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- [00:00]
Tina
Cereal. Myrtles. Myrtles, Myrtles, Myrtles.
- [00:03]
Hannah
Love it.
- [00:15]
Tina
Welcome to book talk, etc. A podcast bound to grow your TBR. I'm Tina from TBR, etc.
- [00:21]
Hannah
And I'm Hannah from Hand Picked Books.
- [00:23]
Tina
This is a conversational podcast about books and more from two Midwest Mood readers who are easily distracted by new releases. And today we are talking about Celebrity Book Club.
- [00:32]
Hannah
If you enjoy listening, we'd love for you to follow us on Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast app. And if you have a quick minute, please consider leaving us a review on Apple Podcasts or sharing us on social media. It truly helps us connect with other book lovers.
- [00:46]
Tina
Hi, Hannah.
- [00:47]
Hannah
Hey, Tina. How are ya?
- [00:48]
Tina
Oh, I'm fine. Boy, am I on break mentally or what?
- [00:52]
Hannah
Yes, same. I am too. I think everybody. I think everybody is. Especially if you work, you know, in any kind of like, corporate setting. I mean, it's just. It's time to be done. Until January.
- [01:05]
Tina
It's time to be done. Yes. And it's the. The late Thanksgiving this year for us because it was obviously the last. I mean, it's always the last Thursday, but, like, it. It only gave us three weeks, really, in between holidays. So I was feeling like, this is a wash, it's a wrap. I'm done teaching for the semester. I still have my, like, day job through, like, the 20th. But no, in my mind, I'm like, well, it's time. Let's wrap the presents and unwind, so.
- [01:30]
Hannah
And unwind. Yeah. And on top of it, too, we a little Midwest weather update. We got a big snowstorm last night, which makes it like, I don't. I just want to read and make hot chocolate and watch Home Alone. That's all I want to do today. It's not fair.
- [01:49]
Tina
It isn't fair, really. We should be getting adult snow days. I realize people still have to go to work, you know, keep the wheels on the bus, but I prefer to not.
- [01:59]
Hannah
Yes, me too.
- [02:00]
Tina
At any rate, I ran a few errands today before we recorded, and it ties in nicely to what I'm loving lately. And what I'm loving lately is this creator on TikTok. Her name is Dollar Tree Dinners. Have you heard of this person?
- [02:16]
Hannah
Yes, I have. I have. And I've made some of her meals before.
- [02:20]
Tina
Yes, Okay. I love her account and she has a huge following. She's got over 2 million followers. So this is by no means a niche recommendation, but I wanted to bring attention because what she is doing, I think is so wonderful. What she does is makes home Cooked dinners from items that you can get at Dollar Tree or the Food lion, which I guess is a regional store, we don't have. But obviously it's just like sort of more inexpensive ingredients, but instead of, you know, a frozen whatever, which is fine from time to time, she makes these homemade meals using these ingredients. And she actually came out with an entire Thanksgiving meal, I think for less than $25 or $20. And another big creator said he was at the Dollar Tree, ran into a single mom, and she was, like, basically in tears. So excited that this woman came up with the step by step because she felt like she could give her family a legit Thanksgiving dinner that was within her budget. And this creator, I don't know her name. She just appears on my timeline, and I'm always happy when she does. She just seems like such a humble and kind person, and we need more of those in the world. She's not trying to sell anything. She's not my in your face, sort of like yelling about something. It's just a comfort creator, and I'm really in the market for more of those. She has great recipes. I recently just made her cheese ravioli lasagna, and it was delicious. So highly recommend. If you are in need of some inspiration, in need of some comfort. This is the dollar tree dinners TikTok account.
- [03:49]
Hannah
I think that. So, Tina, you shared a recipe with me last night.
- [03:55]
Tina
Yes.
- [03:55]
Hannah
And you were like, we made this. It was so good. They're the little, like, muffin tin chicken pot pie things. I don't know if that's where you got that recipe, but I do believe that the Dollar Tree Dinners page has that recipe also. It's like these little chicken pot pieces.
- [04:12]
Tina
Yeah.
- [04:13]
Hannah
Dinners in a muffin tin. And yeah, it's all ingredients you can get at the dollar store because it's just like biscuits, cream of chicken, and peas and carrots. And peas and carrots. I think her recipe doesn't include, like, the pulled chicken that you share with me.
- [04:26]
Tina
She uses canned chicken.
- [04:28]
Hannah
Yes, she uses canned chicken instead.
- [04:30]
Tina
So smart. But yes. Also, she is on Instagram as well, because I know a lot of people are not on both, but she's on Instagram and I didn't know she had that recipe. I got it from somewhere else, but yeah, perfect. And it ties in. Today I was running errands. I was at the Dollar Tree, and, like, I too saw a display from all the ingredients that she had recommended on her page to make the Mac and cheese and the stuffing. There was still some leftover and I just thought, what a full circle moment.
- [04:54]
Hannah
Yes, I love that. I love finding meals like that that also have like really generic ingredients that you can also get, like at Aldi or, you know, they're just really basic ingredients. Whether you live closer to a dollar tree or a food lion or an Aldi or whatever, they're just great, like canned and frozen meals that you can throw on the table that are also. I think she does try to do like even more nutritious meals too that have like protein and vegetables and things even if they're frozen, which still counts. So.
- [05:23]
Tina
Still counts.
- [05:24]
Hannah
Great wreck.
- [05:25]
Tina
Thanks.
- [05:26]
Hannah
So mine is kind of a general, like clothing brand. It's. It's not one that anybody hasn't heard of before. It's the Amazon Essentials brand. But their winter gear specifically for kids has been really, really great. So we typically thrift most of our winter gear, but obviously a lot of times you go there and you know, you can't be patient with the winter stuff because you have a three year old and they've grown out of their stuff and if they don't have that size, like you need something. And so there were a couple things that I needed to get, but was obviously looking for an affordable price point because kids grow out of these things so fast. And there are a couple items that I'll mention that I've gotten last year and this year for my kids. They have their Amazon Essentials heavyweight hooded puffer jacket. It is between like 33 and $35, and it's a really nice coat. And I was able to donate his size from last year. It was basically in perfect condition. They're washable, they have all different colors and it has a really nice soft lining as well. My kids are very sensory sensitive and this is one that works for both of my kids. Another one is their girls and toddler Sherpa fleece full zip jacket. My daughter has this and wears it underneath her coats on really cold days. Again, they have lots of colors available. The price point is like 20 to 22 dollars for that one. And then also if you live in a very cold state like I do, they have a waffle snug fit pajama set that also works as like long johns, basically to wear underneath your outfits. If you're going outside for long periods of time with your kids, you know, chopping down a Christmas tree, something like that, you want to be extra warm and not have to worry about getting wet and cold. Hold. That's what I use this pajama set for. And again the price point is great, around $20. So those are three of that brand that we have been using this winter. I've gotten other stuff from the Amazon Essentials line in the past specifically for winter and it's good quality and works really well. I know it's Amazon, but you know, they're very affordable and sometimes you just need an affordable quality item and this is definitely that. So I will link those three items below. But in general, I definitely recommend the Amazon Essentials line specifically for winter gear.
- [07:54]
Tina
I would never have thought to look for a specific like I usually just type in like kids puffer jacket or whatever and like you get like a plethora of options but that's such a smart way to do it. Yeah. And I'm sure someone's going to be so happy that you donated this coat that's like a condition. They're going to snag it immediately.
- [08:12]
Hannah
Yes. And you know, it's always nice when you go to a local thrift store and you find like a Patagonia item or something like that, which, you know, we have a couple of those too. But this is also perfectly fine, similar quality and much more affordable. If you can't either afford something more expensive or thrift something more expensive, it's a good option.
- [08:33]
Tina
My one year old has been wearing her North Face jacket and I have to laugh because this North Face, the person we got it from I believe now is a senior in high school. Like this thing has been passed down because my friend group shares clothing and it's been passed down like through six or seven young ladies. And so it's now my one year old's turn and I just love it because I'm like, oh, Lily used to wear that.
- [08:55]
Hannah
But anyway, yes, some of those jackets definitely last forever. We had a Patagonia coat that went through four different family members and like my nieces and nephews and that, you know, cousin group, it got passed down and passed down and it still after we were the last ones to get it after four of the cousins had that Patagonia coat as a puffer coat and I just donated it and it was still in literally perfect condition. So yeah, some of those nicer items like, you know, cost per use, I definitely get it. But sometimes you can't, you know, fork up the money right away, so.
- [09:30]
Tina
Right. Well, every year especially. Yeah, that's.
- [09:32]
Hannah
Yeah, every year for sure.
- [09:34]
Tina
All right, well, let me tell you about my latest read. It is a five star banger. I loved this book so much. It is the Butcher by Jennifer Hillier. And as you might guess by the title, this is a serial killer story. So it's not for the faint of heart. But I absolutely loved it. I did the audio and it's wonderful. It is about a rash of grisly murders that plagued Seattle until the infamous Beacon Hill Butcher was finally hunted down and killed by Police Chief Edward Schenck in 1985. Now it's some 30 years later, Shank is retired and widowed, and he's finally ready to give up his large, rambling Victorian house to his grandson Matt, who he helped raise. So that's. Those are two of the main characters. Matt is a up and coming chef, a restaurateur, and while he's in the home, he stumbles upon something that he had never seen before, and it completely rocks him. He also has a girlfriend, Sam, who is very interested in true crime because her mother was murdered at one point. So she's very, very interested in a lot of, you know, the Seattle true crime and the Seattle, you know, killings that had happened and other things as well. This book, I was hooked immediately. Hillier is the queen of giving you a jump scare in the last five words of a chapter. Just like a shock and awe. Like, what did you say? I had to like, rewind it a few times. And I love when authors do that. They give you like a nice cliffhanger at the end of a chapter. And I really. You get multiple point of view. So you hear from the former police chief, you hear from his. You hear from his grandson, and sort of you're working backward to figure out all of what's going on. I do think too, the girlfriend gets a point of view, if memory serves, but it might just be the two men. I can't remember. But you go back and forth. And Samantha, the girlfriend's very set on using the Butcher as her. She's an author as well. So she's trying to sort of break into the true crime industry. And. And I can't say much about this because it's one of those books where you unpeel the onion, more and more bad things happen. And you think, how on earth are people gonna get out of this? And you start to figure out what's going on along the way. I was driving, I had a long drive, about three and a half hours each way when I was listening to this. And so I did it over the course of like 24 hours. And because I was driving when I do that and I'm listening and I wanna remember points, I will often talk into my phone. And so I just have these, like, random notes like, oh, my God, is this gonna happen? What happened here? No way. Like, it's just nonsense, really. It's gonna make sense to nobody but me. And it barely makes sense to me, but I highly recommend this. It's not often where I get super invested in a story that sort of feels familiar, but it's a newer take on it. I think she just writes a really taught plot, plot. The characters were very, very well fleshed out, and I was just into the entire thing, you know, pretty early on what's going to go down. She still was able to surprise the reader in many sections. This is my favorite Hillier I've read so far. This is my third. Oh, actually, I DNF'd one and then I really enjoyed the other two, but this one is my favorite so far. I can't wait to see what else she's got coming out. I was scouring fantastic fiction to see when the next one's coming out, but it looks like her last one was Things we do in the Dark, and I see no other announcements. So I will be waiting with bated breath to get her next one. But this recommendation today from me is the Butcher by Jennifer Hillier. It originally came out in 2014, but recently was redone on audio via Simon and Schuster. So thanks to them, that's how I got my audio copy.
- [13:24]
Hannah
I'm so glad you loved that one. I didn't know that you had already read so many by this author before.
- [13:29]
Tina
Hmm. I did. And she's really good. She's very. I. I sort of. I haven't read her in a while since her one that I really enjoyed last was little secrets in 2020. Loved that one. Her more recent one, Things we do in the Dark, I didn't care for, but I'm like, you know what? Let me go back and read some of her backlist too.
- [13:47]
Hannah
Is is Things we do in the Dark. Is that the one that you DNF'd?
- [13:50]
Tina
Yes.
- [13:51]
Hannah
Okay. Because that's the only one I've tried by her, and I DNF'd it also.
- [13:54]
Tina
Yeah, it's it.
- [13:55]
Hannah
So maybe I will try some of.
- [13:57]
Tina
Her other stuff for sure. Little Secrets is awesome, actually. Jar of Hearts is awesome. Now this I've read. How many? One count. Let's count together. One, two, three. I've read three and tried a fourth. Okay.
- [14:10]
Hannah
Okay, cool. Well, good. I'm glad that yours was a winner, because mine was not. So I'm glad that we got to start out strong. But my latest read is Knock Knock, Open Wide by Neil Sharpson. And this story starts with, okay, the main character had a different name and there's no audio for this book, which maybe that was part of the struggle. I don't think so though. But the main character's name is. It looks like Etain. I don't. I did not like how that sounded and so I just called them Eaton. I don't know if that's correct, but anyway, a little bit of a sidebar, but this story starts with Eton Larkin, who stumbles upon a corpse on a remote Irish road. She then makes the decision to bring it to a farmhouse and this unleashes a nightmarish chain of events. And then we jump to 20 years later, where we follow Betty, who is a college student in Dublin, and she is falling for Aisling Mallon, who is a drama society peer who has a very mysterious history. And at school their relationship deepens and Betty learns of Aisling's obsession with this eerie, creepy children's TV show. And the show features a sinister puppet that no one seems to remember except Aisling. If this sounds like a lot for one book, let me assure you that it is. And I do not personally think that it was done particularly well. The pacing of this one for me just felt really off. It started really strong and we're provided with this really mysterious first 50 pages. You know, this corpse is found at the side of the road. She decides to take it to this farmhouse with her. What is going on? What is this going to unleash? And I really felt like that was going to be a strong foundation for this really creepy story about generational family trauma and Irish folklore. Because typically I really like folk horror, but when the plot jumps to the school setting, the pacing gets completely thrown off. Now it feels more like this slow, dark academia book where. Which was a completely. It was just very jarring. And you're wondering how things can tie together from jumping around the book so much. And although things do get tied together a bit, it wasn't enough to satisfy me personally. This book just felt like 500 pages and it's only like a 300 page book. I will say I have heard other booktubers talk about this one and note that although they loved it, they really don't think that this is going to be a book for everyone. I remember I was watching a reading vlog by Kayla from Books and Lala. I think she's the one who I first heard this book from and she was like, listen, I loved it. It was five stars. I don't know who to recommend this book to, and I ended up reading it myself because my monthly buddy read friend Emma wanted to try this one out. Unfortunately, we both gave it two stars. And I too, like Kayla, although we felt differently about it. Don't know exactly who to recommend this book to. I don't know. Maybe if you do, like, folk horror or Sapphic horror, etc. Like, maybe give this one a try. But I feel like this is definitely one of those wild card books that either you're gonna really, really love it or it's gonna totally not be for you. I do hope that this book finds its audience. I am just not it. But I do assure you that the next two books that I'm bringing were huge hits, so stay tuned. But that was Knock Knock, Open Wide by Neal Sharpson.
- [17:54]
Tina
The vibes are great with it. The cover's smashing. Like, it has the right elements. So I will say, when you say it's not for you, but the right readers might love it, it does make me curious. I'm like, well, maybe that's me.
- [18:09]
Hannah
Might I love it?
- [18:11]
Tina
Might I enjoy it? I don't know.
- [18:13]
Hannah
Well, it is available on Kindle Unlimited.
- [18:15]
Tina
So there you go. Okay.
- [18:16]
Hannah
If you have Kindle Unlimited. Yeah. And want to try it, maybe read. Although, I don't know. I would say, like, read the first, you know, few pages and give it a shot. But that I feel like is not super indicative of what the whole book is going to be. So again, like, it's. It's hard because I feel like it was like several different books in one mashed together. And you have to like each type of story in order to like this one.
- [18:37]
Tina
I hate when books that are shortish feel like a hundred thousand pages. Like, that makes me crazy. If it's short, I want to feel. I mean, gosh, we are so picky as readers, right? Like, if it's short, I want it to have, like, a good pace, but, like, not feel too long, but, like, still give me a complete story. Like, I want it to be perfect, basically, is what I am saying.
- [18:57]
Hannah
But that's why we review books and think about them.
- [19:00]
Tina
That's why, you know. Well, speaking of reviewing books, we thought it would be fun to continue our tradition. I think this is the third time Booktok etc has done this. It's our celebrity book club episode. I don't know much about Hannah's relationship to celebrity book club, but I thought it could be fun to look at the big three is what I had written in my notes. And then I realized that was Good Morning America or GMA's Book Club Erasure because they're pretty big too. So we'll, we'll look at all of those. And I have some more under the radar celebrity book clubs that are still popular, but I don't follow as much and I'll chat about that. But how do you feel about celebrity book club?
- [19:41]
Hannah
I don't follow them super religiously. None of them really. I would say. Well, that's not true. Starting last year, I did start following Jenna's book club more. And in fact, I actually do. What am I talking about? I do follow hers really closely. I. Anytime I acquire a book that was chosen for her book club, regardless of what year, I have a spot for those on my shelf because those are ones that I just typically align with. And so I feel like with her books I can be pretty confident that I'm at least going to give it three stars, if not more. I think my average rating, because I do track this specifically with her book club, I think my average rating for her books is like a 4.2. So that's pretty high.
- [20:28]
Tina
Yeah, very.
- [20:29]
Hannah
And then Reese's, I don't track, like, I don't ever go and see what Reese is going to be reading that month. Occasionally it pops up in my feed and I usually do end up paying attention when I see the stickers pop up, you know, on books that are getting published throughout the year. But I don't make an effort with her to don't seek her books out. And I also have a really mixed rating with her books. Like some of them will be like two star. Like many of them will be two stars. And then every once in a while I'll find, you know, a five star banger. So I don't know. I think that because I think Rhys has a little bit more. Like she doesn't always pick the same types of stories. Like sometimes she'll pick a thriller, sometimes she'll pick a romance, sometimes she'll pick historical fiction. Whereas I do feel like there's a little bit more of a common thread with Jenna's. Like they don't necessarily always have the same genre, but I do always feel like I'm gonna get like a really emotional story, a book about trauma, a multi generational family story. Like it's going to be somehow very deeply emotionally resonant with her books. And those are definitely the kinds of books that I like. So I think that that makes sense. But those are the only two that I Like follow and one of which I don't really, but how about you?
- [21:46]
Tina
You don't really follow it, but if you're online at all, it's sort of hard to avoid, especially in Reese's. It's just sort of out there in the, in the ether. I personally love celebrity book clubs. I don't know why I like to track it. I like to know what I think. Jenna's is my favorite pretty consistently because of all the reasons you described you. You nailed it. That is essentially what I love about her picks. You, you almost know. Even if you don't know the story, even if it's a different genre, you know the type of reading experience you're going to get. And usually those are my favorite types of reading experiences. You recommended this year to me, one of Jenna's picks from a while ago that I had not read these Impossible Things by Salma L. Wardani. Yes. Loved that book so much. And that's exactly the types of books that I associate with Jenna's picks. I don't really focus on Reese's books at all. I know she has YA and she has her adult picks and I'll sometimes come into them, but it's not something that I seek out because I tend to. They tend to be all over the map for me. I still want to know. I'm so curious. I'm like, what do you know? And it's also like interesting author news. I put it in our second Tuesday or second Sunday of the month newsletter because I like, you know, I don't know. It's fun to follow. The other one that I think I have a lot, a fair amount of success with is Oprah's Book Club. Oprah has been obviously doing this. I think she has like a hundred five books at this point. So she was so many. I think one of the first to review this, she, I think is the OG I would say, I would argue. And I was thinking that some of the books are more maybe literary for my taste. I wouldn't typically gravitate toward them. But then she'll pick books like hello Beautiful. And I'm like, that's an all time favorite book. So I do definitely pay attention when Oprah drops a book. In fact, this year I read Long island by Colm Tobin specifically because it was an Oprah pick. And I thought, this is strange. I wonder why she picked this. And then I found out what it was about. It made me go back and read Brooklyn and then I read Long island and it was a great. It was a Great reading experience. The other celebrity book club that I always Forget about is GMA's book club.
- [23:54]
Hannah
Yes.
- [23:54]
Tina
And I want to apologize for this GMA erasure because they have solid picks and I've actually read four of their books for this year. Not on purpose and probably I didn't even know they were GMA picks, but I've read quite a few of them.
- [24:08]
Hannah
Any standouts from that book club that you read this year that you really enjoyed?
- [24:13]
Tina
I loved the Blue Hour by Paula Hawkins. Absolutely recommend that. Also really enjoyed Colored Television. So they have some interesting picks, but I do see some on their list that are very polarizing that I know were hit or miss for some people. So. But still, I think solid picks and still a book club that is worth paying attention to. My question was, who the hell is on this book club? Like, who makes up the GMA book club panel?
- [24:39]
Hannah
Right. Who's the celebrity?
- [24:41]
Tina
It's a compilation. They don't have a set panel of individuals that are on the book club, but feature a rotating group of authors and literary experts who come on the show and discuss the book club selection each month. So the panel changes depending on the book, the authority and whatnot. Which is why I feel like it might be, I don't know that it's any more or less scattered than Reese's, but I just don't have a sense as to the type of books that they're going to bring. I will say this is terrible, Oprah. I'm like, it's gonna be probably literary Jenna, emotionally resonant Reese, I probably won't like. And gma. I don't know.
- [25:18]
Hannah
Yeah, they're the real wild card. Yeah, I know. I am looking through their website right now and kind of looking through some of their, like, blog posts, posts that feature some of their books. And they do, they have. So they have such a wide variety. I'm seeing like romance on here, commercial fiction, a lot of mystery. I mean, some of these are like genre. Genre bending novels. So, yeah, a really wide variety. Maybe because they don't have a set panel. I mean, that would make sense if they don't have a set panel of people and that's constantly evolving or like different people pick each month. It would make sense why it would be so varied.
- [26:01]
Tina
Exactly. Yes. And that's, I mean, that's fine because sometimes it's fun to like, I don't know, get a random pick. I do like when celebrity book clubs give us something that's a little bit different. Like, I know for this month I texted you about it because Oprah picked small things like these by Claire Keegan. And that was one of the ones we recommended in our holiday bonus episode for book talk, et cetera. And I said, are we Oprah? Like, do we have our finger on the pulse?
- [26:27]
Hannah
We both loved that one.
- [26:29]
Tina
Uh huh, yes. And so anyway, I, I like when they sort of throw in something that's maybe backless or a little bit of a wild card.
- [26:37]
Hannah
Yeah. And Jenna's pick this month was another wild card. She picked Devotions by Mary Oliver, which is a compilation, I think it's a complete compilation of all of Mary Oliver's poems. And I have read that actually. And I love Mary Oliver. I loved this. I like read a poem every night for a while. And yeah, Mary Oliver is lovely, but definitely not something, well, very emotionally resonant. And, and yeah, she's a very, very emotional, like emotion really comes strong in her poetry. And so I guess it makes sense on that end. But I don't know if Jenna has ever picked a poetry collection before.
- [27:15]
Tina
I don't know. I don't think so. Now that I, I mean, what a. I love that I said that so confidently. I haven't looked, but I feel like I would remember that. And I don't know that they. That she had. There are some other. When I was thinking celebrity book club, at first I was like, okay, I want to branch out. There are some other celebrity book clubs on the market. So let's take a look and see, you know what there is. You've got Mindy's Book Studio, which is by the actress Mindy Kaling.
- [27:41]
Hannah
Love her.
- [27:42]
Tina
That came out late in 2022 and she said that there wasn't her, her mission or goal was there finding that there was not enough diversity in publishing. So she wanted to come up and sort of create her own imprint and, you know, share these stories, which I love. There's Audacious Book Club by Roxane Gay that I don't pay a ton of attention to, but I was looking through her Instagram and she's got some very solid picks, some that had been on my tbr. So I'm like, let me go ahead and just make sure I follow her. It also looks like she shares or has some of that dialogue in her substack. So if you're on that platform, which I'm really not, but if you are, you might get some information from her book club over there. This one I knew about, it's Belletrist by Emma Roberts. And apparently she'd brought on Kara Priest. I Think it used to just be Emma Roberts, but this one started in 2017 on Instagram. And Cara Preece is a producer. And of course, Emma Roberts is an actor or actress.
- [28:39]
Hannah
It's so funny because I knew that Emma Roberts had a book club and I knew that Belletrist was a book club, but I did not know that they were.
- [28:46]
Tina
Oh, that they were. That they were one in the same. Okay. I did not know that because I'm like, is this. Is this redundant or is this obvious? But I feel like for some reason it's hard to get a handle on whose book club is where and who's running it. I don't really follow this one, but Dakota Johnson has one that just came out in March of 2024. It's called tea Time Book Club. Dua Lipa has one that came out in June 2023 that I was shocked to see. I did not know that you also have another. I guess I'm sort of going down the line of actresses and musicians. We've got our shared shelf, which is Emma Watson. She said this is a bimonthly feminist book club and it also has a Goodreads group.
- [29:25]
Hannah
Yes. With Emma Watson's. I feel like I tried looking this up for this episode and, like, couldn't really find any solid information about the book club.
- [29:36]
Tina
Maybe.
- [29:37]
Hannah
I don't know. And in fact, I remember Google searching. Is Emma's book club still active? I don't know because it's very unclear. But then, like, if you look at all of the lists of all the celebrity book clubs, she's on there almost always. Always on there, listed.
- [29:52]
Tina
She. Oh, my gosh. She ended the formal book club in January 2020. Color me incorrect. That's what the booklet says.
- [30:01]
Hannah
But I think that some people still participate, like on Goodreads. And so it's like, it's like informally active.
- [30:10]
Tina
Okay.
- [30:11]
Hannah
Yeah.
- [30:11]
Tina
And it says here community led. Yes. She said she requested that the users continue to share recs with each other. So it's community led, which is kind of cool.
- [30:19]
Hannah
Yeah.
- [30:19]
Tina
But I'll take it off the list here. That doesn't count. We have Kaia Gerber has a book club called Library Science, came out in 2020.
- [30:27]
Hannah
Oh, yeah.
- [30:28]
Tina
And then Natalie's Book Club by Natalie Portman, which I don't know much about, for those.
- [30:32]
Hannah
Oh, I didn't know that she had one. Interesting.
- [30:34]
Tina
I did not either. And so, you know, we'll share where we can. I'll try and find some links if you're curious. Oh, another big one that I was like, these individuals come across my, I don't know, consciousness once in a while. I do not know who they are. There's one in the UK that I think is pretty big. It's called the Richard and Judy Book Club. And I don't know who they were, so I was digging in. They are or were British television presenters and they're married and they have a book club.
- [31:00]
Hannah
Oh, interesting.
- [31:01]
Tina
Their picks are. I'm like, if I'm going to do and follow any book club, it should be theirs. Because they're from what I can tell from like a kind of light. Glean is a lot of obviously British novels, but mystery and thriller. And I'm like, I need to look a little closer at these folks. They're not on Instagram, which is probably why I don't. I don't know much about them. They are too often. But I don't know. I thought it was cool, kind of fun.
- [31:28]
Hannah
Yeah. Fun to have one dedicated to a certain genre, especially one that's so popular and well loved. So I like that. I hadn't heard about that one. I do think that also Jimmy Fallon has one.
- [31:39]
Tina
Oh, my God, he sure does. And I completely forgot that one.
- [31:43]
Hannah
There really are so many, like, more like lesser known ones. I'm sure there are even some that we missed. So if you know of any, especially if you follow them, you'll have to let us know.
- [31:54]
Tina
Yeah, feel free to chime in, but I'm looking at Jimmy Fallon's book club and some of his recommendations. I loved Margot's Got Money Troubles. You. I know, love the God of the woods. So. Yes, that is worth taking a look. I thought his. For some reason. I know he does some sort of voting. Like, I don't know how it works. Like, I think he like presents like a group of six novels and then asks the. The users or the listeners to vote.
- [32:19]
Hannah
Yeah. Because I think that his. When I was reading about some of these book clubs before our episode, I think that his books, he tries to focus on, like, really accessible, easy. Not like easy to read, but ones that are gonna be real crowd pleasers.
- [32:36]
Tina
That's it.
- [32:36]
Hannah
Crowd pleasers. Yes.
- [32:37]
Tina
Okay, fair enough.
- [32:38]
Hannah
And so it makes sense that he literally lets the crowd say, like, this is what we want to read. And so.
- [32:44]
Tina
Oh, that's cool.
- [32:45]
Hannah
Yeah, that makes sense. Yeah.
- [32:47]
Tina
What a fun interactive piece. Okay, I'm glad that you had mentioned that. Quick plug. Before we move on to the celebrity book club. Books that we did read for this episode, we just announced for our patron and you're probably familiar with this now as a part of Booktok et cetera's Patreon Community, each month we do a community read where Hannah and I pick a book that we wanna read with our community. And at the end of the month in Discord, we share our thoughts on it. And these are text based book clubs, so you can, you know, be doing other things, putting kids to bed, whatever, and people just come on and type their thoughts of what they thought about each of our picks by request. We are actually getting ahead of the selection. So we got together and have picked the first six books of 2025 that we want to focus on for our read with BTE Community Reads and we announced that on Instagram. So patrons, hopefully you're excited. I know we are. If you're not a patron and want to chat and do a little, I don't want to say celebrity, but do a group book club with your favorite podcasters. Feel free to join us, we would love to have you. It's one of my very favorite things that we do for the podcast.
- [33:50]
Hannah
It's really fun and I do love that it's text based because it really does make it easy to jump in and out and I don't know, it's just a really fun and different way to engage and I always end up feeling differently, whether good or bad or whatever, but I always end up feeling differently about the book and having a richer experience after talking to all of you. So it's really fun.
- [34:13]
Tina
Oh, it's so fun. Yeah. Yeah. So we've announced those picks and we'll share that as well. But I do want to hear it sounds like you've got some ones that you really loved. I loved both of mine as well. So let's hop into the books that we did finish.
- [34:25]
Hannah
Perfect.
- [34:27]
Tina
The first book that I read for this episode is From Here to the Great Unknown Lisa Marie Presley and Riley Keough. This is Lisa Marie Presley's memoir. And I know that you know who Lisa Marie Presley is, but just in case she is Elvis's daughter and she was born at Graceland. She tells her whole story for the first time in this raw, riveting, one of a kind memoir, faithfully completed by her daughter Riley, because sadly she passed away before they could complete this. And in 2022 she asked her daughter to help her with it. She knew she wanted to come out with a memoir and and didn't think she could do it on her own when she asked her Sally. She died the next month and she didn't really she got to share a lot, lot of her thoughts about it. But I remember being very surprised when I saw that she'd passed away because I had seen her at some sort of event like the week prior. And I'm like, oh, I didn't know she was sick and I didn't know what happened. But what was interesting about this book is that Riley wrote a lot of it, but a lot of it is based on tapes that she had with her mother. So her mom, you know, Lisa Marie, was recording into a recorder and sort of just sharing her thoughts and sharing her stories. And she was lying in bed and talked about her time at Graceland. She talked about the love that she felt for Riley's father, about, you know, her loneliness and addiction, her children and Michael Jackson and about living life as this major, major famous person and what that does to somebody. It's also about motherhood and a lot about grief. I loved this book. I really did. I did the audio. We actually did it for our in person book club for my neighborhood. And it was really well received. It was a good. It was easy for book club too. Cause it was easy to get through and very captivating. But it still gave us a lot to be like, oh my God, did you realize? Did they really do that? There's this really sad scene with her son. And I won't describe it because I don't want to spoil the book, but I was like, excuse me. That's when I really, really, really sunk in that rich people are very different from the rest of us. Cause it's not anything normal that I would ever expect. I thought this was a very moving book. She really never got over the death of her father. She was such a daddy's girl. I can relate. It like, made me cry in several sections. Especially when she was talking about her dad and you know, who he was and how, you know, at the end of the day, he's larger than life. But that's her dad, right? And I just. I really loved it. It's. It's one of my favorite celebrity memoirs that I have read in recent history. There's such trauma that she went through. And I am so amazed by her daughter Riley, her composure. She's an actress. She was in Daisy Jones and the Six. But she just seems very composed and very put together. And I absolutely loved reading this. I did the audio. I recommend it. It's partially narrated by Julia Roberts. Julia Roberts does Lisa Marie's voice and then Riley does her own words. So it's kind of this Dual memoir. Some people said it was distracting. I thought it was fantastic. But for me, this is a big thumbs up. It was From Here to the Great Unknown by Lisa Marie Presley and Riley Keough.
- [37:38]
Hannah
Oh, this is one that I might read on our break.
- [37:42]
Tina
You should. It's so perfect because.
- [37:44]
Hannah
Yeah, I just really want to. I really want to read this one and be a part of the moment, because everybody is loving this, and I love that it had such a wide appeal with your book club, because I know you guys typically read, like, mysteries or thrillers, right? And.
- [38:00]
Tina
But.
- [38:00]
Hannah
But I mean, Elvis Presley was. There is not a single person I feel like, in our generations, at least, that don't. That doesn't know who Elvis is. Yeah, my daughter is 6, and she knows who Elvis is. You know, it's just like, this family is so big.
- [38:16]
Tina
It is fascinating.
- [38:18]
Hannah
Our culture, our American culture.
- [38:20]
Tina
So, yeah, it's fascinating how his legacy is still very much a part of the culture. Even though he's been gone for a really long time, he's still a household name, which I think speaks a lot to who he was at the time.
- [38:33]
Hannah
And didn't he get drafted?
- [38:35]
Tina
He did, yeah.
- [38:36]
Hannah
Pretty wild. I don't know. Like, I don't know how that would happen today. Well, I don't think we do drafts anymore. No, we don't do drafts anymore.
- [38:46]
Tina
But you don't have to.
- [38:47]
Hannah
It just seems like. Right. It just seems like. Like, that wouldn't happen in a lot of ways today. But kind of interesting how much more celebrities were maybe, like, a part of society before, whereas now it seems like they're so.
- [39:00]
Tina
So untouchable.
- [39:01]
Hannah
Removed. So untouchable. They're so untouchable.
- [39:04]
Tina
Well, you know Graceland, though, the thing with Graceland is, like, they would literally have people just, like, walking in. Like, they would be, like, having lunch and like, oh, hey, here's the latest tour. Like, it was so weird they were living there when. When it was, like, a tourist destination.
- [39:18]
Hannah
Oh, my gosh. That had to be so invasive.
- [39:20]
Tina
Very odd. Very odd, but very odd. Great book.
- [39:23]
Hannah
Okay. Well, mine is very different, but I also loved it. And this was a pick for. Actually, it was the November pick, I believe, for Jenna's Book Club. Both of mine are from Jenna's Book Club, just because those are safe bets for me. And I'm really trying to read some good books toward the end of the year, so. And. And thankfully, both of mine were. So. This is the Mighty Red by Louise Erdridge. So, so good. So this one is set in Argus, North Dakota. The stories foundation centers on a wedding and the tangled lives of the characters that were involved. We have Gary, who is a nervous heir to two farms and he is desperate to marry Kismet, who is like our main character. She's a free spirited former goth girl, but Hugo, a gentle giant who also loves Kismet, has plans to disrupt their union. Meanwhile, we also follow Kismet's mom Crystal, who hauls sugar beats by night, turning to late night radio and grappling with visions, worry and questions about their uncertain futures. So we're following a wide cast of characters here and all of their voices are very, very clear. If you struggle with multiple POVs, these these voices there are a lot, but they're very, very clear. The book has a really strong geographical setting that's at the forefront of this story. It is also set against the backdrop of personal struggles, environmental decay, economic and agricultural collapse, and the pull between human time and nature's forces. This book really explores love and tragedy and grief, and the enduring connection between people and the land. I really think that this one might end up being on my Favorites of the Year list. I don't know. No spoilers, but maybe. I'm still really fresh from finishing it though, so I'm going to spend some time digesting it a bit. I will say, despite this book's complexity and multitude of components, this book is an example of one that does that well. In my opinion. It never felt overdrawn or overwrought. Erdrich exhibits this masterful skill in plotting and pacing, character development, and she keeps the narrative really coherent and engaging. Again, like I mentioned before, it does have numerous narrative threads, but I was fully invested in all the elements. The romance, the family saga, the mother daughter story, the climate fiction, the completely absurdist. There are some absurd moments of adventure in this story too that had me like I could not put it down. And also there's plenty of small town satire as well. I was here for it all. And a fun tidbit is so Louise Erdrich owns a bookstore and it's definitely something that is infiltrated in her storytelling. I've also read the sentence by her and this was obviously that was a big part. Like a bookstore was a big component of that book as well. And in this one there were also some memorable scenes that make it clear that she really has like a deep connection to not just writing, but also to readers and bookstores. There's a scene where the main character, Kismet, reflects on personalized ways that people mark up books and used books specifically and these markers like receipts, notes, or unpaid bills. She is kind of leafing through these things and noting the layers of personal history in each book and how much she loves it when people leave little tokens of their past and their personhood in these books. And it's a really sweet scene. And you can just tell that the author was also really connected with that in running her own bookstore. And then there's also a book club in this book, too, which ends up playing quite a big role in the story and acting as kind of a vessel of hope amidst a really hard story. So overall, this was just a really beautiful book that reflects the complexity of human experiences and relationships and messiness and the love of our land. Again, I won't be surprised if this ends up on my favorites of the year. I'm so glad that I read a winner in this last month. And that was the Mighty Red by Louise Erdrich.
- [43:42]
Tina
Yay. Oh, that's exciting. That was one of the ones I was going to complete before the end of 2024, but now I feel like I'm in Airport Rules. I keep saying that, but I'm like, am I reading 2025? Am I reading Backlist? What am I reading? But I can tell you what I don't want. I'm not in the mood to read any of the books I had aimed to complete for the end of this year. I don't know why, because I'm a picky. But I'm glad to hear that this one worked for you.
- [44:10]
Hannah
Yes, it did. Okay, what's your next one?
- [44:13]
Tina
What book club is it? I'm eating Crow. Is that a saying? I don't know. I am walking away with egg on my face because the book that I read for this is the Paper palace by Miranda Cowley Heller.
- [44:27]
Hannah
I am so excited to hear you talk about this.
- [44:30]
Tina
And I read this because you loved it. Renee loved it. And I actually took to Instagram and was debating between three books for this episode, and the overwhelming winner was the Paper Palace. And I was so surprised. I thought no one was going to want to hear me talk about this because it has been out for a while. Maybe not. It's been out for, like, I don't know, maybe a year. Whatever. It's been out.
- [44:54]
Hannah
And it's also a Reese's Book Club pick.
- [44:56]
Tina
It's also. Is it Reese?
- [45:00]
Hannah
Yeah, it's Reese.
- [45:01]
Tina
Wow, Rhys.
- [45:02]
Hannah
It feels like a Jenna pig.
- [45:03]
Tina
It feels like a Jenna pig.
- [45:04]
Hannah
I'll give it to you, Rhys, but it's a Reese.
- [45:06]
Tina
Okay. And it came out in 2021. But I long time listeners of the show know that I tried this one. I read like a page and a half and it was so overworked. And she's skinny dipping, talking about the smells and she's. A dragonfly lands on her nipple. And I thought, I'm putting this aside. I could not be less interested. But I should have kept reading because literally two sentences later she talks about how she her best friend John, sorry, you're going to have to bleep that. But she had a dinner party with their spouse is present. They're at this family home. And once I read that sentence, listeners, I was sat this is a book about Elle, a 50 year old happily married mother of three who awakens at the Paper Palace. And the Paper palace is the summer home that she and her family have. She had visited there every summer of her life. But this morning is different. Last night she and her oldest friend Jonas crept out the back door and had sex with each other for the first time. All while their spouses chatted away inside. This book takes place over the span of 24 hours and she has to decide if the life she has made with her genuinely lovely husband Peter, or the life she always imagined is the one she's going to pursue. That's really the setup. Obviously though, you can't tell an entire book. You know, you've got to get some backstory. So we do go back into the 80s when we see Elle and Jonas meet for the first time and you come to see why they're so imprinted on each other and why they have such a strong connection. And this is a will they or won't they story. This one is very polarizing and I'm so surprised that I loved it. I think I was right in that the writing is a little flowery or. More worked. There's. It's more purple than I tend to go for, especially in certain sections. But the plot was there. I did not mind it. I think it was a time and place thing. I listened to this. I was prepping for Thanksgiving and then cooking for Thanksgiving and I listened to it the entire time. So I was immersed. I want to say the people that didn't like this book have very, very reasonable reasons for hating it because this is a tough read. There is sexual assault, there's other difficult things. There's things involving younger people. And yeah, some of the sections were really tough. But. But for me, it helped me really understand who the characters were. Something this author did was that she made me care just as much about the individual characters in Elle's life, like her mom, her sister, her husband Jonas, then as I did her, which takes some skill, because sometimes I'm like, yeah, yeah, there's their backstory, but, like, give me back to the meat of it. I wanted to know her sister's story. I was into it. It's told in several parts. The first part is what happens at the. The dinner party. The second part is a lot of backstory, and you're figuring out what happened. Get some information about her husband and how they met. And then book four, which is present day. I would love to chat with people about the ending of this one. And that's all I will say about this book. I loved it. What a great reading experience. This is her debut, and I cannot wait to see what else she has in store. Definitely. Though, check content warnings, because it's heavy but also very compelling. And I loved reading it. It's the Paper palace by Miranda Cowley Heller.
- [48:32]
Hannah
Oh, I'm so glad that you loved it. It really does feel like a Tina Pitt. It's like one of those books that kind of fits in all three of our, like, Venn diagram of. Of interests.
- [48:41]
Tina
Yeah.
- [48:41]
Hannah
So to speak. But I'm so glad that you loved that one. I remember where I was when I read that as well, which was right after my son was born, like, right in the thick of postpartum.
- [48:52]
Tina
Oh, well, I guess it worked out, though.
- [48:55]
Hannah
Oh, I loved it.
- [48:55]
Tina
Yeah.
- [48:56]
Hannah
But not necessarily one I would recommend to read when you are emotionally and hormonally unstable.
- [49:02]
Tina
Yeah, for real. But I would say it's a big summer book. Huge vibes of summer. So I can see. And it's also an escapist read. Like, I was in, I don't know, Cape Cod, wherever the hell it was. I was there with them. I was in the cabins. I could feel the warmth, the mosquitoes, all of that. It was very evocative. So.
- [49:17]
Hannah
Yes. And my son was born in June, so it makes sense. So, yeah. Anyway, and. And it was. It was the buzzy book at the time. Like, it was the buzzy book at the time.
- [49:26]
Tina
Buzzy book at the time.
- [49:28]
Hannah
You know, I really need, like, a buzzy pick. And then, lo and behold, trauma. It's all right, though. Okay. So my next book is Backlist. I couldn't remember if we had decided to only read books that were published this year, but you're bringing a backlist title, too, so it all worked out. And that is great. Circle by Maggie Shipstead. This is a. Yeah. A historical fiction one, and a chunky one too. So this is a novel that spans multiple locations and time periods, from Prohibition era Montana to modern day la. This is a dual point of view story. One point of view follows Marion Graves, a bold aviator determined to chart her own course. And after surviving a sinking Ocean Liner in 1914, Marian and her brother Jamie are raised by their very troubled uncle in Montana. There she discovers her passion for flight. And by 15, she is flying with the help of a wealthy bootlegger. Her lifelong ambition is to fly around the world, crossing both poles. And we follow her on this kind of ambitious journey. And then in another timeline, we're following actress Hadley Baxter. This is nearly a century later, and she is cast to portray Marian in a film about her mysterious disappearance in Antarctica. Eager to break free from the grip of her celebrity life, Hadley really delves into Marian's story and their fates intertwine as they both fight for freedom in their two respective worlds. I just love historical fiction and I don't know why I don't read more of it. This was another great reminder of why I love this genre. The prose in this one specifically was just lovely. I really liked the way it was written. The author was able to pull together moments and create such vivid images and deep feelings that just really stood out to me. I loved that we were able to follow not only Marian, but those in her life that had such a strong impact on her journey. I love what you mentioned with the Paper palace when you said each character, no matter how much of a side character they were, felt really fully formed. This book felt the same way. Marianne's brother, Jamie, his story was like my favorite. I was so attached to just his personal story and his journey. Marian herself was a really fascinating character. And even by the end of the novel, I don't know if I fully understood her. And yet she was definitely three dimensional, fully fleshed out. She felt wonderfully realized, but very deeply complicated. And so even as a reader, there were parts of her that were just too hidden to understand. And, you know, that's just human life and we contain multitudes and some of those we keep very close to ourselves. So it just made her more of a realistic character in my mind. I also appreciated the more modern timeline, seeing the impact of Marianne's life on others, even long after her passing and her disappearance. But I will say I did like Marianne's timeline more. That past timeline, I think I just like deeply historical settings and stories better. And so sometimes I would feel a little jarred going to the More modern timeline. But I do see how both timelines were really necessary to the overall story and its impact. And I do think that both were very important. This book was dark at times, quite depressing. There are definitely pockets of joy, but Marian's life is hard from the very start. I would definitely go into this one, too, with a good headspace and knowledge that it is 600 plus pages of hardship and quite a bit of trauma, but also, again, beautiful moments of hope and joy. I guess I'm just gonna have to continue to seek out Jenna's books in the coming year. Maybe I'll follow them even more closely. Maybe I'll also follow Rhys's books more closely and maybe Oprah too. I don't know.
- [53:22]
Tina
Anyway, who's to say?
- [53:23]
Hannah
Who's to say? But this was another winner for me that really resonated with me as a reader, and that was great. Circle by Maggie Shipstead.
- [53:32]
Tina
Yay. I did this one went when it came out. I really enjoyed it as well.
- [53:36]
Hannah
Yeah. Really, really good.
- [53:37]
Tina
Yay. Okay. Good job doing historical fiction.
- [53:40]
Hannah
Thank you.
- [53:41]
Tina
I love it. All right.
- [53:43]
Hannah
Just continuing to pop out of our comfort zones here.
- [53:45]
Tina
Out of our comfort zones. So for Shelf Edition, I. Whenever I'm doing Shelf Edition, I like to type in to fantasticfiction.com, which is one of my favorite websites, like some of the authors. And I was curious to see if Miranda Cowdee Heller had a new book coming out. It looks like she has a poetry collection coming out in 2025, which. That's not my Shelf Edition. I just wanted to say that because I don't.
- [54:10]
Hannah
I guess it.
- [54:11]
Tina
I guess it makes sense, right?
- [54:12]
Hannah
Yeah. Because her writing was really, like, poetic.
- [54:15]
Tina
Exactly. Yeah. So it made sense when I read it. What I do want to add to my official Shelf Edition list is this. Motherless Land by Nikki May. It's funny you had said you want to focus more on Jenna's. Because this is a read with Jenna Pick.
- [54:26]
Hannah
Oh, nice.
- [54:27]
Tina
And I do have a copy of it. I remember reading about it before, back when it came out. And I really liked the synopsis. It's about Funky, who is happy in Nigeria. She loves her art teacher mother, her professor father, and even her annoying little brother. But when tragedy strikes, she is sent to England, a place she only knows from her mother's stories. And to her dismay, she finds the much lauded estate dilapidated, the food tasteless, and the weather gray. Only imagine that culture shock. Yeah. And worse still, her mother's family are cold and distant. And the only person that's remotely nice to her is her cousin Liv. Liv is a free spirit, has always wanted to break away from her joyless family. She becomes very protective of her little cousin and her warmth and kindness give Funky a place to heal. They grow into adulthood and they're best friends. But then the choices their mothers made haunt the two of them when a second tragedy occurs and their friendship gets torn apart. It's about family history. It's about finding your own path. It's, you know, about culture and I'm very curious. It sounds like it's told between Somerset and Lagos over the course of two decades. It's also a reimagining of Jane Austen's Mansfield Park. I don't know anything about that, but if you do, that might mean something to you.
- [55:46]
Hannah
Oh, nice.
- [55:47]
Tina
Either way, I am intrigued. And this book is this Motherless Land by Nikki May.
- [55:52]
Hannah
I'm looking at the reviews of it right now and not many people read this for a, for a book club, like celebrity book club pick. Like, it seems like it's kind of under the radar. Even though it was, you know, one of her picks. It seems like for whatever reason, it wasn't as like widely, I don't know, publicized.
- [56:11]
Tina
Yeah, you're right. This one only has 1500 ratings, but it's got a 4.3 average. So I'm into that.
- [56:17]
Hannah
Yeah, I'm into that too. This one sounds really good from hearing you talk about it. So I'll be excited to hear you chat about it if you end up reading it and bringing it to the show. So my shelf edition is very timely. I was just sent in the mail the Most Wonderful Crime of the Year by Ally Carter and I am not a big. Well, shouldn't say I'm not a big holiday. Like, I just, I don't read a ton of the genres that come out which are romance and mystery. And this one does tie those two genres together. But this one sounds really cute and I want to try a couple of holiday books this year because sometimes they end up really working. This one is a holiday rivals to lovers, romance mystery that takes its inspiration from Knives out, which I feel like that is thrown out a lot with these types of books. But we'll keep it there because that's what it says that it's, it's taken its inspiration from and then oh, but this one has a cozy rom com twist. We're following Maggie Chase, who is the new queen of cozy mysteries and Ethan Wyatt, who is a big time thriller author who, who is a big time thriller author and These two literally can't stand each other. She is frustrated by his arrogance and he keeps calling her by the wrong name, which, by the way, is a huge red flag. I'm still willing to give this one a go, but I don't love that.
- [57:39]
Tina
No.
- [57:40]
Hannah
And both of them are invited to a remote English estate for a Christmas house party hosted by the world's most famous mystery writer. Things take an unexpected turn because the next morning, Eleanor Ashley, the Duchess of Death, is gone. She is vanished from a locked room. There is a storm, of course, cutting them off from the outside world. And Maggie is left wondering if Eleanor is still in danger or if it's all apart of a test. So Maggie and Ethan end up having to work together despite their animosity. And of course, as they unravel the mystery, sparks fly. This is said to be a thrilling mix of mystery, humor and holiday romance. Following two unlikely allies as they save the day before they kill each other first. And that is the most wonderful crime of the year by Ally Carter. I'm hoping to just go into this one and have like, just fun expectations.
- [58:32]
Tina
Just fun, just a good time. I love the sound of that. And it's obviously perfect for this time of year. Maybe that's what I do. Maybe I transition into holiday reading because I'm certainly in the mood.
- [58:44]
Hannah
Yes, I definitely am too. I just want to sink into some cozy books.
- [58:49]
Tina
Okay, I'll try and be cozy. Maybe I need. I need it after the books I've recommended today.
- [58:54]
Hannah
I know I'll say that. And then next week I'll bring, you know, some horrific trauma dump tale. You know, it's. We are who we are, but we do try other things. We try to branch out once in a blue.
- [59:05]
Tina
Well, that's it for today. We thank you for spending a part of your day with us. Links to all the books mentioned can be found in the show notes. And if you enjoyed today's episode, you can help us by following us wherever you listen and by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts. It helps us get our show out to new listeners and grows our audience. And don't forget, if you'd like Apple access to exclusive bonus content and community, you can join us for $5 a month on patreon.com booktalk Etc.
- [59:31]
Hannah
If you'd like to connect with us, you can email us@booktalk etcmail.com you can also connect with us both at booktalk Etc. On Instagram and Tina Tbr Etc and hannahandpickedbooks. Talk to you next week and in the meantime, remember, everything's better with books.
- [59:51]
Tina
I love how I was like, I'm not gonna tally up however many books I read from each. And then I'm like, now I'm like, oh, I have to list now I'm telling you because I need to know. I love a good. It is fun, okay?