"Your Coffin or Mine": A Runaway Bride Meets A Broke Vampire

A runaway bride with influencer energy shows up at a vampire’s castle, and somehow the garlic is only the beginning. We’re leaning all the way into spooky season with a modern monster romance that’s campy, spicy, and weirdly sweet: Your Coffin Or Mine by Jacklyn Hyde, the start of the Monster Bay series. If you love grumpy sunshine, fated mates, and a paranormal romance that actually wants you to laugh, this one gives you plenty to chew on.

We also catch up on romance book news, including Kimberly Lemming’s chaotic-funny Mead Mishap series updates and Ali Hazelwood’s sequel announcement tied to The Love Hypothesis. That spins into a real talk moment about book-to-screen adaptations, what gets lost in translation, and why rereading a book right before a movie can totally change your expectations.

Then we zoom out to the romance community itself: the RARE Romance And Reader Events controversy and why threats, inclusivity, and power dynamics matter when reader events are supposed to feel welcoming. From there, it’s pure fandom survival mode, from Dragonkind “Threshing Day” game stories to the absolute hunger games of Monster Rotica ticket queues.

Come hang with us for vampire rom-com banter, pacing debates, consent concerns, audiobook camp, and our final answer to the only question that matters: is this a kissing book? If you enjoy the conversation, subscribe, share the episode with a romance-reading friend, and leave a review so more monster romance fans can find us.

Links from the News Segment and Show:

• Kimberly Lemmings announced 2 new Mead Mishap books
  • Book four in the series, summer 2027, That Time I Got Drunk and Was Bitten by a Snake Man
  • Book five coming in 2028
  • Instagram Link
• Ali Hazelwood wrote a sequel to The Love Hypothesis
  • The Two Body Problem releases February 2027
  • Already optioned for film
  • Instagram Link
• RARE London hubbub
  • Romance and reader events in turmoil
  • Instagram Link

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Fable BookClub - https://fable.co/club/of-swords-and-soulmates-with-mari-391738504099

Transcript

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Welcome And Spooky Season Vibes

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 and welcome to Absorts and Soulmates, the 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 0:34

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

Ashley 0:37

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

Jonathan 0:40

What's good, everybody? It's JP. I feel like I'm coming into it tonight.

Ashley 0:44

Feeling good?

Jonathan 0:46

Yeah. Yeah.

Mari 0:49

It is the spooky season, so I too feel pretty freaking amazing. It is my favorite time of year. And today we're going to be discussing Your Coffin or Mine by Jacqueline Hyde, which is book one of her Monster Bay

Book News And New Releases

Mari 1:02

series. But first, as always, some news. We don't have a lot of news today, but we have got a few things. Um first one is Kimberly Lemmings, which we've read a few of her books, announced two new books coming in her Mead Mishap series, which is her fantasy series. We read just one of those for the podcast, right? I think so. Okay.

Jonathan 1:25

Didn't we read two of them?

Ashley 1:26

Oh no, we did read two. I think of Mead Made. Oh, was the Alien one not that? No. The Alien One's a separate series.

Mari 1:34

It's Cosmic Chaos, I believe, is the name of that series.

Ashley 1:38

Then just one. You're right. Just one.

Mari 1:40

Yeah, we've read two Kimberly Lemmings books. So she's she's got the Mead Mishep series, which is fantasy-based, and then she's got Cosmic Chaos, which is sci-fi-based. They're both high spice romance, high comedy, high absurdity. Yeah. Fun times. Um, but this is uh for the mead mishap series. The fourth book is coming out, summer of 2027, and it's gonna be called That Time I Got Drunk and Was Bitten by a Snake Man.

Ashley 2:07

A snake man.

Mari 2:08

So it'll be interesting. I'm looking forward to see Kimberly Lemming's contributions to like the Naga stories because there's several authors that have done some Naga stories now that I'm curious to see. Each one does her own little twist on it. And then the fifth one is gonna be coming in 2028, which I don't believe she's released the title of what the fifth one's gonna be yet. But it's gonna be the fifth one in the mead mead mishap series.

Ashley 2:31

So that sounds like a fun time.

Mari 2:34

Yeah. I like Kimberly Lemming's books, so I think they're a fun time. They're good palette cleansers, but they're also fun ones to like go back to and get back into her zany worlds that she creates.

Ashley 2:49

So zany's a good word for her.

Mari 2:52

Yeah. I've re I believe I've yeah, I have read all of the main messhaps that are out. I think I've read all of her mean messhaps and and I've read the cosmic chaos, all the ones that are out up until now. So I'm curious to see where it's gonna go from there.

Ashley 3:09

Where does she get all these ideas from? I'd like to know what her inspiration is.

Mari 3:16

I don't know.

Jonathan 3:17

Alcohol, clearly.

Mari 3:19

Alcohol.

Jonathan 3:19

I mean I think mead. Isn't mead an alcohol?

Mari 3:23

Yeah. Yeah, mead, yeah, mead's alcohol. Mead is uh honey. Is it is it fermented honey based? Alcohol? Yeah. It's very very sweet. It's a once you've tasted mead, you will know the taste of it because even though there's it's like beer. You know, there's different kinds of beer, but it all has a beer taste to it. Mead has a certain taste to it. I love the idea of mead. I I don't like the taste of mead as much as I do the idea of it.

Jonathan 3:52

So very fair.

Mari 3:54

Yeah. Yeah, but I'm I'm I'm I'm curious to see what she comes up with. She, I believe, lives somewhat close to the Canadian border. I don't know whether which which side of of Canada, but I know she's posted stories about her adventures or talked about stories on TikTok of her adventures trying to get back and forth across the Canadian border and when she visits her friends and whatnot.

Jonathan 4:14

So I got that vibe too, where she was like almost like Pacific Northwest.

Mari 4:18

Probably. But I'm not sure. I I want to say she's she's West Coast up there, so who knows?

Ali Hazelwood Sequel Movie Talk

Mari 4:26

Another author that we've talked about a good bit, Ali Hazelwood, announced that she wrote a sequel to the love hypothesis. It is gonna be called The Two Body Problem, and it's gonna be releasing February 2nd of 2027, and there will also be a film for that one. Um, the film for love hypothesis came out this month. Did you guys watch it?

Jonathan 4:48

I didn't, but I did see the blowback from the from the from the male nerds.

Ashley 4:53

Blow back seems extreme.

Jonathan 4:55

Yeah, apparently she put the on the well not her, but on the cover L-O-V-E, where she had like the atomic, they they had, I don't know if it was her, the atomic numbers and the weights and stuff like that, and they were coded incorrectly. And E for energy can't have uh an atomic weight. I've heard zero about that, which is I that's the most important news of the day, I'm sure.

Ashley 5:21

Jonathan gets into the nooks and the crannies and the dramas.

Mari 5:24

In college like 20 years ago at 7 a.m. in the summer, so yeah. Don't know.

Jonathan 5:30

Um do you do you have a Jason? I don't and I don't know if this is like real or not, but did they bump up the release of her duology? Um uh I forget what it is, bound and bounded disc. No, it's not maintenance.

Ashley 5:48

Oh, bound and unbound.

Jonathan 5:50

Yeah. I just got an alert that that's coming on Thursday.

Ashley 5:54

I thought they delayed it.

Jonathan 5:55

It was supposed to be like November. It was the last update I had.

Mari 5:59

You know anything about that? I'm not sure. No, I've not heard anything about it.

Kelly 6:02

No, I haven't heard anything.

Mari 6:04

Kelly and I watched the love hypothesis. Well, I watched it first, like the the night it came out, and then Kelly and I watched it like the next day because I made him. But I think you enjoyed it, right, Kelly?

Kelly 6:16

Yeah, it was fun.

Mari 6:17

It's a good little rom com. I will say it was interesting. I was talking to Sarah from Hissin and Kissing about it and our other friend Sarah, who both Sarah's read reread the Love Hypothesis book coming up on the movie coming out. I last read the book maybe two years ago. So it's it's it's not as fresh for me. So I enjoyed the movie and it was pretty much I got out of it what I wanted out of it. It was a fun rom, had the tropes I like. It was great. But people who I know who read the book leading up to it, like reread the book leading up to it, had more to say about like things that were cut out of the movie that was in the book and why they were cut out, etc. I enjoyed the movie for what it was. I didn't necessarily miss the stuff that was cut out from the book. Um, I do know that our friends at Hiss in the Kitchen released a little mini podcast episode doing a little more in-depth about the Love Hypothesis movie. If anyone's interested, I would you know recommend you download that and listen to what they have to say about it. But yeah, this section is. Do what now?

Ashley 7:24

I was gonna say I have a general appreciation for Lily Reinhardt.

Mari 7:27

Yeah.

Ashley 7:28

I think a lot of her values align with mine, uh, at least for what you know she allows to be shown. And so she seemed to go like headfirst into this project and and fully commit to it. And I, you know, her her premiere tour for this mini-movie, right? For all intents and purposes, like this wasn't released in the theater. This is like a Netflix or a prime movie, right? It was a massive tour, and she was like recreating famous rom-com dresses of rom-com's past, and it was just so nostalgic, and she did it so tastefully. Um, for that alone, I'm a big fan. I have not seen the movie yet. We've our time has not really been ours lately, um, but I plan to, and I I, you know, I've I've heard fantastic feedback of it. You know, this definitely feels like one that they got right. You're not gonna get everything in every movie when it's a book, which isn't a small book, I don't think.

Jonathan 8:30

Yeah.

Ashley 8:31

And so uh I'm pleased to hear that that we're gonna get a sequel out of it. Also, to me, like a palette cleanser of sorts, like it wasn't overwhelming, it wasn't super intense. It, you know, it wasn't so brainy or science-y that I couldn't keep up kind of thing. Um it was a pleasure to read that book a few years ago. I think I read the one after, but I didn't read the third, which was not necessarily connecting, like it wasn't a it wasn't a sequel, right? She just has a couple.

Mari 8:58

I think they all like all her stem stem, she's got like a STEM verse, so all those rom coms take place in the same universe or whatever, but for the most part, the characters don't interact.

Ashley 9:09

Yeah. So I'm I'm excited to watch it. We've just been busy.

Mari 9:15

I'm looking forward to reading the the second one as well and watching what they what they do with that. So it was yeah, it was a good it was a good rom-com. You know, nothing's perfect. I think they would have had to do like a TV show, like uh, to be able to get everything that was in the book. Um but I thought they did a good job as like a rom com. And if you liked it, then if you watched it and you and you liked it and you haven't read the book, then maybe read the book and you might enjoy that, you know. So yeah.

RARE Event Drama And Boycotts

Mari 9:47

The last tidbit I have is and I I haven't delved super deep into this, but there's a long-standing book event in the UK called RARE, and it stands for romance and reader events. And I believe that this happens. I think, you know, don't quote me on this, but I I thought from when I first heard about it a few years back, it happens like one year it's in London, the next year it's in Edinburgh. I believe that's how they do it. Um, but either way, it's in the UK. And it's a big, it's like a polycon, basically. It's a big, big event there. And I believe this year I kind of vaguely entertained going because I think Lily Main was announced, and I follow her and I really like her stuff. And I was like, maybe. And then I was like, I'd if I'm gonna go back back to Europe, I I'm not gonna be doing a book thing. I'm gonna be doing all the all the touristy European European things. So I opted not to. But um, I was looking at several of the authors I follow, and like the first one that got me really looking into it was Opal Rain, were pulling out of RARE, this of for RARE 2027. And apparently there's been some issues with like there was a another um book event that was announced the same weekend, um, and it was a um LGBTQ um event, like reader event. And there was some back and forth, and I think some actual threats of litigation by Rare against this other smaller grassroots, like LGBTQ plus book event. And so now there's a big thing where several like indie authors are boycotting rare. Um, I don't know that rare has actually like apologized for how they've handled it. Um, either way, it seems like a ton of authors are pulling out of Rare London this year, which is a pretty big thing. I don't know if you anyone else had heard anything about this.

Jonathan 11:49

I'm reading about it right now. So it looks like the big thing that like where rare went sideways is they start they threaten litigation. Correct. Right? So like we see this stuff all the time. We see it in Florida, right? We saw Yeah, you don't own the calendar, you don't own the the the country. And if somebody does want to have it, then that's like co-marketing, right?

Mari 12:11

Yeah.

Jonathan 12:12

So they took offense to it. It looks like their um it's their post seems like they're projecting a little bit. We posted multiple times. Don't make this about something it's not. An event piggybacks off us and our success and we're wrong question mark. Yeah, you're you're wrong to attack. If you're about inclusivity and you're attacking another event, then you're probably wrong. Um in their in the uh what's it not the not their direct photo, but the uh the caption of the post, it's make some make this about something else and post with our name, you'll be sued. Well, I'll tell you what, rare. I'm gonna go and grab me a little snippet. I love a good challenge.

Mari 12:58

My thing is like if if the if you're a business and the consumer base is there, and there's more people wanting the product than what you're able to give, you ought to partner with other people. Because my understanding is rare is sold out just like a polycon is sold out every year. You know, there are always more people that want to go than are able to go. So if there's another event, it's not hurting you, obviously, or it wasn't until now, until you reacted to it. You know what I mean? It wasn't hurting you. Just let it be, you know, or coordinate either coordinate with them and you can both benefit from it because you know, real collaboration in the arts is not a pie. It's not limited. It's there's enough to go around for everybody. Or you know, leave leave it alone. Just let it happen the same weekend as yours.

Ashley 13:49

Um well, it sounds like it's happening at the same venue as theirs. I'm not sure if I read that correctly. Maybe I'm maybe I'm wrong. Um I had I didn't know what the drama was about, but it did pop up on my feed this week, and I I remember thinking that it was an author whose opinion I actually kind of valued, if I'm not mistaken, and I I might be conflating. I thought it was Emily Wrath. I think it is actually.

Mari 14:16

I think I remember that name being one of the ones I saw.

Ashley 14:18

Yeah, so she's very liberal, right? She's very opinionated and and she has a lot of values, again, that align with mine. And so those are typically the types of follows that I'll have. Um so I think if she had a strong enough opinion to withdraw, then I I would value that opinion in in my world. Um, I did see a couple of other names on that list who we've seen at BookCon. These auth, a lot of these authors are very progressive, very inclusive, very open-minded individuals. And so if if there's a massive and immediate reaction such as this against, you know, uh an event, um, I'm inclined to think that it's for good reason. It's unfortunate that their response was ugly. Uh rare, that Rare's response was ugly enough to warrant this kind of reaction. You would think that they they know a little bit better by now. Um this this people don't go to these events for anger and mistrust and bullying. It feels like bullying. I don't know what their intention was, and they might feel some type of way. Their their opinions and their feelings are theirs. Um but it came off very bullying, and just there are so few people who have that appetite these days.

Mari 15:44

Yeah. Well, and if if you're the more well-known, established, successful event, then it is you have with great power comes great responsibility. Sure. You have responsibility to do the better thing, you know, to be the better person. Um because you're in a better place. You you have the ability to have a little bit more leeway and flexibility as opposed to something that's just starting up.

Jonathan 16:10

Um Spider-Man them. Yeah, Uncle Benham. She did.

Mari 16:16

I if that's what it was originally from, then yeah. I don't know if that's where I first heard it, but I I say that all the time about I say it a lot of times when I'm talking about certain authors that I no longer support because of what they've decided to do. You know, if you have a platform, you can choose to do nothing with that, and that's fine. Um, you can choose to do good with it, that's great. But when you choose to like belittle or attack a minority or a uh a minority group or a a you know disenfranchised group, you become the baddie. Like you are the bad guy then.

Ashley 16:57

I mean, groups aside, it to to go after a new a new anything, right? Like, and we're talking an event two years from now.

Mari 17:07

Yeah.

Ashley 17:08

And so now this is going to impact rare in 2027. So you were right, they've they seem to alternate venues. It seems to be going from like London to actually Australia. And the event that's clashing is going to be in 2028, Australia. I think I read on the same date at the same venue. And so that's why they're big mad about it that they've posted these dates, you know, two years in advance. And basically, how dare they? Why are they mad at the venue? Like, did they go after the venue for booking both of them? Like, why not make friends? Why not be under one umbrella or co-host? I don't know. There, I feel like there's so many other opportunities there two years out. They defin I I don't think they thought this one through. I'm curious to see how this plays out, especially because the reaction is impacting them immediately in the next 12 months and not 24.

Mari 18:02

Right. I agree.

Jonathan 18:06

Yeah, and also if it was a if you're talking about like a local a local promoter in the so I I it would be challenging to think that you would they would double book a venue on the same day for the same type of event. So is there a possibility that the local promoter got the venue that that rare wanted and as a result they got they got upset at that. And you know, at the end of the day, Rare's a guest in that country. I don't know.

Ashley 18:43

So um the responses out of some of these authors are really uh encouraging as well. They're not necessarily bashing rare, although some of them definitely have some strong opinions. They are saying not going to rare, still coming to London, right? So they're gonna figure out how to do something outside of this event so that it doesn't disappoint the fans. And I think that speaks a lot to you know the character of these authors, still trying to figure it out.

Mari 19:13

Yeah. I agree. I agree. So the drama. Yeah, so that'll be interesting to keep an eye on and see what ends up happening with that. So anything else news-wise?

Dragonkind Threshing Day Game Picks

Ashley 19:31

Did you bond a dragon on Dragonkind?

Mari 19:34

Hmm. So I have only played it once. So for those of you who don't know, there's like a whole website of the Rebecca Yarrow's merchandise people have done where you can go on and you go through your own threshing day, basically. You make little choices. It's kind of like what what game was it like, Kelly, that I was telling you about? Like the whole you you like, you have questions, you pick your own adventures, like a text-based game.

Kelly 19:58

It was like the old Zork games.

Mari 20:00

Yeah, like the old Zork games. So basically, you're you're you're told, oh, okay, it's threshing day. You know, are you gonna head into the forest? Or you hear whatever, you hear a scream and you smell sulfur in this direction. Are you gonna go this direction or that direction? It's that type of a game. So I did it once and ended up getting uh roasted because I was indecisive. And then it was like a cooling off period. You could come back in whatever.

Ashley 20:25

Four hours.

Mari 20:26

Yeah, four hours or something. Which I, you know, four hours from now I'm no longer thinking about it. So it's now been however many days, and I haven't gone back. So the short answer is no. The long answer is that story. Although I did see it was funny. People were posting online how they've like tricked their their spouses or their best friends or whatever into uh into getting dragons so that they can then, if you bump the phones together, whatever, you can mate your dragons. I'm like, ooh, that sounds cool.

Ashley 20:54

I haven't tried to mate with Jonathan.

Jonathan 20:57

I haven't tried to mate my Jonathan my dragon with how many cadets did you roast before you got the dragon? Just the one?

Ashley 21:03

Well, she doesn't have a dragon yet.

Jonathan 21:04

I meant you.

Ashley 21:05

Oh, I only roasted one.

Jonathan 21:06

Oh yeah.

Ashley 21:07

Um and then I got it on the second time. But of course he got it on the first. He didn't even know about it. I gave him, I told him how to get there, and of course he nailed it, he gets a dragon on the first try. I'm hearing that about a lot of boys. A lot of boys.

Mari 21:19

Well, you know, if you have Brandon's book telling you what to do already, of course you're gonna get a dragon. The rest of us are going in blind.

Ashley 21:25

The rest of us are dead.

Jonathan 21:27

I'm not gonna lie, I operated based off of what I knew from dragons.

Ashley 21:32

Be an asshole.

Jonathan 21:33

You gotta like some of it, some of the threshing day book did come in handy, but for the most part, it was it was mostly like, you know, don't look, don't look them in the eye. You know, if you're challenged, you know, by them. Also, some of it was logic. Like I think the questions that I had was like you hear a dragon roar and people screaming, do you go in that direction? No, I'm not dumb. People are dying. I'm not going there to join them dying. And and it was like, you hear you smell sulfur. Do you want to go over there? And I'm like, yeah, because if I smell the sulfur, the dragon is gone. He roasted and and ran out. So I'm just gonna go see what's over there now. He's gone there.

Mari 22:13

Is that I had recently finished reading the Threshing Day book, and you have all these individual stories of people who are like everything you're told to do, and then they do the opposite and they get their dragon. So I was like, I'm just gonna do what I want. And I'm like, oh, apparently that means I get roasted. I am not super special, and I'm okay with that. It's fine.

Jonathan 22:35

I think I got I committed to like, so I think like there was a dragon, and then I like presented to the dragon, and then I didn't feel anything after that, and then it was like uh this dragon doesn't choose you, uh, but it let you live, right? And I was like, Oh, okay, that's cool. And then um the next one, it was like, hey, something's drawing you over here. So I was like, I'm gonna go with it. And then the it was like it it mentioned like the dragon's golden eyes. So I'm like, all right, so now we're now we're connecting. And then the voice fills your head, and I'm like, all right, this this is my dragon. That's uh and then it was like, what do you want to do? Do you want to like tiptoe over? And I'm like, hell no, I gotta get a running start. I'm old. Um I gotta wear a knee brace to go to theme parks. Yeah, that was my big thing too.

Mari 23:23

I'm like, I have shit vision, I've had knee surgery. I'm not gonna be riding the dragon. I'm gonna be a scribe or an infantry grunt. Like, let's be realistic. If anything, I may just be dragon food. So that's so funny.

Ashley 23:37

I've heard that battery life can have something to do with being chosen. I've also heard that decision speed, like how long it takes you to click the buttons, has something to do with it. So, like, there are some factors.

Jonathan 23:52

Where are you getting that? Like, where are you getting like news of an algorithm?

Ashley 23:56

Rebecca actually said that there's a 10% chance across the board that you're gonna get fried, like in any scenario.

Jonathan 24:05

Okay.

Ashley 24:06

So she's like, don't get discouraged. Like it's built in that 10% of the time someone's getting fried.

Jonathan 24:13

I was gonna think these poor cadets are just getting worked out there.

Mari 24:17

Which based off of the book is statistically pretty, yeah.

Ashley 24:21

It's logical. Dragon says thumbs down, no thanks statement. Fried.

Mari 24:28

Wild.

Monster Rotica Ticket Queue Chaos

Mari 24:29

I did, however, go through my own personal threshing day, and I have a little story. Gather around, listeners. I have a little story time. So October 1st may have been threshing day for the fourth winged aficionados, but it was also hunger gameslash threshing day for those of us trying to get tickets for Monster Radica.

Ashley 24:49

Yeah. I saw that.

Mari 24:51

Monster Radica BookCon Day was October 1st at noon. Uh, scheduled two hours off. Oh, gosh. Middle of the day, to like come home and focus on getting the ticket. Because this year it was just gonna be. I asked Kelly, you know, days beforehand, it was just gonna be me and Kelly trying to get this ticket because our other friends weren't going. So I was like, okay, I'm gonna do this. I was so anxious the day before. Like, I didn't sleep the night before. I'm like, I'm gonna get my shit together. I know what I'm doing, I'm good. I come home. Poor Kelly had gotten off that morning and was trying to get a few hours of sleep, and he did, and then he woke up and got on without me saying anything. Kelly is a fucking superstar.

Ashley 25:33

He's the he gets all the tickets, man. Kelly, what are you doing tomorrow? It's hotel hunger games for Dragon Con. Your girl's got a mission.

Mari 25:40

Kelly got logged on the computer, uh, got logged on to my phone, and we're waiting and we're waiting and we're waiting. And it goes at noon. So, like 11:50, I click to make sure it's all working. 1155, I click to make sure it's all working. 1157, I click, it's all working. 1158, I click, and it lets me in. Like, oh shit. So Kelly does the same thing. Let's him in. We're in the queue. Spooling, spooling, spooling. And then it takes us to the page where you get the ticket. And the ticket's not available because it's not yet 12 o'clock.

Ashley 26:11

Oh shit. False alarm.

Mari 26:13

And I'm like, so what do I do? What do you do? Refresh? Oh shit. And it takes me back to the queue. And I get in the queue. Okay. And 1202, um, I get to the part where you can buy the ticket, and every tier ticket is sold out in California. All the two situations. And I haven't seen the official results. I have seen people saying that like we we broke universe, the the app or whatever that that does tickets.

Ashley 26:43

Yeah.

Mari 26:44

But I did not get a ticket. Kelly did not get a ticket. There's a couple that we know that were trying to get tickets. Uh they're they're out of New York. They didn't get tickets.

Ashley 26:54

Wow.

Mari 26:54

And I've gotten a ticket the f the prior two years. Right. So I had been talking back and forth with a friend I met at Monster Rotica Con last year. And then we were supposed to hang out at DragonCon, but we both got busy and we didn't get to hang out. Um and she got in and she happened to randomly get an extra ticket and offered it to me. And she is my superhero for today. And I want to push her Instagram and her TikTok. If you guys would, listeners out there, follow her. She does book stuff. She's real sweet. So on Instagram, it's Mina Reads All Day. That's M-I-N-A reads all day. Follow her. And I'll probably need to make a post about this. I just haven't done it. And then on TikTok, I should have had that up. I'm gonna try and pull up what her TikTok thing is. Because I can't remember anything. Oh, it is also. Mina reads all day on TikTok. So yeah, follow her. Because she was the best. I had a hotel because I went ahead and reserved hotel last year for it. Yeah. So I was like, I've got a hotel room because she couldn't get into a hotel room because it was the block was already sold out. I was like, I'd have got a hotel. So look at you guys for each other's skill. I'll be like, I thankfully was able to get in last minute just by pure luck of who I knew who happened to she was able to get in because I guess just randomly better internet than us or or whatever. I will say for anyone out there who was hoping to go, who did not get to go, do not despair. Um there is an official Facebook group that will be coming, and there is a Discord that will be opening where people can like exchange tickets. And a lot of times, really close to when they open it, people exchange tickets, people who change their mind or their plans change, or like closer to the event, like usually like a month before the event, which happens in May. Um, a lot of times people will be selling tickets. Like I talked to several people last year who got tickets weeks before the event that people were just having to get rid of. So there may still be hope for you if you didn't get a ticket.

Ashley 29:11

What a story.

Mari 29:12

Yeah.

Ashley 29:14

Wow. Well, I'm glad you found a way. Kudos to finding a way and shout out to Mina Reads all day for coming in clutch.

Mari 29:22

Yeah. That was a wild roller coaster of emotions of that day. Yeah. And, you know, I don't know what the solution is because there's obviously more people want to go than are able to fit at that event. But my understanding is that there's no real good venue that will be a step up from that hotel unless you go into a convention center, which is a huge jump.

Ashley 29:49

Right.

Mari 29:50

And yeah, yeah. So I think this event's just gonna be this way at least for the next few years while they figure stuff out. But yes, I'm going. I'm so excited. That was my threshing day experience. Congratulations. Yeah. All right. Any other new stuff? Not that I have. No, that was all I had. Okay.

Why We Chose This Read

Mari 30:16

So why we read why we chose your coffin or mine, because it's Halloween. And I've actually I've been wanting to read one of this author's books for the podcast. Um, I read this for the first time last year, and then I've read every book she's released since then. Um, I really like they're all kind of like spooky, I guess spooky, monster, Halloween-ish kind of, but not in a not in a scary way. They're like comedic, like a campy kind of monster vibe. So this book was published on the 23rd of March of 2024. Let me read the synopsis and then we can we can say what we thought about it. A runaway bride, a grumpy 600-year-old vampire pretending to be human, a disaster waiting to happen. What could possibly be what could possibly be the most infuriating thing to a vampire disgusted by the internet? A 26-year-old social media influencer that just ran out on her cheating ex-fiance and insists on staying in Vlad's quiet castle. But he needs money to repair his ancestral home, and Aubrey needs a place to lick her wounds after getting her heart broken. He is ready to have humans invading his space. He is not, however, ready for her. She wants to feed him garlic, parades around in tiny shorts, and incesses him at every turn. Can he really play house with a human? Especially one he just can't seem to fight the urge to stay away from.

First Reactions And Favorite Bits

Mari 31:42

What did we think?

Jonathan 31:43

I feel validated.

Mari 31:45

I'm so sorry. How so?

Ashley 31:50

Tell us more.

Jonathan 31:51

Oh, uh, I believe there was a portion of the book where they watched the movie The Mummy. And who shared my exact opinion? Shall we opine on who the bad guy really is?

Ashley 32:05

So what you're saying is that you and Vlad are the same.

Jonathan 32:11

Pretty much. We're the same.

Ashley 32:12

Grumpy.

Jonathan 32:14

I it turns out, despite what what our what my peers think, I was right. Courtesy of this fictional character. Well, he is a vampire. You challenge that. Thank you very little.

Ashley 32:33

When I read that part, and Vlad was like, he's just a money-grubbing grave robber, like the rest of them. I thought to myself, fuck. We're never gonna hear the end of this.

Jonathan 32:44

Yep.

Ashley 32:47

Justice. I couldn't breathe. I thought that was hysterical. Tell us uh what you thought about the rest of the book since you decided to go first.

Jonathan 32:57

I really don't like it.

Ashley 32:59

No.

Jonathan 33:00

I mean, you're listening Jacqueline, uh, you're you're you're gonna get five stars out of me because I'm not here to to to say that, to say bad stuff, but it just wasn't it wasn't a Jonathan book. It wasn't the book for JP. I did end up with three three chili peppers and a rating of dark spicy monster on com um on the on as far as the calculation is concerned.

Ashley 33:25

But three chili peppers is 70%.

Jonathan 33:28

I was good, yeah. I was good to I was good to get I was I was happy when complete.

Ashley 33:34

So so was Vlad.

Jonathan 33:38

So yeah. Um yeah, that's all that's all, and that's all I gotta say about that. Validation, uh, it's the greatest reward you could have given me, uh Jacqueline. Uh so for that, you're gonna get five stars just for that alone. Thanks.

Ashley 33:51

Happy October to Jonathan.

Jonathan 33:53

That's what I appreciate about you.

Ashley 33:57

What did you think, Ash? Um, I liked the book. It was a little slow to start for me, but then they jumped right in, right? And there was spice like right almost from the get-go. Um, so I'm a fan for that reason. I'm curious about all of the the friends, right, that you hear. Um so Frank Stein. That got a chuckle out of me. A werewolf named Doyle. Fascinating. Also, there's a Nessie in the pond. I want to know about I want I want to know more about Nessie. I don't know if we're gonna get to. I just I I like the concept of you know, these special um immortal creatures standing the test of time. Like, why is Vlad broke? And I to full candid, I I didn't get to the finish line on this book. Um, so I don't know how it ends. But I want to know why my man's broke. Like, how are you part of a multi-billion dollar company, investment company, but you're broke? I there's something more there. I know, I gotta catch up. But it's a fun read, it's a palette cleanser, it's it's meant to be joyful. You got some real true grumpy sunshine here, right? Like literal, dark, gloomy, grumpy dude, and happy blonde, not overly irritating sunshine. That there's a fine line there, usually, right? It was it was a fun time. It was a modern monster romance, and I'm here for it. Jaclyn Hyde did a great job.

Mari 35:33

What do you think, Kelly?

Kelly 35:37

I thought it was okay. I think that the plot moved kind of in weird directions to start with. It like moved very quickly at the beginning, so it's like, okay, so we're pretty early in this and they're already banging, essentially, so where else can we go with this story? So it was felt like this almost should have been two books instead of one book. From how we ha almost had two different completely things happen. But overall, I don't think it was terrible. I think there was a lot of things in the beginning I didn't care for. I didn't care for the whole like from the get-go, he's like alone in the car with her and being like all almost threatening. Like that just wasn't cool. That's just not cool. I didn't care for that whole part. Yeah. Threatening essentially he threatened a rapeer. And that was kind of shitty. So I didn't really like that. I probably would have quit reading the book at that point if we weren't reading it for the podcast, because I don't care for that kind of stuff personally. Umce we got past some of that, it seemed to get better, but that's just not my jam. So I didn't care for that aspect of it.

Jonathan 37:07

So overall. I thought it was wordy too. Did you did you get that vibe where it was just like when you like when you're saying it should be split into two books, did you did you feel it was like wordy?

Kelly 37:15

Not necessarily that it was wordy, but it's like we had two distinct plot lines. We had the plot line of when is she gonna find out he's a vampire, and then the plot line of everything afterwards. Dealing with Frank, dealing with the other monsters, dealing with her going back to the US, dealing with Chad. All of that stuff. So I feel like it almost should have been the book should have been split into two books, like like right after he found out she found out he was a vampire, it probably should have been split into the second book.

Mari 37:52

A cliffhanger?

Kelly 37:55

Yeah, I mean it just it felt like it jumped. Like we had a very quick with her being completely fine that he was a vampire. Like she was just completely fine with it.

Ashley 38:07

Because they were meant to be. She knew in the back of her head.

Jonathan 38:12

It was her neck. Actually, I don't remember where he bit her first. I thought it was the neck, right? Did they he punctured the neck first?

Kelly 38:20

Yeah, but it's like the whole thing, it's like Oh, you find out this guy you've known for all of three days, four days, or whatever, is an immortal vampire, and you're just immediately on board with him saying you're my mate forever.

Jonathan 38:34

Like it did go like zero to sixty real quick with that one. The whole book was zero to six. But like he was like, he was pretty she was like, ow, ooh, you bit me. And then like he was like, she was like, oh, it's gone. And he was like, ah, I hope and you didn't notice.

Kelly 38:51

And then he was like, So him biting Hamma Massette, was that rape to a degree?

Mari 38:56

Oh.

Jonathan 38:57

I don't know. They were engaged in certainly consent.

Kelly 39:07

That's like saying, you know, I don't know. Feels like the equivalent of saying spank me, and then you pull out a giant pedal with spikes on it. You didn't necessarily consent to that. So saying her saying bite me is not the same. I feel like that was and he knew it was non- he knew he was guilty of it being non-consensual. So I didn't care for that part either, but just the fact that she went from knowing someone in four days to being completely okay with him. I mean, essentially it's almost like a a Disney movie, you know, in that respect. You've known this, you've known this this guy for three days and you're ready to marry him.

Mari 39:50

Yeah, I could see that. I think Aubrey was not in a great mental place at the beginning of the book. I don't think she had been in a great mental place in her life for a while. Um this is this is my second time reading it. And to me, I was like, is her family the mafia? Is she like a mafia bride? Are they auctioning her off? Like her parents are basically arranged this marriage for her. The the guy that she's marrying is an asshat. She's getting gas lit. She basically runs away from it all to like another country and is so distraught she gets the date wrong and doesn't even pack for like cold weather in Romania. Uh I don't yeah, I don't think she was well to begin with at the at the beginning of the book.

Kelly 40:45

No, she definitely wasn't, and that's why it feels almost like to some degree she was being taken advantage of at the very least.

Mari 40:58

I don't know.

Kelly 40:59

And on the other hand, there are lots of people, including lots of women, who would gladly throw themselves at Gary Oldman's feet. You know, without a second thought.

Mari 41:13

Gary Oldman?

Kelly 41:15

Gary Oldman from Dracula. I'm gonna have to Google that real quick. Basically, there's a lot of women who would throw themselves at an attractive vampire without a second thought. Men and women.

Mari 41:29

I think the sexual lore of vampires is longstanding, for sure. Of of all, yeah, all genders. Vampires of all genders and people of all genders, for sure. I definitely got the Gary Oldman vibe of vampire. Like 19 the 1990s Dracula movie with Winona Ryder and Gary Oldman, where like at the beginning he's you know the old Gary Oldman, and Keona Weeves is like, what's going on here? That like when when Aubrey first met him, that's that's the vibe I got. And then of course he gets some blood and he perks up, and then he's like the the younger Gary Oldman blood, you know, Dracula character, the the see me now uh prince character for sure.

Campy Monster Bay Series Energy

Mari 42:16

So I like this book. Um I thought it was a good, like campy Halloween, like funny, you know, grumpy sunshine. You had a person that you know Vlad was very much in a deep fugue depressive state since the 1950s, and his best friend is trying to bring him out of it. And you know, through that he gets introduced to Aubrey, which fully like awakens him to living again. You know, uh Joel Doyle was basically afraid that that Vlad was gonna turn into what's her face, Hilde? That he was gonna go that route, you know, if he kept not eating and and not living. I agree that there's like there's a lot of plot for those books. Like all her books were are on the longish side, but she tends to do like one book per character. So like Ash, you were saying that you were interested in like some of the other characters. The rest of her Monster Bay books are like the other characters. So the second one is Doyle, the third one is her friend Bernadette, the fourth one is Nessie. Is Nessie? I'm so excited. Yep. And they're all, in my opinion, really fun books to listen to. I think that if they were done in a more serious way, if the narrators chose to do it in a more serious way, it wouldn't come across as well. But to me, the like super camp bordering on campy, like Romanian accent.

Jonathan 44:00

I got that vibe too. Like campy is a good phrase for that.

Mari 44:03

I ate it up. I loved it. Especially when he's like a little dude. He basically does that. I don't I don't sound like that. Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah, you do.

Jonathan 44:13

Did you get the audiobook?

Mari 44:15

Yes. Okay, I was gonna say because the empty does all her books, eyeball reading and and and audio reading.

Ashley 44:23

I was gonna say, I think the first time you told us about it was after the audiobook. Like you had listened to it in the car, like on the way to an event or something, coming to see us. Um, and you were just like gushing about it. You were just so delighted. And that's really what made me want to read the book. And I did not listen to it. I'm regretting it slightly.

Mari 44:46

Nessie gets a book. I'm so excited. So Nessie's book is called Locked in Love. I love it. It's one of the most recent one that came out. Now, Jaclyn Hyde also has a surprise book that she announced that is oh, it may not be out yet, but she just released, without any like leading up to it or telling anybody about it, a headless horseman book. Um, it is called Hollowed by the Headless Horseman. And it came out October 2nd. It's a hundred pages, 101 pages. I haven't read it yet.

Jonathan 45:18

He's just trying to get a little head.

Mari 45:20

Maybe. Maybe. So sorry. Yeah, because in the Monster Bass series, the first one is Your Coffin or Mine. The second one is How'll You Doing? The third one is Stitched Up in You. And then the fourth one is Locked in Love. I love I love a good pun. Same. I love a punny title. The punny joke.

Ashley 45:48

10 out of 10 for the titles.

Mari 45:50

Yeah. Yeah. I like I like uh romantic comedy. I like this. I think it was in the in the description, it was described as the holiday meets dark shadows. And I think that's kind of what this does feel like in a lot of ways.

Ashley 46:10

Yeah, I can see that.

Mari 46:12

Or maybe the holiday versus what we do in the what we do in the shadows. It may might be more like it. Yeah, but I I enjoyed it. I enjoyed pretty much all the characters in it. You know, when I finished reading the first one, I wanted like like you, Ash, I wanted to know more about the other characters and where they were going to be going on. Um, so I read the rest of the books for that. There were parts of this book that made me laugh out loud again, even the second time I read it. Yeah, I think if you're wanting like a rom-com, campy, like vampire story that does not take itself seriously for like the Halloween October month, I would absolutely recommend this.

Ashley 46:56

So yeah, no, I agree. And modern, right? Like it wasn't like it didn't drag on, it wasn't super old-timey feeling. It was it was today's day day and age, which I just I enjoy that concept.

Mari 47:12

I agree. Yeah, I I would I mean there's some of her books I like more than others, but I would I would pretty much recommend all her books. They all have that kind of similar kind of vibe where it's like funny and spicy and like rom-commie doesn't take itself seriously, kind of thing. So Right. No, I agree. Alright. Any any other thoughts on the book or anything else before we wrap it up?

Kelly 47:46

How many books are there so far in the series?

Mari 47:49

Um, I believe Locked in Love was number pull it up in a sec. Locked in Love was number four. So there's four books in the series. She's written two other books now besides that. One was Three's a Rap, which is a um polyamorous like mummy M-U-M-M-Y situation. That's not, you know, one of the Monster Bay series. And then the Hollowed Hallowed by the Headless Horseman, which just came out. So funny. But the Monster Bay books themselves, there's four of them. Locked in Love just came out August 25th of this year.

Ashley 48:37

A delight, Jacqueline, a delight.

Jonathan 48:40

So we can say this is like You've Got Mail meets Hotel Transylvania?

Mari 48:50

It's been forever since I watched You've Got Mail. Didn't that involve like a miscommunication? Well, I guess there is miscommunication because she got the dates wrong, right? Is that what you mean with it?

Jonathan 49:00

No, just like uh looking for like uh like a uh a rom com like uh uh a popular rom-com meets, like a quirky vampire story.

Mari 49:13

Yeah, or like the holiday. Like, did you did you ever see the holiday with Kate Winslet? No, he I doubt it.

Ashley 49:19

I no.

Mari 49:20

It's a Christmas like rom-com. It's a winter holiday rom-com. I you like Christmas. You might enjoy that one if you're in the mood for like a Christmas rom-com kind of thing. It's got Kate Winslit, Cameron Diaz, Jack Black.

Ashley 49:34

Jack Black, yeah.

Mari 49:35

And oh god, what's his face? What's his name? Jude Law? Jude Law. Yeah. And it's like an American and a Brit switch switch living quarters, basically, for the winter months after they've each had heartbreak happen. And you know, they each it's like two little rom-coms happening at the same time. During Christmas time. It's a cute story.

Jonathan 49:59

Interesting.

Mari 50:00

Yeah. I don't know why it doesn't get more talk. But like everyone I know who's seen it enjoys it, but there's it just didn't get I just didn't get a lot of like buzz when it came out. Um but yeah, anyone who's looking for like a a Christmas winter kind of rom-com, I would recommend The Holidays. I thought it was it's a good movie. I've watched it a few times.

Kelly 50:22

Yeah, it's an interesting movie because it was at the point where the studios were pushing hard to make Jack Black a leading man, romantic leading man. And that didn't work out.

Mari 50:37

But he did a good job in that.

Kelly 50:38

Oh yeah, he did. Just turns out he's much better as a goofy comedian than trying to be a leading man.

Mari 50:49

And ideally, why not both? But Hollywood does like to pigeonhole people in like archetypes. Alright, anything else before we wrap it up?

Jonathan 51:02

Are we gonna ask that question?

Is It A Kissing Book

Mari 51:04

Oh yeah. Is it a kissing book?

Ashley 51:07

Is it a kissing book, cousin?

Jonathan 51:09

Yeah, I mean it's all about kissing? Yeah. I think it is.

Ashley 51:18

Uh I didn't finish it. I'm the bad kid this week. I imagine that it's a kissing book. I'm pretty sure they're faded mates. Uh I'm not sure if that was in the synopsis or not. So I'm gonna go with an enthusiastic and optimistic yes.

Mari 51:35

What do you think, Kelly?

Kelly 51:37

I think it has to be because it's essentially a faded mates story.

Mari 51:42

Yeah, I think I agree with you, as it's it's faded mates. I think without it, Vlad would have just wasted away. Like it would have been a different story, it would have been a sad ending for sure. I think she may be dating myself with this one, but Anne Rice's interview with the vampire, the character Armand, who's played by Antonio Banderas in like the 90s movie, his whole thing, his whole interest in in Lestat was he wanted someone to like bring him into the modern day. He needed someone to bring him forward into the modern day because he gets mired in time. And Louis was like, I'm not, I'm not that person, I'm not doing that. And I think that's what Aubrey served as that role for Vlad. Like she brought him into the modern day, otherwise, he would have turned into you know, not himself anymore. A moving bag of bones, basically.

Jonathan 52:36

Right.

Mari 52:37

So yeah, so definitely a kissing book. Yeah, I love a happy ending. Look at us agreeing, you guys. Yep. Alright, well, let me wrap

Ratings Reviews And Farewell

Mari 52:53

it up. Uh, thanks for listening to Of Swords and Soulmates. Before we go, make sure to check out the show notes, rate, review, and subscribe to us on your podcast app of choice. It helps others to find us. 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 suggestions for a future episode, book recommendation, or discussion 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 more book related discussions. Bye.