Bring Your Own: A Bookish Podcast for Romance Readers

🚨 Welcome to the Bookish Khia Asylum 🚨 We're following the iconic "7 Levels of…" trend, but make it bookish. From Level 1 to Level 5 in our case, we're deciding which authors, bookish things, concepts, opinions, ANYTHING- deserve each floor. Who's getting early release, and who's never seeing daylight again? Expect hot takes, and some ten-toes-down defending. Check yourself in and tell us: who a...

What if every song on Taylor Swift's folklore had the perfect book to match? This week, Brandi is hosting a solo episode where she pairs every track from folklore with a book recommendation that captures the song's atmosphere, themes, and emotional depth. From heartbreaking love stories to nostalgic coming-of-age tales, each recommendation is inspired by the world Taylor created on this iconic alb...

Former Bachelorette and bestselling author Hannah Brown joins BYO to discuss her new book, Reasons to Be Loved By You. In this candid conversation, Hannah opens up about the inspiration behind the book, the personal experiences that shaped her writing, and the lessons she's learned about resilience, growth, and finding her own voice. We talk about the journey from reality TV to authorhood, what re...

You'll come for the spicy Hades retelling and stay for Chip's incredible energy. We had an absolute BLAST talking with Chip Pons about Dearly Departed, the queer Hades retelling that's stealing readers' hearts. From writing swoon-worthy romance and irresistible tension to balancing humor, emotion, and mythology, Chip brought the behind-the-scenes scoop. Watch us tear up with emotion, then almost i...

So we watched Every Year After... and we have thoughts. In this BONUS episode, we're diving into one of the most anticipated book-to-screen adaptations of the year. As huge fans of the novel, we went in ready to relive all the heartbreak, chemistry, and emotional depth that made us fall in love with the story. Join us as we break down what the show got wrong, why the adaptation missed the mark for...

BYO Book Club is officially 1 year old! To celebrate, we ranked every book club pick... and some of these takes toward the end might end friendships! From instant classics to books we wish we could un-read, we're giving our brutally honest rankings with zero mercy for every book we read this year. Which book do you think got robbed, and where did we go right? Join the BYO book club ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠...

In this episode we’re spotlighting the most anticipated romance, literary, and fantasy releases of the summer season. From heavy-hitting, big name romance releases, to debut authors we can’t wait to read, these are the books about to take over your TBR. Whether you’re here for romance, litfic, or romantasy recommendations, this Summer Book Release Radar has you covered. Get your calendar ready for...

Brooke Averick joins Bring Your Own to discuss her debut novel Phoebe Berman’s Gonna Lose It and why modern life feels like one long emotional emergency. From existential crises to dating disasters, Brooke dives into the balance of chaos and sincerity, and why that combination makes the best stories. Known also for her hit show Brooke and Connor Make a Podcast, Brooke is no stranger to conversatio...

Did Rainbow Rowell deliver with Cherry Baby? This week on Bring Your Own, Kayla, Kendra, and Brandi are doing a FULL deep dive into Cherry Baby. We talk about the relationships, the writing, the scenes that stuck with us, and why Cherry Baby feels a little different from some of her other books in the best way. We also get into our overall thoughts on Rainbow Rowell as one loyal longtime reader, a...

We couldn’t just NOT talk about Off Campus, so two episodes this week it is! We binged all of Off Campus, the brand-new TV adaptation inspired by the hockey romance book series that took BookTok by storm. Now, we’re breaking down our first impressions, favorite moments, casting choices, what worked (and what didn’t), and whether the show lives up to the hype of the original books. From iconic scen...

🚨 YOUR FAVORITE BOOK COUPLE IS BREAKING UP 🚨 Okay… maybe not literally… but we are tier ranking some of your favorite iconic romance book couples and making some VERY controversial decisions. From “together in every lifetime” to “not making it down the aisle,” we’re sorting your faves into tiers, defending our hot takes, and probably starting arguments along the way. Join us for chaos, romance d...

A year of reading, evolving, and growth! We’re celebrating Kendra the only way we know how: through love and stories. In this special episode, we look back on the reads and other media that defined Kendra’s past year, with books like Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid, Correspondent by Ann Patchett, Phoebe Beman's Gonna Lose It by Brooke Averick, No Matter What by Cara Bastone, and more. We also re...

In this week's episode Kayla, Kendra, and Brandi take a nostalgic dive back into the books that shaped us during our tween years, and the stories we once obsessed over. Now that we’re older (and allegedly wiser), we’re revisiting these favorites with fresh eyes. Do they still hold up? Were they as deep as we remembered, or just dramatic in that perfectly middle-school way? We found a mix of heartf...

This week, we’re launching the first edition of Reader Rot, and things got interesting fast. We got into the weeds with the NYT and Amazon Kindle best seller's lists and dissected them down to the smallest of details like subgenre, publishing houses, and page counts. The results weren’t what we expected. Join Kendra, Kayla, and Brandi as we dig into what’s actually dominating the charts right now,...

We decided to hurt our own feelings this week. We went straight to the Goodreads 1-star reviews on our favorite books (AKA Hell on Earth) and pulled the meanest, funniest, most ridiculous takes we could find, then tried to guess the book based only on those (very incorrect, in our humble opinion) reviews. See if you can guess them before we do. Play along while you listen! Join the BYO book club ⁠...

Three hosts, one book, and very different opinions. In this week’s episode of Bring Your Own, we break down The Night We Met by Abby Jimenez. What worked, what didn’t, and why we couldn’t agree - and don’t worry, we start spoiler free before we jump into the details! The conversation goes deeper than we expected, and the disagreements lead to great conversations. Whether you hate this book with a...

This week we got REAL about our favorite romance authors. In this week’s episode, listeners called in to share their “roses and thorns,” the best and worst parts of authors they love. Some of these hot takes had us nodding our heads, others had us busting out laughing. Kendra, Kayla, and Brandi react LIVE to your submissions, share their own opinions, and dive into the highs, lows, and spicy debat...

We’ve all seen those “For fans of…” and “Perfect for readers who love…” blurbs on romance novels, but what happens when the comps make absolutely no sense together? This week, Brandi, Kendra, and Kayla are putting that idea to the test. In this episode the girls take two books with completely different vibes and mash them up to imagine a story that somehow works for fans of both. Will it be a chao...

In this episode of Bring Your Own, we take a look back at the Windy City Series by Liz Tomforde and the moments, characters, and stories that made the journey through Chicago so memorable.  We also take a deeper dive into the Windy City spinoff In Her Own League, talking about what we loved, what stood out to us, and a few things we found ourselves being a little more critical of along the way. Be...

In this episode of Bring Your Own, we put books head-to-head and ask the question every reader secretly argues about: which book actually did it better?  Kayla, Kendra and Brandi compare books with similar tropes, oddly specific details, and sometimes completely ridiculous overlaps to decide which book did it better. From big plot ideas to the most niche, random things readers notice, we’re here t...

In this episode we’re spotlighting the most anticipated romance and fantasy releases of the spring season. From heavy-hitting, big name romance releases, to debut authors we can’t wait to read, these are the books about to take over your TBR. Whether you’re here for romance, fantasy, or romantasy recommendations, this Spring Book Release Radar has you covered. Drop the romance or fantasy title you...

Bookish Game Night is BACK! In this week’s episode, Kayla, Kendra & Brandi put their reader brains to the test with: AU Meet-Cutes; the cutest alternate universe scenarios you never knew you needed Bookish Matchmaker; who ends up with which fictional characters? Name That Book; trying to name the book from just the first line. Can you guess before we do?! Grab your favorite drink, play along, and...

Bestselling author Stephanie Archer joins us to talk hockey romance and the conclusion of the Vancouver Storm series. We dive into how The Wild Card, Coach Ward, and Jordan came to life, behind-the-scenes series secrets, fan reactions, and the emotional journey of wrapping up a beloved series. Stick around and see Stephanie teases what’s coming next. Check out Stephanie's website here! Join the BY...

In honor of Valentine’s Day, we break down the greatest fictional romances of all time across books, television, and film. From timeless classics to modern favorites that still have a grip on us, we’re covering it all! We share our personal picks and react live to voicemails from our listeners who called in with their own passionate takes. Which is YOUR favorite fictional love story? Join the BYO...

We’re judging books by their covers with no shame. From covers we think belong in the Louvre to ones that made us say “burn it.” No plots, no spoilers, just vibes. Which covers made you buy instantly? Which ones lied? Drop YOUR hot takes. Join the BYO book club ⁠⁠on Patreon⁠⁠! Our February 2026 pick is This Book Made Me Think of You by Libby Page! Follow us on Instagram @⁠⁠BringYourOwnPod⁠⁠ Follow...