What to Read Next — Book Recommendations for Romance, Thrillers & Escape Reads

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She wrote her debut novel at 18, self-published it, went viral on TikTok — and now she's a Simon & Schuster author with a dramatized audiobook. Lauren Roberts is living proof that passion plus scrappiness can take you very, very far.
In this episode, Lauren breaks down the wild origin story behind Powerless — from pitching the idea live on TikTok to Googling her way through ISBN numbers and copyright filings. We talk about what makes the Powerless trilogy so addictive (enemies to lovers! forbidden romance! high-stakes trials!), the incredible new dramatized audiobook of Powerless, and the literary fiction authors who are quietly shaping Lauren's writing voice.
Whether you're a romantasy superfan or just looking for your next unputdownable series, this one's for you.
📚 Books Mentioned
Powerless by Lauren Roberts — Buy on Amazon | Romantasy / YA Fantasy | Audio ✅(Dramatized Audiobook available!)
Reckless by Lauren Roberts — Buy on Amazon | Romantasy / YA Fantasy | Audio ✅
Fearless by Lauren Roberts — Buy on Amazon | Romantasy / YA Fantasy | Audio ✅
Alone With You in the Ether by Olivie Blake — Buy on Amazon | Literary Fiction / Romance | Audio ✅
Masters of Death by Olivie Blake — Buy on Amazon | Literary Fiction / Fantasy | Audio ✅
One Dark Window by Rachel Gillig — Buy on Amazon | Gothic Fantasy | Audio ✅
Vicious by V.E. Schwab — Buy on Amazon | Dark Fantasy | Audio ✅
Dance of Thieves by Mary E. Pearson — Buy on Amazon | Fantasy / Romantasy (Duology) | Audio ✅
⏱️ Timestamps
[00:00] Welcome & introducing Lauren Roberts
[00:45] Lauren's background — writing at 18 and the TikTok origin story
[02:30] Figuring out self-publishing from scratch (ISBNs, copyright, editors)
[04:30] Simon & Schuster reaches out — the surreal moment it all changed
[05:30] What drives Lauren: supporting other creatives and following your passion
[06:30] Elevator pitch for Powerless — the plot, the world, the magic system
[07:45] The romance: enemies to lovers, forbidden tropes, and sky-high stakes
[08:30] The dramatized audiobook of Heartless — a movie for your ears
[10:30] Behind the scenes: scripting, sound effects, music, and casting the voices
[12:30] Lauren voices a character herself — and what it felt like to hear Powerless fresh
[13:00] Lauren's reading life: the literary fiction curveball
[14:00] Olivie Blake and V.E. Schwab — balancing lyrical prose with fantasy
[15:00] Where Lauren's own writing is heading next
[15:30] Book recommendations: Lauren's top picks for listeners
[16:30] Where to find Lauren online (Instagram, TikTok, Substack)
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What if your dream bookshop was hiding inside the pages of a book? This week's guest is making that fantasy feel very real.
London-based bookworm and Substack newsletter writer Alicia joins us to share her love of a very specific and very delightful trope: woman quits job to open a bookshop. If you've ever fantasized about leaving it all behind for a life surrounded by shelves and the smell of old paper, Alicia has three gorgeous, lesser-known reads that will feed that daydream beautifully. From translated Japanese fiction to a moving Korean novel, these books explore healing, community, and the quiet courage it takes to build a life you actually want — even when you're not sure you're ready.
📚 Books Mentioned
The Bookshop Woman by Nanako Hanada — Buy on Amazon | Nonfiction / Memoir | A quiet, insightful look at the world of bookselling and how small changes create big impact.
Days at the Morisaki Bookshop by Satoshi Yagisawa — Buy on Amazon | Japanese Translated Fiction / Contemporary | A healing, character-driven story about a woman who finds herself — slowly — through books.
Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop by Hwang Bo-reum — Buy on Amazon | Korean Translated Fiction / Contemporary | A raw, courageous story about a woman who opens a bookshop from a place of grief and finds herself living her values anyway.
⏱️ Timestamps
[00:00] Welcome & introduction — meet Alicia from London
[01:00] What Alicia reads: contemporary, literary, historical fiction & nonfiction
[02:00] Alicia's nonfiction picks: memoirs, economics, music
[03:30] What led Alicia to start Reads with Alicia on Substack
[05:00] Building a bookish community online — Substack, BookTok & beyond
[07:00] Alicia's Seasonal Reads with Friends collaboration series
[08:30] The episode's trope: "Woman quits job to open a bookshop"
[10:00] Book #1 — The Bookshop Woman by Nanako Hanada
[13:00] Why book recommendations are an act of care
[14:00] Book #2 — Days at the Morisaki Bookshop by Satoshi Yagisawa
[16:00] Book #3 — Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop by Hwang Bo-reum
[19:30] Living your values even in hard times
[20:00] Where to find Alicia online & wrap-up
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What if your love stories came with secret societies, art forgery rings, and a twist you never saw coming? Author Ava Rani joins us to talk books, balance, and why she refuses to write a boring romance.
Ava Rani is an author who does it all — indie publishing, traditional publishing, and somehow fitting it in between a medical career and motherhood. In this episode, she walks us through her Biotech Billionaires series (think Gossip Girl meets Succession, Scandal, and Crazy Rich Asians), her standalone Out of Her League (a surgeon, a soccer star, and a fake-dating trip to Paris — need we say more?), and her New Adult mystery-romance Poisoned Ivy, which she lovingly describes as Never Have I Ever meets Rory Gilmore's Yale years. If you love sharp heroines, enemies-to-lovers slow burns, and plots that actually keep you guessing, this episode is for you.
📚 Books Mentioned
The Spare by Ava Rani — Buy on Amazon| Contemporary Romance / Billionaire Romance | Biotech Billionaires #1
The Heir by Ava Rani — Buy on Amazon | Contemporary Romance / Billionaire Romance | Biotech Billionaires #2
The Charmer by Ava Rani — Buy on Amazon | Contemporary Romance / Billionaire Romance | Biotech Billionaires #3
Out of Her League by Ava Rani — Buy on Amazon | Contemporary Romance / Sports Romance / Fake Dating | Check KU & Audio availability
Poisoned Ivy by Ava Rani — Buy on Amazon | New Adult Romance / Mystery | The Legacy Series #1 | Audio ✅ (available on Libro.fm/library apps)
Gilded Lilly by Ava Rani — Forthcoming | New Adult Romance / Bodyguard Romance | The Legacy Series #2
⏱️ Timestamps
[00:00] Welcome & introducing Ava Rani
[00:01] Ava's writing life, motherhood & Nancy Meyers goals
[00:02] How she balances it all: schedules, productivity & the sloth era
[00:05] Social media detox & the "Brick" app hack
[00:06] Intro to the Biotech Billionaires series
[00:07] The Heir — Henry, Selena & the PR romance
[00:09] The Spare — Marcus, Sloan & the Darcy-coded runner
[00:11] The Charmer — Xander, Penelope & the rewritten love story
[00:13] The Gossip Girl comparisons (Succession, Scandal, Crazy Rich Asians)
[00:14] Out of Her League — Issa the surgeon meets soccer star Austin Cade
[00:16] The fake-dating setup: a wedding in Paris & one bed
[00:19] Issa's career journey & the child-free storyline
[00:22] Why Ava wrote a heroine grappling with being child-free
[00:25] How career milestones deserve the same celebration as weddings
[00:26] Poisoned Ivy — secret societies, campus chaos & a twist
[00:27] Meet Malena: part Rory Gilmore, part Davy Vishwakumar
[00:29] The masquerade, the catacombs & Conrad Hastings (aka Fixed Logan)
[00:31] The art forgery mystery unravels
[00:33] Gilded Lilly — Sabrina's book, a bodyguard & a suspicious Duke
[00:35] Forbidden romance, yearning & Anastasia vibes
[00:36] Where to find Ava Rani online
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What if your perimenopause symptoms weren't just symptoms — what if you were turning into a werewolf? Author Sam Beckbessinger joins us to talk about her debut adult novel Femme Feral, and it might be the most cathartic book you read this year.
Sam and I dive deep into why the medical industry has failed women at midlife, the reality of millennial burnout, and why female rage horror is having such a deserved moment. If you're a woman in your 30s, 40s, or beyond who has ever been dismissed by a doctor, told to "just lose some weight," or felt the crushing weight of doing 200% while getting zero credit — this episode is going to feel like a long exhale. We also get into Sam's reading life: from the buzzy Dungeon Crawler Carl series to feminist short story collections you need to know about.
📚 BOOKS MENTIONED
Femme Feral by Sam Beckbessinger — Buy on Amazon | Horror / Women's Fiction | Audio ✅
Dungeon Crawler Carl series by Matt Dinniman — Buy on Amazon | Sci-Fi / LitRPG / Adventure | KU ✅ | Audio ✅
She's Always Hungry by Eliza Clark — Buy on Amazon | Dark Fiction / Short Stories / Horror
Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado — Buy on Amazon | Literary Horror / Short Stories | KU ✅ | Audio ✅
Gods of Want by K-Ming Chang — Buy on Amazon | Literary Fiction / Short Stories / Queer Fiction
Stag Dance by Torrey Peters — Buy on Amazon | Literary Fiction / Historical / Queer Fiction | Audio ✅
⏱️ TIMESTAMPS
[00:00] Welcome & introduction — Sam Beckbessinger joins the show
[00:45] Why female rage and perimenopause inspired Femme Feral
[02:00] How the medical industry gasligths women at midlife
[03:00] The history of women being excluded from medical trials
[04:30] The book's premise — Ellie, the werewolf, and repressed rage
[06:30] What Femme Feral is (and isn't) — horror content notes
[08:00] Millennial burnout, the "you can have it all" generation, and reckoning
[10:00] Funny and dark: luring toxic bosses into alleyways
[11:00] Generational work culture — Gen Z vs. Millennial vs. Gen X bosses
[12:00] Writing Femme Feral as personal excavation and self-discovery
[13:30] Healthcare, for-profit medicine, and the gynecologist problem
[15:00] Laura's story: taking a demotion and finding freedom
[16:00] The chapter headings — perimenopause symptoms as a buffet (and a doctor's checklist)
[17:00] Sam's reading life — what genres she loves and why
[18:00] Deep dive on Dungeon Crawler Carl — what it is and why you should read it
[20:30] Horror short story recommendations: She's Always Hungry & Gods of Want
[22:30] The indie bookshop trick: ask for the hidden gem that nobody buys
[24:30] Stag Dance by Torrey Peters — a bridge book for historical fiction fans
[25:30] Where to find Sam online + wrap-up
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What if a rom-com could feel like a movie in your ears? That's exactly what debut novelist and TV screenwriter Ash Perez set out to create with Speak Now, and you are going to want to listen to this one.
In this episode, Laura chats with Ash Perez about Speak Now, an audio-first queer rom-com published by Simon & Schuster featuring a full cast of actors, sound effects, and production that rivals a Hollywood film. Born out of the 2023 writer's strike, Speak Now blends Ash's screenwriting background with a lifelong love of 90s/early 2000s rom-coms. Think second-chance romance, Nancy Meyers vibes, a luxury hotel kitchen, and a HEA you absolutely deserve. This episode is perfect for audiobook lovers, rom-com fans, and anyone who's been sleeping on audio-first fiction.
📚 Books Mentioned
Speak Now by Ash Perez — Buy on Amazon | Queer Rom-Com | Audio ✅ (Audio-first/only; also available via Spotify Premium and library request)
Poison for Breakfast by Lemony Snicket — Buy on Amazon | Literary Fiction/Novella | Audio ✅
Murder Bot Diaries series by Martha Wells — Buy on Amazon | Science Fiction | Audio ✅
Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston — Buy on Amazon | Queer Rom-Com | Audio ✅
The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster — Buy on Amazon | Classic Fiction | Audio ✅
⏱️ Timestamps
[00:00] Welcome & introduction to Ash Perez
[00:45] What is Speak Now? Audio-first rom-com explained
[01:30] How the 2023 writer's strike led to this book
[03:15] Why rom-coms & audio are a perfect pairing
[05:00] Co-directing the production & what it felt like
[05:45] The plot of Speak Now: queer second-chance romance, chef, boutique hotel
[07:00] Casting a queer audio romance — voice tonality challenges
[09:00] Why romance deserves the full audio-movie treatment
[10:00] Rom-com influences: My Best Friend's Wedding & The Wedding Planner
[12:00] Ash's reading life: from Harry Potter to self-help burnout
[13:00] Poison for Breakfast & the novella that brought Ash back to fiction
[13:45] Murder Bot series, Kevin R. Free & audiobook narrator fandom
[14:30] Red, White & Royal Blue & reading outside your genre
[15:30] Reading as a millennial: productivity guilt & reclaiming fiction as a hobby
[16:30] Library love — how to request Speak Now at your local library
[17:30] Spotify Premium audiobooks & accessibility
[18:30] Reading before bed vs. doomscrolling — why books win
[20:00] Where to find Ash Perez online & wrap-up

Connect with Ash Perez
Instagram: @itsashlyperez
TikTok: @notashperez

Connect with Simon Audio
Instagram: @Simon.Audio
TikTok: @Simon.Audio

Join the Conversation
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