S07.22: Adriana Herrera on the Power of Historical Romance: When We’re Up Against a Corner, Baby, Let’s Fight.

There's a new Adriana Herrera book out this month, so that means we get to have one of our very favorites back on the pod to talk about not only her banger of a book, A Tropical Rebel Gets the Duke, but also about historical in general! This week, we talk about historicals, in general, about why everyone seems to think they're dying (spoiler: they're not!), and do some myth busting on perceptions of the historical romance. We're extremely grateful to friend of the pod Alexandria Bellefleur for offering up her collected data on historical romance and readers -- check out her books (listed below), as well, and come back next week for more historical recs!

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Our next read along is Julie Anne Long's What I Did For a Duke, available in print, ebook, and audio at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books or wherever you get your books.

Enter the Macmillan Audio sweepstakes to win one of five free audiobook copies of Chloe C. Peñaranda's The Night is Defying.

The Books

• A Tropical Rebel Gets the Duke by Adriana Herrera
• Perks of Loving a Wallflower by Erica Ridley 
• Proper English by KJ Charles
• My Lady’s Lover by Nicola Davidson 
• The Duchess Hunt by Lorraine Heath
• The Gilded Heiress by Joanna Shupe
• The Duke Gets Desperate by Diana Quincy
• Love, Death, and Lanterns by Jeanne Lin
• A Duke, the Lady, and a Baby by Vanessa Riley 
• The Duke Gets Even by Joanna Shupe
• The Magpie Lord by KJ Charles
• Wicked and the Wallflower by Sarah MacLean
• The Luckiest Lady in London by Sherry Thomas
• The Prince of Broadway by Joanna Shupe
• The Bride by Julie Garwood
• Let Us Dream by Alyssa Cole
• An Extraordinary Union by Alyssa Cole
• Night Hawk by Beverly Jenkins
• Forbidden by Beverly Jenkins
• To Catch a Raven by Beverly Jenkins
• The Earl Takes All by Lorraine Heath
• Any Old Diamonds by KJ Charles
• The Raven Prince by Elizabeth Hoyt

The Notes

• Welcome Adriana Herrera, author of A Tropical Rebel Gets the Duke, the third in the Las Leonas series set during the Exposition Universelle in 1889 Paris. 
• In this book, Aurora is running a women’s health clinic and the text is a fierce call for reproductive justice, and we’re back there. If you’re interested in checking out some of the books she used to do her research, try Sex, Herbs, and Birth Control: Women and Fertility Regulation Through the Ages by Ann Hibner Koblitz and The Story of Jane: The Legendary Underground Feminist Abortion Service by Laura Kaplan. The Comstock Act of 1873 was a problem then, and sooner or later, they’ll be a problem again.
• Thanks to Alexandria Bellefleur for sharing the results of her poll about historical romance. You can check out her latest contemporary romance, Truly, Madly, Deeply.

The Sponsors

• Jenn Bouchard, author of Considering Us, available in print or ebook, or with your monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited.
• 1001 Dark Nights, publishers of From Friends to Forever: A Love Grows Collection , available in print or ebook, or with your monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited.
• Chloe C. Peñaranda, author of The Night is Defying audiobook, read by Corvin King and Jacci Prior, available from Audible, Kobo, Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, Libro.fm or wherever you get your audiobooks. Enter the Macmillan Audio sweepstakes to win one of five free copies of this audiobook.
• Sophie Lark, author of Kingmakers: Year One, available in print or ebook from Amazon, or with your monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited.
• Annabelle Slator, author of The Launch Date, available in print, ebook or audiobook from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books or wherever you get your books.

00:00 Welcome Adrianna Herrera

01:34 A Tropical Rebel Gets the Duke

07:41 The Political Realities

11:24 What Historical Can Do

14:54 AD: FROM FRIENDS TO FOREVER

16:41 Romance and Feminism

29:26 AD: CONSIDERING US

31:17 More of What Historicals Can Do

43:29 AD: KINGMAKERS: YEAR ONE

45:39 The Future (and Present) of Historical Romance

57:38 Myth: There Aren't Sapphic Historicals

59:54 ADL THE NIGHT IS DEFYING

1:07:07 Myth: The Writing isn't for Me

1:09:56 Myth: I Can't Relate

1:15:10 AD: THE LAUNCH DATE

1:16:56 Myth: History is a Problem

1:25:52 Foolproof Recs

1:43:22 Beverly Jenkins Recommendations

1:47:24 The "Wettest" Historical Romance

1:59:19 Outro

2:01:01 ADL THE NIGHT IS DEFYING