Shows
Shelf Love: Romance Novel DiscourseFalling in Love with Your MonsterMorgan and Isabeau from the Whoa!mance podcast join to discuss the 2024 film “Your Monster.” We discuss how the movie explores female rage and personal discovery, drawing parallels with romance novel conventions. We are divided in our opinions: did the film succeed in merging romance and horror? The conversation highlights how individual experiences and tastes shape reception of the film, making for an engaging discussion on the intersection of romance, rage, and narrative structure.-Guests: Whoa!mance (Morgan and Isabeau)Twitter | Instagram | Facebook | Website | Listen on any podcast app!Morgan & Isab...2025-03-211h 02
Shelf Love: Romance Novel DiscourseShameIs shame productive? This question guides part 2 of a Whoa!mance/Shelf Love convo about A Lady of the West by Linda Howard as we discuss the paradox of enjoying highly problematic books.We interrogate our feelings of shame, enjoyment, and the importance of critically dissecting the pleasures derived from reading, no matter how uncomfortable it may feel.Look at your society, look at your life! Along with me and Whoa!mance, in this crossover episode.Shelf Love:NEW! Substack for original writing and stuff | Website | Twitter | Instagram | YouTubeEmail: Andrea@shelflovepodcast.comGuests...2023-11-1649 min
Shelf Love: Romance Novel DiscourseA Lady of the West: The Rules for Good WomenI humbly asked Morgan and Isabeau to help me understand why A Lady of the West by Linda Howard had a chokehold on my young romance-reading imagination, and they delivered. We discuss how this book has rules for good (white) women, and explores Manifest Destiny, settler colonialism, sexuality, violence, violent sexuality, and being a desirable (white) woman.Button up your white high-necked blouse and gallop on a virile stallion into the wild west with Whoa!mance, in this crossover episode.Shelf Love:NEW! Substack for original writing and stuff | Website | Twitter | Instagram | YouTubeEmail: Andrea@shelflove...2023-11-091h 00
Shelf Love: Romance Novel DiscourseRomance isn’t for everyoneThe fabulous foursome (Morgan & Isabeau from Whoa!mance, Dame Jodie Slaughter, Andrea Martucci from Shelf Love) get meta textual as we reflect on our meta podcasting project on Dreaming of You by Lisa Kleypas. What’s this episode about? Take a guess from this collection of possible episode titles:Panopticon Alert: Meta Reflections on Dreaming of YouThe Internet Killed RomanceWhoa! That’s Some Weird RomanceOur Current Romance PanopticonAlienating Persons in RomanceLove Us or Hate UsHere We Are Now, Offend UsDid you enjoy this podcast?Be sure to listen to episode 140 and 141 before diving into the meta-ness and meta...2023-06-151h 21
Shelf Love: Romance Novel DiscourseThis Guy? "Dreaming Of You" By Lisa Kleypas [Whoa-llab w/ Shelf Love]This week, yr grls at long last encounter Derek Craven in "DREAMING OF YOU" by Miss Massachu herself LISA KLEYPAS. It is time for Morgan and Isabeau from Whoa!mance to wade into this collaboration with Shelf Love.You probably already know this - but Sarah is a regency country mouse who is secretly a best-selling novelist. Facing the dreaded sophomore slump, she seeks out a real Gambling Hell to research her next novel and instead finds Derek Craven. Derek's a gutter baby cum Cockney made good by establishing the most luxurious gambling den in London. But...2023-05-251h 09
Whoa!mance: Romance and OurselvesWhoa-llab w/ Shelf Love Part 1 - 140. Dreaming of You: Justice for JoyceThis episode we embark on a Duologoy, a duet of sorts with Shelf Love. In an attempt to highlight the manifold approaches one can have to a single text, we are each, discretely, discussing DREAMING OF YOU by Lisa Kleypas. We have not listened to one another's discussions prior to recording/editing our own episodes, so there might be cross-over, but that will be as interesting as the unique points we each explore. Because, as our Vice President so aptly observed, who doesn't love Venn Diagrams? Shelf Love is kicking things off, and the next round is on us. __________________________________________________________ Let’s...2023-05-181h 12
Whoa!mance: Romance, Feminism, and OurselvesWhoa-llab w/ Shelf Love Part 1 - 140. Dreaming of You: Justice for JoyceThis episode we embark on a Duologoy, a duet of sorts with Shelf Love. In an attempt to highlight the manifold approaches one can have to a single text, we are each, discretely, discussing DREAMING OF YOU by Lisa Kleypas. We have not listened to one another's discussions prior to recording/editing our own episodes, so there might be cross-over, but that will be as interesting as the unique points we each explore. Because, as our Vice President so aptly observed, who doesn't love Venn Diagrams?Shelf Love is kicking things off, and the next round is on us.__________________________________________________________Let’s...2023-05-181h 12
Shelf Love: Romance Novel DiscourseDreaming of You: Justice for JoyceLet’s talk about Joyce Ashby from Lisa Kleypas's novel Dreaming of You. We delve into the dichotomous portrayal of Joyce as an irredeemable villainess alongside her foil, the redeemable “hero” Derek Craven. We explore the parallel themes of violence, possessiveness, and animalistic sexuality resulting in problematically differing fates and treatment by the text. Belched from the underworld, Defender of Bisexual Villainesses Dame Jodie Slaughter joins Shelf Love in this special cross-over project with Whoa!mance - watch for the next episode, in which Morgan and Isabeau share their conversation about Dreaming of You.Shelf Love:NEW! S...2023-05-181h 12
Shelf Love: Romance Novel DiscourseShe-Devil (1989): Who's Entitled To Be Selfish in Love & Life? (Whoa!mance spectacular)Mary Fisher lived in a palace by the sea, and like all romance novelists, just needs love to complete her idyllic rose-colored life. Too bad the man she wants is married to bored housewife Ruth, who embarks on a journey of revenge. But who is the titular She-Devil in this 1989 film starring Meryl Streep and Roseanne Barr? What does this film imagine is worse than being a bored housewife? Whom do we root for, and who gets to be selfish in life and love? Morgan & Isabeau from Whoa!mance invite me to join them on a very special Whoanus...2022-01-201h 12
Shelf Love: Romance Novel Discourse089. Problematizing Romance: You Can't Consume Your Way Out of OppressionProblematizing romance: what happens when we dare to interrogate the assumptions that underlie the worlds into which we escape? Morgan & Isabeau from Whoa!mance podcast join me to discuss commodity fetishism, Marx, how it's easier to cancel than realize there is no terminus, and how we can't sloganize or consume our way out of oppression. It's the whole enchilada. Don't miss an epilogue to our conversation about North and South that pulls it all together. ("I don't want to marry you to possess you...I want to marry you because I love you!")PS: There's an intermission...2021-06-091h 27
Shelf Love: Romance Novel Discourse076. Generous Curiosity - Strange Love by Ann Aguirre with Whoa!manceAn 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 (Mo...2021-01-1656 min
Shelf Love: Romance Novel Discourse026. Teach Me by Olivia Dade with Denise WilliamsToday’s podcast is sponsored by Best Women’s Erotica of the Year, Volume 5 edited by Rachel Kramer Bussel, published by Cleis Press. Find out more at bweoftheyear.com/Shelf Love:Sign up for the email newsletter listWebsiteTwitterInstagramEmail: Andrea@shelflovepodcast.comGuest: Denise WilliamsWebsiteTwitterInstagramSign up for updates on Denise’s Class and follow along with “Moving Past Bodice Ripping Toward Shredding the Patriarchy: Romance Novels as Tools for Justice” on Denise’s WebsiteListen to Denise’s first Shelf Love appearance on Episode 20 where we discuss teaching romance novels to college students, and answer the...2020-02-251h 05