509. Catching Up and Looking Ahead at Book Recs with Amanda

[music]

Sarah Wendell: Hello and welcome to episode number 509 of Smart Podcast, Trashy Books. I am Sarah Wendell, and this week Amanda and I are catching up on a whole bunch of things. We talk about college visits, airboats, dating, and in a truly indulgent moment I play a section of my son’s trombone solo – I hope you enjoy it. We also have listener email, recommendation requests, and compliments galore! I know some of you love the episodes where Amanda and I just hang out and talk books, and if you like this one, let me know! Email, comment, tweet at me, whatever. If you’re into these episodes, I’d love to hear from you.

I do want to let you know – heads up! – there’s a light discussion of needles in the first ten minutes. Also, my dogs barked a lot; I’m sorry about that.

Hello and thank you to the absolutely wonderful Patreon community, who makes sure that every episode has a transcript and keeps the show going each and every week. So if you would like to have a look at our Patreon, go to patreon.com/SmartBitches, and thank you, as always, for your support, and thank you, garlicknitter, for the transcripts. [You’re most welcome! – gk]

This episode is brought to you in part by Pair Eyewear. I don’t know if I’ve told you this, but I have worn glasses since I was two. I have strabismus, which means my eyes cross, and I hated wearing glasses. In fact, I tried to flush my first pair of glasses down the toilet because glasses were my nemesis. I hated picking out frames as I got older, and I never had any idea what looked good on me, and my glasses were extremely expensive, so I got one pair. But now I have so many affordable options from Pair Eyewear! Pair Eyewear’s base frames come in a set of classic styles – I picked the Finley in Remixed Blue Tortoise – but the corners of the frames are magnetic, so I can get custom top frames to change the color, pattern, and style of my glasses. My sunglasses top frame is Gold Glitter with Rose Gold lenses, and I love wearing them. Base frames start at just sixty dollars, including prescription lenses, and there are hundreds of top frame designs to go with whatever base frame you choose! Plus they release new top frames every month and collaborate with art museums for gorgeous limited edition frames. I used to have one pair of glasses, but thanks to Pair I have two, and one of them is infinitely customizable! You can get glasses as unique as you are. One pair, infinite style, starting at just sixty dollars! Go to paireyewear.com/SARAH for fifteen percent off your first purchase. That’s fifteen percent off at P-A-I-R Eyewear dot com slash SARAH.

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Shall we do a podcast? Let us do a podcast! On with me and Amanda talking about all the things.

[music]

Sarah: I have some things to tell you!

Amanda: Ooh-wee!

Sarah: So does Wilbur; he has things to say! But I want to start by trying to share something with you. You just have to –

Amanda: Okay.

Sarah: – indulge me for a minute here. I’m going to be, like, really, really indulgent.

Amanda: While we’re waiting I can tell you the airboat story.

Sarah: Please tell me –

Amanda: [Laughs]

Sarah: – the airboat story.

Amanda: So I went over to Brian’s apartment because I was so excited to see him before our movie date last Wednesday, and I was in the area on Monday getting dinner with friends, and I’m like, hey, I’m getting dinner with friends near you. Would love to see you before Wednesday if possible.

Sarah: Aw, that’s so lovely! I mean, I would be thrilled to receive a text like that?

Amanda: [Laughs]

Sarah: Like, I would be so excited.

Amanda: And yeah, he’s like, yeah, come over; would love to see you; yada-yada-yada. We’re talking about boats; we’re sitting on the couch talking about boats and how sailboats fucking suck because you’re expected to do work on a sailboat.

Sarah: You know, it’s so funny: that is the exact thing, thing that Adam says about sailboats too. He’s like, why would I want to do all that work? Like, there’s never not working.

Amanda: I know! And for some reason we’re talking about boats, and I was like, oh, and then you have airboats, and I forget airboats are kind of just like a Florida, Louisiana, swampland thing? Airboats are just like a light piece of metal with some lawn chairs taped to it and a big ol’ propeller in the back, and they’re very loud.

Sarah: Oh, is this the thing where you’re, like, sitting on some floaty pontoon thing and a giant fan, like, right behind your ass –

Amanda: Yeah! [Laughs]

Sarah: – blows you clear across the Earth? Is that –

Amanda: Yep!

Sarah: [Deep breath] Okay, I like those about as much as I like Jet Skis, and I don’t like Jet Skis, so okay, I’m with you so far.

Amanda: So Brian, Brian had no clue what an airboat was.

[music snippet]

Sarah: Right?

Amanda: So I’m like, okay, I’m going to bring up a photo of some airboats.

Sarah: Right?

Amanda: So I get, I get my photo of my airboats ready; I, like, hold it up on my phone; and he just, like, leans over and kisses me?

Sarah: Aww!

Amanda: While I’m still holding my airboat photo in the air. Like, I, like, mumble against his mouth; I was like, I guess I’ll show you the airboats later? And he says, yes.

Sarah: [Laughs]

Amanda: He’s like, yeah, you could show me the airboats later. [Laughs]

Sarah: Okay, that’s hilarious.

Amanda: He’s like –

Sarah: Please excuse the music in the background; I’m trying to cue something.

Amanda: That’s fine.

Sarah: Oh –

Amanda: I was like, okay!

Sarah: – my gosh.

Amanda: [Laughs]

Sarah: Oh my gosh.

Amanda: Sexiest thing I’ve ever said: I guess I’ll show you the airboats later.

Sarah: I mean, look, there’s kissing and there’s airboats.

Thank you for indulging me in this, in this weird moment.

Amanda: Yeah!

Sarah: All right, so I have two things, I have two things to tell you: one, so I see an endocrinologist for polycystic ovarian syndrome –

Amanda: Yeah.

Sarah: – so I, I try to schedule all my doctor visits in the first quarter of the year, you know.

Amanda: Yep!

Sarah: Eye doctor at the end of the year, annual physical, endocrinologist, OB/GYN, just boom-boom-boom, get it all done. I always know the last time I did it was first quarter. I see the endocrinologist, and she’s like, I have concerns about your blood work. We had lowered one of my medications; we’re going to bring it back up. Okay, that’s fine! But I’m also concerned about your thyroid.

Amanda: Oooh!

Sarah: It looks like you have low B12, and I was like, oh shit! That’s a new thing! So I had fasting blood work on Friday, I have another appointment this week, but she had, was telling me things, and I wrote it down, and you know about me and time and numbers, right?

Amanda: Yes.

Sarah: So I wrote down, I’m going to do B12 injections. I’m going to give myself a shot every two weeks! That’s what I wrote down: every two weeks, give myself B12. I get the prescription filled from the pharmacy, and the pharmacy instructions on the little bottle say twice a week, and I was like, oh, I guess I wrote it down wrong! Okay, sure! So boom-boom-boom-boom-boom, every Friday and Tuesday – I have it on my to-do list as shots, shots, shots, shots, shots! You know –

Amanda: [Sings] Shots, shots, shots, everybody!

Sarah: Yes, exactly! Shots, shots, shots! Adam comes and helps me; like, he holds the Band-aid , and –

Amanda: Aw!

Sarah: – I’ve gotten pretty good at it. My outer thigh does not like this experience, but I’ve gotten pretty good at it. So then I call for my, my refill! And they’re like, you’re not due for a refill, and I’m like, I literally am: I have used all of my needles –

Amanda: [Gasps]

Sarah: – and I’ve used all my vials. So I got on the phone with the pharmacist this morning, and she’s like, okay. I am so sorry; whoever transcribed the doctor’s prescription –

Amanda: [Quietly screams]

Sarah: – wrote down twice a week instead of every two weeks, and we dispensed the wrong instructions, but you’re not in any danger. And I’m like, well, thank God I wasn’t injecting myself with something, like, really fucking lethal here! I’ve just got lots of B12! I don’t know what this will do to my blood work, but I’m getting a new prescription, and now I only have to do shots every two weeks, which I am very relieved about? But thank God it was something like B12 and not –

Amanda: Yeah!

Sarah: – like, not something super expensive.

Amanda: Fucking Christ!

Sarah: And you know, you know my first inclination was, oh, I must have written it down wrong, because you know about me –

Amanda: Yeah!

Sarah: – and time and numbers?

Amanda: Yeah!

Sarah: They, I’m terrible at that! Even Adam was like, you know, you said every two weeks. I’m like, I know, but the pharmacy instruction said this, so I’m going off of what they –

Amanda: Yeah! Like, you’d think, like, you’d default to the pharmacy ‘cause, like, that’s their job.

Sarah: Exactly! And the woman was absolutely mortified. Like, she was –

Amanda: Oof!

Sarah: – fucking horrified about this. So I do not have to shoot myself in the leg twice a week. I’m very excited about that! All these –

Amanda: Yay!

Sarah: – bruises will go away. Anyone who has to give themselves injections on the regular, I have so much respect for you, because I watched so many YouTube videos. I watched so much –

Amanda: I mean, yeah, that makes sense. 

Sarah: And they’re like, well, you can give it to yourself in the arm, and I’m like, look, I’m not that flexible with the over the, over my opposite arm, and I can’t shoot myself in the – you know –

Amanda: And my thigh is meatier than my arm. I would –

Sarah: Yeah.

Amanda: – feel much comfortable in my thigh.

Sarah: Oh yeah. And I have a lot of freckles? Like – [laughs] – when we were, when we were doing infertility, Adam had to give me injections. He was like, I don’t want to fucking give you injections again. I hated doing that; it just really, I just, I hated it. I’m like, nonono! I’ve got this one! But he’s like, I’ll give you a tip: aim for a different freckle. Just hit, hit the freckles. Boom, boom, boom, boom! Now I have freckles on my side that I aim at.

Amanda: Oh my God!

Sarah: The, the, the sun damage is useful is what I’m saying? So yeah, I don’t have to shoot myself up twice a week.

Amanda: Finally!

Sarah: Finally, all these freckles have a purpose!

So the big news for me right now is actually not my news? Currently, Adam and my older son are in the car going up to New York to look at colleges!

Amanda: Ooh! That is so exciting!

Sarah: I know! And you know, I was thinking about this: the site started January of 2005, and he was born November 2005, so he and the site are about the same age, so the site has to go to college! We have to, we have to find a college for the site! It’s going to graduate next year!

Amanda: I feel like –

Sarah: Where is, where is Smart Bitches going to, going to study?

Amanda: Sarah Lawrence.

Sarah: [Laughs] That’s not a bad guess.

Amanda: [Laughs] I feel like we should do a post of, like, Smart Bitches go to college!

Sarah: Where, where are we sending the site for, for continued education?

Amanda: Yeah!

Sarah: How wild is it that he’s looking at colleges?

Amanda: – really crazy.

Sarah: So he plays the trombone and I have his permission to do this.

Amanda: Okay.

Sarah: He plays the trombone, and he has played the trombone since fifth grade.

Amanda: Oh my God!

Sarah: And he’s, he – I mean, I am biased? He’s really good.

Amanda: Of course! [Laughs]

Sarah: So he is looking at Berklee, though he, he’s not sure he wants to go to Berklee. He’s going up to Boston; they’ll be in Boston on Wed- –

Amanda: School of Music!

Sarah: – Wednesday, right.

Amanda: In my neck of the woods!

Sarah: He is looking at Manhattan School of, of Music. He’s looking at the New School. Adam went to Northwestern, and they have a good brass program, so he’s looking at Northwestern. There’s this big ol’ PDF from a magazine of all of the jazz schools in the country, so he’s sort of going through and looking at them.

Amanda: Yeah.

Sarah: Colorado has a good jazz program, and I like –

Amanda: There’s some good snowboarding out in Colorado!

Sarah: – I like snowboarding, so I’m like, how about Colorado? Have you looked at Colorado? He’s like, it’s really high altitude; I’m like, you’re fine after, like a week.

Amanda: You’ll get used to it!

Sarah: You get used to it. You’ll come back down to sea level and be like, wow! The air! I can run miles! And then he’ll go back and it’ll be fine.

But I thought, if you would like, I will play for you a solo that he played on the trombone when he was a freshman. Now he is a junior.

Amanda: Let’s do it!

Sarah: I mean, I took all this time to cue this video and had all this –

Amanda: Yeah!

Sarah: – weird jazz playing behind you –

Amanda: Be like – [laughs] – can you imagine being like, nah, just skip it.

Sarah: Airboat solo! All right. All right, here we go.

Amanda: Oh my God! Okay –

[Band music]

Sarah: There he is! He’s going to stand up!

[Band music with excellent trombone solo, followed by wholly appropriate applause]

Amanda: That was so good!

Sarah: He won an award for that solo!

Amanda: He won an award?

Sarah: He won, that was at a, a county adjudication of jazz bands from all of the county schools –

Amanda: Oh my God.

Sarah: – and he won a soloist award for that solo. And so I was sitting there filming like, you know, The Mom, and, like, all of the moms next to me were like, oh my gosh, did you see that? And I’m, like, shaking I’m so impressed? When he finished and sat down, the, the people who were, like, judging and giving comments –

Amanda: Yes.

Sarah: – they, like, they sat back like, wow. And I was like, shit, even these, like, music professors think my son’s good. Like, I think my son’s good; he’s my kid!

Amanda: Well, he was, you said he was, like, in Honors, Honors band, right? Yeah!

Sarah: Yes, he’s in the county Honors Jazz Ensemble; he’s in –

Amanda: Yeah!

Sarah: – like, three different bands; he was in the pit orchestra? Like, they did Urinetown? The school musical?

Amanda: Yeah!

Sarah: They had a live pit orchestra. Like, they have a pit under the stage. He says, it kind of smells like really, really old weed; I don’t think they’ve used it in a while. So it’s sort of like a secret –

Amanda: [Laughs]

Sarah: – they found the secret smoking area, the pit, the orchestra –

Amanda: Yeah, secret weed spot.

Sarah: – right? So he is now going out to look at music programs. He wants to study music.

Amanda: That’s so exciting!

Sarah: I’m so excited!

Amanda: I’m trying to think, my good news: my brother is on a four-hundred-mile bike ride around France and Spain right now.

Sarah: Wh-, why?

Amanda: I stopped asking that question.

Sarah: [Laughs] How do you feel about blisters on your ass?

Amanda: And then I was talking to my brother about my dating life, and I was telling him that, like, I’m going on a date with this person that I really like, and he’s like, okay, sis. Well, let – he’s like, give, he’s like, what date are you on? I was like, I think we’re on date three. He’s like, well, get back to me when you’re on date seven. I’m like, okay. We’re going to have date seven on Wednesday, so Brian and I will have hit seven dates in the last three-ish weeks

Sarah: I love this! This is such good news!

Amanda: I know! Literally the sweetest.

Sarah: Aw!

Amanda: We went to a Barcade on Friday.

Sarah: A bar-?

Amanda: Barcade!

Sarah: Bark –

Amanda: So it’s a bar and an arcade.

Sarah: Wait. So it’s a bar and then, like, pinball machines and videogames?

Amanda: Yep!

Sarah: Oh, humanity gives me such hope sometimes.

Amanda: [Laughs]

Sarah: That’s frigging cool!

Amanda: And so he was running late, and he knows that I get anxious when I’m running late? He’s like, I’m so sorry. He’s like, I have something that’ll make it up to you. I was like, you don’t have to do that; you let me know you’re running late; it’s fine. We get back to his apartment. He had bought a sleeve of macarons?

Sarah: [Squeaks]

Amanda: ‘Cause he had gone out to get boba that morning, and he remembered that I have a sweet tooth and I like sweet treats, and he’s like –

Sarah: [Sighs]

Amanda: – I bet Amanda would like – the sweetest thing. The sweetest thing!

Sarah: Also –

Amanda: Literally and figuratively.

Sarah: – the fact that they recognized that –

Amanda: You can use he, by the way.

Sarah: Oh, it’s he –

Amanda: We talked about pronouns?

Sarah: He or they?

Amanda: He or they.

Sarah: Okay.

Amanda: He feels more comfortable with he than they, but uses it to signify that he identifies as genderfluid. So –

Sarah: Got it, cool. All right.

Amanda: – he is fine.

Sarah: So the fact that Brian recognized that anxiety, that you are anxious when you are late? So good!

Amanda: So far, very, like, super considerate, super sweet. We are both words of affirmation people, so we have been insufferable.

[Laughter]

Sarah: You’re the sweetest. No, you’re the sweetest! No, you’re the sweetest! No, you’re the sweetest!

Amanda: Yeah, just constantly affirming one another back and forth. So things have been going very well.

Sarah: I’m so happy! That’s so nice!

Amanda: So that’s my, my good stuff.

Sarah: Well, speaking of words of affirmation, I have saved some email to share with you.

Amanda: Yay, email!

Sarah: All right, are you ready?

Amanda: Yes!

Sarah: All right. This email is from Emmy. Emmy says –

Amanda: Hi, Emmy!

Sarah: Emmy says, “Just wanted to say thank you for the podcast and website! I discovered your podcast early on in Covid when I absolutely needed stories with happy endings. I hadn’t been a romance reader previously, but you, Amanda, and the whole crew over there at SBTB totally changed that. Thank you for all the wonderful conversations and book recs! Y’all have brought SO MUCH JOY to my life over the last couple years. Thanks for sharing the love.

“Looking forward to many more happy endings!

“Emmy”

Amanda: Aww! Emmy, thank you! Also, kind of sad that Emmy started listening to us at the start of the pandemic and then proceeds to say, you’ve brought me joy through the last couple years.

Sarah: I know.

Amanda: Oh right, we’ve been dealing this for a few years now! [Laughs]

Sarah: Last night I went to Letterkenny Live in DC.

Amanda: [Gasps] How was it?

Sarah: Okay, it was pretty good. There were things I absolutely frigging loved and things I was like, what is happening right now? But our tickets had the original date on them?

Amanda: Yes!

Sarah: Our tickets were for March 20th, 2020.

Amanda: Oh my God.

Sarah: And it was rescheduled twice; we finally saw it. It’s really interesting to do, to, to go see that on the same day that I did a podcast interview about Kickstarters and about –

Amanda: Yeah!

Sarah: – engaging with the fans of the thing that you create, because this was clearly for fans. I mean, obviously; who’s going to pay –

Amanda: Yeah!

Sarah: – to go see a live show of a TV show from Canada –

Amanda: If you’re, yeah, if you –

Sarah: – right?

Amanda: – haven’t seen the show, yeah.

Sarah: Right, if you haven’t seen Letterkenny, you’re not going to be like, I’ll just go to that. Tickets day of? Like, it was sold out, and tickets day of were like hundreds of dollars. The part that I loved was that there are recurring characters and recurring sort of skits inside the show? Not really skits but, like, there’s a sequence of jokes that you expect from –

Amanda: Like bits –

Together: – yeah –

Sarah: – from those characters, and they clearly wrote personal, specific jokes for each location, which I thought was really cool. Like, they did a whole slew of jokes about DC and DC sports teams and, you know, things about being in Washington? There were live conversations that were kind of like conversations that happen in the show. They showed their new blooper reel; they showed a preview of next season. That part I loved. The thing I didn’t like was that there was standup from two of the actors, and one of them is just not my thing. He does a lot of, like, awkward, cringe, like what is ha- –

Amanda: Oh, can’t, can’t do it.

Sarah: No, it was, it was like, he’s singing a song about a guy who names bears, and then you had to sing along. I’m like, I did not pay for the secondhand embarrassment –

Amanda: Hmmm.

Sarah: – of sitting next to strangers doing a sing-along with standup. Like, this was not what I expected? But the other actors stand up – K. Trevor Wilson, he was great! He was hilarious, but he, he’s a good standup comic. I think for me it was just the first guy – I think his name’s Mark Forward – I just, that’s not my style? I don’t like awkward, cringe, secondhand embarrassment –

Amanda: Yeah.

Sarah: – comedy, and that’s kind of what he was going for?

Amanda: And, like, standup comedy, I feel like you have to be prepared to go into, like, a standup comedy show –

Sarah: Yes!

Amanda: – you know what I mean?

Sarah: Yes.

Amanda: You kind of like know. The vibes might not be there.

Sarah: Yeah, yeah.

Amanda: Ooh!

Sarah: Yeah. So that part was not my favorite. The part where they personalized it? My abs- – I loved that. My absolute favorite part, though, was at the end: all of the people from the cast who were there got up and introduced themselves and said where they were from in Canada, and then they each said something that they loved about having been in the DC area.

Amanda: Aww!

Sarah: They each said something nice, like –

Amanda: How Canadian!

Sarah: So Canadian; like the most Canadian thing. And then Jared Keeso, the lead, who plays Wayne, he said, I’m going to sound so Canadian, but y’all just have the most pretty city. This, this is absolutely beautiful. I mean, he’s here with, there’s cherry blossoms everywhere and it’s spring –

Amanda: Yeah.

Sarah: – and it’s, you know, sunny! He, he got DC at a real good moment. And it was so sweet to have each of them just say something nice about where they were? And at the end it was a sort of sense of, like, all the people in the theater were thanking them for making this show that we love so much, which I was totally down for. That part I loved; that was the best part.

But I went to a thing! I went out and did a thing!

Amanda: You did go to a thing!

Sarah: With people! A lot of people. And I wore a black and red flannel, ‘cause I thought, I’m going to see Letterkenny; it’s a rural comedy –

Amanda: Yeah!

Sarah: Ev- – [laughs] – I think –

Amanda: Everybody wore flannel?

Sarah: – I think a solid eight percent had my shirt on. [Laughs] I’ve never been so trendy!

Amanda: At least you were comfy, right?

Sarah: I was super comfy.

Amanda: In your flannel?

Sarah: Super comfy, and I, I like going to things where I don’t have to dress up, right? I’m, I’m getting into – you know how you watch women get older and you start to wear more drapey, drapey fabrics? I’m like, you know what? I’m, I’m totally –

Amanda: Caftans!

Sarah: Yeah!

Amanda: Try to figure out how to dress yourself for social settings now, instead of –

Sarah: I forgot how! [Laughs[

Amanda: – going to the store or, like, going to the bookstore or whatever, it’s like, I have to be out in public doing, like, a nice function or go to, like, a bar or a restaurant. Like –

Sarah: Yeah.

Amanda: – what am I, what am I wearing? And I’m –

Sarah: Oh yeah.

Amanda: – unearthing things that I haven’t worn in like two years. Like, oh, that’s right, I have, I own this dress!

Sarah: I own a going-out top! What is that for?

Amanda: I know! [Laughs]

Sarah: I have a dress that I bought when my sister-in-law got married in 2019 and I was a bridesmaid – very strange to do this in my forties –

Amanda: For people who don’t know, I believe this was the wedding where Sarah and her husband exchanged clothes.

Sarah: That is the exact wedding, yes. I put on his tux –

Amanda: Yeah.

Sarah: – and he put on my dress for the part where the wedding party was introduced.

Amanda: And they took a very cute photo!

Sarah: Yes, we took many, many selfies.

Amanda: [Laughs]

Sarah: I will never have that many pockets in my life ever again. That tux had 112 pockets. I just kept finding pockets, and then I put on the gown and had zero pockets, and I was very sad. But –

Amanda: Like, what is this?

Sarah: – when I went to the boutique to get fitted for the bridesmaid’s gown they were having a sale, and so I bought a dress on clearance that is blue, it’s like a deep blue shift dress down to my knees, but it has a chiffon cape? Remember capes?

Amanda: Oooh!

Sarah: I don’t know if I can even wear this dress! Do people wear capes anymore? I don’t know! What do people wear outside?

Amanda: No capes!

Sarah: I, is this a no capes thing? Do I just need to sell this dress? Like I’ve never worn it; it has a cape; what do I do?

Amanda: You wear it!

Sarah: Where?

Amanda: You’ve got to wear it!

Sarah: To the grocery store? [Laughs]

Amanda: To the grocery store!

Sarah: I’m walking the dogs in my cape! Yeah, The Lady makes us look good!

[Laughter]

Amanda: You’ve got to get them little matching capes!

Sarah: Ooh! We did just get the little one groomed. He would look good in a cape. He has a very jaunty groomer bandana. We were expecting Easter, but they gave us blue with, with paw prints; I was very excited.

Amanda: Then you’d match.

Sarah: Right? We would match.

Amanda: Yeah.

Sarah: So I have another email for you.

Amanda: Okay! Bring it!

Sarah: So we had a whole conversation on the show about cozy fantasy –

Amanda: Yes.

Sarah: – and Jennifer M. – I’m going to put this in the chat – sent me –

Amanda: Okay.

Sarah: – a link to this book, which seems to be the most obvious cross and the most obvious example.

Amanda: Okay! This –

Sarah: It’s Legends & Lattes, which is a cross between a D&D and a coffee shop AU

Amanda: This cover spawned a Rec League that we did.

Sarah: Yeah! Yes, it did!

Amanda: Yeah!

Sarah: And I can’t believe when we were talking about, when we were talking about cozy fantasy, the tag line of Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree is A Novel of High Fantasy and Low Stakes.

Amanda: Low stakes!

Sarah: Yep! High fantasy, low stakes. Jennifer also said – in a, in a previous episode that I did with Emily Jane Buehler we were talking about bread, because Emily teaches bread baking at a folk school in North Carolina, and I was like, I want people to tell me what their sourdough starters are named, because sourdough starter naming is hilarious.

Amanda: I don’t think my brother has named his.

Sarah: [Gasps] He needs to give it a pet, punny name! Like, mine was originally Stinky Pete 2.0, because my original sourdough was Stinky Pete and this is Stink Pete 2, but then I discovered a sourdough name that Adam insisted we adopt, which is Steve Glutenberg. Jennifer says their starter, which, thanks to the, “thanks to listening to the episode I just got out of the fridge and fed for the first time in weeks, think happy thought – is Alex, because a symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast needs a non-gendered name.”

Amanda: Mmm!

Sarah: “Thanks for visiting our eardrums!” Thank you, Jennifer! And then –

Amanda: I, I messaged my brother to see if he has a sourdough starter name, but my brother is currently biking several hundred miles – for fun! – so I don’t know when we’ll –

Sarah: You know he’s going to pull the bike over and write you like a wall of text about all of the names he’s considered.

Amanda: He will not. I mean, I think I showed you his first attempt at sourdough, and it looked like a hockey puck.

Sarah: I have another starter email to share from Gigi. I love, people are like –

Amanda: So many!

Sarah: I love the fact, okay, first of all, I love when listeners email me. It makes me so happy. I love the messages; I love the email; it makes me happy. And I have to say, we, we launched the Lovestruck Daily podcast in early February, like around Valentine’s Day? We’ve already had four guests who have emailed us and said, I want to come on and tell you my love story.

Amanda: Awww!

Sarah: After a month and a half. Like, that’s amazing. It took years before I got listener email for this show, but the, Lovestruck Daily, people wanted to be telling us their love stories like almost immediately. It makes me so happy! I mean –

Amanda: That’s sweet!

Sarah: – I’m such a dork, I get excited when people tag me on Instagram with how much they love the show, so that also makes me happy.

Amanda: So hint, hint to everybody listening: feel free to email Sarah, tag Sarah.

Sarah: Tell me all your sourdough names!

Amanda: [Laughs]

Sarah: Also, people send me bad jokes, and it’s the greatest thing in the whole world.

Amanda: That’s true, yeah.

Sarah: It’s so good.

Amanda: You’ve created a monster with that one –

Sarah: I know. It’s so great!

So Gigi says, “My sourdough starter’s name is Wilhelmina, daughter of Big Bertha.”

[Laughs] That’s awesome!

Amanda: I want to know the legacy that Big Bertha has left behind.

Sarah: I have that information right here.

Amanda: Wonderful!

Sarah: “It’s an offshoot of another starter from my old cooking class (circa 2005).”

Amanda: Oh wow!

Sarah: “One of my classmates was of German heritage so named the class starter Big Bertha.” She named it.

“I wanted an equally powerful name with the same vibe for my offshoot so called mine Wilhelmina. That it also reminds me of Vanessa Williams’ character in Ugly Betty, who I love, which is a bonus.

“Thank you for all your hard work on the podcast!

“Gigi”

Oh yay!

Amanda: Big Bertha’s legacy lives on.

Sarah: Wilhelmina, daughter of Big Bertha. This is great! And I mean since a, since a starter can be like a low-key toddler – like, you’ve got to feed it; you’ve got to keep track of it – I can understand wanting to give it a powerful name.

Amanda: Yeah.

Sarah: So let’s talk book recs! Let’s talk –

Amanda: Okay!

Sarah: – books that you are recommending and books in the spring that you are looking forward to. I have five – six.

Amanda: Okay.

Sarah: I have six.

Amanda: So I –

Sarah: So you tell me one and I’ll tell you one.

Amanda: I just went and looked at my Goodreads and books that I’m looking forward to for 2022.

Sarah: Is it a long list?

Amanda: I narrowed it down to five!

Sarah: Wooow! Bring me!

Amanda: Yeah.

Sarah: Tell me one of them! Tell me one of them.

Amanda: Super easy, not a surprise: in September, the new Locked Tomb book, Nona the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir –

Sarah: Obviously!

Amanda: – comes out! So there was Gideon, there was Harrow; now we’re onto book three! Super excited for it!

Sarah: Wow!

Amanda: That’s, that’s one of my picks. It’s not a surprise.

Sarah: I –

Amanda: The other four might be, like, new to everyone, but I feel like a lot of people have this on their –

Sarah: I love that two of the skeletons in the background of the Nona the Ninth cover? Two of the skeletons appear to be having sex.

Amanda: Yeah! For sure!

Sarah: I love that.

Amanda: I’m super excited. That’s not until September. I feel like my spring is, is light. Things don’t start getting heavy until like summer, until like July, August, September –

Sarah: Which is funny, because so many of the books that were rescheduled in 2021 are coming out in May of 2022. Like, there’s so many books.

Amanda: Well, like, April 5th that just passed was like one of the biggest release days I’ve seen in so –

Sarah: Oh my gosh, yeah, there were so –

Amanda: – long. So that was, that’s one of my five.

Sarah: So one of my five is –

Amanda: Okay.

Sarah: – the sequel to Payback’s a Witch by Lana Harper, From Bad to Cursed. It’s coming out –

Amanda: I love the cover!

Sarah: It’s gorgeous!

Amanda: I love the cover of that one.

Sarah: I, there, there is some work that happens in illustrated covers where I’m like, fuck yeah, that’s gorgeous!

Amanda: That one really knocked it out of the park.

Sarah: And I love –

Amanda: And I just love the like kind of muted, like, teal –

Sarah: Yeah.

Amanda: – and, like, the snake –

Sarah: The, the filigree and the snakes, yeah.

Amanda: Yeah.

Sarah: And I really liked the world in Payback’s a Witch; I really liked the narrator; I really liked the idea that there was this town full of witches and they’ve got family drama? I realized that I love a good low-stakes family drama.

Amanda: You do love a low-stakes family drama!

Sarah: I love a low-stakes family drama.

Amanda: Plus, like, magic. Yeah!

Sarah: Plus – low-stakes family drama and magic: I’m here for it. So I am –

Amanda: Yeah!

Sarah: – very excited about From Bad to Cursed, also because I think Lana Harper is a really interesting writer. There are some things that are constantly described in novels; for example, you’re, you might get a description of a setting or hair or character or clothing –

Amanda: Yeah.

Sarah: – and Lana Harper’s way of writing descriptions is so interesting and unique? Like –

Amanda: Hmm!

Sarah: – they take the time to think about the words they’re using, and it’s, it’s like, oh, you could have just described this as an, an, in any number of familiar ways, and this is, this is, this is interesting; this is different.

All right, what’s another book that you are looking forward to?

Amanda: Okay, we’ll do a July one; we’ll do a, a sooner one. It’s called For Butter or Worse by Erin La Rosa.

Sarah: Oooh!

Amanda: Also really good illustrated cover! It has, it has, like, the details, it’s like a, the two characters, but they’re very detailed in how they’re drawn and illustrated?

Sarah: Yeah?

Amanda: Cooking, cooking reality competition show?

Sarah: Oh, hello, catnip! Hello, catnip!

Amanda: They’re, they’re co-hosts, and the hero is described as a smarmy jerk –

Sarah: Fine!

Amanda: – so –

Sarah: Yep, ‘kay.

Amanda: – I would love to read about this heroine knocking him down a peg for sure. And the hero has, like, a, a slice of cake on the cover, and the heroine’s, like, brandishing a fork at him. It looks so much fun.

Sarah: That’s like all your jam. That’s like –

Amanda: Yeah. So excited about that one.

Sarah: – that’s the opposite of red velvet cake for you.

Amanda: Fuck red velvet cake! I’m just – [sighs] – it’s, it’s –

Sarah: See?

Amanda: – become a point of contention between me and everybody else in the world.

Sarah: If you’re going to make a chocolate flavor, just go all the way. Don’t turn it –

Amanda: Just do, like, if you like cream cheese frosting, just do, like, a devil’s food cake and cream cheese frosting.

Sarah: Yeah! Or –

Amanda: You don’t need to –

Sarah: – call me crazy, just make the cream cheese frosting and get a spoon.

Amanda: And just eat the cream cheese frosting.

Sarah: Just get a spoon. I mean, a lot of the time cake is a vehicle for icing.

Amanda: Yes! One hundred percent! I love cake. I love cake! But I also recognize that cake is just a vehicle to eat frosting.

Sarah: Which is why you see cupcakes with like two-thirds of the height of the cupcake of icing on top.

Amanda: And then you make, do you make the cupcake sandwich?

Sarah: I have in the past. It depends on whether I want to preserve that little twirly part of the icing.

Amanda: Ohhh!

Sarah: But I will also, like –

Amanda: I’m just like unhinge jaw. Just –

Sarah: Gah! [Laughs]

Amanda: Yeah.

Sarah: All right. My next one that I am looking forward to is out in June.

Amanda: Okay.

Sarah: So June 7th, The Perfect Crimes of Marian Hayes by Cat Sebastian is coming out.

Amanda: I was like, why does that title sound familiar? And then you said the author; I was like, oh, okay, got it, yeah.

Sarah: And you know exactly which cover it is, right? It’s the –

Amanda: Where she’s jumping into –

Sarah: Yeah.

Amanda: – the guy’s arms.

Sarah: One character is jumping into another character’s arms. They’re both wearing cutaway long coats with tails.

Amanda: Like, yeah!

Sarah: Yeah. So I, I know you saw the review that I wrote for Hither, Page and The Missing Page –

Amanda: Yes!

Sarah: – the Page & Sommers series.

Amanda: Yes.

Sarah: Oh my gosh. I started reading it, and I was just like, oooh! The Blanket of Good Reading has come over my shoulders!

Amanda: [Laughs]

Sarah: Nobody talk to me! And I just, like, booked it – no pun intended – through one and then two, and then I was like, oh, there’s only two! Ooh, sadness! ‘Cause usually if I find a mystery series it was like, originally published 2001: here are nineteen books for you to read!

Amanda: There’s like twenty of them, yeah.

Sarah: Yeah, exactly, exactly. But I loved The Missing Page; I loved Hither, Page. I thought the series was just adorable, and I’m really excited about The Perfect Crimes of Marian Hayes. There’s a previous one in the series; it’s The Queer Principles of Kit Webb. I’m really excited about that because I find that for me, in addition to low-stakes family drama crossed with magic, I love historical mystery and, you know, family and interpersonal drama. You know me; I’m an interpersonal, I’m an internal conflict reader, so I’m so excited about this book.

Amanda: So this is a July release: it’s called The Bodyguard by Katherine Center? The hero is an actor, and the heroine is his bodyguard.

Sarah: Oooh!

Amanda: I know! And I love the cover; the cover, to me, does not convey the, the book description, but it’s, like, the cover gives me, like, Texas, like 1960s, 1970s? Beautiful! And so when I saw it I was like, I don’t know – just based on the cover I was like, I don’t know if this is my jam at all, but then I read the description, and I was like, wait a second.

Sarah: That’s gorgeous!

Amanda: I love the, like, cowboy boots and tassels and, or, like, fringe or whatever, but yeah! So that one –

Sarah: And the flowers in the front; that’s a good-looking cover! It’s very, very eye-catching.

Amanda: But definitely does not communicate, hey, this is an actor and she’s his bodyguard. [Laughs]

Sarah: Right? Yeah. That’s a different thing. That’s way a different thing.

Amanda: But very excited about it; it looks like it’ll be very fun! And so it’s on my list!

Sarah: On my list of books that I know an absolute bucket-ton of people are looking forward to, and I am also curious about, is Book Lovers by Emily Henry.

Amanda: Oooh!

Sarah: And I’ll give you a secret piece of information that I will share with you and all of the people who listen to the podcast: I am going to be doing an interview with her on the show!

Amanda: [Gasps] So I hosted an event – I think it was, I think it was for East City Bookshop? It was a virtual event. I moderated –

Sarah: I love East City! That’s one of my semi-locals.

Amanda: But I believe the event, if I remember correctly, that I was moderating was all-star lineup: Emily Henry –

Sarah: Right.

Amanda: – Christina Lauren –

Sarah: Okay, yep, mm-hmm!

Amanda: – Sonali Dev.

Sarah: Damn! That’s a good panel!

Amanda: They were so much fun. And so, like, Emily Henry’s going to be a wonderful, wonderful combo.

Sarah: I am very excited.

Amanda: Okay, this one, if it’s not on your list, it should be on your list. I feel like this is a very Sarah book.

Sarah: I am listening; my hands are on the keyboard; I am ready.

Amanda: The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches.

Sarah: [Sings] I have this in my TBR!

Amanda: Yeah! By Sangu Mandanna?

Sarah: Ohhh, I have heard –

Amanda: It looks like a perfect Sarah book.

Sarah: I have heard so many people going, oh my gosh, it’s so good!

Amanda: Witchy main character trying to help other witches. There’s like a, I think, like, the hero is, like, a prickly librarian.

Sarah: So family drama plus magic!

Amanda: Yeah. It seems like pretty low stakes.

Sarah: Yep!

Amanda: No, like, world ending if we don’t bang magic stuff. But it looks so fucking cute and cozy!

Sarah: Yes! I, I am here for all cozy trends. I am here for all the cozy trends.

All right, so this is not quite a romance? This is probably in the area between general fiction, romance, and women’s fiction, where it has an illustrated cover but it’s more, more a story centered on a single heroine more than the romance of two people?

Amanda: Yeah.

Sarah: But Lost and Found in Paris by Lian Dolan is about a mus-, museum curator searching for her lost sketchbook in Paris. So there’s virtual travel, hunting for a MacGuffin, and wandering all over the place. I, I kind of like this idea! I’m here for the setup! I am very curious about this book.

Amanda: Hmmm!

Sarah: Yeah, I mean, who doesn’t love lost and found in Paris? But you have to, if you’re, if you’re going to wander all over Paris and you’re going to look for your lost sketchbook, watch where you step, ‘cause people in Paris do not pick up their dog poop. It is the single worst thing about Paris. It’s just poopy. Poop everywhere, poop, poop, poop. I –

Amanda: Just poopy!

Sarah: It’s just poopy. There’s a lot of poop, like literal feces, on the ground.

Amanda: I mean, my Paris experience was very minimal, so.

Sarah: Well, there’s no poop in the Louvre. You’re not allowed –

Amanda: [Laughs]

Sarah: – to take a dump on the road in the Louvre; that’s not allowed. They’re going to get mad.

Amanda: There’s no poop in the Louvre. I feel like that –

Sarah: No poop – [laughs] – somebody’s going to write in and be like –

Amanda: It’s like a weird, old, like, idiom. It’s like, you know what they say –

Sarah: There’s no poop in the Louvre.

Amanda: – there’s no poop in the Louvre. Like, what?

Sarah: Somebody’s going to email and be like, I actually took a really big dump in the Louvre, and it was great.

Amanda: Good for you!

Sarah: Yeah, good for you! [Laughs]

Amanda: It’s peaceful. I can understand! You’re surrounded by priceless works of art.

Sarah: Everything in your body relaxes –

Amanda: You can relax.

Sarah: – you want to go take a little break; that’s fine!

Amanda: Got it!

Sarah: Yeah!

Amanda: My last book comes out in October –

Sarah: Yeah?

Amanda: – and I’m very excited. So we’re returning to the Kingmaker Chronicles by Amanda Bouchet.

Sarah: Oh!

Amanda: So the first three books are the same couple, but now this is book four, and she’s moving on to a different couple in the same world.

Sarah: Oooh! That’s exciting!

Amanda: So I’m excited to kind of like dip back in –

Sarah: That’s fabulous!

Amanda: – to the books.

Sarah: Are you going to reread?

Amanda: Do a reread?

Sarah: Oh yeah.

Amanda: I might do a reread; I’m not sure yet. I’m a bad rereader.

Sarah: I know! I know that’s not your thing, which is why I ask.

Amanda: I know.

Sarah: But –

Amanda: So I don’t know. But –

Sarah: I think when you have a world as rich as that one, when you have a, a worldbuilding that has so much lore and stuff, when you reread it you’ll see new things. It won’t be like –

Amanda: Yeah.

Sarah: – oh, I read this and my brain is bored.

Amanda: So the new book is called A Curse of Queens, and it has, the captain of the guard Flynn is, like, the hero, and you’ve –

Sarah: Ooh!

Amanda: – like, if you read the series you, you’re familiar, but I’m excited to kind of like get back into the, the worldbuilding, have a new couple. I’m curious, I don’t know about, like, the next sort of like story arc, so I don’t know if, like, four, five, and six are going to be, like, the same couple?

Sarah: Right. Or if it’s four –

Amanda: You know, like, do the trilogy thing that, like, Ilona Andrews does or whatever? Or if it’s switching entirely to be like one new couple, like, per book.

Sarah: That’s cool though!

Amanda: I don’t know yet, but I’m excited –

Sarah: High stakes, high bloodshed! High fantasy, high stakes.

Amanda: I know! I had to get one in there. At least one.

Sarah: High fantasy, high stakes.

All right, my last one is a bit of a departure?

Amanda: Okay.

Sarah: This is a YA, and I don’t read a lot of YA lately?

Amanda: Okay.

Sarah: But the cover and the title and the setup are so completely cute, and then the minute I read the title I get a song from when I was very young stuck in my head.

Amanda: Okay.

Sarah: It is called Melt with You by Jennifer Dugan.

Amanda: I stop the world –

Together: – and melt with you.

Sarah: Yeah.

Amanda: [Laughs]

Sarah: Like, that is such a, an everlasting banger, that song? Like, it’s a –

Amanda: Hmm, I’m going to look at the cover.

Sarah: So it is about two, two, two people, two girls who used to be best friends, and then they hooked up right before one left for college, and now they are not speaking together, speaking to each other, and now –

Amanda: What was the author again, Sarah?

Sarah: Jennifer Dugan. And so they are, their moms own a business together, a gourmet ice cream truck, and then their moms have an opportunity to make some presentation, and so they have to work a series of food truck festivals across the country in the ice cream truck together. And so the cover is the ice cream truck parked in a parking lot overlooking this long vista of, like, mountains and clouds, and the two girls are sitting on the roof of the truck, and I just think everything about this is just so cute, I really want to read it. And it’s such a –

Amanda: Jennifer Dugan also did Hot Dog Girl –

Sarah: Yeah!

Amanda: – which I remember being very interested in, ‘cause it’s got a girl in a hot dog suit!

Sarah: I mean, how could you not, right? And –

Amanda: All of my interests.

Sarah: – I just love the title; I love the concept; I love the cover. It’s like, here is a perfect little confection designed for you. Here you are!

Amanda: It looks like, the cover gives very, like, warm, warm summer vibes –

Sarah: Yeah! And there’s a, there’s a definite subgenre of YA romances where it’s, we have this limited time that is summer to do things in. We’re, our relationship –

Amanda: Yeah.

Sarah: – happens in this particular period of time, whether it’s camp or working or summer job or whatever. That’s a compressed, limited timeline and forced proximity, and I’m just like, this is so cute! I want to read it! So I’m really excited to read it. And that comes out May 17th, so that’s a spring book. Although, with the way publishing works, May 17th is probably like Winter 2023.

Amanda: Summer, yeah! [Laughs]

Sarah: Yeah, it’s like Winter two years from now; that’s when this book is actually, like, what, that, that’s it’s schedule –

Amanda: I forget, like, they don’t have Summer season. It’s just Spring, Winter, Fall or Fall, Winter.

Sarah: Yeah. But I’m really excited about that one.

Amanda: Good picks!

Sarah: So tell me what you’re reading right now. If you’re not reading anything, that’s okay –

Amanda: I –

Sarah: – ‘cause I’ve been –

Amanda: No, I have a purse, I have a purse book.

Sarah: – bit of a slump!

Amanda: Come on, purse book! Ugh. I know you’re in here! I –

Sarah: How big is your purse?!

Amanda: It’s – look, Sarah, I don’t need judgment from you, okay?

Sarah: [Laughs]

Amanda: I’ve got, like, scarves and hats and –

Sarah: Well, I mean, you live in Boston; it’s still winter there, right?

Amanda: It’s true. I’m, I’m doing a, we’re going back to Katee Robert’s –

Sarah: I just –

Amanda: – O’Malleys series.

Sarah: – talked to her yesterday!

Amanda: Yeah, The Marriage Contract! This is my purse book!

Sarah: Ooh!

Amanda: I remember Elyse really loved the series. It’s set in Boston. And I don’t think I, I read these, so I bought a used copy, and that’s my purse book right now is –

Sarah: I love it!

Amanda: – The Marriage Contract, Katee Robert.

Sarah: I love it!

Amanda: That’s what I’m doing, yeah!

Sarah: That’s fabulous!

Amanda: Speaking of, like, being an old –

Sarah: Yes!

Amanda: – there’s, like, this TikTok; it’s like, going out in your thirties or whatever –

Sarah: [Laughs]

Amanda: – and it’s like, someone’s like, are there going to be chairs there? Can I sit?

Sarah: That’s a good question!

Amanda: And it’s like, is it going to take longer than fifteen minutes to get there? And someone checks Maps like, it looks like it’s going to take sixteen minutes. They’re like, nope –

Sarah: Nope.

Amanda: – not going.

Sarah: Nah.

Amanda: No.

Sarah: Nope.

Amanda: [Laughs]

Sarah: Can I wear comfy shoes?

Amanda: Are there chairs?

[music]

Sarah: And that brings us to the end of this week’s episode. Thank you, as always, to Amanda for hanging out with me. I will have links to all of the books we mention – do not worry! – in the show notes at smartbitchestrashybooks.com/podcast, but I bet you knew that. I bet you knew that.

I do want to know, what books are you looking forward to this spring, summer, fall, who cares what season it is? I barely remember what year it is, but I want to know what books you are really excited about. You can email me at sbjpodcast@gmail.com. You can leave me a message and tell me at 1-201-371-3272, or you can record yourself on your phone and then email me the file; that is also cool. And if you want to tell me a bad joke, that’s even more fabulous, but I would love to hear from you! What books are you looking forward to? Tell me all about them, because I don’t know if you know this: there’s a lot of books. Like, since I started recording this outro, probably six hundred books have been published. There’s no way I could possibly know about all of them, so please tell me which ones are your faves? I would like to know!

As always, I end with a terrible joke! This joke is from Maggie, who sent me a whole list of wonderful jokes. Are you ready?

Why do seals swim in salt water?

Give up? Why do seals swim in salt water?

Because pepper water makes them sneeze!

[Laughs] Pepper water!

On behalf of everyone here, we wish you the very best of reading. Have a wonderful weekend, and we’ll see you back here next week.

Smart Podcast, Trashy Books is part of the Frolic Podcast Network. You can find outstanding podcasts to subscribe to at frolic.media/podcasts.

[charming music]