{"podcast":{"title":"What to Read Next — Book Recommendations for Romance, Thrillers & Escape Reads","slug":"what-to-read-next-book-recommendations-for-romance-thrillers-escape-reads-9873","podcast_index_feed_id":9873,"rss_url":"https://feeds.captivate.fm/whattoreadnext/","website_url":"http://www.whattoreadnextblog.com","image_url":"https://artwork.captivate.fm/f7acd6df-7bd5-4b9f-bdcd-cc1c6c790629/4osSDj37v6rAcBIBBysi07ET.png","author":"Laura R Yamin","episode_count":928,"summary":"You know you want to read. You just don't know what. What to Read Next is the podcast for readers who love romance, thrillers, and women's fiction — and spend more time staring at their TBR than actually reading it. I'm Laura, and twice a week I bring you book recommendations built around one thing: how you actually feel right now. Not what's new. Not what's trending. The right book for this exact mood, this exact moment, this exact week of your life. Some weeks that means asking an author what they read for joy — not what they wrote, but what they reach for when they need to escape. Their answer is always your next discovery. Some weeks it means me telling you exactly what I read, what stayed with me, what I DNF'd at 40% and why, and which one I'd press into your hands right now if we were having coffee. Romance across every subgenre. Psychological thrillers. Beach reads with actual substance. Women's fiction that makes you feel seen. The books that give you the escape you came for — and a few that'll quietly change how you see things too. New episodes every Monday and Wednesday. The Reading Receipt — my weekly reading log — drops every Thursday on Substack. Start anywhere. The r…","last_synced_at":"2026-07-30T20:17:08.396085+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/what-to-read-next-book-recommendations-for-romance-thrillers-escape-reads-9873"},"episode":{"title":"Beyond Bridgerton: Classic Historical Romance Hidden Gems | The Duke by Anna Cowan","slug":"beyond-bridgerton-classic-historical-romance-hidden-gems-the-duke-by-anna-cowan","published_at":"2026-04-27T10:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/what-to-read-next-book-recommendations-for-romance-thrillers-escape-reads-9873/beyond-bridgerton-classic-historical-romance-hidden-gems-the-duke-by-anna-cowan","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/what-to-read-next-book-recommendations-for-romance-thrillers-escape-reads-9873","url":"http://www.whattoreadnextblog.com","audio_url":"https://episodes.captivate.fm/episode/ccc32ec9-049b-4e3d-ae73-58b90ea37c59.mp3","summary":"This post contains affiliate links, which means I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. What if the Duke was a woman — and the courtesan trying to blackmail her was the love interest? If that premise just made you sit up straighter, this episode is for you. Anna Cowan joins us to talk about The Duke , her long-awaited second novel — a queer Regency romance that flips the classic historical hero archetype on its head. This one is for readers who love the lush world of Regency fiction but are hungry for something that feels fresh, politically charged, and unapologetically modern in its sensibilities. We dig into Anna's world-building process, the evolution of historical romance as a genre post-Bridgerton, and what it means to write a female Duke who's conceptually hot in exactly the way the brooding Regency hero always was. Anna also shares a stack of book recommendations spanning classic historicals, gay hockey romance, and Kindle Unlimited reads that will genuinely spark your brain. 📚 Books Mentioned The Duke by Anna Cowan — Buy on Amazon | Queer Historical Romance / Regency | KU ✅ Black Silk by Judith Ivory — Buy on Amazon | Classic Historical Romance | Backlist gem Fool Me Twice by Meredith Duran — Buy on Amazon | Historical Romance | Beauty & the Beast vibes Tempting the Bride by Sherry Thomas — Buy on Amazon | Historical Romance | Amnesia / enemies-to-lovers Game Misconduct (Penalty Box #1) by Ari Baran — Buy on Amazon | Gay Hockey Romance | Audio ✅ — narrated by Cooper North ⏱️ Timestamps [00:00] Welcome & Anna Cowan introduction [00:45] About The Duke — the premise: female Duke + French courtier blackmail romance [01:30] World-building a queer Regency where female nobles are the norm [03:00] Character deep-dive: the Duke of Howard vs. Célin…","meta_description":"This post contains affiliate links, which means I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. What if the Duke was a woman — and the courtesan tr…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":1237,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/what-to-read-next-book-recommendations-for-romance-thrillers-escape-reads-9873/episodes/beyond-bridgerton-classic-historical-romance-hidden-gems-the-duke-by-anna-cowan/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/what-to-read-next-book-recommendations-for-romance-thrillers-escape-reads-9873/beyond-bridgerton-classic-historical-romance-hidden-gems-the-duke-by-anna-cowan.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}