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Sports Romance Recs (Closed Door) with MaKayla

March 20, 2025 • 84 mins

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Thanks to MaKayla, known as @Makslibrary for joining me to talk about sport's romance.

Kristen's Picks:

Mak's Picks:

For links to the books discussed in this episode, click the link here to take you to the Google Doc to view the list.

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For more, follow along on Instagram
known as at Max Library, onInstagram, and you've probably,
if you're on Instagram, you'vedefinitely seen us because we
constantly do buddy reads andread each other's
recommendations.
So thank you, mac, for being onthe podcast today.

Speaker 2 (00:28):
Yeah, of course.
Thanks for having me.
I'm excited.

Speaker 1 (00:32):
Well, we are talking about closed door sports romance
and when I decided to do awhole sports romance episode, I
knew I wanted to split it up andclosed door and open door, so
it wasn't like a weird mix ofclosed door and then open door.
But I was like, you know, letme get someone who's actually
kind of an expert and has read alot more closed door books than

(00:52):
me, so I thought of you first.
Thank you.

Speaker 2 (00:56):
Yeah, I read so many closed door romances
specifically sports.
It's my go to for sure.
I love sports, it's so fun.
Oh, me too, I know, don't playany sports, but we live
vicariously through the books.

Speaker 1 (01:09):
Exactly Okay.
So what are you currentlyreading right now and can you
tell us a little bit about yourwhole like Kindle Unlimited
journey right now?

Speaker 2 (01:19):
I tend to.
I get Kindle Unlimited a coupleof times a year just because I
like to stockpile all the booksI'm going to read.
So then I'm not just waiting,you know, with nothing to read.
So I decided to get KU and I amplowing through the books
because I had a massive list,massive list, and I actually
just finished a book thismorning.

(01:40):
Have not started a new one yet,not for sure what I'm starting
next actually, but currentlyjust finished Holiday
Hostilities by Katie Bailey,which I want to read it.

Speaker 1 (01:50):
So bad, it was so good.

Speaker 2 (01:52):
Kristen.
It was so cute, which KatieBailey can do no wrong in my
eyes.
True, all of her books are justso good.
I am officially caught up onher backlist now.
That's a lot of books it is.
There are a lot of them.
It has taken me, it's taken mea hot minute, but I got through
all of them and I'm a little sadnow, you know, I'm just kind of
like I don't have any moreKatie Bailey's to read that I

(02:14):
haven't already read.
Yes, love KU.
I have read many, many lately.
I've read a lot of differentkinds.
I've read some angsty.
I've read a lot of differentkinds.
I've read some angsty.
I've read some sports.
I've read some Christmas.
I've read all the things, andso I'm just kind of doing all
the things.
I've read some of your recs, um, which is great.
I have a whole list of justKristen recs that I'm trying to

(02:34):
get through while I have KU.

Speaker 1 (02:35):
But that is amazing.
I have a list of Michaela recsas well.
I feel like I've gotten throughactually a lot of your recs.

Speaker 2 (02:44):
I think you have yeah , yeah, I recommend books to you
all the time.
I'm so sorry, the list isprobably never ending no, it's
good.

Speaker 1 (02:51):
Because then I know, like you know, whenever you've
kind of gotten a couple likemisses or some that just aren't
quite hitting right and you'relike I need something that's
going to be good, then I knowthat if I pick a Mac rec I'm at
least going to really like it.
If not love it, it's going tobe in one of those areas.

Speaker 2 (03:11):
I'm so glad there's going to come a time, Kristen,
where you're going to hatesomething I recommend to you.
I know now I'm just riding onthat high that you've liked
everything I've recommended sofar.

Speaker 1 (03:20):
I like that our reading taste is very similar.
That helps a lot.

Speaker 2 (03:23):
Yeah, that does help a lot.
Generally, I think we, becauseour taste is the same.
A lot of things even yourecommend to me.
I'm like, yeah, that's a goodtime.

Speaker 1 (03:31):
Yeah, I enjoy that We'll see how the Cruel Prince
goes.
I kind of feel like I'm goingto like it.
I don't know why I feel likeI'm going to like it, but I do.
But, like I said, I've heardpeople either love it or they
hate it, like I've had just asmany people tell me you have to
read it as they've said I hatedthis series.

Speaker 2 (03:49):
I don't, I don't like it.
No, I.
Maybe I was in the wrong placeat the wrong time, and I feel
like I need to give it anothershot.
I'm genuinely curious to knowwhat you think about it, though,
because if you also hate it, Imay not give it another shot,
because in my mind, we havesimilar tastes.
So if I really didn't like itand you really don't like it, it
may not be worth my time, butsome of my best friends it's
like their favorite series, andit's every time it gets brought

(04:11):
up.
I'm like oh, not a battle I'mchoosing to fight.

Speaker 1 (04:15):
I have a couple books like that for sure, and I mean,
can anything really compare toshatter me?
No, it can't never it shouldn'teven try.

Speaker 2 (04:26):
I know that'll always be and it's a very specific
audience, for sure.
But gosh, I love that serieswith my whole heart, truly.
I know you got me into it.
I know I'm so sorry I sucked youinto the world that is shatter
me.
I think that's the cool thingabout it the world building.
You literally get like suckedinto it.
It just feels like you'rereading it and it's an

(04:48):
experience.
You know, not all books arelike that.
That's a good way to describeit.
Yeah, it's like a wholeexperience.
When I'm reading those books,I'm going on an adventure.

Speaker 1 (04:58):
I agree and, again, like it was one of those things
where I read the first one and Ithought I don't know, but
Michaela said I need to keepreading it, so I'm just gonna
give it a shot, and then itreally got good.
So if you didn't have someoneto tell you, hey, you need to
keep reading.
I feel like that's why a lot ofpeople, if they stopped that
series, I feel like it's in thefirst or second book that they

(05:20):
stopped.
It's not as if they got to thethird and said not for me most
people don't go past the firstone and I get it.

Speaker 2 (05:26):
The first one's rough , um, and it's kind of
depressing.
You know not the vibe you'relike.
Am I really going into thiskind of series?
But it does get better.
But if you don't have someoneto tell you that, like I had
someone to tell me that and Itold you that, but some people
don't have that, and so reallyunfortunate, really unfortunate
well, even with uh, better thanthe movies.

Speaker 1 (05:47):
I wasn't into it for probably the first 50 pages and
had you not told me to a tandemread those extra bonus chapters
of wes's pov, yeah, and that itwas going to get better, I
probably would have just dnf'dit and thought I don't think
this is for me.
But again, someone to say thisis going to get better and this
is how you need to read it isjust life-changing.

Speaker 2 (06:09):
It makes all the difference.
The first part of Better Thanthe Movies.
It's a slow start.
It takes a little bit.
Normally when I reread I notgonna lie sometimes I start 60
pages in.
That's smart Because I alreadyknow what happens.

Speaker 1 (06:26):
I just want to get to the good part of the story.
So basically in this episode,if you don't have anyone that
you can talk about closed doorsports romance with, let us be
those people for you.
We can tell you what it's goingto get good and when you need
to keep reading it and if it'sactually really about that sport
or not so much and kind of whatthe good and bad things can be.
Yeah, yeah, so do you want togo first or do you want me to go
first?

Speaker 2 (06:46):
on rec number one I'll let you go first.

Speaker 1 (06:49):
Okay.
So I kind of had to start withthe Holy Grail, and I know that
I might be setting myself up forfailure doing it this way, but
if you read closed door, if youread open door, no matter what
you read, you're going to likethese books door.
If you read open door, nomatter what you read, you're
going to like these books.
I have not heard of anyone whohas tried this series who has

(07:10):
not liked them.
So it's hockey.
A lot of the closed doorsuggestions, at least that I
found, are hockey.
So just get ready for a lot ofhockey.
A lot of mine are too.
Sorry guys, they are, they'rejust hockey.
So if you've been watching andyou're like I don't want to read
icebreaker, it's way too.
I don't want to read some ofthese really insane hockey books
, but you still kind of wantedthat sports atmosphere, the

(07:31):
hockey-ness of it all.
It's a new word that I justmade up.
It's a good one.
We love that one Exactly, thenyou should start with this.
Okay, leah Bruner.
So this series has three books.
Currently she's working on booknumber four and then there's a
prequel, so there's like a halfand a half prequel before.

(07:51):
I'm not saying I didn't likethe prequel, but I didn't love
it quite as much as the other.
So I would recommend startingat book one and then you can go
back to the prequel.
If you don't have any contextfor the characters, I don't know
that you're going to love theprequel.
If you don't have any contextfor the characters, I don't know
that you're going to love theprequel and going to want to
continue the series.
But yeah, but like once you getto know them, then I wanted to

(08:13):
go back and go with the prequel.

Speaker 2 (08:16):
Yeah, I read the prequel after, like, I think the
second book is when I read theprequel.
So that's what I did too.

Speaker 1 (08:22):
That's exactly what I did, yeah.
So that's kind of the way thatwe will both suggest.
But it's the DC Eagle series byLeah Bruner.
So first book is Desire orDefense.
Second book is Flirtation orFace Off, and then third book is
Betrothal or Breakaway, and thenovella is called Passion or
Penalty and it's this hockeyteam and it's different players'

(08:45):
stories.
It follows the differentplayers, yeah, it follows the
different players in each book,but you get a lot of banter, you
get a lot of humor, you get alot of steam no spice, but you
do get a lot of steam,especially in Patrol or
Breakaway.
I felt like that was kind of alot.

Speaker 2 (09:03):
Yeah, no, I felt that way too, because I was reading
it and I was like dang Leah,like this is like.
I was like oh my, gosh, I agree.

Speaker 1 (09:12):
So now I'm really interested to see what Secret or
Shutout is going to be.
Is it going to be even more?
Is it going to kind of take astep back?

Speaker 2 (09:18):
I don't know, I'm so excited for that book.
I don't think you understand.
I was reading Betrothal orBreakaway and I was reading it
and I was like you know, Ireally hope that he gets his own
book and then she announced itand I was like, absolutely, this
is going to be great.

Speaker 1 (09:34):
I kind of want her to continue the series and take
some of the younger guys on theteam and like almost do kind of
a whole Elle Kennedy situationand just do like the next
generation.
That would be amazing, itreally would be.
I should tell her to do that.
You totally should?

Speaker 2 (09:50):
Yeah, Because I just I'm kind of sad.
The series is like coming to anend, Like I've read all of them
and I love the characters somuch.
And I think what's cool aboutthe series itself is you see all
of the characters as the bookscontinue.
You get to see the couples fromthe books before and you get to
watch them grow and it's justthe sweetest thing ever and it's

(10:11):
like the found family of theguys and the locker room scenes
which I realized.

Speaker 1 (10:17):
I love all the locker room scenes that she includes.
She has a lot of them.
But then also there's thefemale friendships and you get a
lot of them, and then they alsohave a lot of different.
But then also there's thefemale friendships and you get a
lot of them, and then they alsohave a lot of different parties
and stuff.
So I feel like in this book youget as much of the girls as you
do of the guys and then alsotheir couple stories.
Well, yes, yeah, I agree forsure and as far as sports, this

(10:40):
one, yes, I feel like all ofthem.
Maybe Patroller Breakway mightbe the least of all as far as
like actual gameplay, butoverall I feel like there are a
lot of locker room scenes.
There's a lot of gameplay.
Leah actually does love hockeyand you can tell by the way that
she describes it.

Speaker 2 (10:59):
Yeah, you can just tell when you're reading it, you
can tell when an author writesa hockey romance and truly loves
hockey versus like hopping onthe trend of writing a hockey
romance.

Speaker 1 (11:07):
It's very, very evident in the way it's written
yeah, yeah, like they'll say umstuff like hockey jersey instead
of hockey sweater or stuff likethat, and you're like they
don't even watch hockey.
But leah, you can tell that youdon't know what you're talking
about.

Speaker 2 (11:22):
I feel like I've learned so much from hockey
romances Like the extent of myknowledge of hockey is from
hockey romances, and what doesthat say about me?

Speaker 1 (11:32):
I know I feel like I've realized that I read more
sports romance books for sportsI barely know anything about
than the sports that I couldactually follow and understand
everything that's going onLiterally me I do the same thing
.

Speaker 2 (11:49):
I'm glad it's not just me, no, it's not just you,
because literally I don't knowabout a ton of sports.
I know a ton about baseball, alittle bit about basketball.
I read the least sportsromances about those, why?

Speaker 1 (12:02):
We don't know.
I was gonna say you're a hugebaseball fan.
I'm shocked that you don't havelike a million baseball recs.

Speaker 2 (12:07):
No well, it's hard to find good ones.
I've read quite a few, a lot ofthem.
It's like I read one.
I bought one, sight unseen, youknow, I just ordered it and I
was like this sounds I knowthat's a horrible start to the
story and I had been waiting toread this for so long and as I
started to read it supposed tobe a baseball romance and I
realized how little the authorknew about baseball immediately

(12:32):
and it was one of those I waslike, oh my goodness.
I was like I could not wait forthe book to be done, but I
bought it.
So I was like I feel like Ineed to finish it and it was
still one of the worst booksI've ever read, which is saying
something oh, it's kind of likewhenever they put teachers in
books and I'm like, no, no, ifyou weren't no don't, yeah,
because like that's like yourniche thing, right, you know,

(12:54):
like you, you understand that,so you can see through when it's
like being bluffed in thewriting.

Speaker 1 (13:01):
Yeah yeah, anything journalism related to.
I'm like no, I can tell if youhave a journalism degree or not,
if your characters arejournalists.
There have been a lot ofauthors that I've actually
talked to that have journalismdegrees.
So it's kind of funny becauseyou can tell, and then we'll
start talking about stuff orI'll start saying something and
they're like wait a minute, Ithink you know what you're
talking about.

(13:21):
I'm like, yeah, so it's it isactually I do.
So it's kind of the same thingon sports, like you can just
tell if someone actually enjoysit versus they don't.
So, yes, leah Bruner series, dcEagles, that is just the creme
de la creme.
You're probably not going tofind one as good as that.

Speaker 2 (13:37):
As far as, like banter found family Each book is
so completely different, butyou still feel like you're in
the same universe.

Speaker 1 (13:49):
So and they're just not regurgitated stories, yeah,
they're consistently good, whichis really hard to find every
book is great.

Speaker 2 (13:53):
Yeah, I know it's really hard to find where it's
like there's not a skip on thisone.
Guys, what's your favorite inthat series?
Do you have a favorite?

Speaker 1 (14:01):
I really toss up between desire defense and flirt
and Flirtation or Face Offbecause I don't know.
So I actually had a friend thatread it and they really liked
Desire or Defense and theythought Flirtation or Face Off
was okay.
So it's kind of funny how Iknow I know the ones you're
facing, that's wild, yeah.
So I don't know, I go back andforth.

(14:23):
I like them both for differentreasons, like I love Andy and
Mitch and kind of that brotherguardian element in Desire
Defense, but then I also lovelike in Flirtation or Face Off.
Just their banter between eachother is so cute.

Speaker 2 (14:40):
I am just a sucker for like the dating coach trope
or like fake dating, like thatwhole concept and so easily,
easily flirtation or face off,but also like Colby, I mean
super solid MMC.
So true yeah.

Speaker 1 (15:02):
And not to underestimate Ford and Amber in
Patrolo Breakaway.
I feel like that's one that Iforget about, how much I like it
.
And then I started thinkingabout it and I'm like, oh no,
now I really don't know whichone's a favorite.

Speaker 2 (15:10):
I know that one.
That one's probably my secondfavorite, just because I just
love the whole the side of himthat you get to see in that book
, cause it's kind of it'sdifferent from the side you see
in the other books and it's justso cute.
I'm normally not a huge likesingle mom trope, yeah person,
yep.
Um, not that I have anythingagainst it, I just typically

(15:31):
don't go for it.

Speaker 1 (15:31):
Well, we don't relate to it because that's not really
where we are in our life.

Speaker 2 (15:35):
So I think that's mainly what it is for me yeah,
most of the people I know thatlove that trope in some way,
shape or form.
They at least have kids orsomething, so they can kind of
relate.
But like.
For me that's more of like alike.
I'll read about it, but it'snot gonna be my first pick.
But in that book it's just sowell done and it's just so cute
it is, it is.

Speaker 1 (15:56):
Oh, I know it's so hard to pick.
Okay, I'll do one more and thenI'll let you do so second this
one is the cheat sheet by SarahAdams, so this one is a little
bit less about the football.
It was definitely more likeSarah wanted to write a football
book instead of she studiedevery single play and call and

(16:20):
did a lot of gameplay.
Like there's almost no gameplayin this.

Speaker 2 (16:24):
Yeah, there weren't really specifics in this one.

Speaker 1 (16:26):
So it's definitely more like it's in a football
atmosphere, but it's not.
Actually, is the Super Bowl theonly game that they're at?

Speaker 2 (16:37):
In the book.
I think there's a few othersmentioned.
I don't think that we see themgo to any others.
Yeah, I think you're you theythat we like see them go to any
others though.
Yeah, I think it's.
I think you're right.

Speaker 1 (16:48):
That makes sense.
But yeah, so the cheat sheet bySarah Adams.
It has fake dating which is abonus and I think that this is
probably one of the best friendsto lovers I've ever read.

Speaker 2 (17:01):
Yeah, I would say so.
It's a comfort read for me.
I've read it so many times.
I actually read it for the veryfirst time.
I buddy read it with one of mybest friends and it was.
I read it and I was like thisis a masterpiece, like I love
this so much.
Once again, I'm a sucker forsports romance, but like a
really well executed friends tolovers is hard to find, this one

(17:23):
does it so, so well.

Speaker 1 (17:26):
it really just oh, it's just the best and I think I
found that, like I actuallyreally like childhood friends to
lovers, and that's what this itmakes it more relatable,
realistic something, it addssomething and there's something
about like they've grown uptogether, right, they normally
know a lot more about each otherand like their backgrounds.

Speaker 2 (17:45):
And then all of a sudden it's like, oh, these
platonic lovey feelings I'mfeeling are not so platonic and
it is and I think that this oneOkay.

Speaker 1 (17:53):
So a lot of people describe it as cheesy, so I
would say it's definitely waycheesier than than Leah Bruner.
But like cheesy in a fun way,not cheesy in a fun way, not
cheesy in a bad way, like Ithink that this is really kind
of crossing the line of cheesydone well for me.
I thought it was done reallywell no, I agree it is.

Speaker 2 (18:12):
If you're looking for like an angsty read or
something, this is not it.
No, this is.
This is like cutesy, fun.
Like kristen said cheesy.
That's not everyone's cup oftea.
That's my cup of tea, I lovethat love it and I just think in
this case it fits thecharacters really well and their
personalities and so I thinkbecause of that it actually it

(18:33):
works in their favor.
You know, sometimes it's cheesyand the characters it doesn't
really fit them and you're likethis is weird, but they're both
kind of like cheesy individuals,you know yeah, and they're
self-aware.

Speaker 1 (18:43):
I think that's the other thing is that they're not
as yeah.
Yeah, they're both aware thatthey're kind of weirdos, you
know we love that, we love that,and I feel like, okay, a, I
think this needs to be a movieright now, this book, but also,
yeah, it would really translateto film.
Well, but that whiteboard scene, I could just see that in a

(19:05):
movie.
It was so cute.
I could too.

Speaker 2 (19:11):
I, I think I actually I don't remember what book it
was.
I want to say I've read anotherbook that had a similar scene
and I was like this just doesn'tdo it like the cheat sheet does
it.
You know it's just oh, I, Ijust thought it was like really
well written.
In a way that could have been aweird scene, you know, like it
could have not played out well,yeah, but the way it was written
is just so freaking funny.

Speaker 1 (19:32):
It just every time every time and if you have not
read the book.
So basically what happens isthe whole football team.
They're making a literal cheatsheet to help nathan understand
how he's going to turn his bestfriend brie from being in the
friend zone to something moreand seeing him as true boyfriend

(19:55):
potential.
So you know, they're literallyin his living room with like a
football whiteboard and they'replanning out having a game plan
yeah, they have an actual gameplan slash cheat sheet of,
legitimately, how he is going towin her over and it's like
really funny because you justlike picture it like this team

(20:15):
of like grown men just likesitting in a living room just
planning out on a whiteboard howone of them's gonna win over
the girl.

Speaker 2 (20:23):
That's just comical.
You can't act like it isn'tit's just funny.

Speaker 1 (20:28):
It is, and I feel like I just have to point this
out, because if I have a chanceto talk about jamal, I'm going
to take a chance to talk aboutjamal.
He is the unsung hero of thisseries.
Why did he not get his book?
Why did sarah adams make himalready married to his
girlfriend?
Okay, so?

Speaker 2 (20:45):
I actually was really confused by that because, like
we could have made that into abook we could have, instead of
just skimming over it.
Like I wanted him to get hisbook to.
Honestly, any of them, likethey're all really funny, like I
would have read any book aboutany of them.

Speaker 1 (21:00):
So I was kind of bummed about that, not gonna lie
I know they all just walked inmarried and I'm like what is it?
Well, I mean, still you coulddo second chance or marriage in
crisis.

Speaker 2 (21:11):
I mean, I guess you could do like a flashback kind
of.
Look, you know, like it justwouldn't be like order, I don't
know.
It was kind of a bummer, thoughI was like I would have loved
to see.
I want to see everyrelationship that is formed, I
want to read every page and Iwant to know exactly how it
happened.

Speaker 1 (21:29):
Price all of them.
There's someone else that I'mforgetting.
Okay, it's Price Jamal.
Nathan Derek already has hisbook in the rule book.
There's Lawrence.
Lawrence is who I'm forgetting.
I always forget about Lawrence.

Speaker 2 (21:44):
Sorry, Lawrence, I know Poor guy it's okay For a
second there.
I was like who's the other one?
Yeah, Forgot about him too.

Speaker 1 (21:51):
You haven't read the rule book, have you?
I have actually.

Speaker 2 (21:55):
Oh, I forgot.
Oh yeah, so this was.
I read it over the summer whileI was actually waiting for
Reckless to come in, because Iwas like I need a filler read
right now.
So I didn't love it as much asthe cheat sheet.

Speaker 1 (22:06):
I don't think anything can beat the cheat
sheet, but I agree I didn't loveit as much.

Speaker 2 (22:09):
Yeah, was it good?
Yeah, I mean it was good, eventhe tropes not my typical cup of
tea, but I'm committed to thecharacters.
So it's like I kind of had toread.
You know, kind of became anon-option second chance.
Romance is iffy for me, but Ifeel like it was well written.
Um, given I am a, I tried toavoid open door books.

(22:31):
It's just my cup of tea, youknow don't prefer them, right,
and this one did.
I appreciated it had themodifications in the beginning,
yeah, the modifications.
Um, so that was nice because Iwas able to read it as though it
was like closed door.
But I don't know, I reallyliked it, but I just I feel like
maybe my expectations were toohigh because of the cheat sheet.

(22:53):
You know, that's fair.

Speaker 1 (22:54):
Yeah, if jamal had his book then it would have been
fine.
Sorry, I just have to harp onthat a little bit more.
So yeah, I mean I liked again,I liked it.
I really enjoyed it when I wasin it, I wanted to keep reading
it.
I had a hard time putting itdown.
Was it at the?
Yeah, but was it at the levelof the cheat sheet?
No, um, but again, this one wasjust, it was kind of different.

(23:19):
Derrick and nora it was alittle bit more sports heavy
because she was an agent, butagain, like not actual gameplay,
more like the logistics behindeverything it's talked about a
lot more.

Speaker 2 (23:32):
You hear mention of sporty things, if you will,
throughout the book, way moreyeah.

Speaker 1 (23:38):
So I mean, I really enjoyed it, but was it my
all-time favorite?
No, but it's definitely worth aread and it does have those
modifications in the beginningwhich I feel like a lot of
people didn't know and theydidn't read it because they
thought that they couldn't.

Speaker 2 (23:50):
Yeah, which I really appreciated because, like I love
Sarah Adams, I've read most ofher books and so when I saw she
was doing an open door book, Iwas like dang it.
And then when she was like,heck, yeah, and I feel like
that's just a really good way tomaintain your audience you know
what I mean, because then youcan Especially in the middle of
a series, I thought that wasinteresting.
That was an interesting turn tomake, considering it was like

(24:12):
the first book was closed door.
It was pretty, it was prettysteamy, but it was closed door
right.

Speaker 1 (24:26):
And then to just shift to open door in the same
series.
I was like, oh choice.
But you know well, I mean shedid the same thing now in rome,
kentucky, with uh, beg, borrow,steal.
But again it has themodifications at the beginning.
But whoa, whoa, that one is, itis open door.
I was just a little bit takenaback because you know, you're
used to her style and it is, itis spicy I feel like that series

(24:46):
itself got progressively.

Speaker 2 (24:47):
It was like a stepladder, you know, because
the first one was the first onewasn't winning rome, right?
Yeah it was, yeah, it was okaywinning rome.
And then practice makes perfect.
Yes, which?
That one was kind of that onetoggled the line that one
toggled the line for sure I hadrecommended it to a couple

(25:08):
friends that also read closeddoor and after they read it they
were like whoa, that was uh andI was like, but it was still
closed door by definition.
It was still closed door thenshe stares dead, which I
appreciate.
It's like she was slowlyadapting us, almost you know, to
a new environment that is opendoor.

Speaker 1 (25:25):
But with with modifications.
So you know, it's all fine aslong as she includes those
modifications.
If she ever stopped, then Iwould be like whoa, whoa, whoa,
whoa, wait, wait.

Speaker 2 (25:35):
Write open door all you want.
Just give me the modifications,because I love her writing and
I would be so sad if she, justif I.
Honestly, I would probably justhave to like read and just like
reach the scene and skip, youknow, because I don't think I
could go without reading anotherSarah Adams book.
I think that'd be really sad.

Speaker 1 (25:50):
I was gonna say, you know, I would modify it for you
and I would have already read it, so it would work.
I'll just be like, hey, kristen, can you read this?
For me exactly, then I'll justmodify it for you.
I need to do that with some ofthe other books, but I
appreciate all the mods.
We could talk aboutmodifications all day.
We literally could.
Okay, what is yourrecommendation?

Speaker 2 (26:12):
Oh, there's so many, I tried to narrow it down to a
few.
No, okay, it's so hard.
So this one we I believe weboth read the Hard Way Home by
Charlotte Farnsworth.
So this book is.
It follows Caleb and Lennon.
It's a baseball romance, bigshocker.
It is one of my favorite books.

(26:35):
It's kind of a comfort read andI can't really identify why.
I think the banter in it issomething that I haven't found
in a lot of other books.
It is academic rivals to lovers, kind of vibes.
Also kind of enemies to lovers,if you will.

Speaker 1 (26:50):
This one might actually be more true enemies.
I think it could classify yeah.

Speaker 2 (26:57):
Yeah, I feel like they genuinely like, they really
don't like each other, whichmakes the payoff even better.
It does.
Charlotte Farnsworth is.
Her writing style is just myfavorite.
I don't know what it is.
I think it's because hercharacters just feel very real
and she writes in a way herstories are really realistic,
minus there's one of them that'sthis whole like a princess is

(27:19):
undercover at a college.
That was a ride.
I read that one and was likewhat is this Charlotte?
What is this?
But for the most part herwriting is really easy to
connect with and the characters,and so I love that book so much
.
I always recommend it to people.
Baseball is not a huge part ofit.
It's obviously.
The MMC is a part of the.

(27:42):
Is he captain of the baseballteam?

Speaker 1 (27:44):
Yeah, I'm almost positive he was the captain.

Speaker 2 (27:46):
I'm pretty sure he's captain of the baseball team.
This is a YA, so, like highschool, they're in high school.
Right Spans over a couple years, but mainly their senior year.
We do get a little bit ofbaseball action, but it's more
so for theatrics.
That he's on the baseball teamis how I would explain it.

Speaker 1 (28:01):
That's a good way to put it, and Lennon knows next to
nothing about baseball, and sowhenever she has to interview
him for the paper, she's askinghim really stupid questions,
that's so funny.

Speaker 2 (28:11):
I had to laugh because it's like you could tell
Charlotte her audience.
She was trying to like appeasethose who like baseball and
those who have no clue what'shappening.
You know, because I havefriends who read it that know
not a thing about baseball andthey're like, oh my gosh, I love
this.
And then there's me who knowsquite a bit and I was like, oh
my gosh, I love this.
So it was just I loved thedynamic between the characters.

(28:33):
It also has a lot of depth.
I don't know if you would agree, but I feel like the characters
themselves are just reallythere's a lot of depth to them
Very multifaceted, reallythere's a lot of depth to them,
very multifaceted.
There's a like an underlyingstory happening there.
Very angsty too, oh, veryangsty.
Yeah, keep, yeah, probablyshould have said that.
No, this is not like a supercutesy fun read per se.

(28:53):
There's a lot of drama andangst, we lots of back and forth
, but it's part of a duology.
So you kind of get to see someof the payoff in the second book
too, which is nice.

Speaker 1 (29:06):
And I feel like we also need to call out that.
Okay, so this book, like yousaid, is a duology.
It's the hard way home and thenthe easy way out.
But Charlotte is putting thosetwo books together, publishing
them as one like open door spicybook called left field Love, I
think.
So if you're reading Left FieldLove, it's technically the same

(29:30):
story, but you're going to getspice, whereas these are not.
So we did pick right.
We knew what we were talkingabout.
It's just not the same thing.

Speaker 2 (29:39):
Yes, so I actually had, I think it was earlier this
year.
I was like I'm going to readLeft Field Love because I was
curious.
You know was earlier this year.
I was like I'm going to readleft field love Cause I was
curious you know is it the exactsame.

Speaker 1 (29:47):
Oh no.

Speaker 2 (29:48):
And I was just flipping through just to see,
just get an idea before Istarted, when I tell you, I
flipped to the most spicy thingever and I was like where did
this come from?
I was like I know this was notin the original book and so if
you're wanting a more becausethe second book is technically
open door, right, oh yeah,you're right.
You're right, it is.
It is, the second book in theduology is technically open door

(30:10):
.
I believe it's just one sceneCould be wrong.

Speaker 1 (30:13):
I'm almost positive.

Speaker 2 (30:14):
It's one scene that sounds right, Maybe two but and
they're not super there it'snothing too too crazy.
But by definition it is notclosed door.
So if you're wanting closeddoor, you can read the first one
.
The story does complete itself.
You can read it as a standalone.
You just get more of therelationship in the second one.
But avoid left field love.

Speaker 1 (30:33):
If you, uh, aren't wanting spice, fyi, learn the
hard way and book two um, it'sprobably like more of an Emily
Henry spice level, so it'sreally really tame and really
low.
So if you did feel like youwanted to skim it, it would be
very skimmable withouttraumatizing yourself too much.

(30:55):
Yes, yeah, I feel like that'simportant to call out, because
if you read closed door, you'reprobably used to skimming open
door books and also stillsometimes being traumatized, and
this is not going to do that toyou.

Speaker 2 (31:06):
Yeah, no, it's not.
It's not that bad, it's easilyskimmable, skippable, and it's
not like you miss the plot whenyou skip it, it's just kind of
kind of there, so you can easilyeasily move past.

Speaker 1 (31:18):
What is your next rec ?

Speaker 2 (31:20):
Oh, okay, I just finished this one the other day
and I don't know what it was,but I loved it with every fiber
of my being.
Rival Darling by AlexandraMoody.
This is hockey.
Back to hockey.
I love hockey.
Yes, back to hockey.
Actually, I think a couple ofmy other ones are also hockey.
Mine are too.
Mine are too.
You know we love hockey aroundhere.

(31:42):
You know we love hockey aroundhere.
So this book is, first of all.
Alexandra Moody is the author ofone of my other favorite series
.
She writes really good YA.
Her books are very rom-com-ykind of style.
The characters are lovable.
Like I had been waiting to readthis book for so freaking long.
It has been on my TBR literallysince before it came out.

(32:07):
I like I will read this bookand I was not disappointed.
It was so cute.
It has so the tropes.
It's fake dating, I would say,trying to decide.
I don't know that it's not notenemies to lovers, but like,
more of like she really does notlike him and but he likes her

(32:27):
and so they're trying tonavigate that Right.
And rival towns, rivals, sothey go to rival schools.
Oh, that's cool.
Yeah, that's.
It's a solid trope.
It's not used very much, butlike it should be used more.
Long story short she uses himto get back at her ex be used
more long story short.

(32:48):
She uses him to get back at herex.
Ah, okay, yeah, that's wherethe fake dating comes in.
Okay, yes, yeah, and she useshim to get back at her ex and
through the fake dating, he isdetermined to show her that,
like, because there's a lot ofrumors about this guy, and he's
determined to show her that he'snot what everyone says he is
and it is the cutest thing ever.

Speaker 1 (33:06):
Dang it Now.
I'm going to have to add it tomy TBR.

Speaker 2 (33:10):
It's so good.
It's kind of angsty.
It's relatively long I thinkthat was one thing.
I was like this could have beena little bit shorter.
It felt a little dragged out,but some of the side characters
really liked them.
I am so excited for the other.
So it's a series and it'scalled the Darling Devils and it

(33:30):
follows these brothers thatthey're known as the Darling
Devils.
Their last name is Darling andthey go to a school that's the
Devils.
And I am so excited for some oftheir books because, just as
side characters, I loved them somuch and I think that can
honestly make a book for me.
The side characters, if they'regood, um, but yeah, this book

(33:52):
had.
It had all sorts of just like.
It was cutesy, right, but therewere also some themes of just
like growth and healing and likeall those things.
And i't know, maybe I was inthe right place at the right
time, but this book absolutelygripped me.

Speaker 1 (34:06):
And is this book one in the series?

Speaker 2 (34:09):
Yes, this was book one.
Rival Darling is book one, Ibelieve the second one is called
Grumpy Darling, but I don'tbelieve it's out yet.
I think it comes out inFebruary, but don't quote me on
that, okay good to know.

Speaker 1 (34:25):
Well, you just added to my tbr, so thank you, you're
welcome.
I, like I said, I was runningout of mckayla rex so I needed
to add another one.
Anyway, I would do.

Speaker 2 (34:32):
It is very why I keep that in mind.
If you're looking for likesuper mature read, this is not
it like this is cheesy kind ofhigh school romance thing but
that's so fun.
You know, I love, I love it.
I just feel like you need itevery once in a while.
You know life is hard enough.
Read a cute cheesy high schoolrom-com while you're at it, okay
coming up with, kind of on thatcute cheesy line.

Speaker 1 (34:55):
I cannot decide, michaela, if I think you would
like this or not.
I liked it so much that I wantyou to read it, but I don't.
I can't decide if you'reactually gonna like it, like if
it was just me liking it for thesake of.
I don't know if it just hit achord or what.
It's one of those that's likehard to tell, so okay, anyway,
it is called the Fake Out Flexby Ash Kelly.

(35:16):
This book it is.
I love, love, love this.
I was going to say you lovethis book.

Speaker 2 (35:23):
We've talked about this.

Speaker 1 (35:24):
I really love it.
Yeah, it is hockey.
This was actually her debutnovel and, okay, this one has a
lot of hockey.
Book one I've read book one andbook two and I'll talk about
book one first, the fake outflex.
It has a lot of actual hockeybecause Evie, the female main
character, her dad is a famoushockey coach and so she grew up

(35:46):
around hockey and she has agenuine love for hockey and she
I'm trying to remember what heractual day job is.
I can't remember what her dayjob is by the beginning, but by
the ending she's by the endshe's actually doing something
related to hockey for, like herday job.
So she, she will, literally shewill tell the male main

(36:07):
character things that he couldhave fixed and kind of coach
that's funny, we love that trope.
She is that good, like she'sthat into it where she gives him
feedback of what she thinksthat he should have fixed and
she legitimately wants to belike a hockey coach, like that
is how much she loves it.

Speaker 2 (36:23):
You don't see that trope very often.

Speaker 1 (36:26):
No, no.
So because he's playing hockeyand she loves hockey, this one
is very hockey centric.
You get a lot of gameplay, youget a lot of practices, locker
rooms and like her even talkingabout like stats and details and
positions and all that kind ofstuff.
So if you wanted like a very,very hockey book, I would say
that the Fake Out Flex isdefinitely one for you.

(36:46):
This one is just I mean this inthe best way.
It is very closed door to whereit's like sweet and happy and
just joyful and it's not supersteamy really at all.
But I kind of like like it wasrefreshing in a way.

Speaker 2 (37:02):
It just felt different, I think to just a
sweet wholesome, because a bookcan be like closed door but it's
just not that wholesome feeling.
You know there, sometimes youneed to read like that this one
is definitely wholesome.

Speaker 1 (37:16):
The banter between the friend group is hilarious,
her friend group.
They have this whole littlewalking group and so as they're
going on walks they talk aboutlike issues and stuff.
And one of them owns abookstore which her story is
already out.
I just haven't read it yet.
So there are kind of like a lotof little facets to it.
But anyway, with Evie it's just, it's so good.

(37:38):
The only thing is I'm trying notto spoil how do I not spoil
these two things?
There are two parts that mademe a little bit like okay, if
you don't like it, I think it'sgonna stem from one of these two
parts, but I liked the rest ofit so much I just honestly did
not care, disregarded it.
Yeah, because he is so sweetand there's fake dating.
It's brother's best friend.
He comes in to like help herand the brother is hilarious.

(38:02):
The sibling banter is hilarious.
Everything about it is so funnythat I loved it so much that
the third act conflict is not.
It's not my favorite.
I don't like the way that theyreacted to it felt a little bit
hypocritical because they saidone thing and they did another
thing.
But again, we're all kind ofhypocritical.

(38:24):
We're not perfect.
So was it realistic?
Yes.
Was it frustrating?
Yes.
So I think that that could work.
And then there's another piecethat again, I can't.
These are like the two mostspoiler things, so I'm trying
not to say what they are, butit's towards the end of the book
and it's something that he does.
That was supposed to be aromantic gesture, but I didn't

(38:48):
feel like like I didn't, itdidn't make sense and I didn't
know why.
And she hadn't said anythingabout liking that particular
thing, and so when he did it, Iwas just kind of thrown off,
like where did this come from?
What is this actually?
And I heard other people saythat too.
But again, everything else wasso strong that I don't care.

(39:10):
I honestly don't care.
I just looked forward to beingable to read it.

Speaker 2 (39:14):
But if you don't like it, then that would probably
those two things I honestly, youkind of had me sold at
brother's best friend, not gonnalie, fake dating and brother's
best, that's just the best.
Um, I wish that trope was donewell more often, actually,
because there is just somethingabout it.
There is just something aboutit, I'm not gonna lie.

Speaker 1 (39:36):
I agree.
I agree.
It's really, really, reallygood.
Uh, so the fake out flex by ashkelly.
I feel like I have to say thatone more time just to make sure
that you remember the title.

Speaker 2 (39:47):
Make sure I understand what you need to read
.

Speaker 1 (39:49):
Read it, yeah.
And then the Best Friend PowerPlay is book two.
So this whole story takes placein the off season and so it's
about Culver's time off and heis injured, so it's a lot more
about his physical therapy, himbeing on the off season, that
kind of thing.
So there's almost if not, Idon't know that there's any
gameplay like actual gameplay,but it's just when the first

(40:12):
book is so hockey centric, thesecond book is not.
But it didn't feel like weirdor anything.

Speaker 2 (40:18):
It's just that wasn't the characters and that wasn't
their relationship yeah, if itfits the characters, though I'm
probably not gonna mind.
Now if the author doessomething weird and you're like,
what is this?
This is not, this is not thecharacters.
That's when I'm more likely tobe like, um, what are we doing?

Speaker 1 (40:37):
what are we doing here?
Yeah, and this one, they deny,deny, deny, deny, they deny that
there's anything between them.
They, they just will not.
They're friends.
So it's friends to lovers,always just friends.
Yeah, it's friends to lovers.
They are just so, they're indenial and everyone else is just
like, come on and they just,they can't admit it Exactly.
And Culver comes to stay withHannah because he's been off,

(41:01):
you know, playing hockey, and sohe comes to stay with her for
the summer during his off season, and so they're living, they're
kind of roommates for thesummer, and so, yeah, and it's
friends to lovers, so it is.
Yeah, it's really really cute,it's really cute.

Speaker 2 (41:16):
Something that's different about the roommate
trope when it is friends tolovers, because it's like it
took them living together tolike figure out that maybe, that
, maybe, maybe we're not justfriends, you know, and so those
are.
Those are solid tropes to beused together and hannah is the
guardian for her brother.

Speaker 1 (41:35):
So he is there and I'm pretty sure he's a teenager,
if I remember correctly.
So he's kind of there to keepeverything pg2.
So again, he's appreciateanother one.
Yeah, he's just another onethat's kind of like to keep
everything PG too.
So again, he's just another one.
Yeah, he's just another one.
That's kind of like I thinksomething's going on between you
guys and they're like no, no,no, no, and it's like, yeah, it
is yeah.

Speaker 2 (41:54):
I that that series is on my TBR you hyped it up.
Enough for me, it's, it's, it'scoming up real soon, if not the
next read for me.
Okay, good, yes yes, okay,awesome.

Speaker 1 (42:07):
The third book is out the enemy face off, I think but
I haven't read it yet.
I keep meaning to read it, butyou know how authors they just
they release so many books atonce and you're trying to keep
up with them and you thinkyou're gonna read it right now
and then you just you can't, soyou can't.
That's where I'm at.
Yeah, you just have to give upand say, well, but I love Ash

(42:28):
Kelly's writing style.
She's an auto buy author for me.
She's one I hadn't really heardof.
I found her on Instagram, Ithink.
So if you have not read AshKelly, give her a shot.
It's so.
She's really, really good.
I like her writing.

Speaker 2 (42:41):
I can't wait to read it.
I feel like I'm gonna love it.

Speaker 1 (42:44):
Okay, what is your next rec?

Speaker 2 (42:46):
Okay, so this is actually it's part of a series.
I have read all three books inthe series.
I arc read two of the books.
This specific book was myfavorite.
It is hockey again, but I'veread so much hockey this year
Like, genuinely, that's my mostread sport, and I don't know

(43:08):
when that shift happened becauseI genuinely, as of last year,
said I was not a hockey romancegirly and then look what
happened.
So now you are.
Now it's all I read.
But this book is Shut Out byMarie Loyal, I think is how you
say it.
She is a pretty small indieauthor and I actually came

(43:29):
across her, I think, on likethreads or something, and I was
like, well, her books look good,and so I just signed up to arc
read randomly and I fell in lovewith just her writing style and
the characters and just, oh, sothis book specifically, instead
of going on a whole rant, thisbook shut out is a childhood

(43:50):
best friends to strangers, tofriends, to lovers.
Oh, okay, I like that.
Yes, so their childhood bestfriends.
They grew up together, in fact,because this is the last book
in the series.
In the first two books you seetheir friendship like when they
were little, and so that's supercool.
But they have amisunderstanding of falling out,

(44:10):
if you will, and they kind ofjust don't speak to each other
for a couple years and then, asfate would have it, they run
back into each other and aseries of events unfolds and
basically it's brooklyn andolivia, I think, is their names.
It's been it's been a minutesince I read this one, but his
name is brooklyn.
Yes, his name is brooklyn.

(44:30):
Her name is olivia, um, olive,olivia, one of the two.
That's my bad, I can't fullyremember it's one of the two.
Close enough, you're closeenough close enough yeah, and he
is trying to basically show herthat he's not, he's not a bad
guy, right, and trying to mendthe gap between them because,
like he's really missed theirfriendship.

(44:51):
She really has to.
But it's basically their storyof you know, they went from like
best friends to not knowingeach other to slowly being
forced to be in each other'spresence again.
Two slowly being forced to bein each other's presence again.
And the side characters arejust hilarious.
Their family, olivia's family,is the funniest we see them.
Obviously the other booksfollow her.

(45:13):
Let's see, is it her brother?
I think the second book followsher brother and then the first
book follows.
I want to say it's her sister.
I could be wrong, but I thinkthere's quite a bit of hockey
play in this one.
Actually, and because Iremember thinking when I read it
you can tell the author knows adecent amount about hockey
based off of the amount ofhockey that was in it and it was

(45:37):
.
It's kind of angsty.
Her books are kind of angsty.

Speaker 1 (45:40):
I was going to say this sounds a little bit more
like depth mature angsty.

Speaker 2 (45:43):
Yes, yes for sure, All of her books in this series.
What is this series called For?
The life of me I cannotremember.

Speaker 1 (45:49):
Well, it's so hard to remember both the title of the
books and then also whatever theseries is called.

Speaker 2 (45:54):
Yes, but it follows three siblings and they're
obviously spaced out.
Books are angsty.
They are very steamy.
They are very steamy, um, butthey are closed door.
There's quite a bit of hockey,if you like hockey, and that's
kind of like the central theme.
Someone in the book likegenuinely plays hockey and loves
it.
Most of them are like trying toget into the nhl or whatever.

(46:15):
So I I just loved thecharacters in this one.
They were like a lot of fun.
Brooklyn was very goldenretriever.
It was like black cat catgolden retriever.
The girl's just verystandoffish and he's just.
You know, it was just.
It was a lot of fun to read and, once again, maybe right place,
right time, but I devoured thisbook in less than 24 hours and

(46:36):
I was busy that day.
I remember I was busy and Idevoured it.

Speaker 1 (46:41):
This kind of sounds like the closed door version of
Unsteady.
To be honest, really, yeah, ohyeah, heck, yeah.
Now I have to read it andUnsteady is open door.
So me saying that it is veryopen door.
I have to point that out.
I give Michaela modificationsand if you too want
modifications, you can click thesend us a text button on the
show notes or you can DM me onInstagram and I will give you my

(47:03):
modifications.
So, just throwing that outthere, cause I don't want you to
go, unsteady, that's a closeddoor book, cause you mentioned
it in this episode, let me readno, no, no, it's not.
It's really not.
You've seen?
You've seen the list, michaela,you know that there are a lot
of money there's and it's justlike a laundry list of pages.

Speaker 2 (47:21):
Yeah, no, I think that was one of the few that
you've sent me that the list waslong, it was like more than
like two or three, it was likean entire notes page worth of
modifications that one and FaceOff Face Off probably had the
most.

Speaker 1 (47:34):
I'm pretty sure of what I've sent you by Chelsea
Curto.
Yeah, that one.
I think that is the mostmodifications.

Speaker 2 (47:44):
I think you even said like crap, that's a lot.
I think I know, I think you'reright.
Yeah, I was like oh, that's,that's a lot it is.

Speaker 1 (47:50):
Oh, that sounds really really good.
Okay, you're just adding to mytbr.
I know I'm so sorry.
It's fine, I'm adding to yourstoo.

Speaker 2 (47:56):
So you know you're right, the tbr is never ending.
The tbr just we don't even lookat it most days because it's
just we're how literally how Iknow.

Speaker 1 (48:07):
It's like as soon as you have something down and you
feel like you're making progressin your tbr, that's when you
just get 80 new books to add andyou're like no, I thought that
it was gonna go down, but nosometimes I just scroll
instagram.

Speaker 2 (48:20):
I'm like, oh, that's a good book, I'll add that, I'll
add that.
And then I've added like 30books in the span of 10 minutes
and I'm like, oh well, that'sgreat.

Speaker 1 (48:30):
I know it is really hard, and especially Instagram
ads, whenever you see one thatjust hits and you're like I
would abandon everything forthis random book I saw it's this
random book, just like a singlesentence quote, typically,
typically, you know, yeah, I'vedone that several times in the
past couple weeks actually Likethat's the one and it either

(48:52):
goes really really well and youlove it, or you absolutely hate
it and it is total garbage.

Speaker 2 (48:57):
I was about to say the exact same thing.
It's either the best thingthat's ever happened to you or
you regret wasting your time.
It's just there's no in betweenever I'm hitting you with a
different sport.

Speaker 1 (49:11):
This time I have the crossover by sarah ward.
So this is basketball andequestrian.
Okay, so it's an interestingcombo, okay, so.
Okay, that is very interesting.
Yeah, so the male maincharacter is a basketball player
.
The female main character is anequestrian.
They both take the same classtogether in college.

(49:31):
Oh, so this is new adult.
I forgot to say that this istechnically new adult.
They're in college and they getput in, like she wants to be a
physical therapist and he'salready a basketball player, so
that's kind of his major is, Ithink, physical therapy or
physical education or somethingof that nature.
And so they get put in thisclass where they basically have
to work out together and you getpartners, and so they already

(49:53):
kind of met before that.
So they had a little bit of ameet cute.
And now I'm trying to rememberwhat happens in their meet cute.
It's oh, they meet each otherat the gym.
They meet each other at the gym.
He sees her, he thinks she'scute, he goes over to talk to
her.
She's like no, and so theyalready know each other.

(50:15):
And then they find out thatthey're in the same class
together and of course he sitsby her.
Again.
It's kind of the goldenretriever black cat.
She's her again.
It's kind of the goldenretriever black cat, she's a
black cat, he's a goldenretriever.
So then he sits by her whenthey're in this class and then
they have workout partners andthey end up being the same.
She typecast him into theplayer role and he was, but he's
not.
Now he's reformed, so he'strying to prove reform yeah he's

(50:38):
a reformed player, so he'strying to prove that that's not
him, and so, anyway, they havethis workout class together,
they constantly have to work out, and so there's a lot of forced
proximity from them being inthe same class and having all
these workouts and they get tolook at each other and work out.
It's basically like the mainthing at first.

(50:58):
So, anyway, it does have adecent amount of steam.
No spice, it is.
Yeah, it's closed door.
I had to think about that for asecond.
Yes, it is, it is closed door.
There's a couple things that, acouple scenes that came to my
mind that I was like wait aminute, is that closed door?
It is, it is, it is, it is.
But, um, you know, sometimesit's hard to keep up, like once
you've read it and you're donewith it.

Speaker 2 (51:18):
yeah, when you read a lot, though it all blends
together and romances tend tohave a lot of the same tropes, a
lot of the same tropes.
And so then you're just leftlike which book was that in?
You're like, was that this one,is that this one?
And it tends to happen,especially with not spy scenes
but, you know, like kisses andstuff like that a lot of them
play out very similarly.
So trying to remember whichbook that was in an actual

(51:42):
struggle.

Speaker 1 (51:44):
I agree.
Okay, two things I need topoint out about this one.
So and again I'm pointing outthese things I don't care.
I enjoyed them, both with thefake out, but any any slight
critique I give in any of thesebooks, I don't care.
I enjoyed them so much that Iput them on the list.
I would read them again.
So much joy.
But I feel like I need to pointthis out because I feel like, if

(52:07):
I don't that, you're going toread it and be like Kristen what
were you thinking?
Or why did you?
Why this is in there.
And so if I tell you I liked it, but there's this thing, then I
feel like you're going to walkin prepared and it may not bug
you as much, cause I would hatefor you to put the book down
because of these little, teeny,tiny things that really have no
bearing on the book at all.

(52:28):
But the nicknames in this arereally cringy.
They're so cringy and I, I justI hate that for it because the
book was so joyful, I had somuch joy.
I was looking forward to beingable to read this every night
after work, so it was fantasticand I loved the book, but the
the nicknames.

(52:48):
So are you ready for this?
I don't know, am I ready before, but I don't think you remember
.
Okay, his, it's like hard tosay.
Okay, his is mr basketball yeah, I'm sorry I know, I know, and
hers is superwoman and it.

(53:09):
It makes it like they give youthe context for the nicknames.
So when you hear the context itmakes a little bit more sense
of why.
But they don't just slide offthe tongue, you know.
And more excuse for me to talkabout unsteady and unsteady.
He calls her gray because hereyes are gray and it's like
really cute.
So it's like you, you know,like a one-liner, like gray, you

(53:29):
know, but with this thenicknames just nicknames.
They took me out of it a smidgeyes, they took me out of it a
smidge, but the rest of the bookis so good.
And he is so sweet.
And she literally turns himdown and he decides to prove to
her and, like, remain friendswith her and prove why he should
be her boyfriend.
And it is just the sweetestthing, yes, and his POV is great

(53:53):
and he is so kind to her.
He's so sweet, he does so manythings for her and he talks
about, like, just how much hecares about her, so they have a
really strong friendship.
It's like strangers will yeah,strangers, they get off on the
wrong foot to friends, to lovers, so it it's really great in
every other way.

Speaker 2 (54:14):
But the nicknames are just oh man, they're nicknames,
they're wow, that is.
You know, I'm not super pickyabout nicknames, but sometimes
you hit a nickname that just ohit, it's just not it, and that I
can't think of specificinstances, but I do know there
have been books.
I probably just like blocked itfrom my memory because I hated
it so much.
But there have been books whereI'm like oh, I can't even, like

(54:37):
I'll just skip.
Like anytime I see the nicknameI'm like I can't read, like I
can't even envision that that isgiving me the ick actively,
that that is giving me the ickactively.
Um, you know, sometimes theliterally I just it's true.
Yeah, in rival darling thenickname because she's from
california originally, so hecalls her sunshine and it's the

(54:58):
sweetest thing ever.
And I'm just a sucker for a cute, meaningful nickname you know
that's just about theirpersonality or, like you know,
something cute about them.
But some nicknames just need tonot be nicknames, in my humble
opinion, I know but it's hardbecause I'm sure that's such a
personal thing like you'llprobably have.

Speaker 1 (55:17):
Let's say, you had beta readers reading, you would
probably have like five thatlove the nickname and five that
hate the nickname, or maybe theyassociate something else with
the nickname or maybe they werecalled it by an ex-boyfriend.
So it's very, very subjective.
Yeah, so personal yeah yeah,yeah, so don't hold that against
the book.
It's really good, it's reallycute and it's really sweet and
it's really really good yeah,it's really just the nickname,

(55:40):
but I had to point that outbecause I felt like if I didn't
and you got to that part, you'dbe like can I trust your?

Speaker 2 (55:45):
recommendations.
I was going to shoot you amessage, Kristen.
What is this Exactly?
I'd?

Speaker 1 (55:51):
be like no, no, no, just keep going, it's fine.
It's good.
It's good, but yeah, so thatwas a crossover by Sarah Ward,
and I believe that's her day.
I'm almost positive that's herdebut as well.
That's cool.
Okay, Are you ready for a final?
What's your final rec?
And then I'll go with my finalrec, okay.

Speaker 2 (56:12):
So we talked about better than the movies earlier.
There's a second book, nothinglike the movies.
It is a book that exists.
Yep, it is a book that exists.
Let's talk about that one.
So this book if you haven'tread better than the movies
follows wes and liz, and they'rein high school at this point.
They're neighbors.
There's this whole rivalry,enemies thing happening.

(56:35):
Little do we know.
There's some secret feelingsbeing harbored and I'm trying to
think was there?
Oh, yeah?
Yeah, we had the whole fakedating thing.
Forgot about that for a for asecond.
I forgot that was one of thetropes.
Well, that book ends happilyever after.
Right, there was a sequelreleased called nothing like the

(56:55):
movies.
We were informed this was asecond chance romance, which was
automatically trauma, at leastwe were warned, at least we were
warned.
We were warned, um, but I wasalready scared going and knowing
that, I was like, oh, I waslike we got a couple pages of
happily ever after and nowthere's a problem.
So this book follows them whenthey're in college.
Um, do you remember how fardown the road it is from the end

(57:18):
of?
Better than the movies it'slike okay, so years, right, she
and her senior year at college.

Speaker 1 (57:26):
I thought it was June , was it junior year?
Because he, okay, so there'sthat novella, that's the bridge
between where they take thatroad trip and that's right
before they start collegetogether, and then, yeah, and
then I think they're togetherfor like a year, yes, and then
they're broken up for a year.
Yeah, I think there's your part.

(57:47):
So this, I think this might bejunior year, but he's not a
junior, he's technically asophomore because he took a year
off, right, I think?

Speaker 2 (57:57):
yeah yeah, but some things happen and they break up,
and so this book starts, whenthey're broken up, devastating
and it is, oh, it was rough,like.
And we start off like right offthe bat, it's just like you're
hit with it.
You're like, oh, we didn't evenget a few pages, like it's just
off the bat.

Speaker 1 (58:17):
Enemies to lovers to enemies again.
And you're like how did they goback?
How?

Speaker 2 (58:23):
did they go?
Literally?
We just we reverted everythingthat we had problem solved in
the first book, gone useless.
It means nothing now, um, butyeah, basically this book is him
making his way back into herlife.
Some circumstances that pulledthem apart.
The truth about those are arerevealed, and it is.

(58:46):
It is a wild ride and I'm isthe hot take.

Speaker 1 (58:50):
I don't know that we needed this book I have heard
that lately I've actually heardthat lately we needed it.

Speaker 2 (58:58):
Was it fun at times?
Yes, was it cute at times?
Yes, was it heartbreaking andstomps on your heart Just like
rips it out, stomps on it Also.
Yes, but I think I would havebeen content if we just didn't
have the second one.
I don't know, and I know that'sa hot take, which makes me sad,

(59:19):
because I really enjoyed thosebooks, and not that I didn't
like it, I think it's more ofjust the journey that it was.
It was really long, it was areally long book and it felt
like it was just like drama,angst, drama, drama, a little
more angst like.
And then the very, very end.
The ending was so abrupt.

(59:39):
I was like what was it?
Three pages from the end orsomething.
Yeah, I think I said, oh, comeon.
Yeah, literally I was readingit and I flipped and I was like,
oh, there's, there's not more,never mind, oh, it was cute.
It is more baseball heavy thanthe first book.
I would say, yeah, especiallybecause liz works for the film

(01:00:01):
crew yes, yeah, and she'sfilming for the baseball team
and obviously Wes is on thebaseball team, hence this being
what we're considering a sportsromance.

Speaker 1 (01:00:12):
Loose sports romance, but it counts.

Speaker 2 (01:00:14):
It still counts, yeah we use the term loosely in this
case.
There is sports involved in thebook in some way, shape or form
, but it is.
It's a journey.
Honestly, I liked how we got toknow the characters more and
the addition of some of thecharacters, oh some of the side
characters.

Speaker 1 (01:00:33):
I can't wait for a potential spinoff book, maybe
which she said that, okay, so Ican't, we can't say the
characters, but there's a personon the team and someone else
that is related to someone else.
And whenever Michaela was like,please, I want to know if there
could be a third book, cause itkind of sets itself up as if

(01:00:55):
there could be yeah, so, set up,guys, it could be.
Oh, it'd be perfect.
So I asked Lynn painter when Imet her Cause I, okay, so I met
her for this book, nothing likethe movies, and I hadn't read it
yet, I'd only read, like Simonand Schuster released the first
10 chapters or whatever.
I had only read up to thatbefore talking to Lynn Painter.

(01:01:17):
And so whenever I went up toget the book signed, I asked her
hey, would there be a thirdbook?
And she said that she's notcontracted right now by her
publisher for a third book, butif she was going to write
another book it would be thesecharacters.
So and she's even said like shedidn't think so nothing like
the movies wasn't a thing thatwas supposed to happen until her

(01:01:41):
publisher came and said we needa sequel.
So it wasn't as if it was likean original plan to make this
two books.
Yeah, it came a lot later,after the success of the first
book, and her publisher saidthat yeah, I was gonna say
probably the demand, because,like I was even on the train for
hey, I want a second bookplease, uh.

Speaker 2 (01:01:59):
So I mean rightfully so, because that book blew up.
Blew up.
I know people who don't evenreally like to read that have
read that book.
Everyone read that book.

Speaker 1 (01:02:09):
True.
And she said that she does notlike sequels, like she almost
will not watch sequels of movies.
So she was really nervous onhow it was going to be.
And what did she say?
So she wrote this book likethree different ways, and this
was the third version, so shehad three completely different
endings.
She said there was one wherethey get together at like the

(01:02:35):
very beginning of the book.

Speaker 2 (01:02:35):
Yeah, I know, I know, I forgot to tell you that I
know we did, and then herpublisher was like no, it's so
yeah, no, yeah I know her agentsaid no, never mind.

Speaker 1 (01:02:40):
So then she had to go back and rewrite it, and then I
think she said it was like toosad.
And so then her agent was likeno, no, you gotta go stop.
So she made it in between and Ithink this book was the in
between whoa.

Speaker 2 (01:02:55):
Yeah, also to be noted.
This book is kind of sad, likethere are some heavier themes
talked about oh uh.

Speaker 1 (01:03:01):
Trigger warning for suicide and mental health issues
.

Speaker 2 (01:03:06):
Yeah it's, it's a, it's a heavier book and so like.
In that regard, it wasinteresting to watch the
characters as they go throughsome of these things and you
kind of we get wes's point ofview in this book, which we
didn't in the first book, whichwas so nice because it was like
I get to see inside his mind.
I'm not trying to figure outwhy he's doing what he's doing.

(01:03:27):
It all makes sense now, right,but this one's not like a fluffy
read, very angsty drama, someheavier stuff, but like it was
still wes and liz, you know.
So what's?

Speaker 1 (01:03:39):
not to love there I guess, but I guess I guess, but
the thing about okay, maybe thisis definitely going to be an
unpopular opinion.
So with Second Chance, I didn'tlike it at the start of the
year, but I think that severalauthors have actually kind of
changed my mind and I reallyactually enjoyed the reading

(01:03:59):
experience of this book.
I genuinely wanted to know whatwas going to happen and I was
flipping pages super fast.
So I feel like it's definitelyworth a read.
But I see what you're saying asfar as like we could have
almost done without it.
But the reading experience wasso fun that I'm glad I got the
chance to read it and that it'sout in the world.

(01:04:21):
But it is definitely like aheart stomper.

Speaker 2 (01:04:23):
Yeah, that's kind of how I am.
I think my problem was I wentinto it expecting something and
it was not what I was expecting,and so that's partially on me.
I, that's on me, you know, andit was still.
It was Lynn Painter, which Ilove, like all of Lynn Painter's
books, you know.
So for me it was more of Ihated the fact that they had to
break up and we had to watchthem go through like heartbreak,

(01:04:46):
you know, like that was justsad, but I do think it was a
good read.
It wasn't, you know, um and itwas realistic.

Speaker 1 (01:04:53):
I think her reactions were realistic, even if people
say they weren't.
I think when she lost trust inhim, it wasn't going to be an
easy flip of a switch no, and Ithink that it was written in a
way that really, like you said,was realistic.

Speaker 2 (01:05:07):
just kind of it was a side of the characters we
didn't see in the first book,which was actually kind of nice
yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:05:13):
So I don't know.
You can make the decision foryourself if you think that you
want to read this book, butthere is a novella on Lynn
Painter's website that bridgesbetween the first book and the
second book.
That's like a road trip whenthey're going to college that I
think they even reference Acouple small times In the other,
and I've started reading thebonus chapter that's now

(01:05:35):
available for Nothing.
Like the Movies.
I'm not done with it yetBecause I kind of put it down
for a second, and that one'salso interesting.
I can't.

Speaker 2 (01:05:44):
I've heard some stuff about it.

Speaker 1 (01:05:47):
I can't spoil everything I can't.
I was gonna say I can't evensay anything else because I'm
gonna spoil something.

Speaker 2 (01:05:49):
Yeah, I've heard some stuff about it.
I read the first chapter andhaven't gotten any further yet
because I haven't had a chance.
But I've heard supposedly howit ends and I haven't got to
that point yet.
But I'm like what is everyonetalking about?

Speaker 1 (01:06:00):
I was like I feel like I need to go read it now oh
, and that one is on the simonand schuster website, whereas
the others are on lynn painter'swebsite, because I couldn't
find it for a second, because Ididn't realize it was only on.

Speaker 2 (01:06:13):
I couldn't either.
I was like am I crazy?
I was like they're always inher like miscellaneous section
on her website or whatever, andI was like I swear someone just
posted that they read this.
Where is?

Speaker 1 (01:06:22):
this, where is it at?
I almost dm'd you again and waslike where, where did that go?
Am I missing it?
But no, I found it like rightas I was about.

Speaker 2 (01:06:30):
I literally was like this, close to one of the girls
that had posted about it, I wasabout to be like, hey, where'd
you find this?
I was like everyone was postingabout it and I was like, guys,
where are we finding it?

Speaker 1 (01:06:40):
it's not there.
No, because, yeah, simon andSchuster was like no, we're
gonna take this and we're gonnaown it I know let me hide it.

Speaker 2 (01:06:49):
Little scavenger hunt for you and there's um an extra
extra.

Speaker 1 (01:06:55):
Her husband said, like you write fan fiction for
your own books.
I thought that was hilariousbecause it's kind of true and
she was like I kind of do.
But there's an additional,additional scene that's like a
christmas thing, of all thecharacters.
I haven't read it yet because Ididn't want to spoil anything
about the other charactersbefore I read the other books,
but I think she said that likethis, nothing like the movies

(01:07:19):
epilogue takes place, I think,like the day after the book ends
, but then the Christmas onewith all the characters takes
place like six months after orsomething like that.
So it literally is sequential.
It is.

Speaker 2 (01:07:31):
It's a good read.
Yeah, I enjoyed it because,well, I've read all her ways and
so I thought it was super cool.
It even there's one of hers.
We find out one of hercharacters is related to a
character in the other one ofthe other books, um, and so you
kind of get to see them cometogether in one of the novellas
that she wrote and it's reallyjust.
It's cool how she tied it alltogether, because you don't

(01:07:53):
realize it in the books, butseeing all her characters
together, I'm like oh, they'reall buddies, they're all friends
.
How cute is that.
It's adorable.

Speaker 1 (01:08:03):
I love that.
So once I read, I have to readthe others, though, first, but
once I read the others I'll goback and like read through, and
I know there are several bonusscenes, obviously for the books
I haven't read as well, so Ineed to just read her entire
website front to back.

Speaker 2 (01:08:17):
I know they're, they're, they're all good and I
think they add a lot to all ofthe stories.
So, yeah, I'm glad she writesthem for sure.

Speaker 1 (01:08:25):
Me too.
Okay, my last rec Hmm, whichone am I going to go with?
It's so hard to decide.
Wait, actually, no, I only haveone left.
Okay, okay, okay, I got it Okay.
So, as you can tell, it's hardto find.
It's hard to find closed doorromance.
That is good.
I have read so many closed doorsports romances that were not

(01:08:48):
that great, so the list of myopen door sports romance is way
longer than my closed door list,which stinks.
I need more really good closeddoor romance, but for this, the
one with the kiss cam by CindySteele.
Again, this is another.
Like very loosely basketball,like this is really pushing it

(01:09:08):
on calling it basketball.

Speaker 2 (01:09:09):
This one's probably the one that's the most like.
Does this count?
We're saying it counts, yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:09:15):
I just wanted to talk about the book, so you know, I
thought why not include it?
It takes place in a basketballgame, so therefore basketball it
counts.
The sport is present in thebook for at least a couple pages
, so exactly like the back halfof the book has absolutely
nothing to do with basketball atall.

Speaker 2 (01:09:33):
Yeah, after the first couple chapters, no sports ever
.

Speaker 1 (01:09:38):
Yeah, so yeah, if you're looking for basketball,
this is not that book, but ifyou're looking for a really good
book, yeah, and then it is good.
Cindy Steele is just she's sheand Leah Bruner and Katie Bailey
, they just don't miss.
They don't miss I.
That's my opinion, and Iliterally like everything they

(01:09:59):
come out with.
And I'm still reading, stillreading through Cindy's backlist
.
But she makes everything sofunny.
There's always so much banter,there's so much depth, there's a
lot of depth in here.
And it's funny because at thefirst of this book my one
complaint, like for the firsthalf, was, oh, I don't know that
, it was really that there wasthat much depth.

(01:10:20):
It was kind of cutesy.
But then it's as if she heardme and she put so much depth.
In the second half I was like,okay, cindy, you win, you win.
I don't know why I ever thoughtthat for a second you got it.
So it is angsty.
At times there's oh triggerwarning, for I can't remember if

(01:10:42):
it's Alzheimer's or dementia,but some kind of advanced form
of memory thing, and then justlike caretaking of grandparents.
So if those things bug you,then this may not be for you.
But you can check out any ofCindy Steele's other books,
because they're all great.
Faking Christmas OK, now thatI've said Faking Christmas in an

(01:11:05):
episode, I can write it down inthe show notes the one with the
kiss cam.
So basically, um, the maincharacter and I'm totally
blanking on her name nora, right, derrick and nora, no, that's
no duke and nora, no duke andwait no duke and it's not nork,
is it n?

Speaker 2 (01:11:24):
I feel like it's Nora .

Speaker 1 (01:11:26):
It may be that may be why I got it confused and said
Derek and Nora.
I think it might be Duke andNora, I think it is Duke and
Nora that feels right.

Speaker 2 (01:11:34):
If not, then I'm crazy, because I'm pretty
certain that feels right.

Speaker 1 (01:11:39):
I'm pretty sure.
So I'm just going to call themDuke and Nora, like that's the
first thing to go are theirnames.
Most of the time, I canremember so many traits about
them, but their names don't.
Don't ask.

Speaker 2 (01:11:49):
That goes rather quickly.

Speaker 1 (01:11:51):
It does.
So okay, nora, had I'm callingher Nora, that's right.
Okay, the female main charactershe has a date at a basketball
game and she ends up falling forthe guy sitting next to her.
That is not her date.
Her date goes up to get likepopcorn or soda or something,

(01:12:11):
and then that kiss cam.
That kiss cam just comes by andit is relentless and they won't
.
She won't kiss this really hotstranger and she just won't kiss
him because she's like I'm on adate with this other guy.
And then she acquiesces alittle bit and they end up
kissing for the kiss cam.
And then the poor guy comesback and has no idea what just
happened.
And it's, it is amazing.

(01:12:34):
So the whole thing starts outat a basketball game.
So there's your, there's yourbasketball, and I think she
there's her daily dose of sports, for this book Exactly.
That's literally it.
It's a day, that's it.

Speaker 2 (01:12:46):
But she really likes basketball, so she honestly
didn't she only go on the dateto watch the basketball game I
think I think she, I feel likeshe did yeah or there was
something, because I don't thinkshe actually really wanted to
go on the date.

Speaker 1 (01:13:01):
Yeah, but she's there bless the guy's heart, I know,
but the armrest thing, themfighting over the armrest, that
was just the start of the mostadorable like.
That's such a niche small thingthat senu just transformed in
like the cutest little iconicaction, yeah, yeah I.

Speaker 2 (01:13:21):
I need to reread this book.
It has been it's only been likea year, but I've read a lot
since then.
I adore this book.
It has been it's only been likea year, but I've read a lot
since then.
I adore this book.
It was one of the first books Iread on KU.
When I got it last year for thefirst time, and when I tell you
, I had not been this excited toread a book in so long, I
finished it and I was like, yep,this was the book, this was it.

Speaker 1 (01:13:43):
I loved it so much I agree, I listened to it on
audiobook, I forgot, and so theaudiobook is actually just as
good as the physical version.
Well, we love that.
That's kind of rare actually.
I know, I know Well, for somereason, my library like on
Hoopla, because you get instantdownloads and it's not like

(01:14:03):
Libby.
They carry all of Leah Bruner'sbooks and all of Cindy Steele's
books Like as soon as theyrelease another one audio book
is available.
So I listened to all.
And Katie Bailey Katie Baileytoo.
I've not read a Katie Baileybook, I've only listened to a
Katie Bailey book to read it.

Speaker 2 (01:14:19):
Isn't that?

Speaker 1 (01:14:19):
nice.
Yeah, I know, I know they likebought and then, and then they
have dark romance and they buythose series, so they really
have.
You're sitting there looking atthe chart and it's literally
like desire or defense, rebelsummer, and then lights out and
you're kind of going oh, I don'tthink these are in the same
playing field actually, yeah, Idon't think the ritual and

(01:14:42):
lights out need to be next tothese, but they are.
They literally are on the charts.
It's hilarious dating hockeyromance, um yeah.
So the audiobooks on all ofthese, oh, and leah bruner's
audiobooks are also really goodand katie bailey's audiobooks
are also really good.
They don't sound cheesy overaudiobook, which is hard with

(01:15:02):
this specific sub-genre.
So the narrators and both do areally good job at keeping all
of them from sounding cheesy.

Speaker 2 (01:15:14):
Really appreciate that Because, like you said,
that's really hard to find and Iknow some books that on paper I
would have loved that book, Iknow for a fact.
But I listened to it and I waslike man, that was rough, I
couldn't handle that, that wasjust too cheesy.
I wouldn't say something comingfrom me because I'm here for
the cheese.

Speaker 1 (01:15:34):
You know, I know I like the cheese.
I like well, I like Sarah Adamscheese.
There is a point.
Actually there was an authorthat I just read that it was.
It was campy, and I didn't likecampy at all.
I made it seven pages in and Iwas done.
But again it was supposed to besuper spicy.
But yeah, it was super campyand I wasn't a fan.

(01:15:54):
But then I don't blame you.
Not sports, but the mostwonderful crime of the year,
which is closed door, by AliCarter, that one is campy.
Done right, that's the only wayto do campy.
If it's not that book, thenit's campy.
I don't want it.

Speaker 2 (01:16:08):
I have seen that everywhere.
You're not even the only personthat's wrecked that to me.
I have several people that havebeen like, oh my gosh, you got
to read this book, like it's sogood, and so I might actually
have to give it a try.

Speaker 1 (01:16:21):
Oh, if you do, let me know Again.
Do let me know.
There again.
You're gonna be thinkingthrough the first little bit.
This is a mystery book.
This is a mystery book.
This is a mystery book.
But then there's a plot twistand it switches and you
understand why it's a romancebook and the romance picks up in
the second half of the story.
If there's romance, I'm down.
So I think it's at almostexactly 50 percent where you get

(01:16:43):
that plot twist and you findout why it's classified as a
romance novel.
So interesting.

Speaker 2 (01:16:51):
Yeah, I'm going to have to read that one now.

Speaker 1 (01:16:54):
I don't want to give it away.
Some people have actually kindof given it away without giving
it away, and I'm like I'm noteven going to say what, what.
I'm not even going to give youa hint, because I appreciate the
non-spoiler Cause.
It'll just catch you bysurprise and that's the main
thing, is it needs to catch youby surprise, because then you're
just like fun out of it, if notyou know exactly so yeah, it is

(01:17:15):
really, really good.
And ethan, the main character inthat one, because you know, now
you got me talking about this.
I'm sorry, no, it's, I have totalk about it.
I love talking about it, butanyway.
So so Ethan the main character,he is again kind of like a
reformed player and so, becauseit annoys the living snot out of
her, he will constantly,whenever they're alone, he'll go

(01:17:37):
like hey, want to make out andit just annoys her.

Speaker 2 (01:17:42):
So much, it's so funny she wants to murder him.

Speaker 1 (01:17:47):
She literally wants to murder him.
She literally wants to likemurder him in the beginning.
Whenever he says that, and soit's just literally they'll be
in the middle and they're liketrying to find something or on a
reconnaissance mission orsomething.
And then he'll just look at herand be like hey, want to make
out.
And she's like, oh, my god.
She's like are you kidding me?
Right now she's like I can't, Ican't handle you, I need you to
go away.
So, yeah, she is very much.

(01:18:07):
She's just not like it and he'sjust and he, wow, um, yeah, I
can't even talk more about it,because you find out, like I
thought that he was doing itfrom a self-aware place, but
then you find out that theyactually kind of had a slight
miscommunication, not anythingtoo bad, but like a slight
what's not a miscommunication,but it's uh I'm trying to think

(01:18:29):
of how to like a word todescribe it it's not really a
miscommunication.
It's like, uh, they're notperceiving it the same way, like
he thinks one thing and shethinks another, because he
remembers something that shedoesn't.
So it's not okay, it's notreally that.
So she's thinking something,but he remembered something and
that was his motivation.

Speaker 2 (01:18:49):
Okay, that's not quite miscommunication.
Yeah, I'm like that's notmiscommunication.

Speaker 1 (01:18:53):
It's like misinformation maybe.
Yeah, yeah, because she doesn'thave it and he does yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:18:59):
So it's not Miscommunication is where we get
questionable.

Speaker 1 (01:19:03):
True, so that's why I had to clear that up, that it's
not really a miscommunication.

Speaker 2 (01:19:07):
It's more like I know you could see, when you said
miscommunication, I was like oh,oh no.

Speaker 1 (01:19:12):
It doesn't even really classify, but yeah.
So anyway, that book isfantastic and, to be fair with
that one too, I started out.
So the publisher sent me ane-arc of it and was like, hey,
read this.
So thank you to HarperCollins.
But then I ended up listeningto it on Spotify because I was

(01:19:33):
trying to get through all theChristmas books and I wanted to
make sure I read it.
And I had not read this arc fora while.
I had it for a really long timeand I just hadn't started it
because everything kept jumpingin the way.
So anyway, I started it alittle bit on Kindle and the
pacing is very unique and itfeels kind of like a screenplay
movie script, the way that itmoves, like you could almost

(01:19:55):
hear it being a movie becausethe sentences are really like
short and quick and the banteris just back and forth and back
and forth.
But then on audiobook, I didn'twant to go to the audiobook
because I liked it so much onphysical.
But actually it's really reallygood on audiobook and it's kind
of just as well done the styleof the sentences and the pacing

(01:20:18):
on audiobook as it is physical.
So you could really consume iteither way and you'd have a good
reading experience.

Speaker 2 (01:20:24):
Well, that's nice.
Consume it either way and you'dhave a good reading experience.
Well, that's nice yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:20:32):
Now I think I'm going to have to read it.
Darn, oh, my gosh, I'm gettingyou to read the fake out flex,
unsteady and the most wonderfulcrime of the year.

Speaker 2 (01:20:36):
But they're all really good.
I know I've heard great thingsabout all of them.
Most, most, I mean a lot ofthem were introduced to me by
you, but I keep.
Now I'm seeing them everywhere.
They're like all over my Foryou page and I'm like, oh,
thanks, kristen.

Speaker 1 (01:20:51):
That's happening to me and fantasy books.
Oh, and Brandon Sandersonspecifically, like now his books
are all over my For you pageand I'm like, okay, I had
romance going on before, but nowit like switched to fantasy and
I was like, okay, this isinteresting.

Speaker 2 (01:21:09):
Yeah, I've had.
I've had quite a bit of fantasytoo lately.
Fantasy is not generally mything, but I have found a few
that I'm like, oh, maybe.

Speaker 1 (01:21:18):
Could that be powerless, shatter me yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:21:21):
The problem is my standards are too high.
After reading some of theselike fantasy series, you know
nothing compares.
I came across a fantasy bookone time that was supposed to be
compared to powerless, slash,reckless and everything about it
, everything I had seen I waslike this is gonna be the book.
It was not the book, it was.

(01:21:42):
I was so sad I've never been.
That is the worst.
It is the worst because it'slike, especially when it has
potential, you know it's like itcould be really good, but
there's just there's some likegenuine things lacking there and
it was super long too, whichkind of sucked.
You know you read like 500pages and you're like, yeah,

(01:22:02):
that wasn't it.
Oh man.

Speaker 1 (01:22:07):
Yeah, and you're like , yeah, that wasn't it.
Oh man, yeah, fantasyeverywhere.
I've heard really good thingslately about A Study in Drowning
and it's YA, so I don't know ifit has spice or not, but it's
romantic, I believe, as well.
So I have it from the library,I'm going to try to slide it in
and if it ends up working outthe second book I think she's
writing it right now or it'scoming it's been the cover's
been released, so you have tolet me know if it's any good.
Yeah, it's worth the read.

(01:22:28):
I hope it is, and I've seen acouple that I've taken a
screenshot of that said theywere well, you haven't read
Harry Potter, have you Not?
Okay, I?

Speaker 2 (01:22:36):
thought you were Super hot.
Take, you're good.

Speaker 1 (01:22:38):
And I was like, okay, I'll give it a shot, and then I
can't even remember what myhouse is.
I took that test like a million, bajillion years ago or no.
I never took it.
I had a friend that was soobsessed with it she like

(01:23:01):
diagnosed me of which house, shesorted me into which house I
was going to be in, and I didnknow yeah, roommates did that
with me.

Speaker 2 (01:23:08):
My roommates were talking about it one day and I
was like I have no clue whatyou're talking about and one of
them just started like namingoff all the different houses and
she's like you could be this,but you also could be this, but
I'm leaning more towards thisand I was like cool it's like
you have no frame of reference.

Speaker 1 (01:23:24):
I.

Speaker 2 (01:23:25):
I was like I don't know what you're talking about
right now, but okay.

Speaker 1 (01:23:29):
Well, yeah, there was that the Slytherin one, and
what was the other one, I don'tknow.
There were a couple thatsounded really good, so I'll
have to see.
But again, with Instagram, whoknows what you're really going
to get.
You never know.
Yeah, but if you want somesurefire wins, any of our recs
will do.
You'll love any of them.
We have really good book taste.

(01:23:51):
If we do say so ourselves, weare the best.
So just take all of ourrecommendations.
Not arrogant of us to say itall.
No, well, we tested on eachother.
So it's like, if you like itand I like it, then it's kind of
a case study of we know thatmaybe the masses would like it
too.

Speaker 2 (01:24:10):
Yeah, if we both like it, then you're sure to love it
exactly.

Speaker 1 (01:24:16):
Thank you so much for joining me, michaela.
If you want to follow uhmichaela on instagram, I will
have her instagram link downbelow in the show notes Tune in
next time.
And if you want Mikayla to beon more episodes, send us a text
on the show notes and tell uswhat episodes you want her to be
in.

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