This episode is brought to you this week by Boll & Branch. Hello, Theresa! Thank you for joining us! I also want to say hello to Theresa, who joined the Patreon this week. And if you join our Patreon at /SmartBitches, you get bonus episodes, a very lovely Discord, and you get lots and lots of bad jokes in the joke channel! It’s like a sneak preview of terrible humor. You’re helping me make sure that each episode has a transcript – hi, garlicknitter! – – and you keep the show going every week. If you have supported the show with a monthly pledge of any amount, thank you, thank you. To Rebecca T: You may not have thought that the effort you made was noticed or appreciated, but there are currently seven different people who are now convinced that you have made the world much, much better. I have a compliment this week! This makes me so happy. We talk about a lot of books in this episode, and you know they will be in the show notes at /podcast.

There are a few audio skips, or what I think of as sound bubbles? Like, there’s just a little bubble in the audio, and my apologies for that. I also connected with Sam Brody, who’s the acquiring editor at Hachette, who worked on the book with Helena, and so we talk about the behind-the-scenes details of writing and editing, why Sam acquired this book, what it meant to her, and what the experience was like bringing this book into market. Back in December, I connected with author Helena Greer, who wrote Season of Love, which you might have heard me talk about. I mean, I try to do that every week, but I’m very excited about this episode. I’m Sarah Wendell, and this week I have an interesting conversation for you. Sarah Wendell: Hello and welcome to episode number 551 of Smart Podcast, Trashy Books.

Season of love by helena greer