Books and BS Podcast

Two readers and friends talk books, business and a whole lot of other BS.

Episode 14: Life Updates, Lots Of Books, And Movie Drama 08/03/2026

Episode 14: Life Updates, Lots Of Books, And Movie Drama Welcome back to another episode with your favorite hosts, Eb and Alyssa. This week we're giving y'all an update on everything that's been going on and why we're one week late with this new episode (so sorry and we love you forever!). We're also ranting about special editions and some of the latest book to movie adaptation drama. As always this podcast is spoiler free. Check out all the books mentioned below: /episode/index/show/ea6c2f59-cb8d-44f9-90cf-8df279cea071/id/42292520

Episode 13: Fantastic Books, ARCs, And Reading Black Trauma 07/13/2026

Episode 13: Fantastic Books, ARCs, And Reading Black Trauma We're thrilled to have another new guest on this episode: That's Novel Bookseller Dezanii! We were lucky enough to snag an advanced reader's copy of Mazywood, Tananarive Due's newest book coming out September 22. Tananarive Due is one of Dezanii's favorite authors, so she devoured the book and joins us to discuss this book as well as another one of her favorites, The Reformatory. Jumping off from this discussion, we talk about what it's like to read stories featuring Black trauma as Black readers, and its importance for everyone's reading journey. We also hear from Alyssa and Eb on their latest reads. Just a heads up: there is a minor spoiler from 34-36 minutes for the Dungeon Crawler Carl series, so skip that section if you'd like to avoid! As always, here are the books we discussed this episode: Blood & Betrayals - Jeanette Rose /episode/index/show/ea6c2f59-cb8d-44f9-90cf-8df279cea071/id/42052645

Episode 12: Lots Of Books And Alt-Bezos Recommendations 06/29/2026

Episode 12: Lots Of Books And Alt-Bezos Recommendations This week's episode as a whole lot of great book recommendations thanks to Eb and Alyssa getting a bunch of quality reading time in the past few weeks! On top of that, they're returning to their Amazon swaps discussion, with recommendations for alternatives for audiobooks and e-readers for those looking to move away from supporting Amazon as it relates to books. This episode is spoiler free - check out all the books discussed below! /episode/index/show/ea6c2f59-cb8d-44f9-90cf-8df279cea071/id/41856280

Episode 11: Trademarks, 6-Month Check-Ins, And Don't Tell Me To Smile 06/15/2026

Episode 11: Trademarks, 6-Month Check-Ins, And Don't Tell Me To Smile Eb and Alyssa are back in a solo episode this week, and boy is it a fun one. They start off hot with some celebrity gossip and how to respond to cat callers before moving into a check-in to see where they are 6 months into the year. They also chat about the recent bookish trademark drama that's taken over the internet. This episode is spoiler-free. All books discussed are listed below with links where you can purchase them from indie bookstores. /episode/index/show/ea6c2f59-cb8d-44f9-90cf-8df279cea071/id/41649920

Episode 10: Men, Undeserved Redemption Arcs And The Kindred's Curse Saga 06/01/2026

Episode 10: Men, Undeserved Redemption Arcs And The Kindred's Curse Saga A big heads up before you begin this episode: THERE ARE SPOILERS. Around 1 hour 20 minutes, we begin discussing the Kindred's Curse Saga by Penn Cole in more depth. If you have not finished all three books in this series, we do not recommend listening past that point unless you are okay with spoilers! This week we're thrilled to have special guest Andrea McRae on the podcast! Andrea is one of the booksellers at That's Novel and the reason why over half of our staff is obsessed with The Kindred's Curse Saga by Penn Cole. Following Cole's announcement of Burn Of The Everflame, the final book in the series, we have her on to discuss the series as a whole and her hopes for the final book. Books we mention with links to purchase them at indie bookstores: /episode/index/show/ea6c2f59-cb8d-44f9-90cf-8df279cea071/id/41467465

Episode 9: Special Guest Author Marissa Serrao And The Return To The Amazon Discussion 05/18/2026

Episode 9: Special Guest Author Marissa Serrao And The Return To The Amazon Discussion Welcome back to another fun episode of Books & BS with your favorite hosts, Eb and Alyssa. In this one you'll get some fantastic reading updates from each, but we've got another special treat: Charlotte romantasy author Marissa Serrao is joining us and giving us all the nitty gritty of what working with Amazon as an indie author is like. We're talking royalties, Kindle Unlimited, selling on TikTok, receiving edits, the pros and cons of indie publishing vs. trad publishing, and the true grind it takes to be an indie author full time. It's a long one, but full of great discussion. As always, this episode is spoiler free, but all the books we discuss, with links to purchase them from independent bookstores, are listed below: /episode/index/show/ea6c2f59-cb8d-44f9-90cf-8df279cea071/id/41326725

Episode 8: Interview With Bestselling Author Nisha J. Tuli 05/04/2026

Episode 8: Interview With Bestselling Author Nisha J. Tuli Welcome to a particularly exciting episode of Books & BS! In this episode Alyssa and Eb give an update on their hectic month, they finally discuss the book recommendations they gave each other, AND they interview best selling author Nisha J. Tuli. You might know her for her Artefacts of Ouranos series (Trial Of The Sun Queen) or her rom com, Not Safe For Work. In this episode we chat with her about her upcoming book release for STORM BREAKER, a YA Dystopian releasing on May 5. We ask her about her writing process, where she draws her inspiration from, and she teases some of her upcoming projects she'll be annoucing real soon! As always, this episode is spoiler-free. Below are a list of the books we discuss with links to purchase from Indie Bookstores. Too Cold For Comfort - Nisha J. Tuli /episode/index/show/ea6c2f59-cb8d-44f9-90cf-8df279cea071/id/41141885

Episode 7: Amazon, Book Crawls, and Everything Is FINE 04/20/2026

Episode 7: Amazon, Book Crawls, and Everything Is FINE Welcome back to another epsidoe of Books & BS. In this one you'll hear Eb and Alyssa talk about the realities of business ownership and life, the bizarre books they've been enjoying, and all things Amazon: the latest kindle news, their predatory practicies, and more. As always, this episode is spoiler-free. Here are all the books discussed in the episode, with links to purchase each from an indie bookstore: /episode/index/show/ea6c2f59-cb8d-44f9-90cf-8df279cea071/id/40928190

Episode 6: Chaotic Rolling Opens And Our Fav FMCs 04/06/2026

Episode 6: Chaotic Rolling Opens And Our Fav FMCs Welcome back to another chaotic episode of Books and BS. Today you're going to hear about our parenting woes, our witchy Hollywood theories, the books we've been reading and our top five favorite female main characters. As always this episode is spoiler free. Below are the books we discuss: /episode/index/show/ea6c2f59-cb8d-44f9-90cf-8df279cea071/id/40740485

Episode 6: Romance, Why Choose, and the SJM Controversy 03/23/2026

Episode 6: Romance, Why Choose, and the SJM Controversy Your two favorite hosts are back after an extra week off, and we've got an extra long episode for you because of it! You're going to get some updates on Alyssa's trip, Eboni's daugther and everything they've been reading (including Eb branching out a bit)! We also talk about the SJM controversy, what our plans are for the release of ACOTAR 6+7, and we give you a bunch of teasers for our SCORE midnight release. Here's a list of the books mentioned in the show: /episode/index/show/ea6c2f59-cb8d-44f9-90cf-8df279cea071/id/40592780

Episode 5: Book Recommendations, Prison Boyfriends and B&N 03/02/2026

Episode 5: Book Recommendations, Prison Boyfriends and B&N Your two favorite hosts are back with another chaotic episode! In this one, Eb and Alyssa finally share their book recommendations with each other, they connect over their shared New York experience (upstate for Alyssa, city for Eb) and they discuss the importance of intentional diversity efforts. This episode is spoiler free! You can see a full list of the books discussed in this epsiode, including links to purchase them from indie stores, below: /episode/index/show/ea6c2f59-cb8d-44f9-90cf-8df279cea071/id/40275545

Episode 4: Guests, Book Boyfriends and Accents 02/16/2026

Episode 4: Guests, Book Boyfriends and Accents We're thrilled to welcome our first ever podcast guest to the show, Fayelee Overman! Fayelee is one of the book sellers at That's Novel Books and friends with our hosts, Eboni and Alyssa. In this episode they discuss the Super Bowl half time show, their top 5 book boyfriends, what they're currently reading, and so much more. Please note: the last 20 mintues of the podcast will have heavy Throne of Glass series spoilers. All other major spoilers have been edited out. Books shared in this episode: and - Tracy Deonn The Most Wonderful Time - Jayne Allen /episode/index/show/ea6c2f59-cb8d-44f9-90cf-8df279cea071/id/40088855

Episode 3: Smut, Kinks and Anti-Intellectualism 02/02/2026

Episode 3: Smut, Kinks and Anti-Intellectualism In this episode, Eboni and Alyssa get NSFW. There's a lot of discussion around dark romance and various kinks, so proceed with caution. They also discuss what they're currently reading, Black History Month, the anti-intellectualism movement on BookTok, and a whole lot more. Books mentioned in this episode include: Trials of a Sun Queen by Nisha J. Tulli Twisted Game by Eva Ashwood /episode/index/show/ea6c2f59-cb8d-44f9-90cf-8df279cea071/id/39936610

Episode 2: 2025 Wrapped, All Time Favorites and 2026 Goals 01/19/2026

Episode 2: 2025 Wrapped, All Time Favorites and 2026 Goals Welcome back, book babes! This episode Alyssa and Eboni are sharing what they've been reading, a look at their "2025 wrapped," they're discussing a little online drama that happened when Alyssa vague-posted something, and they're sharing some tips on how to read more this year. Of course, they mention a lot of books in the episode, and they kept it spoiler free. Find them below with links to get them at That's Novel or other Indie Bookstores! Wilderness: Volume 1 by Jim Morrison /episode/index/show/ea6c2f59-cb8d-44f9-90cf-8df279cea071/id/39733150

Episode 1: Welcome To Books and BS 12/31/2025

Episode 1: Welcome To Books and BS Welcome to the Books and BS podcast, a That's Novel Books production hosted by Alyssa and Eboni. We're a bookstore owner and manager living and reading in Charlotte, NC, and we love to talk about books, business and a whole lot of bs. This episdoe we're introducing ourselves and talking about our top 5 books of the year. Don't worry, we've bleeped out any spoilers. We're excited to be on this reading and gabbing journey with you! Follow us on Instagram: @booksandbspodcast /episode/index/show/ea6c2f59-cb8d-44f9-90cf-8df279cea071/id/39576885

Books and BS Podcast

TOPICS