We are talking about Naima Simone this week — and honestly, we could have picked any of Naima’s series to read because she’s just. that. good. We chose the whole series so we could talk more about the complexities of category romances, about wild plots, about alpha heroes, and about how Sarah is absolute trash for a rich hero and the working class girl on the other side of the tracks. Don’t @ her.

Next week, we’re back with an interstitial, and in two weeks, we’ve got Kate Clayborn joining us to talk about her upcoming book, Love at First! After that, we’re back to read alongs, but we’ll announce our next read on next week’s episode…see you then.

Thank you, as always, for listening! If you are up for leaving a rating or review for the podcast on your podcasting app, we would be very grateful!

Show Notes

• We had such a great time on Derek Craven Day. Check out our dedicated Derek Craven Day page. On Derek Craven Day, Lisa revealed the cover of her upcoming release, The Devil in Disguise, which comes out summer 2021. 
• The article in the New York Times about three mothers during the Pandemic was a hard, hard read. 
• We are all experiencing the strange time warp of the pandemic, but some of us even lost a hot year. 
• Maybe you would like to watch the Jem and Holograms movie. 
• Here are some fancy places: The Main Line, the Gold Coast, Park Avenue, and Scarsdale. Lake Forest is fancy, but it was also an actual sundown town, so yikes to that. 
• Here’s a quick primer about category romance from Love in Panels. Right now in February of 2021, Harlequin publishes 66 titles every month in 12 different series. 
• We’ve had two previous episodes that were specifically about category romance: a fun one with bananas old school categories, and another with Steve Ammidown about how Vivian Stephens invented the American category. Check out Steve’s new blog about the history of romance.
• Pre-pandemic, Jen interviewed Tony Horvath from Harlequin about Harlequin’s branding and cover art. 
• Light a candle for Harlequin Blaze.
• The Military Industrial Complex is a lot to unpack, but maybe you have the time.
• Jen is not the president and CEO of Great Lakes Cold Storage, but they are hiring. 
• Heterochromia is a thing, but David Bowie just got punched in the face.
• Naima's newest release is Back in the Texan's Bed.
• Movies we mentioned: GI Jane, where Demi Moore becomes the first female Navy SEAL. Mystic Pizza, which is not only about dumping fish into a convertible. Four Weddings and Funeral, which has a woman everyone calls Duckface, which is not great!
• Music: Youngblood by Jem and The Holograms

The Rest

• For even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net/episodes/2021/2/9/s0325-the-blackout-billionaires-by-naima-simone
• 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.