Welcome back WITS Listeners!! Can you believe this is EPISODE FIFTY?!?!

Join Elle and Kay as they discuss a brand new release A Gold Medal in Love by friend of the pod, Alex La Bruyere. Stick around for an interview with Alex where we get all the good details at the end of the episode!

WITS Smut Scale: 🐙🐙🐙

Elle has finally watched Heated Rivalry and now fully understands the hype. We discuss how the main theme of an eating disorder in a romance novel was done so well, and how the other main character, Blake, does not set out to "fix" Imani. The smut was smutting in the spicy scenes, which made us wonder what exactly the security at the airport is thinking when they see suitcases filled with toys.

Overall, both Kay and Elle rated this ⭐⭐⭐⭐ and were delighted to discuss how much they loved the book with the author, Alex LaBruyere!

If you or someone you know is struggling with an eating disorder, support is available to you

National Alliance for Eating Disorders 1-866-662-1235

https://www.eatingdisorderhope.com/treatment-for-eating-disorders/eating-disorder-hotlines

988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline https://988lifeline.org/

Links for this week's episode:

A Gold Medal in Love by Alex LaBruyère

Next week's book: My Energy Drink Sparks my Kitty by Kaysie Reads

Follow us on Instagram and Threads @thewitspod and TikTok @what.in.the.smut

Visit our Buy Me a Coffee page!

Don't forget to like, follow, subscribe, and tell all your friends!

Love Sponge byTriple5 Here is licensed under a Attribution 4.0 International License.

Welcome back WITS listeners!

This week, Kay and Elle discuss Surrender by Rilzy Adams.

WITS Smut Scale: 🐙🐙🐙

In this episode, Kay and Elle talk about the importance of diverse reading and perspectives, as well as exploring the different power dynamics at play with the characters of this steamy second chance erotic novella.

Overall, both Elle and Kay gave this 4 ⭐⭐⭐⭐ and loved the idea of escaping to St. Thomas

Affiliate links for this weeks episode:

Surrender by Rilzy Adams

Next Week's Book: A Gold Medal in Love by Alex LaBruyère

Follow us on Instagram and Threads @thewitspod and TikTok @what.in.the.smut

Visit our Buy Me a Coffee page!

Don't forget to like, follow, subscribe, and tell all your friends!

Love Sponge byTriple5 Here is licensed under a Attribution 4.0 International License.

Welcome back WITS listeners!

This week, Kay and Elle discuss Valentines Slay by Navessa Allen.

WITS Smut Scale: 🐙

We've decided that rather than call these collections of books by the rightful name of collections, or Kay's favorite, a group project... Elle has decided they're more of a pot-luck. This book got the spiciest rating for the potluck, but the smut in our opinion was pretty sweet and straightforward. Kay graces us with some completely unrelated animal facts (because there were no animal things we needed to research in this episode) and a wild video recap that you can find here (but honestly, watch at your own risk, its weird). As for the book itself, we discover that Kay is a big fan of the second chance romance, and unsurprisingly Elle, though appreciative of it in the literary world, is much more practical.

Overall, both Elle and Kay gave this 3.5 ⭐⭐⭐ and have added Lights Out to their TBRs.

Affiliate links for this weeks episode:

Valentine's Slay by Navessa Allen

Next week's book: Surrender by Rilzy Adams

Follow us on Instagram and Threads @thewitspod and TikTok @what.in.the.smut

Visit our Buy Me a Coffee page!

Don't forget to like, follow, subscribe, and tell all your friends!

Love Sponge byTriple5 Here is licensed under a Attribution 4.0 International License.

Welcome back WITS listeners!

We are joined yet again by the one and only Nik the Forge Bear to discuss Willing Prey by Allie Oleander.

WITS Smut Scale: 🐙🐙🐙🐙 (there's CNC in the triggers, but we discuss whether or not it was obvious on the page)

Buckle up everybody, because this is a long one (and honestly, could have been 2 hours longer... its what happens when you get 3 yappers and a smutty story in the same conversation). When Kay first read Willing Prey she knew that we absolutely had to get Nik on the show again to educate us on what we would consider one of the more rare kinks, primal play. If it's something you've never heard of, or maybe you read the book and it piqued your interest, Nik gives us some Primal Play 101. A hilarious miscommunication catches up with us an hour later, leaving Kay giggling far after the mics were turned off and well into production of the episode. We discuss the character arc of the MMC, and we are delighted to get a male perspective on some of the burning questions that we have.

We get a different perspective on fan casts, and yet again Nik opens Kay's eyes to some more actors that she is sad she didn't know existed before this recording.

Overall, Kay and Elle both rated this ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐, which was a wild rating for Elle who loved the book despite not wishing to be the FMC. Nik also loved it, but gave it ⭐⭐⭐⭐.

Affiliate links for this week:

Willing Prey by Allie Oleander

Next Week's book: Valentine's Slay by Navessa Allen

Follow us on Instagram and Threads @thewitspod and TikTok @what.in.the.smut

Follow Nik on Instagram and TikTok

Visit our Buy Me a Coffee page!

Don't forget to like, follow, subscribe, and tell all your friends!

Love Sponge byTriple5 Here is licensed under a Attribution 4.0 International License.

Welcome back WITS Listeners!

We may be currently buried under mountains of snow, but we couldn't wait to talk about Fake It Til You Mate It by Sarah Spade.

WITS Smut Scale: 🐙

In lieu of smutverse news this week, Elle reminds us that though the world is dark right now, we must hold on to our whimsy, even though we are and should be angry. Take care of yourselves, and take care of each other. In this week's book, Elle is displeased at the mystery behind it- but Kay asks if thats just because she wasn't able to figure it out at the beginning. We discover that Elle's affinity for true crime podcasts makes her take issue with shoddy police work in the shifter world. Kay researches a few obscure animal facts about opossums, and Elle teaches Kay another new word (if you've been around for a while, neither of these things should come as a surprise).

Overall, Elle and Kay both rated this ⭐⭐⭐ for the cozy romance vibes, losing points with less of a What in the Smut and more of a Where is the Smut?

Affiliate Links for this week's episode:

Fake it Til You Mate It by Sarah Spade

Next Week's book: Willing Prey by Allie Oleander (with our special guest Nik the Forge Bear returning to discuss!)

What Else We're reading:

Elle: Tempests and Tea Leaves by Rachel Morgan

Kay: The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

Follow us on Instagram and Threads @thewitspod and on TikTok @what.in.the.smut

Visit our Buy Me a Coffee page!

Don't forget to like, follow, subscribe, and tell all your friends!

Love Sponge byTriple5 Here is licensed under a Attribution 4.0 International License.

Welcome back WITS listeners!

Join us this week as we discuss Phil and the File Cabinet by Katy Ipock.

WITS Smut Scale: Could be 🐙, but truly could also be 🐙🐙🐙🐙🐙 because there are still so many questions.

We start this week's episode with another discussion on AI, and Elle brings our attention to the facts behind the AI water usage with the video linked here. For the first time in close to a year, we didn't feel jaded with a sentient object book, and it brought us back to our roots of questioning what in the smut? While we love an origin story, this file cabinet's origin story starts a little dark and only gets more confusing, and Kay really can't get over the fact that this file cabinet is not metal. Our main character Phil works in quite possibly the worst corporate job ever, with so many HR violations. As always, we get a few google searches (and some restraint on Kay's part where she DOESN'T google something for once) and learn a few new words.

Overall, Kay gave this 1.5 ⭐ and Elle liked it just a bit more with ⭐⭐

Affiliate links for this week's episode:

Phil and the File Cabinet by Katy Ipock

Next week's book: Fake it Til You Mate It by Sarah Spade

Follow us on Instagram and Threads @thewitspod and on TikTok @what.in.the.smut

Visit our Buy Me a Coffee page!

Don't forget to like, follow, subscribe, and tell all your friends!

Love Sponge byTriple5 Here is licensed under a Attribution 4.0 International License.

Welcome back WITS listeners!

This week, join Elle and Kay as they discuss Ducked by Rebecca Massey and Adelyne Graves.

WITS Smut Scale: 🐙🐙🐙🐙

We start off this week's episode with a love letter to Heated Rivalry, which Kay has since watched and loved. Kay shares her thoughts on gentle parenting vs very underpaid retail workers. Both Elle and Kay fully hated the FMC's ex-husband, which we suppose is the point of it all, but didn't need to be quite as descriptive in many cases. As usual, Kay's search history got some questionable exercise, but the mind just sometimes needs a visual. We discuss the difficulty of two authors collaborating on a book, and at least we're consistent in our opinions on them based on past episodes. Both Kay and Elle got stuck on the inclusion of Greed, agreeing that it seems to be one of the more difficult deadly sins to utilize for a romance narrative.

Overall, this was a miss for us, with Kay giving this ⭐ and for the first time, Elle gave this zero stars.

Affiliate links for this episode:

Ducked by Rebecca Massey and Adelyne Graves

Next week's book: Phil and the File Cabinet by Katy Ipock

Follow us on Instagram and Threads @thewitspod and on TikTok @what.in.the.smut

Visit our Buy Me a Coffee page!

Don't forget to like, follow, subscribe, and tell all your friends!

Love Sponge byTriple5 Here is licensed under a Attribution 4.0 International License.

Welcome back and Happy New Year WITS listeners!

This week, join Elle and Kay as they discuss Space Vampire by the alien romance queen herself, Ruby Dixon.

WITS Smut Scale: 🐙🐙

Elle found the best book news for this week's smutverse- if you have any suggestions for the Hay Festival Pleasure List submissions, fill out the form here! With our book this week, both Kay and Elle love the new trend of groups of authors releasing a series of books with a specific theme, the best kind of group project. Kay has decided in pretty much all of these romance books, whether they are aliens, vampires, alien vampires, or anything else where the MMC is not human, the human FMC always has zero self preservation skills. Both have issues with traveling in a confined space with another individual for four months... Elle wants her alone time, and Kay is really concerned about the smell. Other than that very specific detail, Ruby Dixon does it again with making an alien romance seem reasonable.

Overall, Kay gave this one 2.5⭐ while Elle rated it a little higher with 3 ⭐

Affiliate links for this week's episode:

Space Vampire by Ruby Dixon

Next week's book: Ducked by Rebecca Massey and Adelyne Graves

Follow us on Instagram and Threads @thewitspod and on TikTok @what.in.the.smut

Visit our Buy Me a Coffee page!

Don't forget to like, follow, subscribe, and tell all your friends!

Love Sponge byTriple5 Here is licensed under a Attribution 4.0 International License.

Welcome back WITS listeners!

This week, join Elle and Kay as they discuss Midnight Drop by Lee Jacquot.

WITS Smut Scale: 🐙🐙

We start this week with another disappointing smutverse update regarding the new "Ask this Book" feature on Amazon. Our take: Don't ask Amazon. Ask your friends, booktokers, book influencers, your librarian, us... you don't need AI for this, we promise! We were unaware going into this week's book that it was going to have such a cosplay-heavy vibe, but Kay learned some things and overall we thought it was a fresh take on a romance. Kay loves an enemies to lovers trope, and needs the world to know that Elle gives the best pep talks. The shot scene in this book had us absolutely on the edge of our seats, and we were loving the switch vibes that both characters were giving.

Overall, Kay gave this one 3 out of 5 ⭐, while Elle landed at 4.5 out of 5 ⭐.

Affiliate Links for this week's episode

Midnight Drop by Lee Jacquot

Next Week: Space Vampire by Ruby Dixon

Follow us on Instagram and Threads @thewitspod and on TikTok @what.in.the.smut

Visit our Buy Me a Coffee page!

Don't forget to like, follow, subscribe, and tell all your friends!

Love Sponge byTriple5 Here is licensed under a Attribution 4.0 International License.

Welcome back WITS listeners!!

This week, join Elle and Kay as they discuss The Naughty List by Ellie Mae MacGregor.

WITS Smut Rating: 🐙

Despite the fact that this is only a level one on the smut scale, this week's book brings the heat. Kay found herself relating way too much with the FMC to the point where she almost wanted to put the book down, but oh boy is she glad she didn't! Elle also pictured Kay in this story, from wanting Santa to taste like hot cocoa, to using phrases that Kay has definitely been guilty of using in her day to day language. Both Elle and Kay loved the fact that Santa was ripped, with tattoos and... nipple piercings?! Kay recalls a college class lesson that may just have changed Elle's perspective on the beauty of the female form.

For the second week in a row, both Elle and Kay gave this ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐! More Christmas magic!!

Affiliate links for this week:

The Naughty List by Ellie Mae MacGregor

Next week: Midnight Drop by Lee Jacquot

What else we're reading this week:

Kay: Ironside Academy Series by Jane Washington

Elle: Potions and Prejudice by Tee Harlowe

Follow us on Instagram and Threads @thewitspod and on TikTok @what.in.the.smut

Visit our Buy Me a Coffee page!

Don't forget to like, follow, subscribe, and tell all your friends!

Love Sponge byTriple5 Here is licensed under a Attribution 4.0 International License.