Two Halves of One Weird Person: We Won’t Feel a Thing By J.C. Lillis

Have you felt a distinct lack of Pushing Daisies in your media rotation? Are you guilty of looking for Magic in Everyday Places? Do you want a romance NOT like all the other YA romances? In this episode, Carey and Marie discuss under-the-radar gem We Won’t Feel a Thing by J.C. Lillis, touching on weird Americana, forbidden romance, scifi versus magical realism, and the inevitable outcome of all those weird self-improvement programs you’re advertised on Facebook: love. Or a mad scientist showing up on your door yelling about manic pixie dream lab assistants AND WHO DOESN’T WANT THAT.

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We Won’t Feel a Thing: Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, Website, Goodreads

J.C. Lillis: Website, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook (Superhero M/M romance You First is out May 23, so why not add it on Goodreads?)

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Content Notes

There’s not siblings, she’s the adopted kid of his mom’s college professor.

Heads up for dead parental figure and neglectful textual parents. Also a DEEPLY creepy dude and his creepy actions, up to attempted assault.

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Lissa Treiman kitty comic

The Order of Oddfish (by friend of the podcast James Kennedy!)

Anastasia Krupnick series

Alice McKinley series

Barbie Made-to-Move Curvy Yoga Barbie

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Readalikes

I’ll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson

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Current Reads

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The Love & Lies of Rukhsana Ali by Sabina Khan 

The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, Vol. 7: I've Been Waiting for a Squirrel Like You by Ryan North &  Erica Henderson

Tell Me Everything by Sarah Enni 

Episode 34: The Thorn Necklace by Francesca Lia Block

Happy 2019, Wayfinders! January was a heck of a year, but we still want to celebrate some sunshine and self help and return to a favorite author. It’s going to get meta up in here, while we talk KonMari, the Unicorn Club, writerly obsessions, playing 12 Questions with our WIP, and self help writer gossip. In this episode

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Content Notes

This is a book about the oeuvre of Francesca Lia Block, so everything present in her books is present here: parent death, grief, eating disorders, mental and physical illness, miscarriage, terrible boys and terrible men, rape culture, antisemitism. There’s also a long rumination on David Bowie and his influence on the author’s writing and art, so caveat lector.

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Show Notes

Parasol Protectorate Fan Group

Heavenly Creatures

Francesca Lia Block’s 12 Questions to Help Structure Your Novel, around which the book itself is structured

Julia Cameron Wants You to Do Your Morning Pages

Happy Birthday Judy Blume!

Best Babysitters Ever by Carolina Cala

Racefail ‘09

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Readalikes

Writing for Your Life: Discovering the Story of Your Life's Journey by Deena Metzger

Foolsgold: Making Something from Nothing and Freeing Your Creative Spirit by Susan G. Wooldridge

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Current Reads

Everything's Trash, But It's Okay by Phoebe Robinson

The Belladonna University series by Tansy Rayner Roberts

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.  (CC Marie Macula, Carey Farrell 2019)

Episode 33: The Devil Went Down to Minneapolis: Juniper, Gentian, and Rosemary by Pamela Dean

Happy new year readers and listeners! Tonight we visit a grand fall and winter-y read with spooky Ouija parties, nerd girls uniting against the patriarchy, astronomy in abundance and, of course, the worst boy. (There’s a really excellent New Year’s Eve party in this book!) What dangers lurk when the neighbor asks us to build a time machine? Should we really read our sister’s journal? In this episode, there are several thousand words about a slumber party.

Juniper, Gentian, and Rosemary: Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Worldcat

Pamela Dean: Website, Twitter, Patreon

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.  (CC Marie Macula, Carey Farrell 2019)

Episode 31: Bras and Broomsticks by Sarah Mlynowski

Bras and Broomsticks: Goodreads, Worldcat, Indiebound, Author Website

Sarah Mlynowski: Website, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, Wattpad, Facebook

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Content Notes

Our first (and sadly not last) appearance of the Unfortunate Transphobia Bear—it’s a couple lines, but a couple lines that would do well to be edited out in 2018.

This is a book that gets REAL about relationships with step-parents, conflict between adults and kids, and kids seeing their parents as human for the first time. We appreciate it, good to know going in.

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Forward March is here!

Love, loss, and the surprising aphrodisiacs of the band locker room. That’s what the Dulaney High marching band has in store for Meghan Riggins. Like her Gram, who’s been her biggest fan since that first trombone lesson, Meghan’s always loved making music. So marching band should be easy, right? Wrong. It’s hard enough staying upright during the halftime show, avoiding the worst of the upperclassmen, or remembering the difference between a cummerbund and a dickie. But then she falls for Jonah, an adorkable fellow trombone nerd who just happens to be her best friend’s brother. Meghan may need to rethink everything she knows about herself, in and out of band, with and without her family and friends, and in and out of love. Both witty and poignant, Forward March will have you laughing, swooning, and cheering from the stands. 

Find Forward March by Carey Farrell at your favorite online bookseller!

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Source: BBC Two

The very spookiest bat

Per our query in the podcast: Sarah Mlynowski has two sisters—she’s in between the two!—and Bras and Broomsticks takes a lot of inspiration from real life.

Betsy Bird comes up a lot in this episode. She’s our hero.

Wendy Mass

Cynthia Rylant

Read When the Letter Comes by Sarah Fox online for free!

All the Halloween Episodes of Bob’s Burgers

The Infamous Vibrating Nimbus 2000

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Sex Kittens and Horn Dawgs Fall in Love by MaryRose Wood

The 11:11 Wish by Kim Tomsic

The Holy Wild: A Heathen Bible for the Untamed Woman by Danielle Dulsky

What if This Were Enough? and How to Be a Person in the World by Heather Havrilesky

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Carey talked Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret on Unspoiled! Book Club

Thanks Podscure for always shouting us out!

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.  (CC Marie Macula, Carey Farrell 2018)

Episode 31: Moon Boots and Terrible Boys: Alice, I Think by Susan Juby

We’re back, minus a few cup sizes! (The opposite of a lot of YA trajectories, but such is life.) Discussion Alice, I Think by Susan Juby was super fun, especially since Carey and Rie had radically different stances…that shifted over the course of the episode. Just like a good mood ring. Oh, Canada, my Canada, did we mention the fashion in this one? The small-town snark? Oh, and the moose? Wait, that’s book three.

Alice, I Think: Goodreads

Susan Juby: Website

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.  (CC Marie Macula, Carey Farrell 2018)