The Sex Purge Movie Is Actually Good, Rachel Lynn Solomon on Celebrity Romance, and What We Consumed This Month

Sanjana and Tyler saw One Night Only, and, listener, they loved it. More on that before Business or Pleasure and Extracurricular author Rachel Lynn Solomon joins to talk about the fantasy and complications of celebrity romance. Plus: what our hosts read and watched in August (shoutout Scandal). The…

The State of Celebrity Romance, Lit Agent Ariele Fredman on What’s Next in Romance, and Our Q3 Internet Boyfriends

Why is it that some celebrity romances feel genuine and others feel like fake news? Sanjana and Tyler dig into the authenticity of it all before UTA literary agent Ariele Fredman joins to chat about what romance publishers want right now and what may be coming next. Then, Sanj and Tyler crown their…

"Realistic" Is the Wrong Word, Adrie Rose on Sex Workers in Romance, and The Pairing Homework

Sanjana airs a pet peeve—the "didn't feel realistic" critique—and she and Tyler make the case that exaggeration is one of romance's best tools. Then Adrie Rose, a former sex worker and editor of the book of essays I Hate My Job, joins to talk about how the genre handles sex workers (not well) despi…

Open-Door vs. Closed-Door Romance, Kate Goldbeck on Writing Under Reader Surveillance, and a Case for Cheating

Bring the steam: Sanjana and Tyler advocate that sex scenes count as character work and that too many books miss that opportunity. Then Kate Goldbeck—the author of You, Again and Daddy Issues—stops by to talk about what it's actually like to write romance in an era of chronically online readers and…

The Case for Bad Sex Scenes, Riss M. Neilson on Disability in Romance, and What We’ve Consumed This Month

Hear us out: An awkward sex scene can actually be better than a frictionless one. Take the examples Sanj and Tyler cite from Business or Pleasure and Act Your Age, Eve Brown! Then, Riss M. Neilson shares her experiences writing chronic illness and disability and delivering romance to characters who…

A Close Reading of an Emily Henry Profile, Naina Kumar on Rom-Com DNA, and the Yearner Hall of Fame

Why an Emily Henry interview now? Sanjana and Tyler dig into Bloomberg’s recent piece on the author, where she discusses Hollywood adaptations and delivers the all-timer line: “A lot of actors think that it’s less humiliating to pretend to be a Beatle than it is to pretend to be in love.” Then: Nai…

ReelShort Romance, Tritney on C-Dramas and the Bathtub Loophole, and Sherry Thomas Homework

Are you on the vertical-video bandwagon? Or perhaps you’ll be more persuaded by another phenomenon, the C-drama, once you’ve heard @tritney’s take on the Chinese romance boom that has finally hit America. (Of course, she brings her starter-pack picks for anyone who wants to see some of the best eye…

World Cup as Meet-Cute Fodder, KT Hoffman on Romance and Baseball, and a Bull Durham and Fever Pitch Doubleheader

Sanjana and Tyler open by making the case that the World Cup is a 48-country meet-cute machine (see: kilted Scotsmen throwing women over their shoulders in Boston bars). Then KT Hoffman joins to talk baseball in romance: why the minor leagues are more romantic than the majors, why slow-burn and bas…

Office Romance Recap, Lyla Sage on Cowboys and Small-Town Romances, and The Idea of You Reading Assignment

Tyler and Sanjana kick things off this week with their take on Netflix’s Office Romance: The Brett Goldstein–Jennifer Lopez movie that features Betty Gilpin delivering one of the great rom-com best-friend performances in recent memory. Then Lyla Sage joins to talk about cowboy romance: fantasy vs. …

In Defense of Age Gaps, Anna Maria Volkova on Games and the Russian MC, and What We've Been Reading

Sanjana takes the stand as the self-proclaimed number one age-gap defender, arguing that the trope is really about power, that demanding moral instruction from romance is a fundamentally conservative impulse, and that “reverse age-gap” is not a thing. Then debut novelist Anna Maria Volkova joins to…