I'm Natalie Moore. I fell in love with soap operas when I was just five years old, and I still

watch them. Their television's longest scripted series and have zero reruns. Now let me tell you,

soap operas aren't just some silly art form. They are significant. In this season of making,

Stories Without End from WBEZ Chicago.

Join me as I share how the genre began, their social impact, and why these stories endure.

Listen wherever you get your podcast.

From WVEZ Chicago, I'm Greta Johnson, and this is The Nerd Up Book Club.

It's just like a regular book club, except sometimes the author stops by.

It is November of 2021, and our selection this month is Sarah McLean's bombshell.

It is about Cessaly Talbot, who people sometimes call sexily because she does what she wants. I kind of think that's actually all I need to say right now for the sake of spoilers. Bombshell is Sarah McLean's

15th book. They are all romance novels. The tagline of her website is, I write books. There is

smooching in them. Sarah is with me now. Sarah, hi. I am so excited to be here. Thank you so much for

having me. This book is just like such a treat. Like the word I keep thinking of is romp. Like,

it's just so much fun, Sarah. I mean, honestly, I wrote this book in the middle of a pandemic,

like many of the people who wrote books that are coming out this year.

Right.

And all I wanted was a romp.

So hearing that is a really great joy.

So on Nerdette for the book club, we've done like a cute modern day rom-com, but never like a, you know, Regency era bodice ripper, which, I mean,

you would call this a bodice ripper, right?

I would call it a bodice ripper in a kind of loving, in the way that I love romance novels

so much that I'm allowed to call them bodice rippers. How about that?

...