“This is a great middle school time travel adventure where a wardrobe created by DaVinci becomes a portal for two 12-year-olds between 15th century Rome and modern New Jersey. They must solve a mystery to keep the Sistine Chapel from being erased.”

—-Amy

“The author delves into what physical and psychological effects having your heart broken really has on humans. Williams began this book because her husband wanted a divorce after 25 years of marriage, which was quite a blow. She saw alarming symptoms in her body that prompted her to ask, “Can you really die, or at least become ill, from a broken heart?” The audiobook is particularly unique because the author records discussions with experts, friends, and even lovers.”

—Amy

Luisa A. iGloria is the 20th poet laureate of Virginia. She has launched several cool projects during her term to help inspire others in her state and make poetry a larger part of the community.

Neema Avashia is now a Social Studies teacher in Boston, but she spent her childhood in Appalachia, which she writes about in her collection of essays titled Another Appalachia: Growing Up Indian & Queer in a Mountain Place.

Maggie Smith spend years in the corporate world of art but always loved to write. She decided to write a book about something she thought she could never write about: mothers and daughters in Truth & Other Lies.

Angela Jackson-Brown’s latest book comes out in July 2022. Called The Light Always Breaks, it tells a story of a character readers were first introduced to in When Stars Rain Down.

Mazey Eddings is a dentist and novelist. We talked to her about her debut novel, A Brush with Love. Her next novel, Lizzie Blake’s Best Mistake, is expected in September 2022.

Ivana Murk is a ballet teacher in Croatia and a bookstagrammer extraordinaire. You can find her at @books.with.tutus.and.sons.

Brittany Thurman is a writer with a ton of books coming out between now and 2024, including Forever and Always. She is the author of the newly debuted, Fly.

Ashlee Clark is the VP of Digital at Louisville Public Media and serves as co-host of the local Louisville Moth story events. She is also the author of Louisville Diners.

Rebecca Rosenberg is the author of several historical fiction novels, including Champagne Widows. She is an entrepreneur and champagne historian.

Jennifer Caloyeras is the author of Strays and Unruly Creatures. She lives in CA and teaches writing at the UCLA Extension’s Writer’s program. She will soon publish her first adult novel.

Kimmery Martin grew up in Kentucky but now lives in Charlotte, NC. She trained as an emergency room doctor and uses that experience to write her medical fiction. Her most recent novel is Doctors and Friends.

Gwenda Bond is a Kentucky writer who spent many years working for Kentucky state government. She has written a wide variety of books, including the Cirque American series, the Lois Lane series, and a middle grade series that she wrote with her husband, Christopher Rowe called the Supernormal Sleuthing Service. Her latest book is a rom-com called Not Your Average Hot Guy.

Alia Volz, our guest in episode 116, is based in San Francisco, which is also the setting of her memoir, Home Baked. Alia is the winner of the Golden Poppy Award for Nonfiction from the California Independent Bookseller Alliance and finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award in Autobiography. (Photo credit: Dennis Hearne)

Valerie Savarie, our guest in episode 115, is based in Colorado and uses books to create amazing works of art. She is founder and co-owner of Valkarie Gallery & Studio.

Anna Ford, our guest in episode 114, spent most of her career in the public health field but made the transition to co-founder and CEO of BookClubz, a website and app that originally helped only her keep her many book club responsibilities in order. She worked to bring this tool to all of us book lovers.

Jeremy Hance is an environmental writer whose recent book, Baggage: Confessions of a Globe-Trotting Hypochondriac, is part memoir, part travelogue, and part conservation treatise. He has been a longtime writer with Mongabay.com and is working on a book about the Sumatran Rhino.

Bailey lives in Southern California by way of Maine and works in the publishing industry. When she isn’t reading for work, she tries to whittle down her book pile with her friend, her brother, and her son engineer husband on their podcast: The To Read List.

Jeremy Tankard collaborated with his daughter, Hermione, to create “Yorick and Bones.” He is also the author of several children’s picture books, including “Grumpy Bird,” “Me Hungry,” and “Boo Hoo Bird.”