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    In this bonus episode, we’re putting ourselves on the spot with a series of fun, random, and holiday-themed bookish questions! From cozy winter reads to holiday-themed sequels, and even which character would make the best Santa Claus, it’s a laid-back, unscripted conversation perfect for the season. Grab a warm drink, settle in, and play along with us as we share our answers and plenty of laughs!

    As a reminder, we'll be taking a short hiatus for the holidays, but we'll see you again in January!

    Happy holidays!

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    Art by Justin Miller Design

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    This month we read and review Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree. Like all of our reviews, the first part is spoiler free.

    Here's a little about Legends & Lattes:

    After a lifetime of bounties and bloodshed, Viv is hanging up her sword for the last time.

    The battle-weary orc aims to start fresh, opening the first ever coffee shop in the city of Thune. But old and new rivals stand in the way of success — not to mention the fact that no one has the faintest idea what coffee actually is.

    If Viv wants to put the blade behind her and make her plans a reality, she won't be able to go it alone.

    But the true rewards of the uncharted path are the travelers you meet along the way. And whether drawn together by ancient magic, flaky pastry, or a freshly brewed cup, they may become partners, family, and something deeper than she ever could have dreamed.

    We hope you enjoy the episode!

    Do you have a book you'd like us to review on this show? Send us an email at [email protected]

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    Art by Justin Miller Design

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    Wow. It's crazy to think we've been doing this little show for 5 years now! We had a blast recording this episode and going down memory lane together, and we hope you'll love it too. For all our listeners, thank you SO Much for all the support over the last 5 years! Thank you for all the recommendations!

    Here's to another 5 years!

    Do you have a book you'd like us to review on this show? Send us an email at [email protected]

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    Art by Justin Miller Design

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    This month we read and review She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan. Like all of our reviews, the first part is spoiler free.

    Here's a little about She Who Became the Sun:

    To possess the Mandate of Heaven, the female monk Zhu will do anything

    “I refuse to be nothing…”

    In a famine-stricken village on a dusty yellow plain, two children are given two fates. A boy, greatness. A girl, nothingness…

    In 1345, China lies under harsh Mongol rule. For the starving peasants of the Central Plains, greatness is something found only in stories. When the Zhu family’s eighth-born son, Zhu Chongba, is given a fate of greatness, everyone is mystified as to how it will come to pass. The fate of nothingness received by the family’s clever and capable second daughter, on the other hand, is only as expected.

    When a bandit attack orphans the two children, though, it is Zhu Chongba who succumbs to despair and dies. Desperate to escape her own fated death, the girl uses her brother's identity to enter a monastery as a young male novice. There, propelled by her burning desire to survive, Zhu learns she is capable of doing whatever it takes, no matter how callous, to stay hidden from her fate.

    After her sanctuary is destroyed for supporting the rebellion against Mongol rule, Zhu takes the chance to claim another future her brother's abandoned greatness.

    We hope you enjoy the episode!

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    Art by Justin Miller Design

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    For the bonus episode this month Michael & Barbara review the final book in the Realm Breaker Trilogy, Fate Breaker by Victoria Aveyard! Like all of our reviews, the first part is spoiler free.

    Here's a little about Fate Breaker:

    A dark fate descends. A shattered alliance must rise.

    The Companions are torn apart and the realm hangs in the balance, at the edge of ruin. Taristan and Queen Erida rise triumphant from the battlefield, while Corayne barely escapes with her life; her Companions left behind to uncertain fates.

    But not all hope was lost: Corayne managed to steal Taristan's Spindleblade. Without it, Taristan can’t rip open any more Spindles. Without it, he can’t end the world.

    Now, from every corner of the realm, the Companions race to reunite while they rally old allies and seek unexpected new ones, in one final push against darkness.

    But Taristan and Erida are all but invincible. With their cruel god, What Waits, on their side, they will sacrifice anything and anyone to his hunger.

    Everything has come to this. In the final clash between good and evil, a ragged alliance makes its bravest stand against a ruthless enemy . . . and the demon god who would consume the realm entire.

    We hope you enjoy the episode!

    Do you have a book you'd like us to review on this show? Send us an email at [email protected]

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    Art by Justin Miller Design

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    This month we read and review How To Solve Your Own Murder by Kristen Perrin. Like all of our reviews, the first part is spoiler free.

    Here's a little about How To Solve Your Own Murder:

    Frances Adams always said she'd be murdered. She was right.

    It’s 1965 and teenage Frances Adams is at an English country fair with her two best friends. But Frances’s life takes a hairpin turn when a fortune-teller makes a bone-chilling prediction: One day, Frances will be murdered. Frances spends a lifetime trying to solve a crime that hasn’t happened yet, compiling dirt on every person who crosses her path in an effort to prevent her own demise. For decades, no one takes Frances seriously. Until that is, nearly sixty years later, when Frances is found murdered.

    In the present day, Annie Adams has been summoned to a meeting at the sprawling country estate of her wealthy and reclusive great aunt Frances. But by the time Annie arrives in the quaint English village of Castle Knoll, Frances is already dead. Annie is determined to catch the killer, but thanks to Frances’s lifelong habit of digging up secrets, it seems every endearing and eccentric villager might just have a motive for her murder.

    Can Annie safely unravel the dark mystery at the heart of Castle Knoll, or will dredging up the past throw her into the path of a killer? As Annie gets closer to the truth, and closer to the danger, she starts to fear she might inherit her great aunt’s fate instead of her fortune.

    We hope you enjoy the episode!

    Do you have a book you'd like us to review on this show? Send us an email at [email protected]

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    Art by Justin Miller Design

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    This month we read and review The Women by Kristin Hannah. Like all of our reviews, the first part is spoiler free.

    Here's a little about The Women:

    Women can be heroes. When twenty-year-old nursing student Frances “Frankie” McGrath hears these words, it is a revelation. Raised in the sun-drenched, idyllic world of Southern California and sheltered by her conservative parents, she has always prided herself on doing the right thing. But in 1965, the world is changing, and she suddenly dares to imagine a different future for herself. When her brother ships out to serve in Vietnam, she joins the Army Nurse Corps and follows his path.

    As green and inexperienced as the men sent to Vietnam to fight, Frankie is over- whelmed by the chaos and destruction of war. Each day is a gamble of life and death, hope and betrayal; friendships run deep and can be shattered in an instant. In war, she meets—and becomes one of—the lucky, the brave, the broken, and the lost.

    But war is just the beginning for Frankie and her veteran friends. The real battle lies in coming home to a changed and divided America, to angry protesters, and to a country that wants to forget Vietnam.

    The Women is the story of one woman gone to war, but it shines a light on all women who put themselves in harm’s way and whose sacrifice and commitment to their country has too often been forgotten. A novel about deep friendships and bold patriotism, The Women is a richly drawn story with a memorable heroine whose idealism and courage under fire will come to define an era.

    We hope you enjoy the episode!

    Do you have a book you'd like us to review on this show? Send us an email at [email protected]

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    Art by Justin Miller Design

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    On this month's bonus episode we discuss book fandoms and their impact on the book community.

    Tune in to hear us argue about the pronunciation of Don Quixote...

    Do you have a book you'd like us to review on this show? Send us an email at [email protected]

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    This month we read and review Daughter of the Moon Goddess by Sue Lynn Tan. Like all of our reviews, the first part is spoiler free.

    Here's a little about Daughter of the Moon Goddess:

    Growing up on the moon, Xingyin is accustomed to solitude, unaware that she is being hidden from the feared Celestial Emperor who exiled her mother for stealing his elixir of immortality. But when Xingyin’s magic flares and her existence is discovered, she is forced to flee her home, leaving her mother behind.

    Alone, powerless, and afraid, she makes her way to the Celestial Kingdom, a land of wonder and secrets. Disguising her identity, she seizes an opportunity to learn alongside the emperor's son, mastering archery and magic, even as passion flames between her and the prince.

    To save her mother, Xingyin embarks on a perilous quest, confronting legendary creatures and vicious enemies across the earth and skies. But when treachery looms and forbidden magic threatens the kingdom, she must challenge the ruthless Celestial Emperor for her dream—striking a dangerous bargain in which she is torn between losing all she loves or plunging the realm into chaos.

    We hope you enjoy the episode!

    Do you have a book you'd like us to review on this show? Send us an email at [email protected]

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    Art by Justin Miller Design

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    This month we read and review The Best Way to Bury Your Husband by Alexia Casale. Like all of our reviews, the first part is spoiler free.

    Here's a little about The Best Way to Bury Your Husband:

    A dark comedy about four women coming together to heal the damage their husbands have done––and hide their bodies once they’ve killed them

    When Sally kills her husband with a cast-iron skillet, she’s more fearful of losing her kids than of disposing of a fresh corpse. That just wouldn’t be fair—not after twenty years of marriage to a truly terrible man. But Sally isn’t the only woman in town reaching the brink. Soon, Sally finds herself leading an extremely unusual self-help group, and among them there are four bodies to hide. Can they all figure out the perfect way to bury their husbands . . . and get away with it?

    First to join is former nurse, Ruth, who met her husband as a single mom. Now her son is grown and her husband’s violence builds by the day until an attack on the stairs leads to a fatal accident—for him. A few doors down, Samira’s last straw comes when she discovers her husband is planning a campaign of violence against her eldest daughter, who has just come out. Janey, Sally’s best friend, has just had her first child at forty-two. Sleep-deprived Janey needs a hero to slay the monster in the fairy tales she whispers to her daughter each night . . . and as her husband’s violence escalates, it might just be her.

    Together, fueled by righteous anger but tempered by a moral core, the four women must help each other work out a plan to get rid of their husbands for good. Along the way, Sally, Ruth, Samira and Janey rediscover old joys and embark on new passions in work, education, and life. Friendship and laughter really are the best medicine—and so is getting away with murder.
    We hope you enjoy the episode!

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    On this month's bonus episode we discuss which 5 books we would bring if we were stranded on a desert island.

    Let us know on Instagram which books you would bring and why!

    Do you have a book you'd like us to review on this show? Send us an email at [email protected]

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    This month we read and review Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson. Like all of our reviews, the first part is spoiler free.

    Here's a little about Tress of the Emerald Sea:

    The only life Tress has known on her island home in an emerald-green ocean has been a simple one, with the simple pleasures of collecting cups brought by sailors from faraway lands and listening to stories told by her friend Charlie. But when his father takes him on a voyage to find a bride and disaster strikes, Tress must stow away on a ship and seek the Sorceress of the deadly Midnight Sea. Amid the spore oceans where pirates abound, can Tress leave her simple life behind and make her own place sailing a sea where a single drop of water can mean instant death?

    We hope you enjoy the episode!

    Do you have a book you'd like us to review on this show? Send us an email at [email protected]

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    Art by Justin Miller Design

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    On this month's bonus episode we have a live debate about some book-related topics, like e-books vs physical books or audiobooks vs reading.

    We hope you enjoy the episode!

    Do you have a book you'd like us to review on this show? Send us an email at [email protected]

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    Art by Justin Miller Design

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    This month we read and review Under the Whispering Door by TJ Klune. Like all of our reviews, the first part is spoiler free.

    Here's a little about Under the Whispering Door:

    When a reaper comes to collect Wallace from his own funeral, Wallace begins to suspect he might be dead.

    And when Hugo, the owner of a peculiar tea shop, promises to help him cross over, Wallace decides he’s definitely dead.

    But even in death he’s not ready to abandon the life he barely lived, so when Wallace is given one week to cross over, he sets about living a lifetime in seven days.

    Hilarious, haunting, and kind, Under the Whispering Door is an uplifting story about a life spent at the office and a death spent building a home.

    We hope you enjoy the episode!

    Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):

    https://uppbeat.io/t/brock-hewitt-stories-in-sound/living-waters

    License code: SVLSBTOWITFRT37N

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    Hey everyone! Welcome to our newest bonus episode. This one is special though, because we have Bethanie Finger joining us to talk about her debut novel, More Than Life: A YA Historical Fantasy. Enjoy the interview, and don't forget to check out Bethanie's book, available on Amazon.com and from Barnes & Noble.

    Bethanie Finger Social:
    @bethaniefingerauthor

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    This month we read and review A Magic Steeped in Poison by Judy I. Lin. Like all of our reviews, the first part is spoiler free.

    Here's a little about A Magic Steeped in Poison:

    For Ning, the only thing worse than losing her mother is knowing that it's her own fault. She was the one who unknowingly brewed the poison tea that killed her—the poison tea that now threatens to also take her sister, Shu.

    When Ning hears of a competition to find the kingdom's greatest shennong-shi—masters of the ancient and magical art of tea-making—she travels to the imperial city to compete. The winner will receive a favor from the princess, which may be Ning's only chance to save her sister's life.

    But between the backstabbing competitors, bloody court politics, and a mysterious (and handsome) boy with a shocking secret, Ning might actually be the one in more danger.

    We hope you enjoy the episode!

    Do you have a book you'd like us to review on this show? Send us an email at [email protected]

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    Art by Justin Miller Design

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    Tune in for a bonus episode where we do a BookTok challenge and discuss some challenges and reading goals for 2024.

    For those of you unfamiliar, this is a challenge that can be found on TikTok that we’ve done on the show instead!

    Do you have a book you'd like us to review on this show? Send us an email at [email protected]

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    Art by Justin Miller Design

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    This month we read and review More Than Life: A YA Historical Fantasy by Bethanie Finger. Like all of our reviews, the first part is spoiler free.

    Here's a little about More Than Life: A YA Historical Fantasy:

    A gripping story of overcoming grief, self-realization, and embarking on the adventure of a lifetime. As the daughter of a high-ranking sea captain, nineteen-year-old Cordelia Kimbal lives a life of luxury in the sea faring kingdom of Mikiria. But when her father dies unexpectedly, she is stripped of her title and home, and forced to join the working class in order to survive. Determined to rise above her losses, Cordelia is eager to prove her worth and stand on her own. But four months after her father's passing, a mysterious letter arrives, revealing the secret location of the mythical island of Qualaris. Known for concealing the secrets of magic and eternal life, Qualaris is often dismissed as mere legend, but Jaspar, Cordelia's father's enigmatic apprentice, is convinced of its existence and is harboring its secrets—secrets that the dark enchanter, Janus would stop at nothing to obtain. For generations, Jaspar and his ancestors have pursued the discovery and rescue of Qualaris while battling a curse of nonexistence, and he believes that Cordelia is the island's true protector, the one who can save it and its people from Janus's impending threat. Faced with the daunting task of defending Qualaris and its people, Cordelia embarks on a quest to locate the island, embrace her birthright, and take on the darkest enchanter in history. If she doesn’t, the island and its people won’t be the only casualties of Janus’s war. Join Cordelia on her journey as she navigates a world of magic, mystery, and danger, discovering her true self and the strength within her.

    P.S. More Than Life is the first book in the More Than Life trilogy, and ends on a cliffhanger.

    We hope you enjoy the episode!

    Do you have a book you'd like us to review on this show? Send us an email at [email protected]

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    Join us for a special bonus episode as we dive into the literary landscape of 2024! In this episode, we share our enthusiasm and anticipation for the most exciting books slated for release throughout the year.

    From eagerly awaited sequels to groundbreaking debuts, we'll explore a wide range of genres and authors, offering insights, predictions, and our personal expectations for each anticipated book. Whether it's the latest installment in a beloved series, a promising debut novel, or a highly anticipated work from a renowned author, no literary stone will be left unturned.

    Do you have a book you'd like us to review on this show? Send us an email at [email protected]

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    Art by Justin Miller Design

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    This month we read and review None of This is True by Lisa Jewell. Like all of our reviews, the first part is spoiler free.

    Here's a little about None of This is True:

    Lisa Jewell returns with a scintillating new psychological thriller about a woman who finds herself the subject of her own popular true crime podcast.

    Celebrating her forty-fifth birthday at her local pub, popular podcaster Alix Summers crosses paths with an unassuming woman called Josie Fair. Josie, it turns out, is also celebrating her forty-fifth birthday. They are, in fact, birthday twins.

    A few days later, Alix and Josie bump into each other again, this time outside Alix’s children’s school. Josie has been listening to Alix’s podcasts and thinks she might be an interesting subject for her series. She is, she tells Alix, on the cusp of great changes in her life.

    Josie’s life appears to be strange and complicated, and although Alix finds her unsettling, she can’t quite resist the temptation to keep making the podcast. Slowly she starts to realize that Josie has been hiding some very dark secrets, and before she knows it, Josie has inveigled her way into Alix’s life—and into her home.

    But, as quickly as she arrived, Josie disappears. Only then does Alix discover that Josie has left a terrible and terrifying legacy in her wake, and that Alix has become the subject of her own true crime podcast, with her life and her family’s lives under mortal threat.

    Who is Josie Fair? And what has she done?

    We hope you enjoy this episode!

    Do you have a book you'd like us to review on this show? Send us an email at [email protected]

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