Our guest this week is Natalie Martin, a voracious romance reader from Illinois who we met through Tabby Pawlitzki, host of Modern Life podcast. Natalie is the owner of Just Ask Nat! and a virtual assistant for authors and small businesses including the romance podcast Heaving Bosoms where she has also served as guest co-host.

We wanted to dig deep with a fellow book lover who reads romance almost exclusively to find out why this genre is so important to her and what authors she recommends for someone new to this category of novels. We talk about all kinds of romance tropes and themes and have a grand old time that devolves into a discussion that neither of our moms should listen to. But we don’t, as far as we know, violate any FCC regulations.

Reminder to listeners that Give for Good Louisville is coming up on September 15, and Forward Radio is part of that. There are some cool donor challenges this year that you can learn about at GiveforGoodLouisville.org.

You can follow Natalie on Instagram @justasknat or at her business website www.justasknat.com

For show notes for any episode, go to our website at www.perksofbeingabooklover.com. We are also on Instagram @perksofbeingabookloverpod and on FB Perks of Being a Book Lover.

Books and Authors Mentioned In This Episode:

1- Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover's Soul by Jack Canfield
2- All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot
3- Nancy Drew series
4- Summer Sisters by Judy Blume
5- Again the Magic by Lisa Kleypas
6- The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
7- A Brush With Love by Mazey Eddings
8- Queen Move by Kennedy Ryan
9- Reel by Kennedy Ryan
10- Everything for You by Chloe Liese
11- Always Only You by Chloe Liese
12- Devil's Daughter by Lisa Kleypas
13- Xeni: A Marriage of Inconvenience by Rebekah Weatherspoon
14- Bridgerton series by Julia Quinn
15- Shirley Jackson: A Haunted Life by Ruth Franklin
16- Shirley by Susan Scarf Merrell (fiction)
17- The Lottery by Shirley Jackson
18- We've Always Lived in the Castle
19- The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
20- Things We Never Got Over by Lucy Score
21- Maggie Moves On by Lucy Score
22- Wretched Waterpark (Sinister Summer #1)by Kiersten White
23- Vampiric Vacation (Sinister Summer #2) by Kiersten White
24- Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snickett

TV/Movies mentioned--
1- Chopped (Hulu)
2- Bridgerton (Netflix)

Podcasts mentioned--
1- Heaving Bosoms
2- The Modern Life Podcast