Bookwild - Short, Bingey Books with Gare and Steph

Episode Date: August 22, 2025

This week, Gare, Steph and I share short, bingey books we highly recommend!Books We Talked AboutEveryone Is Lying to You – Joe PiazzaThe Favorite Girl – Monica AryaThe Mad Wife - Meagan ChurchThe Grave Artist – Isabella Maldonado & Jeffrey DeaverHappy Land – Dolen Perkins-ValdezBath Haus – P.J. VernonShort & BingeyEverything Is Tuberculosis – John GreenThe Trap – Catherine Ryan HowardThe Locked Door – Freida McFaddenLiars – Sarah MangusoThe Retreat – Krysten RitterI Did It for You – Amy EngelLula Dean’s Little Library of Banned Books – Kirsten MillerBlack Sheep – Rachel HarrisonThe Woods Are Waiting – Katherine Green 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 

So Gare and Steph and I are back. It is the trio. And we're going to have some fun. Like, yeah, basically, pretty much. Really? Sorry, I thought you were going to say something. And then your screen froze so I couldn't tell if you were saying something. Just admiring, guys.

Yeah. So we are going to talk about shorter. bingeable thrillers. Can you tell that I've been audiobook narrating and overpronouncing all of the syllables? So we're going to do shorter bingey thrillers. And then Steph actually had a good icebreaker that she saw somewhere. Also, your eyes are popping with your like green. Oh my God, I know. They are. And yours is kind of, I'm the only one not in green. Thanks, guys. I'm in gray. Oh, that's gray. It looks. looked kind of like dark green. Okay. It's comfort colors. Pepper. Oh, that's pepper. Okay, good to know.

A warm, a warm gray. I'm a pepper. Yeah. Yeah, it was very humid outside today. So I put on my nasty. Nasty. So, oh, well, I was at. No more girls over here. Good for you. I had a book club meeting last night and we do. a icebreaker every time. And it used to just be like, what are you reading right now or what was your last five-star read? But we've been expanding it. And someone said, the book we read that night, she's like, oh, something happened where I

automatically DNF. Oh. Regardless of the book, if this happens, I DNF it. So we kind of talked about like what, what do other people have that if there's something specific that happens in a book that they're like nope i'm out yeah well i will say i am like the age old joke of like i really struggle with dog deaths in a book with tons of human deaths but it doesn't always make me d and f so there is that and there isn't that too like maybe i can just kind of skim and get past it and if i'm loving the story i'm not going to give up on it but what i've learned about myself specifically

this year is if there is a female main character who is just blatantly ignoring like bright red flags. Oh, can you guys still see me because it says trying to connect? It says my internet's bad. Okay. I can hear you now. Okay. How much?

It's a little blurry, but how far had I gotten into my room? You just said when there's female main characters. Okay. Okay. So what I've learned about myself this year, though. is if a female main character is just blatantly ignoring the brightest of red flags because she thinks she's in love with this dude, I'm done. I can't do it.

It drives me absolutely insane. I can't get into it and I have to stop. And I know a lot of people love it, including Gare, who's giggling, but I can't do it. I don't even love it. I'm just like, I don't know how you didn't kill me because I'm not female main character. Red flag? I'm at the circus. It's like a magnet to gear.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I can't do it. That's, I'm done with those. That's what I finally understood is like, I can't,

I cannot do it. When you're like blinded by love and red flag. It doesn't make any sense to me. I get that. So that's my main DNF. Got to go, got to go. Fun guys.

Damn, it is my motherfucker. I think it froze in again. No, I didn't even notice. I thought she just didn't think. I thought she just didn't think my joke was funny. No, it just froze on me again. I don't know what's happening. Okay, what joke did you make?

That's good. You're good now. Okay, there you are. You were just like, yeah, I just can't stand it when somebody is ignoring red flags. and blinded by love basically and I was like got to go girl got to go and then I was like acting like I was going to hang up gotta go um

well it's mostly in books yeah clearly this would have been a duo this would have been a duo in the year 2004 did anything it would have been you guys would have been on your own with the podcast cast and I would have never been invited back. Kate would have been like, I'm done with him. I'm done with him.

You do it. Damn. Do you know what my pet peeve is? What is it? Um, okay, this is going to be so specific, but I feel like I've done this like a hundred times in my life. So say you have like a, like, you know, you read the back of the book or you read online or you listen to the synopsis, whatever you.

audiobook girlies do. But like, say for instance, this book, the back of it says like, Kate Stefan Gere went on a family vacation and after a horrible accident, their lives were never the same. A year later, whatever happens, if there's something in the synopsis that like guides me to be like, I want to read this book and I'm reading 100 pages and nothing has happened yet, I'm like, do you know what I mean? Like if it's like, oh, this accident happened or somebody was murdered or or this event that happened that you're like talking about in the plot of the book. And then I'm 100 pages in and like they're just like nothing's happened yet. I'm like I have to get out of here.

Same. I'm with you on that 100%. Yeah, because that's like the beginning of the synopsis. This should be the beginning of the book. Yeah. Yeah. I'm trying to think of which one it was last year. Not that I would necessarily say it.

But there was one last year. It was literally that where it said something like like specifically it was like, but when bones are found on the outskirts of the town. And I was at page 150, no bones had been found. That's a lot. So I feel you. Yeah. Yeah.

It's like stuff like that. I'm just like, okay. Like, what the hell's going on here? That pisses me off just to like no end. Like where you're like, oh, I'm going to like talk about this like murder or something, like some big event. And then like I'm like, well, where is it? Yeah. Like what's going on here?

Did I miss something? Yeah. to know that it was just going to be a character study to make my decision. Yeah. Or if it's going to be this far into it, don't even put it in the plot and let it be a surprise to me. Yep. You know, that pisses me off.

That makes sense. I don't know if I have a specific event. I just know that there's like a moment where or I'll give it a little time where I'm like, I don't think I care about how this ends. Like if I all of a sudden just like don't care about what happens or don't care about the characters at all, I'm like, what am I doing here? Yeah. Because there was a book a couple weeks ago that I did end up finishing because I was like, I'm not really into this, but I need to know what happens. Like I really want to know how it ends.

If I do not care at all, I'm just like, okay, bye. Yeah. Yeah. I had a couple audio books like that where I was like realizing I kind of just didn't care what was going to happen. And then I was like, I'm just going to stop. Yeah. I mean, there's just so many books out there and our TBRs are so long that if that's it's like, okay, just move on.

Yeah, totally. I just, I had DNFed like two books very dramatically last week. And like, I told you guys. I was like, I'm never going to read again. But like, I had like one where it was like a spouse had died. and there was not like there was nothing really alluding to the fact that it was not an accident like that was the plot of the book right is like a spouse had died and then people were like oh maybe it wasn't an accident like said or maybe there was something else going on and I was

100 pages in and I was like you've hinted that nothing there hasn't been like a letter a witness like nothing has given me any inkling to think that this is not an accident it's just I don't give a shit if it was or not at this point, so I d-en-fed it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Did you well, have any of us read anything that we did really like recently?

Oh, you have. We do know that you got out of your slump. Yeah, you did. I got fucking walloped with back-to-back, unhinged, bat-shit crazy books. Everyone is lying to you by Joe Piazza. is like the, is it tradwife? Yeah, I've heard people love it.

Holy mother of God. That book was like, I was like reading it. I was like, this is snarky. Okay, now it's kind of bitchy. And then I was like, okay, now I'm like really confused what's going on. And then it was like, I was like panicking. And I felt like that meme of the little girl that's on the teacup ride. And she's like screaming because at the end of the book, I was like,

that might have been the most unhinged. that shit crazy ending I've ever read in my entire life. Oh my gosh. And then I read The Favorite Girl by Monica Aria. And it's like Saltburn meets Get Out. Oh yeah. And it is unhinged and the twists I did not see coming. And then like the way it ended, I was like, I don't know how we're going to do a second

book in the series. Wow. Are there two or more? There's two. But I'm like, I'm not even going to read the synopsis of the second one because I'm like, son of a bitch. Wow. But it was...

Chose to keep reading. It was worth it. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. I'm looking for it on audio. Which one? Well, right now the favorite girl. Both of them have extreme trigger warnings.

Yeah, I don't think I have any triggers that I need to know about, but that's good. for everyone else. Yeah. Joe Piazza, I don't think has, I don't think there's like anything like super specific, but it's like alluded to and you just kind of like, there's like something that you're like this could get really bad, but then like

they don't give details or like you just kind of, it's like left to your imagination. So yeah. If you need to check trigger warnings, check trigger warnings for those two is what we're saying. It seems like the favorite girl is. on Audible, FYI.

Oh. I did not see it on Libro FM. But, well, I forgot. What did you just say? I was going to respond to something. Oh, I think the Tad Wives are going to become a big thing in thrillers and books, just because, like, they are.

Society, they've been, like, talked about a lot. I think that's going to be the next trend. I can see it. Because I think there's another one. Me too. Called, like, the Tad Wife Secret, it maybe. Yeah, I can't remember who wrote it. Yeah, there's something with Trad in the title. Yeah. And I think it's in my mailbox right now. Because I ordered it. I was like, I hopped on Pango like a motherfucker. I was like,

get me all of this Tradwife stuff. I am eating the shit out of it. It is. Oh my gosh. I love that. It's like so domestic-y, but like it's just like this trope that I can get behind, you know? Leanne, very desperate housewives, right? Oh, yeah. What you said. This, everyone is lying to. you is more like influencer tradwife than like anything else.

Mm-hmm. On this, I think, is it this one? Yeah, that's in my mailbox. Tries. But everyone is lying to you has a pie on it too. And the madwife. Doesn't the madwife have a pie on it?

I think so. I have that one. That one is supposed to come up over and I just got an email that it's coming out in September now so I have to read it faster. Oh. Yeah, I think the,

Madwife has a pie too. Or it's just in a kitchen. Oh, she's just in the kitchen. Okay. Where she belongs. She has like the blacked out eyes. I'm so curious. Is that a thriller?

Yeah. It is? Kind of. It might be more suspense than thriller. They called it hysteria. She called it survival. So I'm really all more ready. Like, oh, they called her hysterical.

Here we go. Here we go. Source books. It says in the vein of the bell jar Okay So maybe it's more contemporary suspense than like a thriller But yeah What is Lulu really losing her mind?

That's one of the most Yeah In a quietly This is what it says In a quietly devastating wink and nod to the bell jar But set firmly in thriller and suspense territory Megan Church delivers a piercing portrait of a young mother unraveling in the grip of 1950s suburbia.

So yeah. I have to get on my September. I have three September books that I need to read. I'm working on my September ones right now. I have 12. Speaking of, I'm reading The Grave Artist. It is the second in the series with Isabella Maldonado and Jeffrey Dever. It's the one that Gare infamously or famously was like,

this is not for me. And I was like, that's okay. It's okay. And it has one of my favorite tropes where we have the female is a batty. And the male partner is a bumbling professor. So I always love that dynamic too. But yeah, this one, like, this is, it was interesting. We read The Butcher for our book club this last month and just had our meeting

two days ago. And we were talking about how some people do like when you know who the killer is from the get-go. And sometimes you don't. And like, I remember reading the first in this series called Fatal Intrusion and you open up in the serial killers chapter and being like, I don't know if I love it. And then I was hooked. And it's happening with this one too. So in terms of, like, this is mostly all in the synopsis, but like the first chapter is this creepy dude watching this bride and groom like about to have their wedding and he's like looking at her white dress and he's like it's a perfect template for my tableau and so it's a serial killer who kills the grooms on their wedding day and then gets off by staying near the family and like

feeding off of their grief and like enjoys it so it's like very dark and a little bit different for a serial killer, but I'm like a few chapters in and I'm loving it. So we'll see where that goes. I love both of them and then I'm interviewing them. So that's another reason I need to finish it. But I also just finished Happy Land by Dolan something Valdez. She has two last names. Yeah, Dolan Perkins Valdez.

She has two last names. Oh my gosh. Five stars for me. I mean, 4.5, but I rounded it. up. It's about these families in post-Bella or in the post-bellum era, these families built kingdoms after they had been freed from being enslaved. They built kingdoms in the Appalachian Mountains on a land that they did buy. But since then, a lot of them have been screwed out of the land. And in the author's note, she said, from 19,

to 1970, I think, almost $360 billion worth of land was taken back from these. Bruce is mad. He's like, fuck you, America. Yeah. It was taken back from these black families who worked really hard to finally own land for the first time. So the story is set up where like in the present, in the present chapter, this woman gets called to see her grandma. her grandma and her mom have been estranged for a few years. The woman doesn't know about Happy Land,

the kingdom that her grandma's ancestors were a part of. But you also get the past timeline and how they created this, like, beautiful community after being through so much. And it was just such a powerful story. Some of her lines, she just like rates women so beautifully. Steph and I were talking about this. this. Like, the writing is beautiful. It makes you think of what it would mean to actually be in a

community that, like, loved you. Like, it was, it was very good. I really enjoyed it. Yeah. Yeah, it was something that I had never heard of. Yeah, I hadn't either. Yeah. I did finally read Bathhouse, which was good. Yeah. I can't really, like, say much about it. I would definitely go in blind. I feel like anything I would say would be kind of

a spoiler. But it felt like kind of a fresh thriller. I think thrillers lately just haven't felt fresh to me and it was finally fresh. It is. Yeah. Oh, I love that. I was like, Oliver. And you're reading the cover. I almost bought it when Steph and I were like going to different bookstores, but it was the orange cover. And I was like, if I'm going to own this book, I have to have the pink cover. You need to get the hard cover. Hard cover is so pretty. I want the orange cover. I should have sent it to you. I can't believe you didn't say that in the group text. She posted in her stories.

I didn't post it in my story. Okay. I want to be blown up every day. I want you to be like, I'm on page four. Now I'm on page six. I want to know everything. I just assume people aren't interested in that, but like I can do that. No, I'm going to tell you something right now.

There are some people I'd never want to hear from again in my life, but I want you guys to tell me everything. in the entire everything that anything that happens to you I don't care I don't care if it's like got a paper cut talk to you later I don't care if it's like I had a sandwich for lunch talk to you later I don't care if it was like I don't get the lobooboo thing talk to you later I want to know everything are you there with you they're in your bedroom right are they staring at you they're on my dresser right now three of them are that's amazing can I tell you something that like looking at right now that I wish I would have told you when it happened

AJ and I were doing, we do like virtual therapy. And I've like in my dining room table, there's been this black, cool candle that's been here for three years. It's a decorative candle. You don't light it. It just smells good. And all of us and I looked while we were in therapy last week. And it was lit. Someone fucking lit it.

And I just, and AJ saw me look over and notice. I was just like this. I was like, who lit the candle? And he's like, I did. And I was like, you didn't even light it long enough for it to flatten out. Oh. And so I was like, kind of you're buying me a new one. I don't buy expensive things really, but that was an expensive candle. And I'm like, you're buying me a new one. I don't care. And so it just, it is a candle, but like does it like emanate a smell? Yes, it does smell. It smells really good. but like I just don't light it. It just like smells good just sitting there. And like it was fancy.

So I'm like it's just like a decoration. Okay. Which is so stupid that people have just like decorative stupid things. Well it sounds like if that's why I was asking if it still smell good even though it wasn't. Yeah. It was just like. I noticed I haven't is bad if I light candles. So I'm like, oh, is there an alternative?

Because I'm like we have one sitting next to the kitchen sink. that can is lit all the time. What about like a reed diffuser? Okay, would that work for you? Yeah, those do work. Yeah, I want to get something different. I don't really like lighting candles necessarily, but now I have a bunch that I want to get rid of.

I just love lighting a candle. I love the little Woodwick ones that crackle when you burn them. That's what I got really into because I liked the sound. And then I realized I was always like my throat was scratchy and I was coughing more and I was like, God damn it. Yeah, I also love nothing. more than a SIG. So like a candle's not going to bother my throat. That's probably why. I mean, I am embarrassingly allergic to things. So yeah.

Anyway, weird stuff happens I'll tell you guys. I'm like the thing that's like, like, you know when they're like, this would kill an eight, like a kid from the 1800s. Yeah. And it's like McDonald's. Like my lifestyle would kill Kate. Yes. It would. I'm like, time for your morning cigarette and light that candle. And I'm like, Yeah. I have like the Victorian ponytail soon. Yes. I am literally like the sickly Victorian children

who just had to stay inside and read all the time. They're like always like looking at a window while like friends play. They're just reading in a window. Except you would close the blind. You'd be like, I don't want to see them. not be, I don't need to see that shit. Oh my God. For our topic today, that completely relates to one of the books I was talking about,

or we're going to talk about, but then I saw you got, you said thrillers. So I was like going to change my plan, but I feel like, Oh, did I say thrillers? Oh, it doesn't have to be thrillers. Oh, that's okay. I have some of those too. Okay. I do have also one about. I'm fine with whatever. I thought they were thrillers.

But I guess, whatever. I guess I would have picked thrillers anyway. True. What would I have done? Here's some historical fiction about under 300 pages. That's the thing. I'm like, I don't know if I have any other ones that are underneath that. A stupid one for sure with like some woman looking the other way on the cover.

Yeah. We're wearing like a petticoat with a suitcase. case. Anyway, that the Betty coat, yes. Well, do you want to start? Do you want to include the one that made you think of that? Yeah.

Because I was going to talk about ones that I haven't talked about them any times. Yeah. I feel like we've talked about a lot, but I'm happy to talk about them again. Right. Well, drive-bys or something. I feel like it really throws me off to go first, but I'll happily go first. Do it. Okay.

Perfect segue. I just, my last five-star read I had was, everything is tuberculosis by John Green. Yes. He wrote that cover. Me too. He wrote our fault in the stars, I think. Or no fault in the stars.

The fault, I think. Fault in our stars. I will say I wish that more fiction writers wrote nonfiction because I feel like they're good at writing and also like just make it kind of more interesting. So I don't know why. I just saw this book all over the place. And so I picked it up and then I ended up listening to it. but it talks about, like, sickly people.

Oh, yeah, this does. I see why you're thinking of me. Why did I disappear? I couldn't really breathe very well. She just closed the blinds on it. I'm like, fuck you guys. It did this to me while I was interviewing Penny Zang. Oh, no.

All I can think of when things like that happen are that one Real Housewives of Atlanta reunion where it was like COVID, and they were all doing it on Zoom. and like Nini got mad at somebody and slammed her laptop shot. I love me. I'm back. I don't even watch the hot sauce, but I love me. I love Nini so much. Sorry to interrupt your tuberculosis.

It's just interesting the way, like how somehow our conversation went that direction. I'm like, what is this book? What are you supposed to happen? Yeah, one of the things I thought was actually really interesting was that, that like at one point it was a disease of rich people and like they thought that women that had tuberculosis were like so beautiful because they were like fair and super pale with rosy cheeks and like kind of uh sunk it sounds bad but like big eyes and so it's just like wild that when that was happening it was almost like beautiful and a lot of like creative poets and stuff had it so it was just kind of almost like this fancy disease and then now it's like, well, people, poor and rich people, or poor people have it now, so it's stupid. Like, I mean, not stupid, but like, that's good for us.

Yeah. Wow. But anyway, tuberculosis has been entwined with humanity for millennia. Once romanticized as a malady of poets, today tuberculosis is seen as a disease of poverty that walks the trails of injustice and inequity we blazed for it. In 2019, author John Green, met Henry Ryder, a young tuberculosis patient at Laca, Government hospital in Sierra Leone. John became fast friends with Henry, a boy with spinly legs and a big goofy smile.

In the years since, that first visit to Laca, Green has become a vocal advocate for increased access to treatment and wider awareness of the healthcare inequities that allow this curable, preventable, infectious disease to also be the deadliest, the deadliest, killing over a million people every year. Wow. And everything is a workiosis, John tells Henry's story woven through with scientific and social histories of how tuberculosis has shaped our world and how our choices shape the future of tuberculosis.

The fact that it is curable and there are still millions of deaths is insane. Yeah. But and like just like the last chapter, he really just talks about like the choices that we make. Like where there's the most drugs, there's no tuberculosis. Where there's tuberculosis, there's no drugs.

Cool. And like, of course, big pharma is like, well, we have a patent on that. and so we're going to keep it like super expensive. God. I hate that. God. So anyway, it was like really interesting, but like short.

And I was like, I don't really read nonfiction lately because it feels really heavy. But this like didn't really feel that way. And I don't know if it's because he also is just like such a good writer that he could like weave in things. Yeah, because he like kind of shows how many things are related tuberculosis related to tuberculosis, right? Yeah. consumption as it was once called. Yeah, I need to listen to this one. It's crazy.

If you ever are, but it's also, it's super, it's like a baby's like small book. So this is 1.98 pages. Yeah. That's very digest. So if you need a big thing to hit your goal. Yeah. Dude, I hit my goal over the weekends.

what I just said who goes next now I'm always left who goes next hate does ladies first yeah I can go next so these men are trash yeah yeah yeah well speaking of men being trash um

um um yeah um um Gare reminded me that this one was short and I did not remember that this one was short. Okay, well, it's the trap by Catherine Ryan Howard, but when I just clicked on it, it's in a different language. So let me see if, okay, here we go. Here's English.

So I loved this one. Gare loved this one. Just so obsessed with this one. What she does with the construction of the story and how it comes together at the end is nothing short. of genius. So, the trap, Catherine Ryan Howard. One year ago, Lucy's sister, Nikki, left to meet friends at a pub in Dublin and never came home. The third Irish woman to vanish inexplicably in as many years, the agony of not knowing what happened that night has turned Lucy's life into a waking nightmare. So she's going to take matters into her own hands. Angela works as a civilian paper pusher

in the missing persons unit, but wants nothing more than to be a fully fledged member of Angarda Siocana. Sorry, guys, I'm not Irish, the Irish police force. With the official investigation into the missing women stalled, she begins pulling on a thread that could break the case wide open and destroy her chances of ever joining the force. Meanwhile, a nameless man drives through the night his latest victim in the back seat. He's going to to tell her everything from the beginning, and soon she'll realize what you don't know can hurt you. Dun, done, done. When I clicked on my goodreads, it was in German.

Yeah, okay, that's what happened to me. I don't speak German, but I can if you like. That's Lady Gaga. Yes. Oh, that's amazing. Yes, this one feels like, you know, a dark, twisty serial killer. one and it is but it is also some so many other things the trap is so good it's so good anyone who is under 300 please feel free to DM us because it's the kind of ending you

want to talk to people about there's so much in that there's so much in that I feel like I forgot so much of it like I don't know like blurt like flashes of it and that happens I remember a lot of that one but I don't for every book So, yeah. The, I think of the opening chapter a lot because I read it like six times. Mm-hmm. Um, and the way that the killer presents himself to the women is like very. Okay.

Mm-hmm. I would agree. And then, yeah. Oh, my God, it's so good. Um. Oh, my gosh. Also, yeah, speaking of men being trash, all of mine are because, you know what, I don't think that we would have thrillers if Ben didn't exist. Like, if men did not exist, we wouldn't have thrillers because it's either men doing shitty things to people and then, like, the detective trying to catch the man.

The man's a serial killer because he has not gotten to therapy when he should have. And even if it's a female serial killer, guess what she's doing? Picking off the bad guys. It's trashment. Oh, God. Well, you're right. I know. I usually am.

If we want to talk about toxic. So my first one, I feel like I can't, like, I can't talk about, like, under 300-page thrillers that you can, like, binge super quickly without mentioning Freedom McFadden. Yeah. For her, is that short? Let's just get it overwork. Yeah, I think a lot of them are. A lot of them are. So, now I'm nervous.

Well, while you're nervous. Now we have paid counts here. I was the library today dropping off a book, and this, like, older lady came up to me, and she's like, what are you returning or what are you reading? And I just showed her Bathhouse and Recursion. And I was at, who do you love? Frieda McFadden. She said, I've read all her books. And, like, I get on the library wait list for her new one coming out in October.

And she was probably in, like, almost 80 years old. And I was like, get after it. Oh. So, anyway, everyone lives. Well, I don't know where I read that it was under 300. But they'll go by quickly. The locked door by Frieda McFadden is a 313. page novel that feels like it's under 300 pages. Yes.

Some doors are locked for a reason. While 11-year-old Nora Davis was up in her bedroom doing homework, she had no idea her father was killing women in the basement. Until the day the police arrived at their front door. Decades later, Nora's father is spending his life behind bars and Nora is a successful surgeon with a quiet, solitary existence. Everybody, or no, sorry, nobody knows her father was a notorious serial killer and she intends to keep it that way. When Nora discovers one of her young female patients has been murdered in the same unique and horrific manner

that her father used to kill his victims, someone knows who Nora is. Somebody wants her to take her to take the fall for all of the unthinkable crime, but she's not a killer like her father. The police can't pin anything on her as long as they don't look in her basement. Done, done, done.

I love the daughter of a serial killer, book. I know. What was it that we were talking about that with last week? You and I were Flickr in the dark that book kind of gave me vibes of. Yeah. Yeah. Like if you like one, you'll probably like the other. Mm-hmm. Yeah. What's what we were talking about? We were talking about the Hunter's daughter, but was it just from, was it from Preacher's daughter? Because that's what we recorded last week. So maybe it was. Yeah, I think we were talking about being scared of like knowing your parents are monsters and then like how that gives you fear throughout your life so yeah

Preacher's daughter is just like a really happy story too so I can It's really happy guys So uplifting Restore your hope and humanity All the things So many things do that these days Right. I have a question.

Go for it. When you guys look at page count, are you looking at like a certain, like addition? I will say I often am not looking at page count. But right now, yes, it looks like different additions or different pages. Yeah.

I think people sometimes just add those two, like in story graph at least, like you can add very, But I haven't noticed that. That's what I noticed because story graph said everyone is lying was 520 pages. And I was like, what? And then I got on good reads and it said it was like 300 something. So you can't trust.

Yeah. At first I thought it was 50020 pages. I was like, how the hell? There's no way. No. I wish. I wish it was. I would have.

No, it's I almost picked it for tonight. But it was like 3.30 something. I think it was yeah. I think it's 3. sex. I think that's one of the ones I was telling you guys. Well, all the ones that I picked, I have physical copies of, but a lot of times when I'm looking for page numbers, I'll look at like a store for like Amazon. That's one where I'll like, if you're trying to sell it to me, I hope you're good point. That's a good point. Yeah. Really smart. But that's so good that there's

so many different ones. Yeah. Well, uh, also speaking of men is true, men are trash. Um, I don't know if this one is, exactly men are trash or just like the relationship wasn't working out but this one i have like a lot of tabs in it's called liars by sarah oh yeah i meant so need that one and then i totally forgot about it i saw this one advertised for people who liked madwoman yes that's where i saw it too sorry lily no um a searing novel about being a wife a mother and an artist and how marriage makes liars of us all. When Jane, an aspiring writer meets filmmaker John Bridges, they both want the same things.

To be in love, to live a successful, creative life, and to be happy. When they marry, Jane believes she has found everything she was looking for, including a few years later, all the attendant joys and labors of motherhood. But it's not long until Jane finds herself subsumed by John's ambitions, whims, and ego. In short, she becomes a wife. As Jane's career flourishes, their marriage starts to falter. Throughout the upheavils of family life, Jane tries to hold it all together. That is, until John leaves her.

It's a tour to force of wit and rage. So it's about like a marriage that kind of falls apart, and you already know that that happens. But I think you're just like witnessing it. And I think some people thought it's like kind of depressing, but I also think there's a lot of like really quotable. tabable lines about just like probably how women feel in that life. Yeah. So I thought it was pretty good. Yeah, I remember seeing it with compared to madwoman.

And then I never picked it up. So I do too. If you need something fast. Like, you know, sometimes even I feel like in solid relationships is just like, one of the things I quoted, why are you so angry? My husband frequently asked me why I was so much angrier than other women. Women, it always made me smile. I was exactly as angry as every other woman I knew.

And I was just like, that's, that's a bar. I was, wait just saying. I think that there's this, like, age you hit where you just get that. Yeah, I think so, too. I think it's, I think it's 37. I agree. because I'm feeling I'm not a woman I'm not a woman

wrestling but yeah case when he does bed up I think I opened it for me that I got married older I didn't get married until I was yeah

I actually got married pretty young that's good Trump's gonna make sure that I can never get married Jesus seriously. I will say all of the slander about that woman is hilarious. Kim Davis to go to hell. It's so funny.

It is so funny. It is so funny. Kim Davis is entertaining, but like fuck her. Fuck her. Yeah, okay. Well, this one's not as much about men.

This is men are trash, so let's not talk about them much. Okay. There are men. There are men. But I listened to Retreat by Kristen Ritter recently. It is. So to the theme, if you just want a really short, bingey summer thriller that is just like fun,

this is it, especially if you like glamorous con women. Liz Dawson weaves through a crowd with the ease of a tropical breeze, moving seamlessly through elite circles, sparking instant connections and making every new acquaintance feel like an intimate friend. She's clever, smooth, and confident, qualities that make her a brilliant, brilliant serial con artist. Isabel Beresford is strikingly beautiful, obscenely wealthy, and the new owner of Casa Esmeralda, a fabulous villa on the Mexican coast, attributes that make her the perfect mark.

When she offers Liz a job handling the installation of a piece of art in her otherwise vacant home, Liz can't resist the allure of a beach retreat. She longs for a reset, a chance to finally shed the grip of her addiction to the conning game. But when Liz, with her lush, dark hair and intense green eyes, is mistaken for Isabelle herself, Liz can't help effortlessly slipping into the socialite's identity. The transition is so easeful, it almost feels like fate. But just who is Isabel Beresford, really? And why does she seem to have abandoned this stunning life of hers?

As Liz insinuates herself deeper into the dazzling and deceptive world of the Punta Mita Resort community, she draws closer to the daggers surrounding the real Isabel. Dangers that may have already ensnared Liz, too. This might not be the con of her life, but the con that ends it. It is very good. And something like it feels like I just read a long synopsis, but one of the things that I enjoyed the most is that most of the story you still do not know. So like I had like multiple exciting reveals. I think all within like the first 30 percent, there are a couple big reveals where you're like, oh. And it like raises the stakes so much. This is probably as close as I get to give like I gave it four stars. But this is probably the.

most I'm willing to suspend disbelief a little bit. Like it is like, but like con stories, you're going to have to sometimes because they're con stories. So, but I really enjoyed it. It was very fun. I feel like if you're entertained and not just like rolling your eyes up

time, it works. Yeah. I really enjoyed it. Kristen Ritter narrates it too. So there's that. That's cool. She wrote that,

right? I mean, she's, Yeah. There's a somewhat ghost writer with Lindsay Jameson. So maybe co-wrote. It'd be a co-writer.

Yeah. Similar person. I'd do like a con story like that. Yeah. It's like somebody like putting themselves in somebody else's life. Because I feel like a lot of the times like... Because it's that fun thing of like, oh, I didn't know this was happening in their life.

Yeah, yeah, because I feel like a con story. I'm like thinking like some guy in like a tuxedo like scaling a building so we can steal like the hope diamond sometimes. You don't even mean like things like that. But yeah, I do love a con story now. Thanks to you and Liz and Greg. Yeah. I mean, it's been a minute since. You would like this one. This isn't like you have to keep track of 75 people. Yeah. It reminds me more of like first lie wins. Yes. Yeah. Like stone cold box like that. Yeah, it reminded me of that. And what was the other one? The Windy Heard one. You can trust me.

You can trust me, I think. That's a really good comp for it. I love that, but. Yeah, those are all good comps. Or some of Julie Clarks. Mm-hmm. Like, those are just when I think of when I think of, like, con stories, but not what you're saying of, like, the...

Not political. Yeah. Yeah. We all... Men, just as I thought. trash. My next one is called I Did It for You by Amy Engle. Oh, sure. About 288 pages.

I was hoping someone would talk about this one because I saw it that I hadn't picked it off my shelf on accident and I figured you guys probably would. I like, this was my last bit. Like this was like the most like random thing because I was like going through my bookshelves like being like, this feels thin. Yeah. I love this person. I'm just scrolling the internet. So I did it for you by Amy Engel.

It's been 14 years since Greer Dunning's older sister Eliza was murdered, and Greer's family has never been the same. Now there's been a similar killing in Greer's small Kansas hometown Ludlow after the execution of the convicted killer. A copycat according to the authorities, but Greer is convinced there is more to the story, that Eliza's murderer had helped all those years ago. So Greer returns to Ludlow after more than a decade away, desperate to find answers to the questions that have haunted her for years.

Her drive to uncover the truth pushes her to form a bond with an unlikeliest of allies. At once a riveting mystery and a deep exploration of guilt, loss, and the ways in which violent murder transforms both the family of the victim and the family of the killer. I did it for you. We'll keep readers captivated through the very last page. My next one I loved, but I haven't talked about in a little bit. bit. I feel like it'll be, it'll attract a certain brand of reader. Lula Dean's Little Library of Family Books. It's a satire of a southern town and she has a lot to say. Lula Dean is on a mission. The resident busybody of Troy, Georgia is hellbent on removing pornography and propaganda from

the town's libraries. Even her lifelong nemesis, school board president, and former cheerleading captain, Beverly Underwood, can't seem to stop her. To prove she has nothing against good, wholesome literature, Lula builds her own little lending library in her front yard for her neighbors to enjoy, filled with classics like The Southern Bell's Guide to Etiquette, 101 cakes to bake for your family, and the art of the deal. Lula's library is an instant success, or so she thinks. What Lula doesn't know is that a local troublemaker has secretly restocked the library with banned books cleverly disguised in the jackets of Lula's wholesome reads. Literary classics, gay romance, black history, Judy Blume novels, books of witchy spells, all just waiting to be discovered. As the townspeople borrow books from Lula's bandbook library, they find their lives transformed in hilarious,

profound, and unforeseen ways. But when the truth about the library comes out, the showdown that's been brewing between Beverly and Lula will royal the whole town and change it forever. It's a fun book. I felt really good reading it. I'm glad you brought it up again. It sounds so quirky. Because I got it Libro FM for any of our audiobook girlies. They have really good sales sometimes. So like all of a sudden they'll have a bunch of books that are like 999 or even like 799. And then as a member, you always get 30% off. Not sponsored, but if you want to, I'm looking for sponsors. Maybe one day. Exactly. As a member, you always get 30% off. So like that, that book was like $7.99 and I got 30% off. So I think I got it for like $4.

But I forgot about that that like I picked it up kind of with a couple others. So I need to listen. Yeah. I think it's like I saw some people saying it was like really political. but also I personally felt like there was a lot of moments of compassion for like why people are the way they are which I always think is important but I was thoroughly entertained and January LaVoy is the narrator so

yeah there's that she does Shari Lapina's a new one I feel like I need to listen and I have um Kirsten Miller's new one is coming out in October. Yes. The wild... Kind of Wild Hill.

Yes. Something like that. So I'm excited for that one. I just think it's so funny, too, that, like, this one is, like, under 300. Because I remember the change was, like... A lot. An Odyssey. I mean, it was so good.

But it was... Yeah. I love her, like, very blunt way of telling a story. Oh, yeah. And, like, people have an attitude. And, I mean, I love it. Yeah.

Mm-hmm. My next one has a lot of attitude, too. Because I finally listened to Black Sheep by Rachel Harrison a couple weeks ago. Herds are shorter. You're right. Yeah, they really are. This one is a cynical 20-something. Oh, no, that's just copywriting.

Okay. Restarting. Nobody has a normal family, but Vesper writes is, truly something else. Vesper left home at 18 and never looked back, mostly because she was told that leaving the staunchly religious community she grew up in meant she couldn't return. But then an envelope arrives on her doorstep. Inside is an invitation to the wedding of Vesper's beloved cousin Rosie. It's to be hosted at the family farm. Have they made an exception to the rule? It wouldn't be the first time Vesper's been given special treatment. Is the invite a sweet gesture?

An olive branch? A trap? Doesn't matter. Something inside her insists she goes to the wedding, even if it means returning to the toxic environment she escaped. Even if it means reuniting with her mother, Constance, a former horror film star and forever ice queen. When Vespers' homecoming exunes a terrifying secret, she's forced to reckon with her family's beliefs and her own crisis of faith in this deliciously sinister novel that explores the way family ties can bind us as we struggle to find our place in the world. So you know I connected with it. Yeah, this one's crazy.

There's lots of, there's lots that is not mentioned here and like good for them for keeping a lot of the reveals hidden. Yeah. It's like snarky, obviously, but it's like all of her books are. All of her books have like witty, cynical-ish characters somewhere, if they're not the main character. Yeah, it's crazy and fun. I want to collect her books. Dude, her books are so pretty. Also, for anyone listening, we decided that we're going to just do Book Wild's Book Club.

We're not doing backlist next month because everyone wanted to do Play Nice because it comes out on September 9th. So if you want to be a part of the book club discussion for Play Nice, it comes out September 9th. The book does. And I think we're doing it September 21st, but I will put the correct thing in the show notes because I can't totally remember. Yeah. I've heard Play Nice is amazing. I love Black Sheep. I love in the beginning that she works at like a child.

Chili's or something. Yes. So realistic of like someone that just like feels like they don't have it together. Yeah. I don't know. I like that. How many do you have? Four, five, six?

The return cackle. So thirsty. The werewolf one. Black sheep. Play nice. Maybe six. Six. Damn.

I read the return. I need to read that one still. The only one I have not read besides playing nice. I felt. Oh. I almost dropped. Oh. Interesting. Love the hot pink cover.

It's like body horror. Oh. Not the whole thing, but there's like something about like stuff like that. Body horror. And I was just like, oh my God. But like I would love to read it again. Really? Yeah.

My reaction was so strong I even laughed. I would love to read it again. you know what's so interesting is like when you read an author's collection and you like start with their newest you're like oh my gosh I really love it and you work your way back it's always like a toss up if their debut or their first books are going to work for you like yes you know what I mean like I just finished my way working through another author's books and like they were still good but like the new one was definitely the best yeah well you just like I'm just like always nervous to be like, okay, am I going to really like their first one as much as I like their newest stuff?

Yeah. I feel like Gare has something shady. No, I just, I did like something really, what's the word I'm looking for? I say I did something bad. I don't know. Spontaneous. Yeah. So somebody recommended this author called Natasha Preston to me and she does like the YA thrillers, but they're like,

Like a ton of them are trending on book talk. And I was like, oh, like, these all sounds so good. And then, like, I was like, oh, these all sounds so good too. So I ended up, like, going on book outlet and, like, realizing that, like, every book of hers is on book outlet. And I dropped, like, 60 bucks and got her. Like, there's only one book of hers I don't have. Oh, that's cool. And I'm, like, so pumped now.

But imagine I, like, read one. I'm like, I don't like these. I know. When I was on book outlet, like an unhealthy amount, her books were always on there. Yeah. Yeah. And I just like love one of them is a three book box set. And I'm just like, I love a box set.

Is this like the seller? No talking question. Yeah. They're all the. Yes. Okay. I'm looking at the right thing. But I just like love the covers too.

and there's like the one that I do so every book of hers is called like the something every one of her thrillers and then there's like one random one called the wait and a week is the one I don't have yet but I'm just going to wait but um go wait for the wake I'm gonna wait for the wake but yeah that's my like they're all I'll send you guys a picture when we get done yeah that'll be cool because they're all still on my kitchen table nice man book outlet is a deal if you like I haven't shoped I don't have a lot of books. Yeah, I used to go on there because they'll have like one copy of something all of a sudden.

And I'm like, I'm going to get that. Oh, really? I like used to stalk it and now I'm like, stay off there. I mean, it's a great deal. I'm like now looking. That's like the only downside of how digital I am is like you never get the light. Well, you do. Sometimes they do have the $1.99 sales for digital books too.

Mm-hmm. Oh yeah. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. I feel like when those sales are way better than the book outlets, like that one month of all their fiction is like $5.99. Yeah. My next one is The Woods Are Waiting by Catherine Green. So they did The Lake of Lost Girls. And this is their like first one that they did together. And I love this book so. much. It is like one of my favorites. It's just so like, it's perfect for fall too, but it's so like bingeworthy and it's twisty and amazing. Um, uh, dark descent into the sinister traditions and customs of a small town in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. Yet no superstition will prepare childhood friends Cheyenne and Natalie for the macabre truth that awaits them. Cheyenne Ashby knows the dark and disturbing history of her hometown of Blue Cliff, Virginia all too well.

That's why she left. Growing up deep within the woods with her eccentric mother constance, she was raised in the unusual customs and generational superstitions linked to the local legend of an evil entity that haunts the forest. Five years ago, the bodies of three children were found in the woods. It was a man, not a mythical beast, named Jasper Clinton, who was convicted of these heinous crimes. For five years, the town breathed just a little bit easier with the real-life monster behind bars. But when another child goes missing, Cheyenne and Natalie are determined to discover the truth and uncover the town's dangerous secrets rooted in its terrifying past.

The two women must confront the reality of the superstitions they always believed in and their town's complicated connection with who or what lives in the woods. And I love this one so much. I actually went back to 2003 on Instagram and found my review. And I love this one so much. It said it's a perfect thriller for fans of O.G. horror movies. The plot is reminiscent of Halloween with a town haunted by their own boogeyman.

The setting has the eerieness of the woods from the Blair Witch Project with the atmospheric, gray-hued town from My Bloody Valentine, and a central cast of four friends similar to I know you did last summer. Ooh. So, especially for fall, whenever it arrives, wherever you're listening from, read it. I mean, I'm even more curious now that I really enjoyed Lake of Lost Girls. I, okay, so I love Lake Los Girls, like 100%. Love, love, love, love that book. There's something about this one that's stuck with me longer.

Wow. I don't know if it's because it was a debut or if it just, like, combines all of of those, like, things that I love about some of those movies it reminds me of, but, like, I just could not get enough of it. And I want to read it again someday. Doesn't the cover, like, fall leaves on it? Yeah. And it's all, like, woods and stuff and everything's spooky, and there's, like, four friends, and they're, like, trying to uncover it off. That reminds me. I just saw something about...

Are you muted? did, Kate? Yeah, I forgot I muted myself when I was having to solve my problem. For anyone on YouTube, I now am from a very different vantage point because now we're on the laptop camera because my professional camera failed me. So, yeah, I was muted, but I was saying I won't fall. I was being a sad girl. Sad girl in the summer. Mm-hmm.