Horny dragons were fun, but we’ve moved on. Onto another planet, actually. Lily Sparks, author of The Merciless King of Moore High, joined us to discuss Ice Planet Barbarians by Ruby Dixon. Upload this episode directly to your alien translator earpiece to listen to it in any language! Content warning: Dubious consent and mentions of sexual assault. Readers advisory: Here. Footnotes: “How sexy blue aliens invaded Amazon’s bestseller lists” by AJ Willingham About the Motorcycle...

Y’all horny for some dragons? We forged a soul bond with comedian, writer, and Scary Mommy Sarah Aswell by reading Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros together. Listen to this episode while pondering ways to legally murder your classmates! Content warning: Here there be dragons. Also, dead parents. Readers advisory: Here. Footnotes: “How Rebecca Yarros Packed Dragons, Magic and Steamy Sex Into a Blockbuster Fantasy” by Alexandra Alter “Q&A: Rebecca Yarros on Chronic Illness Representation...

  The devil made us read This Present Darkness by Frank Peretti. Fortunately, we were #blessed to be joined by Izzy Wasserstein, author of These Fragile Graces, This Fugitive Heart, who helped safely guide us through this Christian thriller. Listen to this episode while waiting for a cool angel to pick you up on her motorcycle. Content warning: False accusations of sexual assault, Christian fundamentalism, murder/suicide/demon attack. Readers advisory: Here. Footnotes: “This Present...

Ice, ice, baby! Annie Cardi, author of Red, returned to the podcast to discuss the sexy skater Booktok sensation Icebreaker by Hannah Grace. Join us as we skate back to college and dirty talk our way into the Olympics! Content warning: Disordered eating, gaslighting, emotional abuse. Readers advisory: Here. Footnotes: “Who Is Hannah Grace? And Why Won’t She Show Her Face?” by Elisabeth Egan Coming up next: This Present Darkness by Frank Peretti.

  Nora Roberts Month continues! Heidi and Emily from Romancing the Shelf podcast returned and took us back to the 90s with the vintage romantic thriller Sanctuary. Sadly, this book has zero plates of casual pasta but it does have at least 3.5 romantic couples and almost as many murders. Listen to this episode on one of your three computers! Content warning: Murder, sexual assault, questionable mental health care. Readers advisory: Here. Footnotes: Romancing the Shelf – Sanctuary “Nora...

Our Lady Nora Roberts has written a book about a handsome criminal who admires good architecture and casual pasta? We’re so back. Our friend and Nora Roberts expert Christine has returned to discuss Nightwork with us. Listen to this episode while working on your night cheese! Content warning: Cancer, death of a parent. Readers advisory: Here. Footnotes: “A Visual Guide to 35 Popular Pasta Shapes — Plus the Best Sauce to Serve with Each” by Rochelle Bilow Coming up next: Sanctuary by Nora...

Once again, we’ve managed to sneak in a few good books this year! Here are our favorite books we read in 2023 (regardless of publication year. Long live backlist titles!) Footnotes: Boston Globe’s Best Books of 2023 (featuring Renata’s picks for middle grade and YA!) Coming up next: A January hiatus. Happy New Year! We’ll see you in February!   Kait’s Top 5 Best 5.) Under the Eye of Power by Colin Dickey 4.) Camp Damascus by Chuck Tingle 3.) The Narrow by Kate Alice...

We finished our adventures with the Time Traveler’s Wife but decided to linger in the 2000s for awhile longer. Friend of the Show (and the Internet’s Best Friend) Margaret H. Willison joined us to discuss Britney Spears’s memoir The Woman In Me. Listen to this episode instead of listening to the music of Justin Timberlake! Content warning: This book contains abuse, abortion, disordered eating, and all the other stuff you’d assume. Readers advisory: Here. Footnotes: “Miss American Dream” by...

We held our annual Patreon Choice poll and our Beloved Patrons chose to send us back in time to 2003 with The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. Since the book is prominently set in Chicago, we were #blessed to be joined by prominent Chicagoan Ashley to unpack the Jeremy Bearimy of it all. Please do not listen to this episode while having sex with your future wife for the first time. Content warning: Sketchy time travel age/consent issues, death of a partner, miscarriages. Readers...

  A cautionary tale: too many people complained about this book online so we were dumped into an arena and forced to publicly defend it to the death. Mackenzi Lee, author of many Best Bestselling books including The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue and The Winter Soldier: Cold Front, has returned to the podcast to get to talk about a book we all actually enjoyed: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins. The Capitol has mandated that all citizens listen to this episode, so...

Spooky season is here, so we were joined by Lily Sparks, author of the Teen Killers Club trilogy (including the latest book, Teen Killers at Large) and the upcoming The Merciless King of Moore High. We got witchy with the Owens women in Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman. This episode will bring all the cats to the schoolyard! Announcement: Join us in our Discord server on Monday, October 30th at 8:30pm Eastern Time for a live watch of the Practical Magic movie! (It’s currently streaming on...

We just wrapped up Banned Books Week in the USA, a time to celebrate our freedom to read and also to speak up about book challenges! We were joined by Jen and Dan, the hosts of the Banned Camp podcast, where they read banned books to investigate why they were banned. They previously read To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, which is frequently banned and challenged. So together we read the controversial Go Set A Watchman by Harper Lee, and you know what…maybe we’re challenging it. No, like,...

It’s our 9th podiversary! We’ve run out of Stephenie Meyer books so we decided to have our OG guest Carrie return to check out a series whose marketing team would certainly love for us to think it was written by SMeyer: Crave by Tracy Wolff. Thanks to everyone for joining us for these past 9 years, and let’s all work on manifesting a new Twilight book for next year! Readers advisory: Here. Footnotes: 360+ Teen Slang, Emojis, & Hashtags Parents Need to Know  Coming up next: Go Set a...

We’re topping off this year’s Flashback Summer with a pair of red–some would say auburn–braids. We were joined by Hannah and Marcelle, the cohosts of Witch, Please and Material Girls, to discuss Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery. Pour yourselves a cup of raspberry cordial and listen to this podcast on your train journey from the orphanage! Readers advisory: Here. Footnotes: Anne of Green Gables Raspberry Cordial recipe by Tori Avey The Real Reason ‘Anne With an E’ Was Canceled by...

For Flashback Summer we decided to get away from it all with a visit to an exclusive desert spa. Unfortunately, the spa was plagued with black widow spiders, blackmailers, and other concerns. Fortunately, Kristin, the host of the Kristin Sleuth YouTube channel, was able to talk us through Nancy Drew #111: The Secret at Solaire by Carolyn Keene. This episode is not sponsored by Solaire moisturizer. Readers advisory: Here. Footnotes: Episode 55 – Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys Kristin Sleuth...

  Breaking Flashback Summer News: in the title of the book Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging by Louise Rennison, “Angus” refers to the cat! Renata was almost as excited about this fact as she was about convincing JJ, aka S. Jae-Jones, author of Guardians of Dawn: Zhara to return as a guest for this episode! Listen to this episode while shaving your eyebrows (or while you are homebound, waiting for your eyebrows to regrow). Readers advisory: Here. Footnotes: Time 100 Best YA Books Of...

For this Flashback Summer episode, the Bellwether Friends Anna & Alene joined Renata to discuss Anastasia Krupnik by Lois Lowry. Sadly, Kait had to miss this one because she was busy shopping for her new poetry outfit, which would make Anastasia green with envy. Listen to this episode while you update the list of “loves” and “hates” in your notebook! Kait’s Poetry Outfit: Readers advisory: Here. Footnotes: “Four Questions with Lois Lowry, Newbery Award-Winning Children’s Author”...

  Were you looking for sound medical advice to treat snakebites and rabies? Well, we do not recommend consulting Trixie Belden #1: The Secret of the Mansion by Julie Campbell for first aid training. However, we had a great time talking to returning guest Carrie about this Flashback Summer mystery novel. Readers advisory: Here. Footnotes: The Trixie Belden Series WikiHow: How to Treat a Snake Bite WikiHow: How to Spot Rabies in a Dog Coming up next: Anastasia Krupnik by Lois Lowry.

  Help! We’re trapped in the bodies of millennial podcasters! Andrew and Craig from the Overdue podcast joined us to discuss the classic switcheroo tale Help! I’m Trapped In My Teacher’s Body by Todd Strasser. Listen to this episode while your coworker makes you breakfast! Readers advisory: Here. Footnotes: A Taste of Spongey: Help! I’m Trapped in the First Day of School Overdue #590 – Super Mario Bros movie adaptation Coming up next: The Secret of the Mansion (Trixie Belden #1) by Julie...

  It’s–hey, calm down, no, put down your pitchforks, we’re not calling Judy Blume a “worst” bestseller! Absolutely not, just, please, let me finish this intro–it’s Flashback Summer! The time when we chill out and revisit childhood favorites, even when they are iconic classics that absolutely do not match the name of our podcast. We were joined by writer and comedian Sarah Aswell (@seaswell),  also known as the Scary Mommy behind Scary Mommy Book Club, to discuss Are You There, God? It’s Me,...

Hey, we’ll be honest: we kind of phoned this one in. On a landline. You screened it? On your answering machine? Haha, a topical reference. See, we read Without You: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and The Musical Rent by Anthony Rapp. He was in Rent! Listen to this episode while waiting in line for rush tickets for Rent. Or, honestly, don’t listen to this episode if you don’t care about Rent the musical. You’ve been warned! Content warning: Sexual assault, death of a parent. Readers...

Pamela Anderson: model, actress, activist…poet. Dame Karen Corday (of Two Bossy Dames and elsewhere on the internet!) joined us to read Love, Pamela, which…we kinda loved. Join us as we revisit the 90s with increased feminist rage! Content warning: Child abuse/child sexual abuse, domestic violence, sexual assault. Readers advisory: Here. Footnotes: “What to Read, Watch, and Listen to After the Pam & Tommy Finale” by Sophie Brookover and Karen Corday Pamela Anderson Blue Zone Girl...

  As Americans, it’s our right to not pay attention to the British royal family. However, we’re waiving that right in order to read Spare by Prince Harry. We were thrilled to be joined by Dame Sophie of Two Bossy Dames–even more thrilled than Harry was to meet Will Arnett at a party at Courtney Cox’s house. Listen to this episode on your way to throw more tea into Boston Harbor. Readers advisory: Here. Footnotes: Prince Harry Holds Spike the Echidna The Victorian Society in...

Divorced, beheaded, subjected to an extremely long and boring work of historical fiction. Ann Foster from Vulgar History joined us to discuss The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory. We were glad for Ann’s expertise, because now we now that it’s historically inaccurate in addition to being super boring. Listen to this episode on your way to your next gay witchcraft circle! Readers advisory: Here. Footnotes: Brimping. Gable hoods. Coming up next: Spare by Prince Harry.