{"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":"Book Club Fiction, Cozy Mysteries & Summer Rom-Coms With Bookish AF","slug":"book-club-fiction-cozy-mysteries-summer-rom-coms-with-bookish-af","published_at":"2026-06-26T00:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/what-to-read-next-book-recommendations-for-romance-thrillers-escape-reads-9873/book-club-fiction-cozy-mysteries-summer-rom-coms-with-bookish-af","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/7d990662-8d37-4d5b-96ab-f5d61350c422.mp3","summary":"This post contains affiliate links, which means I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. If you're the kind of reader who wants heartfelt book recs and a peek behind the curtain of building a reading life worth writing about, this one's for you. Audry Fryer of the Bookish AF Substack joins us to talk about the books she can't stop recommending — from Fredrik Backman's quietly devastating My Friends to the winter read she's still thinking about, The Frozen River . We also get into the joys of audiobooks as genuine self-care, how to ease into romantasy without the overwhelm, and why \"millennial mysteries\" might be exactly the cozy-but-not-too-cozy genre you've been looking for. 📚 Books Mentioned My Friends by Fredrik Backman — Buy on Amazon | Literary Fiction / Contemporary | Audio ✅ Beartown by Fredrik Backman — Buy on Amazon | Literary Fiction / Sports | Audio ✅ A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman — Buy on Amazon | Literary Fiction | Audio ✅ The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon — Buy on Amazon | Historical Fiction | Audio ✅ Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall — Buy on Amazon | Literary Fiction The God of the Woods by Liz Moore— Buy on Amazon | Literary Thriller / Mystery | Audio ✅ Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes — Buy on Amazon | Contemporary Romance / Women's Fiction | Audio ✅ Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry — Buy on Amazon | Women's Fiction / Romance | Audio ✅ It's a Love Story by Annabel Monaghan — Buy on Amazon | Contemporary Romance / Rom-Com | Audio ✅ Nora Goes Off Script by Annabel Monaghan — Buy on Amazon | Contemporary Romance / Women's Fiction | Audio ✅ The Guncle by Steven Rowley — Buy on Amazon | Commercial Fiction / LGBTQ+ | Audio ✅ (author narrates) Rachel West and the Fallen Starlet by Emma Mills — Buy on Amazon | Cozy Mystery ⏱…","meta_description":"This post contains affiliate links, which means I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. If you're the kind of reader who wants heartfelt bo…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":1931,"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/book-club-fiction-cozy-mysteries-summer-rom-coms-with-bookish-af/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/book-club-fiction-cozy-mysteries-summer-rom-coms-with-bookish-af.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}