Welcome to The 2023 Plotties, where we crown the best (and absolute worst) romance and smut books we read last year. If you love BookTok recaps, spicy romance chaos, and brutally funny book awards, this is your Super Bowl. Grab a drink, it’s time to celebrate the messiest moments in smutty fiction.

💌📚 Got a BookTok romance or smutty read we have to cover? Send us your spicy book recs at ⁠[email protected]⁠ or DM us on TikTok.

⭐ If you’re enjoying the chaos, hit subscribe and drop a 5-star rating on Spotify — it helps other romance readers find us! This podcast contains adult themes and the occasional colourful word.

Riley’s Christmas is officially cancelled, or so she thinks, until she’s stranded at an airport bar with a ridiculously hot hockey player. One drink turns into flirty banter, which turns into… an invitation home to meet his sort-of boyfriend. What could possibly go wrong (or very, very right) on Christmas Eve? Expect chaos, spice, and more emotional confusion than a BookTok hockey romance deserves!

💌📚 Got a BookTok romance or smutty read we have to cover? Send us your spicy book recs at ⁠[email protected]⁠ or DM us on TikTok.

⭐ If you’re enjoying the chaos, hit subscribe and drop a 5-star rating on Spotify — it helps other romance readers find us! This podcast contains adult themes and the occasional colourful word.

Blake has officially entered her main character era, fresh off rejecting a proposal from long-term boyfriend Clark (red flag much?). Enter Ari Lancaster: a swoon-worthy, emotionally wounded hockey player who’s ready to body-check his way into her heart. It’s a full-on BookTok hockey romance featuring second chances, locker room drama, and more emotional icing than the Stanley Cup.

💌📚 Got a BookTok romance or smutty read we have to cover? Send us your spicy book recs at ⁠[email protected]⁠ or DM us on TikTok.

⭐ If you’re enjoying the chaos, hit subscribe and drop a 5-star rating on Spotify — it helps other romance readers find us! This podcast contains adult themes and the occasional colourful word.

Wendy Michaels just wants a quiet life as a small-town barista, far away from her family’s money and drama. Enter Hook, the brooding, tattooed bar owner who lives on a houseboat… and somehow hates the ocean. This steamy BookTok-favourite Peter Pan retelling swaps Neverland for emotional damage, found family, and a whole lot of daddy issues. Forget fairytales, this is all about pirates, pining, and poor decisions.

💌📚 Got a BookTok romance or smutty read we have to cover? Send us your spicy book recs at ⁠[email protected]⁠ or DM us on TikTok.

⭐ If you’re enjoying the chaos, hit subscribe and drop a 5-star rating on Spotify — it helps other romance readers find us! This podcast contains adult themes and the occasional colourful word.

Roxy starts out strong, independent, fiery, and ready to take on the world... until her deadbeat dad’s debts land her in the hands of four brooding mafia men. What follows is peak BookTok chaos: possessive bad boys, emotional trauma, and the ultimate 'why choose' smut spiral. Can Roxy heal their tortured souls with her magical 😸 energy 😸 or just end up traumatised with benefits?

💌📚 Got a BookTok romance or smutty read we have to cover? Send us your spicy book recs at ⁠[email protected]⁠ or DM us on TikTok.

⭐ If you’re enjoying the chaos, hit subscribe and drop a 5-star rating on Spotify — it helps other romance readers find us! This podcast contains adult themes and the occasional colourful word.

Tana’s life is perfectly normal, until her front door decides to get… handsy? ✨🚪 Suddenly she’s caught in a paranormal love-triangle between logic, lust, and literal home security. This BookTok-worthy Halloween mini-sode dives into the wildest monster romance we’ve ever read, featuring mystery, magic, and a steamy human–door situationship no one asked for.

💌📚 Got a BookTok romance or smutty read we have to cover? Send us your spicy book recs at ⁠[email protected]⁠ or DM us on TikTok.

⭐ If you’re enjoying the chaos, hit subscribe and drop a 5-star rating on Spotify — it helps other romance readers find us! This podcast contains adult themes and the occasional colourful word.

Sloane is a vigilante serial-killer killer, cleaning up the streets one creep at a time. Then she meets Rowan, a fellow murderer with morals (kind of), and sparks fly in the most emotionally unstable way possible. What follows is equal parts romance, revenge, and light cannibalism, a true BookTok fever dream for fans of dark romance, morally grey couples, and trauma bonding done badly.

💌📚 Got a BookTok romance or smutty read we have to cover? Send us your spicy book recs at ⁠[email protected]⁠ or DM us on TikTok.

⭐ If you’re enjoying the chaos, hit subscribe and drop a 5-star rating on Spotify — it helps other romance readers find us! This podcast contains adult themes and the occasional colourful word.

Violet Sorrengail never wanted to be a dragon rider, she just wanted to stay in the library and mind her own business. But instead, she’s thrust into Basgiath War College, where surviving day one is a miracle and bonding with a dragon is a death wish.

Enter Xaden Riorson: brooding, dangerous, and definitely off-limits, and childhood friend Dain, who’s giving major 'nice guy' energy. It’s the perfect setup for a love-triangle, sexy dragon telepathy, and way too many near-death experiences. Join us as we dive into Fourth Wing, the fantasy romance that set BookTok on fire with dragons, spice, and trauma bonding!

💌📚 Got a BookTok romance or smutty read we have to cover? Send us your spicy book recs at ⁠[email protected]⁠ or DM us on TikTok.

⭐ If you’re enjoying the chaos, hit subscribe and drop a 5-star rating on Spotify — it helps other romance readers find us! This podcast contains adult themes and the occasional colourful word.

Clay and Olivia can’t stand each other, the golden girl and the rebel locked in a years-long rivalry that’s one snide comment away from violence… or maybe kissing. 😘 When Clay starts seeing Olivia in a new light, everything spirals into chaos, confusion, and questionable teenage decisions. From field hockey drama to full-blown emotional damage, Tryst Six Venom delivers enemies-to-lovers angst, queer awakening, and enough tension to snap a hockey stick in half. Join Carla and Emily as they unpack this sapphic dark romance classic and try to remember what it feels like to slide down a wall crying in high school despair.

💌📚 Got a BookTok romance or smutty read we have to cover? Send us your spicy book recs at ⁠[email protected]⁠ or DM us on TikTok.

⭐ If you’re enjoying the chaos, hit subscribe and drop a 5-star rating on Spotify — it helps other romance readers find us! This podcast contains adult themes and the occasional colourful word.

Kayla is just a little girl living in a big big spook spook house. The rest of this book is completely a blur so there's no point trying to summarise the plot. Join Carla and Emily as they try to figure out this twisty story!

💌📚 Got a BookTok romance or smutty read we have to cover? Send us your spicy book recs at ⁠[email protected]⁠ or DM us on TikTok.

⭐ If you’re enjoying the chaos, hit subscribe and drop a 5-star rating on Spotify — it helps other romance readers find us! (This podcast contains adult themes and the occasional colourful word.)