This episode's book: SANDWICH by Catherine Newman is what Rachael calls a quiet novel, set over one week in Cape Cod about a woman who is a) very good at making elaborate sandwiches b) is sandwiched between aging parents and newly adult children and c) has an almost perfect family (no, we’re not jealous at all).

This episode’s guest is one of our favourite people and authors, the warm and wonderful Victoria Purman. Victoria, who lives in South Australia, has the most AMAZING hair, a love of dogs (which we both share), a knack for op shopping and writes historical fiction (although there are a few gorgeous coastal romances in her backlist). Her most recent release is THE MARRIAGE TRAP.

Visit Victoria's Website

In this episode, we cover:

• Our favourite sandwiches

• Perimenopause and Tall Poppy Syndrome

• Empty nests and aging parents

• Family holidays

• How much conflict and drama do books actually need?

💋 And, of course, we rate SANDWICH: Kiss, Kill, or Marry.

📚 Books Mentioned in this Ep

• We All Want Impossible Things by Catherine Newman

• Wreck by Catherine Newman

• A Newer World by Sebastian Barry

• Nancy Drew books by Carolyne Keene

• Slow Horses by Mick Herron

• Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

• Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman

• Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke

• The Correspondent by Virginia Evans

📺 TV Show Mentioned in this Ep

• Seventy Up (on SBS)

• Slow Horses

• War

⏰ Timestamps

00.0 00.0 Intro and welcome – Anthea has decided it diversify her income streams.

2.03 Victoria Purman enters with a sandwich recipe, and a top-notch bio.

3.58 Marian Keyes escapes Rachael’s clutches – again!

5.16 Sandwich – the novel! A beach holiday for middle-aged ladies – and bloody hell, we deserve it!

7.10 Victoria reads from Sandwich – Rach and Anthea hard relate.

8.54 Catherine Newman’s bio – not enough dogs. But she lives in Massachusetts, so that’s cool.

11.27 It’s official – short books are fancy (and they take less time to read, too).

14.22 Kiss, Kill, Marry. Anthea takes Sandwich to the vet. In an act of love and respect.

16.28 Victoria reflects on family, menopause, beach holidays and sandwich making.

21.06 Ratings for Sandwich – conservatives have their say on abortion…?

22.58 All the big issues – shark bites, sex acts on ladies and consent. (Anthea is mystified.)

26.20 A family that gets on wonderfully on holiday – with no diarrhea or vomiting…

30.12 The big ocean reveal. A chance for drama??? Not really. Anthea readjusts her cushion and falls asleep on the couch again.

34.09 Wreck – the sequel to Sandwich! (Even Rachael found it a bit slow) (Anthea finds that impossible to believe.)

35.50 We question Victoria about her reading habits. Is she a crier?

38.22 Nancy Drew! (think Victoria Purman, only not as cool.)

39.16 Reviews – Victoria feels judged – and loves it!

41.07 Slow Horses. (Anthea starts her Christmas shopping.)

42.43 Lessons in Hype. Rach feels vindicated!

45.38 Victoria refuses to play favourites with her novels.

48.18 International incident – Purman disparages Margaret River wine. Rach and Anthea, in an unspoken agreement, invite her to Perth so they can chuck her in the Swan River. (Which is beautiful, btw, so possibly not that much of a punishment!)

49.32 Anthea feels she hasn’t banged on enough about Dominic West – she’s wrong, and Rach considers a dose of her cat’s Prozac.

51.44 What we are reading next!

53.18 Bye!!

👉 Watch now and tell us - did you love SANDWICH?

👉Next Ep, we’re diving into Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman
and on Nov 28th we’ll chat The Husbands by Holly Gramazio with guest author Ali Lowe

PLEASE NOTE we won’t be recording episodes in December due to travel and this is the last season of READING BETWEEN DEADLINES for now.

🎽 Do you read between deadlines too? Grab the merch

🙌 Get the t-shirt

THANKS FOR SUBSCRIBING - we LOVE you!

We hope you enjoy this latest edition of Reading Between Deadlines.

This episode’s pick: THE UNSELECTED JOURNALS OF EMMA M. LION by Beth Brower is a historical fiction novella, the first in a series. It was originally self-published in 2019 before recently taking BookTok by storm and being picked up by a traditional publisher earlier this year. Set in Victorian London in 1883, the book follows a young woman navigating family, friendship and (maybe?) romance through her diary entries.

We hope you enjoy and lets us know what you think in the comments.

Happy Listening and Love lots,
Rach and Anthea

PS. If you want to watch rather than listen, scroll down.

Subscribe now

In this episode, we cover:

• Whether we’d have read this purely on the blurb.

• Publishing rip-off or total genius?

• The purpose of windows and walls.

• Which covers did it better (vote below).

• All the potential storylines and love interests…

• The future of the podcast.

💋 And, of course, we rate it: Kiss, Kill, or Marry

Original self-dubbed covers:

New trad-published covers:

And let us know if after reading this book, you’re going to read more volumes?

Leave a comment

⏰ Timestamps

1.0 Welcome to Olde World London

1.31 The Unselected Journals of Emma M Lion. Good things come in small packages – or DO they..?

2.58 Tik Tok seduces us, yet again… Emma’s tiny journal goes BIG.

5.56 Judging a book by it’s boring green cover. A must.

7.32 The genius of the short books – and plenty of ‘em.

8.54 Bio – apparently windows are for light? Who knew? (Rach, that’s who!)

13.55 Rach bemoans the length of her manuscript – she’s basically written 5 novellas… and she’s only half-way through!

18.20 Kiss, Kill, Marry – we judge Emma’s private journals… (spoiler- no sex bits)

21.26 Book length. Attention span, and manipulation…

23.55 Did anything happen yet?? (I paid my money - bring on the ghost!)

26.14 Hang on.. is this like Bridget Jones’ Diary? But without the alcohol?

28.55 Serialisation of novels. It was alright for Dickens…

31.46 Rachael finds a bit she likes about a cat. (Dumb cat) (Sorry cat people)

33.21 Rach becomes Serial-curious. Anthea remains Hetro-novel-ative.

36.06 Beth – crossing the Atlantic from the US to London in a Victorian Clipper.

38.05 Bad reviews (and not for us, so we find them entertaining.)

39.10 Rachael is pissed off, people!

40.10 What we are reading next… Sandwich! (With fabulous Victoria Purman!)

42.08 Rachael makes an important announcement! (Anthea writes it down in case she forgets later..)

43.45 Bye!

👉 Watch the episode above and let us know your feelings about THE UNSELECTED JOURNALS OF EMMA M. LION.

Leave a comment

📖 Coming up next:

👉Next Ep we’re chatting to Victoria Purman about Sandwich by Catherine Newman.

📅 In November, we’re diving into mega-hyped book Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman and we’re finishing off the series chatting to Ali Lowe about The Husbands by Holly Gramazio

For what we’re up to after that, click here.

🛍️ Do you read between deadlines too? Grab the merch

🙌 Get the t-shirt

Thanks for following. We love ya!

This episode's book: THE GIVER OF STARS by Jojo Moyes is an historical novel inspired by the real-life Pack Horse Librarians of Kentucky. Set during the Great Depression, it follows a group of very different women who travel on horseback through the mountains to deliver books to isolated communities. It’s a story of friendship, courage, love and the power of books to change lives, which makes it the perfect choice for book people like us.

This episode’s guest is our fabulous friend, ex-librarian and bestselling author Tricia Stringer whose brand new book, THE PARADISE RESORT releases tomorrow and she’s touring the country, check out her events at the link below.

Visit Tricia's Website

In this episode, we cover:

• Rereading book through the lens of the modern day

• The plagiarism scandal surrounding this book

• Whether titles should reflect book content

• What’s easier to write - historical vs contemporary

• Authors cloning themselves

• And lots more.

💋 And, of course, we rate THE GIVER OF STARS: Kiss, Kill, or Marry.

📚 Books Mentioned in this Ep

• Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman

• The Ship of Brides by Jojo Moyes

• Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

• Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter

• Horton Hatches an Egg by Dr Suess

• Bobbsey Twins by Laura Lee Hope

• The Nurse books by Cherry Ames

• The Magic Faraway Tree by Enid Blyton

• Books by Victoria Holt

• Sparkling Cyanide by Agatha Christie

• Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham

• Midwitch Cuckoos by John Wyndham

• Eragon series by Christopher Paolini

• Where the Wattle Blooms by Amy Andrews

• The Extraordinary Life of Florence Stoker by Karen Brooks

🎧 Books Mentioned in this Ep

• Unleashed - Video Podcast

• Double A Chattery with Amanda Keller and Anita McGregor

• The Secret World of Roald Dahl - Podcast

⏰ Timestamps

00.0 Welcome to RBD – Rachael and the smallest room in the house – and Tricia Stringer

2.28 Tricia and Jojo Moyes – a love story.

3.31 Anthea is keen to demonstrate her dominion over the Zoom machine with lame job titles… Tricia and Rachael discuss their work as ACTUAL librarians…

5.03 Tricia Stringer bio – ummm… are we supposed to name our husbands in our bio?? (Sorry Chris! )(Hemsworth..!)

7.17 Trish reads the Stars blurb. Olden days, books, horses and terrible weather. Anthea is going to love this – OR IS SHE?? (Yes. Of course she is.)

10.23 Jojo Moyes bio – Is 57 million even a real number?

14.13 Author scandal! Jojo v Kim – get off my horsey book mountain or I’ll see you in court!

16.14 Just checking – is the title a bit… dumb? Or is it super cool?

18.38 Rachael Johns new novel is QUEEN OF THE ROAD! No..? What is happening? Anthea gets confused and needs to take her fish oil.

21.19 Kiss, Kill, Marry – Trish hitches our horses up to a log cabin and invites us in for some moonshine. (Rach brought her own.)

25.28 The discussion goes deep into the night. We talk love and marriage, expectations, characterisation (and the need to use the long drop in the backyard.)

28.08 Tricia Stringer passes the bottle and gives her verdict.

29.38 Tricia’s chequered history pedalling sex books.. and Bennett Van Cleve. Gay? Bad at sex? In desperate need of Tricia’s sex book??

32.18 Jojo Moyes – writing contemporary and historical (which is, historically, much harder..) Tricia agrees. Game over. (or is it?)

36.23 Is the language in Giver of Stars accurate? (As an aside, if the Victorians wanted their swearing to be accurately included in modern fiction, they should have been better at it. So there.)

40.05 We ask Tricia the hard questions. Not maths, though – we’re not animals.

44.04 Tricia brings us a dangerous blend of Peter Rabbit, Lessons in Chemistry and Sparkling Cyanide. Delicious!

45.02 A touching scene in which three middle-age women try to remember things, like the names of authors…

48.16 Roald Dahl gets dark. Can we still enjoy the stories?

53.54 Tricia recommends – Amy Andrews and Karen Brooks! And we look at who’s next…

56.14 Bye!

👉 Watch now and tell us - did you love THE GIVER OF STARS?

👉Next Ep, we’re diving into The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion by Beth Brower and our October guest is Victoria Purman who is making us read Sandwich by Catherine Newman

November Books:
14th July - Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman
28th July - The Husbands by Holly Gramazio with guest author Ali Lowe

PLEASE NOTE we won’t be recording episodes in December due to travel.

🎽 Do you read between deadlines too? Grab the merch

🙌 Get the t-shirt

THANKS FOR SUBSCRIBING - we LOVE you!

We hope you enjoy this latest edition of Reading Between Deadlines. Our whole purpose here is to read HYPED books and unpack whether we a) agree with the hype and b) can understand WHY this book has reached such heights. Today, we’re going back in time and reading one of THE most popular books of all time…

This episode’s pick: Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier, a classic “gothic” novel about a young bride who marries a dashing older man after a very quick courting (can we even call it that?) and then returns to his to his grand English estate, Manderley, where she discovers that the shadow of his beautiful, glamorous (and very dead) first wife, Rebecca, is everywhere.

We hope you enjoy and lets us know what you think in the comments.

Happy Listening and Love lots,
Rach and Anthea

PS. If you want to watch rather than listen, scroll down.

Subscribe now

In this episode, we cover:

• Immersive reading and multiple copies of the same book.

• Film and TV adaptations

• Other amazing old novels.

• The definition of a gothic novel

• And LOADS more.

💋 And, of course, we rate it: Kiss, Kill, or Marry

⏰ Timestamps

1.0 Intro – Anthea claims older sister status – no-one believes her, including Rebecca – the mysterious wife of Maxim DeWinter.

2.07 Rachael introduces Rebecca. Anthea read Rebecca in the 80’s, and she remembers it better than her Google password. (is that even a thing?)

8.35 Anthea randomly does a ‘show and tell’ of gothic style novels she’s loved – Rach considers re-casting. She wishes she didn’t spend high school talking boys.

12.03 Anthea reads Daphne Du Maurier’s bio – Daphne is posh and once had a male alter ego.

14.44 Daphne shows off with over 700 000 ratings. And it turns out her book is quite long..

17.06 Kiss, Kill, Marry… Rachael and Anthea rate Rebecca… and Anthea expands on her verdict over tea and crumpets in the conservatory.

20.17 The beauty of a great last line, and the fight for a well seated climax!

20.47 Anthea offers Daphne Du Maurier a co-writing spot – and Rachael is struck by a wonderful idea..

22.27 Rachael feels Rebecca isn’t gothic enough (Mrs Danvers disagrees..)

25.50 Jane Eyre – gothic-core through the ages – young ladies, old guys and flammable houses.

27.18 Danvers – not the sort of person you’d invite over for tea (and keep her away from matches.)

28.05 Also – the new Mrs DeWinter needs to grow a pair. Seriously.

30.08 Tally ho! Murder is ok - if you’re posh.

31.37 Rebecca – gloomy and morally grey – but in a good way!

36.27 Rach wants more Daphne…!

37.59 Our next reads – The Giver of Stars

40.16 Rach and Anthea hint at GREAT THINGS in the New Year..!

40.53 Should Rach’s mum have called her Rebecca…?

42.52 Rach and Anthea discuss co-writing… and say goodbye!

👉 Watch the episode above and let us know your feelings about REBECCA.

Leave a comment

📖 Coming up next:

👉Next Ep we’re chatting to Tricia Stringer about The Giver of Stars by JoJo Moyes

📅 In October, we’re diving into Booktok sensation, The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion by Beth Brower and chatting to Victoria Purman about Sandwich by Catherine Newman.

For what we’re up to after that, click here.

🛍️ Do you read between deadlines too? Grab the merch

🙌 Get the t-shirt

Thanks for following. We love ya!

This episode's book: Junkyard Cats by Faith Hunter is a post-apocalyptic science-fiction novella and the first in the Junkyard Cats series. Set in a world recovering from the war and the arrival of mysterious alien Bugs, it follows Shining Smith, who runs the junkyard left to her by her father. But Shining has secrets of her own, and when danger arrives at the junkyard, the life she’s built comes under threat.

This episode’s guest is our delightful friend, mum of five, talented author AND midwife, bestselling author Fiona McArthur. Her latest book The Featherwood Beekeeper is out September 15th.

Visit Fiona's Website

In this episode, we cover:

• Reading outside our comfort zone

• Bios - northern hemisphere vs southern hemisphere.

• Audible originals

• Bugs, monsters and tough heroines

• Sprayed Edges - we’re not jealous at ALL!

Hey Readers, we’d love to know you’re opinion:

💋 And, of course, we rate JUNKYARD CATS: Kiss, Kill, or Marry.

📚 Books Mentioned in this Ep

• Green Darkness by Anya Seton

• Shogun and Noble House by James Clavell

• Modesty Blaise by Peter O’Donnell

• Dick Francis’s books

• Mary Stuart’s books

• James A Michener’s books

• Me Before You by Jojo Moyes

• After You by Jojo Moyes

• Still Me by Jojo Moyes

• The Shampoo Effect by Jenny Jackson

• Lola in the Mirror by Trent Dalton

• The Takeover by TL Swan

• Where the Wattle Blooms by Amy Andrews

• The Soulwood series by Faith Hunter

• This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me by Ilona Andrews

• Rebecca Yarros’s dragon books.

⏰ Timestamps

1.0 – Intro Episode 16 Season 2 – What a line up!

2.10 – Ruby winners Rachael Johns and Fiona McArthur

5.48 Anthea considers having another baby #ababyineverybook

6.39 Junkyard Cats! (V popular with the midwife community)

8.07 Space-blurb. Nano, AI, marauding beetles…weird cats.

9.12 Faith Hunter bio. Under. Stated.

14.19 Time to Kiss, Kill, Marry – Anthea and Rach hit the hyperdrive button

18.59 Anthea blames technology. Again. (her Tesla rolls it’s AI’s)

23.34 Rachael admits she has a thing for monsters from Mars. (huh?)

25.12 The importance of reading outside of your genre.. from babies to vampires..

27.43 Fiona’s reading habits as a sweet young girl

31.47 What does Fiona McArthur know about having babies, anyway?!

33.50 In praise of Ambulance guys. (and girls) But also the hot one who came to Anthea’s mum’s house that time.. He was v professional. And much appreciated.

34.34 DNFing. Life is too short – and Fiona’s formidable reading regime

38.58 Fiona and writing long and short..

42.58 AA - Not what you think – a tip on a great read!

43.12 Fiona’s impressive male readership! (She breed’s ‘em – they read ‘em!)

45.04 Re-reads and must buys – and Dragons

46.47 Rebecca – Last night Anthea dreamt she went to Manderley again..

48.00 Bye!

👉 Watch now and tell us - did you love Junkyard Cats?

👉Next Ep, we’re diving into Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier and our September guest is Tricia Stringer who is making us read The Giver of Stars by JoJo Moyes

October Books:
14th July - The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion by Beth Brower
28th July - Sandwich by Catherine Newman with guest author Victoria Purman

PLEASE NOTE we’ve made a few changes for the rest of the year.

You can view the list here!

🎽 Do you read between deadlines too? Grab the merch

🙌 Get the t-shirt

THANKS FOR SUBSCRIBING - we LOVE you!

We hope you enjoy this latest edition of Reading Between Deadlines. Our whole purpose here is to read HYPED books and unpack whether we a) agree with the hype and b) can understand WHY this book has reached such heights. Well, today we are chatting about a book that got a LOT of hype when it was announced last year and the BIG mystery was WHO were the two author behind the pseudonym Evelyn Clarke.

This episode’s pick: THE ENDING WRITES ITSELF by Evelyn Clarke is a locked room mystery set in the publishing world, written by best-selling authors V.E. Schwab and Cat Clarke under a shared pseudonym. The story begins when six authors are invited to a remote island to complete the unfinished manuscript of a legendary novelist but when one of them dies, they all start to wonder who they can trust and whether there’s more at stake than their careers.

We hope you enjoy and lets us know what you think in the comments.

Happy Listening and Love lots,
Rach and Anthea

PS. If you want to watch rather than listen, scroll down.

Subscribe now

In this episode, we cover:

• Rach’s love affair with a real Scottish Island.

• Was the crime or publishing stuff stronger in this book?

• Midlist authors!

• Literary snobbery.

• Convention or cliche?

• Ponder which famous authors we’d like to collaborate.

  Who would YOU like to collaborate? Let us know in the comments.
  

  Leave a comment

💋 And, of course, we rate it: Kiss, Kill, or Marry

⏰ Timestamps

1.0 Welcome to Rachael’s private tropical island (you may be wondering why she invited you here today…)

3.14 The blurb. (Would you risk life and limb for a weekend in a creepy house on a windswept Scottish island?) (Yes. Yes you would.)

4.39 When two authors become one. The hype surrounding two best selling authors who love each other very much and have a book baby. (Anthea wonders if she’ll ever be loved that much..) (PS look out for The Insta Detectives in January!!)

6.15 Victoria Schwab and Kat Clarke co-bio - more of a story, but hey, we’re not judging!

7.49 - Rach and Anthea do a weird switcheroo and keep almost giving away their feelings before the official rating.

10.10 - Rach tries to get factual but it’s such a new book there isn’t much to say. Although the pre-buzz guessing who the authors were was FUN!!

12.52 Kiss, Kill, Marry.. We rate The Ending Writes Itself

14.05 Anthea invokes the name of Agatha (also, funnily enough, her nickname when she was at primary school)

14.05 Rachael recalls her own trip to a (non-murdery) Scottish Island

16.26 The cast of characters. Victims, murderers… and not nearly enough heelund coos!

17.42 Rach has a (mid-list) identity crisis.

21.34 The crimey bit. Is it enough?

24.58 Anthea loves the classics, like Duran Duran, obviously – but also 1930’s murder mysteries..

26.43 What’s next for Evelyn Clarke – romance? Horror? Rural?

31.10 Who invited all these characters, anyway, and how much do we care?

36.38 The cost of living crisis comes to the Pod. (Anthea does the numbers and realises she’s essentially unemployed.)

40.22 Rach ‘ships’ her fave authors into writing collabs.

41.26 What are we reading next (interrupted by a long and boring story about Anthea forgetting the name of her local café. Spoiler alert. She had to look it up.)

43.48 Anthea and Rach sign off. Anthea is off on a cruise to Budapest, with Rachael’s Kobo.

👉 Watch the episode above and let us know your feelings about THE ENDING WRITES ITSELF!

Leave a comment

📖 Coming up next:

👉Next Ep we’re chatting to to Fiona McArthur about Junkyard Cats by Faith Hunter

📅 In September, we’re diving into Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier and we’re chatting to Tricia Stringer about The Giver of Stars by JoJo Moyes.

For what we’re up to after that, click here.

🛍️ Do you read between deadlines too? Grab the merch

🙌 Get the t-shirt

Thanks for following. We love ya!

This episode's book: Daddy Long Legs by Jean Webster is a delightful epistolary novel, first published in 1912 as a serialisation for Ladies Home Journal. At the time it was classified as a “college girl book” and is the story of hard-on-her luck Jerusha, who comes into a bit of luck with Mr Smith (who she nicknames Daddy Long Legs) decides to pay for her education.

This episode’s guest is fellow sandgroper and New York Times Bestselling author of The Escape Game (co-written with Marissa Meyer) and also the Lintang series.

Check out Tamara's website

In this episode, we cover:

• Favourite protagonists

• Is this a problematic romance or a reflection of the time?

• Dear Enemy - the sequel.

• Third-act break-ups/black moments

• We love epistolary novels but they can cause plot probs.

• Writing letters - let us know in the comments whether you’re a letter writer
  

  Leave a comment

💋 And, of course, we rate DADDY LONG LEGS: Kiss, Kill, or Marry.

📚 Books Mentioned in this Ep

• The Gentleman of Moscow by Amor Towles

• Illuminae by Amy Kauffman and Jay Kristoff

• The Killer Question by

• The Near Daphne Experience by Alison Reynolds

• The Correspondent by Virginia Evans

• 84 Charring Cross Road by Helene Hanff

• Teen Power Inc series by Emily Rodda

• Twilight series

• Harry Potter series

• Five Voices by Tamara Moss

⏰ Timestamps

1.0 Welcome to Daddy Land.. and to Tamara Moss!

2.10 Tamara’s bio – teaching, Asian Studies, New York Times Bestselling Author…

4.37 Rach probes Tamara’s origin story

5.15 In a win for Arachnophiles, we introduce today’s novel – Daddy Longlegs from 1912.. but is it… ok??

7.27 The blurb – an orphan and her mysterious eight legged sponsor.. (or something like that…)

8.00 Adaptations. Just how tall is Fred Astaire, anyway?

8.43 Jean Webster, a nice lady who wrote about nice ladies and their…daddies?

12.08 How did we read it? Ears? Eyes? Vibes?

13.38 Rach goes deep with Daddy facts

15.51 Kiss, Kill, Marry. It’s time!

18.51 Judy is Tamara’s favourite protagonist – and we can see why!

20.05 Writing romance in a series of one-sided letters to an older man

23.33 Addressing the Daddy in the room. (eww?)

27.55 Age gap love – like Anthea (Daddy) and Rach (Judy)..

29.43 Rach ponders the third act break up (the black moment..)

33.20 Remember that letter you sent to someone telling them about that time you were both in the same room together having a conversation you both already know about? Me neither.

36.19 We name some excellent epistolic novels…

39.21 Are Tamara and Rachael letter writers? Letter keepers?

47.42 The Gentleman of Moscow. Way more exciting than it sounds. Unless you think it sounds exciting, in which case, exactly as exciting as it sounds.

48.18 Marissa Meyer, Live Journal, co-writing and Daddy Longlegs!

Whoops we forgot to mention what’s coming next. It’s THE ENDING WRITES ITSELF and JUNKYARD CATS. Happy reading and listening.

👉 Watch now and tell us - did you love Daddy Long Legs?

👉Next Ep, we’re diving into The Ending Writes Itself by Evelyn Clark and our Augut guest is Fiona McArthur who is making us read Junkyard Cats by Faith Hunter

September Books:
14th July - Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier
28th July - The Giver of Stars by JoJo Moyes with guest author Tricia Stringer

PLEASE NOTE we’ve made a few changes for the rest of the year.

You can view the list here!

🎽 Do you read between deadlines too? Grab the merch

🙌 Get the t-shirt

THANKS FOR SUBSCRIBING - we LOVE you!

We hope you enjoy this latest edition of Reading Between Deadlines. Our whole purpose here is to read HYPED books and unpack whether we a) agree with the hype and b) can understand WHY this book has reached such heights. Well, today we are chatting possible THE BIGGEST HYPED BOOK OF THE YEAR.

This episode’s pick: YESTERYEAR by Caro Claire Burke is a very topical book about a “trad-wife” influencer who has many, many kids with her handsome farming husband, but surprise, surprise, her life is not as perfect as her posts would lead you to believe. This book has been called ‘satire’ and gave us a LOT to talk about.

We hope you enjoy and lets us know what you think in the comments.

Happy Listening and Love lots,
Rach and Anthea

PS. If you want to watch rather than listen, scroll down.

Subscribe now

In this episode, we cover:

• Whether blurbs affect how you enjoy/read a book.

• Literary vs Commercial Fiction

• What our writer friends thought of YESTERYEAR

• “Tradwives” we follow and don’t

• What we expect from twists

💋 And, of course, we rate it: Kiss, Kill, or Marry

⏰ Timestamps

1.0 Welcome to Rach, Anthea and Ghost Dog

1.51 Meet Yesteryear – the best time you can have darning your (probably organic) socks

3.36 We read the blurb for the first time and are kind of surprised #proffesional

6.16 How did we read the book? Rach listened and read – Anthea knitted hers then read it next to a kerosine lamp

7.56 Caro Claire Burke’s name is longer than her bio. (We get it. You’re totally legit.)

10.19 Book stats. Over 460 000 ratings on Goodreads, but most of them are probably Anne Hathaway

13.41 Kiss, Kill, Marry, Make sourdough

14.47 We discuss ratings – and Ghost Dog appears! (then disappears) (then appears..)

15.12 The ending. Shiz gets real. And weird

17.29 Low expectations – reading (and dating?) advice from Rach

18.19 Trad wives. Gluttons for punishment? Or attention?

21.59 Is Caleb a lazy dummy with a roving eye? Yes.

22.40 Natalie, kind of a dick, but also, NOT a time traveller

26.08 Shannon and Caleb, sitting in a tree…

27.14 Rach wants more from Yesteryear… cancellation, trad wives, kid’s privacy…

30.00 Twist discussion – time travel VS mental break

32.00 It’s not that we don’t like Natalie… but even NATALIE doesn’t like Natalie…

35.57 Clementine travels back from the future in a CAR! (remember those, Natalie?)

37.12 Natalie is still hard to please. And time travel actually seems more likely than this twist.

40.50 Natalie’s mum – a woman not afraid to pretend her husband is dead.

42.02 Is this literature because the ending sucked??

48.06 Rach and Anthea agree it was still a kiss. (but Anthea secretly wanted time-travel) (for the end of the novel, and just in general)

48.28 What novels are next?! (Anthea takes note!)

👉 Watch the episode above and let us know your feelings about YESTERYEAR!

Leave a comment

📖 Coming up next:

👉Next Ep we’re chatting to to about DADDY LONG LEGS by Jean Webster.

📅 In August, we’re diving into THE ENDING WRITES ITSELF by co-writing duo, Evelyn Clarke and we’re chatting to Fiona McArthur about JUNKYARD CATS by Faith Hunter

For what we’re up to after that, click here.

🛍️ Do you read between deadlines too? Grab the merch

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Thanks for following. We love ya!

This episode's book: The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde is a bonkers alternate-history mystery where literary detective, Thursday Next, has to save Jane Eyre from a villain who is rewriting literature. A very bookish book!

This week’s guest is the delightful Kate Solly, who writes warm and feel-good cosy mystery. Her latest novel is The Paradise Heights Miniature Railway Bust-Up, and when Kate’s not writing, she’s wrangling six kids and doing crochet.

Visit Kate's Website

In this episode, we cover:

• Audio books vs Print - some narratives suit one more than the other

• Main characters - do we need to connect with them to love a story?

• Rereading, DNFing and reading multiple books at once

• Jasper’s literary influences (we speculate)

💋 And, of course, we rate THE EYRE AFFAIR: Kiss, Kill, or Marry.

📚 Books Mentioned in this Ep

• Anne of Green Gables by LM Montgomery

• Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

• Emma by Jane Austen

• A Disappearance in Fiji by Nilima Rao

• Miss Caroline Bingley, Private Detective by Kelli Gardiner and Sharmini Kumar

• The Benevolent Society of Ill-Mannered Ladies by Alison Goodman

• The Tea Ladies by Amanda Hampson

• The Bookshop Detectives by Gareth and Louise Ward

• Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

• Tenderfoot by Toni Jordan

• Tiny, Useless Hearts by Toni Jordan

• Those Faraday Girls by Monica McInerney

• The Other Bridget by Rachael Johns

• Enid Blyton

• Nancy Drew

• Babysitters Club

⏰ Timestamps

0:00 – Anthea opens the show. Rach contributes by almost forgetting her own name.

1.31 - Anthea intros the charming, well-behaved and alarmingly fertile Kate Solly.

2.43 - Kate has chosen The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde – one of her all-time favourites. She does suspect, however, that Jasper has never heard of Coco Chanel.

3.40 - Rach and Anthea judges Kate's bio, become wildly jealous of her book-wraooubg skills, and marvel at the fact she once crocheted Rach a Diet Coke can. Frankly, she's showing off.

4.48 - What’s that smell? We all share the disgusting things we’ve found in our cars way too late. Perhaps this podcast should come with a biohazard warning.

6.57 - Kates reads the blurb of her chosen book - a novel on Rach and Anthea’s radar for YEARS. Thank god Kate finally made us read it.

8.43 - Time to judge Jaspers bio - there are three to choose from. Rach thinks that is two bios too many!

10.40 - Today's pick is over twenty years old. Anthea was convinced it was from the '80s. Close enough.

12.05 - Rach shares the book stats and fun facts, including Jasper's 76 rejections... then completely forgets the most interesting fact. Luckily Kate came prepared.

14.44 - Anthea explains our ratings system and, in a shocking turn of events, tries to get Rach cancelled. Again.

15.07 - Anthea explains her rating. She suspects Jasper occasionally ignores his editors, wanted more "lore" (she's down with the kids), and craved a little more heart and a few higher stakes.

17.11 - Kate promises Jasper really hits his stride in the later books, and suddenly we're considering adding several more novels to the TBR.

19.45 - Rach feels it makes sense this was his debut as it reads like a first novel. But hey, everyone has to start somewhere and this is a pretty good start.

22.58 - Kate reveals her family are thoroughly obsessed with Mr Fforde and his affairs. We also discuss the politics of sharing Kindles and Kobos.

25.01 - Rach didn't quite click with Thursday Next and suspects she may be the least interesting person in her own book.

28.24 - Plot takes centre stage, character takes the back seat, and Douglas Adams is very much in the passenger seat.

29.16 - Magic is afoot - the one-star Goodreads review Rach wanted to read aloud has mysteriously disappeared.

30.43 - Time to interrogate Kate about her reading habits: rereading, DNFing, and other controversial behaviour.

34.20 - Book formats do matter and Kate gets sweaty over our auto buy author question.

36.58 - Cozy mysteries have officially gone mainstream, and Kate shares some of her favourites.

38.45 - The loneliness of being the only person who didn't fall head over heels for a wildly hyped book.

39.59 - Reading reviews is like picking scabs. Gross? Yes. But this might just be our fave bookish analogy ever.

42.21 - An ode to Toni Jordan. (As she deserves.)

43.18 - Which book reignited Kate's love of reading?

45 - We all adore The Faraway Tree. We absolutely do not want to meet Dame Slap.

46.03 - What we're reading next, including the book that seems to be in absolutely everyone's hands right now.

👉 Watch now and tell us - did you love The Eyre Affair?

👉Next Ep, we’re diving into Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke and our July guest is who is making us read Daddy Long Legs by Jean Webster.

July Books:
14th July - The Ending Writes Itself by Evelyn Clark
28th July - Junkyard Cats by Faith Hunter with guest author Fiona McArthur

Exciting NEWS - we’ve pretty much locked in all our books for the rest of the year! You can see them here!

🎽 Do you read between deadlines too? Grab the merch

🙌 Get the t-shirt

THANKS FOR SUBSCRIBING - we LOVE you!

We hope you enjoy this latest edition of Reading Between Deadlines. Honestly it might be our FAVOURITE episode yet. It’s a cracker, even if we DO say so ourselves.

This episode’s pick: THEO OF GOLDEN by Allen Levi is a book that was self-published and then picked up by a major publisher after it basically went viral. It’s about an old dude who turns up mysteriously in the fiction town of Golden, then starts buying up portraits for half the town.

We hope you enjoy our deep dive into this hyped book.

Happy Listening and Love lots,
Rach and Anthea

PS. If you want to watch rather than listen, scroll down.

Subscribe now

In this episode, we cover:

• Why authors love the question “what if?”

• Word length and editing

• Plot vs character

• Religion in fiction

• And we rewrite the ending.

💋 And, of course, we rate it: Kiss, Kill, or Marry

📖 Please tell us your thoughts on the cover!!

⏰ Timestamps

000 – Intro – Rachael is a newsreader now.. and she’s been robbed..

2.24 – Rachael introduces Theo of Golden and reads the blurb. Anthea is already bored.

4.35 – Why we read Theo – International hype is REAL

5.50 Alan – 70 year old song writer who’s not Willie Nelson

6.42 – Should you write about stuff you see in a coffee shop? We’re about to find out..

7.19 – The bio you have when you don’t have a bio (is Alan a bit rock’n’ roll?)

9.40 – Rach goes Insta Detectives on Theo of Golden with interesting facts.. Anthea checks her watch..

12.16 Anthea is all about the rules.. Kiss, Kill, Marry…

13.38 – Shiz gets REEL. Anthea and Rach give their verdict.

15.21 – Rachael has gone completely crackers. Anthea tries to understand

16.58 – Nope, it’s no good – Rachael is crazily trying to justify her rating. Anthea is having a minor breakdown.

17.25 – A dead Theo wins Rach’s heart. Anthea passes out.

18.02 – Info dumping – Rachael’s new favourite. Anthea casts about for a new bestie…

19.02 - Rachael relishes Theo’s dumb AND boring secret baby trope. Anthea astral travels out of her office, to somewhere nice without any Theos.

20.12 – Anthea puts on her SURPRISED face on, and refuses to remove it.

21.25 – Rach decides she wouldn’t have finished it if she didn’t have to. Anthea wonders if she UNDERSTANDS THE RATINGS SYSTEM??!!!

21.45 – Rach admits she was PLODDING along with Theo. PUCKER UP BABY! (STILL a kiss?????????????)

22.18 – Anthea feels the phrase ‘this is boring’ is underused. (Not by her, obviously.)

22.38 – Dramatic death letter. It’s never too soon. (and stay away from windows.)

23.24 – Anthea expresses her disappointment in Rachael’s rating. Again. Seriously. We get it! (also Anthea goes global and kills it for her friend in Colorado)

26.07 – Anthea gently rants about the many, many, many problems with this novel. (Put the pen down, Grandad.)

27.05 – To the Theo of Golden Community. Well played. Well played, indeed.

28.18 – Rachael admits Theo WAS LONG AND BORING. Anthea rests her case. (mentally, you won’t hear that bit.)

28.37 – Ellen (the most exciting character Anthea barely remembers) is getting her own novel. Kill me now.

29.02 – No ticking clock on Theo’s death (it still wouldn’t have saved this novel, but it would have been nice to see him make the attempt)

29.19 – Christian messages. Too much? (Amen!)

32.30 – Tension please!! Pleeaase! Anthea and Rach agree Theo is boring. High 5!

33.20 – Sorry, but this book needed a good edit

34.50 - Old men and books. AB Facey. Owed Anthea’s great granddad money. Scandal!

37.14 - The cover - Anthea approves! Rachael approves! (it’s boring)

39.05 - Anthea threatens to sack Rachael. Realises Rach is the boss!! Settles to sentencing her to reading the sequel, about the boring Ellen.

41.32 – Rachael threatens Anthea with a Theo of Golden keepsake. Anthea feels physically ill..

42.29 – Readers Retreat! (Theo free zone!)

43.30 – We’re reading The Eyre Affair, Yesteryear and a bunch of other books which are possibly more exciting than Theo. (Sorry, Theo.) (Anthea is swiping LEFT) (But you still have a chance with Rach!)

45.00 BYE! (please don’t go around buying portraits and handing them out to people – it’s way less charming and life changing than you think.)

👉 Watch the episode above and let us know your feelings about THEO OF GOLDEN!

Leave a comment

📖 Coming up next:

👉Next Ep we’re chatting to Kate Solly about The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde.

📅 In July, we’re diving into possibly the MOST HYPED book of the year - Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke and we’re chatting to about Daddy Long Legs by Jean Webster

For what we’re up to after that, click here.

🛍️ Do you read between deadlines too? Grab the merch

🙌 Get the t-shirt

Thanks for following. We love ya!

This episode's book: The Hand That First Held Mine by Maggie O’Farrell, is a story about two seemingly very unrelated women as they come to terms with new motherhood, love and hidden family secrets.

This week’s guest is is an internationally bestselling author known for her gripping psychological thrillers and emotionally rich storytelling. Originally from the UK and now based in Western Australia, Sara is one of our best writing friends and we can’t wait to hang out with her again on retreat later in the year. Most importantly she knows how to party and we were recently luck enough to attend her 50th 70s themed bday on a boat!

Visit Sara's Website

In this episode, we cover:

• Maggie O’Farrell’s long, fabulous career (no, we’re not jealous)

• Authors who write many different types of books

• Themes of motherhood in fiction.

• The tenses we like in fiction.

• Simple but poignant premises

• Sara’s reading tastes and recommendations

💋 And, of course, we rate THE HAND THAT FIRST HELD MINE: Kiss, Kill, or Marry.

📚 Books Mentioned in this Ep

• The Book of Unnamed Midwives by Meg Elison

• Story Genius by Lisa Cron

• Anything by Lisa Jewell, Taylor Jenkins Reid and Liane Moriarty

• Far From The Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy

• Prayer For Owen Meany by John Irving

• God of the Woods by Liz Moore

• The Hush by Sara Foster

• You Don’t Know Me by Sara Foster

⏰ Timestamps

0:00 – Intro to our fabulousness (even if we do say so ourselves)

0:41 – Rach’s disappearing act and all the many luncheons.

2:23 – Introducing our fabulous guest - Sara Foster. She’s been prepping hard but still feels nervous, making Rach feel ALL powerful.

2:56 – The Hand That First Held Mine by Maggie O’Farrell - Sara beautifully reads the blurb.

4:48 – Judging Sarah’s author bio. She has a PhD AND a very cute dog. We are officially in awe yet Anthea still gives her tips on how to improve it! Rach suggests Sarah write a memoir about the boozy, long-lunch era of publishing.

9:23 – Judging Maggie O’Farrell’s bio - Rach feels she’s a bit of a braggart, then boasts about her own thirty-something books. Sara talks about Maggie’s varied career (spoiler - she loves everything she’s written).

14:49 – Book facts, awards and Goodreads. Goodreads give it the tick of approval but now it’s our turn to Kiss, Kill or Marry. Every gets nervous and Rach no longer trusts her own opinion!

17:15 – Book discussion: Oh Lord, it’s another quiet novel. Lexi vs Elena timelines – which gal was the funnest? Anthea likens the book to eating All Bran.

22.00 - Rach needs a few things explained. She’s really pissed off about a baby with no-name, but aside from that she sounds rather obsessed.

25.12 - Oh Lord, Rach is waxing lyrical about quiet novels again, yet can’t explain what she loves so much about this book.

26.41 - Why on earth is Maggie so compelling? Rach admits she’s really nosey!

29.07 - Sara tells us why Maggie is a literary genius! Speculating on Maggie’s writing process.

33:14 – Whose story is this? (Lexi vs Elena vs Ted debate) Does Ted even HAVE a passport?? Anthea really gets nit-picky, but makes a good point.

39:46 – Time to ask Sarah all the hard questions. Eg. Who are her auto-buy authors?(Rach and Anthea offended not to feature)

40:49 – Sarah’s top book recommendation: The Book of the Unnamed Midwife – this is the fancy kind of shiz we’ve come to expect from Sara… We can’t believe neither of us have ever even heard of it.

42:50 – Trigger warnings debate – When do we need to know?

44:34 – Classic novel Sarah hasn’t read and overhyped books

49:33 – Sarah’s favourite of her own books and insight into the podcast adaptation of You Don’t Know Me.

52:10 – Reading reviews: do our authors look?

56:03 – What’s next??

👉 Watch now and tell us - did you love The Hand That First Held Mine?

👉Next Ep, we’re diving into Theo of Golden by Allen Levi and our June guess is Kate Solly who is making us read The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde.

July Books:
14th July - Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke
28th July - Daddy Long Legs by Jean Webster with guest author Tamara Moss

Exciting NEWS - we’ve pretty much locked in all our books for the rest of the year! You can see them here!

🎽 Do you read between deadlines too? Grab the merch

🙌 Get the t-shirt

Shoutout to our inner circle - aka our paid subscribers.

We LOVE you and we LOVE our bonus episodes that we do JUST for you!!

If you’re not already inner circle, you can join for only $5 a month and you’ll get our monthly Recs and Not Recs ep as well as a surprise chat every second month.

Subscribe now

Here we are with another bonus chat. Anthea had Rach aching with laughter as she told stories on her high school ball partners. Rach eats a protein bar (but recommends it as it’s delicious) and rudely speaks while doing so, but we feel so relaxed with our special subscribers.

Hope you love this months Recs (and Not Recs) …

Read more

We hope you enjoy this latest edition of Reading Between Deadlines.

This episode’s pick: HALF HIS AGE - a supposedly funny story about sex, power, and the stories we tell ourselves to survive. The story is about Waldo, a teenaged girl who becomes obsessed with her teacher. It’s the debut novel by Jennette McCurdy, child star, now writer, filmmaker and more. Although this is her first novel, her memoir, GLAD MY MOM DIED, was a massive hit!

We hope you enjoy our deep dive into this hyped book.

Happy Listening and Love lots,
Rach and Anthea

PS. If you want to watch rather than listen, scroll down.

Subscribe now

In this episode, we cover:

• Judging books on writing and genre

• Specificity in writing

• Brutal but fabulous characterisation

• Is this a tired trope?

• Importance of character names.

💋 And, of course, we rate it: Kiss, Kill, or Marry

⏰ Timestamps

0:05 — Welcome to the Pod!

1:18 — Rach entering witness protection to avoid socialising with Anthea (understandable!)

4:55 — We read Half His Age by Jeanette McCurdy…but why?

6:05 — Hype – has it tricked us again?

8:00 — Blurb – a tale as old as time (or if not time, as old as that creepy Russian book..)

9:38 — Author bio – Fancy enough for ya?

11:50 — Goodreads – Rach gets forensic…

13:01 — So – how did it sell? Rach runs the figures – Anthea is impressed!

13:20 — Kiss, Kill, Marry! The rules…

14:15 — Judging, but in a nice way..

14:47 — Rach reports back on her time with Waldo and her creepy boyfriend

15:47 — Rach is over stories with older male love interests. (Ageist!) (and she says something about character growth..?)

16:11 — Is the older man plot too creepy to enjoy? (Anthea feels bad about Harrison Ford, but not THAT bad..)

18:02 — Does anything shock us anymore? Anthea can’t remember..

18:17 — Anthea and Rach discuss period sex/bloody penis play – hot or not? (NOT!!!)

19:31 — Anthea on kissing Waldo.. (not just after the bloody penis bit, obvs..)

21:52 — What makes a good book? Anthea is still confused.

24:43 — What makes a book successful? (no, really??!)

26:03 — Is Waldo SUPER mature? Or just really into menopause?

30:57 — Waldo – lumbered with a middle-aged man. #goals

32:55 — Family dinner with a rando kid – weird? Or massively cosy and appropriate?

35:06 — Is Jeanette ok? A tough childhood on the page.

41:42 — What’s coming next on the podcast (Anthea writes things down..) And we add Yesteryear to the menu…(Anthea thinks it’s about her..)

44:15 — Bye!

👉 Watch the episode above and let us know your feelings about HALF HIS AGE

Leave a comment

📖 Coming up next:

👉Next Ep we’re chatting to about The Hand That First Held Mine by Maggie O’Farrell.

In June, we’re diving into Theo of Golden by Allen Levi and chatting to Kate Solly about The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde.

For what we’re up to after that, click here.

🛍️ Do you read between deadlines too? Grab the merch

🙌 Get the t-shirt

Thanks for following. We love ya!

This episode's book: The Only One Left by Riley Sager, a gothic thriller packed with family secrets, dodgy characters, and a creepy old-mansion. The story follows a home health aide caring for a woman accused decades earlier of murdering her family.

This week’s guest is (otherwise known as Rach’s co-writer). Mercedes is a crime and thriller author known for her fast-paced, twist-filled novels. When she’s not writing or looking after her twin daughters, she works in the criminal justice system - no wonder her crime novels are so realistic! Her latest book is The Couple’s Retreat.

Visit Mercedes' Website

In this episode, we cover:

• Bios - men vs women.

• Creepy, gothic settings.

• Is Riley the male Frieda McFadden?

• Materialism and old houses.

• Co-writing and more!

  💋 And, of course, we rate THE ONLY ONE LEFT: Kiss, Kill, or Marry.

📚 Books Mentioned in this Ep

• Anything by Robin Hobbs

• The Baby-Sitters’ Club series

• Goosebumps series

• IT by Stephen King

• Sophie Kinsella’s novels

• DOVE by Georgia Harper

• Harry Potter series

• The Lord of the Rings

⏰ Timestamps

1.0 – Welcome, and feel free to be intimidated

2.19 – Mercedes Mercier – pretty much James Bond but a lady

3.57 – The Only Once Left – Tik Tok hype at work

4.43 – Mansions, murder and cliff tops – the blurb is a total vibe

8.28 – The male bio – fewer dogs and kids than you’d think

9.51 – Mercedes shamelessly (and quite correctly) brags that she has kept Rach to a
95 000 word count! Anthea passes out…!

11.09 Mercedes and Rach celebrate their (reading) promiscuity

12.31 – Kiss, Kill, Marry – it’s unanimous!

13.45 – Anthea says it’s crazy at the end. FIFTY YEARS CRAZY!

16.15 – Rach loves the crazy – but she doesn’t want to marry it

18.43 – Riley Sager – how to fit a whole lot of crazy into one book at a time

20.39 – Themes - Rach wonders what her books are about??

21.43 – Anthea goes postal about 50 years of arse-wiping

23.40 – Why 1983? Does this novel really need to be set in Dark Ages??

25.57 – We question Mercedes about her personal choices – and find out she’s a crier! (and a nerd) (both of which we wholeheartedly support!)

28.54 – DNF – is it our right? Or our DUTY?

31.22 – Fantasy novels and Sophie Kinsella – because dragons like Jimmy Choo’s, too?

33.18 – Reviews – the work of the Devil, and dummies with no taste…!

33.48 – Co-writing – a brief masterclass from Rach and Mercedes

37.46 – Book recommendations.

41.22 – Harry Potter – divisive? Or still magical?

43.11 – Rach tells Anthea what she’s reading next – Anthea writes it down.

44.57 – See you next time!

👉 Watch now and tell us - did you love The Only One Left?

👉Next Ep, we’re diving into Half His Age by Jeanette McCurdy and our May guest is who has chosen to make us read The Hand that First Held Mine by Maggie O’Farrell.

June Books:
14th June - By Any Other Name by Jodi Picoult
28th June - Daddy Long Legs by Jean Webster with guest author Tamara Moss

Exciting NEWS - we’ve pretty much locked in all our books for the rest of the year! You can see them here!

🎽 Do you read between deadlines too? Grab the merch

🙌 Get the t-shirt

Shoutout to our inner circle - aka our paid subscribers.

We LOVE you and we LOVE our bonus episodes that we do JUST for you!!

If you’re not already inner circle, you can join for only $5 a month and you’ll get our monthly Recs and Not Recs ep as well as a surprise chat every second month.

Subscribe now

We’re back with another Rec & Not Recs bonus chat.

ATM Rach is mostly just packing and cleaning walls, but she must have lost the plot because, despite this, she’s recommending moving house, which brings us to a discussion of the pros and cons of living in the same house forever. Anthea’s family have a shipping container…

Read more

We hope you enjoy this latest edition of Reading Between Deadlines.

It’s come to our attention that some of you don’t realise that we still DO post a video but due to something to do with Apple and Spotify we post the audio at the top and the video at the bottom. So if you’d rather watch than listen, scroll to the end of this post.

Anthea writes the FUNNIEST timestamps for the show - honestly, we’re not even sure what these are for but the wonderful told us to do these so we do and I really hope people read them, cos they make me laugh so much!

Happy listening/watching. Don’t forget to vote in our Kiss, Kill, Marry poll below.

Love lots,
Rach and Anthea

Subscribe now

This episode’s pick: WILD DARK SHORE by Charlotte McConoghy is the book EVERYONE in Australia (and we think the world - thanks Reese) has been reading and talking about lately, so we thought we’d better see what all the fuss is about. We’re in awe that Charlotte is so accomplished so young and proud she’s Aussie. We rarely read books by Aussie authors because we’d never want to diss a compatriot and we want to talk honestly about our thoughts and feelings here, but because WILD DARK SHORE has been such a HUGE success, we felt it would be remiss of us not to take a read.

In this episode, we cover:

• Climate fiction - is it a thing?

• Writing style - fancy or over-written

• Romance/love story in lit fiction

• How expectations going into a book influence reading experience

💋 And, of course, we rate it: Kiss, Kill, or Marry

⏰ Timestamps

00 – Welcome to a windswept island - where two authors have been swept up on a rocky beach. (and Anthea wonders why she keeps saying yes to Rachael’s crazy schemes..)

2.58 - Anthea inserts MAFS into the conversation (any excuse) Rach has no time for the television, because she is classy - and insanely busy!

4.04 - Anthea complains about being busy. Rachael nearly passes out - then realises she doesn’t have time.

5.12 - Wild Dark Shore, please come to reception! It’s time to be judged. (and bring a couple of fur seals with you..)

9.06 - Award nominations for Wild Dark Shore. Who is Booktok Boy anyway? Anthea’s finger creeps further from the pulse every day.

10.13 Wake up and smell the turtle-necks - it’s Literary bio time! But does this bio deal in LIES??

14.26 - Kiss, Kill, Marry… Anthea does her civic duty and dobs Rachael in for trying to cheat...!

15.47 - Anthea’s rollercoaster relationship with Wild Dark Shore.

18.55 - Fancy writing - hot or not? And why Rach is captivated by lyrical renderings and Anthea is looking over Wild Dark Shore’s shoulder to see if ML Stedman is at the bar…

21.15 - Was Rach just in a really good mood when she read this novel? And is the honeymoon is over.

23.20 - They called it Wild DARK shore for a reason. Murder, suicide, dead penguins in a barrel. Shiz gets DARK.

25.34 - Hank. Your classic narcissist. And then some. Hang on, just how romantic is the love story? Rach wonders if we need the love story at all…

30.00 - Rach ponders low expectations and their ability to really make literature sing.

36.52 - Rach questions global warming, and likens Dark Shore to a long poem.

39.30 - The seed bank question. Which ones get off the island?

40.46 - Next month The Only One Left by Riley Sager. Rach reminds Anthea what books she’s read. Anthea is very interested!

👉 Watch the episode above and let us know your feelings about WILD DARK SHORE.

Leave a comment

📖 Coming up next:

👉Next Ep we’re chatting to about The Only One Left by Riley Sager.

In May, we’re diving into Half His Age by Jeanette McCurdy and chatting to about The Hand that First Held Mine by Maggie O’Farrell.

For what we’re up to after that, click here.

🛍️ Do you read between deadlines too? Grab the merch

🙌 Get the t-shirt

Thanks for following. We love ya!

This episode's book: The Friend by Sigrid Nunez is a quiet novel about a woman who inherits the dog owned by her best friend when he dies. Not just any breed of dog but a MAMMOTH Great Dane, oh and her rental agreement is NO DOGS. Although a novel about grieving a friend, it also offers a lot of insight into a writers life as both the MC and her friend are writers.

This week’s guest is John Purcell, who we think might be one of the most well-read authors in Australia. While still in his twenties, John Purcell opened a second-hand bookshop in Mosman, Sydney, in which he sat for ten years reading, ranting and writing. He’s currently Head of Books at The Nile Australia and his latest book, The Amateur's Guide to Killing Bad Guys, will release in August this year.

Visit John's Website

Shoutout to our inner circle - aka our paid subscribers.

We LOVE you and we LOVE our bonus episodes that we do JUST for you!!

If you’re not already inner circle, you can join for only $5 a month and you’ll get our monthly Recs and Not Recs ep as well as a surprise chat every second month.

Subscribe now

In this episode, we cover:

• Re-reading old faves

• Writing classes and the writing advice in this novel

• This dangerous profession and the risks of having a writer in your family

• Is telling really a sin?

• Dogs vs Cats

• 2nd person point-of-view

• The movie adaptation, which John refuses to watch.

  💋 And, of course, we rate THE FRIEND: Kiss, Kill, or Marry.

📚 Books Mentioned in this Ep

• Things We Never Say by Elizabeth Strout

• A Room With a View by E.M. Forster

• The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown

• Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman

• A Gentleman of Moscow by Amor Towles

• Boy Swallows Universe by Trent Dalton

• Lee Child’s Jack Reader novels.

• Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

• Dracula by Bram Stoker

• Books by Bryce Courtenay, Colleen McCullough, Agatha Christie, Thomas Hardy, Deborah Levy, Rachel Cusk, Ali Smth.

⏰ Timestamps

1.0 Intro

1.25 – John apologises for loving Brother of the More Famous Jack, as well he should.

1.30 – Rachael cranks the handle on her feminine wiles. Anthea settles in to learn from the master

3.21 – John refers to Rachael as a wonderful author and Rach responds with a comment about John’s top-notch erotica.

5.20 Anthea reads the blurb in an attempt to bring down the spice!

7.21 John complains that Rach and Anthea kind of ruined his re-read of The Friend. Anthea refuses to feel bad about it.

9.33 Rach adds background info about The Friend. Anthea starts thinking about tea.

10.53 Rating time – Kiss, Kill or Marry?

12.07 Anthea goes first, and makes some excellent points

14.34 John doubles down on The Friend. Rachael captivated, Anthea suspects he’s a cat person.

18.56 Rach agrees with John about everything – but she does mention Anthea’s latest book, so Anthea agrees with herself that they can still be besties!

22.06 There’s some nonsense conversation about cats and dogs. Anthea wonders if she can make it to the kettle..

27.05 Not naming characters – cool literary device – or just a bit wanky?

27.39 Writing in second person. Pointless? Wanky? Is the kettle on?

29.44 John discusses self-publishing and AI. A cup of tea is delivered to Anthea by an 83 year old ghost. Nice!

34.10 John loves Room With A View. Anthea wonders about the cat thing.

35.27 Rach tells John he has picked a novel that’s TOO good, with TOO much to discuss! Anthea bows to the master, and realises she still has much to learn.

36.40 Rach and John discuss the issue of offending modern audiences, and modern sensibilities.

41.40 John disses tonnes of hyped books – Rachael and Anthea are in awe.

46.37 John disses Dame Agatha Christie, which Anthea thinks is a bridge too far.

47.07 Rachael enthuses about John’s Nile posts (Anthea wishes they would get a room already..)

47.36 Thomas Hardy – John’s wingman – and one of the greatest reading experiences of John’s life

49.50 Rachael asks – are all writers monsters??

54.23 John has lost three dogs, and has chosen to replace them with cats. Enough said.

55.25 Next book – Wild Dark Shore (and a super fond farewell from Rach!)

👉 Watch now and tell us - did you love The Friend?

👉Next Ep, we’re diving into Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy and our April guest is Mercedes Mercier who will make us read The Only One Left by Riley Sager.

May Books:
14th May - Half His Age by Jeanette McCurdy
28th May - Daddy Long Legs by Jean Webster with guest author Tamara Moss

Exciting NEWS - we’ve pretty much locked in all our books for the rest of the year! You can see them here!

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The months are flying by, so here we are with another Rec & Not Recs bonus chat.

We launch straight into dinner parties and getting away with murder - no, these are not our recs, but we have LOTS of them as well.

There’s a quick history of Rach’s relationship with Anthea and her writing, before we recommend everything from rev…

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A couple of quick announcements from Rach:

It’s come to our attention that some of you don’t realise that we still DO post a video but due to something to do with Apple and Spotify we post the audio at the top and the video at the bottom. So if you’d rather watch than listen, scroll to the end of this post.

Anthea writes the FUNNIEST timestamps for the show - honestly, we’re not even sure what these are for but the wonderful told us to do these so we do and I really hope poeple read them, cos they make me laugh so much!

Also, there’s only FIVE MORE DAYS left to claim our deal to upgrade your subscription to PAID for 25% off the full price.

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This episode’s pick: The Crash by Freida McFadden is one of her zillions of books. Her biggest hit is The Housemaid, which was recently made into a hit movie. This novel is about a hugely pregnant woman who crashes during a snow-storm is rescued by a scary yeti, but that’s only the BEGINNING of her nightmare.

In this episode, we cover:

• The HUGENESS of Freida McFadden

• Twists, wildly improbable plots and stupid main characters

• The two main plots and how/if they related to each other

• The need to move during pregnancy

• Tuna!!

💋 And, of course, we rate it: Kiss, Kill, or Marry

⏰ Timestamps

00 – Welcome – Rach and Anthea have an Inner circle – and they are as surprised about it as anyone

1.19 – Rachael has NO aircon (Anthea decides to tread carefully for episode duration!)

2.08 – Rach reports an itchy nose. May be unrelated. This week’s book – The Crash by Freida McFadden.

4.50 Freida – what a show off. And The Crash blurb. Don’t drive in blizzards, people!

8.16 – Freida’s bio – another chance to show off – Anthea mostly impressed with her house by the ocean. Not the cat part.

10. 50 – Kiss, Kill, Marry!? Rachael’s vote possibly affected by heat stress..

12.24 – Rachael does NOT respect Tegan’s choices. (too dumb to live??)

14.23 – Tegan’s brother. Not awesome.

14.27 – Rach and Anthea discuss all the crazy in The Crash. It takes a while.

19.04 – Tax fraud and it’s role in modern relationships

20.29 – Why Sadie, the kid from next door will never unload the dishwasher

21.23 – Is Rach addicted to crack? The role of coincidence and contrivance..

25.31 – The Prologue DEALS IN LIES kind of. Who asked to hear from Hank, anyway?

28.09 – The importance of Point of View (and air-conditioning!)

29.50 – Anthea - pragmatist to the end. Would you TAKE THE MONEY?

31.05 – One Star reviews – always fun when it’s someone else!

32.32 – Freida – would RBD date her/read her again?

34.03 – Contrivance and character motivation, the TED talk.

37.36 – Stephen King – would have written the shit out of this! Oh, that’s right – he already did.

38.37 – What are we reading next? And will Rach get the air-con working? BYE!!

👉 Watch the episode above and let us know your feelings about THE CRASH.

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📖 Coming up next:

👉Next Ep we’re chatting to John Purcell about The Friend by Sigrid Nunez.

In April, we’re diving into Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy and guest author will make us read The Only One Left by Riley Sager.

For what we’re up to after that, click here.

🛍️ Do you read between deadlines too? Grab the merch

🙌 Get the t-shirt

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