the matcha diaries

we are back after a much needed (unintentional) break! this week, cara gives us all the cozy details of her two-week trip home to jordan, from eating endless kanafeh to celebrating her dad's birthday. on the complete opposite end of the spectrum, leo recounts a chaotic three city work trip in germany that involved lost luggage, a burst appendix, and crying on a train next to drunk backstreet boys fans.
this is very much just a catch up episode to say hello and give you guys our little life updates <3
to stay up to date on our lives, contribute to future episodes and share any of your thoughts - pls do follow us on ⁠⁠⁠instagram⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠tiktok⁠⁠⁠ or subscribe to us on youtube ⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠ or ⁠⁠here⁠⁠ (leo's booktube) ! ☕ also, if you want to join our BOOK CLUB... you can join us ⁠⁠here⁠⁠ - current book of the month is 'Salem's Lot' by Stephen King).
if you don't have any social media and want to chat (or for advertising opportunities), please email us at: ⁠⁠⁠thematchadiariespod@gmail.com⁠⁠

we're back with another jampacked autumnal BOOK EPISODE!!! this one is all about our tbr & hopefully it can inspire some of you at the same time. <3

all the books we speak about:
Classics
Rebecca — Daphne du Maurier
The Count of Monte Cristo — Alexandre Dumas
Dracula — Bram Stoker
The Girl in White — Lindsay Currie
Hallowe’en Party — Agatha Christie
Dead Poets Society — N. H. Kleinbaum
Jane Eyre — Charlotte Brontë

Fantasy/Witchy
The Once and Future Witches — Alix E. Harrow
Rewitched — Lucy Jane Wood
One Dark Window — Rachel Gillig
the new ACOTAR !! — Sarah J. Maas
Phantasma — Kaylie Smith
A Sorceress Comes to Call — T. Kingfisher
A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking — T. Kingfisher
A Discovery of Witches — Deborah Harkness
A Dark and Secret Magic — Wallis Kinney
The Witches of Cambridge — Menna van Praag
One Dark Window — Rachel Gillig
A Natural History of Dragons — Marie Brennan

Romance/Romantasy
Assistant to the Villain — Hannah Nicole Maehrer
Immortal Consequences — I. V. Marie
Arcana Academy — Elise Kova
The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy — Megan Bannen

Dark Academia / Mystery / Thriller
London Falling — Paul Cornell
Not Quite Dead Yet — Holly Jackson
Murder at the Pumpkin Pageant — Darci Hannah
In the Company of Witches — Auralee Wallace
The It Girl — Ruth Ware
The Goldfinch — Donna Tartt
The Thirteenth Tale — Diane Setterfield
If We Were Villains — M. L. Rio

Horror
‘Salem’s Lot — Stephen King
Bunny — Mona Awad
Coraline — Neil Gaiman
Alchemised — SenLinYu
Slewfoot — Brom

Other
Falling for Peachtree Bluff — Kristy Woodson Harvey

to stay up to date on our lives, contribute to future episodes and share any of your thoughts - pls do follow us on ⁠⁠instagram⁠⁠, ⁠⁠tiktok⁠⁠ or subscribe to us on youtube ⁠⁠here⁠⁠ or ⁠here⁠ (leo's booktube) ! ☕ also, if you want to join our BOOK CLUB... you can join us ⁠here⁠ - current book of the month is 'Salem's Lot' by Stephen King).

if you don't have any social media and want to chat (or for advertising opportunities), please email us at: ⁠⁠thematchadiariespod@gmail.com⁠⁠

it is finally time for the autumn diaries and we couldn't be MOREE excited eep!! If you’re looking to build the ultimate autumn tbr, we’ve got you covered. from cozy, low-stakes fantasy and small-town witchy romances to moody dark academia and gothic classics, we are breaking down our absolute must reads for the season.
we’re sharing our personal favourites, our latest additions, and the stories we can’t stop thinking about.

Books Mentioned in This Episode:
Witchy Vibes & Everyday Magic
The Ex Hex (Series) by Erin Sterling

The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna

A Witch’s Guide to Magical Innkeeping by Sangu Mandanna

Weyward by Emilia Hart

Heartless Hunter & Rebel Witch by Kristen Ciccarelli

Cozy & Enchanting Fantasy
The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst

Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Fairies by Heather Fawcett

The Knight and the Moth by Rachel Gillig

Silver Elite (Series)

Twilight & ACOTAR (Our cozy re-reads!)

Dark Academia & Secret Societies
The Secret History by Donna Tartt

Babel by R.F. Kuang

If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio

Bunny by Mona Awad

Blood Over Bright Haven by M.L. Wang

The Academy by Erin Hildebrand

The Exorcism of Faeries by J.L. Vampa

Gothic Classics
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

Mysteries, Thrillers & Sleuths
Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy

Murder at the Bookstore by Sue Minix

A Good Girl's Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson

The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie

Romance & Heartwarming
The Seven Year Slip by Ashley Poston

If It Makes You Happy by Julie Olivia

You, Again by Kate Goldbeck

My Roommate is a Vampire by Jenna Levine

Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi

Graphic Novels
Witches of Brooklyn by Sophie Escabasse

p.s we know that cara's video and audio are slightly out of sync at times and will try to work on a solution for the future on this as we are not 100 percent sure whyy this kept happening! Sorry if this gets a bit annoying to watch!!
to stay up to date on our lives, contribute to future episodes and share any of your thoughts - pls do follow us on ⁠⁠⁠instagram⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠tiktok⁠⁠⁠ or subscribe to us on youtube ⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠ or ⁠⁠here⁠⁠ (leo's booktube) ! ☕ also, if you want to join our BOOK CLUB... you can join us ⁠⁠here⁠⁠ - current book of the month is 'rebecca' by daphne du maurier).
if you don't have any social media and want to chat (or for advertising opportunities), please email us at: ⁠⁠⁠thematchadiariespod@gmail.com⁠⁠

guys what can we say, this episode is objectively, kinda, really, a little bit *weird*... please see this as one big mind map being actively created ft. audio cut outs, real time realisations & autumnal themed tangents... aka WELCOME TO OUR BRAINS!!!
some resources to create your own (much better planned) personal curriculum:
Online courses: Coursera, edX, Udemy, MIT OpenCourseWare, Khan Academy, Class Central, LinkedinLearning, Skillshare, great courses
YouTube: CrashCourse, TedED, Great Art Explained, The Life Guide, OverSimplified, freeCodeCamp, Kurzgesagt
Books and articles: Google eBookstore, Project Gutenberg, Open Library, Internet Archive, Libby, Medium, Substack
Communities: Subreddits, Discord, Facebook, Amino, Skool

you can find the personal curriculum notion template we mention here <3

to stay up to date on our lives, contribute to future episodes and share any of your thoughts - pls do follow us on ⁠⁠instagram⁠⁠, ⁠⁠tiktok⁠⁠ or subscribe to us on youtube ⁠⁠here⁠⁠ or ⁠here⁠ (leo's booktube) ! ☕ also, if you want to join our BOOK CLUB... you can join us ⁠here⁠ - current book of the month is 'rebecca' by daphne du maurier).

if you don't have any social media and want to chat (or for advertising opportunities), please email us at: ⁠⁠thematchadiariespod@gmail.com⁠⁠

dare we say.. grab a pumpkin spice latte, light a candle & get cosy with us for this week’s big yap ☕️🍂
in today’s episode, cara shares the huge life update of finally going wedding dress shopping (and unexpectedly finding the one!!), while leo debriefs her week of unplugging from media, silent walks, and romanticising everyday routines. then, we dive deep into the psychology of nostalgia: why rewatching our favourite comfort shows (hello, gilmore girls season) feels so safe, the science of remembering things through rose-tinted glasses, and finding peace in who we used to be. 
(p.s. if you want to skip our weekly yap about cara unexpectedly buying her wedding dress and leo’s week of silent walks, skip straight to 33:40 for the nostalgia chat! 🤍)
to stay up to date on our lives, contribute to future episodes and share any of your thoughts - pls do Follow us on ⁠⁠⁠instagram⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠tiktok⁠⁠⁠ or subscribe to us on youtube ⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠! ☕ Thinking of joining our BOOK CLUB? We’d love to have you! Check it out  ⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠! for advertising opportunities, or you don't have any social media and want to chat, please email us at: ⁠⁠⁠thematchadiariespod@gmail.com⁠⁠