Major / full spoilers: None. No book is discussed with significant plot reveals.

Moderate spoilers:

• Yesteryear (Caro Claire Burke) — No major plot beats revealed, but Lisa discusses the framing: that the narrator is intentionally unlikable, that it's a polarizing "love it or hate it" read, and its tradwife-influencer/satire premise. If a listener wants to go in totally cold, this is the one to note.

Minor mentions (no meaningful spoilers):

• Verity (Colleen Hoover) — Described only as dark/disturbing with a strong reaction to the ending; no plot or twist revealed.
• All personal-growth & nonfiction titles — The Secret, The Magic, The Power, The Greatest Secret (Rhonda Byrne); Mindset (Carol S. Dweck); Big Magic & Eat Pray Love (Elizabeth Gilbert); The Creative Act (Rick Rubin); The Artist's Way (Julia Cameron); Rocket Fuel (Gino Wickman & Mark C. Winters); Fascinate (Sally Hogshead); The Writing Life (Annie Dillard); The Miracle Morning (Hal Elrod). Referenced for their ideas, not spoiled.
• The Sound of Gravel (Ruth Wariner), A Well-Trained Wife (Tia Levings), The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo(Taylor Jenkins Reid), Daggermouth (H.M. Wolfe), Are You Mad at Me? (Meg Josephson) — recommended/mentioned, no plot spoilers.

We're changing things up this week. After a romantasy-heavy stretch, I invited my business coach Lisa Huff — founder of Stylist Soul Tribe — back on the show to talk about her jam: business, self-help, memoir, and personal growth books.

If you've ever felt stuck in a reading rut, this one's going to hit home. Lisa gets honest about something a lot of us feel but don't say out loud: that after enough personal growth books, they can start to feel like they're all saying the same thing. We trace her whole reading evolution — from getting bit by the law-of-attraction bug, to grounding into a growth mindset, to falling in love with creativity and calling her business her art.

Along the way we get into morning pages and journaling (and why music unlocks the deeper stuff), our complicated relationships with meditation, and why learning to crave stillness and alone time changed both of us. We also talk about how the same book lands completely differently depending on what you're walking through — and how sometimes the healthiest thing you can do is just let life pass you by for a while instead of trying to fix yourself.

Plus: the memoirs pulling Lisa out of her rut, the fiction we couldn't put down, and my current dystopian obsession. Come hang out — it feels like eavesdropping on two friends and their bookshelves.

Plus: the memoirs pulling Lisa out of her rut, the fiction we couldn't put down, and my current dystopian obsession. Come hang out — it feels like eavesdropping on two friends and their bookshelves.

Infertility & pregnancy loss 

Panic & anxiety

Grief & death 

Suicide (brief mention) 

Divorce & family disruption 

Trauma & abuse (general/non-graphic) 

Also touched on: imposter syndrome, negative self-talk, people-pleasing, and social-comparison/self-worth struggles.

Have you ever caught yourself mid-spiral — telling yourself you're broken, not worthy, not enough — even when you know, intellectually, that none of it is true?

In this episode, I'm joined by Carlene Marie, Certified Master Mindpower Coach, keynote speaker, and author of the forthcoming book Enough Already: Release Self-Doubt, Reclaim Your Worth, Remember Your Light. Her work weaves together neuroscience, self-talk, mindset, and spirituality to help women uncover the unconscious "not enough" stories quietly shaping how they think, choose, lead, and love.

I got honest with Carlene right out of the gate — sharing a recent panic spiral tied to my infertility grief, the kind that lands you on the bathroom floor trying to breathe. Instead of hitting me with "just think a positive thought," she offered something so much more useful: her Compass Method®, four waypoints (Connect, Calm, Curious, Claim) for meeting hard moments without guilt or shame, and walking yourself home to yourself.

We get into so much in this one: how the "not enough" story disguises itself as imposter syndrome the moment you step onto a bigger stage; why so many of us fuse our worth to achievement, approval, and being "the good girl"; the quiet damage of measuring your life against everyone else's highlight reel; and how people-pleasing and weak boundaries are often that same story wearing a different mask. Carlene also shares the framework she gives readers for saying no without a deer-in-headlights moment — plus the "100 wants and 100 gratitudes" practice she has every client do before their first session.

We also talk about the messy truth that so much of who we become is forged in the hard stuff — grief, loss, the timelines that don't go the way we planned — and how the invitation isn't to get over any of it, but to meet it, greet it, and choose a different way through.

Whether you're navigating a life that looks nothing like the one you pictured, or you just want to quiet that inner voice that keeps moving the goalposts, this conversation is a reminder: your worth was never something you had to earn. You just have to remember it.

Enough Already releases September 22, 2026 in paperback, Kindle, and audiobook (narrated by Carlene herself), with a full reader-resource portal including the Compass Method printable, a workbook, and guided meditations for every chapter. You can find Carlene, her book, and her coaching at carlenemarie.com — all links are in the description below.

CONNECT WITH CARLENE

Instagram: @thecarlenemarie

Linkedin: carlene-marie-545ab6124/

And my new book, Enough Already: Release Self-Doubt, Reclaim Your Worth, Remember Your Light, releases September 22, 2026

Amazon, Audible, Barnes & Noble and more :)

Spoiler & content guide

🔴 Major / full spoilers

• Gild / The Plated Prisoner (Raven Kennedy)
• Outlander (Diana Gabaldon)
• Divergent (Veronica Roth) — the trilogy's ending is revealed.

🟡 Moderate spoilers

• Fury Bound (Sable Sorensen)
• The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes & Sunrise on the Reaping 
• Crescent City × ACOTAR (Sarah J. Maas)

🟢 Minor mentions
ACOTAR & the new Splintered Harmony / Forgotten Melody · Fourth Wing · Daggermouth· Kissed by the Gods · The Sweetest Fiend · Peculiar Stars · Windy City · Silver Elite · Shield of Sparrows · Spark of the Everflame · Metal Slinger · The Sixth Faction · From Blood and Ash · Game of Thrones · Harry Potter

Content note: brief discussion of sexual violence in fiction (Outlander), plus personal references to an abusive relationship, divorce, and infertility.

You know that friend you can talk books with for an hour and still feel like you're just getting started? That's Emily. She's back on the show (you last heard from her on Episode 114) for another wide-ranging, no-pressure catch-up between two lifelong friends who somehow both ended up doing hair and falling headfirst into the same reading obsession.

This one's a proper "what have you been reading" episode. Emily's been living in sports romance all summer — the Windy City series by Liz Tomforde and a hockey-romance history that goes all the way back to Pucked — while saving her fantasy brain for the season ahead. You get into the great audiobook-vs-physical-book debate (fantasy you have to read; contemporary you can listen to while you're outside), why life circumstances change the way a book hits, and how a badass fictional heroine can do more for your self-confidence than a shelf full of self-help ever did.

And of course, you circle back to the thing every romantasy reader is bracing for this fall: the return to Prythian. With A Court of Splintered Harmony landing October 27th and A Court of Forgotten Melody close behind in January, you and Emily talk through the pre-release chaos — the theory spirals, the cover analyses, the social-media blackout Emily's about to go on — and land firmly on the same side: you're not here to pick these books apart. You just want to read them. As Emily puts it, she doesn't need seven hundred theories to shape her experience, and honestly, same.

From there it's everything that makes the current book world equal parts wonderful and overwhelming: the special-edition frenzy (Fairy Loot, Goldsboro, Waterstones, and the friend who buys and flips them by the boxful), the endless sequels and pre-finale novellas, and the tricky business of adaptations — the ones that get it right and the ones that go completely off the rails. You share the joy of a great author event (H.M. Wolfe's Daggermouth signing, the touch-consent moment that stuck with you both), tease a possible hair-podcast spin-off, and generally give yourselves permission to just love this stuff without turning it into homework.

Grab your current read and settle in. Full spoiler tiers are below so you can navigate safely.

Switching things up today, friends. In twenty-plus years of doing hair, I've never actually told you my story — how I got here, why I do this, and what lights me up every single day behind the chair. So this one's a solo bonus episode all about me.

I'm taking you all the way back: to the senior-year trade-school program I fell into almost by accident (five minutes to decide and I said yes), to beauty school, to apprenticing under a salon owner right out of school, to a year in Australia where a blow-dry bar taught me more than I ever expected. I'll walk you through a decade of booth rental, the business course that changed everything, and my winding road to extensions — from hating them for years to making them one of my absolute favorite things I do.

But honestly? This episode isn't really about the technical stuff. It's about people. I share why the relationships I have with my clients mean everything to me, what a truly customized salon experience looks like, why healthy hair is non-negotiable for me, and my heart behind helping women stop neglecting themselves and start feeling seen, confident, and a little taller when they walk out my door.

And because these solo episodes are still new and a little weird for me, I close with a rapid-fire round of fun facts — tea over coffee (always), my favorite genre, my number-one country out of 50+, biggest hair myths, and what I'd probably be doing if I weren't a hairstylist.

If you've followed my personal story but never heard about my professional life, this one's for you. And if you're in the Colorado Springs area and this sounds like your kind of vibe, I'd love to have you in my chair — all my info is linked below.

www.tawnynicolehairdesign.com

[email protected]

Major / full spoilers

• Throne of Glass series (through Kingdom of Ash): The identity reveal tying Celaena to Aelin is discussed openly, as is the fate of the Thirteen and Chaol's and Manon's full character arcs.
• The Assassin's Blade: Sam Cortland's fate is stated plainly, along with best placement for reading the prequel.
• Mistborn (original trilogy): The ending is referenced as a major twist — no specifics named, but the fact that there is a big reveal is discussed.

Moderate spoilers

• A Court of Silver Flames / ACOTAR: Nesta's redemption arc, Feyre's Under the Mountain trials, and established couplings (e.g. Elide & Lorcan) come up. Plus ongoing fan theories about Elain, Azriel, Lucien, and one Inner Circle character — speculation, not confirmed plot.

Minor mentions (no significant spoilers)

Daggermouth (H. M. Wolfe), the Villains of Lore series (Jasmine Mas), Warbreaker (Brandon Sanderson), and many others are discussed at a vibes/recommendation level only — premises and impressions, nothing that spoils the story.

We met the way a lot of good book friendships start now — over a book. Tawny bought one from Michaela on Facebook Marketplace, they got to chatting on the sidewalk, and fifteen minutes later Michaela's husband was wondering if she was ever coming back inside (or getting murdered by a random Facebook girl). Spoiler: neither. Just two readers who, once they start, can't stop.

This one's a big, cozy book chat. Michaela just finished Throne of Glass for the very first time, so we get into all of it: how she'd rank the Sarah J. Maas universe, why the Tower of Dawn / Empire of Storms tandem read might be underrated, giving Chaol a little more grace than the internet does, and the reveals that wrecked us both. Then we wander deep into ACOTAR theory territory — where Elain actually lands, whether Azriel's watching out of longing or suspicion, and one very dangerous idea about a certain character in the Inner Circle we can't shake.

From there it's the reader's real dilemma: where do you even go next when the possibilities are endless? We swap notes on Brandon Sanderson and the slow-burn Cosmere world-building, when to give in to audiobooks, and the beautiful, expensive spiral of special editions and subscription boxes — the ones we'd never cancel, the ones we've had to, and the packages our poor husbands keep hauling inside. We close with a rapid-fire round on our favorite read of the year so far.

If you've ever finished a series and felt genuinely lost about what to pick up next, this episode is for you. Come hang out.

CLICK HERE FOR ALLURIAL SUBSCRIPTION!

TRIGGER WARNING TOPICS

• Fatal car accident and death of family members (including graphic detail — fire, the crash, a family member dying of internal injuries)
• Severe burns, medical trauma, and repeated surgeries (skin grafts, hospitalization, lifelong physical effects)
• Drugging and sexual assault (multiple perpetrators; assault of a minor)
• Suicidal ideation / suicide (discussed specifically in connection with IVF hormone treatment)
• Infertility, IVF, and pregnancy loss
• Depression, severe anxiety, and PTSD
• Drug references (MDMA-assisted therapy — worth noting it's discussed as therapeutic, and that MDMA is not currently legal)
• Grief, toxic family dynamics, and estrangement

This one goes deep. Tracy Smaldino — trauma survivor, keynote speaker, and host of the Trauma Rock Stars podcast — joins me for her first time on the show, and she truly is an open book. At twelve, she was the only survivor of a horrific car accident that took both her cousins and left her with burns on 70% of her body — a journey that, as any burn survivor will tell you, never really ends. Years later, at a high school party where everyone knew her story, she was drugged and assaulted. And then she did what so many of us do: she set it and forgot it, and suppressed it for decades.

In this conversation, Tracy walks us through what finally cracked her open — meditation during COVID, meeting her inner child and her higher self, and a four-and-a-half-hour MDMA-assisted therapy session that she describes as turning her happy chemicals back on like a light switch. We talk about setbacks not as ten steps backward but as lessons you haven't fully learned yet, why she never wants to be "healed" (because that would mean she's done growing), and the harsh-but-freeing truth at the center of her keynotes: no one's coming to save you — so look in the mirror, because that's your hero.

We also go somewhere I didn't expect. Tracy and I both walked the road of unexplained infertility and failed IVF, and we get honest about the darkest places those injections took us — places neither of us had ever been before. If you take one thing from this episode, let it be Tracy's reminder that the scariest part is diving in, but the best support you're going to get often comes from people you haven't even met yet. So be excited about who's coming into your life.

Find Tracy at traumarockstars.com, take her free life audit quiz, and keep an eye out for her memoir arriving over the holidays.

Major / Full Spoilers

• Mistborn (Era One — The Final Empire & The Well of Ascension): Kelsier's death and self-sacrifice early in the series is discussed directly; the arc of the Lord Ruler being reframed as sympathetic by the end is revealed; a major character death in the second book's battle (Sazed's love interest) is named, along with the fact that many characters die in that war. The chapter-header epigraphs and who is writing them across the three books are also explained.
• Broken Dove (sequel to Silver Elite): The ending cliffhanger and the fate of the love-triangle setup are discussed in detail, including a late-book reveal, a specific final scene, and the fact that the story extends beyond the expected duology.

Moderate Spoilers

• When the Moon Hatched / Ballad of Falling Dragons: Structural reveals (that the two were originally one book, series length) and general plot confusion are discussed, though no specific twists are named.
• Alchemized: The book's origin as a reworked Harry Potter fanfiction (and its connection to Manacled) is discussed, which some readers consider a spoiler.

Minor Mentions

• Referenced but not significantly spoiled: Fourth Wing / the Empyrean series, Throne of Glass, A Court of Thorns and Roses, Eragon / the Inheritance Cycle (an emotional beat in Inheritance is alluded to), The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Dungeon Crawler Carl, Outlander, The Plated Prisoner series, and Spark of the Everflame.

Books all day? Yes, please. Shay Watson is back — you last heard her on Episode 95 sharing her personal health and money journey — and this time she's here purely to talk books, which quickly becomes everyone's favorite kind of episode.

The jumping-off point is Mistborn, Brandon Sanderson's genre-defining trilogy and Tawny's very first Sanderson read. Shay, a self-described die-hard Cosmere fan who's read "every single book he's ever written," walks us through why Mistborn is the perfect entry point to Sanderson's world, that jaw-dropping metal-based magic system, and the characters who wrecked us along the way.

From there the conversation wanders exactly where a good book chat should: the agony of unfinished series (looking at you, George R.R. Martin and Patrick Rothfuss), why Sanderson can crank out 1,200-page tomes while the rest wait, the great "do audiobooks count as reading?" debate, and the joy of watching the fantasy world blow up when some of us have been closet nerds since the very first Harry Potter book.

Plus a spoiler-y detour into that Broken Dove cliffhanger, thoughts on the upcoming Mistborn adaptation, and a rapid-fire round to close things out.

Whether you're a lifelong Cosmere devotee or a newcomer wondering if Sanderson is for you, this one's a warm, funny, deeply relatable hang between two people who could talk books forever.

This episode discusses:

• Infertility and IVF (fertility treatment, failed cycles, retrieval results, the decision to stop treatment)
• Grief and pregnancy loss — including grieving pregnancies/children that never came to be
• Childlessness not by choice and identity loss tied to not becoming a parent
• Pregnancy announcements and baby showers (may be difficult for listeners in active grief)
• Adoption and foster care loss — including birth parents reclaiming a child and financial/emotional loss in the adoption process
• Endometriosis and related medical discussion
• Mental health — jealousy, isolation, and the emotional toll of long-term grief
• Brief references to religion/prayer in the context of unsolicited advice
• Strong language (some profanity throughout)

Kelly Balcer returns to Radiant Resilience for one of the most honest conversations we've had on the show. If you missed her infertility story back in Episode 101 (still our most-listened-to episode), start there — but this one stands on its own.

Tawny and Kelly get real about infertility grief and why it's so often misunderstood: the repeat grief of failed cycles, negative tests, and canceled IVF, and the deeper loss of grieving a life that never came to be. They walk through the comments that land wrong — "just relax," "it'll happen when it's meant to," "have you tried…," "you can always adopt," "at least you can travel," "you're still young," "everything happens for a reason," "time heals all wounds" — and explain why each one stings, while acknowledging that most people saying them genuinely mean well and want to help.

Then they tackle the topic that's triggering Tawny most right now: how to handle pregnancy announcements with friends and family who are struggling with infertility. Their guidance is specific and usable — tell us privately, in a thoughtful text, before we find out from a group chat, a social media post, or (yes, this really happened) a baby shower invite in the mailbox. Give us the space to process, acknowledge the struggle, and let us decide whether we're able to attend the shower.

Whether you're walking this road yourself and need to feel seen, or you love someone who is and want to show up better, this episode is a roadmap. As Tawny puts it: "I love you, I'm sorry, I'm here for you, this sucks" goes a long way.

Big thanks to Carrie Hoskins for the shout-out love in this one.

Major / full spoilers

• Ballad of Falling Dragons — Rave's true identity as Eloyn, her 100-year disappearance and rebirth, and the reveal that she is Kazari's mother with Khan as the father. The Etherstone is revealed to be her lover, who is the cause of the moons falling; she reforms him, the moons fall again, and he returns to the stone. Khan's dragon, Raicon, dies going to the ice. Rave is heavily implied to be an Elding bird / phoenix.
• Ballad of Falling Dragons (Pyrock's arc) — the reveal that Essie is alive, discovered when Pyrock finds her upstairs; both Rave and Essie have spent the book mourning each other, and they never reconnect by the end.
• Ballad of Falling Dragons (villains) — Sareem survives and appears to be controlling/manipulating the Scavenger King, Arkin; Arkin's backstory as the older, single-bead bastard brother; and the brother's unexplained return, walking, at the moonfall.
• When the Moon Hatched — the abrupt ending, the mystery of Rave's lost memory, and the "she blocked it out from trauma" explanation the hosts push back on.

Moderate spoilers (plot points / twists revealed)

• Fury Bound / Direbound — the late-arrival of a previously unmentioned god as the endgame.
• Throne of Glass and Assassin's Blade — discussion of Celaena's arc, the Sam backstory, and the transformation by Empire of Storms, plus criticism of the series ending.
• A Court of Silver Flames — Nesta's characterization and arc.
• Silver Elite and Daggermouth — specific spicy scenes and which couples do (and don't) get their moments.

Minor mentions (no significant spoilers)

• Fourth Wing, Hunger Games, Divergent, Dune, The Expanse, Ender's Game — referenced as comparisons for world-building pace and genre preference.
• Mistborn and the Stormlight Archive (Brandon Sanderson) — discussed re: complex magic systems and slow builds.
• The Black Jewels series (Anne Bishop) — general discussion of the series' structure and content notes (child abuse flagged as difficult).
• The Knight and the Moth / Lightbringer, Web of Vows and Vengeance, Anathema, Poison Daughter, Turn of Fates, Sublimation, and Alchemized — named as current/upcoming TBR reads without plot detail.

Tawny is joined by her longtime friend and "book bestie" Alysha for a spoiler-filled dive into Ballad of Falling Dragons, the second book in the series that began with When the Moon Hatched. The two unpack why this one was such a struggle to get into without a reread, whether it lived up to its considerable hype, and the theories that are keeping them up at night ahead of book three. Along the way they trade takes on Pyrok's scene-stealing inner dialogue, the icy-lake metaphor and why it hit close to home, the case for physical books over audiobooks, and the ever-present question of whether the genre's, ahem, anatomical claims are biologically plausible. Plus: a detour into the current state of the bonded-dragon waiting list. Expect tangents, hot takes, and a running list of what to read next — from Fourth Wing to Throne of Glass to The Knight and the Moth.

Trigger Warning Topics

• Infertility and failed IVF (including zero embryo results)
• Pregnancy complications (bleeding at 32 weeks, difficult C-section recovery)
• Chronic illness/chronic pain (endometriosis, adenomyosis)
• Medical trauma, medical gaslighting, and dismissal by healthcare providers
• Brief mention of cancer (breast cancer screening/late diagnosis)
• Pregnancy loss adjacent content and grief around family building
• Brief casual references to alcohol and drug use
• A brief flippant expression of frustration ("I'd rather shoot myself with a peptide" — said in reference to injections, not self-harm, but worth noting for sensitive listeners)

Tara Harding is back! Since her first appearance on episode 55, Tara's practice has grown from a fertility-focused clinic into a full-scope private practice serving women (and men!) across seven states and counting — all while taking insurance, which is nearly unheard of in this space.

In this update, Tara opens up about her stage 4 endometriosis and adenomyosis journey, a failed IVF cycle a year ago, and why she's now exploring cutting-edge options like peptides, PRP, ovarian rejuvenation, and stem cell therapy instead of another surgery.

We also dig into:

• Why so many women are dismissed, misdiagnosed, or medically gaslit — and what a full-body workup should actually look like
• Perimenopause confusion and why one lab value on the wrong cycle day isn't a diagnosis
• The GLP-1 and hair loss connection (and the genetic test that can fast-track treatment)
• Why birth control shouldn't be the only option handed to teen girls
• The broken insurance system from both the patient and small-business-owner perspective
• Tara's upcoming documentary exposing the state of women's healthcare — from teens to menopause

Tara's message is simple: women have to start putting their health first again. It's okay to say no to things that drain you.

Connect with Tara on Instagram @DrTaraHarding or at Simply U Wellness