This week on Off Book, we’re joined by our favorite comfort creator Morgan (aka Coop’s Kitchen) for a cozy chat about how she got into reading, why fantasy is the ultimate “everything genre,” and the tropes she’ll never get tired of (yes, enemies to lovers forever).

We also get into Twilight as the original romantasy gateway, fantasy misconceptions, book recs for new fantasy readers (The Hunger Games) and fully-converted fantasy lovers (Fourth Wing… with opinions), plus what Morgan’s reading right now (Nightbane and I Who Have Never Known Men). And of course: Coop the golden retriever, soup discourse, and the most organized book club on planet Earth (with a spreadsheet and a rotating menu).

Follow Morgan: @coopskitchen on TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook.

This week on Genre’d, we’re diving into Dire Bound by Sable Sorensen, a high-stakes romantasy packed with brutal trials, dire wolves with attitude problems, and secrets that have been festering for centuries.

But first — we have some things to say.
Katy is deep in a full-blown spiral over Heated Rivalry, the wildly viral hockey romance series based on the beloved books by Rachel Reid. We unpack why this show has completely taken over the internet, why the stakes actually matter, and how Katy ended up talking to her therapist about rival hockey men.

Then we get into Dire Bound:
A kick-ass street fighter enters a deadly set of trials to bond with a dire wolf and save her kidnapped sister — only to uncover a corrupt system, erased history, and a destiny she never asked for. Expect trials, magic schools, chosen-one energy, moody wolves, suspicious men, and romantasy chaos.

💥 Spoiler warning: First ~20 minutes are spoiler-free. Full spoilers after that (including character reveals, mating bonds, and late-book twists).

✨ What we cover:
• Romantasy tropes, trials, and dire wolf bonding
• A heroine who starts out already dangerous
• Love interests you should absolutely not trust
• Found family, pack politics, and power reveals
• Why this is a solid entry point for adult romantasy readers

⭐ Final verdict: A fast, fun romantasy that scratches the itch — even if seasoned readers may spot the twists coming.

🎧 Rate, review, and subscribe — and remember: no genre shaming… unless it’s funny.

Bryanna’s back! You might remember her from the first three episodes of Genre’d, and she’s back in the (evolving) studio to talk about the genre that has her in a chokehold: contemporary “book club books”—think Reese, Oprah, and all the buzzy picks you need to be up on.

We get into how she fell out of reading in her 20s (hi, chronic online era), how Sarah J. Maas dragged her right back in, and why she’ll always chase books that spark conversation and eventually become prestige TV. Plus: audiobook obsession, Alexa-as-a-narrator chaos, the real reason romance is the best-selling genre, and a passionate defense of “silly little women’s books” as actually…literature.

It’s a wrap on 2025. 🥂 In this "Year in Reading" episode, Katy & Elyse recap how many books they actually read (and why Goodreads is a liar), share their top 5 books of the year, and crown the best plot twist, worst third act, most unnecessary plot twist, and more.

We also get into trope MVPs (small-town found family vs. morally gray love interests), the genre shifts the podcast sparked, and what we’re chasing in 2026—more thrillers, darker romantasy, fewer fated mates (sorry, Omegaverse), and finally cracking social media + YouTube.

✨ Featured books & series include: Rose in Chains, Dungeon Crawler Carl, We Are All Guilty Here, Girl Dinner, Phantasma, Bourbon & Lies, Serial Killer Games, Silver Elite, Alchemised, Onyx Storm, and more.
📌 Remember: no genre shaming… unless it’s funny.

It’s our holiday special 🎄✨ This week on Genre’d, we’re diving into Holiday Ever After by Hannah Grace—a cozy, low-stakes holiday romance packed with small-town charm, forced proximity, grumpy/sunshine vibes, and just enough smut to keep things interesting.

Before we get into it, we do have some things to say: Hanukkah shout-outs, Goodreads goal confessions, audiobook chaos, and a brief detour into hockey romance discourse (as one does).

In the spoiler-free section, we break down the vibes, tropes, characters, and whether this Hallmark-coded romance hits or misses—plus an important discussion on wooden dolls, small business drama, and why fixing sinks is apparently very hot.

🎁 Spoiler warning: First ~20 minutes are spoiler-free. Full spoilers after.
❄️ Tropes & vibes: big city girl / small town boy, forced proximity, grumpy MMC, cozy Christmas setting, low angst
📚 Holiday rating: comforting, cute, and exactly what it promises to be

We’re off next week for the holidays, but we’ll be back in the New Year with our 2025 wrap-up. Until then—rate, review, subscribe… and remember: no genre shaming (unless it’s funny). 💚

This week on Genre’d: Off Book, we sit down with our forever friend Ankeen — Brooklyn massage therapist, philosopher-at-heart, and unapologetic romance lover — to talk all things smut, tropes, and why romance is so much more than “frivolous.”

We get into how Harlequin paperbacks and Nora Roberts’ Montana Sky turned her into a reader at age ten, why “tasteful” sex scenes still hit, and what makes a perfect gateway romance versus a full-throttle smutty series (rock bands, hockey players, high-end sex clubs in London… we cover it all).

Along the way we unpack big misconceptions about the romance genre, why men should absolutely be reading “books for girls,” the tropes Ankeen loves (brother’s best friend, sexy doctors, firefighters, found family) and the ones she’ll DNF without hesitation (college main characters, high-school second chance, surprise pregnancies, zero communication). We also talk about the unexpected overlap between romance novels, philosophy texts, and how we all crave intimacy and connection in every part of our lives.

Plus: where to find Ankeen for lymphatic drainage, cupping, Ayurvedic face massage, and witchy goodness at Uncle Nat’s and Enchantments in NYC.

This week on Genre’d, we dive into Alchemy of Secrets, Stephanie Garber’s glitter-soaked urban fantasy about a grad student, a ticking countdown to her death, and a magical scavenger hunt across Hollywood.

But first… we have some things to say about Girl Dinner, Dungeon Crawler Carl, and the emotional devastation of the Dancing With the Stars finale.

💥 Spoiler warning: The first ~30 minutes are spoiler-free; after that, we get into the twists, scene stealers, and magical scavenger-hunt reveals.

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In this episode:

• We unpack the major tropes, vibes, and why LA feels like its own main character.
• Elyse explains why this reads more YA than the “adult fantasy” marketing suggests.
• It’s giving: Caraval energy, Veronica Mars vibes, hotel-bar devil sightings
• Final ratings, lingering questions, and our predictions for book two.

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✨ New episodes every week, covering everything from romantasy to thrillers to whatever TikTok tells us to read next.

Follow us on Instagram & TikTok: @genredpodcast
Email us: genredpodcast@gmail.com

🎧 If you enjoyed the episode, subscribe, leave us a rating, and share with a fellow book lover.

This week on Genre’d: Off Book, we’re joined by Elyse's longtime friend Melissa, a self-proclaimed dystopian-fiction girlie who swears she “doesn’t really read fantasy” (we have notes). We talk about the books that broke open her love of bleak futures and authoritarian governments, why The Giver in fifth grade was maybe a bit much, and how dystopian stories are secretly… kind of hopeful?

Come for the dystopian deep dive; stay for the celebrity memoir recs, curriculum hot takes, and a bonus mini-interview with Melissa’s four-year-old son Alex, who explains why Captain Underpants is his bestie and teaches us all how to take deep breaths when we’re sad or mad.

In this Off Book episode, we chat about:

• How The Giver, A Wrinkle in Time, and The Handmaid’s Tale turned Melissa into a dystopian-fiction lifer

• Why The Hunger Games is her go-to “starter pack” rec (and how classics like 1984 and Brave New World hit differently as adults)

• The biggest misconception about dystopian books—and why she thinks they’re actually love letters to human resilience

• Her favorite tropes: the “truth drop” gut-punch and the moment the rebel finally wakes up

• Why high fantasy and magic systems don’t work for her, plus tech-y, near-future recs like Silo, The Power, Vox, and more

• Her “cheat genre”: celebrity memoirs (including Mindy Kaling, Jessica Simpson, Drew Barrymore, and Britney Spears)

• A very special kid-lit segment with Alex featuring Captain Underpants, The Pigeon Has to Go to School, rainbow bear Coco, and the world’s cutest breathing exercise

Light spoilers for The Giver, 1984, The Hunger Games, and The Handmaid’s Tale (all decades-old, but still).