YA, We Read It!

Looking for Alaska (John Green)

Welcome to the 9th season of YA, We Read It! This season, beloved hosts Laura and Meggie are reading John Green's entire anthology (and enlisting some very special guests along the way.) This week, Austin Merrill sits down with us to read Green's first book, Looking for Alaska (originally published in 2005) which easily became one of his most well-known and well-received works. Miles Halter goes off to boarding school in Alabama, where he quickly befriends his roommate, whom he affectionately calls The Colonel, and the captivating Alaska Young. Tune in as we discuss the before and after, the heart and the loss this book captures, and everything in between.

Final Thoughts: You

Oh, You. And also you! You stuck with us the whole season while we flipped through You and we couldn't be more appreciative that you came along for the ride of YA, We Read It's 8th Season! Meggie and Laura sit down in this episode to wrap up their thoughts and feelings of the series and also Joe Goldberg as a protagonist. An added bonus: they discuss under what terms and conditions Joe would become infatuated with them! And lastly, Season 9 is right around the corner, where is this podcast heading next?

You Love Me (You #3)

You waited all week and now you are once again pressing play on YA, We Read It! so you can find out what happens next to resident bad guy Joe Goldberg after he was arrested at the Taco Bell. We knew you couldn't get enough of us! Laura and Meggie are closing out their You season with a discussion on the third book in the series. Turns out, Joe did not rot in jail but he also didn't run off into the sunset with Love. Instead this book picks up a year and a half later and he's relocated to the Pacific Northwest to lay low and fall in love with local librarian Mary Kay. Can Joe turn over a new leaf? Or will he fall back into his old behaviors?

Hidden Bodies (You #2)

You are back! Listening to the second episode of the eighth season of YA, We Read It! You were enthralled with Meggie and Laura's big dive into adult literature and you just had to see what happened next, didn't you? Enter Hidden Bodies, Caroline Kepnes second book in the You series! Joe says bye-bye New York as he ventures to LA, vowing to kill the girl who screwed him over, yeesh. Luckily for Joe (and the girl), his murder-plans are thwarted when he meets Love Quinn who he quickly falls in love with. She introduces him to a life of luxury and making movies, it's everything he could have ever wanted in his wildest dreams! Until his past crimes come back to haunt him, quickly turning his new life into his biggest nightmare.

You (by Caroline Kepnes)

There you are. You. You're listening to this podcast, and you can't help but wonder: What's this? A twist in the standard YA, We Read It! source material? Could it be? Why yes, dear listeners, we're here to tell you that Laura and Meggie are experimenting a little for their 8th season all in the name of love and most importantly: all for YOU (literally!) Caroline Kepnes' famed ADULT series-turned-Netflix-show You revolves around Joe Goldberg, a hopeless romantic and even hopeless-lier serial killer. Join us for the wild ride that is Joe's life as a book shopkeeper in New York City as he looks for love in all the worst ways possible. It's going to be fun, trust us!

Interview with Kate Brian (w/ Kieran Scott)

Back in the third season of YA, We Read It! Meggie and Laura read through the Private Series and today they are revisting those books with none other than the author Kate Brian herself! Except (and this really shocked us) Kate Brian was just a pen name for Kieran Scott the whole time. And she wrote many many MANY YA books as Kate Brian in the 2000s. Tune in as we dive in deep to Kieran's prolific career writing some of our favorite books and what she's been up to since! You can keep up with Kieran on instagram @kieranscottauthor or on her website: https://www.kieranscott.com/

Final Thoughts: The Maze Runner Trilogy

We ran through The Maze, survived The Scorch, finally found safety (and even got some prequel action) and the time has yet again come for Meggie and Laura to passionately put to rest their final thoughts of The Maze Runner in its entirety. Was Teresa actually evil? Was Thomas a worthy protagonist? What was Brenda's motivation (and HOW OLD WAS SHE)? What did we love? And what did we want more of? All of this and more on this week's episode! Plus, we're going somewhere even YOU didn't think we would go for Season 8!

The Fever Code (The Maze Runner #5; Prequel #2)

This week on YA, We Read It! Laura and Meggie are joined by Arthur Howell (creator of 2 Cents Critic blog & podcast) for a lovely stroll into the fifth Maze Runner book. Following the story of how the maze got made, we focus on Thomas, our protagonist once again, and his life under Wicked's roof from early childhood to his teens. Teresa and him become fast friends and meet the other Gladers over the years ultimately until the maze is completed and they fully realize how bad Wicked actually is. The Fever Code works hard to answer all the questions from the original trilogy (yet arguably leaves us with more questions, but hey! who's counting?) as it flashes through the years up until Thomas' first day in the maze.

The Kill Order (The Maze Runner #4; Prequel #1)

You might be thinking The Kill Order would refer to a particular ranking of who needs to die and when, but after reading this book we can assure you it's not that! This week Meggie and Laura are joined by their dear friend Nate Todd in this very special episode of reading James Dashner's prequel. Long before the maze trials, Solar Flares ravaged the Earth and threatened humanity as we know it. And through a few bad calls by the government The Flare was unleashed on what little survivors were left, and, well, you know this ends poorly because this is a prequel. Tune in as your hosts discuss a new cast of characters and the many, many, many action scenes that grace the pages of this book.

The Death Cure (The Maze Runner Trilogy #3)

In a world where the only cure is Death... Kidding, we'll be honest the title of this book doesn't really make sense, because there is minimal death and absolutely 0 curing from The Flare but we LOVE the tenacity here! That's right, Laura and Meggie sit down and mic up to talk about the action-packed conclusion to the Maze Runner trilogy. It's Thomas, Newt, and Minho vs. WICKED as the gang escapes to Denver (interesting!). Can Thomas be our golden boy who saves the world? Is he finally going to forgive Teresa? How old is Brenda supposed to be? All this and more on this week's YA, We Read It!