Of Swords and Soulmates

"Vampires of El Norte" - Vaqueros, Vampires, and a Choice of Freedom

• Mari • Season 2 • Episode 43

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Love might not stop a war, but it can teach you how to survive one. We head to the 1840s Texas–Mexico border for a deep dive on Vampires of El Norte—a gothic western where a curandera’s courage, a vaquero’s haunted past, and a community’s quiet wisdom collide with empire, folklore, and the brutal math of power. We talk about what the jacket copy promises versus what the story actually delivers: less monster mania, more human menace; vampires as instruments of occupation; and a romance built on competence, care, and the hard work of choosing each other.

Kelly unpacks the Mexican–American War and why the frontier wasn’t empty but contested—shaped by unstable governance, predatory expansion, and everyday people forced to pick up arms. Mari and Ashley trace how the book re-centers the western around women’s networks and practical magic—salt in a saddlebag, a healer’s steady hands, a willingness to learn the rules so you can break them. JP asks for more supernatural lift and we explore that tension: when restraint in horror serves realism, and when readers crave a bolder turn. Along the way we cover narration choices, code-switching that feels organic, and why this prose lands like poetry without ever getting purple.

If you’re here for romance, we make the case that this is absolutely a kissing book—the kind where teaching someone to read is as intimate as a kiss, where decapitating a threat to save your partner is an act of love, and where the ending’s “happy for now” feels honest in a world still ruled by men with guns and ledgers. Expect talk of colonialism, patriarchy, colorism, found family, and one unforgettable look across the water that leaves room for mystery.

If you enjoyed this conversation, follow the show, share it with a friend who loves gothic romance, and leave a quick review so more readers can find us. Your recs drive our next picks—what frontier tale should we explore next?

Links from the Show

  • Correction. Mari said the con Ruby Dixon runs is Sinners and Saints. It is not. In fact, it is Vixens and Villains.
  • Book 4 in Assistant and the Villain series will be Adversary to the Villain
  • Abigail Owen will be at NYC ComicCon and doing a panel and book signing
  • Facebook Info Link
  • The Spellshop book 3 will be Sea of Charms
    • Releases July 2026
  • Book 2 in the Stonewater Kingdom series will be The Knave and the Moon
    • Releases Sept 2026
  • Alchemised by SenLinYu has sold film rights to Legendary Entertainment in a seven-figure deal 
  • BK Borison is releasing a paranormal holiday romance involving the ghost of Christmas past this month called Good Spirits
  • After the End Kickstarter campaign from Ali Hazelwood and Adriana Herrera completed
    • Fully funded in 4 minutes, 8th highest funded publishing project of all time
    • Kickstarter Link

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Speaker 00:

Views expressed in this podcast are solely those of the participants. The hosts make no claims 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, welcome to Of Swords and Soulmates, a podcast where we read, watch, and discuss romantic stories. I'm one of your hosts, Mari, and with me I have Kelly.

Kelly:

Hey everyone, it's Kelly. So have Ashley.

Ashley:

Hey guys, it's Ashley. We also have Jonathan.

Jonathan:

What's good, everybody? It's JP bringing up the bringing up the back of the bus today. We're a little, if you hear us cough, we're um we're a little bit.

Mari:

Yeah, I was gonna say, and with us, we also have germies.

Jonathan:

Yeah.

Ashley:

With us, we have germs.

Mari:

Yes.

Jonathan:

Apologies in advance.

Mari:

Sorry. Luckily, you won't get them through your through your your hearing of us. No you're safe. Today we're gonna be discussing Vampires of El Norte by Isabel Alende in celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month that runs in the US from September 15th to October 15th. But first, as always, we're gonna go into the news. And as has been the MO lately, we've got a lot. There should be fun stuff. So, although I will say first, before we even get to the news, I'm gonna do I'm gonna do an actually and correct myself. The episode before last, we were talking about the con that the the the book con that Ruby Dixon runs in Texas, and I said it was Sinners and Saints, and it is not. It is vixens and villains. So I am correcting myself.

Ashley:

That makes way more sense for what I know of her.

Mari:

Yeah. I don't I don't know a lot about any of any of them. Like I've seen some people like post things just a little bit, but like I said, it tends to happen so close to Drycon that I I kind of have it as a I don't know that I'm ever gonna go. We'll see. I would like to, but I also it just makes it hard when the time of year they have it. So all right. So first bit of news Hannah Nicole Mirror announced the title of book four of her assistant in the villain series. And after much speculation and trying to guess what it's gonna be, it is Adversary to the Villain.

Jonathan:

What do you think that means?

Mari:

You don't know.

Jonathan:

I mean, uh-oh. Trouble in Paradise?

Mari:

Maybe. Maybe instead of like a fake marriage, it's a fake adversary.

Ashley:

Oh I'm here for that.

Mari:

Yeah.

Ashley:

I like it. Okay.

Mari:

So it releases August 4th of next year of 2026. It's available for pre-order now for $19.99 for the paperback. I don't believe any images have been released. It's just like, you know, the little placeholder picture.

Ashley:

Yeah, I don't think I've seen anything.

Jonathan:

Yeah, it says edges coming soon, too. So I don't know if something's going on there.

Ashley:

I mean, she's been she's kind of been setting the standard for paperbacks, isn't she? Like, I don't think any of her books are hardbacks. I think she might have released one or two special editions. But yeah, all of her books have been sprayed edges so far.

Jonathan:

But just like regulation, like solid color colour. Yeah.

Mari:

But that she's sticking with one like format all the way through because she's popular enough now that she could probably get away with doing hardcovers, you know what I mean? And people would buy it.

Ashley:

Sure.

Mari:

But then then your bookshelf doesn't match.

Ashley:

No, we need uh I'm looking at you, Travis Baldry.

Mari:

Yeah, yeah. I'm excited. I think it'll be fun. I I to be honest, still haven't read the third one. Like I haven't, I just haven't read it.

Ashley:

Yeah, I haven't had a chance to. It's been a little busy and then we haven't been feeling well, but it is high on my priority list.

Mari:

Yeah. I mean, they're fun reads, I'm sure it'll be a good time.

Ashley:

Yeah.

Jonathan:

I haven't finished the second one yet.

Mari:

Shame on you. So for the podcast, we've read just the first one, right?

Ashley:

Correct. Correct. We read the first one just as the second one dropped, I think.

Mari:

So maybe we need to read the second one as a podcast at some point soon.

Ashley:

If memory serves, Kelly didn't hate that one.

Mari:

Right? Kelly, I think you were down for it.

Kelly:

No, I didn't hate it.

Mari:

Yeah. It was good.

Ashley:

That's high praise for Kelly.

Kelly:

It was good. I mean, I just haven't had time to read the second one.

Mari:

No, yeah. But maybe if we read it for the podcast at some point soon, then we can all read it so and talk about it. That'll be cool. Yeah, well, yeah. Let's plan to do that at some point. We'll we'll look into this.

Ashley:

I think once your busy season is over is really what it is. Like because when we hit that fall season, y'all get really busy.

Mari:

So busy. So much fun stuff to do. All right. On to another prolific writer, Abigail Owen will be at New York City Comic-Con. So this episode that we are recording will air, will you know, drop on October 9th. So that is the day that she will be at New York City Comic-Con. So today she's going to be doing a panel called Women in Fantasy Shaping New Worlds. And immediately after that, she'll have a book signing. So if you're there or you know someone who's there and you're interested, I would say make sure you go by and uh check her out.

Ashley:

I mean, shout out to Abigail Owen, because I feel like that girl is always on the go.

Mari:

Everywhere.

Ashley:

She's all the book signings, all of the table talks, all of the releases, like I don't I don't know if she takes a break. And I love that for her, if that's her jam.

Mari:

She also does a ton of writing, too.

Ashley:

Yeah, she's a hustler, man. She is she is out there doing the damn thing.

Jonathan:

You know what I like about Abigail?

Ashley:

Her sparkly jacket.

Jonathan:

Yeah, I feel like she's got a show uniform. It's like when you we're going to go to these conventions, she's got like this is you can tell where she's at that day. Like she's sparkled out like she's gonna be interacting with people. Yeah and she's very approachable.

Ashley:

So she was super nice and very delightful.

Mari:

I agree. So as a reminder, she's the one who did Games Gods Play. And what was the name of the other series?

Jonathan:

Oh The Faye King. Nope, that's not it. The Wraith King. Nope. Wraith no.

Ashley:

It was Juliet Cross.

Jonathan:

Dang, all over the place.

Ashley:

In stereo. It was actually one of the first series we we we read. Kelly liked it.

Jonathan:

What was it? Kelly. Dominions. Dominions.

Ashley:

Yeah.

Mari:

Yeah.

Ashley:

I have not read the final book in that series because it wasn't available yet on Kindle Unlimited. It's like the only one in that series that isn't on Kindle Unlimited, or at least it wasn't the last time I looked at it. Which one is it? The Dominion series.

Jonathan:

Yeah, but which which book?

Ashley:

Oh, it was like book four. It was the final book.

Jonathan:

No, like which book one what's book one?

Ashley:

Oh, you're asking too many qualified questions.

Mari:

The Twin Sisters.

Jonathan:

Okay, gotcha. Like the where she got like fake kidnapped.

Mari:

Yes.

Jonathan:

But he accidentally kidnapped the right one.

Mari:

Yes.

Jonathan:

Okay. Cool beans.

Mari:

Also, next author that is also very, very prolific lately. Next year's just going to be another good year for books. There's a lot of books I think we'll be interested in. So next year, Sarah Beth Durst, who wrote the Spell Shop series, has announced that book three will be available for next year. It's going to be released July 21st, 2026. It's available for pre-order now for $27.89 as of the time of recording. That's for the hardcover. It's Sea of Charms.

Jonathan:

So we gotta get the hardcover. We can't knock it because we got the first two are hardcovers.

Ashley:

Why are you saying my name like I'm in charge of this? Well it's my fault.

Jonathan:

I'm pretty sure this whole thing is your fault.

Mari:

I'm just gonna say that we made this book happen because we talked about wanting to know the story of like the traveling the mariner chicky. Because I think that's what this is 100%.

Jonathan:

100%. It's us.

Ashley:

It's all our fault.

Jonathan:

Yeah, uh we'll just wait for our commissions.

Mari:

Yeah, we manifested this.

Jonathan:

Thank you, Sarah. Yes, we appreciate you.

Mari:

The cover pretty yeah, it's like in line with the other books in terms of like looks like a cozy situation, cozy vibe. So I'm excited.

Jonathan:

A spell shop novel. I like it.

Mari:

Yeah, another author we've read that is also getting pretty prolific is Rachel Gillig. She wrote uh that the um Wonderland, yeah. She also wrote The Night and the Moth, which has been talked about very popular. I read it, I enjoyed it. She announced that the sequel to that one is gonna be coming out. So that series is called the Stonewater Kingdom series. The sequel is gonna be called The Knave and the Moon, K-N-A-V-E, Knave, Nave and the Moon. It releases September 2026, September 1st, 2026. Available for pre-order now, 32 bucks. Has anybody read The Night in the In the Moth?

Ashley:

No. I have not. But I want to. I like the cover is a very is very appealing.

Mari:

Yeah, it's an interesting concept. And maybe something we we we might want to read for this. It's it's like that dark romanticy vibe, just like One Dark Window was. And it's got an interesting kind of magic system. And I'm trying not to give a lot away, but I I think it might be an interesting read. I'm I'm interested to see where the sequel is going and if it's going to be a duology like One Dark Window was or if it's gonna go on beyond that.

Jonathan:

I was gonna say, I think I got stuck on book two of that duology. Like I didn't get all the way through it.

Mari:

I haven't started the second one. There's only two. Yeah, I'm waiting for it to come in on Libby, so I'm I'm still waiting for the second one.

Jonathan:

Is that the one with the cards? Yeah, but isn't there is there, is there's not which one is the one where was like no, never mind, it's gotta be someone else. Uh I'm thinking about like the the vampire cylinders. Yeah, I'm thinking about like the vampire rose one.

Mari:

Oh, you think about Chris Abroadbent?

Jonathan:

Yeah, okay, sorry, I got my giveaway.

Mari:

Yeah, no vampires in the gilllight stuff.

Jonathan:

Um I could I could get back into the second book for this. I just have it, I just I think it just kind of stalled. There was just so many pretty books coming out at the same time, and I was like, you just get like baited away. So not that her books are. I really enjoyed her prose.

Mari:

Like her books are pretty on the inside. Like the the the way she writes was really, I think, fit the gothic romantic vibe really well. The Knight and the Moth feels a little less like poetry, but it's still really decent, really good prose.

Kelly:

Okay.

Mari:

Moving on, we have Senlin Yu, who who wrote Alchemized, has sold film rights to Legendary Entertainment in a seven-figure deal.

Ashley:

Shocker.

Mari:

Yeah, yeah. So the I mean, that came out like basically just as the book was coming out.

Ashley:

I was gonna say, like immediately.

Mari:

Yeah.

Ashley:

They would be silly to not try to capitalize on that, honestly. Right. Um, it they have to try. You know what I mean? Yeah, I don't know how they're gonna do it. Is it a movie or is it a TV show? Did it say?

Mari:

Um, I don't think that it said.

Jonathan:

It says a feature film to develop a feature film based on Alchemized.

Ashley:

That's a lot for one movie. I was that's we're talking over a thousand pages of book. Well, you know, it's it's gotta be a series then, but then that's gonna piss people off.

Jonathan:

I mean the heart, the heart like you know, movies movies take movies compress, right? I mean it's that's what I'm saying.

Ashley:

It's gonna piss people off.

Jonathan:

Yeah. I mean it it might open the door too. Like how many movies open the door to books for people? Yeah. So it could could go a number of different ways, but maybe and maybe it turns into a franchise of sorts. I don't know.

Mari:

Yeah, like a film series is what you were saying, right, Ash?

Ashley:

Yeah, I mean, that's the only way that you get through it. I mean, you think, you know, Twilight or Fifty Shades or I and arguably fan base with multiple books, yeah. Yeah. I mean, and they were all multiple books. I think Sin Lin Yu made a very conscious decision not to do that to her fan base, right? And I sh I think she's spoken on it to where she was very clear that she wanted this to be one book. So it could be argued that hey, we know you know the premise, we know how this is gonna end, so we can take our time with the movie. And divide it out. They could divide it out, yeah. They're gonna have to. There's just I've heard such good things about the book. I haven't had the time to sit down and read it.

Mari:

Me, either.

Ashley:

I have it and haven't started it, so but I've heard really, really good things, you know, both from fans of Manicold and and you know, people who haven't read Manicold at all are saying really wonderful, powerful things about it. And, you know, I think the biggest takeaway from it is that this isn't a romance, but it's not meant to be, right? Like you and I know the the true premise of this, and it's a lot of things.

Jonathan:

Oh wait, hold on. Are we talking about the that is this the lady she wrote the fanfic?

Ashley:

She wrote a fanfic.

Jonathan:

And then it evolved into alchemized story. They there were some retail, and now that is getting the the printed version. The the professional individual standing piece of work.

Ashley:

But this isn't to be confused with some of the drama that went down over the summer. Like that was a different author that had the issues with the conventions and I was trying to conflate that.

Jonathan:

I didn't realize that Alchemize was that was the the lady who had you know had success with it. Yeah, because this is her first ever. Odd success.

Ashley:

It's her first book ever. Yeah. Right.

Mari:

Intense. Also, if you pre-ordered the book and submit your receipt to alchemy's book.com, you can get a digital download of 11 original illustrations done by the artist who illustrated the book. Yeah.

Ashley:

Oh wow. So that's a big deal. Because if I'm not mistaken, it's the same artist that did Manicold.

Mari:

I believe so.

Ashley:

Yeah, so that's that's gonna be a big deal. I'm gonna do that. I didn't know that. Yeah.

Jonathan:

And there we go. Bonus, bonus points.

Mari:

All right. A new author. Well, this author has written stuff, but I don't think anybody here has read anything by them other than I think I read one book by them. In preparation for the holiday reading season, author BK Borison, B-O-R-I-S-O-N, is releasing their first paranormal book. It's a paranormal holiday romance that involves the ghosts of Christmas past. Uh and it is called spirits. Is it a sexy one? Are you trying to give me crazy? Me too. Look, I think maybe we need to read this for like holidays this year as for the podcasts, as our holiday reads.

Ashley:

That was not a no from Jonathan.

Jonathan:

It's a very it's a beautiful looking book.

Mari:

It is.

Ashley:

Do they have an audio book for you?

Jonathan:

They do.

Ashley:

Sign us up, Mari.

Mari:

Yeah, so it releases October 21st, but this year, it's available for pre-order. It's 15 bucks. Also, as pretty as that version is that's available. There's also Al Crate is doing a special edition, which is gorgeous. I'm I think I'm gonna get the Al Crate if I can, if I can.

Ashley:

Close your ears, Kelly.

Mari:

It's so pretty. It's like dark rich greens and red. So back backtrack. I know Jonathan, holidays, winter holidays, Christmas all stuff is your jam. However, of all the holiday stories, Christmas Carol is my favorite. And poor Kelly will attest that I think I have sub, you know, I've I've submitted him to watching, I think, every version of Christmas Carol that exists. We usually watch, I usually at least watch multiples every year in December. I'm watching like Scrooged, I'm watching the Moppet version, I'm watching all the versions. I'm reading it and I'm listening to an audiobook. Like it's a it's a ghost story, but also Christmas and also like a moral.

Ashley:

Um just ticking all those boxes for you.

Mari:

100%. Yes. Yes. Love it.

Ashley:

I mean, it could be drugs, right?

Mari:

Yes, it could always be drugs.

Ashley:

Sometimes I feel bad. I said to Jonathan the other day, I was like, I think it's time, you know, for another bookshelf. And he was like, same, you know, like for his side of the office. Yeah, it's getting kind of rough in our household with now this. We used to joke when Jonathan would ride that we couldn't both be cyclists because we would go broke. And I'm starting to feel that way about books.

Jonathan:

Oh, we're $16 broker now because I just ordered that book. It gets here on time for it to be here on uh October 21st. I got a book today. I haven't opened it yet. I'm excited. I have a book.

Mari:

I didn't even know.

Jonathan:

I have a signed book plate waiting for that book too.

Mari:

Nice. Hot dog.

Jonathan:

Yeah, that looks it. It's just you can bait me in with a a good looking book and and like a rom-com sort of Christmas book.

Mari:

Have it be like a holiday book? Yeah, I was like, this is up, this is up, Jonathan Sally. So Kelly, you done for reading this maybe like later this year as a as a Christmas read?

Kelly:

Sure. Yeah.

Mari:

Like I said, I I don't know a lot about the actual book. Obviously, I haven't read it. It's not out yet. I don't have an arc or anything. I have read one book by this author. It was a Christmas story, like a holiday story. It's the Oh, Lovelight Farms, I think it is. And it was good. It was but it's just a standard like contemporary romance. There's no magic or anything in it, just like a holiday contemporary romance. So I'm I'm really curious adding this little element of Christmas Carol and like ghosts and stuff.

Ashley:

Heck yeah.

Kelly:

Yeah.

Mari:

All right. And last bit of news, an update on the after the end Kickstarter we talked about that Ali Hazelwood and Adriana Herrera did, which is completed. It ended up being Kickstarter's biggest pug publishing project of the year. It is Kickstarter's eighth highest funded publishing project of all time. Oh gosh. They were fully funded in under four minutes, and in the first 24 hours, they had 700,000.

Ashley:

Four minutes.

Mari:

Four minutes, fully funded. Yeah.

Ashley:

Wow. Wow.

Mari:

So I ended up buying, of course. Ended up buying it, but I ended up doing the digital, like the ebook and the audio. So we'll see.

Jonathan:

And this isn't the isn't the same one. This isn't the collection that they just released, is it?

Mari:

Are you thinking of the other Allie Hazelwood one, the scared sexy?

Jonathan:

Yeah.

Mari:

No, I got this conflated too. So Allie Hazelwood, Katie Robert, Kimberly Lemming, Ruby Dixon.

Jonathan:

Ruby Dixon, shoot.

Mari:

I think there are like five of them. Yeah, there's two of them that I can't. Yeah, they're like five or six of them. Released a we we did, I think, mention this in a prior news thing. They released it's it's novellas. They're like, it's called the series is called Scared Sexy. They're short novellas. They're available on Kindle Unlimited and Audible. So they're they're they released them to audio is is is available off the bat right away. And they're like set in Halloween times or have a little bit of a something related to Halloween. I finished reading all of them over the weekend and very much enjoyed. I think my favorite one was Katie Roberts' Beautiful Nightmare, which is basically a slate paralysis demon.

Kelly:

Mm-hmm.

Mari:

And the person that she's supposed to scare. And it it gives me very much like somebody watched Monsters Inc.

Jonathan:

and was like It was it was interesting because I I think previously I had read that one no sugar coating it. So there was that like that like such a DJ Russo, right? Yes, yeah. Yeah. And then so when I read Beautiful Nightmare, I was like, you know, like it felt like that, but not quite. It was a quick hit, too. It was like seven chapters, something like that. So far. So I'm like, I'm on book four right now in that one, or novella number four in that one. But uh so far I enjoyed Allie's book. I'm looking forward. I'm just now starting Space Vampire. So I'm like interested, I'm interested because like I'm like, oh, I see there's a like a warning here. So I'm like, I just I want to see what what she has to say in that. Okay.

Mari:

So Allie Hazelwood's Hot for Slayer to me gave very like Buffy the Vampire Slayer vibes in a way, but the vampire slayer was the dude, and his name was Laszlo, so all I could think of is what we do in the shadows. In my head, that is who that was. Yeah, I I thought that was it was it was fun, it was well done. I thought Ruby Dixon's was very well done, the space vam space vampire, I think is what hers was called. Um which is always interesting. I always like when you have kind of traditional-ish horror tropes and then but put it in space. And Ruby Dixon writes such I mean, she writes a lot of different things, but I really like all her like space stuff or alien stuff. I think that's my favorite stuff of the stuff she does, Ice Planet Barbarians and and that whole series of things. I thought Space Vampire was was good. I thought it was well done, to be honest.

Jonathan:

Okay. I'm looking forward to it. I I have I also have like By the Horns that I'm still like that's still on deck too. And I'm like, I really did like Bull Moon Rising, so it was like the same.

Mari:

I haven't read that one yet.

Jonathan:

So I'm interested in in what she has because that those are two different like the space, and I did read the first Ice Planet Barbarians, and I was like, that moved fast, and that was like spicy.

Mari:

Yes, it was like But they're very yeah, they're very fast to read, they're very easy to just finish. Um the the other, I think other one I liked in that series was the Kimberly Lemming one.

Jonathan:

I'm looking forward to it.

Mari:

The last one. I'm trying to remember the name of it.

Jonathan:

I don't have it right now.

Mari:

All my boyfriends are monsters, yeah.

Jonathan:

Yeah.

Mari:

So if you like Kimberly Lemming's like funny, satirical wack-a-doodle way that she writes, which she she did the Mead Mishaps book that we read that time I what was it, that time I got drunk and saved a demon. That one. Yeah, that's that author.

Ashley:

I want you to know that I just like ripped that off right off the tongue. I I don't think Kimberly Lemming can do any wrong. Right. I think all of her books are gonna be worth reading. And if I could go to the library and just get all of the Kimberly Lemming books, I would read them one by one by one until I've devoured them all. And I've only read one book. That was enough. I know. I just know that she's always gonna hit her mark.

Mari:

I agree.

Jonathan:

Did you get through spicy little curses?

Mari:

Is that I did. I thought that uh it was interesting because it was set in New Orleans, which you know I like. I thought that it felt like a development idea for a longer book. So it's not bad. I just felt like that story would have been better served with more time to develop the characters and the storyline that it went into. I think it tried to cram a little too much story into a short novella.

Ashley:

And it was to say that they're not going to make those bigger books either. Right. I mean, they I think there's there there's definitely some they're probably just putting some feelers out and be like, how crazy are you bitches?

Jonathan:

I mean, some of them are longer than others, right? So like Ali went a little deeper. Um I I didn't feel like I felt like the next two were kind of short-ish. So I'm hoping that Ruby goes a little deeper, and then I see and I'm and I'm I I don't know if Kimberly did the audio stuff or if she was the same person, but I I enjoyed the audiobook from that time I got drunk and and Save the Demon. So I'm hoping it's the same voice.

Mari:

Yeah, I don't I don't know, but I will say that just just rating it off of the audio book, Kimberly Lemming's audio book was the best listening experience. I I very much enjoyed that listening experience of it.

Jonathan:

Nice.

Mari:

Yeah, the only other one we haven't mentioned was Falling by Christina Lauren. That was the second one.

Jonathan:

Oh, okay, yeah. Sorry.

Mari:

Yeah. It was probably my least favorite. It felt to me very incomplete. Yeah, I like I I'd have a hard time telling someone what what actually happened.

Jonathan:

So Falling with that was the the party?

Mari:

Yeah.

Jonathan:

Okay. Yeah, so I like so I'm with you. Like I and maybe we should save this discussion for later. But yeah, like I I I'm glad you said that because I was like, like I'm cruising, I'm cruising, I'm cruising, and then all of a sudden I'm like, oh, it's over.

Mari:

Yeah.

Jonathan:

What just what the hell what the hell just happened?

Mari:

Yeah. So that was our mini review of the Scared Sexy series. Yeah.

Jonathan:

Y'all are welcome. I did like it. I would say I would recommend it though. Get out there and get it. It's worthwhile. A delightful treat.

Mari:

Yeah. Yeah. Like it was a great way to be. If you want a little mini intro to some of these authors' writing styles, like I thought I thought it was a good way to not have to commit to a whole book, you know? Um, unless anybody has anything else.

Jonathan:

The only thing I would add is that we're I know we'll be late when this comes out, but still worth a shot. What's her name? Rebecca Yarros is her store is opening on October 1st. Threshing day for some like some merch stuff or some more uh she's not managing it, but she's like turned it over to a team to manage it. And I think part of the issue, she really didn't have a very shoppable store. There was a whole bunch of links crammed up with that like very little direction. So I'm hoping that this is more of like like a Shopify setup, more curated with like better pictures and be more expensive, but yeah.

Ashley:

Naturally, I'm pretty stoked. You know, she's a I do you remember that she did the the Red Sox thing in the last couple of months and they had the Ryerson wingleader jackets for the Red Sox game. So I in the caption of one of the posts about the merch shop, it said, you know, are you looking forward to your your Ryerson jacket or something like that? And so I think you know that was kind of like a soft launch for some of the stuff we can expect. So I'm stoked. I mean, it's nice to be able to have a place that you can like a single place, hopefully, that you can go and buy things that are licensed and you know approved by her. I do appreciate an independent shop and I want to be able to shop, you know, small and local. Um, but to an extent you want your stuff to be approved by, you know, the creator as well. I agree. So I'm excited to see what they come up with because I I think this is just a world that it we are not done by far, you know, exploring and to see some visuals tied to it is really exciting.

Jonathan:

And for the other sports fans, I think she also did like an avalanche jersey. She did like a Denver hockey game recently.

Ashley:

I think you're right, but I didn't read up on it, so that's fair.

Mari:

Yeah. So if you're interested in Rebecca Yarrow's merch, go over to her store. It'll be open by the time this episode drops. So that's what we're talking about. And get some some fourth wing stuff. Or hey, if you have someone in your life who's into that stuff, guess what? Holiday gift giving time is coming up. So it'll be a place to make maybe get something for that person that's, you know, fourth wing obsessed in your life.

Ashley:

That site's definitely gonna crash. I hope they're prepared for it.

Mari:

Probably October 1st. But I think by the time this comes out, hopefully they'll have like it'll have calm down. Yeah, all the kinks will be will be out of it.

Jonathan:

So oh no, keep the kinks in.

Speaker 00:

We like the kinks.

Mari:

Okay, so I because I know all you guys have sent stuff in for us to talk about news. So I think I I tried to get everything that was gonna be, you know, that hadn't passed by the time this episode comes out. So it's anything I missed, or are we good?

Ashley:

No girl, solid job. Yeah, well done.

Kelly:

Okay.

Ashley:

Kudos.

Mari:

All right, so why we chose the book onto the book discussion? Because it's Hispanic Heritage Month and we wanted to read a Hispanic author. And also I'd heard good things about it, and also it's got vampires in it, and the spookening is upon us.

Kelly:

The spookening.

Mari:

This book was published August 15th, 2023. I'm gonna read the synopsis and then we'll get into our details. Vampires, vaqueros, and star crossed lovers face off on the Texas-Mexico border in the supernatural western from the author of The Hacienda. As the daughter of a rancher in 1840s Mexico, Nena knows a thing or two about monsters. Her home has long been threatened by tensions with Anglo-settlers from the north, but something more sinister lurks near the ranch at night, something that drains men of their blood and leaves them for dead. Something that once attacked Nena nine years ago. Believing Nena dead, Nestor has been on the run from his grief ever since, moving from ranch to ranch, working as a vaquero, but no amount of drink can dispel the night terrors of sharp teeth. No woman can erase his childhood sweetheart from his mind. When the United States invades Mexico in 1846, the two are brought abruptly together on the road to war. Nena as a curandera, a healer, striving to prove her worth to her father so that he does not marry her off to a stranger, and Nestor as a member of the auxiliary cavalry of ranchers and vaqueros. But the shock of their reunion and Nena's rage at Nestor for seemingly abandoning her long ago is quickly overshadowed by the appearance of a nightmare made flesh. And unless Nena and Nestor work together through their past and face the future together, neither will survive to see the dawn. Bum bum bum.

Ashley:

That's a very serious synopsis. I didn't actually read the synopsis. I honestly think you read the book.

Mari:

Yeah, I think the synopsis kind of, if I had just read the synopsis, I think it would have felt a little serious and a little maybe off-putting, but I'd heard so many good things about it that I wanted to give it a try. I'm gonna go first because I haven't gone first in a while, and I'm not gonna make Ash go first like she has done, has had to do a poor thing. I really like this book. I I don't think I've ever read a Western that I can remember. I remember liking watching Westerns, but I don't think I'd ever read a Western. I'm also don't know a lot about that time in history, and I also am a little hit or miss. Miss on historical fictions, historical romances. So my expectations were iffy. So I was expecting like a horror historical romance western kind of thing with vampires as like the monster. And I feel like what I got was like a gothic historical romance with vampires. Like vampires exist, but like the true monsters were the humans, like patriarchy, colonialism, imperialism, colorism, sexism, toxic masculinity, like abusive childhoods, all that stuff. And I don't feel like it was done in a heavy-handed way. I feel like there were parts in the middle of the book that dragged a little bit, felt a little like telenovela, soap opera-ish. And that I had some eye-rolling moments. But overall, I really enjoyed this book. Like it made me feel things.

Ashley:

I mean, I think that's always kind of the hope, right? Is that it'll make you feel something. And if it's a positive feeling, then it's just a bonus, right?

Mari:

Yeah.

Ashley:

I did also enjoy this book. I was concerned, I'm not gonna lie. And it was an audio for me, which I think helped because having, you know, the tones and the inflections sometimes, especially because this wasn't a hundred percent English, right? And I am a hundred percent English. Um, so there would have been areas for me that I probably would have preferred to read it, but then I probably would have gotten all the words wrong, you know, in hindsight. But I I think hearing the tones and hearing the the inflections of speech and hearing the passion, you know, behind both narrators, because there was a male and a female, it just really it made it so much more moving. Like this author is a very poetic author. I felt like there was so much imagery, there was so much feeling in everything, and there was so many callbacks to other feelings and other images. You know what I mean? Like she just tied, it was like a painting. It was like it was like listening to the colors of the wind, you know, in Pocahontas. Like everything just blended and merged, and it was it was like listening to poetry. Agreed, it felt maybe a little bit long, but not in an unpleasant way. It's more like in an Ashley's way too busy kind of way, but it it was overall just such a a pleasure to listen to. And I I do, I feel like I learned some stuff, right? Like to your point, I think I said it to Jonathan. Like, I've read about 1840s Victorian England or whatever that time period was, you know what I mean? But not Mexico in that time period, right? So, like, what a different perspective. I've read stupid westerns for sure. There's some some good, you know, dumb stuff out there. But this one, this one was quite lovely.

Mari:

Yeah, it's good to get your your viewpoint on the language thing because that's one thing I was thinking as I was reading it. I'm like, there's a lot of Spanish words in here.

Ashley:

Like, I wonder what everyone's gonna think. But they get their point across, you know what I mean? So again, I think listening to it helped me get that point across. Like there were words that I'd never heard of, right? Especially not having spoken a different language ever in my whole life. It's just not, you know, in my my DNA in the way that it is for others. But like they get their point across. And so while you might not know its exact definition or translation, you don't feel lost in the story. Like you didn't lose anything. And in fact, it it just, you know, made it that much more authentic.

Mari:

All right, guys, what'd you think?

Jonathan:

Um a medium liked it. It was I thought what I found really appealing was the way they told the story in like so I didn't lose sight of the idea that they were like what was it, like 1829 or something like that?

Mari:

I thought she said it was 1840. 1846.

Jonathan:

Okay, 1840.

Mari:

Well, that 1846 was the main part of it, but it did flash back to their childhood, which would have been nine years before that.

Jonathan:

So gotcha, gotcha. Yeah, number one.

Mari:

1839.

Jonathan:

So so like in that, like I didn't I didn't go into it think like it wasn't like old timey speech. So I was like, oh, okay, cool. And like it was it went in a direction that I didn't think it would, or that I was hoping that it wouldn't. It left me, I think I think it just left some it left some food. There was some there was some food on the table. There were there was more I think that it could have done, and it just left me left me hanging out. Like I guess I had hoped that Nena would be like would be like like an unturn like a or a turned like dormant, like let me just rise up and oh you thought you were gonna get a little bit more supernatural. Yeah, I I didn't get like it. I th I think it was I mean shit, it was well played, but I I want I did want m more of the supernatural. I think there's more out there, like the way it ended when she was like at the at the water and she was like, Yeah, like she can set like so she can communicate with them. Yeah, when she was attacked, right? So there's like there's some she's been marked and she's survived, but does she retain any that she she didn't turn? She didn't in a tra in that traditional like you've been bitten by a vampire and you've turned. Like that doesn't that doesn't like or does it? I don't know. It wasn't stated, but it wasn't it wasn't. Yeah. And then when she like kind of looked across and they stood up and like went in the other direct, like maybe there's a part two, and maybe that part two is like, hey, you you you gotta join forces. You're one of us. We need your help freeing what the what what the the Yankees are are doing here. We need to fix this. Come and help us get like level the playing field or even the score. And if you do this, we'll offer you this reward. But we're gonna activate you now. Um like I think I feel like I wanted that activity.

Ashley:

Do you know that you just wrote like a whole book right now?

Jonathan:

Alright, cool. Yeah, you know where to send, yeah, you know, you know where to send the check, Mr. The But yeah, I think that's I think that's a cool I think that that's what I was missing here. Like it was instead it turned out to be like more of a like it was the weaponization it was the weaponization of a of a magical creature, right? Or like a a a legendary or whatever creature as the by by the Anglos as they invaded and were attempting to colonize a land that didn't belong to them. You know, like hey, we're gonna take what we want, and we got these dogs on a chain doing it for us. Yeah, excuse me, I'm sorry. But it makes me think like why you know, like it was a lot of effort, it was a whole bunch of effort. So, like, and why why like I still feel like they could be like, hey, let's go activate her and get even. Anyway.

Ashley:

Like they have a spy, they have an ally.

Jonathan:

I think that's I think the idea that the ally, the resources of the ally, or their her, she wasn't unlocked at to her full potential, and that left me long. That's why it was like it was medium okay. But I do agree that it kind of like I didn't need to hear all the like traveling back, you know.

Mari:

So it was like I think for me it was about the fact that it was like a whole very much stereotypical romance soap opera third breakup thing where they just wouldn't talk to each other and get past it, um, which is frustrating. But I guess you know that's a feeling too. That's part of it, and that's fine. It's not my favorite, but it's fine.

Ashley:

Well, and that's the time too, right?

Mari:

There wasn't a whole lot of emotional intelligence back then, especially for two like wounded people, basically.

Ashley:

Right.

Mari:

Let me correct myself. I think I said it was written by Isabel Allende. I apologize. It's Isabel Cañas, is the author. I I put it wrong in the notes. That's on me. It's been a day. I'm so sorry. Fully forgiven. Kelly, what'd you think?

Kelly:

I didn't hate this book. I didn't particularly love it. It was okay. I think that the book was interesting and that it blended a lot of the historical events about essentially the Mexican-American War into the background of the book and used it. I thought back to the most accurate and truthful line ever uttered uttered in a Disney movie was in Pocahontas when the Indian chief said these white people are dangerous. And essentially that's what we're using as the backdrop here is we're using the backdrop of the instability in Mexico and the run-up into the Mexican-American War and how that all unfolded. So that was interesting that we had a lot of those events blended into it. And for the most part, I feel like it was fairly accurate as background type setting.

Mari:

I was wondering, I was gonna ask you. I was like, how how good is this, Mr. History?

Kelly:

I mean, it was okay. You have to remember up until the Mexican-American War, the Republic of Mexico was very unstable, kind of. They didn't really have it a very effective centralized government because once they had been separated from Spain, the Mexican government was really kind of weak. There was a lot of corruption, there wasn't a strong central government.

Mari:

So it reminded me, like it made me think of like like the feudal system. Is that kind of what it was? Like every like ranch had its own thing.

Kelly:

Right. And and if you ever watched like Zorro, this is the same kind of thing. You had the wealthy land barons, you know, who owned the land and people worked for them. And so Zorro was, you know, fighting against the wealthy Spanish landowners who were abusing the common, you know, the workers and stuff. So that's a very, I don't know, idealized historical trope of Mexico at that time. So during this time period, you know, you had the Texas Revolution, you had all that happen. Texas, you know, was separated from Mexico. However, the Mexican government refused to recognize details of the treaty. So there was always this long-running dispute about where exactly is the border? Is it the Rio Grande or is it the Nuse River? You know, so there was a lot of dispute about that. And eventually President Polk, under pressure, basically tried to buy the territory. The government refused. Polk sent 80 soldiers essentially across the border to basically antagonize the Mexicans. And so the Mexican army, which was kind of a militia, formed up, tried to repel the American soldiers, which, you know, they essentially fought a conflict with the American soldiers, which immediately let President Polk go to Congress and say, Oh, they attacked our soldiers, now we got to go to war. And then so that was the pretext allowing the Mexican war to unfold with the permission of Congress with President Polk. So basically it was a classic use of small force to antagonize them. They fought back, and now we can say, you know, now it's time for war. And then so obviously that war was, you know, pretty short-lived, you know, not even a full two years. And you know, that eventually settled with, you know, the entirety of the Rio Grande settling the disputed territory and all that kind of stuff. So that's kind of the you know, the the 30,000-foot view of the Mexican-American War. Okay. So on the most part, it was accurate because what we're looking at is we're looking at that time period where those small group of soldiers from the United States had come across specifically to antagonize the Mexican government. And so the Mexican army, which was more of a militia, was augmented by a lot of, you know, Mexican citizens because they knew the Mexican militia wasn't very big or strong. So a lot of Mexican farmers, workers, you know, supplemented in this in a true militia style. And so that's kind of where this is taking place, is right in that conflict there, you know, which essentially the Mexican army, you know, had casualties, but they really did get pushback because essentially a very underfunded, under-trained, under-equipped militia was not going to be a very good match for 80 well-trained, you know, American, well-armed, well-trained American soldiers, you know, even if they didn't have vampires. Right. So I like that we had that accurate historical stuff going on here, and I like that we're blending all that together. And what I found interesting was that we're also blending another sci-fi fantasy type plot device, which is that the enemy is using captured supernatural creatures as weapons. So we see this in a lot of other type stories where you know you capture zombies or some other kind of monsters and you train them or use them to fight your enemies instead. So this is what we're seeing. We're seeing the Americans, you know, the Yankees take these vampires and then try and basically turn them into weapons to use against the Mexicans.

Mari:

Yeah.

Kelly:

And so we're kind of humanizing the vampires as, you know, they're not really wanting to fight in this battle. They're kind of being made to, they're being used as a weapon. So, you know, we're trying to get some sympathy, I guess, for the vampires. So it's a very interesting way of putting in that. So the vampire itself really wasn't even a big part of the book.

Mari:

I agree.

Jonathan:

So this it was definitely secondary.

Kelly:

Right. So I don't know. I don't I think if you take the vampire part out, you essentially have the same story.

Mari:

I I think in a lot of ways you do. I think what the vampires showed, in my opinion, the one thing that it did that it wouldn't wouldn't have been able to do without them, is kind of like Nina using the power of like the land and what she was taught by the people around her and having her own her own way of power and her own way of contributing.

Kelly:

Right.

Mari:

That wasn't like military or like guns or whatever. It was her using the power that she had and the knowledge she had and the skill set she had to contribute towards the party, so to speak.

Kelly:

Right. So, you know, essentially a lot of what this story's conflict came down to really wasn't even about that. The story's main conflict was really about Nina and her conflict with her parents and the expectations of what she is supposed to do as a faithful and loyal daughter of a you know Spanish Mexican landowner.

Mari:

Yeah.

Kelly:

That's essentially what the conflict of the story was. You know, the vampire stuff, all of that is just background conflict. The real conflict was daughter versus parents and you know, not marrying the people that they want her to marry.

Mari:

Yeah. The real enemy was like patriarchy. Right. Yeah. There's a a quote, like my favorite quote from the book, is she became more and more tightly bound by the ropes of womanhood. He roamed free, unburdened by responsibilities. That was like her synopsis of them growing up. Yeah. How they grew up differently.

Jonathan:

He was living the life once he left. He was he was sleeping around. He found himself some widows. He was gonna sleep his way to the top, earn some money.

Mari:

I mean, he had his trauma too, though. He was not dealing with his his trauma very well.

Jonathan:

Can you imagine thinking like, oh, like because he wasn't even responsible, he was just like existing. He yeah, he was just like like, oh shit, this happened. This is something we do. Like we went in search of like, what you went, we went in search of silver, and then this happened, and now I think she's dead. I better just abandon everything and keep running.

Mari:

He was so young.

Jonathan:

Yeah, but then you show up and she's there. You're like, dang, I left home. Nobody, nobody told me once, like, like, hey, where'd you go?

Mari:

Yeah, like his grandma didn't tell him what the fuck. Well, you gotta remember though, remember he did he addressed they addressed that in that like writing, like the first of all, like not everybody could write. It was kind of a thing that he could read. And so you're having your letters and the things are processed through other people. So like his family wouldn't be able to write him directly. It was being processed through other people, so it was limited as to what they could tell him.

Ashley:

I don't know. A boiler should have let him know.

Jonathan:

But also, I don't think they really knew like that's why she that's why he left. I think they were just like, Oh, he just decided enough's enough. I'm out of here.

Ashley:

Like, he's also a baby, so like ask questions. I don't know. I get it's a different time, right? So, like to to try to presume that I understand what's going through their head. But I mean, he was he was literally just a child when that all went down. And it's probably a miracle that he survived after that alone. I if it's interesting to like process how impatient they were with each other upon that reunion, right? Like, because the emotional intelligence that we have, you know, reading it, it's like you felt they were impatient? Yeah. I thought she was very impatient with him. He all she recognized was that he left her. He left her and he didn't come back. But she it not she and she read that as scorn a bit. But like she acknowledges it at one point. She was like a smarter, wiser woman would process his trauma and you know, recognize that he left because she he thought that she was dead and that there was no world there for him without her. And she was like, But I'm not that woman.

Jonathan:

Yeah. See, I I got like the I got the opposite of I so I got like a whole I've read a whole bunch of patients where they were just like, I don't need this, you know, and he's like, Yeah, cool, I'm cool without this too, kind of thing. And it was just like they weren't like like to me, I think impatient would be like, Oh, I haven't seen you in forever. Let's get out, let's get it on.

Ashley:

No.

Jonathan:

Kind of thing.

Ashley:

Like that's desire. That's not impatience. Impatience is that feeling you feel when you know the answer to something, but I'm not allowed, you're not allowed to call them idiots. Like you have to work, let them work through their own problems.

Jonathan:

Oh, I can't call them idiots. You're not allowed to call the neuroregs idiots.

Ashley:

No, you can't call the neuroregs idiots.

Jonathan:

So my bad.

Ashley:

That's what impatience is. Sorry.

Mari:

Yeah, it's a it's that miscommunication thing to me. But it it is. It's all because we're looking at it as grown people. We're looking at it as people that didn't go through these traumas. You know, like Nestor lost his whole world as a kid and like basically left and raised himself feral, thinking he had killed the love of his life, like the the you know, the one that he wanted to marry. And she, you know, thought that he left her. And she's also trying to like prove herself of some worth by what she can do and what she can do to help people so that she doesn't get, you know, sold off to another branch or whatever.

Jonathan:

Anyone feel like Capetro is just a tool?

Ashley:

No, I think he's doing his best.

Jonathan:

He was just kind of like a but I mean like a pawn in this whole story where he was like you know who he is?

Ashley:

He's hey hey.

Jonathan:

Hey, hey. He was just there to like he was there to get bitten the whole so that way he could they could connect the dots.

Ashley:

I mean, it was it's part of Nestor's humanity though. You know, he went out there, he made friends, he he had some found family that you know basically kept him alive. I think Bertho was probably key to Nestor's survival after a period of time.

Mari:

And humanization in some ways.

Jonathan:

How about he was just they were like, hey, we're gonna fight this war, and he was like, I got nothing better to do.

Ashley:

I mean, I think that was the time.

Jonathan:

I'm in. Let's yeah, let's do this. And then when I'm done, like, well, get some we'll get some food and I'll be on my way. Cool. I was it was a good one. That was his way.

Ashley:

He was like, All right, we go into war.

Jonathan:

Oh, I got bit.

Mari:

Did you guys I wrote down at one point when they talked about like they were talking about the different, I think, Mexican like folklore and stuff. They were talking about the lechuza. And I was like, oh, we saw that at Halloween Horror Nights. That was like that one house had that giant harpy looking thing in the in the in the nest. That was a lachuza because I'd never heard of it before. And I was very impressed by that larger than life size puppet in that room.

Jonathan:

There were house. There were a lot of mesmerizing things going on that night to catch you off guard. And I'm gonna be honest, a lot of it I was like not super detail-oriented in those houses.

Ashley:

So you weren't focusing.

Jonathan:

Uh I the some fine, like sometimes you got I got lured in. Like I was like, ooh, what's going on? That looks so different. Oh, this is terrible. This is a terrible idea.

Mari:

Sucker. Yeah, because it was interesting that like what little resistance or what little information they had uh to like save themselves or keep themselves safe from vampires wasn't through like the menfolk, and it wasn't through the military, and it wasn't through like the Hussian or owners or whatever. It it was like the healers and the women who were like, hey, put that salt in that saddlebag. You're you're gonna need that. Just in case.

Jonathan:

Just in case a whole bunch of faith in salt.

Mari:

Yeah. Yeah.

Ashley:

I mean, at that point it was right. It was like, what do we have to lose? Like, other than actual death, right? Like, might as well.

Jonathan:

Did they did they call them vampires? Did they label them?

Ashley:

So she picked it up from the Yankees. She said she says something like that she she remembers that the the Anglos or the Yankees said the word, and you know, she she just kind of pieced it together. I don't remember how she words it exactly, but she remembers hearing basically one of the white guys say it. And, you know, when she finally faced a vampire and saw it, you know, pretty much head on. Um that first night in the house with Nestor. She said uh she and she she talks about connecting those dots. She's like, I don't know how I know, but that's a vampire.

Mari:

Interesting.

Ashley:

So I don't remember where in the story it gets said, but she does explain that part.

Jonathan:

In book two, she turns. We're calling it now. Book two's not out yet.

Mari:

I I don't think it's gonna be. Like it's not labeled a a one of two situation. I think this might be this all elusive thing in the in the in the world lately. It's a standalone.

Jonathan:

Well, e Issa hasn't heard this podcast yet.

Mari:

Your friend Isa?

Jonathan:

But soon, soon, soon word'll be on the we'll be out.

Mari:

Anything else we wanna any other thoughts we want to bring up about it before we go to the final question? Here's your warning, Ash.

Ashley:

I really liked the ending on this one. I think it's been a while since we've had just like like a polite ending. And so, you know, it was interesting just to kind of hear how she, you know, stood her ground and chose her man, and she was like, fuck you, mom and dad. That's not what she said, but it's basically what she said. Yeah. And she was just like, you know, if he leaves, I leave. And then, you know, they got their they got their little bit of land, and then they got more land as a gift, and that land included, you know, the quarry so that they could build their stone house. And and then, you know, like that little tidbit about the vampire at the end, you know, from across the stream, and they just acknowledge each other. I can see where Jonathan's left.

Jonathan:

This is happy for now because dad, dad didn't dad wasn't like, my bad. Dad didn't show up to the wedding.

Ashley:

Dad was like writing you off.

Jonathan:

Yeah, and he was like, he you're right, he did he gifted Lynn. That's what stubborn helped men do. They don't apologize. It's connected to their properties and it's it has a quarry so that they could build their their large home. Yeah, but for now they're gonna stay in that hut and they're gonna build, you know, they're gonna keep doing what they're doing. I think it's just happy for now. Uh the the only thing I would say is I found it easier to read than I thought it was going to be. I thought it was gonna be like like real old timey and it just wasn't contemporary either. It was just it felt it didn't feel forced and I didn't feel like I was just in like it didn't feel like I was in a less technological space either.

Mari:

Yeah.

Jonathan:

Does that does that make sense? I don't even know if that is like easy to digest.

Mari:

Yeah.

Jonathan:

Yeah.

Mari:

It didn't it didn't take away from the story, didn't pull you out of it. Correct. Kelly, any any wrap-up thoughts from you? Yeah. I uh I I enjoyed it. I thought it was a good story. I think it would be a really interesting visual if they did like a movie. I think it could be an interesting movie made of this. Agreed. Yeah. Or a telenovela. I'll watch a telenovela of this. All right, so the final question is it a kissing book?

Jonathan:

Mario, you're on that.

Mari:

I I actually didn't think about this. My how the turntables have Mario in the coughing there.

Ashley:

That made my night into some okay.

Mari:

I'm going to say that it is a kissing book because if they didn't care for each other the way that they did, she probably wouldn't have taught Nestor to read. They probably wouldn't have been able to coordinate and and over everything that happened. And like she wouldn't have had the bravery to try what she did with the vampires and to like stand up to the way things have always been in the patriarchy and and kind of speak up for their happiness. So I'm gonna say yes, it's a kissing book.

Ashley:

Yeah, I'm gonna agree it's like a cautionary yes. Like there are elements of the story that don't require the other person, right? Like their lives would have gone on, they would have been, you know, simpler, they would have been less fulfilled without each other. But I do think it was, you know, the affection for the other that really got them through that after the battle period, right? And got them home in a relatively safe manner. I don't know if as individuals they if she would have made it at all, right?

Kelly:

Yeah.

Ashley:

If for no other reason than just the brute strength of the thing initially. But I think it was her protectiveness over him in his wounded state that you know she stood up and and chopped that guy, that vampire's head off, right? Because then who knows? I don't know if they had killed a vampire up until that point, effectively. So it was really, you know, protecting Nestor that brought her to that place. And then she was able to bring that knowledge back home, right? The salt, the the chopping off the heads of the vampires, the the concept that maybe she can speak to them if they hadn't cared enough for each other to protect each other and get each other home. I don't know that it would have continued and successfully the way that it did.

Mari:

All right, guys.

Jonathan:

It's definitely a kissing book. I don't think that he's coming back to save her if he's not in love with her. And then they actually talk about like their his first kiss with her, where it was like under the guise of just like practicing, but it it anchored or cemented their their emotions for each other. Yeah, I think a lot doesn't happen if they're not in love, and I think the story is it it pivots and hinges at points based on their wanting to be together. So I I think yeah, kissing book.

Mari:

Kelly.

Kelly:

I agree. I think it's a kissing book simply for the fact that he I think that while he was motivated to go back and help with the militia, I think that if he didn't have romantic feelings for her, he would not have done as much to protect her.

Mari:

Yeah. Look at us. All in agreement. Yay. All right. Anything else before I wrap it up?

Ashley:

I feel like we covered it. Okay.

Kelly:

All right.

Mari:

So 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 and lets us know what you're enjoying. Follow us on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, or Goodreads of Swords and Soulmates. Check us out on our website of Swordsandsoulmates.com. If you'd like to get offer a suggestion for a future episode, book, or topic, feel free to reach out to us on any of those options. 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. And last but not least, we hope you'll join us in two weeks for our next episode when we will be reading and discussing The Cruel Dark by Bay Northwake.

People on this episode

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Mari

Host
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Ashley

Co-host
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Jonathan

Co-host
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Kelly

Co-host

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