701. Holiday Wishes with Amanda and Sarah

It’s never too late for Holiday Wishes, right? We had such a record number of interviews for the Holiday Wishes episodes this year, and I truly love doing them. Thank you.

But many of you asked about Amanda’s recs and wishes, so to wind up our holiday extravaganza, Amanda and I are talking about the books that we loved in 2025, our wishes for everyone in 2026, and of course we talk about a LOT of other things. One of Amanda’s favorites was about a songwriter and so we discussed our music tastes, which, total surprise, are entirely different. We also look back at the most popular content on SBTB in 2025, and what posts and podcasts had the most engagement.

News!

When possible, I am recording both audio and video since I know so many of you like to watch podcasts on YouTube.

So on Fridays, the audio of the podcast will fly into the ether as usual for everyone.

Patreon folks, you’ll also get a video version on Fridays, and you can choose which you prefer.

Then, on Sunday, the video will be released to the podcast YouTube channel, and you can subscribe to the channel. May I humbly request you do so? I had to rebuild the channel from scratch after the last one was deplatformed for whatever reason. Thank you!

❤ Read the transcript ❤

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Here are the books we discuss in this podcast:

Don’t forget to subscribe to the Smart Podcast Trashy Books YouTube Channel! 

We also mentioned:

• YouTube: Electric Callboy – “Elevator Operator”
• Webtoon: Villains are Destined to Die
• Podcast: The Sticky Bun Boys
• IG Reel: “Dating Grok”
• SBTB: Unhinged Bingo! 

Support for this episode comes from Bound by the Blood, a brand new book from Cecilia Tan – fantasy and erotic romance fans, you will want to know about this.

Mira is a massage therapist in New York City. Still stinging over the betrayal of her ex, she puts on her corset to attend a kinky club night and gets far more than she bargained for. She meets a new playmate who seems to satisfy her every whim, igniting desires she had thought were dead.

Clive is a thrillseeker whose favorite place to get an adrenaline rush is on the receiving end of a whip, or while kneeling at someone’s feet. Mira seems like Clive’s sweetest dreams come true.

But Clive harbors secrets. An underground society of ritual sex magic practitioners is recruiting him, and neither Clive nor Mira are prepared for what happens when Clive’s dark powers are unleashed. Caught up in a battle between good and evil, Mira and Clive grow ever closer, but can Mira solve the mystery of Clive’s darkest memory in time to save him… and maybe the world?

Christopher Rice says, “Cecilia Tan has always been ahead of her time. She was bringing us sophisticated stories about BDSM and the BDSM community before it became popular. With the Vanished Chronicles she may well have invented an exciting new genre. This book blends urban fantasy with erotic romance, with relationships that are compelling and rich, accompanied by a supernatural world that offers a fascinating and unforgettable take on the cosmic and spiritual significance of eroticism.”

Cecilia Tan is an award-winning author of passionate fiction. RT Book Reviews awarded her Career Achievement in Erotic Romance in 2015 and her novel Slow Surrender (Hachette/Forever, 2013) won the RT Reviewers Choice Award and the Maggie Award for Excellence from GRW. Spanning the gamut of genre and gender, she is also the author of Daron’s Guitar Chronicles, The Prince’s Boy, and Watch Point. Her Magic University series has been lauded by Autostraddle for being “trans-inclusive fantasy for Harry Potter fans.”

You can find Bound by the Blood wherever books are sold. Find out more at the link in the show notes, or at ceciliatan.com