Summer Scaries and Reading for Summerween

Summary

Book Talk, Etc. — Summer Scaries and Reading for Summerween

Aired: June 16, 2026
Hosts: Tina (@tbretc) and Hannah (@hanpickedbooks)

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Overview

In this vibrant episode of Book Talk, Etc., Tina and Hannah dive into their favorite "Summer Scaries"—the thrillers and horror novels perfect for warm-weather reading. With summer in full swing, the hosts discuss the concept of "Summerween," explain what makes a truly gripping summer read, and recommend recent books that will add serious suspense to your seasonal TBR. Sprinkled with personal stories, book flights, and thoughtful literary distinctions, this episode is an essential guide for readers looking to combine summer vibes with chills and thrills.

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Episode Highlights & Key Discussions

[00:00–01:09] Live from the Tornado Watch

• The episode opens with Tina dealing with a "tornado watch till 9pm," showcasing their classic Midwest banter.
• "The show must go on until we can’t anymore." — Hannah (00:20)
• Despite weather warnings, the mood is light and determined.

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[01:10–02:41] Summer Scaries: What and Why?

• Introduction to "Summer Scaries"—books that combine summer settings with horror, thrillers, and fast-paced suspense.
• Tina: "We're calling it Summer Scary Summerween. These books give us the summer state of mind while also being horror or a thriller, or just really fast-paced… things you might want to read in the summer that give you a little bit of a scare." (01:54)

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[02:42–09:45] Loving Lately: Product Recommendations

Tina: Jojo Mina Handmade Beaded Gemstone Choker

• Inspired by a listener DM, Tina recommends a colorful, handmade Amazon necklace, praising its quality and meaningful store messages like "Black Lives Matter" and "Stop Asian Hate."
• "It is called the handmade beaded Gemstone Choker necklace from Jojo Mina. I will link to it in our show notes." (05:36)

Hannah: Byoma Phytomucin Glow Serum

• Hannah enthusiastically reviews a vegan, cruelty-free, plant-based serum as a "lightweight alternative to snail mucin," noting results like reduced sensitivity and redness.
• "It feels like what you want it to do to your skin and face, if that makes sense." (09:45)

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[10:25–16:11] Latest Reads

Tina: The One Day You Were My Husband by Rosie Walsh

• Literary suspense exploring love, loss, and life changes with a complex protagonist and slow-burn tension.
• "If you like Laura Dave… you will like this one. You're getting secrets. You're peeling back the layers of this story." (13:46)
• Five-star read for Tina.

Hannah: The Wishing Spell (Land of Stories, Book 1) by Chris Colfer

• Read aloud with her 8-year-old daughter; described as a magical, twisty middle-grade series.
• "She said it was a six star read. It was her absolute favorite." (20:46)

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[23:37–28:54] Defining Literary Suspense (and Why It Matters)

• Tina clarifies the term “literary suspense” vs. thriller and mystery:
  • Literary suspense = "Suspenseful without being thrilling. You’re feeling more anxiety, may not get twists, more reveals along the way, slower, more tightly written, sometimes more contemporary or even romance-leaning."
• Notable quote: "I think books are oftentimes mismarketed… they get shortchanged when they're described as thrillers and they're patently not." — Tina (27:42)
• Authors like Janelle Brown and Julie Clark named as exemplars.

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[28:55–34:08] What Is Summerween and Why Do We Care?

• Summerween: a summer horror reading event inspired by BookTube creator Gabby and Gravity Falls episode "Summerween."
• Gabby’s readathon includes prompts like “Read a book with a pink spine” or “Read a book in the dark.”
• Hosts discuss their own participation—Tina is excited, Hannah participates passively ("I'll usually try to read a horror or thriller book during the timeframe." 28:54).

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[34:09–40:14] What Makes the Perfect Summer Scary Read?

Essential elements for a summer thriller/horror:

• Foresty or hiking settings
• Camp settings
• Isolation or containment (single house, cruise, compound)
• Slasher elements
• Amusement park, circus, or vacation backdrop
• Propulsive, fast-paced style (especially for distracted summer reading)

"Our attention spans are not what they used to be... gotta be propulsive." — Tina (35:10)

• Tease for Book Talk Etc. Summer Readathon coming in July.

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Book Recommendations for Summer Scaries/Summerween

[40:15–45:58] Tina: Marian by Leah Rowan

• Key themes: Feminist slasher, Psycho retelling, road trip, cabin setting, survival.
• "What would happen if the leading lady fought back [in Psycho]?" (38:25)
• Content warnings: domestic abuse, alcoholism, violence.
• "I absolutely love the feminist twist." (39:52)

[45:59–49:57] Hannah: Sundial by Catriona Ward

• Key themes: Mother-daughter psychological thriller, desert as character, animal experimentation.
• "This book is dripping with heat and absolutely begs to be read in the summer months." (45:35)
• Recommends reading CrimeReads article for content sensitivity.

[49:58–50:47] Tina: The Other by Annie Neugebauer

• Key themes: Doppelgangers, woods, marital crisis, psychological uncertainty.
• "This book is so vibey... atmospheric... my favorite overly specific subgenre, Stay the heck out of the woods." (48:53)
• Part of the Outsiders sequence; highly recommended for slumps.

[50:48–55:27] Hannah: The Last Time I Lied by Riley Sager

• Key themes: Camp setting, missing girls, unreliable narrator, secrets returning after 15 years.
• "This is a quintessential summer thriller... I totally see why readers recommend this every summer." (53:00)
• Mixed feelings about Sager’s style; "perfect Camp Lake thriller summer vibe book." (54:58)

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[55:28–56:57] Riley Sager Rankings & Thriller Polarization

• Both hosts relate to loving and hating Sager’s books—acknowledgement of how a thriller author can be divisive but remain essential summer reading.
• "No matter what, love the book, hate the book, I want to know what I think about it, you know." — Tina (56:18)

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Shelf Additions

[56:58–59:12] Tina: Calamities by Chuck Wendig

• Upcoming release (Aug 18, 2026, 570 pages).
• Described as blending fantasy with horror—a dark, demonic world with imperfect heroes.
• "He is writing some chunky books... and he is a great follow on social media too." — Tina (57:10)

[59:13–61:46] Hannah: The Odyssey by Homer, translated by Emily Wilson

• Brought as a shelf addition due to anticipation for a forthcoming film adaptation starring Anne Hathaway, Tom Holland, and Matt Damon.
• Praises newer translation and the timelessness of the epic—a different kind of summer adventure.
• Quick fact: Tina once gave The Odyssey one star in high school ("Perhaps if I read it now… I might enjoy it a little bit better." 61:46)

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Notable Quotes and Fun Moments

• On Midwest weather and bookish distractions:
  "We know a lot about books, but we can't promise to know a lot about other things." — Tina (02:36)
• On mother-daughter reading:
  "She said it was a six star read. It was her absolute favorite." — Hannah (20:46)
• On summer horror essentials:
  "Slashers are summer. They really are." — Tina (33:17)
• On atmospheric horror:
  "This space that felt cozy and lit by our fire's glow is not enclosed, it’s surrounded." (Excerpt from The Other; 48:53)
• On Riley Sager:
  "I read his books when they come out, and I'm always interested to see where I land." — Hannah (56:31)
• On book marketing:
  "Books get sold, they get short, shortchanged when they're described as thrillers and they're patently not." — Tina (27:42)
• On reading through a tornado watch while discussing horror:
  "I am jumpy as hell. Because it’s creepy and I’m in a basement, I’m home alone, and…I feel like the conditions are right." — Tina (31:05)

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Timestamps for Major Segments

• 00:00–01:09 — Weather Banter & Opening
• 01:10–02:41 — Episode Theme: Summer Scaries
• 02:42–09:45 — Loving Lately (Products)
• 10:25–22:36 — Latest Reads
• 23:37–28:54 — Literary Suspense Discussion
• 28:55–34:08 — Summerween Explained
• 34:09–40:14 — What Makes a Summer Thriller
• 40:15–56:57 — Main Book Recommendations
• 56:58–61:46 — Shelf Additions
• 61:47–End — Outro

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Closing Notes

This installment of Book Talk, Etc. expertly blends bookish banter, reading recommendations, and insightful genre discussion, all through the lens of summer chills. From campy thrillers to atmospheric novellas and literary suspense, Tina and Hannah bring both personal warmth and goosebumps, perfect for any reader looking to spice up their summer stack. Don’t forget to check show notes for links, and join the community for the upcoming July readathon!

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Everything’s better with books — especially when the weather gets wild.

Transcript

[A]

Oh, oh. Tornado watch. Tornado watch till 9pm Second, we start recording. Of course I know. Literally. Literally is. I got three texts in a row. Tornado watch, Tornado watch. Well, that's great.

[B]

I mean, as you say, show must go on.

[A]

The show must go on.

[B]

The show must go on until we can't anymore.

[A]

My plans will not be thwarted because of the weather. I mean, unless they are.

[B]

If I go back, you'll know what happened. You'll know you'll get an uptick date. We'll still record. It just might not be.

[A]

You can still publish this episode if something happens. Never mind. That's Modlin. Oh. Anyway, Welcome to Book Talk Etc, a podcast bound to grow your tbr. I'm Tina from TBR Etc.

[B]

And I'm Hannah from Handpicked Books.

[A]

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 summer scaries.

[B]

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. Hi, Tina. How are you doing over there?

[A]

I mean, I'm great. Booked and busy, you know what I'm saying? Just trying to fit everything in. We have a tornado watch, which is lighter than a warning. So, you know, it's just loosely in the air, but no solid. The potential to happen.

[B]

No solid plans yet.

[A]

No solid plans yet. How are you doing?

[B]

I'm doing great. We do not currently have weather for once in our Western lives.

[A]

I know somebody IM me and they said, are you part English because you talk about the weather a lot. I said, no, but I would love dual citizenship if you could work on that with me. That would be great. That would be great. Yeah.

[B]

Because that's going to be my.

[A]

I guess it's a British thing.

[B]

Yeah. If I gotta go, I'm just gonna scoot over to England.

[A]

Yeah. I don't know where I'd go. I have my eye on Canada, but, you know, I feel like that's a lot of people's plans and it's not, you know, very far, so we'll see. Yeah, hopefully.

[B]

I didn't know that was a British thing though, or an English. I didn't talk about the weather like that. I guess it makes.

[A]

I didn't either, but it makes sense. Yeah. Because, yeah, I imagine the weather, you know, it's rainy, maybe hot. I don't know. Please don't unsubscribe. I apologize. I don't know much about.

[B]

We know a lot about books, but we can't promise to know a lot about other things.

[A]

It's very true. It's very true. But other than that, you know, Enjoying summer reading? I had a really good time reading for this episode. In fact, I was reading this morning, I was like, I must finish this because one, I was enjoying the book. But two, it is the perfect book for this episode. What we're talking about, we're calling it kind of Summer Scary Summerween. And we'll talk about what Summerween is in a moment. But these books, you know, of course we're it's giving us the summer state of mind while also being horror or being a thriller, being a fast paced book. You know, things you might want to read in the summer that give you a little bit of a scare. Well, now that we've gotten the weather corner out of the way, I do want to tell you about my loving lately. And I was talking too about DMS. My loving lately is inspired by somebody who DM'd me and said, tina, where is your necklace from? Future Loving lately, question mark. So thank you to that listener who inspired me. I said, actually, I think I might because Lord knows I need some. So my loving lately is this necklace. Here it is a handmade beaded gemstone choker necklace and I got it from Amazon. I'm sorry I did. But it's handmade. That's what it said in the, you know, on their tagline. It's from Jojo Mina and it's only $21. It's really, really good quality. And what I like the most. Look at this. It's got it spins around. So I'll share it in my Instagram story. Yeah, if you're obviously not watching us on YouTube, it's a heart clasp. Isn't this cute? And that's how it clasp. So you can wear it either way. I have had this in my cart for a literal year. The Daily Tay Taylor Wolf, who I adore, had it and she shared it a year ago and I was like, I need that necklace. Put it in my cart, left it there and thought about it for a year. And so I finally recently was like, I'm going to go ahead and finally order this. I've been seeing these colorful necklaces all around. I'm like, I need one. So I grabbed this. It's high quality. The beads are really, really nice. They were like kind of Heavy. I mean, it doesn't feel cheap. It feels like it's really, really well made. And also I have the color boho which is kind of this maroon and teal and white and some other colors in there. But there's also a rainbow one which I almost went with. But this color here, the teal is my very favorite color. I'm like, I'm just going to have to go for this color. But they also have a really nice rainbow option. So just wanted to recommend that to you all because I did get a few questions about it. It looks like Jojo Mina Jewelry has quite a large amount of jewelry pieces on Amazon. I obviously can't speak to the quality of all of them because I don't know, I also like that their store on Amazon says Black Lives Matter and Stop Asian Hate. So I feel like I'm like, okay, I like some of the things that they seem to stand for in their products. So my loving lately is this necklace that I'm wearing. It is called the handmade beaded Gemstone Choker necklace from Jojo Mina. I will link to it in our show notes.

[B]

Yes, I noticed you wearing that necklace when we hopped on because I'd never, I had never seen you wear it before while we were recording and I noticed it right away. It looks great. You always have really good jewelry recommendations. You've always got your rings on a necklace.

[A]

I put them on today specifically. Thanks man.

[B]

I love that. Awesome. Well, I have a product recommendation as well and I'm getting back into face care. So I have a skin care recommendation today that I have been loving and using pretty consistently for about a month or two now and that is the Bioma Phytomucin glow serum and oh, this is good stuff.

[A]

I know that.

[B]

Have you used, have you used this stuff before?

[A]

No, but I know of it and I know that it's a, yeah, solid wreck.

[B]

It is very well loved in the communities at least that I follow that have done skin care. I got like a lot of recommendations from a lot of people when they share their skincare routine, they share this product and so I decided to try it for myself and I can definitely confidently co sign this is a lightweight plant based alternative to snail mucin which I admit I don't know a lot about but I know that it's a thing. This particular product is formulated to deliver that glass skin effect. I have very pigmented freckle skin so I am never going to have that, you know, full glass skin effect. But the effect that it does have on my skin where it hydrates, it plumps, it really primes your complexion. That it absolutely does. And, and it also very actively repairs your skin's moisture barrier, which I've absolutely experienced in using this product. And it does all of this without any animal derived ingredients. This is fabulous to put on if you are going to wear face makeup for that day. So I don't use a foundation right now, but I do use a BB cream and if I'm going to put that on for the day, I make sure to use this product because it really does act as a great primer to put on before you put on your foundation or BB cream, whatever you are using. And I love that this offers great barrier support. So it has tri ceramide complex that helps to rebuild and strengthen your skin barrier. It's very calming and soothing. It feels very cooling when you are putting it on your face. And it's been clinically proven to reduce skin sensitivity and redness after just one week of use. Like I said, I have been using this for about a month or two, like maybe six weeks or so. And I do have very sensitive skin and I have definitely noticed a difference and how I use it. I use about two or three pumps to cleanse skin after toner. So this is like the serum. Step in your skin care and then gently massage it into my face and neck until it has been fully absorbed. And then I follow it up with my favorite moisturizer and or sunscreen. So this is entirely vegan. It's cruelty free and free of both alcohol and fragrance, making it very safe and gentle for all skin types. And that is the Byoma Phytomycin glow Serum.

[A]

Look at you and your skin care. I feel like you've come a really long way and I'm quite proud. I am, thank you. I'm proud of me too. I used snail mucin once. I thought I would enjoy it. My skin hated it. It was actually the worst for me to the point where I was like, I think I'm allergic to this. And, and it kind of freaked me out because I'm like, I don't love the idea. One, I don't like the word muin and I don't like the idea of it. So I like that this is a vegan option. That feels a little, I don't know, nothing wrong with snail snail mucin. But I'm like, I feel like this is more palatable for me.

[B]

Yeah. And what's kind of cool about it too is it feels it like the product feels like you want it. How do I word this? It. It feels like what you want it to do to your skin and face, if that makes sense.

[A]

It feels like what? Yes, it does. Yes.

[B]

Yeah. Like the kind of gel that comes out of it. And so I don't know, like that kind of also makes me feel better where I'm like, oh, this actually feels like what I want it to be doing to my skin. And it's doing it in a vegan, ethical, plant based way. And the ingredients are just so solid. Anyway, really recommend this product. I love it.

[A]

I love that for you. For my latest read. It is one that I could have easily brought to our summer scaries topic, but I instead will bring it as my latest read and they're all, all of my recs today actually fall under this umbrella. The book that I'm talking about is called the one day you are my husband by Rosie Walsh. And this is something that I would call literary suspense. And I'll actually get into what literary suspense is in a moment when we talk in book talk. But I say that to let you know that even though the COVID is giving straight thriller, it is not a straight up thriller. This is about Carrie. Carrie is a surgeon and she is sort of in the tail end of her training when she meets Johan. They are madly in love and they end up marrying on a beach in Thailand five months into their whirlwind romance. This is very unlikely. Like her, she's a surgeon and is not one to make decisions lightly, but she just knows that he is the one. And they are having their wedding and unfortunately armed men swarm the beach and arrest Johan for crimes unknown and in police custody. He refuses to see or speak to her and she never sees him again until 12 years later. It is now 2022. Carrie is is settled in the English countryside with her husband and their six year old twins. She had a really tough go of it of motherhood early and sort of stepped away from her career. Her twins were delivered early and just had a really tough time with it and her husband sort of supports them and everything is going smoothly until she stumbles across a post online and it is Johan. He is out of prison and he has been out for years and no one freaking told her. And she becomes a wee bit obsessed with finding him and kind of figuring out what happened to him even if it's not in the best interest of her family. And I will leave it there. And I said obsessed. I used that word. This character is not obsessed. She is very methodical. She's Very smart. And it's just this thing that happened to her that really throws everything for a loop. Earlier I said to be clear, it is not a thriller because this one is slower, it's slow to build. The intro is great, really kind of fast paced and oh, my gosh, I can't believe I'm reading what I'm reading. And then it takes a step back. You're now in 2022. You're talking motherhood. You're getting to know Carrie in the present day. And then you figure out, okay, how is this all going to tie together? So just, you'll have to stick with it if you want to. If you don't want to, you know, don't pick it up. But I want to be clear that there is a little bit of a detailed lag in between. One of the details that she gets into is surgery. I ate it with a spoon. I loved it. That sounds gross when I'm talking about surgery, but I just ate that part up. I loved hearing about her in surgery and like, the whole training, all of that. I love, love, loved. Even though it has really little to do with the story itself, I enjoyed it. It was great for me. But I kept thinking, oh, my God, what would you do in this situation? What would you do? What is she going to do? Because it's not just that she's married to another man. It's that she now has children and she has a whole other life, by the way. She lives in England. Johan lives somewhere else. And it's not. It's just very complex. And she has to decide how far she's willing to go to get answers. I loved this book. I gave it five stars. And I can't believe it. Because I was fully ready to be. I wanted to write this off because I don't like the title. What do you mean? The one day you were my husband. That's a silly title. Until I looked closer at the synopsis and I was like, oh, no. Literally, they were only married for a few hours. And then I was like, okay, I'm going to give it a shot. I think if you like Laura Dave, specifically her book, the last thing he told me, you will like this one. You're getting secrets. You're peeling back the layers of this story. I was rooting for Carrie. I really liked her as a person. I enjoyed reading about her. There were some surprises and there were some elements that I was like, oh, let's see how they handle this. And I feel like it was handled really well. I walked away Very satisfied. Another if you liked comp for me is why do I keep doing this?

[B]

Save me reminded me of a thriller version of one true loves.

[A]

Oh, I don't know that. Is that Taylor Jenkins?

[B]

Taylor Jenkins? Reid.

[A]

I can't speak to that. But maybe yeah, because she has one.

[B]

She has a husband, but then he dies and then she moves on and has another love of her life and then whoopsie daisy, apparently he's not dead. And now you have a love triangle with her.

[A]

Oh, interesting.

[B]

Love of her life. So it's different. That's a romance. Like it's strictly romance. Sure, sure. This feels like kind of a thrill because she's got this life of her own, but then she's also got this guy that she used to be married to.

[A]

You are absolutely right. And while you were describing that, the other comp I was thinking is the story might save your life by Tiffany Crumb, a book I read earlier in the year. I quite enjoyed it. But it also has this relationships element and that's what this book has. I think if you liked that one, you will like the one day you were my husband. I had a great time reading it. I liked it even more. I mean I really, really did think this was a five star read for me. Some people are like, it's boring, it's getting mixed reviews. But I'm like, it's perfectly my type of suspense. So this is a high recommendation for me. That is the one day you are my husband by Rosie Walsh.

[B]

Oh, well, you got, I mean all you listeners got a recommendation for that book. And then you also have a little book flight that there you go. Just accidentally curated for you with all of those enjoy similar trophy books. So enjoy. We'll list all of those book recommendations and choices in the show notes for your reference and convenience. Okay. My latest read could not be any more different, but it was our latest read and I say our intentionally because this was our last read aloud with me and my daughter who is eight.

[A]

I got so scared. I was like, what did we read together? I got really.

[B]

Oh no, not us. No, not us. Me and my daughter. Yes. So this is the wishing spell, which is land of stories, book one by Chris Colfer. And this is book one of an eight book series. Chris Colfer is the actress who played Kurt Hummel in Glee when Glee was going on.

[A]

I loved him.

[B]

I know, me too. And eight book series. I mean he didn't just. He wasn't just a one hit wonder with this series. This is a really popular kids series too. And so, I don't know, just proud of him for, for doing that, which is kind of random. But anyway, this book is about Alex and Connor Bailey, whose world is about to change quite wholly and quite magically through the mysterious powers of a cherished book of of stories. They leave their world behind and find themselves in a foreign land full of wonder and magic and fairy tales. And they also come face to face with these fairy tale characters that they grew up reading about. But after a series of encounters with witches, wolves, goblins and trolls alike, they are going to find getting back home is going to be harder than they thought that it would be. Okay. I have to say, this was such a fun read aloud with my 8 year old daughter. It's a little bit long. It's almost, if not at like 500 pages, it's definitely 400 plus. And I think this is the longest book that she has read as well. It was really adventurous and fun seeing how these characters that we have grown up reading about in, you know, darker and lighter fairy tales. Like there's some Grimm's Fairy Tales characters in here, there's some Disney characters in here. Just seeing all of those come back to life was so fun and magical. And I can totally see why this series became so popular for a while among kids. And I really don't have much more to say about it. I mean, it is really just a classic middle grade fantasy fairy tale adventure story. The writing isn't fabulous. It is a little bit heavy on the metaphors and similes. Those are really packed in there. And that did get a little bit tiresome for me as an adult reader. I can tell you my daughter did not notice this at all. There's also just some language I didn't love in how the characters would talk to each other sometimes. Like even the villains, the way the villains would talk to each other. But you know, language around people's bodies and things that they can't control about themselves, which are just the worst types of insults. And it wasn't really clear if, okay, are these villains just talking to each other that way because they're villains? It wasn't really clear that that is what was villainous about them. And while this led to good conversations with my daughter, I didn't love that part of the book. What I did love is how much my daughter loved this. She was so invested in this book to the point where I eventually had to stop reading along with her because she was just moving at a pace. I mean, she was staying up late to finish this book. And finally one night, you know, her bedtime is 8 and she wanted to listen to the audiobook to get to the end and read along with it because it's almost a little above her reading level. But she was so into it. She was like, I need to listen to this so that I can get through this baby. Because we're getting toward the end and I'm getting really excited. And the audiobook was going to have her bedtime go late because there were 45 minutes left and it was like 8 o'.

[A]

Clock.

[B]

And she was like, please, can I just listen to the rest of it? It's 45 minutes. I know I'll stay up a little bit late, but you pretty please. And of course I was like, twist my arm. My daughter stamp late to read. To read. Yeah. So she did. And she came downstairs when she was done and she was. She like couldn't breathe. She was so excited. She was like, mom, you are never going to believe what happened. And of course I went back and read it myself also. But she was like, you'll never believe it. Like Connor and, and Alex did this thing and you'll never believe it. They are related to blank. And I'm not gonna say anything because I don't wanna spoil, but she was just so excited by the reveals and the twists at the end. And it was so fun to see how excited she was about what we get excited about in reading from our thrillers and our adventure stories and you'll never believe the twist. And oh my gosh, it was just so fun to hear her just gush about this. She said it was a six star read. It was her absolute favorite. So I thought it would be fun to recommend in case anybod has, you know, kids in this age range, I would say anywhere between like 8 and 13 even, that are looking for books to read for a summer reading program that you're doing through the library or anything this year. There are eight books in the series. My daughter is already on book two now. And while, you know, I wouldn't necessarily recommend this for adult readers just based on the writing alone, and I've read quite a bit of middle grade, I do think that this is a great book for kids if you're open to maybe having some of those conversations about some of those things that I mentioned. So I will end it there. That was the Wishing Spell, Land of Stories, book one by Chris Colfer.

[A]

That sounds perfect. I love the sound of that. I cannot wait until my kids get excited about reading. Right now they're Just so wiggly. They're just so wiggly and like climbing all over. And I'm like, okay, I'm still just fighting for my life trying to read these stories. But that sounds really good. And I love that she had experience of staying up late just for one more chapter. You know, that kind of classic. I've got to. Yeah, got to keep going, readers. It is. Oh, my gosh, I love that story. And it sounds like you had a good time reading it. I mean, you know, even though potentially it's not your favorite, it still was like, exactly.

[B]

Good reading experience. And I, I do. I will say, I will say she was right about, about the twists at the end. I mean, there is, you know, there are some plot twists at the end where you're just like, oh, my gosh.

[A]

Okay, I need to know.

[B]

I gotta know. Like, I'm so excited for book two now. So kind of fun that they were able to, you know, add that element to the story, even for adults, even if the writing wasn't great. At least we got a gotcha at the end.

[A]

At least we got got by the end. Okay, well, I'm very excited to chat a little bit today. We loosely have kind of a couple things that we wanted to chat about in this segment. Of course, we are going to talk about Summerween and what the heck does that mean? I also wanted to define literary suspense, and I think it ties in. So I wanted to define that because I use that term often. And I had one of our listeners wrote us and was like, can you tell us what you mean when you say literary suspense? And I will. I will tell you what I mean. Literary suspense is not something that I made up, but I think it's a really important designation. It's not something you're going to find necessarily in a bookstore or in a library, like, oh, here's a literary suspense section. But the reason why I like to incorporate it is because I think that a book can be suspenseful without being thrilling. And I think books are oftentimes mismarketed. Perfect example is the one I just brought the one day you were my husband. It is a suspenseful book. It is certainly not a thriller in my estimation. When I hear thriller, I'm thinking shorter chapters, binge worthy, perhaps the writing is not as strong. But you're like, got got. Like you said at the end, you've got some of those reveals and twists and things. With literary suspense, you're. You're feeling more anxiety and you may not get twists. It might just be reveals along the way, you know, oh, there might be some good things that you get at the end. They're just a little bit slower. I think they are a little bit mysterious without it being a full mystery. Mystery is more so okay in the be. And again, not classically trained in any of this. This is just how I like to categorize them. Mystery for me is more okay. There's missing person or a dead body, like who done it type things or a locked room type mystery situation. Suspense is more. You're feeling anxious, you're feeling curious. It might lean more contemporary fiction. It might even lean a little bit more romance. But you're not necessarily. You're still having the. The feelings that you would get from a thriller or mystery. But it's a little bit more literary. It's a little bit more tightly written written, and it might be a little bit slower. And that is how I would define it. I don't know that anyone else defined it that exact same way that I do, but that's what I mean when I say literary suspense. I'm thinking Janelle Brown's writing, for example. Last year, Janelle Brown came out with a great book, and the books I've read from her, I enjoyed them all. They're not necessarily thrillers, though. They're more literary suspense. Julie Clark does a lot of literary suspense as well. Those are two authors that I often think and associate with that particular subgenre. So hopefully that's helpful. Helpful if you are one that is curious. What, what about you? What is your understanding of literary suspense?

[B]

I agree with everything that you said. I think that for me, when I'm reading literary suspense as opposed to reading a classic thriller or even a mystery, is that while thrillers, I feel like, have kind of more of that reliance on a plot twist or mysteries are more of a whodunit. I feel like when I'm reading literary suspense and I'm thinking of like the God of the woods by Liz Moore, it's more like what happened or what's going on? So you still have that question that you're asking the entire book. And so there's still that. That pull, which is that suspense. But it's less of a I'm waiting to get got and more of a just what's going on? Or what's happening? Or I am trying to kind of figure out some missing pieces to a puzzle. But even if there's not some big twist, I'm not disappointed because I've still gotten the satisfaction maybe that I want at the end of finding out what happened. Yeah, that's obviously, again, this is not a science. That's just kind of things that I have felt while reading those different genres and maybe what I personally expect from them.

[A]

Perfect example. Yeah, that's very well put. Perfect example. God of the Woods. Liz. More. I would definitely put under a literary suspense category. Us readers, man, we are fussy. But I do think books get sold, they get short, short changed when they're described as thrillers and like, they're patently not. Like, they're not thrilling like that. And they kind of get readers that are like, hey, does this get better? This is kind of boring. And it's not their fault, really. It's because they're expecting more of this page turner twists, like short chapters type experience. But I do think literary suspense ties into our broader topic. Summer Scaries or Summerween. I honestly did not know what Summerween was until relatively recently. You all know I joined BookTube a year and a half ago at this point, but I know there is a creator on BookTube, Gabby, who created or sort of hosts a readathon in the summer called Summerween. She has merch. I want to say she's been doing it something like 10 years. I mean, she's really been. It's a really cool thing. Yeah. That she has put together and appreciated a cool community that she has created. Have you ever read for Summerween for, like, along with her?

[B]

I've never participated in the challenges officially, but I always watch her videos around Summerween. And I just think it's cool too that her sister creates the artwork every year. And every year they do a theme and it's just, it's so fun. And I, I participate very passively. I'll usually try to read a horror or thriller book maybe during like, or close to the time frame for Summerween. But I am. Am not someone who has participated in every challenge and done the Instagram challenges and things like that. I think it's super fun and I love passively participating through watching her videos and watching her reading vlogs and, and things like that.

[A]

Yeah. And she's. She even has a full Instagram account for it. I mean, like, and like you said, there's different prompts. Post your tbr. Read a book with a pink spine.

[B]

Etc, Read a book in the dark is always one every single day.

[A]

Oh yes, because of course it's, you know, it's meant to be a little bit creepy and that's what Summerween is. I was looking more broadly. Okay, is this something that she created or where did it come from? And it, according to Wikipedia, says that Summerween is an informal cultural and retail phenomenon that occurs during the summer months, incorporating elements of Halloween festivities. And the term is said to be originated from the 2012 Gravity Falls Television episode Summerween, in which the characters celebrate Halloween during the summer. And since then, it's been adopted by other, you know, areas, including in the book community, by Gabby and apologies, Gabby, if you're out there listening. I hope I have that right. I was just curious. I thought that you created. I thought that she created it, and maybe she did, I don't know. Or brought it to the wider reader community. Yeah, yeah, right. But I will be participating this year because I want to. And if there's one thing I love, it's a readathon, personally. And we, for this episode, thought it would be fun to sort of incorporate some of these titles that could be included in Summerween. I'm smiling because as I'm recording with Hannah, the freaking lightning is going. It's thundering.

[B]

You seem jumpy.

[A]

I am jumpy as hell. Because it's creepy and I'm in a basement. I'm home alone. I feel like it's. And I'm talking about Summerween. I feel like all the conditions are right.

[B]

Like the conditions are right.

[A]

No offense. What I wish I was doing was reading a creepy book right now, because I feel like the conditions are perfect. Maybe it's better that I have all my lights on and I'm talking to you, Hannah. So I don't feel quite alone, but I'm a little jumpy.

[B]

Well, speaking of perfect conditions, I feel like this is a great way to jump into what. What makes a perfect summer thriller or horror book? What are the conditions or qualities that make an essential, like, horror or thriller book that you have to read in summer?

[A]

You are so spot on, and I'm so glad you asked that, because that is what our broader thought process of this episode was. Because you can read thrillers any time of year. You can read horror any time of year. I do maintain, though, that there's specific types or things that I like to see in summer. I can tell you, for me, one of them for sure is going to be a foresty hiking setting.

[B]

Love it. Mine too. Love it.

[A]

We love it. Do you hear that? No, you don't. Our mics are really good. And it's not picking up. It's incredibly loud. Yes. Forest setting. And one, I know that you have, and I think many people will have is a camp setting.

[B]

Camp setting, Yes.

[A]

I used to dislike camp books, I feel. And then I read the troop by Nick Cutter and it's one of my all time faves and I'm like, I feel like it kind of changed my opinion on the genre. Yes. I also feel like they are, let's think for some reason in a summer setting. I'm getting isolation. I think slasher for sure. I don't know why.

[B]

I guess they're on my list really.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

A contained environment. Yes, Contained premise. A single house, a single week, a single community. Like something about that contained claustrophobia. Whether it's a setting or a time or just anything contained, I feel like is perfect for summer. And then. Wait, you mentioned one more just now. Oh, a slasher. Yes. Yeah, slashers are summer.

[A]

Slashers are summer. They really are. Also an amusement park or a circus. Give me summer. Both of those settings really sort of set the tone. I feel like weather, you know, whether it's hot or like it's just. Oh, vacation. Hello. Of course. Like a summer vacation cruise.

[B]

Which is also contained.

[A]

Which is also contained. I want a really good thriller set on a cruise or a boat. I think if anyone has any recommendations. I know anyone does like a proper cruise. I know the Will Dean one. The last one's really good. But like I want like the boat to be full.

[B]

There's one that I know and I. I can picture the COVID but I can't name the title or the author. But I know it's set on a cruise and there's a missing kid that happens and it's a thriller. If anyone knows what book I'm talking

[A]

about, you let us know.

[B]

I can picture it. Okay. Another thing that I feel like is perfect for summer is a strong sense of place that is tied to travel or somewhere hot. I'm thinking like the compound by Aisling Rowell that had such a strong sense of place that was. Is perfect for summer. Like I think summer is the time to read that thriller. So that is definitely, definitely something that I feel like makes a perfect thriller or horror novel for summer. And also just propulsive and fast paced, which doesn't always come with a thriller or horror. I think it often does. But sometimes you have slower paced or maybe longer thriller books or I don't know, or like literary suspense even could be a little bit more appropriate for fall, depending on the theme and topic too. But I definitely think for summer it's got to be propulsive at least.

[A]

Gotta be propulsive. Because our attention spans are not what they used to be. There's probably children around. If one had to guess, there's other people around. You know, you're probably reading outside, you're probably really hot. So you need something that's going to really, like, let you lock in and keep your attention focused. I can't really think of anything else that I like to include, though. And before we get into the books that we did read for this episode, I would like to do a light foreshadowing. If you're a patron of ours or if you just heard us talk about it, you know that in the winter we did our own BTE readathon. And I dare say we had the best time. It was primarily run through our discord and we, we had a blast. Well, guess what, baby? It's coming for summer in July, we are doing another readathon. Details will be announced very soon, actually. Yeah, they'll be announced very soon. Patrons, if you're not a patron but want to join us in our very own readathon, you can do that at any time. Patreon.com booktalk etc but I said earlier that I love a readathon, and I was like, I would be remiss if I didn't mention that we're doing art. We're doing a summer readathon again in July. So read along with us, get some of those books, know that we just mentioned on your tbr. But I will dive in with my first recommendation for this topic and I'm very pleased because I read what I would consider to be a slasher. It is Marion by Leah Rowan. This book is one that I've brought as a shelf edition or one. Yeah, it was a shelf edition. And it is the one about Marian, who works at an ad agency and she just stole money from her employer in a bid to help her sister escape from an abusive marriage. She's taking the bus, trying to get out of Dodge, obviously trying to make sure her sister's okay. And then the bus breaks down before she can get there. And it's late at night and the only place that has vacancies is a set of old cabins. And what do you know? She ends up chatting with the handsome innkeeper, Norm. Norm is hung up on his mother, and you might be thinking, wow, this sounds like Psycho. And it is. It's a retelling, I would say, of Psycho with a little bit of a feminist twist. And it does tell you in the synopsis that she turns things on its head and she becomes the killer, she sort of attacks before he can attack her. But, oh, my God, what now she's got all of this money. What's going on with her sister, and how is she going to get out of this? And so, wow. This basically asked the question from Psycho, what would happen if the pro. What would happen if the leading lady fought. Fought back? I very much enjoyed this book. I really did. It's got an interesting storytelling technique. In the very beginning, you're hearing from Marian and she's sort of talking to you as the reader and telling her story and just giving you more context to, you know, kind of fill you in on how she got herself in this situation. And if she got out of it, how did she do that? I will admit it took me a bit of time to get through this. So it's a bit longer, I think, than I was anticipating. Not in a necessarily bad way, but just it took me a little bit to go and get through it. You. I like that there was a fair amount of surprises. I was, you know, sort of thinking, I actually, believe it or not, shockingly watched the movie Psycho. Last time I read a book that was Hitchcock inspired, the Stephanie Robo book that's a tie in to Hitchcock, the Hitchcock Hotel. I ended up watching the movie, and I really liked it. I thought it was a fun thing to consume as a person who's new to Hitchcock movies or doesn't watch many movies at all. And I was so happy to see the direction that this one went. I feel like the. The Hitchcock tie in is very satisfying for this person that doesn't know a ton about the lore. It felt very true to form. I was thinking several times throughout the plot, I'm like, how are you going to get out of this? There's no way that you're going to get out of this. And I won't tell you if you do or not. I also think we didn't mention this earlier, but another thing that absolutely screams summer scaries is a freaking road trip. Hello. Yes, yes, absolutely one. And you do get a road trip in this one, which I love books with road trips. I would say content warning for domestic abuse in this one and alcoholism. And also it's a slasher. So, like, you know, just know that going in.

[B]

It's dark.

[A]

It's dark. I feel like it could have even been darker, though. So this is not as, like, gory and gruesome as some books I recommend. It's certainly not for the faint of heart, though.

[B]

Sure.

[A]

But I think I. I absolutely love the feminist twist that she brought in. And I would leave this alone. I would leave that there. I think that this is an author to watch. I do believe this is her debut. And I definitely am interested in reading more by this author. This one is Marian, a novel by Leah Rowan.

[B]

Yeah, that sounds great. I mean, a feminist take on Psycho alone. I just literally need all I need. I feel like that's such a perfect recommendation for this episode. I also feel like my next pick ties pretty well into that one, just in terms of the same vibe that it brings. This is actually one that I read a while back, but I have not talked about it on the show before, and it just ties so perfectly into this episode. I really wanted to bring it. It. It's called Sundial by Katrina Ward. And you brought a Katrina Ward recently to the show. So this is another book by that same author. This particular story is about Rob. And all Rob has ever wanted in life is just to have a normal life. She almost got it, too. She has a husband, two kids, a nice house in the suburbs. But Rob fears for her older daughter, her oldest daughter, Callie, who is a little different. She's strange. She collects tiny bones and she whispers to imaginary friends. And Rob sees this darkness in Cali. And it reminds her a lot of the family that she left behind to pursue this very normal life. While she decides to take Callie back to her childhood home, to Sundial, deep in the Mojave Desert. And. And it's there that she has to make a very terrible, hard choice for herself, for her family. And we also do follow the perspective of Callie in this book. She is really worried about her mother. So her mother is really worried about her. Well, she's really worried about her mom because Rob has begun to look at her strangely and talk of the past a lot about her family that she left behind. And Callie is afraid that. That only one of them is going to end up leaving Sundial alive. So the mother and daughter embark on a dark desert journey to the past in hopes of redeeming their future. So kind of a road trip in this one, too, although that's not the bulk of the book. There definitely is a trip both kind of in the beginning and then also at another point in the book. And it also has that returning home element, which I feel like could be perfect for summer. And then you also have a mother daughter story here. So I want to make a note about this book because I think it's important going into it. This book deals pretty heavily with animal experimentation, and it is done really well, it is done tastefully. It is. And I say tastefully just because I know this is a really sensitive subject for readers and. And it is not just, oh, just to let you know, this happens in this book. It is, it is there, there. Like it is very much there. And I'm actually going to link an article in the show Notes that I found and was reading ahead of talking about this book from Crime Reads. It's written by Katrina Ward and it is titled why Katrina Ward decided to explore the abhorrent world of animal testing in her novel Sundial. And I don't want to say more because the specific topic that she dives into is. It goes into spoiler territory. But if you want to know those details before you read the book, read this article and you'll know everything you need to know in terms of whether or not this is going to be the book for you. I thought that this book was brilliant and I've never read a book quite like this one before. I think that although this is a subject that is not well traveled for horror writers, Katrina really went there and I don't know if we could have put this particular subject matter in better hands. I think she did a brilliant job. This was a great book about reckoning with your family too, and family trauma, what you're willing to hold onto as a member of your origin family, and what you need do to completely abandon and not tie yourself to as an individual person. This book really beautifully explores mother daughter relationships and it's just. It genuinely has a plot and a story that you're not going to be able to look away from. And of course it's set in the Mojave Desert. This is definitely a perfect example of the place is a character and it is hot. So I just view this as a summer book. I read it in summer when I was living in the south, so I was definitely feeling the heat when I was reading it myself. This is also just one of the few books that had me so immersed in the story that I forgot the genre of book I was reading. And I got got y' all and I was just staring at a wall after I finished it. If you want to read this article that I am sharing, and if you decide this is something that you can tolerate as a horror and psychological thriller reader, that this book is dripping with heat and absolutely begs to be read in the summer months. And that is Sundial by Katrina Ward.

[A]

That is a perfect way to describe it. I love what you said, dripping with heat. Like what a great descriptor and yeah, no, this is definitely on my list. It's on my long list of books that I would like to get to. I want to give Katrina Ward another shot. Yeah, I truly was just. I love when this happens when we're recording. I love when I'm just sitting here enjoying myself, like listening to you tell me a story. Like, oh, my God. Gosh, just tell me more about this book.

[B]

I love that too.

[A]

It sounds great. Jesus. Yeah, right? Exactly. Okay. Kind of crazy. Okay, so my next book really has a one sentence synopsis because my next book is the Other by Annie Negubauer. If you recall, Hannah brought the extra a couple episodes ago. A novella. And that one is about a group of college kids, essentially, who go on a hiking trip with their group leader. They're positive. There's only, I want to say, 12 of 11 of them, and then there's 12, but everybody remembers each other. This is the next book in the Outsiders sequence. So it's kind of a loosely tied together trilogy. This just came out on June 9th. Unfortunately, there's going to be a third and that doesn't come out until 2027. And I say unfortunately because I really, really enjoyed reading this. Okay, I will give you the full synopsis here on the show because it's again, one sentence and it says, a couple on an outdoor retreat meet their doppelgangers on a hiking trail and are soon tested on how well they truly know each other. Oh, that's it? That's all you get? My first note that I wrote about this is, this is so good. I want to screw dream. I was so into this book because I think the author does a fabulous job and she did this with the extra pulls you in. You're in the forest with them, you are in it with them and you're kind of like, how are we going to get out of this? Are we going to get out of this together? I really enjoy this. I would classify this under my favorite overly specific sub genre, Stay the heck out of the woods. Get out of the woods, because you are gonna run into some trouble. And there was a sentence that I have. It was such a good sentence that I have to read it to you. And the scenario is okay. Again, just as you hear, you know, in the synopsis, the scenario is that you are hiking with your spouse and actually they're having a little bit of like a. Their. Their marriage is at a tipping point. So they're hiking, they come across these other travelers and they're like, holy cow. They're like they look just like us. They're wearing similar outfits. Like, it's very, very close. And so the. The place. The part that I'm reading from is when they're decided to stay together. Like, the four of them are gonna, like, stay at the same campsite because, like, whatever. Whatever situations arise and they're kind of stuck there. So they're sitting together, the four of them, and one of the narrators goes, this space that felt cozy and lit by our fire's glow is not enclosed, it's surrounded. She's talking about all of, like, the wildlife and trees and animals and bugs that are literally surrounding them, that if you're in the middle of the woods, you forget that it's alive. Oh, such a good. It's. It's just so atmospheric. This book is so vibey. And the cool part is, again, they're tested on how well they truly know each other. You're sort of getting this similar thing as you got in the extra, where you're like, wait, am I why they? Who are who? What's happening? And I think, who's who?

[B]

What's what?

[A]

Who's who? What the heck? In my brain, I'm like, I would never be confused. I would always recognize Jonathan. But would I? Would you? What's happening here situation, too.

[B]

I mean, depends on the horror, if they're really acting like that person.

[A]

I can't tell you what happens in this one, but I had a great time. I think it's perfect for summer. I think if you're in a reading slump, go ahead and get this series. It is so easy to get it to. Easy to read through. And I'm super happy that I read it. It's. It's a creepy one. That is the other by Annie Neugebauer.

[B]

How fun that I brought book one and you're learning book two. I know.

[A]

And by the way, I did love book one. I read that one as well. I think after you really enjoyed it, had a great time.

[B]

Are these companion series or are they connected so. Cause I know, like, in book one, some things I was like, oh, well, hopefully we get some answers in the these.

[A]

I will say, not really, no. I would call them more companion books than anything else. Although there is. There's references that you and someone else asked me if you need to read them. Like, if you need to read book one, I would. It's like a hundred something pages. Read book one just to get the full. Yeah, exactly. I would read them both. Although you don't necessarily have to.

[B]

I wonder if Things will tie together in the final book. I don't know, they're just gonna be.

[A]

How can I tell you?

[B]

Okay, well, this is making me want to read the others so that I can then kind of like finish this series out. Like you said, they're so short and easy that why not get in there? Okay, I am bringing the Last Time I Lied by Riley Sager. I have read a lot of Riley Sager's books, but this is one of his older backlist books that I hadn't read yet. And when I knew we were going to be reading and bringing books for this particular topic, I was like, I feel like now's the time. Time. Now's the time to bring this one because I. It's on every summer thriller reading list. And yeah, it was. It was one that I hadn't gotten to of his books yet. So this is about Emma and 15 years prior, she attended the elite Camp Nightingale for the first time. She was assigned to a cabin with three older girls, Vivian, Natalie and Allison. And one night the three girls girls sneak out of the cabin. The last time Emma saw any of them was when Vivian was hushing her with a finger to her lips as she closed the door and the three girls went out for the night. These girls disappeared into the woods without a trace, prompting the camp to actually ultimately shut down. Now, 15 years later, Emma is a successful New York City artist whose work is entirely consumed by painting the ghosts of these three missing girls, girls and camp life. Her paintings end up catching the attention of Francesca Harris White, who is a wealthy socialite who owns the camp now. Francesca implores Emma to return to a newly reopened Camp Nightingale as the camp's painting instructor. And she is hoping that her presence will quiet the rumors and bring back positive press to the camp. Emma reluctantly agrees because she's really eager to find the truth and resolve her lingering trauma and potential, eventually gain closure and stop painting this tragic scene over and over and over again. So as I mentioned, this really is a quintessential summer thriller and I totally see why readers recommend this every summer in their summer recommendation lists. The more I read Riley Sager's books, the more I realize how widely he writes across the thriller genre. I feel like he does a mix of these. These nail biting, fast paced thrillers like Survive the Night or even Lock Every Door was a little bit more like that to these slower burn thrillers that have very intentional info drops throughout. And that was how I felt this book was. And now I know I mentioned even earlier when you Think of a summer thriller, you think a little bit more fast paced. I think that while this one was a little bit bit slower than maybe his other books or maybe even your typical thriller, it's really the setting that solidifies this as a perfect summer thriller read, in my opinion. I was ultimately pleased with how this story ended. You kind of slowly figure out what happened and what is going on as our main character, Emma starts to uncover things. Things. There is an unreliable narrator element to the story that again, I'm. I'm not going to go into because I feel like it's spoilery. But I really enjoyed that aspect and I was happy with how that ended up playing a role in the overall plot. And as Sager does he pull some fast ones on you and you definitely have to be paying attention all the way to the very, very, very, very, very end to realize what is going on. And I, I do like that about his books. Regardless of how I land on, you know, any, any of his given books because he is so polarizing for me, as I know he is for many others. I've loved some of his books, hated some of his books and some of them I land right in the middle, which is where I kind of feel like I land with this one feels very middle of the road for me as a reader. I do think that it is a perfect, perfect Camp Lake thriller summer vibe book. It was a 3.5 star read for me personally. But truly I consider that a win. Especially with his books which like I mentioned, I can love them, I can hate them. I would absolutely co sign this as a summer thriller recommendation though. And if you like these types of books, I think you should finally give this one a shot. That is the Last Time I Lied by Riley Sager.

[A]

I. It's like I wrote that review because I thought the exact same thing. I didn't hate it. I gave it 3.5. Some elements. I was like, I'm not sure about this. It was also, I think his second one that I read. I think it's his second book and

[B]

I think it's his second book. Yeah. After Final Girls, which was his debut, I think.

[A]

Yeah, I really enjoyed that one. I made a thriller. I made a ranking video where I rank all of Riley Sager's books and someone left me a funny comment. They're like, you hate this author. Why are you ranking things? Like why are you ranking his books? I typically don't rank things I hate. And I'm like, you must not have watched to the end because some of them Are five okay? One of them is a five star, like, and it's no matter what, love the book, hate the book. I want to know what I think about it, you know, and we're entitled to rank books that we don't pat, you know, or rank anything that we don't love 100% across the board.

[B]

It was just. I feel like I'm the same with his books. Like, I think I've loved. Loved maybe one.

[A]

Yeah. I don't know.

[B]

Right. And I've hated several even. But there's just something about Riley Sager that is just.

[A]

I don't know.

[B]

I read his books when they come out, and I'm always interested to see where I land.

[A]

That's like. Yeah. And we always get one in the summer, although we're getting one later on in the season this year. But I am down for that. All right, well, I will wrap things up as we always do. And you're going to be very jealous of the book that I'm holding in my hands, unless you also have a copy. Is Calamities by.

[B]

I do have a copy.

[A]

Gorgeous, gorgeous Chuck Wendig. This cover is so immaculate. I simply adore it. It is so good.

[B]

And he is writing some chunky books.

[A]

How the hell I can barely hold this. It's only every year. It's about, I don't know, 570 pages or so, but holy cats. Is this long. Looks like some of the chapters are pretty short, though. It also came with a note from the author, and I appreciate that he included this. It says, my last book, the Staircase in the woods was a heavy. Was a heavy book. Not literally. I just mean it drips with some pretty gnarly horror. Some of it visceral, but also a lot of it tearing into the emotional states of some truly damaged people. Which I was like, yeah, you're absolutely right.

[B]

It sure did.

[A]

And he talks about how this is a tonal shift. So he decided to inject a shimmering dose of fantasy elixir into the body. Body of horror and write about a world operating under the thumb of a secret demonic order with souls as currency and monstrous influence run rampant, leaving it up to some of the world's worst people in the world as the only ones who even have a shot at saving it. Anyway, there's all sorts of stuff here. And he's kind of laughing like, is this going to be dark? Sure, but perhaps not as dark or in the same way as the last one was. Yeah, I mean, it's horror, but exactly, exactly. And he says, that because it has this fantasy element, it lets him play on the playground of some of the cherished writers in their books, such as Scott Hawkins's library at Mount Char, Leigh Barduga's Ninth House and some others. And he is, he says, here's hoping you enjoy reading my half demon hot mess protagonists even with a fraction of how much I enjoyed writing them. Thanks as always for your eyeballs. I mean not literally. I don't have nor do I want your actual eyeballs. I just appreciate you pointing them this way. Okay. Love you by that's it. I'm gonna leave you there. He's the best. He's a great follow on social media too.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And I'm excited to read this now. When does it come out? It says 8, 1826. So we should be getting this at the end of summer, mid of. Yeah, the middle of August. But this book, I didn't even tell you what it's called. It's called the Calamities by Chuck Wendig.

[B]

Thank you. Perfect. Hello. Hello. I did get that one in the mail. Also super excited. I didn't read that little excerpt from him though that came on the inside. So thank you for reading that to us because I just feel like whenever I read an author's note or something like that, it, it just makes me more excited about the book or even like it more or I feel the same way. I love humanizes them.

[A]

An author's note or a publisher's note on an arc. I love them.

[B]

Me too. I could not be bringing something more different but I do feel like it's apt for summer and I, I am excited about this particular translation of it. It is the Odyssey by Homer is translated.

[A]

Sorry, what?

[B]

It's the Odyssey. It's the Odyssey by Homer. It's a classic. It's a classic. It's translated by Emily Wilson though, which I do believe is a newer translation. My friend Katie recently read this translation and talked about it a little bit on her Instagram. This particular one was written in 2018. Obviously is this is an ancient book but this particular translate translation is a little bit more recent. But if you don't know what the Odyssey is about, it is about Odysseus and his family. This is an ancient Greek epic poem and yeah, it's about the legendary hero Odysseus and it chronicles his perilous 10 year journey to return home to his kingdom of Ithaca after the Trojan War has taken place. So this is technically it comes after the Iliad by Homer, which I believe the Iliad covers the Trojan War. If you are a classicist or just know a lot about classics and I am wrong, please tell me. But I. That is my understanding of those two books and how they pair together. I am bringing this though, especially as a shelf edition because the movie is coming out soon and I am so stoked for the movie. It's got Anne Hathaway and Tom Holland, I think, in it, who play Penelope and then Odysseus's son, I forget, plays Odysseus. The name is. The actor's name is escaping me. He's a very famous actor though. But I. It's. It's. It's escaping me. But anyway, I'm very excited for the movie. I'm very excited for the book. I want to read this before it comes out, before I watch it. So that is is the Odyssey by Homer. Translated by Emily Wilson fun fact.

[A]

I'm one of the 3% of people who gave this book one star on Goodreads. Oh my. I read it in high school. I read it in high school. I have no. I just remember thinking I hated that one. And I also hated the Hobbit, which we read before high school. I just remember really disliking both of those books. Perhaps if I read it now, as a more seasoned reader, I might enjoy it a little bit better.

[B]

A little bit more. Yeah. Oh, it's Matt Damon who plays overseas.

[A]

This really esoteric guy. You probably never heard of him. You mean the guy that's in everything? Yeah, yeah, right. Matt Damon, your friend and mine. Well, that is 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 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 would like access to exclusive bonus content and community, you can join us for $5 a month on patreon.com booktalk Etc.

[B]

If you'd like to connect with us, you can email us@booktalk etcmail.com you can also connect with us both at Booktok etc on Instagram and YouTube. You can find Tina at TV and Hannah at HandpickedBooks. Talk to you next week.

[A]

In the meantime, remember, everything's better with books. Weather service confirms four tornadoes touched down in our area last night and we do expect that number to go.