first dates
& soulmates
The scholarship of smut, served with a side of strong opinions.
First Dates & Soulmates is a podcast for people who love romance unapologetically — even if you’re still hiding in your car to finish the steamy parts. Romance is the best-selling genre that props up the entire literary world, and it deserves to be taken seriously. We just don’t think “seriously” has to mean “without a lot of laughing.”
Not just what’s trending on BookTok.
Romance is a genre worth taking seriously — the tropes, the craft, the cultural moment that made cozy monster romance explode during a global pandemic. We bring a feminist and queer-forward lens to everything we cover, which means we’ll love a book and tell you exactly what didn’t land. We’ll champion an author’s voice and explain why the third-act breakup needed another 30 pages to earn it.
Our recommendations are built on taste, not algorithm. Which means when we tell you a book is worth your time, we mean it.
Find your romance soulmate.
Not sure where to start? Take our Romance Trope Soulmate Quiz and we’ll match you to the episodes built for exactly what you love. Each result comes with a curated playlist of episodes on Substack, Spotify, and the website — so you can binge exactly what’s relevant to you.
Meet Your Hosts
Two readers. Very different bookshelves. Somehow this works.
Nikki McKnight
she/her
Nikki reads over 800 romance novels a year, which is either inspiring or alarming depending on your perspective. By day she’s an operations strategist. By night she’s a gamer, a queer romance devotee, and a walking encyclopedia of pop culture connections that somehow always apply to whatever book they’re discussing. She is the designated hype woman. She will also tell you, calmly and with citations, when a film has failed its female characters. While Meg is yelling at her Kindle to get on with it, Nikki is savoring every single one of those 100 pages of pining. She would like more, actually.
Top tropes: grumpy x sunshine, bi-awakening with best friends, oblivious-on-both-sides yearning, enemies to lovers, vacation flings
Meg Casebolt
she/her
Meg writes romance novels under the pen name Bailey Seaborn — named after the two copywriters in The West Wing, yes she knows, yes she’s that much of a nerd. By day she runs Love At First Search, where she works as an AI discoverability strategist for small businesses. She brings the craft lens: story structure, trope mechanics, and a forensic interest in why certain tropes land and others don’t. She’ll explain exactly why a slow burn needs 300 pages to earn the payoff — and spend all 300 of them yelling “just kiss already” at her Kindle. She built a seven-part fake dating framework while waiting in line at Disneyland. This is just how her brain works.
Top tropes: waking up married, second chance, best friend’s brother, black cat/golden retriever, he falls first
Featured Episodes
Episode 47
The Fake Dating Framework
Strap in. We’re going deep. This week on First Dates & Soulmates, it’s a trope episode! And we’re dissecting every glorious and absurd nuance of fake dating.
Nikki may think this trope is the Chardonnay of romance (she’ll drink it if you serve it), while Meg is out here creating full frameworks while waiting in line at Disneyland.
Episode 82
Heated Rivalry: The TV MM Romance Making the Whole Internet Thirsty
Heated Rivalry has arrived, and the FDSM household is officially in its Hockey Butt Era! Andrea Jones joins Nikki & Meg to dive into the first two episodes of the MM hockey romance adaptation turning the internet into a collective thirst trap.
Episode 67
It’s All Connected: Inside Eden Finley’s Shared Universe
Nikki and Meg sit down with bestselling author Eden Finley to talk all things generational romance, character crossovers, and the chaos of collaborative writing. From her Fake Boyfriend series to Puckboy, Eden shares how she builds interconnected worlds where the HEAs don’t stop with one couple but they span generations.
Featured Author Interviews
M.A. Wardell
Episode 70
Matt writes spicy queer rom-coms with a diverse representation of flawed and damaged characters who find healing through love.
Alexa Martin
Episode 39
Alexa is the award-winning author of romance & women’s fiction novels. Her books have been chosen by NPR & Amazon for best books of the year.
C. Rochelle
Episode 14
C. is best known for writing epic plot & kinky spice, respectful LGBTQ representation, witty banter & dark humor, big feels & emotional ruin.
