S09.01: Cloud Nine: Romance in the Sky

Nine seasons of talking about romance, and no signs of quitting! We’re starting a new season, full of much of our same old nonsense, now with more nonsense, because who needs tropes when you can talk about microtropes! Today, in honor of Season Nine, we’re talking about Cloud Nine — both the WNBA star and the feeling you get when you fall in love. We’ve got a whole lot of books featuring romance in the sky — pilots, astronauts, plane crashes, astronauts and mile-high-clubs…and all of them featuring romance that won’t quit.

If you’d like to come over and talk about romances, both in the sky and on land, please join us on the Fated Mates Discord, where you’ll find a few thousand other listeners who love talking about these books we love. You also get one extra episode a month from us!

Fated States, our democratic phonebanking initiative begins next week. Learn more and register to phone bank with us at fatedmates.net/fatedstates.

BooksThe Vegas Top Gun Series by Katie PorterOn Broken Wings by Chanel CleetonWild Card by Elsie SilverBeyond the Limits by Katherine GarberaThe Last Man on Earth by Shae SandersPuck Me Secretly by Odette StoneCrash Landing by Annie McQuaidPregnant in the Italian's PalazzoTurbulence by Whitney G.The Skyland Series by Kennedy RyanThe Professional by Kresley Cole

NotesFated States is back! We’ll be phonebanking every weekend on Saturdays starting September 19th, but the final weekend before the election, we’ll instead phonebank on Sunday Nov 1 to avoid Halloween.The way to find a book club is to read River Town by Peter Hessler and then go to your nearest local indie bookstore and let the bookclub reveal itself to you.Find out more about The Sunday Letter Project.Pilots have been hot since Top Gun, and not just because of the volleyball scene.Natasha Cloud is a baddie and she gave an irrelevant man the business for being transphobic, and Jen thinks she’s a literal hero.The Spanish Space Program, the Instituto Nacional de Técnica Aeroespacial was created in the 1940s and was replaced by the Agencia Espacial Española in 2021. According to Wikipedia, as of 2026, there have been Four Spanish astronauts.

SponsorsHarpercollins, publishers of AT Qureshi’s Rider of Dragons, available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books, or wherever you get your books.Rose Prendeville, author of The Unknown Birds, available in print, ebook or audiobook from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or with your monthly subscription to Kobo Plus. Use the code FATEDBIRDS