Ep 103 Gold by Raven Kennedy Review, Summary, Deep Dive Discussion | Plated Prisoner Book 5

Today we’re taking a deep dive right into book five in The Plated Prisoner Series by Raven Kennedy: Gold. This is the book in the series where the tone completely changes, our main characters are forced to evolve individually,while “side” characters get their legs, and breaking generational curses, healing trauma, and revolution are at the forefront. It’s the setup for the epic conclusion, and definitely reads as a “part one…” so how do we feel about that? 

We give you our spoiler free star and spice ratings and faves and fails, then dive into the five sentence summary (multi POV style), the tea on the audiobook and all our unfiltered thoughts, and then discuss themes, quotes, and why this book might be more difficult for some but is absolutely necessary to build character arcs, and pivotal overall to the series. 

Did we find Easter eggs? (Yes. Liz found two 😳.) Do we have unanswered questions? (LOTS.) What about plot holes? Are we excited to read the next one? (Scratching at our enclosures. No pun intended…)

We dive into all this and more, plus a fave and fail with Alani Nu, mental health, and Dracula, and a smash or pass featuring a maybe beloved M&M and Scream King Lillard!

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Check out these narrator interviews? ⬇️

Anthony Palmini gives us the lowdown on what it’s like to voice act Rhysand, Kingfisher, AND Slade Ravinger! 

https://youtu.be/zcCyrlZ5Jcc?si=2k7ULbRPgZl_5pUJ

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 Follow Up Author Interview with Lindsay Straube of the Split or Swallow Universe all about Between Two Kings! https://youtu.be/OW1cxXTVcTc?si=oOxVIzbIheET_bNE

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Transcript

Well, yeah. It's literally not the end. What could you do? Second time reading it though, I'm like, "Yeah, this is what needed to happen." Our water cooler of the future is just filled with a line on top. Oh my god, my brain broke and fell out on the last Our evil plan is working.

Welcome to the Besties in the Books podcast. I'm Liz. And I'm Ashley. And today we're continuing on our deep dive series of The Planet Prisoner by Raven Kennedy. My gosh, I'm in it. I'm in this. I love it. We are covering Gold today, by the way, which is book five of this heavy duty, heavy hitter fantasy series. So, God, it's basically the way Raven presented it to us back in the day as the lore is told by Liz early on in this series for you guys. So, I'll just refresh her. This is part one of an epic conclusion. So, we got gold and goldfinch. So, today is going to be gold. Gold was originally supposed to be the end. The ending, but she was like, "It was too long, so now you guys get two." Yeah. And I could see why for sure. Kind of sounds like what SJM was talking about where it's like, "There's not enough glue in the world to hold this [ __ ] together." I'm paraphrasing. Literally. Literally, though. Hey, so you know. Okay, I'm not going to look. This has been my favorite memory test for me. So, we've already done book one, guild. Book two, glint. Book three, gleam. Book four, glow. Book five is gold. And then we got goldf. Look at I finally memorized them. I knew I'd get there. Thank you. Gold star for you. Gold stars all over. Let's go. We're going to be extra loopy today because hey, this is the third video we filmed today. Woo. Yeah. So, we're super excited. Super excited to bring you these episodes. So, today's going to be a deep dive. We've been doing it every other week. Just in case you're not interested in this and you're just popping in or you're still reading and you want some more time, we will tell you when there's spoilers. So, hold fast, sweet, chariot. And if you want a nice little treat for your ears, go check out a little Anthony Palini episode where we got to interview none other than the voice of some of our beloved MMC's like Slade Ravager, also Reand in the Dramatiz rendition of Acatar, and some other beloved amazing. and we're going to get to the Kool-Aid Man one day. You just wait. Yeah. Literally, that's an inside joke that you'll get if you go listen to that episode. So, hey, there's that. I've had several clients actually come in like for treatments with me at the spa and they're like, I listened to the Anthony Palini episode and have mentioned the Kool-Aid, man. Like, that's a little nugget of lore that only like the OGs will get. You know what I mean? Okay, go listen. Read that with us. We'll announce it someday when we are not reading 8,000 books at a time. Okay, so book five, Glow. It was a full reread for me, but I remembered very little because I I was I was thinking back and I was like, when did I read this? And I was like, oh, that was in the dark times when I was literally like so I had COVID and I was like very sick. And so I like remember not very well and like I feel like I just didn't fully appreciate it. You know what I mean? Because I was like, "Oh, this book came out. I need to read it." And then I was just super sick. So, literal fever dream. Literal fever dream. Um, reread for me, but technically, I don't know. I remembered some stuff, but it felt like a first read for me. Um, and it is setting us up for Goldfinch, the epic conclusion, which we will be, you know, covering in a couple weeks. But there's still so much story left to tell. There's a lot in this book. We're really excited to talk about it with you. Obviously, this is going to be after our initial, you know, faves and fails of the week and our spoiler-free reviews. It will be full of spoilers, so just know that we'll give you a warning so that you could come back and pick it up later once you finish the book. Um, but yeah, before we get into all that, we just wanted to say thank you so much for being here. Thank you so so much for taking time out of your day and your book to come listen to us goofballs with microphones. We super appreciate you guys. If you found us on this reading journey from play to prisoner, thank you so much for giving us a chance. If you've been with us from the beginning, you're awesome, too, and all those in between. We love you guys. If you haven't yet, though, make sure to like, follow, and subscribe anywhere your life's favorite podcast, including YouTube. Besties in the Books podcast everywhere, including Instagram and Tik Tok. You want to search us, there will be. There will be on Fable also at besties in the book club. Just so you know, every single book from the Plated Prisoner series is on there and live, including Goldfinch. So, everything's up. Um, that way like I have to look at all of my I'm not good with the names, okay? I'm not good with the names. Um, but yeah, so if you guys want to go check those out, we always put our book club reads on there. Um, some certain buddy reads, but when we do these deep dives like this, they will be on there, too. So, hop in the chats. We love to have you over there. Just search besties the book club for that. Yes, join our crow fam. I did notice this because I actually, you know, shout out to my clients who are book people because I swear you guys like keep me going. Okay. Um I had another client come in and she said she couldn't find us on Fable and I was like that's weird. So I took her phone and I typed us in. For some reason it wasn't coming up until I typed in the full besties and the book club. like it wasn't like predicting us for some reason. That's annoying. It is annoying. But just know that we are there. So if you cannot if it's not coming up, just type the full name in and we will come up. Then we will be there. Yes. PSA. Yeah. But if you Google us, I'm pretty sure it comes up right away. Yeah. So I don't know. But but again, you're typing it in all in. So hey, literally fave will fix it. Okay. Anyways. Yeah. Get with the program. Get with the program and sponsor us. Okay. Bye. Okay, Liz. Well, I think it's time for our fave and fail of the week. Why don't you kick us off here? So, I had in my personal life, I'll say a fairly good week this week. I had a lot happened. So, guys, here is your reminder to advocate for yourself with your regular, you know, your physical health, but also your mental health. I finally at the age of 37 was diagnosed officially with ADHD. Woo. Yes, it's been a journey to get here, but I will say I'm on only This is like my attempt to like destigmatize this for you all because I've had so many people reaching out to me already saying that they feel so happy that someone's like openly talking about it. So, hey, trying to put it out there. This is day three of me being on my meds and I literally can tell you that I feel like completely like a new person. Wow. It's literally amazing. And I know that's not the same for everyone and a lot of people have to, you know, I'm obviously going to continuously work with a psychiatrist and a therapist to make sure that everything's good. Um, but it is a huge like relief. Like wow, literally a huge relief. And and I know that that's hard. You're literally diagnosed with ADHD. I know that's hard to even search out a diagnosis. Not only because the healthare system in the United States, not only because we got a lot on our plate, but also having ADHD. So, like literally gold stars for you all around. I mean, yeah. The paperwork, the finding the people, the calling, the emailing. Yeah, it's a lot of steps. Yeah. Um, but honestly, so worth it if you can persevere and make it through. Um, and like I said, it's not the same for everyone. I understand that, but just know that, you know, it can really help if you can get the help that you deserve to have. We'll just put it that way. Yeah. And it's not like I mean, I hear people of of all our lives being like, "We don't need to label everything." And it's like, well, it's not even that, you know, it's nice to know the rhyme and reason and then you can have tools to help with things. That's great. Yeah. It's like that way you know like what you're working with. You know what I mean? It's like that with everything. And that's the thing is like as someone who was consistently like you know basically misdiagnosed with anxiety and depression my whole life and me being like no that's actually not it to finally be like validated and then to be able to like be doing something that's working because I'm actually being treated for like the right thing. Yeah. Is like huge. So, um, yeah, just wanted to shout that out because it's literally like been 3 days and it's like changing my life. That's awesome. So, that's so good. That's so good. Yay. Yay. Um, also, okay, so two more little things I just wanted to shout out. I got my Withering Heights tattoo. Oh, yeah, baby. So, um, so good. Obsessed with it. Um, yeah, like love it, love it, love it. to shout out Stacy over at Seven Stars Tattoo and Eureka. She has tattooed myself and Ashley both and she is amazing starting. I can't wait to get more. I need to go. I need to go. I miss you, Stacy. So, go see Stacy for all of your tattoo needs. She is the absolute best. Will it be my only Withering Heights tattoo? Probably not, but it's uh scratching itch the moment. And then in the same vein as the Gothic theme, I do have to say that I finally watched the new uh Dracula. Oh, five stars. Resounding five. You're going to love it.

Yeah. Can't wait. So creepy, dark, awesome romance. Like it's like such a good like Scarsgard. No. No. So you're safe. You're safe. I was just I had a flash in my brain and I like oh wait oh no mayday mayday parachute Ashley's like marked safe from Scarsgard you know. Um yeah no I honestly don't know his name cuz I didn't recognize him from anything else. Um but he was fantastic. Like everyone in it was fantastic. Like the imagery was you'll love everything. The makeup was like insane. The costumes so good. Um, so yeah. Uh, can't I bought it, you know, I was like, "Okay, I'll buy I'll buy it. It's fine. Hopefully I like it so I can rewatch it." It's going to be one that I rewatch all the time. So nice. Enjoy. Some gems lately. Some gems. Really? The movies are coming back and we're here for it. It's exciting. Our evil plan is working. Yeah. Right. Um, and then my fail is I literally just put I'm behind on everything else. That's what I said. Yep. Cuz it's the truth. Um, so hey, but uh, you know, we're just trucking along day by day by day. It all works. We pray it'll work out. It always does. Yep. So, what about you? What were your faves and fails of week? Well, I'm gonna go with something really silly and fun because I had a horrible, awful, terrible week and I use this as a form of escape. So, if you guys do too, here we go. Um, so the fave and feel I'm going to talk about is my favorite is uh finding those new Alani flavors or at least new to me. Some are actually new. Okay. Thanks a lot, Liz. Because my fail is also that I'm now addicted to Alanis. So, thanks a lot, Liz. Guilty is charged. Guilty is charged. I love it so much and I don't know how I'm ever going to taper off of all this caffeine. They're just so good. They're so good. They're so good. I'm like the caffeine patch lady in Meet the Robinsons. Um I just I try to I try my best to stick to half a can most days. Um I try not to do it some days, but caffeine take the wheel after 3:00. So hey, it's helped me get through all of this really bad stuff that's been happening. Um and then good stuff, too. So that's not funny, but I just love that you're like, I would like to thank Alani for getting me through these hard times. times honestly like getting through all times getting through laundry you know shout out to coffee and croc spine who's like loves a line now too and is ready to do her laundry like let's go and I'm like yeah exactly like now it's not just an audio book cuz sometimes that doesn't motivate me enough you know I'm a now I can have a nice crispie while doing the audiobook and oh the laundry got done last week wouldn't have happened before and it was a lot guys it was a lot cuz Liz was here and there goes the house chores. Yeah, honestly, it's become a pretty like quitessential piece of our lore. Like we've we had Tyler reach out, we had Ally reach out. Like literally, shout out to all you guys that have joined the Crow Colt and are now drinking Alanis. That should be like part of the induction process. Like, sorry for our heart rates, but like it's also fun and we're have it's so much fun. It's like Yeah, exactly. It's another piece of our lore and it's so much fun. Our water cooler of the future is just filled with Alani on top. Oh my god. Oh, that's beautiful. I've always wanted one of those like you know the what are they like these the sodas that you get? No, the sodas that you get soda stream. Not a soda stream but just like a regular one of the machines that just has diet coke on it though. Like diet coke and diet Dr. Pepper fountain. Fountain soda. Soda fountain. Soda fountain. Like what is that thing called? Just soda fountain. That's it. It's called soda. Yeah. Okay. Well, I want one for my house but now it's like okay. Okay. So, we could have like the soda fountain with diet Dr. Pepper and Diet Coke, but then we could have a whole water cooler just full of our favorite of the moment, Alani. Uh, Bev, do you want to announce what your favorite flavor is so far? Are we waiting for the official ranking for that? Right now, as it stands, I still have a couple new ones in the fridge still, but right now as it stands, it is Hawaiian shaved ice. Shout out to my sister-in-law who also brought that for a road thing that we had to go to. So, thanks so much for that moral support. I had a client who follows us on the podcast bring me a cherry slush to work. Literally, Ava, if you are listening, thank you. Like, I love it's like the crossover we were all waiting for. You know what I mean? Yeah. Yeah. It's It's bridging the gap. It's like the Alani and me see the Alani and you. We're all jacked caffing. It's a be It's a beautiful thing. It's a beautiful thing. And um so it's like Yeah. Uh, it's it's I'm I'm a little caffeine sensitive, so I gotta be I gotta be careful there. I should wean and just use it as a treat. But then it's like days are hard. Life is hard. I deserve a treat all the time. Yeah. I mean, hey, I know. I was telling Liz, I'm like, when am I going to when am I going to taper off a little bit here? I don't know because I got a birthday a 5-year-old birthday party to plan. I got a cruise coming up. And I was telling Liz, you know, you're allowed to bring like a six-pack on a Disney cruise. I'm like, my six-pack's just going to be Alani cuz I don't drink soda, too. I think I should preface that. Like, so I'm not getting caffeine anywhere but a coffee and I'm supposed to drink half of that. So, good luck. Good luck. I love it. It's never going to end. Who am I kidding? But I might a few times a week. There's too many good flavors. It's so good. It's so good. It's I know. right now. It's like the blue slush, the cherry slush, and the sherbet are like tied right now for my favorites. Like, I can't decide. I was surprised that you liked the sherbet after your whole orange creamsicle cuz it tastes kind of similar to me. There's a weird thing I have for sherbet and I can't I used to love it. Used to be my favorite ice cream. Hey, hit me up if you've ever heard of a vegan rainbow sherbet, but I've never heard of one, okay? So, I haven't been able to have it in like almost 10 years. And so, I think it like fulfills that part of my brain. You know what I mean? Yeah. Yeah. Listen, I know that's probably like full of chemicals, but they're good tasty chemicals. They do like how do they nail some of these flavors so well. I don't know. So good. And like I like to sit it in the freezer for like 15 minutes and make it almost slushy. Oh, guys. Oh, guys. Wow. We could We could just be in a lot of What are we now? We're a printer podcast and a Lonnie podcast. We'll also talk about books and a Withering Heights podcast. And a Withering Heights podcast. That's all we cover now. Yeah. So, there we go. If we sucked you guys in, welcome to the Alani Crowam again. Alani Alani and Neil. Yes. Alani, doesn't it mean like royal family? Does it something like that? What does it mean again? It's spelled different. Yeah, you're right about that, right? With something completely else that would be funny. Alanis Morsette. It mean it means orange tree. Okay, great. Oh, oh, ohana. Ohana means family. Sorry about that. Sorry to get your hopes up, guys. You are the orange tree in me sees the orange tree in you. Beautiful. Also, fragrant. There you go. That's all we need. That's all we need. Fragrant fragrant fam, what's up? Okay, we should probably get to this book. What are we covering? Okay, so we are covering the Plated Prisoner series by Raven Kennedy. Ashley. Well, that's right. What What was your spoiler-free star rating of gold book five? What? Like, I'm not going to give it five stars. Okay, imagine if you came in with some kind of crazy curveball there. I'd be like, blasphemy. One star. Listen, it's not my favorite. I will say that. It's not my favorite of the bunch. I definitely think people probably will experience a little bit of whiplash. kind of not really whiplash but like it's a different it's different starting a type of journey that I'll say that well if you think about it more this helped me mentally if you think about it more as part one Mhm. of the ending like glue Gold and Goldfinch together and it's one big long book and now that they're both out we could read them like that, right? It's like if you think about it that way it helps because reading Gold and then having to wait for Goldfinch to come out like I had to do last time was literally torture. So yeah, for sure. I get it. I do. Yeah. Uh yeah, five stars. Like Yeah, obviously. Do I have any criticism? Like literally no. Like it's great. Read it. It's amazing. If you've made it this far and you don't read book five, I don't understand you. Yeah. No, it's just it was a completely different tone. I feel I agree with the rest of the series thus far. And I feel like that because we're doing a lot of we've shifted to a lot of internal work in this book for a lot of different characters because we have multip we have four I think I'm correct about that. Four POVs in this book. Yeah, I think so. And Yeah. And um you know I love a multi-pov and I feel like each character has such a important journey um that that's what we're doing right now. Yeah. We're going deep. We're doing the journey. Things are a little bit different but we're amping up for that final conclusion that we're getting ready to dive into. So five stars. Um and then this one does dip in the spice department. So I gave it a two spice. Yeah. Yeah. Mhm. Yeah. There we go. Well, should we get into our spoiler section? Let's go. Spoilers.

We are going to be spoiling all the stairs to spoil in gold. So, if you do not want to listen further, you can save it to your playlist and watch later when you're done reading this episode, reading this episode, reading this book. I don't know. You guys know what we're saying. Listen. All right. So, here's the thing, guys. My brain broke and fell out on the last on the last one. Visuals symbolism. Yeah, literally. Okay, so this is what I did because here we go. I can't get over that visual. Sorry. It broke full out. Boom. There it is. There lies. Here lies Liz's brain. Due to the nature of the chaos content. Yep. Okay. So, here's the thing. We have point of view from Ain. We have point of view from Slade with parenthesis Osrich and then we also have Molina's point of view. There was there ain't no way that I'm fitting all of that in five sentences or less because just of the nature of the fact that there's actually like three stories going on simultaneously in one because these characters are essentially separated for almost the entirety of the book. So, what I did, and hopefully Ashley will approve of this because I did not run it by her ahead of time, but I thought it was the best way to do this. I wrote a five-s sentence summary for Aurin. I wrote a five sentence summary for Slade. And I wrote a five-s sentence summary for Molina. Wow. But that's I feel like the only way that you could actually tell what's going on in any type of meaningful way. Yeah. Well, hey, I I approve you guys. Buckle up. You're not leaving anytime soon. So, let's go. Let's start one more summary. Let's I didn't have to do it that long because I didn't have to include everything together. Okay. Yeah. Fair. Fair. We'll see. Let's Let's give this guy Give her some grace, guys. Let's give her a test run. Let's see how it goes cuz we might need it in future like books that do multiple point of views like this. We'll see if it's necessary. I'll be the judge of this and you guys let me know. We're judging you. So, let's see. If for some reason you're listening to this before you've read this book, okay? If you're brave soul or if you just forget everything like we do, just know that all of these are going on simultaneously. Okay? So, I'll do RNs in chronological order, then I'll do Slates separately in chronological order, but they are going on at the same time. This is why to do it this way. This is what broke your brain and your brain fell out. Yeah, I can see it makes sense even more so now. All right. Yeah. Okay. Here we go. Let's go. All right. We're starting with Aurin POV. Arin falls through the rip into Anwin and tumbles through the sky, regaining her ribbons, although they are not sentient and animated like they used to be before landing in a field of blue flowers. Blue birds plume surrounded by people in shock and awe of her, the Leari Oliver. The finally returned last birthed heir of the Turly Royal line and the one who fell out of the sky the same way in the exact same place is Syra Sarah Turley. I don't know how to say her name. one. I'm going to mispronounce everything just so you guys 15.

She's picked up by Estellia, Nanette, and Thor, Turly loyalists in Geil, a largely loyalist city, before convincing them to take her back to the field where she fell from the sky where she meets Wick, the leader of the Vulman Rebellion, who tries to rope her into their cause, but Orin refuses, saying that she doesn't exist just to be used. Two, the stone swords ransack Geisel, killing Nette. But our but Arin uses her magic to fight them off and decides to join Wick in the rebellion to figure out why this huge army is being built and mobilized by King Carrick and to save Orians. But ultimately Wick's goal is to march on the castle to officially challenge the king and have Aaron rule. Three. They stop at several safe houses along the way to gather more members. And that's where Aaron meets Eony, a newfound family friend with glamour powers before they reach Bol, the city Arin is from that has sorry. I was like, wait, what's happening? Sorry. The city out. We're pulling you off stage. Here comes the crab. I haven't even done five sentences yet. I'm only sorry. Sorry. Okay. Okay. They stop at several safe houses along the way to gather more members. And that's where Aarin meets Ebony, a new found family friend with glamour powers before they reach Bol, the city Arin is from that has since been completely destroyed by King Carrick and later Rifalt city on an undercover mission with the resistance to gain intel to rescue Orians. They travel through a fairy ring using the magic of Brener and Ludo's sister Laurana, essentially ever undercover agents and sneak into the Cole estate that she works at where Arin is able to find the Orians in a dilapidated house on the property where Lord Cole returns home and she realizes that the Orians they're trying to save are from Drawler Village, including Slade's mom, Allore, and Lord Cole is actually his father.

That was five, right? That was four. Okay. Four. Four. Four. Arin tries to fight her way out with the lore and the others, but Stanton is determined to kill them, especially when he notices Aurin's gold calls to the rot in the house. Wick and Eony help fight their way to a fairy circle to escape. And in the process, Wick is injured and bleeds gold. And in the chaos of the fight, trying to save a lore, something shifts inside Aurin, and the mating bond, Caor clicks into place. Slade can feel it a world away. Using rot and gold power, they're able to get away. But Brener, the same guy who stole Orin from Anwin the first time, double crosses them and takes them to King Carrick, where Aarin's memories are wiped.

Five. I'm not going to do the big grand one cuz we got two more people. But you see how that's only what was happening to Rin. How was I supposed to also fit everything else that was happening at the same time? Okay, this is why this makes sense to do it this way. Okay. Yeah. Okay. So, the second set I'm crying is Slade's point of view. And then I included Ozri in this as well because he didn't need his whole own thing. Okay. Yep. Slade is still unable to open another rip because even though his normal powers are back, his raw power is gone. So, Arin remains missing and Deadwell is still empty. One. He travels to Third Kingdom to confront Kyla, but she's not there. So he kidnaps Manu, her brother, rots the castle and kills many of the guards. Then goes on a revenge spree, rotting Third Kingdom, then Dererfort Harbor, then going to Second Kingdom and brutally killing Isol and King Marowind, destroying the due supply and rotting the Red Raids.

I literally lost count. Two. Two.

I lost count after one. I needed a Lonnie stat. I'm losing it. Okay. Slade realizes that his rot is slowly killing him. Sorry. This is serious business. I know. Okay. Go ahead. Okay. Okay. Slade realizes that his rot is slowly killing him, spreading out around his heart. So, when Riot realizes that, he insists that Slade take a break from his revenge and murder spree to rest back in fourth kingdom. When King Fold of First Kingdom shows up to negotiate trade deals and Kyla arrives with Lou with the news of the Fay invasion. Oh, breathe. Are you just losing it over there? I'm still dying that I lost track of one cuz it's not. It's more than one, but like Yeah. So, I'm having a hard time. I'm sitting over here just counting the number over and over again. That that I got it, too. Don't worry. Okay, good. Okay. All right. Um, Slade agrees to free Manu and Kyla if they leave to start rallying kingdoms to join forces to fight together. And Thold agrees to join them. But once this is arranged, Slade only cares about getting to seventh and finding Arin now that he knows that the bridge to Laamria has been restored. Four. Meanwhile, Ozark is in fourth kingdom staying diligently by Rissa's side while she remains in a coma while torturing Manu, who is being kept in their dungeons. And just when all hope appears to be lost, these little girls, Sha and Wyn, are brought to forth by Riot. Wyn has healing magic that she used to fix Argo. And in exchange for allowing them to remain in fourth as refugees from second, Wyn healed Rissa and she finally wakes up. God final set of POVs from Molina. A lot of this book is about her. Molina is kept prisoner in the castle in Seventh Kingdom by the Fay army that crossed the bridge. But because of the twins magic, she now also has magic. And when Fay soldiers march through the bridge to kill all of the Orians, Molina meets King Carrick, who doesn't kill her, but acknowledges her blood and magic, then locks her up. The assassin, who she has insane tension with, by the way, helps her escape using her shadow magic or using his shadow magic so they can travel to warn her people in Highbell that there is a fay attack coming. One, Queen Kyla is at Highell when they get there, acting as the leader in Midas'stead, and Molina is told that Tindle is dead, Arin killed him, and the power was actually hers. Before she attempts to warn them of the Seventh Kingdom Bridge and the Fay marching through it, Kyla arrests her and paints her as crazy, claiming that the real Queen Molina is actually dead. Two, they talk and Molina offers to them to work together and for Kyla to take over Six Kingdom in order to save the people since they'll follow her influence. But Kyla tricks her and locks her in Aaron's old cage because she's planning on taking Mist's baby and passing it off as hers so she can officially have claim to six kingdom as well as third three. Molina escapes with Domic's help and goes into the city to warn people of the impending attack, but no one believes her. So she sh summons her power and starts taking things into her own hands. Literally building a wall of ice with her magic that Kyla ignorantly tears down before realizing that the fay are in fact storming the city and killing everyone. Okay, Elsa. Yeah. Four. Kyla jumps on a timberwing and abandons everyone in the middle of the attack while Molina and Dom do Domic stay and fight until they're overtaken and escape. Molina insists on finding survivors, but Domic tells her the city was sacked with no survivors. However, they find a group of a few dozen people in the woods who swear feelalty to Molina. Five. And that's the summary. What do you guys think? I don't know how else you would have done it. So, hey, good call. Yeah, it was like I was thinking about it and I was like, there ain't no way. Like, how like how could you? Because these three story lines are all happening. Yeah. At the same time, but so like completely separate. Completely literally. Yeah. So, here we are. You'd have to just be like, okay, Queen Molina escapes. And then she tries to build it, but then leaves and bite. And then, well, Slade's over here like, "Oh, this sucks. I got to get her." And then Oscar is like, "I'm sad." But then she wakes up, so it's okay. And then Arin's like, "Oh, no. I'm here. I don't want to do this." And then they're like, "You got to do it." And she's like, "Okay, fine. I'll do it." And that's my summary. Boom. Yeah. And all of you guys would be like, "Oh my god, what happened?" Literally, what happened? I just told you. Isn't it clear?

Well, anyways, great job. Thank you so much for coming in hot with that summary. Let's talk about some tropes. So, what are three tropes that you loved specifically with gold faded mates?

Cuz I feel like Yes. officially. Officially. And I love the fact that they're able to or at least we know at this point that Arin's able to call on Slade's power. That's freaking cool. Yeah. That's a freaking awesome. Yeah. Mhm. So, I have that. I have revenge. Mhm. I was telling Ashley, I was like, I did not fully appreciate Slav's revenge freaking spree the first time I read this. And I was like, dude, this is so good. Like, so satisfying, you know? Yeah. So, I put revenge and then I put political uprising because we love a good rebellion and there's definitely I mean even like the symbol right is like the, you know, broken winged bird. It was it's very gives mocking Jay vibes, you know what I mean? And I love that. It's great. Yeah. Um, so what about you? What were three tropes you loved? I put accepting that you're the chosen one. Cuz because we got chosen one all the time, but how about accepting it for better or worse? That's hard. Um, burn the world for her, much like revenge, for sure. Yep. And how about intense emotional turmoil, specifically from everyone? I mean, everyone, but also Ozri and Rissa. Every time I'm like, "Oh, what's going on with them?" Then they come on the page, I'm like, "Yay!" But oh, sad. Yeah. So, I love that though. Ozri, I love him. The flowers. He's freaking out about the flowers, but then like trying to be cool to the flower shop lady cuz it's not her fault. I was like, "Oh, I know. I want to get her some flowers." Like, "Oh, I know." Literally. Um, what about a trope you hated? Uh, how about bad daddy? Actually, like actually a bad dude. Actual bad guy. Actual bad villain. But we're not supposed to like him. But I couldn't really think of anything else to call out. So, so I decided to call out something that bothered me in the first time that I read it. It did not bother me this time. Oh, okay. Sometimes things are like that. Separation of our two main characters for the entire book. Yeah. Yeah. That was hard for me the first time. Yeah. I could see that's a big complaint for people in the reviews that I saw. Yeah. Yeah. Um the second time reading it though, I'm like, yeah, this is what needed to happen for all of these things to get set up just so for Goldfinch to happen the way that it happens. It's just chef's kiss. It's perfect. But um yeah, the first time I read it, I really like the whole book. I was like, when are when when like why are we waiting the whole book for them to just not find each other? And then when they don't, I was kind of disappointed going into it knowing this whole book they're going to be separated. It didn't bother me. Yeah. You know what I mean? It's like I knew what to expect. Yeah, definitely. How did you feel about the how do I word it? like death fake out with the healing powers of the little girls. Were you okay with it? Because at least it's Rissa and Osrich get to be together possibly. Oh, were you talking you're talking about Rissa? Um the like the the cop not copout. What is it? Kind of. I mean it would be it could be a copout. I would say I don't know that that's like Raven Kennedy is not really a repeat offender with stuff like that. So it didn't bother me. Yeah. You know what I mean? I feel like the reason why it kind of irks me with SJM sometimes is because it's like all the time it's like, "Okay, we get it." You know what I mean? Um, but yeah, with this it didn't bother me because I feel like also in the context it made sense like Argo got healed. How did he get healed? You know what I mean? It's just kind of like True. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um, and it wouldn't be completely like out of the realm of possibility that there would be a healer capable of that. Like she didn't have like she was stabbed. She didn't have some kind of like special magic that was killing her. You know what I mean? They gave her a story. Yes. You know that she was in hiding so it wasn't as it helps it not be so random like oh crap. How do I save this character? Bring in the healer that we could have brought in a long time ago. But no, they had to look look for her, find her. She was in hiding. So yeah. So it did not bother me. Yeah. Good. thought it'd be important to bring up since we've talked about that a lot. Yes. Mhm. Um, what about a niche micro trope that stood out to you? Good or bad? His powers are now her powers. So, like you talk about faded mates like subsection, subtext. Oo, that was great. Especially how much it pissed off his dad. Oh, yeah. Yeah. I love that. I was listening to that part on audio. I think I was doing immersive reading actually during that part and just like hearing him like scream like tell me I was like so good. It was so good. Yeah. Um I put a bridge between worlds. I love that stuff. I love it. I eat it up man. It's satisfying. Yeah. It's just it just is. You know what I mean? Because it's like what's going on there? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So, what about themes that stood out to you? Was there anything in particular from this book that you wanted to call out? I mean, she's kind of grappling with, you know, societal expectations of her, what's placed upon Orin as being this like savior, you know, and having to deal with that. That's freaking hard. What do you do with that when you're just like, I just want to I just want to be a hunt and go retire on the meadow, have some escapades, if you will, you know? But no, I got to go save this world, too. So great, great. Here we go again. I Yeah, totally. Yeah. Um, it's kind of coming of age, I guess you could say. Not coming of age, but like finding one's true self, even with Molina. We got to call out that. Um, huge, huge. I've been rooting for her this whole time. even if she's unsufferable. I'm so happy that that that scene where she has to she goes into that town and helps to, you know, burn the bodies of the fay that destroyed that town. It's just so brutal. And I was crying in the club with that one. Oh my gosh. But it's such a character growth, character development. Huge reason. Mhm. For that. Yeah. Yeah. That's what I put. I put, you know, the themes for me that stood out from this book that were just, it was everybody. It was Ozri, it was Ain, it's Slade, it's even, you know, on a smaller level like Riot. It's definitely Molina. Like, um, identity discovery is what I put. Like establishing your own identity outside of what other people think that you should be or what society thinks that you should be. Yeah. Um, and then just learning, right, from experiences. I feel like that's what's going on with everyone and simultaneously we have this like trauma healing arc that's going on for all of them too. Yeah, exactly. For everyone. That's why I said it's like okay, we might not be dealing necessarily with like as much like, you know, we don't have a grand war going on in this book or that kind of thing, but like all of the characters are really having their like internal battles are happening right now because we're ramping up for that external battle. Um, and so yeah, like those were my favorite. Also, as a side note, I put how important female friendships are. I feel like that is a really big part of this book. Yep. Too. Mhm. So, I loved that. I mean, that's always been huge with like obviously Lou, but I feel like, you know, the rebellion is largely made up of males, which I thought was kind of interesting. And so when she is able to make friends, I'm like blanking out on her name now, even though I have a whole list of names right here with Em's able to like really connect with her, that's super special. Yeah. Um or, you know, even obviously with like Nette and Estellia as well. I feel like it's like, you know, she has these like women that are really pivotal to her life kind of like through every stage and I think that's really intentional of Raven Kennedy. Yeah, for sure. Well, Liz, do you feel like it's popular and does it deserve to be? Well, okay. So, objectively speaking, we're looking at uh 142,799 ratings on Goodreads as of this morning. Gets a 4.1 star. So, I feel like that's not high enough. Like, I'm going to be nitpicky. Like, it's good, but it could be better. Yeah. I feel like it deserves more popularity and more accolades. Like obviously it's getting there. Like it's really picking up since the first time that I read it. Um I mean the first time I read it I had to like special order these books from like my local bookstore. Now it's like you can find them at Target. You know what I mean? So it's like obviously the popularity is gaining, but I'm like I want all of it. I want everyone to be talking about these books. Like they're so deserving. Yeah. Yeah. What about you? Yeah. Agreed. I'll I'm interested to see in the next Goldfinch episode if the rating goes up because it's like two books split up. Maybe one book split up into two books. I think that makes a difference. Yeah. I mean, I'm really excited to not have to wait like a year to read this goldfinch. Exactly. It's brutal. Imagine how frustrated Well, you were frustrated, so all these other people were too that rated it when it was just gold. You know, I still rated it five stars cuz I get it. But it was like, you know, it was still like, really? What am I going to do? I hate this is crazy. Yeah. Yeah. Mhm. So, what was your favorite part of this whole book? Favorite part. Um, I do love the tension and what's building between Molina and um, Shadow Guy. Domic. I really enjoy that. That's one of my favorite parts. Um, and yeah, just like the brutalenness of her character. He's great. I've been rooting for him, too, all along, so that's nice. Um, and uh I Yeah, that's one I'm going to go with. Locking it in. Yeah, I mean, I feel like her character, I mean, was probably half of this book. Super important. Um, and I love her character arc for sure. And I feel like, you know, the spice that we did get was between them. Yeah. Um, and so I feel like he's definitely an underrated like I don't know if you could call him a male main character, but like definitely male side character. Um, he gives Witcher vibes for me. Yeah, he's great. Yeah. Mhm. So definitely enjoy that. I did. Yep. Um, my favorite part was when the payor bond clicked into place. Yeah. Yeah, I put that and when Stanton realizes that she can fight back and it like clicks in his head that like she's the mate of his son who he like obviously basically hates and has this rivalry with. Yeah. Yeah. So that was definitely my favorite part because I was like, "Okay, where is this going?" Like probably somewhere that is going to be traumatic for us all but also great. So hey what about your least favorite part? Another one of Orin's old lady friends gets murdered. Why? Again? Again? Haven't recovered from the first one. I know. I like it. Yeah, it was super sad. Of all the sad things, that one is the most like, did we have to though? Do we have to? I just wonder like what the symbolism there is where the people who are good luck figure it out. It's like where the people who are continuously getting killed off it seems like in her life are these almost like oraclelike characters. Yeah. You know what I mean? It's like they're always kind of they represent like you know the wise kind of like crone if you will, right? If we're like looking at like the symbolism and so like I wonder like why Raven Kennedy is doing that. Um what happens when we're cut off from history

or source of that power that maternal power? Well, Orin doesn't have her family much memories. So, yeah, kind of symbolizes, you know, going out there on your own and then the found family, you know, helping. But, yeah. Oh, very isolating. Oh, so sad. I I put Aaron's brain getting eaten. Yeah. All right. Literally, guys, like I mean they shove something in her ears at the end and then she loses her memories.

Like a yikes, b you. Yeah. So, definitely did not like that. And then I put effing Brener, dude. Like, dude, f that guy. Like imagine being like, "You're the same piece of crap who stole me and took me to freaking Ora to begin with and now here you are again." Get a life. Oh my. Get a life. Literally get a life. Like I hate that guy. Like he makes me so mad. Yeah, for sure. For sure. For sure. For sure. Is that your least favorite character? Um, my least favorite character. I just put Kyla. Why? Brener, why? Stanton, why? Dude, Kyle, what a wimp. Come on. I like how she just gets on that freaking Timberwing and is like, "Bye." Like, "I'm out of here." Yeah, exactly. I was like, "Oh my god." Like, and I I get why Slade let she and Manu go free because they will be able to aid them in rallying the troops quite literally, but it's like it's like she just bugs me because she could be so much better and she's just not, you know? Yeah. And then obviously Brener sucks and Stanton sucks and we know why, you know? It's like that's pretty I can't get a finger on Wick's pulse yet, you know? Like I can't decide on it bleeds gold. Why why might people believe? So that that helped me with him, you know, for sure because obviously he's that's it's his lineage, but it just Yeah, just his just his personality that I'm like, what are his like what's what are his intentions? I guess cuz I was skeptical of him, but now I'm not because he bleeds gold, but like h I don't know. I don't love him yet. So he's got to sell me on it. I think I think uh you're intentionally supposed to feel ambiguous about him. Okay. All right. We're not I don't think that we're supposed to trust him yet because Aren doesn't know how she feels about him yet. You know what I mean? True. True. Who is your Was he your least favorite character? Qu Yeah. My question mark cuz obviously the other ones too, but Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Who's your favorite character? H I I like them. Unlike Pride and Prejudice, I like them all. No, I don't like them all. I said I don't know in capitals. That's what I said. I don't know. Oh, I I could have seen more of now I don't remember her name cuz she wasn't in it very much. I was hoping for more of her the in the riot. Um uh what's her name? It's on the tip of my tongue. Lou I was hoping to see more of Lou but obviously it's not important right now. Um she was spying. Yeah. Um you know Yeah. Can't can't pick. Love them all and happy for Molina and Shadow Guy. Yeah. I just put you know Slade, Ain, Ozri, Eony. Like there's so many good characters to pick from at this point in time. It's like really hard to narrow it down to one. Mhm. Yeah. Then that's good. That is good. Like everybody sucks. I hate everybody and I have to read one more book. Yeah. Yeah. So, do you want to bounce back and forth with any quotes? Do you have any quotes that you highlighted? Obviously, we love this. I promised her I'd be the villain on her behalf, so that's what I'll [ __ ] be. Yeah, slayed. How can we deserve to see the delights if we always close our eyes against the horrors? Yeah, I often wanted that often said so much more eloquently than I could ever write. If you turn a blind eye in the name of loyalty, then you don't deserve to see. I have that one, too. I liked this one um because it's from one of our least favorite characters, Queen Kyla, but it's important. Kyla turns only two guards waiting with her. All I do is prepare, Queen Molina. That's what a queen must do in this world. We plan, we play, we plot. That's the only way we get to keep our crowns. The men are lazy. They get to keep whatever is handed to them, but not us. She shakes her head, shiny black hair, glistening in the fire light. We queens must always plan ahead and manipulate circumstances in our favor. When a king falls, a queen can rise, but only the ones who know where to step. Yeah, it's true. It's a good insight into where she is mentally and her decision making because it is important. As much as we hate her and she's a wimp and is she, you know, it's cuz No, she's plotting just as much as the rest of Well, yeah. And she's playing a a much more difficult game. Yes. Mhm. I love him with a fierceness that goes beyond the heart. And so I will ache and leak and grieve until he finds me. Emin glances over. And what about this dangerous lover of yours? Did he tame you? The smile on my face goes sad. A fresh ping of longing pinching the center of my chest. The opposite. He set me free. I was like, I love that so much. Because one thing that usually threatens a man is the thought of being replaced by a woman.

All right, maybe one more each. Okay, let's see here. Oh, this is a good one. Okay, so she's talking about the the symbol, the broken-winged bird, like rebellion symbol, right? It's everywhere surrounding me, flooded through this city. And I think for the first time, I really understand what broken-winged bird means. It's not just the frayed dress that flapped with Sarah Turley's fall. It's not just my ribbons that burst from my back in the air as I dropped through the sky. It's them. It's these fay who feel trotten, clipped, their way of life yanked out from under them while they were shoved aside and left to plummet. I understand that more than most. They believe if a broken winged bird can fly despite her fall, then maybe Anwin can too. Maybe a rebellion can rise up, lifting their realm back to where it should be. Chills. Mhm.

I'll leave you guys with this last one. I can't say Alexa or Anthony. Sorry. We should do that. We should try it one day, though. If there is ever a choice between her and the world, it's going to be her. Yep. I have that one, too. There we go. Look at that. So, Ashley, how was the spice? We rated it a two. Yeah. I mean, what we got What we got was great. I like it. Yeah. Good. Yeah. It's like we basically Yeah. I think the only spice was just between Molina and Domic, right? I don't think there was anything else. Yeah. I can't think of anything else. So, and that was great. Slowburn, tension, good stuff. Couple good scenes. Yeah. So, Obviously. Yeah, exactly. Um, he's a dirty talker for sure. So, you know, you you guys know if you like Slade, then you'll enjoy Domic as well. Um, but yeah, I would say The Spice was perfect for this book, especially given the fact that obviously our FMC and MMC are separated the whole time. Yeah. So, yeah. Yep. Yep. Hey, Ash, will you read the next one? I was like, imagine getting to this one and then not reading the next one. You're crazy. Are you okay? Yeah. Literally. Yes. Literally. Yes. Mhm. Yeah. Literally. If I mean I did, but like if we were not podcasting, I would read it for sure because it would keep me up at night if I did not. Yes. Yeah. Yes. Truly. So, how were the audiobook reviews, Ash? Dude, good. It's Anthony. No. The It's the same as the last episodes. It's good. Everybody's having a great time. It's great. Yeah, it's good. Do you know the Do you know the average rating? I'm kind of curious. We'll be official. Fine. 3,421 ratings and a 4.7. So higher than the not audiobook reviews. Um, you know, and it's the same same old same old as the other ones. So people are loving the voices. So shout out again to Anthony Palini and Lily Drake. Great job all around. Great job. Literally, I immersively read probably 75% of this one. Yeah. I told Liz like I keep wanting to switch to just do physical because there's just something about it, you know? Obviously, we're readers, but once you start that audio, you can't go back. It's so good. So, well, I did I wasn't able to listen to the audio last time. It wasn't out. So, it's like I'm really trying to like soak it in, you know, as much as I can on this one. Yeah, it's good. So, I'm fully enjoying it for sure. Yeah. Um, so, okay. How was this as a quote unquote middle book and then do you get why it ended up not being the end? Well, yeah. It's literally not the end. What could you do? What could you trim? Nothing. It didn't make any sense. Anything that would trim, you'd be pissed at the previous books cuz it's like, what happened with that? What happened with Oscar and Rissa? What was all the point of that? Like, what happened with Molina? What was the point of that? I'd be so pissed. Then we'd be just ranting about plot holes right now. So, there's nothing that you could change. Even wrapping it up, there's so much that needs to be wrapped up. Good call, Miss Raven. Thank you so much. Yeah. Thank you for not being pressured to fit it all in and to tie it all up nicely with a bow when there's all of these problems that need to be solved, you know? And it's like I don't feel I mean, just to kind of like jump ahead a little bit, like did you notice any like plot holes or anything that you wanted to call out? Like I feel like she's doing a really good job of very thoroughly going through every story line. Yes. And I can't speak on foreshadowing anymore, but I know in the first three that I was rereading, there was a lot of little subtle foreshadowings that were just beautiful. And that's the kind of stuff that makes me want to reread a book. So, no, no plot holes yet. There are unanswered questions intentionally because the final one's coming. And I think for any authors that might be listening out there that like, you know, it's hard because you got to trim stuff, but then you also need to do your book justice. You know, this is a great example of advocating for yourself as an author and speaking up when you need to do things a little differently than what you originally intended. Cuz you know, Raven went in, it's going to be a five book series. Oh no, Mayday, Mayday, Parachute. I need to split this book into two. and and like so well done. Um Goldfinch is pretty long too. So it's not even like I mean Gold and Goldfinch are both long books like six 700 page books. So it's not like they're you know it's not like that was like some kind of weird like little gimmick like oh I'm just going to release it in two books. It's like no dude that book would have been like 1500 pages long. Like the glue as you say literally would not have stuck it together. Like it needed to be this way. And so much happens in Goldfinch. Like that's all I'll say. But so much happens in Goldfinch and she's setting us up for all of that stuff right now so beautifully. I feel like Yeah. There's a million unanswered questions, but we're supposed to have those right now. Exactly. It feels good. It just feels like we're like ramping up, you know? It's like Slade knows the bridge is open. Aren knows the bridge is open. So now we know that they can get together again somehow even without the magic. You know what I mean? So we know that the journey is coming, the fight is coming. Yeah. Awesome. So, do you have any bonus questions for me? No, that's it. That's all I got. Okay. So, I have a couple Easter eggs. I only had a couple um that I wanted to share here. I did a little bit of a lore section, too. It's like not too extensive, but I just want to make sure that we include it in here because it's something that I don't put in um any of the book summary because I don't necessarily know that it needs to be in there. But in the lore section, so these are just quotes. It's been hundreds of years since Aturly sat on the throne, but we loyalists remember. We believe in the way things were back then. All of Anwin was at peace. Our land and magic was prosperous. When Sarah came, she ended a war, brought Fay together. Many of us remember the golden age that came when she wore a crown. So, it's like we're getting these little pieces of um the turly rain. Obviously, she's the missing heir, right? And then the Carricks came and took over, but we don't really know why. All we know is that Aturi quote unquote stepped aside because they didn't want to rule anymore. Yeah. Okay. So, I feel like that's important to include in there. Yeah. Um also, we know that um the Carrick monarchs have always hated the Orians, but they hated the Turles even worse. They think that when Sarah had the bridge connect permanently to Orya and allowed our realms to unite, she weakened our land in our blood, diluted it with non-magics, and let our world be polluted with their presence. But now we know that the land around the bridge is actually dying. So that's also important. And um a lot of the people born in Anwin are now being born with no magic. Um we also find out that Aaron's parents were likely killed as part of a political scheme obviously during the hundred flame battle when Aaron went missing and was assumed dead. So that's also an important thing to just kind of like stick in your back pocket. So, I just wanted to make sure that we included those things because obviously, yeah, they weren't included in the summary, but they are important to the lore moving forward. Yeah, for sure. Okay. And then, let's see here. So, just a couple little teeny Easter eggs. We didn't have a dinosaur egg in this one that I found. At least Slade is the only one that we know of in the book who is kind of beloved by all the beasts.

I like it. I like it. Mhm. Mhm. Okay. And then um the other one is just a quote. It seems like Anwin is thirsty for the gold I let drip like she soaks it all up and size with relief. Ooh. Ooh. Mhm. So, those are the two little Easter eggs that I found this time that I thought were important to note. Do you feel like there's anything else that you want to mention about gold before we ramp up to conclude with Gold Pinch? It's crazy. I feel like we've been covering the series forever. Cuz we have I'm like to let it go again until next time. You know, it's like letting Throne of Glass go again until next time. You know what I mean? Kennedy is coming out with another book, guys. I know. Duology. Oo, duology. For now, till she can't fit the glue on the glue pages and split it up. Hey, keep coming. Keep them coming. We'll take it. Take as long as you need. All right, that's it. I That's all I got. So, okay. You have a smash or pass for me? Unhinged smash or pass. I've been trying to keep it yellow or gold themed. So, Liz, I did not do that. Yeah, I just for me, just my own personal um it gives me inspiration for research. Liz, smash or pass? If you were an Eminem, the yellow M&M. If I was an Eminem, I'd say sure. Smash. I don't know anything about the M&M's. They seem fine. It's a pass for me. He's a little doofy. He's a doofy one. I'd pick the red one. I don't know anything. Maybe the red one is the edge, but the yellow one is taller. The yellow one is taller. He's more of a peanut as opposed to a regular. He is a peanut. Maybe he's a bit of a nut. He's a little nutty. Um I don't know anything about their their uh Eminem personalities. So that's why I was like, I don't know. If I was an Eminem, then probably I mean I just have like the Christmas commercials as context. The Eminem commercials. He's always kind of like pay that close of attention. Never met the guy. Yeah, they do. Oh, yeah. I don't know. All right, listen. I got sounds in my head. I love how you're like, I have sounds in my head. They'll never leave. I can relate. Yeah, it's the Eminem guy. I'm just talking. Oh, did you see someone had asked us uh I don't know if it was a YouTube comment. It was a comment I responded to recently. And I think it was a YouTube comment, but someone had asked us if we had heard the uh Withering Heights like old song from the8s. And I was like, "Have we heard it? Have we or have we not stopped listening to it? Have I indoctrinated my 10-year-old into singing it randomly as well?" And I was like, "Did anybody know what you're singing at school?" Cuz I know she sings too all the time. And she's like, "No, nobody knows it." I'm like, "Ah." So she's just walking around Face Cliff. You know, she has no context. So, I'm not letting her watch the movie or anything, but like it's so it's fun. It's great. It's a good song. It'll get you. Did Rosinda come to the dark side yet with any of those music? What? No, she just she's not a big music listener. Okay. Um, but I will say the surprised me too. The Charlie XCX album, House, that specific song is my 30 times in a row song.

I'm like going through some really bad stuff and I'm just like I got to put this on. I got to like funnel the energy and channel it and it really like does something to my brain. So yeah, it's very satisfy

mine that I have on repeat. Yeah, I do also like the army one that she does too, Kate Bush, cuz I listen to like the top four over and over. I do Running Up That Hill, then I do Withering Heights, then I do It's Army of Something. Not Army of Darkness. That's a movie. But Army of Darkness. I know what you're talking about though. Yeah. I don't know. I don't know. That one. And there's one other one. And those four like on repeat. Keep it coming. Yeah. Yeah. Um actually I had this great moment after dark. Okay. We were doing a game night the other night uh with my sister and my brother-in-law and my husband and we were playing Pictionary and for some reason the guys were like hung up. I'm already like not a game person, but I could do a Pictionary every once in a while. Okay. And so me and my sister, we, you know how it is. We can communicate like you and me communicate. Like we don't have to talk. We just know, you know, and the guys are like discussing something about Pictionary, but it's like taking forever for them to like figure it out. And so I had I had like background music on on like my Marshall Bluetooth speaker. And so I I subtly like switched it to that song and and made it louder and louder and louder until me and my sister were like staring at each other. Like it was pretty satisfying. Like we're going to die in this house. It was just so hilarious. And did they finally catch it? They did, but it took a while of me like increasing the volume like slowly. Yeah. It works for so many It works for so many times. The comedic timing if you plan it just right. You know what I mean? It's like that's what it's about. Sweet spot. Yeah. Yep. Okay. So, um, yes, we have heard of that song. We love it. I also responded, we just talked about it for 10 minutes. We do kind of enjoy it subtly. Very small small amount. Yeah. But we do appreciate you mentioning it in the case that we did not know about it. Yeah. They're probably like, if I read the comment again, is it said in the tone more like, "Have you guys heard the Withering Heights song? Have you heard about our Lord and Savior Kate Bush?" Like, you know? Oh, we have and we do and we shall. And poor Rousinda in the hotel room had to listen to it against her will many times before watching the movie. I just put it on repeat now in the house. My husband's like, "Dude, like literally again, he but he like he's pretty supportive of it, honestly." So, I'm like, "All right, hey." Okay. So, my smasher pass for you is out of pure curiosity and is based just off of current popular culture. Great. Okay. Because it just popped into my head and I was like, I need to know because I know it's a smash for me, but I don't know how you feel about it. Okay. All right. Hit me with it. So, smash or pass Matthew Lillard in any of his iterations? Smash now as a 38-year-old. I never liked it him before it. Sorry, Matthew Lord. Um, also he's an extremely supportive dude. you know, he's again he's part of the resistance, but also just like he grew on me, you know, cuz I really I never saw Scream and I know him from like being that annoying road rules real world character like and she's all that. So, I was always like, "Ew, yuck." And now as a 38-year-old lady, I'm like, I get it. Especially knowing that he wasn't like that in real life, you know? I didn't know how he was in real life and now seeing all these interviews of him and he seems like a good dude. Good good guy. So, Smash. Yeah. Mhm. I just I haven't had a chance to go see Scream 7 yet. Um just because so many good movies have been out, guys. It's like first of all, I had to see Withering Heights three times. I'm going again on Saturday. Wait, with you haven't or have seen it a third time? Yeah, I did see it a third time. Now I'm going a fourth time with watch. Okay, I just want you to understand your sentence you just said. Haven't had time. There's so many great movies. Haven't watched Scream 7, but I am going to watch Wither guys for a fourth time as I'm going to place one of those in there. I have priorities. I thought you were going to say problems cuz that also works. Um, no, I'm like the emotional support like Withering Heights lady. I'm like, if your husband won't go with you, please reach out. You know what I mean? I will. Like, I will. Um, but no, I mean, I had to watch Dracula. We went and watched Bride. I'm going to be curious to hear your take on Bride because that was that was deep, you know, watch any of these anytime soon. So, sorry. Yeah, don't wait for me to tell you. It'll be a year, but um yeah, so I haven't watched Scream 7 yet. I have heard that it's good. I've heard sometimes it takes multiple watches, but I'm excited because Matthew Lillard is coming back to grace us with his presence. And so, that is what reminded me to ask you. That's beautiful. Beautiful thing. That's beautiful. We need a we need him to come do some more movies. I know he's done a lot, but like does he ever a good guy? I feel like he I mean I So I developed my crush on Matthew Lillard um from SLC Punk. Yeah. Um I don't know if you ever watched that, but I was obsessed with it. I wouldn't necessarily say he's a bad guy, but he's not a good guy either. He's just kind of like a regular troubled youth, you know. Oh, yeah. I also was Shaggy and Scooby-Doo, which is a hard pass. I never saw that. So I'm keeping that far away from my brain because that didn't happen. Men in Black. Erase your memory. Um I mean people like that like I just luckily it doesn't really like connect as the same person. So it's good. We're fine. Everything's fine. Mhm. Everything's fine. It's great. No, like give him a cute romcom like you know. A that would be Yeah, he's funny, right? It's like make it make it fun but make it funny. And he's could be he could be a dad, you know? Like silly funny. Yeah, like silly. Why not? Maybe he just likes doing not that, which is fine, I guess. Do your thing. Do your thing, boo. Yeah, he's in a lot of random stuff as well. So, hey, for sure. There you go. But yes, that was a pivotal moment in my youth punk. I'm sure you guys can relate to that. And then obviously when I watched Scream, that was also a awakening of sorts. So, there we go. Are you happy with our coverage of Gold? I think I am awesome. Great. Well, see you later. Catch us next time for gold. We'll be back one more Play prisoner episode goldfinch in about two weeks. Not this Tuesday, but the next. And thank you so much for coming today, guys. Make sure to like, follow, and subscribe anywhere your likes favorite podcast, including YouTube. We're besties in the books podcast everywhere. And we'll see you next Tuesday. Tuesday and maybe Friday, too, for Pride and Prejudice. All right. Oh, that's right. Yeah. Bye bye.