Dark romance and romantasy meets Telestrations on this week's Spicy Librarian - we're drawing tropes, guessing characters, and somehow attempting to pitch the next New York Times bestselling romance novel. We cover romantasy and dark romance rounds, weekly reading recaps, and watch the whole thing descend into glorious bookish chaos.

This week on Spicy Librarian, we played Telestrations, that random game from primary school where you draw a section of a thing, fold the page and pass it on. But we made it bookish and spicy. We took the most iconic tropes, characters, and moments from dark romance and romantasy and decided to see if we could plot the next New York Times bestseller, but probably not. We do tropes, settings, plot twists and pairings, triggers and memorable quotes- and watched the whole thing descend into absolute bookish chaos. Let us know if you think our pitch has legs, better yet, write it yourself.

00:00 — Welcome to the Spicy Librarian Podcast 00:22 — Katie's Reading Recap: What's Been on Her TBR This Week 13:19 — Dee's Reading Recap: What Dee Has Been Reading 25:27 — Telestrations: The Bookish Spicy Edition Begins 26:37 — Romantasy Round: Tropes, Characters & Chaos 36:40 — Dark Romance Round: Plot Twists, Triggers & Memorable Quotes 49:50 — See You Next Week

Books mentioned-

YesterYear- Caro Claire Burke

The Voice- Maggie Ray Jones

Heavy- ML Burns

The Dorians- Nick Cutter

Black Phone- Joe Hill

Remarkably Bright Creatures- Shelby Van Pelt

Direbound/ Furybound- Sable Sorenson

Regretting you- Colleen Hoover

A Stage Set for Villains- Shannon J. Spann

Pieces of the Night- Jennifer Hartman

Branded- Saffron A Kent

Ravenous- Thea Lawrence

Crown Me Dead- Liv Zander

Harvest Season- Brynn Weaver

Butcher and Blackbird- Bryne Weaver

Thursday Murder Club- Richard Osman

Metal Slinger /Light Wielder- Rachel Schneider

If you loved this episode follow the podcast so you never miss a drop, leave us a review, it genuinely means the world, and head to our website or Instagram for more details on everything we have coming up. We'll see you next Thursday.

The May book club is here and besties, this month's picks were a whole lot.

But first, we're pulling back the curtain on what is coming up for The Spicy Librarian. It's our birthday month in July, we have events in the pipeline, and things are getting very exciting around here. We are not ready to spill everything just yet but we wanted to bring you into it because you lot are the whole reason any of this exists.

Consider this your official heads up. Stay close. 👀

But book club! We're talking The Auction by Sadie Kincaid - Beauty and the Beast meets dark mafia romance, a scarred billionaire, a secret brotherhood, and a slow burn so tense we needed a moment, and a lively debate about condiments. Then Starside by Alex Aster - the enemies-to-lovers romantasy that has absolutely taken over our bookshelves and for very good reason. And finally The Stopover by T.L. Swan - the book that has converted more people to contemporary romance than almost anything else on BookTok, and yes, we have feelings about it. If you haven't listened to our episode with TL Swan- get to know.

Three completely different vibes. Three books that divided the room. Three books we could not shut up about. This is exactly what book club is for.

Books mentioned-

The Auction- Sade Kincaid

Starside- Alex Aster

The Stop Over- TL Swan

Made Man Series- Danielle Lori

Crescent City- S J Maas

June Book Club-

A Stage Set for Villains- Shannon J. Spann

Pieces of the Night- Jennifer Hartman

Branded- Saffron A Kent

Perfect for fans of: book club, dark romance, romantasy, contemporary romance, The Auction, Sadie Kincaid, Starside, Alex Aster, The Stopover, TL Swan, Miles High Club, mafia romance, enemies to lovers, slow burn, BookTok, spicy books, spicy podcast

Slaglines: We Wrapped Books, We Gave Clues & Absolutely Nobody Was Helpful

We invented a game. We wrapped books in brown paper, gave each other the most unhinged clues imaginable, and made each other guess the title. We're calling it Slaglines - a love letter to the tagline and an absolute disaster of an episode in the best possible way.

This week's lineup was a lot. We had a tattooed bad boy demon with witchy enemies-to-lovers energy, little women but make it vampire, a bored gay werewolf, a shy trans banshee, a deeply unsettling crawl space, and a boyfriend who is giving very strong fish. You know the kind.

If you think you could have guessed these faster than us - get in the comments and tell us. We are competitive and we will take that personally.

Books mentioned-

Starside- Alex Aster

Here One Moment - Liane Moriarty

What have you done- Shari Lapena

Miles High Series- TL Swan

Direbound/ Furybound- Sable Sorensen

Crown me Dead/ Crown me Yours- Liv Zanders

Crawl Space- Herbert Lieberman

There’s Something Fishy About My Boyfriend- Gloria Duke

Zodiac Academy- Twisted Sisters

Fourth Wing- Rebecca Yarros

Magnolia Parks- Jessa Hastings

Demon with Benefits- Aurora Asher

Little Vampire Women- Lynn Messina

Bored Gay Werewolf- Tony Santorella

Shy Trans Banshee- Tony Santorella

Look. It's the April book club roundup. We know. We're late. We're had a lot going on.

This month we went three very different directions and we have absolutely no regrets. We're talking Three Nights in Stockholm by Elizabeth Hardy — the snowed-in, slow burn, enemies to lovers romance that had us feral from page one. Then The Poison Daughter by Sheila Masterson — dark, twisty, and not what we expected in the best possible way. And finally Collateral Damage by Shassii — a sapphic erotic thriller with Stockholm syndrome, enemies to lovers, extreme slow burn, and two completely broken women who will absolutely wreck you. This one is not for the faint hearted and we are obsessed with it.

Three books. Three completely different vibes. One very chaotic book club. This is exactly why we do this.

Perfect for fans of: book club, dark romance, sapphic romance, enemies to lovers, slow burn, contemporary romance, BookTok, spicy books, Three Nights in Stockholm, Elizabeth Hardy, Poison Daughter, Sheila Masterson, Collateral Damage, Shassii, queer romance, spicy podcast

She is one of the biggest names in contemporary romance, and this week she is sitting down with us on Spicy Librarian- and yes, we are absolutely fangirling.

T.L. Swan has built an empire of swoony, steamy, emotionally devastating contemporary romance- and the world is finally catching up. We are talking about her latest releases, including The Heart You Kept, the first in her brand new Kings of the Riviera series, and the news that has the entire romance community absolutely losing their minds- the Miles High Club series is being adapted for Amazon MGM Studios, with TL Swan herself as executive producer.

We get into all of it. The books, the adaptation, what contemporary romance with real edge actually looks like, and why this genre deserves so much more credit than it gets in the spicy book community.

And the real question this episode -is Dee converted?! She came in a sceptic. We are not going to spoil it. You are going to have to listen.

Perfect for fans of: T.L. Swan, Miles High Club, The Stopover, The Heart You Kept, Kings of the Riviera, contemporary romance, Amazon Prime, book to TV adaptation, BookTok, spicy books, romance podcast, Spicy Librarian

Subscribe, leave us a review — and tell us, are YOU a TL Swan convert?

We did it. Our very first Spicy Librarian subscription book box is here - and in this episode, we’re talking about ALL of it.

We’re taking you behind the scenes of what went into creating this box, what we wanted it to represent, what’s inside, and why we chose _*What We Need *_ by Lizzie Stanley as our very first pick. This project means so much to us, and we wanted to properly share the thought, care and intention behind it.

We also know there has been conversation around the box not being what some people expected. We’re addressing that openly, honestly and directly - because transparency matters to us, and so does our community. From the beginning, this box was designed to be a curated reading experience centred around exclusive content, community and discovering incredible romance stories, and we stand proudly by that vision.

This episode is for everyone who received a box, everyone considering joining us in future, and everyone who wants to understand more about what we’re building with The Spicy Librarian. We see you, we appreciate you, and we’re so excited for what comes next.

Books mentioned-

The Stopover- TL Swan

Nocticadia by Keri Lake

The Long Game- Rachel Reid

The Auction - Sadie Kincaid

Starside- Alex Aster

What We Need- Lizzie Stanley

Perfect for fans of: Spicy Librarian podcast, book boxes, subscription boxes, Lizzie Stanley, What We Need, Wishbone Tattoos series, dark romance, BookTok, spicy books, book community, book unboxing, indie romance

Subscribe, leave us a review — and if you got a box, we want to hear from you.

Your favourite chaotic besties are back, and we have a LOT to talk about.

This episode is pure unfiltered Spicy Librarian- no books to review, no guests to impress, just us sitting down for a proper catch-up with the people who make this whole thing worth doing. That's you, by the way. We see you.

We're getting into all the exciting things we have cooking behind the scenes and trust us, the pipeline is looking very spicy right now. We've also got shop and events updates, because things are moving and you are going to want to know about it.

And then there's the Maasquerade Ball. Our masquerade event for the ACOTAR 6 release in October- we are talking details, we are talking chaos, we are talking the event that SJM herself would approve of. Probably. We'd like to think so.

We've also been completely overwhelmed by the gorgeous comments and messages we've had over the past few months and we needed to take a minute to respond to them properly- because you lot are genuinely the best community on the internet and we mean that with our whole hearts.

This is the episode where we just talk. And honestly? You are welcome.

Perfect for fans of: Spicy Librarian podcast, ACOTAR, Sarah J Maas, ACOTAR 6, BookTok, dark romance community, romantasy, book events, spicy books, book podcast

Subscribe, leave us a review and if you've sent us a lovely message recently, this one's for you.

This or that: bookish edition. We are settling scores today and we're serious about it. This is the most fun episode, and with your help, a segment we feel will be sticking around.

This episode we are playing the ultimate bookish this or that game, and the opinions were STRONG. Standalone or 5-part series? Rather meet your favourite author or character? and a bonus f*ck, marry, kill. We went through the choices, we argued, we disagreed, and at one point things got genuinely heated, and we are not sorry.

Whether you have been in the book community for years or you just finished your first spicy read- you are going to have thoughts on these picks. Get in the comments and tell us where you stand because we want the discourse.

This is the most fun episode we have ever recorded and that is saying something.

Perfect for fans of: BookTok, book games, this or that, dark romance, romantasy, contemporary romance, spicy books, book discourse, spicy podcast

Books discussed in this episode: Poison Daughter by Sheila Masterson, Three Nights in Stockholm by Elizabeth Hardy, Collateral Damage by Shassii, Twisted Pawn by LJ Shen, Between the Pines by Amber Palmer, The Wings That Bind by Briar Boleyn, Rites of the Starling by Briar Boleyn, A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas, Magnolia Parks: Into the Dark by Jess Hastings, Here One Moment by Liane Moriarty, Kiss of the Basilisk & Between Two Kings by Lindsay Straube