Welcome to the What Your next podcast. The podcast that topples your TBR we got recommendations today. I decided to bring back my original podcast from 2018 where I said what I was currently reading. These podcasts are gonna hopefully all. Do them every week and let you know what I've been reading. And so you get some recommendations. You get my honest reviews of what's working, what's not working, and whether you wanna pick it up for yourself because my yuck might be your yum or my yum can be your yuck. So we're just. A happy family, some recommendations. So I, to be honest, I have not been reading, I have not been reading with eyeball. I actually, after 2000 days of reading with my Kindle, I have not picked my Kindle for five days. I decided it was like, it's just hard. I don't know why. Maybe because the world's just. On fire and there's a lot of anxiety and just a lot of shifted internal shifts are happening and so I, it's been really difficult to sit down and read, like just sit down and read for 15 minutes. It's, I've been so attached to my phone, I've been doom scrolling, like there's no tomorrow, and I'm just kinda what is going on? However. Audio is working, so I'm getting my stories through audio. A little bit of what's been happening. I actually, after I live in Tampa, and for the first three years, three and a half years, I live without a car. So it was basically, I was staying in my house for most of the time. Everything got delivered. It was very isolation, very pandemic shut down from five years ago. I've been living like that for five years. So basically shut just get everything delivered. I'll take Ubers to go to my places. I had joined a yoga studio, so I've been going to yoga. Before that, I was in a bar studio and I would go to my bar classes and those were my outings. But good news is right before the tariffs went up, I bought a car. Well, my brother helped me buy a car, but we bought a car, so I am so excited. I'm a car owner. I got a brand new car, like basically a model that's hopefully it's gonna last me a long term. It has the warranty, it has like bus and whistles, it has the side camera and the back camera. You should know that I have no idea what cars looked like in 2025 because the last car that I own was in 2005, so it's been 20 years that I haven't had a car. I lived in New York for the first 14 years, and then I lived in Chicago and then I was three years in Tampa. And when I moved to Tampa it was 2021. If you remember, cars were really expensive at the time, so I was just like Carla going on. So I've been like driving my car and it's been awesome because there's two, which I, it wasn't, it didn't exist back in 2005, but then again, August were not the same way, and the phones were not working the same way. We did not have iPhones when I actually had a car. So I had a 1999 Jetta at the time. My car was like bare bones. So this one is like fancy. So I got the air Bluetooth. So I've been listening to my hoopla audible. I've been going down my audible library. I've been listening to some arcs. I receive audio alcs as part of my job as a podcaster. So I've been listening to books. So books have been listening has been amazing. I actually invested in some headphones. Very cheap actually. They were like $60. They're great. They long last battery. The audio's great. It may not have the fancy noise canceling everything, but I don't have like places where there's noise canceling needed. 'cause I live by myself. So I've been enjoying audio books and I have to tell you what I read this past week. I finished one book, I finished, I'm going to second book and I started a couple books for in the nighttime. So when I listen to books, I listen to them in the car, I listen to 'em at night before going to bed. I listen to them during my chores. And I just listen to them. If I really like the story, I'll listen to them throughout my day. Other things I've been doing is learning how to watch TV because that's an art that I actually miss out to my phone has taken away the art of watching tv. So I've been watching tv. That's been fun. So I watch traders, which there's a recap episode that's gonna be air sometime this week. My recap, my take on the series, the finale, the reunion, everything about the season. Don't be actually recap about with Megan with Love, because I've been watching it. I sort of hate watching it because I actually I consider myself having a privileged life. I live, I'm single, I'm child free. I have a job that pays well. I have the content creation that pays well, so I have disposable income and I have a place where I just. I have time freedom actually 'cause I work remotely, so I have time freedom of run errands in the middle of the day. Like planning my meals and going to yoga every day. That's my life. I have a really privileged life and I understand and I've worked really hard for it and I enjoy it. But watching Megan be pretending to be perfect when she's not perfect and try to teach us things that are like, yeah, I don't care. This is what rich people do. Make the least parties and like how to make the little or. I don't know. I really appreciate Ina I love IN'S memoir. If you're looking for a memoir, that's amazing. In's, memoir is delightful. I also love Martha's documentary, which is also a great companion story for both of them. Because Martha is like perfectionist and she's type A perfectionist. She doesn't give a fuck. And I'm sorry to Coce, but this is my podcast so we're gonna go with it. So Martha does not give a fuck what you think. She just tells you how shit should John. So I love Martha. But Megan is trying to do so hard for something that I'm like it's just not giving. Like I I don't know, it's just not working for me, but I'm watching it, I'm watching it in the background because it's just rich people just, having a lot of time and a lot of money and a lot of effort to just do this. It's a little bit tribe wide, but not too tread wife, and there's not 20 kids. And the tri wife, let's just keep pregnancy. But I've been watching that and then I actually start watching Paradise in Hulu. Don't ask me why because this is not the show that I normally watch, but on Friday afternoon, I was like kind of bored at work. Actually, no, it was not working. I was actually, no, it was Thursday afternoon. I was bored at work and I was like, I need something to watch. I'm tired. My YouTube, what I'm watching on YouTube, I watch MLM content. I do MLM content on YouTube, that's my take on. I dive, deep dive and I've been deep diving blogs about like wellness girlies and like productivity, which is like very aspirational, but I'm like, this is definitely not for me. At least not how I'm gonna live my life. But I, I start watching paradise just. Randomly, I watched the first episode and I was incredibly hooked. Do I know what the heck is happening? No, I do not know. I have no idea this was dystopian. I do not know this was, I thought this was CIA, like secret service, like sa, like saving the precedent, but there's. So much to the story with it. And there's so many new ones. There's so many Easter eggs and I'm trying to figure out and I'm loving it. So I'm on episode three, I am saving it for tomorrow when I'm at work. That's gonna be my work show. I also started the pitch, but it's too graphic for me and like I really like the pitch, but it's just too graphic, it's just too hard. I also work in the medical field, so it's kinda like hard to watch. But yeah, those are what I'm watching, so I'm enjoying that. I've been watching YouTube, so if you want YouTube recommendations, just shoot me an email, Laura at what to read next block.com. But I love scam commentary. I love White Color Prime. I love like any type of fraudulent behavior. I am just like here for it. I also loved apple cider vinegar, which is. So triggering because I was involved in the wellness world. I originally was a fitness healthy living influencer, like blogger, not influencer. I was a blogger at the time. This is the 20 10th. We were early, early adapters. And so I saw from the sidelines all these scripters, which I now. Have followed them and I see how grifting their behavior is and I'm horrified at the same time thank God I just did not fall into any further. But I did fall into quite a few. So I watch apple cider vinegar and it's about Australian grifter con artist who pretended to have cancer to sell her alternative medicine. What well, alternative medicine. Supply. So treatment and she didn't have cancer and she really hurt a lot of people. And I'll have to tell you, it's it was triggering at times. It was triggering not just her, it was also the other Miller, the character Miller who actually had cancer, who was selling alternative treatment and like really like just hurting, not just herself but the rest of the world that who are following her. It is interesting. Cicc Suarez has a great video where she talks about the real life, other real life, apple cider vinegars, other people who have done, who've done this alternative well wellness experiences, and it's just so triggering. As someone who's been involved in the wellness world, I was, I had a eating disorder and so I was really prone to that kind of behavior and that trying to fix myself and it's just I am going through a lot of healing. I am doing a lot of healing. I am going to therapy. I am doing the thing that I need to do to detoxify my mind of like grooves and like quick schemes and all this different things. So that's sad. So those are the shows. So shows that I mentioned are traders us. With Megan, with Love, or Meghan, the Meghan Markle Show, or Meghan Sussex show, or Megan the Duchess Such the Duchess of Sussex show, because we're gonna, we're gonna call her all the different names. Paradise, which is a Hulu. It is great. The pit, which is a little bit like triggering and very graphic and apple cider vinegar. So you got plenty of watch lists for YouTube binge on. I did not watch The Love Design series I watched. The first episode was Born Outta my Mind, my friend Kelly from Boobies and newbies and fat fiction. Fat feminist fiction substack. She basically told me like, the first six episodes are boring as fuck, and they're all in the plots. And I was like, yep, nope, not really. Interesting. I did enjoy the ending where all the mugga people got left at the altar, which was a great ending for that because you gotta live with your consequences if you have none noticed. I am extremely liberal. So if you don't like this, I'm sorry, you can go somewhere else. You can follow unfollow. I understand. No pressure, no hard feelings. I am a liberal. I believe in social causes. I believe in like basically we should. Take care of each other and community and government, she also support us. So yes, I've been calling a rep every week. I've been demanding a town hall. That's basically what I do in my town because I do have time. So needless to say, so those are, and apple cider vinegar. So those are the shows that I've been watching. And then I actually will talk about what I was currently reading. So I actually have been reading a couple books on. On audio, there are pre-releasees, they're coming out this week or in the next couple weeks, is, let me pull in the names of the books. They're mysteries. So one is a little bit like more mystery, harder and that like more like a stronger mystery. And the other one's kinda like a mystery romcom. So the first book that I did that I'm listening to it, the chapters are long, and I have to tell you, it's kind of like a's very annoying because as someone who just wants to, I would rather have short chapters. I don't know about you. I just need 10 minute chapters. I don't need 30 minutes or an hour long chapter. I'm like, keep the story moving, keep it moving. So it's a proposal to die for. But Molly Harper, so this is a, she's not a wedding, she's like a, she proposes, she. Manager is to put together proposals to engagement proposals. And so this front of me tells her that she's gonna marry this really rich guy. And she's oh my gosh, he did a terrible proposal and you need to redo it over and I want you to hire her. And so it's a pretty big contract. But she's a high maintenance bride and she, Jaime Brides encourages her to attend a retreat with her, some bridal retreat of trying to find herself and everything. And. Situations happen, A dead guy up appears and you have to figure out, that's the story. It's kind of like a romcom, cozy mystery. Mystery romcom. They're fun. They're not too gory. There's no like gory in the page. There's not like any terrible things happen. Well, yes, the dead guy, but you know what I mean? It's like a friendly Donovan, kind of like that. So that's one, that's a proposal to dive for Molly Harper. And then I'm listening to. All the mo, all the other mothers hate me by Sarah Harmon. This book is so fucking good and I have to curse because it's so good. I am. Savoring it. So this is a story girl, former girl. Then from her think about Dan Kane girl. Then singer is now mother. She lives in London. She's from California. Which if if you've watched Ladies of London, the people in London, society is very different from American society. And you look down upon new money and a lot of expats. So she's have everything against her. She doesn't have friends. And so her son is in a posh school and she, there's like a school trip and another kid from a posh like family disappears and her son may be involved in it. And so she's trying to figure out Correct, clear her son's name and well, also mothers hate her. So it's like mother, like she's trying to investigate, she's trying to be the amateur sleuth. It's sarcastic, it's just. Funny. There's a scene where she gets arrested, but she doesn't get arrested. She just they take her, they're like, wait for her. And so she calls another mother who's a lawyer, and she's Hey, I think I got arrested. Can you help me pick up? And the girl picks her up and she's don't you have friends? And she's yeah, no, I don't have friends. We're just gonna be fine. So she, they're working together trying to solve the mystery. It's delightful. I comes out March 11, you should definitely add it. It's gonna be. It's gonna be, if you like Finley Donovan, this is actually more Finley Donovan book. It has sex, it has these things that Finley Donovan doesn't have. It has them, but they're so good. So that's all the other mothers Hate Me by Sarah Hartman. So add that to your TV r. Okay, now let's go to the Audible books, because I've been trying to listen to my auto audible books that I've been, that I've been buying Audible sales. I cancel my Audible subscription. I'm one of those people who cancels audible subscriptions when they're not on sale. I try to get the Zs, it comes out every six two a year. Like you just cancel it and then six months later or a year you'll get a new new offer and you just used to offer. That's how I approachable. I. Do get audible books thanks to Whisper saying. So I do keep Kindle Limited. So then I just buy the Whisper sync, I borrow the book from Kindle Limited, and then I go to Whisper saying, and it costs me $7. It's still cheaper than a credit. So that's how I justify it. Good news for Audible exclusive Podium on Entertainment, which is one of the audiobook producers have released a lot of the odd exclusive chill library, so hoopla. Libby, and they're everywhere. So if you are looking for libraries that are looked, they're added on. Check my substack. I do review non-res in library cards. I tell you which ones are worth the money and which ones are worth based on your reading taste, because not every library is the same as we know. So I can tell you like which ones are for cozy mysteries, which ones are for new releases. Which ones are for audio, which ones are for romances, which ones are worth it? I am testing out new libraries every year. I trust out I have key. I actually invest, my main money is investing in libraries and trying to test out. There'll be actually a notion, Substack, that I'll paid a paid upgrade where I'll tell you which audio books you give find. Where to find it. So that's actually a work in progress that's gonna happen in the next couple weeks. I will let you know in the future what you, what's currently reading, but that's happening in the future. But needless to say so Audible has been like just trying to use some of the audible credits that I bought and everything. So I read, I think it's holding down the Reigns by Paisley Hope a couple years ago, like I think about a year ago when it was first released, when it was ku. And the best way I can describe it is everything in the kitchen sink book. It has a hockey, former hockey player who owns a ring, who owns a bar. Who helps out a horse ranch who is saving the town, and he has five jobs. He's a bartender. He's the owner, he's the millionaire, he's everywhere. And then there's this heron who is a sister who's a, is his best friend's, brother's sister, little sister. Who needs a job. And so she gets hired to work in the rink and they have a whole forced proximity and whatnot. It's fine. It was okay, but the second book was in a sale, so I was like, you know what? It's in a sale. I might as well just give it a try. And so I bought Training The Heart which both books got picked up by a traditional publisher. I think it's Valentine, I'm not sure. It's one of the traditional publishers have picked it up. Now the books are not in ku, they're much more expensive. So I was like, let me trust out the second book. Let me see if it actually is better or if it's just got worse. But the second book, I have to tell you, it was edited down. It was one job, one simple thing, and it was delightful. So this book falls I think the Heron's brother. And so he is the owner of the ranch. It's a horse ranch. It's actually a ranch that they actually have horses that compete in the Kentucky Derby. So they're actually like, it's a big jump. That the first book we hear that the head trainer of the ranch had to go on maternity leave, so he had to hire someone else to do this. And the heroin is the trainer that gets hired. She's escaping from another trench and she's actually like escaping from like a domestic, not domestic violence, but like an abusive relationship. So she's like coming in. It's with the, and the other previous director was someone who owns the ranch that she was working on. So she doesn't, she has a hesitation of getting involved with this. With the hero. He also has his ation getting involved with her and they're just like, come first proximity, she sprains her ankle and she needs to stay at his place, and things happen. So it's delightful. It's fun. It's for horse girls. I love it. Like just the ranch and the specifics, the audiobooks. Excellent. So I would suggest, like if you had, if you didn't have a good luck with the pace, the first book, I think, I'm not sure that this title Paisley hopes to first book training the hearts is much better. So I'm actually looking forward to the third book and I'll keep you posted 'cause I'll keep reading this stuff. The other series that I actually been reading is the Bailey Hannah, because we're still in the ranch Cowboy. Related, related stuff. So I read Alive and Wells by Bailey Hannah, I think I talked about it in a Substack before. So this one has started it, but it was really tough to start because the first chapter, there's domestic violence scene and it's pretty graphic. The heroin has to escape from her house. 'cause he has, he holds her at gunpoint and she just escapes and goes to this other ranch in Canada. And then she connects, she gets a job. She's trying to start her life and the hero doesn't like her 'cause she's like a city girl and he has experience with city girls. And so it's a, enemies to lovers kind of deal. And it's a challenging book because the heroin doesn't act the way. It doesn't wait, it doesn't act the way you expect her to act, but the hero is the one who's like taking things slow and like keeping and being mindful of her and doing everything she can. So it's just interesting. It's not for everyone. I recommend this to my friend Francesca, and she, I'll tag her take on because she has a takeoff. I had to suspend disbelief and it was delightful. If you're looking for high steamy, spicy. Cowboy Roman set in Canada the LCC liberal books. This book is for you. So I was so curious about the second book. 'cause I was like, well, I might as well. But the problem is that this series got picked up by first published. So that means that I have to buy the book. I full price and I'm refused to in order to get the audio. Audiobook because the audiobook is eligible exclusive. They're not, Poon did not release them under libraries. So it was like, oh no, this is not happening. What am I gonna do? So I got an offer for Amazon Music where you can borrow one AUTOBOOK a month. Essentially it's one credit of Audible a month. For $0. If you keep Amazon Music, it's 10 99, but you just borrow it and you could keep the same book or you can just return it and stop it, or you return and get a new book every month. So I got an offer for three months for free and I was like, well, you know what, I'm just gonna borrow this book. So I am actually almost listen, almost done listening to it. Okay. It's bad. And let's just be honest. I am just, this episode is gonna be pretty long chatty episode, but this is a, this is just setting, so it is a, it is what they call a bread. If you follow MItrice and bu, it is a spicy time happens 10% fried fries to 10%. It's still lusty. So the heron and the hero are not related to the people in the live walls. I think he works in a ranch or he's connected the ranch. But I couldn't find a relationship. She's completely separate. So the Heron was dating some Redu who cheated on her, and they were, happened to be at the same bar that she was, and she was, she wanted to have revenge and she wanted to get it on. So she gets a hero who is like, who had a crush on her, and he was like the bad boy kind of deal to stuff like that. So he's not he's kind of like wrong side of the trucks, but he's not really wrong side of the trucks. He has a stable job and everything. So they get it on outside and after the rodeo, I think it's after the rodeo, and they had. Sexy times and six weeks later, oh my gosh, we're pregnant. So she's I wanna keep the baby 'cause I have PCOS. It's really difficult to have a baby and all those different things and I wanna keep it. And she was terrified to tell her dad, but she's 31. I wanna preface, she's 31, so she. Her dad's not happy that she's pregnant at a wedlock. And I'm like, okay, when you 31, like you, you can make your own decision. It's not like you're a teen mom, although I consider myself a teen mom if I have a baby at 43. But we're not there. Okay. So she's basically goes, has it's like having the pregnancy and tells him I'm gonna have a baby. And he's I'm gonna be there for her. He has his own trauma history of domestic violence and abuse and all these different things, and he wants to be everything His father was not to him. So he's like the perfect boyfriend. Well, she doesn't wanna have him as a boyfriend. She's just I'm not sure. I'm not sure. But there's something happens. He's been like there for her from the beginning. Something happens that he has to stay over. I think there's a blizzard. 'cause I'm listening to this so I'm not like listening. I'm just listening. So I think there's a blizzard and he has to stay over at her place and he decides to sleep on the floor because the couch is too small and he's big and he sleeps on her floor and she's on her floor. And. She needs to have sexy times in order to fall asleep. So she decided to have sexy times, but she decided not to use the toy. So he gets, he figures out, 'cause he is like, Hey, what's happening? So she's oh my gosh, what are you talking about? What's happening? Well, I'm so sure they get it on and they get it on every night because it turns out that she needs it to fall asleep. This is her Ambien. Her Ambien is sexy times, so she does it the whole time. And then she goes on a girl trip. This is where I am. She's on a girl trip with her friend doing kinda like a babymoon. I'm Vancouver, just enjoying my life, going to clubs, doing the things I'm not supposed to I won't be able to do when I have a baby. And she complains that she cannot fall asleep without the 60 times. And I'm like, okay, well, can you take magnesium or melatonin or something or maybe do take care of yourself because she needs him. So she's now in the place where she's aware that she actually has feelings for him, that she, he's her boyfriend and he wants to be with her. So we're gonna see, we're gonna see if there's her third night breakup, but I'll keep it posted. So that's seeing Red by by Bailey Hannah, and. I would tell you, borrow it from music. Don't buy it. It's not worth the credit. Borrow it from a music for free if you want. If your curious isn't listening to this, if this is your jam, you're looking for surprise pregnancy, this book is for you. There's surprise pregnancy. There's a whole pregnancy. So that's a scene ride by El Bailey. Hannah. This was a lengthy, chatty episode that I'm actually not gonna edit. I'm gonna leave it as this. So you get to see me chat, chat about TV shows, to watch, books to read, books to listen and what's been going on in my life. I'll come back next Sunday with another chatty episode and I'll try to release on those Sundays. So just in a fry. Okay, bye. Oh, and if you enjoyed this podcast, consider rate review or subscribe. If you wanna get more book recommendations, come to our blog, what to read next blog.com. Thank you so much for listening. I hope you have a great day.