Hazel & Katniss & Harry & Starr

With Brenna back from her French vacation, we dig into the mailbag to address messages from Neera, Spencer and the creative team behind You Can Live Forever!

Neera's recommendations:

> Lady's Knight by Meagan Spooner & Amie Kaufman

> Gwen and Art Are Not in Love and Not For the Faint of Heart by Lex Croucher

Wanna connect with the show? Follow us on Instagram and BlueSky @HKHSPod or use the hashtag #HKHSPod:

> Brenna: @brennacgray

> Joe: @bstolemyremote (Instagram) or @joelipsett (BlueSky)

Have a mail bag question? Email us at [email protected] 

Theme music: Rewind Kid "Rhythm Revolution"

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Brenna and Joe kick off Book 8 with the first entry in The Lorien Legacy series: I Am Number Four (2010).

Ostensibly written by "Pittacus Lore", this is actually from James Frey's Fiction Factory, which paid MFA students $250 to write YA books for the disgraced author.

The book is basically Teen Superman as alien John Doe falls in love with human girl, alien species "the Mogs" try to murder him, and a school is exploded in the process.

It's pretty tropey!

Reference: Suzanne Mozes. "James Frey’s Fiction Factory" New York Magazine

Music: Rewind Kid - "Rhythm Revolution"

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Brenna and Joe wrap up Book 7 with a look at the 2002 Disney adaptation of Tuck Everlasting, starring Alexis Bledel and Jonathan Jackson (and his schwoopy hair!)

The big change in the film is the focus on Winnie and Jesse's love story, as well as an updated time period (and no jailbreak!)

Plus: Joe's movie-ruining factoid; Ben Kingsley's villainous performance; and why being abducted on a horse isn't the same as walking.

Wanna connect with the show? Follow us on Instagram and BlueSky @HKHSPod or use the hashtag #HKHSPod:

> Brenna: @brennacgray

> Joe: @bstolemyremote (Instagram) or @joelipsett (BlueSky)

Have a mail bag question? Email us at [email protected] 

Theme music: Letra “Like A Bird” 

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Brenna and Joe return to middle grade fiction with Natalie Babbitt's 1975 classic novel, Tuck Everlasting.

It's a beautifully simple, but effective story with some age-appropriate moral lessons.

Plus: Brenna's experience with the graphic novel; the jailbreak finale; and why immortality is such a drag.

Wanna connect with the show? Follow us on Instagram and BlueSky @HKHSPod or use the hashtag #HKHSPod:

> Brenna: @brennacgray

> Joe: @bstolemyremote (Instagram) or @joelipsett (BlueSky)

Have a mail bag question? Email us at [email protected] 

Theme music: Letra “Like A Bird” 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Brenna and Joe return to discuss the film adaptation of Along For The Ride, written and directed by Sofia Alvarez (To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before).

Shocking no one: the complicated relationship with the parents is downplayed in favour of the romance with Eli.

But we're thankful that the friendship with the girls remains in place, and the parents still suuuuck (though Andie McDowell is barely present).

Plus: beach prom, post-partum, and music montages!

Wanna connect with the show? Follow us on Instagram and BlueSky @HKHSPod or use the hashtag #HKHSPod:

> Brenna: @brennacgray

> Joe: @bstolemyremote (Instagram) or @joelipsett (BlueSky)

Have a mail bag question? Email us at [email protected] 

Theme music: Letra “Like A Bird” 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Brenna and Joe return to the world of Sarah Dessen to discuss 2009's Along For The Ride.

There are no surprises here: it's all predictable conventions and tropes...and we don't care *at all* thanks to Dessen's fantastic writing and characterizations.

Plus: possibly the worst parents we've ever seen; internalized misogyny; and issues with the title and cover art.

Wanna connect with the show? Follow us on Instagram and BlueSky @HKHSPod or use the hashtag #HKHSPod:

> Brenna: @brennacgray

> Joe: @bstolemyremote (Instagram) or @joelipsett (BlueSky)

Have a mail bag question? Email us at [email protected]  

Theme music: Letra “Like A Bird”  

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Brenna and Joe check out Tracey Deer's Indigenous Canadian film, Beans (2020), which we've both been eager to check out for years.

Pre-teen actor Kiawentiio gives an incredible performance as the title character in a film that mixes coming of age elements with historical re-enactments of the 1990 Oka Crisis, when settler colonialists tried to take over Indigenous land to build a golf course and a 78 day stand-off followed.

It's a solid film, though we're more invested in the historical details than some of the traumatic elements that unexpectedly develop in the last act.

Wanna connect with the show? Follow us on Instagram and BlueSky @HKHSPod or use the hashtag #HKHSPod:

> Brenna: @brennacgray

> Joe: @bstolemyremote (Instagram) or @joelipsett (BlueSky)

Have a mail bag question? Email us at [email protected]  

Theme music: Letra “Like A Bird”  

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Joe and Brenna venture into new territory to discuss writing/directing duo Sarah Watts and Mark Slutsky's queer Canadian Jehovah's Witness romance.

Featuring stand-out performances by Anwen O'Driscoll and June Laporte, the 90s-set film is beautifully quiet and contemplative.

Plus: debate about the effectiveness of the ending; a surprising best friend character; and questions about the "mom on the phone"

Wanna connect with the show? Follow us on Instagram and BlueSky @HKHSPod or use the hashtag #HKHSPod:

> Brenna: @brennacgray

> Joe: @bstolemyremote (Instagram) or @joelipsett (BlueSky)

Have a mail bag question? Email us at [email protected]  

Theme music: Letra “Like A Bird”  

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Brenna and Joe return to the world of Jim Henson to discuss the one-off reboot of The Muppet Show (2026).

We discuss why Sabrina Carpenter was an inspired first host, how kiddos handle the "scary" Beeker skit, why Kermit sounds a little different, and our hopes for more felt friends in the future.

Wanna connect with the show? Follow us on Instagram and BlueSky @HKHSPod or use the hashtag #HKHSPod:

> Brenna: @brennacgray

> Joe: @bstolemyremote (Instagram) or @joelipsett (BlueSky)

Have a mail bag question? Email us at [email protected] 

Theme music: Letra “Like A Bird” 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Former guest Alex Heeney writes in to gently read Brenna and Joe about recent comments that suggest they may be aging out of YA.

At what point do you realize you're no longer the target audience and move onto New Adult literature?

Wanna connect with the show? Follow us on Instagram and BlueSky @HKHSPod or use the hashtag #HKHSPod:

> Brenna: @brennacgray

> Joe: @bstolemyremote (Instagram) or @joelipsett (BlueSky)

Have a mail bag question? Email us at [email protected]  

Theme music: Letra “Like A Bird”  

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.