Spill the Smut
Where the books are spicy, the conversations are juicy, and the stories rarely fade to black. I dive headfirst into the delicious world of smut with the people who live and breathe it—authors, creators, and bookish babes who aren’t afraid to spill all the steamy tea. Through interviews and unfiltered chats, I'll explore everything from fan-favorites to behind-the-scenes secrets of the bookish world. This is your escape into the world of steam, swoon and unapologetically bookish.
So get comfy. Pour a drink. And get ready to spill the smut.
Spill the Smut
When Book Adaptations Miss The Point: Every Year After with Olivia
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A romance adaptation can survive a lot of changes, but it cannot survive forgetting why readers fell in love in the first place. Olivia and I discuss unpacking the Amazon MGM series Every Year After and why it left us frustrated as fans of Carly Fortune’s Every Summer After. From the title change to the way the timeline is presented, we talk through the choices that made the story feel less like a sweeping summer romance and more like a scattered contemporary drama.
We also go behind the curtain on why these projects can drift so far from the source material, including how publishing contracts and screen rights can limit an author’s creative control, even when the show is marketed on their name. Then we land on practical takeaways: how we evaluate adaptations now, why we avoid rereads right before a premiere, and how to make watch parties more fun than stressful.
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Cover Art by: moi
Intro/Outro Music: positive vibes by nanaacom on Capcut
Contact Email: spillthesmutpodcast@gmail.com
Podcast IG: @spillthesmutpodcast TT: @spillthesmutpodcast
Jordan IG: @sipsoffiction TT: @sipsoffiction
Welcome Back And Guest Catch-Up
JordanWe are back again with another episode. And this episode, I'm so excited because we have another guest returning today, and she's been on a few times, and I love her dearly. So please welcome Olivia.
OliviaHello, everybody. You can't get rid of me yet. We're back again.
JordanAnd I'm so excited. I'm so excited. I love how we were like planning on this episode, like probably the beginning of the year last year, whenever we knew the show was coming out, like we talked about this episode.
OliviaLike yeah, we briefly talked about it. And then when we met up in Cape Card, we like fully were like, we are doing this. This is the plan. So I can't believe that was nearly a year ago.
JordanI know. That is like crazy to me. That is crazy. But before we dive into the episode, I do want to ask you what has been the highlight of your week so far.
OliviaAbsolutely the my new favorite coffee order has been my like go-to highlight of my week. So we have a really cool coffee shop. Like our hospital, I'm currently nursing school now for anyone that's catching up on what's been going on. Um, and our hospital partners with a really lovely local coffee brand, and they have the coolest menu ever. Um, there's like 28 different syrups, and this is like inside hospital, so you wouldn't expect it to have like the most options, but they have like four different types of coffee flavored, like beans. So there's like a creme brulee, uh like um Jamaica Me Crazy, which is kind of like a coconut rum situation.
JordanThat one's my favorite.
OliviaYeah, but they have like a classic vanilla one, and then just like their standard roast, but we have been playing like mix and match every time we get like a full day. If I'm in class from like eight until five, we get an hour break and we've all been going over and treating ourselves. I've perfected my new coffee order and I'm very proud of it. So I've been doing the creme brulee cold brew, which is like just the beans, not like actual syrups in it. And then I've been adding um salted caramel and coconut to it with a little bit of oat milk, and I have become obsessed. So, but the bruises are just so friendly, and they've been like guessing our coffee vibes when we've been going in. It's the cutest little thing.
JordanThat's so fun, and I love just like playing with coffee, and that sounds delicious, and also like it's so hot, it's been so hot lately. I'm sure you kind of feel it too, like where you are, but like it's just like disgusting, and it's June. So, like, this weather's supposed to be in like July and August. So, like, why is this June?
OliviaIt's insane. I've been like going from AC frozenness to like absolutely sweating. So I feel like I'm carrying a sweatshirt around and then immediately like tossing everything off as soon as I'm outside.
JordanOh my gosh, yes, my office is so stinking cold that I have to wear like long sleeves, pants. But then the minute you step outside, you start sweating. I hate it.
OliviaIt's ridiculous. I don't get why, especially here. Like, just one of the big things I noticed in the US in general is that like you have a very dramatic difference in the outside temperature and the inside temperature. And I feel like it could give people whiplash with like how go how cold do you guys keep certain spaces with AC.
JordanAnd also, I feel like that's how you get sick from going from extreme temperature to extreme temperature. So, like absolutely, like, come on now. But anyways, since it is summer, we are here to talk about every summer after by Carly Fortune slash the show every year after, which I did not realize they changed the name. So I've been calling it
Summer Heat And The Perfect Coffee
Jordanevery summer after. But why did why did they change the name? Do we know like why couldn't you keep it every summer after?
OliviaMy guess is because um, from a little bit of research I saw, they are basically the writers took it and made it for a five series long like show. So season one just finished and they were planning on doing five. Um, and I think just from watching it, there's a lot of one golden summer aspects incorporated into it. And I think they changed it to every year after because they didn't want it to be tied to specifically every summer after, if they were gonna add in so many things from one golden summer. That's my hypothesis, anyways, behind it. Maybe it was to do with like the copyright she had. I don't know.
JordanMaybe, and I I that makes sense. I actually, okay, before I like ask you like what your thoughts are overall, I do have to say I really enjoyed the ending in the sense of like where they started to play part of Charlie's story. So if you've read one Golden Summer, then you see this the parts of his story that they put into the ending. And I really liked that. And we'll leave it at that. But overall, tell me your thoughts on the show.
OliviaI'm gonna preface it by saying I go into like with any of these adaptations that are coming out, I found it really important to separate the book and whatever media is coming out. Because if you're going in with the expectation of it being the exact same, you are going to be nothing but disappointed. You have to keep in mind that these like television show companies, streaming companies, movies, whoever's producing whatever, um, they have to cater to a larger audience than just the book is space. However, that being said, I don't think this was done very well. I think the writers took the book, took the things that they might have seen on socials be really popular, and then created their whole own separate story. And if you look at like the credits on the show, it actually doesn't even have Carly listed as a writer. It she is just listed as um based on the story from Carly Fortunes Every Summer After. And I think that's a really important distinction to make is that she kind of just handed over her story. Yes, she probably had to sign off on some things, but she pretty much just handed it over. And I was pretty disappointed.
JordanOkay, same. I okay. The first like half of it, I actually really enjoyed it. I thought it was really, I thought it was done well. Mind you, I read this book last year. So I'm not going, and I knew like I wanted to reread it, but then I was like, you know what? If I reread it, I'm gonna be more mad that it's not gonna be the same. So I'm not gonna reread it. If anything, I'll reread it afterwards. So I went in with having read this book last year. So I really liked the beginning part, and I actually really liked who they cast for Sam. Like as I'm watching it, I really liked his character being Sam. I don't know how I feel about the person they cast for Percy. I don't love that they I they used the same person for young Percy and old Percy. At the very beginning, they had a very young Percy, which I like that that was different. But then it, I think it is age eight, uh, 15, like
Why The Title Change Matters
Jordanit was two summers later, that then all of a sudden it was like this is the same person. And you can't tell them apart. Like, yes, she might have a braid in her hair, but unless you've read the book, like you don't know if this is now or then. I completely agree with you that the thing is, is like it's still a romance. You did not give the romance ending that I think the book should have deserved. I don't think that you needed to follow the book to a T, but like that ending where it's like, okay, yeah, it's like I guess he comes back, but it's still not like enough. Like, and also like how he found out, which I guess like in the book we know he always knew. And I guess that's harder to put in a show, but the anger he had towards Percy and Charlie, even though all the shit that he put Percy through and he like couldn't quote unquote get over it. I was I was I was very disappointed with that.
OliviaThere were so many aspects that I was disappointed by. Like I read Every Summer After Year a few years ago. I distinctly remember my reading experience. I have gone back to that book every summer. I annotated it the first time I read it. Like that book was so special to me. And so, but if you look at things very let's take something that's really similar, People We Meet on Vacation, right? That film came out and it still had the it had major changes to the plot, right? But it had the core essence of what Poppy and Alex's relationship was and what People We Meet on Vacation was about. That did not happen with every year after. The own like there were too many big changes that it felt like it was a complete reinterpretation, dramatized version of a different story. Like the whole, there were just I think I counted at least nine major plot changes that threw me off. That I was like, I don't, I I don't get the choice behind this. I don't understand why you would do this given what you're trying to take from the story, you know? And I agree with you about the Percy age thing. I think that was kind of lazy on them, really. Like, if you found a really young Percy, why didn't you choose to support someone like for like yeah, and just have someone else in the middle be another Percy?
JordanAnd then we can really distinguish between between the two. Wait, so I'm curious, what are some of the other because like I only read it once and I love that book, but I'm also a huge I love books with cheating in it, which also if anybody can't tell, like this will be a spoiler-filled episode. Just putting it out there.
OliviaUm so Delilah being at the lake and being so heavily involved was a major twist that I did not enjoy. Okay, I did not like her and Charlie. Because they did not sleep together in the book, did they? No, they also changed the whole truth or dare scene where it was Percy's first kiss, didn't love that. Um, Chantel being at the lake. She was never at the lake.
JordanYeah, okay, I remember that.
OliviaHow wait, what was the truth and truth or dare scene in the book? It wasn't that it was like truth and dare wasn't the it was the first kiss, but it wasn't how it went down in the book. Like the the whole scene was restructured differently. I'd have to go back and grab exactly what the piece was,
Where The Adaptation Goes Off Track
Oliviabut I remember it being very different in the book. I think it was Okay. I think in the show they didn't in the show they make her kiss Charlie. No, in the show she didn't, she didn't kiss Charlie. Okay, so it was a different it was it was who she kissed and how they kissed, and that was the whole change to the truth or dare scene.
JordanOkay, so I was like, I cut I thought she did kiss Charlie, but then I was like second guessing and I was like, okay, maybe didn't in the book because like in the show she didn't kiss Charlie, but I was like, I don't know.
OliviaJordy being a side character added was fine. Like I we mentioned we mentioned him a little bit in the book, but it wasn't to the extent that it was in the show. No, definitely the tavern going to Percy was a major change too.
JordanOkay, because I was like, there's no way this tavern went to Percy, but I was like, maybe I just like did not remember the book because I was like, No, I couldn't.
OliviaThe tavern didn't go to Percy. Okay. So odd. I'm so it was so like why give it to her? I just I don't get the idea behind the show of doing that, and then Taylor was like Alex broke up with Taylor as soon as he knew not Alex, jeez, um Sam broke up with Taylor as soon as he knew about Percy being back in town, not dragging it out over all that time that he did in the show. Um and there was one more thing that was on my mind then. Oh my god, the whole thing of him knowing for years. Like he's known for years and had years to work through it. Why I just it stole so much on the show. And Percy never told him. Oh my god. Yeah, there were just too many big changes, and I think it was very mishandled. I also didn't love that they tried to make it so US centric um because they changed it from being Toronto, like where she was going to to get to um Barry's Bay to Seattle.
JordanI thought that was weird because I was like, why are they m going from Seattle?
OliviaI thought Barry's Bay was in Ontario to start with.
JordanWell, I actually have no idea where Barry's Bay is in Canada, but like they also make it see like I don't know, like they're crossing borders and they have no like they're not talking about any of that. It's just like no, oh, let's just go from Seattle to Barry's Bay.
OliviaLike please mate, that makes sense. I I don't get that trying to make it so USA centric because if you look at several other shows, like um this white different genre still, like let's even go outside of romance. You have um A Good Girl's Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson is an international bestseller. In the US, they changed it to US stuff, but the show that they made, they left it as the UK version of those books. Same plot and everything, just different phrases based on how the school system works. The show did just as well in the UK as it did in the US, and they didn't change it to be US-centric. Heated rivalries filmed and done in Canada and everything. Um, and there's Canadian aspects of that show.
JordanYeah, but that also was picked up by a Canadian producer. Crave is Canadian, so like of course they're not gonna switch it, which is good. We just got lucky that HBO picked it up, thank God. Or like we will be downloading it illegally. What bought what is crazy? Well, I mean, I guess like it's not that crazy, but so Amazon did every year after. Amazon did off campus. Off campus is freaking amazing. Like everybody's obsessed with that show, and it stands on its own because like you still have what you're saying, those core elements, like everybody's obsessed with the found family between the four guys. Like, I saw someone talking about how Garrett um listens and is compassionate to her. Um, Logan understands that closed cups or or closed cans are safer. Uh, Dean didn't complete the assignment. Tucker knows how to cook. And it's like those are like, and I don't even think like that, like I'm pretty sure they changed Tucker completely, but like that still has like the magic that like all the romance were here for. I feel like they took every summer after and decided to scrap the romance. Let's just make this like a contemporary drama. And exactly.
OliviaAnd I don't know if they're gonna get renewed because I don't think I've seen many positive things about it, other than the people that want Charlie's story. But then do we really trust these people to create Charlie's story based on what we just saw?
JordanThat is so true. Because I I want Charlie's story because like I love every summer after, but I think my favorite is one golden summer, and I want Charlie's story so badly, but I agree with you. Like, I don't know, like, and going from my point of view, like I totally forgot all the major plot holes. Like, I didn't mind like Chantelle going to the lake, I didn't mind the like this, those, those scenes that you were talking about, only because I totally forgot. But I remember the ending, and the ending is still a happily ever after, and this gave us not that, and that was a disappointment.
OliviaAs a like, it was a huge disappointment. That ending was terrible for that, like between Sam and Percy, that was heartbreaking to watch. Um, it just felt rushed, and I felt like they just did not care for what that story was supposed to be. It was so disappointing. I will say I did the only thing I really did enjoy was like the actual scenery of Barry's Bay. Yeah, gorgeous scenery. And I did really like the playlist. I thought they did pick really good songs for moments.
JordanI do, I I agree. I really liked uh I liked the like the what seems to be the theme song Lights on by Maggie.
OliviaSome some no idea, but every time a song came on, I felt like it fit the scene really well. I agreed. I do agree. And I think I think the writers just destroyed what that book was supposed to be.
JordanBut that's what's that's what's crazy to me, because it's both like Amazon MGM, I think, that like produced it and they produced off campus and they produced every summer after. Did you see an interview that um I don't know any of their like real names, but um Sam did an interview with Percy on some show, and apparently he's friends with uh shit, one of the guys from Summer I Turn Pretty, the the younger kid, not Connor, right? No, is it Conrad? Oh yeah, Conrad, not Conrad. Not Conrad. Jeremiah, thank you. Jeez, I just forgot everybody's name except Belly. Yeah, okay. Um but so basically Jeremiah, whatever his real name is, like like they're friends. So like when Sam told Jeremiah that he got this role as Sam in every year after, he was like, okay, just be prepared. Like the book girlies go crazy. And it's like, but like I feel bad that Jeremiah said that because every summer I or the summer I turned pretty is way better of a show. But granted, I also think the book's kind of like it's her debut series as a YA. Like the books aren't, but that like Amazon really took that series to the next level for the show. Like that show was so good. But like this, like the book is better, so it's like you put like the the book girlies and the book book people like aren't gonna care about this show, and it's just like it sucks because this show had so much potential, and maybe this is a bad one to start with because there is the back and forth between the the then and now, and no, I don't think that's I think that's trying to make excuses for a really bad production.
OliviaLike the I think we've seen plenty of shows with flashbacks done well. I don't think it's right because look at um people we meet on vacation, there are flashbacks in that to their other travels across summers, and you know what's going on there, and they have different ages, and they diff even with being the same actor, they did a better job at differentiating them at the different ages to pull together what it is now. I think it was a case of these producers and writers just really missed the mark, and now they're gonna find out what it's like to miss the mark with bookish people. And I feel bad for Carly Fortune. I think she probably could have used a lot better of an advising group to help her through this process because now she's kind of stuck defending a show based on a book that was a phenomenon. I remember this book coming out, like every summer after, came out on a Tuesday. Um, and I remember a couple people talking about it, like literally one or two people talking about it in the bookstore. They hadn't heard anything about it, but they saw the cover and heard it was probably gonna be a big summer read. And then I went back the next day with my mom to Barnes and Noble and picked it up and I read that book in a day. I annotated it and read it in a day, and I completely adored it. And I remember seeing it pop up all over social media and this deep love for it. And every summer since that book came out, I have seen people become more and more excited for Carly's books, but everyone has gone back to every summer after and loved it.
JordanWell, because and I know too for myself, like it was so my last summer, my book club was doing like a Carly Fortune book for their the romance book club, and they were doing one golden summer. So I started one golden summer and not really knowing because like technically you don't need to read them in order, you could read them on their own and it works, but like I was starting to see, and maybe because I was reading it, I was starting to see like videos of being like, don't read this unless you read every summer after, which I'm so glad I did because I probably stopped like a quarter of the way in and then read every summer after, which thank goodness, because one golden summer like totally like spoils the whole plot of every summer after. So it's just like thank goodness I read it. And that one by far is like one of my favorite books. And I think I do think I'm like lucky in the way of like not totally remembering what I read, so that way I could kind of go in, and like what you were saying, remembering that they're two different like idea, like two different things, like there's the the show and then there's the book. But I feel like you can still take like there's the show and then there's the book, but they both stand on their own.
Big Plot Changes And Lost Romance
JordanLike, and then you brought up like heated rivalry, great example that both stand on their own. Granted, I have not read Heated Rivalry, so I cannot talk about the book. But that but the deal I read the deal years ago, so I also went in with a completely fresh mind. I only remember certain bits and pieces from the deal, but they did. Off campus, so freaking well, and maybe it was like it's just it was like perfect, like the it was cast perfectly, the storyline was perfect, it was just so good, and you it still gave you those feels of like a romance where this one just did not, it did not hit the mark, and I kind of agree with you. Like, I do hope I don't know. I actually don't know. I like I want to say, like, I do hope it gets renewed, but like I don't know if I do.
OliviaI don't think I would want it renewed unless it was under a different writer for the next season. I just don't trust these writers again.
JordanFair that okay.
OliviaBecause I think they're at the core of who changed the story. Because Carly said in an interview, they took it and basically said, I'm going into my cave and I'm going to rewrite this, and then you can see it after I'm done. Oh, so and I think that's so interesting.
JordanWell, but my thing is is like, why didn't they want her a part of it? Like maybe she or maybe she didn't want to be a part of it. I don't know. There's also okay, we we can't say too much in the sense of like whether she could be involved or not, because the publishers hold the rights, like publishers hold those film and production rights, so like it's whatever was in her contract that said she could help or like be a screenwriter, it like that all depends on her. Like, she had no rights at that point, but that's what happens when you are traditionally published. So, like, again, it makes sense. A lot of publishers or like authors will advocate, like, I would like to be a writer, I would like to be on the show, but yeah essentially if Amazon bought it and was like, no, then she has no say. Now, I don't know what the difference between L Kennedy and Carly Fortune's contract was because like I think L Ken and I don't even know if L Kennedy had any say in her off campus, or if those writers were just maybe fucking romance readers, like and knew what was important. But like I I think too, like, and maybe like after seeing all the news, I could see like Amazon coming to Carly Fortune being like, hey, maybe you should help like write season two if they even get to that point. I don't even know if they're gonna be able to do that.
OliviaYeah, I don't think I've seen glowing reviews of this anywhere.
JordanUm, and that's I am curious, what do you think people's thoughts are for that haven't read the book though? Do you think they like it or do you think they don't?
OliviaI don't think people are like it if they've not read the books, because I think people that are reading the books are really fighting to stay invested in the show because they want to see what happens based on the changes. Because you see a lot of changes early on. The whole Delilah being there, her being so involved, her knowing Sue so well. The heck, and like just her taking over and being so like involved and knowing the Floric brothers really throws you off from the book. And it I don't know if some people are just intrigued and want to support Kylie and have been waiting so long for this show, and that's why they're still watching. But I I don't think if people who have read the books will remain invested in the show. I think there's just too much of the side quests of like Chantal and Geordie, Chantal and possibly not Chantal, um Delilah and Geordie possibly, like that whole tension there being like a triangle there, the whole thing with Delilah and Charlie, Charlie's whole situation that he's in, um, Sam and Taylor, the kind of like cheating aspect that comes from them because he's obviously with Taylor when he's now flirting with Percy. Like it just it also just doesn't have that satisfaction feature of them being together. Um I just I don't think it would keep people interested long enough. It feels too all over the place. I think they just tried to do like too much. It's it's like they tried to create not only Charlie's backstory to feed into season two of this for his obviously to take on one golden summer, um, the whole Charlie and Percy, not Charlie and Percy, the whole Sam and Percy situation of her being back confronting those feelings, all of that. And then you had all of these side things going on with Delilah and Chantal and Geordie, and it just it took so much like you had to pay so much attention to that show to keep up with the side characters that I felt like it was we were almost forced to become more invested in them than we were in Sam and Percy at points, and I just don't think that's gonna hook people into a show for long enough.
JordanThat looked like that.
OliviaBut I will say, you didn't get much sorry, no, no, no, what were you gonna say? I also haven't seen off campus, and this has made me more nervous to turn on off campus because it's produced by the same company.
JordanNo, no, no, you need to watch off campus. No, I will. I think it's just made me very, very hesitant. I totally get that. Have you read the book recently? Like, they did change some things. Okay, they did change some things, but like over, but also like I read the deal like back in 2020. So I'm watching this show six years later.
OliviaLike, um, we read it around the same time because it was like the first spicy book I read.
JordanOh my goodness, I love that. No, I read it when like the covers were like the half naked men on it. Like that's when I read it.
OliviaAnd my brothers got me those books, so it's kind of awkward looking at them now.
JordanI love it, I love it. Um, no, but like totally different. They did an amazing job with off campus, and especially if you haven't like watched it, like and haven't read the book in a while. Like, I think you'll fall in love with like all the characters because I even like thinking of it from the perspective of so I was excited to watch off campus, and people are obsessed with that. Like, I've already watched it twice, and I'll probably go back and restart it again just because like I wanted every year after to give me the feels of off campus, and it did not, but I feel like they did such a good job, like, even though it's Garrett and Hannah's story, like you still get so much of like all the other characters, and like, of course, they're also alluding to like book three and their characters, and you get a bit of it, but like it's such a feel-good, and I like this one moment, it's not like a spoiler, but like clearly, like Tucker's rushing in a fraternity, and it's the same fraternity that Dean's in. Oh, and I I did not read either John's story, so I don't know if these were in the books or not, but I like did not give a shit about either John or yeah, either John or John's story. So I only read the deal and the score. But so like Tucker is literally like he's given a grape. So he he takes he has a grape in his hand, and they're like, Okay, you have to covet this like grape. And this is your baby, and you cannot let anything happen to your baby. And if something does happen to your baby, Dean takes the grape and eats it. They put a strawberry in his hand. Then they're like, We will exchange the fruit with a slightly bigger fruit. So that Dean eats the strawberry and they put a kiwi in his hand, and then they're like, You should run. And just like through the progression of a couple episodes, you just see this fruit getting bigger and bigger, and it's just so wholesome that like there's one episode that you see it go from like a cantaloupe to a pineapple to a watermelon, and it's just, I don't know, like it's just like it's something that's so silent, like you wouldn't notice unless you're paying attention to it. That I I loved it so much, and the way they teased um like the like the first John like Logan story in the first one. I just like I love how they did it. Like, I just need you to watch it because that one is so good. And I'm so mad that we decided to like talk about every year after because I feel like if we did the off-campus series, this would be a much more positive episode because that one is so much better.
OliviaI don't think it's I don't think it's bad being negative about it though, because I think if we don't give the feedback and the disappointment back to these producers and these companies, then more books are just gonna get taken advantage of and it's gonna break our hearts more and more. I will say one thing that I have with more and more adaptations coming out now, I have also started to come up with like little things for myself to help distinguish them. So, like I refuse to do a reread or a first-time read within three months of the content coming out. So smart. Because I think separating it. And if you can't accept the separation, then just don't partake in enjoying the um adaptations of them because you're just gonna be disappointed. Yes, and I don't think it's fair to set yourself either to yourself to set yourself up for disappointment, but also to the people that go in and create these shows. Like if you read off campus and then immediately watch the show and you're disappointed because it's not um a quarterback that is Hannah's interest, right?
Why Some Adaptations Still Work
OliviaLike it's not the football player, it's a musician instead, then that's on you because that's a that's a smaller change to a show that it still hasn't taken away the core of what it is. I've also started to think about how I evaluate the adaptations in my own brain. Um, and I think if it's not the core of who the couple are, who each of the main characters are, and what their story is, then it's a in my eyes, I would see that as a failure of an adaptation. And it's actually a reinvention of something that was already created, which is what I think every year after was. And I don't think it was in a good way because the changes that happened in People We Meet on Vacation, right? It still appeals to a wider audience than bookish people. I think it gets to what the core of a rom-com movie is. Even, and you can also do this with Red, White, and Royal Blue, one of the first adaptations that came out. Brilliant. I loved that film. I think they did a great job of keeping who. Oh god, don't remember me remember their names. I should know their names.
JordanNo, it's fair. I didn't read the book. Did Henry and Alex?
OliviaMaybe. I don't know. I think something like that. Um but it's the core of who they are, it's got so many elements of their the book in this in the film itself, and that just got renewed for a second film. Like they've already finished filming it, and I can't wait for that. But I kept them as separate entities, and I think it helped. But if you're not keeping the core of what people love out of these books, then you're setting yourself up for a failure of an adaptation because the readers aren't gonna support it because it's not who they love, and it's not who they saw pieces of themselves in.
JordanSo, like what I couldn't tell too, like now that you're you're saying that they want to make it like five seasons, I don't know if now they ended this season the way they did because they want to continue Percy and Sam's story in Charlie's story, if that's where they go next. And then like they're just not finishing them. But I agree with you. If you're not it there wasn't enough focus on Percy and Sam, and there like I wasn't like I was rooting for them because I had read the book, but like you lose it, but but you're not rooting for them otherwise. And I take Nick for it as an example because like he lost interest, like he was, I was like, Oh, I'm so excited, I'm gonna like watch this show, it's like another like summer show, and he's like, Oh, perfect. And I think like I was gonna start the fourth episode, he fell asleep, and then he never continued on, but like off campus, he actually was here for the show, like he liked off campus and watched it with me, and so I think like that also just goes to show because like it's not like he's reading those romance books, like so he like definitely not a hockey one, like so, but I feel like I feel like every summer after just lost the whole plot of it being a romance, so it's like there's yeah, where I feel like even the deal still has or off campus, still shows the romance, heated rivalry still shows the romance, people we eat on vacation still shows the romance. So I'm very curious, but I was I'm going back to your, I'm all over the place. Going back to your not reading the book, I am so excited for the love hypothesis, and I've never read the book, but I also now don't want to read the book, at least until after I see the movie, because I'm so I didn't like the book.
OliviaI'm still watching the movie. I you despised the book. No, but I want to watch the film and see what they do with it. I think what's the joy of having these adaptations is you're getting more people interested in reading again. Because think about it, how many people are gonna go pick up the deal now that they've seen off campus? Oh, so many people are a couple of my friends. Yeah. A couple of my friends at school, I said, Oh, one of my favorite books is becoming a TV show. And they're like, Do I have to read the book before I watch the film? I said, actually, no, I'd recommend you watch the show first and see if you're interested, and then let me know. All three of them are now picking up. Um, I think one of them's on the score, one of them's on the goal, some of them are in the bright you already. Like it's it's one of them picked up people we meet on vacation and beach read and are now on their Emily Henry adventure because of that. Like this, I think it opens up the book world to more people too. So it's it's like this it has the possibility to be a positive mutual relationship, but it also has the possibility to be detrimental.
JordanI think having the author be a part of it can help because, like, all these authors, especially when you're taking a romance book, forget any other genre. If you're taking a romance book, like I think you need the author to be a part of it because they are a romance writer. So, like, they are writing to what their readers want. So essentially, these people picking up the show, like turning on the show, yeah, are the same sort of people, like they're here for the romance. So you need to cater towards the romance and then let them find it. Like, so it's just kind of like it, and maybe they just like pick too big of a book. Like, I don't know, because like I feel like off campus, I don't think it was too big of a book.
OliviaI think they could you've seen it done with some really popular books and it's gone well. I think this is a case of you had the wrong people on the project. Every summer after is a big book, yes. Collie Fortune is a big author, but we've seen it done with even bigger and worked out better. That is true, that is a good point. And it's not even like it's a lack of funding. I mean, you've got Amazon producing it, it's a huge, it's on a lineup for these summer shows to watch. Like we've all seen what the summer attempt pretty did. We've all seen what something that is so bingeable create, and it just did, it just didn't. I think it it missed so many different aspects. So, yeah, I mean, if if you're also disappointed as someone that loved Carly Fortune's books, same here. I don't think you're alone in that feeling. Um, I think we do just have to kind of figure out how we go into these adaptations moving forward and being really open-minded with small changes that happen. But if it's like it changes who the characters are and who the um what the plot is completely, and we lose the essence of that story, I think that's when we have a right to be more frustrated.
Author Rights And Who Gets Control
JordanYeah. I agree. I think like it it's just it's not fair to like I don't I don't even know. Like I just I wish they could have like done it better. I'm I I don't even know. I don't know. I don't even know. And they do, I feel like we do have a right to I don't know. I don't know, but like I feel like if you're looking at off campus, you take like that show came out and it was like five days later, they're like renewed for season two. I think like you don't see that with this one.
OliviaLike, I don't think I think it's a big lesson learned. I think this is gonna be a big example for producers moving forward. I mean, you've got Bee Tree coming out soon. We've got a bunch of other Emily Henry conversions. I think they're gonna look at this and learn from it. Um, Windy City is gonna get looked at.
JordanOh, I'm like really nervous for that one because I love those books so much that like if they're not done right, like I think we'll know right away with just them how they cast it. Like how they cast the Windy City series will be a big tell on how that's I don't know with castings.
OliviaPersonally, I don't know how much I trust castings because every single time a cast is announced, there is this uproar in the bookish community. Look what happened with the Boys of Tommen casting. Like people were up in arms over who was casted for that, and I think it was actually pretty appropriate for casting-wise because they're focusing on keeping it close to the Irish roots. Um that's fair. I think almost every actor in it is Irish. They very much fit the descriptions based on like, you know, the core pieces of who these characters are.
JordanI do think they fit the descriptions very well. I do.
OliviaAnd I think that's the problem. You're not going to be able to visualize a show because you also have to take into effect the into effect into account the changes that the writers are gonna make and where the like where are they shooting it? How are they shooting it? I think those and the playlist, I think the music really matters because the music kind of saved this show. I think it is what kept me interested in it. Like I could not care for some of this stuff in the show. I kept watching, like, I would have turned the show off if I hadn't been invested in seeing Carly's like the the outcome of what the rest of Carly's work was, you know.
JordanDo we know what her thoughts are on about the show? Because all I know I don't think she can say a lot. Fair. But the thing is too, is it's probably easier to be like, she of course is gonna want to say she's gonna want to agree with people. So, like, if the mass, if the masses are saying like, yes, yes, yes, of course it's gonna be so easy to be like yes, yes, yes. But like if the masses are saying no, like of course she's gonna want to say like no, because the masses are, and so like that makes sense. But I am curious because she did say that this Charlie was how she envisioned Charlie. So I thought that was interesting before the show came out. That is what she said, as in the looks of Charlie. I don't know if she meant it as in looks, personality or what she didn't mind Charlie's for like his look and stuff in this.
OliviaI don't I think the big brother scene came through pretty well in the younger scenes with him and Sam and like the playfulness between them.
JordanNo, I think she was talking about adult Charlie, but like that was like who she envisioned as Charlie. She never envisioned a Charlie like while writing the book, but like that Charlie was the Charlie that was Charlie.
OliviaI don't know how many times can I say Charlie? So like No, it's fine. It's trying to understand what she would have meant by that. I I don't think she I think part of it is that she's obviously gonna have to try and promote her own show. Like, there's there's no way that she gets out of this being like, yeah, I was only this on the show and I'm really disappointed by it. She can't go around saying that because it's not in her best interest of the book. It's probably in a some kind of contract with Amazon, but I think if she see once she sees the reader reactions, I think she will start to realize this really missed the mark. I'm also curious how she's gonna feel because like she missed the mark with Meet Me at the Lake, and she had a similar reaction to that after Every Summer After came out. So it's not her first big disappointment, it's just in a different way.
JordanAnd it's so funny because I remember you telling me that, which I'm glad I didn't save it for last, but I didn't like it's it's so fun, and maybe it's because I didn't, it wasn't like just following after every summer after, but like I thought it was okay. Like I liked it, but like I also was able to dive into this summer will be different. So I think it was like a little bit different for me because I was able to have another book to follow it.
OliviaAs a reader that's read every year that she's had a debut, uh not had a debut, had a book come out. I distinctly remember the anxiousness that came, anxiousness, apprehension that came with picking up this summer will be different because of how disappointing Meet Me at the Lake was. I mean, Meet Me at the Lake was an anticipated read for so many people. And we most people picked it up and were like, this is fine. I don't really care about the relationship. I don't really get the whole thing going on. And then you go into something like this summer will be different, and we're like, hold on, this is like Carly from two years ago. Like this, it just there was such a shift in her writing when it came to meet me at the like that really, I really, really struggled with. Um, and I remember having conversations with people of like, Am I crazy for being disappointed in this? And it most people were. I think if you see a lot of those Carly Fortune rankings coming through now of like how people recommend reading their books, her books, maybe Ebola Lake is the one people are like, you can read it or you can skip it. Because it just doesn't fit. I don't know how to explain, but it doesn't feel like it fits her Emma as an author. There's just something about that book that feels off, you know? Fair, fair. Okay.
JordanI feel like if you haven't read any of her books, you could totally read it, just do not read it last.
OliviaYeah, I think there's just um a yearning that's missing from me, the other lake. I think every year after Want Golden Summer and This Summer Will Be Different, there is some kind of yearning aspect to it. There's something that's just like not only is clawing between the two main characters of like this well, they won't they it's like deeply emotional. There's some sort of raw connection there. But also as the reader, you feel so ingrained into this person's life, like you've watched them for years on the side of a wall, like watching them grow up, or like you understand their motivation so quickly into the books, and that you just have this deep love for them from the minute you meet them, and that was just missing in Lia The Lake. I mean, I still have to pick up our perfect storm. I do too. I do too. I would be really surprised if it was like Amy at the lake.
JordanOkay. Hopefully it's not. I have been seeing a lot of mixed reviews, so I don't know.
OliviaI've only seen positive, so that's interesting.
JordanOh, okay. I've I've either I've been seeing either people love it or they hate it and they're DNFing it.
OliviaI feel like that's probably because it's a friends to love a story.
JordanOh.
OliviaJust it just I'm thinking of like every summer afterwards a friends to lover story, and people will DNF stuff more commonly because of that.
JordanYeah, no, I agree with that. So I I didn't
Adaptation Rules And Watch Party Traditions
Jordanknow, I don't know anything about any book like ever. So like I can't tell you.
OliviaWell, no, because you're the queen of going in blind. That's what I remember knowing you for in the first place. But yeah, hopefully, hopefully this is something that we bounce back from and that we don't have, you know, more adaptations that go this way that's somewhat negative. I'd love to know other people's like little fun rituals or like traditions for when these things kind of come out, you know, with adaptations. I think that because they're becoming more popular, it's kind of fun to have your own little like watch party routine.
JordanOh, yeah.
OliviaSo that'd be kind of something fun. I would love to know more about people. Like that would be such a fun bookish tag question.
JordanThat would, and I feel like it's a great way to end this episode of like, let us know like your fun little traditions on like how you go about watch parties. Cause like I think it's so cool when people like book clubs get together and they're like, Okay, we read this book, like whenever we read this book, like now we're gonna do a watch party of like the show or the movie or whatever it may be. And I think that is so fun. So, like, tell us your guys' fun watch party.
OliviaGo leave it on the Instagram so that we can go read it through, and then maybe me and Jordan can try out some of your tips and tricks, and we can do like a if you guys want a future episode of us talking together, maybe we do a watch party 101 for your favorite bookish adaptations.
JordanYes, I love it. And again, Olivia, thank you so much for coming on the podcast and joining me in this not so positive filled episode, but a very much needed criticizing the importance of a good adaptation.
OliviaYou're so welcome. You know that we are some of the most honest people when it comes to this stuff. So what can't you you can't have anything get better without an honest review?
JordanAin't that the truth.