✨ What happens when a mom turns her love for creativity, family, and storytelling into a mission to inspire young readers?

This week on Enchanted & Exhausted, Kayla and Sam welcome special guest Laura Doyal, children's author and founder of DoodlePie Magic Press!

Laura shares how her son's struggles with reading inspired her to write The Suitcase Summers, a children's book series inspired by her own family and designed to bridge the gap between picture books and chapter books.

📚 In this episode, we're talking about:

• How motherhood inspired Laura's journey into writing and publishing
• Creating books that help children build confidence and fall in love with reading
• Her screen-light activity book, The Compass Club, and encouraging kids to explore beyond their screens
• The challenges of independent publishing, illustrations, and the conversation surrounding AI in the book community
• Finding beta readers, ARC readers, and support through BookTok
• Our shared obsession with Fourth Wing, Onyx Storm, fan theories, and fantasy book tattoos!
• Audiobooks, favorite tropes, anticipated releases, and rapid-fire bookish questions!

Of course, it wouldn't be Enchanted & Exhausted without a little chaos, plenty of laughs, and some completely unplanned bookish tangents! 😂

Whether you're a parent hoping to raise a lifelong reader, an aspiring author, or just a BookTok girlie who loves a good conversation, this episode has something for you!

💖 Listen to Enchanted & Exhausted on all major podcast platforms, and catch our video episodes on YouTube!

Be sure to follow, subscribe, and leave us a rating or review! Your support helps our little bookish community grow.

✨ Check out Laura's books and creative adventures through the links in our episode description!

#EnchantedAndExhausted #BookTok #ChildrensBooks #AuthorInterview #IndieAuthors #RaisingReaders #FourthWing #BookishPodcast #MomLife #DoodlePieMagicPress

https://linktr.ee/enchantedandexhausted

The Suitcase Summers: The Lost Crown of the Isle
An illustrated chapter-book adventure for readers ages 7–10 about two cousins, one mysterious suitcase, and an island that needs them both.
Buy the book: https://a.co/d/03bhKcX1

Free Read + Roam Adventure Pass
A free printable adventure for curious kids and their grown-ups, with a screen-light activity plus a sneak peek into The Suitcase Summers.
Get the free Adventure Pass: https://www.lauradoyal.com/read-and-roam

I’ve also attached a copy of the Adventure Pass so you can see exactly what listeners will receive. For the show notes, I’d love to use the link above so listeners can download their own copy.

The Suitcase Summers Spotify Playlist
A playlist inspired by the story, Hawaii, and the sense of adventure behind The Lost Crown of the Isle.
Listen here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0tPDMKGB6W5n2SRH6IX2xB

More from Laura Doyal + DoodlePie Magic Press
Books, activities, and screen-light adventures for curious kids and the grown-ups raising them.
Website: https://www.lauradoyal.com
Instagram + TikTok: @lauradoyalofficial

🐉 THRESHING DAY HAS ARRIVED—and we have THOUGHTS.

Welcome back to Enchanted & Exhausted, where we run away from the real world into books! 📚✨ samantha-kayla (2)

Episode 10 was recorded LIVE on TikTok, and this one is packed with everything we love: Fourth Wing theories, dragons, reading updates, mom-life chaos, and completely unrealistic TBR expectations.

We dive into Threshing Day, talk about our favorite POVs, and unpack some of the theories that have us questioning EVERYTHING we thought we knew about the Empyrean series. Who has secretly had a dragon? Can we actually trust the scribes? Why do riders have to bleed during Threshing? And what exactly is Rebecca Yarros setting us up for?! 👀🐉

Then, naturally, we attempt our own Dragonkind Threshing live...and things go about as well as you'd expect. 🔥😂

We also recap our September reads and ratings, talk about what we're reading in October, share our next Enchanted & Exhausted Book Club pick, Crown Me Dead, and give each other our newest reading challenges. Kayla is challenged to read Dark Places by Gillian Flynn, while Sam gets Dark Secret by Christine Feehan. samantha-kayla (2)

⚠️ SPOILER WARNING: This episode contains spoilers and theories for Threshing Day and the Empyrean series.

🎧 Listen to Enchanted & Exhausted on all major podcast platforms, and follow us on TikTok to catch one of our future podcast recordings LIVE!

Because apparently being exhausted mothers wasn't enough—we needed dragons, theories, and an impossible TBR too. 🐉📚☕️

Help with Adoption Fees: https://gofund.me/9af7216a0

Where you can find us! https://linktr.ee/enchantedandexhausted

#EnchantedAndExhausted #BookPodcast #BookTok #FourthWing #ThreshingDay #EmpyreanSeries #RebeccaYarros #Romantasy #BookishPodcast #FantasyBooks #BookClub #CurrentlyReading

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