The Worst Bestsellers

  In honor of our 300th episode, we decided to go back to where it all began: Forks, Washington! We re-read Twilight by Stephenie Meyer with our special guest, THE Meredith Goldstein of the Boston Globe Love Letters column and podcast. Thanks so much to Meredith, everyone who turned out for the live event, everyone who’s been listening to this podcast over the past 300 episodes, and of course to Stephenie Meyer. Readers advisory: Here. Footnotes: Watch the video replay of our live event at Porter Square Books! Episode 181 – The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner Episode 158 – Midnight Sun Episode 82 – Breaking Dawn Episode 58 – Eclipse Episode 40 – Twilight Life and Death Episode 31 – New Moon Episode 01 – Twilight Coming up next: Patreon Choice: Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman.

  Did you ever wish you could read something that was kinda like Harry Potter, but with way more graphic torture and sexual assault? No? Well, apparently a whole lot of people did want that, because Alchemised by SenLinYu is a huge bestseller. We discussed it with our long-suffering friend Nicole. Before you listen to this episode, please give us $1. I think you’ll all agree that we earned it. Content warning: Discussion of Harry Potter (and its transphobic author); also sexual assault, death, torture, pretty much any grimdark type of content warning you could imagine, this book probably has. Readers advisory: Here. Footnotes: “Alchemised: how Harry Potter fanfic went mainstream” by Chas Newkey-Burden “What Is ‘Manacled’? Everything to Know About the Viral Fan Fiction By ‘Alchemised’ Author SenLinYu” by Maddie Ellis Manacled & Alchemised Direct Character List on Reddit Original Manacled Fanfiction link on Internet Archive SenLinYu on Tumblr Daniel Radcliffe Responds to J.K. Rowling’s Tweets on Gender Identity Coming up next: Twilight by Stephenie Meyer.

Somehow, we’ve been podcasting for 12 years? And Stephenie Meyer rudely did not release any new books this year, so we were forced to read Court by Tracy Wolff, book 4 in her deeply derivative (but not legally plagiarized) Crave series. Our OG guest Carrie joined us to navigate this boring escape room. Thank you all so much for listening to us for (up to) twelve years! Please listen to this episode while manifesting new output from Stephenie Meyer. Announcement: Please join us on Friday, October 9th at 6:30pm for our special 300th episode live show! We’ll be discussing Twilight with Meredith Goldstein. It will be free to attend at Porter Square Books and also livestreamed for those who can’t make it in person. Readers advisory: Here. Footnotes: Courtney Milan’s BlueSky thread on Tracy Wolff’s court case The newest update on the plagiarism case “After 6,000 Romantasy Pages, Judge Hands Crave Plaintiff the Bill” by Aaron Moss Crave timeline on Reddit Episode 227 – Crave Episode 249 – Crush Episode 274 – Covet Coming up next: Alchemised by SenLinYu.

  Lock up your children and manuscripts: we read Verity by Colleen Hoover. We were joined by Renata’s cherished friend Jake to discuss this BookTok sensation. Listen to this episode while you sand the teeth marks out of your headboard. Announcement: Please join us on Friday, October 9th at 6:30pm for our special 300th episode live show! We’ll be discussing Twilight with Meredith Goldstein. It will be free to attend at Porter Square Books and also livestreamed for those who can’t make it in person. Content warning: This book and our discussion of it contains the death of children. Readers advisory: Here. Footnotes: Episode 213 – It Ends With Us Overdue Episode 607 – Slammed Verity movie trailer “Steak ‘n Shake’s new chief MAHA officer: We’re going ‘back to the glory days of fast food’” by Sophie Brams Grammarphobia on Realtors Coming up next: Court by Tracy Wolff.

Flashback Summer is over, but we still ended up back in 1855…or did we? By popular request, we read Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke. We were joined by S. Jae-Jones, author of the Guardians of Dawn series (including the latest in the series, Suhwa.) Listen to this episode while you churn your butter. (It’s an extra long ep so you might have time to make a fresh loaf of bread, too!) Content warning: This book and our discussion of it contains sexual assault. Readers advisory: Here. Footnotes: Diabolical Lies podcast “Ballerina Farm is Happy With Her Choices” by Stephanie McNeal “Here’s what you don’t see about Ballerina Farm’s tradwife life – and it’s depressing af” by Laura Butler “Anne Hathaway makes first comment about Yesteryear adaptation after author addresses book’s backlash” by Shelby Stivale Fundie Fridays Episode #214 – Corinne Coming up next: Verity by Colleen Hoover.