"Vampires of El Norte" - Vaqueros, Vampires, and a Choice of Freedom - Of Swords and Soulmates

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 00 (00:00):
Views expressed in this podcast are solely those of
the participants.
The hosts make no claims to beliterary experts, and their
opinions are exactly that.
Opinions.
All creative works discussed orreviewed are the intellectual
property of the creators of saidstories and is being used under
the fair use doctrine.

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

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

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

Jonathan (00:43):
What's good, everybody?
It's JP bringing up thebringing up the back of the bus
today.
We're a little, if you hear uscough, we're um we're a little
bit.

Mari (00:50):
Yeah, I was gonna say, and with us, we also have germies.

Jonathan (00:53):
Yeah.

Ashley (00:53):
With us, we have germs.

Mari (00:55):
Yes.

Jonathan (00:55):
Apologies in advance.

Mari (00:56):
Sorry.
Luckily, you won't get themthrough your through your your
hearing of us.
No you're safe.
Today we're gonna be discussingVampires of El Norte by Isabel
Alende in celebration ofHispanic Heritage Month that
runs in the US from September15th to October 15th.
But first, as always, we'regonna go into the news.

(01:17):
And as has been the MO lately,we've got a lot.
There should be fun stuff.
So, although I will say first,before we even get to the news,
I'm gonna do I'm gonna do anactually and correct myself.
The episode before last, wewere talking about the con that
the the the book con that RubyDixon runs in Texas, and I said
it was Sinners and Saints, andit is not.

(01:39):
It is vixens and villains.
So I am correcting myself.

Ashley (01:44):
That makes way more sense for what I know of her.

Mari (01:47):
Yeah.
I don't I don't know a lotabout any of any of them.
Like I've seen some people likepost things just a little bit,
but like I said, it tends tohappen so close to Drycon that I
I kind of have it as a I don'tknow that I'm ever gonna go.
We'll see.
I would like to, but I also itjust makes it hard when the time
of year they have it.

(02:08):
So all right.
So first bit of news HannahNicole Mirror announced the
title of book four of herassistant in the villain series.
And after much speculation andtrying to guess what it's gonna
be, it is Adversary to theVillain.

Jonathan (02:22):
What do you think that means?

Mari (02:25):
You don't know.

Jonathan (02:25):
I mean, uh-oh.
Trouble in Paradise?

Mari (02:29):
Maybe.
Maybe instead of like a fakemarriage, it's a fake adversary.

Ashley (02:34):
Oh I'm here for that.

Mari (02:37):
Yeah.

Ashley (02:38):
I like it.
Okay.

Mari (02:40):
So it releases August 4th of next year of 2026.
It's available for pre-ordernow for $19.99 for the
paperback.
I don't believe any images havebeen released.
It's just like, you know, thelittle placeholder picture.

Ashley (02:56):
Yeah, I don't think I've seen anything.

Jonathan (02:58):
Yeah, it says edges coming soon, too.
So I don't know if something'sgoing on there.

Ashley (03:02):
I mean, she's been she's kind of been setting the
standard for paperbacks, isn'tshe?
Like, I don't think any of herbooks are hardbacks.
I think she might have releasedone or two special editions.
But yeah, all of her books havebeen sprayed edges so far.

Jonathan (03:16):
But just like regulation, like solid color
colour.
Yeah.

Mari (03:20):
But that she's sticking with one like format all the way
through because she's popularenough now that she could
probably get away with doinghardcovers, you know what I
mean?
And people would buy it.

Ashley (03:31):
Sure.

Mari (03:31):
But then then your bookshelf doesn't match.

Ashley (03:35):
No, we need uh I'm looking at you, Travis Baldry.

Mari (03:38):
Yeah, yeah.
I'm excited.
I think it'll be fun.
I I to be honest, still haven'tread the third one.
Like I haven't, I just haven'tread it.

Ashley (03:45):
Yeah, I haven't had a chance to.
It's been a little busy andthen we haven't been feeling
well, but it is high on mypriority list.

Mari (03:51):
Yeah.
I mean, they're fun reads, I'msure it'll be a good time.

Ashley (03:54):
Yeah.

Jonathan (03:55):
I haven't finished the second one yet.

Mari (03:57):
Shame on you.
So for the podcast, we've readjust the first one, right?

Ashley (04:02):
Correct.
Correct.
We read the first one just asthe second one dropped, I think.

Mari (04:06):
So maybe we need to read the second one as a podcast at
some point soon.

Ashley (04:10):
If memory serves, Kelly didn't hate that one.

Mari (04:13):
Right?
Kelly, I think you were downfor it.

Kelly (04:15):
No, I didn't hate it.

Mari (04:16):
Yeah.
It was good.

Ashley (04:17):
That's high praise for Kelly.

Kelly (04:18):
It was good.
I mean, I just haven't had timeto read the second one.

Mari (04:21):
No, yeah.
But maybe if we read it for thepodcast at some point soon,
then we can all read it so andtalk about it.
That'll be cool.
Yeah, well, yeah.
Let's plan to do that at somepoint.
We'll we'll look into this.

Ashley (04:30):
I think once your busy season is over is really what it
is.
Like because when we hit thatfall season, y'all get really
busy.

Mari (04:36):
So busy.
So much fun stuff to do.
All right.
On to another prolific writer,Abigail Owen will be at New York
City Comic-Con.
So this episode that we arerecording will air, will you
know, drop on October 9th.
So that is the day that shewill be at New York City
Comic-Con.
So today she's going to bedoing a panel called Women in

(04:59):
Fantasy Shaping New Worlds.
And immediately after that,she'll have a book signing.
So if you're there or you knowsomeone who's there and you're
interested, I would say makesure you go by and uh check her
out.

Ashley (05:11):
I mean, shout out to Abigail Owen, because I feel
like that girl is always on thego.

Mari (05:15):
Everywhere.

Ashley (05:17):
She's all the book signings, all of the table
talks, all of the releases, likeI don't I don't know if she
takes a break.
And I love that for her, ifthat's her jam.

Mari (05:27):
She also does a ton of writing, too.

Ashley (05:30):
Yeah, she's a hustler, man.
She is she is out there doingthe damn thing.

Jonathan (05:33):
You know what I like about Abigail?

Ashley (05:36):
Her sparkly jacket.

Jonathan (05:37):
Yeah, I feel like she's got a show uniform.
It's like when you we're goingto go to these conventions,
she's got like this is you cantell where she's at that day.
Like she's sparkled out likeshe's gonna be interacting with
people.
Yeah and she's veryapproachable.

Ashley (05:53):
So she was super nice and very delightful.

Mari (05:56):
I agree.
So as a reminder, she's the onewho did Games Gods Play.
And what was the name of theother series?

Jonathan (06:03):
Oh The Faye King.
Nope, that's not it.
The Wraith King.
Nope.
Wraith no.

Ashley (06:10):
It was Juliet Cross.

Jonathan (06:11):
Dang, all over the place.

Ashley (06:13):
In stereo.
It was actually one of thefirst series we we we read.
Kelly liked it.

Jonathan (06:18):
What was it?
Kelly.
Dominions.
Dominions.

Ashley (06:22):
Yeah.

Mari (06:22):
Yeah.

Ashley (06:24):
I have not read the final book in that series
because it wasn't available yeton Kindle Unlimited.
It's like the only one in thatseries that isn't on Kindle
Unlimited, or at least it wasn'tthe last time I looked at it.
Which one is it?
The Dominion series.

Jonathan (06:36):
Yeah, but which which book?

Ashley (06:37):
Oh, it was like book four.
It was the final book.

Jonathan (06:39):
No, like which book one what's book one?

Ashley (06:40):
Oh, you're asking too many qualified questions.

Mari (06:43):
The Twin Sisters.

Jonathan (06:44):
Okay, gotcha.
Like the where she got likefake kidnapped.

Mari (06:48):
Yes.

Jonathan (06:49):
But he accidentally kidnapped the right one.

Mari (06:51):
Yes.

Jonathan (06:52):
Okay.
Cool beans.

Mari (06:54):
Also, next author that is also very, very prolific lately.
Next year's just going to beanother good year for books.
There's a lot of books I thinkwe'll be interested in.
So next year, Sarah Beth Durst,who wrote the Spell Shop
series, has announced that bookthree will be available for next
year.
It's going to be released July21st, 2026.

(07:14):
It's available for pre-ordernow for $27.89 as of the time of
recording.
That's for the hardcover.
It's Sea of Charms.

Jonathan (07:24):
So we gotta get the hardcover.
We can't knock it because wegot the first two are
hardcovers.

Ashley (07:28):
Why are you saying my name like I'm in charge of this?
Well it's my fault.

Jonathan (07:32):
I'm pretty sure this whole thing is your fault.

Mari (07:35):
I'm just gonna say that we made this book happen because
we talked about wanting to knowthe story of like the traveling
the mariner chicky.
Because I think that's whatthis is 100%.

Jonathan (07:48):
100%.
It's us.

Ashley (07:49):
It's all our fault.

Jonathan (07:50):
Yeah, uh we'll just wait for our commissions.

Mari (07:52):
Yeah, we manifested this.

Jonathan (07:53):
Thank you, Sarah.
Yes, we appreciate you.

Mari (07:56):
The cover pretty yeah, it's like in line with the other
books in terms of like lookslike a cozy situation, cozy
vibe.
So I'm excited.

Jonathan (08:07):
A spell shop novel.
I like it.

Mari (08:10):
Yeah, another author we've read that is also getting
pretty prolific is RachelGillig.
She wrote uh that the umWonderland, yeah.
She also wrote The Night andthe Moth, which has been talked
about very popular.
I read it, I enjoyed it.
She announced that the sequelto that one is gonna be coming
out.
So that series is called theStonewater Kingdom series.

(08:32):
The sequel is gonna be calledThe Knave and the Moon,
K-N-A-V-E, Knave, Nave and theMoon.
It releases September 2026,September 1st, 2026.
Available for pre-order now, 32bucks.
Has anybody read The Night inthe In the Moth?

Ashley (08:48):
No.
I have not.
But I want to.
I like the cover is a very isvery appealing.

Mari (08:53):
Yeah, it's an interesting concept.
And maybe something we we wemight want to read for this.
It's it's like that darkromanticy vibe, just like One
Dark Window was.
And it's got an interestingkind of magic system.
And I'm trying not to give alot away, but I I think it might
be an interesting read.
I'm I'm interested to see wherethe sequel is going and if it's

(09:14):
going to be a duology like OneDark Window was or if it's gonna
go on beyond that.

Jonathan (09:18):
I was gonna say, I think I got stuck on book two of
that duology.
Like I didn't get all the waythrough it.

Mari (09:23):
I haven't started the second one.
There's only two.
Yeah, I'm waiting for it tocome in on Libby, so I'm I'm
still waiting for the secondone.

Jonathan (09:29):
Is that the one with the cards?
Yeah, but isn't there is there,is there's not which one is the
one where was like no, nevermind, it's gotta be someone
else.
Uh I'm thinking about like thethe vampire cylinders.
Yeah, I'm thinking about likethe vampire rose one.

Mari (09:46):
Oh, you think about Chris Abroadbent?

Jonathan (09:48):
Yeah, okay, sorry, I got my giveaway.

Mari (09:52):
Yeah, no vampires in the gilllight stuff.

Jonathan (09:54):
Um I could I could get back into the second book for
this.
I just have it, I just I thinkit just kind of stalled.
There was just so many prettybooks coming out at the same
time, and I was like, you justget like baited away.
So not that her books are.
I really enjoyed her prose.

Mari (10:12):
Like her books are pretty on the inside.
Like the the the way she writeswas really, I think, fit the
gothic romantic vibe reallywell.
The Knight and the Moth feels alittle less like poetry, but
it's still really decent, reallygood prose.

Kelly (10:27):
Okay.

Mari (10:28):
Moving on, we have Senlin Yu, who who wrote Alchemized,
has sold film rights toLegendary Entertainment in a
seven-figure deal.

Ashley (10:39):
Shocker.

Mari (10:40):
Yeah, yeah.
So the I mean, that came outlike basically just as the book
was coming out.

Ashley (10:45):
I was gonna say, like immediately.

Mari (10:46):
Yeah.

Ashley (10:47):
They would be silly to not try to capitalize on that,
honestly.
Right.
Um, it they have to try.
You know what I mean?
Yeah, I don't know how they'regonna do it.
Is it a movie or is it a TVshow?
Did it say?

Mari (10:59):
Um, I don't think that it said.

Jonathan (11:02):
It says a feature film to develop a feature film based
on Alchemized.

Ashley (11:07):
That's a lot for one movie.
I was that's we're talking overa thousand pages of book.
Well, you know, it's it's gottabe a series then, but then
that's gonna piss people off.

Jonathan (11:17):
I mean the heart, the heart like you know, movies
movies take movies compress,right?
I mean it's that's what I'msaying.

Ashley (11:25):
It's gonna piss people off.

Jonathan (11:26):
Yeah.
I mean it it might open thedoor too.
Like how many movies open thedoor to books for people?
Yeah.
So it could could go a numberof different ways, but maybe and
maybe it turns into a franchiseof sorts.
I don't know.

Mari (11:42):
Yeah, like a film series is what you were saying, right,
Ash?

Ashley (11:45):
Yeah, I mean, that's the only way that you get through
it.
I mean, you think, you know,Twilight or Fifty Shades or I
and arguably fan base withmultiple books, yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, and they were allmultiple books.
I think Sin Lin Yu made a veryconscious decision not to do
that to her fan base, right?
And I sh I think she's spokenon it to where she was very

(12:06):
clear that she wanted this to beone book.
So it could be argued that hey,we know you know the premise,
we know how this is gonna end,so we can take our time with the
movie.
And divide it out.
They could divide it out, yeah.
They're gonna have to.
There's just I've heard suchgood things about the book.
I haven't had the time to sitdown and read it.

Mari (12:25):
Me, either.

Ashley (12:26):
I have it and haven't started it, so but I've heard
really, really good things, youknow, both from fans of Manicold
and and you know, people whohaven't read Manicold at all are
saying really wonderful,powerful things about it.
And, you know, I think thebiggest takeaway from it is that
this isn't a romance, but it'snot meant to be, right?
Like you and I know the thetrue premise of this, and it's a

(12:49):
lot of things.

Jonathan (12:50):
Oh wait, hold on.
Are we talking about the thatis this the lady she wrote the
fanfic?

Ashley (12:54):
She wrote a fanfic.

Jonathan (12:55):
And then it evolved into alchemized story.
They there were some retail,and now that is getting the the
printed version.
The the professional individualstanding piece of work.

Ashley (13:13):
But this isn't to be confused with some of the drama
that went down over the summer.
Like that was a differentauthor that had the issues with
the conventions and I was tryingto conflate that.

Jonathan (13:22):
I didn't realize that Alchemize was that was the the
lady who had you know hadsuccess with it.
Yeah, because this is her firstever.
Odd success.

Ashley (13:30):
It's her first book ever.
Yeah.
Right.

Mari (13:35):
Intense.
Also, if you pre-ordered thebook and submit your receipt to
alchemy's book.com, you can geta digital download of 11
original illustrations done bythe artist who illustrated the
book.
Yeah.

Ashley (13:48):
Oh wow.
So that's a big deal.
Because if I'm not mistaken,it's the same artist that did
Manicold.

Mari (13:53):
I believe so.

Ashley (13:54):
Yeah, so that's that's gonna be a big deal.
I'm gonna do that.
I didn't know that.
Yeah.

Jonathan (13:59):
And there we go.
Bonus, bonus points.

Mari (14:01):
All right.
A new author.
Well, this author has writtenstuff, but I don't think anybody
here has read anything by themother than I think I read one
book by them.
In preparation for the holidayreading season, author BK
Borison, B-O-R-I-S-O-N, isreleasing their first paranormal
book.
It's a paranormal holidayromance that involves the ghosts

(14:22):
of Christmas past.
Uh and it is called spirits.
Is it a sexy one?
Are you trying to give mecrazy?
Me too.
Look, I think maybe we need toread this for like holidays this
year as for the podcasts, asour holiday reads.

Ashley (14:36):
That was not a no from Jonathan.

Jonathan (14:37):
It's a very it's a beautiful looking book.

Mari (14:39):
It is.

Ashley (14:40):
Do they have an audio book for you?

Jonathan (14:42):
They do.

Ashley (14:42):
Sign us up, Mari.

Mari (14:43):
Yeah, so it releases October 21st, but this year,
it's available for pre-order.
It's 15 bucks.
Also, as pretty as that versionis that's available.
There's also Al Crate is doinga special edition, which is
gorgeous.
I'm I think I'm gonna get theAl Crate if I can, if I can.

Ashley (15:02):
Close your ears, Kelly.

Mari (15:03):
It's so pretty.
It's like dark rich greens andred.
So back backtrack.
I know Jonathan, holidays,winter holidays, Christmas all
stuff is your jam.
However, of all the holidaystories, Christmas Carol is my
favorite.
And poor Kelly will attest thatI think I have sub, you know,

(15:26):
I've I've submitted him towatching, I think, every version
of Christmas Carol that exists.
We usually watch, I usually atleast watch multiples every year
in December.
I'm watching like Scrooged, I'mwatching the Moppet version,
I'm watching all the versions.
I'm reading it and I'mlistening to an audiobook.

(15:49):
Like it's a it's a ghost story,but also Christmas and also
like a moral.

Ashley (15:53):
Um just ticking all those boxes for you.

Mari (15:55):
100%.
Yes.
Yes.
Love it.

Ashley (15:59):
I mean, it could be drugs, right?

Mari (16:01):
Yes, it could always be drugs.

Ashley (16:03):
Sometimes I feel bad.
I said to Jonathan the otherday, I was like, I think it's
time, you know, for anotherbookshelf.
And he was like, same, youknow, like for his side of the
office.
Yeah, it's getting kind ofrough in our household with now
this.
We used to joke when Jonathanwould ride that we couldn't both
be cyclists because we would gobroke.
And I'm starting to feel thatway about books.

Jonathan (16:23):
Oh, we're $16 broker now because I just ordered that
book.
It gets here on time for it tobe here on uh October 21st.
I got a book today.
I haven't opened it yet.
I'm excited.
I have a book.

Mari (16:34):
I didn't even know.

Jonathan (16:34):
I have a signed book plate waiting for that book too.

Mari (16:37):
Nice.
Hot dog.

Jonathan (16:39):
Yeah, that looks it.
It's just you can bait me inwith a a good looking book and
and like a rom-com sort ofChristmas book.

Mari (16:45):
Have it be like a holiday book?
Yeah, I was like, this is up,this is up, Jonathan Sally.
So Kelly, you done for readingthis maybe like later this year
as a as a Christmas read?

Kelly (16:54):
Sure.
Yeah.

Mari (16:55):
Like I said, I I don't know a lot about the actual
book.
Obviously, I haven't read it.
It's not out yet.
I don't have an arc oranything.
I have read one book by thisauthor.
It was a Christmas story, likea holiday story.
It's the Oh, Lovelight Farms, Ithink it is.
And it was good.
It was but it's just a standardlike contemporary romance.
There's no magic or anything init, just like a holiday

(17:18):
contemporary romance.
So I'm I'm really curiousadding this little element of
Christmas Carol and like ghostsand stuff.

Ashley (17:26):
Heck yeah.

Kelly (17:26):
Yeah.

Mari (17:29):
All right.
And last bit of news, an updateon the after the end
Kickstarter we talked about thatAli Hazelwood and Adriana
Herrera did, which is completed.
It ended up being Kickstarter'sbiggest pug publishing project
of the year.
It is Kickstarter's eighthhighest funded publishing

(17:49):
project of all time.
Oh gosh.
They were fully funded in underfour minutes, and in the first
24 hours, they had 700,000.

Ashley (17:57):
Four minutes.

Mari (17:58):
Four minutes, fully funded.
Yeah.

Ashley (18:00):
Wow.
Wow.

Mari (18:02):
So I ended up buying, of course.
Ended up buying it, but I endedup doing the digital, like the
ebook and the audio.
So we'll see.

Jonathan (18:09):
And this isn't the isn't the same one.
This isn't the collection thatthey just released, is it?

Mari (18:14):
Are you thinking of the other Allie Hazelwood one, the
scared sexy?

Jonathan (18:18):
Yeah.

Mari (18:18):
No, I got this conflated too.
So Allie Hazelwood, KatieRobert, Kimberly Lemming, Ruby
Dixon.

Jonathan (18:26):
Ruby Dixon, shoot.

Mari (18:28):
I think there are like five of them.
Yeah, there's two of them thatI can't.
Yeah, they're like five or sixof them.
Released a we we did, I think,mention this in a prior news
thing.
They released it's it'snovellas.
They're like, it's called theseries is called Scared Sexy.
They're short novellas.
They're available on KindleUnlimited and Audible.
So they're they're theyreleased them to audio is is is

(18:48):
available off the bat rightaway.
And they're like set inHalloween times or have a little
bit of a something related toHalloween.
I finished reading all of themover the weekend and very much
enjoyed.
I think my favorite one wasKatie Roberts' Beautiful
Nightmare, which is basically aslate paralysis demon.

Kelly (19:13):
Mm-hmm.

Mari (19:14):
And the person that she's supposed to scare.
And it it gives me very muchlike somebody watched Monsters
Inc.

Jonathan (19:20):
and was like It was it was interesting because I I
think previously I had read thatone no sugar coating it.
So there was that like thatlike such a DJ Russo, right?
Yes, yeah.
Yeah.
And then so when I readBeautiful Nightmare, I was like,
you know, like it felt likethat, but not quite.
It was a quick hit, too.
It was like seven chapters,something like that.

(19:43):
So far.
So I'm like, I'm on book fourright now in that one, or
novella number four in that one.
But uh so far I enjoyed Allie'sbook.
I'm looking forward.
I'm just now starting SpaceVampire.
So I'm like interested, I'minterested because like I'm
like, oh, I see there's a like awarning here.

(20:04):
So I'm like, I just I want tosee what what she has to say in
that.
Okay.

Mari (20:07):
So Allie Hazelwood's Hot for Slayer to me gave very like
Buffy the Vampire Slayer vibesin a way, but the vampire slayer
was the dude, and his name wasLaszlo, so all I could think of
is what we do in the shadows.
In my head, that is who thatwas.
Yeah, I I thought that was itwas it was fun, it was well
done.
I thought Ruby Dixon's was verywell done, the space vam space

(20:31):
vampire, I think is what herswas called.
Um which is always interesting.
I always like when you havekind of traditional-ish horror
tropes and then but put it inspace.
And Ruby Dixon writes such Imean, she writes a lot of
different things, but I reallylike all her like space stuff or
alien stuff.
I think that's my favoritestuff of the stuff she does, Ice

(20:53):
Planet Barbarians and and thatwhole series of things.
I thought Space Vampire was wasgood.
I thought it was well done, tobe honest.

Jonathan (21:03):
Okay.
I'm looking forward to it.
I I have I also have like Bythe Horns that I'm still like
that's still on deck too.
And I'm like, I really did likeBull Moon Rising, so it was
like the same.

Mari (21:14):
I haven't read that one yet.

Jonathan (21:15):
So I'm interested in in what she has because that
those are two different like thespace, and I did read the first
Ice Planet Barbarians, and Iwas like, that moved fast, and
that was like spicy.

Mari (21:25):
Yes, it was like But they're very yeah, they're very
fast to read, they're very easyto just finish.
Um the the other, I think otherone I liked in that series was
the Kimberly Lemming one.

Jonathan (21:38):
I'm looking forward to it.

Mari (21:39):
The last one.
I'm trying to remember the nameof it.

Jonathan (21:41):
I don't have it right now.

Mari (21:43):
All my boyfriends are monsters, yeah.

Jonathan (21:45):
Yeah.

Mari (21:45):
So if you like Kimberly Lemming's like funny, satirical
wack-a-doodle way that shewrites, which she she did the
Mead Mishaps book that we readthat time I what was it, that
time I got drunk and saved ademon.
That one.
Yeah, that's that author.

Ashley (22:00):
I want you to know that I just like ripped that off
right off the tongue.
I I don't think KimberlyLemming can do any wrong.
Right.
I think all of her books aregonna be worth reading.
And if I could go to thelibrary and just get all of the
Kimberly Lemming books, I wouldread them one by one by one
until I've devoured them all.
And I've only read one book.

(22:21):
That was enough.
I know.
I just know that she's alwaysgonna hit her mark.

Mari (22:26):
I agree.

Jonathan (22:26):
Did you get through spicy little curses?

Mari (22:28):
Is that I did.
I thought that uh it wasinteresting because it was set
in New Orleans, which you know Ilike.
I thought that it felt like adevelopment idea for a longer
book.
So it's not bad.
I just felt like that storywould have been better served
with more time to develop thecharacters and the storyline
that it went into.
I think it tried to cram alittle too much story into a

(22:52):
short novella.

Ashley (22:53):
And it was to say that they're not going to make those
bigger books either.
Right.
I mean, they I think there'sthere there's definitely some
they're probably just puttingsome feelers out and be like,
how crazy are you bitches?

Jonathan (23:02):
I mean, some of them are longer than others, right?
So like Ali went a littledeeper.
Um I I didn't feel like I feltlike the next two were kind of
short-ish.
So I'm hoping that Ruby goes alittle deeper, and then I see
and I'm and I'm I I don't knowif Kimberly did the audio stuff
or if she was the same person,but I I enjoyed the audiobook

(23:26):
from that time I got drunk andand Save the Demon.
So I'm hoping it's the samevoice.

Mari (23:31):
Yeah, I don't I don't know, but I will say that just
just rating it off of the audiobook, Kimberly Lemming's audio
book was the best listeningexperience.
I I very much enjoyed thatlistening experience of it.

Jonathan (23:47):
Nice.

Mari (23:47):
Yeah, the only other one we haven't mentioned was Falling
by Christina Lauren.
That was the second one.

Jonathan (23:53):
Oh, okay, yeah.
Sorry.

Mari (23:55):
Yeah.
It was probably my leastfavorite.
It felt to me very incomplete.
Yeah, I like I I'd have a hardtime telling someone what what
actually happened.

Jonathan (24:05):
So Falling with that was the the party?

Mari (24:09):
Yeah.

Jonathan (24:10):
Okay.
Yeah, so I like so I'm withyou.
Like I and maybe we should savethis discussion for later.
But yeah, like I I I'm glad yousaid that because I was like,
like I'm cruising, I'm cruising,I'm cruising, and then all of a
sudden I'm like, oh, it's over.

Mari (24:24):
Yeah.

Jonathan (24:25):
What just what the hell what the hell just
happened?

Mari (24:27):
Yeah.
So that was our mini review ofthe Scared Sexy series.
Yeah.

Jonathan (24:31):
Y'all are welcome.
I did like it.
I would say I would recommendit though.
Get out there and get it.
It's worthwhile.
A delightful treat.

Mari (24:37):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Like it was a great way to be.
If you want a little mini introto some of these authors'
writing styles, like I thought Ithought it was a good way to
not have to commit to a wholebook, you know?
Um, unless anybody has anythingelse.

Jonathan (24:54):
The only thing I would add is that we're I know we'll
be late when this comes out, butstill worth a shot.
What's her name?
Rebecca Yarros is her store isopening on October 1st.
Threshing day for some likesome merch stuff or some more uh
she's not managing it, butshe's like turned it over to a

(25:15):
team to manage it.
And I think part of the issue,she really didn't have a very
shoppable store.
There was a whole bunch oflinks crammed up with that like
very little direction.
So I'm hoping that this is moreof like like a Shopify setup,
more curated with like betterpictures and be more expensive,

(25:35):
but yeah.

Ashley (25:36):
Naturally, I'm pretty stoked.
You know, she's a I do youremember that she did the the
Red Sox thing in the last coupleof months and they had the
Ryerson wingleader jackets forthe Red Sox game.
So I in the caption of one ofthe posts about the merch shop,
it said, you know, are youlooking forward to your your
Ryerson jacket or something likethat?
And so I think you know thatwas kind of like a soft launch

(26:00):
for some of the stuff we canexpect.
So I'm stoked.
I mean, it's nice to be able tohave a place that you can like
a single place, hopefully, thatyou can go and buy things that
are licensed and you knowapproved by her.
I do appreciate an independentshop and I want to be able to
shop, you know, small and local.
Um, but to an extent you wantyour stuff to be approved by,

(26:21):
you know, the creator as well.
I agree.
So I'm excited to see what theycome up with because I I think
this is just a world that it weare not done by far, you know,
exploring and to see somevisuals tied to it is really
exciting.

Jonathan (26:35):
And for the other sports fans, I think she also
did like an avalanche jersey.
She did like a Denver hockeygame recently.

Ashley (26:42):
I think you're right, but I didn't read up on it, so
that's fair.

Mari (26:45):
Yeah.
So if you're interested inRebecca Yarrow's merch, go over
to her store.
It'll be open by the time thisepisode drops.
So that's what we're talkingabout.
And get some some fourth wingstuff.
Or hey, if you have someone inyour life who's into that stuff,
guess what?
Holiday gift giving time iscoming up.
So it'll be a place to makemaybe get something for that
person that's, you know, fourthwing obsessed in your life.

Ashley (27:07):
That site's definitely gonna crash.
I hope they're prepared for it.

Mari (27:10):
Probably October 1st.
But I think by the time thiscomes out, hopefully they'll
have like it'll have calm down.
Yeah, all the kinks will bewill be out of it.

Jonathan (27:17):
So oh no, keep the kinks in.

Speaker 00 (27:19):
We like the kinks.

Mari (27:20):
Okay, so I because I know all you guys have sent stuff in
for us to talk about news.
So I think I I tried to geteverything that was gonna be,
you know, that hadn't passed bythe time this episode comes out.
So it's anything I missed, orare we good?

Ashley (27:32):
No girl, solid job.
Yeah, well done.

Kelly (27:34):
Okay.

Ashley (27:35):
Kudos.

Mari (27:36):
All right, so why we chose the book onto the book
discussion?
Because it's Hispanic HeritageMonth and we wanted to read a
Hispanic author.
And also I'd heard good thingsabout it, and also it's got
vampires in it, and thespookening is upon us.

Kelly (27:52):
The spookening.

Mari (27:53):
This book was published August 15th, 2023.
I'm gonna read the synopsis andthen we'll get into our
details.
Vampires, vaqueros, and starcrossed lovers face off on the
Texas-Mexico border in thesupernatural western from the
author of The Hacienda.
As the daughter of a rancher in1840s Mexico, Nena knows a
thing or two about monsters.

(28:14):
Her home has long beenthreatened by tensions with
Anglo-settlers from the north,but something more sinister
lurks near the ranch at night,something that drains men of
their blood and leaves them fordead.
Something that once attackedNena nine years ago.
Believing Nena dead, Nestor hasbeen on the run from his grief
ever since, moving from ranch toranch, working as a vaquero,
but no amount of drink candispel the night terrors of

(28:37):
sharp teeth.
No woman can erase hischildhood sweetheart from his
mind.
When the United States invadesMexico in 1846, the two are
brought abruptly together on theroad to war.
Nena as a curandera, a healer,striving to prove her worth to
her father so that he does notmarry her off to a stranger, and
Nestor as a member of theauxiliary cavalry of ranchers
and vaqueros.

(28:58):
But the shock of their reunionand Nena's rage at Nestor for
seemingly abandoning her longago is quickly overshadowed by
the appearance of a nightmaremade flesh.
And unless Nena and Nestor worktogether through their past and
face the future together,neither will survive to see the
dawn.
Bum bum bum.

Ashley (29:15):
That's a very serious synopsis.
I didn't actually read thesynopsis.
I honestly think you read thebook.

Mari (29:20):
Yeah, I think the synopsis kind of, if I had just read the
synopsis, I think it would havefelt a little serious and a
little maybe off-putting, butI'd heard so many good things
about it that I wanted to giveit a try.
I'm gonna go first because Ihaven't gone first in a while,
and I'm not gonna make Ash gofirst like she has done, has had
to do a poor thing.
I really like this book.

(29:41):
I I don't think I've ever reada Western that I can remember.
I remember liking watchingWesterns, but I don't think I'd
ever read a Western.
I'm also don't know a lot aboutthat time in history, and I
also am a little hit or miss.
Miss on historical fictions,historical romances.

(30:03):
So my expectations were iffy.
So I was expecting like ahorror historical romance
western kind of thing withvampires as like the monster.
And I feel like what I got waslike a gothic historical romance
with vampires.
Like vampires exist, but likethe true monsters were the

(30:25):
humans, like patriarchy,colonialism, imperialism,
colorism, sexism, toxicmasculinity, like abusive
childhoods, all that stuff.
And I don't feel like it wasdone in a heavy-handed way.
I feel like there were parts inthe middle of the book that
dragged a little bit, felt alittle like telenovela, soap
opera-ish.

(30:45):
And that I had some eye-rollingmoments.
But overall, I really enjoyedthis book.
Like it made me feel things.

Ashley (30:51):
I mean, I think that's always kind of the hope, right?
Is that it'll make you feelsomething.
And if it's a positive feeling,then it's just a bonus, right?

Mari (30:58):
Yeah.

Ashley (30:59):
I did also enjoy this book.
I was concerned, I'm not gonnalie.
And it was an audio for me,which I think helped because
having, you know, the tones andthe inflections sometimes,
especially because this wasn't ahundred percent English, right?
And I am a hundred percentEnglish.
Um, so there would have beenareas for me that I probably

(31:20):
would have preferred to read it,but then I probably would have
gotten all the words wrong, youknow, in hindsight.
But I I think hearing the tonesand hearing the the inflections
of speech and hearing thepassion, you know, behind both
narrators, because there was amale and a female, it just
really it made it so much moremoving.
Like this author is a verypoetic author.

(31:44):
I felt like there was so muchimagery, there was so much
feeling in everything, and therewas so many callbacks to other
feelings and other images.
You know what I mean?
Like she just tied, it was likea painting.
It was like it was likelistening to the colors of the
wind, you know, in Pocahontas.
Like everything just blendedand merged, and it was it was

(32:05):
like listening to poetry.
Agreed, it felt maybe a littlebit long, but not in an
unpleasant way.
It's more like in an Ashley'sway too busy kind of way, but it
it was overall just such a apleasure to listen to.
And I I do, I feel like Ilearned some stuff, right?
Like to your point, I think Isaid it to Jonathan.
Like, I've read about 1840sVictorian England or whatever

(32:28):
that time period was, you knowwhat I mean?
But not Mexico in that timeperiod, right?
So, like, what a differentperspective.
I've read stupid westerns forsure.
There's some some good, youknow, dumb stuff out there.
But this one, this one wasquite lovely.

Mari (32:42):
Yeah, it's good to get your your viewpoint on the
language thing because that'sone thing I was thinking as I
was reading it.
I'm like, there's a lot ofSpanish words in here.

Ashley (32:51):
Like, I wonder what everyone's gonna think.
But they get their pointacross, you know what I mean?
So again, I think listening toit helped me get that point
across.
Like there were words that I'dnever heard of, right?
Especially not having spoken adifferent language ever in my
whole life.
It's just not, you know, in mymy DNA in the way that it is for
others.

(33:11):
But like they get their pointacross.
And so while you might not knowits exact definition or
translation, you don't feel lostin the story.
Like you didn't lose anything.
And in fact, it it just, youknow, made it that much more
authentic.

Mari (33:24):
All right, guys, what'd you think?

Jonathan (33:26):
Um a medium liked it.
It was I thought what I foundreally appealing was the way
they told the story in like so Ididn't lose sight of the idea
that they were like what was it,like 1829 or something like
that?

Mari (33:43):
I thought she said it was 1840.
1846.

Jonathan (33:46):
Okay, 1840.

Mari (33:47):
Well, that 1846 was the main part of it, but it did
flash back to their childhood,which would have been nine years
before that.

Jonathan (33:53):
So gotcha, gotcha.
Yeah, number one.

Mari (33:58):
1839.

Jonathan (33:59):
So so like in that, like I didn't I didn't go into
it think like it wasn't like oldtimey speech.
So I was like, oh, okay, cool.
And like it was it went in adirection that I didn't think it
would, or that I was hopingthat it wouldn't.
It left me, I think I think itjust left some it left some

(34:22):
food.
There was some there was somefood on the table.
There were there was more Ithink that it could have done,
and it just left me left mehanging out.
Like I guess I had hoped thatNena would be like would be like
like an unturn like a or aturned like dormant, like let me

(34:45):
just rise up and oh you thoughtyou were gonna get a little bit
more supernatural.
Yeah, I I didn't get like it.
I th I think it was I meanshit, it was well played, but I
I want I did want m more of thesupernatural.
I think there's more out there,like the way it ended when she
was like at the at the water andshe was like, Yeah, like she
can set like so she cancommunicate with them.

(35:08):
Yeah, when she was attacked,right?
So there's like there's someshe's been marked and she's
survived, but does she retainany that she she didn't turn?
She didn't in a tra in thattraditional like you've been
bitten by a vampire and you'veturned.
Like that doesn't that doesn'tlike or does it?
I don't know.

(35:28):
It wasn't stated, but it wasn'tit wasn't.
Yeah.
And then when she like kind oflooked across and they stood up
and like went in the otherdirect, like maybe there's a
part two, and maybe that parttwo is like, hey, you you you
gotta join forces.
You're one of us.
We need your help freeing whatthe what what the the Yankees

(35:52):
are are doing here.
We need to fix this.
Come and help us get like levelthe playing field or even the
score.
And if you do this, we'll offeryou this reward.
But we're gonna activate younow.
Um like I think I feel like Iwanted that activity.

Ashley (36:11):
Do you know that you just wrote like a whole book
right now?

Jonathan (36:14):
Alright, cool.
Yeah, you know where to send,yeah, you know, you know where
to send the check, Mr.
The But yeah, I think that's Ithink that's a cool I think that
that's what I was missing here.
Like it was instead it turnedout to be like more of a like it
was the weaponization it wasthe weaponization of a of a
magical creature, right?

(36:34):
Or like a a a legendary orwhatever creature as the by by
the Anglos as they invaded andwere attempting to colonize a
land that didn't belong to them.
You know, like hey, we're gonnatake what we want, and we got
these dogs on a chain doing itfor us.
Yeah, excuse me, I'm sorry.

(36:55):
But it makes me think like whyyou know, like it was a lot of
effort, it was a whole bunch ofeffort.
So, like, and why why like Istill feel like they could be
like, hey, let's go activate herand get even.
Anyway.

Ashley (37:12):
Like they have a spy, they have an ally.

Jonathan (37:14):
I think that's I think the idea that the ally, the
resources of the ally, or theirher, she wasn't unlocked at to
her full potential, and thatleft me long.
That's why it was like it wasmedium okay.
But I do agree that it kind oflike I didn't need to hear all
the like traveling back, youknow.

Mari (37:34):
So it was like I think for me it was about the fact that
it was like a whole very muchstereotypical romance soap opera
third breakup thing where theyjust wouldn't talk to each other
and get past it, um, which isfrustrating.
But I guess you know that's afeeling too.
That's part of it, and that'sfine.
It's not my favorite, but it'sfine.

Ashley (37:54):
Well, and that's the time too, right?

Mari (37:56):
There wasn't a whole lot of emotional intelligence back
then, especially for two likewounded people, basically.

Ashley (38:01):
Right.

Mari (38:02):
Let me correct myself.
I think I said it was writtenby Isabel Allende.
I apologize.
It's Isabel Cañas, is theauthor.
I I put it wrong in the notes.
That's on me.
It's been a day.
I'm so sorry.
Fully forgiven.
Kelly, what'd you think?

Kelly (38:16):
I didn't hate this book.
I didn't particularly love it.
It was okay.
I think that the book wasinteresting and that it blended
a lot of the historical eventsabout essentially the
Mexican-American War into thebackground of the book and used
it.
I thought back to the mostaccurate and truthful line ever
uttered uttered in a Disneymovie was in Pocahontas when the

(38:40):
Indian chief said these whitepeople are dangerous.
And essentially that's whatwe're using as the backdrop here
is we're using the backdrop ofthe instability in Mexico and
the run-up into theMexican-American War and how
that all unfolded.
So that was interesting that wehad a lot of those events
blended into it.

(39:01):
And for the most part, I feellike it was fairly accurate as
background type setting.

Mari (39:08):
I was wondering, I was gonna ask you.
I was like, how how good isthis, Mr.
History?

Kelly (39:12):
I mean, it was okay.
You have to remember up untilthe Mexican-American War, the
Republic of Mexico was veryunstable, kind of.
They didn't really have it avery effective centralized
government because once they hadbeen separated from Spain, the
Mexican government was reallykind of weak.

(39:32):
There was a lot of corruption,there wasn't a strong central
government.

Mari (39:36):
So it reminded me, like it made me think of like like the
feudal system.
Is that kind of what it was?
Like every like ranch had itsown thing.

Kelly (39:43):
Right.
And and if you ever watchedlike Zorro, this is the same
kind of thing.
You had the wealthy landbarons, you know, who owned the
land and people worked for them.
And so Zorro was, you know,fighting against the wealthy
Spanish landowners who wereabusing the common, you know,
the workers and stuff.
So that's a very, I don't know,idealized historical trope of

(40:06):
Mexico at that time.
So during this time period, youknow, you had the Texas
Revolution, you had all thathappen.
Texas, you know, was separatedfrom Mexico.
However, the Mexican governmentrefused to recognize details of
the treaty.
So there was always thislong-running dispute about where
exactly is the border?
Is it the Rio Grande or is itthe Nuse River?

(40:29):
You know, so there was a lot ofdispute about that.
And eventually President Polk,under pressure, basically tried
to buy the territory.
The government refused.
Polk sent 80 soldiersessentially across the border to
basically antagonize theMexicans.
And so the Mexican army, whichwas kind of a militia, formed

(40:53):
up, tried to repel the Americansoldiers, which, you know, they
essentially fought a conflictwith the American soldiers,
which immediately let PresidentPolk go to Congress and say, Oh,
they attacked our soldiers, nowwe got to go to war.
And then so that was thepretext allowing the Mexican war
to unfold with the permissionof Congress with President Polk.
So basically it was a classicuse of small force to antagonize

(41:17):
them.
They fought back, and now wecan say, you know, now it's time
for war.
And then so obviously that warwas, you know, pretty
short-lived, you know, not evena full two years.
And you know, that eventuallysettled with, you know, the
entirety of the Rio Grandesettling the disputed territory
and all that kind of stuff.

(41:38):
So that's kind of the you know,the the 30,000-foot view of the
Mexican-American War.
Okay.
So on the most part, it wasaccurate because what we're
looking at is we're looking atthat time period where those
small group of soldiers from theUnited States had come across
specifically to antagonize theMexican government.
And so the Mexican army, whichwas more of a militia, was

(42:01):
augmented by a lot of, you know,Mexican citizens because they
knew the Mexican militia wasn'tvery big or strong.
So a lot of Mexican farmers,workers, you know, supplemented
in this in a true militia style.
And so that's kind of wherethis is taking place, is right
in that conflict there, youknow, which essentially the
Mexican army, you know, hadcasualties, but they really did

(42:23):
get pushback because essentiallya very underfunded,
under-trained, under-equippedmilitia was not going to be a
very good match for 80well-trained, you know,
American, well-armed,well-trained American soldiers,
you know, even if they didn'thave vampires.
Right.
So I like that we had thataccurate historical stuff going
on here, and I like that we'reblending all that together.

(42:46):
And what I found interestingwas that we're also blending
another sci-fi fantasy type plotdevice, which is that the enemy
is using captured supernaturalcreatures as weapons.
So we see this in a lot ofother type stories where you

(43:07):
know you capture zombies or someother kind of monsters and you
train them or use them to fightyour enemies instead.
So this is what we're seeing.
We're seeing the Americans, youknow, the Yankees take these
vampires and then try andbasically turn them into weapons
to use against the Mexicans.

Mari (43:25):
Yeah.

Kelly (43:26):
And so we're kind of humanizing the vampires as, you
know, they're not really wantingto fight in this battle.
They're kind of being made to,they're being used as a weapon.
So, you know, we're trying toget some sympathy, I guess, for
the vampires.
So it's a very interesting wayof putting in that.
So the vampire itself reallywasn't even a big part of the

(43:49):
book.

Mari (43:49):
I agree.

Jonathan (43:50):
So this it was definitely secondary.

Kelly (43:52):
Right.
So I don't know.
I don't I think if you take thevampire part out, you
essentially have the same story.

Mari (44:03):
I I think in a lot of ways you do.
I think what the vampiresshowed, in my opinion, the one
thing that it did that itwouldn't wouldn't have been able
to do without them, is kind oflike Nina using the power of
like the land and what she wastaught by the people around her
and having her own her own wayof power and her own way of

(44:24):
contributing.

Kelly (44:25):
Right.

Mari (44:26):
That wasn't like military or like guns or whatever.
It was her using the power thatshe had and the knowledge she
had and the skill set she had tocontribute towards the party,
so to speak.

Kelly (44:36):
Right.
So, you know, essentially a lotof what this story's conflict
came down to really wasn't evenabout that.
The story's main conflict wasreally about Nina and her
conflict with her parents andthe expectations of what she is
supposed to do as a faithful andloyal daughter of a you know
Spanish Mexican landowner.

Mari (44:57):
Yeah.

Kelly (44:58):
That's essentially what the conflict of the story was.
You know, the vampire stuff,all of that is just background
conflict.
The real conflict was daughterversus parents and you know, not
marrying the people that theywant her to marry.

Mari (45:14):
Yeah.
The real enemy was likepatriarchy.
Right.
Yeah.
There's a a quote, like myfavorite quote from the book, is
she became more and moretightly bound by the ropes of
womanhood.
He roamed free, unburdened byresponsibilities.
That was like her synopsis ofthem growing up.
Yeah.
How they grew up differently.

Jonathan (45:34):
He was living the life once he left.
He was he was sleeping around.
He found himself some widows.
He was gonna sleep his way tothe top, earn some money.

Mari (45:41):
I mean, he had his trauma too, though.
He was not dealing with his histrauma very well.

Jonathan (45:46):
Can you imagine thinking like, oh, like because
he wasn't even responsible, hewas just like existing.
He yeah, he was just like like,oh shit, this happened.
This is something we do.
Like we went in search of like,what you went, we went in
search of silver, and then thishappened, and now I think she's
dead.
I better just abandoneverything and keep running.

Mari (46:08):
He was so young.

Jonathan (46:09):
Yeah, but then you show up and she's there.
You're like, dang, I left home.
Nobody, nobody told me once,like, like, hey, where'd you go?

Mari (46:16):
Yeah, like his grandma didn't tell him what the fuck.
Well, you gotta rememberthough, remember he did he
addressed they addressed that inthat like writing, like the
first of all, like not everybodycould write.
It was kind of a thing that hecould read.
And so you're having yourletters and the things are
processed through other people.
So like his family wouldn't beable to write him directly.
It was being processed throughother people, so it was limited

(46:37):
as to what they could tell him.

Ashley (46:38):
I don't know.
A boiler should have let himknow.

Jonathan (46:41):
But also, I don't think they really knew like
that's why she that's why heleft.
I think they were just like,Oh, he just decided enough's
enough.
I'm out of here.

Ashley (46:50):
Like, he's also a baby, so like ask questions.
I don't know.
I get it's a different time,right?
So, like to to try to presumethat I understand what's going
through their head.
But I mean, he was he wasliterally just a child when that
all went down.
And it's probably a miraclethat he survived after that

(47:10):
alone.
I if it's interesting to likeprocess how impatient they were
with each other upon thatreunion, right?
Like, because the emotionalintelligence that we have, you
know, reading it, it's like youfelt they were impatient?
Yeah.
I thought she was veryimpatient with him.
He all she recognized was thathe left her.

(47:31):
He left her and he didn't comeback.
But she it not she and she readthat as scorn a bit.
But like she acknowledges it atone point.
She was like a smarter, wiserwoman would process his trauma
and you know, recognize that heleft because she he thought that
she was dead and that there wasno world there for him without
her.
And she was like, But I'm notthat woman.

Jonathan (47:52):
Yeah.
See, I I got like the I got theopposite of I so I got like a
whole I've read a whole bunch ofpatients where they were just
like, I don't need this, youknow, and he's like, Yeah, cool,
I'm cool without this too, kindof thing.
And it was just like theyweren't like like to me, I think
impatient would be like, Oh, Ihaven't seen you in forever.

(48:14):
Let's get out, let's get it on.

Ashley (48:15):
No.

Jonathan (48:16):
Kind of thing.

Ashley (48:16):
Like that's desire.
That's not impatience.
Impatience is that feeling youfeel when you know the answer to
something, but I'm not allowed,you're not allowed to call them
idiots.
Like you have to work, let themwork through their own
problems.

Jonathan (48:28):
Oh, I can't call them idiots.
You're not allowed to call theneuroregs idiots.

Ashley (48:32):
No, you can't call the neuroregs idiots.

Jonathan (48:33):
So my bad.

Ashley (48:34):
That's what impatience is.
Sorry.

Mari (48:36):
Yeah, it's a it's that miscommunication thing to me.
But it it is.
It's all because we're lookingat it as grown people.
We're looking at it as peoplethat didn't go through these
traumas.
You know, like Nestor lost hiswhole world as a kid and like
basically left and raisedhimself feral, thinking he had
killed the love of his life,like the the you know, the one

(49:00):
that he wanted to marry.
And she, you know, thought thathe left her.
And she's also trying to likeprove herself of some worth by
what she can do and what she cando to help people so that she
doesn't get, you know, sold offto another branch or whatever.

Jonathan (49:18):
Anyone feel like Capetro is just a tool?

Ashley (49:22):
No, I think he's doing his best.

Jonathan (49:23):
He was just kind of like a but I mean like a pawn in
this whole story where he waslike you know who he is?

Ashley (49:28):
He's hey hey.

Jonathan (49:30):
Hey, hey.
He was just there to like hewas there to get bitten the
whole so that way he could theycould connect the dots.

Ashley (49:37):
I mean, it was it's part of Nestor's humanity though.
You know, he went out there, hemade friends, he he had some
found family that you knowbasically kept him alive.
I think Bertho was probably keyto Nestor's survival after a
period of time.

Mari (49:54):
And humanization in some ways.

Jonathan (49:56):
How about he was just they were like, hey, we're gonna
fight this war, and he waslike, I got nothing better to
do.

Ashley (50:01):
I mean, I think that was the time.

Jonathan (50:03):
I'm in.
Let's yeah, let's do this.
And then when I'm done, like,well, get some we'll get some
food and I'll be on my way.
Cool.
I was it was a good one.
That was his way.

Ashley (50:12):
He was like, All right, we go into war.

Jonathan (50:13):
Oh, I got bit.

Mari (50:14):
Did you guys I wrote down at one point when they talked
about like they were talkingabout the different, I think,
Mexican like folklore and stuff.
They were talking about thelechuza.
And I was like, oh, we saw thatat Halloween Horror Nights.
That was like that one househad that giant harpy looking
thing in the in the in the nest.
That was a lachuza because I'dnever heard of it before.

(50:35):
And I was very impressed bythat larger than life size
puppet in that room.

Jonathan (50:39):
There were house.
There were a lot of mesmerizingthings going on that night to
catch you off guard.
And I'm gonna be honest, a lotof it I was like not super
detail-oriented in those houses.

Ashley (50:52):
So you weren't focusing.

Jonathan (50:54):
Uh I the some fine, like sometimes you got I got
lured in.
Like I was like, ooh, what'sgoing on?
That looks so different.
Oh, this is terrible.
This is a terrible idea.

Mari (51:03):
Sucker.
Yeah, because it wasinteresting that like what
little resistance or what littleinformation they had uh to like
save themselves or keepthemselves safe from vampires
wasn't through like the menfolk,and it wasn't through the
military, and it wasn't throughlike the Hussian or owners or
whatever.
It it was like the healers andthe women who were like, hey,

(51:25):
put that salt in that saddlebag.
You're you're gonna need that.
Just in case.

Jonathan (51:29):
Just in case a whole bunch of faith in salt.

Mari (51:32):
Yeah.
Yeah.

Ashley (51:33):
I mean, at that point it was right.
It was like, what do we have tolose?
Like, other than actual death,right?
Like, might as well.

Jonathan (51:40):
Did they did they call them vampires?
Did they label them?

Ashley (51:44):
So she picked it up from the Yankees.
She said she says somethinglike that she she remembers that
the the Anglos or the Yankeessaid the word, and you know, she
she just kind of pieced ittogether.
I don't remember how she wordsit exactly, but she remembers
hearing basically one of thewhite guys say it.
And, you know, when she finallyfaced a vampire and saw it, you

(52:07):
know, pretty much head on.
Um that first night in thehouse with Nestor.
She said uh she and she shetalks about connecting those
dots.
She's like, I don't know how Iknow, but that's a vampire.

Mari (52:20):
Interesting.

Ashley (52:21):
So I don't remember where in the story it gets said,
but she does explain that part.

Jonathan (52:26):
In book two, she turns.
We're calling it now.
Book two's not out yet.

Mari (52:30):
I I don't think it's gonna be.
Like it's not labeled a a oneof two situation.
I think this might be this allelusive thing in the in the in
the world lately.
It's a standalone.

Jonathan (52:42):
Well, e Issa hasn't heard this podcast yet.

Mari (52:45):
Your friend Isa?

Jonathan (52:46):
But soon, soon, soon word'll be on the we'll be out.

Mari (52:50):
Anything else we wanna any other thoughts we want to bring
up about it before we go to thefinal question?
Here's your warning, Ash.

Ashley (52:58):
I really liked the ending on this one.
I think it's been a while sincewe've had just like like a
polite ending.
And so, you know, it wasinteresting just to kind of hear
how she, you know, stood herground and chose her man, and
she was like, fuck you, mom anddad.
That's not what she said, butit's basically what she said.
Yeah.
And she was just like, youknow, if he leaves, I leave.

(53:20):
And then, you know, they gottheir they got their little bit
of land, and then they got moreland as a gift, and that land
included, you know, the quarryso that they could build their
stone house.
And and then, you know, likethat little tidbit about the
vampire at the end, you know,from across the stream, and they
just acknowledge each other.
I can see where Jonathan'sleft.

Jonathan (53:41):
This is happy for now because dad, dad didn't dad
wasn't like, my bad.
Dad didn't show up to thewedding.

Ashley (53:48):
Dad was like writing you off.

Jonathan (53:51):
Yeah, and he was like, he you're right, he did he
gifted Lynn.
That's what stubborn helped mendo.
They don't apologize.
It's connected to theirproperties and it's it has a
quarry so that they could buildtheir their large home.
Yeah, but for now they're gonnastay in that hut and they're
gonna build, you know, they'regonna keep doing what they're
doing.
I think it's just happy fornow.
Uh the the only thing I wouldsay is I found it easier to read

(54:16):
than I thought it was going tobe.
I thought it was gonna be likelike real old timey and it just
wasn't contemporary either.
It was just it felt it didn'tfeel forced and I didn't feel
like I was just in like itdidn't feel like I was in a less

(54:38):
technological space either.

Mari (54:41):
Yeah.

Jonathan (54:41):
Does that does that make sense?
I don't even know if that islike easy to digest.

Mari (54:45):
Yeah.

Jonathan (54:45):
Yeah.

Mari (54:46):
It didn't it didn't take away from the story, didn't pull
you out of it.
Correct.
Kelly, any any wrap-up thoughtsfrom you?
Yeah.
I uh I I enjoyed it.
I thought it was a good story.
I think it would be a reallyinteresting visual if they did
like a movie.
I think it could be aninteresting movie made of this.
Agreed.
Yeah.

(55:07):
Or a telenovela.
I'll watch a telenovela ofthis.
All right, so the finalquestion is it a kissing book?

Jonathan (55:15):
Mario, you're on that.

Mari (55:18):
I I actually didn't think about this.
My how the turntables haveMario in the coughing there.

Ashley (55:30):
That made my night into some okay.

Mari (55:34):
I'm going to say that it is a kissing book because if
they didn't care for each otherthe way that they did, she
probably wouldn't have taughtNestor to read.
They probably wouldn't havebeen able to coordinate and and
over everything that happened.
And like she wouldn't have hadthe bravery to try what she did

(55:57):
with the vampires and to likestand up to the way things have
always been in the patriarchyand and kind of speak up for
their happiness.
So I'm gonna say yes, it's akissing book.

Ashley (56:10):
Yeah, I'm gonna agree it's like a cautionary yes.
Like there are elements of thestory that don't require the
other person, right?
Like their lives would havegone on, they would have been,
you know, simpler, they wouldhave been less fulfilled without
each other.
But I do think it was, youknow, the affection for the
other that really got themthrough that after the battle

(56:33):
period, right?
And got them home in arelatively safe manner.
I don't know if as individualsthey if she would have made it
at all, right?

Kelly (56:44):
Yeah.

Ashley (56:44):
If for no other reason than just the brute strength of
the thing initially.
But I think it was herprotectiveness over him in his
wounded state that you know shestood up and and chopped that
guy, that vampire's head off,right?
Because then who knows?
I don't know if they had killeda vampire up until that point,
effectively.

(57:05):
So it was really, you know,protecting Nestor that brought
her to that place.
And then she was able to bringthat knowledge back home, right?
The salt, the the chopping offthe heads of the vampires, the
the concept that maybe she canspeak to them if they hadn't
cared enough for each other toprotect each other and get each

(57:27):
other home.
I don't know that it would havecontinued and successfully the
way that it did.

Mari (57:31):
All right, guys.

Jonathan (57:33):
It's definitely a kissing book.
I don't think that he's comingback to save her if he's not in
love with her.
And then they actually talkabout like their his first kiss
with her, where it was likeunder the guise of just like
practicing, but it it anchoredor cemented their their emotions
for each other.
Yeah, I think a lot doesn'thappen if they're not in love,

(57:55):
and I think the story is it itpivots and hinges at points
based on their wanting to betogether.
So I I think yeah, kissingbook.

Mari (58:05):
Kelly.

Kelly (58:06):
I agree.
I think it's a kissing booksimply for the fact that he I
think that while he wasmotivated to go back and help
with the militia, I think thatif he didn't have romantic
feelings for her, he would nothave done as much to protect
her.

Mari (58:25):
Yeah.
Look at us.
All in agreement.
Yay.
All right.
Anything else before I wrap itup?

Ashley (58:33):
I feel like we covered it.
Okay.

Kelly (58:36):
All right.

Mari (58:36):
So thanks for listening to Of Swords and Soulmates.
Before we go, make sure tocheck the show notes rate review
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(58:57):
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(59:17):
Cruel Dark by Bay Northwake.

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"Vampires of El Norte" - Vaqueros, Vampires, and a Choice of Freedom

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