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
"My Minotaur Husband" - Horns, Heart, and Other Huge Assets
What would dating look like if humans were an endangered species? That's the fascinating premise behind Leon Reilly's "My Minotaur Husband," which flips traditional monster romance dynamics by creating a world where humans are precious, protected, and actively courted by monsters who must pass rigorous screening processes.
Our podcast crew dives deep into this charming novella about Celeste, one of the last hundred humans on Earth, who agrees to a trial marriage with Theo, a gentle minotaur who wants nothing more than to dote on his human wife. Despite its brevity at around 130 pages, the book delivers a satisfying romantic arc that balances sweet character development with spicy scenes that had a notable impact on at least one of our hosts! We explore how the "cinnamon roll" character archetype works perfectly for Theo, creating a romance where his primary concern is always Celeste's comfort and happiness despite their significant size differences.
The world-building of New Eden sparked our curiosity – a society where monsters drive trucks, watch movies, and live in suburban neighborhoods, yet humans require protection as an endangered species. While we wished for more backstory about how this world came to be, we appreciated how much Reilly accomplished in such a compact format. For fans of the book, we share recommendations for similar minotaur romances, including works by C.M. Nascosta and Ruby Dixon's "Bull Moon Rising."
Before our book discussion, we cover exciting publishing news including Naomi Novik's upcoming novella "The Summer War," controversies around licensing agreements for Sarah J. Maas merchandise, Danielle Jensen's new post-apocalyptic fantasy romance duology, and a stage adaptation of The Hunger Games coming to London. We also provide updates on the upcoming Fabled Fantasy Events' Romantic Con in Orlando.
- Links from the News Segment and Show:
- Naomi Novik is releasing a new book in September, The Summer War
- IMG, the new licensing agency behind SJM merch is running into conflicts with some small businesses
- Hasbro is releasing a fourth wing board game in October
- Danielle Jensen has announced a new duology set to release 2026, Defy the Dusk
- The Hunger Games is coming to the London stage October 2025
- Website
- Ticket sales open now
- Fabled Fantasy announced via email and discord that the Guidebook notification/messaging will be the official communications channel now
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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. Hey everyone. It's Kelly. We also have Ashley.
Ashley:Hi guys, it's Ashley. We also have Jonathan Happy birthday.
Jonathan:If it's your birthday, it's me, though, regardless. Somebody's birthday, somebody's birthday somewhere?
Mari:I guarantee it's either somebody's birthday or somebody's unbirthday today.
Jonathan:Oh yes.
Mari:Good call and if it's not.
Jonathan:you can always come back and listen to this on your birthday. There you go and just know that we care.
Ashley:Or on your unbirthday.
Jonathan:Yeah or yeah on your unbirthday too.
Mari:So today we're going to be discussing my Minotaur Husband by Leon Reilly, but first, as always, we're going to go through some news. First off I've had this for a bit but I wanted to go ahead and sneak it in here Naomi Novik, who wrote Uprooted and Spinning Silver and the Temerari series and the Scholomance series, I think is the newest thing in the past few years that she's kind of known for she's releasing a new book. It's a standalone, it's like a novella. It's called the summer war. It's coming out september 16th of this year, 24 bucks. I feel like it's going to be similar to uprooted and spinning silver, which are also like cozy-ish fantasy or maybe folk fantasy standalones. They're all really good reads. I've read them multiple times. So I'm excited about the Summer War.
Jonathan:It looks interesting, is it? I'm looking at the cover. It looks like a sword, but the sword is like the neck of. Is that like a lute? I don't know what to call that A guitar, a ukulele?
Mari:I don't think it's a ukulele.
Jonathan:Well, I think it depends if that's a sword or a dagger. If it's a dagger, it depends if that's a sword or a dagger. If it's a dagger, there's got to be a ukulele. If it's a sword, it's a guitar of some sort maybe it's a pretty cool.
Kelly:Yeah, it's a violin wait, no, that's not all, I think it's a mandolin that too I don't
Ashley:know enough about musical instruments.
Mari:I would say music people tell us, help us out it's transformative.
Jonathan:Like I'm looking at the, at the, like I don't know what to call. I don't know what the anatomy of this acoustic instrument is, but like if you go from the bottom up and it goes past the hole and then into, like the fretboard, maybe like the, the strings turn into vines.
Mari:Yeah.
Jonathan:The neck turns into a. This is a creative artistic piece. You know what? It reminds me of Kelly. It reminds me of the sword that they had for Thundercats.
Mari:Oh God, I haven't thought about Thundercats in so long. Do you know what he's talking about, kelly? Yeah, I mean, it was the sword Lion-O had. It's been too long for me. But it looks interesting.
Mari:I like her writing style, so I'm looking forward to this. I it looks interesting. I like her writing style, so I'm looking forward to this. I think it'll be a fun read, nice. The next little tidbit I have is IMG, which is the new licensing agency behind Sarah J Maas' merchandise, is running up against some conflicts with some small businesses, which was one of the things that people feared. There were several small businesses on Instagram that were expressing what was going on with them and their frustration, but there's one post from a company called Lehigh Glass or Lehigh Glass, I don't know L-E-H-I-G-H Glass.
Jonathan:Lehigh Lehigh, that's probably outside of like Eastern Lehigh Valley. Lehigh River, lehigh County that's all out of like Eastern Pennsylvania.
Mari:Oh, okay, lehigh Valley, lehigh River, lehigh County, that's all out of like Eastern Pennsylvania. Okay, there you go. So what they posted, their quote was it looks like IMG, the new licensing agency behind Sarah J Matz's merch, is letting all small business licenses quietly expire at the end of their contracts right before the next book release. Renewal rejections are already going out. No renewals, no explanations just gone. We've poured hard time and creativity into these officially licensed pieces, we've followed every rule and now we're being shut out while big corporations move in. Small creators built this fandom. We deserve a seat at the table If you care about supporting independent artists and seeing authentic, fan-rooted creations. Continue, continue. Let img and bluesberry know your voice matters.
Jonathan:End of quote it's very interesting, it's so part of me is like it's, it's a licensing agreement, right, so it's it's subject to expiration yeah.
Jonathan:But at the same time it's like if you, if you are part of a licensing agreement, if you're the licensee, if you're on a Lehigh glass side of the equation, you're paying money for something and you have certain rules that you have to abide by, and if you're doing all that, but then they elect just to not renew, I get where it kind of feels. We kind of feel slighted. Who was it? Kelly that had the Star Wars licensing agreement and all they had to do was pay $10,000 a year and they'd keep it for eternity. Until that one year they missed it. It wasn't like it wasn't Hasbro, was it?
Kelly:I have no idea yeah, like until that one year they missed it.
Jonathan:It wasn't like it wasn't Hasbro, was it? I have no idea. Yeah, like George Lucas signed this before it was a thing and it was like just keep paying them $10,000 a year, whether you make money or not, and you'll keep the licensing. And they one time they forgot and they had to renegotiate and then George was like I'm getting even who else? What was? I saw an interesting one about licensing recently?
Ashley:Oh, I'm not sure.
Jonathan:Who's the glitter and greed, the notebook lady?
Ashley:Oh, Lisa Frank.
Jonathan:Yeah, where she took advantage of some licensing agreements or allegedly took advantage of licensing agreements allegedly took advantage of licensing agreements. So I can see both sides of the equation, like where Sarah and her people want to make money and so do the people who enter into these licensing agreements, and I mean, yeah, it stinks. I don't have enough details to make the decision, but it does sound like.
Mari:If there's a time for you to position yourself in order to make more money off of licensing agreements, this is probably the time for her Strike, while the iron's hot several, because I know I've looked at the web pages and things of several and Etsy pages, small businesses who have license agreements through her, so I know that there's a lot of them. I do feel bad for them if they actually are not getting renewed, because that means they're going to have to either go out of business or pivot to something else.
Jonathan:But also, on the other hand, ultimately it's Sarah J Maas' works and it's her world, and if she's can make more money or get something more durable or steady from somebody else like she's also entitled to do that yeah and like, honestly, I think when they, when they start to do these, when, as the ip grows, they start to build in different protections and different standardizations, and like when I looked at somebody, even like her, a counterpart, a colleague of hers, rebecca Yaros, and to see all the small like authorized retailers where you can get like different things made like book page inserts and stuff like that that she was licensing, I just thought there's no way this gains any momentum and these businesses any momentum and these businesses maintain their licenses.
Jonathan:It's just think of how difficult it would be to get authorization or license as a small business from a massive IP. When I was doing custom apparel, we had to get the IP stuff. We had to get from universities. It wasn't enormously expensive, but the most unique one for us would have been Florida State University. They had like it wasn't up to the license, like an organization you had to go in front of like a council that represented the like the Seminole tribe of Florida, and then they had they had a bunch of questions before they awarded the license. It was like that was probably the most unique situation we ever had to be in. Otherwise it was like 250 bucks and, yeah, you can have Florida gators on your, you know cool.
Mari:I think you know, I think on this undivided, you know, I don't know, I don't know that, I know enough to know whether it's a good or bad thing. I mean, it's definitely affecting people. I think what I the other part of what people were talking about would happen that I hope doesn't is that a lot of times, when you do have these other big companies and corporations that come in, what'll happen is that they'll steal the design ideas of these smaller businesses and companies and not give them any credit for it, and so you'll have like, let's say, for example and this is completely out of my head, you know, I have no idea but let's say, lahai glass does like a you know akatar themed stained glass series or whatever, if you know, target then gets the the right to do this and does this like el cheapo plastic version of it, even though lahai may have been the one to come up with it, like they're not going to get anything out of it.
Jonathan:you see what I mean yeah, yeah, I mean it has happened in the past with other situations like this yeah, they, so they would have to. I guess the it would. It's hard, how do you? How do you? You can't copyright it? A design? Yeah, it's hard. How do you? You can't copyright it.
Mari:A design like that, you can't.
Jonathan:Yeah, it's just stained glass.
Mari:Same thing with, like, t-shirt designs, other like drawings, posters, images and stickers and candles like things like that.
Jonathan:It's this very weird, nebulous thing where, like, I don't think there's any way to protect yourself as a small artist that I know of and she's, and she's very small, it's like it's she's got like just on her website, if you just go to shop all the products there's, there's no product found right and it's. I just I don't think't it is. Is stained glass unique? So I guess? So what's what's the selling point of the stained glass? Is it the, the subject matter? And if the subject matters, what's carrying the piece? Is that like I make t-shirts? I don't, I don't make t-shirts, but you know, for the sake of argument, I make t-shirts. And is my t-shirt so unique that the quality of the t-shirts? I don't, I don't make t-shirts, but for the sake of argument, I make t-shirts.
Jonathan:And they're going to be able to look at this and say, all right, let's look at sales and who's paid us the most in licensing fees. And if Lehigh Glass is at the top of that heap, they're probably going to explore how to how to make a similar or like-minded product. And for Lehigh Glass, Lehigh Glass should think of it as they're surfing the wave met the shore and now they have to paddle back out and find a new wave and license that. And I feel shitty saying it, but that's kind of like. The product you make is beautiful and artistic and skillfully made, and it's great. But the subject matter is what's selling it, and once that subject matter agreement expires you'll have to grab another one, and that's probably the nature of the game I think that's what it is.
Mari:A small artist like you can use licensing like this to lure people into your field, like, okay, then maybe people fall in love with your craftsmanship or your art style and then they'll start buying other things. But yeah, if your whole business model is is just on that one subject matter and it's licensed, then you're yeah, it's a tough situation. So I hope, I hope it turns out as as good as it can for everybody.
Jonathan:So yeah, but shout out to lehigh Glass, because that is like that is a fantastic. There's some fantastic products. There's even some products that and like. Just to be honest, you might have some inspired products there too. Like I'm looking at some dragon stuff Like these would be fantastic. Follow me on this one, lehigh Glass, if you're listening Brooches. I think brooches are a missed opportunity for so many bookish people out there and I just want sometimes I wish I was a girl, sometimes Like you could just have you could get these. Like I want a gaudy piece of a statement piece pinned to my chest and I want to be able to just walk around with that stuff on you know you can right Like nobody's stopping you.
Jonathan:I know I'm not secure enough.
Ashley:I don't feel secure. His wife is stopping him, see.
Jonathan:You see what I'm up against, Mari you support me, that's on you guys, that's between you.
Ashley:No, I'm more worried about the hobby that it's going to turn into.
Jonathan:He can wear whatever he wants.
Ashley:I got these butterfly I've been trying to get him to feel comfortable wearing purses for a while, because he gets so jealous about some things and I'm like you can wear whatever you want, my dear, but no, the the thing I heard in his voice right now was new hobby. Yeah, let me, I'm gonna.
Jonathan:I should lehigh glass I'm gonna take. I don't you don't know me. I'm gonna take a picture of this thing that I got off the temu and it's it's an. It's an ear cuff, but it's like a butterfly ear cuff. That I think would be an amazing piece that you could make and it doesn't have to tend to tie into a book or could tie into bookish themes like this could be a dragon ear cuff, but it could be a stained glass dragon ear cuff.
Mari:Oof, that would be so cool that would be cool right, uh, or and even like I think there's so much necklace, little hair brooch yes hair sticks. Yeah, yeah, there's definitely things you can do yeah, things that aren't well.
Jonathan:She does some butterfly stuff here, I see, but there's there's things that can be inspired by without infringing on copyrights oh yeah, absolutely, absolutely.
Mari:And I mean the ultimate thing is, people will be long-term consumers of artists because of the style of that artist and the quality of their work, not necessarily because of the one subject matter. You know what I mean.
Jonathan:Correct. It may be the catalyst that makes me click on your website.
Mari:Yes, it's the lure, but it'll get me there. It'll get me maybe. Maybe I wouldn't have discovered you otherwise, but once I've discovered you, you got to have something to keep me, you know so.
Jonathan:Exactly New head glass. Get out there and get another. Get another one. We support you absolutely all right.
Mari:Next little bit is hasbro is releasing releasing a fourth wing game. It's a fourth wing version of their game called priorities. Has anyone played this game before I?
Jonathan:have, have not.
Mari:Me either. I was looking through the gameplay. It's basically three people or more, age 17 or up, and they're like 20-ish minute games, so they're not terribly long, and it's kind of a how well do you know the people or get to know the people kind of game. It looks interesting. The fourth wing version comes out in October $24.99. So I I don't know. I think it'd be a fun thing to to play with a group of people yeah, you know, and talk fourth wing if you have a book club or whatever, is it limited?
Jonathan:is it limited like, can you, could you have like a group of 10 people playing this? It just says three and up, so maybe yeah oh, even I'm sure you could play in teams too, of some sort right, you could get creative, make up your own rules.
Mari:I'm just thinking, if it's only 20 minute gameplay, bear with me guys.
Jonathan:Maybe we could get it sometime and play on the podcast yeah there's four of us, that'd be fun right all we need is three plus, and I'll be your plus, I think it would be fun.
Mari:I think it'd be fun, all right next tidbit Danielle Jensen, who wrote the Bridge Kingdom I think that's her most popular book. That's what I knew her name from, even though I haven't read that series and the Saga of the Unfaded, which I have read and very much enjoy has announced a new duology. It's set to release in 2026. The first one is going to be called Defy the Dusk and it's described as a post-apocalyptic fantasy romance pitched as Snowpiercer meets Mad Max, set in a world where the survivors of an apocalypse have banded together in high-speed convoys that must outrun the dusk or face what rises in the dark.
Ashley:That sounds terrifying. Yes, it does. It's interesting. I'm here for it. I like Mad.
Mari:Max, I like Snowpiercer, like I'm here.
Jonathan:You read the Saga of the Unfaded, did you like it?
Mari:I did. Yeah, a lot of people have not, though. So I've not read the Bridge Kingdom. I've only read the Saga of the Unfated and I very much liked it, and a lot of the people I know who like the Bridge Kingdom didn't like Saga. So I'm curious what I'm going to think about the Bridge Kingdom when I actually read it, because it's apparently a different vibe between the books. But I did like Saga of the Unfated. I liked the first one a lot.
Jonathan:I've got A Fate Inked in Blood on my nightstand right now. It's been there for months and I think I started it but then got distracted by some other things and then I picked up the. I picked up book two. We were at like Sam's club or something like that and I picked it up and I was just so. A couple of things. One they're, they're, they're minimalistically lovely books in the hardcover. Um, it's like when you take the dust jackets off, it's white and black and it's like that. One book one and two and it's just like. It's almost like embossed. It's just lovely to have so. And I and I believe there are there's some work on the edges, not not like are super artistic, but I think they just might be colored in some way or shiny um it's like I got almost like a, an art nouveau.
Mari:Look to it, the way that they're designed yeah, I think it's a good read to book to read in the winter. It's got because it's viking and it's cold. It's got that kind of a feeling to it so it's a good like winter read okay, all right, maybe I'll start that, then I'll hold off on that through.
Jonathan:I mean, I don't really get winter both days of it, maybe, yeah, but but yeah, I'll probably I'll hold off on that through I mean, I don't really get winter, both days of it maybe, yeah, but but yeah, I'll probably I'll hold off on that until after thanksgiving, but that'll give me some time. Thanks for buying me some time yeah, I appreciate that.
Mari:Margaret kelly, I don't think you've read any of her stuff, have you?
Ashley:no ash have you I don't think so no yeah.
Mari:So, like I said, I I don't know about the bridge kingdom. I know it's what she's most popular for and I know a lot of people like it. I personally can't speak to it, but I did like Saga of the Unfated and I'm curious about a post-apocalyptic romance-y setting. Have you guys seen Snowpiercer?
Jonathan:Not the television show, but I think I've seen the movie. Right, there was a standalone film.
Mari:Yeah.
Jonathan:Okay yeah, okay yeah. And was it about like they were like taking kids from like steerage to work in like as like replacement parts in the engine room and you had to like fight your way through the from the front to the back, from the back to the front of the train? Is that my thing?
Mari:Yeah, basically it was really, really long train that had to keep moving and, like all of humanity that was left because the world had frozen over, um was on this train and so it. It was like an allegory for for class systems. You had the front of the train where the rich people lived and where everything was in control, and as you got further and further towards the back of the train, everything was more crowded and there was, you know, less good food and there was more illness, and it was the bumping up of the, of all the classes, against each other in this confined space.
Jonathan:Yeah, yeah. Yeah, it was very. I think it was. I guess, was it a book? At all, or is it? Was it just a movie?
Mari:I think there's some graphic novels. Do you remember Kelly?
Kelly:I believe there's graphic novels. It was originally based on graphic novels.
Mari:Yeah, which I've not read.
Jonathan:Yeah, I think the one line in the movie that kind of stood out to me is that he knew that the babies tasted the best.
Mari:Yeah, it's dark. I mean it's post-apocalyptic, it's. You know it's going to be dark the movie was not that great.
Kelly:The tv series was much better and closer to the original yeah, we really like the tv show I'll have to take a look at that it has I can remember her name.
Jonathan:Yeah, it's because it's got davi digs, but it's also got the chicky sarah from labyrinth yeah, I think, judging by the reactions from people like you said, like there were some, the people who recommended me the heard that duology were like get, you'll love it, get into it, you'll love it. And then like actually I can't remember if it was you who was like trigger warning, but I think a reader, I've grown as a reader to be less impacted by some triggering things and just open up to allowing it to happen with the idea that I think Maru helped me jump across that gap, with the idea that good writing will make you feel something and even if you, even if it's not something you enjoyed, you're feeling it and like there's something to be said for that. So I I've started to open myself up more and more to to that.
Mari:So kudos, kudos to you thank Kudos to the good authors. Next little bit of news I had is that the Hunger Games is coming to the stage. Stage performance of the Hunger Games. It's starting October of 2025 at the Torpedor Canary Wharf Theater in London. Ticket sales are open now. Of course, we can all fly to London and watch that, so it looks intriguing. I mean, I'm really curious what they're going to do with it. I mean, it's a very popular story, so it'll be interesting to see how they adapt it for stage, because, of course, things have to change for stage.
Jonathan:Yeah, I was going to say, is it just, is it almost like you think it's going to be like a retelling, or is it going to be a musical?
Mari:I don't think it's a musical and it's supposed to be a just a book, one movie, one like a adaptation of that. So it's supposed to be a retelling. I don't think it's supposed to have anything new in it.
Jonathan:Okay, okay, it's interesting. Correct me if I'm wrong overacting that's needed.
Mari:I wouldn't say it's overacting. I would say I think that the information has to be delivered differently, like you're not going to have these up-close shots to get like a minor face facial expression change. You know what I mean? Everything. You're going to see everything from further away. So they have to tell some of the same stories and same ideas in different ways and you could get a very like.
Jonathan:When you watch a movie or you read a book, you can get this, you can get a repeated sense throughout it. But when, like because you can watch it again, have the same, you get the same process over.
Mari:But I think with theater you can have a very unique performance one show to the next yeah, especially if it does well and they, you know, keep this on for a while and they change out who does certain parts. That always adds a little bit of a different spin to it too, when you have different actors. Because, like I know, it's a musical but kelly and I watched wicked several times and it was different people every time we watched it. And it was, it was the same story, but it did have a little bit of a different nuance to it when you have different actors in it yeah, we just, we just.
Jonathan:I think I told you we just watched wicked last week. That story makes me wait. Nothing I don't haven't interacted with a story or watch or absorb the story in a way that made me wish I was magical, like like that one. But like there was anger right brewing bubbling, like oh yes, but also like that whole story. That's kind of why I like the villainesses, because I always feel like that backstory or the like what's actually happening, the truth behind stuff, the cover-ups, things like that backstory or the like what's actually happening, the truth behind stuff, the coverups, things like that, that stuff.
Jonathan:I think maybe that exists in my mind at least more often than than it does for a lot of people who just maybe accept the status quo for what it is and no harm, no foul, like you really have to stretch to look at. If you looked at my parents and you said, hey, who's the good guy and the bad guy in this baseline story? They'd be like, well, clearly the good guy is this and the bad person is this. And then you say, well, why? Why are you associating with the commonly perceived villain? And you're just like, well, why is this person upset? You know, that's what. That's why I keep asking myself, which is why the decepticons are really the good guys here we go I love a retelling like this or telling that does.
Mari:It does build up a story, especially so wicked is based off of gregory well, ultimately it's based off of wizard of oz, but really it's based off of Gregory Maguire's book, which is good. If you enjoyed the movie, I would recommend the book. There's three of them. The first one is the movie. Gregory Maguire also wrote several other retellings like this, where he tells you a story and it adds nuance and richness to what you think is a bad guy. So he did one called Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, which is Cinderella's stepsisters. Like their story, yeah, but I would recommend the book.
Mari:Gregory Maguire Absolutely feel like the best stories have very full-fledged characters. No one is 100% good guy, no one's 100% bad guy, and I feel like the most interesting villains are the ones who a lot of times don't realize they're villains, because no one wakes up and expects or wants to be the bad guy. People always think that they're the hero or the good guy, or at least the normal person or whatever in their story. They don't think that they're like the hero or the good guy or, you know, at least the normal person or whatever in their story. They don't think that they're the big bad, so interesting. Yeah, kelly, you read wicked too, didn't you? Yeah, what do you think?
Mari:I mean, I like the novel yeah, I hope you like the musical too, because you watched it a few times yeah, I mean, the musical is very different than the book, though yeah, it is. The movie is more like the book than it is like the musical. Oh yeah interesting.
Jonathan:Hey, real quick, not to derail, but to derail. I was looking at my amazon cart. This is can I actually do you? Maybe and maybe this is from our last, the last time we recorded. Why do we have forged by magic and by jenna wolfhart in the cart I? Don't know and then follow-up question does anyone own this book? Do we own this book actually forged by magic? Yeah, no, mara, do you own this book?
Mari:I know, but I have read it. It's on kindle unlimited, so I did read it it was, it was it good it was?
Ashley:was it maybe something we were discussing?
Jonathan:reading next I like the cover, I like the yeah the cover's cool, it was okay.
Mari:I thought that I didn't do it. For me, I didn't feel like they had a very great chemistry and I didn't feel like the world was very well fleshed out, so there wasn't anything that was memorable about the world to me. I didn't read the sequel. I read the first one. It's not bad.
Jonathan:It just wasn't anything like oh, let me go read like the next one. So, gotcha, I would just be buying it for the, for the way it looks then. That's all. It's probably why I put it in the car.
Mari:It's like oh, I like that art I would say it's on kindle limited, read it and if you like it then you can buy it ma'am.
Jonathan:Is that how book reading works? I buy first I'm going to let it sit on top of my desk these are financial tips from Mari.
Mari:If you can get it from the library or Kindle Unlimited, do that first.
Ashley:We should have a segment.
Jonathan:Financial tips by Mari, number one it's not bad.
Mari:It was mid, it was fine. There wasn't anything grossly wrong with it, but there wasn't anything super compelling about it for me either. It is a very pretty cover. I do remember that Nice I'll give it some thought is that fabled fantasy events announced for their romancy book con event that's happening in orlando in october that we're going to. That they're official. They announced this on on email, which I did not get I'm assuming you got it, kelly and on discord that their guidebook, their app notifications, are going to be their official communications channels channel now.
Jonathan:So that's going to be the main place to go for updates for them yeah, I, I, we got it through the push notification from from the guidebook actually, that's where, at least so I think, I got it. Was it friday morning or thursday morning actually?
Jonathan:I don't remember and like you were I think you were in the in the little reader's room and you would like screenshotted me the message over and I was like late pass. But I yeah, I was like do we want to give background on that, like without getting too deep in the weeds with it.
Mari:Yeah, we can. What do you guys think? Do we want to talk about it?
Ashley:I'm not opposed.
Mari:Kelly, what do you think?
Ashley:I don't care.
Mari:Okay, yeah, so this is not their first event. They've done, I know, la events and they've done at least one Orlando event that we went to last year, but it was definitely less popular authors there than there are this year. This year it's grown exponentially since Rebecca Yarls was announced and originally Allie Hazelwood and you know now it's Sarah Beck, thirst and Hannah Nicol-Mayer and several other popular authors, and so with great popularity comes great responsibility. People tend to have higher expectations. I don't know if I'm going to call it miscommunication, but there's definitely some communication issues, because I think they were announcing things on Discord and their Instagram and email and the application and their website, and that information didn't always go out at the same time and it didn't always match.
Mari:So, for example, like me personally, you know, trying to come up with what we were going to read you know we were talking about reading. I wanted to do like I did last year, where I have there the list of the authors who are going to be there, which things happen. You know, even last year, things happened where, like, authors that were planning to be there had to pull out last minute. That's just life. But the author list on their website didn't match the author list on their Instagram page, didn't match the author list on their guidebook page, so it's made it a little difficult to figure out which pool of authors we were going to pick from to read. Go ahead and do the rest of it.
Jonathan:Oh yeah, do we know which? Yeah, I think in the end I think you said it really really well it was just a we know which. Yeah, I think in the end it was just I think you said it really really well it was just a challenging communications strategy and they needed to narrow it down and that's what they've done. So I think what's nice about it, even though some people had a more challenging time with it in the end.
Jonathan:what's nice about it is they're gonna change their process on the go forward. I think something for me to keep in mind is that this this isn't a massive organization with with teams of people, I and I don't know this. This next bit is not necessarily factual, but it's what I imagine this to be. When they're like, oh, we got to get to our marketing team and our social media team and make sure the message goes out like this, but the marketing and social media team, it's just Pam Pam's in the corner with an iPhone.
Mari:She's like, you know, yeah, it's all like I don't. It's in your head like just doing the best she can, kind of thing. Yeah, yeah, she's like oh, I messed that up, dang.
Jonathan:Yeah, she's like oh, I messed that up, dang OK. Well, you know, and I think that pre-pandemic I like outdoor sports and if you would have asked me how many people rode bikes, I would say, like everybody has a bike. But the true, the nature of this information was being shared on a platform that was the. The scope was just narrow, too narrow, not everybody was involved in that, and then it led to some miscommunication. So it's, I think, by them saying hey, you all have this app and now we're going to share any information. Any piece of information is going to flow through these push notifications on this app on the go forward. So, pam, as fictional as you are in my mind, take a nap, yeah, I know.
Mari:Have some coffee, read a book, chill. Yeah, I think it was a good learning tool and you know, we all are trying to do things better, whether it's our own personal workflows or, you know, our jobs or whatever. So I'm sure they're they're doing the best they can. I think this will be better for everybody in the long run, honestly, because it's one place to get the actual official word, you know? Yeah, absolutely all right. Any other news?
Jonathan:I don't have any news. How about you? You, kelly, you got any news?
Mari:No, All righty. So we're going to get into the book. Why we chose this book is because we wanted to read some of the authors that are set to be at the Fabled Fantasy Romantic Con event in October in Orlando. Also, I met her at Monsterotica Book Con earlier this year and I read some of her books so I was like, yeah, let's read another one from her. I like her stuff. This book was published January 12th 2024 as part of the Stories from New Eden series. I'm going to read the synopsis and then we can get into it.
Mari:Celeste is one of only a hundred remaining humans on earth, living on a secured preserve away from the many dangerous monsters out in the world. But some monsters desperately want human companions and they'll abide by all the strict rules and requirements to get one. Celeste has applications piling up from those who want to court her, but she's afraid of taking the leap until Theo. Theo the Minotaur is shy, gentle and kind and wants nothing more than a human wife to spoil. When celeste agrees to move in and start a trial marriage, he'll do anything in his power to keep her happy and safe in a world where a human might make a great meal for another monster. The only problem. Theo is huge in more than one way and he knows celeste isn't ready for him yet. It will take trust and time to prepare her as they start to build their new life together, and it might just lead to falling in love.
Jonathan:Very interesting.
Mari:So what do we think overall?
Ashley:I love this book.
Mari:Yeah.
Jonathan:You can't, you can't hide from that, ashley, you can't let. Let me just interject on Ashley real quick. Ashley read this book quite rapidly and then the nature of the book impacted parts of our day once that book was closed, immediately after that book was closed.
Ashley:So she liked it so no complaints.
Jonathan:I'm not complaining. Read book two.
Ashley:Read the whole series. Yeah, it was a good book. You know it was short and sweet. I can appreciate that about some books. Right, I think we got a lot of context in a short amount of time and it was nicely written, which we can't always say, I think. You know about the shorter books sometimes the writing can be a little choppy or a little you you know lackluster, but I feel like I got some pretty good. You know world building in what was I don't know what, like 120 or 130 pages yeah, it was very short yeah, I thought it was also interesting that the humans were like the pets.
Ashley:at one point she was like, you know, the continuation of the human species and how she didn't really care to aid in that. And I was like girl, I get you, this makes sense.
Mari:Absolutely. I'm with you. I agree Like I enjoyed this book. It was exactly what I expected from her. I had not read this book before. I had not read any of the books in this particular series before, but I've read some of her other books and it was spicy, it was sweet, it was wrapped up in a happy little ending. I think I prefer her longer books just a little bit more because I think she can get a little bit more into the character. But still, for as short a book as this is and the fact that we only got celeste's viewpoint, I thought it was a pretty. It did a pretty good job of telling a complete story and I enjoyed it. But you guys, I liked it.
Jonathan:I thought it was a. I thought it was a. A delightfully fun read. I wish we had more, more like what's the imagery for new eden, like just the space which like the zone. But it was interesting. I like how it it, I don't know I I liked the concept yeah, kelly.
Mari:What were your overall thoughts?
Mari:it was short okay, okay, I probably the part I liked the least of it was the, the fantasy world building kind of for what you mentioned, jonathan, like I, I think I wanted to know more about new eden, which I mean, granted, this is a novella, it's not going to be in there, but, like if this were a full-fledged book, if this were a longer book, I wanted to know more about new eden, how it was set up and everything, and I also want to know more about what the heck happened, like why are there only 100 humans yeah, why are there only 100 humans left alive?
Mari:like what is going on, um, and did the humans just like take over the world? Or has everything been like revamped for monsters and the humans are what's left? I have questions. So yeah, the fantasy world building was the weakest link in my opinion, and this is still a very enjoyable book, but I was just like wait, I don't fully understand the premise. I have questions, I want answers, and this I believe, even though they're standalones, I think this is actually the second book in that New Eden series. I believe the my Og ogre husband comes first. So maybe there those there's questions are answered there. I'm not sure. What did you guys think about the world building in general?
Ashley:I really thought again. You know, there are those core questions, right, like how you were saying, like how did we get here? But I thought otherwise, it was pretty interesting, right.
Ashley:So the humans are, you know, know, the endangered species there's less than a hundred of them left, but there's a sanctuary built by the monsters for them, which was an interesting concept, right. And then there's a world outside that is just flourishing with weird ass monsters too, not even just like well-known monsters, you know, like they mentioned a cyclops and I was like, okay, like I can see how we got there. Right, there's lore, there's there's mythology, but then they were like reanimated corpses yep, I was like, excuse me, yep, mummy.
Mari:so I was like I did not have mummy on my bingo card while reading this book, are we?
Ashley:talking about dead humans that are mummies or just like, yeah, the world may never know, the world may never know. So it was interesting enough that I was very entertained and it wasn't you know. It left you kind of wanting more, like hoping that you know she would dive deeper into the world building. But what you got was also enough for the story that was being told. So I really liked it for those reasons.
Jonathan:Yeah, I thought it was like you said. I would like to know how we ended up in this position, but there are. It feels like it was originally a world that came along, that was built, that was human centric, and then somehow it moved into this. The term that was used was monsters. I don't think minotaurs are monsters, I don't. Well, maybe they are, I don't know, I don't see them as monsters. But then I thought it was like because he, it felt like he, what he just drove, like a regulation truck, which then made me like when the name of it like so that, right, so there's like a real, like modern, what's a connection, right? So these things exist, you know, going to restaurants and just doing the normal thing, going to movies, which so, like, at some point this was a regulation human world that transitioned into this and, yeah, it's like what was his, what was his neighbor? Was his neighbor like a?
Jonathan:yeti come on, that was good, um, and then he just had dogs yeah, some pet dogs. So it was like the humans were in danger because they could just get like they were seen as less powerful entities and they needed protection. So did somebody have to fight for our rights?
Mari:I don't know. These are the things I want to know, Much like our last book, the Deadly Indismemberment. I want to know the nitty gritty details. What is happening here and these movies? Are these monsters in the movies or are they like older movies, it's hollywood now?
Jonathan:monsters it's all monsters. Everything's an hhn episode.
Mari:I'm out yeah, I don't know I don't know, no thanks that's unique, that's unique.
Jonathan:I, yeah, I I almost wish we had like a, a map of the, of the, of the environment. Yeah, I think it's. It's a. That was a very cute setup for it too, like the application process and test marriages and etc. Like how do you even background check a minotaur?
Ashley:who is how far back do? The records go right.
Mari:Yeah, these are the details. We have questions. The part of the book where they were I think it was maybe Theo and the friends, I think, when they were having their double date and they were talking about like, oh well, you know, humans are highly, highly coveted for sex, or whatever I was like. On the one hand it's interesting because it a a flip of the whole, like monster romance trope, where you know monster romance is is popular and people you know want to read all these different monster romances, spicy romance books. But on the flip side it was, yeah, basically fetishizing a group, fetishizing humans.
Jonathan:So I can, I can see, I can see that I yeah, I picked up on that like a little bit where it was, you could totally see that, like they, there was some sort of like sense of objectification where they were. Just you know, there were monsters that were had this like fetish for this and like I could see that and that's. And, like I said, that was one of the things where I was like all right, let me look past that and into, like what's happening in this story. I'm gonna be honest, I was into this story for the spice, more than the world building, and it became very apparent that it was like written for that, for that purpose. But looking back on it through like a rearview mirror, I I was like I wish I had more world building yeah, like there's a.
Mari:There's a series that is sci-fi romance. I mean, I guess it's technically monster romance because they're aliens, but they're they're-like. It's by Victoria Aveline, it's called the Clecanion series and there's some similarities in that it's this other planet. The Clecanions are the main people on the planet and in this case the humans are basically the aliens and they have to be in this protected reserve. I guess they have to be in this protected reserve because they have certain properties that I'm trying not to spoil the series of the books, that that that the clicanians want, but there's a lot that fleshes out the world like the world is better fleshed out and the, the reasonings and the politics and the machination that's going on. So where it doesn't feel like fetishization, but those they're also, like you know, full-on books. They're not novellas. There's like eight of them and they're each, you know, 350, 400 page books. So it's a whole different expectation of world building when you're reading a book book than when you're reading a novella.
Mari:I, as far as like the romance, spy stuff, I felt like the whole size difference thing and the male main character being so big and the female main character being described as tiny and almost childlike, and several things.
Mari:It reminded me a lot of of several contemporary romance stuff I've read between human and human characters Like Ellie Hazelwood's books do a lot of that and even though I really like her character development and I like a lot of what she does, that is one aspect of her romance books that I'm not that's not my favorite aspect of them, that I'm not that's not my favorite aspect of them. But what I did like about the romance and the spice in this is the cinnamon roll aspect of the mailman character that he was very sweet and very much like, concerned for her and wanted to make sure she was happy and you know, to make sure she was happy and you know, was willing to bend everything around. That at all times was a sweet. It's a sweet like trope or stereotype or whatever. That I it's probably one of my favorites in in romance is like the cinnamon roll, one of the characters being a cinnamon roll character. Um, I I enjoyed that aspect of the, the romance and the spice.
Jonathan:Yeah, I thought it was. I thought that it was very warm in that regard Ash, what do you think?
Ashley:No, I agree, you know. I think those that go into these types of stories aren't are looking for escapism, right, we're not necessarily looking for rationale or politically correct, or we're looking for the warm and fuzzies, we're looking for something else to occupy our time away from those heavier subjects. And so I definitely felt it with this book. I mean, it probably took me two hours maybe less than that, you know to get through it, and it was just a light, romance filled book. It wasn't fated mates, it wasn't forced proximity. They each made their choices and they each, you know, discovered things about the other so that they could grow together into whatever future might look like. And I just thought it was all really sweet. The cinnamon roll trope isn't necessarily my favorite, though I'm not opposed to it. I thought it was all just very tastefully done for the story that was being told and I, you know, was entertained. I was absorbed, I was locked in, I wasn't easily distracted.
Jonathan:I really enjoyed this very sweet romance of two individuals choosing each other I think what's interesting here is that this whole this is like a blue collar, a blue collar worker who wasn't. He wasn't the richest person in the world, but he he wanted to. Like is it is the. Is the term dote after or dote on a woman? Yeah, and like. I think some of it was like the. The tism in me was like hey, what, like? How is he going to give her everything that her heart desires? And he's a he. He works as labor for a construction company. He doesn't even have like a. It's not like he's rolling around like a Ford Lightning or like a really cool, like a Raptor pickup. In my mind he's got like a dated pickup with the with the yellow hood Right. So it's like my. Maybe things are just cheaper.
Mari:Well, no, or maybe it's not really about as much. Anyways, not as much about the materialistic things, because I think that, you know, if they had dated and she had been the type of person who wanted jewelry and high-end fashion and these super expensive type experiences, I don't think they would have meshed. You know what I mean.
Mari:I'm like the things that that spoiled her were them working together on the garden, you know, um sofa right, yeah, doing the sofa like just just simple things, yeah, so I I think that's where the dating aspect came into play, like Shadash where it wasn't. It's not like a faded mates thing, it's they. They meshed, like you know people do, on dating profiles or not, you know, or just dating in general, not even dating profiles, just dating, you know yeah, that's a very good point.
Jonathan:Like it was just like they had, because then did she look at his at? She looked at a pool of applicants, it wasn't but and then and then she decided that she wanted to. It's very like dating app ask, and they just had like-minded things. And then how'd you feel about the trial, the trial living situation?
Mari:I thought it was awfully fast. But you know, people do that in real life. Like everyone's experiences vary. It was once again. I feel like maybe there was a reason for it in that world. I think there are things that maybe would make sense if if author could have done more. You know world building, but it's a novella. You know what I mean. These are like the things we're told exist in this world. We're not necessarily told why, but we're told this is how things are done was this book one or book two?
Mari:two, yeah, but I don't think they're sequential, like they're supposed to be standalones. But the other one that the my, is it my ogre, ogre, husband? Is that the?
Jonathan:other something like that, or like my orc or my ogre or something like that that's the first one.
Mari:It's her friend and, like when they did the double date, it's her friend and the boyfriend is it about the same length I? Believe so, based off of what I remember the book looked like when I saw it in person.
Jonathan:Ashley, maybe you should read that one Ashley.
Ashley:Oh, okay, my ogre husband, my ulterior motives involved.
Mari:Yeah, I too sense ulterior motives there. 178 pages my Ogre Husband.
Jonathan:So maybe there's a very similar or, sorry, maybe what we're looking for is in that first book yeah, that's what I said too earlier.
Mari:I do believe. So it's possible, it's very possible. It is I don't know, I haven't read it. So I don't necessarily want to say that this whole series needs more world building, because, I don't know, I haven't read the first one, but I think that, for for it being a standalone, if there is world building in the first, it needs to be somehow mentioned, even if it's like in a little prequel or something. In the second world A rift happened, monsters came in and now monsters basically coexist with humans and it just gives you a little synopsis of it. So you know why things are different than what you would expect in, say, our world. And it's a series of a bunch of books, but you don't have to necessarily read them sequentially and the author doesn't necessarily have to do full world development in every single book. Um, it's just like hey, this is a setup. Okay, this is a story in that setup. You know what I mean. So it's kind of like did you guys ever anybody read or watch dust? Now, kelly, you and I watched dust.
Mari:Byy Howey, I think, is the author. It's sci-fi. It's basically the concept that people live in these giant silos until whatever happens in the outside world becomes habitable again for people to live outside the silo. The author, years ago, when he came up with this, was like this is a setting, this is the world. If anybody wants to write books or make games or whatever in this world, do it. Just just credit me with coming up with the world. And so there's like a bunch of different authors and worlds and and stories that exist in in that guy's world. Um, because he's like this is the world, this is set up, have at it, go play in the playground. So some authors do that for themselves where they're like this is a setup, and so this particular story is happening in this setup, which I think is how you can get away with writing novellas and still have some world building. But it assumes you're writing multiple novellas in the same world, you know. So any other thoughts, kelly? Anything?
Jonathan:yeah right, ash joffin, I thought it was I just at the end of the day, there was only so much you can put into the, the, the, the, this thin of a book, so I feel like you had to, like, put it on steroids. Things had to go fast yeah in order for it to make sense I agree, yeah, I was a fan I.
Ashley:I mean, I think we've read much longer books with much more plot and words and explanation and feeling less about it than I did for this one, if that makes sense. Yeah, I thought it was just like a nice little treat, delightful treat.
Mari:I agree. Final question Surprise Ash.
Ashley:Every time.
Mari:Is it a kissing book?
Ashley:I don't think this is so mean. I don't think this is so mean. I don't think there was enough plot to warn. I think it was absolutely a kissing book for what occurred? I don't I don't think the book was life or death without it, so I'm gonna say yes, it was kissing book it was. It was definitely a kissing.
Jonathan:There was kissing during and after that whole book.
Ashley:At least in our house.
Jonathan:Yeah, I don't know if, by the way, we typically or normally would define a kissing book, so I would say this is a kisses book. Yeah, I'll go with yeah.
Mari:Kelly. I said no. Yeah. I say yes because I mean I think that's the whole plot of the story, is it, is it's a romance story. Yeah, ultimately it's a romance story. That is the plot. So, yeah, I would say yes, look at us.
Jonathan:But I see where Kelly stands with that, because the way we would traditionally define it, it doesn't quite a lot. That's why I'm like but yeah, I think. Listen, I loved the impact. I think that my life doesn't stay the same if, if the character arc isn't the way it is, what would you say, ashley? Do you think that's a? That's a true statement?
Ashley:yeah, no, I think you were the biggest fan of this book and its reactions.
Jonathan:The aftermath, the aftermath. Yeah, what two it is.
Mari:So I'm currently reading Program for Love, which is a sci-fi romance written by her, and it's really cute. It's another fairly short one. It's also really cute. She has several very short books. Some are longer, but a lot of her books are on the shorter side and kind of standalone-ish. There's a whole world out there to choose from. All right, anything else before we wrap it up.
Jonathan:No, I don't have anything.
Mari:I have one more thing. I would say that if you read this and you're looking for some other Minotaur or Minotaur adjacent books, I would recommend Morning Glory, milking Farm, which we've read on here before, and Blue Ribbon Romance, both of which are by CS Nascosta. Basically two sides of like it's the same. It's the same love story from from two different viewpoints. I'm sorry, cm nascosta. I'm forever messing up her name. I'm so sorry by cm nascosta. Also by her, the minoan bride, which is a novella, um that I would recommend. And then there's bull moon rising by ruby dixon and it's sequel that's already come out and I haven't read yet. Jonathan.
Jonathan:I think you have it right. Did the sequel come out?
Mari:No, the sequel hasn't come out yet it hasn't come out. Okay, good, I was like I think I'm behind on that one.
Jonathan:I was just scrolling over to Amazon to see, because it's soon, I think it's like September. Hold on one second.
Mari:That series is called the Royal Artifactual Guild. The second one is called by the Horns. Oh, it's going to be released in September. Yep, september 2nd.
Jonathan:Yeah, okay, I'm not behind. No, you're right on it, don't worry. Yeah, I've got it set to deliver. Honestly, I think those are pretty books. I like the way those read.
Mari:Yeah, I thought those were interesting books read. Yeah, I thought those were interesting books. There's like minotaurs but it's, and other other creatures and all. But it's almost like a mummy indiana jones kind of vibes in the setting yeah, academic adventure kind of setting yes, yes, I, I think I definitely got.
Jonathan:Now that you say it, I definitely got, mummy vibes yeah, all right.
Mari:Anything else before we wrap it up? No, I think we covered it All right.
Mari:Thanks for listening to Of Swords and Soulmates. Before we go, make sure to check out the show notes, rate review and subscribe to us on your podcast app of choice. It helps others to find us and let us know what you're enjoying. Follow us on Instagram, tiktok, youtube, facebook or Goodreads at Of Swords and Soulmates. Check us out on our website, swords and soulmatescom. If you'd like to offer a suggestion for a future episode, book or topic, feel free to reach out to us and DM us on any of those options, or email us If you want to read along with us as we prep for a new episode and get chapter by chapter interaction. 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 the enemies to lovers trope.
Jonathan:I already have a budding list. I love it.
Mari:All right, see you guys.
