Bookwild

By Kate Hergott, Bookwild CollectiveTV & Film Fiction TV Reviews Drama Film Reviews

Bookwild episodes

March 24Secrets, Spirits, and the Stories We Inherit: Olesya Salnikova Gilmore's The Fortune Tellers of Rue Daru
This week, I talk with Olesya Salnikova Gilmore about her historical-suspense The Fortune Tellers of Rue Daru.
We dive into:
Her writing process as a "plantser"

Why she's drawn to dark genres: historical fiction, gothic, fantasy, mystery

How blending genres creates tension and unpredictability

How she has experienced and writes about the “in-between” feeling of not fully belonging to one culture

How she processed grief through this story

Her research of Slavic folklore and Western spiritualism movements
The Fortune Tellers of Rue Daru Synopsis
Spirited twenty-something Zina and her secretive grandmother, Baba Valya, own a tearoom on rue Daru in Paris, where they have lived quietly since Zina’s mother’s untimely death. By day, the women serve tea, mostly to members of the bustling Russian émigré community, but when dusk falls, they divine fortunes and perform séances for their loyal clientele.

Then the charming Princess Olga and her brother arrive, searching for answers about the disappearance of their father, the Grand Duke and cousin to the murdered last Tsar of Russia. Zina, eager to learn more about the spirit world and her powers, performs the séance. She is able to summon the Grand Duke, but to her horror, he starts to haunt the shop, and he seems to know something sinister about her mother’s death.

As Zina delves into her family’s hidden past, dark secrets are unearthed, threatening Zina and her grandmother’s found family, home, and tearoom, not to mention their very lives.
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Gare Billings @gareindeedreads
Steph Lauer @books.in.badgerland
Halley Sutton @halleysutton25
Brian Watson @readingwithbrian
MacKenzie Green @missusa2mba
Erin Ashley @bellametaphor
1 hr 3 min
March 24Toxic Masculinity and Female Rage: Katherine Greene's Where the Truth Lies
This week, I talk with writing duo Katherine Greene, aka Claire C. Riley and A. Meredith Walkters, about their new small town thriller Where the Truth Lies!
We dive into:
Writing a thriller inspired by real-life events and the challenge of balancing fiction with truth

How this story came from Abbi’s family history and a decades-old newspaper clipping

The emotional difficulty of writing characters based on real people vs. fictionalizing them

Crafting multiple POVs + dual timelines to build tension and a fuller picture of the crime

Exploring toxic masculinity and how it develops, including how “nice” men can be influenced

The concept of the “perfect victim” and how readers often unfairly judge women vs. men
Where The Truth Lies Synopsis
A picture-perfect couple's sordid past threatens to rock a sleepy southern town to its core.

Told in alternating timelines and inspired by real events, this multi-POV thriller explores toxic masculinity, gender-based violence, and female rage in the tradition of Darby Kane.

Childhood sweethearts Rhett and Lucinda seem to have the perfect marriage, the child they always wanted, and even the white picket fence. But fifteen years ago, the couple came very close to losing everything. When outsider Jennifer Moore arrived in their tight-knit Kentucky town, a brief but explosive affair between the newcomer and the soon-to-be-married Rhett stirred up a violent storm of betrayal that ended with a dead body and a mystery riddled in corruption and deception.

Now, new evidence has surfaced-including an eyewitness who places Rhett at the scene of the brutal crime. Soon, the carefully constructed life Rhett and Lucinda built starts to crumble-and the truth waiting beneath the surface could destroy them both.

In a town steeped in deadly southern charm, secrets don't fade-they fester.
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Gare Billings @gareindeedreads
Steph Lauer @books.in.badgerland
Halley Sutton @halleysutton25
Brian Watson @readingwithbrian
MacKenzie Green @missusa2mba
Erin Ashley @bellametaphor
38 min
March 20Taylor Frankie Paul, Another Duggar, The Manosphere, Age of Attraction and More with Halley Sutton
Halley broke the news to me that The Bachelorette was cancelled after the video of Taylor Frankie Paul was sold to TMZ, so we start off right in the mess of pop culture. Listen for our thoughts on:
Cancellation/pause of The Bachelorette starring Taylor Frankie Paul due to domestic violence allegations

Ethics of airing real-life trauma and abuse on reality TV

Trad wife culture vs. reality of women as breadwinners

Religious conditioning and spiritual bypassing

Purity culture and its connection to shame and abuse

Grift culture (influencers, politics, capitalism)

Age of Attraction's age gap dating approach

The Manosphere - when men become obsessed with the male gaze

Incel/red pill ideology as a bid for connection

Some movies, TV shows and books we've loved recently
All the Bookwild Links:
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Follow Co-hosts On Instagram:
Gare Billings @gareindeedreads
Steph Lauer @books.in.badgerland
Halley Sutton @halleysutton25
Brian Watson @readingwithbrian
MacKenzie Green @missusa2mba
Erin Ashley @bellametaphor
1 hr 28 min
March 17The Divine Feminine, Matriarchy and Dreams: Andrea M. Butler's Mother
This week, I talk with Andrea M. Butler about her debut speculative fiction Mother.
We dive into a wide range of topics, including:
The origin of the novel’s idea

Dreams and spiritual communication

Energy work and spirituality

Speculative fiction grounded in reality

The “predictive” nature of fiction

Capitalism, wealth inequality, and food insecurity

Religion and evangelical culture

Community as resistance

Divine feminine energy

Hope through storytelling

Mother by Andrea M. Butler Synopsis
Having gained control of the world’s food supply, a single corporation, SunRay, holds the fate of humanity in its hands. When the government passed the HOME Act and sent millions of immigrants away, it threw the nation into an unprecedented economic crisis. Set in the near future amidst the backdrop of an increasingly volatile climate, Matt and Evie Fisher are struggling to survive.

In order to find a way to save their two daughters, Matt and Evie must wrestle with their faith, their past, and a mysterious illness affecting much of the population. When a series of otherworldly dreams sets Evie on a path to find a mystical portal, and Matt finds himself in possession of information that could topple SunRay and the political network behind it, Evie realizes she is being offered a choice that could not only save her daughters, but could alter the fate of humanity forever.

All the Bookwild Links:
Check Out the Bookwild Substack
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Follow Co-hosts On Instagram:
Gare Billings @gareindeedreads
Steph Lauer @books.in.badgerland
Halley Sutton @halleysutton25
Brian Watson @readingwithbrian
MacKenzie Green @missusa2mba
Erin Ashley @bellametaphor
1 hr 11 min
March 16 Oscars Reactions (Some Choices Were… Interesting) with MacKenzie Green
As promised, MacKenzie Green and I share our Oscars reactions, and thoughts on just about everything:
- Awards season and Oscar campaigning
- Timothée Chalamet discourse
- Misty Copeland’s performance
- Sinners on Broadway??
- Criticism of Sean Penn winning Best Supporting Actor
- The historical context of Black Oscar winners, and why Michael B. Jordan's win is so HUGE
- Comparisons to past controversial Oscar wins (think Green Book vs Black Panther)
- Distinctions between authentic cultural storytelling (like Sinners) and films by those outside the culture for performative or superficial benefit
All the Bookwild Links:
Check Out the Bookwild Substack
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Check Out Author Social Media Packages

Follow Co-hosts On Instagram:
Gare Billings @gareindeedreads
Steph Lauer @books.in.badgerland
Halley Sutton @halleysutton25
Brian Watson @readingwithbrian
MacKenzie Green @missusa2mba
Erin Ashley @bellametaphor

1 hr 30 min
March 13 Buddy Review of Kin by Tayari Jones with Erin Ashley
Erin and I both adored Kin by Tayari Jones, and we decided to do a whole episode discussing it! The first 15ish minutes are spoiler free, so if you haven't read it yet, you can listen and decide if the vibes sound right for you. After that, we get into everything we loved about the characters, the prose, the plotting and the themes!
Kin by Tayari Jones Synopsis
Vernice and Annie, two motherless daughters raised in Honeysuckle, Louisiana, have been best friends and neighbors since earliest childhood, but are fated to live starkly different lives. Raised by a fierce aunt determined to give her a stable home in the wake of her mother’s death, Vernice leaves Atlanta at eighteen for Spelman College, where she joins a sisterhood of powerfully connected Black women and marries into an affluent family. Annie, abandoned by her dissolute mother as a child, and fixated on the idea of finding her and filling the bottomless hole left by her absence, sets off on a journey that will take her into a world of peril and adversity, as well as love and adventure, and culminate in a battle for her life.

Tayari Jones Oprah Interview
Tayari Jones on The Stacks
Erin's Interview with ReShanda Tate about With Love From Harlem
All the Bookwild Links:
Check Out the Bookwild Substack
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Follow @imbookwild on Instagram
Check Out Author Social Media Packages

Follow Co-hosts On Instagram:
Gare Billings @gareindeedreads
Steph Lauer @books.in.badgerland
Halley Sutton @halleysutton25
Brian Watson @readingwithbrian
MacKenzie Green @missusa2mba
Erin Ashley @bellametaphor

1 hr 21 min
March 10Quantum Theology: Where Science Meets the Soul
This week, I talk with Keith Giles, Mary Terhune, Zac Cannon and Nish Dubashia about their collective work in Quantum Theology: Volume One.
Listen to hear about:
How science and spirituality may not be opposites, but different ways of exploring the same underlying reality

How ideas from quantum physics—like interconnectedness and entanglement—echo concepts found in mysticism and religious traditions

Why many contributors believe the sense of separation between people, cultures, and religions is an illusion, and what recognizing our interconnectedness could mean for humanity.

How mystical experiences challenge the limits of language—why some spiritual insights can’t fully be explained, only experienced

How awakening to shared consciousness could transform ethics, compassion, and how we treat one another

Quantum Theology, Volume One Summary
Quantum Theology: Volume One brings together an extraordinary and diverse group of scientists, mathematicians, theologians, mystics, authors, and cultural commentators to explore one of the most provocative conversations of our time: What happens when Quantum Physics and Theology begin to overlap?

Edited and curated by author Keith Giles, this book explores the intersection between science and faith.

Featuring contributions by:
Brandy Anderson, Zac Cannon, Brother Jason (Jay) Clark, Michelle Collins, Stuart Delony, Nish Dubashia, Eric Scot English, Jeremy L. Evans, Ellen Haroutunian, DMin., Dr. Steve McVey, Mark Merizan, Jenny Lorraine Nielsen, William Sarill, Mary Terhune, R.N., Mo Thomas, and John van de Laar.

All the Bookwild Links:
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Follow Co-hosts On Instagram:
Gare Billings @gareindeedreads
Steph Lauer @books.in.badgerland
Halley Sutton @halleysutton25
Brian Watson @readingwithbrian
MacKenzie Green @missusa2mba
Erin Ashley @bellametaphor
1 hr 23 min
March 06 Last, Current and Next Reads with Gare and Steph
Steph has been traveling the world, and now she is back with Gare and me, talking about our Last, Current and Next Reads!
Kate’s Last, Current and Next
Kin by Tayari Jones
The Midnight Taxi by Yosha Gunaseker
When I Was Death by Alexis Henderson
Alexis Henderson’s Substack About When I Was Death
Gare’s Last, Current and Next
The Final Hunt Audrey J Cole
The Missing Sister by Joshilyn Jackson
The Vanishing Hour by Seraphina Nova Glass
Steph
Mad Mabel by Sally Hepworth
Sundown Girls by L.S. Stratton
The Two Deaths of Lillian Carmichael by Paulette Kennedy
Other Books Discussed
The Secret Lives of Murderers’ Wives
The Vanishing Half by Britt Bennett
The Mothers by Brit Bennett
History Lessons Zoe B. Wallbrook
An American Marriage by Tayari Jones
Never Have I Ever by Joshilyn Jackson
What We Did to Survive by Megan Lally
Breakneck Bay by Faith Gardner
The Spin Faith Gardner
Heather by Caitlin Mullen
All the Bookwild Links:
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Follow Co-hosts On Instagram:
Gare Billings @gareindeedreads
Steph Lauer @books.in.badgerland
Halley Sutton @halleysutton25
Brian Watson @readingwithbrian
MacKenzie Green @missusa2mba
Erin Ashley @bellametaphor

1 hr 19 min
March 03Fame, Family & the Cost of the Spotlight: Juliet Izon's The Encore
This week, I talk with Juliet Izon about her debut contemporary fiction novel The Encore.
Listen now to hear about:
How Izon, a longtime journalist pivoted into fiction, writing secret scenes at night, cold-DMing composers on Reddit for research, and building a debut novel from pure creative obsession

Fame, artistic ambition, and complicated family dynamics, especially the mother-daughter tension between Anna and Lottie, and what happens when talent and identity collide

The craft details that make this fictional music world feel real: tour bus logistics, conservatory life, perfect pitch, scoring scenes with playlists, and why the book’s title changed from Arpeggio to The Encore
The Encore Synopsis
In 2003, at the prestigious Brookfield Conservatory in Boston, a chance encounter sparks an inimitable friendship between driven pianist and singer Anna Buckley and composer wunderkind Will Pendleton. Over the next four years, as they strive toward careers as professional musicians, their bond deepens both from shared prodigious skill and the inexplicable sense that they’re kindred souls. But on the precipice of graduation, one night forever alters the trajectory of their lives, destroying their relationship in the process.

Twenty years later in New York, 16-year-old piano virtuoso Lottie Thomas is grappling with the rigors of her elite prep school and the confounding disappearance of the woman who gave her up at birth. When Lottie suddenly discovers the startling truth of her identity, the revelation catalyzes a chain of events that not only reunites Lottie with her birth parents, but forces them together on a careening, cross-country rock and roll tour-bus journey. And it is there, trapped in these tight confines, that the three must finally reconcile with the irrevocable choices made a decade-and-a-half earlier.
All the Bookwild Links:
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Follow Co-hosts On Instagram:
Gare Billings @gareindeedreads
Steph Lauer @books.in.badgerland
Halley Sutton @halleysutton25
Brian Watson @readingwithbrian
MacKenzie Green @missusa2mba
Erin Ashley @bellametaphor
32 min
February 27 Reflecting on My First In Person Interview, And Getting Emosh About Bookish Communities
It's a solo ep today! I get into the full story of my first ever in-person author interview at Wild Geese Bookshop with Kate Alice Marshall! I give a play by play of what was going on in my head, and share some fun facts about Kate Alice Marshall.
For me, the experience ended up being a reminder of how far Bookwild has come. I reflect on the journey from starting a bookish podcast with no audience to finding a community of readers, authors, and indie bookstores who now feel like found family.
Get a copy of Kate Alice Marshall's The Girls Before
Check out Wild Geese Bookshop
All the Bookwild Links:
Check Out the Bookwild Substack
Subscribe to Bookwild on YouTube
Get Bookwild Merch
Follow @imbookwild on Instagram
Check Out Author Social Media Packages

Follow Co-hosts On Instagram:
Gare Billings @gareindeedreads
Steph Lauer @books.in.badgerland
Halley Sutton @halleysutton25
Brian Watson @readingwithbrian
MacKenzie Green @missusa2mba
Erin Ashley @bellametaphor

42 min