Books I Make My Husband Read | Ep10

It’s the season finale! Jon and Kristy break down their favorite parts of each book from season one (spoiler-free, of course!), reveal their most memorable moments, and share what’s sparking their excitement for season two. You won’t want to miss it!

Links
BIMMHR Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/booksimakemyhusbandread/

BIMMHR website: https://bimmhr.com/

Kristy on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/kristypritzl

Jon on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/jkpritzl

Chapters

(01:54) - S1E1 - Fourth Wing
(04:52) - S1E2 - If We Were Villains
(07:47) - S1E3 - The Frozen River
(10:24) - S1E4 - Just for the Summer
(12:22) - S1E5 - The Measure
(17:02) - S1E6 - Heartless Hunter
(22:36) - S1E7 - Book Lovers
(26:08) - S1E8 - The Boyfriend
(30:36) - S1E9 - A Very Merry Bromance
(34:22) - Favorite book of the season
(35:15) - Biggest learning moment
(39:36) - Funniest moment
(40:34) - Season 2 foreshadowing
(42:52) - Jon can pick his own books?!
(45:32) - Final thoughts

Creators & Guests

Host

Jon King-Pritzl

Host

Kristy King-Pritzl

What is Books I Make My Husband Read?

Join us for a hilarious and heartfelt journey as one book-loving wife curates an unexpected reading list for her husband. With each episode, dive into lively discussions, humorous debates, and surprising insights on the books she just has to make him read. It’s a book club with a twist—and you’re invited!

Yeah. Wrap it up. That's what she said.

That's funny. It's not funny when you say that's funny. It's funny in head.

Hello listeners and welcome to this week's episode of Books I Make My Husband Read. I'm your host Kristy and this is my co-host, my darling husband Jon, whom I make read all the books. Darling. You said darling in the first episode too. know. Hi everybody. Bringing it full circle. Nice. Can you believe it? What? I guess the answer is no, you cannot believe it. We're on episode 10. Woo. Wow.

Your enthusiasm is unmatched. Well, we are on episode 10 and today we're actually not going to be discussing a book, but instead we'll be talking about some of our favorite moments in season one. Nice. And I did want to say before we dive in, this episode will be 100 % spoiler free. So if you haven't read any of the books that we've covered this season, don't worry. We won't be spilling any of the tea here. Hey, I'm the one that makes the jokes. Well, you can't have all the fun.

Fine. Before we dive in, don't forget that you can keep up with our podcast and everything else we're up to by following us on Instagram at Books I Make My Husband Read. What about our website? Have we ever mentioned our website actually? don't know if we ever That's actually a really good question. So our website is? BooksIMakeMyHusbandRead.com. That is correct. Or B-I-M-M... Wait.

B-I-M-M-H-R.com. Yeah, that also works. So let's start talking about the season. So the first book we covered this year was Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros. In this episode, you mentioned that you were thinking that your next tattoo would be of a dragon. Where are you at with that? I am in the planning stages. So I have a large Pinterest board full of inspiration.

I've started following some artists on Instagram, though I've noticed recently that some of the artists I've been following are actually like Germany or other places in Europe. that sounds great to me. Let's take a trip to Germany and get some tattoos because it's also a vacation. So it's not just the tattoo. That's fair. Yeah. So that's where I'm at. I have loads of inspiration. I have a handful of artists that I think could pull off that inspiration.

I want this one to be more artist inspired, meaning like I give them a general theme and maybe a couple of inspiration picks and then say like, I want a full sleeve of X, which is not how I did my bright So you're gonna do a full sleeve of dragons? The dragon will be the central theme of the sleeve and then I want the artist to sort of build a world or other things like encapsulating around that. So real serious question and what the listeners actually wanna know is, are you going to make your tattoo artist

listen or read fourth wing for inspiration. Books I make my tattoo artists read. I think I should. That seems like a legitimate, legit ask. Yes, I think your tattoo artist just really needs to be able to grasp the feelings in the book. Then you'll have someone on that's a little dragon rider. I can just see them illustrating like a little me, a little version of me. my God, that would be amazing.

So do you feel like we missed anything in that episode? know and we're not going to talk about it here because again, no spoilers, but I know there were a couple of characters we didn't get to really dive into in episode one, but any major things or themes you feel like we missed listening back to it? No, I think we missed on a couple of characters. I think we probably could have gone deeper on some of them. That's literally what I just said. I know.

I'm agreeing with you. Maybe some of like the interpersonal relationships between some of the B-list characters like Imogen or others. There is plenty there that we could have chipped away at too. There's just so much. mean, it's impossible. It's a pretty thick book to begin with, but it's impossible to cover it in a 40-minute podcast episode. Yeah.

Over our first couple, we were really trying to stick right around that 40 minute mark. And obviously they've gotten a little bit longer since then, but that played a part to that first episode of what we did or didn't talk about. Yeah. And there were things that we cut, so. Yeah. All right. So let's move on to episode two, which was If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio. And this was our most or still is our most listened to episode as of this moment, right? Yeah. So I...

I loved listening back to this episode and it reminded me how much I love the book and I still freaking think about this book, I swear on a daily basis. This one actually made me cringe because the audio quality in episode two was so bad. funny enough, I do feel like the audio quality improves, especially moving into the third and fourth episodes.

But you only notice it or I only notice it if you like listen to them back to back. If you listen to it by itself, it doesn't sound terrible. But there is a distinct difference if you're listening to him, you know, consecutively. Yeah, that's fair. It was also the episode of our first swoosh. Yes. Yeah, if you're not prepared for the swoosh or you haven't heard it, it can be a little jarring. I agree with that. But I'm glad we kept up with it. It is a nice little segue or break.

an audio break in the medium to indicate like when the pieces are coming. So, yeah, I mean, I think all that matters to creating really quality sounding podcasts that is appealing to people's ears and like they want to like the same with the music. Like we took a long time and debated over the music and we didn't, you know, we didn't agree on some of the, you know, some of the ones that were like our finalists. think we both like what we have now, but it matters. You know, it matters.

But back to the episode, this episode cracked me up because we had a lot of legal debate in this episode. Yes. Which as listening back, I was still laughing out loud and your little dun dun law and order reference was kind of cracked me up too. So I also felt like I did my most amount of homework for that episode. You like brought it. When I listened to it, I remember the part where I was like, you are a lawyer. Yeah.

I did a lot of homework for that one. You were quoting Julius Caesar. I'm pretty certain you've never read Julius Caesar. Nope, sure haven't. I love that book. And a couple of weeks ago, I had some coworkers in town. I was talking about the podcast and they asked me what books we had covered. And, you know, I read all a few off and someone else loved that book as well. We just started talking about the book and the depth of the book. I just think there's so much in it and...

I'm also going to say it's probably not for everybody. I had a friend read it and she said she started to hate reading it about halfway through. She didn't like it at all. So, mean, fair, fine. Not all books are for everyone. But when a book stays with me and I continue to think about it, that's when to me it's just so good. Yeah, I agree. All right. So let's move on to episode three.

which was our first and actually only historical fiction novel that we covered this season. It is The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon. This was actually the first episode where you dropped, and that's another one in the books. Yeah, you were not a fan. I don't know if you are still a fan, but we've stuck with didn't get it. No, it's not that I'm not a fan of it. That's totally not true at all. Remember, I did not even catch it. And then you said it again the following episode, and I also didn't catch it.

And then finally I said that I was ready for like fifth or sixth episode or whatever. And you love puns. I love puns. I think that, you know, we're in this moment and there's a lot going on, you know, worried about like not making too much noise. We live in a noisy neighborhoods. We're always like really concerned about sounds and I don't know. just totally we got to the end of the episode. I was just probably ready to be done and wasn't paying attention. That's fair.

Episode three, listening to them back to back to I thought to myself, man, I really need some more fun ways to intro myself as opposed to just saying hello. Hello. Hi, listeners. What's up? I even teed it up a little for you this time. You did. You did. So note for season two, I'm going to work on my intros. All right. I really love this book. I know you found some fault in it.

But you enjoyed it still. I did. I you rated it four, I rated it a five. Yeah. I think I would do another historical fiction, actually. You don't get to decide that. This is books I make you read. I know. I'm putting it out there. you're interested in another historical fiction? be interested in it. Funny enough, despite this being books I make my husband read,

I actually gave you a choice on this one. I said, hey, let's do a historical fiction novel. And I gave you the choice between The Women and The Frozen River. That's right. And The Women is phenomenal. I I love The Frozen River. It is one of my top books of the year. But The Women is maybe even better. I thought you would actually pick that one. And I realize you're only reading the back cover when you're deciding. But I thought you would pick that one and you pick The Frozen River.

I don't even remember... You don't remember this conversation? No, I don't remember this conversation. This never happened. Because that was pretty quick to decide too when you offered me the two options. did, yeah. So we'll definitely be thoughtful in what we'll have for next season. All right. I'll wait at the edge of my seat. All right, you want to move on to book number quattro? Enter the rom-com. Yes, this was our first rom-com. It was Just For The Summer by Abby Jimenez.

And in our last episode, episode nine, you said that of the three romantic comedies that we read this season, that was your favorite. It was. I loved the banter. I loved the dialogue. Even though you said this isn't a banter and dialogue are the same thing. You said this isn't really an enemies to lovers trope though, right? This one was more of a... It is not an enemies to lovers trope. This is like a fake romance. That's right. That's right.

I just, loved how it was written. I loved all the characters and the interpersonal dynamics between all the characters. I loved our discussion on George Cooney and the whole scene of... Hey, no spoilers! That's not a spoiler. That's just calling out a name. We actually, re-listening to it, it is actually a little cringy. We say hilarious a lot in that episode. When I've listened back, there are a couple words I'm not gonna call them out because then people are gonna start listening for this.

There's a couple of words that I say too much that I was very cringy, like, jeez, Kristy, you have to clean that up. Get over it. Get over it. Yeah. Hilarious was one of those. It was a lot, but the book was hilarious. It was. The book was hilarious. It's a very well descriptive word for the book. But maybe we should have thesaurus.com up while we're doing that. Hold on. Let's re-record that. Let me look at this real quick.

I feel like reading a book by Abby Jimenez is like having lunch with an old friend. You knew that you needed it, but you actually didn't realize how good it was for your soul until it was over. that's so sweet. That's how I feel. That's how I feel when I read a book from her. Like it's done. And you're like, I really needed that. I really needed that. Right on. All right. So then our fifth episode was The Measure by Nikki Erlick.

And this is a book that asks you what if. What if you had access to the exact length of your life and the length of the life of those around you? There's a small part of me that wishes we would have an opportunity to redo that episode. Really? Yeah, and I say that because- actually got an argument right before it. That got edited out. Listeners, you don't have to hear that part.

It was actually don't remember if that it was that episode, but there was one episode when I wouldn't even call it an argument, but we were just like both in bad moods and taking it out on each other. Yeah, for sure. I think, though, for this one, looking back, it was a point in our season where I was starting to feel a little overwhelmed by the number of books I had to keep up with and the editing and our releases and.

I felt like I had to really cruise through the book in order to get to the conversation. And now that I've had like a chance to sit with it a little bit more and digest the deep conversations that, you know, or any questions that you asked during this episode, I wish we could record it I feel like I would have, I don't know what better, but I think more like in depth, I think maybe anyway, it was just one of those, there's like, there's so much to that book. And so many what ifs, like you said, that I think having a little bit more time.

to have sat with it, I think I could have shown up a little bit better for that one. Do you feel like you would write the book higher? Because you were one point and said you're gonna give this book a three, which... I said a three or a four. I know, but to hear me out, I'm not arguing to change your mind. But knowing that and then listening to... This is the episode we got in an argument about. It was this topic right here. That's not totally true.

We already had the argument, we were just on each other's nerves. But having said that, listening to you say you were debating between giving it a three at one point and then you went to a four, but then if you listen to an episode, you have so many positive things. You compliment the author and the way she thought through things and you really relate it to the characters. And after I listened to that episode, I was like...

How can he give this book almost a three when he has such good things to say about it? Yeah, that's a good point. I mean, it could have played a part. The mood, the just tempo or everything. It could have played a part in how I was feeling because I do. love character driven books, but I do think over the course of the season, I've also discovered about myself that I do enjoy books with a more steady plot line. Like they're moving towards something. Moving towards something. Yeah. Yeah.

I think it's part of why I also have such a hard time reading biographies and things like that. Because it's just someone talking about themselves. Yeah. I totally get that. There's a number of them that I would love to read and people that like I admire and I would love to know more about their backstory, but I just I can't fucking get through them. They're just so... I mean, you bought Bono's biography and I read it. You did. I got like a quarter of the way through and I'm saying I can't. I can't. I get it. I do think also...

listening to those, especially like he does his own voiceover, that's better. I think so too. I think if I were to tackle a biography again, it would have to be audio. Yeah, I agree. I think that reading some biographies are just a little dull. But if you can hear the person's voice and there's a few that I enjoy. But anyway, back to this book, just to be clear, I'm not mad you gave it a four, but I was a little offended you almost gave it a three because I think that is not right based on

the way you spoke about it. That's fair. That's fair. All right. Moving on.

Do you that? Yeah, I got it. Yeah, this book definitely took you on an emotional roller coaster. And there's I just wanted to say it as I was listening to the episode, there's a quote and I still think about it's something I think about and it says, again, if you haven't read the book, this isn't a spoiler, but everyone who's in the book finds out one day how long they're going to live.

So the author says, beginning and the end may have been chosen for us, but the middle has always been left undetermined. And I just, I love that sentiment because whether you know how long you're gonna live or whether you don't know how long you're gonna live, that is so true. It's how you live your life, who you surround yourself with and all of those things. All right, so episode six, we jump back into the fantasy world and we read Heartless Hunter by Kristen Ciccarelli.

And honestly, I think this is one of my favorite books of the year. When I was re-listening to our episode, I got really excited and especially I got excited about all my theories and like predictions that I had, which I won't share here because again, no spoilers. But if you read, if you have read the book, you should definitely go listen to that episode. And if you haven't read the book, you should read the book and then go listen to the episode. Yes. So the sequel.

and what will be the final book in that series releases on February 18th of next year. And I actually just saw on Kristen Sikarelli's Instagram page day, someone asked her if that will for sure be the last book in the series. And she said that she would love to write another one. So you never know. this is supposed to be the end of that story. So who knows? Maybe it'll be like a prequel. Maybe we'll find out more about some of the beginning of Runes.

Yeah. Origin story, which is something you talked about in the podcast that you'd be interested in. But again, we don't want to give a spoiler. So my question for you is this one comes out February 18th. We plan on doing maybe our first episode around that time. Do you think we should cover that book? Maybe not first episode, but do think that should be when we cover? I absolutely think so, because this probably was my favorite book of the season. Nice.

And you could hear it in our dialogue too. Totally agree. It was just everything about the questions, the way we answered it and how deep we went into some of the questions and the conversations. It was our longest episode, which like actually stressed me out for a little bit. was like, we're trying to hit 53 minutes. You're like freaking out. like, and then I listened to him. Like it's good though. Like wasn't bored at any point. And there was no question where I was like, that doesn't matter. Yeah. Like everything just flowed.

so fluidly in that one. There was nothing to take out that didn't lead to the next thing that we talked about. And I just really enjoyed that book. I enjoyed the enemies to lovers trope. enjoyed the fantasy piece too. I even said in that episode, like, I like this level of romance. Yes, you did. You also said that in a very, very bromance too. I did.

But what you said, you love this level of romance, which is funny because there's actually not that there is like the angst, I'll say, but there's no romance in the book. There's no like spicy scenes in the book. There's one. I feel like that's a level two spice. I didn't know spice had ratings. thought it was just. yeah, there's a whole spice rating. Yes. OK. All right. I mean, again, it wasn't.

It wasn't they go to bed and then, you know, it's not a closed door romance, but it's not like some of the other, you know, it's not fourth wing or. Yeah, that's fair. So to answer your question, yeah, I absolutely think we should do this one. I think it'd be fun way for listeners to then go back and re listen to like our first episode before they read the second book or something like like that. Like promo up. You're right. Yeah.

And I feel that way actually about Iron Flame too. know we've gone back and forth if we should cover that book or not with the third one coming out next month, January. I just think we kind of missed the boat with it because Iron Flame is already out and done and dusted. Not that people aren't still reading it. I'm going to reread it between now and the release of Exactly. And I think that's why it could be a good episode to do because people would...

likely reread it before they read Alex's story. But do we do the third one in the third season? I guess we do season three in fall again. That's a possibility before fourth one comes out the fall. I'm assuming fourth one is going to come out the following year. would. Yeah, I would think so. Anyway, yeah, I think we should do it. I think it's fun to cover a series and, you know, gives up listeners opportunities to kind of listen to past episodes as well before they go and read the next book. I think that's a fair point.

I do think this episode was where we really hit our stride. And I personally felt really comfortable behind the mic. And I just, think it came through in our conversation. Yeah, I agree. Even though funny enough, this was actually the episode where I had asked you to sit a little bit farther away from your mic and so you sounded distant. right before we got on this episode.

He's like, make sure you're close to your mic. And you're like, you told me to sit so far away. far away from my mic. I know! That was an exact reenactment of 36 minutes ago. Yeah, that's very true. But I mean, that also plays into just like our first season. I've been experimenting with... Absolutely. Everything is like...

We've been experimenting with our Instagram account, with our format, with the audio quality, with what tool do I use to edit. Just everything has been a giant learning experience. But I agree with you, this episode I do feel like we hit our stride and conversation got easier, a little bit more natural sounding, I think. Yeah, natural sounding is a really good way to put it. So after Heartless Hunter, we transitioned to another.

Romcom, which was Book Lovers by Emily Henry. And this has my personal favorite trope, which is the enemy to lovers. And also in this book, I just freaking love the female main character, Nora Stevens, and her and I will be best friends. Yeah, this one was fun. This one actually sparked a little dialogue from my family, actually. yeah. I was like, I didn't know where you were going with that, but yes. Where, you know, I talk about

growing up in the small town and not really... Just a small town boy. Not really comfortable knowing how to be my authentic self for a lot of my youth. So for being a rom-com, there was actually a good number of pretty deep conversations that we had in that episode, which I thought worked really well. And it actually is part of what I think I like about...

this podcast is it's not also just about the books, but it's about certain dialogue about our relationship comes through or our past or it just, we try to make our own kind of connections to the book, which I think is part of what I hope other people are enjoying about this. Well, and I think that's what people love about books in general is that one, not every book is for every person. Not every book is for every point in your life.

And that was actually something I mentioned in one of the early episodes that it's OK to not finish a book. It's OK to start a book and then go, you know what? I am not feeling this right now. I'm going to set it aside because maybe something's going on in your life. But to your point, everyone is reading a book through their own lens. So I might love a book and you might love a book.

but we love it for different reasons. Maybe sometimes they are the same and that's okay, but we're bringing our own experiences and our own thoughts and feelings into that book with those characters, with that storyline, and we can everybody get something different out of a book. And I just think that's the magic of storytelling that you can create something that's so good that so many people can enjoy even though we're all coming into it from different places in our life, different experiences, different set of circumstances.

Yeah, totally. But I think to something you mentioned a few minutes ago is that's why I like Emily Henry's writing. I like Abby Jimenez's writing is that you can enjoy this and laugh, but they're also covering some pretty serious topics in their books. And they also do it in a way that I think reminds people. And this is my perspective, like it reminds people it's OK to talk about these things.

And now it's OK to open up about these things. It's OK to be going through these things, to have these issues. It's OK to not be OK. And I think that a lot of people need to hear that right now. But again, to your point, I think that that's what's so great about some of these romances, that it's not just about the romance. I would say like some of these new age romantic comedies, it's not just about the romance. It's about real life. Yeah. I mean, honestly, reading all these books that I have over the course of this season,

is probably played a part in me getting more comfortable in front of the mic, in me getting more comfortable talking about the books and that sort of thing too, because just for that reason, like the more of them you read, the more comfortable you get with it, the less taboo it feels. OK, so we just talked about Emily Henry, which was episode seven. And then we moved on to episode eight, which was our psychological thriller.

and we read The Boyfriend by Frieda McFadden, and this was your first Frieda novel. And you had a very memorable quote from that episode that a listener commented on, and you said you were going to drop that bitch like a hot stone.

That seemed like a proper saying when I came out of my mouth. It was like, that's what people say. Apparently not. And we said, I think you meant drop that like a bad habit. But what does it drop it like hot stone mean? Like a hot potato or something like that, I think it was. Yeah, I don't know. Hot stone just popped out of my head. Just pop. I'm not kidding.

I posted that the episode was live at, you know, six a.m. or whatever. by eight a.m., someone had commented, drop it like a hot stone. What do you think of the book? I mean, we talked about this a little and again, no spoilers here, but I know that was your first free to book. It's actually the first and only real psychological thriller that we did this season. And I know, ironically, that's our favorite genre. So I would be interested in doing more of those in season two, but.

Any overall thoughts about the episode or something you wish we would done differently? No, like actually that was a point I was going to make in this was I was surprised that it was our only psychological thriller in the whole episode because that is such a favorite genre of both of ours. I'm doing more rom-coms than thrillers, which was fun. that's also like, it's a different genre for me. So I think that was part of the fun, at least for me, but I like some more thrillers. Thriller!

This is well, it was probably the episode before when it dawned on me that we did all female authors. shit. So we need to change that for season two. I mean, I definitely do not mind giving, you know, all the glory to the women, but sure, we should probably read a couple authors by some men or some books by some men. Yeah, that's fair. I mean, never even crossed my mind because I'm just.

You're like, read this. I'm like, okay. So I never really pay attention to the author unless we talk about the author in particular, but that's kind of crazy that they were all female authors. As far as the episode goes, I, again, I think we just kept getting better and better. think that one was again, felt really natural in our conversation and discussion. It was fun talking about when we each kind of realized the moments at the end and when those moments occurred for both of us.

Yeah, and just kind of like the different perspective of Tom, the main character that we had in that episode too, I thought was, you had mentioned a couple of things where it had never even crossed my mind to think about him that way. And it just kind of me look at him differently. What did you think about that episode? What was your reflection upon listening to it again? I liked it. I liked our

dialogue within the episode itself. And I just, I just really love freedom and fadden in her books and the pace of them. I'm just reminded that I want her to write a different type of female character. A different female character. I mean, I don't blame you for that. Can you please write a competent, smart, confident, competent and confident female who's not ignoring all these red flags?

Yeah, can you write a Nora Stevens? Yes, please write Nora Stevens. I know I like that book. I thought our dialogue was good. I thought it was funny and trying to remember some of the exact questions like that we asked, but I feel like we always throw in a couple fun ones in there. One of the things I noticed this doesn't really have anything to do with this particular episode, but as I listened through the season, we end our episodes with final thoughts.

And I realized that like, I never really have final thoughts because we talk about all my thoughts in the episode. Well, that's why it's called a final thought. You might have something that I didn't ask that you just as like burning to get out. apparently I don't burn with questions or with random answers. All right. Well, then if you don't have any final thoughts on that episode, let's transition to our final book, which was A Very Merry Bromance by Lyssa Kay Adams. We had had a request.

We had someone asked us if we were going to do a holiday book. So we decided to do that one. And the reason I picked that one is because I personally think that holiday books are very hit and miss, holiday romance books. And some are good. They're nice and light and fluffy. Some are just a little too unrealistic. I mean, a little too cabin in the

snowed in woods. I don't know. That's just that's not the kind of romance I like. So I picked this one because I enjoyed it. I had already read it. I thought it was only a year old. It's actually two years old. And I don't think holiday books have like staying power like some other books do. Like, for instance, if we were villains, that's a book from 2018. And we covered that most listened to episode. But I don't feel like a holiday, holiday romance has a staying power. So I think next year I'll

pick a just-released holiday romance. And maybe one that is an actual Christmas book and not a book that's based in Christmas. Yes. Okay. So I'm glad you brought that up. In the book, they say they have an argument. The two main characters have an argument. If a book is a... Or sorry, not a book. A Christmas song...

or a song that is set in Christmas. And so you and I on the podcast said, is this a holiday romance or is it a story that's set around the holidays? And we decided that it was Christmas slash December adjacent. And I came across this reel where a guy actually came up with this formula and he said that there are three essential elements to something being a Christmas or holiday romance. The first,

element is that the female main character has to be one of these 10 professions. event planner, a real estate agent, a nanny or a maid, an interior designer, a baker or chef, an executive, a romance writer, a famous actress or a singer, a shop owner or an advice columnist. Nora Stevens, my gosh, wrong person. Gretchen. Gretchen is none of these things. He also said the second element is that it has to be one of these places. New York, a fictitious kingdom.

in time, the North Pole, a town with a Christmas name, a small town in New York, small town in Colorado, small town in Vermont, small town in Maine, or a small town with snow. This book was set in Nashville. It is none of those things. And third element, the Maine love interest has to be one of these things. A prince, a workaholic, an architect, an executive, a single father, a coffee shop owner, a high school flame, a famous actor, singer,

a son working for a father or a Christmas tree farmer. Colton Wheeler is a famous singer. So that checks out, but we have two missing elements out of the three. it is not a Christmas romance. Two are- Okay, that's fair. But you actually just hinted at it. What if you flip the two things? So what if the first one- No, it doesn't fit, no. What male character is a famous actress or singer?

And his main love interest is Gretchen is a workaholic. mean, but no, that's not that's not that doesn't fit the formula. He said specifically that the female has to be one of these things. That's fine. And apparently this guy is the king of holiday romance. don't know. I just thought it was really funny because you talked about that and he was saying like, this is what really makes up a Christmas romance. All right. So now that you have listened to or re listened to.

all of the episodes. You kind of, you already said this, but which was your favorite? Heartless Hunter was my favorite book of the year. I think just for the summer, we're coming at honestly a close second, but Heartless Hunter was really good. I just, loved everything about that book. So I think we already talked about, we might do, or we probably will do Rebel Witch, which is number two in that, the end of that series. And then I guess maybe since you liked it so much, Abby Jimenez has a book coming out next spring.

that maybe we'll put that in the season two lineup. I wouldn't. Well, not that I get a say in it, but I wouldn't mind that. You absolutely get us. mean, kind of. Yeah. Only when you give me two choices, you get this book or this book. That is the level of say that I Yes, that has happened. So what do you feel like was your biggest learning moment from the season? my God. So many. My biggest learning from the season is probably just

how to edit a podcast, how to edit and post. I mean, I didn't know anything about that coming into this. So in every episode along the way is I've learned something new about it. and maybe that I like rom-coms more than I thought I did. And as we heard, he likes the romance.

Levels one through three spice. Anything about this? OK, let me ask you, what is it about level four and five, which we have not defined yet? But what is it about level four and five spice that you don't like? Is it make you uncomfortable reading about it? Maybe. I don't know. feel like your parents are in the room when someone gets naked on TV because I'm 42 years old and I still do not want to watch a show where anyone is getting naked if my parents are in the room?

That's funny. I don't think so. think in my head that level of detail isn't necessary for the story. Or is it? That is my two cent opinion. Look, they could have stayed in level two.

and alluded to all the other things and it could have been just as impactful to the story and to the characters and what it meant to their dynamic. If you say so. I'm not arguing that you can like what you like. If you don't like reading about that much detail, that's fine. But I also think that the kind of sex people are having gives you another look at the maybe deepness or the connection they have.

the chemistry they have? Maybe. I'll keep my mind open. Okay, that's fair. I will find more steamy books for you. I will find some four and five books. I know I have given you other levels. Fourth wing is another level. Well, I would say the court book, like, at guitar books. I always want to say it wrong, so I always pause, but... Yeah, that's true. You did give me those, but I also only made it through two of them.

You made it halfway through the third one, and I don't think it's because of that, though. I think it's long. They're long. mean, you liked Iron Flame. You love Fourth Wing. You like Iron Flame. And you still have not finished that one. And you started in July. I know. When we started this, I was like, I got no time. No time. That is a goal of mine, though, over this holiday break that we're taking is to finish that fucking book finally. So, yeah. All right. So was your hold on? We ask you back. What was your biggest learning moment this season?

I mean, I didn't I don't think I learned anything. OK, whatever her name was and dancing with the stars. That's exactly what I thought. Annadelby. I nothing. No, that's 100 percent not true. I was just trying to actually think of a good answer. It was funny. think I mean, is like far as tactical things that I learned. mean, this is going to sound silly, but how to use Instagram again or kind of try to use it.

And I mean, for this, I mean, I had obviously never recorded a podcast. I mean, I'm writing scripts. And again, our dialogue is not scripted, but I have to write the opening. So we cover everything. I have to write the questions. You know, I'm writing the summaries and like all those things they have posted. So I'm doing those things I've never done before. And I think also just on a level, as far as the books go, knowing I'm going to talk about this book with you makes me more thoughtful as I'm reading it.

And so that has caused me to, I don't think like change the way I approach it, but think of the book in a different way as I'm going through the book. Totally. That makes a ton of sense. No. And again, it's not that's not true with every book I read because there's books I'm reading that I'm not having you read. Sure. But I will tell you sometimes I'm like, I wonder what Jon would think of this scene or this thing or whatever.

especially now that we are doing the podcast because that is a reality. But yeah, it's just kind of that's it's changed that too. Right on. So what was your funniest moment or a funny moment you laughed out loud as you were re-listening or something that you still think about? I think the whole Just For The Summer episode is still I could re-listen that one and still laugh out loud at us and ourselves in our banter back and forth. Even though we say hilarious 1800 times. 1800 times. Yeah.

Yeah, the George Cooney bit in that one. George Cooney. Yeah, that's the one that jumps out to me, I think the most. What about you? That, when you said drop it like a hot stone. It was organic. It was totally organic. Yeah, now I'm on the spot and I can't be able to think about it, but there were several moments that...

I just remember cracking up and having to pause because we were laughing at ourselves. Yeah. It's good to find yourself funny. Yeah. So what are you looking forward to in season two? Hmm. More books. Obvi. Wait, did you just go on record and say you are looking forward to more books? Yes. Yes, I did. I didn't say more level five spice books. No, I didn't say that. that. just mean like.

Reading all the books. did ask the other night if we could maybe change our release schedule so I could like not read less books. But no, like I've like we kind of talked about in the beginning when we kicked off this podcast, like I enjoy reading. I'm just not used to reading, not used to reading so much. I'm slower at it. There are other things that I enjoy doing. Like I'm not like you where I pop my headphones in the moment I roll.

on my side of the bed and then wear them in the shower and then wear them down when I'm making breakfast. And like, we don't talk to each other in the morning because I know you have your AirPods in. that is crap. That is a load of steaming dog crap. It's true. You don't like to talk to anybody I don't also like to talk to in the morning either until I have my coffee. That's fair. The other part is also true. When you said about more books, mean, to be really fair to you, I think your reading goal for this year is like what?

12 books is what you usually say a book a month. And throughout the course of this podcast in the, well we did one every other week and this is our 10th episode but we only did nine books. So in 18 weeks you read nine books. That's pretty freaking awesome. That is pretty awesome. So. Go me. Go you. five. Sell five. I miss that show. What are you looking forward to in season two, my dearest?

I really am excited for Rebel Witch. Not just to find out what happens in the book, but also like we both said earlier, we both really love that episode. So I feel like that dialogue, if we do it, that would be a really great episode. I think I'm just looking forward to making you read more books and talking about them. I really have enjoyed this.

And I feel like it's a way for us to have something we do together and connect more and, you know, without just watching TV together or something like that. Yeah, right on. So knowing that we have a break now, what are you going to read that is going to be of your choosing? I'm going to fucking finish Iron Flame. That's going to happen. I don't know. guess I'm going to have to dig through my Goodreads archive. Would you like some recommendations? This time, no.

Nuts. I'd sent you a snap of a book the other day I asked if you had on your shelf. It was called Wayward. I think it has like there are witches in it. I think if I remember the cover, the back cover. So I might want to read that one. What's on your reading list, honey bear? I'm sure you probably have a list of 20 that you're going to get through in the next two weeks. So I'm also off the next two weeks of work starting in a few days.

So there will be a lot of reading going on. Nice knowing you. See you the new year. I also have lot of reviews to write for books that I have been neglecting. I am going to reread Iron Flame. I am going to read an art that I just got sent for a book that releases in May that I think sounds amazing. I might want to read that too, actually. Yes.

And then I just, yeah, I have a lot also to catch up on like releases that came out this fall that I haven't been able to listen to. listen slash read. I haven't read the Leanne Moriarty book that came out this fall. I haven't read the new TJ Klune book. I haven't read that blue, blue sisters book that's been really popular that I have sitting on my shelf. wouldn't mind reading that Leanne Moriarty one. I liked the others that you suggested of hers that I read. Yeah, I like her a lot. Now.

funny enough is It's Big Little Lies that you read. That's by far her highest rated book. And I have read either all her other books or all but one. I love them all, but they're not rated that high. Some of them aren't rated that highly. Even the ones that had been developed into films or series have not been rated that highly. Or I should probably say series. I don't think any of them are actually full length feature films, but her writing style speaks to me.

And she says things that I laugh out loud to. So I think that it's just one of those things like sometimes I'm coming into the books with a certain set of circumstances and facts about myself. And she says things that just speak to me that I really enjoy. But yeah, I have a ton. But those those few are just like ones off the top of my head that I know I want to read. And I have one more holiday book that I want to finish before the end of the year. All right. Well, your favorite question.

Do you have any final thoughts on the season? No, surprisingly. Well, all right then. Yeah. Wrap it up. That's what she said.

that's funny. It's not funny when you say that's funny. It's funny in my head. I'm genuinely surprised that we kept the cadence that we did for this season. I do burn out. I don't mean that as a diss either. just, know. No, like it was a lot. Like you just pointed out a little bit ago that my goal was one a month. Now I just did nine in three or whatever it was. Right. But also that we kept getting better. Heck yeah, we did.

I think you just, you you get more comfortable anything. Yeah, sure. What about you? What are your thoughts? What would you have? Would you have done anything differently? differently? I don't think so. I think that we had a suggestion from a friend of ours really early on to let people know the books we're going to read. And we've already talked about from next season, like really just setting a schedule and having everything kind of predetermined and looking at different.

newer releases that are coming out in the spring. And not that we won't do older books that we've already talked about, like, do we want to do Iron? It doesn't make sense to do Iron Flame, but no, overall, I totally agree with you. I think that for our first season, I'm over the moon with some of the reception that we've gotten and the quality of our podcast, which is 100 percent. I mean, yeah, it's you and me. It's me writing, you know, the script out and everything or the questions out and the dialogue matters, but also.

the editing you've done and the quality of the sound itself is all you. Thanks. You're welcome. Well, we wanted to remind everyone that we will be taking a short break, but we'll come back to you in February with season two. You can still follow us on Instagram for updates and possibly some bonus content. I do have a few things at my sleep. OK, but.

We do want to also thank everyone for the support that they've shown us over this first season. are incredibly grateful. This podcast does not exist unless people listen to it. And we want to make sure that we're putting out content that people actually want to listen to. So if you have thoughts, if you have ideas, please share them with us. And don't forget that also a free way to support our show is by leaving us a review and rating us on whatever platform you're listening on, whether that's Audible, Apple or Spotify.

And if you don't want to rate us, but you have a question as I mentioned, or a comment or a thought, or you want to send us a rendering of some sort, you can email us at booksandmakemyhusbandread@gmail.com. And we would absolutely love to hear from you and we'll send you some swag. yeah, the swag. We've gotten off the swag bandwagon. I didn't want to keep like pushing it down people's throats, but I did send out some swag this week. So don't forget we have it if you want it.

but you have to email us. I guess that's it. That's another one in the book. That's another one in the books. Well, who knows? Maybe this one will be the one your husband listens to. Like, wait, which one is going to read? How's that going to work? But he should listen to the other episodes and then pick one of those books to read. That's it. Happy holidays. However you celebrate, we hope you are surrounded by friends and family or at the very least by the books you love. You're here. See you for season two.

Peace.