales, and others felt like they were being made a fool of.

This is going to be a two part episode, and in part one we are covering Fabio’s rise to fame, the romance authors who loathed him, and how a conservative man uncomfortable with overt sexuality became synonymous with salacious book covers.

Hold Fast is a medieval Scottish romance and MacArthur invites and garners a lot of comparisons to perhaps the most famous romance novelist who wrote this subgenre: Julie Garwood. Hold Fast is the story of a woman who was handfasted to an abusive laird and once free of that arrangement, assumes she will never be in a relationship with a man again. Her love interest Ewan is laird of a nearby, rival clan whose lost members of his family in ways that made him anxious to fall in love, so he similarly assumes that he will never marry. Both assumptions get complicated when they meet each other and are immediately drawn together. Reni from @reniesan joined us for this episode and chose this book for us.

Maybe a yearly tradition? Where we recommend books to each other. Chels recommended the first in the Psy-Changeling series to Beth because of their shared love of Heather Guerre. Emma recommended a Carla Kelly because she’s quickly becoming a pod favorite. Keeping with last episode, Beth recommended two contemporaries. Emma and Chels did an uno reverse to each other and recommended two kind of heavy-hitter political histroms. A good time was had by all.

Keeper of the Dream, published in 1992, has this real threat of danger throughout the book. Arianna is the daughter of the Welsh prince and Raine pledges his fealty to Henry II, who is currently invading Wales. In the first scene, Raine kills one of Arianna’s brothers in a skirmish and the book doesn’t really let up from there. Arianna is a seer and has visions, which include insight into the past and future. Raine is the unloved, illegitimate son of an earl and he is seeking power and status by trying to secure his own lands. Williamson writes an incredibly romantic and funny love story on top of this violent war. That opening scene doesn’t sound like it could be the beginning of what I could describe as a cute, miscommunication romance. Or I could describe it as a bodice ripper. Or one of the saddest romances I’ve ever read. This book is a lot of things as once, but Williamson pulls it off.

Fingersmith by Sarah Waters is a Victorian crime novel centered around two young women: Susan Trinder, who grew up in a house of thieves, and Maud Lilly, a lady who is trapped by her uncle in a macabre house called Briar, and compelled to work for him as a secretary. When it was initially published in 2002, Fingersmith made waves for its central lesbian relationship, as well as its shocking twist in the second act. The book was critically lauded: shortlisted for both the Booker Prize and the Orange Prize, launching Sarah Waters into literary stardom. Through popular adaptations like 2005’s BBC miniseries directed by Aisling Walsh, and 2016’s The Handmaiden, directed by Park Chan Wook, the story of Fingersmith has found a broader audience, and is widely beloved to this day.

In this episode, we’re specifically focused on Waterloo, Napoleon’s last stand and a favorite backdrop of historical romance. Waterloo took place June 18, 1815, when Napoleon’s Army of the North was met by the Seventh Coalition, an army composed of Wellington’s English troops, and various German and Dutch units at a small village just outside of Brussels. Around 50,000 soldiers died in the conflict. The battle led to the voluntary surrender of Napoleon to the British a month later, after a series of increasingly desperate military and political moves on his part, and his eventual final exile on St. Helena, a remote island in the Atlantic Ocean. The battle happens right in the middle of the Georgian and Regency periods, a favorite setting for historical romance. This, of course, means Waterloo has a huge presence in the genre, as a setting, as a disabling event for characters, as a fulcrum pushing England over the cliff into the modern age. We’re going to talk about the history and impact of the battle on real life and in fiction.

Published in 2022, A Caribbean Heiress in Paris is the first full-length historical romance from Adriana Herrera. We follow Luz Alana Heith-Benzan, who travels to the Exposition Universelle in Paris to expand her family’s rum trade throughout Europe. It’s there that she meets James Evanstan Sinclair, the Earl of Darnick, a Scottish man who works in whisky and goes from being her rival, to her friend, to her husband. The book is a really fun twist on marriage of convenience: a business partnership where the partners are so in love they can’t think straight. Join us and Graciella @grapiedeltaco as we have a little too much fun.

Meredith Duran has an unlikely publishing story: at her sister’s encouragement, she submitted her first manuscript, Duke of Shadows, to the Gather.com first chapters contest, and won first prize: Duke of Shadows would be published by Pocket Books. Duran followed up with Bound by Your Touch and Written on Your Skin, two late Victorian novels starring friends: Viscount Sanburne, the happy-go-lucky rake who uses his dissipation to conceal something much darker, and Phineas Granville, a spy-turned-earl who is drawn back into the game by a beautiful woman he’s indebted to. Duran’s one of my favorite historical romance authors, and she’s also the author Reformed Rakes listeners have most requested get a standalone episode. I’m very pleased that we can make that happen today.

A Sherry Thomas story is built around one central conflict and then mining as much story from that conflict as possible. In her debut novel Private Arrangements, we follow Gigi and Camden who have the ideal marriage. They live separately and now after ten years Gigi wants a divorce. Camden says he’ll give her one after she gives him an heir. Their separation, sparked by an act of fraud of Gigi’s part, propels Camden into a cycle of anger against her. He refuses to forgive Gigi. Here is where Thomas shines with a couple’s attempted reconciliation and the subsequent heartache and triumphs that follow.

Last episode, we covered the rise of Janet Dailey, one of romance’s biggest stars in the 1970s and 80s. A secretary turned millionaire, Dailey was one of the genre’s biggest success stories, but her husband’s work as her manager, and his interest in making her the #1 author in the world, fueled “Svengali” rumors. If you haven’t already, go back and listen to Janet Dailey: Part One for the full story, as this is information you’ll need for what’s to come in this episode. This week we’re picking up where we left off: we’ll be talking about Janet Dailey’s plagiarism scandal in 1997, an event that rocked the romance world and tarnished Dailey’s reputation. 

In 1997, a scandal rocked the world of romance: Janet Dailey, one of the most successful and prolific romance authors of all time, got caught plagiarizing the work of Nora Roberts, one of the other most successful and prolific romance authors of all time. Before the scandal, Janet Dailey was the queen of American romance. Born in small-town Iowa, married in Omaha, and settled in Ozarks; She was a down-to-earth, blue-jeaned rebuttal to the only romance author that outsold her in the 70s and 80s: Barbara Cartland. In 1997 the Internet was in its infancy, so public memory of this scandal is fragmented. This is going to be a two-part episode, and in part one we are covering Dailey’s life before she fell from grace for plagiarism. Make no mistake: this is not just boring backstory: this episode is about fame, country music, violence, and one very controversial husband. Step into your boots and get out your fiddle, we’re going to Branson.

Tom and Sharon Curtis’ most famous work is 1984’s The Windflower published under the pen name Laura London. The Windflower is about a young sheltered woman named Merry who is kidnapped by the pirates on a ship called The Black Joke, and falls in love with her captor, the excruciatingly handsome second-in-command, Devon Crandall. Largely considered a classic of the genre, The Windflower is heartwarming, surprising, and very, very funny. Haley, you can find her @haleystewfart on TikTok, joined us on our discussion.

Currently on hiatus from writing historical romance, Mallory has written eleven histroms. Her books often are genre hybrids, with a mystery plot as an undercurrent with the romance. The books are Regencies and edge toward the wallpaper line, with a few historical inaccuracies, almost dollhouse like settings and sometimes some incomprehensible world building. For the Earl’s Pleasure is a mystery-romance hybrid as we try to uncover what led to Valerien Lord Rainewood attempted murder, which now has him unconscious in an undisclosed location. But luckily for Valerian, the object of his longtime teasing and bullying, Abigail Smart has a gift: she can see ghosts and while Valerian is unconscious, he appears to Abigail.

Today we’re going to talk about a sometimes polarizing topic—pregnancy in romance. We think pregnancy poses some interesting narrative questions and conflicts. For historical romance novels, babies and pregnancy bring up questions that aren’t really as much of a contemporary concern like legitimate heirs and who will inherit what estate. What does a person do if they have a child outside of wedlock? More universally, how does this pregnancy affect the relationship? Sanjana (@baskinsuns) join us today to give us some of her thoughts as well!

Today is a very special episode voted on by our Patreon subscribers. A starchy hero is uptight, obsessed with morals and propriety, and often a bit awkward in company. He’s often an aristocrat who puts too much value in his social standing, and doesn’t take enough time to smell the roses. With the help of a love interest, his entire world will be shaken up, until Whites is no longer his favorite club and suddenly, maybe frolicking through the trees seems like a good idea. The rakes categorize some of our top starchy heroes, men who are about to finally meet their match.

Today, the Reformed Rakes discuss Think of England by K.J. Charles along with special guest Mel. Set in the early 20th century, the story follows Captain Archie Curtis as he arrives at Sir Hubert’s estate. This isn’t merely a social call, as Archie suspects Sir Hubert of purposely sabotaging weapons sent to British troops during the Boer War. Once there, Archie meets Daniel, a man who also has a purpose beyond the social. Archie takes an immediate dislike to Daniel, a man so outwardly and obviously queer, yet, as they realize their aligned objectives, Archie begins to evaluate his own thoughts and feelings.

Midsummer Moon features what Kinsale calls the “hedgehog humor” of some of her lighter novels and is the origin of that label. Midsummer Moon is goofy! It does in fact feature a hedgehog, along with an aphrodisiac salt, a pre-Alexander Graham Bell invention of a telephone-like device, an inventor heroine named Merlin and a Duke with so many names that Merlin lands on calling him “Mister Duke” most of the time. Midsummer Moon might sound kooky, and it is, but it still comes with typical Kinsale character driven gut emotional punches that we love so much here. Kinsale’s strength comes from complex characters who, in a genre full of tropes and iterations and reiterations, are singular.

The Bow Street Runners, like Newgate Prison, are one of those setting markers that tells historical romance readers “oh we’re in a historical romance in London, probably in pre-Victorian.” A few different authors have written whole series centered on Runners as heroes—Lisa Kleypas, Kate Bateman, Jillian Eaton, and they pop up in quite a few different standalone books as well. But like how we investigated in our Newgate Prison episode, we’re interested in the why and the how of Bow Street becoming a part of the historical romance canon of setting markers. The proto-police force existed for a little less than a century, initially differed greatly in their mission than police forces of today, and would be nearly obsolete by the time Queen Victoria was crowned.