The Readirect Podcast

Book Talk: Beach Read Casting News, Summer Reads, and More

• Emily Rojas & Abigail Freshley • Episode 93

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We're summoning summer reading energy to get us out of reading slumps and to balance our sorrow at the Beach Read casting news. 

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Recent Reads: 

Cold Open On Casting Characters

Abigail

It is so also like what do you mean you're not casting a character? That's what Emily Henry is good at. Characters. Yes. That's why people love her books. It's not about the plot, it's about the characters. You are not casting a relationship. You're casting on character.

SPEAKER_03

No for the audio. Abigail's camera is vibrant.

Abigail

It's fully shaking. And you don't know fing anything. What are you talking about? He's blonde. She casts a blonde man as Augustus Everett.

Welcome And How To Support

Abigail

Welcome to the Redirect Podcast. I'm Abigail Freshly. And I'm Emily Rojas. The Redirect Podcast is a show where we shift the conversation back to books. We discuss themes for some of our favorite books and how those themes show up in our real lived experiences. On today's episode, we are previewing summer reading and just generally catching up on recent reads. But before we get to that, if you love our show, we would love for you to let us know by supporting us in a few simple ways. First, you can go on Apple Podcasts and or Spotify, leave a five-star review and let us know how much you love us. We'd love to hear it. You can also follow us on Instagram uh and TikTok at redirectpodcast. You can follow Emily everywhere at Emily Rojas Reads, me on TikTok at Fabigal11, and on Instagram at Fabigal Insta. And if you really, really love the show, um, you can share our show with a friend because sharing our show with a friend is by far the best way to help us grow our community of book loving nerds. And and uh yeah. Oh, I was gonna do that. Oh, and go to the redirectpodcast.com. Yes. Go to redirectpodcast.com. You can look through our whole media library, you can see our crudely designed website, and you can um uh buy stuff from our merch store. Yeah, and you know what? I don't know, maybe we'll do a fun summer merch drop. We should. We should have dropping this summer. Nothing. We'll get to that. Nothing. We will get to that. But if you have any recommendations for what you want to see in our merch store, send it our way. I can we'll probably do it. Yeah, we're very can't emphasize this enough. We're very flexible, amenable. Yeah, we're very, very flexible. So, okay.

Summer Preview Without Big Releases

Abigail

Um here we are. We're here. We haven't done a book talk in a little while, I don't think. Um we did one semi-recently. What are we talking about? Oh, with our merch drop. With our merch drop. But that was mostly focused on the merch drop. Oh, that was a while ago. Yeah. And that wasn't a super book talkie book talk. It was more focused on the website and merch. But yeah, we're here. We're back. We're chatting. We're back. Um, we were just talking before we hit record. Uh, we're like, oh, let's do a summer book preview. And while I'm sure there are many great books coming out this summer, they are not books that you and I personally have on our radar. No. So this is a new situation for us. Correct. It's we're being really brave about it. Yeah. I even like the horizon beyond the summer is so bleak because normally I feel like we do have at least a couple of those staple people that we love releasing books that we know we're gonna do a book club. I don't even know, like, what will our next we don't have any book clubs on the horizon. Like, of course, we are easily influenced, and we will listen to you guys if you want us to do something, but like there's none of those big authors that we normally would be like, oh, we're gonna do a book club. There's nothing, and it's very devastating to me. I don't think this has happened in the history of the show. Yeah, so we need to find out. Yeah, I don't know. It's like like our main homies, yeah, aka the authors we like, are just taking time to themselves to like you know be creative and heal and rest, so whatever. Don't they know that we really need this? Like we know, like the arts are what sustain things, yeah. And where are you guys? And we had we had one beacon of hope on the horizon for this year, and that book has gotten pushed to April 2027. Oh don't worry about it so don't worry. So, yeah, we're open. If you guys have your favorite authors that we don't know about, um, please DM us and we'll read them. Yeah, because we need something to look forward to. Or like there's no like while there are not go ahead. There's no like series update. Anyways, there's no like series coming out that like we need a next installment from. I still haven't even read uh The Will of the Many sequel. That's that's on me after anticipating that for like a year. I know it got too much. Yeah, I think we need to get into our TBRs on this episode for sure. Yeah, we

Hunger Games Trailer Predictions

Abigail

will. But okay, before we do that, I think while there's not a lot of new book releases to look forward to uh from our perspective, there are some great adaptations to look forward to um this year. And so maybe we'll talk through some of those that are upcoming very, very soon. Uh so first, the Sunrise on the Reaping trailer drops tomorrow, a new trailer. Very excited. By the time you guys are listening to this, we will all have already seen it. But it does come out uh as we're recording this, it'll be tomorrow, Monday, April 13th. So if you haven't watched it yet, go watch it. I'll link it in the show notes. Um but what I am anticipating from this trailer, I am hoping we get like a casual glimpse of the OG cast because we know that they are do we know that? Do we know that for sure? I think we do know that for sure. I don't know. I don't know. I'm asking, I genuinely don't know. In my mind, it's like rumored, but it's not a hundred percent confirmed. Or maybe that we know Woody Harrelson, but we don't know about uh Josh Hutcherson and um the others. R S Jennifer Lawrence. Couldn't think of that. Yeah, they are confirmed. Okay, for real. Oh my god. For real, for real. That is genuinely brand new information to me. Yeah, so yes, Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hudson are confirmed to be returned as Cat and Severdeen and Pinamark and The Hunger Games, Sunrise and the Reaping. Although the film is a prequel focused on Heyman Jabbernappy's Fabious Games, they are expected to appear in scenes likely through flash forwards or the book's epilogue set for release November 20th, 2026. So I'm hoping that we get a little like flash. Yes, I think we need that. I'm so mad at the future of the people listening to this because you guys already know what's gonna happen. I think we'll at least get at minimum, I do think we'll get like a Woody Harrelson voiceover or like shadow of him somehow like telling the story. I don't know. I just feel like that is the bare minimum we'll get. They should not be the front and center, but I think like a little flash. Yes, I think they're probably saving that in their back pocket. Yes, a little bread crumbing. It would have been insane if we didn't know that they were gonna be there. I mean, I don't know how you keep that a secret, really. Like that is requires so much effort. But kind of like uh, you know, the Spider-Man reveal vibes when um Toby Maguire and Andrew Garfield were there. Like, it's like you kind of knew, but you didn't know for sure. But anyways, I'm glad we know. I'm glad they're gonna be in it. Yeah, I think it's really gonna be great to see them, um, especially in the epilogue, which I'm sure they'll include. But yeah, I'm so excited. I think it's gonna be emotionally damaging to see this trailer, to be frank. I think it I think it will be painful. Yeah, especially at such a time as this, you know? Yeah, just a lot of them. Even more so. But I can't wait to watch it. And I can't wait. I still am like, how do we see this movie together? How do we make that happen? Well just do it. Okay, sure, why not? You always get stressed out about planning trips, just do it. No, it's because it comes out the week of Thanksgiving. That's why I'm stressed out because I don't know how we made that work. We'll figure it out. We'll get an early screen. Yeah, hey, if we're famous enough. If you're listening, could we please somehow get to see this a little bit early so we could watch it together? I will fly to LA myself, my own dime. Yeah. Well, let's if you guys would just share the show with a friend, we could we could get if everyone shared this show with a friend and then those friends shared it. It's like three friends, then we'll be fine. Think about what you would do for us. So anyways, I can't wait to see it. I can't wait to discuss the next time we talk. But I hope we're all enjoying it. I have high hopes. All right, that's what I'm calling. I'm calling that we're gonna get a that's my prediction as of April 12th, 2026, that we are gonna get a little flash of them in the next in the next trailer. I think we will. I think we will. Like I said, at the very least, I think we're getting uh, you know, future heemage. But yeah, maybe y'all.

Margot’s Got Money Troubles Hype

Abigail

So the other thing that's coming out literally on the 15th in three days is Margot's Got Money Troubles on Apple TV. I wonder, should we watch the trailer together right now? I haven't seen the trailer. Yes, oh my gosh, is there a trailer? I mean, that's I'm assuming. Let's see. YouTube.com trailer. Oh, official trailer. Yeah, let's watch this together. Oh, this is fun. We can do a live reaction. Sure, can we do that? Share you can screen share. Will you be able to hear it? Well, well, let's see. Okay. If you share sound. Can you hear that? Okay, okay, okay. Very loud. Okay. Very loud. Let's watch this from the remote. I didn't know this is L Fanning. I didn't know anything about this. Oh, yes. Okay. Okay. Wait, Nicole Kidman. Did you see that? Yeah, where was she in the trailer? I did not see Nicole Kidman in the trailer. Me either. Okay. Wow, that was great. That looks so good. So wait, okay. I knew, okay, I'm remembering in the back of my head that L Fanning is going to be Margot, but I forgot about Nick Offerman and I forgot about Michelle Pfeiffer. Me too. But they're seeing that. This is gonna be great. This is gonna be so good. I think this is really, really works as app for Apple TV because Apple TV is kind of like HBO and that they can get a little more mature. So they can like discuss more about like her uh online adventures. Um God, that looked so good. That looked great. I have a lot of faith in Apple TV too. Um if you haven't read Margo's Got Money Troubles, yeah. This is a story about a young woman who um finds herself fallen pregnant by her college professor and uh raising a child on her own, and she turns to OnlyFans to support her and her child with the help of her retired pro wrestler dad. It is such a good book. It's so funny, it's so lovable, it's so warm. Yes, it's just so good. I would like, I haven't seen the show, obviously. None of us have, but I would encourage people to read the book first. I think you should read the book. Um, or at least like do it side by side, or maybe after, who knows? But you should read the book. It was so good. Um ever since I read this book, though, I I can't help but see every single influencer interaction online as fake, as completely fabricated, which is just like an interesting subplot in this book of her like kind of making up these like fake social media storylines with other OnlyFans girls. But ever since reading that, I'm like, oh no, this is probably like all this beef and it's probably all fake. Like they're probably arranging all this, but anyways, uh and the parallel between that world and like the pro wrestling world, which is exactly all theater. It's really like it's just a performance, performance art. Um I think it's gonna be great. Oh, it looks so good. Yeah, I uh the only thing is I'm like Al Fanning looks like she's a woman in her mid-30s because she's a woman in her mid-30s, and Margot's supposed to be like 22, but yeah, I'll go. I can suspend this leaf a little bit. She does look younger than the professor, which I think is the main thing. They don't look like they're the same age in the in the trailer. I do love Al Fanning. Yeah, I think she'll be great. So I can't wait. Speaking of speaking of Al Fanning, when is the Nightingale movie coming out? Dude, who knows? Once again, we can't have anything good movie. Maybe that's coming out this week too. Unbeknownst. No, it's not coming out this year because I just Googled uh before. February 2027. Yeah, I was gonna say I just Googled um adaptations this year in case there was anything I forgot about this summer. Okay, so that wasn't one of them. So but it'll probably be like 2028. Let's all be honest with ourselves. Have they filmed it? Yeah, I don't even know, dude. Yeah, it's like this has been in the works for years. Pain, pain. We have nothing. We have nothing. We have nothing. All right, we'll get

Summer Reading Vibes And Rereads

Abigail

that. That's basically it for okay. What so but speaking of summer reading, I guess. Sure. Um so we've got the adaptations coming out. We don't have anything like totally locked in for what we want to read this summer, but are there vibes you want to cultivate? What's on your TBR like that you think you might pick up this summer? Um, yeah, what are you what are you feeling? Yeah, uh this summer, like every summer, I do want to go to the beach. I don't know that I've done that in any time I on this podcast I said I wanted to. Every, every everything. I would love to read at the beach this summer, though. Um not just in the summer. I have gone to the beach. I'm not completely bereft, but it just hasn't been during the summer months. So I would love that. Um, or some water side. Oh, I you know what I was just thinking because uh so you and I will see each other a little bit this summer because I'm going to visit my parents. You're gonna come visit me at my parents, hopefully, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. Um, I think they have access to like at least a pool. So maybe we'll do some pool side reading then. That would be great. That would be great. Yeah. That's all. We can accomplish that.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

Abigail

Um, I've been thinking like I want to do like a big reread, but I don't know of what. So I don't know if I want to do like a series or like maybe uh my Emily Henry books or my Ali Hazelwood books. I've just been feeling like that would help me with this perpetual reading slump I've been kind of dallying in. In yeah, yeah. So may I suggest Hunger Games? That's I always feel like that is a great one. That is a great short and they're not long. Yeah, should I do them in chronological order? Should I start with uh I don't want to reread Ballad on Show Ballad is on the fix up? No, I think I won't do that, but maybe I could do Sunrise on the Reaping again and then the New York. That was a good book. Sunrise on the Reaping was. Yeah, that was great. So I might do that. Um that's a good one. That's a really good one. Um I've been thinking I might I might reread Twilight because I told you I texted you that I found all the Twilight books hardcover, like original print at a vintage bookstore for seven dollars each. Yes, that's what we have those all. And I'm like Maybe we should do the Twilight reread together, buddy read. Uh I would do that. One like and I'll do it. One person tells us to. No, my my Eric's um cousin is visiting from Mexico. She's 12, and she was telling me like what book she's been reading, and she was like, I read she speaks some English, so she was telling her, and then she's like, I don't know what this is. So she was like telling me this word, and I'm like, I don't know what you're talking about. And then she Google translated and she's like, Twilight. I'm like, oh my hello, Twilight Girl, you psycho conventional use. I know, I know. So then I was talking to her a little bit about that. I was like, Edward and Jacob. And so um Edward or Team Jacob. Well, but I didn't get to that far, but um Okay, yeah. I think she's read like the first two, so anyway. Okay, okay. I was so excited. The the 12-year-olds are always reading Twilight, no matter what I know country they live in, no matter what year it is. It's just God, that's the way God intended it. So I would do a Twilight read read. That's one of my that was one of my options. So I haven't done one in it's been a long time since I've reread the full series. Uh I know, but once you start getting in, I don't know. It's like great, but then once you start getting into it, you're like, What have I done? Yeah, but also I can't stop, you know. Maybe that'll be like in the fall, winter. That's like more not-so summer vibes. So anyway, um I mean last year I did an Emily Henry reread and it was immaculate. I know. And I haven't read like I haven't read like Book Lovers and uh you know the other ones. I just reread People Vacation, obviously, and I reread Happy Place, Funny Stuart. But like others I have not reread. Yeah, Beatreed and Book Lovers. Uh I haven't reread those. Petreed is great. I'm reading right now a fanfiction that's like kind of Beatreed uh vibes, and it's so good. And I'm like, maybe I like B-treed more than I remember, or do I just like this because it's Wolf Star? You know what I mean? So maybe I'll maybe I'll do that. Um, anyways, that's my kind of my vibes. I'm like, I need to get something going with my reading, the weather's getting nicer. Um, I do always tend to read less in the summer, which isn't great for me this year. So I'd like to combat that, maybe like with familiar favorites and poolside or beachside reading. So yeah, that's my vibes. Okay. You? Cool. My vibes are reading. Yeah. Let's see. Um, my job is books. My job is books. I have fallen a little bit behind on my goal per usually, but I'm not like woefully behind like five or six books. I think um yesterday I had a great vibe. So I had like a mobile car dealer detailer come out to detail my car. But as you know, I have horrible street parking. So I asked them to meet me at the parking lot of the park down the street from my house. And then while I was getting my car detailed, I like hung up my hammock and read at the park. And I was like, oh this sounds yeah. Oh my gosh. And also, like one of my concurrent goals this year is to spend a thousand hours outside. Yeah. So I'm like, okay, I think the reading outside is really one that's what's gonna help me get there. I need to be used to spending more time sitting outside and reading. Um, I mean, beach is also on my list, but that's easy for me to accomplish since I live near the beach. Um, I'm thinking more like hammock reading. Maybe that's more my vibe. Um and I want to read books that are fun. I want to read things that make me happy. That's what I want to spend the summer doing. Like books that like I want to read be spend time this summer reading books that like help me escape. I want escapist vibes. I want to like, I don't want to be reflective and pensive. I don't want to self-improve. I've I'm done improving myself. I want to, I want to read something that makes me feel so alive inside that I am looking at fan art. Yes, that I'm like shipping a new relationship. Like I want to be caught up in the in the rush of a new thing. So if you have a recommendation, listener, for something that should be for me, I I have a couple things, and this is maybe a good transition to like what's on our TBRs.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

TBR Picks For Escapist Energy

Abigail

Um, but I have a couple of things that I feel like could do that. So well, first, okay, I still I still need to unsuspend my hold of strength in the few and and pick that back up. I'm doing that this summer. Me too. Mark my words. I'm doing it. Also, okay, I have minor black figures suspended. Sure. It's ready whenever I'm not so escaping. Is that gonna I know? So now I'm like, it's not like uh it's not emotionally devastating. I think it I don't want to spoil too much, it has a ambiguous to happy ending. Like it's not gonna wreck your life, but it is very like politics, race, um, sexuality, identity, uh post-COVID world religion. Okay. So I wouldn't say it's escapist, no. I might just keep it suspended for a while. Yeah. Just return circle. Maybe I'll get feeling, yeah, I'll circle back. All right. Here's what I'm feeling hopeful for, though. Yes. Okay. Are you aware of the Paladin's Grace series? No. Okay. I have heard good things from people in my book club. It is a fantasy mystery series with multiple books out. Okay. They can all be read in succession. Here's the description of the first one. Are you ready? Yes. Stephen's god died on the longest day of the year. Three years later, Steven is a broken paladin, living only for the chance to be useful before he dies. But all that changes when he encounters But all of that changes when he encounters a fugitive named Grace in an alley and witnesses an assassination attempt gone wrong. Now the pair must navigate a web of treachery, beset on all sides by spies and poisoners, while a cryptic killer stalks one step behind. From the Hugo and Nebula award-winning author of Sword Heart and the Twisted Ones comes a saga of murder, magic, and love on the far side of despair. It has 4.11 stars on Story Graph. Yes. With over uh with like tw of 25,000 reviews. Okay. The moods are funny, adventurous, mysterious, lighthearted, emotional, hopeful. I'm like, okay, this is gonna be like a lovable. Fantasy, mystery, romance type vibe. I am I am very hopeful. Yes, I'm looking at it at my library right now. Yeah. Okay. And there's multiple out. The name of the um the name of the series is The Saint of Steel. Okay. So there's Paladin, there's let's see, one, two, three, four out right now. Yeah, okay. You're convincing me. I'll do this. I'm I'm willing to give it a shot. Like that's something I'm hopeful for. The other thing that I am thinking that I am I'm like, okay, this book has been circling my orbit for a long time. Okay. It's called The Second Death of Locke. And I don't think this is gonna be escapist. No.

SPEAKER_03

Okay. Um so far. You're off to a bad start.

Abigail

I'm off to a bad start. But um multiple times I've seen people say, like, this is the best book I've ever read. Yeah. And I think this might be my vibe. So here, let me read you the description of this one. Gray Flynn has dedicated her life to her mage, Keir.

unknown

Kier.

Abigail

Kier. Kier. Chilling one. She will be his blade on the battlefield, his healer and protector. The deep well of raw power inside her is Kears to use. Grey would do anything for Keir, be anything for him, if he would only ask. When a quest to protect the child of an enemy kingdom pulls him into a dangerous heart of their nation's war, Grey and Keir will need to decide what they are willing to sacrifice to protect their secret. For Grey is no ordinary magical well, but heir to the lost island of Locke, the root of all power. If she dies, all magic dies with her. Yeah. I don't know. I'm like, maybe I'm too on the nose with the fantasy, the fantasy thing will help me escape, but yeah. I don't know. Okay, I think Paladin's Grace is like the the right move. So also I've discovered, again, and we'll get to this in a little bit, I'll save it. Yeah. But I've discovered a new author that I think I really like, uh, or new to me. Uh-huh. And I'm they have like some back catalog I could work through. So all right. And what's on your TBR? Well, you know, I still have my TBR challenge, which I'm thinking of whittling down. Actually, I might have already done. I gave a bunch of books to my mom. Uh, so I need to remember if I gave away any of these that were on my TBR for her to put in her little free library at the shop. Um, but I still have that. Maybe I'll put that on my Instagram stories and see if anyone wants to influence me to read any of these. Um then I do have a picking situation. Hopefully, today from the library, The Everlasting by Alex Harrow Harrow. Have you everywhere? A-A-L-I-X, right? Yeah, that one. Um I did swear by Alex Harrow. Oh, really? I've read it. The once and future wishes. The once and future wishes. Oh, that's the same album. Oh my god. The once and future witches, yes. Oh, who knew? Well, everyone raves about this book. And um, like I've but I started reading it on my Kindle and just couldn't get into it. And to be fair, that's like been the case for me this year, but um, I thought maybe having the physical book would help me because I just keep seeing people that I trust talk about like the yearning and like the the it's like a so let me read the let me read the description. Um blah blah blah, a genre-defined quest about the lady knight whose legend built a nation and the cowardly historian sent back through time to make sure she plays her part, even if he breaks his if it breaks his heart. Um Sir Una Everlasting was Dominion's greatest hero, the orphan girl who became a knight, who died for queen and country. Her left Jinn lives on in songs and stories and children's books and recruiting posters, but her life as it truly happened has been forgotten. Centuries later, Owen Mallory, failed soldier, struggling scholar, falls in love with the tale of Una Everlasting. Her story takes him to war, to the archives, and then to the past itself. Una and Owen are tangled together in time, bound to retell the same story over and over, no matter what it costs. But that story always ends the same way. If they want to rewrite Una's legend, if they want to tell a different story, they'll have to rewrite history itself. I mean, that sounds great, you know? Um It sounds great, right? But then it's like, will it take too long to get into? Yes. That's the thing with a book like that. You're like, is there too much setup? Right. And I didn't, I did not give it a fair chance. I think I read like two chapters. I just couldn't, I kept picking it up and be like, I don't know. I'm just not feeling it. So wait, I'm hoping though that the physical copy will help me. But did you ever read The Sweet Spot? No, it's still in there in my room. I renewed the whole like to the maximum amount. And now it's like, if you don't give this back to us, we're gonna actually find you and your whole family. I mean that's so, anyways, um that's on my next, that's on my next as well on my TBR, and I'm getting I'm getting back to it. I'm gonna return some other books that I'm just never gonna read, but that one I'm gonna keep. Yeah. And I'll get into what I've read recently. But yeah, that's kind of that's my thing. And then I just put on that whole that book you just said and a reread of some sort. I think honestly, I'm I'm thinking I'm thinking I might reread Beatread. I might start it after we stop talking right now because I think that will help. And then maybe I'll get it. That's like a one settings, like you're just gonna be like need. Yeah, so that's my TBR. Also, I have uh also the strength of the few. Also, I had started Lonesome Dove a while ago, but I feel like I need to own that book because it is so long, I don't think I could finish it. And it's always on hold, so I can't renew the hold for that at the library because like people want to read it, obviously. So I'm like, maybe I'll just wait till I can buy that at any used book store or something because I was really liking it, it's just so long I couldn't finish it. Um, so I'm kind of paused part of the way through that. So that's my TBR. Also, I saw my month-free trial of Kindle Unlimited, so I'm working my way through. Yeah, I'm trying, man. I think you've got some good things. I'm I'm really I'm really feeling like maybe you and I could like Paladin's Grace, and that would be a good thing. Yeah. Okay. I need that. I need it's on something that makes me feel alive. I I do too. You know what I mean? Like just that, like, ah, I want to be feral about something again. Yes, I want to be so caught up in something. Please help me. Um, okay, cool.

A Queer Romance Slump Fix

Abigail

I have a book that I am halfway through. Okay. That I would like to recommend to you. Okay. Even though I'm only halfway through it, I feel like I believe you. I know you will like it, and I know I'm gonna like the end of it. Okay. And I hope you haven't already read it. I looked on story graph and I didn't see that you had. The book is called You Should Be So Lucky by Kat Sebastian. Okay. No. Have you read anything by Kat Sebastian? I feel like have I? I don't know. Keep talking. Kat I'll check. Kat, uh no, the Kit Web book. Did you read that? The queer principles of Kit Webb? No. Okay. Basically, Kat Sebastian, uh, she writes a bunch of queer romances. Um this one is a baseball book. Uh now, before everyone's like, boo, I hate baseball, this is so boring. This book is about baseball in the same way the heated rivalry is about hockey. Sure, sure. It's not okay. This book is set in 1960. Okay. And uh it features the two main characters are Eddie and Wait. 1960 is crazy. I did not know that. Yes, it's set in 1960. Eddie and Eddie O'Leary and Mark Bailey. So Eddie O'Leary is a baseball uh it's like a second baseman that just got traded to the New York Robbins. But he's facing a big scandal because on the day he got traded to the New York Robbins, he kind of had a meltdown. Sure. And he was like, Oh, they suck, and like the team sucks, and it all got reported on. So everyone on the new team hates him and all the fans hate him, but he's drawing a lot of press attention. Okay, Mark Bailey works for the New York Chronicle. The New York Chronicle is like, we need to get readership up. I know what we'll do. Mark, you're, I know you're not typically a sports reporter, but you are going to ghostwrite like a weekly diary on behalf of Eddie O'Leary to go in the Chronicle. So you need to spend time with him and like ghostwrite it. You can do some PR for him, but also like, you know, this will this will definitely get readership up on our weekly, on our weekend editions of the paper. And say no more. Mark, say no more. Okay. Mark is they're both, it's 1960, okay? So they're not, they're both not like openly queer. Mark is more openly queer. He's not hiding it, he's also not advertising it. He also has he's like a year or two out from losing his partner. Um, his partner passed away, who was like his roommate and also like not his roommate, but he had like political ambition. So it was they had a secret relationship. Eddie has moved to New York, and part of the reason he didn't want to move to New York is because like he had found like an enclave of safety, like a queer community in Kansas City where he played before, and now he's like feeling like he can't do that, whatever. And love begins to blossom between Eddie and Mark. And um there's a lot on the line, there's a lot to risk. Eddie is in a horrible slump, he's not doing well in baseball, there's a lot going on, but it's the slowest burn. It's like this book feels like when you're watching a movie and there's like the two love interests, like their pinkies almost touch. Oh my god. You know, or they like graze their pinkies. Yes. That's what this book feels like. Okay. Uh once again, so maybe you need to read this. Okay. And I know people like, I don't like baseball, but I've shut up. It's not about baseball. There's very little like on-page description of what's happening in a baseball game, it's just the vibe of baseball culture. Like, you can get that. It's 1960s, it's major league baseball. Yeah. People are like racist and sexist and homophobic. All right, you get it. Great. So anyway, um, I'm I I my hold is up or like my loan is up in like 11 hours. So uh after this uh recording, I need to go finish the book. But um, yeah, I really think you're gonna like it. I hope. This might be this might get you to your slump too. I think I will. Also, I've I realized I have been seeing a lot of people talk about Kat Sebastian's most recent book, which is called Starshipped or something. And it's um, anyways, I have been seeing it everywhere, and so I also put that on hold because I trust your recommendation for authors. So here's my yeah, here's my feeling is like she um has a huge back catalog and a bunch of um a bunch of historical romance. I saw that. And also there's another one on here that looks good called After Hours at Doryard Books. Uh, this is also historical, but yeah, like uh I'm I'm sensing a theme. I'm thinking I'm thinking this might be something to dive into. This yeah, exactly. And um there's yeah, there's there's another one called The Perfect Crimes of Marlon Hayes or Mary and Hayes. Um yeah. So I think this could be good, and I highly recommend you should be selected. I I have not been reading enough romance books this year, or like specifically the ones I have been have been like way too heterosexual, which is fine, but they just don't have a lot of things. Yeah, but it's sometimes yeah. So um I need to I need to bring back what I know to be true. Oh my god. What? Hold on. Okay, she has another one called We Could Be So Good. Uh-huh. Here's the description. You're this is not okay. Casey McQuiston meets the seven husbands of Evelyn Hugo in this mid-century rom drum about a scrappy reporter and a newspaper mogul son. Nick Russo has worked his way from a rough Brooklyn neighborhood to a reporting job at one of the city's biggest newspapers. But the late 1950s are a hostile time for gay men, and Nick knows that he can't let anyone into his life. He just counted on a meeting, he he just never counted on meeting someone as impossible to say no to, as Andy. Andy Fleming's newspaper tycoon father wants him to take over the family business, Andy, though he has no intention of running the paper. He is barely able to run his life. He's never paid a bill on time, routinely gets lost on his way to work, and would rather gouge out his own eyes than deal with office politics. Andy agrees to work for a year in the newsroom, knowing he'll take he'll make an ass of himself and hate every second of it. Except Nick Russo keeps rescuing Andy, showing him the ropes, tracking down his keys, freeing his tie when he gets stuck in the ancient filing cabinets. Their unlikely friendship soon sharpens into feelings they can't deny. But what feels impossible in secret, this fragile, tender thing between them, seems doomed in the light of day. Now Nick and Andy have to decide if, for the first time, they're willing to fight. That sounds so good. Okay, I I already have two other books by her on hold. If we like them. That one's like that. That one is the same vibe as you should be so lucky. That's the same, it's the same feeling of like urinate. This is an auto loud. We're in the public. I I love that. Yeah. So, like for our book club this month, a call, friend of the show, Colleen. It was her turn to pick. So the way we do it is she nominated a few different books and we voted on them. This was one of the options that didn't get picked. But the theme of the books was uh heated rivalry hangover. Oh, I love that. Like all of her books. Um, so I think that that's correct. Yes. That is the one book of note. I I've read some other books recently, but they were they left something to be desired. So I won't dwell on that. Um share that I read that one. Good for you. Um what have you read? Okay, nothing. Um read, I read Devout by David Arch. I then read, I did start reading this book called, well, I read this gold, it's called Gold Tender Interference by Brigham Vaughn. Um, it's part of this series called Scoring Chances. I'm on the second book in the series. I don't think I'm gonna finish it. I thought it was this is my Kindle Unlimited experience. Um, it's good, it's fine. They're very long for this type of book, and that's not what I'm looking for. If they're not bad. I need you guys to edit it. Yeah, I need this to be. I need this to be a tight 300 pages or less. And the first one is 562 pages, the second one is about the same length, and it's just a lot going on. That that's like not what I'm here for, you know what I mean? And so it's just been like, okay, I get it. Plus, it's also like all these this is my problem. These books have a certain formula. All of these Kendall Unlimited Romance books, yeah. Where the where the couple gets together pretty early, and that's fine when the book is like 250 pages, because that's all I want. Like, let's fly through this. But when the book's 500 pages and they're getting together halfway through, then I'm bored because I don't like that. I like people to yearn, okay? So then what is that? What am I reading for? Anyways, I did read a good

A Grief Novel That Wrecks You

Abigail

book though. Um, I just finished it earlier, so it's called Tell the Wolves I'm Home by Carol Rifka Brunt. This is the only book she's ever published, which is crazy to me that people just do that. She has like another book announced, it it came out in 2012. Um my gosh. Yeah, and then so then she this other second book has been like in the works, anyways, still not out. But this um really interesting, definitely did not know what to sp expect. I just saw this on TikTok, like um someone posted it and was like, this book just ruined me or something. So I'm like, obviously I have to put this on hold now. So I had no idea what it was about at all, but it just is follows. I I don't even know if this counts. It's like a I it's not really a YA book, but the main character is 14. Um, but I would say it's more like lit thick for adults than YA. But um, so the main character, it's the 1980s. The main character is June. She's 14, and she is like a loner girl, like you know, many people may relate to her, like doesn't have a lot of close friends at school, nobody really understands her. Her sister is like like two years older and is like increasingly antagonistic in her life, and the only person who she feels like really understands her is her uncle Finn. And Finn is gay, and it is the 80s, and Finn is dying of AIDS, and he dies early in the book. Um, so that's not a spoiler. He dies very early in the book. And before he dies, he's like painting this portrait of her and her sister, and so they have to go to his apartment every week to sit for this portrait. He's like a famous artist, but he's like pretty much been reclusive from the public eye for a long time. And every time they go, it's like he's thinner and thinner, and um, anyways, so they have this like interesting relationship with Finn where it's not like full-on homophobic family, we can't see you at all, but it's also like you're only allowed to be a certain portion of yourself with your young nieces because at Finn's funeral, June finds out that there is uh a boyfriend of Finn's who lives in his apartment who has been his partner for a very long time, who she never even knew existed. And so she starts to That's devastating. It's so upsetting. So she does, and also she's been told, by the way, again, this is all like in the first couple chapters. She's been told that that's Toby, that was your um uncle's boyfriend, he's the reason he's dead. He killed Finn, he gave him AIDS and he knew he had it. And whether or not that's true is up to interpretation. But um, so she's like, he's a murderer, he killed Finn. And so she does end up reaching out to him, they end up connecting, and the Toby is like, I think maybe like you're the only person that misses him like I do, because maybe like you're the only person who loved him like I did. And obviously, also Toby is also dying of AIDS, and so they like form this relationship, and it just it's about like I think I think this is true with a lot of like older family members in people's lives, but especially obviously queer family members, where it's like if you don't tell someone these parts of your life, then when you're gone, they those things are gone forever, and you never get to know them. And that's what Finn finds out, or what June finds out about Finn, is like, oh, there's this whole this whole section of his life that I never even even though I thought we were so close, and I told him everything, like he couldn't tell me everything because my parents wouldn't let whatever. And so she's learning it from Toby, and kind of finding that, like, oh, all these things I loved about Finn, some of those were actually Toby. Some of the little quirks he has, or the things in his apartment, or like the stories he would tell, those are Toby's, and kind of like feeling like the person you love is still alive because you know someone who loved them too. And then there's like the sibling relationship because Finn and her mom, who was his sister, uh, they had sort of a strained relationship. And then obviously June and her older sister have sort of like a mirror strained relationship, and um, it's just yeah, it's about family and grief, and it was very emotional. Um probably not for everyone, but it's I thought was really well written. It took a while for me to get into it, but once I got into it, I was like, uh, I was all in. So because at first I was like, I honestly didn't know anything about it. I was like, what's the plot of this? But then once she starts meeting with Toby, it's like, okay, I see where we're going. And it's to pain, it's to a very painful eventual. So yeah, so know that. So know that. Yes, please know going into this. It's tough. I would, you know, I mean, I I would say check the content warnings. I feel like it's kind of self-explanatory, but um I would just yeah, go in with peace. But I don't know, I thought it was really yeah, it it it was very moving and yeah, makes you think a lot about the stories that you're telling to people and like the parts of your life you're sharing with people, and like you mean the cost of not sharing them. Yeah, and the cost of not sharing them, and then the cost to Toby, who's like now all alone and has no one because he was like kept away from this family. Uh that was like in any other life, like would have been if he was a woman, that would have been his family, you know. But because he wasn't, it's like they're strangers, but uh, it was so good. So, anyways, I like that. That's all I've read. So I have nothing else to share. All right, it's pretty good though. It's something, yeah. It's like an actual book that I've had for like a month now from the library, but I did finish it. So you know, sometimes it sometimes it'd be like that, you know? It ebbs and flows, the the reading journey. But I I feel like I'm getting I mean, I'm I'm on track on my reading goal, which I did set at only 75 this year, but so I'm back on track. I just I don't know, it's not like nothing's like you said, nothing is hitting the way I want a book to hit me right now. I want something that is going to consume me, and nothing has reached that level in quite some time. I would say this entire year, I haven't read anything that was like I am just back ripping this. Yeah. Let me go, okay. Let me see if I can do some inspiration. Because I am like, look at my I'm looking at my five, let me look at my five-star books and be like, I mean, you've probably heard about all of them already. Yeah, but you know, maybe I need to hear them with new ears. With reading forms, okay. I really think that you should like I think the sweet spot will get you. Okay. I'm gonna read it. I that was a five star book for me. Yes. Um that is genuinely, I was about to start reading it earlier and then I started making lunch and then we were recording, so Once but as soon as I finished that book I was talking about, I was about to pick it up. So I'll probably go hit that the rest of this afternoon. It's so nice. Yeah. Also, you talking about reading outside, I was thinking I need to get a comfortable chair for my porch because I sit out there and read sometimes, but the chairs aren't like super comfortable, so I can't stay out super long. But I feel like if I had a really comfortable reading chair, I could get on Facebook Marketplace today. Find a good cozy outdoor chair and do it. You're inspiring me. So I think that's my plan. I think that will help me. Something comfortable to say. Okay. Yeah. Cool.

Closing Notes Plus Adaptation Boycotts

Abigail

Well, I think that probably does it for this episode. Um we will be back next time with some fully baked thoughts on Margo's Got Money Troubles, at the very least. And the trailer for Sunrise on the Reaping. Yeah, exactly. We'll we'll have some things to come next time. And I will have read more books. I solemnly swear. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Speaking of adaptations, y'all better not be watching Harry Potter adaptation. Oh, please don't even get me started on that. Please don't even get me started on that. And don't even get me started on Wolf Boy. What's that? That's the all the young dudes adaptation. It's it's pretty official, it does seem. I meant to bring that up, but it's gonna be a trilogy. And the first one's gonna be called Wolf Boy. Wolf Boy. I think I want to hear Miss King Bean defend herself. Um so come out, come on the pod. We'd love to chill. Yeah, come on, Miss King Bean. But yeah, please don't watch that. Please don't watch that. I don't know. Why do we even have to say that? Who wants this? I don't know. Anyway. You're gonna be tempted. You're gonna see some cool like shots, and I'm sure it will be visually beautiful, and they've put a lot of money in it. I'm sure the performances will be good. And you're gonna see that on your TikTok, or something you're like, oh man, will it really matter if I watch it? Yeah, it will really matter. It really does. This is something that directly impacts a very bad person. A very bad person. Directly delivers money to a person that is bad. What didn't Pedro um Pascal call her heinous we are weirdo or heinous loser or something? That is uh that she's a heinous loser. What did Pedro Pascal call? Whose side do you want to be on? Pedro Pascal or JK Rowling? Like, I don't feel like this is a hard choice. Heinous loser. He a heinous loser. Yeah, thank you. That's what I think about her. And he said her drive describing her anti-transgender views as disgusting behavior. Correct. Period. And not much else to say about that. Under this post, Pascal wrote, Awful, disgusting shit is exactly right. Heinous loser behavior. Heinous loser behavior. If you're watching respectfully, you are grouping yourself in with heinous losers. So don't do that. Yeah. Alright. So just don't. Just resist the urge. See you guys next time. We love you. Bye. Bye.

Bonus Segment Gus Casting Fallout

Abigail

Welcome back to the Redrect Podcast. We're coming to you from the future. If only our past selves that we recorded. That when did we record this like less than a week ago? Over the weekend, yeah. Nice Friday, April 17th. And we are we are broken people, I assume. We haven't talked about it technically. We've exchanged carrier pigeons. This is We're back. We had to record because we need to address some devastating news, which is that Gus the Augustus Everett. The guy who dug graves in college to put himself through college, who wrote um award-winning literary fiction, he has been cast uh extremely poorly as um Patrick Schwarzenegger. I think a good place to start is by reading the post that Yulein Quang reading her caption. I think this is a good place to start. Okay. I would love to start. I think this has sets the conversation well. Yeah, I agree. Okay, three days ago, so on the 14th, she posted this. Patrick is a slow burn, is what I wrote in my notes after meeting him for the first time. There was something about the way he talked about his feelings on love and romance that I couldn't forget. But I was unconvinced we'd found our Gus. Pause. She was unconvinced she'd found her Gus. Because I knew we had to be exhaustive in our efforts given how important this character is to our readers. We saw a lot of men for this role. We reviewed a lot of tapes, sent a lot of avails, checks, and took a lot of meetings over a six-month period. I have always maintained that we are not casting a character, but a relationship. Once we knew Phoebe would be our January, which by the way, I'm right, I'm like agnostic on that. Like I was never like, yay! I wasn't among the really excited group. Yeah. I think it could have been better. My efforts became more focused and specific, not on who would play the best Gus according to the text, but who would play the best Gus opposite our specific January? That meant in-person director sessions and chemistry reads with Phoebe. The moment Patrick sat across from her, there was something electric in the room with us. There's a magic to chase here. I wrote in my notes afterwards. I checked with Phoebe after the reads, and she said it's obviously Patrick, isn't it? And I thought to myself, so she feels it too. See you in theater soon. Let's all just take a deep breath. This is Ada Base. Oh my god. Okay. Let it out. That the okay writing that gives me zero con like zero confidence. Like you are apologizing in advance. That whole thing is a way of saying, I know you're not gonna get it. Um, we needed a big name, a quote unquote big name to get this, uh, because it's gonna be in theaters. Right. It is so also like, what do you mean you're not casting a character? That's what Emily Henry is good at. Characters. Yes. That's why people love her books. It's not about the plot, it's about the characters. You and I'm casting a relationship, you're casting a character.

SPEAKER_03

Note for the audio, Abigail's camera is vibrant.

Abigail

If you don't know anything, what are you talking about? He's blonde. She casts a blonde man as a gunstus Everett. He's spiritually blonde and physically. He's spiritually blonde and Republican, by the way, which Gus would never be. He would Gus would never be. Gus. I'm having a hard time. I'm so upset. I'm so mad. Um, do we want to tell, like, if someone's listening and they don't know anything about Beatre or Gus, would you like to share? And I wanted to remember where does this come in your ranking? I did unfortunately say this is my least favorite Emily Henry before GBBL released. But I also read this first. Um, or like I read this a long, long time ago, and I was thinking today, I was like, I read this when I wasn't reading a lot of other romance. So my memory of it could be clouded. I want to reread it, is what I'm trying to say. But would you like to share your feelings on Gus and tell the audience who doesn't know about him? So Gus and January have make their first meeting in college, and Gus is kind of like her enemy at school, where like he's like this super highbrow, like English major type, and so is she, but she loves writing romance and fiction. He writes like lithic and like quote unquote serious stuff. Um, that is like we don't have a lot of context about their meeting or their relationship in college, but we do know in the present day, January is going through quite a revolution in her life because her parents are getting divorced. No, no, her dad died. Her dad died, yeah. Yes, but after having an affair with her mom at the secret cottage, yeah. And she finds out about this thing. She has she so she has out of money, she's on a writing deadline, she needs to go to stay at her dad's house in Michigan, on Lake Michigan, um, to like clean it up, flip it and sell it, and also because she needs free rent. Uh, and so she's going there to finish her writing. Her next door neighbor at this beach house is Augustus Everett. Uh, they are now together in this small town and um kind of thrown together for through forced proximity. They um they make like a little agreement that they're like he's gonna write or that she is going to like help him um do like research for his book. It's like a crime where he's like writing a book about a cult and he's gonna um help her as she's doing background research on writing romance. Yes.

Why Beach Read Fans Are Furious

Abigail

Some of the famous lines, the the famous line, so spoiler, spoiler, spoiler, spoiler, spoiler, spoiler. But the famous line um that encompasses Augustus Everett as he says, um, sometimes like when I look at you and you're sleeping, I feel so overwhelmed that you exist. Dude.

unknown

Okay.

Abigail

Okay. All right. Oh, oh, oh, oh, and what about this one? What do you think, January? Oh my god. What do you think, January? Oh my god. What do you think January comes in right below arms up, baby? And I want you period. Here's the thing. I already had low confidence in Yulin Kwong's ability to produce a faithful adaptation of an Emily Henry book after people we made on vacation. Because as we've mentioned before, she on our episode, and you can go listen to that full exhausted episode, she desiccated Alex. My boy. She desiccated him. Yeah, we have mental breaks down. It's about that. And yes, reading her caption, it's clear she was trying to cast a relationship, not a character. And they had great chemistry. That's the problem. Yeah, they had great chemistry. But she ruined the character. Correct. Correct. And I think it's a fun thing. That's what makes Emily Henry stand apart. Correct. That's what and that's that's what makes I think there are many people who actually do not understand why people like romance books. And obviously there are different reasons there are different kinds of bro romance books, there are different reasons why people read all kinds of stuff. But at the end of the day, it's like if you watch Heated Rivalry and you think the only reason it's popular is because of the sex scenes, you're wrong. Once again, we point to episode five. Yes, you you're you're and that's what I feel like is the the the same feeling that people who think that are people who think like, oh, it's about the chemistry. Because the reality is, I do think if you're casting uh like good actors and you're writing, it's about like two book characters aren't real people. When you read a book, the characters have chemistry because of the things that they say and and do with with each other. It's not because like they're two people who get in a room and have a good vibe. And so I think if you're understanding that the reason people love this is because of these two characters, like you said, then that's a different experience than thinking that I need electric hot chemistry between these two people. Because by the way, don't even get me started on the sex scene and people we meet on vacation, which was also terrible. So we're not even executing that well, you know what I mean? Right, because because and here's the reason it was terrible because there was no it was not earned, we're not seeing exactly Alex was ruined as a character. Poppy was watered down as fuck, but Alex was ruined, and so is nothing feels earned, it just feels like okay, now it's raining. Like, I don't, it's just right to help us feel better. I would like to point out that like a lot of people. I mean, we the this is there has been crazy outcry. So much that I'm like, will they recast him? Like it is I don't know. I think they're gonna double down. It's really bad. Okay, I took a screenshot of some of my favorite um so she souling quang limited the comments on her post. Fair people were comment and but she but she was not able to keep up with the outpouring of negative. Yeah. Here's some of my favorites I screenshot. We're supposed to believe this man worked in a cemetery to put himself through college. Correct. He doesn't look like he can read a book, let alone, let alone write one. Siblings are dating January Gus. We haven't even talked about that. They look identical, they look very similar. They look very giving Taylor stuff to Joe Alwyn, which always concerning sad that didn't say right now. No. And it's not just like to say sorry, no, I think it's not just about this. Is what the context of talking about people we meet on vacation. Her trust is already low. And this not only if she had come out and said, I mean, I still would have been unhappy, but if she had come out and said, I know that this is hard to believe because this is not a type of role you've seen him play before. But I promise you, he understands Gus. And when you see it, you will understand too. I would have been like, okay, maybe there's something I'm missing, and I'm willing to, but also if people we meet on vacation hadn't been so terrible, but it's like those compounding things, and her explanation is just like, okay, I don't I don't believe that you understand what you're doing, and I don't believe that you actually care. I don't think you actually care about this book or the characters. I think this is you know, I I don't, I don't exactly, I don't think you have respect for it. Yeah, so anyway. Um, someone else made a good point. Maybe Peter in Funny Story, but not Gus. I could totally see that. Like that would be a good role for him. Okay, correct. Gus is spiritually just from Gilmore Girls. Patrick Schwarzenegger is Logan. He's oh, you don't get this because you didn't watch the Gilbert. I don't get this, but our audience might. Our audience, our audience will get this. Um, he's literally not Gus at all. This is a disservice to the character, a hate crime. It is offensive. It is it's not a hate crime, but it is offensive. I'm offended. Do you see it? And I did share it. You'll see it. I mean, yeah, we're gonna have to. We're gonna have to do an episode on it. But I will not be going to theaters. Uh actually, I was thinking that about people you meet on vacation, is in reality, if I had seen it in theaters with like a friend or a couple friends, I probably would have liked it better. Because there's something about watching it completely alone on Netflix at your house that's like, but like that that New Orleans bar scene would have sparkled on the big screen with your friends. You go have like a couple margaritas beforehand, you're having a great time. You're not really even thinking about it so much. So that might help.

SPEAKER_00

Maybe I don't know.

Abigail

It's just so upsetting. And I'm equally, I'm like doubly distraught because as I shared, I have been in the throes of reading a wolf star version of Bee Treat. So it's like, what the ble what the why am I bleeping myself ahead of time? What are they doing to my boy Reap Reemus Lupin? That's not Reesus Christ. Like, where's his Goss is like he's rugged, he's he's tortured, he's like, he's like, you know, like what is this? I feel like it's like we're in the Hunger Games, and like at the at the end of the night, they're like cannons are going off, we're seeing the faces of everyone that could have been him, like Logan Lerman, uh Dev Patel. Like there, like there was a no name, an unknown person. That would have been good. Uh it could have been um, I didn't agree with this, but what's the Superman guy? David Cornsweat? Oh, David Cornsweat. No, to me, David Cornsweat is Charlie Lashra. That is okay. Yeah, they're that makes sense. They need to get him, they need to be working right now to secure him. I don't I don't think that Yulin Kwong is signed on to direct the other ones. That's my understanding, is this is the only one and my understanding is actually I have a lot of hope.

What Makes Adaptations Worth It

Abigail

The sh the what I have heard or understood is that Emily Henry is writing the screenplay for Happy Place, which gives me tremendous amount of hope. Because Happy Place you guys don't understand. Although someone in my TikTok comments told me I have bad taste. Well, yeah. Let me read you guys what someone told me on TikTok. Was this in response to your M Hen ranking? No, no. I I made a TikTok for fun because I'm here having fun on the internet, and I said, Hey, quick question. Would you guys out there in the world rather, my 200 followers, would you rather have a um no adaptation of your favorite book or a bad adaptation? Would you rather it never get adapted? And I was like, Because personally I didn't love people we made on vacation, and I'm really scared for happy place. That's all I said. I didn't say if you if you if you like people we made on vacation, you suck. Anyways, this girl, Nora, commented and said, bad, because I thought people we made on vacation was good. And I think happy place is her worst book by 10 miles. So really, I think you just have bad taste. Remember, people have different thoughts and you hope that helps. What are you talking about? You like I didn't say just keep scrolling. You're allowed to have your opinions, and so am I. Maybe I do have bad taste. Actually, every time I say happy place is my favorite book, someone has commented on my post to tell me I have bad taste. I don't care, but I need someone who understands it. So, anyways, I hate this. Gus, my beautiful, my beautiful boy. See, B Treat's not my favorite, but I do think Gus might be my favorite. You were bigger than the whole sky. You were bigger than the whole sky. You were more than short time. Even win to me is not on the level. I do think Gus is a more important male main character than anything. Because okay, also I'm remembering in in b uh uh in Bee Treat, they go camping, remember? Like, can you imagine like you know, he'd need to be able to look at this man and think, yeah, he could pack up, like he could do a backpacking trip, like he could camp, like he could be rugged. He's he's literally canonically like tall, dark, and handsome. He has like scarlet skin, olive skin, dark eyes, dark hair. That's his whole shit. That's his whole thing. Like, that's his entire vibe. I don't like to me, it almost feels like, yeah, I really wish this wasn't being made. I really like I don't want to see it. Because it's gonna just be Quippy enemies to lovers on the beach. That's all it's gonna be. He's just gonna be an asshole. This book is about. No, this book is about like a misunderstanding and parents and oh my god, yes. Like like grieving someone that is gone now, and you have all these questions for them, and you never get to they never get to answer it because they're gone, but you found out their whole secret life. Dude, it's it's so bad. It's so bad. And you know what I was thinking too? Because you commented on my uh the root most recent TikTok and said it's okay to uh miscast if you're making it gayer. And so I was like, in my mind, I'm testing my testing myself, my heart. And I was like, would I feel the same way if they cast a woman to play Gus?

SPEAKER_03

And then I was like, if they cast a woman to play Gus, it would be boys have any if you guys have any sapphic beach read retellings on AO3 or in real life, please send them to me because that actually sounds great.

Abigail

Hold on now. Now hang on now. We have we have uh January, who uh like is maybe like a little like curious, hasn't explored her sexuality going through this whatever she makes friends the next door neighbor. We have this experienced kind of like Julian Baker type, right? Yes, yes, I can see that. Hang on, you know what I'm saying? No, hang on now. So actually, I think you're right. I I I've tested my heart and it is pure. And if it was gayer, I would not mind, I would be way happier. So suck it, all you freaking Bridgerton people who are gonna cancel me. No, they're not. I don't think they listen to this podcast, but if you do, don't cancel me because I am pure, and I think that a woman would be a thousand times better than Patrick Schwarzenegger. Here's the thing though: if you're completely changing the plot, that's also different. Like with Bridgerton, they're literally changing the entire plot of her storyline. So maybe they will. So it's not even like you're not even like miscasting. It's like with Patrick Schwarzenaker, they're not changing the plot, they're just making him Gus. They change it, and now he is a Nepo baby who January thinks the only reason he's made it in Lit Thick is because he's Stephen King's son. Wait, what? There's a cameo from Stephen King. I'm making this up. Go, go. Okay, so he was. Went to a very they didn't go to college together, actually. He went to the most pretentious college you can picture in your mind. And yeah, that's why they're enemies. So that actually tracks. I don't know. It's okay, you guys. We're we're gonna be okay. What what's so here's the thing, here's the thing. I'm actually done with book adaptations unless they are a passion project. So Jacob Tierney's allowed to adapt books. Ryan Gosling, being passionate about Project He'll Mary, that's allowed. Yes. Like people like love the thing, and then you decided you wanted to make it. Not just like, oh, this is gonna make us a lot of money because people know Beetry, they know Emily Henry. So we can kind of just do a oh, you know what? Insulting to women, that's another thing. I'm getting actually this is another wave of anger. We're making it, we're like, oh, women bought this. The women will also spend a lot of money to see this in the theater or re-download, like resubscribe to streaming services so they can watch this movie, and they'll do it no matter what because they're stupid sheeple. So let's just give them slop. Let's just give the little piggies their slop. But dune is like a billion dollar endeavor. Like, period. Let's get out of here. I hate that. And I just think I once again am on my soapbox that people are misunderstanding romance as a genre and they don't respect it. And like you said, that is misogyny. I think it's also straight people are. I think straight people are, and that brings me to my next my next point, which is that um I know that we already recorded our episode and this was only supposed to be about beetreed, but I have to share with you because in our main recording, and I don't know how you're gonna stitch this all together. So best of luck to you. We'll figure it out. But I mentioned that I read um that book about baseball. What's it called by Cat Sebastian? I can't even remember what it was called. Lucky. Was it something about Lucky? Should be so good. You should be so lucky. Okay. Yeah. Yeah, you should be so lucky. So I didn't. So we were looking at a we were like on the on the when we

The Kat Sebastian Yearning Pipeline

Abigail

recorded, we were looking through Cat Sebastian's catalog. Yes. One of her other books is We Could Be So Good. I didn't realize that that is the like the first in the series that We Should Be So Lucky is in. It's one of those like it's like a universe of characters. Okay. So like Mark Bailey, who is one of the main characters in the second book, he is a side side character in this one, which you know, we we love that. Great, great. Yes, I do love that. No, this book is so it is it is the yearning that is happening in this book is wait. Let me let me read the text you sent me at midnight my time last night. Emily, Emily, Emily, Emily. This one. Oh my god, the yearning, the friends to lovers, the softness in all caps. So yeah, that's it is old me. Like best friends to roommates to lovers, to they're they're they're journalists. It's the 60s, it's queer awakening. It is you like I'm I just need you to know this because we've we were talking about our reading slump and like this was making me feel like sick in my like in my bed. Like I was you are halfway. I'm like a dog right now, and you're saying all my favorite words, like park outside of Grandma, treat chicken, chicken, chicken, cheese. Like I like I was feeling that like surge of like energy in my chest, you know, where it's like Yes, yeah. It is them the sweetest characters, like this, like I love them and I feel so strongly for them. And I I want to finish reading the book, but I also want to take it really slow because I don't want it to be over. That's how I feel. So I'm really hoping that this would be a good fit for you too. Okay, so if you wanted to read them in succession, you could you could do it that way. Because I already have I was gonna go today to pick up You Should Be So Lucky, it's at the library. Also, I got starshipped by the same author. Also, Paladins Your Ace came in. They all came in the journey real quickly. Oh my god, okay. Here's the thing, you don't have to, it's like a multi-universe thing. I mean, it's not a spoiler that the characters from the book first book end up together, and they're very minor characters in the second book. So, like, you don't have to, but know that this book could come chronologically before you should be so lucky. And I didn't realize that. Okay, sure. I will uh put it on hold as well. Let me see what the wait's like. Because right now I have like six books checked out, and I might need to wait, but I am sold. I am sold, and I'm glad. Okay, and that will heal me. And you know, also, did you see Jacob Tierny's putting out uh the annotated scripts for heated rivalry and like a director's commentary uh the making of a book. Yeah, it's coming out in October. That is saving us. That is saving us. He's gonna save us. Here's my thing. I actually think I'm done having my my favorite books um like I'm done. I'm done having them uh adapted. Like, I actually think sometimes things should like this is what I'm learning. Under late stage capitalism, not everything needs to be made into a movie.

unknown

Period.

Abigail

Well, you know what? Someone commented on my post and they said, I I would rather it never be made because I'm tired of having to defend the book to people who only watch the movie. And I was like, Oh, that is a very good point because if like my husband, he's like, Oh, this sucks. I'm like, no, like you don't just get it. Like if you just would read the book, and that's such a good point. So, yeah, unless it's gonna be a thing where I want people to love it as much as I love it, if that's not the case, I don't want that anymore. Or I don't want it to be that popular, like release, and this is the thing with fanfiction as well, like that we've talked about. You know, this is what aside from like the you know, the promoting a transphobic monster and like sure, all this stuff, like critical it leaves a fan space and it enters capitalism and it becomes tainted and evil and like covered in ash and you know fire and brimstone. Yeah, it just becomes soiled, you know. Yeah, no, yeah, you're you're so incredibly right. It's I know I'm in pain. So yeah, that's our reaction to casting of gus. Um, yeah, I don't care also if you don't if you don't agree. Yeah, no, you just keep that to yourself. We don't care. Actually, respectfully, I don't care what you think. So if your opinion is bad. Yeah. But anyways, if you guys want a wolf star version of Beatreed, please, uh once again, my DMs are always open. And also for the sapphic retelling, I really want that. And if someone hasn't done it, God knows I probably will. So do it for me. I just saw I saw somebody the other day. They were like, okay, wait, I have to just you probably got this out, but I I saw this TikTok and someone was like, oh my god, no, I need this to be a fanfic. Someone write the fic, someone write the fic. Um let me see. Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye. You were bigger than the whole sky. Oh, here's what it was. It's like a silly audio, and someone made the caption. Ilya making his grand reappearance on the Boston Bears group chat after the fan mail video leaks just to flex that he pulled Shane Hollander. And people in the captions are like, wait, no, yes. Like he's like mad. It's like one of those texting fix where he's like uh annoyed, and he's like, Yeah, f guys, like I pulled Shane Hollander. And people were like, Yeah, uh Montreal Jane with Shane Hollander all the time. And I'm like, wait, no, I I need that. I need that. Yeah, I do need that. Someone give me the link as well. All

Final Rant And Sign Off

Abigail

right. Well, thank you guys for tuning in. Um we we unfortunately probably will have to watch this when it comes out if we're still doing the podcast, if um, you know, a nuclear war hasn't broken out and we're not all broadcasting from our basements or fallout shelters. So if that's not the case, you guys, we'll be here, but you don't have to watch it, and that's okay. Um I do follow this one influencer, this book talk influencer. Uh I forget her name. Hold on. Let me open my TikTok. Anyway, she's been uh posting and she was like, I I understand. Um okay, her her handle is Viva Fallis Falluston Lean. I can link her. Do you follow her? I don't think so. Wait, no, no. Anyway, I know her. I know her. I know her. Yeah, yeah, you've seen her. She was like, she was like, I see all these other book talk people, you know, holding their tongue and hedging, hedging their bets because they want to be still invited to like the premiere and everything. And she was like, she did go to the people we meet on vacation premiere as she was like one of the influencers who went, and she was like, I'm not doing that this time. I was like dying laughing. Like, okay, yeah, that tracks. All you guys were lying about loving this movie. And I respect the hustle, but we will never do that to you on this podcast. I just want that. We'll never lie. Yeah, we can't be bot.

unknown

Yeah.

Abigail

Because no one's buying, by the way. No one's making offers, so but even if they were so we so we won't be bot because no one cares about our opinions. I will not sell my fan fiction and I will not sell my opinions on here. And if someone offers me two million dollars, then we'll talk. Well, so be it. But I don't know still. I don't know. Could you do you think that with your full chest you could have said that people we meet on vacation was the faithful adaptation for two million dollars? No, there's no way. No, there's no way. No, no. I've so money to me is just a concept, it means nothing. So you're offering me two million, I'm like, that's fake. You know what's real? My integrity. That's real. Yeah, period. Period. You know what's you know what's real? The feeling I get in my chest when I think about arms up, baby.

unknown

Oh my god.

Abigail

If Yulin Kwong even gets a single step closer to it, get her away from me. Get her away. Stay away. Get behind me, I'm gonna be able to do it. And uh, yeah, I can't take that. So get behind me. Get behind me, Harriet. All right, tootolo, you guys. Bye. Bye.