Hot Girls Read Podcast

S6 E6: Join us in conversation with Gregory Grosvenor, writer, author, teacher and fellow only child. We talk about Greg’s early inspirations in writing, from growing up in Germany, supportive parents, and an early conviction to write. We then delve into a myriad of topics including Greg’s experience as a creative writing teacher, his past as an alcoholic, and of course, his debut novel, Second Pocket First, full of quirky characters, bucolic Vermont scenery, great outfits, and some good old fashioned burglary. To learn more about Greg Grosvenor and to purchase Second Pocket First, you can check out his website, and follow him on Instagram.

S6E4: While the days are getting shorter and the temperatures are dropping lower, being indoors is looking a lot more cozy. In other words, it's the perfect season to get back to reading! Not only is autumn THE season for reading, but there are so many sub-genres that perfectly compliment the moody weather and spooky atmosphere of fall. Tune in to hear our recommendations for witchy and gothic reads, to cozy, dark academia, and just plain dark. We also spend some time reviewing lists compiled by reading platforms (GoodReads and Fable) on suggested autumnal reads. As ever, happy reading from the Hot Girls Read podcast. Titles MentionedThe Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu MandannaThe Secret History by Donna TartLegends and Lattes by Travis Baldree, Discworld series by Terry PratchettThe Blue Castle by L.M. MontgomeryThe Dead Romantics by Ashley PostonThe Hexologists by Josiah BancroftThe Wisteria society for Lady Scoundrels by India HoltonWeird Woods: Tales from the Haunted Woods of Britain (A British Library short story collection)Anything by Shirley Jackson (Haunting of Hill House, We Have always lived in the Castle) Rebecca by Daphne du MaurierNinth House by Leigh BardugoAce of Spades by Faridah Àbíké-ÍyímídéIf We Were Villains by M.L. RioBunny by Mona AwadTemptation of Magic by Megan ScottAnne of Green Gables by L.M. MontgomeryNatasha Preston booksA Study in Drowning by Ava ReidThe Ex Hex by Erin SterlingA Discovery of Witches by Deborah HarknessWeyward by Emilia HartThe Once and Future Witches by Alix E. HarrowPractical Magic by Alice HoffmanThe Green Witch: Your Complete Guide to the Natural Magic of Herbs, Flowers, Essential Oils, and More by Arin MurphySlewfoot by Alexis HendersonPsychic Witch by Mat AurynDracula by Bram StokerThe Hobbit by J.R.R. TolkeinJane Eyre by Charlotte BronteThe Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington IrvingThe Complete Stories and Poems by Edgar Allan PoeFollow us on Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/hotgirlsreadpodcast⁠ Check out our website: ⁠https://hotgirlsreadpodcast.com/⁠

S6E3: Settle in for a cozy and long overdue catch up with us! Life has been busy lately and it’s time for the two of us to debrief the start of the fall season, the back-to-school rush, and all the changes that have come with it. From moving countries, starting new jobs, solo trips, and all the little things, we had a lot to chat about. And of course, being us, somehow everything relates back to books and bookish things. What can we say – being a booklover (read, Literary It Girl) is a lifestyle! 

S6E2: If you love books, like really love books, you’ve probably dreamed of opening your own bookstore – we definitely have! Well, in this episode we’re getting ALL THE TEA on running a bookstore from Jamie Fortin, owner of Friends to Lovers, a romance bookstore in Alexandria, VA. From building a community to overcoming challenges (like a fire that almost shut her down before day 1!) and having fun with it all, Jamie has created a thriving business that proves that independent bookstores are here to stay. If you want to know what it takes to open a bookstore, or any business for that matter, this is an episode you must listen to. As Jamie says, if she can do it, you can too!

S6E1: Season 6 of the Hot Girls Read podcast has officially begun! We are opening the season by chatting with Kailu Yu: author, travel writer, and former pop star. Kaila’s recently released book, Fetishized, is a collection of essays that explore Kaila’s first hand experience of the fetishization of Asian women in the US during the early ‘00s. Not only do we cover everything from ABGs, import modelling, the fetishization of robots, and the current reality of racism towards Asians in the United States, but we also talk about Kaila’s journey from model and pop star to writer. This one is a conversation that touches on a little bit of everything!

S5E5: Greek Mythology retellings have always been popular, most memorably during our middle school days, but never have they seemed more widespread than they are right now. Greek retellings fill up the ‘New In’ shelves and people just can’t get enough of them – us included! In this episode we not only talk about the Greek myths and retellings we’ve read and loved (or didn’t love), but we also get into what drew us to Greek myths in the first place, as well as the differences we see among retellings, particularly between books geared towards adults versus young adults.   Content warning: Rape, Sexual Assault. Books Mentioned: Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan Ariadne by Jennifer Saint Elektra by Jennifer Saint Circe by Madeline Miller Galatea by Madeline Miller Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller Ithaca by Claire North House of Odysseus by Claire North Neon Gods by Katee Robert Electric Idol by Katee Robert Wicked Beauty by Katee Robert Iliad by Homer Stone Blind by Natalie Haynes Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/meetme_atthebookstore/

S5E3: This isn’t the first time we’ve talked about online bookish communities (see Season 2 Episode 4, The One Where We Talk About Booktok Parts 1 & 2), but this time we’re turning our eyes to Bookstagram. From blowing up during the COVID lockdown to now influencing the publishing industry and international book charts, Bookstagram is an ever-growing and powerful community, for better, and sometimes, for worse. Ayesha shares her own experience of building a bookstagram account and then we discuss themes we’ve noticed in the community – the good, the bad, and the ugly. If you’ve ever been convinced to get a book based off of someone's Instagram post, listen to this episode to get a behind the scenes look into the world of book influencing! Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/meetme_atthebookstore/

S5E2: Why is reading about relatable characters so fun? Why is it so frustrating when a character feels completely unrelatable? Is character relatability actually important to us as readers? Can fantasy characters still be realistic? These are some of the questions we delve into during this episode about unrelatable book characters. To begin, we go down a rabbit hole of discovering the differences between realistic vs. relatable/unrealistic vs. unrelatable when it comes to analyzing book characters. Our working definitions thus defined, we then share what the internet seems to think about the whole realistic/relatable character debate before getting into which characters we find the most relatable and unrelatable across both fantasy and fiction. Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/meetme_atthebookstore/

S5E1: Kicking off Season 5, we talk about how to get back into reading!  Almost everyone has experienced reading slumps of some sort. Whether you used to love reading when you were younger but can’t find the time or energy these days, are not as consistent a reader as you wish to be, or simply don’t know where to start when it comes to finding a new book, we’ve got you covered! Even as self-proclaimed bookworms, we too have endured our fair share of reading slumps, and in this conversation we lay down the best tips for how to get out of a reading slump, big or small, from our own experiences and that of our friends. Stay until the end for a rundown of our suggested books that are sure to get anyone out of a slump! Books Mentioned: Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier All My Rage by Sabaa Tahir The Fortunes of Jaded Women by Carolyn Huynh The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna  The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time by Mark Haddon Attached by Amir Levine & Rachel S. F. Heler Everything I Know About Love by Dolly Alderton Dear Dolly by Dolly Alderton The Lost City of the Monkey God by Douglas Preston In Defense of Witches by Mona Chollet Mott Street by Ava Chin Throne of Glass series by Sarah J. Maas An Ember in the Ashes series by Sabaa Tahir Deltora series by Emily Rodda Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/meetme_atthebookstore/ 

It’s time for our ‘flaming’ hot takes on the most hyped up fantasy book this year! It seems like everyone has been talking about “Fourth Wing” by Rebecca Yarros since the start of summer and with the release of the sequel earlier this week, it’s the perfect time for us to share our thoughts. As usual, we did not hold back, and voiced our many thoughts and criticisms concerning the school (was the Gauntlet an original idea or was Yarros watching too much American Ninja Warrior?), the writing (can we please talk about those name pronunciations?), the characters (how was Violet’s body managing the bedroom activities but not combat?), and much more. Recorded back in August, we consider this a cheeky episode from the vault!

For our second book of the book club series, we read “Beach Party” by Amy Sheppard. This was a particularly fun buddy read, as we read it whilst on our girls trip in Portugal! The Algarve was a world away from the blustery Cornish coast where the book takes place, which made it all the more fun as a breezy, beachy, murder mystery to dive into. The many red herrings and double twist in the book were no match for Ayesha’s detective skills, but still kept Julia on her toes.  After a quick synopsis, we talk about the characters, the writing, and the big reveal – covering all the things that we liked and the many that annoyed us (as usual).  The best part about reading this one was getting to yell out our thoughts to each other from the next sunbed over, and we highly recommend doing a buddy read with friends the next time you are on a group trip!

We’re starting a new monthly book club series, and each month the two of us will buddy-read a book and share all of our thoughts. For our first book of the series, we read “Attached” by Amir Levine and Rachel S.F. Heller. We open the episode by sharing our ratings and then delve into the three attachment styles: anxious, avoidant, and secure. We discuss in detail the various examples shared by the authors, and even get into our own experiences with the workbook activities.  Overall, “Attached” gave us much to talk about and to consider – we learned more about dating, relationships, and ourselves, and we hope to share that knowledge in this episode.

S3E14: The One Where We Re-read ‘Twilight’ For our last episode of the season, we continue our ‘re-read’ series with a special guest, our long-time friend Danielle! We all read ‘Twilight’ back when we were in middle school together in Saudi, so this was the perfect book for us to come back together and chat about. ‘Twilight’ is infamous for its cult following back in the day, but has it aged well? As always with our re-reads, our goal is to see how we react to the same stories we once read as kids, and whether our opinions have stayed the same or differed from our first read. Needless to say, our thoughts have changed A LOT, and we had so much fun talking and laughing about it! Books Mentioned: Twilight by Stephanie Meyer The Path to Love by Deepak Chopra Many Lives, Many Masters by Brian Weiss Aphrodite by Isabelle Allende A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara ---- 4:15 - Currently Reading9:00 - Overall Thoughts13:56 - Bella Swann26:39 - Edward Cullen34:30 - Bella & Edward48:24 - Other Characters54:52 - The Writing

S3E13: In celebration of Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage month, we are discussing romance reads from a pan-Asian perspective. As two Asian women ourselves, we wanted to take time to focus on Asian written romance and how we view the representation we read about. We go into the facets of representation that we love, but also the stereotypes that we don’t, and end with a segment on how the romance we have read throughout the years has influenced our dating lives! Books Mentioned: A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara We’ve Got This: Unlocking the Beauty of Unlocking by Ritu Bhasin The Path to Love By Deepak Chopra Dating Dr. Dil by Nisha Sharma The Trouble With Hating You by Sajni Patel The Phoenix King by Aparna Verma The Bride Test by Helen Hoang The Heart Principle by Helen Hoang When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandya Menon Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan ---- 1:17 - Currently Reading4:33 - Why this topic5:25 - What We Love15:53 - What We Didn't Like30:00 - Standards with Asian Romance35:26 - Dating: Fiction vs. Reality

S3E12: We are back again for another deep dive, and this time we delve into a YA contemporary fiction read by one of our favorite authors - ‘All My Rage’ by Sabaa Tahir. We have both talked a lot about our love for Sabaa Tahir’s ‘An Ember in the Ashes’ series, and we were equally enthralled by ‘All My Rage.’ As usual, there was much to discuss, including the various characters, plot nuances, and of course, our love for Tahir’s writing and ability to make us feel ALL THE FEELS.   Disclaimer: this episode is full of spoilers! Books Mentioned: All My Rage by Sabaa Tahir One Foot in Front of the Other by Ann Webb The Phoenix King by Aparna Verma --- 2:45 - Currently Reading9:00 - Synopsis & the Writing19:12 - Misbah27:22 - Sal42:31 - Noor49:37 - Noor & Sal57:11 - Toufiq1:01:11 - The School/Town1:06:20 - Overall Thoughts

S3E11: The two of us often talk about growing up in the Middle East, and it’s time we dedicated an episode to the region we have called home for so long. We start by trying to define the Middle East, but realise that it’s not so simple – which is exactly what makes it such a captivating region to read about! We then share our favourite books that are either written by Middle Eastern authors, set in the region, or concern Middle Eastern characters. Between the two of us, we cover an array of books set in different countries, offering diverse perspectives.    Books/Writers Mentioned: The Path to Love by Deepak Chopra Come As You Are by Emily Nagoski  A Woman Is No Man by Etaf Rum Call Me American by Abdi Nor Iftin The Corpse Exhibition and Other Stories of Iraq by Hassan Blasim Our Women On The Ground by Zahra Hankir Girls of Riyadh by Rajaa Alsanea Does My Head  Look Big in This? By Randa Abdel-Fattah Princess by Jean Sasson We Free the Stars Duology by Hufsah Faizal In the Kingdom of Men by Kim Barnes 8 Months on Ghazzah Street by Hilary Mantel The 40 Rules of Love by Elif Shafak The Sleuth of Baghdad by Charles B Child Writers in general: Rumi, Ghibran, Darwish, Quabbani, Khaled Hosseni 3:14 - Currently Reading6:14 - How Do We Define It?11:04 - Ayesha's Faves19:04 - Julia's Faves30:10 - Why Do We Enjoy Reading About the Middle East?

S3E10: In this episode, we are talking poetry! We start the conversation by discussing our relationship to poetry – not only what we enjoy, but what we sometimes struggle with as well. We go on to talk about our first introductions to poetry as kids, to what we read at school, and are now exploring on our own – including writing our own poetry (feel free to follow Julia’s poetry @day.dream.diaries on Instagram). We also share a list of our top poets and poems, including a few of our favourite lines of verse for good measure, and finish off the episode with the poets whose works we are looking forward to reading in the near future. Books Mentioned: To Fall in Love, Drink This by Alice Feiring  Come As You Are by Emily Nagoski, Ph.D 8 Rules of Love by Jay Shetty Ariadne by Jennifer Saint

S3E7: We are back again with another genre master list, and this time we’re going through our top historical fiction reads that have left their mark on us! Historical fiction is probably one of our favourite genres, and we start our list off with ancient civilizations and travel through time and across the world as we trade titles. As always, these lists are ever evolving, and we end the episode acknowledging the many gaps we have in our historical fiction repertoire, and how we plan to fill them! Head to our Instagram for our current comprehensive list, and please share your thoughts and recommendations as we are always excited to learn about new must-reads! ---- 3:35 - Currently Reading7:25 - How Do We Define It?9:17 - Ancient Civilizations18:05 - WW1/WW227:16 - Partition30:32 - North American38:35 - European41:13 - Generation Over Time

S3E5: This episode has been a long time coming – we are diving headfirst into our juiciest topic yet: spicy reads! The episode is split into two halves. During the first half, we discuss our experience with a variety of spicy fantasy, and in the latter half, we dig into the two spicy fiction books that we read in preparation for this episode, ‘Dark Russian Angel’, and ‘Praise’. Our spiciest content is NSFS (Not Safe For Spotify) so we will be putting it up on Patreon if you would like to hear the full, uncut version! More details on Patreon to follow soon. Books Mentioned: The Throne of Glass series by Sarah J. Maas A Court of Thorns and Roses series by Sarah J. Maas Crescent City series by Sarah J. Maas River of Shadows by Karina Halle  Crown of Crimson by Karina Halle Dark Olympus series by Katee Robert  King of Battle and Blood by Scarlett St Clair Zodiac Academy series by Caroline Peckham & Susanne Valenti Gild series by Raven Kennedy From Blood and Ash series by Jennifer L. Armentrout Ice Planet Barbarians series by Ruby Dixon Vicious by L.J. Shen  Fifty Shades series by E. L. James Praise by Sara Cate Dark Russian Angel: A Vancouver Mafia Romance by Odette Stone ---- 1:11 - Currently Reading5:01 - Concept of Smut12:21 - Fantasy30:19 - Fiction35:02 - Buddy Read: Dark Russian Angel49:15 - Buddy Read: Praise1:10:59 - Overall Take

S3E4: Are fairytales a bad influence? We are back again with our Taboo Topics series, and this time, we are talking about the controversy over fairytales. Once the golden standard of children’s literature, fairytales – whether in book form or on screen – are now being heralded as a bad influence on children. But are these worries warranted? To get to the bottom of this issue, we dive into a brief history of fairytales, their evolution, and the criticism they face today. We of course dish out our own thoughts on fairytales and the concerns surrounding them, no holds barred! Books Mentioned: In Defense of Witches: Why Women Are Still On Trial by Mona Chollet A Week Abroad Magazine 8 Rules of Love by Jay Shetty Circe by Madeline Miller Glass Hearts and Broken Promises by Kayla McCullough ---- 1:29 - Currently Reading10:36 - The History and Evolution of Fairytales18:07 - The 'Issues'24:08 - Our Thoughts