Heaving Bosoms

We're wrapping up our 7th Podiversary with a torturous session of Would You Rather and we round out the episode with two Quickies for you! Mel recaps MARROW by Trisha Wolfe and Brynn Weaver and Sabrina recaps SEXTING THE SILVERFOX by K.C. Crowne! Thank you, Listener! For 7 years we've shared books, squees, tears, hard limits, giggles, and we wouldn't trade any of it. The HB community is amazing an...

Hey HBs! It’s time to pat ourselves on the back, update our various watches, and figure out some would you rathers. It’s our 7th podiversary celebration!!! Get ready for our annual State of the Podcast, HB Authors, Hard Limits Watch, Kink Watch, HB Etiquette, Rabbit Hole Watch, and more! Tomorrow we'll be back to torture each other with more Would You Rather scenarios AND delight in two bonus Quic...

Hey HBs! We're here to finish up Nikolai and Myst's tale with fated hostage-taking, forced orgasms, and misunderstandings of unfinished memories! Get stoked! Lady Loves: Sabrina: 360 degree rolling suitcases. What a revelation! Mel: #plantdad instagram (also #plantdaddy). And specifically @theplantpapi. Such a good follow! Want to support the show? Rate and review us on your favorite podcast app!...

Hey HBs! We're doing our first re-release since Sabrina became Mel's full-time partner-in-crime! This is part 1 of THE WARLORD WANTS FOREVER by Kresley Cole! Since we announced that our next Patreon Deep Dive is going to be the first 10ish books in the Immortals After Dark series, starting at book 3, we've had a bunch of Listener saying "but what about books 1 and 2?!" The answer to that...

We're back with the second half of THE KING by Nana Malone! Our plucky secret agents are on their very first field mission and (bom chicka wow wooow) they're posing as newlyweds! Don't worry, they commit to the bit. Bonus Content: Georg and Dreorg, forehead kisses, red hot narration, and so much more! Lady Loves: Sabrina: Having an endless pile of bullshit to talk about with your besties! Mel: Sab...

Hey HBs! It's our first Nana Malone book! THE KING is book 1 of the Gentleman Rogue series and we were stoked to jump into contemporary spy times. What we didn't prep ourselves for? AN AMNESIA PLOT!!!! Bonus Content: Mel has a yuck that goes ow, Mel DID manage to swerve a little Mikey after our Magic Mike XXL watch party, Sabrina read the prequel The Heir and Mel did not, John Hartley and Leila Al...

Hey HBs!! The pals are back with HOW THE MARQUESS WAS WON by Julie Anne Long! When we left off, Jules had asked Phoebe to become his mistress and she turned him down HARD. Now these two crazy kids are, unbeknownst to either of them, both heading to London for more balls and other EnglandTimes ish. While Phoebe basks in the glow of being the crowd favorite, he discovers a dastardly wager is behind...

Hey HBs!! Mel and Sabrina are recapping HOW THE MARQUESS WAS WON by Julie Anne Long! We've got a lowly school teacher who is drafted to be the paid companion of a former pupil and a Marquess who has a plan , gosh darnit! And it does NOT include becoming enamored of his hopeful fiancée's pal! But there's a country party, an opera singer, a forest ramble, and a final dance party that will prove too...

Hey HBs!! We're back with part two of TRIPLE SEC by TJ Alexander! We jump right back in with a snowed-in vacation with only one fireplace! And that fireplace is utilized BEAUTIFULLY! Bonus Content: rich people shit, useless Tops, gendered vs. neutral terms, a not-so-survival trope, and so much more! Lady Loves: Mel: checking out movies from the library and, more specifically, WAITRESS the musical!...

Hey HBs! Mel and Sabrina are here recapping TRIPLE SEC by TJ Alexander! It's a contemporary, queer, polyamorous romance that had them chatting for more than 3 hours (seriously, Mel cut over an hour of their nonsense. You're WELCOME.). We've got a polyamorous married couple, a certified and embittered lesbian, and a whole bunch of amazing queer and poly rep! And y'all, Sabrina has never been so wor...

Hey HBs! It's time to get to the spicy scenes in BUTCHER & BLACKBIRD by Brynn Weaver!! And whooweee did they deliver. In this second half, we've got a corpse puppet show (is that a tag now?), some excellent hurt/comfort into schmecksy times, and the most romantic proposal in the universe.... if you're a serial unaliver who loves an empty eye socket. Which she is! So that works out. Bonus Conte...

Hey HBs! Mel and Sabrina are here to squeal about two serial killers finding their HEA in BUTCHER & BLACKBIRD by Brynn Weaver! From the best captive meet-cute to dinner disasters, this book is a fizzy delight. Bonus Content: personal piercing TikTok, the Necessary Evils series by Onley James , coding for murderers, chainsaw noises, and so much more! Want to support the show? Rate and review us...

Hey HBs! Here is part 2 of THE UNDERTAKING OF HART AND MERCY by Megan Bannen! These enemies become lovers and then a third act death makes us lose our ever-loving minds. Buckle up! Bonus Content: Sabrina is a #SherlockHolmes, Mel has to slow down on a beautiful parenting moment, and so much more! Lady Loves: Sabrina: share those pictures! Doesn't matter how long ago the event was! There's no statu...

Hey HBs! Today we're bringing you part 1 of THE UNDERTAKING OF HART AND MERCY by Megan Bannen! Mercy is trying to save her family's undertaking business and things would be a lot easier if a certain surly marshal would just leave her alone. Meanwhile, Hart is a demigod just trying to do his job and this bright and shiny undertaker has nothing but rain clouds for him. But a letter addressed by the...

Hey y’all! We’re popping into your feed with an exciting announcement: Heaving Bosoms is joining the BLEAV Network! (pronounced “believe”) First, HBs: THANK YOU for all your support! We got on their radar because you listen ; without you, we’re shouting into the void. Y’all are so badass.  We’re really excited about this next phase of Heaving Bosoms because there’s so much that happens behind the...

Hey HBs! Mel and Sabrina are mad and they are recapping IT HAD TO BE YOU by Susan Elizabeth Phillips. This is a doozy! Good news, though, Mel's bringing back the custom intros... so that's fun! Content Warnings: episode includes discussions of sexual assault, including in young childhood, on-page violent rape, statutory rape, rampant misogyny, malicious thinness, kink shaming, slut shaming, fat sh...

HBs, we're back with more Immortals After Dark by Kresley Cole! The second (first?) book in the series, A HUNGER LIKE NO OTHER , did not disappoint! This book starts at 11 and then refuses to simmer down. Get ready for big feelings, incredulity, and enthusiastic cackling (though, you should be used to that by now). There were so many times when Mel thought the hero could not be redeemed and someho...

Hey y'all! Mel and Sabrina are here with SORRY, BRO by Taleen Voskuni! It's a gorgeous sapphic contemporary between two Armenian-American women, one of whom is on a serious journey to self-discovery. This book weaves a beautiful love story within a rich tapestry of Armenian history and culture. It was GORGEOUS. Bonus Content: Mel's son is the Pitbull of Baby Taming, it was a little hard for Mel to...

Hey HBs! Mel and Sabrina are here with AVARITIA by Colette Rhodes! This series is much beloved by both of them and this book didn't disappoint. Plus, we've got a heroine that is 100% HMHB (Hot Mess HB). It's a grumpy and adorably delusional Shadow Daddy plus a sunshine, go-with-the-flow, sex-positive maximalist. We went into this book with the promise of tentacle restraints, somnophilia, and prima...

Hey HBs! We're here with a brand new historical era: Dickens' Times! Elizabeth Hoyt came out swinging with WICKED INTENTIONS , the first book in her Maiden Lane series. We've got a do-gooding heroine who needs cash for her orphanage, a bad boy aristocrat who needs entree into London's worst neighborhood, a murder mystery, a vigilante hero clown, and some BIG SWOONS. We're super into it. Bonus Cont...

It's been a minute since we've recapped an alien romance, and HERE WE ARE, HBs! ARTEK by Honey Phillips manages to be both Western Times and alien, which is hard to pull off. This slice-of-life Seven Brides for Seven Brothers retelling was a romp from beginning to end! Bonus Content: Sabrina's Libby nemesis is still abusing her with book 2 of the Spymaster series, Mel can't remember alien names, N...

Hey HBs! Mel and Sabrina are here with LOVE & OTHER DISASTERS by Anita Kelly! This queer contemporary romance is set on an amateur cooking show. Dahlia is a divorcee who quit her job to be there and doesn't quite know how she'll pay rent if she doesn't win the $100k prize. Meanwhile, London is the show's first non-binary contestant, this is their national coming out declaration, and they want...

Hey HBs! We're here with the second half of THE SPYMASTER'S LADY by Joanna Bourne! Our couple is on a fall-in-love trek on foot all the way to London and boy does Annique feel guilty about being attracted to boy Grey and Robert... little does she know, they're the same bloke! Come with us as we finish our journey through spy times! Bonus Content: Mel gets recognized by a mom at her school, the gal...

Hey HBs! We're here with THE SPYMASTER'S LADY by Joanna Bourne! It's great to be back in France Times with an extra dose of intrigue and nefarious plots! We meet Annique, a 19 year old lifelong spy and Grey, the second in command of all the British spies right after the French Revolution. They are undoubtedly enemies who can't trust each other, unless they find out they've got way more in common t...

Hey HBs! We're here with our first Nora Roberts book, THE VILLA! It's winerytimes and the Giambelli matriarch is here to shake up with corporate structure! But also intrigue and murder with no less than 3,000 characters. And in this head-hopping 3rd person book, everyone (and we mean EVERYONE) gets a POV moment. Plus, not one but two romances! Bonus Content: Pebbling as a love language, Treat Life...