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| Hi there! This week, we get recs for the most re-readable romances from an author who knows the craft of writing romance. If your vibe this week is less feel-good and more schadenfreude, we’ve got thrillers about rich people doing very bad things. Plus, a book adaptation 50 years in the making. |
 | The Introduction |
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| Kate Clayborn Leans In |
The Book
Unemployed and adrift, Georgie returns to her hometown to help out her very pregnant best friend. When she discovers a bucket list from her teen years, she sets out to check off the items on it with some help from Levi Fanning, the older brother of her high school crush. It’s a moving, tender romance that Christina Lauren calls “outright perfection.”
The Author
Kate Clayborn is the author of seven critically acclaimed love stories. Her books are a favorite with other romance writers (Ali Hazelwood called Georgie, All Along “deliciously witty and captivating") and she’s poised for breakout success. We invited her to talk to romance editor and Fated Mates podcast host Jennifer Prokop about her charming new novel.
Jennifer Prokop: You’re a romance author who cares deeply about the craft of writing. What quality do you think defines your books?
Kate Clayborn: What I try for in my books is a sense of fullness. I want the characters to have a lot of depth and a lot of different sides to them. I want fullness in terms of community. I want the supporting characters to feel like they have depth as well. I want fullness in terms of the types of love that are on the page. Obviously I’m centering romantic love, but I want the characters to be surrounded by other types of love as well. I want fullness in terms of feeling, and I want fullness in terms of the language too. Romance is that for me. It’s a filling genre, it’s a satisfying genre. I like to lean into that.
Read the rest of the interview on our blog, and check out three romances that Kate loves to re-read: |
 | | Kiss an Angel | | Faced with a choice between marrying a brooding stranger and jail time, impulsive, warm-hearted Daisy Devereaux chooses the marriage. | |
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 | | Flowers From the Storm | | A devout young woman and a scandalous duke discover an unexpected connection in this emotional historical romance. | |
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 | | Dirty Rowdy Thing | | After their drunken Vegas wedding, Finn and Harlow part ways, but when they’re reunited months later, their chemistry—and their feelings for each other—re-ignite. | |
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 | The Highlight |
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| “I didn’t want to be like my friends who were lined up at the Beautiful Objet d’Arts and World Crafts Tin Factory. Theirs wasn’t the fate for me. My future lay outside those gates, for where in a factory could I become the man I intended to be, which was a cool guy and a poet?” |
 | | The Chinese Groove | | An optimistic teenage immigrant tries to fix his broken family in this sweet and satirical novel. | |
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 | 20 Words: Guess The Novel |
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| A history professor introduces his girlfriend to his family's shocking life of international drama, backstabbing, and ridiculously expensive designer handbags. | |
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| Answer in footer |
 | The Stack |
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| Rich People Behaving Badly |
| As the author of American Psycho, Bret Easton Ellis may be the reigning king of a genre best described as “rich people behaving badly” (a serious understatement in the case of Patrick Bateman). Ellis’ new novel The Shards, out this month, returns to his favorite topic, but he’s not the only storyteller interested in the exploits of the wealthy. From White Lotus to the books below, the questionable conduct of people with money is everywhere in pop culture right now. |
 | | Good Rich People | | The owners of a sprawling estate in the Hollywood Hills invite self-made successes to live in their guest house and then conspire to destroy them. When an imposter shows up as their latest tenant, the “game” goes worse than anyone could imagine. | |
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 | | The Social Climber | | On the eve of her wedding to a man from an ultra-wealthy New York family, Eliza Bennett is about to complete her transformation from evangelical college girl to part of the New York elite—but only if she can keep the secrets from her past from coming to light | |
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 | | Regrets Only | | After her life in LA falls apart, single mom Paige and her eight-year-old daughter Izzy move to the suburbs. Izzy enrolls at the local elementary school and Paige joins the Parent Booster Association, an intense and clique-ish group that protects its members at all costs. | |
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 | Bookmarks |
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Critical Love
Mystery-loving critics are buzzing about Janice Hallett’s “fiendishly clever” (The Guardian) new whodunit. Publishers Weekly calls it “delightfully deceptive” and Kirkus Reviews says the twists are “truly gaspworthy.” |
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 | | The Twyford Code | | An ex-con, now missing, relates the story of a mysterious children’s book entirely through a series of audio recordings discovered on his phone. | |
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The Big Debut
Publishers Weekly writes that debut author Tracey Rose Peyton shows “talent to burn” in her “engaging, arresting” (The Boston Globe) debut. |
 | | Night Wherever We Go | | Six enslaved women plan a secret revolt against the plantation owner’s plan to force them to bear children. | |
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 | Page to Screen |
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