Cali and Jess rave on this debut thriller. This episode contains spoilers for the entire book. Please purchase and read this brand new book before listening!

Four women receive an anonymous note while at their husband’s golf tournament that says “I’ve had an affair with one of your husbands”. Who sent the letter… will they figure it out or die trying?

Trigger Warnings: Murder, Suicide, Infidelity, Body Imagery

Link to buy The Keepers of Men: https://a.co/d/3vSqcJM

Jess and Cali discuss their adventure with The Hobbit.

Trigger Warnings: Violence, Death, Frightening Imagery and Characters, Themes of Fear and Survival.

Jess and Cali talk things in book culture that grind their gears.

Cali and Jess have very differing opinions on Ice Planet Barbarians.

Trigger Warnings: RAPE (Depicted), ABORTION (Depicted), SEX TRAFFICKING, MURDER, VIOLENCE, KIDNAPPING, AND DRUGS. This book did not include a trigger warning list so we tried to capture it the best we could.

Cali and Jess banter on the importance of Libraries and discuss their abundance of resources for National Library week.

Citations: https://dp.la/exhibitions/history-us-public-libraries

https://www.magnetaba.com/blog/us-literacy-statistics#:~:text=Current%20Literacy%20Rates%20in%20the%20U.S.&text=As%20of%202024%2C%20the%20literacy,below%20a%205th%2Dgrade%20level.

Jess and Cali reminisce on one of their favorite childhood reads and fall in love all over again with Bunnicula. What are some of your favorite childhood reads and have you reread them as an adult?

Cali and Jess rave about how much they loved Scythe & Sparrow and the whole Ruinous Love Trilogy.

Trigger/Content Warnings: References to domestic violence (not depicted), psychological/emiotonal abuse, sexual harassment, threats & intimidation, misogyny, parental neglect (not depicted), child physical abuse (not depicted), eyeballs & eyelids, staple guns and various sharp objects, drug addicted raccoon, clowns, medical trauma, injured animal (but they are ok!), explicit sex scenes

The Bookish Banter Babes discuss a book called Loving Carolina, supporting recovery in Western North Carolina after hurricane Helene.

Book Link: https://a.co/d/hR2v2ae

Resources for those interested in supporting recovery efforts:

• ​The Blueridge Waymakers: @blueridgewaymakers

• ​Roar WNC: www.facebook.com/share/18f6q3pYw4/?mibextid=wwXIfr

• ​Beloved Asheville: belovedasheville.com

• ​On SITE Disaster Relief: OnSiteRelief.org

• ​Precision Grading (Jake Jarvis): You can make a donation to Jarvis' efforts using Venmo account @Jake-Jarvis-13. You can also mail a check to: Precision Grading, 99 Polaris Drive, Saluda, NC 28773

• ​Valley String Disaster Relief: valleystrongdisasterrelief.org