Ep 2: Pride and Pleasure Dirigibles

Join us, Rachel and Margie, on a steampunk vampire adventure! Leo and Mina are two mid-revolution blue-blood vampires craving a little more than just blood. Listen in as Rachel tells Margie about pleasure dirigibles, automatons, vampire madness, and the overthrow of the bourgeoisie.

Transcript

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Rachel: 0:00

Warning. The following podcast contains adult themes, including but not limited to, adult language, adult dragon Animorphs problematic encounters with potential love interests, steampunk vampires, potentially unhealthy relationships, Goblin kings and hosts that read way too far into silly romance novels. The opinions expressed in this podcast are entirely those of the hosts listener discretion is advised. Oh, tearing me apart

Margie: 0:44

Hello, and welcome to textual tension, a love hate relationship podcast with romance novels. I'm your co host, Margie,

Rachel: 0:51

and I am your co host, Rachel, welcome back guy.

Margie: 0:55

Let's go back. We were glad you're back and we are glad

Rachel: 1:00

you are back. And if you're not well, by,

Margie: 1:03

or if this is your first time here. And so what this podcast is, is that there's going to be one person this week. It's Rachel. Hi, who is going to tell me the story of a romance novel that she has read only I know nothing about this romance novel. So I will be reacting just just with you guys. The dome, there's gonna be a lot of Wait, wait a lot.

Rachel: 1:25

But the good news is this one is maybe a little bit less problematic than last week, which if you are new, check out last week's episode. It was a wild Atlantis filled ride.

Margie: 1:36

It was hashtag a doozy.

Rachel: 1:39

It was rough. So, uh, how's it going, Margie?

Margie: 1:43

I'm doing good. I'm doing good. I had a really good job interview. Nice, very, very excited about that. And going on vacation here soon. So like, it's gonna be really fun. It's gonna be really fun. I can't wait. What about you

Rachel: 1:56

do pretty good. I get to go peddle my wares in the form of my job at a career fair tomorrow. So that'll be fun. I'm getting sent out in the field to recruit people, I guess. Um, but that's about it. We had a couple projects that work spin up. So I've been like, working away. Yay. Working on this. Yay. And lots of editing stuff like that. Which

Margie: 2:18

thank you so much. I love it. It's so much fun to do isn't gentlemen, she does the editing. I am useless. I do the marketing.

Rachel: 2:25

Please. I want all of your feedback. I don't I'm sorry.

Margie: 2:28

We we want some of your feedback. I

Rachel: 2:32

want some of your feedback. That's maybe a better way. Yes.

Margie: 2:35

Yes. And um, you can find us online at textual tension pod across

Rachel: 2:40

the board. Every time everything Twitter, the Instagram, the Instagram,

Margie: 2:43

even Facebook. Not Facebook. Not. We are not on Facebook. We should be on Facebook. Yeah. And we also have a website textual tension pod.com. So and you can find us at textual tension pod@gmail.com. But anyway,

Unknown: 2:58

back to the episode.

Rachel: 3:01

Lisa was mildly relevant. Like yes, like offshoot, it's yes, it's fine tangent. Okay, so today's book, we're going to discuss it's been really difficult not to tell you about it. Okay. So what is called, of Silkin scheme this is an actual physical book. I know. I'm so excited to give you this cover I've

Unknown: 3:24

been wanting to Oh, wow. Yeah.

Margie: 3:27

So like, my initial reaction is that this is a Phantom of the Opera knockoff. Like like, Dude, it's a mask. It's two people standing together guys, the chicken the chickens holding his sword. The dude is standing behind her with his arm. Yeah, and I'm provocative way and the dude is standing behind her with his hand his arm will not look like photoshopped weirdly into you.

Rachel: 3:53

Looks like he should have two left hands.

Margie: 3:57

This is very weird. It's like somebody at the last minute. Almost like he's got like, they both have these. I'm imagining like Venice

Rachel: 4:09

Venetian Venetian masks. Yeah, very, very Masquerade.

Margie: 4:13

Yeah, very masquerade very like if Christina the end of Phantom of the Opera actually did decide to go down with the Phantom. That's what that's what that? That's his fantasy. Yes. Yes. So can I read

Rachel: 4:25

the back? You can? Yeah. So this is of silk and steamed by Beck McMaster. Right. Who was a woman? Okay, I should mention Okay. Go ahead and read the back and then I will tell you what good reads has to say about this. On the front of

Margie: 4:37

it, it says captivates readers with evocative and sensual imagery.

Unknown: 4:41

Ooh, boy got that in spades, enemies, allies

Margie: 4:44

lovers. When her beloved father was assassinated, Lady Armina swore revenge. The man responsible is well beyond her grasp, but is dangerously but his dangerously seductive heir Leo barons is fair game When Mina obtains evidence proving that Leo is illegitimate, she has the means to destroy both the killer and his son, a man who troubles her heart and tempts her body, a woman of mystery. I mean, as long driven, long driven Leo with crazy with glimpses of a fiery passion that lurks beneath her icy veneer. He knows she's hiding something and he's determined to unravel her layer by silk and like she's like a chocolate. Like the beautiful liar, to be the key to overthrowing the crap prints, the corrupt Prince Consort, or to save in his own carefully walled off heart. Hmm, yeah. I mean, it definitely sounds better than what I read last week. I will say that it looks

Unknown: 5:44

a lot better than what you read last week. I

Margie: 5:46

like him. I like the description of her as a beautiful liar. I

Rachel: 5:50

don't know why I'm just evocative imagery. Yeah,

Margie: 5:53

I could have any imagery. Yeah, what is good reads have to say.

Rachel: 5:57

Okay, so this actually has some pretty solid reviews on Goodreads. So we're looking at about a 4.12. And I will say, and I think this is massive props to the book itself. I until about five minutes ago, when I look this up, pulled this up on Goodreads had no idea this is the final one in a series. Really, I had no clue. Oh, it is oh, at least I'm sure there's a lot of like plot points that from what the reviews I read get wrapped up in this one. But it is really well done as a standalone. Like I've read some, some novels that like it's the first in a series. But if you didn't read the series before that you have no idea what's going on. And it's really confusing. So I actually had no clue. So I would call that you know, take in the good category for that. Like, yeah, that was pretty I was impressed with that. Most of the reviews that we get on here are like four stars, four and a half stars, and they are novels people like really go into detail about what they think about this book. So I'm not going to read a bar, like like it's more for me to read. It would take a long time on there's a couple threes in there. And usually it is about how the romance is problematic in parts. Okay, all right, disclaimer, here's your trigger warning for this episode. There's a little bit of a borderline sexual assault II kind of stuff. Um, but Oh, and also, there's some of these no coming characters, but there is abusive relationships represented. And there's like this gory, kind of, there's some blood drinking bits. Oh, so there is some some growth see if Yeah, gross. This. It's a product of the actual like Plot and setting but it is something to kind of be on the up. But other than that, like, not bad. Honestly, like I pretty solid way better than the NIV King. Ah,

Margie: 7:56

that's too low bar, Rachel. Too low. It's what we got. Okay. Okay, fair.

Rachel: 8:02

All right. So let's get into it. So again, bear in mind, I had no idea this was the finale in a series when I read it. So. Alright, let's see how this goes. All right. So real quickly, I want to give you sort of a brief I always like to look for the description of the main characters to see what they look like and how they're described. So Aaron Mina, who goes by Mina, which by the way, there's vampires in this novel. Oh, call back to Dracula. Oh, that was clever. That's true. Um, she is bright red hair. Described as Garnet when you first see it so really read well, Brandy brown eyes and likes to wear tight leather but Victoria out

Margie: 8:41

to go wild wild leather. Yeah. Leo

Rachel: 8:44

is broad chested, which is the first thing you know about he learned about who has dark blond hair. All right. And black eyes. Wait black I should mention you do not learn that he has dark blond hair until page 30. And you don't learn that he has black eyes until almost page 50. Had to search for that man sucker. That's just

Margie: 9:09

like, what black eyes like if someone had black eyes, I would either be like that's a demon. Or, like, that's like a genetic problem. I should get that checked

Rachel: 9:20

out. come into play. Okay, so Alright, well, which one? The demon thing? Oh, they are vampires. Okay, okay. Okay, so we're gonna start with the prologue. Alright, so there is a two and a half page prologue in this book that tells you pretty much everything you need to know about this book. Again really impressive. Like so in within the prologue Leo sees a woman killing someone in a duel. Whoo straight up, murdering him. We find out that there's this thing called Blue Bloods, which are essentially vampires. Okay, with super heat like superhuman powers. So okay, extra speed all that stuff. Leo's a bastard, literal bastard. Okay, an actual faster child. Okay, Leo totally wants to do her. And this is in order, okay. Her name is eremita. Duvall, Nina.

Margie: 10:10

And he knows that yes,

Rachel: 10:11

she knows that. She will he finds that out. She is a duchess, because she just killed someone. So she's taken the eye. What's the

Unknown: 10:20

title? Yeah, the title takes the

Margie: 10:22

title of the person that she killed.

Rachel: 10:23

Yes. So it's like family fighting over her father's position, she becomes the Duchess because the dude duels her. He was a blue blood. So barons is like Leah was like, oh my god, I'm so impressed. She got really lucky and killed that blue blood. Got lucky. Then we find out she's a blue blood, which is not something that women are allowed to usually do in this not in this world, because this is like Victorian era London steam. Oh, okay. Oh, so there's usually the fact that she is a woman and a blue blood and a duchess is like, okay, breaking the glass ceiling of this world. Okay, gotcha. Also, she fucking hates him. Okay, so

Margie: 11:01

that explained why he hates him.

Rachel: 11:03

Yes, because her father was killed by his father, but there's no proof. It is just something that she is like full wholeheartedly believes she hates this. This dude because he is the spawn of her father's okay. Okay, I'm gonna go in. There's a this is a very complicated plot. Okay, I'm gonna do my best to really pare it down. You're doing You're doing good. There is a lot going on. Okay, which again, makes sense since it is the final pocket series I didn't know about. Yeah, um, okay, so a little bit of background first on Blue Bloods. So blue bloods are essentially vampires. They drink blood. Okay, specifically, well, almost exclusively mixed into alcohol. So anytime they're drinking wine or whiskey or anything it has blood in it.

Margie: 11:49

Oh, okay. Um, that's an IT that's that's the new type of Bloody Mary but like I do want me a bloody so

Unknown: 11:58

that was a that was a really good

Margie: 12:02

bloody Mina.

Rachel: 12:03

Oh my God. They have this thing that is called the craving virus. Oh, even virus.

Margie: 12:12

Oh, I don't like this already. Basically a measure

Rachel: 12:15

of how much of just a mindless vampire they are. So they have to keep it in check. So if you become a blue blood, like are infected with a blue blood virus or whatever, eventually you're going to just become a raving lunatic power like oh really hungry animal. Okay, eventually, you will do live like hundreds and hundreds of hundreds of years before that happens. So this like craving virus, which they call their CV levels, which sounds so that's a measure of

Margie: 12:46

how like crazy they're getting. Yeah.

Rachel: 12:49

So you get too much you like your hair turns white your eyes go straight white and you start just murdering indiscriminately.

Margie: 12:55

And so that's when I'm guessing Blue Bloods out to go in and like they're killed. Yeah, yeah. Like, so. It's kind of like almost like warm bodies. I never saw Okay, well, it's like, yeah, because it's like, they turn into the zombies like turn into bonies. And the bodies are like mindless like literal skeletons who just going murder indiscriminately? Yeah,

Rachel: 13:13

so kinda like and then everyone else is kind of keeping an eye on everybody that they know is a blueblood see, like, okay, there something's wrong. It's time to take them out. That kind of deal. So sad.

Margie: 13:22

I know, right? It's kind of like a ticket. All of your friends are ticking time bomb, essentially. Yeah, hundreds of years

Rachel: 13:28

long but still. Alright, so let's get into the actual story. See? So we open

Unknown: 13:35

Okay, yeah.

Rachel: 13:36

Okay, I'm on a party in I think it's in Hyde Park in London. Oh, okay. Right. Um, and it is a party of Blue Bloods and their thralls which are usually women that they feed from into it. I guess the women are Yeah, okay. Not really gone into much. Okay, but there's like this whole subplot with them like bleeding the commoners and everything. It's a general thing is like the bourgeoisie essentially, like all the rest are all blue blood

Margie: 14:02

literally. bougie Blue Bloods? Yes and totally fucking bourgeoisie. Drinking everybody's blood.

Rachel: 14:10

Do you hate it when you're walking down the street and just accidentally the French revolution right, okay. So Mina we're falling right now is in disguise and she choked going to deliver a letter to the Queen's lover, which comes into play.

Margie: 14:28

Oh,

Rachel: 14:30

Victorian English upper crust kind of deal. And after she delivers the letter, the contact like her the Queen's lover is murdered. She sees it. Oh, okay. By the princes guard. The Prince is the Queen's husband. He's called the Prince concert.

Margie: 14:46

Oh, okay.

Rachel: 14:49

Leo just happens to be there and shows up. Okay, naturally, okay. And the she realizes, oh shit, I'm going to be killed by these guard because I was a witness. And he leaves like Okay, okay, I'll help you. But

Margie: 15:02

oh no,

Unknown: 15:03

make a deal.

Margie: 15:04

Oh no,

Rachel: 15:05

I want to see your boobs I want to get 10 minutes with said boobs

Margie: 15:19

I'll save your life for your chance we

Unknown: 15:21

are starting off so strong. So strong. Oh

Margie: 15:26

my god. Yeah. Like he feels like in love with her from the get go.

Rachel: 15:32

And all that is like 10 years prior to this.

Margie: 15:34

So the next thing the next time he sees her and has a conversation with her he's like I want to see your teddy not the

Rachel: 15:41

next time. Okay, so he first saw her and that original right right right. One years ago Yeah, so they've had lots of we'll get there in government together like they're

Margie: 15:51

okay so they seen each other since but but still you decide your boobs

Unknown: 15:57

man whore God All right moving on.

Rachel: 16:01

So they they're able to escape? They steal a blimp sorry, it's still white a pleasure dirigible Oh, a blimp they steal the good here

Margie: 16:13

boy does it go down like Is it like the de Burgh does it go down with the heat of their lovers.

Rachel: 16:20

But I will say one thing that I've specifically noticed in this book and others is describing mundane things sexually, which I find hilarious. There's a lot of that sensual imagery, and also women having hearts of ice that need to be melted. Oh, a lot.

Margie: 16:36

Conceal don't feel to let them

Rachel: 16:38

straight up. But so they escape, and Leo takes her to sort of a safe house that he has until they can get her back to her mansion because apparently no one's gonna know that they stole a blimp even though the person who drove the blimp away for them saw them do

Margie: 16:54

it. Well. It's like an Harry Potter with the with the with the flying car right everybody knows

Unknown: 17:02

the blimp though

Rachel: 17:03

no one notices the blimp whatever. So take her to a safe house. And like at one point during the escape, she would like had to jump into like the canal. And I mean, so she was freezing at this point, like super cold, wet everything. He's like, okay, he like draws her a bath. And is like, Okay, you need to warm up like this. You're gonna you know, you're in danger. You're really cold hypothermia thing, like you need to, you know, take care of yourself. And she's like, No, I just want to go home. It's like, okay, you're getting in the bath or I am one of the two.

Margie: 17:32

What happens if he gets in the bath, then I would just be like, Alright, I'm going home, with your clothes on my way out.

Rachel: 17:38

Right? So he like she gets in the bath. And rather than cashing in on his 10 minutes, he's like, Okay, this is maybe not a good time for this. You're really cold and like, hurt. And also, I know you're not into it. So instead, I'm going to make sure like it get you warm clothes and take you home. Oh, okay. Standing human. Yeah. Fit. Yeah, so that's right, the first like five chapters. So that is like our opening. Okay, right. So a lot happens like this is yeah, very dense book. But so I was just about to say yeah, um, so real quick before we get into the next bit, a little bit on the government itself. So Leo and Mina are part of this, like Council of governing, duchesses and barons and stuff like that. So there's like six of them. And then there's also the Prince Consort, who's kind of in charge of everything and the Queen who's really like, she's like a figurehead ruler kind of deal. Okay, Queen is human. Okay, to kind of help the commenters be on board with all of the blue blood.

Margie: 18:41

Commenters do. Okay. So commoners are cool

Rachel: 18:44

to say, but it is really made very abundantly clear that the prince is incredibly abusive to the Queen.

Margie: 18:54

Okay. And the so there, they are married,

Rachel: 18:58

okay. Yes. So he is incredibly abusive to her and she has no real power, even though technically, she's the one that can, like is like a tiebreaker vote in the council and all this stuff. Okay. So he's kind of like really, really sad, like subjugating her badly, really nasty, like, straight up hating or in front of people.

Margie: 19:15

Like God, it's,

Rachel: 19:17

which part of me is like, it's interesting that that is a thing. Part of me is like, I feel like you're showing an abusive relationship so that everything that happens between me and Leo is okay, because it's not. Oh, yeah, it might not be that way. That's

Margie: 19:31

the vibe I got. That's how I felt. Okay,

Rachel: 19:34

um, but again, I didn't know. I haven't read the other books. I've only read this one. So I don't know. Okay. Also, oh, a trigger bit that I forgot in the beginning. There's a little bit of drug use in here too. Oh, okay. Um, so Mina and the queen are very good friends. Mm hmm. Mina is the only woman on this council. Oh, god, yeah. Nina, breaking the glass ceiling. I'm telling you. So they're really good friends and also the Queen is addicted to London to cope with her abusive husband. Oh,

Unknown: 20:03

this shit is real. Sorry guys. I didn't realize I picked a real does it? It does.

Margie: 20:12

Okay. And he's like well the thing about it is he said that this book was the end of a series and I'm just thinking about this poor queen with the prince asshole for this whole how many books are in the series? Do we know?

Rachel: 20:22

A five? So this is the fifth book in the series? Yeah, um, it is something else, man. So it's so I feel like this is maybe a good like antithesis to the last book. Yeah, cuz it is very different. It's actually pretty good.

Margie: 20:39

It's like weirdly more realistic

Unknown: 20:42

in a way even though it's much more fantasy. Yeah. Even though well.

Margie: 20:47

No, it's not no. Toilet Bowl. toilet

Rachel: 20:50

bowl right down to Atlanta. Not quite as over the top ridiculous.

Margie: 20:53

Okay. Yeah, for sure. Yeah, they still ground do it a little bit of reality.

Unknown: 20:58

Just just enough, just enough to probably get a lot better written than the other one. Yes. You didn't even read it?

Rachel: 21:05

I didn't. Mm hmm. Okay, so next scene, so I broke this down into kind of scenes. So the next scene, she wants revenge on him. She's really fed up that he sort of like Who is she mean? He's she's really fed up that he was like, like, got an edge on her with the whole I want to see your boobs for 10 minutes. Okay, she's like, Alright, I'm gonna send my people and find some dirt on him. She finds dirt on him. Oh, typically pictures proving that He's a bastard pictures proof. Rather. Yeah, that is with his mom and another dude, that doesn't look anything like his suppose it father like it's a whole subplot thing without going into it. So she has like, just suffice it to say she has undeniable proof. He's a bastard, okay. in her possession. Okay, which could completely ruin him in the government. Right. Okay. So there's a ball that happens naturally got Laval got a little ball, and she confronts him about it. She's like, Look what I have. Yeah, um, and he's like, okay, all right. Fine. Do whatever you want with it. That's fine. You could ruin me. You absolutely could. But I trust you to do what you whatever you want with it. Like he's like, Oh, exactly. His entire motivations at all this is he legitimately like, loves her. Oh, and she has no idea. She didn't really know how to cope with it.

Margie: 22:28

So does she not know how to cope with it? Or does she not like,

Rachel: 22:31

she doesn't she doesn't know. She? She doesn't understand because she like, has this deep sort of ingrained? Like, I can't like you even I kind of do, but I can't because you know, family foods and everything. Yeah. So he's like, No, I just, I don't care. I like you. So that's like really cute. And then you get to the well, he seduces her. And by seduces her. I mean he finger fucks are in a library

Unknown: 23:02

up at the ball at the ball, wow. Wow. Maybe you do what you want. I know what I want you to do.

Rachel: 23:12

So it was the Smarty bits in this book. The best way I can explain it is it's like she had a box and is like, there was a good pre written scene. This is one and this is one and this is one. Let's write a story around. Very, almost jarring. Okay, well, I'm going to destroy you. Oh, well, you can do what you want. But I'm trusting you to do the right thing. Bam. Chicka Chicka.

Margie: 23:38

Just like very, very like, like, I'm still in the past, right? Fucking I mean, I'm confused. Yeah.

Rachel: 23:49

Right. And I'm doing my best to summarize this plot because they just so complicated. But yeah, so they have a moment together.

Unknown: 24:00

I should say so, right.

Margie: 24:03

Sounds like Did they have one or two or three?

Rachel: 24:07

They have a moment in the way that the French Revolution was just a little bit

Unknown: 24:17

yeah,

Rachel: 24:18

yeah. Yeah, the leaf. She kind of gets this like, holy shit, what the hell just happened? Like she's really being thrown off of her game and she doesn't like that. Okay, so next scene is in the government. So there's they Oh, wow. But

Margie: 24:33

that doesn't have any effect on you know, any of the decisions in government? Yeah.

Rachel: 24:38

So it comes out and this is like the next day, there's a sudden there's a sudden convening of this like Council. Out of nowhere. No one has any idea what's going on. They all show up and the Prince concert is there and he's kind of like bear in mind. This is a guy that killed the Queen's lover. Yeah, who I don't think I mentioned the Queen's lover was heard of the council? Oh, wow. Okay, this is he's starting to like pick off people in the council. Okay, so they're all sitting around like What the hell's going on and the Prince concert comes up and he's like, All right, so He's a bastard Let's kill him. Why? How do you find out Mina did not tell me Yeah, but Leo think she did. Oh no, no he's like devastated. Oh, well it kind of comes out that her so the guy the informant that she had that digged it did all the digging was her father's Oh, he had no idea he was probably working for the prince.

Margie: 25:37

So yeah, so double agent going on. She didn't know that. Oh, God so

Rachel: 25:42

Leo's like, oh, shit, like he's gonna die. So he escapes. Yeah, by taking her hostage by holding a knife to her throat and just basically like action moves out of a window wouldn't

Margie: 25:56

the Prince Consort kind of like he kind of he wants her dead because yeah, yeah, nothing to stop him. Okay, she says but all the rest of the council's like no. Okay, cuz I was thinking to myself, I was like, he doesn't care. No, he

Rachel: 26:08

totally wants her dead.

Margie: 26:09

Okay. Xenian for Leo though. It's kind of like I've still got remaining feelings for this bitch. I'll just take

Rachel: 26:17

karate. Well, she's the woman Yeah, she can she's is a very strong like she can hold her own pretty aggressively so um, but

Margie: 26:26

you can't hold your own against a knife to your throat though. That's pretty difficult. Like it's hard to get out of that situation right?

Rachel: 26:31

But um, so he escapes with her and runs to escapes to the outskirts of town where his cousin lived. Okay, his cousin is sort of a bit of a like bandit King kind of dude is the best way to go like a Robin Hood kind of guy. Yeah, with a lot of like the commoners who have been like this unrest has been stewing for a while. He's like, Alright, great. This is a fantastic time to explode and the revolution began.

Unknown: 27:00

You're joking about the French Revolution.

Rachel: 27:03

I was full on like, down with the monarchy kind of deal.

Margie: 27:08

Okay, and they just kind of Yeah,

Rachel: 27:12

right. So a whole kind of battle revolution thing starts and Mina is being held hostage by them in their sort of main area. Okay, so she is held hostage and she tries to escape props to her she is not she's like not thinking she's like I can't go back the Kings gonna kill me right? Yeah, but I have to help the Queen because the princess she got to go back to her I've got to help my friend right and it starts to come out that she's actually been her and the queen have been planning their own revolution. Oh on the side. Oh, very cool. Yes, she wants to depose the Prince and make the queen as the rightful ruler so that starts to come out

Margie: 27:51

that honestly makes more sense to because like I wouldn't want I don't want them the people with the powers in power I want Commons in power

Rachel: 27:59

human so like She's exactly gonna relate so much more and there's like actually this really good like whole thing of like she's addicted to love No, yeah, that's a good idea. No, she can do she's only using it to cope so that's never really resolved but that's like, they really like discuss Okay,

Margie: 28:15

so they're going into detail about like yeah issues all right.

Rachel: 28:19

So she tries to escape and is caught by Leo. Leo chases after Kitzur back and Dungeon sex ensues

Unknown: 28:27

Wait, why

Rachel: 28:33

can't you see what I'm saying? About like the box of sex scenes just plucked from it's very like she's talking to a chair

Margie: 28:41

do they talk at all

Rachel: 28:43

yes so the whole thing and this is kind of where the the blood eating bits come into play? Is like she's injured she needs to heal she needs blood he's like all right here and capsure some of his blood well apparently this is a very sexual act in this world

Unknown: 28:59

ah

Rachel: 29:00

and it just sets them both off let's so it's consensual yeah don't get me wrong asst though which is a little bit kind of she's still so the the library finger fucking thing was very much I like I shouldn't enjoy this. No, I don't want this. Okay, I maybe I kind of very much that a little bit more. Both of them are like Alright, let's get it on. Like they're a little more she's a little more on board with it. Still kind of like okay, but better better.

Margie: 29:31

So I'm just thinking about this like cap recapturing thing? I don't know.

Rachel: 29:37

Yeah, so he gets her again. Um, there is she tries to escape again. And I'm skipping over a little bit of plati bits that happened between them, but she is trying to escape again. But she comes back, because partly morals also. So this is a steampunk universe, right? Where would we be without automatons? So the Prince and the Blue Bloods and the aristocracy and everything they have a lot of access to what would be a sort of turn of the century technology like but in CM Punk world so they have like radio frequencies like the very basics of it that they're just starting to learn how to use to control these automatons as their army is centrally

Unknown: 30:22

Oh, good. Okay, yeah. Yay.

Rachel: 30:24

So they're like, going to just crush the human right and the entirety of the commoners, right. So she sees them starting to march. And she's like, Oh, shit, this isn't good.

Margie: 30:36

So she goes back to warn them to warn and to help. Okay,

Rachel: 30:39

so I, guys, I couldn't I couldn't even Oh, no,

Margie: 30:43

oh, gosh. So

Rachel: 30:46

okay, so I have in my notes here in all caps, fucking werewolves are also a thing waiting. I don't know. Knowing that this is the last in a series now I understand it. Right. So there is another group of werewolves that are there to help to. And the chick in lists like he's married to like the head werewolf guy is like a scientist, which is super cool. She is

Margie: 31:09

up and she's another novel, probably. Yeah.

Rachel: 31:12

So she's a scientist. So she is she comes over and she's gonna help them and they were able to get a controller for these Tommy John's Okay, they're gonna kind of quote unquote hack into it.

Margie: 31:22

And okay.

Rachel: 31:24

Yeah, and try to turn them against you know, okay, Army makes sense. Very cool. Very cool. Um, so Leo gets a hold of this and talks to this like Girl and the way he does this and Oh, talking lost it because okay, I'm an engineer specifically. I'm an electrical engineer. Yes, my background okay. And he looks at her and in this what I can only assume is meant to be really like cool and edgy. What do you know about frequencies

Unknown: 31:56

just like maybe a fucking thing or two.

Rachel: 32:00

I can tell you right now there are several frequencies that exist. That's like going up to your pharmacist and saying, Excuse me? What do you know about chemicals?

Unknown: 32:14

I get it. Not everyone has this background.

Rachel: 32:20

Noise I lost it. I was sitting here reading my husband was like on the other couch and I just died and he was looking at me like I had three heads.

Unknown: 32:29

Oh man. Yeah, tell him about it. I

Rachel: 32:31

did. He he just sighed this just deep soul defeating sigh of just

Margie: 32:39

thank God he didn't read the nymph gang. What

Unknown: 32:41

are you reading? Okay, yeah, so I loved it so much. It was awful.

Rachel: 32:49

Okay, so this is where we fall into what I call the Iran Contra. Oh no, no one fucking talks to each other. Oh, yeah. So many problems could be resolved if we communicate. Effective communication is the cornerstone of every relationship. Leo has been working on a revolution for a while man has been working on a revelation for a while neither of them knew even though it's come up multiple times.

Unknown: 33:18

Oh no. We can work together what holy shit we can be a power couple.

Rachel: 33:26

Yeah, so it comes out because holy exposition Batman. They're both working on this thing they both have different he has an army she has automatons for said army so like they both have both sides to a thing like it's it's good

Unknown: 33:41

it's our government is supposed to work yeah, that's

Margie: 33:48

a good political anyway.

Rachel: 33:51

But so they end up working together and they decide to essentially storm the castle bye bye

Margie: 33:59

boys up on the gas

Rachel: 34:04

so they mount a full scale attack on this castle. And they sort of have to fight their way up the tower and all this stuff and they're going together and they have to split up because

Margie: 34:16

NO NO NO NO NO never split the party half the party so I don't really C and D and I know that I know. Right?

Rachel: 34:25

So you fix so the prince is going to basically has this mentality and it sort of leads into the hole everyone's pretty sure he's on hinge with craving virus. Oh, that was the girl Okay,

Margie: 34:40

so

Rachel: 34:40

he's like All right. Well, if I can't have it, nobody can. Oh, so he said bombs essentially. Oh, good in this means citadel. So he is in the top with all of his aristocracy. thralls and Queen. And he's

Margie: 34:53

just gonna He's just gonna serve. Yeah, yeah, like he's gonna blow it all up. It's

Rachel: 34:57

actually this really kind of interesting creepy scene because he's just like she walks in Mina walks in and she's like surrounded by what looks like a ball kind of deal but it's very obviously the prince like forcing everyone to be like drinking champagne and having a good time. Obviously him being like let's all die together

Margie: 35:22

like like the like like when the Titanic went down Yeah, that's so cool. Really actually like this interesting and really creepy scene and that's really weird because like Mina is like panting and like trying like trying to keep things together. Yeah,

Rachel: 35:37

and she wants to save the queen because the Queen's there too. Right? He's like, he can literally kill her at any moment. She's a human Yeah, and he's not so she's like gets in there and they start fighting to try to stop all this well, he doesn't even have the detonator for this bomb on him. It's in a totally separate tower. So someone with a sense well so that if someone stops him doesn't matter, they're gonna die too.

Margie: 36:01

Oh, okay. Okay, so

Rachel: 36:03

he left it with his guards and another tower to be so Leo went to fight the guards and stop that from happening. He got intelligence like after they split up and so that's where he went so there's like both of them are like fighting to the death and all this stuff. It's really intense. It's like this is like very high octane there's really no down

Margie: 36:20

yeah. Like I feel like I we just went we started like at the tips part and we haven't no back down like there is no relaxed but even like

Rachel: 36:33

honestly the sex scenes are

Margie: 36:37

dungeon seed what you must have been like whom at least are so polite happening right now is

Unknown: 36:42

nobody's actively dying. Yeah, yeah.

Rachel: 36:48

So rolling back to that because that was the first like whiplash moment.

Unknown: 36:51

Yes. She's like wait, I'm never recovered. I still don't go right.

Rachel: 36:54

Well, she's like, okay, you can look at him for 10 minutes he's like No, no, no, no, no, no fun in that. I get some touching.

Margie: 37:01

Oh my god. Fine.

Rachel: 37:05

Jill hasn't taken her up on that. I gotta say

Margie: 37:07

well yeah, well he also let us like alright, I get full suffering I guess if you're suffering Yeah. Give it I'm gonna get some massive blue balls bitch

Rachel: 37:24

fine, we can postpone the motorboating until after we overthrow the bourgeoisie

Margie: 37:38

that's that needs to be

Rachel: 37:41

remember guys save the motorboating for peacetime they haven't saved

Margie: 37:46

it for peacetime I'll give them that. No, they didn't have a library it's

Rachel: 37:52

well so far. A library

Margie: 37:58

in the library with them when you're in the dungeon with the blood.

Rachel: 38:01

Oh god, there's more. I've skipped over like a couple. So if we want a full recap, there was the library a dirigible?

Margie: 38:09

Why is a dirigible like oh like Anna? Oh rager right. They call them pleasure do tickles. Pleasure dirigibles. dirigible was like a carriage.

Rachel: 38:18

No, it's like a like a big zipline kind of thing. Okay, yeah. Okay, um, so they were touring the facility that builds that at one point and they okay escape and so that happens. Okay, again, finger fuckin on a dirigible.

Margie: 38:31

Lisa's very private. I was gonna disturb No,

Rachel: 38:34

Windows. I'm there was very much a exhibitionist.

Unknown: 38:37

Ah.

Rachel: 38:40

Dungeon

Margie: 38:41

dungeon.

Rachel: 38:42

Second dungeon second but that one was 100% consensual. Okay, and nobody was tied to a chair. That's good. Yeah, nobody was incapacitated in any way which up until now every single one has been that way. I'll say this

Margie: 38:57

about them they need to find like a bed or like sitting where normal dungeon was a bed. Yeah, but still like in a dungeon but even not doing in a dungeon.

Rachel: 39:06

But second dungeon Oh, god, god. Okay. So Leah was able to stop the bomb and Mina is able to save the queen. The Prince concert is killed. Yes. And by overthrown it the Queen agrees to become the figurehead. So even though she's addicted to drugs, alright. Well, I mean, I gave her like coping, man, I get it. Like she was very heavily abused coping.

Margie: 39:40

Yeah. And she's not the only and she's not the only ruler who has done that history. So

Rachel: 39:46

yeah, so they set up a new council. They're all like really, like big into our government. Um, I don't actually know. I didn't really pay attention that that much. I don't think it goes into super Big details are super detail, but they've

Margie: 40:03

got new ideas. New Power is actually

Rachel: 40:06

like a little bit of equality gasp right? What's the quality? Oh, but sorry, rolling back a little bit before all that happens. So, in the aftermath of the battle, there's that really stereotypical romance scene where like she's running through the crowd trying to find him. She doesn't know she's okay. She thinks he's dead. And then I like see each other and run to each other. Oh, yes. And then guardhouse sex. Like I need you now. Yeah. Because CV values, man. They were real high. And apparently that translates to lust. So

Margie: 40:41

did the Prince concert just need to get laid?

Unknown: 40:44

I don't actually know. Like, like, just they

Margie: 40:47

wouldn't wouldn't at all blame the queen that she decided didn't want to do it with

Rachel: 40:51

them, obviously. But it is it is I don't think she had a choice in that matter. Well, yeah.

Margie: 40:56

Okay, that's true. But like, by well, then it that's, I mean, if that's the case, and like, you probably didn't need to get laid, he probably was just losing a day, I

Rachel: 41:04

think. Yeah. Well, and that's the thing that's kind of like, like, they talk about the craving virus thing a lot. And they use that as a motivator, sort of motivator for like, why sometimes they lose control of their emotions a little bit and why that's kind of stuff.

Margie: 41:19

Like, like, back then. Like, stereo or something. Yeah. You know, like female. Yeah, it's an excuse. Right?

Rachel: 41:28

Well, and that, but it doesn't make much sense because like, so there's like a major subplot that I skipped over kind of a little bit where his dad is Leo's dad is like, really getting close to that. And then they end up seeing him and he is he's actually the one that kills the Prince concert. Because he is completely a vampire. Oh, white hair, everything go. But he's totally normal. Like, he has full control of his mind and everything. And it's like this whole thing with like, essentially a vaccine or an antidote or something. That's

Unknown: 41:57

very cool.

Rachel: 41:59

Yeah, so he's like, fully in control of his so

Margie: 42:01

he's kind of like Remus Lupin on nights of the full moon when he takes that potion.

Rachel: 42:05

Kinda. Yeah. Where he's like, he's totally in control. But he has like all of the symptoms. He has. Yeah, all of the like hyper so like, if ever if blue bloods are like superhuman when you go full vampire, you are like a god. Oh, you are super fast. Super like, yeah.

Margie: 42:22

So that he kept his mind, but he got all the powers.

Rachel: 42:25

Exactly. So that was like kind of a thing. So they use that a lot. And like part of his like this vaccine that isn't it isn't really a vaccine, it's more of just like a lowers those values in your blood or whatever. It's like a treatment or sign that Yeah, but they don't, there's a lot that they don't really like describe that fully. It

Margie: 42:43

sounds like what the author was trying to do was like, she knew that when people finished the book, they were still going to be worried about this via like, the levels and everything. And so she wanted like to leave, leave them with a little bit of hope that these two key there wasn't an end for these two characters, and they could figure it

Rachel: 43:00

out. Yeah. And that's kind of kind of,

Margie: 43:02

I mean, it's a romance novels. Like that's kind of what you're going in for. You're going in for a happy ending. So I get I mean, I get that and, and in a way, it's an interesting way of doing it. I know it's not like it's not like a complete. It's not a complete cop out of like, Yeah, this is suddenly fixed, but it's very easy fix. This might be fixed. There's hope in the future.

Rachel: 43:21

Yeah. So yeah, well, and within all that, you find out that No, his dad didn't kill her dad. And like, all this stuff. There's a lot there's a lot of plot. Oh, that's very heavy plot. Okay. Um, but after after they have sex in the guard house. They're still in the dirt guard house, and she flipped this thing everywhere. She finally says, I love you.

Margie: 43:41

Oh, no, no.

Rachel: 43:45

No, she like, she doesn't get a response. And she can't see anything. So she can't see his face. So she's like, What did I do? And the lady's like, oh, no, sorry. I was not expecting that. Like, it's really cute actually.

Unknown: 43:59

Yeah. Sounds like a

Margie: 44:01

sweet art. I wish they could have gotten that better across the cover. Right? Well,

Rachel: 44:05

he's kind of a sweetheart except when they're having sex. And then it's like, okay, man. Well, you're a little bit aggressive, a little aggressive. Okay, a little forward problem, little problems. During a problem, okay. Okay. Um, so they kind of say, I love you. And they're like, they end up getting married. Okay, just cute. And there's like this whole little like, End scene because so there's this whole thing where like the bluebloods and the humans like, please don't celebrate Christmas because they just don't have like, there's this weird like thing where it's like, oh, that's a common thing to do. Oh, well, I'm kind of an interesting

Margie: 44:38

cultural thing. Yeah, you're immortal. You don't really worry that much about the afterlife, or like more mortal

Rachel: 44:43

right. So which I thought was kind of interesting. So there's this little like, cute ending scene where they're already married and they are having Christmas with his cousin and everyone out in White Chapel is where his cousin like who led the everything. It's in White Chapel. Oh, So,

Margie: 45:01

I'm like Jabel Jack the Ripper.

Unknown: 45:03

Yeah.

Rachel: 45:06

That makes a lot of sense. But um, they're like having Christmas with them. And like his wife just had a kid like, his Leah's cousin's wife just had a kid like during all this and everything. And oh, I actually have. Thank you. Back. Back back. Thank you back. You put this in there. They're like mean is like holding the kid and everything and like looking at layout and like, she hands it back. She's like, great. Never know. They have a kid. They don't. Like could

Margie: 45:37

they though? Because they got

Rachel: 45:39

their like, she's like, No, thank you. Not for a while when she is not down with the kids, which is such a huge thing in romance novels. Yeah. Usually the women are like, Yes, I am. But I want to bear your children and stuff. And I'm like, personally, I don't want kids. So the fact that she doesn't want kids, I really appreciate that.

Margie: 45:57

I did find a romance novel once I should recommend it to you. Or maybe I'll read it. Where at the end of the book, the the girl thinks that she's bear in the entire book, and the author says, and she's like, he's upset about that. But he's like, I'm he says something along the lines of, I'm sad that we will be bad children, but I'll be devastated if I don't have you.

Rachel: 46:17

Yeah, and it seems like that's something that so I'm noticing romance novels, it almost always ends in either marriage or again for both. And there's nothing wrong with like, if you really want to have kids and you're like super ended that that's totally fine. It's just it's kind of nice to see someone that's not because like I'm not I just I have my cats I'm happy with and your husband and my husband happy with that too. So it's it's really nice that she's like, I don't know, maybe later not now. So

Margie: 46:46

she has like hundreds of years right and I literally I really

Rachel: 46:49

appreciate that so and they like it ends with them. Carry sex. Yeah. So recap. Library Sorry, sorry, kissing it bathtub because I did happen to say that when they were in that she was in the bathtub that holds the finger

Unknown: 47:11

seriously like it's also like, Green Eggs and have like

Rachel: 47:23

oh, God, I'm so library. Do your pleasure dirigible I just I have to use that word.

Unknown: 47:31

I love it so much.

Margie: 47:33

Thor Ragnarok. Because of that movie, The the grandmaster. He's like a pleasure. It's a pleasure. Pleasure ship to goals that are like oh my god. What's the actor's name? Who plays the grandmaster? He's Jurassic Park. He's so famous right now to why do I not? Because I love him. Jeff. Goldblum, Jeff Goldblum? I love your job. I love you so much. And you were such nice suits. Anyway, it's

Rachel: 48:04

true. Really? Okay, so bathroom library pleasure dirigible dungeon second dungeon.

Margie: 48:11

It's okay. The second dungeon

Rachel: 48:15

guard house carriage. Can I do it somewhere normal? I mean, there was a bed in the second dungeon

Unknown: 48:23

you're taking away

Rachel: 48:28

it's okay. Okay, I it's not technically a dungeon. It's just happens to be the same room. She was held captive in the first time.

Unknown: 48:35

So in some dungeon is really just a room but it's kind of

Margie: 48:42

okay, you know what every dungeon is a room okay, okay, so, um, overall. Overall, it sounds like you liked it, though.

Rachel: 48:58

It wasn't my favorite. So, picking behind the Comodo a little bit. Um, oh, we Hey, we That's why I said that said it that way. Um, we've sort of read a couple books sort of read ahead a couple books, right to have some like material. Yeah. Yes. And I've read a couple like romance novels so far that I legitimately loved like that. I went on and bought the rest of the series and read the entire rest of the series. And we'll get to those later. Yeah, this one was sort of an in between one that I thought was ridiculous. And one that I loved. So it was like, I really liked the plot, because I like plot in a book. Like, I don't want a book that's just smashing through him. And then he went after her.

Margie: 49:42

Yeah, we had that we had that. Yeah.

Rachel: 49:47

So I it's one of those things where it's like, I really appreciate that and the plot is interesting. Like I would be curious to see what the rest of the books like what other like things are going on right this world Yeah, there's just that little bit of ridiculous that I can't I can't get fully on board with it. It sounds like a little

Margie: 50:08

bit like the Romans kind of takes away. Yeah what's going on in like Jordan there

Rachel: 50:12

were significantly less my I would be totally it would be a very good novel and it's not that this mode is bad like the bits that are there are not bad. It's just they're very out of place.

Margie: 50:24

Yeah, well it's like you said they were kind of like copy paste literary.

Rachel: 50:29

Yeah, copy paste very much. Well, not even copy paste just like, like filling in the blank filling in like, like, they didn't need to be there. Yeah,

Margie: 50:37

I really I mean, but I think that's the thing about a romance novel, though. Like the

Unknown: 50:41

needs need. Well.

Rachel: 50:45

That's fair, like, but it was just, it was just very jarring. jarring is the word I would use. Like if it were even if it was maybe a little more organic. I would have been a lot more on board with it. And it could have still been there. It just was very judgy like them. We were a cute couple. Okay, because she was like, the I do. I did take a little bit of umbrage with the whole heart of ice that can only be melted by my love because that God, I also took a little bit of umbrage. It sounds like he likes

Margie: 51:15

her though, because she can take care of herself does. The book she murders so when he's like, that's for

Rachel: 51:20

me. It's actually kind of like, oh, here, I'll read a little bit. A little bit of a blurb here. Um, so when he sees her, he like, goes over to talk to her after she kills the dude, like for the first time, and he walks up to her knees, like, all right, she's really pretty. I bet she gets this all the time. I'm gonna make myself different. Oh, no. So when he walks up to her the first be honest

Margie: 51:44

guys, even if we've heard it before, if you say with your heart, we love it.

Rachel: 51:47

Oh, no, it's actually kind of funny. Like, he doesn't he walks up to her and says, uh, she cuz she's like, Oh, so you come to congratulate me? Because everyone's like, watching a clap. Yeah, whatever. And she looks at me goes, congratulate you. Yes. Perhaps you were lucky to win with that form What the fuck, like, what the hell? He's like, Oh, yeah, you drop your elbow like, Oh, someone's gonna be able to get

Margie: 52:20

loves love to be told. Wow, we're doing everything wrong. I

Rachel: 52:25

know. But it's kind of a very much have that vibe throughout the entire book of like, like kind of playfully giving each other shit and like going back and forth a lot, which

Margie: 52:37

I do appreciate. It's kind of like a thing. It's a power move there is but it's also like a I'm not intimidated by you.

Rachel: 52:43

Right? Well, and she's like, she's not fawning over him. What are your sexy bits? Yeah, she is. jarring. But like in the actual novel, she's like, No, I'm not with the dude. Because I'm not gonna be like, I'm not gonna give someone that much power over me to like diminish my ability is like I want to be capable and strong and do my own thing. And I'm not gonna let someone come in and try to be the white knight and take care of me when I don't need right and outshine me. Exactly. He like really? He's like, no, no, that's fine. You go kill the prince concert and take care of the Queen and go do something else. Go for it. You're fine. I know. You'll be fine. Like he's very much more of a yeah, you're like a strong one. But at

Margie: 53:21

the end of the day, they're still kind of looking after each other. Yeah.

Rachel: 53:25

So it's all I think if the this muddy bits were a little bit down a little bit differently.

Margie: 53:30

Yeah. Yeah. It sounds like they need to be integrated into the story better. Yeah,

Rachel: 53:35

I would probably be 100% on board with it then. But even the second

Margie: 53:38

Dejan

Rachel: 53:39

even the second maybe even 11. First,

Unknown: 53:51

a second. 10 seconds.

Rachel: 53:57

Yeah, so, um, we sort of got into rating and everything before we were even even visually rated it Yeah. So let's go into rating. So we have the lady, the gentleman, and the plot.

Margie: 54:13

So you're Amina Leo and the plot and the plot. The plot sounds really fun. Yeah, like even though it's kind of like it's a high note the whole time. Yeah, it's very fun. Very much

Rachel: 54:25

like political intrigue, which I was actually surprised I'm not usually super into political intrigue No, I love it but I will I will say after this book, I'm a lot more down with it. Like I'm like okay, I would read more books that if they're like that then yeah, yeah. Because the political intrigue is interesting and yeah really well fleshed out world that makes you care about it. Okay. If it's just political intrigue for the sake of political intrigue, because that's boring.

Margie: 54:47

Okay, sir Sealand

Unknown: 54:50

I cannot get new 12 chapters into that book.

Margie: 54:53

Oh, don't get me wrong, but man, what is that now

Rachel: 54:56

don't get me wrong. I'm the biggest Tolkien nerd So like, I am no stranger to epic fantasy novels. I just could not do

Unknown: 55:04

that. Yeah,

Margie: 55:05

yeah, we can go into that later. Yeah. If you guys want to hear us banter back and forth about books, let us know. We will gladly do that about books

Rachel: 55:14

forever. Like, guess what we're doing now? Yeah, yeah. So I think that like plot itself is very interesting. And the the world building behind the political intrigue makes me like the political intrigue. Okay, that I think matters to me. And I didn't know that mattered to me until I read this book. So it's like, surprisingly, yeah, I'm super on board with it. So but I would say like, there's some plot holes, but I feel like a solid four and a half on it. Good.

Margie: 55:39

That's really good.

Rachel: 55:40

It was pretty good. Like for four and a half. Okay. Okay. Well, okay, if we're taking this into consideration for

Margie: 55:46

Okay, fair, yeah. I just because of how you've described, that's my and I'm harsher. I'm giving it three and a half. Okay, that's fine. Just because like, it's still, it's not like it's Harry Potter. That's true. Yeah. Cuz I'm comparing it to like, This is amazing. Everybody should read it. Okay, you know, down to the bottom of nobody.

Unknown: 56:08

This is garbage.

Rachel: 56:10

So I'm comparing it mostly with just in the romance novels genre. Okay. Not necessarily, sir. If we're talking holding up two other books, I would say a solid three, three and a half. Okay. It was still really good, though. Yeah, it wasn't just in the romance genre. Then bump it up to four. Yeah, okay. Okay. Um, as far as characters go, I really liked Mina in that she we've we've talked about some books that are very much spaghetti against a brick wall as far as personality goes, like the woman's only motivation is men

Margie: 56:42

and it's also like books where the the only reason her backstory is all about men. All right, you know a lot about things that she's done in her own life. Yeah,

Rachel: 56:52

that could be a good so okay, we haven't talked about this quite yet, guys. But we want to put together what I'm terming the book Dell test, which is Yeah, which is basically a rating system for this kind of thing to like, see if the woman character is represented herself. Yeah. And I would say in this case, having not clearly defined what those parameters are, I would say Mina absolutely does that she she she can take care of herself. She has really good and intricate motivations that aren't related to men like she wants to help the Queen because the Queen's are friend.

Margie: 57:24

Yeah, that's true. That's true. But she does have that backstory of his dad killed my dad. Yeah, but that's like a family feud kind of thing. Oh, that's true. I mean, that's more of like political. It's like it has to be like a backstory that's not romantic, right?

Rachel: 57:38

Or sexual pretty much has no romantic backstory. Okay. With romantic,

Margie: 57:42

nice. So romantic or sexual backstory? That's like, pulling her back. Right, right.

Rachel: 57:47

Right. Right. Yeah, she's not caught up in that. No, she has like no romantic backstory. Okay. Okay. Which is kind of neat. Like she's, you know, she they mentioned specifically like, I've had partners before, but nothing romantic. Okay, which is kind of nice. And I didn't quite mentioned but like, the reason they're friends is because she was walking through the garden when she was younger, and she found this woman crying on her wedding day. And it's the Queen and the Queen's like, I can't go through with this. I don't want to go through with this. And she's like, No, no, no, we'll get through it together. It's like That's why they're such good friends is like she was there to help her because she's like, we can overthrow him. We'll get rid of it like

Unknown: 58:21

it's heartfelt. I mean, she didn't know

Margie: 58:24

I wouldn't murder the prince consort pretty straight up murder him. Wow. It would be it would be savage

Rachel: 58:34

eyes. I got the warm

Margie: 58:39

you better watch out. Thank you better

Rachel: 58:45

so Oh, no, I think like,

Unknown: 58:46

I don't know, like, up there. Maybe a four. Yeah, I

Margie: 58:50

mean, for work. Yeah, yeah, I would give her for I don't know how I feel about Leo

Rachel: 58:55

is very heavily motivated by her Mena, which I always find a little bit problematic. But he does have some other motivations as far as like, he knows he's a bastard. And he does want like, he has some daddy issues. He has some pretty solid data. Well, and I like

Margie: 59:14

the thing that like, the the thing that sets him back the most the fact that he's a bastard. The moment she threatens him with that. He's like, he, he's more afraid of like, losing her.

Rachel: 59:25

Right. And that's kind of a level. I mean, you know, it's also

Margie: 59:29

self confidence, because he's like, he knows the whole survive. Yeah, getting out of the council and like,

Rachel: 59:34

well, he's kind of taking a bet on her like, his bet is you're not gonna He's gonna call her bluff. Exactly. So I did appreciate that. I can. I'm like a three. Yeah. Because he has motivations that are not her, but most of them are her.

Margie: 59:47

Yeah. And it's just kind of, he's kind of like a floating character. You could stick them into any other romance novel, and he would pretty much do kind of float around and do the same thing.

Rachel: 59:56

So it's the role of the penis and writing

Unknown: 1:00:03

important role. Role in Romance. Romance?

Margie: 1:00:09

Yes. In hetero romance novels important. Yeah.

Rachel: 1:00:13

I'd say like a solid three like he's very middle of the road for me. Okay. Fair, but he's good. And he's cute.

Margie: 1:00:19

He does sound very cute. Barely. I love that. I love that part of like, I still I think the part of the tits is really funny. Really?

Unknown: 1:00:30

What the fuck? Yeah, like we still get it was like,

Margie: 1:00:33

again, zero to 100 for this guy.

Rachel: 1:00:36

So yeah, there was something I totally forgot to mention. Um, so I like to keep my eye out for like, again. Spectral disbelief. They're vampires. Sure. Whatever. At one point, they were awake for five days straight.

Unknown: 1:00:48

Okay. Still have to sleep.

Margie: 1:00:52

Oh, right. It's so unpleasant. Oh, sounds really

Unknown: 1:00:56

uncomfortable. How long? Can

Margie: 1:00:57

you stay awake before you die? A week? A week? I

Rachel: 1:01:00

think Hold on. Oh, that sounds let's go back to the segment. Rachel, Google's things. Google search, how long can you stay awake before you die? Um, easy experimental experimental answer to this question is 264 hours about 11 days? Oh, 1965. Randy Gardner. 17 year old high school students at this apparent world record for a science fair. She's Did he die? I don't know. But he better have one.

Margie: 1:01:31

Good lord. It's so unpleasant.

Unknown: 1:01:35

I want to know it's like Halloween.

Rachel: 1:01:37

No, I'm gonna read this article to see if he died. Like I don't want him to die. But part of me hopes he did for a science yet, but that's like on. Oh, he's still alive. Good. Thank God. 70 years old. Wikipedia due to the Wikipedia page stayed awake for 264.4 hours, which is 11 days and 25 minutes. But he was amazing. That's incredible. 11 days in 30 minutes, vampires couldn't even find

Unknown: 1:02:08

out. Wow.

Rachel: 1:02:11

All right. No long term psychological or physical effects. Good. Real, are you?

Unknown: 1:02:16

Maybe he's a vampire. There it is. All right.

Margie: 1:02:23

Do we have any announcements or anything? Oh, reading? Oh, yeah. What are you reading?

Rachel: 1:02:27

So Christopher Tolkien, Tolkien son just recently compiled another set of stories from JRR Tolkien that I'm again,

Unknown: 1:02:39

huge token nerd.

Margie: 1:02:41

No, I never would have guessed. They check out our Instagram guys. We've got a picture of her table up on

Rachel: 1:02:47

the table we're recording on it's a map of The Hobbit from The Hobbit. But so he just came out with one is called the fall of Gondolin. And it's a story from The Silmarillion which I realize is a really difficult read but I

Margie: 1:02:59

love it. I can't even get through Lord of the Rings yet so give me patience. Give me

Rachel: 1:03:03

as hard I am notice I fully owning up to that. It's

Margie: 1:03:07

like following a leaf in the two towers. Yeah, I was like, I don't know how much longer I can do this. It

Rachel: 1:03:13

is a

Margie: 1:03:15

big deal. Holy cow.

Unknown: 1:03:18

He's so cute. Don't get me wrong.

Rachel: 1:03:20

Yeah, no, it's I totally get it. It's difficult. It took me a while to be able to get through it. But I've been reading that but it is a very dense read. It requires a lot of brainpower. It's basically an analysis of the evolution of the story. So it's more nonfiction than like an actual, like, just story for Okay, okay. But it is very good. So I've been reading that. Um, so honestly, if anything, this book kind of helped me get a little bit of a break from that. Yeah, never my brain starts to turn

Margie: 1:03:48

into mush. You and Steve Colbert, I need to like hang out. My

Rachel: 1:03:52

My goal in life is to be able to hold my own and a token off with Stephen Colbert.

Unknown: 1:03:59

Just my goal, honey, honey,

Rachel: 1:04:00

I'll never be able to write I don't write

Unknown: 1:04:02

Okay, okay. You can always try life goals. aim, aim big. Okay. My

Margie: 1:04:07

uncle's used to write in Elvish. Underneath the dining room table. They were passed notes to one another.

Unknown: 1:04:14

I've been working on my Elvis girl. It's not great, but it's getting

Rachel: 1:04:17

there. Oh, man. Yeah. So thank you guys so much for tuning in. If you want to check us out on Twitter at textual tension pod, really textual tension pod across the

Margie: 1:04:31

across the border, Twitter, Instagram, our website, textual tension pod.com. I'm going to set up a Goodreads page and I think we're going to set up we're going to put up the books on there links to the books or whatever I don't know 100% of Goodreads work yet right and how what books we've read even the ones that are bad. Yeah, we're also going to have a recommended reading list. Yes. Actually reading

Rachel: 1:04:55

Yeah, if and if you guys want to toss us any recommendations yes, good or bad. or beautifully terrible?

Margie: 1:05:01

Or if you have comments, comments, comments. Yeah, we

Rachel: 1:05:05

want to hear from you guys. If it wasn't made abundantly clear, this was our first first podcast. Yeah. And we're kind of you know, jumping into the fray and we just love talking about this. So we're just having a blast. But if you guys want to give us any feedback, or anything like that recommendations, we would love to hear it.

Margie: 1:05:20

We do. And we want to hear your thoughts on these books, too. If you happen to have read them and you have just tell us anything. We're interested. We're in training, obviously, because we're doing this.

Rachel: 1:05:29

Exactly. Yeah. So drop us a line. Is it textual tension pod@gmail.com. Hey, guys, Peter, Rachel jumping in here to just give a quick shout out to the artist alien near you for the use of her song. Oh, love off the album be held. It's a really great tune, and we're really thankful to be able to use it. So we just want to kind of give credit where credit's due. Yeah, hit us up. We'd

Margie: 1:05:54

love to hear it. Yes. I'll see you in a couple weeks guys. You'll hear our voices through the boy

Rachel: 1:06:03

through the frequencies

Margie: 1:06:05

which was thinking so

Rachel: 1:06:10

much for tuning in, we will see you next two weeks from now. Do we start out