The Readirect Podcast

It's time for another jam-packed Book Talk episode! 

We catch up on our recent reads, from Abigail's recent Emily Henry reread journey to five-star favorites and recent DNFs, plus discuss the controversial marketing of fanfiction in traditional publishing.

Abigail's complete (revised) Emily Henry reread rankings: 

1. Funny Story
2. Happy Place 
3. Beach Read
4. People We Meet on Vacation 
5. Book Lovers 
6. Great Big Beautiful Life 

Plus, we're covering: 

• Recent DNFs including First Time Caller by BK Morrison and Silver Elite (please bully me, Emily, if you think I should give these a second chance)
• Five-star reads worth your time: East of Eden by John Steinbeck and Memorial by Bryan Washington 
• Abigail's recents: A Love Song for Ricki Wilde by Tia Williams and How to End a Love Story by Yulin Kuang
• Problematic Summer Romance by Ali Hazelwood review & lengthy discussion
• Discussion of the ethics of marketing fanfiction-inspired books using original IP (we're PASSIONATE) 
• Upcoming anticipated releases 

Plus, share our podcast on your Instagram story or tag us on Bluesky for a chance to win a $50 Thriftbooks gift card! Be sure to follow and tag us @readirectpodcast for a chance to win! 

We're joined by dear Friend of the Show Colleen to discuss Careless People by Sarah Wynn-Williams. This book details Sarah's account of her time working for Facebook, and it is definitely explosive. We're recapping the highlights and horrifying revelations including: shark attacks, private planes, Settlers of Catan, Zika virus, global politics, and more.  

Read the book & join along, or listen to our recap as a ;tldr version of events. Either way, we hope you'll enjoy this book club episode! 

Recent Reads: 

• Heated Rivalry and The Long Game by Rachel Reid
• The Wedding People by Alison Espach
• Cover Story by Celia Laskey

If you enjoyed this episode, consider leaving us a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify and following us on Instagram and Bluesky @ReadirectPodcast. 

Today's episode is all about our picks for your beach reads this year! 

As a reminder, the beach is a closed ecosystem and what you read there does not transcend into other realms. Like the airport, nothing matters here. Read your crazy books, be free, have fun. 

BEACH READS: 

• Bull Moon Rising by Ruby Dixon
• Funny Story by Emily Henry
• The Fake Boyfriend Fiasco by Talia Hibbert
• Gravity & The Other Side of the Story by Tal Bauer
• Here We Go Again by Alison Cochrun
• You With a View by Jessica Joyce
• The Five Year Lie by Sarina Bowen
• Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
• The Displacements by Bruce Holsinger

Recent Reads:

• This Is How It Always Is by Laurie Frankel
• Heated Rivalry by Rachel Reid
• Ariadne by Jennifer Saint

We'd love if you would support the show by leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. You can also follow us on Instagram and Bluesky at @readirectpodcast, and please share the show with your friends – it's the best way to help us grow our community of book-loving nerds!

Join us for a deep dive of Emily Henry's newest release, Great Big Beautiful Life! 

Plus a discussion of upcoming releases, movie adaptations, and casting for Sunrise on the Reaping. 

If you enjoyed this episode, please leave us a five-star review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts, follow us on Instagram and Bluesky at @readirectpodcast, and share our show with a friend.

Recent Reads: 

• Trial of the Sun Queen by Nisha Tuli
• Deep Cuts by Holly Brickley
• Plus a sh*t ton of hockey romances (DM Emily for details) 

We're here with a short and hilarious episode that had us CRYING laughing on multiple occasions. Today, we're sharing our unpopular bookish opinions, as well as the unpopular opinions of listeners & strangers on Reddit. 

Want to help us grow our community of book loving nerds? Leave us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, follow us on Instagram and Bluesky at @redirectpodcast, and share the show with a friend! 

Recent Reads: 

• Deep End by Ali Hazelwood
• Famous Last Words by Gillian McCallister
• You Didn't Hear This From Me by Kelsey McKinney

SPOILER ALERT! We will be discussing this book in exhaustive details, proceed with caution!

Today, we're doing a deep dive on Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins. The raw audio for this episode was over an hour and a half long, and it still somehow feels like we barely scratched the surface. There's so much to unpack with this new Hunger Games prequel. Tune in to hear our thoughts, reactions, and speculations. 

Recent Reads: 

• The Roommate Risk by Talia Hibbert
• The Cadence of Part-Time Poets by motswolo
• Famous Last Words by Gillian McCallister
• Careless People by Sarah Wynn-Williams
• Real Americans by Rachel Khong

Don't forget to follow us on Instagram and Bluesky @readirectpodcast. We love ya! 

We're seven years late to reading Sally Rooney's Normal People, a time capsule that takes us back to the 2010s and explores the complex relationship between two Irish teenagers as they navigate high school, college, and early adulthood.

If you've been enjoying the podcast, we would humbly ask that you support us in a few very simple ways. Leave us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, follow us on Instagram and Bluesky at @readirectpodcast, and share our show with a friend. 

Tune in for our next episode which will cover Sunrise on the Reaping.

Recent Reads: 

• Team Players by Deanna Grey
• Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid

Warning: This Episode is Cursed! Just kidding, but seriously, we tried recording this episode like three separate times and it felt like the forces of nature were conspiring against us! Even in the middle of this recording, we both got phone calls randomly, which we left part of the audio in for so you can see how truly chaotic this episode was. 

Anyway, we've read a lot lately! If you want the name of the fanfiction I (Emily) bleeped out, feel free to DM us but I can't just put my business out on the internet like that tbh. 

Recent Reads: 

• The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year by Ally Carter
• Flirting with Disaster by Naina Kumar
• When We Were Widows by Annette Chavez Macias
• Not in Love by Ali Hazelwood
• Deep End by Ali Hazelwood 
• Gathering Moss by Robin Wall Kimmerer
• Frostbite by Nicola Twilley
• So Let Them Burn by Kamilah Cole
• Love After the End by Joshua Whitehead

Plus we talk a bunch of other nonsense like what's going on in our lives, who should play a young Haymitch, and boygenuis tiktok edits.

As always, follow us on Instagram, Tiktok, and Bluesky at @readirectpodcast! We love ya! 

This episode may sound familiar, because it is! Tune in for a timely re-release of this older episode where we discuss our favorite banned and challenged books. 

This episode felt relevant when we first recorded it, and even more so now. We hope you'll consider adding some of our faves to your TBR in 2025! 

Team Abigail: 

• The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
• Looking for Alaska by John Green
• The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi

Team Emily: 

• A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J Gaines
• Native Son by Richard Wright
• Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume

Plus, books we've read lately:

• Everyone on this Train is a Suspect by Benjamin Stevenson
• Raiders of the Lost Heart by Jo Segura
• The Poppy War by R. F. Kuang

Follow us on Instagram AND Bluesky at @readirectpodcast! 

Today, we're putting the ROMA into ROMAntasy with an Onyx Storm deep dive. We yapped for an hour and a half and it still wasn't enough to figure out what happened in this book & theorize what's going to come next. 

Join us on this journey with our favorite shadow daddy Xaden & clueless heroine Violet. 

Plus, recent reads: 

• Flirting with Disaster by Naina Kumar
• Trial of the Sun Queen by Nisha J. Tuli

Plus - follow us on Instagram and Bluesky at @readirectpodcast.