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
Mid-Year Book Wrap-Up
Welcome back to "Of Swords and Soulmates," where we embark on an exhilarating journey through the "Mid-Year Freak-Out Book Tag" questions! Alongside Kelly, Jonathan, Ashley, and Mari, we explore our top reads so far in 2024, including "The Wolf Gone Wild" by Juliet Cross and Becky Chambers' "A Psalm for the Wild-Built." Our dynamic discussion highlights our favorite sequels—don't miss our thoughts on "The Ashes and the Star-Cursed King" by Carissa Broadbent and the thrilling conclusion to the "Throne of Glass" series by Sarah J. Maas. Plus, we can’t wait to dive into new releases like "When the Moon Hatched."
Ever had a book that didn’t quite meet your expectations? We get candid about our biggest literary disappointments and surprises this year. Hear why Sarah J. Maas's "A Court of Thorns and Roses" felt like a slog and how "This Is How You Lose the Time War" by Amal El-Mohtar left us scratching our heads. On the flip side, "Wolf Gone Wild" by Juliette Cross and Holly Black's "The Cruel Prince" series turned out to be unexpected gems. We also shine a spotlight on our favorite new authors, with a special nod to the captivating stories by Sebastian Nothwell.
Wrapping things up, we chat about our reading goals and some incredible book-to-screen adaptations. From the heartfelt "Ted Lasso" to the lush world of "Bridgerton," we ponder how some shows have outshone their literary origins. Find out which beautiful editions of books we’ve added to our shelves this year and our plans to finish series like "ACOTAR," "Atlas Complex," and "Crescent City." Stay connected with us on Instagram, Blue Sky, Threads, Facebook, our website, and YouTube, and don't forget to rate, review, and follow us on Goodreads. Your suggestions and recommendations are what keep "Of Swords and Soulmates" thriving—let’s shape this adventure together!
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[00:00:00] Mari: Okay, so normally what we would do next is our rapid fire segment, but instead, because it's kind of the middle ish of the year there's a, a, a tag that I've seen on, like, BookTok and Bookstagram and all this stuff. It's the, the mid year freak out book tag. And it's basically a series of questions about, hey, it's kind of midway through the year, what's your, what's your reading been like?
[00:00:25] And so we have a series of questions. I think I'm just going to ask it and we can each answer, and then we'll, we'll go on to the next question and each answer rather than going each going through all of them. Does that sound okay?
[00:00:35] Kelly: No super in depth though.
[00:00:37] Mari: Yeah. Try to be not too in depth. All right. So first one, best book you've read so far in 2024.
[00:00:45] You first.
[00:00:46] Jonathan: Oh, I don't, I don't, I didn't know best book. Well, the wolf and the witch one,
[00:00:50] Mari: the wolf gone wild.
[00:00:52] Jonathan: Yep.
[00:00:52] Mari: Juliet cross.
[00:00:54] Jonathan: Mm
[00:00:55] Mari: hmm. Okay. Ash? Mine is empty. I don't know how [00:01:00] to pick. It was so hard. What if you had to narrow it down to like three or five? What would you say? That's
[00:01:06] Jonathan: so rapid fire. That is
[00:01:07] Ashley: so rapid.
[00:01:08] I have very recently been in love and obsessed with the Stay a Spell series with Juliet Cross. Right. You're gonna hear her name a few times. This is bliss. I read all five and a half books in just a couple of weeks. They're so good.
[00:01:25] Mari: So good. Yeah. Mari. For me, it was a Psalm for the Wild Built by Becky Chambers.
[00:01:33] It's a very short book. I read it for the beginning of the year. There's only two books in the series. It's a tea monk and a robot and they go around and they're trying to figure out what humans need. It's beautiful. It's super short. Please read it. It's great. Kelly?
[00:01:49] Kelly: I would have to go with the rereading the manga of Your Name, which was a animated anime movie that I've [00:02:00] loved.
[00:02:00] And the manga is just as good. And when all the volumes were re released, I ordered them and reread them.
[00:02:08] Mari: Nice. All right. Next question. Best sequel you've read so far in 2024. Jonathan,
[00:02:15] Jonathan: I, I don't know if I've read a sequel. I think everything is just kind of in like book number one. So I I'm blank there. I, I actually, it's probably something by Juliette cross.
[00:02:26] This one is
[00:02:29] Ashley: not Juliette cross. So I don't think I read this in 24, but I definitely read it in the last year and it was the best book. the sequel the book two for Crowns of Niaxia. I forgot to write down the actual title of the book because it is a little lengthy, but hat off to Carissa Broadbent because that was such a great duology that the, and now the world's expanding and I'm super stoked.
[00:02:53] Mari: I really love that, that world so much. Carissa Broadbent is just so good. Okay, so the second [00:03:00] one is called The Ashes and the Star Cursed King. Yeah, that was a lot of words. All right. So for me, the best sequel I've read so far in 2024 was the last book in the Throne of Glass series. I read the entire Throne of Glass series towards the beginning of the year and they're all good.
[00:03:18] It's Sarah J Maas, Throne of Glass, but like the last one where everything comes together. Chef's kiss. No,
[00:03:25] Ashley: stuff it down. I haven't gotten there yet. So
[00:03:27] Mari: good. So good. All right, Kelly.
[00:03:30] Kelly: I think I'm going to have to go with It's a tie between reading bookshops and Bone Dust, which I guess technically isn't a sequel, but a prequel, or actually the continuing the sequels of the Three Dark Crowns series.
[00:03:43] Mari: That was a good series. Kandari Blake. Yeah. So good. All right. Next question. New releases you haven't read yet, but want to. You know,
[00:03:57] Jonathan: I'm going to mess this title up. It's Dark [00:04:00] Shadows. What's it called? Not the, not the soap opera.
[00:04:04] Ashley: It's new releases. Yeah. Are you talking about Rebecca Yarrow's?
[00:04:08] Jonathan: Yeah.
[00:04:09] Ashley: Onyx Storm?
[00:04:11] Jonathan: That's the one.
[00:04:12] Ashley: It's not a new release. It's not out yet.
[00:04:14] Jonathan: That's what, I haven't read it yet. It says new releases. I haven't read yet, but want to. It
[00:04:19] Mari: hasn't been released new
[00:04:20] Jonathan: release.
[00:04:20] Mari: It's released in January of next year.
[00:04:23] Jonathan: It's still new. I haven't read it yet. Clearly. Well, that's what I'm, that's what I'm going with.
[00:04:31] Okay. Ashley.
[00:04:34] Ashley: I have not read, but very much want to read when the moon hatched and I know that you've read it, Mari. Yeah, I know, I know, I know. I started and then I got overwhelmed and, but I'm going to do it.
[00:04:46] Mari: I would love for us to read that at some point on this podcast. I'm just going to put it out there.
[00:04:50] I know it's long guys. It'll be on down the road, but yes, we need to read that.
[00:04:56] Ashley: All right.
[00:04:56] Mari: For me, new releases, I haven't read yet, but want to is [00:05:00] the seventh dusk Walker bride book by Opal rain. It's called a soul to protect. I read the first one last month which was a soul to keep and I'm obsessed.
[00:05:13] They're like. seven, it was like 700 pages or something. And then I've read book two and three this month so far. It's kind of like a, kind of like a beauty and the beast kind of thing, but the, the beast never turns into the Prince. It's just, it's just a beast. It's based on, or the author got the idea from it off of that manga, ancient Magus bride.
[00:05:36] So you have this like creature that looks different depending on what it ate, as it was. It's being created, and it's so not human, and the world is very magical, and there's the, they're called the Dustwalkers, and then there's also demons, and there's humans, and there's demon slayers, and, ah, it's so good.
[00:05:56] I, I want to read the seventh one, but I have to get to it. The seventh [00:06:00] one was just released, I think, last month. Kelly?
[00:06:04] Kelly: So, new releases I haven't read yet, but want to, is Apprentice to the Villain. Because Mari enjoyed it so much, so I would like to read that if I get the chance.
[00:06:12] Ashley: We need to read that, it's not been out yet, you boys.
[00:06:17] No,
[00:06:17] Jonathan: it's the first one. It's a new release that hasn't been out yet. Wait, hold on. He talked about the first one. He just said Mari read it.
[00:06:22] Ashley: Oh, oh, oh. As you wanna read Assistant to the villain? Yes.
[00:06:26] Kelly: Oh, assistant to the villain. Yeah.
[00:06:26] Ashley: Apprentice is the sequel assistant. Oh, oh, my bad
[00:06:29] Mari: assistant to the villain.
[00:06:29] Yeah. I was like, not again, these boys. We need to read that as a group too, I think. I think everyone would enjoy that one. Yeah.
[00:06:36] Kelly: Is it Romany?
[00:06:37] Mari: I think so. We need to, we need to put that on the list. That's gonna be on the list. Okay. Most anticipated release for the second half of the year.
[00:06:47] Jonathan: I got nothing. I have no idea what's coming in the second half.
[00:06:50] I color me surprised. I have two,
[00:06:52] Mari: so it's
[00:06:52] Ashley: okay.
[00:06:53] Jonathan: Okay. I take Mari's second one. Oh, okay.
[00:06:58] Ashley: So funny. My most [00:07:00] anticipated release for the second half of the year is Apprentice to the Villain. Hey. And one of the questions later on that we'll come to, I really struggled with because I wanted to put. Assistant to the villain as the answer and I came up with something else But that that book really grew on me.
[00:07:16] I was not super into it in the beginning But then it was like I needed to know right like I was I was involved and I think for me too It was because it was the audio book that made it super interesting and also the author whose name I'm completely forgetting Please don't forget It's like Hannah something.
[00:07:34] I'm going to look it up in a sec. Yeah, no, she is an amazing book talker. I think she has so much character, like her herself as a human. Hannah Nicole Merer. I'm a big fan. Hannah, big fan. Yeah. I'm, I've already pre ordered this, the sequel and I just bought, I just bought the first one because the, the edges are sprayed.
[00:07:57] We all know how Ashley feels about sprayed edges. So they [00:08:00] will be book trophies. And I'm very excited for that one.
[00:08:05] Mari: If there was a, if there was a question or a category for book that has bounced off and on your TBR list, the most, it was that book. I kept taking that book off my TBR because I kept hearing things about people not liking it.
[00:08:18] And then I would put it back on cause I'm like, but it sounds cool. And then I take it back off. Yeah. Cause I'm like, it's workplace romance. Oh, I don't like that. And then I would hear people love it. So like it bounced off and on. And then once I finally read it, I'm like, Oh. Love it. Yeah. Yeah. From my most anticipated release for the second half of the year, I, I couldn't pick so I had two, so I have my one for Jonathan.
[00:08:40] The first one is, of course, A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher, which is going to be released on the 6th of August.
[00:08:49] Ashley: Do they even sleep? Hmm? Hmm? Do they ever sleep? Like, I feel like a book is being released or like, what does that library look like for [00:09:00] TK Kingfisher? Like,
[00:09:01] Mari: I don't know. I don't have all her books, but I have, I have all her, I have probably like, there's a lot, 90 percent of her books and it's an entire shelf.
[00:09:10] I have a TK Kingfisher, altar. The entire shelf of my bookcase. I don't think,
[00:09:16] Ashley: I think she's Alexander Hamilton. It like, maybe, maybe. She,
[00:09:22] Mari: I know went through a big, like a big health scare last year and has had to go through some cancer treatments. So I, I wonder if this is stuff that was like focused on being, you know, released and it was like, this is what, what she did.
[00:09:36] Yeah.
[00:09:36] Ashley: Yeah.
[00:09:37] Mari: But yes, that's the first one. And then the other one that I couldn't decide with is another author that I love. So Jonathan, this is your pick. It's called Evil in Me. And it's by Gerald Brom. Huh?
[00:09:48] Jonathan: That's legit. That's legit. I was like, that
[00:09:50] Mari: tracks. Yeah. Evil in Me. And it's based, well, Brom wrote the Krampus book that I, Krampus, Your Lord, that I love.
[00:09:57] And he is a good writer. He also [00:10:00] wrote Oh my God, what's the name of the, it's a, it's a witch book. slew foot slew foot. And he's a good author, but he also is an amazing artist and he like paints these amazing imagery. So his books you're reading them on along and then in the middle there's these amazing like poster quality images that you just want to put up in a frame on the wall.
[00:10:23] He's as good a like museum quality artist as he is a writer. Evil in Me is, also takes place in like the punk scene in Atlanta. And I'm just like, alright, I'm down. I'm down for all of that. So, that's, those are my two books. I couldn't pick one. Kelly?
[00:10:41] Kelly: The one book I really am looking forward to is The Leap Year Gene of Kit McKinley by Shelley Wood.
[00:10:48] And it's basically a girl is born with a gene mutation where she is essentially very slow to age because she only ages every four years [00:11:00] because she was born on a leap day.
[00:11:02] Mari: Oh, interesting.
[00:11:03] Kelly: But because of this, because of the whole The way she ages. She's basically being sought by everyone who want to study her and dissect her Because they think like her genome somehow holds the key to some time somehow holds the key to like living longer or even time travel So she's you know being hunted by everyone but people are a lot of people are alluding it to it has the same kind of science fiction meets social commentary type book that The time traveler's wife.
[00:11:36] That's what I
[00:11:36] Mari: was just thinking. It reminded me of. Yeah.
[00:11:39] Kelly: So I'm looking forward to that book.
[00:11:43] Mari: Hmm. Okay. And now in a totally different emotional scope, your biggest disappointment this year as books of books,
[00:11:54] Jonathan: the book that we read, well, that was super rapey. What was that one called? [00:12:00] Uh, the last storm.
[00:12:03] That's the one.
[00:12:06] Mari: Yeah.
[00:12:08] Jonathan: What's up? What do you got Ash?
[00:12:11] Ashley: This one's going to be controversial. Are you guys ready? ACOTAR. Book one was not it for me. I believe it. And there is a cult following for SJM and I am, I am part of it all day, every day, no problem. But a court of thorns and roses. I think took me four solid months.
[00:12:33] Mari: Yeah.
[00:12:34] Ashley: To read. It's the weakest of the bunch for
[00:12:36] Mari: sure.
[00:12:38] Ashley: I was disappointed. I was like, I don't get it. I don't know what, Mari, if you had not told me that the grass was greener in book two, I would have DNF'd. Yeah. Like hard, hard DNF. So that was my biggest disappointment was Akatar.
[00:12:52] Mari: Yeah, I definitely finished that guitar because I was like, what is everyone talking about?
[00:12:56] It finally gets good enough at the end, but I was like, Oh my [00:13:00] God. And then once you get to the other ones, you're fine. It's like, you have to take your medicine. You got to eat your medicine to get to the good part. If you hadn't
[00:13:06] Ashley: told me, no, it would have been a no for me. I would have been like, thank God you gave it to me to read because I'm so glad I didn't buy that book.
[00:13:15] Yeah. But the rest of it is crack. Yeah, the rest of it is amazing. I can't get it in my system fast enough. Yes.
[00:13:22] Mari: Biggest disappointment for me was This is How You Lose the Time More by Amal El Motar. It's not a very long book. It's a sci fi book. It's a sapphic romance. Um, I felt like I was having a stroke when trying to understand what was going on.
[00:13:41] in this book. It's two time travelers who talk to each other through like weird different communication methods and they're supposed to be a through line plot. I am too stupid for the book apparently. I did not get it. That was my biggest disappointment. [00:14:00]
[00:14:00] Kelly: So I also had to say, this is how you lose the time war.
[00:14:03] Because the concept sounded so good. It sounded so good. A asymmetrical time traveler type story sounded really good on paper. And I think some people, I guess, got it and enjoyed it. But I couldn't get it. I, it just wasn't for me at all. And the amount of hype it got. Was just so high and it was so underwhelming.
[00:14:31] Mari: Yeah. Okay. Biggest surprise.
[00:14:36] Jonathan: The, the punny one about the wolf and the
[00:14:39] Mari: witch.
[00:14:41] Jonathan: That's the one. That's the one. I really, yeah. Well, it was, I was surprised. I was like, what? Oh, this, this is,
[00:14:50] Ashley: this doesn't suck.
[00:14:51] Jonathan: Yeah. What did you get, Ash?
[00:14:55] Ashley: For me, the biggest surprise was the Cruel Prince series [00:15:00] because, and so this was, I was actually toggling between Cruel Prince and Assistant to the Villain because very similarly, you know, at the, at the beginning of listen, and they were both audio books, which is funny, but reading and listening to them, I was not convinced, right.
[00:15:16] That this was going to be something that I enjoyed or that was noteworthy. Much less a book trophy for me. But by the end of the first book of The Cruel Prince, I was addicted and I needed to know what was coming next. And I did buy all the books. I did, I did end up, so I listened to them on Libby for free, yay Libby.
[00:15:40] And then I very quickly purchased the books for my bookshelf. So that was a surprise for me just because my initial. feeling was that it wasn't going to be a winner.
[00:15:52] Mari: Yeah, I love that. I love that book. And I always call it the Cruel Prince series, and it's not. It's the Folk of the Air series, I think is
[00:15:58] Ashley: what it's called?
[00:15:59] No, it is not. [00:16:00] It is not. It is the Cruel Prince series.
[00:16:03] Mari: It is? Oh, okay. So I'm wrong then. Um, yeah. Holly Black, Cruel Prince. Are
[00:16:07] Jonathan: you sure? You may not be wrong. Ashley made the decision. Ashley made
[00:16:10] Mari: an executive decision.
[00:16:11] Jonathan: Sorry, Holly
[00:16:15] Mari: Black. Don't concede
[00:16:16] Jonathan: to Ashley. Everyone
[00:16:17] Mari: who I've ever heard talk about it is like the Cruel Prince series.
[00:16:19] That's all what everyone calls it. It's like ACOTAR, right? Right. It is what people call it, a rose by any other name. Okay, biggest surprise for me, I've already mentioned it, was A Soul to Keep by Opal Rain. It is a Beauty and the Beast, you know, style or retelling, I guess. It is basically classified as a monster romance, and as such, it may not be for everyone.
[00:16:48] Monster romances tend to be smart heavy, spice heavy. And this, this is a spice heavy book, but it was like 700 pages and it felt like I blinked and I [00:17:00] was done with it. Like I did not breathe finishing that book. It was very, very, um, well told world and I loved it and I'm, I'm now on book four in that series.
[00:17:13] So Kelly,
[00:17:15] Kelly: I think I would have to go with Wolf Gone Wild. It was definitely a book I didn't expect to enjoy. Because I typically do not enjoy reading the vampire werewolf romance crap.
[00:17:32] Mari: Yay for Juliet Cross. Okay, favorite new author, debut or new to you?
[00:17:39] Jonathan: I'm gonna go with Juliet Cross. I don't even, I, I don't know.
[00:17:44] Yeah, I'm gonna go, you know what? Actually strike that. Who's the who do we talk to that I was enamored with? Sebastian Nothwell. Yeah.
[00:17:56] Mari: Yeah, he's cool.
[00:17:57] Ashley: Sebastian was a very, very cool [00:18:00] author. Yes.
[00:18:01] Jonathan: Very sure. That's who I'm going to go with. Yeah, author of Oak King,
[00:18:04] Mari: Holly King, amongst other books. Very good.
[00:18:07] Jonathan: Yeah. I've been listening to his Antiques Freaks podcast. Mm hmm. It's a good time. It's a good, it's, it's a good time. It's, it's like, it's, it's very, it's witty banter about old collectible shit. I dig it. Yeah. Nice. I had a good time with him.
[00:18:22] Mari: I appreciate The rest of his books are run by TBR. For
[00:18:27] Ashley: sure.
[00:18:27] I'm glad you changed your answer because mine was Julia Cross.
[00:18:31] Kelly: Cheater. She's still cleaning up this, this award season.
[00:18:34] Ashley: Yes. I'm obsessed. I read all five books plus the novella. Was it five or six? Six books. It's six books plus the novella, right? Oh,
[00:18:46] Mari: that's right. There's a novella. Yeah, so you're right.
[00:18:47] So does that make it seven?
[00:18:50] Ashley: Six and a half. Yeah, six and a half. So I read them all. I read them all in a couple of weeks.
[00:18:56] Jonathan: Quit bragging.
[00:18:56] Ashley: Very obsessively. I lost sleep [00:19:00] over it. Hashtag wordskipper. Shut your face. Uh, and there, she does have more series and I will gladly invest time, energy, and even money if I have to, to read them.
[00:19:11] So Juliet Cross is my favorite author.
[00:19:14] Mari: She her newest series is coming out in the fall. The new book is available for pre order that will be available to pick up at the Fabled Fantasy Con. It's like Wraith Kings. Take my money. Yeah.
[00:19:27] Ashley: Take my money, Juliette Cross.
[00:19:28] Mari: Yeah, absolutely. All right. So favorite new author.
[00:19:34] I had a toss up here between Opal Rain, which I've already waxed poetic about and Tiffany Roberts. Who wrote the Ensnare 2, which is the husband and wife duo. I haven't
[00:19:46] Ashley: read it yet.
[00:19:47] Mari: Yeah, yeah, so they're,
[00:19:49] Ashley: they're a toss up. They're on my list. Yep, yep, yep.
[00:19:52] Mari: Kelly?
[00:19:54] Kelly: Like Jonathan, I'm actually gonna have to go with Sebastian Nothwell.
[00:19:57] I enjoyed his Oak King, Holly King [00:20:00] book, and yeah. Nice. I never had heard of him before, and probably never would have heard of him had we not read his book.
[00:20:08] Mari: Yeah, absolutely. Good stuff. Newest favorite character.
[00:20:15] Jonathan: Ooh, hold on. Let me find that. I wrote some down and newest favorite character is, okay. I have three.
[00:20:26] In case anybody isn't looking for one. Well, you missed some
[00:20:28] Ashley: answers before, so this works. Let's hear them. Okay.
[00:20:31] Jonathan: We'll allow it. I've got Lou the goat.
[00:20:34] Ashley: No.
[00:20:36] Jonathan: He is
[00:20:36] Ashley: the goat, too.
[00:20:39] Jonathan: I've also got the shadow daddy, but not the shadow daddy that everyone else's shadow daddy is, but the shadow daddy where he kidnapped that lady who was pretending to be the queen, but she wasn't really the queen.
[00:20:53] Myers
[00:20:53] Mari: Crown?
[00:20:54] Jonathan: What's that? Liar's
[00:20:55] Mari: Crown. Liar's Crown. Is
[00:20:56] Jonathan: that the one? Sure. Absolutely. And then, um, [00:21:00] Hades but not Hades. The guy with the tat dick.
[00:21:02] Mari: Ivy and Bone. Cyrus.
[00:21:06] Jonathan: That's me. Those are my three. So, to recap, we got Lou the Goat the
[00:21:15] Mari: shitty Goats, Shadow Daddies, and Hell Hell Kings. I can't decide if my
[00:21:18] Kelly: favorite character was this goat that headbutted everyone, or the dude who was basically the devil with a tattooed dick.
[00:21:26] Jonathan: That's
[00:21:27] Mari: Or the kidnapping Shadow Daddy. Yeah. Yeah. I like, I did. I think, uh, you know. You got range.
[00:21:32] Jonathan: I got, yeah. I got, I got range. I, yeah. I think, you know. Shadow Daddy. He was very, you know what? He's, he's, he's the, he's, he's the poor man's Zayden. I like
[00:21:46] Ashley: him. Okay. Ash.
[00:21:48] Jonathan: Ash.
[00:21:49] Ashley: Kaz. Oh, yeah. He only one ups Lou the goat.
[00:21:57] Because Kaz talks. Yeah. [00:22:00] Kaz has feelings. Kaz has opinions. Kaz is smarter than the average human.
[00:22:05] Jonathan: So is Lou.
[00:22:08] Ashley: But Lou didn't talk. If he could have expressed those things in witty banter form.
[00:22:13] Jonathan: Lou's opinionated. Yeah. When you, when you ask, when you ask Lou, I didn't hear it. You ask, Hey Lou, how'd you feel about that spaghetti for dinner?
[00:22:21] He would say, Bah.
[00:22:23] Ashley: Yeah, no, cool. But Kaz said sentences.
[00:22:27] Jonathan: He didn't even have a mouth. Lou's got a mouth. Where did the noises come from? Cass didn't need a mouth or
[00:22:33] Ashley: eyes. It's magic. He didn't have ears either. What the hell? Like, let's go through the Hold
[00:22:39] Jonathan: on. Plants can have ears. Have you not met corn?
[00:22:44] Ashley: And potatoes could have eyes.
[00:22:45] Kaz the spider plant is my favorite new character. I will worship the ground that he rolls on. And I would do anything for him.
[00:22:54] Mari: And may his little dirt ball live forever. His root ball live forever.
[00:22:58] Ashley: [00:23:00] Um,
[00:23:01] Mari: I'm kind of mad. I didn't think of Kaz. Um, cause Kaz is very up there.
[00:23:06] Ashley: But that's because you don't have to because you bought him.
[00:23:09] Yeah, you get your own. I
[00:23:10] Mari: did. Yeah. So my newest favorite character is from Throne of Glass series. It is Manon Blackbeak. And depending on how far you are, you may not know who that is. I haven't read Throne of Glass at all yet. Oh, okay, okay, okay, that's right, okay. So it's not going to be any spoilers.
[00:23:28] It is, Men in Black Beak is iron, an iron teeth witch. And like the Baba, I love the Baba Yaga mythology has her with iron teeth. So she feels like a Baba Yaga type witch. Men in Black Beak needs to have her own book. If there is a what was it called that you, you sign go around I mean, you want to get votes on something.
[00:23:59] Oh my God. [00:24:00] Words,
[00:24:00] Jonathan: a petition,
[00:24:01] Mari: a petition, words. Thank you. Yes. If there were a petition, like I would sign that and give it to SJM, please. Man in black beak is a super interesting character with a super interesting. story. And I'm not going to say more for anyone who hasn't read it, but Man in Black Bake from the Throne of Glass series.
[00:24:22] Kelly.
[00:24:24] Kelly: So I also went with Kaz, the spider plant.
[00:24:29] Mari: Nice. All right. A book that made you cry.
[00:24:34] Jonathan: Every year I read this book sometimes multiple times throughout the year, but it always makes me cry because I have to feel emotional. my feelings and I hate to feel my feelings. I prefer to be cold hearted but the book that makes me cry is The Gifts of Imperfection by Brene Brown.
[00:24:55] Ashley: It
[00:24:55] Jonathan: is neither It
[00:24:56] Ashley: gets you right in the feels. Yeah, it's
[00:24:57] Jonathan: not, it's not, it's not fiction at [00:25:00] all, but uh, yeah. Yeah, it
[00:25:02] Ashley: doesn't have to be
[00:25:03] Mari: fiction. I hate
[00:25:03] Jonathan: feeling my feelings. Stuff them down, that's what I always say.
[00:25:07] Mari: Yeah, feelings are hard.
[00:25:10] Ashley: Ash? So I went down a black hole at the beginning of the year and I read a lot of the Rebecca Yaros contemporary romances and the last letter annihilated me.
[00:25:28] Jonathan: Spoiler, Z.
[00:25:30] Mari: Okay. For me, it was I read the Kiss Quotient series or trilogy or whatever by Helen Huang. She's a a writer with autism and she writes contemporary romance. They're mainly AAPI characters and they mainly, at least one of the characters in them has autism. And the Kiss Quotient was amazing.
[00:25:54] And the bride test was amazing. The third book in that series, The Heart Principle, [00:26:00]made me cry and I was not prepared for it because I expect a happy ever after or happy for now in a romance book. And I was deceived, tricked. I was hoodwinked and it was. Fucking tragic and I was not prepared for it. Those romance authors.
[00:26:22] I did not consent to that
[00:26:25] Jonathan: Is it is this like love on the spectrum in? Fantasy no. Oh, okay.
[00:26:32] Mari: Yeah, these are not fantasy. This is contemporary romance
[00:26:35] Jonathan: I have no idea what that means. It just means
[00:26:36] Ashley: like regular, ordinary people. Like a rom com.
[00:26:39] Jonathan: So it's just regulation, regulation level on the
[00:26:40] Ashley: spectrum. Yeah, there's no tattooed penises and shadow doggies.
[00:26:44] You don't know that. Are they pulling
[00:26:45] Jonathan: their pants off?
[00:26:46] Kelly: You don't know that. I mean Alright, Kelly. I, I don't have a book that
[00:26:51] Mari: Okay.
[00:26:52] Kelly: for this one.
[00:26:53] Mari: Okay. Pass. A book that made you happy.
[00:26:57] Jonathan: Every time I read it, Green eggs and [00:27:00] ham. I keep a copy by my desk, and I use it. Pro tip, if you ever have to do a presentation, and you get a little bit of stage fright, just read something by Dr.
[00:27:10] Seuss. It'll reframe your mind.
[00:27:14] Ashley: Science.
[00:27:15] Jonathan: Science.
[00:27:15] Ashley: What?
[00:27:16] Jonathan: What you got, Ash?
[00:27:18] Ashley: This is gonna be a surprise to no one. The entire stay a spell series, 10 out of 10 recommend. They were all delightful. They were all spicy. They were all romantic. They were all fantasy. Uh, I will recommend that until my dying day.
[00:27:38] Mari: If you had to pick your favorite one, what would it be?
[00:27:40] Oh,
[00:27:41] Ashley: I think Ruben and Jules. The second to the last one the Clara story was very, very nice. I enjoyed where that one went, but yeah, the last one. But I think when I got to Jules and Ruben, there had been so much buildup, even as a side [00:28:00] story and you know, the, the previous books before theirs that I. I was itching like a crackhead.
[00:28:07] Like I needed to know, and they didn't force you to wait either. It wasn't that kind of slow burn, right? There was passion and there was commitment and there was, you know, just faith in each other. This overwhelming, unwavering faith. So yeah. Resting, which face is that one? Yeah. Jules and Ruben.
[00:28:28] Okay. Made me happy.
[00:28:30] Mari: For me, it was The Spell Shop by Sarah Beth Durst, which we've just talked about. Fuzzy Feeling. Yep. Kelly?
[00:28:39] Kelly: I don't know. It's either between Wolf Gone Wild or The Spell Shop because both of them were humorous and were fun reads.
[00:28:47] Mari: Yeah. All right. The most beautiful book you've bought so far this year.
[00:28:54] Jonathan: I make my own beautiful books. I like to take the trophy book. I'm [00:29:00]sorry. I like to take the books that people enjoy. I probably would. They probably, if, if we think back on it, do you have any first edition fourth wings? I have torn apart and rebounded and recovered. Don't
[00:29:14] Ashley: let Rebecca hear you.
[00:29:15] Jonathan: She's seen it.
[00:29:16] I put it on Instagram. I was like, hey Rebecca. She doesn't
[00:29:18] Ashley: know you've got like 5 or 20 of them.
[00:29:20] Jonathan: I keep doing them. I mean, you buy them. Do whatever I want. Yeah, I buy them. Um, I just like, I don't know. When you take the dust jacket off of them, they don't look cool. And I just like to make them look cooler.
[00:29:34] Sometimes they do. No, they don't. They all look junky.
[00:29:37] Ashley: I can prove you wrong right now.
[00:29:39] Jonathan: No, I'm not interested in you doing that. What did you have on your list? What's the most beautiful book?
[00:29:44] Ashley: Actually, that's the one that I was going to prove to you. So the most beautiful book that I bought, because you've made me books, I didn't buy them.
[00:29:53] Jonathan: You don't like the ones I made you?
[00:29:54] Ashley: But I didn't buy them. I didn't buy them, you bought them. No cock
[00:29:58] Jonathan: for you.
[00:29:59] Ashley: [00:30:00] Was Five Broken Blades by, and I think it, I think her name is pronounced Mai Corland, and forgive me if I've butchered that. I have a very minimal idea of what this book is even about, but it is so beautiful.
[00:30:15] The, the, the edges are sprayed, the dust jacket is lovely. You take the dust jacket off in the actual hardback book itself. has design on it. And um, I don't know when I'm going to read this book. It's on my shelf because it's beautiful and I bought it simply for that reason.
[00:30:36] Mari: For me, it's the Lit Joy crate version of Ella Enchanted that we talked about a few episodes back.
[00:30:44] It's so pretty. Kelly?
[00:30:48] Kelly: I don't know that I've bought any books I would consider beautiful this year.
[00:30:53] Mari: Okay. All right books you need to read by the end of the year [00:31:00]
[00:31:00] Jonathan: How to draw adorable It's a book that mixes reading and Drawing I had to buy the tangible version the analog so that I actually follow Yeah, they add up cuz I gotta follow can't
[00:31:16] Ashley: audio book.
[00:31:16] I had to draw That
[00:31:20] Jonathan: would be
[00:31:20] Ashley: a YouTube video
[00:31:21] Jonathan: only book that hurts my shoulder It's not even that heavy. You gotta draw. Draw from the shoulder, she says. But relax,
[00:31:29] Mari: it shouldn't be that tight. You gotta relax.
[00:31:32] Jonathan: Oh, not that tight. I'm gripping the stick too tight. What you got, Ash?
[00:31:37] Ashley: I need to finish the ACOTAR series, because I have not.
[00:31:43] I think I've gotten through book three, and then I panicked that I only had two left. And I wasn't sure how my heart was going to survive that. And I also started to read the Atlas Complex, which is book three in the Atlas six [00:32:00] series. And I didn't get to finish it. I very much want to finish the Atlas Complex.
[00:32:05] Okay.
[00:32:07] Mari: For me, it's, um, the rest of the Dust Walker Brides books by Opal Rain. Cushiel's Dart series, which a bunch of people recommended. It's an older series. Cushiel's Legacy. And then also Crescent City by SJM. Kelly?
[00:32:26] Kelly: Books I need to read by the end of the year. Core Radiology, a visual approach to diagnostic imaging.
[00:32:34] Ashley: That sounds so Delightful! Kelly, are there pictures?
[00:32:40] Jonathan: Lots of pictures.
[00:32:41] Ashley: Okay. Well,
[00:32:43] Jonathan: it's radiology, right? And it's, it's all about imaging.
[00:32:46] Ashley: Prayers,
[00:32:49] Mari: prayers, Kelly. Yes. Sorrows, sorrows, prayers. Favorite book to movie adaptation.
[00:32:56] Jonathan: So I definitely twisted it to fit whatever I wanted there. Right. [00:33:00] So this is a commercial to, to television series adaptation.
[00:33:07] Ted Lasso.
[00:33:09] Ashley: Oh. It started with a commercial. I love Ted Lasso. Yeah,
[00:33:12] Jonathan: it was just a commercial. I did not know that. Yeah.
[00:33:16] Ashley: It's all choice though. Such a good series. Ash?
[00:33:19] Jonathan: What you got, Ash?
[00:33:20] Ashley: So I twisted mine into a TV series. And for me it was Bridgerton. Mmm, okay. I thought, I think the TV series of Bridgerton is so much more That was a book.
[00:33:35] For me than the books. It's a book series. Yeah. Not an easy, like I struggled and I couldn't tell you why they weren't poorly written. I just think Shonda Rhimes is a genius and everything she touches turns to gold and she will make any story infinitely better.
[00:33:55] Mari: Yeah. The Bridgerton TV show is so much better.
[00:33:59] [00:34:00] Bridgerton TV show is exponentially better than the books.
[00:34:02] Ashley: Yes. Yeah. So I really enjoyed Paul, the Pauline story this season. The book itself, I actually think was better than the two before it, but I, and while they deviated in the series, there are noticeable deviations, right. And that will piss off a lot of the readers.
[00:34:21] I enjoyed them. I, I did not mind the changes, the updates. Yes.
[00:34:26] Mari: For me, the only one I could even think of. Booked a movie that's happened this year. I couldn't think of any. What's Dune? I thought Dune was well done. I was surprised
[00:34:35] Ashley: Jonathan didn't say Dune.
[00:34:38] Jonathan: I didn't, I don't know that I like the movies.
[00:34:40] Ashley: Oh, why do you watch them so much? I don't understand.
[00:34:45] Jonathan: I, I, it's like, I don't know. It's like one of those movies. Like I like the, I like it, but I don't know if I like it. I don't have a way, I don't have a way to explain it.
[00:34:56] Ashley: I love Zendaya. I will watch probably anything that she's in. [00:35:00] She can do no wrong.
[00:35:01] They're doing another Euphoria, you know that? I have not watched Euphoria, but I know that it is like top tier. It's so good. It's on my list.
[00:35:11] Mari: So dark, but so good. Okay, Kelly.
[00:35:14] Kelly: Dune. Yeah. I think that's really the only option there.
[00:35:18] Mari: Yep. All right anything else anybody wants to say before we wrap it up?
[00:35:23] I feel like we've said so much. I agree. All right, so thanks for listening to of Swords and Soulmates. Before we go, make sure to check out 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.
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