Of Swords and Soulmates

"Wolf Gone Wild" - Which witch with what werewolf?

• Mari • Season 1 • Episode 8

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What if we told you that you could experience a whirlwind of bookish excitement in just one episode? We promise you'll be on the edge of your seat with the latest announcements, including the hotly anticipated dates for PolyCon 2025 and insights into the extraordinary line-up of authors attending, such as Carissa Broadbent and Jennifer Armentrout. Our discussion doesn’t stop there; we dive into our personal experiences with Armentrout's captivating fantasy romances and chat about the ever-evolving book talk community.

Then we share our enthusiasm for Owlcrate's new quarterly subscription boxes that promise to cater to a wide range of genres, from romance to horror. In a celebratory mood, we chat about Juliet Cross's latest collaboration with Fae Crate for a stunning special edition release of her Stay a Spell series. Imagine beautifully crafted faux leather hardcovers, foiled designs, and mesmerizing character artwork by Emma Gillette.

We break down the unique features of this collection and transition into our thoughts on "Wolf Gone Wild," the series' first book. This fantasy romance is set in New Orleans, where witches, vampires, and werewolves collide with fresh elements like Grimm characters. With ratings ranging from three-and-a-half to four stars, we revel in the book's lighthearted and fun nature, sharing some laughs along the way. Juliet Cross's engaging writing style truly shines, making for an unforgettable reading experience.

Our conversation also delves into the romance aspects and the spice levels, with some craving more intensity while others appreciate the slow burn. The episode takes an intriguing turn as we explore werewolf lore linked to the Spanish Inquisition and speculate on future character arcs. Wrapping up, we discuss the clever and punny titles of the series, like "A Rebel Without Claws," and share our thoughts on the elegant and simple cover art by Jennifer Zemanek. This episode is packed with insights, laughter, and enough bookish excitement to leave you eagerly anticipating what’s next.

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Ashley:

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.

Mari:

Hello and welcome to Of Swords and Soulmates, a podcast where we read, watch and discuss romantic stories. I'm one of your hosts, mari, and with me I have Kelly.

Kelly:

Hey, it's Kelly. We also have Ashley.

Ashley:

Hi guys, it's Ashley, and we also have Jonathan.

Jonathan:

The caboose is loose. It's JP. What's good All?

Mari:

right. So today we're going to be discussing Wolf Gone Wild by Juliet Cross, but first I wanted to go over some news. We've got a few things to go over. The first thing is that a PolyCon 2025 dates have been announced. It's that book convention, author convention thing in DC. We talked about it when it was happening this year, but the one in 2025 is going to be from April 10th to April 13th and it's the one that's done by Jennifer Armantrout, and so they announced the dates and they announced that the tickets are going to go on sale June 21st and they announced who all authors were going to be there, and Carissa Broadbent's going to be there.

Ashley:

Very exciting. I know the boys haven't read her yet, no, but we're going to suck you guys in eventually. Yes, there's a ton of people on. It is a huge house. I just pulled it up.

Mari:

Oh, my goodness.

Kelly:

Is she like one of those ones that writes really spicy content?

Mari:

Who? Jennifer Armentrout. Yeah, um, I actually now I can say I've read one of her books. I would say no Mm-hmm, and I would say it's about the spice level or maybe even less than Fourth Wing. So it's not like spice all the time, all throughout or anything. It's not going to make you blush, kelly. Yeah, I enjoyed the book. It was a long one. I enjoyed it. I'm going to read the next one as soon as Libby loans it to me. It was fairly predictable but still like very enjoyable, and she did a really good job of like making you realize what the main characters were feeling. So it got you involved, even if you knew what was happening, even if you could see it. The fact that the main character couldn't see it made you kind of feel along with her. Yeah, I enjoyed it. I thought her stuff was good. Just that one book. I obviously haven't read anything else by her, but there's a ton of authors coming to that Polycom thing, so it's a big one.

Jonathan:

I'm not sure how I feel about feelings.

Ashley:

Nobody makes me feel my own feelings uh, I don't want to feel my feelings that that's her. Yeah, I've not read jla. I hear amazing things, I think in the you know, like the book talk verse. She's high up there, like definitely like one of the top three, probably big names when it comes to fantasy, slash, romanticy and it just might just depend on the side of book talk that you're on really, and she's beloved by fellow authors like a really good human and really participates in these events and the hosting and the participant I said participating already, but like you know the whole packaging of it all. So I've heard good things about her as a human. I've not read the books, but I think it's just because, again, it's another, like it's not quite as overwhelming as like tog or akatar, like her series, but I think they're. They're big books and she does have a few series out, um, so I just haven't had an opportunity to dive into them, but it's definitely something I'd like to yeah, I definitely plan to read more of her stuff.

Mari:

So far, so far, I like what I've read. I mean, it's only one book, but so far I like what I've read enough that I want to read more in the series and more of her stuff. So the other big news thing that I was pretty excited and I hadn't heard about, it came out of nowhere for me was that Owlcrate, which is a subscription service that does like monthly books and whatever special editions, everything there. They just announced they're going to start doing a quarterly subscription for specific things, one of which is Romanacy, so they're going to have a Romanacy subscription where you can have like a Romanacy box. It's quarterly, so it's, you know, four books a year. They're going to have a romance subscription, a sci-fi subscription, a Romanacy subscription and a horror subscription. So whenever, yeah.

Jonathan:

Once you get all excited about a horror subscription.

Ashley:

I think Mari would be excited.

Jonathan:

I mean you would, you would, yeah what you get all excited about a horror subscription? I think marie would be excited.

Ashley:

I mean you, you wouldn't, you would. Yeah, you were like oh, no, I wasn't, I was about the list like of options.

Mari:

A girl likes options yeah, yeah, options are nice. I am realizing more and more that I am very picky about my horror. When it comes to books, I like horror TV shows, horror movies. When it comes to horror books, I like the classics, like Atmosphere, like gothic-y horror. I love Brom. Gerald Brom is a favorite horror author for me. I like the classics, dracula and Frankenstein and all.

Mari:

But when it comes to some of the gore stuff or the where it tries to surprise you with a twist, I tend to not enjoy those kinds of horror stories in written as much as I do watching them. So yeah, I've come to realize horror is, as isn't as much, my jam. When it comes to reading, no, it's reasonable. Yeah, I'm excited about obviously the romancy one, but also the sci-fi one. Like, I think, if I can get into it, I might do those two.

Mari:

They haven't really released prices, so that is obviously going to be a big decision, because a lot of times these things are like you, you know, go to the website on a certain day and you just wait and you hope and you sign up and you, you know, hope you can get in to do the subscription, but they're doing a thing where they're going to have be selling $25 ticket reservations to be able to subscribe and if you, if you get that, then you are guaranteed a spot to pay for the subscription. Their $25 event thing is going to be on Friday, june 21st. Everything is on June 21st All sticks yeah yeah, so it looks interesting.

Mari:

I'm interested in how they're doing it. None of it's coming out until spring of next year. So right now it's all set up, but the first few books of all that isn't going to be coming out till next year. So we really won't know how good of selection they have and what they're going to offer until next year.

Ashley:

But it's kind of neat. I mean, I was going to say Owl creates a pretty big name with the subscriptions that are out there, so it should be pretty promising. Yeah, I would think.

Mari:

I used to have their YA subscription and their adult subscription and the YA was. I had the whole like box that had all the other tchotchkes along with it and I cut it down to just the adult subscription. I have now and I've enjoyed the majority of the books that I've gotten from them. So the last news thing I was so excited about this I like had to tell Kelly as soon as I saw it. Juliet Cross, whose book we're talking about today, is doing a collaboration with Fae Crate F-A-E-C-R-A-T-E, which I don't think I've ever gotten anything from them. Get together with an author and they create a special edition of their books. So they're doing an opus collection of the entire Stay a Spell series, all six books. Yes, it's going to have faux leather hardcovers. It's going to be foiled.

Ashley:

Faux, leather and foil yes, hot dog.

Mari:

Yep, the covers are going to be designed by Bluely Boo and it's going to have character artwork like end pages by Emma Gillette Art See. It says there's going to be digitally printed page edges, signed tip-in pages. Each set will come with a decorative box set packaging with artwork complementing the books inside Very exciting. The early access to sign up for that will be July 18th. That's for the people who already have Faycrate subscriptions. For us peons it's going to be July 19th. We get the public sale for whatever's left. It's going to be it's a pre-order. It's $175 for the set. So it's $175 for six hardcover books and it would be shipping in either December 2024 or January 2025.

Ashley:

Dang. It sounds so far off, but it's not.

Mari:

No, no, not at all. So I am going to be on the lookout for this I there are no pictures available yet, so I have no idea what it looks like, but I'm excited to follow it and see Absolutely at the Fabled Fantasy event in October in Orlando. So we did our little random number generator thing and got this author and then picked this book of her works. So Wolf Gone Wild, which is book one of six. It's a whole series. It was originally published January 14th, 2020. And I'm going to do the little synopsis and then we can start talking about our thoughts some.

Mari:

What's the worst thing that can happen to a werewolf Unable to shift for three months? Mateo Cruz has known all too well. His wolf has taken up residence in his head, taunting him night and day with vividly violent and carnal thoughts. Convinced he's cursed. He needs the help of a powerful witch before he literally goes insane. Evie Savoy has always obeyed the house rules of her coven no werewolves. They're known for being moody and volatile. So when a distempered, dangerous werewolf strolls into the bar and almost strangles one of her late-night customers, she's ready to bounce him through the door. But the desperation in his eyes when he begs her to help him softens her heart and convinces her to bend the rules. What Evie doesn't know is that Mateo's wolf has a mind of his own, and now that she's in his sights, he wants only one thing her, and just learn something better. So what'd we think?

Ashley:

I loved this book. I had so much fun. There was laughter for me. I laughed out loud, like me. I laughed out loud Like LOL. I laughed out loud, I giggled. There was some feet kicking. This was such a fun, easygoing book. Right, it was uncomplicated, it was easy to follow. The banter was on point. That'll get me every time. Also, like a moody alpha, obviously I have a type what do you?

Jonathan:

what do you mean by that? I feel I feel called out.

Ashley:

I understand I I love this book so much I literally I think I read it literally like 24 hours, not and it wasn't like a 200 page book either so I literally devoured it. Number one because I had to I was a little behind schedule but number two because I really enjoyed it. This was a fun, fun one for me. I loved it. So what's your overall rating? Oh, this is a solid four. I couldn't put it down. I already finished book two. I'm going to be honest. Four I couldn't put it down. I already finished book two. I'm going to be honest, I had to keep my lines together here tonight. I really enjoyed this author and her writing in this book. It was four for me.

Mari:

All right, jonathan, what do you think?

Jonathan:

I definitely had a good time reading this book. I think it struck me like Ashley said it was a little bit more lighthearted and a fun read. I don't know that I could say there was a ton of depth to it, but I really wholeheartedly enjoyed reading this book. What's your score? What's my score? How many stars? I gave it a four. Give it a four on Goodreads. I'm going to give it a four in. Yeah, that's where I hang.

Mari:

Okay, kelly, what do you think?

Kelly:

Yeah, I think I agree with what Ashley and Jonathan said. It was a fun read, it was easy read, it wasn't terrible, it had some funny moments. It had some moments that didn't quite click for me, but overall I thought it was good. I would say a three and a half.

Mari:

Okay, so full confession here. I had already read this book. I read it March of last year.

Jonathan:

Blasphemer.

Mari:

And then proceeded to read every single book in the series Last year. Yeah, I finished the last book in the series this year and then I re-read it for this. So I read it again for this. And I have to say, us doing this in this podcast and everything and Juliet Cross has broken my rating system in a good way, in a good way, in a good way, I think. So, yeah, I think Julia Cross broke me.

Mari:

Um, so I have this thing where I have all along rated romance. Every romance book I read, I'm like, well, the highest I'm ever gonna rate a romance is a four, because if I'm not gonna reread it, I'm not gonna give it a five. That's like, uh, the way I, yeah, the way that I think about it. And then I had so much fun rereading this book and I was sitting here breaking down all the different categories that we go over and I'm like, well, it's a five for this and it's a, you know, whatever, whatever. And then, when I would like come to the end, I'm like, well, why am I only rating it a four? And I'm like, you know, one of my favorite authors of all time, ever and ever, is Jane Austen. It's romance, and I've reread all her books multiple times, so this is my first five star romance on Vibri. That's so exciting, yeah, so I liked it. Obviously. I have so many. I have good memories of this book. So I first heard about this book when it first came out towards, you know, the beginning of the pandemic year and a lot of like people on YouTube and one that we're talking about it, and there's a YouTube Instagram person I follow. I can never remember her name, but her channel is called A Frolic Through Fiction and she is English, but she lives in Edinburgh and in Scotland and she talks about books and then she talks about, like you know, cool stuff in Edinburgh and so I watch it because of the cool travel stuff and then also because of the book stuff and she really enjoyed it and then I kept hearing about it everywhere.

Mari:

So March of last year I know, let let me backtrack, it was around that time frame I entered a contest that Juliet Cross had that she was giving away one of her. It was, um, it's a novella, oh my god. I flanked out the name. I think it's Walking in a Witchy Wonderland, I believe is what it is, and it's little short, short, yeah, yeah, it's little short stories of all the characters, and so I ended up winning it and I'm like, well, I got to read the books beforehand and so it bumped way up in my TBR because I needed to read it.

Mari:

So in March I was visiting Jeannie in Texas and I remember something happened and our plans fell through of what we were going to do and she was in the kitchen cooking and so to like just have fun and tear ourselves up. I started reading her this book in different voices and I had like a voice for Alpha and a voice for Mateo and all this stuff. So I have that memory of it. And then I sat here and I reread it and I'm like you know this is a top tier, so five for me. Without being able to go into a whole lot more details about it, it's a five for me.

Ashley:

That's amazing. What a great story, though, yeah.

Mari:

Okay. So, Kelly, do you want to do our little spoiler thing?

Kelly:

Sure, so from this point forward, listeners, we will be discussing spoilers. If so, from this point forward, listeners, we will be discussing spoilers.

Mari:

If you don't care about spoilers keep going.

Jonathan:

Yeah, Take the bait. Listeners, Take the bait.

Mari:

Yeah, to me this book was like the first time I read it. It was like the old charmed TV show which I loved and watched multiple times.

Jonathan:

We watched it. I watched it for different reasons.

Mari:

I don't know, maybe the same reasons. Was it Alyssa Milano?

Jonathan:

No, I'm not. Who's the angsty brunette?

Mari:

Oh Phoebe.

Jonathan:

Shannon, shannon Doherty.

Mari:

Shannon Doherty. Okay, okay, there were several angsty brunettes in that show. To be honest, I love that show. So, yeah, it reminded me a little bit of Char charmed, a little bit of Sookie Stackhouse. It's witches and vampires and werewolves and grims in New Orleans, which I have a New Orleans obsession, as Kelly knows. This book was already on my list and then when it started talking about more and more like it got way up on my list and then I'm like, yeah, yeah, I like this book a lot, obviously. So, jonathan, you listened to the audiobook, I assume, right?

Mari:

Yeah, yeah yeah, how is the sister's last name pronounced? Is it Savoy?

Jonathan:

Savoy, yeah, yeah, you're on the ball. Okay, I wasn't sure I'll be honest. When you said that I was like wait a minute, they had last names.

Mari:

But yeah, savoy sounds uh, sounds uh similar. So I will say that, um, the way that the books are structured, it's very common in romance books where you have like a group of friends or a group of siblings or family members and then, like you have a series of books which will be like a romance of each of the siblings doing their own, their little romance story, or or fam or friends or whatever. And this that's. That's the same like formula that juliet cross followed. So each of the books in the series is the story of one of the siblings okay so as you go through them, you get to know more and more about all of them.

Mari:

so, like, by the time you get to like the second to last book and the last book, you're like, you feel like it's a family you've been with the entire time. You're like, oh, what's going on with so-and-so? Are they still together? Nice, nice.

Jonathan:

It was. Yeah, I thought so. I like the comparison to like Charm and stuff like that. It's very and I was trying to like pin that. So, like charm and stuff like that is very. I was trying and I was trying to like pin that. Charm didn't occur to me but like. But yeah, it was like. It felt like there was this modern, lighthearted like there could be some like like rom-com stuff going on, but still with an air of magic. Yeah, I thought it was really interesting to have a different like. It didn't feel Smash.

Mari:

Magic-y. To me it just kind of felt like coexistence. What do you mean by Smash Magic-y?

Jonathan:

It didn't feel like there were all different types of magics being shoved down your throat. It just kind of came across as, like we acknowledge the existence of this type of magic, that type of magic. We all just live in the same space together. It felt organic. Which was what's that? It felt organic. Yeah, yeah, I was surprised.

Mari:

So what would you give the fantasy? What was your?

Jonathan:

rating. You know, I don't know them quite where you are. Uh, with the book. I had fun with it, so I would say I'm, I'll see you. It gives off real Blade vibes to me. This is a challenge, right I'm thinking probably on the lower end for me, maybe like a three, like it was there, it just wasn't. It didn't hit home run in that for me.

Mari:

Okay, kelly, what did you think?

Kelly:

I think the story was interesting. I think some of the fantasy elements were interesting. But I mean again, do we really have to go into the? They're supernaturals and of course the biggest supernatural factions are werewolves and vampires. Like it feels just like that's a standard thing that if you have werewolves in your book you have to have vampires and vice versa. So that just gets a little tiring of a trope to exist. I did like the Grimm's. That seemed a little interesting, so that was kind of an interesting thing to be in the book.

Kelly:

I did like the idea that his wolf self had started like talking to him and it was two different personalities yeah so that was interesting, although in my head, whenever I was reading alta's voice, for whatever reason, it was in uh hulk hogan's voice. I guess maybe it was because he kept using brother all the time.

Jonathan:

That's good that's good one, yeah, it's. Uh. Yeah, it's not too bad, it's not too off. You're almost on with that one.

Kelly:

Yeah, I guess also because it's the real macho bravado. That's really not all that macho. So I think the magic system was interesting. I liked how it was a little bit different than what you usually see when you talk about witches and magic. It was a little bit different than what you usually see when you talk about witches and magic, but again we did went into a lot of the fairly stereotyped tropes about New Orleans and stuff.

Mari:

So I would say for me fantasy I thought it was a three, jonathan.

Jonathan:

What number did you give it? I'm sorry, I gave it a three for the fantasy Three as well.

Mari:

Okay, it a three for the fantasy three as well. Okay, yeah, for me on fantasy it, yeah, wolves, like witches and vampires, especially in new orleans, is very, it's like peanut butter and jelly, and I don't know if that was a older than her thing, but in me, in my existence, that's because of ann, rice and rice, vampires, new orleans, they just forever will go together for me. So, yeah, witches, vampires, the Grimm's, I agree, is kind of a new take on it, which I thought was interesting. But to me it felt like a bit of a fantasy or magic world or magic system that you are familiar with, you know, like a comfy sweater or a sweatshirt or whatever. So I liked it. For me it was a five on fantasy I love this so much.

Ashley:

it was a solid, like three. I almost want to give it a four. Like I understand, I think the word that I I was describing to Jonathan was that it was uncomplicated, and so that's what also made it fun, right. And so, yeah, it was a little stereotypical again that you have these you know common tropes werewolves, vampires, witches but again, like we've all said, the Grimm was a nice addition and we didn't dive into it, right. So now I'm kind of like itching, like a crackhead, like well, where's the rest of it? Like what's the deal? Like what is this guy's deal? You know what I mean. So I was intrigued, I was entertained, I wanted to know more. I immediately downloaded the next book and dived into that. This was really like a four for me. I was, it was, yeah, I was a little tropey, but there were also different quirks, like the vampires need to feed, but it's, it's not daily, right? The wolves weren't pack animals, they were loners. What are you talking about?

Jonathan:

werewolves are wolves, are packing you got sucker packed is what you got no, like no stereotypical she walls that are in boy or she bathed me into a new, into the rest of the story yeah, I did like that was you like? How many batteries do I need? I need one pack of batteries. Okay, let me go, let me get, let me go to the store and you come home with 400 batteries. Because it was $1.99?

Ashley:

Because it was on sale. Yeah, and I'm here for it. I felt good reading the book. I felt good ending the book. It ended on a high note. You didn't have to read more of it. You could have just finished there and been just fine. This felt like it was a palate cleanser. It was a fun read. You could do more, but there's not. It wasn't a cliffhanger. Fantasy was a four. I enjoyed the whole damn thing.

Mari:

Yeah, going back to the, the voice like Kelly you were saying you you pictured Alpha's voice is like are you in your ears? You heard it as Hulk Hogan. To me Alpha sounded like some sort of like a cartoon wolf, like in the Bugs Bunny cartoons, where it'd be like a wolf in like a suit or something. It was like that kind of voice was Alpha and Mateo.

Mari:

To me was and this might be an old reference, I know Kelly gets it, I don't know if anybody else I feel has ever seen this, but there was a miniseries called the Tenth Kingdom and the wolf character in that that's Mateo. To me I was like there was Mateo and then there was the Alpha. To me the romance in this was very strong, like on the romantic scale. This is definitely more towards the romance side of things than fantasy and even though I had read it before, even though I knew where things were going, I had different reactions to things the second time reading it than the first, at the end, when he's like supporting her and they're at the little con and she's got fans and he's so proud of her and he's just like doing everything to lift her up just heart melting, right like it.

Ashley:

Just it hits you in the feels.

Mari:

Yes, yeah, yeah, so surprising. No one. For me, romance scale was a five oh, okay why are you thinking about this?

Jonathan:

because I didn't have a week to think that yeah, but like I didn't have that, I I certainly didn't have it as a five. It was. It felt like a more realistic romance, like you're spending time with this person and you're, and there's, it's, it's all a request, like there's this excitement of newness, this honeymoon phase, but it wasn't as fantasy for me. So, like I don't know, I'm going to stick with three on it, three for the romance, three for the romance, yeah.

Ashley:

Yeah.

Jonathan:

What about you, Ash? Where were you? You seem to.

Ashley:

The romance was a four. I really enjoyed it. I thought you could see the passion, you could see the connection basically from the very beginning and and I think what was interesting about this story was that you could tell the fam like the head of household saw it too or felt it more, you know, intuitively felt it so much so that she changed very basic household rules for to help him even if they should get out and kick the chicken out.

Jonathan:

Is that what you're?

Ashley:

no, that's not what I'm talking about at all stand over there that chicken.

Jonathan:

That's what I'm saying no, we don't eat.

Ashley:

Hey, it was a rooster. Don't bad mouth Fred. We don't bad mouth Fred. No, fred for life. There's always a sidekick.

Jonathan:

What about Zombie Cat?

Ashley:

Zombie Cat exists, but he's not a personality, he's just. He's hanging in there.

Jonathan:

Yeah.

Ashley:

It was a four.

Jonathan:

I'm outside Give him some milk. A four, okay, all right Kelly.

Kelly:

I also went with a four. I felt the romance like it was coasting along at like a three and then finally at the end, when it really showed that him being supportive of her and building her up, especially there right at the end, it really kind of pushed it up to a four. I thought there was a lot of good buildup. There was a lot of the lusty part of the romance at first. I think overall it was pretty decent and better than a lot of the books we've read.

Jonathan:

Was it the party at the end that sold it for you Like the defense leaping to our defense in front of the pretentious warlock.

Kelly:

I mean, part of it was to him trying to be polite and then just saying, yeah, I don't care what you think.

Jonathan:

I like that. I like that. I like that part.

Kelly:

But mostly it was him being so supportive of her and her art and doing everything to support her. I mean, walking up and punching a guy out because he insulted your significant other is easy, like that's the easy part of bromance, that's a romantic gesture, that's easy, right. But being the supportive team player, doing all the work to help someone and support them, is a much more difficult and long-term investment, and to me that's more romantic.

Mari:

It's commitment.

Jonathan:

Who was in control at that point? Was that Alpha in control at that point, or was that Mateo?

Ashley:

Both. He was still around.

Jonathan:

Yeah.

Ashley:

Yeah, he still heard Alpha's voice. They hadn't. Yeah, I mean, obviously the mate bond not only had kicked in because it was trying to kick in the whole damn time, I think but it had been acknowledged and accepted by both parties. And who doesn't love a good meat bun, by the way? Yeah, this girl does. But yeah, I mean there there was so much effort, the, in the entire story, right even before they either of them had acknowledged the depth of their feelings, the, the dates that he took her on the indoor movie night, right like the, the supplies and the decorations and the whole setup. He went nine yards the whole damn time.

Jonathan:

Yeah, you know what it was missing for me? The banging. There was nothing that turned the magic on Like you needed a banging, it needed. Yeah, I think I think I was lost. From chapter nine on, I was longing for a banging.

Kelly:

I mean, I think everybody is going to make these grand romantic gestures when they're in the courtship phase of someone, right? When a dude is trying to shack up with a chick, he is going to do whatever grand gestures it takes for that to happen, whether it's piling up and ordering Star Wars supplies from Amazon for a movie night or whatever. But it's the long term commitment at the end, it's the being the supportive partner part. That is the really romantic aspect of it.

Jonathan:

Is that what you think happened with us, Ashley?

Ashley:

What the sucker packed me.

Jonathan:

Oh, I sucker, packed the shit out of you. I did the old fake and bake. I showed up to pick her up in my dad's car. She said oh, you got a Jaguar. Yep, tonight I do, tonight I do.

Ashley:

She's pulled up in a Ford Ranger.

Jonathan:

True story, I think with us, ashley. The banging thing happened, turned the magic right on. Why are you silent All of a sudden?

Ashley:

no, you have to ground your earth sign. I don't know what that means.

Jonathan:

The- the lady's wall. He's gonna finish.

Mari:

He let me know what the heck that means going back to the romance thing that you were saying, ash, about the head of the family, jewels. Yeah, like, jewels was very much basically like a bigot against werewolves.

Ashley:

She had a a, a, a stereotype that well, werewolves were all bad, they were all dangerous, and it took mateo and evie like, and her seeing that, yeah, and her seeing them, for her to completely change, but and so like but and so when evie came in and said, hey, we have to help him, like it's our civic duty, right, like she laid it on thick, not for nothing, but she caved really quick, you know what I mean. Like she was like, not only was she like dang, you're right, they talk about. You know how her thought process, how they sat there in silence for several minutes while jules thought it over. I mean the, the. It explains in the book that the women, that the witches, have you know x amount of natural intuition as part of their magic. You know natural telek, natural intuition as part of their magic, natural telekinesis as part of their magic. So I don't think it's completely wild to say that intuitively, intrinsically, jules recognized that this person, while also a werewolf, was going to be important to Evie.

Ashley:

It felt special from the beginning and you felt that in the writing. And so I think that that leads to the romance right Cause, could, and this is going to be part of it later. Like could the book have happened if there wasn't a romance? You know what I mean. Like right, maybe, but I don't think it would have been this. I don't think it would have ended the way that it did, either in such a happy way right.

Mari:

Right, there's like when they were thinking about trying to help him or not. Part of it, you know, was this a romance, but part of it is when they were making the decision to help him, like their values and stuff from what their mom taught them, because there's a I highlighted it said this I guess something their mom taught them was also which, because the whole witch thing is a family affair. In this book, a good witch sees the truth, absorbs its goodness and honors her gift. But how do I honor it, I asked her. She cut my chin and gave me her all-knowing mom's smile by sharing it with those in need.

Ashley:

Ah, I got chills again. I love this book.

Kelly:

But you got to also remember I think one of the things that happened in the book as far as the romance goes was Evie's sisters were fairly suspicious of this whole thing. Make it better projects like Mr Harvey. So obviously her sisters have seen Evie's past relationships and how she got quickly attached to something and it turned out bad.

Mari:

Yeah, or even like the relationship she had with the I can't even remember his name, but the guy who was like the her ex, not the main ex, yeah, where where she like repressed herself or like tried to change herself to be this more adult or sophisticated person in his eyes, um, that she would. It seems to me like she's the type who would try to change or conform herself. Um, and you know, I think part of this is like, when you're in the right relationship, you can be yourself.

Jonathan:

You should be yourself yeah, he definitely fostered that and and, like uh, prepared the pathway for that stuff to come out, uh, and let her be her. Yeah, it was a.

Kelly:

It was a pleasant change of pace in that regard well, I enjoyed seeing a female character who was decidedly different than what a lot of romance book female characters are. I mean, she was essentially kind of a nerd, kind of a geek, which is very different than what a lot of the romance books are.

Mari:

So what did we think about the spice?

Jonathan:

That's a hmm, it wasn't there any spice no, I didn't feel any spice. I had. I felt such little spice I had to try to get ashley to make some spice on her own later I think he's lying.

Ashley:

Ladies and gentlemen, um, for reasons that I can't announce on the air, did your ears skip over the spikes? You're grinning at me now? You can't see it? No, I didn't. You know, I wasn't quite as caught up with him, and then my sunday took a turn. So when I I caught up in the book, I was like oh, this, now this makes sense. You're gonna tell me you weren't influenced by this book no, I mean listen, and the tail.

Jonathan:

That was something I had in the drawer anyway, so I mean, that was, that was mine, the claws were new, but um, no, it's um, I didn't feel like there was, there wasn't enough oh, so you wanted more spice? Yeah, but not that there wasn't enough. Oh, so you wanted more spice, yeah, but not that there wasn't any Hashtag weak sauce I don't know, sir, that feels harsh.

Ashley:

What's the rating?

Jonathan:

Wow, how we've gone from two episodes ago to this, the rating is two. I like this book for a bunch of reasons. Spice was not one of them.

Mari:

Fascinating. Alright, Kelly, what did you think?

Kelly:

As far as quantity goes, there obviously wasn't quite a whole lot of actual spice. There was a lot of build-up to it, a lot of the romanization and a lot of the you know smoldering in the background type stuff. But it was, you know, it was a good quality.

Ashley:

It was good quality spicy for you.

Kelly:

Yeah. So I feel like you know, I want to say it was like a three, like it's, you know, average, just above average. Yeah, so I'll say a three.

Ashley:

Ash, what do you think? I definitely thought there was some spice. I didn't think there was a lot of spice. Side note for the listeners book two has way more spice, but I thought it was an appropriate amount of spice. I think this was more romance. I think it was more slow burn. Right, I think there was a lot of buildup to the spice that existed, but I think the spice that was there was good spice. I don't think it's a five. I do think it's like a three and a half. For sure the spice was there. I don't know what you're talking about.

Mari:

Concerned about your ears, I think. For me the spice was yeah, it wasn't in your face, it wasn't constant, but I thought it did a good job of like keeping this sexual tension going and they would almost get to where they could do something and just have a little bit of a kiss or a little bit of a moment, and they would get constantly interrupted and it kept building and building and I don't know. I thought it was well done, I thought it was well paced. For me it was a four on the spice. It didn't have a lot of spice, it wasn't like all over the place, but I felt like it was, you know, a good level of pining spice, for lack of a better word for it.

Kelly:

I definitely think there was a lot of insinuation that Evie was excited because she was basically getting a two for one deal. She was getting two different, you know, two different men, two different lovers for the price of one.

Ashley:

I could see that. I could see that Good for Evie.

Kelly:

Yeah, I mean right on. I did appreciate some of the like we talked about in the romance stuff, especially like how he talked about they were the opposites One was an introvert, one was an extrovert and that she was the one dragging him out of his workshop. I feel that way because that's kind of my relationship with Mari is I'm an introvert and Mari is the one that's always trying to drag me out somewhere.

Mari:

It's for your own good always trying to drag me out somewhere. It's for your own good. I really enjoyed in the Juliet Cross world that I don't think I have seen in another book before, the whole legend of how the werewolves got started, where they were cursed.

Jonathan:

Yes, tell me more Expand on that.

Mari:

And that part of the reason why the witches hate the werewolves is because they had helped the Spanish Inquisition.

Jonathan:

I thought that was a really interesting way of weaving it in into a longer history, but at the same time we're going to give you a gift, right? So, yep, you're a werewolf and you got to do some dumb stuff. Every now and again you got to eat to live, live to eat, kind of thing. Turn your wolf loose, go murk some folks, but you can draw really swell.

Mari:

Well, you can be creative, because Nico doesn't draw, nico sings. He's a singer.

Jonathan:

Correct Correct no-transcript.

Ashley:

I can't contain it guys. Yeah, what's?

Jonathan:

going on there. Yeah, that's got to be. There's so many tangential elements or arcs that are kind of happening in the background, right Like the Sith background background, right, like, yeah, the sith background.

Ashley:

There's so many side characters that seem so relevant and that might we might, may or may not circle back with, and but it's not overwhelming either.

Jonathan:

You know what I mean they were in grade school together and he maybe pulled her hair and then she kicked him in the show like he likes her, he likes her and he's like, hey, I'll do whatever it takes. Let me just get a date with you. Some of these, like big embarrassing. I feel like you think he's got something. He's got something.

Ashley:

This is like a miscommunication trope, but man, is it going to be fireworks when it comes back? Oh, the kick in my legs. I'm so excited about it. And they're going to save her for last, aren't they?

Jonathan:

Jules' last. They're going to have some bitey puppies.

Mari:

So you're looking forward to the vampire-witch pairing Guys. I don't know if Jonathan and Kelly, if you're planning on reading any more of them, but if you were, which witch's story are you interested in the most, or which side?

Ashley:

character.

Kelly:

Which witch is a fine restaurant chain.

Ashley:

The one who lose the chef. I think there's one down here.

Jonathan:

I think Kelly's noting that which witch is in reality a restaurant chain.

Mari:

You're right. Yes, you are correct. You're correct. We are not sponsored by Witch Witch.

Ashley:

Are you excited about a Witch's story, John?

Jonathan:

Am I excited about a Witch's story? Which witch would I be excited about? I want to know. I'm hoping, like some I'm low-key hoping that some shit goes down with Nico.

Ashley:

You're hyper-fixated on Nico.

Jonathan:

I want to figure out why. Like, I want to know why he's there. He didn't come for no reason. You don't just show up because, like, oh man, I missed you. You're my bro, bro, now you're coming for something. You're you got something, there's something nefarious planned and you're gonna try to pivot, like you're yeah, yeah, I think he's mad. I think he's mad, I think he's looking for revenge. Yeah, yeah, there's. Uh, you know, he got in with that Lycan gang. Dale was like let me just come over there and let me alpha you up and figure out what's going on, and then, pal, he's back for some low-key revenge. Alpha's going to have to alpha up, ride the A train. That's what I'm saying.

Kelly:

It is. Another one of the things that annoyed me was the whole the use of the idea of the alpha wolf stuff, which has been thoroughly disproven in nature. That there is no alpha wolf that leads a pack, really no, I didn't know that. No, me either. No, the idea that wolf packs are led by a single male and that will kill off any challengers is just completely incorrect. You know, wildlife biologists have pretty much dropped the term alpha because they found that most wolf packs are just simply families led by a breeding pair and that bloody duels for supremacy are incredibly rare.

Mari:

Did not know that. Yeah, interesting. So back to the witches.

Kelly:

Is there a witch sister whose story you would want to know? Kelly, I have too many things already on my read list. I think maybe out of all of the sisters other than Evie that I found interesting was the introvert one. Is that Isadora?

Mari:

The one that does like the conduit, the healer, yeah, she is the introvert one, isadora, yeah.

Kelly:

Isadora. That's book two. I think she was the one that probably I found the most interesting, although I do admit that the whole feud between Jules and the vampire guy would also be interesting, just to see what happened there.

Mari:

Yeah, but I feel like you can probably guess what happened there. I would say I will say that I am not sure which is my favorite. It's either book six or book seven. Sorry, no. Book five, sorry, five or six. Sorry, five or six, sorry, five or six. There's only six sisters, what do you mean? So it's either book five or book six. They vie back and forth, but those are my top two for sure. I just don't know which one of those two is my favorite, but I'd say book five or book six. But I will say there actually is going to be another book. She just finished writing A Rebel Without Claws, c-l-a-w-s, which is the Next Generation, and that comes out next year.

Jonathan:

I do like her titles like Wolf Gone Wild. Don't Hex and Drive Witches, get Stitches. Come on, man, that's good. Always Practice't Hex and Drive Witches, get Stitches. Come on man, that's good. Always Practice Safe Golgs.

Mari:

Yes.

Jonathan:

Resting Witch Face Grim and Bear it. Walking in a Witchy Wonderland. Oh, is that separate? Is I'm Walking in a Witchy Wonderland?

Mari:

That's separate, right, it's a novella one yeah, so I have it. I want it. It's good. It's like little. They're longer than short stories. I would say they're probably somewhere between a short story and novella. It's like a stories about the characters.

Jonathan:

Yeah I'm probably gonna have to read this whole thing now yeah, jonathan makes a good dad joke, slash pun I laughed out loud the second time reading it.

Mari:

I don't know that I caught it the first time reading it, but when Mateo did protect Evie from Fred, when Fred and Evie came in and he was like I think it was all foul creatures, yes, all foul creatures. I will protect her from all foul creatures.

Ashley:

I think I didn't. She didn't even spell it with the W, no, immediately there's yells and the fact that it wasn't pointed out in the story. It was a missed opportunity, but I literally cackled out loud like I think it startled, jonathan, and that was such a good pun. Oh yeah, and then it came from alsa, right, I love this book so much.

Mari:

All right, so, touching real quick on the cover, the cover is done by Jennifer Zemanek of Seedlings LLC. There's only the one cover, so we shouldn't have any confusion. We have had multiple covers. It's a blue cover and it says Wolf Gone Wild and white letters with the little pink banner, and to me it looks like embroidery or cross stitching, like a sampler. It has that kind of a vibe to it. So what do we think about the cover?

Jonathan:

I liked it. I like the cover. I'm not giving it a whole bunch of stars. I don't think it did a whole bunch. I didn't. I didn't like you couldn't look at this book and be like, oh, this has a whole bunch. I mean, the cat is zombie, cat is like doing like down downward facing dog or something like that on the cover.

Mari:

Oh yeah, I guess he is. Yeah, he's doing a little stretchy stretch, I mean I I found it visually appealing, did it?

Jonathan:

I mean I found it visually appealing. I didn't think it related to the stories and a whole bunch of potion stuff going on. If the visually appealing element is there, it's a four for me. There's some symmetry. The colors pop. I like the font. I don't know that. It leans into the story. It's not even a full moon, it's croissant. So what's your count? Oh, I got to give it a story.

Ashley:

It's not even a full moon.

Jonathan:

It's croissant. So what's your count? Oh, I got to give it a count. That's right, with that knowledge, that's a four.

Ashley:

Okay, what do you think? Ash, I think it's a four. I'm looking at it now. I was fighting with it the other day because I had returned it so that I could get book two, and then I caught that in the in the ebook. I didn't catch it, yeah well, because you were reading, um, and I didn't remember the picture in book one, so I was like fighting with it, fighting with it, and so I just pulled it back up. I I do like the cover. I do think I would have stopped in a book short in a bookstore to pick it up. Like you said, it's it. It seems like embroidery, like tapestry, to it's simple, but I do think it's actually relevant to the story. You have your wolves, you have your cat, you have your loon, which is relevant to the wolves and the witches. Right, you have your stotters, you have your herbs. I like it a lot. It's a four for me. Callie, what'd you think?

Kelly:

I think the cover was very nice. It was, you know, the whole idea of elegance and simplicity. I think it had a lot of the story elements on it. So, yeah, I think it was a decent cover. I would give it a 3.5.

Mari:

the book titles, and this one included, are kind of like punny or sassy or, in your face, like wolf gone wild. But then the actual image on the book is very like sweet, cross-stitchy, looking like embroidery sample. So to me it's like this kind of a sweet, sweet Southern kind of thing. But then it's sassy, which is kind of like the vibes of the book. It's like a little southern story but make it sassy with supernatural stuff. So I I gave it a four. I don't know what I would really change on the cover, because I don't think that a more hyper realistic one with like illustrations or or people on the cover would be a good fit. So yeah, I enjoyed it. I'd say a four. Look at us agreeing on something, I know. Do we think it's a kissing book?

Jonathan:

no, so, so sorry. Um, I don't believe it's a kissing book, because this evil Sith Lord witch could have pulled this off. They're not pivotal to the outcome of the story or to the plan. The banging didn't happen. The magic wasn't sexed on. It was a love that worked out. I didn't think it was a kissing book.

Mari:

I would have to disagree with you. I think it is a kissing book. I think that the only reason that Sandra didn't get away with it is because they were soulmates. That's why her magic didn't work. That's why Alpha didn't attack her and kill Evie. He didn't attack Evie and kill Evie because of the whole mate bond thing. So if they weren't, if they didn't attack her and kill Evie, didn't attack Evie and kill Evie because of the whole mate bond thing. So if they weren't, if they didn't love each other, it would have just been Sandra getting away with it. It wouldn't have been the same story. Plus, I think that the story, like Evie and Mateo's like relationship, opened up her family, her family's mindset on people other than witches, you know, opened them up to be more accepting of wolves. I, yeah, I would say that to me. Yes, it's a kissing book.

Ashley:

No, it was definitely a kissing book, jonathan. Oh, is it Okay? Was it okay? No, it was a kissing book for all of the reasons that Mari said. Could this story have gone on without their bond, their mating process? Right, their mating bond? Yes, but it would have ended very quickly. They wouldn't have gotten through it. It wouldn't have gotten through it. It wouldn't have gotten better. They would have had this rogue ass sith lord witch running some shit, doing some shady stuff on the on the side.

Jonathan:

You're not trying to hold them, all kind of old amore trying to get herself some unicorn blood come back right, no, and but it ended the way that it did.

Ashley:

This story ended the way that it did because of the mating bond, which means it's a kissing book. If it, if it hadn't been a kissing book, shit would have gone sideways. It would have gone way more sideways. People, more people would have gotten hurt. A whole other human or witch would have been brought into that circle. There would have been more deaths, there would have been more and and that would have led to mateo going nuts right like he would not have been able to live with himself for hurting someone that ultimately didn't deserve it. I think he's hurt people in the past. I don't think he's killed people in the past, and he's already dealing with his own guilt for hurting the people that he did hurt in the past when he couldn't control it past. When he couldn't control it, his yeah, his empathy, his sympathy, his guilt rode him the entire story for things that he couldn't control. This was definitely a kissing book, kelly what do you think?

Kelly:

Sorry, Jonathan, it's a kissing book.

Jonathan:

Hey, you don't have to. You don't have to apologize to me. You can see it differently. That's cool.

Ashley:

We were so close to agreeing across all points, so cool One day, all right.

Mari:

So, seeing as this episode is coming out on the 4th of July, which is Independence Day for our little rapid fire segment, question Independence Day the movie. Is it a kissing book?

Ashley:

Jonathan, is it a kissing book?

Jonathan:

No, toothpaste Not at all. It's a what it is. It's like there's a ton going on, but I don't think it's a kissing book. I mean like Welcome to Earth, that's all I got. That's all I got. It's not a kissing book.

Ashley:

Next, Kelly, is it a kissing book?

Kelly:

No, it's not a kissing book, it's just a Will Smith summer film.

Jonathan:

Blackbuster.

Kelly:

I think the only real romance that was in there was the bromance that was going on between the characters.

Jonathan:

Between Ian Malcolm.

Kelly:

Yeah, between Will Smith and Jeff Goldblum's characters. On between the characters. Uh, between ian malcolm.

Jonathan:

Yeah, between uh will smith and jeff goldbloom's characters yeah, but a bromance could make it a kissing book naff marie.

Mari:

Is it a kissing book? I think I think it is. The reason I think it's a kissing book is because if Jeff Goldblum's character and his ex-wife didn't have that romance relationship, there is zero ways he would have gotten his theory up to the president and anyone who mattered who could do anything about it, and the whole movie would have ended with the aliens just invading and that being it. I think that that's as far as that get back together romance thing Huh.

Ashley:

Jonathan's grumbling because you made a point. I mean it's about.

Mari:

She has a valid point. Now it's about a point.

Jonathan:

I'm not upset at that. You know there's also there's paternal love as well.

Mari:

Yeah, absolutely.

Jonathan:

You know, would drunk Papa have saved, saved the, have saved the planet by showing him how to bring the sons of bitches down, you know, if he didn't love his kids?

Mari:

would jeff globan's character have gotten the idea of the cold if it wasn't for when his dad the game? Yeah, it was dad. Yeah, there's some another familial thing going on there too.

Kelly:

We'll never forget that Randy Quaid's character in the original cut had him flying the crop, dusting biplane into the alien spaceship and causing it to blow up, and the test audiences rejected that so hard that they had to go back and film the alternate ending where he's flying the jet.

Mari:

Wow.

Jonathan:

Yeah, I don't know that I would have bought the biplane. He's flying the jet, wow. Yeah, I don't know that I would have bought the biplane. That thing would have stalled out in a hurry.

Ashley:

I think it was a kissing book, kissing movie.

Jonathan:

How many kisses took place in the movie? Enough Just curious. Just the one. Enough, just one.

Mari:

Well, there was Will Smith and his fiance about tocée. There was Jeff Goldblum and his ex-wife, okay, and then there was the president and his wife.

Jonathan:

Was there a kiss with her?

Ashley:

When she died.

Jonathan:

Yeah, it was a kissy-fussy. You know what? In hindsight, it's a very masculine film where, where the dudes really, just you know, run that shit that movie had so many, so many unbelievable things.

Mari:

It's absolute fantasy.

Kelly:

Yes, I mean even unbelievable, from a. Suspend your disbelief for a science fiction movie. First of all, that we can use, you know, Apple operating system to talk to an alien computer system and that the aliens wouldn't bat an eye that one of their fighter planes that has been missing for what? 30 years, 40 years or whatever, is now sitting back. The most believable part of that entire movie was that a marine wanted to marry a stripper.

Ashley:

And he loved her.

Mari:

All right. So wrapping it up, 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, as it will help people find us. Follow us on Instagram at Of Swords and Soulmates. We're also on Blue Sky and Threads Same username. Or join our Facebook page Of Swords and Soulmates. We're also on Blue Sky and Threads same username. Or join our Facebook page of Swords and Soulmates. Or we now have the website, wwwofswordsandsoulmatescom and, brand new, we also now have a YouTube channel same username of Swords and Soulmates.

Mari:

If you'd like to offer a suggestion for a future rapid fire question or reach out to us, feel free to do so on any of those methods. And if you'd like to read along with us as we prepare for a new episode, follow us on Goodreads at of Swords and Soulmates. See what we're reading next. I also put it on the Instagram profile so you can see what we're reading next there. We hope you'll join us in two weeks for our next episode when we review Ivy and Bone by RL Perez. See you guys. Bye you.

People on this episode

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Mari

Host
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Ashley

Co-host
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Jonathan

Co-host
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Kelly

Co-host

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