Readers of Two Cities Podcast
We’re Niki & Sam, coming to you from two different cities, united by a love of books and real, unfiltered conversations. 📚✨ On Readers of Two Cities Podcast, we dive into stories across genres, talk craft, and share what reading actually feels like—no fluff, just honest takes from miles apart.
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Readers of Two Cities Podcast
The Irresistible Urge To Fall For Your Enemy
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Join Sam as she convinces Nikki to read this magical book, which although started off as a Dramoine fan fiction, but it's so much more than. It's witty, cleverly written book with a heart of its own that's hard to put down, and characters hard to not fall in love with.
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I saw in the Mac and Figure Bookshelf, you have Alchemized. My friend and I went to Target a few weeks ago, and she was looking for Alchemized and she bought it, but like, why is everyone so obsessed with Alchemized?
SPEAKER_03So this year among the reader community, there's a meme going around that we're all reading the same version of the same books that we know, and we're all somehow reading different books. We're all reading the same books. The context for this is there are three books that came out this year. All the three authors, from what I know, at least the two of them, used to write fanfiction like Dramoy fanfiction, Draco and Hermione fan fanfiction, and they would post their stories on archive of our own. Have you heard of that?
SPEAKER_01AO3, Sam. Have I heard of that? You, if you grew up in the 2000s, like 2010s, and up until maybe like 2015, 2016. Actually, maybe even till like 2018. AO3, were like our sources, those were our and then Tumblr.
SPEAKER_03So Wattpad reached India. Like I knew about Wattpad, of course. As a Twilight loving girl, everybody knew Wattpad. But I did not know about AO3. That's something that I've re that I've gotten to know like literally a few months back. That there's a thing called AO3 because Ali Hazelwood, she used to write fanfiction on AO3, and then two of the authors that I just mentioned. So one of the books is Alchemized. It's it's not the same story that the author used to write on AO3 because I think it's like an exclusive thing or whatever, but she did get a book deal so that she can earn from her own book sales. Her her fanfiction like blew up and everybody loved it, but she wasn't earning anything from it, obviously, because it's like so she got her she got her track publishing deal for Alchemiz, and that's why everybody started Alchemized. But the same year, this year again, another book called The Irresistible Urge to Fall for Your Enemy by Bridget Knightley. I think that's her pen name. Uh she had a different name on AO3. She wrote uh Draco Balfoy and the something or ordeal of like falling in love or something. I don't know. She also had her fanfiction really blow up and just uh have a huge fan following. And she also got tried publishing deal, and that book came out this year. There's another book called Rose and Chains by Julie Soto. She also that also has like a Dremoyne fanfiction kind of backstory, which I don't know about, or maybe there isn't, but just the concept is like so Rose and Chains, The Irresistible Earth to Fall for Enemy and Alchemized. People have been like people have been well fed this year. People who love Dremoyne fanfiction have been very happy this year because they are getting to read the same book, the same set of stories in different books, and because they're traditionally published, they are not the exact replica of what they wrote as fanfiction, but they definitely have elements of it that people loved initially. And let me just say, I didn't know that I would love the Dremoni ship ever. I was not, I'm never really a ship person. But Bridget Knightley, if that's not how you pronounce it, however you pronounce it, the book has gotten me all smitten, and I know now why people love her writing. The writing is so we'll talk more about it, but the writing is so so good. I have I was like, how is this her first book? Of course, she's probably written a lot before, but this is like her first, this is a debut novel, like a traditionally published novel, and it is it is everything.
SPEAKER_01The fact that she was able to get a trad publishing in this this time is crazy. But also, I don't know how I feel about trad publishing because I feel like a lot of people are trying to go away from that as well. So I don't know. It's cool that she was able to actually get trad publishing from the get-go, but I guess it also has to do with the fact that she had a huge AO fanfic that blew up so people knew who she was and like her books and stories, I guess.
SPEAKER_03Writing, yes. So I think from what I know, I could be wrong. But because these fan fictions blew up, you know, agents are always on lookout for new talent, right? So I think she probably got an offer or somebody off, like an agent, probably an editor, I don't know who. Um, reach out because she already had they already had like a portfolio of her writing right there, like 39 chapters, like start to finish. It's all there. And you see how people are reacting to it, you see how well uh how well received it is. So I think that definitely uh played a role in getting a child publishing deal without having to hunt for agents for years together. So that I thought was very interesting, but I also feel like I can never write fanfictions.
SPEAKER_01Girl, I used to write so many. I don't think I have it in me.
SPEAKER_03I think the problem is I don't feel that attached to any character that I would like wanna change their story. I usually, you know, you know how I'm as a reader, right? I'll just I'll just accept whatever you're telling me. Like, I never want to change anything from the stories. And I don't I don't think I've ever gotten attached to any character that much that I'm like can't stop thinking about them. Wanna write more about them, fantasize in my head about them. But I have read a lot of fanfiction.
SPEAKER_01There was one that I wrote that kind of blew up, and it was a once upon a time fanfic with two characters who get together in the show, but like there's so much stuff that happens in the show that I'm like they just need domestic life. Like, I just need them to live a domestic, happy life, go do like normal people things or like normal family things. And so I wrote it, and all of a sudden it like became big, big on Wattpad, and I was like, cool. If I go look at it now, I'd probably cringe so hard. But honestly, I could go back and rewrite it and to make it like an actual story and not fully fanfic, or like edit and polish it on Wattpad so it just lives on Wattpad's world. But it was a wild time, and then I think I wrote a sequel to it. It was a trip. It was I mean, it was fun to read because I think that's where like the idea came to me of like, oh, I want to write a book, I want these things to happen. Because like for me, writing a book was what hasn't been done, and taking it from a show, being like, if they were in an alternate reality or like a parallel world, what would the story look like? And so then you know, I'd put in my own things because there was like loose ends that they didn't fix or touch upon in the original or like the show. So I'm like, we're gonna fix that in this. People ended up liking it. There was like a ton of comments on it. I don't even I know what it's called, but I won't say. Nope. It's I don't think it's even under my name for your.
SPEAKER_03It shouldn't be Nikki. It shouldn't be under your name. Can you please send it to me just for like research purposes, you know? Maybe after this. But I I think that writing of fan fiction is such a great exercise. I wish if I was attached to any character, I would want to write it now. Because it's such a good writing exercise. Like the world's setup for you. It's a good practice of getting the words out and getting like making your characters do stuff that you know. Uh, and then you really get to practice writing without pressure of, and then people are just like chilling and enjoying with you. They all love these characters, and they're just like hanging out with you, reading them. I wish I wish I cared about anyone that much to write a fan fiction about. The book is called, I already told you, but I'll tell you again because it's a long title. It's called and look how pretty! It's called The Irresistible Urge to Fall for Your Enemy. You're not impressed.
SPEAKER_01Well, only because I literally saw that book everywhere when I was at Barnes and Noble, and my friend who I was with was like, Oh yeah, that's a Germani fanfic. I went by. Hold a thought.
SPEAKER_03First of all, this book is everywhere for a reason, because it is truly so well written. It is funny. Like, truly, and not in a way that is the way I read this, like the way I felt about reading this book, is nothing is done. Even though the the title feels like you're like pleasing a subset of like fantasy, like you're you're trying to please a subset of readers. It feels like that, the title, but it is anything but the humor is fresh, honest. The romance in all its forms of like is is well like well crafted. It feels like you are truly listening to a story of your friends and you're like experiencing it with them, as opposed to you being like a person who likes these tropes and these things, even though it looks like a tropey book, it's so beautifully done on how the commentary in the book is when two people are born with different circumstances, and as the book progresses, you see both of their backgrounds and where they come from, and now because the book starts from the present, right? You see them now as adults in their roles in their orders. One is the Halen order, which is like the healing order, and one is the Fire Order, which is like they are assassins for hire, and they all have each order. If you belong to an order, if you like, you know, clear certain levels, you can be a part of the order, and you get like a tac, what is it called? Tassin? How is it pronounced? I just heard the audiobook. I should know how it's pronounced. Wait, I forgot how it's pronounced. How do you spell it? T-A-C-N? No idea. How do you pronounce it? It's not Tassin, that's not it.
SPEAKER_00Chapter one. Child's play, obviously. Tumbling vortex of items still under study. Current system to the world. Complex applications such as healing. Those who wish to achieve these levels have been really looked at him, you know, undistracted by onions and bubbles, said Osric.
SPEAKER_03Each order has their own talken, um, and he has like a hellhound and she has a swan, because she is the healer, and the evil ones have theirs on the left hand, and the healers have theirs on the right hand, or the good, like there's different kinds of orders. And throughout the book, you kind of are met with this question again and again that is a person good only because they belong to a certain part of the society, or are they good because they do good things? You're constantly slowly you're met with this question in different forms and a different intensity each time when they interact, when they're talking. When you see him behave just as normally as she is, but he's supposed to be evil just because he comes from an order that is assessed for hire, and when you get to know why and how he got there, you're like, hmm, it's kind of not as black and white as it seems to be. And when you see her background of meeting her parents and where she's from, her being a healer and being like this competitive, competent person, she's constantly questioning herself whether she likes him because of who he is, or does she hate him because of who he where he's from? Like these two different questions is like she's attracted to him because she sees him do these good things to people around him, but it's also a killer. So does she like him for who he truly is as a person, or all the hate towards him is just a bias from where because of where he's coming from? So the book is a very beautiful like journey of them trying to understand each other's worlds, and it's done so with a lot of humor, a lot of random words uh that just makes sense in that setting, and just two people truly trying to like navigate this new person that they've met because she has never met the killing order, and he's never met the healing order because they don't meet, they're not friends, they don't they they don't hang out together. So now that they're facing this entirely new thing, they're This gives me divergence. This is it could be the factions, yes. Like the the healing faction and the Daunting Dauntless Dauntless.
SPEAKER_01I never read the books. Love Divergent. I didn't like the movies, so I couldn't care enough to read the books.
SPEAKER_03I just saw the first one and just f the first movie. For me, that's where it ends.
SPEAKER_01I watched the first movie, watched half of the second one, and couldn't couldn't continue.
SPEAKER_03I couldn't continue like after the second one. I wouldn't recommend anyone to. The first movie on in itself, the first book in itself, if you just watch it and read it, book one, you'd finish the story when they're on the train, live happily ever after. Nothing is needed after that. In my mind, that's where the book ends. That's where the story ends, that's it. The end. Exactly. So this is kind of like that. There's different orders, different styles of life, different choices of life. And you just um see her realize that okay, there's he's this person that's trying to break my rules of this is right, this is wrong, and it's just how they navigate. This this is anything but a cringy book. Like it's so well written. The humor is top-notch. The truly, truly the humor is so good, I'm truly envious of how good she can write. It just makes you laugh so easily, and have her evil character have such a flair and charm with like words and humor. And it's not a Jamaica fanfiction, it was born that way, but this story just stands on its own. Even if you didn't know about it, you wouldn't guess. Oh really? Except the fact that he kind of looks like Draco, like his silver hair. Draco is blonde. Light colored hair.
SPEAKER_01You're like his silver hair. Draco is he not? No, he's blonde. Okay. His dad, like Lucius, kind of has the silver because he's old, but Draco's, he's like platinum blonde.
SPEAKER_03Platinum? The word itself is a silver color, Nikki.
SPEAKER_01But look it up. It's like it still looks yellow. Like it still looks blonde.
SPEAKER_03I believe you. You've watched those movies way more than I have, so I believe you.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, don't test me, Sam. I can tell you everything.
SPEAKER_03If you read this and you didn't know where the author came from, you wouldn't guess that it's like a tremoine fanfiction.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I don't know. I'm still gonna have to like not read it. Cause I have a thing with books where like if the origin is from uh a fanfic, so like the The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare were a Harry Potter fanfic of two characters. I can't remember which two, but they're supposed like in the in the Harry Potter world, I think they're like siblings in the Mortal Instruments world. The entire like series is literally them being like, Are we siblings? Are we not siblings? They like, you know, date, they have sex, they do everything, and then they're like, Shit, are we actually siblings? We're not, right? Okay, we can actually continue. And I was like, huh?
SPEAKER_03No, Nikki. The problem is not with stories originating from fanfiction. We need to read good one of those. This one is truly a good book. Hear me out. The author's journey started from fan fiction. This book is a different story. The magic system is different. There are no wants. There, the magic system is different. The what else? Like, the characters are different. The the feeling of the book is different, the intention is completely different.
SPEAKER_01Wouldn't read her books because she it she started out as a fan fiction writer. To me, it's if you're like probably not this book specifically, but like if you take like the mortal instruments or other books of the same concept, it's the fact that you took characters and changed their names and like came up with a whole new story. Cause like after those books, like those three books or whatever, the Harry Styles fan fiction someone wrote on Wattpad. The T Shades of Grey is a fan fiction. That I knew, yes. I forget of who, but it's a fan fiction. Twilight. Yeah, that sounds about right. So I mean, like, if you're going to I mean, okay, after the main character's name is literally Harden. Harry Harden, you know what I'm you see? That I knew, yes. I knew about that one. Yeah, I knew about that one. So I'm like, okay. He's a British guy. Yeah. Very British. But no. I'm like, if you're gonna write a story about certain people, just change their names and like a few different things, but have the same, like, but low-key A market it that way, and then B also be like, oh, it's you know, based off of so-and-so fanfic. I'm like, no. Because if I didn't know after or the mortal instruments were based off of a fan fiction, or like, oh, these this author like shipped these two characters, I think I would have read it and been fine. But the fact that it is and I knew, I'm like, that's weird.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I don't think that's a problem with this book though, because this is not the the fan fiction is still on EO3, and that's a completely separate story and a completely separate ordeal in itself. This book is the writer's skills and ideas and the writing style taken to a book that is maybe it's it's it is magic and it is different kinds of sections of the society, but it's way more of a it's a different thing. Like when you read it, you wouldn't you wouldn't realize that oh this is in parallel to it. If somebody did realize it, maybe they did, but I didn't. But because I knew that it the author, that's how her journey started, I was expecting magic, which you delivered on. But the magic is not overpowering the story, like it's not like a magical like school or not anything. It's like there's healing, there's statistics, there's science. And the very first page of the book says, magic is just ununderstood science or whatever. So the the complete foundation of this book, I thought, in my opinion, based on what I understood, is very different from if we just picked two characters, changed their names, and like had them play together. This book is way more nuanced in just trying to genuinely understand if when you come across someone new whom you have never met, that kind of person before, and now you're questioning all your principles and morals. You're like, Did I even know this existed? Was I right in judging this person? And it goes either way, like he thinks she's too uptight, that she's so like stickler for rules, but then he sees how hard she works, and she's actually saving lives, and she's able to help so many people because of how hard she's been working all her life, dedicating herself to this science. And she realizes how much this person's been through and what he has he had to go through to even survive in the first place as a kid. But now that he's an adult and he can make his own choices, she repeatedly sees him helping people, not wanting to be cruel intentionally, just just him making a living, and that's just how he makes a living. And there's a little bit of magic, there's a little bit of uh fantastical elements, there are different kinds of people, but at the crux of it, the story truly explores the idea of right versus wrong, or can we live in a world where there's a little bit of gray and nobody is completely right or wrong? And I like the way just talking about the characters. So Osric is the dude and her name is Oriane, and they have the they have a very unique sense of humor. It's not like they're just similarly funny. Orienne's sense of humor is very like subtle, very intentional, and Osric is just he's just a funny, charming person, and that's intriguing because he's supposed to be this like villainous dude who's like evil and killing people, but him and the person who like maintains his mansion, he just is like uh a regular 20-somethings person who has his insecurities and who has his you know doubts about life, and just when he meets her, his world also completely like tumbles and he's like, Huh, what? Like, why how is this person like why am I feeling this way? Like, what are feelings? And you see him navigate that, and nowhere in the book is he like, oh, you have to fix me, like you know, emotionally or anything. He's he's also questioning his choices and his life and why am I doing this, or just they have dogs, like he has dogs, and he names them like all these, like he names them at the moment he found them. So if he was like murdering someone, he's named that dog that. Like if he was like kidnapping someone, there's there's a dog named wait, let me I have to tell you the dog's name. Yeah, there's a name, there's a dog called Arson. I love that. So all of these dogs are like named like Arson or or I wish I could find like if I had a dog, I'd low key name it Arson.
SPEAKER_01That's a dog name.
SPEAKER_03Right? And he's like, she he says they are named for what was happening when I found them. So he points at the dogs and he goes, Arson, perjury, forgery, outraging, outraging public decency, high treason. That's the name of his dog, high treason.
SPEAKER_01I'm obsessed. Why couldn't you just name him treason?
SPEAKER_03What up, yeah, and like that's his sense of humor. It is so innocent almost, but he's evil. But he has this like playfulness and his this charm that is very endearing almost. And you see them like get to know each other's course and be like, I like this person, but I don't accept where they come from. So, how much of you are you, and how much of you are where you're come where you're coming from?
SPEAKER_01That's the nature versus nurture. Fight that you know psychologists have, scientists have, anybody in anthropology, psychology, sociology.
SPEAKER_03Exactly. So you take that concept, you really put it into in perspective of when you really care about someone, how much do you care about where they're from? And can you this can you separate those things knowing how nice of a person they are? And and it's a there's no right or wrong answer in this, but this book just explores that concept of he's so you know so attractive, he's so good, he's so nice, but he's a firing, but he has this taken take take on whatever you said. Talking, yeah. And the way this book is written is very captivating. I read it in a day and a half, I couldn't put it down. It truly, like, I couldn't put it down because I had to know what's happening. And through the story, there is this a greater um setting that is revealed is there are kids dying of an illness in their kingdom, which they call time, and he donates their the healing the healing order. They're trying to like apply for grants and money to like get money to create some sort of um vaccine for this illness, right? And nobody's they're getting blocked from everywhere. And he's like, Okay, I'll sell a few of my paintings, I'll sell something, and then I'll give you the money, but you heal me. She's the only one who can heal his illness, which is like his his magic system that runs in their blood, is getting like it's rotting. Some nerve, so they have you know how uh we have like veins in this world. Your magic has a parallel vein running against your aside your blood. So, like, there's like if you draw you know how like those diagrams of like the body are in anatomy with like this blue and the red veins, they have a similar like thing, but just for the seed system. The seed is the magic, so they have have these veins and like joints and everything for magic, so it flows with your blood in parallel to your blood, so that's what they're healing. If they're healing the magic, that's what they're healing. So during cell fight, his system kind of like you know, gets blocked somewhere and it's rotting and it's irreversible. So she's the only one who can attempt to heal it. So he's like, take my money, heal me, tell nobody, because we are in opposite like orders and people can't know this is happening. So when they take the money, they're doing this vaccine for this illness, they realize this was an artificially created illness by people in power wanting to, oh shoot, this was a spoiler.
SPEAKER_01Wanting to spoiler, we're not gonna tell you, redacted.
SPEAKER_03But basically, he like helps her figure out, he's with her throughout the journey of helping, figuring this out, even though it starts with like a very selfish motive to save his own life, but you see how through all these choices, he truly does choose other people too, not just himself. And it's like till the end of the book, she still can decide if he is allowed to break that black and white mold in her life because he's so great, but she also wants him because he's so nice, and she and he makes her laugh and he makes her feel like you know, like she's got her match.
SPEAKER_01I don't want to feel like I'm projecting and being like, oh, but my book this, my book that, and like comparing the two because it's both fantasy worlds. So I'm just like, I'm just gonna let you talk and just give me the details because I don't again, I don't want to compare that and like I feel like they need to stay separate. Cause in my mind, I'm like, okay, the magic system, so I need you to like give me more details on how she did it, because then maybe I can t figure out like if it need if mine needs to get updated or like if mine needs to be written out better, or like the characters are like this shit. Maybe I need to have my characters kind, you know, the the things in like the back the things in like the back of my head are like, oh shit, I need to like do XYZ. Which is why I've like not read a single fantasy since I started writing this. I've literally just been reading straight gay romance and crime fiction.
SPEAKER_03Like that's it. But I like that you, you know, you're able to recognize that you need to step back because yeah, of course, you're in your writing zone, you know, you you can never shut it off. So I think till your book is like done and released, I feel like you're not gonna touch a romantic or any fantasy because they're gonna actively be like, oh, do I need this? Do I need that? Do I want this? Do I want that?
SPEAKER_01Which is I don't want the influences of other books and people read mine and be like, this sounds a lot like XYC book. Like agreed. Like, shit, was that my subconscious like slowly coming out when I was writing this? Or did I like actually draw parallels because my whole my brain was like, well, so and so wrote it like this. Do I need to fix mine to write it like this? So I'm like, I'm taking a break. I really there's so many fantasy that I like need to read, but I'm like, I can't, I can't touch them right now, at least not until I'm done writing this book and then the ones after it. I completely understand. I wouldn't want to feel like my ideas are not mine. I guess I do have one question. Is it dual POV or is it one? It's dual POV. Okay. Is it first person or third person? Is it I? I I I or is it their names?
SPEAKER_03Their names. Third person.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so it's like so-and-so did this, so-and-so did that, he, they, we, no, we, second person.
SPEAKER_03Yes, it's their names and like it's all the like pronouns he, they, she, them. You know, I started writing my book in first person, but I feel so awkward saying I, I, I feel like I must take the third person.
SPEAKER_01That's how I started mine, but then I was like, but if I do that, then I can't explain the what's happening around them. Because if it's and it's whatever's happening to me, so I'm not gonna know what's happening, like I'm not gonna know the conversation that they're having all the way over there unless I'm over there.
SPEAKER_03Exactly. So I think that's why also I feel like I wanna just write in third person because then you can really observe the world around too, not just what the character is observing. But if some books need the first person, sure, I'll write in first person. But I feel like after reading this one, I see how beautiful you can capture the third person voice. I don't know, depends on the book that I'm writing. Yours, since it's a contemporary, like a contemporary book, just a book.
SPEAKER_01Coming of age. Coming of age, yes. A coming of age, I feel like it would make more sense to write it in first person, but at the same time, it feels weird whenever you were like, I did this, I did that. You feel I feel so like whenever I talk to people and I know I by myself went and did something, I always say we because otherwise it sounds like I'm too snobby and I'm like, well, I did this and I did that, and I, I, I. So I'm always like, we did whatever, and then people are like, Who's we? And I'm like, me, myself, and I. That's a we.
SPEAKER_03I get that because as I'm writing, I'm like, uh-uh, this is like too much of oh, maybe I just need to like learn how to write it better. But I agree, like this book is dual POE and it's third person, and the writing is so crisp, like it's so clean, there's not an extra word that it needs to be. And some words are and the vocabulary in this book is really good. It's not pleasing anyone, like, it's not making it simple for you to um just like it's not spoon feeding you everything, it's making you use your brain as like, okay, how is this pronounced? What does this mean? Oh maybe this means this. And okay, where were we again? Like, you're actively involved in this book. It's not a very like even then, even then, it's a very I read it really fast because of how much I loved this world. I was in it, it absolutely in it. And when the book ended, I felt very bad. Because it ended. So you felt sad. I felt yes, I felt sad. And I feel like I don't know the author much about the author, but I think this is a perfect balance of the characters being attractive and smart and good people, as opposed to a fantasy book where the word sick is used too many times for the guy's arms, shoulders, you know, his um like his voice is too deep, or his like he'll he has like a trunk for a thigh or whatever. Like, I'm so sick of reading like those descriptions. I was like, But reading this book, you know just how attractive the dude is, just how beautiful and attractive the girl is. You know how nice they are, where they're lacking, where they're good. This is a perfect blend of like knowing a person. It's not too much about the physical, you know, persona. It's not there is there's signs of being charming, like as a person, there's signs of intelligence, there's signs of humor in all different styles. No, too, like, even though they're they're both funny, they're not as they're not funny in the same way. It's not like a it's not like I'm just copy pasting my humor onto my characters and be like, hey, they're funny. They have a very unique personality, both of them, and eventually you know that they're more similar than different, even though they've grown up in such different circumstances. They're still just people who are similar to each other and yet so different. So yeah, it's a beautifully, beautifully written book. You saw this book everywhere for a reason. It is a genuinely good book.
SPEAKER_01Well, I saw it everywhere because they just displayed like five million copies literally everywhere. And the pink that's a very like pop-out in your face kind of pink. So, like, quick glance, there's that book.
SPEAKER_03It's gorgeous.
SPEAKER_01The cover's pretty. I would I don't know if I would have picked it up to read it, but the cover is pretty. I'll give it that.
SPEAKER_03There's like a fairy loot or some kind of a different, yeah. There are these like subscription services who have their own covers, like special editions. There was one edition for this book, which when I saw it, it shook my heart. It was so gorgeous. I have to show you this. And I was like, I want that. If not then, I just want an art print from the artist who did it. I'm just like, please give me an art print, I'll buy it. But that cover is so beautiful. I have to show it to you. It's gorgeous. Like, I don't know, some show the screen.
SPEAKER_01Don't keep don't gatekeep it.
SPEAKER_03Ready? Yeah, look at that.
SPEAKER_01I I like this cover better. Ugh, that looks so good. I think from the way you explained the two characters, forget the background, I couldn't care less about that. Just the way that they're displayed, um, it just looks really good. It's it captures the shirtless? No. Is it sexy that he's shirtless? As a fucking Lutley. But what's getting to me is the fact that he's holding the dagger. That's that's what's got me. No, the knife in his hand. Oh, I thought he knew mine in the hand.
SPEAKER_03This cover 100% explains, like, not explains, but captures the vibe of the book so apt. The expressions, the pose, the dagger, and the the shirtlessness is done in a respectful manner. Like it's done in a non-awkward weird manner, it's very respectfully shirtless, beautifully. And like the way the sleeves are folding in his like, you know, like the things like folding on his arms, and the like the subtle, like the glove tand on her waist, and just like the the expressions also are captured so beautifully.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's well done.
SPEAKER_03When I saw this girl's like, take all my money, just give me this book.
SPEAKER_01I wonder where you can find it. It's probably like water stones or something.
SPEAKER_03It's like an illum illumicrate or something, not even fairy loot, and they had like a limited edition. Now people are selling these for like $500. Which I'm like, no, thank you. I'm just gonna contact the artist or just like ask her to can I buy an art print from you and just like put it as a bookmark in this book or something. Yeah. But isn't it so gorgeous?
SPEAKER_01Is I like that one better than that book cover.
SPEAKER_03It's okay. That encapsulates the entire vibe of the book, and there's this one piece of scene for lack of a better word. They are, if people who have read the book, they know what I'm talking about. That was spoilers. No spoilers, but they're just called acted. Yeah, I don't think this is a spoiler spoiler, so this should be fine. They are in he's injured because of something. He's injured because he was trying to save her from something.
SPEAKER_01That sounds like a spoiler to me, Sam.
SPEAKER_03Come on, it's he's a assassin, he's gonna get hurt every now and then.
SPEAKER_01He's gonna get hurt. Him protecting her is a spoiler.
SPEAKER_03Oh, okay, fine, fair enough. But so he's somehow, and she's like held him, like he and all that stuff, and he's resting, and he's like in her childhood like bedroom or whatever, like her place. She lives in the headquarters of their orders because she doesn't live at home, but he's in like there in her place where she grew up, and there's like a function going on downstairs because of her parents' anniversary, and she comes to check up on him, and he's like standing in the balcony, and the way that entire atmosphere was captured by the writer in that one chapter of how you feel that pull towards each other, like what and there's like this questioning of what's between them, you know, and then in her head, she's like, Ariane is like, Okay, he did this for me, but he's that, but then also this, and then that, but like I can't decide, like, I don't know what box to put him in. Is he a good person? Is he a bad person? Like, I can't for the life of me decide, and what do I do with this like weird feet feeling that I'm having? And they slow they dance, and like it's just that entire scene. I don't wanna like say too much about it because then but just the way it was described and written, it's like a movie playing in your head, and you can imagine like every expression, what the temperature was, it was a June, whatever. It's so beautifully written. It's like truly, truly, you can appreciate the art of writing in that scene, the entire book, but especially in that scene, because it captures the last two chapters of the book, it captures them so beautifully, and I just want to say that this line was my favorite line of the entire book. He just says, Let's put the bastard out of his misery. And people who've read it, people who know, they know, and it's I love them both so much. That scene is one of my favorite scenes ever written, just by the sheer beauty of like skill of writing. And I think if anything, you probably just might want to read that one chapter, and it'll tell you everything you need to know about them. And it's butterflies and giggles, and like no! All in one chapter. Closing thoughts. I would say if you are a person who likes to read, you should read this book.
SPEAKER_01Like all of you. I feel like that would be closing thoughts for all of our books. If you like to read, you should definitely read this.
SPEAKER_03Like, you know, some books are like not someone's cup of tea. Like, they're like, oh, I can't handle this. This book is a masterclass in the art of writing. You can appreciate it so much. And the characters are so well written, they're just beautiful, and I will never stop recommending this book to everyone.
SPEAKER_01You have a lot of recommendations, Sam. I do, and that almost every every episode we record, you're like, I'm gonna recommend this to literally everybody.
SPEAKER_03Because the books that I'm not recommending, I'm not telling you. That's true. The books that I haven't liked and left a horrible Goodreads review, I'm not telling you about it. True. But yeah, I I'll I'll talk the loudest about things that I love. So I'll always share stuff that I really admire, and I want everybody to experience that because it made me feel so happy. So please read The Irresistible Urge to Fall for Your Enemy by Bridget Knightley. That's not her real name, but that's a beautiful name, and makes me want to have a pen name. We'll see if. I know, I keep thinking about it, and I'm like, maybe I should have one too, but I feel like she's inspired me so much and just the the themes that I'm writing on, I feel like I will be able to write so much freer and so much more honest if I'm not under under the fear that people who know me are gonna read it. I feel like I would my writing would be drastically different if I just I knew that people who know me wouldn't know this is me. So I feel like I wanna have a bench.
SPEAKER_01And I kinda want my name on it to be like this is you know, this is my baby. Like see that, like my name is on a book, but then at the same time, I'm like I don't want some creepo trying to find me.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, and I feel like I also put enough of my thoughts on it like through my music and like other stuff. So I don't really need I just need my words out in the world. I don't need it to have like my real name, but I wanna have my real name on my music, of course, and then my paintings and stuff. So I'm okay with like sacrificing, but the the uh the other thing is then if I use a pen name and I don't disclose my identity, I can't go to book panels ever. What do you mean? Like if I'm sharing my face and my name everything on like my music stuff and like my other stuff, and I use a different name for my books, and I don't want to show my face, like who the who you can't go, you'd have to have like a stand-in or somebody to go for like a marshmallow head or something.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I want the book panels, no matter like how small they are or how big. Like the fact that two people forget two people, one person showed up because they want to read my book sold. That's why I'm torn. Like, do I wanna sacrifice that? But like all the other authors that do have pen names, they still show their face and go and do things, but then everything at the same time under them is under their pen name. It's a it's a different battle for me.
SPEAKER_02This is Sam, and this is Nikki, and you're listening to the Readers of Tuesday's podcast. We'll see you next time. Till then. Happy reading!
