Hyped, Overhyped & Criminally Underrated: The Books We Need to Talk About — The Spicy Librarian Podcast

Dark romance and romantasy podcast The Spicy Librarian is settling the score this week — which books deserve every bit of their hype, which ones we think the community has got wrong, and the criminally underrated reads that need to be on your TBR immediately. Dee and Katie are not holding back.

The romance community loves hype. We love hype. But this week on The Spicy Librarian Podcast we are asking the hard questions — does the hype hold up, and which books are being slept on while the algorithm screams about the same ten titles on repeat?

Across dark romance, romantasy, contemporary and cosy romance, we are sorting our shelves into three categories — appropriately hyped, overhyped, and criminally underrated. We have a lot of feelings about all of it. From your classic, Haunting Adeline by H.D. Carlton and the LORDS series to hidden gems like the Blackwood Institute by J Rose, the Lovesick Duet by Effie Campbell, and 24690 by A.A. Dark. This is the episode that is going to completely reorganise your TBR.

We're covering it all this week and hopefully shining a light on some hidden gems and giving credit to the ones we love for good reason. Whether you’re a dark, fantasy or contemporary girl, we guarantee you'll want to read at least one of these.

If you disagree with any of our verdicts, and you will, get in the comments. We are ready.

Timestamps-

03:09 — Dark Romance: Hyped, Overhyped & Criminally Underrated24:46 — Romantasy: Hyped, Overhyped & Criminally Underrated48:33 — Contemporary: Hyped, Overhyped & Criminally Underrated59:06 — Fluffy Reads: Hyped, Overhyped & Criminally Underrated

Books for this next week-

Dark Romance:Edge of Darkness Trilogy — Leigh Rivers (dark romance, enemies to lovers)Little Stranger — Leigh Rivers (dark romance, taboo)The L.O.R.D.S Series — Chantelle Tessier (dark romance, mafia)Into Darkness Series — Navessa Allen (dark romance)Hollow Boys — Monty Jay (dark romance)Haunting Adeline & Hunting Adeline — H.D. Carlton (dark romance, stalker romance)The Painted Sinners Series — Elena Lawson (dark romance, indie)North Shore Series — Lola King (dark romance, indie)Lovesick Duet — Effie Campbell (dark romance, contemporary)Blackwood Institute — J. Rose (dark romance, why choose)Collected Works — C.J. Riggs (erotic horror, dark romance)24690 — A.A. Dark (dark romance, taboo)

Romantasy:Dire Bound & Fury Bound — Sable Sorenson (romantasy, fae romance)One Dark Window & Two Twisted Crowns — Rachel Gillig (romantasy, dark fantasy)W