This week, I talk with Brittany Penner about her memoir Children Like Us, a haunting, deeply reflective exploration of identity, faith, and survival. Brittany shares what it was like growing up as an Indigenous child adopted into a Mennonite family that fostered dozens of other children, unpacking the long-term impact of the Sixties Scoop, religious indoctrination, and being taught to feel “grateful” for circumstances rooted in colonial harm.

We dive into dissociation, self-abandonment, storytelling as a tool for healing, and the complicated reality of holding love for family while confronting the systems that caused lasting damage.

We discuss grief, nuance, and reclamation, ultimately asking what it means to trust your own memory, honor your pain, and slowly learn how to walk yourself home.

Learn more about Brittany here

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Other Co-hosts On Instagram:

Gare Billings @gareindeedreads

Steph Lauer @books.in.badgerland

Halley Sutton @halleysutton25

Brian Watson @readingwithbrian

MacKenzie Green @missusa2mba

This week, I talk with Brian Recker about his book Hell Bent, which examines how fear-based teachings about hell distort Christian spirituality, replacing love, connection, and moral discernment with control, shame, and punishment avoidance. Drawing from his upbringing in fundamentalism and later work as an evangelical pastor, he shares how early indoctrination around hell fractures relationships with God, self, and others, discourages intuition and questioning, all while propping up systems of domination—from abusive religious authority to political movements rooted in fear. Rather than abandoning spirituality altogether, he reclaimed Jesus from these systems, reframing faith as a practice of love, justice, and liberation in this life instead of an anxious fixation on the afterlife.

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Check out the Bookwild Community on Patreon

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Other Co-hosts On Instagram:

Gare Billings @gareindeedreads

Steph Lauer @books.in.badgerland

Halley Sutton @halleysutton25

Brian Watson @readingwithbrian

MacKenzie Green @missusa2mba

This week, I talk with John Fram about the creative process behind his new horror-thriller The Midnight Knock, a genre-blending desert nightmare. He dives into selling the book early, wrestling with a complex multi-POV structure, and navigating the behind-the-scenes realities of publishing—from word-count limits to printing costs to foreign rights. He traces the story’s roots from a childhood moment of awe in West Texas to the unsettling idea of an endless highway, explaining how claustrophobia, cosmic horror, indigenous-informed mythology, and a terrifying owl-snake creature all converged in a motel where the guests can’t outrun their pasts—or the desert itself.

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Other Co-hosts On Instagram:

Gare Billings @gareindeedreads

Steph Lauer @books.in.badgerland

Halley Sutton @halleysutton25

Brian Watson @readingwithbrian

MacKenzie Green @missusa2mba

This week, Gare, Steph and I share our last, current and next reads!

Kate's Books

Last - Degenerate by Matt Casamassina

Current - Children Like Us by Birttany Penner

Next - Good Dirt by Charmaine Wilkerson

Gare's Books

Last - All the Little Houses by May Cobb

Current - Heated Rivalry by Rachel Ried

Next - The House Guests by Amber and Danielle Brown

Steph's Books

Last - Everyone is Lying to You by Jo Piazza

Current - At Least You Have Your Health by Madi Sinha

Next - Seduction Theory by Emily Adrian

Check Out Author Social Media Packages

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Other Co-hosts On Instagram:

Gare Billings @gareindeedreads

Steph Lauer @books.in.badgerland

Halley Sutton @halleysutton25

Brian Watson @readingwithbrian

MacKenzie Green @missusa2mba

This week, Kristi DeMeester shares how her new novel Dark Sisters emerged from a collision of personal history, cultural rage, and the disturbing ease with which faith, patriarchy, and power can be weaponized. We discuss purity culture, megachurch hypocrisy, witch-trial history, feminist reclamation, the generational impact of religious fundamentalism, and how horror can become a perfect container for social truth-telling, female rage, and bittersweet hope.

Check out the book here:

Dark Sisters by Kristi DeMeester

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Other Co-hosts On Instagram:

Gare Billings @gareindeedreads

Steph Lauer @books.in.badgerland

Halley Sutton @halleysutton25

Brian Watson @readingwithbrian

MacKenzie Green @missusa2mba

This week, MacKenzie Green is back and we dive into the complexities of pop culture, the deeper meanings embedded in modern media, how storytelling has evolved, the impact of anti-intellectualism, and the importance of critical engagement with entertainment.

We discuss the intersection of identity and societal issues, emphasizing that every piece of content carries a message, whether overt or subtle, and the necessity of understanding historical context in shaping narratives amidst a growing trend of superficial engagement with media.

We also share how finding and creating communities that value intellectual rigor and deeper analysis of art is has helped both of us, and how even if you don't align with everyone in your family, a found family can be just as powerful.

Check Out Author Social Media Packages

Check out the Bookwild Community on Patreon

Check Out My Stories Are My Religion Substack

Get Bookwild Merch

Follow @imbookwild on Instagram

Other Co-hosts On Instagram:

Gare Billings @gareindeedreads

Steph Lauer @books.in.badgerland

Halley Sutton @halleysutton25

Brian Watson @readingwithbrian

MacKenzie Green @missusa2mba