Act YA Age

WE'RE BACK, BABY! There are a handful of things that can tempt us out of our semi-retirement, and as some of our more recent past coverage has proven, an adaptation of a beloved book or series will always be one of them -- but few IPs could command the devotion HEATED RIVALRY by Rachel Reid (and adapted by Jacob Tierney) has inspired in all of us. Has a mass collective psychosis ever been so fun? We don't think so! We first mentioned HEATED RIVALRY on this podcast back in February of 2022, so it only felt right to bring it back for its own full episode now that the show has made it a literal global sensation. We talk adaptive choices, timey wimey timelines, yearning, our new favorite actors, and, of course, the universal appeal and power of game-changing romance.

We don't know when we'll be back, but we definitely will. In the meantime, don't forget to rate and review us on iTunes and everywhere you get your podcasts, and send us an email if you have any burning questions or suggestions!

As always, a massive thanks to Djempirical for our incredible music.

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We did it, y'all! We made it to the end(?) of our Hunger Games deep dive with SUNRISE ON THE REAPING by Suzanne Collins (until the movie release, of course) and the gang is all here! How does one even summarize this book/episode? It was so much more traumatic than I think any of us were expecting, but what a journey. We talk major lore, complex character arcs, trauma, recontextualizing the Hunger Games universe, unending despair, potential movie adaptation choices, more trauma, how President Snow can catch these hands, and yet more despair! Whew. Honestly, we're still not over it.

REMINDER: Obvious spoilers for the entire Hunger Games universe, including speculation about the forthcoming movie adaptation of SUNRISE ON THE REAPING. If you haven't read this series yet -- babe, what are you even doing here??

Don't forget to rate and review us on iTunes, and if you have any suggestions for future episodes/books to cover, please don't hesitate to reach out to us via email or DM or carrier pigeon or raven or whatever method you prefer. We love to hear from you, and honestly we have no idea what we want to do next, so we'd love to know what YOU want to hear us talk about!

As always, an enormous thanks to DJempirical for our fabulous theme music.

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We're back for our final episode covering the original THE HUNGER GAMES trilogy with Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins, as well as the 2014 and 2015 films directed by Francis Lawrence! What a journey! What a time! We talk about the bleak realities of war, trauma and PTSD, the continuing failures of humanity, love triangles (just to mix it up), and more trauma. Is this book a rousing good time? No. Is it exactly as bleak as it should be? Yes.

REMINDER: We are in full spoiler-mode for this series, so if you haven't read the books and/or watched the movies and if you don't want to hear us speculate about the forthcoming SUNRISE ON THE REAPING, save this one for another time.

Join us next time for the aforementioned SUNRISE ON THE REAPING by Suzanne Collins, and don't forget to rate and review us on iTunes and wherever you get your podcasts. Want more episodes, more consistently? RATE AND REVIEW US <3 (we love you). As always, a huge thank you to Djempirical for our fabulous music.

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The whole crew is back, and we are continuing our THG deep-dive with CATCHING FIRE by Suzanne Collins, as well as the 2013 film directed by Francis Lawrence! We talk Victor trauma, budding rebellions, new characters (brb proposing marriage to both Finnick Odair and Johanna Mason) and so much more!

REMINDER: We are in full spoiler mode for this series, so if you haven't read the books and/or watched the movies, save this one for later unless you want to be spoiled.

Join us next time for the rollicking good time that is MOCKINGJAY, and don't forget to rate and review us on iTunes and wherever you get your podcasts. Your reviews fuel us! And as always, a huge thank you to Djempirical for our fabulous music.

Side note: Zuckerberg hates us and our Instagram page got permanently banned (for what, you ask? Excellent question. I tried asking it myself, but was ignored.) so find us on Facebook for now, and maybe we'll start a Bluesky or something in the future? TBD

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We are once again joined by some friends of the pod to continue our coverage of The Hunger Games series with THE HUNGER GAMES by Suzanne Collins, as well as the 2012 film directed by Gary Ross! We talk Panem politics, love triangles, series implications, and so much more!

Don't forget we're going full spoiler mode for this series, so if you haven't read the books and/or watched the movies, save this one for later unless you want to be spoiled.

Join us next time for CATCHING FIRE, and don't forget to rate and review us on iTunes and wherever you get your podcasts - they really help us!

As always, a huge thanks to Djempirical for our amazing music.

Find us on the internet if you like:

We hope you've missed us, because we are BACK for a new series and this time we are finally covering one of the most culturally significant YA series of all time: THE HUNGER GAMES by Suzanne Collins - with some special returning guests! This series will take place over the next few months (release schedule TBD) and each episode will focus on one book and its accompanying movie(s). We've decided to go full spoiler-mode on this series so we can really get into the nitty-gritty, so if you haven't read or seen any of these books and/or movies consider this your spoiler warning!

We've decided to start chronologically (from the current releases, at least) with THE BALLAD OF SONGBIRDS AND SNAKES. In this episode we talk villain origins, the current political landscape (yikes), toxic boys with Eminem haircuts, and so much more.

Join us next time for THE HUNGER GAMES, and don't forget to rate and review us on iTunes and everywhere you get your podcasts. Reviews fuel us! And as always, a huge and eternal thanks to Djempirical for our incredible music.

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We tackle a couple of behemoths (in both page count and pop culture impact) as we discuss FOURTH WING and its sequel IRON FLAME by Rebecca Yarros! We talk character arcs, sassy dragons, Xaden and Violet's romantic evolution, what the future might hold for this ongoing series, and more! Stick around til the end to hear what we have in our tentative lineup for the next few episodes, and don't forget to rate and review us on iTunes and everywhere you get your podcasts. It really does help!

As always, an eternal thanks to Djempirical for our fabulous music.

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We sit down to discuss the second season of Netflix's hit show HEARTSTOPPER, based on volume 3 of the graphic novel by Alice Oseman! We talk adaptation choices, queer found family (shocker, I know), moms of all sorts, and so much more!

Don't forget to rate and review us on iTunes, and shoot us an email or a DM with suggestions for future books. We'd love to hear from you!

As always, a huge thanks to DJempirical for our incredible theme music.

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We are back again (so soon!) to discuss the film adaptation of one of our favorite books we've ever covered, Casey McQuiston's RED, WHITE & ROYAL BLUE, written and directed by Matthew Lopez for Amazon Studios! We talk casting, changes, adaptation choices, and so much more! Honestly, it was hard not to just sit here and gush, but we did our best to throw some critical analysis in there too.

Stick around til the end where we may or may not drop hints about what might be coming next, and don't forget to rate and review us on iTunes!

As always, a huge thanks to Djempirical for our fabulous theme music.

Find us on the internet if you like:

We are once again returning after an extended absence, and we are so excited to finally get to discuss GREYWAREN by Maggie Stiefvater! We talk multiple-series arcs, plots that run on vibes and vibes only, and Margaret making fools of us all. SPOILER WARNING: We talk pretty in-depth about all of the books in Maggie's connected RAVEN CYCLE and DREAMER books, so if you haven't finished both series and you wish to remain unspoiled, we recommend you wait on this one and come back when you're done.

As always, a big thanks to DJ Empirical for our amazing theme music.

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The Seven Year Slip by Ashley Poston