STACK with Jake and Ella

Love Stacktually: The Marian Keyes Of It All, Relationship Podcasts and Romantic Comedy

STACK with Jake and Ella

Show Notes

Love stories are some of our favourite stories, so this Valentines week, join us for six books to put on your stack - books of toxic first loves, the line between friendship and romance, and stories about loving yourself. It’s all in this episode, alongside Jake’s love of reformer pilates, and Ella’s love of Marian Keyes.

Plus: what to do if you buy someone a book, and they never tell you they’ve read it. Should you chase?

The books featured in this week’s STACK:

Chosen Family - Madeleine Grey

Talking at Night - Clare Daverley

Isaac - Curtis Garner

Romantic Comedy - Curtis Sittenfeld

Wild Things - Laura Kay

Rachel’s Holiday - Marian Keyes

Also featured:

Orange - Curtis Garner

Tell Me Everything - Laura Kay

The Split - Laura Kay

Marian Keyes’ writing videos in the vlog section here: https://www.mariankeyes.com/videos/

STACK with Jake and Ella is a books podcast helping you cut through the noise to fall in love - and stay in love - with reading. Each fortnight, we’ll be sharing curated lists on a theme of the books that are worth your time.

Please follow us on your podcast player or subscribe on YouTube. Do comment and share and if you’d like to support the podcast even further, we’d love it if you could leave us a review - it’s massively helpful.

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Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stackpodcast/

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Please get in touch if you read any of the books from this week’s episode, or have a bookish problem for our Shelf Help section - you can literally ask us anything!

STACK with Jake and Ella is an independent podcast production.

It is produced by Jake Williams and Ella Horne.

Our theme music was created by Thomas Clarke

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More from STACK with Jake and Ella

Oct 21, 2026

It’s STACK with Jake and… Lucy! In this special Halloween episode, Jake is joined by Lucy Rose, bestselling author of The Lamb, to discuss her writing and a stack of her very own.

Oct 7, 2026

Ella and Jake introduce STACK’s fairytale-themed episode, full of classic tales, retellings and modern fables, starting with a discussion of the Booker Prize shortlist and a particularly annoying clip of Mary Beard criticising the phrase ‘a love of reading’.

Sep 23, 2026

Jake and Ella are reading outside of their type, looking at the true crime genre: the morals, the scandal and the real-life drama of it all. They - allegedly - cover the Kennedys, recent high-profile non-fiction and how to write about a murderer properly. It’s still a fun episode, they promise–just wait until Ella’s anecdote.

Sep 9, 2026

It’s freshers week for Jake and Ella as they share their favourite campus-set novels. Whether you’re talking Uni or College, consider these books your set texts for September - educational, fun and full of mistakes.

Aug 26, 2026

Why are we so obsessed with weddings in fiction? This week Jake and Ella discuss their favourite books about nuptials. From love triangles and in-laws to hen-dos and croquembouches, these six books are guaranteed to bring the drama.

See all episodes →