Kate Hergott, Bookwild Collective
428 episodes listed below
Loose, smart book talk with real reader heat.
Bookwild moves between author conversations and loose book-club roundtables, with thrillers, memoir, speculative fiction, gothic suspense, faith, and cultural criticism all in play. The tone is casual and readerly: excited when a twist works, blunt when a trope feels tired, and curious about how books get made.
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Bookwild is a books show built around enthusiasm, comparison, and conversation. It does not treat reading as a quiet solo act. A typical episode starts with enough plot to orient the listener, then opens into how a book works, what it resembles, why a premise lands, and which emotional or cultural nerves it touches. The author interviews are relaxed but specific. Justin C. Key's The Hospital at the End of the World leads into AI-run medicine, human-led training, New Orleans, and the practical weirdness of bodies inside technological systems. John Marrs's Dead in the Water brings memory, obsession, crime plotting, and the pleasure of being wrong-footed by a thriller. Courtney Kocak's Girl Gone Wild opens a frank conversation about Hollywood dreams, women's bodies, sex work, exploitation, empowerment, and pop culture's pressure on women. Ashley McGirt-Adair's The Cost of Healing in Silence shifts the show into racial trauma, therapy, community healing, and culturally responsive care. Jeremy Jernigan's The Edge of the Inside gives space to religious disillusionment, megachurch life, church-kid memory, and the possibility of holding onto Jesus while stepping away from inherited Christianity. The show can get heavy. It rarely stays stiff. Roundtable episodes with Gare and Steph have a different charge, closer to friends trading favorite reads while wandering through celebrity reading taste, Canadian bookstores, funeral homes, remote villas, trad-wife plots, and trope fatigue. That informality is part of the appeal. Bookwild's criticism often arrives through reader feeling first, then turns into casual theory about genre patterns, publishing trends, or why a familiar setup suddenly works. It is especially comfortable with thrillers, suspense, memoir, feminist nonfiction, gothic atmosphere, and books that mix entertainment with personal or social stakes. The show is comparison-happy, and willing to admit when a label like thriller may not quite fit. It suits listeners who like book talk with warm momentum: enough structure to follow, enough digression to feel alive, and enough specificity to send a reading list sideways.
Made for: Bookwild is for avid readers who like author interviews, favorite-read roundups, thriller talk, memoir discussion, and book-club banter with emotional texture. It especially fits listeners who enjoy comparing books by feel, trope, theme, and reading mood.
What sets it apart: The show stands out by blending author process questions with casual reader chemistry, so episodes feel both informed and lived-in. It moves easily from gothic seances and AI hospitals to therapy, faith, feminism, and messy small-town thrillers without sanding off the conversational edges.
On Tuesdays, Kate Hergott talks with authors about their books and writing processes. On Fridays, Kate talks with multiple co-host Bookstagrammers and BookTubers about a variety of bookish topics.
Based on 5 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Bookwild connects author craft with the candid, social process of choosing, discussing, and recommending books.
Bookwild moves between Kate Hergott's author conversations and lively group discussions with Gare, Steph, and other returning guests. Books remain the center, but the show treats reading as a social practice: recommendations are tested against personal taste, audiobook…
Book-club chemistry meets craft talk, so your TBR grows before anyone can stop it.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A near-future medical mystery that keeps its human stakes alive inside an AI-run world.
Justin C. Key's The Hospital at the End of the World opens with a clean, uneasy hook: Pac, a young New Yorker, travels to the last human-led medical school in New Orleans after his physician father's mysterious death leads him toward the Shepard Organization.
A spoiler-aware book chat that keeps circling the twists, even when it wanders.
Bookwild spends most of its time on Dead in the Water, the latest John Mars novel, and the hosts are plainly in the bag for it. The talk keeps circling the book's twists, with guesses, revisions, and a steady pull toward where the story is headed.
A loose, conversational first-quarter favorites roundup that keeps coming back to what makes each book work.
The episode circles through the hosts' first-quarter favorites and opens with a Sarah Michelle Gellar tangent that naturally lands on The Secret History.
A warm book chat that finds its edge in narration, naming, and the force of a well built scene.
This buddy read of Kin works because it keeps moving from first reactions to the reasons the book hits so hard. It compares the ARC with the audiobook, weighs Ashley J.
A light, low-key game of future favorites, carried by honest book chatter.
Bookwild turns a year-ahead favorite-list premise into easygoing, lightly playful book talk. Steph and Gare spend the episode weighing which reads might end up among their best of the year, and the appeal is in how plainly they stake out their excitement.
Books, life, and the tender difficult middle.
Italian podcast culture, heard in the making.
Bookwild host interviews Justin C.
Bookwild hosts Gare and Kate interview thriller author John Marrs about his novel Dead in the Water and his broader career, in what both hosts describe as their most starstruck interview to date.
This episode features an interview with Courtney Kocak about her memoir 'Girl Gone Wild', which explores her journey from the Midwest to Hollywood, tackling themes of feminism, exploitation, and women's experiences in pop culture.
This episode features an interview with Jeremy Jernigan about his book 'The Edge of the Inside,' which explores his journey from being a pastor at a megachurch to redefining his spirituality and faith while remaining connected to Jesus.
This episode features an interview with therapist and author Ashley McGirt Adair about her book 'The Cost of Healing in Silence,' which focuses on addressing racial trauma through culturally responsive mental health care techniques.
Bookwild hosts Gare, Steph, and Kate share their first-quarter 2026 favorite reads, opening with an icebreaker where Sarah Michelle Gellar's TikTok interview about The Secret History by Donna Tartt leads to a discussion of books too internal or reveal-dependent to adapt well.
This episode features an interview with author Olesya Salnikova Gilmore about her gothic historical suspense novel 'The Fortune Tellers of Rue Daru', which follows a young woman and her grandmother who run a tea room in Paris where they perform seances and uncover dark family secrets tied to Russian history.
This episode features an interview with writing duo Catherine Green about their new thriller 'Where the Truth Lies', which explores themes of toxic masculinity and female rage through a small-town mystery inspired by a real crime.
Kate and Hallie discuss breaking news about The Bachelorette season being pulled due to domestic violence allegations involving Taylor Frankie Paul.
Kate Hergott interviews Andrea M.
The hosts discuss their thoughts on the Oscars, including Conan O'Brien's hosting performance and their evolving opinion of his humor.
Bookwild hosts conduct a buddy review of Kin by Tayari Jones with guest Erin Ashley, covering the novel's story of two motherless Black girls — Vernice (Niecy) and Annie — growing up together in 1950s Honeysuckle, Louisiana before their lives diverge.
Host Kate Hergott interviews contributors to a book on quantum theology, discussing spiritual awakening, healing, and divine consciousness.
The hosts discuss recent bookish topics and share their excitement about returning to talk about books after a break.
Host Kate Hergott interviews author Julia Eason about her debut contemporary fiction novel 'The Encore', discussing its plot, characters, and musical elements.
Kate Hergott discusses her first in-person author interview and her love for indie bookshops.
Kate Hergott interviews Susanna W.
Kate Hergott interviews horror author Stephen Graham Jones about his novella Night of the Mannequins, discussing its plot and themes.
Kate Hergott interviews author Susan Walter about her new airplane thriller, Murder at 30,000 Feet.
Kate Hergott and co-host Mackenzie Green discuss pop culture, books, and a monkey named Punch, blending book talk with internet culture.
Kate Hergott interviews author Wendy Walker about her new thriller 'Blade', set in the world of competitive figure skating.
Kate Hergott and Hallie Sutton chat about books and share Valentine's Day-adjacent reading recommendations.
Kate Hergott interviews author McKinsey Green about emotional reactions to cultural events like the Super Bowl and Beyoncé's album.
Bookwild hosts Gare, Steph, and Kate each predict five books they expect to be their favorite reads of 2026, in a format designed to be revisited next January to check accuracy.
The hosts discuss their recent, current, and upcoming book reads, starting with a detailed review of the true crime audiobook 'Kill Show' by Daniel Swearenbecker.
The host and guest MacKenzie Green discuss their excitement for 2026 book releases, sharing personal experiences with pre-ordering, keeping up with award nominees like the Booker Prize, and evolving into more engaged, nerdy readers.
Kate Hergott and co-hosts discuss the romance show 'Heated Rivalries' and the difference between romance and rom-com.
The hosts discuss their reading and writing goals for 2026, along with New Year's traditions and hopes for the upcoming year.
Kate Hergott interviews Brittany Penner about her memoir 'Children Like Us', exploring themes of adoption, identity, and indigenous heritage.
The hosts discuss their personal moods and recent experiences before transitioning to a conversation about the characters from 'Heated Rivalry' and who they find most attractive.
Kate Hergott interviews Brian Recker about his book arguing that hell is not real and God's love is radically inclusive.
The hosts discuss recent TV shows they've been watching, including Pluribus and Better Call Saul, with a focus on plot structure and performances.
Kate and co-hosts discuss their current, last, and next reads, sharing book recommendations and reading habits.
Kate Hergott and co-host Mackenzie discuss the experience of going home for Thanksgiving and feeling like an adult treated as a child, using a pop culture analogy from the show Black-ish.
Kate Hergott and co-hosts discuss bookish topics, including a controversial book review etiquette and the trio's return.