Winter is finally rearing its head in the south, as talk turns to romantic ice giants and videogame journalism. Plus, with a new year comes new numbers, as Elizabeth and Thomas start to compare their current reading stats with last year's. A whole new reading race is under way!

May old word totals be forgot? NOT SO FAST! A new season of YWAM brings a mysterious new abbreviation with which to contend. There's plenty to deal with before we get to that, however, including some recent book hauls and our picks for best reads of 2021! Thanks for coming along with us this past year; you better believe the best is yet to come!

This final episode of season 1 is all about looking forward... to the start of season 2, where we'll look back on the last season in its entirety. Speaking of looking back, a surprise trip down bookstore memory lane rounds out a discussion of toothsome cats, gingerbread romantic leads, and a page-turner of a non-Russian Russian novel. (Did that last sentence track? If this year's taught us anything, it's that we here at YWAM are more than willing to make things unnecessarily complicated.)

The holiday season is in full swing with the end of another year, and our first reading contest, just around the corner. For as locked in as things may seem, surprises still lay in wait, along with discussion of Christmases' past, challenges' present, and podcast seasons' future.

A new addition to the family makes for an extra thankful (and extra late) episode, one where we dive into award winning children's books & fantastical romance stories. With the issuing of the final reading challenge of 2021, we enter the final phase of the competition!

With all the sports hubbub going on, I'm amazed we got this episode out at all. As the end of the year looms, your hosts discuss the ways that we engage with the works of problematic artists. (trigger warnings: emotional abuse & sexual assault)

A positively "dreadful" episode... but like in a good way? Okay, so it's not an especially fitting episode for Halloween, but rather one where we talk about Metroid, sports, and high school romance (that last thing can be pretty scary though).

With the Halloween season upon us, Elizabeth recounts her horror-themed reading challenge all while dealing with a terrifying home invasion. There's also a lot of Kingdom Hearts / SSBU talk, which, while not seasonal, is certainly topical.

While the battle of word totals is all but over, the war against the whims of fate and alien hoards is only beginning! This week we discuss Xiran Jay Zhao's debut novel, a series of Scottish romances, and an indie game sensation.

From 9/11 to violent bike gangs and underworlds both mythic and alien, we tread around some dark subject matter this week. To that end, rest assured there's pontificating on diet sodas & console loyalty as well to help lighten the mood.