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Published by Claire Grant and Molly Young
How hard could it be to write a romance novel? We’re going to find out. Follow along weekly as we attempt to write the books we want to read and chat about what’s inspiring us.
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From the feed
The latest episodes published to this podcast’s own RSS feed. Titles and descriptions are the publisher’s.
Salt air… the rust on your door… the pools are closing, and we’re indulging in end of summer melancholy. This attitude pervades the episode, from Claire’s account of her terrible horrible no good very bad weekend that actually sounds perfectly pleasant, to Molly’s dissection of Hal Ebbott’s bruising debut novel Among Friends, to our own writing exercise of the week: summer short stories. We also cover Tia William’s Seven Days in June, The Lost Boys, Don’t Say Good Luck, and a balloon technology you wouldn’t believe.
What would you do with a week off from work to consume media? Claire answers that question with a thesis that spans The Road to Tender Hearts by Annie Hartnett, Square Waves by Alexandra Romanoff, and the new Anthony Bourdain biopic, Tony. Also this week, Molly threw an event and watched Camp Rock 3. We also workshop some writing, but it’s more like ideas (are you surprised?) Multiple people catch strays in this episode, including Santa Claus and old people writ large.
To write sex (Claire) or plots/characters driven by psychosexual desire (Molly’s still figuring out her pivot), we’re going back to the beginning and mining content that triggers sexual awakenings. Get ready for wig talk, animated odysseys, and the butt as an erogenous zone. We also cover Jenny Jacksons’ The Shampoo Effect, a Never Been Kissed rewatch, and Sterling Point, which is inducing TSITP level mania in our households.
This week, Claire puts aside her abject hatred for the Marvel universe and joins Molly behind enemy lines. We review three new-ish “boy movies”: The Odyssey, Spider-Man Brand New Day, and Project Hail Mary. Molly raises awareness about her new teen show, Sterling Point, and Claire tries to explain the very solid magic structure of One Night Only.
This week, Molly emerges from the warm embrace of Stars Hollow to give us the scoop on her first watch of Gilmore Girls. Trigger warning: Dean. Claire, meanwhile, has been living in a log cabin courtesy of the Little House on the Prairie reboot. Also this week, Claire recaps another thriller with a ChatGPT title, and makes the case for not DNFing a book (with a metaphor that is a JOKE by the way.) Finally, we give a long-awaited update on our books.
This week, we provide almost the exact coordinates of where we live. Hint: Molly has Legionnaire's. We have a lot of media to catch up on this week, including the Peacock adaptation of Elin Hilderbrand's Five Star Weekend. Claire read the book and Molly watched the show. Together, we recount most of the plot. Molly reviews Jennifer Lopez's latest, Office Romance, and Claire finally gives her take on 2007's Atonement, which leads us to discuss when and how to use "the worst word you can possibly imagine."
Let&t’s t&talk about&t it&t. If you could decode that, download the limited edition Plum LP of this episode (kidding). We stayed in town this Fourth of July for a very special occasion. To celebrate, we try our hand at one of life’s most challenging writing exercise: vows. Log your bets on Kalshi now for who you think gets to be @killatrav. Also this week, we discuss daddy-daughter romance in Harlan Coben’s I Will Find You. Plus, Molly digs into what she’s loving and what she’s liking just ok from Elle on Prime. Thanks, Adam!
That’s right, we’re talking about Ansel Elgort for at least five minutes again. And this time, we compare him to Nick Robinson, which we’re sure is flattering for him. We watched Voicemails for Isabelle and we can’t stop thinking about Mr. Robinson’s hand acting, or the concept of dessert nachos. Other topics covered this week: Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke, the Empire State Building engagement, one specific episode of Black Mirror, and Claire’s highly anticipated return to Panem (nurse, she’s reading The Hunger Games again.) Speaking of nurses and things that won’t die, we debate the state of Mitch McConnell.
We’re back, and Molly is cursing more than ever before. Your Bookstupid hosts are fresh off their longest stint apart since Claire studied abroad in college (did you know?? That she studied abroad??). In addition to a much needed catch up on our lives, Ali Hazelwood’s Not in Love x Problematic Summer Romance, Christina Lauren’s (but really Lauren’s) Love and Other Words, Widow’s Bay, and Every Year After, we do a close read on a generational new romance text: Olivia Rodrigo’s You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love. Oliva, we have received your message.
If you’re reading this, former president of Fordham University Father McShane, we’re going to watch Fifty Shades of Grey. We know about s-e-x and we’re allowed to watch that movie. This week, we talk about the steamy scenes that inspire us, and we’re still figuring out what that means exactly. We also discuss Obsession, the newest season of Four Seasons, and weird dates we witnessed in the wild this week. This is a message to the women of Manhattan: dump him!
If it seems like Claire is bursting with energy in this week’s episode, it’s because she can hardly wait another second to talk about the new season of her favorite Scandinavian horror show, The Chestnut Man. Also this week, we discuss the lifestyle movies that made us yearn for womanhood (The Devil Wears Prada), as well as a show that makes us sad about girlhood (The Testaments). Finally, we review a new summer romance — and Little Women fanfic — on shelves now: Our Perfect Storm by Carley Fortune.
The state of our writing mirrors the state of our Union: bleak, bordering on hopeless. But we barely talk about the economy and AI in this episode, if you can believe it! Instead, we discuss the Off Campus tv adaptation, Molly’s cult-of-one classic LOL (starring Miley Cyrus and D’mi Moore), and Claire’s latest second chance romance Before I Let Go by Kennedy Ryan — in addition to workshopping our own rough writing. It’s about time you put us in your prayer books.
This week, we catch up after an eventful weekend that includes a James Patterson commencement speech, a trip down memory lane, a mostly sober viewing of The Devil Wears Prada 2, and the rescue of 1,500 beagles. Since we last met, Molly finished Rites of the Starling and Claire (finally) finished The Poisonwood Bible. Also this week, we tackle Claire’s favorite romance trope: airports and airplanes. Hopefully you can’t catch Molly’s chronic cough through your headphones.
It’s game night! Much like the 76ers and the Knicks, Claire and Molly are facing off in a battle of grit, heart, and skill. That is, we are dusting off Joops’ dad’s friend’s game, Writer Blocks, and writing short stories against a prompt and a time limit. Tune in for this and a misandrist reading of Eternity, a hit job on (one of our favorite writers) Mindy Kaling via review of her (very good) show Running Point, an indictment of old timey romantasy, and a close read of one particular scene in Paradise season 2. Oh, and if you’re thinking about jimmying Claire’s knee? You’re too late.
Nasty people make the best friends and nasty people are smarter than everyone else. That’s one of many very nice takes we drop in this week’s episode, as we cover Grant Ginder’s So Old, So Young, The Drama, and Bigfoot the Musical. We also report from our time at the book lover’s hottest destination, BookCon. One more thing: could you please have some generosity for our basketball team?
Mars is in Aries and we’re embracing conflict— with everyone we’ve ever met and within our books. That’s right, we’re writing again, but ask us anything about it and we’ll clock you! This episode also includes a Spring weather report, a reverse HIPAA violation on Molly’s new therapist, a big announcement re: Claire’s reno, and our final reviews of Something Very Bad is Going to Happen and the Artefacts of the Ouranos series (both need to figure out their magic systems).
Let's get one thing out of the way: we're not talking about writing this week. What we are talking about this week: bunny brunch, childhood science experiments, glucose, Claire's period, Molly's romantic attachment to Jonathan Groff, Paradise, Harlan Coben and Dan Brown, and so much more. Plus, Molly makes sure that the Epstein files stay top of mind, while Claire reminds us once again about the impending apocalypse. If the audio is a little cooked this week, it's because Joops left us alone and we're doing our best.
This episode is an interview with our first real guest (sorry to our previous guests, who are more so our friends)… Irish romance author extraordinaire, Catherine Walsh! Catherine shares her invaluable writing advice, inspiration, and encouragement. We also chat about her latest, How to Write a Love Story. It’s Molly’s favorite to date (sucker for an editor MMC) and Claire’s second favorite (topped only by the airplane setting of Holiday Romance).
If you’re watching this episode and you think we’re being held hostage, put down the phone. We moved into a new Joop studio, and we brought our commentary on The Gift of the Magi with us. We’re back from Florida with the bee stings, sunburns, and good retirement vibes to prove it. We delve into what we consumed on our various plane rides. Molly read two new romantasies, Arcana Academy by Elise Kova and Dire Bound by Sable Sorensen (sure). Claire finally watched Fever Pitch and The Social Network. We also met a new AI frenemy at writing class.
This episode features Ireland as a silent third host. We read St. Patrick’s day short stories we’ve written, inspired by the Emerald Isle herself, and are generally pale and freckled. We show unbelievable restraint with accents, mostly deployed to mock the English. And, as always, we catch up on recent culture and content consumption, including the Traitors finale, Bridgerton part two, Square Waves by Alexandra Romanoff, and School Spirits season 3.
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Apple Podcasts rankings via the Mato Topic Intelligence Platform.
Observed September 16, 2026. Cached outside the daily freshness window; the positions keep the date they were taken on.
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