August 29, 2025 • 61 mins
Two horny romance pods that sound even HORNIER together?! Yes, please! TSTL and Reading Smut have the romantic podcast team-up of the CENTURY. Together, they revisit the sex-saturated paradise of Cambric Creek as they review SWEET BERRIES by C.M. Nascosta.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:08):
Hey everyone, it's Becky Feldmanhere, host of Too Stupid to
Live, a podcast about romance novels, usually $5 and under.
And today we've got a super special crossover podcast
episode with the amazing ReadingSmut Podcast, which is a sexy
offshoot of the podcast Reading Glasses hosted by Bria Grant and
Mallory O'meara. I'm such a fan of Reading
(00:30):
Glasses and got so excited when they came out with Reading Smut.
I have been listening to podcasts on the Maximum phone
network since like before I evenknew what a podcast was.
So it was a total thrill to connect with Bria and Mallory
and to make even more of my wildest dreams come true.
We're discussing ACM Nascosta book.
(00:50):
If you've been listening to TSTLor just like ever had a
conversation with me ever, you know that I bring up the
Cambridge Creek books in like every episode in every
conversation that I had. So what a joy it was to really
dive into the second book of theseries titled Sweet Berries.
So sit back, relax and get a 2 for one.
(01:10):
Yeah. Listening to two podcasts at
once. That's what you're doing.
It's a it's a 2 for one. Anyway, please enjoy this
special crossover podcast episode of Reading Smut and Too
Stupid to Live. Welcome to Reading Smut, where
(01:41):
we read horny books and talk to people who love them.
And today, we're not just reading smut.
We're more than one podcast. We also are too stupid to Live a
podcast that reviews romance novels $5 and under.
So I'm Bria Grant here with Mallory O'meara.
And thank you, Feldman. Hi, it's I'm so happy to be
here. Oh my God, what a dream.
(02:01):
Thank you for doing this on the the show.
Thank you for for for the shows to combine.
When we started reading smut, I had so many friends that were
like, Oh my God, do you know? Yeah.
And I, and we've crossed in the past, so I'm so glad we got to
do a combo show. Well, we could talk about what
we're going to do, which is we're returning to Cambridge
(02:22):
Creek. Yeah.
We're heading crossover episode.And we're talking Sweet Berries
by CM Nacosta, which when we were discussing on our e-mail
chain, you were like, did you happen to read any of the
Cambridge Creek series? And we were, and we had already
read the first one, very excitedabout the Cambridge Creek.
Yes, I've read like I've read the, you know, Morning Glory,
(02:42):
this one. And then there's another series
that she does that's in Cambridge Creek that's like an
offshoot called Girls Weekend, which I don't know if you guys
read, but it is. No, that's my favorite.
It's my favorite, yeah. OK.
We'll have to get into the differences there because I
think we know we don't know thatone.
OK, well before we smut it up, we want to talk about our shows.
(03:03):
Can you tell us a little bit about Too Stupid to Live in case
people are listening to this on the Reading smut feed?
Yes, absolutely. So TSTL is a podcast about
romance novels. Usually $5 and under.
I like to keep it cheap but for me it's all about having like
non academic just judgement freechats about horny books that we
read for pleasure, not read to learn something or feel sad.
(03:26):
Hey, we love it. And for anyone who is coming
over from Becky show, welcome toReading smut.
We do something pretty similar. We're a bi weekly show.
We release episodes every other Friday.
Half of our episodes are this usreading a smutty book and
figuring out why it's sexy, why it appeals to people.
The other half is US sort of delving into specific aspects of
smut. We usually get special guests to
(03:48):
smut it up with us, so this is too great taste to taste great
Together. We are combining our smutty
powers into one ultra smart podcast.
We're so excited, but we're going to get into Sweet Berries
after we take a short break. Hey TSTL listeners, are you an
(04:09):
indie author with a book to promote?
An artist or designer trying to sell bookish swag?
Are you a book talk influencer in need of more followers to do
your influencing? Well TSTL would love to help you
out. Hi, I'm Becky, I'm the host of
Too Stupid to Live and I love building new connections with
the bookish and sexual health communities, whether it's for
(04:30):
sponsorships at amazingly reasonable and negotiable rates
or guest and topic ideas for TST, LS, Extra Spice and Hot as
Hell episodes. So if you want to hook up, visit
tstlpodcast.com/contact or you can e-mail the show at
tstlpod@gmail.com. And we are back for the special
(04:51):
crossover. We are heading back to the world
of Cambrick Creek. Becky, you've already also cut
we we did a this the first book in the series as a live event
for our other show. But you've covered this book on
your show. Wait.
Can can I have it? Question, do we think it's
Cambrick or Cambridge? Because I think we're both,
we're all saying different, I think.
It's I've been saying, I've beensaying Cambridge like.
(05:13):
Cambridge. Yeah, I mean.
We'll have to let us know. Yeah, but I mean, I have reached
out to her. She's not got she's not.
But if she does, that's the first question we will.
Ask unbelievable. Unbelievable.
So I actually, I never covered it on the show.
I actually went on Dough Boys and kind of derailed their
(05:34):
episode talking about Cambridge Creek and.
It does sort of what you what you introduce the idea of a
minotaur milking farm. It does kind of derail anything
else that. You well, like they asked me,
they're like, oh, So what are you reading lately?
And I'm like, well. And you're like, hold on, I have
AI have, I have a, a PowerPoint presentation, I have, I have
notes. I have I got a lot to talk.
About here exactly, yeah. And so like, honestly, it's like
(05:55):
one of those things where I, I think, I think about Cambridge
Creek, however you say it, five times a day.
Yeah, yeah. I mean, we like we also, it's
funny, we did up a lot. We did this app, we did this
live event, Priya years ago now,and it still comes up all the.
(06:16):
Time people want to talk about, they want to talk about the
minotaurs. Well, I think it's also a thing
where it's like like low stakes,like toasty feeling cozy stories
are so big right now that I feellike Camper Creek was kind of
like right before that wave. So whenever we're talking about
cozy SMUD. That comes the milking farm
(06:37):
book. Is that cozy?
I feel like it's more work. Because of all the penises,
yeah. Yeah, it's, it's a little, it's
a lot, but it's so shocking thatyou're like, wow, if this is
your first dip into like monstererotica, then it is a bit like a
wow. It's not a dip, It's a, it's a,
it's a splash, splash. Cannonball.
It's it is. Two big cannonballs, yes.
(07:00):
Bulbous. No, But what's interesting is
that like, I always thought likethe term cozy was referred to as
cozy mysteries because like. OK, I'm glad that you brought
that up because it's been a big thing on our other show because
cozy, as you just said, has always been a very specific sub
genre of mystery that has no sexand no violence.
And it's been kind of Co opted recently by a lot of like
(07:23):
fantasy, fantasy books, sci-fi books, other marketing to mean
just like a cozy feeling, like low stakes, very like toasty
feeling, which is why I'm tryingto use that term.
And it's very confusing because the term cozy smut should not
exist. That's.
Right. Like for me, I think smut is
cozy. Like we don't need the
qualifier, yes. And what is it?
(07:46):
Why is it cozy to you? Well, I mean, I think it's like
something for me, like you're, you're usually like with with
with smut and romance. You know, there's something very
comforting about it. There's the tropes are
comforting, the formula, the formula is comforting.
And I think things like where you're like feeling where where
about pleasure is comforting. Like there is comfort in
(08:07):
pleasure. And when it's like we're reading
about someone elses pleasure, when we're reading about, you
know, arguably things that are taboo, you know, there's a
comfort there, there's a coziness there.
And so yeah, I never really thought of it as like cozy and
smut on like 2 ends of the spectrum, if that makes any
sense. Yeah.
I mean, that's my way. We've been trying to use the
term low stakes 'cause sometimesthese smart books are very high
(08:30):
stakes. There's a lot going on.
There's a lot of, we've read a couple recently that have a lot
to do with like trauma and yeah,upsetting shit.
So I've been trying to use the term low stakes 'cause this
Camber Creek is about as low stakes as you can possibly.
Get There's almost no stakes. Yeah, 0 stakes.
It is really just vibes and penises, like that's all that's
(08:50):
happening. Could he possibly move at some
point? Right.
Yeah. He's not going to.
It's so funny because like I do you have you guys done like you
know, there's there's the dark romance, there's dark monster
romance, which is so I love it, but it's we're.
Putting our toes into that. Actually recently we were having
Opal rain on the show coming up.So we're very excited.
(09:10):
But yeah, things can get pretty,pretty uncomfy in this in this.
World yes, absolutely. So it's like it's a weird thing
to go from like a Finley fun book to like this, you know,
where it's like, no kid, there'sno kidnapping, there's no war,
there's no. No, there's really nothing
except for fresh produce. Yeah, people living in harmony.
(09:31):
Yes. Farms, weddings, the heart, the
the the biggest dramas that sometimes there's a bridezilla.
Yeah, I know. Well, what's so funny with this
and like with her other books isthat like a lot of like the the
conflict is just like a character of like what am I
doing with my life? Like that's the main conflict.
And I think that's like what kind of maybe from, I haven't
(09:54):
read every Cranebic Creek book, but like that's usually kind of
the vibe I get is like, yes, youhave a female character who's
like torn between what does she want to do with her life?
And then she's just like gettingrailed again and again by.
That's how I mean, that's how you shake out the ideas.
You got a rail them out of them.So what it's like to be in your
(10:14):
20s? It really is like, I think it
really is a vibe. Like it kind of like it's odd.
Like I mean, I've read a lot of monster smut.
I love monster smut. And for some reason this like, I
feel like it really does tap into like the millennial kind
of. Oh yeah, exit fine.
I mean something that we talked about.
When? We did the first episode was how
(10:35):
a huge thing in the first book was just her getting a job that
had health insurance. And I was like, this is truly a
millennial problem. But all right, before we get
into more Cambrick Creek stuff, Becky, you are.
Was this the first time we've had a smut podcast on with us?
What is your smut reading story story like?
Like did you like how? What's your origin?
Have you always been an erotica slash romance reader?
(10:56):
Like a romance reader. Like when I was growing up, I
used to love, you know, my favorite books were like Daphne
du Maurier's Rebecca or like Jane Eyre or things like that.
But then when I was around, likein my early 20s, I accidentally
picked up a book thinking it waslike a Buffy the Vampire Slayer
kind of book. Turned out to be smut.
Read it on an airplane and it's just been love.
(11:18):
To read that in public when two people are close by you
fantastic smart reading conditions.
Yeah, On an airplane. What a surprise.
Yeah, I mean, listen, I like, I jump full in, you know what I
mean? And it's just like there's like,
why is that women blushing there?
But I'm like I can't stop. Why is this woman sweating this
plane so? Cold, like it's cold on this
airplane. And so, yeah, So for the longest
(11:41):
time, I was like a secret smart reader.
I didn't want anyone to know. I was so embarrassed, you know,
like, I would poo poo it. But then, yeah, like, kind of
around 30, I was just like, these books are hilarious.
So many more people read it thanwe think.
Let's talk about it. So now I'm just like, yeah.
And how long you been doing the podcast?
Almost nine years now. Oh my God.
(12:03):
Wow. So you are like a true OG smut
talker. I mean less than yes, yes I did.
All right, well, let's get your expertise going.
Bria, what's the smut on this? OK, so the title is Sweet
Berries. Like we said, author CME Acosta.
It's 22124 pages, pretty sure available.
Yeah, available in all formats. The genre subgenre is paranormal
(12:26):
romance slash monster fuckery tropes.
We have shy hero voyeurism, slash exhibitionism.
We'll get into that monster fucking curvy heroine insta love
and fantasy anatomy which this is our first fantasy anatomy
book on this show. Also, I have to say when I was
looking this book up and doing it like putting all this
(12:48):
together, one of the main tags on romance dot IO was
multicultural. Yeah, which I guess is.
True, because there's a bunch ofdifferent races with monsters,
but it was just really funny forher to get tagged as that.
Just made me blush and the wheelhouse is low stakes fantasy
small town which we've discussedmonsters, cryptids, farming,
(13:11):
starting life over and outside community.
There's a big community aspect to these books where there's a
lot of like, tell me what's going on and like the like good
friendships on the surroundings.Although I will say her best
friend annoyed me and your best friend was a little.
Pushy. Also Mallory, what was I mean,
let's do a quick house check in.Is there a wheelhouse for his
home? Because he did have an
interesting woodsy home. Oh, he did have a great because
(13:33):
he lives in sort of like he lives in a tree house.
The main character, whose name is Merrick, he's a Mothman.
This is a romance between a human woman and a mothman.
And I really, I loved his littletree house.
I did. Like Mallory's big on the
chairs. She wants to know what the bed
situation is. Yeah, well, that's the.
Problem. He's ape in a chair, which I
really didn't like, but the restof it I would totally fuck a guy
(13:56):
in a treehouse. I think that's awesome.
Love it. Yeah, everyone.
Yeah, I haven't like everyone. I do have a problem with the
chair. I agree with you.
But the way he like holds her like when they sleep, I'm like
is that I would do one night. I would just check out one night
in that. I would do that situation where
I would do that for a little cuzI sleep on my stomach so I could
(14:17):
not sleep curled up like a cat getting scooped.
So I would cuddle for a little bit and then as soon as he
started to fall asleep I'd be like I gotta go to the bathroom
and then I fall asleep in the bed right?
Sorry man. Yeah, I would.
You would try it, but you would give it a good try it.
I think that's important and that's the theme of this book.
It's just giving it a good try. Give it a good try it Mallory,
do you want to talk about what? Happens in this book.
Not much, OK, There's not a lot of plot in this book.
(14:39):
It's very low stakes, very low plot book, which we've kind of
there's more plot in the first book, which is this is the
second in the series. But this doesn't have much.
We have our main character, her name is Grace.
She's just moved to our beloved Camper Creek.
Few years ago she had a bad divorce.
Which we love because we've had a lot of virgin main characters
lately. And yeah, we were just really
looking for. I'm so glad we read this one
(15:01):
because I was getting tired of the, like, it's my first time.
Like, I like the divorced main character.
Like, yes, she gives that energy.
Yeah. She she knows what she likes.
She's kind of trying to like figure her lifeout.
She's got a great job, which is a big theme in this series.
She's an event planner for this local farm.
She loves it there. Her friends work there.
The only thing she really doesn't have is a relationship.
And like the beginning of the book, she almost bangs one of
(15:22):
the minotaurs that works on the farm.
And she's like, no, I'm not going to bank someone I work
with. And then one night, she comes
home. After we have to say I wish she
had banged the minotaur. Yeah, just to see, Just to see.
Well, listen, I just liked the Minotaur book I.
Well, we'll get into which book I, I anyway.
Go ahead. So one night she comes home and
she's like masturbating in bed and she realizes that someone's
(15:42):
watching her and she's pretty into it.
So the watcher comes back again a week later and somehow helps
her get off, but she's not really sure how.
Turns out it's a mothman whose tongue is approximately 20 feet
long. So he's a Mothman.
His name is Merrick. He's a scientist in town with a
new job working to increase the pollinator populations.
And he shows up at Grace's work after watching her jerk off in
(16:05):
her window for several nights. And he wants to ask her out in
person. And so the two of them started
very sweet and horny relationship like.
But a big theme is that they Grace believes that he's going
to move away after the course ofthis scientist gig has run up.
Like he's she thinks that he's going to move on to another
university because that's sort of what he does.
He moves from town to town everysix months to a year.
(16:26):
True. To life for like a lot, you
know, when you're in, when you're in academia, sometimes
you have to go to a different place to get like a different
job. So I appreciated that real life,
sort of. It's very sweet, so she's trying
to protect her heart. She doesn't want to fall in love
because she knows she thinks it's temporary.
They bang a lot. She shows him Cambra Creek and
he falls in love because he's never been in a thing for him is
(16:46):
he's never been in a mixed species town before.
He's very used to like, I don't know if we call it, I guess
racial discrimination, monster discrimination.
He's used to human beings species.
He's used to humans being mean to him.
And he's ever had sex with a with a human woman?
Although he's very excited. He's the virgin in this one.
He's yes, if you consider cross species.
(17:07):
He's never fucked a human. He's fucked other people and
he's very into boobs and he's very into human women.
And then it feels like it's building something big, but he
just goes, no, I'm gonna move here.
And she goes, great. And then they're in love.
And then that's the end of the plan.
Yeah. All right.
So what do we think? Do we like Grace and Merrick?
Y'all go ahead cuz I'm gonna sayof the two books we've read, I
(17:29):
preferred the Minotaur. Really.
And I really did. I'm going to fight for America I
love. Oh, great.
Good, good, good. Which is shocking in real life.
I love. I love a shy introverted man in
real. Likes a skinny skinny.
This is. Literally I thought this might
be your. Shit, I know, I know it's like a
skinny, but for some reason, andI was not as drawn to this
(17:51):
relationship. Maybe it was a little too easy.
Maybe it was, you know, if I'm reading a monster book, like
give me, I mean, listen, there'sobviously some monstrous stuff
happening, but to me I was just like this little dweeby monster.
I'm not as into it as like the giant cow.
Well, I think I figured out why I like it so much.
OK, OK. It's because this is the if you
(18:11):
watch Shape of Water and you were obsessed with it and you
were and you saw that scene where she where Sally Hawkins is
demonstrating how is Dick comes out and you were like, I want to
know more about that, that cuz that's how his that's how it
works. That's how his mothman Dick
works. Like it just comes.
He has like a a hole and his penis comes out of it and I, I
(18:33):
don't know, it's like. Smooth.
No, it's smooth all the way downand then it opens.
Yeah, and then there's a hole that she she can finger, which
is interesting. And then Oh yeah, like penis
comes out. She called it in pocket.
It's a pocket. I, I had such a funny moment cuz
I reread this when I was on vacation and I like was look, I
was at this like Botanical Garden in Hawaii.
And there was like this like plaque about like this beautiful
(18:53):
creation myth about like one of like this Hawaiian, like, you
know, like how volcanoes came tobe.
And I was like, isn't it beautiful how stories shape
humanity? And then and then I came home
that night and I read that chapter and I was like this,
this is the best day of my life.Amazing.
(19:13):
OK, so it's like, it's like the epitome of human experience, you
know? I do.
If you ask about them as a couple, I thought they were a
great match. I thought it was very sweet.
Like she's looking for a nice, sweet person.
Nope, not a person. A nice, sweet partner.
And she found. Found the nice sweet partner.
Yeah. He's not a human, I guess.
Well, I like the combo of extremely horny lady plus kind
(19:34):
of shy guy. I liked that a lot that he was
very like. I loved Mary.
The only thing I don't like about Merrick is that because
he's a moth man, he left dust oneverything, which not into that
I would get. I would get one of those teeny
tiny vacuums and follow him around.
But I loved him. I thought he was so sweet.
He's very tall, which I know a lot of people like.
We had someone right into the show recently, actually, a few
(19:56):
someones who said that they wantmore weird Dicks.
Yeah. You like that?
This book is for you. I did, because, I mean, the
Minotaur Dick is just a regular Dick, except it's fucking huge.
Mothman Dick got a little something interesting going on,
a bit of a. Listen, I've read many weird
Dicks. If you guys need any weird
recommendations, well Becky, what did you think?
Of this weird Dick. Well, OK, I was like a big fan.
(20:19):
I was a big fan of his Dick but.Just not the rest of him.
Not the rest of him. Well, here's the thing.
And as as a fan of this author, I think she does such a great
job with like world building. Yeah.
Oh yes. And like with her other books,
like every kind of species, whether it's an orc or an elf or
a selkie or whatever, they all have like a really interesting
(20:42):
culture and back story. And I feel like with this moth
man who I liked, like great guy,I just wanted more of like, what
is a Mothman culture in this world of Cambridge Creek?
I know this book has nothing to do with it.
It's not why we're reading it. I totally get it.
But it it's interesting how likein like when a Minotaur is like
(21:03):
being raised right, like they have a talk when they're like 13
years old of like just so you know, you come a lot and it's
like, well, what's the Mothman equivalent of that?
And I wanted more of that, if that makes any sense at all.
I I, I, I do agree with that forsure.
I also would like, I was expecting a moment where he
would like get really excited about a light bulb.
Like I was expecting more like moth things.
(21:25):
Yes. Or maybe that's moth racist.
I don't know, Like I was expecting.
Yeah, more like moth stuff. Well, there was a lot so.
The one thing that I feel like that she did in the moth where
he had the very long tongue, he was all about taking things.
First off, that tongue must havebeen at least 20 feet long.
Where is it long? Residing in his body.
See, I saw it as, do you remember that?
(21:46):
What was it, fruit by the foot or something where it was like
roll up? And then I thought, like, maybe
he had like a little tongue pouch in his mouth where it
rolls back. Up.
I know that is the same way for I think it's hummingbirds.
They have like a part of their skull where their tongue goes
into come. A skull pocket.
Yeah, maybe his braid is just full of tongue.
I think so. Because I think she was really
(22:08):
into the tongue part. I have a little quote by the
way. I think this is, if we haven't
said this, it's really it's veryfunny.
The book is very. Funny.
It's like laugh out loud funny. And so one part was she's
talking about the tongue. I think at this point where she
says if this is what all Mothmancould do, someone needed to
alert the media, alert Congress.Yes, this needs to be the
headline of every newspaper, theonly story talked about in the
(22:30):
news. Yeah, like it's very.
Suction cup on the end of his. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
But like, as a couple, I thoughtthey really were cute.
Yeah. It just was not maybe my first.
It was not my my favorite of this series so far of the two
we've read. I loved it for a couple of
reasons. One, I think something that was
very interesting to me that we just don't see very often that I
(22:53):
wish more authors would address.This is because his Dick is so,
so big and because he fucks so hard, they only have actual
penetrate of sex every once in awhile because she, her body
physically can't take it. So they do a lot of like hand
stuff and mouth stuff. And I thought that was like a
very interesting thing to address.
It's something I've thought about before, especially in the
(23:14):
Minotaur book. I was like, man, you couldn't
fuck this much, you would be limping around.
So I really like that CM Nacostaaddressed that.
I love that and I actually like I another part of my back story
is I do have chronic pelvic pain.
And so like it's really interesting to kind of see how
things like just workarounds canbe addressed and like not
(23:37):
showing sex positivity as just like P&V and just going at it,
you know what I mean? And just like, like it really
does like talk about like communication and like they,
there's a got an extra long scene where they're like
explaining their bodies and it'slike every person, every person
needs to do that. And I just have this thing.
I'm like if more people read more monster romances, wouldn't
(24:00):
we all have better relationships?
Wow, I love that thesis. That's a great thesis.
Because or not because bodies all are very different.
Yeah. And at least and in the monster
books, they lean into it and they're like, here's how's mine
works and how's your yours work.And if we just had those
conversations earlier, I I do have a very.
(24:21):
I have a quote about how difficult it was after.
She had never attempted to ride a unicycle down a mountain
before, but she assumed that theachiness she felt that morning,
bruised hips, sore thighs, and asharp Lance of pain shooting up
her core every time she lifted her pelvis had to akin to I was
akin to the injuries one might acquire during such an
excursion. So again, funny writing.
(24:42):
Clever. But she also, she figures a
workaround. She uses a vibrator on him,
which makes gets him. Yeah, Becky, I completely agree.
I like that. It just felt like, and I would
love to read more monster romances to see if this is
something that's sort of across the board, but I like that there
it was. It was a little outside of the
box. No pun.
Actually, no what pun intended. It was outside the box.
(25:06):
So were we happy to return to Cambrick Creek?
Like, why do we think readers are so in love with this little
town? Because it's, I mean, when
listeners write in about this, when I've seen conversations in
our Slack channel, in our Discord server, like it's not
specifically people aren't really talking about the monster
fuckery, they're talking about Cambrick Creek itself.
Like, why do we think that people love it so much?
(25:28):
I mean, I think it's twofold. Like I do think that like, yes,
we love small towns, we love Cambrick Creek, we love how
beautiful it is. Everything.
Farm to table goods, beautiful coffee shops, everything.
Spoke and handmade. Exactly.
The town is so beautiful. But then at the same time, I
think with, like, cozy monster romance, there's something that
(25:49):
I think is really appealing to readers is that it doesn't take
itself too seriously. Yeah.
So I think with like that kind of humor combined with like the
coziness is just like for some reason gold for for readers who
like this. Yeah.
What do you think? I think.
That's I think that's smart. I think also the world is I
mean, just to return to the world is really well crafted.
(26:11):
I think she just does a really great job of creating this world
and answers questions that I have, you know, like where you
and you get the sense that it's bigger.
Like, you're like, oh, and then there's this person over here
and there's one part where he's like, I can smell you, which
honestly is a little horrified. Horrifying, but also
interesting. And she wrote, the notion that
(26:32):
he had been able to smell her arousal made her clap her hand
over her mouth. She wondered if her other
neighbors, who may have possessed A heightened sense of
smell, were able to tell when people were walking around with
with damp panties. Because this is a world of
monsters. So they they all have different,
yeah, different abilities there,which is an interesting.
I just think that the world is really built out.
Even that question would have been something that came to my
(26:55):
mind where I'm like, wait, he can do that.
Can other ones do that? And she's like, yes, yes, yeah,
this is a big monster world where they all have abilities
and things are everyone's getting to know each other and
what that means. So for me, that's part of it is
I'm returning to a world that has been built out like it's
just a very smart, smartly builtworld.
Mallory, how you feel you love it there too.
(27:16):
I well, I think Becky, you really hit the nail on the head
earlier. Like it hits on a lot of things
that I think millennial like just a lot of people who are if
you're between the age of like 30 and 50 right now, like it
one, all these main characters have really good jobs with
health insurance. Like there there's a lot of
community. You know, people are very
(27:36):
connected. People in these books have have
very strong friend groups. They go out and see their
friends in person. Cambrick Creek, like it has a
really cute coffee shop, like it's got a walkable downtown
like it has besides like the weird Dicks and the monster
stuff, it just has a lot of things that I think like
millennials and a lot of adults right now are craving.
(27:56):
So it's not, it's not just the cozy like low stakes of it,
which we'll talk about in a second, but it's just I want, I
want to live in that world whereI'm not constantly worried about
paying my bills and paying for my very expensive freelancer
health insurance Like I, I want to, I want, I want that feeling.
It's like a comfort. It's very I, I think, and that's
(28:18):
a huge draw. For readers, yeah, like I think
like, you know, the romance genre and the smut genre in
general is about like kind of capturing whatever everyone's
like fantasy, whatever readers fantasy is at the time.
So like when, I don't know, whenthey first came out in the, you
know, end of the 1800s or whatever, you know, it was about
(28:39):
women being rewarded for behaving well, you know, cut to
later, it's about like having sexual pleasure.
And now I think we're seeing this thing where shirts.
What exactly. Yeah, stability.
That's exactly what it is. And like I, I think like that's
how that's how lost we are rightnow.
Is that like what we are cravingis just like a stable lifestyle
(29:03):
where we're not just like frantically worrying all the
time, you know, and and you havethis.
Yeah, I think you're totally spot on.
I was telling a friend of mine about this book, and I was like,
Mothman, he's a scientist. And he was like, wait, wait,
Mothman has a job in this book. And I was like, there is no
fantasy world written for women where the men don't have jobs.
(29:24):
Yeah, yeah. Not.
In not in the romance genre at the moment, because we live in a
world in which it is too hard. You don't.
I mean, I'm sure there are some books, but they are not as
they're, they're not the ones who are reading as much.
And most of the time they have stable jobs and are pretty
stable humans. Well, the only times they don't
is either when they're a demon or a fairy Lord and they.
Yes. They don't.
(29:44):
I would argue is sort of a job though.
Yeah, I mean. They have, they have some kind
of money, they have stability, they have.
Yeah, generational wealth. Well, like it's, it's
interesting because like, it's like when someone doesn't have a
job, there's like a very understandable reason, like they
were fired because it was blah, blah, blah.
But like, I think at the end, like, especially with the genre
(30:05):
at writ large, is that it is so positive and so like, you know,
you can't have you can't have someone being like, well, I
lived happily ever after and waited for unemployment checks.
You know what I mean? Like yes, well, also like
there's everyone in the community is helping each other.
Yes, you know, there's a lot of like mutual aid communities or
(30:28):
like it just feels it feels goodto be in care.
I would want to move to CanberraCreek for sure.
So we talked a little bit about it at the top of the show.
How do we feel about this? The past couple books that Bree
and I have done have been full of drama, full of dark things,
high stakes, either high stakes emotionally or, and there's a
lot of dark romances that there's a pretty heavy stuff
(30:51):
happening. How do we feel about this sort
of this gentle smut, this low stakes smut?
I mean, really, it's funny because I'm a big plot reader
and I was surprised by how much I like this book because there's
nothing pulling you through thisbook except the next sex scene.
Like, how did the two of you? Was it boring for you or is it
just like a warm bath that you're hanging out in?
(31:11):
And also, Becky, since you've been doing this for a minute, do
you find that this is a newer thing that you're getting the
the Cozy, cozy smut book? I mean, I think I'm still seeing
to both ends of it. You know, I love going back and
forth, going from a cold bath toa hot bath.
Because like, I think either way, whether it's dark romance
(31:32):
or whether it's cozy romance, this is all about healing.
I know a lot of people who read dark romance where there is
maybe triggering content, read it for a sense of healing.
I think when there are like traumatic things that just
allows readers who maybe have been in those situations to kind
of to feel in charge of the narrative.
And so there's something healingin that.
(31:53):
And then at the same time there's something healing and
being in Camber Creek where there really isn't a lot of like
high stakes kind of traumatic, you know, content, trigger
warning based content. So I think at the end of the
day, it's all coming from a place of like escapism, but
feeling in control of your own escapism, if that makes any
(32:13):
sense. What do you think?
How do you feel about low plot smut?
Yeah, I, I mean, here's the thing.
It was a very pleasant book. It was so pleasant.
And I like a I'm not as drawn tothe cozy books.
I think as like a lot of the people are the show reading
glasses. We have a lot of cozy book
readers. Yeah, I like them.
I think one thing I like about them, which this one did as
well, it's very much about the minutia of like the day-to-day
(32:34):
where it's like, you know, the last maybe cozy book I read she
opened a bookstore and like, oh,what's it like to send a bunch
of emails? I'm like, that's what it's like,
you know. And so this one, it's like, what
is it like to go to the farm andlike sort through the CSA boxes?
Like for some reason that is actually like there's something
sort of nice about it because it's, I think it's also like the
work stuff because we all work. It doesn't feel as stressful in
(32:59):
these books. Like it's like, no, it's just
plus, I mean, there's a little bit of like, you know, oh, your
boss can be kind of a jerk sometimes, but not really not
the way bosses really are jerks in real life.
So it just feels like it's like an escapism that's super 1 notch
away from your real life minus the Mothman.
I guess yes, for me, I think thekey for this book because I am,
(33:21):
as I said, I'm a huge plot reader.
Normally. I do not typically gravitate
towards these types of books just because I get bored.
I think the key with this is that it's short and this book
was a 500 because with a lot of these fantasy, romanticy,
fantasy smut in order to set up all that world, I mean, it's 500
pages, 600 pages. Some of these books are
(33:42):
absolutely huge. This is a neat 220 pages.
You could read this in one sitting if you had a really long
at night or afternoon. And that's why I really liked
it, because by the time I realized, oh, there's not a lot
happening, I was already 50% of the way through the book.
Right. Yeah, yeah.
Reading experience. It's itself was kind of cozy,
like it's very easy to read. Yeah, yeah, totally.
(34:07):
Yeah, I think that's like necessary in the world of
romantic because like I think sometimes when like people will
see like a a fourth wing or likea priority of the orange tree or
something where people are like,Oh my God, that's 600 pages.
I can't sit still for that. This isn't is this book for me,
you know, can I read anything fantastical?
And then when you have somethinglike this, it is very welcoming,
(34:28):
you know, and, and so it makes people feel included, which I
love. And she jumps right in.
She jumps right in the 1st. The first chapter is about will
they, won't they with this minotaur, which of course I
loved. And it did even they didn't have
sex, but it's still like it was a very sexy moment.
So it just jumped right into that part of it where I was
like, oh, OK, I see what World War and it was like.
(34:49):
And then built up the whole Mothman thing, which I really
appreciated for peaks and valleys, Yeah.
I also, I was very, very happy to see that she did not end up
fucking this minotaur. And he was cool with it.
I was expecting him to get kind of like mad.
I thought he was gonna like, youknow, I don't know.
Is this what Minotaurus do when they're mad?
Yes. No, but it's like it was kind of
mind blowing because like, you know, remember like when 50
(35:12):
Shades of Grey was like really big, there was a thing where she
wouldn't fuck that other guy andthen he comes back and like
tries to, I don't even remember,but like it's.
Always a common theme. It's a common theme and to like
just like see people be chill. Like I think it kind of adds to
the coziness of it all and like why people love it.
I'm like, yeah, you can reject people and it's going to be
fine. He's.
Going to find somebody else to fuck.
(35:33):
All right, so before we decide whether or not this is sexy,
we're going to take a quick break.
Hello romance readers, If you'relooking for your next read and
feel inspired by some of the books we've covered on Too
Stupid to Live, be sure to checkout TSTL's very own storefront
on bookshop.org. Here you will find a collection
(35:54):
of books that the show has covered, as well as personal
recommendations from me, Becky Feldman, the host of TSTL, who
is talking to you right now. So rest assured, you don't need
to worry about remembering titles or author names or having
to go back into the episode catalog.
Just head to bookshop.org/shop/TSTL Podcast
(36:16):
to view a collection of the books that the show has covered.
That's bookshop.org/shop/TSTL Podcast.
Happy reading. OK, we are back and asking the
most important question. Is this sexy Becky you?
You said you were not into the moth ma'am.
Was this not sexy for you? No, it was still quite sexy for
(36:38):
me. I'm not going to lie.
I found the sexiest parts when she was on when she was on
display masturbating in front. Of us, because this is our first
voyeurism. Book, yeah, I really like it
felt like, I mean, it's like it's so insane.
It's, you know, obviously not something I would do big risks.
Big risks you're taking right there, ma'am, because if you if
(36:59):
you haven't read the book, she'sjust, she just hears someone
wait, she already in the processof masturbating and then and
then she hears someone in the wind in the tree next to her
house and she's like and. Instead of getting a gun out,
she's like, you know what, let'sopen these curtains, baby.
Again, this is a fantasy book, so.
We love it, of course, yes, yes,yes, I think this isn't like but
(37:20):
the fact that like she felt so free and like and you know, like
honestly, like I think like using like just going to town,
taking out her pillow, using herbest toys, making it a night for
herself, like I'm like that and just enjoying like yeah, she was
like too horny to think or whatever, knowing like she's
like knowing someones watching her and that's like adding to
(37:41):
it. Like, I thought that I thought
that was really, really sexy. Bria, what do you think?
Are you, Were you into the voyeurism?
I mean, not necessarily for me, but I didn't I did appreciate
it. And then she sort of what I
liked is that she did go throughall the like people it could
possibly be in which I learned in this world, lizards have two
Dicks, which was very funny. And then also she was like, what
(38:04):
if it's a bat person? And I'm going to quote the book
here. She tried to envision that bat
person now, but it's about his balls being really big.
She tried to envision that bat person now, tight jeans open and
his fat testicles swinging free in the night air as he jerked
off to the side of her, touchingherself.
Would they be hanging upside down?
Would they make a huge mess whenhe comes?
I love that. I just want to read a book where
(38:25):
like a guy, like a bad guy just like gets cum in his face and
it's like, it just like drips down.
He's like, oh, not again, not again.
Oh. My.
God, but if you do want to read A2 Dick lizard man, have you
read Katie Robert the Dragons wife?
Oh, I have deal with the deal with the dragon.
It's that's but that's the premise of it.
(38:46):
She makes a deal with like a dragon king or something or the
Dragons bride. I'm sorry, it's Dragons.
Bride, Right? Yes, but he had somewhere on my
smart shelf. As a fan of the show, I highly
recommend. I would love to hear your
thoughts on it. OK, great.
We actually we have it on our list.
It's also another short book. I thought this was really sexy,
but not for the reasons that I thought I was gonna think it was
(39:07):
sexy. It really appealed to me because
especially like being a woman inthis world is hard, like a lot,
a lot of us have a lot of shame and complicated feelings about
our body. I particularly, I'm in my 30s
and I grew up it, you know, my generation was the first
generation to like really grow up with Internet porn.
So it feels like my was the first generation to grow up
(39:28):
feeling really bad about the wayour bodies look during sex.
So the idea of this woman, like,really?
I'm gonna, I'm gonna push back and say that's also for women.
And that's all women, Yeah. Women.
It's all women in their 40s. We definitely also felt the same
way. OK, well, like it, it really
like, it makes you feel so, so like, I have a really hard time
(39:49):
particularly like, you know, when you have sex, you're always
like, well, what am I looking like?
Yeah, I need to suck in like youjust like.
And that preoccupation can take you out of things.
And so watching or reading this book and she's sitting there and
she's just feeling herself. She does not feel any self self
consciousness at all. She feels really the idea of
feeling so sexy for somebody else.
(40:11):
And not being in your head. And Becky, like you said, just
totally focusing on her pleasure.
I was like, that's so beautiful.It really is.
So lovely and I was surprised byhow much I loved that.
Yeah. And just like, with this added,
they had kind of have they allude to this, you know, back
story where she was divorced, but her relationship was very
emotionally abusive, right? And she really kind of like,
(40:33):
went down, you know, broke down on herself.
And I think it's like a really interesting place for her
character to be where she is so afraid to get her heart hurt
again. But here she is too horny to
think, to quote the book. And you kind of find yourself,
like, I think that's like, maybesomething a lot of people can
relate to of, like, finding yourself at this thing of like,
(40:56):
well, my body wants this, but myheart is too scared for this,
you know, Like what? How do I feel?
How do I rectify it? Oh, I'm going to masturbate in
front of a moth man. Listen, OK, so Speaking of, so
are we into this moth man anatomy?
He's got this giant tongue, he'sgot this penis pocket, he's got
this S shaped Dick. Are are we into this?
(41:16):
Is this sexy for us? Yes, and I'm also going to
explain why on the off chance you get to fuck him, you know,
with a once a month, you do you levitate off the bed.
How excited is that? Yeah.
That was really, really fun. I'm into that, yeah.
I would say it's less for me, but I understand the appeal
here. And you know, I'd be curious.
(41:37):
I guess I'd be curious. Mallory today hit home for you.
Oh, for sure. I'm a big shape of Water fan.
I'm very curious about the gigantic tongue.
The penis pocket I think was interesting just because we've
never really seen anything like that before.
Yeah, the S shaped Dick was a little intimidating to me again,
but then like I came back aroundon it because she was like, all
(41:58):
right, well, I can only take this a few times a month.
Like let's do hand stuff the rest of the time.
Like I, I really, really appreciated it.
And I think there's something that's really great about the
combination of him being very shy and I'm unsure of himself
and having this like monster cock like that.
That combination was very sweet to me.
Also, I think this book did something for me because there's
(42:19):
a lot of aspects of the Moth Maze personality that remind me
of my boyfriend, like Bria. Bria will attest, like my
boyfriend has a has a really weird work schedule, so we're
always having to hang out reallylate at night.
So like during the scene where she's like, Oh no, he's
nocturnal. What do I do?
I was like, I have to deal with this all the time.
I'm going to be honest, that wasthe deal breaker for me.
When I read that, I was like, he's nocturnal.
(42:40):
Like I'm not interested. That is as a as a morning
person. I'm not.
I can't. I was interested.
Yeah, like the the wearing the jacket backwards was like, I
have like, like it was so it wasso.
Beggy OK, explain that. Explain that.
OK, it was so. Sweet.
It's very sweet. Like, OK, so he's a scientist
and obviously they have to wear like their lab jackets, but he
(43:01):
has wings. How do you wear it?
And the scientist community, they're not making jackets for
people with wings. And if they are way expensive?
Very humanist. It's terrible, terrible you
guys. So he has to wear the jacket
backwards and like that I loved.It's so dorky and it's like, so
like, I loved it because like, if I were dating him when I was
(43:21):
like in high school, I'd be humiliated.
But now I'm like, I love this. I know.
But all of his coworkers eventually get him a custom made
Mothman jacket. So sweet, so sweet.
And it's like, I love that stuffabout like that's, I think
that's like why a lot of people love Cambridge Creek.
It's just. Like this?
These little details that it's like, OK, this isn't just like
(43:42):
monster fucking there's there's the.
Yes, OK, so this weird this bookso horny.
You know there is a lot of smut in this clearly.
But can a book also be soothing and be horn?
How does a book like this live in that space of like being
mentally soothing but also mentally stimulating?
So for me, so this got. So Becky, one of the reasons we
started the show is that Melanieand I just had this discussion
(44:06):
one day. We were like, why are the
smartest women we know reading these smart books?
And we were sort of just then getting especially me, like
learning about them and getting like turned on to them.
And this book really answered that question in a really.
Yeah, where I was like, right, Because it is both like brain
candy, where it's just like, this is nice.
This is sweet. I actually even read at the very
(44:29):
beginning there's a she writes like a little description.
She says if you're looking for athird act breakup, you will not
find it. If you're looking for a plot
heavy narrative full of angst and tears and groveling, it is
not here. This one is pure cotton candy,
folks. No plot, just horny slice of
life vibes. And for me, I'm like right
there, if you have, which I feellike we're all living through
tough times. We are.
(44:49):
We are not necessarily looking for something super challenging
all the time. And this combines that with sex.
So it's like, oh, it's the best of all the worlds.
And like, to me, it's such a relaxing, it was such a relaxing
book to read. I write it like on a Saturday
afternoon and was like, how lovely to like turn my brain off
for a minute, but without feeling with enough challenging
(45:09):
things in there where I'm like, OK, there's some world building,
OK, like I can think about the CSA.
Boxes, which obviously I love. You know, like there was Bria
does. Love farm fresh produce.
I will say who doesn't, who doesn't?
The berries seemed delicious. I was wasn't one bad Berry in
that batch I love. One thing I texted Bria about
(45:30):
when I saw the title of this book, I thought it was going to
be a euphemism for something like another ball book, but I
was like, no, it's literally sweet berries, these nice
blackberries. Yes.
Anyway, I just think women need a fucking break.
And this book is a break. It's a break.
It's it's cotton candy. It's lovely, right?
Yeah, yeah. I mean, I think when I was
(45:51):
mentioning earlier, like, I think that like sex is soothing,
pleasure is soothing. Reading about women's pleasure
is is soothing to me. So, yeah, I, I think that like
absolutely, like smut should be cozy, you know, like smut should
be cozy. And, and I, and I think that
like, yeah, I don't know, like I, I'm sure you guys have run
(46:13):
into this as well where it's like, I think that like our,
it's other people's versions of what a book is that needs to be
redefined. This is a book.
This is always a book that all of these books, no matter if
it's on Wattpad or if it's like just pure, just someone fucking
branch. You know what I mean?
Like they are books. We actually we did do unhinged.
(46:35):
So exactly. Yeah.
And it's like, oh, I think it's like, it's like, OK, we need to
redefine what books are and whatthey can be.
And like books at books that we read for pleasure, that we read
for fun, that we read as cotton candy is just as important as
like, I don't know, Moby Dick orwhatever as.
We say on our other show, all books are real books.
Exactly, Yeah. Yeah, for me, I think the it's
(46:58):
the formula. Like Becky, like you said, like
you go into this book and you know what's going to happen.
Like you might not know how you're going to get there, but
you know you're going to get sexscenes at every few intervals.
You know they're going to end uptogether in the end.
And there's something very soothing about that.
So even when you are being titillated, even when you're
reading about a girl finger banging A Mothman penis pocket,
(47:21):
like, you know, kind of the roadmap of where you're going, it's
like it's it's interesting because it's you know, some
people have their comfort moviesand comfort shows because they
know what's going to happen. These can be comfort.
These books can be comfort to you even when you haven't read
them because you know kind of the beats of them.
Yeah, I, I equate it to like watching sports, you know, like
someone who really likes football is going to watch the
(47:43):
game football, even though if they don't know if the team will
win, lose or tie, no ones going to like, they're not gonna like
suddenly turn on football and like have someone being like, I
know you idiots, I'm gonna startplaying baseball.
You know, like no one does that.Although I want to say as a big
hockey fan, I do think that sports are the most Sometimes I
I will look at one of my really good friends who's also into
(48:05):
hockey. I'm like, why did I do this?
Why am I choosing to be stressedout?
Right. Yeah, hockey is very is
stressful. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
But I do see like you, you have that, like you know how long
it's gonna be. You kind of know what's gonna
happen. Like I, I think there's a lot of
for especially in this, like right now in this world that
we're living in, like so much crazy shit is happening all the
(48:26):
time, every single day. You, we kind of never know what
the government's going to be doing.
What is like, there's always some crazy fresh disaster or
awful thing happening. It's very nice to return to the
genre where like, you know what's going on, you know
they're going to fall, you know they're going to end up
together. Like it?
It feels very super. Yeah, and even in just like
daily life, you know, like, I, Imean, I don't have kids, but
like, I imagine, you know, like,just like with the daily
(48:48):
stresses of life, you know, of like being caught in traffic
fucking sucks. Yeah.
That's why romances here are getting your health insurance
taken away. That sucks too.
You know, like it's just like nomatter what kind of challenge
you're facing, it's like, oh, you can always go home and like
open up a nice. Book is always going to be there
for you. Yeah, always waiting.
I had I had another question, Becky, since you have dipped
(49:08):
your toe more into this world, it's always so far we've read a
lot of we've read humans with monsters in this world of like
monster romance or in Cambridge Creek.
But monster Romans, are we ever being male monsters with, I'm
sorry, male humans with monster women?
Yeah, I finished The Orc Bride where it was a female orc and a
(49:32):
human male. Here's the thing, it's not that
often, but like I actively try to search it out and it does
take a little bit more effort for me to find a female alien or
a female monster or female orc or whatever.
With Girls Weekend, the main characters are all elves, which
like they're that's pretty humanoid, you know, like there's
(49:52):
nothing human. Yeah, it's human adjacent.
No offense. It's like ears.
Yeah, exactly. No offense, no offense, the
elves out there, but you know, but yeah, it's it was really
interesting to read Orc in this world.
I think it was Oh God, I I can'teven I never remember title
names or author names on the worst of it.
But it was really interesting because in this world the orc
(50:16):
women have like, you know how you guys have done nodding
right, like the Omega first nodding thing, right.
We we got, you know, knots. Baby, we got a we've.
Definitely. Yeah, you love.
Not books. You love your knot.
It was really interesting to read a female orc like having
her not like her vagina, you know, being available for a knot
only to have a human non knot. And it was like and I'm like.
(50:38):
This is like this is. Fascinating.
Interesting. OK, Becky.
I'm definitely going to hit you up for orc Orc female erotica.
Honestly I would love to read ismonster on monster.
I think the reason why a lot of these we always have one human
is because you need yourself insert, you know?
I think so too, you know. Yeah, readers want to know what
(51:00):
it would be like for them, whichI get, but as so as a power
lifter who has a really weirdly shaped body, I would love to
read about an orc lady. Like they're happening, you
know, like I and like this booklet came out recently and I
was just like, it was like on myradar because like, I really it
is very rare to to not to see a female monster.
(51:22):
Yeah. OK, I'm reading one right now
called Maneater by Emily Antoinette and it's it's a shy,
shy virgin male heroine, which is kind of weird, but she's a
demon, but she is very humanoid.She's basically just like a big
curvy lady with horns. Like she's it's not like a non,
(51:43):
non human anatomy, but it is very fun.
I it's a novella. I will I'll put it in the show
notes. But yeah if listeners have
recommendations for non human women like monster women PO VS
please send them to us because Ireally really want that shit.
Yeah. Yes.
All right, So Bria, you want we I put a chili rating on this at
(52:05):
4:00. What do you think you want?
You said well. I feel like, but you know what?
I think because I was like, we should debate the four because I
think it's less, but maybe it's because it's so cozy that I just
was like, it is. It's not.
And then at some point I was like, wow, we've just been in
the CSA world for a long time. So like, so Becky, we're kind of
doing it on like a like how likesex to world ratio, right,
(52:31):
right. Not how hot it is, but like the
like literal like how much sex is in the book.
And I felt like it was about half and half.
But me too, I have a great yeah.Yeah, but Mallory, you think
it's a little more than half? I gave it a little bit more than
half because it felt like everything else was sort of in
support of this mud. Like there was the the plot that
was there, even though there wasabout 5050, it there wasn't just
(52:53):
a lot going on. Like really the thing that
you're trying to get to is the sex.
But I I was a. Lot of dates there.
I think there were quite a few dates.
Which was really sweet. Nighttime dates.
Which again I. Really.
But not a chili, but not a chili.
Not adding to the chili scale, but the more y'all talked about
it, the more I'm like, maybe youare, maybe I should bump it up
because you're right. There was so much like stuff
(53:13):
that wasn't like penetration, but it was very sexy.
Stuff happening, yeah. I'm kind of at this phase of
like as I'm reading like what, what makes.
I mean, obviously we're all asking a question what makes
something horny, but like like if someone is just like thinking
about sex while they're that were they are at work, is that
(53:33):
chili rated? Do you know what I mean?
It's just like. I like a lot of.
Different things it's not. Chili, but it's like the stem of
the chili. Like, it's definitely chili.
Chili stuff. Got it.
I. Actually, because I liked that.
I, I love yearning. I love a character just
generally being horny. And she thinks about sex a lot,
even when she's not with him. Like I did love that scene where
she goes to work the next day and she's like, she's leaking
(53:55):
all over the place. She's pulling off man.
She's she's sore. Like I really, it's definitely
even. Even during scenes that are not
sex scenes, sex is still present.
Yeah. So like it's it's it's on her
mind. I love the Bri is like she's
she's reading the scenes. Bri is not paying attention to
(54:15):
the comes. She's like, oh, tell me about
those fresh carrots. What's?
Going on with. It yeah, like I come.
You guys are picking corn, OK? Yeah.
Interesting, I do love a garden.I mean, it is.
Yeah. It it's so funny because it's
just like, oh, like, I think we're all kind of in this, Like,
maybe readers are seeing like, OK, what are we defining as sex?
(54:37):
What are we defining as pleasurable?
And so like I read a book recently where it was a virgin
heroin, but she was all her lifered erotica, ordered toys
online, knew what she wanted, even though she never had the
actual experience of like being one-on-one with another person.
(54:58):
And and so it was just like, andI didn't feel like sometimes I
feel a little bit of an ick whenit's like a virgin for the first
time and they're like, what's this feeling?
I don't understand. Like I that to me is not my.
Yeah, but for her. But to have her know what she
wants, even without like kind ofexperiencing what we
traditionally see as like the first time, it is like kind of
(55:21):
fascinating to have us like redefine.
OK, well, what is a first time? What is sexuality?
What is pleasure? How do we define it?
Could pleasure be just someone reading, someone using their
imagination, someone with themselves?
You know what I mean? Yeah, y'all have kind of
convinced me, you've convinced me through the episode that
maybe there's a four, maybe there's a four.
(55:42):
I would say 3, but but I could, I could maybe be convinced of a
four. She is too horny to.
Think I mean come on, she is toohorny to.
Think she says that a lot. She says that quite a bit.
Which I love. And Becky, I'm really glad you
brought that up because it is. Even though I feel the same way,
I'm not. I do prefer a experienced
heroin. I don't like the virgin heroin
trobe. I don't also don't like people
(56:04):
who criticize it in the way thatlike the idea that someone could
not be horny if they have never had sex before.
Like someone needs needs a penisto like activate their
horniness. You know, there's a lot of
people in the world who have never had penetrative sex and
they are they are very horny. They watch a lot of porn.
They play like they masturbate alot.
(56:24):
They're very into like I like perfect example by bringing it
back to sports. I'm never gonna fucking play
hockey, but I love watching it. I, I, I have multiple teams that
I root for. I'm obsessed with hockey.
I'm really into it but. Metaphor can go really far by
the way. Multiple teams I've rooted for
him. But The thing is, is that, like,
(56:47):
I like, if I were to read about you watching a hockey game, I'd
be like, I am with her on this. I trust her.
Yeah. I'm so glad she's having fun.
And I, I don't need to play, have, have played hockey to be a
real hockey fan. So I, I don't like that
criticism and we've seen it, butwe, I've seen it before reading
about these books, it's like, oh, well, she's never had sex
(57:07):
before. There's no way she could be
freaky. There's no way she could be
horny. There's no way she would just
jump right into it. And especially with a lot of
these, a lot of these virgin characters, they something
that's particularly prevalent isthat, oh, they have, they're
older. They're a little quote, too old
to be a virgin, which obviously we know that does not exist.
But like they're in their 20s. They're feeling the pressure of
(57:29):
still being a virgin. Like you think people like that
wouldn't be excited to bang like?
No, no, yeah, it's this misconception.
Like pleasure isn't an action, pleasure is a feeling.
And these? Pleasure is a state of mind,
maybe. Exactly, and we have all had
feelings since we were too youngto even know what feeling meant.
(57:52):
And I I guess maybe this is justme.
I'm just like, I, I, I like characters to be an idiot
because they're dumb. I don't want them to be an idiot
because they're virgins. Yeah, I mean.
Oh my God. That's exactly it.
That is right. Exactly right.
It beautiful. That is beautiful.
Well, and like, I, you know, I, there's no virgins in this book.
You know, we're going on this tangent that doesn't have to do
(58:14):
with their book, but I, I, I wanna, I wanna defend virgin
heroines a little bit, But I didsay I, I, I liked Grace a lot.
We'll bring it we'll and bring it back to Grace.
I really liked her as a heroine.I like that she was so self
assured. She knew what she wanted.
She was very I something, something that stresses me out
in some books is like, you know,if this was if this was in a
(58:36):
different, different author's hands, you know, she would have
banged that Minotaur then felt bad about it and then like had a
lot of like she just doesn't feel you don't you don't.
You're in her head, but she doesn't really like deal with
those feelings of shame or guilt.
Like she's just not dealing withit.
She's just, she wants to bang. She's really into it.
She's very sex positive and I I really loved that about her.
(58:56):
Yeah, and I love that about Cambridge Creek.
I think all of the books is justthere's 00 shame these all these
characters are doing freaky geeky.
Stuff. This is the town that Bucks
Cambridge Creek town. Bucks they're having so they're
having so much fun if you when you.
Drive into Cambridge Creek, there's a sign that says
(59:17):
Cambridge Creek population, however many thousand.
This town fucks it. Really.
I love it. Yeah, there's this is a very sex
positive town. People are banging.
And I think that is, I mean, honestly, the So the next book
in the series is about one of the werewolves that I guess is
like a local politician. They kind of allude to him in
(59:37):
this book, and I think I'm goingto read it because I, I, I love
Cambrick Creek folks. I love I.
Love this lovely place to be. Lovely place to visit, yes?
It's beautiful. And I, Yeah, yes, agreed.
All right, folks, please check the show notes for links to
everything we talked about. Plus, if you are coming here
from reading smut, please go listen to Becky show.
It is so great. But yeah, I will say in
(59:58):
preparation for this, I listenedto one of your episodes that you
did about another Mothman book to get to get some to get your
Mothman thoughts. So folks, it's it's such an
excellent show. Please check it out.
And if you're coming from Too Stupid to Live, also there link
in the show notes to our show. We would love to have you on the
next book that we're doing is Her Soul to Take by Harley
(01:00:18):
LaRue, which is another dark romance.
We're going totally in the otherdirection.
Becky, do you have any final things to say before we wrap up?
Yeah, no, it was such a pleasureto be here.
I'm such a fan of reading glasses and I love the fact that
you guys started doing reading smut.
So thank you for that as a fan and a listener.
And it's just, it was such a pleasure to talk to you guys.
So thank for everything that youdo Thank.
(01:00:40):
You for everything you do for paving the way for smart
podcasts. For real.
So if you want to help both shows, folks, why are you not
reviewing? Why throw Becky a review?
Throw us a review. It'll take truly 60 seconds to
do both on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
Give us a five star rating, Write a nice little review.
It really helps both the shows. You can e-mail us at
reading.smartpodcast69@gmail.com.Our smutty theme song is by Matt
(01:01:04):
Glass. Thanks for smutting it up with
both of us today. I hope you had as much fun
(01:01:27):
listening to this crossover episode as I did when I recorded
it. Thank you to Bria and Mallory
and everyone at Reading Smut, and thank you for listening.
And I hope you have a cozy rest of your day.
Hey everyone, it's Becky Feldmanhere, host of Too Stupid to
Live, a podcast about romance novels, usually $5 and under.
And today we've got a super special crossover podcast
episode with the amazing ReadingSmut Podcast, which is a sexy
offshoot of the podcast Reading Glasses hosted by Bria Grant and
Mallory O'meara. I'm such a fan of Reading
(00:30):
Glasses and got so excited when they came out with Reading Smut.
I have been listening to podcasts on the Maximum phone
network since like before I evenknew what a podcast was.
So it was a total thrill to connect with Bria and Mallory
and to make even more of my wildest dreams come true.
We're discussing ACM Nascosta book.
(00:50):
If you've been listening to TSTLor just like ever had a
conversation with me ever, you know that I bring up the
Cambridge Creek books in like every episode in every
conversation that I had. So what a joy it was to really
dive into the second book of theseries titled Sweet Berries.
So sit back, relax and get a 2 for one.
(01:10):
Yeah. Listening to two podcasts at
once. That's what you're doing.
It's a it's a 2 for one. Anyway, please enjoy this
special crossover podcast episode of Reading Smut and Too
Stupid to Live. Welcome to Reading Smut, where
(01:41):
we read horny books and talk to people who love them.
And today, we're not just reading smut.
We're more than one podcast. We also are too stupid to Live a
podcast that reviews romance novels $5 and under.
So I'm Bria Grant here with Mallory O'meara.
And thank you, Feldman. Hi, it's I'm so happy to be
here. Oh my God, what a dream.
(02:01):
Thank you for doing this on the the show.
Thank you for for for the shows to combine.
When we started reading smut, I had so many friends that were
like, Oh my God, do you know? Yeah.
And I, and we've crossed in the past, so I'm so glad we got to
do a combo show. Well, we could talk about what
we're going to do, which is we're returning to Cambridge
(02:22):
Creek. Yeah.
We're heading crossover episode.And we're talking Sweet Berries
by CM Nacosta, which when we were discussing on our e-mail
chain, you were like, did you happen to read any of the
Cambridge Creek series? And we were, and we had already
read the first one, very excitedabout the Cambridge Creek.
Yes, I've read like I've read the, you know, Morning Glory,
(02:42):
this one. And then there's another series
that she does that's in Cambridge Creek that's like an
offshoot called Girls Weekend, which I don't know if you guys
read, but it is. No, that's my favorite.
It's my favorite, yeah. OK.
We'll have to get into the differences there because I
think we know we don't know thatone.
OK, well before we smut it up, we want to talk about our shows.
(03:03):
Can you tell us a little bit about Too Stupid to Live in case
people are listening to this on the Reading smut feed?
Yes, absolutely. So TSTL is a podcast about
romance novels. Usually $5 and under.
I like to keep it cheap but for me it's all about having like
non academic just judgement freechats about horny books that we
read for pleasure, not read to learn something or feel sad.
(03:26):
Hey, we love it. And for anyone who is coming
over from Becky show, welcome toReading smut.
We do something pretty similar. We're a bi weekly show.
We release episodes every other Friday.
Half of our episodes are this usreading a smutty book and
figuring out why it's sexy, why it appeals to people.
The other half is US sort of delving into specific aspects of
smut. We usually get special guests to
(03:48):
smut it up with us, so this is too great taste to taste great
Together. We are combining our smutty
powers into one ultra smart podcast.
We're so excited, but we're going to get into Sweet Berries
after we take a short break. Hey TSTL listeners, are you an
(04:09):
indie author with a book to promote?
An artist or designer trying to sell bookish swag?
Are you a book talk influencer in need of more followers to do
your influencing? Well TSTL would love to help you
out. Hi, I'm Becky, I'm the host of
Too Stupid to Live and I love building new connections with
the bookish and sexual health communities, whether it's for
(04:30):
sponsorships at amazingly reasonable and negotiable rates
or guest and topic ideas for TST, LS, Extra Spice and Hot as
Hell episodes. So if you want to hook up, visit
tstlpodcast.com/contact or you can e-mail the show at
tstlpod@gmail.com. And we are back for the special
(04:51):
crossover. We are heading back to the world
of Cambrick Creek. Becky, you've already also cut
we we did a this the first book in the series as a live event
for our other show. But you've covered this book on
your show. Wait.
Can can I have it? Question, do we think it's
Cambrick or Cambridge? Because I think we're both,
we're all saying different, I think.
It's I've been saying, I've beensaying Cambridge like.
(05:13):
Cambridge. Yeah, I mean.
We'll have to let us know. Yeah, but I mean, I have reached
out to her. She's not got she's not.
But if she does, that's the first question we will.
Ask unbelievable. Unbelievable.
So I actually, I never covered it on the show.
I actually went on Dough Boys and kind of derailed their
(05:34):
episode talking about Cambridge Creek and.
It does sort of what you what you introduce the idea of a
minotaur milking farm. It does kind of derail anything
else that. You well, like they asked me,
they're like, oh, So what are you reading lately?
And I'm like, well. And you're like, hold on, I have
AI have, I have a, a PowerPoint presentation, I have, I have
notes. I have I got a lot to talk.
About here exactly, yeah. And so like, honestly, it's like
(05:55):
one of those things where I, I think, I think about Cambridge
Creek, however you say it, five times a day.
Yeah, yeah. I mean, we like we also, it's
funny, we did up a lot. We did this app, we did this
live event, Priya years ago now,and it still comes up all the.
(06:16):
Time people want to talk about, they want to talk about the
minotaurs. Well, I think it's also a thing
where it's like like low stakes,like toasty feeling cozy stories
are so big right now that I feellike Camper Creek was kind of
like right before that wave. So whenever we're talking about
cozy SMUD. That comes the milking farm
(06:37):
book. Is that cozy?
I feel like it's more work. Because of all the penises,
yeah. Yeah, it's, it's a little, it's
a lot, but it's so shocking thatyou're like, wow, if this is
your first dip into like monstererotica, then it is a bit like a
wow. It's not a dip, It's a, it's a,
it's a splash, splash. Cannonball.
It's it is. Two big cannonballs, yes.
(07:00):
Bulbous. No, But what's interesting is
that like, I always thought likethe term cozy was referred to as
cozy mysteries because like. OK, I'm glad that you brought
that up because it's been a big thing on our other show because
cozy, as you just said, has always been a very specific sub
genre of mystery that has no sexand no violence.
And it's been kind of Co opted recently by a lot of like
(07:23):
fantasy, fantasy books, sci-fi books, other marketing to mean
just like a cozy feeling, like low stakes, very like toasty
feeling, which is why I'm tryingto use that term.
And it's very confusing because the term cozy smut should not
exist. That's.
Right. Like for me, I think smut is
cozy. Like we don't need the
qualifier, yes. And what is it?
(07:46):
Why is it cozy to you? Well, I mean, I think it's like
something for me, like you're, you're usually like with with
with smut and romance. You know, there's something very
comforting about it. There's the tropes are
comforting, the formula, the formula is comforting.
And I think things like where you're like feeling where where
about pleasure is comforting. Like there is comfort in
(08:07):
pleasure. And when it's like we're reading
about someone elses pleasure, when we're reading about, you
know, arguably things that are taboo, you know, there's a
comfort there, there's a coziness there.
And so yeah, I never really thought of it as like cozy and
smut on like 2 ends of the spectrum, if that makes any
sense. Yeah.
I mean, that's my way. We've been trying to use the
term low stakes 'cause sometimesthese smart books are very high
(08:30):
stakes. There's a lot going on.
There's a lot of, we've read a couple recently that have a lot
to do with like trauma and yeah,upsetting shit.
So I've been trying to use the term low stakes 'cause this
Camber Creek is about as low stakes as you can possibly.
Get There's almost no stakes. Yeah, 0 stakes.
It is really just vibes and penises, like that's all that's
(08:50):
happening. Could he possibly move at some
point? Right.
Yeah. He's not going to.
It's so funny because like I do you have you guys done like you
know, there's there's the dark romance, there's dark monster
romance, which is so I love it, but it's we're.
Putting our toes into that. Actually recently we were having
Opal rain on the show coming up.So we're very excited.
(09:10):
But yeah, things can get pretty,pretty uncomfy in this in this.
World yes, absolutely. So it's like it's a weird thing
to go from like a Finley fun book to like this, you know,
where it's like, no kid, there'sno kidnapping, there's no war,
there's no. No, there's really nothing
except for fresh produce. Yeah, people living in harmony.
(09:31):
Yes. Farms, weddings, the heart, the
the the biggest dramas that sometimes there's a bridezilla.
Yeah, I know. Well, what's so funny with this
and like with her other books isthat like a lot of like the the
conflict is just like a character of like what am I
doing with my life? Like that's the main conflict.
And I think that's like what kind of maybe from, I haven't
(09:54):
read every Cranebic Creek book, but like that's usually kind of
the vibe I get is like, yes, youhave a female character who's
like torn between what does she want to do with her life?
And then she's just like gettingrailed again and again by.
That's how I mean, that's how you shake out the ideas.
You got a rail them out of them.So what it's like to be in your
(10:14):
20s? It really is like, I think it
really is a vibe. Like it kind of like it's odd.
Like I mean, I've read a lot of monster smut.
I love monster smut. And for some reason this like, I
feel like it really does tap into like the millennial kind
of. Oh yeah, exit fine.
I mean something that we talked about.
When? We did the first episode was how
(10:35):
a huge thing in the first book was just her getting a job that
had health insurance. And I was like, this is truly a
millennial problem. But all right, before we get
into more Cambrick Creek stuff, Becky, you are.
Was this the first time we've had a smut podcast on with us?
What is your smut reading story story like?
Like did you like how? What's your origin?
Have you always been an erotica slash romance reader?
(10:56):
Like a romance reader. Like when I was growing up, I
used to love, you know, my favorite books were like Daphne
du Maurier's Rebecca or like Jane Eyre or things like that.
But then when I was around, likein my early 20s, I accidentally
picked up a book thinking it waslike a Buffy the Vampire Slayer
kind of book. Turned out to be smut.
Read it on an airplane and it's just been love.
(11:18):
To read that in public when two people are close by you
fantastic smart reading conditions.
Yeah, On an airplane. What a surprise.
Yeah, I mean, listen, I like, I jump full in, you know what I
mean? And it's just like there's like,
why is that women blushing there?
But I'm like I can't stop. Why is this woman sweating this
plane so? Cold, like it's cold on this
airplane. And so, yeah, So for the longest
(11:41):
time, I was like a secret smart reader.
I didn't want anyone to know. I was so embarrassed, you know,
like, I would poo poo it. But then, yeah, like, kind of
around 30, I was just like, these books are hilarious.
So many more people read it thanwe think.
Let's talk about it. So now I'm just like, yeah.
And how long you been doing the podcast?
Almost nine years now. Oh my God.
(12:03):
Wow. So you are like a true OG smut
talker. I mean less than yes, yes I did.
All right, well, let's get your expertise going.
Bria, what's the smut on this? OK, so the title is Sweet
Berries. Like we said, author CME Acosta.
It's 22124 pages, pretty sure available.
Yeah, available in all formats. The genre subgenre is paranormal
(12:26):
romance slash monster fuckery tropes.
We have shy hero voyeurism, slash exhibitionism.
We'll get into that monster fucking curvy heroine insta love
and fantasy anatomy which this is our first fantasy anatomy
book on this show. Also, I have to say when I was
looking this book up and doing it like putting all this
(12:48):
together, one of the main tags on romance dot IO was
multicultural. Yeah, which I guess is.
True, because there's a bunch ofdifferent races with monsters,
but it was just really funny forher to get tagged as that.
Just made me blush and the wheelhouse is low stakes fantasy
small town which we've discussedmonsters, cryptids, farming,
(13:11):
starting life over and outside community.
There's a big community aspect to these books where there's a
lot of like, tell me what's going on and like the like good
friendships on the surroundings.Although I will say her best
friend annoyed me and your best friend was a little.
Pushy. Also Mallory, what was I mean,
let's do a quick house check in.Is there a wheelhouse for his
home? Because he did have an
interesting woodsy home. Oh, he did have a great because
(13:33):
he lives in sort of like he lives in a tree house.
The main character, whose name is Merrick, he's a Mothman.
This is a romance between a human woman and a mothman.
And I really, I loved his littletree house.
I did. Like Mallory's big on the
chairs. She wants to know what the bed
situation is. Yeah, well, that's the.
Problem. He's ape in a chair, which I
really didn't like, but the restof it I would totally fuck a guy
(13:56):
in a treehouse. I think that's awesome.
Love it. Yeah, everyone.
Yeah, I haven't like everyone. I do have a problem with the
chair. I agree with you.
But the way he like holds her like when they sleep, I'm like
is that I would do one night. I would just check out one night
in that. I would do that situation where
I would do that for a little cuzI sleep on my stomach so I could
(14:17):
not sleep curled up like a cat getting scooped.
So I would cuddle for a little bit and then as soon as he
started to fall asleep I'd be like I gotta go to the bathroom
and then I fall asleep in the bed right?
Sorry man. Yeah, I would.
You would try it, but you would give it a good try it.
I think that's important and that's the theme of this book.
It's just giving it a good try. Give it a good try it Mallory,
do you want to talk about what? Happens in this book.
Not much, OK, There's not a lot of plot in this book.
(14:39):
It's very low stakes, very low plot book, which we've kind of
there's more plot in the first book, which is this is the
second in the series. But this doesn't have much.
We have our main character, her name is Grace.
She's just moved to our beloved Camper Creek.
Few years ago she had a bad divorce.
Which we love because we've had a lot of virgin main characters
lately. And yeah, we were just really
looking for. I'm so glad we read this one
(15:01):
because I was getting tired of the, like, it's my first time.
Like, I like the divorced main character.
Like, yes, she gives that energy.
Yeah. She she knows what she likes.
She's kind of trying to like figure her lifeout.
She's got a great job, which is a big theme in this series.
She's an event planner for this local farm.
She loves it there. Her friends work there.
The only thing she really doesn't have is a relationship.
And like the beginning of the book, she almost bangs one of
(15:22):
the minotaurs that works on the farm.
And she's like, no, I'm not going to bank someone I work
with. And then one night, she comes
home. After we have to say I wish she
had banged the minotaur. Yeah, just to see, Just to see.
Well, listen, I just liked the Minotaur book I.
Well, we'll get into which book I, I anyway.
Go ahead. So one night she comes home and
she's like masturbating in bed and she realizes that someone's
(15:42):
watching her and she's pretty into it.
So the watcher comes back again a week later and somehow helps
her get off, but she's not really sure how.
Turns out it's a mothman whose tongue is approximately 20 feet
long. So he's a Mothman.
His name is Merrick. He's a scientist in town with a
new job working to increase the pollinator populations.
And he shows up at Grace's work after watching her jerk off in
(16:05):
her window for several nights. And he wants to ask her out in
person. And so the two of them started
very sweet and horny relationship like.
But a big theme is that they Grace believes that he's going
to move away after the course ofthis scientist gig has run up.
Like he's she thinks that he's going to move on to another
university because that's sort of what he does.
He moves from town to town everysix months to a year.
(16:26):
True. To life for like a lot, you
know, when you're in, when you're in academia, sometimes
you have to go to a different place to get like a different
job. So I appreciated that real life,
sort of. It's very sweet, so she's trying
to protect her heart. She doesn't want to fall in love
because she knows she thinks it's temporary.
They bang a lot. She shows him Cambra Creek and
he falls in love because he's never been in a thing for him is
(16:46):
he's never been in a mixed species town before.
He's very used to like, I don't know if we call it, I guess
racial discrimination, monster discrimination.
He's used to human beings species.
He's used to humans being mean to him.
And he's ever had sex with a with a human woman?
Although he's very excited. He's the virgin in this one.
He's yes, if you consider cross species.
(17:07):
He's never fucked a human. He's fucked other people and
he's very into boobs and he's very into human women.
And then it feels like it's building something big, but he
just goes, no, I'm gonna move here.
And she goes, great. And then they're in love.
And then that's the end of the plan.
Yeah. All right.
So what do we think? Do we like Grace and Merrick?
Y'all go ahead cuz I'm gonna sayof the two books we've read, I
(17:29):
preferred the Minotaur. Really.
And I really did. I'm going to fight for America I
love. Oh, great.
Good, good, good. Which is shocking in real life.
I love. I love a shy introverted man in
real. Likes a skinny skinny.
This is. Literally I thought this might
be your. Shit, I know, I know it's like a
skinny, but for some reason, andI was not as drawn to this
(17:51):
relationship. Maybe it was a little too easy.
Maybe it was, you know, if I'm reading a monster book, like
give me, I mean, listen, there'sobviously some monstrous stuff
happening, but to me I was just like this little dweeby monster.
I'm not as into it as like the giant cow.
Well, I think I figured out why I like it so much.
OK, OK. It's because this is the if you
(18:11):
watch Shape of Water and you were obsessed with it and you
were and you saw that scene where she where Sally Hawkins is
demonstrating how is Dick comes out and you were like, I want to
know more about that, that cuz that's how his that's how it
works. That's how his mothman Dick
works. Like it just comes.
He has like a a hole and his penis comes out of it and I, I
(18:33):
don't know, it's like. Smooth.
No, it's smooth all the way downand then it opens.
Yeah, and then there's a hole that she she can finger, which
is interesting. And then Oh yeah, like penis
comes out. She called it in pocket.
It's a pocket. I, I had such a funny moment cuz
I reread this when I was on vacation and I like was look, I
was at this like Botanical Garden in Hawaii.
And there was like this like plaque about like this beautiful
(18:53):
creation myth about like one of like this Hawaiian, like, you
know, like how volcanoes came tobe.
And I was like, isn't it beautiful how stories shape
humanity? And then and then I came home
that night and I read that chapter and I was like this,
this is the best day of my life.Amazing.
(19:13):
OK, so it's like, it's like the epitome of human experience, you
know? I do.
If you ask about them as a couple, I thought they were a
great match. I thought it was very sweet.
Like she's looking for a nice, sweet person.
Nope, not a person. A nice, sweet partner.
And she found. Found the nice sweet partner.
Yeah. He's not a human, I guess.
Well, I like the combo of extremely horny lady plus kind
(19:34):
of shy guy. I liked that a lot that he was
very like. I loved Mary.
The only thing I don't like about Merrick is that because
he's a moth man, he left dust oneverything, which not into that
I would get. I would get one of those teeny
tiny vacuums and follow him around.
But I loved him. I thought he was so sweet.
He's very tall, which I know a lot of people like.
We had someone right into the show recently, actually, a few
(19:56):
someones who said that they wantmore weird Dicks.
Yeah. You like that?
This book is for you. I did, because, I mean, the
Minotaur Dick is just a regular Dick, except it's fucking huge.
Mothman Dick got a little something interesting going on,
a bit of a. Listen, I've read many weird
Dicks. If you guys need any weird
recommendations, well Becky, what did you think?
Of this weird Dick. Well, OK, I was like a big fan.
(20:19):
I was a big fan of his Dick but.Just not the rest of him.
Not the rest of him. Well, here's the thing.
And as as a fan of this author, I think she does such a great
job with like world building. Yeah.
Oh yes. And like with her other books,
like every kind of species, whether it's an orc or an elf or
a selkie or whatever, they all have like a really interesting
(20:42):
culture and back story. And I feel like with this moth
man who I liked, like great guy,I just wanted more of like, what
is a Mothman culture in this world of Cambridge Creek?
I know this book has nothing to do with it.
It's not why we're reading it. I totally get it.
But it it's interesting how likein like when a Minotaur is like
(21:03):
being raised right, like they have a talk when they're like 13
years old of like just so you know, you come a lot and it's
like, well, what's the Mothman equivalent of that?
And I wanted more of that, if that makes any sense at all.
I I, I, I do agree with that forsure.
I also would like, I was expecting a moment where he
would like get really excited about a light bulb.
Like I was expecting more like moth things.
(21:25):
Yes. Or maybe that's moth racist.
I don't know, Like I was expecting.
Yeah, more like moth stuff. Well, there was a lot so.
The one thing that I feel like that she did in the moth where
he had the very long tongue, he was all about taking things.
First off, that tongue must havebeen at least 20 feet long.
Where is it long? Residing in his body.
See, I saw it as, do you remember that?
(21:46):
What was it, fruit by the foot or something where it was like
roll up? And then I thought, like, maybe
he had like a little tongue pouch in his mouth where it
rolls back. Up.
I know that is the same way for I think it's hummingbirds.
They have like a part of their skull where their tongue goes
into come. A skull pocket.
Yeah, maybe his braid is just full of tongue.
I think so. Because I think she was really
(22:08):
into the tongue part. I have a little quote by the
way. I think this is, if we haven't
said this, it's really it's veryfunny.
The book is very. Funny.
It's like laugh out loud funny. And so one part was she's
talking about the tongue. I think at this point where she
says if this is what all Mothmancould do, someone needed to
alert the media, alert Congress.Yes, this needs to be the
headline of every newspaper, theonly story talked about in the
(22:30):
news. Yeah, like it's very.
Suction cup on the end of his. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
But like, as a couple, I thoughtthey really were cute.
Yeah. It just was not maybe my first.
It was not my my favorite of this series so far of the two
we've read. I loved it for a couple of
reasons. One, I think something that was
very interesting to me that we just don't see very often that I
(22:53):
wish more authors would address.This is because his Dick is so,
so big and because he fucks so hard, they only have actual
penetrate of sex every once in awhile because she, her body
physically can't take it. So they do a lot of like hand
stuff and mouth stuff. And I thought that was like a
very interesting thing to address.
It's something I've thought about before, especially in the
(23:14):
Minotaur book. I was like, man, you couldn't
fuck this much, you would be limping around.
So I really like that CM Nacostaaddressed that.
I love that and I actually like I another part of my back story
is I do have chronic pelvic pain.
And so like it's really interesting to kind of see how
things like just workarounds canbe addressed and like not
(23:37):
showing sex positivity as just like P&V and just going at it,
you know what I mean? And just like, like it really
does like talk about like communication and like they,
there's a got an extra long scene where they're like
explaining their bodies and it'slike every person, every person
needs to do that. And I just have this thing.
I'm like if more people read more monster romances, wouldn't
(24:00):
we all have better relationships?
Wow, I love that thesis. That's a great thesis.
Because or not because bodies all are very different.
Yeah. And at least and in the monster
books, they lean into it and they're like, here's how's mine
works and how's your yours work.And if we just had those
conversations earlier, I I do have a very.
(24:21):
I have a quote about how difficult it was after.
She had never attempted to ride a unicycle down a mountain
before, but she assumed that theachiness she felt that morning,
bruised hips, sore thighs, and asharp Lance of pain shooting up
her core every time she lifted her pelvis had to akin to I was
akin to the injuries one might acquire during such an
excursion. So again, funny writing.
(24:42):
Clever. But she also, she figures a
workaround. She uses a vibrator on him,
which makes gets him. Yeah, Becky, I completely agree.
I like that. It just felt like, and I would
love to read more monster romances to see if this is
something that's sort of across the board, but I like that there
it was. It was a little outside of the
box. No pun.
Actually, no what pun intended. It was outside the box.
(25:06):
So were we happy to return to Cambrick Creek?
Like, why do we think readers are so in love with this little
town? Because it's, I mean, when
listeners write in about this, when I've seen conversations in
our Slack channel, in our Discord server, like it's not
specifically people aren't really talking about the monster
fuckery, they're talking about Cambrick Creek itself.
Like, why do we think that people love it so much?
(25:28):
I mean, I think it's twofold. Like I do think that like, yes,
we love small towns, we love Cambrick Creek, we love how
beautiful it is. Everything.
Farm to table goods, beautiful coffee shops, everything.
Spoke and handmade. Exactly.
The town is so beautiful. But then at the same time, I
think with, like, cozy monster romance, there's something that
(25:49):
I think is really appealing to readers is that it doesn't take
itself too seriously. Yeah.
So I think with like that kind of humor combined with like the
coziness is just like for some reason gold for for readers who
like this. Yeah.
What do you think? I think.
That's I think that's smart. I think also the world is I
mean, just to return to the world is really well crafted.
(26:11):
I think she just does a really great job of creating this world
and answers questions that I have, you know, like where you
and you get the sense that it's bigger.
Like, you're like, oh, and then there's this person over here
and there's one part where he's like, I can smell you, which
honestly is a little horrified. Horrifying, but also
interesting. And she wrote, the notion that
(26:32):
he had been able to smell her arousal made her clap her hand
over her mouth. She wondered if her other
neighbors, who may have possessed A heightened sense of
smell, were able to tell when people were walking around with
with damp panties. Because this is a world of
monsters. So they they all have different,
yeah, different abilities there,which is an interesting.
I just think that the world is really built out.
Even that question would have been something that came to my
(26:55):
mind where I'm like, wait, he can do that.
Can other ones do that? And she's like, yes, yes, yeah,
this is a big monster world where they all have abilities
and things are everyone's getting to know each other and
what that means. So for me, that's part of it is
I'm returning to a world that has been built out like it's
just a very smart, smartly builtworld.
Mallory, how you feel you love it there too.
(27:16):
I well, I think Becky, you really hit the nail on the head
earlier. Like it hits on a lot of things
that I think millennial like just a lot of people who are if
you're between the age of like 30 and 50 right now, like it
one, all these main characters have really good jobs with
health insurance. Like there there's a lot of
community. You know, people are very
(27:36):
connected. People in these books have have
very strong friend groups. They go out and see their
friends in person. Cambrick Creek, like it has a
really cute coffee shop, like it's got a walkable downtown
like it has besides like the weird Dicks and the monster
stuff, it just has a lot of things that I think like
millennials and a lot of adults right now are craving.
(27:56):
So it's not, it's not just the cozy like low stakes of it,
which we'll talk about in a second, but it's just I want, I
want to live in that world whereI'm not constantly worried about
paying my bills and paying for my very expensive freelancer
health insurance Like I, I want to, I want, I want that feeling.
It's like a comfort. It's very I, I think, and that's
(28:18):
a huge draw. For readers, yeah, like I think
like, you know, the romance genre and the smut genre in
general is about like kind of capturing whatever everyone's
like fantasy, whatever readers fantasy is at the time.
So like when, I don't know, whenthey first came out in the, you
know, end of the 1800s or whatever, you know, it was about
(28:39):
women being rewarded for behaving well, you know, cut to
later, it's about like having sexual pleasure.
And now I think we're seeing this thing where shirts.
What exactly. Yeah, stability.
That's exactly what it is. And like I, I think like that's
how that's how lost we are rightnow.
Is that like what we are cravingis just like a stable lifestyle
(29:03):
where we're not just like frantically worrying all the
time, you know, and and you havethis.
Yeah, I think you're totally spot on.
I was telling a friend of mine about this book, and I was like,
Mothman, he's a scientist. And he was like, wait, wait,
Mothman has a job in this book. And I was like, there is no
fantasy world written for women where the men don't have jobs.
(29:24):
Yeah, yeah. Not.
In not in the romance genre at the moment, because we live in a
world in which it is too hard. You don't.
I mean, I'm sure there are some books, but they are not as
they're, they're not the ones who are reading as much.
And most of the time they have stable jobs and are pretty
stable humans. Well, the only times they don't
is either when they're a demon or a fairy Lord and they.
Yes. They don't.
(29:44):
I would argue is sort of a job though.
Yeah, I mean. They have, they have some kind
of money, they have stability, they have.
Yeah, generational wealth. Well, like it's, it's
interesting because like, it's like when someone doesn't have a
job, there's like a very understandable reason, like they
were fired because it was blah, blah, blah.
But like, I think at the end, like, especially with the genre
(30:05):
at writ large, is that it is so positive and so like, you know,
you can't have you can't have someone being like, well, I
lived happily ever after and waited for unemployment checks.
You know what I mean? Like yes, well, also like
there's everyone in the community is helping each other.
Yes, you know, there's a lot of like mutual aid communities or
(30:28):
like it just feels it feels goodto be in care.
I would want to move to CanberraCreek for sure.
So we talked a little bit about it at the top of the show.
How do we feel about this? The past couple books that Bree
and I have done have been full of drama, full of dark things,
high stakes, either high stakes emotionally or, and there's a
lot of dark romances that there's a pretty heavy stuff
(30:51):
happening. How do we feel about this sort
of this gentle smut, this low stakes smut?
I mean, really, it's funny because I'm a big plot reader
and I was surprised by how much I like this book because there's
nothing pulling you through thisbook except the next sex scene.
Like, how did the two of you? Was it boring for you or is it
just like a warm bath that you're hanging out in?
(31:11):
And also, Becky, since you've been doing this for a minute, do
you find that this is a newer thing that you're getting the
the Cozy, cozy smut book? I mean, I think I'm still seeing
to both ends of it. You know, I love going back and
forth, going from a cold bath toa hot bath.
Because like, I think either way, whether it's dark romance
(31:32):
or whether it's cozy romance, this is all about healing.
I know a lot of people who read dark romance where there is
maybe triggering content, read it for a sense of healing.
I think when there are like traumatic things that just
allows readers who maybe have been in those situations to kind
of to feel in charge of the narrative.
And so there's something healingin that.
(31:53):
And then at the same time there's something healing and
being in Camber Creek where there really isn't a lot of like
high stakes kind of traumatic, you know, content, trigger
warning based content. So I think at the end of the
day, it's all coming from a place of like escapism, but
feeling in control of your own escapism, if that makes any
(32:13):
sense. What do you think?
How do you feel about low plot smut?
Yeah, I, I mean, here's the thing.
It was a very pleasant book. It was so pleasant.
And I like a I'm not as drawn tothe cozy books.
I think as like a lot of the people are the show reading
glasses. We have a lot of cozy book
readers. Yeah, I like them.
I think one thing I like about them, which this one did as
well, it's very much about the minutia of like the day-to-day
(32:34):
where it's like, you know, the last maybe cozy book I read she
opened a bookstore and like, oh,what's it like to send a bunch
of emails? I'm like, that's what it's like,
you know. And so this one, it's like, what
is it like to go to the farm andlike sort through the CSA boxes?
Like for some reason that is actually like there's something
sort of nice about it because it's, I think it's also like the
work stuff because we all work. It doesn't feel as stressful in
(32:59):
these books. Like it's like, no, it's just
plus, I mean, there's a little bit of like, you know, oh, your
boss can be kind of a jerk sometimes, but not really not
the way bosses really are jerks in real life.
So it just feels like it's like an escapism that's super 1 notch
away from your real life minus the Mothman.
I guess yes, for me, I think thekey for this book because I am,
(33:21):
as I said, I'm a huge plot reader.
Normally. I do not typically gravitate
towards these types of books just because I get bored.
I think the key with this is that it's short and this book
was a 500 because with a lot of these fantasy, romanticy,
fantasy smut in order to set up all that world, I mean, it's 500
pages, 600 pages. Some of these books are
(33:42):
absolutely huge. This is a neat 220 pages.
You could read this in one sitting if you had a really long
at night or afternoon. And that's why I really liked
it, because by the time I realized, oh, there's not a lot
happening, I was already 50% of the way through the book.
Right. Yeah, yeah.
Reading experience. It's itself was kind of cozy,
like it's very easy to read. Yeah, yeah, totally.
(34:07):
Yeah, I think that's like necessary in the world of
romantic because like I think sometimes when like people will
see like a a fourth wing or likea priority of the orange tree or
something where people are like,Oh my God, that's 600 pages.
I can't sit still for that. This isn't is this book for me,
you know, can I read anything fantastical?
And then when you have somethinglike this, it is very welcoming,
(34:28):
you know, and, and so it makes people feel included, which I
love. And she jumps right in.
She jumps right in the 1st. The first chapter is about will
they, won't they with this minotaur, which of course I
loved. And it did even they didn't have
sex, but it's still like it was a very sexy moment.
So it just jumped right into that part of it where I was
like, oh, OK, I see what World War and it was like.
(34:49):
And then built up the whole Mothman thing, which I really
appreciated for peaks and valleys, Yeah.
I also, I was very, very happy to see that she did not end up
fucking this minotaur. And he was cool with it.
I was expecting him to get kind of like mad.
I thought he was gonna like, youknow, I don't know.
Is this what Minotaurus do when they're mad?
Yes. No, but it's like it was kind of
mind blowing because like, you know, remember like when 50
(35:12):
Shades of Grey was like really big, there was a thing where she
wouldn't fuck that other guy andthen he comes back and like
tries to, I don't even remember,but like it's.
Always a common theme. It's a common theme and to like
just like see people be chill. Like I think it kind of adds to
the coziness of it all and like why people love it.
I'm like, yeah, you can reject people and it's going to be
fine. He's.
Going to find somebody else to fuck.
(35:33):
All right, so before we decide whether or not this is sexy,
we're going to take a quick break.
Hello romance readers, If you'relooking for your next read and
feel inspired by some of the books we've covered on Too
Stupid to Live, be sure to checkout TSTL's very own storefront
on bookshop.org. Here you will find a collection
(35:54):
of books that the show has covered, as well as personal
recommendations from me, Becky Feldman, the host of TSTL, who
is talking to you right now. So rest assured, you don't need
to worry about remembering titles or author names or having
to go back into the episode catalog.
Just head to bookshop.org/shop/TSTL Podcast
(36:16):
to view a collection of the books that the show has covered.
That's bookshop.org/shop/TSTL Podcast.
Happy reading. OK, we are back and asking the
most important question. Is this sexy Becky you?
You said you were not into the moth ma'am.
Was this not sexy for you? No, it was still quite sexy for
(36:38):
me. I'm not going to lie.
I found the sexiest parts when she was on when she was on
display masturbating in front. Of us, because this is our first
voyeurism. Book, yeah, I really like it
felt like, I mean, it's like it's so insane.
It's, you know, obviously not something I would do big risks.
Big risks you're taking right there, ma'am, because if you if
(36:59):
you haven't read the book, she'sjust, she just hears someone
wait, she already in the processof masturbating and then and
then she hears someone in the wind in the tree next to her
house and she's like and. Instead of getting a gun out,
she's like, you know what, let'sopen these curtains, baby.
Again, this is a fantasy book, so.
We love it, of course, yes, yes,yes, I think this isn't like but
(37:20):
the fact that like she felt so free and like and you know, like
honestly, like I think like using like just going to town,
taking out her pillow, using herbest toys, making it a night for
herself, like I'm like that and just enjoying like yeah, she was
like too horny to think or whatever, knowing like she's
like knowing someones watching her and that's like adding to
(37:41):
it. Like, I thought that I thought
that was really, really sexy. Bria, what do you think?
Are you, Were you into the voyeurism?
I mean, not necessarily for me, but I didn't I did appreciate
it. And then she sort of what I
liked is that she did go throughall the like people it could
possibly be in which I learned in this world, lizards have two
Dicks, which was very funny. And then also she was like, what
(38:04):
if it's a bat person? And I'm going to quote the book
here. She tried to envision that bat
person now, but it's about his balls being really big.
She tried to envision that bat person now, tight jeans open and
his fat testicles swinging free in the night air as he jerked
off to the side of her, touchingherself.
Would they be hanging upside down?
Would they make a huge mess whenhe comes?
I love that. I just want to read a book where
(38:25):
like a guy, like a bad guy just like gets cum in his face and
it's like, it just like drips down.
He's like, oh, not again, not again.
Oh. My.
God, but if you do want to read A2 Dick lizard man, have you
read Katie Robert the Dragons wife?
Oh, I have deal with the deal with the dragon.
It's that's but that's the premise of it.
(38:46):
She makes a deal with like a dragon king or something or the
Dragons bride. I'm sorry, it's Dragons.
Bride, Right? Yes, but he had somewhere on my
smart shelf. As a fan of the show, I highly
recommend. I would love to hear your
thoughts on it. OK, great.
We actually we have it on our list.
It's also another short book. I thought this was really sexy,
but not for the reasons that I thought I was gonna think it was
(39:07):
sexy. It really appealed to me because
especially like being a woman inthis world is hard, like a lot,
a lot of us have a lot of shame and complicated feelings about
our body. I particularly, I'm in my 30s
and I grew up it, you know, my generation was the first
generation to like really grow up with Internet porn.
So it feels like my was the first generation to grow up
(39:28):
feeling really bad about the wayour bodies look during sex.
So the idea of this woman, like,really?
I'm gonna, I'm gonna push back and say that's also for women.
And that's all women, Yeah. Women.
It's all women in their 40s. We definitely also felt the same
way. OK, well, like it, it really
like, it makes you feel so, so like, I have a really hard time
(39:49):
particularly like, you know, when you have sex, you're always
like, well, what am I looking like?
Yeah, I need to suck in like youjust like.
And that preoccupation can take you out of things.
And so watching or reading this book and she's sitting there and
she's just feeling herself. She does not feel any self self
consciousness at all. She feels really the idea of
feeling so sexy for somebody else.
(40:11):
And not being in your head. And Becky, like you said, just
totally focusing on her pleasure.
I was like, that's so beautiful.It really is.
So lovely and I was surprised byhow much I loved that.
Yeah. And just like, with this added,
they had kind of have they allude to this, you know, back
story where she was divorced, but her relationship was very
emotionally abusive, right? And she really kind of like,
(40:33):
went down, you know, broke down on herself.
And I think it's like a really interesting place for her
character to be where she is so afraid to get her heart hurt
again. But here she is too horny to
think, to quote the book. And you kind of find yourself,
like, I think that's like, maybesomething a lot of people can
relate to of, like, finding yourself at this thing of like,
(40:56):
well, my body wants this, but myheart is too scared for this,
you know, Like what? How do I feel?
How do I rectify it? Oh, I'm going to masturbate in
front of a moth man. Listen, OK, so Speaking of, so
are we into this moth man anatomy?
He's got this giant tongue, he'sgot this penis pocket, he's got
this S shaped Dick. Are are we into this?
(41:16):
Is this sexy for us? Yes, and I'm also going to
explain why on the off chance you get to fuck him, you know,
with a once a month, you do you levitate off the bed.
How excited is that? Yeah.
That was really, really fun. I'm into that, yeah.
I would say it's less for me, but I understand the appeal
here. And you know, I'd be curious.
(41:37):
I guess I'd be curious. Mallory today hit home for you.
Oh, for sure. I'm a big shape of Water fan.
I'm very curious about the gigantic tongue.
The penis pocket I think was interesting just because we've
never really seen anything like that before.
Yeah, the S shaped Dick was a little intimidating to me again,
but then like I came back aroundon it because she was like, all
(41:58):
right, well, I can only take this a few times a month.
Like let's do hand stuff the rest of the time.
Like I, I really, really appreciated it.
And I think there's something that's really great about the
combination of him being very shy and I'm unsure of himself
and having this like monster cock like that.
That combination was very sweet to me.
Also, I think this book did something for me because there's
(42:19):
a lot of aspects of the Moth Maze personality that remind me
of my boyfriend, like Bria. Bria will attest, like my
boyfriend has a has a really weird work schedule, so we're
always having to hang out reallylate at night.
So like during the scene where she's like, Oh no, he's
nocturnal. What do I do?
I was like, I have to deal with this all the time.
I'm going to be honest, that wasthe deal breaker for me.
When I read that, I was like, he's nocturnal.
(42:40):
Like I'm not interested. That is as a as a morning
person. I'm not.
I can't. I was interested.
Yeah, like the the wearing the jacket backwards was like, I
have like, like it was so it wasso.
Beggy OK, explain that. Explain that.
OK, it was so. Sweet.
It's very sweet. Like, OK, so he's a scientist
and obviously they have to wear like their lab jackets, but he
(43:01):
has wings. How do you wear it?
And the scientist community, they're not making jackets for
people with wings. And if they are way expensive?
Very humanist. It's terrible, terrible you
guys. So he has to wear the jacket
backwards and like that I loved.It's so dorky and it's like, so
like, I loved it because like, if I were dating him when I was
(43:21):
like in high school, I'd be humiliated.
But now I'm like, I love this. I know.
But all of his coworkers eventually get him a custom made
Mothman jacket. So sweet, so sweet.
And it's like, I love that stuffabout like that's, I think
that's like why a lot of people love Cambridge Creek.
It's just. Like this?
These little details that it's like, OK, this isn't just like
(43:42):
monster fucking there's there's the.
Yes, OK, so this weird this bookso horny.
You know there is a lot of smut in this clearly.
But can a book also be soothing and be horn?
How does a book like this live in that space of like being
mentally soothing but also mentally stimulating?
So for me, so this got. So Becky, one of the reasons we
started the show is that Melanieand I just had this discussion
(44:06):
one day. We were like, why are the
smartest women we know reading these smart books?
And we were sort of just then getting especially me, like
learning about them and getting like turned on to them.
And this book really answered that question in a really.
Yeah, where I was like, right, Because it is both like brain
candy, where it's just like, this is nice.
This is sweet. I actually even read at the very
(44:29):
beginning there's a she writes like a little description.
She says if you're looking for athird act breakup, you will not
find it. If you're looking for a plot
heavy narrative full of angst and tears and groveling, it is
not here. This one is pure cotton candy,
folks. No plot, just horny slice of
life vibes. And for me, I'm like right
there, if you have, which I feellike we're all living through
tough times. We are.
(44:49):
We are not necessarily looking for something super challenging
all the time. And this combines that with sex.
So it's like, oh, it's the best of all the worlds.
And like, to me, it's such a relaxing, it was such a relaxing
book to read. I write it like on a Saturday
afternoon and was like, how lovely to like turn my brain off
for a minute, but without feeling with enough challenging
(45:09):
things in there where I'm like, OK, there's some world building,
OK, like I can think about the CSA.
Boxes, which obviously I love. You know, like there was Bria
does. Love farm fresh produce.
I will say who doesn't, who doesn't?
The berries seemed delicious. I was wasn't one bad Berry in
that batch I love. One thing I texted Bria about
(45:30):
when I saw the title of this book, I thought it was going to
be a euphemism for something like another ball book, but I
was like, no, it's literally sweet berries, these nice
blackberries. Yes.
Anyway, I just think women need a fucking break.
And this book is a break. It's a break.
It's it's cotton candy. It's lovely, right?
Yeah, yeah. I mean, I think when I was
(45:51):
mentioning earlier, like, I think that like sex is soothing,
pleasure is soothing. Reading about women's pleasure
is is soothing to me. So, yeah, I, I think that like
absolutely, like smut should be cozy, you know, like smut should
be cozy. And, and I, and I think that
like, yeah, I don't know, like I, I'm sure you guys have run
(46:13):
into this as well where it's like, I think that like our,
it's other people's versions of what a book is that needs to be
redefined. This is a book.
This is always a book that all of these books, no matter if
it's on Wattpad or if it's like just pure, just someone fucking
branch. You know what I mean?
Like they are books. We actually we did do unhinged.
(46:35):
So exactly. Yeah.
And it's like, oh, I think it's like, it's like, OK, we need to
redefine what books are and whatthey can be.
And like books at books that we read for pleasure, that we read
for fun, that we read as cotton candy is just as important as
like, I don't know, Moby Dick orwhatever as.
We say on our other show, all books are real books.
Exactly, Yeah. Yeah, for me, I think the it's
(46:58):
the formula. Like Becky, like you said, like
you go into this book and you know what's going to happen.
Like you might not know how you're going to get there, but
you know you're going to get sexscenes at every few intervals.
You know they're going to end uptogether in the end.
And there's something very soothing about that.
So even when you are being titillated, even when you're
reading about a girl finger banging A Mothman penis pocket,
(47:21):
like, you know, kind of the roadmap of where you're going, it's
like it's it's interesting because it's you know, some
people have their comfort moviesand comfort shows because they
know what's going to happen. These can be comfort.
These books can be comfort to you even when you haven't read
them because you know kind of the beats of them.
Yeah, I, I equate it to like watching sports, you know, like
someone who really likes football is going to watch the
(47:43):
game football, even though if they don't know if the team will
win, lose or tie, no ones going to like, they're not gonna like
suddenly turn on football and like have someone being like, I
know you idiots, I'm gonna startplaying baseball.
You know, like no one does that.Although I want to say as a big
hockey fan, I do think that sports are the most Sometimes I
I will look at one of my really good friends who's also into
(48:05):
hockey. I'm like, why did I do this?
Why am I choosing to be stressedout?
Right. Yeah, hockey is very is
stressful. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
But I do see like you, you have that, like you know how long
it's gonna be. You kind of know what's gonna
happen. Like I, I think there's a lot of
for especially in this, like right now in this world that
we're living in, like so much crazy shit is happening all the
(48:26):
time, every single day. You, we kind of never know what
the government's going to be doing.
What is like, there's always some crazy fresh disaster or
awful thing happening. It's very nice to return to the
genre where like, you know what's going on, you know
they're going to fall, you know they're going to end up
together. Like it?
It feels very super. Yeah, and even in just like
daily life, you know, like, I, Imean, I don't have kids, but
like, I imagine, you know, like,just like with the daily
(48:48):
stresses of life, you know, of like being caught in traffic
fucking sucks. Yeah.
That's why romances here are getting your health insurance
taken away. That sucks too.
You know, like it's just like nomatter what kind of challenge
you're facing, it's like, oh, you can always go home and like
open up a nice. Book is always going to be there
for you. Yeah, always waiting.
I had I had another question, Becky, since you have dipped
(49:08):
your toe more into this world, it's always so far we've read a
lot of we've read humans with monsters in this world of like
monster romance or in Cambridge Creek.
But monster Romans, are we ever being male monsters with, I'm
sorry, male humans with monster women?
Yeah, I finished The Orc Bride where it was a female orc and a
(49:32):
human male. Here's the thing, it's not that
often, but like I actively try to search it out and it does
take a little bit more effort for me to find a female alien or
a female monster or female orc or whatever.
With Girls Weekend, the main characters are all elves, which
like they're that's pretty humanoid, you know, like there's
(49:52):
nothing human. Yeah, it's human adjacent.
No offense. It's like ears.
Yeah, exactly. No offense, no offense, the
elves out there, but you know, but yeah, it's it was really
interesting to read Orc in this world.
I think it was Oh God, I I can'teven I never remember title
names or author names on the worst of it.
But it was really interesting because in this world the orc
(50:16):
women have like, you know how you guys have done nodding
right, like the Omega first nodding thing, right.
We we got, you know, knots. Baby, we got a we've.
Definitely. Yeah, you love.
Not books. You love your knot.
It was really interesting to read a female orc like having
her not like her vagina, you know, being available for a knot
only to have a human non knot. And it was like and I'm like.
(50:38):
This is like this is. Fascinating.
Interesting. OK, Becky.
I'm definitely going to hit you up for orc Orc female erotica.
Honestly I would love to read ismonster on monster.
I think the reason why a lot of these we always have one human
is because you need yourself insert, you know?
I think so too, you know. Yeah, readers want to know what
(51:00):
it would be like for them, whichI get, but as so as a power
lifter who has a really weirdly shaped body, I would love to
read about an orc lady. Like they're happening, you
know, like I and like this booklet came out recently and I
was just like, it was like on myradar because like, I really it
is very rare to to not to see a female monster.
(51:22):
Yeah. OK, I'm reading one right now
called Maneater by Emily Antoinette and it's it's a shy,
shy virgin male heroine, which is kind of weird, but she's a
demon, but she is very humanoid.She's basically just like a big
curvy lady with horns. Like she's it's not like a non,
(51:43):
non human anatomy, but it is very fun.
I it's a novella. I will I'll put it in the show
notes. But yeah if listeners have
recommendations for non human women like monster women PO VS
please send them to us because Ireally really want that shit.
Yeah. Yes.
All right, So Bria, you want we I put a chili rating on this at
(52:05):
4:00. What do you think you want?
You said well. I feel like, but you know what?
I think because I was like, we should debate the four because I
think it's less, but maybe it's because it's so cozy that I just
was like, it is. It's not.
And then at some point I was like, wow, we've just been in
the CSA world for a long time. So like, so Becky, we're kind of
doing it on like a like how likesex to world ratio, right,
(52:31):
right. Not how hot it is, but like the
like literal like how much sex is in the book.
And I felt like it was about half and half.
But me too, I have a great yeah.Yeah, but Mallory, you think
it's a little more than half? I gave it a little bit more than
half because it felt like everything else was sort of in
support of this mud. Like there was the the plot that
was there, even though there wasabout 5050, it there wasn't just
(52:53):
a lot going on. Like really the thing that
you're trying to get to is the sex.
But I I was a. Lot of dates there.
I think there were quite a few dates.
Which was really sweet. Nighttime dates.
Which again I. Really.
But not a chili, but not a chili.
Not adding to the chili scale, but the more y'all talked about
it, the more I'm like, maybe youare, maybe I should bump it up
because you're right. There was so much like stuff
(53:13):
that wasn't like penetration, but it was very sexy.
Stuff happening, yeah. I'm kind of at this phase of
like as I'm reading like what, what makes.
I mean, obviously we're all asking a question what makes
something horny, but like like if someone is just like thinking
about sex while they're that were they are at work, is that
(53:33):
chili rated? Do you know what I mean?
It's just like. I like a lot of.
Different things it's not. Chili, but it's like the stem of
the chili. Like, it's definitely chili.
Chili stuff. Got it.
I. Actually, because I liked that.
I, I love yearning. I love a character just
generally being horny. And she thinks about sex a lot,
even when she's not with him. Like I did love that scene where
she goes to work the next day and she's like, she's leaking
(53:55):
all over the place. She's pulling off man.
She's she's sore. Like I really, it's definitely
even. Even during scenes that are not
sex scenes, sex is still present.
Yeah. So like it's it's it's on her
mind. I love the Bri is like she's
she's reading the scenes. Bri is not paying attention to
(54:15):
the comes. She's like, oh, tell me about
those fresh carrots. What's?
Going on with. It yeah, like I come.
You guys are picking corn, OK? Yeah.
Interesting, I do love a garden.I mean, it is.
Yeah. It it's so funny because it's
just like, oh, like, I think we're all kind of in this, Like,
maybe readers are seeing like, OK, what are we defining as sex?
(54:37):
What are we defining as pleasurable?
And so like I read a book recently where it was a virgin
heroin, but she was all her lifered erotica, ordered toys
online, knew what she wanted, even though she never had the
actual experience of like being one-on-one with another person.
(54:58):
And and so it was just like, andI didn't feel like sometimes I
feel a little bit of an ick whenit's like a virgin for the first
time and they're like, what's this feeling?
I don't understand. Like I that to me is not my.
Yeah, but for her. But to have her know what she
wants, even without like kind ofexperiencing what we
traditionally see as like the first time, it is like kind of
(55:21):
fascinating to have us like redefine.
OK, well, what is a first time? What is sexuality?
What is pleasure? How do we define it?
Could pleasure be just someone reading, someone using their
imagination, someone with themselves?
You know what I mean? Yeah, y'all have kind of
convinced me, you've convinced me through the episode that
maybe there's a four, maybe there's a four.
(55:42):
I would say 3, but but I could, I could maybe be convinced of a
four. She is too horny to.
Think I mean come on, she is toohorny to.
Think she says that a lot. She says that quite a bit.
Which I love. And Becky, I'm really glad you
brought that up because it is. Even though I feel the same way,
I'm not. I do prefer a experienced
heroin. I don't like the virgin heroin
trobe. I don't also don't like people
(56:04):
who criticize it in the way thatlike the idea that someone could
not be horny if they have never had sex before.
Like someone needs needs a penisto like activate their
horniness. You know, there's a lot of
people in the world who have never had penetrative sex and
they are they are very horny. They watch a lot of porn.
They play like they masturbate alot.
(56:24):
They're very into like I like perfect example by bringing it
back to sports. I'm never gonna fucking play
hockey, but I love watching it. I, I, I have multiple teams that
I root for. I'm obsessed with hockey.
I'm really into it but. Metaphor can go really far by
the way. Multiple teams I've rooted for
him. But The thing is, is that, like,
(56:47):
I like, if I were to read about you watching a hockey game, I'd
be like, I am with her on this. I trust her.
Yeah. I'm so glad she's having fun.
And I, I don't need to play, have, have played hockey to be a
real hockey fan. So I, I don't like that
criticism and we've seen it, butwe, I've seen it before reading
about these books, it's like, oh, well, she's never had sex
(57:07):
before. There's no way she could be
freaky. There's no way she could be
horny. There's no way she would just
jump right into it. And especially with a lot of
these, a lot of these virgin characters, they something
that's particularly prevalent isthat, oh, they have, they're
older. They're a little quote, too old
to be a virgin, which obviously we know that does not exist.
But like they're in their 20s. They're feeling the pressure of
(57:29):
still being a virgin. Like you think people like that
wouldn't be excited to bang like?
No, no, yeah, it's this misconception.
Like pleasure isn't an action, pleasure is a feeling.
And these? Pleasure is a state of mind,
maybe. Exactly, and we have all had
feelings since we were too youngto even know what feeling meant.
(57:52):
And I I guess maybe this is justme.
I'm just like, I, I, I like characters to be an idiot
because they're dumb. I don't want them to be an idiot
because they're virgins. Yeah, I mean.
Oh my God. That's exactly it.
That is right. Exactly right.
It beautiful. That is beautiful.
Well, and like, I, you know, I, there's no virgins in this book.
You know, we're going on this tangent that doesn't have to do
(58:14):
with their book, but I, I, I wanna, I wanna defend virgin
heroines a little bit, But I didsay I, I, I liked Grace a lot.
We'll bring it we'll and bring it back to Grace.
I really liked her as a heroine.I like that she was so self
assured. She knew what she wanted.
She was very I something, something that stresses me out
in some books is like, you know,if this was if this was in a
(58:36):
different, different author's hands, you know, she would have
banged that Minotaur then felt bad about it and then like had a
lot of like she just doesn't feel you don't you don't.
You're in her head, but she doesn't really like deal with
those feelings of shame or guilt.
Like she's just not dealing withit.
She's just, she wants to bang. She's really into it.
She's very sex positive and I I really loved that about her.
(58:56):
Yeah, and I love that about Cambridge Creek.
I think all of the books is justthere's 00 shame these all these
characters are doing freaky geeky.
Stuff. This is the town that Bucks
Cambridge Creek town. Bucks they're having so they're
having so much fun if you when you.
Drive into Cambridge Creek, there's a sign that says
(59:17):
Cambridge Creek population, however many thousand.
This town fucks it. Really.
I love it. Yeah, there's this is a very sex
positive town. People are banging.
And I think that is, I mean, honestly, the So the next book
in the series is about one of the werewolves that I guess is
like a local politician. They kind of allude to him in
(59:37):
this book, and I think I'm goingto read it because I, I, I love
Cambrick Creek folks. I love I.
Love this lovely place to be. Lovely place to visit, yes?
It's beautiful. And I, Yeah, yes, agreed.
All right, folks, please check the show notes for links to
everything we talked about. Plus, if you are coming here
from reading smut, please go listen to Becky show.
It is so great. But yeah, I will say in
(59:58):
preparation for this, I listenedto one of your episodes that you
did about another Mothman book to get to get some to get your
Mothman thoughts. So folks, it's it's such an
excellent show. Please check it out.
And if you're coming from Too Stupid to Live, also there link
in the show notes to our show. We would love to have you on the
next book that we're doing is Her Soul to Take by Harley
(01:00:18):
LaRue, which is another dark romance.
We're going totally in the otherdirection.
Becky, do you have any final things to say before we wrap up?
Yeah, no, it was such a pleasureto be here.
I'm such a fan of reading glasses and I love the fact that
you guys started doing reading smut.
So thank you for that as a fan and a listener.
And it's just, it was such a pleasure to talk to you guys.
So thank for everything that youdo Thank.
(01:00:40):
You for everything you do for paving the way for smart
podcasts. For real.
So if you want to help both shows, folks, why are you not
reviewing? Why throw Becky a review?
Throw us a review. It'll take truly 60 seconds to
do both on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
Give us a five star rating, Write a nice little review.
It really helps both the shows. You can e-mail us at
reading.smartpodcast69@gmail.com.Our smutty theme song is by Matt
(01:01:04):
Glass. Thanks for smutting it up with
both of us today. I hope you had as much fun
(01:01:27):
listening to this crossover episode as I did when I recorded
it. Thank you to Bria and Mallory
and everyone at Reading Smut, and thank you for listening.
And I hope you have a cozy rest of your day.
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