Book Review of Reckless

Join Karl and Em for their weekly episode as they review Reckless by Lauren Roberts.

1. Did you like the banter in this book as much as the last?

2. What do you feel like Kitt’s motive was at the end?

3. How do you feel about the Mix story line?

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Trigger and Content Warnings

• Child abuse recounted, gambling and smoking mentioned, graphic blood and injury depiction, grief and loss depiction, death of a sister and friend recounted, murder, weapons violence, physical assault, near drowning incident

• Disclaimers: This episode will contain spoilers. We promise to give you all our honest options and we mean no harm to any authors.

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Some of our summaries, questions, and content came from SuperSummary.com.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Hello everyone! I'm Carl. And I'm in. And welcome to our podcast discussing all the

(00:18):
latest books. This is season two, episode eight, and today we are discussing Reckless
by Lauren Roberts. She's so pretty. We promise to give you all of her honest opinions and
all the characters, chapters, and scenarios. We don't mean any harm to any of the authors,
this is solely our opinion. And as always, we promise to Carl them like we read them. Period.

(00:38):
So some trigger warnings for this book and episode are references to physical child abuse,
gambling and smoking, graphic blood and injury depiction, grief and loss,
death of a sister and friend, and father, I believe, murder, knife, sword, spear and weapons

(00:59):
violence, physical assault, fist fights, cage fighting, etc. A near drowning incident, graphic
depictions of violence, death, murder, torture, blood, corpses, and mentions of parent deaths.
So be sure to take care of yourselves. And as always, spoilers will lie ahead. So if you

(01:20):
don't want to hear how this book ends, please pause here, go read the book and come back
to this episode. Are you ready to get started? Let's get into it.
What? I was making weird noises and you didn't respond. That's because I'm used to it. Okay.
Don't know what I'm supposed to say. Okay, so the blurb for this book is I wonder how often

(01:48):
the enforcer kneels before anything. Anyone. You're afraid of me. Kai meets my statement
with a stare, steady but drawn out like a sigh. I'd be a fool not to fear something so fierce.
I swallow. And are you not a fool? That is, he stands then holding my gaze until he's
the one looking down on me. Not anymore.

(02:10):
So the story begins after the events of powerless and Peyton, who is an ordinary has been faking
a psychic ability to avoid being detected and killed. Kai, on the other hand, is Ilians
Prince and enforcer or the king's right hand man and assassin. He is tasked with hunting
down the ordinaries. Kai and Peyton strike an unlikely friendship after Peyton is selected
to participate in the trials, a series of deadly tasks from which she emerges victorious.

(02:33):
However, at the end of the book, her true identity had been discovered. And while she
tries to flee, the king ambushes her and kills him in self-defense after learning that Kai
assassinated her father years earlier. She is now on the run and trying to survive and
not be caught by Kai. So, at the end of the last book, Kai got orders from Kit to track

(02:58):
down Peyton and bring her back to him. Okay. So that's where we live. Yes. Although he put
out things. I'm confused about that. He had this plan, but he also put out a price on

(03:18):
her head, dead or alive. And obviously, she'd be easier to give back dead. True. So I guess
I didn't understand that. I guess that his ending plan and been his plan may be all along.
But again, I don't understand why. Yeah. So the first perspective we get is Kai visiting

(03:41):
his sister's grave and she had basically passed. Whenever she was very young, we ended up
learning some more about that later in the story. But there is a quote that kind of summarizes
where Kai's headspace is and it says, Royal, I almost laugh aloud to myself at the title.
I frequently forget what I was before what I became a prince before the enforcer, a boy

(04:03):
before the monster. But today I am no one today. I simply get to be with who should have
been. We end up getting after that into Peyton's perspective. And this is taking place about
three days after the trials. Technically, you sort of kind of concluded in its own sense.
But it's all right. Because it's dead. Yeah. And so is half of everybody else. So Peyton

(04:28):
is injured and she takes refuge in her old home and she does end up retrieving her father's
journal. And she's kind of processing all the events that she had uncovered during the
trials. And she starts trying to flee the city and someone ends up pounding on the door.
So she ends up hurrying up the chimney. Can I just add it made no sense to me why she

(04:53):
would go to her house and stay there for any period of time? I guess it like gave her her
dad's journal. So like that's kind of why maybe. But that's the first place they're
going to check.
Well, I feel like if she got and got out, it would be kind of quick, but it seemed like
she almost like stayed there. I would have thought it should have been for the situation

(05:18):
for sure. I agree. Like I if you already knew where it was at, I would get in and get out.
Yeah, you get in and pack a bag, you're gone. Yeah. Well, even then she didn't even need
to pack a bag because none of her stuff was there. Well, I mean, like supplies that dad
might have had there or something. I thought you were getting close. So yeah, no, I got
you. None of those were fed anymore. She has a little bit for years, but Kai ends up entering

(05:40):
the house with other Imperials looking for her. And he thinks that she's not there.
So he ends up setting fire to the house. And she ends up making a quote, which I kind of
really like because it's kind of like a deep thing to kind of think about. But she says,
blood is only useful if it can manage to stay inside my body. My mind is only useful if

(06:01):
it can manage not to get lost. My heart is only useful if it can manage to not get broken.
Well it seems I've become utterly useless then. A because she's bleeding and because
she's wondering where the hell she's going to end up. And then three now she's, you know,
got her heart broken. But I called it that it was Kai that killed her dad. You did. You

(06:22):
did call that. You did call it. So Kai, who is standing outside the house, notices Peyton
coming out of the chimney as the house burns. And he basically sends all of his men to follow
her. She starts leaping from roof to roof to try to escape them. And he doesn't that
slicing her leg and she ends up getting out of sight and Peyton ends up killing his soldiers.

(06:48):
He ends up burying the body because he knows it would hurt Peyton to not. And like, oh,
he's so angry, but at the same time, he's so in love. So in love. It just, oh, I just
love it. Yeah, me too. I love that she also watched him and heard him say and do that.

(07:13):
Yeah. Well, he makes the comment. He says, I never given a second thought to what become
of my soldiers bodies. And yet here I am hauling a man over my shoulders because of a girl
who despises doling out death. I grunt under the imperial's weight wondering why the hell
I'm even bothering with this. What the hell has she done to me? Oh, yeah, I gotta be honest.

(07:36):
And I think I said this the same way before we got on here, but if I didn't like Kai so
much, I would have struggled a lot in this book. Yeah, it was very much like a filler.
There was nothing substantial that occurred in this book. There was a quite a bit that
could have been definitely cut down and it could have probably been a novella for sure.

(07:58):
But it, I think that the beginning part had really good context and the ending part had
really good context, but the middle part, other than kits perspective and kind of what
was going on at the kingdom, there really wasn't any necessary stuff. And I called that
to you. That doesn't, I mean, like, I'm proud of myself because I called that, but it also

(08:21):
kind of makes it because I called that, you know what I mean? Yeah. Like it's more fun
when you're like shocked. Yeah. I want to be in pure shock when the plot twist happens.
I want to call the plot twist. No, and if there was extra ones that came along or something,
maybe the main plot twist getting exposed was okay, but to have it all kind of late.

(08:44):
I don't know what just happened. Lated out there. That's just a lot. Yeah. I don't know
what is happening to me tonight. Although I will say, like, I don't think like I'm
ingenious for calling it. Like I think it was even if I feel like you lay in bed at

(09:06):
night and was like, I can get that out. I have the smartest question on the planet. No, even
if she hadn't posted the teaser for book three that like for real solidified it for me, he
kept talking about a box in his pocket. What else could that have been? I mean, what else?
You did feel really good about yourself. Figure that out though. No, I feel like it's not

(09:31):
fun to ruin the six times already tonight that you figured it out. No, I'm pointing
it out that I called several things because that means she didn't do well enough. No offense,
Lauren, I didn't catch the wedding thing, but I also didn't pay attention to detail.
You never pay attention to detail. Okay, then you miss the entire plot twist that's staying

(09:57):
right there in front of your face. You mean to tell me you really didn't read that part
where he's talking about a box in his pocket and not know what it meant. I really did not.
You just got proposed to you would think like it would be fresh enough that it would ring
a bell to honestly, don't even remember reading that part to be honest.

(10:18):
He says it in two chapters at least. I'm going to be honest. I was just more so like
sus about Callum or Callum or whatever the heck his name is the entire time. I wasn't
really concerned with what was going on with him. I was trying to figure out what Callum
was doing. I was more like deciphering what it was going on between the two of them than

(10:40):
I was anything. So all the other details just kind of didn't matter. The only part I know
is that he said that the staff thought he was crazy because he had ink all over him or
something along that lines. Yeah, but that that's the only notice that but you didn't
notice the ring in his pocket. Yeah, because ink on my hands really bothers me. So I was

(11:01):
just thinking, okay, OCD. I was just thinking about how like terrible that would be to be
just like covered in ink and then it kind of brought up my anxiety and then and how it
would never clean off. Yeah. Yeah. It was a little bit of an anxious moment, but it was
a little triggering. Probably put that in the trigger warnings. No, no, he talks about

(11:22):
the desk and how cluttery and messy it is. And I was like, let's not talk about that.
I skipped over quite a bit of that. I'm gonna have to get into this book and clean your
desk for you. After Peyton is watching Ky buried the soldier and she sneaks through
the shadows to end up going through the desert, try to go towards some of the cities there

(11:44):
to try to find refuge. Ky goes back to Kit and he's what Ky kind of refers to as turning
into their father and Kit is kind of worried about where Ky's loyalties lie. And he's swearing
that of course that he'll bring Peyton back in, but he's you know, not entirely sold on

(12:05):
that will actually happen. But he does take off his ring as his way of like showing Kit
a promise that he will earn his trust or something at some point, which honestly at this point,
I don't quite understand how Ky hasn't earned Kit's trust because he's not really done anything
wrong towards him. But I could see where he's just like in his head of like who can betray

(12:29):
me at this point because I've been betrayed by somebody I trusted with Kit and Ky.
I don't necessarily think that Ky was having to prove his loyalty to Kit per se. I think
it was more of like Kit knew that even with his dad, he had done things he wasn't supposed

(12:53):
to. And if there was ever going to be a person in a moment that Ky wouldn't follow his rules,
it would be Peyton. So I don't know that Kit was like convinced he wouldn't, but I think
he was just there was a little bit of concern there.
I think Ky got offended and was like, I'll show you and then proceeded to kind of do

(13:15):
exactly what Kit thought he was going to do. He was about to let her go. So you know, but
it'll be interesting to see in the next book, how Kit and Ky interact and like their relationship
going forward to as much as hers with them too.
So as she's traveling through the desert, she's dealing with being a murderer and nightmares.

(13:40):
I mean, what else would you summer it as? She's now a murderer times two. She's dealing
with being a murderer.
Oh, your own one today. I was trying to figure out how to summarize it. I could tell because

(14:01):
you were like, how am I going to say this being a murderer?
There's no other way. Continue and just funny.
And then nightmares of Adina's death. So she swears to herself to try to stay alive long
enough to avenge her friend. Ky is also having dreams of Peyton and reminding himself of

(14:22):
her betrayal and his feelings for her. And he ends up also traveling into the desert
and they're, you know, pursuing her and chasing her.
Peyton is obviously getting exhausted because she's walking through the desert with little
to no water and no food. And she eventually collapses and gets carried by a stranger.
And she thinks that Ky has found her and so she attacks the men, which is actually a guard

(14:47):
from the nearby city. And he realizes who she is. And so he would like to get the reward
that is out for her head. So he tries to take her prisoner and Peyton ends up being a murderer
times three now and kills him and resumes her journey back to the city.
But what does Ky do?

(15:08):
Well, Ky and them stumble on the dead guard and he realizes that Peyton is close and he
orders the Imperials to take the guard back with them to door and he realizes that the
people are weary of him and they don't really like elite. So he tries to investigate kind
of conspicuously.

(15:29):
But he takes him back so he can be buried also.
Yes. Yes.
Love Ky.
So Peyton is trying to barter in the city and the local vendor is not really wanting
to help her. She overheard some men talking about underground fighting ring and she realizes

(15:50):
that she may be able to steal some coins from the gamblers and she decides to sign up for
the fight instead because it the crowd kind of makes it impossible. She ends up convincing
the man in charge of the fighting ring to allow her to prove herself.
Ky has been in door for several days now unsuccessful of trying to find her and he's still processing
his hatred for her, his feelings for her and he's not quite sure how he'll react when he

(16:14):
finds her. But as a young thief tries to take his point purse, he confronts the thief and
he recognized the girl that he had saved in the first book and he asked her whether or
not she's seen the Silver Saver and she can't assist him or anything. But she tells him
about a fighting ring where a new favorite has been making a name for themselves. And

(16:35):
so Ky follows her there, which we walk into Peyton taking down a pretty large opponent
is what is described named Slick and she has now renamed herself as the shadow to protect
her identity. She's wearing a scarf and stuff to cover her hair. But she ends up defeating
Slick and collects her earnings and as she's talking to the man in charge of the fighting

(16:58):
ring, Ky interrupts her and he recognizes Peyton instantly and challenges her fights
because he's afraid she may evade him otherwise. And he introduces himself to flame and taunts
her into accepting his challenge. Because of the crowd that was sheering her on, she

(17:19):
ends up accepting. So he offers her a break before the next fight. So Peyton slips out
but Ky follows her because she is trying to get away and she threatens him with a knife
and Ky convinces himself that they can simply be strangers in a foreign city for a while
and give into their desire. And he and Peyton kiss before she poses him away. And she bargains

(17:41):
with him that if she wins the fight, he'll let her go. And if he wins, she'll go back
to the city willingly. And so Ky agrees and they return to the ring to fight. And as they're
kind of fighting, they taunt each other with memories of their past, you know, relationship
that they kind of have. But neither are able to kind of beat the other. But there is a

(18:03):
quote I do want to read because I love it. If she is a shadow, then I am the flame. The
girl is a very thing I can't seem to escape can't seem to go anywhere without the reminence
of her following where I am she is whether it's in the flesh or in the figments of my
mind and where there is a flame there is always a shadow. And we also at the same time also

(18:24):
get kids who is spiraling. And he realizes that the former king would be proud of him
because he's become cruel and ruthless. I am so glad the king died. Yeah, I could not
have listened to him for one more book. Well, his throne of lies. It's just like tell me

(18:52):
you have a fragile ego without telling me you have a fragile ego. And also, how does
it make sense? They have a disease that weakens. And yet they exist. You know they exist because
your job Kai is to kill them and nobody around them is wicked. Yeah. What do you mean you

(19:16):
don't understand that? Stupid. Well, I will say it, which you've like literally kissed
like you've been around one for how long now. Yeah, and nothing's happened with her.
And you're perfectly fine. Yeah. No, it just that part thought could have been a little
bit different. Now it made sense to me him not wanting them to procreate together. Yeah,

(19:41):
because it does weaken their power. I got that. But the rest of it didn't make as much
sense to me or how he could have fallen for it and like never even second guessed it.
Yeah, it makes sense because kids thought out there, kids guarded, he's sheltered, he's
never met one like you know what I mean? Or he doesn't know that he's met one. That makes

(20:04):
sense to me why he wouldn't know. But Kai, that doesn't make sense. Yeah, I did think
there was a little bit of a story flaw there because I mean, he's even said sometimes that
he like in the first book, something along the lines of like he's passed people on the
streets and notice they didn't have powers or something like that. And you know, then

(20:25):
pursued them. So I mean, it's not like the first one that he's kind of met. But it's
the first one that I guess stopped him from doing his job.
Well, and the fact that like he never even had like he did wonder if she didn't have
a power. Yeah, he didn't really like in that initial meeting, we see it from his point of

(20:47):
view, but he never ever has another thought about wondering for the rest of the book.
No. So if we were going to make him doubt whether or not she was an ordinary or not,
I feel like we should have written it in his point of view that he doubted it at some point.
True.
Even a little like I'm still not convinced she has a power because I don't know. I don't

(21:10):
know. There was a flaw there. There definitely was.
I think if she had been extremely like just maybe with her first like very like accurate,
like you let this entire family go, there was like five of them, you know, what very
descriptive on it. I could understand where he's like, okay, yeah, I believe her. Yeah,
but she was kind of vague with her answers. So I would still kind of have this little

(21:34):
bit of a doubt in my mind of whether or not that is the case because it just wasn't exact.
I guess that's just the way I think.
Or then after the first trial or like the little showcasing they do where they do the
little interview and show off their stuff or whatever. If there had been a thought in
his point of view that was like, if I had any doubt before I don't now, like she just,

(21:56):
she was amazing or something to that effect, but it doesn't make any sense why he can't
sense power from her at all other than she's ordinary, you know, even if she could block
him, he'd still be able to sense it.
Well, he kept, he did keep saying that like he hadn't met many people with the mundane
powers. So like maybe like in his mind that was justification enough or, you know, whatever.

(22:23):
I don't think it was enough justification with the type of job that he's basically been
tasked with doing. I think that definitely needed to be more of one, but
Yeah, I agree.
But eventually Peyton does end up pinning Kai down and she puts a knife to his throat,
but she can't convince herself to kill him. And before she kind of makes up her mind,

(22:44):
whether or not she wants to, Kai rips off her scar for revealing who she is, which of
course then leads an entire crowd after her. And so everybody's aware how much money she's
worth in this city. That's quite a long ways that they're probably go. So they begin threatening
her and basically Kai says that the only way to get her out is for her to allow him to

(23:07):
help her. So she ends up agreeing and they end up escaping and that after Kai basically
says, Hey, she belongs to me like, and they're terrified of the elite's powers. So they let
him take her unharmed.
Hey, she belongs to me. She is mine.
Yeah.

(23:28):
Okay.
No one can touch her. So they end up having a conversation. Kai kind of confronts her
about killing his father and Peyton ends up admitting that he actually killed her years
prior and she kind of uses his confusion to that fact and she ends up running away from
him. And Kai, of course, chases after her. No, no, down about that. But he ends up catching

(23:55):
up with her and he slices her injured leg again. And he ends up taking her prisoner.
They end up going to an inn and they have an discussion about the king's murder and
Peyton's future. And she basically explains that she never intended to kill him and that
she just did it to protect herself. And Kai confesses that he didn't know that his first

(24:15):
kill was Peyton's father and that he was just basically forced to do the king's bidding.
And she ends up falling asleep on the bed and Kai ends up sleeping on the floor. But
the very next day, Kai wakes Peyton up and they leave for the edges of the scorches where
his men is waiting for him and her to take her back to the city. And he has his guards

(24:39):
tie Peyton up as they go back through the desert. She's trying to plot her escape. She
pretends she's so tired so that the principal help her on the horse and she ends up stealing
a knife from him. And so at the same time, this is all happening though, Kit decided
he's not going to sleep, he's not going to eat, he's just going to continue spiraling
into the craziness. And his cousin basically comes to visit him to offer, basically say,

(25:03):
hey, like something's wrong with your window because there's food flying out of it. And
Kit kind of denies. I just, I kind of feel bad for him because I just feel like he's
been so secluded to a point that he just like something like this is just like life-shattering
kind of situation. It's also kind of dramatic. It is. He is throwing like a big baby temper

(25:27):
tantrum, but I mean, I get it. Your dad was murdered, but at the same time, your dad was
a POS. Yes. And to be quite frank, do Kings die of old age in this kingdom? You don't
know me. Maybe as elites, they do. Well, not today. You didn't. Not today. You should

(25:53):
have watched your mouth. You should have watched your actions, your mouth and everything else.
Should have went on about your day. You picked the wrong one. True. So as the group stops
for the night in the desert, Kai and Payton sleep next to each other and they kind of
taunt each other, they are kind of arguing about how that the elites are the unnatural

(26:18):
and that basically the Kings greed made the city very isolated and weak. And her point
of view kind of surprises Kai because he does believe in the disease and then doubts that
Kit would be willing to change anything anyways. And whenever he awakes the next morning and
arrow lands next to his head and Peyton is there threatening him with the knife. I will

(26:40):
say though, before we get to that part, I love that she puts her cold feet on him. It
was so like human and like real that it was just a cute little moment. Also, I love the
he awoke and she had a dagger to his throat. Yeah, that's fun. So when Peyton ends up seeing
who shot the arrow ends up being Lenny, which is the guard that was her kind of right hand

(27:06):
person while she was in the castle. I'm glad he's not dead. Yeah, I was kind of worried
for a minute. I kind of liked it a little bit. I like Lenny. Yeah, I would say like
Lenny better than I did Adina to be honest. After powerful, I would agree. Not in reckless
and not I mean not in powerless, but after powerful, I agree. Yeah. And the breastfeeding

(27:28):
her and they type Kai and help Peyton ride into where the resistance has been kind of
cultivating. The movement's leader, Callum and his daughter Mira had been taken prisoner
by the king and the price on Peyton Ted is really, really high. So he plans on Lenny
plans on trading her freedom for Kai's life. And he counts on the king wanting his brother

(27:49):
back, which they're not quite in line with the fact that he's spiraling. Isn't it adorable
how Kai was like just sitting there listening to them playing and he's just like, this is
a terrible plan. Yes. But he's just like, whatever, if that's what my girl wants to
do, that's what we'll do. So cute. So they end up going back to a community where a

(28:10):
lot of people who are descendants of elites and ordinaries, which they refer to as mixes,
they are migrating to gathering it. So they basically have weak powers that doesn't make
them into the elite status, but they still have some sort of powers. So they start learning

(28:31):
about this and this kind of surprises Peyton and Kai is kind of intrigued by this fact.
And so the newcomers, they settle in for the night and Peyton is again lying next to Kai
to keep an eye on him. A couple of days later, Kai is still being held prisoner, but he is
trying to figure out how to use the mixes we can abilities as he's held prisoner. And

(28:51):
he's listening to the plan and, you know, like Carly said, just completely just doesn't
believe it's going to work. So an unknown group ends up ambushing them as they're having
this discussion and Kai is knocked unconscious. And whenever he wakes up, he's tied to Peyton,
who's unhappy to be trapped again with him. And they realize that the captor is actually
the man who ran the fighting ring, and he wants to collect the prize money for Peyton's

(29:15):
head and the ransom for Kai. So they both make a deal. Shocker, scumbag. Literally all
he does is try to make as much money as possible as quick as possible with no regards to anybody.
But Peyton and Kai decided to come to a deal to work together to try to escape. Kit is
still left in his office and we end up getting that Callum, which is the former leader of

(29:41):
the resistance, is now offering counsel to Kit. And he encourages Kit to agree to his
latest suggestion and moves a small box in front of the new king. And Kit is hesitant,
but eventually relents when Callum argues that his father has always told him to be brave,
benevolent and brutal. Try not to know how that has any correlation to him proposing

(30:04):
to her whatsoever.
Not a clue, but I'm going to need some more background context of that aspect in the next
book or I'm going to be mad. Yeah, agreed. Why would he take him as an advisor? Why would
he not be in the dungeons? If he's actually spiraling and angry, that doesn't make any
sense. And like how did he play it off to him to convince him to do that? Doesn't make

(30:32):
any sense. I guess my only thought is maybe like Kit's really just trying to find somebody
to cling to that he can trust. And he just happened to say the right words to do so.
Yeah, but he can't trust that man. No, he can't, but that man had a knife to his family.
I don't know how he would ever be able to trust him. He said the right words. I don't
know. I feel like Kit's like easily influenced just because he wants like that father figure

(30:56):
still in his life. That's icky. It is. I can't ruin him like that. He's already hanging
on by a thread after his temper tantrums. True. Well, so Peyton and Kai are working
together to escape and of course they're carrying on their banter and taunting each other. And

(31:18):
Peyton ends up asking whether or not he regretted everything that happened between them and
he says that they can have regrets later. They just need to get out of there. So they
end up fighting off a guard and end up exiting through the sewer, which disgusting. Absolutely.
She tried to ride it to like minimize. They were in a sewer with rising water levels. Oh

(31:41):
my God. No. Absolutely not. Well, and my thing is, is it they're not going to kill either
of them because they want the money. So why not just go out the front door, like go out
finding. Well, they could kill her killing him. Wouldn't get them any money. It's hers.

(32:02):
Her thing was dead or alive. Oh, that's what it makes sense to me because I wanted her
kit was going to propose. Why would he want her dead? That's what that's what it makes
sense to me either. I felt like there were several plot holes. It didn't all flow for
sure. Yeah. That kind of left me like, huh? And took away from the story sometimes. The

(32:26):
rising water is making them think that they're about to die because they can't find an exit.
So in the heat of the moment, they confess to each other that they have no regrets and
they kiss for one last time. And of course, Peyton can't swim. So why would we not add
that to the plot? And so he asked, how do you not know how to swim? I mean, she's always

(32:46):
lived in the slums pretty much. I mean, I doubt her father like took her anywhere to
like teach her how to swim. He taught her everything else for survival, except how to
swim. I haven't heard anything about I mean, they're in the middle of a desert basically.
So I haven't heard the desert next door, but not in the middle of a desert. Pretty much.

(33:08):
There's a swimming hole somewhere. I haven't heard a mention of one. Well, because it was
until the sole place. Listen, you cannot teach her everything else but not to your how to
swim. That makes no sense. He didn't find it a survival. He's an idiot then because

(33:31):
I mean, I feel like that's the first four you teach how to swim. Gotta be on time. I
mean, I don't know. So he asked her to hold on to him so that way they can keep both of
them afloat. She notices the grate above them and gets it open, but Kai ends up pushing
Peyton out of the time. And when she turns around, she ends up seeing Kai as drowning,

(33:54):
which again, does not make sense to me, but whatever. I don't see how he could just like
poke his head out of the hole that she just came out of. I don't get it, but how does
she get back down in there and get him out? Exactly when she can't swim. But anyways,

(34:15):
she dies back in and pulls him out with any difficulty, which again, doesn't make any
sense. But not without any difficulty. That's crazy. Yeah. So Kai ends up telling her he
doesn't regret the things he confessed in the tunnel and Peyton kisses him again. And
he ends up using this distraction as a way to clamp a chain, which he stole from the

(34:38):
cell around her ankle and his own. Of course Peyton throws. How is he drowning but can
maintain a chain in his hand? Yeah. Unless he like plotted all this, which again, doesn't
make any sense. Even if he had plotted, he's dead. He's in the middle of drowning. I bet
the last thing he's thinking about is man, I should hang onto this chain. Well, apparently

(35:00):
that's the first thing he thought about. No. So they end up stealing a skirt to hide the
chain around the ankle and they sneak into an inn to stay for the night. Peyton is abating
and then Kai is sitting outside the door, which it was a very cute little moment where
he was like, I'm not going to peek and I'll just sit outside the door and allow you to
do that. They end up sharing a bed and they pretend not to hate each other for a little

(35:25):
bit and they just kind of make an agreement that as long as it's useful, they won't. And
so they end up holding each other to keep each other warm. They end up deciding they're
going to go through the sanctuary with souls, which is a rocky terrain infested by bandits
to avoid crossing through the desert again. However, the innkeeper ends up realizing that
there's somebody in there. So they end up sinking out the window and running through

(35:47):
the streets, which they pretend to be a couple kissing in the alleyway to avoid detection,
which plot hole I feel like they're too, because how that would not be obvious. I don't know.
Oh, we saw them turn that corner. But then when we turn the corner, there were two people
making out. I didn't be the same people. No, possible. What? So Kit is growing extremely

(36:14):
restless, reckless, which is just adding to his paranoia about Kai's absence with Kate.
And he decides to buck up and become king and buck up and become king. Yeah. Okay. Yeah.
And he says, how absurd to grieve a man who loves power more than his sons? How absurd

(36:38):
to grieve a man who offered me no praise? How absurd to grieve a man who could never
be pleased? How unfair to grieve such a man? So I won't any longer. I'm done with it truly,
which is good. Good for him changing his mindset, thinking positive, thinking positive. I don't
know if I would call it that. I mean, leading in a positive direction. We'll go with that.

(37:03):
Sure. Like hanging out with Carl and him, subscribe to our Patreon to get access to
extra content bloopers and more. We release one extra episode a month, but the discord
is always open for your opinions to. So Kai and Peyton end up trying to pass as a couple

(37:32):
throughout the city and some men recognize them and grab them. So they end up running
and hiding in the first building they find, which turns out to be a gentleman's club.
And Kai has Peyton sit on his lap as they flirt and talk with each other. Kai plays cards
and uses the last bit of money that they had until the men kind of come into the room.

(37:55):
And Peyton starts questioning whether or not it's real in a way and eventually Kai ends
of collecting his money and they leave. And the story he tells about why he kills Peyton's
father quite doesn't make sense to me. I feel like there's some missing puzzle pieces, but
he said he had no idea. What made the king suspicious of Peyton's

(38:20):
dad? That and then it's also he says that he was about to defy the orders when he woke
up and so he had to kill him, which you didn't have to. You could just be like, Hey, like
I was sent here to kill you. Sorry. I'm not doing that. Also, her dad didn't fight back.

(38:40):
Yeah, exactly. That didn't make sense to me, especially after how much he's trained Peyton
to fight back. Yeah, you didn't even flinch. I wonder if he like knew it was coming. You
would think you would write that in the journal though.
I don't know.

(39:01):
Sentence up with Calum. Yeah, I think he's the snitch.
It's possible. That doesn't make sense to me. Then what was he doing? Was it all in
act? I don't know. I don't know. A lot of it does not make sense to me because I mean,

(39:22):
why create the resistance and become the leader of the resistance if you're against it the
entire time? Anyway, it's like, well, for the king, because then you can wait out everybody
that would be a part of it. I guess. I guess that would make sense. If that's the case,
she better hit him when she gets back. Again, Kai Braids Peyton's hair. I just love that

(39:44):
so much. Just the extra moments that you're taking to do that. It's just such an intimate
moment that's just not anything sexual, but it's so sweet at the same time. She does question
him a little bit and she gets a little jealous and she thinks he's been with another woman.
That's how he learns to braid hair. He's like, no, basically I had a younger sister and she

(40:10):
was kept a secret from the kingdom because she was born with an illness. He just basically
says that he hasn't talked to anybody about this, but he felt comfortable enough talking
with her. Peyton's just shocked to learn about all that because it's been a secret so long.
Whenever they sneak into the barn for the night, Kai questions why Peyton isn't a mix

(40:31):
since her mother was ordinary and her father was a healer. Peyton starts questioning how
that is the case. The next morning, Peyton and Kai steal a horse and they nearly get
caught, but they ride out to the sanctuary's souls and as their Kai falls asleep, Peyton
tries to steer the horse in a different direction and the prince wakes up and basically says,

(40:56):
you're not going to get away with this. She ends up asking him a little bit more about
his sister and he basically demands that she dance with him in return of answers. When
they dance, Kai tells Peyton that her boldness and recklessness reminds him of Ava and they
kind of share a really nice moment together. Yeah, can I read it? I think I'm at that part.

(41:20):
This is like the one thing that I marked in my book and made sure to mark to read and
talk about in this episode. This was the one quote that I was like, this was super cute.
I mean, there were several, but this was one that I for sure wanted to talk about. Okay,
so they're having a conversation and Kai says, and then my lips found the pad of your thumb.

(41:41):
I hadn't even realized I'd done it. And until that moment, I hadn't done it in years. And
that's when he tells her about Ava. She was a crawler and that's why I kissed her thumbs.
So and he says, so I would kiss each of her fingers to give some of my power to her. She
loved it made it higher up the wall every day. But she especially loved when I kissed
her thumbs told me it gave her extra strength. So that's what I did. I kissed her thumbs

(42:03):
every day until kit helped me bury her. And Peyton says, I hadn't realized there were
tears in my eyes until one threatens to fall. You loved her very much. I whisper. And he
says, I did I do and I've never kissed a thumb that wasn't hers. So why mine? Your spirit
is familiar. You remind me of what could have been in another life. I think Ava would have

(42:24):
grown up to be like you. What you want her to be a criminal? No, he murmurs, I wanted
her to be formidable, recklessly bold, recklessly bold, powerful despite ability. I stare at
him taking in each word. I am none of those things I whisper. He drops my hand to brush
gentle fingers beneath my chin raising my face up toward his. You are much more than

(42:48):
those things. And Peyton says, you overestimate me. And he said, no, I just see you. I've
never cared enough to kiss someone else's thumb. But my lips found yours that day. And
Peyton says, and look at where that got you. It's such a cute moment. I love Kai talking
about Ava and like how sweet and loving he was as a brother to her. But then also to

(43:12):
be like, I wish my little sister had the opportunity to grow up and to be like you and I love you.
I was like, if I hadn't already been in love with Kai, I would have been in love with Kai
after that. I can tell you that. Absolutely. That I don't know that you can. I really enjoyed
the fact that it was almost like you got these moments of him that were just like so sweet

(43:39):
and tender, but yet he was supposed to be such a hard like surface almost. And so it
was just like you got this. It's almost like whenever, you know, when you buy into like
a cookie and it's just like hard on the outside and then just like nice and gooey on the center.
That's what like he is. Like he's just like such a hard person on the outside, but then

(43:59):
like his center is just so sweet. And he just like thinks, I mean, burying the soldiers
for her and like kissing the pads of her fingers. Like, I mean, just the small things just
show how much like he cares. And I don't really think he wants to be this bad guy. It's just
what he's been forced to do because of who he is and what order he was born in basically.

(44:21):
Yep. No, I agree. So they end up falling asleep after they dance and Peyton ends up
waking up the next morning to find out that Kai was injured at the stable. And so she
basically asked him to teach her how to ride the horse after she tends to his wounds. And
we do at the same time get kids leaving his study for the first time in several weeks.

(44:43):
And so he ends up visiting Gail in the kitchen, who's really concerned about his well bearing.
And so he manages to appear well to her until she reminds him that he missed Ava's birthday,
which at that point he flees the kitchen. Peyton and Kai have been collecting all the
lost arrows. And also she's learning how to steer the horse, which totally becomes pointless

(45:05):
because the horse ends up missing. So I'm not quite sure where that was relevant.
The horse runs. Yeah. The horse said, I'm out. And my thought is like, maybe it's going
to come about useful in the next book, like that she uses it to escape them by some point.
But right now it's just kind of pointless that that was kind of a piece of the puzzle.
I don't think she's ever getting out again. We can hope. She can hope, I guess. True.

(45:33):
So they end up finding out an abandoned bow and whenever they go up to the side of the
rocks to get it, they end up finding like this little oasis in the middle of the desert
inside to bathe into the pool at the center of it. And they end up having like a little
banter and flirting and they remind each other that they can't keep pretending that they
aren't bound by their positions. And they do give in to their impulses and kiss. They

(45:55):
end up leaving the Grove, however they end up finding their horses run away. So they
just try to make shelter. And as they were trying to start a fire, Kaya's patent, if
she has any paper and she remembers her father's journal and goes to tear up pages, but they
start reading the journal together as they're realizing that it's actually his personal
notes. And so the king was actually bribing hillars to lie according to her father. The

(46:20):
king, which doesn't, I don't know why that's pointless because he's a liar and a jerk.
So might as well be true, but well, I think it's a fair point to point out that it is
according to what he was saying. This is what was happening. Yeah. So the king was bribing
healers to lie about the illness that was supposedly spread by the kind of justify killing

(46:40):
them. She is, Peyton is kind of elated because she believes this is like proof of the lie,
which another person's like story isn't really proof, but I get what she's meaning by that.
And Kai all of a sudden has a realization he's been killing innocent people, which I don't
think really sets well with him whatsoever, which I understand Lee that you've been a

(47:03):
murderer and you shouldn't have been kind of probably bother a lot of people.
He's certainly struggled with realizing that he's probably murdered a ton of innocent people.
But we do end up finding out as well that Peyton's father is the one that kind of started

(47:24):
the beginning of the resistance or assisted in that, but she also ends up finding out
that her mom and who she thought she was end of dying in childbirth and that she was actually
abandoned on her dad's doorstep shortly after. And so Peyton has a really hard time with
that fact because she, you know, kind of like, I can't believe he lied to me. But Kai was

(47:47):
just like, but he really didn't lie to you because he was your father and, you know,
your mother would have loved you just as equally no matter if you were the baby that was actually
born or the one that was kind of adopted. And the quote that ends up being said is you
cannot be nothing when you are everything to someone else. And that is what you are
to your father, whether or not he was your flesh and blood, he loved you more than most.

(48:11):
And so they kind of are reflecting on everything they learn. And they end up admitting their
new true feelings to each other. And as they're doing so, they are interrupted by bandits
shooting arrows at them, which Kai ends up getting his arm injured. Because they also
kind of the journal how he did, he was really just like, used constantly at the castle to

(48:33):
like treat people and was constantly busy because he was one of the only healers and
like the slums and stuff like that. So like, how he had time to learn and teach his daughter,
I love that. Okay.
Timeline did not make sense to me. Sure.
You can't argue with that.
I mean, I can, but it would be a waste of time because you miss detail sometimes. So then

(48:57):
we're sitting here talking about two different books, babe.
So Peyton ends up using the bow and arrow and she ends up killing four of the bandits.
When she starts band I think she's like, now I'm a serial killer. So Kai is comforting
her and the fifth band unexpectedly appears and as he's about to shoot Kai, Peyton jumps

(49:18):
in front of him and knocks the arrow away. So as Peyton's tending to Kai's wounds, he
ends up confessing that he really can't hate her because he had dreamed of killing the
king himself, which- Period.
Why were you matched up with this place?
Exactly. Who hasn't dreamed about killing the king themselves?
Exactly. I'm pretty sure Kit at this point has dreamed about killing the king himself.

(49:42):
A thousand percent.
So Peyton has sort of like a panic attack because she's overwhelmed that she's like
washing his blood away. It's a symbolic weight of her loved one's bloody deaths and I'm just
like, okay. Because her brain is recovering in blood so she asked Kai to like chop off
her hair.

(50:02):
Yeah.
And she says it's like a weight lifted off her shoulders when it happens and I'm like,
okay, don't see how that's significant in any aspect but I guess she's having like a
midlife crisis but go for her.
It might be a midlife crisis. She might not make it very much longer.
That's true. I mean, murder seven people and then cut your hair. Why not?

(50:24):
So Kit ends up visiting, I believe it's Kai's mom in the secluded tower that she's been
in and he ends up running into his adopted brother and he basically tells the queen,
his stepmother, that he will make his father proud.
And his stepmother says that the king left Kit's letters to guide him in his new role.

(50:49):
So Kai ends up planning on showing Peyton's father's notes to Kit and tried to investigate
the truth himself and as they're going to like a field, they end up having kind of like
a free moment where they're just kind of running through the fields, being playful. They dance
and they kind of have like a nice little moment and as they're making flower crowns, which

(51:11):
the city's assassin sitting there making flower crowns on the floor, he notices the scar above
her heart and she kind of gets defensive and tries to block him from seeing it. And Peyton
ends up showing him that it's an O that the king had carved above her heart to remind
her of her status. He's angry and tells her the scar is only a reminder of her strength
and resilience and they fall asleep after their last night of freedom. And he says,

(51:36):
as they're talking about that, oh, he didn't ruin you pay, but you thinking so means that
even in death, he wins that scar is a testament of your strength, a testament of who you are
not what. And
just very sweet.
Yes, I just love how he sees her everything she does in a different light to kind of be

(51:57):
a little positive, which is very weird because you think him as like a professional serial
killer would have probably not been as positive, but
fair.
So they wake up the next morning and basically the pages wishes she could hate Kai because
it would make it easier to accept fate that Kai ends up confessing that he can't hate

(52:19):
Peyton because he's in love with her. Period. Peyton ends up emitting her feelings as well
and they give in again and kiss and he suddenly feels some Imperials coming towards them and
he encourages her to play along and pretend to be prisoner. And they had this kind of
banter throughout the entire book where they talked about they were just basically playing

(52:40):
pretend whenever they'd have any kind of romantic moment of any thwart. And so she says pretend
and he says never and she says none of it and he says darling, I never had to pretend
to want you.
Oh, love that.
So kinds of greeting the Imperials as like his cruel distant self and they wander back

(53:03):
to the palace and Peyton kind of wonders what's going to end up passing. Of course, there's
crowds gathering and they're basically acting like she's betrayed the king or betrayed the
people killed the king, whatever.
Which anybody like that man.
Well, they're gonna be really shocked whenever they sit there and find out that she's becoming
the new queen.

(53:24):
So they go into the new throne room and he kind of kicked kind of greets Kai a little
harshly and it's just like did anything happen between you guys and Kai's like no, I've
never fulfilled my promise, whatever.
So Kit just turns to Peyton and introduces her and he says that she's an ordinary, a
traitor and a murderer.

(53:46):
And Peyton of course, amidst all of her crimes and expects to be punished, but Kit proposes
to her and of course she can't deny it, but we ended up going back to Kai's internal monologue
watching this and he says she was supposed to be my forever now I'll watch her become
someone else's because the beast doesn't get the beauty.

(54:07):
I hate them for him.
The beast does get the beauty.
I hate them for him.
I still think she should just have both brothers.
That's how we resolve this.
I'm just saying everybody can be happy.
I mean, there would be some happy people.
She'd be happy.
Sorry, that was inappropriate.

(54:35):
So what is your final thoughts and ratings?
Okay, so to preface, I literally do not choose my writing until we're sitting here recording
this episode.
So it really shouldn't mean that much to you.
More or less focus on my opinion of it, I guess.
So for reckless, I'm actually going to give it a three, which I believe is what I gave

(54:57):
powerless as well.
There were some good parts.
There were some not so good parts.
There was some mediocre there.
There wasn't anything that really like stood out to me.
There wasn't anything that like caught me off guard or like I didn't have that like want
to just pick the book up and just jump back into that world.

(55:18):
I felt like there was a lot of details that were unnecessary.
I mean, and because I like Kai, I liked getting more of Kai, but it just didn't feel like
it added to the story and dragging it out kind of made it hard to get through the whole
thing.
Don't like that I could call the plot twist at the end.
I'm going to mention it again.
It just that's, I don't know.
I feel like if I keep calling things, then you should probably hide it a little bit better.

(55:42):
And I wouldn't even try that hard to decipher it.
So I know Emily doesn't pay attention to the details, but anyways, overall.
You still paid more attention to them than I did.
Oh yeah, absolutely.
Because you don't even tell them to realize people's names.
Overall, I didn't hate it.
I just didn't love it either.
It was just okay.
I wouldn't definitely put it at the top of my list for any of my fantasy books.

(56:05):
That's for sure.
And to be quite frank, I feel like it's really not fantasy.
Some of us more just a romance lacking some of that fantasy.
Giving more into the magic or exploring that a little bit more would be the way that's
written.
I think that about the first one too, like it's there, but it's not written that well.
The fight scenes aren't developed really quite fully.

(56:25):
Some of that had been done better.
Maybe it'd be better, but personally, I'd give it a three.
What about you?
So my ranking system starts at a three and goes up and down for there.
I would say it's probably like, to be honest, maybe like a 3.5.
It wasn't as good.
It definitely like, so the beginning of the book I enjoyed, the ending of the book I

(56:46):
enjoyed, but like the middle part was just kind of, there wasn't anything other than
like, I did enjoy kind of getting a little bit of kids perspective, just to kind of,
especially like when we learned about the resistance leader kind of being his advisor
and stuff.
I felt like that plays a lot into what was going to happen in the next book.
But other than that, kind of just like the normal Fertation Banser kind of stuff that

(57:08):
we had seen in the past.
So it's, it's kind of like it's almost like getting old at this point because it's the
same old, same old.
So like, I need, I need a little bit more of happening.
So how that happens, I don't know, but something.
Um, I agree.
But I mean, I do enjoy this storyline.
I was telling Carly, I think so like the first time I read it, it was whenever I had just

(57:30):
like sort of gotten back into reading.
And so the only thing really I had to compare it to as far as fantasy wise was fourth wing.
And so obviously nothing's going to leave up to fourth wing, but for me, like the banter
and stuff was really good and so I really enjoyed it.
However, reading it the second time after I have read quite a few more fantasy books
and stuff in the last year, it was not as great to me as what it was the first time around

(57:56):
reading it, of course.
But I mean, I think overall it, it's not terrible, but I definitely think it probably
could have been a lot shorter of a book to get what we needed out of it.
But I'm excited to see kind of where it all wraps up with the third book.
And hopefully there's some reasons of why maybe it was written the way it was kind of

(58:17):
situation.
Fair enough.
So if you liked this episode or any of our other episodes, please subscribe to get access
to bloopers, extra content and more on Patreon.
You can find our free episodes that release on the first, third and fifth, if there is
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(58:38):
You can also send us book suggestions, comments or general inquiries through our email at
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and all the latest news.
Carl, do you want to let us know what our next read is?
Yes.

(58:58):
So on December 20th, we will be discussing How My Neighbor Sto Christmas by Megan Quinn.
And the blurb for that book is, living in a year-round Christmas town has its drawbacks.
The caroling, the decorations, the insanely cheery spirit, it never disappears.
It's why I like to hibernate away in my cave, I mean house, keeping a healthy distance from

(59:20):
the holy jolly spirits.
And all was going according to plan until my nemesis, Story Taylor, moved in next door
to care for her Aunt Cindy.
Without blinking, she turned my simple world into a real nightmare before Christmas, especially
when she decided to enter the town Christmas Kringle Contest, when she was determined to

(59:40):
win.
Well, guess what?
Over my cold-hearted body.
There was no way I was going to let her win, not after the history we shared.
So despite my promise to myself of never participating in the sickening Christmas season, I entered
the competition as well.
That's right.
I planned on beating Stormy in her own game by pretending this grumps heart grew three

(01:00:00):
sizes this season.
And it was working until feelings between us started heating up.
We pretended to date, we kissed, and well, sparks flew from there, which led to one explosive
night involving Christmas lights, the competition, and a ladder.
Don't let me convince you who stole Christmas.
I think you need to find out for yourself.
That will be interesting.

(01:00:21):
We appreciate you tuning into this episode and we can't wait to hear your thoughts.
Don't forget to join us over on Fable to discuss each book as we read them.
And as always, we promise to Carl him like we read him.