I reflect on listener favorite episodes from 2020, share what I'll be speaking more of in 2021, and say thank you to the Holiday Fairies! (Originally recorded in January when 2021 was still fresh.)Show Notes:Shelf Love:Sign up for the email newsletter list | Website | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads | Email: Andrea@shelflovepodcast.comCheck out Shelf Love’s updated website including the transcript for this episodeShelf Love episodes with transcriptsListener Favorite Episodes from 2020 (Popular Vote - i.e. downloads)052. The Modern Romance Canon064. Women in Pants: Unpacking Problematic Faves041. The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang with Dr. Maria DeBlassie058. East Asian American Romances with Cultural Historian Hsu-Ming Teo033. Romance Myths & Misconceptions: Kennedy Ryan, Emma Barry, Talia Hibbert, Tif Marcelo, and Suzanne Jefferies063. The Three Waves of Romance with Eric Selinger045. History in Romance with Katrina Jackson, Rebekah Weatherspoon, Felicia Grossman061. Alphaholes with Jodie Slaughter: Unpacking Problematic FavesJess's Favorites: (You can hear Jess on 047. Rose Lerner Double Header with Shelf Lovely Jess)066. African Diaspora Conjuring Practices in Popular Culture & 067. Everyday Black Magic019. A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas with Penny Reid030. A Seditious Affair by KJ Charles with Emma Barry058. East Asian American Romances with Cultural Historian Hsu-Ming Teo046. A Conspiracy of Whispers by Ada Harper with Bree (from Kit Rocha)Super Special Thank You's who went above and beyond to help with Holiday Fairies:Bree Bridges (Half of Kit Rocha)Candace HarperHoliday Fairies: Amazing Newsletter Sponsors To SupportKatrina JacksonTasha L. HarrisonJodie SlaughterRoan ParrishTorrance SeneElizabeth EverettThe Bawdy BookwormsRomBkPodSmexy BooksMindy McKinleyNikki (Angelic Devil)

Shelf Love: A Romance Novel Book Club

085. Reflections on 2020 Listener Favorite Episodes, 2021 Plans

Evil Prince Jack Harbon busts captive romance out of its cage: is captivity and kidnapping only found in dark romance, or are its themes more prevalent? We discuss why this trope is pleasurable and different manifestations in popular culture: Beauty and the Beast, Persephone Hades, the patriarchy, medical school, and alien abduction.Show Notes:Shelf Love:Sign up for the email newsletter list | Website | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads | Email: Andrea@shelflovepodcast.comCheck out Shelf Love’s updated website including the transcript for this episodeShelf Love episodes with transcriptsGuest: Jack HarbonTwitter | Instagram | Website | His Beauty | WorshipMentioned:The Fascinating Link Between Alien Abduction Reports and Sadomasochistic Fantasies

084. Captive Romance: Problematic Favorite Tropes

1 Bonkers Book; 3 Joyless Hags. If you could escape earth, would you happily hitch your wagon to a lizard-man's space ship? When we scratch the surface of alien abduction romance, what do we find, and does insta-love exist? All of these questions are answered in the first ever Joyless Hags Book Club. I'm joined by Tasha L. Harrison and Katrina Jackson to discuss Alien Mate Experiment by Zenobia Renquist.-Show Notes:Shelf Love:Sign up for the email newsletter list | Website | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads | Email: Andrea@shelflovepodcast.comCheck out Shelf Love’s updated website including the transcript for this episodeShelf Love episodes with transcriptsGuests:Katrina Jackson: Twitter | Instagram | Kat’s Email newsletter | Buy Beautiful & DirtyKat's other episodes: An Unconditional Freedom | Polyamory/Financial Conversations | Kink | Angst | Religion | History | Blind Date With A Book Boyfriend by Lucy Eden | Modern Romance CanonTasha L. Harrison: Twitter | Tasha's website | Buy A Taste of Her Own MedicineTasha's other episodes: Tasha L. Harrison Writes Romance for Black People | A Duke by DefaultVibes:Earth is a Ghetto: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vr2xMRSObtoWe Discuss:Alien Mate Experiment by Zenobia Renquist

083. Earth is Ghetto: Joyless Hags Book Club

Dr. Julie Moody-Freeman, host of Black Romance Podcast, uses a multi-modal cultural studies perspective to engage students in critical engagement with Black romance texts to "liberate learners from the mimicry of the powerful."Show Notes:Shelf Love:Sign up for the email newsletter list | Website | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads | Email: Andrea@shelflovepodcast.comCheck out Shelf Love’s updated website including the transcript for this episodeShelf Love episodes with transcriptsGuest: Dr. Julie Moody-FreemanCenter for Black Diaspora at DePaul | TwitterListen to Black Romance PodcastWebsite | Apple Podcasts | SpotifyArticle we talk about:Cultural Studies, Multiculturalism, and Media Culture By Douglas Kellnerhttps://pages.gseis.ucla.edu/faculty/kellner/papers/SAGEcs.htmMentioned:Hsu-Ming Teo's interview that I mentioned in the episodehttps://read.dukeupress.edu/social-text/article-abstract/33/4 (125)/153/31135/Archives-and-Histories-of-Racial-CapitalismAnProgression of me discovering I might have ADHD:Awareness: 046. A Conspiracy of Whispers by Ada Harper with Bree (from Kit Rocha)Recognition: 053. Tasha L. Harrison Writes Romance For Black PeopleDawning Realization: 054. A Duke by Default by Alyssa Cole with Tasha L. Harrison

082. Critical Reading as Liberation from Mimicry of the Powerful

Part 1: https://shelflovepodcast.com/episodes/season-2/episode-80/080-i-now-pronounce-you-colonialism-capitalism-white-supremacy/Show Notes:Shelf Love:Sign up for the email newsletter list | Website | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads | Email: Andrea@shelflovepodcast.comCheck out Shelf Love’s updated website including the transcript for this episodeShelf Love episodes with transcriptsGuest: Dr. Margo HendricksWebsite | TwitterArticle we talk about:Archives and Histories of Racial Capitalism: An Afterward by Jennifer L. Morganhttps://read.dukeupress.edu/social-text/article-abstract/33/4 (125)/153/31135/Archives-and-Histories-of-Racial-CapitalismAnA very short starter reading list sent by Dr. Hendricks:Richard Hakluyt, Voyages and Discoveries: Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques, & Discoveries of the EnglishImtiaz Habib, Black Lives in the English Archives, 1500-1677Gretchen Holbrook Gerzina, Black London Before EmancipationPaul Gilroy, The Black AtlanticAnnette Gordon-Reed, Racism in AmericaThe Vision of China in the English Literature of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century. Edited by Adrian Hsia, Chinese U P, 1998Connexions: Histories of Race and Sex in North America, eds.,  Jennifer Brier, Jim Downs, Jennifer L. MorganStephanie Camp, "Early European Views of African Bodies: Beauty," Sexuality and Slavery, ed. Daina Ramey Berry and Leslie M. HarrisJerng, Mark C. Racial Worldmaking: The Power of Popular Fiction (2018)Baez, Jillian, "Navigating and Negotiating Latina Beauty" (In Search of Belonging: Latinas, Media, and Citizenship) (2018)Akhimie, Patricia, Shakespeare and the Cultivation of Difference: Race and conduct in the Early Modern WorldReaders: Critical Race Theory, Critical White Studies, Critical Indigenous StudiesElizabeth Kingston, "Romanticizing White Supremacy" (2018)Chess, Simone, Male-to-Female Crossdressing in Early Modern English Literature: Gender, Performance, and Queer RelationsAsexualities: Feminist and Queer Perspectives. Ed. Karli June Cerankowski and Megan Milks. New York: Routledge, 2014.

081. From History to histories

Have you ever wondered when Shelf Love would finally cover the unholy marriage of Colonialism, Imperialism, Capitalism, and White Supremacy? Dr. Margo Hendricks drops in to explain why you can't talk about just one because they're inextricably linked. Yes, this is still a romance novel podcast!-Show Notes:Shelf Love:Sign up for the email newsletter list | Website | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads | Email: Andrea@shelflovepodcast.comCheck out Shelf Love’s updated website including the transcript for this episodeShelf Love episodes with transcriptsGuest: Dr. Margo HendricksWebsite | TwitterArticle we talk about: Archives and Histories of Racial Capitalism: An Afterward by Jennifer L. Morgan Episodes Mentioned:073 & 074 about The Secular Scripture by Northrop Frye with Dr. Angela Toscano077 & 078 with Dame Jodie Slaughter about Twilight and Bridgerton (noodling on some ideas that eventually became my current research project)To Be Alone With You by Jodie Slaughter: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08Y92DR54/A very short starter reading list sent by Dr. Hendricks:Richard Hakluyt, Voyages and Discoveries: Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques, & Discoveries of the EnglishImtiaz Habib, Black Lives in the English Archives, 1500-1677Gretchen Holbrook Gerzina, Black London Before EmancipationPaul Gilroy, The Black AtlanticAnnette Gordon-Reed, Racism in AmericaThe Vision of China in the English Literature of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century. Edited by Adrian Hsia, Chinese U P, 1998Connexions: Histories of Race and Sex in North America, eds.,  Jennifer Brier, Jim Downs, Jennifer L. MorganStephanie Camp, "Early European Views of African Bodies: Beauty," Sexuality and Slavery, ed. Daina Ramey Berry and Leslie M. HarrisJerng, Mark C. Racial Worldmaking: The Power of Popular Fiction (2018)Baez, Jillian, "Navigating and Negotiating Latina Beauty" (In Search of Belonging: Latinas, Media, and Citizenship) (2018)Akhimie, Patricia, Shakespeare and the Cultivation of Difference: Race and conduct in the Early Modern WorldReaders: Critical Race Theory, Critical White Studies, Critical Indigenous StudiesElizabeth Kingston, "Romanticizing White Supremacy" (2018)Chess, Simone, Male-to-Female Crossdressing in Early Modern English Literature: Gender, Performance, and Queer RelationsAsexualities: Feminist and Queer Perspectives. Ed. Karli June Cerankowski and Megan Milks. New York: Routledge, 2014.

080. I Now Pronounce You Colonialism, Capitalism, & White Supremacy

You've heard of "there's only one bed" romance trope - are you ready for: "There's Only One Heart"? Kelly Reynolds from Boobies & Noobies invited me on her show in October 2020 and we discussed Austin Chant's Caroline's Heart. Plus, learn a bit about Shelf Love's exciting new research project.Show NotesShelf Love:Sign up for the email newsletter list | Website | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads | Email: Andrea@shelflovepodcast.comShelf Love episodes with transcriptsBook: Caroline's Heart by Austin ChantGuest: Kelly Reynolds from Boobies & Noobies Podcast@BoobiesPodcast on Twitter and InstagramLearn more about Shelf Love's Bridgerton Research project: https://shelflovepodcast.com/blog/posts/bridgerton-research 

079. There's Only One Heart: Caroline's Heart by Austin Chant (Crossover with Boobies & Noobies)

Will Bridgerton inspire romance curiosity for a new generation? Jodie Slaughter became a romance reader by way of Twilight and Twilight fanfiction. When newbies take their first clumsy steps into romancelandia, will they be welcomed with the benefit of the doubt or shunned for arriving at the HEA gates too late?Part 2 - listen to episode 77 for part 1.Show Notes:Don't miss part 1, 077. Twilight Fan Fiction: Climbing into a Can of Worms with Jodie Slaughter (part 1)Shelf Love:Sign up for the email newsletter list | Website | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads | Email: Andrea@shelflovepodcast.com15 Romance Novel Audiobooks that Combine Swoony Words with Great PerformancesCheck out Shelf Love’s updated website including the transcript for this episodeShelf Love episodes with transcriptsGuest: Jodie SlaughterTwitter | Instagram | Check out Jodie's BooksCans of Worms:Jodie on Shelf Love episode 061Twitter thread referenced in this episode: Elle McKinney on Literary Blackface

078. Romance Curious: Bridgerton So Hashtag Diverse (with Jodie Slaughter, part 2)

Twilight. Fan fiction. Bridgerton. Hashtag diversity. Plus countless cans of worms that we don't want to get into, yet nonetheless crank open. Dame Jodie Slaughter and I go on a journey to uncover gateways into romance, and why it's so hard to even identify that the thing people love in other media is the romance! Show Notes:Shelf Love:Sign up for the email newsletter list | Website | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads | Email: Andrea@shelflovepodcast.com15 Romance Novel Audiobooks that Combine Swoony Words with Great PerformancesCheck out Shelf Love’s updated website including the transcript for this episodeShelf Love episodes with transcriptsGuest: Dame Jodie SlaughterTwitter | Instagram | Check out Jodie's BooksCans of Worms:Jodie on Shelf Love episode 061Twitter thread referenced in this episodeThe Greatest Gift - one of Jodie's all-time fave Twilight AU fan fics

077. Twilight Fan Fiction: Climbing into a Can of Worms with Jodie Slaughter (part 1)

An alien abduction romance with a delightfully unexpected exploration of sexual pleasure. Morgan and Isabeau from Whoa!mance join me to discuss how Strange Love by Ann Aguirre unpacks cultural scripts and encourages generous curiosity. Also: the origin story of the Whoa!mance intro sigh.Show Notes:Shelf Love:Sign up for the email newsletter list | Website | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads | Email: Andrea@shelflovepodcast.com15 Romance Novel Audiobooks that Combine Swoony Words with Great PerformancesCheck out Shelf Love’s updated website including the transcript for this episodeShelf Love episodes with transcriptsGuests: Whoa!mance (Morgan and Isabeau)Twitter | Instagram | Facebook | Website | Listen on any podcast app!Book DiscussedStrange Love by Ann AguirreMisc: I mentioned the episode about My Beautiful Enemy by Sherry Thomas with Dr. Jayashree KambleTop Whoa!mance episode recommendations for Shelf Love listenersEpisode 92: Discreet Bylines — Behind These Doors by Jude LucensEpisode 91: Summa Cum Laude — Office Hours by Katrina JacksonEpisode 89: Spring Fling with Scarlett Peckham — Part One & Part 2Episode 70: Triage à Trois — Hummingbird by LaVyrle SpencerEpisode 6: Shanna by Kathleen E. WoodiwissEpisode 50: Author Interview — Melonie JohnsonEpisode 48: For the Troops — A Mermaid’s Kiss by Joey W. Hill

076. Generous Curiosity - Strange Love by Ann Aguirre with Whoa!mance

Jennifer Crusie drops in to talk about Dove Bars, dogs, normative ideals of white middle class baby boomer womanhood, divorce, unconditional love, RWA, and all the good times ahead we've been wondering about.Show Notes:Shelf Love:Sign up for the email newsletter list | Website | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads | Email: Andrea@shelflovepodcast.com15 Romance Novel Audiobooks that Combine Swoony Words with Great PerformancesCheck out Shelf Love’s updated website including the transcript for this episodeShelf Love episodes with transcriptsGuest: Jennifer CrusieArgh Ink Blog | WebsiteShelf Love Episodes mentioned:Episode 002: the episode about Crusie's Oeuvre that started it allEpisode 068: Happily Ever Existential Dread: how the desire for HEA is all about a future we don't have to imagineEpisode 047: Shelf Lovely Jess drops in to talk about how I used Crusie to lure her into my new podcast and she never left (also we talk about Rose Lerner's books and Sunfire romance)Crusie Recommends:Sarina Bowen - The Year We Fell DownRed, White, and Royal Blue by Casey McQuistonThe Murderbot Diaries - Martha WellsContemporary romance by Mhairi McFarlaneRivers of London Series by Ben AaronovitchErich Fromm - The Art of Loving

075. Jennifer Crusie: Nothing But Good Times Ahead

Dr. Angela Toscano returns to continue our discussion of The Secular Scripture by Northrop Frye and how it's an urtext for understanding the romance genre. You'll definitely want to go listen to part 1, which is episode 73, before listening to this oneIn part 2, we'll be discussing how identity must evolve in romance, the possibility inherent to the romance, and how we can have more critical conversations about problematic things in romance without demanding its eradication - because let's be honest, everything is problematic.Show Notes:Listen to part 1: 073. Structuring Romance: The Secular Scripture pt 1 with Dr. Angela ToscanoShelf Love:Sign up for the email newsletter list | Website | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads | Email: Andrea@shelflovepodcast.com15 Romance Novel Audiobooks that Combine Swoony Words with Great PerformancesCheck out Shelf Love’s updated website including the transcript for this episodeShelf Love episodes with transcriptsRomancelandia Holiday Fairies Gift Drive (2020)Guest: Dr. Angela ToscanoTwitter | Website | JPRS Notes & Queries | Patreon - Romance Lessons from Dr. ToscanoBooks Discussed:The Secular Scripture by Northrop FryeWhat to read next if you like Frye:On Fairy Stories by JRR TolkeinA Natural History of the Romance by Pamela RegisAnatomy of Criticism by Northrop FryeMeditations on Don Quixote by Ortega y GassetTrue Story of the Novel by Margaret DoodyPoetic Diction by Owen BarfieldThe diagram I drew when reading about identity in The Secular ScriptureRomancelandia Holiday Fairies Gift Drive (2020)

074. Ma'am, this is Problematic: The Secular Scripture pt 2 with Dr. Angela Toscano

Dr. Angela Toscano, a romance scholar, writer, and researcher joins Shelf Love to discuss literary critic Northrop Frye's 1976 book The Secular Scripture: A study of the structure of romance. Although it's 54 years old and isn't only about romance novels, it has a lot to say that's relevant to the popular romance genre in the year 2020 - and Angela and I call on many examples from more recent books you may be familiar with as well as other examples from pop culture.For example, how is the structure of romance fundamentally different from that of literary, epic works? Why is "mere entertainment" so derided by the academy and what's wrong with the phony infinite? What's the difference between a maze with no plan and a maze, not without a plan? How does romance focus on the polarity between the idyllic world we want and the subterranean world we don't want, but not the life we have? And how does the dog always know?This is part 1 of our conversation. Part 2: out 12/26/20.-Show Notes:Shelf Love:Sign up for the email newsletter list | Website | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads | Email: Andrea@shelflovepodcast.com15 Romance Novel Audiobooks that Combine Swoony Words with Great PerformancesCheck out Shelf Love’s updated website including the transcript for this episodeShelf Love episodes with transcriptsRomancelandia Holiday Fairies Gift Drive (2020)Guest: Dr. Angela ToscanoTwitter | Website | JPRS Notes & QueriesBooks Discussed:The Secular Scripture by Northrop FryeThe Hathaways by Lisa KleypasRomancelandia Holiday Fairies Gift Drive (2020)

073. Structuring Romance: The Secular Scripture pt 1 with Dr. Angela Toscano

This episode is about feelings, and romance novels, and hope, and anger, and powerlessness, and the year 2020.Show Notes:Shelf Love:Sign up for the email newsletter list | Website | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads | Email: Andrea@shelflovepodcast.comRomancelandia Holiday Fairies Gift Drive (2020)Check out Shelf Love’s website including the transcript for this episodeShelf Love episodes with transcriptsI mentioned Jayashree Kamble's idea of "the media romance," which she writes about in Making Meaning in Popular Romance Fiction (on sale until 12/31/20 for $20!) She also writes about it in her chapter in the Routledge Research Companion to Popular Romance Fiction "Romance in the Media."Romancelandia Holiday Fairies Gift Drive (2020)Thank you to beta listeners for this episode: Hannah Hearts Romance, Jhen, and Madison

072. I Just Have A Lot of Feelings

The Swoon Awards organizers drop in to share their exciting new romance award for readers. Ari, Amber, Lynell, and Nick were the perfect crew to join me to talk about favorite romances of the year and along the way we explain our own personal criteria for deciding what made the cut.Show Notes:Shelf Love:Sign up for the email newsletter list | Website | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads | Email: Andrea@shelflovepodcast.comRomancelandia Holiday Fairies Gift Drive (2020)Check out Shelf Love’s updated website including the transcript for this episodeShelf Love episodes with transcriptsGuests: The Swoon AwardsWebsite - submit a nomination/vote | TwitterAri: Goodreads ; Twitter | Amber: Blog ; Twitter | Lynell: Blog ; Twitter | Nick: Blog ; TwitterBooks Discussed:Sign up for my email newsletter for the full list with more details!Top Five Reads for 2020:Ari's Top 5See Me After Class by Meghan QuinnCall Me Maybe by Cara BastoneThe Roommate by Rosie DananThe Lineup by Meghan QuinnThe Tip-Off by Rebecca JenshakAmber's Top 5The Roommate by Rosie DananYou Should See Me in My Crown by Leah JohnsonGirl Gone Viral by Alisha RaiTake a Hint, Dani Brown by Talia Hibbert (episode with Talia Hibbert)Boyfriend Material by Alexis HallLynell's Top 5Office Hours by Katrina Jackson (Katrina Jackson is on Shelf Love's editorial advisory board and a frequent guest)Blind Date with a Book Boyfriend by Lucy Eden (episode about this book!)Ties that Tether by Jane IgharoDirty Hearts by Kenya WrightHow to Catch a Queen by Alyssa ColeNick's Top 5The Widow of Rose House by Diana BillerAccidentally Engaged by Farah HeronSpoiler Alert by Olivia DadeThe Hidden Moon by Jeannie Lin (episode that talks about how love was different in the Tang dynasty)The Psy-Changeling Series by Nalini SinghAndrea's Top 5The Widow of Rose House by Diana BillerHow to Catch a Queen by Alyssa Cole (episode with Alyssa Cole)Harbor by Rebekah Weatherspoon (episode about Harbor and my favorite episode with Rebekah)The Rakess by Scarlett Peckham (episode about The Rakess, episode where Scarlett was a guest)White Whiskey Bargain by Jodie Slaughter (episode about White Whiskey Bargain, episode where Jodie was a guest)—Support the Holiday Fairies Gift Drive

071. Personal Favorite Romances from 2020 with The Swoonies

On Shelf Love, we discuss romance novels and how they relate to our personal lives, relationships, and the society that we live in. We also play fun games and recommend other books you might like. Guest hosts include romance reviewers, longtime readers, authors, and newbies to the genre.