The Lazy Girl Library
The Lazy Girl Library is a charming book podcast hosted by two best friends. Expect laughter, witty banter, and a generous sprinkle of fun as we dive into the stories that have captured our hearts and minds. So grab your favorite blanket, a cup of tea or coffee, and curl up with us as we embark on a captivating literary adventure.
The Lazy Girl Library
Book Blender: Our Summer Update and Book Talk
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Join us as we catch up on our summer adventures! Could you land an airplane if you had to? That’s just one of the many tantalizing topics we tackle in our chat about reality TV, Olympic drama, and summer reading trends.
New author discoveries, ongoing adaptation drama, and lively literary debates color this episode. From the Abby Jimenez novels capturing our hearts to the turmoil surrounding Colleen Hoover's "It Ends With Us," we offer our insights and opinions. We also share updates about our book club pick, "The Housemaid" by Freida McFadden, and set the stage for some rich discussions ahead.
SPOILER WARNING!
Start: 37:51
End: 56:45
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Welcome to the Lazy Girl Library , the podcast , where reading is a pleasure and captivating adventures happen from the comfort of your couch . I'm your host , darby , and I'm Mikayla , and if you've ever spent more time rearranging your bookshelf than your priorities , then you , my friend , are in the right place . Hello , darby , hey , did you guys miss us ? It's episode nine . We're back , finally took a little bit of a break . Bet , you didn't know we were leaving . You know , life happens , things happen . It gets kind kind of crazy . We took a little break , but we're back and better than ever now . We just had to have a hot girl summer , but we're back for fall , fall , girl time . Yeah , so this episode's gonna be more of what we call a book blender episode . We did have we love alliterations . Yes , we did have a book club book for July . It was the Housemaid . You all had plenty of time to read it . Yes , plenty of time had the Housemaid by Freda McFadden . So we're going to talk about that one a little bit . But we're kind of blending this episode as a book talk , also with just a pod catch up . What have we been up to ?
Summer Catch Up
Speaker 1What have we been reading ? Get back into it . And , yeah , what have we been up to on this break , so summer catch-up . Here's what I've been up to .
Speaker 1I moved into a house in like may time I might have said that on the podcast , I don't remember but I moved into a house . It's been good until we found out that there was a leak in our shower , but , but it wasn't like a super noticeable leak . So by the time that we found it , like our walls had so much water they took out the carpet in our closet . There's a big hole in our living room . Now , like we can see the inner wall , it looks like a construction zone . It does . Yeah , we had like three different humidifiers and fans in there . It's so loud it was very overstimulated in there . So loud it was very overstimulated . They're gone now so we're slowly fixing it back up . Um , at least you don't have to pay for it . Yes , it's a rental house we have . We didn't buy this place , we're just renting it . So at least the positive and the negative right . Yes , yes , so we won't have to pay for everything , although we did bring up to our like rental place that we didn't want to have fans and humidify , like we didn't ask for that . So are you gonna help us with our electricity bill . They gave us a big fat no . They said , nope , not our problem . But it's like , okay , well , it's not our problem either . Yeah , anywho , so moved into a house .
Speaker 1I had my friend's bachelorette party in saint augustine and that was really fun . I really haven't been to St Augustine much and it's so cute , I really liked it . It's very quaint , mm-hmm . I also got asked to be a bridesmaid over summer by Miss Michaela . Surprise . I said no , I'm just kidding , just kidding , she did it . It was just kidding , just kidding , she did it . It was so cute .
Speaker 1We did a PowerPoint night , which , if you don't know it's going to be hard to explain . I think it's more of a Gen Z thing , but basically you and your friends make PowerPoints on anything , powerpoints on anything , and so Michaela went last on our powerpoint night and her title screen was like the bridesmaid chronicles and it was like book themed and the silence was so loud . Everyone in the room was like in shock . And then she brought out these cute boxes that were all like tailored to each of us , and then each of her slides was a book page that had , um , like descriptions of , like our friendship and all these cute qualities and disney characters that we were . Oh , it was so good . The goal was to make everyone cry , and I think I achieved that goal . Yeah , absolutely , it was crazy , one of one of my favorite summer memories .
Speaker 1Oh , I'm so happy you said yes , um , and then what else has been going on ? It's been kind of a slow season at work for me . That's nice , though , because you came off a really busy season . Yeah , springtime , basically from mid-February to mid-May like you can't talk to me , like it's crazy . So we had our event wrap up and then getting prepared and now we're back to planning , but it's still not as crazy as it will be in the springtime . So that's been really nice .
Speaker 1I had my mom's birthday . Happy birthday , mama D . That was fun , just getting to hang out with the family . I have four siblings , for those of you who don't know , so sometimes it's hard to get us under the same roof , and actually we didn't even have all of us under the same roof for her birthday , but we had a majority of us , so it was nice to hang out with the fam .
Speaker 1Shout out the Wellbom clan . Yeah , wellbom clan and Browns . I have half siblings , but Wellbom Browns . Well , I'm clan and Browns . I have half siblings , but well , I'm Browns . And then what else ? Oh , we just had our beer Olympics . So fun . Yeah , michaela and I were on the same team together . We got last place . We had fun doing it anyway , we had so much fun .
Speaker 1Michaela shotgunned for the first time , which was wild . She was incredible . Like oh my gosh , she put me to shame . No , I'm not good at shotgunning anyway . But like , no , you literally crushed it like I was in shot , like you finished . And I was like oh my gosh , I gotta go like , but I was just in awe watching you and that was really cool . And we played beer ball together . We were teammates . For that I definitely let you down in that regard .
Speaker 1No , no , no , everything kind of went off the rails for me after shotgunning . Beer ball always does me in there , because after beer olympics I was like diego , play with me more . And then I'm like decent at beer balls who kept winning . But the point of beer ball or peg the can , whatever you want to call it , is you're like chugging a full , like can of beer is you know the essence of the game . How fast can you do it , like with other rules involved ? But then I'm like on game three and I'm like I cannot be drinking like this . So it's like I wasn't even drunk from beer olympics . I was drunk from post beer olympics power hour .
Speaker 1Uh , and rewinding a little bit for those of you who don't know what a Beer Olympics is , it's basically like an adult field day with drinking games . So you play a bunch of drinking games like beer ball , pick the can , beer pong , shotgun , relay , flip cup , elimination , flip cup , things like that . Yep , drunk limbo was a great one and we even did like three-legged race , dizzy bat , like that kind of thing . So it was super fun . It was our sixth year doing it , which is kind of crazy . It is crazy and we're all kind of in our later 20s at this point .
Speaker 1Uh , mid , mid to late , mid to late . I'm speaking for myself . I am starting to get . I always forget . You're not late yet you're right , I have an extra week and a half . Yeah , exactly , hold on to that week Aging myself . But we definitely . I feel like every year it gets like smaller and like more chill in a good way . But because we're all like getting too old for this , I'm like I need to ref next year . But it's always a good time . Yeah , it is always a good time , so is always a good time .
Speaker 1So we just had that and then , kind of overarching theme , I've been reading a lot . Yeah , you've been crushing , we'll get into it . But whoa , whoa , I've been reading a lot , yeah , but that's been kind of what ? Just a little taste of what I've been up to this summer . Yeah , what about ? What about you , mikayla ? My summer's been kind of crazy .
Speaker 1I did have a little bit of a health scare Not going to go into it , but I am doing okay and much better . But that took up a little bit of stress and time . I'm stronger than yesterday , so we're all good now . But that , yeah , that took some time Doctors appointments , things like that . But I did get to spend a lot of time with my family this summer , which was nice . My parents live out of state , so it's always nice when we get together and we even had a really big family get together for my grandma's 91st birthday . So happy birthday , Nana . I love you , nana .
Speaker 1Um , so that was really fun getting to see like everybody and people from like . My uncle lives over in paris , so he even came . Oh my gosh , yeah , bonjour , did he miss the olympics or was he there for the opening ceremony . You have to watch some of them . Wow , like . He got to see the gymnastics with , like someone by us too jealous , so jealous . That's so cool . I would love to go to an olympics at some point . He got to see the gymnastics with someone by his tooth Jealous , so jealous , that's so cool . I would love to go to an Olympics at some point in my lifetime Me too , la , maybe , maybe , maybe , we try . That'd be fun . Go stay with our friend . Yeah , go check it out . Yeah , but yeah . So that was really nice , getting to see all my family and celebrate her and her beautiful life .
Speaker 1And I
Summer Olympics
Speaker 1was fully invested in the Summer Olympics this year . Not surprising , I was fully into it . I had shout out Peacock because they did a fantastic job . They did . This was like the best Olympics . That in my recent memory of like coverage wise , they had a gold zone going . We watched that . That's what I watched majority of the time , which is my favorite because it really helped . Like swapping from all the different events , you could see everything instead of having to pick and choose what you wanted . And for those who don't know , gold Zone is a play on Red Zone and what Red Zone is . It's something that the girls don't always love because your boyfriends or husbands . It basically means they get to watch eight hours of uninterrupted commercial free football and they only show when a football team is in the red zones , when they're about to score . So gold zone was a play on that , so they were showing all the different events and like when people were like getting close to winning and stuff . That was really cool because you got to watch a lot of sports that , like you wouldn't think to put on yourself if you're going and watching the Olympics . It was neat . I did like Gold Zone .
Speaker 1I'm sad I didn't listen to more of the Call Her Daddy segments because she had her own show for the Olympics . Oh , I didn't even know , yeah , so I didn't listen to that one or watch that one as much , but I wish I had . I didn't even know . Yeah , i'm'm gonna have to go back and look into that . Um , I loved keeping up this year . I always keep up with like one new sport I feel like each year I get invested in because there's always like the typical ones , like gymnastics . Obviously I'm gonna watch someone by , I'll kill it like . Which is just , her power is insane swimming . Yes , you're gonna watch katie ledecky who killed it . Um , I also love watching synchronized diving . That's another one of my favorites . It's always like towards the beginning . Uh , it just amazes me how in sync they are down to like the very minute details . Yeah , wild , I didn't realize that like your splashes scored , like it's crazy . It is pretty crazy .
Speaker 1But this year my one that I really got into was women's rugby . Yeah , because of alona mayor , I want to say , is she the one that was doing like the love island tiktok trend ? Oh my god , yeah she was . I fell in love with her last , like the last summer olympics , because of her tiktok . But this year I really , like because of gold zone , got to sit and actually watch rugby and they won bronze for the us , which is the first medal , men's or women's , for the program that we've won in the event , which is go usa wild , yeah , usa . And so happy it was the women's too . So that was really fun to watch and like get to see and like watching her tiktoks along with . It was fantastic . So I loved that . Yeah , rugby for the win this year . Go rugby .
Speaker 1I'm just thinking of the friends episode when they're wait , I don't think I know , um , who is it okay , they're playing rugby and like who , who is it ? I don't know why there are two rugby guys there , but they're playing rugby and like ross is like trying to show off for rachel I think I could be totally butchering this and miss remembering . Um , yeah , that's really all I have from the memory . It's like they're playing rugby and he like jumps into the pile . I have like , as you're describing , it's like a vague mirage is coming up . Yeah , I've . Yeah , it's vague for me too , but that's all I'm thinking of when I think of rugby is just like them playing .
Speaker 1I feel like what I've learned is rugby is very much like that combination between soccer and football . Yeah , obviously it leans more towards football and I love football , so maybe that's why I really enjoy watching rugby , but because of the continuous play and everything , it really reminded me a lot of like soccer too . So it's kind of fun seeing like the new sports and picking up like how they connect like within other sports to help you understand it more , kind of yeah , justin , my husband is convinced that he would be great at handball . I don't know if you watched any of handball , but josh did . I think they're joining together to make like a team for 2028 ? Yeah , all right , we'll be the cheerleaders , yeah , but it was just funny because he was like well , I could so do that . Right , I was like sure you could be a gold medalist . He's actually very athletic , he could probably do everything . Yeah , I think that's all the boys , though . When they watch these , like I could do that , yeah . Or like , sorry , go ahead , go ahead .
Speaker 1The question of like could you build an airplane or land an airplane ? I don't know that one . Oh , there was like this thing going around where they were asking guys like do you think you could land an airplane ? Like if you had to ? And like everyone was like , yeah , of course . No , josh is such a man . He loved the . No , sorry , josh , yeah , geek , I'm just kidding .
Speaker 1Um , he used to play like an actual flight simulator later , um , as a kid , like growing up , like through like high school and even the college kind of thing . So I don't know his answer to that question , like actually , by asking him , but I know his answer would 100% be like oh , yeah , I can do it Easy , I got the hours . I've only ever seen one of those games . Once I had a Wish kid and their wish was to be a fighter jet pilot and we ended up like interviewing them . So we fighter jet pilot and we ended up like interviewing them . So we went to um his house and he had a little flight simulator . That's awesome , like just like a little controller . It was really cool .
Speaker 1It makes me think of those memes , too , that you see on the internet around the olympics , where it's like you're sitting on your couch like shoving your face with potatoes but potato chips , and like completely judging , like oh , she stepped out of bounds there , like rookie mistake , like you could even do like a fraction of what she just did . It's crazy . I actually don't love watching the olympics because I used to cheer and I used to tumble nothing , not an ounce of what they could do . So we'll get started there like I'm not comparing myself to them , but it's like I can't watch them tumble because I like ended my cheerleading career like in a mental block which is kind of like what ? Yeah , I guess that's maybe what they called in gymnastics , but in cheer a lot of people call it a mental block , and so like I couldn't like tumble . So like when I watch them , it like makes me sad . Not , but I could never do that anyway . But like yeah , so sometimes like watching them when they do the floor stuff , I'm like like change it to track .
Speaker 1I love gymnastics every year . Gymnastics is fun . I think track is my favorite , though it's so simple . Yeah , that's true , I do love when it gets like close to the end . So like the races and watching those are the best .
Speaker 1Didn't like one of the US like bronze girls ? Didn't they take it away ? Yeah , for gymnastics , mm-hmm , yep , that's Jordan Childs . Like they . It's just a totally . It's like a judge-maid thing after the .
Speaker 1I'm not completely read up on all of the minute details of it , but from my understanding is the Romanians were going to win bronze but there's an issue with Jordan Child's scoring , so they challenged it . They found that they were correct in the challenge , so then Jordan Child's score was changed . She ended up winning bronze . But then the Romanian team came back and challenged that the Us submitted their challenge too late . Yeah , it was like a fourth of a second right , because they have to do it within one minute , and they said it was like too late for them to do it when they did . But then the us team came back with receipts and was like uh-uh , no , we submitted it within the time frame and gave the receipts of it , mic drop . But then the olympic committee decided to side with the romanians and be like no , there was an issue on our part and really it couldn't like , uh , just give them both the medal , give them both the medal , exactly .
Speaker 1I don't understand why this is such a big deal , and especially if it has nothing to do with the two athletes . It has everything to do with the incompetency of the judges at that time . Look that word drop . Oh , thank you . Um , then it 100 should not affect the athletes . Just give them both the . You know you can do that too . There's that one . I think it's two track stars where they both get the gold . That's my favorite video . So I'm like just give them both the bronze for all winners . You can still see exactly . You see it happening . It's neither of their faults , it's on them , for their organization . Especially if the organization is saying it's on them , that's even more of a reason to give it to both of them . I think , exactly . I hope I got all those details right . Well , close enough .
Speaker 1Also
Love Island USA Discussion
Speaker 1, we both have been watching love island , usa , right , yeah , did you finish it ? I haven't , but I know what happens . Because I'm one of those people when I watch reality uh shows , like I'm on the reddit thread like I know all the spoilers because I like to know what's going on right now and then watch what happened for context of what's going on . So I made it watching the episodes through like casa . Okay , um , did you get to movie night ? Yes , I made it past the episodes through like Casa . Okay , did you get to movie night ? Yes , I made it past movie night . Then you're like that's , that's what I figured . Yeah , if I know what happens . Then I'm like I basically made it .
Speaker 1I usually like speed through , like the final dates or whatever . It's not fun anymore . Everyone just loves each other . I'm like , okay , now let me just tell me who wins now . Right , I don't need to hear you're professing your love .
Speaker 1Exactly , who was your favorite couple ? Um , oh , my favorite couple , I think , was janae . He was just such a sweetie pie too . When he cried , I was like , oh my , yes , I was like a man expressing feelings . Oh my gosh . And he , out of all of the men that night too , coming back , he was the one that had the least to feel sorry for because , like he had just met janae . So of course he's testing like connections and everything too . So , like the fact that he was feeling so bad and so guilty about it when all these other men , like aaron , was like whatever , when you were the one out of all of them that should have been more considerate about it .
Speaker 1I didn't like how obviously the cameras don't show everything , but from what the cameras did show , like I thought serena had so friend zoned um cordell that I was like cordell's doing nothing wrong , like you've been kind of like a prick to him , yeah , so that one I was like whatever . Also , I think he only won because of his brother . Like let's be real . But anyway , I do think that like I get being upset a little bit because you think he was like a little disrespectful . It was yeah , but I know I totally agree with you , he had every right to go in and like talk out and talk to someone and bring someone back , absolutely , especially after the last challenge when she stepped out of the dance floor . Like I want to get to know more people . He deserved to go and do his thing , yeah , but he did handle it . Not the best way , but he did deserve it more than Aaron did . That was just so messy .
Speaker 1Did you like robin leah or no ? I okay . So if janae and kenny are my favorite couple , leah's my favorite like person on really okay , I didn't get the hype about leah . I just I don't know . It's like a vibe thing for me immediately when they're like introducing everybody . I was like she's gonna be my favorite . It was just a vibes initial , like I feel it , and she was throughout the whole thing that I've watched . I didn't see anything that I didn't like . I loved her . I can understand where people might be rubbed the wrong way , because I feel like she's very just like chill girl . Yeah , well , okay , keep going . No , no , continue your thought and then I'll hop in .
Speaker 1I feel like she can come across and I think she has a hard time putting her thoughts into words sometimes , which I have a hard time with too . So , like the whole taking a backseat situation that happened , I felt for her hard because I understood I hope at the reunion they roll the tapes . I really hope so too because I did understand how , like Liv and Kayla could be upset by that saying and like I did understand to a point , their side . But I understood what leah was trying to say and that the word just maybe wasn't the right saying of what she was trying to convey . Yeah , so I felt for her . I feel like that happened a lot for her , though , but , to give her credit , I think she did own up to a lot of things .
Speaker 1I think if things happened with , like with rob , or even with Liv and Kayla , she came back . She's like look , my bad , I'm really . I feel bad about this . I'm sorry , that's not what I meant . I know I really liked how she took accountability for stuff , because she was like aggressive sometimes . I think that's just what rubbed me . They were like she's just very what's the word ? I'm very passive and I don't even mean to be , but like I just don't hurt anyone's feelings . She's very good at being blunt . So she stood on business , yeah , so I guess that's why I was just like whoa , yeah , but she like people love her .
Speaker 1And then , what about rob ? Did you like him or no ? Um , I did at first , and him and leah at first , especially through , like when live came in as the bombshell and took him away . Um , I did like him and him and leah , but then , as as soon as Andrea came in as , and that whole like first fight happened with him crying . I'm like give me a break , like he lost me at that point , and then it was just too heavy in productions favorites .
Speaker 1Have you listened to any of the podcasts that they've done ? Um , I haven't listened to them , but I've read like summaries of them . Basically , it's like like the caller daddy podcast that he went on . I don't know . I think he's a . He's an interesting character . I wouldn't say that he's like my like aaron gives me like anger issues . Oh , my least favorite was kendall . He gave me such an ick for sure . Gosh , yeah , he I don't think rob's like up there for me in that regard , but he definitely like rubbed me the wrong way in a lot of different places and I'm interested to see how he reacts after like hearing about the caller daddy . He was kind of like , yeah , I see what they were talking about kind of thing , what he says . He was weird . I listened to him on the BFF podcast or whatever , the Barstool one . He was kind of weird .
Speaker 1On that one like like it was funny , dave portnight was like calling him out because , yeah , he said I just like new experiences , like I wasn't trying to be famous . He's like you're not trying to be famous . You're basically tiktok famous . Before you got on the show , like , and I was like , oh , he's got you there , dave's , yeah , the podcast , or the bfs podcast , uh , it's just funny because he's a boomer so he like doesn't hold back . Absolutely it was . Yeah , I saw clips of those . That was funny .
Speaker 1But talk to me , talk to me about kendall . Oh yeah , he just gives me the ick . Like I literally can't explain it and I don't be mean to him , but like I just don't like it and I I feel like maybe he grew up like not so popular and now that he's like a grown into , like a good looking boy this is all again , such a hypocrite of me , like I have no idea , um , but like I just feel like he just was , like I'm part of the cool guys , like I'm a cool guy and I'm like no , you're not like I don't know . There are two instances that really bothered me about kendall . One was when he was talking to serena after casa , I think , maybe and he was like kind of like cornering her in the kitchen , like towering over her and like trying to force her to talk to him . Oh that really , like that triggered my , my fight in the fight or flight stance . Like I was did not appreciate that one and how he handled himself in casa with all the other boys . I thought was ridiculous even though he himself didn't do anything shady , encouraging all the boys to be shady , especially when , like with cordell , like cordell was initially like oh , I don't know , feeling bad about it , he's like no , go do it . And like encouraging him into the bad behavior . Only one who was acting like that . Yep , uh , yeah , real , real , icky , icky , icky , icky anyway , though . So that's kind of been our summer . Yeah , these are the topics we've been talking about .
Book Trends, Drama, and Influencers
Speaker 1Books , though . Books . Is there anything like this summer , like new releases , trends , influencers caught your eye . Yeah , a big author for me this summer has been Abby Jimenez . I hope I'm saying that right . She really is like I finished all the Emily Henry books , so she's kind of like taking that place now . So it's just been really good to find . Like your girl , you know it like stinks when you finish like an author . You really like all of their books , because then you're like lost . So it's like nice , it's like OK , I'm home again . So I've really liked her . I also have been so intrigued I don't know that much yet , but I've been really intrigued about the Powerless drama . I don't know if you've heard anything about it . A little bit , yeah , so there's this book called Powerless and there's this book called Red Queen . They're both series . I don't think the Powerless one is finished yet .
Speaker 1I read the Red Queen series when I was in high school . I loved it . I actually recently reread it , like maybe last year . Um , it was really good .
Speaker 1But on book talk , um , there's been a lot of accusation that powerless is like , so copyright , like word for word . Not like word for word , but like the story is the exact same . So I started powerless I'm assuming'm going to like it , because I liked the Red Queen series Right to the source . I'm so curious to know like , is it the exact same ? And so far , like just the structure , like , um , like there are brothers in both of them and like the dynamic of the brothers , like it's interesting . Yeah , so that's been .
Speaker 1Like that's the tea that I've been sipping on . I'm like , curious , sir , speaking of tea , have you been keeping up with the ? It ends with us a little bit , a little bit . So I am all about the pop culture dramas , so I keep up with it all . Yeah , um , I did not read . It ends with us .
Speaker 1I'm not a huge Colleen Hoover fan . It's not my preferred genre within the romance , although I do dabble in it occasionally . I'm just not a big fan of hers , regardless of what people think of her . I really don't know the drama behind her as an author and why people don't like her , but just strictly from a writing standpoint , I'm not a big fan . She's also not really for me . Yeah , we're more fantasy gals anyway .
Speaker 1Yes , so I haven't read the book , but obviously the movie has come out , starring Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni I think that's how you pronounce his last name who also Jason directed it and Blake produced it , and Blake produced it , and there's been a lot of speculation about this . All nothing's been confirmed , so this is all alleged . But I guess there's been like a rift between I think it's justin , is his name right , not jason ? No , I think it's justin . I think it's justin . Okay , we're gonna go with it with mr director . Mr director no , I'm pretty sure it's Justin . Okay , we're gonna go with it With Mr Director . Mr Director no , I'm pretty sure it's Justin . I started second guessing myself , but I think it is . I think you're right with him , included , um , and whenever , like , they're asked about him , it with press , like all the actors completely like work their way around it without ever having to mention anything about him .
Speaker 1It's kind of weird , but there's been like two different types of pr with this movie , on top of this , too , that people are noticing . So that's like one facet of it . The other facet of it is that justin's like one facet of it . The other facet of it is that Justin's production company got the rights to this movie forever . I think it was back in 2019 to make this movie and eventually they cast Blake Lively , who came on with the stipulation that she wanted to help produce it .
Speaker 1Well , they had creative differences , allegedly about how they wanted to handle this movie , about how they wanted to handle this movie , and justin really wanted the focus on bringing attention to domestic violence , um , the issue of it and bringing awareness for it and um for survivors , and really like had a powerful message behind wanting to make this movie because of what the it's what the book is about . Yeah , versus blake lively's pr that she's been doing and justin has been like anytime he goes to do pr for this movie , he talks about it strongly and he talks about resources for these women who are going through these , these issues and just like it's very eloquent in how he speaks about this and it really makes it the main focus of all of his pr versus blake lively , makes it seem very rom-commy like grab your girlies , wear your florals , come see this movie , kind of thing . On top of that , she's been launching like products for like her hair care line , so kind of like bootlegging off the movies promo to help promote that . And her husband , ryan reynolds , has his deadpool movie out so he produced two scenes in the and it ends with us he like helped write two scenes in it and like they've been like a production or a producers like together on it and people are speculating . They're trying to create like this barbie oppenheimer situation between their two movies , even though the whole situation with this book is much more heavy a topic than what a rom-com like Barbie movie would be to fit in that category . Has Colleen said anything ? No , and that's kind of where people are like nobody has said anything .
Speaker 1Everybody initially wants to side with Justin on this because just looking at what we know , yeah , and his or like his relationship with past , um , like actors and past movies has been very strong . Well , and crew has come out and from this movie like singing his praises about how much like they loved working with him . So , uh , yep , and so it's kind of bizarre that the rest of the cast just like does not like him for some reason . But it's like this unknown reason and why they're taking sides . Nobody knows what's going on . You see the two different . Obviously there's like truth that lies in the middle . So I'm sure creative differences had a huge part in whatever is happening right now . There's even speculation that maybe it's just fake drama for pr , which is that's not surprising either . It's a valid . It's a valid , uh , speculation . I think , um , because that's very well could be a two . Will we ever know the truth ? Probably not , but it's fun to hear everybody's speculations about it anyway . A group gossip sesh , yep , I live for it , I love it , and we're going to go see the movie with girlfriends too On Sunday , on Sunday . So we will give you our thoughts in the next episode . Yeah , we will .
Speaker 1What other book stuff has been on your mind ? I did find these new book influencers . I didn't find them . Actually . Do tell Sarah , our friend has sent me a few of their TikToks and now I just follow them . Okay , they're two sisters it's Kristen and Maddie at Chrisandmads on TikTok , and they are fantastic .
Speaker 1I think that you would love a lot of the books that they recommend because they're very much within our like fantasy vibe but they do a lot of high fantasy and um , they do mix in like sci-fi , um with . They do a couple of like mysteries , biographies , romance , but really it's more strongly within the fantasy or sci-fi kind of realm for the books that they recommend . But they all seem really interesting and they're constantly . Their reading count within a month is insane to me . I wish I could read that much in a month , especially because the books that they're reading are not short books , they are hefty bricks , so it's quite impressive how fast they get through these . Yeah , um , but I love their content and they go like kind of rapid fire through it . So it gives you enough context for the book to know if you like are interested or not , without dragging on .
Speaker 1Because if that I feel like a lot of other reviewers can do too , I feel like it's like one end of the spectrum or the other . I haven't really found many good middle people , like some people just like flashing the cover or like two seconds of like what it is and then it's gone . Or it's like here's 30 seconds of me talking about this book . I'm like , ah , speed it up Exactly At the two times speed . All the time I'm like I need eight times speed . And what I appreciate about them , too , is they have a bunch of different types of books that you're not seeing all over book talk , because I feel like people recommend the same kind of books over and over again , regardless of genre . Um , so these are like different books than what you normally see from like everybody else , so really love them , shout out to them .
Speaker 1Um , the other thing that's happened this summer my sister Shout out Abby , shout out Abby . She is slowly dipping her toes into the reading world . I just added her in Goodreads the other day . Yeah , she just added me too . I'm so excited . But I'm like it's one of those excited where I have to really contain it and keep to myself on the side and just like let it happen , because if I try to try to like encourage too much , there's a stack of books like yeah , she's like a deer and like on the far side of the meadow . If I make one wrong move I'm gonna scare her off because it's too intimidating . That's funny .
Speaker 1When I looked on her goodreads page , though , some of the books that she had read I have read um , like the match trilogy was like one of the one of my favorites in high school . So I was like , oh my gosh , and she's reading the . Oh , what was the book that we just did for one of our book talks ? The trilogy , the Firebird series . She's reading the Firebird series now . She just started that . So I'm curious .
Speaker 1I know she's supposed to share updates and like notes with it and I was like , go , abby , do it . I'm so proud of her . And I'm like I know she's posted her updates and like notes with it . And I was like , go , abby , do it . I'm so proud of her and I , I'm like it's like sitting from afar , just like we're both like in the window , like jumping up and down , and she's just watching Yep . So not messing with her , but really excited and hope she continues down this journey . Yeah , abby , just skip over this part of the podcast . Okay , don't listen , it's fine , you're reading again . Wow , that's great , I didn't know . I love that . So , yeah , that's been exciting . And uh , to see too this summer . That's good . That kind of wraps it up . For me that's good . Oh my gosh . Well , should we get into the actual book that we did ? Let's do it . Read , quote unquote for me , yeah , for me , yeah . So our book
Book Description
Speaker 1again was the House Made , and so here's what the book description was or is .
Speaker 1Every day I clean the Winchesters' beautiful house top to bottom , I collect their daughter from school and I cook a delicious meal for the whole family before heading up to eat alone in my tiny room on the top floor . I try to ignore how Nina makes a mess just to watch me clean it up , how she tells strange lies about her own daughter and how her husband , andrew , seems more broken every day . But as I look into Andrew's handsome brown eyes , so full of pain , it's hard not to imagine what it would be like to live Nina's life the walk-in closet , the fancy car , the perfect husband . I only try on one of Nina's pristine white dresses once , just to see what it's like . But she soon finds out . And by the time I realize my attic bedroom door only locks from the outside , it's far too late . But I reassure myself .
Speaker 1The Winchesters don't know who I really am . They don't know what I'm capable of . Dun , dun , dun , you read so well , thank you . I was that kid in elementary school that was like do I have the biggest paragraph to read in the text ? It's so cringy . I'm over there like stress , sweat coming down my forehead like counting the paragraphs , like reading it over and over . So I don't mess up . I'm like this is my performance . Guys Like this is gonna get me Emmy nomination . Well , you do a fantastic job , thank you . Um , okay , so Reading recap . This is going to be hard because Mikaela didn't finish the book . I did not . I couldn't finish it . We'll get into it after .
Speaker 1So we are leaning heavily on Darby's memory for this one and I'm going to try to summarize . But I realized as I was filling out our notes for this , I've read nine books since this one , so it's going to be a little hard to remember . We were really doing our hot girl summer thing . I thought I was gonna be like on top of it for our july podcast . So I was like I'm reading early , which usually mckayla finishes the book before I do for our um book talks , and I was like , oh , I finished it first and then we had our little break . Anyway , you killed it , thanks , yeah .
Spoiler Warning!
Speaker 1Nine books later . Warning Book spoilers ahead . Please head to the description and show notes to find where to skip to . You have been warned .
Speaker 1Basically , what happens is like kind of you know what , basically what the book description says . She is this girl who , like , doesn't have a lot of money , I think Just fresh out of jail , right ? Okay , yeah , here you summarize the beginning part and then I'll jump in for mid-end . From what I remember , she yeah , this girl I forget her name now she's living out of her car . She has a parole officer because she's fresh out of uh the slammer and um , we don't know for what . Um , she's trying to get her life together and so she's desperately like looking for a new job because it technically she's unemployed , which is breaking parole right now . So she takes this job with the winchesters and it seems great at first , but , um , then the wife starts acting like crazy after she hires this girl bagel , karen , uh-huh , and where she's like their best friends one minute , then the next minute she's yelling at her for like feeding her kid peanut butter because her kid is deathly allergic to peanut butter .
Speaker 1Which , if your kid's deathly allergic to peanut butter , why do you even have it in the house ? Plus , it's like never mentioned to her before , but she's yelling at her like she's told her a thousand times . How could you not remember this ? And just making her feel crazy , leaving messes everywhere , expecting her to clean up , getting hyper jealous anytime her husband is around and this girl is around not wanting , like you know , her husband to talk to her , be nice to her , anything . Their kid is kind of scary , yeah , and like a little bit of a carry on herself . Um , I think she's like five .
Speaker 1They also have this really attractive gardener , I think his name's enzo , who does not speak english very well at all . I believe he's italian . So when she first enters the house , he kind of tries to warn her in italian , like she's in danger , basically , and that's like the word that it was . It was just danger . She didn't know any context . Throughout the time she's trying to like kind of learn how to talk to him a little bit about it , but obviously there's the language barrier and he like refuses to talk about it . Yeah , and I think one time she even like invites him in the house to like help or help her bring in something in the house , because she can't carry it , and he like freaks . He's like I can't go in there , yeah , or like he doesn't . He like runs out , like right , yeah , and like nina found him and she like freaked out on the housemaid , for I wish I could remember her name , but I just can't . I can't remember anything . She'll be the housemaid and that's all that matters . Uh , she freaks out on the housemaid . Who is our narrator about it and how , like he's not allowed in the house for some reason . Um , and that's about as far as I can remember . I think she was also making dinners for them and she was really hitting it off with Andrew , the husband , and he was being super nice to her .
Speaker 1Her bedroom also , because she's a live-in housemaid is like up in this tiny room in the attic it's the only room up there Super like small closet and as , like the book description says , it only has a lock from the outside . So like she can , you know , like gas lights her and is like why is that an issue , right , yeah , um , and like the windows don't open either . So like if you're trapped in there , like you are trapped in there , but they give her like a key to it , so it makes her feel like some sense of help or whatever , like security , even though like it really shouldn't , since she can't use it from the inside anyway . And nina gets really weird about her spending time like in the house , past working hours , so like after everybody's gone to bed , neat . Or the housemaid decides to like go downstairs and watch tv and like andrew goes down there one time , right , and it's like the middle of the night , so she thinks she's safe to like do this and they never told her that she couldn't . And andrew comes and joins her and like it's totally fine . But then , yeah , nina finds out and comes down in the middle of the night and like freaks out and basically tells her she has to stay in her room at all times , like she can't use the rest of the house . And that is where my memory leads off . Um , okay , and then my memory kind of picks back up .
Speaker 1At one point nina like gives the housemaid like all of her white clothes or something . It's like like she gives her trash bag full of like old clothes , um , that are still like super nice . And then , like nina has her make like a date night , a point . Like a date night , um , like orchestra thing , some sort of date outing for a specific weekend , and then nina ends up not being able to do that weekend and these tickets are non-refundable . So nina is actually going like out of town with the daughter , um , because like the dates got messed up and she's really mad at the housemate about it , um , but she's like I'm not going to be here this weekend .
Speaker 1And then , long story short , andrew and the housemate and going to the orchestra together because he's like let's not waste these tickets , um , so they basically go on a date . They like go out to dinner . I'm pretty sure they like have sex that night , like in a hotel , um , and she's wearing one of like nina's white dresses , right , um , and so then that happens . And then after that , like they're kind of like being like a little sneaky about it , like trying to figure it out , I think , if my memory is correct , like afterwards they're like not telling nina , but they're trying to like figure it out . And then he's like like I'm like leaving her , I'm divorcing her , and Nina like flips out and is like you did that , like you planned this , like I can't believe you came to my house and like you just took my husband , like I hope you enjoy it , like what am I supposed to do now ? Think is what happens .
Speaker 1And then after that , the story literally shifts . And then the narrator becomes nina , and then the story , I think , um , and then the story starts not like starts over , but you hear about when she met andrew for the first time and like how they got together and you find out what the addict is really for . And it's because , um , he basically like tortures nina . And so the first I think the first time he did it , she like her roots had grown out on her hair , like just barely , and she hadn't gotten it done or this wasn't the first time , but this is just one of the times and he like locks her in there and , um , he like locks her in there and she's freaking out and he like doesn't let her in there . And he like locks her in there and she's freaking out , and he like doesn't let her out until she like does a specific thing , like she has to wait a super long time or she has to apologize a certain way or something along those lines . Just torture .
Speaker 1And then she comes out and then basically , like that's how their relationship goes . Like she can't leave their relationship because he that's how their relationship goes . Like she can't leave the relationship because , um , he's crazy ? Yeah , because he's crazy . Like walking on eggshells , yeah , but then she has to be so careful . Like if her lipstick smudges , if she doesn't say please and thank you to his mom , like just crazy things . Like he uses those as reasons to put her back in that room .
Speaker 1And so nina ended up plotting this whole thing . Um , so nina is actually the normal one , andrew's the crazy one , the actual mean one . And so when the housemaid gets hired , nina sets this whole plan into motion to make Andrew fall in love with the housemaid and make Nina seem like she's going like crazy . And she's just like , you know , not wife material anymore . And that's exactly what happens . Andrew does like fall for the housemaid and Nina is now in a sense set free with like this divorce and also Nina and the gardener . Like they have a thing not well , I don't know if it was like a for sure thing , but like he . He like sees her in the attic one day and like notices that she hasn't come out , and so he like wants to help protect her and help save her . But then when he finds out that nina orchestrated this whole like switcheroo , he's like that's not right either , like we have to save her too . Like we can't just leave her to be in the situation that you were in . So he was probably my favorite character , but anyway , sorry , we're still recapping .
Speaker 1So the housemaid once , um , her and andrew get together , she does something . Unfortunately , I don't remember what it was . I don't know if it was like leaving oh , I think she might have left a dish out , like she didn't put a dish away . And so then he locks her in the room and she can't get out . And so she's like well , this guy's psycho . And then somehow I forget . But she ends up getting him trapped in the room and she like does the whole thing to him and she starts torturing him and it's like you can't come out unless you put textbooks on your groin area for three hours or whatever . And then he does it . But then he takes the books off at the last second and she's like I hope you have to restart , because he would do that too . He would make you restart . And he's like I can't do that . And then I think she made him pull out his teeth . It was crazy . And then I think he like took his own life , where he just dies up there and nina goes back to save like goes back to like try and save her and then walks into like her killing him and then the book like leaves kind of on a cliffhanger with like the housemaid now starting somewhere else because nina suggested it to that wife basically insinuating like to kill the husband because , yeah , bad , yeah , so that's what I remember . Yeah , so it was interesting .
Speaker 1What are your , what were your initial thoughts ? I know you didn't finish it , but were your initial thoughts ? I ? I try really hard especially because we do this podcast , I try really hard to like finish the book so we can like talk about it even if I don't like it . But it gets to a point sometimes where I'm like I'm just torturing myself by trying to read the book , that I just can't get through it . And this , unfortunately , was one of those times which was really disappointing to me because I think you and I had opposite views on this story .
Speaker 1I really enjoyed like the plot of it , yeah , and like even just listening to you talk about it , you were like captivated . I was , I was captivated by the story . I thought it was a very like unique take on it . Not being the wife , that was crazy , but being the husband and doing like the flip-flop of it versus like kind of like other books , where it's like a gone girl situation , where typically it's like the wife plotting everything , but she's the one that's crazy . So I really , really wanted to like this book solely for the plot , but the writing killed it for me . I it was like nails on a chalkboard for me .
Speaker 1Trying to get through this writing , I could not get through it . Yeah , it was too not your style . No , it was not . Um . I did look up the spoilers , though after the fact , because I did want to know what happened in the story and I was really sad that I just couldn't push through the writing to finish it , because it was interesting and you never got to nina's point of view , right ? No , nope , the last thing I remember um was actually when he came in I think the gardener came in . Oh , she had just given her the white dresses . I didn't get to see like the whole trying on part or I didn't get through that , but she had just given her all the white dresses . This is where I stopped . I just couldn't make it through anymore . But yeah , what about you ?
Speaker 1I definitely thought it was like a super quick read and like the story was like captivating , in a sense of like I was like , oh , what's gonna happen , but it definitely just let me down . I really didn't like how quick the ending jump was from him like torturing himself to him being dead . It's like maybe I've just read too many like fantasy books to where , like , you read like and he was stabbed in the heart , but like it doesn't tell you like how he died yeah , that would bother me , yeah , so it's just like he's pulling out his teeth and you're like , oh , my gosh , what's he going to say next ? What's she going to say ? And then it's like he's dead . You're like what ?
Speaker 1So I didn't like that , yeah , and it just like it kind of made me feel like icky and I like that's the only word I can use to describe it was like icky and it's different because , like , I can read a torturing like fantasy scene , but it's different because it's like not real , maybe , because it was like too real , yeah , too real that I was just like , oh , this is this feeling a little icky for me ? Yeah , that would get me to a little bit Because I can do like some form like psychological torture is a little bit easier for me , like the silent patient , yeah kind of thing , but yeah , with like physical torture . I don't know if I could well end the whole like . I think I felt icky about like nina like orchestrating this whole thing to get this woman trapped into the same position she was in , like that was almost like really icky as well , yeah , but um , the pace of this book felt weird to me and I didn't like how it switched to nina's point of view , like you needed it to to get the context , but it just was like weird the pace of like you're just having this one narrating . Then all of a sudden it's like you just read her backstory and then how ? So yeah , it just felt weird . Not for me .
Speaker 1Yeah , did you have a favorite part at all ? It was interesting seeing the wife's plan unravel , but then at the same time it like made me feel weird . I was like why , like you literally have been tortured and you're gonna put another woman right in your place and like , maybe , if you've been tortured , I've never been tortured , you know , thankfully , right , like I don't know what the links I would do to like switch , so maybe she had just like really thought it was the only way , but I it was interesting , like seeing it from a different perspective of like oh , she knows her daughter doesn't have a peanut allergy , but like that was part of the plant . You know , right , that was to make yourself like crazy , kind of . Yeah , no , I get that , I think it is cool . Yeah , that's probably my favorite part was like the twist of it all , how it was her , her idea all along , because it was . It was just interesting and like different than I'm not saying it's like the most original , like hasn't been done before , but it's not something you see very often to make it feel like new and different . So , um , I wish I could have enjoyed it more .
Speaker 1Did you have like a least favorite part ? Yeah , the ending . Like I said , it was just really like like it felt like we were on like such a hot , not like a high , but such um , not anti , like a climatic , like is that the word climatic ? No , not anti , because that's like it wasn't . Oh , you're at the peak of the climax . There we go . It's like we were at this like climax of all this stuff happening and it like I almost would have wished that like nina came in , saw her outside of the door torturing him , and like nina was able to be like , yeah , f you and then him like thump to the ground like I don't know . It just was very much like and he's gone and she now she's just walking in and like the satisfaction of him seeing them , two of them work together against him , almost yeah , yeah . So the ending was definitely like , oh , like such a laugh down and people just said it overhyped it . I guess , yeah , that's how I felt .
Speaker 1I had a co-worker who read then just what she mentioned too , that the ending felt like really rushed and she didn't like how I guess the cop like that was mentioned after like they find I guess the cop like that was mentioned after like they find him was like the brother of another one of his victims . So they basically like got off scot-free . Oh yeah , it really was so just like , and like that just felt very like forced is what she said , which I can totally understand . Yeah , obviously I don't have that context , but it makes sense the way she described it .
Speaker 1What was your least favorite part ? Least favorite part ? I really couldn't say , just because I feel like I really didn't get into it , but it's just the writing . For me in this whole book it felt very like high school creative writing class . To me it was really slow in a lot of parts that I thought should have been like quicker because it was like unnecessary in details , but then it like sped through , like some other parts that I thought needed way more context , yeah , or like descriptors , so , and it felt like very choppy throughout the whole thing . Yeah , yeah , so I just yeah . No , I did not enjoy the writing of this at all . Apologies to the author , I know you probably worked really hard on this , obviously , but there are some people that loved this book , love this series . So you know , I feel like if it was a TV series or a movie , I think I would have no problems with it . I think I would have much rather like watched it than read it . Yeah , for me personally .
Speaker 1I know you didn't read it , but after Reddit and all the stuff , were you surprised by the ending ? I was , yeah , I did not see it coming , because , at least from like the predictions I was making , from what I was reading , I was nowhere on my radar that it could have been the husband . So that really like when I went back and read spoilers and saw that was the husband it made , it was one of those like really moments . So , yeah , that didn't surprise me . What about you ? Like yes and no ? Like , yes , I didn't see some things coming , but then it like totally made sense , which , like , yeah , I don't know . I just didn't know how certain things were going to happen , but like I knew , like what was happening , kind of , yeah , like I knew the housemate wasn't going to die and be trapped in the relationship , like I don't know . So definitely there were definitely surprising parts .
Speaker 1But I'm assuming you're not going to finish the series and no , no , and you're not , I'm not gonna finish the book . No , reading , at least if they do come out with a tv series , like I know they have , like a good girl's guide to murder or something that just came out on netflix . I haven't read that book , but I know that it was another adaptation . So if they do something like that , I will watch it and maybe like watch through the whole series . Yeah , watch Party . I don't really like all judgment saved until I actually see it . But in theory , yeah , I would definitely do that , but reading-wise , no , definitely not . Yeah , kind of a quick summary .
Speaker 1But what are your
Final Thoughts and Star Ratings
Speaker 1final thoughts ? Did you even rate it ? If you didn't finish it ? I did because in order to I haven't figured this out on Goodreads quite yet oh , yes , to shelve it . I think that there might be a way , from looking at other people's shelves , to finish a book without having to rate a book as an unfinished finished book , kind of thing , so you can get it off of your TBR but not within your like , I read this this year , kind of thing . I don't know how to do that just yet , though , so it's someone tell us . Yeah , if you know how to , please let me know .
Speaker 1Um , so I have to rate it , but for me that's always a one star , obviously , because I just I can't read it , even though I liked , like the concept of the book . If I couldn't finish the book , I can't rate it any higher than a one . Yeah , I gave it three stars , which I think is pretty generous . That is very generous . Yeah , I was shocked . I didn't like it . I didn't love it , or , wait , I didn't hate it , I didn't love it . It was just a bad book ,
End of Spoilers
Speaker 1but I did read it pretty quickly and it was an interesting story story . But what I'm really excited about is august book club , because I actually have read this book already and I felt very differently about this book
August Book Club Book
Speaker 1than our last one , but our next book club book is the invisible life of addie larue by victoria schwab . So I'll read the book description , and now I have like some pressure because mich Michaela told me I read the last one . Good , you're going to do great .
Speaker 1France , 1714 . In a moment of desperation , a young woman makes a Faustian bargain to live forever and is cursed to be forgotten by everyone she meets . Thus begins the extraordinary life of Addie LaRue and a dazzling adventure that will play out across centuries and continents , across history and art , as a young woman learns how far she will go to leave her mark on the world . But everything changes when , after nearly 300 years , addie stumbles across a young man in a hidden bookstore and he remembers her name Dun dun dun . This is at full . I can't talk about it yet . We'll talk about it like next book club . But I'm really excited to talk about this one and for you to read it .
Speaker 1This has been on like my book club suggestions for a while because I know people have raved about it and it's like a fantasy , but in a very different fantasy way than what we normally think of and read as fantasy . I have started it through part one of the book and I'm enjoying it so far and I am curious to see how this story like it's like I got through like the setting , the stage of the story . So I'm curious , yeah , to see how the plot takes off . It's funny because I didn't hear like I really hadn't heard much about this book and then it was like one of those things on TikTok where it's like or like a couple of sentences from the book and I was like , oh my gosh , I want to read that . I won't say like , well , it's the where it says he remembers her name . It's like that part was on TikTok and I was like , what do you mean ? So I like audio booked it and julia whalen anybody who knows me knows that is my audiobook girl .
Speaker 1She narrated this book and so good , we're gonna get into it next month . Please read or listen to it . It'll be good , it'll be a good discussion . I can already tell it's gonna be a good discussion book . Oh it's . It's going to be like Nightingale discussion . At least that's the passion I have for it , maybe . Anyway , I don't want to talk about it early . We're going to move on .
Borrows & Returns
Speaker 1We're going to move on .
Speaker 1Borrow some returns . Borrow some returns . Go ahead , take us away , darby . Okay , I've returned a lot of books . I'm going to try and be fast . So proud of you , you were cranking , I so proud of you , you were cranking . I'm not gonna lie , I'm a little impressed with myself . I'm impressed too , thanks , they have been a lot of audiobooks , but it's still I mean , it counts , it's still ours .
Speaker 1The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue was like 17 hours . Regardless of whether you're reading it with your eyes or listening in your ears , it's the same story , the same words . So it still counts . That's true . And I'm not like , on audiobook , the fastest I go is 1.2 speed , like I can't go faster . Yeah , I can't either . Um , unless I'm really at the end and I don't care about the book , then I'll do like 1.75 because I'm like let's finish , let's wrap it up , right , but that's only happened to me like twice .
Speaker 1Anywho , my returns um , I read the first three books of the inheritance games by jennifer barnes . I think there's more in this series , but I was like one or maybe two , yeah , but I think I'm gonna stop here . They were good . I wasn't like in love with them , but it was a nice like change of pace from what I had been reading . Um , they're cute , I like them . I only read the first two , but I got this through the second one . I'm like , yeah , I'm good here . I to stop . I feel like it would be a really good summer . I turned pretty like a teen show . If they made that into a teen show and casted it right , I think it would be really good . Oh , I wholeheartedly agree . Yeah , but it was definitely YA novel . Yeah , but it was good . I liked it . I love the puzzles . That's what got me .
Speaker 1I read the Love Hypothesis by Allie Hazelwood . That's a popular one I've seen a lot . Yeah , and this was the same author of the Bride book that I read and that had been her first fantasy book . So typically she's like a romance author , so it was interesting to see her like in her element and I did like this one . I forget I should have written down my ratings . I don't remember what I rated it . I didn't like , definitely wasn't five stars , but it was like a solid romance book .
Speaker 1I read Just for the Summer and the Friend Zone by Abby Jimenez Woo , so good . I've heard good things about her , so good . Yeah , I think I gave them both five stars . Maybe Really good . I'm excited to keep reading her books . Yay , yeah , they were just good .
Speaker 1Good banter , good stories . We love a good banter . Yeah , I have read the first two books of Trial of the Sun Queen by Nisha Tuli . The writing is not . I mean , I was so engrossed by is that I was so engrossed by the first book and like I read that really quickly .
Speaker 1But then the second book like dragged on and she said that she like does like a preface , like before . It's like one page where she like talks about like the book , uh , like an author's note , but in the beginning kind of which is interesting , and she said to expect like a lot of angst in this second book and to be a little frustrated with the characters , which I was , but it was also like just a little repetitive . You know , like one of those things of like I can't love you , you're my enemy , but like something's weird , I'm drawn to you and I'm like okay , Like I can't , I cannot hear that 50 times . Like find the one bed in the inn and like let's get things going . She probably did if she left the note in the front before you read it . She probably did that on purpose to like make you really frustrated . So that way , I'm hoping , at least for you , that the third book is gonna like be super good .
Speaker 1I just bought the third book , so that leads into my borrows . Well , I read the invisible life of addy larue , but we're gonna talk about that next time , um , so my borrows . I haven't started it yet , but I did get the third book in that series . I finally picked back up how to win friends and influence people . I want to finish it by the end of the year . You're going to to , I know you will , Hopefully , but that's definitely more self-help and I like I want to like digest that and not just like read it , to read it . So that's why it like takes me a while . That's been good . And then I just started Powerless , which I don't remember the author's name , but I just started that one . And then I powerless , which I don't remember the author's name , but I just started that one . And then I have a couple others that are like on the tbr , but I think that's where we're at right now . Cool , okay , that was a lot . You go , I don't have as much , but I'm gonna do it . I'll start with my returns . Yes , I finally finished cersei . Yeah , you did , um , that was a while ago so my memory on it a little bit hazy , but it was a five-star book for me . It was good .
Speaker 1The writing her writing is just phenomenal . I love the way that she writes and like it's like almost makes me think of like watercolors , and it seemed like the way that's peaceful , it's very like lyrical and oh , I it's , but it's phenomenal , is the only word I can say . Um , great story of womanhood and like finding one's purpose , and like it really gets into the complexities of morality , uh , or mortality , not morality , mortality because she is like this goddess and so of she lives forever , and like all that happens within like her forever life , yeah , and like the differences and like can it really be like super fulfilling without you know , like love or whatever family people share it with , that kind of thing ? What was really beautiful about that book was it was truly like a feminist novel in the most graceful , um , way that you can do it . It wasn't very like in your face , like I am woman , hear me roar it was just , she just is what , oh , I love the whole movement is supposed to be , you know , and that's what I love , because I hate things that are just so in your face , like I feel like that's a lot of tiktok too , or just social media in general . It's like this is bad or uh , this is great and it's like , okay , don't like tell me , show me , like you know , like so . Or even it's like you're a woman but we can do it . Like we're women , we can do anything . It's like , yeah , I know I am a woman , I don't need you to tell me I can do anything . I know I can do anything . So it's just nice seeing like Just let me not work . It's like it wasn't like over the top , like forcing it , it was just done beautifully and like that showing that very like undertone way of the like strength within grace kind of thing . Yeah , so it's just so well done and I really enjoyed it , kind of thing . Yeah , so it's just so well done and I really enjoyed it .
Speaker 1Next book on my returns is the King of Atolia , which is the third book in the Queen's Thief series by Megan Whalen Turner . Another five-star book for me . This series , I love this series . It's fantasy , but in a I can't even say it . It is fantasy , but not intypical fantasy . It's definitely more political like not as much for me . Um , it's like less like dragons and magic and more just like kingdoms and like like war schemes kind of vibes . Um , it's definitely not for everybody , I will say the first book to get through is slow paced and like , if you can get through the first book , the rest of the series is worth it , in my opinion , at least up through the third book .
Speaker 1I've only read through the third book , um , and that's not to say anything bad about the first book , but I just know that it's definitely like one of those . You have to have a taste for it because it's very much one of the books that makes you think there's not as much action there is to keep the plot moving . But it's definitely more of the twists and turns and the puzzles of , like you know , schemes upon schemes upon schemes and you finally get like the reveal at the end kind of situation with this series . But this book specifically was my favorite thus far because of the intricacies . You get little plot twists throughout the story this time instead of just at the very end with like the big reveal but the so you get like the little plot twist that like change the course of how you're thinking throughout the book and then with the big plot twist at the very end . It's like it's still surprising , even though you can kind of maybe see it coming . But then just like , so satisfying relief . It's just so intricately well done . I love it . That sounds good . It is very , very good . So if you're into like mind games , twistings , like fantasy , um , it definitely sounds like a book for you like that . Yeah , it has a little bit of romance in there too , but not like it's not the overarching , no , and it's definitely not like a satisfying romance by any means . It's more understated . This whole book is much more understated , um , but so so good , nice , uh .
Speaker 1My other book the wisteria site , the wisteria society of lady scoundrels . This is also a series I realized . Um and the dangerous damsels . It's the first book by india holton . This was a three-star book for me . It was cute . It's very enola holmes vibes to me . Okay , um , it was . I was expecting more , much more like enola holmes , like historical fiction , when I picked it up . Um , but that was completely on me for misreading the back of the book because it happened .
Speaker 1It is a fantasy . There's like flying houses and pirates and things like that , but it's very like high society england at the same time . So when you say pirates , it's like ladies who like sit down and have tea parties , but they're pirates at the same time . I don't know . It's a very complex or not complex . What is a pirate ? It's very , um , what's the word ? Uh , contradictory in what you think of with pirates . Uh , but it was cute . It's a silly little fantasy . It's got a fun little romance . There's lots of um , tension and build up there too . Uh , it definitely just like one of those quick little reads to throw in between your big series . I liked it , I , and I might finish the series to throw in as like little um breathers in between like big series . We'll see , but it was good .
Speaker 1Uh , and my audiobook that I just finished , complete 180 from everything else , is my non-fiction the hidden life of Trees , what they Feel , how they Communicate . Discoveries from a Secret World by Peter Wollengold . Is this actually about trees ? Yes , like the plant . Yes , wait , I want to read this book . Tell me more . So it was very intriguing . I saw this on a TikTok of like nonfiction books that read kind of like fiction that you should try out . And so I love trees . I'm like sure let's get a shot . Um , it was very interesting . I enjoyed most of it .
Speaker 1I gave it three stars . Uh , the beginning part was really I don't think trees could get five stars . No offense , I love trees but like it did , it does get a little bit too textbook as far as like non-fiction is concerned . But it's funny listening to the narrator because I felt very much like I'm watching like a nat geo , like nature documentary , but like in my mind about trees is how it felt , like in the way that it was like read , it was really cool and like getting facts like , for example , uh , trees in a forest can actually like communicate with one another and like save other trees that are like dying through their root system . I'm going to cry . Their roots are all connected . So if a tree is chopped to the stump , that tree can still live because other trees around it are giving it nutrients through its roots .
Speaker 1My heart , I know they have this whole community and I guess that in Africa , if a is like eating the leaves off of a tree , it gives off a scent that other trees downwind can pick up and they can change the taste of their leaves . So giraffes won't want it . So the giraffes want , as like , a protection for themselves . That's so cool , isn't that wild ? Wow , you have so many fun facts , I know . So it was like really fun and like interesting .
Speaker 1If you were a tree , what kind of tree would you be ? Oh , a weeping willow . Okay , I love a good weeping willow , that's good . So what about you ? I would be a tulip poplar . Um , the only reason I know about these trees when I was a zipline guide , a lot of our zipline platforms were attached to tulip poplar trees . Oh , fun , yeah , and it was really interesting because pretty sure it's been a long time now since I worked there , but I'm pretty sure tulip poplars are pretty like um hollow and they like move very easily . But when they move , they like break down , um , and like that's a good thing , like it's good for them to move because it like helps water get through , something like that . These are definitely not the real facts , but yeah , I it's just like nostalgic because it makes me think of the zipline guide stuff and they're pretty big trees , they're so interesting .
Speaker 1There's so many little fun facts that you like get from the book . So , yeah , I definitely recommend , but it's one of those that it gets very in depth at some points , yeah , and like or into like details about , like the bugs or things like that you just don't really care about . It's not as like , it's not as fun as hearing about a tree community , you know , and so that's cool , though I'm gonna need to hear more fun facts . It's definitely fun and it was three stars for sure . It was good . Um , maybe fast forward through some of the boring parts and he gets the fun parts , um , but overall great and it was a fun .
Speaker 1Find something different for me . Yeah , getting into my borrows now what I'm currently reading . Obviously I'm reading invisible life of addy larue . Already talked about that a little bit , um , but the other book that I'm currently reading , my audiobook is becoming bulletproof by evie pompores . Um , so this one I found on goodreads through our friend janine . She added it to her tbr and I was like that looks interesting . I read it and I guess the author used to be a secret service agent and so it's kind of like this self-help book where she gives you it's like split in the two parts . So like the first part is giving you tips on , like how to protect yourself and like your home and like a physical way , yeah , and the second part that I'm just now getting into is more the psychology behind it , like how to detect if somebody's lying to you and like protecting yourself , like mentally , in that way . Okay , if you like it , let me know . Very interesting . I'm loving it so far .
Speaker 1She a she's like a phenomenal narrator , so I really enjoy listening to her .
Speaker 1She's got like a new york accent and so it's like I don't know , it's just nice listening to her and and she's very eloquent the way that she speaks , the way that she writes .
Speaker 1She gets very much to the point and gives you the straight facts of like how to get through these situations with enough detail for you to understand , but without like going too in-depth to where you get like really bored and like I just don't care . So she finds that really nice balance . I will warn put the caveat in there that if you are an overthinker like me um , where you're thinking about like all the dangers in the world this book will help you tremendously . Oh , and the opposite , it is a good thing . But if you're somebody who doesn't think about all the dangers in the world constantly , this book might not be for you , because it might make you start thinking about all those things Just at me , right ? So who's maybe not so much aware I live in a bubble . Yeah , it's just knowing yourself , and so , if you know that , you can take it and you're not going to start overthinking everything or being super weirded out by the world .
Speaker 1Basically , yes , I highly recommend reading the book , but it is definitely one of those where it makes you aware of every situation and possible scenarios and it basically for me as an overthinker , is because it gives you um ways to like figure out your plan of action if this happens . So you already have your plan of action in place , so you can just enjoy wherever you're at . If you're like a concert or something like that , you can just enjoy the concert because you already have your plan in place if something goes wrong , instead of like being on edge and nervous , like what could happen ? What could happen , what could happen . So it helps in that way if you're an overthinker , but if you're somebody who's not thinking about that , all of a sudden they could put the thought in your head that something might happen while you're at the concert , making you like start to overthink it a little bit .
Speaker 1And now I want to read it just to see if it would make me feel . It's definitely a like . It's up to you and like how you know yourself the best and like how you think you'll and it it very well , like you could enjoy and get some great things out of it too . I'm not saying that it would happen , but just something that'd be like aware of . If you're not thinking about it , it might start making you think about these things in a maybe not so great way , but for me it's been fantastic and I think it's gonna give me a lot of freedom , of mental clarity in my life . And , um , I'm excited to get into the psychology part of it now . Yeah , I'm sure it probably makes you think too like , because you're only probably getting a teaspoon of her actual knowledge , and it's like how like , how fruitful like of all the what am I trying to say ? Like these you said she was secret service .
Speaker 1These secret service people have so much like oh yeah , like they're trained so well in this niche , like that . I always find that so cool . No matter what your niche is , no matter what you do , the fact that you like know so much about that , I think , is so cool . And she does tell like personal stories that she's been through , like she starts the book off with like her story of how she was in New York on 9-11 and like helping people , like clear away from the towers when this all happened . Oh my gosh , I got so emotional during that part because she just told it so well . But she tells these like incredible stories and how like she was a polygrapher for the Secret Service too for a while . So like that's how she gets into the psychology of it and like , because you had to go through super extensive training , because just because you have the test doesn't mean anything like the person has to be aware of , like what are triggers for lies . So it's like you have the duality of it when you're doing a polygraph test . Um , so she was doing that , but she obviously was on like the presidential , like secret service and like helping with a lot of . So she has like so many things that she's done throughout her career too , with so many like active stories that she tells like help you understand too .
Speaker 1It's really fascinating here . Wow , okay , you got some good borrows . Yeah , you got some good borrows . I'm excited to finish it , but , yep , definitely recommend . So far , so good . Um , and yeah , we'll see how the rest of it goes . I love it well , thanks for , you know , hanging out with us during this book blender . We talked about a lot of stuff you know borrows and returns , our book , talk of the housemaid , and then just kind of catching up with us . I had so much fun . I really missed this , so I'm I'm so excited , yeah , about the invisible , the Invisible Life of Addie LaRue . It's going to be good , and to talk about it with you Definitely .
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Speaker 1Well , dear listeners , we find ourselves at the end of another episode and remember , the Lazy Girl Library is not just a podcast , it's a community . We absolutely love hearing from fellow book lovers , so don't forget to share your thoughts and your favorite reads with us on our social media . You can find us on Instagram at Lazy Girl Library . Make sure to check out our website , lazygirllibrarycom , your one-stop shop for all things Lazy Girl . Before we go , we want to take a moment to thank all of our wonderful listeners , whether you're listening from your cozy bed , on your way to work or anywhere in between . Thank you for making us a part of your day and for being a part of our Lazy Girl family . So keep those pages turning , keep those imaginations flourishing and remember the best stories are yet to be discovered . Until next time , stay lazy and happy reading .
