The perfect one-liner can get you sucked in to almost anything, (insert catching one-liner here😜) . This episode we picked our books based solely on the first line of the story, and we got some good ones! There's murder, magical realism, secret identities, secret magic schools, an age gap marriage, witches, and the hunt for the truth.

Books Discussed:

The Witch Haven by Sasha Payton Smith

Things We Do In the Dank by Jennifer Hillier

It's our HUNDREDTH full episode, call y'all believe it, becuase we can't!

We picked some award winning books, well one finalist, to bring you this week. Not just anyway, the Pulitzer! Did you know only one book wins a year, we didn't but we do now.

There are some heavy topics today to check the trigger warnings below. Today is all about some interesting characters, some possible snow magic, loss, love, and figuring out who we are and who we want to be.

Books Discussed:

A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole

The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey

Trigger Warnings: Suicide (attempt, success, and idealization), racism and serotyping, sexism, infertility issues, child loss (still birth).

Please listen at your own discretion, we understand this episode may not be for everyone.

Apologizes dear listeners, we know we're a day late this week, but we found ourselves stuck in a fairytale and couldn't get out. Thankfully it wasn't as dark as the fairytales we're covering in the week's episode.

Turns out the power went to Dorothy's head and somehow a house has chicken legs. Both are being hunted in one way or another, and who knows which will survive.

Books Discussed:

Dorothy Must Die by Danelle Page

Thistlefoot by GennaRose Nerthercott

Our last April mini takes us into some crime fiction. There's murder, there's fraud, there's infidelity, if it's not a great thing to do, this book probably has it. Rachael tells us about the top 2 of the 12 short stories.

Book Discussed:

Seasonal Work by Laura Lippman

Mixing it up this week and covering the same book, but on purpose this time! One was on kindle and audio, the other in paper back. One read it in a day, the other struggled a little. The book has you questioning if you'd open your door and let in a stranger during a storm. Personally, we'd never, but we can see why our main character did. The story unfold in about a day, so listen in!

Book Discussed:

Someone Else's Life by Lyn Liao Butler

April minis bring mini stories. Kristia is kicking us off with a collection of short stories about the lives of Cambodian-Americans and what it's like finding your place in the world being a child of an immigrant.

Book Discussed:

Afterparties by Anthony Veasna So

There's nothing quite like family, and this episode we've got some family drama for ya. There's an unexpected half sister, an unexpected werewolf transformation, a police investigation, and estranged sister relationships. Truly, there's a lot for unpack here, come along for the ride.

TW: Death of a parent (father), infertility issues.

Books Discussed:

Such Sharpe Teeth by Rachel Harrison

The Half Sister by Sadie Jones

And happy birthday to all the other March babies out there. We may be biased but March is the best month to have a birthday! This episode we each gifted the other a birthday book. One is paranormal, one is set in India, one has some romance, the other has a woman who may have killed her husband.

TW: Animal Abuse, Domestic Violence, Rape. These are all from Rachael's book, they are mentioned in the episode but we do not go inot detail. Her section begins 20 minutes into the episode.

Books Discussed:

Sleep No More by Jayne Ann Krentz

The Bandit Queens by Parini Scroff

The theme of this season is tackling our physical TBR, so this episode we picked books that have been sitting on our shelves for quite some time. Rachael has a repeat author, a mute child with only one eye, and a cold case disappearance. Kristia's book was been on her shelf for three years. It's a love story with incredibly wealthy New York teenagers. There are horses, parties, and heartbreak.

Listen in to see if these should have stayed on the shelf or not.

Books Discussed:

We're All The Same In The Dark by Julia Heaberlin

Anna K by Jenny Lee

These books had a lot more in common that we thought they would. There are neighborhood book clubs and a lot of secrets, secrets that could destroy lives.

Books Dicussed:

The Neighbor's Secret by L. Alison Heller

Never Have I Ever by Joshilyn Jackson

Another mini episode all about love. Kristia's book centers on two contests on an amateur cooking show. One is recently divorced from the only person she's ever been with and the other has dated anyone since they came out as non-binary three years ago. And in a dash of stress and excitement from filming and you've got a recipe for love. See what I did there ;)

Book Discussed:

Love and Other by Anita Kelly

Who doesn't love when a cold case starts to warm up and we learn whodunit. This episode we've got two fiction cold cases for ya. One evolves a pregnant teenager who was found in a dumpster, even though her mom is a judge, no one ever looked very hard at who her killers was, until now. The other has a woman pretending to be a potential murders daughter, but jokes on her, he more with it than she thinks, can she connect him to these crimes or will she be his next victim - dundun.

Books Discussed:

Paper Ghosts by Julia Heaberlin

Girl Forgotten by Karin Slaughter

Its a mini episode month! And as Hallmark tells us, it's the month of love. Rachael is kicking us off with an adorable love story about an editor and her mystery lover that she's slowly falling for has he edits her manuscript.

How much cuter could it get?!f

Book Discussed:

Meet Me in the Margins by Melissa Ferguson

We learned a new genre, work fiction, and so now here we are. This episode the characters in our books have a job that is carrying the story, or at least as a very centralized part in the plot. Kristia's main character works in Hell, literally. The coffee machine is always broken, and none of first five pens you try will work. While Rachael's character is a high powered lawyer who snaps a bit and takes a job as a maid. The only issue here is she doesn't know how to clean, or cook, or any of the basic skills one would need to work as a maid.

Books Discussed:

Sign Here by Claudia Lux

The Undomestic Goodness by Sophie Kinsella

Happy 2023!

This episode we're reading books that we were gifted for the Holiday. Rachael got a winner about a father and daughter who are living off the gride in the forest, but everything starts to go wrong when a lost teenager shows up on their property. Kristia's book has so many lies and half truths, it's hard to know who you can trust. Which character is actually the mastermind and is someone actually dead?

Books Discussed:

There Silent Woods by Kimi Cunningham Grant

Every Last Secret by A.R. Torre

As the year wraps up we're getting ready to see what the future holds. Hopefully it doesn't follow the path of either of these stories. There is a city in the sky, children held as hostages by an AI, holograms, war, and goats, a lotta goats. Oh, and water crisis all around.

Books Discussed:

The Scoripion Rules by Erin Bow

The Ones We're Meant to Find by Joan He

Our last mini for the year is here! Rachael wraps up our December minis with a ten year cold case of a missing boy. This story takes place in what could be any small town, with any ole Middle Town Sheriff Department. Everyone's stories are intertwined and no one's secrets are safe today.

While this may be a dark and twisted story, we hope your December is wonderful. Wishing you and yours a festive time. Stay Safe Night Owls! -R&K

Book Discussed:

The Deep, Deep Snow by Brian Freeman

As the New Year approaches we'd like to take a look back, into the past, and by that we mean read a book or two set back in the day. Rachael's book was turned into a movie and has very mixed reviews. We love her main character and want only for the best, but when you're called the Marsh Girl, life is a bit hard. Kristia's book is by the Queen of Mystery, everyone dies and she has no idea who could have done it (a real head scratcher if you will).

Books Discussed:

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie

Minis are back and with that, let us introduce our very original idea of 'snow'! Kristia is starting us off strong with a meet cute that takes place in an unlikely March snow storm. Spanning a year our main characters continue to run into one another, like it's fate one might say. You'll want to shake these characters while you fall in love with them!

Trigger Warnings: death of a friend, aging/sickly parents, postpartum depression (all mentioned lightly in this episode)

Book Discussed:

Eight Perfect Hours by Lia Louis

This episode we're covering Peter Pan retellings. One is all about if Wendy never went to Neverland with Peter but instead went with Captain Hook. The other is 2 generations after Peter first visited Wendy and Wendy's granddaughter's life now.

The moral of both stories is that Peter isn't as great as Wendy and the stories made him out to be.

Books Discussed:

Straight On Till Morning by Liz Braswell

Darling, Girl by Liz Michalski