Bookwild - Hyped Books Recommendations with Gare Billings and Steph Lauer

Episode Date: December 24, 2024

This week, Gare, Steph and each chose a hyped book and share three books like it that deserve more hype!Kate's Books Like The Guest List (And White Lotus)The Astrology HouseYou Can Trust MeIt Could Be AnyoneSteph's Books Like The PushThe First Day of SpringBlood SugarMonday’s Not ComingGare's Books Like The Luckiest Girl AliveEverything You Want Me to BeNice GirlsWhite Ivy Get Bookwild MerchCheck Out My Stories Are My Religion SubstackCheck Out Author Social Media PackagesCheck out the Bookwild Community on PatreonCheck out the Imposter Hour Podcast with Liz and GregFollow @imbookwild on InstagramOther Co-hosts On Instagram:Gare Billings @gareindeedreadsSteph Lauer @books.in.badgerlandHalley Sutton @halleysutton25Brian Watson @readingwithbrian 

I am back with Gare and Steph, which I'm always going to enunciate now, ever since AI came for me. But we are, what are we going to? We have like a fun. We have a fun. I am losing my words. I don't like what is happening. We have fun, period. We have fun, period.

No, Gare had a really cool idea at the end of our other podcast. And that's what we're going to be doing. this evening or whatever whatever time it is that you're listening. I've had to take Benadryl today. So I'm sorry to anyone who's like, who is this person that's talking? We keep it real here.

We're like the Real Housewives of a podcast. Totally. The real Housewives you stay at home and read. Except for Gare. There's a little social butterfly lately. For sure. Comparatively.

Just getting my Christmas party out of the way. Yeah. Yeah. Cheers to this. Yeah. Just why I sound like this. Def has a cool icebreaker that we're so excited for.

Well, speaking of Christmas cheer, you help me make out my mind. I just wanted to know, since we're rolling into the holidays, if you have a favorite Christmas movie, if you were going to sit and, like, binge Christmas movies, which I think I'm going to do on Christmas day, because we have no plans. Yay. Same. What would you start with? I'm obsessed with this. I think that Christmas is like completely underrated when it comes to like all of the fun activities of different genres of movies that I would consider Christmas movies. So I obviously start off with the holiday because it is like one of my favorite rom-coms ever. And I'm not even a rom-com guy. I'm not. No, I'm not, but it's so good. And then I run. roll into Home Alone, classic.

And then I love The War of the Roses because there is a very petty argument over a Christmas like tree. And so I'm like, well, this can be a Christmas movie then. And then obviously right before I go to bed, I turn on my comfort movie, which is the 1974 version of Black Christmas. I thought that was going to be the first one you said on. It's my favorite Christmas movie. Yes.

But like, you know, you like you end it on like that like high note. Yeah. And there's one sorority girl in Black Christmas who is like every scene she's like tossing back a cocktail and like smoking a cigarette and like being mean to somebody and I'm like goal. Goal and life. This should just be Barb from Black Christmas. One of my favorite yoga instructors right now. And she has like the best fashion ever like oversized denim shirt, black choker, loose bun. and I'm like 1974 barb was just like doing it for like everybody for the next 50 years

seriously you got to meet barb yeah so I don't watch christmas movies oh my gosh I just don't um I was even just Googling I was even just Googling I was like movie thrillers with Christmas, but even those are typically so over the top, like horror or something that like I don't do that either. I'm trying so hard to think of your mind. Yeah. Because you know I'm a Grinch girlie. Oh yeah, that's true. Yeah. I mean, I definitely vibe with a Grinch. Let's be real. It might have been the grinchiest answer ever actually. Are you like the Jim Carrey Grinch or are you like the cartoon Grinch or both? Okay, you can pick one or is that a me question?

Anybody. Um, who likes the Grinch? Which one would I watch? I'd probably watch live action if I was going to watch one today. Yeah. Mm-hmm. I get one thing I can kind of say is Black Doves, which is a spy series on Netflix right now. very heavily references that it's Christmas time in like every single episode so maybe I'll be like black doves and it's a spy thriller

I think it's still like wintery and like you'd want to be watching it maybe during winter break or if you have like days off when it's snowy yeah that's fair and I'm not a rewatcher that's the other that's the other hang up here I don't rewatch anything I know I know I thought maybe the holidays would be an exception. That's amazing. She has, she sticks to her rules. Yeah, I really do. She sticks to her rules.

I will say, Kate, if I can get you to watch any Christmas movie, Black Christmas would be it. Yes. If it were to be a book, one of the comps for it would be return to midnight. Yeah. And it's also like a dark academia book that like is just in movie form. Like if this were a book, you would be like all about. about it. Like toxic friendships, murder.

Murder. You know, the other terrible thing about me is I don't like watching old quality movies. Kate loves so many things, but she also- triggering you both from the get-go. That's what this entire episode is going to be of like, it's going to be like a ping-pong of me trying to convince you. I actually saw a tweet the other day about Black Christmas and somebody was like, I cannot believe how good the color quality is in a movie that's this old.

Well, that's good to know. She's never going to fucking watch it, but I'm going to. You know what movie I watched that I actually hadn't really, I don't think I had watched it before, was Heather's recently. And that one was, I think it felt more like modern than I thought it would. some ways. It is iconic. Yeah. May Cobb was like in the episode that just came out of For Imposter Hour, a little plug.

May Cobb was talking about how much watching growing up on the Heather's influenced her writing. You can tell. Yeah. Hathers is one of my favorite movies in the entire world. The revengy ending was pretty good. Yeah. The revengy ending. It is so hard to think of what you've been like. gay son. It's just...

So what? I love my gay son. Oh, yeah. From Heather's. It's just iconic. It's like, without Heather's, there wouldn't have been mean girls or jobbreaker. Right. Which are like two of my favorites. Yeah.

Yeah. Did you see the musical Mean Girls? No. I didn't either. I'm not gonna, no, I don't do music. No, I can't do a musical. Did you ever convince yourself to go to Wicked? no okay i mean if it if it's like streaming yeah if it was streaming last week when i had the flu

and i like could not function whatsoever yeah that's what i'd have turned it on that makes sense i don't well and maybe it wouldn't happen now i don't love when like people talk or sing in the movies with me like i would want it silent in the movie theater yes and i've heard that people have been doing that And I think that's fun for people that like that. I know. I have times for talking and singing and have times for people that like it quiet. I've seen that. Because like some people were like recording like slyly in the theaters so that you could hear the person off key like screaming the songs next to her.

And she was like, this is literally ruining my experience right now. Yeah. Totally. I heard like some theaters that are like heavily like in heavily pop. populated areas have certain showings where they're like you can see during this showing and this one you cannot. That's what I heard because there were some in L.A. that were labeled sing along. I was like, that's what you need. Because when I went to see the airs tour in theaters, I was excited that my theater, she basically dropped tickets randomly for the Thursday before. and I went and it was just like a bunch of people just sitting down in the reclining chairs and I was so relieved because there was a part of me that was like are people going to be like dancing and singing next to me like I just want to hear Taylor.

Yeah. I'm not here for you. Yeah. Right. Like Cynthia, how do you say her last name? Arrivo. Like she was like, yeah, it's meant to be like fun and I'm like, you know, for some. But like also like Cynthia Revo. is probably like, I love her.

I love her to death. But Cynthia Revo is like, go ahead. Go in that movie theater and try to sing along with me because you're not going to sound as good as I do. That's what I would be. I'd be like, yeah, go ahead. Sing my song. I know I'm going to fucking kill it.

If I had a voice like her, I would sing everything. I know. Have you seen that clip of her on Fallon? She just like busted out the battle cry or whatever. I could never. I love so much that I watched is that the outsider with her. Stephen King. Oh, yeah.

She's Holly. And she's like, I never would have been like, oh, wow, she's a super awesome singer. But I just like, like, I love that so much more the range that she has. Yeah. Because that show A is really good. And she's really amazing in it. And then to be like, oh, you're also Alphabet? Like what?

I know. She was in the bad times at the El Royale Hotel. Oh, okay. um Dakota Johnson and there was like one part that she like kind of sings in it and I was like oh my god she's got such a good voice and then like hearing the difference and like how she's saying in that movie which was very like lower register like bluesy to like wicked I'm like your range is insane yeah I love her do you have any Christmas movies other than the Grinch stuff I do love The Grinch.

I love both versions of The Grinch. They both have sentimental value. I, like, one movie I love because it pleasantly surprised me, like, when it was in the movie theaters, I thought that Elf was going to be, like, the dumbest movie ever. And I ended up loving it. So I do love Elf. I will say that one came to mind because even though I don't rewatch it now, we definitely did as an adult. So like, quotability is crazy, like, from that movie. Like, I, um, oh, I don't know if I should even say it.

I ripped most of my toenail off when I opened a refrigerator door recently. Oh, no. And it was so bad. And I was telling Tyler, I was like, my toe has a heartbeat, which is like one of the funniest parts than elf. So I still quote elf. I can add that. Oh, yeah. I love like the, bye, boy.

hope you find your dad like the narwhal like that's like I think like I love the Jif when he's like Santa so yeah I think that those and just like all the typical millennials of millennial age like home alone and all and I do enjoy a nightmare before Christmas for both holidays I've never watched Alv you've never seen it no damn little feral i did not see that's the reason why i thought i would not like it i'm sure he's like a nice guy i just i feel like he plays i feel like he plays the same person and every single he's a tight cast person that's for sure and i do not i just don't like i don't like his sense of humor at like i feel like it's just like him saying like very off-the-wall things but yelling at me

even as a viewer and i'm just like i'm just like no i don't i can't do that's like yeah i can't you I've never seen you look so stressed out talking about someone. I just like, I'm like, oh my God. No, he like, I just can't do, yeah, I can't do Will Ferrell. I know. That's why that was like, walked in that theater and I was like, this is probably going to be dumb. And then I was really surprised that I had a fantastic time.

I feel like a Christmas movie, though. Like if I was to watch a Will Ferrell movie, I would start with Alf because I feel like a Christmas movie is like, like a bad Christmas movie is. still better than like a bad regular movie. Oh yeah. And I think it's a little more like the genre is kind of like corny and over the top anyways. Yeah. You know, so yeah.

Well, that was a good icebreaker, I guess. I love that. But if we have to keep- there was a good one, then we should, I guess maybe. Yeah, we should. Technically. Do you have to be done when the next in an hour? Yeah.

Yeah. We can talk about nine books in an hour. Look at us. Hell yeah. Let's roll. Well, I was thinking where this idea came from was maybe a TikTok or maybe a combination of my brain in TikTok. But I love seeing things where people give a comp for something that's like really popular. And they're like kind of like, here's like a hidden gem or here's like something that like the first thing to come to mind obviously is gone girl.

Right. Like we read about gone girl and like everybody knows what that is. but, like, there are other books that are, you know, fantastic that should have gotten the gone girl treatment. So I was like, wouldn't it be fun if we talked about books that we could compare to, like, something really popular? I love it. Do you want to start? Sure. Hell yeah.

Nice. To no one's surprise ever, the popular book that I'm comping tonight is... Great young women. Luckyest girl alive. It was almost bright young. women, but I could not. I couldn't get my third one. But luckiest girl alive is the book that I'm like, obviously I love this one, but I did find three other books that have like similar plot device. And I guess the theme that I went with is kind of like books that have female characters

that like either have like a hidden past or you don't like fully know them until the end of the book when they're like, here's something that I'm revealing that, like, you as the reader did not know. And, like, people in my life didn't know. So, um, my first one is everything you want me to be by Mindy Mejia, which I love. Um, no one knows who she really is. Hattie Hoffman has spent her whole life playing many parts, the good student, the good daughter, the good girlfriend. But Hattie wants something more.

something bigger and ultimately something that turns out to be exceedingly dangerous. When she's found brutally stabbed to death, the tragedy rips through the fabric of her small town community. It soon comes to light that Hattie was engaged in highly compromising and potentially explosive secret online relationship. The question is, did anyone else know, and to what lengths might they have gone to end it? Haddy's boyfriend seems distraught over her death, but he had fallen so deeply in love with her that she had become an obsession. did Hattie's impulsive daredevil nature simply put her in the wrong place at the wrong time, leading her to a violent death of the hands of a stranger? Full twist and turns, everything you want me to be,

reconstructs a year in the life of a dangerously mesmerizing young woman, during which a small town's darkest secrets come to the forefront, and she inches closer and closer to death. That one was so fascinating. Yeah. And dark. Fascinating. Yeah.

And so dark, yes. Yeah. I love I love the plot device of kind of like luckiest girl alive where like Ani is like, here are the parts of me I'm going to show you and here are the parts that like no one's going to know. Even as she's like engaged trying to get married. And the thing that I loved about Hattie is like she was the same way. She was like a completely different person with every single person in her life. So like nobody really knew the real her. yes yeah I love that book yeah it's such a cool like perspective choice I think that's what I would call it yeah I almost like forgot that it was like a murder mystery because I was just like so invested in her

like character yeah and I was like oh yeah one of these fuckers is gonna kill her I just thought of a book when you were just talking just now and I'm like I wonder if he's gonna talk about that one too. So I'm interested to see what your other two comes are. Interesting. My first one, so when I went to start thinking about this, you don't know if anyone else saw, probably definitely by now when this comes out. But the White Lotus, it just, the new season got announced for 2025. So it's been like on my brain. And I was like, at one point, it came into mind. And I was like, oh, I should just do ones for that. And I was like, no, pick a book.

that it's like so mine are kind of like destination drama thriller recommendations um and the really hype version of that that i thought of was um the guest list by lucy fully and so that's basically since i'm not going to read the synopsis of that one necessarily this one is like a wedding on an island, I believe, or it's at least a waterfront location. But it's ensemble cast, people have secrets, someone is killed, destination wedding. It's pretty popular. So I would assume a lot of our readers have heard of it. But the first one that came to mind for me was one I read recently called The Astrology House. And it is about

Marga. Well, actually, it's about a whole cast of people. Margo needs a minute. She's been working 80-hour weeks as a newly minted partner at her law firm. She's disconnected from her brother, the only family she has left, and she's still not pregnant after

years of trying. Stars Harbor astrological retreat promises rest, relaxation, and wisdom for Margo and her friends. With Instagram-worthy views and nightly astrology readings in an impeccably restored waterfront Victorian house, this getaway should be nothing but idyllic fun. For Margo's brother, Adam, it's the perfect opportunity to rekindle the romance that fuels his writing, but his wife Amy hides the darkness of her past with a beautiful social media feed.

Their friend Farah is a successful doctor who cannot admit she's losing control, but no one holds a greater secret than their astrologer host Rini. she has a plan for all her guests and one won't be leaving stars harbor alive dun dun i will say if you're really into astrology you'll really like the book and then even if you're just like mildly interested the way she includes like i don't think this is a spoiler it's kind of cool she includes the like astrological charts and like that character's breakdown of each character before you meet the character and so it's like it was it was also a really good one way to get to know i think five or six perspectives like really quickly and it's just fun

i spend so much money every time we record an episode i know and karen jade is co-host of pop fiction women podcast that i've mentioned a couple times it is so good she and her co-host kate um talk about like women written or directed movies and TV shows and books. And then they interview authors sometimes. I love that. Yeah. God, that's so cool. And they were inspired, I have to say it, I can't help myself.

They were inspired to create this podcast because both of them really, really liked, uh, like stories, whatever medium it was in. And after Gone Girl came out, Corinne watched something on YouTube that had been Affleck and why can't I think of the director's name right now? I don't know. I've gone girl. David Fincher. Thank you.

I heard I had David Flinch in my head and I was like, this is not right. So Ben and Dave and I can't remember who else. Basically were interviewed about it. And Gillian Flynn wasn't even mentioned. And she was like it was just talking about how great the story was. didn't even talk about like the adaptation and she was like fuck that i am going to fill this void and talk about women who write so i also just love that origin story exactly was it all dudes yes of course of course i was like please tell me there was not a woman

sitting there that didn't speak up and it's not even like that gillian flin is the one that created that story and wrote the book, but like she also is the one that was responsible for the screenplay. Exactly. That's what she brought up too. She's like she even adapted it. Yeah. Yeah. Crazy. Now Gillian has her own imprint, so that part's good. Perfect. I wish Gillian would publish her next book on the imprint. Oh, I know. I love you, girl, but it's been almost 15 years. I remember seeing an interview with her where she was like, sometimes I'm just writing and I don't love it and I get to 100,000 words and I'm like, that wasn't right. And so I just restart. And she's like, I will never work on like a deadline. And I'm like, we know. I read an interview that she did

where she said that her next book opens with the most disturbing line that she's ever written. Oh my God. And I was like, that better not be one of the things that she like decided, oh, this isn't working and like deleted. Oh, I hope that sticks around. or is at least like kept and then the rest of it's reworked yeah yeah i have to i haven't i've like watched and read a gone girl but then i watched sharp objects i need to read it and then read dark place i haven't read any of those oh they're so um read dark places skip the movie because they're adopting it they're adopting it i think into a television series it's still pretty good, I will say, though, the movie is.

It's not, it didn't get the best reviews. But, like, when we watched it, I was like, that was pretty good. I think that, like, I don't think Charlize, I love her, but I don't think she was the right pick. Yeah, I can see that. Yeah. Yeah. Sharp objects.

I, that one is so good. That was so disturbing. The end of that. Yes. The last episode, I was so disturbed. I don't even know, like, what was said. it's the look on her face when it clicks

and that fucking reveal yeah the reveal yeah grossed me out for my whole life for my whole life I just like also like really respect too

that like we talk sometimes about how like a book or a story seems like it's going to be really disturbing and then like the author kind of takes like a cheap way out where it's like okay this wasn't as disturbing as I thought so I was like when I'm reading a book about somebody

like murdering like pre-teen girls and like the small town like there's no way this book can't have like a fucked up ending and then like Gillian was like not only is the ending going to be fucked up but it's going to heavily disturb you for the rest of your life yeah yeah I that will I will always remember that mm-hmm god I wish our places ending you'll always remember too actually or dark it's pretty short too yeah okay dark places is so sad um my first book. I don't think there's a segue.

My like popular book is the push. I almost chose that one. Yeah. My comps are in a variety of ways because like if I could do like all creepy kids, I would but I don't. Mine are like so this one has like 350 to 370. I don't remember the exact number, thousand reviews on goodreads.

And the other ones have maybe like 50 or ish. So like they're not unpopular, but they were the ones I thought of that I don't see as much around. Yeah. So the first one is, and what I took from it is like, I thought that the push was

bleak, psychological, character-driven, and creepy kids. Like those are the things that I took about. I thought of. My first one is, and I did have this as a pile of one of our previous episodes, mostly, is the first day of spring by Nancy Tucker. This book surprised the hell out of me of how much I loved it,

and it was probably when I realized that I love character-driven books. That's cool. Meet Chrissy. Chrissy is eight, and she has a secret. She has just killed a boy. The feeling made her belly fizz like soda pop. Her playmates are tearful, and their mothers are terrified, keeping them locked up indoors.

But Chrissy rules the roost. She's the champion of handstands and wall walking and almost everything else. Best of all, now she has a feeling of power that she never gets at home, where food is scarce and attention scarcer. 20 years later, Chrissy is living and hiding under a changed name, doing all she can to forget who she used to be. But the past is starting to catch up with her, threatening to take away the one thing she cares about, her five-year-old daughter, Molly. Nancy Tucker leaves the reader breathless as she inhabits her protagonist with a shocking authenticity that moves from sympathy to humor to horror to heartbreak and back again. I need to read this. I need to read this.

Like that first paragraph of the synopsis, I don't even know if I ever read it. It was because in the beginning, like, that's the first page of the book of like her being a little girl in what she does. And you feel like at first you're like, what is going on? And then you, like she said, like the synopsis said, you shift through all these feelings of like, you feel mad at her. And then you feel bad for her. And then she grows up and you're scared for her. And it's, wow. There's like there's so much going on.

So there's multiple timelines. And it's really sad. But I also like cried of like there were good things too that happened or just like powerful. I would say it was I thought it was incredible. Oh my gosh. I need to bring this as a book club option. It's not, I would say it's not for the lighthearted, but I doubt someone in your book club is there. Correct.

Not feel good reads. Yeah. I mean, the Brightlands was the first choice. That sounds great. I don't know where I first heard of it. it um but it i'm glad i found it i guess yeah that was where you're like i don't know where this came from but i'm glad it happened i feel like we talked about it in conjunction with blood sugar so i can't remember if maybe we saw a review because i bought it when you we we talked about it a while ago like

maybe a year or she go and then i bought it but i haven't read it yet it's one of those few ones that i like bought before i was reading it yeah i it's hard to probably be in the mood for it. I think it's one of those things where you're like, I don't know what to start. So I'm just going to go for it. Right. I just bought it. Hell yeah. Order place. Did I, I thought you had read it. You haven't? No, I haven't. Oh, I didn't know that. No, no, no, no, no. I've seen it. I've heard it on this podcast like two years ago. I've seen it and I've heard of that. And I don't know if maybe like I didn't read the full synopsis or something. But like when you were reading that. Like, my belly

was like fizzy, like, so... Because I was like, this sounds so perfect. Because you're actually in the... You're in a kid's perspective, which is just bonkers to me. Yeah. I'm also, like, curious if

there's a book I'm thinking of that's on your list, too. She has a degree in experimental psychology. So it kind of reminds me of a little bit of, like, I wonder what her background is. and if this is just totally fiction or if somehow she was like a therapist of some kind, I don't know.

Like Lucinda. That's what I was about to say. Emma Dews gave this one a five star on goodreads too, so. I'm so glad I ordered it here. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's on the way.

I read it so long ago. I'm like. Mary Kreisler to me. I want to read it again maybe. I don't know. Yeah, it says your review was March 28th. 2003. Not to be a good read stalker over here.

I'm like obsessed with this. Like pull up the facts, girl. I'm just like, shh. Damn. Well, I guess I can segue into, if you want something really, really fucking bleak and dark. And like, extremely disturbing. And also if you love luckiest girl alive like me. I think you will love

Nice Girls by Catherine Deng. Oh, uh-huh. One of my just chef kiss perfection story. I'm obsessed with this book. Mary used to be such a nice girl. She was a resident whiz kid of Liberty Lake Minnesota, the quiet chubby teen with the scholarship

to an Ivy League school. Three years later, Ivy League Mary is back. thinner, cynical, rest is failure, who was kicked out of Cornell at the beginning of her senior year and won't tell anyone why. Taking a job at the local grocery store, Mary tries to make sense of her life's sharp, downward spiral. Then the beautiful magnetic Olivia Willand goes missing. A rising social media star, Olivia's admired by everyone in Liberty Lake, except Mary. Once Olivia's best friend, Mary knows better than anyone that behind the Instagram persona hides a willful, manipulative girl with sharp. sharp edges. As the town obsesses over the perfect, lovely Olivia, Mary wonders of her disappearance

might be tied to another missing person, 19-year-old Demaria Jackson, whose case has been widely dismissed as a runaway. Who is the real Olivia Willand, and where did she go? What happened to Demaria? As Mary prized at the cracks and the careful facades around the two missing girls, old wounds will bleed fresh and force her to confront a horrible truth. Maybe there are no nice girls after all. that sounds very bleak. You didn't read it? I haven't read it still.

I thought you did. Oh, you are in for a treat. You are in for a treat. I know. I know. You've loved this one. It's not an emotional. I mean, I guess it is like, obviously not a happy book, but it's not like an emotional

bleak, like you will cry like rabbit hole or like the last winner of Danny Lansing. It's just like, wow. like this this shit is like yeah i took a lot of risks writing this book and this is the shit that happens in real life wow it was action-packed at the end like there was a lot like going on there's a speak in my language there's a reveal in that book um that i read three times in a row like i was like i don't think that's what that means and then i was like okay that's what that means and then I was like, holy mother fucking shit, that's what that means. Like, I was just floored.

That is. Damn. Maybe I'm going to read everything while everyone's slow around the holidays. There's one part in the book I know you're going to text me and be like, did that really just happen? Are you joking? Oh, my God. Fascinating. Steph, you read it right?

But I read it a while ago, so I don't remember much besides, I remember, like, certain pieces of it and the ending being, like, wild. Yeah. Getting this fucking nuts. Damn. Well, I have one with a wild ending that fits my destination, drama, thriller, all of the good stuff. You can trust me by Wendy Heard, still one of my favorites of all time. good um but is it would very much get you in the white lotus mood as well summer and leo would do anything for each other inspired by the way each has had to carve her place in a hostile and

unforgiving world and united by the call of the open road they travel around sunny california and summer's tricked out land cruiser it's not a glamorous life but it gives them the freedom they crave from the painful past they've left behind but even free spirits have bills to pay luckily summer is a skilled pickpocket a small-time thief and a con artist and leo determined to pay her own way has learned a trick or two eager for a big score leo catches in her crosshairs michael forster a self-made billionaire and philanthropist when her charm wins him over leo is rewarded with an invitation to his private island off the california coastline for a night of fabulous excess she eagerly anticipates returning with photos that can be sold to the paparotti jewelry that can be liquidated and endless stories to share with Summer. Instead, Leo disappears. On her own for the first time in years, Summer decides to infiltrate Michael's Island and find out what really happened. But when she arrives, no one has seen Leo. She's not on the island as far as

they know. Plus, there was only one way on the island and no way off for the coming days. Trapped in a scheme she helped initiate, could Summer have met her match? it's another very action-packed ending not gonna lie I love that book so much I loved it yeah it's $499 on Kindle right now so if anyone

wants to pick that up they can well actually by the time this air is probably not oh it's on sale it's worth every penny even if you pay more than $499 though oh yeah totally that was a really good book It was so good. What else did she write?

She writes Y.A. as well. And then she's too pretty to burn haunting Annabel. We'll never tell. Hunting Annabelle is not for the week. Even though it's like YA, that is not for the week.

That was my first book by her and it was so freaking good. Oh, this cover is very cool. Yeah. Yeah. She just writes lot. She's really good. Yeah, I still think about Annabella every now and then. Wow. She's like a Courtney Summers. Like, you kind of read her books and you're like, I wouldn't really peg this is YA, but Oh, okay. Yeah. Yeah. But it's still really good. Speaking of, I was just happened to be on, because my dog freaking ate two of my books today. I saw that. So I was on a book outlet looking for

once if I could rebuy them on there. And there's a, um, a. Especially why there's a lot of good books on there for pretty cheap. Hmm. Including my next one, which gear actually brought up, because it was so perfect, is blood sugar. Nice. This one I definitely heard up on this podcast, but to me, it's kind of like the first day of spring in Miami. Yeah. That makes me even more excited for the first day of spring.

I know. I know. I will say this one. when I think of and in first day of spring when I think of like twisty thrillers like these to these to me aren't like

oh bam bam bam bam I'm going to get like smacked in the face with all these reveals they're just like more suspenseful and tense and kind of like disturbing but you're not going to get like the surprises no so don't go in thinking that's what you're going to get

in my opinion a twisty clever thriller featuring a murderess that you can't help but root for. I could just kill you right now. It's something we've all thought at one time or another, but Ruthie Simon has actually acted on it three times to be exact. Though she may be a murderer, Ruby is not a sociopath.

She is an animal-loving therapist with a thriving practice. She's had long-lasting relationships and a husband, Jason, who she adored. But the homicide detectives at Miami Beach Police Department have doubts about that happy marriage and are eager to uncover why so many people have died within her arm's reach. When we meet Ruby, she's in a police interrogation room, suddenly accused of killing her husband. But this time, one murder that she did not commit, even if a scandal obsessed, I'm sorry, but this is the one murder that she did not commit, even if a scandal obsessed police public believes differently.

As she undergoes questioning, her mind races back to all the details of her life that led to this exact moment and the three dead bodies in her wake because while she may not have killed her husband ruby certainly isn't innocent i love that one so much i'm so emotionally tied to this book i am too i've got to get a physical copy of it pretty yeah i need a book trophy i'm so damn pretty and i have like i'm gonna be the person that is not toxic that we've talked about but like i have such a good comp for that book but I can't say what it is because it's a spoiler. Oh. Yeah.

I don't know if both of you have read it. Oh. See, I will admit, I loved this book, and I loved the other two books I've talked about so far. That doesn't mean I remember anything about them. It would definitely spoil the other book. The other book. Oh, okay.

Yeah. Yeah. Oh, I could see that. Because there's like one line. in that book that like every time I talk about it, I'm like, even if you don't like the book and you just get to that one line, like, it just like light something up and like inside of me. That's like, I need more. But yeah, I love blood sugar.

It's so hard though, because I'm like, I want to read it though. I know. I know. Fascinating. Okay. You'll just have to read every book I recommend and then you can tell you which one it is. Clear your schedule, okay? Yeah.

Well, my next one is it could be anyone by Jamie Lynn Hendricks. Oh, this synopsis is long. Be prepared. It's worth it. To anyone on their flight out of New York, they appear to be five best friends excited for a destination wedding in Miami. No one would guess that each of them has a reason to want the groom dead. Trevor Vaughn, the groom in question, wooed his bride to be by first becoming close. close with her friends, which is to say that he learned all of the five's darkest, most dangerous

secrets and blackmailed them into convincing Fiona to say, I do. The friends were forced to convince a doubting Fiona to go through with the wedding no matter what, and now the charade is set to continue all the way to the altar. Trevor has his own reasons for wanting to marry into Fiona's family, and he'll stop at nothing to make his plan a reality. But when he dies of an apparent allergic reaction at the wedding surrounded by such close enemies the possibility of murder isn't far behind and for the authorities investigating the case anyone present could be a suspect that book's really good yeah so freaking god she's so good seriously has all of the destinationy vibes and ensemble cast and crazy truth and lies that was one of my first books

where there were like that many perspectives. So like I wrote, I like took notes. Yeah. But then once I got into it, I like remembered who everybody was. But that was like at the beginning of my reading journey. Yeah. I loved how I loved how it ended up like who it was. I loved it.

I agree. And just there's, yeah, there are a couple things about the ending that are cool. Mm-hmm. God, I love Jamie Lynn Hendricks. I know. her books like fly by so quickly from here they do i keep stalking that galley because i saw she had a new one coming out i know um i'm gonna spill little tea about her new book go for it okay so her new book is about a woman who like is struggling financially and like her dog needs this like um surgery that's like

we'll save it the dog's life and the dog's name is Murphy and the dog's name is Murphy after my Murphy oh that's so sweet oh that's so cool like she was like there like she she texted me when she was writing the book and she was like I just want to let you know like there's a dog in my next book and his name is Murphy and it's he's 100% named after your Murphy oh my god yeah that's so cool you're just getting easter egged in books left and right yeah who was it Joshua Molling said there's an Easter egg in his upcoming book for me. And I'm like, oh my God. And Liz and Greg. And Liz and Greg. Yeah. When I got to, I didn't know it was there when I got to it. I literally was like, and Tyler was like, what? And I was like, here's in the book? And he was like, oh, okay. Oh my God. I'm

reading it this weekend. It's cool. And I didn't know. I didn't even know it was there. So all of a sudden, I was just like, oh. That's amazing. Yeah. Oh. Um, making me blush. Um, speaking of cool. Yeah.

Cool. Um, I obviously will talk about this book at any point in my life, but especially with like, luckiest girl alive, I want to bring up White Ivy by Susie Yang. Mm. Because,

so good. I'm obsessed with this book. And it just gave me, like, It was probably the first book to give me like luckiest girl alive vibes. Ivy Lynn is a thief and a liar, but you'd never know it by looking at her. Raised outside of Boston, Ivy's immigrant grandmother relies on Ivy's mild appearance for cover as she teaches her granddaughter how to pilfer items from yard sales and secondhand shops. Thieving allows Ivy to accumulate the trappings of a suburban teen and most importantly to attract the attention of Gideon Spire, the golden boy of a wealthy political. family. When Ivy's mother discovers her trespasses, punishment is swift and Ivy is sent to China,

and her dream instantly evaporates. Years later, Ivy has grown into a poised yet restless young woman, haunted by her conflicting feelings about her upbringing and her family. Back in Boston, when Ivy bumps into Sylvia Spire, Gideon's sister, a reconnection with Gideon seems not only inevitable, it feels like fate. slowly ivy sinks her claws into gideon and the entire spire clan by attending fancy dinners and weekend getaways to the cape just as ivy is about to have everything she's ever wanted a ghost from her past resurfaces threatening the nearly perfect life she's worked so hard to build filled with surprising twists and offering sharp insights into the immigrant experience white ivy is both a love triangle and a coming of age story as well as a glimpse into the dark side of a woman who yearns for success at any cost God. That one is so good. It was one of the first books I read as we started the podcast because you basically mentioned it back then. I did.

I mean, I think that you are such a sweetheart for saying that I mentioned it when we both know that I was like, you have to read this book. Yeah, yeah, definitely. But thank you for that. You're welcome. It was worth it. Yeah, it's so good. It is good. I love that book.

Another ending that, like, I won't figure it in any time soon. A couple things, actually. Yeah. Okay, I need to read that. Yeah, you would really like that. So my last one, I compared to the push

because of the once again bleakness, but also like the gaslighting. I felt like that took place. And that is Monday's Not Coming by Tiffany D. Jackson. And this is YA.

Her books, like are, like we talk about how so many YA books are really dark. Like I feel like her books are so heartbreaking for like a young person to read, but they're probably like too real for some people. Right. Monday Charles is missing and only Claudia seems to notice. Claudia on Monday have always been inseparable, more sisters than friends. So when Monday doesn't turn up for the first day of school, Claudia starts to worry. When she doesn't show for the second day or the second week, Claudia knows that something is wrong. Monday wouldn't just leave her to endure tests and bullies alone.

With her grades on the line, Claudia needs her best and only friend now more than ever. But Monday's mother refuses to give Claudia a straight answer, and Monday's sister, April, is even less help. As Claudia digs deeper into her friend's disappearance, she discovers that no one seems to remember the last time they saw Monday. How can a teenage girl just vanish without anyone noticing that she's gone? In her dark, thrilling and timely sophomore novel, acclaimed author, Tiffany D. Jackson unravels a complex mystery and explores the traumatic effects of the truth. Wow. That thing is insane. Did you read allegedly?

Yes. Holy shit. All of her books, like, okay, so like the true, the weight of blood is like so different than her other books. That's only when I read. Allegedly, I got to the end and I was like, I immediately like Googled how other people felt about it because it was like very divisive. Yeah. But it was like a debut. It was just like so intense and so sad.

I've heard such good things about allegedly. Well, I mean, I've heard good things about all of her books, but especially allegedly. And I remember when behind her eyes by Sarah Pinborough came out. Tiffany Jackson did a video and she was like, I'm really sorry to anybody who read allegedly because now I know exactly how you feel by like the time I got to the end of this book, I threw it. And that's what I keep hearing from other people. So she was like, I am sorry, but like now I actually get your pain.

Oh. Wow. Yeah. Yeah, that is bonkers and amazing. Mm-hmm. especially like I'm keeping it vague the way it's one of those where once you see it you're like oh they were trying to tell me or like there are all these yes you're like wow I only watched it I never read it mm-hmm it's the same twist yeah I read I really enjoyed it I really enjoyed it she had like

another one called like I don't know cross her heart, I think. It was like a stalker one. It was very good, too. Oh, I've seen that around. I keep, I confuse her with Sarah Peckinan a lot. I, yeah, sometimes I do too. I feel like there's another one that I also get confused about. There are a lot of Sarah's. Yeah. Steph, did you read The Perfect Child by Lucinda Berry? No, I've only read off the deep end. You will, the perfect child

could have been your fourth pick. Yeah. It is bleak and disturbing as all hell. Yeah, I've definitely, I've seen the comps for the push pretty frequently with that one. It's so interesting because

so one of the books I was going to pick was House of Glass, but like that is not to me like a book that needs more hype in my opinion because it was a book of the month pick and stuff but like if you're thinking creepy kids like that to me is also a comp because i was just trying to think of like recently i compared something to the push and i remember thinking to myself like man when you use that book as a comp people are going to have some expectations true you know what I mean?

Yes. Yeah. And because if it doesn't hit the way the push hit, it's going to be disappointing if you loved it. Yeah. The perfect child's going to hit. Yeah. I'm willing to bet money on it. Sweet.

That book, that book fucked me up. That's saying something. I was like, whew, send a girl. You threw your back into that. Let me tell you what. Oh. She's awesome. She's so good.

She's so good. That's probably... We didn't get her on the podcast this year. Oh, I bet she would. It seems like she probably would. I will work on it. I will work on it. It seems like she responds to a lot of stuff and, like, reposts a lot of stuff.

Yeah. She's just, like, so down to earth and so cool. I'm going to check really quick. Yeah, so the perfect child is actually and my Lucinda Berry ranking number one. Really? Out of the one, two, three, four, five, five, three, out of the ten books that I've read so far. Wow. That's my number one.

I got her one in four. One in four? Yeah. On that galley. It's not available anymore. Yeah, it was very temporarily read now. Oh. Yeah.

It's like for the first so many. Some of them, like I know Hannah Morrissey's new one was on for like 75 people or something. Oh, wow. fast. Do you like Hannah Morrissey? Me? Yeah. And not only because she's local to me, but like I think that her books are good. I really like telotranscriber. The Widow Maker is super dark. I liked her new one. But I thought of her when we were talking about sharp objects because there's a scene in her,

not her newest one, but the one that just came out that also has a similar element. and like it's so disturbing to me.