January 20, 2025 • 67 mins
We're baaaaack! Get ready for a whole new revamped podcast! Hosted by Des and Tarah!
On this episode we dive into part 1 of Flock by Kate Stewart. Join us as we break down this book and discuss each riveting and spicy chapter!
Be sure to hit that follow button! Come back next week when we deep dive into part 2 of Flock! Trust me you don't want to miss it!
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Be advised, this content is not appropriate for younger viewers. These books may contain depictions of sex, drugs, alcohol, and violence. We urge listeners to regard the trigger warnings at the beginning of the video before continuing!
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Hey guys, welcome to A Novel Affair, the bookish podcast where we kiss and tell about our torrid
(00:13):
affairs with fictional characters.
So grab a drink and get ready for some pure unadulterated fun.
Today we are going to be talking about Flock.
It is in the first book in the Raven Hood series and it is written by Kate Stewart.
(00:34):
And Miss Kate is an author that got her start self published and then became really popular
on Book Talk, which I think is pretty badass.
Anytime somebody can like totally do it their own way, no compromises.
I always think you get a better product.
(00:56):
And she's actually a USA Today bestselling author.
I don't know if that's the same as the New York Times where that doesn't actually mean
that they sold a bunch.
It just means New York Times said.
But she in her author bio on her website, she describes her writing as sexy, messy and
(01:21):
anks filled, which everything is pretty much my drag name.
So yeah, she automatically stole my heart.
I'm going to start calling you angsty from here on out.
Perf, perf.
So oh, and we have the series, The Raven Hood, which is three books, but she has the Raven
(01:51):
Hood Legacy, which is two additional books that we know for sure that are going to be
coming out in 2025.
So excited.
I'm excited.
But oh, I am excited.
But that tracks for how our respective reactions to a book.
So scared and excited at the same time like that exists in this world.
(02:16):
Two things can totally be true at once.
100%.
You're absolutely right.
I'm more terrified, but I digress.
So there's no trigger warnings.
No, no, like actual listing for trigger warnings.
(02:37):
Actually, I think this book came out before a trigger warning list became like a big thing.
A very common occurrence.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I also wouldn't deem it as a dark romance, but it is still kind of dark.
It has dark events, but it's not dark.
Like dark subject matter, like dark thought themes and emotions, but not necessarily dark
(03:07):
on the smut.
Smut side.
Yeah.
This is like an intro into dark romance, basically.
It's like baby steps.
Now, I will say this has a couple of the better smut scenes, in my opinion, across the board,
despite them not being as exotic as some of the others.
(03:32):
It's the foreplay.
It's definitely that.
It's for sure that.
Now, something in this book that I would deem triggering, even though it wasn't listed,
is the self sacrifice and the broken hearts that happen.
(03:54):
It pulls at your heartstrings.
I 100% agree that although it doesn't have any haunting Adeline level triggers, it definitely
will totally destroy you mentally and emotionally.
(04:15):
So something to look out for.
Yeah.
It's going to wreck you in the heart.
Yeah.
I'm pretty sure I put.
Oh, I'm pretty sure I put in my Goodreads review that I was not adequately prepared
and thoroughly devastated by this book.
Yeah.
(04:35):
I felt like people needed to know.
I didn't see it coming because there's no trigger warnings that it's truly going to
hurt your feelings.
So bad.
A trope, it also didn't list any tropes, but a one trope that is in there is the reverse
(04:58):
harem.
Specifically, there is a threesome.
So be prepared for that if you're not into the polyamorous situation.
I mean, it's not wild, but it's there.
It's perfect.
So I want to point out, and this is kind of a thing that I don't think.
(05:19):
First of all, I didn't never heard of reverse harem before I went down the path of smut.
But there's also different levels of reverse harem.
So reverse harem doesn't necessarily mean everybody's all doing it at the same time
together.
This is.
(05:44):
Doesn't necessarily mean group schnacks.
It could also just be one girl decides why do I need to choose between these men, whatever,
I could just individually have them both.
Yeah, but it's not cheating.
There is no cheating.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
So open relationship.
(06:06):
I can't remember now if I read this before I read Den of Vipers, but it's definitely
Den of Vipers first.
See I can't remember.
I think I did, but I don't know.
Den of Vipers is my first reverse harem.
I do know that, and this is a teaser for later, this book has one of the very few smut scenes
(06:30):
that I ever relayed to my husband in any amount of detail.
And by that I mean almost line for line.
I like literally re texted it to him.
So you know, something to look forward to.
(06:52):
Okay, so with our take on what could be triggering out of the way, let's get into the summary
of the book.
It is a Robin Hood retelling with a modern day spin on a brotherhood of morally gray
bad boys.
(07:14):
So yeah, yeah, the Robin Hood aspect, the Robin Hood-esque-ness of it is not super,
it doesn't hit you over the head with it.
(07:35):
But it's definitely all those elements are there, but I like that.
I like that it's modernized in a really natural way.
And when I hear Robin Hood as a trope, I automatically think like bow and arrows, and it's not like
that.
I think of the cartoon, the old cartoon.
(07:56):
Yes, which is, you know, made Marion and the whole thing was great.
To be clear, there are no foxes in this book, okay?
I mean, there's some foxes, but only in my head.
Girl.
So okay, this, I'm gonna say that there is definitely some time hopping going on in this
(08:26):
book.
That you start out with her moving back to Triple Falls, which she has lived in before,
which is a fictitional town in North Carolina, specifically in the Blue Ridge Mountains,
(08:47):
which are real, but Triple Falls is not.
You just had to throw that out there, huh?
Yeah, I just, you know, I like to share facts.
I also want to point out that, like, along with the Robin Hood thing, it's also a, like
a whole secret society that is nationwide, maybe even worldwide.
(09:11):
It's unclear in this book, but it's a big thing.
It's not a small operation that's happening.
The summary reads as Cecilia Horner, the main female character, she moves back to Triple
Falls, but it's only supposed to be temporary.
(09:35):
She is supposed to work one year for her elusive estranged father at his factory, and then
once she's worked for a year for him, he will hand his, the inheritance over to her, which
she's only doing this not because she actually cares about the money, but because she wants
to set up her mom for life because they grew up struggling financially, and she wants to
(10:02):
give back for all the sacrifices her mom made.
And mom struggles with depression and mental health, which is a recurring theme.
Like Cecilia had to grow up really young because her mom struggled.
So Cecilia's kind of like, she starts out trying to save the day.
(10:22):
She's her little self-story hero there in the beginning.
And the mental health and depression is mentioned, but it's not portrayed.
We don't see little Cecilia going through the struggles of having a mom like that.
She's a full grown adult and rarely we only get phone converse, snippets of phone conversations
(10:47):
that are happening.
So it's not depicted.
Now she ends up in Triple Falls.
She works at the factory and on her first day, she kind of collides with her new supervisor.
His name is Sean.
He is our first male main character.
(11:10):
He is enigmatic, charming, irresistible, and he kind of lures her into a more risque part
of the world.
And it's determined that she's going to make the most of it.
(11:31):
She's going to stop living in fear.
She's going to start taking risks and just live life to the fullest because she is now
a grown up in her college phase, as she likes to call it.
Yes.
And she was always the responsible one because she was kind of taking care of her mom also.
So her experiences were limited growing up.
(11:54):
She didn't go to parties.
She didn't have the young dumb kid experience.
So now she wants to make some mistakes and do some dumb shit, which I highly recommend
everybody have that phase in their life.
So that kind of sets the tone, I think, for what you're about to get into because she's
(12:15):
kind of willing to let her brain take a backseat for a minute.
I can totally relate to her on that end because I grew up being the responsible one and just
not taking risks, not going out and doing crazy stuff.
I had to stay home because of my mother as well.
(12:36):
So I think that may be why I liked her so much was I could feel the.
I could feel for her.
Now Sean invites her to a house party.
After her first day at work, she finds her parking lot and invites her to a party.
(12:59):
And that is where she meets Dominic, Sean's brother for the first time.
And he is scary, tall, dark and handsome, brooding, you know, the male main character
number two.
(13:19):
He's our second male main character.
He is the black cat to Sean's golden retriever.
Yes, put it into perspective.
And she starts to realize that they're keeping a secret and that they're probably into something
dangerous.
(13:41):
She doesn't really care.
She's you know, she starts to fall in love with them.
So in light of falling in love with them, she's willing to overlook the dangers.
The question is, will the dangers drag her down and risk her entire future?
(14:09):
I can't say anything because I know the answer, but I don't want to spoil it for anybody.
So I think this book is really good for people that you are trying to get like they want
(14:32):
to try something smutty, but they're not sure.
It's not dip your toes into the dark romance.
Yeah.
And and it's not cheesy romance.
It's not some of the cheesier tropes and stuff.
It's actually like the suspense thriller part of it, I think, is a really good balance to
(14:56):
this month.
But like this month is not lacking.
And that can't be understated.
It's yeah, it's quality.
My problem is slow burn.
I wouldn't call it a slow burn, but we also don't jump straight into the smut either.
(15:21):
It there's a little bit of relationship building before it actually happens.
Yes, for sure.
Just for war.
You're not going to jump straight into it.
I will say this is not a spoiler, but she's like, how old is she at the beginning of this
(15:41):
book?
19 is 19.
She's a few weeks away from being 20.
Yeah.
So for those of us who are maybe just a little bit older than 19, there is quite a bit of
sex and cars in this series.
Specifically this book in particular has a lot of car sex.
(16:05):
And so, you know, again, slightly just barely older than 19 me was I had to like, you know,
squint a little bit at that because that just does not sound like a good time anymore.
(16:26):
However, it's still enjoyable.
Not relatable, but enjoyable.
I am so glad you bring up her age because I will say this and it's not going to give
anything away.
It's not a spoiler, but reading this at the age that I am now and looking back at my 19
(16:46):
year old self compared to her in accordance to like a relationship.
This author was spot on to how the teenage brain worked because the amount of like crying
and like the begging and like the just the dramatics of it all.
(17:08):
I was like, oh, the internal struggle over the smallest, most inconsequential things.
I definitely, I think Kate does a really good job in this book of you look at Cecilia very
similar to how you would look at your former self and you actually start her book starts
(17:35):
you're really seven years into the future and then it takes you back to her when she's
19.
So, I don't know.
It's a very like relatable because I think we can all look back at our 19 year old selves
similar to how we look at Cecilia.
And it's not just the dialogue.
It's the inner dialogue.
(17:56):
It is the writing style when she is writing as Cecilia as 19, she is in the mindset of
a teenager.
And then when we are in the jump forward, you can actually see the change in age in
the writing.
And I love Kate Stewart because that's just she embodied a 19 year old.
(18:20):
She had me looking at my 19 year old self.
And I know I was this bad and I really wish I wasn't because girl, what are you doing?
Yeah, what are you doing?
It's not cringy for me.
It's not Kristen Stewart.
I mean, Bella from Twilight.
It's not that level.
(18:40):
It's endearing.
It's real.
It's realistic.
It's endearing.
It's relatable.
I mean, there's a couple moments when I roll my eyes and we'll get to that, especially
in the podcast when we go through this, because I have a particular eye rolly moment.
(19:02):
But for the most part, it's very relatable and endearing.
To hear all of those parts, all of the uncensored, unfiltered things that were allowed to say
that we can't say on YouTube and it has spoilers as well.
Go to the listening platforms that do not regulate us because you will get a ton more
(19:30):
all of it.
Yeah, we need to talk about all the more exciting stuff when Daddy YouTube's not listening.
Yeah.
So I think I'm going to show my age a little bit here in my choice of casting, but hopefully
I'm not going back like Marlon Brando that far back, so we should all be able to.
(19:56):
So how do you want to do this?
You want me to list all of mine and then you go or do you want to pair off like go by character?
Let's do a character and we both say who we think they are.
Well in order of appearance, let's start with Cecilia.
Who would you cast as your Cecilia?
(20:16):
That is so hard because like Cecilia at 19, I have a different picture than what I do
when she's grown up.
Valid.
That's valid.
Cecilia at 19, I'm thinking like Disney Channel like.
(20:40):
Like Hannah Montana.
I was thinking more like Selena Gomez and Wizards of Waverly Place like her character
Alex.
Okay.
I was thinking more like Alex.
Do you notice the age gap there?
She basically just called me old.
It's fine.
Hannah Montana, Selena and Wizards of Waverly Place were on at the same time.
(21:02):
Okay.
Okay, fine.
If we're trying to go back to like original Selena Gomez was also in Sweet Life of Zack
and Cody, which was on before Hannah Montana.
So let's not get in this age gap thing.
I grew up poor.
Okay.
I am the same age as you.
Well that I can't argue with.
(21:22):
Okay.
Well, my Cecilia, I think, I think of a like Blake Lively like very like sweet, beautiful,
all American girl next door type situation.
(21:50):
I also just imagine like she's super skinny, like, like I want to be when I grow up.
So you know.
Well, in the book, she's described as being like, I think she's like upwards of five,
six.
(22:10):
So she's tall.
So she's a giant.
And we're both five feet.
She also mentions that she's got what she lacks in the front.
She makes four up in the back and in her hips.
So she's like petite at top, but like the lump she was on the bottom.
I mean, it kind of gives you an idea of like.
(22:33):
Yeah.
Okay.
Well, then let's move on to Sean.
Well, hang on.
I want to say that Cecilia's older cell.
Oh, sorry.
Because in my head, they're two different people.
There is so much growth that happens.
(22:53):
So if I'm going based on like her personalities, it's two different people.
So, yeah.
So who's your second one?
I'm going to have to say.
Honestly, I don't even know.
(23:17):
I don't.
Okay.
Okay.
I had money in mind and then you said Blake Lively and it like threw me off and I forgot
who it was.
Apologies.
So then we can move on to Sean now or.
Just move on.
(23:37):
Ignore me.
Okay.
Okay.
So.
I thought I had a Sean picked out in my head, but then like I was reading again and I picture
Sean as like.
(24:00):
Oh my God.
I'm blanking on his name.
The guy who plays Captain America.
If you hadn't have said that, I would have known.
(24:22):
Chris Evans.
Oh my gosh.
I want to say Hemsworth.
I'm like, that's not Hemsworth.
No, no.
I mean, he's also an Avenger, but I.
I think he's got this like, like a granola Chris Evans.
He's a, he's a, if Chris Evans grew up like hiking in Colorado, that's who I would cast
(24:46):
as Sean.
I think it's funny that you chose somebody from like that genre because in my head I
was picturing Chris Pratt.
Okay.
Yeah.
He's like, he's goofy, but he can also be like, you know, intense if he needs to be.
(25:07):
Yeah.
Yeah.
From my head.
I'm like golden retriever, but is capable of like laying down some boundaries.
Yes.
So I chose Chris Pratt for that.
I like, I like Chris Pratt for that.
Okay.
So then Dominic.
(25:28):
I chose and I feel like booktop girlies are going to laugh at me for this.
I feel like I already know who you're going to say.
Go ahead.
And some of them may not even know his name, but I know they know the sound.
(25:56):
Super dumb, I thought of a wrong K, wrong guy.
However you say his name.
The say it again.
I like that guy.
Yes.
Yeah.
So I actually, I'm going to co-sign this completely.
But when I was reading this book for the first time, and I guess you have to know about me
(26:24):
that I've been a huge Johnny Depp fan for like years and years and years.
But I felt like Johnny Depp would have done such a good like soulful, like introverted
to the point where you are pretty sure he's mad at you, even though you've never said
anything to him kind of vibe.
Are we talking young Johnny Depp or today's Johnny Depp?
(26:47):
Young Johnny Depp.
They are.
Well, we'll say not like what's eating Gilbert grape Johnny Depp.
I would say more like.
I don't know.
Caribbean age, like the first one.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Pre like pre fantastic.
(27:11):
Mainstream.
Yeah.
But I don't think we can cast anybody else without spoilers.
Okay.
We could cast one more person.
Okay.
Her best friend.
(27:33):
Oh yes.
Christie.
Yes.
Okay.
Who would you cast for Christie?
Her honestly, Christie reminded me of like a Jenna Ortega.
Okay.
(27:55):
Like her Wednesday Addams phase.
Not necessarily the gothicness, but just like the blunt off the wall commenting and the
like not caring at all what she says.
Okay.
Here's this is going to be another old one, but Christie gives me Drew Barrymore vibes.
(28:20):
Wow.
We had totally different image.
But I can see that.
I can see that.
Yeah.
Just cause she's just like, yeah.
And she's just like a very, I don't know.
She kind of gets the crap, which I like.
I could see that.
(28:40):
I actually do have another character that I think is cast worthy.
Roman, her dad.
Who would you cast as her dad?
Let's see who's the most dickish person I could think of.
Oh, I got it.
I'll cast him with my own dad.
You know, elusive absentee father.
(29:03):
Okay.
But if your dad is that rich, then we need to talk after this show.
Gotta find me first.
Okay.
Destiny's dad.
If you are out there and you are rich, we would like to be friends with you.
(29:25):
Okay.
I would cast.
I'm going to have to start looking up celebrity names better before this.
Yeah.
I'm trying to think of what he has played in.
(29:57):
Somebody somebody.
He's an older guy and he normally plays like this really snobby, like rich character.
And I feel like that's a better description than me trying to figure out like what he's
been in or what his name is.
(30:18):
But like the very posh, very like they're not not not super masculine, like super, you
know, like he probably gets manicures.
I feel like I can almost picture who you're talking about.
He plays like the stereotypical older posh character.
Yes.
He's like skinny and tall.
(30:40):
Yes.
Yes.
I can picture him, but I can't.
I don't think I've ever known his name.
Yeah.
He's just that like extra.
Yeah.
So I think that's I think I think that that's a pretty good casting.
Yeah.
(31:03):
So do we want to do we want to start with the prologue?
Do we want to want to get in get into this?
Yeah, why the hell not?
OK, so this is the the time warpy stuff that I was mentioning earlier.
We start off in present day and she's 26.
(31:27):
And she has just broken up with her fiance and is on her way back to her father's house
in Triple Falls.
And she's like thinking back on her time here previously and where she feels like her story
(31:51):
began was at this point seven years ago.
And it's confusing, I think intentionally, because we don't really understand all the
players and what she's on about, but it kind of the time jump kind of reminded me of how
(32:12):
like Deadpool movies open.
It's like some like dramatic scene and you're like, what is happening?
And then he's kind of like, let me start from the beginning.
Yes, exactly.
And that's kind of how this was.
But here's what we know what we know.
She's driving in the car, having like this inner monologue, and she knows that her fiance
(32:35):
that she just broke up with, she never loved him the way that she could have because of
this other love story that took place prior in Triple Falls.
She gave her heart away and never got it back.
(32:58):
So that's literally how we roll out like she's ruined
for anybody else.
And then it takes you back and she's 19 again.
(33:18):
And also moving to Triple Falls at 19 for the first time.
We're going back to the beginning where it all started.
Yes.
And it's evident just in that prologue that she's going back to heal.
She's trying to find some healing.
(33:39):
She obviously thought she was moving on with Colin, her fiance, and somewhat like running
from this heart heartbreak.
Yeah.
And it's definitely a place I can relate to.
(34:00):
I don't know how many times I've been on a long drive and like your mind just kind of
takes over in one of these like, what am I even doing with my life kind of spirals?
Yeah.
So chapter one just kind of opens with her going back or well coming there for the first
(34:30):
time technically at 19 years old.
And we kind of discussed it in the summary a little bit.
She is moving there to appease her father in order to get the inheritance to support
her mother.
And then she has to work for her father for a year at his factory.
And it's like a, I think it's like a technology factory.
(34:54):
I think the department she works in makes like builds the calculators.
But I'm pretty sure like the whole company is much bigger than just calculators and it
does a lot of technology stuff.
Yes.
And then she meets Sean, she, what I thought was funny about him tracking her down in the
(35:17):
parking lot after work and asking her to a party, she demanded that he hand over his
driver's license and she took a picture of it and sent it to her best friend.
Yes.
It was like, okay, now if you kill me, we all know that you were the last one to see
me alive.
You did it.
And then support and encourage.
(35:43):
One of my things that she does in this very first day at work is that she kind of fully
owns up to the fact that she's the boss's daughter or the owner's daughter of the company.
But she kind of makes a joke about, like I won't tell on you if you're like, what does
(36:14):
she, something about taking a lunch break or I don't know.
I think she says something along the lines of having a tryst in the janitor closet or
something like that.
Yes, that's what it was.
That's what it was.
But it actually kind of, I don't think that leads into like, Sean seems to notice her
(36:40):
when she makes that comment and then tracks her down in the parking lot.
And then it's like, hey, do you want to come to a house party?
So you know, 19, those things happen.
This is where she decides like, screw it, I'm just going to have the time of my life.
(37:00):
And why not go to this party with a strange man?
I mean, I've never taken a risk.
Why not?
Why not start now?
But she goes to the party.
She's had fun.
She's meeting some people, but Sean immediately like abandons her as an introvert.
(37:23):
He pissed me off.
So I feel like this is very on par with being a teenager, getting a job somewhere for the
summer or whatever, and meeting some hot guy and he invites you to this party and then
(37:45):
disappears and you're standing there with a bunch of people you don't know.
I could totally see this whole thing playing out like exactly how it does.
Well I never went to high school parties, so I wouldn't know nothing about that.
But as an introvert, this pissed me off because even at 25, I were to go somewhere and somebody
(38:09):
invited me and they immediately hand me off somebody else.
I'm going to walk.
I'm walking out of the party and I'm going to slap him as I walk out.
But that's just me.
I mean, that's fair.
So at this party, she kind of sees this chance for her to like be different, reinvent herself
(38:49):
a little bit.
And you start to see that come out more as she's like, you know what, I am going to have
a, I think she has like a hard cider or something, even though that's not something that she
would normally do.
But this is where we meet Dominic for the first time and he's his grumpy, broody self.
(39:15):
But Sean makes a comment early on that says, we just have to hide you from the wolf.
And at this point, she assumes that Dominic must be the wolf because of his broodiness.
The next day after the party, her and her dad have a formal breakfast.
(39:42):
And I just imagine them sitting at this like really long dining room table, like very far
ends and it's just the two of them.
It was so awkward, you know what I imagined?
I imagine the dinners that they had on Yellowstone when they're sitting at this very big table,
(40:04):
but there's just like silverware clinking and no conversation.
It's super awkward until the daughter makes it until Beth Roodermart.
Until Beth has a Beth attack.
Got it.
In this case, it's the father who usually speaks up and says something like formal, but
rude as if he's talking to an employee.
(40:29):
So yeah, he tells her that she got like he doesn't want her home too late.
And her and her dad are just not vibing.
They're just not on the same page at all.
There's absolutely no emotion.
But connection.
In Cecilia's defense, she is doing her best to be respectful and try to like, you know,
(40:53):
not rock the boat, meet him halfway at least.
But I love this in true 19 year old fashion.
As soon as her dad leaves, Sean comes over and they decide to go swimming in the pool.
And Sean's like smoking weed in her dad's backyard while she's swimming.
(41:22):
And she definitely is not good at playing it cool.
Like, she definitely is is feeling her some John and is very obvious about it.
I was a little embarrassed for her at this part because I was like, girl, be cool, be
(41:45):
cool.
I also want to state that, you know, she's 19, but he's not.
He's like in his 20s.
You know, I think he's like 24, maybe.
I think so.
24, 25.
Yeah.
So he's got a little more experience.
It doesn't sound like a lot of years, but think if you're 25, think back to your 19
(42:09):
year old self.
There is so much like maturation that goes on between then and now.
Oh yeah.
At least for me, it is.
So something else that happens that comes up while they're swimming is she notices Sean's
(42:31):
tattoo, the Raven tattoo on his arm.
And obviously that there was a lot of people that have them like his friends.
And he all he says is it's a promise, but he won't explain it any further than that.
(42:51):
She keeps asking if it's like a club or something, you know, and he just keeps giving vague answers
about what it's really about.
Yeah.
And then, you know, they have this moment where she really wants him to kiss her, but
(43:14):
I think it's his friends show up and interrupt the situation.
Not at this time.
This time, the first time that he comes over to swim, Dominic shows up in his car, but
he doesn't get out.
He just revs the engine and lets Sean know like, hey, it's time to go.
(43:35):
Yes, but it interrupts like they there is no kiss because him his arrival interrupts
the situation.
And she was leaning into it, but he was not.
Yeah, he was.
Yeah.
He was playing hard to get.
Yeah.
So then this then so she goes to work from there, which, by the way, like only at 19
(43:59):
do you go swimming before work?
Like that sounds good.
Not I could never.
I don't have the energy for that.
So yeah.
So then this is when she it's her first day like on the line with Melinda who talks a
lot.
(44:19):
Yeah, so she learns about Sean and all that.
But all that gossip didn't deter her.
No, to be fair, she doesn't.
If anything, she's even more curious than she was before.
Because now he's got like a reputation.
Sean invites her to the garage after their first day of work and she goes to the garage
(44:46):
with him and it's literally a garage.
It's like a mechanic garage.
King's Automotive that Dominic owns.
And they don't actually ride together.
She shows up later on that night and the place is packed with people.
It's like an after work hangout spot.
(45:07):
So she shows up and Dominic answers the door, which he does not want her around.
He keeps telling her blatantly like you don't belong here.
You need to go home.
After a child, go home.
And Dominic is French and he speaks French.
(45:30):
What he doesn't know is that she speaks French and he's like telling her to leave, won't
let her in the door.
She snatches the joint from his hands.
I love this part.
It takes a puff.
So amazing.
It takes a puff of it and then she says something in French to him and he's kind of like shocked
(45:54):
and it gets her her first like little smirk from him.
Kind of like you could see he was a little impressed for it.
It seemed like he was about to break the facade a little bit, but then Sean comes back and
he kind of interrupts.
So this is a cool like they're chilling at the garage that night eating pizza, smoking
(46:19):
weed, drinking beer.
And you kind of do often.
Yes, it's like a regular thing.
I would totally hang out there.
And even though she's like sitting with Sean, she's like watching Dominic.
He's like this dark curiosity, so she's hanging out with Sean, getting to know Sean, really
(46:46):
enjoys Sean's attention.
But like you feel that like undercurrent with Dominic and her kind of like constantly keeping
an eye on him.
Going into this book, not knowing that it was a reverse Herald, I was like, OK, so who
is the real?
(47:06):
Yeah.
Who's the who? Who's the real like love interest here?
Yeah, it's not clear at this point.
So hard trying to figure that out.
So she actually falls asleep on the couch there.
Right.
Yeah.
And.
They wake her up.
(47:31):
Lost my spot.
Yes, Sean wakes her up, it's like three in the morning and says that Dominic is going
to drive her home, which is weird because that's like, why wouldn't you just driving
home?
But.
Right.
So it's awkward at first, but he clearly knows how to handle his car, which she's impressed
(47:54):
by the driving.
All of them drive classic cars.
Yes.
Like American muscle classic cars.
Well, yeah, like Sean drives a.
As a Nova SS, yes.
But she's immediately like.
(48:17):
Into his driving and how fast he drives and she kind of like.
Starts to unclench a little bit as he's like takes control and even though he's speeding,
she kind of like it gets into it.
And it gave me.
(48:38):
Oh, God, how could I forget his name?
Fast and furious.
Oh, yes.
Vin Diesel.
Walker.
Yes, yes, I can't remember what his name was.
(49:00):
I just watched all the movies too, and I don't remember his name.
But yes, it reminds me of their driving.
Paul Walker.
How they make it the driving like that scene.
Yes.
That's what this gave me with the muscle cars and the controlling the road as they go around
mountains and curves.
(49:21):
Like, yeah.
So then, of course, the next morning, Cecilia gets an email from her dad about getting home
late and waking him up.
And it just it's so formal and so cold, but it's so typical like that you would see from
(49:48):
somebody like Roman.
So so now they're emailing with each other and he wants her to limit her visitors.
But I also I'll be in Charlotte for a few days.
So you know, I'm not actually going to be there.
I just don't want anybody else there with you either, which is so rude.
(50:09):
Something to add that is during that breakfast that they had, he had also demanded that she
get home at a decent time, but then the next day she gets an email saying he's not even
going to be there.
So she's like, well, that.
Yeah, I'm not going to be here.
Yeah, you're not going to be here.
Then why do I need to be home?
(50:29):
And it's a big house.
It's like a whole freaking like a whole mansion.
Yeah.
And she's there by herself.
There's like no staff or anything.
It's just her.
So I wouldn't want to be there either.
That's creepy and sad and depressing.
Like I want to go out.
Yeah.
And actually over the next couple of weeks, as she's spending time with Sean and his friends.
(50:59):
But work has been not as awesome because it's she often hears her coworkers talking about
her daughter and she's definitely kind of judged for being the boss's daughter.
Lots of assumptions are made about who she is.
(51:21):
But it is not a popular person amongst anybody.
Nobody likes him, especially the factory workers.
Yeah.
And he pretty much owns the town.
Pretty much everyone in the town works at the factory.
So he controls everybody and everything.
He's a dick.
(51:41):
He's a very controlling dick and very rich.
He's a rich dick.
But her time with Sean seems to like make putting up with all of that worth it.
And we get to see here a little bit more about Sean's personality outside of just being a
(52:09):
hot guy.
He takes her on a hike in the mountains and he starts to talk about the concepts of power
and freedom and his whole insight on technology and social media and cell phones and how those
(52:31):
are tools that the government uses to control people.
And to make his point that they listen in on all conversations and well, and he actually
smashes her Apple Watch just to make this point, which would have really pissed me off.
(52:51):
But she seems to like handle that much better than I would have.
Well, she's also getting a paycheck that she can do whatever she wants with because all
of her expenses are paid for.
She can afford to buy a new watch out of the blue.
That's fair.
I would have been mad too though.
(53:13):
I would have yelled and would have been like, what the fuck?
You owe me a new one.
You're paying for that.
That's not.
Yeah.
Apple Watch is not cheap.
But this kind of like rounds out like Sean is very much like a free spirit in terms of
not wanting to be conventional in a lot of ways.
(53:35):
You would think that he lived off the grid, like completely like Unibarmer style off the
grid.
That's how they describe him.
But also super like, so on this hike that they go on, he actually surprised, they get
to this waterfall, very picturesque.
He lays out a picnic and this was for her birthday, very like romantic gesture.
(54:04):
And he tells her, you know, he doesn't, he only spends time with people that he really
likes.
He's very protective and defensive of his time.
So what he's demonstrating and what I know as a older person is that he's telling you,
this is how you know that I have feelings for you because I'm carving out you're important
(54:30):
to me because you have my time.
She does not fully understand it, but she's definitely like catching on.
Yeah.
He sets up like a whole picnic thing behind this waterfall after this long hike for her
birthday.
Super sweet.
Super sweet.
(54:50):
It was so romantic.
I need to ask Jesse why he doesn't take me on a hike to a waterfall and set up a picnic
for my birthday.
Right.
Probably because your birthday is in December, but it's a fair question.
Fair point.
So, this is really sweet and this is their first like moment of intimacy.
(55:18):
And ultimately she ends up making the first move.
And he even says after she finally kisses him that he's been waiting on her to make
the first move, which I liked it too.
It doesn't happen very often in these books, in smut books in general.
He not once like pressured or insinuated towards anything.
(55:43):
We love a patient man.
He was fully waiting for her.
I think he was also trying to force her to be like more confident and kiss him.
He's he has stated that he says what he means and he means what he says.
He lives in the now.
He does not adhere to the slavery of time or technology.
(56:04):
And I think he was trying to get her to live in the now, say what she wants, say what she
means and not apologize for it.
After this outing with Sean, at some point shortly after that, she's having dinner with
Roman, her dad, and she starts to kind of try to find out more.
(56:29):
She's like trying to peel back some layers and try to figure out like who her dad is,
what their story is, because he feels like such a stranger.
And the subject comes up that, you know, her mom got pregnant with her when she was 20.
(56:55):
And I think by the time she was like one, she had left him or whatever.
She was really young, so she doesn't have any memories of it.
And so she's trying to get something out of him.
And he is just like dancing around, like not really giving her much of anything.
(57:16):
And then that becomes more of a theme.
Like it's a continuing theme throughout this is that she is spending time with Sean and
the friends, but she is still trying to like get to know her dad, find out more, understand
better.
But it's just really not.
(57:38):
Yeah.
Something that irritated me was that she's got all these people in her life now, but
nobody will give her straight answers on anything.
Not her father, not Sean, not Dominic, not Tyler.
Nobody is just an open book in this town for some reason.
They're all closed off and speak in freaking riddles.
(58:01):
And it was pissing me off in the beginning.
Yeah.
I would agree with that.
There's not a single straight answer to be found in the first 15 chapters of this book.
Yeah.
It becomes blatantly obvious that like something is going on in this town behind the scenes,
but nobody it's like Fight Club.
(58:22):
Yeah.
Nobody talks about it.
So at the waterfall, they didn't actually have sex.
No.
He got to like chow down on some dessert, but he actually denied her of the actual act
(58:42):
of sex.
Yes.
I refer to it as an intimate moment.
For the intimate means to be classy.
I'm not that classy and this is an unfiltered version, so I'm going to be unfiltered.
She's trying to figure out why Dominic doesn't like her.
(59:10):
Like what is his big like, why does he not want her around?
And Sean again, no shock here is not giving her an answer.
He's just saying just like disregard him, just ignore him.
But there's a really fun driving scene that happens.
(59:35):
And it's actually the first time they fully have sex is when she asks him to teach her
to drive his car and in the Nova.
And so they're going through the mountain roads.
Yes.
Yes.
Because Dominic still doesn't like her according to her.
(01:00:01):
But this is their first like, and he's basically starts touching her while she's driving and
it's like the buildup, the intensity of it.
And then they pull over and again, we have sex in a car.
Yeah.
In a car.
Just for the record.
I mean, in it.
(01:00:23):
OK, I'm going to give it some credit.
Doing it in a classic car, it would be wildly different than doing it in a car today because
a classic car has like the bench seats.
Bench seats help.
Classic cars are bigger on the inside.
They're not.
(01:00:46):
They're not filled with like technology and consoles and cup holders and like all this
other bullshit that today's cars have.
They have more room to get a little busy in.
Not saying it's a whole lot.
You still got to be limber.
Yeah, it's more like.
There's not.
(01:01:07):
A lot.
Yeah.
I'm just saying it's a car, but it's a car.
It's a hot scene.
The whole like she's driving and he's touching her and it's it works.
The buildup to this scene was worth the wait.
Agreed.
Agreed.
(01:01:28):
So there's some interesting moment that happens when she's helping Sean do him and his friends
laundry at the laundromat, which.
No thank you.
I hate doing laundry, but I get it.
This entire scene pissed me off.
(01:01:50):
So she is sitting in the car outside the laundromat.
He goes back inside and she's watching this woman making tortillas at the Mexican restaurant
next door and she at first she just notices.
(01:02:13):
Oh, like she looks really happy and then sees her steal some money from the cash register.
And Cecilia's first reaction is like, oh my God, she's stealing like that's so wrong.
But then she finds out that.
Like Sean tells her comes back and explains that her grandson has a disability and she's
(01:02:37):
been supporting him and her son in law ever since her daughter left them.
And so when she gets like the full context of the story, she feels like that stealing
isn't as unforgivable in this situation.
Yeah.
So this is this introduction of like sometimes it's OK to steal and do bad things because
(01:03:00):
there's a bigger reason behind it, which I thought was like a moment, like a moment where
her perspective starts to change a little bit.
Things are exactly black and white all the time.
Yeah.
I liked that part.
What pissed me off about this scene was it was completely Sean's intent because he knew
(01:03:27):
that she was going to judge her when she saw her steal the money and he wanted her to feel
like shit when she found out that it was for her disabled grandson.
And I get it.
She needed to learn a lesson, but he does this so much where he sets her up to look
stupid and make her feel like shit about herself.
(01:03:48):
There are other ways you can teach a lesson.
It doesn't need to be that every single time.
I get it.
She's young, she needs to learn to not judge people.
But I actually hadn't really thought about it like that.
That's interesting.
I did not showmanship and harsh.
(01:04:14):
Because do we find out later that he did this intentionally or does it say that or does
it just says in that moment it does?
OK.
Yeah, it says it in that moment.
He comes back to the car and she tells him what she found out and then she realizes he
already knew.
And she brings up like.
(01:04:36):
I was so ready to tell you that I saw her stealing and then I saw her disabled grandson.
And then that's when she was like, you, you, you did that on purpose.
You left me out here.
That's right.
I was going to do that.
I couldn't.
It's not the only time that happens.
Yeah.
Well.
(01:04:56):
Well, let me tell you what.
So right after this, they go to a bar and they're drinking and.
Cecilia start talking about her childhood and her parents.
Sean tells her about his parents and at some point she checks her phone when they're together.
(01:05:22):
And he demands that she not use her phone whenever she's with him.
And that was my my red flag moment where I was like, whoa, whoa.
That's a little controlling.
And she kind of has that reaction, too.
(01:05:44):
And he says that he's insistent that he just all it is, is he's jealous of her.
He wants all of her attention and he wants them to be in the present when they're together.
Now I took this at face value when I first read it, but later on, this means more.
(01:06:05):
The scene means.
Yeah.
You.
Right now it makes you mad because you're like, why is this stupid teenage girl going
to agree to something like this?
Like you're going to let him control you.
And then later on, you're like, yeah, it's like that tick tock where it's like, why?
Why?
Why?
(01:06:25):
Yeah.
Oh, that's why.
Yeah.
It takes quite a while to take a while.
These things that are pissing us off are to come back.
But I do want to point out that they.
End this particular evening together by having sex in the car.
(01:06:49):
I can't deny that they're spicy scenes, but my, my back could not.
I just, you know, it's just.
Just not 19 anymore.
That's all.
Like I can winded going up one flight upstairs.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Same.
I need a towel too fast and I sound like bubble wrap.
(01:07:11):
Okay.
Car doing cars is not an option anymore.
That's a wrap for part one of flock.
As always, thanks for listening.
We hope you enjoyed our take on this steamy book and we will see y'all next week on a
novel affair where we will be discussing part two of flock.
(01:07:32):
Be sure to like and follow us on social media and hit that subscribe button before you go.
We'll see y'all soon.
Hey guys, welcome to A Novel Affair, the bookish podcast where we kiss and tell about our torrid
(00:13):
affairs with fictional characters.
So grab a drink and get ready for some pure unadulterated fun.
Today we are going to be talking about Flock.
It is in the first book in the Raven Hood series and it is written by Kate Stewart.
(00:34):
And Miss Kate is an author that got her start self published and then became really popular
on Book Talk, which I think is pretty badass.
Anytime somebody can like totally do it their own way, no compromises.
I always think you get a better product.
(00:56):
And she's actually a USA Today bestselling author.
I don't know if that's the same as the New York Times where that doesn't actually mean
that they sold a bunch.
It just means New York Times said.
But she in her author bio on her website, she describes her writing as sexy, messy and
(01:21):
anks filled, which everything is pretty much my drag name.
So yeah, she automatically stole my heart.
I'm going to start calling you angsty from here on out.
Perf, perf.
So oh, and we have the series, The Raven Hood, which is three books, but she has the Raven
(01:51):
Hood Legacy, which is two additional books that we know for sure that are going to be
coming out in 2025.
So excited.
I'm excited.
But oh, I am excited.
But that tracks for how our respective reactions to a book.
So scared and excited at the same time like that exists in this world.
(02:16):
Two things can totally be true at once.
100%.
You're absolutely right.
I'm more terrified, but I digress.
So there's no trigger warnings.
No, no, like actual listing for trigger warnings.
(02:37):
Actually, I think this book came out before a trigger warning list became like a big thing.
A very common occurrence.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I also wouldn't deem it as a dark romance, but it is still kind of dark.
It has dark events, but it's not dark.
Like dark subject matter, like dark thought themes and emotions, but not necessarily dark
(03:07):
on the smut.
Smut side.
Yeah.
This is like an intro into dark romance, basically.
It's like baby steps.
Now, I will say this has a couple of the better smut scenes, in my opinion, across the board,
despite them not being as exotic as some of the others.
(03:32):
It's the foreplay.
It's definitely that.
It's for sure that.
Now, something in this book that I would deem triggering, even though it wasn't listed,
is the self sacrifice and the broken hearts that happen.
(03:54):
It pulls at your heartstrings.
I 100% agree that although it doesn't have any haunting Adeline level triggers, it definitely
will totally destroy you mentally and emotionally.
(04:15):
So something to look out for.
Yeah.
It's going to wreck you in the heart.
Yeah.
I'm pretty sure I put.
Oh, I'm pretty sure I put in my Goodreads review that I was not adequately prepared
and thoroughly devastated by this book.
Yeah.
(04:35):
I felt like people needed to know.
I didn't see it coming because there's no trigger warnings that it's truly going to
hurt your feelings.
So bad.
A trope, it also didn't list any tropes, but a one trope that is in there is the reverse
(04:58):
harem.
Specifically, there is a threesome.
So be prepared for that if you're not into the polyamorous situation.
I mean, it's not wild, but it's there.
It's perfect.
So I want to point out, and this is kind of a thing that I don't think.
(05:19):
First of all, I didn't never heard of reverse harem before I went down the path of smut.
But there's also different levels of reverse harem.
So reverse harem doesn't necessarily mean everybody's all doing it at the same time
together.
This is.
(05:44):
Doesn't necessarily mean group schnacks.
It could also just be one girl decides why do I need to choose between these men, whatever,
I could just individually have them both.
Yeah, but it's not cheating.
There is no cheating.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
So open relationship.
(06:06):
I can't remember now if I read this before I read Den of Vipers, but it's definitely
Den of Vipers first.
See I can't remember.
I think I did, but I don't know.
Den of Vipers is my first reverse harem.
I do know that, and this is a teaser for later, this book has one of the very few smut scenes
(06:30):
that I ever relayed to my husband in any amount of detail.
And by that I mean almost line for line.
I like literally re texted it to him.
So you know, something to look forward to.
(06:52):
Okay, so with our take on what could be triggering out of the way, let's get into the summary
of the book.
It is a Robin Hood retelling with a modern day spin on a brotherhood of morally gray
bad boys.
(07:14):
So yeah, yeah, the Robin Hood aspect, the Robin Hood-esque-ness of it is not super,
it doesn't hit you over the head with it.
(07:35):
But it's definitely all those elements are there, but I like that.
I like that it's modernized in a really natural way.
And when I hear Robin Hood as a trope, I automatically think like bow and arrows, and it's not like
that.
I think of the cartoon, the old cartoon.
(07:56):
Yes, which is, you know, made Marion and the whole thing was great.
To be clear, there are no foxes in this book, okay?
I mean, there's some foxes, but only in my head.
Girl.
So okay, this, I'm gonna say that there is definitely some time hopping going on in this
(08:26):
book.
That you start out with her moving back to Triple Falls, which she has lived in before,
which is a fictitional town in North Carolina, specifically in the Blue Ridge Mountains,
(08:47):
which are real, but Triple Falls is not.
You just had to throw that out there, huh?
Yeah, I just, you know, I like to share facts.
I also want to point out that, like, along with the Robin Hood thing, it's also a, like
a whole secret society that is nationwide, maybe even worldwide.
(09:11):
It's unclear in this book, but it's a big thing.
It's not a small operation that's happening.
The summary reads as Cecilia Horner, the main female character, she moves back to Triple
Falls, but it's only supposed to be temporary.
(09:35):
She is supposed to work one year for her elusive estranged father at his factory, and then
once she's worked for a year for him, he will hand his, the inheritance over to her, which
she's only doing this not because she actually cares about the money, but because she wants
to set up her mom for life because they grew up struggling financially, and she wants to
(10:02):
give back for all the sacrifices her mom made.
And mom struggles with depression and mental health, which is a recurring theme.
Like Cecilia had to grow up really young because her mom struggled.
So Cecilia's kind of like, she starts out trying to save the day.
(10:22):
She's her little self-story hero there in the beginning.
And the mental health and depression is mentioned, but it's not portrayed.
We don't see little Cecilia going through the struggles of having a mom like that.
She's a full grown adult and rarely we only get phone converse, snippets of phone conversations
(10:47):
that are happening.
So it's not depicted.
Now she ends up in Triple Falls.
She works at the factory and on her first day, she kind of collides with her new supervisor.
His name is Sean.
He is our first male main character.
(11:10):
He is enigmatic, charming, irresistible, and he kind of lures her into a more risque part
of the world.
And it's determined that she's going to make the most of it.
(11:31):
She's going to stop living in fear.
She's going to start taking risks and just live life to the fullest because she is now
a grown up in her college phase, as she likes to call it.
Yes.
And she was always the responsible one because she was kind of taking care of her mom also.
So her experiences were limited growing up.
(11:54):
She didn't go to parties.
She didn't have the young dumb kid experience.
So now she wants to make some mistakes and do some dumb shit, which I highly recommend
everybody have that phase in their life.
So that kind of sets the tone, I think, for what you're about to get into because she's
(12:15):
kind of willing to let her brain take a backseat for a minute.
I can totally relate to her on that end because I grew up being the responsible one and just
not taking risks, not going out and doing crazy stuff.
I had to stay home because of my mother as well.
(12:36):
So I think that may be why I liked her so much was I could feel the.
I could feel for her.
Now Sean invites her to a house party.
After her first day at work, she finds her parking lot and invites her to a party.
(12:59):
And that is where she meets Dominic, Sean's brother for the first time.
And he is scary, tall, dark and handsome, brooding, you know, the male main character
number two.
(13:19):
He's our second male main character.
He is the black cat to Sean's golden retriever.
Yes, put it into perspective.
And she starts to realize that they're keeping a secret and that they're probably into something
dangerous.
(13:41):
She doesn't really care.
She's you know, she starts to fall in love with them.
So in light of falling in love with them, she's willing to overlook the dangers.
The question is, will the dangers drag her down and risk her entire future?
(14:09):
I can't say anything because I know the answer, but I don't want to spoil it for anybody.
So I think this book is really good for people that you are trying to get like they want
(14:32):
to try something smutty, but they're not sure.
It's not dip your toes into the dark romance.
Yeah.
And and it's not cheesy romance.
It's not some of the cheesier tropes and stuff.
It's actually like the suspense thriller part of it, I think, is a really good balance to
(14:56):
this month.
But like this month is not lacking.
And that can't be understated.
It's yeah, it's quality.
My problem is slow burn.
I wouldn't call it a slow burn, but we also don't jump straight into the smut either.
(15:21):
It there's a little bit of relationship building before it actually happens.
Yes, for sure.
Just for war.
You're not going to jump straight into it.
I will say this is not a spoiler, but she's like, how old is she at the beginning of this
(15:41):
book?
19 is 19.
She's a few weeks away from being 20.
Yeah.
So for those of us who are maybe just a little bit older than 19, there is quite a bit of
sex and cars in this series.
Specifically this book in particular has a lot of car sex.
(16:05):
And so, you know, again, slightly just barely older than 19 me was I had to like, you know,
squint a little bit at that because that just does not sound like a good time anymore.
(16:26):
However, it's still enjoyable.
Not relatable, but enjoyable.
I am so glad you bring up her age because I will say this and it's not going to give
anything away.
It's not a spoiler, but reading this at the age that I am now and looking back at my 19
(16:46):
year old self compared to her in accordance to like a relationship.
This author was spot on to how the teenage brain worked because the amount of like crying
and like the begging and like the just the dramatics of it all.
(17:08):
I was like, oh, the internal struggle over the smallest, most inconsequential things.
I definitely, I think Kate does a really good job in this book of you look at Cecilia very
similar to how you would look at your former self and you actually start her book starts
(17:35):
you're really seven years into the future and then it takes you back to her when she's
19.
So, I don't know.
It's a very like relatable because I think we can all look back at our 19 year old selves
similar to how we look at Cecilia.
And it's not just the dialogue.
It's the inner dialogue.
(17:56):
It is the writing style when she is writing as Cecilia as 19, she is in the mindset of
a teenager.
And then when we are in the jump forward, you can actually see the change in age in
the writing.
And I love Kate Stewart because that's just she embodied a 19 year old.
(18:20):
She had me looking at my 19 year old self.
And I know I was this bad and I really wish I wasn't because girl, what are you doing?
Yeah, what are you doing?
It's not cringy for me.
It's not Kristen Stewart.
I mean, Bella from Twilight.
It's not that level.
(18:40):
It's endearing.
It's real.
It's realistic.
It's endearing.
It's relatable.
I mean, there's a couple moments when I roll my eyes and we'll get to that, especially
in the podcast when we go through this, because I have a particular eye rolly moment.
(19:02):
But for the most part, it's very relatable and endearing.
To hear all of those parts, all of the uncensored, unfiltered things that were allowed to say
that we can't say on YouTube and it has spoilers as well.
Go to the listening platforms that do not regulate us because you will get a ton more
(19:30):
all of it.
Yeah, we need to talk about all the more exciting stuff when Daddy YouTube's not listening.
Yeah.
So I think I'm going to show my age a little bit here in my choice of casting, but hopefully
I'm not going back like Marlon Brando that far back, so we should all be able to.
(19:56):
So how do you want to do this?
You want me to list all of mine and then you go or do you want to pair off like go by character?
Let's do a character and we both say who we think they are.
Well in order of appearance, let's start with Cecilia.
Who would you cast as your Cecilia?
(20:16):
That is so hard because like Cecilia at 19, I have a different picture than what I do
when she's grown up.
Valid.
That's valid.
Cecilia at 19, I'm thinking like Disney Channel like.
(20:40):
Like Hannah Montana.
I was thinking more like Selena Gomez and Wizards of Waverly Place like her character
Alex.
Okay.
I was thinking more like Alex.
Do you notice the age gap there?
She basically just called me old.
It's fine.
Hannah Montana, Selena and Wizards of Waverly Place were on at the same time.
(21:02):
Okay.
Okay, fine.
If we're trying to go back to like original Selena Gomez was also in Sweet Life of Zack
and Cody, which was on before Hannah Montana.
So let's not get in this age gap thing.
I grew up poor.
Okay.
I am the same age as you.
Well that I can't argue with.
(21:22):
Okay.
Well, my Cecilia, I think, I think of a like Blake Lively like very like sweet, beautiful,
all American girl next door type situation.
(21:50):
I also just imagine like she's super skinny, like, like I want to be when I grow up.
So you know.
Well, in the book, she's described as being like, I think she's like upwards of five,
six.
(22:10):
So she's tall.
So she's a giant.
And we're both five feet.
She also mentions that she's got what she lacks in the front.
She makes four up in the back and in her hips.
So she's like petite at top, but like the lump she was on the bottom.
I mean, it kind of gives you an idea of like.
(22:33):
Yeah.
Okay.
Well, then let's move on to Sean.
Well, hang on.
I want to say that Cecilia's older cell.
Oh, sorry.
Because in my head, they're two different people.
There is so much growth that happens.
(22:53):
So if I'm going based on like her personalities, it's two different people.
So, yeah.
So who's your second one?
I'm going to have to say.
Honestly, I don't even know.
(23:17):
I don't.
Okay.
Okay.
I had money in mind and then you said Blake Lively and it like threw me off and I forgot
who it was.
Apologies.
So then we can move on to Sean now or.
Just move on.
(23:37):
Ignore me.
Okay.
Okay.
So.
I thought I had a Sean picked out in my head, but then like I was reading again and I picture
Sean as like.
(24:00):
Oh my God.
I'm blanking on his name.
The guy who plays Captain America.
If you hadn't have said that, I would have known.
(24:22):
Chris Evans.
Oh my gosh.
I want to say Hemsworth.
I'm like, that's not Hemsworth.
No, no.
I mean, he's also an Avenger, but I.
I think he's got this like, like a granola Chris Evans.
He's a, he's a, if Chris Evans grew up like hiking in Colorado, that's who I would cast
(24:46):
as Sean.
I think it's funny that you chose somebody from like that genre because in my head I
was picturing Chris Pratt.
Okay.
Yeah.
He's like, he's goofy, but he can also be like, you know, intense if he needs to be.
(25:07):
Yeah.
Yeah.
From my head.
I'm like golden retriever, but is capable of like laying down some boundaries.
Yes.
So I chose Chris Pratt for that.
I like, I like Chris Pratt for that.
Okay.
So then Dominic.
(25:28):
I chose and I feel like booktop girlies are going to laugh at me for this.
I feel like I already know who you're going to say.
Go ahead.
And some of them may not even know his name, but I know they know the sound.
(25:56):
Super dumb, I thought of a wrong K, wrong guy.
However you say his name.
The say it again.
I like that guy.
Yes.
Yeah.
So I actually, I'm going to co-sign this completely.
But when I was reading this book for the first time, and I guess you have to know about me
(26:24):
that I've been a huge Johnny Depp fan for like years and years and years.
But I felt like Johnny Depp would have done such a good like soulful, like introverted
to the point where you are pretty sure he's mad at you, even though you've never said
anything to him kind of vibe.
Are we talking young Johnny Depp or today's Johnny Depp?
(26:47):
Young Johnny Depp.
They are.
Well, we'll say not like what's eating Gilbert grape Johnny Depp.
I would say more like.
I don't know.
Caribbean age, like the first one.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Pre like pre fantastic.
(27:11):
Mainstream.
Yeah.
But I don't think we can cast anybody else without spoilers.
Okay.
We could cast one more person.
Okay.
Her best friend.
(27:33):
Oh yes.
Christie.
Yes.
Okay.
Who would you cast for Christie?
Her honestly, Christie reminded me of like a Jenna Ortega.
Okay.
(27:55):
Like her Wednesday Addams phase.
Not necessarily the gothicness, but just like the blunt off the wall commenting and the
like not caring at all what she says.
Okay.
Here's this is going to be another old one, but Christie gives me Drew Barrymore vibes.
(28:20):
Wow.
We had totally different image.
But I can see that.
I can see that.
Yeah.
Just cause she's just like, yeah.
And she's just like a very, I don't know.
She kind of gets the crap, which I like.
I could see that.
(28:40):
I actually do have another character that I think is cast worthy.
Roman, her dad.
Who would you cast as her dad?
Let's see who's the most dickish person I could think of.
Oh, I got it.
I'll cast him with my own dad.
You know, elusive absentee father.
(29:03):
Okay.
But if your dad is that rich, then we need to talk after this show.
Gotta find me first.
Okay.
Destiny's dad.
If you are out there and you are rich, we would like to be friends with you.
(29:25):
Okay.
I would cast.
I'm going to have to start looking up celebrity names better before this.
Yeah.
I'm trying to think of what he has played in.
(29:57):
Somebody somebody.
He's an older guy and he normally plays like this really snobby, like rich character.
And I feel like that's a better description than me trying to figure out like what he's
been in or what his name is.
(30:18):
But like the very posh, very like they're not not not super masculine, like super, you
know, like he probably gets manicures.
I feel like I can almost picture who you're talking about.
He plays like the stereotypical older posh character.
Yes.
He's like skinny and tall.
(30:40):
Yes.
Yes.
I can picture him, but I can't.
I don't think I've ever known his name.
Yeah.
He's just that like extra.
Yeah.
So I think that's I think I think that that's a pretty good casting.
Yeah.
(31:03):
So do we want to do we want to start with the prologue?
Do we want to want to get in get into this?
Yeah, why the hell not?
OK, so this is the the time warpy stuff that I was mentioning earlier.
We start off in present day and she's 26.
(31:27):
And she has just broken up with her fiance and is on her way back to her father's house
in Triple Falls.
And she's like thinking back on her time here previously and where she feels like her story
(31:51):
began was at this point seven years ago.
And it's confusing, I think intentionally, because we don't really understand all the
players and what she's on about, but it kind of the time jump kind of reminded me of how
(32:12):
like Deadpool movies open.
It's like some like dramatic scene and you're like, what is happening?
And then he's kind of like, let me start from the beginning.
Yes, exactly.
And that's kind of how this was.
But here's what we know what we know.
She's driving in the car, having like this inner monologue, and she knows that her fiance
(32:35):
that she just broke up with, she never loved him the way that she could have because of
this other love story that took place prior in Triple Falls.
She gave her heart away and never got it back.
(32:58):
So that's literally how we roll out like she's ruined
for anybody else.
And then it takes you back and she's 19 again.
(33:18):
And also moving to Triple Falls at 19 for the first time.
We're going back to the beginning where it all started.
Yes.
And it's evident just in that prologue that she's going back to heal.
She's trying to find some healing.
(33:39):
She obviously thought she was moving on with Colin, her fiance, and somewhat like running
from this heart heartbreak.
Yeah.
And it's definitely a place I can relate to.
(34:00):
I don't know how many times I've been on a long drive and like your mind just kind of
takes over in one of these like, what am I even doing with my life kind of spirals?
Yeah.
So chapter one just kind of opens with her going back or well coming there for the first
(34:30):
time technically at 19 years old.
And we kind of discussed it in the summary a little bit.
She is moving there to appease her father in order to get the inheritance to support
her mother.
And then she has to work for her father for a year at his factory.
And it's like a, I think it's like a technology factory.
(34:54):
I think the department she works in makes like builds the calculators.
But I'm pretty sure like the whole company is much bigger than just calculators and it
does a lot of technology stuff.
Yes.
And then she meets Sean, she, what I thought was funny about him tracking her down in the
(35:17):
parking lot after work and asking her to a party, she demanded that he hand over his
driver's license and she took a picture of it and sent it to her best friend.
Yes.
It was like, okay, now if you kill me, we all know that you were the last one to see
me alive.
You did it.
And then support and encourage.
(35:43):
One of my things that she does in this very first day at work is that she kind of fully
owns up to the fact that she's the boss's daughter or the owner's daughter of the company.
But she kind of makes a joke about, like I won't tell on you if you're like, what does
(36:14):
she, something about taking a lunch break or I don't know.
I think she says something along the lines of having a tryst in the janitor closet or
something like that.
Yes, that's what it was.
That's what it was.
But it actually kind of, I don't think that leads into like, Sean seems to notice her
(36:40):
when she makes that comment and then tracks her down in the parking lot.
And then it's like, hey, do you want to come to a house party?
So you know, 19, those things happen.
This is where she decides like, screw it, I'm just going to have the time of my life.
(37:00):
And why not go to this party with a strange man?
I mean, I've never taken a risk.
Why not?
Why not start now?
But she goes to the party.
She's had fun.
She's meeting some people, but Sean immediately like abandons her as an introvert.
(37:23):
He pissed me off.
So I feel like this is very on par with being a teenager, getting a job somewhere for the
summer or whatever, and meeting some hot guy and he invites you to this party and then
(37:45):
disappears and you're standing there with a bunch of people you don't know.
I could totally see this whole thing playing out like exactly how it does.
Well I never went to high school parties, so I wouldn't know nothing about that.
But as an introvert, this pissed me off because even at 25, I were to go somewhere and somebody
(38:09):
invited me and they immediately hand me off somebody else.
I'm going to walk.
I'm walking out of the party and I'm going to slap him as I walk out.
But that's just me.
I mean, that's fair.
So at this party, she kind of sees this chance for her to like be different, reinvent herself
(38:49):
a little bit.
And you start to see that come out more as she's like, you know what, I am going to have
a, I think she has like a hard cider or something, even though that's not something that she
would normally do.
But this is where we meet Dominic for the first time and he's his grumpy, broody self.
(39:15):
But Sean makes a comment early on that says, we just have to hide you from the wolf.
And at this point, she assumes that Dominic must be the wolf because of his broodiness.
The next day after the party, her and her dad have a formal breakfast.
(39:42):
And I just imagine them sitting at this like really long dining room table, like very far
ends and it's just the two of them.
It was so awkward, you know what I imagined?
I imagine the dinners that they had on Yellowstone when they're sitting at this very big table,
(40:04):
but there's just like silverware clinking and no conversation.
It's super awkward until the daughter makes it until Beth Roodermart.
Until Beth has a Beth attack.
Got it.
In this case, it's the father who usually speaks up and says something like formal, but
rude as if he's talking to an employee.
(40:29):
So yeah, he tells her that she got like he doesn't want her home too late.
And her and her dad are just not vibing.
They're just not on the same page at all.
There's absolutely no emotion.
But connection.
In Cecilia's defense, she is doing her best to be respectful and try to like, you know,
(40:53):
not rock the boat, meet him halfway at least.
But I love this in true 19 year old fashion.
As soon as her dad leaves, Sean comes over and they decide to go swimming in the pool.
And Sean's like smoking weed in her dad's backyard while she's swimming.
(41:22):
And she definitely is not good at playing it cool.
Like, she definitely is is feeling her some John and is very obvious about it.
I was a little embarrassed for her at this part because I was like, girl, be cool, be
(41:45):
cool.
I also want to state that, you know, she's 19, but he's not.
He's like in his 20s.
You know, I think he's like 24, maybe.
I think so.
24, 25.
Yeah.
So he's got a little more experience.
It doesn't sound like a lot of years, but think if you're 25, think back to your 19
(42:09):
year old self.
There is so much like maturation that goes on between then and now.
Oh yeah.
At least for me, it is.
So something else that happens that comes up while they're swimming is she notices Sean's
(42:31):
tattoo, the Raven tattoo on his arm.
And obviously that there was a lot of people that have them like his friends.
And he all he says is it's a promise, but he won't explain it any further than that.
(42:51):
She keeps asking if it's like a club or something, you know, and he just keeps giving vague answers
about what it's really about.
Yeah.
And then, you know, they have this moment where she really wants him to kiss her, but
(43:14):
I think it's his friends show up and interrupt the situation.
Not at this time.
This time, the first time that he comes over to swim, Dominic shows up in his car, but
he doesn't get out.
He just revs the engine and lets Sean know like, hey, it's time to go.
(43:35):
Yes, but it interrupts like they there is no kiss because him his arrival interrupts
the situation.
And she was leaning into it, but he was not.
Yeah, he was.
Yeah.
He was playing hard to get.
Yeah.
So then this then so she goes to work from there, which, by the way, like only at 19
(43:59):
do you go swimming before work?
Like that sounds good.
Not I could never.
I don't have the energy for that.
So yeah.
So then this is when she it's her first day like on the line with Melinda who talks a
lot.
(44:19):
Yeah, so she learns about Sean and all that.
But all that gossip didn't deter her.
No, to be fair, she doesn't.
If anything, she's even more curious than she was before.
Because now he's got like a reputation.
Sean invites her to the garage after their first day of work and she goes to the garage
(44:46):
with him and it's literally a garage.
It's like a mechanic garage.
King's Automotive that Dominic owns.
And they don't actually ride together.
She shows up later on that night and the place is packed with people.
It's like an after work hangout spot.
(45:07):
So she shows up and Dominic answers the door, which he does not want her around.
He keeps telling her blatantly like you don't belong here.
You need to go home.
After a child, go home.
And Dominic is French and he speaks French.
(45:30):
What he doesn't know is that she speaks French and he's like telling her to leave, won't
let her in the door.
She snatches the joint from his hands.
I love this part.
It takes a puff.
So amazing.
It takes a puff of it and then she says something in French to him and he's kind of like shocked
(45:54):
and it gets her her first like little smirk from him.
Kind of like you could see he was a little impressed for it.
It seemed like he was about to break the facade a little bit, but then Sean comes back and
he kind of interrupts.
So this is a cool like they're chilling at the garage that night eating pizza, smoking
(46:19):
weed, drinking beer.
And you kind of do often.
Yes, it's like a regular thing.
I would totally hang out there.
And even though she's like sitting with Sean, she's like watching Dominic.
He's like this dark curiosity, so she's hanging out with Sean, getting to know Sean, really
(46:46):
enjoys Sean's attention.
But like you feel that like undercurrent with Dominic and her kind of like constantly keeping
an eye on him.
Going into this book, not knowing that it was a reverse Herald, I was like, OK, so who
is the real?
(47:06):
Yeah.
Who's the who? Who's the real like love interest here?
Yeah, it's not clear at this point.
So hard trying to figure that out.
So she actually falls asleep on the couch there.
Right.
Yeah.
And.
They wake her up.
(47:31):
Lost my spot.
Yes, Sean wakes her up, it's like three in the morning and says that Dominic is going
to drive her home, which is weird because that's like, why wouldn't you just driving
home?
But.
Right.
So it's awkward at first, but he clearly knows how to handle his car, which she's impressed
(47:54):
by the driving.
All of them drive classic cars.
Yes.
Like American muscle classic cars.
Well, yeah, like Sean drives a.
As a Nova SS, yes.
But she's immediately like.
(48:17):
Into his driving and how fast he drives and she kind of like.
Starts to unclench a little bit as he's like takes control and even though he's speeding,
she kind of like it gets into it.
And it gave me.
(48:38):
Oh, God, how could I forget his name?
Fast and furious.
Oh, yes.
Vin Diesel.
Walker.
Yes, yes, I can't remember what his name was.
(49:00):
I just watched all the movies too, and I don't remember his name.
But yes, it reminds me of their driving.
Paul Walker.
How they make it the driving like that scene.
Yes.
That's what this gave me with the muscle cars and the controlling the road as they go around
mountains and curves.
(49:21):
Like, yeah.
So then, of course, the next morning, Cecilia gets an email from her dad about getting home
late and waking him up.
And it just it's so formal and so cold, but it's so typical like that you would see from
(49:48):
somebody like Roman.
So so now they're emailing with each other and he wants her to limit her visitors.
But I also I'll be in Charlotte for a few days.
So you know, I'm not actually going to be there.
I just don't want anybody else there with you either, which is so rude.
(50:09):
Something to add that is during that breakfast that they had, he had also demanded that she
get home at a decent time, but then the next day she gets an email saying he's not even
going to be there.
So she's like, well, that.
Yeah, I'm not going to be here.
Yeah, you're not going to be here.
Then why do I need to be home?
(50:29):
And it's a big house.
It's like a whole freaking like a whole mansion.
Yeah.
And she's there by herself.
There's like no staff or anything.
It's just her.
So I wouldn't want to be there either.
That's creepy and sad and depressing.
Like I want to go out.
Yeah.
And actually over the next couple of weeks, as she's spending time with Sean and his friends.
(50:59):
But work has been not as awesome because it's she often hears her coworkers talking about
her daughter and she's definitely kind of judged for being the boss's daughter.
Lots of assumptions are made about who she is.
(51:21):
But it is not a popular person amongst anybody.
Nobody likes him, especially the factory workers.
Yeah.
And he pretty much owns the town.
Pretty much everyone in the town works at the factory.
So he controls everybody and everything.
He's a dick.
(51:41):
He's a very controlling dick and very rich.
He's a rich dick.
But her time with Sean seems to like make putting up with all of that worth it.
And we get to see here a little bit more about Sean's personality outside of just being a
(52:09):
hot guy.
He takes her on a hike in the mountains and he starts to talk about the concepts of power
and freedom and his whole insight on technology and social media and cell phones and how those
(52:31):
are tools that the government uses to control people.
And to make his point that they listen in on all conversations and well, and he actually
smashes her Apple Watch just to make this point, which would have really pissed me off.
(52:51):
But she seems to like handle that much better than I would have.
Well, she's also getting a paycheck that she can do whatever she wants with because all
of her expenses are paid for.
She can afford to buy a new watch out of the blue.
That's fair.
I would have been mad too though.
(53:13):
I would have yelled and would have been like, what the fuck?
You owe me a new one.
You're paying for that.
That's not.
Yeah.
Apple Watch is not cheap.
But this kind of like rounds out like Sean is very much like a free spirit in terms of
not wanting to be conventional in a lot of ways.
(53:35):
You would think that he lived off the grid, like completely like Unibarmer style off the
grid.
That's how they describe him.
But also super like, so on this hike that they go on, he actually surprised, they get
to this waterfall, very picturesque.
He lays out a picnic and this was for her birthday, very like romantic gesture.
(54:04):
And he tells her, you know, he doesn't, he only spends time with people that he really
likes.
He's very protective and defensive of his time.
So what he's demonstrating and what I know as a older person is that he's telling you,
this is how you know that I have feelings for you because I'm carving out you're important
(54:30):
to me because you have my time.
She does not fully understand it, but she's definitely like catching on.
Yeah.
He sets up like a whole picnic thing behind this waterfall after this long hike for her
birthday.
Super sweet.
Super sweet.
(54:50):
It was so romantic.
I need to ask Jesse why he doesn't take me on a hike to a waterfall and set up a picnic
for my birthday.
Right.
Probably because your birthday is in December, but it's a fair question.
Fair point.
So, this is really sweet and this is their first like moment of intimacy.
(55:18):
And ultimately she ends up making the first move.
And he even says after she finally kisses him that he's been waiting on her to make
the first move, which I liked it too.
It doesn't happen very often in these books, in smut books in general.
He not once like pressured or insinuated towards anything.
(55:43):
We love a patient man.
He was fully waiting for her.
I think he was also trying to force her to be like more confident and kiss him.
He's he has stated that he says what he means and he means what he says.
He lives in the now.
He does not adhere to the slavery of time or technology.
(56:04):
And I think he was trying to get her to live in the now, say what she wants, say what she
means and not apologize for it.
After this outing with Sean, at some point shortly after that, she's having dinner with
Roman, her dad, and she starts to kind of try to find out more.
(56:29):
She's like trying to peel back some layers and try to figure out like who her dad is,
what their story is, because he feels like such a stranger.
And the subject comes up that, you know, her mom got pregnant with her when she was 20.
(56:55):
And I think by the time she was like one, she had left him or whatever.
She was really young, so she doesn't have any memories of it.
And so she's trying to get something out of him.
And he is just like dancing around, like not really giving her much of anything.
(57:16):
And then that becomes more of a theme.
Like it's a continuing theme throughout this is that she is spending time with Sean and
the friends, but she is still trying to like get to know her dad, find out more, understand
better.
But it's just really not.
(57:38):
Yeah.
Something that irritated me was that she's got all these people in her life now, but
nobody will give her straight answers on anything.
Not her father, not Sean, not Dominic, not Tyler.
Nobody is just an open book in this town for some reason.
They're all closed off and speak in freaking riddles.
(58:01):
And it was pissing me off in the beginning.
Yeah.
I would agree with that.
There's not a single straight answer to be found in the first 15 chapters of this book.
Yeah.
It becomes blatantly obvious that like something is going on in this town behind the scenes,
but nobody it's like Fight Club.
(58:22):
Yeah.
Nobody talks about it.
So at the waterfall, they didn't actually have sex.
No.
He got to like chow down on some dessert, but he actually denied her of the actual act
(58:42):
of sex.
Yes.
I refer to it as an intimate moment.
For the intimate means to be classy.
I'm not that classy and this is an unfiltered version, so I'm going to be unfiltered.
She's trying to figure out why Dominic doesn't like her.
(59:10):
Like what is his big like, why does he not want her around?
And Sean again, no shock here is not giving her an answer.
He's just saying just like disregard him, just ignore him.
But there's a really fun driving scene that happens.
(59:35):
And it's actually the first time they fully have sex is when she asks him to teach her
to drive his car and in the Nova.
And so they're going through the mountain roads.
Yes.
Yes.
Because Dominic still doesn't like her according to her.
(01:00:01):
But this is their first like, and he's basically starts touching her while she's driving and
it's like the buildup, the intensity of it.
And then they pull over and again, we have sex in a car.
Yeah.
In a car.
Just for the record.
I mean, in it.
(01:00:23):
OK, I'm going to give it some credit.
Doing it in a classic car, it would be wildly different than doing it in a car today because
a classic car has like the bench seats.
Bench seats help.
Classic cars are bigger on the inside.
They're not.
(01:00:46):
They're not filled with like technology and consoles and cup holders and like all this
other bullshit that today's cars have.
They have more room to get a little busy in.
Not saying it's a whole lot.
You still got to be limber.
Yeah, it's more like.
There's not.
(01:01:07):
A lot.
Yeah.
I'm just saying it's a car, but it's a car.
It's a hot scene.
The whole like she's driving and he's touching her and it's it works.
The buildup to this scene was worth the wait.
Agreed.
Agreed.
(01:01:28):
So there's some interesting moment that happens when she's helping Sean do him and his friends
laundry at the laundromat, which.
No thank you.
I hate doing laundry, but I get it.
This entire scene pissed me off.
(01:01:50):
So she is sitting in the car outside the laundromat.
He goes back inside and she's watching this woman making tortillas at the Mexican restaurant
next door and she at first she just notices.
(01:02:13):
Oh, like she looks really happy and then sees her steal some money from the cash register.
And Cecilia's first reaction is like, oh my God, she's stealing like that's so wrong.
But then she finds out that.
Like Sean tells her comes back and explains that her grandson has a disability and she's
(01:02:37):
been supporting him and her son in law ever since her daughter left them.
And so when she gets like the full context of the story, she feels like that stealing
isn't as unforgivable in this situation.
Yeah.
So this is this introduction of like sometimes it's OK to steal and do bad things because
(01:03:00):
there's a bigger reason behind it, which I thought was like a moment, like a moment where
her perspective starts to change a little bit.
Things are exactly black and white all the time.
Yeah.
I liked that part.
What pissed me off about this scene was it was completely Sean's intent because he knew
(01:03:27):
that she was going to judge her when she saw her steal the money and he wanted her to feel
like shit when she found out that it was for her disabled grandson.
And I get it.
She needed to learn a lesson, but he does this so much where he sets her up to look
stupid and make her feel like shit about herself.
(01:03:48):
There are other ways you can teach a lesson.
It doesn't need to be that every single time.
I get it.
She's young, she needs to learn to not judge people.
But I actually hadn't really thought about it like that.
That's interesting.
I did not showmanship and harsh.
(01:04:14):
Because do we find out later that he did this intentionally or does it say that or does
it just says in that moment it does?
OK.
Yeah, it says it in that moment.
He comes back to the car and she tells him what she found out and then she realizes he
already knew.
And she brings up like.
(01:04:36):
I was so ready to tell you that I saw her stealing and then I saw her disabled grandson.
And then that's when she was like, you, you, you did that on purpose.
You left me out here.
That's right.
I was going to do that.
I couldn't.
It's not the only time that happens.
Yeah.
Well.
(01:04:56):
Well, let me tell you what.
So right after this, they go to a bar and they're drinking and.
Cecilia start talking about her childhood and her parents.
Sean tells her about his parents and at some point she checks her phone when they're together.
(01:05:22):
And he demands that she not use her phone whenever she's with him.
And that was my my red flag moment where I was like, whoa, whoa.
That's a little controlling.
And she kind of has that reaction, too.
(01:05:44):
And he says that he's insistent that he just all it is, is he's jealous of her.
He wants all of her attention and he wants them to be in the present when they're together.
Now I took this at face value when I first read it, but later on, this means more.
(01:06:05):
The scene means.
Yeah.
You.
Right now it makes you mad because you're like, why is this stupid teenage girl going
to agree to something like this?
Like you're going to let him control you.
And then later on, you're like, yeah, it's like that tick tock where it's like, why?
Why?
Why?
(01:06:25):
Yeah.
Oh, that's why.
Yeah.
It takes quite a while to take a while.
These things that are pissing us off are to come back.
But I do want to point out that they.
End this particular evening together by having sex in the car.
(01:06:49):
I can't deny that they're spicy scenes, but my, my back could not.
I just, you know, it's just.
Just not 19 anymore.
That's all.
Like I can winded going up one flight upstairs.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Same.
I need a towel too fast and I sound like bubble wrap.
(01:07:11):
Okay.
Car doing cars is not an option anymore.
That's a wrap for part one of flock.
As always, thanks for listening.
We hope you enjoyed our take on this steamy book and we will see y'all next week on a
novel affair where we will be discussing part two of flock.
(01:07:32):
Be sure to like and follow us on social media and hit that subscribe button before you go.
We'll see y'all soon.
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