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
"Morning Glory Milking Farm" - A Humorous Dive into Monster Romance
Join us as we welcome the fabulous Sarah and Jess from the "Hissing and Kissing" podcast, who bring their unique insights into the realm of romantasy literature. Together, we explore the fascinating roots of monster romance and how pop culture shapes our modern love stories. With a sprinkle of humor and a dash of nostalgia, we reminisce about our Dragon Con meet-up and dive headfirst into a discussion that's as entertaining as it is enlightening.
What's more thrilling than banned books and indie bookshop crawls? We take a stroll down memory lane, discussing the joys of youthful reading and spotlighting the role of libraries in our literary journeys. Our excitement for upcoming events like Krampusnacht in Orlando is palpable, but nothing quite steals the spotlight like our spoiler-free review of "Morning Glory Milking Farm" by C.M. Nascosta. This book's intriguing themes and unique charm are sure to tickle the fancy of any monster romance aficionado, promising a conversation that's both thought-provoking and wildly entertaining.
Expect a good laugh as we revel in the imaginative world of romance plots featuring non-human characters. From humorous takes on unrealistic abs to personal interpretations of character designs, we explore the playful side of monster romance. As we wrap up the episode, we tease our book club's upcoming read and hint at future discussions that blend literary magic with camaraderie. Whether you're a seasoned fan or just curious about the genre, our episode guarantees a journey filled with laughs, insights, and a touch of romance.
- Links from the News Segment and Show (not all were discussed):
- Goodreads Choice Awards open for voting
- Voting Page
- Nov 24 first round closes, Dec 1, final round closes, Dec 5 – winners announced
- SenLinYu, author of Manacled, announced the final draft of Alchemised has been sent in for final edits.
- Florida releases list of banned books in schools
- Several SJM and other romantasy authors included as well as the usual authors (Atwood, King, and even some classic literature)
- Link to News Article
- Atlanta Indie Bookshop Crawl
- Nov 22 – Dec 1
- Website
- Dance of the Dragons even in Orlando
- Nov 22 and 23
- Website
- Goodreads Choice Awards open for voting
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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 Of 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 my beloved husband Kelly.
Kelly:Hey everyone, it's Kelly. We also have Ashley.
Ashley:Hi guys, it's Ashley. We also have Jonathan.
Jonathan:What's good, it's JP. And guess who we have here today? We got Sarah with an.
Ashley:H. We have friends and Jess with an E.
Sarah:Jess with an E, is it spelled a different way?
Jonathan:Is it not? I thought maybe it could be Jess with a.
Jess:U.
Jonathan:Jess, jess.
Jess:Jess.
Jonathan:G-E-O-S-S. Jess oh, is that?
Mari:Jonathan, you're thinking like an author, like how weird, can I spell this name? That's what you're thinking.
Jonathan:In the beginning. How do they do that?
Sarah:I can't even mess it up.
Jonathan:Yeah.
Sarah:Sarah and Jess. Where are y'all? Where we get sarah and jess, where y'all from tell us about? Oh well, uh, we are from a podcast called hissing and kissing. Can I curse on this, is it okay? Absolutely yeah okay, we, uh, we have a podcast for monster fuckers. Is what our deal is. So I, sarah, live in Florida and Jess I'm in Vancouver, canada. There you go, there's the accent, and together we put out a weekly podcast about all things, monster fucker.
Jess:Yeah, just basically getting raw dogged by various monsters.
Sarah:No, no, we, actually we can talk about that, but we pick like a monster of the week and we sort of talk about its origins. We talk about it in pop culture, its relationship with sexuality in today's culture. We pick some media, we talk to authors, we talk to small businesses like sex toy companies. It's a really diverse and sexually free podcast.
Mari:So, yeah, it's so much fun. I love you guys. I love you guys' podcast.
Jess:Yeah.
Mari:I always keep you guys for, like, today is a bad day. Guess what I'm listening to? Yeah.
Sarah:Our unhinged ramble. Absolutely I love it.
Mari:I love it I uh ran into. I found out about his any kissin at dragon con. I met sarah there at a midnight panel or something, did not know you guys existed. Yes, it was a panel about monster fucking and Sarah got up there. No, for starters, I was dressed as like the worst mothman ever. I was sitting on the floor talking books with somebody and then this vision in, like a blue ball gun walks by.
Jess:That's how I first saw you, sarah, looked amazing that night.
Mari:Yes, so beautiful, so beautiful. And then you go up there, ballsy as fuck, and like ask so beautiful, so beautiful. And then you go up there, ballsy as fuck, and ask questions.
Mari:I'm like, oh, it's because I was drunk, I needed some of that. And then I go talk to you guys afterwards I'm like, wait, there's a whole podcast. Wait, you guys had a panel and I missed it. What? So, yes, anybody out there, if you at all like monster romance, monster fucking, if you're like what is this thing and I want to know more, please listen to their podcast. It is, it is a lot of fun. Yes, thank you.
Mari:All right, so today we're going to be discussing Morning Glory and Milking Farm by CM Nascosta, but before we get into it, we're going to go over some news. I have a few news things. I'm trying to keep it short, but we'll see. We can talk if there's anything you guys want to say. First thing is that the Goodreads Choice Awards is open for voting. Right now. It's in the open round session, so it's open from November 12th to November 24th. You can go on there and vote for who you think should be the best. Whatever, there's a romantic section, there's a fantasy section, there's a romance section. One of your guys' favorite books, sarah and Jaz, or at least Sarah Bride.
Mari:Oh yeah, yeah, bride In the romance section. It's actually in the romance section.
Sarah:So if you're looking to vote for it it's in romance. Give it all of the awards.
Mari:She's competing with herself because she's got two books in there 10 out of 10. 10 out of 10.
Jess:Yeah, 10 out of 10.
Mari:That was a fun vote.
Jonathan:I hope she's going to beat herself. I oftentimes find myself beating myself.
Sarah:Talk about monster romance. We'll beat ourselves off. Hey, I don't know. I don't underestimate the love of bride we we made like a casual tiktok about it and it was. It's at like 17 000 like people just love that book. So yeah, it's a fun book.
Mari:It's a book. I know there's a few other books that we've either read on the podcast, on this podcast, or talked about, that are in different sections, so the most of them are in the Romanesie section. Games. God's Play, which we just did last week, is one of the ones in the Romanesie section. So, is you guys help me, was it spell? Oh, my god, the Sarah Beth Durst. One Spell shopst, one spell shop, spell shop. Thank you, I was gonna say spellbound. I'm like that is not it. Yeah, spell shop is one of the ones in there and, uh, when the moon hatches, there's several other ones. So that's the first round. Then there's another round of voting that will go from november 26th to december 1st, and then the final winners will be announced on december 5th. So it's always fun to see just what gets nominated and what gets in what categories.
Jonathan:What was the name of that? Did you say? The name of that one book was the love of bride.
Mari:No, just a bride. It's just bride yeah.
Ashley:I thought it was bride by Allie.
Mari:It is Sorry, Yep Mari you've read that one right, I have it was fun.
Ashley:I haven't.
Mari:Oh, I thought you'd read it.
Ashley:No, no, no, but it's supposed to be a series, right? I think I was holding out, yes.
Mari:There's going to be another one. Yeah, I need closure. Do we know when the next one's going to be released? Is writing it right now.
Ashley:Have we heard anything?
Jonathan:pretty quickly though if you fast forward the podcast, you can get to her next that much faster I think you get closure with the first one, though I think it stands.
Sarah:It's a standalone oh, the second one is just like two other characters that we've met, and it's gonna be their story so they're like another book for their target cart.
Mari:Anyway, thank, you no perfect. Yeah, it's more like that romance book novel rather than like romance novel, like model, where it's like they're kind of separate little couples, as opposed to like romantic, where you're like, oh, cliffhanger, and now I need to know who dies, kind of thing and it's a mystery too um so they close up the mystery at the end yeah, interesting
Mari:so the next bit of news I have is I got on the newsletter or sub stack or whatever for Sen Lin Yu, who wrote Manacled, which I know Ash and I have read. Have you?
Jess:guys read it. It's on Spotify shut the front door that's how I listened to it. Somebody narrated it all. Wow, how destroying was that. Yeah, that's how I listened to it.
Ashley:Somebody narrated it all. Wow, Shit you guys. How destroying was that? Because it was hard enough to read it, but to like be spoken feels almost ridiculous.
Jess:It was heavy, really heavy.
Ashley:Holy shit.
Mari:So she's rewriting it to be published, of course, right, and she put on there that she had turned in the final manuscript for this final round of edits. She just turned it in and it's at 1,100 pages and it's going to be called Alchemized is the new title.
Sarah:Yes.
Mari:Very exciting.
Sarah:That's a fun throwback. Well, it's not fun, but it is a throwback to the Harry Potter origins, because the original book was the Alchemist Stone, wasn't it? Philosopher's.
Mari:Stone.
Sarah:But in England it was the Alchemist Stone.
Kelly:It's the Sorcerer's Stone and the Philosopher's Stone. They didn't think people would understand what the Philosopher's Stone was.
Sarah:I know they brought up alchemy in it.
Mari:They did yeah, because Nicholas Fimmel was an alchemist. For those that don't know, Madagold slash Alchemize is inspired by, of course, the Harry Potter, but also the Handmaid's Tale, so fun times.
Jonathan:I'm not going to like that book. No, you're going to hate it. It's super dark.
Ashley:And you're going to feel feelings that you don't like. All the feelings. Do you remember a series of unfortunate events where they tell you the?
Jonathan:whole time that this is not going to end on a happy note. What's his name? Doogie Howser.
Ashley:Doogie Howser.
Jonathan:Wait, was I thinking of the?
Ashley:wrong thing.
Jonathan:Maybe I'm thinking about Lemony Snicket Doogie Howser's in that right.
Jess:Yeah, he's the count. Yeah, yeah.
Jonathan:Yeah, I like that one. What's wrong with that? That's not the same thing. Malfoy's not in that one, is he?
Kelly:No, I didn't think so.
Jonathan:I think we're in a clear, we're good, is that? One lady who's got a single eyebrow?
Ashley:Listen, I warned you.
Jonathan:I'm not going to read it. You said it was like the Handmaid's Tale, right?
Ashley:Nah, jonathan got through half an episode of the Handmaid's Tale and then banned it from the house.
Jonathan:It makes me want to punch people right in the face Fair enough.
Sarah:I had nightmares about it. I had to stop watching it. Yeah, it's rough.
Mari:I would say the Handmaid's Tale book is still my answer. Anytime anyone asks what's the scariest book you've ever read, it's.
Ashley:The Handmaid's.
Sarah:Tale oh agreed.
Mari:I read it way young and I have yet to be able to watch the TV show.
Ashley:I'm not brave enough to read it, but I will finish the TV show out of spite it's like road rage.
Mari:I need to know what's coming. I've heard great things about the show.
Jess:Phenomenal Intense, though Very intense.
Mari:Speaking of that situation, next bit of news is that Florida releases their list of banned books for schools.
Ashley:That's an interesting segue how that worked out.
Mari:Isn't it? There are several Sarah J Maas books on there. There's the Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison and, of course, the Headma. There's more. There are several Sarah J Maas books on there. There's the Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison and, of course, the Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood is one of the banned ones.
Jonathan:Isn't that their textbook right?
Mari:Yeah, their how-to. Apparently you can delete the blueprints by using the Handmaid's.
Mari:Tale. It's the world we live in. We don't want anybody to know. It's interesting going through the list of the banned books and reading through them and I'm just like. There's things that I remember studying in school that are on the banned list now. But whenever I hear or read or see anything about banned books, I always think about the looking at it real quick. The Stephen King quote Run don't walk to the nearest non-school library or to the local bookstore and get whatever it was that they banned. Read whatever they're trying to keep out of your eyes and your brain, because that's exactly what you need to know.
Ashley:Arguably. I'm not sure if 14-year-olds need to read Sarah J Mass.
Jonathan:That's probably legit.
Sarah:I don't think it should be banned from them. I read a lot of stuff, but it doesn't have to be banned, just don't put it in there.
Kelly:Well, the thing I remember, the banned book list is books that were in the libraries and then were taken out after a parent challenged them. So you have books by Sarah J Mass, you have books by Toni Morrison, you have Ernest Hemingway, you have even one school library has banned the Iliad.
Jess:What that's wild.
Ashley:I think one banned one of the Princess Diaries books and that was interesting.
Jonathan:There's more than one.
Ashley:Yeah, there's like a whole series.
Jonathan:Interesting.
Ashley:There's only a couple movies.
Jonathan:Oh, there's more than one movie.
Jess:What Wait? Is that the movie?
Mari:What Is that the movie?
Jonathan:with.
Ashley:We're all learning so much tonight, you guys. We should do this more often.
Jonathan:That one has the upside down.
Ashley:We announced it this year. However, Chris Pine has not been confirmed and the socials are in region.
Sarah:Or they're trolling us, or they're trolling us. Correct Star.
Ashley:Trek.
Jonathan:Oh okay, I like him, but from a distance. Oh correct, yeah, uh, star trek. Oh okay, I like him, but from a distance oh okay.
Sarah:What's wrong with chris pine?
Jonathan:I don't know, I think it's the forehead no it's not the forehead, I think it's, I think it's his cheeks which ones do it for me, are they? The upper ones. The upper ones yeah, I haven't seen his lower ones. I get it, I don't care.
Ashley:It's a very confirmed. Anne Hathaway announced it this year. It is a series, a book series, although I'm not sure how many books are in it. But I did see on the list that there's a middle school in Florida that banned book number eight for some reason.
Jonathan:It was an interesting decision, yeah sad library cards are still a thing, though.
Mari:Right, they can just go to the public library yeah, like I'm just like do the Stephen King thing, get the list of banned books and use it as a TBR. That's all I'm saying and read the trigger ones yes, yeah, I mean I remember reading books that were adult books very early on and I mean I don't think they, I don't think they severely damaged me I think, I'm semi okay, but I do have a monster fucking podcast with just now, so I'm not and I do love that monster fucking podcast
Mari:decisions were made yeah, yeah, like, I'm like I also had like zero sex education and nobody to talk to books. Were it like everything I learned I learned from books everything until it was hands-on.
Jess:everything I learned was from the vampire chronicles which I read way too early, way too early in life.
Mari:It was AN Rockelaer's Beauty and the Beast, which, if you guys very early. Okay, moving on to other news, atlanta is having an Atlanta indie bookshop crawl. Crybell sent this to me on our Instagram, so it's like the indie bookstores in Atlanta, from November 22nd to December 1st, are doing a bookshop crawl and you can like get your little passport from them stamped and then you get like a percent off on, you know, like a discount on buying stuff from there. Yeah, so just sounds like a fun time if you're in that area. And the last thing is just a reminder that Swords and Soulmates is going to be at the Dance of the Dragons event in Orlando. It's put on by Alexia Fence and so we'll be there wandering around the marketplace on a Friday and Saturday. If you're going to be there, say hi, send us a message, et cetera, and maybe we can meet up. Anybody else have any?
Sarah:news. I'll see you on Sunday, won't I?
Mari:at another event. That's right, that is sunday. No, that's gonna be december isn't it?
Sarah:oh, that's right.
Mari:This, yeah, you're right, yeah if anyone is gonna be at the krampus not in orlando december sunday, december Sunday, december 7th, oh, my god, it must be the 8th because we have 7th. Yep, it's the 8th Orlando. Krampusnacht is the 8th in Orlando and there will be much Krampusing. I'm so excited. I've not done anything big time Krampus since I lived in Germany Other than like. Kelly and I went to a Christmas haunted house in Jacksonville. The 13th Story does like a Krampus haunted house for Christmas.
Sarah:I didn't know that that was fun. Yes, I will be there with bells on and my hooves on and my ears on and my horns on.
Jess:And your tail.
Sarah:Don't forget your tail and my tail, my tail is awesome. I'm very excited.
Mari:You cannot wait, you will see me in my car.
Ashley:I would like to see the tail.
Sarah:Yeah, it's on my Instagram. I think you can check my Instagram for it. I think it's on there.
Jonathan:I'll show you my front tail later.
Ashley:How do you feel about tails?
Jonathan:I got one on the front. I'll show it to you.
Mari:Do tails have?
Jonathan:to be on the back. Is that like a rule?
Sarah:I mean they, I guess they have to tail behind right.
Jonathan:But yeah, yeah, uh, yeah, otherwise it would just be like a pull string moving on.
Mari:Okay, let's get into the book.
Mari:So we're doing morning glory Milking Farm by C. I always forget her name wrong C um, cm Neskosta, cm Neskosta. I always want to say it CS Neskosta, cm Neskosta. Yeah, siesta, go away, apparently, that's. What I need is a siesta.
Mari:So we decided on this book. Sarah suggested it when we were going to do this podcast together between us and I had read it before I read it. I think I first read it like February or March or so of this year and then proceeded to read, I think, every Cambrick Creek book that was out, but I reread it for this, for today. Yeah, all right. So let me do a little synopsis and then we'll get into talking about it. This book was published August 1st of 2021. And the little synopsis says Violet is a typical down on her luck, millennial mid twenties, overeducated and drowning in debt, on the verge of moving into her parents' basement.
Mari:When a lifeline appears in the form of a very unconventional job in neighboring Cambrick Creek, she has no choice but to grab it with both hands. Morning Glory Farm offers full-time hours, full benefits and generous pay, with no experience needed. There's only one catch the clientele is grade A certified prime beef with the manly meaty endowments to match Hands-on work with Minotaurs isn't something Violet ever considered as a career option, but she's determined to turn this opportunity into a reversal of fortune. When a stern, deep-voiced client begins to specially request her for his sessions at the farm, maintaining her professionalism and keeping him out of her dreams is easier said than done. Violet is resolved to make a dent in her student loan and afford name brand orange juice and a one-sided crush on an out of her league minotaur is not part of her plan, unless her feelings aren't so one-sided after all.
Mari:Dot, dot, dot. All right, so we'll do a little like overview, you know, general, many stars, non-spoilery bit, and then we'll get into the good stuff after that. Okay, okay, who wants to go first? Okay, I can go first. For me, overall, it was a four-star read, which actually bumps it up over three stars, which is the first time I read it. I gave it three stars. I really think that the character development and the world building and whatnot is just a little bit above average to most of the monster romance stuff out there, and I think that with the book that came after it, the one from Rourke's point of view, it's a really good story. So yeah, four stars for me. Who wants to go next?
Ashley:I'll go. I feel like we've been doing girls first anyway, the last couple episodes I think it was like a three and a half I I went into this one blind. I'm not going to lie to you guys. Sarah recommended it. No, no, no, like I got, conceptually, I understood what I was getting into. This is not the first, the most questionable thing I've ever read Full transparency. Yeah, transparency, yeah. So sarah recommended it because they believe jonathan's question is what what's the least scary, like what's what's the vanilla monster book?
Sarah:yeah and, if this right, I forgot that yeah, no, not I.
Ashley:So it was a. It was a three and a half for me.
Ashley:I thought it was a delightful surprise um there was some, there was world building right, and there was, you know, perspective from human. I didn't know. Book two was his pov. It just kind of. I think my biggest complaint was that it just kind of ended but like, also that was such a nice palette cleanser, yeah. So I'm curious now. I'm curious what books and now my goodreads followers are going to be like. What's going on? Ash, the text messages I got the other week were pretty iconic.
Ashley:So it was a three and a half for me. I enjoyed it. I wouldn't not discontinue it and arguably I think it would make a really fun series on Hulu.
Sarah:Oh yeah, I think so too. Yeah, I'll go, we'll do, we'll do all the girls right all the girls, yeah, so I I did forget.
Sarah:I recommended this because jonathan did want something that was not a scary monster and I said, okay, I've got it. This is like the least scary monster book I can think of, and I also think it's a great representation of monster romance, because there are monsters, there is a very clear romance, there's world building, but it doesn't necessarily have to be scary. I'm using air quotes in the way that you think it's scary in its own way, right, like.
Jess:And it's pretty scary. Yes, Exactly.
Sarah:Yes, I think this is. This is such a perfect example of something that's in the monster romance that's well-written but doesn't take itself too seriously. I give it like four and a half stars. This is my like, recommended, like intro to monster romance book. Like if bride is not your thing, try this, because this is. I just think it's a wonderful intro into the community, into world building, into the genre, everything I. I recommend this book. I recommended it last weekend. I got somebody to buy a physical copy of it at a bookstore. Like I'll look up to anybody and I'll be like, oh, you're looking at monsters. Have you tried morning glory milking farm? And they're like what I'm like here, take it, you're welcome. Like I just like hand it off to people.
Jess:So yeah, I think it's great this was my first time reading it, even though we've talked about it on our podcast a lot, a lot, and my taste is a bit different than Sarah's. Like I like the scary, like I like the danger, you know. So having it basically be an office romance didn't quite do it for me. Office romance it's basically an office romance, I think that's not wrong, so I gave it like a three, I think.
Ashley:Yeah, we're going to unpack that later jess, yeah, guys all right, uh, I was gonna give it a three.
Jonathan:I was gonna give it like a straight up three, but let me tell you I got a lot of action the week. We read that I'm gonna bump this up. This is if this is, if this is what monster romance is about.
Ashley:I'm going to bump this up, if this is what monster romance is about. I'm down he doesn't know it, but a soul to keep. Also, I have no idea. I love that book so much.
Mari:Oh my God, the Dustwalker Brides guys. I got the special edition and I'm so excited.
Jonathan:I'm sorry, sir, continue. Oh yeah, I don't know if I saw it as office romance, more like a customer service kind of thing, but also like a very modern, I don't know. I enjoy contemporary work and I thought it was interesting.
Ashley:It was polite.
Jonathan:I got excited, she got excited. We got excited it was there was some good side effects, so I'm going to bump it up to a four. Also, this is the spiciest book that I've read this year 72% on the calculator.
Sarah:Yeah, stay on the monster fucking side. It gets much, much spicier than this.
Ashley:Much spicier. This is quite vanilla.
Sarah:It really was yeah.
Jonathan:We're going to have to get new criteria for the calculator.
Ashley:He immediately turned to his laptop and started typing.
Jonathan:As soon as I put it into the spreadsheet, it hit 72%. If this is scratching the surface, it was like it hit 72%. So if this is like if this is like scratching the surface, we're going to need more criteria.
Sarah:Yeah, well, there you go.
Jess:Be careful what you ask for. We can recommend it.
Jonathan:I'll take input If you have feedback. The algorithm is good yeah, I can take any sort of. The algorithm is good yeah, I can take any sort of any sort of filters to drop books through. That we can. That I can use to help decide if a house the spice level of a book.
Sarah:I want to circle back to your spreadsheet after we go through ratings. We'll unpack that later too, yeah, Please do, I'd love, I'd love for Justin.
Jess:I have something I want to add onto that spreadsheet.
Jonathan:Okay, I'm in.
Kelly:I'm in. I wanted to give this book either a two and a half or a three. It was just not very original. It was an office romance. The main character is only attractive because he's a wealthy, powerful person. He's a wealthy powerful man.
Jonathan:I see that. I see that yeah.
Kelly:He's in a position of power, authority with a lot of money, so of course the main character is going to be attracted to him. I feel that was the entirety of the romance that started. It was a office romance girl falls for the rich boss. It was essentially secretary falls for the rich boss.
Sarah:That's exactly what this story was oh, I so disagree with that statement. That's so interesting. I feel there was nothing original to it.
Kelly:There was nothing new about it. I mean, obviously you add in the spice and sex stuff and that makes it different, but as far as the core part of the story, nothing original.
Jess:I think what makes this story different? Because the base of a lot of monster romances are not original. I will agree with you there. But the thing that makes the monster romances original in and of themselves are the monsters. So you kind of gotta put the monster in the forefront, like have you, have you ever? Okay? So the story the baseline is is basic. It's a bitch, but what have you ever read about somebody whose job it is to pump Minotaurs all day?
Ashley:long, specifically Minotaurs yeah.
Sarah:I mean, that is a new idea to me that's a new idea. Yeah, you're literally a milking farm, I think. When you're looking at romance, I think there's only so many original ideas that are going to exist. I mean, I think that's why we have genres and tropes, right well, that's art in general, right like in the music industry.
Ashley:There are only so many notes right, there are only so many ways differentiating, differentiating ways to put the notes together and eventually you're going to have some overlap and discrepancy of similarities.
Jonathan:My Beat Saber game. That begs to differ. Those notes hurt like a motherfucker.
Mari:Well, and we've talked about before yeah, we've talked about before about how, with romance books, the fact that there is a comfort, the romance structure of romance books is a comfort. The romance structure of romance books is a comfort, like you know, I know if I'm having anxiety brain, if I'm having a bad day, if, you know, my living room is full of a leak and my husband's out of town and I'm sick and the world is falling apart, I can pick up a romance book and, even if it's one that I've never read before, there's going to be, you know, one or more people getting together. There's going to be maybe some conflict and at the end it's all going to come together and it's going to be a happy ending. Yeah, sometimes you want that formula, you want that comfort, because it's a little bit of a controlled escapism Escapism, yeah.
Ashley:Yeah.
Mari:Yeah, all right, kelly, do you want to do the little spoiler bit so we can talk about the rest, please?
Kelly:Sure, from this point forward, we'll be talking about spoilers, so if you don't want to be spoiled, stop listening.
Mari:All right, anything we want to add in the spoiler bits, before we get into talking about world building, anything specific to overall stuff, um, I don't know I?
Jonathan:I'm just wondering, like I think I'm, does he have lips like what's?
Sarah:going on with that like he's got cow lips.
Sarah:Yeah, yeah, he's got wide wide cow lips yeah, yeah he's got cow lips I think when you're, when you're looking at monster romances, they're not going to kiss you the same way as, as a human, would kiss you, right? So think, think about if you ever went to a petting farm, like a petting zoo, right, and like the way that cows lips, kind of. I mean, that's what we're looking at. Right, we're looking at a monster that has a cow head or a bull head on top. It's just like we just finished, um, the our mothman episode that's coming out. And the moths, they don't have the same kind of mouth, right. What they do have is this long tongue, and that's part of the monstrous appeal of it, right, like it's something so different that your brain almost has a hard time computing what it would feel like, because you not I don't think a lot of people are making out with cows or making out with moths you know there's gotta be a couple.
Sarah:Somewhere there's a guy who's like a couple, but like for the most part it's uh it's a almost an exercise in your imagination.
Jonathan:Yeah, right I'm looking at some images here that are associated with the cover and like one of them just looks like what are those cute little cows, the actually?
Ashley:what are those cute little?
Jonathan:cows, yeah, what I'm having, yeah, yeah, it's like a highland cow cover yeah, when we talk about the cover, let's just skip to the cover I agree, like I think I did not I did not picture him as what he is on the cover.
Mari:He was absolutely a Highland cow through and through in my head the entire time, especially every time she mentioned his mop of hair. Yeah, his mop of hair.
Jonathan:Very angsty Because tonight will be the. That's the vibe I'm getting, Also Galan's got a lot of abs. I have one ab when I stand up and two when I bend over, and I don't think my abs are supposed to touch. He's got like 10 well, good for him he did all the all the setups. This is some bullshit.
Mari:I I really, um, I thought the yeah, I thought the cover that they did was very cute, very like harlequin kind of vibes to it. Um, but I was like, but that's not what I picture I still thought it was it was no like I gave it probably like a four stars for the cover because it was nice, yeah, um, I think it's like when you look at katie katie roberts types books they are often done in that same fashion but the monsters are usually like a lot more, uh, explained a lot differently than what's on the cover.
Sarah:But I like that kind of like throwback to that like traditional romance, especially like an 80s romance, like the ripped bodiceness of it all, yeah, yeah.
Mari:I agree, Ash. What do you think of the cover?
Jonathan:It's not of his tail. Do you see his tail anywhere? I want to see his dude's tail.
Ashley:I'm not sure if they talked about the tail.
Jonathan:They talked about his tail because it goes in and out of his pants. He's got a little.
Sarah:I think they talked about his tail whipping around Like nodding.
Jonathan:Oh, he's a happy chappy, you can just see it.
Sarah:Bing, bing, bing. I think it's yeah, I think it's a great cover.
Ashley:Also, are there cows in the background of the cover, because that disturbs me slightly. I don't think there are.
Jonathan:There are regulation cows there.
Sarah:I think it's a. Is it a horse or a cow?
Ashley:It's a cow. That's the roundest horse I ever did.
Jonathan:That's a thick horse, that's okay.
Sarah:Am I looking at a different cover than you? I?
Mari:must be looking at different covers.
Jess:There's expanded ones that have a little more background, and those have actual cows in the background.
Sarah:Okay, because I see one horse head. I'm like I don't see anything else what you guys are talking about.
Jonathan:We're not talking about a cow and a lady. We're talking about a minotaur yeah a bully. He just has cow-esque features.
Jess:Well, in the book some of the cows have, like Some of the minotaurs have a fetish to be milked like a cow. So yeah, it's weirdly fitting.
Mari:It's interesting. I thought that the what's her name Violet was like wondering if all the different creatures or monsters or whatever, had their own fetishes.
Ashley:I'm like you know what, probably you know, yeah, like it makes sense. So, ash, what would you give the cover? Oh, that's a four same. Yeah, it was. It told me everything about the book in that cover. Yeah, I knew exactly what I was getting into and I was not disappointed.
Sarah:Can I bring up what the original cover looks like? It's hard, I hate it. This is the mainstream cover, but the original cover did not look like this. When I downloaded the book, it looked like the original cover, and that's something else entirely.
Jonathan:Is that the jug of milk?
Sarah:Yes, with the black gloves and the outline of the Minotaur. Yeah, that's something else.
Jess:That's an Amazon. Yes, with the black gloves and the outline of the Minotaur. Yeah, yeah, that's something else. That's an Amazon self-published title. It sure looks like one.
Jonathan:Yeah, she didn't even have Canva Pro, she just had.
Ashley:That's giving secretary for sure, she was doing her bents.
Jonathan:Yeah.
Mari:Yeah, all right, sarah and Jess, what would you rate the cover and whichever one you want to?
Sarah:rate the old one or the new one. I think the old one is horrifying, in my opinion. I just don't like it. It seems like a scientific experiment. But I think the newer one, the romance cover one, I love it. Honestly I would take all of these monster romance covers and frame them and put them up in my office like I think they're great. I love these like rip bodice, like monster covers.
Jess:I think they're fantastic I will, uh, I agree, but I will say it's interesting to think about how there was an original um cover and then there's a newer cover and that kind of just goes to show the popularity of it and the how monster romance is becoming more mainstream, the fact that it needed a more appealing, more sexy cover.
Jonathan:Um yeah, yeah, I agree, agree, yeah, jonathan I thought it was a very warm and inviting cover. I there are a couple things that that uh threw me off. One was like I don't know if I saw him with a mullet. I don't know if I saw him as a, as a ginger either, and I don't.
Ashley:She says like apricot, doesn't she? I don't?
Jonathan:and then I also I don't know how I feel about his, um, his, uh, forearm mohawks that he's got going on there, but all that stuff and I could and like I had this mental like breakdown of like what do his lips do?
Jonathan:um, yeah, yeah, but you know that's what I'm saying, like yeah, I want to know, like I need to know, the mechanics of that, so kind of like the tism. The tism took over. So I try to like figure out like, what does the cow, what do cow lips look like, what do cow lips want to do? Like, what is you know? Like, do you think, does he like when he's when he's when he's reaching, when he's hitting the top, when he's when he gets to the top of the mountain, does he like, is he you know? I mean, is there like, does his hoof dig in? What's going on there?
Sarah:I want to know it.
Jonathan:Does I think they talk about that in that, like in the milking room, you like, you look, you know, on the perch yeah, like his hoof, like digs into the concrete yeah, and it talks about like when, when she was wanting him to like have sex with her in her house, he looked around.
Mari:He was like I'm gonna ruin your bed, my hopes are gonna ruin your bed.
Sarah:yeah, yeah, I'm going to like run into the carpet in the bed.
Jonathan:Yeah, so then I want to know more about his vinegar strokes.
Mari:So but what do you think of the cover? What do you rate the?
Jonathan:cover. Oh yeah, I'm trying to bring us back.
Mari:I really am, yeah.
Jonathan:Yeah, bring me back in there. Bring me back. I thought it was a delightful piece of artistry, especially compared to the OG version, which is very given off clip art vibes Kelly. I enjoyed looking at this one more.
Kelly:I think the cover's fine. I agree with Ashley. You look at this cover, you know exactly what you're going to get. As far as it representing what was in the book, it's pretty straightforward. I did like the clever pun that they used on the cover.
Mari:The monster bait.
Sarah:Yeah.
Mari:Yeah, I love it, the monster bait romance.
Sarah:I think it's interesting too when you compare it to the book from his perspective. It's almost laid out the same way, but you see the female perspective be much more romantic and the male perspective book cover being a little bit more straightforward. They're wearing the same kind of stuff, like it's the same pose but different. I think that's really interesting as well what's the name of the second book?
Jonathan:a blue ribbon romance, yeah I'm so, I'm so fucking sorry.
Sarah:Yeah, there's like some state fair shit here yeah, yeah, yeah nice so it's like a fun nod that like she's in the same color dress and you know, it's almost like he's in the same kind of pose, but it's a little bit more demure, mindful, if you will. Yeah, he does look more like a highland cow.
Jonathan:Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely he does oh, yeah, it's well, okay, well, and then the lips aren't there. I still, we need fucking lips. You can't give me the lips in one and take them away in book two.
Sarah:I need I feel like I need to like google for you, like cow lips eating things or something. I'm fucking Googling this right now. I want to see like.
Jonathan:I want to know if these cows have fucking fantastic soup coolers.
Mari:All right. So while you look, while you Google, cow lips back to fantasy world building. I gave the world building a four for me. I thought it was really well done because I, like the first time I read this, I wanted to know more about Cambrick Creek. I'm like it was so cool that there was all these different creatures, all these different monsters, all these different accommodations for them. There was, like this, one area where they felt safe and included in Cambrick Creek, but when you go outside of it, there was all these things that were showed you the prejudices and things in the world of against the monsters. And also the author still managed to bring in, like things from our world, like food, deserts and, like you know, student loans and how you can get way over your head in debt and then graduate with all this education and not be able to get a job. Yep, yeah, yes, yeah. Very well done. Ash, did you say a number?
Ashley:Oh, four. I'm sorry, four Did I miss it.
Jonathan:You did.
Ashley:I'm sorry.
Jonathan:Pay attention, ash, get your head in the game.
Ashley:I can't believe there's part two.
Sarah:I'm so excited you should read the other ones I'm going to get excited too.
Jonathan:It's just going to be like ad hoc benefits for me. You know like what?
Kelly:is it going to value add? That's what it is.
Jonathan:You read the book? Yeah, I might just buy that book for you.
Ashley:I very much enjoyed the fantasy of this. It wasn't like punch you in your face, right Right. It was immersive. She packed a lot of information in there, and I think my own. I really wanted to understand what her mom's response was.
Kelly:I feel like that was over entirely.
Ashley:I wanted that drama, but maybe we get it later, I don't know. Um, but I enjoyed the world building. I enjoyed the friends that they made and the neighbor situation. I enjoyed that Violet had that one-on-one girl time with the neighbor friend. It was like what is your interspecies relationship like and how do you handle those cultural differences with the families? I thought she accomplished a lot in a very small book, arguably, and it was just. But it was also in a pleasant way. Like I said, it didn't punch you in your face, you weren't overwhelmed with information. You kind of got a little tidbit of the different monster species with explanation, right and description. So definitely a four for me. I liked it a lot, sarah Jess what do you guys think, Jess you?
Sarah:go this time.
Jess:Yeah, I mean I think I agree with the general consensus. I mean there's a lot packed into this, this little book, and there's a there's quite a lot of world building, and I find that sometimes with monster romances it's either it's almost like one or the other. You either get this like really lovely world building that incorporates the monsters to show how monsters and humans interact, but then sometimes some books just don't give a hoot. They just want to get right to the sex. They're like we don't, like it doesn't matter, because there's gonna be some dicking, so, um. So I appreciated that this one had some of that in there and that it's actually quite like nuanced as well.
Sarah:Yeah, I would agree with that 100, and I think the great thing about these is that they build on what you've learned. So if you've read, you know morning glory milking farm and you go on to sweet berries, which is the next book in the series. Yeah, it builds upon what you know. So you, like, you already know about the coffee shop, uh, you know I'll tell you a little bit more. But then you learn about, like, oh, the ice cream shop and you can go to the ice cream shop, but it has a cart, you know, eight blocks down and to the left, and it's the same owners.
Sarah:Like, I love knowing these little things. But also, like, again, like it doesn't take itself too seriously, like I feel like sometimes when I read, like, for example, like, um, you know, I'm reading about bryce going through the city, right, uh, and, and a sarah j mass book and I have to pay attention to everything that Bryce sees, because it's going to come back and I'm going to have to file it away and I don't have a great memory, right, so I'm not going to remember the doorway that she saw in book one when I'm in book three. Like, I'm not going to remember that, but I am going to remember that, like that, mothman didn't want to eat that green ice cream. Like my brain is simple sometimes like I work. We work these long days and I love having this like escapist fantasy that like, oh, there's world building, but it's not so serious that I have to like pay attention to every single thing that happens like my brain you're not taking notes it's not home.
Sarah:No, I'm not I'm never listen, guys. I'm never gonna take a note when I read a book, ever, and I'll tell you that right now.
Jess:If it's not for work, I'm not in school anymore.
Sarah:I don't give a shit. I'm reading for escapism and for the fun and for the smut and for the monsters. So like for me, like it's not a ton of world building but it's enough that I totally agree with like a four ranking there, like absolutely I'm gonna give it a, I'm gonna give it a three in world building, because it just, it just felt so, because you couldn't find out about the lips I did come across a term from gordon ramsay called beef cheeks, and so now I'm even further down this rabbit hole and I'm gonna have to delete my browser you're an fbi agent
Sarah:he's going, he's like I don't know what's going on. What's happening?
Jonathan:browser history listen there's some interesting websites where you can get some visuals is all I gotta say yeah, I thought I you know, the only reason I give it three is because I keep going back to like it just felt very like friends yeah, well, it does sound like you had fun with this book in your own way, I had fun after this book.
Sarah:Yeah, so maybe this is your gateway, your gateway to that book yeah, yeah, yeah.
Jonathan:It could be.
Mari:Romance, Romance. In this book we separate romance and spice. So for romance, for me I would say it was a two. This is not a heavy romance book on its own. For me it's more insta-lust, insta-romance, which is not my particular brand of romance. But if you take into account the blue ribbon romance part of it I feel like it's better, but if I'm just looking at this book, for me the romance itself was a two nah, I thought it was a three.
Jonathan:It was polite, there was courtship yeah, you said that, like they were gonna, there's like a 15 point disparity. You were like, nah, it's not two at all because two is below average.
Ashley:I thought it was. I thought it was an average romance book.
Jonathan:Do you know what the average is? How can you say that?
Ashley:because we're here on the five sir yeah, but how many have?
Jonathan:how many books have you rated to establish an average? You don't even even have a list. No, no, no. I'm just talking about this book, this book on a score of one to five.
Ashley:Three would be average and two is below average.
Jonathan:And write a Python code for this.
Ashley:Yeah, let me know what you come up with. Thanks so much. I thought it was a three. There was courtship. He was considerate of her feelings, obviously obviously. There were extenuating milkings. There were fantasies. It was a sweet little romance. He could have banged her in the car or at the restaurant full 50 shades, done some dirty, nasty shit, and it didn't go down that road. I thought it was very polite that it was very demure until it wasnure, until it wasn't yeah, yeah, no it wasn't.
Ashley:I liked it a lot. It was, it was pleasant again. It wasn't like punch you in your face, faded mates, bullshit right out the gate, or anything sarah and jess um I'd say three fair three.
Jess:I I'd say I would give it a two. I think I mean okay, because it's not. It's not quite my type of romance. Like I, I don't like the insta lust, you know, like I don't like that. It started off kind of sexual already. I need, I need the build-up. Personally, I need that burn. I didn't feel no burn, it was lukewarm. It was demure it was too demure, it was beige.
Sarah:I don't know how milking somebody's cock is demure. Okay, guys.
Ashley:Alright.
Sarah:Mine feels short but demure. I don't know about that.
Jonathan:You know what it gave off? Very junior high kind of vibes Demir. I want it to be special, that's what he said there was courting. That was like a number two.
Sarah:Like a number two pencil, just like the school blue.
Jonathan:Yeah, that's what we're going with Okay Spice.
Mari:Spice for me was a five Like this did have absolutely all the spice 100%.
Ashley:Jess is like who.
Jonathan:Their spice bar is higher. Their spice bar is they're comparing this to something else. There's tongues and other things. They don't have lips at all, but they got tongues, elongated tongues. I know what you can do with those things.
Sarah:I think it's like a 3.5.
Jess:We're on a different level. Sarah and I are a different level I think like a 3.5.
Sarah:I mean, I think the spice is holy shit, holy shit, yeah, but I don't think it's like I don't know spicy, like the things that we read are so filthy that this like for me is like that's like a, that's like a 3.5 I think the five comes from like the running of, like the feet in the ground. I'm like that's pretty animalistic, but like it's not really that spicy for us per se yeah, not saying it's not bad and I enjoyed the spice when it's there but like it's pretty cozy like the, like the book is kind of cozy.
Jess:Yeah, I don't know what. He described it as like cozy spicy.
Mari:This is absolutely cozy spicy book yeah.
Jess:Yeah, Something that we haven't mentioned yet is it would be considered a cinnamon roll monster romance. Oh yeah.
Jonathan:I have no idea what that means.
Jess:Yeah.
Jonathan:Okay, please elaborate Jess.
Jess:Sarah.
Mari:You were at the panel, we were at Go ahead.
Sarah:Sarah, you explain. So a cinnamon roll monster is a monster. That's very sweet. It has a lot of human attributes, right. So they're going to romance you. They're going to be that Ross to your Rachel, if you will, jonathan right, they were on a break, just kidding um, but like the second time today jess and I are of the the kind of mind thing that, like we and I love this book.
Sarah:So like don't get me wrong like we also like our monsters to be monsters, so like, if they are not pc and they are acting monstrous, like that is, that is an element of the genre, right? So I think we get glimpses of that a little bit when we talk about like rourke really like kind of losing himself and running into her and things like that. But he's still a sweet, polite man that courts her right like monster man, yeah yeah he's not like taking whatever he wants.
Sarah:You know what I mean. Like he's. He is their cinnamon roll and he said sweet cinnamon. Exactly, he took time, he got baked, he's got an icing on top of it. It's very thick but it's there, you know. But he's not, he not monstrous. You're not worried about him losing control ever. You're not afraid of him. You know, just like ravaging her and and just it being just so monstrous, you're like, oh, he's like a sweet guy, the hair out of his eyes to use a term that I heard on your guys's podcast.
Mari:There's no, uh, scurrousable.
Sarah:Yeah, yeah, that's great, yeah, no. Iousal yeah, yeah, that's great, yeah, no, I think that's, that's perfect. Uh, I think I think there's. There's maybe a little bit more when you go through the the rest of the series. Like, uh, with the mothman book there's like a little uh, like a voyeurness to it. That's a little bit of that. But still, there's cinnamon rolls. You know, um, they're not, they're not scary and that's part of it. Right, it's going over that, like, oh, they're monsters, but we are in an accepting community where they're not, um, right, but I think it's still, uh, it's still a good intro book for somebody that hasn't really read this kind of monster romance before. But it's not scary. You're not aroused and also afraid. You're just aroused, which is great too.
Jonathan:It's one or the other.
Sarah:No, not in our world.
Jonathan:I was going to say I thought maybe you could be both, or maybe one could draw.
Sarah:You can be both.
Jonathan:You said specifically Jonathan you didn't want scary.
Sarah:so this is the not scary monster book that is an aphrodisiac for many is to be scared.
Ashley:slash afraid and aroused Scorazzle.
Jonathan:That's a legitimate word.
Ashley:So is bangening, bangening.
Mari:I don't know that one Bang when you, when you fuck the magic on. Oh yeah, ash, what was your uh spice rating on this?
Ashley:spice rate there was. There was a lot of spice. It was polite spice. I don't think it's the spiciest thing I've ever read. I want to say it was like a three and a half. I was okay, it was. It was again. You know, based on the cover I said it earlier it was exactly what I expected and in such a small book, right like it was 250 pages, some odd. So yeah, yeah, it was a three and a half, I thought it was it was a nice spice.
Mari:Moving on, I think we've done all our bits that we normally do, right? Oh, no, no, jonathan. Yeah, jonathan, did you say spice? You did say spice, right or no?
Ashley:um well he mentioned the calculator earlier, but I don't know that he.
Jonathan:Yeah, I definitely have this one scored high on the calculator. It's a 72 percent of on the calculator and I have now fuck it. Let's go all the way to four. Oh, four for you yeah, you know what my yeah we're gonna get you some more books, jonathan yeah, I'm just a baby he's new here, guys, it's okay all right.
Mari:And then the last question is uh, is this a kissing book for me?
Kelly:I put yes yeah, I think it's a kissing book.
Jess:I think it has to have like yeah, yeah, full on we still have to figure out how they kiss, though that's the only.
Sarah:Oh, it's the outlier they're kissing, but we're not quite sure how.
Mari:All right, so I know we're rounding up on time here, but, um, I wanted to go into, like normally, we'll do a little rapid fire after this, but instead of that I wanted to talk a little bit about you guys and Hissin' and Kissin', and one of the things I was trying to do coming up into the holiday season is highlight little like small businesses and things like. We had a small business last episode and we're gonna have another one next one. But I also want to remind everybody that a lot of times, these podcasts and things you listen to are also small businesses. So, for example, if your person you want to buy a gift for likes a certain podcast or a certain like artist or a certain indie author or whatever, a lot of times these creators have things that you can buy. Hissin' and Kissin' has cool little t-shirts and totes and mugs and sweatshirts.
Sarah:I saw you made a purchase from us today and I appreciate that very very much I did Mari.
Mari:Santa bought something for Mari. Is there anything? I know we talked a little bit about you guys at the beginning, but is there anything else? Jonathan, Ashley, you guys have any questions for them or anything?
Jonathan:else. Well, I have questions.
Mari:Sarah and Jess, you guys want to talk.
Ashley:I have questions. You've got a notebook, guys. There's a notebook.
Jonathan:What's this thing I heard about on your podcast Alpha Beta Omega?
Ashley:You opened up a can of worms.
Sarah:That was the first question you could have asked. Happy birthday, Sam.
Jonathan:I've got a whole list that I got questions on um, okay, rapid fire okay yeah, sarah, you take this one.
Sarah:I'll take the next one, okay so, um, alpha, beta, omega is, uh, are types of people in the omega verse. What is the omega verse? I'm so glad you ask. Um, it is a universe in which alpha, beta, beta and Omegas live. Alphas if they are male, they have a penis with a big knot on the end. If they are an Omega, they basically get very horny and they need to be fucked by Alphas when they go into heat. There can be female Alphas and also male Omegas, but we're not going to dive into that because it's rapid fire and betas are normal people. Is that good?
Jess:And if you're a male omega, you can get pregnant, and that is called M-Preg.
Jonathan:Yes, Is that?
Ashley:another question.
Jonathan:No, I saw a whole movie on that with.
Sarah:Danny.
Jonathan:DeVito.
Sarah:Yeah, we actually talked about that. Yeah, yeah, yep, absolutely.
Jonathan:Alright, so with that knowledge, shrek and Donkey who's who?
Sarah:Oh, jess take that one.
Jess:Okay, Absolutely. Shrek is the alpha.
Sarah:Yeah, agreed.
Jess:Donkey's an omega, yeah, and all you have to do is even look at his relationship with the dragon. He's definitely getting bottomed in that relationship. A hundred percent yeah.
Jonathan:R2-D2, C-3PO.
Sarah:Oh, we just did this one.
Jess:Yeah, so we have a segment where we we have a segment on our Omegaverse episodes where we we say who is the alpha, who's the Omega? And we agreed that R2 being being the war criminal he is and not a snitch either. Yeah, he's the Alpha.
Sarah:Jonathan, if you have questions in the future, we have a whole channel on our Discord where you can put Alpha and Omega in at any time and the whole group can talk about it. So we literally have a channel called Alpha War, omega. So that's what we. You can do that anytime you want to and on our On our Discord, Actually on that.
Mari:Along those lines, where can people find you guys?
Sarah:Usually we have this written down you had one job.
Ashley:And my screen is frozen.
Mari:Not even going to make you do it in any kind of a funny voice. What happened is we kept saying it randomly and my screen is frozen, not even going to make you do it in any kind of a funny voice.
Sarah:What happened is we kept saying it randomly and my yeah, my husband Brad, who like does our producing, was like, if you don't write it down, I got it. You two are such a hot mess, okay just go.
Jess:Okay, you ready? You can find us on our Instagram at Hissin' and Kissin' Podcast. In the bio of our instagram we have a couple of links. We have a link to our website, wwwhissandkissandpodcastcom. We also have a link to our link tree. There are different uh links to places you can listen to the podcast. There's a link to the website. Of course, there's a link to our coffee account. Make sure you head over to our website where we've got some merch. Make sure they get it. We have a TikTok account, hissingkissingpod, an email hissingandkissingpodcast at gmailcom. Send over your questions, comments and or concerns and again, don't forget about our coffee account. I think that's everything all right.
Mari:thanks for listening to of 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 of swords and soulmates. Check out our website of swords and soulmates dot com, and we're also available on YouTube, tiktok and Pinterest with the same username.
Mari:If you'd like to offer a suggestion for a future rapid fire question, reach out to us on any of the options above or email us. If you want to read along with us as we prep for a new episode, you can follow us on Goodreads, at of swords and soulmates, or for chapter by chapter interaction on the fable app. We're actually not going to be reading a book for the next episode, but if you're on the fable book club, we're going to be reading a book that we're not going to talk about in the podcast. We're going to read the phantasma book. Phantasm oh my God, it's the book of Phantasma. Thank you, I'm like oh my God.
Ashley:I had to sound it out. It's okay. Phantasma by KE Smith K-A-Y-L-I-E Smith.
Mari:So if you want to have a discussion about that, it's going to be Amy of Maplegrass Design and we're going to be talking about the Nightmare Before Christmas. Thank you.
