Heaving Bosoms

Hey HBs! Mel and Sabrina are mad and they are recapping IT HAD TO BE YOU by Susan Elizabeth Phillips. This is a doozy! Good news, though, Mel's bringing back the custom intros... so that's fun!

Content Warnings: episode includes discussions of sexual assault, including in young childhood, on-page violent rape, statutory rape, rampant misogyny, malicious thinness, kink shaming, slut shaming, fat shaming, Madonna/Whore Complex, racism, and more.

Lady Loves:

Sabrina: having a group of badass, wonderful friends who will lift you up and remind you how you've advocated for yourself in the past after a terrible experience with a medical doctor.

Mel: deciding to never read another SEP book on pod or off. Whatever author shows you that you can't trust them to take care of you as a reader, don't read them anymore! Romancelandia is huge and gorgeous and there's something out there for everyone!

Time Stamps:

00:00 - Intro

02:30 - Banter, context, and content warnings

21:38 - Recap starts

02:27:22 - Lady Loves

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HBs, we're back with more Immortals After Dark by Kresley Cole! The second (first?) book in the series, A HUNGER LIKE NO OTHER, did not disappoint! This book starts at 11 and then refuses to simmer down. Get ready for big feelings, incredulity, and enthusiastic cackling (though, you should be used to that by now). There were so many times when Mel thought the hero could not be redeemed and somehow Kresley Cole pulls it off beautifully. She's a wizard!

TW: short mention of suicidal ideation and brief conversations about dubious consent, non-consent, and coercion.

Bonus Content: Sabrina went to SteamyLit Con and she didn't ask Anita Kelly about London's cow story... but she might have mooed? (the jury is still out), gaslighting with beautiful cross stiches, "yes-and"ing friends with barnyard noises, gnawing your own leg off as the reader meet-cute, Emmaline is an Immortal Youth ^TM, "all the checks are cashed!", he's a sledge hammer wielded by a ticking time bomb, a Kresley Cole behind-the-back handy ^TM, picturing cartoon-mascot-wolf-action during the super hot werewolf schmex scenes (why brain?!), and so much more!

Lady Loves:

Sabrina: dye your hair! Sabrina is finally going to have green hair again!

Melody: consider a front flip! Mel panic-purchased a one month membership to her local trampoline park to close out the summer with house-bound kids and SHE DID A FRONT FLIP for the first time in YEARS. It was so empowering! So fun! Your body can do shit you might not even know about anymore! So, just noodle on maybe doing that front flip at the next opportunity.

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Hey y'all! Mel and Sabrina are here with SORRY, BRO by Taleen Voskuni! It's a gorgeous sapphic contemporary between two Armenian-American women, one of whom is on a serious journey to self-discovery. This book weaves a beautiful love story within a rich tapestry of Armenian history and culture. It was GORGEOUS.

Bonus Content: Mel's son is the Pitbull of Baby Taming, it was a little hard for Mel to be in this heroine's brain, holy proposal from hell Batman!, the responsibility of a white person in an intercultural relationship, photobooth fumbles, stomachs falling out of butts, authors who have an ulterior motive of making the reader SO HUNGRY, and so much more!

Lady Loves:

Sabrina: all of you beautiful listeners who came to Sabrina's defense on that video snippet about icebergs that Mel didn't follow at all. You're the best!

Mel: When a kid comes up to you saying they saw a baby bear in your neighborhood but, don't worry, it was actually a gopher. Phew!

Guess what, y'all! We're on YOUTUBE!! Go subscribe!

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Hey HBs! Mel and Sabrina are here with AVARITIA by Colette Rhodes! This series is much beloved by both of them and this book didn't disappoint. Plus, we've got a heroine that is 100% HMHB (Hot Mess HB). It's a grumpy and adorably delusional Shadow Daddy plus a sunshine, go-with-the-flow, sex-positive maximalist. We went into this book with the promise of tentacle restraints, somnophilia, and primal and, in the words of Sabrina, "EVERY! CHECK! WAS CASHED!"

Bonus Content: Mel has poison ivy on her face, making fashion out of red flags, Colette Rhodes calls out 100% of the Heaving Bosoms podcast, and so much more!

Lady Loves

Sabrina: Lavender lemonade on a hot summer day! Get some sugar-free lemonade and add some lavender syrup to it!

Mel: Mario Kart with the kids! Everyone is finally old enough to play together and it's been super fun!

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Hey HBs! We're here with a brand new historical era: Dickens' Times! Elizabeth Hoyt came out swinging with WICKED INTENTIONS, the first book in her Maiden Lane series. We've got a do-gooding heroine who needs cash for her orphanage, a bad boy aristocrat who needs entree into London's worst neighborhood, a murder mystery, a vigilante hero clown, and some BIG SWOONS. We're super into it.

Bonus Content: Mel is having legal dreams because we're in Dickens' Times and Bleak House left it's mark on her soul, new Times alert! Dickens' Times! Is there an urchin? Are people starving in the gutters? Are babies being rescued from the arms of their corpse mother? You might be in Dickens' Times!, atoning for your clitoris, filming with a gray filter to account for the soot and misery, and so much more!

Lady Loves:

Mel: Microfiber gloves! Lots of people use them for dusting, but I like to use them to give my houseplants a periodic mashashge! I spray a little water on the leaves and then wipe them down while wearing my gloves to remove dust, promote shine, make sure they can photosynthesize efficiently, and know they're loved!

Sabrina: STORYGRAPH CHARTS ARE NOW EDITABLE!!!!!!!!!!! That's right, you can get your books and tags all organized and graphed and then you can fine-tune them!

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It's been a minute since we've recapped an alien romance, and HERE WE ARE, HBs! ARTEK by Honey Phillips manages to be both Western Times and alien, which is hard to pull off. This slice-of-life Seven Brides for Seven Brothers retelling was a romp from beginning to end!

Bonus Content: Sabrina's Libby nemesis is still abusing her with book 2 of the Spymaster series, Mel can't remember alien names, NIMBYs try to ruin everything again (but fail!), we need this to be a smutty animated series, and so much more!

Lady Loves:

Mel: cross apply some skills to get yourself out of a dinner rut! Mel mixed things up by using her leftover rotisserie chicken in a pot pie instead of making soup again and she nailed it!

Sabrina: pick up that old hobby you forgot about! Sabrina loves having her nails done and wow did she dig out a box of all her nail supplies. So fun and fancy!

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Hey HBs! Mel and Sabrina are here with LOVE & OTHER DISASTERS by Anita Kelly! This queer contemporary romance is set on an amateur cooking show. Dahlia is a divorcee who quit her job to be there and doesn't quite know how she'll pay rent if she doesn't win the $100k prize. Meanwhile, London is the show's first non-binary contestant, this is their national coming out declaration, and they want to use the money to start a non-profit to support queer kids where they live. They may be competitors, but they're attracting HARD from the first moment they (literally) bump into each other! Y'all, the gender, sexual orientation, and label representation in this book is AMAZING! We loved it.

Bonus Content: Sabrina gives us a #NemesisWatch 2024 update, the gals give dating advice to all the queer listeners out there (based on reading list data!), the gals want that cow story gosh darn it, Sabrina is the head of a Pinky-Heavy Household, and no one had to draft an angry spice level letter they would never (ever) send, and so much more!

Please check out today's sponsor:

A ROSE BY ANY OTHER NAME by Mary McMyne is out now in all formats, so go get this sapphic romantic fantasy historical set in Shakespeare Times!!!!!

Lady Loves

Mel: Hey, you know those half-finished projects that are languishing around your homestead? Getting them done is going to feel great! Mel had a fern she needed to divide and plant and hosting a 4th of July get-together was the perfect push to make it finally happen. Amazing!

Sabrina: Do you have a giant project hanging over your head that you're borrowing worries over? Just starting it helps SO MUCH! Slay that dragon, y'all.

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Hey HBs! We're here with the second half of THE SPYMASTER'S LADY by Joanna Bourne! Our couple is on a fall-in-love trek on foot all the way to London and boy does Annique feel guilty about being attracted to boy Grey and Robert... little does she know, they're the same bloke! Come with us as we finish our journey through spy times!

Bonus Content: Mel gets recognized by a mom at her school, the gals ruminate on tips of icebergs, Sabrina is an angry boomer about JUST GOOGLING IT, and so much more!

Please check out today's sponsor:

A ROSE BY ANY OTHER NAME by Mary McMyne comes out on July 16, so go preorder this sapphic romantic fantasy historical set in Shakespeare Times!!!!!

Lady Loves:

Mel: Return your library books via Hoopla and Libby when you're done, don't wait for the auto-return. Someone like Sabrina might be out there gnashing their teeth waiting for it.

Sabrina: pay attention to and celebrate the "little happies" in life. Does your Pineapple Bubbly tab say "hi u?" THAT'S ADORABLE.

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This includes affiliate links, which means that when you purchase through them, the podcast gets a tiny kickback without costing you an extra cent!

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Hey HBs! We're here with THE SPYMASTER'S LADY by Joanna Bourne! It's great to be back in France Times with an extra dose of intrigue and nefarious plots! We meet Annique, a 19 year old lifelong spy and Grey, the second in command of all the British spies right after the French Revolution. They are undoubtedly enemies who can't trust each other, unless they find out they've got way more in common than either of them think. Except for killing. She doesn't kill on purpose, he'll kill anything no problem.

Bonus Content: Sabrina is a monster in a heat wave, Mel is familiar with Les Mis, ok?, Sabrina is being abused by another local Libby user (just RETURN the book when you're done!), Mel skipped straight to the third book, Annique is supremely competent, field surgery and hypnosis, cats on hot tin roofs, and so much more!

Thank you to this week's sponsors!

A ROSE BY ANY OTHER NAME by Mary McMyne comes out on July 16, so go preorder this sapphic romantic fantasy historical set in Shakespeare Times!!!!!

THE TREASURED ONE by Hannah Levin comes out tomorrow July 9, so be sure to go get this brand new romantasy quick quick!!!!!

Lady Loves:

Mel: Have fruit out! It makes snacking so much more healthy and delicious!

Sabrina: Nongshim Shin Black Instant Ramen! It's spicy and beef and delicious. Cook it as-is, or dress it up with fancy veg and eggs!

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TikTok: @heaving_bosoms

This includes affiliate links, which means that when you purchase through them, the podcast gets a tiny kickback without costing you an extra cent!

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey HBs! We're here with our first Nora Roberts book, THE VILLA! It's winerytimes and the Giambelli matriarch is here to shake up with corporate structure! But also intrigue and murder with no less than 3,000 characters. And in this head-hopping 3rd person book, everyone (and we mean EVERYONE) gets a POV moment. Plus, not one but two romances!

Bonus Content: Pebbling as a love language, Treat Lifestyle, whimsying math, and so much more!

A note on audio: Mel's audio is wonky in the first 40 mins of this episode, but vastly improves after that! So sorry, tech issues have been figured out for future eps.

Lady Loves:

Mel: Pebbling! Sometimes it's all I can manage.

Sabrina: Find a new routine when something's not working. S needed a new trigger to get her into "work mode" now that she's full-time WFH and putting on a tiny bit of makeup is helping her do that!

Thank you to this week's sponsor! A ROSE BY ANY OTHER NAME by Mary McMyne comes out on July 16, so go preorder this sapphic romantic fantasy historical set in Shakespeare Times!!!!!

Go bid on all your romance faves at Romancing the Vote 2024, including a chance to guest-host an episode!

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