We’re so excited for our deep dive of KJ Charles’s The Magpie Lord, first in her magical, gothic series, A Charm of Magpies. We talk about the clear chops displayed in this romance --strong plotting, complex characterization, and a beautiful understanding of what happily ever after looks like. And yes, we get to the tattoos. Obviously.

Don't forget--you can buy the Fated Mates Best of 2025 Book Pack from our friends at Pocket Books Shop in Lancaster, PA, and get eight of the books on the list! Scoundrel Take Me Away and Lazarus, Home from War (independently published) are not in the box. As always, you can add additional romances, or one of Sarah's books to your box.

If you want other people to discuss great romance series, maybe you want to join our Patreon? You get an extra monthly episode from us and access to the incredible readers and brilliant people on the Fated Mates Discord! Support us and learn more at fatedmates.net/patreon. You can also ask for it as a gift, or give it as one at fatedmates.net/gift.

Our next read along will be Ruby Dixon's Ice Planet Barbarians. Get it at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, from your local indie, or with your monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited.

Notes

This is our second KJ Charles deep dive. The first was Band Sinister.
We were lucky enough to speak to KJ Charles about her work and her pathway through romance as part of our Trailblazers series. Listen to that interview here.
It’s been the snowiest start to winter in Chicago since 1978! The Great Lakes can freeze, kind of. Here’s what the Great Lakes ice prediction for this year.
The Ice Fishing town hall meeting, as promised.
Heated Rivalry is great and Jen (and everyone else) thinks you should watch it.
The Magpie Lord was published in 2013 by Samhain Publishing, which shut down in 2016.
You can find all of our 80+ deep dive episodes in the Fated Mates Book Club.

Sponsors

Zara Doyle, author of Bianca and Her Wolf, available in print, ebook, audio or with your monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited.
Lumi Gummies. Go to lumigummies.com and use code FATEDMATES for 30% off your order.
Alexandra Cait, author of Storm of Fire, available in ebook or with your monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited.
1001 Dark Nights, publishers of years of delicious romance novellas and collections. The imprint will shutter in 2026, so head over and load up on print versions of all your favorites right now.

The Rest

For even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net/episodes/2025/12/2/0813-the-magpie-lord
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.
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If you've never listened to our Stop Book Banning episode, there's no better time than now.

00:00 Wintr Bantr

08:17 Discor Bantr

14:40 AD: BIANCA AND HER WOLF

16:43 Best of 2025 Book Box

20:25 KJ Charles

28:36 The Samhain Publishing Story

32:10 AD: STORM OF FIRE

34:17 The Samhain Publishing Story

36:24 The Magpie Lord

43:19 It's Bad Magic

48:06 AD: 1001 DARK NIGHTS

50:19 Two For Joy

59:28 AD: LUMI GUMMIES

1:01:05 Curses & [in]Fluences

1:10:53 The Romance Pacing

1:19:51 Sex and the Ether

1:31:01 The End

1:40:42 Outro

Episode 686: AI Just Beat Zillow: My CMA Prompt Is Insane