Unabridged Podcast

Welcome to Unabridged, the podcast where teachers take on books! Every week, Sara, Jen and Ashley (shown left to right in the photo) talk books, share recommendations, and celebrate all things bookish. On our blog (see our posts below!) we share bookish faves, pub day shout-outs, show notes, and book reviews each week.

Want to get more involved? Check out our 2022 reading challenge, join our buddy reads on Instagram, or sign up on Patreon!

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Five of Jen's Favorite Reads of 2020 (Part 2)

Jan 18, 2021
8 min

Five of Jen's Favorite Reads of 2020 (Part 2)

by Jen Moyers (@jen.loves.books) Oh, friends, making book choices never gets easier for me. I had shared so many excellent books in my 2020 mid-year post AND on our 2020 Unabridged Awards Episode that I thought I would have narrowed the list from which to choose. Wow, was I wrong! (Be sure to check our mid-year posts: here's mine, Ashley's, and Sara's.) I read 345 books in 2020, and of those, 28 earned five stars from me, and 92 earned four-and-a-half stars. So, even with the

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Emma Lord's YOU HAVE A MATCH - A Compelling, Parent Trap-Adjacent, YA Romance

Jan 1, 2021
2 min

Emma Lord's YOU HAVE A MATCH - A Compelling, Parent Trap-Adjacent, YA Romance

by Jen Moyers (@jen.loves.books) Thanks to Partner NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the digital ARC of Emma Lord’s You Have a Match in exchange for an honest review. I’m also thrilled to have read this with @lovearctually! The book will be published on Tuesday, January 12. I missed out on Emma Lord’s first book, Tweet Cute, but I’m definitely going to read it now. I could not have loved this second book, You Have a Match, more. It is such a brilliant YA read, dealing with

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Featured Books for January 2021

Dec 26, 2020
2 min

Featured Books for January 2021

January Double Feature In January, Adib Khorram's Darius the Great Is Not Okay will be both our Book Club pick AND our Buddy Read choice. You can join us for the episode that releases on Wednesday, January 6, or participate in our two Instagram chats . . . or both! Want to look ahead? Scroll down to see our February picks! Here's the synopsis from the publisher: "Darius Kellner speaks better Klingon than Farsi, and he knows more about Hobbit social cues than Persian ones. He'

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Pub Day Shout-Outs! for December 8, 2020, featuring Clayton, Faber, and Mans McKenny

Dec 8, 2020
4 min

Pub Day Shout-Outs! for December 8, 2020, featuring Clayton, Faber, and Mans McKenny

by Jen Moyers (@jen.loves.books) Here are three books coming out today that I'm excited to read! Editor Dhonielle Clayton's A Universe of Wishes: A We Need Diverse Books Anthology Description from Publisher: "From We Need Diverse Books, the organization behind Flying Lessons & Other Stories, comes a young adult fantasy short story collection featuring some of the best own-voices children's authors, including New York Times bestselling authors Libba Bray (The Diviners), V. E.

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Book Review- Jenny Bayliss's The Twelve Dates of Christmas - A Fun Rom-Com for the Holidays

Dec 4, 2020
3 min

Book Review- Jenny Bayliss's The Twelve Dates of Christmas - A Fun Rom-Com for the Holidays

by Sara Voigt (@meaningfulmadness) The holidays are upon us! Woo-hoo! If you have been listening to the pod, you know that I have been deep in holiday reading since mid-October. I have read some fun holiday reads in that time, and one of my favorites is Jenny Bayliss's The Twelve Dates of Christmas. (Thanks to Putnam Books #partner for my ebook review copy! All opinions are my own.) I talked about this in this week's episode that focuses on Christina Lauren's In a Holidaze, b

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Katherena Vermette's THE BREAK - A Multi-Generational Family Saga

Nov 27, 2020
3 min

Katherena Vermette's THE BREAK - A Multi-Generational Family Saga

by Jen Moyers (@jen.loves.books) Katherena Vermette's The Break, which was the focus of the most recent @readwithtoni buddy read, is a brilliant novel set in Winnipeg and centered on a tragedy at the heart of a Métis family. The novel begins with a family tree, and that was definitely a sign of things to come. The narration alternates between ten characters—mostly women—whose connections aren't immediately clear. As the book unfolds, Vermette reveals gradually the subtle thre

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Pub Day Shout-Outs for November 17, 2020, featuring Obama, Kuang, and Yoon

Nov 17, 2020
5 min

Pub Day Shout-Outs for November 17, 2020, featuring Obama, Kuang, and Yoon

by Jen Moyers (@jen.loves.books) Here are three books coming out today that I'm excited to read! Barack Obama's A Promised Land Description from Publisher: "In the stirring, highly anticipated first volume of his presidential memoirs, Barack Obama tells the story of his improbable odyssey from young man searching for his identity to leader of the free world, describing in strikingly personal detail both his political education and the landmark moments of the first term of his

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John Green's TURTLES ALL THE WAY DOWN: A Study of Character

Nov 13, 2020
3 min

John Green's TURTLES ALL THE WAY DOWN: A Study of Character

by Sara Voigt (@meaningfulmadness) Friends, first of all, I must say, I love John Green. I love some of his books more than others, but what I like about his writing is that he doesn't rush his characters. He develops them, and the story follows. Often his books aren't super plot driven, but instead are a study of how characters, many with quirks and oddities, relate to people, themselves, and their environment. Green's most well-known work is probably The Fault In Our Stars,

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Featured Books for November 2020

Nov 1, 2020
3 min

Featured Books for November 2020

November Double Feature In November, Ibi Zoboi and Yusef Salaam's Punching the Air will be both our Book Club pick AND our Buddy Read choice. You can join us for our leisurely Facebook discussion at the end of the month or for two, more fast-paced Instagram chats . . . or both! Want to look ahead? Scroll down to see our December picks! Here's the synopsis from the publisher: "The story that I thought was my life didn’t start on the day I was born "Amal Shahid has always been

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Nic Stone's DEAR JUSTYCE - A Worthy Companion to the Brilliant DEAR MARTIN

Oct 9, 2020
2 min

Nic Stone's DEAR JUSTYCE - A Worthy Companion to the Brilliant DEAR MARTIN

by Jen Moyers (@jen.loves.books) I've shared my love for Nic Stone's Dear Martin all over the internet—I think it is such a powerful foundation for conversations with teenagers about police violence, racism, and justice. I'm sure it will be no surprise, then, that I was INCREDIBLY excited to see Nic Stone's announcement of a sequel, Dear Justyce. (No worries! This will be a spoiler-free review of book two.) Dear Martin's protagonist is Justyce McCallister, a Black teenager w

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The Super Rooster Is Coming--Join in the Fun!

Oct 5, 2020
3 min

The Super Rooster Is Coming--Join in the Fun!

by Jen Moyers (@jen.loves.books) I have made no secret of my love for all things Tournament of Books related. Every year for 16 years, The Morning News holds a tournament in March to advance one of 16 books to a Rooster win. Somewhere in there, they added Camp ToB, a smaller competition, in which one winner is chosen . . . that winner advances to the Tournament of Books challenge for the following March. The Tournament runners are taking advantage of the 16th anniversary to p

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Featured Books for October 2020

Oct 3, 2020
4 min

Featured Books for October 2020

October Books In October we're excited to share an amazing novel, Tommy Orange's There There, our Book Club pick, and Brandy Colbert's YA novel The Voting Booth, our Buddy Read choice. Check out our Book Club discussion on episode 146—it releases on Wednesday, October 7—and let us know if you'd like to join our new Book Club Group on Facebook or our Buddy Read chat on Instagram discussing The Voting Booth! You can DM us @unabridgedpod. Here are synopses from the publishers fo

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Christina Lauren's IN A HOLIDAZE - A Fun Holiday Romp

Oct 2, 2020
2 min

Christina Lauren's IN A HOLIDAZE - A Fun Holiday Romp

by Sara Voigt (@meaningfulmadness) Things have been tough lately, so I was in the mood for a festive holiday read. In October. Yep. October. So, I requested Christina Lauren’s In a Holidaze, which releases October 6th. Thanks to NetGalley #partner for my free e-galley of this book. You all know what a slow reader I am, and I flew through this book. Talk about the right book at the right time. This Groundhog Day-esque (Yes, I made up that word.) tale about Maelyn (Mae) Jones,

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V. E. Schwab's THE INVISIBLE LIFE OF ADDIE LARUE - An Impossible Choice

Sep 18, 2020
3 min

V. E. Schwab's THE INVISIBLE LIFE OF ADDIE LARUE - An Impossible Choice

by Jen Moyers (@jen.loves.books) Thanks to Partner NetGalley for the digital ARC of V. E. Schwab’s The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue in exchange for an honest review. The book will be published on Tuesday, October 6, 2020. The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue is the first book I’ve read by V. E. Schwab . . . I’ll definitely be reading more. What a brilliant, compelling, gorgeous novel. Adeline LaRue, born in France in 1691, is happy in her quiet life with her parents. Her dotin

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143: Reading Romance - Interview with Farrah Rochon, author of THE BOYFRIEND PROJECT

Sep 16, 2020
7 min

143: Reading Romance - Interview with Farrah Rochon, author of THE BOYFRIEND PROJECT

We are thrilled to share our interview with Farrah Rochon, the USA Today Bestselling author of more than 35 novels, including her latest release, The Boyfriend Project. The two-time RITA Award finalist is a native of South Louisiana. When she is not writing in her favorite coffee shop, Farrah spends most of her time reading, cooking, traveling the world, visiting Walt Disney World, and catching her favorite Broadway shows. Bookish Check-in Ashley - Marie Lu's Wildcard Farrah

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Beth O'Leary's THE SWITCH - A Must Read on Audio

Sep 11, 2020
2 min

Beth O'Leary's THE SWITCH - A Must Read on Audio

by Sara Voigt (@meaningfulmadness) Wow. I can't describe to you how much I enjoyed Beth O'Leary's The Switch. It was the perfect book for me at the most perfect time. If you can--listen to this (more on this later). I listened to this book through libro.fm's ALC program. (Quick sidebar: We love libro.fm, because they give back to independent bookstores. We love that! We are also in the process of getting a promo code so our listeners can try out libro.fm! Stay tuned!) This bo

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Pub Day Shout-Outs! August 18, 2020, featuring Kisner, Hamby, and Dunn

Aug 18, 2020
4 min

Pub Day Shout-Outs! August 18, 2020, featuring Kisner, Hamby, and Dunn

by Sara Voigt (@meaningfulmadness) Here are three books coming out today that I am excited to read! Adrienne Kisner's Six Angry Girls Description from Publisher: "Raina Petree is crushing her senior year, until her boyfriend dumps her, the drama club (basically) dumps her, the college of her dreams slips away, and her arch-nemesis triumphs. "Things aren’t much better for Millie Goodwin. Her father treats her like a servant, and the all-boy Mock Trial team votes her out, even

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Pub Day Shout-Outs! July 28, 2020 featuring Burnham, Alterman, and Otis

Jul 28, 2020
4 min

Pub Day Shout-Outs! July 28, 2020 featuring Burnham, Alterman, and Otis

by Sara Voigt (@meaningfulmadness) Here are three books coming out today that I am excited to read! Gabriella Burnham's It Is Wood, It Is Stone Description from Publisher: "Two women are drawn into a seductive web of privilege, displacement, sexuality, and other mysteries of the heart in this magnetic debut by a young Brazilian American author to watch. "With sharp, gorgeous prose, It Is Wood, It Is Stone takes place over the course of a year in São Paulo, Brazil, in which tw

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Some of Jen's Favorite Reads of 2020 (so far)

Jul 13, 2020
8 min

Some of Jen's Favorite Reads of 2020 (so far)

by Jen Moyers (@jen.loves.books) I love my friends, I love my friends, I love my friends. But when we were chatting and decided to do these mid-year, five-favorites-so-far posts, I knew I would be sending a little resentment their way. Only FIVE picks!?! Really? I can't choose just FIVE favorites! I want to include all the things. So, here's my methodology. I looked back at my monthly wrap-up posts in IG, and I ONLY allowed myself to jot down the titles of my five-star reads.

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Katherine Center's WHAT YOU WISH FOR - The Pursuit of Joy

Jul 10, 2020
3 min

Katherine Center's WHAT YOU WISH FOR - The Pursuit of Joy

by Jen Moyers (@jen.loves.books) Thanks to Partner NetGalley for the digital ARC of Katherine Center's What You Wish Forin exchange for an honest review. The book will be published on Tuesday, July 14. Katherine Center’s What You Wish For is devoted to the pursuit of joy. That doesn’t mean it’s always a joyful novel--in fact, it opens with a tragedy that broke my heart. What it does mean is that Center is exploring, on every page, what we can do when it’s tough to be joyful,

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