We Know How to Read

We are THRILLED to have Veronica Bane on the podcast this week. Her debut novel, Difficult Girls (Delacorte Press) was an instant USA Today Bestseller. We got lost in the mystery of her latest novel release, We're All Going to Die Tonight!  "A twisty, off-the-rails mystery about seven teens, forced to spend a stormy—and deadly—night together. " - Veronica Bane. We loved talking with Veronica about her author journey, her ability to write such jaw-dropping plot twists, and more! Go get yourself a copy of We're All Going to Die Tonight! today! 

Electrifying excitement this week as we have Nisha J. Tuli, Amazon Top 50 and International Bestselling author whose books feature kick-ass heroines, swoony love interests, and slow burns with plenty of heat! We got the chance to talk with her on this week's episode about her book Storm Breaker and the newly released Storm Caller. Storm Breaker takes place in New Manhattan, a far cry from the NYC we all know! This dystopian, action-packed series will have you on the edge of your seat, following Poet through a rigorous academy, waiting for the next spark of romantic tension between Poet and Rook, and more. We loved chatting with Nisha and can't wait for you guys to read Storm Breaker and Storm Caller today!

Welcome to the Trial of the Tomes! We're looking closely at the idea of author gender in genre, publication, and writing style. How that impacts the public eye, reader experience, and marketing. Most importantly who does it best?! We have read one male author and one not man in the following genres Romance, Romantic Fantasy, High Fantasy, Science Fiction, and Murder/Thriller! Pitting them against each other with trials to see who ranks supreme in the Trial of the Tomes!! Follow the competition to see who is victorious and who falls! This week is all about gender in publication and everything to go with it!

A tortured fate, destined heartbreak, trials of life and death, forgotten gods, ruthless monsters, but a love that goes beyond death and dust. We read The Scattered Bones by Nicole Scarano, a dark fantasy romance that will have you sobbing over tragically beautiful romance. We hope your Valentine's Day was full of book boyfriends!

Nelle Nikole came on the podcast for our They Know How to Write series. As a successful author of the Rising: A State of the Union series, a dystopian dark fantasy where "The Before doesn’t matter, only The After." As well as co-authoring the Kuxtal Academy: The Beginning series with author Mikayla Hornedo. A Mayan-inspired urban fantasy romance following siblings in an academic setting. We absolutely loved chatting with her about writing, inspiration, and the creative process. Check out her books now!  

We are back!! It's been way too long, but we are back in 2026 and have a lot to share with you guys. We can't wait for all is to come this year and share every minute with you. Thanks for listening and following! Stay tuned for more episodes and big announcements! 

It was amazing having a local author on the podcast! Dai'ja S. Rose is a Virginia author who wrote a completed YA fantasy series called Legendary Stars Saga. Book one, Golden Eyed Legend, starts the series off with quite a memorable beginning: Gifted and Hunted… The Universe Chose Him Now his choices will either save his people... or destroy them. It was so much fun diving into the lore, creativity, writing, and a closer look at her work with Dai'ja. You can find all her books on Amazon, her website, and follow her for more updates on Tiktok or Facebook @DSRtheWriter

We loved having B.L. Brown on the podcast! She publishes urban and paranormal fantasy. We talked most about her Ritual Income series, an urban fantasy, slow burn, enemies to lovers, and WITCHES! Literally everything you could possibly want in one book! From inspiration to writing process to series and more, B.L. Brown shares with us all the behind-the-scenes fun and more in this interview! You can find her books on Amazon, her website, and follow her on Instagram for more updates at @brittawritesthings

We are so excited this week to share with you this wonderful interview with Aparna Verma. As two fans of hers before the interview, this was a dream come true! Aparna Verma is the author of The Phoenix King and recently the second book, The Burning Queen, in The Ravence Trilogy. Aparna writes epic fantasy with desi representation, elemental magic, enemies to lovers and more! We loved talking with her about her experience writing, finding inspiration, and querying her debut series. Go read The Phoenix King now to start your next favorite series! 

Well back to our favorite time of year, They Know How to Write Author Interviews! Starting our Author Holiday Season is Author Jill Tew. She wrote the Young Adult Science Fiction & Dystopian Romance novel, The Dividing Sky. Most recently, she published An Ocean Apart, an electrifying dystopian novel packed with a tantalizing love triangle, gripping political intrigue, and a Bachelor-style competition. We absolutely loved getting to sit down with Jill and talk about inspiration, process, and more. You can find more about Jill Tew on her website, Instagram @jtewwrites, and purchase her books through all retailers. 

Welcome aboard to the Ships of Theseus, The Fanfiction Paradox! This series starts an in-depth look at the most recent fanfiction that has been published, comparing it to the original work, noting the differences, and truly seeing if you replace enough pieces, is it no longer Theaseus' ship?  In this episode, we dive into the depths of Brigitte Knightley; The Irresistible Urge to Fall for Your Enemy: Book 1 of the Dearly Beloathed Duology. She says this novel is a love letter to her fanfiction era of Dramione, and we will be the judge of that! Let's set sail and see if this novel can pry itself from the clutches of the "who shall not be named" or not? We are setting sails into unknown territory but we hope to unearth some treasure along the way. Can't wait for the next episode? Go check out our author interviews from the Vault! 

Welcome aboard to the Ships of Theseus, The Fanfiction Paradox! This series starts an in-depth look at the most recent fanfiction that has been published, comparing it to the original work, noting the differences, and truly seeing if you replace enough pieces, is it no longer Theaseus' ship?  Implying the theory that if you slowly replace each piece of an item is it still the same item at the end? We plan to look even further into the impact of published fanfiction on the fanfiction community, writing community, publishing world, and when copyright comes in into play.  We are setting sails into unknown territory but we hope to unearth some treasure along the way. Can't wait for the next episode? Go check out our author interviews from the Vault! 

This episode is from the Vault. We recorded this interview in the past and were unable to release it due to several reasons, BUT NOT anymore! We are so excited to share this interview with the talented Elise Kova with you at last! As massive fans of Elise Kova's work, meeting her in person, and this interview we can say confidently hold a special place in our hearts. Author of the tiktok famous Air Awaken completed series; young adult and fantasy or the most recent success of Arcana; dark acedamia. romantasy, beginning of a new series. This was a dream interview and we are happy to finally be able to share it with you. Enjoy this interview with Elise, follow her on her socials, and tune in for our Ships of Theseus: Fan to Fiction series starting in October. 

This episode is from the Vault. We recorded this interview in the past and were unable to release it due to several reasons, BUT NOT anymore! We are so excited to share this book review and interview with the talented Frankie Diane Mallis with you at last! This episode if from our monthly read and review series: Stacks on Stacks. The first half is mostly spoiler free but we go into detail with Frankie later on. Daughter of the Drowned Empire is a 7 part series with book 5 coming out this December so now if you time to binge read this fantastic epic romantasy with rich world building, intriguing characters, and forbidden love!  Enjoy this interview with Frankie, follow her on her socials, and tune in for our Ships of Theseus: Fan to Fiction series starting in October. 

This episode is from the Vault. We recorded this interview in the past and were unable to release it due to several reasons, BUT NOT anymore! We are so excited to share this interview with the talented Morgan Gauthier with you at last! to quote Morgan "Write what you want to read." and that she did! Her list of published novels is astounding. Morgan has written Romantasy, Epic Fantasy, Contemporary Romance, and Paranormal Romance so she literally can do it all. Check out her anthology coming out this December, a cozy winter fantasy. Enjoy this interview with Morgan, follow her on her socials, and tune in for our Ships of Theseus: Fan to Fiction series starting in October.     

This episode is from the Vault. We recorded this interview in the past and were unable to release it due to several reasons, BUT NOT anymore! We are so excited to share this interview with the talented Lina Amarego with you at last! Fantasy is near and dear to author, Jillian Witt, three different novel series you can pick from. New Adult, epic fantasy romance read; Children of the Lyr. Standalone; check out, Wildflowers, a New Adult romantic fantasy. Most exciting is her The Elysain Sage, a adult dark fantasy romance with book 2 releasing in 2026! Enjoy this interview with Lina, follow her on her socials, and tune in for our Ships of Theseus: Fan to Fiction series starting in October. 

This episode is from the Vault. We recorded this interview in the past and were unable to release it due to several reasons, BUT NOT anymore! We are so excited to share this interview with the talented Jillian Witt with you at last! Romantic fantasy author, Jillian Witt, is escaping reality with unique magic and swoon-worthy romance. Her debut trilogy, Compass Points, won Indieverse's Couple You Can’t Get Enough Of - trust us, this is so true! Mark your calendars for Oct. 21st, her latest release; Research with Rivals is a cozy standalone romantasy with spice in the Fae by the Bay series. Enjoy this interview with Jillian, follow her on her socials, and tune in for our Ships of Theseus: Fan to Fiction series starting in October. 

Welcome back! SPOILERS This is a spoilers series. We will be going into detail about the chapters of Onyx Storm in each episode. Things escalate pretty quickly with another battle just around the corner. We mourn the loss of Andarna, but we think we will see her soon - at least we hope so. We learn SO MUCH! Rebecca dropped the lore in this section of the book of Violet's backstory AND her SECOND signet!!!! As the rising action takes hold and all the pieces are falling into place without even knowing it! Next week is the final episode of the Onyx Storm read-a-long and we are NOT ready!!

Welcome back! SPOILERS This is a spoilers series. We will be going into detail about the chapters of Onyx Storm in each episode. Ending on a sad note from the previous episode, we head into DRAMA!! Our hearts break for Andarna. Xaden's secret becomes not so much a secret that shifts the dynamic in the squad, but so much more happens in this short section. 

Welcome back! SPOILERS this is a spoilers series. We will be going into detail about the chapters of Onyx Storm in each episode. Cant believe we are here, half way through Onyx Storm! After last section how can it get better? It does! This book really builds on itself as we go through each part. Ridoc is iconic as always, Violet is our little problem solver, and of course, drama, war, and dragons!! 

Welcome Lauren M. Leasure, author of the The Benevolence & Blood Series! The first novel in the series; The Sin of Saints is a sexy, action-packed first installment of the Benevolence & Blood Series. We loved having Lauren on the podcast, it was like kinder spirits catching up! Lauren shared all the ins and outs of her writing experience, novels, and more to come from her in the future. 

After a brief spring break we are back with an amazing Dragon Season Author interview with the talented A.E. Bennett. Step into the world of The Serrulata Saga a speculative sci-fantasy you have to read!  In the distant future, the United States is long gone... the Realm stands in its place... and one peasant woman will become the catalyst for a revolution. We absolutely LOVED having A.E. Bennett on to talk books, writing, and author business. We hope you enjoy our interview as much as we did!   

Welcome back! SPOILERS this is a spoilers series. We will be going into detail about the chapters of Onyx Storm in each episode. Cant believe we are here, almost halfway through Onyx Storm! This section might be our favorite yet! The action is picking up, Xaden is being Xaden, honestly, the whole squad is top-notch, and the death begins. Praise Malek! These chapters have hit after hit of quotable lines, banter, and more. We hope you enjoy this episode as much as we did talking about it!  

We are very excited to announce our Dragon Season! This author interview season will be paired with our read-along of Onyx Storm. Every other Wednesday, we will release a They Know How to Write with one of our amazing authors! This week we had an AMAZING time with Judy Liu; author of The Vending Portal. Her debut novel is a sci-fi dystopia for middle and high school students, but young adults would enjoy it as well. The Vending Portal is a lightly distorted, funhouse mirror to reflect the pitfalls of our own society, seen through the innocent eyes of two young protagonists. We loved having Judy on and hope you guys enjoy our endless sidequest and girl chat!

We have been keeping this a secret, we wanted to surprise you this Valentine's Day with what we like to call the latest Shadow Daddy!  Happy Valentine's Day from us, we hope you enjoy our thoughts, comments, and review of QuickSilver by Callie Hart. Book one in the series, Callie brings us; KingFischer, a broody fae male with dark magic, a bad temper, and oh-so easy to love! 

Welcome back! SPOILERS this is a spoilers series. We will be going into detail about the chapters of Onyx Storm in each episode. This week we head into the true beginnings of Onyx Storm as the plot thickens, players are making their first moves and we are learning A LOT! Everyone has secrets this time and the key is to who to tell and when to reveal. We absolutely love diving farther into the chapters every other week to see what is about to come and we are on the edge of our seats! 

We are very excited to announce our Dragon Season! This author interview season will be paired with our read-along of Onyx Storm. Every other Wednesday, we will release a They Know How to Write with one of our amazing authors! Starting off the Dragon season with the talented Allie Shante! An avid author of romance, fantasy, and BIPOC characters we all fall for, her series Living Legends will do just that! Perfect for first-time fantasy readers and lovers of hot tension, banter, well-rounded characters, and edge-of-your-seat plot twists. We loved having Allie on and hope you enjoy her books as much as we did!

SPOILERS this is a spoilers series. We will be going into detail the chapters of Onyx Storm in each episode. This week we start off the sensational book three with a prologue and chapters 1 through 8. Going through and annotating, tabbing, and more we have stumbled across many memorable moments that we must talk more about! Come back next week for an author interview with Elisa Kova! 

Spoilers!! In this episode, we are excited to go down the rabbit hole of Onyx Storm predictions. Some of these are cannon, some are a possibility, and some are just straight chaos theory! Hopefully, you enjoy or descent into madness as we are days away from Onyx Storm being released and all our theories are proven right or wrong. What do you think will happen next for Violet and Xaden?

We reread and summarized Iron Flame so you didn't have too! Onyx Storm is just days away so now is the time to lock in and review the text! Today is just a detailed summary of the events of Iron Flame so we can all go into reading Onyx Storm ready to pick up where Violet and Xaden left off. Not that any of us could forget THAT ending! Come back tomorrow for Onyx Storm Theories! 

As we are well into 2025 we have had time to reflect on 2024, our reads, our reviews, and our top 12 books of the 2024 year! Enjoy or chaotic list of best reads for 2024. Let us know if you've read them AND what books were in your top 5 for 2024 so we can read them this year! We are very excited for our new reading goals for 2025.

Welcome to our annual holiday season series, They Know How to Write, where we interview authors for the holidays. This week we have V.B. Lacey, author of  Elementals of Iona duology: It is a captivating fantasy adventure set in a world where beings wield the powers of earth, water, fire, and air. With richly developed characters and a plot full of suspense and enchantment, the series explores the struggle to maintain harmony in a world on the brink of chaos. A big congrats on releasing In the Wake of the Wicked, A first in a new series of fantasy romance standalones. We had such a great time talking with V.B. Lacey we almost forgot it was an interview! You can find her on Instagram at vblacey.books for more!

Welcome to our annual holiday season series, They Know How to Write, where we interview authors for the holidays. This week we have Hillary Raymer, author of  Starstorm Series: A spicy romantasy series of eight interconnected books following each of the Starstorm siblings, set in a world where marriage is required but love isn't always guaranteed. Full of magic, love, banter, and emotional damage. A big congrates on releasing book two in the Starstorm series this past week! Hillary Raymer is a fantasy romance author. She’s a wanderer, a storyteller, and believes in happily ever afters. We absolutely loved talking with Hillary on the podcast, find her on Instagram at hillaryraymer for more!

Welcome to our annual holiday season series, They Know How to Write, where we interview authors for the holidays. This week we have Shania Scichilone, author of Fates Divine Series. An author with many talents weaves a supernatural, fantasy, and adventure in her books, starting with A Fate of Smoke and Ash. This Young Adult novel is great for those who wish to read witches, dark fantasy, and suspenseful twists and turns!  "TO BE WOVEN BY THE FATES IS NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART." We absolutely loved chatting with Shania on the podcast, find her on Instagram at shaniascichilone for more!

Welcome to our annual holiday season, They Know How to Write where we interview authors for the holidays. We are starting our season with the talented Kate St. Clair, author of Ptolemy. She is an advocate for education through fiction, and works with young writers through various #OwnVoices and underserved youth groups. She loves speaking on the topics of mental health, Queer characters, and addressing deep societal issues through the underpinnings of a story. The Ptolemy Project is a young adult science fiction adventure novel that dives into conflicts and emotions all while trying to return home in one piece. Even if they can make it out, will they be able to find a way back to Titan and to a society that accepts them—scars and all? We had so much fun and laughs chatting with Kate, find her on Instagram at kate_st_clair to follow her author journey. 

Welcome back to our Stacks on Stacks series, a once-a-month book club. We started this to help us conquer that never-ending TBR, talk more with you, and abbreviate it as “S.O.S.” because yes send help! We will never finish our TBR at this rate!! We announce our “SOS” read at the beginning of each month, inviting you to read, listen, and talk with us on Instagram or Discord about that month's "SOS" book. Phantasma by Kaylie Smith, the first in an interconnected series. This book quickly had us falling head over heels for the characters, drama, and phantastic plot-twists! Caraval meets Throne of the Fallen in this SPICY dark romantasy where a necromancer, Ophelia, needs help from a dangerous phantom, Blackwell, to win a deadly competition, only to find their partnership puts her at risk of breaking the game’s most vital rule: don't fall in love.

Let the trials begin! This week we are putting Romance to the test in the following categories first impressions, design, writing style, general plot, characters, and our critical and enjoyment scores. In one corner for men, we have Thunderstruck by Carter Blake, and in the other corner for the women is Jackson by Nyssa Kathryn. Carter Blake writes novellas about steamy alpha romances. Nyssa Kathryn writes suspense romances of alpha men in small-town romances. Who will come out on top?! 

Welcome back to our Stacks on Stacks series, a once-a-month book club. We started this to help us conquer that never-ending TBR, talk more with you, and abbreviate it as “S.O.S.” because yes send help! We will never finish our TBR at this rate!! We announce our “SOS” read at the beginning of each month, inviting you to read, listen, and talk with us on Instagram or Discord about that month's "SOS" book. The Foxglove King is Hannah Whitten's first in a trilogy. In this lush, romantic new epic fantasy series from New York Times bestselling author Hannah Whitten, a young woman’s secret power to raise the dead plunges her into the dangerous and glamorous world of the Sainted King’s royal court. We break down the story, our thoughts, and overall review of this HIT of a novel. Join us next month with our "SOS" Daughter of the Drowned Empire by Frankie Diane Mallis.

Welcome to our TROPE-tastic summer series season finale! Wrapping up this whirlwind of a summer with the good, the bad, the ugly, and the fun of tropes. This final episode goes into the tropes you can't avoid because they are the genre! Yes, we are getting into it today on the podcast. Come back tomorrow for our Stacks on Stacks episode and next week for Trial of the Tomes!

Continuing our discussion from last week, are tropes bad?  Bad for marketing? Bad for the reader? How do tropes impact reader experience, marketing, and more in the book community? We talk about how we see the impacts of tropes in the publishing and reading world. 

We put tropes under the microscope to see what they really are and are they good? How do tropes impact reader experience, marketing, and more in the book community? We talk about how we see the impacts of tropes in the publishing and reading world. 

Microtropes that have a chokehold on us - enough said! This week we are getting to the subcategory of tropes with all our favorites! The TROPE-tastic summer episode gets wild with these micro tropes, mainly in fantasy romance, but across all genres. 

Welcome to our TROPE-tastic summer series! This series will follow what is a trope, why do we use tropes, are tropes good or bad, how do they impact book marketing, the reader experience, and some tropes you just can't avoid. This week we are focusing on the 'What' is a trope: a word completely synonyms in the community at this point, but what is it? Find out on this week's episode! 

Welcome back to our Stacks on Stacks series, a once-a-month book club. We started this to help us conquer that never-ending TBR, talk more with you, and abbreviate it as “S.O.S.” because yes send help! We will never finish our TBR at this rate!! We announce our “SOS” read at the beginning of each month, inviting you to read, listen, and talk with us on Instagram or Discord about that month's "SOS" book. The Idea of You is Robinne Lee's debut album after a successful career in the arts. It is a story of a 40-year-old, Solene reclaiming herself and a rediscovery of happiness and love through a hot whirlwind of a romance with boyband singer, Hayes Cambell. We break down the story, our thoughts, and overall review of this HIT of a novel. Join us next month with our "SOS" The Foxglove King by Hannah Whitten.

We love fanfiction, we love fiction, but do we love fanfiction turned fiction? What are the implications on publishing rights, the community space, and over all the impression fanfiction is giving others. We concluded our series with a more critical view on the rise of fanfiction turned fiction, how that impacts fanfic readers and non, plus more. The series really reflects on how important fanfiction is to reader and writers, but is the pipeline to trad publishing? Tell us your thoughts! 

Did you know you are reading fanfiction? Some of these we all know and love to talk about BUT some of these were a complete surprise. We discover fandoms that have left the fanfiction world, breaking the 4th wall into trad publishing, and now are on the bookshelves today. We love them, we hate them, and we are excited to see fanfiction outside of the community because say it louder for those in the back FANFICTION IS READING AND WRITING! 

We went to Imaginarium Book Festival!! We are excited to share our stories, author meet-and-greets-, book hauls, and more with you all. This is our second year and for sure an annual trip for us! We met so many wonderful authors, said hi to author friends, and made new friends. Imaginarium was a blast with many laughs and memorable moments we wanted to share with you.

We are fans of fanfic! If you all didn't already know that! This mini-series of three episodes focuses on fanfiction turned fiction and the impacts of fanfiction culture, fiction publication, the ethical side, and more. This week we are doing a brief history of fanfiction, terms, words directly taken from Internet writing culture, and how they are making their way into mainstream fiction. Our Stacks on Stacks read is The Idea of You by Robinne Lee, join us in our once-a-month book club! Next week we have a surprise episode so stay tuned for that! 

Welcome to our first Stacks on Stacks episode, a once-a-month book club. We started this to help us conquer that never-ending TBR, talk more with you, and abbreviate it as “S.O.S.” because yes send help! We will never finish our TBR at this rate!! We announce our “SOS” read at the beginning of each month, inviting you to read, listen, and talk with us on Instagram or Discord about that month's "SOS" book. Bride is Ali Hazelwood's launch into the paranormal romance with all the humor and charm from her romantic hits like Love Hypothesis and Love Theoretically. We break down the story, our thoughts, and overall review of this HIT of a novel. Join us next month with our "SOS" The Idea of You by Robinne Lee.

The spice is right! We have saved some of the spiciest content for last! With each week we have been turning up the heat to end on a five-chili pepper kind of episode. Omegaverse and shifter romance is not something to take on lightly! When is comes to mates, multiple partners, and all sorts of kicks this episode gets dark and dirty real quick! It's been fun talking about the spicier side of reading with all of you!