1 * Reviews of Our 5 * Reads

Telestrations: Dark Romance & Romantasy Tropes, Chaos & Bookish Mayhem

Dark romance and romantasy meets Telestrations on this week's Spicy Librarian - we're drawing tropes, guessing characters, and somehow attempting to pitch the next New York Times bestselling romance novel. We cover romantasy and dark romance rounds, weekly reading recaps, and watch the whole thing descend into glorious bookish chaos. This week on Spicy Librarian, we played Telestrations, that random game from primary school where you draw a section of a thing, fold the page and pass it on. But we made it bookish and spicy. We took the most iconic tropes, characters, and moments from dark romance and romantasy and decided to see if we could plot the next New York Times bestseller, but probably not. We do tropes, settings, plot twists and pairings, triggers and memorable quotes- and watched the whole thing descend into absolute bookish chaos. Let us know if you think our pitch has legs, better yet, write it yourself. 00:00 — Welcome to the Spicy Librarian Podcast 00:22 — Katie's Reading Recap: What's Been on Her TBR This Week 13:19 — Dee's Reading Recap: What Dee Has Been Reading 25:27 — Telestrations: The Bookish Spicy Edition Begins 26:37 — Romantasy Round: Tropes, Characters & Chaos 36:40 — Dark Romance Round: Plot Twists, Triggers & Memorable Quotes 49:50 — See You Next Week Books mentioned- YesterYear- Caro Claire Burke The Voice- Maggie Ray Jones Heavy- ML Burns The Dorians- Nick Cutter Black Phone- Joe Hill Remarkably Bright Creatures- Shelby Van Pelt Direbound/ Furybound- Sable Sorenson Regretting you- Colleen Hoover A Stage Set for Villains- Shannon J. Spann Pieces of the Night- Jennifer Hartman Branded- Saffron A Kent Ravenous- Thea Lawrence Crown Me Dead- Liv Zander Harvest Season- Brynn Weaver Butcher and Blackbird- Bryne Weaver Thursday Murder Club- Richard Osman Metal Slinger /Light Wielder- Rachel Schneider If you loved this episode follow the podcast so you never miss a drop, leave us a review, it genuinely means the world, and head to our website or Instagram for more details on everything we have coming up. We'll see you next Thursday.

An Emotional Cream Pie and an Apology for Spoilers with No Promise Not to Spoil Again

The May book club is here and besties, this month's picks were a whole lot. But first, we're pulling back the curtain on what is coming up for The Spicy Librarian. It's our birthday month in July, we have events in the pipeline, and things are getting very exciting around here. We are not ready to spill everything just yet but we wanted to bring you into it because you lot are the whole reason any of this exists. Consider this your official heads up. Stay close. 👀 But book club! We're talking The Auction by Sadie Kincaid - Beauty and the Beast meets dark mafia romance, a scarred billionaire, a secret brotherhood, and a slow burn so tense we needed a moment, and a lively debate about condiments. Then Starside by Alex Aster - the enemies-to-lovers romantasy that has absolutely taken over our bookshelves and for very good reason. And finally The Stopover by T.L. Swan - the book that has converted more people to contemporary romance than almost anything else on BookTok, and yes, we have feelings about it. If you haven't listened to our episode with TL Swan- get to know. Three completely different vibes. Three books that divided the room. Three books we could not shut up about. This is exactly what book club is for. Books mentioned-  The Auction- Sade Kincaid Starside- Alex Aster The Stop Over- TL Swan Made Man Series- Danielle Lori Crescent City- S J Maas June Book Club- A Stage Set for Villains- Shannon J. Spann Pieces of the Night- Jennifer Hartman Branded- Saffron A Kent Perfect for fans of: book club, dark romance, romantasy, contemporary romance, The Auction, Sadie Kincaid, Starside, Alex Aster, The Stopover, TL Swan, Miles High Club, mafia romance, enemies to lovers, slow burn, BookTok, spicy books, spicy podcast

Slaglines: We Wrapped Books, We Gave Clues & Absolutely Nobody Was Helpful

Slaglines: We Wrapped Books, We Gave Clues & Absolutely Nobody Was Helpful We invented a game. We wrapped books in brown paper, gave each other the most unhinged clues imaginable, and made each other guess the title. We're calling it Slaglines - a love letter to the tagline and an absolute disaster of an episode in the best possible way. This week's lineup was a lot. We had a tattooed bad boy demon with witchy enemies-to-lovers energy, little women but make it vampire, a bored gay werewolf, a shy trans banshee, a deeply unsettling crawl space, and a boyfriend who is giving very strong fish. You know the kind. If you think you could have guessed these faster than us - get in the comments and tell us. We are competitive and we will take that personally.   Books mentioned-  Starside- Alex Aster Here One Moment - Liane Moriarty What have you done- Shari Lapena Miles High Series- TL Swan Direbound/ Furybound- Sable Sorensen Crown me Dead/ Crown me Yours- Liv Zanders Crawl Space- Herbert Lieberman There’s Something Fishy About My Boyfriend- Gloria Duke Zodiac Academy- Twisted Sisters Fourth Wing- Rebecca Yarros Magnolia Parks- Jessa Hastings  Demon with Benefits- Aurora Asher Little Vampire Women- Lynn Messina Bored Gay Werewolf- Tony Santorella Shy Trans Banshee- Tony Santorella

Yes We're Late, No We Don't Care: The April Book Club Roundup

Look. It's the April book club roundup. We know. We're late. We're had a lot going on.  This month we went three very different directions and we have absolutely no regrets. We're talking Three Nights in Stockholm by Elizabeth Hardy — the snowed-in, slow burn, enemies to lovers romance that had us feral from page one. Then The Poison Daughter by Sheila Masterson — dark, twisty, and not what we expected in the best possible way. And finally Collateral Damage by Shassii — a sapphic erotic thriller with Stockholm syndrome, enemies to lovers, extreme slow burn, and two completely broken women who will absolutely wreck you. This one is not for the faint hearted and we are obsessed with it. Three books. Three completely different vibes. One very chaotic book club. This is exactly why we do this. Perfect for fans of: book club, dark romance, sapphic romance, enemies to lovers, slow burn, contemporary romance, BookTok, spicy books, Three Nights in Stockholm, Elizabeth Hardy, Poison Daughter, Sheila Masterson, Collateral Damage, Shassii, queer romance, spicy podcast

Billionaires, Big Feelings & Prime Video: T.L. Swan on New Releases, Amazon & All Things Contemporary Romance

She is one of the biggest names in contemporary romance, and this week she is sitting down with us on Spicy Librarian- and yes, we are absolutely fangirling. T.L. Swan has built an empire of swoony, steamy, emotionally devastating contemporary romance- and the world is finally catching up. We are talking about her latest releases, including The Heart You Kept, the first in her brand new Kings of the Riviera series, and the news that has the entire romance community absolutely losing their minds- the Miles High Club series is being adapted for Amazon MGM Studios, with TL Swan herself as executive producer. We get into all of it. The books, the adaptation, what contemporary romance with real edge actually looks like, and why this genre deserves so much more credit than it gets in the spicy book community. And the real question this episode -is Dee converted?! She came in a sceptic. We are not going to spoil it. You are going to have to listen. Perfect for fans of: T.L. Swan, Miles High Club, The Stopover, The Heart You Kept, Kings of the Riviera, contemporary romance, Amazon Prime, book to TV adaptation, BookTok, spicy books, romance podcast, Spicy Librarian Subscribe, leave us a review — and tell us, are YOU a TL Swan convert?