Besties and the Books Podcast

Send us Fan Mail " In this episode of the Besties and the Books podcast, Liz and Ashley excitedly kick off their first nonfiction memoir feature by diving into Fahrenheit 182 by Mark Hoppus of Blink-182. Longtime fans of the band and deeply connected to the early 2000s pop-punk scene, they reflect on how the book transported them back to their youth, sharing nostalgic stories, personal connec...

Send us Fan Mail In this third episode of the Besties in the Books mini-series Fifty Shades of May , hosts Ashley and Liz dive deep into Fifty Shades Freed by E.L. James, the final installment of the original Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy. They explore how the controversial dark romance series influenced pop culture, the rise of dark romance in mainstream fiction, and why Freed might not mean what...

Send us Fan Mail What iconic things from millennial “yesteryear” do you miss? We kick off this super nostalgic episode with an ode to simpler times. Let’s take a moment of collective silence for: the mall (in general), Borders Books (and more!), cheap concert tickets (like $50!??), and makeup when it was creative (what a time to be alive!). Our faves and fails of the week are all about those thing...

Send us Fan Mail Guess What? It’s officially grey! We are in it. Oh my! It’s Fifty shades of May over here on the Besties and the Books podcast. Welcome back to our spring mini episode series all about the extremely popular yet widely discredited book series: Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James. We’re officially into book two and things are not exactly going as planned… If you’ve been following alo...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to our newest series reading “UnPopular Books by Popular Authors”! Today we’re kicking it off with Sarah J Maas and Catwoman: Soulstealer! ***A huge thank you to The Bookish Queen for Sponsoring this episode!*** **Check out the ultimate bookish shop and use discount code “BESTIEBOOKS15” to save 15% on your order @ https://bookishqueen.com/discount/BESTIEBOOKS15 Follow and...

Send us Fan Mail Guess What? It’s gonna be grey… It is grey! It’s Fifty shades of May over here on the Besties and the Books podcast. Welcome to our spring mini episode series all about the extremely popular yet widely discredited book series: Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James.  If you’ve been following along and watched our “Dark Romance Enters the Chat” episode then you know, we trace romance n...

Send us Fan Mail Today Ashley and Liz are setting the stage for our mini episode series about the infamous 50 Shades of Grey trilogy which starts this Friday and continues on for five episodes, including the original three books, a surprise bonus book, and a wrap up episode covering the movies and all of our final thoughts!  But today, buckle up for a spoiler free episode all about… ROMANCE NOVELS...

Send us Fan Mail Liz and Ashley are locked and loaded and ready to talk about everything This Monster of Mine by Shalini Abeysekara. Today’s episode is the spoiler-y follow up to our spoiler FREE author interview that dropped last month for Shalini’s big romantasy debut! Watch our Author Interview with Shalini Abeysekara here | https://youtu.be/dMoOSLW1vTE?si=5iTgTD7AOw5robs5 We discuss the reason...

Send us Fan Mail Today's episode is exactly how it sounds. We read off 1⭐️ reviews of our favorite books, try to get the other person (and you guys!) to guess what it is, then reveal it with its official star rating on Goodreads.  We have everything from SJM and The Empyrean to lesser known books involving vampires, shadow daddies, and robots. Dark romance, fantasy, romantasy, and a little b...

Send us Fan Mail Today we have a very special spoiler free* interview with romantasy writer and Library Journal’s science fiction / fantasy debut author of the month for February, Shalini Abeysekara! We chat all things This Monster of Mine to celebrate the release of her very first published book! (*Author interviews will always be spoiler free so everyone can enjoy them and determine whether or n...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome back for our sixth and final episode in Ashley & Liz’s dystopian sci fi episode bonus series: The Hunger Games! We have had the best (and most emotional 😭) time covering these heart-wrenching books at such an appropriate point in our history.  We covered the origin of dystopias of all kinds, where the idea and genre came from, and why it’s so important in literature a...

Send us Fan Mail We’re just girls. And today we’re just girls obsessed with pranks.  Stick around if you want to hear about our fave and fail prank edition… if you like hearing about AITA pranks gone wrong…if you’re someone who observes April Fool’s Day, or if you’re someone who simply wants to call out A Holes for their participation in something that obviously WAS NOT FUNNY! (Or maybe it was?🤷‍...

Send us Fan Mail Today we’re discussing the highly anticipated brand new book in the Hunger Games world: Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins. We go back in time (yet again!) to the 50th Quarter Quell, also known as Haymitch Abernathy’s Hunger Games to answer all the questions we still have. How exactly did he become a victor and the gruff but lovable mentor we all grew to love in the origina...

Send us Fan Mail We’ve responded to the internet’s bookish hot takes… we responded to YOUR hot takes… and now it’s finally time for you guys to be mad at US! Today’s episode is all about Ashley and Liz’s bookish hot takes. Maybe you’ll agree, maybe you won’t. Maybe you’ll nod your head, maybe you’ll scream at us. But either way, we’re here with OPINIONS. We cover everything from overdone sprayed e...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome back to Ashley & Liz’s dystopian sci fi episode bonus series: The Hunger Games! Today we go back in time to discuss President Snow and his origin story. How exactly did he become a “villian” and what does his evolution into a tyrannical dictator say about the society that created him? How did Panem and the games themselves evolve into the world we know? This book is fu...

Send us Fan Mail WE’RE ONE YEAR OLD! Today we’re celebrating our one year anniversary of podcasting over at Besties and the Books and we just want to say THANK YOU to each and every one of you for being here! You’re helping us to create this amazing community, and we couldn't be more grateful to watch it grow. 🖤 Check out the Thank You *GIVEAWAY* on our Instagram! | https://www.instagram.com...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome back to Ashley & Liz’s dystopian sci fi episode bonus series: The Hunger Games! Today we get SERIOUS as we discuss the amazingly well written, heart wrenching grand finale to the original trilogy. What parallels do we see reflected in real life? Are the dystopian themes regarding media control, rebellion, war, government control, environmental degradation and resource...

Send us Fan Mail Get out that good ol’ stack of post it notes and your favorite annotating pen (or just use the “notes” app in your phone) because your TBR is about to get even longer! If that’s possible.  Today Ashley and Liz are recapping ALL of their reads from the last ½ of 2024 to give you the good, the bad, and the ugly. The books that changed our lives, the books that were overhyped, underh...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome back to Ashley & Liz’s dystopian sci fi episode bonus series: The Hunger Games! We spend ½ of this episode playing the piano (yes, you read that right) and the other ½ convincing you to read this series. If that doesn’t do it for you… we don’t know what else you could want!  If you’ve been following along and watched our “From 1984 to Hunger Games” dystopian themes in...

Send us Fan Mail Today we’re chatting about Romantasy Bookcon, Los Angeles, 2025! This amazing convention put on by Fabled Fantasy Events was Liz and Ashley’s first, but it surely will not be our last!  We talk about our overall faves and fails of Bookcon (our faves being mostly the amazing community) and consequently, what our top five tips for attending your first book convention are plus 5 rook...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to Ashley & Liz’s dystopian sci fi episode bonus series: The Hunger Games! If you’ve been following along and watched our “From 1984 to Hunger Games” dystopian themes in media and literature episode then you know we’re fascinated with everything about this genre and needed to delve into this discussion! It just happens to be a BIG bonus that Ashley had never read it be...

Send us Fan Mail This week is. The. Week. We’re officially back in mini episode bonus mode with The Hunger Games book 1, by Suzanne Collins dropping this Friday! So today Ashley and Liz are setting us all up for success in our dystopian sci fi series with an episode about the history of dystopias! Not surprisingly, there is a lot of ground to cover, so we do our best to take a whole lot of informa...

Send us Fan Mail A few episodes back we brought you an exclusive interview with the extraordinarily talented Callie Hart, author of the New York Times bestselling romantasy novel Quicksilver (linked below). It should come as no surprise that Liz and Ashley both loved this book, rating it a solid five stars! So today, we’re breaking it down for you.  What did we love about this book? Were there any...

Send us Fan Mail First there was a cringey Thanksgiving with a sack full of turkey. Then there was a cringey Christmas alien with a magic mirror, and a magic… you know what.  And now, we bring to you: a very cringey Valentine’s Day featuring old timey detective vampires and a sweet stalker with Dexter-like tendencies. Today Ashley and Liz give our two cents on two holiday themed novellas we may no...

Send us Fan Mail Well, sh*t. 😂 Some of you are going to be screaming at your screen / headphones, upset at us that Onyx Storm just wasn’t it for us. And that’s okay! That’s what we absolutely love about reading. There’s something for everyone. And if this 3⭐️ / 2🌶️ romantasy jumble is your thing… we will listen and not judge. Promise! We just hope you can do the same for us.  Today is all about...