Bookwild - 2025 Favorite Reads and Some 2026 Hopefuls with Gare

Episode Date: December 19, 2025

This week, Gare and I talk about what we've been watching lately, our favorite 2025 reads, and some 2026 books Gare already loves, as well as some 2026 hopefuls!Our 2025 FavesKate's BooksProject Hail Mary by Andy WeirJunie by Erin Crosby EckstineAnd Then She Fell by Alicia ElliotBlood Over Bright Haven by M. L. WangSky Full of Elephants by Cebo WilliamsThe Reformatory by Tananarive DueGare's BooksNight Watcher by Daphne WoolsoncroftThis Book Will Bury Me by Ashley WinsteadBoom Town by Nic StoneKeep This For Me by Jennifer FawcettHeated Rivalry by Rachel ReidToo Old for This by Samantha Downing2026 Books We Talked AboutBoring Asian Female by Canwen XuHelpless by Jessica KnollOn Sundays She Picked Flowers by Yah Yah ScholfieldThe Better Mother by Jennifer Van der KleutThe Future Saints by Ashley WinsteadSundown Girls by L.S. StrattonShows We Talked AboutThe Beast in MeDexter: ResurrectionSlow HorsesDown Cemetery RoadStranger ThingsHeated Rivalry Check Out Author Social Media PackagesCheck out the Bookwild Community on PatreonCheck Out My Stories Are My Religion SubstackGet Bookwild MerchFollow @imbookwild on InstagramOther Co-hosts On Instagram:Gare Billings @gareindeedreadsSteph Lauer @books.in.badgerlandHalley Sutton @halleysutton25Brian Watson @readingwithbrianMacKenzie Green @missusa2mba 

So I'm back with Gare, and it's going to be a fun one. We are both in moods, and I'm just medicated to the brink. So we're just going to see how it goes. But it'll be fun. I'm a little delirious. Yeah. I had, um, Murphy woke me up at,

1230 last night throwing a fit in his crate and he never does that and so I like let him out because I thought he was going to get sick and then it was like party time like he wanted to hug and cuddle and like run around and then he wanted to go outside and then I was like it's one o'clock in the morning and I have to get at a 730 like you're going back to bed and then I had a couple of drinks and I don't have a buzz anymore from the drinks but I have that like I could use a nap for just we're at unique places in our weeks right now I haven't drink in like two We're recording this the day it comes out.

So like that's that's how recent it all is too. And Gator loves those details. So I have not seen a heated rivalry, but I also have. I have consumed so much content about it. So I thought it would be perfect to ask you who you would want to be with the most of all the hot dudes.

there. I saw a post with like four of them listed and then I didn't go back because I don't know who I would be with. So maybe the icebreaker is just for you. Okay, well, I love this. I love them so much. So the main characters in heated rivalry are Shane and Ilya. I relate to Shane. I think he's very attractive. Like the guy that plays him, I love his character, I love Ilya's character, and I love the guy that plays Ilya. I relate more to Shane, so I feel like I am a Shane. So, like, I would probably be with Ilya. But there's another couple in episode three. There's Scott Hunter and Kit. Yes. Those were who I was seeing too. I would be with Scott Hunter. I was going to say a lot of people were saying Scott. A lot of people love Scott.

Scott Hunter is, yeah. Like, I love I love Ilya so much because he makes me laugh. Like, he is hilarious. And the things that, yeah, there's just like a lot of things in the book that I'm like, I like that. But like, he would win my heart because he's kind of the bad boy. But like Scott Hunter, like the only drawback with him. is that Scott Hunter is a an NHL player who's in love with a man, but is not ready to come out as gay yet.

So that is something that is your own journey. Right. And I could I think I would be okay with that. You know what I mean? Like be like, we're just friends. And I'm sure it's circumstantial to like maybe

something would happen where you felt like you needed it from them, but maybe not yeah yeah and it's just I love their like story because Ilya and Shane I love their story so much as an entertainment way but it's very toxic at times and it also spans over years and years and years that's what I was seeing too so like I could not do a toxic up and down kind of thing for years and years no I did it for like a few months and I was like I'm out I'm out. I'm out. I'm out. Yeah. Yeah. I'm out. So I would say Scott Hunter would be. Yes.

Nice. Kip's adorable. Yeah. I would not mind if I was like, I'm sorry, things didn't work out with Scott, but he's mine now. But like, Ilya and Shane belong together. So even if I had a chance with one of them, I would be like, no, you guys need to figure this out and stay together. Like, I love you guys. That's a great answer, too. have you read all the books in the series i can't remember i'm on the very last book right now okay um so books one one three four and five are different couples and then heated rivalries book two and the long game is the last book in the series and that's ilia and shane's like sequel okay yeah nice so i'm a obsessed. I'm so glad that it's doing so well. It's like the number one show on HBO. It's like it's everywhere. And it beat out. Welcome to Dairy. Yes. That's why I saw that too. That's exciting.

That's a good sign. Yeah. We need these shows to stay on. Somebody. Somebody on TikTok said the two number one shows on HBO are about eating kids in different waves that is brilliant I was like I love you that is perfect I want to watch that too actually I want to check it out too it seems like something I would enjoy

we've had like four good shows in a row because we watched Dexter Resurrection and then we watched Slow Horses is just like very accessible British spy thriller in my opinion like you it's not that you're having to think really hard but like a lot of stuff happens like the pacing is amazing um some people just like hate the idea of spy stuff so i try to

over explain what kind of version it is what was the other one oh the beast in me i'm obsessed with claire daines and matthew reese the americans and homeland are two of my like top 10 of all time so i was so excited and it was so good and then we just started down cemetery road which is Emma Thompson and Ruth Wilson Oh okay

In like an Oxford PI But also Government related mystery Yeah And we've loved all of them So we have like been burning through those But

I have not seen it Or heated rivalry I've just seen the TikToks Heated rivalry is like Oh my gosh so good it's so good um i watched dexter and then i watch stranger things and i have like one more season left of stranger things and then i watched like the one that just aired yeah okay yeah um and then we watched the beast in me and i was like obsessed with it i loved it so much i thought

it's so good the cliffhangers were so like the end of the episodes were all always so good without feeling like they're forcing a cliffhanger. Like, you're just like, wait, what? It was a very unconventional story about, like, a trope that I really like in thrillers. Yeah. And then I'm watching heated rivalry. And I'm like, oh, my God, can this, like, TV come get? But January, right?

Had it a lot. His and hers. His and hers, January 8th. uh-huh also in january i was like oh someone's in my office someone's here um 56 days oh yes which is the katherine ryan howard there's so much coming out in january and the third season to tell me lies

yes and then there are some movies that i'm excited about i think that are in january too but i'm my brain's not operating fully enough to know for sure but january is going to be Good. When you were talking about, what's the show that you watched about horses? About horses. Or that had horses in this title? Slow horses. Slow horses.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I started, like, smirking. When you edit this, you're, I'm like, because you're in your, like, spy government thriller era on TV. Yeah. I'm in my, like, queer everything era. So when you said that at first, I was thinking of the movie. Swift Horses.

Oh, yeah. With Jacob Allorty and Daisy Edgar Jones. Yeah. And I was like, oh, my God, I love that movie so much. And then you were like, wait a second. This does not match. No. Yeah, there's like, I saw some people joking that they think Netflix, like, knew everyone

was about to be stuck in their homes. And they're like, we'll save all the good TV for like November, December, January. Except they canceled. I'm like, it kind of makes sense. I'm okay with it. I know. They canceled boots, though. I saw that.

I was mad. Bumbed. They do it to a lot of shows, to be honest. Because at first I was like, they do it to a lot of shows with queer characters. But it's always that. That's why I'm really happy that he had a rivalry has reached zeitgeist potential here. HBO treats their shows really well, I think.

I think so. like I feel like they if they don't have a satisfying ending they would like give you one more season to like wrap things up instead of just being like this is done for good right I think you're right yeah so yeah well what we're also going to talk about not just TV but I tried I did pick six of my favorites and it is hard this is the first year that I've read over 100 and I'm like this makes it a lot harder so for the sake of this episode of course I have to give some background but what what I started to realize is I was including nonfiction and when I moved to nonfiction I was like this would be easier to pick six and it felt like it it fit the podcast vibes anyway so that helps me because I read a lot of good memoirs and a lot of good just like history type nonfiction and I was like I'll just like I'll just like I'll just just do fiction so that helped me out but i don't know how you pick your favorites i always do my favorites

of the year um this year because it's 2025 i'm doing my top 25 books of the year that's what i'm thinking about doing and there's like those were pretty easy to pick because i felt like they were the ones that like stood out to me the most or like that i had like a very like visceral reading experience with yeah um but i was going to ask you like do are you going to do like a top fiction and a top nonfiction or are you that's what i was wondering so i like kind of started on this yesterday because i realized i needed to go through everything and at least like pull the ones that i thought would count and i haven't counted how many i have like i feel like i have like maybe 30 right now and maybe i would be able to thin it out but then i also thought about doing like non-fiction

fiction and fiction. So I don't know. I don't know what I'll do for my post of the year. The other thing I've seen some people do, just doing favorites by like subgenre, like in a carousel. And some people are even kind of specific about it. So it was like I did read a lot of Southern Gothic that I liked. So I'm like I also could just like have all the like sub genres. And if I have two or three in them, I might approach it that way. So I don't know. I haven't decided. I think one year I did my favorite thrillers and I did my favorite romance. Oh yeah. When I had read like a lot of romance in the year. But you know, you can do whatever you want. Right. That's what I was realizing. Like I like, I'm not like counting when someone posted anyway. I'm not like, oh, you said this and you

only posted this many or whatever. And I just like seeing that people are like, these are all ones I really enjoyed. Like sometimes you do get lucky. I had a few months where like every audio book I started. I loved. Yeah. Sometimes it has it. happens. I also like the kind of like surprise when you like weren't really aware of a book, but like it was like pitched to you or you saw somebody else's review and you're like, I'm going to pick this up on a whim. You know, like it's kind of like different when it's like Alice Feeney, Ashley Winstead, like somebody that you know you're going to look forward to reading. But like when it's something that like you weren't really expecting and then you read it

and you're like, wow, like that really stuck the landing with me. Right. I have a couple on my top 25 list Well, I'm just going to dive into mine in no specific order but audiobook-wise, Project Hill Mary, I am a part of all of the crazy people who talk about how incredible the audiobook is

but it is because it's that good and the story is also fantastic. This one was so fun this year for me too because it was like right after I had realized I could do audiobooks with fiction. So then like once you get there, you like, all of a sudden your algorithm is sending you all of the like, these are the best ones that like everyone loves. And if you're on book talk, even if you ask on books today, you typically hear about Project Hail Mary and dungeon crawler Carl, which is so hard to say.

And I listen to a sample and I don't know if I can get into it. But I loved Project Hail Mary. But the trailer came out for the movie right after I got into fiction audiobooks. And there were so many people that were like, don't watch the trailer. Like, if you haven't read the book yet, like, you don't want to know everything that's in the trailer. And so I was like, I immediately have to just like try and listen to this book before I see spoilers because I'm too chronically online to avoid them. And it was then one of the best audiobook experience. Like, I'm still technically chasing the high of that audiobook experience, but the story's fantastic too.

But you do just want it to be vague. So a lone astronaut with no memory awakens deep in space and must solve an impossible scientific mystery alone or not to save Earth from extinction before time runs out. And that really is just all you need to know. And people vary on if it's kind of accessible sci-fi or if it's a little bit to science. And so I don't know how to always recommend that part of it. But like imagine waking up in space and you don't even know why you're there and your whole crew is dead. After the week I've had, I'd be like, vacation. You're like finally silenced.

Oh my God, I'm going to take a nap. That's fucking crazy. that's also terrifying yeah it would be terrifying that's one of those things very snarky like that i think that's the other reason it works so much yeah is like it felt like the female snarky characters that i like did you read the martian no but i have it i do want to listen to that one too because it's the same narrator and people say it's amazing i saw the movie years ago but like a long time ago enough that all i remember is like he learns how to grow potatoes on Mars.

I've heard that like they're both like fantastic. Yeah, everyone loves both of them. I do remember liking the movie. It was just probably seven years ago. Yeah. I've like, I don't know. That's like one of those things.

I feel like it's more apparent in some of the things that you read compared to like what I read because I'm very, I'm a basic bitch. But it's one of those things that's like terrifying. to think of like waking up in space and not knowing why you're there yeah but like it's terrifying to think of but you're like I would never be in that situation totally you know what I mean but like it's still like terrifying and I'm like huh like yeah there's that um oh my god what's the name of it there's a Will Dean book that just came out like last year or the year before chamber

the chamber? Yes, I think that's what's called. That's one of those ones. Yeah, that you're like, I would never be in that position, but it's still like terrifying to think of. Yes. I'm not going in the water. Or people who like go into caves. There's that. Taylor Adams has a new one. Oh, really? And it's about two women who go like cave diving and like one of them like yells or something at a guy. And then the other friend wakes up in the hospital and is like telling the police what happened. Oh, my gosh. I heard it's excellent.

Oh, wow. Yeah. He's got a claustrophobia. I know. And I like hate being claustrophobic. I know. It is. I like, I like, I like, yeah.

His books are so addicting. Mm-hmm. Um, and they're always like so quick. Yeah. Keep yodding. We're sleepy, guys. I'm sleepy. Um, speaking of terrifying.

go on you want to be scared my top read of the year kicking it off strong is Night Watcher by Daphne Wilsoncroft Yes When you combine

something that's so atmospheric and so like visual and cinematic and also like completely terrifying Yeah Like there's something about the Pacific Northwest

to me that is like so alluring because of like the weather and like how beautiful it is but also so much bad shit happens there that I'm like, do I want to go there? But like, I do. So as a child,

Nola Strait had a terrifying encounter with a serial killer. Now as an adult, she's the host of Nightwatch, a popular radio show. She receives a call one night from a caller claiming an intruder is in her home,

leading Nola to believe that the hiding man is back and has his eyes set on her. Creepy. I would It is so It is such a good book I can't say anything Without spoiling it

But like When you involve a serial killer And like something that happened to you as a child That is like traumatic It does a really good job of being like Is this trauma or is this like Really like happening? Do you know what I mean?

Like is this like are these coincidences? Right Or is Homegirl losing her mind. It was so good. It was so good. It was probably my favorite reading experience of the year. Number one.

Possibly. Number one, 100%. That's exciting. I do think technically Project Hail Mary all around like as an audiobook and as a story like technically it's probably my number one.

I would love Nightwatcher on audio. Literally, but that's even like to me kind of basic because like so many people read it. like there's so many people saying that but it is because it's that good and the movie just made a lot more people read it this year I think that there's like a difference between like I don't want to insult anyone but there's like a difference between like being like this book is trending because it's like wild but like not for everyone and then there are some that are just going to be trending because they're like they're little trendsetters and they're like there's a reason like gone girl like gone girl was like you know change the game with reading and it sounds like with you know that one that it's changing a lot and like if everyone's saying it's worth it then sometimes there's a reason why things are trending and it's not just for like social media hype or

because they're being paid by a publisher right schippity do it off schippityityity yes I agree um well in keeping with my audio book experience this year um Junie by Aaron Crosby Eckstein who I had on the podcast too so shameless plug this was where I met my technically my favorite my favorite narrator of all time Angel Pee I do think she is the favorite. Like Adam Lazard White might be tied, but he might also be number two. I've listened to so many books from her like in like what six or seven months. But Junie is about a young girl must face a life altering decision after awakening her sister's ghost, navigating truth about love, friendship, and power as the Civil War looms, which it is a good blurb from them.

But it's like a southern gothic, literally months before the Civil War breaks out. Wow. Or open, whatever, breaks out. That sounds like a pandemic. The Civil War starts. The Civil War starts is what I was saying. But so the timing is really fascinating. But the other cool thing is she uses books as a like way, like the character is very bookish.

and I love that stuff too, so. I love that too. It was so good. I kind of like that there was a thriller with Claire Deans being an author in it. I loved that. Yeah. They like fit some fun, bookish stuff into it. And I like that she was not like, this was like a big topic at Montreal Mystery Festival where like people were like, you imagine authors like putting on real pants and like.

Oh, yeah. blow drying their hair and like sitting in like a perfect office with like you know the birds chirping and we're just like the book is done and like that's not how it is so like I'm just like like that clear dames was like this is what an author really yes it's like but same um I'm so jealous of your audiobook journey because it is so cool to find you can find authors that you love and you can find stories that you love and they don't always coincide right um but now you also have this like other thing where you're like now i have a favorite audiobook narrator yeah so like you have another thing that's like drawing you in yeah to like expanding your bookish horizons even more than you already

have in 2025 yes it's crazy it's wild it's book wild it's book wild it's amazing I'm so jealous I need to send you one I need to think of one that is like similar because there have been some similar to like Lucinda's that you enjoyed so I'll have to send you one and you can just try it whenever but I have

I have a list oh nice so before I get into my next one I have my so here's my audio book journey is to listen to an audiobook of something that I've already read and loved and see if I pick up more on things. Oh, that's a good idea. And, like, see how I, like, remember the story or if I'm just, like, squirrel, squirrel, squirrel,

audiobooks are not for me. Right. So for audiobooks, I have American Psycho, The Shards, Night Watcher, and The Woman Inside. those will be cool those are all my picks so I was like if I can just yeah dive into one of those

you know probably the shards but also Pablo Schreiber who I have like a big big big crush on might make it engaging might make it engaging and he's narrating American Psycho that's exciting

so I'm like I love that until somebody gets in my car and he's like just like one of my favorite books sorry connecting to our car when Tyler leaves so he's just getting very random snippets of different books every day I feel like if he were to get a snippet of the shards or American Psycho or any of my hockey romances that I love he would be like you are you got you got a little something going on up there yes um but speaking of a journey

my next book is an odyssey it's a big chunky super thick book i loved it it took me on so many different routes and it is this book will bury me by ashley winstead yes i love this book so much I was hoping you would pick it. I was like, I was like, I'm going to do this as number two. Because I want it so bad to be one of my picks. But if you had already picked it, then I would just be like, that's one of my favorite ones too. Yeah. And we would both.

But it's on my like list list. But I was like, I think Gary will talk about it. I loved it. So this one, so this one deals with like. grief as well as being a thriller and I just felt like at a time that I was grieving the loss of a friendship that like I knew I had to like end it was a very good book for me to read at that time and I just like I love that book so much I love Jane so in this book will bury me Jane who is a college student unexpectedly loses her father and in order to distract herself from grief

she ends up getting into true crime and be friends different armchair detectives throughout the internet. And then shortly after she makes friends with them, three girls are killed in Idaho and the true crime community is determined to help solve the case. But as Jane and her new internet friends get closer and closer to finding out the truth, they realize that they might be putting themselves in the path of danger. That was a great summary. Thank you so much. oh i one's so good it's like right up there for me too it's on my top shelf so good so good i would say this is my number two of the year i would definitely say this is my number two of the year um they could be tied night watcher and this book will bury me um i just think that sometimes

when you have a debut author and you don't know what to expect sometimes when you love a book by a debut author, you love it a little bit more than if it was a book by somebody that like you already love, you know, like an author that you already love. So I think because this was Daphne's first book, I was like, I was not expecting that. Yeah. I was not expecting that. I was, you know, I was expecting a good book, but she really like nailed every important aspect of a enjoyable thriller to me. So yeah, those are my top two of here. I would say. So good. Yeah, mine, I don't know. how I would order them after this point necessarily. But I loved blood over Bright Haven by M.L. Wang, and it's like dark academia with like

magic, but it doesn't feel like totally fantasy. But a fiercely driven mage, who is the first female to be inducted into this college. I did not completely type that sentence out. She gets paired with her underestimated outsider assistant and they uncover a dangerous truth about magic that could upend an entire civilization or destroy them both, which is a good summary. But it's so hard to describe what's so good about this book because you don't want to know some of the things that make it so good right that's like it has the vibes of like um like she's paving the way like she's the first female that's even ever been

accepted there and then she figures out something about the system that is shady so it's kind of a fighting against the system type uh dystopia a little bit maybe that's the extra information i can give but I'm just going to be a little big. Yeah, and the narration is fantastic. I do think it kind of like brings it to life. It sounds also comparable to ninth house. Yes, there are definitely similar.

So many similarities. Yeah, I'll have to check that one out. Actually, sounds really good. Yeah, I really liked it. All of yours are very cool titles, too. But I know, Blood Over Bright Haven. Oh, my God. That title is very cool.

like you just want to be like I just like want that title on my bookshelf even if I like don't read it yeah and even if I was like not interested I'd be like I want that on my bookshelf anyway yeah it just looks cool I literally when we were making the content with Lane Fargo I had I had been considering reading the book and it was like over her shoulder so I was like staring at it for like two hours and then like I started it the next day because I was just like I do need to read this and it was I did is the cover going George. It's really, it's like a really fantasy dark academia. Like, it's hard to, I don't, it's hard to describe everything that's on the cover. Like, it's a very like red and black and white fantasy cover.

Yeah. Cool. Yeah. I need to get a, a trophy version of it. Well, speaking of trophies. Mm-hmm. And covers that I'm obsessed with. Yes. My next pick is. I was going to take that one too. By Nickstone. Oh my God. Because it's like on my full list too. Oh my God. I'm obsessed with this book.

I am obsessed with this book. So Boomtown by Nick Stone caught me by surprise because when it was pitched to me, I had not heard of Nick Stone because I don't typically read YA. And I was like, oh, like this sounds really good. And I'm obsessed with that cover. and like sometimes you're a little hesitant when somebody goes from YA to like their first adult book because sometimes they don't transition very well right and like with this I was like there are missing strippers and there are so much dark horrible things in this book that are so disturbing

but like make the plot very addictive but I was like she absolutely nailed this so I had no hesitations when I read the synopsis of Boomtown to know that like this was definitely an adult book. Yes. So there's a new dancer at the Boomtown strip club named Charm, who has stopped showing up to work. Her boss Lyric believes there could be more to the story than just her quitting without notice because Lyric's former lover and dancer at Boomtown also disappeared under similar circumstances the year before. So as Lyric goes into her own investigation, between the disappearances of charm and lucky

she finds that she is also walking into danger herself I love the last line there and I was right along for the ride let me tell you what that one was so freaking gritty

yes and like funny or like witty like it's dark but there's there's a lot of humor to it too Yeah. Yeah. I love when you have like snarky, sassy, strong women in a book that's like dark because like some people are like, oh, I don't know about that like dialogue. But like there are some women that are so strong. And I like not wanting to put up with anyone's shit that like if something like a man did something, they wouldn't be like, oh my God, please no. They'd be like, are you fucking kidding me? And like, you know, pop him right in the face. And, like, that's what this book is full of characters. Like, there's so many, like, witty pieces of dialogue that had to be, like, laughing out loud, even though I was, like, nervous to find out what was going to happen next.

Yes. And with that one, Angel Paine was one of the narrators, my favorite narrator. See? It's all coming together, kids. It was wonderful. This is an Angel Paine's Dan podcast now. One day she might hear how much I love her. and she's going to be like, whoa.

One day she might be on your podcast. Oh my gosh. I have thought of how it would be such a unique experience because I've heard her voice like tell me so many stories. And I'm like, would I like freeze up? And I'd be like, I love the way you just said that. Yeah. Instead of being like, I've heard so many books narrated by her.

You were like, I've heard her voice tell me so many stories. Yeah. That quote alone. is going to we're manifesting it yes yeah i love her and bonnie turpin step and i both really love her and she also narrates boomtown too she's one of the narrators yeah i have to add another one to my list such a fun universe here um well my next one can you hear the rain it just started raining hardcore here i heard something but i was like i'm not going to mention it because it almost sounded like Tyler was moving furniture.

And I didn't want you to like wick out. No. It's been raining all day and like 40 mile per hour winds. And like all of a sudden like all of the rain is getting like shoved against the back wall. So I don't know if anyone else is hearing that. No. No. It sounded almost like somebody was dragging a chair across like a hardwood floor in the background.

So I was like. Tyler set sit down well so another one this was like I just loved the experience and then when I pulled it up I saw that it was like a mind bending

blend of thriller and horror and I was like of course this is what I love but it's and then she fell by Alicia Elliott I will never stop talking about this book like the short pitch is a new mother trapped between grief, isolation, and creeping menace. Alice most reclaimed her voice and her culture to protect herself and her daughter before the life she's built in her own mind turns deadly.

Man, I feel like it needed more than just that one sentence I pulled from it. Did you die? No. Oh, okay. I hadn't seen you. I think I have it. I just like looked up and I was like oh she's mohawk right yes that's what I was going to say that it didn't include that but yeah it's a mohawk woman and her husband is a professor of like indigenous history like he's white and so there's this really like she really like kind of probes that type of tension by having that be who she's married to and I don't think it's a spoiler because I think it's such a like cool opener but either the prologue or the first chapter. I can't remember how it's framed is like she's watching like the Disney

Pocahontas and then like the real Pocahontas like climbs out of the TV and starts talking to her and like recounts like what history gets wrong. So she feels uses these really like mind bending ways to do like horror. It's very creative. I think that's what I really loves to. Do you think it's digestible for somebody who doesn't read a lot of horror the horror is like like every now and then like scenes will kind of just like escalate to like a scary thing but it's not like what does this mean thing necessarily okay if that makes sense yeah i want to read that i think you'll like it yeah i'm mohawk i know that's what when i first talked about it i was like that's so cool I was like, oh, my gosh.

Yeah. Because usually I hear, like, when there's an indigenous story, I feel like a lot of the times it's Cherokee. Like, I feel like Cherokee authors and, like, Cherokee stories are a lot more, like, prominent. But I was really interested when I heard that the main character was Mohawk. It's really, yeah, it's fascinating. And the ending was more emotional than I expected. And that's where I think it's, like, all a standoff. out for me because it had mind bending stuff which i always love it has some thriller elements has some

social elements has some horror feel to it and then the ending was so emotional okay i was crying in the shower listening to it literally oh my god yeah i was like i was not expecting it to go where it went and i was like i am crying in a shower right now now I want to do like an episode of that cover is beautiful I love that cover the back list I know I wish I could get it out yeah I think it's raining here now it's yeah there's a lot of a lot of it going around we have like a wind advisory for tomorrow and I'm like that's what we've had all day today it's been like windy here but it's like it's been like windy here but it's been like really cold and it started to warm up today and I'm like oh god

like I know all of our snow melted so it's nasty Murphy is such a little princess that like if it's like super windy he's like easily distracted and he won't pee yeah so good luck to me well well speaking of emotional reads yes there was a book that broke my heart this year that I was not expecting because it's like a thriller but I feel like it is very very emotional and like bleak and i loved it and it's called keep this for me by jennifer faucet and it's like a perfect gear thriller recommendation like it is bleak it's serial killer there's like 90s and dual timeline and amazing cast oh um so on a summer night in August of 1993, a couple's car breaks down. A trucker comes along and attacks the man and abducts the woman who has never seen again. When the trucker's caught and revealed to be a serial killer, the woman is not discovered with his other victims. 30 years later, the serial killer is on his

deathbed and insists that he did not kill her, but her daughter Fiona is in the same town her mother banished in. And when another woman goes missing, the prime suspect is none other than the serial Killers' son. It's so intricate. Oh my God. It is so good. It is so good. And we did an episode with her, so.

And she was amazing. She was incredible. She was so cool to talk with. God, I fucking love Canadians. That too, yes. I do. I do. Let me tell you what.

If you are a thriller reader and you pick up a thriller by a Canadian author, A, you have extravagant taste B, Canadian authors are the people that are so fucking nice and so sweet and have hearts of gold but we'll also write the darkest, bleakest, craziest shit you will read in the thriller. And just be like a Disney princess in person. Yeah. I love Canada. They're just adorable.

Yeah. Yeah. I love that. Like her and Jennifer Hillier and Robert Harding, Chevy Stevens. Jennifer Hillier Canadian? Jennifer Hillier is Canadian. How did I not realize that? I thought she lived in the Pacific Northwest.

That's what my brain had done. When I go to my bookstore in Canada, they put stickers. on Canadian author books. So you know that you're supporting a Canadian author. I love that. And I always get surprised Jennifer Hillier because I just always assume that she lived in Seattle. I think that's what I assumed. I think that's what my brain did.

Yeah. What my brain did. Yeah. But it's kind of like probably me in the Pacific Northwest. Like I love Night Watcher so much that like if I could ever write a thriller, it would probably take place in the Pacific Northwest. It would not be somewhere hot. No, no, no, no.

No, thank you. Not with us. Nope. Mm-mm. Mm-mm. Nope. Yeah. So many books.

Well, my next one is Sky Full of Elephants by Sebo Williams, also on the podcast. It's kind of working out. I wasn't thinking of it that way, but I guess that makes sense. But this one is a speculative novel where all of the white people in America walk into bodies of water and remove themselves yeah it's like a mass suicide basically

so in a world where white people no longer exist college professor Charlie Brunton receives a call from his estranged daughter Sidney setting off a chain of events as they journey across a truly post-racial America in search of answers it is

a really clever use of speculative fiction. And if you just really love to think about those things and themes in speculative fiction, you'll love this one. And another amazing title. I know. He said the phrase just came to him too. That's like the crazy part. I would be like the Thuethide Pact. Like I have no originality with titles whatsoever. That would be such a fun episode. It would be. If we took our favorite books and gave them like...

Tried to title them. I would be like lady dancer. The boomtown? Yes. Oh God. Ugh. Um, no, that sounds so good. I'm killing it with the titles.

He's very fun too. actually my next one has a very catchy title I will say so we are doing a really good job with bouncing back and forth with each other tonight because my next one that I fucking died over and I love and I still think about this little angel baby is too old for this by Samantha Downing

yes oh she's so fun Samantha Downing could just write dialogue in a book and not even anything else and I would just binge the shit out of it I agree. I love her dialogue. I love her like witty, sassy characters. And Lottie Jones is probably my favorite character that I read this year. She's amazing. She's just queen. So Lottie Jones changed her identity decades ago and escaped to a small town leaving her crimes in the past. Now she looks forward to spilling the tea and playing bingo with her friends at the local church. When an investigative journalist shows up to her doorstep asking about her past, Lottie has to resort to her old habits to keep that past buried. she is so fun she's so fun she is so cracking up i was dying laughing and i was just like

i did not expect it to be such a blend of humor and thriller without coming off like i don't mean this is an insult but just like as a comp like without coming off like finley donovan like it's kind of like there's nothing cozy or comforting about this book but like the character is hilarious

and her friends yes her whole little world her little world yeah when you have women that are in their like 60s to 70s and have reached that point

where they are like sick of people's bullshit and they just don't care what they say and like I think that there's even a character that like says something to the effect of like I'm like I can say whatever I want I'm just a little old lady. Mm-hmm. And it's kind of like that attitude, that cracks me up.

It's basically like golden girls, but one of them was a serial killer in the past. Yeah. Incredible. It is. I love that character. That cover is so cool, too. Yeah. It's just a good one.

She was on the podcast, too. We did not plan this, but I guess I'm going to have to put podcasts a lot of a bunch of them. True links. It's because you have such good taste. Oh, I try. Well, so this is my last one, right? Yeah, this is six. This one is what made me realize how much I love historical horror.

Historical horror fiction? No, I think you just say historical horror anyway. But the reform is where you by Tananah Reeve do. I read others of hers this year and really liked them. too but this was my favorite one um but set in jim crow florida it follows robert stevens junior as he's sent to a segregated reform school that is a chamber of tears where he sees the horrors of racism and injustice for the living and the dead so there are like ghosts of children who have been tortured at this place so it is heavy but it like is also so

such a good southern gothic like just really nails that vibe and like the last because it's i think it's 16 hours but so i like remember like the last three hours so many things happened and i was like on the edge of my seat for like a lot of it so it also like has the pacing it's just all really good and i'm now it's an honor rebe do fan i love bleakie and I love how that book sounds but like I'm so intimidated by yeah because I think it's 600

close to 600 pages it's not only that but like when there's like the ghosts of dead children that have been tortured oh it's heartbreaking a few times I even said like that is like the trigger warning if like some if some like

especially if like that is in your generational trauma That's what I've said to a couple of people. I'm like, it could be, like, incredibly intense to experience some of it. Yeah. I could definitely see. Do you hear him barking? Just faintly.

He's going to run down the hallway and bark outside my... The wind is causing our house to... Yeah. To make noises and creak and whatever. but yeah i am very intrigued by that one and i know that one day i'll do it the narrators are great but 16 hours is a lot and if you don't know if you can do audiobooks yet maybe the one yeah um i've no segue way i know that's like a heavy one to um i will say we are ending this episode the same way we started my last my last pick is heated rivalry by rachel

reed nice i love the symmetry the book ins yeah um i love mm hockey romance i have for years i don't want to discredit or shade any of the others that i've read but like sometimes they've like given me the same thing that I get in romance where I'm like I loved the journey of them ending up together or I loved their relationship and then like I get the happy ending and I move on. But with this one, they're so like the characters are so outstanding and like so well done and I love their relationship and Ilya Rosenoff is one of the only characters that has made me laugh so much in a series

like out loud and I'm not like a laugh out loud kind of person at all but I like crack up at his dialogue. It is incredible. I love that. So if you are curious about heated rivalry, it is about

hockey is life for Shane Hollander. Now he's the captain of the Montreal Voyagers and nothing will get in the way of his dream of winning the Stanley Cup that is until he meets the Boston Bears captain

Ilya Rosenoff. The complete opposite of Shane, Ilya is arrogant and has the reputation of a ladies man. As the two best players in the league, the two men are instant rivals on the ice. But off the ice, the undeniable attraction between the two sparks

a love affair that spans years as they try to hide their connection from the public eye. So juicy. And I will say with my I was trying to fit that in a very short synopsis. Yeah. So they are the captains of their own team, but they meet much earlier than that, like when they're being like drafted and stuff. I think they're like 18 or 19 when they meet. So it's just like in the current time there, they're captains. And that's kind of when

the rivalry really kicks up, you know, when you're in the NHL. But it is just, a spectacular book, and I loved every single minute of it. Oh, that's the best one. And the show is doing extreme justice. Oh, that's even better. So it's a really true adaptation. If you, yeah, yeah. Now that I've watched this, I would say that it is in my top five adaptations of any, like, like, yeah.

It's like Gone Girl. Mm-hmm. Heated rivalry tied. yeah yeah it's just so good i loved it so much it's always so fun too and like one of your favorites you even read at the end of the year you're like oh my god yeah yeah and the funny thing is is there i'm not gonna say what book it was but when i was making my list i was like do i do a top 10 do i do a top 20 of the year then i felt like if i did a top 20 i might as well do my top 25 of the year right and i had 24 and i was like i just have to pick one more book and i had like my 25th book

picked and i was like i don't i really enjoyed it and it was a five-star read but like i don't know if it hit the same as the other 24 books on my list right and then i read heated rivalry and i was like this is your 25th book that you that deserves to be on this list so it was like made the decision for you yeah yeah yeah that's perfect so that was my little gem at the end of the year do you have one I mean there's so many I was going to randomly ask if you have like the one you're most excited for in 2026 but I feel like I know's what yours is and I don't know if I could pick one what am I that I was excited for I just have I can there's my

My most anticipated one is Helpless by Jessica Knoll. That's what I figured. And you know what? Actually, I'm probably the most excited about the caretaker from Marcus Clyworth. Yeah. But there is one that I am

excited for from an author I've never read that was like a surprise. Like the publisher pitched it to me and I was like the sounds perfect for me. And it is called The Secret Lives of Murderer Wives by Elizabeth Arnett.

So it's about Beverly, Elsie, and Margot, who are housewives, but also wives of convicted killers. And it takes place in the 60s. And they form an unlikely friendship after they discover their husband's crimes.

Um, and that's all I know. That's all you need to know. So I think because it takes place in the 60s and because it deals with like the wives of one of my things that I think is like very interesting about like somebody who's a killer is like what they leave behind. You know, like your whole life is ripped apart when you find out that like a huge important person in your life is a brutal. killer. So I think the fact that it takes place in the 60s before people took like mental health seriously and these three women are like bonding over the fact that they like married murders without knowing it. This just seems really interesting to me. It's kind of like giving like madwife and don't worry darling vibes. Yes. That movie. I wish there hadn't been so much drama around.

it because that movie is like better than people realized yeah i love that movie i thought it was great and they like were talking about oh that's a spoiler a big spoiler of people i haven't seen it so never mind but watch the movie watch the movie guys and then you'll pick up on her vibes it's worth it so worth it yeah i have i'm trying to remember i just saw journal of jada posted about one that i hadn't known about that comes out in january i have someone that come out in january um but But I'm trying to remember what it was because it sounded, it was like another Southern Gothic, which is clearly my vibe. But it's called On Sundays, she picked flowers by Yaya Shulfield. I'm assuming it's how I pronounce her name.

But like the one sentence thing is in the sinister and surreal Southern Gothic debut, a woman escapes into the uncanny woods of Southern Georgia and must continue with ghosts, hates, and most disdainting. dangerous of all the truth about herself and the cover is just like very traumatic and it got me excited but I have so many coming out in January. I do too. There's like I've been finding these like stalker thrillers that I'm loving each year like I loved um cross my heart by Megan Collins um tell me lies by no not tell me lies count my lies by Sophie Staba um and most recently um Best Offer Wins by Marissa Cristino and there's one coming out

in April and it's called Boring Asian Female by Ken Wen Zoo Z-A-N-W-E-N and it's like oh my God it's like

Elizabeth Zang is like aware that like she's in like the 10th percentile of like her classmates and like she's just like outstanding in every which way. But she wants to go to Harvard Law School and then they reject her

for not standing out enough and like she's like that just means that they think I'm a boring Asian woman. But Laura Kim a classmate of hers got in and so she's like what makes Laura Kim so much more

interesting than me and like made her stand out and then she starts like to follow her to see what makes her stand out like what is she eating for lunch like all this other stuff oh and then like i think it like it basically says that the only thing she sees is laura has taken a spot that she knows she deserves after working so hard and a spot that she'll simply have to give back so it just kind of sounds like she's like okay like curiosity is getting the best of her and it turns into like a stalker story um but it sounds so good and i'm really excited for that because it sounds like it's going to be comparable to some of those other thrillers that involve like the unhinged female

stocking yes experience yeah yeah there was i wanted to my good reason is like it's like not loading right now but i know there was another one oh i saw so speaking of kind of ninth house vibes the other one that i sometimes compare to ninth house is academy for liars by lexas henderson and she just announced her 2025 book and it's called when i was death um and it's says a group of girls does death incarnate's bidding in this haunting speculative young adult novel I guess the synopsis isn't very long. But, so, like, Rosalind's sister, Adeline, died in the last year under mysterious circumstances, and she's still tormented by her absence.

So when the elusive caravan of girls, the Adeline spent her last summer with rolls up into town, Rosalind joins them to finally figure out what happened to her sister. And then there's ritual stuff going on. So I'm excited for that one, too. Sounds creative. Have you read any 2026 books yet? I kind of don't think I have. I think I just started my first one because I'm reading The Sundown Girls by L.S. Stratton right now. I think that's the first one.

And then I'm going to be reading the future saints. We'll probably be my next one. So I'm starting to. If I can recommend some bangers for 2026, the Future Saints is incredible, is incredible. All the little houses by May Cobb is incredible. Okay, it's- I listened because I wanted to hear Malin. I'll probably wait since we're going to. talk to her but uh oh it sounded so good even it is so good it is like it is just incredible

it's mean girls mean moms yep doing mean stuff and yeah in texas in texas big hair in the 80s yes obsessed um but there's one that i don't hear people talk about very much it's not out yet so that could be why too but like if you like the unhinged female like stalker story or like just like a wild ride that's kind of like a pop born thriller without being freedom McFadden um the better mother by Jennifer Vandaklut is that the one that you just got that cool Spygote yeah oh that was so cool so cool she's so sweet I'm obsessed with her I love that um so it's basically two of my favorite movies it is fatal attraction meets the

that rocks a cradle. Wow. And a woman gets pregnant after like a fling with a guy. And then she like tells him like I am pregnant. I want to keep this baby. And he's like when we had sex, I was broken up with my girlfriend and we're back together. And so he's like, but I still want to be, I don't want to be a dead beat dad. So like I still want to be part of this kid's life. And she's like, that's fantastic. Like that's the best reaction I can have. But then she means. meets the girlfriend, Madison, who is, like, very much, like, I'm so excited for this. And then weird things start to happen to her. And, like, Madison almost is, like, overstepping her role.

And it gets crazier and crazier with each page. That would make me so mad. Oh, you are going to get pissed at this one. But I think you're going to have a very fun time reading it. Yeah. Yeah. Cover is so cool. So, that.

put it I could not put it down and it was one of my Nat Galley like I requested it on Nat Galley yeah and I'm so excited for Pub Day so I can like hold a copy of that yeah that'll be awesome yeah I know it's gonna be in my top reads of 2026 that's those three already those three I know will be in my top 20 26 weeks yeah yeah yeah I need to get through a couple more but they're like January 13th I also have time yeah plenty of time but I think 2026 is going to be busier than 2025 always will somehow crazy