SPEAKER_02

The reading retreat hosted by Celestial Meg that many attendees are comparing to the Fire Festival. Comfortable accommodations, delectable meals, and a focus on relaxation you'll leave feeling refreshed, inspired, and ready to embrace the magic in your everyday life. They did feel inspired, just not in a good way. One of them is talking about writing a horror novel. Yeah, there you go. It's now 4 p.m. No food provided still. The Airbnb was $2,000 for the weekend. She had a surplus of $3,800 for food and supplies, and she did not provide anything. We showed her the restaurant we picked. She wanted us to pay for it, and we said, no, you have our money. Go get it.

SPEAKER_07

The audacity.

SPEAKER_02

We left and had to find a hotel. We will all be requesting refunds, so better put on your big girl panties, babe. This is truly nothing new to me. I'm sure the more successful I get in whatever I choose to do, the more shit I'll have to go through. Shit happens. I love. Hurt people, hurt people, but that doesn't mean I need to keep them close. I don't take threats lightly. If I can do something about it, I will.

SPEAKER_05

So see, that's the thing.

SPEAKER_04

She's saying that they hurt her. Yeah. And not the other way around. And that's the part that's so wrong.

SPEAKER_02

Welcome back to Plot Twist Please, where we sip, flip, and spill the tea on Books Abuse. I'm Beth. I'm Cass. And I'm Susanna. And today we are breaking down. I hit my mic already. It's fine. The reading retreat hosted by Celestial Meg that many attendees are comparing to the Fire Festival. Have you guys heard of the Fire Festival?

SPEAKER_01

I had, yeah. Not until this. Really? This is the first time I've heard of it. That was a disact.

SPEAKER_02

They did a documentary on it on Netflix. Me and Zach watched it, I think, when it came out. It was very interesting. So if you don't know, Fire Festival is a music festival that happened in 2017. The documentary came out in 2019. Definitely recommend watching it. It was supposed to be the music festival that blew all other music festivals away, but instead it was horrendous. It was like if a hurricane was a music festival, this was it.

SPEAKER_01

So are people calling this Fire Festival because of how horrendous it was, or because that's what it was actually called?

SPEAKER_04

No. Fire Festival was the festival Ja Rule put on.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, yeah. So he was a co-host of Fire Festival.

SPEAKER_04

And they're comparing it to the Firefest Reading Retreat community.

SPEAKER_02

Oh yeah. All right. I gotcha. VIP tickets for this were $100,000. Crazy. For this music festival. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

There's no way.

SPEAKER_02

Attendees arrived to unfinished disaster relief tents, discarded luggage. There was like gourmet meals that were like promoted as part of like the packages, and they were handed single slices of bread, slices of cheese, like craft slices of cheese. Or make your own sandwich. And a side salad in like little styrofoam boxes. Gourmet processed. It was bad. So you know this reading retreat had to be bad for people to call this the Fire Festival of Reading Retreats. That's bad. But this drama has blown up on threads, especially. I've seen it a couple other places, but mainly threads is where all the drama is. And for the reason that like people aren't really talking about it, like it is kind of trickling to some other social media, but it's kind of stayed within the threads worlds. So we might be the first to actually talk about it. Probably not. No, probably not.

SPEAKER_01

We are a few days behind. Yeah, I'm sure like a lot of people in the bookish community or people who do bookish commentary have touched on it. I haven't seen anything, but I'm not saying they're not out there. I haven't seen anything come up on TikTok though, which is surprising.

SPEAKER_02

No, that's TikTok's been silent. Silent. So weird. Shocking. Very weird. So big shout out to the man we know as Scones and Drones. He sent us an email with this as the subject line, Scones Scoops. So thank you. Um he actually so he forwarded us a thread, kind of just gave us a little bit of a peek of what the drama was all about. So people were asking, like, who's in charge of the book retreat? Um, someone who shouldn't have been in charge of anything. Clearly.

unknown

Facts.

SPEAKER_02

And if you mean Firefest, it was someone called Celestial Meg. And then everyone kind, yeah, people just kind of like were all just like jumping on, being like, ooh, that's like, what's the story here?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. So we decided to uh dive in on this. I'm excited. I did some looking this morning and I am just flabbergasted.

SPEAKER_02

My gassed is flabbergasted.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah. It's wild. All right. Today's drink of the episode is Starbucks.

SPEAKER_01

Of course.

SPEAKER_04

It's early on Monday morning. Early Monday morning. Yeah. So I'm drinking a grande iced caramel macchiato with coconut milk.

SPEAKER_02

Grande iced cherry chai with lactose-free milk. And I got the grande iced hazelnut oat shaken espresso.

SPEAKER_03

As per you.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. Chef's kiss. Why ruin a good thing? I'm very much a person of routine. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Before our gasted gets any more flabbered, I ought to tongue twist her five times.

SPEAKER_06

That was a lot.

SPEAKER_01

That's a lot for me. I'm surprised. I only messed up a little bit.

SPEAKER_02

Um, what's everyone reading? Go ahead, Beth. So I'm reading Cinder Vale, which is the third book in the is the Never Keep, but there's a name for the series. I think it's the Sins of the Zodiac series. By the Zodiac Sisters. By the Zodiac Sisters, yeah. Twisted Sisters, yeah. Oh, okay. It's in the same world as the Zodiac Academy, but it's very different. So far, in an extremely slow burn, yearny series. The whole series? Yeah, I'm on book three, and there still has not been any. Oh. Ooh, I'd like it. You would probably like it. I've been buddy reading it with Cheryl. She's hating it. She loves it. What are you reading, Susie? You didn't answer what you're reading.

SPEAKER_04

Oh, did you ask me?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, I asked all of you.

unknown

Yeah. Right. Okay.

SPEAKER_04

I'm reading In the Veins of the Drowning by Callie Cassidy. Callie Kaylee, however she says her first name. It's pretty good. Like sirens, right? Yeah, sirens. It's really good. I think that's on my TBR. Yeah, probably. I love a good siren book. Yeah. Yeah. It's good so far. It's very yearny. You'd like it. But it's on my TBR. 50% in, and there's been no yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Okay. I am reading This Immortal Heart by Jennifer Saint. Now, some background on this book. This was supposed to be our book club pick for this month, but it was my pick because I haven't really like had a urinary pick yet in the book club. So I was like, you know what? This one seems pretty urny. At least the synopsis did. But I was like worried because after Beth's flop, I need to pre-read. I'm glad I'm not the only one who has PTSD from that. We all do. So I was like, I need to pre-read this to see if it's book club worthy. And at first I wasn't sure, but at like 19% in, I was starting to love it. So those of you who want to read this book, like you should definitely check it out. It's like a Greek mythology book that follows Aphrodite and Aries.

SPEAKER_02

I will say though, that doing Nora really got the people going, got them excited. It got them things to talk about.

SPEAKER_04

It really did. It gave us some things to talk about for sure. So our book club of the month pick for July is A Forbidden Alchemy by Stacey McEwen. McEwen?

unknown

Ooh.

SPEAKER_04

Sounds right.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

unknown

Ooh.

SPEAKER_02

Oh, she did it. Just take that and put it in later.

SPEAKER_04

And just reuse it. Make my mouth open.

unknown

That would actually be so funny.

SPEAKER_04

With some fake lips on it. I was just gonna say. I can do that. Susie, don't you dare. I'm gonna. It's apparently also a minimal spice extra yearny closed door romance situation. Is it Mariana or Marianne? Marianne Reads. Marianne Reads raved. Well, I'm excited. Me too. I'm excited to get into this drama. Let's do it. Let's go into it. Alright, let's plummet. Let's get our gas burned.

SPEAKER_02

So there has been a lot of speculation online about Meg herself, including about her personal circumstances. Now she does talk about it, but I do just kind of want to say like we aren't here to judge her to really talk about her mental health or make any assumptions here. We will be touching on it just because of her comments about it, and that's that's it. We're mainly here just to talk about the event itself and the experiences that people had during it, as well as what's been kind of coming out with those after because a lot of them have been talking about it and she's been responding to them.

SPEAKER_01

Not in the great way. No, the ride gets a little wild. Like she's defending it. Defending it in a way that doesn't really make sense. Like you can tell that she's not like in her right mind in the kindest way possible. It just seems a little unhinged. Gotcha. Let's begin with who is Celestial Meg?

SPEAKER_02

Because I had no clue.

SPEAKER_01

Me either. Me either.

SPEAKER_02

I know all the influence. Going scoops for bringing it to light. Allegedly, she's a romance book influencer. I don't know who she's influencing. It's not me. Um, and a content creator.

SPEAKER_04

She's she must have a following of some sort.

SPEAKER_02

She's yeah. Um, and an artist who runs Celestial Meg Book Bestie blog and social media platforms. She's primarily known for providing book reviews and recommendations for various romance sub-genres. Okay. So she is very romancey. Um also she read 120 books last year. Impressive. That's impressive. Now, as per the retreats website, this is what you were signing up for. You got a four-day, three-night stay in a luxury cabin in the mountains, complete with hot tub, fire pit, and huge comfy couch. Oh, sounds lovely. Professional bookslash fantasy photo shoot, a book binding workshop led by local author Corwin Michaels, which honestly I think would be so cool. That would be it sounds wonderful. Bookish crafts, including but not limited to book bedazzling, all meals and snacks, full swag bag, book club discussion, so much time to actually read, and so much more. What's not included? Travel to and from the lodging, and a summer romance that isn't fictional. So a lot of promises were made. Imagine four days where your only agenda is to read, relax, and have fun. This romance reading retreat offers just that: a peaceful haven with a hot tub, fire pit, and delicious food. Connect with fellow bookworms and immerse yourself in the worlds you love. This retreat is a gift to yourself, a chance to prioritize yourself and indulge in fictional romance and magic. Embrace the tranquility of the mountains and the warmth of the fire pit and the soothing waters of the hot tub. She really talks about the fire pit. The ambiance.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. Can I just come in here for a second? She posted a thread of her saying that she was chilling in the hot tub the whole time during this retreat. Oh, really? For context. Yeah, that's what she said. That's what she said.

SPEAKER_02

Hot tub for her, nobody else. Yeah. Comfortable accommodations, delectable meals, and a focus on relaxation. You'll leave feeling refreshed, inspired, and ready to embrace the magic in your everyday life. They did feel inspired, just not in a good way. One of them is talking about writing a horror novel. Yeah, there you go. That would be a good rate based on the events that happened. So the cost of attending this weekend is 900 US plus your travel fees. That's like $1,200 here.

SPEAKER_01

Plus travel. If you're far away. Yeah. The attendees were actually friends of hers. So it's for just for a close-knit group of friends, not just random people who like we're going and meeting each other. These are her friends that are like Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

But I don't know if they're like acquaintances in the book. In the book, yeah. But like Okay. It would kind of be my boop hit that. Like we we call Brandy our friend, and she's been an OG here. It would kind of be like us meeting her in real life.

SPEAKER_01

Okay.

SPEAKER_02

In my opinion. So we've got to be a bit of a few that kind of eventually.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. Maybe that kind of vibe then. But anyway, they all were considered friends in quotation marks before this event.

SPEAKER_02

So I'm going to use a thread story made by Smet Whisperer, who documented this as she well, it was she documented it kind of at the end of things. So she went. She went. Okay. Let me start this by saying this retreat was sold as an all-inclusive, relaxing, and very planned weekend. We each paid $900 on top of the flights. When we arrived at the location, the host wasn't there. When she arrived, hours later, the first thing she did was scream in our faces that we were conspiring against her. She would kick us out.

SPEAKER_01

Wait, is this to do with the AI stuff?

SPEAKER_02

They didn't know at this point. She was talking about AI.

SPEAKER_04

Okay, we'll get into that. The host should be the first one at the event.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

Should. Should.

SPEAKER_02

It should be it should be all set up. Like swag bags there, like a welcoming drink or something set up.

SPEAKER_04

Like Katie with her retreats, she's the first one there. She's got everything planned to a tea. Swag bags are set up. Everyone has like a little sweater, goodie bag on their bed when they come in. Like she has a full-on chef come to the retreats. Like that's how it should be when you're spending that much money on something like that.

SPEAKER_02

There is no food. One of the girls with a car went and got pizza so we could eat. The host continued to not provide food the next day and we went to find our own. She finally came back from shopping with two tiny bags of groceries with bread, meat, and peanut butter jelly. She did not prepare any food. We wanted to leave at that point because she was having a mental breakdown and yelling about AI and people after her on top of all this. But someone was coming to do a bookbinding workshop. Oh my gosh. We did the bookbinding and she left to go get Mabel's syrup for this drink. She wanted us to have, and we only felt like we could breathe when she was gone. She was manic on her phone the whole time, talking about people out to get her and making fake AI accounts to fuck with her. It's now 4 p.m. No food provided still. The Airbnb was $2,000 for the weekend. She had a surplus of $3,800 for food and supplies, and she did not provide anything. We each took turns having anxiety attacks in our bedroom. No kidding. She made us figure out dinner plans. She wanted to order DoorDash, but they didn't deliver to the remote location we were at. We showed her the restaurant we picked. She wanted us to pay for it, and we said, No, you have our money. Go get it.

SPEAKER_07

The audacity.

SPEAKER_01

I don't think she made them do it. She was just like them to do it.

SPEAKER_04

The cottage or the Airbnb was $2K, so she came out with $1,800 extra.

SPEAKER_01

$3,800.

SPEAKER_04

Oh, and surplus. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. And you can't pay for their food that was promised in the original layout.

SPEAKER_02

While she was gone, we packed up our stuff, loaded cars that we thankfully had, and waited for her to get back because her dog was there and we wanted the food because we were starving. We calmly told her we were leaving because this is not what we signed up for. She said, I understand. We left and had to find a hotel. We will all be requesting refunds, so better put on your big girl panties, babe. Honestly, her follow-up to this weekend is actually hilarious. I definitely recommend checking checking her out on threads. Well written. And Celestial Meg did out herself. No one who attended named her. They kind of just talked that they had gone like this reading retreat and how bad it was. She started going after, like commenting and she came on the defense and then outed herself.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. I was, yeah, looking at her account today, just seeing what she was saying to people. Like, she's not even any bit remorseful for how she handled this whole situation. Yeah. Which shows a lot about her character. Refunds have not been processed at all. I'm not surprised. She's blaming her mental health disorders, which there's no doubt about it that she was having some sort of manic episode. People that were there were saying the same thing. Unfortunately, that's what happened. And I really do hope she gets help. There's just so much wrong with this situation. And I would be so mad.

SPEAKER_04

But you can only blame your mental health so much. Like, why can't you just take a step back and be like, yeah, that's or postpone.

SPEAKER_02

Or yeah, like you can't take the fall if you can't get a refund. Or like, and I'm sure if you said to the Airbnb person, like, I am so sorry, like this is what's happening, and can I move it to a different weekend just so I you know I mean like yeah, like I suffer from extreme anxiety sometimes.

SPEAKER_04

I'll just cancel.

SPEAKER_01

That's what a lot of people in the comments were saying back to her was like, We understand you're having this episode right now, but how does that prevent you from refunding people?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, it doesn't exactly probably because she put the money somewhere else, or yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Another thing she said too was that she has BPD, and there's something else as well. I think she struggles with. I just can't recall it at this moment. She said that Western medicine doesn't work for her, so she goes, she's on plants. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

And then some people were like, that's clearly not working for you. Yeah. I read this too. Hey sweetie, I say this with the utmost kindness. The plants aren't helping.

SPEAKER_04

Well, she could be on like what is it, psy-syllabins? Like mushrooms.

SPEAKER_02

There's just so much to dive into there. But this person goes on to say finding the right medication for you takes time and commitment, then you need then you need to stay on it. Your condition will try to convince you that you're fine and don't need it anymore, but it's of the utmost importance that you continuously remain on your meds for the rest of your life. They could mean the difference between you simply forgetting your coffee on the table versus throwing it at a police officer. Okay.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. Yeah, no, seriously though. And I think if anything, this event should point her to like I need to do something.

SPEAKER_02

And a lot of people came to her, I think, in kindness who have BPD to be like, hey, I've had this. This is when I was diagnosed. This is how long I've been like dealing with it. Yeah. Um, and just trying to like trying to be clear with her. Like, like you cannot blame BPD for this. Yeah. Yeah, like one person who's like, I got diagnosed back in 2017. So let me be as clear as possible. Trying to blame B BPD for all this while attempting to turn yourself into the victim is such a sorry excuse slash cop out for your shitty actions instead of just taking accountability and ownership of them. Yeah. And I think that the biggest thing that people are taking away from that is that she's not taking responsibility for her actions.

SPEAKER_04

No, she's a threat. Which is what people struggle with. Sorry.

SPEAKER_01

No, go ahead. There's a thread that's like she's saying that she took accountability and responsibility. And look, people are like, Where? Yeah. Because I didn't see anything. They didn't see anything. She hasn't.

SPEAKER_02

There's been no refund.

SPEAKER_01

No, it's just her continuing to play the victim and make people feel bad about her. This whole AI nonsense that we couldn't even really make sense of. The victims are the ones that gave you all this money. We're starving. We're expecting this wonderful, relaxing weekend. Yeah. And basically we're in survival mode the whole time. So they paid like $1,200 or more total to basically starve to death. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

If anything I left my troops and my kids, my family to go for this like supposed to be relaxing weekend away with friends. And I was like, I'm gonna get to just like literally just vibe vibe and read and all that. But I mean, if that was my expectation, and I thought that there I was leaving my kids to have time for myself, and that's the weekend that I got.

SPEAKER_01

I don't even want to know how Beth would be at that retreat with food. Oh, she can't go without breakfast.

SPEAKER_02

I would be in headlines.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah. Throwing hands, there'd be bodies. Bodies.

SPEAKER_02

Probably just one body. Hurse. Yeah. Fair. Fair. The girl gets hangry. In response to Smut Whisperer, Meg did respond. I actually had to pay for all of your goody bag stuff, which did also include things I already had made, but I made a lot of new stuff. The plan for lunch was already deli sandwiches, and that's what I got. Local artisan sourdough and deli meats. I did buy props for your photo shoots. I did also find some in my basement. I offered you leftovers because I know how big takeout portions could be. I offered to go grocery shopping multiple times, but people kept rushing me back through my friend.

SPEAKER_04

$900 for leftovers. I'm sorry. Delectable is what they were promised. Yes, delectable meat.

SPEAKER_01

She just didn't delecture. Specify its process.

SPEAKER_03

Here she's maloney sandwiches. Some wonder bread. No, no, I decided I decided to splurge on you guys and I got mortadella. Oh Italian. Right? Which is pretty much just Italian baloney. It is.

unknown

Wow.

SPEAKER_03

And some craft singles.

SPEAKER_02

Well, and she also said they all left my retreat because they thought I was acting crazy and not traumatized. LOL LOL. The whole fucking story is my threads from the last three weeks. Someone has been pretending to be my dream man using AI and have sent all the screenshots multiple times to multiple people, including in my server, and none of them have cared to listen to me. Why does that matter? I've been telling all y'all to reach out personally, but you refuse to do that.

SPEAKER_01

Why does that matter though?

SPEAKER_02

If it uh someone about her AI man a lot.

SPEAKER_04

Okay, so here's the thing: if you're traumatized by some AI man and you've promised to host this wonderful retreat for ladies, but you're traumatized from a situation going on in your personal life, maybe let's not do the retreat if you can't physically and mentally be all in for something that you planned.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. People said that they should have separated the personal from the professional.

SPEAKER_02

100%. Well, so I like I'm assuming that when she was going on about AI with them and kind of being attacking about it, that it was because of this AI boyfriend thing. But yeah, like so I went back because like she kept saying to like so many people, like that she has defended herself and her like in threads and like blah blah blah. And I'm going through, I'm like, where, where? And then she she did say to someone that she's like pretty much you have to go we have to read through all of her threads for the last three weeks and that she wasn't gonna write it all out in one spot.

SPEAKER_01

I'm like, I'm not gonna do that, babe. Three weeks, the amount of times that she has posted, I'm never gonna get there.

SPEAKER_02

So well, I was going through all of them and I was like, so at one point does she actually start talking about this? And I realized that she's been talking about it the whole time, but it doesn't make any sense when you're reading it. It's so confusing.

SPEAKER_01

Makes no sense. Not only that, but like uh five days ago, she was like, I've had a death in the family, I'm taking some time away from social media, blah blah blah, won't be here immediately. Not didn't miss a beat that same day, starts posting and has been posting consistently since so people were like, Did you actually have a death in the family? You can still refund people. That's what the comments were saying. I'm not saying that that would be something I'd be thinking about if I had a death in the family, but if I say I'm off social media, I'm off social media. Yeah, I'm not coming back an hour later.

SPEAKER_02

No, like it's just none of it makes sense, and I can understand why people are upset. Yeah, I'd be upset. Yeah, it's it's just Wild. And like we said, like so they're really for the internet's reaction has been pretty quiet. And I don't know if it is the mental health side of things or if it is because it's mainly threads that everything's kind of been coming out on.

SPEAKER_01

I think people are so quiet even on threads about it because there's a lot of stigma about mental health and they probably don't want to create more of a stigma around it. So they're being very careful careful and like being sensitive to the subject matter.

SPEAKER_02

I think to her, like you don't if she is manic and she's struggling and she's going through things, you don't want to be pushing, pushing her.

SPEAKER_04

She's obviously very unwell mentally. But again, it doesn't give you the excuse to like not be a decent human being and just give a refund. Have some sort of ownership. Maybe she's just so unwell she doesn't see what's going on.

SPEAKER_01

Or like have someone else that you trust take care of these matters while you're in this state. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

I think I think there should have been someone else that she was able to lean on to kind of take over the weekend.

SPEAKER_04

But I mean she's conscious enough to know that she's traumatized from a separate event in her life. So I don't know. It's you've traumatized me utterly.

SPEAKER_02

You can't see that you've hurt others, only that you've been hurt. Yes.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, that's exactly what that is. That's why I think people are being so quiet about it, is the mental health aspect. Not because they have any sort of feelings towards her on their own, but they're just like trying to be sensitive to it. Yeah, mental health is very sticky.

SPEAKER_04

People tiptoe around it.

SPEAKER_02

But there has been a little bit like a trickling here and there. Like I said, their threads is kind of the main one. Um, I haven't really seen anything on TikTok. Instagram have seen a couple of things. Uh, YouTube has seen a couple of things. One of the things I kind of actually kind of laughed at was from the book trade shade on Instagram. They posted a picture and said, never thought we would see the day that book people tried to create their own fire festival. $900 for a luxury retreat weekend for bookish crafts. That should have been the first alarm bell because what do you mean $900 to chat and book bind? No food, remote location, so can't get any food delivery, no refunds. Hosts having breakdowns about people out to get her and threatening to kick people out. Everyone who attended said they felt unsafe and had to leave early. Bookings for round two are already open. Welcome to Firefest, the book edition, where trauma bonding is required. Oh god.

SPEAKER_01

And I think that's what makes the situation worse is the fact that she's already planning another retreat for November without even taking accountability for the nightmare that just happened.

SPEAKER_04

That's a problem.

SPEAKER_01

Like it was June 18th to like the 21st or something like that was this weekend.

SPEAKER_04

And she's planning another one for what? Like November this year.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, but that's not gonna go well because everyone's heard about this already.

SPEAKER_04

Well unless people have space.

SPEAKER_01

Her name is associated with it. So even if they did sign up with the for the next one, they're gonna automatically see like what happened this time. The internet's forever, babe.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

So people are like saying she's like a it's a scammer, she's a grifter, stuff like that.

SPEAKER_02

I think she's just struggling. I think at the end of the day, that's it. But I unfortunately I think she needs to take a step back. I don't think she should be planning another book weekend until she has to focus on herself. Yeah, she just needs to work on herself and get herself healthy, squared away. She doesn't seem happy.

SPEAKER_01

No, no, she does not know.

SPEAKER_02

But this kind of leads us to a bigger discussion. Should influencers, is she really an influencer? We haven't heard of her, host expensive events.

SPEAKER_01

I don't think there's anything wrong with influencers hosting events if they do it properly. With her following, like, I don't know if I'd necessarily call her an influencer because I don't think she's has enough of a reach to influence a self-proclaimed influencer. I'd say she's a content creator. Yeah. But I wouldn't say she's an influencer. But I wouldn't consider us influencers. No, we're not influencing anybody. No. No. I'd be influencing.

SPEAKER_04

I'd say we're content creators. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

I'd say we're content creators. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

And I don't like, I wouldn't consider us well known either. Yeah. And I think I think we have a little bit more of a following than she does.

SPEAKER_02

Now I will say, like, one thing that I've seen like some people do is they would work with a larger company, whether that is Airbnb or uh Booking.com or some other kind of like affiliate company who does things like that, like other whether it's events or stays or say they're sponsored by that. Yeah. I kind of like that. No, I think this one's I wouldn't say it's as big as obviously what Firefest was. I think it is just a it's just a comparison of the disaster. Yeah. It's just a reading retreat, something I'd say to this scale. I could easily plan. Like Caitlin does our book weekends pretty much single-handedly. Yeah. And she does such a great job. Yeah. Does have having a large following mean you're qualified to run an event?

SPEAKER_01

I don't think it has anything to do with your following. It's more about who you are as a person if you have those skills to run an event. Like if your friend can do it.

SPEAKER_04

Like, so Kayla reads, she's Canadian too. And that girl reads. Um, she's I think she's somewhere in the States. Anyway, she is, but they got they got together and they did that. They did a book retreat in I don't know, was it Bali or something?

SPEAKER_02

No, they did well, they did two. I thought they did Croatia. Croatia, that's the one. And they did two. There's like two back to back.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. Ireland? No. That would be awesome though.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah. Yeah. They did a really cool one or two. I would say they're definitely more influencers in the book community. They have a very large following between the two of them. Yeah. So I just I would love to do something like that.

SPEAKER_02

I also love planning trips.

SPEAKER_04

That would be fun. Paul Twist pleased. Book retreat. Ooh. Loading. In I don't know how many years. But it'll happen.

SPEAKER_02

Let's just put it out there next year.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah. There you go.

SPEAKER_02

Possibly coming 2027. DVD.

SPEAKER_01

That'd be awesome. I'll have my passport by then.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

But I just I feel it's more, it's not that influers inf influence in, oh my gosh, influencers shouldn't. It's just you need to be able to execute it properly. Yeah if you do.

SPEAKER_02

Well, and speaking of, at what point do you hire professionals? Like we said, like for Kitty's retreats, she has a cook who comes in.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, she hires a chef.

SPEAKER_02

So I would not, that's the one thing. I don't like cooking.

SPEAKER_04

No. But you but you would account that into the cost.

SPEAKER_02

I think you need to recognize your weaknesses, like where you you would need to hire out. For sure. Yeah. Because like she did have, like the photographer did come in, um, and they did have like the book binding guy. The author came in and did that with her.

SPEAKER_04

But was it her that was supposed to be cooking the entire weekend for a while?

SPEAKER_02

No, but I'm gonna read the itinerary just for what she talks about for food.

SPEAKER_04

Okay, okay, I'm excited.

SPEAKER_02

So in all like the advertising for it, it was like delectable meals, blah, blah, blah. So a lot of it though was to be announced. They arrived Thursday. Dinner was make your own pizzas. Okay. That was so next day was enjoy a fresh hot breakfast to get your soul ready for a day of cozy. Lunch was a gourmet sandwich bar with homemade sourdough bread, and dinner was to be announced. Saturday, another day, another delicious hot breakfast. Lunch was another sandwich bar, dinner to be announced. And on the last day, the Sunday, fill your smoke with one last hot breakfast before you get ready to leave. And then everyone was supposed to take a snack for the road and extra napkins to wipe your tears.

SPEAKER_01

I was gonna say, with the make your own pizzas, does that also include like harvesting your own wheat, making the dough, kneading it? You know, they had to go to the phone. Making the tomato sauce by scrap.

SPEAKER_02

Went out and picked up pizza rather than make your own.

SPEAKER_03

So it didn't even have to be.

SPEAKER_04

And she was in the middle of nowhere, so she had to drive to who knows how far to grab pizza. Yeah. And the sandwiches, I guess she just didn't specify it was just P V and J.

SPEAKER_02

But I just think I just think it's funny that like through the whole thing, like through all the ads, it's kind of like the delectable meals and blah blah blah. Like none of the dinners are announced. And then, but so far, all you're getting is make your own pizzas and make your own sandwiches.

SPEAKER_01

I guess delectable is subjective.

SPEAKER_02

Yes. But yeah, I mean, I like a good sandwich. I'm not gonna lie. I love a I love a good sub sandwich.

SPEAKER_04

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Jersey mics.

SPEAKER_04

I feel like though, if you're gonna host something like that, you don't need to necessarily announce the entire menu. Yep. Like some people do it where they you get there and your menu is like when you arrive, you see what you're eating for the week or for that night, and then they come up with another menu.

SPEAKER_02

So is the book community becoming too dependent on the influencer or content culture?

SPEAKER_01

Yes. I'd say to a point.

SPEAKER_02

I think it is, but not necessarily in a bad way. Like with That Girl Reads and Kayla. I know that girl reads, especially like she's done a few book retreats now, and people have seemed to have loved them. Like she they did Scotland. Like it seemed to has seemed to have gone really well. And that's like one that's like over in Europe and the UK that she's done, and she's been able to pull this off.

SPEAKER_01

Crazy. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Not just like a local rental cottage. It's the fact that I guess like a lot of people in the book world are willing to pay to go do this for a weekend.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

And I mean, we've even had seen it in our own club of people saying that they don't have others in their life who are big readers like they are. Um, or that they wish that they had like a book club or friends that they could read with.

SPEAKER_04

Um someone just commented that literally today. Yeah? Yeah. Oh my god, this is so fun. I wish I had bookish friends to yap about books with.

SPEAKER_02

That's where I think it's a good side of things that people are that you have the opportunity to do that with people. You may not know them, but yeah.

SPEAKER_04

That's why I love our like community we created on Fable because it does seem like our own little tight-knit group of like people that we can just like spiral over books with. And everyone in there is really chill.

SPEAKER_01

Really funny, really chill.

SPEAKER_04

Really funny, really chill, very inclusive, like unproblematic. Unproblematic.

SPEAKER_01

Which is key.

SPEAKER_04

Yes, super key.

SPEAKER_01

But we all just are there to vibe. I think that's where the dependency comes in because, like, like that commenter said, they don't have anyone in their lives to talk about books with, so they're dependent on influencer culture or the book community to kind of fill that hole in them. Which I think is great.

SPEAKER_04

Some people just like a little too far. Yeah. And it becomes more about a status for themselves and money.

SPEAKER_01

Where things like this comes come in.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Scams. Yes, right. Not necessarily this is a scam, but like there has been things in the past that's a bit scammy. Are scams. There's another event a while ago that happened that was a total scam. I can't remember the name of it. The book con. Yeah, the book con thing. That one. Oh, yeah. Yes. It wasn't like actual book con, but it was like an influencer hosting some sort of book con-esque. In New York, right? Yeah. Yeah, you talked about it on the other channel. I think so. I don't remember.

SPEAKER_02

So, for all intents and purposes, this retreat had an itinerary. It was legitimate. Like Meg has run success successful retreats in the past. So actually has. Apparently, allegedly, yes. Okay. Okay. I did see actually a couple of people who um I could actually bring that up. I do have a screenshot from someone who said that she actually has gone on one previously with her.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_02

Interesting. But is there an itinerary who's organizing the event? Are there reviews from previous retreats? Don't actually apply and wouldn't have helped those attending because of this. So I'm gonna find that one. So this is from Liz Ardbreath. Hey Meg, I have stayed quiet, observing and absorbing information. However, as somebody who is in your server, somebody who attended the first retreat, and somebody somebody who genuinely wants you to be well, please log off. Please contact your mental health provider. I'm genuinely concerned for you. Don't get it twisted. I'm not excusing the behavior you have displayed nor the hurt you have caused. But I, and many others, am genuinely concerned for your safety, both physically and mentally.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah. So if she's hosted, like in the past, a successful retreat of some degree.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

Obviously, this woman is suffering. Something's going on really badly with her mental health, and it needs to become her priority.

SPEAKER_02

And she did in a lot of her threads too. She kept being like, hey, I'm still safe, still safe. Like, don't worry, still safe.

SPEAKER_01

I think this whole situation would be resolved quicker if she just simply refunded people their money. Yeah. And then people would stop talking about it. But they're out so much money.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

$900 is not a small amount of money, especially in this economy.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

She does talk about some of the money that's been spent. Like she had gone on to say that in response to Smut Whisper, I also bought all the crafting shit for you all. All those bedazzle kits were fresh for you. Everything was for you. I knew you were fine in the company I left you in, but you didn't feel safe with your own friends. Sorry. Whoa. Um then goes on to say it was also 1 p.m. when the book binding started, and I was back within 30 minutes because the maple syrup was only 15 minutes away. And then she goes on and replies herself saying, Okay, I think it was closer to 2 30 when everything for book binding was set up. But lunch was there earlier than that.

SPEAKER_01

I have no words. The words are gone. Mine gasted has been flabbered successfully. Yeah. There was a lot of people at like there was a controversy or I guess arguments whether or not $900 is an acceptable price for something like this, or if it was too much. What do you guys think about that? I I think it's too much for something like this.

SPEAKER_04

I think it's acceptable if what you're getting is exactly what is laid out here. It would have to be a magical weekend. I've mentioned Katie before, but she does a giant, beautiful cottage on the lake. She has it organized to a T. They do like drum circles, they'll do reading circles, they'll do healing circles. She has a chef on site. She gives like fully customized, like really cozy sweaters, pajamas, slippers. Like it's she goes all out and it's like $2,100 for the weekend. When you're getting that level of like care put into something like that, to me, if it's something that you love and enjoy, then I think it's worth it.

SPEAKER_02

Like, yeah.

SPEAKER_04

Can you really put a price tag on it?

SPEAKER_02

I don't think 900 is a crazy amount. No, if you're promised. For what she promised. Right. Yeah. 900 for what they got is crazy. Like, unfortunately, if especially if you are planning on hosting more retreats, the refund needs to happen and there needs to be something some accountability. Not just accountability, but like you need to do something for those people that you've now damaged. Yeah. Yeah. Whether it's like a discount or something, it's just something. Anything. Personally.

SPEAKER_04

That's my thoughts.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

But she's not nobody's gonna trust this next retreat to be done properly.

SPEAKER_02

Well now, so instead of like asking, like looking at you know, has she done this before, what you're getting, all of that, like how much the cost, like people are gonna be more worried about like what's the refund policy and what protections do I have if things go sideways. And honestly, go if you're going to her next retreat, those are two things I'd want to get in writing. Right.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, and check out her threads profile to make sure that her threads are more sensical. Is that a word? Because there's nonsense. Never mind, it's not a word. That they make sense. Okay, that's what I mean. I think nonsensical is a word.

SPEAKER_04

Nonsensical is a word.

SPEAKER_02

I don't know about sensical.

SPEAKER_01

Nonsensical.

SPEAKER_02

That's what I thought I said. I think you were starting to say it and then you stopped yourself because you're like, this sounds wrong. I second guessed myself.

SPEAKER_04

Sometimes when you say words, you're like, I'm like, for a word. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Sometimes the most simple words too. You're like, can I get some soup, soup, soup?

SPEAKER_04

Fork to me one day was weird.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, it just all's in your mouth, just like I said fork, and then I was typing it out, and I was like, No, it doesn't seem right. It's like a certain letter, like the the K. Yeah, like the K? Or are we spelling fork? Like F-R-E F-O-R-Q-U-E. Fork A. Final thoughts. How should organizers handle communications when things start to go wrong? Um, apologetically, yes, I'd say. I think something should have been said and or done during the weekend. Yeah, if not before, if she didn't like postpone it, and which would have there, and again, there would have been a time sensitivity there because if people bought flights, yeah, most of the time they're non-refundable unless you pay the extra sh money's.

SPEAKER_01

I think it all comes down to the fact that she wasn't aware that she was having like a manic episode during the retreat. And by the time that people were already there, maybe she panicked and was just like, yeah, everything's fine. But then now she's like saying that she was triggered. What was it? Uh triggered that you said? Traumatized. Traumatized, traumatized, yeah. From her AI boyfriend.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

I think that's the biggest thing. Maybe she's just embarrassed, and like that's why she was hiding in the hot tub the whole time. I don't from how she's handled it afterwards, I don't think it's embarrassing.

SPEAKER_04

She did actually say at one point that she's not hiding. Oh, yeah, I did see that. Yeah. I genuinely don't think she thinks she did anything wrong. I think it was everyone else that was the problem.

SPEAKER_02

There's no, I'm sorry. Well, and she even said like she even said that. Guys, I'm just kind of I'm just kind of losing my mind over here now because once again, I'm being gaslit. Lol lol. I truly don't want to be like this. I've asked all of you so many times to come to me privately. So if you're outing yourself on Maine, your problem. Yes, know what I mean.

SPEAKER_01

No apologies, no, I'm sorry. No, I'm gonna refund you your money. No, I'm actually struggling. I'm so sorry for how this weekend went. It's none of that. It's saying, you guys are the problem, you're the issue, I'm the victim here. There's no self support for me.

SPEAKER_02

Well, she even says, guys, I really am okay. I promise. So, like, this is the thing. Like, she kept kept saying that she's safe. She's like, I'm safe, guys. I'm really okay, I promise. This is truly nothing new to me. I'm sure the more successful I get in whatever I choose to do, the more shit I'll have to go through. Shit happens. I love hurt people, hurt people, but that doesn't mean I need to keep them close. I don't take threats lightly. If I can do something about it, I will.

SPEAKER_05

So see, that's the thing. She's saying she's not sorry.

SPEAKER_04

That they hurt her. Yeah. And not the other way around. And that's the part that's so wrong. Yep. And you can't blame your mental health on that.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. No, and the fact people are sit like who actually struggle with what she claims to have, are saying, You can't, I have this, you can't blame it on this. Yeah. That should be like, don't even take our word for it, take their word for it. Yeah. Like go look at the threads, you'll see for yourself. They're even saying you can't blame your mental health on what has happened here.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah. Like for me, being a very anxious person, I don't expect you to tiptoe around my triggers. It's up to me to recognize what's wrong with me mentally and take the steps to get help. Yeah. And remain on that path. Because yes, mental health is a real thing and it's a very big struggle for a lot of people. And I obviously said we we obviously sympathize with that, but it is up to you with the mental health problem to get the help or have your people help you recognize that you're not in a good place. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_02

So this is gonna be the last one that I read from her. I'm not hiding, by the way. I'm finally sleeping through the night and taking a step away. I'm not gonna reply to much more of anything for a second because I don't really have to. I've taken full responsibility and you see that if you read. It's okay with me if you don't understand the plants. I would never force anyone to consume anything they didn't wanna. Much love to everyone.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, there's no accountability. I've read the tweets. There's nothing. So point us to where, Celeste.

SPEAKER_04

If anyone else do you have a screenshot, find the for the the apology, send it our way.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, there's just so much. Like I could I honestly could just keep going. So if you want more, go to her threats. Yeah. Look the comments. There's there's just so much things. You could just keep go down a rabbit. Yeah. Yeah. Can someone have good intentions but still be accountable for their poorly executed event?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. If they truly had good intentions, they would be accountable. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Yes. For the like they would take responsibility. Yeah, especially again, if you want to do this again, you gotta you gotta just swallow the pride. Swallow the pride, yeah. Yeah. Would you ever attend an influencer-hosted reading retreat?

SPEAKER_01

I would, but I would do my research first just so then I didn't have an experience like this. Like look at any past events they've done, look at reviews, make sure you read the fine print. Are refunds available if you go to the website? Like see if there's something along those lines, like their policy, just do your research.

SPEAKER_04

I feel like there'd there'd be a deposit that would be non-refundable, but But for something like this, I don't think if like say like we shit the bed and it ended being as bad as this was.

SPEAKER_02

I don't think we I don't think we ever could have it, especially because if there's three of us rather than like one person. But if something were to happen that meant that everyone who came had a horrible time, I wouldn't even worry about the non-refundable deployment.

SPEAKER_04

Oh no, I mean non-refundable as in like if forever, for whatever reason the person attending couldn't make it last minute, there'd be a specific because you do take into account like cost of food, cost of like swag bag stuff, like that would be the non-refundable part if the attendee couldn't. Yeah. But if you as the host dropped the ball or had to cancel, then that goes right out the window.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. What would make you comfortable spending that kind of money? Like Susie, you kind of were talking about like you thought was a bit of a high price point.

SPEAKER_01

Just because $900 to me is like dropping a hundred nine hundred dollars on a weekend, I don't think I could justify that. The cost of it, yeah.

SPEAKER_04

Everything is included in that price. Yeah, you can justify it, especially if it's like you have a photographer, you've got bookbinding, you've got craft, yeah, you've got swag bags, you've got an on-site photographer. You know, like that includes your rent for the weekend. It does kind of, if it's worth it, yeah, and it's something you want to do and you enjoy, then I can see people spending that no problem.

SPEAKER_01

For me, I'd need a little bit more assurance. Like, is it a very popular event that people would pay that much money for? Has been gone going on for years. Have people have good experiences with it? Like, for me personally, I would need a lot more than just like her hosting event, one event like a while ago, and it was okay. $900 is like a lot of money.

SPEAKER_02

You would have to like prove to people here's the swag bags we have for this weekend, like snap like sneak peek. Well, and someone did comment because she did share a picture after the fact of the swag bags. Yeah. And just saying like how little they actually cost and like the grand scheme of things.

SPEAKER_01

I would need to be assured that it was gonna be a top tier magical weekend before I even dropped the dollar on it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

A hundred percent. So we want to hear from you guys. What was your best or worst bookish event experience? Let us know in the comments below.

SPEAKER_01

That leads us to live. Wait, wait, wait, wait.

SPEAKER_02

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_04

We have ready. We're a little behind on this.

SPEAKER_01

Our 5K giveaway. Thank you guys for being here with us, subscribing to the YouTube channel, and just, you know, watching our nonsense every week. It's been a fun time.

SPEAKER_02

So we We promised this a while ago. We did. Well, we started getting it ready before we even hit 5K, being like, hey, we're gonna hit 5K. We should get this ready. But then it took us a little bit because there's some things that we wanted as part of our giveaway. Yes, and we got them made.

SPEAKER_04

So that took some time. Do we want to talk about what's included? Yeah, we could talk about what's included.

SPEAKER_01

Yep. So we each got take it away, Susie. We each put a book in there, which is wrapped. It's a like a kind of like a blind date with a book situation.

SPEAKER_04

But it's from our personal libraries.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, our personal libraries. We have two plot twist pleas wine glasses in there. We've got some stickers, plot twist pleas stickers, um, Susie's urine club stickers in there, and then as well as some other stickers that we love and picked out. We have a very fitting bookmark that I think encapsulates all of us really well. Well, you guys and then me.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. Yep.

SPEAKER_01

Um, and then what else do we have in there? Kindle charm. We've got like a Kindle dust plug. Yeah, I think that's it.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, just a small giveaway, but there will be a bigger one at 10K. At 10K.

SPEAKER_04

Hopefully we'll be ahead of the schedule on that one. Yes. Because we're over 6500 miles.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

So better late than never. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

But if you want to enter the giveaway, make sure you go check out our Instagram. All the requirements will be there.

SPEAKER_02

So this will be launching uh July 7th, and we'll be announcing the winner on July 21st. Which now brings us to Lines We Loved. I like how you you turns so we can put your lips on it. Just put them on her forehead, if anything.

SPEAKER_01

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_02

Imagine the big.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. Mine is going to be from The Dagger in the Flame by Catherine Doyle, page 324. Here was the devil standing under the eye of the saints, and he didn't seem to care. In fact, he was acting like he belonged in their company.

SPEAKER_04

Ooh. Nice. Yeah. Cass. Do you want me to go?

unknown

Yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_04

I'm gonna do one from the current book I'm reading, In the Veins of the Drowning, uh, by Callie Cassidy, page 168. Slowly he spread his fingers wide and dug into my ribs as if he wanted to touch as much of me as possible. I would have worshipped you, he said, husky and slow. Laid you out over the my bed like a goddess on her altar and gone on my knees before you. And when we were done, after a very long time, he brought me tighter to his chest, and I all but melted into him. My nose brushed his chin. I thank you for tearing me to ribbons with those pretty talons of yours.

SPEAKER_02

Thank God So I did Yesteryear by Carol Clara Burke. Page 78. Amelia floated quietly behind the men, smiling brightly in their shadow, occasionally tugging at her pink Chanel skirt and blazer set like some special edition presidential Barbie. When I first met her and earlier that night, she told me in a soft, fluttery falsetto to call her mama. I thought her teeth were so white, they almost looked purple. Then I saw how much she how much wine she drank and realized they were actually just purple. Oh wow.

SPEAKER_04

That's fine. There was actually some funny lines in there.

SPEAKER_02

There were some funny lines in there. Yeah. Nice. So that's all we got for you for the disaster of the fire festival.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

Of the book Fire Festival edition.

SPEAKER_02

Bye. So you may now exit out the front or rear of the plane.

SPEAKER_01

Please make sure you put up your tray and have a great flight. You can find us on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube at Glau Twist PleasedPod, or also anywhere you can get your podcast. So make sure you're following or subscribed so you never miss an episode. If you love this one, hype us up a little. Leave us a comment, drop a rating or review, and tell us what you would like us to read next.

SPEAKER_04

Thank you so much for joining us on this episode.

SPEAKER_02

And as always, keep your glass, your bookshelf, and your TBR full. Cheers