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6th Annual Smut Report Superlatives
8 Plays10 minutes ago
It’s a new year, which means it’s time to look back on the past year. We were tired and found comfort in books. We were tired and struggled to read books. But no matter what, we reaffirmed how much we love to read and talk about books. So instead of a best-of list, we bring you without further ado: The Sixth Annual Smut Report Superlatives.
Superlatives in list form can be found at smutreport.com/podcast
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Transcript
Introduction and Theme Song Mimicry
00:00:00
Speaker
Also, it's just entertaining. i can hear about somebody like choosing to put gum in someone else's pockets and people thinking it's romantic for hours. yeah like What is that choice? I don't even i know. i don't. I cannot.
00:00:11
Speaker
ice It still sticks with me. ah No, guys, with the puns, I can't. Sorry. Na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-smart
Annual Superlatives and Book Categories
00:00:23
Speaker
report.
00:00:24
Speaker
Hello, and welcome back to the Smart Report podcast. It's that time of year where we talk about, we and everyone else, talk about all our most favoritest things this year. And our least favoritest things, and well but mostly our favoritest. So we tend to do things a little bit differently here at The Smart Report.
00:00:47
Speaker
And we simply decided to have superlatives that feature a variety of different categories. Because how do you pick any one book for any one thing?
00:00:57
Speaker
Some are just notable because they are. Or they're like a consistently, I want to say three star, but I feel like three star is fine. They're consistently good book author that you've are happy to pick up but you're not going to be like oh
Introducing Hosts and Belly Laugh Books
00:01:13
Speaker
my most five-star book of the year so we want to shout out to lots of different things so here we are with the sixth annual it is a sixth annual right smart report superlatives oh my god have we been doing this for six years yeah but just the superlatives i feel like this superlative oh my god anyway anyway i'm erin i'm holly
00:01:35
Speaker
And I'm Ingrid. Without further ado, let's get started. so we like to start off our superlatives with the books that gave us the biggest belly laughs.
00:01:47
Speaker
And like full disclosure, sometimes we've been like, well, I didn't really have Belly laughs this year. So these are just the funniest books this year. ok Yeah, we're trying not to get too literal. Yeah, it's hard. It's really hard for us. Well, mine did actually make me laugh out loud. it was ah one of the most delightful books that I read all year. And it was A surprise book in a series that I thought was done. Not That Ridiculous by Isabel Murray.
00:02:18
Speaker
And it is about a crotchety coffee shop owner who acts like a septuagenarian, but he's like 30. Who... ah who realizes that he's fallen in love with the much younger handyman who he thinks is straight. And he's like, oh, no. And then the handyman is like, maybe I don't want a flat white. Maybe I've been
Humor and Horror in 'Swordheart'
00:02:42
Speaker
dreaming about your latte. And all I've been thinking about forever is your latte. And I really have been wanting to order a latte, but I've been worried about ordering a latte.
00:02:51
Speaker
There's just like all this innuendo. And it's so fun. And then they find dead bodies. in the bedroom because that is... Well, it's an ongoing thing where the handyman character had found the bodies while doing a renovation in the first book's house.
00:03:11
Speaker
And it was a whole thing. And the bodies were old. They found out that the bodies were old. And so they never solved the mystery of where these bodies came from in this like quaint little English village because, of course, it's a quaint little English village. Of course. And so this also puts to rest the mystery of who who was the murderer. Yeah. even though the bodies are much older.
00:03:31
Speaker
So it was really fun. That sounds awesome. I remember you talking about it and all the punny innuendo and it was, that was memorable. It's just so, it's one of those kind of self-aware humors that I just really love. Okay. Anyway. Anyway. Holly, what was yours? So mine was Swordheart by T. Kingfisher. And it was the first Kingfisher I read. And I got it on NetGalley
Unique Humor in 'Bound to Fall'
00:03:58
Speaker
because they did the like the re-release of it with the like the beautiful new extra deluxe version. The sprayed edges and a new cover and etc. etc. And I laughed out loud.
00:04:12
Speaker
Or at least I said in my review that I laughed out loud. And I believe it. Because, yeah, if you haven't read Kingfisher, she's like, it's really funny, but also a little bit horror adjacent. You're like, wow, this is really funny, but oh my god, there's a gelatinous ooze monster?
00:04:31
Speaker
um But anyway, Swordheart is about, i mean, she they say she's middle-aged. She's like, she's 30, but it's in fantasy world, so we think we can call it, you know. And she is just like so over everything and ah tries to commit suicide with this random old sword she finds, except when she unsheathes the random old sword, he becomes a person.
00:04:55
Speaker
And...
00:04:58
Speaker
So it's about a guy who is also a sword and a woman and they go on an epic fantasy road trip to get a good lawyer to to do like a fight about somebody's inheritance. That is pretty funny. It's like, so it's really fun and delightful. And it introduced me to the wonderful world of T. Kingfisher. And then I continue to read all of her books. That's awesome.
00:05:25
Speaker
That was it. That was the gateway and probably probably the funniest of her books that I've read. all
Thought-Provoking Books Discussion
00:05:31
Speaker
right right how about you ingrid well i'm glad you asked you guys probably don't remember this one but bound to fall by ak kajano with the really sweet intense religious himbo that i yeah we have talked about for like 40 minutes anyway i stopped so here's the thing ak kajano i feel like some people love ak kajano and some people are like ah ak kajano And I can totally see both perspectives, but, like, this author does something where they break the... What they call it? Break the fourth wall. the fourth wall.
00:06:04
Speaker
Yeah. So yeah they do that routinely, which this is why it tickles my funny bone, because... As we know, i did this fantasy binge this year. And they'll put these little asides in that are kind of like making fun of fantasy and like romance in the book. And this book had that plus this really charming little himbo who was just like, he drank milk. Like I i still can't get over like that he doesn't know how to drink alcohol. Gets so drunk and then thinks that she carried him home. It's so funny. It was so charming and funny. And I just got such a kick out of it. Yay. It's the equivalent of like playing on playground equipment as an adult. It's that absurd and silly and fun. And if that does not sound fun to you, you probably won't like those books. But I got a big kick out of it. Nice.
00:06:52
Speaker
Yeah. Nice. All right. So the next one is the the book that made me think the most. And going to say hard time. Oh, OK. Why? Why? I'm going to say a hard time because it didn't glamorize something that's a real life experience for people. And it still made it romantic without smoothing off all the rough edges. It had a lot of realism to it And then on top of it, we talk all the time about how important it is. I think a lot of reviewers and a lot of readers tend to, they have an inability to take off or swap out reader lenses. So it's like, well, if I don't like it, it's because it's a bad book. They don't sit and think about it and try to like, Try different lens on. What if I look at it from like, why is this character doing what they're doing? Is it a bad literary choice or is it the correct action for this specific character? Is this action, do I not like the action or is it actually a bad choice by the author? Right. Does that make sense? Is it like a piece of Right.
00:07:46
Speaker
And so with this one, like the main characters do stuff in the book and you're like, that's so so, why did you do that? But it makes sense for the characters. And I just remember having the best conversation with you guys about it because it was like so meaty.
00:08:00
Speaker
Mm hmm. and I just it really really made me think and i remember that book vividly and I almost never remember books so I feel like that book i just really sat with me and I felt like it was a brave choice and it shouldn't be a brave choice but I feel like whenever you see authors who aren't afraid to depict characters realistically and give them a happily ever after that really does feel good at the end like I think that's That's pretty cool. And it's by, I just looked it up for Ingrid. It's by Kara McKenna.
00:08:29
Speaker
And just as an FYI, the characters meet while the main male character is in prison. So
Historical Romance and Happy Endings
00:08:37
Speaker
he's a- And she's working there. And she's working at the prison. Yes.
00:08:41
Speaker
Yeah. Okay. Well, i like that. I actually, i think I read quite a few books this year that made me think in different directions. Just like, what's romantic about this? Or, oh, this is definitely a problematic element. i I want to try to avoid using the word problematic and use something that's more clear. Yeah.
00:09:02
Speaker
But yeah whatever. this is problematic, but this was really good or cool or interesting. But the one that I chose ended up being Goaltender Interference by Baran.
00:09:16
Speaker
And it's book four in the series of all these hockey books. And it was the most angsty. Yeah. is dealing with this goalie who was basically forced to retire because he realized that his injuries, they weren't like career ending injuries, but they were enough to make him the backup goalie as opposed to continuing his career, you know, in net. And he did not handle it well. Yeah.
00:09:45
Speaker
ah Like he had completely not prepared for the next thing in his life. And on top of that, he is a closeted player and had had a relationship with another player years before. And when his ex proposed, they broke up and neither one of them really ever recovered from that. And so it was just a lot of thinking about all of the mental health choices, basically, that these characters had made over time. And like Matt, the one guy, was he had some people pleasing stuff going on. So that wasn't great. And Aiden, the hockey player, you know, like I already said, he was clearly not preparing himself for the next stage of his life. And then ended up in a depressive spiral after he retired. And then on top of that, this is the one where I was reading it and I was like, uh, bros sounds pretty autistic.
00:10:43
Speaker
but ma And this is the one where the author was like, all these reviewers keep on saying this character sounds autistic. And i was like, huh? Yeah.
00:10:54
Speaker
And so that was interesting, too, because i am not unfamiliar with autism personally. And so i was reading, I was like thinking about how a lot of therapy regarding learning how to handle your mental health when you're dealing with And neurodivergence and life changes and all this stuff can be so helpful. And so many people still don't necessarily access them when they need them.
00:11:21
Speaker
have access to them. So it was like heavy. Sorry. Okay. The book I chose for, book that makes you think, is Marriage Bargain with the Compte by Parker J. Cole.
00:11:32
Speaker
And this is a Harlequin historical. And it stuck in my head for a ridiculous reason. I picked it up because the cover is so beautiful. And it's a Black romance that takes place. I think the heroine is from Saint-Domingue, Haiti. and But it takes place in France. And the whole plot is about them trying to get in to the good graces of the court of Louis the sixteenth like 10 years before the French Revolution. And the
Swooniest Book Characters Debate
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Speaker
whole time i was like, oh my God, what choice is this? Like, is it HEA even possible? And so I was thinking a lot about, i mean, I think I was pretty snarky in my review because I was just like, they are gonna get beheaded. ah they are gonna get beheaded i hope that they have an exit plan because they're french nobility yeah that's when i always like looking forward i'm like this this is not going to go well when you know too much about history yeah yes so thinking about like what does it mean to think of about happy endings when you know too much about history or too much context and like how do we balance that
00:12:44
Speaker
I don't have an answer for that. it just sparked some stuff. But that was a little more lightheaded than all the stuff that Aaron. Because it was it's also distant. Because I can just be like, well, they're going to get beheaded. But it has no impact on me because this is. But they got to fall in love first. They got to fall in love first. And they had 10 happy years. and And fingers crossed they have an exit plan. Like.
00:13:07
Speaker
Oh, man. But so our next category is book with the swooniest character. And this one, I know we just yelled at Ingrid for her. She had to pick one. I do have two for this. Holly. Because I feel like ha ha I should be able to pick a swooniest male main character and a swooniest female main character.
00:13:26
Speaker
Fair enough. I concur. I'll allow it. You'll allow it. Okay. Perfect. Which one do you swoon for the mostest? Well, which one do i want to be or which one do I want to be with? I always think of this one as which one do I want to be with, but that's interesting. tell me more.
00:13:46
Speaker
well okay Okay, so for the female main character, it's the anonymous letters of C. Forstier. And Isabelle de Torzon is amazing. it's the books by Felicia Devon. But Isabelle de Torzon is the female main character. And she's so mean. And you know, you know, I love i mean. I know. Mean ladies. They just do it for me.
00:14:11
Speaker
and I would say I want to be friends with her, but she has no friends. Yeah.
00:14:16
Speaker
That's just how she does, you know? Yeah. And also she's very sad because she's immortal. And so she used to have friends, but they all died. And she's immortal because she has magic blood.
00:14:26
Speaker
And so also when people drink her blood, they are healed and maybe can also be immortal if they drink enough of her blood. Oh, wow. Yeah. Yeah. So she has an evil bad guy to defeat who like kept her in a dungeon and drank her blood like wine for several hundred years. Yeah. That is sad. Yeah, I know. And so she finds true love and I'm so happy for her and also learns how to have friends. Good for her.
00:14:50
Speaker
but But anyway, she's so great. But the character that I was like, oh, Jack Jackson, which is definitely a normal human name. And he's the hero in dealing with a desperate demon. By Charlotte Stein. and Oh, yes. And he's big and hairy and a demon in a skin suit. And trying so hard to be normal and failing so badly at it.
00:15:22
Speaker
and he... needs hugs but is also like pretty hot and the there's like a scene where the heroine is like looking at him and he's like standing on the porch and like lights a cigarette and like his pants are kind of undone and it's like that paul newman thing and he's
00:15:42
Speaker
ah so i love that for you yeah thank you All right, Ingrid. Mine is The Wolf King by Lauren Paul Freeman. Okay. And it's cool so swoony that in fact, there's two books in the series right now. I think there's going to be more. But i I read them twice this year because I was like, oh my. Yeah. But it's it's one of those things where you go into it thinking the hero is going one person and then it's somebody else. So with this one, Blake is the bad guy and he is bad. Oh, he's just... And you like hate him for the first book. But like the author does such a good job out of nowhere. Like it's not as obvious like out of nowhere of you just being like, oh my. Like...
00:16:25
Speaker
so good it's so good and I just like the plot was really tight I have a feeling that the third book is gonna jump the shark oh no no I know because all of a sudden the plot just goes from like contained to everything yeah it just it's going too big and and they spell out exactly where it's headed and why and I was just like god dang it but you know what the execution in those first two books of the romance the oh Blake is just oh and for He can boss me around it any day of the week. Just insult me all you want. That sounds great. Yes. He, yes. And then he, the way that he like does things for her is so, ah he's so pushy.
00:17:08
Speaker
It's just the worst. anyway Erin, go ahead. All right. Well, I'm going to circle back to it's book three of a trilogy that can't be read as a standalone, really.
00:17:19
Speaker
But Lord Fine is consistently very fine. And this book was no exception. Viscounts and Villainy by Ali Theron. So like I said, third book in the Roaring Twenties Magic trilogy.
00:17:33
Speaker
which is a spinoff of the Magic in Manhattan trilogy. So there's a lot of characters that we've already met that like, you really shouldn't read it alone. But from the beginning, Lord Fine has just been like, he's the kind of grumpy, like, stop making me have feelings. Like you're wrong about me.
00:17:49
Speaker
I'm actually terrible. And then Sebastian is like, you're not terrible. And he's like, no, quit it. So in this book, like for example, y'all, Sebastian is like, there's going to be a fox hunt. You're going to kill an innocent little fox.
00:18:03
Speaker
So Lord Fine in the night sneaks off and sabotages the fox hunt by pouring fox urine all over the forest. So the dogs will get completely confused. And then he comes back and Sebastian was like, you did that just because I said I didn't want to? And Lord Fine is like, been on a thousand fox hunts forever. He's an English lord. Like he's like, foxes are pests. It's not a problem. But Sebastian's like, I knew you didn't want to hunt the foxes. And Wesley's just like, well, you said you didn't like it. And you like those stupid little things. So I had to fix it for you. This is so sweet.
00:18:38
Speaker
I just died. I was like, Oh my God, Wesley. I just find it
Books That Elicited Strong Reactions
00:18:44
Speaker
especially charming that this like grand gesture involves handling fox urine. I just feel like that. Like where did you get all of the fox urine? I think it was because of your training. Like they had some stored in like the kennels to train the dogs or something. And it might not have been urine. It might've been something else that was fox scented, but it was something to like trick the dogs. And he put it like everywhere. ah he like went out for hours in the woods. ah
00:19:11
Speaker
To make sure. Just like dragging a fox pelt behind him. Like hitting bushes with it. That's so sweet. Oh my god. Wesley. I love him so much. Anyway, Allie Theron's got a gift for these heroes that I'm just like, ha ha, snack.
00:19:26
Speaker
Ha ha ha. All right. All right. All right. So we we have this chat amongst ourselves. And so our next category is book most likely to make me text the other smart reporters because what did I just read?
00:19:42
Speaker
i feel like originally this was like the most outlandish things we read, but it has developed also into just like, check me here. Yeah. So I was like, ah what what was it? And I think, Ingrid, maybe you can confirm also. Holly all already kind of confirmed for me. It might have been Embraced by the Emperor by Lily Harlem because this is the book where it's about the Holy Roman Emperor. And I was originally like, ooh, Charlemagne, but it's actually set in like the fifteen hundreds I was like, wait, what?
00:20:11
Speaker
I was like at the trailing off of the Holy Roman Empire. So it features real people. And they have a very messy marriage because he's like engaged to her. And then he's like, no, I'm going to marry Mary Tudor. And then he's like, just kidding. I'm not going to marry Mary Tudor anymore. I'll marry Isabella of Portugal anyway. And meanwhile, she's over here in this book being like, I am fated to marry this king or I will be a nun. and I think the thing that really got me here, i there were a lot of things where i was just like, what is happening right now? But the thing that really got me is that she dies like 10 years after they get married.
00:20:49
Speaker
only Oh, no. Like historically, right? Historically, yeah. Yeah. And they spent part of the book together. just like, this is a choice. What is happening right now? Yeah. I feel like real life historical figure smut is really hard to pull off. Yeah. It's like last year's The Dragon and the Jewel. Remember that? Yes. And I was like, what? Yeah.
00:21:13
Speaker
It's, you know, because we know how they died. yeah and And if you try to romanticize a relationship that isn't kind of known to be romantic, yeah it's just like, what are you doing? Yeah.
00:21:25
Speaker
Right. I mean, I guess it's like romanticizing a relationship where you're like, okay, well, they lived like a long life together. And I can see the ways in which they were partners and supported each other.
00:21:39
Speaker
etc but yeah I feel like it's a choice that not many my authors make and I think that there's a good reason for that yeah I was like ooh historical romance I'm gonna go back to my roots and I was like nope now we're bad
00:21:56
Speaker
Not today. all right. Well, so mine was Providence Girls by Morgan Dante. And this is like a horror romance. And I think it actually can...
00:22:10
Speaker
succeeds as a horror romance which not many books do because its ending is both ambiguous but like hea ambiguous ah but anyway it's basically taken some minor secondary lady characters from lovecraft and given them a relationship except one of them is turning into like a sea monster And the book cover is like mermaid kissing a girl on the beach with like waves. But no, the lady who is turning into a mermaid is losing all of her hair. So like the long, luxurious locks is a big old lie. Like she's turning into a scary sea monster, not a cute little mermaid.
00:22:58
Speaker
I did really enjoy this book but it was it was once it was weird also I um if I knew more about Lovecraft I would have known that it was Lovecraft like before I even opened it yeah but I don't and I was like reading reading reading and then like I got pretty far into it i'm like maybe I should google some of this because it seems kind of familiar and i did i'm like oh oh this is all all lovecraft so there's that but he was a gross misogynist so i'm glad some of his female characters got to have their own story yeah their own arc yeah all right ingrid what you got oh mine
00:23:37
Speaker
It comes as no surprise that it was City of Gods and Monsters, which was so, what did I just read that I had to put it off for almost a year to review it. oh are you going to double this up for your rant too then? Well, yeah i do. I do remember. Yeah. about this Because the alternative is the S.J. Tilly one. But I know what I read with S.J. Tilly.
00:23:58
Speaker
So yeah didn't have any questions about that one. Yeah. This one, i was like, because sometimes I feel like I can be a little. Yeah.
00:24:11
Speaker
facey and or there are reasons why I doubt my judgment sometimes so I appreciate being able to go to the smart report and be like is this make sense to you and usually Holly and is the first one but it's very helpful when I get validation for my gut instinct and this one was really funny because I actually reviewed all of my very detailed notes because I went off on this book for like hours so I think my actual first text was, oh my gosh, this book just did this. And then I said, I'm going to hate read it.
00:24:51
Speaker
And Holly was like, that's a great idea. You just need to have a hate read. Because I was just like, I need to know what happens simply because at this point, this girl had already adopted a dog when she didn't have any. It'd be like a college freshman adopting a dog in a dorm. And this college freshman has a job a local plant shop and decides, well, she'll just keep the dog at the plant shop.
00:25:18
Speaker
As one does because dogs are known for being very independent animals who don't. And this was, yeah. Who are definitely not going to eat the toxic plants at the plant shop. Right. Definitely not. Explain to me what happens when the dog has to go potty. You can't leave a dog unsupervised from like five, six in the evening until the store opens at eight, nine o'clock in the morning. But anyway, that was what started it. And then it just like, I kept thinking it was going to like hit its stride and it never did the whole time. I was like, are you kidding me right now? the whole book the whole book yeah it was a whole thing so anyway one for the team there i did i took one for the team and i just think that it wasn't i mean this is kind of what happens when it's so easy to publish your own books like i'm assuming that it just didn't get you know read as critically as it should have been because the plot holes were pretty easy to catch like even me at my spacious could have
00:26:13
Speaker
caught them quite easily so yeah I mean fully grown adults love this series like it gets really high reviews and it's just very bewildering to me because I'm like are you just like reliving high school because the comments that the hero would make it felt like listening to high schoolers as an adult talk and just being like can you hear yourselves like do you hear yourself talking and it was very bewildering so I spent a lot of the time being like, I'm not sure you guys should be having sex right now. I don't think that is good thing for you.
00:26:45
Speaker
ah I'm a little bit concerned about your futures. I don't think you're thinking this through. i think in five years, you're going be like, man, remember that guy did Or, you know, like, man, remember that girl who put chewed up chewing gum in my pockets? Like, it was a whole thing. Anyway, oh I could go on for hours, but I'm not going to. all right.
00:27:01
Speaker
I'll introduce the next one. The book that was most likely to make me ugly cry. and I'm going to pick Say You'll Remember Me by Abby Jimenez.
00:27:12
Speaker
Because this one was so, so good. I mean, i had, there were a couple of this year that made me cry, which I was like, what I, my Holly? But, um, hey now I know. I know last year you didn't have anything that made you cry. I know i didn't this year. So say you'll remember me because it hits on so many levels. So this was, must be the year of like the realistic characters for me. So the main characters meet in Minneapolis of all places, or Minnesota.
00:27:37
Speaker
And it was one of those books where, you know how there are books where You want them to end up together, but you literally can't think of any way that they're going to be able to do it. Like, they
Realism and Emotional Depth in Characters
00:27:46
Speaker
there's just no way. Like, the relationship is solid from the beginning. Like, they have this first date. It is an amazing first date. And then, literally, it's the night before the heroin moves to California because her mother has dementia. And...
00:28:05
Speaker
And her family is there and they're trying to take care of her. But like, it's just too much. And i I, feel like it was amazing because the way that it talks about family dealing with this was so realistic. Like the dad in the, in the story goes through, I think there's like some infidelity. He's like sneaking out of the house or whatever. hmm.
00:28:25
Speaker
But it's one of those things where like his kids have to cope with like in their head, it's still mom and dad, right? And that he's stepping out on her, but he's like, she hasn't been here for years. Right. My partner's gone. And that there's this part where like he opens up about what it feels like to be in the same house with a woman who has the body of the woman that you've been in love with your entire life and she's not there. and it like was crushing because like simultaneously, this is why I just think this book was so well crafted because simultaneously you have – Samantha and x Xavier, who are who desperately want to be together, right?
00:28:58
Speaker
But they're stuck apart and Xavier's this veterinarian who's like such a squish. He's like so responsible and good and kind and he just is so capable. He's just like, ooh, he just handles everything. So he goes to these conferences just because it's there. Like he doesn't really need to go He just wants to see her because they're supposed to break up because this is never going to work. And it's just the whole thing is about it's like it it's like a romance, but it's also kind of an examination of like time. Yeah. Yeah. The choices you think you have to make when you're in the moment versus the choices that end up really mattering in the long run, you know, because x Xavier is a veteran veterinarian who is in huge amounts of debt because he just bought this veterinary practice. So he can't he can't leave because he can't sell the practice. He's on his own. So at one point he's like, he gets really sick because he's basically working 24 hours a day. I mean, like he is pushing, pushing, pushing and works himself to the point of exhaustion because he's either working at the vet clinic or flying out to see Samantha and like killing himself to do it.
00:30:00
Speaker
And i think there are like three different reasons that I cried in this book alone. It's all about like impossible choices, things that feel impossible. And then like big picture, it's just when there's your own epilogue, right? Like what do you want it to feel like when you look back? And it just, it'll knock your socks off. It's incredibly, incredibly good. It's beautiful book. Ah.
00:30:22
Speaker
Well, mine is not like that. ah I actually was going to have it be Let It Shine by Alyssa Cole, which is set during the civil rights movement. It's set in 1961 and the um Freedom Riders, you know, is part of it. And... I was just sitting there with tears dripping down my face. And then I was looking at my year in books and I was like, where is it? And I finished it on and like December 28th of last year.
00:30:57
Speaker
So definite shout out to Let It Shine by Alyssa Cole. But I ended up with just absolutely sobbing about raccoon shifters. Yeah.
00:31:11
Speaker
oh so the title is the maybe murderer who knocked me up by amy bellows so it's an omega verse and i was just like erin get a grip but so basically this is the raccoon shot i know what it sounds like guys but my heart my heart The raccoon shifter falls in love with the neighbor, who I think is a bear shifter. And they end up sleeping together. And the raccoon gets knocked up. and then as what As they so frequently as yeah one does, yes. And the bear disappears and he goes to prison for murder. And the whole thing is the reason that I was so crying was because Slade has a younger brother who was also an Omega who was addicted to drugs, who ended up in a really bad situation. And called Slade for help and had attacked somebody who was trying to attack him. And the guy died. And so Slade took the rap as being like a protective alpha and went to jail for his brother. So his brother, like he gets out, his brother has this perfect life. He's gotten clean. He's married. And he's just like, I couldn't have done this without you. And like Slade still in like got feelings for the raccoon who has...
00:32:33
Speaker
this baby that he didn't even know about because the raccoon was of course like this guy just went to jail for murder like i'm not gonna tell him that yeah he's a dad so he comes back to a surprise baby and he's lost like several years of watching his kid grow it was just like he tried to be so good and he lost everything sounds terrible but i mean It got better, obviously, like things really picked up for him and he got to have all the things and the brother who got clean and got married. It took a little while to get there, but eventually was like, thank you. So like you gave up so much for me and I can never, ever, ever thank you for what you did. So
Suspenseful and Intense Reads
00:33:18
Speaker
was just a lot of.
00:33:19
Speaker
Yeah, choices, I guess. We're back to the choices people make, but oh man, I was like, why am I crying over raccoon shifters? It's never about the raccoon shifters. It never is. You think it's about the raccoon shifters, but really it's about it's about the yogurt.
00:33:37
Speaker
sorry that's a reddit reference if you don't it yeah i because i thought it was never about the yogurt actually it's not the iranian yogurt not the iranian yogurt anyway all right holly okay so mine is texas destiny ah time la he and you guys are not surprised no never and i'm just and it's like one of those things where if i like stand back i'm like this book is so much nonsense and there's like some confederate ah apologist stuff going on there not as bad as in some of the other books we read but like true there is and
00:34:19
Speaker
It's just like ridiculous. But it does. But like Lorraine Heath can just she just has some magic. And when she's good, she's good. and there's a scene where his name is. Is it Dallas?
00:34:33
Speaker
I don't know. Dallas is the older brother. he's Houston. Is it Houston? I couldn't remember. Yeah. Which stupid city it was, you know, where he's like lying next to the fire, like wrapped up in his blankets by himself with his back to the heroin and like a single tear coat goes down his face. And I'm just like, oh no. And I felt ridiculous in the moment, but it didn't matter.
00:34:59
Speaker
it still worked. like Yeah. Sometimes it just hits. Yeah. I know i i can see what the author is doing. And I'm just like, but it works on me. But you know, continue emotionally manipulating me. Yes, please continue emotionally manipulating me. I mean, Holly, it's not, it's really not your fault that it didn't have raccoon shifters in it.
00:35:19
Speaker
I know. I know. What was I thinking? yeah So our next category is book that kept me on the edge of my seat. And I think this was meant to be about suspenseful reads. Mm hmm. But I high tension, rate high tension. I don't know. I didn't read any romantic suspense, but I picked Fair, Bright and Terrible by Elizabeth Kingston. And I picked it i just because it's a second chance romance, but it has this. moment in the middle where the main male character realizes that what was for him a defining moment in his life was not at all what he thought it was between him and this female and the female main character and it was there it was a lot of like how is this gonna work but like medieval high politics edition
00:36:12
Speaker
Yeah. And also the heroine is a mean lady and I love mean ladies as you know. But yeah, it was just like really good. Like high tension in the plot and in the romance.
00:36:24
Speaker
But like not it's not like super fast. It's very slow paced. So yeah, Elizabeth Kingston is not a super fast paced. Yeah. So I don't know how it kept me on the, but like, so I don't know if it exactly kept me on the edge of my seat, but it did have a lot of tension built into like what was going on in the story.
00:36:42
Speaker
Nice. All right. Well, mine is Road of Bones by Demi demi Winters. Demi Winters. so you know how I like devour books in like a very short amount of time the tension in it says it's there's actually two of them is so intense that I have self-paced for like a week and a half these books because I can't I can't handle it but I can't put it down but I can't handle it but I can't I just can't it's it's obviously romanticity right but um it's this woman who
00:37:14
Speaker
She's with her father and they're clearly in this kind of like dystopian romantic kingdom where if you are found to have magic, then you get stoned to death basically by the king and queens. Sounds kind of intense. Right. And you know in the beginning that like her and her father have moved from village to village. Like she's never, they don't settle places and that they're hiding something. But basically all of a sudden,
00:37:44
Speaker
They get set upon on the road. Father's killed. And she is her father's like, you need to go to this city up north. And so she knows that she's not going to make it if she doesn't have an escort because it's just really unsafe. There's like this.
00:38:00
Speaker
serial killer on the road killing people with magic and you know she's being hunted by the queen's guard and she doesn't really know why she's assuming it's because they think she's magic or whatever the point is is that like she's being hunted up by like different groups of people and anyway so she ends up hiding in the wagon of this ruthless band of bounty hunters basically or like they've rob people and stuff, but they do it on the sly for the government kind of a thing for the king or queen or whatever. Anyway, it's a whole thing, but basically she hides in there and then she's, she's trying to like lie to them while they get her up there safely. But the head of the outlaws is like really big on trust. So if she gets caught in lies, which of course she does, right, then he's going to kill her because he also has this mission that he's doing. And if anyone finds out, then they are put at risk. So this whole thing is like, everybody has ulterior motives and, And then, of course, there's the bigger plot, which involves her coming, you know, traditional romanticcy. one Yeah. But her discovering her magic and that she's the chosen one. Precisely. And the true queen of the realm. Blah, blah, blah. Yeah.
00:39:06
Speaker
But it is so intense. And on top of it, the author layers in that, like, her dad has been suppressing her magic by giving her these leaves to chew. And it's drugs. He's drug he's getting her addicted to a drug. She's
Books That Provoked Rants
00:39:18
Speaker
grappling with the fact that, like, this man who loved her and was trying to protect her. was drugging her the whole time and that she's now, ah she is straight up traditionally addicted to something. And her love interest, his brother died from being addicted to those leaves. It is so intense. And that's before you even get introduced to the the business that goes on with her. so Like I can read a chapter, maybe a night.
00:39:42
Speaker
And then I'm like, oh God, I got to put it down, but I can't put it down. It's so intense. It's so good. It's really good. Sounds like a lot. Sounds like a lot on there. Yeah. Yeah. so I keep on avoiding really intense books. And then always the ones that I'm like, oh, but it was so good. They're the ones that I was like, uncomfortable a little bit. I'm so uncomfortable. But yeah here we are. Well, I ended up, I had a few where I was like, well, I was on the edge of my seat with this one.
00:40:14
Speaker
one of them was kind of a romantic, you know, one of them was like, oh, what's going to happen with a relationship? um But the one I landed on is going to be, it's a series starter. And I ended up binging the holes ah whole series, Where Death Meets the Devil by LJ Hayward. So it's like, spy versus spy or spy versus assassin but make it australian okay ah it was is really fun there's a lot of like political intrigue and you know should i trust this assassin and like oh the assassin's the only guy can trust in this scenario but everybody else is out to get him and just many adventures and lots of explosions and shooting things ah swinging off of tall buildings all the most fun things in your suspense
00:41:01
Speaker
All the most fun things. Yeah. All right. I am on to the next thing then, which is book that inspired the rantiest rant. And i feel like we've entered our I just don't have time for this era, but every now and again. hmm.
00:41:18
Speaker
There is a moment. Mine actually ended up being this year one that we did as a buddy read. So maybe that'll be what ends up happening ah from now on. It's just like, oh my gosh, we all read it together. And I was so irritated. Mine goes back to to the Hoedown Showdown. The Hoedown Showdown.
00:41:36
Speaker
It was Heart in Hand by Rebel Carter. And there were so many things that were annoying about this book. And I feel like we litigated it for hours over an hour and then ended up having to cut out. I mean, we talked about it more than was actually published. It was like there were many things that were Very frustrating about the book, but maybe I'll just boil it down to marketed as a throuple, but it's a swords don't cross book. and what an incredibly messy marriage. Like, why? oh ah Like, what are they doing?
00:42:12
Speaker
But OK. See, OK. So I picked The Pet by Samantha Beneke. Beneke. I don't add don't I don't don't know how to pronounce her last name. I'm sorry, author, if you're listening. I hope they're not. Yeah, I know. i This book made me real mad. And this was one of those ones where like the hero is a vampire and he's doing bad things, but the book is trying real hard to make me think that he's good. ah And I don't like that. It's a fine line.
00:42:45
Speaker
Lean into the bad. Yeah. So you got to lean into the bad if you're going to be bad. And I only read half of it. And like clearly the second half was going to be exploring like dominant stuff, but it was like so heavy handed. and also it did that thing that I think we all don't like where... the characters talk about art and what it means. like, luckily there were no song lyrics, but they talk, but the, the heroine is a painter and they have a thing where like, there's a scene where like he plays piano while she paints and they're like, Oh, my art brings out. your art brings up my art and like have all these conversations about like the things that he sees in her paintings which is like why he stalks and kidnaps her like oh you're evil you kidnapped this lady after you stalked her for years but it's because her art speaks to him and that's what makes him okay but it also means they have a lot of stupid conversations about and you have to listen to it Yeah, and I have to listen to it. And I just want to like see the painting, but probably it's not that good because it's written about. So you want to tell us about your rant, Ingrid? I think we know what it I feel like I'm glad that you've already, you've given me the opportunity to talk about this more. Yeah. The City of Gods and Monsters by Kayla Edwards. I'm not sure that I will find a book that made me, it just, I just want to stress, I'm not going to say much more about this. I'm just going to stress
00:44:10
Speaker
Like the entire plot for part of the book was finding her but her best friend and then and all about how she would like take her place if she could. And then literally like the friend gets like tossed out of the backseat of a car and that's how that gets resolved. And then all along she could have just taken a hunk of silver from a bowl by the front door and asked the spider where her best friend freaking was. It's fine. It's fine. Cool.
00:44:30
Speaker
It's fine. It's a major plot hole, but it's fine. It's fine. Anyway,
Intense and Steamy Scenes in Books
00:44:36
Speaker
so moving along because I don't want to talk about anymore. Book most likely to make me fan myself. So I have more of like a series that I discussed. I think I reviewed one of them too, but it's S.J. Tilly.
00:44:50
Speaker
I'm not saying that I fanned myself because I was like, I'm so into this right now. Like I'm a swept asunder by my feelings.
00:45:01
Speaker
I'm saying that I fanned myself because I was like, oh my, oh, this feels inappropriate. Oh, i don't feel like I can read this in public on my Kindle where no one can see what it is.
00:45:14
Speaker
Multiple times in the comfort of my own home while my entire family was not on the premises, felt compelled to look around to make sure no one could see what I was reading. And I think we talked about it another podcast, but the basic gist is that like – the Nero series, the one where it's like the mafia bad guys, right?
00:45:35
Speaker
They're bad, like really bad and but violent and possessive doesn't cover it. Like stalkers who I don't think they even understand the concept of consent.
00:45:48
Speaker
and do things like tattoo their wives while they're asleep but they drug them first so they don't feel any pain and also spit in their mouths without talking to them first during hanky panky time So, um you know, stuff like that.
00:46:04
Speaker
I will say there's one book in that series that wasn't terrible. It was Hans. yeah If you're going to read S.J. Tilly, you got to hang on till this one, because basically what it is, is there's this guy who they've all been all the bad guys think that this guy is like evil and they've been avoiding him. So he's living in this cul-de-sac. And he's got this neighbor across the street who is adorable. And then she ends up getting boudoir photos taken and has them accidentally delivered to his mailbox instead of her mailbox. And he opens it and sees it and like storms into her house and throws a fit because he's like, who are these for? Because it's SJ Tilly. And next thing you know, yeah carry on.
00:46:47
Speaker
So that's me to make me fan myself. So I'm going to Alessandra Hazard has... some interesting books in general. I haven't read a ton of her stuff, but I know of her reputation. And I've read a couple of her books. ah She has a series, though, called Straight Guys, where she's like playing with the idea of men who identify as straight not being straight. And they're put into very interesting situations. here So the read is Just a Bit Dirty.
00:47:23
Speaker
And it's basically this college exchange student thought that he just wasn't going to have any feelings. And he finds out that he's demisexual. He ends up like having an internship at this CEO's company. And then the CEO is like, of course, the stereotypical, like, I'm too busy for everyone in my life and grumpy about everything kind of CEO.
00:47:46
Speaker
But he's recently divorced and he has sole custody of his child who refuses to talk and has some trauma that they're trying to figure out. But because he won't talk, they're not totally sure what happened when he was with his ex-wife.
00:47:59
Speaker
So there comes a point where he's just like, you, you're going to be my nanny now. And the guy is like the the student who's on the intern is like, wait, wait, what? And so he's like, you're going to move into my house and take care of my child because my child smiled at you.
00:48:17
Speaker
And then it was just like ah kind of a lot of chemistry. And I'm like, how, how is this working? But yeah I was like, well, they're living together. And so the student is like, I'm,
00:48:28
Speaker
I'm having pants feels and like I've never had pants feels before. Will you just like play with my nipples? And the CEO's like, excuse me, what? And it just goes from there. mean, it's like, it's like, yeah.
00:48:46
Speaker
that's a aaron and then it became really intense like oh my god what's gonna happen because some dramatic things happen at the end i was like oh my god so it wasn't it wasn't just sexy horny stuff but hota the oh pushed pushed all my buttons for like pining and swooning and horny horny yeah i guess yeah So my choice is Control by Charlotte Stein. And. Oh, yeah. I knew it was going Charlotte Stein.
00:49:14
Speaker
ah Well, I think I texted you guys about this one yeah because i read it and I have I have never been so flustered reading a book ever, ever. And you guys know that I've read all kinds of stuff.
00:49:29
Speaker
and I mean, i haven't gone into like Aaron level stuff, ah but i i am not noob erotic romance reader. And this book, i it it was like i was really uncomfortable and also a little turned on and like kind of uncomfortable that I was turned on and like just really flustered everything.
00:49:53
Speaker
everything that was happening, especially in the first half. In the first half, I was like, I don't know if I like this. I don't know if I like this. and But then she also pulls it off. And at the end, I'm like, oh, oh, they made it. And I'm having big feelings about them making it. And it's one of Stein's earlier books. I mean, it came out in 2010. So it's older. And it's basically about this woman who owns a dirty bookstore sexually harass harassing her employee like that's what it's about yes i love this like questionable it's questionable it's so it's so questionable and because it's single pov only her perspective for like a solid chunk of the book it's really unclear whether he likes it or not m and yeah there's like some humiliation kink going on and anyway i i it yeah
00:50:51
Speaker
I was fan of myself on all different kinds of levels on this one. I'm just like, i don't I don't know what to do with this. But that does bring
Author Binge and Writing Style Appeal
00:50:59
Speaker
me very neatly into Author I Love to Binge, which was also Charlotte Stein, because here's the deal. I read Dealing with a Desperate Demon, and I'd read the first one in that series, which came out last year, a year ago, which was How to Help a Hungry Werewolf, I think. And I was like, huh, she has like a pretty unique writing voice. So I'm going to read more of her stuff. And I just picked...
00:51:21
Speaker
a random selection of books from the library because she has a really big backlist of indie and small press published stuff before she got picked up by who whoever it was that published when Grumpy Met Sunshine. i don't remember. And it was a whole experience. And then I was writing up the author spotlight that I'm working that's like kind of explaining what her books do because they, at their core, are all very similar. and so I was like pulling up quotes from the books that I read. and I'm like, Oh, wow.
00:51:51
Speaker
Oh, I remember this. Oh, she's so good at this. And then I started reading another set. I got another set of books out from the library. Fantastic. And I'll read like three or four of them and be like, okay, that's your thing.
00:52:04
Speaker
I need to take a break from that thing now. So that's what I've been doing. But also bonus shout out to T. Kingfisher. But I wouldn't call it a binge because her books are harder to get. I waitlisted for all of So like I've read a lot of her backlist since I read Swordheart back in January or February. So throughout the year, I've been reading through her whole stuff, but it's been more spaced out like one a month or, yeah you know, as I can get them. That's yeah, fair. So different kind of binge.
00:52:36
Speaker
All right, Ingrid, who are you going to pick? i Or are you just going to say, here's my genre? Well, obviously, i've been binging the romantic scene. Yeah.
00:52:49
Speaker
I'm having a bit of a time because because i i feel like KF Breen, I have binged multiple times. I read all the backlist of all the my favorites. so but It was like three of her series, which still one of them is a lot. So there you And um I read, the obviously, Throne of Glass, which is good. But I maintain that that one's more fantasy, so i'm not going that one. So the the two that i loved binging were wildly different.
00:53:15
Speaker
And one was the AK Kajana, which I've said because I just thought that she was, like, absolutely absurd. But for the sake of variety... I read a bunch of Harper Woods.
00:53:28
Speaker
who So Harper Woods does fantasy, obviously. And she had this one set or one series that was kind of like gods and goddesses.
00:53:40
Speaker
And it was good. it was classic romanticity genre type stuff. And then I was in a bit of a slump and I was like, well, I might as well expand my horizons. And she has this one that's about witches called The Coven, I think is what it's called. Anyway, man, I got so into like each the thing she did and they were different. Do you know what i mean? So I think i yeah this is what I enjoyed. Sometimes, you know, how you were just saying, Holly, authors have a thing.
00:54:06
Speaker
And then if you binge it, you can't even distinguish the books anymore because they're all kind of like copy paste somehow. yeah Hers the... the vibes were so different, you know, so like some romantic genre staples stay the same. But like in the witch one, she's like with Satan. He's bad. It was just really i just got a kick out of it because I was like, dang, she's really like she does different stuff. The vibe is still there. You can tell it's the same author because of some of the writing style stuff. But like just she just dives right into something totally different. It was interesting. Cool. So it was really fun for me. Yeah.
00:54:43
Speaker
All right. Well, this was easy for me this year because i read 86 books by Mary Calme in six months Were they like pamphlets?
00:54:55
Speaker
No. She does have a fair few novellas. a lot of them were novellas, but she has a lot of series and it's like an interconnected world. So I started reading the Marshalls. i started reading book one in the Marshalls series because it came up in a Reddit thread of like...
00:55:12
Speaker
best friends who are in a relationship but don't know it kind of a thing probably and I was like yep and I hadn't seen seen her name before I don't think so I started reading it it's like off to the races i was like it seems like the boss has a backstory too and of course then there was yeah and she got she's definitely got a pretty consistent she's so interesting I think just some it seems like some sort of traditional values but also some very progressive values all mixed up together and I think the reason that I would just found it like kind of comfort read is because it's very she writes like very optimistic world building where like the people that we want to see in our world will be good
00:56:01
Speaker
And so the good guys win and the bad guys lose. And there there's a lot of like wholesome family building stuff. And it just felt like a hug. It's just like it just yeah.
00:56:13
Speaker
Down the hatch. Nice.
Favorite Buddy Reads and Shared Experiences
00:56:14
Speaker
All right. Well, that brings us to our newer categories. We started this one last year when we we were like, wait a minute, we've done a lot of buddy reads and we should talk about those. So our next category is book that was my favorite buddy read. I think the interesting thing about the buddy reads is that we frequently don't reread books that we've already read. so they're surprises to all of us and therefore they may or may not be successful for us. Yeah.
00:56:42
Speaker
But at the same time, sometimes they're really fun. so you know what I think just for like pure fun i had a good time reading it had good time talking about it I'm gonna go with Maneater by Emily Antoinette and that was one of the books that we read for our Monster Mash redux it was Holly's pick and the female main character was the monster so that was fun i mean she was like a demon shifter so we kind of were like maybe she wasn't really a monster but She was a monster and the hero was a cinnamon roll and consent was so interesting in that book. And it was just like, really? And it was set in the eighty s
00:57:23
Speaker
ah it was just fun it was a fun book yeah thanks holly that's true fun one i'm gonna pick silver lining by maggie osborne because that was probably the best executed book we buddy read this year uh yeah i that was on my list too it was also known as the spoon book like yes we talked about it a lot after we've talked about it a lot Yes, it's true. I'm going to just leave it there.
00:57:52
Speaker
All right. Well, I had three choices, but the three that I was sorting through were hard time, which I've already discussed because I thought we had a great discussion about that one. okay But the two that I was really between were the spoon book.
00:58:06
Speaker
For the same reasons. And the other one for the same reasons was the hating game. So I'm going to pick the hating game just because silver lining probably would be my first choice. But I felt like we really had to battle out a few plot points with the hating game. And it was memorable to me because I felt like it was one of those conversations where this is my favorite thing that we do on the blog is we try not to talk about some of these buddy reads because then we can save it for the conversation. Mm-hmm. When you go into it assuming that someone's going to feel a certain way and then they don't and then you talk about it or when you think you're going go into it a certain way and then you change your mind because you talk about it with somebody else and you're like, oh, wait, actually, you're right. And I feel like what I remember with the hating game was that I feel like Aaron and I went into it and it really refined some of the way that i was thinking about it was talking about it with Aaron. I always think Aaron does such a good job thinking about like, she's so good at pulling back and thinking about what's really truly healthy. Like it's not, she doesn't go straight into like how it feels. Well, but do you know what I mean? Like, cause sometimes I'm just like, Oh, but he loves her. And Aaron will be like, um, no you know what I mean? And then we have this conversation where i'm like, but the character and Aaron's like, but in real life. And it's like, it's good. Like, it makes me think about like, why did I like, why did really like that? Like, what's it? Why did it work for me? So I feel like it's made me a better reader. And so that conversation was really good. And then also I feel like Holly, weren't you the one with the blue walls or something like that? Probably the blue walls really bothered me. Yeah. Cause I went into that book and I was like, this book was so good. And then Aaron was like, but, and Holly was like, but, and I was like, actually, that i still liked the book, but I really had to complete, i had to be like, interesting. And grid you just had a whole knee jerk reaction to that book. Good job. Critical reviewer. And here Aaron and Holly you are like carrying it with thinking things through. it was good. Well, isn't that the one also where Aaron and I also both watched the movie, but you didn't? Yes. Yeah. Yes. So
Reflecting on Favorite Podcast Episodes
01:00:03
Speaker
it was just, I felt like it made for a very juicy conversation.
01:00:06
Speaker
Yeah. But the spoon book for the same reason. I'm just, you know. Yeah. changing They were kind of tied. And I was like, all right, well, if Holly picks that one, all I'll pick the other one. All right. So our favorite podcast we recorded this year. This is going to be really Yeah.
01:00:21
Speaker
And this is a new category. Yeah. so We really have done so many more podcasts, which just for people who haven't been with us since the very wobbly beginnings, we used to do we've always done buddy reads, you know, largely the same way. It's just that back in the day when we were having book discussions, one of us would be like frantically typing in the background so we would like basically take notes on ourselves in the conversation and it was really hard so at one point I think we were like hey you know it would be great if we didn't have to do that anymore and that's really this is I feel like some people look ahead and they're like going to present this creation to the world and we're pretty much like you know it would be easier and more fun
01:01:08
Speaker
We did this. All that being said, the point is is that before we had a couple, now we have so many. It's very hard to decide. And i like the ones either where we have juicy conversations or where we crack up.
01:01:23
Speaker
And that makes it difficult because they're very different. But I feel like all of them. it's eat Like every everyone, we either have a juicy conversation Or or we're cracking up. We're cracking up.
01:01:35
Speaker
So i Feel that. Well, somebody else want to go first? I don't know. was like, Hoedown, Showdown, or Tumblr reads. Guys, that's like almost of That's like all of them. I know. But that's what I was going to be like. Hoedown, Showdown, or maybe Tumblr reads. So, yeah. Well, I was going to get
Year-End Reflection and Gratitude
01:01:58
Speaker
real specific. All right. You go real specific what we think about it, Erin. I was thinking that, okay, we've had some good conversations. And I I think overall, I really like that tumble reads is sort of spontaneous. Like, hey, I'm thinking about this right now. Let's talk about it. So I'm leaning toward tumble reads more so than any of our long forms. Not that we haven't had some really good conversations and done some really good literary analysis, which like I would always be like, Erin, what a joke you doing literary analysis. But we get so nerdy in our long form ones. And I do like that. But I think I really like this tumble reads where we're just like, let's just like chew on this for a second. And I think for this year, the ones that I had the most fun with were let's avoid thinking about the state of the world by talking about stabby smut. right. Which one was that one? That was the one I talked about the hellhounds. Oh yeah. Ingrid, you were reading something else that was very stabby. And then I think I was reading something that wasn't stabby and was very disappointed and All my life choices. And you were like, man, I wish it was stabby.
01:03:07
Speaker
Yeah. Which I guess was not particularly intellectual. But, yeah. So here's – okay. Here's what I'm going to say is I'm going to stick with Hoedown Showdown.
01:03:21
Speaker
And we'll just say Hoedown Showdown number one. But I feel like they were all – Because much as I love just chewing on an idea for a minute with you guys, i also just really like buddy reading with you. a And it's like it's like a book club. Erin, I know you're in like 17 book clubs, so you don't need a book club. But I'm not in any other book clubs. You guys are my book club. So that that was it.
01:03:43
Speaker
I'm going to with that. That was a good one. I tried to punt on this one, but I think gut instinct, I liked the things that are like buckets of cold water.
01:03:54
Speaker
i just thought it was fun to just have a knee jerk. Because we think things through all the time, as we've discussed. I hear y'all are chewing on stuff, and sometimes I just want to be like, I didn't like that. Or like, I like that, just with like no context or frame of reference. I thought that was fun. Otherwise, probably.
01:04:15
Speaker
Probably the hoedown showdown. So anyway, Holly, you can carry us into the next one though. cause i was, I just punted it till then. Okay. I think that brings us to our last category, which is book that gave me the biggest hard eyes.
01:04:29
Speaker
And i am going to say the irresistible urge to fall for your enemy. Bray Brigitte Knightley, because this is the only book I read all year where I finished it and then read it again.
01:04:43
Speaker
o I mean, I just, this book has a lot of cultural baggage that I don't want to go into, but I love the author's voice. And i think I was like kind of having not a great time and like not sleeping well. And in that moment, it brought me a lot of joy.
01:05:01
Speaker
Marvelous. so As fiction should, unless it's making you feel other things.
01:05:09
Speaker
Ingrid, what's yours? Hmm. Well, I was going to Say You'll Remember Me by Abby Jimenez. I feel like I'm having a hard time because I've read. so This is the downside of doing a binge for a full year. yeah is that so many of them end up feeling kind of the same. And I think Say You'll Remember Me was the one that hit me the hardest. Like it was the one that just felt so deeply romantic. And I just loved all the characters in it. So I have to say that that one for me was like the overall winner. Like yeah it was the winner.
01:05:40
Speaker
It just was. yeah And the execution was beautiful. Oh, right. Yeah. So I'm just going to go with my gut. Big feelings. I did have big feelings. i I love that for you. you I had a lot of books that I was like, oh, but thinking about just like really biggest hard eyes with no caveats was 10 Ways to Accidentally Fall in Love by Emmy Sanders. And this was the book that it's like total golden retriever, borderline himbo who has no idea
01:06:12
Speaker
that the guy he's trying to make his new gym bro bestie is gay and thinks that they're going on a date so then he decides to try and find he's like oh my gosh i'm so sorry i totally didn't know that we were a date right now i will find you a date you know and then things just go completely sideways because he's like none of these guys are good enough for you and then he's like wait a minute i like you And they have a sex deal and all this stuff. But he's just they're just so sweet the whole time in my heart. And even at the... Sorry, guys. Spoiler. can i Spoiler at the end. When he's like, I'm going to do a grand gesture. Brad, the himbo guy. He's like, I'm going to do a grand gesture. Exactly.
01:06:59
Speaker
I'm going to grand gesture so Joey knows that I feel real feelings for him. And then he ah faints at the sight of blood. So he gets up on this stage during this event and he's going to make this big speech about how Joey is so great. um Just like how he's like, this was the plan that I had to like become my best self this year. And it ended up being the 10 ways that I fell in love with you. no Right.
01:07:26
Speaker
And he like gets a paper cut or break something or something and cuts himself. And he's like, oh, no And then passes out before he can do his little speech. So it's like completely ruined. It's just like everything is like.
01:07:42
Speaker
it's so and then but the way that it's resolved is still adorable you know it's just like every moment was just really well kind of th thought out in a charming way i loved it so big heart ice sounds so nice well but so in conclusion we read some books this past year just a couple just a few one or two maybe In conclusion, please find our show notes at smutreport.com slash podcast. Happy New Year. Wishing you all the best in 2026.
01:08:12
Speaker
And until then. Keep it smutty, folks. Na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na Smut Report!