Bachelorette S20E3: I Feel Like I Need to Be Like Will Smith Right Now

July 16, 2023 Emily & Bonnie

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!

YA Book Club: Burn Down Rise Up by Vincent Tirado

July 13, 2023 Mary & Emily

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.

BSG #82: Jenna Bush: “Reading” Since 2021 / Chain-Gang All Stars

July 12, 2023 The Squad

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Bachelorette S20E2: I Can't Believe We're Doing This When Yosef Has A Daughter At Home

July 7, 2023 Emily & Bonnie

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.

Spider-Man Still Rules: Across the Spider-Verse

July 5, 2023 Kelli, Mary, and Emily

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.

Bachelorette S20E1: That's A Fake Mustache!

July 2, 2023 Emily & Bonnie

Bachelor Nation, the Book Squad team is back on their BS, recapping The Bachelorette after a multi-season hiatus (we quit halfway through Matt James’ season because it was giving us the ick). But we’re optimistic about Charity’s season, and we’re looking forward to seeing how it all shakes out (SPOILER FREE of course… no spoilies in the comments please!).

If you’re new to our Bachelor/ette recaps, welcome. If you’ve been here before, you’ll notice some things have changed and some will remain the same. Yeah, we’re still drafting and we’re still going to collect points for our Bachelor teams throughout the season. But this season, Emily is joined by a new co-recapper… her longtime reality tv-watching buddy, Bonnie Asato!

Bonnie is also a longtime Bachelor fantasy league champion, so the competition is going to be tough. For our first recap, we will draft our team, and in future recaps, we’ll recap the episode and dole out points for our guys. Now that you’re all up to speed, let’s get into it.

Othersode #81: Hey, Amazon! / The Power

June 27, 2023 The Squad

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BSG #81: Cord, Short for Corduroy / Pineapple Street

June 13, 2023 The Squad

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Shiny Happy People: Now Everyone Has to Know About Bill Gothard

June 9, 2023 Mary

Sorry, world, but now Bill Gothard is everyone’s problem. More accurately, his cult—and I do mean to say cult here—is now the topic of Shiny Happy People: Duggar Family Secrets, and the dangerous teachings of the IBLP (Institute in Basic Life Principles) are making national headlines in the wake of the high-profile documentary.