The Bookish Roundup - A Podcast

Today on the show we are celebrating Louisville Jess's 29th birthday! She picked the book this week called "With the Fire on High" by Elizabeth Acevedo. Listen as we gush about the beautiful cover art and appreciate all the realities the author wrote into the Emoni's story. We are also serving you up some bad reviews at the end of the show so stick around for that! Thanks for tuning in! We would l...

This is How it Always Is by Laurie Frankel is our second pride month book, this one shedding some light on transgender kids. On today's show we talk about this compelling story of a family and the lengths that they went to keep their child's secret.  Thanks for tuning in!  We would love for you to subscribe and leave us a review.  Find us at www.outtafivestars.com   Follow us o...

Happy Pride Month! Today we on the show we are covering a book that has been all over our bookstagram feed since it came out back in February of this year, Honey Girl by Morgan Rogers. We are talking about our favorite characters and how we felt about Grace Porter's story unfolding.  Thanks for tuning in! We would love for you to subscribe and leave us a review. Find us at www.outtafivestars.com F...

You know how some sequels just aren't needed? Well, Namesake is quite the opposite. We had such a blast reading Namesake and are both hoping that Adrienne Young finds it in her heart to write a third book and make this duology a trilogy.  Listen to hear what your favorite OFS girls were up to last week and get excited because we have exciting things ahead! Thanks for tuning in! We would love...

Coming to you from Utah! This is a special episode as both your hosts recorded this TOGETHER for the first time in Outta Five Stars history. Buckle up because this episode is full of nonsense and drunken giggles! Fable gets a 4.14 on Goodreads and as we discuss on the show, it turns out to be more adventure than fantasy, and we are SO okay with that.  Listen if you want to hear what your favo...

Today on the show we cover international best seller, Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982.  This is for sure a new type of read for us, we have never covered a book that was translated on the show before. We dive into the difficulties of the women in Korea and why this book was so important for them there. You will also hear different accounts of how each Jess was raised and what it meant to have a chore...

Happy Asian American - Pacific Islander Heritage Month! Looking for a book that makes you question your ethics and morals? What about broaching the topic of immigration and surrogacy? Did you try watching or reading the Handmaid’s Tale and wanted something a bit more tame? On today’s show we talk about all of this and then SOME! Listen as your hosts talk about their favorite parts of The Farm by J...

We are back with part 2 of our Shadow and Bone discussion! Today on the show we are joined by bookstagrammer Isabel from @isa_shelf! Isabel has read, and re-read all the Grishaverse books and she is on the show today to bridge the gap we had between the show and the books. You won’t want to miss today’s exciting episode. We are talking YA fantasy, The Hunger Games and even Titanic and the Notebook...

Welcome back to another episode of Outta Five Stars! On today’s show we are diving into the Grishaverse that has everyone talking! Join us as we discuss the first four episodes of the hit Netflix show Shadow and Bone, based on the books Shadow & Bone and the Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo. We dive into  an explanation of the plot, our favorite character to date and set up some predictions...

Ride or die Jess’s with starbucks in hand talk about the hilarious first nook in a new series by Elle Cosimano, Finlay Donavan is Killing it.  This funny mystery is full of laugh out loud moments and edge of your pants cliffhangers.  The OFS girls are joined by their first guest Read Reviews By Jess to discuss how she got into bookstagram and what we thought about the novel. We make guesses about...

On today’s show we discuss our second book written by a male author, Less by Andrew Sean Greer. A Pulitzer prize winner, this book definitely felt like it could be on any assigned reading list at school. We talk about the unique way it was narrated as well as the similarities between our main character, Arthur Less, and its author Andrew Greer. We’ve also got a double feature this week Bad Reviews...

Will you let the asshole in you see the asshole in Mark Manson, or something like that.  This book split the Outta Five Stars girls like no other before! Can you guess which one enjoyed the fuck off nature of this book, the answer may not surprise you.  This week we talk about guys at the bar who will not shut up about stuff they have no idea about and circle back to our new years resolu...

Coming in HOT! This week we are bringing you the newest Kristin Hannah book, The Four Winds. If you listened to our previous two episodes then you know we weren’t really sold on Firefly Lane. Today’s episode shows the author a little bit more grace. Listen as we discuss the ins and outs of Elsa’s character development and why we think this is more Grapes of Wrath vibes than American Dirt was. We a...

Your hosts are sharing the last five episodes of Firefly Lane. Plus don't miss a new segment of Guess with Jess where Louisville Jess takes the reigns ans has PNW Jess try something new. Thanks for tuning in! We would love for you to subscribe and leave us a review. Find us at www.outtafivestars.com Follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok we're @OuttaFiveStars. Music: https://www.purple-planet...

Welcome back to another episode of Outta Five Stars! Today on the show your hosts Jess & Jess are talking about a new bookish series on Netflix called Firefly Lane. This show is based on the book titled Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah that was published back in 2008. Only the first five episodes are discussed in today’s episode so you definitely have time to catch up on the show if you want. Yo...

New Series Alert!  This week on the podcast we traveled to Ireland, or did we? Neither Jess nor I have read a Nora Roberts books prior to opening up this YA fantasy adventure, but we did check out some reviews after closing the last chapter ourselves. The Awakening was divided into three parts and for non-fantasy readers, Louisville Jess thought this was a great way to ease readers into the f...

Trigger Warning- Suicide, Cartel Violence Today on the show we are covering our first Oprah’s Book Club pick as well as our first controversial pick, American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins. Listen as PNW Jess tells the listeners why Luca is her favorite child character. Louisville Jess tells the listeners how accurate the description of Acapulco, Mexico is or isn’t and why she is particularly close to t...

Episode 15 of Outta Five Stars is the episode we have been so excited to make! It’s our Get to Know Us episode! We are bringing you along as we share a bit more about us. How we met, why we started the podcast, have we always liked reading and much more! Next week we are back with our regular scheduled programming and will be bringing you an episode on American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins. Thanks for...

Welcome to another Outta Five Stars episode! Originally published November 10, 2020 and currently has a solid 4 stars on good reads! Both Portland and Louisville devoured this #OurVoices Romance novel. This was the first LGBTQ novel we had ever picked up and honestly we were mostly excited to read about a place that we've already been, but was pleasantly surprised us and we found ourselves getting...

Today on the Show Jess & Jess discuss their first listener suggested book: The Mountaintop School for Dogs & Other Second Chances. Join us as we give a short little review of this book and also talk about some of the reasons for not finishing a book. Spoiler Alert, one of the hosts did not finish reading this book and she gives you the reason as to why. Jess and Jess can’t wait to tell you...

Wow, wow, wow! Part two of Bridgerton is coming in HOT!  Make sure you've got a fan nearby because things get steamy in this episode. Listen as we each reveal whether or not our parents gave us the sex talk and find out which Jess's mom thought she would get pregnant in high school.  We would love for you to subscribe and leave a review. Find us at www.outtafivestars.com Follow us on Ins...

Good Day Ladies and Gentlemen Welcome back to another episode of Outta Five Stars, a weekly bookish podcast.  Today’s topic has everyone in the town talking, Bridgerton, well, at least the first four episodes of the first season of the Netflix book to TV hit. If you have not watched it (or read it like us), fear not, we will catch you up. Listen to why the narration of this show reminded Louisvill...

Welcome to Part 2 of The Guest List! We hoped you enjoyed listening to part one and are ready to find out ALL the answers to the burning questions we left you with during the last episode. Find out if Portland Jess changed her mind about the book and why it reminds her of Big Little Lies and a totally random episode of The Ghost Whisperer. Spoiler… she does change her mind and really enjoyed the s...

Content Warning:  Heya listeners, we just wanted to give ya a heads up about this episode. This book touches on the topics of self harm and as that character plays a big part of the story we do bring this up. We hope your bags are packed- cause this week we’re on the Guest List!  Both Jess’s picked this book up this week and really dove into this mystery thriller which will be a TWO parter!  In th...

Welcome to another episode of Outta Five Stars! The Jess’s dive into one of 2020’s most popular books, The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett. A story that is told from multiple points of views, spanning over 5 decades. This captivating story about identity, race, and much more is one that Louisville Jess read and has found itself a place on President Barack Obama’s Favorite Books of  2020 List, along...