Welcome back to our Stacks on Stacks series, a once-a-month book club. We started this to help us conquer that never-ending TBR, talk more with you, and abbreviate it as “S.O.S.” because yes send help! We will never finish our TBR at this rate!! We announce our “SOS” read at the beginning of each month, inviting you to read, listen, and talk with us on Instagram or Discord about that month's "SOS" book. Phantasma by Kaylie Smith, the first in an interconnected series. This book quickly had us falling head over heels for the characters, drama, and phantastic plot-twists! Caraval meets Throne of the Fallen in this SPICY dark romantasy where a necromancer, Ophelia, needs help from a dangerous phantom, Blackwell, to win a deadly competition, only to find their partnership puts her at risk of breaking the game’s most vital rule: don't fall in love.

Let the trials begin! This week we are putting Romance to the test in the following categories first impressions, design, writing style, general plot, characters, and our critical and enjoyment scores. In one corner for men, we have Thunderstruck by Carter Blake, and in the other corner for the women is Jackson by Nyssa Kathryn. Carter Blake writes novellas about steamy alpha romances. Nyssa Kathryn writes suspense romances of alpha men in small-town romances. Who will come out on top?! 

Welcome to the Trial of the Tomes! We're looking closely at the idea of author gender in genre, publication, and writing style. How that impacts the public eye, reader experience, and marketing. Most importantly who does it best?! We have read one male author and one not man in the following genres Romance, Romantic Fantasy, High Fantasy, Science Fiction, and Murder/Thriller! Pitting them against each other with trials to see who ranks supreme in the Trial of the Tomes!! Follow the competition to see who is victorious and who falls! This week is all about gender in publication and everything to go with it!

Welcome back to our Stacks on Stacks series, a once-a-month book club. We started this to help us conquer that never-ending TBR, talk more with you, and abbreviate it as “S.O.S.” because yes send help! We will never finish our TBR at this rate!! We announce our “SOS” read at the beginning of each month, inviting you to read, listen, and talk with us on Instagram or Discord about that month's "SOS" book. The Foxglove King is Hannah Whitten's first in a trilogy. In this lush, romantic new epic fantasy series from New York Times bestselling author Hannah Whitten, a young woman’s secret power to raise the dead plunges her into the dangerous and glamorous world of the Sainted King’s royal court. We break down the story, our thoughts, and overall review of this HIT of a novel. Join us next month with our "SOS" Daughter of the Drowned Empire by Frankie Diane Mallis.

Welcome to our TROPE-tastic summer series season finale! Wrapping up this whirlwind of a summer with the good, the bad, the ugly, and the fun of tropes. This final episode goes into the tropes you can't avoid because they are the genre! Yes, we are getting into it today on the podcast. Come back tomorrow for our Stacks on Stacks episode and next week for Trial of the Tomes!

Continuing our discussion from last week, are tropes bad?  Bad for marketing? Bad for the reader? How do tropes impact reader experience, marketing, and more in the book community? We talk about how we see the impacts of tropes in the publishing and reading world. 

We put tropes under the microscope to see what they really are and are they good? How do tropes impact reader experience, marketing, and more in the book community? We talk about how we see the impacts of tropes in the publishing and reading world. 

Microtropes that have a chokehold on us - enough said! This week we are getting to the subcategory of tropes with all our favorites! The TROPE-tastic summer episode gets wild with these micro tropes, mainly in fantasy romance, but across all genres. 

Welcome to our TROPE-tastic summer series! This series will follow what is a trope, why do we use tropes, are tropes good or bad, how do they impact book marketing, the reader experience, and some tropes you just can't avoid. This week we are focusing on the 'What' is a trope: a word completely synonyms in the community at this point, but what is it? Find out on this week's episode! 

Welcome back to our Stacks on Stacks series, a once-a-month book club. We started this to help us conquer that never-ending TBR, talk more with you, and abbreviate it as “S.O.S.” because yes send help! We will never finish our TBR at this rate!! We announce our “SOS” read at the beginning of each month, inviting you to read, listen, and talk with us on Instagram or Discord about that month's "SOS" book. The Idea of You is Robinne Lee's debut album after a successful career in the arts. It is a story of a 40-year-old, Solene reclaiming herself and a rediscovery of happiness and love through a hot whirlwind of a romance with boyband singer, Hayes Cambell. We break down the story, our thoughts, and overall review of this HIT of a novel. Join us next month with our "SOS" The Foxglove King by Hannah Whitten.

We love fanfiction, we love fiction, but do we love fanfiction turned fiction? What are the implications on publishing rights, the community space, and over all the impression fanfiction is giving others. We concluded our series with a more critical view on the rise of fanfiction turned fiction, how that impacts fanfic readers and non, plus more. The series really reflects on how important fanfiction is to reader and writers, but is the pipeline to trad publishing? Tell us your thoughts! 

Did you know you are reading fanfiction? Some of these we all know and love to talk about BUT some of these were a complete surprise. We discover fandoms that have left the fanfiction world, breaking the 4th wall into trad publishing, and now are on the bookshelves today. We love them, we hate them, and we are excited to see fanfiction outside of the community because say it louder for those in the back FANFICTION IS READING AND WRITING! 

We went to Imaginarium Book Festival!! We are excited to share our stories, author meet-and-greets-, book hauls, and more with you all. This is our second year and for sure an annual trip for us! We met so many wonderful authors, said hi to author friends, and made new friends. Imaginarium was a blast with many laughs and memorable moments we wanted to share with you.

We are fans of fanfic! If you all didn't already know that! This mini-series of three episodes focuses on fanfiction turned fiction and the impacts of fanfiction culture, fiction publication, the ethical side, and more. This week we are doing a brief history of fanfiction, terms, words directly taken from Internet writing culture, and how they are making their way into mainstream fiction. Our Stacks on Stacks read is The Idea of You by Robinne Lee, join us in our once-a-month book club! Next week we have a surprise episode so stay tuned for that! 

Welcome to our first Stacks on Stacks episode, a once-a-month book club. We started this to help us conquer that never-ending TBR, talk more with you, and abbreviate it as “S.O.S.” because yes send help! We will never finish our TBR at this rate!! We announce our “SOS” read at the beginning of each month, inviting you to read, listen, and talk with us on Instagram or Discord about that month's "SOS" book. Bride is Ali Hazelwood's launch into the paranormal romance with all the humor and charm from her romantic hits like Love Hypothesis and Love Theoretically. We break down the story, our thoughts, and overall review of this HIT of a novel. Join us next month with our "SOS" The Idea of You by Robinne Lee.

The spice is right! We have saved some of the spiciest content for last! With each week we have been turning up the heat to end on a five-chili pepper kind of episode. Omegaverse and shifter romance is not something to take on lightly! When is comes to mates, multiple partners, and all sorts of kicks this episode gets dark and dirty real quick! It's been fun talking about the spicier side of reading with all of you!

What's better than one man? THREE! Welcome back to our third episode of The Spice is Right! This week we we dive head first into our particularly favorite subgenre of spice: Paranormal, Why Choose, and Fantasy!  Especially the aliens, fae, minotaurs, and more! The less human the better for us! This is your warning now that this season will be talking about explicit sexual content, all trigger warnings associated with the categories, and lots of sexual comedy. Let us know what favorite non-human species you love to read! 

The darker the better, right?! Welcome back to our second episode of  The Spice is Right! This week we are talking about all those red flag men we love to hate. Especially the billionaires, mafia, motorcycle gang, and the bad boys. This is your warning now that this season will be talking about explicit sexual content, all trigger warnings associated with the categories, and lots of sexual comedy. Dark Romance is probably our favorite version of the spicy verity!!

Welcome back to The Spice is Right! You guessed it We Know How to Read is getting spicy! We are starting our newest season all about spice, romance, and all 50 shades of grey. This is your warning now that this season will be talking about explicit sexual content, all trigger warnings associated with the categories, and lots of sexual comedy. This week we are focusing on Contemporary romance, period piece romance, and all the swoon-worthy rom-coms you can think of! Each week the topics will get darker and spicier! 

The fun begins! We go over all the special released chapters for House of Flame and Shadow as well as talk about the future for this series and the others. Enjoy our long-winded thoughts and theories on the SJM multiverse!

All good things must come to an end and rounding out of the Spring season of They Know How to Write the very talented Kate Dramis joins us this week! Inspired by a dream about a woman calling down lightning to save a friend, The Curse of Saints is Kate’s debut fantasy novel and the first in the trilogy. We had so much fun chatting with Kate this week and her book is truly amazing, add this fantasy to your TBR asap!! 

The epic finale is finally here! We are wrapping up this adventure with nonstop action. The teams are all converging on the Crystal Palace. Bryce and Hunt fighting for the world, Ruhn and Lydia saving her sons, Hel battling the forces of Asteri. The whole time Bryce is tearing apart and making their world whole again. Tag along for the epic finish and return in TWO weeks for our theories, predictions, and final thoughts including bonus chapter content. 

Welcome Nicole Northwood to the podcast! She writes fantasy and fairytale romance stories for adults that are atmospheric, intimate, and alluring. Nicole was amazing to have on the show to share all the fun times she had writing In Flames, The Kestral Chronicles, Book 1, and her future projects. It was a load of laughs, nerds just being nerds, and more. 

Part Three the Ascent - into what? Well, buckle up because we dive into this section head first! The world is unstable, Bryce is opening portals again! Tharion is owning up to the consequences of his own actions, and so is Ithan, but Sathia and Hypaxia help them out. Ghosts are rising from the dead, and the plan is forming on how to ultimately end the Asteris' reign, but only time will tell!  

Welcome AJ Vrana to the pod this week! AJ Vrana is the author of the Indie Author Project-winning Chaos Cycle Duology, the 2023 Ontario Author Project Winner in Adult Fiction, and all an absolute blast to have on the show! Her duology and short stories brought us together at the infamous Imaginarium conference where we met. Rich with folklore and paranormal intrigue, The Hollow Gods is an atmospheric supernatural thriller that will satisfy lovers of Maggie Stiefvater's THE RAVEN BOYS, especially those craving a fable with a darker touch. We talked about her writing process, many side quests, and more in this episode. 

This is a long one but what an epic adventure it is! The gang is back together and their journey is only just beginning as they are piecing together how to destroy the Asteri. Like always Bryce is being a BA, Hunt is Hunt, Ruhn is making us swoon and Lidia is caring the plot.  Ultimately the most important question in this episode is are you Team Caves or Team Archives? 

Welcome Aurora Ascher a New York Times and USA Today bestselling fantasy & paranormal romance author. Dreams do come true when it comes to making this interview happen! Aurora recently published Sanctuary of the Shadow The Elemental Emergence Series - Book One, a fantasy new adult romance. Aurora shared with us her musical upbringing to trad publishing vs self publishing and much much more! We talk about Sanctuary of the Shadow and whats coming next for Aurora on this episode of They Know How to Write. 

We are back! This episode like always is full of our chaotic rambles and thoughts while reading probably one of the best get away/ rescue scenes ever written! Lidia is carrying this story through like a champ! We literally dive into the depths of these pages and find some sweet morsels of information and THE PLOT thickens as our characters learn shocking new information about each other. Plus our dynamic duo, Bryce and Hunt are back together! 

Our spring They Know How to Write continues with another amazing author, Sara DeLaVergne! What is even more special is TODAY (Feb. 27) is also the release day for Son of Shattered Souls: Book Two of the Shattered Trilogy!! Congrats to Sara on publishing her second novel! Go check out her fantasy series featuring forgotten gods, magic, forbidden love, and much much more! We talk about Daughter of Shattered Skies and many crazy things on this episode of They Know How to Write. 

What an info dump in the most delicious way!! Megan and Natalie can agree this section of the book just might be their favorite part - so far! Bryce, Azirel, and Nesta are learning about Pyrthian's history and how it intertangles into Bryce's world back home. While Ithan and Tharion are battling their inner demons, but Ruhn, Hunt, and Baxion are fighting literal demons in the form of parasite Asteri. We had so much fun diving into these sections!

Introducing our Spring debut novelist Thea Claire, to start our season 12 They Know How to Write Author Interviews! Thea Claire is a storyteller at heart. A North Texas native, she loves to write about strong characters creating beautiful lives for themselves and those around them. Go Find Less is a curvy girl love after loss a second chance romance! But there is more! This is the first in a series and we got into all the details, laughs, and more with Thea on our interview this week!

It's officially been one week since House of Flame and Shadow has been out and we couldn't wait any longer to overshare our thoughts - that's why this episode is so long - sorry guys! Spoilers only for the first 17 chapters to include: recap events in these chapters that we wanted to share with you, and much more like chaotic rambling and jumping to conclusions! Join us on our Discord every Book Club release at 8 pm EST to talk with us and others about the latest HOFAS thoughts! 

SPOILERS! We are diving head-first into all of our unhinged, well-thought-out theories and predictions for all the characters in the upcoming House of Flame and Shadow release! This episode is long but we have so much to cover before Jan. 30th. Enjoy the crazy train ride into our inner SJM theories and join us on our Discord to talk more about these delulu predictions and more!  

We've done it so you don't have to. We have combed through the extensive work of SJM to bring together what we think is the creme de la creme of recap information for you before the release of House of Flame and Shadow. Spoiler warning for ALL Sarah J Maas novels and series. We are diving into the lore, the maps, the characters, and all the breadcrumbs Sarah's been leaving us for years! 

Hello, 2024! We are so excited to wrap up this mini-series of our top 12 reads of 2023!  This is the third and final part of the series that will feature our top reads for Sumt-ober, October, Yarros' November, and December of the year. Think of this as our 2023 book bracket meets our ultimate book recommendations to you - with a lot of chaotic, embarrassing, laughable, moments along the way! Join us starting in February for our House of Flame and Shadow book club!

Hello, 2024! We are so excited to be reading our way into the New Year with you! As we all are writing down our book goals, TBRS, and more. We want to share with you our top reads of 2023. This three-part series will feature our top reads for each month of the year. Think of this as our 2023 book bracket meets our ultimate book recommendations to you - with a lot of chaotic, embarrassing, laughable, moments along the way! So happy for you to join us this year for more bookish chaos! 

Hello, 2024! We are so excited to be reading our way into the New Year with you! As we all are writing down our book goals, TBRS, and more. We want to share with you our top reads of 2023. This three-part series will feature our top reads for each month of the year. Think of this as our 2023 book bracket meets our ultimate book recommendations to you - with a lot of chaotic, embarrassing, laughable, moments along the way! So happy for you to join us this year for more bookish chaos! 

Welcome to our holiday season of They Know How to Write and our season finale episode! Rounding off this amazing see, this week we were so honored to have Ligia Cushman! Ligia N. Guzman-Cushman is a Dominican-American fantasy author best known for the "Rise of a Dark Throne: The Mōsa Chronicles." Ligia Cushman is proud to be an Afro-Latina author, writing diverse and inclusive fantasy novels filled with romance and magick. With an epic tale of two unlikely characters embarking on a magick-filled enemies-to-lovers adult fantasy romance novel, you are hooked!  

Welcome to our holiday season of They Know How to Write! This week we were so honored to have Isabelle Olmo on our holiday special They Know How to Write. Isabelle is not only a talented author of The Queen's Red Guard, a feminist epic fantasy series with a diverse cast of characters, but she is equally hilarious and so much fun to have on the show! We got into all the details with Isabelle while she was on the show including how she got into writing fantasy, the inspiration behind her diverse characters, and general chaos! One thing is always certain; her stories are about women and their inherent power. 

Welcome to our holiday season of They Know How to Write! This week we were so honored to have Angela Breen! Angela Breen is the author of Pretty. Gritty. Love Stories. Angela loves strong heroes and heroines who can save themselves. She writes about the dark and gritty parts of life as well as the fun stuff! This week we got into the Pretty, the Gritty, and all of the love with the very talented Angela. What a fun time we had getting to know the inside outs of Angela's writing, characters, and more. 

Welcome to our holiday season of They Know How to Write! This week we were so honored to have Kate Gateley! It was amazing to get the chance to sit down and talk with the award-winning fantasy novelist of the Lost Wells Trilogy and immerse readers into a world of magic, Celtic History & self-discovery. When Kate published her first book, Tides of the Sovereign (FriesenPress 2022), Book One of the Lost Wells Trilogy, she knew that it was only the beginning of a story she has always wanted to write—one with heart and meaning that was actually worth sharing. We couldn't have had more fun learning about Kate's journey as an author, the behind the scenes of writing her novels, and meeting a kinder spirit. Check out her series now!

Welcome to our holiday season of They Know How to Write! This week we were so honored to have Andrea Tang. To add to the excitement of this episode TODAY is the launch day of Kingdom of Without a cyberpunk heist thriller, what more could you want?! Find it online or at a store near you. Also, she loves martial arts in general and Brazilian jiu-jitsu in particular, and in her spare time, enjoys learning new sports and checking out live theater. Andrea is the author of Rebelwing and its companion novel, Renegade Flight, as well as the upcoming The Kingdom of Without(out now). This interview is classic We Know How to Read - full of side quests, loads of laughs, and hearing about the epic tales Andrea has written. 

Welcome to our holiday season of They Know How to Write! This week we were so honored to have Kim Alexander, a former author interviewer on Sirius XM Book Radio turned fantasy author herself. We talk about her fantasy series; The Demon Door and much much more. But let us tease you with this: Blood is power. Love is pain. And destiny awaits beyond The Door.

Welcome to our holiday season of They Know How to Write! This week we were so honored to have Jessica Cage, an International Award Winning, and USA Today's Best Selling Author. We had so much fun - mostly laughing but getting to ask Jessica about her journey as an author, and how she came up with such rich words and dragons. Who doesn't love dragons? Jessica writes Paranormal Romance and Urban Fantasy highlighting POC main characters. She's done it all guys - sirens, magic, jin, epic fantasy adventure, and more!     

SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS We surprise you with a brand new episode with just predictions and theories not only for Iron Flame but the entire saga! As we all sit down with Iron Flame over the next few days or weeks let's review all the possibilities Rebecca has left us to think about. Is Adarnan royalty? Will Xaden and Violet find their HEA?! Do the rebellion kids get two signets?! What role does Lillith play in all of this? Let's dive into our Iron Flame theories as we pick up the books hot off the press!

Welcome to the season finale of terror and horror! We dive into the history of Halloween, the good, the bad, and the ugly, and trust us there is a lot of ugly we it revolves are this cursed holiday. Watch the shadows, the foggy streets, and the noises outside your window tonight because the ghouls are out for a fright! Happy Halloween! 

I smell children! Welcome to our witch-tacular episode! Be prepared for these witches to make your skin crawl. These badass witches scared us while recording. Stir the brew, light a candle, and listen to these witches' tales some old as time, all real, and all wicked.  

We have returned with more nightmares this week! Almost halfway through the 13 nights of Halloween and they just keep on coming, creepier and creepier.  This week we are focusing on areas surrounding Nepal, India, and Pakistan. Some stories you may know others that will keep you up at night! Welcome back for a few more horrors before bed!