Emily: It’s been a long time coming, but we’re finally here with another installment of QUEER GIRL BOOK CLUB! And this month, we’re chatting about House of Hunger by Alexis Henderson. I picked this one out because I read and enjoyed Henderson’s last book The Year of the Witching. At first, I thought this book was going to be a sequel to that book, but then I heard that the sequel (entitled The Dawn of the Coven) had been pushed back, and that House of Hunger was going to be its own standalone novel. And that it was going to be super queer. So of course I thought… hey, this sounds like the perfect book for our lil club. Despite this cover. Which I’d love to hear Kelli talk about.
Read moreSlogging Through Wheel of Time
Todd: The time has come for another Wheel of Time reading update, and this time Todd (me) is here! To quickly recap, Mary and I spent more than a year “reading” Winter’s Heart before finally finishing it this summer and then zooming through Crossroads of Twilight. We have now almost finished the prologue of Knife of Dreams and we have some thoughts! I will let Mary kick things off by asking this: now that you are through it, how bad was the dreaded “slog”?
Read moreBachelorette S20E07: This Isn't Build-A-Man Workshop
Emily: Better late than never, right? We’re here with your Fantasy Suites recap, although it seems like they’re rebranding and calling these dates “Overnights” more than they’re calling them “Fantasy Suites,” which… is a choice. They’re in Fiji, which is also where Love Island US is this year. How amazing would it be if we could one day get a Bachelor/Love Island crossover? I know it would never happen, but it could be fun!
Bonnie: Send some of the discarded men to the villa!!! Send John to the villaaaaaaaa!!!
Read moreBachelorette S20E06: Low Key I Think She Loves Charity More Than Me
Emily: Well, somehow we managed to stay awake during this boring hometowns episode, and we have a recap for you! Hooray! But before we get to that, we need to acknowledge the most important news to come out of Bachelor Nation this past week: former Bachelorette Gabby Windey has a girlfriend! And she’s writer and comedian Robby Hoffman! We are so happy for Gabby!
Bonnie: So happy for Gabby!!!! She’s one of the few people from this franchise that I follow on social media, and she continues to just be such a joy and delight. Love, love, love this news!!!
Emily: And now onto the recap? Let’s see what happens in these hometown dates.
Read moreBachelorette S20E05: I Know They Be Kissin'
Emily: Welcome back to The Bachelorette! This week, the gang is in New Orleans, which means this season is really just a tour of all of the places I have lived (or am currently living). Very exciting for me, but I would guess less exciting for the viewers at large. And way less exciting for Charity and her men. LET THESE PEOPLE TRAVEL INTERNATIONALLY! GIVE US THE FANTASY!
Bonnie: I’m upset Charity has been robbed of non stop world travel, yet Zach and Clayton got to hop all over the place. RUDE.
Read moreBachelorette S20E04: One of My Biggest Heights is Fears
Emily: Hello, friends. It’s week 4, and by the end of this episode, we’ll already be down to 6 guys. I can’t believe it. What a short season. And I think at this point, we can be pretty confident about who the final four are going to be. But we’ll get to that later.
Before we get started, another oops on the points from last week. We forgot to give out rose ceremony points, so just to back it up for a second, 3 points for Aaron B for getting the first rose. 3 points to Tanner for getting the final rose.
On that note, let’s get into this episode. They’re in Washington! Which is where I live! How exciting! They’re all acting very excited about Washington. Brayden says being in Washington is a vibe and he loves hiking. This is accurate. All people do in Washington is hike or talk about hiking.
Read moreBachelorette S20E3: I Feel Like I Need to Be Like Will Smith Right Now
Emily: We’re back, and Charity has fewer guys than ever before. Fourteen to be exact. Quick housekeeping: I guess Bonnie lost a Caleb last week and we forgot to make a note of it. So that’s one down for Team Drama Queenz. Meanwhile, I lost, like, half my team last week, but who’s counting? I guess we’ll see how it all shakes out this week. I’m scared.
Bonnie: Lol that neither of us noticed we were down one more Caleb. I think your team is still in pole position with Xavier and Aaron. You’ve lost the weak links. Your team is only getting stronger!
Read moreYA Book Club: Burn Down Rise Up by Vincent Tirado
Mary: Whew, hello. Here we are to talk about Vincent Tirado’s Burn Down, Rise Up. This is their first novel, but they had another one come out in May of this year.
The book follows Raquel, a teen who’s undergoing several crises all at once. Her mother is in the hospital with a deadly, mold-like infection and getting worse every day, and her friend Charlize’s cousin Cisco has gone missing. On top of all that, Raquel has the average teen stuff going on—will her crush like her back?—etc. Soon, the group of friends discovers a dangerous game that might be behind the recent disappearances—as well as Raquel’s mom’s condition. The only way to stop what’s happening is to dive into the game for themselves and face the atrocities of the past.
Spoilers to follow.
Read moreBachelorette S20E2: I Can't Believe We're Doing This When Yosef Has A Daughter At Home
Emily: It’s week 2 of The Bachelorette, and here’s where the season really starts in earnest. We get our first dates. We get our first real drama. We get our first makeouts. We get our first Speedos. And most importantly, our players get to start scoring points for our teams (and we’ll reveal our team names at the end of this recap, so sit tight.
So we’re down to nineteen men at the start of this episode. Charity says she’s ready for the journey and that she’s here to find love and all the things that Bachelorettes normally say at this point in the competition. In other words, she hasn’t been broken yet.
I also noticed at the beginning of this episode that Aaron B. is still pretending his coin is real.
Read moreSpider-Man Still Rules: Across the Spider-Verse
Mary: I’m SO pleased to be talking about the follow-up to Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. It’s been difficult waiting these past few years for Across the Spider-Verse because the first one was an absolute favorite of mine. I saw it in theaters 3 times, forcing different people to go with me each time.
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