Of Swords and Soulmates

2025 Year-In-Review: Reads, Regrets, And Next-Reads

• Mari • Season 2 • Episode 50

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New Year, new stacks… and a lot of honesty. We step back from single-title deep dives to survey a full year of romantasy and romance-adjacent reads—what shocked us, what fell flat, and which series rewired our brains. From a YA dragon school that tackles colonial power with heart to a sci‑fi romance that outsmarts its pulpy cover, we spotlight books that prove premise isn’t destiny. We also confess the special editions we still haven’t opened and the sequels we’re saving for a quiet week.

We trade our most anticipated releases for 2026—T. Kingfisher’s Dagger Bound, Stephanie Burgess’s Enchanting the Fae Queen, and J.R. Ward’s new romantasy—and champion new-to-us voices, including Bridget Knightley’s fanfic-rooted contemporaries and Moniquill Blackgoose’s sharp worldbuilding. Audiobooks get their flowers: Jeff Hays turns Dungeon Crawler Carl into a one-man full-cast, The Cruel Prince grips harder in audio, and Your Coffin or Mine? dazzles with accent agility. If you’re audiobook-curious, this is your permission to switch formats and fall in.

Goals, without the guilt: one of us hit 314 by pairing audiobooks with “eyeball reads” and DNFing early, while others are lowering targets to keep the joy. We share practical series plans, pocket-sized anxiety hacks, and the titles we wish we could read for the first time again—Throne of Glass, Bull Moon Rising, To Shape a Dragon’s Breath. Also on the table: the hot take that a massively popular series isn’t for everyone, and that’s okay.

If you love romantasy, monster romance, dragon academies, and smart, character-first stories, you’ll leave with a sharper TBR and a saner plan. Subscribe, share with a friend who needs a goal reset, and tell us: what was your most surprising read of the year?

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Mari:

The views expressed in this podcast are solely those of the hosts. All creative works discussed or reviewed are the intellectual property of the creators of said stories and are being used under the Fair Use Doctrine. Hello and welcome to Of Swords and Soulmates, a podcast where we read, watch, and discuss romanticy and romance-adjacent stories. I'm one of your hosts, Mari, and with me I have Kelly.

Kelly:

Hey everyone, it's Kelly. We also have Ashley.

Ashley:

Hi guys, it's Ashley. We also have Jonathan. Hey, it's JP.

Jonathan:

Is it Christmas or New Year's yet?

Mari:

It is New Year's. This is coming out on New Year's Day. So happy New Year's! Woohoo! Woo!

Jonathan:

I made it all the way to midnight. I stayed up. It was amazing. I did not fall asleep at 10 p.m. You can't prove it.

Mari:

So they say that whatever you're doing at midnight sets the tone for the rest of the year. So, you know, um, you know, uh spoiler, I guess, behind the scenes of how we're doing this, it's technically the 22nd of December. It's not yet Christmas when we're recording this. So we're trying traveling into the future. But I will tell you, my plans for for New Year's Eve is gonna be to be snuggled in bed in a blissful, comfortable, deep sleep with Kelly warm and cozy in our house. That is my tone for the year.

Jonathan:

Man, I was gonna do that with Kelly too. You got there first. You're so lucky.

Mari:

Do you guys have any New Year's plans?

Jonathan:

More about the same.

Mari:

Same. Yeah. All right. So today we're gonna be doing an end-of-year wrap-up for 2025, as well as a look forward to the coming year. So we won't be talking about any news. We're not gonna be talking about any one book in particular. We're just gonna be kind of talking about what our reading year has been like and what we are hoping for in the new year. Um, I was hoping to do this a little bit different from what we did last year if you guys are okay with it. I was hoping we would like to trade off and like I would read a question and then somebody else would read the next one, etc. So we would each end up reading a few questions. Is everybody on board for that?

Jonathan:

That sounds great.

Mari:

Kelly, you on board?

Jonathan:

Sure.

Mari:

Yay. Okay. I'll start it off since I did kind of spring that on you guys. What is a popular book that you own and haven't read yet?

Ashley:

Who's going first? You are now. Oh, I am? Okay, I'm pulling I'm pulling up I'm pulling up my list. I have not read, and I own somewhere in this house, both bride and mate. Oh. And I have not read the and it's killing me on the inside.

Jonathan:

Wait a minute. You don't own bride. I do own bride.

Ashley:

Yeah, but Mari bought me bride, like a special edition bride.

Jonathan:

It's a pretty, yeah, it's a pretty edition.

Ashley:

Super pretty. Did you give me a hand-me-down bride? Um perhaps a used bride. You gave me a second-hand bride.

Mari:

It's vintage, Jonathan. It's vintage.

Ashley:

Uh, I also own and have not read Shield of Sparrows. Oh. And I have been wanting to, like it is, it has been bothering me that I haven't.

Mari:

Well, we're planning on reading that next year, if nothing else. So we will we will make you read it by default.

Ashley:

Yeah.

Mari:

Uh anything else?

Ashley:

Uh no, I kept my list short. I was trying to be good.

Mari:

Um do you want to go next, Jonathan? Or if not, I can.

Jonathan:

You can.

Mari:

Okay. So I have I have Brimstone, and uh which I'm hoping to read starting maybe next month. We'll see. I have I I I pre-ordered it and it's just sitting there. Because I I switched over instantly to like holiday mode, and so I need to get back to Brimstone, which is a sequel to Quicksilver. Alchemized, which I have also pre-ordered, and I haven't read it. I read Manicled, but I I know that Alchemizes is going to be a different mental state than what I want on the holidays. So it's going to be a next year thing. Catabasis, which is another chunky one, which is it's a beautiful one. I'll be reading that next year because I have pretty much heard that's it's a bit of a like cerebrally intense kind of read.

Ashley:

So good to know.

Mari:

Yeah. And then probably the same one that I think I said last year, which is weathering heights, which I still haven't read. Um yeah, those are mine.

Jonathan:

The uh pen col stuff. So spark of the spark, heat, glow of the ever flame. Like I I I ordered all those paperbacks with the fancy edges. Um and I just haven't they just sit on my shelf. They look so good. And I and I thought for sure I would get to them this year, but I didn't. And so I'm hoping to get to them in the future, but that's one of the books that I own, or that series that I own, and I just haven't gotten to yet.

Ashley:

Yeah.

Jonathan:

A little disappointed in myself for that. How about you, Kelly? Yeah, don't judge me. I've seen your TBR. I can't see over your TBR. No, I can't either.

Mari:

No one has seen the end of my TBR, I'll tell you that. Who wants to read question two?

Jonathan:

Do you want to go in order of how we just answer?

Ashley:

Yeah, I can do it. I'm not used to this. What new release are you anticipating this coming year? Do I have to answer first?

Mari:

No, no, you don't have to. If you read the question, you don't have to answer first. I think I answered after you. So I I for me it's gonna be mostly sequels. So this coming year, 2026, in August, Dagger Bound is gonna come out, which by T. King Fisher, which is the sequel to Sword Heart, which is probably my favorite book by her, or very close to my favorite book by her. I'm very excited about that. I would say I'm excited about Enchanting the Fee Queen by Stephanie Burgess that comes out in January. That's the sequel to Wooing the Witch Queen. Very excited about that. And one that is not a sequel that I'm excited about is J.R. Ward is releasing a book in February called The Crown of War and Shadow. As far as I know, it's her first romantic. From what I could tell, it's her first romantic. She wrote the Black Dagger Brotherhood series. Um, she's written a few other, I think, historical books and historical romance books, like historical fiction, historical romance, I believe. But I don't think she's written any romancy unless you classify Black Dagger Brotherhood as romanticity, which I I don't, I would not. Um so I'm I'm excited to see what she does with it because Black Dagger Brotherhood is good. I'm enjoying it, but it's it's a very particular tone, and I'll be interested to see what tone she comes in, like what voice she does the romancey stuff in.

Ashley:

All right. Yeah. What you got, husband?

Jonathan:

The Crucible series, book three. I forget what it's called though. It's the the Abigail Owen the next installment.

Mari:

The Games Guys Play one, yeah.

Jonathan:

Yeah, yeah. I'm look I'm looking forward to that one.

Ashley:

So, like Helly, I'm super excited for Adversary to the Villain, which is the name of book four. I think I heard that it's dropping in November.

Mari:

That sounds right.

Ashley:

Of next year, but I don't have my Amazon up right now. My Amazon is flooded with orders right now that are not books, so I'm scared to look at it. Um and then I actually I was when I did look earlier, I actually don't have a ton of pre-orders for next year in the way that I did for 2025. So that's interesting for me, a space for me to be in right now. But I am excited for book two of I think her name is pronounced Bridget Knightley, and she dropped the irresistible urge to fall for your enemy this year. Yeah. And which is a retelling of a Dramini fanfic. And I'm super, super excited for book two next year.

Mari:

Me too. I think the first book one was pretty well written. I enjoyed it.

Ashley:

Yeah, it took me a minute, not gonna lie. Like I was like, this is this is weird. This is wrong. Having loved the fan, like obsessively loved the fanfic. Um, but once I was in it, I couldn't put it down like feet giggling, kicking, like feet kicking me giggling on the couch.

Mari:

So for me it was clean slate. I had never um yeah, read the the question.

Ashley:

Yeah, yeah. 10 out of 10 recommend both. I'm big fan, super excited for book two.

Jonathan:

Nice. Um, question number three. What do you have a favorite new character or author?

Ashley:

Am I next? Uh I think so, right? So I just gushed about Bridget Knightley, but arguably that is definitely one of my favorite new authors this year. There wasn't a character that I obscenely loved over another, but I was super interested in this Bridget Knightley world in the way that she had recrafted it. I just I marvel at this level of artistry from being able to like tell a story at all, you know what I mean? I think it's just remarkable and and just fascinating. So for her to have done it twice and in such an enjoyable way for both books just really astounded me this year.

Mari:

Yeah. I think for me, new author would be Rain Tetra. It's R-A-E-N Tetra. She wrote Leap of Faith and most recently First Love for Noelle. And she has one more book. She's only written three books. They're all monster romance, but they're all very like sweet monster romance, almost like a rom com monster romance, or in the case of the holiday one, like a Hallmark movie. I know it's a little late in the season since this is coming out in January, but if you're still in the mood for like a you know, Hallmark Christmassy type holiday movie in a book, the first love for Noelle is basically a Hallmark movie where a big city girl goes home to her small hometown and bumps into her crush from high school, who was like the high school football jock and she was like a nerd. And they, whatever, they they you know, sparks fly, they meet up again, and love story ensues, but he happens to be a Minotaur. So the town is kind of like the whole vibe is very much uh the book's very much like Morning Glory Milking Farm. So if you're a fan of that, that that book is that, but with like Christmas vibes. Yeah. But yeah, I really have enjoyed everything I've read by her. There's only one book left that that I haven't read yet that she did, which is like a beauty and the beast retelling. Um, but I read her, if I'm remembering, I think I did an ARC for Leap of Faith, and it's a like podcaster and a frogman cryptid, like meat cute uh love story kind of situation. Other than her, I've also discovered this year new to me is India Halton. And she wrote this, she's written several books, but the ones that I've really liked is called the Love's Academic series. And it basically they're historical romances, but there's magic. So it's kind of like the mummy kind of setting, but with magic, a little more magic. So, like the first one is I think the ornithologist's guide to falling in love. The second one's a geographer's map to love. Yeah, that and I think the third one's like is coming out next year. It's like the antiquarians, something, something. But they're all like magical objects or magic thing, but it's also got a bit of an academia vibe. And then you have this really, she has does really interesting like banter between her characters. Okay. Um, and it makes for really, really good audiobooks. So the production on those are really, really high end. So they're nice like to do while you're going for long walks or cleaning the house or whatever. I've I've enjoyed that. I will say I did have a favorite uh character this year that was new to me. The author is Christian White, Kirsten, Kirsten White. The book is The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein, and the character is Elizabeth Frankenstein in that. So the book is basically a horror, like a more horror retelling of Frankenstein told from the viewpoint of Elizabeth Frankenstein. And it is dark, but she ends up being like a heroine and having to outwit. She ends up being like a final girl, like what you would think of in a slasher movie Final Girl, but it it's in the Frankenstein story. Um interesting. It's very well done character building.

Jonathan:

So I've got a new author to me that I found this year that I've enjoyed, Aurora Asher. She's Canadian, she writes the Hellband series. Just fun. She's I started following her on social media, just had a baby, hoping that hoping to cross paths with her at a convention sometime in the future. Um meanwhile, I did reach out to her, got some book plates, uh, some signed book plates. That was super kind of her to send out. So cool beans. And then the other one is a narrator. Uh Jeff Hayes, who narrates for uh the Dungeon Crawler Carl series. He's just like all over the place. He does Carl, he does Princess Dona, he does the um the AI in that in that story, and it's just like such a range of voices. Um he makes that audiobook far more enjoyable than it than it ever should be.

Mari:

So like Yeah, I've heard so many good things about that series. It's really exploded out. I have not read it yet or listened to it. Kelly, you you did you read it or did you listen to it?

Kelly:

I read it.

Mari:

You read it, yeah. I think I'll probably listen to it because I've heard so many good things about the audio production, but yeah, I haven't gotten on board with that yet. I'm a little behind.

Jonathan:

When you listen to it, just think that's one dude.

Ashley:

He's doing all the work.

Jonathan:

And it is not like doing all the things. Yeah, it's like how I'm like, how are these voices coming out of your face? Is amazing. Yeah.

Mari:

Um, I think Kelly, right?

Kelly:

Sure. So, what was the most surprising and the most disappointing book?

Mari:

Who would go who would go first?

Ashley:

Uh I think we circle back around, right? Kelly was last. Yeah. So most surprising for me, I happened upon the Realm Breaker series this year by Victoria. I'm not sure how to pronounce her last name, Aviard or Aviard. And this one, while fantasy and just tiny smidge of romance, I'm not sure if it's classified as romantic, but I had this was a wild ride for me. And it was very like journey and like found family and enemies to lovers, and like all of the things, and I thought the ending wrapped up a little too neatly and conveniently, but other than that, this was like a three or four book chunky series, and I was not expecting to like it as much as I did, and so that was most surprising. Um I don't think I had any disappointing books this year, but I am surprised. You guys are gonna laugh. I am surprised at how I'm having trouble committing to the things gods break.

Mari:

Oh, interesting. I know. Do you think it's because you may have heard too much about it?

Ashley:

No, I haven't heard anything about it. I just I have not had the overwhelming desire to like sit down and devour it. But maybe if I tried like to download the audiobook and do it on the go, but like the physical act of like sitting down to read it myself has not been grabbing for me and I don't know what it is.

Jonathan:

Interesting. It might be in my audible. I'm not sure.

Ashley:

Oh, maybe I'll check. I'll check Libby.

Jonathan:

I just I mean if you can check my audible get after it, it's good.

Ashley:

Audible's working the hardest in this house.

Mari:

Um, who's is it me? I'm next, right? So my my most surprising book would be An American Werewolf in Space. In space? In space by Alicia Sunderland. If you look at the cover, it looks like a very cheesy sci-fi-like cover that you see everywhere. So it's it's a it's a sci-fi romance. And the the name of the series that it's a part of, because there's three of them, I think three or four of them, the fourth one I think is coming out. The series is called Not Your Mama's Alien Romance. And the premise is very stereotypical in a lot of sci-fi romance. You have a group of women get kidnapped by aliens, a group of earth women get kidnapped by aliens, and the story goes from there. Either like the aliens end up being the other main characters, or they end up getting saved by good aliens or whatever. Well, what ends up happening is the group of women that are kidnapped, one of them happens to be a werewolf, and she's the main character. So she's kind of a badass. And it turns out like all the main characters in this series are all badasses. There is like alien romance, but it's like it very much turns on its head a lot of the alien romance tropes that you see in a lot of other books. I have thoroughly enjoyed this series. I would love to run into or meet the author and see where she might be at, because yeah, I I've been recommending this book a lot. I first heard about it on a booktube that I follow. Oh, I think her name's Ava. Her name is Ava. I can't remember the name of her channel. Um, but I was very skeptical because you look at the cover, you're like, mmm. But I very much enjoyed that. So that would be surprising to me. Disappointing actually happened fairly recent. And let me let me say it first that there's nothing wrong with this book. It was my expectations. Okay. So let me let me paint you a picture, like Sicily 1919 or whatever. Um the book has like a wreath on the front with like Krampus horns and a bell. The book is called Krampus Cruk, and on the back it talks about a woman going to a bar and running into a Krampus. So based on that, I was expecting a Krampus story.

Ashley:

Yeah. Correct?

Mari:

Yeah. No, no, no Krampus at all. Not at all. At all. It's like a older male main character mafia romance. Oh. Which I'm sure if that's what you are wanting, or if that's your jam, that's fine. It's not my jam. And it was not what I was expecting from everything that I looked into with the book.

Jonathan:

Turn of the pages, it's gonna be around here somewhere.

Mari:

Yeah, yeah. I was like, wait, this is almost over. What is happening?

Jonathan:

It's a hidden Krampus around here.

Mari:

They left the Krampus out of my Krampus book. Oh no.

Jonathan:

Dang.

Mari:

Yeah.

Jonathan:

Oh, for me, I think I just have a surprising. I don't have one that was disappointing to me, but I do have one that surprised me. And it wasn't like, aha, but it was more like, oh, maybe I like this. Hold your horses, Mari. Ice Planet Barbarians.

Ashley:

Horses are being held.

Jonathan:

Okay, good, good, good.

Ashley:

Is that your surprising or disappointing? No, that's my surprise.

Jonathan:

I don't have a disappointing. I was surprised. Like I went into Ice Planet Barbarians thinking like, I'm not gonna like this, but then I was like, oh, okay. I can get down with this.

Mari:

Yeah, Ruby Dixon does not let us down. Like Ruby Dixon, I haven't read anything bad by her.

Jonathan:

Yeah. It's a a and Ashley, you might like it. It's a it's they're not extremely long reads. They're they're reasonable in terms of length. And it's and because of that, like it the setup is there and it cuts really quickly to the spice. You know, it's Earth girls kidnapped by abducted by aliens plane or plane spaceship is down on a on an ice planet and it's very cold there, but things heat up quickly.

Mari:

Maybe I I know I said this last year, but maybe we should read one of the one of those this coming year.

Jonathan:

Yeah. I mean it's always good to start with number one.

Mari:

They're so short, yeah.

Jonathan:

Yeah. It's uh yes, that was that was something that totally it it definitely surprised me and it kicked me on to her like like Bull Moon Rising and then uh you know and it it opened that it was a gate, it was a gateway book. I fully like I was just I was I I thought I was gonna hate it, and I was just I was I'm gonna be honest, I was just reading it for so I I could talk about it with Mari later, but it was like as I was reading, I was like, okay, let's do let's do more of this. Uh I don't know that I'll get through. She's got like 75 of them. How many?

Mari:

There's like three interconnected worlds. I think I'm on book 12, maybe. I have not read all of them because I I liked to read them when it was cold. So I think I read a bunch of them through like February of this year, and then I kind of stopped. So I'll probably be getting back into those January of next year, I bet.

Jonathan:

So good read.

Mari:

Yeah, I kind of started it the same way. I started them thinking like, oh, this is gonna be just, you know, whatever. I I'll have an opinion on it now. I've heard people talk about it, and then I ended up really liking them.

Ashley:

21 books.

Mari:

Yeah.

Ashley:

And Ice Planet Barbarians.

Mari:

I know that there's like Ice Planet, there's like clones. Ruby Dixon has written so many books, guys. Like, and she doesn't just write sci-fi books, she also writes fantasy books, she also writes all these like compilation things. I I don't know how she has time to do anything else.

Jonathan:

Well, I think the the general rule of thumb that this I don't know where I picked this number up, but I'm sure I read it somewhere. That in order to be like to you can be an author, but to get away from like to have make it your full-time job and to kind of survive on those residual as an income, it you need 40 books. I mean, unless you have just like unless you just really hit it real good with one.

Mari:

Yeah, if you have some big, you know, big big bestseller kind of things.

Kelly:

Yeah.

Mari:

Kelly, how about you?

Kelly:

The book that I enjoyed the most that was the most surprising was the Days at the Morisaki Bookshop. I thought that was a surprising book, even though it's been out for like 15 years, it was only recently translated to English a few years ago. I think that I don't know. It was a great book about you know dealing with directional changes in your life, and then it had a lot of interesting insight into you know the very small section of Tokyo where there's nothing but bookshops. And they're all small, tiny little like family-owned bookshops that have been in business for you know hundreds of years almost.

Mari:

My dream area. It'd be amazing. One day, we need to get to Japan, Kelly. One day.

Ashley:

Am I up?

Mari:

Who Kelly, you read the last one, right?

Kelly:

Yes.

Mari:

So then it would be back to me?

Kelly:

Yeah.

Mari:

Okay. I think I'm up. So what is the longest and the shortest book you read this year?

Jonathan:

Now you're up, Ashley. Oh.

Ashley:

Unless you're not sure, in which case I can talk if you're not going to be able to do that. No, no, no. Okay. No, I was just confused by the rotation. No, I'm up. Longest was alchemized. I think there are different print runs on the length, but it's roughly a thousand forty pages. Um, and I devoured that. And then according to Goodreads, my shortest was Phase Gamble by Molly Tullis, which was 221 pages.

Jonathan:

Interesting. Now Mari's up again.

Mari:

Is it me?

Jonathan:

We have a unique order going on.

Mari:

Okay. Um, so for me, the longest one I read this year was Crescent City book three. I read it like towards the beginning of the year to finish up that series. It's the House of Flame and Shadow.

Jonathan:

Is that the red one?

Mari:

They're all thick, but I think it's a thick. It's 951 pages.

Jonathan:

They're yeah, they look, I'm looking at them on the shelf. They are they're taking up a lot of real estate. They're they're chunky.

Mari:

Yeah. C-H-O-N-K-Y. Very, very much chunky.

Ashley:

Like thick with two C's.

Mari:

Yeah, yeah. That was not my favorite series of hers, but I've got through it because it interconnects to the other two series. So I kind of felt like I had to get the little nibbet nibble of story that I wanted. Um it's just not the Crescent City series has not been my jam. The shortest for me was The Light Within by Grace Draven. Um, it's a short story in the Master of Crows series that she did. Grace Draven wrote Radiance that we read, I think, last year. Um, and she was at Romanisticon. And and Light Within was like 15 pages. It's a very pretty, very short little book in the Master of Crows series. I think Jonathan, you're next.

Jonathan:

Yeah. Yeah. I'm not sure what the I'm not sure what the longest book I read was. Um, but there's definitely a battle for short ones. So like that compilation book that's broken into like uh like five or six books with like Allie Hazelwood and Ruby Dixon and Chr Christina Lauren. Um the scared sexy series? Yeah. But then there's also so that like is that one or is that I counted them individually. Yeah, I I I think so I did the same thing. And then there's at the beginning of the year, I did No Sugar Coating It by DJ Russo. Oh yeah, that one's pretty short too. Yeah. But I think if I was gonna give the title of shortest book to one, there's one that I read pretty often. It's um um Green Eggs and Ham.

Mari:

Oh yeah.

Jonathan:

I always find a pro tip, if you're ever like in a space where um where your mind is kind of like drifting towards like negative, like negative vibes, or you start to get anxious, those are like two or three minute reads. So I like to keep one on me, especially if I have to travel for work or something like that. And I'm like, oh, I gotta go into this room, speak to these strangers, and now you know how do I get my mind right? I just read like a Dr. Seuss book in like two to three minutes, it changes your vibe, you know. So um if anyone out there needs a a tip of that nature, fully recommend it. You can get them like pocket-sized versions too, that are little throw them in your backpack or your briefcase, travel with you, and boom. Um, so anyway, I don't know what the longest is. Uh, there are some that I that felt long for sure, but I don't know what the longest was. So I'll kind of I'll I'll pass on that one. Okay.

Ashley:

Ash, I think you read this one. My turn. Yeah. The best series. Is that that's the next question, right? Yeah. Yeah, sorry.

Mari:

Um, so would it be me?

Ashley:

Mm-hmm.

Mari:

Okay. For me, it's Black Dagger Brotherhood series by J.R. Bord. I very much discovered it this year. The TV show of the first book came out this year. It's like 90s goth Peter Steele typo negative matrix vampires. They're like 20-year-old books. There's 23 of them, I believe, and I'm on like 14. So I'm like two-thirds of the way through it. Still not, still not there. Still not complete. Um, but I'm very much enjoying them. I'm basically listening to them. The audiobook narrator does a pretty good job. And Jara Ward does a really good job of like having each novel be its own story, its own contained story, but also pulling forward the overall narrative that that's happening. Um, yeah, that's been that's been a fun series for me this year.

Jonathan:

Nice, nice. Um, I've got two series that I like that I feel like are are really good. One you're probably super well, well, you're probably familiar with them both, but the first one is the How to Train Your Dragon series. It's it's it's a it's a children's series, right? But I didn't realize I would be so interested in it. Um it's I like I do like the audio, the audiobook adds a twist to it. So I ended up buying it was like it was like a prime day deal. Like this this set of 12 like dropped till they were like five bucks a book or something like that. So I was like, all right, I'm in. Um and I was I think I was gonna give them to my niece, and then they were like, Well, your niece doesn't read at this like this stage yet. So I was like, fine, I'll I'll read them. They're dramatically different than the movie. Like, I mean, just the uh the even the concept and size and how like in the movie toothpless is this like stunning beastly creature um that is sleek and and coveted, and in the book it's the opposite the opposite. It's like a house cat, right? Yeah, and it's got this really like weird, stuttering voice with it. And but it's a very I I think it has a a lot of great leadership vibes to it, but it's also like oftentimes in in business or at work, I'll say things like, you know, regardless of your title, you can still be a leader, and it's kind of that that thing where that there's a there's a chief in this tribe who's making these kind of bullying decisions about stuff, like almost closed-minded.

Ashley:

And like Hiccup's dad?

Jonathan:

Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Ashley:

Not Stoic.

Jonathan:

Yeah, Stoic, yeah, Stoic is making some interesting choices based on past historical knowledge kind of thing, and oftentimes choosing pride over what is what's what's right. And and then Hiccup had it, horrendous the third or whatever it is, um, is like he he sees with a little bit different perspective and makes ultimately makes the right leadership choices, but is has to go against the grain. So there's that one that was quite surprising. I encourage adults and children, even at the same time, to to take up that series. It's it's those are shorties too. You can usually they're like single-sitting reads. A couple hours if you need if you have it. And then the other series that I really kind of like, and I've said it earlier in in the in the podcast, was the Dungeon Crawler Carl series. Um I'm making my way through that. On I just finished up book three, and I didn't think I was gonna like it. I thought this was gonna be a a lame, kind of sketchy book. And then a common friend of ours, Patrick, um, from you may from like you may remember him from uh Winter Garden. Um he was like, Hey, you gotta read this book. Hey, you gotta read this book, hey, you gotta read this book. And I was like, Oh, whatever, I'll read this book. And then I had another coworker who was like, You read it, I'll read it, we'll report back. And then it was like, dang, I liked it. And then like everyone else like now I've got like three friends at work who are like, this is what's up. Let's keep reading these books.

Mari:

So people reading is always a good thing.

Jonathan:

Yeah. It is uh it's a little harebrained, but it's it's a it's a fun series. Uh it's like Hunger Games meets Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy meets Jumanji. Nice. But like new Jumanji, not Robin Williams Jumaji. Shout out to Robin Williams and Jumanji that era. I was still great, but Kevin Hart Jumanji is what this one's like. Yeah.

Ashley:

I finished Throne of Glass this year and it it it has changed me. Yeah. I think that might be one of the best things that I've read as a s like as a series whole in my entire life.

Jonathan:

Is it is that a complete is it a complete series?

Ashley:

Throne of glass? Allegedly, yes.

Jonathan:

Allegedly.

Ashley:

I don't know that I trust Sarah.

Jonathan:

Does she have an H in her name?

Ashley:

Yes.

Jonathan:

Okay. They're usually a little bit more trustworthy.

Ashley:

More trustworthy with the H's.

Jonathan:

Yeah. H is for honesty.

Ashley:

Yeah, I think the girls that know know or the boys and the gays and theys and all the above. Throw in a glass while the first book, as many first books, are not the best of the series, nor would I have continued reading had I not heard all of the hype. But knowing how young she was when she published that first book and just seeing the journey that that storyline took upon. Um, I have an immense respect for Sarah J. Mass. Although if she doesn't give us book five of Avatar soon, I think it's gonna be Mutiny. That's a whole separate problem. Throne of Glass by far, I think has chemically changed me in a very positive way.

Mari:

Yeah, I love that series. Who's next for reading?

Jonathan:

Uh the question?

Mari:

Yeah. I think it's Husden.

Jonathan:

Number seven. What's an unpopular book that you loved, and vice versa, a popular book that you didn't love?

Ashley:

Jonathan, keep us on track. Who's next? Oh, yeah, yeah, Ashley. Ashley, just check in.

Mari:

Let me say right before you start, this is like Kelly should Kelly should be a pro at this because this is what like when you're playing Dungeons and Dragons and it comes into like a battle, and you have to keep track of like who goes when you're battling, like who goes in what order, plus the bad guys, the monsters, the hordes, the whatever. You gotta keep track of like all these things and just like who goes next. That's part of what like the the dungeon master does in DD. Yes, I'm sorry. Go ahead. We need we need one of those.

Ashley:

Yeah, we do. I'm gonna say this is unpopular just because I haven't heard anybody else talk about it. But I read Alexis Patton this year, and her book is Us Dark Few, and I was surprised at how much I liked it. I think there's a lot of potential. It's a duology. I have not read book two yet, but I met Alexis Patton at the Romanticy BookCon, and she was a delight, and she signed all the books, and she was just so pleasant. She's local to Florida. I think she said she lived in Daytona, and she was just such a pleasure to talk to. And I really I do look forward to reading book two. And in hindsight, having now watched the Fallout series, it's kind of that vibe, but maybe like less hokey, like if there weren't any okie dokies, right? But it was definitely very dystopian in the world. Like, you know, how do we survive this fallout situation? And there's, you know, a class hierarchy, and you know, it was a little nitty-gritty, but it wasn't super dark, right? It wasn't like break my heart dark. Yeah. Um, so I really did enjoy her as a new author and the potential in this series. Um, but I don't think there were any super popular books that I didn't like.

Mari:

Am I next? Yeah. Okay. I'm kind of in the same boat here. I I have an unpopular book, but I don't have any popular ones. So an unpopular book that I like, and I'm only saying unpopular, not because people were dissing it, unpopular because I haven't heard anybody talk about it, is To Shape a Dragon's Breath by Monaquil Black Goose.

Ashley:

Interesting.

Mari:

It is, it was so good. Like I could not stop talking to Kelly about it. I think he was like, I don't care at one point. So it's uh it's a bit of a younger reader. The main character's 15, so it's a YA. It is not a romance. I mean, there might be like a baby romance D plot, maybe, but it's mainly there's a magical school for dragons and dragon riders. But it's not what you're thinking. So basically.

Jonathan:

We've never seen that before.

Mari:

Yeah, yeah. It's basically it's like a historical, like an alternate historical commentary kind of world. So you have this native population and you have the the English. The native population is the main character, and it's basically like kind of an amalgamation or is supposed to represent all native populations. And then the English are supposed to be like the European, the colonizer generation. But rather than it being English, like Britain-based, the culture is Norse. So it's like a the the English are like Norse mythology, like they, you know, believe in Odin and all these things. So that's like the the the party that's in control or the power that's in control. And so you have this main character who's a young 15-year-old girl. She lives on this island where the native people live. They're not allowed to have weapons. They are, you know, basically told what they can and can't do by the English. And all of a sudden, a dragon decides to have their egg there, and the egg decides to hatch, and the dragon picks her as its person. And so then she has to go to the English school because if you're going to be able to keep your dragon, you have to be elevated, is what they they call it. You have to be elevated to proper society. And the book ends up being a very interesting commentary on like indigenous cultures and colonial cultures and the interplay between the two and what is better and what is not. And the main character, she has a lot of pushback, she has a lot of opinions around, but she's not like a very stereotypical, like badass fighter heroine kind of character. She's smart and she does kind of her pushback by asking questions. And it's like, well, why does this have to be this way? How come it has to be this way? How come that's right? Why isn't this right? You know, the way I've done things my whole life, the way my family has done things my whole life. It's just very, it's just such a good book. I think for anybody. I think I, you know, as a 46-year-old enjoyed it. I think kids in the younger age would enjoy it, and I think most adults would enjoy it. The sequel to what comes out next year, you know, in addition to dealing with like colonialism and indigenous peoples, it also talks about like queer culture and also talks about like people with disabilities and how they're treated. Like it really just has a lot of really interesting things to say, but it's not in a heavy-handed way. Like it's I I I'm probably making it sound like a very heavy book, but it's not. It's this 15-year-old girl making her way in in the world and trying to figure it out as she goes along. With her like plucky little dragon that, you know, is slowly growing.

Jonathan:

I like it.

Mari:

I very much loved it.

Jonathan:

Nice. I don't have a an unpopular one that I liked, but I do have a popular one that was not my cup of tea. Shout out to everyone who was like trying to get me on board with this. But I'm gonna be honest, I like my tea. Tamlin to be one.

Ashley:

Sorry. I don't want to I don't want to know a bad I was not prepared for that answer.

Jonathan:

So I I know there's a lot of people. I like my co one of my co-workers, Shadow Kristen, sent me was it Akamath or the second one? Yeah. Court of Mist and Fury. But like I'm not, no. I I'm not set to pick that one up. I like I don't I don't want I don't want my Tam Tam to fail me now.

Mari:

What you're saying is I don't wanna.

Jonathan:

I don't wanna. Uh yeah, let's let's I'm gonna let my so yeah so I'm gonna I'm just gonna I'm gonna close off myself to the Avatar series.

Ashley:

Guys, I was not ready for that adventure at all.

Jonathan:

And you know, I I love the people who love that book. I think it's a fantastic series for people to get into. I love when people like dive headfirst into that. Cool. It wasn't for me. Now, I'm gonna be honest, and if Sarah with an H is out there listening and You want you want you want my book dollars you want to wrote me back in. The the way to do that is to write an entire story about the lady who bought the wolf helps in the village.

Mari:

Your obsession with the side character.

Jonathan:

Yeah, I don't understand. Why doesn't this person have a story? He's so confused. I am so upset. I feel like that's the one character that needs a side quest. I need to know more, Sarah With.

Mari:

Well, maybe if you read the rest of the books, there might be more.

Jonathan:

No, no, no, thank you. I would have known by now. Somebody, one of y'all would have told me. Would we? Bait me into it. Yes, I think you would. I feel like Kristen would have. She would have. We gotta get him to read more. Let's tell him about this lady. Cool. We'll see. Yeah, I won't. Um my goodness. All right. I didn't see it coming.

Mari:

Uh, whose turn is it to read next? Is it Kelly?

Jonathan:

Kelly, you got question number eight for us?

Kelly:

Sure. Favorite audiobook, listen.

Jonathan:

Um Ash.

Ashley:

Oh, it's me? Favorite audiobook? The Cruel Prince series. I think if I had read that book, I I don't know that I would have finished it. And I think I don't know the name of the narrator. I should have researched that. Um but she sold. She sold me on this series. I was in. I didn't even know I was hooked. I didn't know I was drugged until Libby took the audiobook back from me. I'm still suffering from the trauma back in January. Libby took the book back from me. I I died inside. I had to wait weeks and weeks and weeks and weeks to get it back. And then I did not, I did not wait after that. Such a good read.

Mari:

So such a good read, right?

Ashley:

It's it's a fantastic read, but I think for me it would have been like if I had start again started with the book, I probably wouldn't have finished. It's just it's a very, very unique world, and and they all hate each other.

Mari:

Yeah.

Ashley:

For so long. You don't even realize that you love them for hating each other.

Mari:

Like to me, the way I describe that book is like that's it's and I'm not, I didn't study Faye. I'm not great with the old folklore and like the old traditional storytelling, but to me, it's what I feel like a lot of the old Faye stories are like where they talk about like, you know, oh, you know, don't do this or the Faye will get you, and be careful to do this, or the Faye will get you. Like these are the Faye that they were talking about getting you, like it wasn't in a good way.

Ashley:

I can see it. Yeah. No, I yep. I think that was the most impressive audiobook for me this year.

Mari:

Am I next? Okay. For me, my favorite audiobook listen was Your Coffin or Mine. The book was written by Jacqueline Hyde. I I know I've talked about this before. The narrators, I wrote it down. The narrators were Kasha Kensington and Johnson Hartley. The accents in this were so good. And they were so varied. They were all over the place. Like there was like posh British accent, there was like trans, I guess, Romanian accent, there was like New England American accent, there was like more like a London almost cockney accent, there was a Scottish accent. Like it was, there were so many accents in there, and they were all very, very well done. I cannot wait for all of these this author's books to be on audiobook. I've read them all that are out, but I want to listen to them all because if she does the same narrators or as good narrators, I think it'll be an interesting listening experience.

Ashley:

High praise.

Jonathan:

Mm-hmm. For me, um favorite audio. It's gonna it's gonna be dungeon crawler, Carl. Because he's doing all the work. It's it's no, it's just because yeah, he's yes, but it's also like so the way he swings his voice, like Carl is very like he sounds like you ever hear well, I forget the actor. He does the tick, the voice of the tick, and you know, the gr is it Gronk? The pull the other lever Gronk kind of thing? That guy, like it sounds like him, but then Princess Dona is sounds like a more mature lady with a British accent. And then like the AI is like high, like high spirited, like reward, 10,000 points, achievement, achievement, you know, new level, reward nothing. Pussies don't get prizes. Like it's just like like out of like it's just wild, wild stuff. Like, like it and it, I don't know, it's just it just hits, it slaps, and it it shouldn't. And it does. Like, why why does the cat get to talk? Why does the cat why is the cat royalty? Why is the cat have laser beams? Why, why is the cat, you know, like like what is uh I don't want to give details away if you have for people who haven't gotten that.

Mari:

Yeah, don't because I plan on reading it.

Jonathan:

So sorry. It is uh but there's like it is it's it's a story about a guy and his his uh cheating girlfriend's cat that gets sucked into a realm, right? And they have to fight for survival, uh kind of like as a team. But yeah, it's and so the the just these different voices, and it's just wildly entertaining. So I've been I've been reading each one with a physical hardcover and um getting the audiobook at the same time, doing the immersive read with it, and I'm just I'm excited.

Mari:

Um, okay, so reading goal reflections. How many books did you read in 2025? And how many do you plan to read in the coming year, or however you organize your reading goals?

Ashley:

And then I answer, right?

Jonathan:

Yes.

Ashley:

We're getting those guys.

Jonathan:

This is round three. Winner takes off.

Ashley:

As soon as we finish this up, we're gonna have it locked. I did not meet my 2025 reading goals.

Jonathan:

I'm blasphemer.

Ashley:

I aimed for a hundred, and that was ambitious of me. I think, because I did not, I also did not do a great job of tracking, as was also one of my goals. Um, but I'm pretty sure I'm close to about 55.

Jonathan:

Yeah, I'm pretty sure I bought you like a whole book tracker.

Ashley:

You did, and I just I just suck.

Jonathan:

Waste money.

Ashley:

That's just who I am as a person this year.

Jonathan:

You don't live with you don't live with her. I live with her. She's now I'm teasing.

Ashley:

Yeah, it was a little bit more.

Jonathan:

Yeah, dude.

Ashley:

I thought we were having a good week.

Jonathan:

We are absolutely it's a fantastic.

Ashley:

I did not hit my reading goals. I think I'm a little over half, give or take a few. Because those audiobooks, like not all my systems are tracking the audiobooks.

Jonathan:

You better get yourself some Dr. Seuss.

Ashley:

I know. And so I'm going to lower my goals for next year to something more a little bit more reasonable. So I'm I'm pretty sure I hit like 55. So I'm gonna aim for 75.

Jonathan:

Lower your goals like like on our wedding day. Oh, that was your standard. Sorry.

Mari:

She didn't say no.

Jonathan:

I know, I know. She was silence is complicit. Oh. So what was your so what's your new goal for 2026? 75. All right. I'm curing for you.

Mari:

Yeah. I think you can totally do that. And I think you may have read more than you know if you haven't, you know, if you if you don't necessarily tracking the apps on my phone, and I just make it part of the like as soon as I finish the book, I log that I've done it. And I do this, I have this little routine I go through. I do, I log it on Goodreads, I log it on Story Graph, I log it on Fable. And then I check it off my TBR that I have on my phone, a little rolling TBR. Um because I have a bad memory, and I just there's no way I could remember any of this stuff if I don't log it.

Ashley:

Yeah, I hear you. I'm getting I'm getting there myself.

Jonathan:

Do we have hey, do we have any wild guesses as to like what Mari got through this year? I'm I'm gonna lob one out there at 500.

Mari:

Oh god, no. I mean, no.

Jonathan:

Where did you hit this year, Mari?

Mari:

Do what?

Jonathan:

What what number did you get to?

Mari:

As of right now, we're not yet at the end of the year. I'll probably finish up a few more before the end of the year, but as of right now, I'm at 314. Dang.

Jonathan:

My goodness. Wild. I that's like one a day.

Mari:

I mean, there's no, so I always have an audiobook going and an eyeball book going. So that way I can read if I'm read my audiobook if I'm driving or like walking or exercising or you know, cleaning up the house or whatever. And then I can eyeball read when I want to like relax and and just focus on eyeball reading. Um, so I I do read usually like at least two at once, and I just flip-flop between them. I also will DNF a book in a heartbeat. I didn't used to be that way. Like if I'm not enjoying the book or getting something out of it, then always has me enjoyment. Sometimes it's it's it's it's it's a consensual suffering. Um but if I'm not getting out of it when I was wanting to get out of it, then I'm I'm gonna DNF it and move on to something else. It's it's not homework, it's not my job, it's not a suffer fest. I my goal was a hundred. My goal is usually a hundred for the past few years. I will probably keep my goal at a hundred because that feels attainable to me. And I feel like if I do it too high, if I if I do my goals too high in general and I don't am I gonna get anywhere near meeting them, and then I I will want to just give up and not, you know, not try at all. So I will probably keep it at 100. I I don't care if I read more next year than this year or not. I don't want reading to be a stressful thing, you know?

Jonathan:

I just not a chore.

Mari:

Yeah, yeah, I don't want it to be a chore. Just as long as there's books out there that I'm enjoying that I can get and get into and talk to with people about, then that's what I plan on doing. I one of my goals, one of my non-number goals last year was to read more books in different languages. I failed abysmally at that. I think I only read one book in a non-English language, and that was the interview that the journalist did with Guillermo Toro I read before we did our Frankenstein episode. It was good, but it was the only one not in English. So I need to, I would like to try and do better about that next year. So that's my goal. Goals, I should say.

Jonathan:

Solid goals. For me, I had uh so I I had 30 as my goal. I hit 60, but next year I'll raise it, but I'm only gonna go to 40 because just like like like you said, Mari, I want it to be attainable. I want to also want to be able to like catch a cold and not have to worry about like this slip away kind of thing and have any stress. Uh, but I do want to like raise it and give myself a little bit of more of a challenge, right?

Kelly:

Yeah.

Jonathan:

So that's the goal for 26. But I uh have like some sub goals. So I want to finish a few series. Uh so the How to Train Your Dragon series, the Dungeon Crawler Carl series I want to finish, the Hellbent series. Um, I want to finish. I want to get through the rest of the what I'm calling the Nolomantasy series, which is like Berlin's romantic. And I I do and I want to pick up two more. So I did order I ordered Mary Poppins that series. I'm just interested to see how the books are like the OG? Yeah, yeah. The PL Travers stuff. They're short, they're not, they're not bad. They were cheap. So I was like, I'm gonna give them a shot. I just want to see how they're written compared to the to the films. And then I'm gonna I do want to get into the to the wicked universe. So I did pick up a copy of Wicked, and I picked up a copy of Alphabet's P.O.V. And so now we're waiting for Glinda's to to come out. So I'd like to get through um through the wicked universe this year. Uh Glinda's POV comes out this year, right?

Mari:

Yeah, 2026, I believe.

Jonathan:

Cool. Yeah, I'm looking forward to that. I'd like to complete that set. Yeah, that's that's kind of where I'm at with my goals, uh, more series focus, I think. Yeah.

Mari:

Um, whose turn is it to read the next question?

Jonathan:

What question number are we on? 10? I think that's Ashley. Yep.

Ashley:

If you could have a book redo, what would it be? As in the ability to read a book for the first time again.

Jonathan:

And that's on Mari.

Mari:

Um for me, it would be To Shape a Dragon's Breath Again by Manoco Black Goose. It was a really interesting experience because it took a little bit to get into it, because I was like, it's been a while since I read YA. It was a very young viewpoint. But then once it really got into making all these comparisons and and and commentary on really on our modern society, I was like, oh, oh, this is good. So probably that one.

Jonathan:

Nice, nice. I would select Bull Moon Rising. Um I just I like the way that's the I like the way that story was set up, and I do I would like to experience it again for the first time. It's pretty it's a pretty good story.

Ashley:

Uh Throne of Glass. I read that five minutes ago. I wish I could start it over again. Not even gonna lie. Chemically, chemically, this book has altered. This series has altered me. Like I can't stress that enough. If anybody hasn't done it or has read only the first book, which is entitled Throne of Glass, keep going, my dude. Just like power through it 1000% gets better. The way I cried, in a way that I haven't cried over a series. Yep, I am changed.

Kelly:

Yeah.

Jonathan:

I love it. I love it. All right. This next one goes out to the one that got away. What's a book you wish you would have gotten to this year?

Mari:

I I guess I wish I would have finished this year, Cushiel's Dart, which I know I said last year. And actually did start it this year, but it was on Libby and Libby took it back. So I'm waiting for it to come back to me.

Ashley:

Okay, maybe so I can finish it.

Mari:

So I'm still, yeah, Cushiel's Dart, I'd like to finish Alchemized, Brimstone, Catabasas. Like those are the ones I wish I would have finished. And that's fine. I'll do them next year. They're like like Kelly said, so they're there. They'll still be there. They're not going bad. It's fine.

Jonathan:

Libby's funny that way, right? Like Libby's like Libby's like, nothing's available. And everything.

Mari:

Everything's available.

Jonathan:

You have 24 hours.

Mari:

Yep. Yeah. Libby, Libby's. Explain to me how something's at the bottom of your list with like two month wait, and then you next time you open Libby, it's like, oh, this is available right now. What? This has happened to me like multiple times already.

Ashley:

And you can't even like pass on it anymore, right? So be like the next person in line, I think. I think I don't know.

Mari:

I I I need to do some research. Someone knows better than me. Please explain it to me because I've seen a few videos, like there will be major changes to Libby starting next this year, 2026. I think there's gonna be a change in how many holds you can have. Oh. And there's gonna be a change in like in like how long you can set it to the side before you have to check it out or something. I don't know. I do expect there to be some changes, not necessarily.

Ashley:

Maybe I'm conflating what I said then, because I know there are changes coming, which I'm not opposed to. Like I understand it's a service.

Jonathan:

I'll keep it short and sweet. Bull moon rising. Wait, sorry. Wait, whoop, sorry, wait, no, never mind. I answered the wrong question. By the horns. Yeah, I was gonna say that's the one that got away. I've been looking at that book. It's so pretty. So dang pretty.

Mari:

Speaking of living, I should get that one available within the next month, I think. So I might be able to finally start reading that one.

Jonathan:

I'm hoping.

Ashley:

Oh, I lied. I didn't answer that question.

Jonathan:

Oh, what were you gonna say?

Ashley:

So sorry. A fate inked in blood. I did not get to.

Jonathan:

Oh, I I think I think that's in our future, isn't it? It is.

Ashley:

I know.

Jonathan:

Oh, it's a good one. I got a plan, guys. I don't know. Those are beautiful books.

Ashley:

I don't have all the answers, but I got a plan.

Jonathan:

I love it.

Mari:

So let me wrap it up unless we have anything else we want to say.

Ashley:

Uh I'm good.

Kelly:

All right.

Mari:

So thanks for listening to Of Swords and Soulmates. Before we go, make sure to check out the show notes review and subscribe to us on your podcast app of choice. It helps others to find us and lets us know what you're enjoying. Follow us on Instagram and TikTok at Of Swords and Soulmates. Check us out on our website, of Swordsandsoulmates.com. If you'd like to offer a suggestion for a future episode, book, or discussion topic, feel free to read out reach out to us on the DMs of any of those options or email us at Mariet at OfswordsandSwellmates.com. If you want to read along with us as we prep for a new episode and get chapter by chapter interaction, join our fable app book club by searching for the Of Swords and Soulmates Book Club. And last but not least, we hope you'll join us in two weeks for our next episode when we will be reading Wooing the Witch Queen by Stephanie Burgess.

Jonathan:

Happy New Year.

Mari:

Happy New Year. I would sing Old Lang saying, but I can't carry it. Should all acquaintance be forgot and never brought to light.

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Mari

Host
Head Shot

Ashley

Co-host
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Jonathan

Co-host
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Kelly

Co-host

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