Hello, and welcome to another installment of YA Book club, the place where Emily and Mary talk all things YA! This month, we’re talking about Warcross by Marie Lu. This novel follows Emika Chen, a young woman on the brink of financial disaster, unable to pay her rent and in debt. When Emika hacks into a Warcross tournament, she unintentionally catches the eye of Hideo Tanaka, the founder of the Warcross games and a tech billionaire. As Emika and Hideo grow closer, Emikia is tasked with finding a dangerous hacker who threatens to jeopardize Hideo’s business--and his life. This novel has been compared to Ready Player One by Ernest Cline, but is notably different because it features a female protagonist and a less sweeping (though perhaps more personal and dangerous) plot. Join us, as we discuss Warcross!
Read moreAre You The One? Season 8|E12: This Doesn't Look Sanitary At All
I am about to get emotional, because this is the last episode of Season 8 of Are You the One!
So much happened on this, the last episode of the season. Pies were thrown. People got naked. Last minute hook-ups were had. Love was found. BUT DID THEY WIN THE MONEY? Read on to find out. I’m not here to spoil the final episode of this wonderful show without your consent.
Read moreSurvivor s39: First Impressions
Hello! We are only a couple weeks away from the premiere of Survivor: Island of the Idols, the 39th season of the powerhouse reality show that has cornered the market on people on an island kicking other people off the island. (Also, if you are hankering for more Survivor content and missed our ode to the Queen of Survivor, then head over and check that out!)
So today, Mary and Todd are bringing you our professional opinions about who will outwit, outlast, and outplay all others when Survivor returns on Wednesday, September 25.
Read moreBSG #32: Back in the Habit / The Memory Police
BSG #32: Back in the Habit / The Memory Police
Grab your earbuds before they disappear and listen to our discussion of The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa. We talk about the setting, character development, memory and loss, and why this novel feels so timely even though it was originally published in 1994. Then we dig into some listener feedback for our Circe episode and tell you what’s on the #BookSquadBlog. Read along with us for our next #othersode, a spooky time with special guests Lisa Kroger and Melanie Anderson. We’ll be covering the Shirley Jackson classic We Have Always Lived in the Castle on September 23. Then grab a copy of Liane Moriarty’s Nine Perfect Strangers for our next #bookpisode on October 7. In the meantime, keep up with us on social media (@booksquadgoals), and send your thoughts to thesquad@booksquadgoals.com.
Click through for summary, table of contents, and show notes!
Read moreBachelor in Paradise S6 Week 5: No More Mustaches for Me
Emily: Hi Bachelor Nation. It’s me, ya girl. This week, Susan is busy with some work thing (she told me but I already forgot because I’m that friend). Anyway, we’re all sad Susan can’t be here. But I’m happy to announce my husband and BFF Ben will be joining us this week instead! Say hello to the people, Ben, and maybe tell them a little bit about your thoughts about this season so far and The Bachelor franchise in general?
Ben: Hello to the people! It is great to be here experiencing the 20-car pile-up known as Bachelor in Paradise. And I mean that in every sense of the metaphor. There’s been a lot more stalling, yelling, and waiting around than action this season than past seasons, and I’m blaming ABC for this one. They ramped up stability this season with a more grounded opening cast to prep their delicate viewers for the decade past-due “bombshell” of a bi-sexual woman on the reality small screen. Maybe they’ve never seen MTV? But I digress . . .
Emily: So now that our introductions are out of the way, let’s get into the episode? We return to where we left off, with Nicole reiterating that Clay makes her feel “sexy and confident and proud” before dun dun dun… Angela shows up.
Read more10 Weeks of Spooktober: Malevolent (Week 2 of 10)
It’s Week 2 of Spooktober, and we’re edging ever closer to Halloween, week by week.
This week, we’re looking at a horror movie starring Florence Pugh about a group of young adults who get more than what they bargained for when they accept an invitation to a strange place. Okay, no, it’s not that movie. It’s the OTHER Florence Pugh horror movie. The one from director Olaf de Fleur about a group of twenty-something “ghost hunters“ who are actually just scam artists feeding off of other’s need for closure in the face of grief and loss.
But then things get weird.
Read moreAre You the One? Season 8|E11: Tonight Our Theme is Take Your Son to Work Day
It’s baaaaack!
After waiting two weeks to find out of we can keep shipping Jax or if our Max and Justin ship has been sunk, this week we got our answer. And I’m not going to wait any longer to let you know the answer. Max and Justin are officially not a match, which means Paige and Jenna and Danny and Kai are a match.
Let’s take a minute to let this sink in while Max melts into a pool of tears and crushed dreams. We now know five of the eight matches: Brandon and Aasha, Jonathan and Basit, Jasmine and Nour, Danny and Kai, and Paige and Jenna.
Read moreBachelor in Paradise S6 Week 4: I Don't Wanna Be On Your Podcast!
Love is in the air, and we will be getting to Krystal and Chris’s wedding in a bit. But first!
Emily: Hi Bach Nation. I just want to start by apologizing for this recap being so late. Frankly, Susan and I are getting BiP fatigue and recapping this show is actually driving us insane. We regret everything. And yet here we are, finishing out this godforsaken show because we have made a promise to you, the people, to bring you this BiP content. So let’s do this so I can go to bed.
Susan: We’re just starting this recap and I’m already tired. Strap in because you’re in for a lot of JPJ in a lot of different moods. Derek is sad about Demi, but he’s moving on by letting people bury him in the sand. Paradise is weird. Meanwhile, Tayshia tells Kristina she’s interested in Derek because he’s established and has his stuff together (read: not 24 years old).
Read more10 Weeks of Spooktober: Ready or Not (Week 1 of 10)
Welcome to Week 1 of 10 Weeks of Spooktober!
Hello, Emily here. I’m reintroducing myself to you because this 10 Weeks of Spooktober blog series is a personal project of mine, as we enter into my favorite time of the year, pre-Halloween. College football starts today (Go Dawgs), NFL football starts next week (Geaux Saints), the weather (eventually) promises to get cooler, Starbucks and their competitors have started rolling out their pumpkin spice offerings, and MOST IMPORTANTLY… it’s scary movie season.
So this year, to count my way through pre-Halloween season and make the most out of this, the best time of the year, I am offering up 10 Weeks of Spooktober. In this blog series, I will watch and review one new (to me) horror movie each week. And we’re starting it all off with a movie now in theaters: Ready or Not.
Read more5 Things to Do at the End of Summer
The summer is almost over and with it, the free time that many of us enjoy in the hottest months of the year. Fall feels more productive, more busy. I’m savoring those last few moments of summer as I begin teaching and wrapping up all my summer projects.
That being said, there’s a lot of great media floating around at the end of summer, so here are five things you could be doing as summer wraps up:
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