Friends, let's play I Don't Want to Wait by Paula Cole, because we're talking exclusively about YA Contemporary Romance with our special guest NINA MORENO (Don't Date Rosa Santos, Our Way Back to Always)! We discuss the Riverdale by proxy curse, personal growth, eccentric families, blackmail to fall in love, and it's not something Nina-related if Dawson's Creek isn't mentioned. 

Books discussed: Fat Chance, Charlie Vega by Crystal Maldonado; Like a Love Song by Gabriela Martins; Now That I've Found You by Kristina Forest; and, Charming as a Verb by Ben Philippe.

Other media/people mentioned: Riverdale, Glee, Love, Simon, To All The Boys I've Loved Before book series and movie trilogy, The Resolutions by Mia Garcia, Olivia Rodrigo's SOUR album, Make a Scene by Mimi Grace, I Wanna Be Where You Are and Zyla & Kai by Kristina Forest, Amparo Ortiz, Mean Girls, Dawnson's Creek 

NINA'S NEWEST BOOK, OUR WAY BACK TO ALWAYS WILL BE OUT ON OCTOBER 19TH, 2021, AND IS AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER!!!

Follow us on Twitter @mappingtropes and Instagram @mappingthetropes! Email episode suggestions to mappingthetropes@gmail.com.

Theme music: Positiv Trumpet by John Yasut. Cover art by Luis Esteban @drawnesteban.