Of Swords and Soulmates
Is this a kissing book? Of Swords and Soulmates features two couples (and sometimes more), with varying reading preferences and experiences, as they read, listen, and sometimes watch romantasy stories and discuss plot, fantasy elements, romance, spice, theories, and more. Join us for our non-expert opinions as we discuss, argue, rave, rant, and hopefully entertain. We may just help you find your next reading obsession or at least contribute to that TBR list!
Of Swords and Soulmates
"The Spellshop" - A Book Girl and a Talking Plant
This week on Swords and Soulmates, Mari, Kelly, Ashley, and Jonathan discuss the potential opening of "The New Romantics," Orlando's first romance-exclusive bookstore. We share our excitement and concerns regarding the rise of niche bookshops, the challenges of securing traditional loans, and the growth of crowdfunding. Join us as we explore the unique community such a bookstore could nurture and what it means for the future of romance and fantasy literature.
Ever tried reading "Ice Planet Barbarians"? We discuss the beloved series and how there are official candles - "Not-Hoth" and "Resonance." We can barely contain ourselves before we discuss our plans for DragonCon in Atlanta. Then we move on to our review of "The Spellshop" by Sarah Beth Durst, a cozy fantasy that left us feeling warm and enchanted. Hear our comparisons to "Legends and Lattes," "Animal Crossing," Studio Ghibli, and enjoy our varied ratings and insights.
Is the city really the villain in fantasy novels? We ponder this and more as we dissect "The Spellshop," discussing themes like the romanticization of rural life, economic depression, and the democratization of magic. From the story’s intricate magic system to its slow-burn romance and fantastical elements, we unpack it all. Despite some spicy disappointments, we find plenty to appreciate, including the book’s adventure, community spirit, the beautiful lavender-sprayed cover, and Caz the Talking Plant. Join our lively, laughter-filled discussion, and let's celebrate the enchanting world of romantic and fantasy literature together.
Links from the News Segment and Show:
- The New Romantics
- https://www.thenewromanticsbooks.com
- Orlando, FL’s first romance only bookshop is in the works. Check out their crowdsourcing campaign.
- Ali Hazelwood will be at the 2025 Orlando Fabled Fantasy event
- https://www.fabledfantasyevents.com/home
- Author of Bride, The Love Hypothesis, and other contemporary romance with women in STEM
- Ice Planet Barbarians Official Merchandise
- Ruby Dixon, author of the Ice Planet Barbarians series, has official scented candles from Briarwick Candles (Click Here for the website)
- Two scents – Not-Hoth (driving snow, ice, and blue musk) and Resonance (cozy blankets, winter spice, and Khui vibrations)
- $6.50 to $22 (depending on size)
- Dragoncon
- Largest multi-genre convention (anime, art, fantasy, literature, sci-fi, and more)
- https://www.dragoncon.org
- Thursday Aug 29th - Monday Sep 2nd in Atlanta, GA
- Romantasy Book Convention (Orlando 2024)
- https://www.fabledfantasyevents.com/
- This episode's book is The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst
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Instagram - @ofswordsandsoulmates
Goodreads - http://www.goodreads.com/ofswordsandsoulmates
Views expressed in this podcast are solely those of the participants. The hosts make no claim to be literary experts and their opinions are exactly that opinions. All creative works discussed or reviewed are the intellectual property of the creators of said stories and is being used under the Fair Use Doctrine.
Mari:Hello and welcome to Swords and Soulmates, a podcast where we read, watch and discuss romanticist stories. I'm one of your hosts, mari, and with me I have Kelly.
Kelly:Hey everyone, it's Kelly and we also have Ashley.
Ashley:Hi guys, it's Ashley. We also have Jonathan.
Jonathan:All back of the bus and stuff. It's me, JP. What's good.
Mari:Today we're going to be discussing the Spell Shop by Sarah Beth Durst, but first, as always, we have some news. I have a few things, but if you guys have anything you know, always welcome to jump in. The first thing is kind of local-ish to us, but I was pretty excited about it. Apparently, Orlando is about to get Orlando. Florida is about to get its first romance only bookshop. It's going to be called the New Romantics and they're still doing like a crowdsourcing campaign to get the funds for their storefront, but the website is up and you can see some of the stuff on there. I've only ever been to one romance-only bookshop and it was Meet Cute in San Diego, and I loved it. It was really a cute little fun browsing experience and I ended up buying books I'd never heard of and finding some really good things that I hadn't really been into and didn't know existed. Yeah, I'm excited about that.
Ashley:It's interesting to see how, like the romance slash, fantasy book world has inspired right, inspired right, like you know, entrepreneurs and stuff like that is far more common, like on my book feed, my book talk feed, is to see these romance bookshops or, you know, fantasy bookshops and but what are the new romantics go funding?
Kelly:it looks like they're funding to actually open a physical store, because yeah they don't have an actual brick and mortar store.
Jonathan:If I'm being genuine here. I don't know how I feel about a, a crowd source but why I just, I don't know but why.
Mari:You know why. You know what I compare it to, at least here in in where we live. It's a smaller town and what we get a lot is you get a lot of like cottage type industries, cottage food type industries, like people will try out catering and stuff for a restaurant idea and see how well it does before they commit to making it a restaurant. I think it feels like this is kind of the equivalent of that. You're trying out the idea, you're seeing what kind of interest there is is what kind of support you're going to have before you commit to the brick and mortar. You know mortgage or rent or whatever I mean I like.
Jonathan:So part like the business hat of me wants to just be like hey, you're in business, you're not in charity um, sounds like the old man in you, yeah that's saying like you have to struggle, like we've all struggled, to open up a business. I mean there there are new pathways, yeah, in business this is.
Ashley:Maybe this is one of them.
Jonathan:Yeah, no, it's a huge thing I don't know how I feel about the idea of crowdsourcing. I'm not closed off to it. I don't want to say like, hey, I'm totally closed off to it, but I'm not sure where I stand. So to the new romantics if we cross paths, convince me. I'll keep a fiver in my pocket for you, just in case.
Mari:I think it's really hard to get a business loan. So what else are they going to do? I think it's really hard to get a business loan, you know. So what else are they going to do? I think that's why you see like Kickstarter type things as a viable method for new authors and indie authors who are trying to get books published or who are trying to get audio books done of their books. How else are you going to get all this money up front to get this thing done, when banks will only lend to you if you've already basically, if you don't need the money if you already have the successful business?
Kelly:You have to have a pretty substantial bit of collateral in order to take out a business loan nowadays, in addition to also having to provide, you know, a very good business plan, and then the bank has to agree with your business plan and that you can actually make it work Right.
Kelly:And no bank is going to be like what bank is going to? Maybe a bank would be like oh, an indie bookstore, yeah, maybe we'll go for that. But if you went to a bank and said we want to open an indie bookstore that only does romance books, there's no way you're going to sell that. There's no way you're going to sell that. There's no way you would have to have enough collateral that you could just cash out your collateral and not have to worry about paying back a loan.
Mari:Yeah, yeah. When I heard about it I was like, oh, that's cool. There's going to be a romance bookstore in Orlando and that would be fun for when we're down in Orlando we could go and see what they have browse. And it's great for the people who live closer there who then have a little local bookshop. That's romance-based because it's very inclusive and romance as a genre has become a more all-inclusive place that it's almost like a little sense of mini community. So I hope they succeed. I hope they do, I hope it works for them. I was excited about it.
Jonathan:Same. I do hope they succeed. I'm not, you know, just because it's not an avenue that I would pursue in order to fund what I want or you know doesn't mean it's the wrong one. I hope it's successful and guaranteed that when it opens and we're I mean we're the likelihood that we cross our threshold is extremely high.
Mari:Yeah, exactly Same. All right, so if anyone is interested in looking into the bookshop more, it's called the New Romanics and their website is thenewromanicsbookscom. The other thing I saw that I was pretty excited about is Fabled Fantasy, which is the Romanacy event that we're going to in October in Orlando. Announced that for next year's event, in 2025, allie Hazelwood is going to be one of the people who will be at the Orlando event.
Ashley:That is very exciting. Yes, right.
Jonathan:I cannot wait to find out who Allie Hazelwood is.
Mari:So from the Romanacy Avenue, I'd say the only book she's written that's Romanacy is Bride, which came out this year and it's a werewolf vampire romance. I like her contemporary romance stuff. It's not perfect but some of them have been really good and I enjoyed Bride. I mean it was a departure for her, bride's been a huge hit this year on the socials.
Ashley:It has been.
Mari:The other thing I have is Ruby Dixon, who's the author. Well, she's written a bunch of books, but I think she's best known for writing the Ice Planet Barbarians series Such a nice one. Yes, yes, books, but I think she's best known for writing the ice planet barbarians series. Such um, yes, yes, iconic, very beloved series has announced the first official merchandise from the series, and it's scented candles stop it, I love that I'm looking at this website actually briarwick candles and they have two sets.
Mari:One is not hothoff and the other is Resonance. I'm assuming Kelly and Jonathan have not read any of the Ice Planet Barbarian books. I have not read Ice Planet Barbarian, I've only read 10. There's, like I don't know, 80 of them. I've only read 10. So there are 21 Ice Planet Barbarianian books.
Ashley:I've read 10 of them you're such a superstar overachiever there for sure, yeah, but they're very quick reads.
Kelly:They're fun, she's told me about them extensively, as she's read them it's like you, you read them by proxy no, no, okay so I'm tired. I got tired of hearing about giant blue dicks is that what the whole book's about?
Jonathan:dicks, giant blue dicks. No, are they? Hold on, are they just kelly, are they so? Are they large dicks, or are they okay? So the premise is part of a giant, it's sci-fi romance.
Mari:So it's these human women get kidnapped by these aliens. All this happens in the first book. They get kidnapped by these aliens to be sold as slaves. These are really bad aliens and they start to fight back. The women start to fight back and something happens and the ship crashes and the aliens decide to just bail, and so they bail the cargo.
Mari:They bail the ship on the first planet they're driving by, which is this ice planet, and so the main tricky in the first book is like it's an ice planet and it's a Star Wars reference. It's not Hoth, so it's a Star Wars reference, and so she's trying to go out and see if there's anybody, anything. What's happening on this planet? And the rest of the women that were kidnapped stay back, because this first book is about this first woman and she ends up coming across the aliens who live on this planet, who are also not native to the planet, and they are the giant blue horned alien alien so they're like seven foot tall, they are all blue and they have horns and they are strong and blah, blah, blah.
Mari:And in order to live on this planet, you have to have this parasitic relationship with a thing called the kui and the kui. This is very interesting, so it is so good for like escaping the world.
Ashley:Are they furry?
Jonathan:oh no, the kui is gross you know I'm a parasite they have a little bit of fur they're a little bit um can you, I don't know about all that. Let me just say that when Ashley comes to bed, if she doesn't get both her feet under the blanket and back up to body temperature rapidly, I'm fucking mad. So I can't imagine having an ice stick, especially a blue one. No, but they're warm.
Mari:They're warm. That's the thing. The kui helps you survive on this ice planet, so it bumps up your metabolism. So then you're warm and you're fine. It's ice all around, but you're walking around, of course, showing off your pecs and things as a giant balloon your pecs and pecker Alien. The whole package.
Mari:And so the kui just wants to advance the genetic thing, and so the cooee just wants to advance the genetic thing. So if there's someone who will be genetically compatible with you for good offspring, your cooee will resonate with that person and it's like the whole mating thing that we've seen in some of the books we've read.
Jonathan:It's a comedy. It must be a comedy because Ashley's lost her mind. She's tearing down the set here. Can you secure your mic, ashley? I don't know how I got on security. You've got gotta secure this up here. You gotta turn this one up here, turn that knob.
Mari:When you, when your cooey resonates with someone else's cooey, then your chest starts to purr because your cooey is purring this is gonna be, kelly.
Jonathan:You're gonna have a shit time editing this audio.
Mari:So if you want some escapism from this world, I highly recommend Ice Planet Barbarians.
Jonathan:And you can get a candle.
Mari:Well, there's two of the Ice Planet Barbarian candles, the Knothoth, it says. Let the enticing blend of driving snows, ice and blue musk whisk you away to the icy planet of. Knothoth, what the hell.
Jonathan:Blue musk.
Mari:Yeah, the other one the second scent. They have is called Resonance and it says experience the comforting embrace of resonance, with scents that blend cozy blankets, winter spice and cooey vibrations.
Jonathan:It sounds like an SNL commercial.
Mari:Resonance. Resonance by Cleo have like small size to big size, it's like 650 it's a smaller size is up to 22 bucks for like the really big size. The only other thing I had it's not really news, um, but I'm going to be at dragon con which is in atlanta the weekend of um august 29th through September 2nd. They do have like a writer's track where they have some writers come and they do different panels and things. It's a 24-7 convention of all things geek and fandom and cosplay etc. But if any of our listeners are going to be there and want to do some kind of a meetup or anything, reach out, maybe we can do a little meetup. So just wanted to put it out there that I will be at DragonCon this year, like I am most years.
Jonathan:The countdown is like it's fierce. So I think right now we're at 41 days, 21 hours, 15 minutes and 26, 25, 24.
Mari:You're on the website.
Jonathan:Yes.
Mari:Natural countdown. Yeah, yeah, that's assuming it starts on Thursday. Some people start on Tuesday or Wednesday, but I drive down Thursday, so for me it starts Thursday.
Jonathan:Any other new stuff I don't have any additional new stuff.
Mari:All right, let's get into the book. So the book is like I said earlier it's the Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst. We basically chose this book because it was kind of everywhere. I know it was on my TBR because I'd heard buzz building up to it and I think Kelly saw it in several places and Kelly's the one who suggested it for us to read and I'd heard it was going to be like cozy, which the cover kind of looks that way. So that's kind of. It was basically just people talking about it. It's why we chose it. It's very recently published. It was just published on the the 9th of July of this year. Let me read the synopsis, as usual, and then we can talk about it. The synopsis as usual, and then we can talk about it.
Mari:Kila has always had trouble dealing with people. Thankfully, as a librarian at the Great Library of Elysium, she and her assistant, kaz, a magically sentient spider plant, have spent the last decades sequestered among the Empire's most precious spellbooks, preserving their magic for the city's elite. When a revolution begins and the library goes up in flames, she and Kaz flee with all the spellbooks they can carry and head to a remote island Kila never thought she'd see again her childhood home. Taking refuge there, kila discovers, much to her dismay, a nosy and very handsome neighbor who can't take a hint and keeps showing up day after day to make sure she's fed and to help fix up her new home. In need of income, kila identifies something that even the bakery in town doesn't have Jam. With the help of an old recipe book her parents left her and a bit of illegal magic, her cottage garden is soon covered in ripe berries. But magic can do more than make life a little sweeter. So Kila risks the consequences of using unsanctioned spells and opens the island's first ever and much needed secret spell shop.
Jonathan:Dun, dun dun.
Mari:So what'd we think?
Jonathan:I thought it was delightfully mid. I'm not mad at this book.
Mari:Yeah, non-spoilery right now.
Jonathan:Non-spoilery yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I got you. I'm picking up what you're putting down. I thought it was a very polite YA all day kind of book I'm going to. Can I give book? Can I give it? Do I give it a rating here? Yeah, I'm giving it four cauldrons. Wait, four swords.
Mari:Stars.
Jonathan:Stars, four stars, all right, I want to know where Kelly's at.
Kelly:Oh no.
Mari:You're not going to say anything, Kelly.
Kelly:No, we did us and me and Jonathan first last time. We should do Mari and Ashley first this time.
Jonathan:I'm trying to buy some time. Don't stall Kelly.
Ashley:Ash do you want to go first? I'll go first. I liked the book a lot. It was an easy read. Cozy was definitely accurate. It delivered as promised as a cozy fantasy, fantasy, romantic book. Solid four, Four jam jars for me, Okay.
Mari:So, Kelly, do you want to go or do you want me to go?
Kelly:Go ahead, Maury.
Mari:Okay, so for me overall it was a five. For me I it was exactly as advertised you're gonna read it again, I, I, yes, yes, I'm, I'm, I've bought the physical book.
Mari:Oh yeah, committed, yeah, so I I like the cozy vibes. It to me was like legends and lattes meets animal crossing, which helped so much of us through the pandemic, meets ghibli, like studio ghibli stuff, and just like all the good vibes of all of that. I enjoyed it. I liked the characters, even when they were in some ways doing things that weren't likable. I mean, I kind of was sold. The reason it was on my tbr to begin with. Tell me there's a sentient spider plant character person I'm in sold yeah, I want to know.
Ashley:We love a good side character yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Mari:So this book made me, mari of the Black Thumb, decide to buy a spider plant.
Jonathan:Did you buy a spider plant Are you going to name him Kaz?
Mari:Of course it's going to be named Kaz.
Jonathan:I don't even know what a spider plant is.
Mari:I hope I don't kill him. Um, the author, she. She posted something on facebook and I responded back to her that she made me she made me buy a spider plant. That I hope that she's not responsible for the outcome of the poor life of this plant. And she said that she's got one too and she's got eyes on her. She put eyes on hers. I'm like I'm gonna go buy some googly eyes.
Ashley:That's amazing.
Jonathan:Yeah, yeah, so is she now the um this? This spider plant is the equivalent of a clownfish uh, how so like defining nemo, when all those clownfish died on behalf of that pixar film. Now all these spider plants are gonna die across the world because people are just like I, need a spider plant, thanks to this book I mean, I don't know, they're supposed to be easy to keep alive.
Ashley:So we'll see. I mean plant parenting has been very big the last four to five years, especially since the pandemic.
Jonathan:Tamagotchi.
Ashley:No, like actual plants.
Jonathan:Oh.
Ashley:Plants are the new pets. Pets are the new kids. Kids are out, yeah.
Mari:So Kelly, what did you think of it?
Kelly:I enjoyed the book. I thought it was a four. I enjoyed the cozy fantasy setting. I enjoyed the characters. I enjoyed the cozy fantasy setting. I enjoyed the characters. I enjoyed the talking spider plant. It was a very amusing sidekick. It reminded me a lot of the golden days of Disney animation side characters. You know, back in the heyday of Disney animation when the side characters in the animated movies were hilarious and more of a star than the main characters.
Mari:Yeah, Like the anxiety ball that was Kaz oh love him, but also, like uber, intelligent and thoughtful.
Kelly:Yes, and sort of just a really good character in his own right. Yeah.
Ashley:Yeah, yeah, team Kaz, yeah, so Team Kaz yeah.
Kelly:So I enjoyed it. I thought it was definitely a decent book and worth reading and it was a nice change of pace from some books we've been reading up until now. And Mari's right, it reminded me a lot of that cozy fantasy of like legends and latte, yeah absolutely all right, kelly, will you do our little spiel so we can get into some spoilers?
Kelly:sure, so, from this point forward, we will be discussing spoilers. So, listeners, if you do not want to hear any spoilers, this is your chance to pause the podcast and come back after you've read the book. Or, if you don't care about spoilers, keep on listening yeah, so I read a a quote.
Mari:I don't remember if it was part of some interview or something she did, but the author said that she described the book as the spell shop is like the lord of the rings if no one ever left the Shire. Aww Right. My only downside of this book is that I did not have adequate supply of raspberry jam while reading it.
Kelly:One of the things about this book that did bother me a little bit was there was a lot of painting a rosy picture of life outside the big city. It was really painting a lot of the hallmark movie type stuff where the big city girl who is a workaholic goes to the country, finds love and peace with a farmer type thing. That was.
Ashley:It was very much a hallmark I was thinking it's a fantasy Hallmark movie, Right, right, and it was you know everything's better in the country.
Kelly:Cheese in the City, like. There was a quote. Cheese in the City was soft and bland but here in the country it demands to be devoured because it's so good, like everything was like that. You know the townspeople take care of their own, not like those big city folk. You know the fruits and vegetables out here are so much better than in the city so it was definitely a painting. The whole life is better out here in the country. Type mentality, a throwback almost to like man. Life was so great back in Mayberry.
Mari:Well, but there was also. It did touch on some of the issues that were happening in the, in the country or in the, in the area removed from the capital. But it did kind of blame the city for it, like, basically, because the city hadn't sent out sorcerers out to the island of the far islands or whatever, they had all these storms that destroyed everything and they had, like, all these people that were gone, there wasn't a general store anymore and then the things that she remembered weren't quite there. Things were more run down. You know the, the cats, the winged cats, which that was a cool visual, but the winged cats, you know, were even they. They were leaner, like it was. It was economic depression in rural areas, but the whole blame of that was put on it was because sorcerers weren't being sent out right so I think what?
Jonathan:what resonated with me in that area is you know, things went. Things kind of went sideways through the based on the abuse of magic and the. The difference maker in this story was that she was democratizing magic. Magic wasn't just for this elite crowd. You didn't have to be born special, you didn't have to have. There was no banging, so you didn't have to bang the magic on. It was just anybody could do this with a little bit of practice.
Mari:Anyone with interest in it could do it.
Ashley:Yeah, well, I was going to say. I think what was such an important point for me was that it wasn't even just like the democracy. I can't say that word anymore. Sorry, it's been a day, guys. Magic for all guys. Magic for all. The magic for all it was. It was more about the books, right, and all of us, as book lovers, will be the first to say that speak for yourself.
Ashley:Story lovers, then yeah for all of us who love to read or listen to books, we feel as though that that knowledge should be shareable, right, and so I think for keela am I saying her name right, because you listened, I didn't yeah, so for keela, yeah, magic was banned from someone who was not, you know, labeled or credited as a sorcerer.
Ashley:But books, books are for everybody, knowledge is for everyone and so if that meant that magic was available to her because of the books and it was something that she could do, that was good and right, then that outweighed, you know, the potential crime of it all and that that really resonated for me. It was just about, I think I said to jonathan was this story for me? Yeah, it was a cozy fantasy, but it was also about someone trying to do their very best and to do what they felt was right and it working out and that was just a nice I it never worked out, it did every time she tried to do something nice, karma shit on her right in her face but she kept doing the right thing yeah, I, I agree.
Jonathan:No matter what happened, she continued to do the next right thing, but it it was like I want I. I thought the story should have ended on chapter 30, but it kept going on and it just was repetitive for me and that's why I didn't get the five what happened at chapter 30, where where should have ended for you it.
Jonathan:So it should have ended after they converted. You know, 16th in line, lady and like I thought, like okay, so that was the climax of the story. This is great. What's going to happen for the next, for the rest of this book, the last? You know like five or six chapters and it just became repetitive. Now you've got to fight that, you've got to like, you got to hide someone else, and then you have to do you know, now they're coming.
Jonathan:What do you mean? They're coming back, kind of thing. Like it was just this whole it just drug on. A little it drug on yeah, yeah, it did, but it was. And that's when I like, when that those things were happening, I was like all right, stop doing it, stop doing the right thing, do the wrong thing. You didn't learn the first time? That's what I thought. I was like you didn't. You didn't fucking learn. You were just like last time I saved somebody. If somebody was saved from a storm, it made everybody pretty shitty.
Ashley:You know what it felt like. It felt like a TV series.
Jonathan:That's interesting.
Ashley:Although maybe the moral is keep doing the right thing and eventually it'll turn out well, eventually, you just got to bang your head up against the wall a few times. Keep doing the right thing and eventually it'll turn out.
Kelly:well, eventually, you're just gonna bang your head up against the wall, if you that's what's that, that's called I think there were a lot of themes throughout the book that were repetitive, one of them being the idea that keeping knowledge hoarded was the key to powerful people maintaining their position. I mean, that was definitely a theme to it. That's why magic was banned, that's why these books were restricted, why magic wasn't allowed to be practiced by the commoners anymore, only the emperor's sorcerer.
Ashley:And why it was lost right Because there were some of the older islanders that remembered a time when you know small magic was done, basically, and then it got regulated right, protected.
Kelly:Right, exactly, so that's a. It was a form of control and that was what you know. Part of the whole uprising was against the emperor, was you know? Because the people wanted the knowledge back and unfortunately they burned the library by accident. So that was kind of a throwback to the library of Alexandria being burned and its knowledge being lost.
Mari:What did we think of the fantasy? What are we rating the fantasy?
Ashley:Oh, all the fantasy Jonathan's making a face. Why are you surprised at the question? That's what I'm, and I'm not surprised at the fantasy Jonathan's making a face.
Jonathan:Why are you?
Ashley:surprised at the question.
Jonathan:And I'm not surprised at the question.
Ashley:You have to go first because you went first last time. As we all anxiously await, rate the fantasy Fantasy.
Jonathan:Fantasy, Fantasy. You know, I thought there was maybe a little too much fantasy. There was a lot of different. I had trouble keeping up with who looked like what it's because it's supposed to be a TV series.
Jonathan:I'm telling you yeah, I mean that tracks. I was just not a super huge fan of like trying to keep track of. Did the his horse, his horse lady, you know, are they someone who looks different, I don't know. And then it was like bat, buck dude, and then like, uh, like water, water ponies, and then then like the, the mermaids, and it was just it, just like a whole. There was a whole bunch of stuff going on.
Ashley:It was a lot of fantasy. What a lot of I.
Jonathan:It took it. There was so much that it took away. It wasn't smash magic, but it was like it was like a truckload of like weirdness and so, uh, I'm gonna go with three. It was always it was. I was too, I was overstimulated you're overstimulating.
Ashley:You're so cute, you. I thought the fantasy, I thought the. I'm struggling between a four and a five because I think it was very high volume fantasy but, like jonathan said, it was a little overwhelming. There were things that I thought were better explained than others, like I don't know what lauren looks like other than his muscles, but I know what the mermaids looked like. So I think it's a four. I think the fantasy was a four.
Mari:For me, the fantasy was a five Because I thought it was a pretty good balance of bringing in a lot of different things, all different types of magic and creatures, like you'd had the mermaid, you had the more horses. You had a unicorn, because why not? You had four spirits. Horses, you had a unicorn, because why not? You had four spirits. I think the thing that I probably liked the most which I don't think it's original, because I think I've seen it or read it somewhere else but I couldn't think of where is that? The?
Mari:The spells were written in the first language, which is like this creation language. So you it. It is a little bit analogous to the whole Latin thing that we were talking about earlier. You have to know how to speak or how to say things correctly in the first language in order to do the spell. So there's a little bit of like you have to study it. You can't just randomly read it and have it work. But the fact that you had to have, like spell components, you had to have things you had to have, sometimes the weather had to be right or you know the right amount of people doing it or whatever but you also had this added element of it being this like first language, which gives it a little bit of, I think, richness in history, because it makes me think of like. Well, first language means what? Like first peoples, like what was the history of this world? You know why don't people speak the first language anymore? Yeah, anyways, I gave it a five for fantasy.
Kelly:Okay, well, I gave it a three and a half and I was kind of thinking it was a four, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that I didn't care for some of the things that were thrown in there, because it felt somewhat haphazardly like they were thrown in there, almost a little bit like in books we've read before, where it was like let's just keep throwing more and more fantasy elements into here without really explaining why they're here, or sometimes it doesn't even make sense that they're here.
Kelly:So we had forest spirits that felt almost like Princess Mononoke, like the Japanese Shinto idea of spirits and stuff, and then we also have mermaids, and then we have mer-horses, and then we have unicorns, and then also we're going to throw in sentient plants and we're going to throw in high magic and a high language. So it was just a lot of stuff, I think, going to throw in high magic and a high language, and so it was just a lot of stuff, I think, just all thrown in there like that, and we didn't get really into too much depth of any of it, and so to me it just kind of detracted it a little bit. I still think there was good fantasy elements just not strong enough for me, in my opinion, for it to be a four Okay romance, not strong enough for me, in my opinion, for it to be a four.
Mari:Okay, romance.
Jonathan:What was the romance?
Mari:What's your rating?
Jonathan:I'm going to give it a two, but not because of the main characters, because of the potential either bisexual or lesbian encounter that I wasn't sure if it took place, but I think it did between Baker and Inquisitor.
Mari:Yeah, they were a cute little couple.
Kelly:I think there was 100% something going on between the two of them. I don't think there was any question about that.
Jonathan:It happens. It was like so short lived it was like it was just like come back to me, Okay, Okay.
Ashley:What did you say? Your rating was.
Jonathan:A two. A two for romance, yeah.
Ashley:That's interesting.
Mari:I thought it was a three and a half for romance.
Ashley:There were a lot of feelings there. I thought it was a three and a half for romance. There were a lot of feelings.
Jonathan:There was jealousy.
Ashley:Well, no, I mean, there was a lot of feelings. There was a strong bond between Keela and Kaz and, just like I love stories that are just like immediate, you know friendship bonds, like BFFs forever. And Keela was just like Kaz showed up one day and said I'm your assistant. That was that. And I thought to myself that's how all friendships should be right, like that's like kindergarten, you know what I mean like that's the most pure friendship that exists and that was a very strong bond. And there was a lot of like internal monologue about his feelings or you know what to do. That was best for him and he was always a thought for her and it was clear that he, you know, cared about her as well. For what is a sentient plan, and I think you know the community that was the island really showed up very quickly in a in a similar fashion. Well, you're, of course you're one of us. Of course we're going to protect you.
Mari:It's a very strong family.
Ashley:And there was an instant recognition of something between Kila and Lauren. She was just a little too dense at first to realize what was happening, but I think that was because Dense, I think that was dense, I think she was trying to protect herself she, no, she, she wasn't paying attention she wasn't very good at people she was not good at people yeah, didn't let you out of there.
Ashley:she's a little dense. That's not even adhd. That was happening to. It was just lack of attention to you know, relationship, awareness, people around you. But I thought it was a three and a half Like. It was there, it was light, it was cozy, it was will you marry me? But you don't have to say yes and we can live in two houses. Like what are you talking about? Just three, and a half for me all right kelly no, go ahead.
Kelly:No, mari, okay, stick to the what we've, how we've been doing it so far, okay, okay well, for me, the romance was a five.
Mari:It was the kind of romance that I like. It was a slow build up. It was based off of interactions and feelings rather than just a hot person must bang them. It was, you know, a socially awkward person who kind of was like why, why is he coming over and helping me? Why is he bothering me? What is going on here, when he's just like he likes her?
Ashley:Yeah, he's just genuine the whole time.
Mari:Yeah, yeah, I like that and I liked, you know, on the romance, how it built it was very like service-based, like what they did for each other. On the friendship stuff, I loved the Kaz interaction Like. I liked how she like Kaz was unquestionably her friend and unquestionably a person, had personhood anyways, like when they were picking the I highlighted this when they were picking the weeds or the things that she called weeds and he gave her the whole weed speech and she forever the rest of the book like changed how she thought and and talked about weeds like he she went to she mentioned that they were going to weed the garden and I'm going to read it says cas says there's no such thing as a weed. Cas said that's a cruel term made up by people who label some plants as unwanted and some is valuable, as if the worth of a living thing is measured by how useful it is to another Goodness. I mean Kaz. Round of applause.
Ashley:I mean Sarah Beth, round of applause. Yes, she went deep for some things.
Ashley:She went deep for some things and it was very much the things that you know an ordinary person wouldn't necessarily give so much thought to. Right and their pals and they're going on these adventures and talking through like big life things together but then to like, have this open awareness of of living things right as plants and how we label things yeah, damn, I was not emotionally prepared for the in-depth that she hit sometimes this week I agree, I agree and like, like the way that keela talked about lauren you said lauren is how it's pronounced right, the way she talked about lauren, I thought, was it just was very sweet in a, a person who's bad at peopling, kind of way, like okay.
Mari:So I highlighted two things when, when she first met him, she was like he wasn't what she'd call handsome, but he didn't look like a murderer either, not that she knew what that would look like. He was tall, which wasn't an argument for or against murder. Like he shows up at her house, he's tall. Maybe he's not a murderer, I don't know.
Ashley:But then when she starts to get to know that's girl math, yeah, yeah this is another little bit that I highlighted.
Mari:He smiled, and the expression transformed him from ordinary into stunningly handsome. It was like the sun coming out from behind the clouds over a stormy sea. She found herself smiling back without meaning to, and as soon as she realized she was doing it, she frowned um beth jonathan, are you sure you meant to?
Ashley:yes okay, I'm trying to figure out if, if lauren's a fuzzy like, does he have scales like how unique, or is he straight up like he's?
Jonathan:not fuzzy. He's not fuzzy because he hangs out in the water. You don't hang out in the water and be fuzzy have you seen this?
Mari:have you seen a seal, yeah, or an otter or a?
Ashley:water. I just made a point.
Jonathan:Jonathan doesn't like it I think he's the human equivalent of an otter. You think he's?
Ashley:a platypus, but he's certainly a hand holder that's gross jonathan's freaked out now. He doesn't like the image a hand holder. That's gross. Jonathan's freaked out now. He doesn't like the image that I put Terrible.
Kelly:Good job Ashley.
Ashley:My job's done. Guys, it was nice chatting.
Mari:So, yeah, that's for me Romance 5 because of all those things, kelly.
Kelly:I gave the Romance a 4. Because, similar to what Mari said, this was more of the type of romance things that I like to read.
Kelly:I thought it was a much more realistic romance, even if it was kind of Hallmark movie type of romance, especially a romance between two adult people who are very set in their ways and I like that Lauren's way of showing his affection and showing his love was constantly to be doing things for her. You know he was very much a type of person of showing that his affection by, you know right acts of service, you know, building her shelves, fixing this, fixing that, bringing her food, bringing her tomatoes, all those kind of things.
Jonathan:Yeah.
Kelly:And you know the author did a lot of nice points in her book about, you know, real romance. You know several times, like one of the quotes was she was told you know by her dad what was better was companionship. Her dad wanted her to find someone who would be there for her, who'd laugh with her through the years, not a fling. Find someone who will be there for you. Her father had once told her, Someone who will laugh with you through the years, someone who makes you happy day to day. And so that's kind of, in my opinion, what real romance is is the, you know, like we talked about in the Wolf Gone Wild, is it's easy to be romantic in the moment and in the passion it's. The real romance is being there day to day, supporting someone, lifting them up, you know, up through thick and thin, and all that kind of stuff. That's real romance. It's easy to do grand romantic gestures in the heat of lust. It's another thing to be there day to day and support that person every day.
Mari:Yeah.
Jonathan:Yeah, I'm here for the smut, smut's good too.
Ashley:Romance and spice are different things, right.
Jonathan:Sir, well, get me hot.
Kelly:Sir Before we move on to spice, which apparently Jonathan wants to move on to, and I think you really got the first sense for, like how, when she first realized, I think, how much she actually loved Laren or had fallen in love with him, was when he rescued the girl from the ocean and she said and I highlighted this that she was worried. That quote, he has someone new to take care of now and that made her jealous. So that was, I think, when she first realized that she had real feelings.
Kelly:Because she's not good at peopling, she's not good at her own feelings and realizing that Right because she kept telling herself that she can't like him and that he can't like her because she's unlikable. But at that one moment, that was when it changed.
Mari:Yeah that, and like dude he built her bookshelves and jam shelves.
Ashley:I highlighted that in the book Maybe this is something that could last like. How often do you find someone that's going to build you bookshelves?
Mari:yeah, girl, all right, do we want to move on to the spice? Because I know.
Ashley:Jonathan is chomping at the bit. Jonathan very much wants to talk about the spice.
Jonathan:There's no spice to talk about. I waited Do you know how long I waited? And listened, and waited and listened. You know the rule about About 420 pages there was no cock, zero cock, the closest we got to cock was a feral chicken.
Ashley:The last one was too much cock too soon. Cock was a feral chicken. The last one was too much cock too soon. And now it's not enough.
Jonathan:I was not mad, he's.
Ashley:Goldilocks over here Good.
Jonathan:We need just the right amount of cock, just the right amount.
Mari:Oh, okay, so next we have to read, then Ice, Planet Barbarians, that's all.
Jonathan:I'm saying yes because they have Is that the one with the blue cock Right?
Mari:They're blue, big, and they what were they ridged or something.
Jonathan:There was something about them. Maury read to find out. Um, I don't know.
Kelly:I don't remember you told me something about them. It's like two or they had something, though something weird with if you want to know, yeah double, double-headed.
Jonathan:We listen. This is how little spice there was in this book. Is that we have to import blue cock, blue space cock? Is that we have to import blue cock, blue space cock, to talk about? To bring spice Blue. There is no way that Mari could possibly have allocated five dongers for this one, for this category, cause there wasn't even one donger throughout the whole book.
Mari:Okay, so you're, you're, you're giving you at a one or a zero, or what?
Jonathan:I'm going to, I listen. I believe in being kind to our authors.
Ashley:Equitable cocks.
Jonathan:Equitable cocks. Although there were no written cocks in this story, I like to think of all my cocks as imaginary, and so I'll still give them a. I'm going to give them. We'll go middle of the road. She can have three.
Mari:Three, three. You're just being super generous. Who's next them? A I'm gonna give them. We'll go middle of the road. She can have three three, three.
Jonathan:I get you know I'm a giver. I want to be generous with my cock I.
Kelly:I don't understand how you gave that a three spice and a two romance.
Jonathan:Jonathan, it's cock math, make it make sense.
Mari:Explain Jonathan, explain me.
Jonathan:I've imagined like I had a match. They were imagined. Imagine a cock.
Ashley:Kelly please edit out my cackling oh, no, no, no I can't, I can't.
Jonathan:What is? The same way you imagine girth it's cock. I imagined it is there figment all right, who's next on spice?
Ashley:it's me it's me, I'm sorry, I can't. Um, I personally did not envision penises in this book, because even the merhorses took care of themselves, so the spice was like a one for me. Just because I don't want to give it a zero. This was not a spicy book. Don't read this book if you're looking for spice. There was adventure. There was adequate romance. There was an abundance of friendship. Was adventure? There was adequate romance. There was an abundance of friendship and community. There was not space.
Jonathan:B-Y-O-C. Bring your own cock, yeah.
Kelly:Well, I don't know about you, Jonathan, but I bring mine everywhere we go.
Mari:B-Y-O-C lifestyle. Oh my God, oh my god, the byoc lifestyle.
Kelly:If I didn't bring mine everywhere I went, there would be a big problem pocket cocks, that's what I say I.
Mari:I gave it a one. I said there's not really any spice. The closest thing to it that I could think of was the whole like. For the first few times she went over to his house she kept getting her clothes wet and had to like change and put on his big shirts and she liked wearing his clothes. That was like the closest thing to like. A little little teeny semblance of a thought, of a potential idea of spice. Yeah, not really any spice, which is fine To me. Whether or not a book has spice is independent of whether or not the book is good. I've read some really spicy books that are good and some really spicy books that are bad. So, yeah, this definitely no like minimal, most minimal of spice. So a one, kelly.
Kelly:I also gave it a one. There was really no spice. There was some kissing and a little bit of this and that, but it was very PG Like. I don't even think it was PG as far as the spice goes. It was probably more like Disney yeah. Although I did think all the time she kept getting, you know, her clothes wet and had the embarrassing moment that seemed very like an eighties rom-com anime type thing that kept happening right so, yeah, I think I won.
Kelly:There really was no real spice, but like you said, marie, that's the amount of spice is independent from whether or not it was good right, it's not indicative of it.
Mari:So what do we think of the cover?
Jonathan:I liked it. I was like this cover's spot on it's like. As I was listening to the story I was like and then looked at the cover, I was like, yeah, that's pretty much what I envisioned A little shack at the top of these crusty old stairs. I liked it. I thought it was very well done. I got a five.
Ashley:I would agree it was a five. It was a very pretty book cover and I think the edges are sprayed, aren't they, marie, or no? Yeah, they're like a lavender yeah, I'm a I'm a slut for sprayed edges, so I don't own the book. I would buy it just because it's so pretty, and I probably would have picked it up in the store had I seen it. But for now I have the ebook, so I would actually I would definitely say it's like the covers of five for me yeah, I agree.
Mari:Also, I forgot to say the artist for the cover is Lulu Shen C-H-E-N and the designer is Esther Kim Esther Kim, sorry, I can't say that name For me. I put a five as well. It's a little cottage in the woods with the sunlight coming through the trees. It's got the little winged cat on the stairs. The only thing that might have made it better would have been like some raspberry plant somewhere and or maybe Kaz somewhere in there. But then again I think about it. I'm like I feels like this is when they first got onto the Island and we're like looking up at the little you know cabin or whatever for the first time. So yeah, it was a five for me, Kelly. So yeah, it was a five for me, kelly.
Kelly:I gave the cover a four and I don't think that it. I think that it was very good. It was a very well-designed cover and very much what I pictured the house to be, the little cottage to be. I don't think it was from when they first got there and saw it, because to me it looked way too good of a house for it to be when they first got there. It wasn't overgrown as bad as it was first described. The only thing that I needed to see Kaz on the cover, and that would have been a five.
Mari:Yeah, that's true. A little peep of Kaz in the corner, that'd be perfect. So do we think it's a kissing book?
Jonathan:No, ma'am.
Mari:Wow.
Jonathan:I liked it, but any book that I've got to bring my own cock to is not a kissing book to me. Their love wasn't pivotal in the story.
Ashley:The story wasn't contingent on their feelings for each other.
Jonathan:Is that a question? Yes, correct, that's an answer.
Mari:Ash, what do you?
Jonathan:think that's the play-by-play. That's the kind of commentary you can expect.
Ashley:Yeah, no, I guess I'm struggling too. I always forget about this question. You know, like I think, from the get-go, Lauren was very fascinated and entranced by Keela. Lauren was very fascinated and entranced by Keela, but did Keela do everything that she did for him? I think she did it for the community. So if we said, is it a kissing book? You know, because of you know the emotions and the commitment and the Found family, yeah, the family concept, then yes. But if it's pure romance, partner to partner, then no.
Mari:I put yes for me because I felt like she wouldn't have made it if it wasn't for him. She would have like starved, she had no idea how to survive on this island. Yeah, but was it reciprocal?
Ashley:So I guess you're yeah, and if you think about it from like to me, is it a kissing book? Because both of them right? Yeah, if you're talking about one, then for sure lauren was on board the second she landed she was much slower, you're right but like she's the one that went above and beyond from the magic perspective yeah, this one feels trickier.
Mari:This doesn't feel like a clear answer for me. Hmm, you know you're talking me out of it.
Ashley:I know. Good night and good luck everyone.
Mari:Sorry, I think my question would be maybe that's my answer, maybe Kelly what do you think?
Kelly:so I went with. It is because of lauren's that he did so much for her, because he was in love with her, and without his help everything would have fallen apart.
Ashley:The books would have been stolen by the inquisitor yeah, you know so many other things would have happened if she would have starved.
Mari:She would have starved.
Kelly:So I think that from his perspective it doesn't have to be that the main character was driven completely by romance and things would have fallen apart From that perspective I think it's from any perspective that the plot would have fallen apart. She wouldn't have had the books to do the magic if he hadn't done everything for her because he loved her.
Mari:Yeah.
Jonathan:Was that love or was that gratitude that developed into a love?
Ashley:I mean maybe for her, but I think his presence, his continuance had nothing to do with gratitude. What was he grateful for? Someone just to look after, I mean his mer horse savior yeah, well, that didn't happen until the end no, but it happened in the beginning oh, because she saved it happened when she was younger.
Mari:Well, and also his, his parents helped him when her parents, his, her parents helped him when so parents were abusive.
Ashley:So I mean, maybe it was initially some gratitude that he wanted to give back, but I think he was drawn to her Like he didn't have to keep coming back.
Kelly:Yeah, I mean the villagers. The other villagers, the baker chick and the rest of them, were pretty early on to clue in to and even. Kaz was clued in that he was madly in love with her.
Mari:That's right, because they did say that he doesn't act that way with everybody. Right, you're right.
Kelly:Even Kaz was wanting to smack her upside the head and saying hey, are you paying attention?
Ashley:The plant with no eyes.
Kelly:Right. So it's not like he developed feelings for her later, after she did stuff for him. He was doing stuff for her without asking, without questioning. You know, come make my house look like no one's lived in it, and you can't. We don't have time for me to explain, okay that's true, okay, yes, it's a kissing book element if you incorporate Brynn and her motherly support or auntually.
Ashley:Well, the community.
Jonathan:She was the leader of the community. Besides the healer, she was the leader of the community, I feel. Yeah, she basically was that could present, because the story it really doesn't have. She's the pivotal, she's a pillar that's supporting the story, and if you remove Brynn from the story, the whole thing collapses.
Ashley:Ooh.
Mari:Hmm, which, once again, brain wouldn't be there if they hadn't accepted her, if the island hadn't accepted her. It's a whole found family thing again, which goes back to like familial love. So yeah, I'm changing mine from maybe to yes.
Ashley:Full circle.
Jonathan:What an emotional rollercoaster Mari has on.
Mari:I have. I have all right anything else that we have to say about the book before we move on I encourage people to read this book.
Mari:I thought it was still a delightful read I agree, I agree, I loved it, 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 our Facebook page. Of swords and soulmates are on our website of swords and soulmatescom and also on YouTube same username. If you'd like to offer a suggestion for a future rapid fire question, reach out to us on any of those options. Or if you'd like to offer a suggestion for what we should read, please reach out to us. If you'd like to read along with us as we prep for a new episode, follow us on Goodreads at of swords and soulmates. We hope you'll join us in two weeks for our next episode, when we review the audienceient and the Phantom Knight, which is the Aglissian Seas series by Sadie Hewitt. Bye, bye, thank you.
