Kris is writing again, and in a way she never thought she’d do it. Tara returns from surviving the plague with a list of books they read during all that horizontal time (her pain is your gain). We also get some deep Tara reading lore about how they read in high school and university, before Kris and Tara expand the definition of the second chance romance.
Official Recommendations
From Kris: Running Point (Netflix)
Kris’s official recommendation this week is Running Point, a sports comedy about a wealthy and highly dysfunctional family trying to make it all work in the NBA. Kris loved it and found the character development over the two seasons worth the journey. Check it out!
From Tara: Girlfriend Goals by Clare Lydon
Tara’s official recommendation this week is Girlfriend Goals by Clare Lydon. Tara describes this romance as a best friends to ghosting to rivals to lovers and the experience of reading it challenged and expanded their understanding of the second chance romance trope.
Works/People Discussed
- Love is a Contact Sport by Frederick Smith
- Jeopardy! (NBC)
- The Devil Wears Prada 2 (2026)
- Death Becomes Her (1992)
- The Fall Guy (2024)
- Miss Woodhouse and Miss Fairfax by Maisie Jardelle
- At Her Service by Anna Stone
- Hers to Keep by Anna Stone
- The Princess Match by Clare Lydon (recommended in episode 107)
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Transcript
>> Tara Scott: Welcome to Clearly Recommended the podcast where we recommend queer books, films, TV shows and more. I’m M. Tara Scott and I review sapphic fiction at the Lesbian Review and Smart Bitches Trashy Books. And this week I’m recommending a recently released Sapphic Romance.
>> Kris Bryant: And I’m Kris Bryant, a contemporary romance writer for Bold Strokes Books. And this week I’m recommending a series on Netflix.
>> Tara Scott: All right, Kris, what is new with you?
>> Kris Bryant: Well, last time we talked about how terrible my driver’s license picture was, right? We did, yeah. So I went today and I said, hey, this picture sucks, I need a new one. And they’re like, well, you’re going to have to pay for it. And I go, I don’t care, I’m going to pay for it. So the guy who, he took my picture again, he goes, it doesn’t look bad on the screen. And then I gave him my driver’s license. Jeff turned it in and he stamps it, so that’s invalid. And he’s like, but seeing it here in person, I understand why you wanted to get a new one. I’m like, see, somebody m somewhere won a lot of money on me. So I did do that today. And last night I did a really cool thing.
>> Tara Scott: Wait, I wanna know. Do you like your new photo better? Did you get to see it? Did you get to approve it?
>> Kris Bryant: He showed me. I got the little double chin going on there because I had him like lower it because like I said, it looked like I had a giant 2 inch bald spot all the way down.
>> Tara Scott: Yes.
>> Kris Bryant: So I made sure I was like lower so I was face facing. And so I did have a little bit of a chin. But I don’t know. I won’t know until I get it. And if I get it and it still has that, I just give up at that point. I’m just gonna have to deal with it.
>> Tara Scott: Yeah, that’s fair. That’s fair.
Okay, sorry I cut you off before you went to another topic.
>> Kris Bryant: I just want to tell you what I did last night. So as part of my birthday presents.
>> Kris Bryant: I went to what’s called a trailblazing talk. And that’s at the Kauffman center for the Performing Arts in Kansas City. And what that is, it used to be the National Geographic, series and it’s where they have photographers that give presentations of their work and show photos and tell stories and it was really, really cool. And I had season tickets for several years and then Covid hit and then everything went to shit.
>> Kris Bryant: So now it’s back as trailblazing talks. And it was the very last one in the series. So they have one every month. January, February, March, April, May. So they have five, season. And last night it was Franz Lanting and Christine Ekstrom and they shared their stories about the world from wind to Wales. So they live in Monterey now. And so I guess Monterey is really rich with all sorts of living things in the water, on land. And they just kind of talked about their stories. They met over, I think, I don’t know if it was in South America or where they met years and years ago. And they got married. And so they’ve just been doing this together for a very long time. And, you know, let me tell you, you know, a lot of his pictures, but I think the one that you will know right off the top of your head is he took a picture of two penguins and a baby chick in the middle, a little fuzzy baby chick. It’s a super popular photo. You see it everywhere. People talk about penguins. I’m sure he’s. He’s made so much money on that photo, but it’s the most recognizable one. When he showed just like some of his covers from National Geographic. Beautiful, beautiful. And he just had some great stories to tell. And so we did that last night and that was great.
>> Tara Scott: Oh, I love that. Well, happy birthday again. What a great way to celebrate.
>> Kris Bryant: Yeah, I love that.
>> Tara Scott: That’s so fun. Yeah.
>> Kris Bryant: I did also do something really strenuous last week. I did a garage sale on the
>> Tara Scott: fly man, you’re a better person than me. I don’t have it in me. I mean, our location is also very bad for it because we’re like tucked into a suburb and we’re on a corner lot. We have a sloped front yard and we do not have a driveway, garage sort of situation. So, like, could not be a worse setup for it.
>> Kris Bryant: Bummer.
>> Tara Scott: So we just donate stuff to get rid of it.
>> Kris Bryant: So Deb was, She absolutely despises garage sales. Like, hates them with a passion.
>> Tara Scott: Man. Dad. Kindred spirits.
>> Kris Bryant: You know, you make money and you’re like, hey, this wasn’t so bad. So I knew that she was going to be out staying at her son’s house, watching some dogs, some animals for several days. And I said, hey, when you’re gone, I’m gonna have a garage sale.
>> Tara Scott: She said, perfect, Excellent.
>> Kris Bryant: Great. I love it. Have fun. Good luck. So I had a garage sale from 7:30 to 1:30, shut it down and made good money. And I made such good money that she’s like, hey, maybe we should have one later in the summer.
>> Tara Scott: Really?
>> Kris Bryant: So I’m like. And then my sister got on board, and she’s like, oh, my gosh. Like, that’s great. I want to have one. And I said, sure, I’ll help you. And, like, she’s all excited. She’s like, go. Like, we’ll have it in a couple weeks, when her fiance is out of town.
>> Tara Scott: So. Good.
>> Kris Bryant: Yeah. So I’m gonna help her. So that’s nice. It’s been nice. It’s been nice. I loved it. It was great. Had a good time. Yeah. So that’s all that I, have going on. What, what about you? What’s new with you?
Neil: I was in bed for four days with a family virus
>> Tara Scott: All right. So you know how last time we talked, I felt like I was playing chicken with the family virus? Yes, I love.
>> Kris Bryant: Oh, yes.
>> Tara Scott: So we recorded. I think we recorded on a Tuesday that week, which is good. Neil was, like, laid out.
>> Kris Bryant: Right. She was not. Okay.
>> Tara Scott: And so I was. You know, I was working. I was. I decided. I was like, I will keep the dishes going. I will keep the laundry going. Doordash is cooking for us. Because I can get money. That’s a problem. I can throw money at. It’s, temporary. It will be fine. Like, I just. I couldn’t possibly do it all.
>> Kris Bryant: No.
>> Tara Scott: And Wednesday, I’m, like, in a meeting, camera off. It’s the kind of meeting where you only have to pay attention. It’s not one where I had to participate or anything like that. That. But I had. I was like, camera off, listening, folding laundry, putting it away, like, that kind of thing. And then by Wednesday evening, I was like, I am white. No. And, like, wiped. Wiped. Like, not. Not. I’ve been working all day and doing some laundry and a load of dishes. Like, it’s not like it was a massive hardship to do dishes and laundry. Right. But I was just no energy. And I was like, oh, man, I don’t think I’m going to work tomorrow. And if I look at how Neil’s going, I might not be back until Monday. And I wasn’t. I was in bed for four days. Four days. I watched more Devil Wears Prada Press.
>> Kris Bryant: Because I love that. Because it was that.
>> Tara Scott: Like, I had no brain left. I got up long enough. Wait, did we talk about Death becomes her last time?
>> Kris Bryant: No, we didn’t.
>> Tara Scott: Okay. So that’s one of the things that I watched. I probably should save this for the. What are we watching or reading? You know what? I will. We watched death become Sir. And I’ll talk about that more in five minutes, okay? Uh-huh. But it was like I would get up for a few hours and then say, I gotta go lay down. I ended up reading because it was like I could read. I wasn’t sleeping too much. I was trying really hard not to sleep because I really didn’t want to. My sleep schedule, like, I’m such a sensitive light sleeper that I’m super vigilant about napping. If I’m obviously like, if I have a big old fever, I’m napping. If I have a massive migraine, I’m napping.
>> Kris Bryant: Right?
>> Tara Scott: But otherwise that’s my, like, if nothing else, that’s the one piece of my sleep hygiene that I’m good at. And so I ended up reading like this 250,000 word fanfic. I was like, what else am I gonna do? I’m not going anywhere. I can’t do anything else. I’m, watching Devilish Product 2 Press and that. Oh, I started watching some of the press too, for the final season of Hacks.
>> Kris Bryant: Okay.
>> Tara Scott: Do you watch Hacks? Did you watch?
>> Kris Bryant: No. No, But I know I need to.
>> Tara Scott: I haven’t watched it. But there’s this like, big old deal because like, they’ve, they’ve really shipped Jean Smart. And by they I mean like fans, especially the lesbian fans, have been shipping Jean Smart and Hannah Einbender. So like, so, so, so much, right? And there’s an episode finally where they end up kissing. And it’s so funny because like you can find clips of it, but it’s basically there’s this other couple, I have no idea who they are, who thinks they’re a couple. And so they have to fake it. And it’s so fun. And I guess that’s all they’re getting asked about. And like, they get asked about it so much in the press. Like, hey, the fans are getting what they want. They’re like, they sure are.
So it could, it could have been a lot worse. I could have felt a lot worse. But it’s just that like the exhaustion, the muscle aches, the coughing, the whatever. But by Monday I was actually, I was ready to go back to work. I was like, I want to be not at my, in my bed. I want to be talking to people. And it, it took, it took a week, I think, to recover because of course the kids bounced back immediately. Like immediately it was the parents that
>> Kris Bryant: it took a whole extra week.
>> Tara Scott: It’s not fair.
>> Kris Bryant: It isn’t.
>> Tara Scott: But alas, here we are.
>> Kris Bryant: Everybody at work is sick and they’re trying to tell me it’s allergies. And I’m like, nope, no, it’s not allergies. I know that it’s not because you sound different on allergies and you sound different now. So you have a cold. Get out of my office. So two people have colds? Three people, actually. One of the engineers said he had something.
>> Tara Scott: Oh, God.
>> Kris Bryant: So I like, everybody stay out of my office. And here’s the thing. Like, I always know what it’s coming because I’ll just have one swallow and I’m like, oh, like that, that hurt.
>> Tara Scott: Mm, Like when it took Neil down, I was like, okay, where are my supplements? Oh, no, there’s none. So I like, like, got some zinc, got, got a couple of things. And I, I don’t know if it helped, but you know, the placebo effect has a 30% effectiveness rate, so it was worth a try.
All right, Kris, what have you been reading or watching?
>> Kris Bryant: I actually, I’m still reading Love as a contact Sport. But to be fair, like, I was busy with the garage sale. I just had a lot going on, so I haven’t, I haven’t been really watching anything, so. Other than Jeopardy. Because I watch it every day and there’s somebody on there now that I, I, I don’t know what it is about me. Like, I, I don’t want, I just, I don’t know. he’s, he’s won like 10 in a row Cap.
>> Tara Scott: To be like him.
>> Kris Bryant: I have mixed feelings about it. You know, some people, I’m like, yes. But then some people have like, take him down.
>> Tara Scott: We need a new.
>> Kris Bryant: And I just, I don’t, I don’t know if this is like the mean side of me or if it’s just, I don’t, like, I just don’t vibe with the, with him or you know, any of the, contestants. Some of them I do. Some of them I don’t.
>> Tara Scott: Yeah.
>> Kris Bryant: So I don’t know, I’m just kind of over him. I’m over him. So I’m rooting for people. And there was this girl, this woman on there yesterday, and she almost had him. Like, ah. I was like, ah. And it was like she and I. It was one of those where two people didn’t get the final, but he did. And so he won. I’m like, but I mean, he seems like a fine person. It’s just, we’re just not vibing and I really want to vibe with people and I want to encourage them, but I just love watching it. Anyway, let’s see, what else? I think. Oh, guess what? I’m doing the one thing I said I would never do. Well, okay, that covers a lot. So let’s narrow it down. I am back to writing. I picked it back up again, so it is.
>> Tara Scott: That’s exciting.
>> Kris Bryant: And I’m writing two at once, which I never understood how people tell me more, and I never could understand how people could do that. So I committed. I didn’t sign any paperwork, but I committed to have a draft in by December. Because there is a contemporary romance that’s in my head and I’ve talked about it so much that, you know, I’m like, all right, I’ll just write it. And it’s writing fine. It’s. I’m doing fine with it. But I tell you.
>> Tara Scott: Are we talking about the premise yet?
>> Kris Bryant: not really, no. No, not really. And then I have my other one, my dystopian that is in my head and it wants to come out, but I’m having a hard time mapping it because it requires like, not necessarily sort of, sort of world building. I have to, like, be aware of where things are and I have to remember what I’ve said. So I actually have to like, plan it and I don’t do that. So I’m struggling with that portion.
>> Tara Scott: That is super exciting.
>> Kris Bryant: Yeah, Yeah, I read it to Deb. I like, have the first chapter done, like cleaned up and done, and the second chapter is moving along. So once I really start figuring out the map of it, then I’ll, I’ll understand it better.
>> Tara Scott: So are you bouncing between the two?
>> Kris Bryant: I am.
>> Tara Scott: So is it almost like you’ll hit a wall and then you’ll switch to something else?
>> Kris Bryant: It’s more like, I know how to write a contemporary romance, so it’s easy.
>> Kris Bryant: So if I’m like, how am I going to do this? Like, if I’m in the dystopian, I’m like, okay, let’s just go over here and get some words out, feel good about myself, and then go back to the dystopian.
>> Tara Scott: Nice. So that’s how I used to read. I mean, I still sometimes do, but when I used to, when I was living, at home with my parents, so kind of all the way through to the end of university, because I stayed with them for university as well. I would have a stack of books, up to eight books.
>> Kris Bryant: Wow.
>> Tara Scott: And I would basically. I know it was nuts. And it was a range of, like, contemporary it was like harlequins or like easy, like harlequins or bodice rippers. Because again, yes, it was the 90s. What are you gonna do? Shout out to Julie Garwood? I also read a lot of Laurel Spencer.
>> Kris Bryant: Oh yes, me too. And also Patricia Pelicane. We talked about her too.
>> Tara Scott: Judvaro. Like all of those.
>> Kris Bryant: Oh yes.
>> Tara Scott: So it would be like one or two. One of them, probably. There would be a Victorian novel. There would be at least one contemporary Canadian novel at the time. There would be nonfiction I used to love. Oh my God, what a fucking nerd. I was in high school, I was reading old Hollywood biographies. So I’m reading biographies of like, Lana Turner and Katherine Hepburn and like all this. And I would read something until basically the dopamine died. I felt like I like, hit a wall again. I didn’t know I had ADHD at the time, but I was like, no, my brain says we’re going to die before we’re going to keep reading. And then I would just pick something off the P and see.
>> Kris Bryant: And I was reading all political stuff,
>> Tara Scott: like reading, oh man, good for you. I would rather Hillary Clinton.
>> Kris Bryant: I read Cokie Roberts. Like, I was really into journalism because that was going to be my major. And so I was reading a lot of journalists, American journalists. And you know, like a photojournalist would be like, that would be my ideal job. I would love that so much because I love photography and I love, you know, writing. And so I actually went to school for journalism. That’s why I have so much in common with Frederick Smith.
>> Tara Scott: Because, journalism, given that, did that whole aspect of Devil Wars, Prada 2 really end up speaking to you about the whole, like, people building careers on this kind of thing. And then look at what’s happened to me.
>> Kris Bryant: Yes. So the reason why I opted out of journalism, True Story, is because I found it to be too impersonal. I didn’t like how journalists, especially people who are on television, like, oh, God, what was, what was the name of that movie with Holly Hunter? was it called. Oh, Come on.
>> Tara Scott: I don’t think I saw it.
>> Kris Bryant: Basically people saying, how do you feel? Like your husband, wife, whoever just died. How do you feel? And I don’t like that approach. The type of journalism that was like that really sensationalized, but just very impersonal.
>> Tara Scott: Yeah.
>> Kris Bryant: The human interest without being a human m. You know, it’s just kind of like they go for the bam type stories and I didn’t like that. I didn’t want to write those kinds of stories. I. I just. I wanted to. To do something a little bit better. Nicer.
>> Tara Scott: Yeah.
>> Kris Bryant: Then go that way. So I opted out of it and switched it to creative writing. And here I am. Worked it worked out.
>> Tara Scott: I’ll say. How many books you got?
>> Kris Bryant: 24ish, I think.
>> Tara Scott: Not bad. Not bad.
>> Kris Bryant: Not bad at all. Like I could retire now and still feel good about my.
>> Kris Bryant: Not bad at all.
>> Tara Scott: But please don’t.
>> Kris Bryant: No, I’m going to keep writing. So anyway, that is all I’ve been doing. What about you? What are you reading? Watching.
>> Tara Scott: Oh my God, all. Ah, the things. So many things. I watched two movies, if you can believe it.
>> Kris Bryant: Stop it.
>> Tara Scott: Because here’s the thing. It turns out we had so much fun watching The Devil Wears Prada and The Devil Wears Prada 2. Nice. And then because I was watching all of that press, one of the things that came out was. I can’t remember. I think it might have been Vanity Fair had a video with Meryl Streep and they showed her five, like clips from five of her iconic films. And so of course there’s like a clip from. There was one from the Deer Hunter. There’s one from The Devil Wears Prada, the French Lieutenant’s Woman.
>> Kris Bryant: Come on. Some of these are like Kramer versus Kramer. Come on.
>> Tara Scott: That. So I don’t think those were. Those two were in there, but I think Sophie’s Choice was in there. if I recall correctly, I was sick at the time, so don’t hold me any of this. But one of them was Death becomes Her. And I said to Neil, I’ve never seen that movie. And he was like, what you’ve ever seen Death becomes her? And I was like, no, it’s not.
>> Kris Bryant: What a cast.
>> Tara Scott: What? Oh my God. Her and Goldie Hawn and Bruce Willis. And I was like, no, it’s not one that I ever like. My mom never showed me that. Like, my mom and I used to have a lot of.
Of movie weekends together because my dad would take my brothers for like, War of 1812 reenacting stuff. I think I told you before that that was, yes, a family thing. And there were a lot of times where my mom and I were just like, nah, we would stay home, watch movies. And so Neil was like, do you think it’s because of the whole, like, it is a little bit almost a culty. And I was like, I don’t know, maybe. But she showed me a, Pretty Woman when I was like 12.
>> Kris Bryant: Wow.
>> Tara Scott: I know, Right. Like, so I don’t know what happened. The thing that was so interesting watching it is, first of all, it’s hilarious. I laughed so hard I was crying. It really. It mostly holds up, I think, except.
>> Kris Bryant: Oh, really? 90s humor. I mean, okay.
>> Tara Scott: Except for, okay, Goldie Hawn in the fat suit. Fat suits don’t hold up.
>> Kris Bryant: They don’t.
>> Tara Scott: They, like, they truly don’t. And the whole, like, when she’s institutionalized also is. Doesn’t. But even then, it felt like a bit of a reference to One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest.
>> Kris Bryant: Oh, yeah, yeah.
>> Tara Scott: but the rest of it holds up so well. And I think some of it is because it gets at, like, you know, plastic surgery and that kind of thing. And it was interesting seeing Meryl Streep reflect on it now because she said something like, I always saw it as a documentary about Beverly Hills. But if you look at now when modifications are so accessible or so much more accessible, like, it’s quite easy to go and get Botox and to get fillers and, like, does she. Does she in real life?
>> Kris Bryant: Yeah. No, I didn’t think so either. I think she’s, like, a purist.
>> Tara Scott: Yeah. She’s been very famously, like, anti that. And so, I mean, even the fact that she said she saw it as a documentary, Beverly Hills, I think, says a lot about her perspective on, like, modifying yourself. It was so good. It’s so campy. It’s so wonderful. They’re like, the interplay between all of them is so good. I loved it. I can see why so many queer people like it. And like, Jinx Monsoon, the, like, super famous drag queen that won a couple of seasons of Drag Race, talked about it being one of the inspirations for her as a drag queen. And I can see it. I can absolutely see it. So, yeah, we. After that, we were like, hang on. We’re really enjoying watching these movies. What if we come up with a list of movies to watch? So I think we’re going to be doing more. But what we did was we based it on what if you made a list of movies where you drew from the core four of Devil Wears Prada, because they’re all such good actors. Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Stanley Tucci, Emily Blunt. How can you go wrong, right? With those four?
>> Kris Bryant: I’m trying to think of, like, did any of them do a bad movie?
>> Tara Scott: Probably at some point, but I don’t. I can’t think of one off the top of my head.
>> Kris Bryant: Oh, I didn’t. I Didn’t like the Washington Post or the. What, what was it? The. I couldn’t get through that one with Meryl Streep in it. but that’s on me.
>> Tara Scott: Yeah. I don’t know.
>> Kris Bryant: Because again, anti journalism right now. So.
>> Tara Scott: Right.
>> Kris Bryant: Or has been. So.
>> Tara Scott: So the first one we chose was the Fall Guy, which has Emily Blunt and Ryan go. And that movie was so. It was so fun. I didn’t know it was based on a TV series and I’ve never heard of the TV series.
>> Kris Bryant: Oh my gosh. You haven’t heard of the Fall Guy?
>> Tara Scott: No. I don’t know what decade it came out. I don’t know.
>> Kris Bryant: I don’t know. That’s Lee Majors, right? He was him. And what’s Her Face was it.
>> Tara Scott: Wasn’t it a long time ago then? But yeah, it’s super fun. Like he’s a stunt guy and she’s a director. And I don’t really want to get into it because there’s like a lot of twists and turns into it.
>> Kris Bryant: Oh yeah, yeah.
>> Tara Scott: But as we were watching it, we were like, what genre is this movie? And, is there. Is action rom com a genre?
>> Kris Bryant: It could be.
>> Tara Scott: Because if it is, that’s what it feels like.
>> Kris Bryant: So it aired from 1981 to 1986 starring Lee Majors.
>> Tara Scott: That explains why I didn’t know about.
>> Kris Bryant: Right. I mean, but they. It’s, you know, I mean, it came on after too. But who’s the. Heather Thomas? Heather Thomas? Yes, Heather Thomas. She was the. The female lead in it. I kind of vaguely remember that show. I think my dad maybe watched it. It wasn’t anything for a kid.
>> Tara Scott: No, but the movie was just. It was like. It was such. It was just pure dumb fun.
>> Kris Bryant: Right.
>> Tara Scott: And she acts. She still acts her ass off because she’s such a good actor. So I really enjoyed it. And actually what was really fun is we watched it with our 14 year old who loved it.
>> Kris Bryant: Oh, nice.
>> Tara Scott: Absolutely loved it.
>> Kris Bryant: Nice.
>> Tara Scott: And then I read. I did so much reading. I’m not gonna get into it. I read two long ass fanfics, plus some of the books I’m going to talk about. So the first one is Ms. Woodhouse and Ms. Fairfax by Maisie Jardell. This is another one of those. Like, what if we take two Jane Austen characters and make them lesbians? But this time they took them from the book Emma, which I’m going to admit is the book that I believe. I’ve read it. I’ve definitely read adaptations of it that I’ve really Enjoyed. And this is a different take because instead of, like, there was one that I read that was a modern interpretation of it, this takes place after the events of the book. And so Emma Woodhouse never liked Jane Fairfax. Jane, of course, is always, like, she’s more accomplished than her. It’s really hard for her that, like, well, she doesn’t want to apply herself and become the best at music or become the best at art or whatever, but she gets kind of, tricked, slash, guilt tripped into doing a favor for her, going to where, like, Jane was staying with a friend who got married, whose husband is trying to get in her skirts. And she’s like, absolutely. The fuck not. I’m not in. Nope, nope, nope, nope. I married my best friend. I’m not fucking up this good thing for my best friend. And so Emma comes to get her, and there’s a, surprising attraction there. But like, Jane, Jane is of, like, a similar rank and in similar social circles, but there’s no money. So she, like. So she has an aunt, she has a grandmother. They have very little money, and so she’s decided, I’m going to be a governess. And they just kind of. It sort of goes from there where they get to know each other and they realize that, like, yeah, the relationship had been kind of tense before, but they actually quite like each other. No, no, no. They actually really like each other. And then they like each other with no clothes on.
>> Kris Bryant: That’s fun.
>> Tara Scott: The thing that was interesting reading this so soon after reading the Miseducation of Caroline Bingley is I feel like this book is much more aware of the risks that would happen, especially for Jane, but, I mean, for Emma, but, like, the risks of what would happen if they were discovered as being queer. There’s also Mr. Knightley, one of the side characters. He’s also, like, he’s gay. And so there’s. There’s that real threat of discovery that drives a lot of the narrative tension. So, like I said, they’re in similar circles. Jane has no money. And so also, you know, getting a girlfriend who has a lot more money for her, there’s kind of a bit of an imbalance there, and that’s something that they need to work through. I think I read this one in a day. Wow. A day and a half. It was a super quick read. It was very fun. It was spicier than I expected, especially because if you look at the COVID for this novel, it looks like something you would see on a Jane Austen novel. And I don’t know, people, you can look it up, but we’re gonna get Kris’s reaction to this one. so like, yes, they’re technically missing on the bench, but it does look like it could be like a Penguin classic novel or something like that. Right. Like it looks like it could be a contemporary reprint of a Jane Austin novel.
>> Kris Bryant: Let’s see that.
>> Tara Scott: If you’re not paying enough attention to realize that it’s two ladies that are kissing on the bench.
>> Kris Bryant: Yeah, yeah. Because the one’s wearing a hat and it kind of looks like a soldier
>> Tara Scott: That in a way a little bit. And so I was reading it, I was like, okay, this, we’re going for it. This is quite all right. Good for them. So I think if, you know, you want something quick and fun and spicy and set in a Jane Austen novel, that’s a fun one. And it’s available on Kindle Unlimited. Okay. you know, budget is tight and you’ve got a KU subscription. I think that’s one that’s worth checking out on there. And then I read four books by Anna Stone. We talked before about how. Wow, I know I enjoy some of her books. And what I’m going to talk about is actually my favorite because of the other three, like I could actually rank my enjoyment. But I don’t think that that’s fair. So I’m going to talk about the one that I absolutely love the most. It’s called At Her Service. It is one of the Club Velvet books. It’s a nanny book. And so Abby Peters is she’s a nanny. The kids that she takes care of are great, but her bosses are kind of assholes and she’s having a hard time getting by. And then at a park she kind of runs into this Hollywood executive, Valerie Kane, her two year old daughter, because she found her two year old daughter and she like her. Because her kid, I don’t know, like tripped and skinned her knee and she like cleaned it up and she’s like, what’s your name? And she’s like, wait, my daughter told you her name? She talked to you? She doesn’t talk to anybody. She doesn’t like anybody. And she seems to trust you. Come and be our live in nanny. After, after, after of course, doing a police check, doing all the responsible good. So it says, you know, Valerie is, she’s like a very powerful woman in Hollywood because she’s black. I was like, okay, so is she supposed to be kind of like a Shonda Rhimes? But like literally the only similarity is that like Powerful black woman in Hollywood who produces things. There’s no other comparison that I would make. She’s also a dominatrix and she’s one of the co owners who runs Club Velvet, which shows up in another book that I talked about in another episode.
>> Kris Bryant: Oh, yeah, right, right. I remember this.
>> Tara Scott: Yes. And so Club Velvet is this, like, luxury club for women who like to play together. Valerie’s not looking for a relationship. Like, she’s all about her career and her daughter, but there’s something there. Abby technically is supposed to be off limits because she’s the nanny, but, like, the vibe is so good for them. Of course there is always some kind of a villain or an obstacle. and in this case it’s her ex wife who’s like, no, I want you back.
This was the one that I enjoyed the most because the chemistry was incredible
>> Kris Bryant: And it’s like, always the ex wife.
>> Tara Scott: But she wants to protect Abby because she’s afraid, like, what is going to happen to her if all of this comes up. And so I loved it. All the books that I read were quick and fun. This was the one that I enjoyed the most because I thought the chemistry was just absolutely incredible. I thought they worked so well as a couple. The villain made sense. It worked all right. Again, it was so. It was on Kindle Unlimited. I enjoyed it so much, I paid for a copy.
>> Kris Bryant: Wow.
>> Tara Scott: Hm. Because I know it’s one that I want to come back to on a day where I’m like, I don’t know. Yeah, go back to something familiar and fun and sweet. And so I thought the scenario was great. Chemistry was amazing. The ending was perfect. There were a couple of others that were good. And there was one other that I quite liked that had a sugar baby situation. But this was the one. This was. Oh, my God, this one was so good. But the sugar baby situation, it’s called hers to Keep. And so I thought that one was also quite good. That’s part of a series where it’s like a different couple in every book. And it’s like a former art student hates her life working at a call center selling insurance that nobody needs. M. Like, truly, like, too much insurance. Like, it’s too expensive and it’s dumb. So she and her best friend get drunk one night and her friend signs her up for this, like, sugar baby website where you can find a sugar daddy or mama and she thinks she’s straight until she meets, you know, this rich woman who runs a company and works from home. And yeah, she’s not straight, I guess, is what. Say, that one was fun too. That one was actually like, it was quite lovely. But if I had to say, if you’re only gonna get one off Kindle Unlimited, I would say at her service. But I enjoyed them both very much. So nice. Kris.
>> Kris Bryant: Yes.
>> Tara Scott: What is your official recommendation today?
>> Kris Bryant: So my official recommendation is a show on Netflix, on Netflix called Running Point. And it’s a comedy and I love it. I absolutely love it. So here’s the little, quick synopsis. Isla Gordon, overlooked her whole life, is appointed president of the LA Waves basketball team at family business when her brother enters rehab. So Kate Hudson, she is Isla Gordon and she is a hot fucking mess. And in a hot fucking mess of a family. I mean, this is a terrible family. So they own this NBA team and Kate has, her name is Isla. So Isla has lived her life like Paris Hilton. She has three brothers and they’re all in the business and they don’t. How do I want to say this? Like, one brother is, and he is the president of this company. There’s another brother who just happens to be there and he used to play basketball like for like a quarter or something. And then he got hurt, but he’s always around. He’s kind of just a. I don’t even know what to call him. And then there’s a brother named Sandy and he is the cfo. But anyway, I’m actually recommending both seasons, but the second season is the one that, where there’s a lot of queer representation. First one there is, but the second one just kind of ties it all together and it’s a real quick watch. I think there’s like 10 episodes, but it’s so fun and it’s so fast that you’re like, oh, let’s just roll into the second season.
>> Kris Bryant: In the shit show. That’s our world now. It’s a nice getaway for sure. This is a really nice getaway. So Sandy, the brother who’s the cfo, he’s gay. He’s the gay. He’s the gay in the show. He is gay. And so the first, first season, he’s kind of, you know, he’s gay. We know he’s gay. He doesn’t really, like, he’s not really out and he has a boyfriend. He’s had a boyfriend for almost a year and he doesn’t want his, his family to know because they are a hot mess. I’m not kidding. Yeah, like, it’s actually really cool because the, the old, the brother who went into rehab, his name is Cam, he’s a terrible person and he Just thinks that his sister’s gonna screw it all up and so they’re gonna need him again. And he was forced into rehab. Is one of those who he’s forced into it. And, so he was kind of setting up for failure, like the whole team, the whole company. And so she’s. She has to make all these decisions. She has to try to get money in because her brother screwed everything up. So Sandy, he’s not likable. He really isn’t. He’s just kind of like a. I, don’t know. He. He knows nothing about basketball. I mean, he knows basketball, but, like, he can’t play it. And he never, like, nobody ever listens to him about anything. And he doesn’t really have an opinion. He’s just there to shuffle money around and try to get as much as he can for the team and for his family. And so Isla takes over. And so in the first season, she does a lot of improvements. And actually it’s great because she knows basketball better than anybody else in the family, but they just never give her a shot because she’s a woman. and women don’t know anything about basketball or sports. And they never, like, listen to her. So she comes in and she, like, turns this team around and it’s fantastic. So by the second season, which is the season that. Where this. Where Sandy comes out and it’s great, and he gets a lot of support. Like, she’s like the glue of the family now, and everybody’s not so big of a loser anymore.
>> Tara Scott: Nice.
>> Kris Bryant: It’s just one of those where, like, it really helps, you know, everybody’s trying to be a better person because they all started from, like, the sewer. I mean, it’s just. They’re just like, not good people. And Sandy is just. He’s like, all right, so I feel more confident now. My sister loves me regardless of whatever, and I feel more confident even though I’m trying to have a relationship in such a male dominated field. Business, all of it. I mean, think about it. Mba, like, yeah, you’re not like, the NBA is not. It’s not a place where you’re outwardly, I mean, basically any professional sport. I don’t think there are a few people that have come out. But really, like, you don’t see it a lot. You know, I mean, in football there’s
>> Tara Scott: been a few sports.
>> Kris Bryant: That’s true. Yay for women’s sports and queerness. Yeah. But the NBA now, not so much. So, anyway, and it’s nice because Cam, who is Like I said, he’s just a terrible brother and he’s using the family. He’s like, stole money. He’s just terrible. He does drugs and he likes. He has somebody else take his drug test for him. There’s like a lot going on. He’s just trying to beat whatever court ordered stuff he has to do and Sandy kind of falls into a trap with him. But what I really like about Sandy is his growth. Because, you know, I am, I’m all about the personal growth in any sort of series. Love it. And he finally like stands up for himself and he makes this major massive grand gesture in front of a lot of people to the love of his life. And it’s just, it’s very sweet. And I just, I thought, I thought it was such a great show. Everything about it positive. And like, there’s one brother who’s kind of dopey and he’s, he’s probably the biggest Isla supporter and he’s very emotional. So he’s always like hugging Sandy and, hey, we need to go do this. And how come you don’t do this with me?
You know, we’re brothers. We should be watching Traitors and we should be. It’s such a dysfunctional family and they’re trying to make it work and it’s starting to come together and I just love that. Like, like he actually. I don’t even know. I don’t want to give it away. Like, there’s like a big storyline, queer storyline in here that I can’t give away because don’t, do it. I don’t want to do. Is good. It’s very good. His role, Sandy’s role is a lot bigger in season two than it was in season one. But you do need to watch season one. Like I said, it’s super fast. You probably watch it a day super fast to, to get to season
>> Tara Scott: two and you get more like half hour episodes.
>> Kris Bryant: Now they’re more like 45 minutes maybe. Okay. You know, I can, I can be on the couch for 13 hours and like, nothing.
>> Tara Scott: Oh my God, my back would explode.
>> Kris Bryant: Nope, nope. I’m just like, I can do it. And here’s the thing, like, it’s a really good series. It’s a fun series and it really doesn’t have anything to do with basketball. I mean, it sort of does, but it’s just the foundation of this show about how dysfunctional people or how to put the fun in dysfunctional, I guess. I guess.
>> Tara Scott: Uh-huh.
>> Kris Bryant: But you don’t have to know the Sport, to enjoy it. It’s just such a. Such a refreshing thing to watch after, like I said, this shitstorm of our country right now. It’s just to get away. It’s nice to. To watch something that doesn’t focus on that. And it’s more about, hey, the only problem we have is maybe not enough money and the fact that we’re queer. I don’t know. But in a good way. Like, I. I just. I thought it was really cute and they handled it well. And, definitely, like, I recommend it.
>> Tara Scott: That sounds so fun.
>> Kris Bryant: That was quick. Yeah, it was a quick, quick recommendation.
>> Tara Scott: Fun.
>> Kris Bryant: And Kate Hudson, I mean, I just love her. So here’s what I did. So I watched the series, and then it’s one of those, like. I don’t even know what to call it. Like, a cosmic thing, because I turned off the. I turned off this show, and then all of a sudden, Almost Perfect was on.
>> Tara Scott: Oh, no way.
>> Kris Bryant: Yes. And I’m like, debbie, Debbie, come here,
>> Tara Scott: come here, come here.
>> Kris Bryant: I go, look, that was her 25 years ago. She looks the fucking same.
>> Tara Scott: She m. Looks incredible. She was a guest judge on RuPaul’s Drag Race recently. Unbelievable. She looks so good.
>> Kris Bryant: It’s amazing that she looks 50 like her mom and 50 like her dad. I mean, genetics, it’s a thing. It’s just like she can stand next to her mom. I’m like, oh, my God, like, the spitting image of her mom. But then she sends extra dad and you’re like, oh, my God. Spitting image of her dad. Yeah, I love it. Like, she’s just. Yeah, it’s great. And it was so funny because she just seems like she plays. It was. It was. I don’t even know how to say it. Like, turning that off and then turning. Going 25 years in the past. It was almost like the same. She has the same mannerisms, and you could tell that she really enjoys her job and she, you know, so she’s another person I think would be good to watch movies. She’s not going to give you a bad movie. Yeah.
>> Tara Scott: Yes. So.
>> Kris Bryant: So I think it’s a good one. Good, Good characters, good character. arc, queerness. Love it. Recommend.
>> Tara Scott: Hm.
>> Kris Bryant: So what about you, Tara? What’s your official recommendation?
>> Tara Scott: All right, so mine is the new romance from Claire Lydon called Girlfriend Goals. And so Amy o’ Donnell and Jen Campbell, they used to be teammates. this is a sports romance. So they were. They were teammates on a soccer team or football, if you’re reading the book. Because they don’t say soccer. They talk about football. they had been teammates, and they were, like, best, best friends. And then Jen just, like, dropped off the face of the earth.
>> Kris Bryant: No.
>> Tara Scott: And it’s been two decades, and Amy has. She still has no idea what happened. Why did Jen stop talking to her? Why did she. This was like ghosting. Before, ghosting was a word. But now Amy is coaching the Ireland team because she’s Irish. Jen is coaching England’s football team. She’s English. And now it’s the run up to the Euros, and there’s a documentary being made, and they’re forced to be in the documentary, and they have to, like, be nice in front of the cameras. And this is, like, a big deal because everybody has noticed that, like, say, after a game when their teams have played against each other, they don’t shake hands, they don’t talk to each other. They don’t, like. It’s just this. Everybody’s like, what’s up with that? They used to be teammates. And Amy recently released a memoir that, like, she doesn’t say it’s Jen, but talks about how there was this, like, painful experience with a friend who.
>> Kris Bryant: Oh, Wow.
>> Tara Scott: Right. And so Jen is like, what the. Why now? Why did she do this? Why is she saying this? Because, like, Jen left for a reason. She has a secret, and she’s been hanging on to that secret for 20 years.
>> Kris Bryant: Okay. Can I guess? No, I’ll let you. It’s your recommendation. I’ll be quiet. Sorry.
>> Tara Scott: You can guess after we’re done recording. The whole process of the Euros is six months, and they’re gonna have to be together for six months. And can they do it? And a, romance does it. This is absolutely a romance novel. This was a really. This was another really fast read. I think I read this one again within, like, 24 to 36 hours. Nice. And the thing that I thought was really interesting. So it has a lot of tropes, and it also has the vibes of some that don’t necessarily apply. So it’s like being m promoted as a Rivals to Lovers story, but it also feels like a second chance romance, even though they were never lovers because they had been best friends and they were so close. And so it’s this, like, is there such thing as, like, best friends to ghosting to Rivals to lovers? Because if there is. So it has scenes, that are all in the current timeline, but it also has scenes that are flashbacks that take us through the story, like, just their history of how they met and became friends and were Training together in the US and all the events that led to Jen just like dropping out of her life. It’s interesting because when they are put together, at one point, Amy thinks of Jen as her ex friend and former nemesis. And so it’s not just rivals to lovers in the sense that we’re on different teams, but like, no, we’re enemies. I, hate you. And I thought it was also interesting to see the two sides of this particular enemy’s situation, because for Amy, it clearly comes from this, like, deep hurt. There’s still, there’s still a wound there, there’s still a pain there because she doesn’t understand why somebody can go from being her best friend to dropping out of her life. And so it’s almost this mixture of grief and confusion. And Jen’s honestly comes from guilt. And that guilt was so big that it caused her to behave badly. And so of the two, I think, you know, Jen has a much bigger character arc, because she has to deal with, she has to deal with that secret everything that comes with it, including the insecurities that made her say, I’m going to walk away from you before you have a chance to reject me.
>> Kris Bryant: Oh, right. It’s a thing happened to me. Oh yeah, it is a thing. It is a thing in our community for sure.
>> Tara Scott: Which isn’t to say that Amy doesn’t have an arc. Amy more in her case. It’s more like she has some major life choices to make because she’s been living, she’s been living in England, her mom and her niece. I’m sorry, it’s been like six books, a couple, big fan fix since I read this. I. I’m almost positive it’s her niece. It’s her mom and her and her niece have been living with her in England, but she’s coaching the Irish team and they’re headquartered back home. And can she live in England and coach the team in, in Dublin? Does that make sense? and so she has to figure out where her life is going, literally location where she’s going to go and what that’s going to mean. Does she want to be closer to her family? She has these feelings that start to grow eventually, you know, between her and Jen, because of course, the forced proximity, it’s so it’s not forced proximity in the sense of like, oh, we’ve been snowed into a cabin.
>> Kris Bryant: Right. And there’s one bed.
>> Tara Scott: And there’s one bed. Exactly. But there is forced proximity with this documentary because they would not have interacted with each other, except there’s a lady with a microphone and a camera who’s, like, watching them with an eagle eye to see. Aha. Uh-huh. Are you going to fight? What are you going to do? What’s going on?
I thought the chemistry was really great in this one, especially as they kind of remember why they became friends in the first place. And it’s in that place of remembering that eventually they discover this mutual attraction that wasn’t really there in their youth in the same way. And so the central question of the book is, can they trust each other? You know, can Amy trust Jen not to hurt her again? And can Jen trust Amy with this, like, weight that she’s been carrying for 20 years? And so, you know, I said kind of at the beginning that I felt like it technically doesn’t fit with Second Chance as a trope, but I actually want to kind of challenge the thinking around how we look at Second Chance romances. Because typically when we talk about Second Chance romances, the trope applies to characters who have been romantically involved before and they’re not anymore. And these characters were never romantically involved. But I do think this book does such a fabulous job of showing how a breakdown or a breakup in a very deep, deep, it might be platonic, but that friendship is so real and it’s so close. That can be just as devastating as any romantic relationship and maybe even more so.
>> Kris Bryant: I mean, it’s still love. It’s still a level of love. Especially when you’re a teenager and, you find somebody who you vibe so well with. There’s no ceiling.
>> Tara Scott: No.
>> Kris Bryant: Whether it’s best friend, whether it’s a, you know, your first boyfriend, girlfriend, whatever. I mean, there’s no ceiling. And I feel like, you know, you make some of your best friendships when you’re younger. Yeah. You know, I still think about my friends from when I was 12, 13, 14, 15. I mean, I had a best friend
>> Tara Scott: and city of it.
>> Kris Bryant: Yes. You know, and there’s like. And you get jealous when there’s other people in the relationship. so, I mean, I feel that, I feel, you know, for sure there’s love and a friendship. So I, I, I’m with you on this second chance. I believe that that’s true.
>> Tara Scott: Yeah. I think in this case, like, it’s really that I look at it as this is their second chance to be each other’s person. To, like, be that one person who’s always there for them. It’s just happens there’s like this whole other dimension to it that is like romantic and sexual and all that. So I will say I’m sure there’s some people who’ve been wondering. Ash and Victoria from the Princess Match do make cameos in this one. So it was nice to get to catch up with them again because that was one of my absolute hands down favorite books of last year. So I was so glad to get to see them again, but also get to know these new characters because they’re lovely. I want to be Amy’s friend. Like Amy’s just that kind of character. You read it and you’re like, oh, can we please be friends? You just seem wonderful. So if you like sports, romances, slow burns, enemies to lovers, and our expanded definition of Agreed that I think girlfriend goals is definitely one to check out.
>> Kris Bryant: That sounds lovely. It does.
>> Tara Scott: That is all for this episode. Thank you so much for joining us. If you’ve enjoyed it, if you think anybody needs to get some good, good TV and book recommendations, please send them this podcast. Let them know to come check it out.