'Tis the season! We have our first holiday recommendation of the year, folks!

Kris and Tara react to the Devil Wears Prada 2 trailer, discuss family Dungeons and Dragons time, and talk about co-workers who wear four jerseys to work (yes, at the same time). It's a short and sweet but stacked episode. Enjoy!

Editor's Note: This episode has a couple of recommendations that revolve around heavy topics like people going through cancer treatment, loss and addiction. If that's not where you're at, feel free to skip this one. Take care of yourself.

Official Recommendations

From Kris: Melissa Etheridge: I'm Not Broken

Kris's official recommendation this week is Melissa Etheridge: I'm Not Broken. This two-part docuseries came out in 2024 and follows Etheridge as she shares the stories of addiction and loss with the women incarcerated in the Topeka Correctional Facility.

From Tara: The Milkyway Hotel by Jude Silberfeld-Grimaud and Marguerite Grimaud

Tara's official recommendation this week is The Milkyway Hotel by Jude Silberfeld-Grimaud and Marguerite Grimaud. In the midst of her life falling apart in Paris, Celeste inherits her great-aunt's Milkyway Hotel in the French Alps. And wouldn't you know it, there's a sexy chocolatier there waiting to keep her company. Tara describes this as a slooooow burn, but when it gets there, it absolutely gets there.

Works/People Discussed

• Devil Wears Prada 2 (2026)
• Caleb Hearon
• Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle by Emily Nagoski and Amelia Nagoski
• Scandal (ABC)
• The Long Walk (2025)
• The Long Walk by Stephen King (as Richard Bachman)
• RuPaul's Drag Race UK, season 7 (BBC Three, BBC One)
• Lucky Girls by GinStan
• Come See Me in the Good Light (2025)

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Kris is back and ready to talk with Tara about Women's Week, Closing Time, and the death of NaNoWriMo. The pair debate the relative merits of Canadian vs. American Thanksgiving, before celebrating Kris's new book baby, Scandalous.

It's the first podcast recorded on a Wednesday, folks! Time to learn how to "drink flat" with the expert herself!

Official Recommendations

From Kris: Boots (Netflix)

Kris's official recommendation this week is the new Netflix series, Boots. Based on the memoir, The Pink Marine by Greg Cope White, it's is a coming-of-age dramedy about a young gay man finding a place for himself in the American Marine Corps of the 1990s.

From Tara: Atramentum by MJ Duncan

Tara's official recommendation this week is Atramentum by MJ Duncan. This one has a dog! Friends, there's a dog in this one!

Seriously though, this is the story of a woman who takes an escape hatch from her epic work burnout in LA, moving to a small town to run a bookstore with a friend. There's chemistry, love, and a dog. A lady Great Dane (Dame?) named George.

Works/People Discussed

• Scandal (ABC)
• Love is Blind (Netflix)
• The Ultimatum: Queer Love (Netflix)
• RuPaul's Drag Race UK (BBC Three, BBC One)
• Hades 2 (Supergiant Games)
• John Candy: I Like Me (2025)
• A Coin of Two Sides by Navalcat (Devil Wears Prada Fanfiction series)

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It's our annual check-in with Becks Quirk, while Kris is recovering from Women's Week in P-town! Becks and Tara talk about what's changed in the last year, where they're at, what keeps them motivated, as well as Becks's reflections after Banned Books Week.

Official Recommendations

From Becks: Every Step She Takes by Alison Cochrun

In keeping with the annual nature of her visits, Becks's official recommendation this week is another Alison Cochrun audiobook, Every Step She Takes. A bout of turbulence provokes Sadie into coming out and sharing her deepest secrets with her seat companion, Mal, only to learn they're both joining the same tour of Camino de Santiago in Portugal. Becks is a sucker for physical journeys that exhaust the body and mind, leading to revelations and change.

From Tara: Ladies in Hating by Alexandra Vasti

Tara's official recommendation this week is Ladies in Hating by Alexandra Vasti. Lady Georgiana Cleeve is the author of many popular novels, which helps her support herself and her mother. When Lady Darling's books are equally popular and have details that are eerily similar to Georgiana's own books, Georgiana knows she has to unmask Lady Darling. She's in for the shock of her life when Lady Darling ends up being none other than Georgiana's teenage crush. Tara loved the emotional journeys in this one and how it plays with conventions from gothic novels.

Works/People Discussed

• Banned Books Week
• Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel (recommended in QR 064)
• Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe (recommended in QR 057)
• Flamer by Mike Curato
• They Came from Below by L Dreamer
• After All: A Sapphic Romance (Latitude & Longing Book 3) by Bryce Oakley
• Olive Oil and White Bread by Georgia Beers
• The Shape of You by Georgia Beers
• RuPaul's Drag Race UK (BBC Three, BBC One)
• Hades 2 (Supergiant Games)
• Iceberg by Gun Brooke
• Course of Action by Gun Brooke
• Hope in the Dark by Rebecca Solnit
• Meditations in an Emergency - Essays by Rebecca Solnit
• The Fortune Hunter's Guide to Love by Emma-Claire Sunday
• Heather Rose Jones

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