The Week In Recommendations 7.9.25

Fizzy beach reads, the return of "Bachelor In Paradise," and necklace obsessions!

This is the free edition of Rich Text, a newsletter about cultural obsessions from your Internet BFFs Emma and Claire. If you like what you see and hear, consider becoming a paid subscriber. Our latest subscriber podcast was about the finale of “The Ultimatum: Queer Love.” An episode about the “Queer Love” and “SLOMW” reunions is coming soon! Over on Love To See It this week, we’re talking “Love Island USA” and “Bachelor In Paradise”!

Civic challenge of the week:

Call your Senators and urge them to save public media. Protect My Public Media’s patch-through system makes it super easy to do!

Claire has been reading… 📖

The first few chapters of “The Paradise Problem” by Christina Lauren, the least ambitious selection from my vacation book stack! I was overly optimistic about how much reading I’d get to do on our family trip, but at least the baby is now enough of a toddler that I didn’t have to spend every second on the beach preventing him from fisting sand into his mouth. Instead he squatted next to a red plastic bucket, shoveling sand with grim determination for intervals of up to 10 minutes, during which I could use my free eye to read a fizzy romance. And then, just when things were getting interesting, he’d trundle over to give me a big gritty hug and throw shovelfuls of sand all over me.

Christina Lauren is one of my more reliable sources of romantic brain candy, so I grabbed this from my local bookstore’s paperback table before this trip. It’s a classic fake relationship romance: The heroine married the hero in college, so they could access affordable family housing, and they haven’t spoken in the three years since she graduated, but now he needs to convince his family their marriage is thriving so that he can secure a mind-boggling inheritance. The details of this, as you may not be surprised to hear, strain credulity. The characters are classic tropes – she’s a warm-hearted free spirit with pink hair and a dwindling checking account, he’s a stuffy professional with unlimited funds and a ripped bod – but capably done so far. I’m hoping the final three-quarters of the book deliver on the improbable but escapist promise of the opening!

Emma has been reading… 📖

I already shouted out “Mean Moms” by Emma Rosenblum, but now that I’m about three-quarters of the way through it, I wanted to mention it again! Rosenblum is such a sharp, funny writer, especially when she’s skewering the wealthy in social circles she’s at least adjacently experienced. (I’ve been finding myself truly laughing out loud at all of the very specific sartorial descriptions of rich, Tribeca parents. Plus there’s a great Nap Dress joke in there.)

Claire has been watching… 📺

Say it with me: “Love Island USA” and “Bachelor in Paradise”! With less than a week left in season 7 of “Love Island,” and the season in complete disarray, I’m ready to wind down our summer fling and start exploring other connections. An old flame is back, with a shiny glow-up, to vie for my attention — and I’m certainly open to a full “BIP” rekindling.

Emma has been watching… 📺

“Bachelor In Paradise,” baby! All three hours of it, plus my 5+ weekly hours of “Love Island USA.” It’s a tough job, but someone’s gotta do it.

Photo Credit: Apple TV / ABC

I also finally started season 2 of “The Buccaneers,” and it’s delightful, frothy television. The anachronisms are still totally unhinged, but the costumes are beautiful, the romantic pairings are sexy, and it’s a gift to be transported to a totally different time and place, if only for 50 minutes.

Claire has been listening to… 🎧

Road trip music for the kids. My five-year-old wants Chappell Roan (he knows almost every word to “Pink Pony Club” and he does NOT appreciate it when I slip in a Dua Lipa track). “Love Me Anyway” has entered our Chappell rotation, and though it’s one of her older songs, I have a newfound affection for it.

But my toddler has somehow entered an Elmo phase and requires a steady diet of “Elmo Slide” and “The Sesame Street Alphabet.” (We have never shown him even a single second of “Sesame Street,” so I have to assume that the Elmo fanaticism spreads through the air, like a miasma.) “Elmo’s Song” is unfortunately catchy, and I will never not enjoy crooning “N is for noodle, O is for Oscar, P is for poooo-dlllle,” but I am excited to reclaim my ears now that we’re home.

Emma has been listening to… 🎧

I started the Wondery podcast, Flesh And Code, hosted by Hannah Maguire and Suruthi Bala. The six-part series explores artificial intelligence through the story of Travis — a man who falls in love with an AI companion, named Lily Rose. Travis is a regular guy, a father with a human wife, who gets lonely during Covid and starts chatting with an AI bot after seeing an advertisement on Facebook. Travis’ very personal tale of AI romance turns into a bigger story about corporate responsibility and the ethics of artificial intelligence.

Claire has been buying… 🛍️

A refill of my favorite Wonderskin lip stain shade (Whimsical); an emergency chess set for the preschooler, after he became obsessed with the chess set at our vacation rental; a few pounds of raspberries at the nearest U-Pick.

And that was all for the last couple of weeks… until I went to the Dôen store on Bleecker and let myself try on clothes before making my return. I never do this, and with good reason, because of course I fell deeply in love with two pieces: the Quinn dress in amberwood, which is a gorgeous, warm reddish brown color in a soft cotton, and the Hilda top in black. If you’ve seen the famous Henri blouse, Hilda is its sleeveless sister — and it felt even more summery and effortlessly chic without the full sleeves. It’s light as a feather, drapes like a dream, and would instantly make half of my outfits better. I’m worried I will not have the strength to return the Quinn, but the Hilda is definitely a new staple.

Emma has been buying… 🛍️

I’ve been very into accessories lately, particularly necklaces. After a couple years of the bare-necked look being in, I’ve been noticing dainty jewelry stacks all over New York City. And honestly? I love it. It’s a fun, more muted update to the chunky statement necklaces I had a drawer full of in 2011. Awhile ago, Sequin sent me the Emilie Gem Initial Necklace, but I hadn’t gotten much of a chance to wear it out and about until this past weekend. And I got so many compliments on it! I’ll definitely be purchasing for friends and family members’ birthdays, because it’s so pretty, easy to wear, and makes a statement without overpowering an outfit. (Not an ad, but Sequin gave me a discount code for newsletter readers: EMMAG20.)

Photo Credit: Doen / Sequin / Roxanne Assoulin

I’ve also been drooling over a handful of Roxanne Assoulin pieces, like this box chain charm necklace, the Super Size Happy Cord necklace in orange, and the Mini Puffy Heart necklace in classic gold. I like that you can mix and match charms between pieces, and add enamel pops of color. Roxanne Assoulin jewelry all gives me a joyful, adult summer camp vibe, which is exactly what I crave during the summer months especially.

Plus, I dipped my toes into the Dôen Online Warehouse Sale, and snagged a couple deeply discounted pieces, like the flouncy Inez top and the Mariza dress. This red plaid top is also gorgeous, as is this ultra-chic crochet mini dress.

Claire has been making… 🧶

My signature vacation meal: box-mix pancakes and oven-crisped bacon! If I’m going to be up at 6:30 during my godforsaken summer holiday, I’d at least like to get everyone’s day started with a low-effort but high-enjoyment breakfast. And, sorry, just-add-water pancake mix never fails me.

Emma has been making… 🧶

S’mores in the Catskills! After we returned from Iceland, Adam and I headed upstate for an idyllic few days with our friends Liviya, Steven, Liz, Sharleen and Andy. And we knew that one nonnegotiable activity for the weekend was s’mores making. Luckily, Trader Joe’s had a whole display set up of s’mores materials, so I snagged some milk chocolate bars (plus an extra Belgium chocolate bar with crushed corn flakes in it), graham crackers and marshmallows! And I have to say, TJ’s delivered! I don’t think I have any photos of my actual s’mores, because I was too busy eating every last crumb of them.

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