EP. 30: Game On by Navessa Allen

In this episode of 'Read Me Next', hosts Carina and Pili discuss "Game On" by Navessa Allen, the third book in the 'Into Darkness' series. They share their mixed feelings about the book, noting that while it was highly anticipated, it didn't quite meet their expectations. They critique the lack of depth in both the plot and character development, particularly noting the inconsistent personalities of the characters. The episode also touches on the book's spicy scenes, the narrators of the audiobook, and the hosts' differing opinions compared to other readers on Goodreads. Despite their criticisms, they appreciate certain aspects like the humor and the audiobook's additional chapters.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:07

Welcome to Read Me Next, a Book Club, but Make It a Podcast.

SPEAKER_01 0:10

Where we have lots of feelings and no qualifications.

SPEAKER_00 0:12

What are we reading this week, Peely?

SPEAKER_01 0:13

We're reading Game On by Novessa Allen. By Novessa Allen. Yep. This was really anticipated.

SPEAKER_00 0:18

Yeah, it was the third book in the Into Darkness series. So we read lights out and caught up. Yep. And now Game On is the end of the trilogy. Yep, yep, yep.

SPEAKER_01 0:26

I'm excited to talk to you about it because I have like some thoughts and I want to see like where your mind's at. Love. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And this one was on Kin Unlimited. Yeah. About 370-ish pages, depending on what you got. Yeah. Um, so that's not so bad. No, and then we listened to the audio. Oh, yes. We did listen to the audio. The audio was with James Cassidy and Tara Lingella.

SPEAKER_02 0:46

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01 0:46

Those two narrators. Yeah, but I don't know if I've ever heard anything by them. Me either, but they did well. I liked it. I did too. Yeah. They gave a good like personality to the book. I agree. It's another dark rom com. Yeah. Right. What'd you rate it?

SPEAKER_00 1:00

I rated it like a three, three and a half.

SPEAKER_01 1:03

Same. Yeah. Yes. I'm so happy that you're thinking the same as me. Yeah. Because I was reading it and I was just like, hmm. Alright, we'll get into it. What's your spice ometer? I would say like four and a half, five. Same. That shit was spicy as fuck. It was so spicy. Yeah. I mean, towards the end, I was like kind of over it. Okay, yeah, yeah. Perfect, perfect. Loki, yeah. I was like a little over it. It was like hot. The scenes were good, but like I was like, all right. Okay. Cool. What is the point? You know, that was me. I'm sorry. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:35

But I mean, that's okay. I think it's funny that we have like very similar tastes in books because Goodreads was like so opposite, I think. No way. Yeah, like up like people were very much on the spectrum of like they either one starred it or five starred it. Interesting. We were kind of like in the middle.

SPEAKER_01 1:50

Yeah. I was like, this is fine. Yeah, there were some interesting opinions. I think if I would have picked this book up as the first of the series, I would not have been like inclined really to read the other two. Agreed. So it's good that this was the third. Yeah. Because I loved Lights Out. Caught up was also really good.

SPEAKER_00 2:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:06

Um, so I did like those. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:08

I almost just like it fell for me. I don't know. No, I agree. A little limp. A little limp. I don't think I was so into the characters as I was with the other ones. I would say my rating is literally five, five stars lights out, four stars caught up, and three this. Yes. Like it just kept going downhill. Yeah. No offense. But I really like Lights Out. 100%. I love Lights Out. And Caught Up was good too. I love I loved caught up too. A lot, a lot of people like this book better than Caught Up. Interesting. I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 2:37

I don't know. I just felt like this book. We can get to this point.

SPEAKER_00 2:40

Yeah, let's go ahead and what was the book about, even like so we we meet Tyler in Lights Out. He's Josh's best friend. And we talking about Josh. Just any excuse to bring him up.

SPEAKER_01 2:50

Josh is our man's.

SPEAKER_00 2:52

Love him.

SPEAKER_01 2:52

So Tyler, who is our MMC, he is Josh's best friend, right? So he actually runs an underground gambling ring type of thing. With one goal in his mind is to get vengeance on his dad because he thinks his dad abandoned him as a kid.

SPEAKER_02 3:04

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 3:04

So he goes after Brian, who is Stella's brother because he knew how to get into the family, right? And how to get attached to Stella was through the brother. Yeah. So that's basically how it starts out. The way he gets Stella to be with him all the time is like, oh, you have to fake date me so that your brother doesn't owe me three million dollars. Right. Like so the debt is paid off. So the debt is paid off. Yeah. She had to help him basically get vengeance on the dad. Exactly. And she didn't know until the very end. Yeah. And it just like really I feel like nothing much happened in the entire book. Agreed. Because they even kept explaining to him about how in one scene he had a gun, in another scene that he could fight really well. Like, but he didn't seem like big and bad. I don't know. It didn't give that.

SPEAKER_00 3:47

It was given financial bro.

SPEAKER_01 3:48

It was giving financial bro. He's blonde. Yeah. You know what I mean? And I get it, he's supposed to be a sub or whatever at the end. But like he gave that the entire book.

SPEAKER_00 3:57

Yeah. I feel like there was no depth in the plot. Like nothing happened. Thank you. And then there was no depth in their relationship. Like nothing really happened.

SPEAKER_01 4:06

Yeah, no. I was like, do you guys really hate each other? The chemistry wasn't there.

SPEAKER_00 4:10

The chemistry wasn't there, I don't think, either. So I was like reading the book and I was like. No. Something that really bothered me.

SPEAKER_01 4:17

Tell me.

SPEAKER_00 4:17

Which I know it's gonna bother you too. Is the fact that like he was supposed to be this intelligent man who knew everything who like eat the rich because his dad abandoned him and this and that, and fuck Stella because she was part of the problem, whatever. And then he was wrong about everything. Yeah. I hated that. Yep. That really pissed me off. I'm like, yeah. So you're stupid as fuck. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:39

You're like a jock, like how she explained him in the beginning. Like you're just like dumb, literally dumb. Yeah. Like you were wrong. What do you got your information? Yeah, who this private investigator guy that you had that apparently never got anything wrong, got your entire fucking story wrong. Who knows what else he got wrong? Bro. I was so annoyed. You know who I was annoyed with low-key the entire time? It was Brian. Brian was a fucking idiot too. He was an idiot. But when Tyler was like, Brian is not who you think he is, or whatever to Stella, I was like, ooh, what's going on? Who's Brian? Give us the dirt. Yeah, literally. And then when the whole thing happened, that Brian invited Stella to the party, right? And Brian was like, I need to show you this. You could only see it in person. Like I was like, ooh, what's gonna happen? I'm excited. Fucking called the cops. I can't. Lame as fuck, Brian. Loser. Fucking loser.

SPEAKER_00 5:34

Fucking rat. I was yeah, I was just really annoyed. It really bothered me. Like, I was like, okay, he was wrong about Stella. Like it was I thought that was like a cool thing that like he found out and cool. Whatever. But then he was wrong about the dad too. And like just the random ass interaction with the aunt. Like, what makes you after 15 years, like what makes you now tell him the truth? Like Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:59

I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 5:59

I don't know. It just wasn't like it it wasn't suspenseful.

SPEAKER_01 6:02

It was weird. The aunt hitting her with the car for what? For him to realize he was in love with her.

SPEAKER_00 6:10

And so we can have an Ally and Josh appearance, I guess.

SPEAKER_01 6:14

I don't know. It was I don't know. For freaking what though.

SPEAKER_00 6:18

That's so funny. Something we also didn't mention was that uh there was an age gap in this. Oh yeah. She was 35 and he was 25. Yep.

SPEAKER_01 6:27

Cradle robber.

SPEAKER_00 6:28

Cradle robber as fuck. We learned that term. We learned the term after the other episode. But I don't know. It just it wasn't it for me. It didn't give that either. No, it was giving like I'm about to enter a reading slump if I even same. No, for real. Like you said at the beginning. Like this was one of the most anticipated reads of the year. And it just like fell. If I get flopped. It did flop for me, not gonna lie.

SPEAKER_01 6:52

Oh, I hate that. Same. I wanted to read this so bad.

SPEAKER_00 6:56

Oh, me too. And I don't know, I just felt like I really thought we were gonna get like Josh vibes from Tyler. Like he was gonna be this like sarcastic. I mean, he was look kind of funny, but I didn't even kind of just a dick.

SPEAKER_01 7:08

Which is okay. But like I don't I don't know how to explain. It's okay for me that he didn't give Josh. Like Josh is Josh. You know what I mean? Love.

SPEAKER_00 7:15

I wanted to be Josh.

SPEAKER_01 7:17

Like pick a personality and hone in on it. You know what I mean? Like he was a dick, like 95% of the time. Like tried to be funny sometimes, and then like all of a sudden was really sweet at the end. You know what I mean? I don't know. Where's the asshole, but the mean to everyone else but her? Like, you know, he didn't give that either. No. I feel like the personality wasn't polished enough. I don't know if that's the right way to say it. No, yeah, I agree. Like, she didn't hone in on one specific personality. It was just like he's a dick.

SPEAKER_00 7:48

Uh, but I think for both of them, like neither one of them had a like amazing personality that came out on the pages.

SPEAKER_01 7:53

Yeah, right? Because he was also saying that she's an asshole, but she was apparently sweet to everybody else. It would like give us information of how when she was younger, she did all this stuff. Mm-hmm. But like we didn't even know Stella. Who is she? Who's Stella? Who's Stella? I don't know. I know more about Tyler than Stella.

SPEAKER_00 8:10

Yeah. And that's because of Josh. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:13

You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_00 8:14

I did like the scenes with like uh what? And her gastritis.

SPEAKER_01 8:20

Not the fucking gastritis. This poor woman. Literally, this poor woman. That sucks. And I was reading about that and I was like, I that is like absolutely terrifying, and I hate that for some whoever I mean the uh Nebas Allen has that. Yeah. So I'm sorry for that. No, that sucks. Yeah. I would die. Yeah. Like you're eating yourself alive all the time. No, thank you. No. And like anything will flare it up. No. That sucks. Yep.

SPEAKER_00 8:44

Also, like it's just so weird because the whole thing with the gastritis, right? The when the mom was telling Tyler about it, he's like taking notes. I'm like, oh my god, he's gonna be like super sweet about it. But then he kind of like low-key made fun of her. Like, what? And then she's like, oh, he's realizing he's making fun of me, so he stopped. And I was like, what? Stick to it. Either be a fucking asshole or be nice to her. Like literally. Not both. That's what I'm saying.

SPEAKER_01 9:07

Like they the book couldn't pick what he wanted to be.

SPEAKER_00 9:10

Yeah, like you're saying, all types of personalities.

SPEAKER_01 9:12

Literally. And then he had the snacks in his car for weeks.

SPEAKER_00 9:18

I don't know. It was it was a strange one for me. I'm not gonna lie. What did you think about the whole AJ thing?

SPEAKER_01 9:24

Oh, that was a nice surprise at the end. Him getting into their relationship is what you're talking about. Yeah. I thought that was funny. People didn't like that on Goodreads. I mean, I thought it was fine. Stella was obviously really comfortable with AJ. That's like the only person she really liked from her past.

SPEAKER_00 9:37

Yeah, other than Tyler, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:39

Yeah. And Tyler obviously was into him.

SPEAKER_00 9:41

Yeah, I just don't know about, and I think the people on Goodreads also, like, we got nothing about AJ. Correct. So all of a sudden they're like, how about we add him into this relationship? He had a beautiful penis. Okay. Sure.

SPEAKER_01 9:56

But that was literally the only thing we knew about him, other than that he was apparently a good guy. That's it. Yeah. So it was kind of annoying. Yeah, it was so weird because at the end, he's like, I'm not really into brat play. You know, in the in the I didn't read, I didn't listen to it.

SPEAKER_00 10:10

Well, what was that?

SPEAKER_01 10:11

Yeah, so so basically all four chapters, right? There's four extra chapters in the audio.

SPEAKER_00 10:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:16

The first one loved it. It was Fred. So funny. It was Fred when Josh was breaking into Allie's house.

SPEAKER_00 10:20

I'm like, oh, I really want to read the book again.

SPEAKER_01 10:22

Yeah, same.

SPEAKER_00 10:23

It cracked me up.

SPEAKER_01 10:24

No, it was hilarious. Yeah. And the the voiceover they had. Him being breadish? So funny. So funny. And he was like, the human has taken off his upper cape. Which was so funny. So random. Love. That was really good. Yeah. Um, and then the rest were just like, I don't know what the fuck Tyler's was about. He had two chapters, I think, the bookie and the The Dead. The Dead. Okay, cool. And then um AJ's was at the end, him being at the playhouse. Velvet Club. Him being at the Velvet Club, watching somebody perform. And then they went upstairs and they had their own room at the Velvet Club.

SPEAKER_00 10:55

The three of them?

SPEAKER_01 10:56

Yeah, the three of them. And uh they had big scene there.

SPEAKER_00 11:00

They were performing?

SPEAKER_01 11:01

No, they didn't perform. They had like their own like private room. Uh oh. And that was it. They pretty much had sex and that's that. And he was like, I'm not really into flip brat play. I was like, I mean, I feel like I'd since the book was alright, it's just like another like little detail to put in there to make it more of something, but it was still nothing.

SPEAKER_00 11:17

Yeah, I agree. Kind of random. But I did like that Tyler admitted that he set Ali and Josh up. I thought that was really cute.

SPEAKER_01 11:23

Oh yes. I mean, you love anything that Josh had to do with this book. Yeah. Anytime he was in the scene, I love that.

SPEAKER_00 11:28

Um but no, I thought it was r I thought it was cute though. Yeah. That like we kind of got that full circle. Yeah. You know, he kind of set him up. Low-key.

SPEAKER_01 11:35

Yep. That was great. But I also was like, why do we have to keep mentioning that I used to fuck my best friend's girl? Yeah. Mentioned that like two or three times in the book. Yeah. And I was just like, all right, but we already said that you guys set it up, so you're good. Yeah. Like, stop talking about it.

SPEAKER_00 11:49

And also, like, you guys, neither one of you liked basically liked each other. So what why do we keep mentioning it? Oh, that was weird.

SPEAKER_01 11:55

Weird.

SPEAKER_00 11:55

Especially like when he said, like, oh, because he's now engaged to the girl I used to fuck. I was like, Shut the fuck up, Tyler. Yeah. I don't know. Didn't really do it for me, not gonna lie. Didn't do it at all. So there's that. Like it just confused me because, like you said, there was literally no chemistry, so it's very confused.

SPEAKER_01 12:11

Yeah. No chemistry. There was barely any plot. Like we could see from a mile away that Richard was did not abandon him.

SPEAKER_00 12:19

The whole plot twist was that the mom lied to him. Yeah. But it's like we got no reasoning as to why. Like so weird.

SPEAKER_01 12:27

Yeah, just because you didn't want him to grow up and be like a rich snobby asshole. Like, no, but you'd rather him grow up hungry? Make it make fucking sense. That's actually so funny. But that's what it was. Literally. And he was pissed though. He was so pissed. He's like, I could've had a different life. This and that. I mean, like, give it. Like, for real, Tyler. I get that's the only that's the only thing I agree with Tyler on.

SPEAKER_00 12:50

Literally be fucking for real. Yeah. That's so weird. Like you're making his whole personality was that he like the vengeance and the revenge he would get for his mom. And it was all for what? For nothing.

SPEAKER_01 13:01

So now he has nothing. He's nothing. So then I'm like, in my head, I'm like thinking further. What are you gonna do now? You know what I mean? Like, are you still gonna run gambling rings? Is that who you are? Because you he had just started that like two years ago.

SPEAKER_00 13:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:16

You know what I mean? I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 13:19

Who is Tyler? Who is Tyler? Who's Tyler? Like, who's Stella? What the fuck is even this book? I don't know. Did we didn't know all the characters they had at the end, right? No. I'm like, are we gonna get more books? And then they were talking about Vern and Greg. Yes, Greg is the cousin Greg from The Mafia. So I was like, are we gonna get about a book about them? Yeah. But I don't think so because I'm pretty sure this is just trilogy.

SPEAKER_01 13:44

I mean, there could be uh just like a create another tril another series.

SPEAKER_00 13:48

Like a spin off, yeah. Yeah, maybe. And then Maddie, Maddie was such a fucking bitch. What a fucking little sociopath. Oh yes. We didn't even talk about Runa either.

SPEAKER_01 13:59

Yeah. Two things that like I like now that you're saying them, forgot completely about what the fuck this book was about. Yeah. But yeah, no. Maddie, the way they explained to her though, is she was always wearing white and pink to look like a doll and like a little girl. Ew.

SPEAKER_00 14:14

Even like when she was like voicing Maddie and she was like Shut the fuck up, bro.

SPEAKER_01 14:21

So weird. Yeah, so weird.

SPEAKER_00 14:22

She is a psychopath, you're right. Literally. Oh, I think this is Tyler. And he's talking to Maddie and he was like, just telling her to get the fuck out, you know, the first time when he confronted her. Ugh. That was another thing I was annoyed about. Go ahead. And so he goes, a glance over my shoulder confirmed that no one was close enough to overhear me before I speak again. If you ever do anything to upset my girlfriend again, I'll make sure everyone finds out what a vile little bitch you are. And I was like, ooh. But like, you see, that's the kind of energy I needed throughout the entire book. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 14:47

And then what pissed me off was that he went through all that like badass guy moment. And she came back. Is that what you're doing? Yes. And she's fucking back at some random ass party. And he's like, She said. She said, You're a pussy, you ain't doing shit. Literally, and everybody's like, he won't do anything. Even Brian at one point was like, he won't do anything. Tyler, show up and do something. Bro, you talk such a big game. You talk such a big game, and Maddie showed up in what?

SPEAKER_00 15:16

And won. And then and Stella flared. Or gastritis flared again.

unknown 15:23

God damn it.

SPEAKER_00 15:24

Bro, you're making her uncomfortable as fuck. Uncomfortable as fuck.

SPEAKER_01 15:28

And what pissed me off even more, I don't know if this is reasonable, but probably. But like when Stella didn't let him go in and talk to her, I was like, Stella, let the man be the man and get her the fuck out of there. I loved her like standing up to her, but still. No, I did like that she said over her. No, and she at first was she's like, I'm so happy I stood up front to her. And then two chapters later she was like, I'm so mad that he made me face her. Like, you know, I'm gonna make sense.

SPEAKER_00 15:54

No, and also like one, she's standing up to her, and then like the two other people chime in, like, yeah, she's a fucking bitch. I'm like, where was this energy? Like ten years ago when it happened. I'm confused. They were like, Yeah, we'll testify against you, Maddie. What?

SPEAKER_01 16:09

I'm so dead. No. Yeah, that shit was stupid. Alright, whatever. No, because that that is a clear example how Tyler was not it. It. Yeah. I wanted that energy.

SPEAKER_00 16:22

We didn't get it. Yeah. Fell short. Alright, so let's do good reads. Uh so this is one star, and it says, honestly, I was expecting the funny Novessa Allen like I know and love, but instead I didn't laugh once, and I cringed more times than I can count. I thought the series would get better as it continued, but unfortunately Lights Out was the peak of the series and it was downhill from there. Agreed. It goes, let's start off with Tyler, the douche jock bro, whose only personality is to go to the gym and be mean to women. I mean, you cannot convince me that these two fools were in love. And if by any chance they actually were, that means that Stella had some serious Stockholm syndrome because she essentially falls for her blackmailer and captor and not in the hot way. Also, like, like you were saying, like, Bryant is being like so fucking annoying. Like when he was like, Oh, because you're dating him? Shut the fuck up, Brian. I'm trying to fucking help you, bro. Like, I got you out of three million dollars of fucking debt. You could have called the cops right at the beginning and saved me the fucking headache. Bro. How annoying. And then it says, Stella was uh not quite as bad, but just bland as fuck. Her only personality trait was her chronic illness and being skinny from her chronic illness. Oh, and maybe that she was also goth, which is true. I was just like, uh, whatever.

SPEAKER_01 17:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:34

This one's four and a half stars. It says this is by far my favorite book in the Into Darkness series.

SPEAKER_01 17:38

Girl.

SPEAKER_00 17:39

Morley Gray, MMC, and Black Cat FMC. I absolutely love them. Stella was complex, but once you get to know her more, I couldn't help but feel for her and wanted to protect her at all costs. Tyler was also the same way. I really like Yeah, I don't know. I felt like they had no personalities. I really liked the plot. It was fast paced, which made it enjoyable. I also didn't feel that. I felt like nothing was happening.

SPEAKER_01 18:00

It was also not fast-paced. It was the same thing.

SPEAKER_00 18:02

Like literally nothing happened. Like, we can't name a single thing that happened. Yeah. They went to like four parties. Yep. They were at the tattoo parlor like a few times. Yep. What the fuck happened? And then they got almost got into one car actually.

SPEAKER_01 18:13

They had sex and that was it. That was the entire book.

SPEAKER_00 18:15

They had sex and that was the entire book. Whatever. So it says Tyler blackmails Stella and forces her to be his girlfriend to get revenge on his father. Nevessa's writing style is amazing and really sucks you into the world. The spice, oh my god. I never felt this way reading, but wow. Oh, girl. Hot and heavy. It was hot and heavy. I I did like the spice.

SPEAKER_01 18:35

It was hot and heavy, but girl. Girl. To put that in your review. No, she said I never felt like this. Wow.

SPEAKER_00 18:41

Wow. And then the little emoji. Okay. So this is one and a half. You see, like everyone's either one or five. Well, that was disappointing. I actually thought I was going to love this book since I love Lights Out and Caught Up. But this one did not hit. First of all, Tyler is insufferable. Second, Stella is 35 acting like she's 17. And what the hell was the AJ situation in the end? So then it goes to a bunch of things and then she starts talking about Tyler. And she says, Okay, it would have been fine if the author didn't portray him as super smart who had all the information before getting his targets. So he is that guy, but somehow he had everything wrong about Stella, her parents, and his father. Question mark, question mark. Literally, that's us right there. It turns out his dead mom was the one that lied to him his whole life. His father was actually good, and he just stupidly mistreated Stella for nothing. But not to worry, he did not need to grovel for her forgiveness because she forgave him in less than one second, had sex with him immediately, and then was done. Yep. Also, what is the AJ situation? This guy is in.02% of the book. Literally, he's in two scenes, and we have no background on him besides him being an on-again, off-again, Stella hookup. They have one threesome, but then we never saw him again, and then they ask him to be in a relationship, to which then he agrees. One star. This was one of the most highly anticipated books because I love the other two, yet this was one of the biggest letdowns of the year so far. The characters never grew on me. They were absolutely terrible to each other, 95% of the book, and Stella was giving Millennial Core at the very worst. This one said two and a half stars, but the audio, literally all the stars. So this one says, okay, this was much better than book two. My main issue with book two was how disappointing and my numbing boring it was. This, however, wasn't boring, but it also wasn't perfect reading the experience. I don't know. I felt like this was way more boring than book two. I like book two. I think we like the the personalities and the characters more in book two. You know what I'm saying? Like Lauren was fun.

SPEAKER_01 20:32

I don't know. I feel like I was really gonna like Tyler.

SPEAKER_00 20:34

Did you really?

SPEAKER_01 20:35

Yeah. And then I didn't, obviously that much, but like from the beginning, knowing Josh.

SPEAKER_00 20:42

I feel like it's because like Josh was giving Golden Retriever, Junior gave Morally Gray, but then this guy, like, he wanted to give Morally Gray, but like he didn't. Like he was a He wanted to give Morally Gray, but you didn't, Tyler. He really didn't. It was like, what, you have one gambling ring and that's it? You're big and bad, but literally you don't do anything. Yep. You don't know anything. You're literally all of your facts are wrong. Stupid. Yeah. Yeah, I don't like that. Tyler confused me, to be honest. At first I outright disliked him. He was mean and rude and just made assumption after assumption. Yeah, I feel like that was him the entire book. Is he booked Boy from Material? Heck no. Is he hot? Well, yes. I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 21:21

Is he? All I knew is that he was blonde and large.

SPEAKER_00 21:25

I don't know. Whatever.

SPEAKER_01 21:27

I mean, even AJ though, AJ was like, this is the most beautiful man.

SPEAKER_00 21:30

Yeah, a lot of people said that he was hot. I mean, to each serious. I mean, yeah. This was four stars. It says, okay, I'm not gonna lie. After the dare I say disappointment with caught up, I was kind of worried about this, but oh my god, yes, ma'am, give me 14 of them right now. I don't know. Five stars, four chili peppers. It says, Oh, I ate this audio up. Novessa Allen is amazing.

SPEAKER_01 21:51

No, but just to like hop on what they were saying about the audio, yeah. The like last few chapters, there was a scene where I guess uh Tyler was like eating her out. And he was literally literally in the audio. He was like slurping. I promise you. He was like, I was like, I don't know about this anymore. Bro. But I feel like that's what makes the audio. Yeah, no. That's what people like about it. I guess, but maybe it's because like I wasn't into the book like that. Right. But even audios I've had before this period. What the fuck? They never been no slurping in these audios.

SPEAKER_00 22:28

I don't know. I feel like I I wonder if it was this one. But there are some books that I've listened on audio that it will be like, oh, he sighed heavily and be like, okay, well, let's keep going. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:38

It was a book like that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:39

It was very much like that. That's so funny. Which is cool.

SPEAKER_01 22:42

Yeah, but like once I got that to that, I was like, what time? Listening in my car, I'm like, nobody can hear that.

SPEAKER_00 22:49

Literally, that's insane. Okay, so it says, uh, it continues and it says, one of my favorite things I love about the MMCs is the dedication to improving themselves for the sake of the relationship. Josh Jr. and Tyler all have major personality flaws, and it takes me and their partners, Allie, Lauren, and Stella, to discover that they have what it takes to be a better man. Oh yes. She was also talking about how like fake dating and enemies to lovers are her favorite tropes, and she thinks like it was really well done. I don't know. Fake dating was not done well. No, like they went to a couple parties.

SPEAKER_01 23:17

And enemies to lovers, they're still enemies.

SPEAKER_00 23:22

Whatever. So then it says, I don't know, and like it's so like the more we talk about it, the more it's like, bro, like literally pick a lane. When she had like a flare-up, I think it was when he took her to the apartment and he like bathed her or whatever. And he was like super sweet to her.

SPEAKER_02 23:39

Yep, yep, yep.

SPEAKER_00 23:40

Pick a fucking lane. Yep. Like you're an asshole, but then you're also nice. Like I Nintendo.

SPEAKER_01 23:46

But like, not in the good way. Because like I can do you're an asshole, but nice. But this was like not done right.

SPEAKER_00 23:53

What'd you say? It was given by Polar. It was given by Polar, yep. I don't know. This is two stars. It says, first off, Tyler and Stella Banter absolutely carried this book for me. I'm a sucker for enemies to lovers. And while this didn't fully deliver on the enemies part, let's be honest, they were clearly into each other from the start. It's also entertaining. So this is the complete different, this is the complete opposite of a green. It's so funny. Alright. Okay. Whatever. It just goes into a bunch of shit. And then it's like, but I need to talk about the direction the story took. The threesome completely threw me off. Not because I am against Drubles, but because this book was set up as Tyler and Stella's story. Bringing in AJ who isn't just some random third, but Stella's long-term on and off again ex made me feel messy in a way that the romance didn't deserve. And then it escalates into feelings and talks of making it a permanent thing. At that point, I was just sitting there like, why wasn't this written a full multi-POV thrubble story from the beginning? It felt like the author decided to randomly make this a Y choose at the end, yet we knew nothing about AJ. It says almost four stars. Did I like it more than caught up? Yes. Did I like it more than lights out? No. No. Yeah. Thank you. Tyler was the absolute jerkiest jerk at the beginning, but he really surprised me. I love how things develop with Stella. As long as they're happy, I don't mind. I didn't care that much about the actual plot, but the spice was top and the audio was amazing too. Also, the appearance from Mom and Dad was everything. Literally. Yep. Love Mom and Dad. Alright. This is the last one. It's five stars. This was everything. The banter alone had me hooked from the start. It was sharp, funny, and felt so effortless. I don't know. I don't get it.

SPEAKER_01 25:29

I mean, there was banter.

SPEAKER_00 25:30

Yeah, there were big things parts. There was some banter. I guess. Stella, a literal badass. She's strong, independent, doesn't take crap from anyone. I love how she stood her ground, owned who she was, and still had those moments where you could see her softer side peek through. She felt real and layered, not just tough for the sake of it.

SPEAKER_01 25:48

I don't know. Because she was like, she also gave like babying her baby brother. And I was like, not much of a tough bitch. Yeah, I don't know. Like a tough bitch would have been like, why the fuck are you doing this?

SPEAKER_00 25:58

I just didn't like her. No, but it also like it goes to what you were saying that like she wasn't really giving black cat to me. Yeah. It says, and Tyler, I swear to God, he's making me laugh every two seconds. His humor and cocky charm were top tier, but I love most the depth underneath it. He's protective intense and he flips the switch and gets mad. Yeah, absolutely not someone to mess with. But it just made those serious moments hit even harder. Teach her. And don't even get me started with the scenes with AJ. Woo! They had me pausing, like, okay. They were hot. They were hot. Like it is what it is. And then it says also if you listen to the audio, you get a POV from Fred, and it was everything, which we agree. Correct. Love Fred. You love Fred. I don't know. It was a little bit of a flaw for me, I'm not gonna lie. A big letdown. Oh. Yeah. Going like book after book, I don't I don't know what's going on. Like, we need to get into it. We need something like pick us back up. I mean, Bad Bishop did it for me. Oh, so good.

SPEAKER_01 26:52

No, and Twisted Pawn is gonna do it. Yeah, that's why I'm like, I'm ready. I'm ready to like. I literally, when I was looking that Twisted Pawn was released, there was a bunch of people commenting like they can't wait, isn't that? And I was like, literally the way I'm about to put this book down just to pick up that one, because I was like, fuck this book. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:10

I didn't do it. You know what I mean? Like, no, but I'm like, I'm I'm like intrigued with Twisted Pawn. If I'm gonna like Achilles the more than Tiernan. I don't know if I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 27:21

Uh I don't know. I think I don't know. This is so Beauty and the Beast. No, it really does give Beauty and the Beast. Like, I'm excited to read that.

SPEAKER_00 27:32

I don't know, but he is such an asshole.

SPEAKER_01 27:34

Yeah, he has been such an asshole. Let's see if Achilles will do asshole better than Tyler.

SPEAKER_00 27:40

Um yeah, I think so. We'll see. We'll see what LJ Shen has in store for us. Oh, thank you, LJ. I'm so excited. But yeah, so that's it on game on.

SPEAKER_01 27:49

That's it, huh?

SPEAKER_00 27:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:52

Kind of disappointing.

SPEAKER_00 27:54

Gotta read lights out again. Take a shot every time I say that. Literally. I do though. I really want to listen to the audio.

SPEAKER_01 28:00

Alright. I guess that's it for this week. Yep. Read responsibly or don't.