Trigger Warnings Book Club

Andrew is back this week to keep us on task (try to contain yourselves), and we're joined by indie fantasy author K.N. Timofeev, creator of the Lost Guardian trilogy and the A Tale of Blades and Darkness series. We get into how leaving the Marine Corps plus one very long YouTube rabbit hole turned into two fantasy series, whether she's a plotter or a pantser, the movie trope she refuses to write, the Tolkien travel-scene problem, and why fan fiction is the ultimate "just do it." She also tells us about the map she drew that ended up in a published book. Bonus content: Holly gets assigned homework and takes a second shot at bonding a dragon.

Find K.N. Timofeev

Signed copies: https://www.timofeevbooks.com

Instagram & TikTok: @timofeev_books

Local to Raleigh/Wake Forest? Page 158 Books carries her books.

Catch her at Between the Pages in Fayetteville, NC on November 14.

Current Reads

Andrew: Always Practice Safe Hex

Holly: Always Practice Safe Hex, Cackle

CJ: Meet Cute Magic, You're the One That I Haunt, Between Tides & Thunder

K.N.: Slewfoot

Other Books Mentioned: The Lost Guardian, Souls in the Dark, Time of Prophecy, The Serpent's Coils, The Hidden Temple, The Last Light, The Dark Gate, Save the Cat! Writes a Novel, The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, Sabriel, Lirael, Abhorsen, Six of Crows, the Grishaverse, the Alex Stern series, The Clan of the Cave Bear, Tamora Pierce

TALK TO US!!!

Leave a comment wherever you're listening and tell us: who does found family better, fantasy or college hockey?

Rate and review the show. It helps other readers find us.

Instagram: @trigger.warnings.bookclub

Email: [email protected]

Oh Pwincess: Holly is running the NYC Marathon on November 1 for The Book Fairies, getting books into the hands of kids who need them. Fundraising technically closed October 24, but the link still works. We are officially in the home stretch.

Donate: https://give.thebookfairies.org/fundraiser/7126101

Andrew's out sick this week so apologies if things are more chaotic than usual. Since we've all been fighting off reading slumps for what feels like months now Holly & Caitlyn took some time this week to recommend some of their sure fire books to bust your reading slump. We've got a little something for everyone: series, cliff hangers, romance, fantasy, etc. Bonus content includes a book haul from Holly's vacation in New Hampshire and Caitlyn tells us about a dark romance themed wine tasting.

Current Reads

Andrew: we don't know (how mysterious)

Holly: Carl's Doomsday Scenario & The Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook

Caitlyn: Always Practice Safe Hex, Fangs With Benefits & Meet Cute Magic

Other Books Mentioned: Dungeon Crawler Carl, Twilight, New Moon, The MindFck Series, Ice Planet Barbarians, Ruthless Creatures, Pen Pal, Carnal Urges, Binding 13, Atmosphere, The Last Letter, Deep End, Bride, The Love Hypothesis, Love on the Brain, Love Theoretically, The Addicted Series, Gossip Girl, Pretty Little Liars, In Stormy Weather, Twisting Fates, Silver Girl, The Fake Mate, The Cruel Prince, Kiss of the Basilisk, Serpent and the Wings of Night, The Hunger Games, Black Ties & White Lies, Tourist Season, Butcher and Blackbird, Savage Hearts, Carnal Urges, Fate of a Royal

Trigger Warnings: Morning Glory Milking Farm mentioned, knotting, mafia romance, Holly's evil laugh, general chaos, fan fiction, and an oh Pwincess or two.

TALK TO US!!!

Leave a comment wherever you're listening and tell us what we should read for our upcoming book clubs.

Rate and review the show. It helps other readers find us.

Instagram: ⁠@trigger.warnings.bookclub⁠

Email: [email protected]

One more thing. Holly is running the NYC Marathon on November 1 for The Book Fairies, getting books into the hands of kids who need them. Fundraising closes October 24. We are officially in the home stretch.

Donate: ⁠https://give.thebookfairies.org/fundraiser/7126101

The secret to surviving a holiday dinner... you have to choose. Fuss or chew.

North Carolina author La Toya Hankins joins us to talk Black love, sisterhood, and the power of good food.

We get into all of it. Writing the South she actually lives in. The character who showed up uninvited and took over the book. Gas station snacks as a plotting philosophy. Liver pudding, fish roe, and one very important pomegranate. What to do when a third grader hijacks your computer.

STAY TO THE END. CJ makes us brave Threshing on Dragonkind. One of us bonds a dragon. One of us gets incinerated. CJ has died six times. She is not giving hints.

Did you bond or get incinerated?? Leave a comment and tell us what color your dragon is.

WHERE TO FIND La Toya Hankins

Website: https://latoyahankins.com

Books: SBF Seeking · Iced Tea Love · K-Rho: The Sweet Taste of Sisterhood

Find them on her website, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Libby (support your library!)

See her live: Between the Pages, Fayetteville, NC, November 14

CURRENTLY READING

Andrew — still in the slump (womp womp)

Holly — Fuel the Fire (Krista & Becca Ritchie)

CJ — Always Practice Safe Hex (Juliette Cross)

La Toya — Crook Manifesto (Colson Whitehead)

ALSO MENTIONED

Zora Neale Hurston · Walter Mosley · Anne Rice · S.A. Cosby · Gail Carriger (Soulless) · Tomi Adeyemi (Children of Blood and Bone) · The Scammer (Tiffany D. Jackson) · Arsenic and Adobo (Mia P. Manansala) · Kingdom of Ash (Sarah J. Maas) · Threshing Day and Fourth Wing (Rebecca Yarros) · Dragonkind · Interview with the Vampire (AMC+) · past guest Adrian Andover · the Museum of the City of New York · Last Meals (YouTube) · Bojangles Bo-Berry biscuits, because it's Bo time

TALK TO US!!!

Leave a comment wherever you're listening and tell us what we should read for our upcoming book clubs.

Rate and review the show. It helps other readers find us.

Instagram: @trigger.warnings.bookclub

Email: [email protected]

One more thing. Holly is running the NYC Marathon on November 1 for The Book Fairies, getting books into the hands of kids who need them. Fundraising closes October 24. We are officially in the home stretch.

Donate: https://give.thebookfairies.org/fundraiser/7126101

We had so much fun a few episodes ago when CJ asked Holly an impossible smut, marry, kill question so we decided to dedicate a full episode to the game. Each of the four rounds had a theme: contemporary, fantasy, wild card, and dark romance/villains. It wouldn't be the podcast you know and love if we didn't make a few rounds at least a little evil. Things quickly got out of hand.

Trigger warnings: lot's of talk about President Snow (young and old), minor thirsting over shadow daddies, and major spoilers for the Divergent, Empyrean and Plated Prisoner series'. Books mentioned include The Windy City Series, Fourth Wing, The Deal, The Hunger Games, ACOTAR, Reckless, Lights Out, Gild and many more of our favorites!

We got together in person which was crazy! Also CJ picked up Threshing Day! She also breaks down her latest book event at Brightside Books & Wine in Raleigh, NC and gives us a book haul!

Current Reads: Andrew is in a reading slump (womp womp), Holly finished City of Gods and Monsters and is reading Normal People, CJ is still reading Burn of the Everflame.

TALK TO US!!! Leave a comment wherever you're listening and let us know if you agree with our choices (you probably don't). Rate and review the show. It helps other readers find us.

Instagram: @trigger.warnings.bookclub

Email: [email protected]

Oh Pwincess: Holly is running the NYC Marathon on November 1 for The Book Fairies, getting books into the hands of kids who need them. Fundraising closes October 24. Donate: ⁠https://give.thebookfairies.org/fundraiser/7126101

This month's book club pick is Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman. Holly read all eight....We get into all of it. The tutorial guild. The pants situation(or lack thereof). The bathroom rules. Odette's... look. The goblin nursery. The worst talk show host in the dungeon. One very important pedicure kit.A WARNING... CJ is 87% in and refuses to rate it until she's done. Listen to hear what Andrew and Holly rated it!ALSO... CJ went to a book fair in Raleigh and came home with a haul, and saw some familiar faces

If you were a crawler how long would you last???CURRENTLY READINGAndrew — Escaping Gravity (Bruce Sentar)CJ — Dungeon Crawler Carl (Matt Dinniman)Holly — Meet Cute Magic (Morgan Elizabeth)Holly — Addicted for Now (Krista & Becca Ritchie)TROPES / SPICE / TRIGGER WARNINGSTropes: LitRPG · apocalypse as reality TV · death game · human and pet duo · found family · reluctant hero with no pantsSpice: none. Trigger warnings: graphic violence and gore · death, including the death of a child · mass death of (goblin) babies played for dark comedy · murder · insects and body horror · drug use · animal cruelty (dog fighting) · grief and loss of a parent · infidelity (off page) · crude and sexual humorALSO MENTIONEDHeat of the Everflame and Burn of the Everflame (Penn Cole) · Split Fiction (video game) · Wizard101 · The Maze Runner · Gossip Girl · The Hunger Games · the Dungeon Crawler Carl TV series (Peacock) · Faun Over Me and Ritual Income (B.L. Brown) · D.C. Powers · This Safe Darkness (Alexis Maragold) · Of Blood and Aether (Harper Hawthorne) · Quite the Pair (Kathryn Kincaid) · Bright Side Books & Wine (Raleigh) · Practical Magic 2 · The Love Hypothesis (movie) · Wicker (movie, based on The Wicker Husband)TALK TO US!!!Leave a comment wherever you're listening and tell us what we should read for an upcoming book club.Rate and review the show. It helps other readers find us.Instagram: @trigger.warnings.bookclubEmail: [email protected] is running the NYC Marathon on November 1 for The Book Fairies, getting books into the hands of kids who need them. Fundraising closes October 24. Donate: https://give.thebookfairies.org/fundraiser/7126101

It's spooky season, so Holly and CJ are handing over their fall TBRs, plus the haul from two weeks in Ireland and Scotland.

We get into all of it. Witches, werewolves, and one grim reaper. A tradwife who makes a very bad deal. A manor in Maine and the woman who may have killed her whole family. Dismemberment as a treat. The seasonal genre calendar, which is REAL and NOT NEGOTIABLE. Whether it still counts as horror if there's romance in it.

ALSO. CJ's reading slump is dead and it was a five star read. We are as shocked as you are.

CURRENTLY READINGAndrew - Dungeon Crawler Carl (Matt Dinniman), Escaping Gravity (Bruce Sentar), and a DNF on Consider Me (Becka Mack)Holly - Normal People (Sally Rooney), and still not The Witcher (Andrzej Sapkowski)CJ - The Wolf King (Lauren Palphreyman) and Glow of the Everflame (Penn Cole), the five-star that ended the slumpCJ'S FALL TBRRitual Income (B.L. Brown) - Witch of the Demesne #1Always Practice Safe Hex (Juliette Cross) - Stay A Spell #4Across the Vanishing Sky (Catherine Cowles) - Starlight Grove #1Burn of the Everflame (Penn Cole) - Kindred's Curse Saga #4Meet Cute Magic (Morgan Elizabeth) - claimed by Holly on air, so we are down to fourHOLLY'S FALL TBRMeet Cute Magic (Morgan Elizabeth) - Heartwood HollowThe Haunting of William Thorn (Ben Alderson)Trad Wife (Saratoga Schaefer)Brimstone (Callie Hart) - Fae & Alchemy #2
THE RECOMMENDATIONSHolly - Cackle (Rachel Harrison), the annual reread. A Halloween Hallmark movie with an edge.Holly - The Only One Left (Riley Sager), if you actually want to be spookedCJ - Tourist Season (Brynne Weaver) - Seasons of Carnage #1CJ - Not the Witch You Wed (April Asher) - Supernatural Singles #1CJ - Morbidly Yours (Ivy Fairbanks) - Love in Galway #1Bonus - the whole Stay A Spell series (Juliette Cross), starting with Wolf Gone WildHOLLY'S IRELAND & SCOTLAND HAULThe Names (Florence Knapp) The Future Saints (Ashley Winstead) Pretty Reckless (L.J. Shen)The Midnight Feast (Lucy Foley) ALSO MENTIONEDSpark of the Everflame and Heat of the Everflame (Penn Cole) · Mile High (Liz Tomforde) · Throne of Glass, Heir of Fire and Kingdom of Ash (Sarah J. Maas) · Yesteryear (Caro Claire Burke) · Say You Swear (Meagan Brandy) · Boys of Tommen (Chloe Walsh)· The Love Hypothesis (Ali Hazelwood), on Prime Video September 23 · Bright Side Books & Wine in Raleigh · past guests B.L. Brown and DC Powers

TROPES / SPICE / TRIGGER WARNINGSFor the books we talk about: pregnancy horror and body horror (Trad Wife), family annihilation and disability (The Only One Left), graphic violence and dismemberment (Tourist Season), grief and infidelity (The Haunting of William Thorn), domestic abuse (The Names), addiction and hallucination (The Future Saints), bullying and dubious consent (Pretty Reckless).

TALK TO US!!!Team horror or team absolutely not? Leave a comment wherever you're listening and tell us what we should read for our upcoming book clubs.If you liked this one, a rating helps more than you'd think.Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/trigger.warnings.bookclubEmail: [email protected] more thing. Holly is running the New York City Marathon on November 1st, raising money for Book Fairies, a charity that gets books into the hands of kids who need them. We are officially in the home stretch. Every little bit helps.Donate: https://give.thebookfairies.org/fundraiser/7126101

Our guest quit her job in Nashville and moved to North Carolina to become an actress. Three months later the world shut down…so she started writing about the Carolina coast instead. 

This week we're joined by Courtney G. Foutz, who writes contemporary romance and women's fiction as Courtney Giardina. 

We get into all of it. The journal she kept through a divorce, and what happened when she started sharing it online. Running an independent publishing house, and the cupcake crawl she booked across Toronto to launch somebody else's novel. How you fill a small town with liars when only one of them is a murderer. Why chasing a perfect first draft is the thing slowing you down.

 ANDREW WAS ON VACATION AGAIN…so we have too much freedom to tangent! 

STAY TO THE END…there is no book content, just some really…WEIRD…vibes.  

FIND COURTNEY 

Website — https://www.courtneygiardina.com

Instagram — @courtneygfoutz

TikTok — @courtneygwrites

Newsletter — https://courtneygfoutz.substack.com 

Signed paperbacks and full collections are available direct through her website. Everything is also on Amazon, in Kindle Unlimited, ebook and paperback.  

HER BOOKS 

Tear Stained Beaches (Loving Carolina #1)

Holding On To Georgia (Loving Carolina #2)

Behind the Strings

Blue Haven Mysteries

The Women of Seaglass Bay

CURRENTLY READING 

Holly — Book one of The Witcher

CJ — More Than Friends (Kat Singleton),Kiss of the Basilisk

Courtney — Dogs, Boys, and Other Things I've Cried About (Isabel Klee), and about to start

The Thursday Murder Club (Richard Osman)  

ALSO MENTIONED 

Elin Hilderbrand — The Five-Star Weekend · The Hotel Nantucket · Silver Girl · The Perfect Couple · the Paradise trilogy

The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton) · The Finley Donovan series · A Discovery of Witches · Atmosphere (Taylor Jenkins Reid) · Onyx Storm · Morgan Elizabeth · Windy City (Liz Tomforde) · Freida McFadden · Steve Higgs  

TROPES: friends to lovers, second chance, single dad, billionaire, small town, cozy mystery. Enemies to lovers, discussed with suspicion. 

SPICE: Low. This one is cozy. 

TRIGGER WARNINGS: Discussion of divorce and leaving a bad marriage; murder (but in the mystery sense).  

TALK TO US!!! 

We really love our community, feel free to reach out :) 

DM us on Instagram or email [email protected] 

Currently reading something great? Leave us a comment wherever you're listening. 

If you've been with us a while, a rating is the one thing that puts this show in front of people like you. 

Instagram: @trigger.warnings.bookclub 

Holly is running the NYC Marathon in November to support The Book Fairies! Consider giving a donation:

https://give.thebookfairies.org/fundraiser/7126101 

This week we're joined by indie author D.C. Powers to talk about The Stalker's Playlist.Cindel is deaf. She finds a single earbud left behind at the pub where she bartends, and the songs that start playing are laced with messages about her own past. Her brother is dead. Her boyfriend vanished. Somebody is following her…and he is the only one telling her the truth.We get into all of it. Why a book about music has a deaf main character, and why that was the whole point. The earbud versus the hearing aid, and the consent question hiding in that choice. And how many words are too many for a debut novel?

Also DC never watched a single episode of The Sopranos, but she did the research to make the mafia a major antagonist.

Are dystopian novels a gateway to dark romance??

Andrew also asked an AI for a book recommendation instead of asking the two people he makes a book podcast with. Can you believe this guy?!

STAY TO THE END. CJ went to the Hear Me Out Committee at Bright Side Books for a live Smut, Marry, Kill…and then she did one to Holly. Holly cries. Andrew makes it worse. Somebody gets blocked.

CATCH D.C. POWERS IN PERSONSeptember 19, 11 to 4, Bright Side Books in Raleigh, NC. Special editions and painted edge copies.

The Stalker's Playlist is out now, also on Kindle Unlimited, and you can buy it direct with bundled goodies at

https://authordcpowers.com

A free ebook event is coming late October.Instagram and TikTok: @authordcpowers

CURRENTLY READINGHolly — The Midnight Feast (Lucy Foley), and still chipping away at The Witcher for her 26 in 2026CJ — Boardroom Sins (Nicole Fox)Andrew — Dungeon Crawler Carl on audio, and Consider Me (Becka Mack)DC — Harvest Season (Brynne Weaver), The More the Merrier (Sybil Knight), and Hollow Hellion

ALSO MENTIONED

The Never King and The Never Queen (Nikki St. Crowe, Vicious Lost Boys

The Giver quartet (Lois Lowry)

The Plated Prisoner series (Raven Kennedy)

Lights Out · Throne of Glass · A Court of Silver Flames · The Wolf King · Bridgerton · Windy City

TROPES: stalker romance, dark romance, mafia, kidnapping, forced proximity, fake dating, primal play, mask kink.

SPICE: High

TRIGGER WARNINGS: Discussion of stalking, kidnapping, murder, cartel violence, and dubious consent; frank talk about sex, kink and explicit content; disability and deafness discussed at length; brief mention of a predatory teacher character. Light spoilers for Throne of Glass, A Court of Silver Flames and Bridgerton in the final segment.

TALK TO US!!!

We really love our community, feel free to reach out :)DM us on Instagram or email [email protected] reading something great? Leave us a comment wherever you're listening.If you've been with us a while, a rating is the one thing that puts this show in front of people like you.Instagram: @trigger.warnings.bookclubHolly is running the NYC Marathon in November to support The Book Fairies! Consider giving a donation:https://give.thebookfairies.org/fundraiser/7126101

We've been teasing the sex snakes for weeks…the sex snakes are here.

Our August book club pick is Kiss of the Basilisk by Lindsay Straube, and this is the full spoiler discussion.

We get into all of it. The claw, where it goes and what it is made of. The blood that turns into gold. Whether Caspen's personality survives part two. Whether this even counts as a love triangle. And the quote we all texted each other about, which we cannot print here.

A WARNING…we split this one(get it??). Plot first. Around the 52 minute mark it gets explicit. Genuinely explicit. If you are one of our parents, that is your stop.

CURRENTLY READING 

Andrew — Delivering Justice and Steel Song (Silas Sinclair), Hometown Hero, and Dungeon Crawler Carl on audio

Holly — Lula Dean's Little Library of Banned Books (Kirsten Miller)

CJ — More Than Friends (Cat Singleton), Our Secret Summer (R.S. Grey), The Hot Shot

TROPES: monster romance, why choose, fated mates, love triangle, forced proximity, class divide, virgin heroine 

SPICE: As high as it goes. This is the most explicit episode we have recorded.

TRIGGER WARNINGS: Extremely explicit sexual content; dubious consent and attempted sexual coercion; sexual content in non-human form; a sexual ritual involving the love interest's father; sexual injury; blood, violence, body horror, and petrification. In the current reads segment: book banning, antisemitism and Holocaust content, domestic violence, and sibling death from terminal illness.

 ALSO MENTIONED 

PS I Hate You · The Selection · Challengers · Fourth Wing

TELL US WHAT TO READ 

We really do use your suggestions.

DM us on Instagram or email [email protected] 

Currently reading something great? Leave us a comment wherever you're listening. 

If you've been with us a while, a rating is the one thing that puts this show in front of people like you. 

Instagram: @trigger.warnings.bookclub 

Holly is running the NYC Marathon in November to support The Book Fairies! Consider giving a donation:

https://give.thebookfairies.org/fundraiser/7126101

The question as old as time…are vampires and werewolves monster romance, or is it straight paranormal? We bring in a subject matter expert to give the official ruling.

B.L. Brown (Britta) writes across three worlds:

— the sapphic monster romance of Camp Cryptid

— the witchy urban fantasy of Witch of the Demesne

— and Beer Hall Brides, a cozy fairy-tale romance set at a magical Oktoberfest where every beer hall gets its own love story, built on folklore creatures from the German Alps

We also get into the "what if" engine behind monster romance (but seriously, how does the anatomy of a faun work?), why you should meticulously plan your red herrings but let the romance surprise you, and the one-bed trope that was just supposed to be a joke and turned into one of her favorite scenes.

Plus…romance is NOT FLUFF! The bodily autonomy thread running through Ice Planet Barbarians. The student debt and sex-work conversation buried in Morning Glory Milking Farm. Why Unhinged — yup, that Unhinged, the one about a sentient doorknob — is a genuinely smart Greek myth allegory.

Britta also gives three pieces of advice for new writers, including tossing out the term "aspiring."

Make sure to stay to the end, where Holly and CJ react to Sarah J. Maas wiping her Instagram to announce her upcoming Valkyrie Cycle books, A Court of Splintered Harmony and A Court of Forgotten Melody. We have some hot takes about the vibes.

Andrew was on vacation. The hosts noticed. Be prepared.

CURRENTLY READING

Holly — Our Immortal Hearts (Lara Buckheit)

CJ — Kiss of the Basilisk (Lindsay Straube), our next book club pick

Britta — The Moon Raven (Grace Draven), Mr. and Mrs. X

ALSO MENTIONED

Unhinged · Stiff · PS I Hate You · Ice Planet Barbarians · Morning Glory Milking Farm · Emily Antoinette's minotaur romance · Cleo Evans· Krista Luna's orc series · Crescent City

TROPES: monster romance, paranormal romance, sapphic, grumpy/sunshine, second chance, enemies to lovers, only one bed, "my wife” , fated mates

SPICE: High in the books, frank in the conversation

CONTENT WARNINGS: Explicit language; open discussion of sex, spice, and monster anatomy; discussion of sex work; brief mention of grief and cancer (PS I Hate You)

FIND B.L. BROWN

Website — https://brittawritesthings.com/

Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/brittawritesthings

TikTok — https://www.tiktok.com/@brittawritesthings

Britta keeps content warnings for all of her books on her website. Newsletter signup is in her Instagram bio.

Catch her in person at Spellbound in the Valley (New York) in late October.

BUY THE BOOKS

Ritual Income (Witch of the Demesne) — https://books2read.com/ritualincome

Faun Over Me (Camp Cryptid) — https://books2read.com/faunoverme

Shady Depths (A Witches of C.R.O.W. Novella) — https://books2read.com/shadydepths

Britta's ask, and ours: request indie books at your library. Authors can't get themselves stocked — readers can.

Currently reading something great? Leave us a comment wherever you're listening — especially if it's a monster romance.

If you've been with us a while, a rating is the one thing that puts this show in front of people like you.

Instagram: @trigger.warnings.bookclub

Holly is running the NYC Marathon in November to support The Book Fairies! Consider giving a donation:

https://give.thebookfairies.org/fundraiser/7126101