This week, we’re “obsessed” with creator and debut author of Phoebe Berman’s Gonna Lost It, Brooke Averick. First known as her online moniker, “@ladyefron,” Brooke Averick’s socials exploded after she posted a TikTok reading a letter to her older self. Brooke Averick has gone on to accrue thousands of followers, host two podcasts, Brooke and Conner Make a Podcast and Obsessed with Brooke Averick, and is now a published author. Brooke Averick shares her first obsessions, her current crushes, and how writing Phoebe Berman’s Gonna Lose It may have helped her more than therapy.

BOOKS MENTIONED:

The Clique by Lisi Harrison

The Series of Unfortunate Events by Limony Snicket

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Heated Rivalry by Rachel Reid

Twilight by Suzanne Collins

Bridget Jones’s Diary by Helen Fielding

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling

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The hottest book of the year so far isn’t a steamy beach read or a page-turning thriller. It’s a heartbreaking — and empowering — memoir about a divorce. This week, Danielle sits down with Belle Burden to talk about her memoir, “Strangers: A Memoir of Marriage.”

Belle Burden had a picture-perfect life. A husband in finance, three kids, a pristine apartment in Manhattan, and a summer home on Martha’s Vineyard. Then, one day — right at the start of the pandemic — she found out that her husband was having an affair. And the next morning, he tells her he wants out. Out of the house, out of the marriage — even out of custody for their kids.

Belle talks about the upcoming Netflix adaptation of her book, starting over after watching her world as she knew it fell apart, and why she wishes a book like hers had existed long before now.

BOOKS MENTIONED:

Strangers by Belle Burden

Barefoot Contessa by Ina Garten

The Summer Pact by Emily Giffin

The Academy by Elin Hilderbrand

The Daily Stoic by Ryan Holiday

When the Going Was Good by Graydon Carter

Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh

Heart the Lover by Lily King

Go Gentle by Maria Semple

Nine Stories by J.D. Salinger

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This week, we’re joined by BookTube royalty and queen of reviews Cindy Pham. Now stepping into her author era, she’s here to talk about it all: what’s on her TBR, why she’s drawn to messy, flawed characters, and how years of reviewing books have shaped the way she writes her own.

Cindy also shares the story behind her debut novel, The Secret World of Briar Rose, from first drafting it as a teenager to returning years later with a completely new perspective and a fully developed frontal lobe. Plus, we get into reality TV deep dives, bookish trends she’s loving and side-eyeing, and the hilarious promise of a future rant video about her own main character, because no one is safe, not even her.

BOOKS MENTIONED:

Lady Tremaine by Rachel Hochhauser

This is How You Lose the Time War by Max Gladstone and Amal El-Mohtar

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke

The Secret World of Briar Rose by Cindy Pham

That Asian Girl Is a Problem by Rachel Phan (Coming Soon)

Just Between Us by Adeline Kon

Strange Familiars by Keshe Chow

What My Bones Know by Stephanie Foo

How to Keep House While Drowning by KC Davis

I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy

The Dream Hotel by Laila Lalami

Book Lovers by Emilty Henry

The Invocations by Krystal Sutherland

The River Drags Her Down by Jihyun Yun

Know My Name by Chanel Miller

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