Inside A Sold-Out Romantasy Convention: Authors, Panels, And Merch

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Our Romantasy BookCon Orlando 2025 recap takes you inside Orlando’s packed romantasy gathering—where authors, panels, and pop-up shops turned a sprawling venue into a surprisingly smooth reader playground. We break down what scaled well, what didn’t, and the small fixes that could make next year even better.

We start with the basics: travel, check-in, and how the con split across two ballrooms without losing flow. Ticket talk gets real—why guaranteed panel and author slots mattered more than early access—and we share how no-shows created last-minute wins for savvy attendees. From planned signings with Sarah Beth Durst and Hannah Nicole Maeher to elevator hellos and booth banter with Grace Draven and Juliet Cross, the best moments stayed personal, photographed, and unhurried.

On the vendor side, candles, stickers, and lore-inspired jewelry delivered, but we make the case for more inclusive, non-binary-leaning merch: regulation-sized mugs, ear cuffs, leather goods, and costume pieces like tiaras and horns for the ball crowd. We also spotlight the rise of on-site trading and argue for a dedicated swap zone to keep hallways clear and community buzzing. Then we wade into the night-events debate: the ball earned praise, while the high-priced Disney add-on drew mixed reviews on value and logistics. Our suggestion—keep special programming on property with thoughtful theming and shared meals that center authors and readers—aims at better experience per dollar.

You’ll also hear what creators want more of in romantasy right now: horror romance, humor and banter, real enemies-to-lovers, strong-from-page-one heroines, diverse representation, and slow burns that pay off. Our verdict: same tier next year, arrive a day earlier, pace the panels, and bring space in your bag for surprise finds.

If you enjoyed this debrief, follow Of Swords and Soulmates on Instagram and TikTok, subscribe for future episodes, and leave a quick review. What do you want more of at book cons—cozy or monstrous, mugs or tiaras? Tell us and we’ll take that wishlist to the floor.

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Goodreads - http://www.goodreads.com/ofswordsandsoulmates

Episode Transcript

Hos AI (00:00):
Views expressed in this podcast are solely those of the
participants.
The hosts make no claim to beliterary experts, and their
opinions are exactly that.
Opinions.
All creative works discussed orreviewed are the intellectual
property of the creators of saidstories and is being used under
the Fair Use Doctrine.

Mari (00:28):
Hello and welcome to Swords and Soulmates, a podcast
where we read, watch, anddiscuss romanticy stories.
I'm one of your hosts, Mari,and with me I have Kelly.

Kelly (00:35):
Hey everyone, it's Kelly.
We also have Ashley.

Ashley (00:38):
Hi guys, it's Ashley.
We also have Jonathan.

Jonathan (00:41):
What's good, everybody?
It's JP.
How's everybody doing today?

Mari (00:46):
So today we're going to be discussing our experience at
RomanticCon 2025 in Orlando,Florida.
For this event, Jonathan andAsh and I went.
Kelly didn't go, so Kelly mayintersperse a few things if he's
like, what the heck are youguys talking about?
All right.
So we're going to be discussingour our experiences at the con.
We also recorded a lot ofaudio.

(01:08):
So we'll be putting that in aswell.
So it'll be a little mix ofthings to get started.
How was everyone's you knowgetting there?
Travel day, etc., leading up tothe con.

Jonathan (01:19):
Arduous.

Ashley (01:21):
No, we didn't have any issues.
We it was a relatively smoothjourney for us.
We left Brighton early.
I'm coming from South Floridato Orlando, and we made it there
in a couple of hours.
We found the hotel, no, nohiccups, no complaints and
travel for us.

Jonathan (01:37):
I wear sunglasses in the passenger seat, if that
counts.

Mari (01:40):
Were you the passenger princess?

Ashley (01:41):
He is a passenger prince.
No, he's the princess for sure.
Very high maintenance.
No comments?

Jonathan (01:50):
No.
I mean, she's no lies weretold.

Ashley (01:52):
Yeah.

Jonathan (01:54):
Tie roll.

Mari (01:54):
Yeah.

Jonathan (01:55):
How about you?

Mari (01:56):
I uh yeah, I I have a little bit of a longer journey
than you guys, but not not much.
I was South Georgia there.
I got earl, I got up earlyFriday as well, and got myself
all packed up and headed outthere.
It wasn't, I mean, it wasn't abad drive.
I listened to an audiobook onthe way down there, a Grace
Draven audiobook.
I was trying to finish upbefore the con.

(02:17):
And got in.
And of course, we all got thereearly enough that even though
we had a hotel room at theevent, we couldn't check in.
So I got my all my books andstuff together.
By the time I got there,everybody was parked.
So I had to park out and liketip up to in the parking lot and
roll my little self in.

(02:39):
Um, but it wasn't bad.
I think we pretty much wereable to find each other right
away.
And registration this year wasas easy as last year.
It was basically just gave themyour information and and you
know, authenticate who you were,right?
Did you guys have any issueswith registration?

Ashley (02:54):
No, I don't even think they looked at his ID.

Jonathan (02:56):
Yeah, no, they did they I had my So yeah, I can't
remember if they looked at my IDor not, but Ashley was like
trying to verify my name and thelady had already given me my
stuff.
Yeah.

Ashley (03:08):
I thought there were gonna be QR codes that they had
to scan because they were sothey were stricter this year,
right?
They wanted names assigned totickets.

Jonathan (03:15):
In that regard, yeah, but they weren't like super
strict.

Ashley (03:18):
No, not at the window.

Jonathan (03:19):
They pretended online, they pretended to be strict.

Mari (03:21):
Which is fine.
Like, I don't think there wereany issues with anybody not
being able to get in who hadsigned up or whatever.
And it made the registration goby super fast.
Like there was no line atregistration.

Jonathan (03:31):
Yeah, I didn't think I saw a line at all ever.

Mari (03:33):
No, I think the only line we saw was like the exhibit
floor that first day, likebefore it opened.
So there was like the hourwhere it was open to the high
fee, I think it was at nine.
And then we had the I I forgetwhat the real name of the ticket
is, but I call it the peasantfee.
We have the low-tier tickets.
Yeah, I think it's just Faye.
Faye.
So we had the Faye tickets, andso we got in at 10, like an

(03:54):
hour after the other people.
So there was a little bit ofpeople that had, I assume, the
same ticket as us that werelined up waiting, but it was
just because they were therebefore it opened.
Like that line went away assoon as the floor opened.

Jonathan (04:06):
What did you think of this?
I mean, like you've been to thevenue before, right?
Overall, uh do you think it's agood venue for the event?

Mari (04:14):
Um I think so.
I mean, I really it would benice if everything was available
in one spot without having togo to separate ballrooms or
separate floors.
But I don't know that anythingexists that would be big enough
for that, other than like itdefinitely grew this year.
It did.
And the only thing I can thinkof is like a convention center

(04:34):
would be big enough.
But the problem with aconvention center is it's gonna
be maybe too big, too much of aspace, and it won't be
subdivided, I wouldn't think,very well.
So, like one thing I noticedthis year, so this year they had
the same room that the exhibitfloor was in last year.
So last year it was the exhibitfloor and then divided out for

(04:54):
panels.

Jonathan (04:55):
Correct.
Yeah.

Mari (04:56):
This year that entire area was one of the exhibit floors,
and then there was the otherexhibit floor, the palm
ballroom, that was about thesame size, would you say?

Jonathan (05:04):
Yeah.

Mari (05:04):
Yeah, and it was like across the pool area.

Jonathan (05:07):
Yeah.
I bet you this the that they'reboth the both buildings had the
same size ballroom, but thenthey split one of the they split
the palms for panel.

Mari (05:18):
Probably.

Jonathan (05:19):
Yeah.
So I mean that could give youthe size I would the size the
the amount of growth has to bein excess of a hundred percent.

Mari (05:26):
I would think so, yeah.
I think that they they weremainly sold out, or they were
very they they had sold a goodmany tickets last year after the
event.
Because a lot of people wentahead and signed up for this
year, like right after at thethe event last year.
Like we bought our tickets for2025 at the event last year in
2024.
And that was of course beforethey announced who was gonna be
there.
And then as soon as RebeccaYarrows was announced, I think

(05:49):
like I don't know, within a day,if not hours, the rest of the
tickets sold out.

Jonathan (05:53):
Yeah.

Mari (05:54):
So um yeah, but I would say that there if if there were
lines, it was very small lines,like in the exhibit floor, some
of the authors had like shortlines.
So, like, I don't know, maybeseven, eight people at the most
would line up in one area.
And I mean, but for the mostpart, I think we were able to do
like what we did last year,where you just walk right up to

(06:16):
the authors.

Jonathan (06:17):
Yeah, I'm gonna be honest, going into like when I
watched everybody line up fortheir like extra hour early,
early access kind of thing.
And I was like, I was actuallylike, are you gonna gonna get
in?
I was like, No, I was like, Iwas here last year.
I really didn't think it wasgonna be a a massive deal.
Um, so I was like, I'm justgonna sit down.
And then when they startletting us because we we weren't

(06:39):
I wasn't gonna go in withoutyou.
You arrived before any of thatstuff happened.
So I was like, I was like, youknow, it's I don't see this
being I don't see it's not a perit wouldn't have been a perk to
me.
It wouldn't have been like,hey, you get the hour, an extra
an hour of early access.
That wouldn't have been a perkto me, a selling peach, because

(06:59):
I don't think we had we like andwe were meticulous at every
booth.
Like we were like we went upand down every aisle, some of
them twice two or three times.
So yeah.
Yeah, so it's I didn't thinkthe only time we waited in a
line, uh we waited in linetwice.
Panels.
That was just to get in.

(07:20):
I mean, that's what lines arefor, right?
And then ticketed authors,right?

Mari (07:24):
So and both of those were like, yeah, you were in line,
but you were guaranteed to bethere.
It's not like, oh, I'm I, youknow, if I don't get towards the
front of the line, I'm notgonna be able to get in, or you
know, I'm not gonna be able toget what I'm lining up for.
You just had to be patient.
Like if you really needed to befirst, you could be there super
early.
But like the panels you signedup ahead of time, so you knew

(07:44):
you had a slot, you know, youknew you were gonna be able to
sit.
And the same thing with theauthors, like you knew you were
gonna get to talk to thoseticketed authors, you know,
regardless of the line, becauseyou had a ticket.

Jonathan (07:54):
And the the panels weren't full.
Like, I don't know if they werejust like we're only offering
this many seated seats, and thenI don't know if people took the
seats and like, hey, not going,or if people, or if they were
just like, Yeah, we have ahundred people coming and that's
how many t pla slots we'regonna offer, and we're gonna but
we're gonna put 200 seats out.

Mari (08:15):
Yeah, I think that so we we all signed up for three
panels on Friday.
We only attended two of thembecause we were running out of
time and wanted to be able tosee everything.
And because I think because Ididn't factor in, I didn't
realize they were doing it thisyear where they closed the the
ballrooms down for lunch, whichis good for the authors and the

(08:36):
vendors, and also they have timeto like, you know, use the
bathroom, have lunch, you know,relax.
I just didn't factor that intowhen we signed up for panels.
So I think there were peoplewho may have made the decisions
like we did, you know, maybethey wanted to do something else
other than the panels lastminute and didn't like unsign
themselves from it.
Um and or I know there werepeople who maybe got up late and

(08:57):
didn't go to like earlierpanels.
I was in line with somebody whohad a panel and a ticketed
author slot that morning thatthey just didn't get going early
enough.
Oh, because I but the twopanels we went to were the
beauty, was it Beauty and theBeast?
Beauty is the beast, whenBeauty is the beast.
Right, and then the hot cocoaand hoody hot hoodies, hot cocoa

(09:19):
and hotties panel, and both ofthose were sold out, like when
you know there was no more slotsavailable.
And yet when we looked aroundwhen we were there, there were
definitely seats available.

Jonathan (09:29):
Yeah, yeah.
And and when we and andhonestly, when we gave up our oh
oh, weren't gonna make it tothat third one.
We unregistered it just.
Right.

Mari (09:39):
But a lot of people probably didn't, you know what I
mean?
Yeah, which is like a thing Iwould say to people, and I'll
probably say that on the Discordnext year and remind people
like if you decide not to go tosomething unregistered, because
I know that there's last-minutethings that like Ash, I think
you s were able to find somestuff last-minute ticketed
authors to go to because peoplehad unregistered and stuff
opened up that day.

Ashley (10:00):
Yeah, and we were kind of hoping to have so I was able
to secure a spot to meet Erin A.
Craig, whom I've actually notread yet, but she was such a
delight in one of the panelsthat we had scored on Friday.
And so when I was able to lockthat in for Saturday, it was a
no-brainer for me.
I went and what was I don'tknow if they had this last year.
Did they have the Barnes andNoble store last year?

Mari (10:22):
I don't remember that being there last year.

Kelly (10:24):
I don't remember that being an only people selling
books last year were actualauthors and then that local
bookstore.

Mari (10:30):
Okay.

Ashley (10:30):
Okay, yeah.
I thought maybe there was, youknow, a situation where like the
gift shop in the hotel maybescored some books, but I don't
like I don't remember the wholelayout of it.
So this year there was a Barnesand Noble like store.

Jonathan (10:43):
Like a pop-up shop.

Ashley (10:44):
Yeah, for like all the not even just the ticketed
authors, but for the authorsthat were on the floor of the
convention.
And so I was able to godownstairs bright and early, you
know, on Saturday morning afterbreakfast.
I bought one of Aaron, Aaron'sbooks, and I was able to go get
in line, you know, 9:30 to meether.
And she was such a delight.
It was really a joy, you know,to be able to do that last
minute.

(11:04):
So yeah, that people who wereresponsible and aware enough to,
you know, unregister for thingsthat they knew they weren't
going to make because all of theticket authors were sold out
going into the event.
Like there were no spots open.

Mari (11:17):
Um I think that made it easier for the authors that were
there too.
Because I know that, you know,talking to some of like indie
authors and stuff that we'vetalked to, one of the biggest
decisions they have to make whenthey're going to these events
is how much of their physicalstuff do they bring?
Yeah you know, versus this waythey could bring their stuff,
and then if they sell out, theyknow that the Barnes and Noble
at least have a little bit more.

Kelly (11:36):
Yeah, but then the question becomes in my in my
thinking, if I was an author,yeah, it's great that a big
chain bookstore is going to beat this convention selling,
potentially selling your books,but then does that potentially
take sales away from you whereasyou make more money selling the
books out of your own boothversus the money you would make
if a big chain sells your books.

(11:58):
So what's the margindifference?
What difference do you get?
Do you get more money if yousell your own books at your
booth?

Mari (12:03):
That would be a great question to ask authors.
I don't know.

Ashley (12:05):
Well, and to be fair, I don't think that that was the
only option, even outside of theauthors who had books at their
tables on the convention floor.
I do believe that you couldpre-order through the author's
websites and pick them up attheir at their booth.
Right.

Kelly (12:21):
Like that seems like that would be the ideal situation as
an author, is that that wayyou're not bringing potentially
more than you need.
Because I would imagine from myexperience, working at medical
conventions or associations inthe past was always the how much
merchandise, how much stuff doyou bring to the booth and to
sell or give away versus thecost of bringing it versus then

(12:45):
the cost of sending it back.
Because you're already it'salready expensive enough to
bring stuff to a convention toset up a booth, you know,
especially if you're bringing instuff like you know, tables are
usually provided, but like thetable drop cloth for your table
and then whatever you know,banners or flyers that hang out
behind you, and then themerchandise itself and all of

(13:07):
that, it gets really expensiveto bring that stuff in and then
turn around and send it back.

Mari (13:12):
Right.
Yeah.
So okay, you had Aaron Craig,and then you guys both had
Hannah Nicole Mayer, right?

Jonathan (13:20):
Yeah.

Mari (13:20):
For ticketed authors.
Yeah.

Jonathan (13:22):
Um and Sarah Beth Thurst.
Sarah.
Sarah Beth Thurst.

Mari (13:25):
Okay, so how was so Aaron Craig was just you, Ash?

Ashley (13:28):
It was just me.

Mari (13:29):
Okay, so that was a good experience?

Ashley (13:31):
Yeah, no, she was delightful in her sparkly
champagne-colored shirt.
I was super stoked to meet her.
And she was super chatty.
She, you know, I was wearingthe the glitter freckles.
And it's such a goodconversation piece.
It's almost like an icebreakerI'm I'm finding in these
situations.
And she's, oh my God, I loveyour I love your freckles.
And I said, Oh my god, thankyou so much.
I love your shirt.

(13:51):
It's so you know, so sparkly.
And so yeah, she was just shewas a huge delight, and her the
volunteer that was running herroom was like taking pictures as
the conversation's happening.
So everything was just superorganized.
She was very prepared.
You know, I think it I do thinkno, that was a different
author.
But yeah, no, she was superfriendly and it was it was quite

(14:12):
early in the morning and shehad had a busy day the day
before.
I'm sure she was on the floorand I just didn't, I didn't have
enough awareness, or I wouldhave bought, you know, the book
with her team directly.
So I think, you know, havingthat Barnes and Noble option,
you know, on the fly in thatway, because otherwise I did
make a very like consciouseffort to buy things on the

(14:33):
floor, like from the authors.

Mari (14:35):
I don't know that the ticketed authors were on the
floor.

Ashley (14:37):
I don't I don't know.
Yeah, sounds like I knowsometimes I know the panels you
know, to be fair, you'recorrect.
So maybe maybe the Barnes Noblewas the majority ticketed
authors.

Jonathan (14:47):
But like so for like Sarah, I think that I think some
of the ticket, like so youweren't gonna get to you weren't
gonna get to Rebecca withoutlike No, you weren't getting to
Rebecca.
But I mean, Mari, you hopped onan elevator and the next person
on the elevator was Sarah.

Mari (15:02):
So you got signing time on on Saturday on the ride down
elevator?
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, okay.
So first of all, we all hadSarah Beth Durst signing.
So we all got to talk to SarahBeth Durst for the signings,
which it was the same situationfor me with the signing where
she had like, and this wasFriday, she had the the her
volunteer, her assistant wasthere like taking pictures.

(15:23):
Um, it was a very fairly shortline.
You know, got I got bookssigned by her, had a little
conversation.
She saw my Falcore tattoo andlike loved it.
So it was it was fun.
She's super sweet.
And then we also heard her inthe hot Coco and Hotis panel,
which she was very, very goodpanel.
I posted a good snippet of iton our TikTok and Instagram,

(15:45):
where like they were the cozyfantasy authors were asked for
their recipe for cozy fantasy,so she gave hers.
But yeah, then on Saturday onthe way down when people were
getting ready for the ball, wewere hanging out with Sarah from
Hissin and Kissing came andhung out with us that day.
And I think that I was at thatpoint was when I was dressed up

(16:06):
in armor, I believe.
I think I was.
I was already in the armor.
Like I had this dress.

Jonathan (16:11):
It was for breakfast.
It was breakfast.
Okay, sorry.
It was breakfast.

Mari (16:14):
Um everything is mishmash.
Yeah.
So yeah, on the elevator on theway down, she like rode with us
and she was just as nice, justas sweet, just as personable.
Yeah.
It was a really, it was areally cool experience.

Ashley (16:29):
Um I was gonna say kind of surreal.
Like I was a little starstruck.

Jonathan (16:33):
Very were you?
I okay, so I I was notstarstruck.
No.
I'm gonna be honest.
Like I but I so okay, so isthis what it is that what it's
like?
Is that like for you when youmeet an author?
Is that what it's like whenwhen I finally meet Ryan
Reynolds?

Mari (16:46):
Yeah.
Probably.

Jonathan (16:48):
Okay.

Mari (16:48):
Because there's movie stars that I wouldn't have as
much to say to as I I wanted tosay to Sarah Betters.
Not that I actually did,because that's the whole problem
with being Star Trek.
You're like, oh my god, I loveyou.
And that is true.
Stupid, but it's not everythingyou want to say.

Ashley (17:04):
No, I fangirlled over Hannah Nicole Mayer so hard on
Friday.
Like I just happened, like wejust crossed half.

Jonathan (17:11):
Just popping through the lobby.

Ashley (17:12):
Yeah, just super casual.
Like she's not, you know, ahigh on my uh on my preferred
author's list or whatever.
And I was just and I just Ifangirled so hard.
I was like, I just need to tellyou how much I love your books,
and I think you're amazing.
And I'm so sorry to interruptyour day like this, but I
couldn't not.
And she was just, oh my god,thank you so much.
You know, we really appreciateit.
And you know, super down theearth.

(17:33):
But yeah, I totally I fangirledhard over Hannah Nicole Mare.
It was slightly embarrassing.

Jonathan (17:38):
I wasn't I wasn't there when you were.

Mari (17:40):
How was the signing?
Because you guys both hadsignings with her Nicole Mayor,
too, right?

Jonathan (17:44):
Yeah, it was good.
Her partner was there.
We're from the same neck of thewoods.
We grew up in an area likeHannah and I grew up in an area
that was like your pal Hannah.
Yeah, it was the next townover, basically.
So I think uh so she's fromSoutheast Pennsylvania, as am I,
and I think we share the loveof the Philadelphia Eagles.

(18:06):
So when we were done, yeah,when we were done with our with
our signing, we looked at eachother and said, Go birds.

Mari (18:11):
Yeah.

Jonathan (18:12):
So good on good on her.
Uh yes.

Mari (18:15):
So I would say like the of the ticketed authors, Sarah
Beth Dirst was the one I wasmost excited about.
I also wanted to get HannahKomea, but it just I didn't work
out for me.
But I think overall we had goodexperiences, all of us, with
the ticketed authors.
What about the authors whereyou like were walked up, the
ones that you were on the floor?
Did you guys have anyinteresting experiences with
anybody on the floor with theauthors?

Jonathan (18:36):
Yeah, I had I had wild experience with with Juliet
Cross, one of my faves.
So I love I I like Juliet seemsto write in like a couple
different spaces, like a coupledifferent voices almost.
Yeah, yeah.
So the stuff that I love fromher is the like the cozy
romancey stuff, the stay aspell, the southern charm stuff.

(18:58):
Um and uh and so I had givenher she was there with her
daughter.
I didn't know it was herdaughter, but I had been I had
made the iron on pockets and Iwas handing those out, and so
I'd given them each one ofthose, and her daughter was like
she was like ripping into it.
She's like, This is so neat, Ilove this.
And then I was like, hey, I Itend to I ask questions

(19:20):
backwards, and she kind of andso she called me out on it.
So I was like, Hey, would yoube opposed to signing this book?
And I brought her like theSouthern Charm book, A Rebel
Without Claws, and she said,Would I be opposed?
No, give me your book.

Ashley (19:35):
That's what we're here for, dude.

Jonathan (19:36):
Yeah, so so she was signing that book, and I was
like, Hey, I made up some wordsfor you.
And I was like, I wrote themdown, and she was like, she was
like sitting there, she was likelooking, and she's like, Oh,
you you you wrote them down withdefinitions, and I was like,
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Ashley (19:50):
Then she starts writing them down like in a hurry.
She's like frantically lookingfor you know something to write,
you know, that isn't anotherbook, right?
And then he's like, Oh no,these index cards, like I made
them for you, and she looks upwith like adoration, like you
made these for I get to keepthese, like you didn't do this
for every because the pocketswere for multiple people, right?
We gave those out to authorsall day long in their teams, but

(20:13):
the the the new words, thosewere for her.

Mari (20:16):
Now, let me say I think I remember hearing or her in a
podcast or her saying somewhere,I think she's a teacher in
another life or was a teacher.
So I think that appealed to herteacher soul.

Jonathan (20:26):
So that came up.

Mari (20:26):
Her eyes lit up.

Jonathan (20:27):
That came up.
So I was like, hey, you know,unfortunately, I spilled coffee
on them too.
Like, and because I was like,but you can have them.
And she was like, that makesthem real.
Like, um, and she's like, sothen she says because then I was
like, I was like, hey, yeah, Ilike made I told I told her
about the calculator, uh whichis my which is my uh mechanism

(20:48):
for deciding the level of spiceand what type of reading that
I'm doing to an Excelspreadsheet.
And I was trying to like expandon it.
I brought this up with Sarahlater.
Uh I was trying to like figureout appropriate responses to
emotions.
So I like catalog like 75different emotions and seven,
yeah, and then each emotion haslike a set of like responses
that are like most appropriatestuff.

(21:08):
Like, so it's like, you know,kind of I this is like I launch
into this BS with Julia.
And Julia Cross looks and she'slike, you know, I teach gifted
students.

Kelly (21:19):
And I can recognize.

Jonathan (21:21):
Yes.
And so so like she says, she'syou may be gifted.
Um when things calm down, youshould come back and speak with
me.
And I thought to myself, when Ileft, I was like, I looked at
Ashley, I was like, she thinksI'm special needs.

Ashley (21:34):
No, I think she meant like highly intelligent, to be
fair.
I think he's down and likehyper-focused.

Mari (21:40):
I think that's what it is.

Jonathan (21:41):
Yeah, hyper focused.
So she took my name.
She did say, My fingers arecrossed.
I'm hopeful that she'll use oneof the one of the words.
If she does use one of thewords, she's like, hey, write
your name down.
We'll give you anacknowledgement if you if we
roll down here.
I was like, that's awesome.
Uh so it yeah, it was it wasdefinitely a it I left with a
bounce in my step.

Mari (21:59):
Yeah.
The other one that I was superexcited about seeing was B
Northwick, now that I know howto say her name, uh, that we
just read.
She was in the other, she wasin the the Palm Palm, yeah, the
Palm Ballroom.
And she had a nice littlesetup.
She had posted her setup onInstagram and was able to talk
to her and tell her how shetricked me and I loved it.

(22:23):
Um and I loved loved theseries.
And um, yeah, I I that was agood interaction.
I think I think those are thetwo main ones I was interested
in interacting with.
But there were a lot of otherauthors that we've read that we
were able to interact with.
Like Grace Draven was there,she wrote Radiance that we had
read together for the podcast.
And then I've read, I don'tknow, two other of her series

(22:46):
since then.
And I'm I'm hooked.
I will read everything shewrites.
She was very sweet.
And Chiara Forestieri was therewho writes like monster
romance.
I wrote, I read one of herbooks and enjoyed it.
And I had on my list to readanother one that I went ahead
and bought for her.

(23:06):
It's like some, I don't know,it's like a blonde demony chick
and like a cowboy dude.
Like it's it's like a mixbetween cowboy romance and
monster romance, and I amintrigued.
It's very pink and sweet andlike of the cover.
And I'm just like knowing hervoice and how she writes, I
think that will be a reallyinteresting read.
So I'm looking forward toreading that.
And she's also gonna be atMonster Rotica Con.

(23:28):
So I'll be able to talk to heragain in May next year.

Jonathan (23:32):
What what did you think of the vendors?

Mari (23:34):
Um, vendors, I thought they had some cute things.
Like I there were some candles.
I always buy candles.
I you know burn them throughoutthe year.
So I I bought a few candlesthat smelled really good.
I bought a few stickers.
And oh, what else?
There was, oh, there was a uh at-shirt about there was a
vendor that had t-shirts andsweatshirts that had really cute

(23:55):
little images and sayings onthem.
Um and the dirty dirty, Ibelieve it was a dirty llama.

Jonathan (24:01):
And it's yeah, they were kind of quirky kind of
messages.

Mari (24:04):
The one I got has a picture of like a blue zombie
hand locked in a pinky, like apinky promise with a skeleton
hand, and it says, Vibin' withmy demons.
I was yeah, I've already wornthat shirt.
I was very excited about that.
So as far as like non-bookvendor stuff, I think that's the
main thing I got was a fewcandles and a t-shirt.
How about you guys?

Ashley (24:24):
Oh, I did some damn guys.

Jonathan (24:25):
You definitely did some damage.

Ashley (24:27):
I did some damage.
I I I found a lot of so onething about me is I love stuff,
right?
Like it's not just about thebooks.
I want book merch, right?
And so I personally didn't feellike there were enough
t-shirts, sweaters, socks, youknow, things of that nature.
And that's fine because that'sexpensive these days, right?
You know, to what's going on inthe in the you know, economic

(24:50):
world.
But I definitely felt like, youknow, the authors stepped up
their book game, their fan artgame, but we also definitely had
stuff.
Your girl got, I have so manyearrings.
Um, and I did, I was able tobuy a lot of gifts actually.
So last year, our first yeargoing to this one, our my sister
came with us.
And so in my head, that hadcemented tradition.

(25:12):
You know what I mean?
Like now we were supposed to doall of this together from here
on out till the end of time, andshe couldn't come this year,
you know, becauseresponsibilities.
And so I got I got a lot ofgifts.
So I got some earrings for mysister.
There was this cute littlestand called Five Lemons, and
they had like they had bookgenre earrings, they were

(25:34):
really, really cute.
Some of them were bubbles, someof them were book shaped, and
so that was really fun.
Like you, I got a lot ofstickers.
I actually paid for stickerslast year.
We came home with an abundanceof free stickers, but this year
I paid for some.

Jonathan (25:47):
And we came home with some free ones too.

Ashley (25:49):
I did come home with some free ones, yeah.
And I definitely invested inearrings.
I don't remember what they werecalled.
Um I gotta find the the paperon my desk, but I got these cute
little dagger earrings.
And I I can't remember ifthey're sterling silver or not.
They weren't very expensive, soI'm gonna say no.
Mythos and accessory.

Mari (26:09):
That's what you found.

Ashley (26:09):
So I got little dagger earrings and they dangle, and so
it they feel nice and but theyfeel slightly heavy, like you
know, they're they're you know,a nicer metal, so it's not just
plastic.
And I got like rose earringsfrom them too, I think.
I I splurged on myself forsure.
And we also met Darling Embers,which was the the bougie ring

(26:30):
place.
Um, I was a big fan of those.
I had stumbled on them, I'msure my my TikTok FBI agent was
zeroing in on me getting readyfor this con.
And they had rings that were inthe vein of you know romantic
book characters.
Yeah.
So, like um, you know, not Gameof Thrones, but like TOG

(26:54):
Avatar.

Mari (26:55):
Um that really pretty night court ring.

Ashley (26:58):
The night, yeah.
I bought I ended up I was asucker.
I bought that one.
So pretty.
And there's a Terrain ring aswell.
So yeah, sh they were supernice.
It was slightly affordable, butyou know, high-end looking.
Um, so that one was you know alittle bit more expensive.

Mari (27:14):
But yeah, there's definitely more dragons, like
dragon skin, dragon scaletexture, like a yeah.

Ashley (27:19):
I think it was the wingleader one.
Yeah, maybe, and they were verynice and super helpful, and I
was excited to see them there.
So, yeah, there was definitelymore stuff this year.
I don't think I bought anycandles.
There was one stand that wasdoing embroidery, right?
So she had embroidered theshirts and jackets and hats and
stuff, and that was reallyexcited.
I bought a patch from her, butI should have had all of this at
the ready.
I'm sorry.

Mari (27:40):
No, it's good.
I don't either.
My stuff, my cart is also myJonathan is still completely
packed.

Ashley (27:45):
Yeah, it's glaring at me to my left right now.
Like I had to go dig to findthe book with the pirate stuff,
and I just realized you're gonnadie when you see how pretty
this is.
It's a stunning book.
So, yeah, there was definitelymore stuff, and for that I was
excited, but I was alsointrigued and excited to learn
and see how much trading washappening.

Mari (28:06):
Yeah, there was a lot more trading this year than last
year.

Ashley (28:08):
I don't even think I saw it at all last year.

Jonathan (28:11):
I genuinely like genuinely I I think there's
needs to be an expansion in justromantic merch.
It's it's arguably uhone-sided, which is good.
I mean, don't get me wrong.
Like I I'm not gonna campaignfor the like people like start

(28:32):
swinging the pendulum in theother direction.
Um but like if you're crazy,you felt left out.
Yeah.
If you're if you're a vendor,uh maybe give some thought to
testing some products that thatare maybe non-binary.

Mari (28:46):
Um yeah, I think non-binary is good because I
mean statistically, the vastmajority of romantic readers are
self-identified as female orfemme.
However, that doesn't meanthey're not gonna like other
things, you know what I mean?
Like female sex stuff and oreven things that are geared
towards guys like people willstill wear, like that Dragon
Rider ring, that dragon whateverring that I got is it was a

(29:07):
men's ring.

Jonathan (29:08):
Oh I didn't see I didn't even I didn't even look.
I just when I looked at theearrings and the jewelry, I was
like, oh, this is this is itthat's not a booth that that I
could have stood in front ofthat booth all day too, and that
that person behind the counterwasn't gonna say anything to me.
That's which happened from timeto time.
The only time at a merchandisebooth where somebody engaged me

(29:30):
without me interacting first wasthe it was a candle space.
It was it was that lady wholike hand poured the Luke's all
the stuff from the Gilmoregirls.
She was like, Oh, do this, andthen we just started talking
about the city.

Mari (29:43):
Is she the one that had the little car scents as well?

Jonathan (29:46):
Uh is that a different vendor?
I think it was a differentvendor.
I'm sorry.
Although, but it might havebeen you might you were you were
talking to them off to the tothe left of where we were it was
in the palms room.
Yeah, so I mean it might be.
So I I definitely turned myattention.
Once she engaged, I turned myattention away.
Bro, I'm Left there with like a10-pound candle in the shape of
a coffee mug.
Like I'm not gonna lie.
But when I so when I say likenon-binary stuff, like coffee

(30:07):
mugs.

Ashley (30:08):
Yeah.

Jonathan (30:09):
I man, I was so there were there were a very low
amount of coffee mugs.
Yeah, I'm a coffee mug guy.
I and if you're a coffee mugperson, there were some unique
coffee mugs, but sometimes Ijust want I I want a
regulation-sized coffee mug witha comfortable handle,
ambidextrous or or left-handed,whatever.

Mari (30:26):
Or like I like the ones with no mug no with no handles
on them that you can kind of cupin both hands, almost like a
little bowl.
I love those.
Okay.

Jonathan (30:35):
That's interesting.
That's a that's a that's aflex, that's a choice.
Yeah, I I support that.
I s I love that for you.

Mari (30:41):
You're like for you.

Jonathan (30:45):
I'm gonna drop my mug if it does.
I'm gonna be like, where'd thehandle go?
Dang.
I mean, you talk about reallywanting to confuse me, is like
if there's no handle, how do Iknow what hand what if this is a
left-handed mug orright-handed?

Mari (30:55):
So choose your own adventure.

Jonathan (30:57):
I know.
This is wild.
The way to go, Mari, way tothrow a wrench into my system.

Mari (31:03):
Um, mug vendor that I fell in love with their stuff.
I just was out of budget moneyalready by the time I found
them.
But it's coyote maybe.
The handcrafted one?

Jonathan (31:14):
Huh?
With like the little were thatthe handcrafted ones where it
looked like it was like stitchedon.

Mari (31:18):
No, they were they looked like they were almost like a
fond dance sticker put on, likea like a 3D sticker put on.
It's Coyote May Creations.
I I like them for two reasons.
Number one, just I'd like them.
They were like hearts that saidthings, and then little like
wings or tentacles or hornsaround them.
And they were very affordable.
It was like 45 bucks for thesehandcrafted mugs, and very

(31:40):
important that I'm looking fornow is they were um uh
dishwasher safe.

Jonathan (31:46):
Nice, that is very important.

Mari (31:47):
So they had a whole collection of mugs that were
they that had hearts on them andthey said smut in the heart.
And then around the heart, youyou could get either like horns,
like devil horns, or likeminotaur horns, or tentacles, or
bat wings.
Yeah, if I had not been at theend of my of my scholastic book
fair money budget, I was gonnaget their stuff.
So I I really liked Coyote MayCreations, was like I may have

(32:11):
to look them up later.

Jonathan (32:12):
Nice.
Yeah, that and then the lastpiece of merch or two pieces of
merch, if you're a jeweler,explore, like get maybe some
earcuffs.
Sometimes I want to look prettytoo.

Mari (32:22):
Or bracelets.
I mean, I think bracelets canbe a little bit uh more sexy too
than than earrings.

Jonathan (32:29):
I think also leather.

Mari (32:30):
Yes.

Jonathan (32:31):
Like I can't I I I'm I'm genuinely I'm surprised at
the lack of leather uh at atsome of these events.
I think they're I think it's alike what uh what's the word?

Ashley (32:43):
Like you do this opportunity.

Jonathan (32:45):
Yeah, you do so many things.
Yes, from bookmarks tobracelets to you know, like some
very interesting belts.
What the hell?

Mari (32:55):
I'm wearing the same thing on like rentfair vendors,
people who sell at rent fairs,who's usually has a lot of
leather at rent fairs, rentfairvendors, take note.
Think about bookcons.

Jonathan (33:03):
Yes, I think I especially think about bookcons
because they lean into eachother.
And then I think I heard Sarahmention this from our from our
our our our our dear friend fromHissin and Kissin.
Um the t-shirts.
Like there were sometimes therewere some of the designs were
just on sweatshirts and noteverybody has room.

(33:24):
Yeah, we live Sarah lives inFlorida with us, and there's not
always opportunities for thatstuff.

Mari (33:29):
But also another good thing that Sarah uh I maybe it
was you and Sarah were talkingabout was like uh costume stuff,
right?
There weren't that many peopleselling costume items, you know,
like the the flower uh wreathbands and like little horns and
like people will buy costumeaccessories and things like
that.
Tiara.

Jonathan (33:46):
Yes.
I buy I yes.
I buy costume stuff just tohave it.
I don't even wear it.
I just buy I have a set ofhorns, two sets of horns behind
me right now.
My niece puts them on and runsaround the house.
That's it.

Mari (33:57):
And that's a fun thing to like take home to people.
Like you might have, you know,friends, family who may not care
about books or read the books,but like, you know, bring in
bringing back a tiara or like apair of horns and they'll, you
know, that may be their thing.

Jonathan (34:08):
I really feel like tiars and and small crowns would
would sell really like justlike you know, just like the
moment they're gonna buy it.
Yeah, do they sell at likeRenfest?
Do they sell things like thatat Renfest?

Mari (34:21):
Yes, they do.
And also at like other kinds oflike sci-fi fantasy cons.
So my well, my friend who whohas was been on the podcast for
Maplegrass, she does she's gotthe Maplegrass business that
does the little surprise balls.
She and I went to MegaContogether I don't know, maybe two
years ago.
It was when Tom Hiddleston wasthere.
We had zero intentions of this,but we left that con with

(34:44):
tiaras.
Yeah, each of us bought tiaras,which we occasionally now wear
just for the heck of it.

Jonathan (34:51):
Yeah, I'm not gonna lie, I would buy my niece a
tiara.
Like I just think she get shewould love to have she likes
she's into the princesses, soshe would love having that
stuff.
And I think even like my wifeand and my niece and my sisters,
like having those tiaras andjust maybe I'm I'm I fully
support putting on a tiara andgoing out to get tea.

(35:12):
You know, do somethingdifferent.
And you know how much Ash, youknow how much our niece would
love that?
Just like an afternoon tea ortrying to sell this at me.

Ashley (35:22):
Disney does it.
I don't understand why the bookcards don't do it.

Jonathan (35:25):
Um I will say this that venue being I I was we m I
think we missed it last year,but this year, Amari, when we
were able to just walk across,like literally it was the whole
venue wasn't self-contained,which I felt on day two when we
were bounding, because I wentdownstairs to get coffee and uh

(35:47):
I was bounding in um I wasbounding as Ariel, so I just had
like the colour blocks on andstuff, and it was Gariel.
Yes, Gariel.
Princess Erica.

Mari (35:59):
Princess Erica, yes.

Jonathan (36:00):
It was very it was it was a blast, but when I like
there were definitely someDisney dads that were kind of
they were there for vacation.

Mari (36:08):
That's right, because it was a Disney resort area.

Jonathan (36:10):
Yeah.
They were coming downstairs andthey were like, what the heck
am I looking at here?
And I was like, but at the sametime, like there were also like
families that were going toDisney, and I saw Boo from a
little uh what's it called?
The Monsters Monsters Inc.
It's just a a lady who was hadshe had the the t-shirt and the
shorts and her hair andpigtails, and she had her little
shoes on with the f the thewhite lace socks, and she was

(36:32):
she was off to Disney.
So although it wasn't a fullyinsulated event, uh uh it was
fairly insulated, I would say,or you were at least around some
like-minded folks.
So even if they weren't goingto that event, they were going
to a a similar event that wasaccepting of the bounds or or or
crafting.

(36:52):
Yeah, exactly.
And then to not have to get inthe car and just walk across the
street without like we didn'teven touch the street.
We took a bridge and it made a90-degree turn, and we were in
Disney Springs and able to avariety of food choices became

(37:13):
available.

Mari (37:14):
This is one thing that I love about cons, this is the
type of cons I love where youcan be fairly contained for the
whole weekend.
You know, Dragon Con is likethat, where you can not leave
your little weird nerd bubblefor the entire you know five
days uh and just exist.
Okay, so we did not havetickets for any of the night
activities.
We have already said we all hadthe the the Faye bottom tier

(37:35):
tickets.
So Friday night we ended upmeeting up with Sarah and her
husband from the Hissin' Kissin,and we had dinner at the Edison
on I was gonna call it CityWalk.
It's not what is it?

Jonathan (37:47):
Uh uh Disney Springs.

Mari (37:48):
On Disney Springs, and then on Saturday, you guys went
and did Disney, and then Sarahand I got dressed up in armor
and went out to the to the thepark and got pictures taken, and
then we went to the coven atCity Walk and hung out with the
witches at the coconut club.
And then when I got back to thehotel, Griefcat, who we've had

(38:13):
on here before, had performed atthe ball and ran into them and
hung out with them some.
So that was our nightactivities, basically.
It wasn't anything of thesanctioned official stuff.
Um but on I know that on Fridaythere was like a thing where
you could get together, it waslike a cocktail hour kind of
thing.
And then also there was aDisney event with Yarros that
was a separated ticket ticketedevent.

(38:35):
And then Saturday was the ball.
I've heard good things aboutthe ball.
Last year we heard good thingsabout the ball.
So I would say if that'ssomething that's up your alley,
it's probably a good event to goto.
It might be worth getting anupper tier ticket to do that.
I heard mixed things about thethe Disney experience, but I
know that Fable Fantasyofficially announced that they
had had some, I think I don'tknow if it they called it

(38:57):
miscommunications or somethingbetween like what what they they
had contracted from Disney andwhat Disney offered for the
event in terms of like seedingand people's ability to hear
things and and whatnot.
Um did you guys hear anything,uh any feedback about those
activities, the nightactivities?

Jonathan (39:13):
You know, I I heard just whispers of stuff, and I'm
not even sure if it was likedirect.
So there's there's always thislike I think everything I came
across should be taken with agrain of salt, where people are
are maybe what's uh for lack ofa better term, and forgive me
for this, jealousy.
Like if you didn't get a ticketor couldn't afford to do the

(39:35):
extra add-on ticket, then maybeyou kind of looked for the for
the phone.
Yeah.
Like, oh, I didn't really missout because it was shitty
anyway.
And and I so that's when Ilooked back at some of the
videos, she had a mic in herhand.
Rebecca had a mic in her hand.
She did an entry into it.
She had a very lovely Disneydress on.

(39:57):
Like I did the the uh stitchwork around the around the
bottom of the dress was like Ithink it had like the castle and
stuff.
It was like very it was quitelovely to look at.
Um and and I think that oncethat was done, they allowed
people to mingle on the on thestage floor.
And I think so it became itbecomes difficult to say that it

(40:22):
was a it was like poorlyexecuted if you had maybe that
level of access to her.

Mari (40:28):
Yeah.
I I am not gonna hear anything.
Do I know?

Ashley (40:32):
I didn't hear anything, honestly.

Mari (40:35):
Yeah, I'm not gonna out anyone's name, but I know
someone who did go to the eventand they didn't feel that it was
worth the the money that theyput into it.
They didn't think that the theDisney part of it fit in with
the event.
It was like not what they hadpaid the money for.
Um and I think there was anissue with like I don't know,

(40:57):
seating or something.
So like the the I I've onlytalked to one person who did go
to it and got their their takeon it, and they don't they don't
think it was worth the money,they wouldn't do it again,
especially if it was anotherDisney type event rather than
just like the author,specialized author event.

Jonathan (41:15):
Um how much was it again for that?

Mari (41:17):
It was like almost $300.

Ashley (41:18):
Yeah, I was thinking it was expensive enough that I was
like, I'm an AP holder, you knowwhat I mean?
Like I was not paying extra togo to a park that I already paid
for.

Jonathan (41:28):
Yeah, yeah, no, I was uh so I I'm I I'm with your
friend on that.
I think that an event of thatnature they could have had.
I mean, so on on site at thevenue, there were enough
resources to host like an afterhours special meal, dining.

Mari (41:48):
I think they would have gotten more bang for their bunk
if they kind of excluded Disneyfrom it.
Like I don't know that it beingat Disney included enough bang
for the value.
I think I think if they haddone like a special event with
like maybe a meal, you're right,like a meal, a sit-down talk
with them, maybe something morethemed to the author's world.
Um, I think something like thatwould have would have maybe
made it a better experience foreveryone who decided to opt into

(42:12):
that extra ticketed event.
Expectations versus reality.
What did we think overall ofthe experience?
For me, overall, I enjoyed it.
I plan to go back.
Yeah, I plan to get tickets fornext year.
Probably same tier tickets.
I think I am not interested innecessarily doing the ball in
the night activities.
So for me, I'll probablycontinue with the same tier
ticket.
What'd you guys think?

Jonathan (42:33):
Yeah, I think the same for for me, at least.
I'm assuming that if I goAshley's going, someone's gonna
pay.
Yeah, I think it's the I Ithink my expectations were met
again.
I think the I actually I'mgonna be honest, I think they
were better this year than likeI thought I was gonna walk into
after the whole like socialmedia thing and everything that

(42:54):
was going on, like getting, youknow, registering to for for
authors and stuff.
After that went down, I waslike, Yeah, I was like, I was
like, you know, I'm just gonnasit back because I don't trust
this event at this time.
And then like so I went into itlike with like uh on what is
it, like uh like like walking oneggshells.
I was like, I don't know what'sgonna happen.

(43:15):
But it went off really well.
Um the and I was uh whatevernegatives I had going into it
were deleted for me, and I'm I'mlooking forward to going next
year.
I would encourage anybody toget who's not sure to at least,
you know, give it a shot.
Just give one day a shot if youdon't if you're not sure.

(43:36):
Um and you can always hang outwith us, we'll walk around with
it.

Mari (43:40):
Absolutely.
Um Ashry, go ahead.

Jonathan (43:44):
Oh no, sorry.
Uh the only thing I would addto it is I would like to see a
trading space or like a even ifit's just uh not a panel, but
like Yeah, just where people cancome and gather.
Because I think we blocked thatentire walkway at one point.

Mari (43:59):
I think that would be a great idea, have like a table
set aside or a corner orsomething set aside that just
like a little trading uh area.

Jonathan (44:06):
Trading booth.

Mari (44:07):
Yeah, yeah.
People can kind of socialize,trade, and be a set place, you
know.
That would be cool.
Ash?

Ashley (44:15):
Uh I had a great time.
I'm so glad that we went forboth days this year, and I
would, you know, unless theprice jumps exponentially, I
would like to do the same nextyear.

Mari (44:31):
All right, we all got here.
Safe and sound.
Safe and sound.

Jonathan (44:35):
I survived.

Mari (44:36):
We made it.
Yay! We're about to go into theballroom and see everybody for
a little bit, and then we'regonna go into our panels after
that.

Bea Northwick (44:43):
Yay! Hi, I'm Bean Northwick, author of The Cruel
Dark and Black Wicket.
You can find my books whereverbooks are sold online and also
my website, Northwickbooks.com.
And what I would like to seemore in romanticy is horror
romance.
I want to see more of thathorror.
I want to see dark magic.
I want to see monsters bringall of that to the table.

(45:05):
Nice.
Okay, perfect.

Paige Lavoie (45:09):
Hi, I'm Paige Lavoie.
Uh, you can find me on PaigeLavoie Author, all across social
media.
And I would like to see moremonsters in romanticy,
especially the ones you can kissand maybe snuggle.

Rebecca (45:24):
I'm Rebecca Kenny.
Rebecca, you can find me atRebecca F.
Kenny Books on Instagram.
And something I would like tosee more of in romanticy is
actual enemies who literally tryto kill each other.

Chiara (45:36):
Nice.
My name is Chiara Forestieri.
You can find me on Instagram atauthorkiara forestieri, and the
same on TikTok.
I write monster romance, and Iwould love to see more monsters
in romanticy.
Yes.

Lauren (45:56):
My name is Lauren Lasik.
I write YA Romanacy.
And what I would like to see inthe romantic genre is more of
the nightmares trope where shehe she comforts him or he
comforts her after having anightmare.
Nice.

Leone (46:10):
Hi, I am Leone Riley, and you can find me at my website,
LeonRiley.com.
And what I think we need moreof in romanticy is more clawed
monster daddies.

Mayda (46:25):
Mayda muslin, you can find me at MaydaMuslin.com.
And in Romanacy, I would loveto see more heroes that are just
all in for her from thebeginning.

Mari (46:34):
Anything else?
All right, thank you.

Speaker 8 (46:40):
I'd like to see more of it.

Speaker 21 (46:49):
I don't know, wait.

Rebecca (46:51):
Wait, I'm gonna think of it, wait.
I'll think of something reallygood at like 2 a.m.

Mari (47:20):
Hey, I'd want to see more of this.
Okay.

Speaker 8 (47:28):
All right.
Sarah first, and I'd like tosee more hot chocolate.
Always.

Mari (47:34):
Thank you so much.

Speaker 21 (47:38):
My name is Grace Draven, and you can find me on
Instagram, on Facebook, and ofcourse my website,
GraceDraven.com.
Um things that I'd like to seemore of in romanticy, I would
probably say the very big epicstory.

Jonathan (47:58):
These are the delightful folks who taught me
all about one-handed reads.

Speaker 7 (48:03):
Well, I'm sorry, I didn't I did not hear what you
said.

Jonathan (48:07):
You taught me all about one-handed reads last
year.

Speaker 7 (48:10):
That's right.
What supposed to me was myassistant?
She came up with the third,because like I wouldn't be able
to like, yeah, just get a smugsome like not safe for work art,
and because I have that a lot,and it's like, you know what,
let's put them on the cover.
Why not?
Yeah, like I didn't like firstof all, I didn't know if people
would like want to buy on thecover, and it's like, but let's

(48:30):
try.
And then you know, people wentcrazy over the and that now to
do because a lot of people havekids, I do like uh knife on the
front of this jacket, and then anaughty in inside, so you can
have both worlds if you havechoice.
Exactly, and be safe.
Your kids were not be scared.
My daughter has seeneverything, and it's just no,
and it's just like the scarypictures, mommy.

(48:54):
So, what's your name and wherecan people find you?
My name is Michelle Hercules,and you can find me.
I have my website, um MichelleHercules Bookshop, and you can
buy all my books there.
I just prefer you can buydirectly from me, but I'm also
on Amazon, Apple Books, and ummostly live number things, so
that's where you can find andwhat would you like to see more

(49:16):
of in the romantic genre?
I'm gonna stereo answer becauseit's a good one.
Diversity, I'd love to see morethat, you know, like like I
said, languages, and I have themalready in my books.
Um neurodivergency because I'mneurodivergent.
I'd like to see me independent,and then I do write.
Sometimes I'm not veryexplicit, but then I know they
are because that's me.

(49:37):
I don't think you need to belike, oh, like this person.
No, because you know, like ifyou have that disability, you
know it's you.
So that's what I'd like to seeme.
Thank you.
Thank you.

Mari (49:49):
All right, so we finished up our day.
What did we think of the day?

Jonathan (49:52):
Oh, I thought it was action-packed.
Lots of uh, we dodged disasterum a number of times.
Uh we went upstairs anddownstairs.
We had intimate trollly trollypeppermint forest.
Yes.
With with gumdrops and uh whatare the candy corn, candy canes,

(50:13):
um, and uh cocaine.

Mari (50:15):
Um, okay, yes, that's what it is.

Jonathan (50:19):
Absolutely.
Um we had we had we had I thinkwe had a delightful time with
um uh our the interactions withauthors, even just like out of
out of the context of like asigning, like just bumping into
somebody.
Uh I think Ashley ran intoHannah Nicole Mayer like in the
lobby getting caught.

Mari (50:39):
She was super stoked.

Jonathan (50:40):
Yeah, absolutely.
Yeah, you talk about um uhgetting forgetting that people
are people, just being like uhceleb status.
Um definitely uh fun to seethat uh reaction.
Overall, um I I think that thisevent is structured well, as

(51:03):
with anything that hasinteresting vibes here and there
that could, you know, it's ait's dynamic, it's a work in
progress.
So there's tweaks that aregonna be made regardless.
Um day one as expected, lookingforward to day two.

Mari (51:18):
In the books, good we huddle.
All right, let's huddle come inhere, Dartha.

Jonathan (51:26):
Sorry, I'll get to the okay.

Mari (51:28):
So we have uh day two, beginning of so far.
Ash is coming to join us.
She did uh an early morningsigning with Craig and Craig?

Jonathan (51:38):
Erin?

Mari (51:39):
Okay, with an author, sorry.
Um, and today we're we'rejoined by Sarah.
Hi, I'm here.
Vincent and kissing.
Um, and we are about to go intothe vetting area.
It'll be her first day here.
Expectations for today.

Jonathan (51:56):
Um, fireworks, lots of fireworks.
Um, actually, I'm lookingforward to um Juliet Cross.

Ashley (52:05):
Ah, she looked adorable with the little flower in your
hair.
She's here now.
They traded me in high fivesfor this flower.
Oh I paid high fives.
I had to pay three high fives.
Who did you who were yougetting the signing with again?
Oh, I met um Erin A.
Craig.
Nice.
And I've not read her before,but the signing opened up, and
so I was like, well, I have to.

(52:26):
And um, so the book that Ipurch I ran downstairs to go
purchase a book, and so I gotthe 13th child, and um she's
delightful.
Nice, absolutely the sweetest,and she loves my freckles.
It's a great opener, and shehad a sparkling shirt, and so we
were like two peas in a pod,her and I.
We took pictures.
What was your your expectationsfor today?
I'm hoping um that it's not ascrowded as yesterday.

(52:49):
It's already seeming like alittle bit less.
Um, but other than that, I'mjust hoping to go see more stuff
and more people.
Everybody's been fantastic.
Um, and if we can score an houran Alex Aster meet, um, I think
that's top of our list.
I don't know if we're gonna getit.
Cool.

Mari (53:05):
All right, Sarah, what are your expectations for today?
I'm going monster hunting.

Speaker 8 (53:10):
We'll check back in.

Ashley (53:11):
Actually, I saw a K-pop demon hunter.
Yeah.
K-pop demon.
He was not a hunting.

Speaker 19 (53:18):
Hi, my name's Jennifer Chipman.
All of my books are on KindleUnlimited.
You can also find me onInstagram at Jen Chipman,
author.
And uh the thing I want to seemore in romanticy is cozy
romanticy.
Um, I love that.
Very nice.

Speaker 1 (53:31):
My name is Jamie Dalton.
I am available on Target andWalmart and Amazon and also
TikTok shop.
And I definitely feel likeromanticy needs more humor and
banter.
We need more rom-com slippedinto it.
Dark has its place, and I loveit.
But we need more humor in it aswell.

Speaker 12 (53:55):
Hi, I'm JD Evans, and I can be found pretty much
all over the internet as JDEvans Books.
And um, what I would like tosee more in romanticy is
different characterizations offemale strength.

Speaker 20 (54:14):
Hi, I'm Geneva Monroe.
I was a mood reader and itturned me into a mood writer.
So I write both SlowburnRomanticy and also a Dark Y twos
mafia retelling of The Wizardof Oz.
Um, what I wanted to see moreof in romanticy actually leads
to a lot of why I ended upwriting the romanticy I did in
the first place.
And the one thing I reallywanted to see, and I would love

(54:35):
to see more of are female maincharacters who don't need to
discover that they can bestrong, but actually start
strong.
Elyria, my main character inSun Serpent, is the strongest
person in the room.
She does not need to be told,she already knows it.

Speaker 6 (54:50):
Hi, I'm Genie Balie, and you can find me wherever
books are sold.
Um something I'd like to seemore of in romanticy this year
is Honestly, I'd like to see alittle more sex.
You know what?
Yes, ma'am.
Yeah, I think we've been uh alot of slow burns for good
reasons, but um I'm ready.

(55:12):
I think it's time, ladies.
We're ready.
Ready to pay off.
We're ready for some some morebig dick and thank you.

Speaker 8 (55:18):
Yes.
I'm Sunia Mara.
Uh you can find me on TikTokand Instagram at Sunya Mara.
I'm the author of The DarkeningDuology and Embrace the
Serpent.
And what I'd most like to seemore of in romantic is humor.
I want to see, you know, girlshaving fun, couples who can tell

(55:42):
jokes to each other and justlike a riot of a time.

Speaker 9 (55:46):
Thank you.
Hi, I'm Juliette Cross.
You can find me on Instagramand Facebook, but mostly
Instagram.
That's my favorite place.
And I think what I would liketo see more in romanticy is
really dark, like horrorromance, the new one horror
romance.
That's what I'm really lookingfor nowadays.

Mari (56:06):
Alright, so we just finished day two.
All the bending, looking, allthe areas complete.
What do we think of ourexperience?

Ashley (56:16):
I think it was fun.
It was cute.
Yeah.
I like it.
There's at least two moreauthors that I need to go back
and see in the pong.
I have severe FOMO.
Like I'm just terrified that Imissed something important and I
don't know what it is.
I'm having so much fun.

Jonathan (56:35):
I am um I am chill and fulfilled.
Chill A.

Mari (56:39):
Chill and fulfilled.
I would say today definitelywe'd notice less people than
than yesterday overall.
Um, like as we're sayingearlier, probably the Rebecca
Grouse effect, she was justthere yesterday.
Uh so it's been a little easierto get around and to look at
things and to get into theaisles.
Um I'd say none of the authorshave had too much of a crazy

(57:02):
weight.
They're like the non-ticketed,it's maybe four or five people
deep at the most.
Um and it seems to flow prettyfast.
Yeah.

Ashley (57:09):
Everybody's been really great and like conscious of like
the space and the time thatthey're taking up, and um yeah,
I'm super impressed.
I'm glad that this is going aswell as it is.
I was a little worried, but Ithink we'll definitely come back
next year.
Are you opposed to two daysnext year?

Jonathan (57:27):
To two days next year?

Mari (57:31):
I think I think I'll be definitely doing next year.
I don't know that I'll be doingany different ticket as far as
like high fai or any of thatmask, but I think I'm gonna do
this ticket again.
Yeah.
I would just come and stay aday earlier so I'm not so
frazzled the first day.
Do you think you would want tocome back?
Maybe maybe if more monsterromance people come.
Yes, which to be honest,several authors have said that's

(57:55):
something they would like tosee more of in their massive
genre typical monster ormonstrous um things.
So um, so we've done our ourour scholastic book fair and now
we're doing our cafeterialunch.
Um we will be reporting itlater.
Alright, so I'm gonna wrap itup.
Thanks to listening to OfSwords and Soulmates.

(58:16):
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(58:37):
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I'll say right now, the mostactive and the one I've had the
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That's going to be the quickestway to get a response from from

(58:58):
me, from us.
But yeah, however your yourmethod is.
And last but not least, we hopeyou'll join us in two weeks for
our next episode when we'll bewhen we will be talking about
Wicked.
The movie, the experience, etc.

Jonathan (59:12):
I love it.