Books and BS Podcast

That's Novel Books
  • 5.0 (8)
  • Books
  • Updated Biweekly

Two readers and friends talk books, business and a whole lot of other BS.

  1. Sep 18

    Episode 17: Book Reviews, Busy Weeks And Spotify Leaks

    Your two favorite hosts are back with another episode! In this one you'll get some reading updates, a rant about larger companies that release books early, and a fun little trendy game. As always, this episode is spoiler free. All the books we discuss are listed below, with links to indie shops where you can purchase them! Tourist Season - Brynne Weaver Hunting Season - Brynne Weaver  Knave And The Moon - Rachel Gillig Burn Of the Everflame - Penn Cole  Bones At The Crossroads - LaDarrion Williams Mazywood - Tananarive Due The Only Good Indians - Stephen Graham Jones I Hope This Finds You Well - Natalie Sue Dominicana - Angie Cruz Interesting Facts About Space - Emily Austin

  2. Sep 2

    Episode 16: Grief, Good Books And Bad Book Reviews

    We're back with another fun episode, but PLEASE NOTE: this one does have about 5 minutes of spoilers in it. At about th 53 minute mark we begin sharing some of our theories for the upcoming release of Burn Of the Everflame by Penn Cole until the 60 minute mark. If you have not read this series so far and do not want spoilers, please skip this portion of the episode! Everything else is safe :) We get an update from Eb and Alyssa on how the start of school is going for the kids, and then we get right into sharing our recent reads - of which there's a lot of good ones! After that we're back to discussing book influences, speficially focusing on book reviews and how nuanced they can be. Below are a list of the books mentioned in the episode with hyperlinks to purchase them from an indie bookstore! Darkness In Bloom - Chloe Hurst The Wolf Den - Elodie Harper Bloot At The Root - LaDarrion Williams Bones At The Crossroads - LaDarrion Williams Silver Elite - Dani Francis  Broken Dove - Dani Francis  Fire Bird - Juliette Cross Tourist Season - Brynne Weaver Heat Of The Everflame - Penn Cole Burn Of The Everflame - Penn Cole For Whom The Belle Tolls - Jaysea Lynn The Belles Of Wrath - Jaysea Lynn True Biz - Sara Nović Mother Tongue - Sara Nović Score - Kennedy Ryan The Strangers - Naomi Alderman The Body Is Not An Apology - Sonya Renee Taylor Mazywood - Tananarive Due

  3. Aug 17

    Episode 15: Smutty Smut, DCC And Book Influencers

    In this week's Books & BS episode Eb and Alyssa are back and sharing a whole lot of fantastic reads, personal life updates and, of course, some unhinged thoughts about misandry and other topics. We get into Black Romance Book Festival, hear some updates on Eb's mother, talk about our latest reads, we get a DCC update from Eb, and we start talking about our thoughts on book influencers, especially as it relatest to charging for a post. This episode is spoiler free! Check out all the books we discuss, with links to purchase from indie bookstores, below! Rhapsodic - Laura Thalassa A Strange Hymn - Laura Thalassa Huntsman - Naima Simone The Eye Of The Bedlam Bride - Matt Dinniman This Inevitable Ruin - Matt Dinniman Leather & Lark - Brynne Weaver Spark Of The Everflame - Penn Cole Fleischman Is In Trouble - Taffy Brodesser-Akner While We Were Burning - Sara Koffi Glow Of The Everflame - Penn Cole Pucking Ever After Volume 1 - Emily Rath Pucking Ever After Volumne 2 - Emily Rath  Heat Of The Everflame - Penn Cole  For Whom The Belle Tolls - Jaysea Lynn

  4. Aug 3

    Episode 14: Life Updates, Lots Of Books, And Movie Drama

    Welcome back to another episode with your favorite hosts, Eb and Alyssa. This week we're giving y'all an update on everything that's been going on and why we're one week late with this new episode (so sorry and we love you forever!). We're also ranting about special editions and some of the latest book to movie adaptation drama. As always this podcast is spoiler free. Check out all the books mentioned below: Assistant To The Villian - Hannah Nicole Maehrer The Butcher's Masquerade - Matt Dinniman Bonds Of Hercules - Jasmine Mas The Serpent And The Wings Of Night - Carissa Broadbent Six Scorched Roses - Carissa Broadbent The Ashes and the Star-Cursed King - Carissa Broadbent My Friends - Fredrik Backman The Nightingales - Emil Wilson Blood At The Root - LaDarrion Williams Bones At The Crossroads - LaDarrion Williams Ashes At The Altar - LaDarrion Williams The Witches of Cambridge - Alice Hoffman People Love Dead Jews - Dara Horn On Sundays She Picked Flowers - Yah Yah Schofield  Spark Of The Everflame - Penn Cole Burn Of The Everflame - Penn Cole Fleischman Is In Trouble - Taffy Brodesser-Akner Children of Blood and Bone - Tomi Adeyemi

  5. Jul 13

    Episode 13: Fantastic Books, ARCs, And Reading Black Trauma

    We're thrilled to have another new guest on this episode: That's Novel Bookseller Dezanii! We were lucky enough to snag an advanced reader's copy of Mazywood, Tananarive Due's newest book coming out September 22. Tananarive Due is one of Dezanii's favorite authors, so she devoured the book and joins us to discuss this book as well as another one of her favorites, The Reformatory. Jumping off from this discussion, we talk about what it's like to read stories featuring Black trauma as Black readers, and its importance for everyone's reading journey.  We also hear from Alyssa and Eb on their latest reads. Just a heads up: there is a minor spoiler from 34-36 minutes for the Dungeon Crawler Carl series, so skip that section if you'd like to avoid! As always, here are the books we discussed this episode: Blood & Betrayals - Jeanette Rose For Whom The Belle Tolls - Jaysea Lynn The Belles of Wrath - Jaysea Lynn The Gate of Feral Gods - Matt Dinniman The Butcher's Masquerade - Matt Dinniman Annihilation - Jeff VanderMeer Another Appalachia - Neema Avashia My Friends - Fredrik Backman A Man Called Ove - Fredrik Backman Beartown - Fredrik Backman Sunrise On The Reaping - Suzanne Collins Anxious People - Fredrik Backman Us Against You - Fredrik Backman My Grandmother Asked Me To Tell You I'm Sorry - Fredrik Backman Britt-Marie Was Here - Fredrik Backman Sadako And The Thousand Paper Cranes - Eleanor Coerr Yesteryear - Caro Claire Burke The Reformatory - Tananarive Due Mazywood - Tananarive Due The Nickel Boys - Colson Whitehead  Reel - Kennedy Ryan  Ace of Spades - Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé Love - Toni Morrison All About Love - bell hooks Women, Race & Class - Angela Davis

  6. Jun 29

    Episode 12: Lots Of Books And Alt-Bezos Recommendations

    This week's episode as a whole lot of great book recommendations thanks to Eb and Alyssa getting a bunch of quality reading time in the past few weeks! On top of that, they're returning to their Amazon swaps discussion, with recommendations for alternatives for audiobooks and e-readers for those looking to move away from supporting Amazon as it relates to books. This episode is spoiler free - check out all the books discussed below! Mazywood - Tananarive Due The Reformatory - Tananarive Due Pleasure, Please - Ashley Cobb Enigma - RuNyx Gothikana - RuNyx Blackthorn - J.T. Geissinger Ruthless Creatures -  J.T. Geissinger Carnal Urges - J.T. Geissinger  Savage Hearts - J.T. Geissinger Brutal Vows - J.T. Geissinger Nero - S.J. Tilly Butcher & Blackbird - Brynne Weaver  Harvest Season - Brynne Weaver Tourist Season - Brynne Weaver  Blood and Betrayals - Jeanette Rose and Alexis Rune A Brush With Love - Mazey Eddings Cemetary Boys - Aiden Thomas Mirrored Heavens - Rebecca Roanhorse  Honey And Spice - Bolu Babalola  Sweet Heat - Bolu Babalola  Love In Color - Bolu Babalola  This Is How You Lose The Time War - Amal El Mothar and Max Gladstone Annihilation - Jeff Vandermeer Shutter Island - Dennis Lehane Storm Breaker - Nisja J. Tuli

  7. Jun 15

    Episode 11: Trademarks, 6-Month Check-Ins, And Don't Tell Me To Smile

    Eb and Alyssa are back in a solo episode this week, and boy is it a fun one. They start off hot with some celebrity gossip and how to respond to cat callers before moving into a check-in to see where they are 6 months into the year. They also chat about the recent bookish trademark drama that's taken over the internet.  This episode is spoiler-free. All books discussed are listed below with links where you can purchase them from indie bookstores. The Brit - Jodi Ellen Malpas The Book of Alchemy - Suleika Jaouad The Poet Empress - Shen Tao This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me - Ilona Andrews The Women - Kristen Hannah The Resurrection - Jodi Ellen Malpas Chain-Gang All-Stars - Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah How We Show Up - Mia Birdsong The Lion Women of Tehran - Marjan Kamali Payback's A Witch - Lana Harper The School for Good Mothers - Jessamine Chan Evicted - Matthew Desmond Mirrored Heavens - Rebecca Roanhorse A Brush With Love - Mazey Eddings Carl's Doomsday Scenario - Matt Dinniman The Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook - Matt Dinniman Losers Part 1 - Harley Laroux Losers Part 2 - Harley Laroux Enigma - RuNyx

  8. Jun 1

    Episode 10: Men, Undeserved Redemption Arcs And The Kindred's Curse Saga

    A big heads up before you begin this episode: THERE ARE SPOILERS. Around 1 hour 20 minutes, we begin discussing the Kindred's Curse Saga by Penn Cole in more depth. If you have not finished all three books in this series, we do not recommend listening past that point unless you are okay with spoilers! This week we're thrilled to have special guest Andrea McRae on the podcast! Andrea is one of the booksellers at That's Novel and the reason why over half of our staff is obsessed with The Kindred's Curse Saga by Penn Cole. Following Cole's announcement of Burn Of The Everflame, the final book in the series, we have her on to discuss the series as a whole and her hopes for the final book. Books we mention with links to purchase them at indie bookstores: Red Rising - Pierce Brown The Neverlist - Jade Presley Dungeon Crawler Carl - Matt Dinniman When The Moon Hatched - Sarah A. Parker The Ballad of Falling Dragons - Sarah A. Parker  The Island Women of the Sea - Lisa See Bride - Ali Hazelwood Mate - Ali Hazelwood  The School For Good Mothers - Jessamine Chan The Push - Ashley Audrain Verity - Colleen Hoover Tender Is The Flesh - Agustina Bazterrica Payback's A Witch - Lana Popović Spark of the Everflame - Penn Cole Everything Is Tuberculosis - John Green The Anthropocene Reviewed - John Green The Fault In Our Stars - John Green Looking For Alaska - John Green Hollywood, Ending - John Green Burn of the Everflame - Penn Cole

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5
out of 5
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About

Two readers and friends talk books, business and a whole lot of other BS.

Information

  • Creator
    That's Novel Books
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    18
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2025
  • Show Website
    Books and BS Podcast

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