Bookmarked by Reese's book Club is presented by Apple Books.

Hi, I'm Danielle Robe and welcome to Bookmarked by Reese's book Club.

Today we're diving into one of the summer's hottest beach reads with Katie Sturino .

But here's the catch.

The big sweeping love story isn't with some dream guy.

It's the protagonist relationship with herself and her body.

Now, before we go any further, I just want to let you know that we're talking about bodies today and at one point in my own life, talking about bodies at all would have been hard for me.

So if you feel that way, just give yourself some grace and listen with care.

Sunny Side Up is a story about choosing yourself, and Katie Sereno has done just that.

After going through a relatively high profile divorce in her mid thirties, she started her own personal hygiene and skincare company, Megababe.

She wrote a book, launched a podcast, started publishing a substack newsletter.

Oh, and then she built a community on.

Instagram of over eight hundred thousand followers, where she lives out loud and unapologetically as a body neutrality advocate.

She talks about the stuff that.

So few people have the guts to talk about, thigh chafing, boob sweat that confidence.

Katie believes it's a skill, and that means you can learn it, and I can learn it, and we can practice.

It and grow it like a muscle.

And now Katie's branching into romance with her new novel, Sunny Side Up.

So here's the gist.

At thirty five, Sonny is divorced, single and wrestling with a lifetime of dealing with fat phobia, but a looming wedding invite gives her the push that she needs to start investing in herself.

Sonny is a classic romance gurly okay, think Bridget Jones, Carrie Bradshaw, Lovable, messy and so so relatable.

And she's a great reder that it's never too late to go after what you want.

A reminder that I definitely needed.

Maybe you do too.

So today you're in the right place we all are.

Let's turn the page with Katie Storino.

Hi, Katie, welcome to the club.

Oh hello, Well.

I think you are the most likable person of all time.

Some of it is your Midwestern accent as a Chicago girlie, I love to hear it.

What's the most Midwest thing about you?

Oh my god?

It's well, first of all, you have to know that I don't think that I have one.

I think after twenty plus years in New York, I'm like, I'm like, no, you guys, I don't sound like that anymore, but I do, because it's like literally doesn't leave you.

You do.

Yeah, thank you.

And I would say the most Midwest thing about me is like I'm fine to just chat or say hi to like my neighbor, you know, like I like, I'm not on the street in New York, but like I'll be like I'll have a conversation in my hallway, which is like not very New York.

It's funny you say that because I was home in Chicago this weekend and my mom and I took a walk and she said hello to absolutely everybody, and I looked at her and I was like, I don't know one of my neighbors in Los Angeles and you know everybody here.

Yeah, I mean, I don't know.

I don't know what that's about.

But like you Chicago people, you think you're different because you're from Chicago, And I know this, Yes, you do.

You look at Wisconsin because that's where I'm from, and You're like, well, they're like really from the Midwest, And I'm like, no, we're all in the same boat here, Okay, like long a, So.

I spent lots.

I spent probably over half my life in the state of Wisconsin.

So I feel like I am you and you are me.

Yeah, that's yeah.

But to Madison, went to Overnight Camp and Eagle River and Monocoa.

Okay, but I digress because this is about you.

Okay, that's exciting to hear.

Well, you said your superpower is talking about the messy parts of life, and I've never seen somebody so comfortable talking about the mess outside of Brene Brown.

Was there a moment that you stopped caring what people thought, or did you just come out of the womb, like let's talk about all the stuff that no one else wants to.

I think it's a little bit of both.

I remember, like, I remember this guy who I am not close with and I don't think ever talk to again.

But like he said to my friend at Madison, he was like, God, she just doesn't give a shit like me.

And I was like the tracks, Yeah, that's true.

But then I went on to give I went on to give a lot of shits for a long time.

When I moved to New York and I started my career in fashion, and you know, I got married, and I think I learned to follow rules that I didn't necessarily even believe in, but I did it because I wanted to wanted the things, so I followed those rules.

But then I realized those rules were fake, so I stopped following them.

I started talking about the messy stuff again.

Your book is a lot about the unraveling of all those rules.

Actually, did you have a moment where you discovered how powerful talking about the mess can be?

Yes, yes, there was.

It was when I started I started my account the twelveish style, and I had been so ashamed to admit or to seem big and to be big because I was always trying to be small.

And when I realized there were so many women out there that felt the same as me, who weren't necessarily even my size, who were smaller than me, who just felt like, God, it's so hard out there to just only have one body type represented.

I realized in that moment that there was so much power in showing what I really looked like, not posed or angled or sucking in, but like really showing my body was helpful to people, and that's when I started to realize what I could potentially do.

Was it always helpful to you or was it ever harmful to you to show your body online?

I think the only harmful thing is when in the beginning I used to get more upset when people would comment on my body negatively.

Yeah, but now I've got a pretty thick skin around that.

I'm pretty I'm sensitive about a lot of other stuff, but for some reason I'm okay with that.

Well, part of the mess I think that I was alluding to is your brand Megababe, which exploded.

And I have to tell you, Katie, some of the products even make me squeamish to talk about.

And to be fair, I'm a little bit of a prude about like bathroom conversation.

But you are on CBS this morning talking about hemorrhoids and boob sweat.

I have to know if you ever feel resistance or even get embarrassed talking about things, or do you get it, like, do you get a kick out of seeing people like me squeam.

I don't get a kick out of getting people squeamish around me.

I don't because I know that there's that type of person too, But really I have I have like such a I just have like a real straightforward attitude about it because I'm like, this is happening, like like I'm and I think that that's another thing.

There's power in just being like, Okay, what are we working with like a sweaty butt crack like talk to me, Like there's power in just acknowledging what's going on, like almost like a doctor, although I am not one that you just you just talk about it and people start to open up.

But you're right, it is sort of like a doctor, like you just you just say what the facts are, you know, like you're not calling our private parts fake names?

Correct?

Yeah.

But the fact that, like for the first few years, it was hard for us to get our retailers to talk about our boob sweat powder because they didn't want to say the word boob like really yes, So it was like we couldn't like do marketing.

So what shifted?

How did you get them on board?

The conversation shifted?

And as I said, I have said this before, but if I were a man I would be taking more credit for this, So I'm going to start taking credit for starting this conversation in the retail space.

I think when we started everything, this is eight years ago, everything was black and white on the shelves.

It was like, we don't talk about that, like hush hush, And I think Megababe created a space to talk about things.

And now you have all these fabulous brands like Starface does, like the pimple patches, you have Honeypot with, like the vaginal health.

There's so many amazing brands who are taking the shame out of normal body issues.

But I would say Megababe was the first to do that.

So we sort of jumped into this conversation talking about the woman that you are today.

But a lot of your book, even though I know some of it is fictional, is a story.

Most of it is fictional.

I just have to say that out loud.

Katie, are you sure?

I am?

It's a work of fiction, says it right in the beginning of the book.

I know.

I just feels very convenient because there are a lot of overlaps between your real life.

But I believe you you're a Midwestern truth teller, so a lot of it is fictional, but I know that you had to do a lot of unlearning and, as you put it, breaking the rules to become this version of Katie.

So I do want to start from the beginning.

I opened your book and fell in love with your dedication.

Will you read it for us?

I would love to.

I think the dedication is often like a throwaway, but I feel like this was this I had a lot to to say.

Yes, I could tell.

Okay it is.

Look how ready I am to read it to you.

This book is for any woman who has ever felt discarded, who's looked in the mirror and struggled to love what she sees, or who's wondered if her best days are behind her.

I promise you that life can be anything you want it to be.

You just have to believe.

And for first wives.

Everywhere, Okay, we need to unpack line by line.

Okay, yeah, so the line who's wondered if her best days are behind her?

I can't be the only one because you wrote this for women, because you felt it.

But I have sort of been feeling this for the first time in my life.

I look at photos from when I was twenty nine or thirty and I think, hmm, maybe I'm in a new stage, Like maybe that version of me that I felt was beautiful, Like now, yes, now maybe it's more about my insights and I'm trying to wrestle.

Well, I'm so sorry I have to laugh in your face because you're so beautiful.

You're like, it's about my personality.

Now this face is over.

Okay, that's kind of how I've been feeling, and I know that I'm not the only one.

Can you tell me what you were feeling and thinking when you wrote that line?

Yes, I think I had to channel how I felt at age thirty four.

So can I ask how old you are?

Yeah, I'm thirty four.

There we go.

Okay, so you're thirty four, you've been married for a year, You've been with someone.

This is my personal life.

This is not sunny.

You've been with someone for ten years and you don't feel like you're starting over at thirty four.

Thirty four is not at the time you start over.

Thirty four is the time you've put the foundation in and you start to build.

This is like when you start to have kids, you buy the first house, you do, like that's when your quote unquote life starts and that is when my life as I saw it shattered.

So I felt so unmoored and truly just the way that you're telling me.

And I'm laughing at you because like you're so beautiful and you're like, I guess I'm old now, Like that's how I felt too.

I said, who's gonna love me?

Like who will ever love me?

And add on to the fact that my body changed so much during the divorce process.

I gained over seventy pounds.

So it was like this and I had not done the work to self to have self acceptance.

I was just like, what am I going to do?

And I think that I wanted to put this character out there with all her flaw and her vulnerability because I think that it's something that's missing in that pop culture conversation.

When you say missing, can you expand because I've heard you say that you really wrote this book because it's the book you needed when you were going through this time period.

I don't know, so I will always shout her out.

Michelle Buteaux has a show called Survival of the Thickest.

I made a cameo in season one thank you, and I would say that that's like a very positive show about a curvy girl, and she's like living life and like loving and doing the whole thing.

Other than that, I have a really hard time finding example of a woman who is not striving to be her fittest, thinnest, smallest and succeeding in life.

Like I don't have that example.

So I wanted to put that example out there because I felt like that's how I felt.

I felt like, what am I going to do If I can't lose this weight, I'll never find someone.

And I think that that was a story that I was being told by society, and I wanted to rewrite it.

There's also that last line of your dedication that says uh and for the First Wives everywhere.

I don't know if I'm reading into it, but First Wives Club is my favorite film of all times.

Yeah, are you a Diane, a bet a Goldie, A Stockard Channing, a Dave Maggie Smith?

I honestly am like em.

I'm probably more emotionally Stockard Channing because I love her in the firground, like pre jumping off the roof, but like I love that she's like so drama.

But I'm probably Bette Midler, you know, I'm silly and I want to be Goldie Hawn.

I'm sure, but I'm not, you know what I mean?

And I'm not I'm not dying.

Not in that movie and for first Wives everywhere, Yeah, there's like a bit of a petty feeling around it because like, yes, you move on and you get closure and you make a new life, but there's always that little feeling that you have, like like fuck you, you threw me away?

Right?

Definitely.

Yeah.

My mom has a ton of like phrases and quotes and taglines.

Always we joke and one of my favorites is that she says, you want to be the firstborn, the second wife, and the third real estate agent.

So that's fine, it's a good one, yes, But speaking of the first Wives aspect, like there's this element I love a female friendship.

In the book that's at play, Sonny is in a first wives club with friends who have also gone through divorce, and her friends are her biggest cheerleaders, her first investors when she decides to start her own company.

Did you have this?

Was this based on reality?

Did you need people who really understood your experience?

Or were your friends able to show up for you even if they hadn't experienced it.

My friends, my like my oldest friends, they all certainly showed up for me.

But there's something unique about having someone who's going through that process who can really understand.

I think when you go through big life experiences, having someone who's going through it with you is really important.

And I had one person.

I didn't have this like, you know, fabulous group of girls, but I had one person and we were able to like kind of cope together.

But my friends came in and they were my rocks.

That's so good to hear.

Yeah, And I think it's important to call that out too, because I think the way that we like attacked female friendships after White Lotus came out and it was like female friendships were toxic, and I was like, get a life, Like what like women are everything to women, you.

Know, one hundred percent.

Also personally, my college group of girlfriends is really this trio and White Lotus was they were down on trios.

They were like trios are toxic, there's always somebody left out, and I was like, not in my life.

Yeah, yeah, that's not a good representation.

So I love the positivity in your book.

Yeah.

Now I was looking at the timeline of your career and your divorce and all of these huge things happened in your life after your divorce.

You started megababe, you wrote now two books, you got your sub stack, you built this huge following on social media, you got remarried, and all after this period in a woman's life when we're told we're kind of supposed to hang it up, yep.

Were you ever scared those things wouldn't happen for you?

How did you keep the faith?

Yes?

I think that I took my pain and I turned it into productivity.

I couldn't really like do anything, so I just started working.

Like I started my own PR company in my twenties, and then I was a doggedger managing my dog.

So I've always been I've always been an entrepreneur and a creative person.

But I think given like the space my brain suddenly had, I just decided to go into like overdrive.

And it's almost like the way like people can like pick up a car off a kid, you know what I'm saying, Like that like super stress, That's kind of what happened to me.

I just I had so much extra energy and feeling that I had to do something with it.

Like I was working all the time.

Like I don't work like that anymore, but I was working all the time.

How do you feel about that in hindsight?

Uh, it was awesome.

I love it.

I'm saying it was awesome because I don't have the energy now to do what I was doing, right, you know what I mean.

It's the super Yeah, that's the superstr Yeah.

Like by six, I'm like, we got to hang it up.

Also, when you I think when you live with someone that you actually like, you don't really want to work at night as much, you know, as if if you're alone or trying to avoid somebody.

Yes, that's completely true.

It's like when he came into my life, he was like, you're doing so much, like you need to like set some boundaries at home.

And I was like, uh what so, Like I think that's when I started to scale back the like midnight emails.

And well, it's been nearly a decade since you're divorce, right, Yes, so a lot has changed.

In your life.

I'm curious why you wanted to write this book now.

It took until now for them to let me write the book.

I've been wanting to write this book, and you know, it's it's come out in the right time for me.

And I'll tell you a few reasons why.

One, I've always wanted to write this book because I, as I said, I needed a book like this, and it didn't exist, and I haven't seen it written since in the like you said, in like the ten years since this happened, this book has not come out, like I'm not like, oh damn, someone beat me to it.

It's hasn't come out.

And then the second thing is that I think I needed to be in a different headspace to write this book.

If I wrote this book a year after my divorce, it would be a different book.

It would be darker, and I wouldn't have been able to bring all the things that I've learned into the book into Sonny, like I wouldn't have had to have her.

I wouldn't have been able to have her evolve the way that she did if I were like fresh in it.

Yeah, which is interesting to me because it's like, you are in your personal life so good at talking about the mess while you're in it, but with this book, you wanted to do it differently.

It seems I wasn't allowed to do it differently.

But I'm happy it turned out this way, meaning like they were like, fiction is really hard, but that's why I wrote Body Talk, because they were like, I think you could just get like into the books space and like see how you like it, see how it goes.

Like these are really helpful lessons you're teaching on your internet.

Just put them into a book.

And I'm so glad that I did, because, especially on this book tour for Sunny Side Up, I am getting people bringing their copies of Body Talk, which is it's a work book so that you can start your journey of self acceptance.

But it's not like overly intimidating and not it's not too like preachy.

It's quite fun and people are like my therapists made May read this, My dietician made May read this, like I made my mom read this.

Like people really attached to body Talk, and so I feel so lucky to have been able to do it in that way.

What do they say, trust the process.

I guess that.

I mean that's what I needed to do.

Speaking of Body Talk, self image is a big thing in Sunny Side Up, and it's obviously a big theme in your life.

Your character Sonny has moments in the book where you share that she grew up thinking that women were supposed to be quietly beautiful.

That term was something that I hadn't heard of.

How is beauty discussed in your house?

And what does quietly beautiful mean?

I don't think that beauty was discussed in my house growing up.

I would say that quietly beautiful means like effortless and they just kind of show up without a hair out of place.

And that has never been me.

It's not sunny, it's not most people I know.

But somehow we got that image that that's how you are supposed to to be, like don't look like you tried too hard, and but like don't look like a mess.

And m you saw the Barbie.

Movie absolutely well said, right, you know what I mean?

Yeah, yeah, it's that.

It's the monologue, the contradictory monologue.

Yes, yeah, you know.

It's not lost on me that Sonny's dream bathing suit is described as green Lorix shimmery.

That's not even quiet a little bit.

What inspired that specific choice?

Just my brain?

I think that I I saw a woman in a green Lorix swimsuit like maybe six or seven years ago in Italy on the beach and I loved it, and I could never find something like that again.

So I was like, ooh, let's let's have Sonny have this swimsuit, and ooh, let's make it too well.

Okay, so the making it part, so I don't I don't want to curse.

Why are you laughing?

I'm laughing because I because I realized it's so it's like not a normal fit.

It's not like what like most people are not writing a book being like, okay, like I wrote a book about this, like Beekeeper and you can buy the honey.

So I'm I'm I.

I know that this is a strange thing to be doing.

But I when I was writing the descriptions of the suits, I was like, I just want these suits.

So I was like, why can't we just make the suits?

So then I did.

I found a design partner called Kiddy and Vibe, and we made the suits.

But do you know how brilliant that is?

No?

Can I tell you something else?

Not that many people think it's brilliant?

Why did they know?

I'm sure that I don't even care if they sold well or not.

It is so we we sold the f out of them.

They sold great.

It's just I think what's confusing for people is is they they're like, we know what a swim collaboration is and we know what a book is, but we can't do this, we can't put them together.

And that has been a really interesting thing because I'm like, and I made the suits from the book, and people are kind of like, okay, so the book, Like they can't they can't do both.

And I think that's what's been really interesting about this process is it's.

It's I was so impressed and so inspired, honestly because one, I love a woman who does something that everyone else says you can't do, but also watch you be the blueprint.

This is going to happen so much more often.

I think you changed the book industry.

I think I listen, I'm not being like I am like, you know, the first person here who's ever done anything.

All I'm saying is that, like, I do actually think that this is really smart, and I will give credit where credit is due.

Olive and June did a nail polished collaboration with Colleen Hoover two summers ago or last summer, and I saw that and I said, that is smart as hell, and like that, do you know what I mean, so I will say that that was the first one I saw, this is the second one I'm seeing, and I agree that this is the future of books, and if book publishers are smart, they will get in on the collab.

I want to talk to you about something that is definitely buzzy and very personal and also I think kind of loaded GLP ones.

You've shared that you are on one, and I really appreciate your openness.

I want to ask you about your decision, but I'll admit that this conversation is pretty hard to navigate, even as somebody who talks for a living, because I think that the value that we place on thinness is.

Not just about health.

It's political, it's economic, it's cultural.

Oftentimes I think it could equal privilege.

And what I think about is that it gets it helps get you hired and heard and sometimes loved.

And also the truth of it is that there's no truth to that, like you can have all of those big beautiful things in a bigger body, and there's also no shame in wanting to be thinner or not wanting it.

So I'm just as somebody who is so in tune with this conversation in her body.

I want to hear your perspective on that decision.

Yeah.

I I have always been an advocate for health at any size.

Take care of yourself.

Go to the doctor.

Find a doctor who listens to you.

Don't find a doctor who just tells you to like go on a diet or tries to prescribe you a GLP one because you, you know, have like an eye twitch.

So that's one thing I want to say personally.

As I've gotten older, my A one C started to go up.

And this is so nuanced, so I'm just I'm just prefacing that because I have gotten so many messages positive and negative on this topic, and I understand why.

But as my A one C started to go up, my chole also was going up.

And I was like, you know what, Katie, I think you got to make some changes.

So I engaged a food coach.

And I think there's also like there's a lot of disordered eating conversations that need to happen in the background of the GLP one conversation.

Also that I don't even know that I have words for yet.

I wore like a monitor, like a glucose monitor to see like what foods work with my blood, and I altered my movement and tried all these different ways to change my blood work, and after over a year of that, my blood work had not improved.

Not only did it not improve, it went up and I was just right on the border of diabetes.

And I was like, yeah, you know what, I have a family history of diabetes.

I don't want diabetes.

I'm going to try this drug that is made to help people.

Now, I will say this, my insurance does not cover a payout of pocket.

That's a privilege.

This medication should be covered by all insurances for people who need it.

That's another thing.

Yes, it should, and it's it's bs that it's not.

So that was my That was my decision was to try this and see if it worked.

And I have a lot of positive feelings towards this drug because I think it back to that eating disorder space.

I don't think I ever realized that my brain wasn't operating an Oprah has said this, my brain doesn't operate the way that other people's brains work.

So she's talked about how you know your friend Kelly can have like quote unquote willpower and has a piece of the pie and is like, wow, that was great.

Pie, but there's something in my brain for my whole life that I had.

I'm like, Wow, that pie was good, and not only I'm going to have a piece of the pie.

I'm going to have like most of the pie.

And I'm not even going to feel full or sick.

So it's just this like endless feeling that I've always had that I have never understood.

And one of the things that the GLP one has done for me is kind of shown me maybe what it's like to have a brain like everyone else is having.

I think the confused.

So I haven't talked about that before.

That's like, that's something that's new to say out loud.

And I think something that is hard is that people look at you and they're like, you made your you made your living off the back of like talking about your plus size, and now you want to lose weight, and it's just not true.

I thought I was a size twenty, Like sometimes at twenty two, I thought I looked awesome, Like I certainly wasn't shining away from posting photos in my swimsuit.

I don't look at those photos now and say, ew, you're gross.

I'm like, God, like I really loved my curves and the way everything was balanced out, and like I love the way that like my cheeks had like more lift in them because like I had like more fat in my face.

And like there's all these there's all these things and these misconceptions and it's so and I understand why, because a lot of people feel abandoned.

I mean, ever since Adele emerged from the pandemic, like in a different body, we've had this feeling of abandonment of it's like, oh, I'm only big girl left and it's simply not true.

And by the way, I started my journey at a size twelve fourteen, Like I'm not ever gonna be like I I'm a size eighteen right now.

I'm not trying to get to a twelve to fourteen.

I'm just saying, like I've always been big, Like this is just my body, and I think it's just been And I know I sound defensive, but it's it's kind of how I feel I have to be at this moment.

I have to over explain things because people are so quick to just be like you are a sellout and it has nothing to do with that and it's not.

And it's like the clothes I post are size inclusive, like the like the people I feature like I It's everything is my messaging is all the same, and I find it so hard and hurtful.

And then I will add another layer, which is that people who medically need this drug and are wanting to try it are ashamed because they have people in their lives who are saying that's a cop out, or like they're scared because of all the stigma.

And I'm gonna say one more thing, which is that when you start to lose weight on this drug, which is what it will do to you, you get a barrage of comments you don't want and everyone should.

You know, everyone probably looks at you and they're like, no, of course you want to hear Oh you lost weight, Oh you're so skinny.

Oh no, no, I don't.

I don't want to hear that.

And I know a lot of people who follow me are so deeply uncomfortable with that part of it too, because it's like it's you can't hide from it.

It's visible and uh and and it's uncomfortable to have strangers and people you're close with and everyone just commenting on your body the whole time.

So it's it's such, it's very it's a long answer, but it's very complicated.

I appreciate you putting yourself out on the ledge because you're at the forefront of the conversation and it's not easy to navigate.

No, And you know, I'm a Midwest girl and I'm just trying to make everyone happy and it's hard.

This has been really, really hard for my mentors.

Yeah.

Yeah, you know, it seems like you've gone through some hard things in your life.

So to hear and I can see it in your face to hear you say this is hard.

I feel the weight of it.

Yeah, but you know what we're doing.

We're doing what we always do.

We're starting a conversation that isn't being had, and we're like, I'm sorry, I'm crying now.

We're starting a conversation that isn't being had.

We are de shaming things that people are feeling a lot of shame about, and we're going to figure out, Like we're going to figure this out together.

So like it's out there and now we figure it out.

Can I ask you where the tears came from.

Yes, I think it's the acknowledgment that this is hard, because I don't it's it's the acknowledgment that this is hard.

It's really hard.

Yeah, because I don't think that I'm someone who deserves to feel like they can have a hard time because I'm so privileged and lucky, and like, I don't want to put that out there for people.

Yeah, the conversation is not easy around it.

Yeah, I want to bring this back to joy a little bit, because you are so joyful.

I'm available, You're available for joy.

I've heard you talk about how when you moved to New York you tried writing a little bit and I love your giggle, but you tried writing a little bit and it just like it felt frustrating.

And I heard you talk about how like the traditional journalism felt intimidating.

But here you are writing your second book.

Was what was the joy in that?

What was the most fun you had writing this book?

Oh?

The most fun I've had writing this book is having people read it and having them experience it.

Because writing the book is much less fun than I thought it would be.

And I think that that's just the thing about writing is it's just not it's not always very fun.

I think it's a glamorized job.

It's hard, it is.

It's so hard, and the editing process is hell.

And I just think that it's something that we have romanticized and I think it is very I feel so proud of what I've put out, but it's it's not easy.

It's not an easy process.

How do you tell yourself to keep doing it when you hate when you hate the process of it?

Oh my god?

Because I'm like, we're here, we got to get it out and look at me.

I'm like telling you how horrible it is.

And I'm like, is there a sequel?

I don't know, yes, like I'd love one.

So like That's that's the thing about me sometimes, I think, is even when it's hard, I'm like, let's do it again.

I love asking writers of fiction novels who they would cast.

But I have a different question for you.

Oh, because I was reading your book, I'm thinking Katie has to play this character.

Oh, this becomes a TV series or film.

I think it should be a series.

I think so two, like, would you ever play the main character?

Never?

I'm not an actress, And I'll tell and I'll tell you why I know that you are.

No you Nope, nope, I can't remember anything as one issue I have, so I can't remember my lines?

And two do you know and if you've watched my if you've watched my cameo on Survival of the Thickest, it's season one, I believe, episode seven.

I'm in a nightclub.

I do a one line delivery.

It took me weeks to get it right.

That's because it was one line.

I'm just saying, I don't when you when I have to do something with rules my brain.

Like it's like why I wasn't great at school because like my brain can't just get in there, like I can't.

I'm like, oh, oh, it's got to be done this certain way.

Hold on.

And then I turned into a robot.

So I will not be playing sunny, but someone will, someone wonderful will be.

So I'm willing it into existence.

I am too.

I want this as a series, Katie.

I love asking our guess what they've bookmarked this week.

It could be a weird fact, a fun quote, something you saved on Instagram, something you texted your best friend.

What have you bookmarked?

I just learned of an adult reading summer camp in Maine where you can go for a weekend and it's like a bunch of books like crafts like canoeing, and all you do is read and talk to people about reading.

And canoe and craft.

This is amazing.

But also if you don't want a canoe and craft, they say specifically, you can just go read.

Okay, where do we sign up?

I know it's in Maine and it's it's in a place called Fork's, Maine.

And god, it's called the what is it called the Bad Bitches book Club?

Is that the name of the camp?

Yeah, bad Bitch's book Club camp.

Yeah, that's what.

It's called, The Bad Bitch's book Club.

That's honestly, besides Reese's book Club, that's the only club I want to be a part of.

That's amazing, Katie.

I'm shudder even asking you this last question because I know you hate rules, but I have a game with a whole bunch of rules that I want to play with you.

It's called speed Read.

I'm putting sixty seconds on the clock and I'm going to ask you a series of rapid fire questions.

You have to say the first thing that comes to your mind.

Okay, I'm closing my eyes.

I'm ready.

Okay, three, two, one, If you could swap closets with any fictional character.

Who and why?

Oh the woman from White Lotus Season two, Italy Tanya.

Why that's amazing because.

She wears like what I would want to wear, just like bejeweled calftans.

You're stranded on a desert island and you get one beauty product, one book, and one snack.

What are you bringing.

Mega bab Thy Rescue so that I can walk without?

All fours by Miranda July on audio because I could listen to it all day long.

I am bringing those like air puff Cheetos.

What's one literary trope you would ban forever?

Honestly the wedding deadline in my own book.

That's fundy one that you'll defend with your life.

I still like a meet cute.

I like meat cute too, Okay, your favorite book to recommend to friends?

All fours and sunny side up?

And just for you, we have some Midwest specific ones.

Tbr or cheese curds, Oh, cheese curds, ranch or ketchup ranch is disgusting?

Whoa hot takes?

Hot takes?

Only?

Do you say soda or pop?

I say soda.

Okay, that's not very Midwest of you.

Culver's or Portillo's.

Oh Cops, which is in Milwaukee.

Only what book shaped the way you see the world.

I'm not going to say All Fours for the third time, but.

I'm not not going to say but I'm not not going to say it.

But because can I tell you something, The reason that book really like cracked my brain open is that it was like it was I mean, it's obviously like you know, it's crazy and whatever, but like she talks about being in your mid forties in a way that I haven't seen before.

Like she's like, I didn't know I had like limited reserves of estrogen, Like I need to go have sex with people like she has.

She has all these like insights and ideas that I had never heard before.

And I was like, I love this.

My best friend is the best reader I know.

And she called me one day and she was like, have you read All Fours?

I said, not yet, and she said, I'm so turned on and I don't think I'm supposed to be.

It's Mariana july Is.

She is like a comedic queen.

She's reading it and she's so funny without trying to be funny, and while also trying to be funny.

Like it's all.

It's It's wonderful, Katie.

You are so real and so much fun and so full of life.

Thank you for bringing all of your joy and your sunniness to Reese's book Club.

Thank you.

I've loved hanging out.

We had teers, we had everything.

If you want a little bit more from us, come hang with us on socials.

We're at Reese's book Club on Instagram, serving up books, vibes and behind the scenes magic.

And I'm at Danielle Robe Roba y come say hi and DM me And if you want to go nineties on us, call us.

Okay, our phone line is open, so call now at one five zero one two nine to one three three seven nine.

That's one five one two nine one three three seven nine.

Share your literary.

Hot takes, book recommendations, questions about the monthly pick, or let us know what you think about the episode you just heard, and who knows, you might just hear yourself in our next episode, so don't be shy.

Give us a ring, and of course, make sure to follow Bookmarked by Reese's book Club on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast or wherever you get your shows.

Until then, see in the Next Chapter.

Bookmarked is a production of Hello Sunshine and iHeart Podcasts.

It's executive produced by Reese Witherspoon and me Danielle Robe.

Production is by ACAST Creative Studios.

Our producers are Matty Foley, Brittany Martinez, Sarah Schleid, and Darby Masters.

Our production assistant is Avery Loftis.

Jenny Kaplan and Emily Rudder are the executive producers for a Cast Creative Studios.

Marien Polo and Reese Witherspoon are the executive producers for Hello Sunshine.

Olga Kaminwa, Kristin Perla and Ashley Rappaport are associate producers for Reese's book Club.

Ali Perry and Lauren Hansen are the executive producers for iHeart Podcasts.

Tim Palazzola is our showrunner.