Welcome to our Birthday Episode!! This week, Britt and Hannah each celebrated our 33rd birthday! Now, we're sharing 33 of our favorite things with you ❤

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Forever & Always, Keep Reading with Kindness

Foreign.

Welcome to the Other side of the Page, a bookish podcast where we yap about the books we love and.

The songs that give us main character energy.

We're here to sift through the chaos that is our TBR and to let.

You know why a book might just be your next favorite read.

I'm Brit, dramatic plot twist lover and champion for MMCs needing to be more pathetic and down bad.

And I.

And I'm Hannah.

Reader release five books at once and a detailed fantasy map enthusiast.

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Week is our birthday episode.

We are celebrating our 33rd birthday.

Okay.

And we'll be walking you through 33 of our favorite things.

Yes.

So my birthday is.

Was today's my birthday.

But this is releasing Wednesday, so my birthday was on the 10th, Hannah's was on the 11th.

And today we are each sharing 11 of our favorite things plus a combined 11 favorites.

So we have everything from food to shows to authors and books.

So grab an iced coffee or ice chai and let's turn the page together.

Dear reader, we.

We will not be going over the books mentioned in detail, so please look up any trigger warnings before diving in if you have any concerns.

Because the books we mention, if you haven't read them, you probably should.

You definitely should.

We just thought it'd be fun to do another Story of Us episode to kind of get to know us a little bit better.

And yeah, we are going to share some of our favorite things.

And what we're going to do is panel will do one, I'll do one on the same theme and then we will do a combined one.

So, um, I'm just.

I'm so excited.

So, Hannah, do you want to kick things off with so far?

Yeah, I.

And that's aftertaste by Daria Lavelle.

But there are some really good honorable mentions because.

And I know I'm forgetting a ton.

Probably.

Yes, but Enchantra by Cailee Smith, Katabasis by RF Kuang Onyx Storm.

And just gosh, there's been so many.

And I know I'm forgetting a lot, but those are the four probably that have stuck with me the most.

Yeah.

That I've read.

There are so many good ones.

Absolutely iconic.

My honorable mentions are also Enchantment by Kaye Smith and Onyx Storm.

Just because Onyx Storm, like what that did to us.

A couple romances, 32 days in May by Betty Carrillo, you with a View by Jessica Joyce and some horror I threw in there.

When the Wolf Comes Home by Nat Cassidy and the Mean Ones by Tatiana.

Her last name is escaping me, but it was so good.

And also I loved Aftertaste.

I could just go on and on.

2025 has been such a banger of a reading year.

So it's really, it's really been good.

Y But one of our combined favorite books that we did not read this year.

Anything about us.

Yes.

Is Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez.

And we had to mention this book because our taste in books where it might seem like we like the same kind of books all the time, but we very differently.

Very different.

Very, very differently.

Very different.

But this is one of our favorite books.

Like both of us enjoyed it and it just continues to sit at the.

Top of our list.

Yes.

And now we're going to talk about favorite drink.

We kind of, you know, give it away in our in our opener.

But Hannah, favorite drink for you.

Iced chai latte.

Ice drinks all year round.

Year round, year round.

I know it's snowing in Michigan.

I'm recording this in Florida right now on my annual birthday vacation.

And iced coffee, even when it's snowing.

And cold iced coffee for me again, sub zero temperatures.

You can also always catch me with an alani in my hand.

Blue or cherry slush in particular are my faves.

And then another combined favorite of ours for of all, Argue with the Wall.

Hannah is in school for her library sciences masters.

She's a library assistant right now.

And she says that it counts.

So it counts.

Audiobooks.

Audiobooks count for reading Argue with the Wall.

Like I said, audiobooks are the one way that with both of our lives.

We can consume literally the original.

Like books.

Right.

The storytelling.

Oral.

Oral storytelling.

Like that let's how it ever all started.

So.

Exactly.

So we live and die by audiobooks.

They're so good.

Yes.

Next we're gonna talk about our favorite genres.

My favorite genre is probably Fiction.

But more specifically I. I think I lean towards more fantasy.

Sci fi for sure.

Yeah.

And not just like Romanasy, which I think people automatically think of with fantasy.

Yep.

But I do like like the dark academia vibes, the sci fi vibes, all of that.

But totally.

I do love a good romance here and there too in a thriller.

But I think looking at my overall books that I tend to gravitate towards and like definitely fantasy sci fi.

Well.

And I feel like this year we've kind of honed our tastes a little bit more.

Like we started reading more widely and more diversely and I think we've kind of like found what our niche genres are.

So for me, my favorite genre split between romance and thriller pretty equally.

And as someone who literally never read romance, I did a complete 180 and now I love romance, I write romance, and my fanfic days are coming back full force to haunt me.

But I love being spooked and shocked with a good plot twist in a thriller.

And in thrillers I also lump horror in there because horror has slowly become like another top favorite of mine.

Not gratuitous horror, more of like psychological.

So yeah, yeah, combined favorite, obviously.

Taylor Swift, of course.

Need we say more?

Let's do a pulse check.

What are your top three songs on the life of a showgirl right now?

Wish List, Honey and Fate of Ophelia.

Love that.

And Elizabeth Taylor is like still right.

Creeping up on there.

Mine is wood slash father figure.

They've been alternating, you know, 1 and 2.

And then the feet of Ophelia is up there for me as well.

My favorite color is pink.

Love that.

I used to pretend like it wasn't and tried to be a purple girl.

I'm not.

Pink is.

Pink is where I land.

Yeah, I.

My favorite color is orange or purple, but I don't wear a ton of either.

I just visually love the colors.

I just so happen to be wearing pink.

Yeah, I feel like I don't wear a lot of pink, but here I am.

Yep.

Another thing that we love combined, you know, as an activity, as a.

What do I want to call this?

Like a.

A way of life really is being certified fangirls for literally anything we do.

So to go along with the Taylor Swift one, we originally bonded in college over our shared love of One Direction.

And we're both fangirls to our core.

We embrace the cringe, we love things that bring people joy, and we will forever love things.

A not normal amount.

Like, I cannot just enjoy something.

I need to adopt it.

And like absorb it through osmosis into my entire being.

Yes, 100%.

Yeah.

So outside of reading, my hobby is crafting.

Yeah, really like any type of craft.

Just started.

Embroidery.

I can sew, I can do a lot of things.

So any craft, like sign me up, I'll do it.

Yeah.

And they always turn out so freaking cute.

Like you definitely get that creative like thing from your mom too.

Because your mom is so creative.

Like I know you guys make and I cutest stuff.

Sometimes I think like I'm not very creative but I compare myself to my mom who's like, yeah, queen.

Yeah.

No, it's amazing.

Outside of reading right now, you can catch me writing a lot.

I am currently querying my debut novel and I'm about to start drafting another one.

I kind of already started.

But I also love to cook like outside of the bookish space.

And I'm a very low key gamer.

Don't call me a gamer, girl.

I'm not trying to be somebody.

But right now I'm obsessed.

Obsessed with repo.

The new monster update, Phasmophobia, the new maps just coming out.

I also still play Toontown, you guys, if anyone, if that strikes a deep core memory for anyone, Toontown is still available.

You can play that.

Mario Party Animal Crossing is coming out with a new update next year.

I just like cozy, fun games.

So.

Yes.

And another combined favorite is road trips.

We just took a road trip a couple months ago that was so fun.

But give us a good playlist, snacks and we are on our way.

Yes.

And we had every intention of listening to an audiobook and we literally started one and then we couldn't shut the up.

We literally like.

And they're like, bro, we can't do this.

I gotta keep talking.

We have to keep yapping.

Like it just.

Oh, it was.

But it was so much fun.

I loved it.

Yes.

I can smell my dinner cooking, so it's perfect time for this.

Next favorites.

Our favorite food.

Yes.

And my favorite food are potatoes.

I think mashed potatoes are the best.

Hash browns are the worst.

Unless it's a McDonald's hash brown.

But like, okay, yeah, hash browns are my least favorite potato.

Interesting.

My least favorite potato is a baked potato.

Baked potato is basically a mashed potato.

Like a pre mashed potato.

Correct.

But like you just have to do too much to the inside to get it to taste remotely.

Like I would just rather have deliciously fluffed and whipped mashed potatoes than crunchy baked potato that I have to try and make taste better.

I'd rather have that over a hash brown, though.

I love.

But I'm a texture person, so I love a crisp.

A crispy crunch situation.

You know, I. I love that potatoes just like the.

The situation as a whole.

Is your favorite.

Yes.

Yeah.

My favorite food of all time.

So my mom is Lebanese.

She's first gen, born here.

I grew up on Coosa and grape leaves, and it's like stuffed squash, sl Zucchini situation and stuffed grape leaves.

I would eat that every day for the rest of my life and be happy.

It's one of my favorite meals, like, period.

And now we're like.

Like, our two are related.

Our combined ones are not.

We're just vibing on the combined ones.

Yeah.

We have another book here.

And again, we know this one is a controversial book.

Every time we say it, we mention it.

Because I know a lot of people that have read it and did not like it, but I have.

We Used to Live Here by Marcus Cleaver.

We couldn't get enough of this book.

We picked it because it was, like, starting to get a little viral on TikTok and we needed something for spooky season.

And come to find out, we both read it like two and a half, three times.

We spiraled about our theories.

Yes.

Can't wait.

All right, so this next one is going to be our favorite TV shows.

Yes.

And I realized when I put these down that there is a character in both of them.

And I didn't even put two and two together.

But yeah, mine is Veronica Mars and Gossip Girl are the two shows I watch the most.

I love.

I would watch them again over and over again.

I think I've seen both of them at least three, four times.

Veronica Mars, probably like four or five times.

Yeah.

But those two are my favorite.

I love that.

Schitt's Creek is a forever favorite of mine.

I've watched it about eight time.

I think eight times all the way through because it's.

They're short episodes.

It's so bingeable.

But I've also done crazy rewatches on the Good Place, New Girl Bones, Criminal Minds, then our next combined one.

Yes.

Hockey.

Hockey, Definitely favorite sport, hockey.

I grew up with a hockey family.

I have all boy cousins, uncles.

Everybody played hockey in my family except me.

Um, but let's go Red Wings.

Red Wings all the way.

And Brit, what's your goal?

So I am working to see the Red Wings play every team live at least once.

I've seen 21 out of the 31 teams so far, and I have two games that I'm definitely going to this season where I will cross two more off of that list.

So I'll have eight more to go.

And I'll probably do a couple more games this season.

And I've seen some teams, like, a few times.

Like, I've seen Tampa quite a few times, especially because we went to some of the playoff games.

I've seen Boston a lot.

Florida Panthers, all that fun stuff.

But I just.

My dead.

The Coyotes before they disappeared.

I actually think I did.

I think I did.

Because I'm gonna see the Utah Mammoth for our holiday party this year at work.

We're going to a Red Wings game together.

Fun.

Yes.

So very excited for that.

But I'm pretty sure I saw the.

Coyote hire me back since I didn't go last year.

You want to come?

Do you want to join us?

But, yeah, I just.

I love hockey.

I'll watch sports, too.

Like, I just.

I'll watch pretty much anything but basketball.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I love hockey.

Well, so next, I did like our favorite cities that we've been to.

Yeah.

And I would say, like, London is probably my favorite city that I've been to in the world.

I would love to go back again.

Followed Shenano.

I like New York, too, but I think London's my favorite.

Yeah.

I love that.

I've only visited, like, a few.

Like, I'm.

I've traveled, but not, like, a ton.

But I went to Rome, and I absolutely loved Rome.

But I also spent a month studying abroad in Jordan, and then I visited family in Lebanon after.

And specifically, like, Beirut was just so beautiful in Lebanon.

And I just.

I don't know.

I am so excited.

I would love to see Ireland and Greece are my top two places that I would like to travel to.

Hopefully in the next few years is.

Up there for me too.

Yeah.

Our next one I'm excited about.

Yes.

So we talked about, like, TV shows combined, though.

We are reality TV junkies.

However, we occupy two different sides of the same reality TV coin.

You can catch us watching all the shows, but Hannah falls on the Bravo side and I fall on the competition reality side.

So what are your favorites?

I mean, Vanderpump Rules is my favorite reality show.

We'll see how this new season plays out.

But, um.

And then early seasons of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.

I think those were classic.

And I do love Love Island.

Yeah.

And, like, early Big Brother, though, was my favorite.

I watched a lot of early Big Brother.

Yeah.

Survivor is my number one, my go to.

I adore Survivor.

And in that same vein, like the Traders, the mole, the challenge, while I'm here in Florida, we just started one called Million Dollar Secret on Netflix because we find a rotting show every year and we're like three.

Three episodes in three or four hooked.

I love weird competition reality.

However, catch me always watching Love is Blind.

New seasons like that, but I just prefer the competition side of things.

I think that's why Traders.

I love Traders too.

But it's fun to watch it with you because I'm like, oh, this person from Survivor.

You're like, yeah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

This is the lore.

And you're like, oh, this person from Big Brother or Love Island.

I'm like, oh, this is the lore.

Yes.

I know.

Like, our crossover covers just about every celebrity.

That's odd.

The traitors.

I love it.

I'm a dog person.

I'm a cat.

Maybe because I'm allergic to cats.

Yeah.

I'm a cat person, but I'm a dog sitter.

So I watch other people's dogs, but I have cats and I. I just didn't grow up with dogs.

So I think it's oftentimes what you grow up with, you end up being most comfortable with.

So, like, yeah, cats.

But I do love dogs.

I just.

For me owning cats, I'll take it.

Oh.

Thinking back to, like, where romance really started, I would say, like, Sarah Dessen is one of the authors that really kind of formulated our opinion on the romance.

Yeah.

Early.

Early on.

Yep.

And like, really shaped us.

And we are Sarah Dessen fans.

Yes.

And cannot wait for her next book.

I know she's releasing a new one.

I can't wait.

I gotta go.

We.

I know we talked about it a while back, but I gotta go.

I'm pretty sure I've read every single one of hers.

Yeah.

Even, like, her ones.

I know there's some that you said you haven't.

It was the.

I didn't read ST anything the not.

But I definitely read every, like Keeping the Moon.

Just listen.

Like all of those early ones I devoured.

Yes.

The next favorites we have are our favorite albums.

I narrowed it down to three, but I could probably go on and on because there's a lot of albums that I would listen to cover to cover.

Yep.

But reputation for sure.

Harry Styles 1.

Yep.

Love that album.

And if I can't have love.

I want Power by Halsey.

I love that.

Mine are the torture poets department.

It still has not.

That is my reigning champion.

Monuments and Melodies by Incubus, Infinity On High by Fall Out Boy.

And also I had to throw in four by One Direction.

I love that album so much.

Our next combined favorite.

So it's.

We both like musicals.

Hannah likes musicals like here, and I like musicals like here, but she's a Broadway junkie.

What are your favorite musicals?

Wicked and six are probably the two that I gravitate towards the most, but I like a lot of them.

Those are the two, like, mainstream ones that people would know.

Yeah.

I love that.

She was very chill about that.

But in the outline, she very specifically put she loves Wicked and six like, they are air she needs to breathe.

So I just need everyone to know that she just significantly downplayed her love for these.

Yeah, it's.

It's an obsession.

It's fine.

I do also have a history with Waitress and watching the YouTube recording of it multiple times.

Same thing with Legally Blonde, the musical.

Those are my two my go tos.

But I cannot wait for Wicked Part 2.

I cannot wait.

We can talk offline about that.

Yeah.

But now going into movies.

Favorite movie.

This is not me saying that this is a good movie.

I'm just prefacing it that way.

I'm not saying this is a good movie.

I'm not, like, out here gonna defend it to you.

Yeah.

But this is my.

My favorite movie.

Yep.

And that's Twilight.

Follow closely by Shrek.

Shrek is a cinematic masterpiece.

I still have not seen a red Twilight.

We will get to that one day.

It's gonna be content.

Because it has to.

It's a meme at this point.

Like, it has to.

Um, but speaking of cinematic masterpieces, the Devil Wears Prada, I. I found it recently.

It was on my YouTube, like, premium.

And then they had it on Hulu.

And any chance I get that I don't know what to watch, I will put on the Devil Wears Prada because I think it is phenomenal.

I need to watch it again.

It's been a while since I've seen it.

I.

Top to bottom, iconic.

And to round out number 33, our final favorite combined favorite, if you were paying attention, it is just books.

Overall.

Books.

It might seem obvious.

I mean, we talked about certain special books and different mediums to read those books, but overall, one of our favorite things is books.

And we wouldn't be here without.

Without that.

Yeah.

And like, it's just one of those like reading to writing and reconnecting with it.

Like always have had a love of books growing up, had a love of writing for me in college and then losing it, reconnecting with it.

It's just, I don't know, I just love that now that we're like in our 30s and like 40, fully leaning into who we are and like, where we're going, we've rediscovered that, like, really big piece of ourselves.

So.

Yes.

And that was Happy birthday.

Happy birthday to us.

Those 33 fun things to get to know us a little bit better.

Yes.

Thank you so much for turning the pages with us this week and be sure to follow us on TikTok, Instagram, Patreon and join our newsletter to keep up with everything on the other side of the page.

It would be the greatest birthday present.

It sure would.

And please, please, please drop a review in a five star rating of the podcast on your preferred platform and share it with your bookish besties.

And next week we had some change in plans, but we are going to be finally talking about Girl Dinner by Olivie Blake and cannot wait to talk about that.

That was so much fun.

So we are so excited.

We will see you next week, November 19th.

So sorry guys.

I had a bad sinus infection and we could not record.

It was, it was nasty.

But we're gonna talk about Girl dinner, sororities, cannibalism, all that fun stuff.

So forever and always keep reading with kindness.

Bye everyone.

Happy birthday.

Happy birthday.