Welcome, 2026! In this week’s episode, Kayla and Taylor discuss pod favorite Lily King’s 2025 novel Heart the Lover. Topics include the way Lily King packs a punch in a short time, pompous young adult men in academia, Sam vs. Yash, revealing Jordan’s real name and how the men in her life defined her, the importance of first loves and how weird it is when you realize you’ll never talk to that person again, and feeling feelings.Plus, Title Talk!

This week’s drink: Rose and Ginger Paloma (aka Heart the Lover) via Half Baked Harvest

INGREDIENTS:

• 1/4 cup fresh grapefruit juice
• 2 ounces silver tequila
• 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
• 1-2 tablespoons rose water
• gingerbeer, for topping

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Fill your glass halfway with ice. Add the grapefruit juice, tequila, lime juice, and rose water. Stir to combine and then top with ginger beer. Garnish with fresh roses.

Current/recommended reads, links, etc.:

The Novel Life of Jane Austen: A Graphic Biography by Janine Barchas

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Visit our website: literatureandlibationspod.com to submit feedback, questions, or your own takes on what we are reading. You can also see what we are reading for future episodes! You can email us at literatureandlibationspod@gmail.com.

Please leave us a review and/or rating! It really helps others find our podcast…and it makes us happy!

Purchase books via bookshop.org or check them out from your local public library.

Join us next time as we read The Dud Avocado by Elaine Dundy

In this week’s episode, Kayla and Taylor wrap up 2025 with their favorite pod (and non-pod) reads, plus other favorites from movies, TV, music, and more!

This week’s drink: French 75 via Friday Night Cocktails

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 oz gin
• ½ oz lemon juice, freshly squeezed
• ½ oz simply syrup
• 3 oz Champagne
• Lemon twist, for garnish

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. In a cocktail shaker, add the gin, lemon juice, and simple syrup. Add ice and shake until chilled.
2. Strain into a Champagne flute and top with Champagne. Garnish with a lemon twist

Current/recommended reads, links, etc.:

When Women Ran Fifth Avenue: Glamour and Power at the Dawn of American Fashion by Julie Satow

Searches: Selfhood in the Digital Age by Vauhini Varta

Eat Up!: Food, Appetite and Eating What You Want by Ruby Tandoh

Life After Life by Kate Atkinson

Tilt by Emma Pattee

Trust by Hernan Diaz

O Caledonia by Elspeth Barker

Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix

Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros

Good Things by Samin Nosrat (and her podcast Home Cooking)

The Art of Gluten-Free Bread by Aran Goyoaga

Lugma: Abundant Dishes and Stories from My Middle East by Noor Murad

Great Short Books: A Year of Reading—Briefly by Kenneth C. Davis

Follow us on Instagram @literatureandlibationspod.

Visit our website: literatureandlibationspod.com to submit feedback, questions, or your own takes on what we are reading. You can also se

In this week’s episode, Kayla and Taylor discuss Madeline Miller’s 2018 novel Circe. Topics include work holiday parties, weird winter weather, every child’s obsession with Greek mythology, the true nature of the gods, Circe’s banishment, and commentaries on womanhood and motherhood. Plus, we cannot recommend the 1997 Disney movie Hercules enough. Go watch it!

This week’s drink: The Circe (a Taylor original)

INGREDIENTS:

• ½ oz Kitron (or other lemon liqueur)
• 1 ½ oz gin
• Lavender bitters
• ½ oz lemon juice
• Egg white

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Add all ingredients to a shaker without ice and shake for 10 seconds. Add ice and shake again until chilled
2. Strain into a coup glass and garnish with a lemon peel

Current/recommended reads, links, etc.:

The Odyssey by Homer, translated by Emily Wilson

Follow us on Instagram @literatureandlibationspod.

Visit our website: literatureandlibationspod.com to submit feedback, questions, or your own takes on what we are reading. You can also see what we are reading for future episodes! You can email us at literatureandlibationspod@gmail.com.

Please leave us a review and/or rating! It really helps others find our podcast…and it makes us happy!

Purchase books via bookshop.org or check them out from your local public library.

Join us next time as we talk about our favorite reads (and other things) of 2025! Then tune in January 6th for our first read of 2026: Heart the Lover by Lily King