What Did We Just Read?!

Season 2 is here! We had so much rest during our hiatus, but we're so glad to be back reading books for y'all. We're starting Season 2 with Back In Your Arms by Monica McCallan. This was the perfect book to come back with because it was steamy, sweet, and most exciting of all GAY. This is our first lesbian romance and it DELIVERED.

If you missed our State of the Podcast and listen to episodes when they drop, we're moving to posting every other week. We love doing this podcast, but with both of us having full time jobs, we want to make sure we're being realistic about what we can handle and prevent burnout.

What Did We Just Suggest?!

Justin: If you're a big weeb like Justin, the final season of Attack on Titan just started and is very good so far.

Maya: Wordle! Gotta get that topical reference. It's a daily word puzzle game and it's nice to have a little brain blast once a day.

OMG. Long time, no see! Get ready because What Did We Just Read is coming back for Season 2, and we are so excited.

Here's what's new: We're moving to a every other week schedule. We want to put out the best podcast possible for you, but we also want to take care of ourselves and this is gonna help us do that.

We'll be back next week with a new season and new books and new laughs and hopefully less gaslighting!

Hey! It's been a while! In the interest of following our own, frequent advice to practice self-care, we'll be going on hiatus until 2022. We absolutely love doing this podcast, but it's a lot of work and we owe it to ourselves to give ourselves a good rest.

We'll be back in January of 2021 to read more books, make more jokes, and maybe even expand our repertoire a little. Follow us on social media for more updates or to see Maya obsess over hockey every day.

This might be the end of Halloween, but the real friends were the scares we had along the way! This week, we wrapped up The Impossible Julian Strande series with Ghosts and Liars by Kathryn Ann Kingsley. It wasn't quite the conclusion we were hoping for, and Justin and Maya had some definite feelings.

Trigger Warning: Domestic Violence. Yea, we weren't quite expecting that either.

What Did We Just Suggest?!

Maya: Get a library card! Then, see if your library is connected to Hoopla or Libby so you can read all the ebooks your little heart desires.

Justin: Whether it's a bullet journal or a calendar, get yourself some kind of planner system to help keep you focused, on track, and organized.

This episode might be possessed! Part Three of our Inaugural Spooky Season was a doozy to make due to some technical issues, but the devil can't get us down! We read My Best Friend's Exorcism by Grady Hendrix. Flashback to the 80s with us as we read about a teenager who determined to save her best friend from an ailment no one else is taking seriously (pssst, it's a demon).

We have some Trigger Warnings for you: mentions of sexual assault, suicide, animal cruelty, racism, and just basically all the problematic stuff that happened in the 80s.

What Did We Just Suggest?!

Maya: Since Maya is fully into hockey now and obsessed with Brandon Tanev, here's a fun video of this man's chaos. Also, look up his team pictures.

Justin: Watch You on Netflix. Third season just came out, Joe is a great lovable villain and Justin loves it (Maya is not a fan, but Victoria Pedretti is a cutie so...)

Mansions, Magicians, and Ghosts! Oh my! Our inaugural Spooky Season series is on a roll! All treats no tricks! This week we read Illusions of Grandeur by Kathryn Ann Kingsley, part one in The Impossible Julian Strand series. This book has all the things we want in a ghost story AND all the things we love about romances too hot to handle.

Trigger Warning: this book does feature a little dubious consent. Kathryn Ann Kingsley classes this more as a villain romance so both the male leads are pretty pushy in ways that wouldn't be hot if the male leads weren't tall, dark, handsome, and in a series we know ends in an HEA. It works for us, but it's something to note.

What Did We Just Suggest?!

Maya: She found a really delicious meal replacement smoothie recipe that has spinach, mango, banana, and avocado. Filling and not overly sweet!

Justin: Enhance your sleep with a personal fan you can aim directly at yourself. Also, sleep with less clothes. Get all comfy and cozy in your sheets!

Welcome to Who Did We Just Scare?! It's October and Justin and Maya are huge fans of Halloween so the next few episodes are going to be scary or Halloween adjacent! For the first episode of our inaugural Halloween series, we read The Hollow Places by T. Kingfisher. This creepy and appropriately humorous novel sent us on a dreadful journey through a realm we never quite understood (and maybe weren't supposed to).  We were simultaneously delighted and, as you'll hear, regularly horrified. It was awesome!

What Did We Just Suggest?

Justin: There's a really fun gacha game that came out last year called Ginchin Impact and you should try it!

Maya: Daddy Maya is back. This is your reminder to change your sheets. Get new pillows on there. Get in bed with some nice clean sheets tonight.

We love a podcast with intense feelings! This week, we unfortunately unenjoyed Captivated by Tessa Bailey and Eve Dangerfield. This book had a lot of tropes we don't particularly like, but we think it made for some good content, nonetheless.

Trigger Warning: the main characters in this book engage in rape fantasy/stalking kink. The kink wasn't one of our red flags in the book so it could be triggering because of the content and not because the kink is poorly written.

What Did We Just Suggest?!

Maya: Billie Eilish's album Happier Than Ever is a definite favorite of hers.

Justin: Listen to Morbid, a true crime podcast where one of the hosts is a mortician (fun!)

The gang is back together! It was our first time recording in over three weeks and we read Before She Knew Him, a gripping we-know-who-done-it thriller about one woman's quest to prove her fears about her new neighbor aren't just in her head.

It was nice to be fully back in action once more and we had a lot to say about this book and what the last few weeks of our lives have been like.

What Did We Just Suggest?!

Justin: MrBallen on YouTube. He has tons of videos about true crime, but also just weird, maybe paraormal stories. Justin is addicted.

Maya: Cracking the Cryptic on YouTube. It's a delightful British man solving incredibly complex Sudoku puzzles (sometimes with 0 digits!) and it's very soothing.

We're back after a short hiatus! This week, Maya got her hockey gay hockey wish and we read Him by Sarina Bowen and Elle Kennedy. This cute and steamy romance is about two hockey players and best friends who become a little bit more. Maya had a fun time introducing Justin to both hockey logistics and other kinds of logistics. Bedroom logistics. Between two dudes. Who play hockey!

This episode was recorded before Hurricane Ida made landfall in Southeast Louisiana. Luckily, Justin, Maya, our friends, and Louisiana family made it out of the other side, but there is still a lot of work to be done to help the gulf coast bounce back from the devastation.

If you'd like to donate to or volunteer with organizations that help Louisiana communities after a storm like Ida, we've got some resources below.

Culture Aid NOLA provides twice-weekly distributions of free, fresh food.

Cajun Navy Relief volunteers rescue assistance to areas affected by severe flooding.

Louisiana SPCA helps to rescue abandoned animals and reunite lost pets with their homes.

Second Harvest Food Bank helps community members gain access to food, water, and cleaning supplies.

Those are just a few of the many organizations that help with relief and recovery after storms.

What Did We Just Suggest?!

Justin: Go get yourself a candle! Candles smell nice and are a nice comfort. Justin is currently partial to the Black Cherry Merlot from Bath and Body Works!

Maya: If you are a fan of ice chai lattes, find some Tazo Chai Concentrate and make one just like they do at Starbucks!