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This week Katy and Rosie are joined by the wonderful Anna Caig to chat about her debut novel The Wise Witch of Orkney — and it is an absolute gem. Set in 1593 Scotland, King James VI is launching a bloody witch hunt across the country — but the women he fears most are already inside his court. Elspet Balfour is a spae-wife — a wise woman and healer from the Orkney isles — disguised as a lady-in-waiting and trapped between serving a queen who needs her and a king who would see her dead. Throw in Kitty Muirhead, outcast and desperate, and three women must concoct a reckless plan to save each other before the worst can happen. It’s gripping, atmospheric, fiercely feminist, and we had a brilliant chat with Anna about bringing these hidden voices of women to life.

Plus Rosie’s Bit on the Side this week features a golf club that becomes a man and has a very eventful time indeed. Katy had feelings about this one. Several feelings.

☕ Grab your cuppa. From 16th century Scotland to the fairway — we contain multitudes.

⚠️ Trigger warnings: witch trial themes, persecution, historical violence

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Niles' Historical Footnotes

Edited by: Kelly Jones Fantasy Author

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This week Katy and Rosie tackle the question everyone has secretly thought about — which book character would you actually want to be stuck in a lift with? The debate gets chaotic, the choices get suspicious, and nobody picks someone sensible.

Then we deep dive into the BookTok phenomenon that started it all — Ice Planet Barbarians by Ruby Dixon. Georgie is an ordinary woman abducted by aliens and abandoned on a remote ice planet with a group of other human women and absolutely no survival plan.  The only native inhabitant she finds is big, blue, horned, and absolutely convinced she is his mate — and the purring coming from his chest is apparently her fault.  It’s alien romance, it’s survival chaos, it’s somehow both completely unhinged and genuinely hard to put down. We got into it. All of it.

☕ Grab your cuppa and maybe a blanket. It’s cold out there on that ice planet.

⚠️ Trigger warnings: abduction themes, adult content.

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Niles' Historical Footnotes

Edited by: Kelly Jones Fantasy Author

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This week Katy and Rosie are joined by the lovely JJ Cross — romance author, caffeine enthusiast, and proud owner of more notebooks than is strictly reasonable — to chat about her debut novel Built on Love, book one of the Peterson Brothers series. It’s a friends-to-lovers romantic suspense with found family vibes, a book boyfriend thoroughly wrapped in green flags, and enough twists to keep you questioning everyone and everything.  Emmy discovers her boyfriend cheating  and what unfolds from there is warm, spicy, and genuinely gripping. We had a brilliant chat with JJ about bringing it all to life.

Plus Rosie’s Bit on the Side this week takes a hard left turn into a story about a man who lost his nose in a childhood game of Got Your Nose — and what happens when it turns up at his door years later with arms, legs, and absolutely no sense of personal boundaries. Katy’s reaction was everything.

☕ Grab your cuppa. We promise this all makes sense in context. (It doesn’t.)

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Niles' Historical Footnotes

Edited by: Kelly Jones Fantasy Author

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This week, Katy and Rosie are trying something a little different… and potentially a little dangerous for the internet. Rosie has been reading Powerless by Lauren Roberts by, while Katy has been reading The Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard.

And we’re asking the question BookTok has been arguing about for months…

Is one a rip-off of the other?

Or are they simply two completely different stories written by two different authors that happen to share a handful of familiar fantasy tropes and themes?

We’re diving into the characters, the worlds, the powers, the romance, the writing styles, and whether the online controversy is actually fair… or just another case of the internet doing what the internet does best.

As always, this episode will contain spoilers for both books, strong opinions, and occasional bad language — so consider this your official warning now.

Grab a blanket, grab a coffee, get cosy… and let’s get into it.

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Niles' Historical Footnotes

Edited by: Kelly Jones Fantasy Author

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This week Katy and Rosie are joined by the wonderful Ali Fischer — Finance Manager by day, hopeless romantic by night — to chat about Jess’s Story, the final book in her spicy Book Club series. Jess has spent her whole life being told to look pretty, marry well, and produce an heir — until her dad tries to use her as a bargaining chip in a business deal. That is, until a trip to Vegas, Julian Hadley, and only one bed offers her a very different kind of solution. It’s primal, it’s spicy, it’s got a lot of feelings — we had a brilliant chat with Ali about bringing Jess’s story to life.
Plus Rosie’s Bit on the Side this week features a certain high-profile politician (names have been changed to protect the guilty) and a sofa that gets perhaps more attention than it deserves. Katy’s reaction was a journey.
☕ Grab your cuppa. This one’s got range.
⚠️ Trigger warnings: arranged marriage themes, primal play, adult content throughout.

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Niles' Historical Footnotes

Edited by: Kelly Jones Fantasy Author

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This week Katy and Rosie dive into The Poison Daughter by Sheila Masterson — the USA Today bestselling dark romantasy that BookTok has been absolutely feral about. Meet Harlow Carrenwell: poison-lipped vigilante, reluctant assassin, and woman who has killed every man she’s ever kissed — until she meets the one man who survives. When her new betrothed Henry Havenwood turns out to be immune to her magic and inconveniently aware of her double life, things get complicated — fast. Arranged marriage, enemies-to-lovers, a dash of vampires, and a heroine with genuinely lethal personal boundaries. We had opinions.
We also tackle this week’s big question: which book character do you love but would be absolutely terrible in real life? The answers were very telling. No further questions.
☕ Grab your cuppa — and maybe don’t kiss anyone you’ve just met.
⚠️ Trigger warnings: violence, themes of abuse, dark content.

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Niles' Historical Footnotes

Edited by: Kelly Jones Fantasy Author

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This week we are joined by the wonderful Zoe Caryl, to talk about her first novel Julia Sleeps — a female-driven historical fiction set in 1930s Glasgow following Evie Jameson, a tenement girl with a voice that stops rooms, who is determined to turn her passion for singing into a career.

Plus Rosie’s Bit on the Side this week features a piece of pasta that becomes a man and has a very lovely time indeed. Katy had thoughts. Many thoughts.

Grab your cuppa. ☕ It’s a good one.

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Niles' Historical Footnotes

Edited by: Kelly Jones Fantasy Author

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This week Katy and Rosie tackle the big questions — specifically, which fictional character would you actually want looking after you when you’re ill? The debate gets heated, the choices get questionable, and nobody is picking sensibly.
Then we dive into Haunting Adeline by H.D. Carlton — the BookTok sensation that broke the internet (and briefly got banned from Amazon). It’s a dark romance following Adeline, a young author who inherits her late grandmother’s gothic manor, only to discover her great-grandmother was murdered there — and that history might be repeating itself, courtesy of a very persistent stalker named Zade who is objectively unhinged and yet somehow has an entire fanbase. We get into it. All of it.
⚠️ Trigger warnings for this episode: stalking, non-consensual content, violence, and human trafficking themes.
Grab your cuppa. ☕ This one’s a lot.

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Niles' Historical Footnotes

Edited by: Kelly Jones Fantasy Author