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This post was an original Subtack Live that aired on September 18, 2026.

Awards season has landed — and the 2026 National Book Award (NBA) fiction longlist is stacked. Deedi Reads joins the pod to break it all down.

Deedi from the Deedi Reads Substack joins What to Read Next for a special crossover covering all ten titles on the 2026 National Book Award fiction longlist — from Marlon James's queer epic The Disappearers to Valeria Luiselli's Beginning Middle End. We a...

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This podcast originally aired March 2026

What happens when influencer culture, megachurch ambition, and algorithm-driven community collide?

This week, I’m joined by longtime friend and fellow early-podcaster Alli Hoff Kosik to talk about her debut novel, Too Blessed to Stress — a sharp, nuanced story about faith, friendship, ambition, and the very online world we’re all living in.

We talk about how her MFA journey led her here, why religion in fiction felt l...

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What happens when a literary agent decides to become the author she's spent her career championing for other people? Jennifer Herrera joins us to talk genre-hopping, feminine rage, and why her new witchy fantasy almost didn't happen.

Jennifer Herrera — literary agent at the David Black Agency and author of the thriller The Hunter — is back with something completely different: Siren Says, a Celtic-Welsh botanical fantasy about power, curses, and reclaiming your humanity. If you've ever wondered what...

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Ever wanted to try horror but didn't know where to start? This episode is your gentle on-ramp.

Bri from the Book Goose Substack joins the show to talk about building a book community from scratch — and brings three monster hunter reads perfect for horror-curious readers. If you love found-family adventure stories, a dash of romance, or eerie underground worlds but want something that won't keep you up at night, this episode is for you.

📚 Books...

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Pirates, mermaids, sea witches, and a slow-burn enemies-to-lovers romance — this episode has everything.

Leslie Vedder joins us to talk about The Siren's Kiss, a sapphic fantasy romance she describes as Pirates of the Caribbean meets The Little Mermaid, following a cursed pirate and a fierce mermaid who team up to take down ancient sea gods. We dig into her love of anime and manga, her upcoming graphic novel, and get five (okay, six) can't-miss pirate and fa...

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Six books, one vote, and a whole community weighing in — Deedi's back to break down this year's Hugo Awards Best Novel nominees.

Our resident awards correspondent Deedi (@DeediReads) returns to walk us through the 2026 Hugo Awards — sci-fi and fantasy's biggest fan-voted prize. We cover how Hugo voting actually works, break down all six Best Novel nominees, and Deedi tells us which one she's rooting for (and which one she thinks will actually win). Perfect for anyone who...

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Laura's back with a solo update on slowing down, making reading friends in a new city, and two mysteries that actually caught her off guard.

In this episode, Laura shares how she's navigating a season of burnout, the low-key monthly reading date she's started with a friend (dubbed "Silent Book Club for Two"), and gives full reviews of two standout reads — a cozy small-town mystery obsessed with designer dogs, and a millennial mystery starring a very un...

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What if the boy secretly writing your story isn't just trying to help you grieve — he's trying to get into college with it?

Debut author Gabriela Gonzales joins the show to talk about her YA rom-com How to Love You When You're Gone, a fake-friends-to-lovers story about grief, first love, and the messy business of growing up. We dig into writing Latine representation in genre fiction beyond trauma narratives, why romance's happy ending is actually the ha...

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Four best friends, one Vegas casino, and absolutely nothing left to lose — meet the septuagenarian heist crew you didn't know you needed.

Bestselling author Julia London joins the show to talk about her genre-bending new release, Rules for Aging and Larceny, a commercial fiction romp about four 70-something women reuniting to pull off one last con — this time against a crypto scammer. Julia also shares four wide-ranging reading recommendations, from a quietly devastating Norwegian translation to the...

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What happens when the Grim Reaper falls for a children's librarian? Kelly Creagh's adult debut says: absolute chaos, and a whole lot of heart.

YA fan-favorite Kelly Creagh (the Nevermore trilogy) makes her adult debut with A Date with Death, a spicy, comedy-forward paranormal rom-com about a Grim Reaper and the sunshine-y librarian who steals his afterlife. In this episode, Kelly talks about jumping from YA to adult romance, writing comedy after years in paranormal horror...

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Can you imagine erasing your worst memory — even if it meant erasing the people in it too? Debut author Evann Normandin joins us to talk about her stunning new dual-timeline novel, The Good Parts.

In this episode, Evann shares her long road to publication, the musical that inspired her book's structure, and why she believes The Good Parts was always meant to be her debut. We also dig into her book club-ready recommendations for readers who lo...

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Rom-com author Victoria Lavine joins us to talk enemies-to-lovers banter, writing wedding chaos, and the funniest, freshest romance reads on her TBR.

Victoria Lavine, author of Any Trope But You and the upcoming Not That Kind of Proposal, sits down to talk about crafting high-stakes rom-coms, why banter is her favorite thing to write, and the books that made her cackle out loud this year. If you love enemies-to-lovers, forced proximity, and grumpy-meets-sunshine energy, this episode...

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Every summer, one question comes up again and again: what Elin Hilderbrand book should I read next? This week, Laura teams up with Julianne Buonocore of Friday Night Readers to answer it once and for all.

Laura and Julianne each count down their personal Top 5 Elin Hilderbrand novels — from Nantucket scandals to a St. John getaway gone sideways — then hand over a list of read-alike authors for anyone who's already blown through the backlist. Perfect for beac...

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From flight attendant to hybrid author with a bookstore-ready hockey series — Chelsea Curto is proof that a wild pivot can turn into a career you never saw coming.

Romance author Chelsea Curto (the DC Stars hockey series, In Stormy Weather) joins the show to talk about her journey from flight attendant to indie-author-turned-hybrid-with-Atria, plus the wild "it might be the line of believability" story behind putting a woman in the NHL for her breakout hit Face Of...

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Ever wondered what a graphic novelist reads for fun? This week we're stepping outside our usual romance and mystery lanes to talk graphic novels and manga with debut author Richard Mercado.

Richard Mercado joins the podcast to talk about his debut YA graphic novel Coming Out Perfect (pitched as Heartstopper meets Mean Girls), his journey from indie zine-maker in the Philippines to Scholastic Graphix author, and his process for plotting a graphic novel from script to...

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Ever wondered what happens when Formula 1 gets launched into zero gravity — and thrown in a childhood-best-friends-to-lovers arc for good measure? Debut author Meredith Lanzen joins us to talk about her sci-fi sports romance, Formula Zero.

We dig into how a Drive to Survive rabbit hole turned into a book deal, why she wanted her leads to be equals on the racetrack, and her go-to recommendations for readers who love character-driven sci-fi, banter-heavy urban fantasy, and rom-coms wi...

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Rom-com author Lindsay Hameroff joins us to talk Wegmans obsessions, writing her first single-mom heroine, and the books that turned her into a romance reader for life.

Lindsay Hameroff — author of Till There Was You and Never Planned on You — stops by to talk about her new release Rewrite the Stars, a second-chance summer romance between a semi-retired actress and the sexy contractor renovating her lake house. We dig into why she writes '90s-and-2000s-style rom...

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Still thinking about recouplings, Casa Amor twists, and the text that ruined someone's summer? Same. So this week we're doing a full villa walkthrough — in book form.

This solo episode rounds up the best Love Island–inspired reads out right now: one juicy nonfiction deep dive into the show itself, five rom-coms that borrow the format's chaos (bombshells, recouplings, and all), and one dating-show read with a body count. Perfect for anyone who wants their reality TV o...

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What happens when a journalist with a nose for a story, a caterer with a glow-up, and a Jersey Shore murder collide? Enemies-to-lovers chaos — and we are here for it.

In this episode, I'm chatting with Liz Lawson, author of the adult debut It Happened One Murder — a mystery rom-com packed with second-chance romance, a murder that needs solving, and all the messy feelings of your mid-20s. We talk about Liz's journey from writing emotional YA t...

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If you're the kind of reader who wants heartfelt book recs and a peek behind the curtain of building a reading life worth writing about, this one's for you.

Audry Fryer of the Bookish AF Substack joins us to talk about the books she can't stop recommending — from Fredrik Backman's quietly devastating My Friends to the winter read she's still thinking about, The Frozen River. We also get into the joys of audiobooks as genuine self-care, ho...

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Storm chasing, forced proximity, and a debut romance that's giving Twisters — but make it swoony. This episode is for every reader whose TBR needs a little weather event.

Debut author Heather Frances joins the show to talk about Chase Me If You Can, her contemporary romance about two rival storm-chasing photographers stuck in the same car for the season. We dig into forced proximity done right, the black cat/golden retriever dynamic, and why Sloane is th...

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A debut romcom inspired by Bollywood, built around one of the most delicious twists on fake dating you'll ever read — fake NOT dating. If you love big Indian weddings, chaotic families, and slow-burn tension between two people who desperately want each other but have to pretend they've never met, this episode is your sign to add Leave and Come Back to your TBR immediately.

Debut author Lavanya Lakshmi joins the show to talk about her journey fr...

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What if your thriller author and your meditation teacher turned out to be the same person? That's exactly how this conversation started — and it only gets better from there.

Laura sits down with author Jaclyn Goldis, whose upcoming novel The Last Time We Saw Her follows a group of former campers who return to the volcanic Azores Islands a decade after one of their own vanished — only for another death to shatter the reunion. It's a twis...

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If politics feels overwhelming, chaotic, or just plain exhausting right now — this episode is for you. Emily Amick, the attorney-turned-Instagram creator behind Emily in Your Phone, joins the show to talk about her book Democracy in Retrograde (co-authored with Sami Sage) and why civic action doesn't have to feel hopeless.

From calling your actual representative (not Chuck Schumer) to showing up for your local library board, Emily breaks down the concrete, manageable things readers can do to...

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What happens when a beloved actress becomes a storyteller of forgotten Black history? Karyn Parsons — yes, the Hilary Banks from Fresh Prince of Bel-Air — joins us to talk about her powerful historical fiction for young readers, her nonprofit Sweet Blackberry, and why books like hers matter more in 2026 than ever.

In this episode, we dig into Blue Beach, a YA murder mystery set on a segregated Black beach in 1929 that is equal parts page-turning thriller and gut...

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If you've been sleeping on sports romance, this episode is your wake-up call. Tennis romance is officially having its moment in publishing — and the author who was writing it a decade before anyone else is finally getting her flowers.

In this episode, Laura chats with Jennifer Iacopelli, author of Game Set Match and its sequel Wild Card — new adult tennis romances newly re-released through Little Brown's Requited imprint after Jennifer's YA novel Finding Her Edge was adap...

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What happens when the first openly gay man competes in a Grand Slam — and falls for his opponent across the net? Debut author Eddie Schmit joins the show to talk about The Open Era, his queer tennis romance that's equal parts heart-racing competition and sweet slow-burn love story.

Eddie shares how a mental health journey led him to tennis, how tennis led him to a book deal with Penguin Random House, and why the US Open — righ...

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If you loved YA but drifted away — or if you're a YA fan wondering where to start in adult fiction — this episode is your permission slip to do both. School librarian and book lover Kelly Mayfield joins Laura to talk about the YA authors crossing over into adult fiction, and why the YA genre has been ahead of the curve on diversity, representation, and storytelling for years.

From Rainbow Rowell's slow-burn adult romances to Jesse Q. Suta...

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She wrote her debut novel at 18, self-published it, went viral on TikTok — and now she's a Simon & Schuster author with a dramatized audiobook. Lauren Roberts is living proof that passion plus scrappiness can take you very, very far.

In this episode, Lauren breaks down the wild origin story behind Powerless — from pitching the idea live on TikTok to Googling her way through ISBN numbers and copyright filings. We talk about what makes the Powerless trilogy so addi...

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What if your dream bookshop was hiding inside the pages of a book? This week's guest is making that fantasy feel very real.

London-based bookworm and Substack newsletter writer Alicia joins us to share her love of a very specific and very delightful trope: woman quits job to open a bookshop. If you've ever fantasized about leaving it all behind for a life surrounded by shelves and the smell of old paper, Alicia has three gorgeous...

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What if your love stories came with secret societies, art forgery rings, and a twist you never saw coming? Author Ava Rani joins us to talk books, balance, and why she refuses to write a boring romance.

Ava Rani is an author who does it all — indie publishing, traditional publishing, and somehow fitting it in between a medical career and motherhood. In this episode, she walks us through her Biotech Billionaires series (think Gossip Girl meets Su...

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What if your perimenopause symptoms weren't just symptoms — what if you were turning into a werewolf? Author Sam Beckbessinger joins us to talk about her debut adult novel Femme Feral, and it might be the most cathartic book you read this year.

Sam and I dive deep into why the medical industry has failed women at midlife, the reality of millennial burnout, and why female rage horror is having such a deserved moment. If you're a wo...

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What if a rom-com could feel like a movie in your ears? That's exactly what debut novelist and TV screenwriter Ash Perez set out to create with Speak Now, and you are going to want to listen to this one.

In this episode, Laura chats with Ash Perez about Speak Now, an audio-first queer rom-com published by Simon & Schuster featuring a full cast of actors, sound effects, and production that rivals a Hollywood film. Born out...

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She writes historical mysteries set in post-war Paris, Civil War Washington DC, 1930s England, AND Victorian London — and somehow, Colleen Gleason/Cambridge makes every single era feel like home.

In this episode, Laura sits down with bestselling author Colleen Gleason (also writing as Colleen Cambridge) to talk about her four historical mystery series, what makes amateur sleuths compelling, why post-war Paris is basically its own character, and how Agatha Christie's housekeeper ended up solving murders. If yo...

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What if the Duke was a woman — and the courtesan trying to blackmail her was the love interest? If that premise just made you sit up straighter, this episode is for you.

Anna Cowan joins us to talk about The Duke, her long-awaited second novel — a queer Regency romance that flips the classic historical hero archetype on its head. This one is for readers who love the lush world of Regency fiction but are hungry for some...

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A cozy mystery with a messy friendship, a locked-room setting, and just enough murder to keep things interesting? I’m in.

In this episode, I sit down with Molly Harper to talk about her pivot from paranormal romance to murder mysteries and her newest release, A Cute Little Murder. We dive into millennial mysteries, toxic friendships, “final girl” energy, and why sometimes you just need a little murder in your reading life—without the gore.

📚 Boo...

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Looking for your next addictive summer thriller with rich people behaving badly vibes? This one set at the Cannes Film Festival delivers glam, secrets, and a murder you won’t see coming.

In this episode, I sit down with Anne-Sophie Jouhanneau to talk about her transition from YA romance to twisty adult thrillers and her latest novel We Will Never Tell. We dive into how she crafts suspense, builds layered characters, and why she loves writing ab...

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A chaotic wedding, secret crushes, and one very inconvenient almost-divorce—this episode is for rom-com lovers who live for messy, multi-POV drama.

In today’s episode, I chat with Mallory Kass (also known as Kass Morgan) about her transition from YA to adult romance, her new book Save the Date, and why writing adult relationships hits differently than coming-of-age stories. We also get into rom-com tropes, ensemble casts, and even the possibility of adding a murder subp...

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What happens when the one that got away becomes the inspiration for your bestselling book boyfriend… and then walks back into your life?

In this episode, I sit down with Kara McDowell to talk about her latest novel, The Write-Off—a second chance romance packed with college nostalgia, writer drama, and all the angst we love. We dive into dual timelines, messy twenties, and why sometimes love only works the second time around.

We also...

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I read 32 books in Q1 2026—and I’m breaking down the cozy mysteries, thrillers, romances, and standout 5-star reads you need on your radar.

In this episode, I’m sharing my honest reading recap from the first quarter of the year, including what worked, what didn’t, and the books I’m still thinking about. From bingeing cozy mysteries in Puerto Rico to discovering new favorite romances and thrillers, this is your inside look at what’s worth addi...