This is a bit different than our usual Halloween adjacent episodes -- we're talking about the rise of romance centered around ghostly secondary characters (Jen) and funeral homes and mortuaries (Sarah). These two themes have become more and more prevalent in romance over the last few years, and we talk about how and why they've risen and what they might mean -- considering the way romance reflects the world we live in.

We talk about the pandemic, about grief, about community and about the way humor and love find their ways into the cracks left by death.

If you want more romance content, maybe you want to join our Patreon, where you get another episode from us each month, and access to the incredible readers and listeners and brilliant people on the Fated Mates discord! Support us and learn more at fatedmates.net/patreon.

Also! We stay phonebanking! Join us this Saturday and next to phonebank with fellow romance lovers. Jen & Sarah are joined by special guests who will knock your socks off! Learn more and register at fatedmates.net/fatedstates.

If phonebanking isn't your thing, we're also raising money for downticket house and senate races, because state legislatures may not be sexy, but they sure hold all the power. Learn more, and give what you can at fatedmates.net/givingcircle.

The Books

• The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy by Megan Bannen
• The Dead Romantics by Ashley Poston
• Morbidly Yours by Ivy Fairbanks
• Pumpkin Spice & Poltergeist by Ali K. Mulford & K. Elle Morrison
• Rules for Ghosting by Shelly Jay Shore
• A Ghost in Shining Armor by Therese Beharrie
• Undertaking Love by Megan Montgomery
• Inheritance and The Mirror by Nora Roberts
• Temple of Persephone by Isabella Kamal
• Haunted Ever After by Jen DeLuca
• Mourning Wood by Heather Orgeron
• Big Witch Energy by Molly Harper

The Notes

• We have one more Fated States phone bank, or maybe you want to try ballot curing phone banking, which might feel less stressful.
• Reborn Yesterday by Tessa Bailey was released on March 16th, 2020. Three days later, California became the first state to give a “stay at home” order. On March 25th, we had an episode celebrating health care workers. Even at that time, we wondered how romance would process the pandemic, and we weren’t the only ones. In May 0f 2020, the New York Times published the names of 100,000 people who died, with the headline An Incalculable Loss; as of October of 2024, over 7 million people have died in the Coronavirus pandemic.
• Remember, remember the 5th of November is from Guy Fawkes and maybe you saw it in the movie V is for Vendetta.
• Tim Walz called Elon Musk a dipshit last week, Eminem (who is hot now?) showed up at a Kamala rally, as did Beyonce.
• The Day of the Dead is an important celebration meant to honor and commemorate those who have died, and Chicago’s National Museum of Mexican Art has a different exhibit to celebrate every year.
• Jen discovered there is an entire subgenre of books with ghostly banging that you might like, such as TBR: Dead but Well Read or Gang of Ghouls, but that don’t seem to be part of the pattern at hand we’re talking about. But you know.
• Mick Jagger went (and dropped out) of the London School of Economics. Who knew.

The Sponsors

• Brianna Bancroft, author of the Dash of Desire novella series, The Businesswoman and the Bartender; The Librarian and the Mechanic; and The Maestro and the Roofer available in ebook or with your monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited.
• Robyn Peterman, author of Fashionably Dead, available in print, ebook, or audiobook, or with your monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited.
• Katherine Grant, host of the Historical Romance Sampler Podcast. Listen now on your favorite podcasting app.
• M. Jacqueline Murray, author of Out of Time, available in print, ebook, or audiobook from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books, or in print, direct from the author.