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November 21, 2024 59 mins

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Join us as we welcome the fabulous Sarah and Jess from the "Hissing and Kissing" podcast, who bring their unique insights into the realm of romantasy literature. Together, we explore the fascinating roots of monster romance and how pop culture shapes our modern love stories. With a sprinkle of humor and a dash of nostalgia, we reminisce about our Dragon Con meet-up and dive headfirst into a discussion that's as entertaining as it is enlightening.

What's more thrilling than banned books and indie bookshop crawls? We take a stroll down memory lane, discussing the joys of youthful reading and spotlighting the role of libraries in our literary journeys. Our excitement for upcoming events like Krampusnacht in Orlando is palpable, but nothing quite steals the spotlight like our spoiler-free review of "Morning Glory Milking Farm" by C.M. Nascosta. This book's intriguing themes and unique charm are sure to tickle the fancy of any monster romance aficionado, promising a conversation that's both thought-provoking and wildly entertaining.

Expect a good laugh as we revel in the imaginative world of romance plots featuring non-human characters. From humorous takes on unrealistic abs to personal interpretations of character designs, we explore the playful side of monster romance. As we wrap up the episode, we tease our book club's upcoming read and hint at future discussions that blend literary magic with camaraderie. Whether you're a seasoned fan or just curious about the genre, our episode guarantees a journey filled with laughs, insights, and a touch of romance.

  • Links from the News Segment and Show (not all were discussed):
    • Goodreads Choice Awards open for voting
      • Voting Page
      • Nov 24 first round closes, Dec 1, final round closes, Dec 5 – winners announced
    • SenLinYu, author of Manacled, announced the final draft of Alchemised has been sent in for final edits.
    • Florida releases list of banned books in schools
      • Several SJM and other romantasy authors included as well as the usual authors (Atwood, King, and even some classic literature)
      • Link to News Article
    • Atlanta Indie Bookshop Crawl
    • Dance of the Dragons even in Orlando

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

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Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Ashley (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 thatopinions.
All creative works discussed orreviewed are the intellectual
property of the creators of saidstories and is being used under
the Fair Use Doctrine.

Mari (00:31):
Hello and welcome to Of Swords and Soulmates, a podcast
where we read, watch and discussromanticist stories.
I'm one of your hosts, mari,and with me I have my beloved
husband Kelly.

Kelly (00:37):
Hey everyone, it's Kelly.
We also have Ashley.

Ashley (00:40):
Hi guys, it's Ashley.
We also have Jonathan.

Jonathan (00:43):
What's good, it's JP.
And guess who we have heretoday?
We got Sarah with an.

Ashley (00:48):
H.
We have friends and Jess withan E.

Sarah (00:53):
Jess with an E, is it spelled a different way?

Jonathan (00:57):
Is it not?
I thought maybe it could beJess with a.

Jess (01:00):
U.

Jonathan (01:00):
Jess, jess.

Jess (01:02):
Jess.

Jonathan (01:07):
G-E-O-S-S.
Jess oh, is that?

Mari (01:13):
Jonathan, you're thinking like an author, like how weird,
can I spell this name?
That's what you're thinking.

Jonathan (01:19):
In the beginning.
How do they do that?

Sarah (01:22):
I can't even mess it up.

Jonathan (01:23):
Yeah.

Sarah (01:29):
Sarah and Jess.
Where are y'all?
Where we get sarah and jess,where y'all from tell us about?
Oh well, uh, we are from apodcast called hissing and
kissing.
Can I curse on this, is it okay?
Absolutely yeah okay, we, uh,we have a podcast for monster
fuckers.
Is what our deal is.
So I, sarah, live in Floridaand Jess I'm in Vancouver,

(01:53):
canada.
There you go, there's theaccent, and together we put out
a weekly podcast about allthings, monster fucker.

Jess (02:04):
Yeah, just basically getting raw dogged by various
monsters.

Sarah (02:06):
No, no, we, actually we can talk about that, but we pick
like a monster of the week andwe sort of talk about its
origins.
We talk about it in pop culture, its relationship with
sexuality in today's culture.
We pick some media, we talk toauthors, we talk to small
businesses like sex toycompanies.
It's a really diverse andsexually free podcast.

Mari (02:30):
So, yeah, it's so much fun .
I love you guys.
I love you guys' podcast.

Jess (02:34):
Yeah.

Mari (02:38):
I always keep you guys for , like, today is a bad day.
Guess what I'm listening to?
Yeah.

Sarah (02:45):
Our unhinged ramble.
Absolutely I love it.

Mari (02:49):
I love it I uh ran into.
I found out about his anykissin at dragon con.
I met sarah there at a midnightpanel or something, did not
know you guys existed.
Yes, it was a panel aboutmonster fucking and Sarah got up
there.
No, for starters, I was dressedas like the worst mothman ever.

(03:10):
I was sitting on the floortalking books with somebody and
then this vision in, like a blueball gun walks by.

Jess (03:16):
That's how I first saw you , sarah, looked amazing that
night.

Mari (03:18):
Yes, so beautiful, so beautiful.
And then you go up there,ballsy as fuck, and like ask so
beautiful, so beautiful.
And then you go up there,ballsy as fuck, and ask
questions.
I'm like, oh, it's because I wasdrunk, I needed some of that.
And then I go talk to you guysafterwards I'm like, wait,
there's a whole podcast.

(03:38):
Wait, you guys had a panel andI missed it.
What?
So, yes, anybody out there, ifyou at all like monster romance,
monster fucking, if you're likewhat is this thing and I want
to know more, please listen totheir podcast.
It is, it is a lot of fun.

(03:59):
Yes, thank you.
All right, so today we're goingto be discussing Morning Glory
and Milking Farm by CM Nascosta,but before we get into it,
we're going to go over some news.
I have a few news things.
I'm trying to keep it short,but we'll see.
We can talk if there's anythingyou guys want to say.
First thing is that theGoodreads Choice Awards is open
for voting.
Right now.
It's in the open round session,so it's open from November 12th

(04:19):
to November 24th.
You can go on there and votefor who you think should be the
best.
Whatever, there's a romanticsection, there's a fantasy
section, there's a romancesection.
One of your guys' favoritebooks, sarah and Jaz, or at
least Sarah Bride.
Oh yeah, yeah, bride In theromance section.
It's actually in the romancesection.

Sarah (04:41):
So if you're looking to vote for it it's in romance.
Give it all of the awards.

Mari (04:46):
She's competing with herself because she's got two
books in there 10 out of 10.
10 out of 10.

Jess (04:50):
Yeah, 10 out of 10.

Mari (04:55):
That was a fun vote.

Jonathan (04:59):
I hope she's going to beat herself.
I oftentimes find myselfbeating myself.

Sarah (05:03):
Talk about monster romance.
We'll beat ourselves off.
Hey, I don't know.
I don't underestimate the loveof bride we we made like a
casual tiktok about it and itwas.
It's at like 17 000 like peoplejust love that book.
So yeah, it's a fun book.

Mari (05:23):
It's a book.
I know there's a few otherbooks that we've either read on
the podcast, on this podcast, ortalked about, that are in
different sections, so the mostof them are in the Romanesie
section.
Games.
God's Play, which we just didlast week, is one of the ones in
the Romanesie section.
So, is you guys help me, was itspell?
Oh, my god, the Sarah BethDurst.

(05:48):
One Spell shopst, one spellshop, spell shop.
Thank you, I was gonna sayspellbound.
I'm like that is not it.
Yeah, spell shop is one of theones in there and, uh, when the
moon hatches, there's severalother ones.
So that's the first round.
Then there's another round ofvoting that will go from
november 26th to december 1st,and then the final winners will
be announced on december 5th.
So it's always fun to see justwhat gets nominated and what
gets in what categories.

Jonathan (06:09):
What was the name of that?
Did you say?
The name of that one book wasthe love of bride.

Mari (06:13):
No, just a bride.
It's just bride yeah.

Ashley (06:17):
I thought it was bride by Allie.

Mari (06:19):
It is Sorry, Yep Mari you've read that one right, I
have it was fun.

Ashley (06:23):
I haven't.

Mari (06:24):
Oh, I thought you'd read it.

Ashley (06:26):
No, no, no, but it's supposed to be a series, right?
I think I was holding out, yes.

Mari (06:30):
There's going to be another one.
Yeah, I need closure.
Do we know when the next one'sgoing to be released?
Is writing it right now.

Ashley (06:39):
Have we heard anything?

Jonathan (06:40):
pretty quickly though if you fast forward the podcast,
you can get to her next thatmuch faster I think you get
closure with the first one,though I think it stands.

Sarah (06:50):
It's a standalone oh, the second one is just like two
other characters that we've met,and it's gonna be their story
so they're like another book fortheir target cart.

Mari (07:00):
Anyway, thank, you no perfect.
Yeah, it's more like thatromance book novel rather than
like romance novel, like model,where it's like they're kind of
separate little couples, asopposed to like romantic, where
you're like, oh, cliffhanger,and now I need to know who dies,
kind of thing and it's amystery too um so they close up

(07:21):
the mystery at the end yeah,interesting
so the next bit of news I haveis I got on the newsletter or
sub stack or whatever for SenLin Yu, who wrote Manacled,
which I know Ash and I have read.
Have you?

Jess (07:36):
guys read it.
It's on Spotify shut the frontdoor that's how I listened to it
.
Somebody narrated it all.
Wow, how destroying was that.
Yeah, that's how I listened toit.

Ashley (07:45):
Somebody narrated it all .
Wow, Shit you guys.
How destroying was that?
Because it was hard enough toread it, but to like be spoken
feels almost ridiculous.

Jess (07:53):
It was heavy, really heavy .

Ashley (07:56):
Holy shit.

Mari (07:58):
So she's rewriting it to be published, of course, right,
and she put on there that shehad turned in the final
manuscript for this final roundof edits.
She just turned it in and it'sat 1,100 pages and it's going to
be called Alchemized is the newtitle.

Sarah (08:16):
Yes.

Mari (08:17):
Very exciting.

Sarah (08:19):
That's a fun throwback.
Well, it's not fun, but it is athrowback to the Harry Potter
origins, because the originalbook was the Alchemist Stone,
wasn't it?
Philosopher's.

Mari (08:27):
Stone.

Sarah (08:30):
But in England it was the Alchemist Stone.

Kelly (08:34):
It's the Sorcerer's Stone and the Philosopher's Stone.
They didn't think people wouldunderstand what the
Philosopher's Stone was.

Sarah (08:40):
I know they brought up alchemy in it.

Mari (08:42):
They did yeah, because Nicholas Fimmel was an alchemist
.
For those that don't know,Madagold slash Alchemize is
inspired by, of course, theHarry Potter, but also the
Handmaid's Tale, so fun times.

Jonathan (08:56):
I'm not going to like that book.
No, you're going to hate it.
It's super dark.

Ashley (09:00):
And you're going to feel feelings that you don't like.
All the feelings.
Do you remember a series ofunfortunate events where they
tell you the?

Jonathan (09:07):
whole time that this is not going to end on a happy
note.
What's his name?
Doogie Howser.

Ashley (09:14):
Doogie Howser.

Jonathan (09:15):
Wait, was I thinking of the?

Ashley (09:17):
wrong thing.

Jonathan (09:18):
Maybe I'm thinking about Lemony Snicket Doogie
Howser's in that right.

Jess (09:23):
Yeah, he's the count.
Yeah, yeah.

Jonathan (09:29):
Yeah, I like that one.
What's wrong with that?
That's not the same thing.
Malfoy's not in that one, is he?

Kelly (09:35):
No, I didn't think so.

Jonathan (09:36):
I think we're in a clear, we're good, is that?
One lady who's got a singleeyebrow?

Ashley (09:42):
Listen, I warned you.

Jonathan (09:44):
I'm not going to read it.
You said it was like theHandmaid's Tale, right?

Ashley (09:49):
Nah, jonathan got through half an episode of the
Handmaid's Tale and then bannedit from the house.

Jonathan (09:53):
It makes me want to punch people right in the face
Fair enough.

Sarah (09:55):
I had nightmares about it .
I had to stop watching it.
Yeah, it's rough.

Mari (10:00):
I would say the Handmaid's Tale book is still my answer.
Anytime anyone asks what's thescariest book you've ever read,
it's.

Ashley (10:06):
The Handmaid's.

Sarah (10:06):
Tale oh agreed.

Mari (10:08):
I read it way young and I have yet to be able to watch the
TV show.

Ashley (10:14):
I'm not brave enough to read it, but I will finish the
TV show out of spite it's likeroad rage.

Mari (10:20):
I need to know what's coming.
I've heard great things aboutthe show.

Jess (10:25):
Phenomenal Intense, though Very intense.

Mari (10:30):
Speaking of that situation , next bit of news is that
Florida releases their list ofbanned books for schools.

Ashley (10:37):
That's an interesting segue how that worked out.

Mari (10:39):
Isn't it?
There are several Sarah J Maasbooks on there.
There's the Bluest Eye by ToniMorrison and, of course, the
Headma.
There's more.
There are several Sarah J Maasbooks on there.
There's the Bluest Eye by ToniMorrison and, of course, the
Handmaid's Tale by MargaretAtwood is one of the banned ones
.

Jonathan (10:52):
Isn't that their textbook right?

Mari (10:54):
Yeah, their how-to.
Apparently you can delete theblueprints by using the
Handmaid's.
Tale.
It's the world we live in.
We don't want anybody to know.
It's interesting going throughthe list of the banned books and
reading through them and I'mjust like.
There's things that I rememberstudying in school that are on
the banned list now.
But whenever I hear or read orsee anything about banned books,
I always think about thelooking at it real quick.

(11:16):
The Stephen King quote Rundon't walk to the nearest
non-school library or to thelocal bookstore and get whatever
it was that they banned.
Read whatever they're trying tokeep out of your eyes and your
brain, because that's exactlywhat you need to know.

Ashley (11:31):
Arguably.
I'm not sure if 14-year-oldsneed to read Sarah J Mass.

Jonathan (11:35):
That's probably legit.

Sarah (11:37):
I don't think it should be banned from them.
I read a lot of stuff, but itdoesn't have to be banned, just
don't put it in there.

Kelly (11:46):
Well, the thing I remember, the banned book list
is books that were in thelibraries and then were taken
out after a parent challengedthem.
So you have books by Sarah JMass, you have books by Toni
Morrison, you have ErnestHemingway, you have even one
school library has banned theIliad.

Jess (12:04):
What that's wild.

Ashley (12:08):
I think one banned one of the Princess Diaries books
and that was interesting.

Jonathan (12:11):
There's more than one.

Ashley (12:12):
Yeah, there's like a whole series.

Jonathan (12:14):
Interesting.

Ashley (12:15):
There's only a couple movies.

Jonathan (12:16):
Oh, there's more than one movie.

Jess (12:18):
What Wait?
Is that the movie?

Mari (12:21):
What Is that the movie?

Jonathan (12:21):
with.

Ashley (12:23):
We're all learning so much tonight, you guys.
We should do this more often.

Jonathan (12:28):
That one has the upside down.

Ashley (12:30):
We announced it this year.
However, Chris Pine has notbeen confirmed and the socials
are in region.

Sarah (12:38):
Or they're trolling us, or they're trolling us.
Correct Star.

Ashley (12:41):
Trek.

Jonathan (12:44):
Oh okay, I like him, but from a distance.
Oh correct, yeah, uh, star trek.
Oh okay, I like him, but from adistance oh okay.

Sarah (12:51):
What's wrong with chris pine?

Jonathan (12:52):
I don't know, I think it's the forehead no it's not
the forehead, I think it's, Ithink it's his cheeks which ones
do it for me, are they?
The upper ones.
The upper ones yeah, I haven'tseen his lower ones.
I get it, I don't care.

Ashley (13:08):
It's a very confirmed.
Anne Hathaway announced it thisyear.
It is a series, a book series,although I'm not sure how many
books are in it.
But I did see on the list thatthere's a middle school in
Florida that banned book numbereight for some reason.

Jonathan (13:23):
It was an interesting decision, yeah sad library cards
are still a thing, though.

Mari (13:32):
Right, they can just go to the public library yeah, like
I'm just like do the StephenKing thing, get the list of
banned books and use it as a TBR.
That's all I'm saying and readthe trigger ones yes, yeah, I
mean I remember reading booksthat were adult books very early
on and I mean I don't thinkthey, I don't think they

(13:54):
severely damaged me I think, I'msemi okay, but I do have a
monster fucking podcast withjust now, so I'm not and I do
love that monster fuckingpodcast
decisions were made yeah, yeah,like, I'm like I also had like
zero sex education and nobody totalk to books.
Were it like everything Ilearned I learned from books

(14:16):
everything until it was hands-on.

Jess (14:17):
everything I learned was from the vampire chronicles
which I read way too early, waytoo early in life.

Mari (14:26):
It was AN Rockelaer's Beauty and the Beast, which, if
you guys very early.
Okay, moving on to other news,atlanta is having an Atlanta
indie bookshop crawl.
Crybell sent this to me on ourInstagram, so it's like the
indie bookstores in Atlanta,from November 22nd to December

(14:49):
1st, are doing a bookshop crawland you can like get your little
passport from them stamped andthen you get like a percent off
on, you know, like a discount onbuying stuff from there.
Yeah, so just sounds like a funtime if you're in that area.
And the last thing is just areminder that Swords and
Soulmates is going to be at theDance of the Dragons event in
Orlando.

(15:09):
It's put on by Alexia Fence andso we'll be there wandering
around the marketplace on aFriday and Saturday.
If you're going to be there,say hi, send us a message, et
cetera, and maybe we can meet up.
Anybody else have any?

Sarah (15:23):
news.
I'll see you on Sunday, won't I?

Mari (15:28):
at another event.
That's right, that is sunday.
No, that's gonna be decemberisn't it?

Sarah (15:32):
oh, that's right.

Mari (15:32):
This, yeah, you're right, yeah if anyone is gonna be at
the krampus not in orlandodecember sunday, december Sunday
, december 7th, oh, my god, itmust be the 8th because we have
7th.
Yep, it's the 8th Orlando.
Krampusnacht is the 8th inOrlando and there will be much

(15:55):
Krampusing.
I'm so excited.
I've not done anything big timeKrampus since I lived in
Germany Other than like.
Kelly and I went to a Christmashaunted house in Jacksonville.
The 13th Story does like aKrampus haunted house for
Christmas.

Sarah (16:11):
I didn't know that that was fun.
Yes, I will be there with bellson and my hooves on and my ears
on and my horns on.

Jess (16:20):
And your tail.

Sarah (16:20):
Don't forget your tail and my tail, my tail is awesome.
I'm very excited.

Mari (16:26):
You cannot wait, you will see me in my car.

Ashley (16:29):
I would like to see the tail.

Sarah (16:32):
Yeah, it's on my Instagram.
I think you can check myInstagram for it.
I think it's on there.

Jonathan (16:36):
I'll show you my front tail later.

Ashley (16:38):
How do you feel about tails?

Jonathan (16:39):
I got one on the front .
I'll show it to you.

Mari (16:46):
Do tails have?

Jonathan (16:46):
to be on the back.
Is that like a rule?

Sarah (16:48):
I mean they, I guess they have to tail behind right.

Jonathan (16:50):
But yeah, yeah, uh, yeah, otherwise it would just be
like a pull string moving on.

Mari (16:56):
Okay, let's get into the book.
So we're doing morning gloryMilking Farm by C.
I always forget her name wrongC um, cm Neskosta, cm Neskosta.
I always want to say it CSNeskosta, cm Neskosta.
Yeah, siesta, go away,apparently, that's.

(17:18):
What I need is a siesta.
So we decided on this book.
Sarah suggested it when we weregoing to do this podcast
together between us and I hadread it before I read it.
I think I first read it likeFebruary or March or so of this
year and then proceeded to read,I think, every Cambrick Creek
book that was out, but I rereadit for this, for today.

(17:42):
Yeah, all right.
So let me do a little synopsisand then we'll get into talking
about it.
This book was published August1st of 2021.
And the little synopsis saysViolet is a typical down on her
luck, millennial mid twenties,overeducated and drowning in
debt, on the verge of movinginto her parents' basement.
When a lifeline appears in theform of a very unconventional

(18:03):
job in neighboring CambrickCreek, she has no choice but to
grab it with both hands.
Morning Glory Farm offersfull-time hours, full benefits
and generous pay, with noexperience needed.
There's only one catch theclientele is grade A certified
prime beef with the manly meatyendowments to match Hands-on
work with Minotaurs isn'tsomething Violet ever considered

(18:26):
as a career option, but she'sdetermined to turn this
opportunity into a reversal offortune.
When a stern, deep-voicedclient begins to specially
request her for his sessions atthe farm, maintaining her
professionalism and keeping himout of her dreams is easier said
than done.
Violet is resolved to make adent in her student loan and
afford name brand orange juiceand a one-sided crush on an out

(18:50):
of her league minotaur is notpart of her plan, unless her
feelings aren't so one-sidedafter all.
Dot, dot, dot.
All right, so we'll do a littlelike overview, you know,
general, many stars,non-spoilery bit, and then we'll
get into the good stuff afterthat.
Okay, okay, who wants to gofirst?
Okay, I can go first.

(19:11):
For me, overall, it was afour-star read, which actually
bumps it up over three stars,which is the first time I read
it.
I gave it three stars.
I really think that thecharacter development and the
world building and whatnot isjust a little bit above average
to most of the monster romancestuff out there, and I think

(19:32):
that with the book that cameafter it, the one from Rourke's
point of view, it's a reallygood story.
So yeah, four stars for me.
Who wants to go next?

Ashley (19:40):
I'll go.
I feel like we've been doinggirls first anyway, the last
couple episodes I think it waslike a three and a half I I went
into this one blind.
I'm not going to lie to youguys.
Sarah recommended it.
No, no, no, like I got,conceptually, I understood what
I was getting into.
This is not the first, the mostquestionable thing I've ever
read Full transparency.

(20:00):
Yeah, transparency, yeah.
So sarah recommended it becausethey believe jonathan's
question is what what's theleast scary, like what's what's
the vanilla monster book?

Sarah (20:11):
yeah and, if this right, I forgot that yeah, no, not I.

Ashley (20:16):
So it was a.
It was a three and a half forme.
I thought it was a delightfulsurprise um there was some,
there was world building right,and there was, you know,
perspective from human.
I didn't know.
Book two was his pov.
It just kind of.
I think my biggest complaintwas that it just kind of ended
but like, also that was such anice palette cleanser, yeah.

(20:39):
So I'm curious now.
I'm curious what books and nowmy goodreads followers are going
to be like.
What's going on?
Ash, the text messages I gotthe other week were pretty
iconic.
So it was a three and a half forme.
I enjoyed it.
I wouldn't not discontinue itand arguably I think it would

(21:02):
make a really fun series on Hulu.

Sarah (21:07):
Oh yeah, I think so too.
Yeah, I'll go, we'll do, we'lldo all the girls right all the
girls, yeah, so I I did forget.
I recommended this becausejonathan did want something that
was not a scary monster and Isaid, okay, I've got it.
This is like the least scarymonster book I can think of, and
I also think it's a greatrepresentation of monster

(21:28):
romance, because there aremonsters, there is a very clear
romance, there's world building,but it doesn't necessarily have
to be scary.
I'm using air quotes in the waythat you think it's scary in
its own way, right, like.

Jess (21:46):
And it's pretty scary.
Yes, Exactly.

Sarah (21:50):
Yes, I think this is.
This is such a perfect exampleof something that's in the
monster romance that'swell-written but doesn't take
itself too seriously.
I give it like four and a halfstars.
This is my like, recommended,like intro to monster romance
book.
Like if bride is not your thing, try this, because this is.

(22:12):
I just think it's a wonderfulintro into the community, into
world building, into the genre,everything I.
I recommend this book.
I recommended it last weekend.
I got somebody to buy aphysical copy of it at a
bookstore.
Like I'll look up to anybodyand I'll be like, oh, you're
looking at monsters.
Have you tried morning glorymilking farm?
And they're like what I'm likehere, take it, you're welcome.

(22:33):
Like I just like hand it off topeople.

Jess (22:35):
So yeah, I think it's great this was my first time
reading it, even though we'vetalked about it on our podcast a
lot, a lot, and my taste is abit different than Sarah's.
Like I like the scary, like Ilike the danger, you know.
So having it basically be anoffice romance didn't quite do
it for me.

(22:55):
Office romance it's basicallyan office romance, I think
that's not wrong, so I gave itlike a three, I think.

Ashley (23:07):
Yeah, we're going to unpack that later jess, yeah,
guys all right, uh, I was gonnagive it a three.

Jonathan (23:15):
I was gonna give it like a straight up three, but
let me tell you I got a lot ofaction the week.
We read that I'm gonna bumpthis up.
This is if this is, if this iswhat monster romance is about.

Ashley (23:28):
I'm going to bump this up, if this is what monster
romance is about.
I'm down he doesn't know it,but a soul to keep.
Also, I have no idea.
I love that book so much.

Mari (23:38):
Oh my God, the Dustwalker Brides guys.
I got the special edition andI'm so excited.

Jonathan (23:47):
I'm sorry, sir, continue.
Oh yeah, I don't know if I sawit as office romance, more like
a customer service kind of thing, but also like a very modern, I
don't know.
I enjoy contemporary work and Ithought it was interesting.

Ashley (24:08):
It was polite.

Jonathan (24:08):
I got excited, she got excited.
We got excited it was there wassome good side effects, so I'm
going to bump it up to a four.
Also, this is the spiciest bookthat I've read this year 72% on
the calculator.

Sarah (24:26):
Yeah, stay on the monster fucking side.
It gets much, much spicier thanthis.

Ashley (24:31):
Much spicier.
This is quite vanilla.

Sarah (24:35):
It really was yeah.

Jonathan (24:38):
We're going to have to get new criteria for the
calculator.

Ashley (24:41):
He immediately turned to his laptop and started typing.

Jonathan (24:44):
As soon as I put it into the spreadsheet, it hit 72%
.
If this is scratching thesurface, it was like it hit 72%.
So if this is like if this islike scratching the surface,
we're going to need morecriteria.

Sarah (24:53):
Yeah, well, there you go.

Jess (24:55):
Be careful what you ask for.
We can recommend it.

Jonathan (25:01):
I'll take input If you have feedback.
The algorithm is good yeah, Ican take any sort of.
The algorithm is good yeah, Ican take any sort of any sort of
filters to drop books through.
That we can.
That I can use to help decideif a house the spice level of a
book.

Sarah (25:15):
I want to circle back to your spreadsheet after we go
through ratings.
We'll unpack that later too,yeah, Please do, I'd love, I'd
love for Justin.

Jess (25:23):
I have something I want to add onto that spreadsheet.

Jonathan (25:27):
Okay, I'm in.

Kelly (25:29):
I'm in.
I wanted to give this bookeither a two and a half or a
three.
It was just not very original.
It was an office romance.
The main character is onlyattractive because he's a
wealthy, powerful person.
He's a wealthy powerful man.

Jonathan (25:44):
I see that.
I see that yeah.

Kelly (25:48):
He's in a position of power, authority with a lot of
money, so of course the maincharacter is going to be
attracted to him.
I feel that was the entirety ofthe romance that started.
It was a office romance girlfalls for the rich boss.
It was essentially secretaryfalls for the rich boss.

Sarah (26:03):
That's exactly what this story was oh, I so disagree with
that statement.
That's so interesting.
I feel there was nothingoriginal to it.

Kelly (26:10):
There was nothing new about it.
I mean, obviously you add inthe spice and sex stuff and that
makes it different, but as faras the core part of the story,
nothing original.

Jess (26:20):
I think what makes this story different?
Because the base of a lot ofmonster romances are not
original.
I will agree with you there.
But the thing that makes themonster romances original in and
of themselves are the monsters.
So you kind of gotta put themonster in the forefront, like
have you, have you ever?

(26:40):
Okay?
So the story the baseline is isbasic.
It's a bitch, but what have youever read about somebody whose
job it is to pump Minotaurs allday?

Ashley (26:52):
long, specifically Minotaurs yeah.

Sarah (26:57):
I mean, that is a new idea to me that's a new idea.
Yeah, you're literally amilking farm, I think.
When you're looking at romance,I think there's only so many
original ideas that are going toexist.
I mean, I think that's why wehave genres and tropes, right
well, that's art in general,right like in the music industry

(27:20):
.

Ashley (27:20):
There are only so many notes right, there are only so
many ways differentiating,differentiating ways to put the
notes together and eventuallyyou're going to have some
overlap and discrepancy ofsimilarities.

Jonathan (27:32):
My Beat Saber game.
That begs to differ.
Those notes hurt like amotherfucker.

Mari (27:37):
Well, and we've talked about before yeah, we've talked
about before about how, withromance books, the fact that
there is a comfort, the romancestructure of romance books is a
comfort.
The romance structure ofromance books is a comfort, like
you know, I know if I'm havinganxiety brain, if I'm having a
bad day, if, you know, my livingroom is full of a leak and my

(27:59):
husband's out of town and I'msick and the world is falling
apart, I can pick up a romancebook and, even if it's one that
I've never read before, there'sgoing to be, you know, one or
more people getting together.
There's going to be maybe someconflict and at the end it's all
going to come together and it'sgoing to be a happy ending.
Yeah, sometimes you want thatformula, you want that comfort,

(28:21):
because it's a little bit of acontrolled escapism Escapism,
yeah.

Ashley (28:27):
Yeah.

Mari (28:27):
Yeah, all right, kelly, do you want to do the little
spoiler bit so we can talk aboutthe rest, please?

Kelly (28:32):
Sure, from this point forward, we'll be talking about
spoilers, so if you don't wantto be spoiled, stop listening.

Mari (28:40):
All right, anything we want to add in the spoiler bits,
before we get into talkingabout world building, anything
specific to overall stuff, um, Idon't know I?

Jonathan (28:52):
I'm just wondering, like I think I'm, does he have
lips like what's?

Sarah (28:57):
going on with that like he's got cow lips.
Yeah, yeah, he's got wide widecow lips yeah, yeah he's got cow
lips I think when you're, whenyou're looking at monster
romances, they're not going tokiss you the same way as, as a
human, would kiss you, right?
So think, think about if youever went to a petting farm,
like a petting zoo, right, andlike the way that cows lips,

(29:19):
kind of.
I mean, that's what we'relooking at.
Right, we're looking at amonster that has a cow head or a
bull head on top.
It's just like we just finished, um, the our mothman episode
that's coming out.
And the moths, they don't havethe same kind of mouth, right.
What they do have is this longtongue, and that's part of the
monstrous appeal of it, right,like it's something so different

(29:41):
that your brain almost has ahard time computing what it
would feel like, because you notI don't think a lot of people
are making out with cows ormaking out with moths you know
there's gotta be a couple.
Somewhere there's a guy who'slike a couple, but like for the
most part it's uh it's a almostan exercise in your imagination.

Jonathan (30:05):
Yeah, right I'm looking at some images here that
are associated with the coverand like one of them just looks
like what are those cute littlecows, the actually?

Ashley (30:14):
what are those cute little?

Jonathan (30:15):
cows, yeah, what I'm having, yeah, yeah, it's like a
highland cow cover yeah, when wetalk about the cover, let's
just skip to the cover I agree,like I think I did not I did not
picture him as what he is onthe cover.

Mari (30:28):
He was absolutely a Highland cow through and through
in my head the entire time,especially every time she
mentioned his mop of hair.
Yeah, his mop of hair.

Jonathan (30:38):
Very angsty Because tonight will be the.
That's the vibe I'm getting,Also Galan's got a lot of abs.
I have one ab when I stand upand two when I bend over, and I
don't think my abs are supposedto touch.
He's got like 10 well, good forhim he did all the all the
setups.
This is some bullshit.

Mari (30:58):
I I really, um, I thought the yeah, I thought the cover
that they did was very cute,very like harlequin kind of
vibes to it.
Um, but I was like, but that'snot what I picture I still
thought it was it was no like Igave it probably like a four
stars for the cover because itwas nice, yeah, um, I think it's
like when you look at katiekatie roberts types books they

(31:20):
are often done in that samefashion but the monsters are
usually like a lot more, uh,explained a lot differently than
what's on the cover.

Sarah (31:29):
But I like that kind of like throwback to that like
traditional romance, especiallylike an 80s romance, like the
ripped bodiceness of it all,yeah, yeah.

Mari (31:36):
I agree, Ash.
What do you think of the cover?

Jonathan (31:39):
It's not of his tail.
Do you see his tail anywhere?
I want to see his dude's tail.

Ashley (31:45):
I'm not sure if they talked about the tail.

Jonathan (31:48):
They talked about his tail because it goes in and out
of his pants.
He's got a little.

Sarah (31:52):
I think they talked about his tail whipping around Like
nodding.

Jonathan (31:57):
Oh, he's a happy chappy, you can just see it.

Sarah (32:01):
Bing, bing, bing.
I think it's yeah, I think it'sa great cover.

Ashley (32:07):
Also, are there cows in the background of the cover,
because that disturbs meslightly.
I don't think there are.

Jonathan (32:15):
There are regulation cows there.

Sarah (32:17):
I think it's a.
Is it a horse or a cow?

Ashley (32:20):
It's a cow.
That's the roundest horse Iever did.

Jonathan (32:25):
That's a thick horse, that's okay.

Sarah (32:26):
Am I looking at a different cover than you?
I?

Mari (32:28):
must be looking at different covers.

Jess (32:30):
There's expanded ones that have a little more background,
and those have actual cows inthe background.

Sarah (32:36):
Okay, because I see one horse head.
I'm like I don't see anythingelse what you guys are talking
about.

Jonathan (32:41):
We're not talking about a cow and a lady.
We're talking about a minotauryeah a bully.
He just has cow-esque features.

Jess (32:50):
Well, in the book some of the cows have, like Some of the
minotaurs have a fetish to bemilked like a cow.
So yeah, it's weirdly fitting.

Mari (32:59):
It's interesting.
I thought that the what's hername Violet was like wondering
if all the different creaturesor monsters or whatever, had
their own fetishes.

Ashley (33:12):
I'm like you know what, probably you know, yeah, like it
makes sense.
So, ash, what would you givethe cover?
Oh, that's a four same.
Yeah, it was.
It told me everything about thebook in that cover.
Yeah, I knew exactly what I wasgetting into and I was not
disappointed.

Sarah (33:26):
Can I bring up what the original cover looks like?
It's hard, I hate it.
This is the mainstream cover,but the original cover did not
look like this.
When I downloaded the book, itlooked like the original cover,
and that's something elseentirely.

Jonathan (33:41):
Is that the jug of milk?

Sarah (33:43):
Yes, with the black gloves and the outline of the
Minotaur.
Yeah, that's something else.

Jess (33:49):
That's an Amazon.
Yes, with the black gloves andthe outline of the Minotaur.
Yeah, yeah, that's somethingelse.
That's an Amazon self-publishedtitle.
It sure looks like one.

Jonathan (33:55):
Yeah, she didn't even have Canva Pro, she just had.

Ashley (34:00):
That's giving secretary for sure, she was doing her
bents.

Jonathan (34:02):
Yeah.

Mari (34:06):
Yeah, all right, sarah and Jess, what would you rate the
cover and whichever one you wantto?

Sarah (34:13):
rate the old one or the new one.
I think the old one ishorrifying, in my opinion.
I just don't like it.
It seems like a scientificexperiment.
But I think the newer one, theromance cover one, I love it.
Honestly I would take all ofthese monster romance covers and
frame them and put them up inmy office like I think they're
great.
I love these like rip bodice,like monster covers.

Jess (34:35):
I think they're fantastic I will, uh, I agree, but I will
say it's interesting to thinkabout how there was an original
um cover and then there's anewer cover and that kind of
just goes to show the popularityof it and the how monster
romance is becoming moremainstream, the fact that it

(34:55):
needed a more appealing, moresexy cover.

Jonathan (35:01):
Um yeah, yeah, I agree , agree, yeah, jonathan I
thought it was a very warm andinviting cover.
I there are a couple thingsthat that uh threw me off.
One was like I don't know if Isaw him with a mullet.
I don't know if I saw him as a,as a ginger either, and I don't
.

Ashley (35:20):
She says like apricot, doesn't she?
I don't?

Jonathan (35:25):
and then I also I don't know how I feel about his,
um, his, uh, forearm mohawksthat he's got going on there,
but all that stuff and I couldand like I had this mental like
breakdown of like what do hislips do?
um, yeah, yeah, but you knowthat's what I'm saying, like
yeah, I want to know, like Ineed to know, the mechanics of

(35:47):
that, so kind of like the tism.
The tism took over.
So I try to like figure outlike, what does the cow, what do
cow lips look like, what do cowlips want to do?
Like, what is you know?
Like, do you think, does helike when he's when he's when
he's reaching, when he's hittingthe top, when he's when he gets
to the top of the mountain,does he like, is he you know?
I mean, is there like, does hishoof dig in?
What's going on there?

Sarah (36:07):
I want to know it.

Jonathan (36:07):
Does I think they talk about that in that, like in the
milking room, you like, youlook, you know, on the perch
yeah, like his hoof, like digsinto the concrete yeah, and it
talks about like when, when shewas wanting him to like have sex
with her in her house, helooked around.

Mari (36:22):
He was like I'm gonna ruin your bed, my hopes are gonna
ruin your bed.

Sarah (36:25):
yeah, yeah, I'm going to like run into the carpet in the
bed.

Jonathan (36:29):
Yeah, so then I want to know more about his vinegar
strokes.

Mari (36:32):
So but what do you think of the cover?
What do you rate the?

Jonathan (36:35):
cover.
Oh yeah, I'm trying to bring usback.

Mari (36:39):
I really am, yeah.

Jonathan (36:39):
Yeah, bring me back in there.
Bring me back.
I thought it was a delightfulpiece of artistry, especially
compared to the OG version,which is very given off clip art
vibes Kelly.
I enjoyed looking at this onemore.

Kelly (36:57):
I think the cover's fine.
I agree with Ashley.
You look at this cover, youknow exactly what you're going
to get.
As far as it representing whatwas in the book, it's pretty
straightforward.
I did like the clever pun thatthey used on the cover.

Mari (37:11):
The monster bait.

Sarah (37:12):
Yeah.

Mari (37:13):
Yeah, I love it, the monster bait romance.

Sarah (37:17):
I think it's interesting too when you compare it to the
book from his perspective.
It's almost laid out the sameway, but you see the female
perspective be much moreromantic and the male
perspective book cover being alittle bit more straightforward.
They're wearing the same kindof stuff, like it's the same
pose but different.
I think that's reallyinteresting as well what's the

(37:40):
name of the second book?

Jonathan (37:42):
a blue ribbon romance, yeah I'm so, I'm so fucking
sorry.

Sarah (37:47):
Yeah, there's like some state fair shit here yeah, yeah,
yeah nice so it's like a funnod that like she's in the same
color dress and you know, it'salmost like he's in the same
kind of pose, but it's a littlebit more demure, mindful, if you
will.
Yeah, he does look more like ahighland cow.

Jonathan (38:09):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely he does oh, yeah,
it's well, okay, well, and thenthe lips aren't there.
I still, we need fucking lips.
You can't give me the lips inone and take them away in book
two.

Sarah (38:22):
I need I feel like I need to like google for you, like
cow lips eating things orsomething.
I'm fucking Googling this rightnow.
I want to see like.

Jonathan (38:30):
I want to know if these cows have fucking
fantastic soup coolers.

Mari (38:34):
All right.
So while you look, while youGoogle, cow lips back to fantasy
world building.
I gave the world building afour for me.
I thought it was really welldone because I, like the first
time I read this, I wanted toknow more about Cambrick Creek.
I'm like it was so cool thatthere was all these different
creatures, all these differentmonsters, all these different

(38:55):
accommodations for them.
There was, like this, one areawhere they felt safe and
included in Cambrick Creek, butwhen you go outside of it, there
was all these things that wereshowed you the prejudices and
things in the world of againstthe monsters.
And also the author stillmanaged to bring in, like things
from our world, like food,deserts and, like you know,

(39:21):
student loans and how you canget way over your head in debt
and then graduate with all thiseducation and not be able to get
a job.
Yep, yeah, yes, yeah.
Very well done.
Ash, did you say a number?

Ashley (39:32):
Oh, four.
I'm sorry, four Did I miss it.

Jonathan (39:35):
You did.

Ashley (39:36):
I'm sorry.

Jonathan (39:36):
Pay attention, ash, get your head in the game.

Ashley (39:41):
I can't believe there's part two.

Sarah (39:44):
I'm so excited you should read the other ones I'm going
to get excited too.

Jonathan (39:50):
It's just going to be like ad hoc benefits for me.
You know like what?

Kelly (39:54):
is it going to value add?
That's what it is.

Jonathan (39:55):
You read the book?
Yeah, I might just buy thatbook for you.

Ashley (39:58):
I very much enjoyed the fantasy of this.
It wasn't like punch you inyour face, right Right.
It was immersive.
She packed a lot of informationin there, and I think my own.
I really wanted to understandwhat her mom's response was.

Kelly (40:15):
I feel like that was over entirely.

Ashley (40:18):
I wanted that drama, but maybe we get it later, I don't
know.
Um, but I enjoyed the worldbuilding.
I enjoyed the friends that theymade and the neighbor situation
.
I enjoyed that Violet had thatone-on-one girl time with the
neighbor friend.
It was like what is yourinterspecies relationship like

(40:40):
and how do you handle thosecultural differences with the
families?
I thought she accomplished alot in a very small book,
arguably, and it was just.
But it was also in a pleasantway.
Like I said, it didn't punchyou in your face, you weren't
overwhelmed with information.
You kind of got a little tidbitof the different monster

(41:01):
species with explanation, rightand description.
So definitely a four for me.
I liked it a lot, sarah Jesswhat do you guys think, Jess you
?

Sarah (41:10):
go this time.

Jess (41:12):
Yeah, I mean I think I agree with the general consensus
.
I mean there's a lot packedinto this, this little book, and
there's a there's quite a lotof world building, and I find
that sometimes with monsterromances it's either it's almost
like one or the other.
You either get this like reallylovely world building that
incorporates the monsters toshow how monsters and humans

(41:37):
interact, but then sometimessome books just don't give a
hoot.
They just want to get right tothe sex.
They're like we don't, like itdoesn't matter, because there's
gonna be some dicking, so, um.
So I appreciated that this onehad some of that in there and
that it's actually quite likenuanced as well.

Sarah (41:58):
Yeah, I would agree with that 100, and I think the great
thing about these is that theybuild on what you've learned.
So if you've read, you knowmorning glory milking farm and
you go on to sweet berries,which is the next book in the
series.
Yeah, it builds upon what youknow.
So you, like, you already knowabout the coffee shop, uh, you

(42:18):
know I'll tell you a little bitmore.
But then you learn about, like,oh, the ice cream shop and you
can go to the ice cream shop,but it has a cart, you know,
eight blocks down and to theleft, and it's the same owners.
Like, I love knowing theselittle things.
But also, like, again, like itdoesn't take itself too
seriously, like I feel likesometimes when I read, like, for
example, like, um, you know,I'm reading about bryce going

(42:43):
through the city, right, uh, and, and a sarah j mass book and I
have to pay attention toeverything that Bryce sees,
because it's going to come backand I'm going to have to file it
away and I don't have a greatmemory, right, so I'm not going
to remember the doorway that shesaw in book one when I'm in
book three.
Like, I'm not going to rememberthat, but I am going to
remember that, like that,mothman didn't want to eat that

(43:07):
green ice cream.
Like my brain is simplesometimes like I work.
We work these long days and Ilove having this like escapist
fantasy that like, oh, there'sworld building, but it's not so
serious that I have to like payattention to every single thing
that happens like my brainyou're not taking notes it's not
home.
No, I'm not I'm never listen,guys.

(43:29):
I'm never gonna take a notewhen I read a book, ever, and
I'll tell you that right now.

Jess (43:33):
If it's not for work, I'm not in school anymore.

Sarah (43:36):
I don't give a shit.
I'm reading for escapism andfor the fun and for the smut and
for the monsters.
So like for me, like it's not aton of world building but it's
enough that I totally agree withlike a four ranking there, like
absolutely I'm gonna give it a,I'm gonna give it a three in
world building, because it just,it just felt so, because you

(43:56):
couldn't find out about the lipsI did come across a term from
gordon ramsay called beef cheeks, and so now I'm even further
down this rabbit hole and I'mgonna have to delete my browser
you're an fbi agenthe's going, he's like I don't
know what's going on.
What's happening?

Jonathan (44:14):
browser history listen there's some interesting
websites where you can get somevisuals is all I gotta say yeah,
I thought I you know, the onlyreason I give it three is
because I keep going back tolike it just felt very like
friends yeah, well, it doessound like you had fun with this
book in your own way, I had funafter this book.

Sarah (44:32):
Yeah, so maybe this is your gateway, your gateway to
that book yeah, yeah, yeah.

Jonathan (44:38):
It could be.

Mari (44:40):
Romance, Romance.
In this book we separateromance and spice.
So for romance, for me I wouldsay it was a two.
This is not a heavy romancebook on its own.
For me it's more insta-lust,insta-romance, which is not my
particular brand of romance.
But if you take into accountthe blue ribbon romance part of
it I feel like it's better, butif I'm just looking at this book

(45:02):
, for me the romance itself wasa two nah, I thought it was a
three.

Jonathan (45:07):
It was polite, there was courtship yeah, you said
that, like they were gonna,there's like a 15 point
disparity.
You were like, nah, it's nottwo at all because two is below
average.

Ashley (45:18):
I thought it was.
I thought it was an averageromance book.

Jonathan (45:21):
Do you know what the average is?
How can you say that?

Ashley (45:23):
because we're here on the five sir yeah, but how many
have?

Jonathan (45:26):
how many books have you rated to establish an
average?
You don't even even have a list.
No, no, no.
I'm just talking about thisbook, this book on a score of
one to five.

Ashley (45:33):
Three would be average and two is below average.

Jonathan (45:36):
And write a Python code for this.

Ashley (45:37):
Yeah, let me know what you come up with.
Thanks so much.
I thought it was a three.
There was courtship.
He was considerate of herfeelings, obviously obviously.
There were extenuating milkings.
There were fantasies.
It was a sweet little romance.
He could have banged her in thecar or at the restaurant full

(46:02):
50 shades, done some dirty,nasty shit, and it didn't go
down that road.
I thought it was very politethat it was very demure until it
wasnure, until it wasn't yeah,yeah, no it wasn't.
I liked it a lot.
It was, it was pleasant again.
It wasn't like punch you inyour face, faded mates, bullshit
right out the gate, or anythingsarah and jess um I'd say three

(46:25):
fair three.

Jess (46:26):
I I'd say I would give it a two.
I think I mean okay, becauseit's not.
It's not quite my type ofromance.
Like I, I don't like the instalust, you know, like I don't
like that.
It started off kind of sexualalready.
I need, I need the build-up.
Personally, I need that burn.

(46:48):
I didn't feel no burn, it waslukewarm.
It was demure it was too demure, it was beige.

Sarah (46:58):
I don't know how milking somebody's cock is demure.
Okay, guys.

Ashley (47:03):
Alright.

Sarah (47:05):
Mine feels short but demure.
I don't know about that.

Jonathan (47:10):
You know what it gave off?
Very junior high kind of vibesDemir.
I want it to be special, that'swhat he said there was courting
.
That was like a number two.

Sarah (47:21):
Like a number two pencil, just like the school blue.

Jonathan (47:23):
Yeah, that's what we're going with Okay Spice.

Mari (47:27):
Spice for me was a five Like this did have absolutely
all the spice 100%.

Ashley (47:33):
Jess is like who.

Jonathan (47:35):
Their spice bar is higher.
Their spice bar is they'recomparing this to something else
.
There's tongues and otherthings.
They don't have lips at all,but they got tongues, elongated
tongues.
I know what you can do withthose things.

Sarah (47:48):
I think it's like a 3.5.

Jess (47:49):
We're on a different level .
Sarah and I are a differentlevel I think like a 3.5.

Sarah (47:55):
I mean, I think the spice is holy shit, holy shit, yeah,
but I don't think it's like Idon't know spicy, like the
things that we read are sofilthy that this like for me is
like that's like a, that's likea 3.5 I think the five comes
from like the running of, likethe feet in the ground.

(48:16):
I'm like that's prettyanimalistic, but like it's not
really that spicy for us per seyeah, not saying it's not bad
and I enjoyed the spice whenit's there but like it's pretty
cozy like the, like the book iskind of cozy.

Jess (48:30):
Yeah, I don't know what.
He described it as like cozyspicy.

Mari (48:34):
This is absolutely cozy spicy book yeah.

Jess (48:36):
Yeah, Something that we haven't mentioned yet is it
would be considered a cinnamonroll monster romance.
Oh yeah.

Jonathan (48:43):
I have no idea what that means.

Jess (48:44):
Yeah.

Jonathan (48:45):
Okay, please elaborate Jess.

Jess (48:46):
Sarah.

Mari (48:49):
You were at the panel, we were at Go ahead.

Sarah (48:52):
Sarah, you explain.
So a cinnamon roll monster is amonster.
That's very sweet.
It has a lot of humanattributes, right.
So they're going to romance you.
They're going to be that Rossto your Rachel, if you will,
jonathan right, they were on abreak, just kidding um, but like

(49:14):
the second time today jess andI are of the the kind of mind
thing that, like we and I lovethis book.
So like don't get me wrong likewe also like our monsters to be
monsters, so like, if they arenot pc and they are acting
monstrous, like that is, that isan element of the genre, right?

(49:35):
So I think we get glimpses ofthat a little bit when we talk
about like rourke really likekind of losing himself and
running into her and things likethat.
But he's still a sweet, politeman that courts her right like
monster man, yeah yeah he's notlike taking whatever he wants.
You know what I mean.
Like he's.
He is their cinnamon roll andhe said sweet cinnamon.

(49:58):
Exactly, he took time, he gotbaked, he's got an icing on top
of it.
It's very thick but it's there,you know.
But he's not, he not monstrous.
You're not worried about himlosing control ever.
You're not afraid of him.
You know, just like ravagingher and and just it being just
so monstrous, you're like, oh,he's like a sweet guy, the hair

(50:20):
out of his eyes to use a termthat I heard on your guys's
podcast.

Mari (50:25):
There's no, uh, scurrousable.

Sarah (50:27):
Yeah, yeah, that's great, yeah, no.
Iousal yeah, yeah, that's great, yeah, no, I think that's,
that's perfect.
Uh, I think I think there's.
There's maybe a little bit morewhen you go through the the
rest of the series.
Like, uh, with the mothman bookthere's like a little uh, like
a voyeurness to it.
That's a little bit of that.
But still, there's cinnamonrolls.

(50:49):
You know, um, they're not,they're not scary and that's
part of it.
Right, it's going over that,like, oh, they're monsters, but
we are in an accepting communitywhere they're not, um, right,
but I think it's still, uh, it'sstill a good intro book for
somebody that hasn't really readthis kind of monster romance

(51:09):
before.
But it's not scary.
You're not aroused and alsoafraid.
You're just aroused, which isgreat too.

Jonathan (51:18):
It's one or the other.

Sarah (51:21):
No, not in our world.

Jonathan (51:23):
I was going to say I thought maybe you could be both,
or maybe one could draw.

Sarah (51:27):
You can be both.

Jonathan (51:28):
You said specifically Jonathan you didn't want scary.

Sarah (51:33):
so this is the not scary monster book that is an
aphrodisiac for many is to bescared.

Ashley (51:41):
slash afraid and aroused Scorazzle.

Jonathan (51:47):
That's a legitimate word.

Ashley (51:48):
So is bangening, bangening.

Mari (51:55):
I don't know that one Bang when you, when you fuck the
magic on.
Oh yeah, ash, what was your uhspice rating on this?

Ashley (52:00):
spice rate there was.
There was a lot of spice.
It was polite spice.
I don't think it's the spiciestthing I've ever read.
I want to say it was like athree and a half.
I was okay, it was.
It was again.
You know, based on the cover Isaid it earlier it was exactly
what I expected and in such asmall book, right like it was
250 pages, some odd.

(52:22):
So yeah, yeah, it was a threeand a half, I thought it was it
was a nice spice.

Mari (52:27):
Moving on, I think we've done all our bits that we
normally do, right?
Oh, no, no, jonathan.
Yeah, jonathan, did you sayspice?
You did say spice, right or no?

Ashley (52:35):
um well he mentioned the calculator earlier, but I don't
know that he.

Jonathan (52:39):
Yeah, I definitely have this one scored high on the
calculator.
It's a 72 percent of on thecalculator and I have now fuck
it.
Let's go all the way to four.
Oh, four for you yeah, you knowwhat my yeah we're gonna get
you some more books, jonathanyeah, I'm just a baby he's new
here, guys, it's okay all right.

Mari (53:01):
And then the last question is uh, is this a kissing book
for me?

Kelly (53:05):
I put yes yeah, I think it's a kissing book.

Jess (53:07):
I think it has to have like yeah, yeah, full on we
still have to figure out howthey kiss, though that's the
only.

Sarah (53:15):
Oh, it's the outlier they're kissing, but we're not
quite sure how.

Mari (53:20):
All right, so I know we're rounding up on time here, but,
um, I wanted to go into, likenormally, we'll do a little
rapid fire after this, butinstead of that I wanted to talk
a little bit about you guys andHissin' and Kissin', and one of
the things I was trying to docoming up into the holiday
season is highlight little likesmall businesses and things like
.
We had a small business lastepisode and we're gonna have

(53:42):
another one next one.
But I also want to remindeverybody that a lot of times,
these podcasts and things youlisten to are also small
businesses.
So, for example, if your personyou want to buy a gift for
likes a certain podcast or acertain like artist or a certain
indie author or whatever, a lotof times these creators have
things that you can buy.

(54:02):
Hissin' and Kissin' has coollittle t-shirts and totes and
mugs and sweatshirts.

Sarah (54:11):
I saw you made a purchase from us today and I appreciate
that very very much I did Mari.

Mari (54:17):
Santa bought something for Mari.
Is there anything?
I know we talked a little bitabout you guys at the beginning,
but is there anything else?
Jonathan, Ashley, you guys haveany questions for them or
anything?

Jonathan (54:29):
else.
Well, I have questions.

Mari (54:29):
Sarah and Jess, you guys want to talk.

Ashley (54:30):
I have questions.
You've got a notebook, guys.
There's a notebook.

Jonathan (54:36):
What's this thing I heard about on your podcast
Alpha Beta Omega?

Ashley (54:42):
You opened up a can of worms.

Sarah (54:46):
That was the first question you could have asked.
Happy birthday, Sam.

Jonathan (54:50):
I've got a whole list that I got questions on um, okay
, rapid fire okay yeah, sarah,you take this one.

Sarah (54:57):
I'll take the next one, okay so, um, alpha, beta, omega
is, uh, are types of people inthe omega verse.
What is the omega verse?
I'm so glad you ask.
Um, it is a universe in whichalpha, beta, beta and Omegas
live.
Alphas if they are male, theyhave a penis with a big knot on
the end.
If they are an Omega, theybasically get very horny and

(55:21):
they need to be fucked by Alphaswhen they go into heat.
There can be female Alphas andalso male Omegas, but we're not
going to dive into that becauseit's rapid fire and betas are
normal people.
Is that good?

Jess (55:36):
And if you're a male omega , you can get pregnant, and that
is called M-Preg.

Jonathan (55:41):
Yes, Is that?

Ashley (55:42):
another question.

Jonathan (55:44):
No, I saw a whole movie on that with.

Sarah (55:46):
Danny.

Jonathan (55:46):
DeVito.

Sarah (55:48):
Yeah, we actually talked about that.
Yeah, yeah, yep, absolutely.

Jonathan (55:52):
Alright, so with that knowledge, shrek and Donkey
who's who?

Sarah (55:57):
Oh, jess take that one.

Jess (55:58):
Okay, Absolutely.
Shrek is the alpha.

Sarah (56:01):
Yeah, agreed.

Jess (56:03):
Donkey's an omega, yeah, and all you have to do is even
look at his relationship withthe dragon.
He's definitely gettingbottomed in that relationship.
A hundred percent yeah.

Jonathan (56:13):
R2-D2, C-3PO.

Sarah (56:16):
Oh, we just did this one.

Jess (56:18):
Yeah, so we have a segment where we we have a segment on
our Omegaverse episodes where wewe say who is the alpha, who's
the Omega?
And we agreed that R2 beingbeing the war criminal he is and
not a snitch either.
Yeah, he's the Alpha.

Sarah (56:36):
Jonathan, if you have questions in the future, we have
a whole channel on our Discordwhere you can put Alpha and
Omega in at any time and thewhole group can talk about it.
So we literally have a channelcalled Alpha War, omega.
So that's what we.
You can do that anytime youwant to and on our On our
Discord, Actually on that.

Mari (56:58):
Along those lines, where can people find you guys?

Sarah (57:02):
Usually we have this written down you had one job.

Ashley (57:05):
And my screen is frozen.

Mari (57:07):
Not even going to make you do it in any kind of a funny
voice.
What happened is we kept sayingit randomly and my screen is
frozen, not even going to makeyou do it in any kind of a funny
voice.

Sarah (57:10):
What happened is we kept saying it randomly and my yeah,
my husband Brad, who like doesour producing, was like, if you
don't write it down, I got it.
You two are such a hot mess,okay just go.

Jess (57:22):
Okay, you ready?
You can find us on ourInstagram at Hissin' and Kissin'
Podcast.
In the bio of our instagram wehave a couple of links.
We have a link to our website,wwwhissandkissandpodcastcom.
We also have a link to our linktree.
There are different uh links toplaces you can listen to the

(57:43):
podcast.
There's a link to the website.
Of course, there's a link toour coffee account.
Make sure you head over to ourwebsite where we've got some
merch.
Make sure they get it.
We have a TikTok account,hissingkissingpod, an email
hissingandkissingpodcast atgmailcom.
Send over your questions,comments and or concerns and

(58:06):
again, don't forget about ourcoffee account.
I think that's everything allright.

Mari (58:17):
thanks for listening to of swords and soulmates.
Before we go, make sure tocheck the show notes, rate,
review and subscribe to us onyour podcast app of choice.
It helps others to find us.
Follow us on instagram at ofswords and soulmates, or join
our Facebook page of swords andsoulmates.
Check out our website of swordsand soulmates dot com, and
we're also available on YouTube,tiktok and Pinterest with the

(58:38):
same username.
If you'd like to offer asuggestion for a future rapid
fire question, reach out to uson any of the options above or
email us.
If you want to read along withus as we prep for a new episode,
you can follow us on Goodreads,at of swords and soulmates, or
for chapter by chapterinteraction on the fable app.
We're actually not going to bereading a book for the next

(59:00):
episode, but if you're on thefable book club, we're going to
be reading a book that we're notgoing to talk about in the
podcast.
We're going to read thephantasma book.
Phantasm oh my God, it's thebook of Phantasma.
Thank you, I'm like oh my God.

Ashley (59:13):
I had to sound it out.
It's okay.
Phantasma by KE SmithK-A-Y-L-I-E Smith.

Mari (59:30):
So if you want to have a discussion about that, it's
going to be Amy of MaplegrassDesign and we're going to be
talking about the NightmareBefore Christmas.
Thank you.
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