Where I Left Off

Recently Read Episode 8 - Chelsea Curto, Kate Watson, Cindy Steel, and More!

• Kristen Bahls • Season 2 • Episode 59

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Thank you for a fantastic season 2. I'll be taking a short break before coming back for season 3. Happy Holidays!

Kristen's Book:

No Spice Books:

  • Find your next no spice read HERE

Caroline's YouTube Channel:

Books Mentioned:

Gifted Books:

  • Fake Skating by Lynn Painter
  • Soul Searching by Lyla Sage
  • Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson
  • Metal Slinger by Rachel Schneider
  • Well Actually by Mazey Eddings
  • Since We've No Place to Go by Kate Watson (On KU)

Currently Reading:

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

For episode feedback, future reading and author recommendations, you can text the podcast by clicking the "Send us a message button" above.

For more, follow along on Instagram @whereileftoffpod.

SPEAKER_00:

Welcome back. I'm Kristen Balls, and you are listening to Where I Left Off, a Bookish Podcast. And first, before I get into it, this is Recently Read Episode 8, and I'm talking to you about what I have read recently, which is not a whole lot, but I had some Christmas books that it felt weird to talk about, like Christmas books in January. So I wanted to go ahead and get them before Christmas actually happened, in case you were doing some last-minute reading and trying to sneak in a couple books uh around Christmas time or like on Christmas Day. So because this episode is coming out basically right after an author interview, uh, I wanted to let you know that I am going to be taking a small break before I come back for season three. And I have not taken a break since I've started this podcast. So it's gonna be kind of weird. I mean, I have every once in a while like missed a deadline. Um, and so I've posted like a little bit later, but I have not like truly taken an official break in a little bit. So part of January will be a break. Um, I don't think it will last long. I yeah, I don't think it'll last long, but I did want to say that I do have some amazing author episodes and I'm really excited for them. I've just finished recording them actually, and they are so fun. The authors are fantastic, and there's some really cool, really big interviews coming up. So I just wanted to let you know that that is on the horizon definitely by mid to late January. So I will be back probably before then. Like I said, I don't think I'll be able to stay away for that long, but I'm gonna give myself a little bit of a break. Don't forget, you can go back and listen to the other episodes. I have a lot of episodes from the beginning. So if you want to go back and listen to any of the other guests, any of the other episodes, feel free. Um, I there are a lot to choose from, and I hopefully have gotten better at this podcast thing, and I've switched mics up a couple times, so who knows what you're in for on the audio quality. I'm always trying to make it a little bit better. Recently, for some reason on interviews, uh, so basically I do my interviews through either I did Riverside before and then I switched to Zoom, and I think I'm gonna switch back to Riverside uh to record them. But whenever I'm doing a recently read episode like this or something that's just me, I'm going like straight into Adobe Audition uh through my interface and my very fancy microphone. But for some reason, like Zoom and Riverside do not like my fancy microphone lately. So I've been having to use my backup. So if you ever notice a change in audio quality, I am trying the best that I can. I am not a sound engineer, but you know, I wish I was. And I have like treated my room as much as I can for sound, but sometimes it still sounds a little bit echoey, so I'm trying. But hopefully, uh the next season you'll have better audio quality as I still get the hang of all this stuff. I did want to tell you about this really cool website that I found. So basically, I wanted to tell you about a couple things first, then I'm gonna go into what I recently read, and then I wanted to kind of really end the episode by telling you what I got my friends for Christmas. I got my friends a lot of books, and that is because I have a lot of readers in my life. I would never get a non-reader a book. I will not shove books down someone's throat, but if they really enjoy reading, I took the time to give them like very personalized selections of things that I really think they will enjoy. So I thought that you might want to hear what those things are. So I will kind of give you a profile of each friend, like roughly what kind of authors they like, so that way you can tell if a recommendation might be great for you and something that you would like as well. So that is where I'm going with this episode. But okay, I did want to tell you about this really cool website that I found. So basically, um, I think that listeners are gonna get a lot out of this, so I wanted to talk about it. And for the record, I did find this website as an author, and my book is personally up on the site, A Flair for Trouble. So I just wanted to disclose that that I found it kind of more from an author's perspective. I did get my book up on the site, uh, but it is really like a consortium of different books for you to be able to pick from and see some of the tropes and get a little bit more information before you pick your next read. But of course, my journalism brain, like it it always defaults to disclosing anything like this in the name of like any potential bias. So again, if you don't get anything from this site, then don't click on it. But I think that a lot of readers are really looking for something like this, and especially based off of the conversations I've had with my friends, I think that this is going to be very useful for a lot of people. So, anyway, I just had to tell you that uh just in case that my book is on the website and that is how I found it from the author sphere. So, okay, I'm going to use this in the future, and I actually had an instance recently where I really wish I would have checked it first because I had like a spice jump scare. And the worst thing, if you are a closed door reader or if you prefer closed door, or if you read closed and open door, is if you get a spice jump scare. Like, even though I read both, I want to know what I'm going into before I start reading it. I want to know if it's open door or if it's gonna be closed door, just so I know what to expect. Uh, it makes a better reading experience for me. And had I checked the website, then I literally would have been able to tell beforehand. But of course, I did not. So now in the future, I am going to be checking almost every book just to know. Again, it doesn't, it's not a deal breaker for me either way. It's more just I want to know before I read it. This site, it's called No Spice Books, and I'm gonna have it linked in the show notes. And also, if you want a palette cleanser when you just need like a break from spice, like I have a couple friends that they pretty much read exclusively open door, but sometimes they just kind of want to break from it after a while. Uh, this website is also a great way for you to search closed door books. So No Spice Books is literally an entire website at your fingertips, a search engine where you can find books that do not have spice in them. Um, and there are also tags on each that give you a little bit more information on books. So you can even kind of filter by like sub-genre if you want to, to kind of be able to find your next read. So it's just a place where you can see different book covers, see where to find them, and it does have them links you can click on them instantly to buy, find them in Kindle Unlimited, get them from your library, what have you. You have them all kind of in one place. As someone who modifies open door books for several of my friends, I can say that really the biggest complaint that I hear from No Spice or Closed Door Readers is that they just want to be able to pick a book off of KU like anyone else and know that they're not gonna have to skip 50 chapters and they're gonna be confused on what's going on. And this site, that's why this site just comes in handy and it's run by Caroline. Uh, she's actually a booktuber, and I've been really enjoying her book videos. So I'm also gonna link her account in the show notes if you need another good booktuber to watch. I've gotten into watching book accounts on YouTube. It's really fun. Like it sounds weird to just watch people read or recommend books, but it's nice, it's kind of like a podcast, but in video form. So, anyway, um, as an author, basically I have talked to lately, I have talked to a lot of influencers, podcasters, libraries, bookstores. And I can say that some people are really nice whenever you talk to them about your book, and some kind of make you feel like the gum under your shoe, under their shoe. Um, and I will just say that Caroline was just really incredibly kind in our email exchanges back and forth, and I just wanted to call it out because I just really appreciate her enthusiasm for just genuinely helping readers connect with books that aren't necessarily the latest book talk sensation, but are books that they're going to find and love. So everyone can find their next favorite book. So No Spice Books is run by Caroline, she's awesome. I would highly recommend the site. Literally, all you do is go to it, find some books, and you can kind of see generally like what tropes are in there and what kind of level of no spice it is. It'll also generally tell you that and all that kind of stuff. And if you're an author and a closed door um no spice author, you can also find Caroline on Instagram. I'll link that. And I think through Instagram is where I found her link on the site to submit my book. I ended up emailing her, but I'm pretty sure that email address was through the link either to the site or directly to her. I can't remember, but that's how I found it. So you can also submit uh to get your book uploaded on there so that way it's just more searchable for the average reader who is just trying to find their next No Spice book. So, anyway, that is my like random promo of a cool tool that I can't wait to use more, and I think everyone's gonna get a lot of use out of. And I've already told a lot of my friends that I modify for, and they are extremely excited about it, and they're like, why has no one done this sooner? This is amazing. So, anyway, that is No Spice Books. It'll be linked down in the show notes. Next up, I feel like I haven't talked about hoopla in a while. I did talk about it a little bit um on my most recent episode with Robin, but I wanted to touch on hoopla a little bit more, especially in case you're new, uh, because I I like I just have to go into the full thing. So I'm gonna give you this whole kind of like, I'm giving you like a sales pitch on hoopla, but hoopla is literally free through your library. So it doesn't make a difference to me whether you use hoopla or not. I just really like resources where I can read the latest books, especially having a podcast account. Sometimes I feel like I want to read and review the latest books uh to kind of be up on it and have a mixture of old and new books that listeners will want to hear about. And the way that I do that without completely going broke with the rate and pace that I tend to read at is largely in part to hoopla. I use it all the time, I use it multiple times a week for sure. So here is my little thing on hoopla, if you've never heard of it. And hoopla is spelled H-O-P-P-L-A, and it will also be linked in the show notes. But it's similar to Libby, but hoopla is available through the library and it carries a variety of ebooks, audiobooks, comics, television shows, movies, and music. They do have some albums. So they also have this thing called binge passes, where basically you can get a pass for a certain number of days, like I think it's like seven days, to Hallmark Plus, uh, a subscription or like a magazine subscription to get all your favorite magazines for a certain number of days. Again, depends on which option you pick. But yeah, they have binge passes, so you can get a like subscription for a little bit to watch some of your favorite things. And pretty much how it works is that each library they have their own plan, but I'm telling you about my library's plan just so you can kind of get a feel for it. So for my personal library, we get 10 credits a month, and basically you get credits. It's not like Libby where you're checking out a book, um, you get credits. And so they also sorry, I'm not trying to throw this all at you at once, but they basically also have these freebies that are called like bonus borrowers or something like that. I honestly can't remember what they're called. Um, and they don't count towards your allowance and they switch up what titles are under that every month. So basically, if you download any of the bonus borrows, it's like getting a free download that does not count towards your 10 credits that you get per month. But with that credit, what you do is you don't have to wait in an online queue like Libby to download, you don't have to check it out and wait in any kind of line. You can literally download anything in their catalog instantly. And I think I generally get my holds for about 18 days whenever I download something. And also just pointing out that if I don't finish a book within that time, I just use another credit to recheck it and my audiobooks pick up at the same spot where I left off. Like I don't have to try to scrub through and find where I was, it'll just pick it right back up. Um, also, I did want to point out that I get books the same day they release. And this could be more of a my library thing, I'm not really sure. But like Brimstone by Callie Hart, the latest Alex Astor were on hoopla on pub day. And this is a trend that I have noticed that things are on hoopla on pub day. Again, I'm assuming that this is somewhat library dependent, uh, but they do have a little bit of, I mean, everything in my catalog. So as far as romance goes, and of course, you know, I just have to touch on romance, they have everything from like closed door indie authors. And when I say closed door indie authors, I'm talking like the entire Appy series, all of Leah Bruner's books, all of Katie Bailey's books, uh, and Cindy Steele's backlist, and they have everything like that in the closed door sphere to open door stuff like Elsie Silver, Amy Dawes, Ambar Cordova, uh, and Jessica Patterson. And then they also have like dark romances like Butcher and Blackbird, Lights Out, The Ritual, Hunting Adeline. So they literally have every sphere of romance from closed door to open door to dark. Like they have so many different authors and things that you've just like seen in your local bookstore, and then stuff that you've probably never seen before that you wouldn't even think to read otherwise that you get the chance to have on the hoopla catalog. So mine is fantastic. My library obviously has hoopla access, but if yours doesn't, I would check in to some surrounding cities and see if they have digital library cards. So through one of the neighboring cities, uh I could get a digital library card to access hoopla and Libby for free without being a resident. So it is something to look into. It was like a digital only card, so I didn't have to pay the library card fee for being a non-resident. I would also ask uh your librarian about it too, because one of my local libraries actually just got hoopla and like no one knew about it at first. Um, and we didn't know until we went in the library and just so happened to talk to librarian and they were telling us that they recently got hoopla and gave us a flyer. So even if you think my library doesn't have that, you might check and see because a lot of libraries are getting them. So again, I would double check because it is really worth your while and it has saved me so much money. But also, if you think about it, um, on hooplaw, the librarians in your local library they are buying subscriptions and access to these titles. So you are supporting authors through the library, you're supporting your library, and you're getting all of this stuff for free. So, anyway, I think it's super worth it. So that's why I had to tell you about it. That is hoopla for you. It is my favorite. I love it. That's why I always I mean, I will jump in to tell someone about hoopla because it is just so great. Oh, sorry, that was a lot, I know. Um, quick writing update before I get into my books. So I just got the first draft of my cover back for book two, and it I I like it, but there are some things uh we need to change. And the graphic designers, oh man, they must love me. I am gonna work through it with them. That's the great thing, is that they do want to see me get the cover that I want. So I am gonna have a list of things, and sometimes it's hard to pinpoint like what you want to fix or change, but we go through this process a couple times until I get a cover that I am happy with and they're really great about it, and they're really nice. Uh, so I am just starting that process, but I have a title, and now I am I have a rough draft of a cover that will become an actual cover soon. And hopefully over this break I will get some time to start writing so that way I can get this book stream system moving because it's gonna take a second uh to get a book out. What I've recently read first up is Since We've No Place to Go by Kate Watson. This is romance and this is closed door, and I loved it. Okay, this is book two in an interconnected standalone series. So I actually started with this one, and I would say that you totally can too. The first one I think is called Single All the Way. Um, and I again I did not start with that. I started with Since We've No Place to Go. So I would say you could do that too. But if you want to read it in order, this is technically book two. Dare I say this book is on faking Christmas and the most wonderful crime of the year level. That is how good it is. It was so good. Okay, I'm gonna tell you what it's about and then I then I will give you my thoughts on it. I'm trying not to let my voice get like too high whenever I'm talking, but I'm just so excited to talk about this book because it was so good, and I need people to know about it. So Liesl is a baseball statistician, and she's in a group that recommends players during the draft for her team. Again, baseball MLB. So, random aside, but she's actually a triplet, and both of her twin brothers play baseball, and they're trying to move up to the MLB, and her dad is a revered umpire. So baseball like completely runs in her family. Cooper is an injured player that has recently been traded to the team she works for, and because they basically paid a bunch of money for him and he's sitting out for a season to recover, he is going to be helping the scouting group. And this is how Cooper and Liesel find themselves forced to give recommendations for the roster that they are picking based on the stats, even though they have dissenting viewpoints. Can they come to an agreement? You are gonna have to read to find out. Based on that description, this sounds very baseball heavy, and while it is, I would compare it to the one with the kiss cam by Cindy Steele and the fact that like they have the baseball thing, they are figuring out the roster, they are stuck doing that for the first little bit, but then after they work on that project, the tone switches, and there's a lot more Christmas and other shenanigans that take place. So if you're not wanting that much baseball in your book, do not worry, there is something for everyone. This book is very Christmassy, it's very fun, it's not solely baseball focused, it's just I was gonna start giving away things if I explained the other parts in the book. So I decided to focus on like the baseball at the front end so that way I wouldn't spoil anything for you on the back end, but it yeah, there is a lot of stuff that goes on that is not necessarily super baseball related. So do know that. And this book, it just kept getting better and better. And when I thought, okay, like this is great, we're just gonna stay in this lane, a little plot twist would happen and it would just propel the plot in a slightly different direction that was just enough to create the perfect pacing. And honestly, I think that the banter was incredible, and I was so impressed by how well the FMC And the MMC communicated while they were also having these very like adorable bantery interactions, they still balanced, like actually communicating, actually getting to know each other, and there is a lot of character development, and they grow a lot together and separately as well. So it's dual POV, which I just love dual POV. And I'm I'm basically just like running out of other ways to say that I absolutely love this book. And this is my first Kate Watson, but this will not be my last. I loved this book, so I would highly recommend Since We've No Place to Go. It is a great Christmas read. You gotta read it. Like you just gotta read it. If you trust my recommendations, and we tend to like the same books, you gotta read it. Okay, up next is O Goalie Night by KM Gillis. And again, this is romance, it is open door, and I liked it. So Beth's, okay, let me tell you what it's about first, and then I'll get into it. So Beth's brother is a professional hockey player, he's in the NHL, and she wants to get away and figure out some things on her own, kind of outside of her family and her brother's shadow. So she ends up moving to the same city as her brother to take a substitute teaching job, and her brother sends his best friend, who is also the goalie of the team, Foster, to pick her up from the airport. And through a series of misadventures, we'll call them, her living situation falls through, and Beth ends up staying with Foster. Can they handle living under the same roof? Read to find out. So apparently you're gonna see a trend. Um, the brother's best friend and forced proximity trope is popular with this grouping of books. I don't I don't know why. It just it was. So, with this book, um, I did like it. It like it started out really great, and I was in it. And for some reason, uh again, this is kind of my fault, um, because I thought that it was going to be closed door, and it was not, it was open door, so I went into it thinking I was getting closed door, but it was actually open door, and so I kind of wonder if that's maybe the reason that the spice felt unnecessary. I don't know, I felt it, I don't know, it just seemed kind of forced or like a little bit unnecessary to me. But yeah, I don't know. I think that might have been my first hang-up with it. And like I said, the beginning was so good. I was into it. I was like, yes, I found an amazing hockey Christmas book. This is great. But then a little bit towards the middle, the pacing just kind of lulled for me and it lost a little bit of its luster. So overall, I would say it is a good hockey Christmas read. I would definitely continue the next book in the series and give it a chance. Um, but overall, I mean, I liked it, it just wasn't my absolute favorite. But again, that could have been because I thought it was gonna be closed door and it ended up being open door, and I'm definitely open to trying the next book in the series, which just came out not that long ago, and I think it's called Check the Halls. So it's another hockey Christmas one. So I will definitely um continue the series. And if you're looking for a hockey Christmas book, which I mean, I'm sure there are some now, but I don't know of like a bunch off the top of my head, then this definitely might be one that you could check out. Next, I had a Christmas spark by Cindy Steele. This is romance, this is closed door, and I liked it. So Penny is renting a cabin to work on the chapters of her book. She is an author, and Chase is doing this whole like ice fishing adventure kind of right before Christmas, and they both end up staying together in the cabin because her friend and his friend, who I believe is also her brother, yeah, it's best friend's brother, brother's best friend, brother's best friend, gosh, um, again, they end up basically like both double booking the cabin. So Penny and Chase are both there at the same time, even though they didn't know that the other one was going to be there. And Penny and Chase have known each other forever, um, because like I said, brother's best friend, but they were friends in high school from like high school stuff. So, you know, that that's been a whole thing is that they were friends in high school, and I think they played football if I remember correctly. Yeah, I think they played football, they're best friends in high school, and she has kind of had it out for Chase a little bit after an incident in middle school that I'm not gonna spoil, but you'll have to read. Can they both stay together in the cabin without driving each other crazy? You will have to read to find out. This one has forced proximity, kinda not really second chance. It's not really second chance. I was gonna say I put second chance, but it's not, uh, not really, because they never actually dated. They both nope, I'm not gonna say that. That's a spoiler. Never mind. I can't say that. But anyway, it is Brother's Best Friend. And this is the first book in a series, and I've read the other books in the series, but I just hadn't started with this one. And again, novella. This is the perfect, like if you want to feel like you read a Christmas book, but you don't want to have to read like a huge Christmas book or don't have the time. Um, I think it's about like a hundred pages and change. I flew through it because, as per usual, it's written by Cindy Steele, so why would I not fly through it? And I really enjoyed it. Um, the reason I said I liked it is not at all because I thought it was bad by any means. It's just her other books I love, love, love, loved. And so if I was comparing, you know, the one with the Kiss Cam or uh Faking Christmas or Double or Nothing or That Fine Line to this one, it wasn't maybe quite there, but it was still really good. And the amount of things and like plot and conversations and character growth and all that that Cindy can fit into a novella is kind of insane. So I really enjoyed this one. I thought it was good, and I had a fun Christmas, you know, it was like a fun Christmas read. So if that's what you're looking for, then this is perfect for that. You can also read it on Kindle Unlimited, but because it's Cindy Still, you better believe that I got a physical copy of this like forever ago, and then just didn't get to it last Christmas, but I was determined to read it this Christmas. And I'm about to do my like yearly reading of faking Christmas, so I wanted to read this one before that. Last up on my recently read is Sinbin by Chelsea Kurto. So this is romance and this is open door, and I liked it. So Face Off, the first book in the series, this is the DC SARS series, is my all-time favorite. I love that book. So I will tell you that after Face Off book one, uh, the rest of the series is honestly it's way too spicy for me. So I just want you to keep that in mind. If your spice preference is higher than me and you tend to like books that are spicier than what I gear towards, then I think that this would be absolutely perfect for you. Um, so just keep that in mind. Again, I always like to make that disclaimer because I feel like some pe I know some people that get their recommendations from me, and I feel like they base it on my normal level of spice, and so I like to call out when it is spicier than that, just so that way you are aware before you pick it up. So this is actually book five in the series. I have read them all. I have read them all, and I'm gonna tell you a little bit about the plot, and then I will get into I can talk about the series a little bit too. So Hannah is Grant's younger sister. I was getting Grant and Ethan confused, but Grant is uh, you know, Ethan's friend and a member on the team. So anyway, Hannah is Grant's younger sister, and she is a renowned competitive ice skater, and she is getting super burnt out. And basically, to save her love of skating, she decides to take a break from the competitive skating arena. So this leaves her in the prime spot to be able to take the role of skating coach for DC Stars coach. She is the skating coach for the coach of the DC Stars, Brody Sanders' daughter, Olivia. There we go. The two already um ended up actually having a one-night stand, and circumstances prevented them from being together. Now, in close proximity, will sparks fly? You are going to have to read to find out. So this book has forced proximity, as I just said, uh, and age gap. And I think, did they say the age gap was like 14 years? I'm like, ah, that's it has quite an age gap. So yeah, I think she is like she's like mid-20s, and I think he is late 30s, if I remember correctly. So I I thought that this one was okay. I don't know what it is. So, like I said, I loved book one face off. That was great, fantastic, one of my faves. I book two is probably my least favorite in the series, Power Play. Um, book three and book four, I can't ever remember which one is which, but I liked both of those. I liked book three, the green one, a little bit better maybe, than book four. Uh, book four is Riley, and it's just really sad. I'm not gonna spoil why it's sad, but something happens that just makes it kind of sad. But that book was like really good and really angsty. So if you want an angsty one, that would be book four. So I liked book three and book four. But here we have book five. And I can't tell if it's like maybe I didn't really care about the coaching aspect, and if it was a player, then maybe I would be more interested. Um, if it was someone on a team. But the next book, we still have Ethan's book and we still have Grant's book. And do we still have someone else's book? I know we have Ethan and Grant, but I now I can't remember. That might be the last two books in the series. I think this is a seven book series, if I remember correctly. Hopefully I'm right. Anyway, um, I think I'm just more excited for their books at this point. And so this one, I was already kind of going into it, like, well, it's Chelsea Curto, I'm gonna read it, duh. Because in general, over the course of the series, so even though they are too spicy for me, the thing that has really kept me in this series is the fact that the group chat between the guys is one of the best I've ever read. It is so funny, they are so on character all the time, and it makes me laugh. And her placement of it, it never feels forced. Um, and it feels like their text come in just at the perfect time, and it really helps move the plot along, and I think that it's just like geniusly well done. Um, and then also I am just so invested in the characters and the team at this point that I just need to know what's happening to them. So that's why I keep reading the series because I am just deeply invested in the camaraderie, the found family, and the way that she has crafted the series. And you know what? At least on spice scenes, like I can just skip those a little bit. So that's that's kind of my method to the madness on this one. This one was really, really spicy, as are all of them. Um, I would say all of them, I don't even know who to compare it to. I don't even know. I don't know. Yeah, I don't know. There are just aspects of them that are very, very spicy, kind of all of them for different reasons. So, anyway, this book was really, really spicy. Um, I think that again, I like Hannah and I liked it, and I I I mean I flew through it in a way, just like I did the other ones, but I I just didn't love it maybe as some as much as some of the other books in the series, but I think also it's kind of hard because it's almost like a bridge book. And there are some events that I again I'm trying not to spoil this for you, but there are some events that cross over from the other books because the dual, the timelines, they're not dual, they're kind of like simultaneously going on at the same time as some of the previous books. So there are some things that have to be wrapped up that happen and kind of the repercussions for some things that happened in previous books that are happening in this book, and I totally understand why she did that, and I think it makes the story flow better overall. It just maybe wasn't as fun to read because I was like, I've already read that before, I know what happens, but again, I didn't know what happens to these characters, but I don't know, it just didn't sell me like it could. So I think that's why I was just a little bit underwhelmed, but again, I like the series as a whole. Um, even though they're too spicy for me, I really enjoy just reading her books, and I would look into her other series because I know she does have other series, and she's being traditionally published, and she's doing that series as well, uh, which has kind of more of a broadcast journalism element. So, of course, you know, me, broadcast journalism degree, I can't not bring it up. Um, I cannot wait to read it because I think it's like a weather element, and I had a friend who was um very into meteorology, so she taught me a lot about weather, and I learned about like her journey um to trying to become a meteorologist, and so yeah, I am definitely in that series, and I think it'll be really good. I love Chelsea, I love her books, so I I'm not I'm not gonna stop reading them or anything, but this one was just ever so slightly um underwhelming for me. But again, you know, it it's you can't like you're writing and she's writing so many books. So I liked this one, but it wasn't my favorite in the series. Okay, now to tell you what books I got my friends for Christmas. So I am not telling you their names, of course, because you know, I want to protect their privacy, uh, but I'm just generally I'm calling them like friend A, friend B, but I'm telling you kind of authors they like and generally what their overall reading preferences are, just so you can get a feel of like if it matches, you can tell me if the pick you think matches or if you don't think they're gonna like it, you can always hit that send us a text button and you can tell me if you think I made the wrong recommendation. That would be an interesting conversation. Uh, but I just wanted to give you a little bit of background so that way I'm not just telling you, like, I picked this book for them. Like, no, I picked this book because I am friends with all of them on Goodreads. I have scoured their Goodreads, I talk to them about books all the time. We've gone to book events together, we've gone to so many things, we're in book club. All of us, yeah, all of us in some way are in different book clubs together. So I deeply know what they are reading and what they tend to lean towards. So that is reflected in the recommendations that I got them. And basically, I did a combination of either going on Goodreads and seeing what was already on their want-to-read list and books that I know they would like, or I sometimes kind of went with recommendations and I was like, I just think that they're gonna like this and I know their book taste, and I'm gonna go with it. Um, a couple times I did go with like, I knew that there was a book that they really wanted, but I knew that they were gonna buy it, and then this was kind of like second tier, and it was a book that they still really wanted, but I thought maybe they wouldn't purchase immediately as soon as it came out. So uh here's hoping that they like their gifts and that they think that my recommendations were good. But okay, here we go. So, friend A, I got her, and if any of my friends are listening, which they do tend to listen, um, I'm sorry, you're gonna know exactly who you are as soon as you listen to this. So if you have not gotten your Christmas gift left, please use the chapter markers and skip. Thank you. Okay. Friend A, I got her fake skating by Lynn Painter. So she almost exclusively reads closed door romance. She does tend to read YA, fantasy, and every once in a while she'll read horror. She really likes Grady Hendrix, and she is obsessed with the Warriors series, and she also enjoys Lynn Painter. So because she enjoys Lynn Painter and I knew that it was a closed door book, I got fake skating. So yeah, that was my pick for her. And all the ones that I got, one book, I got them some kind of like bookmark or something to go with it, or stickers, or something that represented like one of their interest. So I didn't just get them the book, I got them a couple other little things, but then someone else I did end up getting two books. So there you go. Okay. Friend B. So this friend reads almost exclusively romance, uh, mainly open door, but sometimes she will dip into thrillers or even horror every once in a while. She really loves dark romance, and L. Kennedy is her absolute favorite. Uh, but she also really likes Lila Sage, Sarah Kate, Sarah Adams, and oh, she really did like uh Lights Out by Nevessa Allen. And also Grady Hendricks is one of her favorite authors in horror, and yeah, Grady Hendricks is a friend of the book club, and uh he talked to them a lot at the signing and was super nice, and so yeah, he they already loved his books anyway. Um, and so our book club, one of our book clubs, is a definite friend of Grady Hendrix, big fans. So for her, I got Soul Searching by Lila Sage. I got her into the Rebel Blue series by Lila Sage this year. Uh, she loves Lila, and I knew that she was going to buy herself special edition of the deal by L. Kennedy. So this was kind of like the book that I knew that she would want, but I was hoping she wouldn't get right away. So I did get her Soul Searching by Lila Sage. And we passed books back and forth to each other. Um, so that's how I really know her book taste. So I know that she's gonna love that one. Then Friend C. So this friend, again, I scoured her good reads for this one. Uh, she loves romanticy, she does tend to stick with a lot of romanticy and fantasy. Um, and she is almost done with the Throne of Glass series. I think she's on the last book or the second to last book, one of those. I don't know the names of them, so I can't tell you what they're called. Um, she also does love thrillers and she loves romance as well. I mean, not like not as heavy on straight contemporary romance. She tends to go more for like romanticier thrillers, but she will read romance uh from time to time. And anyway, this book that I got her was on her Goodreads, and I had checked it out from the library. I hadn't finished it yet. I had to return it to the library, but I knew that from what I started of it, it was really good. And so I thought that she would like it because I liked it and it was on her Goodreads want-to-read list. So I got her Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson, and that is the first book in the series. Friend D. So this friend loves Aquatar, Fourth Wing, Quicksilver. I recommended Quicksilver to her, and she absolutely loved it. Um, if you know Quicksilver is not my favorite, but I knew that it was right up her alley, and it was. And her all time favorite series is The Cruel Prince. She is obsessed with the Cruel Prince. Um, and so that's why I recommended Quicksilver because I felt like Prince Cardon and Fisher, like Fisher is like the grown up version of Prince Cardon, so that's why I recommended Quicksilver. She ended up loving that, and it's funny because that was also. Recommendation here, but anyway, so I went to my local bookstore because she so my friend is like hardcore romanticy, and I know because she loved Quicksilver, I was gonna get her originally. I was like, Oh, Brimstone by Kelly Hart, but then of course she said something about having already pre-ordered Brimstone, and I was like, Of course, she pre-ordered it because that was my first try. And then I already told you about how I bought the special edition of The Cruel Prince, and she already had that one too. So I was like, Okay, back to the drawing board. So romanticy is not my um genre. I've read a little bit of romanticy and fantasy, but it tends to not be my genre, so I felt very out of my depth. So I went to my local bookstore and I asked one of the employees, and thankfully, I happened to be there at the same time as the fantasy guru, and so she gave me some recommendations. She was so nice, talked to me for a while, and was like quicksilver, and I said, Oh, she already read that. And we were going through like, has she read this one? Has she read this one? Has she read this one? And of course, she had read a lot of them. So basically, whenever I went um to the bookstore, I asked for something that felt like an adult version of The Cruel Prince, like some that kind of feeling, something, something along those lines that someone that really loved the cruel prince would like uh that is adult kind of romanticy. Also, that friend loves fiction novels like remarkably bright creatures and all the light we cannot see. So she has a pretty robust reading taste, which kind of made it really hard to get her a book. And she will sometimes read contemporary romance, but it's more like if me and my friends are like begging her to read contemporary romance, then she'll read it. Uh, she doesn't find it as interesting because she likes having the fantasy element of romantic. So, anyway, I got Friend D, Metal Slinger by Rachel Snyder. That was the recommendation. I think she's gonna love it. I've heard great things about Metal Slinger, so I feel very confident in that recommendation, and I am excited for her to get to it. Then, Friend E. This is the last book gift that I got this year. And friend E is actually uh my hairstylist, hairdresser, whatever word you would like to use. Um, and she has saved my hair, she has read my book, and she has helped me with some opportunities for some local author events kind of through her um through her salon and stuff. So she has been extremely nice and she has a book club, so we get to talk about books like all the time, which is an added bonus. So anyway, because I appreciate her so much, I wanted to go ahead and get her two books. And this this was quite a task because, like friend D, friend E tends to buy a lot of the books that she wants to read. So I was like, where do I go from here? So um originally my first thought was like, oh yeah, I'm totally gonna buy her Merry Christmas, You Filthy Animal by Megan Quinn, because she is a huge fan of Megan Quinn, loves her books. Um, and also this friend likes adult romance, YA romance, and romanticy. She tends to lean open door, but she is definitely not opposed to a good closed door book. So I saw her reading tracker and she had already read uh Merry Christmas, you filthy animal. So I could not get her that book. So I was like, okay, back to the drawing board. So I decided to go a little bit out there with this one, and I was like, you know what? I bet she has literally every single book that is on her TBR. So because of that, I need to just get her um something that I don't think I've recommended to her that I just think she would like. Like, I'm just gonna pick two books that I think she would like. I have two opportunities for her to hopefully not have either book. So I went with uh Well Actually by Maisie Eddings. I read this this year and I absolutely loved it. I think it is right up her alley. Um, and Maisie Eddings is amazing. The banter in this book is incredible, and I think that this one is really unique, especially for someone who reads a lot of romance like she does. Um, also, the second book I got was Since We've No Place to Go by Kate Watson, because I was trying to find a Christmas book and she had just read so many Christmas books. I was like, okay, I gotta go outside the box. And knowing that I loved uh Since We've No Place to Go, I decided to get it because I know that I've already wrecked to her, I know I've already wrecked Faking Christmas and uh The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year, and I know she has both of those, so I had to go different, and I went with Since We've No Place to Go. So those are the two books that I got her. As you can tell, I thought about this a lot. I just wanted to really get them book recommendations that they were actually going to enjoy. And I mean, if they don't enjoy it, it's not the end of the world, but I at least wanted to set it up for success to be something that I think that they would have a really good chance of liking based on the reading preferences. Also, I had a few friends ask me what they could get me for Christmas because I like them, read a lot, and have an extensive good reads, and they were probably also like, I have no idea what book to get you. So, so I did a little kind of profile on myself. So I read mainly romance uh with a side of mystery and thrillers, and psychological thrillers are great, and I love a mystery and cozy mystery, which I still consider in regular mystery, but you know, those two are kind of vastly different. Um, I read both open and closed door, and my favorite authors are Sarah Adams, Catherine Center, Jessica Joyce, Alexa Martin, Lila Sage, Leah Bruner, and Peyton Corinne. So my uh recommendations, suggestions, whatever when they asked what books I wanted were The Game Changer by Lana Ferguson, Soul Searching by Lila Sage, Something Wicked by Fallon Ballard, which just came out, and Dating at the End of the World by Geneva Rose. So that is what I asked for. And then last but not least, we have a book exchange at our book club where the prompt was we had to bring our favorite book and we're going to exchange our favorite book. And right off the bat, when you say favorite book, I was like, Practice makes perfect by Sarah Adams. Well, almost everyone in our book club has already read that. And even though it's one of my favorite books of all time, I didn't want to stack the deck like that. So I was like, okay, we're not doing practice makes perfect. Then my second, my two that I was deciding between were Unsteady by Peyton Corinne and You with the View by Jessica Joyce. Those are my two that I was just like, uh, I feel like those are probably my favorite. And so I did what anyone would do. I asked my mom, hey mom, which one should I buy? Should it be Unsteady or You with the View? And for some reason she was like Unsteady. So I said, okay. And so I just bought Unsteady. So that was that thought process. But I really love uh both You with the View by Jessica Joyce and Unsteady by Peyton Corinne. But for the book exchange, I went with Unsteady. We have Angsty, we have hockey, so we'll see uh what everyone thinks. I'm very interested to know who's gonna get the book and if they like it, because we all have very different reading taste, so this could go either way. But the prompt was favorite book, not a book that you thought people would necessarily like in the group. So I don't know how anyone could not like this book, but you know, you never know. And last but not least, I'm going to tell you what I am currently reading. I'm gonna go through this quickly because wow, I've been talking for a really long time. Okay, so currently I am reading uh this one's quite a shock, and I bet you were just gonna be waiting with baited breath for the next time I post uh recently read in January because I am actually reading a different genre. Okay, so I am currently reading Time of the Child by Niall Williams, and this is for a new book club that I am going to, and it is historical fiction, specifically Irish literature. It said it had strong influences of litfic. So it is very outside of my comfort zone, and like I said, this is for book club through one of my local bookstores. Um, so basically, what happened was our thriller book club is on hiatus for a second, and so I'm taking this time to try out some of the other bookstore book clubs through the bookstore. So that is, yeah, that is my strategy, and so I went with the serious one, and you know, it is really far out of my comfort zone. I am not that far into it uh because I started out listening to this on audiobook and I was just retaining absolutely none of it. I had no idea what was going on. So luckily my library ended up having the book ready to go. So I was able to uh check out the book from my library because my library was closer than the bookstore, so it was just easier to go to the library, get it this time, and then I can get the next book at the bookstore. So um, yeah, I am trying this for the first time. And it's funny because when I looked at the cover, uh Ann Patchet has a blurb. So I was like, oh wow, I know that this is serious literature. And if you haven't heard, well, if you don't remember who Ann Patchet was, I guarantee you you've heard the name and you're like, where have I heard that before? She wrote Tom Lake um and a bunch of other popular books, and she owns Parnassus, um, that bookstore in Nashville, Tennessee. And that was the time when my when I went to Nashville, my mom ended up having a conversation with her and didn't even realize that she was talking to Ann Patchet. So that that is where you have heard um her name before, but of course, she is a very famous author and very successful bookseller. So she's just got it all going on for her. But anyway, yeah, as soon as I saw that Aunt Patchet blurb, I was like, oh wow, this this is gonna be serious. So I um feel like me going so far out of my comfort zone, I would highly recommend it. Um, of course, it's taking me a little bit longer to read the book, but I feel like I'm growing as a reader and honestly kind of as a writer. Like I think that this is gonna give me new perspective. And I have had to look up a lot of words in the dictionary uh that I hadn't heard before. There are a lot that I knew, and I thought, like, oh, I know a lot of words. Like, I got this. But yeah, there were several that, and if I read a book, if I read a word in a book that I don't know, I must stop and look it up. I cannot continue if I do not know what a word means or how to pronounce said word, it will drive me absolutely insane. So I definitely am doing that a lot throughout the book. And some of the words that I'm looking up are just because it does take place um in the 60s, and so some of the terminology is not as like recent for me, so I do have to look up some words. So anyway, I am learning a lot through this book, and I'm interested to see what I think by the end and what happens uh throughout the course of the novel. So, yes, this is very far outside of my comfort zone, but you know what? I'm trying it because like that's the point of reading. I and also, I mean, I do have like classics on my shelf. I've read a decent amount of classics. I feel like I forget to say this, but my mom is a librarian. Um, I did have a time where I hated reading. She kept on me and she helped me fall in love with reading. Thank you, Nancy Drew, and my mom. And I found my love of reading because of her. I have been reading again pretty much my whole life. Um I've gone, of course, in periods of reading a lot at one time and then not reading as much uh as frequently, but I've pretty much read all genres. Of course, I've gone, I've gone through periods of like, I did read like nonfiction for a second. Um, I read a lot of psychological thrillers for a while that I've talked about several times. Um I YA obviously have read a lot of YA. Um, I was like obsessed with the series of unfortunate events whenever I was younger. I've read a lot of Nancy Drew's. Um, I've read a lot of Nicholas Sparks, I've read a lot of classics. Um, I don't know. I just I did also read a lot of like general fiction and literary fiction for a while. Like I would pretty much just read anything and everything. Um, and you know, back back when I was younger, I just feel like there weren't quite as many options as there are now. So it wasn't like, oh, I have, you know, TikTok and Instagram with all of these book recs at my disposal. Like it just wasn't really like that. So I feel like I kind of just read like whatever was popular or whatever was put in front of me or whatever I found at the library or whatever. So I I mean, I used to love thrillers that would take like 80% to get interesting, or I could take a really sad litfic or whatever. Like I would just read it. So anyway, I feel like I've kind of gotten away from that. Um, and my reading taste has just really changed to where I've pretty much only read my preference. Um, and half the time I'm just tired at the end of the day, and so I don't really want to read something super weighty, but I'm trying to really try a bunch of different things and try different genres and read a lot of different things. So, anyway, do not think that I have not read classics or that I have not read literary fiction before, that I have not read historical fiction. Like I've had periods for pretty much everything uh where I favored one genre over another. It's just now, at this point in my life, I tend to favor romance, mystery, or thrillers. But that doesn't mean that I haven't read like basically all of the genres. So, anyway, just throwing that out there whenever I talk about my reading taste, um, it's just taking me a second to get back into that kind of thinking and reading that kind of genre. So, anyway, next up, uh, I am also currently reading Revolve by Bal Cobra, and I have read Collide. I wasn't totally in love with Collide, I have not read Spiral yet, which is book two, and then book three, I made them get it at my library and I requested it because I was just absolutely dying to read this book. Um, and I started it, and so far, I'm not like instantly into it, but I think if I give it a chance, um I will like it. So I am continuing on, and it's a really interesting premise where he was a hockey player, he gets kicked off the team, and then he ends up being her skating partner, I believe. So anyway, I am pretty early on in the book, so I think if I keep reading, like it just sounds like something very different. So I am currently reading Revolve, and then the last book that I am currently reading is Meant to Be, Mint as an M-I-N-T, uh, meant to be uh by Katie Sicitelli. And so anyway, I have already read uh Pumpkin Spice and Everything Nice by her. And if you recognize that title, it was like the$5 Barnes and Noble um like Starbucks book for a little bit in the fall time. Uh I didn't love that arc that I got to read like last year, I think. So I am giving her a try again with a Christmas book. That one was fall, this one is Christmas, and I'm reading it and I'm not that far in. I I think I'm liking it better than pumpkin spice and everything nice, but I still don't know again that I'm totally in love, but I am gonna give it a shot. And both of those books I'm gonna keep reading, and of course, um, I'm reading the book for book club because it's book club. So all that is going on. I'm reading three books at once, which is actually not that bad for me. I need to stop reading multiple books at one time, and I'm trying to, but you know, and I need to finish all the books that I had kind of put a pause on. Um, I think that would just ultimately make me feel better. So maybe one day I'll get to that so that way I have like a total clean slate for the year, but we'll see. We'll see what happens. Very much looking forward to season three. Thank you for following along for season two. I really appreciate everyone that has listened and kept coming back uh for the whole season. And don't worry, it'll only be like a couple weeks that I will be off. Who knows? I might even put up like old episodes or something. So you never know. I may or I may not. I don't even know at this point. I am just trying to enjoy the holidays with family and friends and get some writing in and all of that stuff. So I will still be active on Instagram as per usual on my podcast account, which is always linked down below. So if you would like to see more of me, um I will always be on Instagram. Anyway, have a fantastic holiday season, and I will see you in the new year for season three. That's it for today on Where I Left Off A Bookish Podcast.