Hot and Bothered

About Hot and Bothered

Hot and Bothered is all about the power of romance culture. We analyze romance novels and movies to better imagine our own happy endings. Episodes release weekly on Tuesdays.CURRENT SEASON: Jane Austen’s PersuasionFor Season 6, Hot and Bothered is returning to its roots with a classic romance: Jane Austen's Persuasion. Many readers consider Persuasion Austen's most romantic novel. As a podcast obsessed with romance (and Austen), it was only a matter of time before we answered its siren call.Joining Vanessa Zoltan this season is her longtime mentor, Harvard Divinity School Professor Dr. Stephanie Paulsell. Together, they'll read Persuasion one chapter at a time, asking what Austen's timeless novel can teach us about grief, beauty, aging, and—of course—love. SEASON 5: Hot and Bothered (Movie Edition)For our fifth season of the show, we turned our attention to romantic films. The season began with ten episodes on How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, an iconic film of the early 2000s rom-com oeuvre. Following those episodes, Vanessa was joined by beloved academic and podcaster Hannah McGregor to dig into the canon of romantic films, from Titanic to Twilight to When Harry Met Sally, (just to name a few). We asked every movie “what does this believe about love?” And “do we agree?”SEASON 4: Live from PemberleyIn Live from Pemberley, we continue our deep-dive into the classic texts of romance literature. This season we take a close look at the most famous Romance novel of all time: Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. Every episode, Vanessa Zoltan and Lauren Sandler read through the book, talk with experts, and ask themselves the question ‘is this still a story for our time?’SEASON 3: On EyreVanessa Zoltan and journalist Lauren Sandler embark on the English class you always deserved, diving deep into Jane Eyre through the themes of power and desire. Discussions range from ideas of class and colonialism to sex and gender as Lauren and Vanessa explore the roles of oppression and inequality, empowerment and rebellion in the text. SEASON 2: Twilight in QuarantineYou may remember BFFs Vanessa & Julia from their all-star advice giving in Hot and Bothered Season 1. In this COVID-19 quarantine they got on the phone three times a week to read and talk about Twilight. On Twilight in Quarantine, they worked their way through the Twilight saga one chapter at a time, giving brilliant well-informed advice to Stephenie Meyer’s characters along the way. Advice like: “maybe you shouldn’t kidnap people.”SEASON 1: Writing RomanceSeason one of Hot and Bothered followed ten first-time romance writers as they tried to write their own romance novels. Each episode explored a particular romance trope and why we love it so much. Along the way, Julia Quinn, writer of the Bridgerton series, gave weekly assignments so listeners could follow along in the process. Season one was made in collaboration with Spoke Media.Hot & Bothered is produced by Not Sorry Productions, a feminist organization that produces podcasts, educational content, live shows, and immersive experiences with the explicit goal of addressing the spiritual needs of its participants. Through community, rigor, and ritual, we treat traditionally secular things as if they were sacred. To learn more about what we do, visit https://notsorryworks.com/ (https://notsorryworks.com/) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.

Publisher

Not Sorry Productions

Category

arts · arts · society & culture

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

27 Feb 2018

Latest episode

22 Sept 2026

Latest episodes

99 of 328 episodes have a transcript.

1. 

   22 Sept 2026TRANSCRIPT

   Persuasion, Chapter 11: All Wild to See Lyme

   Host Vanessa Zoltan and Dr. Robert Morrison explore Austen's connection to Romantic poetry as Wentworth leads an expedition to Lyme in this interview.

2. 

   15 Sept 2026TRANSCRIPT

   Persuasion, Chapter 10: A Beautiful Glossy Nut

   Austen scholar Claudia Johnson and host Vanessa explore romantic love in Regency England through a discussion of Persuasion's Chapter 10.

3. 

   11 Sept 2026TRANSCRIPT

   Special Interview: Persuasion and Jane Eyre

   Host Vanessa interviews fantasy writer Paula Lafferty about the persuasive elements in Jane Austen's "Persuasion" and Charlotte Brontë's "Jane Eyre."

Inside a recent episode

Persuasion, Chapter 11: All Wild to See Lyme

Published 22 Sept 2026 · Transcript excerpt

[…] Yes. The Harvels invite everyone over for dinner. And they cannot fit everyone for dinner. Their place is too small. But they like move all these things around in this sort of like ship way where like, I don't know, you get the sense almost that it's magical that like things can kind of come down from walls in the ceiling and lock into place and suddenly there's enough space. And it's like none but those who invite from the heart could think capable of accommodating so many. I know. I love that, too. It's just generosity spilling over. Yeah. And it's like it is ridiculous to think that you can fit this many people. […]

Who has been a guest on Hot and Bothered

Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.

• Robert Morrison
• Claudia Johnson
• Paula Lafferty
• Judd Cramer
• Sam Cavell

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

YouTube views

1,282,630

Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025

Apple Podcasts (US)

4.7 / 5

1,092 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 73 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

71

Social presence

0

YouTube

93

Engagement

94

Pitching Hot and Bothered

Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting pitches.

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