"One Dark Window" - Fever Dreams and Highway Schemes - Of Swords and Soulmates

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 (00:32):
Hello and welcome to Of Swords and Soulmates, a podcast
where we read, watch and discussromancy stories.
I'm one of your hosts, mari,and with me I have Kelly.

Kelly (00:36):
Hey everyone, it's Kelly.
We have Ashley.

Ashley (00:39):
Hey guys, it's Ashley.
We also have Jonathan.

Jonathan (00:41):
What's going on?
It's JP Woo.

Mari (00:45):
We have a whole lot of news today, so we're going to be
discussing, eventually, oneDark Window by Rachel Gillig.
But fair warning, buckle inlisteners.
We got a lot.
We got a lot.
I feel like it's been monthssince.

(01:06):
If I look at the news, it lookslike it's been months since
we've talked, but I know itisn't.
It's just.
A lot has happened.
So to begin with, we have AliHazelwood has had to cancel her
UK signing tour dates that werealready set to go.
People had already gottenreservations and whatnot to do.
We've talked about her before.
She mainly does contemporaryromance, stem, but of course she
wrote bride and the upcomingsequel to that mate right, is

(01:28):
that what the sequel is called?
Um, and she's supposed to be atthe romancy con in uh, orlando
in october.
So she released this on herfacebook following and instagram
at the same time.
She said quote so I have tocancel all my UK events.
It breaks my heart and I cannotapologize enough.
And then, in the little detailsof that she put, I have decided

(01:50):
to cancel my April events inthe UK.
This is because of severalcomplicated reasons that mostly
boil down to the fact that,things being what they are, it's
not possible for me to safelytravel outside and then back
inside the US end quote.
And then back inside the US Endquote.
I know she's Italian born andshe is here doing like work
neuro.
I think neuro she's some kindof neuroscientist for her like

(02:12):
her main gig, so I'm assumingit's related to that is why she
would have concerns about beingable to go out and come back in.
Yeah, tough times.

Jonathan (02:21):
Yeah, very much.
So yeah, I am you know it.
Yeah, tough times very much.

Ashley (02:27):
so yeah, I am you know, it's not the first author that
that I've come across thatmentioned something like that.
That's the first one I saw.
Yeah, there was a.

Jonathan (02:30):
It's definitely the biggest there's a canadian
author who she hasn't posted itpublicly, but uh, so I won't um
say her name, but, like oninstagram, I was like, hey, do
you have any upcoming shows, uh,or conventions that you're
gonna, that you're planning tobe at?
She was like, uh, unfortunatelynot this year.
I live in Canada and that thattravel is just not, it's not

(02:53):
part of my.
You know, my year this yearbecause of you know, given the
current situation, I'mparaphrasing but, um, but, yeah,
so I mean, there's there, thereare impacts all over.
We're fortunate, hopefully,allie is one of the authors that
I'm looking forward to meetingthis fall.

Ashley (03:10):
Yes, I'm so excited.

Jonathan (03:12):
Yeah, I'm very excited to meet Allie and I'm hopeful
that because mother RebeccaYaros will be at this same event
and hoping that she attractsthe masses, so that way I get
more face time with ally Ireally think so.

Mari (03:28):
I really think that rebecca, you're always being
there.
I'm very excited she's going tobe there, even though I have.
No, I'm not necessarily goingto try to like go for getting
the signing tickets or pay forthe disney event or whatever
with her, but I'm like, yes,please get more.
You know people coming to thecon, but also maybe that'll give
us some more time with the restof the authors.
Not that I feel we had anyissues talking to anybody last

(03:51):
time, but I know there wasn'tanybody as big as Rebecca
Yarrow's there.

Jonathan (03:55):
Was Penn Cole there?
Penn Cole was there we didn'tknow then.

Kelly (04:00):
We didn't know we loved her.

Jonathan (04:01):
That's another one I want to get.

Ashley (04:03):
I don't know that she's coming this year.
No I didn't see her on the list.
All I hear in my head is whenhe talks about these authors,
and the majority of them arewomen, right?
So what's that soundbite?
That's just like.
These are my ladies.
You know the soundbite I'mthinking of this is Bernadette.

Jonathan (04:18):
No that's not.
I, I don't mean it in a sexualway, the way he fangirls over
authors has been mind-blowing.

Ashley (04:27):
He's cold-calling them on Instagram like hey, I really
like your stuff.
Are you going to be at any consthis year?

Jonathan (04:33):
Not in a creepy way, no it's very precious.

Mari (04:37):
From everything I hear, authors always appreciate when
you tell them that you liketheir work.
They get enough.
Enough, I think, bad criticismfrom people, because there's so
many people who pick apart otherpeople's work.

Ashley (04:50):
Poor callie, yeah, she's going through it, yeah, but
yeah, he's just out there makingbesties.
Yeah, yeah, anyway.

Jonathan (04:55):
So have the audacity, yeah just listen, you miss 100
of the shots you don't take.
Just you know.
Raise your hand and ask thesestupid questions.

Ashley (05:04):
That's all I hear um this is my lady abigail.

Jonathan (05:08):
This is my other lady, ellie.

Ashley (05:11):
Um, like you, like you didn't meet juliet, I didn't
mean to make it weird, that wasjust all I heard.

Jonathan (05:19):
Yeah, so uh maybe one way to support ally is, uh, if
you're in the UK.
And what I did for the Canadianauthor that I will be unable to
meet was I just went on herwebsite and I ended up
purchasing a book, a number ofbook plates.
They're cheap.
Oh, you did, yeah, oh yeah, Igot like five book plates, one
for each of her books as theycome out.

Ashley (05:40):
Yeah, guys, sell book plates.

Mari (05:42):
We'll buy it and a lot of authors sell other like little
merchant stuff on their websitedirectly, like little stickers
or maybe like official, you know, t-shirts with their little
like logos or something with thecharacters.
I say little.
That that sounds verydismissive.
I don't mean that I mean likethings about their fan fandom.
Whatever they create, like ifit's a side character, if it's a

(06:02):
, a catchphrase, you know, a lotof times there'll be things
like that that the authors sellon their website.
So Waterstones is a big UK bookseller and a lot of times there

(06:29):
are special editions that areWaterstones exclusive and you
can pre-order from them way inadvance like you can from
anybody else, from Barnes andNoble or whatever.
And on three of the groups Iwas in there were people that
had pre-ordered.
On three of the groups I was inthere were people that had
pre-ordered people who lived inthe US, who had pre-ordered
books on Waterstones in the UKto be shipped over and had

(06:53):
gotten a message saying that thescreenshot that they had seen
posted was we regret quote weregret that we are currently
unable to accept or ship ordersto the US while we establish
options to be compliant with thenew tariffs.
End quote.
That being said, I have severalbooks on pre-order with
Waterstones.
None of them are set to bedelivered anytime soon, but I

(07:13):
didn't get this message anywherethat I looked at anything on my
profile, so I don't know ifit's books that have like
imminent delivery while theyfigure it out.

Ashley (07:21):
Yeah, I think this is a very fluid situation.
Um, and if I'm not mistaken, Iam not as versed in the overseas
um, you know, enterprises suchas uh waterstone, although I
know that's one of the biggernames, there's also one called
blackwells that is my.
Both of those two very bignames have sent similar emails

(07:42):
about potential shipping delaysor halts because of the new
tariffs.
But I thought I had heard somechatter about some of that being
rescinded and they're workingthrough it or something of that
nature.
So definitely pay attention tothe fine print during this time.
Keep an eye out on your emailfor things that have already
been pre-ordered.
I thought I read that they weregoing to comply with orders

(08:04):
that had already beenpre-ordered.
I thought I read that they wereGoing to Comply with orders
that had already been received.

Mari (08:09):
Everything I've read says that they're going to honor
what's already been ordered.

Ashley (08:13):
But that new one's moving forward.
I think we're going to startseeing Some really big delays,
if not Big shipping halting.

Mari (08:21):
Prices changed, so just pay attention to stuff.
Or if they figure out whatthose Like shipping prices
changed, right, so just payattention to stuff, yeah Right.

Ashley (08:26):
Or if they figure out what those numbers are, and then
, of course, it falls on us tofigure out what we want to do,
right?
So, yeah, it's Waterstone andBlackwell's, if I'm not mistaken
, although, but maybe Waterstoneowns Blackwell's now I'm a
little fuzzy on that, forgive meguys, I'm not sure.
Yeah, I'm not sure.
Yeah, I'm not sure.
But I did see that chatter,social media is a really has a

(08:47):
really good pulse on that stuff.
And as the updates are coming,that's where I'm hearing them
first, because as soon as thosewarnings were going out about
the halts, it was very quicklyfollowed up with hey, you know
we're honoring what's already,the orders that have already
been received, kind of things.
Yeah, keep an eye on youremails, guys.

Mari (09:05):
If you've already ordered something and if you're thinking
about it, look for the fineprint yeah, all right, moving on
, the plated prisoner, uh seriesby raven kennedy, which the
first one, I believe, is calledguilt.
I'm gild, I'm reading that onenow.
Guild, guild, guild.

Ashley (09:24):
Yeah, I thought this was a joke.
This series is spicy.

Mari (09:28):
It's dark, like I'm only.
It's also dark yeah, I'm only,maybe, I don't know something
like 10, 12% into book one.
But so far let me paint apicture, and I know nothing
right now, so I don't think I'mspoiling anything, because
everything I tell you isbasically in the first chapter.
This is like a King Midassituation retelling, and the

(09:48):
main character, or the characterwhose perspective I have only
gotten so far, is basically hisnon-consenting groomed as a
child prisoner.
It's dark, and so she's like oh, I just wish he would pay
attention to me, I wish he wouldtouch me.
Oh, my god, he's looking my way.

Ashley (10:08):
yeah, I I would pause on the non-consenting part, but
it's definitely a potentialgrooming situation.
I think I've read like three ofthe books, um, when they first
came out and um, you're notwrong about it being dark and
we're definitely going to.
It'll definitely touch on somevery sensitive topics, but she

(10:31):
thinks she's in love, yeah, withthis guy.
So it's not necessarilynon-consenting, but there is
emotional, yeah, if not physicalabuse.
Like I said, I'm only like, andthere's a spin that comes later
on, okay, which makes it veryfantasy more fantasy than the
retelling part of it, um,without spoiling anything.

Mari (10:50):
So I think there's like five or six of them now, but I'm
very surprised that this is,and I'm very early on, like I
said, but the idea I thought wasthat she was like very young
when he got her prison.
I thought she was like a child.
I think he was also young, okay.
So, like I said, I'm I'm super,super early and so this is just
my take as a like I don't knowsomewhere between six and eleven

(11:12):
percent into the situation.
So super early yeah, yeah, um,but yeah, that's.
That's apparently gonna be ashow.
Showrunner is kate rorick.
Yeah, I'll be interesting tosee if that actually makes it to
production.

Ashley (11:25):
So we'll see Raven Kennedy is a big name, um, so
this would be interesting forthe book talk community.
I mean, it's like I rememberbeing decidedly spicy so oh yeah
.
Game of Thrones level of spicebecause, like Game of Thrones,
didn't hide anything eitherright.

Mari (11:41):
Yeah, I would say it's definitely, like I said by the
beginning part that I've seenit's definitely that level.
So we'll see.
We'll see where it goes.
I don't have a real opinion onit other than definitely dark.
Definitely read the triggerwarnings if you have any issues.
But so far I'm intrigued.
I mean I'm willing to see thestory through, see what happens.
So all right.
Next bit of news we have ishannah nicoleer released that

(12:06):
she is going to be doing aspecial edition hardcover of
Assistant to the Villain throughBarnes Noble.
It's very pretty, it's veryshiny.

Jonathan (12:14):
Have you guys seen this, have commented on a social
media post where other authorshad elaborate painted edges and
sprayed edges, and I was like,hey, y'all should teach Hannah,
who was on there, how you guysgot these fancy edges, because I

(12:38):
would like to see her books ina fancier version.
And then the next day I sawthis and I was like jk, jk yeah
she, uh, hannah is anotherperson that I would love to see
at an event.
You had your shot.
I did have my shot.
I missed it.
Instead, I went to go meet joshgann at his book thing so maybe
there'll be another time.

Mari (12:58):
She's got plenty more books in here I haven't seen
anything about her touring doesshe live in florida?

Jonathan (13:04):
that I don't know I almost like I keep thinking,
somehow my mind is just lockedon her living in florida.
So I'm like I I feel like I'mbound to bump into her.
I was, uh, she did like afriday night social uh thing on
facebook last week and you canlike chime in and ask them
questions.
And I think I asked her like,hey, you know what's?

(13:25):
What's the deal with KingsleyIs there, is there a spinoff
there?
I think one of the dangers is,if he's restored to humanity,
right, then you know, is there arisk of him, of somebody, of a
special someone, falling in lovewith him, or can we get a
prequel?
And she was like wink wink,time will tell.
Like, uh, wink wink, time willtell.

Mari (13:46):
So yeah, we need to know Mark Hensley for sure.
So it's 3299.
And if you get it, if youpreorder it, it ships September
16th 2025.
All right, new to us, althoughI don't know that it's a new
store, but it's new to us.
Jonathan found it.
Narrative Threads sells a bunchof book-based merch but

(14:08):
specifically they have somereally cute now that it's
starting to get warm and it's nolonger cold weather really cute
cardigans and knit sweaters, alot of Sarah J Maas and some
fourth wing stuff.
The cardigans are in the $85range and the knit sweaters are
in the $120 range.
So, jonathan, you posted thisto us and I had been to a local

(14:31):
book club thing like maybe aweek before, and I hadn't
realized that one of the peopleat the book club because there's
usually like 30, 40 people thatcomes to these book clubs but
one of the people at the bookclub was wearing the Valous
sweater from this website.
But I didn't realize it wasvalorous because the way that

(14:51):
the the text sits on it and sitson your chest, all I, all you
see is aris a-r-i-s and I'm like, oh, that's a paris sweater.
I'm thinking in my head so no.
But then I see on this websiteI'm like, oh no, that was, that
was the velaris sweater.
So I've seen the velarissweater in person.
It's cute, it was seemed highquality they look high quality.

Jonathan (15:15):
So there's a good, a great gradient, and then you
know how, like when you haveregular knit, it's almost like
the like an 8-bit nintendosystem where you can only you
get like very blocky charactersand you can't, you don't truly
escape that, um, but from adistance I think they did a good
job the way the gradients work.

(15:35):
They are phenomenal and the umand the the buttons are are
large and they've got pocketsoff like a chunk vibe and it's
just real nice.

Mari (15:46):
I ordered the blue ACOTAR cardigan, so when it arrives
I'll let you guys know.

Jonathan (15:53):
Yeah, I'm super jelly here Am I allowed on this
website.
You can't.
The only reason you can't go onthis website is not because you
can't have this stuff.
I don't care what you buy.
I bought a spice rack.
You guys thought it looked cutelike I bought the spice rack.
I'm jealous of this sweater.
I don't.

Ashley (16:12):
This is cool so if you can't have it, nobody can have
it correct.
Why can't you?

Jonathan (16:16):
have it I don't think they make them in um uh unisex
sizes yeah, they do.

Ashley (16:20):
They're really big sizes is it because of size or is it
because of femininity?

Jonathan (16:24):
I don't give a shit about femininity.

Ashley (16:26):
Sometimes you do.

Jonathan (16:27):
No, I mean like, not really.
Like.
There are some times where I'mlike dang, you know, this stuff
is so cool.
I wish I was a girl kind ofthing.
But then I remember that I havepockets and Well, and that you
know, Free will All that is aconstruct and you can do what
you want.
Yes, wear what you want.
So in clothing manufacturing,this is definitely a female

(16:47):
garment.
So, when it comes to clothingmanufacturing, the tell is that
the buttons are on the left-handside for women's and on the
right-hand side for men's.
Oh, we're going deep into theautism, so it'll definitely have
a cut near the waist.
It's not that I couldn't buy.
Buy a 2X and pull it off.

Ashley (17:09):
Baby cardigans don't have cuts.
Yeah, they don't.
They're straight up and down.
It's going to look better onyour body than mine.

Mari (17:15):
Same yes, I'm going to wear it anyways, but it's going
to look better on a straight upand down body, to be honest.

Ashley (17:23):
I mean this is.

Kelly (17:24):
This is Stupid boy.
Now I body to be honest.
I mean, this is no hips body.

Ashley (17:26):
Yeah, this is stupid boy .

Jonathan (17:27):
Now I'm mad this looks amazing, though I mean, I'm
just looking at basically a capewith like arms.
Yeah this, the back, the one ofthese, the backside, rattle the
stars, god.
Yeah, that's a good, that'sthrown a glass.

Mari (17:39):
I've got a throne of glass cardigan already.
Otherwise I would have boughtthat one too.
Um, but it wasn't from thiscompany.
I don't remember the company Ibought it from, but it's the one
I have is more like looks morelike texts, like out of a book
kind of thing, rather thanrealistic.
It's black and beige and itsays rattle the stars and it's
got like constellations printedon it but it's very much like

(18:01):
drawn looking constellations.
It doesn't look like, um, likethe, the, the background in
those cardigans look almostphotorealistic and the the one I
have doesn't look like that.
But I was like I don't need twothrone of glass cardigans.
I live in the south, it's notthat cold so I here's a
challenge.

Jonathan (18:19):
Uh, I'm looking at the , the varsity knit classic, and
it's exactly what you mightthink.
It's a knit sweater, it's atwo-tone, it has block lettering
.
Uh, it's, it's stitched in thateight bit style, so to speak.
Um, so my challenge is to toauthors you may not get me on a
knit sweater because I live inflorida, but you could probably

(18:41):
get me on a spirit jersey.
If you're not familiar with thespirit jersey clothing line, a
lot of the theme parks have them, but these book titles would
lend themselves to it.
I understand that some of theauthors their work itself might
not, but this could be right up.
Somebody like Hannah NicoleMyers Alley or Juliet Cross,

(19:05):
who's maybe a little more funwith some of her work and
lighthearted with some of herwork, the Spirit Jersey could be
a great solution.

Mari (19:14):
Or even like a ringer tee with more upscale embroidery or
patches or whatnot.
Yeah, I definitely tend to buymore t-shirts than I do sweaters
or cardigans, because you canlayer them.
You know, you can wear themthroughout more of the year.
Where we all live?
We all live in the South, soyeah, Okay, absolutely.

(19:34):
Enough about narrative threads.
We are not sponsored by them.
But if you want to reach out,I'm just saying All right.
If you want to reach out, I'mjust saying All right.
Next thing in the news isthere's a new book coming out by
Rachel Gillig, who is, first ofall, my bad.
I should have looked up how topronounce her name.
I'm assuming it's pronouncedRachel Gillig, but she's the one

(19:55):
who wrote the book that we'regoing to be talking about today.
But she's got a new book comingout.
It is the Night and the Moth,and the cover has been catching
my eye for a while now, and Ihadn't connected it with the
same author that we are readinguntil very recently.
Here's the synopsis for thatbook, which sounds amazing A

(20:17):
gothic tale of a prophetess whois forced beyond the safety of
her cloister on an impossiblequest to defeat the gods with
the one knight whose future isbeyond her sight.
That sounds pretty epic to me.

Jonathan (20:26):
This book looks amazing, doesn't it?

Mari (20:29):
Yeah, like I would that image.
I would like put it up on, youknow, my cubicle wall, if not my
house framed really nice, itgives really pretty pretty
design.

Jonathan (20:39):
It is very beautiful.
And is that, is that BarnesNoble exclusive.
I don't think so almost lookslike that's the decal, that
circle, maybe I don't know Ijust took it from her website,
um.

Mari (20:52):
So that's the one that she linked on her website, um who
was just on.

Jonathan (20:57):
Somebody was just in a barnes and noble and had like
signed a bunch of books and justlike kind of.

Ashley (21:02):
Geneva Rose, is that who it was Interesting.

Jonathan (21:05):
I like I'm going to be honest.
Um, at Barnes and Noble youspend a little bit more than you
would, uh, at some other places, yeah, but I feel like there's
an opportunity and they theymake it easier to get your hands
on some of these things, likeif I want to sign the edition of
a book it's just sometimeseasier.

Mari (21:31):
A hundred percent.
And also they I feel in myexperience has been we don't
have a Barnes and Noble where welive.
All we have is a Books aMillion, so that I'm comparing a
Books a Million.
To where my parents livethere's a Barnes and Noble, so
when I go visit I'll go to theBarnes and Noble.
And every time I've been to theBarnes and Noble there, which
is a bigger city, but every timeI've been to the Barnes Noble
there, whatever book I'm lookingfor, I've always been able to
find it.
And I'm not looking for reallyrare books released 20 years ago

(21:55):
or whatever.
I'm talking generally recentstuff.
But I've not had the sameexperience at Books A Million.
So, yeah, barnes Noble is agood place.
It's a good bookstore to findbooks.

Jonathan (22:06):
Um, imagine that yeah, we are marked.
We went into a books a millionmy first experience not too long
ago.
Uh, super bowl.
Uh, sunday, we went into one orthe saturday of the super bowl,
right?
Yeah and uh, it was I.
I thought it was a very nice.
It's better than like a.
It was better than a WaldenBooks, which was just like a

(22:28):
single bay bookshop, but it'sdefinitely.
It paled in comparison.

Ashley (22:31):
It was like Walmart versus Target.

Jonathan (22:33):
No, not even.
It was like Dollar Tree versusWalmart.

Mari (22:39):
Yeah, our Books.
A Million is a great place togo if you want t-shirts or games
or tchotchkes.

Ashley (22:48):
Okay, not so much books Like not so much for the most
part, it's just it had, it hasknickknacks and like yeah,
additional merch, so I doappreciate that part of the book
.
The million it's not somethingI crave, though, like barnes and
noble is just organized.
It's very clearly books you're.
You're very probably going tofind what you're looking for,
with the exception of, likeopening drop day for you know,

(23:10):
fourth wing right.
But um, yeah, it's a verypleasant experience at Barnes
Noble before you get to registerand have to pull out your debit
card.

Jonathan (23:20):
So I'm glad to see that this book is coming from
that outlet.

Mari (23:25):
Yeah, it's pretty, so we'll see I will probably read
it.
It's been on my radar for aminute.
Okay, next bit of news, andthis is more fantasy heavy than
romancy, but there is some lovestories involved, so I'm putting
it in here.
Um, has anyone but me read anyof the dresden file books by jim
butcher kelly?
Have you read any of them?

(23:46):
I've read a couple of them okay, uh did you, did you enjoy them
?
Not particularly okay, if youguys um, jonathan, have you read
any of the Dresden?

Jonathan (23:55):
Files.
I think I've only read like onemale fantasy author.

Mari (23:59):
Okay.
So Jim Butcher this is the 18thbook is going to be released in
2026.
It's going to be called 12Months.
The main character is urbanfantasy, I guess, set in Chicago
and they're a wizard.
But also the books I meanthere's 12 books, so there've

(24:19):
been everything in these booksVampires, fey dragons, dinosaurs
, sasquatch, you name it.
Morgus books yeah, it's been inthese books.
It's a fun series.
I enjoy it.
I really enjoy it.
The main character feels verymuch like, almost like, a Jane
Austen character.

(24:39):
There's a lot of like oldfashionedness to the, to the
main character.
Yeah, so I won't, I won't saymuch more than that.
If any of that you know piquesyour interest, you have time
before the latest book isreleased to read some, to work
your way up through there, workyour way up through there.
Fascinating.
Yeah, jim Butcher is often atnot often, but several times

(25:03):
he's been to Dragon Con, buthe's also kind of like a big
author, so I tend to not standin line and fight people to mess
with that situation.
But speaking of Dragon Con, thenext news we have I was so
excited it's a good thing thatKelly was working when, when I
got this news, I should havebeen asleep it was almost
midnight but t king fisher, loveher, love her, love her is the

(25:27):
literary guest of honor atdragon con this year.
Oh, and I squealed so loud whenI saw this news that was was
fun, I was at work.
Yeah, I messaged him at midnight.
I'm like Kelly, look who'sgoing to be at DragonCon.
That's fate.
I'm so excited.

(25:47):
So, yes, I will be standing inall the lines for her.
I will be going to all thepanels that she may be speaking
at.
If anyone else is interested inDragonCon, it takes place in
Atlanta Labor Day weekend,august 28th through September
1st.
Tickets are still at $160 forthe entire weekend five-day pass
and they're still available.

(26:08):
Yes, if you're a T Kingfisherfan, you can be as excited as I
am.

Ashley (26:16):
I'm so excited for you.

Mari (26:17):
Yes, yes, yes, okay.
Next bit of news April isNational Arab American Heritage
Month and because of that Iwanted to do a little reading
recommendation.
If you're interested in readingan Arab American author, I
would recommend Tempest of Teaby Hafsa Faizal.
It's a YA read.
It's got very Victorian kind ofera, maybe Dickinson, charles

(26:42):
Dickens kind of vibes.
It's a main character has a tearoom by day and at night it's a
vampire blood den and thenthere's like a heist that
happens in it.
It's a fun read.
It's a fun like ya heist kindof read and I would recommend,
if any of that seems interestingto you, a ya heist that's words

(27:04):
you never thought you'dnecessarily hear together well,
I think of it very much like ohgod, what's the leo bardugo one?
the crows, uh, the familiar, no,earlier before that, the boat,
shadow and bone, that was all Ihad.
Oh, oh, okay, yeah, so like thecrows yeah whatever the crows
books were, because I read themall so fast, one on top of the
other, that I don't rememberwhat the actual name of the ones

(27:25):
.
But all the Crows, the bookswith the Crows like it had that
kind of a vibe to me, okay, thatkind of a feel.
So if you like those from theTV show or from the book, I
would recommend this book to besimilar to that.
April is also NationalNeurodiversity Awareness Month.
We have a reading rec for that.
We met Rose Santoriello atFabled Fantasy Romanesque Con in

(27:46):
Orlando last October and shewrites this series of books.
They're monster romance.
They're very cute, cozy, spicy,called the Augury University
A-U-G-U-R-Y.
Augury University books and sheis also Arab, american, but
also neurodiverse.
I would recommend them to youif you like monster romance, if
you like books in academicsettings because it's in a

(28:09):
university, and if you likeLegends and Lattes.
It's got kind of a lot of thosevibes to it.
I've read all except for, Ithink, the latest one she has
out, so I'm not up to date onthe very latest one, but it's a
fun little series marie, wheredo you find the time?
to what read.
I don't get enough sleep.
Kelly will tell you this.
That's fair.

Jonathan (28:31):
Yes, I don't think, I don't.
I don't know that any of us getenough sleep, but for various
reasons, I know you don't knowthat any of us get enough sleep,
but for various reasons, I know.
You don't, you don't try at all.

Ashley (28:39):
I try to get enough sleep.

Jonathan (28:41):
I know if you slept well, based on how many books
are ticked off your list thatI'm unaware of, like if I don't
see you reading it, and you'relike, oh, I read that book.
I'm just like you've been upall night.

Mari (28:54):
Kelly has something to say about that, don't you, Kelly?
I mean that kelly has somethingto say about that, don't you,
kelly?
I mean, that's pretty much howyou do it, yeah, yeah, middle of
the night kelly will roll overand be like, are you still awake
?
Like yes, don't ask questions.
One more chapter, biggest lie,I tell.
One more chapter.

Jonathan (29:12):
I fight back uh, I definitely fight back with an
eye mask.
Slash Bluetooth headset.
So I pretend like I'm justgoing to pull it down, but I'm
just really secretly listeningto some quantum physics.

Ashley (29:26):
Youtube video while she reads it's usually why I can't
sleep.

Jonathan (29:33):
Yeah, I listen the first two minutes and I pass out
, but every night I pick up anhour and a half version, so that
way I'm like what if Iaccidentally stay awake this
whole time?
It doesn't happen.
I'm just trying to download theinformation into my mind while
I sleep.

Mari (29:50):
Any reading recs for neurodiversity.

Jonathan (29:53):
I mean, I think, reading in general.
I mean, I think, reading ingeneral, if you're, I think,
maybe not reading rec, but pro,tip nothing pro at any of this,
but you know, find the stylethat suits you and then lean
into it, whether it's havingpaperbacks or maybe you're.

(30:16):
Maybe you need it to be on aspecific screen, uh, or maybe
you need the audio, or maybe youneed everything all at once in
order to be able to, uh, enjoyit.

Mari (30:25):
Yeah, it all counts.

Jonathan (30:27):
Yeah, yeah, fine, fine .
Find your special mix, findyour cocktail and, uh, get down
on it.
Matter of fact, if you have areading cocktail that you enjoy
that really gets you across thefinish line, let us know.

Ashley (30:42):
That sounds so dirty.
What do you?

Jonathan (30:44):
mean oh.
So I mean, ladies and gentlemen, I don't think my statement's
all the way through.
In my mind it makes sense.

Ashley (30:52):
It did not make sense.
It just also sounded dirty.
I just put it out there.

Jonathan (30:54):
I'm not afraid to expose myself.

Mari (30:56):
That also sounded dirty, very dirty.
I just put it out there.
I'm not afraid to expose myself.

Jonathan (30:59):
That also sounded dirty, very dirty.
Yeah, if you have a style orsomething like that, I'm always
open to new things.
Currently, I like the immersivereading where I've got
headphones on, it's cranked atlike 3x the speed, and I like to
do it with a, a.
My preferred method is apaperback and I like to have a

(31:21):
new bookmark with every book andthen when I'm done, I just put
the bookmark in that book that'scool so that's where I'm at
right now all right.

Mari (31:29):
Last bit of news is that april is also national poetry
month, so my reading rec forpoetry is the Princess Saves
Herself in this One by AmandaLovelace.
It is not new.
I've had it for several years.
Do you remember at thebeginning of the year when I was
like, hey, I'm going to read myphysical books?

(31:50):
This is one of those.
I finally read it I think itwas last month or the month
before and then it's like athree book poetry series.
The first one is aboutresilience, but it's really good
.
They're very short style poetry, for the most part Very like
Emily Dickinson kind of vibe,but modern.
Yeah, I would recommend.

(32:10):
And if not, tell us who yourfavorite poet is, or new to you
poet or who you would recommend.
Anyone have a poet they'd liketo recommend?
I do not.
Poetry was never really myparticular jam yeah, dr seuss is
my favorite.

Jonathan (32:27):
I knew that was coming .
Uh, hands down.
I think if you're ever in a, ifyou're ever like in a mood
where you're just not feeling100, one of my pick-me-ups, what
has always been to just notalways, but has been to just
read a Dr Seuss book, you canget them in small like not palm
size, but close to palm sizeversions for, like, little kids,
and they take two, threeminutes and you usually end up

(32:51):
leaving that situation feelingbetter.
On a side note, I was on, I hadum, a project interview with um
, a company that controls that,probably the most common search
engine, and that topic came upand they stopped the interview
and dug into that so deeply andthey just, if you ever just say

(33:13):
something in an interview wherethey just stop you, stop them in
their tracks and they're likethis is completely new
information.
And that's when it hit me thatmaybe this is something I need
to share with more people.
So, um, yeah, if you're lookingfor a mood reset, he does it
for you in three, four minutes,something like that.

Mari (33:29):
So have you ever read any Shel Silverstein?

Jonathan (33:33):
I have, but I was not mature.
And I have, but I was notmature and this is going to
sound weird I was not matureenough to want to enjoy it when
it was in my possession.
Does that make sense?

Mari (33:44):
Yeah, yeah.
Okay, we are finally done withthe news, unless anybody has
anything else they want to addLater.

Jonathan (33:50):
I know I would say, for poetry.
Tonight's book leans into that.

Mari (33:57):
Yes, oh my God.
Yes, 100%, I agree.
Okay, why we chose this book?
Kelly, you recommended thisbook.
You had read it first, beforeany of us.
How did it come to you?

Kelly (34:08):
Somebody on social media recommended it to me.

Mari (34:11):
Good rec, Definitely a good recommendation.
Let me read the synopsis andthen we can go from there.
Published September 22nd 2022.
Elspeth needs a monster.
The monster might be her.
Elspeth Spindle needs more thanluck to stay safe in the eerie,
mislocked kingdom she callshome.
She needs a monster.
She calls him the Nightmare, anancient mercurial spirit

(34:34):
trapped in her head.
He protects her.
He keeps her secrets.
But nothing comes for free,especially magic.
When Elspeth meets a mysterioushighwayman on the forest road,
her life takes a drastic turn.
Thrust into a world of shadowand deception, she joins a
dangerous quest to cure thekingdom of the dark magic
infecting it.
Except the highwayman just sohappens to be the king's own

(34:56):
nephew.
Captain of the Destriers.
I read it.
I didn't listen to it, so youhave to correct me.

Ashley (35:02):
Sorry, same.

Mari (35:03):
Okay.
And guilty of high treason.
What is it?

Jonathan (35:07):
The Destriers, destriers.

Mari (35:08):
Okay.
In my brain when I read it itwas like the destroyers.
Of course the destroyers.
He and Elspeth have untilsolstice to gather 12 providence
cards, the keys to the cure.
But as the stakes heighten andtheir undeniable attraction
intensifies, elspeth is forcedto face her darkest secret.
Yet the nightmare is slowlydarkly taking over her mind and

(35:30):
she might not be able to stophim.
So we're getting right into it.
Overall rating what you guysthink five, no notes, just five,
just five.

Ashley (35:38):
I have no notes.
I so like maybe the first 30pages I was like where where is
this going?
This tone hurts, right likewe've been reading some more
upbeat or more classic you knowtoned things recently.
So I was like, hmm, I'm notsure about this, but that was
very brief moment and I veryquickly learned the error of my

(36:02):
ways.
And if rachel gillick has ahundred fans, I'm one of them,
and if rachel gillick has onefan, I'm one of them, and if
rachel gillick has zero fan, I'mdead.
Like I loved this book.
I have no notes.
It it was fine.

Mari (36:18):
Nice, I'll go next.
I thought.
For me it's a very high fourstars.
I thought the prose wasbeautiful.
Like we were mentioning earlier, it read like poetry.
The vibes were gothic, gothicromance.
It was wonderful.
The only thing that kept itfrom being quite a five-star

(36:39):
read to me and honestly I maychange it once I read the second
one.
I do plan on reading the secondone, so once I finish the story
I might feel differently.
But it feels like some of thecharacters were underdeveloped.
It felt more like I was readingalmost like a fairy tale
retelling.
So it made some of thecharacters feel a little flat
for me.
But because it's not a fairytale, that it's not really a
retelling not something I haveexperience with I felt like I

(37:03):
wanted to know more about theworld and the characters and why
they made some of the choicesthey did.
So it was a strong four for meas my overall.

Jonathan (37:11):
I'm going to give it a five, with a caveat here.
It was a very it was a verygood story.
My mind kept going to into likeMarvel's Moon Knight, and so,
like I was, I was impressed.
And then the um with the audiobook version of it.

(37:32):
Every time it's uh, the nailsgo, click, click, click.

Mari (37:36):
Oh, that's kind of cool.

Jonathan (37:37):
When you read it at a high rate of speed, it's more
maniacal to hear the nightmarevoice, and it's just the
nightmare's voice is just atwist on Elspeth's voice, but
it's just the laughter.
It becomes more maniacalbecause you're at like two and a
half, three X and then click,click, click, just like dang.

(38:00):
My only beef with this book isthe ending.
He was so mad.
Where is it?
I haven't found, I haven'tfound it yet.

Ashley (38:07):
It feels incomplete.
You found the ending.
No, no, no, it feels incomplete, I keep searching for it in
book two you.
You found the ending, youdidn't find the closure.

Jonathan (38:15):
Yeah, I didn't guess, I didn't know it's a duology he
was so mad.

Ashley (38:19):
He came racing across the house, pounding on the
bathroom door because I was notin the same room as him.
He was so mad.

Jonathan (38:27):
I don't believe this is a duology.
I think this is just one fatbook that they were like cut in
half.

Ashley (38:31):
Well, yeah, it was like over 500 pages, wasn't it?

Jonathan (38:38):
It 500 pages, wasn't it?
It was, um, yeah, but still Idon't know.
I'm just, I'm gonna put it outthere.
Maybe, if you're an author andwho am I to decide this yeah,
just, maybe just a reader, maybejust put that uh for the book.

Mari (38:46):
Give the book, uh, ending so here's my take on that,
because on the one hand, I agreewith you because I do love a
complete story and I feel likemy rating is incomplete until I
read the second book.
On the other hand, I think oflike something like when the
Moon Hatched and how many peoplewon't read it because it's too
long.
And I think that if they madeit a complete story and put like

(39:08):
both books in one, a lot ofpeople would not want to read it
because they'd be intimidatedby it or just not feel like it's
worth their time, for whateverreason.

Jonathan (39:22):
Which would be a shame because, like I said, the prose
was amazing in this.
Yeah, I, I don't, I don'tdisagree, uh, with that at all.
I just for me, it's just yikes.
I really just I was like gonnaget an ending.

Ashley (39:29):
I think this is the first like real big cliffhanger.
You've had to be fair I meanbesides, like you know, you know
, fourth wing kind of had somejaw-dropping moments but it
wasn't necessarily a cliffhangerin this way like unresolved
correct they, she.

Jonathan (39:45):
She managed to like wrap it up in some way, right, I
wasn't sorry kelly, what didyou think?

Kelly (39:51):
I ended up giving this book a four.
I thought it was very well done.
I liked the overall theme ofthe book, which was about the
struggle trying to make,sacrificing yourself and knowing
that you're running out of time.
So that was an appealing topic.
So I found that ideainteresting and a lot of the
other themes and elements of thebook interesting.
Overall, so definitely a goodbook.

(40:13):
It was definitely darker thanwhat we've read in the past
recently, but I think it did alot of interesting things that
we haven't seen in some books sofar yeah, I agree, I thought it
was.

Mari (40:24):
I thought the whole like her, paying for the magic with
her body and I guess not justher.
The other some of the peoplewho use magic also pay for it
with their body is not somethingI've seen that often, but it's
also not like world-breaking new.
But it's interesting that Ijust finished reading this and
am also reading the firstDragonlance book right now, the

(40:46):
Dragons of Autumn, twilight.
I'm also not terribly far intothat one, maybe 20%, but one of
the main characters is a.
This is not a spoiler.
Also, it's like a book writtenin the 80s, but it's a wizard
who has paid for their magicwith their, their body,
permanent damage to their body,um.
So that idea of like magichaving a price, being very

(41:06):
personal, very visceral, is veryinteresting.
What was your reading?

Ashley (41:10):
I gave it a four no I thought oh, I thought marie was
saying no I, I think I jumped.

Kelly (41:14):
I'm so sorry um marie already said she gave it a four.

Mari (41:18):
Four for overall.
Yeah, World building.
Sorry, keeping in order.
Ash, put your world buildingfantasy.
Vote on it.
Five.

Ashley (41:27):
This is going to be a recurring theme for me.
There will be no surprises hereout of me.
I enjoyed everything about this.
I enjoy, you know, enjoy, theconcept of a cursed village,
right, it's not necessarily new,but I thought the magic system,

(41:49):
the deck of cards, how theyfunction independently, how they
impact the human that'swielding them.
You know the scarcity versusthe availability of some of the
cards, the individualpersonalities from you know well
, I mean, we really only see her, elspeth, in this book.

(42:14):
But I, I really liked the youknow the poetry as we were
talking about it, because eachyou know chapter basically
starts with some saying from thebook or from the cards, right,
and they're all kind of likechildren's stories, like spooky
ass children's stories, um, andit kind of lends to a phrase

(42:35):
that happens in another seriesthat I enjoy very much.
And it's all the stories aretrue, right, in some way, shape
or form, all of the stories aretrue and I just I thought you
know her, how she came to be atthat point with nightmare was a
very unique situation,parasite-like but also symbiotic

(43:01):
, almost venom, maybe that'swhat I'm thinking.
It was very like they existedwithin each other.
They weren't upset with eachother most of the time.
They understood that theyrelied on each other to an
extent, and I just thought thatwas a very different perspective
than maybe any other story thatI can think of that might be
similar.
I enjoyed everything about it.

Mari (43:23):
I agree on the fantasy world building that Venom
allegory is.
Yeah, that's definitely it.
I gave it four stars because Ithought that the magic system in
it was interesting with thecards, and that it fleshed out
in a way that made other storiesmake sense to me.

(43:44):
So like there's lots of videogames that use like this idea of
like spells and cards orthere's like Magic the Card Game
, there's anime and stuff whereyou have like this card that you
pull out and that's your magic,but the way this book kind of
fleshed it out, it felt veryorganic.
It didn't feel cheesy or hokey.
It didn't feel cheesy or hokey,yeah, which in a goth, like a

(44:08):
dark gothic romance kind ofsituation, like a dark vibes,
dark gothic story, it could haveeasily leaned that, leaned that
way, and it didn't.
Yeah, it was.
It was really interesting theway that magic existed in the
world.
But the only magic that wasokay, the only magic that was
exact, acceptable, was the magicof the cards and any other kind
of magic was forbidden.
And I don't know if it'sbecause, like I had just

(44:30):
recently gotten back from a tripto salem and the whole, like
witch hunt and puritan historicvibes were in my brain, but it
felt very much like a you canonly believe in this one thing,
and if not you're a witch, youknow?
I mean like, yeah, it very muchhad those vibes to me.
So world building four for meum, am I next yep?

Jonathan (44:51):
world building, world building, world building.
There was a world or fantasymagic system.

Mari (44:56):
However, whatever you want to focus on, perfect I'm, I'm,
definitely I.

Jonathan (45:01):
You know, it's very split personality, odd type of
like magic to catch the feverand like I don't know if it was,
if catching the fever wasavailable to everyone and that
everybody who caught the feverleft with some sort of magic.
Um, that was a side effect andis it a fever to have magic?

(45:26):
Is it, was it seen as anillness?
Or is that just the transfer ofmagic into the body and the
human?

Ashley (45:33):
and a human wants to reject it was very much
perceived as as a, as a disease,like as an illness.

Jonathan (45:40):
Yeah, but by by the controlling power by the
controlling party, seen as as anillness, but it could be that
that's just a trend.
That's nature sharing,bestowing magic on you and your
body, rejecting what is comingfrom the outside, and then the
survival is a gift of magicyou're staring at me and he I've

(46:01):
read.

Ashley (46:01):
I've read book two or I devoured.
So I know the answer.
I have book two coming to medon't tell me I'm not gonna read
.

Jonathan (46:09):
I'm gonna be honest here I'm not gonna read book two
wow because I don't know, onceyou hell hath no fury like like
a jonathan scorn, correct?
Yeah and when you deny me theending of book one, in actual
book one you place the ending ofbook one and book two.

Ashley (46:25):
I'm very upset so much more needed to happen uh, and
that's cool, it's very cool.

Jonathan (46:31):
There was uh to me.
I felt like.
I felt like the idea of themist, the, the idea of like
magic, leaving this like salt umstench, the idea of people
having to anchor to charms tonot be uh infected and to not be
crazed, the and lose, losecontrol of one's will, unless

(46:52):
you have some sort of well, thecharms were the protectant
against the mist from fromcatching yeah, and then I think
I started to get a little bit um, the world building started to
wear off on me a little bit,because every time everybody
turned, somebody was like, yep,I got the fever too.

Mari (47:09):
I absolutely wrote that in the fable book club.
I was like, oh my god, doeseverybody survive the fever and
hide it, or is it just the richpeople?
Is there some poor people?
Is it just the poor people whowho get killed if they have the
fever?
But if you're rich or noble orconnected, then you're okay to
hide it I have.

Jonathan (47:24):
Have you come across any poor people?

Mari (47:26):
so I think, yeah, I'm sorry go ahead.

Ashley (47:28):
I was gonna say I think this stems back to the stigma of
catching the illness right.

Mari (47:34):
So the thought process was you weren't supposed to grow up
with it, you were supposed tobe killed like the kid that was
killed, though that that wassupposed to be killed, the one
who I forget the name, but hishis parents hid him and they
were going to do the publicexecution.
I I got the feeling that thatwas not a noble, rich family
right.

Ashley (47:52):
So the the concept of finding quote survivors in an
older age was surprising.
It was forbidden to live withthe illness and to harbor them
and to harbor them Correct.

Jonathan (48:09):
So this is like this is very much a card game, right?
How many?
How many decks are there?
There's one deck, but each cardhas X amount and there's, and
then okay, and so rarity,there's one like one Pokemon.

Mari (48:23):
Have you ever played magic card game, Jonathan?

Jonathan (48:26):
Um I you know what I I didn't um.
I'm aware of it since highschool and I think I always felt
like I was at a disadvantage.
Um, you like rules.
No, no, I like that, I like theidea of it, but the for me, I
think it started and I wasn'tthere at the beginning of this,

(48:48):
and then I always felt like,well, I'll never catch up, so
why would I even jump?
Why would I join this race?
That was my mindset.

Ashley (48:54):
What did you rate the world building, did you say?

Jonathan (48:58):
You're so funny.
Thank you for keeping me ontrack.
Five stars.

Ashley (49:05):
Five stars, but you're not going to read the next one.

Kelly (49:07):
Jonathan five stars, overall stars, but you're not
going to read the next.
Jonathan, five stars overallfive fantasy.
Not reading the next one.

Ashley (49:10):
I mean, it's not that I didn't like the book.

Jonathan (49:16):
I just I don't want.
I don't want extracurricularactivities.
For the ending, put it in bookone that is all kinds of, but
you're going to read five throneof glass books I know right
like five rebecca yarrow's bookswhen they yeah, we finish
there's a, there's a sense ofclosure.

Kelly (49:34):
No, even with like so there'll be a sense of closure
if you read all the books it'sjust one more, not five.

Ashley (49:41):
You don't even have to wait, it's already out.

Kelly (49:43):
I mean gosh, kelly, you're next kelly, no stop so I
gave the fantasy and worldbuilding actually a 4.5.
This was incredibly differentthan what we've seen in the past
in books.
I liked the idea of the magicbeing relegated to these tokens
and that's how they took it away, because if you look at it,
there's a lot of interestingthemes in there.

(50:04):
You have magic which is takenaway from the everyday person
and basically forced into theelite by making it.
So there's only 78 total waysthat you can have magic, 78
total cards between all of them.
So if you don't have one ofthose cards and several people
had multiple cards soessentially this is a very much

(50:25):
a the rich get richer and thepoor get poorer type allegory
here.
So that was interesting.
Mm, hmm, charm or whatever inorder to go into the mist, go
into the fog.
But I think the overallinteresting part of this was,

(50:50):
you know, the idea of themonster within, the monster
within being something that letsyou do terrible things without
taking the blame.
You know, elspeth wanted toblame everything on the monster
within, but she was the one alltoo willing to let it come out
when she needed it to call itbut and then it's a convenient
excuse of being able to say,well, I didn't really do it, it

(51:14):
was the monster within and hewas always like very clear, like
you've always had a choiceright it was.

Ashley (51:20):
It was your choice to call me out.
You had to.
You knew bad shit was going tohappen.
You knew magic had a price.

Kelly (51:26):
Yeah, Right.
And then the source.
You have the same idea of thismagic being more represented by
the wilderness and the woodsbeing eradicated by civilization
.
So a lot of the themes you seein other books, which is the
idea that magic gets destroyedby civilization or takes a new
form by civilization.
Yeah, and then there is a lot ofthemes of family and just the

(51:50):
crazy things that happens withina family.
You know found family versusloyalty and family and what not.
So overall I thought the themeswere very interesting.
I liked a lot of the characters.
So overall I think it wasreally well done.

Ashley (52:04):
That's such high praise.
I'm so excited I've been dyingfor you to love a book.

Mari (52:11):
All right, ash romance.
What do you think of theromance?
So this actually.

Ashley (52:16):
I know more than I should.

Jonathan (52:18):
And so that hurts.
Rank it on one, babe.
Rank it on one.

Ashley (52:20):
I'm pulling myself back.
So, romance wise, I think it'sa four.
I think we see relationshipdevelop against both of their
wills, right, it's almost likethat, you know, like the forced
marriage trope or the one bedtropes, right, and I'm a fan of
those.
I don't care, I love me a trope.
One thing about me I love atrope.

(52:41):
But I really liked the evolutionof them discovering each other
to find each other In their ownways.
They had been isolated.
Raven had to be the protectorthat could never show any pain
or fault or defeat, or defeat,right, he's deceiving his king.

(53:10):
He's trying to save his family,specifically his little brother
, while being the captain of theDestriers.
You know what I mean.
So he's deceiving everybody atall ends and trying to keep his
shit together and he's basicallyjust like a young ass adult,
right, he's barely an adulthimself.
And then Elspeth has beenkeeping everything a secret,
everything.
She barely.
She doesn't have any friends,she only has her cousin.

(53:30):
So I mean it was reallywholesome for me to see them
come together and find somereprieve in each other.

Mari (53:43):
So it was a three for the same reasons that I gave earlier
for the overall not being quitea five.
I didn't feel like I had a goodvibe on what was going on in
these characters' heads or theirmotivations.
They felt a little flat for meand that may change completely
after I read book two.
Because it felt a little flatfor me, the romance just wasn't

(54:05):
there.
I felt there was more of acamaraderie thing between all
the people coming together inthe found family, but the
romance was not quite it for me.
So I would say it's a three.

Jonathan (54:18):
I'm going to give it a two.
I really didn't get a romancevibe, okay, I mean there was a
little bit of spice, but I thinkshe was more hurt by her cousin
.

Mari (54:28):
Yeah, that was really tragic.

Kelly (54:30):
I mean, I think the romance was a three and that's.
I think a lot of the romancecame in from the fact that she
had such a strong love still forher family that raised her,
despite her cousin kind of beingcorrupted by the power of that.
Uh, the beauty card, yeah, themaiden card, which you know is

(54:52):
again another allegory for howthe pursuit of that beauty
changes you and alienates youI'm so stressed out, you guys,
because I know more.

Mari (54:58):
I know too much, I'm sorry we'll have to touch when we
read all of them.
Please, kelly, have you readthe second one?
No okay I can tell uh, spiceash what you think oh, the spice
was minimal.

Ashley (55:12):
This was more like fade to black spice, um, which is not
always my jam.
I thought it was tastefullydone, it wasn't rushed, it was
just a very tiny bit.
I think it.
You know, it happened in thelast quarter of the book, maybe
third of the book, which feltimportant because, again, it
wasn't forced.
It was something, you know,that they found together as

(55:35):
willing consenting adults and Ithink it strengthened their bond
ultimately.

Mari (55:58):
And, but I think it was only like a two and a half for
me, like there wasn't a lot ofit, it was what was there was
minimal and this book.
I think it would have beenweird to have a lot of detailed
spice when some of thecharacters didn't feel super
detailed to me.
I think it would have made itstand out in a bad way.
So I think the spice wasprobably appropriate for the
rest of the book, but just ingeneral, the spice, I'd say it
was a two I'm gonna give it aone for spice.

Jonathan (56:21):
What happened was very .
It was minimal, it was veryblah, it wasn't even like it
wasn't that kind of book, yeahit was.
It was just like oh, I don'teven think it was pivotal to
this story so I gave, I gave thespice or two.

Kelly (56:37):
I think it was what you had.
You guys had already said itwas minimal, not very right.
It wasn't that kind of a book.
So so what's?

Ashley (56:45):
there was fine.

Kelly (56:46):
Yeah.

Mari (56:47):
What's there was fine, yeah Right, do we think it's a
kissing book?

Jonathan (56:51):
Based on book one Ash.

Ashley (56:53):
Based on either book, I'm going to say no.

Mari (56:56):
Okay, I'm going to say no as well, because I don't think
that any romance aspect betweenthem was necessary or integral
to the plot.

Kelly (57:05):
I'm going to say no as well.
Yeah, in the sense of romance,for it to be a kissing book, no.
But I think everything that shedid was probably out of the
love for her family that raisedher.

Ashley (57:17):
This is one of my favorite books this year.
I've read some pretty goodbooks this year, but I was
genuinely surprised at how muchI love this book and how
non-romantic or spicy it was andhow that wasn't pivotal to the
story being as good as it was.
I think that says a lot.

Mari (57:36):
I would definitely want to read more by the author.
Read the second one of this, butI also plan on reading more by
her because I very much enjoyedher writing style.
Agreed.
Here is a quote I kept telling.
Very much enjoyed her writingstyle.
Agreed.
Here is a quote I kept tellingrandom people, like random
people at work and everybody.
So the way this author writesthis, this gives you, if you're
thinking about whether or not toread this, instead of this one

(57:56):
character saying that she wastired.
The way the author wrote it wasquote weariness was king and I
his servant.
End quote Poetry yeah, done.
Thanks for listening to OfSwords 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

(58:20):
our Facebook page at Of Swordsand Soulmates.
Check us out on our websiteofswordsands soulmatescom, or on
youtube, tiktok and pinterestwith the same username.
If you'd like to offer asuggestion for a future episode
or reach out to us, feel free todo so.
Any of those options.
If you want to read along withus as we prep for a new episode,
follow us on goodreads at ofswords and soulmates, or for
chapter by chapter interactionon the fable app at the of

(58:42):
swords and soulmates book club,and we also have a Tome account.
You can follow us on there.
The next episode we're going tobe reading before we announce
that, I wanted to read onelittle review that someone left
us.
We have a review.
We have a review.
Yes, this review is from SarahEvelyn 21.
I was looking for a review onthe spell shop for a project at

(59:04):
work, so I didn't have to rereadthe entire book, lol.
The spell shop for a project atwork, so I didn't have to
reread the entire book.
Lol, and they were one of onlytwo episodes on the whole app
that I could find.
Romanticity is my favoritegenre, so finding out that
they're reviewing books I'veread is so exciting.
I personally like all thepoints of view brings more
diversity and chances forsomeone to express how I'm
feeling as well.

Ashley (59:23):
Yay, look at us, look at a fan.

Jonathan (59:25):
That was Sarah.
Thank you, sarah.
Thank you Sarah.

Mari (59:28):
Yeah, last but not least, we hope you'll join us in two
weeks for our next episode, whenwe will be discussing Crown of
Midnight, book two in the Throneof Glass series by Sarah J Moss
.
Oh, so excited, thank you.

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}"One Dark Window" - Fever Dreams and Highway Schemes