Bookish Ambitions: A Books and Adaptation Podcast

The book community has been buzzing with the recent fantasy news, and you know we have some spicy takes to add to the mix.

In this episode, we are talking about the big Fourth Wing casting news and the Sarah J. Maas leak. We are breaking down some of the opinions we've heard and our own, and ALL (and I mean all) of our reservations about these series being adapted. From Catherine's wish for the adaptations to be animated to Caroline's fears around dragon voices, it's all here.

Listen, we know you have opinions and we do too. So grab your tea and be sure to share all the theories!

• The Fourth Wing casting news: Our reactions to the actors playing Violet and Xaden, and why we're not ready to make any final judgments just yet.

• Live action vs. animation: Catherine is ready to die on the hill that Fourth Wing and A Court of Thorns and Rosesshould be animated.

• Dragon voices, please! We need dragons with excellent voice acting. Morgan Freeman-level excellence. We are not asking for much. 😂

• The CGI and production dilemma: How do you bring epic fantasy worlds to life without making fans wait years between seasons?

• The Sarah J. Maas leak: We're talking about the alleged leaked pages, the Azriel and Elain theories, and why we're not convinced everything circulating online is real.

• The danger of fan theories: Sometimes the theories become so compelling that the actual book has an impossible job ahead of it.

• Our ACOTAR hopes and fears: Character relationships, Lucien appreciation, and the direction we hope the next books take.

• The great fantasy adaptation debate: Can these beloved stories make the jump to the screen without losing what makes them special?

• Threshing Day by Rebecca Yarros

• Grim Tidings by B.K. Boris

• Adversity: The Midnight Gang by Ren Brown

• Radiance by Grace Draven

• Lady Macbeth by Ava Reid, our October Book Club pick!

• Fourth Wing, Iron Flame and Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros

• A Court of Thorns and Roses series by Sarah J. Maas

• Crescent City and Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

• The Knight and the Moth by Rachel Gillig

• The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power

• Bridgerton

• The Lion King (2019)

• The Emperor's New Groove

• Wishbone

• Castlevania

What do you think about the Fourth Wing casting? Are you excited for the adaptation, cautiously optimistic, or already worried about those dragons?

And should ACOTAR be animated? We want to hear your theories, your hot takes, and your dream casting choices!

Join the conversation on Substack, and come hang out with us in the Bookish Ambitions community.

And don't forget, we're reading Lady Macbeth by Ava Reid for October Book Club. Come read with us!

Happy reading and watching! 📚🐉

You think an episode about The Love Hypothesis is going to be just that.

But do you know us?? 😂

In this episode, we're breaking down the biggest changes between Ali Hazelwood's The Love Hypothesis and its movie adaptation. Of course, we have thoughts. Lots of them. Not just about the movie itself, but about what those changes say about the importance of seeing women support women, especially in male-dominated fields.

We get into it all: why we loved the movie, which changes worked for us, which ones we weren't so sure about, and why some of those changes feel especially important right now.

Listen, we LOVE Dr. Evil. But we love seeing women have each other's backs even more.

And we. are. here. for. it. 👏

• The Love Hypothesis book vs. movie: How the adaptation changed the story, characters, relationships, and pacing.

• Why we actually loved the movie: Even with some significant changes, we both found the film incredibly enjoyable and gave it 4.5 out of 5.

• The Star Wars connection: Those subtle Reylo/Kylo Ren Easter eggs that longtime fans absolutely noticed.

• Anh and Olive's friendship: How the movie puts even more emphasis on their friendship and the found-family feeling between the women.

• Women supporting women in STEM: Why the changes to the female relationships were some of our favorite parts of the adaptation.

• The Tom Benton storyline: How the movie completely changes the way the harassment storyline unfolds, and why we think those changes matter.

• Believe women: Why we loved that Adam believes Olive without demanding proof and why that felt particularly powerful.

• Olive solving her own problem: One of our favorite changes was watching Olive take control of her own scientific future rather than simply letting the men solve everything for her.

• Dr. Holden: We miss him! But we also understand why the filmmakers made the choice to cut him.

• Adam's secret crush: Did the movie really erase Adam's longstanding feelings for Olive? We have thoughts.

• The fake dating trope: Because obviously we need to talk about it.

• What makes a good adaptation: Why sometimes being a little removed from the book can actually make it easier to enjoy the movie on its own terms.

• More Ali Hazelwood adaptations: Which books we'd like to see make the jump to the screen next.

Our October Book Club pick is Lady Macbeth by Ava Reid.

We're especially excited about this one because neither of us has read it yet, and the book is currently in development as a film.

Come read along with us on Substack, and if you're a Book Club member, you'll also get to join us for a live Zoom discussion!

• The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood

• Lady Macbeth by Ava Reid

• The Mirror of Infinite Endings by Stephanie Garber

• Threshing Day

📖 The Love Hypothesis • Lady Macbeth • A Study in Drowning • Love, Theoretically • Bride • Bound

🎬 The Love Hypothesis

🌟 Star Wars • The Rise of Skywalker • Big Bang Theory

Did you read The Love Hypothesis before watching the movie?

We want to know what you thought about the changes.

Did you love them? Hate them? Think we completely missed something?

Come tell us on Substack or Instagram!

And we're curious: which Ali Hazelwood book do you want to see adapted next?

Because apparently our TBR was not suffering enough already. 😂

The fanfic-to-book-to-adaptation pipeline is real, and we are here for it.

In today's episode, we're chatting all things fanfiction and how it has inspired some major film and book deals. This seems incredibly relevant because The Love Hypothesis comes out THIS WEEK, and it started as a fanfic! What?!?

From Fifty Shades of Grey to Alchemized and so much more in between, we're discussing this unique publishing pipeline. We have a lot of thoughts about these fanfics and the famous franchises they've inspired. And don't worry. If, like Caroline, you have no clue where to start, Catherine shares how to begin your fanfic journey. And friends? It's a journey.

So grab a pen and paper and get ready to blow your TBR out of the water with fanfic. And don't forget to join us for Book Club this month! We're talking about The Love Hypothesis, and as Star Wars girlies, we are here. for. it.

• The fanfic-to-book-to-screen pipeline: How stories that began as fanfiction have made their way into traditional publishing and major film and television adaptations.
• Fifty Shades of Grey: The Twilight fanfic origins of E.L. James's blockbuster series and why the Edward/Bella connection is still blowing our minds.
• Gabriel's Inferno: Another Twilight fanfic that became a published romance and eventually a Passionflix movie franchise.
• Alchemized: How Manacled, one of the most famous Dramione fanfics, became an original dark fantasy novel and landed a major film deal.
• The Love Hypothesis: The Star Wars Reylo fanfic origins of our Book Club pick and why the upcoming adaptation makes this particular publishing journey even more fun.
• From Draco and Hermione to Star Wars: Some of the fanfic rabbit holes Catherine has explored and the fandoms that keep pulling her back in.
• How to find fanfic: Catherine gives Caroline a beginner's guide to fanfiction platforms, including AO3, FanFiction.net, and Wattpad.
• The wild world of fanfic: Pairings, ratings, tags, word counts, and the sheer range of what you can find once you start looking.
• Our TBRs are in danger: Because apparently we did not have enough books to read already.

Ready to fall down the rabbit hole? Here are the three fanfic platforms Catherine recommends:

• Archive of Our Own (AO3)
  https://archiveofourown.org/
• FanFiction.net
  https://www.fanfiction.net/
• Wattpad
  https://www.wattpad.com/

You can find everything from sweet, clean stories to very adult content, so pay attention to the ratings and tags before you start reading. And maybe clear your schedule. 😂

📚 What We're Reading

• Clearly Charmed by Amy True
• Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman
• The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood
• Alchemized by SenLinYu
• This Irresistible Urge to Fall for Your Enemy by Bridget Knightly
• The Hurricane Wars by Thea Guanzon

🎬 Books, Movies & Fanfiction Mentioned

📖 Fifty Shades of Grey • Alchemized • Manacled • Gabriel's Inferno • The Love Hypothesis • This Irresistible Urge to Fall for Your Enemy • The Hurricane Wars

🎬 Fifty Shades of Grey • Gabriel's Inferno

🌟 Twilight • Harry Potter • Star Wars • ACOTAR • Star Wars Rebels

💛 Join Book Club

Our September Book Club pick is The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood!

It feels particularly perfect for this episode because the book itself has a fanfic origin, and the movie is finally coming out this week. We're both revisiting the book after several years, and we're very curious to see how it hits us now.

Come read along with us and join the conversation on Substack!

And if you already have a favorite fanfic, please tell us about it. We're especially interested in the ones that are going to completely derail our TBRs. 😂

Come share your recommendations in the comments on Substack or over on Instagram. We want to know what rabbit holes you've fallen into.

Practical Magic 2 is coming out, and do we wish we were the Owens Sisters? Yes, we do. The first movie brought us so much nostalgia and reminds us how much we love witchcraft in the 90's. Naturally, we had to read the book, and of course, we have thoughts.

This week we are talking through our August Book Club Pick, Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman, and the cult classic adaptation that captured all of our hearts and made us want to move into a Victorian home with our aunts and start casting spells. We loved the movie, but had a lot of thoughts around the book. We also talk about the importance of the movie and its message about women and how it relates to other cult classics from the time.

And yes, we are basing our Autumn wardrobes around Gillian and Sally. No notes.

• Book vs. movie: Why we struggled with Practical Magic the novel despite loving the movie, and how dramatically different Sally, Gillian, their daughters, and the overall story feel between the two.
• The adaptation: How the filmmakers transformed a book heavy on exposition into a movie that feels warm, charming, and full of personality.
• 90s witchy nostalgia: We talk The Craft, Buffy, The X-Files, Clueless, and the particular magic of '90s movies about women and girls.
• Witches and female power: Why Practical Magic feels different from so many portrayals of witches and why the movie's message about women supporting women still resonates.
• The Owens house: Victorian architecture, mismatched treasures, gardens, candles, and why we would both very much like to move in.
• The Owens sisters' style: Grunge, cardigans, vests, layers, and our plans to steal their entire autumn wardrobes.
• The aunts: Perhaps the real stars of the story. We talk about whimsy, breaking the rules, and why everyone needs a few "just because" moments in their lives.
• A little practical magic: We talk about the everyday rituals that make life feel more magical, from baking and candles to our own little traditions.
• What's next: Our next Book Club pick is The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood, just in time for the upcoming movie adaptation.

• The Witch's Guide to Magical Innkeeping by Sangu Mandanna
• The Summer Between Us by Jennifer Probst
• Clearly Charmed by Amie True
• First Time Caller by B.K. Borison
• Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman

📖 Practical Magic • The Rules of Magic • Magic Lessons • The Book of Magic • Waking the Witch

📺 Buffy the Vampire Slayer • The X-Files

🎬 The Craft • Clueless • Practical Magic • Aquamarine • The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

📚 The entire book list: https://bookshop.org/lists/018-practical-magic-90s-nostalgia-the-power-of-witchy-women

Our next Book Club pick is The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood!

We've both read it before, but it's been a few years, and we're very excited to revisit it before the movie comes out. And yes, we're hoping to get everyone together for another Zoom book club conversation.

If you want to read along with us, come join our Bookish Ambitions community on Substack.

And in the meantime, tell us:

What's one "just because" thing you do that makes your life feel a little more magical?

We're taking notes. ✨

Want more Bookish Ambitions? 📖

Join us on Substack for bonus content, Book Club, reading and adaptation rabbit holes, and all the bookish things we don't have room for here.

👉  https://bookishambitions.substack.com

And follow us on Instagram for more bookish recommendations, behind-the-scenes fun, and everything we're currently reading and watching. 📚🎬

👉 http://instagram.com/bookishambitionspodcast

Come hang out with us!

What happens when you take a Regency romance, give it a tiny budget, a crowdfunding campaign, a set in Utah, and a whole lot of ambition? You get Seeking Persephone, and we're surprisingly into it.

This week we're talking about Sarah M. Eden's Seeking Persephone and its screen adaptation, including the marriage-of-convenience romance, Beauty and the Beast vibes, our favorite characters, and why this might be one of the most faithful book-to-screen adaptations we've covered. We also get into the fascinating story behind the show's production, from crowdfunding to a 20-day shoot split between Utah and England.

And yes, we have notes about the wigs. And the costumes. And those wolves.

📖 What we're reading
We're talking The Secret Society of Irregular Witches, Practical Magic, Dead Romantics, The Happy Ever After Playlist, and the Lancaster family series.

🏰 Why we loved Seeking Persephone
Marriage of convenience, forced proximity, grumpy sunshine, Beauty and the Beast, and a heroine suddenly dropped into the world of a very grumpy duke.

🎬 Book vs. adaptation
We talk about what the show changed, what it kept almost exactly the same, and why Sarah M. Eden's involvement as a screenwriter seems to have made such a difference.

💰 The story behind the show
The series was crowdfunded and filmed in just 20 days, with production split between Utah and England. We talk about what makes the show's independent production story so exciting.

💚 Harry appreciation society
We're already emotionally invested in Harry and Athena, and Catherine has some knowledge from Courting Miss Lancaster that has Caroline very ready for what's coming next.

👗 Our Season 2 wish list
Better costumes. Better wigs. Maybe some less terrifying wolves. We have notes.

• 📖 The Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna
• 📖 Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman
• 📖 Dead Romantics by Ashley Poston
• 📖 The Happy Ever After Playlist by Abby Jimenez
• 📖 Courting Miss Lancaster by Sarah M. Eden

📖 The entire book list: https://bookshop.org/lists/017-seeking-persephone-regency-romance-crowdfunded-ambition

📺 Bridgerton • Emma • Downton Abbey • Heated Rivalry • In Good Spirits

🎬 The Black Dagger Brotherhood • Beach Read • Happy Place • Funny Story • Practical Magic

We've officially moved Bookish Ambitions to Substack, and we're building it into our bookish home beyond the podcast. Come join us for our monthly Book Club, extra bookish content, reading conversations, adaptation rabbit holes, and whatever we're currently obsessing over.

📱 Follow us on Instagram & Threads: @bookishambitionspodcast

🎧 Listen to Bookish Ambitions wherever you get your podcasts.

💛 Join our Bookish Ambitions community on Substack and come read with us.

And if you watch Seeking Persephone, come tell us what you thought. Especially if you have strong opinions about Harry. We clearly do.

We decided to let you sit in on book club this week. 📖

We're talking all things The Seven-Year Slip by Ashley Poston, our July Patreon Book Club pick, including the time-travel structure that somehow converted Caroline from a time-hop skeptic, the characters we fell completely in love with, the relationships that made us want a Fiona and Drew of our own, and the very important role of lemon pie.

We also get into grief, change, rediscovering who you are, food as a storytelling device, and why this book made both of us want to book a flight to New York. And yes, we both gave it five stars.

Then we're announcing our August Patreon Book Club pick, and we're heading into spooky season early with Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman. With Practical Magic 2 coming to theaters in September, we're feeling extremely ready for midnight margaritas, witches, and fall.

This episode is essentially a little taste of what happens inside our Patreon book club. If you like getting analytical about books, gushing over characters, swapping recipes, and occasionally having a completely unhinged conversation, come join us.

For a full list of every book, show, and movie we mention this episode, head to our Patreon: http://patreon.com/bookishambitions

Bella is the red flag. Edward is the red flag. Jacob is... also a red flag. Honestly? Everyone needs therapy.

This week we're heading back to Forks to revisit New Moon by Stephenie Meyer and the 2009 film adaptation. With Robert Pattinson once again roasting Twilight during The Odyssey press tour, it felt like the perfect excuse to ask the question: did this story age terribly... or did we just grow up?

We dive into Bella's impossible choices, Edward's controlling behavior, Jacob's boundary issues, why the supporting cast carries the entire movie, and how the Volturi somehow become the best part of the franchise. We also talk about the gorgeous cinematography, unforgettable soundtrack, and whether the adaptation made the story even more toxic than the book.

Plus, Catherine shares her unexpected Jane Austen summer, and Caroline gives a writing update from the query trenches, including early agent responses and what's next for Book Two.

For a full list of every book, show, and movie we mention this episode, head to our Patreon: http://patreon.com/bookishambitions

Mary Bennet finally gets her story and we are not calm about it.

This week we're doing a full breakdown of The Other Bennet Sister — Janice Hadlow's novel and the BBC/BritBox adaptation that we have been waiting to talk about for what feels like an entire year.

We cover the book, the show, the casting that made us gasp (Richard E. Grant! The woman who played Mary Bennet in the Colin Firth adaptation!), the two men in a lake scene that rewrote history, and why the Gardiners are the real heroes of this entire story.

Also: Our July book club pick is The Seven Year Slip — with Catherine's famous lemon pie recipe included. Come join us on Patreon!

For a full list of every book, show, and movie we mention this episode, head to our Patreon: http://patreon.com/bookishambitions

We read it. We watched it. We cried at an octopus. We are not okay.

This week we're doing a full book versus movie breakdown of Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt and the new Netflix adaptation starring Sally Field and — yes — Bill Pullman's son. We talk about what the book does beautifully, why Caroline thinks the movie actually improves on it, Marcellus the giant Pacific octopus and why his chapters are the best thing in both versions, the themes of grief and kindness that hit harder than either of us expected, and the Nitwit Crew's dating rules, which we are adopting immediately.

Also: Caroline is officially going the traditional publishing route, Book 2 is already started, and our Patreon book club is reading Every Summer After this month — come join us!

For a full list of every book, show, and movie we mention this episode, head to our Patreon: http://patreon.com/bookishambitions

We have wanted to do this episode since day one!

This week, we're talking Wishbone — the PBS live-action children's series that aired from 1995 to 1997, the new documentary What's the Story, Wishbone? that just dropped, and why we genuinely believe we wouldn't have this podcast if we hadn't grown up watching a Jack Russell Terrier in a Renaissance costume act out Romeo & Juliet.

Also: Caroline's novel is in beta-reader hands, Catherine is reading it and had to stop herself to come record, and we have a new Patreon perk where you can submit TBR recommendations and get a shoutout on the show.

Bonus Patreon episode this week with our favorite Wishbone episodes. Become a member today after you listen!

For a full list of every book, show, and movie we mention this episode, head to our Patreon: http://patreon.com/bookishambitions