Welcome to the What's Your Next podcast.

I am so excited to be back.

They were chatting Hollywood romances.

I don't know about you, but I've got to love a good old PR relationship.

I love celebrity normies.

I love PR relationship.

So between two celebrities and they're not supposed to be together and somehow they.

Get feelings together.

So I have a list of about eight recommendations here to share with

you But if you would like to have more recommendations Come join us in sub stack.

There will be actually about 10 more recommendations available for

our books These books are backlist titles, which means you are able

to borrow them from the library.

I think In the subsect, there's like a new title, but other than that, it's

mostly backlist titles and you can just borrow them from audio, or ebooks, or

actually physical books, so they're easy to find, they're not super, there's

not a lot of competition, I hope not.

So, this episode was originally aired as far as Noble Hour,

which is our Thursday live show.

Every Thursday, we meet.

me with Victoria, Francesca, myself, and we chat about book

recommendations for half an hour.

So this episode is our noble hour episode that happened a couple weeks ago.

It's our epic romance episode.

So if you're looking for more recommendations about classics and

valentine's books, you can definitely check that live show on YouTube.

But if not, you can just enjoy this episode.

So now let's go to the recommendations.

Bye.

, today I'm talking about Hollywood romances, but I'm also doing

backlist titles so you can easily borrow them from the library.

So these are older titles.

They might have new books coming out in a couple, in this year, but they

are older titles you can get started.

So easily borrow.

If you're looking for a library, so your library doesn't have a good selection,

I would suggest going to physical books.

You go to a physical library and look for inspections, but if you're looking

for ebooks, you look at non wrestling library cards so you can pay for a fee.

I do have a list of dried andree ones that I actually trust and

that I paid for on my substack.

So if you're looking for new library options, I'd be more

than happy to share those.

But let's get to your recommendations.

So they're all Hollywood normy, sometimes Hollywood romances.

So I have to say, I love this library romance.

And so we're gonna start with stars in her eyes by case and calendar.

So, this one is like, if we were to like, find it in with us, the typical

stars basically hate each other, and this is kind of like the same old vibe.

So, it starts with a rise, we got a Hollywood black boy.

Who basically complain about the bad acting of the up and coming actor,

who is also performing the same movie.

And so, they did some bad media, and of course, Hollywood was like, Oh

no, we need to fix this, and we're going to have a PR relationship.

So we got a fake relationship between the Hollywood bad boy and the up and

coming actor, and they have to also account the issues that he talked about.

But it's awesome and then also like they might have some real feelings because

that's what happens and run it I may not have any real life But a woman's

it always leads to real feelings that are happily or after on the audio book

is excellent So if you're looking for audio book, I think it's a forecast audio

And so it's an excellent audio book to listen to but it also you can do this

and this one actually has more more like sensitive subjects, so the mental health

and self doubt and healing, it's more gritty than just a word of the rom com.

So I would say this is like a contemporary one, but that starts

in her eyes by a case in calendar.

The next one is For Her Consideration by Amy Spaulding.

So this is a Hollywood, I love the series.

There's four books in the series and I think she's still writing more.

It's a queer Hollywood moment.

So, for her consideration, we have Nina, who wanted to be a teen writer,

but she had to give up her dream.

And so she works at an agency, goes writing emails from celebrities.

So she actually, if you email a celebrity, it's somebody in the agency of her

agent is actually replying you back.

So it's not a celebrity because they don't have time to email people.

So, this up and coming actor, who is like a gay icon is signing up for a big break,

and sign up to the event, and Eden's like, oh no we've got a ghostwriter like, wait,

a ghostwriter's gonna write my emails?

Like, what is going on?

And so she actually asked Nina to shadow her, and so she can find her

voice, and she's like, oh my gosh!

and feelings occur and there's like a town family.

It's very LA.

There's an aunt who lives in a assisted living facility and it's just like fun.

They're like, they're all like, living their life and just enjoying.

So it's very LA, very fun.

Amy lives in LA, so you get the real LA, I see, because I don't know about

you, but I think when you're writing big cities and there's a nuance about the

city, culture about the city, it's fun.

and that outsiders don't get it.

It's my biggest pet peeve when I read New York books by non New

Yorkers and they just don't get it.

They're like, we're going to go to Olive Garden transcript, please do not go there.

So, so I think there's like some nuances here about being in LA

and like what it looks like.

So for her consideration, there's four books in the

series, so you can bench them.

They're excellent books, they're queer, they're fun, they're rom coms.

And who knew you can have a ghostwriter to email, to send your emails to

your celebrities, just like us.

So, that's for her consideration about Amy Spaulding.

Now we're gonna go to Scandalized by Ivy Owens.

So, Scandalized is actually written by Lauren Billings, who

is the Lauren of Christina Lauren.

So this is her debut solo book that she came up with.

If Lauren, you know that she's obsessed with K dramas.

And so this book features a K drama actor, like, well known actor outside

of New York, outside of the U. S., like, everywhere else he's well known.

And then who happens to be the Heron's older brother, best, former

best friend, childhood best friend.

And so they had a one night stand.

The Heron is an investigative journalist, which is it's like, she's investigating

some, like, Hollywood London story.

And somehow they intersect the, this one night stand that she

had with this guy and the story.

And so there's like the investigative journalism part of it, the

little, there's some mentions of content warnings for that.

And then this like hot, heated, sexy times.

And also the idea of like what it means to be with a famous actor

and just being a normal person.

Because she's not famous for the sake of being famous, so it's a fun one.

There's a lot of this, like, forbidden things, they're not supposed to be

together they're keeping things in secret, they're building relief, they're building

stuff, but they also have the history of, like, they knew each other before

he was famous, and it's just fun, it's sexy, it's spicy, It's just like a dare

bomb to read, so that's scandalized.

There are some trigger warnings, so just like, look for them.

But it's, I found it lighter for the trigger warnings that were

presented how it was presented to.

So, alright, so the next book is How to Fake It in Hollywood.

So we got another PR relationship.

So I read the following two books, I read them back to back a couple years

ago, and I thought this was like Ben Affleck fan fiction, but it's not

based on Ben Affleck, but it's kind of like that idea, or Matt Dink, Matt

O, like, all these old has beens.

So in this case, High Faint in Hollywood, the actor has been a famous actor, I

think he won an Oscar, but then he had some issues with alcoholism, like some

addiction issues, and he has faded away.

So, yeah.

And he wants to do a fresh start.

He wants to get back on track and get a Hollywood because he needs money.

And the actress is an up and coming, she's a teen star.

She has like, she's trying to be get serious roles.

And so their agents, their PR actually work together to build this PR

relationship, like how to have a peer relationship so they can actually

bounce back and collaborate and get more famous and get better roles

and get me taking more seriously.

So they start a relationship and he doesn't want to and she's like,

I just want to get to know you.

He's like grumpy but somehow they're slow burn.

He started building feelings for her, she started building feelings

for him, and it's all come together.

They build, they have feelings, they fake feelings, and it actually there's

some scandals, there's some issues.

It's very Hollywood.

So this was a fun one.

If you love their relationships, if you love flying items, if you're

like a celebrity line item person, this book is kind of like for you.

It's just like a fun PR, turn on.

Do we have real feelings too?

So, the next book is funny.

You should ask by Alyssa Sussman.

And again, I thought it was going to have like the reality is

probably Chris Evans in this book.

This is actually mostly based on a, on an article that happened about five,

two years ago a journalist has spent a weekend with Chris Evans, I think it is.

And we're just trying to figure out do they hook up or not.

And so, in this case they're both, she's a journalist, a celebrity journalist,

and he is an up and coming actor.

They spent a weekend together 10 years ago, they actually do hook up, she

takes, he takes her to her premiere, they do have like this whirlwind of a

weekend, and article comes out and it's like, takes them to the next level,

and they stop talking to each other.

And so she is, I think she's in a different stage and she's like

coming back to her, she's asked to write a follow up article.

And so they're basically he actually had some alcohol issues and said he's like

sober and he's like he has changed and so they had to revisit that encounter years

ago and then realize are we interested are we ready to go she had different

partners she got married she moved to she was in la she moved to new york

and all the different things and now they're coming back together it's a fine

one i really like elisa's writing like I do have an interview and the podcast

with her and talk about this book.

So if you want to hear from her book recommendations, as well as her take

on why she ended up writing what funny stories that Elisa used to write.

Candle Limited books before she got this book.

So, and it's, she goes around those books.

So they're, we don't, I don't know what they are, but that's her star.

So it's like, you get the sense of like, if you look at it, if you look at like

a big Candle Limited book, this is kind of like a sense of like, maybe this is a

similar vibe for it, but this is her first transition to publish as an adult mom com.

And she does have a book coming out this year.

The next one is You Had Me at Hola by Alexis Zaria.

This is like a tried and true for Latinx.

Reading is just my next four months.

We have Jasmine Lin, who's a soap star.

She's getting her big break for Netflix to do bilingual rom com,

which is kind of like a telenovela and her co actor her co lead is a

telenovela star from Puerto Rico.

And he actually lives in Puerto Rico, which is like, and it's actually

really telling like the specifics.

A Puerto Rican representation of the island, because the island is different

from the U. S. And so, we get this two actors, he wants to be taken seriously,

he needs some money, he needs a big break, and a lot of the stars don't make a lot

of money, and she wants a big break, she wants to be taken seriously, she wants

to do this, and they have like a, he's keeping a secret, and he's trying to,

they have chemistry and they have an attraction, but they can't act on it.

And so they have to keep things in secret and the rehearsal strong up.

It's a sex positive, like, really fun rom com to go to.

The follow up books are non celebrities or it's a series of Prima's Fun Power.

So she has she has two more books.

They're from her cousins who have

The last book in the series is coming out this year, and I think

it's Alonke Mamor, so, and I'm actually really excited for that one.

So, yeah, so that's Jujamie Ola and if you're looking for other Alexis Aras

books, I would also suggest Take the Lead, if you like Dancing with the Stars.

That series is basically a professional dancer and a reality TV show,

rugged reality TV show artist.

Who does survival in Alaska and they have to practice, they

have to dance together with the celebrity, dancing with the stars.

And so, that's like a fun thing to do.

So, those are some of the books from Alexandria.

And the final book that I want to recommend is Spoiler Alert by Olivia Day.

And that is think about Game of Thrones, think about the

main actor of Game of Thrones.

Who also happens to write fanfiction about the show.

And Lee does cosplay for the Game of Thrones show.

And she also writes fanfiction.

And they're, it's kind of like Yvonne Yale, their hidden identity.

They've been talking for some time, but they're Yvonne Yale.

And he is super famous, and he, because she's really well known

to cosplay for the show, he asked her to go on a date with him.

And he also knows her.

So it's really fun.

It's really rumpy.

There's also three other books in the series, so you can actually

make some to see this is complete.

So you get one of the Game of Thrones, which I actually love.

It's a third book in the series where they're isolated in an island and they

have to get together and they don't want to get together and they're so good.

So, and then the second one is there's it's an assistant who he actually

made a Like a big blunder and so he has someone who bigger than him

and so it's so good So this series is just like a fun for everyone.

And like if you're looking for the game of their own stuff So those are

the recommendations Yay, I loved the last set of books that you shared

I read So like all of that last set from how to fake it in hollywood.

I Absolutely love that one.

I think I recommended that.

The year that came out in the summer guide fully you should

ask is fun You had met ola.

I also loved I recommended that in a guide to and spoiler alert.

I was just like books.

So I did not read you said it was one of the christina lauren

writers Yeah, I didn't even know.

I didn't even know there were solo books out there in the universe and then

Case and Calendar Didn't read that one.

So that's interesting.

I have to say for her consideration Was the one I was like, okay, I'd

probably add that one to my TBR ASAP I think you should definitely add like

Amy's calling has like a great book.

If you're looking for friendships, there's a YA book where you used to be friends

about to talk like a friendship breakup.

So when she, this is like one of those pandemic projects that she was like, I

had a book on, I had a book on submission.

I needed to write something else.

Let me just write something fun.

And then I just wrote a queer rom com set in Hollywood.

And I'm like, I am here for it.

Awesome.

Fun.

All right.

If you are just joining us live welcome, welcome to Novel Hour Live.

If you're usually attending all the live shows and you've got the notification,

you're wondering what's happening.

We are now doing a lunchtime show.

Okay.

So if you work from home, if you're in the cubicle.

Hopefully we can provide a little bit of a distraction, don't tell anybody.

Don't tell your boss.

But you know, we need those breaks in the day.

So hopefully we can provide that for you But today specifically we

are talking about epic love stories.

We're sharing all those big love stories I shared some classic love stories.

So if you're just joining us, you're gonna have to go rewind to

the beginning I share five classic love stories with, some problematic,

questionable ones in there as well.

And the OG rom com in my opinion, the epic letter as well.

So, you can listen to those and then share your thoughts in the comments.

And Laura just shared some wonderful Hollywood romances.

I read half of them and they're great.

Thanks for joining me on this episode of The Watcherinex Podcast.

If you enjoy our bookish conversations and want more recommendations, don't forget

to subscribe so you never miss an episode.

Also, head on over to The Watcherinex blog for a list of

books mentioned in today's show.

Happy reading!