Booktails Podcast

Books We Love to Hate 1

“And so the lion fell in love with the lamb.” 🦁🐑

And with those words a fandom was born that overtook teenagers everywhere, and we were no different! If you were also Twilight obsessed, or still are, this episode is for you!  🍎Alternatively if you think one hundred year old vampires watching young women sleep is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to this book’s problems, this episode and this whole series is also for you! 🧛🏻We will be discussing internet obsession long before booktok or bookstagram (anyone else have a Twilight bebo skin?) our ideal Twilight fan casting and how Stephenie Meyer saved the town of Forks. 🍴

Twilight truly is the marmite of novels and whether you love it, hate it, love to hate it or hate to love it we want to hear your opinions! Drop your thoughts in the comments and remember, no matter what you say we are still irrevocably in love with you. ❤️😉

BONUS International Women's Day interview “I don’t read detective novels. I have no interest in crime.” 📌🐦‍⬛

Beloved Glasgow figure Rilke returns in The Cut Up with a new mystery to solve! When he finds a body outside the auction house with a hat pin through the eye Rilke’s troubles are just the beginning. Many familiar faces return as Rilke scrambles to save his friends before time runs out.

We were joined by the fantastic author herself to discuss favourite Glasgow spots , vintage fashion and the twists and turns of the book before we do a spot of auctioneering ourselves! 

International Women’s Day 4.

Brace yourselves, because we’re about to ruffle some feathers here. 😬

In this series celebrating strong female characters and writers we wanted to include some Romantasy, so Throne of Glass was the obvious choice! 🧊

Come with us to Erilea and we will discuss the deadly competition narrative and how it does not live up to its full potential 🏹,whether Chaol is as chaotic as his name suggests (spoiler: no 😴) and our predictions for the rest of the series.

It is Hot Take central and we are not holding back. Please still talk to us afterwards! 😘

International Women’s Day 3: Rachel’s Recommendation

Imagine you’ve been raised imprisoned in an underground bunker for as long as you can remember with 39 older women who aren’t allowed to touch you. Imagine you’ve been given the bare minimum and never told where you are or why. Now imagine you suddenly have the chance to escape- to discover the outside world for the very first time. Things are bound to get better right? RIGHT?!

Join Serena and Rachel to sip another bright blue cocktail and dive into Jacqueline Harpman’s seminal masterpiece. We will discuss the relevance of the characters’ femininity, our theories on the world and events of the book and whether it’s the most depressing read of all time… it’ll be fun we swear! 

International Women’s Day 2: Serena’s Recommendation

The day of the girls is here… ⚡️If you’ve ever wished you had Palpatine level zapping powers to use on men who told you you’d be prettier if you smiled, then this one is for you. And with this power comes the strangely intoxicating smell of bitter oranges and in this case, the Mother Eve cocktail! 🍊

Join us to get tipsy and discuss electric eel abilities, gendered etymology and the sadly continuing oppression of woman in much of the world today. ⚧️ It’s a big one! 

“We’re only pretending everything is normal because we don’t know what else to do.” 

International Women’s Day 1

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a book podcast in possession of an International Women’s Day theme must be in want of Pride and Prejudice.

It is the classic romance, classic strong female heroine, the classic novel in every sense! Whether you’ve read it twenty times or you thought about watching the Keira Knightley adaptation once, this is for you.

Join Serena and Rachel as they delve into what makes this book timeless, sexy sexy names, why everyone thinks Mr Collins is a sleazy old man and how to embrace being an old spinster at 27 (take note Charlotte Lucas!) So don’t test our poor nerves, just make yourself a Pemberley Pimm’s and join us on the dance floor! 

Interspecies Valentines 4.

It’s time to get squeaky… but not squeaky clean. Squeaky dirrrrrtyyyyy! 🎈

Join an aspiring artist who meets a balloon seller and his boyfriend and ends up falling for them both. Just one catch- they are secretly balloon animals under a spell. And the sorceress who cast it wants them back… ✨

We are channelling all the fun of the fair with our nostalgic sweetie cocktail this week 🍬so grab a strong one and discuss trauma bonding, balloon appendage and THAT ending with Serena and Rachel. Once you pop you can’t stop… 🎈

Interspecies Valentines 3.

Rawr. 🦖If your innocent dinosaur-obsessed inner child is ready to be traumatised, read on. Ready? Okay. It’s Dino Smut. And yes, some would say it’s deeply disturbing. But some people are into it (apparently!). And one thing is for sure, it’s a silly, tongue-in-cheek romp through prehistory so let’s just have a laugh about it, right? Riiiiight?! 

Grab yourself a Palomasaurus (see what we did there?) and join Rachel and Serena to discuss the science of time travel and whether or not the author is really a palaeontologist as she claims. Wild! Come along and enjoy the riiiide! 🦕

Interspecies Valentines 2

Okay readers, let’s get weird 🕷️😈🔥

If you thought Ice Planet Barbarians was too strange you won’t believe what we’re talking about for our second book in our interspecies valentines series!Yup, it’s a spider romance. Kind of. We still don’t fully understand it.

Ketahn is a vrix, an alien with armoured skin, mandibles and many legs. The queen of his community has been chasing him for some time when he stumbles across Ivy asleep in a crashed spaceship and decided to take her as a pet, but- well, you know where this is going….

So if spiders are your secret kink or you just fancy a laugh, join Rachel and Serena to discuss the ethics of getting freaky with a non-human and how, whatever form they take, apparently men will always be men. *eye roll* 

Interspecies Valentines 2

Okay readers, let’s get weird 🕷️😈🔥

If you thought Ice Planet Barbarians was too strange you won’t believe what we’re talking about for our second book in our interspecies valentines series! Yup, it’s a spider romance. Kind of. We still don’t fully understand it.

Ketahn is a vrix, an alien with armoured skin, mandibles and many legs. The queen of his community has been chasing him for some time when he stumbles across Ivy asleep in a crashed spaceship and decided to take her as a pet, but- well, you know where this is going….

So if spiders are your secret kink or you just fancy a laugh, join Rachel and Serena to discuss the ethics of getting freaky with a non-human and how, whatever form they take, apparently men will always be men. *eye roll*