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
"Dating and Dismemberment" - A Monster's Midlife Crisis
What happens when a legendary monster gets burned out from terrorizing teenagers? Monster Slayer Matchmaking takes us into the world of Darla Drake, the infamous Duchess of Death, who's taking a much-needed break from her monster duties at Camp Clear Creek.
When we first meet Darla, she's in the depths of an existential crisis, spending her days reading stolen romance novels and conversing with her mother's decapitated (yet still very opinionated) head. Her comfortable sabbatical is rudely interrupted by Jarko Murkvale, an arrogant new monster who moves in on her territory while she's been off-duty. Rather than surrendering her stomping grounds, Darla challenges him to a series of monster competitions to prove who truly deserves the claim to Clear Creek.
What follows is a delightful enemies-to-potential-partners journey as these two monsters discover there might be more to life than terrorizing campers. The book creates a fascinating world where monsters coexist with modern society, complete with monster territory assignments, tracking apps, and even social gatherings. Brody Rossiter expertly balances humor with heart, crafting characters that, despite their monstrous nature, experience very human struggles with purpose, loneliness, and finding connection.
This cozy monster rom-com offers a refreshing take on paranormal romance with its closed-door approach and focus on emotional growth rather than explicit content. It's perfect for readers who enjoy their paranormal stories with a generous dose of humor, witty banter, and the comforting message that even monsters deserve their happily ever after.
Ready to discover if monsters who slay together truly stay together? Dive into this charming tale that proves love can bloom in even the most unlikely—and terrifying—circumstances.
Links to News Stories
- Hemingway Books has a special edition of the Hunger Games books
- Owlcrate is doing a special edition of The Irresistible Urge to Fall for your Enemy
- Rebecca F Kenney, an attending author at Romantasycon will be releasing a Phantom of the Opera retelling called Cruel Angel
- Barnes and Nobles is doing a signed special edition of The Book of Azrael
- The Bookish Box in collaboration with CM Nascosta is doing a special edition of Cambric Creek
- Julie de Soto, author of Rose in Chain, and others, has mutually agreed to not be at Romance Con
- Story / Announcement Link
- Issue may stem from HP and Rowling boycotts
Follow us:
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 Kelly.
Kelly:Hey everyone, it's Kelly. We also have Ashley.
Ashley:Hey guys, it's Ashley. We also have Jonathan, what's good everybody, hey, hey, all right.
Mari:So, starting on the news, we've got Hemingway Books. Hemingway Books has a special edition of the Hunger Games books out which are very pretty. I don't have any books by them but I've heard and seen several of their special editions that they started to come out with. This set is $219 and it ships in november. But, going through their website, they also have like special edition, fourth, multiple fourth wings, akatar, thrown a glass quick, silver crimson moth when the moon hatched, assistant to the villain shield of sparrows, and the irresistible urge to fall for your enemy. Like, basically, if it's a book, you're more or less hearing people talk about newish. Like, basically, if it's a book, you're more or less here and people talk about newish, like they seem to have a, you know, a special edition version of it. Um, I said I haven't seen the quality firsthand. I don't have any of their stuff. I don't think I've seen any of their stuff in person, but it looks really nice on the website.
Ashley:Yeah, these are pretty stunning. I was, um, I would I. When I came across it, I was like, is this a scam? And I mean 200 bucks for five books. I think my only hesitancy for the hunger games is it seems like she's on a role and I don't know that she's done right. Um, somebody posted and I forget if it was on tiktok or what, but they were alleging that you know the. It was the hunger games trilogy. So it was, you know, katniss's trilogy, and now this is like the cubby trilogy, um, which she has not admitted to out loud that I'm aware of, but it was just like, oh, it was like bam bro, you're probably right, yeah, I mean they've got to break it up somehow.
Mari:So yeah, yeah, so if you're interested in some really pretty special editions, they seem to be pretty available too. Like it's not like they're sold out or anything. I don't know if they print them, you know, based on how many people buy them, but from the ones I look through, they all seem to be available for purchase. So I would definitely look through that no-transcript reading it, but listening to it, the humor hit really well. So I, yeah, if you're interested in that one, I would recommend listening to it. I have not read the fan fiction that it's based off of, so I don't have anything like that to compare it to, but I thought it was a good read. I'm planning on reading the sequel whenever it comes out. This particular version that Alcrate is doing has dust jacket artwork by Ivy Maruva and designed by Leichen and Limestone, and then the reversible dust jacket artwork is by off the hook studio and the hardcover case is designed by um dracadormances. If you go to all crates instagram, they're all linked that sounds legit.
Mari:yeah, it's all one word. I sorry if I'm not saying it right, but it's 34.99 and it ships in oct. They're doing the whole thing where Allcrate normally does, where the people who are subscribers get first options to buy and then, if they have any leftover, they put it out to the general public. So the general public sale begins assuming that they have some to sell on Thursday, august the 28th, at 11 am Pacific time. But, like I said, that just depends on if they have any stock to sell. So if that's something you're interested in, I would follow them on their Instagram. They usually do a good job of telling when things are sold out $35 sounds like a bargain, bargain.
Ashley:If I hadn't already bought it probably.
Mari:Do you have?
Ashley:this one, ash. Yeah, it's somewhere. I'm happy with what. I haven't read it, but I have read the fan fiction and it was by far one of the best books that I've ever read in my entire life, wow, okay I thought this book was really good.
Mari:Here I like feet kicking, giggling I don't think you needed to know anything about, like the, the fandom it's based on, like I could easily see someone fully enjoying this book without knowing anything other than what's in this book, and I think it would still be a really good and I think I heard that that was intentional, and my understanding is that this, this book, is dramatically different than the fan fiction, so we're not talking about just, you know, the swapping of names yeah um, so I'm definitely interested to read it.
Ashley:I've heard both ends of the spectrum about whether people have liked the book or not. I know that there's a lot of hostility out there right now, based, you know, because of the fan fiction that things are based off of. But, honestly, if, if, her writing is anywhere near as good as the fan fiction itself, it's got to be superb.
Mari:I I enjoyed every second of it I'd love to know what you think when you read this, since you've read the fan, the original, your fan fiction, so you'll know. Yeah, something to compare it to. But, like me going in just having read this book, I enjoyed it. It it was fun and I plan to listen to the sequel, for sure.
Ashley:That's good to know.
Mari:All right. Next little bit of news I have is Rebecca F Kenney, who's an attending author at Romanescon. She's going to be releasing a Phantom of the Opera retelling. It's going to be called Cruel Angel. It's going to release April 14th 2026 for $17.99. It's just in paperback. Often she does paperback on Barnes, Noble, Amazon that kind of thing, but then on her website or her Etsy page she might do special editions that are signed. I've got a few of her books that are hardcover special edition signed. She does really good, interesting retellings so I'm curious to see what she's going to do with this story. She does a retelling of Krampus that I like and she does a retelling of the Nutcracker ballet that I really enjoyed and thought was really really well done. Yeah, I like her writing style.
Ashley:Have we read Rebecca kenney on here before?
Mari:I feel like I've read her I would like to before the con, if we get a chance to her. Her books are. They're high spice and she does really interesting character development.
Ashley:Oh, this is the of the, a court of sugar and spice, the nutcracker ret. We've been talking about that.
Jonathan:Yeah, that's definitely on my list. I have it in the cart. Yeah, I like that one.
Mari:I read it, I think, on Kindle Unlimited, and then bought it because I liked it so much, so it's on the shelf.
Ashley:Oh, there's a Jack Frost one. Yeah, look at all this I'm definitely gonna.
Jonathan:That's definitely on my. I think I have it. I have the audio saved and I have the physical in the cart in the Amazon cart. That's one I want signed, so definitely yeah.
Ashley:Maybe we can read that a little bit closer to your favorite time of year in September. Bring you some joy.
Jonathan:Post. It could be a recovery book after.
Mari:Halloween Horror Nights. Yeah, she's got those series. She's got series of some retellings of like classic books, like portrait of dorian gray weathering heights, and then she's got a dragon series. It's the merciless dragon series, which is the first thing I ever read by her was the merciless dragon series. Um, and I I enjoyed it. She does. She writes really interesting stories, um. Next tidbit of news I have is that barnes and noble is doing a signed special edition of the book of it, asriel. I've not read this book. Has anyone else read it?
Ashley:I have not read it, but I feel like I've heard very good things about it on the socials was this is she gonna be at the romancy convention?
Mari:I don't think so amber v nicole I'm not sure you know. I didn't double check that, I don't think so, but look into that. I will say that I've heard good things about this series for a while and it's a series, I think it's maybe three, three books, but it's basically described as a slow burn, high stakes, epic romancy featuring a villainous shapeshifter heroine and a tortured god king in a steamy, monstrous world. So it's been on my list for a minute, because all that sounds right up my alley.
Ashley:Right, right, right in there too yeah.
Mari:Yeah. So this version is very pretty. It's got like the design all over it and it's signed, if you get it through Barnes and noble for 32.95, which is not at all bad no, not at all I just checked the list.
Jonathan:She's not on the list to to do that to be there, I know right but yeah, I've heard good things.
Mari:I've not read it, but I've heard good things, so maybe we can read that sometime yeah, for sure I like it.
Mari:I like the way it sounds, a lot yeah the next thing I have oh, I cannot type on these news misspelling people's names bookish box is doing a collaboration with cm nascosta, who wrote, amongst other things, the morning glory milking farm that we read. She just got the whole cambrick creek series. So they're doing a special edition of the cambrick creek series and they are so pretty they feel like look at that spring, summer flower vibes. It's like a little bouquet of books it really is.
Ashley:Oh, look at, like the pinterest board.
Mari:Yeah yeah, it's really beautiful. It's 190 um, but they're they're very pretty editions. It's really beautiful, it's 190 dollars um, but they're they're very pretty additions. It's got um morning glory milk and farm sweet berries. Is it full-blooded?
Ashley:moon-blooded, moon-blooded breeding clinic. Yeah, two for tea. Welcome to as a zaythi, and he loves me not. I've read all of these three, four or five they're all very good.
Mari:My favorite is probably sweet berries. It's like a mothman but he's like a scientist in this camber kick town, so it's a little bit of like on the spectrum, kind of short little. It's a short little book romance. I like that one and I like the forget me not. It's a retelling of you've Got Mail.
Jonathan:Oh, I like You've Got Mail.
Mari:His ears perked up. They're all well done. I mean, they're very much like Morning Glory, and Milking Farm was where it's like yes, it's a monster, it's a spicy monster romance and it also has all these really interesting things to say about modern society and people's relationships and, you know, standing up for yourself and found family and the importance of like being accepted and, yeah, they're all very much along the lines of morning glory milking farm in quality. I, if you like morning glory milking farm, I highly recommend everything else I've read by everything else she's written, so yeah, f-o-x.
Jonathan:Fox, fox, that's a. Uh wait, was that you've got mail? Yeah, what would I may have seen you've got mail maybe once when it first came out and I've never seen it
Mari:so I know that it's a retelling of it, but I honestly haven't seen it in so long I I I only know there's a retelling. I don't, I don't remember hardly anything from that movie it's tom hanks doing regular tom hanks stuff.
Jonathan:Yeah, and you know it, tom hanks is like. You know who the new tom hanks is is who's that fella, who was in the who's the mandalorian, and he's got like eight movies out right now pedro pascal yeah, that's our new daddy, that's our new Tom Hanks, that's the millennial Tom Hanks.
Ashley:Yeah, no, I don't think so.
Jonathan:I think Pedro's in a class all his own.
Ashley:Don't take that from me, ashley, I mean.
Mari:I gotta say I'm with Ash on this.
Ashley:Yeah, yeah yeah, though oddly I don't think they're terribly far apart in age, are they? You know, I don't know I don't know anyway, all right.
Mari:The last little bit of news I have is that julie de soto, who wrote rose and chains rose and chain, just another fan fiction turned into a book is is one of the authors that mutually agreed to not be at RomanceCon. So apparently RomanceCon is run by Mischief Management, which originally started as a Harry Potter fan business company and they run amongst other public, from the fans that having Julia DeSoto, there was an endorsement of Rawling and so people were like pulling out and trying to call him out on this and I guess, through mutual agreement, julia DeSoto just kind of pulled out of it. It's interesting because I am now in the middle, I'm about 35% through Rose and Chain and much like the Irresistible Urge to Fall for your Enemy. If I didn't know that it was based off of fan fiction, it really is its own world. I don't need to have any prior knowledge of anything so far to understand what's going on, to know the vibes of the characters, to get a feel for their personalities.
Ashley:Um so, I think some of the beef with that, and I very well could be wrong.
Ashley:I didn't deep dive into this because I think we're all entitled, you know, to our own feelings, um, and about how we consume art, right, and the things that we're willing to invest in and the things that we are not willing to. But that part aside, I think some of the push, the the initial pushback with Julie DeSoto was that her marketing team was like heavily advertising the fanfic and this being a retelling of that, and I think that's what put a bad taste in some mouths. I think the people too that run the convention kind of doubled down on why they were making some of the choices that they were about the other side of the business, and then that just kind of fueled the fire, right, um, I think we all know that fan fictions don't benefit original authors, right, right, but I can see the view of you know, bringing attention and light, right, invest in, you know a particular author anymore. So I really think it's unfortunate overall. You know how everything went down Because, if I'm not mistaken, jkr despises all the fan fictions.
Jonathan:That's a money thing. You know, I think the hard part for me and this is where I kind of couldn't the two sort of things was I have here's this person who I think is being punished by by bookish folk for just being inspired by, and I think that we need to. I think at some point we have, we just have to allow for people to be, we just have to understand, like, hey, when, when everything was on the up and up, this person inspired a bunch of people to get involved in this genre and it was a big part of a lot of people's childhood. And, yeah, although it kind of went, although it really took a turn in a negative way for the for for the author we we can't expel or use some, we can't hold somebody else's actions against somebody who doesn't feel that way.
Jonathan:So I got confused on like social media, Like I just started asking questions about this because I was like hey, so is Julie, like anti, and they were like oh no.
Mari:And I was like I don't understand why we're not doing this.
Jonathan:I say to me, like I'm like I'm a toddler, patronize me, because I still don't understand why we're kicking julie out or why this is even a thing like. I understand why we don't listen. I understand why. I think we all know that. I understand why we don't like JoRo Cool, I support not liking that. I don't understand why we don't like Julie.
Ashley:Yeah, I think it was a series of unfortunate events that really just snowballed. I think Julie was kind of I don't know.
Jonathan:It sounded interesting, though it was an English accent and everything no-transcript.
Ashley:It's unfortunate because I can argue both sides. I don't have anybody in the game so maybe I would feel more passionately about it. There seems to be a part of the community that wants a safe space to enjoy. The fandom still is part of the argument, but I think a much larger, louder part of the argument is saying don't breathe life into her anymore. It's hurting us.
Mari:Yeah, I my. My viewpoint on fan fiction is I believe that a lot of authors have used the fan fiction space like um, archive of their own and whatnot to as a spot to like as a way to develop their writing skills. You know where they couldn't necessarily write a book and get someone to pick it up and give them feedback on it. In a setting like AO3 and like a fan fiction setting, you do get feedback on it and you get to develop your craft. I'm not a writer, but I believe writing, like every art form, you start off real rough, no matter how much talent you may have. You start off rough and then you get better the more you fine tune your skills, and I think fan fiction is been a way to get some people to do that and then they later make the jump to self publishing or to traditional publishing. I don't think that there's anything wrong with the idea of your works being derived from someone else if you do afterwards make the world your own. So, for example, dungeons and Dragons, heavily derivative of Tolkien, you can't tell me it's not the dwarves, the elves, it's all Tolkien, but now it's its own thing because they've created their own world off of it. Like you don't necessarily have to have read token to understand something in Dungeons and Dragons, much like these books. You don't have to have read the original material to be able to enjoy and understand these books that are now basically their own books.
Mari:You know I'm no longer a fan of Rowling. I don't support Rowling. Trans life matters, trans rights, are human rights, but I think that they worked it out mutually. The way it was worded on both the author page and the con page was that it was a mutual agreement for them to step out. So I don't know that there's any necessarily bad blood between them two. But yeah, in my ideal world I think Julie DeSoto should be able to get in there and sell that, because it's not like that's the only thing she's ever done, like she has other books that have nothing to do with you know, and again, I think that was part of the argument was because somebody in the marketing team was advertising like heavily the fan, the germani fanfic being, you know that, this being a spinoff or retelling of that.
Ashley:And I mean, we're seeing that this year, right, julie de soto is not the only fanfic artist dropping a retelling. I mean, sin lin, you is all over the socials right now. This is a big deal, you know, come september, and to be able to say why it's a big deal means that we're going to have to talk about the fanfic, right, yeah, um, and. But again, these aren't the only two. The hurricane wars is based off of a fanfic.
Ashley:Ali hazelwood has done a book off of a fanfic, allie Hazelwood has done a book off of a fanfic, like it's a tough space and I think these are important conversations, but I disagree with punishing or attacking the artist for doing a retelling or making it, or somebody in the marketing team, you know. I think this is a lesson that can be learned and we should be able to move on.
Mari:Yeah, I agree, both people are feral.
Ashley:Yes, we are. We are passionate, we have big feelings.
Mari:I think a lot of fans do More passion, more energy. I think a lot of fans do, you know, whether it's books, whether it's video games, whether it's movies, like people are devoted to their fandoms and usually have things to say.
Jonathan:Yeah, I agree, I have not washed my game day apparel since last season. It remains right where I left it on Super Bowl Sunday. It has been there and I will don it again in September, unwashed. We keep the stench of victory.
Ashley:We respect certain cults in this household.
Mari:Any other news from anybody else.
Jonathan:Just that little trinket of a treat that Rebecca dropped on.
Ashley:On a random Sunday.
Jonathan:Yeah, so not even that it's like plot worthy or like crazy news, but just that her mind is in that space for the next.
Ashley:Already.
Mari:Yeah.
Jonathan:Which is cool yeah in that space.
Mari:For that, for the next already. Yeah, which is cool. Yeah, I'm glad for her because I know for a while she was like not happy in that space. You know she was having trouble getting back into the empyrean yeah, she was burnt out so I'm glad she's able to get back to it, hopefully in a healthy way and enjoy it.
Ashley:Yeah, right anything else.
Mari:No, I think we covered it all right. So on to the book review. Why we chose this book is because the author is going to be one of the attending authors at fabled fantasies romancy con event in october in orlando. So I'm going to read the synopsis. This book was published october 8th 2024 as part of the mating and monsters series, and here is the synopsis.
Mari:Darla drake, duchess of death, is a legendary monster who has haunted the woods around camp clear creek for years, until an existential crisis forces her to take a sabbatical from wreaking havoc on pimply teens while she figures out what she really wants from the rest of her possibly infinite life. But what does a monster do when her malevolent days are over? For Darla, it's spending time with the decapitated yet still overbearing head of her mother, reading romance novels she steals from campers and struggling with one monstrous case of melancholy, until Jarko Murkvale arrives in Clear Creek and turns Darla's life upside down. Jarko is a conceited, arrogant, infuriating and unfortunately for Darla kind of hot. And with the Duchess of Death on the shelf, jarko has staked his claim on Camp Clear Creek, but Darla refuses to go down without a fight, and so, in order to reclaim her territory. She challenges Jarko to a series of hunts to see who the most fearsome monster really is.
Mari:But the more mayhem they cause, the more Darla begins to realize there's more to this brash monster than she believed and that Jarko may just be the antidote to her ennui. But there's a reason. Jarko came to Clear Creek and in order to fill her nine-chambered heart. Darla will have to unravel the mystery of who this closed-off monster really is. And if they can manage to not literally tear each other limb from limb, darla and Jarko might just find that couples who slay together stay together. Can I just say that for my just even the teeniest bit of Hispanic accent, I have the name Jarko, jarko like oh my God, it plays with me so bad, hardest time saying it.
Jonathan:Well, you did a good job.
Mari:Thank you. What did we think of this book guys?
Ashley:I loved this book. I didn't inhale it. I did take my time with it but I really, really enjoyed it. And I was disappointed to find out that book two doesn't come out until whopping like mid-2026. I know, I was very, I was very distraught at that, especially because it was published in early 24. But I really enjoyed this book. I enjoyed the banter, the sarcasm, the relationship between Darla and her mother, darla and her best friend, darla and Jarko. Like we really saw a lot of her. I think I would have liked it more if we had fleshed out Jarko a little bit. But like, maybe that's book two. Who am I to tell the author what to do? Right, I was also this is mildly sexist of me, but I was surprised it was written by a boy because I really enjoyed this book. So it's a five because I would probably reread it and I think this would make a fantastic little miniseries.
Mari:Okay, kelly, what did you think?
Kelly:I thought the book wasn't terrible. It was definitely a different type of read than we've done recently, so the humor in it was nice to get a break from some stuff that's always constantly serious romance stuff. Yeah, I think jarco was a little one-dimensional, but you know he wasn't the focus character of the story, so you know that is what it is. I think the, the head of the overbearing mother was pretty funny, so that was definitely an amusing twist to the Mother Guilt trip type stuff. I don't know. I think my overall rating for this was a three.
Mari:Okay, this is not my first time reading it, so I first read it in January of this year and I swear I thought the sequel was supposed to come out this year, so I think it maybe originally was supposed to come out this year and then got pushed back. But I reread it for this and, um, I. For me, overall it was a three and a half. I enjoyed it, but I think I was wanting more out of it. So when I see that something's a monster romance and when I see that something's kind of like a rom-com, I have certain expectations. I really like my rom-coms to be dual point of view. I think it gives you a better insight into the heads of the people in the relationships and we mainly, for the most part, only get Darla's point of view. So for me it was okay. I think I was just expecting a little bit more to get into both of their heads and I was expecting a little bit more. There were things in the world that didn't quite make sense to me and I actually gave it a little bit higher on the reread. The first time I read it it was three stars. This time it's three and a half.
Mari:I find Darla to be unlikable for me and that made it hard to enjoy it because it was like from her viewpoint. But I think she's supposed to be unlikable. I think she's miserable and that made it hard to enjoy it because it was like from her viewpoint. But I think she's supposed to be unlikable. I think she's miserable and so she's like, she's not happy, she's having her nervous breakdown. You know, take time away from her job, kind of thing.
Mari:But I know, I don't know that I really like the way that it got resolved, like. I feel like, basically because they had a meet, cute, and they liked each other. Then, you know, she got over her midlife crisis or whatever she was having and then he got over his grief just because they got together, and I think I wanted more out of it. So three and a half stars for me. There were things I liked about it, things I wanted more of. I'll still probably read the sequel because I'm kind of interested in where it's going to go from here and who the sequel is about. But overall, three and a half stars, jonathan.
Jonathan:I like this one. I like this one a lot. I gave it five stars. It was, although I'll say this I don't think that the synopsis aligns with the story. I think the synopsis goes a little bit deeper and can be misleading and like I didn't get that sense of. What I got was like a cozy a cozy rom-com out of this and it just that the subjects just happen to be monsters. But I feel like this story could apply to almost any rom-com aside from killing.
Jonathan:But maybe you take your foot off the gas in a corporate world and somebody comes in to season opening, right that kind of thing. And then you end up falling in love with your competitor and I feel like it was almost this, this show and tell vibe for their their like dual hunt, like anything you can do, I can do better. Like I can run faster than you I can. I hear you want to get in there and just rip people apart, let's know. Let it marinate bud, you know. Let let's see what happens, let it let it develop, you know, shake it like a Polaroid picture, you know. And and so it kind of it ticked those boxes of like a fun, a fun read.
Jonathan:And when I picked. When I picked this book off up off the shelf, I did the same thing. I read it. Back in January too. We were at a. We were at a, a local bookshop, reopening Like they had moved locations to a bigger location. They were like, hey, let's reopen and do a thing. And so they were doing that.
Jonathan:And my sisters and I, we all we went up to this reopening and I was like kind of looking around, I was the only dude there. I was like way out of place and I was like hmm, and then I saw this book on like a shelf and it was just alone. It's the only one on. It was just there. And I was like you know what? The cover of this book just looks delightful. And then I said I'll take this one. And then when I started reading it I was like, oh, this is, this is fun. There were lots of.
Jonathan:It was very predictable. It was very I don't know if it's hokey the right word. Is hokey the right word? Campy, campy? Yeah, it just it wasn't. It wasn't deep, it was. It was very much 120 minutes of of tom hanks and like very basic rom-com stuff, like who else would have been matthew mcconaughey and what movie was he in with another lady? That kind of stuff. Yeah, kate Hudson. Yeah, is that 10 Things I Hate About you? Or how to Lose a Guy in 10 Days? How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days.
Jonathan:Yeah, this was like how to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. I'm not getting deep stuff, I'm going to find the mistakes, but on Soup and Sandwich Night, that's what you put on and that's how I felt about this one. Five stars nice, nice.
Mari:What do we think about the like, the world building, the fantasy and world building of it?
Ashley:so I think, for me, I was super intrigued about how they coexist in the modern world. So, like, this monster world is part of modern day, right, and I didn't write anything down and I probably should have, but like all of like the plethora of names, right. So, different monsters, different names. Every monster seems to be dramatically different from the other, like even from parent to child. Um, I think her bff was pregnant for what, like like four years or something. It was something outrageous, yeah and so, yeah, there just seemed to be this immersion of monster world in modern day.
Ashley:They were aware of technology. Some of them were more into it than others. Darla had you know bare minimum concept of technology, mostly to keep her mother's head entertained, like it was just, it was like a whole thing, but she existed on Pop-Tarts and camp dehydrated food. It was absolutely wild to me. I had such a fun time just kind of listening to how they navigate the human world. If a camp has been the scene of multiple murders and mayhem for 80 years, you'd think they'd shut down the camp, but no it, it kept on going. I was entertained and so for that it was like a, like a three and a half for me. Um I, I was super, I was super entertained the whole time, like I wasn't questioning anything, it just it kept me laughing enough to where I wasn't concerned about it being unrealistic.
Mari:What'd you think, kelly?
Kelly:So, like Ashley, I was like how is this camp still open when there are continual multiple murders, Some of them videotaped? Stop Right, Like they said that some of the kids had recorded some of the sightings and stuff on their camera, on their phone. So yeah, whatever you take it for what?
Kelly:it is, it's a piece of fantasy literature. Um, I did find it, you know, kind of amusing that they were calling out some of the different like mythological monsters in American history and stuff like that, trying to, you know, do the whole cryptid angle. So that was amusing. So it was a different approach, you know. So amusing. I like the whole idea of, like the monsters had this, you know, basically system of assigning territory that was updated online and you know, darla had no idea about any of that because she doesn't use any technology and, you know, just threw away any mail she got. So that was kind of amusing. So I like the idea that it was some kind of like whole system of monsters and monster governance that was going on somewhere. So all of that was interesting and different. It added some to the story.
Mari:So I said, for fantasy it was a three and a half so for me, fan the fantasy world building is probably the was the most interesting aspect of it. I gave it a four because it was interesting to me that there's this human world that these monsters live in and yet either there are monsters developing technology and creating these smartphone-like devices and getting them out to every monster out there, or there's like humans that are creating. There's like a human monster government entity that's like tracking all this. I was really curious about the whole monster finder utility thing. Like who made that? Who's the day was that? How are they getting it? How is that being updated?
Mari:And then like this read through, I'm like how, how did greta, how did? How? Did darla's friend greta see that Darla was like losing her spot on this thing because Greta had that the monster finder utility thing and not say anything to her best friend about it at all? It'd be like sitting there like your neighbor and friend having a foreclosure sign going up on their front yard and not saying anything about it. Yeah, I'm curious. I'm curious about that. I'm curious about the different monsters and how they live and where they're from. So I'm curious about the world. It was a really interesting world, led me to have questions, which I mean means good world building, because I want to know more about it. So for me the world building aspect of it was a four.
Jonathan:Very good, very good. Yeah, I agree with that. I think a four is good. I liked that the two worlds coexisted. They kind of banged into each other. I liked that they understood what each person's role is and, I think, what each creature or being's position is. Like the kid who took out Darla's mom was like. It was like, hey, you know, he lived in fear the rest of his life, you know. So it was like they knew, but it was accepted that you know. The same way, we know that a bear exists and it just seems like if you're not, if you're not a jerk, they're not showing up at camp, although not modern day, but like back in the day.
Jonathan:Apparently, if you fooled around with your girlfriend, that was good enough to get you dead they're very conservative, very conservative the punishment didn't fit the crime for sure, but yeah, extremely conservative. And just the idea that everybody had different powers or how like I, I liked that they had mixers or that they had. I wasn't scared by these monsters, I was entertained by these monsters and understood that it was. I understood their purpose and so I could. There's a lot I could look past, like the idea that they have indestructible iPads. Or you could tell it was fantasy because she had pockets.
Ashley:Shut up.
Jonathan:They made mention of that, didn't they? It was a very. The author is definitely a feminist, as am I, but he definitely touched on those points in an almost like comedic way. Does that make sense?
Mari:okay, yeah, so a four okay, what do we feel about the romance in this?
Ashley:this was very kindergarten for me. But I guess in in darla's defense she didn't know right, she never. I mean, she had a boyfriend. The boyfriend was mid, she had never been in love before, right. And so we all stumble through that in our first major discovering of big feelings. It was very cute, it was a little, you know, little boy likes her so he pulls her hair for me. But in the end, you know, I appreciated how Jarko was like oh man, I fucked up. I have to go do this big thing. Actions, not just words. Right, it was a little fast in that evolution of thoughts and feelings for me. But it was a shorter book. So you know the I feel like they packed in a lot of information in a in a short amount of time. It was a three for me. It was okay. It could have been better, it could have been worse what'd you think, kelly?
Kelly:I thought it very not I don't want to use the word kindergarten, but it was very PG when it comes to the romance very safe, cutesy, but not terribly exciting. I guess it's appropriate in the sense of like a rom-com PG Tom Hanks movie.
Mari:So I also said a three. Okay for me I went, with the romance being a two. The reason for for me giving it this. I felt like for me this goes back to the the viewpoint situation. I felt like I could see, um, why darla falls in love with Jarko, like everything he did to woo her, everything he did to pull her out of her shell, like I see why she fell for him. I don't see the other side of it, like I don't know what caused Jarko to fall for Darla. It didn't come across for me. So it felt very one-sided. I felt like jarco with jarco was putting in all the work and darla was getting all the benefits and I wasn't buying the romance. It just didn't work for me. So it was a two.
Jonathan:I'm going to go slightly higher. I'm going to give it a four. I, I, I do. I feel like they needed each other and they and they intersected at the right time in each other's lives and while one while they were both escaping something one the the monotony of their responsibilities and just longing for more, longing for companionship and personal growth and the other was escaping their past I think that they both sort of indirectly rescued each other and found love, and for that I'll give it a four for romance.
Mari:What do we think about the spice?
Ashley:Oh, there was no spice. There was like some salt but no pepper in the spice. For me I'd say a one and a half, because there was some illusion to spice. I would have liked way more like some paprika or chili powder. I think I enjoy chili powder more than paprika, so I'm going to change that to just the chili powder. It was like a one and a half. There was barely any spice. There was barely any kissing, but for a lot of the book they were trying not to kill each other, but also try to kill each other. So there's that.
Kelly:I think it was a one. It was just hints, but I didn't expect much of the way of spice once the book started going and kind of got the feel for that. It was definitely more of a pg type story. So I don't know that I really expected a lot after you got a little bit into the book.
Mari:But overall a one yeah, I, um, I gave it a one. I like sriracha, I like tajin, I like all the spice jalapenos, all of it. I like spice in my rom-coms, I like spice in my monster romance, I like spice in my romancy. So, yeah, this is a closed door romance and really all you get is like there's a little bit of innuendo talk and I think, if you know that going in, if you're fine with that going in, that's fine. But yeah, it was. It was a little bland for me, so I'm gonna give it a one, because there was innuendo, that was it okay, okay, I'll give it a two.
Jonathan:There wasn't the spice that was. There was was just implied, and I think initially when I got, when I read this book back in January, it forced me to reconfigure my calculator in order to incorporate the monster rom-com, so it just didn't have the. You know, it was implied it was what other pieces of you grow. That kind of thing was one of the lines and yeah. So I thought, yeah, that's how I ended up with it too, okay.
Mari:Do we think? Is it a kissing book?
Ashley:I'm always surprised by this question I'm not sure why. I think it's a kissing book for how the ending came about right. So, like we got closure with her mom and her mom's body right, jarko went literally to what is the worst place for a monster to be to go get answers to track down mom's missing body because monsters can rapidly heal right, and so if her head could exist without her body, then her body can exist without the head, but they can't find each other to to.
Ashley:You know, it's not echolocation. So I mean in the, in the sense that darla got her mojo back right, she was able to go be a monster again and be happy with that, um, and also in the evolution of Darla, as you know, growing up and evolving as a being, as an entity. She maybe could have done that without Jarko, but I don't know that she ever would have found her mom's body without Jarko, and I don't know that she would have gotten back in the game as quick without jarco. I think because the, the problem of this book was more emotional than it was something literal or physical. This is a little bit harder to gauge, but I would say, yeah, it's a kissing book like I don't know. I don't know that we would have gotten to where we did in in the, in the time frame that we did, if it weren't kelly, what do you?
Kelly:think I mean I think along the same lines. I think that it is a kissing book because the plot plot advancement and the resolution and everything required the romance angle. So it's definitely a kissing book in that context yeah, I, I agree.
Mari:I also say it's a kissing book for the same reason, like I, nothing would have happened if it wasn't for the romance, like they probably just would have been stuck kind of in where they were at the beginning of the story, to be honest. So I would say yes, it's a kissing book so, and I hear every one of you shut up right now.
Ashley:You just gotta be contrary, don't you no?
Jonathan:I'm just I'm messing with you. I think it's a kissing book, uh, but I'll say like I I feel like I feel like this book for us was destined to be a kissing book, because I'm pretty sure that the author shouts us out in the very beginning of this podcast of the book yeah, there's a of Swords and Soulmates is like the book that she likes to read.
Mari:I think it is that Darla likes to read.
Jonathan:Yeah, yeah.
Mari:I'm like, oh, that name sounds familiar.
Jonathan:He's probably a fan. That would be pretty cool when I if you're listening, Mr Brody. Yeah, if you're listening when I show up at the convention.
Ashley:We have questions.
Jonathan:And I don't know that I have questions, but when I hand you my copy of the book to read, it's been. I think it's one of the ones that I've read harder than the others, so it's not in its exact shape. You should still sign it, thank you.
Mari:It's a 10% to the book Darla. She picked up a book called Swords and Soulmates. I highlighted it. I'm like interesting.
Jonathan:We see, you See you.
Mari:Yeah, I will also say that after I finished reading this book, I thought about it and the whole like the couple who slays together stays together thing and I will give some recommendations to readers. If you enjoyed this book and you like the whole idea of the whole like those who slay together stay together I would also recommend the Butcher and Blackbird by Bryn Weaver. It's a really good audio book. It's they're humans. There's no monsters in it. They're humans but they're serial killers who hunt bad guys and it's a romance story. It's funny, it's spicy and it's got more gore.
Ashley:It definitely has more gore. I was going to say I thought it was like a darker spice too, but if it's just normal spice, that's fun. I don't think think the actual spice is dark.
Mari:I mean I don't think it ruins anything. It's like the very first chapter, how they meet is like killing just happened and kidnapping situation, so like it's a little dark from the beginning. But then you're like I guess this is just a serial killer life. I don't know, it's just how they roll.
Mari:I guess I mean it's a good audio book and it's a couple slaves together, stays together, kind of vibes. The second one would be a soul to touch by opal rain. This is part of her dust walker bride series. It's book three in that series and this was one with where a monster and a human have a relationship and they hunt demons together Also spicy.
Mari:The third book that came to mind was you Suck, a love story by Christopher Moore, and it's basically a newish young vampire and her boyfriend that didn't know she was a vampire and she just accidentally turned him into a vampire and the hijinks that ensue. It's a little bit of an older book but it's comedic. It's closed door but it's very funny. And then for a movie recommendation, if you like the whole couple who slays together stays together thing, I would recommend the gem that is the 2015 movie Mr Right. It's an action comedy, rom-com with Anna Kendrick and Samantha Rockwell.
Ashley:Oh, we love Anna Kendrick.
Mari:She's good. That's why I watched it. She was in it and they are. They're so good. The story is unhinged but it's funny and it's very like almost wacky I would say, but like a lot of humor. You know, humor hits different for different people, so it may not hit a lot of people don't like it, but I think it's good. So anything else we want to say about this before I do the outro.
Jonathan:I'd like to see the next one. So, although it may not have been as spicy as some of the others that we read, I thought it was a fun. It was a fun book and I think if you're a listener who's looking for maybe even a fun standalone YA solution, this could be a good answer to that.
Mari:It's like a summer rom-com kind of vibe. All right, anything else before I finish this up?
Ashley:No, I like this book. I was a big fan. I was of vibe. Yeah, all right, anything else before I finish this up. No, I like this book. I was a big fan. Yeah, I was very sad.
Mari:June 2026, june. Yeah, sir. Well, he does write under a different name and he writes thrillers and he's got a lot more books under his thriller name, so I'm assuming he's just had to move, like publishing dates around. I don't know how many other books he has, but I know there's more under the thriller name. So, yeah, if that's his main bread and butter, he might have had to like prioritize something else over this.
Mari:All right, well, 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, tiktok, youtube, facebook, pinterest or Goodreads at ofswordsandsoulmates. Check us out on our website ofswordsandsoulmatescom. If you'd like to offer a suggestion for a future episode or reach out to us in any way, feel free to do so on any of the messaging options or email us. If you want to read along with us as we prep for a new episode and get chapter by chapter interactions, join our Fable app book club by searching for the Of Swords and Soulmates book club on there. And, last but not least, we hope you'll join us in two weeks for our next episode where we will be discussing my Minotaur Husband by Léon Riley. She's another author who's set to be at the Romanacy event Bye.
Jonathan:Awesome Yay.
