It's our favorite time of the year! This episode could also be titled "The Great Obsession Awards" because we have nominees, we have winners, and we have flops. Join us for a roundup of all the most memorable books, movies, TV, and pop culture moments we got from 2025.
TIMESTAMPS:
(02:50) Books
(30:07) Movies
(38:31) TV
(01:02:42) Boy of the Year
(01:10:42) Pop Culture
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RiLee's Goodreads & Sam's Goodreads
There were a lot of mixed feelings on this one. We read Rebecca Ross' latest release, Wild Reverence, the prequel to the Divine Rival series.
Rating: 6/10
0:00 - Intro
8:17 - One Minute Reviews (spoiler free)
13:10 - Spoiler Review
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RiLee's Goodreads & Sam's Goodreads
16 boys. 1 winner. And like 5 flops. It's showdown time! We had so many good candidates for our "white boy of the year" that we expanded it into an episode (and expanded outside of white boys, lol). Our boys go head-to-head in a bracket until we get a winner based on performance, charisma, permeation of pop culture, and mostly vibes.
This episode is spoiler free!
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RiLee's Goodreads & Sam's Goodreads
It is that time of year again! Here is our roundup episode of all the books we read on the pod in 2025.
Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries, Onyx Storm, Bad Mormon, Legendborn, The Unmaking of June Farrow, The God of the Woods, Sunrise On The Reaping, Deep End, Great Big Beautiful Life, The Girl Who Fell Beneath The Sea, We Were Liars, Atmosphere, Project Hail Mary, A Witch’s Guide to Magical Innkeeping, Legends and Lattes, The Woman In Cabin 10, Alchemy of Secrets, The Housemaid, and Mate
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RiLee's Goodreads & Sam's Goodreads
Happy December! RiLee did a lot of reading, Sam did a lot of movie-watching, and new releases like Wicked have given us much to discuss. Today's vibe check is spoiler free besides one minor Wicked spoiler, which we warn you before sharing.
(00:00) Intro & life updates kiki
(11:55) Reading Report
(24:02) Movies
(45:00) TV
(59:56) Release Radar
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RiLee's Goodreads & Sam's Goodreads
Delayed gratification, cults, and meaningful sex. For our November book club we read Mate by Ali Hazelwood and loved it!
0:00 Intro
4:37: One Minute Reviews and non-spoiler discussion
10:01 Spoiler Discussion
Rating: 7.5/10
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RiLee's Goodreads & Sam's Goodreads
We love to read a mega-hyped Booktok book with an upcoming movie adaptation, so naturally we HAD to pick up The Housemaid and see what Freida McFadden is all about. In today's review we discuss the insanity of the plot, whether or not we predicted the twists, and our thoughts on the choice to adapt this to film. Did this one live up to the hype? (Spoiler alert: they almost never do.)
Our 1-minute reviews and initial ratings start at (16:46). Full spoiler discussion starts at (20:00).
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RiLee's Goodreads & Sam's Goodreads
Preemptive apologies, we both are getting over some sickness so this episode is full of croaky voices and throat clearing...celebs, we are just like everyone else. Even though we were sick and busy we actually managed to have a lot of content to cover. Thankfully, RiLee was still chronically online when we recorded this. Check back in next month to see if she has an identity crisis during November!
0:00 - Life Updates
20:29 - Book Review
38:05 - Book Release Radar
41:38 - Movie Reviews
56:47 - TV Reviews
58:50 - TV Watch Report
1:04 - Movie Watch Report
1:12:50 - Music Review
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RiLee's Goodreads & Sam's Goodreads
Welcome to our October book club! We're so glad you voted for this one because it means the Stephanie Garber girls are still with us. Garber's long-awaited adult debut is here and it gave us so much to talk about... love interests, time-travel magic, mysterious objects, folklore and more!
Spoiler discussion starts at (14:05).
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RiLee's Goodreads & Sam's Goodreads
Following our review of the book The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware we are back to discuss Netflix's movie adaptation and unfortunately, this was more of a Titanic experience than a Love Boat experience. This was not our favorite movie adaptation and the majority of our discussion focuses on questionable deviations (and spoilers!) from the book. Into Netflix's woman-verse we go...
TIMESTAMPS:
2:32- Book Discussion Begins
4:35 - Spoilers and One Minute Reviews
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Email: thegreatobsessionpod@gmail.com
RiLee's Goodreads & Sam's Goodreads
We've lived many lives since September and we are finally here to report on them!
(03:21) Reading Report
(10:01) Watch Report - Movies
(41:10) Watch Report - TV
(1:03:10) Music
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Email: thegreatobsessionpod@gmail.com
RiLee's Goodreads & Sam's Goodreads
She is finally here! Taylor Swift has birthed her 12th child and we are here to discuss it. In this episode we cover our first thoughts on the album, the album theatre release and discuss each track in detail. From cringey lyrics to hidden lore, we've got it all. Unfortunately, the word schlong is thrown out...that's showbiz baby!
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RiLee's Goodreads & Sam's Goodreads
A hysterical woman no one believes??? What an unreal, never before read story! Jokes. All tropes aside, we had fun discussing The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware and RiLee's Reddit habits.
0:00 - General Discussion
7:40 - One Minute Reviews (spoilers)
10:44 - Detailed Book Discussion
Rating: 6/10
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RiLee's Goodreads & Sam's Goodreads
Jenny Han had us in a chokehold all the way through that finale. We're crying because it's over. Smiling because it happened. And also raising our eyebrows because... what the hell was that?
This episode contains spoilers for the entirety of seasons 1-3 of The Summer I Turned Pretty. Today we're discussing primarily episodes 7-11 of season 3. For our thoughts on episodes 1-6, Listen Here!
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RiLee's Goodreads & Sam's Goodreads
We are FULLY committing to the fall season and leaning into all our cozy impulses (even if it is 90 degrees in Texas). In the spirit of coziness and frankly limited mental bandwidth we are reading Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree, the ultimate relaxing vibe.
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RiLee's Goodreads & Sam's Goodreads
Today's game showed us that some authors open their books with a bang, and others...well... go girl give us nothing. We had a great time either way, and we hope you do too! Most of these lines are from books we've covered on the pod, so play along with us and see if your memory is better than ours. (It probably is.)
This episode is completely spoiler-free, unless you consider knowing the opening scene of a book to be a spoiler, in which case that's an L for you.
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RiLee's Goodreads & Sam's Goodreads
August was BUSY.
7:29:45 Books
36:52
1:01:57 TV
1:17:43 Music
1:26:55 Upcoming
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RiLee's Goodreads & Sam's Goodreads
Welcome to our August book club! This was the perfect book to get us in a cozy fall mood as we transition to a new season. Whimsy, witches and found family will do it for us every time!
(00:00 - 04:04) Intro & drinks
(04:05 - 13:46) Spoiler-free discussion, 1-minute reviews and initial ratings
(13:47 - 01:02:21) Spoiler discussion & full review
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Email: thegreatobsessionpod@gmail.com
RiLee's Goodreads & Sam's Goodreads
You are showgirl! Im a showgirl! We are all showgirls!!
In this episode we cover our latest thoughts on the Summer I Turned Pretty S3 (through ep 6) and of course, the big T Swift announcement, as well as a roundup of all our anticipated watches and reads over the next month.
7:52: The Summer I Turned Pretty S3 (Contains spoilers for episodes 1-6 of S3, as well as S1 and S2)
36:09 Taylor Swift - The Life of a Showgirl announcement
55:37 Watchlist
55:52 TV
1:00 Movies
1:03:35 Books
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Instagram: @thegreatobsessionpod
Email: thegreatobsessionpod@gmail.com
RiLee's Goodreads & Sam's Goodreads
After last week's discussion of sexual awakenings and Speed Racer (2008), our most all-consuming fictional crushes are at the forefront of our minds. We learn things about each other in this episode... RiLee even reads from her middle school diary.
SPOILER WARNINGS: The Princess Diaries series by Meg Cabot, Percy Jackson & The Olympians series by Rick Riordan, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen.
FIND US AT:
Instagram: @thegreatobsessionpod
Email: thegreatobsessionpod@gmail.com
RiLee's Goodreads & Sam's Goodreads