Of Swords and Soulmates
Is this a kissing book? Of Swords and Soulmates features two couples (and sometimes more), with varying reading preferences and experiences, as they read, listen, and sometimes watch romantasy stories and discuss plot, fantasy elements, romance, spice, theories, and more. Join us for our non-expert opinions as we discuss, argue, rave, rant, and hopefully entertain. We may just help you find your next reading obsession or at least contribute to that TBR list!
Of Swords and Soulmates
"The Last Storm" - The Role of Consent in Romantasy
Ready for some thrilling book news and riveting discussions? You'll want to stick around for this episode, where we kick things off with updates that every book lover needs to know. From Juliet Cross's newly launched shop brimming with signed books and exclusive art prints to Lit Joy Crate's beautiful special edition of Ella Enchanted, we’ve got your bookish cravings covered. Plus, don't miss out on the buzz about Kendare Blake’s collaboration for a special edition set of her Three Dark Crowns series and T. Kingfisher's Paladin's Faith now available in audiobook format.
Join us as we share our (Ashley's) excitement over Suzanne Collins's upcoming Hunger Games prequel, Sunrise on the Reaping. We speculate on the potential focus on Haymitch's backstory and debate the merits of YA lit adaptations and the 'middle' nadir effect in fantasy series. Whether you’re a fan of fantastical world-building or gripping backstories, this segment promises to engage and entertain.
Get ready for a rollercoaster of emotions as we dive into our latest book review -The Last Storm. by J.D. Linton. We have mixed feelings about the protagonist's immaturity and erratic emotional pacing, touching on themes of sheltered upbringings and sudden emotional shifts. Brace yourself for a humorous analysis of winged sex logistics to a fiery discourse on the importance of consent in storytelling. And just when you thought we couldn't have more fun, we cap it off debating whether "Beetlejuice" qualifies as a romantic movie, and introduce our playful creation, "I consent to the banginging." Trust us, you don’t want to miss this lively and insightful episode!
Links from the News Segment and Show:
- LitJoy Crate has created a special edition of Ella Enchanted, signed by the author. Buy now, ships this summer $29.99
- The Bookish Boutique has created a special edition set of Kendare Blake’s Three Dark Crowns series. They are white with beautiful sprayed edges and foiling and a slipcover case and will be signed by the author. Preorder now and they will ship between Dec 2024 to Feb 2025 for $133.
- Paladin's Faith, Paladin’s Faith, Book 4 of the Saints of Steel series by T. Kingfisher is now available as an audiobook as of 06/04/24.
- A new Hunger Games book (and movie) is coming. Sunrise on the Reaping will be the fifth book and is speculated to be Haymitch's story. Book releases March 2025, and the movie in November 2026.
- Romantasy Book Convention (Orlando 2024)
- This episode's book is The Last Storm by JD Linton.
Follow us:
Instagram - @ofswordsandsoulmates
Goodreads - http://www.goodreads.com/ofswordsandsoulmates
Views expressed in this podcast are solely those of the participants. The hosts make no claim to be literary experts and their opinions are exactly that opinions. All creative works discussed or reviewed are the intellectual property of the creators of said stories and is being used under the Fair Use Doctrine. Trigger warning this episode contains discussions of sex consent, violence and rape in the context of the story. Listener discretion is advised.
Mari:Hello and welcome to Of Swords and Soulmates, a podcast where we read, watch and discuss romance-y stories. I'm one of your co-hosts, mari, and with me I have kelly hey everyone.
Kelly:It's kelly, and with us we have jonathan oh in the bronze medal position.
Jonathan:It's jp also brought along ashley hi guys, it's ashley.
Mari:Today we will be discussing the last storm by jd linton, but first some news. So, starting off, I had actually have a lot of news today, so it's going to be a news heavy segment, but I cut it down as best I could. There's just a lot going on. Juliet Cross, who's one of the authors who's going to be at the Fabled Fantasy event in October in Orlando that we'll be going to, announced that on the 15th of June, which is five days ago as of when you're listening to this podcast episode, she opened up her shop to where she has signed books, art prints, stickers, apparel and the long-awaited pre-order for her Wraith King series. That was supposed to be out earlier this year and she pushed it back for some editing, so now it's going to be available for pre-order, so check that out if you're interested.
Jonathan:Is that like an Etsy shop, or she got like a full-on website?
Mari:She's got a website Nice.
Jonathan:Good call.
Mari:Yeah, the other news I had was Lit Joy Crate has released a special edition of Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine. It's a book that released, I believe, in the 90s. Dented by Gail Carson Levine. It's a book that released, I believe, in the 90s. It's for a little bit of a younger audience. It's not an adult or even a YA. I think it's considered for younger. It's a fairy tale story, but the movie that some people remember that Anne Hathaway is in it's based off of this book. So they have this special edition and it is so pretty it's green and gold and it's signed by the author. It's $29.99 on their website. I already bought it. We love a book trophy.
Ashley:It's so pretty. Have you guys seen it? I did. I snuck a peek at it. Yeah, it's like we said we love a book trophy, something that stands out. It's definitely very whimsical looking. It shimmers. Please let me know. Absolutely, it looks like it might shimmer it might.
Mari:It's just so pretty. It's got like a unicorn on the front, it's got all this plants and stuff around it some sort of a fairy creature and a little goblin tapestry. Yeah, yeah it really. It is just a very well designed, very pretty little book Ornate, good job.
Mari:The next news thing I have is from another name that should be very familiar if you've been listening to this podcast. Kandari Blake has teamed up with the Bookish Boutique and they're releasing a special edition set of her Three Dark Crowns series. And it's really pretty too. It's white based and then the sprayed edges are each a different color. It's just the four main books, it's not the novellas, but they have a slipcover, they have sprayed edges, they have foiling and they're all going to be signed by Kandari Blake as well. That one, you can buy it now on their website. It's $133. Well, that one, you can buy it now on their website. It's $133, and it's set to be releasing out, like you'd get it, sometime between December of 2024 through February 2025.
Jonathan:Is that for each book, or is?
Mari:that for the set. Yeah, that's the set.
Ashley:It's four books.
Jonathan:Okay cool.
Ashley:Four hefty books, if I recall, like they weren't quickies.
Mari:No, and I mean it's really pretty's really pretty, as we've discussed before. I might you know little goth heart likes dark books on my black bookcase, so I will. I will say with the traditional like versions with the dark colors. But it's a really pretty version. It's just it's got a lot of white in it.
Kelly:They're pretty much just white with gold leaf lettering and stuff. So yeah, it would not go well on the bookcase that we have.
Mari:Yeah, it would stand out a little bit by a little bit. I mean like, yeah, like a sore thumb. They're very beautiful, very beautiful, just not so much my jam, but yeah, each one's got like white and a different color and then the little painted edges are really pretty Sprayed edges or whatever. The last thing I had was T Kingfisher, which you guys know I love. She has the Saints of Steel series, which is, of all her books, I would say, is the series that's most Romandese-heavy. The fourth one came out last year, which is the latest one in that series. It's called Paladin's Faith. For those very few people out there who maybe listen to this podcast and yet have not managed to hear me talk about this series, it's the concept is a group of paladins whose God has died, so they're all traumatized and it's kind of how each of them go on. So this book, just released on audiobook like the physical book came out last year, but the audiobook just came out this month, june 4th, so it's now available on audiobook what's a paladin?
Mari:a paladin is a kelly could probably tell us better from like dnd stuff, but it's basically a warrior who also has magic or extra supernatural powers based off of their faith or their god how do you spell that?
Jonathan:I got like a medical device. What'd you say?
Ashley:P-A-L-A-D-I-N.
Kelly:In the fantasy tropes a paladin is usually like a knight or a warrior who's holy and gets special powers because of their belief in their god or their faith. It's essentially trying to be Sir Lancelot. That's where the paladin trope in fantasy sort of originates was from characters like Sir Lancelot. That's where the paladin trope and fantasy sort of originates was from characters like Sir Lancelot, the holy, pure, blessed by God, rewarded for his faith and purity by being incredibly powerful and gifted in combat or whatever.
Jonathan:Is it Knights of the Round Table meets Harry Potter, or is it Knights of the Round Table meets Stigmata?
Mari:The Saints of Steel series or Paladin Paladin, paladins in general in general.
Jonathan:Are they magical? Do they get powers?
Kelly:yeah, it's more like they're magical, but it's like they channel the power given to them by their god to smite evil or whatever or curse or bless is it always centered around christianity or no, I mean it's
Mari:in every fantasy setting in the tiki and fixture world.
Mari:It's world, there's different kinds of gods, and so there's people who are priests of a certain god or warriors of a certain god, or the main world that she's created, that these books are a part of, is called the World of the Temple of the White Rat, which I love because the Temple of the White Rat is like a god religion thing that she created in there, who are all about basically the helpers in society, you know, the paramedics, the nurses, the trash people, the social workers, the ones that run the homeless shelters and feed the hungry, the ones that do the work that nobody ever talks about in fantasy worlds.
Mari:That's what her whole series is about, and the Saints of Steel is like a sub-series within the rest of her books and in it, these broken paladins whose whose connection to their power, you know, their connection to how they've trained and done everything has died and they were super traumatized, and so the temple of the white rat has taken them in to like rehabilitate them, to help them get through it, and each of the books in the Saint of Steel series is one of the paladins, each of them finding love. Oh nice, yeah.
Ashley:That was one of my birthday gifts. It's on my book tree, it's at the top of my book tree. Oh, from Mari.
Jonathan:Did you write her a thank you card?
Ashley:No, I'm a bad human. I think I sent her a thank you message. You did, you did. Ultimately, I'm a bad human. I think I sent her a thank you message. You did, you did. Ultimately, I'm a bad human. No.
Mari:I'm just like everyone that I could potentially think might possibly like T Kingfisher.
Ashley:You're getting a T Kingfisher book from me. Yeah, you've been talking about this series for such a long time that I accidentally downloaded not book one on. Libby and I was so disappointed because I had been waiting for so long for it. I didn't realize that I downloaded the wrong one.
Ashley:So I was. I was pretty devastated. So when it came in the mail from a birthday, it was a good day. We've had other other priorities with podcasts and things like that, so it's very much on my TBR. It's at the top of my tree, yep, yep.
Mari:I recommend it. Like the thing about T Kingfisher is she's kind of snarky in how she writes. So even though she writes really like emotional and resonant characters and moments, she also has a lot of fun with it and all the stories are about like a couple, but then when you take the stories as a whole, they're also advancing an overarching plot. That's happening because they're trying to figure out why the God died, because in this world, like, there's all these different gods, but gods have never died. So it's this huge mystery of like what happened. Anyways, I could talk about that for a while. I really really like taking Fisher, but the next little snippet of news that we have is actually going to be from Ash.
Ashley:You guys. I'm so excited. If anyone listening to this podcast is a fantasy reader, I would think it's almost impossible for you to have not heard of the Hunger Games.
Jonathan:What's that?
Ashley:Shut your face. You know what the Hunger Games are. My millennial heart was super excited to hear this morning that Suzanne Collins is dropping another book based in the Hunger Games world. It is another prequel, but it is dated after the Ballad of Songbirds and Snake, which was the President Snow story coming of age story. So this new book is currently titled I don't know that she'll change her mind but it is called the Sunrise on the Reaping. So this is book number five officially in the Hunger Games world. It is anticipated to be published March 18th of 2025. So we have less than a year. Everybody get your game faces on. And it has been announced that it's already been picked up for a movie, and that was for Q4 in 2026. Forgive me, guys, I didn't have that one in front of me, November 20th 2026.
Ashley:Which, if memory serves, is on par with when she's released other movies.
Jonathan:What's the reaping?
Ashley:The reaping.
Jonathan:That's part of the story, right the reaping. That's part of the story, right the reaping yeah it's like when the selection of the names are. That's the reaping Sunrise of the reaping.
Ashley:Sunrise of the reaping. So the beginning, so it sounds like it'll be Sunrise on the reaping excuse me Sunrise on the reaping.
Ashley:Sunrise on the reaping. So it says the new book begins with the reaping of the 50th Hunger Games. So this is 24 years before the quote unquote original, which is Katniss's story, came out in 2008, and 40 years after the most recent book, which was the Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. So so, guys, hold on to your seats. We're now. This isn't said anywhere, but it is very much anticipated that this is going to be Haymitch's story. If you look up, you know, like Wikipedia or whatever, or if any of you are blessed to have memories better than mine and reading the Hunger Games, we know that Haymitch was part of the second quarter quell, which would be the 50th Hunger Games.
Ashley:So I think we're finally getting haymitch's hunger game story, which we don't know very much of it was bad.
Jonathan:It was made him drink. Well, they're all turned to the.
Ashley:He turned to the bottle, but it's a quarter well, right, which means that it's extra, extra bad for these kids. Oh yeah, so I'm stoked. I would have been happy with just the book, but the fact that there's a book and a movie, I really feel, personally, obviously, that they did fair justice from the books to the movies. Like, obviously you can't put everything in. You know, there's a lot to be said for things that are missing, things that get left out. There's only so much time in a day, right, or in a movie. So I'm a big fan of Suzanne Collins. I think she writes things that are complicated for being such a YA series and I think it's not so far fantasy that it's completely out of this world, impossible to have seen in the past or in the future. So I'm stoked. I don't know about you guys. I feel like maybe Jonathan is meh about the whole thing because it is ya and so that's not everybody's cup of tea I mean, I don't know, I just don't like the middle book, what's it called?
Jonathan:I? Don't know what burnt edges what the middle book of that series. It's crispy, crispy, crispy rims.
Ashley:What's it called catching fire?
Jonathan:yeah, I'm not a fan.
Ashley:I'm not a fan of it. Very well done it's. I don't I just don't like like I think you should read the book.
Jonathan:No, there's there's movies for that that well, again, the book is definitely.
Ashley:Yeah, I mean, the movies can only do so much, I only have so much time. Important things get cut.
Jonathan:I don't know. I didn't like the second book. I don't like the middle of anything, to be honest with you, except for pop tarts. Pop tarts are real good, but I don't like the middle of what was the other one.
Ashley:I don't like the middle of. I think that's just your ADHD.
Jonathan:I don't like year. Is it year seven of Harry Potter?
Ashley:That's literally the end of Harry Potter.
Jonathan:Yeah, but they split it into another book when I watch the movies.
Ashley:It was only one book, but it was two movies.
Jonathan:I don't watch the seventh movie that.
Ashley:No.
Jonathan:Pretty sure.
Ashley:Not at all.
Jonathan:Pretty sure.
Ashley:No.
Jonathan:Yeah, it's like when you get down to the back of the loaf of bread you don't quite get the, but you got the slope slice when there's numbers one through seven, or even one through eight, for the conversation that is this movie of Harry Potter.
Ashley:Number seven is not the middle of the end.
Jonathan:It is very much the end. The only movie that I really like the middle of is Santa Claus 2. I like that. That's where I'm at, staying on my ground, firm on that.
Ashley:So for the next two years, guys, the Hunger Games, march 2025, hopefully, fingers crossed is the book, and then November 2026, fingers crossed is the movie. Yay, haymitch, team Haymitch. Woody Harrelson is the embodiment of Haymitch. I don't even know that Haymitch was as great in the book as Woody Harrelson made him in the movie. Yeah, I agree. Like Stanley Tucci, I don't think he can do wrong.
Jonathan:I think Haymitch is going to have to kill the woman he loves in order to survive the Hunger Games, and I think that's what is torturing him.
Ashley:I read something and I'm not sure that's true. Actually, our sister found it. She sent me a snippet and I don't know where it's from and I don't know how accurate it was, but it said that one of the plot twists of the quarter quell the second quarter quell that Hamish was a part of was that number one the district had to pick the kids that went in, and then that number two, they had to pick double the number, so it was two boys and two girls per district.
Mari:I don't know how real, that is.
Ashley:Have you heard anything like that, marie?
Mari:No, I haven't dealt too much into it. I just like I know that the book's coming out and then I've been kind of like, okay, I think I'm probably going to do a read. Yeah, Wholeheartedly.
Ashley:This is brand new news off the press. Today, thursday, june 6th, is when we're recording this, so this hit early this morning. I'm sure there's been far more speculation that I haven't caught up with, but yeah, we're excited and the timeline fits for it to be Haymitch's story. Og Hunger Games lovers for lack of a better word have been very, very interested in Haymitch's story.
Mari:We love us a grump. Yeah, I mean, he's just so traumatized. You want to know, yeah, you want to know the details of who did this to you Right?
Ashley:Well, and I mean the Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes wasn't my favorite either. I think I really struggled to get through that book, honestly, but maybe it's just my dislike for Snow. I heard great things about the movie. I haven't seen it yet. I don't know if you guys have Me either. No, I heard really great. I think I heard the most great things, though, about the actors that played the main characters, and I do remember seeing like the dots connected in my brain for why Snow just immediately and unequivocally disliked Katniss. I could, I saw it. It wasn't dumb, it wasn't unimportant, but it certainly wasn't my favorite book and I read it once, one and done. But I'm stoked for Haymitch like team Haymitch all day.
Mari:Yeah, I'm curious. I'm curious how it's going to go, for sure, all right. So, unless anybody else has any news, we're going to move on to the book. I will say that this author is another author from that's going to be at the Fabled Fantasy event in October in Orlando. So we did our usual basically pulled the numbers at random from the list that we have of all the authors and this is the one we came up with and she just has, as JD Linton is the author, she just has the one series. So it was easy. It was easy to decide what to read. It was going to be number one in this series. The book was published. It's called the Last Storm and it's from the Rogue. I don't know if it's Rogue Versus or Rogue X, but it's Rogue X. Ara is the name of the series. This particular book, this first one, was published November 12th of 2022. I'm going to read you the synopsis and then we'll talk a little bit about our overall rating. Spoiler free before we get into details.
Mari:Spoilers Ara Starin's entire life has been a lie. Hidden in the shadow of her controlling father, general Evander of Arina, ara has never tasted true freedom. For most of her life she's been locked away in his estate as he is determined to protect her from the bloodthirsty Fae across the border. But as her 26th birthday comes and goes, he decides it's time for her to marry. Against her wishes and completely unbeknownst to her, aera's fate is sealed the moment he announces her engagement.
Mari:Rogue Drackey's entire life has been a painful truth. Raised at the hands of his father, the merciless king of Ravarin, rogue has never tasted an ounce of kindness. Now that his father is dead, the crown has been thrust upon him and it is his responsibility to save his people from the wrath of Arana. It is for that reason he crosses the border into Arana to spy on the court in the capital. For secrets leverage anything. Rogue's fate is sealed the moment he lays eyes on Aera Starrin. Alright, so what do we think for? Overall stars without spoilers, just overall stars, not even going into specifics. We'll go into specifics after we do spoilers. But just what rating did you give it overall? And then general non-spoilery why?
Jonathan:I gave it a 3. I lost interest.
Ashley:To be fair, that was my fault because he had to listen to it at my speed while we were on the road.
Jonathan:No, it's the author's fault, not your fault. Sometimes books agree with you. Sometimes books don't agree with you. It wasn't it for me.
Ashley:Gotcha Ash, what did you think I thought the book was overall? Overall I think it was a three and a half. It was interesting. It was a little bit more action than we've seen in other books. Yeah, it was a three and a half.
Mari:Kelly.
Kelly:I had to go with a two on this book. I did not enjoy it. Overall, I didn't enjoy it. I thought there was some interesting things in it, but there was too much that didn't click with me.
Mari:For me it was a two and a half. I had several problems with it. The female main character felt very immature, like much more mature. The age she was supposed to be like kept in my mind. I kept thinking she was like 16. That's how she acted. I know she was real sheltered, so that is probably part of it, but still I had a hard time seeing her as a like grown adult.
Mari:And then also the emotional resonance in this story was very whiplashy to me. So there were moments where it would be very like heart wrenching things would be happening. I'm like, oh my gosh, I'm starting to care. And then the very next sentence, it would be something completely different. It's almost. You know, I've never written a book, so very much kudos to the author who finished her book. But it almost felt like the author was afraid to go too deep into the emotional parts of it, because it was. It was almost like I would get into it and then something would change and I would just the character would completely flip. That's about as detailed as I can go without spoilers, all right, does anybody else have anything to add before we move on to more spoilery details?
Jonathan:I do not.
Ashley:Nope, let's go on to the spoilers.
Mari:Spoil me All. Right, Kelly, you want to do our little spiel?
Kelly:Sure. So, dear listener, from this point on, we will be discussing spoilers. So if you want to remain spoiler free, then you need to stop the episode here, finish reading the book and then come back and join us later. Or if you don't care about spoilers, then continue listening on.
Mari:All right, so do we want to just go down to like fantasy? See what we thought about the fantasy rating.
Kelly:Word, unless you want to talk about anything in the overall that involves spoilers, or we can go do that as we go to each segment.
Mari:The only thing I'd add about the spoilers spoilery in the overall part was just the same a little bit more of the same thing where it was like something really deep or emotional would happen, and then it was like let's bang and not like in a tender way. It was just. It was very um no, you're right.
Jonathan:Earlier I was like so I'm getting whiplash here I saved your life and then I impaled myself on his cock. I was like I told her part of my issue with some of that was like the verbiage that they used.
Ashley:See, I didn't think the verbiage was too bad.
Jonathan:She showed me her sex.
Ashley:It's polite, it's so broad.
Jonathan:Where do you live Earth?
Ashley:You want to know what the sex was. I want to know.
Jonathan:You want to know what the sex was. I want to know you want to be explicit, there was sweat trickled down his gluteus maximus Stuff like that.
Mari:What is going on?
Jonathan:It was great she's on the spectrum with me, she's my people and she was like what's the best word to use? Sex.
Mari:Pound. For me it was pound, all the sex was pounding. And like they'd say, these like tender, have these tender moments, and then it'd be like he pounded into her.
Jonathan:I'm like dude settle down His phalanges, penetrated her sex. That's what I heard.
Mari:I don't mind. I don't mind smutty stuff, I don't mind the sex stuff. I seek a lot of this stuff out, let's be honest. But, like we talked about the last episode, this is about expectations. Like this is not the kind of I guess it's just not the level or the way that I expected the sex to be in it. From how the book started and from, like, some of the emotional, like choices and things that were happening to the characters, it was a little jarring to me. So, yeah, I felt that she was immature, I felt that I had I got whiplash, I felt that there was a lot of the miscommunication trope or like lack of communication trope, which is a.
Ashley:That was just one that I don't like.
Mari:Yeah, I'm not a big fan of that particular trope and romance stuff. Yeah, that was my overall stuff.
Ashley:Anybody else have anything overall-ish before we get into?
Jonathan:fantasy reading. There was a heavy amount of daddy issues, so many on both sides, yeah, on both sides.
Ashley:That it was like very much in my face was the daddy issues and so like kudos for acknowledging and like vocalizing, like I thought rogue did a very good job of acknowledging his daddy issues but there wasn't, there didn't seem to be a ton of growth it's hard to ignore dad trying to murk you there was so many daddy issues.
Kelly:I was entirely convinced that rogue's brother, the other son of the bad king, you know, the one that didn't have wings that he like killed the mom or ran him off or whatever. Like I was convinced that son Rogue's unknown brother was going to turn out to have been the human father of the main chick, just to make there even more crazy daddy issues. I was like I was like thinking how else can there be more daddy issues intertwined in this?
Ashley:to completely screw these characters up, kelly it was a little.
Jonathan:You know, I think it made the whole. Everything kind of became super predictable. I think we got like a quarter of the way into this book and I was, and I looked at ashley and I was like you know what's gonna happen? She's the missing child, the missing human child, and he's gonna the magic right on.
Ashley:Oh yeah, yeah, I was like Longwall's brother.
Jonathan:Yeah, that guy's super at the top.
Ashley:There's something to be said for a sex reset.
Jonathan:I'm just saying Some of us A what A?
Ashley:sex reset.
Jonathan:Like a hit and a button.
Ashley:No, like how you claim that I get into these f**king moods.
Jonathan:Disclaimer I don't ever claim that I think you are the most amazing person on the face of the earth.
Ashley:Your dimples are telling us that you're a liar.
Jonathan:Nobody can see my dimples.
Ashley:I can see your dimples. You're holding them out, puffing them out like a puffer fish.
Kelly:Is it some kind of weird female fantasy that a lot of women have that they find some dude who bangs them so hard they get magic powers?
Ashley:I mean what in the world?
Jonathan:I mean, why not? I mean, it doesn't really happen.
Ashley:I keep trying to work.
Mari:I tried to bite her and see if I could leave my mate mark on her I think having magic powers is a dream or is a fantasy of all people like, whether it comes through sex, or through a genie in a bottle, or through getting bitten by a radioactive spider, you know like. However you get it, having magical powers is, you know.
Ashley:I mean, if we get into the psychology of sex with the right partner, right, there's something to be said about the empowerment of of your own body, the pleasure that you're receiving, the pleasure that you're giving, the confidence that you gain in that setting. So, yeah, why wouldn't that lead to magical powers? In fact, now I want it. Make it happen, figure it out.
Ashley:But I mean yeah the daddy issues for me eclipsed a lot and then it did get a little predict like I was making predictions and that's not my jam right, I'm the golden retriever. Here I'm. I'm here for a good time not for a long time and even I was figuring out where the story was gonna go yeah, it wasn't uninteresting. It was a little bit more fast-paced than some of the most recent books that we've read, and I liked that part you thought it was fast-paced I thought it was that's so bored.
Jonathan:I also kind of got turned off early on. I couldn't get past like the rapey bits.
Kelly:Yep 100 yeah, that was no means no and then getting stabbed in the stomach should be a very much no she tried to kill me because you didn't get the verbal several times several times she stabbed him or tried to kill him to say, no, like, get the, get the hint.
Kelly:dude, I don't want to kink, shame anyone or anything like that, whatever, but like I don't know, that just felt very uh. It was very uh that whole like him continually grabbing or saying, you know, you want this. It was so bad, so bad. I could not. I had a lot of trouble getting past that stuff.
Mari:Yeah, there was a lot of consent issues. There was a lot of rapey thinking, yeah, but definitely consent issues, and I think part of that leads into the issues I had with the fantasy side of it. As far as me trying to rate the fantasy side of it, the idea of like a mating bond is something that's in a lot of books. It's not new, it's not original, and that's fine. It doesn't have to be. But it felt like we never got a vibe for what it meant in this world. Did it mean that he absolutely couldn't control himself, like he was a biological imperative? Did it take over his mind? What kind of powers did it give them? Did it make them where they could think each other's thoughts, communicate, like there's? There was just not a whole lot of clarity on what it entailed and it was one-sided, Like you heard his perspective but, not necessarily what she was feeling besides the pull.
Kelly:Well, it almost felt like it was an excuse, right, oh, it's the mate bond, that's why I have to just throw you over the railing and just pound you from behind right here and right now, like it's very. It was very much a way to like kind of try to excuse the almost rape-like behavior. Like, oh, it's because of the mate bond. But in other books we've read the mate bond type thing or the bond mates was something that both parties entered into willingly yeah yeah, there was such a power imbalance and so much rape-like consent and issues and I just it was.
Kelly:That's why I couldn't go higher than a two on this.
Jonathan:Yeah, it was a whole bunch of Stockholm syndrome. Yes, and like it was over the top for me and I had, I definitely had some trouble with that. I think I would have liked to have had more description, more imagery centered around what Roeb looked like. I think I had some trouble trying to figure out. I knew the wings existed. I couldn't figure out what the wings looked like. I really don't have a good image of him until like the last three sentences once the whole he banged her hard enough that she became magic.
Kelly:I was like, well, eventually she's gonna, eventually she's gonna consent and decide to bang him hard enough and he'll turn into a dragon. And that's what happened.
Mari:Latent powers activate I have to admit I did not see the second bangening bangening. Somebody write that down. I didn't. I didn't predict, no, I didn't. Yes, the bangening part two. I didn't predict that he would be turning into a dragon. I didn't see that one coming. So a lot of it was predictable for this stuff and I'm fine with that, like I, but I also like fairy tale retelling. So because the plot doesn't have to be super original for me to enjoy it, yeah, so it's fine that it was predictable. I didn't. That didn't bother me. It did bother me that things seemed really convenient, like there were all these things that were kept secret for so long and then it all came out at the same time, which if they had leaned more into, like the chosen one, or a prophecy, or even maybe told us a little bit more about this goddess that supposedly chose her or whatever, then maybe it would have felt more integral.
Ashley:It's like the story was so close, right, like the pieces are there, we're just missing a few connections and imagery, I think.
Jonathan:Rogue was just like an illiterate buffoon, like all the knowledge was there, didn't like Papa Smurf who, like granddaddy, at one point they were like, oh, you mean, that was your son, calden, that my dad killed. What the fuck?
Ashley:Yeah, that's wild.
Jonathan:How do you have that dude working for you or working with?
Ashley:you yeah.
Mari:And then, all the secrets came out at the same time, when it was convenient.
Kelly:Right, well, now that you mention it, this was so-and-so, oh yeah, and now that you mention it, there was a secret son or a secret daughter, or whatever. Yeah, oh and look what I just happened, to find at the back of the library, this diary.
Jonathan:It just never goes into the library, ever. It's like I don't read. This is Beauty and the Beast. You know what it was for me too, the flame messaging.
Ashley:That was just.
Jonathan:What messaging?
Ashley:The flame messaging oh, just drop a letter into the fire and it's going to go to its intended recipient.
Jonathan:no one else can read it until the intended recipient does yeah, and then they're like oops, we never thought about what happens afterwards, right, mom?
Ashley:mom left her cell phone open, got a text message from the ex it was close and like like marie said like kudos to writing a book right Like I've, I couldn't do it. I don't have the imagination, so we're not like. This isn't bashing.
Kelly:No, I just it's not for me. There are people who probably enjoy that kind of towing the line on consent type stuff and that's fine for them, whatever. Whatever floats your boat, but that's not for me. I do not like that type of stuff at all. The flame messaging pissed me off because that is an incredibly powerful tool. There is no way, with that kind of magical ability to send messages that the Fae shouldn't have had spies everywhere in the human kingdom. Informing on everything Like that is too powerful of a thing.
Jonathan:Did you get Harry Potter vibes from it, from like flu powder and like King Aiden being a squib?
Ashley:he wasn't a squib, he had, like, amazing powers yeah, I keep trying to explain this part to you. He wasn't a squib oh spoilers. Guys, he wasn't a squib. Let's keep going. What's what's next on the list?
Jonathan:fantasy will we rank fantasy?
Kelly:yeah, we ranked overall, we need to rank and talk about fantasy.
Jonathan:Jonathan go Two and a half.
Ashley:Two and a half. Jonathan says two and a half for fantasy.
Kelly:Ashley.
Ashley:Yeah, two and a half. I really like the concept of her power, but the rest of it muddies it for me. So two and a half.
Mari:Mari, for me, fantasy was two and a half as well. There was definitely a lot of fantastical elements, but there was too much hand wavy. And a lot of fantastical elements, but there was too much hand wavy. And I'm usually not a stickler for having to have this great magic system. I don't have to have everything explained to me, but a lot of it just didn't make sense for there to be all these secrets that came out at just at this time, for there to be all these different random powers that the Fae could have, and yet all these powers. The Fae had all this long life that the Fae had, where they lived for like a thousand years, but no one knew anything. No one knew anything. And why were the numbers of the Fae so decimated? Like, if you can live for a thousand years, there should be way more Fae than humans, right? And they have all these powers. Come on.
Kelly:Fae are less fertile than humans. Humans are much more fertile than the fae or elves. That's always been a classic trope and stuff, and that also because they're so long lived. It's the opposite. They become a little bit more absent minded, like oh yeah, yeah, so-and-so was so-and-so's daughter 600 years ago. But you know that was 600 years ago, whatever. So there's a lot of that. I think that played into it.
Ashley:Yeah, allegedly.
Kelly:Allegedly.
Mari:I agree and I have read that trope. Right, I have read that trope in other books, but it wasn't talked about here and there were secret babies popping up everywhere Lots of secret babies In this book.
Kelly:Well, I don't know that. Taylor chick was awfully quick to whip out the abortion tea or the morning after abortion tea, right.
Ashley:Contraceptive tea. Yeah, yeah, the morning after tea. Kelly, what's your rating?
Kelly:I also went with a two and a half. I thought there was a lot of inconsistencies, like y'all said. I thought there was a lot of problems with the fantasy setting. I did like reading something that was more than just a. They and the humans are separated and nobody knows anything about the other and that they were actually at war and there was, you know that going on. That was a nice different thing to be doing, I guess, and I did like that. Finally, somebody put in there oh, if you can control electricity, you can also kill somebody, because you can just cut off the electrical signals in their body.
Kelly:Hey, that's a nice little thing to throw in there, because that's that could be true, that's like one of the things I always got upset about when superhero movies, when a person has power over electric electricity is like you could just kill everyone because you can just cut off all the electricity in their brain or, you know, in their heart. But there was just too many problems for me to go higher than that yeah, I will say I did like the, the little blood transfusion scene.
Mari:I knew you would hate, it, kelly, but it made me think the the little blood transfusion scene. I knew you would hate it, kelly, but it made me think of the the blood transfusion scene, trans blood transfusion scene from the Dracula movie, from the Bram Stoker's Dracula movie. Like it had those vibes to me very like this is a very new kind of thing.
Kelly:It's almost magical and it's blood transfusion, you know yes, it's blood transfusion and then written in Bram stoker's time by somebody who didn't understand how it worked, and that should have killed mina instantly. Right, and the only way that this should have worked in this story is, I guess, because they're fey and they're magical right, right hand, wavy hand, wavy magic.
Mari:All right, so everyone gave their fantasy rating. How do we feel about the romance guys?
Ashley:There was romance, was there I?
Jonathan:don't know, was there romance? There was forced romance, you know what.
Ashley:That's a fair point, Jonathan. Rate your romance.
Jonathan:One, there was, no, I mean, it was there was no courting, it was like, yeah, there was no romance, it was just, it was like reverse romance.
Ashley:I take what I want, and then she fell in love with me.
Jonathan:Like Beauty and the Beast style?
Ashley:No, but that's fair, I would say there was a lot of internal romance. Ashley Ashley goes next to me I would say there was a lot of like internal romance on his side, right, like he acknowledged, that's the mate, but he didn't do better either yeah. And she was in a lot of denial, which means Denial, or like she was alert. I'm talking about the romance, not about the other part.
Jonathan:How could you be in denial of something? She was not in denial. She was like I don't like this.
Ashley:She would resist to the mating bond for very obvious reasons. Yeah, like there wasn't enough time for processing an explanation even after the non-consensual biting. It's that miscommunication trope, I would say. I saw the intent, I saw the potential, but it was a one and a half. There was not much romance at all in here.
Jonathan:Kelly, close your ears and ready the drumbeat. How do you not have a problem with?
Kelly:Who, who bringing up?
Ashley:fourth wing, so a different book you haven't read kelly
Kelly:are you talking about fourth wing?
Ashley:Yeah, yeah, I think those are different problems. There's something to be said about, and we could have the stranger man versus bear in the woods conversation, if you really want.
Jonathan:No, uh-uh, kelly, Listen, if Mari asked you about a bear, don't answer.
Ashley:About your body? There's nobody.
Jonathan:Kelly knows Kelly knows what's what.
Ashley:Jonathan abhors that conversation.
Jonathan:I hate that conversation no, but again you know what I did like. I like the use of the wings for sex.
Mari:Yeah, we're not there yet hold that thought, hold that thought. Sorry, rate your romance. So, for romance, for me I gave it a two because I there were spots, there were these little, there was potential little spots, yeah, of sunshine where, like where the the author talked about how like each of them was broken in their own way. Each of them had their you know trauma. And I feel like if there hadn't been so much stuff, so much action crammed into such a short period, because it was really like a matter of days, yeah, um, that they were supposed to have met and had this mate bond activated and learn that you're a fae, learn that your mom was this, had this completely different life than what you thought you had, learn that your, your real dad is dead, your fake dad hates you tried to kill you.
Mari:Like there was so much going on that the romance almost felt shoehorned in there, like it never really had a chance.
Mari:It didn't block them, right right, but there were some moments where like things would happen and like I could see where they were starting to connect emotionally and then it would just like move on to something else and I think that if there had been enough space left in the narrative for that emotions to have, for those emotions to have resonance, then certain things would have had their own emotions, like the betrayal of Rogue.
Mari:Like taking her away from the battlefield against her wishes, after saying she had choice, she had all the choice, all the control, and then he took her away at the last moment, against her wishes, was a big betrayal after supposedly they were on the same wavelength, right, yeah, yeah. So like I felt like this had so much potential, like it almost got there, but there was just so much wrong. Like two was the biggest I could give it for romance and I I think maybe one of those two of those two points is honestly not for Ara and Rogue's romance, it's for Ara's mom and the dead king. Like their storyline seems like it would be interesting and I know that there is a prequel novella. I don't know if I'm going to read it, but I think they may have had an interesting love storyline. I choose to think that they had an interesting love storyline.
Jonathan:I choose hope.
Kelly:I gave it a one and a half only because, like Mari said, I think that Ara's parents, their love story, had a lot of really nice romantic elements to it and everything else was really not very well developed. There were, like I don't know, teases that there could be some other romance, but nothing was ever even explored. Like the healer chick and the librarian may have had something going on, kind of maybe I don't know. And then there was also the. Was it Delphi the twin, the one who could disappear, right? Did she have some kind of thing going on with the Thanna? Yeah, with Thanna, I think so there was a hinting of that, maybe, or something.
Kelly:So that was like I don't know. There was like some teasings of some romance, but the main romantic arc was just virtually non-existent. Yeah, and what romance was there was so strongly overshadowed by the lust type stuff. And also, I think I don't know if the author was trying to get at to a comparing Ara's parents' romance to the romance that she was having and that they would have the same kind of romance, or but all it did was make it look like. All it did was make rogue and her romance look terrible by comparison yeah, all right.
Mari:So now, jonathan, that thought you held spice spice wing and a cocoon of sex.
Jonathan:If I had wings, I would have never thought to use my wings. But then also, like your asshole would be flying solo, like anybody could sneak up at that point, right. So I'm just trying to think of mechanics Like what do you do with wings? If you got wings, what do you do with this? That's why I was like give me some imagery. I want to know how big are these wings? But apparently they're big enough to be like come to me, rep me, show me your sex. Here's my phalange.
Mari:I mean, if they're big enough to carry him flying while he carries her, he carried her flying. So I mean it's going to be pretty big to carry two people.
Ashley:What's your number?
Jonathan:Oh, what my number? Yeah, you got gotta rate it. Oh, I'll give it I'll give it a two, just for wing sex who for wing? Does he have a tail? No no, he does not have a tail, so he's just got. So when he's, when he's doing wing sex.
Ashley:His, his booty is just out there well, that's how it is for most people having sex yeah, but like the front of them.
Jonathan:he's like you can't see me now. He hides. He hides like a child, well, no, like a fat kid behind a pole.
Mari:He's really hiding her because in this book, like in many, you know, Fae books, the Fae don't have this, these hangups about nudity.
Mari:I think Jonathan's just concerned about his butt being there for the world to see, there's a quote that I highlighted and I believe, if I'm remembering it right, it was when Arrow was like trying on the dress that she went down to breakfast in the skimpy dress and Dana said you should never feel ashamed showing your skin. It's just that skin, skin that goddess gave you, no less. You should be proud. A good line.
Ashley:Advice for us all, yeah.
Jonathan:What'd you come up with, Ashley?
Ashley:I thought it was a little spicy. I give it a two and a half again. The, the potential was there but like you guys, like we said this almost ad nauseum, there was. There are some consent issues like oh, like it was a lot of it, right, like a lot, and then the daddy issues that really didn't do it for me yeah those are two and a half I.
Ashley:There was quite a bit of spice and there were different angles and there were wings and there weren't wings. So yeah, it was a solid attempt at lots of spice. Two and a half for me, mari.
Mari:It was a two for me. There was lots of sex and the scenes were described in detail, but it just didn't do it for me. It didn't hit and I think part of it was because the way it was described, the things that happened were very much like a lot of the other ways that they related to each other. They'd be like I wish I would have highlighted and I didn't, but there was one part where it was like they were saying these sweet, tender things to each other and then it went into like pounding, he pounded her and I'm just like. It just felt very whiplashy and so, even though there was a lot of spice, the spice did not hit for me and there was the consent issue. So the most I could give it is a two.
Jonathan:Kelly, did we get your number already?
Kelly:So I gave it a two based on the quality of it and not the quantity, because there was certainly a high amount of quantity. However, the quality I didn't think was very good. Aside from the consent issues, of which there was a lot, and we've already gone over that it didn't feel like it was a high quality.
Ashley:Bang-a-ning Wasn't a high quality bang-a-ning.
Kelly:For God's sakes. There was a point at which the you know and I actually quoted this where the author put in there how she took him into her mouth, sucking down as much of him as I could before gagging, and he said it's OK, pretty girl, you can do this.
Jonathan:What the f*** was that? It's OK, pretty girl.
Kelly:It's OK, I can make you deep throat Like I can force it on you. It's fine, you can do it Right. There was a lot of that Good girl. It's okay, I can make you deep throat Like I can force it on you. It's fine, you can do it Right. There was a lot of that good girl, you can take this. Oh, you can take my manhood. You're a good girl. That just did nothing for me. I just felt very out of place and wrong.
Mari:Well, and then when you add that to like her whole issues was being controlled her whole life and never having any choice and wanting freedom, it just doesn't mesh right.
Kelly:Right. And then I don't remember which character said it it may have been Thayna or the healer chick but something they said, telling her like he's had a hard life that you would know nothing about. Yes, he invaded your privacy. That makes rape okay that he had a hard life.
Jonathan:Well, his dad did try to murder him, so he's got to take as much pussy as possible.
Kelly:Yeah so he can rape whoever he wants. So yeah, the consent issues and everything just made just to me.
Jonathan:It tainted every bit of the spice in there it's hey, did we talk about consent yet?
Kelly:I mean that's a big part of sex is consent.
Mari:And trust.
Kelly:Yeah, right off the bat, like I get it. If there's people who want to do role-playing, consent issues, and that's fine, but at the end of the day it's role play. That's the whole cornerstone of the BDSM stuff is, you know, trust and consent and safe words and all that stuff and not pushing someone's boundaries. And man, that was all out the window in this book.
Jonathan:Yeah, what's boundaries and man? That was all out the window in this book. Yeah, what's bdsm? Is that like when I listen to the people on the tiktok play the key like type?
Kelly:on the keyboard, sure, so I just the consent made the spice difficult to take.
Mari:It just could not work for me especially because there was such an imbalance in them, like he was physically bigger than her and he had these wings and he had this well-developed power and he had this authority and he had her and he had these wings and he had this well-developed power and he had this authority and he had her and he had an army and he had servants and he had guards and he had, you know, all these people loyal to him who reassured her.
Kelly:Oh, you know, it's okay. He had a hard life yeah, he was the victim. Remember he was gonna give her back and then suffer the rest of his life after having raped her yeah, after the many times he said something in his thoughts about you know, it took every fiber of his being not to bend her over the rail and pound her from behind.
Jonathan:Lots of railings in his castle.
Mari:Okay, moving on Cover art. The cover was done by Bianca Bordiano of Moon Press Design. What did we think of the cover? I liked the cover.
Jonathan:I liked the cover. I thought the cover was nice.
Mari:Yeah, I figured it was a cover you liked, Jonathan.
Jonathan:Yeah, I don't know if it fits the story, but I definitely like the cover. It strikes me as cold, monotone. You don't really see the. It gives me wintery vibes, but the story didn't feel wintery wintry it's very cool colors yeah, right, I like the, the lightning and the, the. It looks almost like the sword, is like stormy in nature but so like, maybe she's the weapon, I don't know. Overall, I like the look, I like the font. I don't know if it fits the.
Mari:So the questions that you'd have to say as far as for your rating is would it catch your attention and, like, make you pick it up? And or does it? Is it indicative of the story yes and no. So what rating would you give it overall?
Jonathan:I'm going to give it a two for the would it catch my attention, and then I'm going to give it a one for does it fit the story?
Kelly:So in total three kelly. I gave it a two and a half. I think it was a nice simple cover. I think it did okay as far as representing what was going on. I don't know why there was a sword on the cover, other than, I guess, the fact that the main character unless it's supposed to be a dagger, because she was quite fond of stabbing people what about you?
Ashley:ash, I Ash. I gave it a three. I thought it was very pretty. It would have caught my eye right Like passing it in a bookstore, and probably prompted me to pick it up. Just, I think the lightning itself is the most relevant part of the cover to the story. I don't get the roses connection at all. I'm digging deep. It's a pretty cover, it's aesthetically pleasing and it's a three for me.
Mari:Yeah, for me. I thought the cover was pretty. It would definitely catch my attention if I saw it in a bookshop or whatever. The sword and the roses, I don't know that I would even pay attention. Really noticed the lightning at first right I more notice actually the little moon looking thing above the pommel of the sword that pulls my attention because it's in the very middle of it. So it's pretty. I don't know that tells a whole lot about the story, but it caught my attention. I would say it's a three for me. Anything else anybody wants to say about ratings or the general stuff before we go down to the main attraction main question.
Kelly:Just remember that all of this is opinion. That's subjective. It's not to say that this author is a terrible person or this is not a book I enjoyed because of the way the content was portrayed. And maybe some people this is right up their alley and if you look at some of the ratings on Goodreads, it's obviously up a lot of people's alleys and there are a lot of people who felt the same way that we did that. You know, there was the characters that are mature and there was consent issues and there were people who were just in love with it because that's what they were looking for. So definitely not bashing the author, just like. Obviously there's an audience for it because it's got a you know, 6,000 something reviews or ratings and it's got a three point it's got like a 3.75.
Kelly:So obviously plenty of people enjoyed it, that's pretty decent. Yeah, obviously plenty of people enjoyed it, and so the author is tapped into what some people want to read and write on.
Mari:Good for them. So do we think? Is it a kissing book?
Jonathan:I don't think it's a kissing book.
Mari:I don't think it's a kissing book.
Kelly:I agree, it's not a kissing book.
Jonathan:I think it wanted to be a kissing book.
Ashley:It's a sex book. It's a bangening book.
Jonathan:It's a bangening book, but it's not a kissing, I think. Does a kissing book mean that it has to be like two people kissing, or can one person just do all the kissing?
Mari:Well, I mean, we describe the kissing book as if romancy and fantasy, they're both elemented. Right. If the romance were taken out of it, it would affect the plot, it would change the story, the story would fall apart. So if they did not hook up romantically?
Kelly:Did they hook up romantically Did?
Mari:they hook up romantically. Well, assuming that what they did was romantic, assuming that that was the intention, if they did not hook up romantically, how would the story have changed?
Jonathan:She would have. I don't know. Yeah, you're right. I mean she had a, they had a. Bang the magic on. It was like Fonzie smacking the jukebox.
Mari:It was sex magic.
Kelly:It's the power of sex magic. I'm saying it's not romantic because I didn't think there was any romance in it, like I did not think the main characters had a romance going on Like you can have sex without romance, and I think her banging was sex without romance even if it faded down the line.
Kelly:Yeah. Several times she said that I'm not gonna marry you. I don't wanna marry you Like. Even right before she banged him one time, she said this doesn't mean I'm going to be your mate yeah, I think it wanted to be a kissing book yeah, I think that's the best description.
Mari:I think it wanted to be a kissing book. It had aspirations of being a kissing book. Hashtag, goals, hashtag goals hashtag banging.
Ashley:At some point I'll forget that that word exists.
Kelly:Let's say this this wasn't romanacy, this was a bangening book this was a bangening.
Ashley:It was now.
Mari:All I can think about is that line in hook bangerang yes, yes sorry, oh, okay on to rapid fire rapid fire our rapid fire topic is going to be beetlejuice. Obviously the first movie, because the second movie is coming out in september of this year, so we have not seen it yet because it is june. So beetlejuice, is it a kissing book? Who wants to go first?
Ashley:jonathan, does I want to go first?
Jonathan:yeah yeah, I don't think it's a kissing book. There was definitely some best friendification going on, like I'm going to store, best friend, you know what? Me too, best friend, let's die together. Okay, got it. And then there was like remarried pop who like brought his awkward kid to the country I'm rapid fire, I'm getting out there.
Jonathan:Come on, I don't yield my time anyway. Field juice came and he was like let me try to take this girl from myself, right? So yeah, I don't think it's a kissing book, I'm going with a no kelly beetlejuice is not a kissing book.
Kelly:It's not romancy. It was a fun movie and it was enjoyable, but it wasn't romancy.
Ashley:Kelly has no notes.
Mari:Mari, I think it was. I think it's romancy. And the reason I think it's romancy is because the couple at the beginning have this super romantic little staycation. They have the whole plans of what they're going to do with their house, do their life together, try and have kids together again, and so much of it is about them loving each other and them being the parents that Buenota Ryder's character needed and in the end they got their child, they got her, and it was a sweet little story and yeah, that.
Ashley:I think it's romantic. Ashley also thinks that it's romantic. I think you boys are here for the entertainment and you didn't. You missed it. And so when we're talking about this movie specifically, right, because there are Beetlejuice cartoons and there's probably canon that I don't know anything about, but for this movie it was romantic because Mari said it the couple at the beginning. If you remove that couple from the basis of this movie, it's an entirely different movie. The movie wouldn't exist, right? The house was only haunted because of them and their love, and they're wanting to be this house, their unfinished business, whatever, we would not have had this movie and for that reason, and that reason alone, is a romantic.
Mari:Thank you very much all righty, split down the middle, aren't we all right? Anything else we want to go over before we wrap it up?
Jonathan:did we cover consent?
Mari:did we cover consent? Yes, yes, at the beginning, yeah, yeah, we've covered consent a billion times so we're good, we're good.
Ashley:Consent I consent to banging. That is the most epic thing that we as a friend group have created to date.
Mari:Thanks for listening to Of Swords and Soulmates. Before we go, make sure to check the show notes, rate and review us on your podcast app of choice, and follow us on Instagram at Of Swords and Soulmates. We're also on Blue Sky and Threads with the same username. Or join us on our Facebook page Of Swords and Soulmates or on our website of Swords and Soulmates or on our website of swordsandsoulmatescom. If you'd like to offer a suggestion for a future rapid fire question, you can reach out to us on any of those methods. And if you'd like to read along with us as we prep for a new episode, follow us on Goodreads at of Swords and Soulmates. We hope you'll join us in two weeks for our next episode, when we review Wolf Gone Wild by Juliet Cross.
