Ep 84 "AM I THE A HOLE?!" 👻 🎃 HALLOWEEN Edition + Fall Book Recommendations and Hopefuls!

It’s that time of year again! Time to react to AITA Halloween Stories, time to put on our special surprise wigs, try not to laugh at literally everything we say, and give you guys the spoiler free Halloween rundown! 

We’ve got a spooky season fave and fail including a holiday meet cute, and the official Scream House, a smash or pass (fictional) serial killer / monster edition, and a whole lot of hilarious Am I the A Hole scenarios with one thing in common: Halloween. 

Are they justified for their outburst at being bested at a halloween costume contest by A DOG?! Is she the a hole for not telling her “super vegan” neighbor she was eating gelatin candy until it was too late? What about childhood trauma about a mom dressing up her daughter as… you guessed it… a HOTDOG?! 

We bring you all of these, and more, plus our seasonal book recommendations and fall hopefuls on our neverending TBR lists. See you there, ghouls! 🎃👻

WATCH THE...1st Halloween AITA Special | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVM84DyKt0o&t=16s

Don't be shy, subscribe! New Podcasts every Tuesday!! (And sometimes Friday!…)

+ SHOP OUR NEW BESTIES and the BOOKS X CROW Merch! | * https://besties-and-the-books-shop.fourthwall.com

Check out these author interviews? ⬇️

Penn Cole talks with us about Strong Female Characters, Feminist Themes, and her debut bestselling Spark of the Everflame Series! https://youtu.be/7ukNImyoObw?si=7C3Y9kOUMN4hfcKb

We interviewed Callie Hart all about her NYT Bestseller Quicksilver! Watch it here! https://youtu.be/CED5s7qDBdQ?si=8xtIRO1IzX6Rsld4

Check the official Author Interview with Lindsay Straube of Split or Swallow! Now a Barnes & Noble & Amazon best seller titled: Kiss of the Basilisk!  https://youtu.be/fknhocSNIKM

Need more ACOTAR in your life? Cook your way through Velaris with the help of Chelsea Cole and her cookbook A Feast of Thorns & Roses. Check out our author interview here!

The Podcast Inside Your House

Weird Horror. Created by Kevin Schrock and Annie Marie Morgan. 

Listen on: Apple Podcasts   Spotify

You've Got to Be Critting Me
Magic, mayhem, and moral dilemmas, an actual play with heart and hilarity!

Listen on: Apple Podcasts   Spotify

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome to the Besties and the Books AITA Halloween Special!
• 4:12 Wig Reveal
• 9:40 Fav and Fail Halloween Edition
• 16:45 AITA Halloween Reddit Stories
• 16:45 [Ad] The Podcast Inside Your House
• 17:33 (Cont.) Fav and Fail Halloween Edition
• 17:48 AITA I Don’t Care About My BF Opinion On My Halloween Costume
• 20:51 AITA Reading the Reddit No Sleep Stories to my Little Sister
• 25:27 AITA Mad That I Lost a Costume Contest to a Dog
• 28:09 [Ad] You've Got to Be Critting Me
• 28:48 (Cont.) AITA Mad That I Lost a Costume Contest to a Dog
• 32:01 AITA Asking My Neighbors To Tone Down Halloween Lights
• 37:05 AITA Vegan Mom stole and Ate Non Vegan Candy
• 45:12 ITA I Don’t Want My Boyfriend to go to the Halloween Party
• 52:58 AITA My Mom Made Me Dress As a Hot Dog
• 59:53 Halloween & Fall Bood Recommendations and Hopefuls
• 1:14:49 Unhinged Smash or Pass

Transcript

Happy Halloween. That's a bit dramatic. That's That's very dramatic. Am I the a-hole for causing a scene? I feel stupid wearing this elaborate costume. Hot dogs bring us together once again. Look.

Hey everyone, I'm Ashley. And I'm Liz. And this is the Besties in the Books podcast, Halloween.

Chainsaw. Chainsaw. Now, evil ghost. Welcome you guys. Oh, we're so happy to be here. Best time of the year. Best time of the year. Filming together. That too. Also Halloween and fall and all things. So yeah, buckle up for a spoiler-free episode. Today we're going to be doing just a series of Halloween stuff. mostly Am I the A-hole Halloween themed cuz we know you guys love the uh holiday episodes. They're always a hit. We love them, too. They're just so funny. Um and then we're going to be sharing our uh top three recommendations for fall/h Halloween type books. Um and then our three hopefuls. Yes. That we hope to get to finally this Halloween season. Cuz some of them might have come over from last year where I didn't get to. Yes. Unfortunately. Exactly. I mean, you guys get it. You guys get it. Um, so yeah, hopefully we can share some books with you guys, share some funny Halloween Am I the a-hole stories. Um, but before we get into that, we just want to say thank you so much for being here, guys. Look at us. Another season. Thank you for joining us now in our second Halloween episode, taking time out of your day, your book, maybe your chaotic fall schedule because we're trying to fit in all the things, all the apple pickings and the carving pumpkins and the haunted houses. Haunted houses and the candy getting and eating. M all the all the eggshaped Reese's you could get. That's a throwback to last year if you guys have been here for a while. Even the Easter episode, right? It was the Valentine's Day. A good heart-shaped egg or no, a good eggshaped Reese's. Yeah. For Valentine's Day. So, thank you guys. Make sure to like, follow, and subscribe anywhere you like to listen to favorite podcasts, including YouTube. We're hanging out over there. And also on Instagram and Tik Tok at besties in the Books podcast everywhere. So, like she said, spoiler-free episode. We're just vibing this week, okay? Just hanging out. And we have a special treat for all of you guys who are watching the YouTube video. Yes, we do. So, if you watched our last year's Halloween episode, you know that it is now a tradition. I'm like, how many years does it take to make a tradition? We're saying two. It's a tradition. Yeah. I mean, if you repeat it at least once. Yeah. There we go. I don't know if that is actually the definition, but we made it up, so it is what it is. So, it's fact and truth. Yes. And tradition for us specifically. Um, we will be wearing wigs. Yes. The thing is though is that we picked these wigs for each other ahead of time and do not share them at all. So I have no idea what I am going to unwrap and Ashley has no idea what she's going to unwrap for me. Then we have to put them on and wear them during the duration of the episode trying to keep a straight face as we talk to each other. Well, and we don't. And it's so fun though to go back and edit it later cuz we are pre-filming this fairly far in advance. And it's just such a treat to be like, "Oh, look at look at trying to edit the episode in a straight face is the best." So, we hope you guys enjoy. And of course, we'll be doing Thanksgiving and Christmas like we do like we did last year. I was going to say every year, but you know, second year, you know, like tradition as you do. And we make a special hat appearance in each thing, you know, just to spice up, just to really get you guys in the mood. You know, it's the week of Halloween right now. If you're like struggling, you're like, "Oh man, it just caught up to me." We hope that you can come here and feel the vibes. Yeah. feel the Halloween like ambiance and just silliness and just vibing and loving and living. Yeah. And hoping and giving and receiving. Giving and receiving. Yeah. Whatever that means. Famous words of Joey. Ashley and I were up last night until 1:00 a.m. watching Friends. So, just getting mad at Ross. Honestly, it's like so so different now. But yes, alas, here we are. Here we are. So, should we unwrap? We should do it. Speaking of, let's do it. Let's do it. All right. You go first. Okay, last year's was pretty good. So, we'll link that video down in the description box if you want to check out last year's. I made Ashley dress up like Harry Potter. That was funny. Yeah. And Liz had a very It was supposed to be a Bowie mullet, but it was a little It was It was whatever you want it to be. There you go. I gift this to you and I to you. You can pass it along, you know, as the tradition goes on. Okay. Ooh, gray. I'm going to describe it for the listeners. We have a gray wig of sorts, obviously a little bit of a curl to it. Will it be a granny wig? Will it be a full werewolf mask I have to wear the whole time? She's just like, "Well, you didn't specify how much wig hair can be involved." Okay, so I'm unnetting it for the YouTube people. Here you go. Here's your visual. Oh, it's long. Maybe Oh. Oh, it's a bit of a witch wig. Oh, it's a beard. and a mustache for the listeners out there. I'm so excited. Honestly, I love I love a good crazy Obviously, we do this because we think it's hilarious. Okay. Okay. So, we got Is this Gandalf perhaps? Maybe. Okay. Gandalf the Gray, you know. Gandalf the Gray. Okay. So, we got the We got the hair piece. All right. I'm taking a look. I'm going to like lightly place it on my head right now. My face is flying off. But I will make adjustments on the screen after Liz does. Why are you so scary? Hang on. My microphone's flying away. Okay, this is going to be a long video for me to be wearing this. I just wanted you to have to talk with a bearded. I mean, I get it. Fair. I need a tightknit that's definitely made for a a large face man. Maybe if it doesn't work, it doesn't. I just got a glimpse of myself on the camera. It's so big. It's very troll. Like a wise old troll. But can't even keep it on. Okay. I need Did you get facial glue? I did not like glue it on. I'll have to tighten it on my buns. Yeah. I have going. Okay. Liz, will you do the honors of yours, please? Yes. Worst. It's so itchy. Oh my god. stuck in my nose ring. Hang on. Oh no. Crisis. I got it. You don't have to keep the beard and the mustache on the whole time. Yes, I do. Okay. I like how you have this on the top. Like it looks like a little headband. Like Gandalf's wearing a headband. It's just working out. Okay. So, mine is blonde. That's what I see so far. It's supposed to be white, but whatever. I mean, it's Yeah. These white people. Oh, and it's curly. Yeah. Mhm. Okay. All right. Good luck fitting all your hair in that, by the way. Yeah, we'll see. I mean, you fit all your hair into the Harry Potter wig last time. Yeah, but your hair's thick. What even is this? Is this like I mean, it's Amazon, so good luck. I don't know what it's supposed to be. It's supposed to be Marian Twinette. Oh, it's I was like, it has two like curly pieces dangling down on the front. Okay. No, I love it. Let me Okay, let me just take my hair clip out really quick. We'll just do a a preliminary Oh, that's great over your hair, too. Yeah. Oh, it's gonna be so good when you tuck your hair in. I love it. I actually kind of love this wig. Great. Okay, we want to repurpose things, you know, and so obviously I can repurpose this beard stash. Obviously, you can repurpose that Marian Twinette wig. If I don't feel like doing my hair in the morning before work, I could just do that. It's got the two money pieces. The money shots you got. Okay. Yeah. So yeah, for the listeners out there, she has very good barrel curls. You know, the curls, you got to give it to them. So dangling, you know, along the temples. It's very Maria Twinette, but as if mixed with cone head. Okay. Yeah, if cone head, it might just need to get smooshed down though. I mean, no, but it's supposed to be tall. Oh, okay. Then I'll just leave it. Yeah, cuz it's full of secrets. Okay. I mean, I'll tuck all my hair in, so it'll get even taller. Quick break. It's like point seconds for you guys, but we'll be back. Well, I for one

feel like I look the best I've ever looked. I agree. I mean, you know, I got to hand it to you, Liz. You did a good job. I I feel glamorous cuz I got my makeup done. I feel like a new woman. Yeah. Gorgeous. I feel like the prettiest wizard in all the land. Yeah. So, I mean, honestly, when I saw that wig, I was like, this like it literally looks like Ashley to me. I get it. It's a very Ashley coated. Yeah, it is. Yeah. And you, it fits right in, too. It does. You look beautiful. It really does. I mean, I could see myself having this hair. Yeah. If I lived in what, 16th century France? Sure. Or so. Or somewhere around there. I'm not good with times. The times of yours. I am good with time. Being the father of it. Father time. If you're listening to this episode, how dare I tempt you to go watch it on YouTube instead? Should we start off with our Am I the a-hole? Uh, no. We have to do faves and fails. Faves and fails. We got a long ride, guys. Buckle up. Hope you're ready to look at this. So, Halloween theme just from our lives. All right, here we go. Faves and fails. All right. So, my fail, I'll just start with the fail, and nothing's really a fail when it comes to Halloween. You know what I mean? Is it? Is it really? Um, so my technical fail in air quotes, is that down in like the North Bay area, so like maybe four hours south of me or something like that, exists, the real Screamhouse, so Stewer's like actual house. Um, if you guys have been around here for a while, you know that Scream is my favorite horror movie franchise. Um, obsessed. And they now do a Screamathon. What? I'm just looking at you and your wig. Take me seriously. We're just like casually just talking as if we don't look crazy right now. It's Halloween, man. It's Halloween, baby. Keep going. Um. Ooh, the crown. Grab it for me. Yeah, you really need to add to this. I know. I'm not ready. I know. I feel like it almost makes it less silly. Oh, does it? No. I mean, I want to put some birds peeking out. Do you have any fake birds laying around? I don't, unfortunately. Put a crow in there. Oh my god, that's such a good idea. Go like up here. Oh no. Okay, it's okay. I think it's just in there. It's fine. It's very cockeyed now. So anyway, you're the princess in the tower and I'm the wise wizard that gives them their tasks along the way. Okay. Whatever works. Okay. Um, so, uh, I don't know, this production company started putting on a yearly screamathon, which is basically where they deck out, um, you know, Stew marker's house, and they make it look like the '9s, like exactly like how it would have looked in the '9s, and have the music and the snacks, like everything down to like the food, like everything. Um, and they have, you know, like last year, I think they had, uh, their original Ghost Face there doing autographs and that kind of thing and photos and stuff. And so, uh, my fail is that I haven't made plans to actually go to that yet. And it's only like 3 and 1 half to four hour drive away from me. And I feel like I need to make that happen because it will be so fun. Yeah. You need to do it. You need to do it. Has anyone gone to that? Tell me. Was it worth it? Yeah, it's pretty pricey, but I feel like, you know, it's like a full immersion kind of a thing. And like, I don't know, give me the opportunity to dress up like um Rose McGowan, who is always my favorite with her little like football crop top kind of thing, you know? So, I don't know. It's just a whole opportunity. Yeah. So, I'm excited for it. I did hear that they're going to start Airbnbing it out, too. That's cool. Which would be super cool. Yeah. Um, so my fave Halloween edition and I was like, did I talk have I talked about this before? I don't know. Last year, I know everything blends together. Um, but I don't think that I mentioned the fact that so I won't get into like the long story about it, but basically I had asked my husband out. Um, he was my next door neighbor and I put a note under his door asking him out. He called me. So, every year I would throw an annual huge Halloween party with my friend and he actually called me the night I was throwing that party and then we ended up going on our first date a couple days later. So, that's my Halloween fave because what a like what a cool memory just to like tie in with Halloween, you know? It like had nothing really to do with Halloween, but it was a whole vibe. And I remember thinking in my head like, "Oh, it would be fun if I like invited him to this party, but I was dressed up like super scary. like scary mask, bro. Yeah. And so I was like like I don't know if I want this to be like our first date cuz I'm definitely not looking cute right now. Um but yeah, it was a fun fun time and a good memory. So that's my favorite that I'm going to share this time this year. What about you? I'm going to say my favorite is just literally all the things Halloween. Like all of it. I just love the vibe. It's just so fun and silly and like it's not like a lot of I love all the holidays but like Christmas it's a lot of work involved like that is just leading up to stuff. What I love about fall Halloween is it's the whole time you know and I love doing like a movie night where we do themed snacks and you know have the lighting and the vibe and it's so cold and cozy. So, just like all that stuff. I love that Halloween lasts so long where Christmas is just like you do all this work and it's over in a few hours kind of. Yeah. And there's a lot of like there's a lot of expectations surrounding Thanksgiving and Christmas and like those holidays, but like Halloween is kind of just open-ended. Like choose your own adventure, however much you want to participate. Exactly. You don't have to be somewhere at a certain time. No. There's no formal meal. There's no gift giving unless you want to. There. It's like Yeah. It's very lowkey. Yeah. Decorate however much you want. Yeah. Choose your own adventure. Yeah. Yeah. Mhm. Do more or less none or all. My fail would be that like a a lot of times, as much as I look forward to it every year, it seems to just go by so fast and I don't get all the things done somehow, even though it lasts as long as it does. You know, it's like, oh crap, now it's Halloween and I didn't read all the books I wanted to do read and watch all the movies I wanted to watch and do all the, you know, activities. So that's, you know, that's it. that and I would say, you know, it's it's a fail that, you know, I don't like the classic slasher horror movies and I wish that I did because they're cool, but I don't want to see it. Yeah. You know, I get it. I mean, and that's the thing is like with horror movies, they have to be more on like the psychological thriller side because I don't like gory stuff. My mustache, Ashley just is moving it out of her face. Make sure she can breathe, you know? Um or it needs to be like very kitschy. That's why, like, you know, random trivia about me, Scream 4 is my favorite Scream because I feel like it is the kitsiest out of all. Yeah. And it's very nostalgic at this point. So nostalgic. Um, so yeah, I get it. It's just not your thing. That's okay. But I love But I But I love it like as decorations and everything and the toys and the dressups and it's so cute, but just the actual movie part, that's the only Halloween thing that's not for me. It's almost time for me to start re-watching them all. I know what you did last summer is about to come out. I think me and my sister are going to go see it. I did see the first one of that and I just didn't care for it. It was I just didn't like it. Yeah. I just I bet I would appreciate it more now. Nostalgic, but back then. Yeah. Well, the new one. The new one in the movie theater. Yeah. We'll see if it holds up. Yeah. You guys let us know what's your favorite thing about this time of year and your least favorite thing maybe or fail or whatever it is. Yeah. Yeah. Fail story. So, all right. Should we just delve into the Am I the a-hole Halloween edition? Let's do it. Let's do it. Let's find out if these people are a-holes. Redd it. Okay. Let's see if I could take a drink.

That was weird. That was weird experience. Am I the a-hole for telling my boyfriend that I don't care about his opinion on my Halloween costume? Oo,

my 21 female boyfriend, 20 male, does not like my Halloween costume. Halloween is coming up and my friends and I decided that we wanted to dress up as fairies. Okay, we approve. Uh Halloween is the one day that it is okay for people to dress scandalously and we were taking full advantage just as Mean Girls has said. One time a year no one can say anything and also do what you want. Yeah. My friends and I ordered lace bodysuits with different patterns. Mine specifically was green with gold trim and butterflies all over it. Very cute. Cute. The whole outfit consists of the bodysuit, sheer tights, plastic leaves on vines, jewelry, sandals, wings, and pointed ears. I told my boyfriend about my Halloween costume, and he immediately said that he does not want me wearing the costume. We will laugh in your face. I told him that he has no say in what I wear. He was not happy and told me that I should have asked him about my costume before purchasing it. He kept saying that I am disrespecting him by wearing the outfit in front of other people, even though he would be with me the entire night. I finally told him that I do not care about his opinion on my outfit choice and that I would be wearing it anyway. He and I can usually settle an argument pretty quickly, but this one has lasted for a few days. I still do not think that he should have any say on what I wear and still plan to wear the fairy costume. However, I fear that I was too outspoken. Am I the a-hole? Easy. Not the a-hole. No, he's the a-hole. Exactly. Girl, you're 21. Uh, this is a lesson that I'm really, really happy you're learning right now at 21. Yeah. And that she stood her ground. Yeah. Good. We're proud of you. Because like, dude, no. Absolutely not. Like, the only time someone can say that is if you're under 18 and it is your parents saying, "Uh, let's protect you and no." You know, exactly. Or if your costume is actually offensive, like what you are doing is not offensive. No. Who cares? And honestly, it's so ridiculous on so many ways, but like bathing suits cover less. Yeah. Oh, so I'm not allowed to go to the beach now. Great. Yeah. No. How about you're dumped? You're dumped. Get out here. Learn it now. I mean, it's good that he's showing himself who he is right now. You're really dating. And he's 20. He's got like 20 more years of cooking to do before he's ready. He's like testing it out, too. Like, let's see. You know, disrespecting. It's going to get worse. Give me a break. Yeah. And wear what you want. Literally wear whatever you want. General, the internet says not the a-hole. Yeah. So that's good. Good. Someone commented below gets hot girlfriend. Girl is hot while dating boyfriend. Boyfriend shocked. Yeah. Like that's what's wild too is they want the hot girl, but then they want to snuff her out, you know? Not cool. It's just for me, you know, and it's like no, but it's honestly it's not it's just for herself. Ah, I actually have a book slash reading related one. Good. Just, you know, since we're technically a book podcast, not that you guys can tell. Okay. Am I the a-hole for reading the Reddit no sleep stories to my sister at bedtime for her bedtime stories? Okay, so no sleep is like the the Slender Man was originally posted on there, I believe. You know, so people come up with these really scary short stories on Reddit. Okay. Which we should also do an episode where we re That's a good idea. Yeah, maybe we'll do that. Yeah. Yeah. Anyways, around a year ago when I was regularly babysitting my then 8-year-old sister, I was It was pretty easy. I just stayed home with her and made sure she went to bed at bedtime. She wanted a story read like she does usually and because of the Halloween season asked me some to read her some scary stories. So I read her some from the Reddit no sleep off my phone. She liked them initially but later got nightmares and told my parents about them. They were mad. Now they've been telling me no scary stories this time of year, even if she asks. But all I did was tell her what she asked for. Am I the a-hole for doing that? I mean, did say how old this person is. This person, no, but it's a sister. Yeah. I mean, because they could be like a teenager, you know what I mean? Um, I don't think that they're an a-hole, but like perhaps also it is your job as the babysitter to like, you know, not just let the 8-year-old do whatever they want, right? That's true, too. Eight years old, okay, is a little young. These no sleep stories. I know people get really freaked out by them. They're usually really good. See, I don't know. I've not ever read any of them. I just But it just depends which ones they read, you know. But so it it's a little I would say gray area. Not the a-hole because you're just probably a teenager like just figuring out. You don't know you cuz parents know I'm not going to make my life worse and having no sleep because my kids having nightmares all night because of these stories that I read to them. So, the parent would be the a-hole if they did that. But your sibling, you're watching for free for your parents. You don't really know full responsibilities yet. Like, you're just reading the story to them cuz you think they can handle it. Oops, you made a mistake. They can't handle it. Just don't do it again. Yeah. Not an a-hole, just like you're just a teenager or a kid a kid making a mistake, too, you know? Not a big deal. It's not as big of a deal as it needs to be. No, it's like a oops, let's move on. So, yeah. I feel like that one's pretty like more information would be useful because if we found out they were like 30. Yeah, that's possible. Yeah, then I don't know about that. But it kind of sounds like they're young, too. Yeah, but some kids like we read, you know, our last Halloween episode last year, some kids love that stuff and they're fine, which is crazy to me. I'm like, it seems so scary. Okay. Yeah. So, here's the thing. Okay. They were voted the a-hole. Really? Yeah. Which is surprising. So, I just want to read off a couple comments. You're the a-hole. If she asks for a gun, are you gonna give her one? That's a bit dramatic. That's very dramatic. Um, it doesn't point. It doesn't matter if she asks for something. You're the responsible adult. We don't even know if they're an adult. I just doubt they're an adult. I do. Especially the vague information that they gave. I feel like when they don't say their age, it means they're a kid probably. And I wonder if Reddit like, you know, blocks that. Um, and then so yeah, let's see what else. Did you gauge the stories to match her age and what she personally can handle? I've told scary stories to kids that age, but they geared them to fit what they wanted. So, it just depends. We don't We're not given enough information. Stick to the room on the broom and Goosebumps books. Yeah, I think because these people are Reddit people, they know how scary these stories can get. So, that's the that's the context, too. I need to start reading. Yeah. They're really scary. Like every single one, then maybe you're being a jerk. But it doesn't sound like they really like thought it through cuz they're also probably a kid. Their frontal lobe isn't developed. So, they're voted the a-hole, but I'd say just don't do it again. Yeah. Maybe a little harsh unless they are an adult and then it's like, okay, maybe reevaluate a little bit. And even then, I don't know if I'd consider them an a-hole unless they did it like repeatedly. Yeah. Yeah. Mhm. Okay. Okay. Good. Now that's settled. What do you guys think? Let us know. Let us know. What do you got? Am I the a-hole for causing a scene after I, 23, male, lost a costume contest to a dog, age three? I'm going to say yes right now. I like how he put the age of the dog. Three. Okay, that's great. I am genuinely losing my mind here. Okay, he's he's 23. Go. in our second installment of our men. Okay. Okay. So, I love Halloween. I love making costumes and put a lot of effort into it. My friend hosted a big Halloween party at her place and said there would be a costume contest for who had the best Halloween costume under $50. Third and second place would win $25 and first would win $50. So, not a huge money prize, but enough to offset the price of the costume. And to put it um to put it was more about the fun of the game. Okay. So, he's That was a typo, but it's saying it's like he wants to have fun and the emphasis shouldn't be on the money, but the money's nice, right? Right. I wanted to win, so I pulled out all the stops and went as Zoro from One Piece. I don't know what that is. And only had to buy $40 worth of material. Oh, it's anime. Okay, great. When I got to the party, I saw other costumes and there were some fierce competitors, but honestly, I think I had the best costume. I thought maybe it was too obscure for people who don't know anything about anime and that might not go well, but it was a good costume. Oh, nice. When the winners were announced, I got second. This bummed me out kind of, but hey, I still did well. And again, if I had went with something more ubiquitous, maybe people would have gotten it. However, the issue arose when they announced first place. Okay, first place was a dog dressed like a pirate in one of those in one of those shitty pirate Party City costumes. So, if I had lost to another person, I wouldn't have cared. But I had a few drinks in me and my inhibitions were lowered and it was a dog. Okay. Okay. So, I out loud asked the host, "Really? The dog won?" And she said yes and was gushing about how Cutie looked. I said that it was a dog and it didn't even have a say in what it was going at. Oh my gosh, guys. Spiraling. I told her that this didn't seem fair. She told me to lighten up and that it was supposed to be fun. I told her that it's ridiculous she's about to give the $50 prize to the owner for spending 20 bucks on a cheap Walmart dog costume when me and whoever was in third place actually made our costumes. She got mad that I called her ridiculous and things kind of escalated into a full-blown argument that required my friend breaking us up. I was then kicked out of the party for embarrassing the host like that. Well, so I don't think I'm the a-hole because like obviously that's not fair. if it was a dog costume contest, but having a bunch of people compete and lose to someone's dog is so unfair. I think I was justified in saying what I said. People there said that I shouldn't have or I shouldn't should have just taken the $25 and called it a day. Am I the a-hole? For blowing it out of proportion. Yes. Literally, this is crazy. I and I do kind of think it's about the money because he brought it up. Oh, the freaking dog wins $50. Okay, calm down. The dog didn't win $50. Its owner won $50, which I could kind of see like the owner is not the one who actually dressed up. They just put a costume on their dog. Yeah, but it's adorable and it's a crowd-pleaser. And literally, who cares? Like, knock it off. You just ruined your whole night. Yeah. and everyone else's. It sounds like for no reason. There were no Did you sign a contract entering this contest that it was humans only? Like it sounds like it's literally just at a party, a silly friend party and just let's have a costume contest, you know? Sorry that you're not as cute as a dog, dude. Imagine having the like mental brand bandwidth and capacity to like get actually mad that a dog beat you at a costume contest at your friend's Halloween party. Yeah. Like enough to get kicked out. Like this was a whole scene. This is his watered down version. Yeah, totally. I bet. For sure. I just want to have fun. It's chill. And then I'm gonna freak out when I lose to a dog. He sounds like a fun guy to invite over. Yeah. Great. They're probably like waiting for a reason to kick him out. Don't be that guy. Like, it's not that serious. Let's move on in life. Let's pick our battles. Let's pick our battles. That's not one. No. Yeah. Do we get any picture of the dog? I don't care about the guy's costume. Uh, I don't think so. Let's compare it. It's like terrible. He just drew like an eye patch on him or whatever they wear. This person, including the dog's age, is great. That's what I said. Like, oh well, we know he's three, so that's good. That's good. What did the internet say? Uh, he's definitely the a-hole according to the internet. Defending himself with the edit edits or anything. Uh, people are being kind of funny. You lost to a dog. Get over it. Oh, yeah. Your friend clearly likes dogs over people. Yeah. How old are you to be this mad at coming second place in a Halloween costume? You can't be 23. Yeah. Like if this was like a kid, I'd be like, well, hopefully you learn better before you're 23. But something tells me that it's probably honestly a 23-y old. Probably 23. Yeah, he's Yeah, hopefully he learned his lesson after this that he got roasted on the intronet. Yeah, but uh No, we don't have any pictures of him or the dog. I wish that we did. Of course, he wanted to take a picture of the dog. He knows he doesn't want to prop up the dog anymore. He's already been propped up. That would be funny cuz if you did a poll, who did it better? And everybody's like 100% the dog. Yeah. Like come on guy. Like don't ruin. You just ruined your whole night over this. Over what? For no reason. Don't be that crazy. Don't be that competitive. It's all good. After the Fourth of July episode where we talked about the fireworks, y'all got very feisty and we just loved it. So, I feel like maybe maybe this will be polarizing, too. Let's see. I'm curious to see what you guys say, too. Am I the a-hole for asking my neighbors to tone down their Halloween lights? Don't even Don't even Don't even tone it down for nothing. Okay. I recently moved into a new neighborhood and this is our first Halloween here. We learned just yesterday that my neighbors across the street go all out for the holiday. H. It isn't just a lot of decorations, but a lot of flashing and strobing lights. It's all over their roof, lawn, porch, and just about every inch of their house. So, thinking Griswald style. Yeah. Okay. But Halloween. But Halloween. So, better. Yeah. Sold. I'll move in. It gets a lot of people to come by and look. But that isn't the issue. The issue is that our daughter, six female, has epilepsy.

Changed everything. Yeah. So, for those that don't know, epilepsy usually is reactive to flashing and strobing lights. They'll go into a seizure. I went over and asked last night if they could maybe run the lights for only an hour or two or replace some of the strobing lights with regular ones. Even offered to pay for the replacements. I explained that I'm worried if my daughter looks out her window or goes outside, it might trigger her epilepsy. My old neighborhood was great, and while they celebrated Halloween, they never went this wild. I'm worried my daughter won't be able to go trick-or-treating in our new block. My neighbor, my neighbor and his wife, late 20s maybe, got mad and asked how could I have the audacity to ask. They called me a Karen when I said I was just worried about my daughter. They told me to mind my own business and just shut my blinds and close my curtains, which is like at least a month long of doing that, right? Cuz it's not just the week like these people are new to the neighborhood. Like what a friendly welcome. That must be Gez. They slammed the door in my face before I can argue any further. So, flash forward to today. I was talking to my coworker about it and she said, "I was the a-hole and I am a Karen for asking." Oh. She said that they're right. It's none of my business and the world doesn't revolve around my daughter. So, I shouldn't expect them to change their Halloween decorations and traditions just because my daughter might or might not be triggered by it. But, I don't know. I'm just worried about my daughter's epilepsy being triggered. Reddit. Am I the a-hole? I don't think that they're an a-hole for asking if if it went down like how they're saying it went down because I feel like sometimes people think that they're being like reasonable and nice when they're asking for requests to accommodate them, but they're really not. And they're being intense. They're being intense or like kind of um like condescending or you know what I mean? Yeah. Um, but assuming because this is the only information we have that it actually went down that way, I don't really feel like their neighbor was very nice to them. Yeah. And accommodating because I at first, you know, cuz I don't read these ahead of time, I thought, oh, they're just they don't like the lights. It's too much. Yeah. Yeah. Then it's like, no, you're a you're an a-hole. But because this is like a severe medical condition, um, you know, they're not asking them to not do it. They're asking and allegedly offering to replace the flashing stuff because they can have lights. It's just the flashing that bothers them, right? And maybe even say like on Halloween, you know, do whatever, you know, like try to like work it out. You guys have to be neighbors for the for like let's assume the rest of your life. Like let's not go down in flames the first month. Yeah. So that's really setting a precedent. And it's not I sounds like from what they're saying they're trying to be reasonable about it and not trying to ruin their decorations. It's just like you can just literally click a setting usually to change it. So they're not being very reasonable. I feel Yeah. I feel like their neighbors being kind of an a-hole. Yeah. and not understanding because you should be able to come to a compromise of some kind because I know people like that if the roles were reversed they would be crazy and intense and say no decorations you know totally cuz it that's all it takes you know they're just intense people and that's I think that there's definitely like you know for the most part I um subscribe to the camp of you know it's my house I get to do what I want on my house but this is a special circle circumstance. Yes, I agree with that. Yeah. Yeah. So, because of the circumstance situation, I think they need to come to a compromise. So, not necessarily a-hole and except the neighbors. Sounds like they're being a-holes about it. Yeah. Exactly. Talk it out. Like, good luck. Cuz they're even like are they the type of people that are going to go so much harder now and retaliate? They seem kind of vindictive and intense, which scary. That's scary. And then you don't feel safe. So, overall, Reddit says not the a-hole either. Yeah. So, says, "You're not being an a-hole for asking, and they aren't necessarily an a-hole for refusing. It sucks for you, but you do need to realize that the neighbors won't be accommodating, so you need to figure out what else to do." Am I the a-hole for not telling a vegan mom that the candy she stole from my kids and was eating wasn't vegan? Wait, say that again. Am I the a-hole for not telling a vegan mom that the candy she stole from my kids and was eating wasn't vegan? She stole it. Might have had to come in. Okay. This happened on Halloween and the day following. My neighbor, 38 female, super vegan, it says. So, not just regular vegan. She's like a super vegan. Yeah. Has two kids. I, 26, female, also have two kids. My apartment complex didn't do traditional trick-or-treating on Halloween. Residents were advised to set out prepackaged individual candy bags on their patio's front door areas if they wanted to participate. But the traditional knock on door physically hand strangers candy was not permitted. Oh, okay. So, Halloween costumes and the kids or Halloween comes and the kids are all dressed up and each building has a scheduled time where the kids go door to door. I ended up having to work late, so my neighbor offered to walk my kids around with hers at our building scheduled time. About 45 minutes later, my kids came home with a small bucket of candy, six little goodie bags each from individual apartments that participated. Everything was fine, and my kids didn't say anything weird had happened. They were just excited to eat candy once I got home. The next day, I took my kids to the park directly across from our apartment complex. My neighbor was there with her kids as well. The kids were playing and she took out one of those individual goodie bags with candy in it from her purse and started to loudly rummage in it. She ate several pieces of candy and my daughter eventually noticed, ran up and asked if she could have a piece and my neighbor responded, "Nope. This is my tax candy. Remember that this was a reward for taking you trick-or-treating last night." Oh. I was a little weirded out by that statement and asked what she meant. She said that since she is the one who had to take the kids out, she took five bags from each of my kids as a quote unquote tax. Jeez. Oh my god, this is so long. Her son then chimes in and says, "You only took two bags from us." She responded, "But with," but I'm your mom. I was doing them a favor, so they get a higher candy tax. Oh jeez. I was thinking about how to respond when I noticed that she was holding a Starburst candy and decided to just smile and nod and go back to watching my kids. I let her continue to finish off the bag of candy and then said, "Hey, aren't you vegan? You know a lot of those candies are made with animal products, right?" Yeah. Explained what gelatin was and how a lot of those candies are made with it. She was horrified, Googles it, and then told her kids that they were leaving. She said something about how she was going to be sick and stormed off. Now she's giving me dirty looks every time we see her and won't let her kids play if she shows up at the park and we are there. My husband thinks I'm the a-hole cuz I should have either not said anything about the gelatin or said something right away when I noticed. I don't think it's my job to tell a vegan what is and isn't vegan, though, and she deserved it for stealing candy from little kids. Okay, so there's some edits. Edit number Edit number one. When we got home from the park after the gelatin incident, I sat my kids down and asked why they didn't tell me that the neighbor took half of their candy. My oldest kid is six and my youngest kid is four. Six-year-old explained that as they went door to door during their designated trick-or-treating time, she would have my four-year-old grab two bags instead of one from each apartment for the majority of them. She explained it to my kids that they were grabbing extra bags for her to be handed over at the end as taxation. Wow. So either way, she was directly taking candy from my kids or taking candy from other kids like through mine. Jeez, this lady's a fiend. I know. As for the authenticity of her veganism, I may have exaggerated when I said quote unquote super vegan when I first posted this. She claims to be vegan and is very very in people's faces about the benefits. It's 100% about the health side. She brags about veganism curing, you know, different diseases and mental health issues. I have never once heard her talk about the benefits for animals. She also says herbal sells herbal tea products, customized gym clothing, etc. So, she totes a pretty big vegan quote unquote lifestyle if that makes sense. Now, for the gelatin, she knows what gelatin is. She knows what it's made out of. She knows that there are obvious things that she can't eat, but she has no idea that a lot of candy specifically had gelatin. Apparently, when I told her that they had gelatin in it, she knew what gelatin was, but uh Googled the candies to see if I was correct. I think she is either really dumb or she eats non-vegan stuff all the time when no one's watching and has to pretend to be horrified at it about it at this point because a lot of you guys have pointed out that you literally can't be vegan and not know these things. Okay, I'm vegan. This is true. Yeah, especially with candy. There's a lot of candies that are vegan, but I know the ones I can and cannot eat or I read it, you know. Yeah. Um, about the Starburst, a lot of you have said that Starburst are vegan friendly. However, Starburst in the USA are made with animal gelatin. This is true. I was just talking to my husband about this because I don't like I don't like Starburst, so it didn't matter. Okay. Um, I have bought several bags of candy that our entire family has been snacking on since. Am I the a-hole? What a roller coaster that was, guys. Well, as the wise old Gandalf wizard that I am, I will say this. Um, what a weird person that mom was. Not the writer, but like dude, okay, I joke with my kids like if they want me to open a chip bag for them, I'm like, "Oh, mommy tax one chip." Not like, "Okay, half the bag and it's a joke. It's literally a joke." You know, that's different than like taking an actual like 50%. Taxation without representation. It's something that Maruette may have done. Yeah. What do you think? Let them eat cake. What do you say? I mean, she got beheaded. Yeah. Off with her head, dude. That's a lot. She is just um that lady is an a-hole. Yeah. Um it doesn't have anything to do with the vegan candy, you know, like it's everything to do with her like just taking all this excessive candy from the kids. Yeah. And it's weird. It's like you don't you know it's like you take if you agree to take kids trick-or-treating, you don't take them and then rub it in their faces that she should essentially get a reward for her inconvenience of taking them. Also, guess what? Go buy the candy like you're an adult. You have free will. You like you can't buy your own candy. Yeah, that's weird. That's weird. This is weird. It's super weird. So, the internet says not the a-hole. Yeah, I don't think it's She's even an a-hole for not pointing out the vegan candy right away. It's none of my business. If you want to call yourself a And I'm a vegan. Okay. If you want to call yourself a vegan, I don't know you and you're eating non-vegan stuff. I might observe that's weird, but I'm not going to go out of my way to like tell you about it. If you're my friend and you're vegan and you're eating something and I feel like you genuinely don't know, I'd be like, "Oh, no. Do you know that that's not vegan?" Cuz I would want someone to tell me. But if you're just my crazy neighbor who's being like rude to me, then no. Eat eat your non-vegan stuff. Well, that when that's what her husband said, right? You should probably just not have told her at all. But it was done as a dig. But I think it's funny. She kind of had it coming. Yeah, I kind of do the thing. Not that I believe in revenge or like eye for an eye, but it's kind of funny. In the grand scheme of things though, they didn't do anything mean to her. She's the one who on her own behalf ate the candy. Yeah, they didn't trick her into eating the candy. But it's weird that she's acting all weird with her now. Like she flipped the tables. Like she's that's very manipulative to be like, "Oh, we can't hang out with them now because I ate all their non-vegan candy and then someone pointed it out and somebody pointed it out to me." Yeah. It sounds like she just doesn't like to be called out about the fact that she pretends to be quote unquote super vegan and probably at the end of the day is I've seen a lot of people like that where they're vegan except like being like yeah because they almost think of it as well I didn't buy the candy it's there you know so I'm going to eat it you know absolutely not so not the poster to me is not the a-hole on any counts but tell me I'm wrong tell me I'm wrong I am just a wise old wizard so that I don't think so either I thought I thought that was hilarious, though. Oh my god. Can we just say it? Get a life. Get a life. Yeah, all these people. Can't you see? Can't you see? Am I the a-hole for wanting to cancel going to a neighbor's annual Halloween party because boyfriend refuses to wear a costume? H. So, this might be polarizing, too. Let's see. Our neighbors throw this luxe Halloween party every year. dry ice, flashing laser lights, awesome music, haunted house tour in a basement for kids, cool adult beverages upstairs. All for grown-ups, you know, for that stuff. But dude, sounds like a vibe. Yeah. Photo booth. I slide for shots. Pro actors dressed up doing tarot and palm readings. Like, they go all out. It's wild. Can I get an invite? Yeah. Neighbors are very specific that it's invite only. Well, please, please let me go. Yeah. Wear a costume. A costume party. You have to wear a costume. Like, yeah. Otherwise, like you're just bringing down the vibes. Yeah. Stop being a what? A wet blanket. Nobody likes a wet blanket. We uh he never wears one and I always do, so they let him in anyways and he doesn't wear one. It's feels attention seeking at this point. It does. It's like the opposite. Yeah, exactly. It's like the person who's too cool to like do something. You know what I mean? Does Do you know that everybody thinks you're a dick? Yeah. Like it's like contrarian just to be contrarian. It's like annoying. Yeah. Listen, I know there's people listening that don't like to dress up and that's cool, but like if it's a costume party, just go just there's some easy ones. Yeah, you could like literally just go buy a costume if you don't want to put any effort in. You could literally just buy this wig. Oh, people would love it. And just put that on. It took Ashley 2 seconds to put it on and then just go. Let's lighten up as a society. Yeah. Once I got him to let me at least put some blood tears under his eyes, but he washed some off later in the bathroom after we got there. My gosh. Okay. It really bothers me. Like a vampire. All you have to do is put vampire fangs on and dress fancy. That would be great. Literally just wear a sweatuit with a headband and be like, "I'm a runner." Then you're cozy. Literally, there are so many things. There's so many easy things. I feel stupid wearing this elaborate costume I've been thinking about or working on for weeks and he's wearing like jeans and a long sleeve black t-shirt. He should feel stupid. You shouldn't. You're Do not feel stupid. You're the one showing up to a costume party wearing a costume, so you're golden. Like, go hard. Go even harder. Make him feel weird that he is such a wet blanket, as you said. Um, so don't feel stupid. Uh, forget the couple's costume. That will never happen. He won't even do a simple last minute joke costume like chick magnet putting little felt chicks on his shoulder. One little felt chick on. That would be so cute. Oh my gosh, what a cute idea. Also, really like, are you okay? Little fake chick. Oh yeah. Did you sure you want to be with this guy? Okay. He sounds fun. I asked if he'd just put a tobogen and a flannel shirt on this year. What's a like a sled? Yeah, I was going to say I thought a toboggan was a sled. And then he could be Jacqu Gustoau, but no way either. I don't know. So, basically, it's just all of our ideas are getting shut down. Every time he shows up not wearing anything, our neighbors ask why he didn't dress up and I can tell that they are not pleased, but they let him stay. I begged again. It's a no once more. So now I don't even want to go. He just says I'm being silly. I tell him to stay home and I'm going. Yeah. Like you really want him there? He sounds like the fun police. Yeah. So calm down. Like do people know it's okay to like go somewhere without your significant other? Like it's perfectly fine to do that. It's okay. They all go out to throw the neighborhood this beautiful, huge, unique, super fun party and he can't make a minimal effort to comply with the come in costume, please request. Burns me up and embarrasses me when he's the only one there who didn't do anything. Am I the a-hole? Edit. In case I was unclear, he wants to go with me. Oh, every year and again this year. And but he does not want to dress up stuff. Okay, so he's making it tough because he's saying he wants to go. It's not like cuz it would be one thing if he didn't want to go and she was like kind of dragging him along. I'd be like, "Leave him at home. Let him hang at home." But he explicitly wants to go, but then refuses to dress up. The world doesn't revolve around you all the time. There's that, too. It's again, it's pick your battles. Like, why can't you just put something put the little chick on your shoulder? Look, wear what you're going to wear. Like, stop being a bummer because Yeah. Like I was saying, it's attention seeking. It feels like like I want to be the only one not wearing it cuz I'm so cool. I But I feel like Okay, just to play devil's advocate for a second as you're saying like don't I feel like this person's like adding fuel to the fire by like getting upset that he's not dressing up. Like maybe just stop caring. Yeah. And just be like, "Yeah, you don't need to go. It's fine." Yeah. Or just be like if you want to go and not dress up then that's your choice and you can do that. But like I'm not going to let you ruin my fun. So I'm done having this discussion with you. Yeah. So it doesn't say the age or anything, but I do think it's time for them to kind of sit back and think about, okay, Halloween comes every year. Is this something that is a deal breakaker? You know, do we need to do you know because he probably does something similar for every holiday? I'm assuming like doesn't want to participate in something. We'll see. I'm guessing. But like you just have to decide because you either need to let it go now cuz it's been a few years. You either just need to let it go and he's not going to wear stuff, you know, and either go without him or you let go of the relationship because it's not going to change. I just like dump him cuz he won't wear a costume. Yeah. I mean, if it's a deal breaker for her, you know, you know, hey, life's too short. It's too short. I feel like, you know, my husband's not big on dressing up. Yeah. but he'll go with me to the stuff and like have a good time. And so that's where like why I kind of I can kind of see both sides of it. Like we've never gone anywhere where it's like heavily encouraged to dress up because it's going to ruin someone's vibe party. Like we go mostly to like, you know, haunted houses or like that kind of thing where it's like, yeah, it' be cool to dress up and like usually I'm dressed up and other people that we're with are dressed up, but it's not a big deal. Yeah. You know what I mean? I do think the poster is overthinking it. I don't think everybody's looking at him and making like And if they are, okay, whatever. But like while it's encouraged, that's what I mean is like they need to kind of decide what they're going to do cuz this isn't worth the fight every year. No, it's not. I would just let it go. Yeah. Either just accept it and move on or he needs to, you know, figure out something or maybe don't do it. Yeah. Don't be together. Just figure it out. Figure out where you stand. Don't have this a problem every year is what I'm saying. Yeah. No, because it's gonna be until you just settle it. Just settle it and get it done. Yeah. Um I mean I don't think that they're the a-hole for uh wanting them to dress up wanting them to. Yeah. Yeah. But if it keeps coming up, it can just like it's not going to change unless he wants to change it. I think that like if she expressed that it's very important to her and he's like I don't care. Yeah. I don't know. That might be indicative of a larger problem. Yeah. Yeah. Perhaps that they need to explore. If it's literally like he just doesn't like wearing costumes, but like otherwise he's a good partner. Then maybe just let it go. Have to look at the whole picture for that. Yeah. Mhm. So, they were voted not the a-hole. People often were commenting that just go without him if maybe he can decide to be invisible man. Oh, good option. Good option. So, he haha he he has to wear a costume anyways. He doesn't know it. Yeah. He's here. He's the invisible man. Yeah, that's cute. Am I the a-hole for telling my mom it wasn't cute or funny to dress me as a hot dog instead of a princess? Okay. The reason why I included this was because I feel like the vendiagram of like am I the a-hole Halloween and am I the a-hole uh Fourth of July shouldn't really connect, but yet hot dogs bring us together. Once again, look up hot dogs and Halloween. Nope. I do. Just came up. It just came. The algorithm knows you love a good hot dog story. Yep, we do. So, there's this new Target commercial going around where a little girl dresses as a hot dog. And it came on while my family was watching a scary movie. I, 20 female, am home from college for the weekend and brought my boyfriend and my mother, 57 female, decided it would be hilarious to mention that she'd made me a hot dog costume as a kid. Except the way she told the story, it was my request. She said that all the girls wanted to be Disney princesses, but I had asked to be a hot dog. And so, she's gone out of her way to make me that costume. Okay, this is not what happened. And I said as much. What actually happened is that I wanted to be Snow White and had told everyone, including the teachers, that I was going to be Snow White. I was obsessed with that movie as a kid to the point where I would actually get invested in doing chores because I was cleaning up just like Snow White. Oh, that's a good hack. I know, right? My dad and I would watch that movie all the time, and I was very excited to be Snow White for Halloween, especially because my ballet studio was doing a special princess dance for Halloween, and we'd all signed up for special princess slots, and I'd shown up early with my dad the week before so I could get to be Snow White. My mother decided that she wanted to be quirky, and that Snow White was a bad role model. After I got in trouble for trying to cook dinner for my family, I was about eight and I tried to make hot dogs like how she made food for the dwarves in the movie and I made a mess. My mom surprised that well though. I know. She was literally eight. Okay. My mom quote unquote surprised me on the day of with this crappy hot dog suit and told me if I didn't wear it, she'd never let me watch Snow White again. That's crazy.

It is. Is it just your reaction? You're wearing this. You're like kind of playing with That's not crazy. That's crazy. Yeah. Yeah. She took a million pictures. The other girls teased me for months and it was the one of the most humiliating moments of my childhood. I told the real story and mentioned that I got through the day by pretending that she was the evil queen making me dress in rags, but the rags happened to be a garbage meat costume. She got really quiet after that. And after we left, my brother said she was crying and looking at the pictures from that Halloween. Oh, give me a break. I didn't want to make my mom cry, but it's a crappy memory for me, and it felt like she was trying to humiliate me all over again in front of my boyfriend. Yeah. I called my mom out for forcing me to be a hot dog for Halloween and humiliating me as a child after she brought up the story, pretending I'd wanted to be. Am I the a-hole? Not the a-hole. Speak your mind when it comes to that. You should stand up for yourself. Yeah. I mean, I think that, you know, unfortunately when you're eight, you might not communicate the best. So, like, you know, it this could be a really lame miscommunication problem where the mom really thought she was being funny and clever and silly and like no harm, no foul. And the daughter was devastated by it, but didn't know how to thoroughly explain that as an 8-year-old. But at the same time, it's like read the room. And also that comment about like if she didn't dress up like a hot dog that she was never going to be able to watch Snow White again. That's really mean. That's manipulative and abusive. I'm sorry. Yeah. And and weird and weird. Yeah. And because like it seems like punishment, too. It's a It's a punishment. Oh, 100%. It sounds like a punishment. Like she tried to make hot dogs for her family, so she made her hot dog costume. That's kind of a little sinister, honestly. Very sinister because it's purpose. It's the kind of abuse. It's like embarrassment abuse or something. There's a better word for it. But it's like they are embarrassing them as the punishment and that's not okay. Yeah. It's like humiliation. Humiliation. Yeah. It's not. Um, and and then either the mom genuin genuinely rewrote the story in her head to make herself be comfortable with it or she did on purpose like is manipulating the situation to again embarrass her again, you know? Or like I said, maybe she's just clueless and thought it was funny and didn't realize what she was doing was damaging. Yeah. I mean, and that might be why she's so upset now because, you know, 20 years later or whatever, however long it is, she's like, "Oh my god, I had no idea that that even was that damaging to you. I just thought I was being funny." Yeah. Since you love hot dogs so much. Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah, it could be that or it could be she's crying because she was called out and, you know, and is making it all about her, which it kind of sounds like maybe she might be the type of person who would make everything all about her. That's crazy. So, I mean, it's sad because it's like the 8-year-old didn't mean bad. They meant well by cooking dinner, you know? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Maybe take a break from Snow White if she's that obsessed with it that she might burn the house down on accident. Don't make her dress up like the thing she was cooking for you. That's where it be that's where it becomes a little strange. So, you don't get to be Snow White now. You got to be the hot dog you were cooking for us inspired by cooking. I'm sorry. I just It's like adults are so interesting. I think about this as like someone who doesn't have kids and I'm like, where do you go? Like, where do you go to what place in your mind where this seems like the logical next step? You know what I mean? Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah. Did your parents make you dress up like anything that you really really hated? Tell us question. Mhm. No, I mean like I want our I mean I also want to know from from you, but I was thinking like that would be a good thing to ask the listeners because were there any costumes that you just really didn't want to dress up like and your parents made you dress up like? I don't feel like there was any like that for me as a kid. Nothing that nothing that comes to mind. We didn't always get to dress up. So some years my parents didn't like Halloween. Some years it was fine. Yeah. See, for me it was there was a very hard and strict line of we were not allowed to dress up like anything scary. There's that. Um, so but that was okay cuz I was really into Disney princesses and fairy tales and whatnot, you know. So I remember, you know, dressing up like Dorothy one year, dressing up like, you know, various Disney princesses, so that was all fine. And once I got into high school, I could do whatever. Yeah. But was there a costume? Tell us. I'm curious. Yeah, I'm sure I dressed up as some biblical people a couple times. Kind of like maybe who would this be? Moses. Yeah, perhaps. Yeah. I wish I wore a beard and mustache and hair. That'd be great. A staff. A staff. I was probably wearing like a sheet toga like situation. Yeah. Not quite as exciting. We got to make a lot of our costumes. So, it was up to our imaginations. Mhm. Yeah. Just no gore. No blood. Yeah. No gore. That was a rule in our family as well. Okay. So, what we're going to do is we're going to share our top three recommendations for you to read this fall. So, that's fall, spooky season, horror, whatever. you know, kind of in that category. Um, and then our three hopefuls that we hope to read. Um, so why don't you share your three recommendations or no, should we go back? Let's go. No, let's go. Let's go. And then I'll share my recommendations and then we'll do our hopefuls after. Let's do it. Okay. Number one. Boom. Never Whistle at Night. An indigenous dark fiction anthology and is a collection of eerie tales. Okay. So, lot of short stories. I haven't read it all. So, sorry. That's a terri terrible recommendation, but what I have read because there are a lot of short stories. Super spooky. Super spooky. Super great. I'm sure you guys have seen them. We'll pop the covers up of all the books that we're talking about here in case you're watching this episode, but we'll list them in the show notes as well. Mhm. So, here's like a little snippet of information from Amazon Reads, whatever. These wholly original and shiverinducing tales introduce readers to ghosts, curses, hauntings, monstrous creatures, complex family legacies, desperate deeds, and chilling acts of revenge. Introduced and contextualized by bestselling author Steven Graham Jones. These series, these stories are celebrations of an indigenous people's survival and imagination and a glorious reing in all things an illvised whistle might summon. So if you didn't know, like whistling in the Appalachian Mountains can bring skinw walkers. Oh, I didn't know that. Interesting. So yeah, lots of spooky stories. So it was really good what I've read so far and I've heard such great things as well that it's like I don't care. It's gone on my recommendations list because it's so good. My next one Liz has also read and told me to read. And for this time of year, listen, I recommend it for anybody that wants horror think serial killer type vibes. Okay. But with a different twist that we don't get a lot of representation for in that community. Mavefly by CJ Lead. Such a good book. And it's fairly short, too. So, this is the week of Halloween. If you want something really dark and spooky and psychological, you could read this in a day or two. Yeah. So, by day fly may fly. That's hard to talk with this mustache. By day, Mave Fly works at the happiest place in the world as every childhood's child's favorite ice princess. by the neon by neon night glow of the sunset strip. Mave haunts the dive bars with a drink in one hand and a book in the other. So, in my opinion, you dive into the mind of a born sociopath who effortlessly balances her different masks and in such a haunting way. So good. It's one of my favorite horror books for sure. It was intense for me, but I got to say if you're looking for a horror, there you go. and such a twist at the end. So, some people think it's spoiler to say twist, but like I was just telling you what the twist. Yeah, it's good. Okay. And the last one I'll mention just the Haven Ever After series in general, so you know, we started with um Getting It On with Gargoyles. They're little They're very shorts and this is something that can go like through all fall, I feel, cuz it's just great vibes. Totally. So, think a girls trip to Halloween Town, but make it spicy. Um, whimsical, silly, and fun. Little bit of drama and action, but nothing heavy. It's just a good time. Like, if you want Yeah. If you want an adult Halloween town with different like monsters walking around and stuff. Such a vibe. Such a vibe. They're so fun. I love them so much. So, by Hazel Mack, go follow her on Instagram. Okay, so my first recommendation is actually by CJ Lead as well. Um, it's her uh second novel or follow-up novel called American Rapture. Um, a virus is spreading across America, transforming the infected and making them feral with lust. Sophie, a good Catholic girl, must transverse the hellscape of the Midwest to try to find her family while the world around her burns. Along the way, she discovers there are far worse fates than dying a virgin. The end times are coming. Mhm. It's very good, extremely well written. It's zombie apocalypse, you know, kind of like that dystopian landscape, but it's not really what the book is about. It's more so about like looking at that through the lens of a you know, I want to say she was like I don't know, maybe around 16 or something like that. I can't remember exactly now, but like a 16-year-old girl who's taught that if this were to occur, it'd be because it's like the rapture happening kind of a thing or it's caused by like you doing bad stuff that's brought this on. Um, yeah, it was really good. So, definitely recommend that one if you're into horror but don't want anything that's like too gory. Like Mayfly is a little bit more on the gory side. Yeah. Um, the second book that I'd recommend is called The Unworthy. Um, and let me see. You guys know, um, I think last year I recommended, um, her other book, Tender is the Flesh. So, this is Augustina Baz, I can't say her last name, Baz Tar. Um, and so this is her follow-up novel as well. Um, from her cell in a mysterious convent, a woman writes the story of her life in whatever she can find, discarded ink, dirt, and even her own blood. A lower member of the sacred sisterhood deemed an unworthy, she dreams of ascending to the ranks of the enlightened at the center of the convent and of pleasing the foroding superior sister. Outside, the world is plagued by catastrophe. Cities are submerged underwater. Electricity and the internet are non-existent, and bands of survivors fight and forage in a cruel, barren landscape. Inside, the narrator is controlled, punished, but safe. But when a stranger makes her way past the convent walls, joining the ranks of the unworthy, she forces the narrator to consider her long buried past and what she may be overlooking about the enlightened. As the two women grow closer, the narrator is increasingly haunted by questions about her own past, the environmental future, and the present life inside the convent. How did she get to the sacred sisterhood? Why can't she remember her life before? And what really happens when a woman is chosen as one of the enlightened? Oh, yeah. It was so good. good. I read it at your house last time I was visiting. It's very short. It's like I think around 200 pages. I read it in like two days probably. Yeah. Um, excellent. I also recommend Tender as the Flesh, but they're very very different, but equally as haunting, I feel. Yeah. Um, and then let's see, my third recommendation. Um, I actually have a third and then I have an honorable mention. So, the third I'm going to recommend is less like horror and more just kind of like fall vibes. um which is Phantom by HD Carlton. Yeah. Um so I don't feel like you have to have read the cat and mouse duet to enjoy it. Um the more I've thought about it. So in the cat and mouse duet by HD Carlton, most people are very familiar with it. Haunting and hunting Adeline. Um she has kind of like this spooky side ghost story that's going on in her grandma's kind of haunted old gothic mansion that she left her. Um, and so this is her grandmother's story, so it's like a spin-off. Um, and it takes place, I want to say, in like the 1940s and just kind of has that like spooky vibe. And it's a dark romance and it's a mafia stalker romance. Um, but just a little like mix it up, you know what I mean? If you're wanting something a little bit different, but that still has those like spooky vibes. Mhm. Um, and like I said, the more I think about it, I don't really like obviously if you read the cat and mouse duet, it'll it's fun to find the connections, but I think that you could read it on its own and still really enjoy it. Um, and it's not as in my opinion like check the trigger warnings, but it's not as triggering um as the cat and mouse duet is. Yeah. Yeah. Or spicy either. It is spicy, but not as intense. Um, and then the honorable mention is actually the book Marrow that was co-written by Bin Weaver and Trisha Wolf. So, two of my favorite romance authors. Um, and it's basically just like a it's a dark romance about two serial killers that fall in love. Think Butcher and Blackbird but darker. Ah, yeah. There you go. More twisty and turny because it's, you know, got the Trisha Wolf flare in there as well. Yeah. Um, so yeah, if you're looking for just something fun to read this season that's like Yeah. like serial killer coded, that's a good one. There you go. So, what about your hopefuls? I do want to say and with Mayfly, guess what? There is Halloween involved in Halloween decorations. If you know, you know. Halloween. Yeah, if you know, you know. I read it Halloween, too. Oh, perfect. It was perfect cuz I was reading it at Halloween time. I remember. I did last year. Yeah, it was. I was reading it at Halloween time right before we were getting ready to go to Disneyland. It was like a whole vibe cuz I think you read it the year before and I read it this last year. Yep. Yes. Okay. Hopefuls. So my hopeful is to read the rest of the Haven Ever After series cuz guys it's she's pumping them out is joking. She has she's dropping them like it's hot. Um, there's a lot. So, we need to get on it because I would like my hopeful is to complete the series because altogether it wouldn't be that much and they're so quick and easy. They're so great. Um, and then I also I'm hopeful to try reading I've never read anything from Grady Hendris and his covers are so cool and 80s Halloween vibes totally and I'd really like to get around to that. So, I think on my list last year was My Best Friend's Exorcism. Never had a chance to get around to it. So, that's still on there. Or how to sell a haunted house. They recently came out with the witchcraft for wayward girls, but I haven't heard good things about it. So, I'm not going to put that one on the top of my list. So, the other other two would be at my top of the list. That one or I forget who the author is, but like where home is where the bodies are, you know? Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Literally all because of the covers. I'm judging the books by their covers. Yeah. Okay. And then I've also I did start Pet Cemetery. So, you know, I'm like 10 pages in and that's by Stephen King for those who don't know. So, maybe, you know, if that one goes well and I finish it pretty soon here because we're actually filming this in summer, then I'll maybe put another Stephen King book on my hopeful list. Yeah. Cuz I wanted to just make sure to at least read one this year. But, you know, he's obviously has a lot of different spooky vibes. Uh, you know, he's a classic. Stephen King is a classic. Yep. Fall Halloween horror as well as other stuff. But I told Liz, I was saying, "Dude, I'm only like 20 pages in or something." The way his writing, like, I get it now. Like, it just pulls you in right away. You're in it, and I can pick it up and put it down easily. Like, yeah, it doesn't It's not super involved. It's simplistic, but you feel like you're in there in the moment right away. So, I'm really enjoying his writing style. Fast-paced. It's good. Yeah. Mhm. Glad you're liking it. I love Pet Cemetery. I think that was one of my wrecks from last year. Yep. Okay. My three hopefuls for this season. Uh I want to finally get around to reading Midnight Sun and Life and Death. Yes. Um because as you guys know, we covered Twilight last fall. It was such a good time. I'm going to rewatch all the movies for sure. Um every fall. Yes. Um it's just going to be on my list of things to do. Um, but I never got to read around to reading Midnight Sun, which, um, for anyone who doesn't know is the So, these are written by Stephanie Meyer. Um, and this is Twilight as told from, um, Edward's perspective. Yeah. So excited to read that. You guys know I'm a Edward girl. Um, and then Life and Death, I'm pretty sure, is like a gender flip. Yeah. Like retelling of Twilight. So, like if uh Bella was the vampire and Edward was the human. Yeah. So, I want to read both of those. Um, so I'm just counting that as one because it's like in the same theme. Yeah. Um, I also have Stephen King on my list. I want to get around to reading Fairy Tale cuz it's been on my shelf for ages. Um, and I've heard it's excellent. Yeah. So, I really want to read that. And then the third one is just a short little nolla. I don't even know. It was gifted to me um by one of you guys for my birthday one year. Um and I don't even know how I heard of this book or not, but it was on my uh like wish list or whatever on Amazon. Someone sent it to me. A young it's called Dead Inside. A young hospital security guard with a disturbingly unique taste in women. A maternity doctor with a horrifically unusual appetite. When the two of them meet, they embark on a journey of self-discovery while shattering societal norms and engaging in destructively aberant behavior. As they unwittingly help each other understand a world in which neither seems to belong, they begin to realize what it truly means to be alive and that it might not always be a good thing. Um, so yeah, it sounds pretty good. Um, and so it's also my goal to read that one. Yeah. and it's short, so hopefully it'll be like a good palette cleanser in between um some of the book series we're reading. I think that's my plan this year for this time of year for like all of our holiday reads this year is like what you did at Christmas where you just did a bunch of nollas. It was so fun. I'm definitely doing that again. So, I think we'll be putting our list together. So, we'll post our lists. We should do that this week, you know? So, make sure to follow us on Instagram and Tik Tok at Best in the Books podcast. So that way we can like put you guys like just share our plan like these are the novellas short reads that we're reading for each holiday coming up a a little ahead of time. Yeah. You know. Um and maybe some we can share if we've already read some and we liked them cuz I had I read a lot of novellas last year and liked a lot of them too. Yeah. Cuz I did Halloween and then Yeah. I went pretty hard at Christmas, too. And I'm definitely going to It's just so nice to be home for like a week for Christmas vacation or like between Christmas and New Year's or whatever and just sit there and like or during Thanksgiving or whatever and just sit there and like read a nolla a day. It's so relaxing. Yeah, cuz and it's busy times too, so nollas like it feel more satisfying because you can get it done. If you have like a 500page, you know, maybe slightly wintry vibes book, it's just it's a lot of pressure. It's hard. not pressure, but like you're just so busy. It's not as satisfying because you it's going to take you the whole season to get it done. At least for me, it would because December's crazy, man. So, yeah, this this video is coming out the week of Halloween. So, we'll already have had the full list posted on our Instagram. So, you can go back check that out. And then this next week for, you know, fall and Thanksgiving continued, we'll have our hopefuls and recommendations for that, you know, and then we'll do a full episode about it, of course, during fun. Yeah. So stay tuned for that. All right. Well, should we wrap it up with a smasher pass? Let's do it. Let's say F Mary Kill. Oh, okay. Let's do Michael Myers. Mhm. Uh Freddy Krueger. Mhm. And the gross guy in Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Oh no, he's so scary. Yeah. Oh no. Yep. Oh no, he's so scared. Uh, no. Michael Myers is definitely the F, so that's easy. Um, he has to keep the weird plasticky looking mask on. That's fine. Okay. Okay, we'll just that way. Weird hair. Like it's good to know where we stand there. Not Luther. The Lester. No, what is it called? Yeah. He's got like a very um arduous like walking gate. Yeah. Um that's okay. That's fine. If you know, you don't. Okay. the best. It's the best out of the options. He's the best out of the options. Or Freddy Krueger or the scary guy. Um I think maybe I'll marry Freddy Krueger cuz then maybe he could take me into like dreamland. That seems kind of cool. Okay. Um I mean my options aren't good. Okay. You're looking at me like you're judging me like what? Okay. And then um definitely the Texas Chainsaw guy. We're killing him cuz um No, absolutely not. He's too scary. He's really scared. I'm like, there's a reason why I haven't like watched this, I think, in a long time. Okay. What about you? Oh, yeah. I'm gonna kill that guy first off. First off the bat. Texas Chainsaw guy dead. Scary. Yeah. Um Oh, Freddy. His face is so gross. I think that's why he's sad. Um that's why he's sad. That's why he's so I don't know. Probably the holes. It's the holes for me that freak me out. M well you got to choose something. Do I want to look at the rest of my life or just one and done? You know what do I want to do? I think I'm going to do the opposite. You know, I'll I'll f Freddy one time so that I can be done one time. And then I'll marry Michael Myers and just be like, "Go stalk someone. Leave me alone and leave me alone." Yeah. Go stalk some unwitting teenagers at a summer camp. It's all bad options. Yeah, it is all bad options. Uh, I don't know if this is really Halloween, but kind of. Okay. It's a creature. Okay. So, I feel like that's Halloweenish, right? Okay. Smash or pass? You have to choose one. Okay. Um, are you smashing alien or are you smashing predator? Okay. Yeah. Yeah. That's alien. Okay. Like you guys know, but it's like the scary like head, you know? Look like the looked like the dinosaur on the new Jurassic World for anyone who hasn't seen it yet. That was weird. Okay. And then Predator. Oh no. Oh no. You guys know I guess I'm going to go with alien. Okay. You're smashing alien. Yeah. Yeah. Too many uh uh tail attachments on the head. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Octopusy and I completely agree. I completely agree. I'm alien all the way. Also, the thing about Alien opens up too. Like I mean alien kind of does, but like like at least it's just there like a dinosaur. I don't know. I can justify it more. Yeah. I mean, she alien always just seemed kind of like a badass because like she's really just like protecting her own predator. I never really connected with on a spiritual level. On a spiritual level. Yeah. All right. You guys let us know though. Are we wrong about all these things? We're just wrong. Fail across the board. We'll be putting all those polls up. Of course, you can uh you know, vote too over on Instagram. Like we said, we're missing the books podcast everywhere. Thank you for joining us today on our Halloween episode. Second annual. Yes. Wow. Look at us. From Harry Potter to Gandalf and Jared and Labyrinth. Is that's his name, right? To Marian Twinette. David Bowie to Marian Twinette. You know, we got all the good ones so far. What will it be next year? What will it be next year? Who knows? I know. You just have to feel it. Yeah. Yeah. You'll see. You'll see. So, thank you guys so much. Like, follow, and subscribe everywhere you like. Listen to your favorite podcast, including YouTube. Send this to your friends that love Halloween vibes, books, and am I the a-hole? We love it so much. And you can like this, too. Leave a comment on your favorite Halloween thing. Okay? Or leave us a pumpkin emoji if you can't think. Just know you're here still with us. All right, you guys. We'll see you next Tuesday. Bye bye. And happy Halloween.