Besties and the Books Podcast

Send us Fan Mail Today we’re diving right into book three in The Plated Prisoner Series by Raven Kennedy: Gleam. This book has one of the most satisfying character arcs we’ve ever read, culminating in an ending we never saw coming. If you enjoy a good feminine rage story, prepare yourself to experience one of the most impactful instances of that trope in any Romantasy we’ve read to date!  We give...

Send us Fan Mail We’re fantasy readers! You can get us to believe anything! Almost…  Today we’re unpacking all those things in fantasy and romance books that have us thinking… 🤔what the heck?! Is that even possible? I feel like that doesn’t make any sense…🤔Which for a group that is able to suspend reality to believe in magic, and dragons, and fae, and portals, says a lot.  We’re talking about th...

Send us Fan Mail Have you officially jumped on the Wuthering Heights bandwagon yet? If you’re anything like us, reading this classic novel by Emily Brontë for the first time, you may find yourself thinking “WTF!?” on every other page, confused about the point of view, the narrator, the timelines, and the ghosts…? And we get it! So do not fret; we’ve got you!  Welcome to our newest bonus series whe...

Send us Fan Mail Today we’re diving right into book two in The Plated Prisoner Series by Raven Kennedy: Glint. This book is the perfect journey story (both literal and figurative), and follow up to the polarizing book one. If you weren’t hooked by the end of Gild, we hope you’re hooked now, because these books have A LOT of important things to say.  We give you our spoiler free star and spice rati...

Send us Fan Mail Our 2025 Reading Wrap Up 2.0 is here in all of its spoiler free glory! We’re giving you our one sentence star and spice rating for every book we read from July to December of last year, so get your pad and pencil out to add to your TBR… or to cross some things off… depending on how you look at it. We’re bringing you over 100 book reviews and then going over our yearly bookish goal...

Send us Fan Mail Do you love Audiobooks? Well, hold onto your buttz! Today we have a very special completely spoiler free interview episode for you. We’re bringing you something (someone?) new and exciting to go along with our deep dive series for the Plated Prisoner books by Raven Kenneny, going on now! We’re chatting with none other than the man behind our favorite voices…including THE Slade Rav...

Send us Fan Mail Just in case you haven’t heard… our first full length deep dive series for 2026 is none other than THE Plated Prisoner by Raven Kennedy! Today we’re kicking off this (at least) six-book, and seven-part journey with book one: Gild. We know that this series can be triggering, controversial, or even so slow to start (for some 😉) that it gets a “dnf.” We’re here to convince you to re...

Send us Fan Mail We’re baaaaAAAk! And we’re bringing you a very special episode to kick off the new year! Something we’ve never done in a standalone episode before… it’s a book versus movie showdown with a deep dive into The Housemaid by Freida McFadden and a comparison deep dive into the 2025 movie adaptation starring Amanda Seyfried and Sydney Sweeney. Which was better the book or the movie? Thr...

Send us Fan Mail It’s the most wonderful time… of the year? Happy Holidays from us to you! We hope you’re surviving the chaos, insanity, and general family drama. So in true Besties & the Books fashion, we’re here to bring you some distraction and laughs to help carry you through the madness, and to remind you that you’re not alone… because “It’s Christmas and we’re all in misery!” (As the fam...

Send us Fan Mail Today we FINISH our coverage of the entire Wicked universe and close our bonus “Are Books Political” series! And is Wicked Worth Reading? Wicked: For Good has officially been out for three weeks, and we are ready to yap about it with all of you. Which is better? The movies? The book series? Or the Broadway musical? We rank everything in the universe, give you our number one overal...

Send us Fan Mail Listen…Brimstone is here. Are we obsessed with the Fae & Alchemy series by Callie Hart? GUILTY. AS. CHARGED. Not to give anything away (including our spoiler free star and spice ratings) but we think it’s safe to say that there’s nothing better than Kingfisher in our eyes and ears, Onyx the perfect animal sidekick companion, and a one horse scene starring none other than Carri...

Send us Fan Mail Literally what in the actual heck is this episode? It’s all of us having a great time at the water cooler of the future, that’s what! Thank you so much to everyone who submitted unhinged bookish (and random!) questions for us to answer. It was truly a blast, and we hope you got to know us a little bit better. We got to know ourselves better, that’s for sure! 😭😂 We answer all of...

Send us Fan Mail This episode is chalk full of all the magical things we hope to receive this holiday season, including but not limited to: revenge on abusive fiances via honeyed ham cleaver, several foot long Krampus tongues, monster cages, Christmas tree farms, skiing sessions, and double penetration involving a college hottie and his… step dad? 😳 It’s our unhinged, cringy Christmas novella epi...

Send us Fan Mail Today we FINISH our coverage of the Wicked book universe by Gregory Maguire with the newest installation, released an entire fourteen years after Out of Oz: Elphie: A Wicked Childhood, the prequel to the original book! Told from Elphaba Thropp’s perspective as she navigates her early childhood and adolescence before starting her education at Shiz University, we watch as she discov...

Send us Fan Mail It’s that time again, where we ask and answer “Am I The A Hole” but this time its Thanksgiving Reddit Stories! In yet another installation of our fan fave series “Am I the A hole?!” holiday edition, we’re tackling Thanksgiving Day and all the completely unhinged problems that arise when friends and family get together to “give thanks.” And then as a bonus, we’re sharing our most f...

Send us Fan Mail Today we FINISH our coverage of the original Wicked Years 4-book series by Gregory Maguire with the finale: Out of Oz, told from the perspective of Elphaba’s granddaughter Rain as she navigates the world as a stowaway during a politically tumultuous turnover of power. Was the grand finale everything we hoped it would be after the blood, sweat, and tears we put in analyzing this ex...

Send us Fan Mail Today we’re bringing you our reviews and unhinged deeeep dives on two of the most “cringy” sounding Thanksgiving themed romance novellas we could find on Kindle Unlimited.  As we continue this time honored tradition of bringing you the holiday smut, we want you to know that even if we don’t love it (but hey, we might though…) we’re happy if you do. Because there truly is something...

Send us Fan Mail Today we continue our coverage of the Wicked 5-book universe by Gregory Maguire with book three: A Lion Among Men, the only book in the series primarily told through the point of view and perspective of an Animal. The “Wicked Years” move forward with spinoff stories covering all the major players in the political upheaval of Oz, and we’re diving into the “real” story of “the cowar...

Send us Fan Mail Just in case you haven’t noticed… we are completely OBSESSED with the Split or  Swallow universe, created by the amazingly talented and hilarious Lindsay Straube. Last year we did a deep dive and our very first author interview with Lindsay covering all things Kiss of the Basilisk, and now we’re back to yap about the highly anticipated sequel Between Two Kings! Out today!  Last we...

Send us Fan Mail First EXCLUSIVE Author Interview with Lindsay Straube for Between to Kings is here! Just a short year ago Kiss of the Basilisk (or Split or Swallow for those of you who’ve been here since the beginning 🙌) took the romance literature world by storm! Lindsay Straube, known to many as @oxfordlemon on Instagram went from a hilarious meme account to self published bestselling author o...

Send us Fan Mail Today we continue our coverage of the Wicked 5-book universe by Gregory Maguire with book two: Son of a Witch! We’re diving into political fantasy like we never have before, just in time to watch Wicked for Good with all of you!  Check out our kickoff  “Are Books Political" episode all about why books and reading are inherently political and why it’s not only important to ack...

Send us Fan Mail It’s that time of year again! Time to react to AITA Halloween Stories, time to put on our special surprise wigs, try not to laugh at literally everything we say, and give you guys the spoiler free Halloween rundown!  We’ve got a spooky season fave and fail including a holiday meet cute, and the official Scream House, a smash or pass (fictional) serial killer / monster edition, and...

Send us Fan Mail Today we begin our coverage of the Wicked 5-book universe by Gregory Maguire. We’re diving into political fantasy like we never have before, just in time to watch Wicked for Good with all of you!  Check out our latest Tuesday full length episode https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1Z1NeJej2k all about why books and reading are inherently political, why it’s not only important to ackn...

Send us Fan Mail “Are people born wicked? Or do they have wickedness thrust upon them?” Today we will be exploring the highly debated topics of whether or not books are inherently political, if politics can even be separated from literature (and fantasy) in general, and if the very acts of reading and publishing have been politicized. We will be exploring all of these questions through an intersec...

Send us Fan Mail Today we’re bringing you a deep dive follow up to a very exciting and mostly spoiler free author interview episode with Hazel Mack all about the monster romcom series that stole our hearts: Haven Ever After! We’ll be discussing all NINE books that complete this lighthearted happily ever after series including eight full length books, and one short novella.  This series has every t...