The Readirect Podcast
Shifting the conversation back to books. Hosted by Abigail Freshley and Emily Rojas.
The Readirect Podcast
Reading Reflections: 2024 in Review + Setting Goals for 2025!
In today's episode, we're taking a walk down memory lane for a recap of our reading in 2024!
First, we'll revisit our goals for the year and update you on our successes and failures. Then, we're reviewing our five-star reads from 2024 (hint: Abigail is a little more judicious with this honor than Emily). Finally, we'll give you our BEST tips for success in 2025!
Books we've read recently...
Abigail
Emily
Don't forget to follow us on Instagram & TikTok at @readirectpodcast!
Welcome to the Redirect Podcast. My name is Abigail Freshley.
Emily Rojas:And I'm Emily Rojas. The Redirect Podcast is a show where we shift the conversation back to books. We discuss themes from some of our favorite books and how those themes relate to our real lived experiences.
Abigail Freshley:On today's episode, we're checking in Did we accomplish our 2024 goals, what are our 2025 goals? And we're going to help you reach your goals by talking about the best resources to help you on your reading journey.
Emily Rojas:But before we do that, there are a few simple ways you can support us if you love the show. First, we'd love for you to give us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify or anywhere else that will let you smash five stars and let us know that you love the show.
Abigail Freshley:You can also follow us on Instagram and TikTok at Redirect Podcast, and if you really really love the show, you can share it with a friend. Everyone's setting great resolutions and goals for this year. Reading is a part of what helps keep us sane and sparks joy in our lives, and we would love to help build a community build up our community of people who find a lot of joy, peace and rest in reading.
Emily Rojas:We've already wrapped up or closed down our gift exchange by the time you're listening to this, but I think we have thoughts for more ways to connect with you guys and connect you with each other in 2025. So stay tuned and share with your friends.
Abigail Freshley:Yeah, okay, all right, let's go. So how do we do? How did we do do on our goals? So, just like, before we get into the conversation about goals, it's okay if you don't meet your goals. I feel like we live in a society that really like we can derive our value on our performance and like what our output is, and we don't need to do that that. That being said, I did reach a lot of my goals, but if you're listening and you didn't reach your goals, that's okay.
Emily Rojas:You're not a failure.
Abigail Freshley:You're not a failure. Goals are aspirational and you know it's about the journey, not the destination.
Emily Rojas:Yeah, and the whole point of goals like to me, what I'm reminding myself, talking back to myself, the point of goals in reading, especially. Like in your life, whatever do, whatever you want, but to me the reading goals are because you think you're going to enjoy the goal. Like I want to read a certain number of books because I know I like to read and it's way better for me mentally than, you know, scrolling or watching TV or whatever, like it makes me happy. So the point of setting the goal is to make myself happy and if I end up not being happy or forcing myself to do it, then that is defeating the whole purpose of the goal.
Abigail Freshley:So like, yeah, the goals are there to guide you on your journey towards a happy life, not to stress you out and I feel like it's just something that's worth saying because sometimes, especially like in the online reading community, there's like, well, I'm a real reader because I read this many books, oh my God. And like there's like reading a lot of books or reaching your goals is not a value statement, or reaching your goals is not a value statement. It doesn't make you don't increase your value by being you're not. Like it doesn't make you a better person because you read more books. Like reading is just as valid as other things. There's a lot of benefits from reading that you don't get in other hobbies. But like the same can be said for the other hobbies that you could be doing.
Emily Rojas:Like I could be getting a lot of value if I was working out all the time that I do that I'm reading, or whatever yeah, exactly, um, yeah, totally, and I think like also, speaking of that, I forget sometimes, like when you're too online, when I'm like, oh, I read 50 books this year. In real life, I expect people to be like, oh, that's okay, like you'll do better next year. But when you're in real life, people are like oh my God, 50 books. I think I read like one book last year. So you just have to. You know, comparison is the thief of joy, but I do feel like, especially in the online reading world, you're like huh, 50 books really did not feel like a lot, but that is a lot compared to most of the population. So, just, you know, whatever you're doing is fine. Whatever you're doing is fine.
Abigail Freshley:Don't compare yourself that's what I'm trying to say, totally, and this podcast is for you, even if you only read one book this year yeah or none, let's get started. Yeah or read your first book 85 fan fictions now hang on hey, um, okay so my 2024 goals. I have been on here two years in a row saying that I didn't have a number goal. However, after my first year of not having a number goal, I smashed any expectation that I had about how much.
Abigail Freshley:I could read and so in my head mentally this year I did have a goal of reading a hundred books. I am on track to do that I have. I'm um halfway through my 95th book and we're recording this on December 5thth, so I think I'll be okay, for sure, um, but my main goals were mixed, so one of them was to read more classics. I didn't do that because I started it and it was boring.
Abigail Freshley:Then I got really into wolfstar fan fiction as you should yeah, jane eyre or wolf star, do you know what I'm saying? Yeah, yeah, so I got a little caught up on that. I did read more graphic novels, for sure. That was another one of my goals. I totally crushed that. I read probably about a dozen this year. You recommended several in here, so that's obvious, yeah, and they're easy and quick to read. So if we're trying to, one goal feeds the other goal, exactly, exactly, it's clicking. And then I had read more translated works. I think I read like two. So that's more than zero, which was the year before.
Emily Rojas:So that was an improvement.
Abigail Freshley:But yeah, I guess it technically met the goal, but it did not meet the spirit of the goal. I wouldn't say the spirit of the goal was that I would expose myself to books that were translated from other languages. Sure, like a lot more, I technically met it, but I did not spiritually meet it, and that's okay.
Emily Rojas:We're getting there and maybe next year okay, my goals for 2024 were for the second year in a row, which I have now officially abandoned. I wanted to do story grass 2023 read around the world challenge and we were talking before it off off the air, and I think my problem was I just I pre-bought the books to meet the challenge some of them.
Emily Rojas:Sunk cross fallacy At least one of them was a nonfiction which I still do want to read, and then two of them were like kind of depresso books and I have just not been in that mood this year. This year has been the year of fun books. To be honest, most of my books were fun and happy and light and that's okay. So I officially left that challenge, but I do still want to read those books. When the mood strikes me to be depressed again, I will get back into them.
Emily Rojas:But I've abandoned that challenge and I did have the goal of reading 50 books, which I have surpassed, and I set my bar low because, if you remember, if you were here last year, it was a bit of a struggle to meet my goal and I didn't want to have another failed attempt, which is what happened last year. So I tried to be realistic and I'm at 60, I think 62. And I do feel like I can get to 70 by the end of the year. So that's kind of my new mental goal is like can I get to 70? We'll see you met your technical goal.
Emily Rojas:I met my technical goal. So do you feel like you're going to up it for next year. I don't know. I was just thinking about that. I don't know. Pros, cons, pros, cons. I know I feel like I need to, I need to, I feel like I can do better.
Abigail Freshley:What if, instead of setting an annual goal we're just workshopping this here you set a six-month goal and then, at the end of the six months, that's when you really determine your year goal?
Emily Rojas:So you could double whatever you did at six months. Yeah, that's a good idea.
Abigail Freshley:Let's say that, like that way you don't fail your yearly goal, you just fail the six month goal. So like, if you do a yeah, a six month goal of like 40 books, then it would be like, oh yeah, I could, I could do 80. Or if let's let's say, you set the six month goal of 40 and you only reach 30. Yeah, you could still set another six month goal, 40. And then you're at 70 again.
Emily Rojas:And we're still there. Yeah, I like that. Okay, that's my new plan. I'm going to do a six-month goal of 40, try to go for 80. I do feel like the back half of the year I've been reading a lot more, though, so I feel like I'm in a good groove and, also, I did have the goal. It just came to me that I was going to get a library card this year, which I still haven't done, so that's a fail. That's a fail by me. Hold me accountable. Hold me accountable. I had every intention of going.
Emily Rojas:I can't believe this I know it's really bad.
Abigail Freshley:It's really bad because I'm mooching off my mom. But it's gotten to the point now where now my grandma, now I mean, okay, like technically, you are still using- library. I'm using a library you're not buying, like I would be more mad at you. Oh yeah, no, I'm using the library books.
Emily Rojas:No, no, no, I'm using the library. I have my audible, have my spotify, I have the, the, I have hoopla, I have wibby, I've got it all. We'll talk more about those, but I haven't gotten the library card yet. So that's my new goal now my grandma's, also on my mom's account and the oh great, the vibes are off, so I need to get out of there and make my own account.
Emily Rojas:No excuse, really, I have no excuse also my mom told me the word on the street is that the libraries in my county uh lend out puzzles. Oh yeah, and so I need to get more information about that. Yes, yes, anyways. So that's another goal, for maybe I still have time. Like you said, it's december 5th as we're talking, so if I do that by the end of this year, you guys can applaud me. Yeah, those are my goals. I love that. Thank you, those are good goals, thanks. Okay, what are your goals for 2025?
Abigail Freshley:yeah, I mean I feel like I'm just gonna stop pretending that I don't want to read 100 books again. Yeah, because now that I've done that, I'm like, even if I don't set it as a goal, I think I'm gonna be disappointed if I don't do it again. So be honest with yourself, I'm gonna do it again. Um, I'm gonna try to do it again. I'm going to try to do it again. So that's one of my goals. I think another one of my goals is to tap into library resources and the reading community more.
Abigail Freshley:So I do use the library a lot. Obviously, I use ebooks from the library and audiobooks from the library and occasionally will pick up. I'm picking up up. Oh my gosh. This isn't a total aside, but over my holiday break I'm planning on teaching myself how to can food, oh okay, yeah, and so I rented a couple books from the library about like canning that's awesome physical books. I'm very excited to go pick up another thing that people don't talk about a lot that you can rent cookbooks from the library.
Emily Rojas:Yes. Obviously Someone mentioned doing that on Libby and I was like I have never thought to do that, but why?
Abigail Freshley:Why have I never thought to do that? Why have I never thought to do that? I could just do that.
Emily Rojas:Yeah, yeah.
Abigail Freshley:I did. I got really into like over the summer I was like on a homemade ice cream cake Because, like over the summer, I was like on an ice homemade ice cream cake. Um cause summer, obviously great time for making homemade ice cream and my ice cream maker and um. So I got a like hella ice cream recipe books from the library why not?
Emily Rojas:It was great.
Abigail Freshley:Yeah, and then I loved one of them so much I ended up buying a copy. But this is another thing that's beautiful with the library you can try it and then, if you really really love it, you can buy one, that's true. So, anyways, but not just like the library resources. So like what I mean by library resources are, you know, for instance, at my library you can rent like zoo passes, or, you know, national park passes and things like that, tickets to museums, stuff like that and things like that, tickets to museums, stuff like that, but also, you know, like community events and classes.
Abigail Freshley:Our friend of the podcast, hannah, who works at an LA County library her library is not close to my house so it made it difficult to attend, but she organized and hosted this, um, like peaceful puzzling at the library where people came quietly puzzled together.
Emily Rojas:That's really cute.
Abigail Freshley:Amazing, yeah, and um, so, anyways, other like things like that. Also, like when it was really really hot this summer, I needed to get out of my house, um, and just some like more powerful air conditioning, and so I did some coworking, or or I did some working from the library, yeah, and I want to do that more because it costs $0. You can't buy anything there, yeah, so I want to plug more into library resources.
Abigail Freshley:La Public Library library is amazing, and so I want to talk about that more and um, also, like broader reading community, I would say, like I'm I'm, you know, want to tap in more to things like community reading events that are going on on storygraph or in different servers, and discord, um, and you know, participate more in, like community book drives or something like that. I don't know exactly how that looks, but I have a great love of reading. I want to build more community this year, and so I'd love to find ways for that to merge. I love that. And then my last goal for 2025 is to try and significantly reduce my reliance on corporations for reading.
Abigail Freshley:So, you know, amazon, barnes, noble Target, walmart, all that kind of stuff and you know rigidity is never helpful. So, like, I probably will still do that every once in a while yeah, once in a while, yeah, but um, as much as is possible and feasible, when I can't rent something from the library, or if I want to purchase something, that I do it through an indie bookstore or thrift books, yeah, or use one of the great tools we're going to talk about to accomplish that love that slay.
Emily Rojas:Well, I already said, my goal was going to be 40 books for six months, so let's stick with that. Get a library card Number two. Those are great ones, and I think I I don't know, I go back and forth. I think I would really like to be a part of a book club near me, so that could be a good goal. You know, I'm alone a lot.
Abigail Freshley:Eric travels a lot.
Emily Rojas:I thought about that but I'm like is that too much of a commitment to start it? Should I just try to to join in on something, try to find one? But I do feel like I have a good house for hosting, so you do go back and forth. So let me brainstorm that one and see where I end up. I feel you, you on like getting into the reading community more. I feel like I just, yeah, I want to be more in conversation about books besides with you, no offense.
Abigail Freshley:Yeah, and I think specifically I want to just do a big asterisk on this and be like being on, like book talk or bookstagram doesn't count, because I feel, like that can be really competitive. Or, like you know, like emphasize consumption, I mean like actually building relationships with people around reading.
Emily Rojas:Yeah, yes, Heavy on the consumption.
Abigail Freshley:Yeah, heavy on the consumption, like I think that to me and my body makes me feel exhausted. Yeah, like that feeling of like I just got done with the endless scroll and I was told to buy like two dozen things, yeah, and now I feel like if I don't have them, there's like I don't have everything I need and it's just like, just let's be conscious of that yeah, totally agree.
Emily Rojas:Let's be aware here this is a safe space.
Abigail Freshley:We go to libraries here like ask yourself like do I really need? I feel like that also not just about books, but I'm just gonna get on my soapbox for a second. Get on it about, like beauty products, anti-aging products products. Um, it is an exhausting to be a woman who is starting to age it is an exhausting, never-ending treadmill of things you should be doing and ways you should be looking and things you should be buying yeah and it's like be career woman but also be like the ultimate homemaker and like totally accept your body and like be totally about like wellness, but also look perfect.
Abigail Freshley:Yeah. And like don't get plastic surgery and don't get filler, but look like you had it. Yeah, but do it all in an organic way. Like'm going to scream yeah, leave me alone. Yeah, like I just want to lay naked in the sun like an animal, do you?
Emily Rojas:know what I'm saying. I do know what you're saying.
Abigail Freshley:Like, not literally, but like my dog doesn't give a shit about anything, she's just like vibing.
Emily Rojas:Yeah, they don't know that they're going to die one day.
Abigail Freshley:Just like to be unburdened have wrinkles and cellulite, just get off my ass, yeah, yeah. That feels so good to say Again this is a safe space.
Emily Rojas:Yeah, love that.
Abigail Freshley:Okay. Well, emily, before we talk about like tools for helping to reach goals this year as we reflect on last year, do you want to take a trip back in time and think back on some of your five-star greets from this year?
Emily Rojas:I would love to. So the first thing I cannot go without saying that this was the year of fan fiction for me, which I thought was last year with PETA's games. This took it to a whole new level. I just finished a fan fiction today. I just read today that's not what I'm here to talk about so at least half of my books that were five stars were fan fictions. I'm just going to go through quickly. Just read the ones I rated five stars.
Abigail Freshley:These are the ones I counted Wait, wait ones. I rated five stars. These are the ones I counted wait. Can I say can I press pause any? Really quick, please do. I saw this hilarious tiktok today but you know that it goes around every year but the kid and he's like at thanksgiving with his family and he's like, and sometimes I just go so deep in my heart I think the oldest, the older siblings are like trying not to laugh at him, but it's really funny. Yes, someone was like me talking about a03 that's so real.
Emily Rojas:And if you're like, what are you talking about? Well, like, good for you. Sorry, what did you say? I said, if you don't know what we're talking about, then good for you. Like you're a mentally well-adjusted adult, yeah, good for you, good for you uh, okay, so the, just to be clear, I didn't. I only counted the fan fictions I read as books towards our reading goal, if they were substantial, you know uh, if it felt like reading a book yes, uh, two of these were longer than the bible, so I feel like I get some credit, okay.
Emily Rojas:First is sweater weather. That's a hockey romance fan fiction. So good, uh, draco malfoy and the mortifying ordeal be in love.
Abigail Freshley:Can't wait to read is that what? What ship is sweater weather? It's full star, oh, amazing okay great, it will change your life.
Emily Rojas:uh, respectfully, I want to get into hockey now. Okay, this one I can't wait to read. The author's actual book is coming out next year, so I can't wait to read that. The Cadence of Part-Time Poets that one's 4,400 pages you read Mortifying Ordeals this year.
Abigail Freshley:Yeah, that was this year, wow.
Emily Rojas:Yes, all of the Young Dudes. It's quite a lengthy one. We've talked about it, manacled another long one. Her book will also be coming out in 2025 hey, blends.
Abigail Freshley:Pause on that really quick. Did you see that? Sinlin, you has a new. Did I see germini fic out? That's omega verse? No, I didn't see that. It was a bigger verse. Oh my god, you can run but you can't hide. Eventually it's coming for you. I can't, I'm scared, I don't like you are getting caught by the Omegaverse monsters I don't want to be, but I am.
Emily Rojas:Okay, blends, which was a coffee shop, hey you. Crimson Rivers, which is a Wolfstar potter, hunger games fan fiction that's longer than the bible. Uh, um, all the young dudes, serious perspective, and I think that's it. That's all the ones I counted as books and they were all five stars, because I give all fan fictions five stars because they deserve it. Okay, the hard stopper books I read for the first time this year. Those are all five stars. I don't need to say more about that. We've did a whole episode on it yeah funny story by emily henry.
Emily Rojas:We also did a whole episode on that, so go listen to it, that's five stars.
Abigail Freshley:I can't wait for her new book I can't wait.
Emily Rojas:I was just.
Abigail Freshley:This is how I'm gonna be breaking my amazon rule is that I'm gonna?
Emily Rojas:want to read it right away.
Abigail Freshley:So like I feel like that's what I'm going to break the rule about.
Emily Rojas:That is the only time I order stuff off Amazon, because they do get it to you the day it comes out or around there. Other places just can't do that, you know especially yeah.
Abigail Freshley:Especially when we want to talk about it on here, like sometimes my beloved indie bookstore, their pre-orders, sometimes it takes a while to get to them because I know the distributors give them to the big box stores first.
Emily Rojas:Yeah, it's just tough um. This year I discovered allison cochran thanks to you and that was a five star. Here we go again. That was a five star for sure. That book was so good. Also the pairing by casey mcquiston that was drugs straight up I can't even believe the experience of reading that me either. I think about it all the time respectfully.
Emily Rojas:I also think about the food they ate in that book like more than you would think like yeah, I really think about that food and wine a lot yes, because I feel like it's like the platonic ideal of what you would think you should experience on a trip, Like outside of the romance. If they just had written a travel guide with all those things, I would be like that is exactly the European vacation I want. Do you know what I mean?
Abigail Freshley:Okay, the Celebrants by Stephen Rowley oh, talk about a downer, another, another wreck for me.
Emily Rojas:Wow, that was another wreck from you. I have a lot of your five-star wrecks. That book was so good. I also think about this one all the time. I tell people about this book a lot. If you don't remember. This is where, like, a group of friends agrees to get together when one person needs it and throw them like a living funeral and it's meant to like celebrate them while they're still alive.
Emily Rojas:It kind of starts as a joke and then it becomes very serious. It's very emotional and touching. But yeah, I talk about this book a lot because I'm like that's friendship, like I don't know, it's just showing up for people, telling them what they mean to you, like it's so important. I finished the brown sisters trilogy this year. I read actor age eve brown, which was my favorite, I think. I don't know really, I think it was my favorite.
Abigail Freshley:Oh, I'm so danny brown.
Emily Rojas:Yeah, I think that was actually my favorite, I don't know this one I I liked danny brown as a character, I think more and I liked the two main characters, but I this one was just really fun and like I just enjoyed the setting a lot of Eve Brown, like the little cottage, like B&B vibe I really liked.
Abigail Freshley:Yeah, I just need her to keep writing more and more and more. I've read a lot of her like less popular books. And they're all so good Like even the least good of all of them is still like really good. Yeah, I really like her.
Emily Rojas:Summer Romance by Animo Monaghan. I think I've talked about that on here, but that was just such a good book. I always liked her as an author, but this book was like the first one. I'm like oh, that was five stars, smash, um. Also. I just talked about these two, but listen for the lion conclave two, five stars yeah, yeah, of course uh, chain gang all stars. That was a really good book I read this year. Uh, did you ever?
Abigail Freshley:were you gonna read this? I don't think it's there. I think when you told me about it I was like it's not the right time no, no, you have to be in a very specific mood for it.
Emily Rojas:Uh for sure, and maybe now is not the right time yeah, general vibes of the world, or maybe a very apt time, but, uh, that one was really good and I will definitely be thinking about it for a long time. And then the last one is the will of the many, which is another wreck by you, and I was just thinking I bet that the second book in that series is coming out soon, so I think it's time for people to read that, if you haven't already. It was so good.
Emily Rojas:That's another ending where you're like I know a book is really good when I immediately google like ending, reddit or like I'm on twitter trying to find people talking about the ending although I'm post twitter now, so I'm on blue sky trying to find talking people about it uh, when you just like desperately need to talk about, um, like what happened and the ending of the book. That's how I felt reading this book. I was like I need this.
Abigail Freshley:I feel like people are like very, very swiftly moving to Blue Sky now, like it was a slow trickle for a while, and now there's like a lot more people in there.
Emily Rojas:There is, it seems, and it's fun over there. So, okay, this says it's coming out May 6, 2025. Expected Okay, well, 25. Expected okay, well, we'll be doing an episode on it, we will. And the last one I really liked um, uh, emma albin's series don't want you like a best friend and you're the problem, it's you. Those are both really cute. I would say don't want you like a best friend, no, you're the problem, it's you, which was the second book in the series I liked better, so I probably would. These were all five stars.
Abigail Freshley:Those were all my five stars I feel like you are so much more liberal with the five stars.
Emily Rojas:I think I am, because I'm so vibey with my reading um, that it's like if it just hits the right something in me. I will round up, probably like I would say, the mischief and matchmaking. Maybe those weren't necessarily a full five stars, some of these might not have been, but if it just hits me, if it makes me feel something, to me, five stars I mean we talked about this a little before to me, five stars is just like I will not stop thinking, or I'm gonna keep thinking about this, or when I have to recap this a year from now, I'm still gonna remember what happened, because it made a really big impression on me.
Emily Rojas:It can be a big range of like quality, I think. But it's more like, what impact did this make on me is how it gets from a four to a five yeah, so I've read I of the 95 books I've read this year so far.
Abigail Freshley:I like I have far fewer, so I think for me that the last little quality is like this really just feels like it's going to stick with me. I'm going to think about this a lot.
Emily Rojas:Yeah, my average rating on Storygraph is 4.28 stars.
Abigail Freshley:Okay, yeah, you're a high ranker.
Emily Rojas:I am. First of all, I read what I know I'm going to like. And I often get recommendations from you or from other people like that I trust, or people in real life that I know I'm going to like it and I know what I like and what I don't like, and yeah.
Abigail Freshley:Hey, what did you rank Bride?
Emily Rojas:I think it was a 4.5 or a 4.
Abigail Freshley:I rated it 4.5.
Emily Rojas:I think it was a 4.5. Seriously, seriously, I'm telling you it was good, I told you it was a 4.5.
Emily Rojas:Seriously, yeah, seriously, I'm telling you it was good. One day, one day, we're gonna do an episode on, uh, on like book, like love interest, that we are in love with. Yeah, to be bride with four stars, I think I have it on my four stars, but uh, I, yeah, that's my favorite uh, male lead of a book I've maybe ever read, wow, wow, but it wasn't four stars. So I don't know, I'm just a vibe, I don't know, I can't find to you why I do four stars.
Abigail Freshley:I think it's so hard to come up with a tbr and really stick to it. I feel the same way. I'm very much of gonna be like a vibe reader, yeah. So okay, my five stars. This year, I'm starting off strong.
Emily Rojas:In january, I read leave the world behind with ruman alam by by ruman alam yeah, it's the book about a covet-like pandemic so fascinating too, because that was one of my first books of the year and that was a three-star read for me.
Abigail Freshley:I did not like it I was funny, really liked it and it stuck with me a lot um just the way that we live in a community, like when hits the fan, yeah, I just that's really stuck with me and I've thought about it a lot since reading it. Um, let's see. In february I read I read braiding sweetgrass by robin wall camera. I talk about this almost every other episode.
Abigail Freshley:I think about this book all of the time and I saw it on a, um like a, and in the airport recently, cause, uh, november was native American heritage month and, um, yeah, I thought about buying a physical copy of it, cause I just love that freaking book.
Abigail Freshley:Um all right, let's see in. No more five stars until April. I rated Emily Henry's Funny Story, just Like you a five star. And then in May I gave five stars to how to Fall Out of Love Madly by Yana Kasali. Talk about that a lot too, but every woman should read this book. Then in June I reread the Hunger Games game series still five stars yeah, all three of them.
Abigail Freshley:Um, they are I know. Uh, in august I read all the young dudes that was five stars obviously. And also read conclave five stars, absolutely. In september, the husbands by holly gramazio talked about that quite a bit um, I read that and then that was five stars, absolutely. In september, the husbands by holly gramazio talked about that quite a bit. Um, I read that and then that was five stars. And then the book right after that was the will of the many you also ranked five stars, it's like.
Abigail Freshley:So that was back to back. And then the book I read after that was 4.5, but that was my Sister the Serial Killer, which was really good. Then, my last couple in October, I read the People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn. That will stick with me forever. And I also read we Solve Murders by Richard Osman. I really think you should read that over Christmas. It's a really great Christmas book. Okay, I really think you should read that over Christmas. It's a really great Christmas book. Okay, I'll think about that. And then Be Ready when the Luck Happens, by Ina Garten, which I included in our holiday gift card, and that was my last five star of the year.
Emily Rojas:Wow, amazing, you are more stingy. Maybe that should be my goal in 2025 is to be more stingy, because then my five stars will mean something.
Abigail Freshley:I have quite a few 4.5. Yeah, you know that I was like, oh, I really like this, but it just I haven't thought about it as much since, yeah, I also rate a lot of things at four. So I feel like, yeah, yeah, I just there's just this in almost indefinable quality that separates a 4.5 from a five, and the five is going to be like yeah that's a good plan. I should do that. I love this so much I would buy the physical copy to have in my house lot of books.
Emily Rojas:I need to chill. I wanted to also say just to show you guys how vibey this year has been. Let me look back. So this year, my top genre by a long a wide margin is romance. Yeah I have never. That has never been me. I have never read so many romances. Part of that, I think, is your influence um last year influence on all of my friends.
Abigail Freshley:That is, if you want to be friends with me, prepare to be influenced negatively.
Emily Rojas:No, it's positive, because last year it was like contemporary thrillers are my top two and then romance, so it was moving up last year, but that was just. That's just been the vibe this year. Like I've just been, I want to be happy. That's why I haven't done the read around the world challenge. I have read zero non-fiction books this year zero.
Abigail Freshley:I don't want that in my life.
Emily Rojas:I yeah zero. I want to escape. I've never done that before either. Thriller and mystery are like so far down the list. Mystery I only read seven mystery books this year, like.
Abigail Freshley:I just didn't read any memoirs this year. That counts as nonfiction.
Emily Rojas:No, really, I was not in the mood. I wanted to be happy and honestly, most memoirs aren't that happy, so I didn't want it and we didn't book club any this year I guess those are all last year. So we need some celebrities to come up with some new GC memoirs, cause I did actually very much like reading, like Spare and Britney Spears.
Emily Rojas:Yeah, that was all that was last year, so that's just different. Like the margin is enormous. I read almost 40 romance books out of 62 for the entire year so far and I don't see that changing. Maybe I should throw in one nonfiction before the year's over to balance it out, but not likely.
Abigail Freshley:Yeah, romance, I'm looking on Storygraph is my top genre, contemporary and historical, and then coming in at fourth is LGBTQIA.
Emily Rojas:That makes sense. That's my number three.
Abigail Freshley:That makes a lot of sense to me. And then, coming in at fourth, is LGBTQIA. That's my number three. That makes a lot of sense to me, and then thriller.
Emily Rojas:The fan fiction that weighs it down. The Heartstoppers that's padding that number a lot for me because I read all five Heartstoppers. Yeah, anyways.
Abigail Freshley:I mean almost all of the fan fictions I read. 14% of the books I read this year were nonfiction. I feel like for me, this year I did the opposite of you were like. Last year I read almost no nonfiction and this year I really upped that.
Emily Rojas:So maybe that's my journey for next year. You know, we'll see where the wind takes us.
Emily Rojas:Yes, we'll see. So it's been a fun year. I say like literally last year I was so beaten down, honestly, by life and by my reading goal not meeting it, uh, and I feel like this year has just been. So I've had so much fun reading this year and talking about it on here and talking to people in real life. Like you know more people in my real life, I guess, which isn't that many people know about me doing this podcast, and so people want to talk about books more in the real world and like it's just fun, like I love talking about books and giving people recommendations, um, it's just nice. So, yeah, let's keep doing it next year. It's so much fun I love to read. All right, how are we going to do that next year? What are our goals? What are our tools? What are? How do we? How do you accomplish your goals of reading 100 books a year, which is amazing?
Abigail Freshley:the main thing I would say is this goal of like okay, I don't even want to say about like reading like it's. It's not realistic for most people in our lives to read, sure sure that's fine so like, let's say your goal, let's, let's work off the goal of like reading 10 in a year. Okay, yeah.
Emily Rojas:I love that.
Abigail Freshley:I think that, like, if you're trying to read 10 books this year, um, like it's gonna make it easier for you to not have to buy them. Like, especially like I just I think a lot of people, some people really do like only reading physical books. Yeah, but I think some people just think that about themselves because they haven't really given e-reading a real shot. Yeah, and um, like you know, buy, like, if you don't want to do a huge investment, buy a refurbished Kindle. You have.
Abigail Freshley:Facebook marketplace you can find one for like 20 bucks.
Abigail Freshley:It's not like a super high tech situation or like a Kobu or I think that's what it's called Kobo, I don't know Whatever A Nook like or just read on your phone or your iPad or something.
Abigail Freshley:So I would give that a shot. Also, I will always preach that audiobooks is reading, and that counts. So the first thing I would say is, like open yourself up to the possibilities of having easier and quicker access to books, because if you're like totally relying on like having the willpower to get in the car, drive to the library and browse aimlessly for a book, it's going to be so much harder for you to reach your goal. Yeah, I feel like for me going to the library like I need to go into the library with like a mission of like these are the books I'm looking for or these are the authors I'm looking for. Yeah, or I'm just placing something on hold of the library and then picking it up. So library resources that you can get on your phone. You can get the Libby app on your phone where you can borrow ebooks that you can either send to your Kindle or read on your phone, and the Kindle app on your phone.
Abigail Freshley:You can also download Hoopla which has access to lots of free audiobooks and e-books and even some TV shows and movies. I think yeah.
Emily Rojas:And music. I think they have a lot of stuff on Hoopla.
Abigail Freshley:Yeah, it's underrated, it's great and you need to have a library card. That's how you get into Hoopla. It comes with your library card. That's how you get into Hoopla. It comes with your library card, most library card memberships or most libraries, and then you know if you are like all right, there's a book I want to read, but it's a new release.
Abigail Freshley:So the waiting on Kindles from libraries is going to be really, really long and I really want to order this book. I would encourage you to order from an indie bookstore and if you don't know which one to order from or you want to just do it online, you can do so by going to bookshoporg, which is a way to buy books, buy new books online from independent bookstores, but if you want to read a book that's been around for a long time and there's probably like a million copies of it, I implore you to go to thriftbookscom yes, and find a gently used copy of the book you're looking for. When we read Wicked for this podcast, I found like a $5 copy of Wicked yeah, from Thrift.
Emily Rojas:Books, yeah, and mine's in great condition. It's also a $5 copy, really great condition it's also a five dollar copy, really great condition. But I've never gotten. Sometimes you'll get like former library books on there which is the one downer, but I've never gotten like a bad condition book from thrift books They've always been like decent.
Abigail Freshley:Normally you can see a photo of the book where it's pretty reliable on like the quality. I bought a former library book this year.
Emily Rojas:I didn't know it was going to be a former library book, but it was in really good condition. It just has a weird barcode on it. Yeah, something else too. I think a lot of people don't know this, but a lot of libraries will do book sales pretty frequently. A lot of them do them like once a month and they'll sell books for like a dollar or 50 cents when they're trying to clear out backstock. That's a good way to get cookbooks too. So, yeah, hit up your library sales. If you see one of those. They can be a very cheap way to get physical copies of books.
Abigail Freshley:They might be older books, of course, but still and if you're looking for a great way to share some of the books that you love, but you need to free up space in your home, you can go to littlefreelibraryorg slash map and find the closest Little Free Library to you. Or, if you have a house, you could make a Little Free Library and register it with the website, and that would be such a cute way to build community of people sharing their books with you. I feel like, yes, little Free free libraries can sometimes suck, but you put in what you get out and I feel like, for instance, I started putting puzzles in my little free library.
Abigail Freshley:That I was doing. Then people were taking them and then other people started putting puzzles in there so now I've gotten puzzles back out of it. I started to trend. People are loving my little free library down my street so, um, that's a cute way to. I mean, obviously that's going to be like you're just going to be surprised by what's there yeah, but worth a shot.
Emily Rojas:Yeah, check it out and bring books to them. Like you said, it's a good way to encourage reading in your community. So I also.
Abigail Freshley:I've got a book from the little free library sometime this year and in the cover someone wrote her Instagram handle and was like I would love to see how far this book goes on Instagram and let me know if you like this book. That's just like such a great, wholesome, pure way to build reading community.
Emily Rojas:I love that.
Abigail Freshley:That's really nice wow, yeah and what else. Um, yeah, I mean just like on that community beat, like join a book club, like find a community book swap, like I went to, uh, an event last year that was like it was just a community book swap. People brought them, put them out on a table. There was like cookies and lemonade and stuff like cute. Either start those things or find those things, um, and donate the books that you are done with to people who would love to read them and who might really enjoy them.
Abigail Freshley:Um, opt out of the systems that are not serving you. Like we said, like social media, book talk, bookstagram. It can be a place that really makes you make, takes the joy out of reading, because it makes you feel like a failure if you haven't done it in a certain way or if you don't have floor to ceiling bookshelves that are like stocked with books like. This is not. This is about rest. This is about like resisting systems that have sucked life and joy out of us by making the rich extremely rich and the poor extremely poor.
Emily Rojas:Yeah, not to make this political, but like it low-key is like resist the need to perform and simply enjoy yeah, and I'll say like, speaking of uh, opting out of like book talk and stuff, I feel like be careful, like be thoughtful about who you're following, because I have found so much happiness in like if honestly it sounds mean, but if people keep coming up on your TikTok that aren't like your vibe, just block them.
Emily Rojas:It's not mean. And follow the people whose opinions you value, who are talking about things you care about, who aren't like influencing you to buy things you don't need, but who are just you know, like, if you want, I love following some creators who give really good recommendations, but it's like they're not people who are recommending me freaking Colleen Hoover or ACOTAR, no offense, they're people who are on my same page and you know, like, just be thoughtful. Like you said, you don't have to follow everyone just because they have like shiny new books and floor to ceiling bookshelves. Like Abigail said, you just follow people that you like and who agree with you and then you're getting in what you're putting in. You're getting out what you're putting into it and if it, doesn't help you to follow anyone, then don't?
Abigail Freshley:you don't have to be on book talk to be a good reader yeah, just like I don't know if anyone, if you, did you watch a season of um bake off?
Emily Rojas:yes okay.
Abigail Freshley:Do you remember spoiler for bake off? If you haven't seen all the episodes yet, skip ahead 15 seconds. Do you remember when um nelly got voted off? Or she lost, or whatever yeah, and she was like I, I'm on here not to show my kids to win, but to teach my kids to enjoy. Yeah, that legitimately, yeah, that legitimately made me cry. Yeah, I started crying and I was like, yeah, this is about enjoying.
Emily Rojas:Yeah.
Abigail Freshley:I just want, like, if you're, if you're in the sound of my voice every head bowed, every eye closed, every, every head bowed, every eyes closed and if you're in the sound of my voice, hear this yes, capitalism has stolen your life away. Yeah, it has stolen the joy from your life and has told you that your value is tied up in your production and how much you can produce. Mm-hmm. You are worthy of rest simply because you exist. It is our divine right to rest and enjoy. Simply because you exist, it is our divine right to rest and enjoy, and you can do that however you want, and you don't have to like, don't quit reading.
Abigail Freshley:I just sometimes I feel like people quit reading because I don't. They feel like they're not the best at it.
Emily Rojas:Yeah.
Emily Rojas:Or like I don't I don't know how to read the right book, or like the right number of books, or like I don't want to share my love for that is not what this community is about, for sure yeah facts I feel like also, if you feel like I quit reading in college because I was only trying to read things to like make myself a better person or flex on how smart I was, like I only wanted to read non-fiction self-helps, memoirs or you know like thoughtful books by people I thought were inspiring and like that's all great, but that made me stop reading altogether and when I started reading, freaking, uh, like and like you, know, you reach your reading goal this year and part of that was because you got sucked into the beautiful relationship between two gay wizards who are up against the most incredible odds.
Abigail Freshley:That's true.
Emily Rojas:I said I didn't want to be depressed this year, but my God, did I read some depressing things. Did I cry my eyes out at AO3? Another great tip, by the way, to get off our soapbox and have more fun you can read fan fictions on your kindle. It's very easy to export them as an epub. You can send them to your kindle. That's how I read so much this year and it's so much easier on your eyes and like then you can have it on your phone, you can have it on your kindle. It keeps track of what where you're reading. Um. So if you want to get into fan fiction next year, it is very easy to do on your Kindle. I recommend it highly. Yeah, yeah, but yeah, like you said, it's just have fun Like we're we. I don't know.
Emily Rojas:I saw this, I saw this comment on a blog today and it honestly did change my life too. This lady said I tell my kids, or something I think she said, or I, my saying is like I am living life for the first time, which means I have to give myself grace because it's my first time, and I also have, uh, joy because it's my first time and my last, my only time. So it's like, yeah, give yourself grace if you're not reading perfectly, and also give yourself joy, because this is your one life and you should have fun.
Abigail Freshley:Yes, and like there is a lot of shit in the world. Yeah, that sucks, yeah, and this doesn't, yeah, and so like love it, don't make it suck like yeah, yeah, don't make this suck too. Don't let them make this suck for you. Like, just have fun. Like community is what we have, community care is what we have. Yeah, we're trying to have a little fun community here, like sometimes I don't like people even knowing that I have a book podcast because I know like oh, you're this reader like it's not even about that.
Abigail Freshley:I'm just like trying to survive, yeah I'm trying like it's just fun. Wake up and be like I have a fun activity to do later. Like it's that yeah, it's like that basic, it's not that deep, it's not so um anyways, share our show with a friend. Sharing our show with a friend is the best way. I'm excited now for 2025 and reading me too.
Emily Rojas:I think we're gonna have so much fun and I don't know we're just gonna have. That's what it is.
Emily Rojas:I think it's just about having fun and being happy and my brother is a brewer and he always would say if you drink a beer and you're like I don't like beer, he will always say you just haven't had the right beer yet. And I feel like that's what I say to you. If you say I don't like reading, I think you just haven't found the right book yet. I assume if you're here you do like reading. But if you know someone in your life, I think really everyone can love to read if they just find the thing that sparks joy for them.
Abigail Freshley:So let's do that 2025. Yeah, All right, you guys Wait have you read any books recently?
Emily Rojas:Because I have, I really want to talk about it.
Abigail Freshley:Right right right, I forgot about that. Yes, in fact, but let me just go turn on the lamp because it's getting really dark in here.
Emily Rojas:One second Please do.
Abigail Freshley:All right, I'm back. So this recently, this last few weeks, I have been reading my first Ellen Hildebrand series ever.
Emily Rojas:Okay.
Abigail Freshley:I first became aware of Ellen Hildebrand. Ellen Hildebrand is the queen of nantucket she's the lady who writes all the beach books about nantucket I would say like she is probably far less problematic than the person about to compare her to. Sure, but she feels like less problematic, better nicholas sparks, but woman yes, yeah, like she has her niche and she, yeah, his niche is like coastal north carolina.
Abigail Freshley:I think that's the thing that's most similar and, uh, I again this is my first series of hers but I have a feeling like characters from different series crossover and are like referenced in different things because it's all on nantucket around the same time period. Yeah, um, I I've picked up on that a couple times where, like, she'll reference like side characters in the book and it's like, oh, that sounds like it was probably a character in a different like series of hers yeah, so anyways, um, I've been reading the winter street series by her.
Abigail Freshley:this is like her holiday series. It's basically just about this family that is like an unconventional, like you know, blended family type situation that owns the Winter Street Inn in Nantucket, and the vibe I would say is it's like less painfully awkward family stone where it's like the adult children all have a bunch of stuff going on in their lives and they're coming home for.
Abigail Freshley:Christmas. I love that, and it's told through multiple points of view. There is drama. One of the sons is in Afghanistan. The other one is maybe going to prison. It's very dramatic. She's got a lot of drama in her books. Yeah, it's very dramatic and the end of the book is a cliffhanger oh, and then? Yes, so then it's winter street, winter stroll, winter storms, and then the last one is winter solstice and I'm halfway through winter storms wow, there's four um, so I would say it's like very dramatic, but at the same time it's like almost so dramatic that it feels not dramatic.
Abigail Freshley:Do you know what I'm saying?
Emily Rojas:like it's not gonna feel it's so dramatic but it's not gonna feel stressful to you yeah, it's gonna feel like oh, this is an intriguing yes winter in nantucket holiday book, and like every book is a different consecutive christmas on yes, oh, so it's years, oh, okay, I kind of love that I got to get into this.
Abigail Freshley:I think you should get into it. Um the audio books are good too. I've been doing like a blend of them, um, but like I get it, I think I I get her and I think I knew what she was going to be going into this. Like I was like, oh, this is going to be like almost kind of like Kristen Hannah or like what's her face? Ann Patchett, yeah, jodi Picoult, kind of vibe, yeah.
Abigail Freshley:This is what I was looking for as like, for like a holiday series. So, yes, yeah, get into it if you're looking for something to read over the holidays.
Emily Rojas:Dramatic but not stressful oh, it's available on hoopla instant. Um, it was like a 12 week week wait on Libby anyways. Um, ellen Hildebrand, like I got super into her one of her series. When I first got my Kindle I like stumbled into it. It was the Trouble in Paradise, I think, is the first book and that one actually takes place in the Florida Keys, I think, or the Virgin Islands, somewhere down there, so it's like a departure, but it's very similar.
Abigail Freshley:Most of them are on Nantucket right.
Emily Rojas:Yes, so this was one, her one vacation. I think she might have a couple others down in that area.
Abigail Freshley:But yeah, it's like the the mom has drama, the adult siblings have drama and like there's all kinds of domestic like, yes, multi-generational yes, but like it's still somehow cozy.
Emily Rojas:Yeah, it's still cozy vibes. Okay, I read a lot of books lately. I'll try to go fast, but I want to talk about them First of all. I read two of the Under Mistletoe books. Which ones have you read?
Abigail Freshley:I've seen you read some oh, oh, oh, oh, grace, I have read Cruel. Have I read? I've read three Cruel.
Emily Rojas:Winter With you, allie Hazelwood. Only Santa's in the Building.
Abigail Freshley:Alexis, daria, and All by my Elf, olivia Dade.
Emily Rojas:Okay, I read Cruel Winter With you and Mary Ever After by Tessa Bailey, and they're really cute.
Abigail Freshley:I will say the best. One of the three I've read is actually Only Santa's in the Building by Alexis Daria.
Emily Rojas:Okay, I'm going to put that one on my next. These are so fast to read, by the way, so please pick them up.
Abigail Freshley:Respectfully, I would skip All by my Elf.
Emily Rojas:Okay.
Abigail Freshley:And I rated. I gave Cruel Winter with you 3.75.
Emily Rojas:Okay.
Abigail Freshley:And I gave Only Santa's in the Building 4.5 I gave cruel winter with you.
Emily Rojas:4.5. Okay, I thought it was cute. I liked the, the childhood friends, that's just like. I just am always gonna like that. So it was cozy, it was cute. And then, uh, mary, ever after I did 3.5, it's about like, um, uh, it was weird. It was like uh, I realized after reading this I've never read tessa bailey and I don't think I ever will. But here's my issue yeah, I.
Abigail Freshley:The first tessa bailey book I read was another. It was a christmas novel of hers called window shopping uh-huh, and unfortunately the male main character is like he's this guy who owns a department store in.
Emily Rojas:New.
Abigail Freshley:York and he's like Southern and he wears bow ties. And he's described as having a, and I quote, bubble butt, unquote. Okay, this guy kind of too. So I need her to chill on that and I just, unfortunately he gave me such an ick in that entire book and I just look, that's how I felt about trust her the guy.
Emily Rojas:In this one also, the female main character was a single mom and there was multiple romantic entanglements where the baby was like like she didn't like what. What did they do with the baby? Like is he another room unchaperoned. It was weird, so I didn't like that part and it was very like oh, I'm a helpless single mom and this big, ginormous like Southern farmer guy came to save me.
Abigail Freshley:I think she's a thing for like Southern farmer guys. I think so.
Emily Rojas:That's like with Ali Hazelwood we talked about her thing. I had to censor it out of this podcast. But sometimes you're like I know too much about you from the way you're writing your books. I need you to diversify what you're describing here, because it's starting to become like why are you saying the same thing so much? I read three great books, I think as well. Two you recommended to me, one I'm going to recommend to you because I think you would like it. So let's start with the ones you recommended to me. Number one I read a lady for a duke. Finally, you said this to me like three years ago omg omg, it was so good, it was so good.
Emily Rojas:Oh, my god, it was so good.
Abigail Freshley:Right, you're like talk about like childhood friends, oh so as a reminder if you haven't listened to this podcast, for a full two years, or whatever a lady for a Duke is a historical romance. It's like childhood love, but also it's like reconnection, because one of his childhood friends but one of them is trans is a trans woman and she comes back into her friend's life and he doesn't know who she is at first and she comes back into her friend's life and he doesn't know who she is at first.
Abigail Freshley:And I will say, like trans people have always existed, trans people did exist in the Regency era yeah. You have to suspend your disbelief a lot.
Emily Rojas:A little, yeah A lot.
Abigail Freshley:To be like oh, her friend slash love interest is like totally going to be very chill with this. Yeah, and have almost zero questions about this at all. Yeah, however, like that is nice because, in a way, because it doesn't center the like trauma of yeah that and like coming out to your friend, it's more like depicting the real true love, you know. So yeah, I loved it I loved it.
Emily Rojas:I like exactly what you said. Um, in the like reader's guide, the author, alexis hall, says I didn't want this book to be like exactly what you said about the trauma of being transgender. I just wanted to write a book with a transgender main character and have it just be about like their love, and so, um, that's what it was. I there's one part where, uh, I forget the guy's name. What's his name?
Emily Rojas:like mary weather, or he's the duke. The duke when, um, the duke of gracewood, justin. He's like I didn't want to kiss my best friend, though, like you're, violola, I love you. And it's not like I don't know, it's just so nice, like, yes, you were my best friend and now you're something. You're that still, but you're something more and you're more you. Yes, you're more you. I see you for who you are now and I'm sorry I didn't see you then and like I thought the only reason it wasn't five stars the pacing was a little off, because at first I was like, okay, how long are we going to keep that? They don't know who each other is. And then there's some weird jumps. But I really liked this book so much, so much. It was so cute. Okay.
Emily Rojas:Then I read the Husbands by Holly Gravazio, which you just talked about. Okay, this was weird. I, when you okay, me and my mom both were talking about this, because she also read it and I was iffy on if she would like it.
Emily Rojas:I liked it. I think she thought it was weird, I thought it would be like and she did too. We both thought it would be like a couple of husbands. It's like hundreds of husbands. I liked it, though, because I think honestly. I think if you like this book or not will depend very much on your worldview, and this very much aligns with my worldview, which is just like to make a decision and be happy, and, like you, sometimes have to just commit to your life and be happy about it. But if you're like the person who's like oh, there's like one true love for every person, maybe you wouldn't vibe with this book as much, you'll get frustrated.
Emily Rojas:You'll be frustrated by it, but I really liked it. I thought it was. It was like a fascinating. Well, at first you're like, actually, this would be such a fun way to like date, because you just skip to what your life would be like when you're married and that's how you find out if you would want to be with this person. But then you're like, oh, this is actually a horror story. Like this is also a nightmare, because you're stuck with these people You're never really known.
Emily Rojas:Yeah, and you don't know what's going on and your life can be horrible. It can be good, you can fall in love with someone and then they can go up in this attic and disappear forever. And I just thought it was a very interesting, very well-written book, like a thought experiment book. That was fun.
Emily Rojas:Yeah, and at the end is you know the moral of like, okay, life is what you make it, and like you get to choose your happiness yeah, and I think also like you could be happy with any number of people or you could be miserable with any number of people, and like you know, I don't know it's interesting idea like this ideal of, like this perfect thing that's waiting for you is just yeah, yeah, it's not real. That's waiting for you is just fake yeah, it's not real.
Abigail Freshley:It's less about like anything could work because I don't know if anything could work, yeah, but like if you're chasing, if you're waiting for perfection to be happy, you're never going to be happy.
Emily Rojas:Yeah, I think that's exactly what I was trying to say better. Yeah, like, any number of scenarios can play out and you could be happy and any number you could be unhappy. There's some where you're always going to be unhappy, you know, like, but yeah, it's like what you make of it. Okay, this is what I'm going to recommend to you. I think you would like it.
Emily Rojas:It's called say you say you'll be mine, by naina kumar, and it's like a fake dating. It's so cute. So it's um magna and you know how I am, karthik. They are both, uh, indian american and they kind of end up together in this. Um, they both submit unwillingly to the like indian matchmaking experience if you've watched that show of having their parents matchmake them and neither of them is interested in an arranged marriage. Uh, karthik does not want to get married at all, so he's going along with this to like a piece's mom, but he adamantly does not want to get married. And megna does want to get married, but she's like in love with her ex-boyfriend and best friend, uh seth, and Seth has asked her to be the best man in his wedding and she needs a date. And Karthik is like, hey, let's get fake engaged, get our parents off our backs and you'll have a date to this wedding. You, you know you'll be with me, as my mom is bothering me to get married, and in a few months we'll call it off and that's it but of course they're gonna fall in love uh
Emily Rojas:this book was so cute, I read it so fast. It's a place to hold it. It was just so like on. I just found it like it was available immediately. I wanted to read a quick romance, so I picked it out. But it was so surprising.
Emily Rojas:These two people so it is like the miscommunication trope of they won't just have this conversation but I felt like there was very legitimate reasons why they wouldn't have the conversation, which made it more enjoyable than just fake obstacles. It felt very authentic and, uh, their love for each other just felt really nice and like I don't know. I just felt like you really went through the whole process. It's dual pov, so you get both their perspectives. You felt them falling in love with each other and you felt them like finding reasons to fall in love and like seeing the good and the bad of the other person because they're not trying to be together, they're just trying to get through this weird situation together and then falling in love anyways. I just really liked it and I thought there's some like just fun little family dynamics, little side stories.
Abigail Freshley:It's very cute, yeah, and you know, a chance to learn more about Indian matchmaking culture. Yeah, it was really fun.
Emily Rojas:It's very cute and, you know, a chance to learn more about Indian matchmaking culture. Yeah.
Abigail Freshley:It was really fun.
Emily Rojas:It's on hold. Tell me if you like it, but I did think you would like it. I really enjoyed it. So those are my Thanksgiving reads, as I'm looking here at my holds.
Abigail Freshley:Since I put this on hold, I also saw that there's something else I put on hold, and it reminded me about another book by this author which I would like to recommend to you in this holiday season. It's called time to shine by rachel reed, and it is um a holiday gay hockey romance say no more. I think you'll really like it. It's really cute.
Emily Rojas:Look, I've been wanting some more, to read more hockey romance, but I'm I fear them because I read sweater weather, which is a fan fiction, but it was so good and so like such good hockey content and I feel like all these other hockey romances are so no stupid and I want a good one, you know this is.
Abigail Freshley:This has hockey content. It's about teammates and that's what I want in canada and like one of them is like veterans, like starves team, and the other one is like brought up from the minor leagues because someone else had an injury. Yes and um, they end up being roommates for a while while oh my god, they were roommates.
Emily Rojas:I know, okay, I'm in. Yeah, it's wonder weather, just okay join me?
Abigail Freshley:I, I probably will. I have lots of aspirations one day for reading, like over my vacation. Yes, okay, bye you guys. It's been a great episode. Okay, we'll see you guys next year. All right bye. All right bye.