Booked & Busy

An Interview with Catherine Chidgey (The Book of Guilt)

05 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Writing dystopian fiction in the current political climate of the world feels more like a mirror than ever before. Catherine and I dive into The Book ...

An Interview with Chloe Michelle Howarth (Heap Earth Upon It)

21 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Chloe is back again with another sapphic yearning

An interview with Caragh maxwell - author of Sugartown

14 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

A conversation exploring the uncertainties of twenties and why irish fiction is on the rise!

✿ An interview with Betsy Lerner (Shred Sisters) ✿

03 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Shred Sisters is perfect for fans of Coco Mellors and Hanya Yanagihara... And, Betsy is 65 and has written her first ever fiction novel - I just love ...

✿ An interview with Allison Rushby (Slashed Beauties) ✿

26 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Autumn is here, and so are exceptional gothic reads... just like the feminominom that is Slashed Beauties!

✿ An interview with John Patrick McHugh (Fun and Games) ✿

18 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

An incredible portrayal of young masculinity and the vulnerability / strength of finding yourself... ADORED

✿An interview with Emily Buchanan (Send Flowers)✿

27 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Wanna know what it would be like if your fella reincarnated as your house plant?? Wonder no more!! Emily Buchanan has written a book all about it!

✿ An interview with Jo Morey (The Night Lagoon) ✿

20 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

A literary suspense novel set in Belize and grapples with connection, truth, and a whole mess of complex traumas that begin to unravel! An outstanding...

✿ An interview with Kylie Lee Baker (Bat Eater) ✿

30 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

A fantastic horror book filled with social commentary, trauma, and folklore ghosts!

✿ An interview with Grace Flahive (Palm Meridian) ✿

16 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Lesbian retirement home? Yes please!As Hannah throws her end-of-life party, will the love of her life arrive? Even after 40 years?I had the JOY of cha...

✿ An interview with Meredith Hambrock (She's A Lamb) ✿

25 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Imagine if Black Swan and A Simple Favour had a book baby, where it's all about theatre, and an understudy's determination to be the lead in the Sound...

✿ What I've read so far in 2025 (Jan-March) ✿

11 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Guysss, it's just me and you this week (and for the next couple). So, let's catch up on everything I have read so far this year. From new rele...

✿ An interview with Lucy Rose (The Lamb) ✿

04 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

A bi, cottage core, and cannibal novel? Err course why not?! Me and Lucy had a proper giggle talking all about her debut novel The Lamb

✿ An interview with Dylin Hardcastle (A Language of Limbs) ✿

28 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Dylin discussed their latest novel, which is fuelled with queer joy and chosen family - all conveyed in lyrical prose. What's not to love?

✿ An interview with Sarah Rose Etter (The Book of X) ✿

21 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

A girl is the 3rd gen to have a knot in her stomach... Join us to talk with surrealist author Sarah about her wonderful novel.

✿ An interview with Madeline Docherty (Gender Theory) ✿

18 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Set in Scotland, we discuss this fabulous coming-of-age novel that is written is 2nd person and covers a wide range of themes such as; sexuality, wome...

✿ An interview with Holly Brickley (Deep Cuts) ✿

07 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This book is a raw, beautifully crafted, and emotionally charged story about music, memory, and the scars that shape us—just like our conversation!W...

✿ An interview with Hannah Beer (I Make My Own Fun) ✿

28 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Camp, sapphic, twister comedy-thriller? I Make My Own Fun is a fun and twisted, genre-melting, novel and I am delighted to chat with my fellow Northen...

✿ An interview with Selali Fiamanya (Before We Hit the Ground) ✿

21 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This book is a gripping, thought-provoking, and deeply moving exploration of identity, survival, and the choices that shape us—just like our convers...

✿ An interview with Emma Van Straaten (This Immaculate Body) ✿

26 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

A twisted new edition into the world of weird-girl lit! If you lived Baby Reindeer, then you’d love to be inside Alice’s head as she falls in love...

✿ An interview with Seth Insua (Human, Animal) ✿

06 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

A book that beautifully ties together family dynamics, intergenerational trauma and cancel culture? SIGN ME UP

✿ An Interview with James Roseman (Placeholders) ✿

26 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

James' debut novel explores family dynamics, and the importance of geography vs what we call 'home'. If you like Sally Rooney this is righ...

✿ Bookfluencer Interview - With @readsby.emma ✿

06 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Emma has over 14k followers who love to know what she's reading... She reveals to us her fave books and those that she thinks are a little overhyp...

✿ Bookfluencer Interview - With @PandemicPages ✿

23 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

I chat with the fabulous Lucyl from @pandemicpages all about her favourite novels and pandemic literature!

✿ An interview with Rachel Dawson (Neon Roses) ✿

16 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

A queer coming of age story set in 1980s Wales??? YES PLS

✿ An Interview with Tiffany Clarke Harrison (Blue Hour) ✿

09 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

TW: Miscarriage, Police Brutality, Grief Dive into our discussion with the wonderfully creative and talented author Tiffany Clarke Harrison about her...

✿ Bookfluencer Interview - With @Readsbyross✿

01 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Are you like me and obsessed with the glorious pages of popular Bookstagrammers and BookTokkers? Well, let me introduce a new segment to the podcast ...

✿An Interview with Ania Card (Above Us The Sea) ✿

28 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode of Booked and Busy, we sit down with debut author Ania Card to dive into her novel Above Us The Sea. 🌊 Get ready to explore a grip...

✿ An Interview with Nour Abi-Nakhoul (Supplication) ✿

21 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

A dark and seedy read of Supplication and the sweetest author to interview! Listen for how that story came out of her head!

✿ An Interview with Ramie Targoff (Shakespeare’s Sisters) ✿

03 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Let’s make noise for Targoff for showcasing the sensational female writers of the Renaissance 🪩

✿ An Interview with Charlotte Wood (Stone Yard Devotional) ✿

26 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Charlotte Wood is a fabulous Australian author of both non-fiction and fiction works. SYD is her most vulnerable and intimate project yet. Wood manage...

✿ An Interview with Phoebe Stuckes (Dead Animals) ✿

12 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Queer, horror, thriller - OH MY! Stuckes has absolutely smashed her debut and we’ve chatted to her all about how she went from working in a bookstor...

✿ X - Review ✿

22 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

A book that explores a dystopian world and the Brooklyn sadist and queer scene that exists within it🪩

✿ An Interview with Susie Luo (Paper Names) ✿

15 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Looking for a captivating read that'll keep you hooked from start to finish? Look no further than "Paper Names" by Susie Luo! This propulsive and swee...

✿ The Secret History - Review ✿

01 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Is Donna Tartts The Secret History worthy of the hype?

✿ An interview with Bobby Palmer (Isaac and the Egg) ✿

23 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The man, the myth, the legend that is Bobby Palmer is here to chat with us all about Isaac and the Egg and his new book Small Hours which will be rele...

✿ An interview with Joelle Taylor (The Night Alphabet) ✿

16 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Dive into Joelle Taylor’s ‘The Night Alphabet’… A poetic journey celebrating resilience ❤️‍🔥 Tune in to my interview with her for a c...

✿ An interview with Elyse John (Orphia and Eurydicius ✿

09 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

A queer gender swapping retelling of the Greek myth Orpheus and Eurydice… listen to the author discuss the writing process and how her experience wi...

✿ Oxblood - Review ✿

02 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

A fabulous working-class author tells the tale of three generations of Dodds women who are left to fend for themselves after the gruesome death of the...

✿An interview with Pip Finkemeyer (Sad Girl Novel)✿

26 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

A woman in her late twenties struggles with finishing her novel and her obsession with a Literary Agent... it may be called Sad Girl Novel but it did ...

✿ An interview with Emily Howes (The Painter's Daughters) ✿

19 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Historical fiction fanatic writes her dream book... err yes please!!

✿ The Shards - Review ✿

12 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

I’m really scared I’ll never read a book that is as good as this… ever again!!

✿ How To Lose A Time War - Review ✿

05 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Sapphic love story - Yes! Complicated sci-if… not too sure 🧐

✿ Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes - Book vs Film ✿

08 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

I’m sure you’ve seen the trailer and heard the songs from the Ballad of Songbird And Snakes… but what’s better the book or the film? 👀 🐍...

✿ An interview with Chloe Michelle Howarth (Sunburn) ✿

03 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Our first guest author… Chloe Michelle Howarth!! Did you spend your summer swooning over Lucy and Susannah’s relationship? Or fall in love with Ho...

✿ Red Queen - Review ✿

27 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Booked & Busy Book Club Pick!! Happy 6 month anniversary to the Book Club! This book blew our socks off and had us on the edge of our little seats🥵...

✿ Sunburn - Review ✿

12 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Crying, Shitting, Screaming - this book is the best book I have ever read in my life😭

✿ Crying in H Mart - Review ✿

29 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

This month Booked & Busy Book Club pick was a raw, beautiful, and brought a tear to our eye 🥹

✿ The First To Die At The End - Review ✿

22 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Gay romance meets Black Mirror but in a cutesy YA way! Can’t picture it? Give my review a little listen and you soon will🪐

✿ My Top Recommendations ✿

01 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

A summary of books I’d give my right arm to read again - listen if you want top tier recs!!!

✿ My Best Friend’s Exorcism - Review ✿

18 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

If Mean Girls and The Exorcist had a baby, it would be this book💀🤪

✿ A Short History Of Queer Women - Review ✿

02 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Errr this non-fiction book made me feel validated and like an uneducated queer all at once! Listen to this review, you won’t regret it🤌🏼

✿ Cult Classic - Review ✿

26 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Double figures?!!! This week we take a look into the weird and wonderful book by Sloane Crosley

✿ The Lovely Bones - Review ✿

22 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Book Club Episode #1!!! Listen to my thoughts on the first ever B&B Book Club’s read of The Lovely Bones ✨

✿ Isaac And The Egg - Review ✿

12 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Our first guest feature… Gaby!! Please listen to this very honest, somewhat ✨chaotic✨ review ✿

✿ It Ends With Us & It Starts With Us - Review ✿

28 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

It’s a 2-4-1 this week!! I discuss both of Colleen Hoover’s books and whether any of them are worth the BookTok hype

✿ The Dangers of Smoking In Bed - Review ✿

21 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

This week I discuss the gothic, small and very bold, story collection by the wonderful Mariana Enriquez - give it a cheeky listen x ✿

✿ The Employees - Review ✿

14 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

This week is the rising star of translated fiction - Olga Ravn and her book ‘The Employees’. Have a listen to see what all the fuss is about ✿

✿ The Split - Review ✿

07 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Diving back into a past read of mine, Laura Kay’s The Split, listen to hear whether you should give this queer romance a read! ✿

✿ The End Of Alice - Review ✿

31 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

I opened up A.M Holmes’ The End of Alice and it blew my mind clear off! Listen to this episode to listen to me give my 20p on this disturbing novel…...

✿ Mona - Review ✿

24 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

✿ I opened up my copy of Mona by Pola Oloixarac and to see if it lived up to the dark vibes that it was giving off…✿

✿ Cleopatra and Frankenstein - Review ✿

17 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

My rambling review of Coco Mellor’s ‘Cleopatra and Frankenstein’ where I discuss whether I thought it was worth the hype…

Booked & Busy (Trailer)

17 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas