RAD Reading

It’s time for our best books of the year episode! We also have an announcement about the podcast and Roni has a new book coming out. Join us for the end-of-the-year fun!

• An announcement about the podcast
• Noticing the themes of our favorite books this year
• The genres that worked and didn’t work for us this year
• Roni loves a book statistic and she found some surprises about her reading life this year
• Our favorite romances
• Dawn’s dark darkness
• Yes, Roni uses quarter stars
• Books that speak to your Id
• Our favorite mysteries and suspense
• Roni’s favorite non-fiction
• Leonard the dog tries to dismantle the office
• A book Roni thinks everyone should listen to 
• Our most anticipated books for 2023
• Roni’s new book Good Girl Fail comes out January 17th!

Click here to get the full show notes, including links to all of our recommendations and anything else we mentioned in the show.

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Connect with Roni on her website or @roniloren on Instagram

Connect with Dawn on her website or @dawnalexanderbooks on Instagram

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Today, we welcome Sierra Godfrey, author of A Very Typical Family, to talk about Women’s Fiction. Is it a genre? What does that category mean? Can it have romance in it? Does it have to have a certain kind of ending? We answer those questions and more. Then we’re giving our best women’s fiction recommendations!

• Something in Sierra’s author bio already has Dawn nervous
• The challenge of writing sibling stories as an only child
• Women’s Fiction and what does that mean exactly
• Roni can’t help being a “Well, actually…” person
• Our best women’s fiction recommendations
• If Dawn is ever in the woods, it means we need to send help
• Our RAD Recs of the Week
• Go sign up for Sierra’s newsletter because it’s awesome (says Roni the newsletter snob)
• And buy her book A Very Typical Family, out now!

Our guest: Sierra Godfrey

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Connect with Roni on her website or @roniloren on Instagram

Connect with Dawn on her website or @dawnalexanderbooks on Instagram

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It’s that time of year again! Light the pumpkin-scented candle, get a bowl of your favorite Halloween candy, and turn on a stormy night soundtrack to set the mood. Today, we’re bringing you the best scary (from Roni) and gently spooky (from Dawn) things we’ve read, watched, and listened to lately.

• Why Dawn can’t go to the movies in October
• Reading slumps are the worst
• Roni tried a new method to tackle her giant TBR pile and it worked!
• A book that was on Roni’s TBR for 7 years
• Locked basements are a bad sign
• A book that had one of us thinking WTF the whole time
• We need warnings if the dog dies
• A book that was just right for Dawn
• Roni’s spooky/scary TV and movie recommendations (and an anti-recommendation)
• Dawn recommends a few fun and not-so-spooky things to watch
• A genre mash-up with fantastic audiobook narration
• Lycanthropy is a word and Roni is standing by that
• It always comes back to Buffy
• Our RAD recs of the week

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RAD Reading Website

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Connect with Roni on her website or @roniloren on Instagram

Connect with Dawn on her website or @dawnalexanderbooks on Instagram

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Today, we’re celebrating Roni’s birthday by talking about the books that influenced her as a reader. Then, Dawn is gifting Roni with a stack of book recommendations tailored to her tastes. Plus, we’re celebrating our 1-year podcast anniversary! Come and join our bookish party!

• Our little baby podcast is now one year old!
• Roni’s embarrassing TBR confession
• We get wistful about the Scholastic book fair flyer
• Team Babysitters Club vs Team Sweet Valley High
• A book that gutted Baby Roni
• The day Dawn missed a very important day in reading class and was book traumatized
• The joy of nineties teen horror books
• That age when you hit the “sneaky reads”
• Yep, Flowers in the Attic messed all of us up ;) 
• That time Roni asked her dad the definition of a word and was mortified to find out the answer
• When Roni’s reading life died and the book that brought her back
• How did Roni end up writing super steamy romance
• Dawn gifts Roni with personalized book recs
• Roni somehow brings things back to Buffy again
• Our RAD Recs of the week!
• We go on a tangent about fear just in time for the spookiest month

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RAD Reading Facebook Page

RAD Reading Website

RAD Rec Master List

Connect with Roni on her website or @roniloren on Instagram

Connect with Dawn on her website or @dawnalexanderbooks on Instagram

*Note: all book links are affiliate links which means the podcast makes a small commission if you make a purchase, but there is no extra cost to you!

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USA Today and #1 Amazon Bestselling author Pippa Grant is joining us today to talk about unlikable heroines and why they need love too. Plus, we get to hear a little about her romantic comedies! (Fair warning: this talk is more PG-13 than some of our others so don’t listen with kiddos in the car.)

• Unlikable heroines need love too
• Not all things marketed as romantic comedy are true comedy
• Pippa’s got a new release coming called Irresistible Trouble
• Dawn and Roni have their RAD Reading After Dark voices going because when we recorded, we were both recovering from COVID
• Unlikable heroine does not mean a badly written heroine
• The double standard for heroines
• Types of unlikable heroines - the b**ch, the achiever, the sexually liberated heroine, the messy heroine, true female villains
• Why authors try not to read their own reviews
• Roni has feelings about Fatal Attraction
• “Cool motive. Still murder.” – Dawn
• Roni’s meanest heroine
• Our reading recs for books with unlikable heroines
• Our RAD recs of the week

• Our guest author: Pippa Grant
• RAD Reading on Instagram
• RAD Reading Facebook Page
• RAD Reading Website
• RAD Rec Master List
• Connect with Roni on her website or @roniloren on Instagram
• Connect with Dawn on her website or @dawnalexanderbooks on Instagram

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Sometimes we get so focused on the traditional novel that we forget that stories come in all different types of formats and structures. This week, we’re giving those kinds of stories the spotlight. Join us as we recommend graphic novels, anthologies, short stories, novels with creative formats, and some truly wacky things Dawn found at the bookstore!

• Reading is reading and don’t let anyone tell you format dictates whether something counts
• Roni gets on her reading soapbox at a football game and was “that person”
• Giving things a try that you think may not be for you
• Dawn wants to time travel
• The upsides of short stories
• Dawn was definitely almost killed by one of the Children of the Corn
• Leonard the dog makes known his love of LGBTQIA+ romance
• The difference between graphic novels and comics 
• Roni discovers a new way to read graphic novels that makes it so much easier for her to follow the story
• Roni is going through a Buffy phase #sorrynotsorry
• Novels with interesting formats
• Remember when Twitter wasn’t a hellscape?
• The elusive state of “full mental capacity”
• IKEA can be effing scary
• The curse of “have a great summer”
• Roni loves her scary movies and books but she’s terrified of one book Dawn loves
• Dawn cheats on “choose your adventure” books
• Coloring books with interesting subjects
• Our RAD Reading Recs of the week - including a book a listener recommended to us!

Click here to get the full show notes, including links to all of our recommendations and anything else we mentioned in the show.

RAD Reading on Instagram

RAD Reading Facebook Page

RAD Reading Website

RAD Rec Master List

Connect with Roni on her website or @roniloren on Instagram

Connect with Dawn on her website or @dawnalexanderbooks on Instagram

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It’s too hot here in Texas so today we’re dreaming about Fall and sharing a BIG list of paranormal reads to add to your TBR. We’ve got vampires and witches and shifters, oh my! Plus, you know Dawn is bringing dragons and Roni's going to talk too much about Buffy. We’re also talking about how the trend of paranormals has waxed and waned over the decades and how it seems to be coming back after a dormant period. And we’re so here for it! 

• Seasonal reading - our versions of it
• Roni’s craving vampires
• Roni is teaching her beginner romance writing class, you can sign up here (Code: EARLYBIRD gets you $20 off before August 25th!)
• The paranormal craze of the aughts
• Is the era of the rom com hitting the saturated point?
• Dark books for dark times
• How the pandemic may be playing into this potential trend
• What each of us is looking for in a paranormal read
• Dawn wants the weirdness
• Roni’s obsession with Buffy the Vampire Slayer 
• YA paranormal vs adult paranormal
• The trope of the Chosen One
• Our favorite creatures/monsters
• What doesn’t work for us in paranormals
• Ostriches and ghosts of children
• Join Roni’s super cool newsletter and you can chat book recs too!
• A giant stack of book recs coming your way
• First-book-in-a-long-series syndrome
• Our RAD Recs of the week

• RAD Reading on Instagram
• RAD Reading Facebook Page
• RAD Reading Website
• RAD Rec Master List
• Connect with Roni on her website or @roniloren on Instagram
• Connect with Dawn on her website or @dawnalexanderbooks on Instagram

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We've both got COVID, y'all. Ugh! So this week we've got a mini-episode with just me (Roni) because Dawn got hit with Covid harder and needs to rest. I'm sharing an update about my summer reading, and I want to hear how yours is going as well!

• How's my summer book cart working out? (spoiler: things are not going well, y'all.)
• An app that I'm loving for my book journaling
• A change in my reading habits that I didn't expect

• The journaling app I'm loving
• The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han
• Praise by Sara Cate

Come tell us how your summer reading is going on the Facebook page!

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It’s Dawn’s birthday week! Today, we’re going to celebrate Dawn with an episode dedicated to the books she loves. First, she’s bringing us a list of books that she credits with making her into a reader. Then, Roni is “gifting” Dawn with three book recommendations that are tailor-made for her. Plus, we’re bringing you a recap from our fabulous weekend at the Book Bonanza conference!  Join us for the birthday bash!

• Our Book Bonanza conference recap
• Dawn the Designated Extrovert
• Miss Connie the super librarian
• Roni played Never Have I Ever with some superstar authors…and can’t remember much because she might’ve metaphorically blacked out on stage
• Strawberry Ice Cream Hershey kisses are dangerous 
• We almost had a murderous dinner
• Readers truly are the best 
• The books that made Dawn into a reader
• Read the book but skip this movie
• The power of English teachers
• The book that every 80s kid had tucked inside their backpack
• The book that taught Dawn it was okay for stories not to have a happy ending
• The book Dawn would save in a fire
• Roni gifts Dawn with three book recommendations
• Dawn’s husband is very nice but she does like an alphahole hero in her books
• Our RAD Recs of the Week
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RAD Reading Facebook Page

RAD Reading Website

RAD Rec Master List

Connect with Roni on her website or @roniloren on Instagram

Connect with Dawn on her website or @dawnalexanderbooks on Instagram

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Today, we’re sharing the best things we’ve read, watched, and listened to over the last month—along with a few books that didn’t quite work for us. Plus, we’re celebrating Roni’s new book release!

• Roni has a new book out! Get your copy of For You & No One Else
• If you’re at the Book Bonanza conference this weekend, stop by Roni’s table and say hi to both of us!
• Roni had a great reading month, Dawn…not so much
• Our favorite print reads this month
• An element Dawn loves in a book: “people start dying”
• Roni learns there’s a certain story premise that just doesn't work for her
• An ending made one of us real mad
• Expectations when a new book in a series comes out
• Our favorite audiobooks this month
• Roni and Dawn are never going camping
• When a book’s about the journey not the destination
• What we’ve been watching and loving
• A show that is just a pure delight
• The show Dawn is obsessed with
• The movie that wowed Roni and gave her heart eyes for an actor
• The TV show that spoke to Roni’s “id”
• One of us loves a love triangle
• Our RAD Reading Recs of the week – which are VERY different from each other!

RAD Reading on Instagram

RAD Reading Facebook Page

RAD Reading Website

RAD Rec Master List

Connect with Roni on her website or @roniloren on Instagram

Connect with Dawn on her website or @dawnalexanderbooks on Instagram

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