SPEAKER_04

One threads post that really stood out to me came from someone named Novell Arts. They recognized one of the reviews because it had supposedly been copied almost point for point. They wrote that the review had essentially been condensed and slightly reworded, but all of the major observations were still there. And the thing that really caught everyone's attention though was the claim that it even in like included a personal reference from the original poster. Oh yeah. You dumb. The setting is just a backdrop. If you don't like a book, you can actually just move on with your life. If you don't like that I wrote this book, try sending an email. I promise it's a lot easier than having your Goodreads account banned for life.

SPEAKER_03

You can't do that. What? What? She's threatening to ban their account? Yeah. Oh my goodness. What does she own Goodreads?

SPEAKER_04

Welcome back to Plot Twist Please, where you sit, flip, and spill the tea on books and booze. I'm Susanna, I'm Cass. And I'm Beth. And today we are going over a bunch of different drama or controversies regarding one central topic, which is book reviews. Some of the things we're going to be talking about in today's video is some Book Instagram creator stealing reviews from other people, putting them through AI, and then posting them as if it's their own. We're going to also be talking about what makes a good review, what makes a bad review, some other drama regarding an author, and some negative reviews that were on her book, and a big podcast tagging an author in their book club pick, and their review of it was not great. So a lot of different things that we're going to be talking about today. Juicy. So today's drink of the episode, Alani. Alani.

SPEAKER_05

Purple cotton candy. Their newest flavor. Delicious.

SPEAKER_04

It is good. Yes, thank you, Alani, for sending those to me. Influencer perks, Sirium saying I'm not an influencer. Well, we're not.

SPEAKER_03

You are. Well, you are now. I wouldn't call myself an influencer. We're content creators.

SPEAKER_02

Our followers say otherwise. Well, just because they, you know. Are influenced. Are influenced by books that we possibly recommend. I'd I'd say we're light on the influencing. We just make recommendations.

SPEAKER_04

And we influence people to read them.

SPEAKER_05

Content recommenders.

SPEAKER_03

Content recommenders. We're below the influencer, but above the creator.

SPEAKER_02

So true. Okay, before we jump into it, what are we all reading? I think you guys are on the same, aren't you? Forbidden Alchemy. Are you still reading it? Yeah. Okay. I'm like 80% in. So I'll be done today.

SPEAKER_04

I'm reading more now that my Red Dead Redemption 2 journey has come to a close. I beat the campaign in four days and I am empty inside.

SPEAKER_05

I'll play video games the same way that you read to just destroy.

SPEAKER_02

She has no chill. It's all or nothing. It's true.

SPEAKER_04

I get hyperfixated on stuff and I can do nothing else. It's so ridiculous. You're like that with shows as well. Anything. Outlander was like so good, but also so bad for me mentally.

SPEAKER_05

I think I'm I'm similar, but not the same level that you are. You're like a level nine. I'd say I'd say I'm like. I will say I'm very extra.

SPEAKER_02

She's a she's just dumbing it down right now.

SPEAKER_04

I've had these these obsessions with like Animal Crossing back in the day. Um, Stardew Valley, Hogwarts Legacy was like a huge one that consumed 400 hours of my life.

SPEAKER_02

Let me tell you just how bad Hogwarts Legacy was. Nate and her wanted to play it. They only had one system. Don't no, this I'm gonna get canceled. Well, don't do it. This was before you did your consumer. I'm a change person. She's not. This was years ago. Regardless. She was so butthurt when Nate was trying to play that she made Nate go out and buy another system so that she could play it solely on her own, and Nate had to use a different system. So they had two PS, was it PS stations or PS? Xboxes? No, Xboxes, I think. No, wait, regardless. Regardless. It was two systems living in one household because she couldn't share.

SPEAKER_04

This is why you can't have the same hobby as your your partner. That's a good argument for that, especially when it's me. Like I get FOMO so bad, and I was obsessed with Hogwarts. Like I wanted to play through every house, and Nate takes forever to do video games, but when we're both like chilling, he wants to play video games. Yeah. So I was like, how am I supposed to enjoy my hobby when you're hogging the console? I need to hog a console on my own. Yeah. We did sell it after the fact. So I mean it was bought specifically for that purpose, but she's like a toddler. She couldn't share. No, not when it comes to this.

SPEAKER_05

No, no. Beth, what are you reading? Because I killed him. I'm very much enjoying it. It is on my TBR. Yeah. So I'm 60% in. We'll see how the last 40% go. What isn't on my TBR? That is very true.

SPEAKER_04

I think it's the cover for me of the book that does not make me want to read it. I'm very much like a judge a book by its cover.

SPEAKER_05

Great Gatsby meets. Ooh. Yeah. It does give Great Gatsby vibes. Futuristic. Like dystopian? Kind of. I wonder if it's because it's not really dystopian, but it kind of gives those vibes. Yeah. Like you've got all like the robots and the technology and and all that, but it's all very that seems pretty much. They go out. Like there's a lot like jazz and tap dancing and the dresses, and they all wear like the 1930s headdresses where it's like the yes. You know what I mean? Yeah. Yeah. So like that kind of guts. Yeah, it's very gats-by. That's fun. Yeah. Which kind of explains, I think, the cover. Okay. It's your art deco feel to it, right?

SPEAKER_04

So okay. Well, if you say it's good, I believe you. There's some urine. We love urine. Okay. I updated my phone and I have my urn sticker. That's so cute. I said to Nate, does this look lame? Because it's kind of cut off. It is cut off a bit. Yeah. And I was like, well, I'm just going to keep it anyway. It fits perfectly in the circle.

SPEAKER_05

I don't mind it, but a border.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah. So got that.

SPEAKER_05

It's our last day of the, well, almost the last day of the giveaway. By the time this comes out, you'll have another two days-ish. Because entries will be closing at 12 o'clock, 12 p.m. noon on the 22nd. So go enter for a chance to win. And yeah, I'll have a bunch of stuff sent to you. And make sure you go and when you're taking like your friends and everything like that, that you're taking them onto our Instagram page. That's where we will be pulling the winners from.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah. Let's get into the drama. So we have multiple things, like I said, that we're going to cover today. The first thing that caught my eye, a Bookstagram creator was called out named Hadil Reeds. She was getting called out because readers started noticing that some of her book reviews looked really familiar. Now, I think it's important to start off fair here because two people can have very similar like reviews with books. There's only so many ways you can say like enemies to lovers or forced proximity or the pacing was slow. Like there's going to be very similar terminology when describing your experience with a book. However, according to people involved, this wasn't just shared opinions. Readers began saying the reviews weren't simply similar. They were allegedly following the exact same structure, making the exact same points in the same order, and in some cases using almost identical wording with only like a few words swapped out. Yeah. So the more people started looking, the more examples that they were finding of her copying their reviews.

SPEAKER_02

Interesting.

SPEAKER_04

One threads post that really stood out to me came from someone named Novelle Arts. They recognized one of the reviews because it had supposedly been copied almost point for point. They wrote that the review had essentially been condensed and slightly reworded, but all of the major observations were still there. And the thing that really caught everyone's attention, though, was the claim that it even in like included a personal reference from the original poster. Oh yeah. You dumb. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05

Stupid.

SPEAKER_04

So there's only so many ways that you can like try to defend that behavior. Yeah. You were like, you can't.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

You can't do that. So from there, more creators started chiming in saying they recognized their own reviews. Some claimed that negative comments were being deleted. So, like the comments calling her out, she was deleting those.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

Trying to avoid accountability. And others alleged that they had been blocked after bringing it up. Ooh. Yeah. Okay. That right there is very telling. Yeah. So I have some threads that I want to read.

SPEAKER_05

Ah, it's another week of threads.

SPEAKER_04

I love threads. Little old threads. I haven't posted on there since 2025. I did start posting today because I was like, I have 22k followers on there. Why wouldn't I post and like bring attention to the pod? But hold please. Gotta find my shared elbow.

SPEAKER_05

Should we all have our own threads? Yeah. I mean, technically we could. Like it's it's connected to our Instagram. Yeah. Another thing for me.

SPEAKER_00

You need to change the password.

SPEAKER_04

Figure it out. So someone said, I don't know how y'all don't feel weird stealing someone else's book review, running it through AI to rewrite it, and then passing it off as your own opinion. That's so unbelievably icky to me. And I have a feeling authors wouldn't be too thrilled if they knew either. Yeah. Yeah. Like, did you even read the book, or are you just putting reviews to pretend you read to have more content? Yeah. Which we're gonna get into. We're gonna have that whole conversation.

SPEAKER_05

Or is it like uh do you find a review that you kind of agree with and then just copy and paste it? Or but again, just be authentic.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

Like if you're a creator, yeah, reviews as content, never thought I'd see the day. Someone called Haley's Books, the person who copied my review and other people's as well, has deleted all negative comments, calling them out, disappointed, but not surprised. Yeah. Someone said, I usually stay out of this mess, but I have 335 mutuals with this person on Instagram. Head deal. Bookstagram.

SPEAKER_05

Okay.

SPEAKER_04

So here I am, naming a bad influencer in Bunny Ears, and telling my followers slash people that I'm following that this account steals reviews and then blocks the people she steals from. So she's not just blocking people who are leaving negative comments, but she's blocking any anyone she steals a review from. Oh shady, icky behavior. That's also admitting you're guilty.

SPEAKER_03

This sounds like so much work. Just write your own review.

SPEAKER_05

No, it doesn't even need to be very long. You can literally voice note it. You can write a voice note as you're doing if you're busy doing whatever. Yeah. Like I've done that.

SPEAKER_04

Can you imagine just like going through the like reviews of a book, trying to find one you like just to copy it, then block the city?

SPEAKER_05

Well, of course, then you'd have to go in, have AI rewrite it for you or whatever. Go in, do that, and then go back to that person, block that person, and stay on top of any negative comments that come for you.

SPEAKER_02

Is she blocking them before it? Yeah. So so that they don't find it. So that they don't find it.

SPEAKER_05

Allegedly.

SPEAKER_02

And then she's blocking any negativity that follows from the comments.

SPEAKER_05

Exactly. Or she could just write her own reviews.

SPEAKER_02

Whoa, wild concepts. How wild mutate? Or you could just be like me and not write a review.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

If you don't have the energy.

SPEAKER_03

We have our book influencer who doesn't really appear in the wild review list.

SPEAKER_02

I'll write the odd review and I just feel so stupid because I'm like, who am I?

SPEAKER_03

I'm like, good.

SPEAKER_02

I'll put like my four. Why is my star rating not good enough?

SPEAKER_05

Please see stars.

SPEAKER_04

But what's causing you to read it four stars? Oh my goodness. What do you mean? I need to know. Why did you write the book? What what made you rate it?

SPEAKER_05

Vibes. This one, no vibes. Vibes. There's been so many vibes. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

All the vibes. Yeah. Spacey vibes. Exclamation points times four. Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_04

So continuing on this thread, uh, she has been deleting comments calling her out. I fact-checked, and it's all true. She has also been removed from at least one street team, which I don't know what those are. I'm on for stealing reviews, and this street team is known to do their due diligence with fact-checking as well. Also, she's not a small creator. In this screenshot, she had 7,804 followers and 265 posts. I don't know how many are original, but probably not any of them.

SPEAKER_02

So a street team is a group of enthusiastic supporters who help spread the word about a creator, book, podcast, business, or brand. Despite the name, most street teams today operate online rather than literally on the street. Thanks for that clarification.

SPEAKER_05

That is very interesting.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. The more we know.

SPEAKER_04

The more we know. So that's not it though. Okay. Hadil. I hope I'm saying her name right because I don't want to do that any injustice. But she came to her Instagram stories, but not really defending, but like apologizing.

SPEAKER_05

Didn't she like fully admit everything? And it was like my bad. I'll I'll try to do better.

SPEAKER_02

I mean, she didn't really need to say that she did it because her actions were telling everyone. Was it but I thought she like fully it was like, oh my bad, guys. Shouldn't have done that.

SPEAKER_05

Whoops.

SPEAKER_04

And it's like, yeah. Her story said, everyone, I understand I messed up. It was wrong, and I am sorry. I shouldn't have copied people's reviews as my own. I'm changing the reviews right now and can only hope that everyone can accept that. But maybe let's not hack into my account, y'all. LOL. Had to reset my password twice now. Seems more she only posted because she was more upset about people trying to hack into her account rather than actually taking accountability. But yeah. As far as I'm concerned, you shouldn't even have the account because all of it's not even your content, basically.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I don't agree with people trying to hack into her account. I just feel like that's over the top. But like calling her out, absolutely.

SPEAKER_04

I don't want to hack into your account, but I just don't think you should have it.

SPEAKER_02

I don't think she should have it, but I don't think anyone should be trying to hack into it either. Because regardless, like her personal information is still linked to that account, and I don't think that that's fair, but she definitely should not be having an account with that many like followers if that's how she's going to operate. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

So questions for you guys.

SPEAKER_04

I've got some questions.

SPEAKER_02

Oh, I'm excited.

SPEAKER_04

If someone copied one of your reviews almost word for word, would it genuinely bother you because it feels like they stole something personal, or would you laugh it off?

SPEAKER_05

Bethany, I would be genuinely bothered.

SPEAKER_04

Because I don't do reviews.

SPEAKER_05

I don't do huge reviews, but there's still like your personal experience. Yeah, it is my personal experience. How you felt. Yeah, and you just stole that from me.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, you just spent like eight hours reading this book.

SPEAKER_05

And there are times where like the one person was kind of saying like they had like their own like little personal blurb in it. There are times where I've I've had that because for whatever reason. And um, thank you. But yeah, I think I would actually I'd be really bothered by it. Well, people steal my star reviews all the time. It's exhausting. How dare they? Like, I'm gonna give this a 2.78. I'd love to see people Fable. I bet you would do that. You would be the one that would be like very specific. 1000% I would.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, she would. We thought we were blessed with a 0.5 star rating with Fable. Give me those 0.21. Yeah, let me add a 0.1 on to 0.25 or 2.5 add plus one.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah, because what if I had like two books and both books I would give like a 2.75? But the one was just better by one point. 2.77.

SPEAKER_04

Honestly, fair, very specific. Yeah. Question number two. Do you think this situation hits differently because these are reviews? If somebody copied a real idea or recreated someone's bookshelf aesthetic, I don't really think people would react as strongly. Like reels are trends and whatnot. Yeah. Um, so what is it about stealing someone's thoughts or someone's actual opinion that makes it much more personal? I think it's just that.

SPEAKER_02

That's literally their thoughts on a book that they read.

SPEAKER_05

Like you spend so much, and I think I think it's you spend so much time reading a book, and the thing that we kind of keep coming back to is how subjective reading is. Yeah. So everyone's experience and journey through that book is so different. Yeah. I know some people take like their reviews really seriously. Like they think it's like a novel to it.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05

And if I was like, especially if I was one of those people, I would be very bothered because it's like I spent so much time and attention to detail, yeah, to like write out all of my thoughts on this and how I'm feeling and how it's affected me. And then someone's just come in and been like, copy, paste, change, post. I'd be pissed. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Because like the thing with reels too is like you want them to go viral. So if you make a reel that people copy, then you're like, that's right.

SPEAKER_04

There's a lot of controversy I've seen on that in not really the book talk space, but like just random reels. People will start a trend and then other people will copy it and they get all butthurt that someone copies it. But like if you're posting something online, guaranteed it's not an original concept. Yeah, like stories, like every story that we read is derived from something that was created for the first time.

SPEAKER_02

Like it's very very rare you're gonna have a original story.

SPEAKER_05

One thing I think is crazy with people who like some of the reels I've seen, like they'll do say like a dance to a song, and then you go to their page and they've done like 15 videos of the same dance to the same song. Yeah, and it's like this is just it's like they that exploded, and then they but I'm like, you're going through the page and it's like it's the same, it's the same thing, yeah. Over and over again. Because it's like it worked for them one time, they're like, I'm just gonna keep going.

SPEAKER_04

Stick with it. Imagine if you like, if I went viral for doing a dance, I can't dance by the way.

SPEAKER_02

But let's just say Twilight Reel was just that was I practiced that and it still turned out like so.

SPEAKER_04

Anyway if I made content and was trying to make content, like doing my Christian stuff like I used to, and then I did like a dance to Jesus, which I did for like one thing, but if that went viral and then I saw that worked, and then I just continue to make content dancing, yeah. That'd be imagine my career was just dancing on the internet. I don't know how I'd feel about myself.

SPEAKER_05

So, what do you do?

SPEAKER_04

Um, I post silly dances on TikTok.

SPEAKER_05

Like, that's my job. In the name of our Lord and Savior. We have these young girls in our court who are like 10 and they will record like video, and I'm like sitting there being like, This is weird. Just feel like because they're like, they're like, like I said, like 10. And they'll be like, let me set up my iPad. And they'll be like, put their iPads and be like, Are you ready? I remember those days. And then they're just like, but they're out and I guess we I guess all the neighbors can watch this.

SPEAKER_02

I was gonna say, go ride a bike, but I guess we used to do that with our video recorders and put like Yeah, that's true. Yeah, but our dances were not like choreographed by any means.

SPEAKER_05

I think I was more into like the photo shoots, like, let's put on weird things as kids, you know? Yeah, yeah. But it was just weird because I literally really like we're a bunch of like the neighbors were all sitting in like their one front lawn, just like chatting, and all the kids are playing, and then the girls just like do it like right beside us. Have a tripod out and everything. Just like what?

SPEAKER_04

Third question, and it's just gonna be like a simple answer. Okay. If you found out a creator you genuinely loved, let's say Marianna Reeds, was copying reviews, would one apology be enough for you to start trusting the recommendations again?

SPEAKER_05

No. No, no. Honestly, at the I think at this point, she needs to delete, delete everything, delete all your reviews, delete your your social media, delete all of it. If you want to continue doing it, that's fine, but now you're gonna have to start from the bottom. You're gonna have to, you're gonna have to earn stuff fresh. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04

Honestly, I think at this point, like in my opinion, and this might be like pretty like high up on the insane scale, but I'm just like, I think she's lost the privilege to post her reviews as content.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

Like you're not, you're people are gonna know who you are now.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah, they're not gonna trust, even if you did start from the But I mean, like if she keeps going, like, yeah, I just I just don't I I think I think damage.

SPEAKER_04

I think you can do what Cass does and just do the star rating. Yeah. And then that's it.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah, you're on it, you're on a time out. No words.

SPEAKER_04

No words, just stars, just vibes, girl. Okay, so moving on to what makes a good review in your eyes. This was actually a topic idea from one of our viewers called Plans on a Waffle. So thank you so much. It fits into this topic very well. So we're gonna be talking about what makes a good review and what makes a bad review. Because if people are copying reviews, clearly they have some sort of value. Just don't understand why. It's weird. You know, every day when I'm on the internet, I'm just like I'm constantly flabbergasted. Like, what goes through people's heads? Why would they do the things they're doing? Like, it makes no sense. I'm exhausted because people are tiring. So, what is it about a really good review that makes it valuable enough that someone would want to pass it off as their own? Like, why that would happen?

SPEAKER_02

I think like what Beth said earlier, like some people they put so much thought into their reviews. Like, there's some reviews out there that are like they analyze everything in their review to like a point to the last detail. Like they have to take notes through the book, they would have to.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

If you really just are too lazy, and that's literally what this comes down to, yeah, to write your own review that meticulously, but still want to be relevant as a creator.

SPEAKER_05

On the flip side, I know some people really do look at the reviews not just for books, but for everything. I think it was as traveling with my sister. Remember her like everything we wanted to do, or like restaurants we're looking at. She was it was like automatically to like the Yelp reviews. And I'm just like, I just go and I'm just like, yeah, that looks like a restaurant. You eat like how I read. The vibes, the vibes.

SPEAKER_02

I don't look, I look at the Rate the overall rating. Yeah. I'm like, good to me. It's pretty much the same thing. I don't read the restaurant, it looks like.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah, that's a vibe. That's a vibe. Yeah. I'm in. Restaurant in Glasgow called Mowgli. Yeah. The vibes. See? The food though is also phenomenal. But I would have gone for the vibes alone. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

I will have going just for vibes for food. Although I always look at the menu beforehand.

SPEAKER_02

You should look it up. I will put that on my to-do list. We have listeners in Scotland. Hi. So if you guys have been there, let us know your thoughts. Mowgli? Mowgli. Like from the jungle book?

SPEAKER_04

Yeah. Nice. Question number two. So think about the follow or the creators you follow on TikTok or Instagram, like book TikTok creators. What about them makes you want to watch them? Is it that you usually agree with their opinions, or is there something else that brings you back to them?

SPEAKER_05

For the ones that I follow, it usually what they like is it's at least similar to what I like. Do when they do review books, for the most part, do I agree with them? Yeah. I know I'm not always going to, but then from that, it comes to when now when they do recommend a book, the likelihood of me liking it is high. Yeah. Because we have agreed on this, this, this. They've earned your trust. Yes. Yes. We've built a rapport that they don't know about. They don't know.

SPEAKER_02

But there's a rapport. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah. And if they like, let's say that they are reviewing a book that you genuinely enjoyed, like Nora Roberts, and they didn't agree with your take. Would you still listen to what they had to say because you enjoy hearing their perspective? Or I would. You like them as a person?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

Okay. Good to know. I would. I mean, I watched Marianna Reads and I she really loves like the mafia dark romance. And I just I don't really love the journey books too. That's true. I mean, I did read uh the Jasod Air, Jasod Crown duology.

SPEAKER_05

Like, I feel like it's like for the most part, like I don't think you are ever going to agree with one person 100% in every book.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05

Um, but for the most part, yeah, it's like so. I think that's kind of where it it kind of stems from.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, exactly. Like she loved the Jasod Air, which is the first book, I think, of the Scorched Throne duology. And that's what convinced me to read it because she was like, it's very yearny, true enemies to lovers. Like, we were on the same page in that, and I read it, loved it. She came back to review the second book, which she did get a lot of hate on for some reason. I think I've talked about this. Yeah, we've talked about this. Yeah. But she didn't like it, but I did. Yeah. And I still listened to what she had to say because I just genuinely enjoy her passionate reviews.

SPEAKER_02

I also love that she's so straightforward. Like, reading is subjective. Just because I don't like it doesn't mean you're not gonna like it, but this is my review.

SPEAKER_05

But especially for something like that, I would be interested to know be like, okay, what at what point was it all of a sudden like you're just like not loving it? Whereas like you did, and you both enjoyed the first one. Yeah, yeah. So I would like for something like that, I definitely would be interested in in hearing why. Yeah. What's one thing that instantly makes you trust a reviewer?

SPEAKER_04

But they know or at least seem to know what they're talking about, like picking out key details in the book, not just like saying, yeah, vibes. Like, well, come on now. No, no. I would not trust you as a reviewer. Vibes. What do vibes mean?

SPEAKER_02

What what falls under the vibes category? I read for the vibes, the vibe in the book is good. Oh my lord. What if our vibes are different? What if that's why you're vibing and I'm my vibing to a book might be different from your vibes? It's up to you to figure it out.

SPEAKER_04

All right then. Moving on, what do you think makes a bad review? So for me, vibes would be definitely in there whenever I'm like looking through a review and I just see like five stars, or it was amazing, or okay question mark. Like there's some questionable reviews that just have no explanation for some of the things they say.

SPEAKER_05

A bad review is when what they talk about and the star review don't match. Oh, I hate that, right? Like you're gonna I loved this book, gave it two stars.

SPEAKER_02

And you're like, or like I hated this book and they gave it 3.5. Right? And you're like, 3.5's not bad. No, that's like over the bad.

SPEAKER_04

I'd say like bad is anything below or at 2.5, like anything past that.

SPEAKER_05

The twenty out of three is bad. Yeah, I would think. When's it's like the Twilight review where they're like ho ho ho ho, whatever. And it's like, how many like stars they give it? It was like two or something.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, yeah, it was very low. I was like, you don't get to review this book and quote the book or something.

SPEAKER_05

It was like it just they don't match the vibes of the review and the stars.

SPEAKER_04

That makes a good point, but like I just I hate when it's so vague and it's gives me nothing to work with. Like, how am I supposed to know that I am gonna enjoy this book when you just like don't say why you didn't like it or why you did like it? Yeah, it's not helpful.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah, I think like it definitely, if you're gonna give it under three stars, you need to at least explain one reason of why you did not like this book. No, this you gave it under three stars, you did not love it.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, another kind of hot take. You mentioned like reviews that are like paragraphs long. I find that on a lot of those reviews, they start off by putting the synopsis.

SPEAKER_05

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_04

I hate that. I could get that off Google or Amazon or Bible itself. Yeah, don't do that, just get right into the review.

SPEAKER_02

I don't read reviews. Honestly, if they're that long, I wouldn't read that either. But I don't read them. I just don't want to. Here's the thing I don't want to go into a book with someone else's opinion in my brain. I just want to go in and read it and form my own opinions.

SPEAKER_05

I will say sometimes though, reviews could be good in the sense of so for our book club this month, The Forbidden Alchemy, if someone came in and was like, the first 30% are gonna suck, yeah. The second 30% are gonna be really great, and the last 30% is gonna be mind-blowingly amazing. At least then for the first 30%. You're prepared. I'm like, I just gotta get through it. Yeah, that's fair, right? Yeah, that's fair. But and this book is such a why I can't DNF.

SPEAKER_02

But there is some people to get better. There's some people that have liked it from the first page. I'm pretty sure Amber DNF'd pretty early on. Yeah, she did.

SPEAKER_03

Amber, I think you should keep going.

SPEAKER_02

There's a couple people that have DNF'd in the book, and I'm like, ooh, from the queen of DNF?

SPEAKER_05

I was re I was ready, and I'm not, I was literally just like, if this whole book is like this, I can't do it, guys.

SPEAKER_02

From the queen of DNF herself, I was like, Yeah, and then it got really good.

SPEAKER_05

Don't do it. Okay, all right, I can do this, but then it got so good.

SPEAKER_04

I think Awua wants to like throw the book because I think she's listening to the audiobook, and I've been listening to the audiobook like for a few chapters because I just I wanted to catch up, but also didn't have time to read. Because she was playing Red Dead Redemption. Besides the point, she was living another life. I was living in my good old wow wist life. Wow, wow wist.

SPEAKER_05

You can tell you've never gone south.

SPEAKER_04

I my my go-to hairstyle is a braid now because that's what the girls like are. You know, a cowboy hat.

SPEAKER_05

That's a very Laura Croft of you.

SPEAKER_04

Thank you. And my girl on Red Dead 2 online has the same hairstyle. Can I do this hairstyle myself? No, my husband braids my hair. Oh, that's so nice. My hands are broken. I can't do it. I'm telling you, you should tell your osteopath.

SPEAKER_02

Get those fits.

SPEAKER_04

I'll bring it up. Yeah, so hate those reviews. I forget what else I was gonna say, but anyway. Are there any other review pet peeves that you can think of that like make you roll your eyes if you see them? People like me make you guys roll your eyes.

SPEAKER_05

I think you make more Susie roll her eyes. Why? Because I don't leave that you don't leave reviews.

SPEAKER_04

I remember what I was gonna say. I'll start I'll start leaving reviews for you. You distract me with Red Dead. Alua is doing the audiobook. Yeah, right. And I was reading, like doing the audiobook for certain chapters, and with Nina's chapters, there's a woman narrator for Patrick's, there's a male. If I had to listen to just the female narrator, okay, and I don't want this to be a like misogynistic take. When she is voicing Theo or Patrick, I want to throw my phone. It's so bad.

SPEAKER_05

I've heard that actually from a few people. Yeah, it's so bad. I can't stand that either. It's so bad. I can't even like especially when you already have someone narrating like the man-side.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, yeah. Like Theo sounds like Draco in the Harry Potter movies, like just like snobby and just like too good. I mean, he is, but hearing that constantly is annoying, and then she's like she did that voice for Patrick too. Yeah, and like I couldn't do it.

SPEAKER_02

That book is lit literal definition of so you're gonna suffer, but in the end you're gonna be happy about it.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, suffer. You don't apply here. Beth, are you someone who likes really detailed reviews, or do you prefer when people keep it short and sweet?

SPEAKER_05

Short and sweet.

SPEAKER_04

I agree. Who has to do?

SPEAKER_05

Tell me why I'm gonna like it, tell me why I'm not gonna like it. And is there like for me? I think I try my reviews, I try to let people know, I guess, certain things that either kept me going or wouldn't keep you going. So that kind of I was saying about like the 3030-30 for this month's book. Whereas like the 30% this 30% sucks, this 30%'s good. So it's like if you keep going, it will be a great book. Yeah, later you'll be happy about it.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah. Kind of branching off of the really long reviews. I think, in my opinion, that we have put too much pressure on reviews. Reviews are not just simply what your opinion on the book now, but I think they've kind of transformed into content for people in the age of Bookstagram and whatnot.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah. But it's even like it's like a restaurant review. I don't want to stand outside of a restaurant sitting there reading this long review unless it's got a lot of drama and I'm reading it for fun.

SPEAKER_02

I'll read the reviews after I've read the book sometimes to see what other people are saying.

SPEAKER_04

I have to stop myself from like when I'm going to read a book from going to look at the negative reviews. That's what I'm saying. I don't read the reviews.

SPEAKER_05

If you're not, if you're not enjoying a book, I could see I could see going to read the reviews being like, is it? I do that sometimes. I'm like, what the frick am I reading?

SPEAKER_04

Like, what do other people say about this? Yeah. I remember back in my Bookstagram day though, I really did think that like every review needed to be like very long, beautifully written, and insightful in order to be valid. Yeah. And I think that has kind of gotten worse as the years have gone on. Because clearly, I haven't done that in a long time. Even sometimes when I'm reviewing books and fable, because of our platform and how people look to us for book recommendations, I do sometimes feel pressure to like make my review as I guess detailed as possible. Not long per se, but like exact and why I didn't like it or why I did like it.

SPEAKER_05

Right. Yours are definitely the longest one in the group. Yeah. Of the of like potatoes. I keep mine short and sweet. It depends on the book. There's there are a few that have done longer ones, but I keep mine very short and sweet. I'm kind of like, here's what you need to know. That is it. And you've never like overthought your review when you're trying to post it. I have debated going back on yesteryear now that I've sat with it for a little bit because I think there's almost like a pressure. I almost feel like Fable needs to come back to you like three days after you finish a book asking you then to leave a review. Because sometimes you just need to marinate.

SPEAKER_04

I feel like reviews now aren't just like simply written reviews though, but it's verbal content. Like even with the Susie Dierren Club stuff, like there's pressure there. I feel pressure. So it's good.

SPEAKER_02

I feel like the pressure on yourself though.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah, but like if I think there is an expectation, people have an expectation of what they're gonna get from you.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, if you're posting content, you want to make sure it's actually something people want to listen to or like entertaining or you know, retention. We don't know yet because we haven't done a spice a spice club one. The people are waiting. It's Beth. Hi, she has less time.

SPEAKER_03

What do you mean? You have less time too. No, I've got all my evenings are free. Yeah, but mine just haven't been because Zach's been on night. That's what I mean. You have less time.

SPEAKER_05

I think it's not that I have less time, it's that the free time either of us have is opposite. I've been really, I've been my mornings wide open. But at work moving on.

SPEAKER_04

So I think that like in reviews, authenticity is probably your biggest strength. Like, tell me why you liked it. Bring your own feelings, your emotions into it if you want. You can't really copy that because everyone experiences books in different ways. My last question to you guys in this section is what's one piece of advice you'd give to someone who's nervous about putting the reviews out there, especially when reviews are under like scrutiny. Yes, that's the word. Thank you. Make a list of things you liked in the book. Check it twice.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah, I was gonna say that. Are you naughty or nice? Do the naughty and nice of the book. What you liked, what you didn't like. Just stick with that. I have no advice.

SPEAKER_02

You should post. That's my advice to you. I can't give advice when I don't do. So fair enough.

SPEAKER_03

Cass's the word of this episode is vibes.

SPEAKER_02

Just vibes. I will be specifically over here. Going forward, expect reviews. That is a vibe scale. You'll see. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

Don't probably see before this because you're probably gonna start with it.

SPEAKER_05

Five words or less reviews right here.

SPEAKER_02

It'll have two words something before it and vibes. It could be three though. Very good vibes. Okay. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05

Three tops. Super yearny vibes. Fair. Yeah. That's a word five. It'll be like up to five. I wish there was a dislike button on Fable.

SPEAKER_03

So like just like dislike just thumbs down everything. Make sure it never gets seen. Listen, there's so many people in my tribe. I know it. Honestly, I'm here for the vibe tribe, so. Depends on the book for me.

SPEAKER_02

No, like reading the vibe for the vibes. You don't very much read for the vibes.

SPEAKER_04

Sometimes I do. My tempest and tea weaves is definitely for the Yarnie vibes.

SPEAKER_05

I don't know, because I feel like my vibes are different than your vibes, and your vibes are different than her vibes. That's very true. Because like I'm vibing with because I killed him. Cheryl did not vibe. She does Cheryl doesn't very much vibe though. The kingdom, what was it? The kingdom will not kill me.

unknown

Terrible book.

SPEAKER_05

I vibes through that. Oh, you vibed. Yeah. She loved that. We were vibing. You guys, no vibes.

SPEAKER_02

Zero vibes.

SPEAKER_04

So this next piece of drama is something I found like literally yesterday. I'm surprised that this even happened. But it is about the Valley of the Moms. It's a book, apparently, by Hannah Sellinger. So before it was even released, it had quite a bit of buzz. It's a thriller inspired in part by her own experiences with conflict in her local parent-teacher organization. Which when she it said PTO here, and I was like, pay time off. Like what? But I I saw an article and it was parent-teacher organization.

SPEAKER_05

Okay.

SPEAKER_04

So there's already this layer of like real life woven into the marketing. She moved since then, but her past like PTO was in a very rich community. I don't even know what that would be like, but bougie vibes.

SPEAKER_02

Okay.

SPEAKER_04

So in an interview with people, she said, Maybe I didn't really understand what we were getting into when we moved back to the North Shore. When I grew up in New Buryport in the 80s and 90s, the area was distinctly middle class. It was Andre Dubas III's version of the North Shore, but that changed not only with the extension of the commuter rail into Boston, but also with real estate and COVID and remote work. Essex County is now weeping million dollar and multi-million dollar homes. Practically the first thing I did when we came here when my eldest son was in kindergarten was get into a knockdown drag out fight with the parent-teacher organization after realizing that there was a pay-to-play system in place, which allowed parents to pay a premium to get first divs for tickets to events like dances and auditorium seats at coveted performances. This put me at odds with the PTO, yes, and with many of my fellow parents who defended the PTO and its actions with a truly nightmarish fervor. I was stalked on social media, tweeted, and sent emails that mothers wouldn't want to read aloud to their kindergarten age children. A lot of drama already happening there in her real life. She writes a book about it, basically. And it's a fiction book, but it's based on that. I mean, I would read it.

SPEAKER_05

You should just off of those vibes.

SPEAKER_04

However, the book came out and people simply did not like it.

SPEAKER_05

Oh, I won't read it then.

SPEAKER_04

No. And I think that's completely normal. Like when a book comes out, people just won't vibe with it.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

However, like according to screenshots and discussions that began circulating online, Sellinger, the author, became convinced that at least some of those negative reviews weren't genuine criticism, but actually people that were from that community that she had made the book about, basically. Yeah. Which I mean, clear. Yeah. Yeah. If like a book was based on me, I wouldn't be too happy about it either. But she thought they were intentionally trying to tank the book's rating. And this is where things really escalated because instead of simply ignoring the reviews, which is the advice authors are given when it comes to Goodreads, it's actually in their like policies or like their advice to authors section. She allegedly began trying to identify who some of the reviewers were. Readers accused her of connecting anonymous Goodreads accounts to real people, publicly naming reviewers, and in some cases sharing identifying information that people felt crossed the serious line, including the children's information. Oh so not a good move on her part.

SPEAKER_05

No, especially as a mom herself.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah. Yeah. And so, like a lot of people were referring to this whole thing with her as doxing. This is giving that garde that Megan had, yeah. Yeah. That's what I thought of when I was reading this. I was like, this is wild.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

Then there were also claims as if everything she already did wasn't enough that she was threatening Goodreads users' accounts. Like if you left a negative review about her book, she's going to get your Goodreads account banned. Wow.

SPEAKER_02

So it's very much like this Megan drama. Yeah. With what was his name? Randall. Randall.

SPEAKER_04

Jack Randall. Yeah. Well, she thought they were like all coming at her as like a calculated attack. But I think it's just to her, she can't fathom that people just simply didn't like her book. Yeah. Because allegedly, and I could be having this wrong, but like three people were the ones that were like part of this past group that could have been potentially the ones that were doing this. But she listed over 10 people or like oted like 10 people on her Instagram.

SPEAKER_05

I feel like she started to spiral and it just kept going. Yeah. You know what I mean? Like once she kind of got into like that mindset, it's hard to get out. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

Another thing, too, people started noticing something else that added even more fuel to the fire and just keeps going. She had apparently rated or reviewed her own book on Goodreads, and I found her review. Oh boy. Yeah. And let's just like, I'm just gonna say this like Goodreads doesn't prohibit authors from having accounts or reviewing their own work, but it's pretty poor etiquette. At least it's considered poor etiquette in the reading community to like review your own book.

SPEAKER_02

That's just weird. Obviously, you're gonna have like a bias towards it. Exactly.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah. So let me see here.

SPEAKER_05

I'm scared. What? I'm just laughing at that at the situation. She rated her book five stars. Of course she would. As she would. I would 100% give myself five stars.

SPEAKER_02

Work of art. Yeah. Five stars.

SPEAKER_04

The author's amazing. She said this book is unfortunately being review-bombed by people in a neighboring community. I'm thankful so many readers can look past the fake one-star reviews. Just to clarify, this book was not written with Chat GPT. Lol, what a weird and special accusation, nor does it reflect anything about the real people of Hamilton, Massachusetts. Massachusetts. How do you say that word?

SPEAKER_02

Massachusetts. Thank you.

SPEAKER_00

That was such a word.

SPEAKER_04

Massachusetts. Hang into it. So sorry. The setting is just a backdrop. If you don't like a book, you can actually just move on with your life. If you don't like that I wrote this book, try sending an email. I promise it's a lot easier than having your Goodreads account banned for life.

SPEAKER_03

You can't do that. What? What? She's throwing to ban their account? Yeah. Oh my goodness. What does she own Goodreads? Goodreads know what if she can go on the attack?

SPEAKER_04

Like just for her. Yeah. And then it became even worse.

SPEAKER_05

Like, what do I have to send you an email?

SPEAKER_03

If I don't want to talk to you, if I didn't like your book, I don't want to, we're not friends. I think she's like, if I didn't like your book, I'm just gonna tell Goodreads I didn't like your book. Yeah, the people deserve to know.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, I think she's mainly like directing this towards the people from that community. Like, if you didn't like the book that I made about you, email me why. No, I don't care.

SPEAKER_05

I don't care how nasty I was. You wrote a book about how nasty I was. I'm not gonna tell you in a personal email.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, yeah. There's a lot of threads about this, but I'm only gonna read one. Bookish Corvid said, see, I don't play this effing game, the one where you don't like where the conversation is going. So you either deactivate or block in the hopes that all the information will disappear. Unfortunately for you, I tend to screenshot everything. Bottom line, stay the F out of reviewer spaces. If there is harassment happening, handle it legally. But an author contacting reviewers' places of work is unacceptable.

SPEAKER_02

Oh my lord, doing that too.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah. And she was posting on her Instagram stories, like outing all of these people that were reviewing her book. So she ruined her career because she couldn't handle negative review.

SPEAKER_00

Oh Lord.

SPEAKER_04

Question for you guys. Okay. Where do you think the line is between an author defending themselves and an author intimidating readers? Well, it was pretty early on from where she went.

SPEAKER_05

She crossed all of the lines.

SPEAKER_02

She like leaped over the line.

SPEAKER_05

And then just kept going.

SPEAKER_02

She just went. She like ran.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah. Do you think like there's any point where responding to a review is appropriate? Or is it just completely off limits for authors?

SPEAKER_05

For the for the most part, I would say it's off limits. I would say, like, if you so the only times I would probably say that it makes sense is if you know that person. So remember we did that uh the episode we talked about how they had sent an arc to like their co writ like not co writer, but like their their friend. Yeah, their friend. And then she gave it a bad review, pretty much saying, like, right, it's just not a kind of book that I'd be interested in. Then I would be responding to that review, being like, Hi.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

I think another okay thing would be if the author was being accused of something that wasn't actually what they meant, if that makes sense. If there was something they wrote in the in a book and the reviewer took it in a negative light that wasn't meant to be taken.

SPEAKER_04

Like for clarification purposes.

SPEAKER_02

For clarification purposes, maybe.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, I was there I think there'd be very few.

SPEAKER_02

It's a gray area, yeah, that like how bad it would be for them to have to come to the defense.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah. Yeah. So, like, in my opinion, I think like what you said makes sense, like just clarifying something. But like, I wouldn't out someone in a specific review. I would just like make a broader, like story.

SPEAKER_02

I'm just seeing like just a plain response, like or threaten to like ban their goodreads account.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah, there should not be any information of people's kids on there. There should not be any threats on there.

SPEAKER_03

No threats.

SPEAKER_04

Like, yeah, she just crossed so many lines, ruined her career, oh yeah, and abolished it. I've actually seen this book like on Fable, like people were reading it, and now she's just like it sounded good.

SPEAKER_02

Yep.

SPEAKER_04

The drama sounded good. I mean, you could probably still read it, but yeah, I don't know.

SPEAKER_05

I can't support that. Yeah, fair.

SPEAKER_04

Fair enough. Last bit of drama we're gonna be talking about today kind of fits into the the conversation we're having about tagging authors in reviews. Okay. This has been like an ongoing controversy or or discussion, like should authors be tagged in reviews? Their overall consensus is no.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

But I came across this little incident where a podcast called House of Mayor recently posted their thoughts on the In the Veins of the Drowning Book by Kelly Cassidy, which is what Cass just read. I just show you guys the TikTok that I came across. We'll play that, and you guys can just listen to what she said and I want to know your thoughts.

SPEAKER_01

Okay. Tagging an author in a negative review is a bold choice. Tagging an author in a negative review and you've got 200,000 followers, yeah, that's not on. Kayleigh Cassidy's in The Veins of the Drowning was the book club pig for House of Mayor. Personally, I haven't watched much of their podcasts. I know that they read The Night and the Moth. But when two out of the three podcast hosts gave a rating of less than three and then tags the author, that isn't even my biggest issue. Because as much as you're allowed to have your opinion, we're allowed to have ours, which we shared in the comments saying, please don't tag the author. We don't tag the author in this community. They don't need to know what your thoughts are, especially if it's negative. And they hid the comments. All of our comments were hidden. We did remove Kaylee's tag, but she's already seen it. Basically, why I'm making this video is I'm not trying to call them out. I'm trying to make them accountable for their actions and say, please don't do this again. Please do not tag an author if you do not like the book. They don't need to know that. If you did enjoy in the veins of the drowning, we are getting book two in a matter of days. Kaylee, if you are watching this, so many people who love your book, jumping at the bit to get your next book. So please keep sharing your story with us.

SPEAKER_02

So thoughts. Well, I read the book. And did you like it? And I thoroughly enjoyed it. Yeah. And I'm very excited for book two. It's already out. I already ordered it. Well, I pre-ordered it before I had finished the first book. So that tells you something. Yeah. I just feel like I don't know what people wouldn't like about it, honestly, in my opinion. It's got sirens. It's got yearn. Like there's like 70, like 60 to 70% of the book is like him yearning for her. Like it was very good.

SPEAKER_05

I like and I I get why you wouldn't want to tag an author, especially if you don't love their book. If you are shout like if you are shouting if you're shouting them out, yeah, being like, this is amazing. I love it. Like a hundred percent go for that because which we've done.

SPEAKER_02

We did that with um Tempest in the Tea Leaves. I tagged the author in your real because you rave about the series. But I feel like tagging them if you did not like it is so especially if you're like a mass. Yeah, but especially if you're a content creator, I just think it's like not professional.

SPEAKER_05

I just I do use like I think like the biggest thing, if you talk to any kind of influencer, content creator in any area, they will all say like the hardest thing that comes with being online is the negativity. We get it. The negative comments, the reviews, the people feeling like that they have a say and that it's okay to say some of their like very hateful thoughts and opinions. Yeah. Of they don't need someone who yeah, has a podcast that that's big, pretty much shouting and tagging you to be like, hey, you suck.

SPEAKER_02

Hey, your book sucked. And again, we bring it back to reading is subjective. So just because you didn't like it, there is like a thousand other people that like her book and liked her work. Yeah. So like it's just really unfair for you to go on a podcast that probably do they have a lot of following?

SPEAKER_04

They had 200,000 followers on YouTube. And and their hosts each have like a lot of followers, and they're on TikTok, I think.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, I just feel like that's unnecessary.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, I think it's rude.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, like we've talked about we've talked about books on here that we don't like. We've talked about authors that we did well, we did slam that Jack Randall guy, but we didn't tag him in it. We didn't tag him in anything. We don't personally know we're not gonna tag books that we don't like and authors that we don't like just because we didn't like the book.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah, but also like because I think they said there's what three hosts, yeah. Two of the hosts had rated it under three. Um, it'd be like it'd be zodiac. Yeah, like I hate it. I love Zodiac. I hated it. You hated it, and I'm like Shmeh.

SPEAKER_03

I'm Shmeh. But there's so many people that love that series.

SPEAKER_04

Yes, yeah, so it's like, yeah. Uh even like someone commented on this TikTok as well. They said, to be honest, I don't even think you should tag authors in positive reviews either. It's a reader space.

SPEAKER_02

Interesting.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, there's a lot of that as well.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah. Because again, it goes with the whole reading is objective. So you're pretty much trying to force your view.

SPEAKER_04

I don't know if I agree with like the reviews are for the readers only, though, because if you're a writer, let's say it's your debut novel, yeah, like Hayley Fam. People wrote a review for your book and you're not supposed to read reviews. Like it's only a reader's space, you're not allowed in there, you're not allowed to read the reviews for your own book. I don't think that's fair because how are you going to improve their work? Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05

I think you should be maybe needing someone who vets the reviews that they do read. Because they get, you know, I mean, so you can go through some of like the nastier ones.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah. I don't think an author should be like in there kind of defending their book. Yeah. But I don't think that they should be not allowed to see the feedback from their writing. Like, because how are you gonna grow? Exactly. You don't have to allow the the reviews to shape your voice as something you can develop as an author as you go on. But let's say like the pacing was slow, or people had an issue with like the word choices, or something like anything.

SPEAKER_05

You can take that into your book before too, where like the the idea and the story was good, the writing was bad. Yes, yeah, and it's like uh time worn. Like we've talked about because that one has now been re-released as in it, like it's been fixed, and the reviews were still kind of bad on it, and we're like, ooh, because all of us were like, the story could be amazing, had good bones, yeah. Like but the writing of it was just not there, you know. Like for there's there's been other authors I've read where it's like you find out that they're a newer author, and you're kind of thinking, well, you know, I really liked the story. The writing was eh, but again, they're a new author, so I'd be interested to see does their second, third book get better.

SPEAKER_02

I think Callie Cassidy is a new author. I'm not sure. Maybe is this her debut alb her debut album? Her debut um book? I'm not sure. I thought her writing was great. I think it is her debut album or album book.

SPEAKER_04

You're just really stuck in the music space in the music space.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, because there's no other books listed um by her other than the two.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, so debut novel though.

SPEAKER_02

Um for a debut novel, I loved it.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, I think like if you have a following that size too, like the House of Mayor, you have to be very aware that what you say is going to influence people, whether they're gonna read the book or not. If you're slamming a book online, yeah, I mean, like that's fine, but just be aware, like, don't tag the author if you're gonna be like putting a negative review. That's just asking to get someone's feelings hurt. Like, why would you tag someone in something just to talk crap about them? That's just mean. It is, that's like that behavior.

SPEAKER_02

A little bit, so not a little bit, it's a lot of it, yeah, girl.

SPEAKER_04

And I also think like banning authors from the review space or reader space does them a disservice because how are they gonna improve on their writing for their next book or whatever? Like, if they aren't allowed to see what people are saying and they continue writing the series in the same format or in the same way that they wrote their first book, then no one's gonna read those books and they're wasting their time.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. And honestly, as an author, like I would love to see people tag me in their reviews if they loved the book. Personally, wouldn't that make you feel good? We all get really excited when people love our content that we put out. Yep. And we like those reviews. So as an author, why why can't you tag them in a good review?

SPEAKER_04

It's still producing content just in a different form. Yeah. Some people have some wild takes. That's our hot take. Yeah, let us know what your hot takes are. But that's basically it for the drama.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah, there's a lot.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, there's a lot to cover today. Listener questions for you guys. Do you think someone can rebuild trust after something like what Helldale Reeds did, copying reviews, or would you never fully trust the reviews again? And what's the biggest thing that makes you trust a book reviewer? Let us know in the comments.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, let us know.

SPEAKER_04

Which brings us to Lines Beloved.

unknown

Ooh.

SPEAKER_02

Did you put my lips on the last one? Oh, yeah. It's gonna be every episode. Every one.

SPEAKER_05

Until you do it.

SPEAKER_02

Yes. I will never.

SPEAKER_04

Your lips are here in spirit.

SPEAKER_02

Mine is from our book club of the month pick, A Forbidden Alchemy by Stacy McEwen, page 370. He muttered, She was a fool, and I'm sorry, and thank you. For what? She asked, her lips a hair's breadth from his. For giving me that piece of yourself, he said. I swear to you, I'll look after it. And then he kissed her.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Nice. So good. I liked that one. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05

I'm gonna do Cinder Vale, Sins of the Zodiac Book Three, The Twisted Sisters. This is page 376. We're going to die in this fucking loft. My brother snarled, clearly running on fumes at this point. I need a piss. Again, I cursed. You only went an hour ago. Alright, I don't need a piss. I need a shit. And I've been holding it for three days, so I'm pretty sure I'm gonna rupture I'm gonna rupture my fucking spleen or something if I don't go. Kaiser released a low growl in his throat, his anger evident and shifting the atmosphere around us. You got something to say, flame bringer? Ransom snapped, and I had to be glad of our silencing shield as his voice rose. Only that I'm not going to die because some Cascadian bastard left a festering trail of turds right to her hiding place. Kaiser snarled. Well, we can't all start a fire in our ass and burn up our shits like you asshole. Ransom ransom hurled back. Can you really do that? I was surprised. Of course not. Kaiser growled. That was very entertaining.

SPEAKER_03

Turn trail.

SPEAKER_05

It was just like it was such a serious part. And then all of a sudden, like this comes out. I was laughing.

SPEAKER_02

So funny.

SPEAKER_03

A turd trail.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah. And just like like the two of them, like so angry because they're like hiding at this point, too. And she's just like, can you really do that?

SPEAKER_04

No. Mine is gonna be from This Immortal Heart again by Jennifer Saint, page 329. You can't just walk out, I whisper. Tell me why you came. For an agonizing moment, he doesn't speak at all. I see the struggle on his face, the battle to haul the words from his throat, because he says, and the silence between us stretches and quivers until I think I can't bear another second. Because since I saw you in Scythia, I haven't thought about anything else. You're all I've thought about too, I admit. Since he thundered into the Amazon battle, since he told me we were finished, since I jumped into his chariot on a moment of impulse and he took me home with him. He's been in my head and in my heart for decades. And if a hundred more centuries pass, he'll still be there.

SPEAKER_03

Oh, that's good.

SPEAKER_02

Such a good book. It should have been in that book club book. Ugh. That's um that's on you. I'm so upset. That's entirely on you. I mean, I still enjoyed A Forbidden Alchemy. Oh, I'm excited to finish today. I will finish it today.

SPEAKER_05

Yes.

SPEAKER_02

I will try to finish it today.

SPEAKER_05

Come join me, you guys. I will.

SPEAKER_02

It wrecked me.

SPEAKER_04

Are you gonna read the second one?

SPEAKER_02

The second one's coming out soon, very soon. But that was like by the end of this month. I already think I pre-ordered that one too. I'm gonna get so many charges in July and be like, oh, why do I pre-order things all the time? That's a funny one. Well, the and you said the next book in the North Falls? Yes, that comes out August 11th, I believe.

SPEAKER_05

I thought it was before I thought you said it was already out. No. Oh, okay. Because I was gonna say I had that in my list as August. It is August.

SPEAKER_02

Because I have all of my I don't know why. Yeah, I think I was following someone that had like a oh they got early. Yeah, I think they got an early copy and I got real excited.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah, because I do have my list.

SPEAKER_02

July 21st.

SPEAKER_05

The second book in this originally supposed to be okay. Oh, that's the second book, and we are all guilty here. The n in the North Fall series, that's August 11th. Okay, see. And the next book in the Wolf King series comes out September 6th.

SPEAKER_04

We still need to read Nightwitch. I know. I'm literally waiting for you to, and she picked a huge book to read. I know.

SPEAKER_03

I'm so 70% in.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah, I'm I'll be good.

SPEAKER_02

Oh, yeah. Oh wow. I didn't catch that. So I'll just read my quick like thriller novel while she's done finishing that one. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

And then we're diving in.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, by the time I finish, I didn't think I was gonna have a lot of time to read this week, but um, yeah.

unknown

Yes.

SPEAKER_02

It's Logan. Oh, and Daybreak comes out too. Nightshade book two. Yes, yes. So we gotta dock it, guys.

SPEAKER_05

Uh July 28th. So many books.

SPEAKER_04

So many books.

SPEAKER_02

So little books. I'm quitting my job.

SPEAKER_04

Okay, bye. Bye. You can find us on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube at Block Twist Pleased Pod, 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_02

Thank you so much for joining us on this episode.

SPEAKER_05

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