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blueraccoonpetraDarth Vader learned his torture tactics from the Vogons.
petralikeadeuceBy the time Tashi told Art she was leaving Stanford to rehab her injury and start training for the pro tour, he’d already heard it twice, from other people.
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The Deathless One by Emma Hamm is $1.99! This came out in August and I mentioned it in Hide Your Wallet. I think I preordered this one. Did any of you pick this one up?
A princess murdered at the altar makes a deal with the god of death for vengeance and to save her people in this first in a unique romantasy trilogy from USA TODAY bestselling author Emma Hamm.
Jessamine was raised to be a leader for her people, but when the land is overrun by an incurable plague, she must enter a political marriage to save them all. A union that should have brought hope only brings death as her new husband murders her at the wedding altar and seizes the throne.
But her death is just the beginning. Her spirit is met by the Deathless One, a god of death yearning to return to the mortal plane, and he needs her help. The two of them make a deal—her life and the return of her kingdom in exchange for his resurrection. But the Deathless One is a known trickster, and a deal with him is one made in blood.
Jessamine knows the Deathless One is a dangerous ally, but the longer they work together, the more she wants him and the less she can stay away. As their connection deepens, soon she wonders if she even wants this contract to end. Perhaps the more appealing throne is the one by his side, but she’d have to turn her back on her people to get it.
Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire is $2.99! I love this series. The writing is so beautiful and I would happily send 300+ pages in the world McGuire has created. However, I will warn that these books have a haunting sadness to them or can be downright horrific.
Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children
No Solicitations
No Visitors
No Quests
Children have always disappeared under the right conditions; slipping through the shadows under a bed or at the back of a wardrobe, tumbling down rabbit holes and into old wells, and emerging somewhere… else.
But magical lands have little need for used-up miracle children.
Nancy tumbled once, but now she’s back. The things she’s experienced… they change a person. The children under Miss West’s care understand all too well. And each of them is seeking a way back to their own fantasy world.
But Nancy’s arrival marks a change at the Home. There’s a darkness just around each corner, and when tragedy strikes, it’s up to Nancy and her new-found schoolmates to get to the heart of the matter.
No matter the cost.
Make It Sweet by Kristen Callihan is $1.99! This was mentioned this in a previous Hide Your Wallet and said she was tempted by the blurb. I haven’t kept up with Callihan’s more current romances. What do you think of them?
From New York Times bestselling author Kristen Callihan comes a charming, emotional romance about redefining dreams and discovering unlikely love along the way.
Life for Emma isn’t good. The world knows her as Princess Anya on Dark Castle, but then her character gets the axe—literally. The cherry on top is finding her boyfriend in bed with another woman. She needs a break, and sanctuary comes in the form of Rosemont, a gorgeous estate in California promising rest and relaxation.
Then she meets the owner’s equally gorgeous grandson, ex–hockey player and current recluse Lucian Osmond, and she sees her own pain and yearning reflected in his eyes.
He’s charming when he wants to be but also secretive and gruff, with protective walls as thick as Emma’s own. Despite a growing attraction, they avoid each other.
But then there’s an impromptu nighttime skinny-dip, and Lucian’s luscious homemade tarts and cream cakes start arriving at Emma’s door, tempting her to taste life again…
In trying to stay apart, they only grow closer—and their broken pieces just might fit together and make them whole.
RECOMMENDED: Milk Street: Tuesday Nights by Christopher Kimball is $1.99! I own this one and definitely recommend it. I especially appreciate the “One Pot” section, as someone who hates dirtier a gazillion dishes while cooking.
At Milk Street, Chris Kimball and his test cooks use techniques from around the globe to deliver bolder flavors and healthier dishes in less time with simple techniques. On any given Tuesday, you can create interesting, delicious food in a flash.
With more than 200 recipes including quick yet flavorful soups and stews, simple salads, pastas that come together in minutes with ingredients you already have on hand, the home cook’s essential problem–What’s for dinner Tuesday night?–has never tasted so good. And say goodbye to the freezer-burned gallon of ice cream you’ve kept on hand for just this purpose: there are even weeknight-appropriate sweets you can whip up after dinner and still have time to eat before bed.
Best of all, every Tuesday Nights recipe is backed by the rigorous testing for which Chris Kimball is famous. With a photograph for every recipe, helpful tips and tricks for novice cooks and step-by-step visual instruction, each recipe is guaranteed to work when you need it most.
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With the world considerably more tuned in to queer romance than it was just a couple of months ago, thanks to the smash success of the Canadian adaptation of Rachel Reid’s Heated Rivalry, I’d like to thank publishing for keeping us well-fed with a glorious flood this month. While I could only feature five here, make sure you also check out the new Alexandria Bellefleur f/f, Playing for Keeps; Pumped, the trans m/m newest installment in K.M. Neuhold’s Gymbos series; and Taleen Voskuni’s new bi m/f Our Ex’s Wedding.
Author: Kallie Emblidge
Released: January 13, 2026 by Dell
Genre: Contemporary Romance, LGBTQIA, Romance
A Premier League football star must defend his roster spot—and his heart—when a threateningly talented and handsome midfielder joins his team in this utterly charming debut romance, a profound love letter to the world’s most popular sport.
Oliver Harris is football royalty in London. Ordinarily the star of the Camden Roses is calm, cool, and collected, keeping his club relevant with his prowess in the midfield and his mighty left foot. But this season, the threats There’s Camden’s management to contend with—complete with a prickly new Dutch coach, eager for better results—and a midseason injury, which sidelines him when his team needs him most. When a recruit is called up to fill in, Oliver fears he’ll be replaced. If he can mentor this younger talent, then they might just have a chance at winning, together.
After a string of lackluster performances in his native Spain, Leonardo Davies-Villanueva is looking for one last shot with the club he always dreamed of, where he once played in the youth academy. Oliver immediately finds confident, eager Leo irritating. He can barely go through the motions, let alone coach him, without outright hostility. When he comes to admire Leo’s skill and warms to his humor and energy, though, he begins to see Leo as a friend—and then, to his mounting horror, as something more.
Leo craves Oliver’s attention and partnership; Oliver can’t afford to fall in love with his teammate. He’s always kept a tight lid on his sexuality in a league that’s never had a player come out. As the season heats up, a lot more than football hangs in the balance. Can Oliver—and Leo—win when it counts most?
“An exuberant heart-squeeze of a book . . . Two Left Feet is the kind of joyful, hopeful story the romance genre was made for.”—Rachel Lynn Solomon, author of What Happens in Amsterdam
For those of you who’ve been lusting after more m/m sports romance, debut Kallie Emblidge is here to help with your yearning by providing so much delicious yearning of its own. Set in the world of football (the non-American kind), it’s got everything from sexy accents to competitive natures and passion to spare. The perfect pick for that post-HR slump.
Author: Jessica James
Released: January 13, 2026 by Berkley
Genre: Contemporary Romance, LGBTQIA, Romance
Series: Glitter Bats #2
The decade-long friendship between two rock goddesses is thrust into the spotlight after their mutual desire strikes a perfect—and very public—chord.
For Glitter Bats keys player Jane Mercer, writing music helps tune out her self-doubt from a strict upbringing. Composing also distracts from her longtime feelings for her bandmate and best friend, Keeley, who Jane can’t pursue if she wants to keep her bisexuality out of the media. But when an incompetent percussionist quits mid–recording session on one of her major solo projects, there’s only one drummer to call to make the deadline.
Keeley Cunningham is determined to do what’s best for the newly-reunited Glitter Bats—including conceal her incurable attraction to Jane by keeping her distance. Still, when Jane asks for her help in the studio, Keeley drops everything to fill in. They collaborate harmoniously… until their repressed feelings crescendo into a massive argument about the band’s future that leaves them barely speaking.
As music forces Jane and Keeley into increasingly close proximity, the lingering tension finally ignites into the romance they’ve both been craving—and it’s hot, emotional, and fundamentally secret. But after an intimate moment is caught on camera, they’ll have to decide if their duet can survive its debut—both on and off stage.
I absolutely adored Jessica James’s last Glitter Bats book, a bi m/f rock star romance, so I’m thrilled to see her returning to that world with an f/f between bandmates that promises to smolder at least as hard. Between forced proximity and the secretive nature of their romance, Jane and Keeley’s attraction has all the ingredients necessary for extreme hotness, while bringing us back to a whole cast of characters we’ve already come to know and love.
Author: Julian Winters
Released: January 27, 2026 by St. Martin's Griffin
Genre: Contemporary Romance, LGBTQIA, Romance
Sparks fly in this second chance m/m rom com when an unlucky-in-love event manager realizes the man-of-honor at the high profile wedding he’s planning is the same man who broke his heart.
They say you never forget your first kiss. But Jordan Carter wishes he could forget the one he shared with Jamie Peters as teens. And the one they almost shared again last year before Jamie made it clear he wasn’t the “right” man for Jordan to be with while he’s figuring himself out.
Now, Jordan’s fully focused on his career at 24 Carter Gold, his family’s event planning company, and ready to move on – until his boss assigns him to plan a new client’s high-profile wedding. The bride’s man-of-honor? None other than Jamie.
As things ramp up the closer they get to the wedding, so does Jordan’s relationship with Jamie, with sarcastic asides turning into steamy hook-ups. But can Jordan afford to pursue Jamie if he’s still unsure who he is? Or is knowing who he loves enough? Venue shopping, cake-tastings, and dress fittings with the man he can’t forget just might change the man Jordan Carter is meant to become.
Last First Kiss by Julian Winters is a second chance romance about finding yourself–and the love of your life.
Look, I am thrilled that Julian Winters is still writing YA, but I am an entire other level of ecstatic that he’s bringing us another adult romance, because now that we’ve finished 2025 I can tell you that his I Think They Love You was my favorite m/m of the entire year. If you read it, you knew these were going to be the next characters to get their own book, because the chemistry between them was completely unignorable, and the added bonus of Jordan being demisexual so that when he wants Jamie, you know he is so all in is just *chef’s kiss*. There’s patience and comfort checks and the balance of sweet and heat is just, well, trademark Julian Winters, really.
Author: Ali Mulford
Released: January 27, 2026 by Rogue Fables Pty Ltd
Genre: Contemporary Romance, LGBTQIA, Romance
Series: Prickle Island Zoo #5
When socially anxious, secretly asexual, and thoroughly horse-illiterate Hollis lands a job at Prickle Island Zoo (by pretending to be a cowgirl from Wyoming), she’s just hoping for a fresh start . . . and maybe to hide away from the world with a Jane Austen novel and meerkat in tow.
What Hollis doesn’t expect is to fall head over heels—literally—for the charming non-binary zookeeper, Heron.
Heron Lachlan knows that living at their family zoo on a tiny island and being ace means the dating pool is zero. Heron accepts that their longest running relationship will probably be with a literal goose . . . until Hollis trots in wearing a thrifted cowboy hat and lying through her teeth.
As zoo hijinks, escaped ostriches, and a meddlesome family of zookeepers bring them closer, Hollis and Heron must face their fears, their secret hopes, and their wildly incompatible knowledge of equine fun facts.
A light-hearted, queer rom-com about finding your person, embracing your truths, and rewriting the rules of love—Hold Your Horses is the joyful, asexual slow-burn you didn’t know you needed.
Each book in the Prickle Island Zoo series can be read as a standalone. Feel free to jump into this series wherever you like!
Mulford’s been busy, between their Golden Court fantasy series, coauthored Maple Hollow paranormals, and this, the Prickle Island Zoo series, of which Hold Your Horses is the fifth book. The series features both cishet and queer romances (including the Sapphic Party Animal), but this one’s got the rarest pairing, with two ace MCs, one of whom is nonbinary. It promises horse puns (which is an elite class of puns), a slow burn, and general zoo hijinks, and sounds like an utterly delightful way to bring in the new year.
Author: Jordyn Taylor
Released: January 27, 2026 by Gallery Books
Genre: Contemporary Romance, LGBTQIA, Romance
For fans of Alison Cochrun and Abby Jimenez, a heartfelt and sexy romantic comedy following one bi woman’s messy journey through coming out—and reluctantly falling for a straight man. From the USA TODAY bestselling author of Wicked Darlings .
Girl comes out as bi. Girl falls for a straight guy.
Simone Whittaker has spent the first three decades of her life pretending to be straight. But when the girl she never dared call her girlfriend walks away, she decides she’s done living in fear. Her uptight parents don’t take the news well, but a viral coming-out post and a new job at Toronto’s Rainbow Museum offer a fresh start—and a crash course in queer adulthood.
That is, until her first day of work, when Simone ruins a project designed by Ryan Foley—the museum’s gruff and annoyingly hot carpenter—earning her the top spot on his enemies list. When they’re forced to take a work trip to the Whistler Pride and Ski Festival together, Simone vows not to let a grumpy straight guy ruin her first Pride. But Ryan keeps surprising her—thoughtful, vulnerable, and impossible to ignore. As sparks fly on chairlifts and by crackling fires, one snowstorm—and one bed—changes everything.
Back in Toronto, however, reality sets in. Dating a guy—and being mistaken for straight—weren’t exactly part of Simone’s coming-out plan. As the pressure builds between the identity she’s just beginning to explore and the relationship that wasn’t supposed to happen, she starts to What if claiming one part of herself means erasing the other?
Taylor’s best known for her Sapphic Jewish historical YA, including last year’s The Rebel Girls of Rome, but her debut adult romance is thoroughly modern, and will definitely be relatable to lots of bi readers. All the angst and stress and bravery of coming out, only to have people think you never needed to in the first place? But Meet You at the Summit emphatically conveys how identity doesn’t hinge on a single relationship or attraction, and neither does wanting to be an active and inspirational member of the queer community, and yeah, it’s got some solid steam, too.
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Happy New Year!
This week we are talking with Katie, Kate, and Adam – we’ve got book recs, wishes, spreadsheet discussions, dungeons, and some wishes that don’t violate the Hatch Act.
There’s also rather appalling poo adventure immediately after my first interview. Pew pew!
Thanks to your Patreon pledges, we have reached our goal with the F’ICE campaign, and all dynamic ads are now turned off permanently for everyone who listens. Thank you so much!
You can gift a Patreon membership if you’re so inclined! A lovely gift for someone you know who loves the show.
AND! The Smart Bitches Candle Collection is available now for a limited time – until January 5, and boy, howdy, does Wax Cabin Candle Company ship fast.
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petraRed Hood and the Outlaws sit around chewing the fat after their first successful mission.
petrarachelmanijapetrapetraskygiantsgenarti, who is either just about to find out this fact from my post, or has known for weeks and is just biding her time to reveal her knowledge and I'm just about to find out that fact after she reads this. Stay tuned for breaking developments! raven's Yuletide letter at the same time I happened to be rereading The Dispossessed I decided I was also going to write a treat for raven that I would present to genarti as my assignment, which ended up as More A Comment Than A Question, a strange little timebending fic about Shevek's daughter contacting Laia Aseio Odo through time and space and not really necessarily making the most of it. genarti, raven's prompt went to the pinch-hit list and I had to frantically fake a different panic than the panic I was actually feeling -- ANYWAY. Hilariously, raven discovered my identity immediately due to the usernames reveal error whereas genarti was at church through that entire event and thus remained completely oblivious (unless, of course, she isn't, see first paragraph above.) A very chaotic Yuletide on several fronts! But I had a lot of fun writing both fics although I would prefer not to be wrangling quite this much deception every year.petrahalfshellvenuskaberettI have, over the past twenty-four hours or so, been pulling cards from my various tarot and oracle decks (by which I mean "all three of them"), and the set I got from The Golden Wheel was particularly striking:
(The Eight of Wands, The World, and The Fool. The sky seems continuous across all three cards; the Eight of Wands faces right, and The Fool faces left, both leaping toward The World, mirror images of one another.)
blueraccoon - cinnamon rolls, the recipepetra - Podfic: Oh freddled gruntbuggly - Darth Vader reads his poetry to torture Leiapetra - Recommendation: Luck, be a lady - due South fancomic by gjdrawslikeadeuce - Yuletide 2026 story: If Destiny's Kind (Challengers, OT3)smartbitches_feed - Kristen Callihan, a Cookbook, & Morevass - Variousdine - (no subject)beanside - In midst of sinners flocking up like souless sheepsmartbitches_feed - January 2026 Queer Romancesdine - begin as you mean to go onsmartbitches_feed - 699. Holiday Wishes VII with Katie, Kate and Adampetra - The sum of ourselves - DCU story, co-written with Tépetra - The great callipgyian spheres - sonnet for minoanmissrachelmanija - My Yuletide Storiespetra - Vids that will never be: Oh, Streetcar! + Interview with the Vampire (TV)petra - Snowflake Challenge #1 - Introductionskygiants - (no subject)petra - Yuletide Story Received Update - The Galavant Song!halfshellvenus - Happy New Year!kaberett - stories and selvestimeasmymeasurekrja