"A Fate Inked in Blood" - Love and a Fiery Axe to the Head

An axe, a prophecy, and a lie that detonates a romance—this conversation gets heated fast. We dive into Danielle L. Jensen’s A Fate Inked in Blood and split the table on one core question: can love survive when one partner withholds the truth to keep the other alive? Freya’s journey from repressed survivor to god-touched shield maiden becomes our lens for talking about agency, trauma, and the high cost of destiny. Along the way, we compare “cozy” moments to “cutthroat” realities and argue over whether omissions count as betrayal when blood oaths and politics make honesty dangerous.

We thread Norse mythology through the analysis—Hel, Hlin, Baldur, and prophecy—showing how the lore shapes character motives and foreshadows the book’s biggest twists. Expect a spirited breakdown of Bjorn’s choices: strategic misdirection or manipulative double life? One of us can’t forgive him; another defends the long game; the rest live in the messy middle where desire and doubt wrestle for control. We also talk craft: side quests that build intimacy, a steady burn that tests consent and trust, and an audiobook performance that adds grit without theatrics.

Beyond the main read, we round up romance news you’ll actually care about: Fourth Wing live events and season-per-book TV plans, Lore Olympus heading to animation, special edition drops, and a flurry of new releases and merch. If you’re here for fantasy romance with teeth—feminine rage, godly meddling, and lovers pulled between survival and truth—you’ll find a lot to chew on.

Enjoyed the conversation? Subscribe, rate, and review to help more romance nerds find us, and share this episode with a friend who loves a good prophecy fight. Then tell us: Team Freya or Team Bjorn?

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Transcript

Welcome And Spoiler Disclaimer

Mari 0:00

The views expressed in this podcast are solely those of the hosts. All creative works discussed or reviewed are the intellectual property of the creators of said stories and are being used under the Fair Use Doctrine. Hello and welcome to Of Swords and Soulmates, a podcast where we read, watch, and discuss romancy and romance adjacent stories. I'm one of your hosts, Mari, and with me I have Kelly.

Kelly 0:34

Hey everyone, it's Kelly. We also have Ashley.

Mari 0:37

Hi guys, it's Ashley.

Ashley 0:38

We also have Jonathan.

Jonathan 0:39

What's good, everybody? It's JP. How's everybody doing tonight?

Mari 0:43

Alright, so today we're gonna be discussing a Fate Inked and Blood by Danielle Jensen, book one in the saga of the unfaded duology. But first, as always, some news. And boy howdy, do we have some news? We have a lot. So I guess this makes up for the short episode we had last time. Sorry. Um first thing. Ruby Dixon, the ever-prolific, has a new book set to come out in 2027. It's a standalone about a sheltered girl from a dead-end village who secures audience with the ruthless demon-born ruler of her realm to make an unusual request. She make her his apprentice and teach her how to be evil too. And I did not write down the title, but it's something like Starter Villain, I think it's called Starter Villain.

Jonathan 1:36

Is it Villain Origin Story?

Mari 1:38

Villain Origin Story. That's the one. That's the one. I was like, that sounds like a fun like a good time. Yeah, like a fun time. Second thing I have is A Dragon Cursed by Elise Alisa Kova, which was just released like January of this year, so it's not been out for very long, but she did post on Instagram that it's been picked up for uh an Amazon film to be a film for like a movie or like a series? Yeah, she said she didn't say series, she said film. Now it is just one book, so that a film seems to make sense. She's written a bunch of other books. I have not read Dragon Cursed. I read I think one of her Faye Bargain ones, one of her other series.

Jonathan 2:22

Interesting.

Ashley 2:23

I feel like she's been to the book con, but I don't know that I've read her books. Not because I don't want to. There's not enough hours.

Jonathan 2:31

There are so many hours. You've got to get on Mari's time. Uh I looked at Mari's progress this year. There's not even that many days. So I don't know if I don't know if there's that many hours right now. It's amazing. We need to get on like Mari is like Mari is on the event horizon and time doesn't exist for her.

Mari 2:51

It's killing it. I mean, I I generally read instead of watch TV anymore. Although there are a few series I'll probably put down the book and and finish. I need to I need to watch a few series. Looking at you, heated rivalry.

Ashley 3:05

Oh, me too.

Mari 3:06

Yeah. That and Night Manager, like the second Night Manager, the most recent Night Manager, has come out this month, and I still haven't watched the other one, so I need to watch that. Yeah. Not enough. New Star Trek. There's some amazing new Star Trek I need to watch. Kelly and I have been watching the expanse. So yeah. Yeah. But yeah. Other than that, like I I'll read when I draw or when I'm walking. I mean, you know, I'll read an audiobook when I draw or when I'm walking or when I am exercising, or you know, when I'm doing like mindless stuff, you know, data input stuff or whatever. So and then I'll read the eyeballs the rest of the time.

Jonathan 3:42

Rig ht.

Mari 3:44

Um, okay, next bit of news. Speaking of TV, this is a movie, but it's it's got romance elements, and it's also it is what it is. K-pop demon hunters makes Golden Globe history as the first film to win both Best Motion Picture Animated and Best Original Song with Golden.

Jonathan 4:05

Going up, up, up. That's all he knows. That's all I know. Yeah. Yeah. Nieces' nieces are all into it. Nephew by default. My nephew is like, what are you doing? Putting on makeup? I want some too. Yeah, he's just an yeah. He's he just wants that kid just wants to be included.

Mari 4:25

You guys have watched it, right?

K-Pop Demon Hunters Wins Big

Jonathan 4:26

Yeah. Yeah, yeah. We watched it. I think when uh uh the oldest niece was like, Hey, I like this so much, I just want to overdo it. And we were like, oh, let's go see what this is. And then when we went to we may have watched it after, like, was it maybe it's gotta be before. We watched it on our own.

Ashley 4:43

She wasn't into it. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Jonathan 4:45

Well, that that's the second oldest niece that wasn't quite that time. I'm sorry. And then we plethora of like a full murder. Yeah, wait. That's what we call them now. Thank you for that one. I may had what the oldest one can take her Kindle to school now.

Ashley 5:00

And she's reading chapter books at like six.

Jonathan 5:03

She called, she they called me up. She said, Uncle Nani, we make me a book sleeve.

Ashley 5:08

Aww.

Jonathan 5:10

Yes, I will. I'll text it to you. I did like this mermaid, shiny mermaid fabric, and then like the fur. The fuzzies. Yeah, the fuzzies. The same kind of fuzzies that I used for Sarah's stocking. Yeah, it was good. Yeah, this is this is interesting. I think this is what touched off you you uh like what touched off my questions regarding a little bit of a deeper dive into some cosplay when we were at the book convention in Orlando with Sarah from Hissin and Kissin. And uh yeah, very it's very interesting and it makes me want to look at things in in a in a different way.

Fourth Wing Live Events And TV Plans

Mari 5:44

Yeah, yeah. I really enjoyed it. Okay, next bit of news fourth wing. There are more fourth wing nights coming to more cities. Um San Francisco, Denver, Miami, Chicago, Boston, Detroit, Charlotte, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Dallas, and Seattle. So follow Rebecca Yarrows for the details on all those. If you are interested, if you are close to any of those cities or are willing to travel for any of those cities, definitely follow. The other fourth wing news, which I actually didn't put in here, I apologize. I think Ash, you sent it to me maybe, is that the TV show for Fourth Wing is gonna be one sea one season per book. So it's like five seasons commitment, right? I don't think it was me, I think it was Jonathan.

Jonathan 6:31

I was like, hey.

Ashley 6:32

I didn't read it all the way, but I did skim that. It makes me it makes me nervous.

Jonathan 6:38

What makes you nervous?

Ashley 6:39

Because the book is ginormous, yeah. And if we look at what current series are doing as far as the number of episodes, like eight to ten. Eight to ten makes me nervous.

Mari 6:50

Unless they're longer episodes, you know, like good, good chunky episodes.

Ashley 6:54

Like $500 million episodes, like Stranger Things. I don't know what they're doing.

Jonathan 6:59

And yeah, so maybe they like there's no the I think the thing with these streaming services are like rules are there are no rules.

Ashley 7:05

Like if they spend the money and they do it right, then by all means, I'm nervous in the meantime. I don't have a lot of faith.

Jonathan 7:13

That's a hard thing to live up to the quote unquote do it right. You know, it's like ooh, what's right? It's the bad thing.

Ashley 7:19

It's a high fantasy series. You're talking about a lot of CGI with these dragons and things. It's not just right. Like Percy Jackson, I think is pretty low-key, and I'm sure they're spending a pretty coin on it. But to be fair, they're doing I think they're doing a decent job. But again, you're not talking about the same depth of story, if that makes sense.

Mari 7:40

So I think a lot of it's gonna be based on on the actors that they pick. You know, CGI and Flash can only get you so far. You have to have like good quality actors to be able to bring these characters to life.

Ashley 7:53

I don't disagree, but one episode or one season per book, I don't I don't see it. I think they're I think they're gonna end up walking that back.

Jonathan 8:02

Yeah. So then they can walk it back. But they have you noticed that the timeline of the book slows with every book?

Mari 8:09

They do, yeah, it does seem to get like more and more detail so that yeah, yeah, I can I can see that.

Jonathan 8:15

So yeah, and so I think that I think that when you get into the into the like that first if we think about like that year one of uh of uh uh you know she who shall not be named, right? Like that flowed through in like one film. And but to think we couldn't get um Fourth Wing into a an eight-episode season, a seven-episode season, something along those lines, especially if you followed that trend and had hour plus long episodes, hour twenty, hour thirty.

Ashley 8:54

I don't know that that's a trend though. They've been doing it for finales and such, but not again, you're talking stranger things, five hundred million dollar episodes. I don't know.

Jonathan 9:04

The technology used to film some of these too. And this is if we're getting in the weeds a little bit, but the the tech used to the sets, like John was it is it John Fav John Favreau with the Star Wars stuff? He's just kind of filming in a dome. There's so much there's cost-saving metrics available today that maybe weren't available, you know. I I'm gonna be honest, I don't think the Stranger Things effect special effects were that great. They probably were spending all that money on retro clothing.

Special Editions And Collectors’ Buzz

Mari 9:34

I don't know about that. Um yeah, we'll see. We'll see. All right, next bit of news AuroraCrate is doing a special edition of Spark of the Everflame by Penn Cole, which I don't think any of us have read, right? It's on the list. Yeah, it's on it's on that list. I think you guys have it.

Jonathan 9:54

Yeah, I've got Spark Heat and well, I got I got the first three because they made those like funny or not funny, fancy edge paperbacks. And I was like, oh, those look good. They get thick, thick, and thicker.

Mari 10:07

That's how you so book one is going to be released first, but they plan to do the whole series. So in theory, if you like it, it'll that'll all match. You don't need to with a work right, you don't have to have a subscription or anything, but there's like a wait list Google Doc thing you can sign up for so that you'll know when when it is ready for you to like be able to order if you're wanting to order. So I would follow that if you are interested. I would go follow it's on Pen Cole's um Instagram.

Jonathan 10:35

Do we add these links to show notes?

Mari 10:37

Yeah, Kelly Kelly is on the ball with all these things. The man behind the scenes doing it all.

Jonathan 10:43

So we enter when you do that. Make sure you enter in in the note of Swords and Soulmates. They're not gonna give you a discount, but if you ask them for that discount, maybe then they'll be like, hey, who's this of Swords and Soulmates group? We they send all these people here. Should probably call them. Sorry.

Mari 11:02

Wishful thinking there, yeah. Um moving on. Barnes and Noble's exclusive special edition cover of The Knave and the Moon, of Rachel Gillig's The Knave and the Moon, which is the sequel to The Night and the Moth, is now available. It's really pretty. It ships out September 1st of 2026. It's $25. There was a $30 version that you could get that was signed, but that is was like instantly sold out. Um, but the special edition was still available as of today. I pre-ordered it.

Jonathan 11:33

So can we bump into Rachel every now and again at a convention or something like that? No.

Ashley 11:40

Wow. Not for lack of trying. Yeah. Yeah. We're trying to go to all the conventions. Some of them are far.

Jonathan 11:46

The I will say this, you know, keep your eye out for that signed version later, because those are just like inserts, so they can always update the limited editions with them. And I think it's I think that what Barnes Noble does with the with something that the larger book resellers do well is they're sort of to invest more into these special editions. They're not gonna be the same as what like AuroraCrate was or anything like that, or Alcrate or anything like that. But these are it's a twist on just the standard.

Mari 12:23

Because they're gonna they realize if it's a book people are interested in, they're gonna pre-order it somewhere. So they're trying to lure you to pre-order it there versus another big box store or another online store. So that it's their way of like trying to attract you to do it with them rather than somebody else. And it worked for me, but also I was gonna go with Barnes and Noble anyway, because the the first the first book in the series I got, the Barnes and Noble edition. So I was like, well, as long as they have Barnes and Noble's edition, I'm gonna get it because it'll match the the first one, which was also really pretty. Yeah, so it's a little bit more plot-based than that. It's a little less poetic.

Ashley 13:08

They're trying to make us think.

Mari 13:10

Do what now?

Jonathan 13:13

Make us think or make a stink.

Lore Olympus Heads To Animation

Mari 13:16

I heard make us stink. I'm like, whoa. Um I yeah, I think it's yeah, it's it's definitely it's it's a good series. Like I'm curious to see where the story's gonna go. I I can't say a whole lot without spoiling things that happen, but I I if you like One Dark Window, I would absolutely read it. If you like, if you're in the the Lady Night era, which I apparently am in. I've been there's a lot of lady night books coming out that I'm like all about lately. Um yeah, if you kind of like twists on like Gothic mythology, gothic lore, it's it's definitely a good series to look into. Um, next bit of news we have is that uh the graphic novel Lore Olympus, which is by Rachel Smythe, it's a a graphic novel retelling of Greek mythology, but it kind of puts a little bit of a modern spin on it, and it definitely puts modern sensibilities into it in terms of like some of the atrocity atrocities that happen in in in Greek mythology. Um, it is being picked up by Amazon Prime for an animated show, and I'm very excited about this.

Ashley 14:21

I mean, how long have we been waiting for this, honestly? I feel like that was announced, you know, that she was going TV or whatever forever ago. Years ago. So we are quite excited.

Jonathan 14:35

That is a I I wish like there's not there's not a whole bunch of words in that, right? It's like graphic novel.

Mari 14:41

It's graphic novel, yeah.

Ashley 14:42

It's it's graph, but it's got depth a lot, and really good storytelling, um, you know, and just beautiful art. We have a couple of the books if you want to look at it.

Jonathan 14:53

Oh, do we? Yeah, okay, cool. Like I'm I'm into it. Don't get me wrong, I'm into it. I I just didn't kind of see it as a as a as a piece of literature that would sustain me. But I love the I love the graphics on it. It's really stunning. Yeah. So I'm happy to see that. And did were we talking earlier today about is this what you guys were telling me was like the Jim Henson?

Ashley 15:18

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, so it's picked up by Amazon. Yeah. Well, Jim Hens Jim Henson Company. I thought they named what sounded like a feminine name with Henson, but I'm not sure off the top of my head. But yeah, it's it's so it's Amazon Video. Is that the name of the Amazon Video? And then uh in collaboration with the Jim Henson Company, which I I guess they're doing a lot of original animations. There were quite a few that they named.

Mari 15:46

Very excited about it. So I will probably be watching that one again for sure.

Ashley 15:50

Yeah, no, we've been chomping at the bit for this one for a while. Yeah, it looks very cool.

Oops, I Summoned A… New Release Wave

Mari 15:54

All right, next little bit of news I have is that the next book in the Oops I Summoned A series that we've started talking about every time. The next one, the cover was released. It is Oops I Summoned a Demonic Merman by Naomi Lucas. It comes out January 28th, and the cover has been revealed. So I've read the first two that are out now: the Regina Bell one and the Opal Rain one.

Jonathan 16:18

Um did you like them?

Mari 16:20

I did. I liked both of them. They were definitely different than what I was expecting. This is I think it's the only thing Opal Rain has written in like a modern setting. So it was interesting reading something from her that was set in basically our time, uh, our world. Because all her stuff is very much in like post-apocalyptic but old-timey feeling, or like straight up old-timey or very like. I was gonna say almost medieval. Yeah. Next bit I have is that Ali Hazelwood has new merch available, official merch in her store. So there's stuff from like her contemporary romance stuff, which is like very STEM women and STEM-based, but also like stuff from mate, from bride and and mate and all that, like shirts and cups and stickers and things. Um looks really cute. I I haven't ordered anything from there, but it looks really cute.

Jonathan 17:13

Absolutely. I'm gonna have to check that out. Yeah, scope it out. She's Allie. Does Allie has a regulation job too, doesn't she?

Mari 17:20

Yeah, she is a neuroscientist. That's her main cake.

Ashley 17:24

Does she do it? Does she sleep? Because I feel like she's Alexander Hamilton Hamiltoning it up. Like that girl's just kicking out books. Ma'am, when do you rest?

Jonathan 17:36

Sometimes when you're on it, you're on it. Go for it.

Ali Hazelwood Merch And Output

Mari 17:38

Well, I think she's had several really big successes, so she's at the point, like other, you know, successful artists we've talked about, like Goldblum and Jeff Goldblum and whatnot, where like I think she's at the point where she's now doing what she wants to do. You know what I mean? She can choose the projects that are interest her. And so I'm sure it's easier to do things that are what you want to do. You know what I mean? As opposed to like something that you've contracted or whatever.

Ashley 18:02

Even still, you're talking she's dropping like two books a year.

Book Setup: A Fate Inked In Blood

Mari 18:05

I know. Okay, so let me do the little synopsis of stuff and then we'll go into details. So this was published February 27th, 2024, and the synopsis is bound in an unwanted marriage, Freya spends her days gutting fish, but dreams of becoming a warrior and of putting an axe in her boorish husband's back. Freya's dreams abruptly become reality when her husband betrays her to the region's Jarl, landing her in a fight to the death against his son Bjorn. To survive, Freya is forced to reveal her deepest secret. She possesses a drop of goddess's blood, which makes her a shield maiden with magic capable of repelling any attack. It was foretold such a magic would unite the fractured nature of Schaland beneath the one who controls the shield maiden's fate. Believing he is destined to rule Scaland as king, the fanatical Jarl finds Freya with a blood oath and orders Biorn to protect her from their enemies. Desperate to prove her strength, Freya must train to fight and learn to control her magic, all while facing perilous tests set by the gods. The greatest test of all, however, may be resisting her forbidden attraction to Bjorn. If Freya succumbs to her lust for the charming and fierce warrior, she risks not only her own destiny, but the fate of all the people she swore to protect.

Jonathan 19:20

Very cute. She's yeah, very very cute.

Mari 19:23

Very cute.

Ashley 19:24

Very cute. Elaborate. Yeah, tell us more.

Is This Story Cozy Or Cutthroat?

Jonathan 19:29

Yeah, it just feels like a like a like a meat cute.

Ashley 19:32

Isn't that like a cozy none about nothing about this story was cozy.

Jonathan 19:36

You didn't think it was cozy? No. Did you read? It was a book about there were some interesting setups. And I thought the book was definitely going in some direction, but then like, yeah, it was a super cozy. Because like, then she like she took that dude's axe and she like marked all her her her ex, right? And then he was like, Let me take care of you. Cozy. Cozy. Come ride on my horse. Cozy. You ride. In front. Cozy. You want me to train you for battle? Join me in the water. Cozy. Come on, man. That's a late. You want to go in a cave with me? Cozy. That's a cozy little me cute. Very cinnamon roll story. Isn't that what we call it? No. Cinnamon bun story?

Ashley 20:13

I'm so confused.

Mari 20:16

But I would I would not call him cinnamon roll. Not say like by the end of this first book, which spoiler, I've started the second book, but by the end of this first book, ooh, ooh, did I hate Bjorn? Did you? So much.

Ashley 20:32

I didn't hate him.

Jonathan 20:33

Well, he wasn't he wasn't truthful, right?

Mari 20:35

Well. Yeah, he wasn't truthful, and he like lured her in and made her comfortable and told her, spun all these lies of this domestic life that she could have, this happiness that she could have that she was wanting. And then was like, ha ha, no.

Ashley 20:50

So I hear you. Um fight Claus out. Cozy. I hear everything you're saying, and I'm not happy with him either, but I feel like, and hear me out here, there's some pretty fucking valid reasons, and not for nothing. That bitch should have asked more questions before she sauntered off. Oh, are you victim blaming? No. No, I think for the day and age that and Lord knows what day and age we're talking about.

Jonathan 21:17

It was written in 2022 or something like that, right?

Ashley 21:20

But like, what's the setting? The time setting. I mean it's like the 1300s. So there's not a lot of emotional intelligence here. Like, let's be honest. Like, they're not gonna talk about their feelings from dawn until dusk and you know, have their their ICD 10, you know, diagnosis.

Jonathan 21:36

But I mean I mean, there were definitely philosophers back then, Plato.

Ashley 21:40

I'm just saying, like, I feel like my girl could have asked more questions. How do you how do you first of all how how much does she talk about Bjorn being like this huge warrior, right? So, how do you mistake him for being the one talking to the king in the cave? And then thinking it was a woman? Make it make sense.

Jonathan 22:03

You see, they see what they need to see.

Ashley 22:06

Okay, well, that sounds like a her problem.

Jonathan 22:09

Um, she's a victim of circumstance.

Ashley 22:11

You can't blame the victim of circumstance?

Jonathan 22:14

Yeah, she didn't she didn't choose the god life, the god life chose her.

Ashley 22:18

Okay, but pause. Did anybody see this being as controversial as this turned out to be?

Trust, Lies, And The Bjorn Problem

Mari 22:24

I mean, no, but then again, it's because I had really strong feelings about disliking him. Like, I was just like, I have to read this sequel because I hate this guy so much.

Ashley 22:33

I don't hate him at all.

Mari 22:34

Oh my gosh, that's interesting. Because like the book started for me, like to me, and I think I described this book to you guys last year after I read it as like this book is feminine rage. Because at the end of the first chapter, she's got like axe in the head of the back of the arranged marriage guy who she never wanted to deserve.

Ashley 22:54

He had it coming.

Jonathan 22:55

He had a lot of fish, he did a lot of fish problems. He was a fishy guy.

Ashley 23:00

No, he was an asshole. No, nothing about this is cozy losing it.

Jonathan 23:05

I mean, like, so like she was the she was definitely the matriarch, and she knew her, she knew like I'm I'm I'm somebody. And but the power. I'm sorry, go ahead. Go ahead. Oh, I was gonna say, like, the power didn't go to her head. It was just like I'm destined for something, I need to be protected, I can't let this secret out, and I'm gonna sacrifice who I am and who I want to be for the greater for my family until push comes to show up.

Ashley 23:37

He supported her 100% of the way. I'm not saying there wasn't some manipulation here. There absolutely was. He could have handled this better, he could have been more truthful, especially towards the end. Like, hey girl, we gotta bounce, but when we're safe, I got a story to tell. You know what I mean? But I think in the end, I think directly at the end of this book, he was in the mindset of we need to leave entirely. Like he he was gonna live out the farmer dream. I don't think he expected to be found. That's on him. That's that's some naive bullshit. But I don't think he maliciously manipulated her. He should have talked to her, he should have confided. But the same could be said of her too. Like, how much did she keep bottled up until the very, very end, and then she exploded with literal hell's wrath.

Jonathan 24:25

Are we saying like this is like this is like Zaidan Violet? No type stuff where like it everything could be Kelly. Is this a communication problem here that we have?

Mari 24:35

Tell us, Kelly.

Jonathan 24:36

No idea.

Mari 24:37

What did you think, Kelly?

Jonathan 24:38

I I don't really have an opinion.

Mari 24:40

Did you did you finish the book? Yeah. Okay.

Ashley 24:43

Oh, because if you hadn't, I definitely spoiled some things there. Sorry.

Mari 24:48

Um, yeah, so I I don't know that she was a matriarch. Like, I think she never had the opportunity to make her own choices. Like, I think she had to hide this thing, her wanting to be a warrior or whatever, she had to hide that. And that was all she wanted, like at the beginning of the book. And then she instead got like sold like cattle for marriage. Um and then she had to continue to play this role so that her family could be safe. And I think it just got to the point where she was done. She was done being the tool and started to grasp her own fate, make her own choices instead of being the tool that she had been. Like she was like a a thing that was passed around, you know, between powerful men, and then she she you know stood her ground at the end.

Ashley 25:45

I love that for her. I do, but it doesn't make me mad at him. I think I think we're gonna see some big shit in book two. I think there's some big ass controversial shit, and not for nothing, what's that man's name? Snoggy? I didn't read I didn't read it with my eyes, I read it with my ears, so I I don't know what it it sounded like Snoggy. Snotty?

Jonathan 26:05

Snoddy. That's what I heard.

Mari 26:07

Bjorn's dad?

Ashley 26:08

BL, yeah. That guy is a bad guy. Absolutely. And you're not you're you're not gonna convince me otherwise. So I do think that there's probably some long-term goals and tactics that were built into Bjorn's ultimate plan. Did he manipulate her a bit? Sure, but he was also the only one that was supportive of her throughout this entire process. And he's been trying to get her to flee since since the first page. Get the fuck out of here, girl. He was be free, break away.

Mari 26:41

But she stayed to protect the family.

Ashley 26:43

Well, the family kind of sucks. And that takes time, that's trauma. Don't get me wrong. That's that takes there's a lot of trauma happening here. She was not going to just abandon ship, and that's but that you know, not for nothing. It's not because he didn't try to make her see reason along the way. His own plan be damned. They could have just killed her, but that was the original plan.

Jonathan 27:06

Cozy. I'm done with you. There's nothing cozy about this book. She had the yeah, she had very warm eyes.

Ashley 27:15

Did anybody see the second plot twist that hit with her powers coming? I knew there was a second one, but I didn't know it was that. I knew it was something. I just didn't know it was that. Did you see it coming?

Jonathan 27:28

She just had well, I mean, I think the foundation for these stories is that hey, I'm somebody.

Ashley 27:34

Yeah, but they identified the somebody really early on. So my question was, did you see the second somebody coming? I feel like you didn't answer my question.

Mari 27:43

I mean, not necessarily demonic. Like, I think so on the the the fable app where the chapter by chapter thing, eloquent Muse and Jess, or two people that were like posting their their viewpoints on there. And I think eloquent muse posted that her viewpoint was that it's like Freya had the two voices in her head. So it was definitely she was being affected, she was being like affected and influenced by Hel, but also by Hiln, Hill Hillen, or whatever. Like so she had the two, the two, like the not devil and in an angel, because it's not doesn't really go that way, but like she had two voices that were trying to push her one way or the other.

Agency, Trauma, And Choice

Ashley 28:25

She definitely did. I just thought maybe it was like Loki. I couldn't like pinpoint, and I didn't remember enough of Norse god history, other than like, you know, the big ones, right? So like Loki, Odin, whoever they had named Freya. Thor. The what? Thor. Thor. How do you forget Thor? How do you leave Thor out? Um, because he's just a guy, he's just a girl. Yeah. He just wants to be loved. He's just a baby.

Mari 28:50

So I'm not like super well versed in North myth Norse mythology. So I like looked up some of the these gods and like what they're supposed to be for and what they are. Because like, really, my Norse mythology lore is like Krampus the Yule. It's got some Norse mythologies. I was gonna say the Avengers movies, neither of which is like the greatest background. But like Hillen the is the Norse goddess of protection, consolation, and shelter. And the name means protectress. Oh. So like Shield Maiden. That that definitely you know fits. Baldir, which is the god that she compared Bjorn to way at the beginning when she first met him, is the Norse god of light, beauty, purity, and peace. And the most beloved among the gods. He's the son of Odin and Frig, and is known for his wisdom and gracious nature. His tragic death, orchestrated by the trickster Loki, is a pivotal moment in Norse mythology that ultimately foreshadows the events of Ragnarok, the end of the world. But after Ragnarok, Baldir has prophesied to return from the underworld to help rule a new reborn world alongside the other surviving gods. No pressure. Yeah. And then you have Hel. So Hel is the female ruler of the underworld realm. And she receives the dead that don't die in battle. She's often depicted as grim, half beautiful, half corpse. She's the daughter of Loki. Loki and the giantess Angerboda. Her domain. Yeah. So I knew that because I'd read The Witch's Heart, which is a really good idea. If you want an interesting take on North mythology, I would recommend The Witch's Heart. I knew that from that. In the Marvel movies, they bring a character Hela as like Loki's sister, but that's just made up for Marvel. So Hell's Domain is cold, it's a cold, shadowy place. She refused to release Baldir from there when he was killed. And as the child of Loki, she's also the sister of Fenrir the wolf and Jorgamunder, which is the giant serpent that swallows the world. That like encircles. There's some Norse mythology background there.

Ashley 31:00

That would have been helpful going into this.

Jonathan 31:03

You should have studied that.

Ashley 31:06

It's been a minute since my Norse education. I liked it a lot. Sign me up for the next one.

Mari 31:13

Yeah, I'm I don't know. I'm like maybe 80, 80 pages or so into the next one.

Jonathan 31:19

Do you still hate him?

Mari 31:21

Yes.

Jonathan 31:23

So sorry. Is this like a Tamlin hate? Oh. Um is it a Dane hate?

Mari 31:31

She doesn't know yet.

Jonathan 31:32

Is there some comeback?

Mari 31:34

Let me think. Is there a comeback? You know, I have a ways because as far as I know, this is a romantic and he's the love interest, and there's always the end game, yeah. So I'm I'm going to assume that Danielle Jensen is gonna work some author voodoo and somehow make him out to be a good guy or something uh before the end of this book. I'm not saying it can't happen. I just can't see how.

Ashley 31:59

You just don't see it.

Mari 32:00

Which is fine. I'm here for the ride. Plenty of times have I have I been wrong. Yeah, I so far I'm just saying it ain't great.

Ashley 32:11

It's not looking good, Bjorn. Fucked up.

Mari 32:14

Yeah, but then again, I think I just feel so much for Freya because you gotta think of it. She's like 20 years old. She was, you know, never could could be what she wanted to be growing up, had to be hidden by her family, and then she was sold to this horrible guy to be uh you know his wife, and then she's been passed around as like the shield maiden, and she's never had the ability to to make her own fate, to make her own choices.

Ashley 32:39

Um she made those choices, she didn't ask enough questions.

Jonathan 32:43

You don't know what you don't know. She wasn't she didn't have to ask a question.

Norse Myth Threads And Foreshadowing

Ashley 32:47

She was 12 hours in, and then suddenly she was like, Oh, something's off. Bitch, what do you mean? You've had months. I don't know why you keep blaming her. I'm not blaming her. I think there needs to be some accountability. I assigned accountability to him for not being more forthright, but he's probably got 20 years worth of plans tucked under his belt that he's not trying to throw away for a girl that he's known for five minutes, but he is willing to run away with her. Let me ask you. And that shows that shows some faith.

Jonathan 33:16

It shows sex. Um let me ask you.

Ashley 33:19

No, he was already getting that. He doesn't need sounds differently.

Jonathan 33:24

Sorry, it sounds like it sounds like it you feel it could he could have been more forthright and trusting of somebody whom he just met, even though he's got a lifetime of planning that he's been and up until now he's only seen her as an object or tool get.

Ashley 33:46

Oh no, he has not. That statement completely contradicts all of his actions for dates for 20 years, however long he's been no, it it it contradicts his entire relationship with her. That is not how he treated her.

Jonathan 34:00

We're not talking about the entire relationship with her. We're talking about the relationship that's not what you said with well, that's what I'm saying is we're I I'm I'm asking about the how do you you want to hold him responsible for he definitely had some prejudice going into this because of how he was how he was treated when he was coming up, how he what was expected of him, um, etc. Like it's uh he he was he saw her as a means to an end before he knew everything about her.

Mari 34:35

What do you think was expected of him growing up?

Ashley 34:37

Um and from which daddy do you want to have this discussion?

Mari 34:42

Supposedly he as far as anyone knew, including her, he had been kidnapped as a kid by this, you know, whatever evil king. Oh god, what's his name?

Ashley 34:53

Harold Harold. It sounded like a Norse accent of Harold. Yes.

Mari 34:59

Yeah, yeah, like Harold or whatever had been kidnapped. King Harold and held prisoner his whole life. And then he shows up and it's like I dad.

Ashley 35:08

Yeah. No, I think again, I think when you have I don't know how long he was away. Maybe it was 10 years he was quote kidnapped. I don't know, I don't remember the exact number. But if when you have 10 years under your belt of working towards a specific goal of trying to deter what will be for what was foreseen as tens of 10,000 people dying in bloodshed, right? And so then he meets the person that's supposed to be the cause of this bloodshed per the visions of what we thought was his deceased mother, right? Not for nothing. And then his feelings evolve. So yeah, it's gonna take him some time to want to open up and divulge those, all of that story, because any of those things would have set her off immediately because it goes against everything she's known to date, but predominantly against what is the perceived leader of her beloved country. So that was gonna take time to get through her. He couldn't convince her that her own family was shit, and they arguably were. So how is he gonna convince her that the guy they thought was the bad guy is not the bad guy? And the guy who has been kind of shitty to her being the Jarl is definitely a bad guy of sorts. Like that, there was no have there was no easy explanation of that. He needed to win her trust and friendship and relationship before he was ever gonna get her to listen to him. The timeline of events is unfortunate, and it was sped up by how it ended. He probably would have opened up to her soon. They had just formed that bridge.

Jonathan 36:49

I love that you're like speculating.

Ashley 36:51

I am invested.

Jonathan 36:53

He probably definitely probably probab mostly Maya could have.

Ashley 36:57

She's 12 hours in his arms having the best sex of her life. And she was this is the best. I'm gonna, we're gonna run away, we're gonna be a farmers together, this, that, and the other.

Jonathan 37:08

She's trying to plant some seed.

Ashley 37:09

She trusted him for 12 full hours, and then she woke up and she was like, But is he who I think he is? And when that story changed, she lost her shit.

Jonathan 37:20

I think those are questions you gotta ask before you engage in intercourse.

Ashley 37:24

And then no, no, no. So that's what I said, and you accused me of blaming the victim.

Jonathan 37:28

But yeah, I mean, like, she knew, yeah, but that's what I'm saying. Like, so you're sitting here blind, like victim blaming. I'm like, she should have known to ask all these questions. That's like, I think, but I think what you described in the end here was like, like, oh yeah, let's get freaky. And then afterwards being like, hey, what's your name?

Ashley 37:45

Yeah. What do you believe in? What's your religion? You know, like how many kids do you want? Like those were questions to ask first, my dear.

Jonathan 37:54

You just I just let you put the puck in the net.

Ashley 37:57

Yeah.

Jonathan 37:57

See what I did there? See, I thought that all the way back to the hockey romance.

Ashley 38:01

And it was a good book. I don't there wasn't gonna be a ton of emotional intelligence and feeling sharing until the shit exploded. I see it. I see the long-term goal of the story. And I think that's why it's good. There were so many plot twists at the end. Some that I saw and some that I didn't, some that I guessed at. But I mean, did anybody can I spoil? We can do that, right? It's all spoiler. Did anybody know his mom was alive?

Mari 38:26

I did not.

Ashley 38:27

Are you joking? You saw that?

Jonathan 38:29

I I am totally joking.

Twists: Mothers, Oaths, And Power

Ashley 38:31

Yeah, no, so fuck everything. That this you I was in a tailspin. Every piece on the chessboard was green light for me as soon as he said his mom was alive. Just just meet her. That's reasonable to me.

Jonathan 38:46

Let me ask you a question. Was there a body?

Ashley 38:49

She thought there was. There's a whole fucking specter with fucking green eyes.

Jonathan 38:54

No body, no death.

Ashley 38:56

She didn't ask enough questions. She asked some questions and he gave evasive answers, and she took it at face value, and that's fine. I think what she's doing.

Jonathan 39:05

What she did is a very human thing, the human side of her. She conflated supporting uh supporting evidence. Yeah. She let her brain fill in the volume.

Ashley 39:16

Fill in the gaps. Yeah. And that's that's just listen, I didn't say that he didn't manipulate her, I said he did. But I don't think he did it maliciously too more than he did. Does that make sense? Like whatever their time together is, if there's a pie chart, it was like an eighth. He manipulated her for an eighth of the time. That sucks, but he didn't know her. Nobody knew her. Every all all all all plans are go forward until the shit changes.

Jonathan 39:42

Let me ask you a question. How many slices of pizza would it take for for him to miss your off? Like we're in one eighth, and you would add like, I don't know.

Ashley 39:50

Listen, if we assigned that if we assigned blame and hate and distrust in that way without thinking that people evolve. And change, then most relationships, which don't last, by the way, but arguably ours wouldn't. You have to move past those things. That's what a relationship is. You have to listen, you have to compromise. And she she didn't give him any time to do that. Now, not for nothing, he was confronted with it. He was caught in a lie, and that sucks. But she still didn't give him time to explain.

Mari 40:24

Well, I mean, I think in her mind, like he was completely not what she thought he was. And she's supposed to just waltz off with the people who just murdered her mom.

Ashley 40:35

Well, at that point, at that point, she didn't really have a choice, but not for nothing. The lady that did murder her mom, what was the sentence? What did she say? I can't remember her name. The lady with the arrow, the magic arrow. What did she say?

Mari 40:48

Um, basically, she deserved to die for for uh for selling out her daughter. Fuck yeah.

Ashley 40:54

Get it done.

Mari 40:55

Name I don't know.

Jonathan 40:56

Name one thing that she had control over in that book.

Mari 41:00

One thing that Freya had control over?

Jonathan 41:02

Yeah.

Mari 41:04

I think she had at least two influences to run.

Jonathan 41:09

Yeah, uh, yeah, yeah.

Mari 41:11

So, like, and and so that's the point, like, so if you think about it, even that she didn't do for herself. There, I mean, it's all about oh, she got rid of her this guy that she was sold off to marry to, whatever, but she didn't even do that for herself. She didn't do that. She did that for other threatened her potential future sister-in-law. So, not even that did she do for herself, she still did it to protect somebody else.

Ashley 41:31

How much of this though is like martyr syndrome?

Jonathan 41:33

Like she the oldest. I I couldn't. No, she's the youngest. She's the youngest.

Ashley 41:37

But like, how much of this is is trauma martyr syndrome too? Like, at what point did she ever sit down and want to make a decision for herself until she actually left? She hit a breaking point and the dam burst open and she left. With Bjorn. She wouldn't have made it without him, and that's that. But I so I neither of them is perfect. I'm not claiming that either of them are, but I think for the same reasons that we're not mad at her, we should also not be mad at him because we haven't heard his story. We only have an inkling of it. And for all we know, we're as protective of whatever his fucking plan was as we are of hers. She just never had a plan.

Jonathan 42:18

Is his story in book two?

Ashley 42:20

She's not there yet.

Mari 42:21

I'm like 80 80 pages in, and yes, there's more of his story, and I still feel the same. So thank you.

Jonathan 42:28

That's what I'm saying.

Ashley 42:29

28 pages in 80 pages out of 400?

Jonathan 42:34

That's a that's a fair amount. Ashley's 20% in. But if I That's two slices of pizza. Actually, how many how many slices of pizza could I give you where you would feel good enough to press on?

Ashley 42:47

If I held my grudges against you in the form of slices of pizza, we would be buried in this house.

Jonathan 42:55

Is it under the weight of our of melt hot, melty mozzarella cheese?

Communication Failures Or Strategy?

Ashley 43:01

That that would burn us. Your heart burns. That would burn us and bury us alive in grease and rot. Yeah.

Jonathan 43:07

Sounds tasty.

Ashley 43:08

No.

Jonathan 43:10

Did I tell you my pizza theory?

Mari 43:11

No, it's your pizza theory.

Jonathan 43:13

When we order pizza, I feel like if the pizza's good, like if pizza, because they're completely hit or miss. Pizza's hit or miss. But if you order pizza from like Pizza Hut or Domino's and it shows up and it's like really well done. Because nobody does that anymore.

Ashley 43:29

Not like not like like super cooked, but like cooked really well.

Jonathan 43:33

Yeah, cooked, cooked. It's delicious. Exceptional. It's exceptional. Exceptional dominoes or pizza hut. That means that my pizza guy's out of jail and he's he's he's got parole and he's trying to make a real he's gonna he's gonna move on up. He's he's making an impression. Completely unrelated. He's only good there for a little bit, and then he fucks up. He goes right back to jail on a parole violation.

Mari 43:54

And this is to the book how?

Jonathan 43:56

It's not, it's not only because we were measuring love and pizza.

Ashley 43:59

Okay, so you were measuring love and pizza.

Mari 44:01

Did not I did not guess that Bjorn's mother was alive. Kelly, did you guess that she was alive?

Jonathan 44:05

No.

Mari 44:06

Okay. I also like didn't know about the hell thing. I didn't think that was I I looking back, there may have been some hints, but I didn't realize that she was touched, you know, a child of of hell or whatever. I thought that something was gonna happen and Bjorn was gonna kill his dad and become the new ruler of the y'all or whatever. Because when she had to make the oath at on the wedding day, on her second wedding, second time she was sold, second um wedding day, she swore to to the bloodline, not specifically to him. So I was like, oh well, that's Bjorn too. It's a nice catch, yeah. Yeah, that's how they're gonna do it, in my opinion. But yeah, no, I didn't see the whole psych Bjorn's been lying the entire time. And I think that'd be why I feel so bad about or so bad towards Bjorn, because I'm just like, I feel like a chump.

Ashley 44:55

I was you were told that story, man, hook, line, and sinker. No, I think that's what makes it such a really great story, honestly. I don't think this was Jonathan's favorite book, and that's fine. I it was very adventury, right? There were a lot of like side quests, and I don't know that we needed them all from for me. I don't know that I needed them all, but I think they were really important, and I think it really helped build that bond, and it shows you how his appreciation and respect for her grows, and he pushes her to choose herself and to want to be better and make herself better and stronger and all these things. So I mean, they're definitely this is not a perfect relationship by any by any means. They are, you know, to an extent, both of them are victims of their time, right? Victims of their circumstances. The men were the leaders to a certain degree, women were sold and treated as commodities. She was prophesized to serve a purpose, and she wasn't taught to do to stand up more for herself. She was taught to sacrifice herself for everybody else. And so that does really suck, but not because he thought that of her. Never once did he say, did he put her in her place the way that the Earl did. And in fact, he dug her out of those thoughts. He kept watch over her while she wallowed in her misery some days and weeks.

Jonathan 46:21

So he was a sensitive captor.

Ashley 46:24

He wasn't keeping her captive, he kept her alive. King Harold wanted her.

Jonathan 46:29

Now she fell off that mountain.

Ashley 46:30

King King Harold wanted her dead.

Jonathan 46:33

Remember when she fell off that mountain?

Ashley 46:35

Which mountain?

Jonathan 46:36

The mountain when they were in the snow and she fell into the water and almost died of like gangrene.

Ashley 46:39

Mountain slash mountain slash hill.

Jonathan 46:41

Yeah.

Ashley 46:43

The one where he fought with his dad to get him to light a fire so she wouldn't have frostbite. Yeah, I remember.

Jonathan 46:50

He fell because of her. Wait. He fell? She fell because of she fell because of him.

Ashley 46:55

Okay. He didn't get hurt because of her ever? I don't have any precise example. I didn't know we were going to be throwing theories at each other so aggressively.

Jonathan 47:03

Nah, I'm just I'm just poking the bears.

Ashley 47:06

No, I just I I'm I think I'm advocating for both sides. I just don't hate him. I don't know that he did enough for me to extract that. That is not Tamlin.

Jonathan 47:16

Okay, so he's not Tamlin.

Audiobook Performance And Vibes

Ashley 47:17

Not Tamlin.

Jonathan 47:18

Is he Zaiden to you?

Ashley 47:19

I didn't hate Zaydan.

Jonathan 47:21

But did Zaydan mess up some stuff?

Ashley 47:23

Oh, Zaiden messed up some stuff.

Jonathan 47:24

Okay, so he's Zaydan to you.

Mari 47:26

Sure.

Jonathan 47:26

Okay. Mari, is he Tamlin to you?

Mari 47:29

I would say it's different than Tamlin. I think the Tamlin, I didn't like it because he was controlling her. Like literally, you know.

Ashley 47:36

Literally.

Mari 47:37

Literally keeping her in the house and locking her up. The thing that I really don't like about Bjorn, I think, is the lying. Like I I I don't I don't like lies. I don't like a liar. And I putting myself in her place, I how would she ever trust anything he ever says again?

Ashley 47:56

You go see the fucking woman who has the visions.

Mari 47:59

I can't say anything more because I probably too.

Ashley 48:03

No, that's fair. I just like that's that's where I am. You she claimed to love him, like in the freaking marrow of her bones, right?

Jonathan 48:13

That's deep. That's the painful part of the bow.

Ashley 48:14

That's the painful part of the bow. That's the juicy, right?

Jonathan 48:17

You just get that out easily. No, you gotta duck it out, right? Yeah, or break it back in half.

Ashley 48:22

Yeah. So I mean, you either she's as much of a liar as he is by claiming to have this depth of feeling and desire to live the rest of her life with him, or they're both the same and they have different secrets. I just I think her secrets were different and they well, forgive me. I think her defaults were exposed, like an open festering wound.

Jonathan 48:52

Faults or defaults?

Ashley 48:54

I don't know. I'm tired.

Jonathan 48:55

Is it is it a flaw? Do you see it as a flaw or do you see it as a baseline setting?

Ashley 48:59

It's a flaw.

Jonathan 49:00

Okay. Faults?

Is It A Kissing Book?

Ashley 49:02

Sorry. It's been a long time. She had open wounds, basically. Yeah. Well, no, I mean she is she's a walking-talking open wound. Yeah. And that's that's a lot for any relationship, by the way, to even want to deal with. So her faults were exposed. His were internal and secretive. It sucks, but I don't think it was malicious. Are you saying that than hers were?

Jonathan 49:23

Are you saying that she was more open with her feelings? No, I'm saying was stereotypically closed off.

Ashley 49:28

I don't think she was o she didn't want to acknowledge any of her feelings.

Mari 49:32

She's very repressed.

Ashley 49:33

Yeah.

Jonathan 49:34

Oh, so like an abused person.

Ashley 49:36

Yeah, so she's I don't disagree. I said trauma. I absolutely did.

Jonathan 49:41

I'm sure.

Ashley 49:42

But I don't know that his is any different. We haven't heard his side of the story. So if she loves him, even a fraction of what she claimed to feel for him from you know, at least half of the book, she might not have been able to identify all those feelings beyond lust. But eventually she does. I'll tell you what, Ash.

Mari 50:00

I think my I have a hard time believing she loves him because she obviously doesn't know him. Yeah. Because he hasn't let her know him because he's lied to her. So I can't love someone you don't know.

Jonathan 50:13

So that's not true. I think you can. I think that's called stalker.

Mari 50:18

Um, like how much of that was a blood oath?

Ashley 50:24

I don't know that he could talk about everything.

Mari 50:26

Yeah, I don't know.

Ashley 50:27

I did get the vibe where he was trying to share some things with her. I don't know that he could speak about everything. That might not have been for it, might not have been his story to tell from a blood oath perspective. And maybe I'm conflating that. I don't have facts. I'm just saying it he was he kept truths from her? Absolutely. Did he tell her the whole truth? No. Could he though? I don't know that he could.

Jonathan 50:56

I think you got I think what you gotta do, Ashley, what did I have to do? Resolve this is you I know that tone.

Ashley 51:03

I know your tone.

Jonathan 51:04

You I think you're gonna have to read at least four slices of pizza and and come up with us with an answer. And Mari, you're you two more slices and then tell us.

Ashley 51:15

I need to eat four, but Mari needs two.

Jonathan 51:17

Because Mari has already two in.

Mari 51:19

She's got two in. Yeah, I don't know. I think we'll see. We'll we'll see. We'll see. Like I say, I'm not I'm not saying for sure that that that Danielle Jensen isn't gonna get us there, again to get me there. Maybe by the end of the second book, I'll change my mind. But at this point, I feel like we don't know who Bjorn is. Like what are what are characteristics characteristics about him? Who is he?

Jonathan 51:45

He is an axe.

Ashley 51:46

I was gonna say he's a he's a warrior, but to her point, there were things that she there were detail, there were, you know, she arrived towards a conclusion just before the shit hit the fan, right? She was like, Well, what friends does he have? Girl, how did you why is that now a question? Like, how did she just now notice how isolated he is in his own clan?

Mari 52:10

I mean, in her defense, she's had a heck of a lot going on.

Ashley 52:14

But she's he's also been her only source of real friendship in that process.

Mari 52:18

Yeah, other than the most of the friend that died that got was it electrocuted or burned in the back?

Ashley 52:23

Her friend, the lady, yeah. But I mean he was she was like, oh, you know, he was friends with the healer. Well, because he probably got hurt a lot. He wasn't unfriendly, he but he was definitely de he was definitely removed. And so how much how much can your own trauma make you unaware of the rest of the world and that be the world's problem?

Mari 52:47

Yeah, I could see that. Because all we have is her perspective.

Ashley 52:50

All we we only have her side, right?

Mari 52:52

Maybe we have some of his perspective. Do we I'm trying to remember we have some of his perspective too, yeah.

Ashley 52:56

Yeah, so we'll see. I mean, she asked him point blank about how his mom died. She she said she said which one is responsible, right? She between the two kings, the two, you know, Harold and and Snotty. She asked him point blank who was responsible, and he gave her a non-answer, which meant that neither of them were responsible. So I don't I I think maybe that's where I'm leaning in that he couldn't tell the whole story even if he wanted to. But he I don't think at any point he outright lied to her. He definitely misdirected her, which sucks. Don't get me wrong, but I think that's different than lying, if we get down to the nitty-gritty of it. And I think if she cares for him as much as she claims to, because you can love you can love somebody you don't know. It might change when you know them, but like you can't profess undying love and then the next day be like, oh JK. You can't ask him for the truth and then not want to hear the things that he has to say because it doesn't align with your own knowledge. That's not what a partnership is. I don't know. I like this book. I'm excited for the next one. I don't know when I'm gonna read it yet. I do recommend the audiobook. I thought it was pretty well done. The accent sounded authentic. There weren't any weird voices um, you know, in doing the different genders, but she did a real good job. I thought she did a decent job of, you know, identifying who was talking and making those voices unique as well. I agree. I liked it a lot. This is probably the most interesting book that I've read in a while.

Mari 54:26

I mean, it definitely got us talking, right?

Jonathan 54:28

Yeah. Big feelings. Well, if you need her, if you need to read it, Ashley, I have a book too, is gift a gift to me from a kind friend.

Ashley 54:35

A kind friend. Kind friend.

Jonathan 54:37

Irreplaceable. It's one of my most prized possessions. Keep it right there on the top shelf.

Ashley 54:40

Right there on the top, yeah. I say it.

Jonathan 54:43

They let me I know we're not judging covers, but hot dog, if you just want a good-looking book, I there's a lot of things.

Mari 54:49

Yeah, that cover totally suckered me in.

Jonathan 54:51

It's so boss, right? Like they're just they when you take the book, the dust jacket off of it.

Mari 54:57

Does this one have edges too?

Jonathan 54:58

Uh yeah, but I think it's like red. I think book two is red.

Mari 55:01

Book one is like but they're just the book two I have is the Waterstones signed edition, and it's red with like runes printed on the edges.

Jonathan 55:11

They did a really good job with these books. Better than um better than you might normally anticipate. Like, you know. It's not just blah, but it's good. Very well done.

Ashley 55:26

Oh, book two's ready. Borrow.

Jonathan 55:28

Oh.

Mari 55:30

Um, so what do we think? Is it a kissing book?

Ashley 55:34

Not in book one.

Jonathan 55:37

I thought I see I thought it was a kissing book.

Outro, Links, And Book Club Invite

Ashley 55:40

I mean, I I see where it's I see how it's trying to get to be a kissing book. I think it is for him. I don't think it is for her right now, not with how it ended.

Mari 55:50

That's how I I agree as well.

Ashley 55:52

I think he's in, and I think he's trying to do his best. I don't know that it's perfect, and it it's probably a little shitty. But I also don't think an a ton of time passed in this first book, right?

Mari 56:05

Like collectively, how long do you think long enough for a leg to heal, I guess for a broken leg to heal. Because her brother was broken at the beginning.

Ashley 56:13

No, he got a healer though.

Jonathan 56:14

How old is he? He did he get a healer?

Ashley 56:17

Yeah. He paid a healer to heal it the rest of the way because she was shocked that he showed up to the to the kingdom, to the castle, whatever.

Jonathan 56:26

Because it could be like, yeah, I was thinking like it's like eight weeks if he's an adult, so like a couple months.

Ashley 56:31

I mean, I don't I think it probably was like a month or six weeks or something like that, but it the healing itself, yeah. No, I think it was money. Don't forget anarchy.

Jonathan 56:42

If you get the yeah, if you get the six-week version, that's cheap. Yeah, I think it's kissing book.

Mari 56:47

On both ends?

Jonathan 56:48

Well, I mean, top or bottom.

Mari 56:52

From both parties. Let's put it that way.

Jonathan 56:54

Yeah, I I think it's I yeah, I'm gonna go with yeah.

Ashley 56:58

I think that I think that I think we'll get there.

Jonathan 57:01

Yeah, I think that this story m advances based on a love for someone. Whether that love hangs around is a different story, but it doesn't I don't think it advances unless she sits in front of him on that horse.

Mari 57:19

I I am literally the chapter I just ended, and I did I'm sorry, the next one, but in the in the second book, the chapter I just ended, they're about to have to go somewhere. And she's like, but I want my own horse.

Ashley 57:36

I mean, proximity's a beast, man.

Jonathan 57:38

Yeah, yeah.

Mari 57:41

Anything else about this book?

Ashley 57:44

No.

Jonathan 57:45

Okay.

Mari 57:46

All right, so 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. Follow us on Instagram at TikT and TikTok at Of Swords and Soulmates. Check us out on our website of Swordsandsoulmates.com. If you'd like to offer a suggestion for a future episode, book, or discussion topic, feel free to reach out to us on the DMs of 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. I will say join it because sometimes you can get discussion on the sequel. So there were like several of us talking on there, and we all finished the first book and we were like, hey, you want to read the second one? Yep. So right now on the Fable Book Club Two, even though we're not gonna probably ever discuss it on this podcast. If you want to hear or talk about it, join the book club and we'll we'll discuss A Cursed Carved in Bone before the next book that we do for the podcast. Speaking of, last but not least, we hope you'll join us in two weeks for our next episode when we will be reading My Funny Demon Valentine by Aurora Asher, book one of the Hellbent series. So excited. Bye. Bye, guys.