Hot Girls Read Podcast

Ayesha

It’s been some time since I’ve provided a bookish update and it’s certainly a goal of mine for 2026 to be better about being consistent. So strap in for a variety of tidbits I have to share.

I’ve finished two books so far, both of which I highly recommend! The first read was Female Fantasy by Iman Hariri-Kia, a copy that I actually asked Julia to bring back from the US because the cover is just stunning. This is my second read by Iman and she does such a great job at combining camp with romance and humour. Female Fantasy is essentially a love story written about love stories, so if you’re a romance girlie, this one’s for you! I followed up with Assassin’s Apprentice by Robin Hobb and boy do I need to read the rest of the trilogy! While it took me some time to get into the read, this is a traditional fantasy read and has you desperate to follow the MC along on his journey. If you’re someone who loved reading fantasies as a kid, I think this is one you should add to the TBR.

Following a few TikToks I’d seen last month combined with colleagues wanting to read this, I’ve jumped onto the Lonesome Dove bandwagon. Stay tuned for more!

I’m trying to set myself a few goals for each month to include bookish related ones. For January, I’m focused on reading books I already own and essentially not buying anything. Pretty simple in the grand scheme of things but when you’re keen to read the sequel that you don’t own…well, it can be tempting. So far, I’m doing pretty well with not pulling my wallet out and if anything, I’d like to see how long I can go. Consider this my version of Dry January.

Julia

Starting off the new year I haven’t been reading as much as I want to, but I am still just as excited to talk about books as ever! With that in mind, I actually wanted to share one of my most surprising favourite reads of the end of 2025, which was the graphic novel series Cursed Princess Club by LambCat. Now, I’m not really a huge graphic novel reader, but I stumbled upon a book review while scrolling on Instagram and I found it so intriguing that I headed to Barnes and Nobles right away to pick up a copy! As it turns out, they only had the 2nd book in the series, so that’s where I started (I don’t recommend doing this, but honestly I feel like I caught up on the story pretty quickly).

The premise of the series is that Princess Gwendolyn of the Pastel Kingdom is a little different than her siblings (who are also such funny side characters). In an unfortunate turn of events, she begins to worry that she might not be as beautiful as her loving family has always had her believe. Around the same time, she stumbles upon the Cursed Princess Club (CPC), a group of misfit princesses that welcome her into their midst. 

I ate up books 2 and 3 like candy, couldn’t find 4 in store, and regret not getting 5 while I had the chance. Throughout the series, the story itself is heartwarming, doesn’t take itself too seriously, but is also super relatable. There are so many wonderful characters to root for and their side plots are equally interesting and well developed, making for such a rich fantasy world. Most of all though, the books are so funny. Like super tongue in cheek. From the introduction of the ‘princels’ (a play on incels, but they are princes) to the fabulous Laverne (a celebrity sheep who lives with the Plaid princes), the CPC is perfectly ridiculous. 

I’m not sure I’ll be able to find the series in France, but I can’t wait to get my hands on the rest of the books. Definitely give these a try if you are in a book slump cause the CPC will cure it!