Book Talk: Recent Reads, Q&As, and Big News!!!

Join us for a very special book talk episode starting off with BIG NEWS!!! 

Links: 

• Readirect Podcast WEBSITE!!!
• SHOP MERCH!!!!!!

Recent Reads: 

• Promise Me Sunshine by Cara Bastone
• Ready or Not by Cara Bastone
• I Think They Love You by Julian Winters
• Old Dogs Fest on AO3
• The School for Good Mothers by Jessamine Chan
• Futbolista by Jonny Garza Villa
• The Sweet Spot by Amy Poppel
• Fun Home by Alison Bechdel

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:04

Welcome to the Redirect Podcast. I'm Abigail Frenchly.

Abigail 0:07

And I'm Emily Rojas. The Redirect Podcast is the show where we shift the conversation back to books. We discuss themes from some of our favorite books and how those themes show up in our real lived experiences.

SPEAKER_01 0:19

On today's episode, we are catching up on all things books, answering some listening QA's, and sharing a very exciting announcement.

Abigail 0:27

But first, before we get to that, we would love for you to support the show in a few really simple ways if you enjoy it. First, you can go on Apple Podcasts and or Spotify and leave us a five-star review and tell us how much you love our show.

SPEAKER_01 0:41

You can also follow us on Instagram and TikTok at redirectpodcast. Emily on all platforms at Emily Rahas Reads, and me on Instagram at Fabigal Insta and on TikTok at FabigalEleven. And if you really, really like the show, we encourage you to share our show with a friend. Sharing our show with a friend is by far the best way to grow our community of book-loving nerds.

Abigail 1:07

We've actually gotten a few new reviews on Apple Podcasts lately, which is more rare. I feel like more people review us on Spotify, and they've been really nice. And you guys got us back up to 4.8 stars after our uh descent to 4.7. So keep up the good work. Maybe we can get to 4.9. Love it. Yeah. So, anyways, thank you to the people who have reviewed us. It's really nice. I like Apple Podcasts because they can write stuff. On Spotify, it's just stars. Like how we're talking about it.

SPEAKER_01 1:32

Or like if they leave a comment, people like publicly can't see it. Only the like. Because like I'll go and look for a com like and that you had sent me, but I can't see it. Only you can. Because you're like the owner.

The Big Announcement: Merch

Abigail 1:44

Who knew? I thought they were public. Anyway, yeah. So go. Even if you listen on Spotify, head on over to the podcast. Give us five stars. Um, but you don't have to. But thank you to those people who did. All right. Big announcement. That's what you're here for, I'm sure.

New Website Tour & Features

SPEAKER_01 1:59

Okay. The big announcement is that well, there's a little brrrrr. We have merch, baby. We have merch. You know what? I am about to be our number one merch wire. I'm about to outfit my whole wardrobe with our merch. And you might be wondering to yourself, well, where should I go to peruse and purchase that merch? Tote bags, t-shirts, stickers. I don't actually know exactly what's going to be in the merch shops. I only know the designs. So all of those things. Yeah, great. You can search for our merch and check out our catalog and lots of other stuff at the at um redirectpodcast.com. So we have a website now.

Abigail 2:45

And it's it only took us three and a half years.

SPEAKER_01 2:53

Emily and I have been working on for like over a month, two months now. So, you know. Um, so but we're here.

Abigail 3:03

We're here.

SPEAKER_01 3:04

We have a website. On our website, you can um send us a message if you want. So for those of you who are like, if you want an easy way to send us a long form message, you can do that on the website. Um, obviously you can slide in our DMs, but some people prefer not to do that. Um you can search to our whole catalog and stream through the website. You can shop for merch. And I think like we also have like a file sharing capacity and like a blog capacity. So um, you know, throughout the year, we might share some things that we've made or some reflections or extra tidbits like that.

Why The Merch Feels Different

Abigail 3:40

But more to come. We're excited, but it's there, it's live. We're really excited. I think like, yeah, I don't know. This whole thing I've been thinking about lately because obviously the website and we've gotten a lot of new followers lately, and it's like, yeah, I never really gave it any thought that people might listen to this. So it never really occurred to me that we should have a website because like I just thought this was for fun. So it's cool that people are listening and genuinely the merch we made for ourselves. So if you're like us, you might like the merch.

SPEAKER_01 4:15

Look, I have to say, here's what we did not want the merch to be. We did not want the merch to be like just a bunch of stuff that has a redirect podcast logo on it. That is boring. Our logo is not that exciting. There are like this, it feels like it has character, it's unique, and like the redirect podcast of it all is like pretty subdued. And like, so go so go check it out, is what I'm saying. Like, if you were like, oh, I checked out uh tote bag with the podcast logo, no, no, no, how dare you! This is fun.

Abigail 4:47

How dare you think we would do having fun, we're making things we want to, we want to personally like desperate for this to go live so that I can go purchase our own merch. Yes, I know. I'm excited.

SPEAKER_01 4:58

And yeah, by the way, we're purchasing the owner our own merch.

Abigail 5:01

Yeah, we are paying for it, so and yeah, if you have ideas for merch, also we're completely just uh amateur vibes. So we can go whip something up in Canva ASAP, baby.

SPEAKER_01 5:13

Whatever you want. Just don't get us sued, you know? Don't give us a merch idea that would get us sued.

Abigail 5:20

Yeah, we're walking a fine line as I guess. But we're having a great idea. Yeah, we're already on a fine line.

SPEAKER_01 5:25

Go check out the merch store to see. Go check out the merch.

Abigail 5:28

Okay, that's redirectpodcast.com, R-E-A-D, Direct Podcast. Yes, R E A D podcast.

SPEAKER_01 5:35

Yeah. R E A D direct P exactly.

Abigail 5:40

Re-E-A Direct Podcast.com.

SPEAKER_01 5:43

R-E-A Direct Podcast.com.

Abigail 5:46

Okay. So yeah, so to celebrate, we opened up listener QA and we got some fun questions. So thank you guys for not embarrassing us like you did with the listener. I was still scarred from that episode. So, anyways, um first of all, someone asked, Who is a book character that you resonate with? And I would love to hear if you have an answer, or I can vamp until you think of one.

SPEAKER_01 6:08

I was actually thinking about this in some ways, um, because I just read Futbolista by Johnny Garza Villa. Or Johnny Villa Garza. Which one? Johnny Garza Villa is correct. Johnny Garza Villa. And um that's kind of spoiling something for later in the episode. So this is a book you gave me. Um I read it, I really liked it. We'll talk more about it. But I felt like obviously my life is so different from the main character of this book, Gabby. Yeah. Um I am not a boy, I am not a soccer player, I am not Mexican American, and I'm not in college. But I feel like I resonated with him in so many ways, in the way that like he is on this journey to like he's like so much self-denial, you know, like he is like on he's on this journey where he's like denying his own sexuality, and he's like, No, like, you know, it's totally normal. Like everyone kind of like imagines their friends naked, you know, something like that. And um, so obviously like our stories are different, but I feel like I I resonated with just being a young person, like early adulthood, later adolescence, and trying to make sense of myself in so many different ways, including sexuality. But being like, no, that couldn't be true. Like, even I've been reflecting on faith deconstruction a lot recently because I've been talking that about that a lot on the internet. Yeah. And um even just the denial of like that happening, you know. So I I yeah, that's like a very recent read. I'm sure there's another better answer to this question, like a character I resonate with even more, but that was a recent one I resonate with his journey to figuring himself out and accepting he and also he says many times, like part of the book is he's in a philosophy class and he's 18, and he tells his philosophy professor that he's already figured out everything about himself. And that's how I felt at 18. I genuinely was like, no, I already know everything about myself.

Abigail 8:15

I got this.

SPEAKER_01 8:16

I don't need to go through any sort of self-exploration journey. Like most people go to college and they're doing dealing with that, but like I'm really mature and I already know everything about it. I felt the same way, yeah. Totally. And I don't know if most 18-year-olds feel that way or if it was more there's other factors, but um, I really resonated with that naivety. And I yeah, I resonated with him. What about you? I'd love to hear your answer as well.

Q&A: Audiobooks And “Trophy” Copies

Abigail 8:40

Totally, that's a great answer. I think I remember texting you as I was originally reading Football East and saying how much I also resonated with um Gabby's character and his like yeah, I just yeah, I think I said it on the podcast actually. Like, I am the type of person often where people will tell me things about myself that I haven't gotten there yet. So, like, and that's something that happens to him in this book, and I think uh yeah, it was just a very that's a good book. I can't wait to talk about it more. Um I don't know as you're talking, like I should have thought of an answer. I'm trying to think of like a a a book that like people would know, you know. But I'm trying to think about it. I feel like I see a little bit of myself in a lot of let's say Emily Henry book characters.

SPEAKER_01 9:25

I'm gonna narrow it down because I was thinking like a book character that denies their own feelings. Um, or like Yeah. I don't know. Like, I almost think I think you're a little bit of a Harriet, maybe.

Q&A: Holiday Reads Out Of Season

Abigail 9:46

I was gonna say I feel I feel a lot like Harriet in I think probably part of why Happy Place is so familiar in my favorite book. I think because she is I identify a lot. My parents are not like Harriet's parents. My parents are incredibly supportive and like loving and warm people, great parents. And still I have self-imposed a feeling through my entire life of like have to make them happy, have to like I was talking to them about this one time semi-recently, where I was like, you guys never gave me the impress this is like my uh my entitled life. I I my parents never gave me the impression that I they they wouldn't pay for me to go to college. However, when I was applying to college, in my mind, my thought was I have to get a full ride or I can't go to college. If I don't get a full and the the choices I made about where I went to college was because it was the most financial aid. And my parents genuinely never said that to me. I now understand that they would have, you know, if I had gotten a half scholarship, they would have helped me with the rest, which is an amazing thing for them to be willing to do. But for some reason in my mind, I was like, no, like I can only go to school if I find a way to pay for it, despite them never giving me that impression. So yeah, I feel like I relate to uh Harriet a lot in terms of like I have to be perfect, I have to do the right thing, and sometimes that prevents you from like doing the thing that you want to do or the thing that's true to the whole relationship with Wynn where she's like on paper, like even though I like we it feels like we love each other, like logically, this doesn't really make sense.

SPEAKER_01 11:24

So I should like deny it, and like even though this isn't it's not what my heart wants, like on paper, it seems like I'm just gonna be able to do it.

Abigail 11:31

Yes, totally. I feel like that's me coded. She's very me coded, and I love it. Yeah, that's why I reread that book compulsively. So yeah, um, that would be the one. Love it. Thank you. Good question. See what I mean? Sometimes I need you to tell me which fucking exactly full circle moment. Yeah, so you guys get what I'm saying. That was a great question. Okay, next question. Um, what are your thoughts on listening to an audiobook, then buying a physical copy as a trophy?

SPEAKER_01 11:58

Love it.

Abigail 11:59

Do you do this?

SPEAKER_01 12:00

Sure.

Abigail 12:01

Pro.

Q&A: Read The Series Or Stay Unspoiled

SPEAKER_01 12:01

I am as long as you're buying it from an independent book. It's super precious about like when you should buy books, when you shouldn't. Just live your life and be happy. I I'm on the team personally for my own life where I don't want to just accumulate a bunch of books because I don't want to keep more things clean and I don't want to move them from location to location. This is my truth. So I gen, I'm a big library user. I also don't have the the budget to buy books like I see some people online buying books. But like if that's your journey, please go forth. I think for me, the books I have on my bookshelf are things that are like gifts from friends, things I found on my little free library, or books I've already read that I know I love and I want to reread again. Like I want to own a physical copy of it. Um, if you listen to an audiobook and then buy a physical copy as a trophy, good for you. Audiobook listening is the same thing as reading. Totally for you.

Abigail 13:04

I agree. Um this is my this is I'm trying to make this my journey. I have not bought a single book in like a year almost. Good for you. Unless I really had to. And today I almost caved um because I was talking to my friend. Oh, I was talking to my friend Allie about um in memoriam. She texted me about it, and then I started looking at it. It's on sale, and I was like, should I buy? But that's the same thing to me. Like, I read it from the library and I loved it so much that I do want a physical copy. It's something I knew I would want to reread one day. So that's the approach I try to take to books. If I know I would want to reread it, but yeah, have your trophies. I don't care. Buy books, support authors. Yeah, it's great. Love it.

SPEAKER_01 13:44

And also know that you that if you choose to buy a book, we recommend you buy it from uh a local bookstore. Yeah. Um, like a an indie bookshop or online at thriftbooks.com.

Abigail 13:59

Yeah. There you go. Or bookshop.org. Or bookshop. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. So, anyways, I agree with that. Okay, what are your thoughts on reading holiday novels that like not during their respective seasons?

SPEAKER_01 14:12

Like a Christmas book not in Christmas?

Abigail 14:14

Yeah, like a Christmas book in June.

SPEAKER_01 14:17

Um, I'm not like totally against. I don't think I have a strong opinion about this. I guess I don't really care what people do with their free time. Um hurting anything. I don't care either. But would I do it? Um I feel like maybe I've done it before.

Abigail 14:32

Yeah, I have done this. I was thinking I read um a book that what is that freaking book? The night, it's like the kiss. Hold on.

SPEAKER_01 14:42

Wait, didn't you read that one that was like a mystery one? It's like a close.

Abigail 14:45

Yes, that's what I'm thinking of. The most wonderful crime of the year. Yeah, yeah. By Allie Carter. I read that in like June or July in the summer. Um so if if it's like a good here's the thing. If it's a sh Christmas book, which there are a lot of those, I would only read those at Christmas time. But if it's a book that's been recommended to me or like I have high trust that it's gonna be a really good quality book, I would read it year-round. That's my thoughts. Yeah. But like those like Kendall Unlimited Christmas books, I'll put those down at December 15th, but I'm not gonna read them in May, personally.

SPEAKER_01 15:16

Yeah, I think if it's like otherwise a uh a good book outside of like the novelty of the theme, then yes. Otherwise, spend your time doing something else. Read a book that's novel to that time of year.

unknown 15:29

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 15:30

Or do whatever you want and disregard what I'm saying, because I don't care what you do at your own home.

Abigail 15:34

Yeah, but that's some art. They asked our thoughts. That's our thoughts.

SPEAKER_01 15:38

My thought is I would not do it unless it was like like okay, a good example to me is The Dutch House by Ann Padgett. This is like a book that spans generations and time periods, but a lot of it happens around the holidays, like especially Thanksgiving and Christmas. It's really a Thanksgiving book. It's one of the rare Thanksgiving books. But this book is so good that you could read it in any time of year. And I would say that that was fine.

Recent Reads: Breaking A Slump

Abigail 16:05

Okay, cool. Okay, last question that wasn't even a QA submitted, but someone commented something on our Heated Rivalry post and they were like, I thought we should just answer it as a question. Because they were saying they should they read Heated Rivalry ser the or the game changer series, because they really liked the experience of watching season one unspoiled and not knowing what was gonna happen. But now they're getting kind of stressed, hearing things about what's gonna happen in the long game. So, do you think they should go ahead and read the series or should they continue to enjoy the experience of not knowing what's gonna happen, which is something they really liked about watching season one.

SPEAKER_01 16:43

Hmm. I think you should read it. But I just think that you should read it anyway because I think that is a like as much as I love the show, I think reading it was even like I think they are so two distinct experiences. Yes. And it's like I had read the book multiple times by the time I watched the show, and it still felt like I didn't know what was about to happen.

Abigail 17:06

Yeah, totally. It still felt like a original. It still felt yes, even though it's like such a close adaptation, it still felt like, wait, what's gonna happen next? I don't know.

Julian Winters’ I Think They Love You

SPEAKER_01 17:17

No, I just think people deserve the experience of having a private experience with the book. That's nice. You know, where it's like you, I think you should like these the characters that you haven't met yet on the screen. Yeah, because there will be new characters in the kind in in throughout the series that have not appeared on the show yet. Uh-huh. I think that you should like commenter, that you should experience in your imagination what those characters are like before you see them on screen. Oh, that's nice. And because then if you see a show or movie first, then you go back and read the book, you're imagining after. And you're kind of missing, I think, a little bit of the experience of imagining. Because I think about this with like Hunger Games, for instance. I read Hunger Games like as they were coming out before the movies came out, and I know in my head I had a vision of what the characters looked like, but now I cannot remember. It's lost, yeah. Because now it's just the actors, yeah.

Abigail 18:17

Same with like Twilight and Harry Potter. No way had a yeah, strong opinion, but yeah, they're gone.

SPEAKER_01 18:24

Yeah, I had yeah, in my head, I had a picture of like Edward and Bella that was so clear, yeah. Now I don't.

Abigail 18:30

Now it's gone. So enjoy that experience. Yes. I agree, and I think if you really want to not read the long game, you could read the first four books in the series. And I would stop before uh role model, but because that's so that would be a spoiler. And I feel like strongly that I feel that they're probably only gonna adapt role model in the long game. I don't think they're gonna do the tough guy? I don't know. I don't think they're gonna do tough guy. Maybe I don't know, whatever. I don't feel like they're gonna put as much time into it. So I think you could read those and probably be safe in terms of like what's gonna happen in the TV show, and then hold off if you really didn't want to be spoiled. So and then you could read Heated Rivalry and see what your experience is like reading it, having already watched the show, and decide, oh, maybe like I do want to keep going and and read the long game as well.

SPEAKER_01 19:18

So I just think if you really love the show, why not open yourself up to the full experience?

Abigail 19:24

Especially like Scott and Kip. There's a whole world there. I mean, that's not my favorite book, but you might like it.

SPEAKER_01 19:28

They jammed that into one episode, you know? Like there's a cool thing.

Abigail 19:31

There's so much there. Yeah. So okay, thank you guys for your listener questions. That was really fun. And uh yeah, again, you can go to redirectpodcast.com and send us a message if you have anything else you want to talk to us about. Yeah, we'll read it.

SPEAKER_01 19:48

I gotta make sure that that's actually connected to something before this goes live.

Abigail 19:53

That would be devastating. Okay.

unknown 19:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:56

Um, okay. What okay, so what have we read recently? Ooh lala.

Why Second Chance Romance Works

Abigail 20:01

I'm so pumped to get to this section of the episode. So, first of all, I want to report. I was in a reading slump, Abigail knows because I texted you, and um, I didn't read anything you recommended because whatever. I have been sick, I couldn't go to the library, so anyways, it's a whole thing. Um, but I am out. I'm free. I have read, like I had bronchitis, I still do, and last weekend didn't get up, read all weekend. I back on my fanfiction bullshit. I'm back in my reading. Anyways, read some great books. Um, first of all, I read a book that I think you should read before you read another book I gave you, which is I Think They Love You by Julian Winters.

SPEAKER_01 20:42

Okay, so to hold off on the other one.

Abigail 20:45

Yes, which is uh Last First Kiss by Julian Winters.

SPEAKER_01 20:48

All right, I'm listening to the book.

Abigail 20:51

Yes. This book comes before chronologically, and it has similar characters. And I actually think I would have benefited from reading this first, so that's not why I'm saying that. It's called I Think They Love You.

SPEAKER_01 21:01

I think they love you.

unknown 21:02

Okay.

Kara Bastone’s Ready Or Not

Abigail 21:04

This was a s I mean, I can't even emphasize how much I love this book. Uh it was so good. Okay, so it's um so if you don't remember, I talked a little bit about Last First Kiss, but uh so this is set in the same world, and the main character in this one, his name is Denz, and he is the son of the CEO of this like very luxurious celebrity, elite um event planning company in Atlanta. And so he's like also some something of like a an influencer, like a micro influencer. I think he has like 80,000 followers, so he's not a huge, huge guy, but he's like a little bit of a local celebrity, and um, anyways, so he works for this event planning company, his sister also works there. He's like the director of social media or whatever. And in in college, he had a long term relationship with this guy named Braylon. Okay, and they were deeply, deeply in love, like and And gonna start a future together. And then after graduation or whatever, their careers kind of took them in two different directions. And Braylon made the decision to like take a job far away and whatever. So they break up. It's like devastating to dance. Haven't seen each other since, haven't talked since. Then all of a sudden, one day, he's at his local coffee shop right by his you know office picking up muffins. And who walks in but Braylon freshly back from spending several years in um in England? He uh like looks different, he has like a slight accent from his time living over there. And um through a series of like comical events, basically Denz needs to prove that he can be serious, and he's like only into hookups since his family gives him a hard time and his dad's retiring, so somebody needs to be the CEO. It's between him and his sister, and he's like, I need to prove that I'm serious, I need to get into a fake dating long-term relationship. He tries to set something up with his friend, um, Jamie, who's one of the main characters in the second book, but uh that falls through, and at the last second, he somehow it's like very comical, but he ends up fake dating Braylon, who is his ex. And it's so, so good. It's like so I don't know, it just like ripped my heart out. I am obviously I like if you're a longtime listener, you know I love uh second chance romance. I know it's not everybody's cup of tea, but this was like I just believed I believed in both of these people and like the journeys they had to go on to make their way back to each other, which I think is like really hard to do sometimes in these breakup stories. Um, and I just I liked that it was set in Atlanta, that was like fun, and the family dynamics are really interesting, and like I just I I just love that. Like I loved them so much together. I think there was like so much good chemistry and the like slow burn, the agonizing forced proximity with your ex who you're still in love with. Uh just so good.

SPEAKER_01 24:01

So I really recommend this. So good. Looking forward to it. I got it immediately. So that is amazing. No wait. But um, I wanted to add about the second chance thing. So I recently um moderated a panel with three romance authors. One of the commonalities between those three authors um and the books I read of theirs is that they have all written second chance. So I asked them about why do you like writing second chance and like what compels you to second chance? And because I was like, it's kind of controversial, some people really don't like it.

Abigail 24:34

Yeah.

Promise Me Sunshine And Grief

SPEAKER_01 24:35

And they were like, I think the reason sometimes people don't like second chance is because you see something really, really bad that somebody did, and you can't get over it. And it's like really hard to forgive the past transgression of the character, and you think that maybe they just should never have gotten back together. But then they were like, the reason we really like it is because you immediately have all of this intimacy and chemistry. You don't have to build that throughout the book, like they immediately know each other intimately, and they have to earn each other's forgiveness and love back. And I was like, that's an interesting perspective. And looking the authors were um JC Lee, Jeannie Cho, and Julie 2. And um, so I recommend you guys go check them out. But um it was true, like among the third three books, they the characters instead of spending time falling in love, they spent each time earning each other's trust back. And while it still isn't my favorite trope, I feel like I understand it better now. The appeal.

Abigail 25:34

Yeah, yeah, and I think it is a really hard, like fine line to walk as a writer because you do not like I really liked this because the conflict was career stuff, it's stuff that everyone can relate to. It wasn't like anything cheating or anything horrible, like that can be hard. Um, so I like that. Like it still required growth on both their parts, but I feel like it wasn't like unforgivable and nobody was really in the wrong. Um, so that's what I liked about this, and yeah, I love that. I love that you it to me, it makes like this the agony and the angst so much better because you start off knowing that like there's love there and that there's intimacy there, and you just can't have it, and like they're right there, but you can't access that. And I feel like that's so painful, and I love it so much.

SPEAKER_01 26:21

So I will give it a shot, and I'll I'm glad I only read the other one first because I almost picked that up first, so I rather than what I did read this week.

Abigail 26:30

So I mean, you can read them out of order if like that works out for the listener that you can pick one up before the other, but um the the stories like the end of this kind of feeds into the next one, so there's a little bit more context, but yeah. See, great. What have you read first that you want to talk about?

Graphic Memoir Spotlight: Fun Home

SPEAKER_01 26:47

Um, okay, I'll just go in chronological order. The first thing I read was Fun Home by Allison Bechtel. Um, a la the Bechtel test. So um this is something I was me and Zach um went on a little like downtown free date the other day. Like we took the train downtown, we went to this free museum in LA, and then we walked to the Central Library downtown. Cute and we perused the Central Library, and they had like a huge graphic novel and art selection. And I was looking through and I saw Fun Home by Allison Bechtel, which is like it's always on the top of the list for like best graphic memoirs. And so I picked it up, and um I didn't really know what to expect, but this was a graphic novel that absolutely rocked me um emotionally. It is a mentally ill dad memoir. Um it is gay. She Alison Vechtel is a lesbian, and also her while never confirmed, it seems as though her dad was also a closeted gay man. And she so masterfully uses her father's life as a mirror to her own life, and books and he was he was really into literature, and his love of literature and different like classic books to tell the story of his life and her life and the similarities and the way that like he wounded her, the way they were similar, how they connected, how they healed, how they got pushed apart. It is um, it's really good. And the captions, I mean, it's it's the other thing that's crazy about it is it's uh a graphic novel. So you think, okay, how can the writing really be that good? But the masterful thing about this graphic novel is how she uses the limited amount of words to convey like very deep messages, and it's so beautiful, and the art is also great and obviously helps to tell the story, but it's like it was really good. Like I get I get why this is like at the top of the list, it's not just because of her name. Sure. Um so yeah, uh I have you had me recommended. Well, you had me a mentally ill dad, to be frank. It is a it's a mentally ill dad memoir. It's a compliment, it's a complicated daddy issues growing up like in the 70s, realizing you're gay, kind of thing. Love it.

Abigail 29:34

I can't wait to check this out.

SPEAKER_01 29:36

The fun the fun home is because her family's business was in this small town, they owned um a funeral home, and the whole the sibling she and her siblings called it the fun home. Uh-huh. And it that in itself is also kind of a mirror into her life. Yeah. Like making light of some of these like very dark things that have happened. Couldn't recommend it enough. I'm sad. I'm ready. Yeah, go read it and report back. And obviously, you can read it pretty quickly. So yeah. All right, back to you.

Abigail 30:06

Okay, so I read two books by Kara Bastone, and the first one I read um was Ready or Not, and this one was 4.5 stars. Okay, so I will I will give you my negative 0.5, but everything else was great. Um, so this follows it's first person, so I feel like whenever it's a first person book, it's even harder to remember their names. Anyways, Eve, uh the the day you meet Eve, chapter one, page one, she is at her gynecologist, and she is taking a pregnancy test, and she is finding out that she is unexpectedly pregnant um with her one night stand uh hot bartender hookup from a month ago. And despite her using protection and whatever, it all failed, and she's pregnant.

SPEAKER_01 30:56

And um nightmare scenario.

Futbolista And Early Adulthood

Abigail 31:00

Okay, so it's a shock, and she doesn't really know what she's gonna do. And um, so she like has this best friend whose name is Willa, and Willa has been going through many, many years of infertility with her husband and like really struggling to have a child. And so when when Eve tells Willa that she's pregnant, Willa is like for valid reasons, but also like it's difficult, she's not able to be there as a friend in the same way that she probably should be, or whatever, if she didn't have this like very real trauma and baggage, and like it's just complicated. And so, in her absence, Willa's um older brother, whose name is Shep, who is also like their their childhood best friends, like the three of them have always been kind of like a little trio. He like steps up, and all of a sudden, Eve is like maybe seeing him in a new light, and like look, I I would never have picked this up.

SPEAKER_01 32:02

Does she give the baby to the friend? No, okay, thank you.

Abigail 32:07

That does not happen.

SPEAKER_01 32:08

I thought she was going and I was supposed to be like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

The School For Good Mothers Revisited

Closing Notes & Merch Reminder

Abigail 32:10

That does not happen. It is a very like real take, I think, on a real experience that a lot of people will have in friendships where like you're going through your own shit and you can't be there for your friends, and vice versa. Like, this happens. Um, it's not always as extreme as like that like my friend's pregnant, and I've been suffering this traumatic infertility, but like I feel like this happens to everyone. You have been the friend that can't be there for your friend, or isn't there, or fails to be there in the way you should, and you've also been the friend that that's happened to you. And so I thought this was really like compassionately written. There are times where Eve is like genuinely mad at Willa, and there's times where she's like, Oh, I completely understand like why she can't be there for me and at this appointment or whatever. Um, I I mean this was so beautiful. She does decide to keep the baby. The father's in a relationship with someone. He they had like been broken up for a week when they hooked up and then they got back together, so they can't be together. And it's just this like whole like fan. It's this whole like yeah, like found fan. I don't know, it's like finding the people around you, and I don't know, it was just really lovely. Like, she has um so she was Eve is like the daughter, uh a surprise daughter to like two 50-year-olds who accidentally didn't think they could get pregnant anymore, and she has like three much older brothers, and um, she has these like co-workers, she kind of keeps it at arm's length, and it's like having this pregnancy sort of like breaks her open in a way because she has to rely on other people, and I thought that was really lovely, like the relationship with her brothers that's like been really distant and weird. Um, it also has a lot to do with grief. Like Willa and Shepp's um mom, who was like a surrogate mom to Eve, died like the year earlier. Um, and so they're all kind of like dealing with that, and like this was one of the most top-tier slow burns I've ever read in my life. Um, the yearning is crazy. I genuinely I just never want to pick this up for myself. It's not like the tropes that I normally would want to read, but I really, really liked it. Um, it got a little much, like you could tell, and the author wrote this in the author's notes that she had like either she was pregnant or she just had a baby when she wrote it. It got a little much of like motherhood changes you because it's like there are really bad mothers out there. Like, I just don't buy into that. I'm sure it does change you as a person. I'm not saying it doesn't, but like there are also mothers that like don't have their hearts softened, you know? Like it doesn't make everyone a good person. Yeah, so that was that got to be a little much at the end, but um yeah, I just thought this was like so shockingly incredibly sweet romance. Really liked it. Um but by the same author, uh a god tier, I want to buy it so I can read it over and over again. And I think you should read this one in particular because I think you would really like the the male-made character in this one specifically, and this is called Promise Me Sunshine, and okay, so this one is about Lenny, and she um her life is like falling apart because her best friend, Lou, uh just recently died of ovarian cancer after a really long battle, and they had been living together, they were roommates, they grew up together. This was like her best friend in the world, and so she like can't cope with this and is kind of like she before this, she had been the like a long-term nanny for multiple families, and now she's like just taking short-term babysitting jobs just to like barely live because she can't. She's like, I can show up and be functioning for like one or two days, and that's basically the extent of it. And then I need a break. Um, and she's like not going back to her apartment because she shared it with Lou, and like it's just too hard. She's going through it, and so she gets this job for the weekend, babysitting Ainsley for Reese, who is uh a single mom, whose her father just passed away and he had been like helping with the co-parenting, essentially. He died really suddenly, and um, so she just needs help for like a weekend for a work trip, and then that's supposed to be it, but she's kind of looking for long-term help, but Lenny's like, I can't do it. So, anyway, she goes to help for this weekend, and while she's there, she meets Ainsley's uncle, who is Miles, and they he does not make a good impression. He's like immediately like, is this girl a drug addict? And he's uh Reese's half-brother, so there's like weird family dynamics there. Um, he like wants to be around, but doesn't really know how to be, and so things start off on a bad foot, but pretty quickly they have this sort of like random encounter where Miles is like, Can you please help me um learn how to be like an uncle? I don't know how to deal with kids, I don't know how to be around kids, but I really want to be there. This is like my only family I have left. Um, and I want to connect with them. And can you help me? And in return, I have been through myself like tremendous grief and loss, and I will help you learn how to get over this. And like, I have the spare apartment in the city, you can stay there. Of course, of course, and the spare apartment, by the way. I know. Well, he just inherited the apartment from the dad who died, and so he has where he was living before, and so, anyways, he um Lenny has this like list of things that Lou left her to like do to live again, and he's like, I'm gonna help you check off your list. Uh, but he's good. It's just so I was crying at 4 a.m. I almost texted you and Emma and was like, I never want you guys to die. I love you guys about your friendship so much. Like the free the female friendship, because you get these flashbacks of her friendship with Lou. And there's one point where Miles is like, Oh, I understand. Like, she wasn't your friend, she was your comrade. Like you guys went through everything together, and she's like, that like touches Lenny's heart. And this is another one about like opening up your heart and like letting people in, letting people into like the worst part of your life, and he helps her like make friends who weren't just Lou and like I don't know. He's like this like standoffish kind of asshole, but like really also very tender and heartbroken himself and grieving, and like I don't know. This was so good. I love books about grief, so that's not surprising. Um but like I think it's like uh a to be read for me.

SPEAKER_01 38:32

I don't know if I want to read it right now.

Abigail 38:33

Yeah, don't have to read it right now. I think just specifically that certain things about the maleman character you would appreciate. Okay. Um, but yeah, this was I mean, peak. I I can't really say enough how much this like moved me and yeah, made me think about life and death and falling in love. Also, what Carabao Stone does, and this might I don't know, I'm being more free with that lately. But this is one of the few. Yeah, no, you are not. I left a lot out of the Bridget episode, okay? We would not have left some of that in. I I've come a long way. Anyways, Carabow Stone, both these books I've read, one of the only romance offers I've ever read ever read where the couple doesn't they don't kiss and then instantly have sex. So like the slow burn becomes even more excruciating because it's like there's a kiss, and then there's like we're falling asleep in the same bed, and then like we're like like it just it felt morally natural, but also like it kind of stretches out that slow burn in a crazy way where like the I don't know, it feels like sometimes authors hold back physical intimacy like they don't even touch, and then all of a sudden their hands are like they're holding hands and then they're making on and they're having sex. This was like, oh, we're gonna like brush hand, or we're gonna hold hands kind of in the movies, but then we're not gonna talk about it. And then we're gonna like I don't know, it's like I don't know. I just like the way she does the physical intimacy in her books. Okay, that was the case in both. So I want to save that one for a rainy day. I don't know if I want to read about the truth like that right now, but dude, yeah. Be prepared. This one, yeah, that one was quite emotional, but very good. So that's basically it. Besides fanfiction, which as always my DMs are open if you need Wolf Star. Or lately, you've been sending me more holodovs, so I've been getting to those. Um either one, DM me for the There's a good one I'm really liking right now.

SPEAKER_01 40:19

That's like it's fun and it's a work in progress. It's called um The Ottawa Centaurs Have a PR problem. Uh-huh. And they're married. Yeah. And uh that's fun.

Abigail 40:30

So yeah, you sent that one to me. So yeah, there's a lot of good. Also, I'll I'll say, without being specific, because sometimes I'm like, okay, if I'm like one of the few people commenting on this fic that I'm now promoting publicly on my podcast, I'm effectively doxing myself. So, anyways, what I'll say is Old Dogs Fest is posting right now, which is a a fandom event for Wolf Star fans, and all of the fics are older Wolf Star, so they're all they have to be older than 30, which is not that old, but that's for the reason that they die very young in Canon. So, anyways, I think it's been great. I've been reading a lot of those and they're really fun. So if you like older characters in your fanfiction, go check that out. That's it. What are the rest of the books you've read?

SPEAKER_01 41:15

Um, if you can't tell, we're both uh husband baritone going. Okay. First five-star book of the year. The Sweet Spot by Amy Popel. Um Wow, what to even say about this book? I don't know. All right. This is a book that I think is about so much more than what is on the back flap. Okay. The this is one of those, it's told from many different points of view and perspectives, and it follows like four to five women that live in Brooklyn whose lives are crossing paths. Um, so there is um Lauren, who is a potter, and she has like a ceramicist, and she has been hired by essentially like Gwyneth Paltrow, okay, who has like this whole goop brand to create handmade stuff for her brand. And she needs help. So her mother comes into town who she has a weird relationship with, but her kids are going to this new school, and the receptionist at the new school is the ex-wife of the woman or of the man who Felicity, who's like the Gwyneth Paltro character, um, like stole her husband away. So there's like all of these, they're like all crossing their lives, crossing over. The men in their lives too are really wonderful. They're not the main focus, as they shouldn't be. Um, but they're like fantastic. One of my favorite male characters I've read in a really long time is in this book. Um and essentially they all get bound together by necessity because they have to come together to take care of a baby who is left in their charge. And I can't reveal the circumstances of how that happens. Oh my god. But it is hilarious and heartwarming. Oh, and there's another girl too, is uh one of the the employees for Felicity, who also ends up working for Lauren as her nanny. Okay. It's multi-generational women. Their relationships with each other, they're at odds, they work together, and it's uh named the sweet spot because the home that Lauren lives in is uh situated on top of a bar called the sweet spot. But also it's about the sweet spot in life and like the tension between like who you are and who you're becoming, uh what your relationship is and what you think it should be, and like being enemies and friends, and I don't it was just I don't even know how to explain it. It's it was just so good. Like I could not put it down. Um, as per usual, I did a combination of reading with my eyes and listening to the audiobook. And the audiobook is narrated by a full cast of actors. Um fun. Which is really nice too, because there are many different perspectives. So that really helps to keep everything sorted out. But um, yeah, it was just, it was just so good. And I really want you to read it. I want everyone to read it. It really got me out of a book funk. Um couldn't recommend it enough.

Abigail 44:33

Yeah, this was one of the ones you recommended to me when I texted you that I was in a reading slump. And I put it on hold, but then unfortunately did succumb to extreme illness. But I'm hoping that it's so my hold laughs, but I think it's still at the my library branch. So I'm planning to go this afternoon and I hope uh that it's still there and I can pick it up. Yeah. So I'm excited. I hope that for you too. Yeah. I love I I feel like I don't know. Is this I don't know if this is an unpopular opinion, but I personally love like when there's a bunch of different perspectives in a book. I just when it's well done.

SPEAKER_01 45:02

I think it can be done super poorly. But I really think the points of view in this book are really good and it helps you. It's like one of those things where you're like, there's no clear and like villain. I mean, there's just like the case, I would say in this book there is one clear villain that's purely a villain. But everybody else, you're like, No, I can kind of see it. No, I can kind of see it. And you're from one person's perspective and they're like, Oh, I hate that bitch, and then you get to her perspective, and you're like, Well, no, I kind of see where you're coming from. Um, yeah, I can't wait for you to read this book and get acquainted with my one of my favorite characters of all time. Oh my god. Which is Melinda. Okay. So you'll see. But yeah, I'm just it was so good. Okay. Yeah, I can't wait. Okay, I can't wait.

Abigail 45:47

Genuinely.

SPEAKER_01 45:47

Um, we chatted, I'll go quickly over this one because we chatted about it at the top, but I read Footballista by Johnny Garzevia. And um, yeah, I'm you've talked about this book on the podcast before. I read it at your recommendation. But it is the story of um a young man who's a freshman college and a very promising collegiate soccer player or football player, and him kind of coming to terms with some things about himself. He thinks he knows everything about himself. He's on a journey to self-discovery, and he's on a push and pull between what's expected of him in the athletic world, specifically like in the Latin culture football world, and uh what who he is and what his friends know him as and how they accept him. Um, I would say the one thing if I I gave this book 4.5. The point five is because I don't really love living in a teenage boy's head. Yeah, yeah, totally. As lovable as he is, yeah, I'm like, eh, I don't, I'm good. Yeah, I'm good. Yeah, like you are the purest, most angelic. I love you so much, you're such a sweetheart, and you're still a 19-year-old.

Abigail 46:59

18, 19.

SPEAKER_01 47:00

Yeah, I'm like, I'm actually good. So there was elements of that I didn't like where, you know, yeah, just the way that he thinks, I I think it was true to the experience of being prop of it seemed true to the experience of being an 18-year-old boy. But I was like, I'm good actually. Yeah. Um so that was my point five reduction um for personal preference. I think I I don't need to do that any anymore. But um, but otherwise it was really, really sweet. There was I wasn't expecting to be like emotional at points. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. I I saw the cover of this book and I and I read the back and then the premise of this book. I'm like, oh, this will be like a fun little romp. But the fun, one of the nuanced things about this book is that um Gabby, the main character, is throughout the course of the book learning about philosophy. He's like in a philosophy class. Excuse me. And he uses different classic scenarios from philosophy to kind of meet like he's reflecting on them, but then like relating them to his life and the moral dilemmas in his life and being seen or being in the shadows, coming out into the sun. So it was really sweet.

Abigail 48:16

I know I have never like gotten more emotional of about a romance book where it's not like obviously like the one I was just talking about, it's about like someone dying, like that, whatever. But like this one really got me for in ways I didn't expect. So and it was very I I yeah, I found myself very emotional reading this one as well.

SPEAKER_01 48:36

So glad it's not just me. Yeah, no, it was really sweet. I would recommend it. Like, I I would never have picked this up if it wasn't your recommendation. So I can't even remember why I bought this. So I think also, like, I think in some ways it if you are looking for something to remind you of reading Heated Rivalry, like I keep on forgetting that excuse me, my throat is getting tired now. But that like Shane and Ilya are like 18 and 19 at the beginning. Like I know, they're young at the beginning of the book. So this kind of like puts you in their early headspace, too. Um I was reminded of them a little bit. So yeah, okay. And then the last book I read was also a book that you've read before, which is The School for Good Mothers by Jasmine Chan. This book was crazy, dude.

unknown 49:31

I know.

SPEAKER_01 49:32

I just finished it right before we recorded. Um, wow. Okay.

Abigail 49:38

The School for Good Mothers. I think I read this pre-pod. I was gonna say, I don't think I've ever even talked about it on here because I think I read it before we started. Oh, okay. It's been a while. So yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 49:47

Enlighten us. The School for Good Mothers is a literary fiction sci-fi dystopian, I would say. Okay, a mashup of those three genres. The book opens, and our main character, Frida, um, is getting a call from like the police saying, like, we have your daughter. And she has had a very bad day. So she is like a single parent at the moment, like she's depressed, she's really tired, she hasn't slept, and she made a really poor decision to leave her daughter at home alone in a swing for multiple hours. Her daughter's like 18 months or something. Yeah. So not great. Okay.

unknown 50:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 50:33

But then this sends her down what can only be described as a increasingly horrible experience of trying to rectify the situation, uh, reestablish custody of her daughter. And um, that's where like the sci-fi dystopian weirdness happens because she gets sent to a school for bad mothers. It's like a snew program that the government has rolled out, and it's really, really weird. But it is used as a metaphor for explaining the challenges that parents, specifically mothers, uh, face when navigating like the family services, child protective services, uh, foster care, uh, world system, social work system. And it also explores race and um prejudice and the different experiences people have based on their race and being parents. Um and it was really good. I was super sucked in. The writing is incredible. Um, the writing is really, really, really good. And just you get really invested in the characters. It is dark for sure. I shed some tears. Um, but if you're up for something that's challenging and a little dark and dystopian, which I would totally understand if you're not down for, I actually kind of didn't realize it was dystopian when I started reading it. And then I was like, yo, yo, yo. But um, yeah, give it a shot. I don't think this is an extremely cold state. This is like a very well-known book. Um, so but yeah, couldn't recommend it enough.

Abigail 52:19

That's great. I'm glad you liked it.

SPEAKER_01 52:21

Yeah. Do you remember anything about your thoughts when reading that book?

Abigail 52:24

I just looked it up while you're talking. I gave it four stars, so um, who knows? Four stars is such a such a range for me. You know, it could mean you really loved it. It could mean I think I really liked it though. Because I I recommended it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 52:40

But I I think this is uh it was four and a half for me. Like I think the end kind of dragged a little bit, which is my point five deduction. But besides that, it was very, very good.

Abigail 52:50

So yeah, I remember liking it. Um, so yeah, and I remember a lot of details about it, which I feel like pre-podcast books I don't remember as well because I never talked about them. But if I talked about them on here, I remember them a little better. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 53:04

All right, Follows. We'll see you next time. And go check out our merch shop at uh www.redirectpodcast.com. That's where I'll be today. I'm shopping. All right, bye guys. Bye.