Who says it has to be Halloween to celebrate witches? It’s 2024 and frankly, we could do with a few more powerful, spell-casting women around here. We’re talking about our favorite witch romances, many of which (see what we did there) have nothing at all to do with spooky season! There are rumors of a new Practical Magic in the air, which (ope!) makes us extremely happy, and we’re just trying to decide which (!!!) of these fabulous books to reread this week. We’re going deep into romance history to talk about why witches are so compelling, why they’re perfect for a light, frothy romance, and why magic in the hands of men doesn’t hit the same way.

We are the weirdos, Mister.

The Books

• Jill Barnett's BETWITCHING
• Teresa Medeiros's BREATH OF MAGIC
• Teresa Medeiros's TOUCH OF ENCHANTMENT
• Annette Blair's SEX AND THE PSYCHIC WITCH
• Annette Blair's GONE WITH THE WITCH
• Annette Blair's NEVER BEEN WITCHED
• Nora Roberts's DARK WITCH
• Nora Roberts's SHADOW SPELL
• Nora Roberts's BLOOD MAGIC
• Molly Harper's WITCHES GET STUFF DONE
• Molly Harper's BIG WITCH ENERGY
• Celestine Martin's WITCHFUL THINKING
• Juliette Cross's RESTING WITCH FACE
• AJ Sherwood's A FAE COIN TRANSPORTED ME INTO ANOTHER WORLD AND NOW I'M THE GAY HOLY MAIDEN
• Kimberly Lemming's THAT TIME I GOT DRUNK AND YEETED A LOVE POTION AT A WEREWOLF
• Meg Cabot's ENCHANTED TO MEET YOU
• Alexis Daria's WHAT THE HEX
• Erin Sterling's THE EX HEX

The Notes

• If you liked the post-it note situation in The Fall Guy, or the low-tech pre-post it note version from Romancing the Stone, Aqua Notes may be for you. 
• Today banter portion was very into “Great Lakes, Great Times.” If you would like to talk to Sarah about the Wisconsin fish boil from Top Chef, please take that up with her and leave Jen out of it. Or travel across Lake Michigan on the SS Badger ferry. (But you cannot drive across Texas in one day). 
• The entry point for witches tends to the fun, silly ones: Bewitched and Hocus Pocus, but also because it’s the realm of women, we love movies like Practical Magic, The Witches of Eastwick, and The Craft. Willow’s arc on Buffy the Vampire Slayer goes from rom-com witch to strong witch to evil witch. Here’s a critique of Yennefer’s transformation in The Witcher.
• Emily Alexander and Heidi Rehwaldt host a Nora Roberts podcast called Romancing the Shelf, so check it out if you love La Nora!
• The Winchester Mystery House in California is pretty wild and worth going on a tour!
• Listen to Iris Johansen’s Trailblazer episode.

The Sponsors

• Blue Box Press, publishers of C. Travis Rice’s Sapphire Dawn, available in print, ebook, or with your monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited.
• Lumi Labs, creators of Lumi Gummies. Go to Lumigummies.com and use code FATED50 for free gummies with a limited time $50 off coupon. Or use code FATEDMATES for 30% Off.
• Grand Central Publishing, publishers of Iris Johansen and Roy Johansen’s Flashback, available in print, ebook, or audiobook at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books or your local bookseller.

The Rest

• For even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net/episodes/2024/6/24/s0642-witchy-romances-are-not-just-for-halloween
• If you wish you had six more days in a week of people talking about romance, may we suggest joining our Patreon? Aside from an additional episode every month you get access to our Discord, where other romance readers are talking about books they love (and many other things!) all the time. It’s so fun! Learn more about the Patreon and go join those cool people who love romance as much as you do at patreon.com/fatedmates.
• Beyond your favorite podcast app, you can find us on Instagram, Threads, Blue Sky, Tumblr, and probably some other places, too, if you look hard enough.
• If you've never listened to our Stop Book Banning episode, there's no better time than now.