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Recs #101: A spicy memoir, celebrity gossip, and August reads

And lots of links...

Alisha Ramos

Aug 8

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This is the Friday recs post at Downtime, a weekly roundup of culture, books, delights, and things on my radar for my paying readers. You should subscribe, if you haven’t already! Today’s email is long and will cut off; see the full version on the web.

Hey, happy Friday! The weather is looking gorgeous, and we’re planning to spend lots of time outdoors this weekend celebrating our daughter’s second birthday. After a fantastic reading month in July, I have a few new books ready to crack open, too (more on that below). What are you up to?

-Alisha

📚 ICYMI: Book club is coming back in September! What should we read together? Submit your ideas here in this form.

What’s below the paywall today?: My August reading list, the easiest dessert for summer, recent reader comments I loved, and why bookshops might be the hottest dating scene right now.

In case you missed it, Friday Recs are now just for paid subscribers. Free readers get a preview, but the full version (and all the good stuff) goes to paid subs. It’s $5/month to join—and now, these Friday posts are also completely ad-free, so it’s just you, me, and the recs.

5 feel-good finds this week…

To read: I’m loading up my audiobooks queue with a few fun reads, including Tart: Misadventures of an Anonymous Chef by Slutty Cheff (omg that author pseudonym!) which is, according to the publisher, “a hilarious, hot, and steamy account of coming of age in and out of the kitchen” and Gwyneth Paltrow’s unauthorized biography by Amy Odell, which already has some juicy tidbits making the rounds (Gwyneth has some thoughts about her exes Ben Affleck and Brad Pitt).
A practical find: I’ve been using this ingrown hair roll-on stick, perfect for summer and so easy to use.
Chill out: A bunch of you grabbed these CBD/THC gummies last week and asked…and Earlybird came through with a code for us! Use ALISHA for 20% off through Friday, August 15. I’ve found them to be effective and relaxing...

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