Episode 29: Painfully Pretentious Drivel

This week, we kick things off with another Reading Roundup: two books we’ve finished, two we’re currently reading, and two that are up next. From there, we determine which authors Summer would invite to her birthday party, somehow break our own Reading Roundup rules with a few bonus recommendations, and watch Beccah once again campaign against book blurbs that make thoughtful romance novels sound like cheesy Hallmark movies (which we’re also 100% here for). We wrap things up with a Spotlight Segment celebrating one full year of I Reckon I'll Read It – looking back at our favorite moments, biggest surprises, and how far we've come. Books We Mentioned:  2:30 - Spur of the Moment Question: What three authors living or dead would you invite to your birthday party? 10:00 - Reading Round Up: 10:30- The Return of Ellie Black, Emiko Jean (https://bookshop.org/a/123587/9781668...) Before You Were Anne, Emiko Jean (https://bookshop.org/a/123587/9781668...) 18:20- Persuasion, Jane Austen (https://bookshop.org/a/123587/9780141...) 30:40- The Framed Women of Ardemore House, Brandy Shillace (https://bookshop.org/a/123587/9781335...) 32:00- The Thursday Murder Club, Richard Osman (https://bookshop.org/a/123587/9781984...) The Magpie Murders, Anthony Horowitz (https://bookshop.org/a/123587/9780062...) 37:20- Wine and Punishment, Sarah Fox (https://bookshop.org/a/123587/9781496...) 38:30- Honey Bee Mine, Sarah T. Dubb (https://bookshop.org/a/123587/9781668...) Birding with Benefits, Sarah T. Dubb (https://bookshop.org/a/123587/9781668...) 49:30- The Children, Melissa Albert (https://bookshop.org/a/123587/9780063...) 57:40- To The Lighthouse, Virginia Woolf (https://bookshop.org/a/123587/9780156...) 1:05:00 - Spotlight Segment- Looking back on one year of I Reckon I’ll Read It! Married to the Alien Cowboy, Ursa Dax (https://bookshop.org/a/123587/9781250...) Wild Dark Shore, Charlotte McConaghy (https://bookshop.org/a/123587/9781250...) The Enchanted Greenhouse, Sarah Beth Durst (https://bookshop.org/a/123587/9781250...) Wives Like Us, Plum Sykes (https://bookshop.org/a/123587/9780062...) Braiding Sweetgrass, Robin Wall Kimmerer (https://bookshop.org/a/123587/9781571...) The Correspondent, Virginia Evans (https://bookshop.org/a/123587/9780593...) Great Big Beautiful Life, Emily Henry (https://bookshop.org/a/123587/9780593...) Babel, R.F. Kuang (https://bookshop.org/a/123587/9780063...) Three Pines series, Louise Penny (https://bookshop.org/a/123587/9780312...) Twilight, Stephanie Meyer (https://bookshop.org/a/123587/9780316...) By the Fire We Carry, Rebecca Nagle (https://bookshop.org/a/123587/9780063...) Quicksilver, Callie Hart (https://bookshop.org/a/123587/9781538...) To the Moon and Back, Eliana Ramage (https://bookshop.org/a/123587/9781668...) Violet Thistlewaite is Not A Villain Anymore, Emily Krempholtz (https://bookshop.org/a/123587/9780593...) Three Bags Full, Leonie Swann (https://bookshop.org/a/123587/9781641...) Into the Drowning Deep, Mira Grant (https://bookshop.org/a/123587/9780316...) The Fellowship of the Ring, J. R. R. Tolkien (https://bookshop.org/a/123587/9780547...) A Court of Thorns and Roses, Sarah J. Maas (https://bookshop.org/a/123587/9781635...)