In this episode of Fireside Lit Book Club, we slow down with Ann Napolitano’s Hello Beautiful to examine the fine line between devotion and enmeshment. Through the story of the Padavano sisters, we explore how love can become control, how self-sacrifice can disguise itself as care, and how breaking away from family bonds can feel like both freedom and loss.

Join us by the fire as we unpack the beauty and the ache of this novel — the way it asks us to look honestly at our own families, the roles we play, and the boundaries we fear setting.

There’s something about autumn that invites us to slow down, pour a warm drink, and slip into a good book. In this special seasonal episode of Fireside Lit Book Club, I’m sharing ten books that capture the spirit of fall — stories full of atmosphere, reflection, and depth.

Whether you’re looking for gothic classics, heartwarming tales, or thought-provoking reads to pair with crisp evenings and candlelight, you’ll find inspiration here for your autumn reading list.

✨ Curl up, listen in, and let’s celebrate the season together. 🍂

Join us as we step into George Saunders’ Booker Prize-winning novel, Lincoln in the Bardo—a work that blends history, grief, and the supernatural into an unforgettable meditation on love, loss, and what lingers after death. Together, we explore how Saunders captures Abraham Lincoln’s private mourning, the chorus of ghostly voices that shape the novel’s unique form, and the larger questions it raises about mortality, compassion, and the human longing for connection beyond the grave.

Pull up a chair by the fire as we reflect on how Lincoln in the Bardo illuminates both the intimacy of personal sorrow and the universality of what comes after.