Bookstupid with Claire and Molly

One of the joys of finding a great new romance is sharing it with your friend. And what fun when you co-host a romance podcast with that friend. This week, we recap not one but two Ali Hazelwood romances: The Love Hypothesis and Deep End. We also discuss episode 5 of The Summer I Turned Pretty and discuss what it looks like when an adult eats a peach.

Unfortunately, we can’t keep Jeremiah Fisher’s name out of our mouths, so get ready for more TSITP fodder. We also cover Claire’s recent return to religion after being visited by baseball angels. Eventually, when we truly run out of distractions, we talk about our writing and How It’s Going. In that way, this episode emulates our writing process itself! All very meta, lowercase m.

We’re back in Cousins, baby! This week, we reckon with the idea that this might actually be a “The Summer I Turned Pretty” recap podcast. We do a deep dive on the legality of Jeremiah’s affair (we WILL be representing Belly in court.) And much like Season 3 Episode 5 of TSITP, it’s time to provide a POV from our books’ leading men.

This week we’re talking about how we’re always thinking, which is writing, in a way. Beyond a generalized catch up on how our drafts are going, we cover the celebrity couples we have in our prayer books, Hector’s new trainer (and Claire’s new crush), and some all-time favorite rom coms we’ve recently revisited.

It’s time we try our hand at another creative medium: visual art! This week, we design our book covers. One of us stuns in new photos and the other should probably stick to the written word. Also this week, Molly displays signs of a mental health crisis by visiting Shondaland and Claire finally finds herself alone in the suburbs. One thing we can never seem to find? The damn dessert table at a wedding.

Ever heard of playing through the injury (Nuuly induced sciatica)? That’s what Claire does this episode, and my god it’s magnificent. We dive deep into the subgenre of Cowboy Romance, reviewing Lyla Sage’s Done and Dusted, and we’re relatively rattled by our first rodeo. You should also listen to this episode if you want to hear the whole plot of Netflix’s Dept. Q from someone who was mostly on her phone while watching.

Well, it’s looking like this might be the summer we finally turn pretty. This week, Molly is visited by a witch on Long Island and it turns out she also has “an unsettling energy”. We also review My Oxford Year and continue our conversation about Carly Fortune. Plus, a hilarious writing exercise finds us writing erotica in an italian restaurant during biblical times.

This episode, we examine effective dialogue from some of our favorite films and books in pursuit of writing Good Chat. We hope this study will translate to our own work better than a hankie travels from nostril to eyeball (Claire should stop doing this). We also talk through some favorite recent reads including Sandwich by Catherine Newman and Beach Read by our lord and savior Emily Henry.

This week, Molly and Claire both get fooled — Claire by a married man and Molly by a Young Adult novel, again. Molly read Divine Rivals and found a new rival of her own. Meanwhile, Claire watched Sirens and Stolen Girl, both shows about young women who are lost in a sense. We also chat about creating flawed female characters, writing at the beach, and crafting the first ten pages.

Hey, Sharks! This week we’re pitching short form content ideas, seeking investors and consumers. Claire drops a new crush on an old man, Molly has her head in the slush pile, and Emily Henry eases our originality complexes (Great Big Beautiful Life IS The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo but better! We’ll bravely say it!).

Love abounds this week as we reflect on what makes our favorite fictional couples work, how to transition bar banter from fraternal to flirtatious, and what happens when you give a ring bearer a lollipop (he’s gonna want another). We also talk about getting in Hugh Jackman’s jeans.

“Cutting a bob.” “Flotussy.” “Twinicide.” These are all phrases said for the first time ever on this week’s episode. We also review Emily Henry’s Great Big Beautiful Life (good!) and men reading performatively in public (bad!).

Claire’s been busy in The Pitt (still) and Molly’s reading Letters from Paul to the Ephesians. Meanwhile, we’ve reached our first deadline — 10,000 words. But here’s the thing, we didn’t. But we have good reasons!

Forgive us if we seem distracted this week— Claire can’t stop thinking about Dr. Robby, and Molly can’t stop thinking about a specific picture of Rudy Giuliani. We compare notes on McNally Jackson’s Debut Novel 101 panel and find that we both wrote down NERDS in all caps?? Listen on for more insights!

Not to brag but we’re WRITING! It’s slower and more painful than we expected, but it’s also… rewarding? If you’re listening to this episode, picture Claire in a French cut swimsuit. If you’re watching this episode, excuse her second consecutive sweatsuit.

“She wrote feverishly.” Tune in to see why we think that sentence sucks! Spoiler: we’re considering eliminating all pronouns and adverbs from our writing. We also share the results of a brief writing exercise, because we’ll do anything but work on our damn manuscripts.

We sit down with 2022 Black List screenwriter and 2023 victim at our murder mystery party, Erin Woods. She shares best practices for developing credible characters, getting projects across the line, and working with different creative (and financial) stakeholders. But don’t fall in love with her! She has a boyfriend.

In this episode, we’re joined by Kalee Maider — professional writer, avid reader, buxom brunette— and we’re drinking WINE. We compare notes on our respective writing processes and what makes us go ahwooga in a romance novel. Kalee takes advantage of her 5 minutes to roast the pod.

We hit our first major milestone: Claire finished reading (and we can finally stop talking about) The Bodyguard. We discuss heeding the vocational call of jury duty, which starts with opening your mail. And finally, we talk about finishing our outlines— but is an outline ever really, truly finished?

We have started outlines to satisfy our innate need for structure and accountability (and NOT because Joops has taken away our iPads until they’re done). This episode also deals in light themes such as seceding from the economy, the plight of the Irish, and miscommunication between lovers!

Do you know our protagonists? If so, could you introduce us? This week, we talk about the process of discovering and refining our leading ladies, and— you guessed it— it’s harder than we thought. We also preview some new themes in our personal lives: Claire’s home renovation (“the reno”) and Molly’s Fourth Wing-induced mental illness.

It’s time to pitch, bitch! We share our respective book concepts through a format favored by cover-judgers everywhere: the book jacket blurb. We also talk about tracking each other’s scents, Chris Evans (again), and the importance of engaging strangers on the subway.

Today, we discover that we are both stronger than babies and smarter than Noah Centineo. In this ep, we dig into the ingredients for a great romance novel — from our favorite tropes to our preferred spice level. And we mentally prepare to actually write something!

In this episode, an Eagles fan (by birth) and a Commanders fan (by marriage) reach across the Amtrak aisle to find common ground. We test our understanding of the “save the cat” novel writing framework and find that we’ve got some work to do.

Since Episode 1, we’ve each created a robust outline and workback schedule to ensure we deliver on time. Just kidding. Can you imagine? We read (half of) a couple books on writing and use this episode to compare our notes. Spoiler: Stephen King saves the cat.

Meet Claire and Molly: long time romance readers, first time romance authors. In this first episode, we cover the YA fiction we read as kids (and adults), our transition into spicier lit, and why we think we’re ready to write it ourselves— with a challenge and a podcast holding us accountable.