Book Bits & Chill

Anna McCallie, author of breakout sports romance debut Abby Offsides, joins us to talk soccer (football), found family, and falling for the wrong guy at the right time. Abby Offsides has taken over romance readers' shelves this year, pulling comparisons to Ted Lasso meets Off Campus, and this episode gets into all of it: the real footballers who inspired swoony Scottish football captain Lachlan Ramsey, why sports romance is having its moment right alongside the World Cup, and the messy, morally complicated stakes that make this slow burn hit different. We also get the real story behind the "Offside" versus "Offsides" title debate, what it was like writing a heroine who reinvents her whole life overnight, and a first look at what Anna's writing next, including a surprise reveal about an unreleased Pride and Prejudice retelling. Whether you're already deep in the sports romance pipeline or you've never watched a match in your life, this one has the banter, the emotional damage, and the BBC-coded chaos you came for.
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This week on Book Bits and Chill we are investigating the two types of readers who are reading This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me right now:

⭐ The “Five stars. One of my favorite books of the year. Ilona Andrews can do no wrong.”

and

🫠 The “I’m 30% in and I genuinely do not know who anyone is.”

And somehow...we get BOTH.

By the end of this episode youll know if you should bump it up your TBR to get into the action or if this one is best saved for later.

First, we’re keeping it completely spoiler-free and answering the important questions: What are you getting yourself into? How bad is the learning curve REALLY? Who is going to eat this book up? And is it worth pushing through the confusion?

Then the spoiler warning hits and we’re talking about EVERYTHING.

So if This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me has been staring at you from your TBR while the internet screams conflicting opinions at you, consider this your book bestie consultation. 💗

Subscribe for more Book Bits & Chill, including fantasy and romance book reviews, BookTok reads, author interviews, monthly reading wrap-ups, and all the chaotic book bestie conversations in between.
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Emma Brodie, author of Into the Blue, sits down with us to talk about writing a fictional fandom that feels completely real, the improv background behind AJ and Noah's connection, why she chose to market this as a love story instead of a novel, and THAT ending that we're still processing. Plus the origin of the hairdryer, her honest take on the romantasy crossover, and the TV adaptation news we're manifesting as super fans of this book. Spoiler territory starts about halfway through, you've been warned.
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It's time for another Monthly Reading Wrap Up!
July gave us everything... new obsessions, unexpected disappointments, emotional damage, and a few books we already know we'll be recommending for a long time.
This week we're sharing everything we read in July, including our biggest surprises, books that lived up to the hype (and ones that maybe didn't), before building our August TBR featuring BookTok favorites, romance, fantasy, literary fiction, and the books we're most excited to pick up next.
Books Mentioned:
 • Games: A Love Story
 • Along Came Amor
 • Burn Down Master's House
 • The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion
 • Ballad of the Falling Dragons
 • The Paradise Problem
 • This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me
 • On Mystic Lake
 • The Good Parts
 • Big Fan
 • Piranesi
 • The Alchemist
 • Love Hypothesis
 • Razorblade Tears
 • The Shampoo Effect
 • Little Wonder
 • Evenings and Weekends
Whether you're looking for your next romance, fantasy, literary fiction, or emotional read, we've got plenty of recommendations.
💛 And if you're looking for more book recommendations, author interviews, and weekly conversations that feel like chatting with your book besties, make sure to subscribe and join us every week.
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Is Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey a faithful adaptation, or did he rewrite Homer for the algorithm? 
We saw it opening weekend expecting a straightforward book to screen discussion and left with a full spoiler breakdown instead. In this episode we get into Matt Damon's performance, the Cyclops scene that had us covering our eyes, the sirens moment the internet cannot stop talking about, and why the American accents have everyone online so fired up. 
We also rank our favorite scenes, make some very confident Oscar predictions, and give you our book recommendations if you loved the vibes and want more siren lore, more Circe, or more Penelope. Full spoilers ahead, you've been warned.
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