We’re recapping all kinds of stuff this week, and today: our top five podcast episodes from 2025!
Looking at the year overall, these are the top five most listened to Smart Podcast, Trashy Books episodes of the year – and thank you to everyone who listened, recommended, shared, and posted about the show. Special thanks to all our Patreon community members, who helped shape this season and keep the show going each week!
Honorable Mentions
Sarah: 656. Every Girl Deserves a Happily Ever After: with Rep. Stacey Abrams and Princess Mabel van Oranje
My inner 13 year old is still not chill about this. Stacey Abrams and Princess Mabel van Oranje are incredible. It was also fun to hear from listeners in the Netherlands react to seeing one of their royal family on the show!
And 670. I Shouldn’t Be Telling You This with Chelsea Devantez of Glamourous Trash
I loved reading this memoir, and I loved talking with Chelsea about it, and I REALLY loved how many people listen to both of our shows!
Top Five
5. 652. Smart Bitches Turns 20 with Candy Tan (January 31)
My guest today is Candy Tan, who 20 years ago co-founded Smart Bitches Trashy Books with me. Yay!!
We’re looking back at the founding of SBTB, about her reactions to Bridgerton, and her perennial favorite romances. We talk about different ways that romance has changed since 2005. Then I show Candy the casting photos for the Black Dagger Brotherhood adaptation.
4. 668. Hot Takes with Sarah & Amanda (May 23)
Inspired by a recent episode of The Sam Sanders Show, Amanda and I are sharing our own hot takes and possibly controversial opinions about romance.
We’re talking:
- Third act bleak moments!
- Transcending the genre!
- Rom coms!
- Cozy things!
- Conferences and gatherings!
- Accessories for Readers!
3. 658. Romance and Penetrative Sex: A Conversation With Jane Buehler (March 14)
Today brings a vulnerable and honest conversation about the prevalence of penetrative sex in romance, and what happens if a writer decides to create a character with pelvic floor pain, for whom that kind of sex isn’t possible? Let’s find out!
Jane Buehler’s new book, The Fire Apprentice, is out this week, and we’re going to talk about the book, and the series. But we’re also talking about the asexual spectrum, body changes from menopause, reactive desire, and kegels!
2. 664. Haunted Abbeys and Hidden History with Alexandra Vasti (April 25)
Alexandra Vasti is the author of Earl Crush, Ne’er Duke Well, and the Halifax sisters series, and she joins me to talk about activism in history and about haunted houses, historical lesbians, and historical erotica.
And, the number one, most popular episode of 2025?
1. 650. “I’m Going to Keep Daring” – Romance and History with Joanna Shupe (January 17)
Joanna Shupe posted a TikTok on November 11, 2024, in response to angry readers chastising her for writing in her newsletter about her disappointment with the election results. I have included the audio with her permission.
She says in her comments that she could teach a whole class about the parallels between the Gilded Age and the current political and cultural climate, which I am calling The Dumpster Age. I reached out and said, “I can’t offer a class, but how about a podcast episode?”
Joanna was kind enough to walk us through some of the parallels between then and now that give her some despair, and how infuriating it was to have readers scold and chastise her for expressing in her newsletter a perspective that she already thought was pretty clear from, you know, all her books about the Gilded Age.
What do you think of the top five? What episodes were your favorites this year? Let us know what you’d like to see next year!
