Plot Twist, Please

Haley Pham’s Book Is Causing CHAOS on BookTok… Is the Book Actually Bad?

• Susannah, Beth and Cass • Season 1 • Episode 26

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In today’s episode, we’re diving into the internet’s latest book drama… 👀📚

BookTok has been going OFF about Just Friends by Haley Pham... from the word choices, to the writing style, to the characters AND we had to sit down and talk about it. So we’re sharing our honest thoughts, reacting to some of the most talked-about quotes, and asking the bigger question:

Is the criticism actually fair… or is the internet being too harsh?

📚 Spoiler alert: we’re covering the whole book!
 ✨ Today’s drink: hot chocolate with top shelf distillers butter tart liqueur. 
🎧 Tune in, sip with us, and remember — keep your glass, your bookshelf, and your TBR full.

___________________________________________________________________________________


Welcome to Plot Twist, Please – the ultimate bookish podcast for readers who love deep discussions, honest book reviews, and trending BookTok favourites. We talk fantasy books, romance books, thrillers, YA series, and everything in between whilst sipping on our favourite cocktails. From old favourites to the latest viral reads, we’re here for all the plot twists.

✨ Weekly episodes featuring book recommendations, character analysis, and spoiler-filled discussions. If you love BookTok, BookTube, and Bookstagram, this is your space!

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For inquiries or requests, email hello@plottwistplease.com

INTRO 
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Music by Anja Kotar - July (strings version) - https://thmatc.co/?l=3E25A972

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SPEAKER_00

Welcome back to Plot Twist Please, where we sip, flip, and spill the tea on books and booze. I'm Susanna. I'm Cass and I'm Beth. And today's episode, we are very excited for. It's a little different. We're not just talking about a book we either read, went DNF, or did DNF. We're talking about a book that's taken over the TikTok, has a lot of controversy online, and for good reason, in our opinion. The TikTok. The TikToks. The tickety talks.

SPEAKER_01

The tickety talks.

SPEAKER_00

It's all over TikTok. People are not shy in saying their opinions on this book. They either hate it or they like it.

SPEAKER_01

I mean, I haven't really found book talk to be full of shy people, anyways. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

No, they're they're pretty outspoken over there. But recently, bookish YouTuber Hailey Fam released her novel Just Friends, and over the past few days, the book has been at the center of a lot of conversation on book talk, criticism about the writing, word choices, comparison to other romance authors, and a larger discussion about influencers entering the publishing world. Today's episode, we are going to try to be spoiler-free, but when we do talk about our opinions of the book, there may be some spoilers, so you can skip that section.

SPEAKER_02

Today's drink is a hot chocolate with the top shelf distillers butter tart liqueur. Because winter came back. Yes.

SPEAKER_00

I was really excited there for a second.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, we had our false spring now.

SPEAKER_01

False spring.

SPEAKER_00

Back into winter. So unfortunate.

SPEAKER_02

It's delicious. It tastes like a dessert. It is actually very good. Yes. So before we jump into the drama, what's everyone reading? Susie and I are reading the same book, actually. Blood and Roses by what is it? Madeline or Madeline?

SPEAKER_00

I think Madeline.

SPEAKER_02

There's two books in the series so far. I think Bev talked about this. Bev talked about it. And the devastation after book two.

SPEAKER_01

It's a good series.

SPEAKER_02

It just stops when there's still waiting.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. And it's really good. There should have been like six to eight books already. We got two. Two. I know.

SPEAKER_02

And they're just little shorties.

SPEAKER_01

They're like 170 something pages. So I said in a previous episode the author has been sick. That's what she had said. So it's kind of pushed, I think, all of her work back. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

That's a long wait. I know.

SPEAKER_01

I really like them there.

SPEAKER_00

Has she written any other books? Do we that she does?

SPEAKER_01

She actually has a few series. And I know there's one that is more popular than this one. Um, and she one of the things she was talking about was which one she kind of wanted to finish because she has somebody on the dock for this series, but the other one I think has quite a lot of like quite a following. So she's, I think, trying to juggle all of that. This series is the Enchanted Hearts series, just to clarify. The other one's like a uh something curse. I can't remember. I'll have to look at it.

SPEAKER_02

I like her writing. It's pretty good. What are you reading?

SPEAKER_01

Um, so I'm reading Mage Light, which is one of our fable members' books. She wrote it and she just sent us the second one. Yeah. So I'm reading that one. I'm also reading, still reading Her Saint, and I'm still reading Clandlands New Zealand. Oh boy. That's never getting finished. It will get finished this year. Sure.

SPEAKER_02

Sure will. There's no, there's no deadline.

SPEAKER_01

No, no. No. I mean, my my supposed deadline was 75 days because I wanted to do it as part of 75 Hard. And I was like, let's not make this any harder than it needs to be. So here we are. Oh boy. MageLate is by Casey Azelle. Yes. Yes.

SPEAKER_00

She's one of our listeners, and she's also in her favorite book club chat. So if you ever want to talk to her, she's in there. Yeah. So for anyone who hasn't seen the conversation online, we're just gonna give a little bit of context. Hailey Fam is a very well-known booktube and book talk creator. She's also dating one of the, I guess, most popular YouTube creators on there. I think his name's Ryan. I don't watch his stuff, so I'm not familiar with him. She's been in the online space for years. She talks about books constantly and runs a book club, as far as I'm aware, and has built a massive audience of readers who trust her recommendations. She has like a million or more followers. Wow. Or subscribers on YouTube. So she's a big book talk creator or book booktube creator. Oh my gosh, I can't talk. She's a book something. She's a book something. She does book things. Yeah. Yeah. So she recently released her debut novel called Just Friends, which is a contemporary romance.

SPEAKER_02

So over the last few days since the book came out, people online have been criticizing. Certain word choices in the book, awkward sentence structures like I force myself to perceive its beauty. Or there's a book I just finished on my Kindle last night. I want a physical copy of. Frivolous, I know, but I'm unwilling to restrain myself from any hit of dopamine right now. That one, yeah. Another one, my body felt like it was tilting internally. An air of unreal reality coating me. You struggled with that.

SPEAKER_00

Well, because it makes no sense. I struggle with that too.

SPEAKER_01

It kind of reminded me of that Mariah Carey kids Christmas book that I was talking about. He wrote description. Yeah, like there's almost like just too much. Too much. Your brain and your tongue are just like tripping over it.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. Yeah. My mind was tripping over it.

SPEAKER_01

My brain just did their malfunction.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Today, Junior.

SPEAKER_02

People are saying that the writing feels very amateur, lazy, and the book has lack of editing, like some saying summer might instead of summer night. Comparisons to Emily Henry style romance writing or claims that it feels like multiple popular romance tropes thrown together, and that has sparked a much bigger debate about influencers entering publishing. Influencers. Let me do it again.

SPEAKER_01

No, no, no, leave it. No, that can go to the bloopers. No.

SPEAKER_00

No, it's going in the mainframe for we're not gonna have any bloopers. We have more bloopers. Yeah, we have the best. Brandy has told us to leave it in.

SPEAKER_01

We've been in my phone dropping. The amount of times that we do we stutter over ourselves, we're leaving it in. What are you talking about? You know what I'm talking about. Anyways. Anywho, the synopsis. I am probably find myself funnier than anyone else, but so this heartwarming and swoon-worthy second chance romance about childhood friends, reconnecting. Stop staring at me. Why are you doing that?

SPEAKER_02

I'm waiting for her to make a mistake.

SPEAKER_01

I knew exactly why. Reconnecting as adults is the highly anticipated debut novel. Debut novel from Book Talk Icon Haley fam. Blair and Declan were inseparable growing up, best friends who knew each other better than anyone else. But when an impulsive kiss took them from friends to something more, everything changed. Just as quickly as her romance started, one moment shattered it all, leaving them with nothing but heartbreak and silence. Now, four years later, Blair is back in her coastal hometown of Seabrook to support her mom and care for her great aunt Lottie as her health declines. To make ends meet, Blair applies to work at a coffee shop, only to discover it's managed by none other than Declan. The boy she loved. The boy she lost, the boy who still makes her heart race. As Blair's path keeps crossings with Declan's old wounds resurface. Secrets are revealed and sparks reignite. But could their future ever be free of their past? Told in dual timelines that unravel the magic and pain of first love, just friends is a moving, romantic story about second chances, the weight of dreams, and finding your way back to the people who feel like home.

SPEAKER_00

See, the synopsis makes it sound really good. It does, yeah. However, it's not.

SPEAKER_01

Let's just okay, so what we liked about it, but I I could come up with three things I liked about it. Oh, okay, perfect. I did cry when Aunt Lottie died. That was sad. So I was invested enough to feel that pain. Okay, that was sad. Harper, who is a very minor character, is probably my favorite character in the whole book. Did not get to Harper. She's an alcoholic um teenager. Oh, perfect. Lovely. Who works at the coffee shop.

SPEAKER_02

Okay. I probably would have enjoyed her as well.

SPEAKER_01

But she just had like such a funny personality, and for like for how small her role in the book was, like, she just really stood out to me. I liked her. I could have used more of her in the book and less of the FMC. Blair. The story itself had good bones, which I think the synopsis shows, but it definitely needed work, and I think it actually would be better marketed as YA. Agree. Definitely.

SPEAKER_00

There's no spice. It's very close doors. Like very, very written like for YA, but not marketed towards Yay.

SPEAKER_02

I don't know Holly Faye. Like, is she Hayley? Haley. Haley. Haley. This is not your genre. No, this is not my genre at all. But like what is her typical book recommendations?

SPEAKER_00

I'd say more like Emily Henry, those kind of romances. Exactly like, you know, a lot of books that have cartoon characters on the cover, those are her jam. Yeah. Okay. With those. This checks out then.

SPEAKER_01

So those are my positives. All right.

SPEAKER_00

So you can give us your I also had three. It encapsulated what grief feels like very well. I feel like that was the main center of the story. And you know, some things that can just come out of nowhere can hit you, and you're like brought down in that grief again.

SPEAKER_01

Not to disagree with you, but I disagree with you. But go on.

SPEAKER_00

Oh, okay. Well, I mean, everyone handles grief their own way.

SPEAKER_01

I think I think that's what I struggled with. How she was with grief isn't how I've like, and I'm not saying that like grief can't swamp you and it can't come in waves and it can't be make life seem not unrealistic, but you know what I mean? Like you almost feel separated from life. But yeah.

SPEAKER_00

When my papa died, it was so sudden that it like it kind of tilted me off its axis. And I cast was there. I went down a dark hole. Yeah. So that's why I related.

SPEAKER_01

Sadie was probably my most sudden loss, most horrifying. But yeah. At least like my with my grandparents, it was we saw it coming for both of them. So which I do think is better because you have that time to say goodbye. You have that time. You almost have like a pre-grief. Yeah. You know, pre-grief? Whereas like I think the shock of a loss is harder to handle. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Because I was getting my lashes done at your house. And then I got a call in the middle of it.

SPEAKER_02

No, we had just finished your lashes.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Like literally just finished. And you got a call.

SPEAKER_00

And then I ruined them all by crying.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. Well, fair.

SPEAKER_00

Valid. So my next thing, I did relate to the main character's feelings of not having a father and being raised by a single mother. So I related to her in that way as well. I also related to how the friend group kind of dissipated once they all went their separate ways, like once they were no longer roommates and had their own lives, like the group chat with dwindle, and it'd be like days before you get a response, like that kind of growing out of a friendship.

SPEAKER_01

I got it kind of reminded me of we actually talked about this in the Fable group at one point. I don't know if you guys were part of that conversation of work friends. One of our members, I think she had joined and she kind of talked about losing friends and things like that. And we kind of got into the top, like the topic of you become so close with your work friends because you see them all day, every day, not you, because you don't have any work friends.

SPEAKER_02

I have work friends.

SPEAKER_01

I guess clients, your clients would probably be your workfriend.

SPEAKER_02

Griffin's my work friend. No, well, when I did work at an actual salon, I had work friends there, and I am still friends with a few of those girls. But yeah.

SPEAKER_01

But there's so many of them that like you were you would be so close with because you'd be working beside them day after day all day. And in some ways you'd have closer relationships with them than some of your like your own friends and family. But then you leave that workplace and you just never talk again.

SPEAKER_02

Oh no, I still talk to them to a couple of them.

SPEAKER_01

I still talk to a lot of like my co-workers from different jobs periodically. But I mean, from going from like talking all day, every day, knowing like every aspect of each other, like being best friends to strangers is like hard.

SPEAKER_00

Anyway, I feel like that's relatable for a lot of adult friendships. So I think that was well done. Um, but that's it. That's all the positives I've got.

SPEAKER_02

I DNF'd it in chapter four. So I don't have any upsides. But give us your negatives. This is why did you DNF's? This is not my genre. No. So I will preface it with that.

SPEAKER_01

You are the reader this book was not meant for.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, correct. So for me to be grabbed by a contemporary romance, it's a hard ass. I'm excited but scared for you to read Nora.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. You guys might not be friends. This is this is now, I would recommend like the book that we're going to be reading, I rec would recommend for you. I would not necessarily recommend for you. So I feel like you need to give her one more chance with the book I do think that you would enjoy. The bride series I'd probably like. No, I would not because. Why you said the bride series I would like. Yeah, maybe when you were going to be a bride. I'm pretty sure I said the bride series she would like.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. Isn't that the one where it's like the haunting of the brides?

SPEAKER_01

Oh, that's a different one. So she does have the bride quartet, but that's like a fluffy bride one. Um you're talking about the the darker one. Yeah, you I think you would enjoy it. I don't think you would love it. Okay. There is a one where like it's kind of like it vibes to it. I would like that. You would really like that one. There's also like a like dark, witchy Ireland one they also think you would like.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. When our Fable Book Club was asked what book they want to read for April. We don't normally do that, but we're like, what do we want to do? Yeah. Let's leave it to the girls and book club. And they chose horribly wrong. I'm just kidding.

SPEAKER_01

We got some boys in there. The girls and boys.

SPEAKER_02

Oh, yeah, the girls and boys. Um, but they chose a cozy romanticy.

SPEAKER_00

Which is Nora Roberts The Awakening, right? That's yours? That's what we've chosen. Yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. But just not. It's the Dragon Legacy series. I love it. Not my my usual ask or my usual pick. So this should be interesting.

SPEAKER_00

Go on with your cons.

SPEAKER_02

My cons? Yes. Okay. She's got a list. I DNF'd on chapter four. The first thing I noticed was it immediately gave me the summer I turned pretty vibes. Yeah. Like just too many similarities where I was like, am I reading the summer I turned pretty or am I reading another book? I don't because it was in a beach town. There was a lot of like tourists that came around. Like just like so many. They the the aunt was dying. Well, Susanna was more like. And it was lung cancer. And it was lung cancer. Like it just so many similarities.

SPEAKER_01

And I was like, well, and I don't know if you saw the comment earlier where it was like they were calling her con, which is Vietnamese for child. Yeah. And then Suzy was saying about how she doesn't like how her mom kept calling her baby. And I was like, con slash baby just doesn't slap the same way as Connie Baby. No, it does not.

SPEAKER_02

This is a hundred percent your look, Connie baby. I found the and also the way she started the book with what I thought was like grammatical errors because of the way her Aunt Lottie spoke. It wasn't clarified that that was how she spoke until like chapter two or something. So that to me, I was like, is are we already making mistakes? And how she's like, I'm confused. Like I feel like she should have kind of segued into that definite. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Like, because I was like, I actually, when I was reading that, I had to go back and there's uh it said old English style of something. And I was like, oh, well, maybe that's the description of how Aunt Lottie talked. So that was like I think chapter one.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

But the fact that I didn't catch it, and then all of a sudden I just started reading these sentences that are just like, yes, oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, I was like, oh, we're already starting off really wrong.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. You guys, I'm pretty sure started right before I did because I went in knowing. Yes. So I read that first line, being like, oh. Yeah. Yeah. English is their second language. I was like, why?

SPEAKER_02

I'm like, I first off, I've already noticed an error, and Susie's like, if it's Lottie, it's purposeful. And I was like, oh, okay.

SPEAKER_01

As a reader.

SPEAKER_02

Going in, you're like, not that that would stop me from reading a book, but just something I picked up on. I found that the descriptions of things were a little too juvenile, in my opinion. And then this one is very like just me. But she was given a pet name by Declan in like chapter three. Uh he called her a blue-footed booby. Um and that gave me the ick.

SPEAKER_01

He also he also called her little bird. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Little bird is better than that. That comes back around at the end.

SPEAKER_00

Oh, good, good. It's even in the book cover, by the way, the boob. The bird? Booby, yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Pick any other bird, you know? Like, why exactly? What? Why would he call her a boob? That's what I'm saying. Like, it's just not, it's not an endearing pet name. No, I don't want to be called a boob. It's insulting. I found Blair just simply annoying. That's all I have to say about her. Um, the MMC was very bland to me. He didn't have a lot of I think that was writing, but yeah. Probably. I found there was a lot of over-description on things that didn't need to be over-described. Yes. And the connection between the FMC and the MMC just felt lacking to me in the first little bit. Like, you know, when you meet two characters in like the first little bit and you feel that like instant pull, I did not get that with those two. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Neither did I.

SPEAKER_02

I just couldn't continue on.

SPEAKER_00

I think the what the samurai turn pretty did well was that it went into detail. Like there was actual like chemistry between Conrad and Belly in the flashbacks. Whereas in the flashbacks in this book, it was very bland. And I don't know. There's just no chemistry.

SPEAKER_01

It was very surface level. Yeah, it was very flat. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

They both really didn't have any personality, and whatever they did say to each other, it felt kind of forced. Like, yeah, it just was lacking.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

It was like you're trying to convince us they have a connection, but it doesn't translate to the page. Yeah. Right.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. That's kind of how I felt. Like I just didn't feel any pull. I think we've discussed before, I'm fine reading a book with no spice, but there has to be that yearn.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, I didn't feel any yearn in this. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Even when they were like pressing themselves closely together, I was just like, and then and then they're still talking. Like they're supposed to be like kissing, but there's like they're still having a lot of things.

SPEAKER_02

Like yearn is so important for so many things when you're writing a romance book. Yeah. Like, especially if it's strictly a romance book. You know? Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

So there is no yearn.

SPEAKER_02

And I think that's because I don't typically like these types of books, but I think that's why I loved The Summer I Turned Pretty because that instant like yearning between Connie and Belly is just like burning. Okay, but yearn I feel very much is part of romance. 100% thing. If you don't have that in a contemporary romance only, not in any romance, there's always some kind of yearn.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. I think she tried, especially when they were reconnected. Like she did try to explain that she was yearning for this man that she loved and lost.

SPEAKER_01

She kept talking about the longing.

SPEAKER_00

The longing. The longing.

SPEAKER_01

I hope he didn't see the longing in my face and the thing in his eyes.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. Yeah. It was just not great. Uh like I love the yearn, and I did not get that from this.

SPEAKER_02

Um, I don't feel super bad, like super hard of a critic because it's not my preferred genre.

SPEAKER_01

No, uh, I would say all of your points are legit. Okay. Yeah, for especially for how you've only read four chapters. But you know all of those things kind of carry throughout the book for the other thing.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, and like I feel like those few first chapters are really crucial to draw a reader in. So if you can't do that, yeah. And you guys like these books, like off the hop.

SPEAKER_00

So I do like Emily Henry, like People We Meet on Vacation. Oh, that was really good. And then the movie is now out, and that was also really good. Loved it. Um, this is not gonna be like that. That okay.

SPEAKER_01

You actually might enjoy People We Meet on Vacation. I think you should.

SPEAKER_02

It's a movie now. Is it a movie?

SPEAKER_01

What's his face? Um Steve Carell, that one? No, no, no, that's um four seasons, I think. Maybe you're thinking of that. Okay, yeah, maybe I was thinking of that.

SPEAKER_00

Four seasons was good too. Although Steve Carell has been playing some characters recently that are questionable.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. That was a great show though. Oh, yeah. But no, this one is uh she's from My Lady Jane, and he was from The Hunger Games, I believe, the newest one. Oh the song. Yes, he was the main character.

SPEAKER_00

He played uh Snow. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Perfect before he was president snow.

SPEAKER_00

Oh, okay, okay. So my cons, I agree with basically everything Cass said, but I felt like there was a lot of weird word choices, which we went over. There was a lot of over-explanation, so no room for interpretation. Like every way this character reacted to things, she knew why she reacted that way. Whereas like when you're in grief, you don't really clock that you're acting out in that moment, where it was like immediately clocking why she reacted that way.

SPEAKER_01

It's almost like in hindsight when you start to come out of like the bubble of grief, then you realize that you start to realize that you're acting a little crazy.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. Whereas like she was aware of everything.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, she's like, I'm doing this because I'm in grief. I'm grieving.

SPEAKER_00

I'm immediately embarrassed, like that I reacted this way after I just said something stupid.

SPEAKER_01

But I'm grieving.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, which is like unrealistic to me. There's also a major plot hole. So when the MMC and FMC have their confrontation as to why they didn't talk for the four years, I don't want to give away too much, but it's just a massive plot hole that didn't make any sense. This is a spoiler, by the way. There's a letter that he sends. He's like, Why didn't you ever write me back? It's like giving Noah from the notebook. Yep. It's like, okay, so you guys just never talked again, or you didn't think that maybe your letter didn't get delivered, so you just didn't call or send a text or go on social media.

SPEAKER_01

It came kind of out of nowhere and it didn't make sense, and it kind of seemed like a really flimsy part to put into the book.

SPEAKER_00

Like once I got to that part, I was like, Are you serious? I was pissed. I was like, this is stupid.

SPEAKER_01

I didn't like it. I would agree with that. I would agree with that.

SPEAKER_00

Another thing, the female main character seemed very juvenile. She resents her friends for not reaching out more after Wadi passes away and is mostly just thinking about herself and not really understanding that everyone has their own stuff going on. They weren't around or your friends when you lived in this town. They were your college friends, so they didn't witness that relationship firsthand to understand. the they had heard about him. Yeah. That's about it. Yeah. About Declan, you mean? Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

No, I mean like when Lottie died. Oh Lottie. Yeah. When Lottie died. They didn't they weren't around to know the they didn't know her.

SPEAKER_01

But I'm just thinking even with like with Jac with Declan, like they she's like, oh, they didn't really ask like about this. Or but yeah, like with Lottie, it's like she's like, they they never asked me how I am.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. It's like such a petty little thing. Also there was a part where Harper she said that Declan really likes sweet drinks. Yeah. Because that was their drink of the month at the cafe. Blair, she's mad or upset that other people know this fact about Declan. And she's like, I thought I was the only one who knew he liked sweet drinks.

SPEAKER_02

This was like a deep dark secret.

SPEAKER_00

Like I'm like that's not a secret. And he runs the coffee shop. He like share his love of sweet drinks with other women. That's what I mean. She's just so annoying and for her age that should not even have been a thought.

SPEAKER_02

That went for me to pick up on how juvenile she was four chapters in is bad but like this just solidified she does not grow. Yeah. There's no character growth. Perfect.

SPEAKER_00

Another thing I just I didn't feel any connection to the to Declan or Blair. And there's a lot of telling you what's going on in the feelings versus showing you through dialogue and like actions. So you don't get that emotional connection to the characters.

SPEAKER_02

And this is where banter's everything too there's no banter. Really helps you connect to the two characters if you have good banter. Because it's like tension. Yes. It's part of the year.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah and there's none and so like because you don't have that emotional connection you don't root for the characters to get together. Yeah. Like you're fine either way. Yeah. The last thing you mentioned that I got annoyed when she called her baby like the mom called her baby too much. But the last thing was that Blair very much focused on Declan's irises. So there's a lot of mention of that in a short amount of time too like in the same kind of like bundle of chapters. It's like either irises that she's focusing on in the two chapters. Yeah. Or his freckles.

SPEAKER_01

So I'm gonna start my first one off with that because that was probably one of the things that bothered me right at the beginning. Those two was her pu the pupils dilating she like said something and she's like did his pupils just dilate like no is that no no I have never the only actually last week I noticed my aunts for like the first in my life and it's only because one was bigger than the other one. That is very weird. Exactly and I said to her so she's a nurse and I said to her I was like uh your one pupil is bigger than the other one like it was it looked like it was like blown out and the other one looked normal. Weird so we like went into the bathroom and they like when her eyes refocused the one is I guess naturally bigger than the other one but because we we were kind of like in darker settings like your pupils dilate so take in more light when you could notice the difference between a big and a small one. But I know it's usually like it's it can be a sign of something nefarious. Yeah like really bad. So that's it but I'm just like that this is the first in my life I've ever noticed someone's pupils dilating and it wasn't even like I noticed them dilating they were already dilated.

SPEAKER_02

But like she was trying to do it to make it seem like so romantic.

SPEAKER_01

It's not it's just that's not how you I said no one notices that if ever no and like I said it's gotta be like a weird circumstance that you're like your pupils are weird. No. There's a lot a lot a lot of inconsistencies in the story. For example she explains how her parents were screaming at one another mainly her dad and how her mom told her pack a bag in the night and they left but then later during her first date with Jaclyn she talks about how her dad left her.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Oh and I was like but you left your dad yeah you know I mean like yeah so like they it wasn't really making sense to what and then like and like there's certain things like that that it would it constantly kind of bounce back and forth between stories and I'm like this is an odd up yeah to me the story read like a really bad YA romance. I did think it was weird because so the same way how you jump into Aunt Lottie's broken English she explains in the first chapter that her Aunt Lottie calls her con, which is again Vietnamese for child. Yeah. And then in a later chapter her mom starts calling her con as well but it's never like it's never explained that like my family calls me this or this is you know I mean like this is a nickname it's just like she very much specified that her aunt Lottie is the one who calls her that so it took me like my brain a minute to realize it was her mom talking not her Aunt Lottie. Oh yeah. So like that kind of threw me and just seemed very inconsistent with the characters and what you've kind of been told up until that point. Right. And not quite dead yet we've talked about Jet sarcasm which came off as a way that for her to handle like the trauma in life and dark humor and I enjoyed it. Yep for Blair her sarcasm missed the mark every single time oh that's and I was like please just stop that's so upsetting.

SPEAKER_02

It does take butchering sarcasm yeah it takes a special talent to hit the mark on sarcasm in writing yes for sure.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah as a very sarcastic person it hurt me as a very dry sarcastic person I understand their weirdness Declan and Blair's weirdness with one another was just that it was weird. Like it wasn't the we felt it wasn't the we used to date weird just felt weird. It didn't click nothing felt natural or and I think maybe because there was no yearning with the weirdness like you didn't get that feeling so it just felt weird so it made any romance between them feel unnatural.

SPEAKER_02

To me specifically when they were playing what was it football. Yeah to me he treated her like a little sister. Yes. Yeah but like not to say because like in The Summer I turned pretty Connie there was that kind of aspect too but you could sense a shift in their relationship throughout the series in a good way like he looked at her as like he was the older brother but there was that like internal struggle with Connie like with his feelings for Belly. Yeah and you could feel that and it didn't feel like a brother sister situation.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah and I read the books too and I yeah it came across the same yeah like whereas this one like he when they first got reunited he came off like he didn't know her it was very awkward and then other like it's like flip-flop between I'm gonna be really cold and distant with you and then I'm gonna be like somewhat friendly and a completely different person.

SPEAKER_01

Like so weird like so that was annoying too yeah she had some really weird descriptive words. One that stood out to me was haga yeah was it sent me that screenshot no that was a different one there's two different there's haga and then there's like yeah I was like what is happening yeah it was for a strangled laugh and I'm so I'm I'm not even joking I probably sat there for like three to five minutes going haga haga it's like it's like that reel that goes around where he's like and and he smiled or she smiled with her bottom teeth and they're like it's like trying to pronounce it in your head.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

The reason why they didn't talk again and the ins and outs of the whole situation makes no sense to me. I'm with you on that. And this is where I one of my other cons was that you could see his mom coming from a mile away. She mentions his mom being there when she left after their fight. Yeah and I'm just like yep and then she mentions the letter and I was like that's because the letter was never delivered which it wasn't but yeah like so as like they're talking about everything and they're talking about this letter and they're talking about why like he's like you never came to see me he says like how he didn't want to see her at first but then he did and he was scared of seeing her but she never came through that door it was so weird and then later she goes on like I'm like chapters later she mentions that she sat there waiting to see him and his mom told her that he didn't want to see her. Yeah. And I was like but why wasn't that part of like the hashing out when you guys were talking about why you didn't talk yeah and like what happened and everything. Yeah like why is it mentioned later and then like there's this letter and like he's so fixated that she like didn't get this letter and like that seems like a big thing. And yeah I'm saying they were like why didn't one of you text one like the other person?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. Exactly it's so easy to rectify this issue like hey I sent you a letter like I haven't heard back. Did you get it? So easy.

SPEAKER_01

And I'm sorry like this is a person that you have been best friends with since you were five allegedly in love with since you were five mutually just like in summer I turned pretty and neither of you tried to really get a hold of one another and not only that but the fight that they had did not warrant four years of not talking. Yeah like it again juvenile yes it's it was very juvenile it did not make sense at all for the time it did not make sense for like anyone who's has like that kind of like best friend that kind of romance like that you're like no matter how deeper connection there would be something more better communication with that length of history. Yeah like like sorry but yeah like if it was like oh sorry he doesn't want to see you right now I'd be like I don't care I'm going in or I'm coming back tomorrow and then the day after that if he doesn't want to see me he can come tell me that to my hit my to my face. Yeah right agreed and then okay yeah and then like if he came out and he's like I don't want to see you and then she's like okay and then she runs away and then he's like I still secretly love her. It's then okay. You've just added at least a little bit to the story. Yeah yeah but it was just like yeah I agree with everything you just said.

SPEAKER_02

I didn't read it but I also agree.

SPEAKER_01

So hearing his story of what happened after the accident actually made me like empathize and identify more with him but it took 70% of the book to feel anything for him. That's too long. Yeah so that was like the most human and real he felt in the entire book. Brutal yeah before that he was just a cardboard person.

SPEAKER_00

There's another thing that I I didn't write down here that really was like I felt like Haley was trying too hard to write things that people would underline as a meaningful quote in the book.

SPEAKER_01

Like there's just a lot of like I really want this to be deep yeah and sometimes it was kind of repetitive too like so there was a lot of repetitiveness of feelings and situations and yeah I feel like I have a lot of cons. Yeah that's okay I did feel nothing but annoyed with the FMC through irritated me beginning to end. Yeah the narrative of her and the cottage drives me bonkers so like you're given this one point something million dollar cottage and it's like I don't know like she's like tormented over it and it's like I've never been here but I see Wadi in the kitchen. Like yeah and not only that but your mom still lives there would you not be coming back to see her you could rent it out like there's so much things and it's just like but she's so tormented by it. Yeah and it's like shut up like I'll take your house if you don't want it right by the beach like I'll make it sound stunning the lavender farm in the back oh very very the samurai turned pretty yeah like copy and paste. Yeah it was just yeah but the other thing with it too was that he kept being like kind of pushing her to keep it like why would you not want to keep this this is like like she obviously planned this with you in mind and she thought of you when she did this and she thought of you with the lavender and like just so dramatic. I would keep it like but he but he so he's asking like telling her he's like I'll help you fix it up it just needs a little bit of cosmetic work and blah blah blah and then as soon as she's like maybe yeah you know like what would what would it take for or what would you do like so you're talking to him about the renaos and then he's like well you're leaving soon anyways I was like that you just kept pushing her for like two chapters that you were gonna you would do renaws for her and now she's like maybe Connie did renaws on their cottage Susanna's cottage for Belly's wedding so like I said before I saw Declan's mom coming from a mile away as soon as he's like I want you to come with me to my dad's gala I was like this is here we go yeah and they forgave her way too easily who was they her mom Declan and Blair okay forgave his mom. She essentially lied to Blair because like I think when at first he didn't want to see Blair then he did and she was like no and then he she kept the letter she didn't deliver the letter and told him that she did okay and then she essentially kind of like attacked Blair at this gala pretty much telling her that she's too lost in her grief to give Declan like what he needs and pretty much just like goes in. Okay.

SPEAKER_00

Which I don't understand why she's like that anyway because if they're best friends she was very close with her mom. And then all of a sudden she just suddenly hates Blair. Like makes zero sense.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah Blair spirals from this and she's like I know I'm doing this and this is like the last thing that he wants me to do and this is I ran away before and so I'm then I'm saying they're being like so you're admitting the four years of silence is your fault because now you're saying that you did this before. And you ran away.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. This is all making me so happy I did not finish this book.

SPEAKER_01

So I miss my$14 behind the scenes he confronts his mom and she admits to everything and then she finds this letter that she's had hidden away and she's like give this to her and I hope it's the beginning of you know us fixing things and the beginning of my apology to her and I apologize. And then they're just like she's like I'm not even upset that your mom lied and he's like me neither babe and then that's it that's it that's it that's that's the way the cookie crumbles and my last con is they finished with a six months later chapter.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah an unnecessary how will you marry me?

SPEAKER_01

Of course it did why wouldn't it with the blue footed booby quote no it did not he gave her a pebble do you know who also gives pebbles for their soulmates?

SPEAKER_00

Penguins. I'm deleting that book immediately off my Kindle okay guys well we went through our pros as little as there were we went through our massive lifts of cons. But now we have a little segment I want to do which Cass you probably didn't read any of these because you didn't get that far. No but I'm excited we have a little game this is one of the things that was heavily criticized was the word choices and sentence structures but this segment is called what does that word even mean? Perfect. Okay I'm gonna read you the quote and then you have to guess what it means and I will read you the definition. Okay. Okay. Quote number one this is the most viral one I have to yield to a conglomerate of pedestrians almost every 10 feet a lot. A lot like a big amount like a large amount of pedestrians. Ah a number of different things or parts that are put or grouped together to form a whole but remain distinct entities.

SPEAKER_01

Excuse me a number of different conglomerate conglomerate I always put with like businesses. That is a business it's a business term. Yeah yeah why are you using that towards humans? Like something feel even more dry I'm gonna use business terms.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah like the Google quote or example it says the earth is a specialized conglomerate of organisms. So different things species whatever are together together. However she's pedestrians are not different species. No I don't know it just didn't make sense interesting okay quote number two that feeling is personified in my stomach right now this was page one personified this one I did read.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah yeah um it's a little person it's like that scene from what is it hot chicks no it's me Jessica I'm in here that's what you think personified means that's that's what Beth's going with it's a little person inside of you hello personified I feel like the feelings are like a whole no they're being you're losing my train of thought it's already derailed whatever feeling is going on in her stomach has become bigger.

SPEAKER_00

Uh representing an abstract quality as a person or being the perfect embodiment of a trait so she is kindness personified involves attributing human qualities to inanimate objects or ideas. Synonyms include embodied incarnate typified or represented that I just don't know if it makes sense. It doesn't not in this context no quote number three I don't know if this one's really hard to understand it was just weird I chuckle to distill the potency of that confession.

SPEAKER_01

Just unnecessary description I don't like to say chuckle because she's not you're not trying to distill the potency because when you distill something you actually make it stronger yeah so you actually do you like you know I mean like distilleries like if you were to distill something you're actually making it usually is stronger when you distill something she's trying to like lighten the potency.

SPEAKER_02

That's what she's trying to mean. Yeah so it would be she's the opposite of what she's but she's trying yeah she's trying to just diffuse maybe would be the word diffuse might be what she was looking for.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah to diffuse diffuse the potency of that confession man maybe I should be an author just kidding I would never let's talk about that I would never this one also I don't have a definition for because I think we all know what this word means but my mom's offhand advice burrowed into my hardwiring. I actually have that one highlighted in my like because you hated it? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Oh okay I was like I'm I got concerned for a second that was that was actually gonna be one of my quotes oh that I was debating reading today. Wines you loved was going to be lines I didn't love oh oh okay because really I this was my book this week burrowed into every hardwire every line I read I did not love.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah back to definitions. Yeah his smile was saccharinly dis I can't even say it. Sacarenely saccharinely disarming disgustingly sweet. Is that what that's supposed to mean I'm pretty sure it's an adverb describing action done in an excessively sweet sugary or ingratiation manner. You did it you may not be able to speak the English but I know the English Quote number six the silence stretched between us with cataclysmic gravity.

SPEAKER_01

There's just no need for these large words no I think they just mean like she means like very large and explosive no like catalyst I can't I kind of like um like a what do you call it a chasm? A chasm but there's a different word I'm looking for like an ice age when the the squirrel puts the nut and you get that break.

SPEAKER_00

Yep what is that called oh a canyon yeah kind of like a canyon I don't know what it's called but I know exactly what you're saying or thinking of what does it actually mean? Used to emphasize the extent of something bad or unwelcome or relating to or denoting a violent natural event.

SPEAKER_01

So there's two different kinds of meanings the first one kind of works I think most people would think of the second one though.

SPEAKER_02

This last one here I don't know how to say how are you gonna say that I can't struggle insuciance oh you were right yeah so he said it with a kind of insouciance that made my stomach twist.

SPEAKER_00

I I wouldn't even know where to do it that one okay it's a noun meaning a relaxed carefree or nonchalant state often characterized by a lack of concern worry or anxiety.

SPEAKER_02

Why did you just say that's my nonchalantly it made her stomach twist I feel like she was like what's the more eloquent like fancy word for I feel like she had another screen up for a lot of this synonyms.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah people were saying that she consulted a the I can't even say it thesaurus the thorus thesaurus yeah that's a really hard word for me I don't know why when you said it it actually hurt my brain I'm sorry is that how it feels when I talk sometimes yes yes I've never said that word out loud that was the first time I've said it that's but that's like so many words that we've said here yeah I'm like I have read hundreds of times but I've never actually used in conversation doing a podcast is better education than taking English.

SPEAKER_00

It really is people are like you're gonna you guys are gonna be judging a book and you can't even speak words. I can read the words you can read it I can't I can read the words anyway so yeah those were some the personified one and the conglomerate were the main two I think because that's early in the book a lot of people DNF'd so they probably didn't get one and there is one I didn't highlight or put in here but I read it and I tried to you know how the Kindles you can like click on the word especially the color software and it will tell you the definition. I did that for one of them I forget what it was. I don't know what it is. It started with an M and the Kindle did not have a definition for it so I don't know if it's a real word. Interesting. Yeah. So now let's get into some discussion there's been a lot of talk about influencers becoming authors and if they get special treatment do you think that publishers are more willing to take chances on influencers who do have massive followings yes because they already have the following exactly because the biggest thing when you are publishing a book is that you need that book to sell.

SPEAKER_01

It doesn't matter how good the author is or how good that book is if it doesn't sell you don't make money. Yeah as a publisher to ensure that you are going to sell however many books that your goal is if they already have this many people who are following them listening to them all of that it's like a no-brainer as a publisher.

SPEAKER_00

100% yeah it's free marketing basically they don't really have to do it they've come in pre-marketed yeah and then do you think that that creates an unfair advantage compared to unknown writers who don't have followings trying to get published.

SPEAKER_01

Absolutely unfortunately yes I feel like that would piss me off like if I know that my books better than this and they only got published because they do have like millions of subscribers then how much work to it is like to be an amazing author and a lot of times you like we've talked about this like with the ghostwriting and things like that like if you are a great author and you can't get your work seen.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah but this person gets their work seen because they have a following online. Yeah

SPEAKER_00

How much time do you think Kaylee spent on this book?

SPEAKER_01

Just based on the hours. It's a very specific number of hours. Well, I feel like it was probably like a week, but she probably didn't work on it all day, every day. You're very wrong. I mean to say a month. I'm very wrong. You guys are very wrong. Okay.

SPEAKER_02

Four years. Four for that? I'm gonna keep my thoughts to myself. Like once a year? I don't know. One day each year? Yeah. I don't know. Today I'm gonna work on my book.

SPEAKER_01

And that's enough.

SPEAKER_00

I'll see you next year. I don't doubt that she was extremely proud of it, but I do think that because of her bigger following online, if she was an unknown person, it wouldn't have gotten published.

SPEAKER_01

It may not have gotten published, but also like it should have been for free. That should have been on Kindle Unlimited. Kindle Unlimited.

SPEAKER_00

But there's a lot of good books on Kindle Unlimited, too. There is.

SPEAKER_01

And even if it's not on Kindle Unlimited, I think the moments it should be is 99 cents.

SPEAKER_02

I wouldn't say 99 cents. If I had known what I was going into, I wouldn't have been paid 99 cents. I'm quite upset I paid for the city.

SPEAKER_01

I was looking for a book while on vacation, and I read all my books, and I was like, I just need something I don't really care to read for 99 cents.

SPEAKER_00

This would have been it. I do know some people are probably gonna come for us for being harsh, but at the end of the day, this is our honest thoughts about this book. Yeah, it is a review, it's not anything to do with Haley, and I get it's her debut novel as well. It isn't gonna be great, but there should have been more to the story to warrant the level of marketing that the publishing house put into this. Bingo. So yeah, those are my thoughts, and you can come at us if you want. But I agree with her thoughts, so you can come at me too.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. I didn't even finish it, so and you know what?

SPEAKER_00

That's fair. Not everyone likes every book, and there's a lot of people that will agree. But I don't like contemporary romance, so we do that's fair, but we do, and we also did not enjoy it. Okay, yeah, so it's just yeah. If you were a publisher, would you make the same decision?

SPEAKER_01

Yes, unfortunately. Businesses for a business.

SPEAKER_00

For a business, yeah, yeah, because of her following, it was gonna sell regardless of how it works. It'll sell itself. And basically, even with the negativity, it still sells because people are like, people are talking about it. All three of us bought the book, yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, we fell like we fell into way too much money on this.

SPEAKER_00

I was like, I wonder if people are being like harsh and nitpicky because they don't like the fact that she's an influencer or they just don't like her in general, or is it because it's actually just not a well-written book? And it was the latter for me.

SPEAKER_02

I didn't even know who she was, and neither did I like it.

SPEAKER_01

I didn't know who she was, and I definitely went into it with an open mind because I was like, I know that people can hate on romance, and romance is the genre, and even like Rotten Tomatoes, I don't even pay attention to rotten tomatoes. Half the time, if they say it's really good, I'm probably not gonna like it. Yeah, if they say it's really bad, I'm probably going to enjoy it. I was all subjective too. And people hate influencers always. So I was like, do you know what? This probably is not as bad as everyone is saying. I also had that mindset, shockingly enough. So that's why I bought it.

SPEAKER_00

I went into it with a lot of positivity. So did I. And then the first page happened, and I was like, oh no. Oh, no. First page, first chapter. You're like, uh, yeah, it didn't leave a good taste in my mouth. Yeah. Does it make you more or less likely to read a book if it's written by an influencer you know? Because you guys don't know Haley. So if you did know an influencer, does that make you more likely to read their books?

SPEAKER_02

I read uh so we listened to Morbid Podcast. One of the girls from that, she wrote a novel or a book called Um The Butcher and the Wren, and it was really good. But I probably wouldn't have picked it up if I didn't know who she was. Fair.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. I think I think it could go either way. Yeah. Like, especially if she's big into the book world, book talk, book whatever. You kind of think she might have a good idea of how to do this. Right. And I think for Elena. Yeah. And Morbid, like you, like, I think her writing for someone who didn't write books was really well.

SPEAKER_02

Did you read it? The Book She's on the Ren. Yeah. I haven't read the second one yet, but I thought it was really well done.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

And yeah. So you just never know.

SPEAKER_01

Like, I think it is kind of that thing where it's like sometimes it's like how like what is the saying? Like the people who can't do teach.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. Like that kind of thing, right?

SPEAKER_01

So like you could have like know how a good book is set up. You could know how you want people to feel reading this book. But if you can't actually write it so the people identify with your characters, with your story, you're not a good writer.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

End of the story. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

That kind of like a follow-up question to what you said. Do you think being a big reader helps someone become a better writer? You had made the comment being like, you should write kids' novels.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. Kids' books. And I'm just like, just because I know how to like what makes a good kid's book or what makes a good novel, I don't know. Like I've actually I couldn't do it. Because I would love, love, love, love to write a book. I'd love to do that. I would stress out about dialogue, how to properly write dialogue so that it came across the way that I wanted it to, for it to like really sit well with people and how I want it to sit with them.

SPEAKER_02

And I just think it would be a lot. I know your li I know my limits.

SPEAKER_01

Writing a book is not one of them. One of my girlfriends in the UK, she wrote a little like poem book, and I actually said to her, I was like, you should make this into a kid's book. Because it wasn't super long, but like I was like, it was like about a snowman, it rhymed. I thought it was really cute, really well done. I was like, children's book, it'd be great. I don't even know if I could do that. No, I couldn't, definitely not.

unknown

All right.

SPEAKER_00

Last question that I'm gonna ask. Do you think readers want familiar tropes or do they crave originality? Both. Yeah, definitely both. I'd say both, too. I think people have their favorite tropes for the other.

SPEAKER_01

Yes, we definitely have our favorite tropes, but I think we want originality in the story. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00

So same tropes but different, unique story. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. You there's so many ways, hundreds of ways, that you can do enemies to lovers. You know what I mean? Like it's just there needs to be originality in the story.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. So another thing we're talking about is the difference between criticism and dogpiling. So where's the line between valid criticism and internet bullying?

SPEAKER_00

I do think a lot of people confuse hate with critici or criticism with hate because any kind of negativity is not allowed. Any type of you know, thinking that goes against the popular whatever idea is hate. Yeah. But book reviews are there for a reason. For sure.

SPEAKER_01

There's such a difference and there is like a line there though, in my head, between criticism and hate. Yeah. You know what I mean? Like if when people are just kind of like coming for you, like that's when things get personal. Yeah. If it's just that they're coming, they don't enjoy your book with valid reasons. Yeah. That sweetheart is called criticism.

SPEAKER_02

There's a way to criticize someone's writing without like hating on the actual person that did it.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, like you don't like I would say this I think would be better marketed to YA. This would be a better YA book. I actually think it would be great. I would maybe bring the ages down a little bit. And I would re-market it for YA.

SPEAKER_02

Well, one of our main things is the juvenile aspect of the book. So yeah, if it's marketed to a younger audience, perfect.

SPEAKER_01

But I'm not, I'm not coming here and saying she's a shit author, this is a horrible first book, or she should never write a book again. These are just early creatures. Yeah, like I'm not saying this, I'm just saying that the book itself does not suit in which the market that they put it into.

SPEAKER_00

And I wouldn't necessarily think this is Haley's fault because a lot of authors have rough drafts and it's up to the editors to kind of revamp it, give you ideas, criticisms, whatever. But I think the publishing house and the editors just saw the massive following, saw money, money, money and rushed it out for that aspect. Yes, she may have worked on it for four years and it's her debut novel, which is not gonna be great, but because it was signed with a massive publishing house, there should have it should have been better. 100%.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

And I did see a video review of a young girl, like I think preteen, who read this book and she loved it. She really liked it. So I was gonna say that's what I mean. Like as a preteen, I probably would have liked it. Yeah. Yeah. So I agree with what you said, like bring it down the ages down to YA.

SPEAKER_02

We lead, we typically read a lot of complex characters in books. So to read something like this, I think.

SPEAKER_01

And I think too, like when you you are in your early teens, like your your preteens, even like it still would be good for them, but you start you want to read a little bit more about adults things, you know. I mean, like going to college, getting your first house, like having your first boyfriend and things like that, like all that, like, and I think it would really sit well and resonate with them. It just doesn't with me.

SPEAKER_00

I think we're just we're more mature for what we were reading. Yeah, and I think this is a good story for younger audiences who want that taste, like you said, yeah, without it being inappropriate.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, should have been marketed differently. Yeah, for sure. Agreed. I don't know if you guys saw there was a video online that they their daughter wanted to read Aquatar and she went through and she taped. Yes, they didn't re-redacted.

SPEAKER_00

The daughter's like, Nesta. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

That was so funny.

SPEAKER_00

Oh, half the book is just retacted.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. Yeah. Do you think social media amplifies negativity around books? It does become an echo chamber. It amplifies negativity around everything.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. Some people just want to jump on the hate train without even like, for example, reading the book, or they just want to go viral. Like there is this one girl, uh, Elena, she got the arc for this, and her review went took her from like 700 followers to like 20,000 because it was like they said it was harsh, other people agreed. After that, there was more negative reviews about the book, kind of in the same manner.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

So I'm just like, I don't know if it was their original thought or if they just wanted to get like blow up like Elena did. Um, and now that the actual book's out, there is a lot more like YouTube videos about it. There is more TikToks about it, and obviously we're talking about it because it's trending right now. But I wanted to, we obviously wanted to give it a fair chance. Yeah, unfortunately, it is not great for us.

SPEAKER_02

Would you ever want to publish a book knowing the internet might tear you apart? Internet tears me apart on a daily.

SPEAKER_01

I'm gonna do it under a pseudonym.

SPEAKER_02

I just don't think I'd ever write a book.

SPEAKER_00

I would just because I am used to putting myself out there and getting hate on a daily basis. That's sad. What? That's sad that you're used to it. Yeah, I know. She posts some pretty controversial.

SPEAKER_01

I know, but I just think it's sad. I just think it's sad. I think it's a sad world. Like if it was Aisley who's getting hate on, like I would be in the I'd be in her, like the comments being like, how dare you come for my daughter?

SPEAKER_00

I mean, I'm I'm judging other people. Yeah. So I have to expect that.

SPEAKER_01

I know, but if you were my daughter, I would probably be on the war path and your comments. I would love to have you as my mom. Gives you thick skin.

SPEAKER_00

It does. It gives me thick skin. So I probably would, but I'd be prepared for that mentally before I ever publish.

SPEAKER_01

So you'll publish underneath your name. I will publish underneath my pen name.

SPEAKER_02

I just won't do it because I just don't think I could write a book. You also don't have time to write a book. There's that too. I don't really care if people come for me over hate.

SPEAKER_01

Like, would you ever like if you had all the time in the world, would you ever think about no? She'd probably just read.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. I enjoy reading. Yeah. I just don't think I would enjoy writing.

SPEAKER_01

It's it's it's something that's like crossed my mind quite a few times. But you should try it. I just don't think I can do it. Dip your toes in. I don't I don't know. Maybe when I'm retired. See you guys in 50 years. We'll circle back. Yeah. Before we wrap this baby up, what would make you trust that an influencer's book is good?

SPEAKER_00

Reviews that aren't paid for. Like it would have to be after the the book is not after the anymore. Yeah. So I uh if I saw the reviews and it wasn't like paid for or a gift, then I would trust that it's actually good. Because sometimes when an author gives you a book, you feel like you have that responsibility to be like, oh, it's great. Yeah, you don't want to hurt their feelings, but sometimes that's not accurate. Like there's a lot of reviews in on Fable with the arcs that were like four stars. And I'm just like, no, we didn't read the same book.

SPEAKER_02

So yeah, yeah. I agree with that. I would definitely have to wait to see the actual reviews before picking it up.

SPEAKER_00

Now we have lines we loved. Two lines I didn't love. Yeah, Beth is going to do the opposite. She has some two lines that she did not love. And I'm assuming it's from just friends. It is. Do you want me to just go? Yeah, just go.

SPEAKER_01

So I did highlight the one that we talked about. Don't put too much stock in people, Con. They can disappoint you. My mom's offhand advice burrowed into my hardwiring. Oh my. Yeah. And then the other one that I did was page 234. Declan lifts his eyebrows like their shoulders he's shrugging.

SPEAKER_00

What? Hilarious. I don't even think I clocked that.

SPEAKER_01

So those are lines I did not love. Those are good. Yeah, those are ones I literally highlighted, being like, what is this? What is happening?

SPEAKER_02

Mine is from Daggermouth, page 558. I have watched you destroy everything I love. I've seen you corrupt our son, torture our daughter, break countless lives across all three rings of this city. Her voice hardened. I watched you bathe in your power like it somehow made you a great man, a great leader. She reached out to him, pulling his chin up toward her. But here I am, the weaker sex, holding all the power, holding the gun, getting the last word.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

It's a good book. Really was. If you didn't want to read the book, now is your sign.

SPEAKER_00

I'll do Daggermouth, page 34. I only know of lust, and I would do unspeakable things in the name of lust. So I can only imagine that if I found love, I'd also be willing to die for it. Oh, somehow.

SPEAKER_02

Another sign. Yeah. Just go read Daggermouth by It's really good. So good. It was so good. Even Cheryl said it was good. Even Cheryl said she didn't predict the ending. Yeah. So it was so sure. She was so sure. So she's alive.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, but you'd like it literally was a cliffhanger on a cliffhanger, like or a twist on a twist. Yeah. So you're just like, whoa. And then you're like, whoa. And then you're like, whoa! Yeah. And then you're like, oh, now I have to wait. And sad.

SPEAKER_00

Sadness. Anyways, that's all we have for you guys today. Please don't let our review of just friends hinder you from checking it out if you're interested. But this was just what we thought of the book. Our honest opinions. Our honest opinions.

SPEAKER_01

Very honest opinion.

SPEAKER_00

You can find us on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube at BlackWist Please Pod. We're 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_01

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