Choose Your Own Fall Read

A sentient 12-foot Halloween skeleton falls in love while an HOA tries to ruin the fun, and we end up asking the most important question we can ask about any romantasy or romance read: is it a kissing book. We’re leaning hard into fall vibes with a “choose your own adventure” style lineup where each of us brings a different autumn pick to class and gives the honest, spoiler-light pitch.

We start with fresh book and publishing news for fantasy romance fans: T. Kingfisher’s newly announced A Spoonful of Trouble, updates on the Wicker short story release in ebook and audiobook (yes, the story behind the upcoming movie), and a handful of upcoming romantasy and romance releases that have our TBRs groaning. If you love tracking new titles, audio editions, and adaptations, you’ll get plenty to add to your list.

Then the fall reading recommendations begin. Ashley takes us to Summerween by Joss Wood, a cozy small-town romance set in a Halloween-all-year community with ghosts, believers, and nonstop themed festivities. Mari brings No Bones About It by Cassandra Elizabeth, a short spicy Halloween romance where reclaiming your joy after a bad marriage is just as satisfying as sticking it to the neighborhood busybodies. Kelly recommends Payback’s a Witch by Lana Harper, a sapphic witchy competition with familiar cozy vibes, and Jonathan wraps with This Spells Disaster by Tori Anne Martin, a fake dating sapphic romance set against a festival backdrop with a slow-burn payoff.

If you’re building a fall reading list full of cozy witch books, Halloween romance, and sapphic romantasy energy, hit play, subscribe, and leave us a review. What’s your go-to autumn comfort read this year?

Links from the News Segment and Show:

• T Kingfisher new book announced for Sept 2027: A Spoonful of Trouble
  • A middle grade fantasy with a princess with an enchanted spoon becoming an unlikely hero
  • Instagram
• Tor Books UK publishing the short story by Ursula Wills that the Wicker movie is based on
  • E-book October 2026, hard cover April 2027
  • Instagram
• BK Borison announced 3 more books in the Good Spirits series to release in 2027, 2028, 2029
  • Instagram
• Máire Roche, author of Bromantasy, announced a new book for June 2027 -  Situationship
  • A sapphic “cozy, silly, romantasy” 
  • Instagram

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Transcript

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Welcome And Fair Use Notes

Mari 0:00

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, welcome to Of Swords and Soulmates, a podcast where we read, watch, and discuss fantasy and sci-fi stories spiced with romance and ask, is this a kissing book? I'm one of your hosts, Mari, and with me I have Kelly.

Kelly 0:37

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

Mari 0:40

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

Jonathan 0:42

What's good, everybody?

Mari 0:46

It's going to be the best time of the year, so everything is good. It's the spooky season is approaching. Um so today we're gonna do another choose your own adventure episode. But first, as

T Kingfisher News And Spoon Talk

Mari 1:00

always, before we get into those details, we're gonna do some news. First bit of news I have is that T Kingfisher announced a new book. It's coming out in 2027, September 7th, 2027. It's called A Spoonful of Trouble. Um she wrote Sword Heart that we read recently, um, as well as like the Saints of Steel series, uh Nettle and Bone, Um Hemlock and Silver. Was that the one that was kind of recent? This one's actually a middle grade fantasy. So it's it's it's like for 10 to 14 year olds, and basically you have these twin princesses, and one's like a stereotypical princess, and the other one is not, and that's Princess Tatter is the one that's not. So it says Princess Tatter becomes an unlikely hero battling cursed monsters with an enchanted spoon to save her kingdom.

Jonathan 1:51

I'm so sorry. Spoon coming to life.

Mari 1:54

I mean that spoon, yeah.

Jonathan 1:55

That spoon got legs.

Mari 1:57

Who knows? Who knows?

Jonathan 2:00

Forking around.

Mari 2:01

Kingfit Kingfisher's imagination, who knows what it's gonna be.

Jonathan 2:06

The cover has this like it it looks I what's the word? Is this like a South Pacific kind of style to it? Like watery vibe, or am I looking at like a almost like an Asian theme here?

Mari 2:21

Could be. Like I don't know anything about the setting, so it could be.

Jonathan 2:26

I have big feelings about spoons too.

Ashley 2:29

What do you mean?

Mari 2:29

What are your big feelings about spoons?

Jonathan 2:31

It's gonna have the right kind of shank. I don't want to touch it, it should be the right length. I have if it's not the right shape, I don't want it in my mouth. So like I have big, big feelings about what a spoon should feel and look like.

Mari 2:43

My feelings about spoons are I like that I'm used as a metaphor for like your your energy levels where people are like, I'm out of spoons, or yeah, I've used all my spoons for the day. But then I saw somebody had a sticker, I think they were giving out a drank on this year that was all out of spoons, only knives left. I'm like, yes, yes. That is many of us nowadays.

Jonathan 3:11

It's like 10,000 10,000 spoons. Is that what's the point? When all you need is a knives, yeah.

Mari 3:15

Hey goodness. Old school.

Jonathan 3:20

Um also hopeful that it's a play on words, like maybe there's a little bit of a uh like a Mary Poppins vibe going with that.

Mari 3:27

It could be. I I thought of Mary Poppins too when I read the title. So you never know. Like with T. King Fisher, you just never know what's what's gonna come out of her imagination.

Jonathan 3:37

Have you read any of the Mary Poppins books?

Mari 3:39

I have not read the Mary Poppins books. I've watched the movies.

Jonathan 3:43

Um I started reading some of the books. There's a there's a few, but uh, I started reading like the first four. Mary Poppins is not nice.

Mari 3:52

I've heard that.

Ashley 3:53

Yeah.

Jonathan 3:54

She's like a bit of a gaslighter, kind of like, yeah, yeah, you didn't really see what you think you saw.

Mari 4:01

Do you like the book so far?

Jonathan 4:03

You know, I like the movie and I like the character in the movie, so that's my first relationship with it. It feels odd to say that, but like uh relationship-wise. But that's my first relationship with the characters in the movie. And so there's like they set that Walt set the tone for me with that. Now, going into the book, there's a lot of like they really did um draw or like the inspiration, the connections are there, but the there's just some moments where it's like, hmm, she's just not nice in this moment. And I don't know if that would survive this in in today's world. Like, there's I know there's been some edits to clean it up, too.

Mari 4:45

Well, I mean, Disney does have his history of taking stories and kind of making them more palatable to a wider audience. I mean, the fairy tales, the Grand Brother fairy tales are not there's a reason people talk about like the Disney version or the original versions. You know, the original versions are are very dark.

Jonathan 5:04

Yeah. So interesting. I'm interested to see. So I always like whenever we say her the author's name, I always like uh it takes me a moment because it so I wanna I I think I need to slow my brain down. T Kingfisher.

Mari 5:22

Which is not her real name, it's one of her pen names. So her real name, I I believe, is Ursula Vernon. She started publishing books under the name Ursula Vernon. The first book she published were kids' books, like for younger kids, and then like a web series that turned into a graphic novel. Oh I believe, or maybe it's it's an illustrated book. Um it's like a little digger. Oh, what is he? What he's some kind of little animal. Anyways, it's it's like a little personified animal. So that she got that's where she first got things published, and then her adult books, but not like adult in terms of like sexy or raunchy or whatever, just her books that weren't specifically for kids. She per she wrote under the name Tea Kingfisher. So she's mainly known as as Tea Kingfisher now. But Ursula Vernon was like the first name she published under.

Ashley 6:14

Nice.

Mari 6:15

This Spoonful of Trouble makes me think it's probably gonna be similar to what is it, the Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking?

Jonathan 6:23

Oh, I I yeah, I just got that one too.

Mari 6:25

Yeah, where it's like a a like a witch type character, a young witch type character who's familiar is her sourdough starter. And you know, she like bakes good and does like gingerbread men that come to life for whatever and she's gotta defend her town. Like it's it's a cute story, but it's a good story. Just because it's a kid's story doesn't mean that it's not doesn't have anything for adults. Like I usually end up reading, rereading that book around like November, so it's usually my you know, transitioning into winter holiday season stuff. So I I'll be reading this. I mean it's not written for me, but I'm sure I'll still enjoy it because I like pretty much everything I've read by her. So nice.

Ashley 7:09

Nice.

Wicker Publication Updates And Trailer Hype

Mari 7:10

Um other than that, or after that, there was an announcement that came out by Tor Books UK actually is the one that announced it, but apparently Tor Books the US is also doing it, but they just haven't announced anything on their social media. Um but they're gonna be publishing the short story that the Wicker movie is based off of. The Wicker movie that we talked about previously with Alexander Skarsgard as the Wicker being sentient object romance situation. So the the short story that this is based off of is by Ursula Wills. And October 1st of this year, the ebook and the audio are gonna be available, and then April of next year, 2027, is when the hardbacks are gonna be out and available for purchase.

Jonathan 7:57

Oh, interesting. So this is uh this is like uh so this is a movie based on a short story, uh, or it's a book based on a movie based on a short story.

Mari 8:05

So Ursula Wills wrote the short story first, and then a musical happened the year of the pandemic, which shut it down, and then the movie happened.

Jonathan 8:16

The pandemic shut it down, shut down the musical.

Mari 8:18

Yeah, that means the musical shut down because all live theater was shut down because of the pandemic, not because it was bad or whatever. Um gotcha. And then of course it never got going again after the pandemic, so it became the movie that the trailer's out for now, the movie that comes out next month in October. And so, yeah, the movie is based off of Ursula Will's short story. So this book is gonna be several of her short stories, so it's not just Wicker, it's gonna be a a grouping of her short stories. The only thing I've read by her was Wicker, which was like a seven-page short story, it was super short.

Jonathan 8:53

Nice. Okay.

Mari 8:54

So I'm interested to see to read more by her and to see how well this does. Um and to hear it as an audiobook. I wasn't expecting it to be out for audio like that real fast. So we'll see. I'll probably read it again and then see maybe some of her other stuff. It was like seven pages. It takes like, you know, nothing to read. It's super short.

Jonathan 9:16

Yeah. How do you feel about it, Ashley? Yeah, I think that the story has a lot of a lot of elements that are just kind of woven in.

Ashley 9:26

I can't with you. I'm so sorry.

Jonathan 9:28

What?

Ashley 9:29

The dad jokes. How long have you been holding on to that one?

Jonathan 9:32

I said I'm looking at this guy's chest. Dang.

Ashley 9:34

Wait until you see his dick.

Jonathan 9:36

There's this he's got a stick dick?

Ashley 9:38

He's uh wicker. Wick, yeah.

Jonathan 9:42

He's a a wicker. The wicker dicker. Yes.

Mari 9:45

A wicker weed, a wicker dicker.

Jonathan 9:47

My goodness.

Ashley 9:49

Stands at a it's in the UK trailer, isn't it?

Jonathan 9:52

Have you sat on wicker? Wicker is not com it's not comfortable. Like leaves of like, you know, I mean, but it's also like it's not human, so I guess anything's possible here.

Mari 10:02

I mean, yeah, if she commissioned a husband from the local basket maker of town, and he was like, come back in a week. That tells you the suspension of belief and of of reality you need to have in this fairy tale.

Ashley 10:16

Peter Dinklage was like, Man, I got you. Yeah, I've been waiting for this.

Mari 10:22

Like the way that they showed it in the trailer, it's like he didn't even blink. He's like, come back in a week. I got I got something for you.

Jonathan 10:29

Can you imagine though? Like all the do you remember that we uh for uh for those of for the listeners who were around in the 90s, there was an obsession with like Log Burger baskets. And like, can you imagine and like Peterborough baskets? Like people were like spending hard, they were like, that was your inheritance was gonna be your auntie's basket.

Ashley 10:49

That the basket obsession is back. This has ignited a frenzy at the thrift stores for the ladies doing the thrift shopping, and they're all looking at these baskets like oh yeah.

Jonathan 11:05

That's a whole wait, that's a different book. That's Cold Sweat. Yeah, no, that's yeah. So if you had if you had an auntie out there who was a collector of fine quality, high-quality baskets, this is the this is for them. I'm pretty sure.

Mari 11:23

I'm excited about the movie. I think it comes out the weekend. We're gonna be uh at Romanticon, so I think I'm gonna have to figure out a way to work that into Romantic Con weekend. I'm just saying.

Jonathan 11:35

Or they they maybe they'll be showing it nearby. Yeah.

Mari 11:38

I'm sure it'll be somewhere in Orlando, yeah. It's it's likely to happen. Maybe we'll go to City Walk and watch Waker.

New Releases And Seasonal Reading Debates

Mari 11:45

I don't know. Moving on, next bit of news. We have BK Borison announced that there's gonna be three more books in the Good Spirits series after Grim Tidings. So Good Spirits came out last year. We read it for the holiday, for a holiday read, a winter holiday read. Grim Tidings just came out this month. And I thought, without looking into it really, I thought it was gonna be a holiday read. It is not a winter holiday read, so we will not be reading it as a podcast. But from everything I could tell, without trying to spoil myself because I haven't read it yet, I think it's it's fall. It's set in like the fall time. So if you're looking for a book that's got like fall vibes, that might be one for you. Um, but either way, there's gonna be three more books coming in that series 2027, 2028, and 2029.

Jonathan 12:36

I'm a bit into the book, like I'm like getting through it.

Mari 12:39

Uh-huh.

Jonathan 12:39

I don't know. I don't know. It I don't think it's giving me any weather patterns.

Mari 12:42

No weather patterns.

Jonathan 12:43

Anything seasonal.

Mari 12:44

It could be whenever.

Jonathan 12:46

Yeah. Like otherwise, I probably would have stuck, I would have stuck it out and been like, hey, when I like when I messaged you, Mark, I like so we had the we we picked books ahead of time, right? And so this was slated for our December read, and I was like, hey, you know, it's not really a December book. But yeah, if I thought it was like fall coded, I probably would have been like, it's not December, do you care if I keep going? Because then I I checked our list and I was like, oh no, it's on our list. So I should probably reach out then. I didn't I didn't find it like seasonally coded at all.

Ashley 13:21

No vibes?

Jonathan 13:22

Uh no, I so I do have positive vibes. I'm not gonna I'm not gonna get into it because y'all y'all should read it. I but to give you an idea, I did have such positive vibes that I sought out a signed copy of it. I'm not I haven't finished the book yet. Okay. I'm probably about a you know like a third of the way in. But I enjoyed it. I think uh I I I'm I'm enjoying my time with the book so far, and I was able to get a signed copy. Like I was either I was gonna buy a paperback off of Amazon for like 16 bucks, or I found like a um an independent bookseller who was independent bookshop, and they were like 20 20 bucks or 21 bucks. I was like, Yeah, just do that. She wrote all over it. Cool.

Ashley 14:04

Yeah.

Mari 14:04

So I'm I will be I plan to read it, I just haven't read it yet. Because in my brain, I was like, I'll save that for our December read. And I'm like, well, maybe I don't, so I gotta work it into my fall reads.

Jonathan 14:14

Let me know what you think of it then, because like if you think it's fall coded, because I haven't picked up on it, but like not everything lands with me, too.

Mari 14:21

Yeah. No, I'll let you know when I read it for sure. Um, or if anybody else out there has read it and has an opinion, let us know.

Jonathan 14:28

So yeah, it's okay for me to be wrong, too.

Mari 14:32

We can all be wrong, yeah. And often are. Um last bit of news I have is Marie Roche, who wrote um Romanticy that we read earlier this year, has announced a new book coming out next year, June 1st, 2027. It is called Situationship. And it's a it's a sapphic like pirate story, and she's describing it as cozy, silly romanticy. It looks it looks pretty good. Um, so I mean, maybe I don't know. I'm not, I don't want to cement us into what we're reading next year already, but like that might not be a bad one to read when it comes out. Um I think we all enjoyed romantic.

Jonathan 15:14

Yeah, I thought it was good. I thought it was a good bit of writing. I'll definitely have that on my on my summer reading list for sure. Yeah. Um especially like I just you know, I don't often like ocean stuff. I don't know why. Maybe it's because I'm just afraid of the ocean, and I probably say that all the time.

Mari 15:30

Uh yeah, I'm not a big like pirate fan of stories, pirate stories. Like I like pirate visual stuff. I don't like tend to like pirate reading pirate stories as much, but that doesn't mean I'm not gonna read it. Like there's some stuff where I'm like, okay, I think I would still enjoy it. And I think this is one that pirate stuff aside, I probably will still enjoy. I plan to read it even if we don't read it for the podcast.

Jonathan 15:53

I guess apparently she had like a little women spin-off called Little Monsters. I can't believe I missed that one.

Mari 15:59

Yeah, we talked about it. We talked about it when we were talking about it, came out like very, very soon after we read Bromanacy. It came out, I think like maybe a month after her bromanity came out. So it was like back to back. I haven't read it yet either, though. But I'm also not the world's biggest fan of Little Women, the original Little Women.

Jonathan 16:17

Um I don't know what it's about. I just I mean this is a pretty book. Sorry. I judge books by their cover.

Mari 16:26

I mean, I think it'll be well written. I I I thought Romanity was, so I just haven't read it yet. So it's on the list, it's just not high on the list. And there are so many books to read. Um pick and choose. Plus, I'm realizing more and more I tend to be a mood reader, so if I'm not in the mood for a certain kind of book and I force myself to read it, I tend to not like the book as much, and that's not fair to like the author, you know.

Romantasy Buzz Plus Movies And Audiobooks

Mari 16:53

Alright, any other news tidbits anybody has?

Ashley 16:57

It's almost time for threshing day.

Jonathan 17:00

It is, it's coming out very fast.

Ashley 17:03

I am I am anxious. I am anxious for Rebecca Yarros and Sarah J. Mass, and I don't know that I'm gonna understand all the things.

Mari 17:16

Oh, I'm sure I won't.

Ashley 17:19

There is so much going on in the Mass verse, and I have not read Crescent City.

Mari 17:27

I read Crescent City, not not my favorite, but I did read it. I mean, I hate to s to tell you that like it's worth reading for the story. It's worth maybe listening to at least or something for the story, because you do get more story, and I do feel like she's gonna weave them together.

Ashley 17:46

Yeah, it seems like very that's prominent amongst the conspiracies.

Jonathan 17:52

Which one was it?

Ashley 17:53

Crescent City.

Jonathan 17:54

Oh yeah, um yeah, I don't have a No, I know you don't. Did you look? I looked. You looked okay.

Mari 18:01

Crescent City is chunky.

Ashley 18:03

I don't know if you knew this, and I actually don't even remember her name, but the the narrator that did the Throne of Glass series was commissioned to redo all of the Avatar books narration just to make them, I guess, like more cohesive or whatever is what I read. And I forget her name and I feel really shitty about that because I thought the narrator for Throne of Glass series was superb, like to have done it all herself as a single human. I definitely felt she did a phenomenal job and it it really drew me into the series more. Um I didn't feel I don't feel because I'm actually rereading Mist and Fury right now, and I don't feel that way about the current narrator. So I can't find Evans, Elizabeth Evans for Throne of Glass. That sounds right. Because I was thinking Elizabeth in my head, but I couldn't remember her last name. And so yeah, so she re-recorded all of the current Avatar books, which makes me wonder if she's going to be doing the new ones.

Mari 19:04

Interesting.

Ashley 19:05

Yeah, I thought that was an interesting tidbit, but I don't know if she's also done Crescent City, the Crescent City series. But I imagine if we're talking about world weaving, then she will. If she hasn't already, I don't know the answer to that.

Mari 19:20

Um, Elizabeth Evans did do book one, probably all of them. I just pulled up book one. Yeah, she did the audio for book one.

Ashley 19:27

Okay. I would assume it's interesting that she wasn't there for the original recordings in my mind, but maybe she just had a conflict. I don't know.

Mari 19:36

Yeah, who knows?

Ashley 19:37

But she redid them, and she redid them, I think, in the last year.

Mari 19:41

Huh. Interesting. Yeah, I need to get on re not I not I need to, I would like to reread at least Throne of Glass and Avatar before then. We'll see if that actually happens. I don't I don't know that I can reread Crescent City. I may just reread the parts that had huge crossover. I was not a fan of Crescent City, and I'd not dissing on anybody who enjoyed it, it just didn't work for me. So we'll see. We'll see. I'm looking forward to it.

Jonathan 20:14

You know, I think one of the things I'm looking forward to uh coming out actually, and I didn't realize, but it should be coming up soon. Doesn't oh I can't think of her name now. Uh Allie Hazelwood. There it is. I knew I ordered it. Bound and Unbound? A duology? When does that come out? It's got it's gotta be coming out.

Mari 20:37

That's is that the one that was uh audio released audio first and now it's being released in books? Is that that one?

Jonathan 20:44

It might be. Might be.

Ashley 20:47

Paranormal novella?

Jonathan 20:48

Yeah, uh Novella Duology. When is this coming out? October 6th. Okay, cool. I'm looking forward to that.

Mari 20:55

Yeah, that's coming out soon. Yeah, it's the first time in print in ebook. So this was released as audio only. And I don't remember where. I don't know if it was like Spotify or Audible, but it was audio only. And now that it's being released, you can actually like eyeball read it. Um, but before the only way to do it was was audio. There's a few Ellie Hazelwoods I haven't read yet, and that's one of them. I haven't read Deep End or Two Complay. Like I'm a little bit behind on those. I am very much looking forward to, I believe, by the time this episode airs, the Love Hypothesis movie will be out. Yes. I'm so excited about that this weekend.

Ashley 21:44

It's not all romantic related. But yeah, I know I they have done so much promo for this movie. Yeah. The way that she's touring and promoting and doing all of the classic like romance movie dresses. Have you seen that? It's been amazing. We love Lily Reinhardt. Um well Jonathan might not know who she is, but my sister and I are big fans. So yeah, I'm we are thrilled for this. Yeah. Thrilled.

Mari 22:12

The trailers look good. Looks like the you know, it was well directed. It looks like they have the feeling of the characters portrayed pretty well, like the the awkwardness of the characters, which is part of like their charm, in my opinion. So I'm excited.

Ashley 22:29

Well, and not for nothing for those that don't know and but who who don't know much about the movie, but who are fans of Love Hypothesis. This was originally a Kylo fanfic, right? Yeah. And so what's interesting about that is the young lady whose name, of course, I'm forgetting in this very moment, uh, who plays Wren in the Star Wars movie, is married.

Jonathan 22:54

Wait, Ren Wren's a dude.

Ashley 22:56

Kylo's the dude.

Jonathan 22:57

Kylo Wren.

Ashley 22:58

Kylo Wren's the dude. What's her name?

Jonathan 23:00

Ray.

Ashley 23:01

Ray. My bad. You can see how very similar. Daisy something. Isn't her name Daisy? Daisy Ridley. Yes. Thank you. Daisy Ridley is married to the gentleman who's playing the male main character in this movie. Right. So it's full circle.

Mari 23:17

It's uh the was it the six shades, shades of Kevin Bacon or whatever. Um yeah, so that's that's gonna be exciting. So hopefully that'll be good. Uh any other news bits before we move on to our book situation?

Ashley 23:37

So really quickly, we also just learned, I think, collectively last week, that Abigail Owen is dropping book three of the game's God play Gods Play series.

Mari 23:48

Yes.

Ashley 23:48

And that's coming out in November.

Mari 23:50

Yes, I have pre-ordered that. Um I think I pre-ordered it as soon as I finished the second one. Like, I think she had she had I believe like it the title wasn't out, the cover wasn't out. I think I pre-ordered it ridiculously early. Let me see.

Ashley 24:08

I didn't know it all.

Mari 24:09

December 1st. I don't think we knew anything about it back then. I was just like, I need to know the end of the story.

Ashley 24:14

So I was really bad and still have not finished book two, but now that I know book three is on the horizon in just a couple, I just added Descartes, so I gotta take care of that.

Mari 24:24

Yeah, that'll be here November will be here before you know it. Yeah.

Ashley 24:28

Yeah.

Mari 24:29

And then You may have done the best thing though, because now I'm like, do I need to reread book two? Probably.

Ashley 24:35

Probably.

Mari 24:36

We'll see. We'll see what I can do if I can remember enough for book three. Because there was a lot that happened in book two, from what I remember, without any spoilers for anybody, but there was a lot that happened in book two.

Ashley 24:45

Yeah, you gotta finish that. That was bad.

Mari 24:48

Um we'll see. Alright, anything else before we move on to our book talk?

Fall Theme Choose Your Own Reads

Mari 24:54

Alright, so we did a choose your own adventure thing. We've done this once before, and last time we did it, our we did it based around like a trope. We did Grumpy Sunshine. This time we decided to do it around the fall theme, like an autumn fall theme, and just kind of each read our own book and do a uh show and tell with the class about it. Um do we care like what order we go in? Does anybody want

Summerween And Halloween Town Life

Mari 25:24

to jump in? I can jump in, I don't mind.

Ashley 25:26

You do yours really well. I would like to go first, so I don't have to follow you. Go for it. You do a really good job like synopsising for the rest of us. Okay, so I read a book about a place where I think Mari would like to live full time. And uh full transparency, this is actually a summer ween book, but I think it leads into false specific later on. So the book itself is called Summerween by Joss Wood. This was such a fun time. Um, it just released about a month ago, I think in July, actually. And it is so it is literally called Summerween. And the the description says it's Gilmore Girls Meets Halloween. And it's literally a town where it's Halloween year-round. Every month they do things tied to Halloween. So for um for Summerween, they did skeletons wearing beachware, um like watermelon jack-o'-lanterns, which visually was very appealing to my brain. And there's also a tad a bit of paranormal activity in the town. So the town split between true believers and non-believers. But the true believers say that there are a handful of legacy ghosts that live in the town, and some of the townsfolk actually talk to them. So this is a romantic, and it follows follows a young girl named Wren, whose godmother is the mayor of Halloween Town, basically made it Halloween Town like 10 years before. And it follows, you know, her having to like regroup and recenter herself because her life outside of town has just gone upside down, right? So she comes home for the summer and she's doing a teaching job that her godmother talked her into because that's like her specialty is talking people into do things. And she meets a guy, of course, right, who's also going through his own shit. And so for me, while the romance was probably the was, you know, the focus of the book, you also get the side characters of these ghosts, and you get to see the town from their perspective as well. So this was just a real feel-good book that follows Ren and her rebalancing and refocusing of her own life. Um, and then I think the next book is about one of the main characters, like in the friend group. So she has two best friends. So I'm assuming that it's gonna follow the friends after this, but it was just really feel good. Um, I thought it was well went well written. Uh it was only about 350 pages, so it didn't go on and on and on forever, right? And I really liked the concept of turning Halloween into an everyday monthly event.

Mari 28:22

I'm here for that.

Ashley 28:23

Not in an obnoxious way.

Mari 28:25

I'm absolutely here for that. The next book is called Halloween Town, and it's already out. And then there's Hot Ghoul Summer is coming next year, G-H-O-U-L. And then another one is coming out next year. It's Talk Turkey to me.

Ashley 28:40

Talk turkey. That's hilarious. I love a good I do love a good pun. Yeah, I mean, so the the front of the book actually kind of gives a lot of like the visuals that it's trying to explain inside the book. Uh it only covers a couple of months worth of whatever's happening and you know, in Ren's life. Um, I just I really enjoyed like having the concept of like believers and non-believers, like the town would really like go at each other over it, but they really appreciated the tourism, right? So they tried not to do it in front of the tourists. But the and the believers end up being right. And I think it's her her her male best friend has an older daughter, like 17 or something, and they called her an indigo child, I think if I'm remembering correctly, which means she not only has the sight, but is able to speak to the ghosts, and even her dad doesn't believe her because he's a non-believer. So it's just it's all really interesting to kind of see everybody take a side, right? Yeah, but then you also get the perspective of the ghosts, and one of the ghosts ends up being able to resolve his, you know, his issues, the reason that he remains after like 150 years by helping Ren and her love interest Dane.

Mari 29:53

Cute. I think I'm gonna end up reading this.

Ashley 29:56

I really like I think I'm definitely gonna read book two, and I thought that was great too, right? That this one had dropped like a month ago, and book two is already out.

Mari 30:03

Yeah. This same author has a book out that's not related to this series, it's a standalone. It's called Confessions of a Christmas Hollic. And it's a Grumpy Meets Sunshine Christmas romance. I didn't see that at all. So that might be another one to add to the list. I'm always down for a good I I like I like reading seasonal stuff in the season that it's set in.

Ashley 30:29

So my I think I was a little late for Summer Ween, but it just happened to work out that way, and I couldn't pass up a Halloween town book.

Mari 30:38

Also, it's still like 80-something degrees outside. Also, we all live in Florida because we're live in Florida, yeah.

Ashley 30:44

Yeah, Florida, Georgia. So yeah, it was a fun time. 10 out of 10 recommend. I uh I wonder if it's a really great audiobook, honestly. I bet it's a lot of fun. Um but I did read it with my eyeballs.

Mari 30:56

Okay, that sounds good.

Sentient Skeleton Romance Vs The HOA

Mari 31:00

I can go next. I was really excited about my book. I the author kept popping up. So I read No Bones About It by Cassandra Elizabeth. And Cassandra is with two S's, and Elizabeth is with two Z's. Ooh. I see. Um, and the author kept popping up, like advertising this on my TikTok and Instagram. Like she kept coming up on my feeds. I guess I'd read one of her books, Yeti or Not last year. And it was it was fun. Um it was like a Yeti holiday winner read. So um, and then something happened with the author's Instagram, and she got, I don't know, throttled or something, was asking people to like spread the word because she was having trouble doing that. And I started doing that, and then I saw that her ARC advanced reader copy application was still open for this book. So I went ahead and applied and I got a digital copy to read. Um, and I was maybe a chapter into it before I went ahead and ordered the the physical book. I ordered it from an indie store because she had a campaign going that if you order it from the indie stores, certain indie stores, you get like postcard and bookmark and you get it autographed, you get it signed. So I was able to get like a signed book for the cost of you know a regular book from you know a big box store or whatever. I'm really excited that this book has the number one on it on the side, which makes me think that there'll be more. So this is basically a sentient object romance with that 12-foot Halloween skeleton that everyone goes crazy for and tries to buy every year and it's forever sold out at like Lowe's Home Depot, whatever. That's that's the premise. Um, the picture is this giant skeleton and the woman. But basically, what happens is uh the woman's name is Tori. She's recently divorced and her husband had a bad relationship. Husband like basically hated everything about her, didn't want her to enjoy Halloween, didn't want her to, you know, be too festive, to be too much, to whatever. So she got out of that. She's recently out of this bad situation, and she decides I'm gonna get the 12-foot skeleton I've always wanted. So she celebrated her divorce by buying the skeleton and then and putting it out and has this whole plan of what she's gonna do in front of her house for every like day up until the Halloween, different poses, and the HOA in her neighborhood goes crazy. So she has to fight the HOA. She gets to have her own like Halloween, you know, awakening. She goes viral trying to get help with she names the skeleton Mr. Bojangles for saving Mr. Bojangles because the HOA wants to like you know make him go away. And she realizes the more time she spends with Mr. Bojangles, and Mr. Bojangles is is is alive, is sentient. Um so they have their little romance, sentient object romance style, like in the in the format of like a very very valentine book or um any other sentient object, like a GM fairy, like that kind of thing. They have their little romance, and I can't tell you a lot without spoiling the end, but I will say that if you want a short spicy Halloween, sentient object romance, this is for you. If you want someone coming into their Halloween fabulousness, this is for you. If you want to stick it to the HOA, this is for you. Um yeah, I kind of liked everything about this book. I I started like a few chapters, and then I pretty much finished the entire thing in line at Halloween Horror Nights waiting for haunted houses, which was perfect vibes for this. Um yeah, I I don't I I cannot recommend this enough for what it is. It is a fun, spicy, Sandy Object romance Halloween book. I hope she does more. It's a has a happy ending, has a sweet ending. It's got plenty of spice in it, so whether or not that's your jam. And for what it is, I would say it's you know in the four or five star category of for that kind of book. If that's what you're in the mood for, you know, get your your pumpkin spice latte, get your pumpkin sugar cookies, whatever your your fall jam is, and and get cozy and read the book and highly recommend.

Ashley 35:47

I downloaded it uh because I happened across it across last week, and because Jonathan was, you know, not really sure what he wanted to read, and uh that came across one of my four-few pages. Couldn't breathe. I was delighted, and I was like, oh, 120 pages, even better. Yep. Um, but I have not read it yet. It is uh I did download it, it is in my Kindle library, so it's queued up.

Mari 36:13

Yeah, it's it's short, it's spicy, it's sweet, it's like you have this whole story arc of her, you know, kind of finding herself again after being in a really bad relationship, which you know I have helped several friends through really bad divorces where they kind of lost themselves and shrunk themselves to be what they thought their spouses wanted. And then when they get divorced, they you know find themselves again. And that's definitely the vibe of this main character. You see her kind of discovering herself again and becoming a person, like a whole person again. Yeah, and then you also have this like sweet, spicy, Senior Object romance, Mr. Bojangles is infatuated with her. So what more do you want? Not much, not much. That's what I bring to the table. A delight. Yes. Kelly, you want to go next?

Kelly 37:09

Sure.

Witch Tournament Rivalries In Thistle Grove

Kelly 37:10

So I've read this book called Paybacks a Witch by Lana Harper, which is now apparently the first in the series of books of The Witches of Thistle Grove. So the story is pretty much like a Hallmark Christmas movie, except set at Halloween. Yeah, you have the young girl who went off left a small town where everyone was somewhat into magic, like I'll do a this whole thing about magic in this town or whatever, and she left it because she didn't feel like she was a very good witch or whatever, and she wanted to get away from town because she also had a boy that broke her heart. So she ran off to college, got a real job, you know, and then got drugged back to come back to town to like judge some magical tournament that determines which of these four which families will be the most powerful for the next 25 years or whatever. Um and of course she meets someone else, falls in love, and then ends up deciding that, hey, I really want to stay in the small town I grew up in after all. So very hallmark level plot. Um overall, I didn't think the book was terrible. It was a very easy read. It moved along pretty predictably. There was a lot of elements that I feel were influenced by other books that you could see. So you had four magical families in this town. One of whom is the outspoken, dumb, dumb and reckless, you know, and brave family. One family who's like super smart, keeps all the history, writes everything down, good at solving puzzles and riddles. You had the family who's like super down-to-earth, all herbsy and nature, and all about nature magic and stuff like that. And then you have the family who's dark, mysterious, probably in the necromancy and the dark arts, um, and that kind of stuff. So very familiar for groups of people. So that was kind of obvious to I think where that may have been influenced from. Um in this book. Overall, I thought like I said, I thought it was good. The story was a interesting premise idea that there's this, you know, super powerful magic source in this town, and these four witch families they like have a contest to see who will be the favorite family for the next 25 years, and of course the the Gryffindors, I mean the smart but dumb family, is the one that's won for the last three or four tournaments. So she comes back to town, and of course the boy that broke her heart was from that family, so she teams up with the other families and conspires to basically all get together and you know win the tournament.

Mari 40:16

Um hunger games or game aspect to it too.

Kelly 40:20

Right.

Mari 40:21

That's kinda cool.

Kelly 40:23

It was good. I think I would say it's like a two and a half, maybe a three-star read. And it was an easy read. It had a lot of very tall themes because of course the tournament takes place in Halloween. I don't know that I would I'm gonna read more of the books from the series whenever they get published. Um but I think as a standalone book for a Paul Field it was you know it was fine.

Mari 40:54

It was a pretty complete story, but it didn't end up like a cliffhanger or anything.

Kelly 40:58

Nope.

Mari 40:59

Cool.

Jonathan 41:01

It's definitely a cozy read for sure. It's very gives off like a whole bunch of like Hallmark movie vibes where it's like uh she moved away and then she comes back, and then the town, the magic is geographically bound. So she's not she loses some of her powers as she leaves, but then they come back. And like her family is kind of like the keeper of the games, like her her lineage, her bloodline. And I think the reason she's coming back is because it's it's getting passed on to her as far as that responsibility.

Ashley 41:34

Did you did you read the same book?

Jonathan 41:36

Uh not this week, but I read this last year.

Ashley 41:38

Like did you guys tandem read? I was curious. Yeah, I did Kelly's plan that Kelly's on top.

Jonathan 41:44

Uh yeah, and then like, yeah, and then you know, while she was away, that guy that broke her heart, right? He was he didn't stop breaking hearts. And so the team, they team and it's kind of like that they kind of that that cannot it's the economy of magic, is kind of like if you're if you win this matchup, you're in control. Like you have all powerful. So that family that well they want to they want to retain, right? So it's a it's interesting. They if they can keep control, it's a l literally a power grab. So if you can keep control of the magic, you can continue to run that town. It's a bit there's a sophic uh sense to it, right?

Ashley 42:26

Sense?

Kelly 42:27

Yeah, I mean the two main characters who fall in love in the book are both women. That's probably why I was attracted to it.

Ashley 42:35

I don't think that's a sense, though. That's no.

Jonathan 42:38

I mean it doesn't start a relationship, right? I'm yeah. I liked it. I thought it was cozy. Last year.

Ashley 42:45

Last year. You remembered all of that from last year?

Jonathan 42:48

Yeah, I like the book.

Ashley 42:49

You don't even have my phone number memorized.

Jonathan 42:51

I don't.

Ashley 42:56

It was a good book.

Jonathan 42:57

I liked the book. I like that book.

Mari 43:03

Better memorize our phone number. Goodness.

Jonathan 43:07

Kelly, yeah, you're right. It was uh it was cozy. It wasn't like an off-the-charts read, but it was like uh it was just a nice, cozy little it could be a made-for-tv movie.

Mari 43:16

Cute. Yeah. All right, Jonathan, what you what have what do you have?

Messy Witch Fake Dating Chaos

Jonathan 43:21

I read This Spells Disaster by Tori Ann Martin. It's about a potion maker and self-proclaimed messy witch, Morgan Greenwood. She was she's sure that she was hexed at birth, right? So it's just the odds are against her kind of vibe. And not only did she drunkenly offer to fake date the woman of her dreams during the biennial New England Witcher's Witches Trust Festival, but Rory Sandler, the spellcasting champion and brilliant elemental witch. So she accepted, right? That's the whole thing. It's like if you If you like the like 10 things I hate about you kind of vibe, where it's like this rom-com, we're here to date, we're gonna fake date.

Mari 44:08

Like I love the fake dating picture. Yeah, it's a love hypothesis.

Jonathan 44:13

Is it like is I've haven't seen love hypothesis, so I don't know, but also like drive me crazy, kind of like that 90s, gave me that 90s vibe, like we're gonna fake date, and yeah, as as you might predictably think that that's probably how the story goes. So I thought it was I thought it was interesting. I thought it was it was cozy. There's like spice existed, but it was real boy. You have to be patient, like last chapter kind of patient. Um, there was like there was the the pain point or the pinch point in the story, like so it was like, hey, I'm drunk, this happened, and I should uh I'll just blurt out that I should kind of fake date you kind of thing, and then that's a setup, and then the pain point, the pinch point of the story occurs, and you it's kind of like there's that pullback, that that that awkward pullback. So you don't get that, you don't get that spice, right? But then when it does, it's it it's there. It's just there. I'm not gonna describe it, you figure it out, you gotta read it. But if you're if you're just in it for the spice, just go to last chapter, you'll be fine. You'll get all of it. I yeah, I thought it was a polite and delightful book. I definitely struggled to find the right book, uh, but I did like this. It is it is a um esophic read, so it's that's kind of that's my vibe these days. I don't know. But yeah, that's where I'm at. I'll give it uh uh uh seven coconuts and and and then and three escalators. That was a good book.

Ashley 45:52

Coconuts? Yeah, escalators?

Jonathan 45:56

Yeah, three of them.

Ashley 45:57

Okay.

Jonathan 46:01

You want Jack o' Lanard and watermelon? All right. 45 candy corns and uh 17 Twizzlers, the red kind.

Ashley 46:08

Accepted.

Jonathan 46:08

Uh deal.

Ashley 46:11

Look at us.

Kissing Book Verdicts And Wrap Up

Jonathan 46:13

Um, I would say if I had it like if I if I was voting on if mine was a kissing book.

Mari 46:18

Yeah, that was gonna be my nice question, of course.

Jonathan 46:21

Okay. Um let's see here. Kissing book. Uh yeah, I'm gonna you know what? Yes, kissing book. Uh this bell's disaster, kissing book all the way at the end, though.

Ashley 46:33

Not until the end.

Jonathan 46:34

Not until the end. Hang on, buckle up, kissing book.

Ashley 46:38

Mine was definitely a kissing book. They they they felt each other before they saw each other's eyes. It was a kissing book.

Mari 46:47

Kelly?

Kelly 46:48

Yeah, I mean mine was definitely a kissing book.

Mari 46:52

I would say mine is a kissing book too, because love literally brought him to life.

Jonathan 46:59

Did he have lips? You were gonna have to read the book to find out. Sorry. You're gonna have to find out about Mr.

Mari 47:07

Bojangles.

Jonathan 47:09

Mr. Bojangles is a grower or shower?

Mari 47:13

You're gonna have to find out. You're gonna have to read it yourself.

Jonathan 47:17

I don't know.

Mari 47:19

I can release no details ahead of time. It's it's all of a short, what is it? A hundred and we have a book here. The book came when we were out of town and came back, and I was like, oh, it's here. 116 pages.

Jonathan 47:33

Yeah, it's nothing. It's gotta be short. It's a skeleton, you can see right through them.

Mari 47:39

It's gotta love the happy as as short of a book that it is. Um, and as much as I like the little love story and the romance stuff, I also really like the whole like person coming into themselves again. Like, as I was reading this in line, I kept turning to Kelly, and I'm like, I'm so glad you're a decent human being. I'm so glad you're not an asshole. The bug as well. She kept talking about her ex or whatever. Yeah, and then there's also like the HOA drama, and all the icky people get their comeuppance at the end of the story. It is wrapped up quite beautifully with an orange Halloween bow at the end.

Jonathan 48:17

Nice. Nice. So if you're a skeleton, I was just thinking now because I just I think I just said it leaves nothing to the imagination, but I think skeletons actually leave everything to the imagination. Hmm. Yeah.

Mari 48:36

Much like Mr. Kool-Aid Man that I still haven't read.

Jonathan 48:40

Oh yeah. I I just got a I got one I'm gonna read from GM Fairy. Uh ended up on their Ghost Light Falls arc team, so I just downloaded one from her, so I'm interested to see what that's about.

Mari 48:57

Okay. I'm sure it'll be fun. All the Ghost Light Falls books I read from the first version of Ghost Light Falls were fun reads. So it'll be a good read.

Romanticy BookCon Plans And Goodbyes

Mari 49:10

Alright, so if anyone has any fall books that they would like to recommend to us, you know, let us know what your favorite fall read is. And then maybe we can talk about it next year. You never know. So anything else we want to talk about before we wrap it up?

Jonathan 49:28

I I don't know if I have anything else, but we do have romantic book on coming up in about a month. So um very, very quickly. When does this uh when does this episode come out?

Mari 49:38

Like September 24th? I will tell you in two seconds when I pull it up here. This episode comes out September 24th. Look at me remembering. Yeah, so we have we have three more episodes that are gonna come out before they will hear our Romanticy Retrospective episode.

Jonathan 50:02

Gotcha, gotcha. So if you're at Romanticy BookCon and you uh see us, say hi.

Mari 50:07

Yeah. Come by, say hi. If you have something you want us to read, you think would be a good fit for the podcast, let us know. But yeah. Uh is there anybody you're excited about you guys are excited about seeing at RomanacyCon or meeting or anything like that?

Jonathan 50:25

You know, I was looking at the list uh the other day and I was trying to flag some some folks. You know, I'm always happy to go see Juliet Cross.

Ashley 50:34

Yeah.

Jonathan 50:34

I think she was going to I think she was doing some more work in the uh like NOLA um Nolomantasy region. And then I'm looking forward to Sarah Beth Durst. I have not forget what the book I forget the title of the book, but it's she had she dropped it this year. It's a nice little cozy um springtime story, I think, or summertime story for um that is like otherworldly. It's pretty cool. So I'm looking forward to to getting her to sign that. And I think there's like a cheese one that I have to read yet.

Mari 51:14

The cheese one isn't out yet, is it?

Jonathan 51:17

I don't think so.

Mari 51:18

I don't think it is cheese emporium. Yeah, the cheese emporium isn't out yet. I thought I'd look that up.

Jonathan 51:23

Um, yeah. Yeah, but I like she's kind of does she ever stop writing? No.

Mari 51:30

She's got so many books, and I saw a video. I don't remember if it was on Instagram as well, but it was on her TikTok, where like her husband prints out a copy of every book that she publishes, like gets the cover, and he has it framed. And so she's got this like wall office in her house of all the books of hers that she's written that he's framed for her every time that she like writes it and finishes the book, and it's like it gets published or whatever. He he frames the the cover for her. I'm like, that is so sweet.

Jonathan 52:01

Nice, nice, and they're beautiful, they're lovely covers. The the far away, the far away in is the uh book is the one I read over is it this past spring or something like that it came out. I recommend that. We have to do are we doing we're doing Sea of Charms this year?

Mari 52:19

Yes, very soon.

Jonathan 52:21

Okay.

Mari 52:21

So we're gonna read a Halloween book next, and then we're gonna have a trope episode, and then we're gonna read Sea of Charms. So Sea of Charms is the last book we'll read before we do our Romeno Second retrospective episode.

Ashley 52:36

Okay.

Mari 52:38

I'll have a plan. Um yeah, I'm looking forward to Herabeth Durst, always Julia Cross. I'm looking forward Jacqueline Benson. She did the Raiders of the Arcana series, which is very like 1999 The Mummy as a book, basically. It's that kind of vibe. So I'm really looking forward to meeting her. Um and then CM Niscosta is gonna be there, and I'm so excited because I've kind of been looking for a reason to buy these books, and I don't have any of our books, even though I've read a ton of them. Um so I think I'm gonna buy several of her books and get her to sign them. So I think those are my big things I'm excited about. I'm sure there'll be plenty of cool new new to me authors that I'll enjoy seeing as well, but like the ones that I right now are standing out to me that I'm looking forward to, it's gonna be those.

Jonathan 53:30

Nice. We are stoked. Yeah, I'm excited for that.

Mari 53:36

I agree. Alrighty, anything else before I wrap this up?

Ashley 53:41

No, we did it, we did a good job.

Mari 53:43

I think so. Thanks for listening to Of Swords and Soulmates. Before we go, make sure to check the show notes. Rate, review, and subscribe to us on your podcast app of choice. It helps others to find us and let us know what you're enjoying. Follow us on Instagram at excuse me, follow us on Instagram, TikTok, or Goodreads at Of Swords and Soulmates. Check us out on our website of Swords and Soulmates.com. If you'd like to offer a suggestion for a future episode, book, or topic, feel free to reach out to us on the DMs of any of those options. And last but not least, we hope you'll join us in two weeks for our next episode when we will be ushering in the spooky season for real properly by reading Your Coffin or Mine by Jacqueline Hyde. So excited for this. Bye.