Episode 3: Fake Dating

A little cheese never hurt anybody

and

Sep 19, 2023

Episode three of That Rom Com Pod is out now, recorded on Gadigal land. Listen to the episode:

For all your reading and watching pleasure, below you’ll find links to all the books and films we mentioned during the episode.

Show me the tropes!

Books and films featuring FAKE DATING:

While You Were Sleeping (1995, streaming on Disney Plus)
The Proposal (2009, also streaming on Disney Plus)
The Kiss Quotient, Helen Hoang (Allen & Unwin, 2019)
Written In The Stars, Alexandria Bellefleur (HarperCollins, 2021)
Not fake dating, but if you like the astrological side of Written In The Stars you’ll love Star Crossed, Minnie Darke (Penguin, 2019)
If I Never Met You, Mhairi McFarlane (HarperCollins, 2020)
The Love Hypothesis, Ali Hazelwood (Hachette, 2021)
The Love Contract, Steph Vizard (HarperCollins, 2023)

Now & Then

Little content warning here as we discuss body image, diet culture and some problematic faves.

Bridget’s weigh-ins in Bridget Jones’s Diary, Helen Fielding (Pan Macmillan, 1996)
Sentimental Garbage podcast episode on Bridget Jones’s Diary with Ayisha Malik (2018)
Jemima J, Jane Green (Penguin, 2006)
Queen Kat, Carmel and St Jude Get A Life, Maureen McCarthy (Allen & Unwin, 1995)
Claire Christian never describes Cleo, the heroine in West Side Honey (Text Publishing, 2023)

Shelf Love

The Matchmaker, Saman Shad (Penguin Random House, 2023)
Sorrow And Bliss, Meg Mason (HarperCollins, 2020)
Romantic Comedy, Curtis Sittenfeld (Penguin Random House, 2023)

See also Sittenfeld’s Rodham(Penguin, 2021), American Wife (Penguin, 2008), Eligible (HarperCollins, 2016)

Perfect Pairings

If you feel like something with the sweetness and joy of Bridget Jones’s Diary and the smut of Queer As Folk, we recommend Claire Christian’s luminous novel It’s Been A Pleasure, Noni Blake (Text Publishing, 2020).

Want more of That Rom Com Pod?

We plan on releasing an episode every two weeks. Listen, like, subscribe and rate in your favourite podcast app.

Subscribe for an email each time an episode is released:

More about us:

Clare Fletcher

Love Match, 2023 & Five Bush Weddings (2022, Penguin)
Instagram: @ClareFletcherWriter
Newsletter:

Karina May

Duck a l’Orange for Breakfast (2023, Pan Macmillan)
Instagram: @KarinaMayWrite
Tiktok: @KarinaMayWrite
Newsletter:

That Rom Com Pod is expertly edited by Joshua Broadbent at Marker Creative Co.