Welcome to the What to Read Next podcast. So excited to be back. And today's guest is Becky from Buzzing about Romance She's another podcaster who is prolific and has multiple episodes, and you can just dive into all things romances. So do contemporary romances, but did you double a little bit on other sub genres? They have episodes about mafia, so if you like my Mafia episode, check her Mafia episode. They got cowboys, they got all the Roman space, the trendy things that you're looking for. Welcome to the show.

Thanks for having me. Lori, I'm Or Laura, sorry, see

It's okay.

head

It's okay.

We talked about this last time

It's okay.

I gave

okay. Just gimme a nickname. You a nickname. It is totally fine,

well, and I am terrible at names. Like the, I actually, when we first started connecting, I rhymed your name to your podcast name,

Yeah.

so Lori from What to Read Next Podcast. Like it just,

It is okay. It is okay. You're just like I accept it. It's not, I have multiple nicknames in Spanish, so it's kinda like similar to my Spanish nickname, which is Laurita. So it's like Perfect. It's okay.

I probably, but I think you said last time, I'm the only one in the world that calls you

You, you are. It is okay. We have a unique special relationship. It is Okay.

We share our love of our newfound love of Bravo. Newfound love

yes. I got her watching vendor pump Rules people,

you

and she was texting me and saying this is just what is happening? Oh, just keep going. Just keep going. And so if you've never watched vendor pump rules start from the beginning. It is worthwhile, the journey. It is a messy, toxic journey like. It's just pure reality goal from the early Augh. When VH one was doing reality TV shows that were just so messy. Like a pooping in a celebration and a dating ceremony, that kind of reality show. It is so messy. It's so toxic. Yes, there's cheating. Yes, there's drug use. Yes, there's like drama, but you just go with it and then you understand. Scandal that happened the day that happened. It changed the whole Bravo spear. So yeah.

it's so messy, but I love it. I love the messy. And then we were done with Vanderpump we went down the below deck

Yes.

And first of all, don't think I'm not a boat person. I like

Yeah.

I'm just not a boat person.

Yeah.

So will not be coming a Yachty anytime soon. But I do have a mad respect for Kate and I liked her in traitors. And I do have some mad respect for her after watching Below Tech.

Yeah, I grew up in Puerto Rico, so obviously one of my friends growing up, childhood friends had a sailboat. So we used to go sail selling stuff like that. It was pretty common. But ironically my mom's husband, my stepdad, he is a boat mechanic. He's actually so well known in Puerto Rico. Like he actually has a wait list. He's semi-retire, and I'm like, you should charge more. He is no. He's like the best of the best. But one of the things I learned because he is a boat mechanic, is like, boats are like a money waster. As a money pit. Like you do know it's costs so much money just to have a boat. So if you're thinking of wanting to get a boat, no. Find a friend who has a boat, find a dumb friend who got the boat and has spent all the money, and then just enjoy that time. Just like I did when I was growing up. I used to go sailing oh, it so cute. I had a friend who had a sailing boat. That's what it, that's what you wanna have. So he does actually helps. I think he, one of his client is, he works in a, he works in a different Mars, but the old same home mar, he sees all the yachts like, or like these kind of yachts that are going on and stuff like that. But he works with like somewhere less clients. He does do the boats that take from the cruise line, who move the cruise to the space. He actually has that contract where he helps like repair or there's something happens and stuff like that. So yes, I'm well versed in the boat stuff. My brother has friends who have boats and they all talk about it. And all my stepdad's doctors have boats and actually has to get him out of the waiting list because they're like, we need you to be healthy so you can fix our boats.

Right. Oh my gosh. Yeah, so I did enjoy Below Deck though, but it was messy.

There we go.

those people.

I think next 20 you need to watch is next Gen NYC. I know it's a little bit of Gen Z. It's a little bit, getting in style, but it's definitely delightful. Or you can go into Long Island. I am telling you it's not the season six. If you are going to USA

so I,

do the UK versions, which is dumb people, you may not even understand what they're saying and it is delightful.

because I started episode one of Love Island this year, and when we were I got done with it. And Mike's what were you watching? And Mike's my husband and I said, what are you watching? And I was like, don't know what I watched.

It's.

sure what's happening, but I feel like I should take a shower.

It is. It is. It is definitely like there is not hygienic. Like this season is horrible. They should have hired me and my friends to do background screening on these people because the wolf shoddy casting that happen here this season, like they knew each other, they have, I'm like no. We do not want this but it is a delightful, I would say UK is a much better season is a much better, easier space. Us season six is delightful. The first week is kind of like a background screening that you don't need to watch, but once Rob gets under the pool, literally under the pool for an hour because he didn't wanna confront Leah about a fight that he had, that is when the season gets started because, and you are gonna see Rob and Traitors Rob is actually pre, is gonna be a traitor with its overall.

Oh, that's right. He's in this new season.

He is in the new season. So season six is delightful. It is actually a fun one, just like genuine friendships. They just didn't know they was gonna be so big and it was like such a good season for it. This season felt forced. It felt like actually they wanna be best, they wanted to be influencers. They wanna get the space and didn't form real connections. And the whole point of going on is not marriage, but they wanna have connections, like they wanna have love connections and stuff like that. So it is about dating and stuff like that. Also, we give a lot of COVID High school kids and. I have to say they've been like stunted, like it's I'm shock. Like they're just watch a lot of TikTok understand what therapy spic is, and now they're weaponizing therapy. They're like, she's love on me. I'm like, no. He's just talking to her like just to do this. I'm like, no. Like sir. Just because you went to TikTok University does not mean that you actually know what you're talking about.

Yes. But don't you, okay, so, and again, I'm a little older, so,

Yes.

you feel like we kind of had that same thing happen when like Google and a OL were

Yes.

grabbing foothold? All of a sudden everybody knew everything and was a doctor of the world Worldwide web.

yes. And now we have Facebook for our boomer friends who are war analysts, who are weather the people, there are immigration lawyers. They're everywhere. Like I understand, but it's getting to a point where I'm like, I don't wanna watch you make a mess of yourself just acting like a fool.

Yes.

Like a guy was like, you should love on me. I'm like, no, he's just talking to her. It's not that's not how it means, but I did talk to my therapist about this, about now we, Chad, GBT is like actually like acting. A lot of people think Chad GBT is our therapist and not Chad GBT is their spiritual counsel. And it's, there's levels like cause. Psychosis that are happening. So it's gonna be an interesting, I don't know, 10, 24, 50 years where we're gonna see this more exploding and more people thinking they're experts in something that they are not,

yeah. be a wild ride.

it will be,

be riled. We'll

but, all right. So we're gonna talk about disability rep, and we're gonna talk about, let's talk about some disability rep. We're gonna talk about like different Kindle Limited books, or what are we talking about?

just have a little bit of everything, like I tried, so one of the things that I've noticed is and I think that this is a lot of just who we are as readers, so we have to remember that as society evolves, as things change, authors are obviously going to change and evolve too, right? So. If you look back at books written 2016 there isn't tons of what you would call disability rep, right? Like you didn't bring light to it. If you had anxiety, it wasn't talked about, diagnosis of like depression and clinical depression and seasonal depression and anxiety and stuff like that. I mean, really, they've been in the diagnostic forever, right? Like they're there. And in the nineties, we saw the surge of like Prozac and Paxil and all of those to help. So you saw the medication, but I don't know that books themselves started picking up like true mental health disability until after 2015.

Yeah. Yeah, I think it seemed to be like, kinda it just, we normalized it in a way that actually allowed you to speak up. Like it was pretty common that people had anxiety. It was pretty common, but it wasn't normalized. Again, TikTok University made it more open to just talk about, and then talk about your therapy speak when you learn in therapy. And it's, it is a pretty common thing, I think in the, I remember the episode, sex in the City when Carrie was told that she needed to go to a therapist. And it was like how she was shocked. She's I'm not crazy. Like I'm cra Like I'm not crazy. Kind of deal. And then I guess she met the guy in the therapist's office, which I been to New York City therapist and I've never met Bon Jovi therapist office.

You

I wish I would, but no it's not normal to see, other patients in the office. It's like pretty much, you see you're waiting for five minutes and then you're gonna have your time. Like it's not normal to see Bon Jovi. It wasn't common to talk about, that experience and stuff. It was pretty taboo. I remember the thoughts. It was pretty taboo to say I wanted to get therapy and I wanted to try different modalities and stuff. Now it's pretty common. I'm like, I've been doing this for 25 years. Yeah.

Yeah, it is. And so I was going I was trying to think of book recs and I'm like, well, what do I got? What do I got? What do I got? And then a lot of books have anxiety rep in

Yeah.

It's becoming a little more common, a little more easier to talk about.

Yeah.

there's less stigma to things like I feel like in the world of disability rep, you can find easily, more easily.

Yeah.

even the neurodivergence, the Helen Hong which one is it? The Kiss Quotient that came out. Everyone likes to say that was kind of the first one with the Autism Spectrum disorder representation. now we see it with Penny Reed in her books. Maisie Ings is doing it with her books. And I know there are many others

Yeah.

autism

I think it's already it's neuro divergence is pretty much a pretty common thing that we're seeing, I think because it's. Normalizing like to that it is okay to talk about that. You're in the spectrum. It is okay to talk about that. You're have anxiety, it is okay to talk about that. You have depressive modes. It's not, it's, it may not be fully accepted, but you can you, you feel it's less stigma than you're not gonna be taken to labon mice or are you gonna be taken to the asylum as they used to have a hysteria like, yeah.

Well, and one of the things that if you talk to authors who are writing own voice disability rep, so we had the pleasure of interviewing like Mariah Inman and Why not? And they both write different of mental health rep. Mariah has like some OCD rep. And then she does have some chronic illness that I'll recommend here in a minute. And then Anne does just bipolar, disorder, different, the different types. And then also anxiety and mobility device uses, and it, when you talk to them, one of the main things that comes out is, and I never thought about this, but just being in love doesn't necessarily, is not meant to heal or fix you.

Yes.

It's about love and acceptance. And so for really good disability rep, it needs to be authentic.

Yeah.

It's about acceptance, loving you, where you're at, who you are, being a helper, but not trying to fix someone.

Yeah.

'cause nothing's broken.

Well, there's nothing to fix. Like I, it's a really, it's acceptance. It's a radical acceptance that this is where you are, this is what you're doing, and it's just allowing just to be,

right, right, right. So that's one thing Maria, and she shares it on her TikTok and you guys should go find her TikTok and follow her 'cause she's a delight. But she often will talk about how she'll enter different writing competitions and stuff it'll, feedback will come back. Well, I don't understand why they were still. Having OCD problems and intrusive thoughts when they fell in love and it's

oh, I did not realize that's magical. Oh, maybe I should fall in love. So have anxiety. Oh,

right.

so I,

tell you.

I don't have trauma. PI don't have it because I fell in love. I'm sorry, but that sounds like this, like some bullshit.

Right. But also, doesn't it sound so typical though, too?

It sounds so it sounds like judgmental. Who think that like the Bible's gonna fix you, like God is gonna fix you. Like it sounds that's sad. You gotta pray away. You do not need medication. Or it sounds like the Maha Girlies are like, oh, just go off. Just put some coffee in us. You should be fine with that.

It's so, yeah.

Big Pharma is there is gonna charge you. I'm like, sorry. But Big Pharma has called me very much.

So true. So very true. yeah, so that's, I mean, so when you go looking for disability rep first, look for own voices.

Yeah.

my suggestion. There are plenty of own voices. I think if you had asked me this question five years ago, I would've told you a different answer. But I think right now, authors like. Mariah Inkerman in her silent, kitschy way that she's getting her own voice out there. Like she has a book coming out the end of July, 2025. That is Celiac's Disease representation and also but d and d neuros, spicy kinda

Yeah.

to it. Also, they fall in love. And she has some od OCD rep in some of her indie stuff. The author, I think that's leading the charge a little bit in the disability voice would be Hannah Bonham Young.

Yeah.

She has said, I'm messy.

Yeah.

You, I am. And I love that I've had the privilege of interviewing her and she has such a sweet, gentle way about her.

Yeah.

And nothing limits her. She has been very honest. She has, I think she calls it her little hand.

Yeah.

She has a limb disfigurement she kind of came out onto the I think it was 2022 with her out on a limb. Did you read out on a limb?

Yeah, it was Nexa Kin, and then OT Limb was the one that, the third book that she came out that it was like, oh, by the way, I do have own voices here and here's, here's where I actually can give you an insight that you may not even know it existed.

Right. Like out on a limb that book was really, and I think in the terms of own voice and disability rep, I think it was a little transcending for

Yeah.

that space, that voice.

Yeah.

And then because then we start to see, Melissa Whitney, Is an author that is sight impaired And so her heroines are struggling, or her heroes are struggling with blindness near and shortsightedness and vision impairment. And that is, I think that's amazing.

Yeah.

Good for you, showing how you navigate the world find love while also, but that's different than the voices we were seeing with Disability Rep that were writing in 2020, I think 2020. It felt like we would get a disability rep book and all of a sudden the author writing it was like, oh, I have that.

yeah.

And they had 17 different things and I'm like, oh, okay.

Yeah.

It didn't feel the same, those voices, so I would say Melissa, Whitney, Mariah Inman, Hannah Bonham Young, Maisie Ings. I think

Yeah.

voices feel very authentic.

Yeah.

It doesn't feel like I'm just doing it for a getcha.

Yeah, I, well, I know Ma Maisie actually, and I think I shared this, I know Ma Maisie before she was an author, like we were in a group chat in 2020 before, and I, and it's like it's, she shows her authentic self in her stories, but it seemed with care and like a sense of a sense of this, these people deserve, success and at the same time deserve love, and deserve all the different goodness. But the not because they have the disability, it's just part of their unique strength that they have.

Yeah. Have you read Peyton Corin yet?

I started I start a lot of books, so don't take it, as someone who doesn't finish, I just start a lot of books. So I start unsteady on audio and then I think I stop, but I hurt. Her books are great. They're,

I haven't read her yet, but one of our buzzing about romance community members struggles with dyslexia

yeah.

and in the second book, unloved.

Yeah.

The heroin has the same kind of dyslexia that

Oh

member has, and she said that it was just so well done and she felt so seen. Because there's a lot of stigma that comes with dyslexia and it's not always just backwards letters.

yeah.

So I just, I haven't read it yet, it's on my TBR, I just haven't read it yet, but in her book on study. has vertigo, marins disease

Yeah.

inner ear disorder and hearing loss, which is interesting. 'cause again, not something, lots of people suffer with it,

yeah.

but not something that we see all the time.

Yeah.

Let's see, who else? I have some lesser known authors that have written some stuff. Linda Forbes. She has just three books out inscrutable Mr. Yang. It deals with social phobia and anxiety. And when I read that, it was, I've lived that, been the person that has had to help people overcome those incredibly, like paralyzing anxiety. Moments in the social setting. so it, that book was really well done and she's a, Afro author herself, lives in Canada, so her books, she lives in Toronto and her books are a love letter to Toronto.

Oh, yay.

So if if you like Canada, go for it.

Yes. I love a love letters center in Toronto. Give me, gimme multiple. I, that's like my favorite city that I've never visited, and I'm like, maybe I should take like a solo trip there. Yeah, that's,

fun city. I didn't realize like how much of a like cultural center

yeah.

so many different cultures.

Yeah.

I would say even more cultures than what you see in New York.

Yeah.

cultural center and the food scene. Like I love Jackie Lau.

Jackie La, us Magel. Udine has a great Muslim representation. They, she writes like she has written some romances, but her mystery series is so good. I'm like, I love, so, and that one deals with grief and all the different things, but there's so many books out there from that Toronto space.

I read that and I'm hungry. I'm like, what are you people

yes.

me? Have you read Alexandria House?

I have. Yes, I have. I think I listened to a couple books from her.

I like her They're in

audio books are great. Yeah. They're hoopla. They're great. They're like, sometimes they're short they're not like long, not a lot of meat, which sometimes you just need that. You don't need the extra bluff,

she writes like a category author,

Yes.

it's like that short, tight story. You aren't sitting there going, me more. It's, she gives you everything you need in the story in that moment. Her book Holding. Which I think is either book one or book two. I think it's book two in her St. Louis hockey series. In that book has bipolar disorder a second chance. Romance Brother's best friend. And that audio book is like top tier, I believe it's Wesley Shaban,

Ooh.

she's one of my faves. Like

Yeah.

I actually use her in search hoopla for books because.

Yes.

I love her narration. It's just always it's always such a top tier. Jodi Slaughter, she has bet on it

Yeah.

and it's really great anxiety, depression, chronic depression. So that one is one that I also really I don't know. I have lots that I really like.

Yeah.

I just, I think there's, she doesn't, she, it's not own voice. Melissa Foster, my true love the hero is an amputee, has PTSD war injury. she actually did have a sensitivity reader and a consultant on the book of a gentleman that was back from the Iraq War, the Afghan War. lost his leg, but he didn't lose his leg while active duty. He lost his leg when working for one of the contractors.

Oh

And how, like it gets messier when

yeah.

contractor. And but it talks about things you don't think about, If dating an amputee that like you're gonna stay at their house because things are better set for them,

Yeah.

and. Moving through life and stuff. So that was Melissa did a lot of work on that book and it was just incredibly, I thought well done. But yeah, those are some of the ones that, it's, that I always, recommend when people ask for l Mitchell,

Yep.

I've read a few of hers. I really like hers.

Yeah, I think she has Crohn's Disease. There's a toilet one. There's a couple ones, or I think the other one, I don't remember the bondage one. I think she, she had something I, I remember. But

some mobility

Mobility device is, I think, yes, it was actually Wheelchair User, the first book in the series. Not my type or not something like that.

let's see here. Not my type is a wheelchair

Yeah. L flush is the toilet one she needed. She made toilet paper.

Well, and she doesn't, she have Crohn's

Yep.

in

had Crohn's and that's why she made the toilet paper to be specific. So I didn't, so I don't remember. I remember like there was a, there was part of the storyline based on Crohn's disease and I, I have experience with family members with that. So. It's definitely when you have a flare up you're, it's not good. It's not fine.

good. but yeah, there's lot, I mean. Those are the ones that I would recommend

Yeah.

to fill that void.

Yeah, I found Karina Holly, the Royals next door was really helpful for C-P-T-S-D, which is not, it's not the PTSD that you normally see from the war heroes or C-P-T-S-D was complex. PTSD, which is like an ongoing trauma you have, may have a trauma traumatic experience and then seeing it like how it reflects to your life. Like I, I have that diagnosis and it's not, it's. It's not as simple. It's well, what was your trauma? It's well, it's been compounded by years of trauma and it is like the behaviors that you act out on it how it reflects your daily life. It's not as simple as one thing,

yeah. I'm trying to think. Carrie and Ryan, one of her Wilder brother books, he has a TBI

Yeah.

here with me. He has a TBI and short-term memory issues, And it comes to bite him in the butt a little bit with his heroin.

Yeah. So. Awesome. Well, Becky, tell us we're gonna find you online. Where can we see the podcast? 'Cause I know you, you should you record live. I remember we all of we.

we have episodes out usually every Sunday except holiday weekends. And you can find us on YouTube or in any podcast app. We have wide distribution for podcasts. Even like your little known RSS Feed podcast. We're there.

Yeah.

And then you can find us at buzzing about romance across all social media. so yeah, that's where

Awesome. Okay.

fungus.

thank you, Becky, for being on the show.

Thank you. Of course.