Fully-Booked: Literary Podcast

Period drama adaptations are changing fast. We break down “adaptation vs interpretation” using Bridgerton Season 4 and Emerald Fennell’s “Wuthering Heights” (2026).

Historical accuracy vs modern audiences, casting discourse, and why classics keep getting remixed.

In this episode of Fully-Booked: Literary Podcast, Meaghan and Shirin unpack the shift from faithful, page-to-screen adaptations to bold reinterpretations that modernize ton...

Regretting You (2025) movie review + full spoiler breakdown of Colleen Hoover’s latest adaptation.

Plot recap, ending talk, what worked, what flopped—and why it feels oddly too tame for CoHo.

We finally watched Regretting You (2025) and we have thoughts. In this episode, we dive into the big twists, the relationship fallout, the teen romance subplot, and the super-neat ending that left us going: “wait… that’s it?”

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Netflix has officially brought Emily Henry’s People We Meet on Vacation to the screen, and Megan + Sherine are diving in while it’s fresh. The hosts unpack how the film handles the novel’s dual timelines, friends-to-lovers tension, and that “why didn’t they just TALK?” two-year fallout.

They get into what worked (hello, chemistry, pacing, and genuinely funny moments), what felt off at first (a more manic-pixie-leaning Poppy early on...

Book-to-screen adaptations are booming in 2026—so is a book better as a movie or a TV series?

Meaghan & Shirin break down film vs TV adaptations, streaming’s impact, and why fantasy is hardest to adapt.

Welcome back to Fully-Booked, our first episode of 2026! With major adaptations landing this year, we’re debating the pros and cons of book-to-film vs book-to-television in the streaming era.

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In this end-of-year Fully Booked wrap-up, Megan and Sherine say goodbye (respectfully… kind of) to 2025 and dig into what really mattered: the books that delivered.

We rank our Top 5 reads of 2025—from twisty thrillers and darkly funny satire, to high-stakes fantasy/romantasy, slashers, vampires, and one horror novel that genuinely jump-scared us while reading. Along the way, we talk about what a “good reading year” even means, why ...

The Housemaid (2025) movie review + Frieda McFadden book-to-film breakdown (Paul Feig, Amanda Seyfried, Sydney Sweeney).

SPOILERS: We compare the twist and ending, as well as the changes made from the novel to the movie.

Megan and Shirin are back with a full deep dive on The Housemaid—the new adaptation of Frieda McFadden’s viral domestic thriller.

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It’s our 2025 Fully Booked recap—part “podcast Wrapped,” part honest creative debrief. We break down our top 5 most-listened episodes (and why the internet clearly loves a timely adaptation take), share our personal favorites (from book hangovers and games to big-topic conversations like banning books), and unpack the months that felt too rigid, too narrow, or just creatively exhausting.

We also talk about how the book-to-screen wor...

Our 2025 reading wrap-up is here! We’re talking fantasy burnout, new mom thriller binges, ARCs we loved, and a late-year return to horror, cozy fantasy, and darkly funny mysteries.

If you’re hunting for fantasy, thriller, and horror book recommendations—plus real talk about reading through seasonal slumps and motherhood—this episode is for you.

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Why do some fantasy series absolutely explode while others quietly disappear from your TBR? In this episode of Fully-Booked, Megan and Shirin unpack the rise of romantasy, dark romance, and spicy dragon epics to figure out what really makes a fantasy series go viral.

Is there a magic formula behind today’s breakout fantasy hits? The hosts talk worldbuilding vs romance, character-driven sagas, the role of BookTok and RomantasyTok, an...

Welcome back to Fully-Booked, and happy Wicked Week!

In this spoiler-packed episode, Meghan and Shereen sit down the day after seeing Wicked: Part Two to ask a big question: was this sequel actually good, or just really, really pretty?

Drawing on Meaghan’s experience with Gregory Maguire’s novel and the Broadway musical, and Shirin's fresh movie-focused perspective, they unpack how the film handles Elphaba’s story, why Glinda weirdly...

Hey there, fictional friends!

On this episode of Fully Booked, Meghan and Shirin take a break from “serious” adaptations and dive into a mixed bag of comfort reads, ranging from horror to romance.

💘 Main Chat: Forever My Girl – Book vs Movie
We unpack the Heidi McLaughlin novel and its 2018 film adaptation: runaway groom country-music star, furious florist ex, secret kid, small-town Louisiana vibes, and why the movie softens some of ...

Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein is finally on Netflix—here’s why this Creature-first, practical-effects gothic works (and where it stumbles).
We break down Oscar Isaac’s Victor, Jacob Elordi’s heartbreaking Creature, Mia Goth’s dual role, and the film’s lush, tactile world.

We caught an early festival screening and a limited theatrical run before release, so this episode digs into the performances, the production design (including ...

On Halloween Day, Meaghan and Shirin celebrate the end of October with a love letter to the Universal Monsters—and the filmmaking moves that made them immortal.

We trace the real beginnings of Universal horror (hint: Jekyll & Hyde was on screen long before Bela Lugosi’s Dracula), peek at the bootleg chaos of Nosferatu, and geek out over Lon Chaney’s groundbreaking makeup that hard-coded the “look” of classic monsters—Phantom’s skull...

If you’ve ever wondered why It (2017/2019) still crawls under our skin, this episode is your sewer-level deep dive. We revisit Chapters 1 & 2 and talk about how Stephen King’s coming-of-age terror works on two timelines—childhood and adulthood—to explore memory, guilt, friendship, and the way a town learns to look away. We break down:

• Pennywise as a mirror for human cruelty—and why Bill Skarsgård’s performance vaulted into horro...

What makes folk horror so unsettling? This episode maps the weird woods: isolated settings, old customs that refuse to die, and the outsider who realizes too late they can’t leave. Shereen arrives a skeptic; Meaghan leads the tour—through forests, farmlands, and edge-of-the-map towns where tradition presses against modern life.

We unpack how setting becomes a character, why slow dread beats jump scares, and how folk horror pits the ...

YA horror isn’t just training-wheels terror — it’s where coming-of-age meets fear, identity, and community. In this episode, Megan and Shirin dig into why teen horror stays perpetually popular: it’s plot-forward, nostalgia-charged, and perfectly tuned to the search for self. We trace subgenres (slashers, hauntings, dark academia), talk inclusive casts and queer themes that live on the page without fanfare, and call out the steady s...

Horror fans, assemble. In this episode, we dive into the last decade’s most effective page-to-screen chills and why adaptations are thriving right now. We talk TV’s “Flanaverse” and how The Haunting of Hill House set a new bar for character-first terror; the surprising heart (and heartbreak) in Doctor Sleep as King’s universe expands; how AMC’s Interview with the Vampire modernizes Rice without losing the bite; why The Invisible Ma...

We’re three weeks into Dark Academia month and pivoting from the lack of new adaptations to the ones we want. From Ninth House and The Atlas Six to The Maidens, Bunny (plus its sequel), These Violent Delights, and The Honeys, we map the smartest book-to-screen plays—plus some spicy reader confessions (DNFs, trophy shelves, and the dusty corner).

We dig into:

• Leigh Bardugo’s Alex Stern/Ninth House: Yale, secret societies, class te...

Dark academia reads gorgeously on the page—but stumbles on screen. In this episode, we unpack the big reasons: the aesthetic-over-story trap, elite settings that limit relatability and diversity, and the reality that streamers cancel fast and world-build slow. We use “Wednesday,” “The Order,” and our beloved Poe-soaked, gothic campus imagery to ask: is the genre “unfilmable”… or just misunderstood? We also float a fix—adult animati...