Hey, hello! Welcome back to Cover Snark! From Jfhobbit in the SBTB Patreon Discord: I have a submission to Cover Snark, entirely on the basis of their expressions mid-embrace. He looks confused? She looks like she’s trying to imagine she is anywhere else. Amanda: Definitely a “did I leave the hair straightener on” look. Elyse: Or hearing the cat start to puke Tara: He looks like he doesn’t know where he is and she’s considering if the edible she took was a little stronger than she’d thought. Sarah: “…was that 10mg or 100 mg?” From Jen: This has to be the worst photoshop I’ve seen in awhile. Sarah: Cannot stop laughing I was prepared by Jen’s comment that something was going to be weird with his head BUT I DID NOT EXPECT THAT. Amanda: He looks like the wayward son who has to work in his parent’s Italian NY deli Oh and he’s also an alien Sarah: “No, no, you don’t WEAR the capicola.” Amanda: Zerberu Gabagool Sarah: Somewhere a deli is unable to make a full italian sub and they’re all very sad. Tara: I need him to be a himbo so bad. Sarah: A hot guy who is obsessed with cold cuts. Elyse: I scrolled up and actually let out a startled noise that scared the cat. From Gloriamarie: Is her gift that awakened the gift of pyromania? Amanda: But also the bottom half of her looks like it’s covered in dirt? Also she looks so bored of setting buildings on fire. Sarah: Did she just explode out of the earth after setting off a gas fire in a house? Elyse: That’s Groot, isn’t it Sarah: Or someone had some feelings for the leshen in Witcher III: Wild Hunt Tara: I’m deep into Baldurs Gate 3 and that looks like someone I might meet here. Carrie: Hey Groot is hot. Leer más sobre libros.

Posted by CBethM on February 19, 2024 in Author Posts | Years ago, in the middle of the night, my older brother Gregory said something so silly it made me laugh until my belly hurt. He and I were young then and not alone in our shenanigans that evening. In my room slept my sister Daphne. Greg shared the middle room with my two brothers, Regenald and Larry.  I believe there was a bunk bed in their room then. It was the sixties and like now the world was filled with so much turmoil, confusion and promise. Everyone needed a good laugh, I’m sure. That night, through the darkness, came one young boy’s voice, bringing joy to our little part of the world as only Greg could. In a singsong manner he talked about a boy eating beans. You’d have to be a kid to appreciate his comments. For even now, none of us, including Gregory, can understand why it struck such a cord with us that night. But hearing him repeat the ditty again and again brought the giggles out of us, filled the house full with them, along with my father’s deep, disappointing voice. “Go to sleep!” Dad shouted more than once. We did not comply. “Didn’t I tell you all to be quiet?” I don’t recall that working either. When parents get upset, sometimes it just makes kids misbehave all the more. And so did we until he had finally made his point. Even then, I put covers over my head and laughed uncontrollably. We grew up in a home filled with laughter. My parents and grandparents would sit around our kitchen table and nearly bring us to tears with their jokes, sayings and stories of life in America. For Black people, that could only be survived with a huge dose of humor. Even now, our family is among the funniest people I know. A gathering is an opportunity to be filled with the joy of laughter no matter the state of the world. I am always hopeful that readers will see bits of humor in my work. It is there in every book because Roberta and Henry Flake, my parents, gave us more than their last name. They gave my siblings and I the gift of humor and storytelling, lights that shine even on the darkest nights. The characters in my new picture book, You Make Me Sneeze, would fit right in our family. It’s one reason that I love Duck and Cat. Anna Raff, the illustrator, played such a huge role in bringing these two to life. When I first set eyes on them during the creation of our debut picture book, You Are Not A Cat, I had to hold my breath. How could she know so much about them having not written a word of the book?  But illustrators have their own way of connecting to the souls of characters, of writing their stories through pictures. Watching Duck and Cat’s antics, hearing their voices, reminds me of how much joy I get from what I do and how much these two are like children we see in our own lives. But do not ask Cat and Duck to be other than who they are, they simply can’t. No more than my brother could.  They love to talk, to bicker a bit, to be in one another’s company. They say some of the darndest things. Duck and Cat are curious, but never mean. When You Are Not a Cat debuted, a young mother sent me a videotape as she read the book to her child. What I loved most was how much the little girl laughed as she listened to her mother read. You Make me Sneeze was written to bring out the giggles. To encourage readers and their audiences to snuggle together or gather in a classroom joyfully. It is also for reading simply for the fun of it as Duck and Cat scamper across the pages unencumbered, free to be themselves. Sharon G. Flake is the author of The Skin I’m In, which has sold over a million copies worldwide and has been translated into numerous languages. Since its publication, Flake has authored over a dozen books, winning multiple Coretta Scott King Honor Awards; ALA Notable and Top Ten Recommended Books citations, and an NAACP Image Award Nomination, among many accolades. She has been writing books from her home (and Panera’s) for over twenty years. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Anna Raff is an award-winning illustrator of many books for children including WORLD RAT DAY, IF I WERE A KANGAROO, YOU MAKE ME SNEEZE!, and the forthcoming PARTY ANIMALS—due out in Spring 2025. Her book THE DAY THE UNIVERSE EXPLODED MY HEAD was a Kirkus Best Book of the Year and New York Public Library Best Book. Leer más sobre libros.

So this week’s Bachelor opens on a weird note. Joey is Montreal. We get his monologue while he looks out over scenic views, saying that his biggest fear is that he won’t wind up in a relationship at the end of the show. Then he says, “I’m trying to do my best to show who I am and express how I feel, but it’s just hard to do that while also being more fun and being light and sometimes it’s just not me… I’m not this super energetic ‘here we go Joey’ and that’s not who I am.” He starts getting teary eyed. Someone behind the camera asks him why he feels the need to be perfect. “I don’t feel the need to be perfect, I feel like people expect me to be,” he says, holding back tears. “Most of my life I’ve been struggling with the fact that I don’t feel perfect. I feel like there’s a lot of shit that’s wrong with me.” He sniffs. “I gotta work through it. It’s tough. I’ve always been my biggest critic.” Then he says he needs a  break and he walks away. Guys, this is just the intro monologue. Click for me For some context, at this point in the competition everyone is exhausted and their immune systems are in the toilet and they’re all hungover and they’re all fighting off the same cold. Anyway, we cut to Jesse greeting the women and it turns out he speaks French. Huh. The first date is a group date and they go souvenir shopping. Later they make their own poutine. Jenn adds pineapple and Sriracha to hers. Joey gags when he tries it. Meanwhile Jess is struggling with why she hasn’t had a one-on-one. During the cocktail hour, everyone is kind of down. Joey asks them how they’re doing and there’s an awkward silence. Honestly, everyone needs to go to take a nap. The first person to talk to him is Katelyn, and she pretty much starts crying right off the bat. Then Kelsey A talks to him and tells him that she’s really struggling. She starts crying. This is going great you guys! [Ed. note: poor Canada. It’s not you, it’s their exhaustion!] Click for this date Lexi asks Joey what his plans for kids and a future are. He tells her he imagines a 2-3 year  engagement plus a few years before he has kids. She starts to cry because she wants kids within the next two years. Is it just me or does a three year engagement feel long? IDK. Jenn tells Joey she’s falling for him. Jess also tells him that she’s falling him even though they haven’t had a one-on-one yet. Meanwhile Joey looks like he’s trying so hard to stay awake. Joey says that he can’t picture them together in the future. “I know that’s not easy to hear, but I have to be honest through this. I think you’re unbelievable and you deserve the world. I just don’t think it’s right to keep you here.” He asks to walk Jess out. She cries and asks if she did anything wrong. The other women, still lounging on the drinking couches, are shocked.  Joey gives the date rose to Jenn. [Ed. note: I am very confused by the similarity of all these names, and I’m just editing text. No wonder Joey is so tired.] Next up is the one-on-one with Kelsey T.  She says she doesn’t open up to people and her trust level is at “0.0%” so it makes total sense that she chose this show to find true love. ANYWAY. They get to train with Cirque du Soleil. They are doing stunts and Joey gets motion sick. The dinner they aren’t allowed to eat is served in the middle of an empty church because…I got nothing. Kelsey tells him that she’s estranged from her dad because she chose not to follow his religious path and she went to college, which he didn’t approve of. He gives her the date rose. Then they kiss while some guy plays the violin and an aerialist performs behind them. In an empty church. The next one-on-one goes to Maria. Joey picks her up in a limo and they go on the much coveted shopping date. She picks out a fancy dress and then they take a helicopter ride over the city. During dinner she tells him that she’s falling for him. Then we get a pop up concert and they dance. Later we see Lexi knock on Joey’s hotel room door. He looks so tired, you guys. His eyes literally keep closing. Lexi, meanwhile, pours her heart out saying she wants to start on a family right away because she doesn’t know what that journey will look like with her endometriosis. She tells him that she feels a connection with him, but that they’re on different timelines. Joey walks her out. Then it’s time for the pre-Dreaded Rose Ceremony cocktail party. Daisy makes Joey give her a foot rub, and I respect it. Jenn teaches him how to play the piano. He and Rachel have kind of a goofy chemistry and I ship it… as much as I ship any of them. When the women line up for the Rose Ceremony, Maria and Kelsey T have roses. There are only three roses left on the table, so two women are going home. Katelyn and Lea go home. That’s it. Are you watching? Leer más sobre libros.

Posted by CBethM on February 21, 2024 in Author Posts | Like many other readers and writers, my love of books was born in the library. As a child, I visited the Winter Park Public Library often with my parents, attending story time and browsing through bookshelves. I remember the first book I ever checked out by myself was Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes, a book that continues to inspire me today by demonstrating how stories can help children find joy and confidence in their own identities. I grew up speaking the South Indian language of Malayalam at home, just like Sumi, the protagonist of my recent children’s book, My Mother’s Tongues. As soon as I began learning English, I fell in love with stories and poems. I wanted to create my own, and to this end, I recited short rhymes to my mother about everything from frogs to coins, which she then transcribed in a little diary that I have to this day. In elementary school, the yearbook featured our names and photos alongside a description of what we wanted to be when we grew up. My answer oscillated each year between author and teacher. But growing up, I also frequently felt out of place. I wondered why I looked and spoke differently from my classmates. Why was it that I spoke Malayalam, and they didn’t? Books gave me solace, as they allowed me to jump into the worlds of characters who saw the world with wonder and confusion, just like I did. However, as a child flipping through picture books and chapter books at the library, I never encountered the story of someone like me, who felt torn between cultures and languages. I have always wanted to be a writer, because stories have changed my life and given me invaluable perspective on what it means to be human. Though I wrote mostly poetry and short stories in high school and college, children’s literature remained close to my heart. During summers in high school, I volunteered at my public library, spending hours organizing picture books and wiping them down. Though I was several years older than the intended audience of those books, I found that they spoke to me. They captured my emotions perfectly, and drove my love of words. I knew that I wanted to write children’s literature, because it would allow me to shape the way people think about themselves and their peers at the youngest ages and inspire a love of learning that could last a lifetime. I wrote the first draft of My Mother’s Tongues at age 16, right as I was graduating high school. The book is inspired by my own experience growing up as a daughter of Indian immigrants in America. Within a few months of writing, I found an incredible agent, Victoria Sanders, and received a book deal from Candlewick Press. As a child, Because of Winn-Dixie—also from Candlewick—was my favorite book, so it felt like a true full circle moment. I look forward to seeing My Mother’s Tongues in schools and libraries, where it can teach young children to feel confident in who they are and be compassionate towards their peers. Uma Menon is the author of My Mother’s Tongues: A Weaving of Languages (Candlewick Press, 2024). She is originally from Winter Park, Florida and currently studies public and international affairs at Princeton University. Her writing has appeared in over two dozen publications including The Washington Post, The Huffington Post, and The Progressive. Read more at theumamenon.com. Leer más sobre libros.

Posted by CBethM on February 6, 2024 in Author Posts | As a child, I loved E.L. Konigsburg’s book about a brother and sister running away for a week to live in New York City’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. Growing up in the Midwest, I had never seen anything like the automat where Claudia and Jamie could buy everything from pie to baked beans, and sleeping in the velvet-draped beds of the historical exhibits seemed magical. Ditto bathing in the museum’s marble fountain. For a long time, I wanted to write a middle grade story where tweens took off on an adventure just like in The Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. As a professor, I felt like a college campus—with its abundance of free food, places to hide, and of course, fountains—would be the perfect setting. But when I tried to map out the book, I got stuck. In this day and age, I felt like I couldn’t have two tweens disappear for a week, leaving behind only a note saying that they’d run away, as Konigsburg did in the 1970s. I felt sure that today’s readers would see such a long absence as dangerous instead of fun. After all, many of the parents of my fully adult college students use Life360 to keep watch over their children. (In fact, I first learned about the tracking app on a day when my children’s literature course met in the library instead of in our regular classroom because one of my students got a call from her mother asking her to explain her unexpected whereabouts.) As I worked through the practical problems of plotting the book, I realized I wanted to write not just an adventure filled with puzzles and mysteries, but also a book that explored the role of electronic surveillance in children’s lives. Childhood autonomy is a theme that runs through all of my work—both academic and fiction. I am continually exploring what it would look like to treat children as fully human, in need of protection and guidance, certainly, but also worthy of respect. In Averil Offline in particular, I think I’m asking whether there is anything parents don’t have a right to know about their kids. This question feels increasingly pressing to me in a world where apps report children’s grades on even the smallest assignments, share the mildest of behavior infractions, and map every movement. And of course, this sense that parents have a right to their children’s every thought and action goes beyond the virtual world. More and more, we see parents feeling that they have a right to control not just what their own children read, but also the stories other people’s children engage with. In some ways, I get it. The world is a scary place, and the urge to keep our kids safe is primal. But increasingly, I think that fear should be adults’ burden to bear—not children’s. For kids, I hope Averil Offine will be the delightful romp that The Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler was for me—a fantasy of freedom that they can imagine themselves into, even if it’s not yet possible in their real lives. But for adults, I hope the book does something else. I’d like us to question the reasonableness of our demands for constant reassurance about our children’s safety, even as new technologies make those demands easier and easier to meet. I think it’s time that we take our children’s right to privacy at least as seriously as we take our own fears. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Amy Noelle Parks is a professor in the College of Education at Michigan State University, a mother of two, and the author of middle grade and young adult books, including Summer of Brave and The Quantum Weirdness of the Almost-Kiss. Leer más sobre libros.

Our latest bestseller list is brought to you by coffee at the perfect temperature, a flaky croissant, and our affiliate sales data. Sweet Talk by Cara Bastone Amazon | B&N | Kobo The Heiress Gets a Duke by Harper St. George Amazon | B&N | Kobo Loathe to Love You by Ali Hazelwood Amazon | B&N | Kobo 10 Things That Never Happened by Alexis Hall Amazon | B&N | Kobo Mrs. Nash’s Ashes by Sarah Adler Amazon | B&N | Kobo The Midsummer Bride by Kati Wilde Amazon The Hacienda by Isabel Cañas Amazon | B&N | Kobo Yours Truly, The Duke by Amelia Grey Amazon | B&N | Kobo Part of Your World by Abby Jimenez Amazon | B&N | Kobo How to Steal a Scoundrel’s Heart by Vivienne Lorret Amazon | B&N | Kobo I hope your weekend reading was action packed! By posting a comment, you consent to have your personally identifiable information collected and used in accordance with our privacy policy. Leer más sobre libros.

Posted by CBethM on February 4, 2024 in Author Posts | With great power comes great responsibility. If you’re a fan of superhero comics or movies, you’ve heard this before. It’s Spider-Man’s motto: With great power comes great responsibility. It’s a lesson Spider-Man learns the hard way. You know the story: Spider-Man is bitten by a radioactive spider that gives him super-strength, and the ability to climb walls. But when Peter first gets his powers, he doesn’t immediately make a costume for himself and fight crime. Instead, when Peter sees a robbery happening, he doesn’t stop it, even though he could. Tragically, the robber ends up killing Peter’s Uncle Ben during the getaway, and it’s then that Peter learns his lesson: with great power comes great responsibility. That’s when he starts putting on Spandex and fighting bad guys on rooftops. Not before. Legendary comics writer Stan Lee wrote a variation of the “with great power comes great responsibility” line in the very first Spider-Man comic book ever. Thinkers and philosophers had of course been saying the same thing for thousands of years, just not in those exact words. I tried coming up with a different way to say it, and for copyright reasons I do say it in different ways in my novel Heroes. ☺ But Stan Lee said it best, and without Marvel’s lawyers to stop me, I’m going to continue to say it here: With great power comes great responsibility. Spider-Man debuted in 1962, but superheroes had been coming to the same conclusion ever since the debut of Superman in 1938. He had the idea instilled in him by his adopted parents, Jonathan and Martha Kent, after his birth parents died in the destruction of his home planet. Steve Rogers, who debuted in 1940, had been a frail young man who’d been picked on by bullies until the US government injected him with the Super Soldier Serum, which suddenly gave him the amazing strength and coordination to become the superhero Captain America. And they and many other heroes were joined by Wonder Woman in 1941, who left Paradise Island to use her Amazonian strength to defend the powerless and fight back against the biggest bullies the world had ever seen—Adolf Hitler and the Nazis. As each new superhero emerged on the scene, they all had to answer the same question: now that I have super powers, what am I going to do with them? In September of 1939, just a year after Superman debuted, the United States was asking itself that same question. Nazi Germany had just invaded Poland, and by the time Captain America debuted in 1940, Germany had conquered half of Europe. By the end of 1941—the year Wonder Woman hit shelves—Nazi Germany occupied or controlled all of Europe, and had its eyes set on England and Russia. The Axis was led by Germany, Italy, and Japan. The Allies were led by England, China, and the Soviet Union. Almost all the other countries of the world lined up to join the fight on one side or the other. Except the United States. President Franklin D. Roosevelt convinced Congress to send food and arms to the Allies, but the United States hadn’t gone to war, because Americans were fiercely divided on whether or not to send our soldiers to fight. For a lot of Americans, it was a case of “once bitten, twice shy.” Just twenty-two years earlier, the United States had decided that with great power comes great responsibility, and we had enthusiastically entered the First World War on the side of the Allies. But World War I didn’t go so well. For anybody. Many Americans now remembered with anger and regret how hundreds of thousands of their fathers and husbands and brothers and sons had been wounded and killed in the First World War. And for nothing, it seemed. Nothing had really changed in Europe, and now they were fighting again. Why not stay out of it this time, isolationists argued, and let them fight it out themselves? The United States was arguably stronger than it ever had been, but perhaps now that meant that with great power came a great excuse to mind our own business.  Never mind that our allies were falling like dominoes. Or the growing evidence that Nazi Germany was openly attacking, robbing, imprisoning, and killing European Jews. Feeling safe and secure, the United States stayed out of the war. At the same time, while countries like England, France, and the Netherlands were busy fighting Hitler and Germany in Europe, the Empire of Japan started snatching up their colonies in Asia. The Japanese Empire was growing quickly—and threatening to extend east across the Pacific Ocean, all the way to the United States. To discourage Japanese aggression in the Pacific, President Roosevelt moved the United States Pacific Fleet from San Diego to the Naval Station at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. It was a fleet at the time that included nine battleships, three aircraft carriers, dozens of cruisers and destroyers and submarines, hundreds of planes, and thousands of soldiers, sailors, Marines, and pilots. Which is where the story of Heroes begins! My main character, Frank McCoy, has just moved to Hawaii with his family because his dad is a Navy pilot in the US Pacific Fleet. Frank’s a little awkward in his own skin. He feels a little like somebody gave him an injection of Super-Soldier Serum sometime between the seventh and eighth grade, because he’s grown twelve inches in the last year, and now, at thirteen, is taller than his mom. He’s like one of the Charles Atlas ads he sees in the back of the comic books he loves to read—Go from scrawny runt to Greek god in just three months!  Frank moves in next door to another boy his age named Stanley Summers, and when the two discover their shared love of comic books, they become instant best friends. Frank and Stanley even start working on a comic book

Last year, it was my New Year’s resolution to learn more about cheese. In pursuit of this knowledge, I decided to take a cheese pairing class of month at the lovely Curds&Co in my area. It’s a fabulous cheese shop owned and managed by an awesome team of women. Over the course of twelve classes, I got to know the management team well (shoutout to Marisa and Gillian!). My “Stay Gold, Horny Girl” sweatshirt definitely prompted discussion when I wore it to a class and that turned into me explaining the site and floating the idea by of a class inspired by romance novels. It’s the kind of idea that you think is great but really freak out when someone actually takes you up on it and that’s exactly what happened! I received an email the next day with plans to develop a fun Valentine’s Day class that paired cheese with romance genres. The classes usually have four cheese that are paired with wine and various accoutrement. I’ve never had a bad pairing and props to the team for never repeating a cheese during my twelve classes. The actual class I co-hosted was great! We had thirteen people, some of whom were friends whose support warmed my heart. Marisa was my co-host and she would introduce the bites, I’d talk about the subgenres, and then she’d continue with a more in-depth discussion about the particular cheese. People were free to ask cheese or book related questions at their leisure. Afterward, the entire shop (minus alcohol) is 10% off to attendees! Now I’m sure you’re curious about the pairings; this was before the wines were poured and all were served chilled: Adventure Romance (Top left) Cheese: Toma Della Rocca by Alta Lange in ItalyFood pairing: Gochujang Chile Sauce by We Love YouWine pairing: Sangio by Union Sacré in California Adventure romance is supposed to be thrilling and is all about battling the elements, so this pairing has a bit of pepper and spice. I cannot recommend this sauce enough; it’s a staple in our household. The cheese is a mix of sheep, goat, and cow leading to a variety of textures. Sometimes the cheese is creamy. Sometimes it’s a bit more dense and cakey. Adventure romance often has characters in unfamiliar environments, which is why we paired a more traditional Italian cheese with a Korean sweet and spicy sauce. Forbidden Romance (Top right) Cheese: TaleggioFood pairing: Unicorn Garden Jam by Brin’sWine pairing: Foxi by Fondo Bozzole in Italy I mentioned that a lot of forbidden, erotic romances have a focus on billionaires and are a luxury fantasy. This jam has pomegranate, strawberry, and rose. It was made in conjunction with The Met where the labels are inspired by works of art. This label was inspired by “Unicorn in Captivity.” The wine was a little fizzy, reminding me of a champagne, and the cheese was smooth and silky. Historical Romance (Bottom left) Cheese: Wrangeback by Almnas Bruk in SwedenFood pairing: Pickled Red Onion by Kansas City Canning Co.Wine pairing: Leptir by Sanctum Wines in Slovenia Wrangeback is Sweden’s oldest cheese! Marisa even passed around photos from the first time this cheese was captured on film. We wanted to focus on old and classic flavors, given that historical romances harken back to older time periods and that many of us carry some nostalgia for getting started in the genre by reading historicals from our moms or grandmas. Pickled anything is always a good staple for a charcuterie and a lot of Slovenia vineyards were started by French Carthusian monks during the 12th century. SciFi Romance (Bottom right) Cheese: Red Rock by Roelli in WisconsinFood pairing: Pine Cone Bud Syrup by PrimitiviziaWine pairing: Midash by Chertok in Vermont This was by far my favorite pairing. It was just so…weird. Red Rock is this bright orange cheese with veins of blue running though it, but it’s not considered a blue cheese by definition. It gives me vibes of an alien planet and when served at room temp, reminds me fondly of Cheez Whiz. The syrup apparently has a variety of uses, from drizzling on ice cream to using as glaze for pot roast. These particular pine cones are protected and the woman that makes this syrup has a special permit to forage for them in Dolomite Alps National Park. How cool is that! The wine is co-fermented with apples and grapes; yes, I bought a bottle. … I’d love to host another one in the future or a separate bookish night taking on a new genre, like horror novels for Halloween. Do any of these pairings sound good to you? Which would be your favorite? Leer más sobre libros.

We’re traveling back to April 2006 in this month’s RT Rewind! We discuss the evolving cover art for the Immortals After Dark series and style changes in illustrated covers. We also talk about Well water adventures Author photo? MUST be leaning A contest made of author prom photos Many predecessors to GoodReads A book from 1991, promoted in 2006, made into a movie in 2022. And a FULL PAGE of Mr. Romance. When I start talking about Redeeming Love, massive trigger warning and content warning, just a giant pile of YIKES. The book summary begins at 35:20. Thank you for the reviews, the support, and the positive feedback to this series! If you’re enjoying these episodes, please drop a comment below or on the visual aids post and let me know? Don’t miss the visual aids for this one! Music: purple-planet.com ❤ Read the transcript ❤ ↓ Press Play This podcast player may not work on Chrome and a different browser is suggested. More ways to listen → Here are the books we discuss in this podcast: We also mentioned: If you like the podcast, you can subscribe to our feed, or find us at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows! ❤ Thanks to our sponsors: ❤ More ways to sponsor: Sponsor us through Patreon! (What is Patreon?) What did you think of today’s episode? Got ideas? Suggestions? You can talk to us on the blog entries for the podcast or talk to us on Facebook if that’s where you hang out online. You can email us at [email protected] or you can call and leave us a message at our Google voice number: 201-371-3272. Please don’t forget to give us a name and where you’re calling from so we can work your message into an upcoming podcast. Thanks for listening! Support for this episode comes from Age Matters by Enjelicious! A hopeless romantic and a reclusive billionaire rewrite the rules of friendship, love, and work in graphic novel version of the hit WEBTOON series, Age Matters. Age Matters follows 29-year-old Rose Choi as she tries to pick up her life after her ex-boyfriend cheated on, and then dumped her. In need of employment, she takes over her best friend’s odd job to cook and deliver meals to a mysterious boss. This boss turns out to be the 23-year-old CEO of Lime, Daniel Yoon. She finds him too abrasive while he finds her too desperate, but they eventually learn to get along with each other . . . and fall for each other. This edition collects episodes 1-15 of the WEBTOON, which has over 3.6M subscribers, and more than 390 million reads! If you love an addictive, slow-burn romance this one’s for you–and right in time for Valentine’s Day. Publishers Weekly calls it “charming” and says it’s got “plenty of romantic heat.” Pick up your copy of Age Matters, Volume 1 by Enjelicious now! And look for other print versions of your favorite hits from WEBTOON published by WEBTOON Unscrolled available wherever books are sold. Transcript ❤ Click to view the transcript ❤ This podcast transcript was handcrafted with meticulous skill by Garlic Knitter. Many thanks. Smart Podcast, Trashy Books is part of the Frolic Podcast Network. Find many more outstanding podcasts at Frolic.media/podcasts! Leer más sobre libros.

While We Were Dating RECOMMENDED: While We Were Dating by Jasmine Guillory is $1.99! Elyse and Shana reviewed this one and gave it an A: Shana: Overall, I loved this low-conflict celebrity romance with all the fun of dating in the public eye, and little of the stress.  Elyse: I agree. This is a tropey, low angst read with hot sex scenes and supportive secondary characters.  Two people realize that it’s no longer an act when they veer off-script in this sizzling romantic comedy by New York Times bestselling author Jasmine Guillory. Ben Stephens has never bothered with serious relationships. He has plenty of casual dates to keep him busy, family drama he’s trying to ignore and his advertising job to focus on. When Ben lands a huge ad campaign featuring movie star Anna Gardiner, however, it’s hard to keep it purely professional. Anna is not just gorgeous and sexy, she’s also down to earth and considerate, and he can’t help flirting a little… Anna Gardiner is on a mission: to make herself a household name, and this ad campaign will be a great distraction while she waits to hear if she’s booked her next movie. However, she didn’t expect Ben Stephens to be her biggest distraction. She knows mixing business with pleasure never works out, but why not indulge in a harmless flirtation? But their lighthearted banter takes a turn for the serious when Ben helps Anna in a family emergency, and they reveal truths about themselves to each other, truths they’ve barely shared with those closest to them. When the opportunity comes to turn their real-life fling into something more for the Hollywood spotlight, will Ben be content to play the background role in Anna’s life and leave when the cameras stop rolling? Or could he be the leading man she needs to craft their own Hollywood ending? Add to Goodreads To-Read List → This book is on sale at: As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. We also may use affiliate links in our posts, as well. Thanks! Yours Truly, The Duke Yours Truly, The Duke by Amelia Grey is $2.99! This is book one in the Say I Do historical romance series. The heroine has become the guardian to her late sister’s three children and enters into a marriage of convenience to maintain custody. Yours Truly, The Duke is the first novel in the historical romance Say I Do trilogy about dukes needing to wed to tap into their wealth by New York Times bestselling author Amelia Grey. Fredericka Hale needs a husband, and fast. She’s been caring for her deceased sister’s three young children, and now a childless cousin has petitioned the court for custody. Fredericka is powerless to stop her, but having a husband might sway the ruling. The last thing Fredericka wants is a hurried-up marriage to a man she doesn’t know—much less love, but she’ll do it for the children. So when the handsome Duke of Wyatthaven shows up with a proposal, she accepts. He’ll help her, and in return, they’ll lead separate lives. But distance cannot keep them from their powerful attraction. At the top of his game in London, the Duke of Wyatthaven has no interest in marriage. However, if Wyatt doesn’t marry by week’s end, he’ll lose a sizable inheritance from his grandmother. When Wyatt’s solicitor finds Miss Fredericka Hale, Wyatt considers this little hiccup solved. Miss Hale is lovely, and intelligent. Most importantly, she prefers country life to London, so he’s free to continue his life as usual. But when circumstances force Fredericka and the children to show up at the duke’s door, Wyatt can’t deny he’s always been under her spell. Will the duke give up his bachelor lifestyle and give into the fiery passion growing between them? Add to Goodreads To-Read List → This book is on sale at: As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. We also may use affiliate links in our posts, as well. Thanks! How I Married a Marquess How I Married the Marquess by Anna Harrington is $1.99! This is book three in the Secret Life of Scoundrels series. We ran two RITA Reader Challenge reviews of this one (wow, remember those?) and it earned a B and B+ respectively. A SHOCKING DECEPTION . . . Josephine Carlisle, adopted daughter of a baron, is officially on the shelf. But the silly, marriage-minded misses in the ton can have their frilly dresses and their seasons in London, for all she cares. Josie has her freedom and her family . . . until an encounter with a dark, devilishly handsome stranger leaves her utterly breathless at a house party. His wicked charm intrigues her, but that’s where it ends. For Josie has a little secret . . . . . . LEADS TO AN EXQUISITE SEDUCTION Espionage was Thomas Matteson, Marquess of Chesney’s game-until a tragic accident cost him his career. Now to salvage his reputation and return to the life he loves, the marquess must find the criminal who’s been robbing London’s rich and powerful. He’s no fool-he knows Josie, with her wild chestnut hair and rapier-sharp wit, is hiding something and he won’t rest until he unravels her mysteries, one by one. But he never expected to be the one under arrest-body and soul . . . Add to Goodreads To-Read List → This book is on sale at: As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. We also may use affiliate links in our posts, as well. Thanks! How to Steal a Scoundrel’s Heart How to Steal a Scoundrel’s Heart by Vivienne Lorret is $1.99! This is book four in The Mating Habits of Scoundrels series. I’m not sure if we featured this on Cover Snark, but I definitely remember talking about that dog in the SBTB Slack. In USA Today bestselling author Vivienne Lorret’s latest steamy romance, a determined debutante discovers that making a deal with a notorious rake might just give her more than she ever bargained for… Ruined debutante Prudence Thorogood lost everything when she was ousted from polite