Shelf Love

About Shelf Love Podcast & Substack

Indulge Your Romance Curiosity

Shelf Love is a podcast & Substack about romance novels, and how they reflect, explore, challenge, and shape desire, produced by Andrea Martucci.

Part literary criticism, part media analysis, and part reader discourse, Shelf Love brings together romance readers, scholars, authors, critics, and publishing professionals for conversations that are intellectually rigorous (most of the time!) without losing sight of the pleasures and emotional power of romance itself.

No corner of romance is safe from Shelf Love’s loving scrutiny – you’ll find discussions of books published recently and 100 years ago, proddings into recently-popular subgenres like romantasy and dark romance as well as the subgenre fads of the past, exploration of best-sellers and obscure bangers. We’ll explore it all with curiosity, nuance, and genuine affection for the genre.

On Substack, you’ll find many of the same topics explored on the podcast, with more original research, romance collecting topics, and personal essays about romance.

You can listen to Shelf Love on your favorite podcast app (like Apple Podcasts or Spotify), or stream audio and read episode transcripts on shelflovepodcast.com.

Looking for Shelf Love on other platforms? Here are some other places I hang out:

WHAT TO EXPECT

Shelf Love is for people who enjoy:

Topics frequently explored on Shelf Love include:

About Andrea Martucci, Creator of Shelf Love

Andrea Martucci started reading romance novels over 25 years ago at exactly the right age. In 2019, she decided to start a podcast about romance novels for fun and along the way became an independent scholar of popular romance fiction.

Known for taking on ambitious topics and asking "great questions" (per Julia Quinn), Andrea believes she may be the world's foremost romance nerd -- however, there's no way to prove it.

Background

Andrea Martucci started her writing career as a columnist for her local newspaper at the age of 17. She then studied Magazine Publishing at Emerson College, started "em magazine," a lifestyle magazine for college students that is still published today, and graduated with a BA just as print media imploded.

Dazed and needing to pay rent, she somehow ended up as the managing editor for Ploughshares, one of America's elite literary magazines where she spearheaded a digital publishing program that gave her a front-row seat to the early years of indie publishing.

Andrea shrewdly realized that her days in magazine publishing were numbered, and got a Master's degree in Integrated Marketing Communication while working at Ploughshares. She went on to be an adjunct college professor, junk mail marketer (determined to experience every dying industry as it wheezed its last breaths), content strategist, and product marketer. Andrea's LinkedIn persona is a "product storyteller" and this podcast is not her day job.

Currently, Andrea lives in a coastal city north of Boston with her MMC, plot moppet, and various small furry creatures.

Praise for Shelf Love

Amazing author and historian Katrina Jackson discussed my book An Unconditional Freedom on Shelf Love: A Romance Novel Book Club Podcast! This podcast, hosted by Andrea Martucci, is fantastic overall, and I highly recommend even if you don’t listen to this episode.

-Alyssa Cole (author)

Listened to 2 episodes (61&62) the other night and it was awesome. I only meant to wash the dishes but ended up cleaning the whole kitchen to keep listening. Fun and fascinating. I don’t listen to podcasts normally so this is a high compliment - but seriously ep62 was like a college seminar I would pay for with no regret!! So deep and insightful and I know y’all didn’t even get to it all. I loved it so much and felt so smart and entertained

-Mara

Tried to listen to this while working. Gave up working and just listened to this. No regrets.

-Ash Dylan (author)

Andrea Martucci on other Podcasts:

Boston Romance Book Events:

- Boston Book Festival:

Speaking Opportunities

I’m open to opportunities to speak on or moderate panels, visit your podcast or blog, or give a quote for something you’re writing. I strongly believe in a diversity of voices being presented at events, on platforms, and represented in engaging in discourse. Therefore, I have a policy of asking how people from marginalized groups are represented in whatever event or media opportunity I am approached about. I am really interested in working with organizations that share my values, and I’m happy to step aside so that someone else’s voice can be heard.

All inquiries can be directed to [email protected].

Book/Guest Pitches

It is very unlikely that I will cover a book that is pitched for coverage. I am open to discovering guests through pitches - the best way to catch my eye is to tell me about the romance-related or romance-adjacent topics your guest can speak to. I’d suggest listening to my podcast to get a feel for the types of topics I cover. I’m very unlikely to respond to generic pitches.

I invest considerable time in producing each episode, so I like to get to know potential guests before scheduling a recording. If you’re interested in being a guest, the best way for me to get to know you is by engaging with me on social media. I am always actively scouting for guests who have interesting takes on romance.

All inquiries can be directed to [email protected].

The History of Shelf Love

Shelf Love's first podcast episode was published on September 17, 2019.

Scholarly Projects

Coming Soon

Romance Novel Collection

Coming Soon