Zipless

arts, books, society, culture · EN-US

A (sometimes spicy) podcast for romance lovers and listeners.Women have been reading and writing about romance for centuries. But what was once considered a scandalous and secretive pastime, the romance novel has now burst proudly onto the open market. In fact, romance novels account for nearly a quarter of all adult print fiction sold in the United States. And with more and more women listening to romance books, it also matters how these books sound. Hosted by Allie Martina, a professional romance novel narrator, Zipless explores how the language of romance is shaped by writers and narrators, and asks what is it about forbidden love, age gaps, love triangles, friends to lovers, and steamy sex scenes that women find so timelessly appealing. Do romance novels offer windows into the lives women want, or mirror the lives they already have? Can narration, depth of a male voice, or cadence in artistic performance affect a romantic scene? When it comes to the language of love, can the