Best Besties And The Books Podcasts (2024)

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Ep 26 It’s Serpent Summer with Lindsay Straube! | Split or Swallow Author Interview 57:54

2h ago57:54

57:54

Send us a text Today’s Episode is BATB Podcast very first author interview! With none other than Lindsay Straube, Amazon BESTSELLING author of her popular love triangle basilisk romance, Split or Swallow. *Author interviews will always be spoiler free so everyone can enjoy them and determine whether or not we want to add these books to our never-en…

1
What’s Up with Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban? | Book 3 | Bonus Minisode 46:10

2h ago46:10

46:10

Send us a text Here we are in week 3 of Ashley & Liz’s Harry Potter Minisode Series! Yes, we were banned from reading Harry Potter as kids, and yes, we’re reading them for the first time now as elder Millennials. And we wanna talk about them with you! Episode 3 covers book 3: Harry Potter & the Prisoner of Azkaban. The first five-ish minutes are sp…

1
Ep 25 But...AM I THE A HOLE?? | Reacting to MORE AITA Reddit Book Edition 1:07:52

2d ago1:07:52

1:07:52

Send us a text We’re back in your ears with Part 3 of your favorite silly series where we respond to “Am I The A Hole” Bookish Questions from Reddit, and then pose those same questions to you, our listeners! Do we think that curating your own free little library to NOT include ancient Tom Clancy paperbacks makes you an a hole? What about giving awa…

1
"I Want What's In THAT Chamber of Secrets!" | Harry Potter Book 2 | Bonus Minisode 33:41

11d ago33:41

33:41

Send us a text Welcome back to Ashley & Liz’s Harry Potter Minisode series! We were BANNED from reading Harry Potter as kids, so naturally, we’d grow up to read them in our mid 30’s and podcast about it. Episode 2 covers book 2: Harry Potter & the Chamber of Secrets. The first five-ish minutes are spoiler free with our one sentence rapid star revie…

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Ep 24 Recommendations & Warnings! 1 Sentence Rapid Book Reviews! (Jan-June Reads) 1:28:37

1h ago1:28:37

1:28:37

Send us a Text Message. Where did we come from? Where did we go? Where did we come from… Cotten Eye Joe? Today on the pod Ashley and Liz tell you all about our recent Alaska Cruise Vacay, and how much fun it was to buddy read our ARCs of Split or Swallow by Lindsay Straube @oxfordlemon while sailing through fjords and glaciers! It truly was magical…

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Reading Harry Potter For The First Time As Adults! | Sorcerer's Stone | Bonus Minisode 1 41:03

18d ago41:03

41:03

Send us a text Welcome to Ashley & Liz’s first mini episode bonus series, this round featuring Harry Potter! If you’ve been following our “satanic panic” series then you know, we were BANNED from reading Harry Potter as children, so we’re reclaiming that experience for ourselves by reading this series FOR THE FIRST TIME as mid 30’s fantasy obsessed…

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Ep 23 Reacting to YOUR Unpopular Book Opinions! 1:04:45

16d ago1:04:45

1:04:45

Send us a text This episode is exactly what it sounds like! After our last “unpopular opinions” episode, you all sent us your most unpopular bookish opinions so Ashley and Liz can react to them. And we sure had a blast! We start off with some easy ones like: do you dog ear your pages or satisfyingly crack those book spines? Then we move into some m…

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Ep 22 Satanic Panic of 90s! Book Bans, Ouija Boards, and Mansons OH MY! 1:30:14

1M ago1:30:14

1:30:14

Send us a text Today is the day Ashley and Liz take the deep dive. You know us, we’re usually Sparknotes gals… but in order to paint the entire Satanic Panic picture we have to take you back to where it all began…so we did the research! What exactly started our parent’s obsession with the occult, ultimately resulting in them banning us from reading…

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Ep 21 Should YOU Read "A Touch of Gold and Madness"? | BOOK TROPE UPDATE 1:26:40

1M ago1:26:40

1:26:40

Send us a text Believe it or not, we’re on our FOURTH installment in our Book Trope Series! Today is all about the book Ashley picked for Liz based on her top five favorite book tropes, and book boyfriend qualities: A Touch of Gold & Madness by K. L. Devore. Did this book cover all of Liz’s bases? Like a morally grey MMC, mutually healing trauma, a…

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Ep 20 Books That TRAUMATIZED US as kids ✨ BOOKS THAT MADE US SERIES 1:18:26

2M ago1:18:26

1:18:26

Send us a text Today is the big kick off of our Satanic Panic Series! We laugh, we cry, we use this platform to help heal ourselves, and hopefully you all, by discussing topics that are difficult, but ultimately helped to shape us as people. First and foremost, take care of yourselves. Please be aware of Trigger Warnings, and adjust your listening …

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Ep 19 Is THE GREAT GATSBY Still Great 100 YEARS LATER?! + Millennial Roman Empires! 1:26:26

2M ago1:26:26

1:26:26

Send us a text Today we’re back for our fourth installment in our “Books That Made Us” nostalgia series, covering our reread of a classic: The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. We venture back to highschool in the early 2000’s to remember all the books that made the deepest impact on us, even if we didn’t realize it then. The themes, the quotes,…

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Ep 18 Am I The A HOLE, Honestly?! REACTING TO MORE Reddit Book Threads! 1:12:08

2M ago1:12:08

1:12:08

Send us a text We’re back at it with Part 2 of the popular series where we respond to “Am I The A Hole” Bookish Questions on Reddit, and then pose those same questions to you, our listeners! Do we think getting upset at your coworker who won’t leave you alone about books is okay? Does telling your group of friends at a party that your husband isn’t…

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Ep 17 Book of Azrael was overhyped? | BOOK TROPE PICK UPDATE for Ashley 1:18:59

2M ago1:18:59

1:18:59

Send us a text Welcome back to the BATB Podcast, where your hosts Liz and Ashley pick books for each other to read based on our most liked and least liked tropes so that we can talk to you about them! Well… sometimes that’s what we do! Today is our first follow up episode to our favorite tropes / “non-icks,” where we report back on The Book of Azra…

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Ep 16 Life-Changing BOOKS THAT MADE US ✨ High School Edition! 53:52

3M ago53:52

53:52

Send us a text You all know that as proud Millennials, Ashley and Liz like to use this podcast as a way to take us all back. So picture it. It’s 2004. You’re reluctantly reading some book your English teacher assigned. Maybe it’s The Great Gatsby, Fahrenheit 451, or Brave New World. You want to like it, you sort of do, but between the New Found Glo…

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Ep 15 A Court of Mist and Fury (+ Book Bingeing & Blackouts) | BOOK 2 ACOTAR SERIES 1:19:24

3M ago1:19:24

1:19:24

Send us a text Today we continue our ACOTAR Deep Dive Series into book two, A Court of Mist and Fury! Come along this journey with us as we hash out all the major plot points, meet the inner circle, and ask important questions like IS TAMLIN REDEEMABLE? Do you want to discuss these books with us in real time? Find us on Fable @bestiesandthebookclub…

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Ep 14 "Fourth Wing was overhyped!" UNPOPULAR book OPINIONS! 54:16

3M ago54:16

54:16

Send us a Text Message. We love unpopular *book* opinions, yes we do! We love unpopular *book* opinions, how about you?! On today’s episode Ashley and Liz delve into the world of unpopular bookish opinions sent in by you, our listeners and subscribers! Do we cringe when a popular book is being torn up in order to be rebound? Do books set unrealisti…

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Ep 13 A Court of Thorns and Roses (and Teen Heartthrobs?) | BOOK 1 ACOTAR SERIES 1:14:55

3M ago1:14:55

1:14:55

Send us a text Today is all about the book that started it all: A Court of Thorns & Roses by mother herself, Sarah J. Maas. We take a deep (ish) dive into book one, and kick off our five-part ACOTAR series, because we couldn’t soldier on with this podcast and just skip over such an important part of our book journey! We also have a hilarious fave o…

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Ep 12 AM I THE A HOLE? Reddit Bookish Edition! 55:09

4M ago55:09

55:09

Send us a text On today’s episode Ashley and Liz respond to AITA Reddit questions with bookish themes. Do we think you should kick the husbands out for a weekly book club night with the girls? Is loaning out your mom’s books and not getting them back okay? What about being on your phone reading during formal events? You heard all of our opinions he…

1
Ep 11 "you NEED TO read When the Moon Hatched" + UPDATE! Books That Made Us "The Dark is Rising" Review 55:29

4M ago55:29

55:29

Send us a text What happens when Ashley and Liz accidentally read different books for an episode?! We thought we were both reading The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper - the middle school nostalgia read we previously picked for this series. HOWEVER… we didn’t. Listen on to find out how that snaphoo occurred, and what we thought about the nostalgia bo…

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Ep 10 Favorite BOOK TROPES That DON'T Give Us The ICK! 1:09:13

4M ago1:09:13

1:09:13

Send us a text WHAT THINGS DO NOT GIVE US THE ICK?! There are so many! And we cannot wait to discuss them with you! If you’ve been following along, you know we did an entire series on “what DOES give us the ick.” So now, we’re flippin that on its head. First, Ashley and Liz delve into the world of book tropes, laying out our top five that we can’t …

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Ep 09 RANKING All The THRONE OF GLASS Books by Sarah J Maas!! 1:01:32

4M ago1:01:32

1:01:32

Send us a text This week Ashley and Liz embark on a nearly impossible task! We rate all eight Throne of Glass books from least liked, to most liked! When we said this was a doozy, we meant it! Especially since all 8 books are easily 4 or 5 star reads for us. Is Tower of Dawn (“Chaol’s book) deserving of all the hate it gets? Is Kingdom of Ash as ep…

1
Ep 08 “Book Memory Unlocked” BOOKS THAT MADE US ✨ Elementary & Middle School Edition 48:09

5M ago48:09

48:09

Send us a Text Message. This week Ashley and Liz kick off the episode with some serious Millennial nostalgia. We’re talking American Eagle jeans, Warped Tour, and books from the 90’s! We take you on a journey back to your youth through the books that made us who we are today. What stories molded our easily pliable elementary and middle school brain…

1
Ep 07 “We Courted the Cowboys AND Gargoyles” BOOK ICK FOLLOW UP! 1:19:23

5M ago1:19:23

1:19:23

Send us a text This week Ashley and Liz kick off the episode with some snow, a sword store, and a haunted Stanley Hotel (aka The Shining Hotel) fave and fail. In previous episodes we discussed our “icks” (our most disliked book tropes), picked books to read that we thought each other would be “Icked out” by, and today, we finally discuss those book…

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Ep 06 "1 Star...It Shouldn't Exist!" Our STAR RATING System 1:07:24

5M ago1:07:24

1:07:24

Send us a text This week Ashley and Liz start off with a life or 💀 fave and fail of the week before breaking down the logistics of our five star rating and spice systems. Are we rating books based on vibes and feelings? Or on objective characteristics and markers we look for in good storytelling? The answer: it’s complicated. We then delve into the…

1
Ep 05 Idiot Boys Making Rash Decisions! House of Flame & Shadow Book Breakdown 1:25:17

5M ago1:25:17

1:25:17

Send us a text The moment you all have been waiting for is officially here! This week Ashley and Liz dive into the deep depths of Crescent City 3: House of Flame and Shadow, the third installment in the much anticipated Sarah J. Maas series. We discuss the hype, some conspiracy theories, why we were a bit disappointed by an otherwise excellent book…

1
Ep 04 “It Gives Us The ICK!” Book Trope Edition 55:37

5M ago55:37

55:37

Send us a text This week Ashley and Liz kick the podcast off with a faves and fails for the ages. If you want to laugh… hard… this might be the most hilarious episode yet. We delve into our top 5 book tropes that give us the icks. What topics in books make us cringe? Is there a difference between a guy who’s clingy and a guy who watches you without…

1
Ep 03 "I just stared into the void"...CRESCENT CITY 2 RECAP! 58:56

6M ago58:56

58:56

Send us a text This week Ashley and Liz relive House of Sky & Breathe, otherwise known as Crescent City 2, and the ending heard ‘round the world! Join us as we recount our most and least favorite reads of 2023, break down HOSAB with a (not) fine-toothed comb, and tie it together with some good old Sarah J. Maas universe conspiracy theories. Oh, and…

1
Ep 02 Skin Tails & Hook Hands...UNHINGED BOOK QUESTIONS! 59:45

6M ago59:45

59:45

Send us a Text Message. This week, explore the deep and awkward depths of our minds as Ashley and Liz cover ALL the book bases. We start with our faves and fails of the week, move on to a satisfyingly ridiculous barrage of answering unhinged book questions, and end with a smash or pass session us fantasy lovers can all relate to. Is walking the 10,…

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Ep 01 "I WAS NOT PREPARED!" HOFAS Scavenger Hunt + Crescent City 1 Recap 50:58

6M ago50:58

50:58

Send us a text Join Ashley and Liz this week as they haphazardly delve into the complexity that is Crescent City 1: House of Earth and Blood. We break it down into the parts we find interesting, emphasize the importance of vibes (we’re more “sparknotes” and less encyclopedia Britannia for our fellow millennials out there) and introduce you to our n…

1
Ep 00 We're Book Besties, Of Course We Started A Podcast Together 1:09:19

6M ago1:09:19

1:09:19

Send us a text It's a tale as old as time... two real life besties who've both had a love of books since they first learned to read decide to make book podcast together! I 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 explore the world of books with a focus on Fantasy…

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Besties and the Books Podcast Trailer 1:00

6M ago1:00

1:00

Send us a text 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 …

Podcasts Worth a Listen

Besties And The Books Podcasts

Podcasts Worth a Listen

4
Besties and the Books Podcast

Besties and the Books

1
Ep 26 It’s Serpent Summer with Lindsay Straube! | Split or Swallow Author Interview 57:54

1
What’s Up with Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban? | Book 3 | Bonus Minisode 46:10

1
Ep 25 But...AM I THE A HOLE?? | Reacting to MORE AITA Reddit Book Edition 1:07:52

1
"I Want What's In THAT Chamber of Secrets!" | Harry Potter Book 2 | Bonus Minisode 33:41

1
Ep 24 Recommendations & Warnings! 1 Sentence Rapid Book Reviews! (Jan-June Reads) 1:28:37

1
Reading Harry Potter For The First Time As Adults! | Sorcerer's Stone | Bonus Minisode 1 41:03

1
Ep 23 Reacting to YOUR Unpopular Book Opinions! 1:04:45

1
Ep 22 Satanic Panic of 90s! Book Bans, Ouija Boards, and Mansons OH MY! 1:30:14

1
Ep 21 Should YOU Read "A Touch of Gold and Madness"? | BOOK TROPE UPDATE 1:26:40

1
Ep 20 Books That TRAUMATIZED US as kids ✨ BOOKS THAT MADE US SERIES 1:18:26

1
Ep 19 Is THE GREAT GATSBY Still Great 100 YEARS LATER?! + Millennial Roman Empires! 1:26:26

1
Ep 18 Am I The A HOLE, Honestly?! REACTING TO MORE Reddit Book Threads! 1:12:08

1
Ep 17 Book of Azrael was overhyped? | BOOK TROPE PICK UPDATE for Ashley 1:18:59

1
Ep 16 Life-Changing BOOKS THAT MADE US ✨ High School Edition! 53:52

1
Ep 15 A Court of Mist and Fury (+ Book Bingeing & Blackouts) | BOOK 2 ACOTAR SERIES 1:19:24

1
Ep 14 "Fourth Wing was overhyped!" UNPOPULAR book OPINIONS! 54:16

1
Ep 13 A Court of Thorns and Roses (and Teen Heartthrobs?) | BOOK 1 ACOTAR SERIES 1:14:55

1
Ep 12 AM I THE A HOLE? Reddit Bookish Edition! 55:09

1
Ep 11 "you NEED TO read When the Moon Hatched" + UPDATE! Books That Made Us "The Dark is Rising" Review 55:29

1
Ep 10 Favorite BOOK TROPES That DON'T Give Us The ICK! 1:09:13

1
Ep 09 RANKING All The THRONE OF GLASS Books by Sarah J Maas!! 1:01:32

1
Ep 08 “Book Memory Unlocked” BOOKS THAT MADE US ✨ Elementary & Middle School Edition 48:09

1
Ep 07 “We Courted the Cowboys AND Gargoyles” BOOK ICK FOLLOW UP! 1:19:23

1
Ep 06 "1 Star...It Shouldn't Exist!" Our STAR RATING System 1:07:24

1
Ep 05 Idiot Boys Making Rash Decisions! House of Flame & Shadow Book Breakdown 1:25:17

1
Ep 04 “It Gives Us The ICK!” Book Trope Edition 55:37

1
Ep 03 "I just stared into the void"...CRESCENT CITY 2 RECAP! 58:56

1
Ep 02 Skin Tails & Hook Hands...UNHINGED BOOK QUESTIONS! 59:45

1
Ep 01 "I WAS NOT PREPARED!" HOFAS Scavenger Hunt + Crescent City 1 Recap 50:58

1
Ep 00 We're Book Besties, Of Course We Started A Podcast Together 1:09:19

1
Besties and the Books Podcast Trailer 1:00

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