¶ Meet Lex And The NerdFam
You might know her from her bookstagram account, Fully Booked Babe. She's a lover of all things romance and fantasy. And if a book combines both, even better, she'll devour it every single time, which honestly makes her the perfect fit for her role as a project manager for the Nerd Fam. I mean, how cool is that job? Yeah. Yeah, we are all a little jealous.
Please welcome to the podcast, Lex. Hi. Hi. Thank you so much for having me. Oh my gosh. No, thank you so much for coming on. I'm literally so excited to talk to you. Well, interview you, but like talk. Yeah. Basically. Um, okay, but before we dive in, I do want to ask you what has been the highlight of your week so far.
Okay, so this will dive into my job just a little bit. We have two really exciting, unique projects happening soon at the Nerd Fam. Um, we are going to a book convention in September, and just this week our sponsors got confirmed. So I can't name them, but I cannot wait to tell everyone when I can name them.
I think I have an idea, and I'll have to ask you after this because I think I know what it could be, and I am so excited. If it if I am correct, I am so excited. That is so, but also that is just so cool.
I know, I know. It's like a real big pinch me moment. It feels so validating when we get people that like trust in what we do and then like want to sponsor us. It's just really, really cool.
It I wow, I can't even talk. It really is because I also I feel like I've been following the nerdfam for a while. And I remember how small like the nerd fam was, and now like look at you guys. You guys are like so big.
Yeah, and we really all just love working together. It truly is, it feels like a family, which I know is kind of cheesy considering our name, but I just really love my coworkers and everything we get to do, and it's just like such a joy to be a part of.
Honestly, that is so cool. Can I ask how many people work at the NerdFam in total?
Yeah, so right now I'm just three. So it's me, Rachel, and then our social media creator Tim.
Um well, honestly, three's a party. Like that's a that's a group of people. So like that's kind of cool.
It is. We we have we've gone through phases where we've had four, five, six different people, and right now we're just in uh three people phase. So yeah, they feel like not only my co-workers, but really great friends, and we just like enjoy being together. So it's great.
I mean that that definitely like makes makes the difference when you actually enjoy the people you work with. It just doesn't feel like work. Exactly. Exactly. Okay, so then I kind of want to backtrack a little bit getting into the questions. I kind of want to know like what drew you to the book world.
Because didn't did you have your bookstagram page before you joined the nerd fam, or was it the opposite way?
Yeah, so I had my bookstagram page before. Um, I've always been a reader.
¶ From Bookstagram To Book Work
I joke, like my best friend, I grew up next door to my best friend, and we would have play dates where we would just bring stacks of books to each other's houses, and that's what we would do for hours is just like sit next to each other reading a book, which as an adult also sounds like a dream. Like I would want to do that today.
So I started just reading more and more and noticing like book social media during the pandemic. Um, and fully booked babe was actually fully booked babes, and it was like a group account with me and two friends that only lasted for about six months, and I was like very clearly the one that was posting all the time, like interacting.
They were probably like, What is Lex doing? Like, this no, no, thank you. So we went on vacation together and they like sat me down and they were like, Lex, we just want you to take it. Like, we see how passionate you are. Please, please just like do you, and we'll be here supporting you. And they still are.
There's some of my really great friends, Hannah and Emily. Um, and they still read and we still have like a group chat that talks about books. But yeah, after that vacation, I dropped the S from Fully Booked Babes and it became Fully Booked Babe. And started, I was an author PA for just two small authors, two small indie authors, kind of just on the side.
Um, probably worked about that. Yeah, just I would go to conventions and help. My one author, her name's Bailey Jane. She was a really great friend, and so it kind of just like naturally turned into like PA for her.
And then wanted to like work more in the book world, and someone sent me the nerdfam posting and interviewed and got the job and just haven't looked back.
Wait, that's so cool. Well, can I ask? Are you still a PA to some authors?
Nope. So once I like got, I've kind of grown into the nerdfam role. It started as like just an admin position. Um, and then Rachel is just like the ultimate boss, hype girl, owner of the nerdfam. And she saw my drive and she and I just kept basically I just kept asking her, like, I want more work, give me more work.
And then the job has just like evolved to project manager. So it really was like that's so cool.
I I love that. We love a good supportive boss.
Yes, a thousand percent. She gets so uncomfortable when I call her my boss, like she's gonna listen to this and be like, Lex, why did you why did you do that? I got her a uh like a really big glass thumbprint for her desk, a thumbs up, and it says like best boss ever. And she opened it and I'm sure rolled her eyes and it's like, What is this?
Best gift ever. Um, how did you well then I kind of know you said you like saw the posting, but how did you start working as a project manager at the Nerd Fam?
Yeah, so I saw the posting, um, got invited to an interview, took the interview on like a family vacation. Like I remember being in like a closet in this in this little cottage in Tennessee. We were in the mountains with my husband and three kids. And I was like, sorry guys, gotta gotta go do this. I just really wanted it. And yeah.
And I told Rachel that, and I
¶ What A NerdFam Project Manager Does
think that probably helped worked in my favor a little bit. And then really, it just, yeah, got the job and haven't looked back. Started small tasks here or there. Um, really, my main responsibility in the beginning was to just vet new author inquiries to like make sure that they were like a good fit for the nerd fam. And that's still part of my job today.
Like, I'm probably the first set of eyes that see like if an author wants to work with us, kind of have a process.
Basically, I FBI stalk them and find their social footprint and just make sure that their books are a good fit for our readership and to make sure that like if we were to take them on, that it would be successful because we don't we want it to be worth the return on their investment. We don't want to take advantage of anyone.
So the job kind of started from there, and now I kind of have project manager. We have about 20 to 40 authors a month, depending on like summer tends to be like the busiest season, winter will slow down. Yeah, so it's we have our month, we have our monthly catalog, and that's usually about 10 titles a month.
Um okay, and then Rachel will take on four design projects a month, and then we have like a Discord book club, and then we have like a newsletter that gets sent out every month, and so those don't really have limits on them as much. So yeah, it can be anywhere from like 20 to 40 that we're working with.
And I have my hand in in every single one, some some more than others, but yeah.
But it probably I'm assuming there's like different levels in the sense of like what an author wants, so they could probably do like essentially not trying to like it not saying that they're these words, so there's probably like the lowest package and then the highest package, and it's kind of just like whatever you want to do or can do, and that sort of thing.
Yep, yep. Try to work. We try to have packages from low-end budget to high-end budget and try to fit anyone that wants to work with us that can. Um, so we definitely have some different packages and different price points and hopes to appeal to as many romanticy authors as we can get.
Oh, so then would you say like the focus is romanticy? Do you get people that appla that ask to like work with you guys that aren't romantic?
Yes, for sure. And I think if there's any type of romantic element in the book, it's always almost always a yes for me. Um, we want to make sure like there's no red flags, obviously. Like there's no, we don't work with anyone that has AI on their page, things like that. Um we do work with just fantasy titles.
So even like a book that doesn't have any romance but is fantasy, we've seen do well with our readership as well. But I would say that our heavy focus is romantic and tends to be. There's so many PR companies out there that and they're all very focused.
So yes, yes.
And so like we might not be the best fit for that author, but that's okay because we can always like give them recommendations for somewhere else as well.
That's true. That's like and that and that's kind of nice because I I feel like I always come back to this, but like I love the book world, and this can be in any capacity because I feel like we just all want to share the love of books.
Yes, yes. So a thousand.
That's kind of nice.
Yeah.
Um, so are there any parts of your job that people often underestimate or overlook?
I think people can assume that we're this huge company, and when in reality it's just the three of us. Um, I mean, it has been there's been four, five, six of us, and people have we've either changed services, and so people have had to come and go.
Um, but like most of the time, it's me packing PR and this table behind me, or Rachel packing PR and her kitchen table at home, and answering emails on the go at my kids' sporting games, or we are just really passionate about what we do, and we're want to work hard and we want to support the authors in the best way that we know how.
So even though we're a small team, we're we're mighty.
Small but mighty. I'm just picturing that little cat that's like the roar, but they're like the picture like the lion roar.
But it's like yes, yes, yeah.
Uh so I'm very curious, how do you juggle working with multiple authors and what tools and or platforms do you swear by for staying organized?
Okay, this is a good question. We just overhauled our entire like project management software software. I was very skeptical, skeptical in the beginning. Rachel wanted to
¶ Airtable And Staying Organized At Scale
do it, and I didn't give pushback, but I was like just not looking forward to it because I feel like I've been in this position for about two years now that like you get you get used to the way that your job works. Um we just switched over to Airtable, which has been like a dream come true. It took, there was definitely a learning curve.
Um, but Airtable is basically like an Excel spreadsheet on steroids. It's the capabilities of it and the way that we can stay organized with on the reader aspect and keep like reader info all in one database. If someone's like, hey, did I sign up for this? I can't remember. It's like super easy to figure out if they did.
Um, and then just really easy to share all the readers with our authors. Like for the most part, our authors are looking for early readers so they can build a foundation of reviews before pub day. And we're just able to like easily share that information, whereas before it was not as easy, lots of little steps.
So Airtables made my job extremely, I would say more. I guess it would make my job a lot easier than it was the first two years. So that just happened within the last month and a half, maybe. So it's been a nice little change. But I finally feel like we're settled. I've got the hang of it.
Rachel has been doing a lot of work in it in the last couple weeks. And I'm still not on the same level as her, but confident I'll get there one day.
I I feel like a I see like a lot of people using Airtable and swear by it. So I guess it's like really confusing, but once you learn it, it's amazing. It's just confusing until you do. Yes, yes, that's exactly it. Yes. So that like scares me. Not that I need air table for anything, but I just like people talking about it.
Maybe one day you'll have so many guests that you have to keep track of everything.
So that's true. That's true. Maybe fingers crossed one day.
Yeah.
Uh so what does a typical day as a project manager look like? And is there even such a thing as a typical day?
So it does change, I would say. Not every day is the same. Um, if I can back up a little bit, I'll just say for anyone that doesn't know, the NerdFam is a social media marketing company. So we help indie authors, trad authors market their books on social media.
As we've seen with like book talk on TikTok, like a viral post or a few viral posts or a few big creators can really make or break an author's career.
Um, and so we leverage our past titles and our readership, and we just help authors in many different ways, whether they want to be part of our monthly catalog, which can help them find early readers, or the NerdFAM lately has been known for our beautifully like designed PR boxes.
Um, Rachel's the head of design, and so I just like help her implement all those things. But the shock and awe of some of our recent projects has we've seen a lot of good content out of and a lot of success and a lot of like sales for our authors because of some PR mailings that we've done. Um, so a lot of different services.
I think our influencer mailing campaigns, those pretty campaigns, those are the highest end of I say what we offer authors, and but definitely have some smaller packages out there as well.
Um, so my day can look like vetting new author inquiries, sending contracts, answering emails, um collaborating with Tim, who's our social content maker, and just planning posts, whether it's like weeks in advance or day of. Sometimes if there's like a hot trend, we love to love to hop on it.
So yeah, I would say every day is a little bit different, which is kind of nice.
No, that is that is kind of nice because then you you're not doing like the same thing over and over again. Can we I want to go back to because you mentioned doing PR for Trad authors? Do you need to get permission from the publisher, or is that something that you really just need to work with the author? I'm I'm just kind of curious how that works.
Yeah. So we've done it both ways where we worked direct with the publisher or just direct with the author. So if the author's Trad, I would say that they probably have to get permission. We're not the ones asking for permission. Um, but if they decide they want to work with us, they can ask our publisher publisher for permission.
Um, typically they need, if they're doing like a PR campaign with us, they need physical books. And so usually that conversation happens when they ask for physical copies for the mailers. And then there's been some times where we've worked with the author and then the publisher is like, hey, we really like that idea. Can we can we get in on this?
And now we'll have the author reach out direct, especially for our catalogs. If they're looking for early readers for a title, um, they see the value in our readership and in our early readers, and they and they tend to book those packages with us. So that's been we do it both sides, author direct and publisher direct.
Well, how has a publisher ever reached out being like, can you do a PR package for this book? Or is it still through the author to the publisher?
We've definitely had, I would say the PR campaigns are direct through the author. There might be one or two times, but I'm struggling to remember any in recent that have been direct from the publisher. Um if they wanted in on it, it's because the author has communicated, hey, I'm doing this, and then the publisher will be like, Oh, we want to help you out.
And so then they'll do they'll help them out.
Okay, that that makes sense. So, what is something listeners might be surprised to learn that goes behind that's learn about what goes behind the scenes of a project manager? Geez, that was hard to get out.
I was gonna say that we're a vault of secrets. There's so many projects that I wish I could talk about that just aren't live yet. Like we have summer tends to be like the busy publishing season for us, at least like project-wise. And we have so many exciting projects on the horizon. And there's so many times where like a friend
¶ Keeping Secrets And Surviving Book Drama
reads a book by an author, and I'm like, but just wait, like I just want to tell you something really exciting, and I and I have to close my mouth and I can't share it. Um, so usually, yeah, I just freak out with my coworkers or my husband because I've gotten permission that I can tell my husband things because there's just no way I wouldn't be able to.
And then that way you can like you can gush about it without have like telling people that you can't tell. Okay, I can I ask, how long was the longest secret you had to keep?
Oh my gosh. Probably the most, I can talk about this because it's live, but probably The Ballad of Falling Dragons by Sarah A. Parker. Um, it that comes out on two, well, that comes out on May 19th. And Sarah reached out to us like many, many months in advance.
And I guess I didn't mention this earlier, but the first time I ever heard of the Nerdfam was in the acknowledgments portion of When the Moon Hatched by Sarah A. Parker. She just like thanked the Nerdfam because Rachel had worked on um like a mailing campaign for Sarah.
And Sarah had just thanked her in the acknowledged acknowledgments, saying, like, that campaign like really changed it for me. Thank you so much. And so I remember reading that book, reading the acknowledgements and being like, What's a nerdfam? And I looked him up on social media and like gave him a follow.
And so for Sarah to reach back out for the sequel was just a really big full circle moment, and she is so kind and such a great human.
And then for her to also be like the author of my favorite all-time romantic series, and she just like sent us a PDF, and that that was probably the hardest secret ever was for me to have this PDF of the most anticipated book of my entire life just on my Kindle, and I couldn't tell a soul. That was so hard. Um, but I can only imagine.
I can only imagine.
That was because that was January, and so now it's May. Yeah. Like, oh goodness. Yes.
Oh my goodness. Well, because like I too, I remember, I think I I don't know how I found the nerdfam, but I my first PR package from them was Nisha J. Tooley's uh Trials of the Sun Queen, which I am so grateful to the Nerdfam because I never would have found her book otherwise. And I am obsessed with that series with my whole heart.
Yes, yes. So imagine, like, yeah, if Nisha were to email you and be like, hey Jordan, you want to work on this thing together? It's die dead on my mind. Yes, yes, die dead.
Okay, so you have a bookstagram, you have your work as a project manager, you have life duties, and you like to read. How do you balance it all?
Yeah. So this was definitely a learning experience for me. Um before this job, I mentioned a little bit I was an author PA, but that was like maybe just five hours a week. Um and before that, I was a full-time stay-at-home mom. So my oldest is now 10. I was working in advertising when I was pregnant with her.
Um, and then had a baby and decided to stay home full-time and just like focus on motherhood. And so when I started author PA, and that was like my first dip my toe in like, let me see if I can um do something more than just being a stay-at-home mom. And then got this Nerdfam job and was working.
I mean, I work from home, but was like working with a set schedule for the first time in 10 years. Um, so it was like definitely a learning curve. I am so very thankful that Rachel like took a chance on me and saw something in me and was just like a super great source of encouragement and like ultimate hype girl.
Like she was always making sure that I was supported and I always and I feel very like loved and supported and encouraged just like working here. So, and my I can't, I mean, I and my husband, I mean, he's like a super dad, and so things at home have changed now that I work and we've like found a new balance and it's great.
But for a while there it was like definitely like, ah, how do I do all of this? So yeah, now it's like I put laundry away on a certain day, I fold it, it goes in like sorted baskets, like just things like that where I've had to like adapt and learn. That wasn't the case for the first 10 years of having kids.
So that's fair because being a mom was essentially your full time job.
Yes, yes, yes.
And I'm just very thankful that my job is books. So then when it comes to like my personal page, fully booked babe, this week content has gone swimmingly. Like I get Inspired from work, which is nice at the NerdFam. Like I always feel like I have ideas in the back of my head.
Other weeks, I mean, ask me next week, and I'll probably be like, oh, I don't have any content ideas or something. But I am just really thankful that my two worlds tend to collide, which is nice.
That that is really nice. Wait, so can I ask, are you technically full-time at the nerdfam? Are you part-time?
Part-time. So 20 to 25 hours a week, I would say.
Okay.
I still feel like that's a good amount. It is. Yes. All my kids are in school full-time. So like I tend to work like when everyone's at school during the day. Um, and then it gives me just enough time to make my like personal content for fully booked babe. So I can kind of like do both things.
So I would say like between NerdFam and then if we count my like personal fully booked book world side, I would probably say that like those two things combined make me full time. Oh, oh yeah, definitely.
But then it's kind of nice because then when your kids come home from school, you have time to spend with your kids and then your husband and family time. So like that's kind of nice.
Yes, yes. I try not to like I try to go dark on the weekends, which is nice because everyone's home and we try to spend family time together. So I'm not perfect at it. I mean, is anyone like it's so easy to doom scroll, but oh my gosh, it really is.
It really is. If someone wanted to do what you do, whether it's project manager at a PR company or just like to be working with books, what advice would you give them?
I think I'd give two pieces of advice. One, don't be scared to post, like don't be scared to make the content. There's been so many times that I've had a throwaway idea or what I thought was a throwaway idea and took the two seconds to film it. And it's been some of my most well-performed content.
Um but it is uncomfortable to talk in front of your own camera. Like I hate filming content if my family's home. I rarely do it. Like it's usually like everyone's at school or work and I'm home alone with my pets, and that's that tends to be like the time that I make my content. So that being said, it's not always easy, but don't be afraid to do it.
Um and then, second, kind of same, don't be afraid to shoot your shot. I wanted to mention, like, we're not currently hiring at the NerdFam. We tend to get a lot of like inquiries about that.
That being said, I do have a folder of people that have sent resumes or emails that are like, hey, I know you don't have an open position, but like I'd really love to work there. And when we do hire, like those will be the first people that I reach out to. Because I think they're just like, to me, that's a very go-getter attitude.
Like, hey, I could do this job. I really want to do this job. I'm passionate about it. Like, here's my here's my stuff.
So interesting. I guess I never would have thought people would reach out. I kind of just figured you wait until there's a job opening, but that's kind of cool that you actually I would think that too.
But I think people just they're shooting. Yeah. That's true.
That's true. That's true. And there's so many ways you can do it too. Like so many ways. Yes. Okay. So this is I'm like dying to know this question. If you could work with any author, living or dead, who would it be and why?
So I said it already, but Sarah A. Parker was just like the real big pinch me moment author of my life. Um find like finding the nerd fam through her book and then getting to work on a future book of hers was just like the best product of my entire life. She is truly one of the sweetest, kindest, like most humble humans to ever work with.
And then just her ability to write is I can't even, I can't say enough good things about her her books. So that's my that's my top girl right there. All right, fair, fair.
Okay, so this is the last one as like project manager. And what is one thing you wish more people knew about what you do?
I think that the industry is always changing, which is good and bad. And then there's just the uh the amount of online drama, specifically on threads. Like, I think book threads, people over there, there's always a new issue every single week. And part of my job is to stay up to date on that.
But if I don't watch my limits, it can get you can easily get sucked in. And then it just affects my mental health. And it's always something new every week.
Like whether someone's selling an ARC, if they're one of our readers, then it's like, oh shoot, on Monday when I log back on, I'm gonna have to like look up and see if like they're one of our readers, and then we can't send them PR anymore because honestly, if they're selling it, then they shouldn't get sent anything.
I'm it's hard because if like they do sign a marketing agreement. So if they post about it, then like they still can't sell it. If they post about it and they decide to give it away, that's all fine and good. Like, please do that.
Go donate to your library, a free little library, go give it to a friend, go like I don't know, do anything, but you can't, you can't sell it. It's like against FTC guidelines. So it's hard in that sense because it's like no, I totally get that.
Have you seen how like some publishers are putting numbers in like the high anticipated arcs? So that way if they see that you are selling the arc and it's like your number, then they can I don't know like what they're gonna do, deeply frowned upon, I think.
Yeah, so no, a hundred percent and I like because I know authors have blacklisted people because of that, yeah. And I think like people don't understand either.
Publishing's very small, like it's a very small, yeah.
That like as soon as you're blacklisted from one publisher, you're back blacklisted from all, and it works in the reverse too.
Like, once you're on one publisher's mailing list, I swear you get put on every single publisher's mailing list. Agreed, agreed.
So it can it can be good and bad, like in the sense of like it can go both ways, like you said. Yes, yes, okay. So now I kind of want to dive into reading and then personal. So who is one underrated romance author or romanticy author that you don't see on social media that you think everyone should read?
And if you can give us like a couple book recks of theirs. Yeah.
Um, so a recent in the last year favorite, her name is Kat McKenzie. She just came out with her debut
¶ Underrated Romance Recs And Favorite Tropes
earlier. I think it would have been in 2025 because it would definitely didn't come out in 2026. Um, it's called Work in Progress by Kat McKenzie. It is my favorite trope of all time is a road trip romance, like when it's a romance book and they go on a on a road trip together. Like I will read any book that has that trope.
Um and so you read You with a View, I think that's called.
I did love that one.
That one is really good. Um, a couple other favorites are A Thousand Miles by Bridget Morrissey, um, Left of Forever by Tara DeWitt. But yeah, so this Cat McKenzie one, it's like a Scottish road trip.
And it's like with a grumpy tour guide driver and a woman named Alice, who like books a last-minute trip her life implodes, so she books like a last-minute trip to the UK and gets put on this like tour with this grumpy tour driver and like 10 to 15 80 to 89-year-olds. And it's the most like hilarious.
Um, like just imagine being stuck in a tour guide bus with your 85-year-old grandma who and who has like no filter, and then the and then the tour guide driver is just extremely hot and grumpy and like hates his life, but is forced to like be in this tour guide. That's one of my recent favorites. Kat just sent me a manuscript.
I had never gotten a manuscript in the mail, so it's not like a fully bound book, but it's like that's cool. I mean, I can show you, but that's not gonna translate to listening ears. But it's like, no, there's a raw edge. That is so freaking cool. Yeah, I thought like she homemade it.
And Rachel was like, Lex, that isn't that is a manuscript from a publisher. And I was like, Oh my gosh. So that one takes it's like similar where Kat's niche is women who travel. So she writes romance about women who travel. So this one takes place in Ireland, um, and it's also a road trip romance. So I love both of them.
Yeah. The newest one that she has coming out later this year is called Experiments in Offline Dating. And it's about a girl or a woman that's like tried all the dating apps and has seen zero success. So she goes to Ireland because they have a tradition in a matchmaking festival and tries to like get dates the old-fashioned way with a matchmaker.
So both are really, really great.
That sounds so fun.
Yes, yes. I love, yeah. Kat deserves all the love because I feel like she deserves to blow up here on social media.
Yes, and here's to us getting her to blow up on social media. Yes, yes. If you could live in any fictional world, which one would it be and why?
I feel like I have to pick a romanticy one, and I would never survive. Like, I think No, no, but like here's us saying that, like you would survive. Okay, okay.
Then it has to be When the Moonhatch, Sarah A. Parker, she has like you have the burn, which is like a super hot desert, and then you have the fade, which is like in-between climate, and then you have the shade, which is really cold.
I want to live in the burn, which is like the desert, because Khan lives there, and Khan is like this hot, sexy dragon rider and the main male character in that story. So, but I mean, like living in the desert would probably be miserable, but we can pretend as long as he's there, it's it's fine. Yeah, an unlimited amount of water.
Like, just give me some water and I'll be fine.
That's true.
We gotta stay hydrated over here.
Yes, yes. What is your go-to genre and or trope? Like, if you I know you mentioned the road trip, so another one besides the road trip one. And then another one. If you if it's in the book, you know you'll read it.
Yes. Okay, yeah, road trip for sure. Mentioned that. I really love childhood friends to lovers just because it comes, it tends to come with a lot of yearning where someone's down bad, but hasn't figured out that they're down bad or like not brave enough to do anything about it. So I love books that have that, that there's some history there.
And so the the yearning that comes with the history of that relationship is just always delicious to read. I'm trying to think of some that might have examples.
Gosh.
Um, so I work like I would say that the nerd fam is mostly romanticy, and my tastes tend to be like contemporary romance for the most part. Like, I'll dabble here and there into the romanticy. Yeah, which is always Rachel always loves to mention because I feel like I probably should read more romantic because it's my job.
But at the end of the day, like I just want a straightforward, like, we have a little tiff, but in the end, it's a happily ever after. And sometimes I just don't want all the world building.
That's fair. Then, like, my intro for you just like didn't make sense.
I thought you no, it does, it totally does. I think I think it still does. Yeah. I guess I still read, I like to dabble into both. So I would say, like, it depends on what state my life is in. If my life feels super stressful, give me like your run-of-the-mill romance.
If I feel very good about my life, then give me the like heavy world building where I can just like focus on that because everything else doesn't need my attention. Actually, I can kind of confirm with that. I'm trying to think of some child and friends to love her's books, but I don't have any on the top of my head. Claire Gilmore is a good one.
She has a good uh her book called Perfect Fit is really good.
Oh, okay, okay. I don't know her, but now I feel like I need to look her up.
Yes.
Okay, so the last one in reading is what is your favorite book? A book that you would recommend to anyone and everyone.
I would say Left of Forever by Tara DeWitt. Um Tara writes equal parts romance with like heavy emotional themes with like healing and trauma. And her books will make you cry and giggle and kick your feet all at the same time.
Um, so Left of Forever, it's like an interconnected standalone, but it's a marriage and crisis trope where they're like dropping their son off at college and they're separated. And so this like road trip to drop their son off at college is just becomes like this very good healing journey and like journey back to each other.
Um, so that's my favorite by Tara, but honestly, anyone could read any of hers, and they're all showstoppers.
I haven't really read many like marriage wait, how did you word it? Marriage in trouble.
Yeah, marriage in crisis.
And marriage in crisis. I haven't really read that. I don't think I've read any. Let's be real. Yeah. Well, good. Now you have one. I I do want to read her books because I think is it is it that one? It's like all her covers are really pit pretty, but I'm just picturing this one cover and I but I don't know the title of it.
But there's okay, a man and a female on the cover, and it's really pretty, which is not helpful at all.
She has one where like he's a chef and he has an earring and he's like cradling the girl on the cover. That one's really popular, so it might be that one. That one's called Savor It, and it's just as good. Left her forever is just my favorite because it has a road trip. Yeah. So I tend to.
Yeah. Well, once you mentioned it before because of the road trip, I was like, this one because of the road trip. Yes, yes. Okay. So we're in the last section, which is personal. Okay. So what is a fun fact about you that the listeners might be surprised to learn?
I'm always planning my next vacation. Like, if I don't have a vacation on the docket, I'm a sad girl. Um, my husband would probably say it's an issue, but we don't listen to him and we just keep planning trips, anyways.
¶ Travel Planning Community And Real Life Book Club
Um two years ago, we took a 10-day road trip to Ireland, and it was like, I still think about it daily. We didn't have anything on the calendar except like a hotel reservation for the night, and we knew we had to get from like point A to point B every day. And it was the best trip of my life. Um, so I'm always chasing that high.
We where are we going? We're taking our kids to Chicago on a train for the first time. They've never ridden on a train, so I've like just finished planning that one. Um, we're trying to decide. My husband and I try to take one trip every year, just us. So we're trying to decide where that's gonna be next.
So I kind of want to go to Scotland, but he's like, we've already done oh yeah, but we've already done Ireland, so in his mind, he's like, it's too close. We gotta, we gotta pivot. So we'll see where we end up.
I'm not quite sure yet. No, that's totally different. No, you gotta go there.
Yeah, I hope so. I have the red hair, and so I think like being in Ireland just felt like I don't want to be cheesy and say being at home, but I just really loved people would comment on the red hair all the time, and it's like, I am 50% Irish. I don't know any ancestors that live over there, but it did feel like, oh man, I belong here.
Like, this is nice.
Okay, so when you're not working or reading, what do you like to do in your free time?
Three kids, a husband, we have a huge extended family, two cats and a dog. Those things definitely keep me busy. Um, I have an in-person book club that over the last year, all the women in there have just like really become a huge source of like encouragement for me. Um it's harder to make friends as an adult, obviously.
When you're a kid, like going to school, those things come really easy. And I've put so much value into community and I feel like loved and supported when I have community around me. And so I've really tried to be intentional of like creating that in real life. I love to do it on the in online space.
But a lot of these women were my kids' friends' moms, and then they either like found me on social media, which can always be a little bit awkward because you're like, oh no, you've seen this video of me, and you don't know how people are gonna like think of you. Um, but thankfully they're all really, really great and they've truly like become my village.
And so whether we're like we're going to see Devil Wears Prada soon, whether we're doing that, or whether we're just like getting together with all the kids at a park or just like doing our monthly book club meetups, like they've really just become my people. So that's been really nice in the last year, I would say.
I like that. I love like the in-person book club. I know virtual book clubs became like a really big thing during COVID, which was also fun to be a part of. But something about getting together in person is just fun. Like, I don't know, I love it. I agree.
I mean, I think we needed it during COVID. Like, we needed that virtual book club. Um, oh yeah. But now that we can be with people, it's like, let's be with people. Give me all the people.
Yeah, like now I want to be like in person now that we can be in person. Okay, so we're on to the last question. And it is what is one future goal that you would like to achieve, either short term, long-term, and it can be with work, it could be with reading, bookstagram, it could be anything.
Last year I've definitely tried to give in the last for our, I guess, a goal for 2026 would be to DNF the book when I want to. I feel like before this year,
¶ Learning To DNF And Where To Find Lex
if I wasn't vibing with a book, I would read and suffer through it just for the sake of like putting it on my reading tracker. Um, so I've been way more conscious of this isn't serving me, or maybe it's just like not the right time. Um, because reading at the end of the day is subjective.
So if I'm not vibing with something, it might not be for me, but it could very well be for someone else. But I don't want to waste my time on a book that I'm not enjoying. Um, so that's been a goal this year to just like enjoy what I'm reading and to try to take the pressure off because it is at the end of the day my job. Books are my job.
I don't want reading to be my job. Like I still want to find enjoyment out of it.
I I love that. Thank you so much, Lex, for coming on the podcast. I do want to give you the floor.
So if you want to plug yourself, if you want to do say anything or you can find my personal page, Fully Booked Babe, on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, Threads. Um, and then also if you're DMing the nerdfam, that's usually me. So you can find the nerdfam on Instagram, TikTok, threads. I I exist online in two different spaces.
So never be never be afraid to send me a message. I love to chat books, I love to chat recommendations. There's been friends that like might not have a book account, but our tastes are similar, and not all my friends read in real life. So it's always nice to find more friends online that read and enjoy the same books that I do.
We just all love books.
Yes, we're all just nerds, little nerds at heart.
Yes, yes, we are. Well, thank you so much for coming on the podcast podcast, Lex. I had so much fun chatting and interviewing you and asking you all the questions, plus the extra questions. So I'm so sorry about that.
Oh no, please, it was a joy to be here. Thank you so much for having me.