![Why A Book?](https://pbcdn1.podbean.com/imglogo/image-logo/11031841/WABLOGO2.png)
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Join Mary and Renee as they jump back into the world of 2000s and 2010s Young Adult Fiction. Each week, they discuss a different YA book from their youth and pose hard hitting questions: Why aren't any of these characters in therapy? Is this incest? Why were we so obsessed with toxic vampire boys? Each episode is full of laughs, absurd teen drama, memories of the early 2000s, and a cat who is hellbent on derailing this production. Tune in weekly to see if Mary and Renee can every answer the ultimate question: Why a book?
Episodes
![Someone Like You: Someone Like You](https://pbcdn1.podbean.com/imglogo/image-logo/11031841/WABLOGO2_300x300.png)
Thursday Jun 03, 2021
Someone Like You: Someone Like You
Thursday Jun 03, 2021
Thursday Jun 03, 2021
Sometimes having premarital sex has consequences, like getting pregnant or dying in a fiery motorcycle accident the next day. This is what happens to Halley’s best friend Scarlett (getting pregnant) and her boyfriend Michael (dying in a fiery motorcycle accident) just weeks before the start of their junior year. While Halley’s trying to help Scarlett navigate the weird world of teen motherhood, she starts dating Michael’s best friend Macon, a dangerous bad boy with a mysterious past and serious accountability issues. If you’ve ever wanted to read a Degrassi plot line in novel form, this is the book for you.
Mary wants to warn people that there is a Fullmetal Alchemist spoiler in this episode but Renee thinks that series is old enough for spoilers not to matter.
Episode Source Material:
Someone Like You by Sarah Dessen
![FLY HIGH!!: Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment](https://pbcdn1.podbean.com/imglogo/image-logo/11031841/WABLOGO2_300x300.png)
Thursday May 27, 2021
FLY HIGH!!: Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment
Thursday May 27, 2021
Thursday May 27, 2021
Chimeras huh? This week, Renee goes through the plot of The Angel Experiment, the first book in James Patterson's Maximum Ride series. The book revolves around Max and her 5 friends who are 98% human, 2% bird, and 100% not good protagonists. Few things in this book make sense ranging from how ATMs work to the dumb scientists. Our tangents include Fullmetal Alchemist, My Hero Academia, Legend of Zelda, and Teen Wolf. We leave this episode asking the age old question: why a book?
Episode Source Material:
The Angel Experiment, James Patterson.
![5000 Candles in the Wind: City of Ember](https://pbcdn1.podbean.com/imglogo/image-logo/11031841/WABLOGO2_300x300.png)
Thursday May 20, 2021
5000 Candles in the Wind: City of Ember
Thursday May 20, 2021
Thursday May 20, 2021
This episode is not for the unprepared. Mary and Renee dive into The City of Ember, and much like Lina and Doon, they end up somewhere unexpected by the end. Join us on a journey into an underground society that still hasn’t figured out fire after 241 years but has functioning greenhouses. Our two child laborers/heroes have to discover the way out of their dying city before food runs out—but they have to contend with a selfish mayor and naive citizens along the way (not to mention solve the mystery that is a candle and decipher the meaning of the word “boat”). It’s a journey that starts with an Attack on Titan OVA, through references to Wayward Pines and Doctor Who, and concludes in fanfiction.
Episode Source Materials:
City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau
Exploring by Team Turnip on Fanfiction.net
![Kryptonite by 3 Doors Down: 13 Days to Midnight](https://pbcdn1.podbean.com/imglogo/image-logo/11031841/WABLOGO2_300x300.png)
Thursday May 13, 2021
Kryptonite by 3 Doors Down: 13 Days to Midnight
Thursday May 13, 2021
Thursday May 13, 2021
Renee is tired of lighthearted teen books, so she whips out a weird one for this week. 13 Days to Midnight tells the story of Jacob, a 15 year old who tragically witnesses his dad die and gains the power of invincibility in the process. With his friend Milo and the new manic pixie dream girl Ophelia, he starts finding ways to use this power. Things go terribly wrong. This book that is so obviously written by a man just includes a lot of death, a stupid teen relationship, and Harry Houdini.
While discussing this book, Mary has horrible flashbacks to the Netflix adaptation of Death Note. Other shenanigans ensue but Renee can't remember them right now because it's 6 AM as she writes this. Listen to the episode to discover what antics we get up to this week!
Episode source material: 13 Days to Midnight by Patrick Carman.
![Driver's License (Disaster): ttyl](https://pbcdn1.podbean.com/imglogo/image-logo/11031841/WABLOGO2_300x300.png)
Thursday May 06, 2021
Driver's License (Disaster): ttyl
Thursday May 06, 2021
Thursday May 06, 2021
Tenth grade really is just /so/ crazy. Maddie’s facing her driver’s test (and getting used by the Queen Bee), Angela’s going on bad dates (is 2 weeks the paper anniversary?), and Zoe’s discovering religion (while getting groomed by her English teacher). Mary takes Renee through the whirlwind instant message of Lauren Myracle’s ttyl, although the true miracle was finishing the book at all—it’s filled with horribly outdated slurs, bad takes on predatory relationships, and absolutely no character development. But it does have some funny reviews on Goodreads, and it brings back memories of Mary’s good old days catfishing on instant messenger sites.
Episode Source Material:
ttyl by Lauren Myracle
![Spy Girls Are Ruining My Life: I'd Tell You I Love You, but Then I'd Have to Kill You](https://pbcdn1.podbean.com/imglogo/image-logo/11031841/WABLOGO2_300x300.png)
Thursday Apr 29, 2021
Thursday Apr 29, 2021
A new foe has appeared. As Renee takes Mary through Ally Carter’s I’d Tell You I Love You, But Then I’d Have To Kill You, our podcasters realize Nic Cage is not alone. The actual book revolves around Cammie, a spy in training who falls for a normal guy and then makes it her mission to try and date him. The episode revolves around two podcasters who are extremely sleep deprived and obsessed with Jujutsu Kaisen. By the end of the episode, we forget half of what we discussed in the first place.
Episode Source Material:
I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You by Ally Carter
![Half Mermaid Off Ocean Avenue: The Tail of Emily Windsnap](https://pbcdn1.podbean.com/imglogo/image-logo/11031841/WABLOGO2_300x300.png)
Thursday Apr 22, 2021
Half Mermaid Off Ocean Avenue: The Tail of Emily Windsnap
Thursday Apr 22, 2021
Thursday Apr 22, 2021
The Tail of Emily Windsnap is the story of an itsy bitsy mermaid with an itsy bitsy tail and an itsy bitsy life. After she discovers she’s a half mermaid, Emily dives into the world of mermaids and has a slew of increasingly shocking realizations: Her dad was a mermaid. Mermaids have schools. Mermaids have prisons. The mermaid king is married. While this book is lackluster, Mary makes a shocking discovery of her own on its Barnes and Noble page—the reviews are filled with Warrior Cats roleplay, personal ads, and rogue 3rd graders.
Episode Source Material: The Tail of Emily Windsnap by Liz Kessler
![Good Girls Go Bad: Bad Girls Don't Die](https://pbcdn1.podbean.com/imglogo/image-logo/11031841/WABLOGO2_300x300.png)
Thursday Apr 15, 2021
Good Girls Go Bad: Bad Girls Don't Die
Thursday Apr 15, 2021
Thursday Apr 15, 2021
What’s scarier than a possessed doll? The amount of time Mary and Renee spend in this episode trying to pronounce the word gestalt. This week, Renee takes Mary through Bad Girls Don’t Die by Katie Alender. This basic ghost story follows Alexis, an angsty girl who hates cheerleaders and most other things, and Kasey, her creepy, doll obsessed little sister. Despite inducing a nightmare for Renee, this book has little special going on in the plot. The true horror comes from Renee revealing her past as an anime fanfiction writer and Mary discovering we’ve been wrong about corsages this whole time.
Episode Source:
Alender, Katie. Bad Girls Don't Die. Hyperion Books, 2009.
![Till the World Ends: Life as We Knew It](https://pbcdn1.podbean.com/imglogo/image-logo/11031841/WABLOGO2_300x300.png)
Thursday Apr 08, 2021
Till the World Ends: Life as We Knew It
Thursday Apr 08, 2021
Thursday Apr 08, 2021
Are you prepared for the end of the world? Miranda’s family faces the harsh realities of the apocalypse after a meteor hits the moon and shifts it closer to earth, causing a cascade of catastrophes across the world. Instead of going to prom, figure skating, and visiting colleges, she and her family are trapped in their home, rationing food, and trying to stay alive. Join Mary as she tries to avoid existential crisis as some scenes resemble parts of 2020 a little too closely. Warning: this book is sad.
Episode Source Material:
Pferrer, Susan. Life as We Knew It. Scholastic, 2006.
![This Ain't a Scene, it's an Elder Race: The Alchemyst](https://pbcdn1.podbean.com/imglogo/image-logo/11031841/WABLOGO2_300x300.png)
Thursday Apr 01, 2021
This Ain't a Scene, it's an Elder Race: The Alchemyst
Thursday Apr 01, 2021
Thursday Apr 01, 2021
Warning: Listening to this podcast may result in Nic Cage appearing.
We’re back with another quinceañera conspiracy as Renee takes Mary through The Alchemyst, book one of The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel. This story sees 15 year old twins Sophie and Josh get thrown into the world of magic, immortality, and gods when they discover the kind bookstore owner is famous and supposedly dead 14th century alchemist, Nicholas Flamel. Thrown into a battle between good and evil, these teens find themselves meeting the stuff of legends and uncovering their own powers. Highlights of this episode include poor French accents and a conspiracy about Nic Cage.
Episode Source Material:
Scott, Michael. The Alchemyst. Delacorte Press, 2007.