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*My apologies to my fantastic guest this week, Alison, and listeners—somehow the last six minutes of our conversation was lost (Alison’s feed kicked out). Our conversation was basically done by then; we were discussing future projects from Alison and where to find her books.
This week for the July Indie Author chat I talk with the wonderful Alison McKenzie about her upcoming release, THE TAILOR’S TREASURE. This is the second book in her Lovers of Linden series, and will be released August 12, 2026.
We had a great time discussing writing in a different time period from the current norm in historical romance (Medieval), writing about everyday people vs. the Aristocracy and looking at the constraints imposed by positions within society, attitudes towards sexuality while writing a sapphic romance, and the impacts of motherhood. Alison also teaches us all about mindset and cultural understanding in the Middle Ages.
You can learn more about Alison and her books, including where they can be purchased on her website, and you can follow Alison on Instagram
First Encounter is a podcast exploring both the foundations, and the future, of Historical Romance. Hosted by Andie James, Historical Romance enthusiast and author.
Support First Encounter:
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Follow First Encounter:
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Join us this week as I discuss a HistRom classic with our guest, Jen Prokop of Fated Mates fame, The Bride, by Julie Garwood!
Jen and I talk about how tense and POV has shifted over the years, how the pacing of love scenes has shifted as well as whether the focus is on the falling in love or the steam, the comfort of a great Scottish Highland romance, and Garwood’s skill at writing humor, allowing her to lean into archetypes.
Listen to the Fated Mates episode all about The Bride here
And visit Jen’s website to learn more about her superior editing services
First Encounter is a podcast exploring both the foundations, and the future, of Historical Romance. Hosted by Andie James, Historical Romance enthusiast and author.
Support First Encounter:
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Follow First Encounter:
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This week’s episode features hybrid historical romance author, Harper St. George! Harper just released the final book in her Doves of New York series (which I LOVED!), The Dove and the Rogue, and we talk all things Gilded Age, Western romances, and the state of publishing in historical romance (what’s next?)
You can find information on Harper and all of her books on her website
And the Kickstarter for Besotted Books is now Live! Please consider backing this project so the genre we love can continue to thrive!
First Encounter is a podcast exploring both the foundations, and the future, of Historical Romance. Hosted by Andie James, Historical Romance enthusiast and author.
Support First Encounter:
Patreon
Follow First Encounter:
Website: https://www.andiejamesauthor.com/firstencounterpod
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I had an amazing time talking Sherry Thomas with my guest, Seth, this week as we broke down what makes Private Arrangements such a standout in the Historical Romance genre. Listen in as we discuss his own first encounter with HistRom (and how Sherry set him up to love the genre!), emotional stakes, insights gained through a dual timeline, and how Sherry Thomas is like Taylor Swift!
You can find more from Seth, including his thoughts on romance books and encounters with authors we love, on Instagram, TikTok, and Threads where he is @dramakingbooks
And check out when Seth met Sherry Thomas at the Libby Awards and she signed his copy of Private Arrangements! https://www.instagram.com/p/DVuHtpYjhvt/?img_index=5
Read Private Arrangements yourself, and check out what we’re trying to do with Besotted Books !
First Encounter is a podcast exploring both the foundations, and the future, of Historical Romance. Hosted by Andie James, Historical Romance enthusiast and author.
Support First Encounter:
Patreon
Follow First Encounter:
Website: https://www.andiejamesauthor.com/firstencounterpod
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Guess what? I'm trying to start a publishing company for historical romance—Besotted Books!
I’m so grateful to my friend and fellow historical romance author, Misty Urban, for agreeing to chat with me about Besotted Books today! You can learn more about Misty and her series, The Ladies Least Likely, here
To read more about Besotted Books, please visit the website
And follow us on Instagram @besotted.books
We’ll have a link to the Kickstarter and the media kit SOON!
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First Encounter is a podcast exploring both the foundations, and the future, of Historical Romance. Hosted by Andie James, Historical Romance enthusiast and author.
Support First Encounter:
Patreon
Follow First Encounter:
Website: https://www.andiejamesauthor.com/firstencounterpod
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I had such an amazing time this week discussing what historical romance can be and the fun of learning about history, queer joy, and gender fuckery!
Jane’s latest release is Mr. Milner Gets Divorced, and you can find out more about it, as well as Jane’s other books and where to find/purchase them on her website
AND if you sign up for her newsletter, you can get the companion story to Mr. Milner, Mrs. Milner Gets a Kitchen, for FREE! (and Marion Milner is a delight, y’all!)
Much of Jane’s inspiration for Mr. Milner and Stephen and his crew came from reading this Memoir: The Evening Crowd at Kirmser’s
And you can catch Jane’s lecture with Romancelandia University for their Spring 2026 session here. They discuss JOY in HR and revolutionary happy endings!
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Support First Encounter:
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Today is a fun bonus episode where I chat with Olivia (@nottheolivia on Instagram) about some of her thoughts on Historical Romance. I follow her on Instagram and think she is able to articulate what makes Historical Romance a unique genre within Romance beautifully, so I was excited to get some of her takes on where historical romance is headed (and if it should be).
You can follow Olivia on Instagram, and the post I referenced frequently, The Historical Romance Starter Kit, can be found here
To learn more about my new publishing venture, Besotted Books, please visit the website: https://www.andiejamesauthor.com/besotted-books, or follow us on Instagram
First Encounter is a podcast exploring both the foundations, and the future, of Historical Romance. Hosted by Andie James, Historical Romance enthusiast and author.
Support First Encounter:
Patreon
Follow First Encounter:
Website: https://www.andiejamesauthor.com/firstencounterpod
Instagram: @first_encounter_hr_pod
TikTok: @first_encounter_hr_pod
Follow Andie James:
Website: https://www.andiejamesauthor.com/
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I really enjoyed this month’s book—An Extraordinary Union by Alyssa Cole. It’s American Civil War setting makes it stand out, and it unfortunately felt sadly too relevant to current attitudes today as we see our heroine, Elle, a Union spy who is posing as a slave in the home of a Southern Senator, confronting all the ugliest sides of discrimination and being othered and disregarded. BUT, while it was a difficult read (Alyssa Cole does not shy away from the harsh realities she’s writing), it was a also a gorgeous romance and had STAKES!
I had a great time with fellow histrom writer, Angelique Prince, discussing the book as well as the need to write more diversely and celebrate Black women authors in Historical Romance.
You can find out more about Angelique and her own writing projects on her website, angeliqueprince.com and sign up for her newsletter there to get more information on the project she just did, Bev’s Baddies, reading chronologically through all the works of Beverly Jenkins.
Angelique is also active on TikTok and Instagram
Other Authors of color mentioned in the podcast that you should absolutely be reading:
Beverly Jenkins
Addy DuLac
Erica Ridley
Vanessa Riley
Adriana Herrera
Liana De la Rosa
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Support First Encounter:
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I had such a wonderful time discussing Jenna Bigelow’s Ancient Rome set historical romances with her this week and looking at ways we can expand the genre while still keeping the core elements of what makes HR unique (which Jenna does exceptionally well in her novels) and the genre we know and love!
You can find Jenna and information about her books in both the Roman Heirs and Imperial Games series on her website: jennabigelow.com
Go there to sign up for Jenna’s newsletter and receive a FREE novella, The Merchant Match, a prequel to the Roman Heirs series!
You can also find Jenna on Instagram @jennabigelowwrites
Be sure and check out her new release (featuring a female gladiator!), dropping on April 10th, 2026— Gladiator’s Beloved
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First Encounter is a podcast exploring both the foundations, and the future, of Historical Romance. Hosted by Andie James, Historical Romance enthusiast and author.
Support First Encounter:
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Follow First Encounter:
Website: https://www.andiejamesauthor.com/firstencounterpod
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I had so much fun this week finally figuring out what Derek Craven lore is all about! For our third deep dive into a historical romance classic, we are reading and discussing Dreaming of You, the 1994 release from HR queen Lisa Kleypas that changed the rules of who could be a romance hero!
This book absolutely had to be discussed with none other than Devan (@diagnosed romantic on Instagram) as she is the author of the Mathildaverse which maps out all the connections in Lisa Kleypas’ books, all linking back to Dreaming of You, and the heroine, Sara Fielding’s blockbuster book, Mathilda!
We discuss why Derek Craven is such an important hero archetype and why we love Lisa Kleypas Heros, why Sara also needs to be celebrated as an amazing woman, cringy book villains and how Lisa makes them relatable, 1994 as context, and of course, Derek Craven Day and our love for the ladies of the Fated Mates Podcast
Dreaming of You by Lisa Kleypas
The Mathildaverse
Fated Mates Trailblazers episode with Lisa Kleypas
First Encounter is a podcast exploring both the foundations, and the future, of Historical Romance. Hosted by Andie James, Historical Romance enthusiast and author.
Support First Encounter:
Patreon
Follow First Encounter:
Website: https://www.andiejamesauthor.com/firstencounterpod
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Follow Andie James:
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Today is a special episode to celebrate the Spring session of Romancelandia University (RU), which opened this week!
I’m joined by the headmistresses of RU, Emily (@veryromance) and Kelsey (@yourbookishbff) to talk about why they started RU, what they love about historical romance, why this community is so special, and how this session of RU is going to be different.
I absolutely love this project (and anything that celebrates and uplifts Historical romance, especially now), so please listen and join this great community of HR readers!
Check out all the information on what RU is all about and how to join the session on their Instagram (@romancelandiauni) and their website https://www.romancelandiauni.com/
Support and participate in the Trans Rights read-a-thon—March 17-31, 2026 (@transrightsreadathon)
First Encounter is a podcast exploring both the foundations, and the future, of Historical Romance. Hosted by Andie James, Historical Romance enthusiast and author.
Support First Encounter:
Patreon
Follow First Encounter:
Website: https://www.andiejamesauthor.com/firstencounterpod
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I had an amazing conversation this week with Indie Historical Romance author Katherine Grant. Katherine recently finished her long running series, The Prestons, about the Preston family and their unconventional (an inspirational!) estate, Northfield Hall. We discuss writing about social issues and working for change in Historical Romance, her use of the Peterloo Massacre for her novella, In The Wide Open Light (part of the Suffragette Uprising multi-author series), how authors can write modern (or are they really all that modern?) sensibilities into their novels, and why intersectional representation is so important in the worlds we create.
You can find out more about Katherine and all her books on Katherine’s website
Learn more about, and listen to, Katherine’s podcast, The Historical Romance Sampler, here
You can find all the books in the Suffragette Uprising series here
Katherine uses a model for writing diverse characters from the Writing the Other website
First Encounter is a podcast exploring both the foundations, and the future, of Historical Romance. Hosted by Andie James, Historical Romance enthusiast and author.
Support First Encounter:
Patreon
Follow First Encounter:
Website: https://www.andiejamesauthor.com/firstencounterpod
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Follow Andie James:
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I had so much fun this week discussing In Bed with the Devil by Lorraine Heath with our resident expert and Harlequin Historical (RIP) hype woman, the ever lovely Pam (@pammie823_reads)!
We chat about what makes Lorraine able to pull off a bonkers plot like no one else, her writing historicals to fit and subtly comment on current cultural and political circumstances, making love triangles acceptable, exploring hard topics like domestic violence without flinching, and making us feral for all the little romance moments readers of the genre love!
Pam has a great reading guide for all of Lorraine Heath’s historical romances that you can find here: https://www.instagram.com/p/DMAylBLxvhn/ it details some of her favorites like Passions of a Wicked Earl, and tells you the order in which you should read her books.
Find (and follow!) Pam on Instagram and TikTok
First Encounter is a podcast exploring both the foundations, and the future, of Historical Romance. Hosted by Andie James, Historical Romance enthusiast and author.
Support First Encounter:
Patreon
Follow First Encounter:
Website: https://www.andiejamesauthor.com/firstencounterpod
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Follow Andie James:
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This week I am joined by historical romance author Colleen Kelly! We discuss Colleen’s novella, A Midsummer Night’s Duke, as well as what we love about Historical Romance, including—high vs. low stakes, the virgin hero trope, and of course, Bridgerton!
You can get your own FREE copy of A Midsummer Night’s Duke when you sign up for Colleen’s newsletter
The Duke’s Somerset Sins, and anthology with novellas by Colleen, Anne Knight, Kay K. Denner, and a preface by Ambriel Wrenn, will be released on February 13, 2026 and can be found here
First Encounter is a podcast exploring both the foundations, and the future, of Historical Romance. Hosted by Andie James, Historical Romance enthusiast and author.
Support First Encounter:
Patreon
Follow First Encounter:
Website: https://www.andiejamesauthor.com/firstencounterpod
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In our first deep dive into a classic of historical romance, how could we read anything other than Loretta Chase's Lord of Scoundrels? What's not to love about a heroine who literally shoots the hero? Jessica Trent is indeed the GOAT of heroines, and I had a fantastic time discussing her, as well as what makes this book a classic of the genre, with Meg—hostess extraordinaire of the Plot Trysts podcast
Read Lord of Scoundrels
First Encounter is a podcast exploring both the foundations, and the future, of Historical Romance. Hosted by Andie James, Historical Romance enthusiast and author.
Support First Encounter:
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Follow First Encounter:
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I absolutely LOVED this conversation with Alexandra Vasti and Felicity Niven, both incredible historical romance authors. In this episode we talk about what readers love in HR, what we may need to do in the genre to bring in new readers and keep it alive in Traditional publishing, and what makes both of their own books so readable and memorable!
You can find out more about Alex and her books, as well as sign up for her newsletter (and get a free novella!), on her website: https://www.alexandravasti.com/
The Halifax Hellions, a duo of novellas about the Halifax twins, Margo and Matilda, which we discuss in this episode, will be released in paperback on February 17th!
Felicity Niven has a free prequel novella to her Lovelocks of London series, When Ardor Blooms, that you can get when you sign up for her newsletter on her website: https://www.felicityniven.com/
We discussed her debut novel, Convergence of Desire, in this episode. It can be found on Amazon or read in Kindle Unlimited with a subscription
Alex and Felicity lead discussions on a variety of Historical Romances through their Facebook reading group, The Ungovernables: https://www.facebook.com/groups/458348103108031
First Encounter is a podcast exploring both the foundations, and the future, of Historical Romance. Hosted by Andie James, Historical Romance enthusiast and author.
Support First Encounter:
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Follow First Encounter:
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In this Introductory episode, host Andie James discusses why she is starting this podcast—focused on Historical Romance—and how it will be structured, with fellow Indie Historical Romance author Lindsay Barrett.
First Encounter is a podcast exploring both the foundations, and the future, of Historical Romance. Hosted by Andie James, Historical Romance enthusiast and author.
Support First Encounter:
Patreon
Follow First Encounter:
Website: https://www.andiejamesauthor.com/firstencounterpod
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Threads: @first_encounter_hr_pod
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Follow Andie James:
Website: https://www.andiejamesauthor.com/
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