Amy & Book Club

Eggshell is a young adult novella set in 2000s Adelaide that tells the story of Kira, a sarcastic, cynical teenager living in a council house with her Cantonese grandmother (Apoh) and her rebellious older cousin, Jake. As Kira navigates her experience of Year 12, the novella grapples with themes of identity, racism, romance, sexuality and adolescence.

Join Amy, Payton & Abby as we deep dive into Eggshell and ask each other impo...

Join us in conversation with New York Times bestselling author, Amie Kaufman, as we continue Young Adult month! We discuss the novels that shaped Amie as a young adult herself, the YA genre as a literature of transformation, what it's like to write in conversation with teenagers, how to find the quiet moments when writing with pace, how Amie got a tour of NASA, and we take a peek into Amie's soon-to-be finished PhD research (one of...

Can you remember what it was like to be a teenager? This week, author Olivia De Zilva joins us again to recall the feelings and stories that shaped us when we were young. As an ex-teenager and current writer for teens/young adults, Olivia has much wisdom to share about the whimsy and grittiness that characterise those formative years. Over the past few decades, what’s changed and what’s remained the same about books for...

Welcome to YA month! We're starting off the month talking about the fundamentals of the genre: what is it, why is it, and is it even a real genre? We get into the politics of ratings for books, letting kids pick their own reads, the YA author's obligation to hopefulness, and we name more books than ever, maybe.

This month we’re reading Eggshell by Olivia De Zilva. Grab your copy and have a read before our bookclub o...

It's our first LIVE BOOK CLUB of 2026 !!

Join the Amy & team (minus Payton, who was missed) to catch up on recent events before we dive into our BoTM, How to Kill a Guy in Ten Dates by Shailee Thompson. Would you survive being locked in a night club by a serial killer? Would you be caught dead on a speed date? How do you feel about dual narrated audiobooks? All important questions that we answer together as we discuss the marri...

This week, we interviewed the author of our latest favourite, and Book Club book of the month, 'How to Kill a Guy in Ten Dates.' We chat all about the witty new slasher romance, the anxieties it feeds off, how to plot a book that spans over only a few hours, and the horniness of horror. What would you do if you were stuck with a serial killer, and they'd killed your blind date during a blackout opposite you at the table? Some of us...

Continuing a banger month of unconventional romance (Bad ra-ra ah-ah-ah), this week we're digging into the phenomenon of Sentient Object Romance. What initially seems like a silly, goofy genre is revealed to have hidden depths as we get into the topics of women's pleasure, consent, being seen, and the kindness of these stories. Don't worry, we also play games! We learn things about ourselves with a game of FMK, and test our resolve...

Oh it is good to be back for Season 2! This month’s theme is Bad (ra-ra, ah-ah-ah) Romance and today we’re kicking the year off with a discussion of serial killer Romance Fiction. The episode begins with a very reasonable conversation about the ethics of True Crime entertainment and then … well. But within the proceeding chaos — games, Harry’s “incontinence”, and Amy’s determination ...

We powered through technical difficulties and wifi troubles to bring you a wrap up of 2025 and the finale of our first season of the pod! Thank you to everyone who read along, listened to or watched each episode, followed us on socials, or joined us for one of our live book clubs. We appreciate all your support and hope to see you again next year for season two! 

Also, apologies for how terrible we were at audibly naming all o...

We're celebrating Christmas early with this month's book club pick: Three Holidays and A Wedding by Uzma Jalaluddin & Marissa Stapley, as recommended to us by our local Christmas Romance expert (the only tick of approval we need!).

Join us as we discuss the holiday season and share everything about this small-town novel that made us fall back in love with festivities, family and friendship.

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Holiday season is upon us! Today, Amy, Abby, and Harry are joined by returning special guest Kathleen Stanley a.k.a The Christmas Expert. Observe as Kathleen works her magic on the Grinches of the group by breaking down what Christmas fiction means to people and what, at its core, this holiday should really be about. Anybody else have a list of new Christmas Romance movies to binge, or is it just me?

LINKS

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This week we’re throwing back to September when we headed over to the Flinders University Library for a live chat about all things reading and writing romance. Does dark romance need content ratings or trigger warnings? Why do straight women love to read and write gay male romance? What can romance novels teach us about love? Are horror romance and paranormal romance the same thing? Do people yearn for an epic slowburn? And w...

Kickstartin' November with a bang, we catch up on a Book Club we were all plague-ridden for and had to miss! Introducing...An Academic Affair by Jodi McAlister! Our rocky August was nothing in comparison to Sadie and Jodi's marriage of convenience in this fun rom-com, packed with some lighthearted truths about the academic world.

LINKS

🦜 Buy An Academic Affair: https://www.simonandschuster.com.au/books/An-Academic-Affair/Jodi...

For the final week of October, we're putting our books aside to discuss horror movies: our favourite (and not so favourite) horror films, the return of campy monster horror, future horror movie trends, potentially controversial opinions about the movies Weapons, and more!

LINKS:

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Join the podcast team and get spooky as we sit down to chat about our horror BOTM, Feast While You Can by Mikaella Clements & Onjuli Datta.

Feast While You Can is a (extremely delicious) strange and sexy novel of queer love in a small town, in which the monster that possesses Angelina Sicco can only be repelled by the touch of her childhood crush, sternly handsome Jagvi … oh no 😔 

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This week, we dive straight into talking about one of our favourite reads this year, and get the chance to interview married couple and our BotM authors, Mikaella Clements and Onjuli Datta. We talk about what it's like to write possession, how horror and romance intertwine, the consumption of the dreaded Pit Monster, and--of course--what's behind Jagvi and Angelina's tender, thorny path towards each other. 🎃 

Our book ...

Strap in for more horror talk this week because Amy & Harry and Millie are joined by horror connoisseur Riley Jones to talk all things horrormance (horror/romance). Is paranormal fiction just a subgenre of horror? Does horror actually have to be scary? Are you allowed to kill the queer characters in your horrormance? All these questions and more will be answered.

Our book of the month is Feast While You Can. Read along with us ...

Amy & Abby are joined by writers and experts Tabby Knight and Oscar Sparkes to kick off our horror-themed October (because what else would we be doing this month?!). What to expect from this spooky episode: defining genres, the origins of liminal horror, mad scientists, fears, and a watch- or read-list the length of a Stephen King novel.

Our book of the month is Feast While You Can. Read along with us and tune in to our intervi...

Hi Booklovers! This week, Amy & the podcast team sit down to chat about Fiona Wright's 'The World Was Whole', a gorgeous essay collection about our bodies, homes and shelter and how we might navigate the world and our place within it. Join us to chat about what home means to us, the comfort of everyday habits, slowing down to appreciate the mundane, why more poets should write prose, and more.

LINKS

• Find Fiona Wrigh...