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Seven works new to me: four fantasy, three science fiction, of which at least three are series.

Books Received, December 20 — December 26


Poll #34011 Books Received, December 20 — December 26
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 39


Which of these look interesting?

View Answers

The King Must Die by Kemi Ashing-Giwa (November 2025)
14 (35.9%)

Mortedant’s Peril by R. J. Barker (May 2026)
10 (25.6%)

Cold Steel by Joyce Ch’Ng (March 2025)
9 (23.1%)

The Ganymedan by R. T. Ester (November 2025)
13 (33.3%)

Alchemy of Souls by Adriana Mather (August 2026)
5 (12.8%)

The Bird Tribe by Lucinda Roy (July 2026)
5 (12.8%)

Household by Riccardo Sirignano and Simone Formicola (2022)
8 (20.5%)

Some other option (see comments)
0 (0.0%)

Cats!
30 (76.9%)

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Posted by Amanda

Cozy winter still life: cup of hot coffee and book with warm plaid on windowsill against snow landscape from outside.This year is coming to a close! Here’s what we’re reading during the last week of December:

Lara: I’m catching up with Nalini Singh’s Guild Hunter series. I’m currently reading Archangel’s Lineage. ( A | BN | K | AB ) I’m desperately sad that this series will be coming to an end in May. It’s been a stalwart comfort for years.

Amanda: My Romance TBR Takedown board had me landing on “new series.” I’m starting my Alice Coldbreath journey with Her Baseborn Bridegroom, ( A ) which is book one in the Vawdrey Brothers series.

Sarah: I am reading The Astral Library by Kate Quinn – I’ll be interviewing her for the podcast. It’s catnip for people who love stories about being inside books.

Shana: I’m rereading Common Goal by Rachel Reid. It’s the only book in the Game Changers series I actually own, probably because I love the older bisexual hero. Someday my Heated Rivalry hold will come in, after 63 other people read it.

Amanda: I thought you read them, Shana? I remember you reviewing Long Game. Or is my memory shot?

The Astral Library
A | BN | K | AB
Shana: Your memory is perfect, as always! I have read all of the series, I’m just doing a reread since I’m obsessed with the show.

Amanda: It sounds like your hold will come in just as season two starts.

Shana: And by then I will have moved on to a new obsession and won’t be in the mood to read the book.

Elyse: I’m reading Mother Mary Comes to Me ( A | BN | K | AB )  which is a memoir by Arundhati Roy. It’s really beautifully written and I’m a sucker for a book about complicated relationships with moms.

Claudia: I am so curious about that book. The mom sounds terrible to the daughter but great to the world.

Kiki I’m listening to The Victorian City: Everyday Life in Dickens’ London by Judith Flanders ( A | BN | K | AB ) which is a great companion while I’m semi-frantically trying to finish a cross stitch for my best friend’s wedding ceremony Monday! I’ve learned a lot about omnibuses and the intricacies of the mail coach system so far. I’ve been having a hard time falling into romance lately, and I feel like this is a good pivot: still historical, so I’m feeling immersed, but no plot that I have to buy in to.

Whatcha reading to end 2025? Let us know in the comments!

Dec. 27th, 2025 08:00 am

Our Favorite Reads of 2025

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Posted by Amanda

For our favorite reads, we had to choose one favorite read of 2025, but everyone is allowed two bonus picks for books not released this year. However, we typically have a few rulebreakers!

Here are our favorites of the year! We’d also love to hear about your best read of 2025!

Ladies in Hating

Ladies in Hating by Alexandra Vasti

Author: Alexandra Vasti
Released: September 23, 2025 by St. Martin's Griffin
Genre: , , ,
Series: Belvoir's Library #3

A pair of Gothic novelists trade rivalry for love in this swoony, steamy, sapphic Regency by USA Today bestselling author Alexandra Vasti.

Celebrated authoress Lady Georgiana Cleeve has achieved fame and fortune. Unfortunately, she’s also acquired an the enigmatic Lady Darling, whose spine-tingling plots appear to be pulled straight from Georgiana’s own manuscripts. What’s a stubborn, steely writer to do? Unmask her rival, of course.

But unmasking doesn’t go according to plan—because Lady Darling is actually Cat Lacey, the butler’s daughter and object of Georgiana’s very secret, very embarrassing teenage infatuation.

Cat Lacey has spent a decade clawing her family out of poverty. The last thing she needs is to be distracted by the stunning(ly pretentious) Lady Georgiana Cleeve. But Cat can’t seem to escape her infuriatingly beautiful rival—including at the eerie manor where they both plan to set their next books. The plot unexpectedly thickens, however, when the novelists find themselves trapped in the manor together. In between ghostly moans and spectral staff, Cat and Georgiana come face-to-face with real the scorching passion that’s been haunting their rivalry all along.

Sarah: I got to have Alexandra on the podcast twice this year to talk about the trilogy, and so I’m pretty spoiled. Not in the “I found out the ending” kind of way, but in the “I’ve been indulged with a truly opulent amount of history that makes the trilogy a more sumptuous reading experience” way. Worldbuilding, like comedy, is grounded and enhanced by detail and specificity, and the world of the two characters, the conflicts between and around them, and the charm of the whole series is precise in its elegance. Loved it.

Tara: Okay, I’m cheating a tiny bit because this book was also published this year, but it was another true standout for me. While I was drawn by the premise, with two rival gothic novel writers finding their HEA together, the true magic was in seeing them grow while experiencing traditional elements of gothic fiction.

Listen to Sarah’s podcast episode with the author!

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

Stone and Sky

Stone and Sky by Ben Aaronovitch

Author: Ben Aaronovitch
Released: July 8, 2025 by DAW
Genre: ,
Series: Rivers of London #10

“This isn’t London. The rules are different up here…”

All Detective Constable Peter Grant wanted was a nice holiday up in Scotland.
He’ll need one once this is over…

check.
some.
sort of – but that’s not the only thing in the sky…

Sarah: I’ve said before this series is the one exception to some general policies I have about reading: I generally don’t like books about cops, and I don’t like books where characters of color are written by a White person. I have enjoyed many of the books in this series, and I particularly like the audiobooks, so listening to Kobna Holdbrook-Smith and Shvorne Marks narrate was an extra treat. This book does have a romance of sorts in it – a queer one, too – and some of the plot points reflect current events in an eerie way, but I was so happy while I was listening to it. This book and “What Abigail Did That Summer” are probably my favorites in the series. It’s talking foxes, after all.

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

Never Over

Never Over by Clare Gilmore

Author: Clare Gilmore
Released: October 28, 2025 by St. Martin's Griffin
Genre: ,

A swoony second-chance romance where facing the one who broke your heart could be the thing that makes your dream come true.

Twenty-five-year-old Paige Lancaster is one contract away from earning a living doing her favorite thing in the world: writing songs. But when a music industry professional suggests she might be holding back with her lyrics to lessen the heartbreak of an old flame, Paige doubts if her music is ready to be heard.

In a rare, impulsive move, Paige contacts Liam Bishop after four years of no contact to ask him for a small favor: date her, and then re-break her heart, all so she can remember what those big, songworthy emotions felt like. And since Liam is the one who first set Paige on this career path, he hesitantly agrees.

Across three months of Liam’s summer work travel, the exes are forced to share hotel beds, rehash the past, and date in the present, all while navigating the building attraction between them they both swore was the one line of their agreement they wouldn’t cross.

But when it becomes near impossible not to act on their rippling chemistry, and as ever intensifying feelings blur the lines of what’s actually real and what’s driven by the music, Paige and Liam will both have to decide what’s more important: art for the sake of it, or love over everything.

Amanda: This book made me eat so much crow! It took two things in romance I typically avoid: characters who work in music and a second chance romance. There is so much pining and yearning and forced proximity. If you love emotional angst and obstacles, this is amazing. I also think if you like Cara Bastone’s books, this might work well for you, though it’s a little lighter on traumatic themes.

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

Villains Are Destined to Die, Vol. 1

Villains Are Destined to Die, Vol. 1 by SUOL

Author: SUOL
Released: November 8, 2022 by Ize Press
Genre: , ,
Series: Villains Are Destined to Die #1

Playing Daughter of the Duke’s Super Love Project as the easy mode heroine, Ivonne, makes charming the male characters a breeze. But once you switch to hard mode and step into the shoes of Penelope, the misunderstood villain, it’s nearly impossible to even stay alive! So imagine the shock of suddenly waking up in Penelope’s body—you know right away that your life is on the line. With love interests who will kill you if their affection meters drop too low and the inability to speak without choosing from pre-selected dialogue, it quickly becomes clear that Penelope’s chances have been rigged from the start—and this villain might just be destined to die!

Amanda: I started reading this as a webtoon, but I am both impatient and impulsive. With over 150 chapters and one free chapter read a day, I was bereft that I couldn’t marathon this one until my eyeballs fell out of my head. Thankfully, there are eight volumes in paperback format in beautiful full color. The art is gorgeous and the concept is so fun. The only way this could be better is if it were a “why choose” book where she gets to be with everyone.

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

Jane Austen’s Bookshelf

Jane Austen’s Bookshelf by Rebecca Romney

Author: Rebecca Romney
Released: February 18, 2025 by Simon & Schuster
Genre:

From rare book dealer and guest star of the hit show Pawn Stars, a page-turning literary adventure that introduces readers to the women writers who inspired Jane Austen—and investigates why their books have disappeared from our shelves.

Long before she was a rare book dealer, Rebecca Romney was a devoted reader of Jane Austen. She loved that Austen’s books took the lives of women seriously, explored relationships with wit and confidence, and always, allowed for the possibility of a happy ending. She read and reread them, often wishing Austen wrote just one more.

But Austen wasn’t a lone genius. She wrote at a time of great experimentation for women writers—and clues about those women, and the exceptional books they wrote, are sprinkled like breadcrumbs throughout Austen’s work. Every character in Northanger Abbey who isn’t a boor sings the praises of Ann Radcliffe. The play that causes such a stir in Mansfield Park is a real one by the playwright Elizabeth Inchbald. In fact, the phrase “pride and prejudice” came from Frances Burney’s second novel Cecilia. The women that populated Jane Austen’s bookshelf profoundly influenced her work; Austen looked up to them, passionately discussed their books with her friends, and used an appreciation of their books as a litmus test for whether someone had good taste. So where had these women gone? Why hadn’t Romney—despite her training—ever read them? Or, in some cases, even heard of them? And why were they no longer embraced as part of the wider literary canon?

Jane Austen’s Bookshelf investigates the disappearance of Austen’s heroes—women writers who were erased from the Western canon—to reveal who they were, what they meant to Austen, and how they were forgotten. Each chapter profiles a different writer including Frances Burney, Ann Radcliffe, Charlotte Lennox, Charlotte Smith, Hannah More, Elizabeth Inchbald, Hester Lynch Thrale Piozzi, and Maria Edgeworth—and recounts Romney’s experience reading them, finding rare copies of their works, and drawing on connections between their words and Austen’s. Romney collects the once-famed works of these forgotten writers, physically recreating Austen’s bookshelf and making a convincing case for why these books should be placed back on the to-be-read pile of all book lovers today. Jane Austen’s Bookshelf will encourage you to look beyond assigned reading lists, question who decides what belongs there, and build your very own collection of favorite novels.

Carrie: This is an amazing nonfiction book about the women who wrote novels in the Georgian period who Jane Austen would have read or at least known of. Entertaining, informative, and changed the way I think about the literary landscape of that time!

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

War for the Oaks

War for the Oaks by Emma Bull

Author: Emma Bull
Released: July 1, 1987 by Ace
Genre:

Acclaimed by critics and readers on its first publication in 1987, winner of the Locus Award for Best First Novel, Emma Bull’s War for the Oaks is one of the novels that has defined modern urban fantasy.

Eddi McCandry sings rock and roll. But her boyfriend just dumped her, her band just broke up, and life could hardly be worse. Then, walking home through downtown Minneapolis on a dark night, she finds herself drafted into an invisible war between the faerie folk. Now, more than her own survival is at risk—and her own preferences, musical and personal, are very much beside the point.

By turns tough and lyrical, fabulous and down-to-earth, War for the Oaks is a fantasy novel that’s as much about this world as about the other one. It’s about real love and loyalty, about real music and musicians, about false glamour and true art. It will change the way you hear and see your own daily life.

Carrie: I re-read The War for the Oaks by Emma Bull for about the 1,000th time since I first read it in high school and not only is it just as good as every other time but, if possible, it’s even better. I find new things to delight in it every time.

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

The Botanist’s Assistant

The Botanist’s Assistant by Peggy Townsend

Author: Peggy Townsend
Released: November 18, 2025 by Berkley
Genre:

A murder in the science lab shatters a woman’s quiet and ordered life when she decides she must solve the crime herself in this entertaining and uplifting mystery.

Plenty of people consider Margaret Finch odd. Six-feet-tall and big-boned, she lives alone in a small cabin in the woods, drives a 20-year-old truck, and schedules her life so precisely you can tell the time and day of the week by the chore she is doing and what she is wearing.  But the same attributes that cause her to be labeled eccentric—an obsessive attention to detail and the ability to organize almost anything—make her invaluable in her job as Research Assistant II to a talented and charismatic botanist.

It’s those very same qualities, however, that also turn Margaret into a target after a surprising death shakes the small university where she works. Even as authorities claim the death appears to be from natural causes, Margaret fears it might be something a murder born of jealousy and dark secrets. With the aid of a newly hired and enigmatic night custodian, Margaret finds herself thrust into the role of detective, forcing her to consider that she may not be able to find the killer before the killer finds her.

With a cast of quirky and likeable characters that one won’t soon forget, The Botanist’s Assistant is a delightful story of perseverance and the power in all of us to survive.

Lara: I read some fantastic books this year and there are about three real standouts, but this one is something special. So quiet, so good and so strong. I adored every second with this book.

Read Lara’s review!

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

The Bone King and the Starling

The Bone King and the Starling by Elizabeth Stephens

Author: Elizabeth Stephens
Released: March 19, 2025
Genre: , ,

They call him the bone king.

A massive, beast of a male who worships the gods and is all too willing to provide them their sacrifices. Human sacrifices. He and his warriors have come to visit Winterbren, a poor little village on the outskirts of Wrath and my home.

I’ve never been more grateful to be a thrall, for my low status will ensure that I remain outside of his notice. But when he requests — nay, requires — a willing female to warm his furs for the duration of his stay, his selection falls to me. All I can do is pray to the gods that I survive the night…

And beg the bone king for mercy.

This book contains dark themes, including a Black woman in the position of thrall, graphic depictions of torture, non-con, and discussions of early childhood abuse. A full list of warnings can be found on my website.

Shana’s 2025 pick!

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

This Could Be Us

This Could Be Us by Kennedy Ryan

Author: Kennedy Ryan
Released: March 5, 2024 by Forever
Genre: ,
Series: Skyland #2

“Heart-searing, sensual, and life affirming.” ―EMILY HENRY, #1 New York Times bestselling author

Soledad Barnes has her life all planned out. Because, of course, she does. She plans everything. She designs everything. She fixes everything. She’s a domestic goddess who’s never met a party she couldn’t host or a charge she couldn’t lead. The one with all the answers and the perfect vinaigrette for that summer salad. But none of her varied talents can save her when catastrophe strikes, and the life she built with the man who was supposed to be her forever, goes poof in a cloud of betrayal and disillusion.

But there is no time to pout or sulk, or even grieve the life she lost. She’s too busy keeping a roof over her daughters’ heads and food on the table. And in the process of saving them all, Soledad rediscovers herself. From the ashes of a life burned to the ground, something bold and new can rise.

But then an unlikely man enters the picture—the forbidden one, the one she shouldn’t want but can’t seem to resist. She’s lost it all before and refuses to repeat her mistakes. Can she trust him? Can she trust herself?

After all she’s lost . . .and found . . .can she be brave enough to make room for what could be?

For fans of Tia Williams and Colleen Hoover comes a deeply moving and personal novel about sacrifice, self-reliance, and finding true happiness from “one of the finest romance writers of our age.” ―Entertainment Weekly

Shana’s bonus pick!

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

Hen Fever

Hen Fever by Olivia Waite

Author: Olivia Waite
Released: December 11, 2022
Genre: , ,

Lydia Wraxhall is on her best behavior every day of the year—except one: the annual Bickerton Christmas Poultry Show. On that day she brushes her birds, sharpens her tongue, and engages in the closest thing the village knows to war.

Harriet Boyne is a soldier’s widow reeling from the worst years of her life. She and her friends have inherited a manor on the village outskirts, and Harriet is looking forward to a quiet holiday far from the anguish of the battlefield.

But a dispute over a flock of loose chickens — a rare local breed, which Lydia thinks could be champions and Harriet thinks could be delicious — draws Harriet into the competition under Lydia’s grudging guidance. Harriet’s frozen heart is thawed by Lydia’s gentleness, and lonely Lydia blossoms under Harriet’s keen regard. But the day of the poultry show is fast approaching, and everyone’s drawing up battle lines. And in the contest between secret love and public glory, there can only be one winner.

Shana’s bonus pick!

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

Discovering Nicola

Discovering Nicola by Clare Ashton

Author: Clare Ashton
Released: May 1, 2025
Genre: , ,
Series: Oxford Romance #3

Sparks fly between Nicola Albright KC and Geeta Sachdeva, but not the good kind. They’re the sort that leave small fires, devastation, and everyone peeping between their fingers at arrogant lawyer, Nicola, on one side, and everyone’s favourite mum, Geeta, on the other.

Yet when both are divorced and at a new stage in life, they find themselves living within glowering distance of each other, in beautiful Iffley Village, Oxford. Reluctantly they call a truce and try to make friends. It’s tricky though, when there’s more than one reason they’ve circled and snapped for years.

For a start, Geeta’s lawyer daughter, Olivia, idolises the eminent King’s Counsel barrister, to eye rolls from Geeta. And to Nicola’s annoyance, her own daughter, Charlotte, has always turned to perfect mama Geeta for comfort and understanding. Animosity between the two is a given.

Until they force themselves to be nice to each other, that is, and then they’re compelled to question everything…

Tara: I don’t think I knew how much I needed to read a romance with two women in their fifties falling in love. Even better, two women who couldn’t stand each other! While the subject matter wasn’t always easy, this book was so refreshing and it left me with that big dreamy sigh that only comes from the most special stories.

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

Dec. 26th, 2025 09:49 pm

Just Create - Hacker Edition

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[personal profile] silvercat17 posting in [community profile] justcreate
What are you working on? What have you finished? What do you need encouragement on?
 
Are there any cool events or challenges happening that you want to hype?
 
What do you just want to talk about?
 
What have you been watching or reading?
 
Chores and other not-fun things count!
 
Remember to encourage other commenters and we have a discord where we can do work-alongs and chat, linked in the sticky.

Dec. 25th, 2025 06:09 pm

Ancient Music by Ezra Pound

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[personal profile] conuly
Winter is icummen in,
Lhude sing Goddamm,
Raineth drop and staineth slop,
And how the wind doth ramm!
Sing: Goddamm.
Skiddeth bus and sloppeth us,
An ague hath my ham.
Freezeth river, turneth liver,
Damn you, sing: Goddamm.
Goddamm, Goddamm, 'tis why I am, Goddamm,
So 'gainst the winter's balm.
Sing goddamm, damm, sing Goddamm.
Sing goddamm, sing goddamm, DAMM.


***


Link
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[personal profile] hrj
Actually the one book I finished in May is going to get its own separate entry (Inventing the Renaissance by Ada Palmer) because I've decided it's my favorite book of the entire year.

The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman -- (audio) The entire Invisible Library series came up on sale as a set on Chirp, and since I'd heard interesting things about it I picked it up. I've only listened to this first volume. Although I find it interesting and imaginative, I kept not getting back to listening to it (hence it took me an entire month to finish). That's made me less interested in trying the next book in the series. I didn't dislike it--it just didn't grab me.

The Unlikely Pursuit of Mary Bennet by Lindz McLeod -- (text) I actually bought this one in both text and audiobook, but since I was already listening to a book of similar genre and setting (see next entry) I went for the text version to keep psychological separation. This is a sapphic Jane Austen-inspired story (as one might guess from the title). I've always felt that Mary Bennet got short shrift in the original book. This story begins well after the end of Pride and Prejudice and has paired her with the now-widowed Charlotte Collins (née Lucas). Mary has the advantage of having acquired a mentor in London who runs a not-very-covertly queer household, which eases the way for Mary and Charlotte to be able to share their attraction and provides a short-cut around the economic challenges for a female couple. I found the story cute and emotionally satisfying although Charlotte occasionally shocked me in blowing off the expected social isolation of recent widowhood.

A Rare Find by Joanna Lowell -- (audio) Another Regency-era sapphic romance, involving an amateur archaeologist and the love/hate relationship with her neighbor. Enjoyable, though a bit over-packed with subplots similarly to the previous book of hers that I've read (A Shore Thing). Lots of occasionally improbable hijinks on the quest for Viking-era artifacts and recognition. There were a few places where my historic sensibilities were trampled on. (You do not just "park" a horse and carriage overnight while you're off canoodling. I mean, maybe a groom was summoned to take care of them? But something it didn't get mentioned.) The conclusion seemed a bit contrived but overall I liked it.

Servant Mage by Kate Elliott -- (text) I have no idea how Elliott managed to pack so much plot and worldbuilding into one tiny novella! Secondary-world quest fantasy with a very relatable protagonist and lots of peril. There are unexpected and satisfying twists. I really hope this is a set-up for more fiction in this world.

The Tapestry of Time by Kate Heartfield -- (audio) Historic fantasy set during World War II focused around the war efforts of a family with various psychic powers who are connected in some way to the Bayeux Tapestry. Told through multiple viewpoints, the novel gradually builds up a fragmentary picture of how all the parts relate until it all comes together. There’s a fair amount of violence and peril, as one might expect in a wartime espionage story, but the ending is satisfying. A strongly woman-centered story with positive queer rep (and resolution). Heartfield writes dense, twisty books that can take some concentration but I’ve enjoyed every one that I’ve tackled.

Murder by Post by Rachel Ford -- (text) This fairly short story introduces the continuing detective couple, Meredith and Alec Thatch, set in the wake of World War I in England. Alec is passing as a man in order for them to marry, but is not presented as transgender as far as I can tell. This adds an extra element of risk and danger when the resident of a neighboring flat is found dead with signs of poison. This is a classic cozy-style mystery, with lots of clues and red herrings, allowing the reader to think just one step ahead of the characters. This initial story—really just a novelette—is free on the author’s website. I hope that some day she’ll decide to release the rest of the series more widely than just Kindle Unlimited. It deserves a wider audience. It's really testing my resolve not to buy Amazon-only books unless I'm committed to doing a review.

In August I started two long-term reading projects. Having enjoyed the tv adaptation of the first Murderbot book, I decided to give the series another try (after having bounced off one of the middle books). And I've been enjoying Rachel Fraimow and Emily Tesh's podcast, The Eight Days of Diana Wynne Jones so much I decided to do a (possibly non-exhaustive) reading project of Jones's books. I have twelve of her books on my shelves, though I'm not entirely certain I've read all of them, and I hadn't quite connected up which ones were in series and what order they came in. Having very belatedly acquired a local library card, I've been taking advantage of Libby audiobooks to tackle these two projects, which spaces them out nicely, given wait times.

All Systems Red by Martha Wells, Artificial Condition by Martha Wells -- (audio) It's hard to evaluate the first book separate from having seen the tv series first. It was interesting both how closely the series followed the plot and the places it diverged. Having more details on all the characters (and there are a lot of them for a novella), the story began to grow on my seriously by the second book. It helped that it didn't feel like it was wall-to-wall combat scenes like my first (out of order) encounter with the series. Artificial Condition had a more mystery-like plot, which I enjoyed.

A Charmed Life by Diana Wynne Jones -- (audio) Young adult. This seems to be a very typical Jones set-up: a disfunctional family with the least-regarded kid as the protagonist. (That's all my notes say. I confess that some of her books have now run into each other in my memory.)

Oops, almost forgot one of my August books!

Lake of Souls by Ann Leckie -- (audio) A short fiction collection, with some stories tying in to her Imperial Radch universe and others feeling like they're part of some other connected setting. Leckie writes the most vivid and believable truly alien characters I've encountered since back when I was reading a lot of C.J. Cherryh in the '90s. The title story is a great example.

On Audiobooks

One of the things I cut back on in preparation for my retirement was my Audible subscription. (I had the three-books-a-month level.) That's changed my audiobook consumption somewhat. What I borrow from Libby is a bit random, not simply because I tend to only put one book at a time on my wait list, rather than having several lined up in Audible, but because the types of books available are different. As I've previously mentioned, I've also been buying audiobooks from Chirp, but primarily using it for random discovery within their sale books. When I decide to outright buy a audiobook these days, I'll try Apple Books first (because: Amazon). Very much like my approach to ebooks, I dislike having books on multiple platforms because I lose track of what's where. But I can't really escape that, alas.

Why do I do so much of my reading in audio? Mostly because I do so much print and e-text reading for the Lesbian Historic Motif Project. Also, between bicycling a couple hours a day and yard work, I have a lot of contexts when I can multi-task audio. Another factor is my aging eyes. When I'm focusing on something close up for an extended period of time--whether it's my LHMP reading, or needlework, or whatever, my eyes take up to an hour to recover and be able to focus at other distances properly. It's annoying. And I can't avoid it for the LHMP work. Audio avoids adding annoyance. (Unintentional alliteration.)

Anyway, enough for now. Tomorrow I'll do my Inventing the Renaissance review, which I plan to post widely. When I first started doing this catch-up book posts, I also disseminated them to several review sites, but that got a bit exhausting and awkward. (I discovered that there's a limit to how many book reviews you can post to Amazon on a single day. A good thing, probably, but hard to keep track of when I'm doing catch-up reviews.)
Dec. 26th, 2025 04:46 pm

More Rocks

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[personal profile] ranunculus
From Red Barn Stream




Dec. 26th, 2025 01:17 pm

Paperwork

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[personal profile] ranunculus
I've made a start on the paperwork on my "desk".  The bills are paid and details entered.  
10 minutes ago it was dark and pouring rain so hard we couldn't see the nearby hills. Heck, even the other side of the circle, 125 feet away was a bit misty.  Now the sun is shining.  Apparently we will have a few dry days before the next storm moves in which will be nice. 
Edit: the above was written a couple of hours ago.  It has been a beautiful day since then. 
We went down the hill to town for a few minutes, mailed my letters and got some food.  On the way down I touched up the road a bit more. Mostly things are looking very good and no flooding.  My clearing out of the culvert area has worked very well, water is barreling through, and I hope it is carving the channel on the downhill side out a bit.  Lots of robins chattering away  in the tall trees down around the culvert.  A red shouldered hawk is hanging out near the house.  Dark Eyed Junco's are sitting on my amaranth plants eating the seeds. 
The greenhouse has a small window in the roof.  It is perfect for getting airflow moving through when it is warm or hot. The kit comes with an automatic opener/closer which I did not install because it gets both too hot and too cold here for it to work.  In our high winds the last few days that little window blew off.  Yesterday I was able to get it back in place and install a hook so it couldn't open. The wood on the hinge is still broken, but it is doing a good job of keeping in the heat. 
M just brought me a little bowl with pieces of Lively pepper that we picked from the garden yesterday.  It is really good.  I have no idea how those pepper plants have survived. 

Dec. 26th, 2025 11:59 pm

And I'm back!

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Public


328/365: Christmas reindeer
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329/365: Tractor Run, Bewdley
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I'm not really drunk as such, but I've had cider, brandy (on Christmas pudding) and whisky (in a cake) over the last couple of days and so I'm a little bit closer than I normally would be! I hope everyone had a nice Christmas. Mine was fairly quiet but pleasant, with family stuff and a great deal of nice food. Also, books. Lots and lots of books. Working out where to put them will have to wait. Well, a bit, anyway. I did go for a very short walk on Christmas morning, so I was able to get my 365 photo from just outside a cottage on the edge of town.

Today was the annual Boxing Day Tractor Run in aid of prostate cancer research, which is a fun institution that is (as you can see) not quite as aggressively ordered and organised as many events! There were a <i>lot</i> more tractors participating than you see here; I would guess somewhere in the order of 90 to 100, although I lost count. Many of them were decorated with Christmas themes, playing festive music, even blowing bubbles in one case! Load Street (seen here) was closed for four hours to allow the tractor drivers and passengers to have a lunch break.
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Posted by SB Sarah

JQ Editions logo a deep pink curly J and Q next to the word editions in grey serif, against a light pink backgroundToday on Instagram and Facebook, Julia Quinn announced the launch of JQ Editions, a historical romance special edition subscription service.

Per her announcement, the special editions will include “luxurious soft-touch covers, illustrated endpapers, and fabulous sprayed edges.”

(SPREDGES?! Everybody drink!)

Quinn will be selecting each title, and says in the introduction that some will be “brand new,” while others will be “recent gems, or classics of the modern genre.”

Per the caption, “Each and every title is hand-picked by Julia Quinn, and she works personally with illustrators to make sure that the art reflects the story and honors the author.”

When the Kickstarter goes live in January, folks will be able to purchase one- or two-year subscriptions, and those who are interested can sign up for the JQ Editions mailing list, or follow their social accounts on Facebook and Instagram.

I am fascinated by this announcement on several levels because it’s the full-speed collision of several major trends. There’s the Kickstarter part, the historical romance part, the special edition part – my brain is Jiffy Popping all over the place.

Let’s start with the Kickstarter of it all. Every year for the podcast Patreon, Amanda and I do predictions for the coming year, and another episode where we listen to our older predictions from the previous year to find out how accurate we were.

One of my predictions for 2026 was the continued rise of Kickstarter as as a major option for authors who are frustrated by the diminishing returns when self publishing, particularly as a platform exclusive, and by the diminishing returns of working with a publisher when shelf space continues to shrink and mass market, the format most associated with historical romance, died this year. When a publisher like Harlequin can’t meet the demand for paperbacks of Heated Rivalry, one of the greatest romance television adaptations of all time, and in the same year, “After the End,” an author collective Kickstarter, crossed $1.4 million in sales, it’s not difficult to understand the increasing appeal of Kickstarter.

As I learned in my interviews with Lucy Eden and Katee Robert (507. Romance Kickstarters) and with Oriana Leckert (620. Romance and Kickstarter) Kickstarter offers a greater percentage of money than other available options (short of setting up a mimeograph machine for publishing books, which would come with the added benefit of having That Smell we remember from school).

Oriana Leckert, who is the Head of Publishing at Kickstarter, said during our interview,

…I think two, two really, really key things that make Kickstarter very special for authors is that our cut is five percent.

Sarah: Yep.

Oriana: Five percent. Also we have Stripe, who processes our payments; they take three to four percent. Even so, you’re paying less than ten percent in fees, which is so much less than you’re paying to any other avenue through which you might sell your books

Another benefit to Kickstarter that I still think about: data. As Leckert explained it,

Kickstarter is in the business of giving you your audience…. [A]s we see the continued fracturing and dissolution of social platforms, as we watch these, like, you know, mercurial to malevolent executives with a flick of the wrist change their algorithm in a way that now that, like, you know, a hundred thousand strong audience that you’ve worked so hard for, you can no longer access, or not as effectively.

…If you run a Kickstarter campaign, first of all, during the campaign you get a tremendous amount of data about where your backers are, where they’re coming from, are they using desktop or mobile? What time of day are they backing? Which of your promotional avenues have reached them? And then afterward you get everybody’s email addresses! You get to send them surveys. You get to ask them all sorts of questions….

[H]olding onto those direct avenues to reach your readers is so much more important than ever. This is something that we can do for our authors that Amazon’s not going to give you.

Kickstarter is also an excellent way to test new ideas, as Katee Robert explained: “I’m going to be circling back to Kickstarter a lot in the future, just because it’s a very interesting platform and, and if it doesn’t fund, it doesn’t fund, and then you do something else.

So that’s the Kickstarter part. But as I said, a subscription box of historical romance special editions is also dead center of an intersection of other major trends: special editions (obvs), Rrrrrrrromantasy market saturation, and the future of historical romance.

I’ve said many, many times, per the Bruce Springsteen Law of Publishing, “everything dies, baby, that’s a fact. But maybe everything that dies, someday comes back.” In other words, no genre ever dies. They come back in a different form. Like Pokémon. Just like how New Adult was Chick Lit re-invented for readers coming of age in a terrible economy instead of a good one, or how romantic suspense with military and law enforcement heroes, which used to be everywhere, seem to have given way to a mafia and unaffiliated special ops heroes. No genre dies, but it will evolve before it comes back.

The historical romance genre is not in terrific shape in terms of market strength, to put it mildly. But it’s not dead — the mass market paperback is dead, but not historical romance, even though it was most published in that trim size and at that price.

So how might the JQ Editions affect the state of historical romance? Could historical special editions reinvigorate the historical romance audience? Or will the audience for historical special editions be found with established historical romance readers who have deep ties to the genre, and to specific books?

Both, possibly?

First, special editions are, as the memes say, so hot right now, and have been for a few years. Moreover, readers on social media who are likely to be part of the special edition audience have been ‘rediscovering’ historical romances because the internal conflicts coupled with the external class structure produce a lot of yearning and pining. The new trend of “Who put all this pining in historical romance?” reader engagement only helps a project like JQ Editions. The same readers who adore special editions of much loved Rrrrrrrromantasy titles may also seek out special editions of historical romances that are still popular.

The thing about special editions, though: they’re more aesthetic than practical. No one is going to sit down with a special edition book with end papers, art, and spredges (drink!), and start reading while eating cheeze puffs. Cheeto dust + special edition = rage bait.

A special edition isn’t necessarily a reliable discovery mechanism, either: the goal of a special edition is to reach fans of the book with a unique artifact of that book’s popularity and virality. Which leads me back to audience.

The audience for a historical romance special edition would have to include historical romance readers, obviously. Many historical romance fans are collectors of romance as well – specific cover artists, models, or entire backlists for beloved authors. Historical romance is a older genre with books that have been favorites for literal decades. Some readers may be very excited to have unique art editions of their fave, simply because the special edition trend finally includes them

Attaching the artistic enhancements of a special edition to a book that has been a reader favorite for most of their adult lives? I hope Quinn picks some old favorites because if she’s picking books that have Big Reader History attached, the subscription Kickstarter could do very, very well. I’ll bet folding money, as my sister says, that there will be loud and ample calls for Kleypas editions, particularly Devil in Winter.

This may be a fusspot feature of my age and perspective, but personally, I want less stuff in my house, not more. So I haven’t been in the audience for special editions, and everything I say must be taken with a Volkswagen-sized grain of salt here. But even though I am pretty selective about stuff resides in my home, I am so, so curious to see which books are selected, and what they’ll look like, and how they’ll be decorated and styled. (Lol – that’s like a whole new job category, right: “book stylist.”)

Special editions are fandom artifacts, gorgeous representations of a specific book’s popularity at a moment in time. They also assign more visual cues to a three-dimensional book than mere cover and copy: the art and motifs on the cover or the spredges (drink!) visually communicates so much more about the story. And they’re usually gorgeous! Luscious paper, textured cover treatments, art and designs in lavish colors you can see from across the room – they’re meant to appeal to our senses and our experience with that particular story. Special edition treatment for historical romance could potentially aid in the evolution of the historical romance genre, especially if the titles included mix enduring favorites with titles that are part of historical romance’s evolution in progress.

A special edition has more opportunity to signal to a reader what’s inside, and it’s usually aimed at a reader who already knows that what’s inside is special to them. I am extremely curious to see what titles are included, and what they’ll look like.

What about you? Would you be interested in special editions of historical romances? Which one?! Are you interested in JQ Editions?


The Last Lady B
A | BN | K | AB
Update: I found a mention of a potential lead title from a Bluesky post back in October.

Bookish Notes shared a cover image and a screenshot of some marketing copy from the publisher about Eloisa James’ next book, The Last Lady B. 

The marketing copy includes:

POTENTIAL SUBSCRIPTION BOX PLACEMENT: THE LAST LADY B is being heavily considered to launch Bridgerton author Julia Quinn’s (IG: 520K, FB: 407K) new subscription box. This would include a beautiful, deluxe hardcover edition that would publish simultaneously with our edition! Since this would be the first book ever chosen for this new box, we would benefit from any publicity surrounding the launch in addition to our own publicity.

MODERNIZED HISTORICAL: Eloisa is modernizing herwriting to attract today's romance readers. She will be shifting her narration to first person, which is the preferred style of today's readership, and will be incorporating a gothic twist into this historical romance to give it a fresh edge. TL 50 F no do te F STAR-STUDDED NETWORK: Eloisa is closely connected with Sarah MacLean, Julia Quinn, Lisa Kleypas, Evie Dunmore and many more popular romance authors. We can expect these authors to offer winning blurbs and social media support through pub day. Her many connections will also be useful in finding conversation partners for events with Eloisa. POTENTIAL SUBSCRIPTION BOX PLACEMENT: THE LAST LADY B is being heavily considered to launch Bridgerton author Julia Quinn's (IG: 520K, FB: 407K) new subscription box. This would include a beautiful, deluxe hardcover edition that would publish simultaneously with our edition! Since this would be the first book ever chosen for this new box, we would benefit from any publicity surrounding the launch in addition to our own publicity.
source: bookish-notes.bluesky

The original post also notes that this is a historical romance in first person:

A post from bookish notes on bluesky that reads I just don’t know who the cover is for when you’re keeping the person covers on trade paperbacks but make it illustrated in the same style but it’ll be first person POV which I know isn’t the norm for histrom but makes me go Julia Quinn also has a new book box subscription starting up below is a picture of the illustrated cover, a woman in a yellow dress on a windy hill with a white scarf blowing back as she looks over her shoulder. Her hair is also going to be a nightmare to brush later. the second screenshot is the marketing plan, alt text is in the post

This is the cover, if you’re curious:

The last Lady b Cover - a woman in a yellow dress with a white scarf standing on a windy hill with a castle behind her. she's looking over her shoulder at the reader and her hair is going to be an absolute nightmare to comb after all that wind.

Launching with a new historical romance (in first person – that’s kind of a big deal) from a very popular author in a special edition would be an interesting strategy for the first box, and aims to capture some of the groups I mentioned above: fans of an author, fans of historical in general, and possibly potential new historical readers. I know many folks who make buying decisions based on hating first person pov, so I can only assume there are an equal or greater number of people who make buying decisions based on adoring first person pov.

Seriously, this remains so fascinating for me. It’s like a bunch of things I think about all the time colliding in front of me. Thanks for coming along for the ride.


Updated 29 December: Three of the launch titles have been announced! Per Instagram, they are:

I’m pretty sure the boxes will each be one book, similar to other book boxes, so I’m not certain what months these would be – but oooh, boy, I am curious to see the art.

Dec. 26th, 2025 04:53 pm

Shortwave

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[personal profile] soemand
Listening to Encore, a classical radio show broadcast via wrmi on 15770khz.

Signal clear at S7, with the choir singing through the ionosphere.

For anyone interested; the schedule is at https://www.tumbril.co.uk/ — there are rebroadcasts on both wrmi in Florida and channel 292 in Germany.
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Dec. 26th, 2025 11:48 am

debunking inklings

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People say...

- that you could prop up a tabletop rigid heddle loom between your legs and the table's edge. Sure, but perhaps not this one, which is palm-sized.

- that you need multiple shafts to weave certain motifs. It's like saying that you need a bed frame, boxspring, and foam mattress for sleeping, or chairs with rigid frames and a table of a certain height for eating a meal. You might like having them, you might consider them status markers, your cultural expectations may've blocked off other options, but one does not need them in an absolute sense.

Here's Kyoung Ae Cho preparing to weave houndstooth using a backstrap and several sets of string heddles. A meaningful percentage of the work is completed during the warping stage.

(If her setup goes too fast in that video, try her basic setup howto. It shows the interim uses of lease sticks and which things are tied provisionally, then undone. What she does is unfamiliar to me but looks much like the setup used by a Kazakh weaver whose reels Instagram keeps tossing my way---a Kazakh weaver who's a quarter ethnic Korean by heritage, part of the Koryo-saram community. Coincidence? I've no idea.)

- that you need multiple shafts, part two: here's someone with Atelier Fagelbo (Japan) weaving basic houndstooth with a rigid heddle on a tabletop/box loom. They don't show how to dress the loom because they'd like you to buy the loom and their many photo pages of directions (no thanks), but it is proof of concept.

- that you mustn't fuss with the warp (except to repair a broken warp thread) once a loom has been dressed and weaving has begun. I've undone the basic knotted warp from the large 8-dent heddle that shipped with my 10" Beka beginner frame, rethreaded the warp through a heddle with the right size of reed (12 dent), and added a few weft rows to what was provided by Beka staff. Much better. The original plan was to use someone else's warp and not only learn but save my hands. An 8-dent heddle with what looks like #4 or #8 cotton is pretty clunky. (#10 cotton, only slightly thinner, is "bedspread cotton" for mid-C20 crochet patterns.)
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Dec. 26th, 2025 11:11 am

Peopling win-ish

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[personal profile] susandennis
As planned, I puzzled. While I was out there, Joan came out and as usual asked a bunch of nosy questions most of which I dodged. And then set on her list of complaints du jour. Top today was that "the IRS will no longer accept checks so I have to get an account but I can't set it up and my daughter tried for hours yesterday and couldn't do it either."

The subtext here - which she actually tried me on last April - is I need you to get on my computer and set up my IRS account. How many ways can I say NO FUCKING WAY EVER????? Her daughter is an attorney. Her grandson is an IT manager for a large bank. And you want to give me your social security number and have me go on your computer and do the job for you? And then, when you forget how to do it, come back and do it all again? Every quarter? Sure, I'm up for that. Not.

And...as I told you last April,Joan, your premise is incorrect. The IRS website - IRS.gov/payments clearly states that while they would like you to set up an account and pay electronically, here are the

Other ways you can pay

Same-day wire — Bank fees may apply
Check or money order — Through U.S. mail
Cash — Through a retail partner and other methods can

So I printed it all out for her - large font. And delivered it.

Nice try, old lady, but you didn't catch me this time.

Plus, in doing that, I that I forgot to attach my printer to the wifi extenders' SSID so that was a whole thing but it's done. And I have quashed Joan's IRS rants. And I did laundry. A good day so far.
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[personal profile] conuly
And very heavy on the dudes. I'm not sure if women don't go into this sort of thing, or if they're just too classy when they do it, and thus don't get onto the playlist. Though I guess it would be strange for lesbians to sing an ode to Jingle Bell COCK. (Emphasis all theirs, and totally unnecessary. We know where the song was going.)


Anyway, in honor of this, I'm posting three belated Christmas videos. The last is Boynton and totally SFW.





This one won't let me embed it.
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In the olden days (like a few months ago), Biggie only really peed once a day and pooped once a day usually in the mornings. Then he got this bladder issue about the same time as I changed the litter. I thought he was just going to the litter box so frequently to play with the new litter but, turns out, bladder issue. Then we switched foods to fix that to a food he does not love. And, in a stroke of genius, I decided to cut back on his OCD medication (and the vet said ok, so dumb and dumber). So for about a week he was all over the place, in and out of the yarn bins, in and out of my lap, in and out of the litter box, running all over the place always and chewing on shit.

SOOOO back onto the daily OCD meds. And the anxiety calmed right down. But then yesterday, he barely moved. When he did, he was chipper, but he spent all day napping in his bed and only got up a couple of times briefly. And no pee. He ate ok and was alert when he did arouse but still.

This morning, he's his normal Biggie. A nice big pee that was not nearly as nearly looking as previous pees. And he ate and he begged for his treat and then he went back to finish his morning nap. We go back to the vet week after next for retest and I'll be a little less stressed then but still, it's Biggie, so there will always be something.

I was going to skip the pool this morning and I still might. I'm lazy and my skin needs a break.

I did not talk to a single soul yesterday and it was lovely. Tomorrow is volleyball and elbow coffee - lots of souls so I think today, I'll go out and puzzle some - ease my way back into people. But, mostly, I'll do my usual stuff right in my lovely little apartment.

20251226_083003-COLLAGE
Dec. 26th, 2025 09:26 am

podcast friday

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[personal profile] sabotabby
 This week's podcast is such inside baseball metapodcasting, but it's one where I've literally emailed the podcasters asking for it, and apparently so did many other people. Bad Hasbara has finally, finally covered the fall of Jesse Brown in "A Jesse Brown Christmas ft. Rachel Gilmore." (I've linked to the video here in case you want to see dogs that I assume appear on screen at some point; here is another audio link).

Of all the public figures who got October 7th brain, Jesse was the saddest for me personally. He was someone I respected a lot as a journalist. He broke the Me to We scandal, which I'd been on about for years, he broke the Jian Ghomeshi story, which friends of mine who are in media circles had been whispering about for years without the clout to speak up, and as the show details, he produced "Thunder Bay," which is one of the best journalistic deep dives that this country's media has done in ages. If anyone could be relied on to be sensible and level headed and critical, it was him. Until his brain melted.

I've had personal correspondence with him (to his credit, he does read everything you send to him and responds, in detail) and that just made me sadder, because as they describe here, a younger Jesse would have eviscerated older Jesse for his backwards logic. In fact many of the journalists he helped make prominent do exactly that, including the fantastic Robert Jago, who you hear at the end. He never really struck me as a person who started from a conclusion and worked backwards to find (or fabricate) evidence, so even when he did questionable shit, like interview people who were against safe injection sites or insist that an immediate return to school during a covid spike was a good idea, I at least listened to what he had to say. Unfortunately, his post-Oct. 7 brainworms throw all of his earlier reporting into question.

This podcast, featuring one of his main targets, is over 2.5 hours long and doesn't even get into everything. (The specific incident I wrote to him about isn't mentioned.) It's really good. Mostly it's very cathartic as a story about someone you thought was cool turning out to, in fact, not be very cool at all, and how you cope with that. I seriously hope he's listening and reflecting.
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An assortment of stories from the late fantasy magazine Unknown, presented in a one-off A4 work.


From Unknown Worlds edited by John W. Campbell, Jr.
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Posted by Amanda

We’re recapping all kinds of stuff this week, and today: our top five podcast episodes from 2025! 

Smart Podcast Trashy Books where we talk about romance novels and cause all sorts of trouble

Looking at the year overall, these are the top five most listened to Smart Podcast, Trashy Books episodes of the year – and thank you to everyone who listened, recommended, shared, and posted about the show. Special thanks to all our Patreon community members, who helped shape this season and keep the show going each week!

Honorable Mentions

Sarah: 656. Every Girl Deserves a Happily Ever After: with Rep. Stacey Abrams and Princess Mabel van Oranje

My inner 13 year old is still not chill about this. Stacey Abrams and Princess Mabel van Oranje are incredible. It was also fun to hear from listeners in the Netherlands react to seeing one of their royal family on the show!

And 670. I Shouldn’t Be Telling You This with Chelsea Devantez of Glamourous Trash

I loved reading this memoir, and I loved talking with Chelsea about it, and I REALLY loved how many people listen to both of our shows!

Top Five

5. 652. Smart Bitches Turns 20 with Candy Tan (January 31)

My guest today is Candy Tan, who 20 years ago co-founded Smart Bitches Trashy Books with me. Yay!!

We’re looking back at the founding of SBTB, about her reactions to Bridgerton, and her perennial favorite romances. We talk about different ways that romance has changed since 2005. Then I show Candy the casting photos for the Black Dagger Brotherhood adaptation.

4. 668. Hot Takes with Sarah & Amanda (May 23)

Inspired by a recent episode of The Sam Sanders Show, Amanda and I are sharing our own hot takes and possibly controversial opinions about romance.

We’re talking:

  • Third act bleak moments!
  • Transcending the genre!
  • Rom coms!
  • Cozy things!
  • Conferences and gatherings!
  • Accessories for Readers!

3. 658. Romance and Penetrative Sex: A Conversation With Jane Buehler (March 14)

Today brings a vulnerable and honest conversation about the prevalence of penetrative sex in romance, and what happens if a writer decides to create a character with pelvic floor pain, for whom that kind of sex isn’t possible? Let’s find out!

Jane Buehler’s new book, The Fire Apprentice, is out this week, and we’re going to talk about the book, and the series. But we’re also talking about the asexual spectrum, body changes from menopause, reactive desire, and kegels!

2. 664. Haunted Abbeys and Hidden History with Alexandra Vasti (April 25)

Alexandra Vasti is the author of Earl Crush, Ne’er Duke Well, and the Halifax sisters series, and she joins me to talk about activism in history and about haunted houses, historical lesbians, and historical erotica.

And, the number one, most popular episode of 2025?

1. 650. “I’m Going to Keep Daring” – Romance and History with Joanna Shupe (January 17)

Joanna Shupe posted a TikTok on November 11, 2024, in response to angry readers chastising her for writing in her newsletter about her disappointment with the election results. I have included the audio with her permission.

She says in her comments that she could teach a whole class about the parallels between the Gilded Age and the current political and cultural climate, which I am calling The Dumpster Age. I reached out and said, “I can’t offer a class, but how about a podcast episode?”

Joanna was kind enough to walk us through some of the parallels between then and now that give her some despair, and how infuriating it was to have readers scold and chastise her for expressing in her newsletter a perspective that she already thought was pretty clear from, you know, all her books about the Gilded Age.

What do you think of the top five? What episodes were your favorites this year? Let us know what you’d like to see next year!

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