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
"A Dowry of Blood" - Vengeful Vampire Brides
Have you ever wondered what would happen if Dracula's brides plotted his downfall? Join us as we discuss A Dowry of Blood. We first ponder what makes a special edition book truly special. We dive into the vibrant world of special edition book releases and explore what fuels our excitement for these modern retellings and captivating collections, promising listeners a feast for their eyes and imagination.
Get ready for a deep dive into the world of fantasy and fandoms as we chat about the new Hunger Games prequel focusing on Haymitch's untold stories. Plus, we're gearing up for the Dance of the Dragons event in Orlando, where market-style setups and intimate author interactions await. Ruby Dixon's enchanting reads take center stage as we share our admiration for her storytelling prowess and stunning book editions that have captured our hearts.
We shift gears to a spirited discussion on S.T. Gibson's A Dowry of Blood, where the dusty velvet ambiance leaves us craving more depth and innovation. The conversation doesn't shy away from exploring the complex interplay of romance and spice, touching on themes of manipulation and connection. We wrap it up with a quick discussion on what our favorite book or show was for the previous month. Engage with us as we explore these varied and rich topics, inviting listeners to share thoughts and feedback on our picks and insights.
- Links from the News Segment and Show:
- Special Edition of Dark Olympus by Katee Robert
- Link to Backerkit
- Books will be hardcover with reversible dust jackets, linen covers, and special edges. The set will come in a foiled slipcase.
- It will release on 03/03/2025
- LitJoy Crate special edition of The Stolen Heir by Holly Black
- Link to LitJoy Crate
- October 23, 10am MT - Lunacorn EARLY ACCESS sales open for preorder
- October 24, 10am MT - Public sales open for preorder
- Estimated Ship Date - Spring 2025
- 4 new Kindle models recently released
- New Hunger Games Book - Sunrise on the Reaping
- https://amzn.to/3YaqYIu
- Releases 03/18/25
- Dance of the Dragons event in Orlando
- https://www.alluxiaevents.com/dragons
- Nov 22 and 23rd
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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 of course, we have Ashley.
Ashley:Hey guys, it's Ashley. We also have Jonathan.
Jonathan:What's good everybody. It's JP, hey guys, it's Ashley. We also have Jonathan.
Mari:What's good everybody. It's JP, all the energy, jp with all the energy, everyone's energy.
Mari:Yeah, today we're going to be discussing A Dowry of Blood by ST Gibson, but first we're going to go over some news. As always, I've got a good. Yeah, there's a good bit of news today. There's a lot going on.
Mari:First thing is it's a little ways out, but Katie Roberts has released that she's going to be doing a special edition of the Dark Olympus series, which is the Neon Gods books, which I think John and Ash, I think you guys got me for like birthday Was it birthday one year or Christmas or something? You guys got me hooked onto it. I remember that. Yeah, whatever it was, I remember it was you guys. So they're they're spicy, like a Greek God retelling and it's kind of in a modern day setting and it's a little bit of almost kind of like mobster kind of vibes to it instead of it being like Greek family. Anyway, it's good for anyone who that sounds interesting for I would recommend they're fun books.
Mari:But there's this really pretty special edition coming. She released some images of it. It's going to be the first five books that will be released in this campaign. It's done through backerkitcom. They're going to be hardcovers with reversible dust jackets, linen covers and special edges in a foiled slipcase. The artist like. The cover design is by East Oaks Creative, the step back art is by Isabel Bartnicki and the reversible dust jackets are by Vedder. It's really pretty. It's really like got a lot of bling to it.
Mari:A lot of gold foil. It's got like a 1920s looking vibe to it.
Jonathan:It looks pretty cool.
Mari:Right, like a little Great Gatsby kind of thing. It will be released on March 3rd of 2025. And you can go on the link that we'll include in our show notes and like sign up for email stuff from them. So it'll be a little bit before all that's ready to buy. They don't have even prices or anything on there yet, but I was just. I thought the artwork was really pretty. I thought it was really about time that that series got some kind of special version or something, because there aren't any that I know of for that series, I think. Am I the only one who's read that series, or have you read any?
Ashley:I read the first one and it was good. It was spicy, it was interesting.
Mari:I definitely liked the version right of the quote-unquote greek gods yeah, that was that was a fun little twist yeah, I think the the psyche, is it psyche and arrows story?
Ashley:uh-huh I think that's my favorite one I think that's book two right so far yeah, yeah, that's probably right.
Mari:So I think book two is probably my favorite, but I'm not. I think there's seven or eight. I I'm two books behind, so I've read like the first six, I believe. But they're fun, they're good books. I'd recommend them.
Mari:The other thing I saw, which I messaged Ash immediately upon seeing it is that Lit Joy Crate is doing their special edition of the Stolen Air by Holly Black. So this is the Stolen Air duology. It's the two books that came after the Folk of the Air series, the Cruel Prince series that we've talked about before. They're doing the special edition version of this and this is going to be their special edition version. That's just it's going to match their, the Lit Joy Crate Folk of the Air edition, which is a really pretty edition of the Cruel Prince books. So it's going to be in that style.
Mari:The second one in the duology will be available in 2026. It's going to be $45. It's going to be available for pre-order with, like, the Lit Joy Crate people on the 23rd, then everybody else on the 24th of October Sorry, october and then there'll be shipping in spring of 2025. It's not going to be an original. It's not going to be signed like original signature. It's going to be a digital signature but it's going to have annotations in it and really cool like artwork and tip in artwork and end papers and all that good stuff. It looks like a really pretty edition.
Jonathan:It does, it does. Are those the images that I'm seeing on that page for the joycratecom? Is that the tip-in pages? Is that what we're?
Mari:I believe so. Yeah, because there's three different tip-in pages. And there's the endpapers too. So, like, the first few images are going to be the endpapers on, like the inside covers, and then the last three images are going to be the tip-in pages and they're done by different artists. So cover art is done by Tim Baran, the endpapers are by Annalise Jensen, the tip-in artwork are by Bohemian Weasel, Janifia and two others.
Jonathan:I like the cover art the most.
Mari:Yeah, I don't know I'm torn. I like the cover art and I like the cover art the most. Yeah, I don't know I'm torn. I like the cover art and I like the end paper art. I think the end paper art is what I saw for somebody reposted or something and it really like caught my attention.
Jonathan:It reminds me of Prince Charming.
Mari:Yeah, I can see that. Yeah, I can definitely see that. Yeah, I was very excited when I saw that, because those are really pretty editions. The other thing I think you brought to the game, jonathan, was the news of the four different new Kindle models that have been released recently, including the first color Kindle, like the ColorSoft. The Scribe, the Paperwhite, like the faster version of the Paperwhite, and then the compact Kindlele and matcha, which I know lots of people were talking about the little one and I and I heard some people talking I was thinking about a kindle.
Jonathan:Do you know? Like, so if you were, if you were telling a stranger, hey, you have four kindle choices and they're like hey, here's what I want to use my kindle for. I'm going to have it just to maybe try to read it, but I'm not sure how often I'll use it. I also have big meat hooks for hands. Which one would you tell them to do?
Ashley:I have the answer oh shit, Go for it the stranger, for the stranger to ask his wife if he can have her used kindle and tell the stranger to buy a fancy new one for his wife. That will use it. That is the correct answer so then the real answer to this question is ash, which one do you want? When this, when these dropped the other day, I was like I do not need a kindle. I do not need a kindle.
Ashley:I do not need a 300 color soft kindle it's like 280 bucks. Yeah, I'm rounding up, there are taxes, there are taxes. Yeah, so you should buy me the pretty one and you can have my old one just so you know.
Jonathan:The pretty one that I, the one that I think is pretty, is this like sage looking, one on the hand, the macho one it'll this one.
Mari:What's the difference? I don't know. Little is a little, I guess I don't have.
Jonathan:I don't have a good idea of size.
Mari:Okay, so measured it with yeah, how do you feel about like, like, if you take like more or less like a standard paperback, you know, like a paperback book, how do you feel about that size?
Ashley:I don't know that you have standards.
Jonathan:Yeah, you're right, I have no standards. You don't have standards, ashley. That's why you're with me.
Ashley:That's why we got married. I know.
Jonathan:Is this a standard paperback?
Ashley:Yeah, that's probably decent.
Jonathan:Okay, yeah.
Mari:I like the size white, so maybe I'm partial to that, but to me that paper book size, paperback size, is a good size. It's easy to read from, it's easy to turn pages, it's easy to hold in one hand, even with my not that large hands, but it's also not so small that your fingers are getting on top of each other. The thing about the Matcha, the Compaq one it's really not much bigger than most people's phone. In which case, why don't you just use the Kindle app?
Jonathan:on your phone.
Mari:That's a good point. So I would say at least the Paperwhite Now for you. I know you like doing digital notes, so the Sbe has the ability to do digital notes where you can write stuff on there and keep it as digital notes, which I know is a thing you can't do that on the paperweight.
Ashley:That's interesting, you can type notes on the paperweight. You can get all in it.
Jonathan:Yeah, and highlight I wonder if I so. I have a remarkable tablet.
Mari:I wonder if I can use that to do it, because you can yeah, to me the scribe is the most like the Remarkable tablet which I know you have and like.
Ashley:But can he read on the Remarkable?
Mari:Probably I don't know. Yeah, I don't know. You need to find out, I think, if it has a way for you to receive email. Like to receive email to it, because I know that with Kindle, my understanding, this is how I get like, not the books off Amazon, but like when you buy a book, like. I just kickstarted the Sapling Cage and part of that was getting a like ebook or whatever. And so anytime for me, like most of my ebook stuff I get from Amazon. I mean hate to name drop, but I just do because that's, that's it's Kindle limited, et cetera. But I kickstarted the Sapling Cage by Margaret Killjoy and you get the physical book in the mail and then you get the e-book. So I got the e-book and then you have to email the e-book file to a specific email address, and that email address is associated with my paperweight. So my thinking would be, if you could do that with the Remarkable I assume it'd be the same way that you would have to like, is there an email address associated with the Remarkable tablet? That?
Jonathan:you can use. There is. It says it doesn't support Kindle books but it supports, like EPUB and PDF.
Mari:Okay, yeah, so you wouldn't necessarily be able to use Kindle books, but if you could get an EPUB version of it, that might be a way to do it. I don't know. I don't know how cumbersome that is. I'll tell you, I like my paper white. I would check into the scribe capability because you like that. Or, to be honest, I would buy Ash the color soft and I would use whatever she has. That's my marriage advice to you.
Jonathan:I will pencil that in.
Ashley:Kelly agrees Kelly, what would you?
Kelly:do. Happy wife, happy life. I believe in the slightly annoyed wife amusing life.
Ashley:Amusing but not happy, Not guaranteed.
Jonathan:I like to live on the edge, dangerously close to the edge.
Kelly:What are you going to read on the Kindle? Are you just going to read textbooks and that's it, or are you going to read anything else that has pictures?
Mari:diagrams. You can accept pictures.
Kelly:Yeah.
Mari:Graphic novels, manga, comic books.
Kelly:I picked up an Amazon Fire tablet used like refurbished, used clearance off of Woot for like $70. And it has a color screen. It's like the size of an iPad, so it's heavier than like a Kindle, but I can read regular books on it and I can look at medical textbooks that have pictures and drawings and elaborate diagrams and stuff like that.
Ashley:You've got like five Amazon.
Kelly:Fires, I do have five Amazon.
Ashley:Fires.
Jonathan:Behold it.
Kelly:Then just use your Amazon Fire tablet with the Kindle app on the Fire tablet.
Ashley:Problem solved. I'm going to try that I'm going to test drive that. Good job Kelly.
Kelly:I mean, you really don't have to buy anything. The only reason to buy the color Kindle is if you just want the form factor of the Kindle itself, it being very small, very light and being able to see color on it. But my thing is the diagrams. I would need to look at, the pictures I would need to look at, or if I was reading a graphic novel or a comic book or a manga, it would only show one panel at a time or I would have to constantly be zooming in and out. So I don't know that I would get much use out of the color Kindle.
Mari:So there's some advice, depending on what you're wanting to use it for sounds good the next little bit of news is for ash. The new hunger games book had its little cover and date release. It's going to be haymitch's games, so we're going to find out his story. So many things I know. Sunry sunrise on the reaping will release march 18th of 2025. It'll be interesting because he was traumatized yeah, I want, yeah.
Ashley:There I have so many thoughts. I just you kind of wonder if he was, you know as surly before his games right was he? Was he more honorable? Was he more charming? Because you kind of see it right underneath the layers of trauma and alcoholism yeah it's defense walls, right, right I'm.
Ashley:I think this is the story that fans have wanted for a very long time, because I could care less about President Snow's upbringing, right, that meant zero to me. I read the whole book and I forgot it immediately. It meant absolutely nothing to me. I appreciate the parallels, right, and I think Suzanne Collins is actually a very good writer, even if it's slightly world building, but it's not mind boggling and it's not it's weight and it's emotional but not weight in that you know, it's 700 pages per book. Yeah, I remember being like, like chemically changed after reading the Hunger Games as an adolescent. So I'm, as an adult who has an appreciation for current age, hamish attitude and, you know, response. I'd really like to see him before his games and during his games. You know what changed him so much.
Jonathan:Death, having to kill people.
Mari:Lots and lots of death.
Ashley:Well, and it was a quarter quell right. So more than just average death, so much death.
Mari:Yeah, I think it'll be interesting book for sure. And then the last thing I have is the Dance of the Dragons event in Orlando that we kind of just found out about. It's happening on the 22nd and 23rd and it's being done by a Luxia events and it's basically like a market kind of thing. During the day I don't think there's any panels, but it's really like a market. There's some book related vendors there and there's some authors there, but it's not a book event per se, it's kind of a fantasy event and then they have like a ball. I don't know if it's both days or one days, we're just going to be going to the market.
Mari:I basically found out about this because an author that I follow happened to like post about it that she was going to be there and be in Orlando, and I'm like, wait, what is this? So Paige Lavoie, if anyone reads her stuff, she's going to be there. She wrote I'm engaged to Mothman. I'm sorry, I'm in love with the Mothman, and then I'm engaged to Mothman, and then third one is I'm getting married to Mothman. So she wrote that little trilogy of books which are cute, little fun books. But yeah, I think we're all going to be there, right, except for Kelly? Are you guys are going Ticket spot? Yeah, so we'll be there. So if you're there or if you're going to be going, say hey.
Jonathan:I'm looking at some of these vendors here at this Dance of the Dragons.
Mari:Dance of the Dragons.
Jonathan:Yeah, there is, this is a nice twist, a good mix of authors. Stuff what is this wild shaped pottery? I think we're gonna have to keep Ashley away from that. We're gonna have some interestingly shaped plates.
Mari:Acrylic picks is gonna acrylic picks. I think it is the ones that they did the Crowns of Niaxia special edition books. They're gonna be there.
Kelly:I can never say their name acrylic picks yeah, they'll be there.
Ashley:I can never say their name Acrylipix yeah, they'll be there, this definitely gave me Expo vibes right and I feel like that's kind of what we were missing at the BookCon. Not that we didn't love the BookCon, because I think we raved about it, but this one definitely seems like a marketplace Like we were going to the swap shop down in Fort Lauderdale. You know what I mean, like we're going to be busy, we're going to need both days, I think.
Mari:Yeah, well, and that's the thing with like that we talked about already. But like about the romancy thing is like you, I felt like you had to split your time between do you want to interact in the market and with the authors and the vendors, or do you want to take do panels, because it's all happening at the same time and you've got to pick and choose. So something to be said about it. All we can do there is the market stuff, so you can concentrate on it.
Mari:Oh, Mari, you know what I got the other day in the mail Made me think of you.
Jonathan:Where did I put it, Ashley?
Ashley:I don't know what you're talking about.
Jonathan:I got the bull sex book. You did.
Mari:The bull sex book you did. You didn't show it to me. Bull Moon Rising.
Jonathan:Yes.
Mari:I don't know why that made you think of me other than it's Ruby Dixon. I do love her.
Jonathan:It's a very lovely book.
Ashley:You didn't show it to me.
Jonathan:I'll show it to you, Ashley. It is a beautiful book.
Ashley:You look busy with your headset. How the heck did I put it? Now, Ashley? I don't know. I'm telling you I didn't see it.
Mari:It's so sparkly you should be able to find it with your eyes closed.
Ashley:It is definitely not on that bookshelf.
Jonathan:I'm going to stand up. You guys talk amongst yourselves for a moment.
Ashley:This is the ADHD kicking in. Must problem solve.
Mari:Oh hey, how about I read another Ruby Dixon book? Last time we talked I had only read her Ice Planet Barbarian books, but I read my first Ruby Dixon book. Sorry, my phone was talking to me.
Ashley:I read your first Ruby.
Mari:Dixon book. Yeah, that was one of her fantasy stuff. It's called the Worst Guy. It's like a fantasy kind of vibes, completely blanked out on the name.
Kelly:Yeah.
Mari:Worst Guy. It's called Worst Guy. It's a little bit of like gladiator slave kind of person and somebody who's trying to rehab him and then their little interaction in basically a fantasy type setting like a village kind of thing. It was a good little story. Her writing style is similar to what it is on the Ice Planet Barbarians. So if you liked Ice Planet Barbarians I would recommend her other stuff, her fantasy stuff. I think you'd enjoy that too.
Ashley:Is Ruby Dixon like a little old lady with curlers in her hair? That's how I envision her. If she's young or middle-aged, I would be disappointed.
Mari:I really think she's on the younger end of middle-age. I think she's younger middle-age. I think she's younger than me, I don't know. I mean like younger middle-aged, I think she's younger than me, I don't know. I mean, I could also tell from pictures.
Ashley:I I want to live her life, but in my head I hear ruby dix. You know the, the image that you get with the ice planet, barbarians, and I just hope that she's a little old lady writing these love monster alien stories for funsies on the weekend and it just happened to blow up.
Jonathan:She's written so I don't have it on the screen if you can see it there. But what really got me going was when I opened it up.
Ashley:Oh, there's a picture.
Jonathan:Yeah, there's pictures. Oh, it's pink. It's a very lovely pink, even the spine Like Barbie pink it is. I'm going to bedazzle it this weekend.
Ashley:You're going to bedazzle the book, yeah.
Jonathan:You're not going to keep the book. You're not going to keep the book. Cover on the book. Yeah, I think it's just. Uh, I don't even know what's in the book in terms of like if it's a good read or not, but we've officially corrupted him.
Ashley:He bought it because it was pretty. I definitely yeah one of us. Can I touch it as we reach across?
Jonathan:sorry guys all good there. Yeah, that's um it's. I think it's a love. That's quite a lovely book I I'm excited to I think you will like her writing style.
Mari:Yeah, I think you'll like her writing style because she's spicy. It's not like her language isn't super verbose or super hoity-toity. There's a place for all that in some stories. I'm not criticizing anybody who uses that kind of language, but Ruby Dixon's feels more like a conversation amongst friends, almost like somebody's telling you a story, somebody you know. You know it's kind of telling you a story, but she does a really good job at making her characters very I don't know if I would say human, because not all of them are human, but very like relatable yeah, yeah, that came in yesterday, so I'm very, I'm very it's on the TBR I slated for sometime in the future, I'm sure.
Mari:Cool, you have to tell me what to think. I know it's on my TBR, but that's the ever-growing TBR.
Jonathan:You might get to it before I do too. I got gems for the bedazzling. Don't get here till tomorrow, so it'll be a long Are you not going to?
Mari:read it till you Are you going to bedazzle it first and then read it?
Jonathan:Yeah, I can't read and bedazzle at the same time, unless I'm listening to the book, which I could do. I think I have an audio too.
Mari:It's a thought. It's a thought, all right. Any other new stuff? I don't think so. I, I don't think so. I think you covered it, okay, kelly? No, okay, all right. So let's get into the book that we're reviewing and talking about today. It's A Dowry of Blood and I swear in my head I kept saying a diary D-I-A-R-Y, but it is dowry D-O-W-R-Y, two completely different words.
Mari:Important distinction dowry d-o-w-r-y two completely different words important distinction, very important distinction. Yeah, so a dowry of blood. We chose this because halloween's coming up and it's vampires, and vampires and halloween go together well and it it was pretty well reviewed. Um, I remember hearing people talk about it last year and the year before and it's been on my list for a little bit. I know Let me read the synopsis and a little bit about it and then we can get into talking about it. Sound good.
Jonathan:Sounds great.
Mari:All right. So here's the synopsis. This is my last love letter to you, though some would call it a confession. Love letter to you, though some would call it a confession. Saved from the brink of death by a mysterious stranger, constanta is transformed from a medieval peasant into a bride fit for an undying king. But when Dracula draws a cunning aristocrat and a starving artist into his web of passion and deceit, constanta realizes that her beloved is capable of terrible things. Finding comfort in the arms of her rival consorts, she begins to unravel their husband's dark secrets, with the lives of everyone she loves on the line. Constanta will have to choose between her own freedom and her love for her husband. But bonds forged by blood can only be broken by death.
Jonathan:That sounds about right yeah.
Mari:So what do we think? Non-spoilery overview. What do we think? I'll go first. I don't mind going first Okay good.
Mari:So I may have suffered from overinflated expectations. I kept hearing how great this was from multiple YouTube people and Instagram and everything that I follow and usually can rely on pretty well for book recommendations and you guys, as I've said before multiple times, I love me a vampire story and this is like a Dracula story and this felt like it was going to be this like feminine rage, feminist rage kind of story. So, with all that in mind, I feel like it was very little of that and I thought that the characters were underdeveloped, that the world was underdeveloped, and I think that this would have been a really good like short story maybe, or novella. That's the level of how much it pulled me in for me. So for me, I gave it two stars overall.
Ashley:Ash, I would agree. I think two is about where I landed and it wasn't any one thing. I think, like you said, it was just slightly underwhelming for a vampire story. I appreciated the little details we got right from her perspective. To your credit, in the identification of the title it did read like a diary, not a dowry. I think it would have made a much better miniseries. This felt almost like a TV script even.
Mari:It would have been a really interesting TV script, but like keeping the mystery element of it, yeah, yeah, so yeah, I would agree with it too, jonathan.
Jonathan:Oh, so yeah, I, I just it's. Hmm, there's a lot of non thought there, but thoughts at the same time in the background of my brains. It was not, it was, it was not my favorite style and I think that kept. That drove a wedge between myself and the story. Like I, I felt like I was I. I couldn't connect with it. I like a contemporary setting and this, right off the bat, wasn't there and then it just it felt it felt like more about tone for you, though not setting it felt like dusty velvet.
Jonathan:That makes it like dusty red velvet furniture is what I felt.
Ashley:The entire you were synesthesia is that what it is well, synesthesia is like when you hear something but you associate it with like a color or a feeling or something like that oh, okay so yeah, like synesthesia, this book felt like dusty, velvet, like an antique shop yeah, yeah, it felt like a dark, maybe almost like mustard wall wallpaper like dracula yeah, but then like dusty, like real dusty, red velvet like cushion with like wooden clawfoot furniture kind of thing, just a real like, almost like must must be bedding the vibe.
Jonathan:I was getting there. So I was like, and when I got once that image was in my head and then the words, the audio stuff that was coming through, it was just like, hmm. So if I had to give it an overall, it's a challenge to me, cause once I have that mental disconnect, it is really hard to get it to come back. And as the story progressed I thought maybe we would lean towards a more contemporary style and it just didn't happen. I was just, I was hanging on for in that hope and it didn't hit for me. So I think, no, I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings, but this was for me as well.
Mari:Yeah, and all of this is just our opinions and that doesn't like none of us have written a book and not every book is for every person. Like none of this is a diss on the author at all. It's more just like a. This is what this book was like. If anyone's interested in it, this is what you will or won't be getting into. You were talking about the style it was written in. It's basically an epistolary style, which is kind of like what the dracula like the original dracula was written in it's. It's the idea of like someone writing letters. The story is told through letters or diary entries or things like that, like newspaper articles. It's that kind of storytelling and this whole thing was written like a letter. Basically, kelly, what did you think? I?
Kelly:mean I agree with her, with all of you guys. I think it was a two at best. I think the story was very. There was a lot of incohesiveness to the story, to the way it flowed. I think there was a lot of issues with how the characters were not very well developed, especially anyone other than the main character. The idea of this being a revenge on Dracula kind of story, told from the perspective of the brides, is interesting, but I think in the end it just didn't work.
Mari:Yeah, okay, anything else we want to say before we get to the spoiler part, we can talk a little more.
Ashley:No, we're here for the spoilers.
Mari:All the spoilers. All right, kelly hit it.
Kelly:All right, dear listener, from this point forward, we're going to be discussing spoilers, so if you do not want to be spoiled on this book, it's time to skip to the end or come back after you've read the book.
Mari:All right, anything you guys want to add you got some spoil you want to.
Ashley:You want to spoil some stuff for people I don't know about spoil like she wants to ruin a good moment no, I just I really think this would have made a really great mini. You know tv series like bridgerton, you know what I mean. Like I get the vibes. The intent was there. This, the storyline didn't suck it. I just don't think it was enough.
Mari:World building, like I think, to see it from one person's perspective solely in a diary entry is is a tough read yeah, I mean, since you mentioned like the world building, like the, the fantasy world building element, what would you give it for?
Ashley:like fantasy or world building. The fantasy was so minimal too, like a two, like there. Just there wasn't enough of anything to push anything over the edge. For me it was all very, very traditional, very classic. You know vampirism. He turned her, she was extra, but there weren't even like any extra vampire powers. Right, she didn't have super strength, she wasn't super fast. He didn't turn into a bat like as far as we know. Right, he had, he had what really good night vision and he was pretty strong, but like we don't even see a ton of that, right, he wasn't breaking down doors or cutting people in half with his eyes turning into mist or whatever.
Mari:Yeah, it was not them it was not true blood um, we did that out of order. I apologize, but yeah, I, I think I had. I was first last time. Yeah, my fantasy was element range, whatever. It was about the same thing, like I felt like there were no real details, it was very nebulous, it was very cobbled together and it was like it felt like a fan fiction of dracula, in that you were expected to know and that you were expected to.
Ashley:Yeah, and that you were expected to. Yeah, that's a really good yeah.
Mari:What Dracula is like. If you for some reason did not know who Dracula was like, if you had never heard of Dracula, I think this would be a really confusing story to you. I feel like it was assumed that we all knew who Dracula was and we all knew, like, the Dracula's powers as described in the original, like Rammst novel. Yeah, so it was a one on fantasy world building for me, jonathan I really didn't get like the whole.
Jonathan:I didn't get any fantasy out of it. I just thought like I figured they were old and that they kept having to move and survive, almost like recluse, like hiding, like you can't they? They couldn't. They really didn't get to lean into their powers. Maybe it was so, maybe the opposite of fantasy world building like they were, just like we're, we're now playing a game of survival.
Jonathan:We need to. We need to find the most polite way to exist and get what we want without really causing a stir and drawing attention to ourselves, and I think that serves to the idea that Dracula spent a lot of time being angry early on and was just like that's not the way to survive in this world. We have to come to terms with the idea that we have to blend into society. The idea that we have to blend into society, um, I I think, with that said, the, the idea of a lack of fantasy building. For me it didn't go into a bunch of the origin stories, it didn't go into, um, like a lot of the magical powers. Is just this, a reduced version, almost like a retired Dracula, and I was like, hmm, so maybe I'll, and I, and I'll tell you what I did I did feel the velvet furniture, uh, so maybe I'll give it a two, two and a half or I felt, I felt the furniture.
Jonathan:I could smell, but I could smell the bedding. I could almost get the oil lamp.
Ashley:Did he smell like parchment? No, you didn't get any smells, no, he just feels.
Jonathan:I got the smells of the musty bedding. Also, the artist, the model. I got vibes of like what was it? Wasn't there a kooky artist out of New York? He was alive, I'm sure during our generation, but he was, did he man? He did a bunch of paintings Warhol.
Ashley:I was like you're giving me minimal information.
Jonathan:You're not playing charades with me.
Ashley:I didn't have Warhol out of that at all I got.
Mari:When you say kooky paintings, paintings describe some of the paintings that might help us know who you're talking about is andy warhol yeah, yeah, oh, warhol, okay warhol okay, I was like melted clocks, it's dali, you know like that kind of thing.
Jonathan:Okay, warhol and I know it's like two, two, very like there was there's a half a century of time between those two, the like, the plot of the story and the um and that artist. But that's the vibe I got and that's why I kept hoping like, okay, they're getting over, they're getting, they're getting moving through time. Maybe this will advance into a contemporary setting which I would have liked to see, have seen I I thought that could be a cool twist to that. Like another scene I I thought that could be a cool twist to that. Like another, if you were another three chapters and it took it even into like the 50s and 60s and they were just like maybe some shit was just getting a little loose and cray cray, I thought that would have been a cool, cool direction to move that story. And it it came on slow, built slowly, got my hopes up, smelled like musty flannel bed sheets and then just fizzled out two and two, two and a half yeah, I.
Mari:I want to say like I know it started in like the 1400s and it goes at least until the 1900s. I'm not sure how modern the story goes, because it seems like travel to new york was fairly easy by the end of the story. Yeah, but it's not specific. But to that point.
Ashley:Like you know, the the concept of time even is very vague in the explanation and you know the the progression of the book. You, you understand that time has passed, but not necessarily how much, literally, until she says you, you know 1600s or 1920s and there's just not a lot of that detail that we were at the beginning of the Russian Revolution and communism coming into Russia and all that.
Kelly:So we're definitely at the very latest in the 1900s. And I would suspect it's more like many years after that, because you have to figure all the years that they were together with Alexei before they assassinated Dracula. So it could easily be that the book ends in the modern times.
Mari:Yeah, what did you think of the fantasy? What was your rating?
Kelly:Kelly, I would agree with most of what you said. It was a two. There was nothing new, nothing original. Even the very concept of the story is not new. This has been done before. Where you have the brides of Dracula, you know, decide they've had enough and kill them. Most notably, it was done trying to remember what year it was.
Mari:That this came out, or that.
Kelly:No, there was a comic book series published by DC, vertigo, which was, you know, back in the 80s and 90s, and even still today, I think, the line of comics that DC published. That had more adult themes, most notably where books like the Sandman was published. I can't remember when it actually came out, I think it was the late 1990s. There was a series called Vamps and it was essentially this story. A bunch of brides of a very powerful vampire decide they've had enough and they conspire to kill him and then, of course, after they kill him, they basically tear off and, you know, do their own thing.
Mari:So it's not a new concept by any stretch of the imagination yeah, I mean, part of that is what happens in Interview with a Vampire and Rice series too, which is written beginning in the late seventies, early eighties. You get the whole killer of the maker and the brood siblings you know run off and try and have their own life together.
Kelly:Well, I mean killing your maker has been around since literature and stories have been invented. I mean patricide or something similar to patricide has been around a very long time. But I'm just saying that the concept of a bunch of female, or mostly female, vampires deciding to off their maker and off Dracula has definitely been around for a long time, because in the context of I think Interview, think interview with the vampire I don't know that it was as much the idea that he was abusive. I mean he certainly wasn't listat, certainly wasn't a great guy or anything yeah, I agree, listat wasn't necessarily abusive, he was.
Mari:He was a whiny drama queen and louie and and uh, oh my god, what was the girl's name? Claudia, claudia, thank you. Oh, I need to rewatch that.
Kelly:Louis and Claudia wanted to go their own way, right, he wouldn't let him. And so I think in vamps it's more like this book, where the vampire is manipulative, abusive, controlling, won't let them do anything, you know, basically controls their entire life, kind of thing. So it's more of a parallel to a typical domestic violence type situation.
Mari:Yeah, I will say this is the one thing I told Kelly about, and anyone who's asked me about this book, like I think this is. This book does a really, really, really, really good job of showing how hard it can be to get away or get out of a domestic abuse situation or like how, how easy it is to be blinded by one yes, yeah, it does a really good job of that, like that's the story. I feel that it tells very well agreed wholeheartedly agreed on a completely different point of that.
Mari:The next thing we would talk about would be romance, which my my notes. I put one question mark. Uh, I feel like the only real romance in this story is the like brood sibling rope, the, the, the protective kind of brood sibling love of each other that the brood siblings had that Constanta and Alexei and Magdalena had for each other, in the sense of it being like always take care of each other type situation. So it was a one for me.
Ashley:Yeah, I mean, I think in his very dense caveman, manipulative way he loved them Right. But it was just, it was only on his terms which power person in the relationship. So I mean, I think he thinks he loved them.
Ashley:I think he thinks he gave them what they needed and wanted, but it was very lacking on their side and I would agree that I think the family love was, you know, the point of the story here, and for them it translated into a physical kind which was also emotional for them. I enjoyed the balance of their relationship and even their trauma bond building together. But, yeah, romance and what we talk about here and what we look for, yeah, it was a one for me.
Jonathan:I thought there was a care for me. I thought there was a I though there was a a care for them. I'm gonna, I'm gonna give the romance a little bit more than than than the basics here. It's not necessarily the romance between the, the mmc, and his, his lady friends. It's more so the romance between the supporting characters, especially towards the end, when they brought on the new guy.
Mari:Alexi.
Jonathan:Yeah. So I would say, because there was enough, there was passion enough to force a decision to be made Quickly To make a change. Yeah, exactly, and they had to have care and compassion for one another. Was it romance? I mean, you don't kill for anything less. This is, you know, it's romance with us, ashley. It's blood in, blood out Just saying so. Yeah, I would say two and a half for this, for me two and a half.
Kelly:I didn't think there was much romance at all to speak of. I think it was more of a manipulative situation, and so I don't feel that there was any romance, I don't even. And there was some creepy aspects to the romance too. I mean, there was certainly some incestuous vibes coming from constanda and alexi, where she describes it having like a motherly relationship with him and then they're having sex. So that was a little uh, you know, yeah, but yeah, I just don't think there was any romance.
Mari:I'm moving on to Spice, which is, yeah, it's exactly, I'm right there with you. I wrote cringy For me, the whole like sister, wife and then like where Constanta saw Lexi as her child, but then they're like having sexy times. It did not do it for me. It for me so like there was spice in this but it didn't hit for me, um, and I felt it was cringy and I think for me a lot of that is like spice. You know, all the weird ancestral stuff aside, spice tends to feel cringy for me if I don't, if I don't feel like I have a, a hand hold on who the people are, and I feel that's part of my problem with this series is like all the characters feel super flat, so like I don't know who Constanta is, okay, so she was a peasant in like Budapest or whatever in the 1400s.
Mari:We get no flavor at all about anybody. There's no Romanian flavor to her. There's no folklore, there's no nothing. You know Magdalena is, you know, a Spaniard. She could have been anything else anywhere, anything else. There was like nothing to her about her entire like background. Alexei has a teeny bit of the Russian vibe in him or whatever, but even then then, like you don't get a lot of vibe for who they are. Yeah, um, I wrote a two with a question mark, but I don't even really know why I wrote a two, because I feel like it's a one. I'll say one and a half.
Ashley:It exists, it's there, it's just not my jam so I've learned this year, um, that reading will make me question myself and the things that I believe in and the things that I will tolerate. And so I say that because we all got a little iffy about incestuous relationships on Game of Thrones. But then House of the Dragon came out and we were like, yeah, girl, get that uncle. So, with that said, I thought the spice that was in this book was very polite. It was a lot of fade to black, right, so it wasn't overly cringy for me. I think it was their only real way of connecting.
Ashley:Once you've turned and for the first, however long it takes to acclimate into that, I think there's something to be said for vampires and them being creatures of immense feeling, whether they be positive or negative. So I thought the spice was polite. I thought it was the only context we got in this book. So I thought it was a three. I thought what was there was nice. It helped build their internal relationship. The fact that she looked at him from the perspective of a mother, I didn't think that really held up. I think she just felt motherly about it. She felt protective of him. I feel protective of Jonathan. No one can say anything bad about my husband. I will rip you apart and I'm very average sized.
Jonathan:I appreciate that.
Ashley:Yeah, and anyone else of my family. So I think, after George RR Martin, I'm a little numb to those things. Flowers in the attic. I'm of that generation.
Mari:Oh God, I remember that yes.
Ashley:So it was a three I. I didn't hate the spice. It didn't do anything extra for me. I thought it was very. I thought it was decent.
Mari:You know, you bring up an interesting point that I hadn't really thought about and that's the whole, like that's the way they showed their love, kind of thing. And when you're a hostage in a situation which they basically were, they didn't have anything of their own, like their bodies is all they had to share with each other you know, and that was theirs to give. Yeah, that's all that was theirs to give their time, their attention, their bodies, and that was theirs to give yeah, their time, their attention, their bodies Interesting.
Jonathan:Interesting point, jonathan. I didn't get a whole bunch of spice out of it. I thought maybe there was a couple of elements. I think things got a little bit hotter once the new boy came to town Alexi Alexi.
Ashley:Alexi, I'm going to have to like little cards, cards for me, cards to hold up for him.
Jonathan:Yeah, um, and I think part I think a lot of that was the idea that um, he was, uh, that introduced some bisexual play into it and that added more spice to it like a the a two-on-one dominant kind of vibe.
Mari:They didn't get me you mean bisexual play for dracula uh? Yeah, yeah because I mean the mag mag that's really magdalena and constanta were. They already had the whole bisexual thing going on before alexi was in the picture?
Jonathan:correct. Yes, yeah, but for, uh, for dracula, I was like that's a really interesting vibe and it added to the story at that point. So on the spice scale, it really didn't. Yeah, and and my mind is polluted at this point- uh from there's some competing reads going on that have uh, that are like off the charts we've additionally corrupt him.
Mari:He's multitasking and that's what I said.
Jonathan:You're fully corrupted so I'll give it. I'll give it a two, um because, mostly because, uh, you guys have corrupted me and, yeah, I've gone down. I have to go wash my. I have to wash my mind's eye out with soap after some of these books.
Mari:And yet you keep coming back for more. Oh yeah.
Ashley:Yeah, I like multis Kelly.
Kelly:Yeah, I think the spice was fairly polite. Like I actually said, it really wasn't overly graphic and whatnot. I think it's definitely less than some of the books we've read. It definitely wasn't what I expected. I think I was expecting it based on how much there was reviews of people saying how much they loved it, et cetera. I was expecting it to maybe be more spicy, I think. Overall, I felt like it was maybe like a two, two and a half. What do we think?
Mari:about the cover. So the cover is done by Duncan Spilling. I actually probably like the cover most of anything. I gave the cover a three and a half. I thought it was. You know, made me pick up the book and look at it. It's got a little bit of like that old timey portrait. Look, it's got the red and the black and the white. It's very like vampire colors as I think of. I think it works. I think it with her face kind of read it out. It's the idea of like the nameless brides of of dracula or the nameless abused people in in domestic abuse situations. Yeah, I, I thought it was pretty, it was well done. It's a three and a half for me.
Ashley:Ash, yeah, I think it's a three. I think this is it's mid-range for me. I don't know if I would have stopped in the bookstore and bought it, but I do feel it is very, very, you know, representative of the book in what we read. I think for the intent of the, for the story, the cover is pretty, is pretty, is pretty, spot on actually.
Jonathan:I, um, I had, I think. So I was looking at the cover that you had, and then I had a different cover, um, um, neither of which I was impressed by. I wasn't going to pick up either of them. Um, if I walked by this, walk by this book in the bookstore, it just didn't jump out to me. It probably further anchored my sweaty, velvet, musty ideas or visions of this book, imagery of this book. I'm going to give it a one. The cover was interesting.
Kelly:It was very suggestive. I think it was a different way to try and do a cover. I don't know that it's something that would have grabbed my attention in the bookstore because to me it felt like this book was the cover was leaning very heavily being influenced on something like Fifty Shades of Grey. So I don't know that the cover was especially that great, nor was it especially that terrible. I feel like it's maybe a two and a half, just kind of average.
Ashley:I think the slash two looks like an eyebrow A little bit. That doesn't do it for me.
Mari:Yeah, it should be more like fingerprint smudgy.
Ashley:Again, I see the intent, it just didn't pull it off.
Mari:Yeah. So then the million dollar dollar question is this a kissing book? What do we think?
Ashley:no yeah, I wrote no, that was my thinking. There's a no for me oh um I like how you're considering it, like your mind was not made up in the first three pages.
Jonathan:I immediately want to say but I didn't even run this one through the calculator and I wanted to. I was hoping that you guys could turn me a little bit.
Ashley:We agree with you this time.
Jonathan:I don't know if it's a win. I'm not in it to win it.
Ashley:You're in it to be contradictory.
Mari:Yes a contrarian.
Ashley:We agree with you this time and in fact, your numbers are better than most of ours.
Jonathan:That's interesting isn't it isn't it it is t-i-s. Um, yeah, okay, I'll go with it and say indeed, it is not a kissing book yeah, definitely not a kissing book there you have it, guys.
Mari:All right. So anything else we want to say about a Dowry of Blood, all right. So rapid fire question for today is going to be what's the best book you read last month, in September?
Ashley:You first.
Mari:Me. Yes month is called Most Argently. It's a Pride and Prejudice remix. It's written by Gabe Cole-Navoa and it'd been on my radar for a little bit. I love Pride and Prejudice. It's one of my favorite books of all time. Pride and Prejudice retellings can be iffy, but the author is a Latinx trans author and I was looking for some Latin authors for Hispanic Heritage Month, trying to read some, and so I decided to move it up on the TBR and read it. I very much loved it. It's basically a retelling of Pride and Prejudice where Darcy is basically the Darcy we know, but Elizabeth is trans and it's their relationship.
Mari:My only downside of this book that I don't understand why it was done is that the author aged down the character. So you know, in the original prime prejudice they're all like in their 20s, grown, independent, adult people, and in this they're like I don't know 17. So they're're like I don't know 17. So they're much younger and I don't know why, because it's still written in like a Regency era. It's not like the expectation is for people to. I don't know. I don't know why they did that. I'd be interested in finding out why they made that choice.
Ashley:But regardless of that really good book, if you're looking for a good Prenn Pregis remix, if you're looking for a good Pride and Prejudice remix, if you're looking for a good LGBTQ plus story, if you're just looking for a really good love story, most ardently, a Pride and Prejudice remix by Gabe Cole-Navoa. Very busy month for us. So the last book that I read that I can remember being like super excited about, technically, the end of August, which I'm going to say counts, and it was Apprentice to the Villain. And I enjoyed every second of Apprentice to the Villain from, and I happened to score it on audio book, which is even better because I think that narrator, whose name I don't know, I'm a big fan of and I think that book was just so fun. Yeah, so 10 out of 10 for me, apprentice to the Villain.
Jonathan:She's such a cheat.
Ashley:Was that your book?
Jonathan:So yeah. I can change my answer no, no, you can keep your answer. Keep your answer. I picked it up actually in September, coming home from Nebraska, and I picked it up in the airport, so I had both the audio and the analog tangible book. I'm not fully through it yet, so it's a book that I have a number of books on my actively being read list.
Mari:I do the same thing, all good okay cool, it's just a fun.
Jonathan:It was a fun read um and that's kind of lighthearted and and joyful, so that's kind of where I'm at and well written yeah.
Kelly:I don't know that I really have one. I have watched the new Batman animated series that's on Prime Video and enjoyed it. It's Batman the Caped Crusader. They've taken those of us that knew Batman the Animated Series with Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill who voiced the Joker from back in the 90s. So they've taken the Batman Animated Series kind of reset it, basically put it hard in a 1930s noir setting. So it's very much a low-tech. Batman doesn't have super robot, amazingly high-tech microcomputer, tony Stark type stuff, so it's much more gritty.
Kelly:Batman is not even a major character. He very rarely, he has very few lines, he doesn't show up very often. So it's actually more about the Gotham City Police Department and one of the things I'm enjoying about it is that take of more of it being a more gritty noir police-type setting. And what's amusing to me is there's an enormous amount of super fanboy neckbeards that are up in arms over this series. One because obviously nothing's gonna replace the beloved kevin conway batman animated series, because that was great and most a lot of us grew up on it or a lot of people grew up on it. So it's never going to replace that. But what this series did is it did a lot of gender bending, so a lot of the characters are gender bent. The penguin is a female.
Kelly:That makes sense Instead of being a male character. Yeah, so there's some of that where the characters are gender bent. Harley Quinn is a much more believable villain, like a terrifying villain who is actually an incredibly smart psychologist who is easily able to manipulate people. So much more realistic and terrifying. Um villain and a lot of characters have their ethnicities flipped. Detective Gordon is not white, Barbara Gordon is not white and that has a lot of these neckbeards pissed off. But it's a great series.
Mari:All right, anything else before we wrap it up? Nope, oh, okay. So thanks for listening to Swords and Soulmates. Before we go, make sure to check the show notes, rate, review and subscribe to us on your podcast app of choice. It helps others to find us. Follow us on Instagram at of Swords and Soulmates, or join our Facebook page at of Swords and Soulmates, or check out our website of swordsandsoulmatescom. Of Swords and Soulmates, or check out our website of swordsandsoulmatescom. We're also on YouTube and TikTok and Pinterest and Threads all same username. Find us there If you'd like to offer suggestions for a future rapid fire question, if you want to reach out to us with a option suggestion for reading, or if you want to tell us your opinions on something, why you agree with us or why you think we're wrong, or just another point that you'd like to make, please reach out to us If you'd like to read along with us as we prepare for a new episode, for right now, you can follow us on Goodreads of Swords and Soulmates and also if you are on the Fable app, which is another reading app that lets you like, track books and things I've created.
Mari:We've created a book club on there for Of Swords and Soulmates. So if you search for it or contact us, if you want like a direct link or whatever it's called, of Swords and Soulmates, you can read along with us. And the thing about the book clubs there is you can like say something about, let's say, you're up to chapter five and you just want to say something about chapter five without spoiling anything or seeing anybody else's comments. You can just comment up to chapter five and not see anything about, like, any of the chapters beyond what you've read. It's an interesting little app, so we're on there as well. We hope you'll join us in two weeks for our next episode when we read and talk about the Games God's Play by Abigail Owen, an author's name which should sound familiar. Bye, bye, thank you.
