Return to the Mercyverse! - Blind Date with a Werewolf: A Review | Book Chat - Shelf Addiction Podcast

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
Hey, book lovers, Welcome back to shelf Aediction, the podcast
where we dive deep into the pages of thriller and
fantasy reads. I'm your host Tamara, and today we are
turning to one of our favorite places, the Mercy Verse.
But first a quick heads up. If you crave the
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(00:26):
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(00:48):
and don't forget to subscribe and leave us a review
wherever you're listening. And speaking of community, I'm thrilled to
welcome back my fantasy and romance writer die co host
Casey from Heart full of Ink. Welcome back, case Hello, Hello,
I'm so excited to be here. Yes, it's gonna be
a fun time, I.

Speaker 2 (01:06):
Think, oh, definitely always I mean always with us, but like, yes,
this time is gonna be fun.

Speaker 1 (01:12):
Yeah, I actually was like, oh I wish I read
those other books again. But no, no, no, no, never
did not have the time nor the band with to
try to read more books. In this world. You can
find both Casey and I online and all the usual places.
The links for everything are on the show notes, so
click around you all the things. We appreciate you for
doing that. Before we get started, I want to remind

(01:33):
you that with book chats we talk full spoilers here,
so spoiler alert you've been warned. Today we are discussing
Blind Date with a Werewolf, written by Patricia Briggs. The
audiobook is narrated by Holter Graham, published October twenty first,
twenty twenty five by Ace and PRH Audio. The hardcover
is two hundred and sixty pages. The unabridged audio is

(01:56):
eight hours and five minutes. Casey, would you kindly share
this and not?

Speaker 2 (02:01):
When the deadly werewolf A Seal is gifted five blind
dates by some anonymous friends, his reclusive life will never
be the same. Includes two all news stories as well
as three previous previously published stories, and then it has
the note do you want to read the note? Sure,
dear asile, we are worried about you. A wereolf alone

(02:24):
is a sad thing, especially at Christmas time. So we
have a challenge for you, five dates in three weeks.
We have taken the work out of it and connected
you with five people from online dating sites. You should
also know that we have informed the whole pack and
instigating a bedding pool. Have fun, Sincerely, your concerned friends, like,

(02:46):
sincerely if you guys, sincerely, Yeah, fun stuff?

Speaker 1 (02:56):
Okay, so high level? What did you think?

Speaker 2 (02:59):
I love it, but that's a given with Patricia Briggs
and this world. I'd read the other three novella's already
and the other two or just icing on the cake. Okay,
So I also enjoyed it. It's familiar and comforting, so
easy to read, easy to just have no issues with

(03:22):
it because I'm so familiar with the world. But also
I try to remain a little bit objective because it
can be hard when you're such a fan.

Speaker 1 (03:35):
Girl of the world. So we'll see if I can
get some objectivity as we talk about this, because it
was not perfect, to be honest, but.

Speaker 2 (03:46):
No short story. First of all, short stories are never perfect.
They're always going to be lacking. There's always going to
be more that could have and should have been added
to it, but that's the nature of short stories. And
then you know it's the Mercy Verse. She's written twenty

(04:07):
plus novels in this world. She's going so lackluster on
the world building itself because she's assuming that if you're
reading the story, you know the world.

Speaker 1 (04:19):
So I would never.

Speaker 2 (04:20):
Ever recommend this to somebody who's never read a Mercy book.

Speaker 1 (04:23):
That is the biggest point of everything. Do not use
this as a jump off to see if you will
like it. No, not because I saw on Goodreads. I
think I saw someone had said they were totally lost,
and that's because they thought, oh, these are short stories.
Let me try. No no, no, no, no, no no no.

Speaker 2 (04:42):
Either pick up alfin Omega or pick up Mercy, pick
up a full length novel anything else by Patricia Briggs.

Speaker 1 (04:49):
This is for the fans.

Speaker 2 (04:50):
This is for the die hard girlies who you know,
love the world that like.

Speaker 1 (04:56):
If you've never read anything by her, do not start here.
Put this stuff.

Speaker 2 (05:00):
Go listen to our podcast on Moon called I don't
know if we did one for cry Wolf. I know
we've talked about it, but did an official one.

Speaker 1 (05:08):
We probably need to do that because I feel like
we've done We've done Mercy Thompson like two or three times.
I feel like we did a lot lot of Mercy.

Speaker 2 (05:17):
Like we even get the graphic novel because we love
her that much, and the graphic audio too. We did.

Speaker 1 (05:26):
We did. It's time for us to go back and
do the Alpha and Omega books, so we do need
to do that. But yeah, like Casey said, if this
is brand new to you, just stop, Briggs stop. Yeah,
you will not like it, because that's one of the
critiques I think I actually have. It would have been

(05:46):
nice if she could have added a little bit kind
of like you don't usually and that's something I usually
like in her full length books is that we don't
have chapters of chapters of refreshing us because we don't
really need it. But I think because it feels like
it's been so long, maybe a little bit here or there,
just a little a sprinkle. Yeah, Like especially in the

(06:08):
fifth story jog our Memory, just a little on certain
that one, she just like threw stuff out in conversation.

Speaker 2 (06:14):
I was like, oh, oh, oh, which we'll get to
but yeah, I know, yeah, that's something I'm going to
like save that story and reread that conversation specifically before
I do my next Mercy reread, because ooh, there are
so many ties and so many little things that she's like, see,

(06:35):
I've had a plan this whole time.

Speaker 1 (06:37):
Yeah. Actually, I need to get picked up in hardcover
so I can actually like mark the things. So this
is one of those things.

Speaker 2 (06:46):
So if you have tabs or you want to highlight
a page, like I would highlight this page. Yeah, absolutely,
Like it's a lot going on in that last little
story that that was great.

Speaker 1 (06:58):
But now I know three of these stories were previously published,
and I think I remember one of them. I don't
remember the other two per se, So they were all
kind of new to me. They felt they felt new
because either if I did read them, it's been so
long that I kind of also forgot it.

Speaker 2 (07:18):
So I know for absolute certain the third and the
fourth dates I have read. I'm fairly certain I read
the first date. I'm like ninety certain it's the second
date and the fifth date that are new. Like fifth date, absolutely,
that's a new one. But I'm pretty sure it's the
second date that's also new. So the fourth date was

(07:40):
when he met Ruby, right, what's the name of it?

Speaker 1 (07:43):
Dating Terrors. Okay, that was in Heroic Hearts anthology, and
I know I did not pick up that anthology.

Speaker 2 (07:52):
I mean I will pick up an anthology just for
Patricia Briggs and then skip everything else.

Speaker 1 (07:58):
I kind of like, okay, so just to like bitch
a little bit. I hate when authors do that because
I don't like buying anthologies of things and only reading
one story. So I don't know, Like, let's say there
are six stories, six authors. If I'm not familiar with
at least half of it, I don't buy it. That's fair, Yeah,

(08:20):
I would rather you put this out for ninety nine
sence on candle. They usually so usually just publishing aside.
If there's an anthology, there's always a time limit in
the contract where it's like, okay, we'll publish this anthology.
It's going to be here and available for six months,

(08:41):
a year or longer, depending on if it's like traditionally
published anthology, and then after a certain time, the rights
get reverted back to the author and then they can
upload it on their own four ninety nine cents. But
the point of the anthology is to like get the
unknown names out there. Yeah, I get that, that's fair,
but I'm not. I'm not doing it.

Speaker 2 (09:02):
Yeah, you don't have to get your money on stuff
you don't want.

Speaker 1 (09:05):
Look, we've had our turn with anthologies already this season,
and we only read a couple. I only read two
of the bunch, you know what I'm saying. So, but
at least they were good enough to release those also separately.
They weren't all tie together. Yeah, but so, Yeah, I
wish I had remembered what I had read before, but

(09:29):
it doesn't matter technically.

Speaker 2 (09:31):
I think it was good, like as somebody, even though
like I knew what happened and the fourth one and
I remember the third one, like, it was good just
to read them in order and get it all kind
of like as the weeks progressed, you know, from the
start to the finish. I thought that was enjoyable, even
though I kind of knew what was happening.

Speaker 1 (09:50):
Okay, So it's been so long since I read Alpha
and Mega books were Yes, a Seal does show up
in Mercy Thompson, but he lives in Alpha Mega Books.
So did we meet Ruby in Alpha Omega yet? Did
we meet her?

Speaker 2 (10:05):
No, this is the first time we've ever seen Ruby.
I thought so because I'm like I don't remember this.

Speaker 1 (10:14):
I'm hoping she shows up in the next book as
a very important character because the way this ended, like
they claimed each other so sure did that was so cute,
so cute, it was so cut. So let me just
say the fact that you know, Asila is like notoriously
known for having a un like a wolf that could

(10:36):
just pounce and just chew everybody up. This spit about
like he doesn't even talk to him anymore. But after
meeting Ruby, he's like, hey, dude, I'm back, what's up.
That's our girl, that's our Ruby. Yeah. I'm like, oh,
look at that. And he was such a sarcastic wolf.

(10:56):
Oh my god, he kept making me laugh.

Speaker 2 (10:59):
He was like Carls Wolf, Yes, yes, except more sarcastic.
And in my head, I'm like, oh my god, I
hope his wolf and Charles Wolf can like talk to
each other like this and we just get like a
whole I don't know how. I don't think that's possible,
but like seeing the two wolves talk to each other
would be hilarious.

Speaker 1 (11:18):
Actually, it would be hilarious. They would be like really comical.
I think the two of them too chatting, But I
don't know maybe some magic could happen and you never know,
you never know. Yeah, it's all fair and you know
anything can happen with magic and absolutely absolutely Yeah. But
I love that for a Seal because he just seemed

(11:39):
like he'd never catch a break.

Speaker 2 (11:40):
You know, like he he got his ass whooped in
so many books.

Speaker 1 (11:49):
Yeah, but I'm happy for him now he has someone like.
Oh now, one thing though, I feel like, even though
Briggs has given a pretty good description of him, I
feel like, you know how, sometimes you can like visualize
a character in your head or what you think they
would look like, or you could like draw from a celebrity,

(12:11):
like you might think they may be similar to X
or Y. I've never been able to do that for
a Seal. Really, yeah, I've never been able to. Like,
I think some of the terminology throws me off, like
not the terminology of a description, but like because he
speaks so old, like he refers to himself as the more.

(12:32):
It's like I can't get out of my head. He's
supposedly notoriously fine. He's like super fine, Okay, beautiful. Everybody
had to comment on how beautiful he was. Yeah, so
he's like a blend of Spanish and African, but with
very dark skin, really really old, really handsome, refined, dark eyes.

(12:54):
But I don't think they ever said what colorized. I
think just dark eyes, dark brown, dark thing brown. At
some point, like I don't know his hair texture. Do
we know his hair textured?

Speaker 2 (13:06):
So but I know at one point he said he
needed if when he was talking about when he was
in the Renaissance, and he was like, I need to
have my mane of curls. So I don't know if
that meant like like.

Speaker 1 (13:21):
Hispanic textured hair or African textured hair, but he was
he did say curls, Maine of curls, Maine of curls.

Speaker 2 (13:32):
Okay, So that's about all I get, like as far
as description, and I can't visit you, I cannot get it,
so my mind can't grab it as like a darker
Pedro Pascal, like Pedro Pascal is too light for him,
but like darker Pedro and like a little thicker because
he's a werewolf and he has all these muscles and

(13:53):
pig But I love Pedro and I want everybody to
look like.

Speaker 1 (13:58):
I like Pedro. Form is a fact, like I like
his or you know, he's a great actor, but when
I hear someone like, fine as hell, it's not Pedro,
it's not him, So no offense.

Speaker 2 (14:16):
Hell, you're great, you're great. But for my purposes, I cannot.

Speaker 1 (14:24):
You know, I don't think of a steal is like, well,
I guess he kind of does seem like somebody's you know, Zaddy.
You know, he's very old and he acts like it
a little bit. But yeah, I wish I could just
visualize him more so. Fans, I know, if you're listening
to this podcast, you are a Patricia Briggs Mercy Thompson

(14:44):
out forn mega fan. Leave in the comments, leave a
comment what you think a seal looks like? What celebrity
would you say? Is similar to in your mind what
you think he looks like. Give me suggestions. I need
to put a face on on him. And usually it's
so easy, but it's been hard for him for me.

(15:06):
M someone helped me. He's just beautiful. Yeah, And I
mean Ruby was like, damn, what have you been doing
on a dating app? Man?

Speaker 2 (15:16):
Literally everybody said that, Kelly in the first day, Yeah,
like what are you doing?

Speaker 1 (15:23):
Yeah? Yeah, you're so fine. You don't need an app? Okay,
this one does because he stays to himself in the gardens,
so he does need an app, Yes, but so.

Speaker 2 (15:38):
Do you want to talk about each of the dates
individually or just kind of keep overview little?

Speaker 1 (15:44):
Let's go for it. Let's it's only five, so let's
dig into the first one. So that was Unappreciated Gifts,
where he first got the email letting him know that
he was going on these dates, and then he the
Each dating app made me laugh. I don't know if

(16:05):
you remember them.

Speaker 2 (16:06):
This one was bite me dot com where everybody the
humans were pretending to be vampires. So bite me just
made me giggle because why why is it bite me?

Speaker 1 (16:21):
Because vampires bite? I know.

Speaker 2 (16:24):
But she's like, why would somebody send a werewolf on
a date with somebody pretending to be a vampire, like
for shits and giggles, shits and giggles, for shits and giggles. Yeah, so,
poor Kelly. He's a little gay boy who's twenty one two.

(16:44):
So that's why I'm calling him a little boy.

Speaker 1 (16:48):
Whose name is Acio looks twenty three, twenty four, so
he can't tell he's old. I thought Ocia looked like
he was thirty something. Really, I thought he looked younger.

Speaker 2 (16:58):
I thought he looked in his throat. I'm picturing him
in his thirties. But that's just because I think twenty
one year olds would looking like babies, and I don't
want him to look like a baby.

Speaker 1 (17:09):
I don't know, we'll have to investigate.

Speaker 2 (17:12):
Yeah, but anyway, poor Kelly. He was also being tricked
by his friends to go on this date because they
were catfishing the other catfish. Yeah, but he showed up anyway,
and he was like, I'm so sorry, and I knew
I didn't want you to be stood up, or I
didn't want the other person to be stood up.

Speaker 1 (17:34):
Yeah, actually for someone, so I guess I didn't expect
for a seal to be like, let's go on the date.

Speaker 2 (17:45):
Still, let's hang out. I didn't expect that of him
for some reason.

Speaker 1 (17:49):
Like he's a nice person, and you can tell he's
a nice person, but it just was shocking.

Speaker 2 (17:55):
I'm like, that's great. That's usually he's really really grumpy. Yeah,
he's been spending a lot of time with Anna the omega,
who's making him soft. And I don't know if this happened.
I guess this's happened before. What's her name, The little
girl who went up to live who was turned into
a werewolf when she was twelve, and now she's living

(18:15):
under Brand not safe, like Katie or Catherine or something.

Speaker 1 (18:21):
Okay, yea, I don't remember her name.

Speaker 2 (18:25):
She started off in the Mercy books, ended up living
with Brand's pack because nobody else would take her. But
like they've kind of bonded, okay, And she gets mentioned
rarely in the often Omega books. But like he takes
care of her. They have like a really cute friendship,
budding friendship, so like a seal. He is a nice guy, hello,

(18:49):
but like he's very crusty on the outside.

Speaker 1 (18:54):
That's fair.

Speaker 2 (18:56):
And also, if you remember, he showed up in one
of Mercy's books, I don't remember which one it was,
but Mercy was terrified of him, Like Mercy just looked
at him and went, oh my god, you're gonna kill me.

Speaker 1 (19:06):
Well, his reputation precedes him, right, So yes, everyone knows
this guy is altra dangerous. Yes, so don't piss him off,
don't look at him in the fight, don't don't look
at him in the eyes, don't piss him off.

Speaker 2 (19:19):
Yeah, and then of course all these women around him, Anna, Catherine,
Katie whatever her name is. They're like making him soft again.
So your first instinct of him leaving me is correct.
Had it been anybody else, Yeah, but I guess Kelly
just got under his skin and he was like, I'm
gonna be nice today, which was good because Kelly needed

(19:40):
to be saved.

Speaker 1 (19:41):
I mean, honestly, he was more than nice. He's even like,
you know, dressed up in his finest goods. You know,
he wasn't look good and he's like, oh, can you
dance like you got problem? Let me lead you know
what's going on.

Speaker 2 (19:56):
I'm like, oh my, gosh, oh my, he's that's really nice.
He's super He's like, what are you exactly? Yeah, it
just melted my heart. I was like, okay, yes, he's
being so nice. He's not even mad at his concerned
friends with air quotes, right, He's just like going for it.

(20:16):
He's like, all right, challenge accepted, and I'm like giving
it my all. He didn't half asset. He didn't you know,
walk away when he could have, but he did it
and I love him for it.

Speaker 1 (20:28):
Yeah, he went to a vampire ball and he wasn't
in costume, so he kind of just said, I'm a
were wolf. I'm a were wolf.

Speaker 2 (20:38):
But honestly, do you think any where wolf would have
said I'm a vampire, Like no, no, no, they're not
even mercy that one. Yeah, like nah, I'm good. But yeah,
that was a good story.

Speaker 1 (20:52):
And then of course he saved the kid you know,
from trying to be where they call it taken over.
Basically he wanted to be his sheep yea, yeah, turn
him to a sheep, and he saved him. All he
had to do was lure him in. He did successfully.
He like, I could do it rip the vampire's head off,
which is great. He's good at that.

Speaker 2 (21:15):
Also, Kelly's friend is Tag's I think it's his niece
or like great great great great grand niece or whatever.
Tag is another wonderful werewolf who we've met several times
through alfn Amiga, And I was like, this is definitely
a small world, Like I know they're three hours away,
but still.

Speaker 1 (21:35):
While their community is small and technically they're all under brand,
well not really anymore, but you know when they were
for the longest time. So yeah, they all know each other.
So and that happens in more than one story when
they're like, oh yeah, wait do you know who that is?
Oh my gosh. Yeah. So yeah, okay, that was a

(21:56):
cute story. It was cute. The second one, Must love Cats.

Speaker 2 (22:02):
After that was yeah, must love CAATs dot com?

Speaker 1 (22:06):
You think, Yeah, and they meant that literally literally. Okay.

Speaker 2 (22:10):
So when he first said they meant that literally, I
was like, Okay, leap me if you need to.

Speaker 1 (22:14):
But I was like, did they mean pussy? You know what?
That's what I thought at first, But then as you know,
we got to I said, oh cats, Yeah, no, that
was that was my brain too. I was like, do
they mean the P word?

Speaker 2 (22:28):
But no, they meant good old They meant real cats
that they were going to sacrifice.

Speaker 1 (22:34):
Yeah, poor cats. Mmmmm hmm.

Speaker 2 (22:37):
So this one, I'm pretty sure it's the new one
because I remember they mentioned him like taking the line around,
but I never read the story until now. M h.

Speaker 1 (22:49):
I think that was the most lacking for me. I
guess it was okay, but it wasn't ooh so interesting.
But you know, the old cat at the end was interesting,
the most interesting, I guess, you know, because she came
up again later. She showed up later.

Speaker 2 (23:06):
Yeah, really important, same because they hadn't I remember them
mentioning this in like the third and fourth dates, and
I was like, I want to know what the heck
kind of date he's going on if he's driving lines
around in his car, Like what is this? And so
I was hoping that we would get the whole story,
and this is just a few pages of the aftermath,

(23:29):
which is.

Speaker 1 (23:29):
Not as fun. No, it almost felt odd, like what
is this the aftermath of what? I mean?

Speaker 2 (23:39):
It was an orgy where they were going to have
sex with cats that is, or sacrifice themselves to the
cats or sacrifice.

Speaker 1 (23:48):
I'm still not sure what was going on. I'm not
sure either. I don't think I want to know either.

Speaker 2 (23:55):
I am wondering if that's why Patricia Briggs wrote it
this way, where she's like this, this is just gonna
be insane. Nobody wants to know. I'll let you know
what kind of happened, but also we just need to
know the aftermath.

Speaker 1 (24:08):
Yeah, because these forecasts they had things on them, callers,
pallors that were magic. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (24:15):
So I don't know if you remember this, because you
said you don't remember all the details. Marie Posa. Mary
Posa is the witch who made these callers. That's the
witch who was hunting down a seal for centuries because
she killed his mate. Yeah, they adopted her something, Yeah,
they adopted her. She got jealous one insane killed his mate,

(24:39):
stole the mate, bond kept his mate alive as a
werewolf or a zombie, a zombie werewolf, and chased him
down for centuries. And that's who Anna and Charles and
Brand all killed back in cry Wolf a couple of
years ago. So yeah, it was interesting that she kept
popping up, which is another scene running theme through all

(25:01):
of these dates.

Speaker 1 (25:03):
Yeah, her magic is places and m hm, very interesting. Like, okay, girl,
that's going on here at that point. I mean I'd
have been like if I was a seal of like, okay,
no more dates. Yeah, after this one, we're done. Yeah,
he is alf the way here. He did not. The

(25:23):
rest is on him. He did not, because you know,
he doesn't want to lose a bed. No, we'll continue
in the date three.

Speaker 2 (25:33):
This no date two is the date that I realized
Brand was not the concerned friend. Okay, even though he
was my top contender, because you know, he's the only
one who really considers a seal a friend because they're
basically the same age.

Speaker 1 (25:48):
That's in his like I don't think that's in his
wheelhouse to do something execute something so big.

Speaker 2 (25:55):
I was hoping. My initial thought was that, like Anna
went to Brand and then she Charles and Brand kind
of concocted this together and like it was a group effort,
because I could see Anna doing this, but I don't
see her being able to do all of it, and
there was definitely some like universe a lah magic going on.

Speaker 1 (26:17):
I was kind of hoping that somehow they involved mercy,
because that seems like something that she would do, like
for real, Like.

Speaker 2 (26:23):
That's what I thought. But then I was like, but
the last time she saw him, she was terrified of him,
So I don't know if she actually would Well, if
the moroc asked her.

Speaker 1 (26:33):
I mean, that's true. They're not really talking right now. Yeah,
that's true. Well, it's hard to tell with the timelines exactly. Yeah,
where we are, which is another thing. It's like I
wish I kind of knew, like this happens in year
two after this scene. I would have loved some like

(26:55):
a couple of lines of that at the top of
each chapter, just to ground me a little bit, you know,
or whatever, or at the beginning of the book or
the end of the book, you know something anyway.

Speaker 2 (27:05):
But yeah, so that's when I was like, Okay, well
it can't be brand because they would have said something
so rude.

Speaker 1 (27:11):
Yeah hmm, okay. So date three this was interesting a
seal and the not out date. Yeah, so that was
the one where the woman he met she seemed like
a white witch mm hmm. And he could only tell

(27:32):
because he smells something on her coat. She was really
good hiding. And then it turned into this big cluster
of like what the fuck, Like this woman lures him
away to these people's house after she traps these children.
I'm like, oh my god, So let's get into her motive.
What was her motive for doing this? You kill her mother?

(27:57):
She claims Mary Posa as her mother. She's not biologically
related to her, but she is a witch who was
raised by worked with Mary Posa. Mm hm yes. So
I thought it was.

Speaker 2 (28:14):
Really wonderful how Patricia Briggs kind of hid all of
that throughout, Like you know, she kept going, I want
to hold the necklace and the charm that my mother
gave me. I think she kept calling it a charm,
and I was, you know, you'd never really catch that
if you think she's a normal human woman. M right, yeah,

(28:35):
but the fact that she's magical, well it's a magic
charm hiding her black magic. And then there was just
like that one little line where she's like, I need
to go to the bathroom, and then the next line
she was back and they were talking. So if you're
not really paying attention, you're like, okay, yeah, she's a
normal human.

Speaker 1 (28:53):
And later it comes out best when she was calling
her people and she's like, oh, make this happen. Yeah,
like let me take a little bathroom break and then
set you up real fast. But it was very interesting
how that ended. Of course, you know that woman, she's dust,
she's now gone, and the kids. The older brother he

(29:18):
like pulled out a gun and shot gun and shutter.
He's like, I guess I'm going to jail. And the
still was like, nope, I won't let you go to jail.

Speaker 2 (29:28):
Yeah, I can protect you. Yeah I got this. Just
go up there and do what I tell you to do.

Speaker 1 (29:34):
But that is like so typical of like a teenager,
like he takes care of things, like he helps, you know,
and he's like, I guess I'm going to jail.

Speaker 2 (29:43):
But also what freaking teenager looks at like, okay, So
he talked about how Tammy had like saved him and
helped him, and everybody on the streets calls her the
good witch and they love her, and then all of
a sudden, he's just like shooting her head off.

Speaker 1 (30:02):
I mean, it was the right thing to do, but like, damn, well,
you know, I think the kid was you know, some
kids are just able to disassociate and know what needs
to be done. Yeah, you know when he's like you're
a werewolf. Oh my gosh, you know, he's so excited.
I was so excited. It was so cute. Yeah. And

(30:22):
then when he figured out, like something's going on with
his mother and this is not just her. Yeah, you know,
I think maybe just the stars aligned and he was
able to react, you know, because he had to act
fast he did, and he did successfully. I'm like, I'm surprised,
that's all he was able to do it, Like even

(30:43):
the skill set to just shoot someone like that and
not miss or get him in the shoulder or something. Yeah.
Oh yeah, like that was a headshot. He was good.
Mm hmm. But yeah, I like that story. It was
interesting and it kept my attention, just like the rest.
You know, I think this was also probably not my

(31:05):
favorite of the bunch either, but it was still good.
M m hmm. I thought it was a good twist,
Like I knew it was coming, but it was a
good twist. What about so that thing was? What was it? So?

Speaker 2 (31:19):
The wyvern like a tiny dragon. It's like there there,
it's like a subset of dragons. And if you want
to get really really nerdy, just type in wyvern versus
dragon and you can see people like debating the differences.
And I think it's just that they have like really

(31:40):
tiny legs and not or just two legs or something.

Speaker 1 (31:44):
Okay, let me take a look. I'm about to get
nerdy real fast. Let's see. Oh yeah, okay, they're kind
of yeah, they look similar but different. Yeah. Some look
more snake like like what I think this one looked like? Yeah? Uh,
and some look more dragon like. I guess it depends
on who's drawing it. Mm hmmm mmmm. It's a lot

(32:08):
of options here. Hmm. Yeah, that was interesting. I liked it. Yeah, Okay,
now's a great time to take a break. You guys,
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(32:29):
it to your friends. Is that time of year start
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right back. Okay, welcome back. Three down, three down ago?

Speaker 2 (32:48):
All right, the best two, let's be real, Yeah, those
are the best. Save the best for last. Yes, what's
a book?

Speaker 1 (32:57):
Is Dating Terrors? Oh? The best one? I think this
is the best one.

Speaker 2 (33:01):
Yeah, oh yeah, oh definitely.

Speaker 1 (33:05):
We meet Ruby finally.

Speaker 2 (33:08):
This so we've never met Ruby before. She's never appeared
in any of the other books. This is the first
time we've seen her.

Speaker 1 (33:15):
Yeah, and I think this is the closest thing to
a real date that he actually, you know, was able
to get. I mean, like the attraction for both of
them was like pow right out the gate.

Speaker 2 (33:28):
Which is wild because like he hasn't felt attracted to
a woman since his mate died centuries ago.

Speaker 1 (33:35):
Mm hmm. Yeah, so that says a lot. And actually
this was also kind of another setup because she really
wanted someone to help her break free from her tormentor
really and suddenly she didn't want to use him like
that yep. Yeah, it's too dangerous. I can't do it

(33:56):
to someone else dangerous. Yeah, but he's like, you know
what's going on. He's he really felt the urgency to
help her because.

Speaker 2 (34:06):
Well, his wolf started talking for the first time in
centuries has wolf spoke words to him?

Speaker 1 (34:12):
Yeah, it's like the wolf knew and yeah, instantly he's like, hey, hey,
what's up. What's up, dude? What's going on? What we're doing?
What's fine? I love that? And even like at the end,
you know, a seal has to pull the wolf in
a little bit because he's like, you know, hours and

(34:34):
he's like, ohd on if she chooses Yeah, the wolf's like, wait,
she has discerning tastes. Obviously she's gonna choose us. Like
what is I'm so fine, I know, like we're the best. Obviously,
it's done. It's a done deal. Like what but yeah,
let's get into these details you want kick it off.

Speaker 2 (34:57):
So it starts off with Ruby having nightmares and gonna
run away, but her friends convince her to stay. They
are part of the werewolf pack in Seattle, and they're like,
we know somebody who knows somebody who's setting another wolf
up on dates. So We're just gonna call him and
have him come help you because he is a powerful werewolf.

Speaker 1 (35:18):
But somehow they just don't know who he is.

Speaker 2 (35:22):
Right, which is really suspicious, Like right, like what? Yeah,
Like why when you say who? It was so leading
up to it, like it's minutes away from when he's
supposed to drive up. Her friend Alan, who is a
beta wolf, is on the phone trying to figure out
his name, and.

Speaker 1 (35:42):
He goes, oh shit, it's the more. We need to
get the fuck out of his alert alert.

Speaker 2 (35:48):
Can't look everything, run away, yeah, and then he drives
up right at that second, so they can't run, which
I thought was again like it was a little suspicious,
but really at the same time, how Alan was like, no,
we're going to protect you, no way, we need to
run away. Like He's like, look, I can protect you
so far, but I can't protect you against this guy.

(36:11):
So we need to run.

Speaker 1 (36:13):
We need to run. We need far, far far away
from here. Yeah, and the whole like I was saying,
the whole time, you know, they're like, well, we're going
to use this person to take out her enemy and
then she'll be free.

Speaker 2 (36:27):
M hm.

Speaker 1 (36:28):
Ultimately that's what happens. But well a seal.

Speaker 2 (36:33):
Being a seal was like, I said, I was going
to help you, So I helped you get rid of
the binding that was holding your own power again so
you could kill him exactly.

Speaker 1 (36:42):
That's how I help you. She's just like what And
she didn't even know like she was bound. Really, she
just I think she just thought that's just the power
she had. It was a total surprise. She didn't know
she had any of that. Yeah, And like how she's
able to like command these ghost was crazy, like she

(37:02):
didn't even know what she was doing. So just imagine
how powerful she could be when she starts to practice
that and actually know what the hell she's doing, She's
gonna be unstoppable.

Speaker 2 (37:16):
Also, I fucking love the fact that she is god
almost one hundred years old. I had to do the
math because she was like I was born in nineteen
twenty three, and at first I was like, oh, she's eighty.
Then I was like, no, no, I have to do math.

Speaker 1 (37:33):
She's over a hundred yes, oh mappened, damn you math. Yeah.
But I like that as well, because a seal's like
over two hundred years old, isn't he. He's like like,
see three hundred oh is he two thousand? Oh my god, yeah,
I know he's really really really old, but damn, like, no,

(37:54):
he is maybe a thousand, but like Charles is too
two hundred years old, and Brand and his other son
are like a thousand years old, okay, and the Stella
is around their age. Okay, yeah, I think I.

Speaker 2 (38:13):
Remember in these books he keeps talking about like when
I was at the Renaissance era or when I lived
in the Renaissance era, when I was living in this era,
when I was doing this, and everybody's like, how fucking
old are you super old?

Speaker 1 (38:26):
Yeah? So yeah, I guess even in his like lifespan,
she's still a baby as well.

Speaker 2 (38:33):
But at least she's not twenty, yes exactly. At least
she's not like a literal baby. At least she's a
hundred and like has one century, yeah, which is wild
to me that she's that old.

Speaker 1 (38:47):
And it really just shows like this guy was like
playing games with her the whole.

Speaker 2 (38:52):
Time, like you just yeah, she said she doesn't know
her childhood before he caught her, and then like he
would let her go and then go hunt her down
and oh my god.

Speaker 1 (39:05):
Yeah, and then she basically would just concede, you know,
because hey, he's gonna threaten hurt your friends and the
people you've you know. Now, she just concedes and goes
off with him and then tries to escape again, and
you know, he lets her escape again. Yeah, it's a game.

Speaker 2 (39:22):
It is, like d a terrifying, awful game.

Speaker 1 (39:26):
Yeah. So she's just waiting on him to show up again.
Mm hmm m. And he would like drink her energy
or something like you drink her energy and eat some
of her flesh. Oh so nasty. I know.

Speaker 2 (39:44):
She said it was kind of like a vampire and
then he ate her flesh. And I was like, oh no,
oh no, at least vampires don't do that. But you're dead.

Speaker 1 (39:55):
He probably only did it to like freaking harass her
or something, you know what I mean, Like he probably
men need the flesh.

Speaker 2 (40:01):
I think he did, because there's some When Asile was
looking at him, he was like, there's not a real
name for what you are. Elicited a few things, and
then his werewolf was like a moth riddled soul, Like
he's just full of holes. So I feel like as
he was consuming Ruby and her power and her energy

(40:22):
and her flesh, all of it was changing him and
turning him into this new type of monster. And we
don't know really anything else about Ruby at this point,
which again I hope we get, like, hopefully we get a.

Speaker 1 (40:37):
Full length novel with them. I would find if we
got a full novel of them same. I like them together.
They're really great. They're really great. Yeah, and I think
they could be a power couple that we I would watch.

Speaker 2 (40:53):
I would like, oh, absolutely, absolutely more than brand and
what's her name?

Speaker 1 (41:00):
Oh damn Leah Leah. Yeah, I was like, is that
it now?

Speaker 2 (41:06):
But yeah, no, they're not a power couple. Brand is,
Leah is not. I don't want to see anything of that.

Speaker 1 (41:13):
Look, I don't care what her history is. I still
don't like her. I don't care.

Speaker 2 (41:17):
I don't care. Everybody's traumatized. That doesn't mean you need
to take it out on child. Yeah yeah, but these two, hell, yes,
they are the new power couple. They're gonna I think
they're gonna be more powerful than Anna and Charles, because
like I.

Speaker 1 (41:34):
Could see that they're the current power couple.

Speaker 2 (41:36):
But these two, mm yeah, Anna, Okay, So to be fair,
Anna's not really that powerful, not really like she's she
in the not and down sense.

Speaker 1 (41:47):
She's she's like defense not offense kind of.

Speaker 2 (41:52):
But to be fair, Anna's been the one to chop
off a few heads while everybody else is.

Speaker 1 (41:58):
You know, I still think she's not like she's useful.
She's got her spot on the team, she has a place, Yes,
but I would not send her running into the building.
Oh no, so then Charles in, Yeah so, and then
make Anna freak out and that sent her in, right, Ruby,
I was send into the building, go girl, yeah first strain,

(42:20):
go yes. But yeah, I really like them. The only thing,
and I think is probably because I've been reading too
much smut over the years, but I kind of wish
there was a little something and it traditionally Breaks doesn't
really write a lot of that, so it's like I
kind of knew it wouldn't be in there, but I

(42:42):
kind of wanted a little bit of something.

Speaker 2 (42:45):
I was hoping for, like an actual passionate kiss, not
just a smooch that's like not even it's closed lips,
like it's not even yeah anything, But yeah, I want something.
That's why I really hope, like we get a story
from them, like a full, a full short story that's

(43:06):
like thirty thousand forty thousand words or like a full
length novel, because that's way.

Speaker 1 (43:12):
Look, if you can have someone decide that that's my
mate instantly, a little installust is you know they got
the insular. Let's follow through. We don't read these books
where people fall in love with each other quote unquote overnight,
and I don't believe that shit, but I believe this one.
Give me the other stuff.

Speaker 2 (43:32):
I know. I know it's amazing that you believe it
and you like fell for it, not fell for it,
but like, you know, it's just.

Speaker 1 (43:40):
This paranormal and it's supernatural. You know, it's like I
believe this because maybe because of the world. I'm so
accustomed to the world. I know that's just what would
happen here. So it's not like bullshit.

Speaker 2 (43:52):
But but also like we've seen a seal go on
all of these days and he was kind of flirty
stage before he had to kill her in the last
book spoiler he was, but like like we've seen him
grow and this time, like it was just such an
immediately like oh he knows, and his wolf knows and

(44:13):
his wolf is talking, and like I but look.

Speaker 1 (44:16):
Every date in this book up until now, he's a
little flirty. You know how to turn it all? He
looks off. Uh huh, you know, he got some skills. Apparently,
I have nothing to do with the wolf, you know.
So he's got some personality that's attractive as well as
andim being fine as hell. Okay, yes, yes he does. Yeah.

(44:38):
So I'm like, I wanted a little something something, come
on now, and even at the end end, I thought
we would give a little something something and we didn't.

Speaker 2 (44:47):
I mean, but that's just not how Briggs does it.
It took them, I know.

Speaker 1 (44:55):
Which is why I like, that's one of the things
I actually have liked about her writing. But like I said,
I've just been reading too much smutt, I think because
I'm just accustomed to people like hooking up and doing
crazy shit immediately hmm. I've gotten like used to it.
So then when it's not there, I'm like, but I

(45:15):
know that's hermo, so I can't really be mad about it.
It just is what it is, all right. What's next?
Date number five? The conclusion.

Speaker 2 (45:28):
So at the end of date for the concerned friend
emails him and says, dear a Seal, congratulations. One more
to go, and he says, dear concerned Friend, no, just no,
just no.

Speaker 1 (45:42):
It was like, that's it. I'm done. So that's how
Date four ends.

Speaker 2 (45:47):
And I just thought that was so cute because he
was like, nope, I found my person, I found my girl.

Speaker 1 (45:52):
I'm the dates. No more dates.

Speaker 2 (45:55):
So the fifth dates starts with two minutes after a
seal sent the email, somebody calls him yeah, and he
starts talking to his concerned friend on the phone.

Speaker 1 (46:06):
And I was, you know, like, who the fuck is this?
Why are you not giving me any dialogue tags or
hints or anything.

Speaker 2 (46:14):
But Patricia Briggs will lie to your face. Yeah, she
will say he's you. She will drag it out, but
she did. So I want to know when this conversation
was happening, did you have any guesses as to who
was on the other side.

Speaker 1 (46:33):
Honestly, I was trying to figure it out, but I
was like, obviously it's a man, Obviously, you know he
knows him really well. And I just couldn't And I'm like, well,
I did think maybe the moroc still I thought maybe,
but it just didn't sound right the way he was
talking to him. I'm like, no, it's not him. And

(46:56):
I really ran out of ideas after that. I guess
I'm just gonna have to settle in his see who it.

Speaker 2 (47:00):
Is, it's the same. I was going through all of
the things. I was like, this doesn't sound like Anna.
It could be Charles, but it doesn't sound like Charles.
I don't think it's brand anymore.

Speaker 1 (47:12):
Oh and side know a spoiler for me. I knew
it wasn't Charles because Halter Graham. I listened to audio.
I know his Charles voice. It's very nasally and heavy.
So I was like, oh, that's not the voice. It's
not Charles. I knew that.

Speaker 2 (47:28):
Yeah, so I had kind of an inkling because of
the narrator. It wasn't Charles, but even the tone of voice,
like Charles doesn't Charles doesn't talk like this. I was like,
I know, my Charles, you're just reading the dialogue. I
know this isn't him, right, So my other thought was Surewood.
I was like, he's old, he does like teasing people.

(47:50):
He doesn't give a shit. You know, he's not scared
of a seal, So.

Speaker 1 (47:57):
Is it him?

Speaker 2 (47:59):
And then when the seal was like, all right, I'm
gonna send you on a date, I was like, well,
he's the only single one, so maybe.

Speaker 1 (48:08):
That was a good catch because when he said that,
I didn't even think of like a legit date. I
just thought, you know, fair exchange is no robbery kind
of thing. You're gonna send him on a quote unquote
date with an errand you know what I mean, like
I don't tell the empire.

Speaker 2 (48:22):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (48:22):
I thought he was gonna send them on that kind
of date. So I didn't even think of someone actually
being single. I just thought about payback.

Speaker 2 (48:28):
My my brain was straight to single, mostly because this
date came from the swinger website.

Speaker 1 (48:35):
I was like, what the fuck?

Speaker 2 (48:37):
Why would anybody send a seal on a date with
a swinger.

Speaker 1 (48:42):
Look, so he's explaining to him, and a seal blanks
out after the guy says, uh, you know, it's a
swinger situation, and he's like, oh, we don't share. We
don't share his wo for having a conversation about a ruby,
and then he's like, oh, sorry, I did not hear
what you said. After that, I was talking to my

(49:03):
wolf and he's like, wait, talking talking for really? You know.

Speaker 2 (49:06):
He's like, oh, congratulations, So I'm like, okay, that's cool.

Speaker 1 (49:09):
Yeah, but yeah, he flipped out for a minute, like
what who's doing that? Which yeah, no, it was weird.
It was weird.

Speaker 2 (49:21):
But then she walks out of the elevator and lo
and behold it's Mary Posa's biological daughter.

Speaker 1 (49:27):
So at first he thought it was her. At first
he did, and him and the wolf were trying to
keep calm. They're like, oh, my god, which is a
valid crash, all, like, we killed her and he's been
running from her for centuries, so the full out. Yeah.
So but when he got you know close, you know,

(49:49):
when she got closer and he's able to get a
good look for real, he was like, oh, okay, yeah,
oh it's not her, It's fine. Yeah, uh huh, which
was very interesting. But I don't think she really knew
who she was. She didn't know who she was, well,
she did, she told him hold on, but she didn't
know her mother. Well, no, she doesn't know her mother. Yeah,
but where's her name? She gives him her whole name, yeah,

(50:12):
which is Mary Bridgid Bonarotta, who is the vampire we've
been fighting in Mercy's world for the last five books
six books. Bonarotta and then another hyphenated name because she

(50:37):
married one of his friends, and by married, I mean
she was given to his friend by him, by him,
So it was just weird marriage of love or anything.
It was just like, here's a present. Now it named
this as a daughter, but you get to have it. Yeah,
And it was weird because so this poor girl, she

(50:59):
was going out on dates that were pre arranged by
her husband that she's supposed to go off and have
sex with these guys. But she was kind of disgusted
by the idea of that. Yeah, so she started making
shit up and poorly at first, but she started reading
like romance novels and stuff to get ideas, and she
just go and tell this elaborate story and the guy

(51:20):
gets off on the stories. Well this kind of spoiler alert,
he's still twelve.

Speaker 2 (51:30):
So even though he's like five hundred years old, he
looks twelve.

Speaker 1 (51:35):
It's a Claudia with an interview from a vampire. I
was thinking that. So it's like, thank god they're not
having sex, but also ew ew yeah, but you know,
she's all it was very strange. She's like, oh, I'm
not supposed to have sex with anyone, but I'm like,
okay girl she uh so. Anyway, so she thinks she

(51:58):
getting away with some shit and in the meantime, the
bodyguard slash driver is kind of like falling for her,
and that's obvious. Hu.

Speaker 2 (52:06):
And then he is also thirty seven to her twenty three,
and I'm like that age gap.

Speaker 1 (52:11):
That's a problematic age gap.

Speaker 2 (52:14):
It's like one thousand and one hundred, that's not problematic
at all, but thirty seven and twenty three when you're
both human.

Speaker 1 (52:21):
No, So she scares off the guys that she intends
to sleep with, and then they sit around and play
games and shit like what kind of anyway.

Speaker 2 (52:30):
But then they all die anyway because a seal had
Charles look it up and he's like, yeah, I know
they're all dead.

Speaker 1 (52:35):
Yeah, like you thought you were. You were playing a
game that you didn't even know you were losing. Yeah, yeah,
that's bad. Like you had no clue this man was
playing with you this whole fucking time. M m. Yeah.
It was scary. That's sick. That's sick, very sick. Yeah.

(52:57):
So here she is thinking she's saving lives because when
she said she the first time, when she said she
didn't sleep with the guy, he did get murdered and
she knew it. Yeah, so she thought by doing all
these lies, he will believe her and just let the
people be.

Speaker 2 (53:15):
No. Yeah, anyway, still has been hired to be her
swinger date.

Speaker 1 (53:25):
And it's not even a traditional swinger situation because the
guy's not even there.

Speaker 2 (53:30):
Yeah no, well he was there in the background too,
like he was hiding.

Speaker 1 (53:34):
Yeah. True, But but he's twelve, so he really can't
show up at this event. Is so gross? Yeah he's twelve,
so gross.

Speaker 2 (53:45):
But okay, So he's either as old as Bonni Rotta
or like very similar in age, right, Yeah, and we
know three other vampires also very similar in age to
Boni Rotta, who have been feuding for a while, and
I don't remember them ever mentioning the White Angel Me neither. Okay,

(54:09):
I'm glad because I was like, am I just missing
something in my brain? But I don't remember it.

Speaker 1 (54:14):
I don't remember that. I need to know.

Speaker 2 (54:17):
Why, or I want to know why, because the White
Angel and Banni Rotta and Frost, the vampire Frost from
Frostburned have all been plotting together. They've been buying a plan,
and Banni Rotta is going to move to America, not
just visit. His house is being built, yeah, move out

(54:39):
of Italy to basically next door to Mercy and yeah, which,
like we have kind of been hinting at.

Speaker 1 (54:49):
A lot through the last seven Mercy books.

Speaker 2 (54:53):
Yeah, and we're finally getting outside information that it is
has been happening, is happening. Shit's going down, Shit's been
buying bought up, like yeah.

Speaker 1 (55:06):
Yeah, yeah, I don't know. M Yeah. I wish we
would have heard of him before though, because he just
seemed kind of like out of left field. But I'm like,
it really did, It really did, especially because there was
that other vampire who Mercy killed in Bone Crossed.

Speaker 2 (55:24):
I'm blinking on his name, but I remember the book.
He was the big bad vampire in Seattle, and then
everybody thought that there were no more vampires in Seattle because.

Speaker 1 (55:35):
It used to killed him. Yeah, And even in this
actually it came up that you know what, I thought
you guys had cleared this what's going on?

Speaker 2 (55:44):
And there's like fucking a dozen powerful vampires here and
the werewolves are.

Speaker 1 (55:50):
Like we had no idea, Like how did you miss that?
How did you miss h How did you miss that? Yeah?

Speaker 2 (55:57):
Yeah, I missed it, Like how did you miss it?
How did Brand miss it? Because I would have assumed
Brand would have known and done something about it.

Speaker 1 (56:06):
Yeah, like something he was.

Speaker 2 (56:09):
Running around Italy, you know, pretending to be the pilot.

Speaker 1 (56:14):
Wasn't John Smith or John Smith? But yeah, like he
was running around.

Speaker 2 (56:21):
Didn't he learn anything while he was pretending to be
you know, nobody?

Speaker 1 (56:27):
Right? Apparently not?

Speaker 2 (56:28):
Apparently not No, Apparently a seal needed the universe and
Sherwood to place him here on this date through the
Swinger's website, right to figure out that there were a
dozen very powerful vampires here who have been plotting and
planning and getting Vanni Rotta to move here.

Speaker 1 (56:51):
Yeah, which is wild. That's gonna be wild. Yeah, So
because of you know them kind of being out of course,
he's like, I gotta kill all these vampires but she did, thankfully,
which he did. But he's like, oh, let me call
up Ruby and explain some things. Look, so it's kind

(57:15):
of like cool that she didn't realize that he hadn't
shared this information with anyone else. So when the were
wolves come and she starts she says something, They're like, wait,
what are you talking about it. She's like, oh, he
didn't tell you, Okay, I'll tell you the whole thing.
And then one of the wolf says like he told
you and no one else that means something. And she
wanted to talk to you. Yeah, like she didn't even

(57:38):
think about that at first, but which I don't think
I would either. Yeah, well, he wanted something from her
as well. He needed her, you know, at that house
that they were gonna look. He wanted to be safe.
He didn't want her at the house.

Speaker 2 (57:52):
No, no, no, he wanted the house. He wanted that space.
He wanted the house. He wanted to but he didn't
want her there because he wanted her.

Speaker 1 (57:59):
To be safe. And she shows up, you know as
anyway as strong women do. Yes, he was about that, Yeah,
he was. He was like, oh, she's here, okay, but
you know, these wears, these vampires come and the werewolves
are kind of they're ready for them. They're like waiting,
and then there's a fight there. And then of course,

(58:19):
because he let this man bite him, they exchange blood
so he's able to track him. So he's like, I'm
gonna lure him. Uh huh. It was this big thing,
and he did lure him right to the zoo. Yep.
With the cats, the big cats, old the big cats,
cats cats, cats gotta love cats. Yeah, the big old

(58:42):
cat that would not listen to him lioness.

Speaker 2 (58:44):
Yes, she's like, I'm gonna do what I want, who
apparently is just a goddess. Yeah, but she ate all
of the vampires and their energy, so now she's a
powerful goddess again.

Speaker 1 (58:57):
Yeah, and she like, I'm chilling, I'm cool. Are you going? Look?
She was like, oh, it took you long enough to
wake up. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (59:07):
He was like, I've been shot four times and had
a sword through my spine. And she's like, doesn't matter.
Took you forever.

Speaker 1 (59:14):
Yeah, She's like, I can't keep everybody away from here.
It's gonna be suspicious. But yeah, he almost like gets
got Really he almost didn't make it like he did,
and you know, he has to run on his all
fours back to his girl.

Speaker 2 (59:34):
And then they cuddled and it was so cute and
his wolf started talking to her just like Charles's wolf
talks to Anna Anna.

Speaker 1 (59:41):
Yeah. Yeah, it was cute. It was a ding cut.
I want more of them, like and not in a
pas of second or third situation, Like I don't want
to hear about them in five more books like in
the background.

Speaker 2 (59:56):
Yeah, No, I want a full last story of them.

Speaker 1 (01:00:01):
I really like it. I can get behind that couple.
They are fun. Yes, yes, they're great. Yeah, I dare
I say more interesting to me than Charles and Anna
are right now?

Speaker 2 (01:00:14):
M I mean I love Charles and Anna. I thought
you were gonna say Mercy and Adam.

Speaker 1 (01:00:18):
No, no, Mercy and Adam are king and Queen. They
cannot be they cannot be unseated. They are at the top, obviously.

Speaker 2 (01:00:28):
But like it's been a while, the last couple of books,
I've been a little slow, So I thought you were
gonna say, like better than them, like in the last
few books.

Speaker 1 (01:00:35):
They're still my favorites. Yes, they are the best.

Speaker 2 (01:00:40):
Like I'm not arguing, but I know that would have
been like a reason to be arrested, straight to jail,
straight to jail to jail.

Speaker 1 (01:00:51):
But yeah, or even what's the space? Uh it's the
other brother and his girl, Samuel Samuel. Yeah, they're kind
of and they are her name. They ran off some Yeah,
they in another country doing something I don't know.

Speaker 2 (01:01:06):
Well, do you remember how the last alphan Omega book ended, No,
Oh girl, crush me? So Samuel shows up at the door.
Oh ship, they had a baby that's like sweeler.

Speaker 1 (01:01:25):
It can't look As soon as she said they show
back up the door. At the door, I'm like, oh fuck,
I forgot.

Speaker 2 (01:01:30):
He just had his first child again for the first
time in however many centuries. It's like, I can't keep
her take care of her for me. You know, the
Fay are going to come after her. Yeah, but it's
gonna be a strong, powerful kid.

Speaker 1 (01:01:43):
M hm mm hmm. Yeah. They gotta raise a little
magic wielder mm hmmm hm who can probably do all
kind of cool things because of her lineage on both sides.

Speaker 2 (01:01:58):
Oh. Absolutely absolutely. I wonder if she's going to be
able to turn into a were wolf because she's part Fay.
That would be really cool. A werewolf fee Yeah, like
a born werewolf.

Speaker 1 (01:02:12):
Mhol.

Speaker 2 (01:02:16):
I'm excited for their book. It was supposed to come
out this year, but it'll come out next year.

Speaker 1 (01:02:20):
Yeah, I do remember that now. Soon as she said
that was like, oh shit, No, they're so really interesting.
Don't discount them yet. I want to know. Okay, well,
she's gonna have to explain us why where they went,
what happened, Like, why did they choose that? Why do

(01:02:40):
they think they can't protect their daughter? They can.

Speaker 2 (01:02:44):
Samuel and Arianna, No, they can't. Well, first of all,
all of the fay are gonna hunt her because she
has that metal wielding ability, and they're all gonna like
want to keep her as like their own little pet,
and so they'd always have to be on the run
and fighting and hiding. So like the easiest way is
just to hide her with the werewolves and pretend like

(01:03:06):
she doesn't exist.

Speaker 1 (01:03:08):
But then are they going to try to get her
to like, are they gonna let her figure out her powers?
Are they going to try to like she's a fucking baby,
she's like two months old. I'm sorry when you have it,
when you have that lineage, you could be doing shit
real young, Oh absolutely, not even knowing what you're doing,
just out of you know, curiosity, Oh shit you're floating,

(01:03:30):
or oh shit, you did something. You know what I'm saying,
That shit happened.

Speaker 2 (01:03:34):
She's living in a pack of werewolves, with the most
powerful one being Witchborn, who kill her.

Speaker 1 (01:03:39):
That's my thing. How do you hide her?

Speaker 2 (01:03:41):
Well, the hiding is like they're pretending she's Anna's baby.
They're trying to keep her on the down low so
the they can't find her, so she can like grow
up and have a normal childhood. This is all my assumption.
Like the last time we saw her, she was two
months old. We'll see how much time jump happens with

(01:04:02):
the books.

Speaker 1 (01:04:03):
That's what I'm wondering. Are we gonna get a time
jump or is this just gonna be a really, really
long game.

Speaker 2 (01:04:09):
I think it might just be a long game because
we still have to deal with Vonni Rotta now and
all the face shit, and there's somebody else that Mercy's
been fighting, like, oh, the humans, the Human organization. Yeah, yeah,
there's a lot of stuff Mercy's dealing with.

Speaker 1 (01:04:27):
So it's a little bit of everything, and not to
even forget Mercy's whole family shit going on between Kyote
and the brother and all that other stuff and all
of that. Oh yeah, it's a lot, like every which
way of this. I don't know how in the hell
she is keeping the authors keeping all the shit straight.

Speaker 2 (01:04:49):
She needs to have like a map on a wall
with a billion sticky note she's being like, and then
this happens, and then this happens, and this is this thread.

Speaker 1 (01:04:58):
Yeah, I think best problem what she has probably I
don't know how she'd do it any other way. Yeah,
Or she's got a digital version of that or something,
and all her assistants are keeping it all straight because
someone is doing a good job with the continuity of
these series. I'm sure you know Briggs herself is keeping

(01:05:18):
it all together, but I know she's got eyes making
sure she hasn't messed something up. Yep.

Speaker 2 (01:05:24):
And the trustee assistant is definitely helping mm hmm.

Speaker 1 (01:05:29):
But yeah, that was good. That was a good time.
Got me thinking about the world all all over again,
even though it feels like it's been a really long
time since I read anything from that world. I think
it was last year, yeah, twenty twenty four. Maybe, I
don't know. Maybe last summer was that summer we did that.
It was the spring thing. Well, the last birthday book

(01:05:52):
came out. When did it come out? M let's see,
I'm not going to get up and look on my shot.
Oh wait, I do have it. I don't twenty twenty four. Yeah,
so it was last year. Yeah, it was Winter Lost,
which was not one of my favorites. But it was good. Yeah,

(01:06:14):
but there's been better, yeah, definitely. Eh, we'll see what
goes on. There's a lot of possibilities, so I'm excited
to see what's next. Me too. Always, I will read anything.
Patricia Briggs writes, Yeah, I think she's autobi even if
you know of absolutely, yeah, it's just autobi. Okay, let's

(01:06:38):
rate Blind Date with a Werewolf. I'm gonna give it
five stars because I enjoyed it, and I'm definitely going
to reread some of these cute little stories again, especially
the Ruby story. Yeah, I'm gonna give it since we
don't do half, I'm gonna give it four stars. It
was really good. I enjoyed the last two the best.

(01:06:58):
It was fine for me because I don't remember those
other stories. But I would have loved a couple more new,
original stories than just kind of regurgitating old stuff. But
I get it. I'm being greedy. I want more new stuff.

Speaker 2 (01:07:12):
Always like that's just a given, but we always want
new stuff.

Speaker 1 (01:07:17):
Yeah, but it's a strong for very strong. I'm looking
forward to what's next. It was a nice little cozy read,
you know. Oh yeah, yeah, good stuff. I think that's
all I got. What about you? That's all I got? Okay,
So if you two have been enjoying the Mercy Thompson
universe or Mercy versus, it's called let us know what

(01:07:39):
you thought. Of this installment in that world. Have you
read some of these short stories before where they all
knew to you? Tell us all the things, and again
let us know. Did you know who was orchestrating all
of this? Did you know? And if so, how did
you know? So leave us comments everywhere. We want to
hear from you, guys, and we'll catch you in the
next one. Until then, take care of yourselves. Bye everyone,

(01:08:00):
Bye everybody. Did you enjoy today's episode? If so, please
head over to Apple podcast or Spotify and leave a
positive five star review. It's a simple action that makes
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(01:08:22):
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(01:08:43):
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