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💌 You've Got Mail 💌 Epistolary Penpal Romance Books | Romanceopoly Recommendations
Episode 87 • 14th June 2024 • Reading Under the Covers: A Romance Novel Podcast • Under the Covers Book Blog
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In today's episode of Reading Under the Covers a Romance Novel Podcast we are bringing you more book recommendations for our Romanceopoly reading challenge. This week's prompt is read an epistolary romance. These are often called pen pal or you've got mail trope. And we are not just talking letters, we've got everything from Contemporary pen pals, Digital you've got mail, New adult epistolary, and more!

Plus you can find even more recommendations on the blog: https://www.underthecoversbookblog.com/epistolary-romance-books

Books Mentioned:

Watch the trailer: https://youtu.be/vP9eDmX0ow0?si=i2Ma6F41ecrr4hHS

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Transcripts

Francesca:

Welcome to the Reading Under the Covers

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podcast, a romance novel podcast.

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I'm Francesca from Under the Covers

Book Blog, and today we are doing a

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Romanceopoly book recommendations episode.

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If you're not aware or you're not

following along with us, Romanceopoly

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is a year long reading challenge where

you can explore all different subgenres

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of romance, try something new, and even

get a little bit out of your comfort

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zone with a couple of picks as well.

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There is still time to participate

in the reading challenge.

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You can read as much or

as little as you want.

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All the rules, printables, and materials

that you're going to need to participate

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in this fun reading challenge are on

our blog at underthecoversbookblog.

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com and just click on challenge.

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The prompt that I'm tackling today

is the post office and that is

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to read an epistolary or online

romance and I have a list of nine

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books to talk to you about today.

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Most of those are recommendations and

a couple that are on my TBR as well,

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including a movie that you can watch on

Netflix, which I really enjoyed as well.

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I'll also leave a link to our blog post

where there are even more recommendations.

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We have 24 epistolary romance and online

romance recommendations on the blog.

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So I'll leave a link to

that in the show notes.

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And if you're part of our online

community, you can access the book

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database, and we have even more

epistolary and online romances

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already tagged on there as well.

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And if you're not yet part of

our online community, you can

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go to underthecoversbookblog.

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com slash community and

learn more about it.

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And now let's just dive right into

the recommendations for epistolary

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romance books that we absolutely loved.

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This is something that we've always

really enjoyed reading here at Under

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the Covers, As people over the years

have really gotten more into reading

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specific tropes and even micro

tropes, this has become more popular.

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I think not everybody necessarily knows

it as epistolary or online romance.

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Some other names for this

trope could be pen pal romances

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or a you've got mail trope.

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So you're going to find a lot

of that in all of the books

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that are included in this list.

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And why not just start off with

one of my absolute favorites?

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This is actually more of a two for one

because there is a series or duology

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and both books are epistolary romances

so they both fit this category.

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The book that I'm going to talk to

you about is Sincerely Carter by

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Whitney G and the second book is

Forget You Ethan by also Whitney G

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and they're both available on Kindle

Unlimited so you can read both of them.

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I highly recommend that you do that.

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Now, you may have heard me talk

about Whitney G before, and one

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of the things that I really always

love about her writing is that she

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really writes amazing jerk heroes.

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And that is not what you're going

to find in Sincerely Carter.

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Sincerely Carter is just a really

sweet, Friends to Lovers romance.

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Now both of our main characters in this

are basically childhood nemesis kind

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of friends and they started writing

notes to each other even back when

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they first met and they like to argue

whether that was in fourth grade or

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fifth grade when they became friends.

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And we're not necessarily

talking about love notes here.

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At the time, there was even death threats.

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But they've become really good friends,

they're really in tune with each other,

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and they've never seen each other as

anything other than best friends until

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the very last year of college when

Carter realizes that he wants more,

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and he's gonna go out and get it.

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And I really appreciate a hero that falls

first and falls hard and goes for it.

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Like I said, if you were expecting a

Whitney G jerk hero, this is not it, but

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it is the sweetest, most adorable, cutest

love story, perfect summer read as well.

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And even if you're not that

into New Adult, I think you

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should give this one a try.

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The second book that I'm going to

recommend to you guys, it's also one

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that I absolutely adored, and it is

also available on Kindle Unlimited, I

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believe at the time, at least in the US.

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This is also a read and listen,

so you can get the audio book.

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on Kindle Unlimited, and I

absolutely think you should do that.

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But the book is Dirty Letters by

Vi Keeland and Penelope Ward, and

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this author duo writes the best,

most addictive, contemporary rom com

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kind of stories, also with amazing

witty banter between the characters.

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And Dirty Letters was so much fun.

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The two main characters start

off as pen pals across the world.

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So there was a program that the schools

organized when they were children,

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and the hero of the story is a boy in

Britain, and the heroine is an American

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girl, and they basically become pen pals

through this school program, and they

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continuously write to each other until

one day the boy just stops responding

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to the letters, and the girl really

feels like she lost her best friend,

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and she's not very happy about that.

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However, they finally reconnect

as adults still through letters.

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They've never really met each other.

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They don't know who the other one is.

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And as those letters as adults change,

obviously their deep connection

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and feelings change as well.

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But the base of that connection

was always how they felt for each

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other as children and that emotional

connection that they develop.

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So now it's just the normal

transition that their feelings

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are going to grow from there.

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And he has a big secret that

he has not told her about.

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The letters get steamier and the

possibility of them actually finally

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meeting in person get closer.

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And I consumed this book in one sitting.

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It was so good.

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It's so addictive.

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If you've read a Vi Keeland

Penelope Ward collaboration before,

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you probably already know that.

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So you're going to get a

lot more of that as well.

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And at the same time, it is a little bit

of an emotional story, so I think when

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it comes to a true epistolary romance,

this is the perfect choice to pick up.

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The next book on this list is The

Happy Ever After Playlist by Abby

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Jiménez, and I really enjoy this book,

especially as the characters basically

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meet via text, and their relationship

also develops via text as well.

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This book starts out with our heroine,

who is an artist, and her life is

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in total shambles, and a doggy.

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happens to jump in her car and

she takes him home with her.

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He's a bundle of joy and obviously

she's trying to reach the owner to

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let them know that she has the dog and

make arrangements to reconnect the two,

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but her texts keep going unanswered.

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And she keeps bonding

with the adorable dog.

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Until finally, the owner of the

dog appears and he happens to

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be a musician who's touring in

Australia and he wants his dog back.

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So their relationship starts

developing through text messages.

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At this point, she doesn't want to

give up the dog without a fight.

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and he wants his dog back.

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As always with an Abbie Jimenez book,

it's going to be emotional, but it has

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just the right amount of romantic comedy

in there as well to keep you satisfied,

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and it's just a really sweet romance.

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I think any of her books are great summer

reads, and this one was no exception.

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And from something super sweet, we're

going to go to something more erotic

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and a little bit darker, and we're going

to recommend Hard Time by Cara McKenna.

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I read this book for Romanceopoly

as well a few years back.

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I think it was in 2019 where the

prompt was to read about an ex con

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hero and that's what we have here.

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It is an ex con hero.

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The heroine is a librarian and she's

the new outreach librarian at the

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correctional facility and he's an inmate

and he's determined to win her attention

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and he does that through letters.

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Obviously, this is an erotic

romance, so you're going to get a

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lot more steam with this one, even

when it's just in correspondence.

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I think you'll definitely enjoy this

one if that is a genre that either A,

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you've read, or you want to read more of.

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There's a great emotional connection

between the two characters.

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It also delves more into the issues that

they face being together after He is

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released from jail and with her family

and society's acceptance of his past.

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I think that the author did a great job

at exploring all of those feelings and

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all of those issues while at the same

time keeping this book very much an

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erotic romance and with a great connection

between the two main characters.

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Now if what you're looking for is a

historical romance, there are plenty

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of historical romances that are

epistolary romances and you'll find

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a few of those also on the blog post.

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There's definitely more there.

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But we wanted to recommend something that

maybe you haven't heard about before and

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that is One Perfect Dance by Jude Knight.

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This is a best friends, childhood

friends to lovers romance.

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It is epistolary romance as well.

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The hero is a travel writer and while

he's away, the heroine writes letters

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to him because he's her best friend

from childhood and she is now a widow.

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Wants to start a family, and when he

is back in England the connection and

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their sparks change from friendship to

something more, and what they have to

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overcome is family trying to keep them

apart, especially his stepbrothers.

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Now for the next couple of books that

I'm going to mention, these are the

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ones that are on my TBR to read for

this prompt, and I'm most excited to

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read basically all of them actually.

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In fact, one of them I had started

when it came out and I put it

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down not because it wasn't good.

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I was in a huge slump and I need to

go back to it because it was highly

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recommended when it came out by so many

of you and I just have to go back to it.

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And that book is The Undertaking

of Heart and Mercy by Megan Bannen.

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This one I would classify

more as a fantasy romance, not

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necessarily strictly a romance.

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The hero and heroine

are enemies, basically.

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They can't stand each other.

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The heroine is in charge of her family's

undertaker business, and the hero is a

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marshal that is patrolling the wilds.

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It is set in sort of a magical world.

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They're always at odds with each

other, and after a frustrating

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encounter, the hero writes a

letter to a friend, basically.

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And To his surprise, there is an anonymous

response to his letter, so they start

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corresponding with each other without

knowing that they're corresponding with

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the person that they actually can't stand.

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As their world gets more dangerous,

their connection deepens and

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everything brings them closer together.

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And they'll have to deal with that,

plus having to find out who that

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closest friend that they've developed

a relationship with actually is.

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Another one that I'm super excited to

read as well is Man Down by Kate Meader.

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This is part of their Rookie Rebel series.

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It is a hockey romance series,

and the hero in the story is

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actually a former player, and

he is now running a hockey camp.

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He has been grieving the death of his

wife and his twins in an accident.

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And the way he's been coping with

that grief is to send text messages

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of his pain and his story to his

wife's old number until some of those

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messages start getting answered.

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And he develops this really deep

connection of healing and understanding

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with the person on the other end

that now has his wife's number.

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The heroine has now the responsibility

of finding herself as the single guardian

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of her little sister's kid and dog.

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And she finds solace in

these text messages with her

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mysterious stranger buddy.

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Except she doesn't know that the

person that she's been so friendly

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and getting so close to is that

hockey coach that she can't stand.

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Now, I don't know about you,

but that sounds like something

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that needs to be put in a movie

because it sounds like so much fun.

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And here at Under the Covers we're

real big fans of Kate Meader as

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well, so I can't wait to read it.

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And the next book that I'm going to

recommend to you guys here today is A

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Cosmic Kind of Love by Samantha Young.

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I've had this book on my

TBR since it came out.

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I was super excited to read it, and I

kind of forgot about it, and I don't

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know why because it is right up my alley.

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The heroine is a wedding planner,

the hero is an astronaut, and while

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the heroine was working on planning a

wedding for her client, she discovers

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some video messages from the bride's ex

boyfriend, who was at the time sending

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those video messages to her from space.

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Now she knows it's probably not the

best idea, but she starts sending her

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own video diaries to his email address.

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And because they're bouncing back,

she feels that it's probably safe.

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And, you know, he no

longer has that email.

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So it's safe to continue sending them.

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What she doesn't know is that somebody

at NASA had contacted him that these

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messages were coming in and he is

actually receiving all of those messages.

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And he is back down on earth.

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And as they start exchanging

emails, they start falling in love.

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And I think that that

sounds so fun and unique.

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That one's definitely at

the top of my TBR list.

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And the last book that I want to talk to

you guys about today is actually one that

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I haven't read, but I do highly recommend

that you watch the Netflix movie.

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It was such a great movie.

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It is more of a historical

fiction, but there is a very big

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thread of romance throughout the

story, and I absolutely loved it.

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So whether you want to read the book or

just watch the movie, I think this is a

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great addition to pick up this summer.

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And that is The Guernsey Literary

and Potato Peel Pie Society by

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Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows.

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The story is set in post World

War II London for part of it.

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The heroine is a writer and she's

kind of having writer's block, she

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has no inspiration, and she starts

corresponding with a man from Guernsey

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that had found her name in a book

and had decided to contact her.

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Now the world of the Guernsey

Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society,

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it is basically a book club, and

it was formed out of necessity as

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an alibi during German occupation.

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It is the quirkiest and most

adorable group of eccentric and

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just lovable endearing characters.

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And our heroine, the writer, decides

to travel to Guernsey and meet them

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and sort of have a book club meeting.

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I really enjoyed the movie.

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If you have a chance,

definitely give it a watch.

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I'm gonna also leave in the

show notes a link to the trailer

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so you can watch that as well.

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And if you have read the book, but

you haven't watched the movie, I

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would say definitely give it a shot.

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So, those are all the books that I have

on my list to share with you today.

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Hopefully you found something here that

you haven't read yet that you would like

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to read for Romanceopoly Post Office and

If you haven't started joining us yet for

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Romanceopoly, definitely give it a shot.

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There's still time to

join us for this year.

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You don't have to complete the whole

board to complete the challenge.

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So definitely look through the rules and

you can also find a link on the challenge

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page where you can join our community and

have access to a free tracker as well.

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So you will have access to

that part within our community

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without paying any monthly fee.

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Plus, you'll be able to see what other

people have read for the challenge

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and maybe get some inspiration

and share your own reads as well

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to help others find other books.

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And even if you're not joining us

for Romanceopoly, I hope that you

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do try out an epistolary romance.

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even if it's in the digital age.

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They are such fun reads and I'm

always on the lookout for even more

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recommendations, so if you have

any more, please send them our way.

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Don't forget I'll leave the blog

post linked in the show notes with 24

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recommendations, so you'll find all the

ones that I mentioned on here plus more.

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And you can also use the playlist on our

podcast for Romanceopoly recommendations

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where you can listen to other episodes

where we've talked about previous

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recommendations for other prompts.

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If you're enjoying our podcast,

don't forget to leave us a

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review or even just a rating.

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It really does help our podcast

and we would be immensely grateful.

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You can also access the video for this

podcast episode on our YouTube channel.

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I will also leave that link

in the show notes down below.

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We hope that you join us

at underthecoversbookblog.

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com.

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Subscribe to our newsletter.

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We'll be in your inbox every

Sunday with all the latest posts

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and content that we've created and

book recommendations for you guys.

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And we will see you again in the next one.

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Bye.

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