To talk about ACOTAR, Jessica is joined this week by special guest Alyssa Morris, whose popular Romancing the Phone newsletter demystifies into BookTok trends and digs into the publishing industry. Alyssa and Jessica talk about the phenomenon of A Court of Thorn and Roses (banned statewide in Utah schools), what's really happening with romance and romantasy, and why these genres deserve such respect. Don't worry, we also cover fairy smut!

Join the conversation on Substack! If you'd prefer to be a Patreon subscriber, you can join now for just $3 a month. Thank you for your support! The success of this podcast depends on you!

"The Beautiful and Banned" is produced by Jessica Goudeau and Christine Renee Miller. Follow us on social media: @beautifulandbannedpod, @christinereneemiller, and @jessica_goudeau.

If you have questions for us, visit the "Contact Us" page on our website. If you liked our show, please rate and subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or anywhere you listen to podcasts. The best way to support our podcast is to share it with your friends!

Our co-producer, Rob Heath, wrote and performed our theme music. Kalin Siegwald designed our logo. Jillian Benedict is our amazing podcast assistant. This is A Sisters By Different Misters Production.

Join us in two weeks as Christine and Jessica discuss Notes of a Native Son by James Baldwin!

Episode 6 links:

• Alyssa's newsletter, Romancing the Phone
• Alyssa's website
• About ACOTAR from Alpha Reader, AP News, and Utah State Board of Education

Alyssa's Recs:

Romance:

• We Could Be So Good and You Should Be So Lucky by Cat Sebastian
• Beach Read and Book Lovers by Emily Henry
• Pretty Face by Lucy Parker
• Psy Changeling series by Nalini Singh
• You Made A Fool of Death with Your Beauty by Akwaeke Emezi
• A Love Song for Ricki Wilde by Tia Williams
• What I Did for a Duke by Julie Anne Long

YA:

• Anna and the French Kiss, Lola and the Boy Next Door, and Isla and the Happily Ever After by Stephanie Perkins, plus her upcoming adult romance debut Overdue (October)
• The Wallflower series by Lisa Kleypas

Romantasy:

• An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Taahir,
• The Star Touched Queen by Roshani Chokshi,
• Radiance by Grace Draven

Jessica's Romance/Romantasy Recs:

Anything by:

• Naina Kumar
• Ali Hazelsood
• Nisha Sharma
• Ehi

We'd love to hear from you! Send us a text to suggest books, plays, films, or guests, or just share your thoughts!

Read, Review, and Recommend! These are the suggestions by today's guest, children's book author, Rob Sanders, about how to support writers of challenged and banned books. Join us for this delightful conversation about the cutest book we will ever feature on this show, Book Comes Home: A Banned Book Journey--Rob's most recent book that had us reminiscing about our own dearly beloved childhood favorites--as well as Pride: The Story of Harvey Milk and the Rainbow Flag, which remains one of the most banned children's book in the US. Make sure to check out Rob's recommendations for organizations he loves below!

Join the conversation on Substack! If you'd prefer to be a Patreon subscriber, you can join now for just $3 a month. Thank you for your support! The success of this podcast depends on you!

"The Beautiful and Banned" is produced by Jessica Goudeau and Christine Renee Miller. Follow us on social media: @beautifulandbannedpod, @christinereneemiller, and @jessica_goudeau.

If you have questions for us, visit the "Contact Us" page on our website. If you liked our show, please rate and subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or anywhere you listen to podcasts. The best way to support our podcast is to share it with your friends!

Our co-producer, Rob Heath, wrote and performed our theme music. Kalin Siegwald designed our logo. Jillian Benedict is our amazing podcast assistant. This is A Sisters By Different Misters Production.

Join us in two weeks as Jessica discusses A Court of Thorn and Roses with special guest, Alyssa Morris (May 6)!

Episode 5 links:

• Rob Sanders's website
• Book Comes Home
• Pride: The Story of Harvey Milk and the Rainbow Flag
• Pride and Less Prejudice, which provides LGBTQ-inclusive books to Pre-K through 3rd grade classrooms to help students and teachers “Read out loud, read out proud!”
• Florida Freedom to Read Project: defending every student’s right to access information and ideas while at school.

We'd love to hear from you! Send us a text to suggest books, plays, films, or guests, or just share your thoughts!

Is this the funniest episode about The Satanic Verses ever recorded? We like to think so! Join us as Christine and Jessica finish their discussion on this controversial book. Jessica loved it, Christine not so much, but they both found it deeply relevant to our current day.

Join the conversation on Substack! If you'd prefer to be a Patreon subscriber, you can join now for just $3 a month. Thank you for your support! The success of this podcast depends on you!

"The Beautiful and Banned" is produced by Jessica Goudeau and Christine Renee Miller. Follow us on social media: @beautifulandbannedpod, @christinereneemiller, and @jessica_goudeau.

If you have questions for us, visit the "Contact Us" page on our website. If you liked our show, please rate and subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or anywhere you listen to podcasts. The best way to support our podcast is to share it with your friends!

Our co-producer, Rob Heath, wrote and performed our theme music. Kalin Siegwald designed our logo. Jillian Benedict is our amazing podcast assistant. This is A Sisters By Different Misters Production.

Episode 4 Links:

• "The Satanic Verses," Brittanica
• "A tsunami of outrage: Salman Rushdie and The Satanic Verses," The Guardian, August 2022
• "What is a fatwa and why did Iran issue one against Salman Rushdie for The Satanic Verses in 1989?" The Independent, April 2024
• "New Jersey man is convicted of attempted murder in the stabbing of Salman Rushdie," Associated Press, February 2025
• “The Salman Rushdie Affair: Apostasy, Honor, and Freedom of Speech," M.M. Slaughter,Virginia Law Review, vol. 79, no. 1, 1993, pp. 153–204. JSTOR.

We'd love to hear from you! Send us a text to suggest books, plays, films, or guests, or just share your thoughts!