Besties and the Books Podcast
We’re Ashley and Liz, two real-life besties who’ve loved books since we first learned to read, so naturally, we started a podcast! We would say the rest is history but in actuality, it's just the beginning. So come join us in the next chapter of our lives as we introduce ourselves, and laugh our way through the world of books with a focus on Fantasy, Romantasy, and Dark Romance. Of course we have love for all book genres, but those are our absolute favorites!
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@BestiesandtheBooksPodcast
Liz
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@TheRealLifeVeganWife
Ashley
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@AshleyEllix
Email bestiesandthebooks@gmail.com
Episodes
177 episodes
Ep 128 👻 🎃 SPOOKY STORIES + Guessing *1 STAR* Horror Book Reviews!
It’s the most wonderful time of the year! The season of the crows has officially returned and as slightly spooky, elder emo, introverted book girls, it’s our time to shine. We invite you to cozy up with a blan...
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Ep 127 “Uhhh…” 😬🔥 Burn of the Everflame Review, Summary, and Deep Dive | Kindred’s Curse Saga Book 4
Burn of the Everflame, book four and the final installation in The Kindred’s Curse Saga by Penn Cole is the talk of the town in the Romantasy world. Today we’re doing our deep dive, reviewing one of the most anticipated releases of the y...
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“WE THOUGHT WE KNEW PAIN” Light Bringer Red Rising Book 6 | Light Bringer Red Rising Book 6 | Deep Themes, Deep Thoughts, and Recap
This deep dive coverage of Light Bringer was the most difficult in this bonus series to film. Pierce Brown… you have unapologetically broken us with this book and we do not know if we can forgive you. Ashley took a whole star away from h...
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Ep 126 The Gods Will Sing Our Song by Autumn Krause and The Importance of Historical Romantasy | Book Review + Deep Dive
Today we’re bringing you our deep dive coverage for The Gods Will Sing Our Song as the follow up to our extremely impactful author interview with young adult romantasy author Autumn Krause. Autumn is the author of four novels (so far): A...
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“THIS IS HORROR!” Dark Age Red Rising Book 5 | Deep Themes, Deep Thoughts, and Recap
Tis’ a Dark Age Indeed…👯♀️US: 🆘We are officially sending out a distress signal to anyone in the galaxy who is willing to listen! 📣Pierce Brown!? Are you out there?! If so, please send help because we’re pretty sure we’re not gonna make ...
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Ep 125 *SPOILER FREE* 🔥 Burn of the Everflame and the Epic Conclusion to Kindreds Curse Saga | Penn Cole Interview
Penn Cole returns to Besties and the Books Podcast returns to Besties to prepare us for all things Burn of the EverFlame! The final installation in her New York Times bestselling Kindred’s Curse Saga drops...
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Ep 124 MAASPIRACY! Spiraling w/ these *NEW* ACOTAR 6 & 7 Books + Conspiracy Theories!!
We’re reacting to all things related to the cover and overview releases for ACOTAR 6: A Court of Splintered Harmony, AKA The Valkyrie Cycle: Movement 1, AKA: ACOSH, annnd ACOTAR 7: A Court of Forgotten Melody, AKA The Valkyrie Cycle: Mov...
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Ep 123 *NEW* K!nks Unlocked + What We’ve Learned from Romance, Romantasy, and Fantasy Novels
At this point we think most of us are willing to admit that romance and fantasy novels saved publishing. We watched Barnes & Noble come back from the brink of collapse, Target bring back their book section, and movies made from book ...
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Ep 122 “This is MAJOR!” The Poison Daughter Discussion with Indie to Trad Author Sheila Masterson!
The Poison Daughter by Sheila Masterson has taken the Romantasy and Dark Fantasy world by storm and as of August 18th will be rereleased and traditionally published by Zando Publishing in hardcover and dual narrated audiobook! We’re here...
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Ep 121 “I’m SO Embarrassed!!” Reacting to Embarrassing Bookish Confession Stories!
Have you ever had something bookish AND embarrassing happen to you? We’re not shy… and apparently we don’t embarrass easily (shocking 😂)… so we’re here today to share other people’s mortifying book stories! But don’t you worry, we make s...
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“I’m SCARED!” Iron Gold Red Rising Book 4 | Deep Themes, Deep Thoughts, and Recap
Well...we finished Iron Gold. This is the part in the show notes where we typically include a quippy little one liner from one of our most favorite Red Rising characters or moments. And whoever gets the inside joke, gets ...
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Ep 120 *EYE OPENING* Historical Fantasy Autumn Kruase The Gods Will Sing Our Song | Author Interview
Today we have a very special spoiler free author interview episode for you with young adult Romantasy author Autumn Krause! Autumn is the author of four novels (so far): A Dress for the Wicked, Before the Devil Knows You’re Here, Grave Flowe...
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"HAIL THE REAPER!" Morning Star Red Rising Book 3 | Deep Themes, Deep Thoughts, and Recap
“Finish the bucket, or get the box!” At this point most of you are fully aware of what you’re getting into with this series, so let us officially induct you into our den of Howlers. Just remember two things: “...
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Ep 119 *Skin Suits and Literal Hair Ties?!* We need to talk about Headlights by CJ Leede!!
Time to deep dive CJ Leede's newest horror book, Headlights!You want horror, we gave you horror. You want horror, give you horror. Ask for horror, you got horror! You asked for horror, you got it! We’re even! We’re even, besties! We ...
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“BREAK THE CHAINS!” Golden Son Red Rising Book 2 | Deep Themes, Deep Thoughts, and Recap
Listen closely, my goodman, Golden Son ruined our bloody damn lives… and we’re here to fill you in on the heartbreak. ☄️We kicked off Sci-Fi Summer with a full-length episode introducing the genre and setting the s...
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Ep 118 “DON'T DO THIS!” Bookish Pet Peeves + Hot Takes w/ Fantasy FanReads host @TheLostBooksofJess
Today we’re bringing you an entirely spoiler free fun bestie chat with the Queen of bookish comedy: Jess @thelostbooksofjess and the host of the podcast @fantasyfanrea...
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We FINALLY Read RED RISING and we need to talk!!! | Book 1 Deep Themes, Deep Thoughts, and Recap
Sci-Fi Summer is here in full force, boyo! Are you prime? 🤘🐺Earlier this week we brought you a full-length episode introducing our summer bonus series covering Red Rising by Pierce Brown! A long anticipated request...
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Ep 117 "You’ve Loved Sci-Fi ALL ALONG!" Intro to Science Fiction and Red Rising Deep Dive Series!
What the heck is science fiction and how is it different (or suspiciously similar 🤔) to fantasy? We’re here to tell you! On today’s episode we’ll be setting the scene for our newest bonus series covering Red Rising by Pierce Brown, starting thi...
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Ep 116 “He does WHAT with his CORN DOG?!” Reacting to AITA & AIO 4th of July Stories
Live from the Barbeque Hotdog Store… It's Tuesday afternoon! Also known as our annual celebration of everything “American” and our Fourth of July 🇺🇸 | Am I the A Hole spoiler free episode! We take it even further this year to expand into...
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Ep 115 “TEARS EVERYWHERE!” Ballad of Falling Dragons by Sarah A Parker | Book Reviews, Recap, Summary
We’re fiiine. Totally fiiine. We hope you're fiiine too! Here’s your reminder to go read The Ballad of Falling Dragons by Sarah A Parker. Book two in the Moonfall Series, the follow up to When the Moon Hatched, and what we now know to be...
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Ep 114 *NEW* Psychological Paranormal Horror with CJ Leede and Her Release Headlights | Author Interview
You asked for some horror coverage, and that’s exactly what you’re getting! Today we’re here with CJ Leede, THE Queen of horror, to get to know her, introduce her brand new book Headlights and discuss why horror with feminist themes is s...
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Ep 113 “THAT’S IT, I’M DNFing!” Ruining the Fantasy (books) some more with the Petty Problems! 🐉😝📚
So, here’s the thing… Today we’re bringing you a spoiler free, homework free, judgement free (kinda) episode where we ruin fantasy books for you by being naysayers. We’re bringing light to what we’re calling “Fantasy Probs,” aka those th...
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Ep 112 Liz makes Ashley Return to Oz, was it worth it? | West of Wicked by Nikki St Crowe
Did you see that we got to interview Nikki St. Crowe?! When the Queen of spicy fairytale reimaginings calls, you answer and promptly cover her new book West of Wicked! We thought we’d made it out of the Oz universe alive and *relat...
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Ep 111 Let’s UNRAVEL Rites of the Starling by Devney Perry | Book Reviews, Recap, Summary
Rites of the Starling, Rites of the Starling, Rites of the Starling…if you say it three times, does The Guardian appear? 😂 We jest, because we know this second installment in the Shield of Sparrows series by D...
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Ep 110 *WHAT HAPPENED IN* Shield of Sparrows? Recap Before Reading Rites of the Starling | Review & Summary Deep Dive
So what happened in Shield of Sparrows? Well, we will tell ya! We’re not sure about you, but we know that when we love a book… like five star love… infinity star obsession-level love… we forget absolutely everything that happened. It’s a...
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