Kris and Mads

Is Maddie in her first EVER reading slump? We gotta get her some 5-star reads in March, or at least make her cry! Overall, Kristen had an AMAZING reading month, rating four books 5 stars! We have lots of books to discuss in this episode across genres. Grab your tea and a sweet treat for this one! Timestamps 0:00 - Intro 1:05 - Our February Reads 3:24 - Maddie’s Reading Slump 9:03 - A Clash of King...

Welcome back, readers! 📚✨In today’s podcast episode, we’re creating the ultimate Reader Starter Pack — a guide designed to help you fall in love with more genres and get the most enjoyment out of your reading life. We’re breaking down 12 popular book genres and sharing:✔️ the best entry-level book to start with✔️ the book you can work your way up to once you’re ready✔️ how to approach each genre...

In this episode, we're coming at you like a defibrillator for your reading habit, to revive your passion for stories, in case you're in a reading slump! It can happen. Sometimes we read too much of the same thing, and it all starts to run together. That's when switching up genres, or reading something in your favorite genre that breaks the mold, is perfect! We've got ten book recom...

It's time to talk about spicy books...and more mild ones too. We're finally broaching the romance genre. What do we like? What do we hate? Which ones actually do it for us? And why! In this episode of the Kris and Mads Podcast, we’re talking about the love stories that go far beyond meet-cutes and tropes. Yes, we joke about sex (because obviously), but at the heart of this episode are powe...

We started reading some chunky sci-fi and fantasy series in January, and had such a good time! We're embracing the "quality over quantity" mantra this year, and that means fewer books, but hopefully bangers only! Off to an amazing start with these series: A Song of Ice and Fire, The Expanse, Stormlight Archive, Malazan, and Hierarchy! And we had time for a couple stand-alones too. BO...

We hate it every year, but the time has come to find out what our best book of 2025 was, bracket style! Prepare to experience us highly stressed and sweating as we go through our year of reading and choose one book to rule them all! Timestamps 0:00 - Intro 1:03 - How the Bracket is set up 3:56 - Maddie: This Is How You Lose The Time War by Max Gladstone and Amal El-MohtarVS. The Shadow of What Was...

There's nothing like a screen adaptation that brings our favorite stories to life in a whole new way! It seems the screen gods have seen fit to bless us this year, because there are so many amazing stories coming to the screen this year. We can't wait to watch some of these while reading the books they're adapted from this year with our Page-to-Screen Book Club on Patreon! Here are the...

It's ambitious and full of variety this year! We can't wait to reread some books we love, start some chunky new fantasy series, read even more classics, and pair some amazing stories with screen adaptations with our Patreon bookclub! We've never been so excited to share a list like this with you. There's something about knowing our taste, trusting the recommendations, and feeling l...

How did we save all of our best reads for the very end of 2025?! Finished up some amazing series, and feel all ready to jump into some amazing reads in 2026. What were your best reads of December?!Books and authors mentioned:Tell Me LiesBy Carola LoveringThe Hound of the Baskervilles and A Study in ScarletBy Sir Arthur Conan DoyleHarrow the NinthBy Tamsyn MuirThe Story of a New NameThose Who Leave...

Going to therapy is a sign of strength, not weakness. Our sponsor BetterHelp makes therapy simple, with 10% off your first month to help you get started: https://betterhelp.com/krisandmadsWelcome back, friends! ✨While visiting London, we had the absolute privilege of sitting down with Nicholas Binge, the bestselling author of speculative sci-fi thrillers that blend massive concepts with psycholog...

Going to therapy is a sign of strength, not weakness. Our sponsor BetterHelp makes therapy simple, with 10% off your first month to help you get started: https://betterhelp.com/krisandmads To experience more amazing stories with us in 2026, join our Patreon read-and-watch club:   / krisandmadssisterhood   It's been an incredible year on Patreon with our 1500+ members, enhancing our reading, wa...

Going to therapy is a sign of strength, not weakness. Our sponsor BetterHelp makes therapy simple, with 10% off your first month to help you get started: https://betterhelp.com/krisandmads In this episode, we’re reflecting on the reading goals we set for 2025, and looking to change some things up for 2026! Maddie is focusing on WISDOM in the new year, and Kristen is focusing on being TRUE. From bo...

Going to therapy is a sign of strength, not weakness. Our sponsor BetterHelp makes therapy simple, with 10% off your first month to help you get started: https://betterhelp.com/krisandmads In this video, we’re going through our entire 2025 reading year month by month , sharing our very favorite 5-star books and a few that totally missed the mark. Between the two of us, we read 200 books , and thes...

Going to therapy is a sign of strength, not weakness. Our sponsor BetterHelp makes therapy simple, with 10% off your first month to help you get started: https://betterhelp.com/krisandmads Welcome back, friends! 📚🤍Today we’re breaking down all 20 books we read in November — yes, TWENTY! We covered a huge mix of genres this month: fantasy, romance, self-help, contemporary fiction, and more. There...

Finding Grace is one of our favorite stand-alone novels of the year, as well as one of our favorite love stories we've read in such a long time! We HAD to interview the debut author, Loretta Rothschild, all about it. Plus, after a little social media lurking, we became obsessed with Loretta's style, personality, and original approach to marketing the novel! If we could describe her in a wo...

Going to therapy is a sign of strength, not weakness. Our sponsor BetterHelp makes therapy simple, with 10% off your first month to help you get started: https://betterhelp.com/krisandmadsFor the past 6 months we’ve been doing something wild: committing to read every single book on our physical TBRs using our TBR Wheel. Today we’re breaking down the entire experience — the highs, the lows, the sur...

Welcome back, book lovers! Today’s episode is the MOTHER of all TBR lists — our most over-ambitious, chaotic, and exciting reading plans of the entire year. Most people do a “10 Before the End” reading challenge… but we blew right past ten and kept going. These are all the books we’re trying to finish in the next 6 weeks before we hit 2026, and honestly? Our best book of the year might be hiding s...

This episode is SPOILER-FREE!!! Connect with Fonda Lee: https://www.fondalee.com/ Enjoy this highly anticipated conversation with Fonda Lee, author of the Green Bone Saga — one of the most iconic modern fantasy trilogies of our time (Jade City, Jade War, Jade Legacy). In this episode, we dive deep into her storytelling process, worldbuilding, and the powerful themes behind her unforgettable charac...

Join our Patreon read-and-watch club here: patreon.com/KrisandMadsSisterhood Welcome to Season 2 of The Kris and Mads Podcast! We’re kicking things off with a massive October reading wrap-up — 16 books across fantasy, sci-fi, romance, horror, and literary fiction. Every review in this episode is completely spoiler-free, so you can listen without fear that we'll wreck the book for ya. Between u...

Welcome to our Season 1 finale of The Kris and Mads Podcast! We’re wrapping up an unforgettable first season with a full breakdown of our year — think of it as our Spotify Wrapped, but for the podcast. 💫In this episode, we’re celebrating everything that’s made this season so special:• 14 incredible authors we had the honor to interview• 18 fellow creators we’ve collaborated with• Our most popular...

THIS INTERVIEW IS SPOILER FREE!!!! Not to be dramatic, but we did start this podcast one year ago, in order to interview Pierce Brown on it someday. That day is today! The Red Rising special editions have been released, and to celebrate we had Pierce on the show to share his lore—everything from skinny jeans trauma to Freddy the snapping turtle—and talk to us about the deeper themes and inspiratio...

In this episode, Kris and Mads sit down with the amazing trio behind the ‪@WhatShesReadingPod‬ podcast! We talk about everything from who’s most likely to DNF a book, cry while reading, or be intimidated by a long series, to what makes a 5-star read and the characters that inspire us most. It’s a fun, bookish deep dive into reading tastes, favorite guests, and the bookish moments we can’t stop thi...

Here's what we thought of the 11 books we read this month! We're loving our foray into the classics, and Kristen took down the Green Bone Saga by Fonda Lee, which she has had on her TBR for over a year! Maddie started three different series that she's eager to continue, and of course, there were a couple of duds. We get into all of it in this episode, and share some memories of traveli...

It’s been 10 years since Leigh Bardugo gave us Six of Crows and the unforgettable Dregs crew—and we’re celebrating in style! In this special episode, we sit down with Leigh Bardugo to talk all things Six of Crows: the heist that started it all, the found family readers still can’t get over, and the release of the gorgeous 10th Anniversary special editions. Whether you’re a longtime Grishaverse fan...

Going to therapy is a sign of strength, not weakness. My sponsor BetterHelp makes therapy simple, with 10% off your first month to help you get started: https://betterhelp.com/krisandmads We finally spilled the tea… ☕📚 These are 10 books we’ve been gatekeeping—all rated 5 stars, but ones we rarely talk about on the pod! From epic fantasy with dragons to dark academia, from sci-fi thrillers to sw...