Can I Bring My Book: The podcast where besties meet books… and reveal way too much during bookish party games.

This week, Amanda and Kat play a bookish round of Never Have I Ever — and things get personal. From dog-earing pages to borrowing books indefinitely, they confess it all (including some spicy inspiration). Then, they take a BuzzFeed quiz to find out their romance novel archetypes — turns out, they might both be the thoughtful observer type.

Also in this episode:

Their favorite book tropes of the week: Single Parent and Age Gap romances

Cowboy romance recommendations (hello, Lost and Lassoed)

Books mentioned: The Idea of You, Birthday Girl, Done and Dusted, Training the Heart, and several by TJ Klune

Oh — and Kat may or may not have blocked a teenager for lurking on her Bookstagram. You’ll just have to listen.

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Can I Bring My Book: The podcast where besties meet books… and confess our book crushes.

This week, Amanda and Kat get personal about their literary love lives—aka, book boyfriends (and the occasional book breakup). Amanda swoons over her masked man Josh from Lights Out, while Kat... is book-boyfriend single. For now.

In this episode, we dive into:

Their favorite book boyfriends (and why morally gray is irresistible)

The “I hurt you to protect you” breakup trope

A breakdown of the masked man trope (yes, it’s a real thing and Amanda has research)

A semi-rant about slow burn romances that take too long to spice up

Whether hockey romance is worth the hype

And the charm of fluffy beach reads like Better Than the Movies

Books mentioned:

Lights Out by Jodie Slaughter

This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone

Signs of Cupidity by Raven Kennedy

Better Than the Movies by Lynn Painter

Corrupt by Penelope Douglas

God of Malice by Rina Kent

Scream for Us by Molly Doyle

One Dark Window by Rachel Gillig

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

Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

Whether you're in a committed relationship with Rhysand or currently between fictional partners, this one's for you.

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Can I Bring My Book: The podcast where besties meet books… and bring zero plans.

This week’s episode starts with birthday vibes and somehow unravels into hot takes, book haul logistics, and an existential debate about whether the "mentor dies" trope is a literary rite of passage. Amanda wants a birthday book spree. Kat wants rules. And neither of them agrees on how many books one person should be allowed to carry.

They dive into:

The chaos of viral book buying sprees (and whether they’re sustainable)

Barnes & Noble vs. used bookshops (and Amanda’s inner struggle)

Tropes of the week: The Mentor Dies and The Backstabbing Mentor

Plot twists, overconsumption, and the unread blind dates with books sitting on Amanda’s shelf

Also mentioned: The Poppy War, Circe, Water Moon, Pumpkin Spice Café, Ender’s Game, Shadow and Bone, and, of course, Harry Potter.

Moral of the story? We should have had an agenda. But chaos is our brand.

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Can I Bring My Book: The podcast where besties meet books… and occasionally forget to plan ahead.

This week’s episode is a full-on hot take tornado. Amanda and Kat may not have had an agenda, but they definitely had opinions. From mood reading denialists and Goodreads ethics to reading as “overconsumption,” nothing is safe.

Along the way, they discuss:

📚 Why mood reading is real (and personal)

🎧 Accidentally re-reading the wrong story

🔥 Grady Hendrix’s unhinged author reviews of his own books

💬 The debate over reading 20+ books a month—and whether that’s somehow… bad?

☕️ Tropes of the week: Training sequences and The Instant Expert

Also mentioned: Circe by Madeline Miller, Secret Window, Secret Garden by Stephen King, Pumpkin Spice Café by Laurie Gilmore, and Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix.

So, yeah… we really should’ve had an agenda. But where’s the fun in that?

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Can I Bring My Book: The podcast where besties meet books… and sometimes black coffee reveals your reader soul.

This week, Amanda and Kat spiral through chaotic quizzes, coffee orders, and the wild world of interspecies romance. (Yes, really.) First up? A deep dive into Novelist, a new tool offered by their local library that serves up book recs based on shows you love (like The Bear) or tropes you're obsessed with (like "found family" and "whimsy"). Then, things take a turn…

What starts as a “What your coffee order says about you as a reader” quiz quickly devolves into debates about whether a deviled egg counts as a species, Amanda’s mom’s smutty reading preferences, and why Kat might need to switch siblings.

They also share this week’s tropes:

🐾 Interspecies romance (we're looking at you, Signs of Cupidity)

🏡 Boy/girl next door

❤️ Enemies to lovers (with bonus fake dating)

Books and shows mentioned:

The Bear (TV)

Signs of Cupidity by Raven Kennedy

Creature Cafe series by Cleo Evans

Better Than the Movies by Lynn Painter

A Court of Thorns and Roses and Silver Flames by Sarah J. Maas

Come for the bookish banter, stay for the chaos.

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Can I Bring My Book: The podcast where besties meet books… and sometimes unhinged fantasy quizzes.

This week, Amanda and Kat dive into a chaotic “Pack Your Bag” fantasy quiz—and discover that Amanda is a panicky pixie packing an anxious teddy bear and a goat named Bitey. Naturally.

The episode spirals delightfully from there with a round of bookish “Would You Rather” (dog-eared pages or spoilers, anyone?) and a debate over naming pets—or children—after fictional characters.

They also reveal their trope obsessions of the week:

And Amanda’s hot take? Everyone should read Finnegans Wake—but Kat’s firmly in the “absolutely not” camp.

Mentioned in the episode:

Tune in for the absurd, the cozy, and the unfiltered chaos that is Can I Bring My Book.

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You know what they say—don’t judge a book by its cover. But honestly? Sometimes we do. In this episode of Can I Bring My Book, Kat and Amanda explore the irresistible world of cover buys: books they picked up purely because of how pretty, striking, or downright soft-to-the-touch they were. From bold color palettes and intriguing titles to irresistible textures and filigree chapter pages, we’re sharing the cover art that convinced us to give a book a shot (even if we’ve already DNF’d it once before).

We also reveal our latest finds from the Friends of the Library sales and dig into the emotional drama of rain-damaged deliveries. Plus, in this week’s Trope Talk, it’s a cozy small-town vibe vs. a fated-to-be-together monster romance—complete with fiery beards, puns, and espresso art.

Books we talk about this episode:

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This week on Can I Bring My Book, Kat and Amanda get real about the chaos of their TBRs, the bookish habits they’re slightly ashamed to admit, and the hot takes that might get them banned from the bookish internet. From using dust jackets as bookmarks (we’re sorry) to confessing our dependence on airplane mode for Kindle hoarding, we’re laying it all out.

Plus, we dive into a very specific (and very forbidden) trope: the off-limits crush. You know the one—your brother’s best friend, your professor, your ex’s dad. And of course, we couldn’t wrap things up without one of our favorite games: Build-A-Book with tropes, microtropes, and book boyfriends based on our birthdays and phone battery percentages. (Turns out, we’re both into mafia dons this week. Who knew?)

📚 Mentioned in this episode:

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TBR Time Travel + Our Most Unhinged Trope Talk Yet

Time to dust off the digital shelves—Amanda and Kat are throwing it back to the very first books they ever added to their Goodreads TBRs (we're talking 2011-level chaos). From books they still haven’t read to ones they completely forgot about (and maybe even hate-read), this episode is packed with judgment, nostalgia, and a surprising amount of purging.

Plus, we round things out with Trope Talk, featuring two very spicy favorites:

Books mentioned include:

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Is it more fun to live the story or to watch it unfold? In this episode, we’re diving into the big narrative debate—first person vs. third person point of view. From omniscient storytelling to limited perspectives, we unpack the pros and cons of each and share which styles we gravitate toward (spoiler: it depends on the vibe).

We also chat about one of our favorite storytelling devices—the unreliable narrator—and list the books that pulled it off flawlessly. Whether you’re team “I want all the inner monologue” or “just tell me what’s happening,” there’s something in this episode for you.

Books we mention include:

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