Things have been mostly quiet here at the old QR HQ, but the only news is good news! Kris’s book Scandalous is up for a Goldie in the contemporary romance: mid-length novels category. In place of any new developments, Tara brings an extra official recommendation to the party.
Official Recommendations
From Kris: Pillion (2025)
Kris’s official recommendation this week is the movie Pillion. It’s the story of a dreary wallflower of a young man who meets a biker and is carried into the world of BDSM. Kris learned a lot from this movie and enjoyed it thoroughly.
From Tara: The Miseducation of Caroline Bingley by Lindz McLeod and The Second Draft by Carrie Byrd
This week, Tara’s first recommendation isThe Miseducation of Caroline Bingley by Lindz McLeod. It’s the second story in her Ausentatious series, which asks “what if?” about sapphic partnerships among the side characters of Pride and Prejudice. Tara recommended the previous book, The Unlikely Pursuit of Mary Bennet, waaaaay back in episode 104 and came away from this one liking it more. In this story, Caroline Bingley asks Georgiana Darcy to teach her how to be a good person, and they find love along the way. The writing nails the balance between sounding period appropriate and remaining compelling for a modern audience (plus it has all the sex scenes that Austen didn’t put in, but probably wanted to).
The second recommendation is The Second Draft by Carrie Byrd. Tara adored this one. The only problem is, all the reasons she loved it most are spoilers! What she can tell you is that it’s a later-in-life coming out story bundled with a sweet and emotional friends-to-lovers arc. The writing moved her and she thinks it’ll move you too.
Works/People Discussed
- Shrinking (Apple TV+)
- Paradise, Season Two (Hulu)
- Love on the Spectrum (Netflix)
- The Red Duet (Chasing Red & Catching Red) by Alix Marren
Support & Follow the Show
Transcript
>> Tara Scott: Hey, everyone. Welcome to Queerly Recommended, the podcast where we recommend queer books, films, TV shows and more. I’m Tara Scott and I review sapphic fiction at the Lesbian Review and smart trashy books. And this week I’m recommending two. That’s right, two. Two very soon to be released sapphic romance novels because I couldn’t choose. And it’s our podcast and we get to break the rules if we want to.
>> Kris Bryant: Yay. Go you. And I’m Kris Bryant, a contemporary romance writer for Bold Strokes Books. And this week I’m recommending a movie from 2025.
>> Tara Scott: Very exciting.
>> Kris Bryant: Wait, wait.
>> Tara Scott: But speaking of exciting things, Kris, you have some exciting news?
>> Kris Bryant: I do. My book, skipping Scandalous. My contemporary romance, Scandalous is up for Goldie. I mean, it’s a finalist.
>> Tara Scott: Congratulations.
>> Kris Bryant: It’s in the mid length, which is. I thought that it was going to be a long book because it’s probably the longest one I’ve written, but they have changed the,
>> Tara Scott: Oh, the rules.
>> Kris Bryant: Yeah. So I was like, all right, I’m in long for like the second time ever. But now I’m in mid. That’s okay.
>> Tara Scott: Yeah, it’s true. Yeah. I had a look and I was very happy to see that like, all my favorite books from last year are, finalists, Right? Most of them in the long books category, actually.
>> Kris Bryant: Yeah. But you like, you like long books and you like to read a lot. I do.
>> Tara Scott: And all my faves decided last year, like, hey, what up? Let’s write long books this year. Or, or publish them this year. Who knows when they were actually submitted. So congrats to all the finalists. It’s very exciting news.
>> Kris Bryant: I’m very excited to see everybody at GCLS in August.
>> Kris Bryant: First rounds on you all.
>> Tara Scott: Make sure they know notify.
>> Kris Bryant: Yeah, I’ll be like, hey, whose turn is it? Oh, it’s yours. Okay.
>> Tara Scott: M.
>> Kris Bryant: What about you? Nothing. Anything. Nothing.
>> Tara Scott: Nothing has been happening. I am still waiting for the first rainfall in Calgary.
>> Kris Bryant: It just.
>> Tara Scott: I know there’s no snow outside right now. It’s been very warm the last few days. So it’s like go for a walk whenever you can and then it’ll snow again and then you don’t. And so I, Yeah, I’m just waiting patiently. Ish. Ish. Because I really. I’m at the point where I missed the rain. I didn’t think that would be a thing. I said, oh, here’s a thing. Actually, I remembered one. Oh.
>> Kris Bryant: I.
>> Tara Scott: You know, cynical people possibly being included think that this is happening as a distraction from all the other scandals happening in our province.
>> Kris Bryant: Oh, okay.
>> Tara Scott: But we’re not doing time changes anymore in Alberta.
>> Kris Bryant: Ooh.
>> Kris Bryant: I think. Didn’t we do our last one? Isn’t that it for us too?
>> Tara Scott: I don’t know. Here it’s happening on like a province by province basis. Saskatchewan, I guess stopped it before B.C. announced they’re not going to do it. So Alberta just announced they’re not doing it. So I’m curious to see if the rest of Canada does, but I don’t know if the US Is it a
>> Kris Bryant: state by state thing or the whole what is time? What is time? We ask this all the time. Like what is time? It doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter.
>> Kris Bryant: I really don’t. I remember there was talk about it, but I couldn’t remember if it passed or if it was. I don’t even know anymore. I don’t know what the rules are. I don’t know what people are doing. I don’t know what our laws are anymore. Like we’re in like a total free fall. I have no idea. I’m just hanging on.
>> Tara Scott: Yep. But here you are.
>> Kris Bryant: Here I am.
>> Tara Scott: Look at you go.
>> Kris Bryant: Yes.
>> Tara Scott: so yeah, sadly, updates. Not a lot because like, I don’t know, life is fine. M. Yes.
>> Kris Bryant: That’s good though. That’s good.
>> Tara Scott: Still working, kids still going to school.
>> Kris Bryant: Yeah.
>> Tara Scott: Doing normal stuff. Reading a lot. A lot, a lot.
>> Kris Bryant: Yes.
>> Tara Scott: That’s the. I mean, I suppose that’s the other thing is that like I read a lot of fanfic this year because it was harder to get into published fiction. And now I’m reading more published, way more published fiction. I’m still reading fanfic here and there, especially say if I’m having a cannabis drink and I want to read something where I don’t care if I retain it or not.
>> Kris Bryant: Right. That’s a good, good plan.
>> Tara Scott: Sometimes it’s easier to go to fanfic for that. Like a shorter one. but yeah, it’s been really nice to be reading books again. And like there are some good books coming out this year. I’m going to recommend a couple of them later. But like, it’s really good to see what’s coming out. Like some authors are doing it, they’re. They’re doing good stuff despite what’s happening in the world. And I love it.
>> Kris Bryant: Good. Mm.
>> Tara Scott: All right, well, since there are no updates, Kris, what have you been reading?
>> Kris Bryant: Well, we all know I watch TV a lot and I. I love shrinking. I actually finished it. It just gets better every season.
>> Tara Scott: Like, it really does.
>> Kris Bryant: It’s so good. It has good Queer rep, too. So, I mean, if you haven’t watched shrinking, by all means do. It’s. It’s fantastic. And so, first of all, I’d like to say fuck Parkinson’s. Like, those who know, you know? And it was good to see Michael J. Fox. He was in the show for a couple episodes. Three, I think.
>> Tara Scott: Three. Oh, that’s amazing.
>> Kris Bryant: Yes. Yes. That was really cool to see him. And, Yeah. And, you know, it was one of those where you cried several times.
>> Tara Scott: Yeah.
>> Kris Bryant: Just because there’s, like, a lot of things happening in the series and stuff, but it’s. It’s gonna be around for at least another season, so that’s good. Yeah, I love it. It’s so good.
>> Tara Scott: Nice.
>> Kris Bryant: I finished paradise, season two. So it had a cliffhanger, and I loved it. And I don’t like cliffhangers. I don’t normally like them because you don’t know if the series is going to be renewed or not, and then you’re hanging forever, so that’s always a bad feeling. But this one, you know, first season was okay. Second season was a lot better. A lot better. So, and then I finished Love. Ah. On the Spectrum.
>> Tara Scott: The.
>> Kris Bryant: The latest season.
>> Tara Scott: How was it?
>> Kris Bryant: Season four. So I was really sad because the guy I really like, you know, the. The person he was dating, just wanted to be friends, and we were like, oh, God, it’s so sad. But it was good. It’s very sweet. It’s such a good. Like, I hate everything in life, and I’m just gonna go sit and watch the show. And they’re like, oh, this is great. Okay.
>> Tara Scott: I feel better.
>> Kris Bryant: M. So it is a great. It is a great show. So. Yeah, I’ve just been in front of the tv, so.
>> Tara Scott: Nice.
>> Kris Bryant: Yeah.
So what about you? What have you been reading or watching
>> Tara Scott: Well, RuPaul’s Drag Race, season 18 is over. And Myki Meeks won. Congratulations. She did great. I still think, you know, Jane Don’t should have won the season, but Myki, if she wasn’t going to. Mikey was great. Also hilarious, though. Jane Don’t won Miss Congeniality. which. I wonder. I think it was on the. I think it was on the Pit Stop, which is the recap show. Bob the Drag Queen said something about it being like, when Whoopi Goldberg won the. The Oscar for Ghost, because she didn’t get it for the Color Purple or, you know, like, that happened To Scorsese too. Right? Like, he should have won it this one year, but he wanted other year instead. And so it did feel a, little bit like that. But there was a performance in it. Nini Coco, who did not win. I think it’s the best finale performance, all of Drag Race history. It is so good. I showed it to my oldest kid and it was so fun to watch their jaw just absolutely drop. I just said it to you because it’s like, it’s really short. It’s an original song and it’s so, so freaking good. And like, that song is so good. I’ve listened to it on Spotify on purpose.
>> Kris Bryant: Wow.
>> Tara Scott: Yeah, wow. But I have to be careful with it because it’s one that will, like, once it gets in my head, it will not get out for days. So,
>> Kris Bryant: Oh, it’s an earworm.
>> Tara Scott: But it’s so good. Yeah, it is an earworm. And already they’ve announced that All Stars season 11 starts in, a couple weeks. So I have that to look forward to. Nice.
And then I read a two part series following the same couple. So the first one is called Chasing Red. It’s by an author called Alix Marren. This is her. I’m assuming her pronouns, so I apologize if you use different pronouns. but. So it’s.
Alex’s first book is Chasing Red. It’s a workplace romance and it has. There’s this VP of operations at a company. Her name is Alex. She’s kind of, she’s new there. I think she’s been there for like, roughly a month or so. And she’s there to like, we’re gonna fix a bunch of stuff. Like, numbers are not great. The culture is too misogynistic and bullshit. She’s like, not 40 yet. She’s, like, perceived as this, like, ball buster. What does she know? But she’s like, breaking up a lot of that, like, boys club culture.
Jo is a business analyst in Alex’s organization. She’s tired of her boss taking credit for her work, which he does all the time. Like, she’s so good. this is one of those with like. What’s interesting is for the competence porn aspect. It’s actually both of the characters have it because they’re both extremely competent at what they do.
But at the corporate Halloween party, they both show up in, like, masked costumes. Alex comes as Red Riding Hood and Joe comes dressed up as, like, a sexy wolf. Neither knows who the other is. They’ve never met in person before.
Alex doesn’t even know if Jo is a man or a woman. Like she’s just figured out that Joe’s boss is going to take credit for something and says, hey, I want to meet with you on Monday. So like sets up this meeting on Monday, has talked to hr, is planning basically to say to Jo, is it a man? Is it a woman? Alex doesn’t know, but is planning to say, hey, your work speaks for itself. We’re promoting you. Here’s your new job and here’s your new money.
So like, that’s all done. But at the Christmas party, they just know one of them is dressed as Red Riding Hood and the other one is dressed as a wolf. And so they have a one night stand.
>> Kris Bryant: Halloween party.
>> Tara Scott: Yes. Halloween party.
>> Kris Bryant: Yeah.
>> Tara Scott: Oh, no, not Christmas party. Not at all. No, no, but it’s the, it’s the corporate Halloween party. So they have their one night stand, they decide to leave the masks on, they have this like amazing time and then Jo comes in to talk to her boss’s boss’s boss and they both have this like, oh my God,
>> Kris Bryant: I love it.
>> Tara Scott: and it goes from there. I really enjoyed that one. The chemistry is really great. I think, you know, the author made some good choices around. Like this kind of a thing is always a little weirder after Me too. Like, oh, yeah, like some of the books that were written prior to that just don’t hit right in the same way anymore. And I think there were some choices made around who’s pursuing who and how that make that work better than it might have otherwise.
But I was so glad that the second book is available and it’s called Catching Red. And it basically just picks up, not too long after the main events of this book. And that made me super happy because that, that’s where we get to like, really like I wanted it had a, it has a happy ending.
So Chasing Red absolutely has a happy ending. But like, I think I wanted to just see them a little more settled. And this is where we see them like really kind of go in and develop their relationship. I’m loving it. I finished Chasing Red yesterday and now I am. I’m 69. 8. I’m 69% of the way through Catching Red. I will finish that book today. Nice. They’re both fairly short, but like, great read. Super fun new find. And I mean, credit to the friend who recommended the JJ Arias book that I recommended recently. Keep talking. Because she also recommended this book. She knows what I like to read, apparently. So yes, thank you to that friend. And that’s actually we’re gonna.
Where I’m gonna leave it with what I’m reading and watching because I do have two books to talk about
Where I’m gonna leave it with what I’m reading and watching because I do have two books to talk about later because, like I said, it’s been good reading time. So.
>> Kris Bryant: Kris.
>> Tara Scott: Yes.
>> Kris Bryant: Oh, my official. Yeah, we’re there.
>> Tara Scott: I know it’s gonna be a much shorter episode than usual. People get into it for me.
>> Kris Bryant: Yes, for me.
So my official recommendation is a movie called Pillion, and it is a film from the end of 2025. And I really wanted to see it because it was released mainstream.
>> Tara Scott: Okay. I’ve never heard of this movie. Yes.
>> Kris Bryant: And it has Alexander Skarsgard in it. And shout out to all the True Blood fans out there, because we still remember him from then. I mean, he’s done more since then, but I will always remember him from True Blood. But, yeah, so we all love him. And it also stars Harry Melling. And you know him, sadly, I think most of us know him as Dudley Dursley in Harry Potter.
>> Tara Scott: What? Yes, that guy. Yes.
>> Kris Bryant: And he was also in the Queen’s Gambit.
>> Tara Scott: Yes, I remember him.
>> Kris Bryant: He was there. And he was also in the Old Guard.
>> Tara Scott: Huh? I know.
>> Kris Bryant: Okay. He’s done a lot of things since Harry Potter, and, he’s. He won awards for this performance in this movie.
>> Tara Scott: Nice.
>> Kris Bryant: Yeah.
So let’s get into this. I did a little, you know, like a little synopsis. I pulled it from IMDb and then somebody else had a much better one. The official one says, a directionless man is swept off his feet when an enigmatic, impossibly handsome biker takes him on as a submissive. Okay, so that’s like, the thing. But then this person said, Colin, a weedy wallflower letting life pass him by, meets Ray, the impossibly handsome leader of a motorbike club, who then takes him on as a submissive. Ray uproots Colin from his dreary suburban life, introducing him to a community of kinky queer bikers and taking all sorts of virginities along the way. But as Colin steps deeper into Ray’s world of rules and mysteries, he begins to question whether the life of a 247 submissive is for him.
>> Tara Scott: Oh, interesting.
>> Kris Bryant: Yes. So I was like, okay, because I know nothing of this lifestyle and world. I don’t.
>> Tara Scott: Bikers or bdsm.
>> Kris Bryant: right. Dom stories, you know. Ah. All new to me, you know, because I’m like this little, tiny, you know, little deer. Just like, oh, let’s see what’s over here.
>> Tara Scott: And also, you’ve never been at a biker gang, probably.
>> Kris Bryant: Exactly. No, I have not so. So this Dom sub. Yeah. I’m not even going to call it a love romance. I’m not call it a romance. It’s just a story.
>> Kris Bryant: And you know, Colin’s pretty much a sad sack. He is, he just, he is in a a barbershop quartet. Like that’s the only thing he has going for him. Like his mom has set him up on a blind date. And you know, it’s just like, who. What’s their. No. With a man. Okay, okay.
>> Tara Scott: So his mom is at least supportive.
>> Kris Bryant: They all like. His family’s very supportive of it. You know, they. No problems. And it just so happens at Christmas. So he meets rhe at this bar. He’s, you know, after he’s saying his little songs that he sings.
>> Kris Bryant: And somehow I think Ray kind of slips him his phone number and they meet up. It’s Christmas day, they meet up in some alley and Ry kind of pushes Colin down to the ground and like lick my boots type thing. Just kind of, you know, feeling him out, see what he’s like. And then he ends up, Colin ends up giving him a blowjob.
>> Kris Bryant: And then Ray leaves. And so Colin’s like, oh my God, this is the best thing that’s ever happened to me. You know, he’s like that, you know, so starved for attention. He’s like, please, you know, when can we see each other again? You know, when can. Ray’s like, I’m not that kind of person. Later. So, you know, Khan doesn’t know what to do. He’s just like, oh, what am I gonna do? I just, oh, I love this. He doesn’t love, but he’s like so infatuated. This is a beautiful man in front of him who has taken a. Not a liking to him. But it’s certainly like, okay, I want you to be my sub.
>> Kris Bryant: So yeah, I really don’t know the rules of bdsm. I do not. I’m not even gonna pretend that I do. But I was reading some of the reviews because I’m like, okay, is this a good movie or not? Because I have no idea.
>> Tara Scott: I mean I in the sense is a good representation or not exactly.
>> Kris Bryant: So I don’t know. So one person, everybody was saying, oh, it’s a dark comedy, it’s a. And I like, I did not see anything comedic in this at all. Like at. So that really confused me.
>> Kris Bryant: One of the complaints is that Ray doesn’t give instructions on what’s expected and how Colin should Act. But I would like to think that that conversation, those conversations happened off script.
>> Tara Scott: Yeah, it’s easier to do that in a book where you have kind of as much space as you want. Like I’ve read a lot in Sapphic fiction and even prior to reading Sapphic romances, like I read a bunch of like straight bdsm, romances. But I think like when you’re doing, you know, a long form novel, you can like there is a difference between the authors who actually write those kinds of. You can almost tell who’s in the community and who’s not. I do not have personal experience in the, in the community has never really appealed to me. But reading about it has been appealing sometimes because it just shows a different dynamic in romance than you might see otherwise. And I have adhd, so my brain thrives on novelty.
But I have to think especially like you’re, you’re doing a film in the first place, which means less time, and you’re doing a film for mainstream audiences. I mean there were a lot of complaints from people in the community about 50 shades of gray when that came out too for right, likely extremely good reasons.
>> Kris Bryant: Right. So I mean like Colin, he’s very, very happy like that. He’s in this quote unquote relationship.
>> Kris Bryant: Thinking it’s sort of love. He’s thinking, oh, I’m gonna get him to love me. These things that I do for him and I make him feel good and I do everything he wants and like he, he’s only to find out that this like huge strict relationship isn’t about love. It’s really about control.
>> Kris Bryant: So like Colin goes on this massive character growth without a doubt. I mean he learned so much about himself and what he’s willing to do, you know, for his dom.
>> Kris Bryant: He knows what love is. Like Colin knows what he feels and he understands the concept of love and he knows what he’s actually looking for. So he’s new to this world and he’s trying to figure out who he really is because like he’s like all in. Like he, like all these, these bikers are all around that everybody’s. So here’s a funny thing. My publishing company had a a bookathon.
>> Kris Bryant: And so I’m watching the movie and I forgot that one of my good friends is, was on a panel. So I paused it so I could get onto the to the bookathon and watch the panel. And so it just so happened. We have like, we have these three men Bent over tables in the woods, like. And then there’s. There’s one man standing behind them. I mean, they’re bare ass naked. And so I paused the movie and I’m looking on my phone, I’m watching the thing and I was like, oh. So I snapped a picture of it and I sent it to my friend’s thread and everybody’s like, what are you watching? Like they’re on the panel and everybody’s kind of like, what are you watching? Oh my gosh. What is that? What are you doing?
>> Tara Scott: So this is the difference between child free home and my home. Even if I was gonna watch it with like the, the kids at the house that’s not worried.
>> Kris Bryant: Yeah, yeah. It is not a movie to watch with your children around. It is not. It’s very explicit. M. Like very explicit. And so I was gonna say, like, Colin has this massive growth. He’s learning things about himself that he, is very comfortable with and he understands, okay, I like this. This is my role, this is what I want. But Rey has zero growth. Like, he’s kind of an ass. Very much an ass.
>> Kris Bryant: He really doesn’t learn. Yeah, he really doesn’t learn anything in this movie. So at first, you know, when it ended, I was like, oh, no, this is a bad ending. But then the movie wasn’t over because it was one of those where it kind of like fades out to black and you’re like, what? But that wasn’t it. and it turns out that in the end I did like it. I like the ending. It was a little different. I was expecting one thing, but I was totally fine with the way that it ended.
>> Tara Scott: Oh, nice.
>> Kris Bryant: Yes. So I learned a lot from this movie. hopefully what I learned was, truth, you know. So hopefully what I learned. I mean, this is something if I, if I want to get into it more, I can.
I think the acting is absolutely fantastic. Very good. Like Harry Milling, like I said, he won several awards for this already. M. He just did such a good job. And I’ve never liked any of his characters really. So when I saw him as one of the leads, I was like, oh, no. But then I was like, he’s really good. He’s really good at this.
>> Kris Bryant: I love mainstream queer movies when they make the effort to put this in front of everybody. I like it because it really is the best of the best. You know, they have the best. I say best. They have, you know, directors who have done a lot of movies. They have the budget, they can, you know, Produce a better film. And, you know, the sets, even the actors, you know, sometimes the actors are top notch. And it really does make for a better viewing experience.
>> Tara Scott: And you said it came out late last year?
>> Kris Bryant: Yeah. and that is looking for it. I have been looking for it since. Since I found out it was 2025. At the end of the year, I was like, okay, where is this movie in my life? I need this movie right now.
>> Tara Scott: I think it is so exciting that it got released despite the backlash against queerness from your government. That is awesome. That’s exactly what we need to have happen. And honestly, I know there’s been some cases of like, almost not wanting to show kink because this, like, no, no, no. If we show that, like, we’re perfect queer people and we do normal, it’s all normal things. And it’s like, now fudge it. Like, kink can also be for everybody. And so I think the fact that it’s like all the way in that end too, that’s very exciting. And to have it rewarded with, right. You know, awards and all that, that’s fantastic.
>> Kris Bryant: Like, I have been looking for this. and I was like, this is. It’s going to have to be a recommendation. I just know it. And so finally I was able to on demand it. Like, it was still in theaters when I looked, probably like two months ago.
>> Kris Bryant: And I was like, gosh darn it, I really want to be able to rent this and watch it. I mean, I guess I could have looked for it like in the theaters, but who does that anymore? Nobody.
>> Tara Scott: Well, you can’t pause in the theaters if you need to get up to
>> Kris Bryant: go to the bathroom or like watch a bookathon. Yeah, that’s true. So, yeah, so I really did enjoy. I enjoyed it. Like the character of Alex. Well, I guess his name is Ray. His character. You know, I think about him more than I do of Colin because I think Colin, since he had the complete arc, he was like, it was at the beginning and at the end and he like, that was his story. But I did not get a full Rey story. And so I’m thinking about his character a lot.
>> Tara Scott: Interesting.
>> Kris Bryant: Yeah. And I can’t talk about it because I want to ruin things, but m. So if you have thoughts about Ry, reach out, because I’m curious.
>> Kris Bryant: So that is my official recommendation. Tara, what is yours? Because you. I’m giving you the floor because you have a lot to talk about.
>> Tara Scott: Thank you. Thank you.
So the first book that I want to recommend is called the Miseducation of Caroline bingley by Lindz McLeod. If that author’s name sounds familiar, that’s because I recommended her book the Unlikely Pursuit of Mary Bennett in, episode 104.
So this is the second book where she’s like, what if these characters were lesbians from Pride and Prejudice? So that one was about Charlotte Lucas and Mary Bennett.
With this particular one starts after the events of Pride and Prejudice. Caroline Bingley is staying with Georgiana Darcy at Pemberley. If you haven’t read or watched Pride and Prejudice, I think you could probably still enjoy it. I just think you’ll enjoy it more if you have.
So Georgiana Darcy, of course, is the sister to, you know, the Darcy who gets married at the end of Pride and Prejudice to Lizzie Bennet. Caroline Bingley, she was Darcy’s best friend’s sister who wanted to marry him. And so, like I said, it starts, you know, she’s staying with his sister at, the big family home, Pemberley.
He’s back for a quick visit, and Caroline basically corners him and says, why not me? And what she wanted to know is like, why did you marry Lizzie Bennet and why didn’t you want to marry me? And being himself. And it was like, it was like, quite like I was like, oh, fuck. As I was reading this scene, like, it was kind of heartbreaking because he tells her the truth with detail.
He gets into it and he doesn’t spare anything about how she is selfish, she is vain, she, you know, all this stuff. And he ends it, though, by saying, you’re too much like me. We wouldn’t have been happy together. And if you don’t change, you’re never going to be happy the way I am now. And I was like, wow, wow.
And here’s the thing. He is right, like, she is canonically, like, she is so stuck up, she only cares about class, she says all these things, but it really ends up being kind of like a kick in the pants for her. And she, you know, she takes it very much to heart. And she’s like, okay, well, if I’m ever gonna, for some reason, him saying that you’ll never be happy like me. And she’s like, well, maybe I want to love Match too. Ish. Sort of like, you know, with somebody who’s of the right title and has enough money and all that, okay, fine, I have to be, learn to be a good person. How am I gonna do that?
Well, she goes to her friend, his sister Georgiana, and Says, like, look, you are. Well, actually, the way she says it, who better to show me how to act than the best and most perfect young lady of my acquaintance? And she literally begs her, please teach me how to be a good person. I just need to be good enough to attract somebody who’s good that wants to marry me.
>> Kris Bryant: Terrible.
>> Tara Scott: and Georgiana’s like. I mean, she doesn’t say that, but she’s like, fine. Like, if. I think if she could have thought of any possible way out of it, she wouldn’t have done it, but she can’t. And so, yeah, she agrees to teach her how to be sweet and kind to everyone around her.
But this is, like, the challenge of a lifetime, because Caroline doesn’t understand certain things, like, why maybe you shouldn’t always share your opinions about everything, especially when your opinions are mean. She’s like, I’m just telling the truth. And it’s like, but what if that truth stayed in your head and not out in the world? And, yeah, there’s a bunch of. Like, she puts her through these different situations, and along the way, she starts. She does start to change, and she does start to see people differently, kind of beyond their rank in class. And she also realizes, maybe I don’t want a husband. Maybe I just want Georgiana.
Oh, Kris, this book was so good. I had such a hard time putting it down. I think I read this one in, like, one or two days. Everything is told from Caroline’s perspective, and I think that works really well because she has a massive character arc. So, like, each of the characters do have an arc, but for her, because she starts from this, like, she’s a deeply unlikable character. Especially, like, when you watch the. For me, the BBC miniseries is the best. The one from 1995. like, you read her in the book, you see her in that, and she’s absolutely insufferable. She’s terrible. She’s a terrible person. But then as you’re reading it, like, it’s almost funny sometimes seeing into her head. And then as she does change as a person, like, it was so interesting because clearly she had just been raised wrong, right?
Like, she’s raised. She was raised by a mother who wanted her to get the best marriage she possibly could. And everything is about, you know, stature and the image that you’re putting out and all of that. And she wasn’t taught things like, servants are people, too, and you should talk to them, and somebody does deserve your respect, even if they don’t have as much money as you. And so she’s. Georgiana’s really is teaching her, like, just the basics of, like, how to be a good person, how to, like, how to be kind, how to take other people into consideration.
And so on the flip side, we see over time, we don’t get Georgiana’s perspective, but I think it’s okay because she’s not afraid to, you know, push back on her and tell her the truth. And also, she’s pretty even if you. Caroline doesn’t get it. There’s a lot in, like, her body language, and, like, there’s a lot that she says just with sighing when Caroline is an asshole.
But what I loved about her arc is, you know, it really does go back to that little quote that I shared about the best and most perfect young lady of my acquaintance. Lots of people see her as a perfect person. M. And there’s so much weight and responsibility to having uphold that image of being perfect. And again, if you know the events of Pride and Prejudice, then you also know she absolutely is not a perfect person. She nearly eloped with this guy who, in my notes I wrote he had called him the canonical shitheel Wickham. You know what? I stand by it, because it is. He was this guy who was, like, taking advantage of her when she was 15. Like, it almost was a huge disgrace to her family. And so now she has this, like, my brother stood by me. He fixed everything. I can’t fuck it up. I can’t bring shame on our family. Our parents are dead. It’s just the two of us with the family name.
She also carries a deep wound from what happened with Wickham, because, again, like, it’s not a spoiler. It’s in Pride and Prejudice. But when Darcy finds Wickham, he basically says, like, how much money do you need to go away? And unfortunately for Georgiana, Darcy had a number. I mean, Wickham had a number.
>> Kris Bryant: Yeah.
>> Tara Scott: And so she knows this guy cared more about money than he did about her. And so, you know, there is this, like, trauma that she kind of, like, carries around with her. And so how can she trust this person who has been known to be a fortune seeker? Can her feelings be genuine? But just. It’s.
Honestly, this one worked for me so well, and I loved sort of the trajectory of this because they went from being. It’s not just a friends to lovers. It’s like a surface level friends to real friends. Like, they became true friends to then friends with benefits. And then they became real partners. And so it was so lovely to See the trajectory of that, and I can’t say why, because I really don’t want to spoil anything, but I really loved. There’s like, a couple chapters before the epilogue, and it’s so satisfying because Caroline really proves that she is truly a changed person. She is not the woman she was, at the beginning of the book. And I don’t think it’s. Often I’ve come across a story where there’s like, that massive a change in, like, the fundamental who that person is.
I also like, much like the first book, the language feels pretty. I think it’s like, as close to authentic as the original while still staying accessible for contemporary readers. It’s m. Not exactly what she would have written because there are explicit sex scenes in this book and Jane Austen just would not have. But, like, the vibes were impeccable for me. Like I said, I had a really hard time putting it down. I actually think, you know, I loved the first book, like the one about Mary Bennet and, Charlotte Lucas. I loved this one More.
So I think if you’re a fan of Pride and Prejudice, if you’re. And you are on the lookout for Sapphic spinoffs, definitely check out the Miseducation of Caroline bingley by Lindz McLeod. It’s out next week. I’m gonna take a little sip of water. Yeah. Because I said a bunch of excited stuff.
>> Kris Bryant: Yeah.
>> Tara Scott: Okay. Now, my second recommendation releases tomorrow, and it is called the Second Draft by Carrie Byrd. I’m sure you remember how much I loved Carrie’s first book, Loser of the Year. I would not shut up about it. The second draft is really beautiful and it’s a very different book. So this is another. So this is a, this is another Friends to Lovers book, but, you know, it’s a contemporary and very different from the last book.
So on paper, you know, you look at the two leads, Anne Lowell and Sadie Rosenthal, like, they make literally no sense as best friends because it’s like truly opposites attract situation here. But, like, they are, like, they’re best friends. They’re also next door neighbors.
So Anne is super uptight, drinks too much wine, eats way too perfectly, very judging, nags her kids about a lot of things. Probably, largely reformed Karen, if you will, because of, Sadie, like. So I think the version that we get because she’s been friends with Sadie for four years, she’s still very closed off, very guarded, all of that. but I think there’s still been a bit of a softening effect versus if we would have Met her prior to her friendship with Sadie. She used to be part of a group of, like, her social circle used to be other women who were also, like, very much about upholding image. That’s all they care about. And she’s not friends with, any of them since her divorce, which happened. Like, her husband left her because he came out as gay, and now he’s, like, happily married to a man now. And. But, like, what does she need this group of terrible women for when she has Sadie as her best friend?
And like I said, Sadie is her total opposite. She is not uptight at all. She is a poet. She is a professor. She has adhd. She loves bright colors. She loves to wear wigs. She’s just this, like, walking, talking bundle of joy who loves everybody and makes them feel seen and loved. And she’s just wonderful. And even I love that. So the prologue is the first time they meet, and then it jumps ahead four years to the main events of the story. And the first time they meet, Sadie just says, we’re gonna be friends. Like, she just declares it and that is it.
And so at, Anne’s birthday party, she realizes that she can’t live without Sadie and that, maybe she has these fears, like, there’s more to it than that, but basically, it’s, like, surrounding the events of her 60th birthday party, she. She realizes, like, oh, I literally can’t live without her. And I don’t think this is just friendship that, I’m feeling. And everything sort of goes from there.
So this book is so emotional because it’s Anne coming out to herself as a lesbian and really, like, truly not. It’s like she’s thunderstruck in this moment that, like, wait, but I thought I was straight. And it’s like, sorry, lady, you’re absolutely not. And then going and telling Sadie, and then Sadie has her own feelings that she has to deal with. Like, they hadn’t had any conversations about queerness or anything like that.
And this is such a hard book to talk about because everything that makes it special is a spoiler. So I’m going to do my best. It’s, like, my most and least favorite. It’s my. It’s like, my most favorite type of book to read about, and it’s my least favorite type of book to try to review, either written or verbally, because how do I encapsulate what makes it special when I can’t talk about the things that make it special? But they both have a lot to figure out on this path. To happily ever after. And in this case, so the. Again, this story is told from the perspective of Anne.
It’s interesting, this book, in the last one, they’re quite different, but reading them back to back, it was kind of cool to see some of the parallels. Like, both of them start off with these, like, extremely guarded women, but for different reasons. They’re both told from the perspective of the woman who is extremely guarded. Now, Ann isn’t trying to learn how to be a person, not even be a kinder person. That wasn’t what Caroline was trying to do. She was trying to be perceived as a kinder person so she could catch a man. Right, and doesn’t want to catch a man. She wants to figure out how she can be with her best friend. And also this, like, oh, my God, like, everything I thought I knew about myself isn’t real.
And again, in that prologue, I feel like it’s fair to share information from the prologue because it’s literally like before the story even starts. But she tells Sadie because they. They basically both acknowledge that they’re both recently divorced. And she said, I never loved him. Like, she never loved her husband. And she didn’t know why that was. But it makes sense when she, you know, once, she’s really thunderstruck with this, like, realization. And I think what I really loved about this is that, you know, she has. She has so much to figure out. And it’s this, like, really re looking at yourself. And it felt.
This book felt like a love letter to people who discover their queerness later in life, probably especially people who discover their lesbians later in life. but I think, you know, we’ve talked before about how I didn’t figure out I was queer until my 30s. And I found some of Anne’s journey so familiar, especially in the moments where she starts looking back on her life and she’s remembering certain things and how she perceived certain girls and women and saying, oh, those were great crushes. I didn’t know what it was that I was feeling. And it’s, I think, the way we see that, ah, it really is like, when you get access to this knowledge about yourself, it’s almost like somebody hands you a pair of glasses that you didn’t know you needed. And so you get to see all this extra detail and texture about your life that you just couldn’t quite figure out before. So I thought that was really beautifully handled.
Now, like I said, everything’s told from Anne’s perspective, but also I love that Sadie is such an expressive person. That it feels like we get this really good view into who she is. But it’s also interesting because at times, like, she’ll occasionally say, I’m not ready to talk about that yet. And I’m like, hey, hang on. Which, of course, she’s. She can do. Anybody can do that. But also, it’s just like, wait, as a reader, you know, information is being withheld from you because she’s still processing something. And the first time she did that, I was like, oh, something. Something is happening here. And I’m trying to figure out how to. How to even say this.
Like, the further I got into the book, the more I realized, oh, I want to go back to the beginning and reread it because I’ve gotten more information about Sadie that makes some of the way she’s behaved and some of the things she said make more sense. And so for her, like, her journey isn’t about self discovery. Like, ans is. Her journey is actually about trust, which I also thought was so interesting that, like, okay, she needs to. She needs to learn how to trust with this person who is her best friend. Hm. In the whole world. Which, again, I say, like, that’s a spoiler. But I think a perfect quote if you want to understand who she fundamentally is as a person. It’s this line she said, I loved it so much. And I highlighted because it felt so true. Like, I don’t know if this is an ADHD thing or what, but, like, it felt very, like, oh, yeah, same. I, mean, she said, if I’m not having major epiphanies right up until my last breath, then I failed myself.
>> Kris Bryant: Wow.
>> Tara Scott: Isn’t that beautiful?
>> Kris Bryant: That is a great quote.
>> Tara Scott: I love that so much.
Sam: I read this one as well in about a day, day and a half
So, yeah, the. I think, you know, the writing is really wonderful in this one. And there were times like, oh, I. I read this one as well in about a day, day and a half. I read a lot of it while I was having a migraine, which I don’t know if that’s the best or worst idea because I felt all the feelings. I, like, cried a bunch of times. Like, some of the writing is so, so good, and how it’s distilling some of these, like, really difficult feelings. but then there were also some moments that were so sweet that also would hit really hard. So, for example, I said before that Sadie’s a poet, probably not a shock, and doesn’t like poetry because she’s just this, like, very straightforward person. And again, opposites att. And, she kind of, I think, said it again. Or went to say it again early in the book. And Sadie said to her, of course you hate poetry, beloved. You are poetry. And you don’t like yourself very much.
>> Kris Bryant: Love. it.
>> Tara Scott: And I just went, oh, bravo, Carrie.
>> Kris Bryant: Oh, fuck. wow.
>> Tara Scott: And it’s just this, like. It’s this perfect moment. Like, Sadie sees her so clearly, she’s so perceptive and tries to support her in all the best ways she can. So I think that’s actually all I can say without getting in. Like, anything else I have to say truly would require spoilers. Like, just. Just go get this book. Like, just get it. Read it. It’s rare to have a romance where both characters are over 50. So like I said, Anne turns 60. Sadie is four years younger than her. You know, coming to figure yourself out later in life. Like, there’s just so much about this. It’s so special. It’s so beautiful. I’m actually going, like, I got a review copy, but I’m gonna buy a physical copy because it’s going on the list of books that I must have a copy of if Amazon explodes and electronics don’t work anymore.
>> Kris Bryant: So that is Apocalypse Book.
>> Tara Scott: It’s one of my apocalypse books. It is so wonderful. So it’s called the Second Draft. Go get it. I loved it. I cannot recommend it enough.
>> Kris Bryant: Nice. I’m sold.
>> Tara Scott: Yes. I did it. Kris is going to read it. Yay. That is all for this episode. Thank you so much for listening. If you have a friend that you think would be interested in anything we recommended, and you should, because we had some real good ones this time, please tell them about it and get them to listen to this episode. If you want to support us, we have link in our show notes to our Ko Fi.