Book Blender: Our Summer Update and Book Talk

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:10):
Welcome to the Lazy Girl Library, the podcast, where
reading is a pleasure andcaptivating adventures happen
from the comfort of your couch.
I'm your host, darby, and I'mMikayla, and if you've ever
spent more time rearranging yourbookshelf than your priorities,
then you, my friend, are in theright place.
Hello, darby, hey, did you guysmiss us?

(00:33):
It's episode nine.
We're back, finally took alittle bit of a break.
Bet, you didn't know we wereleaving.
You know, life happens, thingshappen.
It gets kind kind of crazy.
We took a little break, butwe're back and better than ever
now.
We just had to have a hot girlsummer, but we're back for fall,
fall, girl time.

(00:54):
Yeah, so this episode's gonnabe more of what we call a book
blender episode.
We did have we lovealliterations.
Yes, we did have a book clubbook for July.
It was the Housemaid.
You all had plenty of time toread it.
Yes, plenty of time had theHousemaid by Freda McFadden.
So we're going to talk aboutthat one a little bit.

(01:14):
But we're kind of blending thisepisode as a book talk, also
with just a pod catch up.
What have we been up to?
What have we been reading?
Get back into it.
And, yeah, what have we been upto on this break, so summer
catch-up.
Here's what I've been up to.
I moved into a house in like maytime I might have said that on

(01:34):
the podcast, I don't rememberbut I moved into a house.
It's been good until we foundout that there was a leak in our
shower, but, but it wasn't likea super noticeable leak.
So by the time that we found it, like our walls had so much
water they took out the carpetin our closet.
There's a big hole in ourliving room.
Now, like we can see the innerwall, it looks like a

(01:56):
construction zone.
It does.
Yeah, we had like threedifferent humidifiers and fans
in there.
It's so loud it was veryoverstimulated in there.
So loud it was veryoverstimulated.
They're gone now so we'reslowly fixing it back up.
Um, at least you don't have topay for it.
Yes, it's a rental house wehave.
We didn't buy this place, we'rejust renting it.
So at least the positive andthe negative right.

(02:18):
Yes, yes, so we won't have topay for everything, although we
did bring up to our like rentalplace that we didn't want to
have fans and humidify, like wedidn't ask for that.
So are you gonna help us withour electricity bill.
They gave us a big fat no.
They said, nope, not ourproblem.
But it's like, okay, well, it'snot our problem either.
Yeah, anywho, so moved into ahouse.

(02:40):
I had my friend's bacheloretteparty in saint augustine and
that was really fun.
I really haven't been to StAugustine much and it's so cute,
I really liked it.
It's very quaint, mm-hmm.
I also got asked to be abridesmaid over summer by Miss
Michaela.
Surprise.

(03:00):
I said no, I'm just kidding,just kidding, she did it.
It was just kidding, justkidding, she did it.
It was so cute.
We did a PowerPoint night, which, if you don't know it's going
to be hard to explain.
I think it's more of a Gen Zthing, but basically you and
your friends make PowerPoints onanything, powerpoints on

(03:28):
anything, and so Michaela wentlast on our powerpoint night and
her title screen was like thebridesmaid chronicles and it was
like book themed and thesilence was so loud.
Everyone in the room was likein shock.
And then she brought out thesecute boxes that were all like
tailored to each of us, and theneach of her slides was a book
page that had, um, likedescriptions of, like our
friendship and all these cutequalities and disney characters

(03:50):
that we were.
Oh, it was so good.
The goal was to make everyonecry, and I think I achieved that
goal.
Yeah, absolutely, it was crazy,one of one of my favorite
summer memories.
Oh, I'm so happy you said yes,um, and then what else has been
going on?
It's been kind of a slow seasonat work for me.
That's nice, though, becauseyou came off a really busy

(04:10):
season.
Yeah, springtime, basicallyfrom mid-February to mid-May
like you can't talk to me, likeit's crazy.
So we had our event wrap up andthen getting prepared and now
we're back to planning, but it'sstill not as crazy as it will

(04:31):
be in the springtime.
So that's been really nice.
I had my mom's birthday.
Happy birthday, mama D.
That was fun, just getting tohang out with the family.
I have four siblings, for thoseof you who don't know, so
sometimes it's hard to get usunder the same roof, and
actually we didn't even have allof us under the same roof for

(04:52):
her birthday, but we had amajority of us, so it was nice
to hang out with the fam.
Shout out the Wellbom clan.
Yeah, wellbom clan and Browns.
I have half siblings, butWellbom Browns.
Well, I'm clan and Browns.
I have half siblings, but well,I'm Browns.
And then what else?
Oh, we just had our beerOlympics.
So fun.
Yeah, michaela and I were onthe same team together.
We got last place.

(05:13):
We had fun doing it anyway, wehad so much fun.
Michaela shotgunned for thefirst time, which was wild.
She was incredible.
Like oh my gosh, she put me toshame.
No, I'm not good at shotgunninganyway.
But like, no, you literallycrushed it like I was in shot,
like you finished.
And I was like oh my gosh, Igotta go like, but I was just in

(05:35):
awe watching you and that wasreally cool.
And we played beer balltogether.
We were teammates.
For that I definitely let youdown in that regard.
No, no, no, everything kind ofwent off the rails for me after
shotgunning.
Beer ball always does me inthere, because after beer
olympics I was like diego, playwith me more.
And then I'm like decent atbeer balls who kept winning.
But the point of beer ball orpeg the can, whatever you want

(05:57):
to call it, is you're likechugging a full, like can of
beer is you know the essence ofthe game.
How fast can you do it, likewith other rules involved?
But then I'm like on game threeand I'm like I cannot be
drinking like this.
So it's like I wasn't evendrunk from beer olympics.
I was drunk from post beerolympics power hour.

(06:18):
Uh, and rewinding a little bitfor those of you who don't know
what a Beer Olympics is, it'sbasically like an adult field
day with drinking games.
So you play a bunch of drinkinggames like beer ball, pick the
can, beer pong, shotgun, relay,flip cup, elimination, flip cup,
things like that.
Yep, drunk limbo was a greatone and we even did like

(06:41):
three-legged race, dizzy bat,like that kind of thing.
So it was super fun.
It was our sixth year doing it,which is kind of crazy.
It is crazy and we're all kindof in our later 20s at this
point.
Uh, mid, mid to late, mid tolate.
I'm speaking for myself.
I am starting to get.
I always forget.
You're not late yet you'reright, I have an extra week and

(07:01):
a half.
Yeah, exactly, hold on to thatweek Aging myself.
But we definitely.
I feel like every year it getslike smaller and like more chill
in a good way.
But because we're all likegetting too old for this, I'm
like I need to ref next year.
But it's always a good time.

(07:23):
Yeah, it is always a good time,so is always a good time.
So we just had that and then,kind of overarching theme, I've
been reading a lot.
Yeah, you've been crushing,we'll get into it.
But whoa, whoa, I've beenreading a lot, yeah, but that's
been kind of what?
Just a little taste of whatI've been up to this summer.
Yeah, what about?
What about you, mikayla?

(07:44):
My summer's been kind of crazy.
I did have a little bit of ahealth scare Not going to go
into it, but I am doing okay andmuch better.
But that took up a little bitof stress and time.
I'm stronger than yesterday, sowe're all good now.
But that, yeah, that took sometime Doctors appointments,

(08:06):
things like that.
But I did get to spend a lot oftime with my family this summer
, which was nice.
My parents live out of state,so it's always nice when we get
together and we even had areally big family get together
for my grandma's 91st birthday.
So happy birthday, Nana.
I love you, nana.

(08:27):
Um, so that was really fungetting to see like everybody
and people from like.
My uncle lives over in paris,so he even came.
Oh my gosh, yeah, bonjour, didhe miss the olympics or was he
there for the opening ceremony.
You have to watch some of them.
Wow, like.
He got to see the gymnasticswith, like someone by us too
jealous, so jealous.
That's so cool.
I would love to go to anolympics at some point.
He got to see the gymnasticswith someone by his tooth

(08:48):
Jealous, so jealous, that's socool.
I would love to go to anOlympics at some point in my
lifetime Me too, la, maybe,maybe, maybe, we try.
That'd be fun.
Go stay with our friend.
Yeah, go check it out.
Yeah, but yeah.
So that was really nice,getting to see all my family and
celebrate her and her beautifullife.
And I was fully invested in theSummer Olympics this year.
Not surprising, I was fullyinto it.
I had shout out Peacock becausethey did a fantastic job.

(09:10):
They did.
This was like the best Olympics.
That in my recent memory oflike coverage wise, they had a
gold zone going.
We watched that.
That's what I watched majorityof the time, which is my
favorite because it reallyhelped.
Like swapping from all thedifferent events, you could see
everything instead of having topick and choose what you wanted.

(09:30):
And for those who don't know,gold Zone is a play on Red Zone
and what Red Zone is.
It's something that the girlsdon't always love because your
boyfriends or husbands.
It basically means they get towatch eight hours of
uninterrupted commercial freefootball and they only show when
a football team is in the redzones, when they're about to

(09:50):
score.
So gold zone was a play on that, so they were showing all the
different events and like whenpeople were like getting close
to winning and stuff.
That was really cool becauseyou got to watch a lot of sports
that, like you wouldn't thinkto put on yourself if you're
going and watching the Olympics.
It was neat.
I did like Gold Zone.
I'm sad I didn't listen to moreof the Call Her Daddy segments

(10:13):
because she had her own show forthe Olympics.
Oh, I didn't even know, yeah,so I didn't listen to that one
or watch that one as much, but Iwish I had.
I didn't even know.
Yeah, i'm'm gonna have to goback and look into that.
Um, I loved keeping up thisyear.
I always keep up with like onenew sport I feel like each year
I get invested in becausethere's always like the typical
ones, like gymnastics.
Obviously I'm gonna watchsomeone by, I'll kill it like.

(10:34):
Which is just, her power isinsane swimming.
Yes, you're gonna watch katieledecky who killed it.
Um, I also love watchingsynchronized diving.
That's another one of myfavorites.
It's always like towards thebeginning.
Uh, it just amazes me how insync they are down to like the
very minute details.
Yeah, wild, I didn't realizethat like your splashes scored,

(10:58):
like it's crazy.
It is pretty crazy.
But this year my one that Ireally got into was women's
rugby.
Yeah, because of alona mayor, Iwant to say, is she the one
that was doing like the loveisland tiktok trend?
Oh my god, yeah she was.
I fell in love with her last,like the last summer olympics,
because of her tiktok.
But this year I really, likebecause of gold zone, got to sit

(11:19):
and actually watch rugby andthey won bronze for the us,
which is the first medal, men'sor women's, for the program that
we've won in the event, whichis go usa wild, yeah, usa.
And so happy it was the women'stoo.
So that was really fun to watchand like get to see and like
watching her tiktoks along with.
It was fantastic.
So I loved that.

(11:40):
Yeah, rugby for the win thisyear.
Go rugby.
I'm just thinking of the friendsepisode when they're wait, I
don't think I know, um, who isit okay, they're playing rugby
and like who, who is it?
I don't know why there are tworugby guys there, but they're
playing rugby and like ross islike trying to show off for
rachel I think I could betotally butchering this and miss

(12:03):
remembering.
Um, yeah, that's really all Ihave from the memory.
It's like they're playing rugbyand he like jumps into the pile
.
I have like, as you'redescribing, it's like a vague
mirage is coming up.
Yeah, I've.
Yeah, it's vague for me too,but that's all I'm thinking of
when I think of rugby is justlike them playing.
I feel like what I've learned isrugby is very much like that
combination between soccer andfootball.

(12:25):
Yeah, obviously it leans moretowards football and I love
football, so maybe that's why Ireally enjoy watching rugby, but
because of the continuous playand everything, it really
reminded me a lot of like soccertoo.
So it's kind of fun seeing likethe new sports and picking up
like how they connect likewithin other sports to help you
understand it more, kind of yeah, justin, my husband is

(12:48):
convinced that he would be greatat handball.
I don't know if you watched anyof handball, but josh did.
I think they're joiningtogether to make like a team for
2028?
Yeah, all right, we'll be thecheerleaders, yeah, but it was
just funny because he was likewell, I could so do that.
Right, I was like sure youcould be a gold medalist.
He's actually very athletic, hecould probably do everything.
Yeah, I think that's all theboys, though.
When they watch these, like Icould do that, yeah.

(13:09):
Or like, sorry, go ahead, goahead.
The question of like could youbuild an airplane or land an
airplane?
I don't know that one.
Oh, there was like this thinggoing around where they were
asking guys like do you thinkyou could land an airplane?
Like if you had to?
And like everyone was like,yeah, of course.
No, josh is such a man.
He loved the.

(13:29):
No, sorry, josh, yeah, geek,I'm just kidding.
Um, he used to play like anactual flight simulator later,
um, as a kid, like growing up,like through like high school
and even the college kind ofthing.
So I don't know his answer tothat question, like actually, by
asking him, but I know hisanswer would 100% be like oh,

(13:50):
yeah, I can do it Easy, I gotthe hours.
I've only ever seen one ofthose games.
Once I had a Wish kid and theirwish was to be a fighter jet
pilot and we ended up likeinterviewing them.
So we fighter jet pilot and weended up like interviewing them.
So we went to um his house andhe had a little flight simulator
.
That's awesome, like just likea little controller.

(14:10):
It was really cool.
It makes me think of those memes, too, that you see on the
internet around the olympics,where it's like you're sitting
on your couch like shoving yourface with potatoes but potato
chips, and like completelyjudging, like oh, she stepped
out of bounds there, like rookiemistake, like you could even do
like a fraction of what shejust did.
It's crazy.
I actually don't love watchingthe olympics because I used to

(14:33):
cheer and I used to tumblenothing, not an ounce of what
they could do.
So we'll get started there likeI'm not comparing myself to
them, but it's like I can'twatch them tumble because I like
ended my cheerleading careerlike in a mental block which is
kind of like what?
Yeah, I guess that's maybe whatthey called in gymnastics, but
in cheer a lot of people call ita mental block, and so like I

(14:56):
couldn't like tumble.
So like when I watch them, itlike makes me sad.
Not, but I could never do thatanyway.
But like yeah, so sometimeslike watching them when they do
the floor stuff, I'm like likechange it to track.
I love gymnastics every year.
Gymnastics is fun.
I think track is my favorite,though it's so simple.
Yeah, that's true, I do lovewhen it gets like close to the

(15:17):
end.
So like the races and watchingthose are the best.
Didn't like one of the US likebronze girls?
Didn't they take it away?
Yeah, for gymnastics, mm-hmm,yep, that's Jordan Childs.
Like they.
It's just a totally.
It's like a judge-maid thingafter the.
I'm not completely read up onall of the minute details of it,

(15:38):
but from my understanding isthe Romanians were going to win
bronze but there's an issue withJordan Child's scoring, so they
challenged it.
They found that they werecorrect in the challenge, so
then Jordan Child's score waschanged.
She ended up winning bronze.
But then the Romanian team cameback and challenged that the Us

(16:03):
submitted their challenge toolate.
Yeah, it was like a fourth of asecond right, because they have
to do it within one minute, andthey said it was like too late
for them to do it when they did.
But then the us team came backwith receipts and was like uh-uh
, no, we submitted it within thetime frame and gave the
receipts of it, mic drop.
But then the olympic committeedecided to side with the

(16:27):
romanians and be like no, therewas an issue on our part and
really it couldn't like, uh,just give them both the medal,
give them both the medal,exactly.
I don't understand why this issuch a big deal, and especially
if it has nothing to do with thetwo athletes.
It has everything to do withthe incompetency of the judges

(16:48):
at that time.
Look that word drop.
Oh, thank you.
Um, then it 100 should notaffect the athletes.
Just give them both the.
You know you can do that too.
There's that one.
I think it's two track starswhere they both get the gold.
That's my favorite video.
So I'm like just give them boththe bronze for all winners.
You can still see exactly.

(17:08):
You see it happening.
It's neither of their faults,it's on them, for their
organization.
Especially if the organizationis saying it's on them, that's
even more of a reason to give itto both of them.
I think, exactly.
I hope I got all those detailsright.
Well, close enough.
Also, we both have been watchinglove island, usa, right, yeah,
did you finish it?
I haven't, but I know whathappens.
Because I'm one of those peoplewhen I watch reality uh shows,

(17:29):
like I'm on the reddit threadlike I know all the spoilers
because I like to know what'sgoing on right now and then
watch what happened for contextof what's going on.
So I made it watching theepisodes through like casa.
Okay, um, did you get to movienight?
Yes, I made it past theepisodes through like Casa.
Okay, did you get to movienight?
Yes, I made it past movie night.
Then you're like that's, that'swhat I figured.

(17:50):
Yeah, if I know what happens.
Then I'm like I basically madeit.
I usually like speed through,like the final dates or whatever
.
It's not fun anymore.
Everyone just loves each other.
I'm like, okay, now let me justtell me who wins now.

(18:14):
Right, I don't need to hearyou're professing your love.
Exactly, who was your favoritecouple?
Um, oh, my favorite couple, Ithink, was janae.
He was just such a sweetie pietoo.
When he cried, I was like, ohmy, yes, I was like a man
expressing feelings.
Oh my gosh.
And he, out of all of the menthat night too, coming back, he
was the one that had the leastto feel sorry for because, like

(18:34):
he had just met janae.
So of course he's testing likeconnections and everything too.
So, like the fact that he wasfeeling so bad and so guilty
about it when all these othermen, like aaron, was like
whatever, when you were the oneout of all of them that should
have been more considerate aboutit.
I didn't like how obviously thecameras don't show everything,

(18:55):
but from what the cameras didshow, like I thought serena had
so friend zoned um cordell thatI was like cordell's doing
nothing wrong, like you've beenkind of like a prick to him,
yeah, so that one I was likewhatever.
Also, I think he only wonbecause of his brother.
Like let's be real.
But anyway, I do think thatlike I get being upset a little

(19:15):
bit because you think he waslike a little disrespectful.
It was yeah, but I know Itotally agree with you, he had
every right to go in and liketalk out and talk to someone and
bring someone back, absolutely,especially after the last
challenge when she stepped outof the dance floor.
Like I want to get to know morepeople.
He deserved to go and do histhing, yeah, but he did handle

(19:36):
it.
Not the best way, but he diddeserve it more than Aaron did.
That was just so messy.
Did you like robin leah or no?
I okay.
So if janae and kenny are myfavorite couple, leah's my
favorite like person on reallyokay, I didn't get the hype
about leah.
I just I don't know.
It's like a vibe thing for meimmediately when they're like

(19:57):
introducing everybody.
I was like she's gonna be myfavorite.
It was just a vibes initial,like I feel it, and she was
throughout the whole thing thatI've watched.
I didn't see anything that Ididn't like.
I loved her.
I can understand where peoplemight be rubbed the wrong way,
because I feel like she's veryjust like chill girl.
Yeah, well, okay, keep going.

(20:19):
No, no, continue your thoughtand then I'll hop in.
I feel like she can come acrossand I think she has a hard time
putting her thoughts into wordssometimes, which I have a hard
time with too.
So, like the whole taking abackseat situation that happened
, I felt for her hard because Iunderstood I hope at the reunion

(20:42):
they roll the tapes.
I really hope so too because Idid understand how, like Liv and
Kayla could be upset by thatsaying and like I did understand
to a point, their side.
But I understood what leah wastrying to say and that the word
just maybe wasn't the rightsaying of what she was trying to
convey.
Yeah, so I felt for her.
I feel like that happened a lotfor her, though, but, to give

(21:04):
her credit, I think she did ownup to a lot of things.
I think if things happened with,like with rob, or even with Liv
and Kayla, she came back.
She's like look, my bad, I'mreally.
I feel bad about this.
I'm sorry, that's not what Imeant.
I know I really liked how shetook accountability for stuff,
because she was like aggressivesometimes.
I think that's just what rubbedme.
They were like she's just verywhat's the word?

(21:26):
I'm very passive and I don'teven mean to be, but like I just
don't hurt anyone's feelings.
She's very good at being blunt.
So she stood on business, yeah,so I guess that's why I was
just like whoa, yeah, but shelike people love her.
And then, what about rob?
Did you like him or no?
Um, I did at first, and him andleah at first, especially
through, like when live came inas the bombshell and took him

(21:46):
away.
Um, I did like him and him andleah, but then, as as soon as
Andrea came in as, and thatwhole like first fight happened
with him crying.
I'm like give me a break, likehe lost me at that point, and
then it was just too heavy inproductions favorites.
Have you listened to any of thepodcasts that they've done?

(22:07):
Um, I haven't listened to them,but I've read like summaries of
them.
Basically, it's like like thecaller daddy podcast that he
went on.
I don't know.
I think he's a.
He's an interesting character.
I wouldn't say that he's likemy like aaron gives me like
anger issues.
Oh, my least favorite waskendall.
He gave me such an ick for sure.
Gosh, yeah, he I don't thinkrob's like up there for me in

(22:30):
that regard, but he definitelylike rubbed me the wrong way in
a lot of different places andI'm interested to see how he
reacts after like hearing aboutthe caller daddy.
He was kind of like, yeah, Isee what they were talking about
kind of thing, what he says.
He was weird.
I listened to him on the BFFpodcast or whatever, the
Barstool one.
He was kind of weird.

(22:53):
On that one like like it wasfunny, dave portnight was like
calling him out because, yeah,he said I just like new
experiences, like I wasn'ttrying to be famous.
He's like you're not trying tobe famous.
You're basically tiktok famous.
Before you got on the show,like, and I was like, oh, he's
got you there, dave's, yeah, thepodcast, or the bfs podcast, uh
, it's just funny because he's aboomer so he like doesn't hold
back.
Absolutely it was.

(23:16):
Yeah, I saw clips of those.
That was funny.
But talk to me, talk to me aboutkendall.
Oh yeah, he just gives me theick.
Like I literally can't explainit and I don't be mean to him,
but like I just don't like itand I I feel like maybe he grew
up like not so popular and nowthat he's like a grown into,
like a good looking boy this isall again, such a hypocrite of

(23:40):
me, like I have no idea, um, butlike I just feel like he just
was, like I'm part of the coolguys, like I'm a cool guy and
I'm like no, you're not like Idon't know.
There are two instances thatreally bothered me about kendall
.
One was when he was talking toserena after casa, I think,

(24:01):
maybe and he was like kind oflike cornering her in the
kitchen, like towering over herand like trying to force her to
talk to him.
Oh that really, like thattriggered my, my fight in the
fight or flight stance.
Like I was did not appreciatethat one and how he handled
himself in casa with all theother boys.
I thought was ridiculous eventhough he himself didn't do

(24:24):
anything shady, encouraging allthe boys to be shady, especially
when, like with cordell, likecordell was initially like oh, I
don't know, feeling bad aboutit, he's like no, go do it.
And like encouraging him intothe bad behavior.
Only one who was acting likethat.
Yep, uh, yeah, real, real, icky, icky, icky, icky anyway,

(24:46):
though.
So that's kind of been oursummer.
Yeah, these are the topicswe've been talking about.
Books, though.
Books.
Is there anything like thissummer, like new releases,
trends, influencers caught youreye.
Yeah, a big author for me thissummer has been Abby Jimenez.
I hope I'm saying that right.

(25:06):
She really is like I finishedall the Emily Henry books, so
she's kind of like taking thatplace now.
So it's just been really goodto find.
Like your girl, you know itlike stinks when you finish like
an author.
You really like all of theirbooks, because then you're like
lost.
So it's like nice, it's like OK, I'm home again.
So I've really liked her.

(25:27):
I also have been so intrigued Idon't know that much yet, but
I've been really intrigued aboutthe Powerless drama.
I don't know if you've heardanything about it.
A little bit, yeah, so there'sthis book called Powerless and
there's this book called RedQueen.
They're both series.
I don't think the Powerless oneis finished yet.
I read the Red Queen series whenI was in high school.

(25:50):
I loved it.
I actually recently reread it,like maybe last year.
Um, it was really good.
But on book talk, um, there'sbeen a lot of accusation that
powerless is like, so copyright,like word for word.
Not like word for word, butlike the story is the exact same
.
So I started powerless I'massuming'm going to like it,

(26:11):
because I liked the Red Queenseries Right to the source.
I'm so curious to know like, isit the exact same?
And so far, like just thestructure, like, um, like there
are brothers in both of them andlike the dynamic of the
brothers, like it's interesting.
Yeah, so that's been.

(26:31):
Like that's the tea that I'vebeen sipping on.
I'm like, curious, sir,speaking of tea, have you been
keeping up with the?
It ends with us a little bit, alittle bit.
So I am all about the popculture dramas, so I keep up
with it all.
Yeah, um, I did not read.
It ends with us.
I'm not a huge Colleen Hooverfan.

(26:53):
It's not my preferred genrewithin the romance, although I
do dabble in it occasionally.
I'm just not a big fan of hers,regardless of what people think
of her.
I really don't know the dramabehind her as an author and why
people don't like her, but juststrictly from a writing
standpoint, I'm not a big fan.
She's also not really for me.
Yeah, we're more fantasy galsanyway.

(27:14):
Yes, so I haven't read the book,but obviously the movie has
come out, starring Blake Livelyand Justin Baldoni I think
that's how you pronounce hislast name who also Jason
directed it and Blake producedit, and Blake produced it, and
there's been a lot ofspeculation about this.
All nothing's been confirmed,so this is all alleged.

(27:37):
But I guess there's been like arift between I think it's
justin, is his name right, notjason?
No, I think it's justin.
I think it's justin.
Okay, we're gonna go with itwith mr director.
Mr director no, I'm pretty sureit's Justin.
Okay, we're gonna go with itWith Mr Director.
Mr Director no, I'm pretty sureit's Justin.
I started second guessingmyself, but I think it is.
I think you're right with him,included, um, and whenever, like

(28:14):
, they're asked about him, itwith press, like all the actors
completely like work their wayaround it without ever having to
mention anything about him.
It's kind of weird, but there'sbeen like two different types of
pr with this movie, on top ofthis, too, that people are
noticing.
So that's like one facet of it.
The other facet of it is thatjustin's like one facet of it.
The other facet of it is thatJustin's production company got
the rights to this movie forever.

(28:35):
I think it was back in 2019 tomake this movie and eventually
they cast Blake Lively, who cameon with the stipulation that
she wanted to help produce it.
Well, they had creativedifferences, allegedly about how
they wanted to handle thismovie, about how they wanted to
handle this movie, and justinreally wanted the focus on

(28:56):
bringing attention to domesticviolence, um, the issue of it
and bringing awareness for itand um for survivors, and really
like had a powerful messagebehind wanting to make this
movie because of what the it'swhat the book is about.
Yeah, versus blake lively's prthat she's been doing and justin
has been like anytime he goesto do pr for this movie, he

(29:18):
talks about it strongly and hetalks about resources for these
women who are going throughthese, these issues and just
like it's very eloquent in howhe speaks about this and it
really makes it the main focusof all of his pr versus blake
lively, makes it seem veryrom-commy like grab your girlies
, wear your florals, come seethis movie, kind of thing.

(29:39):
On top of that, she's beenlaunching like products for like
her hair care line, so kind oflike bootlegging off the movies
promo to help promote that.
And her husband, ryan reynolds,has his deadpool movie out so
he produced two scenes in theand it ends with us he like
helped write two scenes in itand like they've been like a
production or a producers liketogether on it and people are

(30:03):
speculating.
They're trying to create likethis barbie oppenheimer
situation between their twomovies, even though the whole
situation with this book is muchmore heavy a topic than what a
rom-com like Barbie movie wouldbe to fit in that category.
Has Colleen said anything?

(30:24):
No, and that's kind of wherepeople are like nobody has said
anything.
Everybody initially wants toside with Justin on this because
just looking at what we know,yeah, and his or like his
relationship with past, um, likeactors and past movies has been
very strong.
Well, and crew has come out andfrom this movie like singing

(30:47):
his praises about how much likethey loved working with him.
So, uh, yep, and so it's kindof bizarre that the rest of the
cast just like does not like himfor some reason.
But it's like this unknownreason and why they're taking
sides.
Nobody knows what's going on.
You see the two different.

(31:08):
Obviously there's like truththat lies in the middle.
So I'm sure creativedifferences had a huge part in
whatever is happening right now.
There's even speculation thatmaybe it's just fake drama for
pr, which is that's notsurprising either.
It's a valid.
It's a valid, uh, speculation.
I think, um, because that'svery well could be a two.

(31:28):
Will we ever know the truth?
Probably not, but it's fun tohear everybody's speculations
about it anyway.
A group gossip sesh, yep, Ilive for it, I love it, and
we're going to go see the moviewith girlfriends too On Sunday,
on Sunday.
So we will give you ourthoughts in the next episode.
Yeah, we will.

(31:48):
What other book stuff has beenon your mind?
I did find these new bookinfluencers.
I didn't find them.
Actually.
Do tell Sarah, our friend hassent me a few of their TikToks
and now I just follow them.
Okay, they're two sisters it'sKristen and Maddie at
Chrisandmads on TikTok, and theyare fantastic.

(32:11):
I think that you would love alot of the books that they
recommend because they're verymuch within our like fantasy
vibe but they do a lot of highfantasy and um, they do mix in
like sci-fi, um with.
They do a couple of likemysteries, biographies, romance,
but really it's more stronglywithin the fantasy or sci-fi

(32:34):
kind of realm for the books thatthey recommend.
But they all seem reallyinteresting and they're
constantly.
Their reading count within amonth is insane to me.
I wish I could read that muchin a month, especially because
the books that they're readingare not short books, they are
hefty bricks, so it's quiteimpressive how fast they get

(32:54):
through these.
Yeah, um, but I love theircontent and they go like kind of
rapid fire through it.
So it gives you enough contextfor the book to know if you like
are interested or not, withoutdragging on.
Because if that I feel like alot of other reviewers can do
too, I feel like it's like oneend of the spectrum or the other
.
I haven't really found manygood middle people, like some
people just like flashing thecover or like two seconds of

(33:16):
like what it is and then it'sgone.
Or it's like here's 30 secondsof me talking about this book.
I'm like, ah, speed it upExactly At the two times speed.
All the time I'm like I needeight times speed.
And what I appreciate aboutthem, too, is they have a bunch
of different types of books thatyou're not seeing all over book
talk, because I feel likepeople recommend the same kind
of books over and over again,regardless of genre.

(33:39):
Um, so these are like differentbooks than what you normally
see from like everybody else, soreally love them, shout out to
them.
Um, the other thing that'shappened this summer my sister
Shout out Abby, shout out Abby.
She is slowly dipping her toesinto the reading world.
I just added her in Goodreadsthe other day.

(34:00):
Yeah, she just added me too.
I'm so excited.
But I'm like it's one of thoseexcited where I have to really
contain it and keep to myself onthe side and just like let it
happen, because if I try to tryto like encourage too much,
there's a stack of books likeyeah, she's like a deer and like
on the far side of the meadow.
If I make one wrong move I'mgonna scare her off because it's
too intimidating.

(34:20):
That's funny.
When I looked on her goodreadspage, though, some of the books
that she had read I have read um, like the match trilogy was
like one of the one of myfavorites in high school.
So I was like, oh my gosh, andshe's reading the.
Oh, what was the book that wejust did for one of our book
talks?
The trilogy, the Firebirdseries.

(34:42):
She's reading the Firebirdseries now.
She just started that.
So I'm curious.
I know she's supposed to shareupdates and like notes with it
and I was like, go, abby, do it.
I'm so proud of her.
And I'm like I know she'sposted her updates and like
notes with it.
And I was like, go, abby, do it.
I'm so proud of her and I, I'mlike it's like sitting from afar
, just like we're both like inthe window, like jumping up and
down, and she's just watchingYep.
So not messing with her, butreally excited and hope she

(35:05):
continues down this journey.
Yeah, abby, just skip over thispart of the podcast.
Okay, don't listen, it's fine,you're reading again.
Wow, that's great, I didn'tknow.
I love that.
So, yeah, that's been exciting.
And uh, to see too this summer.
That's good.
That kind of wraps it up.
For me that's good.
Oh my gosh.
Well, should we get into theactual book that we did?

(35:26):
Let's do it.
Read, quote unquote for me,yeah, for me, yeah.
So our book again was the HouseMade, and so here's what the
book description was or is.
Every day I clean theWinchesters' beautiful house top
to bottom, I collect theirdaughter from school and I cook
a delicious meal for the wholefamily before heading up to eat

(35:48):
alone in my tiny room on the topfloor.
I try to ignore how Nina makesa mess just to watch me clean it
up, how she tells strange liesabout her own daughter and how
her husband, andrew, seems morebroken every day.
But as I look into Andrew'shandsome brown eyes, so full of
pain, it's hard not to imaginewhat it would be like to live
Nina's life the walk-in closet,the fancy car, the perfect

(36:12):
husband.
I only try on one of Nina'spristine white dresses once,
just to see what it's like.
But she soon finds out.
And by the time I realize myattic bedroom door only locks
from the outside, it's far toolate.
But I reassure myself.
The Winchesters don't know who Ireally am.
They don't know what I'mcapable of.

(36:32):
Dun, dun, dun, you read so well, thank you.
I was that kid in elementaryschool that was like do I have
the biggest paragraph to read inthe text?
It's so cringy.
I'm over there like stress,sweat coming down my forehead
like counting the paragraphs,like reading it over and over.
So I don't mess up.
I'm like this is my performance.

(36:54):
Guys Like this is gonna get meEmmy nomination.
Well, you do a fantastic job,thank you.
Um, okay, so Reading recap.
This is going to be hardbecause Mikaela didn't finish
the book.
I did not.
I couldn't finish it.
We'll get into it after.

(37:16):
So we are leaning heavily onDarby's memory for this one and
I'm going to try to summarize.
But I realized as I was fillingout our notes for this, I've
read nine books since this one,so it's going to be a little
hard to remember.
We were really doing our hotgirl summer thing.
I thought I was gonna be likeon top of it for our july

(37:36):
podcast.
So I was like I'm reading early, which usually mckayla finishes
the book before I do for our umbook talks, and I was like, oh,
I finished it first and then wehad our little break.
Anyway, you killed it, thanks,yeah.
Nine books later.
Warning Book spoilers ahead.
Please head to the descriptionand show notes to find where to

(37:58):
skip to.
You have been warned.
Basically, what happens is likekind of you know what, basically
what the book description says.
She is this girl who, like,doesn't have a lot of money, I
think Just fresh out of jail,right?
Okay, yeah, here you summarizethe beginning part and then I'll

(38:21):
jump in for mid-end.
From what I remember, she yeah,this girl I forget her name now
she's living out of her car.
She has a parole officerbecause she's fresh out of uh
the slammer and um, we don'tknow for what.
Um, she's trying to get herlife together and so she's
desperately like looking for anew job because it technically

(38:45):
she's unemployed, which isbreaking parole right now.
So she takes this job with thewinchesters and it seems great
at first, but, um, then the wifestarts acting like crazy after
she hires this girl bagel, karen, uh-huh, and where she's like
their best friends one minute,then the next minute she's

(39:06):
yelling at her for like feedingher kid peanut butter because
her kid is deathly allergic topeanut butter.
Which, if your kid's deathlyallergic to peanut butter, why
do you even have it in the house?
Plus, it's like never mentionedto her before, but she's
yelling at her like she's toldher a thousand times.
How could you not remember this?
And just making her feel crazy,leaving messes everywhere,
expecting her to clean up,getting hyper jealous anytime

(39:27):
her husband is around and thisgirl is around not wanting, like
you know, her husband to talkto her, be nice to her, anything
.
Their kid is kind of scary,yeah, and like a little bit of a
carry on herself.
Um, I think she's like five.
They also have this reallyattractive gardener, I think his

(39:49):
name's enzo, who does not speakenglish very well at all.
I believe he's italian.
So when she first enters thehouse, he kind of tries to warn
her in italian, like she's indanger, basically, and that's
like the word that it was.
It was just danger.
She didn't know any context.
Throughout the time she'strying to like kind of learn how

(40:10):
to talk to him a little bitabout it, but obviously there's
the language barrier and he likerefuses to talk about it.
Yeah, and I think one time sheeven like invites him in the
house to like help or help herbring in something in the house,
because she can't carry it, andhe like freaks.
He's like I can't go in there,yeah, or like he doesn't.
He like runs out, like right,yeah, and like nina found him
and she like freaked out on thehousemaid, for I wish I could

(40:33):
remember her name, but I justcan't.
I can't remember anything.
She'll be the housemaid andthat's all that matters.
Uh, she freaks out on thehousemaid.
Who is our narrator about itand how, like he's not allowed
in the house for some reason.
Um, and that's about as far asI can remember.
I think she was also makingdinners for them and she was
really hitting it off withAndrew, the husband, and he was

(40:56):
being super nice to her.
Her bedroom also, because she'sa live-in housemaid is like up
in this tiny room in the atticit's the only room up there
Super like small closet and as,like the book description says,
it only has a lock from theoutside.
So like she can, you know, likegas lights her and is like why
is that an issue, right, yeah,um, and like the windows don't

(41:18):
open either.
So like if you're trapped inthere, like you are trapped in
there, but they give her like akey to it, so it makes her feel
like some sense of help orwhatever, like security, even
though like it really shouldn't,since she can't use it from the
inside anyway.
And nina gets really weirdabout her spending time like in
the house, past working hours,so like after everybody's gone

(41:40):
to bed, neat.
Or the housemaid decides tolike go downstairs and watch tv
and like andrew goes down thereone time, right, and it's like
the middle of the night, so shethinks she's safe to like do
this and they never told herthat she couldn't.
And andrew comes and joins herand like it's totally fine.
But then, yeah, nina finds outand comes down in the middle of
the night and like freaks outand basically tells her she has
to stay in her room at all times, like she can't use the rest of

(42:03):
the house.
And that is where my memoryleads off.
Um, okay, and then my memorykind of picks back up.
At one point nina like gives thehousemaid like all of her white
clothes or something.
It's like like she gives hertrash bag full of like old
clothes, um, that are still likesuper nice.
And then, like nina has hermake like a date night, a point.

(42:29):
Like a date night, um, likeorchestra thing, some sort of
date outing for a specificweekend, and then nina ends up
not being able to do thatweekend and these tickets are
non-refundable.
So nina is actually going likeout of town with the daughter,
um, because like the dates gotmessed up and she's really mad

(42:50):
at the housemate about it, um,but she's like I'm not going to
be here this weekend.
And then, long story short,andrew and the housemate and
going to the orchestra togetherbecause he's like let's not
waste these tickets, um, so theybasically go on a date.
They like go out to dinner.
I'm pretty sure they like havesex that night, like in a hotel,
um, and she's wearing one oflike nina's white dresses, right

(43:13):
, um, and so then that happens.
And then after that, likethey're kind of like being like
a little sneaky about it, liketrying to figure it out, I think
, if my memory is correct, likeafterwards they're like not
telling nina, but they're tryingto like figure it out.
And then he's like like I'mlike leaving her, I'm divorcing
her, and Nina like flips out andis like you did that, like you

(43:35):
planned this, like I can'tbelieve you came to my house and
like you just took my husband,like I hope you enjoy it, like
what am I supposed to do now?
Think is what happens.
And then after that, the storyliterally shifts.
And then the narrator becomesnina, and then the story, I

(43:58):
think, um, and then the storystarts not like starts over, but
you hear about when she metandrew for the first time and
like how they got together andyou find out what the addict is
really for.
And it's because, um, hebasically like tortures nina.
And so the first I think thefirst time he did it, she like
her roots had grown out on herhair, like just barely, and she

(44:20):
hadn't gotten it done or thiswasn't the first time, but this
is just one of the times and helike locks her in there and, um,
he like locks her in there andshe's freaking out and he like
doesn't let her in there.
And he like locks her in thereand she's freaking out, and he
like doesn't let her out untilshe like does a specific thing,
like she has to wait a superlong time or she has to
apologize a certain way orsomething along those lines.

(44:41):
Just torture.
And then she comes out and thenbasically, like that's how their
relationship goes.
Like she can't leave theirrelationship because he that's
how their relationship goes.
Like she can't leave therelationship because, um, he's
crazy?
Yeah, because he's crazy.
Like walking on eggshells, yeah, but then she has to be so
careful.
Like if her lipstick smudges,if she doesn't say please and
thank you to his mom, like justcrazy things.
Like he uses those as reasonsto put her back in that room.

(45:03):
And so nina ended up plottingthis whole thing.
Um, so nina is actually thenormal one, andrew's the crazy
one, the actual mean one.
And so when the housemaid getshired, nina sets this whole plan
into motion to make Andrew fallin love with the housemaid and
make Nina seem like she's goinglike crazy.

(45:25):
And she's just like, you know,not wife material anymore.
And that's exactly what happens.
Andrew does like fall for thehousemaid and Nina is now in a
sense set free with like thisdivorce and also Nina and the
gardener.
Like they have a thing not well, I don't know if it was like a

(45:47):
for sure thing, but like he.
He like sees her in the atticone day and like notices that
she hasn't come out, and so helike wants to help protect her
and help save her.
But then when he finds out thatnina orchestrated this whole
like switcheroo, he's likethat's not right either, like we
have to save her too.
Like we can't just leave her tobe in the situation that you

(46:10):
were in.
So he was probably my favoritecharacter, but anyway, sorry,
we're still recapping.
So the housemaid once, um, herand andrew get together, she
does something.
Unfortunately, I don't rememberwhat it was.
I don't know if it was likeleaving oh, I think she might
have left a dish out, like shedidn't put a dish away.
And so then he locks her in theroom and she can't get out.

(46:33):
And so she's like well, thisguy's psycho.
And then somehow I forget.
But she ends up getting himtrapped in the room and she like
does the whole thing to him andshe starts torturing him and
it's like you can't come outunless you put textbooks on your
groin area for three hours orwhatever.

(46:55):
And then he does it.
But then he takes the books offat the last second and she's
like I hope you have to restart,because he would do that too.
He would make you restart.
And he's like I can't do that.
And then I think she made himpull out his teeth.
It was crazy.
And then I think he like tookhis own life, where he just dies
up there and nina goes back tosave like goes back to like try

(47:17):
and save her and then walks intolike her killing him and then
the book like leaves kind of ona cliffhanger with like the
housemaid now starting somewhereelse because nina suggested it
to that wife basicallyinsinuating like to kill the
husband because, yeah, bad, yeah, so that's what I remember.

(47:38):
Yeah, so it was interesting.
What are your, what were yourinitial thoughts?
I know you didn't finish it,but were your initial thoughts?
I?
I try really hard especiallybecause we do this podcast, I
try really hard to like finishthe book so we can like talk
about it even if I don't like it.
But it gets to a pointsometimes where I'm like I'm
just torturing myself by tryingto read the book, that I just

(47:59):
can't get through it.
And this, unfortunately, wasone of those times which was
really disappointing to mebecause I think you and I had
opposite views on this story.
I really enjoyed like the plotof it, yeah, and like even just
listening to you talk about it,you were like captivated.
I was, I was captivated by thestory.
I thought it was a very likeunique take on it.
Not being the wife, that wascrazy, but being the husband and

(48:24):
doing like the flip-flop of itversus like kind of like other
books, where it's like a gonegirl situation, where typically
it's like the wife plottingeverything, but she's the one
that's crazy.
So I really, really wanted tolike this book solely for the
plot, but the writing killed itfor me.
I it was like nails on achalkboard for me.

(48:44):
Trying to get through thiswriting, I could not get through
it.
Yeah, it was too not your style.
No, it was not.
Um.
I did look up the spoilers,though after the fact, because I
did want to know what happenedin the story and I was really
sad that I just couldn't pushthrough the writing to finish it
, because it was interesting andyou never got to nina's point

(49:06):
of view, right?
No, nope, the last thing Iremember um was actually when he
came in I think the gardenercame in.
Oh, she had just given her thewhite dresses.
I didn't get to see like thewhole trying on part or I didn't
get through that, but she hadjust given her all the white
dresses.
This is where I stopped.
I just couldn't make it throughanymore.
But yeah, what about you?

(49:27):
I definitely thought it was likea super quick read and like the
story was like captivating, ina sense of like I was like, oh,
what's gonna happen, but itdefinitely just let me down.
I really didn't like how quickthe ending jump was from him
like torturing himself to himbeing dead.
It's like maybe I've just readtoo many like fantasy books to

(49:49):
where, like, you read like andhe was stabbed in the heart, but
like it doesn't tell you likehow he died yeah, that would
bother me, yeah, so it's justlike he's pulling out his teeth
and you're like, oh, my gosh,what's he going to say next?
What's she going to say?
And then it's like he's dead.
You're like what?
So I didn't like that, yeah, andit just like it kind of made me
feel like icky and I likethat's the only word I can use

(50:10):
to describe it was like icky andit's different because, like, I
can read a torturing likefantasy scene, but it's
different because it's like notreal, maybe, because it was like
too real, yeah, too real that Iwas just like, oh, this is this
feeling a little icky for me?
Yeah, that would get me to alittle bit Because I can do like

(50:36):
some form like psychologicaltorture is a little bit easier
for me, like the silent patient,yeah kind of thing, but yeah,
with like physical torture.
I don't know if I could wellend the whole like.
I think I felt icky about likenina like orchestrating this
whole thing to get this womantrapped into the same position
she was in, like that was almostlike really icky as well, yeah,
but um, the pace of this bookfelt weird to me and I didn't
like how it switched to nina'spoint of view, like you needed
it to to get the context, but itjust was like weird the pace of

(50:59):
like you're just having thisone narrating.
Then all of a sudden it's likeyou just read her backstory and
then how?
So yeah, it just felt weird.
Not for me.
Yeah, did you have a favoritepart at all?
It was interesting seeing thewife's plan unravel, but then at
the same time it like made mefeel weird.
I was like why, like youliterally have been tortured and

(51:21):
you're gonna put another womanright in your place and like,
maybe, if you've been tortured,I've never been tortured, you
know, thankfully, right, like Idon't know what the links I
would do to like switch, somaybe she had just like really
thought it was the only way, butI it was interesting, like
seeing it from a differentperspective of like oh, she
knows her daughter doesn't havea peanut allergy, but like that

(51:44):
was part of the plant.
You know, right, that was tomake yourself like crazy, kind
of.
Yeah, no, I get that, I thinkit is cool.
Yeah, that's probably myfavorite part was like the twist
of it all, how it was her, heridea all along, because it was.
It was just interesting andlike different than I'm not
saying it's like the mostoriginal, like hasn't been done
before, but it's not somethingyou see very often to make it
feel like new and different.

(52:04):
So, um, I wish I could haveenjoyed it more.
Did you have like a leastfavorite part?
Yeah, the ending.
Like I said, it was just reallylike like it felt like we were
on like such a hot, not like ahigh, but such um, not anti,
like a climatic, like is thatthe word climatic?
No, not anti, because that'slike it wasn't.
Oh, you're at the peak of theclimax.

(52:26):
There we go.
It's like we were at this likeclimax of all this stuff
happening and it like I almostwould have wished that like nina
came in, saw her outside of thedoor torturing him, and like
nina was able to be like, yeah,f you and then him like thump to
the ground like I don't know.
It just was very much like andhe's gone and she now she's just

(52:47):
walking in and like thesatisfaction of him seeing them,
two of them work togetheragainst him, almost yeah, yeah.
So the ending was definitelylike, oh, like such a laugh down
and people just said itoverhyped it.
I guess, yeah, that's how Ifelt.
I had a co-worker who read thenjust what she mentioned too,
that the ending felt like reallyrushed and she didn't like how
I guess the cop like that wasmentioned after like they find I

(53:07):
guess the cop like that wasmentioned after like they find
him was like the brother ofanother one of his victims.
So they basically like got offscot-free.
Oh yeah, it really was so justlike, and like that just felt
very like forced is what shesaid, which I can totally
understand.
Yeah, obviously I don't havethat context, but it makes sense
the way she described it.
What was your least favoritepart?
Least favorite part?

(53:28):
I really couldn't say, justbecause I feel like I really
didn't get into it, but it'sjust the writing.
For me in this whole book itfelt very like high school
creative writing class.
To me it was really slow in alot of parts that I thought
should have been like quickerbecause it was like unnecessary

(53:48):
in details, but then it likesped through, like some other
parts that I thought needed waymore context, yeah, or like
descriptors, so, and it feltlike very choppy throughout the
whole thing.
Yeah, yeah, so I just yeah.
No, I did not enjoy the writingof this at all.
Apologies to the author, I knowyou probably worked really hard
on this, obviously, but thereare some people that loved this
book, love this series.
So you know, I feel like if itwas a TV series or a movie, I

(54:14):
think I would have no problemswith it.
I think I would have muchrather like watched it than read
it.
Yeah, for me personally.
I know you didn't read it, butafter Reddit and all the stuff,
were you surprised by the ending?
I was, yeah, I did not see itcoming, because, at least from

(54:34):
like the predictions I wasmaking, from what I was reading,
I was nowhere on my radar thatit could have been the husband.
So that really like when I wentback and read spoilers and saw
that was the husband it made, itwas one of those like really
moments.
So, yeah, that didn't surpriseme.
What about you?
Like yes and no?
Like, yes, I didn't see somethings coming, but then it like
totally made sense, which, like,yeah, I don't know.

(54:56):
I just didn't know how certainthings were going to happen, but
like I knew, like what washappening, kind of, yeah, like I
knew the housemate wasn't goingto die and be trapped in the
relationship, like I don't know.
So definitely there weredefinitely surprising parts.
But I'm assuming you're notgoing to finish the series and

(55:16):
no, no, and you're not, I'm notgonna finish the book.
No, reading, at least if theydo come out with a tv series,
like I know they have, like agood girl's guide to murder or
something that just came out onnetflix.
I haven't read that book, but Iknow that it was another
adaptation.
So if they do something likethat, I will watch it and maybe
like watch through the wholeseries.
Yeah, watch Party.
I don't really like alljudgment saved until I actually

(55:38):
see it.
But in theory, yeah, I woulddefinitely do that, but
reading-wise, no, definitely not.
Yeah, kind of a quick summary.
But what are your final thoughts?
Did you even rate it?
If you didn't finish it?
I did because in order to Ihaven't figured this out on
Goodreads quite yet oh, yes, toshelve it.
I think that there might be away, from looking at other

(56:00):
people's shelves, to finish abook without having to rate a
book as an unfinished finishedbook, kind of thing, so you can
get it off of your TBR but notwithin your like, I read this
this year, kind of thing.
I don't know how to do thatjust yet, though, so it's
someone tell us.
Yeah, if you know how to,please let me know.
Um, so I have to rate it, butfor me that's always a one star,

(56:23):
obviously, because I just Ican't read it, even though I
liked, like the concept of thebook.
If I couldn't finish the book,I can't rate it any higher than
a one.
Yeah, I gave it three stars,which I think is pretty generous
.
That is very generous.
Yeah, I was shocked.
I didn't like it.
I didn't love it, or, wait, Ididn't hate it, I didn't love it
.
It was just a bad book, but Idid read it pretty quickly and

(56:52):
it was an interesting storystory.
But what I'm really excitedabout is august book club,
because I actually have readthis book already and I felt
very differently about this bookthan our last one, but our next
book club book is the invisiblelife of addie larue by victoria
schwab.
So I'll read the bookdescription, and now I have like
some pressure because michMichaela told me I read the last
one.
Good, you're going to do great.
France, 1714.

(57:13):
In a moment of desperation, ayoung woman makes a Faustian
bargain to live forever and iscursed to be forgotten by
everyone she meets.
Thus begins the extraordinarylife of Addie LaRue and a
dazzling adventure that willplay out across centuries and
continents, across history andart, as a young woman learns how

(57:36):
far she will go to leave hermark on the world.
But everything changes when,after nearly 300 years, addie
stumbles across a young man in ahidden bookstore and he
remembers her name Dun dun dun.
This is at full.
I can't talk about it yet.
We'll talk about it like nextbook club.
But I'm really excited to talkabout this one and for you to

(57:57):
read it.
This has been on like my bookclub suggestions for a while
because I know people have ravedabout it and it's like a
fantasy, but in a very differentfantasy way than what we
normally think of and read asfantasy.
I have started it through partone of the book and I'm enjoying
it so far and I am curious tosee how this story like it's

(58:18):
like I got through like thesetting, the stage of the story.
So I'm curious, yeah, to seehow the plot takes off.
It's funny because I didn'thear like I really hadn't heard
much about this book and then itwas like one of those things on
TikTok where it's like or likea couple of sentences from the
book and I was like, oh my gosh,I want to read that.
I won't say like, well, it'sthe where it says he remembers

(58:42):
her name.
It's like that part was onTikTok and I was like, what do
you mean?
So I like audio booked it andjulia whalen anybody who knows
me knows that is my audiobookgirl.
She narrated this book and sogood, we're gonna get into it
next month.
Please read or listen to it.
It'll be good, it'll be a gooddiscussion.

(59:03):
I can already tell it's gonnabe a good discussion book.
Oh it's.
It's going to be likeNightingale discussion.
At least that's the passion Ihave for it, maybe.
Anyway, I don't want to talkabout it early.
We're going to move on.
We're going to move on.
Borrow some returns.
Borrow some returns.
Go ahead, take us away, darby.
Okay, I've returned a lot ofbooks.
I'm going to try and be fast.

(59:24):
So proud of you, you werecranking, I so proud of you, you
were cranking.
I'm not gonna lie, I'm a littleimpressed with myself.
I'm impressed too, thanks, theyhave been a lot of audiobooks,
but it's still I mean, it counts, it's still ours.
The Invisible Life of AddieLaRue was like 17 hours.
Regardless of whether you'rereading it with your eyes or
listening in your ears, it's thesame story, the same words.

(59:45):
So it still counts.
That's true.
And I'm not like, on audiobook,the fastest I go is 1.2 speed,
like I can't go faster.
Yeah, I can't either.
Um, unless I'm really at theend and I don't care about the
book, then I'll do like 1.75because I'm like let's finish,
let's wrap it up, right, butthat's only happened to me like
twice.
Anywho, my returns um, I readthe first three books of the

(01:00:08):
inheritance games by jenniferbarnes.
I think there's more in thisseries, but I was like one or
maybe two, yeah, but I think I'mgonna stop here.
They were good.
I wasn't like in love with them, but it was a nice like change
of pace from what I had beenreading.
Um, they're cute, I like them.
I only read the first two, butI got this through the second
one.
I'm like, yeah, I'm good here.

(01:00:28):
I to stop.
I feel like it would be areally good summer.
I turned pretty like a teenshow.
If they made that into a teenshow and casted it right, I
think it would be really good.
Oh, I wholeheartedly agree.
Yeah, but it was definitely YAnovel.
Yeah, but it was good.
I liked it.
I love the puzzles.
That's what got me.
I read the Love Hypothesis byAllie Hazelwood.

(01:00:50):
That's a popular one I've seena lot.
Yeah, and this was the sameauthor of the Bride book that I
read and that had been her firstfantasy book.
So typically she's like aromance author, so it was
interesting to see her like inher element and I did like this
one.
I forget I should have writtendown my ratings.
I don't remember what I ratedit.
I didn't like, definitelywasn't five stars, but it was

(01:01:14):
like a solid romance book.
I read Just for the Summer andthe Friend Zone by Abby Jimenez
Woo, so good.
I've heard good things abouther, so good.
Yeah, I think I gave them bothfive stars.
Maybe Really good.
I'm excited to keep reading herbooks.
Yay, yeah, they were just good.

(01:01:36):
Good banter, good stories.
We love a good banter.
Yeah, I have read the first twobooks of Trial of the Sun Queen
by Nisha Tuli.
The writing is not.
I mean, I was so engrossed byis that I was so engrossed by
the first book and like I readthat really quickly.

(01:01:57):
But then the second book likedragged on and she said that she
like does like a preface, likebefore.
It's like one page where shelike talks about like the book,
uh, like an author's note, butin the beginning kind of which
is interesting, and she said toexpect like a lot of angst in
this second book and to be alittle frustrated with the
characters, which I was, but itwas also like just a little

(01:02:20):
repetitive.
You know, like one of thosethings of like I can't love you,
you're my enemy, but likesomething's weird, I'm drawn to
you and I'm like okay, Like Ican't, I cannot hear that 50
times.
Like find the one bed in theinn and like let's get things
going.
She probably did if she leftthe note in the front before you
read it.
She probably did that onpurpose to like make you really

(01:02:42):
frustrated.
So that way, I'm hoping, atleast for you, that the third
book is gonna like be super good.
I just bought the third book, sothat leads into my borrows.
Well, I read the invisible lifeof addy larue, but we're gonna
talk about that next time, um,so my borrows.
I haven't started it yet, but Idid get the third book in that
series.
I finally picked back up how towin friends and influence

(01:03:06):
people.
I want to finish it by the endof the year.
You're going to to, I know youwill, Hopefully, but that's
definitely more self-help and Ilike I want to like digest that
and not just like read it, toread it.
So that's why it like takes mea while.
That's been good.
And then I just startedPowerless, which I don't

(01:03:26):
remember the author's name, butI just started that one.
And then I powerless, which Idon't remember the author's name
, but I just started that one.
And then I have a couple othersthat are like on the tbr, but I
think that's where we're atright now.
Cool, okay, that was a lot.
You go, I don't have as much,but I'm gonna do it.
I'll start with my returns.
Yes, I finally finished cersei.

(01:03:47):
Yeah, you did, um, that was awhile ago so my memory on it a
little bit hazy, but it was afive-star book for me.
It was good.
The writing her writing is justphenomenal.
I love the way that she writesand like it's like almost makes
me think of like watercolors,and it seemed like the way
that's peaceful, it's very likelyrical and oh, I it's, but it's

(01:04:10):
phenomenal, is the only word Ican say.
Um, great story of womanhoodand like finding one's purpose,
and like it really gets into thecomplexities of morality, uh,
or mortality, not morality,mortality because she is like
this goddess and so of she livesforever, and like all that

(01:04:31):
happens within like her foreverlife, yeah, and like the
differences and like can itreally be like super fulfilling
without you know, like love orwhatever family people share it
with, that kind of thing?
What was really beautiful aboutthat book was it was truly like

(01:04:53):
a feminist novel in the mostgraceful, um, way that you can
do it.
It wasn't very like in yourface, like I am woman, hear me
roar it was just, she just iswhat, oh, I love the whole
movement is supposed to be, youknow, and that's what I love,
because I hate things that arejust so in your face, like I
feel like that's a lot of tiktoktoo, or just social media in
general.
It's like this is bad or uh,this is great and it's like,

(01:05:15):
okay, don't like tell me, showme, like you know, like so.
Or even it's like you're awoman but we can do it.
Like we're women, we can doanything.
It's like, yeah, I know I am awoman, I don't need you to tell
me I can do anything.
I know I can do anything.
So it's just nice seeing likeJust let me not work.
It's like it wasn't like overthe top, like forcing it, it was

(01:05:36):
just done beautifully and likethat showing that very like
undertone way of the likestrength within grace kind of
thing.
Yeah, so it's just so well doneand I really enjoyed it, kind
of thing.
Yeah, so it's just so well doneand I really enjoyed it.
Next book on my returns is theKing of Atolia, which is the

(01:05:56):
third book in the Queen's Thiefseries by Megan Whalen Turner.
Another five-star book for me.
This series, I love this series.
It's fantasy, but in a I can'teven say it.
It is fantasy, but notintypical fantasy.
It's definitely more politicallike not as much for me.
Um, it's like less like dragonsand magic and more just like

(01:06:19):
kingdoms and like like warschemes kind of vibes.
Um, it's definitely not foreverybody, I will say the first
book to get through is slowpaced and like, if you can get
through the first book, the restof the series is worth it, in
my opinion, at least up throughthe third book.
I've only read through the thirdbook, um, and that's not to say
anything bad about the firstbook, but I just know that it's

(01:06:40):
definitely like one of those.
You have to have a taste for itbecause it's very much one of
the books that makes you thinkthere's not as much action there
is to keep the plot moving.
But it's definitely more of thetwists and turns and the
puzzles of, like you know,schemes upon schemes upon
schemes and you finally get likethe reveal at the end kind of

(01:07:00):
situation with this series.
But this book specifically wasmy favorite thus far because of
the intricacies.
You get little plot twiststhroughout the story this time
instead of just at the very endwith like the big reveal but the
so you get like the little plottwist that like change the
course of how you're thinkingthroughout the book and then
with the big plot twist at thevery end.

(01:07:22):
It's like it's still surprising, even though you can kind of
maybe see it coming.
But then just like, sosatisfying relief.
It's just so intricately welldone.
I love it.
That sounds good.
It is very, very good.
So if you're into like mindgames, twistings, like fantasy,
um, it definitely sounds like abook for you like that.

(01:07:43):
Yeah, it has a little bit ofromance in there too, but not
like it's not the overarching,no, and it's definitely not like
a satisfying romance by anymeans.
It's more understated.
This whole book is much moreunderstated, um, but so so good,
nice, uh.
My other book the wisteria site,the wisteria society of lady

(01:08:05):
scoundrels.
This is also a series Irealized.
Um and the dangerous damsels.
It's the first book by indiaholton.
This was a three-star book forme.
It was cute.
It's very enola holmes vibes tome.
Okay, um, it was.
I was expecting more, much morelike enola holmes, like
historical fiction, when Ipicked it up.
Um, but that was completely onme for misreading the back of

(01:08:29):
the book because it happened.
It is a fantasy.
There's like flying houses andpirates and things like that,
but it's very like high societyengland at the same time.
So when you say pirates, it'slike ladies who like sit down
and have tea parties, butthey're pirates at the same time
.
I don't know.
It's a very complex or notcomplex.

(01:08:50):
What is a pirate?
It's very, um, what's the word?
Uh, contradictory in what youthink of with pirates.
Uh, but it was cute.
It's a silly little fantasy.
It's got a fun little romance.
There's lots of um, tension andbuild up there too.
Uh, it definitely just like oneof those quick little reads to
throw in between your big series.
I liked it, I, and I mightfinish the series to throw in as

(01:09:13):
like little um breathers inbetween like big series.
We'll see, but it was good.
Uh, and my audiobook that I justfinished, complete 180 from
everything else, is mynon-fiction the hidden life of
Trees, what they Feel, how theyCommunicate.
Discoveries from a Secret Worldby Peter Wollengold.

(01:09:33):
Is this actually about trees?
Yes, like the plant.
Yes, wait, I want to read thisbook.
Tell me more.
So it was very intriguing.
I saw this on a TikTok of likenonfiction books that read kind
of like fiction that you shouldtry out.
And so I love trees.
I'm like sure let's get a shot.
Um, it was very interesting.

(01:09:55):
I enjoyed most of it.
I gave it three stars.
Uh, the beginning part wasreally I don't think trees could
get five stars.
No offense, I love trees butlike it did, it does get a
little bit too textbook as faras like non-fiction is concerned
.
But it's funny listening to thenarrator because I felt very
much like I'm watching like anat geo, like nature documentary

(01:10:17):
, but like in my mind abouttrees is how it felt, like in
the way that it was like read,it was really cool and like
getting facts like, for example,uh, trees in a forest can
actually like communicate withone another and like save other
trees that are like dyingthrough their root system.
I'm going to cry.
Their roots are all connected.
So if a tree is chopped to thestump, that tree can still live

(01:10:41):
because other trees around itare giving it nutrients through
its roots.
My heart, I know they have thiswhole community and I guess that
in Africa, if a is like eatingthe leaves off of a tree, it
gives off a scent that othertrees downwind can pick up and
they can change the taste oftheir leaves.

(01:11:03):
So giraffes won't want it.
So the giraffes want, as like,a protection for themselves.
That's so cool, isn't that wild?
Wow, you have so many fun facts, I know.
So it was like really fun andlike interesting.
If you were a tree, what kind oftree would you be?
Oh, a weeping willow.
Okay, I love a good weepingwillow, that's good.
So what about you?
I would be a tulip poplar.

(01:11:24):
Um, the only reason I knowabout these trees when I was a
zipline guide, a lot of ourzipline platforms were attached
to tulip poplar trees.
Oh, fun, yeah, and it wasreally interesting because
pretty sure it's been a longtime now since I worked there,
but I'm pretty sure tulippoplars are pretty like um
hollow and they like move veryeasily.
But when they move, they likebreak down, um, and like that's

(01:11:46):
a good thing, like it's good forthem to move because it like
helps water get through,something like that.
These are definitely not thereal facts, but yeah, I it's
just like nostalgic because itmakes me think of the zipline
guide stuff and they're prettybig trees, they're so
interesting.
There's so many little fun factsthat you like get from the book
.
So, yeah, I definitelyrecommend, but it's one of those
that it gets very in depth atsome points, yeah, and like or

(01:12:08):
into like details about, likethe bugs or things like that you
just don't really care about.
It's not as like, it's not asfun as hearing about a tree
community, you know, and sothat's cool, though I'm gonna
need to hear more fun facts.
It's definitely fun and it wasthree stars for sure.
It was good.
Um, maybe fast forward throughsome of the boring parts and he
gets the fun parts, um, butoverall great and it was a fun.
Find something different for me.

(01:12:28):
Yeah, getting into my borrowsnow what I'm currently reading.
Obviously I'm reading invisiblelife of addy larue.
Already talked about that alittle bit, um, but the other
book that I'm currently reading,my audiobook is becoming
bulletproof by evie pompores.
Um, so this one I found ongoodreads through our friend

(01:12:49):
janine.
She added it to her tbr and Iwas like that looks interesting.
I read it and I guess theauthor used to be a secret
service agent and so it's kindof like this self-help book
where she gives you it's likesplit in the two parts.
So like the first part isgiving you tips on, like how to
protect yourself and like yourhome and like a physical way,
yeah, and the second part thatI'm just now getting into is

(01:13:12):
more the psychology behind it,like how to detect if somebody's
lying to you and likeprotecting yourself, like
mentally, in that way.
Okay, if you like it, let meknow.
Very interesting.
I'm loving it so far.
She a she's like a phenomenalnarrator, so I really enjoy
listening to her.
She's got like a new york accentand so it's like I don't know,
it's just nice listening to herand and she's very eloquent the

(01:13:35):
way that she speaks, the waythat she writes.
She gets very much to the pointand gives you the straight facts
of like how to get throughthese situations with enough
detail for you to understand,but without like going too
in-depth to where you get likereally bored and like I just
don't care.
So she finds that really nicebalance.
I will warn put the caveat inthere that if you are an

(01:14:00):
overthinker like me um, whereyou're thinking about like all
the dangers in the world thisbook will help you tremendously.
Oh, and the opposite, it is agood thing.
But if you're somebody whodoesn't think about all the
dangers in the world constantly,this book might not be for you,
because it might make you startthinking about all those things

(01:14:20):
Just at me, right?
So who's maybe not so muchaware I live in a bubble.
Yeah, it's just knowingyourself, and so, if you know
that, you can take it and you'renot going to start overthinking
everything or being superweirded out by the world.
Basically, yes, I highlyrecommend reading the book, but

(01:14:43):
it is definitely one of thosewhere it makes you aware of
every situation and possiblescenarios and it basically for
me as an overthinker, is becauseit gives you um ways to like
figure out your plan of actionif this happens.
So you already have your planof action in place, so you can
just enjoy wherever you're at.
If you're like a concert orsomething like that, you can

(01:15:06):
just enjoy the concert becauseyou already have your plan in
place if something goes wrong,instead of like being on edge
and nervous, like what couldhappen?
What could happen, what couldhappen.
So it helps in that way ifyou're an overthinker, but if
you're somebody who's notthinking about that, all of a
sudden they could put thethought in your head that
something might happen whileyou're at the concert, making
you like start to overthink it alittle bit.
And now I want to read it justto see if it would make me feel.

(01:15:26):
It's definitely a like.
It's up to you and like how youknow yourself the best and like
how you think you'll and it itvery well, like you could enjoy
and get some great things out ofit too.
I'm not saying that it wouldhappen, but just something
that'd be like aware of.
If you're not thinking about it, it might start making you
think about these things in amaybe not so great way, but for
me it's been fantastic and Ithink it's gonna give me a lot

(01:15:49):
of freedom, of mental clarity inmy life.
And, um, I'm excited to getinto the psychology part of it
now.
Yeah, I'm sure it probablymakes you think too like,
because you're only probablygetting a teaspoon of her actual
knowledge, and it's like howlike, how fruitful like of all
the what am I trying to say?

(01:16:09):
Like these you said she wassecret service.
These secret service people haveso much like oh yeah, like
they're trained so well in thisniche, like that.
I always find that so cool.
No matter what your niche is,no matter what you do, the fact
that you like know so much aboutthat, I think, is so cool.
And she does tell like personalstories that she's been through

(01:16:31):
, like she starts the book offwith like her story of how she
was in New York on 9-11 and likehelping people, like clear away
from the towers when this allhappened.
Oh my gosh, I got so emotionalduring that part because she
just told it so well.
But she tells these likeincredible stories and how like
she was a polygrapher for theSecret Service too for a while.
So like that's how she getsinto the psychology of it and

(01:16:53):
like, because you had to gothrough super extensive training
, because just because you havethe test doesn't mean anything
like the person has to be awareof, like what are triggers for
lies.
So it's like you have theduality of it when you're doing
a polygraph test.
Um, so she was doing that, butshe obviously was on like the
presidential, like secretservice and like helping with a
lot of.
So she has like so many thingsthat she's done throughout her

(01:17:14):
career too, with so many likeactive stories that she tells
like help you understand too.
It's really fascinating here.
Wow, okay, you got some goodborrows.
Yeah, you got some good borrows.
I'm excited to finish it, but,yep, definitely recommend.
So far, so good.
Um, and yeah, we'll see how therest of it goes.
I love it well, thanks for, youknow, hanging out with us

(01:17:36):
during this book blender.
We talked about a lot of stuffyou know borrows and returns,
our book, talk of the housemaid,and then just kind of catching
up with us.
I had so much fun.
I really missed this, so I'mI'm so excited, yeah, about the
invisible, the Invisible Life ofAddie LaRue.
It's going to be good, and totalk about it with you

(01:17:57):
Definitely.
Keep up with us on social mediaat the Lazy Girl Library.
Check us out.
Our website islazygirllibrarycom.
You can leave a comment on ourInstagram or send us a note on
our website too.
We love to hear from you Ifthere's ever anything you want
us to talk about.
If there's book tea like the itEnds With Us, or the Power List
that you know of share it.

(01:18:19):
Yeah, we'll chat about it, butwe love you guys.
We hope you have a greatmorning, afternoon or evening,
depending on when you'relistening.
We'll see you next time.
Bye, bye.
We'll see you next time, bye,bye.
Well, dear listeners, we findourselves at the end of another
episode and remember, the LazyGirl Library is not just a

(01:18:43):
podcast, it's a community.
We absolutely love hearing fromfellow book lovers, so don't
forget to share your thoughtsand your favorite reads with us
on our social media.
You can find us on Instagram atLazy Girl Library.
Make sure to check out ourwebsite, lazygirllibrarycom,

(01:19:04):
your one-stop shop for allthings Lazy Girl.
Before we go, we want to take amoment to thank all of our
wonderful listeners, whetheryou're listening from your cozy
bed, on your way to work oranywhere in between.
Thank you for making us a partof your day and for being a part
of our Lazy Girl family.
So keep those pages turning,keep those imaginations
flourishing and remember thebest stories are yet to be
discovered.
Until next time, stay lazy andhappy reading.

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