Another deep dive episode, and this one feels like it shouldn't have taken so long! We're reading Run Posy Run, talking about the way Cate C. Wells walks a fine line of mafia romance while keeping the book on the morality chain side of the line from dark romance. We talk about heroines against the wall, heroes who have to suffer, the way violence fits into these romances, and about sex and how it's deployed in these books to enormous effect.

We love this one (as you all know), and we were so excited to go back to it and give it the deep read it deserved. You can find all of our deep dives at the Fated Mates Book Club.

It's that time of year again--Sarah's next book, These Summer Storms (complete with sexy, silent, deeply competent hero) is out in July and she is going on tour! What's more, there is a real deal Fated Mates LIVE planned for July 8th in St. Louis, MO! Get tickets to any of these events (Jen will be at a bunch of them, and other pod friends will be popping up along the way) at sarahmaclean.net/tour! If you can't make the tour, you can preorder These Summer Storms signed with a special romance dust jacket from The Ripped Bodice.

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The Book

Run Posy Run by Cate C. Wells

Notes

• A boat, ship whatever, ran into the Brooklyn Bridge, and here’s a video of a woman who is a mariner explaining what might have happened.
• The Chicago River is an engineering marvel. In 1887, they reversed the river and sent it out to the Mississippi rather than having it flow into Lake Michigan. They were moving rivers around in Rhode Island because of Mayor SOMEBODY and his desire to turn Providence into the Venice of the United States. Waterfire is a Providence thing, but it isn’t the same as the water fire[s] in Cleveland. The greatest of the Great Lakes is Lake Superior, to be honest, and it’s not afraid to tell everyone about it. Station Eleven is a great book set in and around the Great Lakes. No one ever talks about Lake Huron except for Jenny Holiday. Great Lakes, Great Times!
• The New Jersey mob loved The Sopranos.
• There is a short story now available about Dario & Posy’s daughter called Made Man.
• The psychopath vs. sociopath continuum.
• You can listen to our previous episodes for more about the difference between morality chain and dark romance.

Sponsors

• Patricia Grayhall, author of A Place for Us, available in print and ebook from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books or wherever you get your books.
• Underlined: Where Books Are Life, a place for young readers to explore find their next book obsession along with quizzes, reading lists, book trailers and more. Visit getunderlined.com.
• Darci St. John, author of Racing Heart, available in print, ebook, or with your monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited.
• Avon Books, publishers of Alexis Daria's Along Came Amor, available in print, ebook or audio from Amazon, Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, or wherever you get your books.

The Rest

• For even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net/episodes/2025/6/3/0737-run-posy-run-by-cate-c-wells
• 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.