Podcast: Book Riot

Jeff and Rebecca are joined by romance expert Jessica Pryde to talk about romantasy, current trends in romance, category romance, navigating commercial romance covers, and much more.
Jessica co-hosts Book Riot's When in Romance. You can also find her exclamations about books and internet ridiculousness on BlueSky (JessIsReading) and instagram/threads (jess_is_reading).
Subscribe to the podcast via RSS, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.
Sign up for the Book Riot Podcast Newsletter and follow the show on Instagram and Bluesky.
Get more industry news with our Today in Books daily newsletter.
A new year means a new Read Harder Challenge! Join us as we make our way through 24 tasks meant to expand our reading horizons. Sign up at bookriot.com/readharder.
This content contains affiliate links. When you buy through these links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Discussed in this Episode:
The Book Riot Podcast Patreon
Jennifer Roberson
That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Demon by Kimberly Lemming
Lights Out by Navessa Allen
The Kiss Countdown by Etta Easton
I Think I Like "Cozy" Dark Romance
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jeff is back with his quarterly pile of recent book deal announcements to bounce off Rebecca. One of our favorite recurring episodes.
To listen to the whole thing, check out the Book Riot Podcast Patreon.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jeff and Rebecca spend more time than they would like in legal-land before talking about how everybody hates blurbs, recent reading, and other book news. Then, Brenna Connor of Circana joins Jeff to talk about 2024 book sales highlights and lowlights before looking ahead to 2025.
Subscribe to the podcast via RSS, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.
Sign up for the Book Riot Podcast Newsletter and follow the show on Instagram and Bluesky.
Get more industry news with our Today in Books daily newsletter.
A new year means a new Read Harder Challenge! Join us as we make our way through 24 tasks meant to expand our reading horizons. Sign up at bookriot.com/readharder.
This content contains affiliate links. When you buy through these links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Discussed in this episode:
The Book Riot Podcast Patreon
First Edition
Shout-out to Feedspot for featuring us as #5 in the top 100 book podcasts on the planet
Scarlett Pavlovich sues Neil Gaiman and Amanda Palmer for rape & human trafficking and Netflix adaptation of Sandman to end after second season
Man accused of attacking Salman Rushdie to go to trial
Big 5 and Authors Guild sue Idaho over book banning law
Simon & Schuster’s flagship imprint won’t require blurbs and Rebecca Makkai essay in the NYT
Dystopian novels are on the rise again after the inauguration
On the Hippie Trail
The Loves of My Life
Life in Three Dimensions
Tilt
Bibliophobia by Sarah Chihaya
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jeff and Rebecca consider ten contenders to be the It Book of the Month.
Subscribe to the podcast via RSS, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.
Sign up for the Book Riot Podcast Newsletter and follow the show on Instagram and Bluesky.
Get more industry news with our Today in Books daily newsletter.
A new year means a new Read Harder Challenge! Join us as we make our way through 24 tasks meant to expand our reading horizons. Sign up at bookriot.com/readharder.
Discussed in this Episode:
The Book Riot Podcast Patreon
First Edition
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jeff and Rebecca discuss the new novel by the 2024 Nobel Laureate in Literature, Han Kang.
To listen to the full episode, become a member of the Book Riot Podcast Patreon, if you aren't already.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jeff and Rebecca talk about Dark Horse parting ways with Neil Gaiman, get off some hot takes about bookish social media, go through the ins-and-outs of ebooks coming to Bookshop.org, and more.
Subscribe to the podcast via RSS, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.
Sign up for the Book Riot Podcast Newsletter and follow the show on Instagram and Bluesky.
Get more industry news with our Today in Books daily newsletter.
A new year means a new Read Harder Challenge! Join us as we make our way through 24 tasks meant to expand our reading horizons. Sign up at bookriot.com/readharder.
This content contains affiliate links. When you buy through these links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Discussed in this Episode:
The Book Riot Podcast Patreon
Bookshop.org’s Ebook Launch & Reading 25 Minutes a Day in 2025 with Gretchen Rubin episode of First Edition
Dark Horse Comics drops Neil Gaiman
Bookshop.org launches ebook sales
NYT’s coverage accidentally indicts how bad the old indie ebook options are
Authors Guild introduces “Human Authored” certification
New! Dan! Brown!
Hero of the week: Octavia’s Bookshelf
Defy by Sunita Sah
Y2K by Colette Shade
We Do Not Part by Han Kang
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jeff and Rebecca talk about a bunch of early-ish career writers to keep your eye on.
Subscribe to the podcast via RSS, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.
Sign up for the Book Riot Podcast Newsletter and follow the show on Instagram and Bluesky.
Get more industry news with our Today in Books daily newsletter.
A new year means a new Read Harder Challenge! Join us as we make our way through 24 tasks meant to expand our reading horizons. Sign up at bookriot.com/readharder.
Discussed in this Episode:
The Book Riot Podcast Patreon
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jeff and Rebecca note some side-effects of Onyx Storm's huge release before talking about Oscars nominations, NBCC finalists, recent reading and more. Then, Jami Attenberg talks to Rebecca about how she put together a book fair where every kid can walk away with a book.
Subscribe to the podcast via RSS, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.
Sign up for the Book Riot Podcast Newsletter and follow the show on Instagram and Bluesky.
Get more industry news with our Today in Books daily newsletter.
A new year means a new Read Harder Challenge! Join us as we make our way through 24 tasks meant to expand our reading horizons. Sign up at bookriot.com/readharder.
This content contains affiliate links. When you buy through these links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Discussed in this Episode:
The Book Riot Podcast Patreon
The Onyx Storm roll-out didn’t quite go as planned - and demand crashed the Target website and Fans are not impressed with the “exclusive” art
NBCC finalists
Oscar nominees for Best Adapted Screenplay
Blob
I Heard Her Call My Name by Lucy Sante
The Language of Mathematics by Raul Rojas
Alligator Tears by Edgar Gomez
Life in Three Dimensions by Shigehiro Oishi
Jami's Craft Talk Substack
How We Hacked the Scholastic Book Fair So Every Kid Could Buy a Book
1,000 Words: A Writer's Guide to Staying Creative, Focused, and Productive All Year Round
A Reason to See You Again
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jeff and Rebecca look back and power-rank the books of 2015. Ten picks each, minimal cheating.
Subscribe to the podcast via RSS, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.
Sign up for the Book Riot Podcast Newsletter and follow the show on Instagram and Bluesky.
Get more industry news with our Today in Books daily newsletter.
A new year means a new Read Harder Challenge! Join us as we make our way through 24 tasks meant to expand our reading horizons. Sign up at bookriot.com/readharder.
Discussed in this Episode:
The Book Riot Podcast Patreon
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is a preview of our most recent bonus episode for Patreon members: The January 2025 Hot List Check-in. This is where Jeff offers Rebecca a list of the books he thinks are the current hot books and she tells him he is wrong. Or right. Since Patreon episodes aren't in the main feed, there is some occasional cursing, and in this preview, Jeff had to get out the horn-bleep effect. If you enjoyed this, please consider becoming a paid member of the Book Riot podcast Patreon. We have fun trying to make things you enjoy.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jeff and Rebecca talk about the very, very ugly details emerging about Neil Gaiman, 2024's best-selling books, audio-first publishing, and more. Then, Kelly Jensen and Kathleen Schmidt talk about the price of books and what effects they have.
Subscribe to the podcast via RSS, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.
Sign up for the Book Riot Podcast Newsletter and follow the show on Instagram and Bluesky.
Get more industry news with our Today in Books daily newsletter.
A new year means a new Read Harder Challenge! Join us as we make our way through 24 tasks meant to expand our reading horizons. Sign up at bookriot.com/readharder.
This content contains affiliate links. When you buy through these links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Discussed in this Episode:
Details emerge in sexual assault allegations against Neil Gaiman
Simon & Schuster launches audio-first imprint helmed by Jason Pinter
Print book sales saw small increase in 2024
Steven Soderbergh read more books than I did last year
Publishing Confidential
What Will Potential Tariffs Mean for Comics?
The Little Book of Goat Yoga
Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor
Rebecca Yarros
Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix
Aflame by Pico Iyer
Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan
I Heard Her Call My Name by Lucy Sante
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Randy Winston of The Black List joins Rebecca and Jeff to preview the spring's most interesting literary adaptations.
Subscribe to the podcast via RSS, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.
Sign up for the Book Riot Podcast Newsletter and follow the show on Instagram and Bluesky.
Get more industry news with our Today in Books daily newsletter.
A new year means a new Read Harder Challenge! Join us as we make our way through 24 tasks meant to expand our reading horizons. Sign up at bookriot.com/readharder.
This content contains affiliate links. When you buy through these links, we may earn an affiliate commission.
Discussed in this Episode:
The Book Riot Podcast Patreon
The Black List
The Black List Podcast
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jeff and Rebecca talk about their experience reading Fourth Wing. A word of caution: the book didn't work for them. If hearing honest, free-ranging discussions of the specifics of why is going to be unpleasant, this might be one for you to skip.
If you are interested in the rest and are not already signed up for our Patreon, go here to subscribe and get the whole discussion.
Subscribe to the podcast via RSS, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.
Sign up for the Book Riot Podcast Newsletter and follow the show on Instagram and Bluesky.
Get more industry news with our Today in Books daily newsletter.
A new year means a new Read Harder Challenge! Join us as we make our way through 24 tasks meant to expand our reading horizons. Sign up at bookriot.com/readharder.
This content contains affiliate links. When you buy through these links, we may earn an affiliate commission.
Discussed in this Episode:
Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We kick off the new year in book news by talking about Book Riot's own list of the most anticipated books of 2025, a look at the whiteout that was the 2024 Goodreads Choices Awards before talking about All Fours (Jeff read it). And then some very brief reactions to Fourth Wing (we both read it).
Subscribe to the podcast via RSS, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.
For more industry news, sign up for our Today in Books daily newsletter!
Check out the Book Riot Podcast Book Page on Thriftbooks!
This content contains affiliate links. When you buy through these links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Discussed in this episode:
The Book Riot Podcast on Instagram
The Book Riot Podcast Patreon
Check out new collections on Patreon
Book Riot’s Most Anticipated Books of 2025
The Unbearable Whiteness of the Goodreads Choice Awards
Federal judge strikes down portion of Arkansas book banning law that could have put librarians and booksellers in jail
Christopher Nolan’s next film is an adaptation of The Odyssey
Constance Grady digs into whether there’s actually a crisis of men not reading
Jenna Bush Hager launches imprint with PRH
Katy Waldman Goes Deep on the Romantasy Plagiarism Case
All Fours by Miranda July
Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros
The Heart of Winter
Life in Three Dimensions by Shigehiro Oishi
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jason Blitman of the Gays Reading podcast joins Jeff and Rebecca to talk about more books to watch for in 2025. Jeff and Rebecca also joined Jason on Gays Reading for more picks in this episode.
Subscribe to the podcast via RSS, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.
For more industry news, sign up for our Today in Books daily newsletter!
Check out the Book Riot Podcast Book Page on Thriftbooks!
Discussed in this episode:
Book Riot’s TBR
The Book Riot Podcast on Instagram
The Book Riot Podcast Patreon
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jeff and Rebecca ring in the new year with another It Book knockout round. A storm gathers. Can anyone sail through it?
Subscribe to the podcast via RSS, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.
For more industry news, sign up for our Today in Books daily newsletter!
Check out the Book Riot Podcast Book Page on Thriftbooks!
This content contains affiliate links. When you buy through these links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Discussed in this episode:
Book Riot’s TBR
The Book Riot Podcast on Instagram
The Book Riot Podcast Patreon
The 2025 Read Harder Challenge is live
Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix
Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney
We Do Not Part by Han Kang
Good Dirt by Charmaine Wilkerson
The Loves of My Life by Edmund White
Dare I Say It by Naomi Watts
Three Wild Dogs and the Truth by Markus Zusak
Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor
The Crash by Frieda McFadden
Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A preview of our 2025 Winter Preview Draft on our Patreon. Jeff and Rebecca draft 10 books each and then ask listeners to vote on which list they want to win, for whatever reason they like.
Join us on Patreon for access to early, ad-free listening and all bonus content: https://www.patreon.com/bookriotpodcast
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rebecca sits down with Book Riot's managing editor Vanessa Diaz to discuss Marielle Heller's adaptation of Nightbitch starring Amy Adams and Scoot McNairy. Nightbitch is streaming now on Hulu.
Subscribe to the podcast via RSS, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.
For more industry news, sign up for our Today in Books daily newsletter!
This content contains affiliate links. When you buy through these links, we may earn an affiliate commission.
Discussed in this Episode:
Marielle Heller Explores the Feral Side of Motherhood
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jeff and Rebecca preview the books of 2025 (that we know about) that will be on the reading world's radar in 2025.
Subscribe to the podcast via RSS, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.
For more industry news, sign up for our Today in Books daily newsletter!
Check out the Book Riot Podcast Book Page on Thriftbooks!
Discussed in this episode:
Book Riot’s TBR
The Book Riot Podcast on Instagram
The Book Riot Podcast Patreon
The 2025 Read Harder Challenge is live
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A little teaser for our Best of the Rest of 2024 episode over on the Book Riot podcast Patreon. Rebecca and Jeff talk about their favorite non-book things from 2024, a few of which might be of interest to other humans.
Join us on Patreon for access to early, ad-free listening and bonus content: https://www.patreon.com/bookriotpodcast
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices