Welcome to the Everygirl Book Club Podcast—an extension of our virtual book club and your inside look at the book world. Each episode brings you exclusive conversations with bestselling authors, creators, and industry insiders, alongside deep dives into the stories everyone’s talking about. From the viral books taking over your feed to the latest BookTok and BookThreads drama, upcoming releases we can’t wait to read, and behind-the-scenes publishing buzz, we’re covering all things books, culture, and conversation. Whether you’re a casual reader or fully booked and busy, this is your place to stay in the know and obsessed with what’s next on your TBR.
#2 Erica Hendry: Bravoverse, Obscure Pop Culture References, and Messy Main Characters
Episode 2
Tuesday, June 30, 2026 • Duration 01:06:45
#002: Bravoverse, Obscure Pop Culture References, and Messy Main Characters with Erica Hendry
In partnership with BookSparks, The Everygirl Book Club welcomes Erica Hendry, author of June Book Club pick, Let's Not Go Overboard Here.
If you've ever defended your love of reality TV, assigned yourself a favorite boy band member, or found comfort in messy female characters, this episode is for you.
Erica joins Garri and Lauren to chat about how her debut novel came to be, why pop culture is so much more than a guilty pleasure, and how she built a mystery that's equal parts funny, heartfelt, and deeply relatable. Along the way, they swap book recommendations, reminisce about the pop culture references that live in their heads rent-free, and make the case for letting people unapologetically love the things they love.
Chapters
00:00 Welcome & introducing Erica Hendry
02:49 Reading Receipts: What Erica is reading now, recent 5-star reads, and her most anticipated upcoming releases
08:18 Erica's journey to publishing her debut novel
13:26 Writing authentic characters through pop culture
20:54 Balancing humor, grief & emotional depth
23:24 Why reality TV fans are misunderstood
31:25 Do pop culture references date a novel?
35:08 Why we should let people love what they love
43:07 Building the world of Let's Not Go Overboard Here
47:25 The parallels between reality TV and real life
53:17 Rapid-fire questions with Erica
1:03:43 Final thoughts & what's next for Erica
Books Mentioned
A Deadly Episode by Anthony Horowitz
Phoebe Berman's Gonna Lose It by Brooke Averick
Night Objects by Eli Raphael
Big Nobody by Alex Kadis
Hopeless Romantics by Mhairi McFarlane
Big Little Truths by Liane Moriarty
You'll Love It Here by Natalie Sue
Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging by Louise Rennison
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
High Fidelity by Nick Hornby
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
Retro by Jessica M. Goldstein
The Book of Luke by Lovell Holder
Enjoy the episode? Like and follow The Everygirl Book Club Podcast, leave a rating and review, and share the episode with a fellow reader. Then, join the conversation on Instagram @theeverygirlbookclub for monthly book picks, book recommendations, reading challenges, and more. Fill out this form to submit your own reader prescriptions or request specific discussion topics.
#1: Hot Takes, Top Reads of 2026, and the MMCs We Actually Hate
Episode 1
Tuesday, June 30, 2026 • Duration 59:28
Hot Takes, Top Reads of 2026, and the MMCs We Actually Hate
#001: In this episode of The Everygirl Book Club podcast, Lauren and Garri share the books that made them lifelong readers, their evolving reading phases, and how BookTok shaped (and later sharpened) their tastes. They discuss mood reading, cringe in romance, DNFing, and their auto-buy authors. They share their all-time favorite reads as well as their 2026 highs and lows (so far). They swap current reads and audiobook habits, deliver hot takes (including loving Silver Elite despite the hate, disliking Crescent City, and Garri’s case against Fourth Wing’s Xaden), and answer member-submitted recommendation requests. Finally, they reveal and contextualize The Everygirl Book Club's summer picks—Let’s Not Go Overboard Here, Love By the Book, and Both Can Be True—plus a bonus read, A Good Person, and close with the LITigation segment, defending unlikable main characters and pushing back on the idea that “all romantasy is the same.”
Chapters
00:46 Read Receipts
06:24 Book Taste Explained
10:58 Auto Buy Authors
15:31 All Time Favorites
21:28 2026 Highs and Lows
25:41 Current Reads
27:29 Hear Me Out
36:41 Listener Prescriptions
42:41 Summer Book Club Picks
53:21 LITigation
Books Mentioned
Percy Jackson and the Olympians by Rick Riordan
The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
#4 Ashley Poston: The Power of Fandoms, Magical Realism, and Negative Reviews
Episode 4
Friday, July 10, 2026 • Duration 01:04:22
#4: The Power of Fandoms, Magical Realism, and Negative Reviews
The Everygirl Book Club hosts interview New York Times bestselling author Ashley Poston about her novel The Someday Garden, in which Sophie, the new head gardener at Lilymoor, discovers a secret garden and a mysterious man trapped inside. Poston explains how growing up in fandom and writing fanfic shaped her voice and led to her magical realism romances. She shares her craft process: using fanfic-style scenarios to test character chemistry, then ensuring the magic serves character growth. Poston reflects on The Seven-Year Slip’s personal origins, its reader-driven “long tail” success, coping with grief while writing it, handling reviews (including a harsh Kirkus line as motivation), researching gardens despite having a “brown thumb,” drafting The Someday Garden’s time-based magic through multiple versions, and teases a forthcoming romantasy duology.
0:00 – Introduction
2:03 – The Dead Romantics & Discovering Romance
6:27 – Fandom, Fanfic & Reylo
12:47 – Characters, Magic & Writing Process
15:35 – The Seven-Year Slip's Success
28:20 – On Reviews, Ratings & Reader Taste
35:20 – The Someday Garden & The Secret Garden
41:12 – Sophie, Grief & the Garden's Magic
47:10 – The Challenge of Writing Time Travel
51:52 – About Time & Character Inspirations
57:23 – Easter Eggs & the Ashley Poston Universe
58:20 – The End of an Era & What's Next
1:00:59 – Book Recommendations & Closing
Books mentioned:
The Someday Garden – Ashley Poston
Movies/TV shows mentioned:
#3 Jessica M. Goldstein: The Absurdity of Office Culture, Nostalgia, and Tech Billionaires
Thursday, July 2, 2026 • Duration 01:14:05
Jessica M. Goldstein: The Absurdity of Office Culture, Nostalgia, and Tech Billionaires
The Everygirl Book Club hosts an interview with debut novelist and journalist Jessica M. Goldstein about her novel Retro—a speculative time-travel novel that kept us hooked from the moment we first read the synopsis—discussing “the sickening pain of nostalgia,” escapism, and why female friendships and platonic love are undervalued. Goldstein shares formative childhood reads and describes her affinity for vintage media and film craftsmanship. She explains building Retro’s grounded speculative world—an office-run time-travel agency using a Metro-like system—while setting clear limits, blending satire with serious themes of debt, corporate power, moral responsibility, modern dating, and the need to stay present. Goldstein also reflects on moving from journalism and McSweeney’s satire to speculative fiction, and on crafting an emotionally open ending meant to spark debate.
Chapters
00:26 Why Retro hooked us
01:15 The books that shaped Jessica as a writer
04:12 Developing her love of vintage media
10:37 Nostalgia and escapism
15:42 Building Retro's world
21:46 Offices are actually so weird
32:19 Moving from Journalism to Fiction
36:35 Laughing at reality
44:59 The nostalgia trap
46:58 Choosing hope amid uncertainty
53:57 Friendship as a lifeline
01:02:36 Balancing humor and heart
01:08:12 On the importance of staying present
Books Mentioned
Retro
Alice in Wonderland
The Wizard of Oz
The Phantom Tollbooth
Movies Mentioned
#7: Summer Reading Updates, Fourth Wing News, and Dystopian Hyperfixations
Episode 7
Tuesday, August 4, 2026 • Duration 53:30
The Everygirl Book Club hosts are back with summer reading updates, five-star book reviews, and the latest bookish news. They share why Habits of the Sea and The Good Parts earned perfect ratings, give their first impressions of Bad Words, and explain why Broken Dove didn't live up to the hype after loving Silver Elite. Plus, they check in on their Summer Reading Challenge progress, swap recommendations for the perfect late-summer reads, discuss exciting updates from the Fourth Wing universe and Taylor Jenkins Reid, and finally reveal September's Everygirl Book Club pick.
00:00 Everygirl Book Club Intro
00:35 Read Receipts
23:17 Summer Reading Challenge Rules
24:33 Challenge Progress and Picks
25:52 Girls Girl Coming of Age Rec
30:43 More Summer Reads
32:42 Fourth Wing Updates
37:20 TJR New Release
39:28 Reader Prescriptions
45:17 September Pick Reveal
47:41 Litigation Book of Summer Debate
Books mentioned:
Habits of the Sea by Shay Earnshaw
The Unmaking of June Farrow by Adrienne Young
The Good Parts by Evann Normandin
Into the Blue by Emma Brodie
Bad Words by Rioghnach Robinson
Silver Elite by Dani Francis
Broken Dove (follow-up to Silver Elite) by Dani Francis
Love By The Book by Jessica George
Conform by Ariel Sullivan
Beneath (Conform prequel) by Ariel Sullivan
#6 Andy Hunter: Taking on Amazon, Ethical Consumption, and Hoarding Books
Episode 6
Friday, July 24, 2026 • Duration 01:00:40
The Everygirl Book Club hosts an interview with Andy Hunter, founder and CEO of Bookshop.org and publisher of Literary Hub, Bookmarks, and CrimeReads. Andy shares his current reads and recommendations, how books helped him navigate a challenging upbringing, and the formative titles that shaped his life. He discusses the creation of Bookshop.org and its mission to support independent bookstores in the face of Amazon’s dominance, early skepticism from investors, the platform’s rapid pandemic-era growth, and the impact of BookTok on book sales and niche bookstores. Andy also dives into Bookshop’s goals for the future, including improving bookstore technology and expanding independent bookstore access to e-books.
00:00 Welcome and Introductions
00:42 Vacation Reads and ARCs
06:10 How Books Shaped Andy
07:41 Childhood Favorites and Classics
13:03 Raising Readers at Home
15:12 Building Bookshop Against Amazon
20:06 BookTok and Indie Bookstore Boom
26:09 Opening a Bookstore Advice
27:41 Boldness and Embracing Failure
29:46 Anti-Acquisition Guardrails
42:10 Affordable Ethical Reading
45:56 Finding Better Book Recs
49:30 Impact And Future Plans
59:29 Final Thanks And Sign Off
Books mentioned:
Dodge City by Patrick deWitt
French Exit by Patrick deWitt
The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt
A Real Animal by Emeline Atwood
#5 Rachel Lynn Solomon: Pop Stars, Slutty Little Earrings, and Emotionally Mature Men
Episode 5
Tuesday, July 14, 2026 • Duration 56:13
The Everygirl Book Club hosts an interview with author Rachel Lynn Solomon ahead of her novel Extracurricular, about former pop star Ramona Wilder starting college and developing chemistry with her psychology professor, Nick, while trying to escape a toxic, objectifying career and heal from an emotionally abusive mother. Solomon discusses the books that made her want to write (especially Meg Cabot’s The Princess Diaries), her chaotic “Mad Libs” drafting process across YA and adult, and why adult romance allows broader life questions and more explicit content while still modeling healthy desire, consent, and communication for teens. She explains her draw to entertainment settings, researching authentic Los Angeles details, crafting a charged meet-cute, and balancing the professor-student power dynamic by giving Ramona agency.
00:00 Meet Rachel Lynn Solomon
02:46 Drafting Process
03:55 YA Versus Adult Romance
06:23 Fanfic Reader Origins
09:47 Why Entertainment Settings
14:10 Writing Extracurricular
23:53 Strangers And Meet Cutes
28:17 Fame Persona vs Person
30:40 Balancing Pop and Trauma
34:04 Girlhood and Fandom
39:12 Parasocial Loneliness
44:23 Tropes as Marketing
50:22 Therapy is Sexy
53:10 Book Recs and Farewell
Books Mentioned
The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot
The Ex Talk by Rachel Lynn Solomon
Business Or Pleasure by Rachel Lynn Solomon
Isn't It Obvious? by Rachel Runya Katz
Musicians/Artists Mentioned
Related Shows Based on Content Similarities
Discover shows related to The Everygirl Book Club, based on actual content similarities. Explore podcasts with similar topics, themes, and formats, backed by real data.
The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion by Beth Brower
Habits of the Sea by Shea Ernshaw
Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor
Blood Bound by Ellis Hunter
Songbird of the Sorrows by Braidee Otto
Crescent City by Sarah J. Maas
Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros
Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas
Silver Elite by Dani Francis
Yellowface by R.F. Kuang
Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke
Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V.E. Schwab
With All My Haunted Heart by Isabel Stirling
Happily Ever Afterlife by Emma R. Alban
Wayward by Blake Crouch
Happy Place by Emily Henry
June Baby by Shannon Garvey
Let's Not Go Overboard Here by Erica Hendry
Love by the Book by Jessica George
Both Can Be True by Jessica Guerriri
A Good Person by Kirsten King
Enjoy the episode? Like and follow The Everygirl Book Club Podcast, leave a rating and review, and share the episode with a fellow reader. Then, join the conversation on Instagram @theeverygirlbookclub for monthly book picks, book recommendations, reading challenges, and more. Fill out this form to submit your own reader prescriptions or request specific discussion topics.
Geekerella (Once Upon a Con trilogy) – Ashley Poston
Novel Love Story – Ashley Poston
Bishop Takes King (Hawkeye) – Ashley Poston
Priory of the Orange Tree – Samantha Shannon
Howl's Moving Castle – Diana Wynne Jones
The Secret Garden – Frances Hodgson Burnett
A Little Princess – Frances Hodgson Burnett
Fourth Wing – Rebecca Yarros
Dearly Departed – Chip Ponds
The House of Now and Then – Edward Underhill
The Summer Girlfriend – Kristina Forest
Romantic Hero – Kirsty Greenwood
Star Wars (franchise, plus Ashley's upcoming Star Wars novel)
Avatar: The Last Airbender
About Time
Fairy Tale
Dimension 20 / Dropout (TV series)
Enjoy the episode? Like and follow The Everygirl Book Club Podcast, leave a rating and review, and share the episode with a fellow reader. Then, join the conversation on Instagram @theeverygirlbookclub for monthly book picks, book recommendations, reading challenges, and more. Fill out this form to submit your own reader prescriptions or request specific discussion topics.
Enjoy the episode? Like and follow The Everygirl Book Club Podcast, leave a rating and review, and share the episode with a fellow reader. Then, join the conversation on Instagram @theeverygirlbookclub for monthly book picks, book recommendations, reading challenges, and more. Fill out this form to submit your own reader prescriptions or request specific discussion topics.
Enjoy the episode? Like and follow The Everygirl Book Club Podcast, leave a rating and review, and share the episode with a fellow reader. Then, join the conversation on Instagram @theeverygirlbookclub for monthly book picks, book recommendations, reading challenges, and more. Fill out this form to submit your own reader prescriptions or request specific discussion topics.
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson
Watership Down by Richard Adams
The Tin Drum by Gunter Grass
The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
Charlotte's Web by E.B. White
The Mixed-Up Files of Basil E. Frankweiler by E. L. Konigsburg
The Dark is Rising series by Susan Cooper
Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery
Enjoy the episode? Like and follow The Everygirl Book Club Podcast, leave a rating and review, and share the episode with a fellow reader. Then, join the conversation on Instagram @theeverygirlbookclub for monthly book picks, book recommendations, reading challenges, and more. Fill out this form to submit your own reader prescriptions or request specific discussion topics.
Enjoy the episode? Like and follow The Everygirl Book Club Podcast, leave a rating and review, and share the episode with a fellow reader. Then, join the conversation on Instagram @theeverygirlbookclub for monthly book picks, book recommendations, reading challenges, and more. Fill out this form to submit your own reader prescriptions or request specific discussion topics.
