Is it our birthday? It is not! But who says you need to celebrate a birthday in real life to celebrate birthdays in romance novels? Not us! Today we’re talking about books that focus on birthdays — something that you would think would be more common in romance. We talk about birthdays that are cursed, about mistakes made on birthdays, about why heroes don’t seem to have birthdays, and about old reliable — I’m turning thirty, better get rid of this pesky virginity!

Tell us about your favorite birthday romances over on the Fated Mates Discord, where it’s probably someone’s birthday—or at least close to someone’s birthday. The Discord is accessible to our Patreon subscribers. By joining the Patreon, you meet other Fated Mates listeners and get an extra monthly episode from us. Support us and learn more at fatedmates.net/patreon.

Books

• Three Little Mistakes by Nikki Sloan
• Brazen and the Beast by Sarah MacLean
• Suddenly You by Lisa Kleypas
• Nero by SJ Tilly
• Wicked in Your Arms by Sophie Jordan
• All of Me by Tiya Rayne
• Witness to Passion by Naima Simone
• Birthday Girl by Penelope Douglas
• It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time by Kylie Scott
• Birthday Shot by Rilzy Adams
• The Viscount Who Loved Me by Julia Quinn

Notes

• You can visit The Book Nook bookstore and go on the Blue Bell Ice Cream Tour if you’re ever in Brenham, Texas.
• This reflecting pool situation, honestly, if someone wrote it into a book would be too heavy-handed a metaphor.
• What is clipping, you might be wondering. Well, something that’s bad, actually.
• Charlie Chaplin had babies when he was 73!
• We had a whole episode about Ruination in season 7.
• The “turning 3O book” Jen couldn’t think of is Charlie Quinn Lets Go by Jamie Varon. The nonfiction book she mentioned about “being frozen” is Girls Play Dead by Jen Percy.
• Chicago, don’t miss Jen and Sophia Benoit tonight (June 24), to celebrate the release of her first historical romance, The Very Definition of Love.

Sponsors

• Lotte James, author of From Rogue to Viscount, available in print, ebook, audiobook from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books, or wherever you get your books.
• Macmillan, publishers of Julie Murphy’s The Undergrads: Student Union, available in print, ebook, audiobook from Amazon, Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, Kobo or wherever you get your books.
• Blue Box Press, publishers of To Catch a Sinner, by Dylan Allen, writing as Lucy Wilson-Tagoe available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books, or wherever you get your books.
• Lumi Gummies. Go to lumigummies.com and use code FATEDMATES for 30% off your order.

The Rest

• For even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net/episodes/2026/6/23/s0839-birthday-romances
• 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.