Red Flags, Sparkles and Chaos

In this chaotic and hilarious premiere episode of Booked & Bitter, Abbey, Krystalynn and Mandy sink their fangs into the sparkly teen empire that is Twilight. From midnight book releases to sparkly stalker vampires, the trio debates whether Edward Cullen is a dreamboat or a walking red flag, argues the math behind love triangles, and laments Bella Swan’s pick-me energy. Abbey reads Twilight for the first time, Krystalynn defends her high school obsession, and Mandy regrets everything—especially letting her daughter read steamy vampire romances at age nine.

Plus, the crew introduces a few new segments: “Let’s Get Bitter,” where Abbey vents about a compulsive one-upper (and her delicious revenge), and “Currently Reading,” where they talk King, chaos, and whatever romance novel is currently ruining their emotional stability. They also shout out their favorite local bookstore, Lit on Fire, a Peoria gem and safe haven for all book lovers.

It’s dramatic. It’s messy. It’s definitely not the first time they’ve recorded this. And as always, they’re tatted, chatted, and slightly dramatic.

Catch us on social media ◡̈
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Just a reminder - we are not professionals about much... maybe don't take our advice.

Transcript

Abbey (00:00)
Hey, this is Abby.

Krys (00:01)
Hi, this is Krys

Mandy (00:01)
Hi, this is Mandy and this is Booked and Bitter.

Today we are diving into the cringiest love triangle and young adult history reading. We love it. We hate it. We reread it annually. Well, some of us. Talk Twilight. So Twilight came out in what, 2005? I have not read a lot of vampire books. Crystalline, I'm gonna throw this out to you. Were there a lot of vampire books around that time or was Twilight like the first one for teens?

Abbey (00:21)
Let's

Krys (00:34)
So this is actually when I was making my notes for this podcast. This was a huge portion of all of my notes that I had. And I think it goes, it's deep. Because, and I think this is why I'm so in love with Twilight and we'll never let that infatuation go because Twilight was not the first vampire romance. However, it was the first vampire romance that was not, that didn't have dark themes and was geared towards young adults. You had

I mean, ⁓ the Black Dagger Brotherhood is one of the most famous vampire series ever, but it has such dark themes and it gets people away from the story if they're not okay with those dark themes. Twilight.

Mandy (01:19)
I'll be right back, gotta go reread the Black Dagger brotherhood. I'll be right back, I shall return.

Krys (01:23)
All 32 books?

Abbey (01:27)
I've never even heard of that book. Serious, I guess.

Krys (01:29)
Shame

Abby. ⁓

Mandy (01:32)
⁓

it's so dirty.

Krys (01:34)
That's my point though, it's so dirty and it was very clearly geared towards adults. And Twilight was the first one that was, I mean, it had dark themes in it, but the entire book was not dark. It was very lighthearted. It was very cringy and fun. Stephanie Meyer knew her target audience and she nailed it.

Mandy (01:54)
Well, I mean, she did dream about a sparkly vampire in a meadow, right? Right!

Krys (01:58)
Who wouldn't want to read lighthearted sparkly vampires? Yeah, you now, but you did 20 years ago.

Mandy (02:01)
me now.

Because like everyone knows, everyone has read Twilight except for Abby. It's huge. No matter love it or hate it, the cultural impact has been huge with this huge. I took my daughters to the midnight releases. We read all of the books. We borrowed the books. We shared the books. We talked about the books. We got psycho if people weren't done in time for someone else to read the books. So it was huge. And it's still around today. But Abby, you're just now reading Twilight.

Krys (02:14)
BOOM!

Abbey (02:35)
Just now. I'm on eclipse. Still.

Mandy (02:37)
That doesn't make sense because this is our first episode. Yeah. one we have totally not tried to record this three times.

Abbey (02:40)
Yeah, ⁓

No,

no, no. That'd be ridiculous.

Krys (02:50)
We are

professionals, we did it right the first time.

Mandy (02:53)
This is the first time ever.

Abbey (02:56)
Yeah,

anyways...

Krys (02:59)
What part do want in the eclipse?

Abbey (03:01)
I don't even know because it's been so long since I started it. I've entirely forgot.

Krys (03:04)
You're in.

Mandy (03:05)
We're

discussing Twilight, not Eclipse.

Abbey (03:07)
That's true too.

Krys (03:09)
Okay, I was just nosy.

Mandy (03:11)
We'll come back for Eclipse.

Abbey (03:13)
We'll come back. We'll be back for that. I'm sure.

Mandy (03:15)
So when, what age were you when you first read Twilight, Krystle?

Krys (03:18)
It

was 2005. ⁓ nine years old? No, Bad Parenting is reading Wild Orchids by Jude Devereux at nine years old. That's bad parenting.

Mandy (03:21)
That's bad parenting.

I will smack you in the mouth if you trash talk Judeau Roe.

Krys (03:31)
You shouldn't

have read Wild Orchids

Mandy (03:34)
Probably

didn't tell you to, daughter.

Abbey (03:37)
I just want to point out, was reading Little House on the Prairie at that time.

Krys (03:42)
To be fair, so was I. just, you know, I was like, that's a pretty flower on this book, because it is a pretty flower. And mom was like, you can read it. And she obviously was not paying attention. And I devoured that book in a day. And I have it. I have the original copy that I read because mom gave it to me. And it is well loved.

Mandy (04:00)
cutting this out because I don't want to be seen as a bad parent.

Krys (04:07)
You're a bad parent. It gave me a love for my dark man. I highly recommend that book

Abbey (04:11)
Shockingly, also haven't heard of that one.

Krys (04:13)
Jude Devereaux, it is always a hit with her. Read anything.

Mandy (04:17)
Anything.

Abbey (04:18)
I've got too long of a list right now to make my way through to be adding anything new.

Krys (04:21)
⁓

No kidding, she has a series and it's two series that interweave together and I think the total is like 24 books.

Abbey (04:29)
That's far too much of a commitment.

Mandy (04:30)
Skip those and just read A Night in Shining Armor. That is my favorite book, like of all books ever. It's so good, I love it so much.

Krys (04:33)
have that, I just bought that.

Abbey (04:40)
A Knight of Shining Armor?

Mandy (04:41)
A knight in shining armor. In. Okay, so there went the path and we are off of it. So back to Twilight we go. So let's talk about the plot. I'm gonna do a short plot and then you guys can add to it if you choose. Bella moves from Arizona to Forks. Super awkward, meets Edward, almost dies like 14 times. The end.

Krys (04:48)
What part are we on?

Abbey (05:08)
honestly pretty spot on, didn't miss a thing. yeah, I guess there's a love triangle happening at the same time.

Krys (05:10)
This is a thing.

Mandy (05:12)
Yes, so there's

a little bit of- It's obsession, you're right, it's not a legend.

Krys (05:15)
triangle.

It's not a love triangle. The love triangle wasn't even introduced until New Moon. even more so, a love triangle insinuates that three people love each other and can't decide. So Edward and Jacob have to be obsessed with each other. It's just an angle. It's not a triangle.

Abbey (05:31)
No! ⁓

Mandy (05:37)
She is changing the love triangle rules.

Krys (05:40)
I am not. am being mathematically correct. It is not a triangle if it only has two sides.

Mandy (05:47)
Do

ask your uncle Google that crap right now.

Krys (05:50)
Ow!

Abbey (05:51)
Look this up.

Mandy (05:52)
Yes, a love triangle is when three people are involved in a relationship. And not with each other, just a relationship.

Krys (05:56)
one relationship.

Abbey (06:00)
The triangle is a complex relationship involving three individuals where one person is romo- my gosh. Romantically involved with two others.

Krys (06:10)
That is polyamory, it's not a love triangle.

Abbey (06:13)
Only a reason

you're talking

Mandy (06:14)
about. Yes, exactly. This is going to be my favorite part of podcast when when Abby and I gang up on Chris.

Krys (06:20)
I get what you guys are saying. I just don't agree and I also don't think that Bella had any emotional attachments to Jacob. I think she was a child. Romantic attachments to Jacob.

Mandy (06:31)
Blasphemy.

She literally loves him.

Krys (06:37)
As a brother it's no we love I don't not confused because she doesn't have siblings.

Mandy (06:44)
You're rewriting

the narrative. ⁓

Krys (06:46)
I think it's been 20 years since you read the books. You're not done.

Abbey (06:49)
for them.

Mandy (06:50)
Yeah.

⁓ I thought you had something there. So back to the plot.

Abbey (06:56)
Yeah, start or something.

Krys (07:00)
The pot? Back to the pot, mom. We know where your mind's at.

Mandy (07:04)
Every

single day. Every single day. Which by the way, Abby, it was fine. Dude can't handle his weed. I was fine. So backwards we go. Take a turn. The plot. The plot. So in all seriousness, Bella moves to Forks, which I want to go to. She meets Edward. He watches her while she's sleeping, even though he doesn't talk to her. He wants to kill her.

Abbey (07:11)
told you that I

screen.

Mandy (07:28)
thinks about killing her, escapes so he doesn't kill her, comes back and all is well. He decides to be friends. They both get obsessed. They both almost die. He almost kills her, saving her life. And then they go to prom. Obviously. I mean, and also they go to the reservation to go to the lake and that's where we meet Jacob.

Abbey (07:40)
What else path, what other path would you take?

Krys (07:48)
La push baby. It's la push.

Mandy (07:50)
Bush.

The Cullens don't come here.

Abbey (07:55)
What's there?

Krys (07:58)
So a lot of people have complaints about the pacing of not even just Twilight but the whole series. It happens very very quickly. Which I get it. It was a very fast relationship. A lot of things happen in a very short amount of time.

Mandy (08:15)
That's

most books, most movies, everything moves very fast. ⁓

Abbey (08:19)
it's a teen relationship.

Krys (08:21)
That's my point I was getting to. Thank you, Abby. I off way snarlier than I have been.

Abbey (08:26)
I like threw my hands up

Mandy (08:28)
That straight up sounded like the episode of Charmed. The episode of Charmed where they go back to be teenagers. She's like, whatever Piper.

Krys (08:37)
I just washed up the other day!

Abbey (08:39)
I need to rewatch Charms.

Mandy (08:41)
I can't yet, not since Cole. gotta wait now. I can't do it.

Krys (08:45)
It's therapeutic for me because now I get to see his nice ass on a TV.

Abbey (08:50)
not the words I was expecting. Honestly, I don't know what I was expecting, but it was not that.

Mandy (08:54)
My goodness.

Krys (08:55)
And you're not getting the full value of charmed, okay? Pay attention.

Abbey (08:59)
Apparently not. I don't remember that bit. Well, anyway.

Krys (09:01)
to Cole's butt.

My point with the pacing was that it's very reminiscent of a high school relationship. I mean, I cannot tell you how many times I would come home and mom would be like, how so and so? And I'd be like, we're done. I'm dating so and so now. It was just that fast and it was that quick pace and you're in love within a week and your whole world revolves around this one guy for, you know, within the week that you started dating. And, you know, she just never got out of that phase. She never was like, no, I'm better off with, you know.

Anyone else? Your best friend, somebody else that all other high school girls go through. I think that has a lot to do with that.

Abbey (09:41)
Did

you just respond to my text that I lost sound like 20 minutes ago?

Mandy (09:45)
I did. I did.

Krys (09:48)
SMILE FACE

I'm off on this. this like, what is this? Western?

Mandy (09:55)
I know

my time is not on.

Abbey (09:57)
I said my time is on what?

Krys (09:59)
Really? Because it says like the time stamp for this chat is 526.

Mandy (10:03)
Yeah, I think your time is off. Okay, that's fair. Nice combat.

Krys (10:05)
Time is off.

Abbey (10:09)
Nice.

Krys (10:10)
Is that Taylor Swift's

Abbey (10:15)
Once again!

Mandy (10:17)
Let's talk characters. So let's talk one good thing about Bella Swan. And it can't be Charlie.

Abbey (10:23)
I mean, darn. ⁓

Krys (10:24)
good

thing.

Mandy (10:25)
Yeah, like what's one favorite thing about Bella? Bella from the book, not the movie.

Abbey (10:31)
so I haven't seen the movie, so that's easy.

Mandy (10:33)
Okay.

Abbey (10:34)
I appreciate that she is very similar to an actual high schooler. Like, I do appreciate that she's a clumsy, she loves easily, like it's very realist.

Mandy (10:44)
Agree, agree 100%.

Krys (10:46)
I have nothing. just like Bella. She was the OG Pick Me girl before Pick Me's were a thing. reading it now as an adult, she's so exasperating.

Mandy (11:01)
Like a teenage girl?

Krys (11:02)
Exactly!

Makes me want to look forward to my child being a teenage girl.

Abbey (11:07)
Best of luck to you on that.

Krys (11:10)
She just screams. Look, I am, I'm so different because my favorite book is Wuthering Heights. It's a classic. I'm better than you.

Mandy (11:18)
Made it personal.

Abbey (11:20)
I tried being nice, that's all I got.

Mandy (11:22)
Right. All right. Let's talk about Edward the stalker. What's a good thing about him? He glitters in the sunshine. So what do we like about Edward?

Abbey (11:27)
the skin of a killer bell.

Absolutely

nothing. Absolutely nothing. He's controlling? Stalker? Like, what?

Mandy (11:35)
He's a s-

Krys (11:38)
see him that way. I mean, yes, he does have negative attributes, but he is a hundred year old, seventeen year old.

Mandy (11:48)
Also, I would like to take this point since you brought it up to throw out the line that my husband brought about this book, who he has not read this book, but I'm describing it to him and I read him the AI summary that we'll get to in a minute. And he said, so basically this dude is a hundred years old and he's using his age and experience to manipulate a high school girl. What?

Abbey (12:09)
Nailed it! Absolutely, 100%. Just so much weird. don't like nothing about him.

Mandy (12:15)
I mean, he protects those he love. ⁓

Krys (12:19)
I think he was written well. And I'm going to use comparisons for this because I read a lot of vampire romances where the vampire in the relationship is hundreds and hundreds of years old. And I've read some that are eerily similar to Twilight where they are hundreds of years old, but they're only physically 16, 17, 18 years old. And again, you get into real...

reality more so than the fictional world, but a 17 year old is going to act different than a 25 year old and that has everything to do with their brain not being properly put together. They're not done growing and when they get turned into a vampire, they're stuck at that spot. So they could have hundreds of years of knowledge and you know, growth and everything, but their brain is still stuck at that 17 year old phase.

And I think that has impacts on their reaction. So you have a 17 year old who is obsessed with another 17 year old. And instead of being able to properly regulate his emotions, like, you know, a 25 year old would be able to do, he does not have that ability. Makes it very difficult for him not to do what he just wants to do and stalk her and obsess over her and manipulate her.

Is it healthy? No. Does it kind of make sense? I think it does.

Mandy (13:52)
I think that you have romanticized this dude.

Krys (13:54)
It's a romantic story. You're supposed to. I think it's because your frontal cortex is fully developed and you know that that's wrong. as a 17 year old who was obsessed with her boyfriend in high school, I'm telling you I would if I could have.

Mandy (13:58)
when you're high school.

Abbey (13:58)
So.

telling you my brain isn't doesn't your brain not fully finish developing until you're 25 so mine is not I snapped the Z formation in case you're wondering

Mandy (14:19)
Nice.

Krys (14:19)
Pull

the girl card. Girls are smarter than boys anyway. Your frontal cortex totally developed before 25.

All right, I'm done. I'm off my high horse

Mandy (14:31)
Okay, okay, just wanted to make sure. Sounded there was a lot of room up there. I wanted to give you plenty of it.

Krys (14:36)
I love Edward, okay? I will never get over that.

Abbey (14:40)
You do you. I just can't get behind it.

Mandy (14:43)
Nope, cannot support it, cannot support it. So let's ask this. Let's just touch briefly on Jacob and that's not a sexual innuendo, but thoughts on Jacob. I think he's just as obsessive. That comes like later after Twilight, but I think that he is just as much of a problem.

Abbey (15:02)
I can see that, I'm not at that point yet. I love Jacob currently still. I haven't seen any of the things I know are to come, so I currently still am okay with Jacob. ⁓

Krys (15:11)
I dislike him because he's

a just like if we're focusing just on the book and in the first Twilight we don't get a whole lot of interaction with Jacob and so I'm using more information we get from him in later books to come to this conclusion so you know grain of salt and all that but he doesn't have an excuse a supernatural excuse to be as manipulative and obsessive and stalkerish towards Bella until the second book

He's just a regular 15 year old kid in the first book. There's nothing supernatural about him. Why can he not just leave her alone and take no for an answer?

Abbey (15:47)
confused. I mean, maybe I just haven't seen that aspect of it yet. I haven't seen him be anything other than just like a worried friend because he's not

Mandy (15:56)
She doesn't tell him no in Twilight.

Krys (15:58)
not know straight up, but she definitely makes it known that she is Edward is who she wants to be with and he is just a friend and had he taken that hint we wouldn't have had the drama we had in the second, third, and fourth books.

Mandy (16:12)
You're just so Team Edward that you can't look away at it.

Krys (16:15)
I think also it bothers me that Jacob is a kid. He's a

Mandy (16:20)
100 % but they all are. But so is Bella.

Krys (16:23)
They're 17 years old though. They're almost adults. In like most states, they're legally able to make decisions for themselves. He is a freshman in high school.

Mandy (16:31)
think once again, you just a little bit, and by that I mean a whole lot, are redefining the narrative to Twilight. Because in Twilight, the very first book, don't take any of the other books into account. Their only interactions are when he's like with the truck at the beach and then at the end for the dance when he's like, we'll be watching. I don't think there's anything like flirty, overboard, no obsession in Twilight anyway.

Abbey (16:57)
No. He just seems like a worried friend in the first book.

Mandy (17:00)
and like he has like a little crush.

Krys (17:03)
That was my point. That's why I said grain of salt. My opinion of him is very clouded by the actions he took in the second, third, and fourth book, especially the third book.

Mandy (17:12)
Okay, that's fair. But again, I mean, we'll get there. But I just want to say that I don't want to victim blame anybody here.

At no point is she like, she's like, she says, I'm with Edward, but no, does she ever tell Jacob to go away. So let's move on. Because I will die on this hill. But so favorite character that hasn't been mentioned and why is it Charlie or Alice? I love.

Krys (17:28)
No, I get that.

Abbey (17:31)
Let's move on.

Krys (17:40)
Book Charlie?

Mandy (17:42)
Okay, so it's just movie Charlie that gets the attention. ⁓

Krys (17:45)
I

love movie Charlie. Book Charlie, what do mean that you are a grown man and you cannot cook yourself dinner? A healthy dinner. Why are you relying on your 17 year old daughter to do it for you?

Mandy (17:47)
Okay.

You grew up with a dad that cooks a lot. ⁓

Krys (18:02)
He's a grown man that can cook for himself.

Mandy (18:05)
I

mean, that's fair, but I think the way I saw Charlie in the book outside of the movie, in the book, I see him as a dad who really doesn't know how to talk or live or deal at all with his teenage daughter. so I really think that the character of Charlie not only does it develop well in all of the books, but I think he's great. I don't think he's as great as some of the people online do, but...

Krys (18:29)
If we're talking about the whole series, Charlie is my favorite character that develops well. By the fourth book, he is my favorite character hands down. But you told me we're only talking about Twilight.

Mandy (18:41)
And we are. I just wanted to stick up for Charlie because I think you're giving him a bad rap just because he's trying to include his daughter in like the cooking.

Abbey (18:48)
helped give her a purpose because she was a ghost for the first how much of the book. Right.

Mandy (18:53)
And also I think Alice is adorable, but I also think again, it comes along more as the series goes. Well, let's move on because we're spending a lot of time talking about this stuff. What is a moment that's cringy in Twilight, but you love it anyways?

Abbey (19:10)
So my issue is I'm really struggling to remember what actually happened in the first book because I've read them all back to back. So I'm really trying to focus on remembering what happened in the first book.

Mandy (19:21)
Well, maybe you'll hear ours and then it'll trigger something. Because mine is definitely the cringiest moment that I love in Twilight and agree that it's cringy, but I still love it is when the girls go shopping and Edward shows up. Because it's kind of stalkery, but he also saves her.

Abbey (19:42)
would agree on that one. do because he ended up saving her and they ended up going to dinner and having like a whole actual meaningful conversation, which I think was

Mandy (19:50)
And you can tell that he's trying to like, he wants her to eat, he wants her to drink, he wants her to realize that he is a bad dude.

Abbey (19:58)
Yes, and he's actually like showing empathy. He's acting like an actual person. It's not just right

Mandy (20:05)
So let's wrap up thoughts about Twilight. Why is Twilight still so popular today? I think it's because it's average teenager.

Abbey (20:12)
I think it's because it's average teenagers and I don't even know if it's it's also just a nostalgia thing because there are people that like this what got them into reading this is what sparked their love of reading. That's fair. I don't Because it's not that great of a book

Mandy (20:26)
No, I mean, but it is that ultimate love story where this guy will literally do all of these things that as a teenager you see so amazingly. my God, look how much he loves me. He won't let me go anywhere without him. He wants to spend all my time with him and blah, blah, blah, blah. So I think it is like the ultimate romance story as a teenager. For sure. As an adult, I'm like, stop. Right. But as a teenager, I get it. Krystle and we're discussing.

Abbey (20:42)
Right?

Mandy (20:54)
Why is Twilight still so popular?

Krys (20:58)
I would, I agree. I'd also like to add that it is kind of a blueprint for modern lighthearted fantasy romance. Okay. And not like high fantasy, but just generic vampires and that interact with humans. It is very, you can, I read a lot of books and there are some times where I'm like, that was a nod to Twilight. That was really cool. And it's so evident that it has encouraged other authors to write similar.

works and I like that.

Mandy (21:28)
All right, that's an interesting take. So every episode when we talk about a book, we're going to put it into AI and ask for a summary. So here is the Twilight summary from AI. A chronically clumsy teen moves to the rainiest town in existence. She immediately falls for a 100 year old vampire who sparkles like a human disco ball and watches her sleep. Together, they redefine red flags as romance while casually ignoring the werewolf love triangle, healthy boundaries, and literally every adult in the story.

Abbey (21:58)
think it's pretty spot on.

Mandy (22:00)
sums it up like 100.

Abbey (22:02)
If

I were to just read that, I just stumbled across that, I'd be like, yeah, that's talking about Twilight.

Mandy (22:07)
That's Twilight, right? checks all the boxes.

Abbey (22:11)
All the boxes are there and it makes perfect sense. Yeah.

Mandy (22:14)
100. Anything else you would like to say about Twilight other than, you know, maybe read it because you should read it and then forget you ever read it.

Abbey (22:25)
Or if you've made it this long without reading it, you're probably okay.

Mandy (22:28)
Yeah, but I mean if you're listening and you've made it this far, let us know what you thought of Twilight. Let us know your favorite Twilight quote.

Abbey (22:36)
Let us know at what age you read Twilight, because that may make a difference.

Mandy (22:40)
Yes, absolutely. Because we've learned that people like Kristalyn that read it as a teenager have like developed this lifelong love of the book and people like you and I that read it as adults are like, cringy.

Abbey (22:54)
Crazy. Crazy that a book about teenagers is not loved by the adults.

Mandy (22:58)
Okay, so that wraps up Twilight.

Abbey (23:02)
Let's get bitter is going to be the segment where we just be bitter in vents.

Mandy (23:07)
Vin, complain. Where

the bitter and the booked come together.

Abbey (23:12)
It's

really they'd meet very well or just always got something to talking. Can I say crap? Talking crap about.

Mandy (23:17)
100.

Yeah, and this group we're going to have a lot to complain about. So go ahead, get better Abby.

Abbey (23:25)
Always do.

So, a person I am acquainted with, someone I know relatively well, is a compulsive liar and a one-upper. Shocked, truly. I hate the one-uppers. Just let me have my moment.

Mandy (23:37)
I hate the one-upper.

I

hate the one up or more than you do.

Abbey (23:43)
You know what? You can have it. I'll allow it. But just let somebody have their moment. There's no reason to always have to input something. But this person I know is just chronically always has something going on. There is never a dull moment in their life. They have to have something. They have to be talking about themselves 100 % of the time. It's agreed. so finally,

Last last I seen them. I realized I am over this it's been happening for like two years now I'm done. So I decided I'm going to just start doing it right back

Mandy (24:15)
them. ⁓ So you just started like lying or one-upping? Both.

Abbey (24:18)
honestly. just, whatever they're talking about, I always have something now. Like, they mentioned something about traveling the other day, and I'm like, yeah, yeah, I'm doing this. I'm not, but they don't know that. They don't know me well enough. They don't know me well enough that I would even consider them a friend or somebody I talk to on regular basis, so they're never gonna know.

Mandy (24:38)
Okay. So when have they like tried to one up your one upping?

Abbey (24:42)
yeah yeah and they double down on it and they'll be like texting other people about it and they'll be like i'll be talking to one of our like mutuals and i'll be like yeah they just told me this and they'll be like well that's weird they literally just told me the exact opposite so i've just started spewing nonsense just absolute nonsense at them and weirdly enough they have not talked to me recently weirdly enough it worked so two years of pain could have been solved much much sooner

Mandy (25:03)
That's hilarious.

I mean, gotta do what you gotta do and it's all about figuring it out. Right.

Abbey (25:13)
I haven't called me out on it. If they call me out on it, I'll just be straight I think but for a time being Yeah, I wouldn't be the first time I've complained about this to this person multiple times Yes, I have told them that I cannot just let somebody have their moment There's no reason to be stealing somebody's thunder like that.

Mandy (25:25)
Seriously.

steal the thunder. Like, don't yuck ⁓

Abbey (25:38)
Like, there's just so many examples and I don't know how into it can get without giving away that this is this person.

Mandy (25:45)
Yeah,

because we don't want them to know you're talking about them.

Abbey (25:48)
No,

I'll tell it to their face, but I won't say it to a podcast.

Mandy (25:52)
That's fair. That feels a little... That's noble. It's boring, but it's fair.

Abbey (25:56)
Feels a little rude. But somebody announced a big life event. They announced a very big life event that they were very excited for. And immediately they turned it onto themselves instead of letting that person have a moment to be congratulated and have their time. So. Eww. Mm-hmm. Yeah. they- my gosh. I snapped on them that day.

Mandy (26:18)
Nice. I love, I love me and Abby.

Abbey (26:21)
It doesn't come out often.

Mandy (26:23)
I usually like drunk Abby as my favorite Abby, but me and Abby is my second favorite.

Abbey (26:29)
They got two dices.

Mandy (26:31)
Do you want to vent about anything?

Abbey (26:35)
Not even that your microphone's having some technical difficulties there.

Krys (26:39)
I don't know what's going on. I don't even think it's my microphone. I think it's my, the cord I have for the MacBook isn't charging it. So I think it died. But like it kept freezing before it died. So I don't, I don't know.

Abbey (26:50)
Well that's cute.

Mandy (26:56)
I'd take that MacBook back. You f***ed me. I know I did. But my new one is awesome.

Krys (26:58)
cave it to me.

I think I just need to suck it up and get a desk and a desktop so I can stop being ridiculous.

Mandy (27:10)
Well, I highly recommend, I guess we shouldn't do shout outs yet till they support us, Anyways, so no Vince, I got nothing, Abby nailed all of the reasons why we're a little bit bitter.

Abbey (27:13)
Right, no free promo.

and I will tell you to your face if that happens.

Krys (27:24)
Are we reading anything interesting right now? I'm reading-

Mandy (27:26)
reading

some Stephen King. As you should. Yup. Who wants to guess what Stephen King book I'm reading?

Krys (27:33)
Let's start with the number one.

Abbey (27:36)
and end with the- I'm gonna take a wild guess just pulling this out of a hat. 11, 22, 63.

Mandy (27:37)
She's the number 11, but you're close.

Yes, that is exactly what I'm reading. It's slow going because I'm also reading whatever the fourth book is called in Throne of Glass. Hair. Okay, sounds good. I basically am still in chapter one of both of those and now I've been assigned another book for this. It's spectacular. I did manage, I'm a photographer if you're just now meeting me and I.

Abbey (27:53)
Air fire? ⁓

Krys (27:54)
fire.

Abbey (28:03)
It's going great, I see.

Krys (28:04)
Just never get done.

Mandy (28:13)
I almost all caught up on editing and then it is, you know, school is out until August so it is read time. Whaa? huh. I love that. what are you reading? And keep it clean.

Krys (28:24)
It is

clean. So I got recommended a book series by a co-worker of mine. We share very similar book taste. So it was, it was, it's really nice to talk to her about some of these books too. So I'm currently reading 68 Whiskey by Erin Russell. It is a dark themed book. It focuses on like the poverty and the drug use and of like in Missouri and the Ozarks of Missouri.

And I just, it's a romance, but it's a hard-won romance, and I love that. Interesting.

Abbey (28:56)
Interesting. Love that.

Mandy (28:58)
Alright, Abby what are you reading?

Abbey (28:59)
So

I don't know, I just finished the book that I was actively reading while I was kind of halfway reading the other books I've been reading.

Mandy (29:08)
What in the hell?

Krys (29:09)
And there is it down, thank you.

Abbey (29:10)
You're welcome, anytime. So, I was reading the last book of Throne of Glass, Kingdom of Ash. I'm reading Under the Dome by Stephen King. And then I'm reading The Eclipse, the Twilight book. But the main book I was reading, while kind of halfway reading the other two, was The Kingdom of Ash. So I finished that, so I don't know what to start now. But apparently I've gotten assigned something.

Mandy (29:22)
yes.

You could finish the other two that you're reading. Right. Plus you also got assigned another book to read.

Abbey (29:35)
That just doesn't sound right.

I guess

that's true. I guess I could read that, but if that'll happen, I don't know. I'm a mood reader. like to pick things up on a whim and just randomly start reading things.

Mandy (29:49)
I will literally stop reading a book mid book and be like, nope, I need something super romantic right now.

Abbey (29:56)
I have

a mile long list on my Kindle that I have to read because I can't check any more books out from my Kindle until I read one.

Krys (30:05)
really bad about starting a book that I know is gonna like break my heart. And once I get past a really hard scene and it's, you know, that's done and it's kind of calm in the book, I will pause, go read like a rom-com and then come back to it.

Abbey (30:22)
I also get in bad reading slumps with those books when they have those such emotional times that I'm like, wow, I can't read anything else for the next seven years.

Mandy (30:29)
No, I need to let my brain and my heart heal and, you know, go play some Candy Crush or something. Except I think I'm like the last person on earth that plays Candy Crush.

Abbey (30:40)
I think.

Krys (30:42)
I think you might be the highest scoring person on Candy Crush 2. What level are you on?

Mandy (30:46)
Listen, I'm feeling, I mean I brought it up, but I'm feeling a little attacked.

Abbey (30:54)
You brought this on yourself is all we gotta say.

Mandy (30:56)
I guess so. So let me sign in here and I'm going to see what level I'm on.

Krys (31:01)
honestly

didn't even know that you still played it.

Abbey (31:04)
I didn't

know anybody still played Candy Crush, I'm gonna be so for real. I haven't heard that name in years. That was like a war flashback.

Mandy (31:11)
I know. I can't stop though. I'm so far. I can't give up on it. I'm on level 9036. mean, I've literally seen people that are on level 10,000 something. So I'm not the highest. It's been a bit. has been a bit. I think I discovered it when you were in a freshman in high school. ⁓

Krys (31:18)
Is this mom?

Abbey (31:19)
Light work, easy.

Krys (31:33)
Think so? Yeah, I was trying to remember.

Mandy (31:36)
Yeah. So moving on. Let's talk about the real main character of today's podcast. So every episode, we're going to try to give a shout out to a local store, nonprofit, animal rescue, something along those lines of, you know, someplace local that we love because it's easy to shop someplace with the next day shipping, but it's better when it's local and makes a difference. And that is advice I also need to take.

Abbey (32:04)
Agreed.

Mandy (32:05)
Today we're going to talk about Lit on Fire in Peoria, Illinois. It's a bookstore. It's a maze.

Abbey (32:11)
Everything about it is just amazing. The whole vibe, the whole purpose, everything they do. Yeah.

Mandy (32:17)
The three of us actually went there a couple of weeks ago. Gosh, hasn't been that long.

Abbey (32:21)
Yeah.

Mandy (32:22)
And we spent way too much money, but we had a blast. Haven't even started any of the books I bought. The owner is eventually going to be on the podcast, have already talked with them. It's in the works. We just want to get some episodes out there and then have them on here.

Abbey (32:37)
I

want to give them a base, somebody to be listening eventually to.

Mandy (32:41)
Right. Other than just the, you know, the three of us and our significant others and Kristalyn's child.

Abbey (32:48)
Obviously. Obviously. Right.

Mandy (32:50)
Right, but it's lit on fire. It's a bookstore. It's a safe haven place for anyone and everyone. Amazing.

Abbey (32:59)
They've got things for everyone. They've got a whole wide selection. They have a spot specifically for local authors. have pins and flags and kids books and just about anything you could want.

Mandy (33:12)
coloring books and I love how the shelves are broken up. It's not just history. It's not just this. It's like, you know, Civil War style history. It's broken down into ways that you can actually find the book that you're looking for or the book you didn't know you're looking for.

Abbey (33:28)
⁓

It can give you just a whole topic that you can just look and try and find something you enjoy.

Mandy (33:33)
Exactly. So Lit on Fire, Peoria, Illinois, the corner of Maine and Sheridan. And you should check it out and make sure you tell them that you heard it on our podcast.

Abbey (33:45)
Definitely,

Mandy (33:48)
Alrighty, well then as always we are tatted, tatted, and slightly dramatic.

Abbey (33:54)
and we'll be back next week with Throne of Glass. Woo! If that doesn't work, we're done.

Mandy (34:00)
That was spicy.