Bookwild - New Favorite Authors with Gare and Steph

Episode Date: August 2, 2025

This week, Gare, Steph and I talk about new-to-us authors we discovered and love!Books We Talked AboutThe Book of AccidentsThe Babysitter LivesThe Killer on the RoadUnlikely AnimalsHistory LessonsWhat Lies Between UsBehind Every Good ManLove You to DeathDeeper Than the DeadThis Violent Heart 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 

We are in such a fun mood today. I'm on steroids, so that's why I'm going to be spicy. Really great. Yeah. I'm a lot of fun right now. You're a lot of fun every day. I agree. That's true.

Thank you. So we got the gang back together, the Steph and Gare Gang as AI likes to put your names together. Um, but yeah, we have an icebreaker and we're going to talk about new authors. That is what we decided, right? Just as I said it, I was like, wait, not what we decided. Okay, good. I can trust my brain tonight. Uh, so anyway, we wanted to talk about just like new authors we found and loved. And I'm kind of excited because I feel like we're going to have all kinds of books to talk about since it's that subject. project. Yeah. And it's always funny you're about new people. Agree. Yeah. But I was at, what was I at? Was that my brother-in-law's birthday party. And I was then having to commingle with like, then his in-laws. So like people that I very rarely see ever. And so it's like, you know, that version's like, oh, hey. Like it's someone that you see like two or three times a year and like that's it. And like, that's it. And. And so it's like, you know, that version's like, oh, hey. Like, it's someone that you see like two or three times a year. And like, that's it's it. And like,

but I was wearing my book wild shirt and so then we ended up talking about books and then I found out that his in-laws are huge movie and book people and like nobody else in that family is so I got so excited because like Tyler and I then had like all this stuff to talk to them about and he at one point one of the I know this sounds like I'm being vague it's just like weird to try to piece together who this is but like my very brother-in-law's in-laws, the dad in that duo was like, you know what? We like like to see comedy movies, but we haven't really, we don't really have any books we read that are funny. And so I was like, that is a good icebreaker because then we started talking about like what types of stories

do you only consume in one medium? Like, I don't read too many comedies. I watch a lot of comedy. So that is my very long-winded icebreaker. So is that yours also? Yeah, I think I have other ones, too, but I felt like I'd been talking forever. I was like this icebreaker is like a five-minute story. I think it was brief. Okay. I do too.

I mean, like, considering the removed. Oh my gosh, you're right. We've only been recording for two and a half minutes. Why did it feel like I was, I don't know. Yeah. This is who I am today. Gary Yugo. Um,

I don't know. Because like, I, like, for books, I read like dark thrillers. Yeah. Popcorn thrillers and, oh. And,

and, um, like, M.M. Romance, which I will watch all of those in a movie. Yeah. But like, I guess, like, when it comes to, like, movies and television, I only, venture out of genres

that as long as like there's somebody in it that I really like right for instance like I just watched the materialist with Dakota Johnson I really enjoyed the movie I don't think I would have read that as a book and like I don't mind like I'll watch a comedy but it's got to be kind of like a raunchy comedy like I like bridesmaids and like American Pie and like the movie waiting but like I don't think I would read that in a book. So like I'm more adventurous genre-wise with movies and television than I am with books. And then I will stay away from historical fiction in both.

Fuck that. Except 1980s doesn't count to you as historical fiction. No, because it's not. Exactly. Because I'm not I'm not historical and I was born in the 80s. Exactly. But I did love... I know, it's so savage that we don't have an in-between.

Like, there should be something between contemporary and historical fiction. Like, when I think historical fiction, I think, like, Bridgeton... Oh, gosh. I can never. But, like, people would consider... Like, Mad Men is probably historical. Yeah, that's historical fiction. Yeah, I don't watch Mad Men. He's like... I mean, I'm just saying, though. Like, and I think it is now.

But, like, for us, it is. For us, we would never say the 80s or 90s. But like I just today was talking to one of my coworkers who's like a college kid back for summer. And I said something about like the 90s. And he was like, hell no, I wasn't born in the 90s. I'm like, Jesus Christ. There's just like so many people that didn't even exist in the 90s yet. It's crazy.

I know. Literally last week I celebrated one of my very close friends birthdays. And it was like her 25th birthday. Yeah, it's wild. And I was like, okay. So for these people, the 90s. is totally historical fiction. But like she was also like love her to death, but like you were like learning to draw inside

the lines when like I was graduating high school. It's like a very like surreal. But then again, on the other hand, like she's way more mature than somebody I used to hang out with who's 34 years old and still can't figure a shit out. So good for her and bad for him. Yeah. But yeah, I guess that's my answer. Yeah.

But I also like wouldn't consider what was the movie that you guys had me watch with Anna Kendrick where she's like on the like the dating show oh i think it technically is it just doesn't feel like it yeah that's what yeah yeah last woman i don't remember i forgot what it's called wow my brain is picky with what i remembers and now my mouse is slow and now my i'm so bad with names in general of movies i'm too woman of the hour woman of yeah like i watch that and I was like totally fine with that. Mm-hmm.

But like if you want me to watch like anything else before that. Do you think of like people that watch like the crown or like? Yeah. The crown, Bridgeton. Abbey or whatever. Yeah. No. That's period piece.

Oh, okay. See, I think that's a even to me like I also think of that as historical fiction, but you're right, that's probably. I think it's, I bet people use the word period piece under the umbrella historical fiction. You know what I mean? Like it's more historical fiction, but then like something down here feels like. But even like a mobster movie that was like in like the 40s or 50s where they had like the like fedoras and like the fucking like crazy looking cars. Like I would be like, no, I'm not interested. Yeah. That's what I do notice like obviously I do read spy novels.

But not a ton really in the grand scheme of things. And so that is something where like, I do watch a lot of action movies. Yeah, that's the full sentence. I probably watch more, watch more like spy type action than I read anymore. But then what I noticed is it under this historical fiction part, it used to be like, I mean like three months ago, it used to be that watching, so movies were TV,

were the only way that I would ever, be consuming historical fiction and then now the audiobooks work for me I'm finding what types of stories in historical fiction work for me so now I'm like reading a lot more of it than I ever used to that makes sense but I'm still picky so it's like been really interesting seeing like oh some of these like plot structures are things that I enjoy in different genres so like women overcoming a certain system appeals to me as a story and so then sometimes if that's historical fiction then it works for me that's what I've realized but like war like what you said with locked room like the characters have to be good yeah to be good yeah I would watch like a supernatural like horror movie

but I don't know how much a supernatural horror book would work for me like unless it was like something kind of like not too far out there like Simone St. James. That's what I was going to say for mine was like, I think I can read. Like I think of like Mia Ballard. I'm like I can read body horror and like grow stuff and I don't necessarily want to watch it. And I can also read like creepy ghosty things and I do not want to watch it. Like but I can read it just fine. Yeah. Which is weird.

It's interesting, too. Yeah. Because I think I don't really picture stuff as much. That makes sense then. I'm not opposite with body horror. Like, if I'm watching it, I'm like, that's going to come up so I can just close my eyes and then kind of like peek and then like see if it's going to be over with. But like on the page I can't escape that. You know, because like.

Yeah. I think like like slasher horror, like that kind of like you know. I don't know. Like, to me, I can watch that just fine. It doesn't feel real, really, to me. But, like, I think the psychological horror is hard to watch for me. Yeah. Yeah.

I don't know. Like, well, with slasher's, you can also, like, kind of tell when it's coming, too. You know what I mean? So, like, you can kind of be, like, the music. Yeah, yeah. But, like, one of my favorite movies is called, it's, like, a good for her movie, and it's called American Mary. And there's, like, a little bit of body horror in that.

And it's, like, a revenge story that's, like, female-driven. so like fuck yeah for her um but like i could watch that but i think if it was a book i would have never been able to like get through it interesting interesting the most for me was like burner by robert for like i love that book so much but there was like a lot of like body stuff in it but i was like stuff you talked about i was like oh my god yeah yeah that's like we make fun of gear liking sad stuff but like If you think it's like, oh, he he, a book that I'll get to be kind of sad about. Not that one.

That one is like pitch dark black sad. Pitch dark black. Like I love like, I guess like my thing is, is like I like I like books that like are like a little like I like I like a bleak ending. Because like at the end of the day like in real life, things don't always work out with a happy ending. Especially in like a thriller. You know, like it's not like you're like, oh, I've caught the man who killed my husband and now like the sun's shining out my ass. So like, you're just kind of like, oh, okay. But like with that, I was like, that was bleak because it was like,

this is really stuff that happens in like human trafficking. Even if you escape from it alive and you're not killed, like you will never escape that. And like the physical scars from like the things that happen to people like are stuck with them for life. So like that was very like dark, dark, dark. But it was like also like very good. but like I don't think that I'd be able to like I'd want to read it again like it'll stick with me but I don't like you know like if you give me like a Jennifer Hillier book or like bright young women I would read it a hundred times if I was stuck on an island but like if you gave me Robert Ford I'd be like well that's what I was

trying to delineate for people like we like bright young women is definitely sad girl thick but burner is like scorched her yeah yeah yeah very well it's like A fantastic book. I definitely recommend it, but like you're only going to read it once. And if you read it more than once, then like you are a strong ass human being. I was laughing when Gere was talking about how he doesn't like paranormal, almost maybe not even in movies, but definitely not in books. And my first one is the book that if anyone's been following my stories, I finally found something to fill that we still live here shaped whole in my heart. and it is like horror thriller paranormal like all of the vibes I legit have 50 minutes of it left

on audio and I was listening literally up until we started to record so I'm like what is going to happen but I'm pretty sure it's going to be a five star I can't imagine something yeah is going to get bad after how long I've been listening to it and loving it so it's called the book of accidents by Chuck Windig um So yeah. I need, where did I go? My screen is being weird. Long ago, Nathan lived in a house in the country with his abusive father and has never

told his family what happened there. Long ago, Maddie was a little girl making dolls in her bedroom when she saw something she shouldn't have and is trying to remember that lost trauma by making haunting sculptures. Long ago, something sinister, something hungry, walked in the tunnels and the coal. Yeah. and the coal mines of their hometown in rural Pennsylvania. Now Nate and Maddie Graves are married, and they have moved back to their hometown with their son, Oliver.

And now what happened long ago is happening again, and it's happening to Oliver. He meets a strange boy who becomes his best friend, a boy with secrets of his own and his haste for dark magic. This dark magic puts them at the heart of a battle of good versus evil and a fight for the soul of the family and perhaps all of the world. but the Graves family has a secret weapon in this battle their love for one another. I would have written a different synopsis.

I don't think I read the synopsis. I think I read a different, like I read a review and a recommendation, and I was like, oh, this is for me. It's not that this doesn't tell you what's going on, but what I was excited to come here and tell you guys is that this one to me has an element of the things that I loved and we used to live here. but it's even though there are things going on it's like very plainly stated and there's not like ambiguity um so i feel like if you were in the mood for this i'm not pushing this 530 page book on you and being like you have to read it um but what i think is good about this just in relation to we used to live here is it is a little more direct with it stuff but still plays with some fun things um but it like explores generational trauma in a really fascinating way and there's this like serial killer element so the prologue so again

i don't feel like that's much of a spoiler the prolog opens up with like a serial killer um going to the electric chair and so like some of the bad things that were happening in their childhood are related to a serial killer so this one where i'm going with it it's a 530 page book i'm only eating through it so so quickly because I'm listening to it. And it does have multiple narrators, not necessarily dual cast, or not necessarily full cast. But there are two. And it has a lot of cool things going on with it. There's like a serial killer element. There's a haunted family element. And I'm obsessed with it. But this is my first Chuck Windig. I want to read it. I think you would like it. I know there are people that read a lot of his books. He has a lot, right? Or at least a few.

Yeah, because I had had Staircase in the Woods on my TVR for a while. And then I got this book recommended to me. And I was like, oh, it's that same author. So I will definitely be listening to Staircase in the Woods soon. I think I had an arc of this. And, like, now I need to find it. It has two really different and really cool covers. I like both of them, but they're very different. I'm trying to like figure out what I want to read for like spooky season. It definitely like gets you in that field. Yeah. Yeah. Because that would be a good one.

And I want to do like we used to live here during that time as well. And house on Needless Street. Yes. I think you will love that one. So that's really exciting. I'm glad that you liked it. Yay. Yes.

It scratched the it. It did. Finally. Yeah. That's a good feeling. a comp finally hits. Like, I've been looking for that. Oh my gosh.

And the chapter titles, this is just random but cool. The chapter titles often are quotes from different horror books or movies. So it's like homage to other horror movies, but it fits the chapter. So like one of the chapters is called, we all float down here. And I was like, this is brilliant. And like, this isn't a spoiler. The character is like going into a salt bath. to like try to access her memory.

So she goes into an isolation tank. And the chapter title is, we all float here. I love it. I was like, this is so smart. It? Oh, that's awesome. Does it say what it's from? No.

Oh, okay. Because there are definitely ones where I'm like, I don't know if that was, I don't know if I was like, this might have been one of those ones. And I just don't have context. Yeah. So it's kind of cool. I want to go back and look. Obviously, I'm listening to it. So it's a little harder to like go back. Right, right, right, right. It is like $4.99 on Kindle. So I might just buy it.

Yeah, it's clever. And like one's called The Boy Who Lived. What is the boy who lived from? Harry Potter. That's what it is. Oh, yes. Okay, I was like, what was I thinking of? I don't know why I was randomly thinking of the girl who loved Tom. Gordon. I don't know where that came from, but I was like, well, just trying to piece together everything I can to relate. I'm definitely

going to get it. I'm going to get this book. That's funny. So yeah. Cool. You're next, my friend. Okay, I I have cheated so much in this episode with my pics.

Did, really? I, because I'm a creature of habit. So like, I've either read like all debut authors or like people that I've like already read before or there's two that like are on my TBR that I haven't read. But like I think that I'm going to like their whole backlist. so like I'm just all over the place. But I'm going to kind of piggyback off Kate because I feel like if you like the house of accidents. Book of accidents.

Book of accidents. I call it House of Accidents too, but one time. I'm a little rusty. If you like that, then like maybe you will like this because it seems like horror adjacent. But I'm excited for myself to get. get more into Stephen Graham Jones. And I want to too. Oh my God, let's do it.

Let's do it. Yeah. He just had like this really cool like book come out where it's two novellas in one book and like when you open the book this way there's one book and then like when you flip it, it's another book. So it's like upside down. So mine is kind of two books in one. But it's called Killer on the Road and the Babysitter Lives by Stephen

and Graham Jones. So the babysitter lives is about high school senior Charlotte who agrees to babysit the Will Banks twins. She plans to put the six-year-olds to bed early and spend a quiet night studying. The SATs are tomorrow and checking the Native American, Alaskan native box on all the forms won't help if she chokes on test day. But tomorrow is also Halloween and the twins are eager to show off their costumes. Charlotte's last babysitting gig almost ended in tragedy when her young charge,

leap walked unnoticed into the middle of the street, only to be found unharmed by Charlotte's mother. Charlotte vows to be extra careful this time, but the house is filled with mysterious noises and secrets that only the twins understand. Echoes of horrors that Charlotte gradually realizes took place in the house 11 years ago. Soon Charlotte has to admit that every babysitter's worst nightmare has come true. They're not alone in the house. So that sounds fucking bomb.com. And then the killer on the road is about 16-year-old Harper who decided to run away from home after she has another blowout argument with her mother. However, her two best friends, little sister and ex-boyfriend, I'll stop her from hitchhiking her way up Route 80 in Wyoming to join on an intervention disguised as a road trip.

What they don't realize is Harper has been marked by a very unique serial killer who's been trolling the highway for the last three years. And now the killer is after all of them in a fast-paced and deadly chase. So those both sound fantastic. So they're not related. You're muted. Like there's no overlap characters or there are? No, they're just two books in one. I don't think so.

I haven't read it yet. I hope not. I hope I'm not a liar. I mean, if you don't know, you don't know. But I was like, wait, are they both 16? I didn't know if they were similar. I think they're two, for when it seems like they're like two like novellas or like shorter stories that they just like put into like one book that are like already out.

but I don't know if he's one of those like authors who has like Easter eggs in his books where like maybe one mentioned something brief from the other but I'm excited to read that and then I'm excited to read

the Indian Lake trilogy so Stephen Graham Jones is my I heard that mapping the interior is similar to we still live here actually I think it's

It's like a 200. It's almost a novella. I can see it. Everybody loves him. Yeah. Love, love, loves him. And I read one book by him years and years and years ago. And it was so good.

Like, his writing is just fantastic. But I heard it's, like, very different in, like, every book. So it's kind of like a, like, indigenous Stephen, or Stephen King. Oh, nice. Nice. Yeah. That's good to know. I'm so excited just because you said indigenous.

I'm about to read Vanessa Lily's next one, The Bone Thief. Oh my God. I'm so excited for that. Yeah. I'm so excited for it. I'm on the like traveling arc thing. Oh, cool. She had this cool idea to like mail out a bunch of them to different locations.

And then everyone like annotates a little bit and then like sends it on to the next person. I was like, that's such a good idea. That's really cool. Yeah, that is really cool. I like when authors have fun ideas like that. Yeah. Yeah. Well, so I noticed I actually was a little relieved to gear that you were like, I'm a little cheating.

And I didn't want to, but I realized a lot of my authors are very similar that I've just found. Like, a lot of their books have like a lot in common. So I was like, is that boring? And maybe I should find something else. But I was like, we can just do our own thing today. And that sounds good. Yeah. It's funny, you guys were saying that you don't really read comedy because a lot of mine, like, I found really funny.

My new author is finding something like dry humor. My first one, so one of my favorite books of the year was Road to Tender Hearts by Annie Hartnett. So I read her previous novel, Unlikely, E. animals so I'll talk about that one today I will say I'm glad I read the road to tender hearts first because it's like a little weird a little like quirky this one is weirder I liked it but I was glad I was like in her style like I was glad I knew like kind of what to expect yeah because I think some people will be like what the fuck you're gonna pull me toward weird girl thick I say that with respect I mean and to be when I say weird I just

mean like kind of quirky as far as like a hint of magical realism but like it doesn't really feel like it all the time like it just fits so well into it yeah um cool you know when goodreads like doesn't break up any type of paragraph so I don't know so of it I'm like it might be a blurb I don't know uh okay oh here's where it starts I think right The Starlings live in Everton, an ordinary enough New Hampshire town. It's notably only, are you okay? Oh, no. I was like, I don't want to hack up a lung when she's trying to talk.

It's notably, you guys always do this? What? I thought Kate was going to, like, laugh for like 10 minutes. Which is fine. I was typing the title names so that I have my list of what we talk. talked about. Oh, that's funny. I was just like, it's fine. It's notable only for Corbin Park, an enormous hunting park, and for the Maple Street Cemetery, home to many former residents of Everton. There's also the town legend that Emma Starling was born with healing hands.

But Emma has never found the right use for her healing abilities, and they've been on the fritz ever since her childhood best friend, Crystal, fell prey to addiction and disappeared. No one ever went looking for her. The police don't spend much time looking for a drug addict. Now Emma came back to Everton to see her dying father, the only person who has kept up the search for Crystal. Ever since his recent diagnosis with a rare brain disease, Clive Sterling has been seeing ghosts, including Ernest Harold Baines, the long dead naturalist who worked in Corbin Park and who seems to have some unfinished business in Everton. The residents of Maple Street have their own agenda too. They'd like to see, and by that they mean the people in the cemetery. like I said, it's weird.

They'd like to see Emma live up to her potential as a miracle worker and cure her father. Emma's not exactly up for the challenge, though. Recently expelled from medical school, she takes a job as a substitute fifth grade teacher to get back on her feet and stay close to home. As her father's condition worsens, it's all Emma can do to stay afloat. She isn't trying to be a hero, just a passable guardian to her father and her fifth graders, but somehow she sets in motion just the kind of mirror. call the town needs.

That sounds like so effing weird and it kind of is, but it's like, isn't it weird sometimes reading the synopsis and you're like, this is it, but it's not? It was just like such a weird synopsis to read. Yeah. Yeah, that's how I felt. But like sometimes when you're like in the world and you've already read the book, like it makes like sense to you and you're like, okay, like I remember this, this and this. But then like when you read it, you're like, yeah. Yeah. Like, I mean, I don't know how to explain it. And concise way at all. So I don't envy the person that has to. But that was great. Yeah. But that was it. I will say I highly recommend audio because the guy kind of sounds like a grandpa, but in like a really

good way. He kind of has this like old person raspy voice. And when he does the characters of like teenagers or kids, he doesn't like do an annoying like voice change. That's important. Like there's this part where like the girl's a fifth grade teacher and one of the kids like wrote an accidentally permanent marker on the board. He's like, principal Jeffrey sucks butts. And it's just like, but he reads it as like a grandpa and I just lost it. Like the way he said. And he's like, she gives magical hand jobs in the bathroom. And I'm just like, I can't with this old guy saying stuff like that.

It was just so funny. I love them. But anyway, I had some humor in. with Annie Hartnich. She's definitely one of my favorites. So I just got her third one. Nice. Called her oldest book called Rabbit Cake. Another weird. I'm not usually a weird book person and this makes it sound so effing weird, but it's more just like quirky. Yeah. Yeah. That could be like a little thing to hop on our icebreaker. It's like I think kids and books are generally very funny, but I don't like children really. life. Same.

Yeah. Like, I'm reading a really dark thriller right now and there's like two children in it. Oh, you guys have read it. Which one? High season. Oh yeah. I have like 50 pages left. But like they're showing a character. I won't say who because I don't want to spoil anything, but like there's one character who has like children in like present time and they're like arguing the backseat and like one's like shut up loser and the other one's like shut up shit head. And they're like, I'm just like picturing this like five year old because like they're very. young, like being like shithead. And I was like cracking up when I was reading it. But like if I heard like a kid do that and like person, I'd be like. Exactly. Such a little bastard. It's such good comic relief in books. And like when we talked a few weeks ago about like things we really enjoy in books, I've realized that I actually really like child characters because they bring like comic relief. They don't have a filter. And like usually they help them.

main character like chill out in some way and like I I love that they're usually like a chubby baby that like it has a comedic relief so so Steph's last one I saw at the bottom it was called like a tragic comedy so I think you like tragic comedies oh it's a dark humor for sure the girl that was that was critiquing it actually or someone I saw on Instagram that was critiquing it she's like people said this was dark humor she's like this is traumatic and I'm like Like, no one said it wasn't. Yeah. You're like, like.

And? Like, no, it is wild to me how I felt like I was laughing and I'm like, this shit is crazy. And I am like also laughing and it's wild. And it is really specific. I do. I like to seeing that at the bottom tragic comedy because like Tegnitaro has a show and I can't think of what it was on Amazon, but like deals so much with grief and death, but it's funny. Yeah.

Like there really are some really cool examples of tragic comedies out there. And now I'm like, okay, cool. That's how I described that. Yeah. But I was thinking of you when I was reading this new author because this is what I said to Tyler when I finished. I was like, yes, I was like, people in the reviews of history lessons by Zoe B. Walbrook in the reviews, some people are like, it's not cozy.

And some people are like, it's kind of cozy. And I told Tyler, I was like, I think this is the closest I would ever get to. cozy but like there's also murder and sexual assaults like I don't think that's a spoiler necessarily and he was like so not very cozy and I'm like but the tone is as close to cozy as I'm not crazy yeah isn't it yeah just like so but it was making me think of you stuff where I was like I think this is probably like kind of close to some of the things that you have been enjoying too but it has this like really quirky bookish professor main character so it has like that vibe that I'm familiar with

like I'm technically cozy in real life I'm not going out and doing shit so so like the narrator's that way but she is solving like murder and stuff like that so anyway here's the synopsis as a newly minted junior professor Daphne overture spends her days giving lectures on French colonialism, working on her next academic book, and going on atrocious dates. Her small world fits her just fine until Sam Taylor dies. The rising star of Harrison University's Anthropology Department was never one of Daphne's favorites, despite his popularity. But that doesn't prevent Sam's killer from believing Daphne has something that belonged to Sam,

something the killer would stop at nothing to get. Between grading papers and navigating her disastrous love life, Daphne embarks on her own investigation to find out what connects her to same murder. With the help of an alluring former detective-turned-book seller, she unravels a deadly camera up on campus. This well-crafted, voice-driven mystery introduces an unforgettable crime fiction heroin. So, yeah, if I hadn't had it recommended to me, I probably would have thought the, like, cute, cover was like not for me which we've been talking about that too yeah um but i had pali my friend um amy who's mom advice and then someone else justine at my bookbook yeah yep they all talked about loving it and i was like okay i have to read it so i actually listened to it um and the narrator

is great, but like it has, it's almost like not, it's not total dark academia. It's almost like light academia in the sense that like she's just a bookish professor who's now having to like solve this high stakes thing. But she actually fits history lessons into the story, which is really cool and kind of meta. So like you can, it operates on that level too. Um, but yeah, and it was also really suspenseful and fun and Bruce is trying to distract me. So I loves it. Did you say the name of it? Yeah, history lessons by Zoe B. Waldruck. Okay. Thank you. You know what I think is something that I've noticed and like the I've finally found a few authors, a couple of which I'm talking about today. Like they click with me humor wise. Yeah. This one it says it has like some humor with it. And I think sometimes with cozy mysteries or like

rom-coms like it can be so cheesy i'm like and it's just like that might be cute and humorous for someone but it does not work for me but if it's like dry and kind of like witty then i'm like oh yes this absolutely works for me and like i agree that it just depends like what vibe it's giving and what kind of humor it has because like the second it's cheesy i'm like get me out of here I know. And I think some of the lighter mysteries can easily fall into that, like the dialogue, the humor. I want to read this. Yeah, it sounds really good.

It's really fun and still suspenseful. And, yeah, she's just a fun character. And, like, so, like, her similes and her metaphors feel like a love letter to bookish people. So, like, one of the time she's like her student was this check. out as a late library book and I was like and so she uses like metaphors that are like really related to bookish people and I have like a whole list of them because I love to them so much and I'm interviewing her so she'll be on in a couple weeks oh yeah I love this and she's a professor so oh that's fun I know yeah no wonder she did such a good job yeah oh yeah oh yeah

Yeah, I feel like that's the other part. People who are in academia probably would read this and be like, oh, my God, yes. Well, so this reminds me when I'm reading, like, Justine's review, for example, she's like, before you start thinking that this is a light and fluffy read, the author touches on some really serious topics. And I, like, felt that way about, for example, like, I think it's Lenny Marks gets away with murder. Like, at the beginning, you're kind of like, is this a cozy? And then you get to what actually happens and you're like, not really.

So it is like sometimes they can find this really delicate balance and kind of please everybody. Mm-hmm. That's a good point. What we're really saying is like there's diversity in comedy as well. And you pretty much need your subgenre. Yeah. And if you can hit like I would say like Jamie Lynn Hendrix, if you can hit like a mystery and like make me laugh a little bit and like have some good dialogue, like, That's the best balance.

Yeah. Agree. Well, I don't have a segue for that, but one person I think I've mentioned every single episode since I first started reading him is John Mars. Like I found his books this year. I started with You Killed Me First and I think like sometime in the spring. And now I am like feverishly trying to read every thriller that he's ever written and even going to buy all of his speculative thrillers. but what lies between us was like one of the biggest mindfucks I have ever had in a book I did not I was like going back and forth like who do I like who do I trust who do I like not

believe and then there were so many like reveals throughout it and one of the darkest endings I've ever read in my entire life so props to him but what lies between us is about Maggie and Nina they have shared so many secrets for so long, except that these secrets are not buried in the past. Every other night, Maggie and Nina have dinner together. When they are finished, Nina helps Maggie back in her room in the attic and into the heavy chain that keeps her there. Because Maggie has done things to Nina that can never be forgiven,

and now she is paying the price. But there are many things about the past that Nina doesn't know, and Maggie is going to keep it that way, even if it kills her, because in this house, the truth is more dangerous than lies. Yeah, that one's short synopsis. Creepy.

It's like all kinds of things. I was, my mind was being blown like every other chapter because I was like, oh my God, I can't believe she did that. And then you like find out why somebody did something.

And I'm like, oh my God, now my heart's breaking for her. And I can't believe she did that to her. And it's like, you will go back and forth and like, realize that like you're either going to love both of them, hate both of them, but like you're

never going to guess what's coming. Yeah. And like the past really does come back to haunt both of them in major, major ways that they pay for. Yeah. Narrators good on that one too. I don't remember if there's one or two. Two. I listened to it a couple weeks ago. I thought that they're so I I used to think I wouldn't like, like, British voices, but I'm like, they're very soothing sometimes. So it's crazy to have, like, such a darkest fuck book with, like, a really soothing voice. I know. It's like essay Cosby, too, a little bit. Yeah.

Yeah. Okay. Side note. AJ just finished that. Listen to the audio. I was like, what did you give it? I think a four. A four?

With all the other books you've read? It's like, maybe a four and a half. I was like, excuse me? Which is fine. I just thought it would like hit a five star for him. Because he like, I heard him like laughing at Buddy Lee. Oh, really? Yeah, like, fine, whatever.

I tried to recommend something I thought would be an automatic vibe. Like, I know where you sleep. Yeah. Stalking your good reads. So my next one is not like that. So the synopsis makes it sound more romancy, but I did not think it was very much at all. It was more like a woman post-divorce, like coming into her own voice, in my opinion. But it's called Behind Every Goodman by Sarah Goodman Confino.

It's a doozy of a bad day for Beverly Diamond when she catches her husband, Larry, in a compromising position with his secretary. What's a suburban wife to do with a soon-to-be-X, two young kids, and no degree or financial support in 1962? Beat the Laos at his own game, that's what. Mary runs the Maryland senatorial campaign for the incumbent. Larry runs the Maryland senatorial campaign for the incumbent candidate projected to win against his younger underdog opponent, Michael Landau. Beverly has the pluck, political savvy, and sheer drive to push Michael's campaign in a successful new direction, even if he already has a campaign manager who's less than pleased that she's inserted herself into the race. If Bev can persuade Michael to modernize, pay attention to women's

issues, and learn to dress himself properly, maybe she can show Larry how much he's underestimated her and make her own dreams come true in the process. So I've loved this author because she always has like a sassy grandma who like always makes me laugh. She very much like both books I've read by her. There's like kind of like a divorce and like of a woman in her like 30s-ish that kind of feels a little lost but like comes into her own power. And this one I felt like was cool because there's like a little bit of revenge but not in like a thriller way. But it was kind of like a fuck you Larry. You're like I'm going to be too. We don't have to escalate to murder. Yeah. And also I think I think the title really made sense because it was like in the 60s I think women had a lot more

influence than they realized like to their husbands and just like in general like they were a lot more powerful than they thought and so I always love that kind of story too where it's like fuck dudes we can do it amen that's the other thing I've noticed works for me in different genres Historical fiction man haters, cool, I'm on board. Oh, yeah. I have realized I'm like, man, I didn't know if I could relate, but I was like, some things don't change much. I'm like, oh, I can.

I'm like, oh, I feel my generational drama. Yeah. It's great. It's great being a woman. It's wonderful. I don't know. I mean, Beverly's she had a good time, I'll say. Like, she had some things she had to figure out.

like but she was like kind of badass which i liked she's like my family's more powerful than yours like you didn't do anything like you got all your power from my family so why don't you just go crawl in a hole somewhere just go see yeah well i have some fun females in my last one so love you to death by christina dotson she was just on the podcast too so you can go listen to it if you want to hear more um but this one what was I going to say my mind is just blinking uh no this is what I was just say I've seen a bunch of people it just came out last week but I've seen like three or four different people talking about how good the audiobook was and so then I even listened to the sample and it like made me wish that I had

gotten to consume it via audiobook but I just had the digital copy at the time. So if you love audiobooks, I'm hearing that this one is very, very fun. And this is a debut author. So that felt like, you know, it's cool. It felt like it worked for the subject. Anyway, it's also very, very fun. As the only black women and an antebellum-themed wedding,

Kayla and Zori should have known this heist was doomed from the start. They should never have come, but when their financial situation became dire, they agreed to hit one last wedding. Jaded and cynical, Kayla, has spent the last decade trying to fix her life since an angsty teen prank led to her arrest. Now with her housekeeping job at a subpar hotel and her disappointing Cinderella-esque relationship with her dad and obnoxious step-sister, she hates the life that she's built. Her only bright spots are her best friend Zori and their favorite weekend past time of crashing weddings to steal the money and pawn the gifts. But what started as a lark has evolved into a greedy obsession, making each wedding hall riskier than the last. While trying to avoid the angry bride and groom, Kayla and Zori's getaway takes a gruesome turn,

and suddenly the wedding crash killers are national news. The best friends are forced to hit the road to dodge the authorities, but their escape plan leaves behind a bloody trail of destruction from Georgia all the way to the bayou. As past grudges resurfaced, Kayla realizes, that the best friend she thought she knew is more dangerous than she could ever have realized. This one is like super fun, bingey, summary, snarky, toxic friendship, Thelma Louise vibes in the South. I love that cover too. I love the cover. I do too.

I want to get a trophy. Sounds good. Is it an audible exclusive or is it not out yet? because I didn't see it on Libro FM. I was just looking, I can place a hold at my library. It doesn't say Audible exclusive because you know how they normally put it on their covers. That's weird. Okay.

I was wondering. I really enjoyed it. And she was really fun to talk to you, too. It sounds really good. Like you said, I. I think that cover is real. I love that cover. I love it. I also feel like the odd man out because not only am I the oldest, but I'm the only one that doesn't listen to audiobooks now.

Oh, do you feel like that out? Because I have the attention span of a walnut. You're going to for Lucinda. Yeah. Oh, is she having another one that's only an audio? Yeah. They usually come out eventually, right? Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm. but I can't like now that I'm such a big lucinda stand you don't want to wait I don't think I could if I wanted to I will say though like I'm still like jealous sometimes I'm like wait he's already on another book what the hell like so I'm just like I'm jealous of you even though I'm like on audiobooks it still takes me like a week to finish them because I never sometimes some days I'm just like I don't have time. Yeah, I get that. I legit have a 5 a.m. alarm set so that like if I'm awake enough at 5 I can read or listen to something just to have that quiet time. I do too lately and it's kind of nice. Most of the time I'm like glad and then sometimes Harley's waking you have like 440 anyway.

So I'm like okay, that was kind of what it was. I was used to waking up at 5. I'm like if I can have like two and a half hours by myself gonna take it yeah seriously yeah if i don't read in the morning it like might not happen i'm sending my alarm too mine's always like after work like i can't like read in the morning or like sometimes i'll read on my lunch break but um i don't know what's your next one i don't have a segue i don't have a segue i'm okay i got so cocky because i had a segue with your first one and now i'm like oh yeah Watch this. So mine is an author that like everybody I feel like has read and she's written like so many books. I haven't read any of hers, but I jumped the gun because this is a trilogy, so I bought all three.

But the first book is called Deeper Than the Dead by Tammy Hogue. Oh, I've never read her either. And every, like, I mean, I feel like she has like so many out and like they all sound so good. But in California, 1985, four children and young teacher Anne Navarre make a gruesome discovery. A partially buried female body, her eyes and mouth glued shut. A serial killer is at large and the bonds that hold their idyllic town together are about to be tested to the breaking point. tasked with finding the killer FBI investigator Vince Leon employs a new and controversial FBI technique called profiling, which plunges him into the lives of the four children and the young teacher whose need to uncover the truth is as intense as his own. As new victims are found and pressure from the media grows, Vince and Anne find themselves circling the same small group of local suspects, unsure if those who suffer most are the victims themselves or those close to the killer.

blissfully unaware that someone very near to them is a murderous psychopath. It looks like she has multiple series. Which one did you say it was? It is called Deeper Than the Dead and it's the Oak Noll series. It's number one. Got it. That sounds dark. It sounds really dark.

I mean, you know the title. The cover's dark too. I like it. I also like, I also like, am very excited that it like takes place in the 80s and I heard that like the trilogy like gets better and better with each book. Nice. So hopefully it's a win for me. Yeah. Because I would like to add it to my spooky TBR.

That would be nice. Are they? The plot kind of gives me just Lori vibes. Yeah. Hmm. Are they written? When is it from? 2009 okay

interested to see what you think you do hopefully it's a win and I don't get cocky buying three bucks and be like oh I do enough to I know that's the worst I guess I'll donate these yeah

check out my pingo oh my pingo oh my gosh so this one I feel like could go also in the category of like books I read because of you guys. I've only read one by this author so far, but I really did enjoy it was This Violent Heart by Heather Levy. It had a lot of boxes. I felt like every box. Yeah. Like very like you got to know the characters a lot. I wouldn't say it was

like this. I mean it was fast pace but it wasn't like super twisty or anything. It was just good. Like I mean I don't really need that anymore. I'm like, happier more to have like deep characters and um i liked a little bit of a romance that kind of gave me gillian flynn vibes too and you know i love a a small town small religious town like something's going to go awry um okay i know we've done this synopsis a lot but. Devin Mays thought she was done with a small conservative town she once called home. She fled when she was 18 after her best friend Summer took her own life, leaving Summer's twin brother, Keaton, lost in his grief. But when tragedy strikes again, Devin has nowhere to turn

but back to the place that first broke her heart. After being in Arcana, being back in Arcana means struggling with the old guilt that shrouds her bisexuality and her feelings for Keaton. There's so much she's still hiding from him and so much of their shared past. that's now resurfacing. It's not long before Devin has reason to believe Summer's tragic death wasn't suicide after all. Summer had secrets too, and it wasn't the only one who,

and she wasn't the only one who wanted them exposed. I, at first, was like, I'm not sure how I'm going to feel about someone, like, really interested in twins, but it, like, fits so well with, like, the small town, they're beautiful, and, like, there wasn't a whole lot available, You know what I mean? Like it makes total sense in the setting where they are.

Yeah. And just like what she is attracted to in a person, they just have like similar qualities. As someone who grew up in a very, very small conservative town and there were twins that were boys, they definitely slept with the same person quite often. That's so interesting.

Really? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. More than one girl. knowing that they were different it wasn't like they were tricking her and no and the girls were proud of it we would talk about it that'd be me I'm both baby like check check so yeah that part was very believable but yeah I liked the unique take of a bisexual or a person who is bisexual then it's like they're attracted to even both gender or differently gendered twins yeah yeah I loved I agree. I agree with you 100%. I love that she was bisexual and like it wasn't just your typical like teenage love triangle. Not to like dis anybody that has that in their books, but like it just like put

such an extra spin on it because like there was like so much more going on. And they're like the relationships between like her and the female twin and her and the male twin were like so different. But like you can see where she would kind of fall for both of them. Well, there was nothing shallow about it. Like she was struggling with like, what do I do? And then like I don't want to hurt anybody's feelings. But like I'm also a teenager. So it's just like it felt really genuine.

Yeah. Yeah, I really liked it a lot. I'm kind of getting vibes. I'm kind of getting vibes of that book and how like the teenagers are written in high season right now. Oh, yeah. I agree. Because the teens are, like sometimes when you have that dual POV or like dual timeline, I should say, sometimes the like teen point of view or timeline kind of gives me like YAA vibes. And like this one is not.

And it kind of reminded me of the Heather Levy book. Yeah, I agree. It doesn't really feel it didn't feel YA in those chapters at all. Like it felt really substantial and adult. sometimes when I think about that and I can't remember if that's how that book was phrased but sometimes when it is written like the adult so you're saying it in the past

it's maybe like the adult character saying things in the past tense does that make sense it's almost like that kind of helps when sometimes it's like the adult is so the main character that those chapters feel like they're just telling you what happens then I think that makes a difference sometimes.