The Worst Bestsellers

Since James Patterson & Howard Roughan went to the trouble of giving their book two different titles, we decided that we needed the power of two book podcasts to discuss it. So we had our old friends J.W. and Chris from I Don't Even Own a Television (@IDEOTVpod) join us for Murder Games aka Instinct! The best thing about this book is that it got Alan Cumming an acting job. The worst thing about th...

We read After by Anna Todd, a fanfiction-turned-novel that's bold enough to ask the question: would you like to date Harry Styles, if, rather than being a member of One Direction, he was just a college student, and also a completely rude and hurtful person? Liz from Liz & Alissa Make Stuff joined us to conclude: no, we definitely would not like that. Be sure to download this before you begin the i...

As the talents of Our Lady Nora Roberts cannot be held by one pen name alone, we were joined by fellow Nora devotee Christine to investigate Naked in Death by J. D. Robb. It's a romantic suspense novel set in a future that is in some ways better than our present day (the USA banned guns!) and in some ways much worse (coffee beans are nearly extinct due to deforestation)! Still, no matter what year...

It's the end of the world as we know it, and we feel fine, since we're spending it with Kathryn from the Truer Words podcast! Our Lady Nora Roberts has launched a post-apocalyptic series with Year One. Don't worry--even though 90% of the human population has been killed by a mysterious, magical virus, Nora wouldn't kill the dog.

Our lives have been changed by The Secret, as have those of Andrew and Craig from the Overdue podcast. So they joined us in reading How The Secret Changed My Life by Rhonda Byrne. We were delighted to combine our vision boards with Andrew and Craig; less delighted to hear about all the people who quit their jobs and their medicines and their Canadian lifestyles with no backup plan other than the g...

Tune in to our Bests & Worsts of 2018 episodes to hear us discuss these titles and read excerpts from our favorites! Please note: We counted things that we read in 2018, regardless of publication year. We didn’t count anything that we read specifically for this podcast, so our worst books are aside from those. For that reason, we picked top 5 favorites and only 1 least favorite–we have this whole...

Tune in to our Bests & Worsts of 2018 episodes to hear us discuss these titles and read excerpts from our favorites! Please note: We counted things that we read in 2018, regardless of publication year. We didn’t count anything that we read specifically for this podcast, so our worst books are aside from those. For that reason, we picked top 5 favorites and only 1 least favorite–we have this whole...

As the weather outside grows frightful, we decided to have our editor Becca join us for a trip Down Under. We read The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough , the 700-page epic saga of the Cleary family, who have almost as many shocking secrets as they do sheep. (And they have a  lot of sheep.) Join us now in swearing fealty to Boy King! Readers advisory :  Here . Footnotes:  Colleen McCullough’...

How do you get and keep a man? Hell if Kait knows, even after reading Having It All by Helen Gurley Brown. Once again, Kait has gathered some queer friends to see if Helen Gurley Brown’s worldview falls apart if you are not a heterosexual, cisgender woman. (Spoiler alert: It does!) Join Kait, Wren  (of Ready to Roll ), and Laura as they explore whether bisexual people exist (Spoiler alert: T...

Have you been wondering what Chris Colfer has been up to since Glee ? Are you ready to read some self-insert celebrity real person fanfiction written by an actual celebrity? Honestly, you’re probably not, and we weren’t either, but we were happy to have Cory  along for the ride with us as we read Stranger than Fanfiction by Chris Colfer . Have this podcast queued up to fill the awkward...

  Did you ever read a science fiction book and think, “I wish I knew more about these characters’ bathroom usage?” If so, Red Rising by Pierce Brown is the book for you! Children’s librarian Anna ( @opinionsbyanna ) joined us for this miserable slog through a Martian Hunger Games with no carbs and no bathroom breaks. Listen now to find out into which Hogwarts House eac...

Happy Halloween! We faced the scariest thing imaginable for a bad books podcast: a video game tie-in novel that turned out to be actually like, really good? We know: we were shocked too. Almost as shocked as the teen protagonists of  Five Nights at Freddy’s: The Silver Eyes by Kira Breed-Wrisley and Scott Cawthon were to discover all the horrors awaiting them at Freddy Fazbear’s Funtim...

Out of the attic and into the rocking chair, we were joined by Sophie of Two Bossy Dames to read My Sweet Audrina by V. C. Andrews. We were grudgingly impressed by how effectively Andrews gaslit us, the readers, because by the end of this book we had no idea which end was up anymore. Play this episode at your next tea party/seance! Content warning:  This book and our discussion of it contains sexu...

It’s our 4th anniversary! Traditionally, we’ve read a new book from the Twilight saga each year to celebrate our anniversary. But last year, we finished the saga, so this year we decided to create our own Twilight adventure. Danielle  (of Hello World Tarot ) ran a Twilight-themed D&D (5th edition ) adventure for Kait, Renata, and Amy  (of WTF Is America ?). Listen now to hear what...

We teamed up with Anna and Alene from Bellwether Friends , our BFP (best friend podcast), to read about our nation’s greatest BFFs, Joe Biden and Barack Obama. Unfortunately for us, Andrew Shaffer’s political RPF mystery Hope Never Dies turned out to be light on the friendship and heavy-handed on the opioid crisis. Listen to this episode on your next Amtrak trip! Readers advisory :  He...

As the sun goes down on this year’s Flashback Summer, we pay a visit to Sunset Island by Cherie Bennet . We’re joined by Denise ( @DezDono ), editor of the Gailsone series and one of the few people who remembers this 90s Sweet Valley High knockoff series. Listen now to hear about the lifestyles of a secretly rich babysitter and her horny middle-class friends! Readers advisory :  Here ....

If you’d like to continue with Flashback Summer, turn to page 2 for Kait, Renata, and Becca’s discussion of House of Danger by R.A. Montgomery . If you’re curious about the Choose Your Own Adventure franchise’s crossover into board game territory , roll a die. If you’re curious about how a single dangerous house can contain aliens, ghosts, carnivorous plants, and coun...

Flashback Summer gathered around the campfire to read  Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz & Stephen Gammell with our editor Becca. Put your hand in a bowl of peeled grapes and listen to hear how deeply upsetting Renata finds the formative stories of Kait’s childhood. Remember: the best way to make sure your friends know that you’re telling them a scary story is to...

Flashback Summer continues as we revisit everyone’s favorite little sister. Becca and Katelyn joined us to discuss Beverly Cleary’s classic Ramona and Her Mother . Relive the thrill of squeezing out an entire tube of toothpaste and the tragedy of a bad haircut! Listen to this while making a tasty gelatine salad for your next dinner party. Readers advisory :  Here . Footnotes:  Ramona T...

We’re launching our third Flashback Summer with one of Kait’s most formative childhood books. Author Becky Allen  ( @allreb ) joined us to discuss The Ghost in the Third Row by Bruce Coville , a middle-grade mystery that’s aged surprisingly well, much like a slightly haunted historic theater. Join us for a tween theatrical drama with a higher body count and more satisfying emotio...

It’s our 100th episode! Kait, Renata, and their editor Becca have been studying up on our bad book trivia for years to be able to process Ready Player One by Ernest Cline . This has been one of our most-requested books over the years, so we weren’t surprised when it won our listener poll for the 100th episode. We  were  surprised by how it was almost exactly like all the parodies of it...

Y’all know TFW you’re an extremely powerful faerie who has an important role to play in a war to save all of magic-kind, but you’re also extremely DTF? Meredith Goldstein ( @MeredithGoldste ), author and advice columnist for The Boston Globe’s Love Letters column and podcast , knows all about that feel, so we invited her to discuss A Court of Wings and Ruin , as well as the...

Kait and Renata decided that this podcast didn’t have enough musical theater references, so they invited their Jellicle friends Ashley and Stacey to read Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber’s memoir Unmasked .  Join us to learn more than we ever wanted to know about Andrew Lloyd Webber’s child bride, and not as much as Duarte wanted to know about Andrew Lloyd Webber’s cats. We apologiz...

Renata, Kait, and their returning guest Angie decided to #ChooseKind and experience the wonder of Wonder by R. J. Palacio , a saccharine story of what some abled people could learn from spending time with a boy with craniofacial differences. It’s also the story of a boy’s inexplicable love of the Star Wars prequel trilogy.  Tune in now to get your recommended daily allowance of Inspira...

In honor of the upcoming royal wedding, we read Alyssa Cole’s first Reluctant Royals romance, A Princess in Theory , with the 2016 Romance Writers Association librarian of the year , Robin Bradford . Although this book has a slightly silly premise–namely, what if spam emails insisting that you’re betrothed to the prince of a small African nation were real–we loved it, just...