Ep 9: The Invisible and Totally Not Creepy or Abusive Man

Listen in this week as Rachel tells me, Margie, about Amy Raby's Spy's Honor. Hear about the forbidden romance between Janto and Rhianne, one a spy pretending to be a slave in an enemy nation, the other a princess desperately trying to learn more about the world. Ready for a healthy relationship and for some sick world-building? SO WERE WE. Enjoy!

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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 Hello, and welcome to textual tension, a love hate relationship with romance novels. I'm your co host, Rachel and I am your co host, Margie. Every other week, one of us reads a romance novel and summarizes it for our unsuspecting co host this week. That co host listen, he is Margie. Hello and unpacks What

Margie: 1:02

the fuck just happened?

Rachel: 1:04

Yep. So anything if anything? Yeah, so um, if you're back from last week great. We're

Margie: 1:11

really glad we're glad you came back. Oh my god. I'm so sorry.

Rachel: 1:14

Oh, this this one's a bit of a palate cleanser. For you didn't it too much. Okay. So I am going to these you see it first? Yeah, yeah, I show you the stuff first before we go and we

Margie: 1:26

should put in a PSA that Bitsy is here the cat right? Cute in noisy if you

Rachel: 1:30

listen to our Christmas special and then you have heard the sonorous sounds of Vinci's voice. She likes to help. Especially since Marjorie slightly allergic to her. So you know, she's great.

Margie: 1:42

I'm not allergic to any other calves. Well,

Rachel: 1:44

she has special alright.

Margie: 1:46

Special stuff

Rachel: 1:46

like she's something like that. So, um, so I'm going to hand you the laptop that we were using for our notes, which has the cover on it.

Margie: 1:55

Oh, whoa. Okay. So look what Oh, my God. You To start with, Okay, I just I just have to say this is beautiful. Okay, so it's a woman brunette. She's wearing this blue and gold dress. It kind of reminds me of Diana's dress in Wonder Woman. Okay. Yeah. Like a Greek Roman kind of Yeah, Greek Roman kind of vibe. Um, she's really pretty. But my favorite part of this cover is that they have the horse rearing in the background that just fills so many of my life fantasies. Yes. That behind the horse. There's a bridge. I'd like a river. Oh, and I should probably tell the title of the book. Yeah. The title is bigger than the author's name is indeed. It's called spies honor, the heart, the hearts and Thrones series. And it's the first time in print. And it's by an author named Amy Rabee. Which sounds like a real name. That's always good. Yeah, that's always a good start. And there's two moons in the background. So I'm gonna assume that she lives on tattoo meme.

Rachel: 3:12

I didn't even notice the two minutes. Yeah, to me. That's too much. Yeah.

Margie: 3:19

There's one other thing I wanted to say about this cover. But now I can't remember

Rachel: 3:23

what gorgeous and beautiful. It's like, no extra only thing. Yeah, it's so extra.

Margie: 3:28

It is missing one thing and that's the shirtless dude.

Rachel: 3:31

I want. But it does that pretty lady on it.

Margie: 3:33

It does have very pretty lady on it. And I Oh, that's the thing. Spies don't really have a lot of Otter. You know what I mean? Like, that's kind of Ryoma okay,

Rachel: 3:46

I would agree with you. Oh, wait, the description norm Wilhelmi pull up the description. That's that's the actual book. I would agree with you in normal situations. Okay, this is special.

Margie: 3:56

Is she a special snowflake?

Rachel: 3:58

I am not going to give anything away. Okay. The most I'll say is that so? Um, I'll admit before we get into the description, so jump down. Um, so the holidays were super stressful for me, because family has you. So I did not have a lot of time to do a lot. Right. Okay, so I had a book that was in the middle of reading and I just didn't have time to finish it. But thankfully, I read this one a while ago, and I kind of have hinted at me reading this one in previous episodes, but it is a very good palate cleanser. It ended up working out for the last week. So our last two weeks ago, right. So I'm pretty excited for it. I'm actually really, really

Margie: 4:39

excited about to read the description. Okay, so wait, how do you put it Rianne

Rachel: 4:44

Okay, so yeah, so there's a couple things that I'll tell you how I pronounce them. So Eireann is what I was saying. keel I was how I was saying, oh, yeah, I would say Oh, no. And then Mozart. I wasn't Mozart.

Margie: 4:58

Mozart. Yeah, okay, so Oh, Zari maybe Mozart?

Rachel: 5:01

Yeah, Mozart is like the language right? So yeah,

Margie: 5:04

here we go. Rianne mine mage Imperial Princess of keel cannot openly challenge the Emperor. Instead, she acts acts in secret to aid the victims of his worst, worst excesses. But now the Emperor plans to wet her to the cruel Augustine the the man leading kills attack against the nation of Mozar. Soon she will be torn from her supporters and shipped overseas, we're knowing where she can help no one. Missouri Crown Prince

Rachel: 5:30

John Torres, or John Doe, John Doe, John

Margie: 5:33

Doe is desperate to save his country from invasion. When one of his most trusted spies disappears while gathering intelligence at the callin palace. Jon Snow takes his place and continues searching for information that could save his people. But falling for the Imperial Princess was not part of his plan, nor was having his true identity reveal. Oh, it's like it's like beauty in the beast. Like with the book that she's reading at the beginning of the year.

Rachel: 5:58

Oh, okay. But that book is Aladdin. You do know that right? No, this is where she meets she meets Prince Charming, but she doesn't find out who it is still chapter. Aladdin. Aladdin. Yeah, fun fact of the day. Aladdin. Okay. So you go

Margie: 6:14

back to the bank, you know, Riyadh must make a choice. Follow the path, the tradition or the one of her heart, even if it means betraying her own people.

Rachel: 6:22

I know, right. So I really, really want to get your initial thoughts on this book. So when I picked it up, I saw it and I was like, Alright, this is gonna be your MC romance novel. Right? Like super generic. Like, yeah. Spies. Honor like that kind of level. Yeah.

Margie: 6:38

Well, I feel like the the cover definitely doesn't if no, justice. No, it doesn't really tell you that the book is about something. That seems a little deeper.

Rachel: 6:48

Well, so did you. I don't know if you read the little like, text on the front of the Yeah, yes. To win his love. She'd sacrifice her nation.

Margie: 6:57

Yeah, and I also really don't like that because I feel like it probably it after reading the back cover. I don't think that it tells the whole story. Does not Yeah. So the back the description of the book sounds way interesting than the than what the cover conveys cover conveys. Words are hard words

Rachel: 7:15

are hard. I understand. So okay, so we're gonna get into it. So first off trigger warnings. I'm sorry. No, no, no. I'm actually really excited for this. Because spoiler alert, like looking ahead, I fucking love this.

Margie: 7:34

I'm glad that we found one that we actually like really

Rachel: 7:36

like full disclosure, this is the second one in this series that I read. Oh, really. I've read almost all of them. I actually purchased this book. This is the first one I have purchased. We

Margie: 7:47

put a good one on our good read. We can

Rachel: 7:49

can say I will try my best not to put a biased spin on this as I'm describing it, but just know I thought write this book. Great. Okay. Okay. So trigger warnings. There is some abuse. There is some. I think that's it. Good. And it's not relationship abuse. It's familial abuse. Okay. Okay, cool. Yep. But I'm pretty sure that's about it. If we can't think of anything else, um, we can pop in and mention it later on. But I'm pretty sure that's a magic sparkle sound. Right. Um, so I would like to before we even get into this, make a quick note about Amy. Amy, Amy, the author. Okay. So I feel like we've we've looked up a couple of these authors for some of the nouns or like the name King and stuff like that. Right. And it's always like, okay, is that actually a woman like, or is it was in the old? Yeah. Some of the ones we've looked up have been a little a little weird, right. I love Amy. So Amy's parents both worked for NASA and helped put the Saturn five rocket on the moon. Oh, she's a computer scientist who worked for Microsoft.

Margie: 9:01

Amy, I love you. I gotta find out. She has a Twitter. Oh,

Rachel: 9:04

I hope so. Um, and the so writing was her sort of hobby, her like a side romance. Hobby. And she wrote a book, which was actually the first one that I read, called assassins Gambit. And I picked up this one but she ended up getting a contract for writing so she worked with Microsoft as a computer scientist.

Margie: 9:25

So she's got brains Yeah, she's

Rachel: 9:27

yeah could do the mainframe can hack into the

Margie: 9:31

no no typos keys so fast. I

Rachel: 9:33

she can hit Enter. It's so hard. Alright, so here we can shout out to her on Twitter. Oh, yeah, we

Margie: 9:38

will go what the episode comes out. Yeah.

Rachel: 9:40

Um, okay, so a little bit of background real quick getting into some of this. So you kind of read it in the description. There are two nations. There's a keel. I'm saying y'all. Maybe I'm wrong. And there's Mozar Okay, um, so QOL is at war with Mozar kill started it. Okay, they started it.

Margie: 10:00

Let's make that very clear yes so is there faults so this

Rachel: 10:03

book did write what I feel like a promise a fire did wrong. So it is heavily influenced by Roman ancient Roman and Greek okay sort of culture right? But they have their own gods they have their own like, all everything is it's influenced it's not it's not blatantly picking okay yeah so they did that right it's

Margie: 10:25

not like the Romans were there like we're just gonna take what we want and then leave behind

Rachel: 10:30

right well and I feel like a promise of fire had all the gods but none of it was really the same. So this is like done correctly. Okay. I feel okay. Um, yeah, so Keele is a relatively small nation, but they are very militant. Okay, so they tend to try to take over other lands to bring them under. Oh, I think American history no think English. Oh, English, right. Think like colonialism? Yeah, like that level of we can make you better. So we're gonna take over and unite everyone under a single banner. Very well done.

Margie: 11:02

But does your country have a flag? I love my good friend Eddie Izzard.

Rachel: 11:06

Oh my god. Okay, so I like to go over my characters first. Yes. So I'm going to give a brief description of the characters just so we have a visualization. So we have RAM? Yep. So she is the Emperor's Nice. Okay, right. And she is about 20. Okay, one summer on there. Um, she has them. This is from the book went on, while not colored hair, which I feel like is a very scripture reasonable descriptor. And she's, she's pretty. And I will say that this was I appreciated. This was presented to the reader in a very analytical way, the way that she was described because it is described and it was very organic. So it wasn't like he blinked to sell it on eyes. No, it was like he saw her for the first time. Is it? Oh, she has brown hair. She's kind of pretty. Okay, great.

Margie: 11:58

Fine. Actually think about a person. I don't see a guy and I'm like, Whoa, look at his Celada eyes. Yeah, yeah. No, it's forest green.

Rachel: 12:09

Now, when she sees him for the first time, she does describe his eyes, but they're in close proximity to each other. So I let it pass. Okay, dark skin like tan skin and most are is an island nation. So tan skin. golden hair, like a little bit more like what they say is one shade lighter than like his skin. So like, I imagine like, you know, sun kissed or whatever. Okay, yeah. And blue eyes. Okay, right. So, island nation. Okay, Mozart is okay.

Margie: 12:38

Is he ripped?

Rachel: 12:40

No, I don't describe his physique. Wow, I know. Strap in for what is actually really good looking story. I'm so ready. I'm so lucky. Are you ready for some really cute and wholesome shit? Yeah, in the middle of so really beautifully fleshed out world. Okay, so y'all, Lord of the Rings is my favorite. I am obsessed. And I really appreciate good world building VA. So I am a sucker for good role building. Yeah,

Margie: 13:08

it's like every time to that she makes a noise. She looks at you as if she knows she's done something

Rachel: 13:12

wrong. She knows exactly what she's doing. But so I am a sucker for good world building a little home and specifically, a good good world building that's done with like, full languages. And really, so I will admit, I'm going to do my best to sink our teeth into this. Okay, there is so much that I wanted to include how long was it? It's not even that long. It's just everything is so well fleshed out that I want to talk about everything, but I know I can't. So I'll do my best. Okay, so I like to break this into scenes. Okay to start with, but I also admit this is really hard to break into scenes because it switches between them a lot. Okay, two of them. Okay, so Scene one, and I broke this into Scene one, A and C one B C one A is rands point of view, C one B is Joshua's point of view. So I did my best I might, the scenes might just evolve towards the end. It's alright, so C one Ran is going to talk to her cousin Lucas. So Lucas is the Emperor son. Okay. Lucas is actually the subject of the first book I read, which was Assassin's Gambit. Okay. Lucas is so he's like in line for the throne. He had two older brothers, but they died. They were assassinated. Oh, okay. And the title. Yeah, well, yeah. And he actually is not it's not super relevant. I thought it was interesting. He's missing a foot. Oh, wow. Yeah. So he is he has like a wooden kind of like, okay, like, yeah, yeah, so he's automail not just what? That was really interesting. Yeah, she's asking him for money because it comes out that the two of them they're one of his old body guards that was implicated in this whole assassin thing like gotten like was damn hurt during this nation of his brothers right. The Emperor's like Fuck you, you did a terrible job. You failed me The Emperor is the biggest asshat.

Margie: 15:04

So like that book, I read the biggest Yeah, okay.

Rachel: 15:08

Um, so he's just like, Fuck you, you, you failed your job, you deserve nothing from me. So they're like, no, he's been crippled in service of the cursor. Like, they pull their money every month, and she sneaks out and gives it to him. So like, she's asking for money. So you get the you really get this established, like, right off the bat of like, she realizes that her uncle is a shitty person and doing everything she can, right even though it's not a lot to try to help. Um, and Lucas is not in a great mood. And it's because he and the Emperor just had a fight. And the Emperor came in and just try to deck soon. So we also established that the emperor is very abusive. Oh, he's a massive asshat Yeah, um, and so he comes in and he's like, so the reason he's doing this again, there's so much to go into so I'm going to God is because Lucas spoke out against the war with Moser, okay, in this war council, because he's like, this is doing nothing for us. We need to not be doing this. And he's like, No, we need to otherwise it's cowardice and like all this stuff, we have to whatever but they got into the war for basically no reason. No reason it. Yeah. Yeah. They just wanted to conquer land. It's totally him just like waving his dick around. Oh, my God. It's bad. Little tiny one. Right. So Lucas, tiny hands do? Well,

Margie: 16:28

politics. I haven't heard nothing about politics. You know, it's a river.

Rachel: 16:34

So but so we kind of get this vibe of like, Lucas, Lucas would be a good emperor, like he cares, obviously cares about the people, right? Not so much about spreading like expanding all this stuff. Whereas the emperor is like, No, you need to conquer everybody. And it's cowardice to stand down and all this stuff. And also, we find out that Rihanna has now proposed or now Botros to the current gen, leading this attack on Mozar, who was about to win. Oh, good, fine, right. We're about to win this war. And when we win, you're gonna marry the new governor. Yeah, so I'm like the first chapter and you're like, holy shit in the ground?

Margie: 17:12

Oh, my God. Yes. I'm sure she's thrilled about this. She's like,

Rachel: 17:16

Yeah, well, I've never met him. Oh, don't worry. He's gonna come back for a couple days. So you can have an engagement and

Margie: 17:22

Okay, okay, great. Awesome. Wonderful.

Rachel: 17:25

So, a lot happens right off the bat. But from this sort of initial thing, you really get a good sense of how much of an asshole The Emperor is how Lucas and Rianne like care about each other and are both sort of like, they call him his Imperial Imperial unreasonableness. Pretty good, like they're like, decent people. Okay. And that Rianne is a trove to someone now. She is of marrying age. Okay. Um, so scene one B, we switch over to John Tez. Present Perfect. Okay. So John Doe, who also maybe call them and I call them in the beginning John Torres. Okay. Um, so it's sort of a weird name. But it's a weird name with a reason for a weird name. Okay. Because in their language, and they explain the language a little bit later. There's a reason he has that name. It's like a royalty thing. So it's, it makes sense. Right? I again, yeah. You appreciate? Yeah. So he is hidden in the barracks of slaves right now. So he's like, sort of doing He's a spy. Okay. So John Doe has, there's magic in the world. And established genre is what's called a Trad, mage, so he can make it turn himself invisible, essentially hopeful, right? Yeah. And he's one of the only members of their royal family that can do that. Everyone else usually goes for like War Mage. Okay. Okay. He is sort of an exception. Okay. And he is looking for his missing spy. So there was a spy that supposedly found really important information that went missing. So there's not they're really running low on people, because there's been a lot of casualties with this war. A lot bigger than they are right. Um, so he had no one else to send, which is why he's there. He's like, he's, he's had like, last ditch effort. Yeah, he's head of their intelligence agency, essentially. And he had no one else to send and he's like, if this information is really important, we need to find him. Right. That's why he's here. Again. There's a reason for it. Oh, my God, things are explained what Right? Um, so he is the grandparents of Mozart, which Oh, God, why he's there.

Margie: 19:29

They're all well, they're also though that's pretty brave. sending in your crown prince. Right,

Rachel: 19:33

exactly. Um, let's see. And he's able to find someone in the barracks that he knows that very tangentially if he knew him at some point, and he's able to kind of help him pass as a slave Oconto is starting to try to pass as a slave in the Imperial Palace. Okay, I'm in Kiel. So that kind of sets up where everything goes from here. Okay, again, this is fucking dance. So I'm going to do my best. Yeah, see, I guess. Okay.

Margie: 19:59

Um, I'm telling me these really interesting books and I feel like you're always like, like, like, what the fuck with mine and with yours, I'm just like, wow, okay,

Rachel: 20:07

let's go. I have just managed to be really lucky and not pick garbage fires. But I

Margie: 20:12

really want you to pick a garbage fire one now though, like, I want to see you.

Rachel: 20:18

Maybe, maybe, okay, so, um, hang on, I really do. Oh, so this is worth mentioning. So she I told said already that ran sneaks out and goes to give money to this, right? Yeah, there's an injured everything from this. So she does do that. Okay. I thought it was worth mentioning. Because again, it's pretty great. She's talking to him about the marriage and about, and he's like, Oh, so you know, you're worried that he's not going to be handsome. She's cool. Handsome is nice. But I mean, it really matters a lot more what type of person he is. Yeah. And like, actually, like, talks about? It was like, he was like, I'm like care if he's handsome, which I just wanted to be

Margie: 20:59

being, which I mean, like, he's already fighting a war. He shouldn't be though, which makes me kind of think like, his character probably isn't that.

Rachel: 21:08

Right? So I just thought that was worth mentioning. Yes. And there's more niblets in here of stuff like that. tidbits, tidbits is a better word I

Margie: 21:16

like to I like niblets could be construed as something else. So that's why I like it.

Rachel: 21:25

All right, after she gets back in everything, she's like, Okay, well, I'm going to be the wife of this governor in Mozar. I guess I should probably learn their language. Because she's a smart woman like she she knows a couple languages like she tries to be well read, everything should have been sheltered, but she tries to be well read. So she but she has no one to talk to. Because all of these slaves that are from this country, don't speak her language. So she can't have anyone teach her the language because no one can speak her language. Yeah, so she is doing her best and like sitting in the gardens where all the slaves are, like looking at everything. And she's trying to like read through some of these like, books and like trying to learn on her own. And so she's like, Okay, I'm getting nowhere. So she looks up and see someone and she's like, tries to say good morning to the person. It's John Doe. And he just starts like, laughing a little bit and says in her language, because he speaks her language fluently says, Oh, hang on. I have to like, well, I don't know if I'll find the exact quote. I can see my cam because it's really fucking cute. With respect. Great lady. You just wish me a good mountain. Yeah,

Margie: 22:33

so I just love this like, really? Like,

Rachel: 22:37

he just Grant who has the hots for him right away. Like she's like, Oh my

Unknown: 22:43

God, why but I do really? Oh, he's,

Rachel: 22:46

he's so good. He's like,

Margie: 22:49

a little like,

Rachel: 22:50

he's not archy Yes, he's, he's 100% not afraid to call her on her shit. Well, it doesn't know who she is yet doesn't know but still not afraid to call her on her shin including good mountain.

Margie: 23:01

Good morning. Good mountain

Rachel: 23:03

right and she's like super surprised because she's like, you know, because their language is really complicated right like and again I appreciate good world building so their language there's like this she goes into the thing about there's like three forms of the language so you have to use the different like you're speaking to a superior you speak in the submissive if you're speaking to someone under you speak as a commanding like,

Margie: 23:23

oh, okay, can any kind of like blue and new and French or no boo and

Rachel: 23:29

yeah, I just really appreciate well developed like that. For me marks like, really well thought out. Yeah. Right. So I, I nerd it out pretty hard about shit like that. So there's like instantly chemistry between the two because he thinks she's like, really pretty and is actually he's impressed that she's actually trying to learn his language, right? Yeah, let's stuff like she's actually willing to put in the effort. So she's like, Okay, well, you're obviously a nobleman, at some point, you know, languages. You're going to teach me so you're actually going to tutor me in your language. So she's like your slave, you have to do what I say. So we're gonna do this. So she gets him to tutor her in his language. Oh, cool, which I think is a neat Yeah. Um, so throughout all of this Shonto is still trying to figure out where his spy is. Okay, so he is like, pretending to work as a spy during the day and then at night, he just disappears. Yeah, thanks, boy homeboy gets no sleep. While he disappears like he goes, literally uses his magic to disappear so no one can find him because you're not in their records as a spy. He's just or as a slave. He's just jumping in because there's so many slaves he's right. Right in Yeah. Okay. And the way that again, I appreciate good world building the way they keep the slaves because he spent so much time for his like, how do you guys like why don't you run away? There's no chains, there's no nothing and they're like, well, they have a death spell on us. So and it but it's delayed. So if we do a full day's work, they will renew the protection spell against this, Dennis.

Margie: 25:03

Oh, creepy. So creepy, though. Yeah, like it's

Rachel: 25:08

so well done. Wrap I love No, that

Margie: 25:10

is really that's so good up though. Yeah.

Rachel: 25:13

So throughout all this he's like talking to some people and like learning you know what's going on in like what may have happened is by finding out that his spy is probably dead. Oh, so he's a little bummed about that I still want to find out for sure. So yeah, stick around. He's also trying to do absolutely anything he can to aid the war effort. So that's why he's trying to he's like, great. I have an in with the imperial family essentially. Yeah, teaching the Imperial Princess Bride language. So he keeps tutoring ran. Which is like really cute because like, there's so many cute parts in this because she walks up to him one day and she's like, tries to say like, Good morning, my friend. Good mountain. No, she doesn't like a mountain. But he just like, he like grins. And like he just she described like his, you know? Yes, like smile, right? Whatever. And she's like, Oh, no, did I say good mountain again? He's like, No, but you did call me my alligator. pet name for each other is my alligator.

Margie: 26:11

So you remember reminds me of? Have you seen Love Actually? Oh my god, there's this couple in it where the god, they don't speak the same language either of them. Like they don't have a language in common. But they still managed to fall in love. And so at the end of the movie, he makes this declaration of love and he does it in her language is Portuguese but she says all he uses like so many wrong words. So he's like, I Love You by like starfish.

Rachel: 26:43

It's so awesome. See, I'm a sucker for shit like that. You should see Love

Margie: 26:47

Actually, it's actually a cute,

Rachel: 26:49

okay, I'm not around calm fan, but I could maybe get an elbow that does remove the whole no communication thing because there's literally can't be communication. Right? Okay. Yeah, I

Margie: 26:58

can get at the end. He learns the language for her and she also learns English for him. That's cute. I know. It's so cute. Okay. All right. And it's also it's Colin Firth. Oh, I love Colin Firth. Good friend call.

Rachel: 27:10

Okay, I could get by. Yeah, for sure. All right. So, um, there's a couple like they they continue kind of he continues tutoring her for a little while. And the thing that I think I really appreciate and that he actually like, really, it's an interesting dynamic, because she's obviously very sheltered. And so she has very sheltered views on a lot of like, religion, and politics and stuff like that. And he challenges her all the time. So every time she's like, well, like they're reading a book on mythology from his, you know, for most art, and she's like, well, this is offensive, because it's showing, you know, the gods in this way, when actually they're in this way. He's like, Well, actually, you guys are the only ones that believe that. Yeah, a lot of unlike, actually, like challenging her and stuff and forcing her to like that, urging her to learn and know,

Margie: 27:59

that's also really cool, too, because he's doing that and he's putting himself at risk because they could figure him out at any moment

Rachel: 28:04

that he's actually a slave. I feel like he's building her up because it's, it's the whole like, yes, no, this is what it's like. You should you should go learn though for yourself. Because you right to see this. Yeah, like, pushing her to better herself and learn. Yeah, do all this stuff. And like very true. She was like, starts sitting in on more councils because she's like, Okay, I don't I can't contribute, but I want to know what's happening.

Margie: 28:23

Yeah, yeah. Yeah. She wants to better herself because of a relationship with Him. Exactly. Exactly.

Rachel: 28:28

So cool. I do appreciate that. Like, especially like, he really calls her on her shit again, but in a way that's like, no, like, you need to learn Yeah,

Margie: 28:37

it's fair. You can be a better person I can and and it shows that he thinks that she's like, you know, you're smart enough. Yeah. He's a person.

Rachel: 28:44

He's like, super impressed with her intelligence. Right? How what she's willing to do and everything so So I did want to do a quick sidebar on magic. Okay, so I mentioned he's a shroud mage, she is what's called a mind mage, so you can do like, mental manipulations. You can tell someone's lying she can.

Margie: 29:01

Does her body turn go on fire?

Rachel: 29:05

Yeah, well, and it's a very like, it's not like a like looking at someone until they're lying. It's a like, half they have to you have to be touching them. Any like, use your magic and if it's another mage, they might be able to just like, brush it off, right on mine mage would know. So like, there's that but she'd be able to just tell someone like she can plant like suggestions and to people and stuff like that. Cool. Okay, yeah. And so the other interesting thing that's a world building thing is the different nations have different methods of magic. So in QOL, they have what's called rift zones. So you I know you've never played Dragon Age No, but for any of our listeners, just play Dragon Age. The way magic works here is there is what's called the rift which is essentially like almost like another dimension or something that you can pull magic from. So in order to become a mage, you create a link with this other dimension in the form of an object. Okay, I have read a book that's sort of like that. Yeah. So Well, so the rift is kind of like the fade in Dragon Age if you've ever played Dragon Age, okay? But so in kill, they use RIF stones. So they're like stones that like a necklace or whatever, okay, that you keep with you. And that's your sort of connection to this other dimension. With Mozart they use almost like familiars. So animals so your animal like you're you're familiar becomes your anchor to this other world. And you they become like awakened essentially. So they can talk to each other and stuff. So he has a little weasel. And the animal you have is dependent on your type. Does it talk to him? Yeah. So like, they have what's called a brindle cat is one of the cats in here, which is like, kind of like a almost like a not a panther. I would say it's closer to like a bobcat, but bigger, okay, like a giant bobcat. And that's what their war mages have. Cool. And so it's really neat. Um, so I liked the way they developed magic bullet that comes into play. So, next scene, we're on scene four. What's worse? I know I haven't.

Margie: 31:00

I know you're doing you're doing great. Um,

Rachel: 31:02

so Augustine comes into town.

Margie: 31:05

He's Augustine again. Her betrayal. Oh, right. God.

Rachel: 31:10

Turns out he's a massive douche canoe because all of us are surprised Augustine is a dick. So this is he's a very good counterpoint to dontoh He is pretty much I know. He is pretty much what homeboy was from last time.

Margie: 31:29

But this is the see this is what I was telling you. Last month to do they get to different character. You're welcome. I found wait when we Alan Rickman flip. I so I post Egri.

Rachel: 31:45

I know. I know. But this is better. This is doing it right. This is doing it right. But I'm still a so he's attractive. Like he's, you know, he's right. Made she's read all that but he's incredibly controlling, abusive and nagging. Like crazy. negs, like Okay, good. Nobody's, right. Essentially, Blake Landon, land land whale

Margie: 32:06

oil.

Rachel: 32:07

Oh, he's basically him. So he's just a dick. So he he like is trying to win her over and everything and gives her like a kitten. And like, all this doesn't look it's a prize for Mozar and like cancer, a kitten and all this stuff. And why the next

Margie: 32:25

time? Here's a gift for you responsibility. Right?

Rachel: 32:29

Well, so the next time she meets up with John Doe, she brought it because she's like, I don't know how to take care of his. And he's like, where did you get that? Oh, my Botros gave it to me. He gave you a baby brindle cat. Oh, she does. Its name is whiskers. Oh. Turns out she gave he gave her a baby brindle cat. Which shows I think so in my going back to my AP English in high school. Here's my literary analysis. It shows that he is not in any way willing to learn about this culture that he's conquering. Yeah, he didn't even try to think that. Oh, this is a dangerous animal that could mold know that. So the babies apparently so the printer cat they get like these like stripes and stuff on them and like tufting at the ears, but the babies don't have them. So as they mature, he's just

Margie: 33:20

an idiot. Yeah, that's all okay. He didn't even

Rachel: 33:23

bother to he even got it from the place that they breed them. He just didn't bothered in like, learn about right grab. Well, no kidding. She's like this and brought it so he has no desire to even remotely learn about the Lonely Island he's supposed to be. Yeah, he's supposed to be

Margie: 33:41

conquering. Yeah, exactly. very counterintuitive to to like if you want to conquer a place you want to know about the customer so that I'm sorry. So that you can use that against that? Well, unless

Rachel: 33:51

you're planning on just bowling through them and naturalizing Yeah, what they're trying to do, they're gonna do in slave mall and take it for themselves. It's not a great yeah, not great. Not great. gets better. Promise like actually better.

Margie: 34:08

problematic.

Rachel: 34:10

Unacceptable. Yes. Unacceptable. Yeah. Um, okay. So after this interaction with John Doe, we, John, or Rihanna starts to try to learn about the actual war and what's going on and what they're doing in his country because he's actually started telling her about some of the atrocities that they're performing. And she's like, No, that can't be right. He's like, No, go, go learn about right, like you really learn. So she started doing that and jonjo is in the evening. He is, you know, hiding everything and he sees the quartermaster for the slaves. Oh, did I say there was assault? And then we're gonna go this guy you said there was there's some sexual assault as well. Okay. So, trigger warning, some sexual assault. He sees the quartermaster for the slaves assaulting one of the slaves and he goes in and beats the fuck out. Great guy. Um, but he gets taken away the next day.

Margie: 35:08

Oh no, because

Rachel: 35:10

they're like, Who the fuck are you? You're not in our no list. What did you do? So he put himself in danger to do this and gets captured and rants like where is my teacher? Like, where is he? And he actually asked one of the slaves in his language, very rudimentary she does, but she's able to do it, which I thought was neat. Yeah, um, well,

Margie: 35:27

it's good too, because then nobody else can really understand what she's saying and listen in.

Rachel: 35:30

Right? Um, but she's so she's like, he's like, yeah, they took him away this morning to be interrogated. And she's like, No, this is bullshit. So she doesn't find him finds in the dungeon rather, keeping and then like about to try and interrogate

Margie: 35:45

so dungeon sex

Rachel: 35:47

to break. He's like, fuck, FAK FAK FAK fat because they're gonna find out right? Yeah. And so they're like trying to find a mind mage to tell when he's lying. So they can interrogate him. And he walks in and she's like, What the fuck is going on? Yeah, like, Well, we, we need to tell you like, Okay, I'll be the mind mage. I'll do it. And so she'd sit down and she's the one interrogating him. Yeah, so they are relying on her to tell whether or not he's lying. Okay. Oh, she lies for him. Yeah, because they're asking like, Are you a spy? Like this specific? Question. Yeah, no. And so she knows she knows. She's lying. But she's like, Yeah, or like, Yes, that's true. Like she lies she knows that something isn't what she already had some suspicions, but because yeah,

Margie: 36:30

like still betraying her country? Absolutely. Yeah.

Rachel: 36:33

Isn't all hell. Yeah.

Margie: 36:35

So buddy's really cute

Rachel: 36:37

though. And smart and challenges her and like that booty dough. Really very attractive. Yeah, so she helps him. And they kind of start to figure things out and we start to she was like, Okay, you need to leave this country or I will report you like I committed treason. I'm aware of this. i You need to leave and she's like, really upset about it. But she's like, You have to leave.

Margie: 36:57

Yeah, I'm God. But she's still saved. Um, well, and he's like,

Rachel: 37:02

look, this guy just because I beat him up is not going to stop. He's been doing this apparently, like every night like we need. Oh, my I want to stop it. Yeah, she's like, okay, so she ends up helping him. Stop this dude completely from doing this anymore. Amazing, which is awesome. But then she's like, alright, you need to get me out. You need to leave. And he's like, Yeah, I'm not gonna. Oh,

Margie: 37:24

she's he's done because he likes to write

Rachel: 37:26

well, now he's like, I can't his honor to his country. Yeah, comes first because he's like, I really like you. I really need to do what I can for my country. Yes, it's still right and everything. So they actually still meeting up a little bit. But this time, he's not pretending to be a slave. He's just like, did they tell her who he is? She doesn't know. He's the prince. But she knows He's a spy for the

Margie: 37:48

country. So it's like a ladder. Except not.

Rachel: 37:52

But so they're like meeting up by the bridge. They're like the bridge. Okay. And like, he'll put her inside. He can take other people into shroud. So Oh, no one can see that kind of stuff. So she ends up there like hanging out and she she brings a blanket. She's like, hey, I want you to have sex with me. Why?

Margie: 38:10

And he's like, I knew there that was going when he went to the blanket, but I'm still kind of shocked, right?

Rachel: 38:15

He's like, like, she's like, Yeah, because I'm about to go be married to a royal asshole. And I do not want him to be my first. So

Margie: 38:28

that's like, really kind of sweet and also really sad. Right?

Rachel: 38:33

Oh, he's like, okay, like, but he's like, super cute and is like, okay, you've never done this before. And like it's, oh, I'm doing the Okay, symbol listeners. Yeah, it's very sweet. It's really adorable. Um, so they did that a couple times? Because she likes him. He likes her. Oh, and then bad things start. Um, so most are false. Ah, kill wins. Oh, no. And when I say full. Oh, no, I mean, Augustine shows up with victory march through the city. And John Doe is watching like has snuck into the palace at this point in his watching everything going on. And he pulls up the head of his parents. Shit goes south fucking fast.

Margie: 39:25

John's parents right. Okay,

Rachel: 39:27

so Moser has fallen I don't know. I apologize everyone It seems someone decided to do yard work outside right yeah,

Margie: 39:36

like that's the 530 when it's already getting dark Sunday

Rachel: 39:39

but So Moses fallen and as a result chanteuse no king, because it's

Margie: 39:44

Oh, wow. Oh, no. Oh, no. That makes him such a target.

Rachel: 39:48

They don't know he's there still. Right. Still, but he is just super like obviously upset because I just saw his guided parents like Right. Yeah, no bueno. But also, no reason has to go after like be married now. So it's like a one way.

Margie: 40:07

So are they like, are they love at this point? Or oh god, oh god.

Rachel: 40:12

Absolutely. Um, so he helps her. And so here's another thing that I thought was awesome. Was he like, they meet up after this happens and she's like when she finds out it's his parents. She's like, Oh my God is like so upset and he's like, No, you're going through bad stuff, too. Your struggles are not Oh, not legitimate because of my soul so strong. Like we both have our own struggles and both are perfect.

Margie: 40:37

marry each other. That'll only fuck out the relationship. Yes, seriously.

Rachel: 40:43

Great. Sorry, I'm not doing very good. Marshall. It's just so good,

Margie: 40:46

healthy relationship that's built over like common interests and like shared history and stuff like that. Like

Rachel: 40:53

I need to add another I bookmarked another quote from him. That was really awesome. I really want to get your reaction to this. Okay, so this is when he's challenging her ideas of politics, right? And her whole thing is well, you know, kills a stronger nation stronger nations are meant to rule weaker nations. That's like their philosophy. That's what she was raised to know. I wonder Do you support this philosophy yourself? Larger nations should rule smaller ones. I said stronger nations should rule not larger nations. But it is killed sighs that gives it the advantage over Moser ran shook her head not only sighs our military tactics and trainings are superior. That sounds very like she was sheltered in this right he was preached at how can you know when you know so little Moser? She gave him a sour look. You were a woman continued JATO. Do you believe women should be ruled by men because men are physically larger? That's not the same thing. I fail to see the difference, I think Yeah. And just like I love

Margie: 41:47

that. I love it. I love it so much. Me too. He's so cute.

Rachel: 41:54

Guys, for what it's worth. We appreciate men that are willing to you know, actually, like be reasonable. And emotional. Like we like that guys. Yeah. Cool. All right. Anyway, be vulnerable to Yeah, Jojo is great. Yes. He's not even my favorite guy in the entire series that I've read so far, but he's so wonderful. Okay, so jonjo helps ran run away. To get away from this marriage. He's like, I need to and she's, she's like, you can come with me. We can go start a new life. And he's like, No, I can't I really need to Yeah, he's loyal to his country. Good for him. So but he does help her escape. Okay, she escapes. They catch her. There's a whole thing about the catcher. It's it's No, I can't go super into it. But there's a lot that goes on there. Oh, so she's caught and Florian is Lucians dad. So Florian is the Emperor the damper. He has her whipped. Yeah. Okay. Uh huh. So he's like super past that she is not going wholeheartedly to marry Augustine and like all this stuff. And she's like, No, he's like, yeah, like you. So she's getting whipped. And he won't even give her access to a healer. Like I met him healer magic so that she won't have scars. So she's gonna have scars, like all this stuff. It's it's a whole thing. Like, yeah, he's not and

Margie: 43:11

if she did, and also she did marry Augustine, I'm sure that he would find Oh, no, that would just be that would just be he would just see as her like, but yeah, oh, God.

Rachel: 43:21

No. So throughout all this genre is actually captured. Like, legitimately figure out who he is. No, no, no, no, this is really she comes in because actually, Lucian is my favorite. I love him. He comes in and he like finds because Lucia knows what he that he's a spy. Right? And he knows that he was that he likes ran. Right? He walks in. He's like, I don't think we have a lot in common. But I also think you care for ran and so do i right? And he's like, yes, like, Okay, I'm not going to have you put to death. And I'm not going to have you interrogated. Because I think we could because if you do it's going to come out that being committed treason. So right let's see what I can do. And so Ryan's like all right, I will marry Augustine. 100% full stop if you just exile him and kill him so

Margie: 44:08

tragic. Oh my god.

Rachel: 44:14

I really enjoyed this book. Oh my god, I was going back through so I read this a while ago and I was going back through it or like write my notes. And I was just like rereading stakes

Margie: 44:24

are so high

Rachel: 44:27

on my notes, because I kept just wanting to reread the book.

Margie: 44:30

Yeah, yeah, I did not feel that way about fucking Blake Landon.

Rachel: 44:33

I felt this way about John Doe. Um, okay. So, yeah, so John Doe is put on a ship to this island to be exiled to shipped off essentially. So the ship is actually intercepted by one of his brother ships. So after his nation fell, his brother who was the head of the Navy, went off and has been running essentially guerrilla warfare tactics against y'all So he attacks that ship thinking it's a keel and like ship, right? And it turns out to be his brother on the new ship, so he's able to escape, okay? And he's like, all right, but this noise, and he basically sails back into keel because all of kills worships and army or Mozart right now, okay, their main city is completely defenseless per bag. So he found his navy and it's like, Alright, fuck you guys and goes in and essentially besieges the main city. Yeah, right. He officially becomes king and is like, okay, alright, let's get the shit. Amazing. See, he is laying siege on the country. That is currently laying siege on his country. Yes, there you understand why I say there's so much going on. It's really hard to describe it. Yeah, literally. Yeah, my best. Yeah. Um, but this is where ran finds out that he's the king now of Mozart. Okay. Um, she is not pleased that he didn't tell her. Understandable. He gets it. And he's like, he's like, look, I understand. I'm sorry, if we can just like, have to do things. Now. We really need to talk about this. If you'll just stay here. I'll come back and we can talk and all this stuff. And he has essentially has her state in the room. Okay, that she's in like her room. Right? Um, again, she's not pleased. Yeah. And so he's trying to negotiate with Lucian. So one of the first things he does is he takes Florian the current emperor and is like, Fuck you, you're exiled, takes away his rift stones. He still can't do magic anymore. Right and exiles him. Okay, and islands, right? He's out of the picture. Okay, he's not someone that he could negotiate with. Okay, so now Lucia is emperor. Lucy is like an emperor. Yeah, we like him. Right? We like him. But he's still like, under siege and like, doesn't like John. Oh, yeah. So he's like, they're trying to figure out and so finally Alicia is like, Alright, I'm gonna give you a little bit of a heads up. rands going to hate you. If you keep her trapped. That is why she hated Florian. Right. She kept her in the palace. She couldn't do anything. She will hate you. Yeah, if this happened, and she starts to really resent him because she's like, you're not letting me go. I need like, I'm not okay with her, really resent him for it. And he's trying so hard to be like, No, I just want to protect you and like, all this stuff, and that kind of stuff. From a good place. Right? He's still okay. Right. And so finally, he's like, you know, I think you're right. Like, I'm being an asshole. I don't, I can't keep you trapped. Yeah, you need to be able to make your own decisions and do right you want you are free to go like, yeah, like finally is like, Alright, oh, well, he's trying to make negotiations and do all these things and everything. Uh huh. And so she's able to, like, be her own person and figure out what she wants to do and make her own decision. Right? They ended up deciding in the negotiation and totally fully with her consent, that in order to sort of create a connection between these two nations, they're going to have a political marriage, essentially, between John Doe and Rihanna. Yay. She's 100% on board with it. Yeah. Yeah, like, totally cool. And they get in. Okay, so yeah, so Okay, let's see. So my last notes are kind of like a bullet one booboo of things that happen. Um, so after negotiations, he realizes he's wrong and lets her go and she chooses to go with him. Very important of her invalid, right. Okay. Old asshole. Emperor is exiled forever illusion is now emperor. And RAM becomes queen of Crusher now. So they like me. Oh, and I totally forgot to put it in my notes. What do you think happened to a guest it did happen. It happens when most RS like John was forced is John Torres. At this point is like King name, right. are storming the main city? Which I will say when they're taking the city he's having everyone marched through the city and he's like, nobody pillages nobody kills anybody. Nobody rapes any right? We are doing we are not stooping to their level. Right? Nobody does anything. And two people were caught two of the soldiers were caught, like raping a woman. He's like, all right, kill him. Good. Right up, puts him to death. And they're like what you can't do? He's like, No, this is not acceptable. We are not going to

Margie: 49:12

do this. Yeah. And oh, yeah, we're not animals. Yeah.

Rachel: 49:15

But yeah, so I'll give you a hint. It happened while they were storming the the Imperial Palace and involves a cat

Margie: 49:28

the Kraken,

Rachel: 49:29

basically. So Augustine basically, like shows up in rands room when all of like they're storming the castle and being taken over and he's like, Well, basically if I can't have you know, when it starts trying to kill her, Oh, my God, John Doerr, and he's a War Mage. So war mages are really difficult to kill. Yeah, they have these like super essentially spidey senses, okay, and all this stuff. And so Sean Torres like finds he the first thing his first thought is okay, I need to make sure rams Okay, so he goes to her room and sees her like, being choked out essentially. And he's like, fuck that. And so he like texted Dude and then finally the end up like both of them leave the room as he like releases the brindle cat and the brittle cat just wrecks this guy. Yeah, Oscars got her back. Yeah. So I really liked this book.

Margie: 50:15

It was a really like a fun roller coaster and

Rachel: 50:17

I hope I did an okay job. Like I said, there is so much much I do also real quick want to read.

Margie: 50:23

I do really like.

Rachel: 50:26

Okay, so I actually bought this,

Margie: 50:28

you know, chicken, Bitsy,

Rachel: 50:30

she's, she's low. I bought three of these books, actually. Because there's no there's more in the series that I haven't gotten yet and haven't read yet. But they're really good. And I did want to read one of the reviews in the beginning of the book, which I really appreciated. Here it is a great read. It was wonderful to see two intelligent individuals continue to value and treat each other with respect. I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of the series.

Margie: 50:58

That's Yes. Oh, 90%. Right.

Rachel: 51:02

Yeah, so I thought this was a really good palate cleanser. So the first book that I read is called Assassin's Gambit, which actually follows Lucian, and it's happened three years after this book does, okay, or is it time is five years is Roman. Okay. Um, so that one was the first one I wanted to do rather than this one, but it's even more complicated than this one. Okay. Because there's a lot of like, it gets into some heavy shit the way okay, honestly, when I was reading these books, they were in the romance section at the, the library. But I would honestly consider it to be more of a just really good fantasy novel with some romance in it seems

Margie: 51:39

to me like the cover and the title just didn't really justice. Okay, so this is actually what I got. That's the end. That's the type of book to have kind of been waiting for him. Like, I've been hoping that like, what we've been doing this podcast, we would uncover books like that, and we just did and I'm so glad.

Rachel: 51:55

No, and all of our books are kind of like that. We're like, got the cover. And I was like, Oh, this is gonna be a shit show. And it's just really good. Yeah, yeah. Um, so I was very, very impressed. The characters actually have like, grow it totally passes the book Delta.

Margie: 52:09

Yes, it does. It absolutely does. Yeah. And also, like, the characters are all like, very cute in dimension. Yeah. Depth. Yeah. depth to

Rachel: 52:19

them. And and they have their own motivations. Yeah. Like he will want to read it. To read like a different book out of the series, though. Read Assassin's Gambit. Okay, really, it's okay. There's some, there are some. There's some problematic parts in it. But it is presented in such a way that it's not. It's not using those problematic bits, like sexual assault and stuff like that. As like, it's not spinning that in a good light. Like it's yeah, this is wrong. Yeah. But yes. Is what happened to these characters. Yeah, have dealt with it, right. It's not it's not like the last one where it's like, oh, no, abuse is fine. It's romance. It's like, oh, no, this person was abused and is permanently affected by it. Yeah. This is how these

Margie: 53:03

are the real. It's funny, because this is not a real world. But there are like real world. Things that happen.

Rachel: 53:09

There's some incredible, like, just really relatable like, Yeah, this is how this would work. Like,

Margie: 53:14

I have to ask how's the sex in this book? Do they describe it? Oh, yeah, it's good. Yeah.

Rachel: 53:20

It is. It's

Margie: 53:22

just brings a blanket. You know, she's like, this girl do you want it's cool? Yeah. Um, be prepared. Always. Ladies be prepared. Don't expect him to be prepared.

Rachel: 53:32

No, never. Yep. Um, no, it's it's like, I never ever thought I would describe sex scenes in novels as cute. Oh, oh, yeah. I love it. And there's so many like little bits that I had to skip over that were just like little details that were amazing because like he was telling her about most are like about like, he went into this whole thing of oh, let's just like we are people live in caves. He's like, No, we have underground cities because in like, their caves that are magicians create, essentially, because the week it's really rainy, and we can't have like villages on normal Earth because they would wash away and like I'm like, really good world building.

Margie: 54:16

Well, and I feel like for her, it's gonna be really cool. And she actually gets to be queen, because she'll be able to like, explore and she obviously seems like a person who like right, wants to learn and wants to explore

Rachel: 54:27

and they emphasize that people live well. And so he tells her, he tells her all about that and she's like, Okay, well, I I want to show you something really cool about kill, because you've told me something really cool about Mozart. So he she takes him on like, like a horse back riding like, right through versus through the forest. That's what the horse that the coverage. Yeah. And all of a sudden it's like gunshots essentially, or when hearing really which guns do exist in this world. But like gunshots is essentially what she's hearing. And he's like, freaking He like tries to actually like get kind of get in front and be like, okay, like,

Margie: 55:03

let me let me be a man and protect you kinda

Rachel: 55:05

that's like, yeah, it's a protection thing, but it doesn't feel like a creepy. Okay, that's

Margie: 55:10

good. That helps. Yeah, it didn't make it sound good, but it can be good. It can be like,

Rachel: 55:13

well, but she's like totally fresh like what and he's like, what is that? Oh, it's the trees and it's like these trees the way they like pollinate essentially is they just explode outward like Wait I'm sorry what? Yeah, isn't that really interesting? He's like don't get any on me. What do you mean this is an ejaculating forest such sorry

Margie: 55:40

that's so oh my god i love it i robots levels that have snuck but they also have to be like respectful to get the Snark but that the respectful that

Rachel: 55:51

he is mad it's this this book knocked it out of the park for

Margie: 55:56

that felt that water or that water that book felt like a club. Like I feel like I've just taken a shower after the novel before this it felt so right good.

Rachel: 56:05

So if I'm completely like, like if we're raining I I would read this book not as just like a romance book. It's just a very good book right okay, so I would say it knocked it out of the park okay lives across the board and not not like like for me personally this is not romance level fives it's book five All right there you go. Really enjoyed the plot was super in depth and there was so much going on and it was very engaging and like he wanted to know more about the world.

Margie: 56:36

So you want you wanted to go on and read the next book too. Oh, absolutely. And I did

Rachel: 56:39

I so I got Assassin's game it from the library. And then as soon as I finished it I bought this one and read this one. As soon as I finished this one I bought the next one which actually follows Lucians little sister. Oh, and then there's a short story

Margie: 56:56

that I read. So has she written other series?

Rachel: 56:58

I think there's one more but I don't know much about it. Okay, yeah, so I think this one knocked out of the park it definitely passed the Bechdel Test Yay. Yay. Really go out and read this one. Okay, it's a relatively fast read but it is so

Margie: 57:12

good. So to move on though, what are we reading outside of this anything? Um, so

Rachel: 57:17

I have been reading and it's so dumb and I love it. I found a series of Choose Your Own Adventure book. Oh, I couldn't find the original one in the series. So I found the next one in the series which is called Romeo and or Juliet. Oh my God, it is choose your own adventure Shakespeare.

Margie: 57:36

I love it.

Rachel: 57:38

Beautiful. So like the first time I played through it I played Juliet and because you can place Romeo or Juliet right? And I ended up single but became a pirate and was very happy with

Margie: 57:51

that's so awesome.

Rachel: 57:52

It's so good.

Margie: 57:53

We I didn't tell you for New Years. I was doing a murder mystery game. But But I was sucked at

Rachel: 58:02

bowl. Oh, I can't Yeah, but it

Margie: 58:04

was really fun. No, I

Rachel: 58:05

guess so. The first one is actually called To be or not to be that's the adventure. And it's Hamlet. That's and you can play as Hamlet Ophelia or the ghost.

Margie: 58:16

I wouldn't I would totally be the ghost. Ruin.

Rachel: 58:20

So I want to I want to buy that one and read it because it was it was hysterical. Okay. Oh, so funny. It was very good. So there was like a dumb little like,

Margie: 58:31

we both been doing that lately. Yeah, I was watching like, cheesy anime.

Rachel: 58:37

Sometimes you need a cleanser. Yeah.

Margie: 58:39

Oh, my God, did I so please, please, please rate review. And so yeah, do all those things. Do all those things. Give us a really good review.

Rachel: 58:47

Yeah, that really helped. We

Margie: 58:48

really need that, guys. I mean, I can't stress how much it really helps us. And if not, and also like just email us and tell us what you think. Give us comments. My stomach is growling. So

Rachel: 59:01

yeah, give us a review on iTunes stars really helps. We would love it if you would pass this on to one of your maybe a friend that you think might enjoy. Um, we have a blast doing this. And every once in a while you do get a gym. And this is wonderful. And we found one we found one. So pick this one up for you. Seriously, I love this book. It was great. It was so good. I actually I liked Assassin's game but more but this one was very early to the game. It has a lot more some more heavy, like sexual assault parts in it. But again, it's not painted. Yeah, it's not painted. It's not painted as romantic. It's like no this is not okay. Yeah, it's very good.

Margie: 59:43

Um, is there anything else you need to tell our listeners?

Rachel: 59:47

How to contact us Twitter? Yes, T tension pod Instagram, textual tension BOD Goodreads, textual tension website, textual tension pod

Margie: 59:56

at G or textual tension pod.com Email, textual tension pod@gmail.com

Rachel: 1:00:02

Beautiful. Yeah, so um, I guess I'll be back in two weeks, which is going to be Valentine's Day.

Margie: 1:00:10

I don't think about that. We're

Rachel: 1:00:12

really close to Valentine's day better. It's gonna be your Episode Two.

Margie: 1:00:15

Oh, wow. Okay. Oh my god. I'm so excited to

Rachel: 1:00:21

pick a good one. Oh, well. Also,

Margie: 1:00:25

maybe it should be.

Rachel: 1:00:27

Oh, yeah. Okay. That's also really close to my birthday. I'm gonna need that as a gift to the birthday to me happy Fabio. Wow, I'm like, what fast on this and I was like, Yeah, wait by it flew by. Yeah, I was expecting to go over um, so complicated. Alright, I think that's it. Oh, wait

Margie: 1:00:52

eight linaria Thank you for your song. Oh, love from the album be hell yeah, that

Rachel: 1:00:57

yes. We can't forget about that. Yes. We love it. Alright, I think that you think we at this point would have like written this down and had a thing to go back and

Margie: 1:01:06

you know what, I'll just take it