Plot Twist, Please

Are YOU Actually Reading? The Reading Police Are COMING for BookTok!

• Susannah, Beth and Cass • Season 1 • Episode 46

Share episode

Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.

0:00 | 56:09

This week on Plot Twist, Please, we’re talking about the rise of the “reading police” on BookTok — from creators being accused of lying about the books they’ve read, to people analyzing pristine bookshelves, Goodreads goals, Fable stats, page counts, reading speeds, and whether anyone could possibly read 300+ books in a year.

 ✨ Today's cocktail: Meuse Strawberry Moon Fruited Belgian Witbier / Wheat Beer

 🎧 Tune in, sip with us, and remember — keep your glass, your bookshelf, and your TBR full. 🍸📖✨

CHAPTERS

0:00 - intro

5:35 - the drama & discussion

23:14 - GUESS THESE BOOKS: never read, read once, read 100+ times

29:13 - the race of reading

45:17 - hot take, lines we loved, and housekeeping!

__________________________________________________________________________

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!

BOOK CLUB ON FABLE: https://fable.co/club/plot-twist-please-with-susannah-friesen-259062561689

📚 Follow for more bookish content and reading inspo

 📺 YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/@plottwistpleasepod

📱 INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/plottwistpleasepod

🎧 Available on all major podcast platforms

For inquiries or requests, email hello@plottwistplease.com

INTRO 
Music by TossedOnion - Just Vibin' - https://thmatc.co/?l=0191967D

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


Support the show

SPEAKER_03

Not gonna name names. And I was like, what?

SPEAKER_02

From what I've seen, it's actually trickled now to other, maybe like not the big three, but like ones kind of under them, where like they're still very well known, very popular. Um just not maybe to the same level, and even they are being attacked for not reading. Cool. I think so people assume that everyone is like them. Yeah. That they they can't even fathom that other people are different. And this person commented to her saying absolute nonsense. First of all, you're lying. You haven't read 50 books this year, and two, by the time you do read 60 books, you've lost all of your relationships with friends and family because you spent every waking moment not brushing your teeth. Oh yeah, the dot brushing my teeth. Like what? It was just to me, it was just the whole thing was just wild. Welcome back to Plot Twist Please, where we sip, flip, and spill the tea on books and booze. I'm Beth. I'm Cass. And I'm Susanna. When did reading become something we have to prove that we actually do? Apparently, we're not just reading books anymore. We're being audited. Boo. People are counting the books on our shelves, inspecting whether our spines are cracked, calculating how many pages we could possibly have read in year, checking our good reads and fable sets, and somehow deciding whether we're actually readers based on the evidence. Evidence. When did reading become policed? That's what I'd like to know.

SPEAKER_00

And that's what we're gonna be talking about today. But before I get into it, we are drinking these ciders from Mew's brewing. Did you say Mew's? I don't know. It says me and Mew's put together. Mews! Mews. No, it's fine. Ah, leave it. They know. I I'm everyone who knows me knows that I say things wrong. It's Mews. Yeah, Mews.

SPEAKER_01

It's a fruited wheat wheat.

SPEAKER_00

Wheat beer. Wheat beer. Belgian style wheat beer on strawberry. 4.8% alcohol volume. Wow.

SPEAKER_03

In this wee little bottle.

SPEAKER_00

Very nice. It feels like I'm drinking a female beer. A beer for females.

SPEAKER_03

This makes me want to just do a very nice. Cheers. I cheers you, but you're so fun. Before we go to jail, what are we reading?

SPEAKER_00

I'm reading Wings of Reverie. Of course you are. By Anna Bright. This is a different author that wrote Wings of Starlight, but it's I think Disney is like employing different authors to like write different stories. It's really good. It's like grumpy meets sunshine, but she's also like a little bit grumpy in her own way. She just doesn't show it to other people. Very nice. I'm hoping there's a little bit more urn because Wings of Starlight had more urn, but so far it's like kind of like brief touches, or you know, he smirks a little bit when she says something, but like his response is like super bantery. So that kind of vibe. And then I'm also listening to Unknown by Riley Sager.

SPEAKER_03

That's what I'm reading right now. Oh, and I'm just gonna you're doing I'm I'm physically reading and Susie's listening. Yeah. Yeah. The unknown. It's like a weird buddy. It's yeah. Well, she just messaged me this morning when she was reading it.

SPEAKER_00

Well, I had another credit on um Audible. I've come to the conclusion that I think I like listening to thrillers more than listening to like memoirs. Oh, okay. Or even fantasy books. It feels like I'm listening to like a true crime podcast, which is what I really think.

SPEAKER_02

If they did it or there was like a Scottish accent, I may have been able to get through it better. Probably the Scottish accent and Jamie.

SPEAKER_00

Like well, Sam, I guess, but he's always Jamie to me.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

There is a post on Instagram where it was like telling you what your boyfriend was based on the months, and I got some guy I had no idea. And these two were born in October, and they got Jamie Fraser, and I said I hate them because he's mine.

SPEAKER_02

Allegedly. He was mine first. I I stole him though. I will give that to you. Out of my cold dead fingers, would you say that? I can make that happen. I can make that happen. You're in my house. That's red, I think. I feel like if Susie was gonna kill me, it'd be poison. I wouldn't be able to do it with my broken hands. No, she wouldn't be able to do it. Exactly. She couldn't you couldn't fight me to death.

SPEAKER_03

No, there's no way I did open these. You did not. I'm gonna have to show you. I have to show you how to open them. Just one. I did the other two. She's never used a bottle opener before. I don't want to talk about it. This brings me back to the wine debacle. It's the wine opener. It's the girl who has not lived. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Exactly. But what are you reading? Yeah. I'm doing the silent patient. Oh, you just must have. Do you like it? Yeah, so far. I was like a betrayal.

SPEAKER_03

I didn't know we were doing it together. Yeah, I can remember I said at the book fair, I was like, oh, we should get this. We'll read it together. Oh. Well, you should have got it. I I have it already. Oh. Yeah, I already downloaded it.

SPEAKER_02

I know. I was like, I didn't have like one in my mind already like lined up. And I just picked that up and I was like, also I appreciate your nails.

unknown

Thank you.

SPEAKER_02

They're better.

SPEAKER_03

Oh, you'll see in like the last week's video, Beth's nails. They were attractive.

SPEAKER_02

When they did them, she was struggling with the top coat, and I should have known then that they weren't gonna do well.

SPEAKER_03

I almost texted you today and was gonna be like, Did you did you get your nails done? Yeah. Because when I saw you Saturday night or Friday night. Friday night, they still weren't done, and I was like, and they were still they were worse than the last time I saw you. As a nail tech, it was just hurting my soul. I will say she did tell me privately that your nails are really bothering me. I told her to her face. It's true. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

She's like, you gotta do something about that.

SPEAKER_03

They were hurting my soul. That's so my soul's fine. She's busy. She's a mom. Yeah. Listen.

SPEAKER_02

All right. Let's go. One day you picked up a book about a 500-year-old fairy and a teenager. I did. Then you joined a book club. I did. Then you got an app. I did. Suddenly you're spiraling in good read shelves, fable stats, reading challenges, yearly goals, page counts, reading streaks, ratings, reviews, reading vlogs, bookshelf tours, down the book talk, rabbit hole you go. Guilty as charged. Yes. And we've essentially turned a solitary hobby into something that can be publicly measured and compared.

SPEAKER_00

Which is great because I love talking to people about books. It's a surreal feeling, like when you guys are like when you connect with someone about a story where you're like, who done it? And you're like doing all your theories. But um, yeah, I definitely went down that spiral. And then I also pay for Fable Plus to see more stats. Yeah, me too. So we are really deep into it.

SPEAKER_02

It's bad. And when something becomes measurable, then people start competing. Me and Susie, Susie and I. It's a friendly competition. It is a very friendly competition. So I feel like I'm only in a competition with two people and I'm losing both. I think it's different. Susie and Brandy. Oh, right. Yeah. Like Brandy on Fable? Yeah. Okay. Nice. Yeah. She tagged me the other day to let me know that she'd already hit her yearly goal of 100 bucks.

SPEAKER_00

Wow. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

I was like, yep, yep, nope.

SPEAKER_00

No. She's winning. But I think it's different when you're like, it's not like a legit competition. It's like a friendly banter. Yeah. Like nobody's actually stressed, upset about it. No, it's just like a little, oh, I'm gonna just like I be, I have this many books. But it's different when you actually know the person versus like when you're comparing yourself to randos on the internet. Yeah. I'll just say that. Continue.

SPEAKER_02

Well, first I want to dive into the the drama that's going around the the top book talkers. There's drama in book talk? Always. I'm so sad. But if you didn't catch Susie's episode on this on her channel, you can go check it out. She goes into it a little bit, well, not a little bit, a lot of it there. We had a few people who are messaging asking for our thoughts on this as well, and it kind of fit in with what we were talking about today.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. Don't get out of the way early. We'll be accused of not reading the books because we are defending lying, probably.

SPEAKER_03

Oh, I love it.

SPEAKER_02

Stay for the whole episode. Um before you comment. Yes. Yeah, so they are being accused of not actually reading the books that they claim to read.

SPEAKER_00

Hogus pogus. Although Yana did go on and was like, I only read dialogue. And I think like when she was saying that, that kind of stuck in people's minds. And now because like the big three are so close, they associate Yana's reading too. Did you say this after the accusations or before? Before when TikTok was like going down, you know, when every like I don't know if you guys saw that trend where TikTok was shutting down and people were like, Oh, just say like I have a secret, and then they tell us, like, oh, my husband is actually the same height as me, or I'm only reading the dialogue from books, or like mukbongers were like, I don't actually eat the food that I'm shutting. Yeah. Isn't it mukbang? No, it's mukbong. Is it actually? I didn't know that one until I did a video about it. Very strange. But they weren't actually eating the food.

SPEAKER_01

I always thought it was mukbang.

SPEAKER_00

So did I. If you're ever wondering why it's like, oh, it's this is like a book thing. Yeah. The likelihood of them spitting out the food is probably high. Some of them have come out and said that they do that when all this stuff went down. Off camera, yeah. They don't actually show themselves swallowing the food. It's just like them eating it, which I think is like a total waste of money and resources. Right? That's that's part that's part of the joy. Don't know. It's just joy all the way down.

SPEAKER_02

It's gotta go down. Unless I choke on it, then the joy's like cut off.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, but that's what one of them came online to say. Okay, so she said that before all this went down. So people are grasping at that and then throwing them another two.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, because like it's like us. Like when one of like, let's say you said something, yeah, we are lumped in.

SPEAKER_03

We are we are attacked, not necessarily you are attacked.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, I mean I've gotten called out by myself before. Ignorant, but for the most part, for the most part, people will say, like, oh, that you guys said this in the episode, even if it was just one of us who said it, right? Like for the most part. Every once in a while, someone's very specific. Oh, yeah. Cass, have you heard anything about this? I have. You have. I have. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. I love Mariana Reads. So me too. That's kind of where well, I no, I saw a very like, I don't know, what do you call it? Like they they it was like a video of like a content creator, and she was like basically going off about the big three, not actually reading, or she said people are not actually reading, and she's like, I'm not gonna name names. And I was like, What? And that was the whole thing.

SPEAKER_02

Well, and from what I've seen, it's actually trickled now to other, maybe like not the big three, but like ones kind of under them where like they're still very well known, very popular, um, but just not maybe to the same level, and even they are being attacked for cool not reading. Yeah. So why are people so quick to assume someone is lying?

SPEAKER_00

One word reading, one word what jealousy jealousy that either like the book talkers, this is their job, so they have a lot more free time. And I feel like if someone's slaving away at their nine to five or at a job they hate and they love reading, but they don't get to read as many books as they want because they don't have the time, they are so quick to judge someone else for not doing what they claim to do because they want to feel better about themselves.

SPEAKER_03

I think it's also a sense of ignorance.

SPEAKER_02

I think so many people assume that everyone is like them. Yeah, that they they can't even fathom that other people are different.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. Or even like you, your full-time stay-at-home mom. This is technically your job, but like you read real fast. So it's like it is possible for someone that actually also has like other obligations or full-time jobs to read a significant amount of books because they just can read faster than you.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, everyone has different comprehension skills, like you can comprehend something that you're taking in a lot faster, like Beth, or it takes you a bit more time to like really read the words and like visualize in your head. That's you, yeah. I'm in the middle. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Well, and like I struggle too. Like, even actually, I was like messaging about editing that even when it comes to reading, a lot of times it's rare that I can just like jump in and just like it's like I need like almost like a there's like a warming period, and then it's high speed. Yeah, and sometimes if the kids only give me like 20 minutes, I I don't get to like my top speed. Yeah, I have to get like right into it.

SPEAKER_00

You have to like actually walk in. Yeah, and I find that too, like if the last week, because like last episode was a lot longer, and then I posted two extra videos on my channel. I didn't have a lot of time to really sit and like walk in and read. And when I I I was still in like work state that when I did sit down and read, I couldn't relax and exactly. Yeah, I had such a hard time relaxing. I felt like I should be doing something, even though everything was basically done. And I couldn't really get into my story, which means like I'm not really invested and I'm not reading as fast as I usually would if I was locked in. Right. Because like you are fully in that world now. Yeah. Whereas I was just kind of like one toe in.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. Is having a huge, a huge platform changing the standard that people expect from creators. Yes.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. I think a lot of the the viewers who watch these big creators expect them to like have the same opinions as them. And like if they don't have the same opinions or like are the same way, they get really but hurt about it.

SPEAKER_03

I also feel like people that are on a huge platform get overlooked as like actually human and can like make mistakes or not know all the facts. And like at the end of the day, like we're all human. Like, we don't claim to know everything.

SPEAKER_00

Like on our videos, like we have had comments about especially the bigger topics that you should have researched more, especially when we're talking about like the fire sticks.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Uh, and someone was like, You guys should have researched more before you came here. We are just friends sitting on a couch that happened to post on social media. Like, we talk on the fly.

SPEAKER_03

Like the whole point of this channel was to literally have a group of three girls sitting around chatting like we would in person. We don't research our topics, we just chat off the fly. That's the whole point of our video.

SPEAKER_00

We do sometimes.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, like we do research into the topics that we are discussing. But to a point, this is not a scripted. No, like to a point, but we're not gonna sit there and do a deep dive research on every little thing we talk about. Sometimes we say things off the fly.

SPEAKER_02

Well, and I think too, like we we try to have uh a flow of the episode of how the episode's gonna go, but it's more, I think, enjoyable for you guys if we are natural, authentic, like yeah, and it's just like an authentic conversation.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Um, we don't claim to be sometimes our brains don't work properly and we forget what things are called.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, we don't claim to know everything, we don't claim to be like research. Or we say a word out loud for the first time and it's wrong.

SPEAKER_00

Literally, I made a video last week and I posted it, and in it I said absorbent amounts of money. And I literally thought absorbent was the word, and Nate was like hearing me play it back. He's like, What did you just say? I'm like, absorbent, and he's like, That's not the word. And I'm like, Yes, it is. What's the word then? And he's like, exorbitant. And I'm like, I've never heard that word in my life.

SPEAKER_02

See, then I wanted to say something like I concur. I was like, no, that's not it. Or I said, I could I confer. And there's like, nope, no, and it's like, uh, there's something's wrong here. And like literally sitting here staring at the word, being like, it just looks more wrong the longer, the longer you stare at it. What's wrong? Then I'm like, just then I'm like in my like, and then I said out loud, being like, I confer. It's like, no, it's concur. There we go. That's the one. It's so funny. But then my brain's just like, this sounds right. And I'm like, but it doesn't. That's what I thought.

SPEAKER_00

I was so confident, like headstrong about it. Headstrong. I said it multiple times, absorbing. You're like, that's right. Sounds real good. And then I'm like, yeah, someone laughed at me in the comments, like jokingly, and was like fun about it. But I was like, yeah. See, that's fine.

SPEAKER_02

So I kind of know what you guys are gonna say to this, but it kind of goes with being human. If someone reviews hundreds of books, should we expect them to remember every detail? No, no, I don't.

SPEAKER_03

I don't even remember like two books ago what the details of those books were.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, yeah. You remember it like just after you read it, but like so many stories are like the same or the same genre, and there's like fairies and like dystopian, like conform and um conform and what's called dagger mouth was like read back to back, and like I sometimes mix up those.

SPEAKER_03

Nightshade and spell witch, we're spellcast, see. Spellcaster, we also got because we read them too close together that yet.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, some of them have very similar themes. So, like expecting someone to have the memory to remember a hundred books that they've read, like it's unrealistic. Yeah, it comes down to being human.

SPEAKER_03

Like, what am I, a a computer?

SPEAKER_00

No, all this like you hate AI, but you want terrorists.

SPEAKER_02

I know. And there's there's been so many times that I've listened to our episodes, like I've been like running and listening to us, and then I'm like, that was wrong. Well, that didn't that didn't land right. It's just like it was like a word like like we like one of us used or me, yeah, or how like something was said, and I'm like, preface. No, preface genuine. Those are our actual words, guys. So is knowing the plot enough, or do you need to remember characters, quotes, side plots, etc.?

SPEAKER_00

I think when you're doing a review, you have like that should be just standard, remember it. But like if someone's asking you about a book and like you remember that you really liked it and that's all you remember, I think that's totally fine. But if you're coming online and are trying to like do a review like Mariana Reads would do, or Larry Reids and Ghana, I think it's important that you do remember key details and like don't mess it up. And that's why like it's so important to go through and edit and like you know, make sure you have things right before you post them. Yep.

SPEAKER_03

I think the thing with Mariana, especially, is she's so like she's so like ex like so much-yes, passion is the word I was looking for. See, there you go. Expressive, expressive, passionate with her reviews. So I think she just gets so caught up in that that it gets lost sometimes.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, she recently did the Shatter Me series. She read it like all in a few days, and she was like so excited about it. I think it's a dystopian romance, as that's what I got from it on my TBR, but she was so passionate and like she cries a lot when she reads books. I don't really enjoy her wrecks, like her, she's really into dark mafia. Yeah, not books that I would enjoy, but I still watch her content because I just love how passionate she is about the book she reads. Yeah, she's more like our content. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02

I mean, even like when we were doing more of like the book focused episodes, we would have just read the book and then got together to film it. And I know like we'd be talking about it, and I'd be sitting over there being like, What book did you guys read? Yeah, because that's not what happened.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, we want that I read. She's definitely better at doing it than we are. But I did like go back to listen to our nightshade episode before I read Daybreak because and it really did help like me prepare me for the next book, which I'm super thankful for because um, yeah, I had no clue what happened. I forgot completely.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, yeah. And for those who are asking for some of like our more book focused episodes, yeah, we are going to be doing a little something for you, whether it's reels or what. We're working on it. Yeah, we're working on it. But it's coming. We do. We don't have a lot of time. We're trying, okay. We do hear you, and we it is coming for you.

SPEAKER_03

Working on a lot of things for you guys, so just bear with us.

SPEAKER_02

We are evolving very rapidly.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

So to wrap this up, the interesting part of this drama isn't necessarily did they or didn't they? It's that there's no evidence. Everyone is just speculating. Except for the one. Yeah. She did come out and say at least, I mean, at least she read the dialogue, but still that's like even then, it's just like if you see her episode on the dialogue only, that's like 25% of the book, maybe.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. Just read the whole book. You can't get everything from the dialogue.

SPEAKER_02

So let's talk bookshelf investigators. Yes. So have you heard people are the book talk FBI? Yeah. People are analyzing other people's bookshelves and essentially doing detective work to say things like that spine isn't cracked, there's no wear on that book. They have 700 books, but there's no way they've read all of those. Look brand new. Blah blah blah. So, what exactly is a red book supposed to look like?

SPEAKER_00

I don't think there's a right or wrong way for a red book. It depends on like how well you take care of your books. Like, I know some people like to, I don't have a physical book on me, but like for the paperback, say like I sometimes will take the first part of it, this side, and wrap it around the back and like hold it like that. So like you know, you can see. But everyone reads differently. And I don't like a cracked spine.

SPEAKER_02

So or it's the it's this. That's what I'm shooting. That's what I was talking about. Yeah, also, um, some people, I have a video of it, will get a new book and they'll go like this and they will crack, like crack the spine, and then other people are sharing, like when you do that, like you you actually damage the book. Yeah, and so like chunks of the pages and stuff like all of this are like falling out because they've literally gone like this and just like cracked it. And there are so many people who do that. Yeah, it's but like something.

SPEAKER_03

They also have that little thumb thing, like the the thing that is supposed to help not crack the spine.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, to preserve it, like sits here, so a little underneath your thumb and actually helped keep the page open for you.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, I almost expensive. You guys can buy that. Yeah, I do want to say too, like, if you're like me and you're strictly mainly a Kindle reader, some people will buy the books that are on their bookshelves just for trophy books, which aren't meant to be physically read. Yeah, they're just as mementos basically, yeah. But the grand old time you had in the story. And if that's the case, then they're they would look pristine. They're just showcasing books that you love.

SPEAKER_03

And if you're a content creator, your backdrop most of the time is just a bookshelf. Yep. Yeah. So who have that much time? Yeah. And to zoom in. Because I know Susie's got her her TBR cart.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. Yeah. Right. But some people might have like a specific part of their bookshelf as their TBR shelf or whatever. Which wouldn't be read yet. Yeah. So how do you have to do that?

SPEAKER_03

How do you know which ones are which? Yeah. Yeah. But also who has that much time to zoom in on someone's and to dissect. If you have that much time to zoom in and dissect, you need a different hobby.

SPEAKER_00

Read more books. This is exhausting. Who I can't.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. Yeah. So some of the things that people were arguing against that was reading digitally, listening to audiobooks, and again, buying a trophy book for that. Or they were like, Oh, hey, I loved the audiobook. I would like to read the book at some point. And then they just put it on their shelf. And then it goes on their shelf. That they originally had borrowed it from the library, loved It ended up going out and buying a book. They did yeah, they just keep their books pristine. They read it once but then never touched it again, or they write it in a way that doesn't visibly damage the spine.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. Like I have books on my bookshelf, and I'm not a physical book reader anymore, but that I've actually read and the spines are not cracked. It is possible. It is possible.

SPEAKER_02

There's a completely destroyed book and have never read it.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. Exactly. If you thrift it for certain, or you get it from like one of those free libraries, some of them can look pretty damaged. Or if you like you bought a book and you lend it to a friend. I remember I lent a book to Jenna, my friend. I got back beat to smithereens. I was like, huh? My poor book. So sad. Are you reading yes to kids? That could also affect your book. Yeah. So many different things that none of this points to evidence that someone is not reading the books that they have. There's so many different like things. Layers.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. Layers. There's layers. I forget if I just said to you guys like behind the scenes that I have like some old books. Like I have a like a really early copy of Winnie the Pooh. I've got one of Treasure Planet. Um, and there's another one too that I think I just really liked. Super old books.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

And they look it. Yeah. Never read a book. I brought a bag of books. Some of them you guys know. It'll be a little obvious because you just know. But for those out there, you might not know. So take take your educated, your educated guess. Alright. So the guess is never read, read once, read a hundred or more times. Okay. We're gonna start.

SPEAKER_03

Oh, that one's been read a hundred or more times.

SPEAKER_02

Oh yeah. It's got my OG name in it and everything. That is definitely the front cover is almost falling. It's falling off. This is the original copy that I bought from Indigo.

SPEAKER_03

That is a well-read book.

SPEAKER_02

I have done many rereads of it.

unknown

Oh, so good.

SPEAKER_02

Nice. Yeah. I mean, I don't know if it's a hundred, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's up there. It's been close. Yeah. We got this baby.

SPEAKER_03

Haven't read yet. Haven't read yet. We just got it today. It's real nice. It is real nice, but yeah. Shout out to our follower JF. Beautiful. Have not read yet. Literally just got it in the mail like yesterday.

SPEAKER_00

Well, Lisa Jackson. I'd say like maybe read once. Uh maybe. No.

SPEAKER_02

Well read. Never by me. Oh. Okay. Wow. Thrifted? Uh that one came from my mom. Oh, okay. So probably the garage sale, thrifted. Yep. Okay. She's that she's that kind of person. All right. Look at this. Look at this beautiful. Good old Nora. That spine. Which one is that? Key of White, that's been read a few times. That's been read a couple times by you. Uh, I probably have read the series at least a hundred times, if not more. Oh, wow. Um, but this is my second. It's just a wee little copy.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. Remember when books actually used to be that small?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure I gave you my original of this. I can check my bookshelf, but I don't know. This is like you back when you lived with your parents. I'm talking like a while ago. Oh. And then you never gave it back. You may have just thrown it out on me, donated it, not realizing. And so I had the other two that matched that one, and I had to go out and buy the whole new scene. Oh my gosh. That's right. That was my bad. If that was this one has probably been read a handful of times. There is a little bit of a crease, but it might be hard to see.

SPEAKER_03

So if you if you mean that, yeah, from where I'm sitting right now, I can't see a crease. Can you? Yeah. No, but there's probably one now. She just threw it.

SPEAKER_00

And on a camera. That one has been read once. Yeah. Once. One time.

SPEAKER_02

One time. And there's not a naria crease on there.

SPEAKER_01

And that's a thick book. That's a chong boy book.

SPEAKER_00

Nothing. I need to do a reread of that one. Not actor again. I can't put myself through that again. But Mist and Fury is my favorite. Say like I want.

SPEAKER_02

I'm a super like look, I got a little spillage on the proof. I was really eating some. Those were in my breastfeeding days, too. It's another. So this is the uh Blood on the Sand, Casey Azell, who's another one of our followers. You read it one time. Once. No, I haven't read this one yet.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, is that the second one? This is the second one. Oh I read the first one, but it looks the exact same. It does look the same. Last but not least.

SPEAKER_02

This pile of books.

SPEAKER_00

Oh, okay. Ooh, Quan. Wow.

SPEAKER_03

Okay, you read the one. The one one time.

SPEAKER_02

Wait. Which one do you think I've read?

SPEAKER_03

Well, I can't read my spines. Shit. That helped. That helps not.

SPEAKER_00

I can't. That one's been read. The blue one. I'm going blue too.

SPEAKER_02

Uh, I've read this one and I have not read this one. Are you serious? Wow. See? This is humbling. You how do you know? You don't. I can't tell. Because it is not in the best shape. The cover's a little squishy. It does look a little squoshed. It's because Ainsley got her hands on it. Ainsley? So I read the hardcover, but not the soft. See? I wanted both versions.

SPEAKER_03

That just goes to prove on a screen. If we can't tell in person in person, we can't tell. Yeah. On a screen, you're gonna zoom in on like just not a clear picture. Yeah. You only see the spine. And you're saying they're not reading.

SPEAKER_02

And again, you just like I get that maybe I'm a like a different type of book content creator here, whereas like I do get a lot of books from my mother who loves to thrift. I thrift books, free libraries, all of that. So mine, I don't, I don't do the the trophy books. So off topic, how do you guys feel about the host? I haven't read the book. I've watched the movie. Oh, the host was so good. Right? Did you you read the book? Yeah, I have the hardcover. The I'd say the book is I would say at least five times better than the movie. I enjoyed the movie just because I loved the book. I'll have to watch I'll have to read it. Do you want my copy? No, I'll probably be on unlimited. But someone in our like on in our comments had said that they loved the host more than they actually liked Twilight.

SPEAKER_00

I mean, I reread Twilight and it was all right.

SPEAKER_02

It wasn't as good as I remembered it back in the day. But I also feel like reading it as a hormonal teenager just hits differently.

SPEAKER_03

It's the nostalgia of Twilight if you read it when it came out.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

I think. I mean, first of all, they're wrong for that. No, I'm just kidding. The host actually was way better written.

SPEAKER_02

I think. But it was also after she'd done the whole Twilight. Yeah, I can't remember if it was not at the end of the Twilight or if she still had one more book coming out in the but it was near the end, if not after Twilight. Yeah. Like the entirety of the series. So every much. You would like it. But also depends on what you like. If you like aliens or you like vampires, everyone who likes sci-fi isn't necessarily both. I do like the good sci-fi.

SPEAKER_03

I don't like aliens, and I loved that book. Yeah. And I loved Stranger Things, but it's very hit or miss for me with sci-fi.

SPEAKER_02

Stranger Things is not alien, it's alternate universes.

SPEAKER_03

There's alien the Demi Gorgons are definitely of alien descent.

SPEAKER_00

I don't think so. I think they're more of like down there descent. Yeah. Good old descent.

SPEAKER_03

Either way, they're so good. It's so good. Let's get into the race of reading. Done. Let's go. So, first off, let me put my running shoes on.

SPEAKER_02

People are being maybe attacked is a bit of a strong word. But they're being judged. They're being judged for reading 50 books a year. 100 books a year, 200, 300, 400, 500 plus. That's wild to me. I kept reading things on book threads about like, oh, you've read like 500 books or 600 books. Someone else was like 700. I was just like, in a year?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, I mean, maybe they're novellas, maybe they just read so fast.

SPEAKER_03

They also could be doing audiobooks and reading as well. Yeah, counting.

SPEAKER_02

If you listen to audiobooks at the same time, like during your day, yeah, like commuting. All day at work or yeah, just a book real fast if you're commuting. Well, like, let's take a look at Zach. Zach works six to seven days a week. Monday to Friday, he's 10 hour days. Maybe he's down to eight. He was 10 with his last one. And then on like the weekends, if he goes into work, it's usually about six hours that he's working. Oh, okay. He will listen to audiobooks and podcasts. His work, it's by himself in a booth, working. He's got his like gear on, his ear protectors on, and so he doesn't talk to anyone. Like he'll stop for his breaks and that's it. That's the only time he really talks to people at work, or if like a manager comes in and he has to stop what he's doing to talk to them about like what needs to be done, yeah, constantly. And then the drive to 30 minutes, the drive from at least so at least 30 minutes. 30 minutes is like no traffic. It's like if you were to listen to audiobooks that entire time, like even a book as large as like Crescent City is like 52 hours. Yeah, that's crazy. You could do he could do that in a week, yeah, easily. Yeah, and then if he say he came home and was reading, on top of that, is this is possible.

SPEAKER_00

We can't, we aren't ones to say that it's not. People can do anything they put their minds to.

SPEAKER_02

It's true. So I think it just depends on the time you have, the kind of reader you are, what you you count as your goal, the type of books you're reading, size of books you're reading.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, like if you're reading a bunch of little novellas, that can add to your your account real quick. But the thing is, is it makes people so angry for no reason?

SPEAKER_02

So why why why we've we've made like me and Susie have made quite a lot of jokes of our reading race that we have against one another, and some of the comments that we've gotten from people like literally being so mad at you?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, it's like you all need to calm down, like that we're toxic, that it's like, why are you like reading shouldn't be competitive?

SPEAKER_03

Like it's almost like some people don't know what a joke is.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, I think people we've kind of made jokes about it ourselves, and yeah, but then people are like, How like how could you guys like it?

SPEAKER_03

Also, like is it harming you in any way? How people it literally has no effect like on any is it?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, like people are like, Why don't you just like enjoy your books? Like, why do you think just because we're not? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like you're assuming, like, if I'm reading this much, it's obviously because I'm enjoying my I enjoy reading, yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, I'm not just gonna read because I have to beat someone.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, like no, and I don't that kind of thing.

SPEAKER_03

I really don't think that there's many readers out there that are actually doing that because they're in an actual competition.

SPEAKER_00

Unless it's the people that are judging other people online that they don't know from a hole in the ground that they're reading like a lot of books, they're in this like one-sided competition and they they probably aren't enjoying reading because they're like, I need to keep up with the these influencers. Yeah, yeah. But that's on you're the problem.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, that's not on anyone else. Like, if you're choosing that, then fine. But like if someone is reading and enjoying books and they have a friendly, healthy competition with someone else, like a friend, why is that upsetting you? I don't know, maybe that's just me, but I'm I'm apparently tone deaf, so yeah.

SPEAKER_02

So, like I said before, our OG Brandy and our book club tagged me recently because she hit her yearly goal. So her goal was a hundred books. As of yesterday, she has read 105 books out of group. Dang, yeah, wait ago to Brandy. Yeah, right now she's currently reading nine books. Brandi, I'm gonna constantly place a love.

SPEAKER_00

That's wild. It is wild. Keep them straight, is like timelines, stories, things like that.

SPEAKER_03

I can hardly handle two, I can hardly handle one in my actual life.

SPEAKER_02

So, Susie, how many books have you read so far this year? Let me pull it up. I think it's 70 something, but so I've read 60 books so far this year. Cassidy, you want to jump in? Are you gonna stay out of this?

SPEAKER_03

No, I'll I'll jump in for the like the readers for the plot.

SPEAKER_01

Reader, yeah, for the plot. 70. Sorry, I'm not catching up with you.

SPEAKER_03

What are you at? I'm at 60. You're at 60. Yep. I'm at 37. That's my guess. Hold on, it's loading. 38. Ooh, that was you were close. Yeah. And I'm on book number 39. Nice. That's it. I think that's pretty good for you. Actually, my goal is what was my goal? 660, I think. Yeah, 60.

SPEAKER_02

You'll get there. Oh, you're yeah, you're well on track. I'm on track. Yeah. More than I would say. You know what? I think you're gonna beat your goal.

SPEAKER_00

I'm proud of you.

SPEAKER_03

No, last year you were at 40 books or something. Yeah, last last year I went through a mental health crisis, though. So that's true. I was not at my best.

SPEAKER_02

I mean, you've had some rough times this year, too. I have, yeah. And then we had a conversation in our Fable Book Club um with our one member Haley. So she had commented on one of our videos.

SPEAKER_00

Mine. My main channel video. On your main channel. Okay. Haley? Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Okay. So, and I believe I couldn't find the original comment she had shared, what kind of came after that. Yeah. But she said something about how she's read 50 books this year. And this person commented to her saying absolute nonsense. First of all, you're lying. You haven't read 50 books this year. And two, by the time you do read 60 books, you've lost all of your relationships with friends and family because you spent every waking moment not brushing your teeth. Oh, yeah, the dot brushing my teeth. Like, what? Yeah, not brushing your teeth, reading, which is first of all, absurd, but second of all, simply not true. And she responded to them being like, How am I lying? Like, I can legit name every book I've read plus what I'm currently reading and can detail them all. Also, I have no clue what brushing teeth has to do with anything. That's a bit absurd.

SPEAKER_03

I've brushed my teeth while I'm reading. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

She pretty much goes on to say how she has a wonderful relationship with her boyfriend, her friends. She sees them consistently. She went and saw Spider-Man. And she's like, Oh, that's besides the point. I feel like you're just messing with me and trying to rage beat because you think it's funny. So she came into the group and pretty much just saying, like, where did this person even get off? Like, where like I think she was so focused on, like, Haley was so focused. Like, why would of all the things you assume I'm not brushing my teeth?

SPEAKER_00

You've never met you in person. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

But you've got these people don't even know anyone on a deep personal level. And it's like the judgment is wild to me.

SPEAKER_00

But I do think this guy that was like commenting, because he was insulting me as well, and like had a whole bunch of accusations. Haley was like kind of defending me in that, and that's why she was attacked as well. I think they're just trolls.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Like they know they're trying to piss you off. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Or they don't actually mean what they say. Well, and she even went on to say, Well, they probably mean what they say. Um, she works with kids with autism, so she actually brushes her teeth more because she's working on that skill with one of the kids that she works with.

SPEAKER_03

She shouldn't have to defend herself on brushing her too ears.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, like that was something that she said, like in the group, but I kind of I laughed because I said, I was like, you're probably the worst person for them to make a not brushing teeth comment too. I was like, I brush mine a lot just trying to get like teach like get my kids brushing their own teeth. I was like, but I'm not even close to five times because I think she was like five times on top of her regular brushing routine.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, and that's like not even taking into account like if someone has braces or inviscaline, then they're obviously doing more oral hygiene because they have to. Yeah. Like some people are nuts.

SPEAKER_02

Yes, I don't get it. I've read over 50 books this year, and I didn't realize I wasn't brushing my teeth this entire time. I've just been gnawing on books. Like, who knows what else I've been forgetting. I can't be on deodorant, washing my butt crack, showers. What are those? It was just to me, it was just the whole thing was just wild. My kids are so busy, they are so busy, and it's so hard to find the time to read with them if they're awake. Yes. And I'm still managing over 50 books for this year.

SPEAKER_00

So just because you can't doesn't mean other people can't as well. Yep.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. Yeah. Just because you can't doesn't mean that you need to attack other people who can. Yeah, exactly. So and I know like some people were commenting about how like they have to take public transit. And so like they listen and read a lot of books while they're doing that. Or yeah, like all depends on your job. But yeah, so some of the some assumptions that I was seeing across social media was they must have no job, they must have no kids. They can't possibly be actually reading them. They're probably just skimming, they're probably listening at three times the speed, or they're lying. I just don't understand how we get there's no way, instead of that's amazing.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, right? Because people just are so angry and negative these days.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. That it's like people can't take a joke, people can't be positive, they can't congratulate someone else from doing something that they wish they could. Like, there's so much envy in the world. And I think it's it stems from the fact, like the way the economy is. I think that's like the biggest thing. Envy and hate, I feel like like it's just people are miserable in their lives for a variety of reasons, and they will find any outlet to take that frustration out on.

SPEAKER_03

Like, what happened to the like like when I see something online and I don't agree with it, I literally just carry on with my day.

SPEAKER_00

We've talked about this. I make a whole video about it. I make a whole 30-minute series about the things of other people. I feel like I made a career out of it.

SPEAKER_03

I know, but I just feel like it's different. Like sometimes, like, if I'm scrolling and I see something that someone's reading that I necessarily wouldn't like, I don't feel the need to like go on there and attack them or voice my opinion. I just scroll. Like, I don't care that much. I'm not gonna change that person's mind on what they like, and they're not gonna change mine. So there's truly no point in leaving a nasty comment on someone you don't personally know. Like assumptions. Like you see these people for a brief second, you get one side of them on whatever app they're using for like, you know, a 40-minute video or a 20-second reel, and you're gonna go ahead and assume you know them. Yeah. Based on that, that's so unfair.

SPEAKER_00

When it comes to this conversation, I think the accusations are unfounded. Like there's no evidence to point to their conclusions. No. But like, let's say there's an influencer who I've covered a lot of influencers who do nasty things, but like, let's say there's an influencer who goes into a small town grocery store and looks absolutely disgusted that it's not airwan and she had to go shop for herself, and she's just like so judgmental of this like small town grocery store that doesn't live up to her LA standards. She says all the stuff she's saying. She posts the video after taking time to edit it. Like those actions, what you say, what you decide to post, and like those kind of things, point to your character as a person because you, it's not just something that's live, it's not offhand a comment that was took the wrong way. It was you filming your reaction, you after spending so much time editing this, still thought it was a good idea to post it, and then you post it. And then when you do get called out for it, your apology is like not an apology. Yeah. Like those those kind of things do warrant being called out, but these things like reading how many books you're reading. That's there's no evidence to support that. Whereas, like, if there's evidence and this person's being a total brat, yeah, that warrant people are gonna have negative comments to say about that. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02

So if one person read 300 books this year and someone else read three books this year, why is one of them wrong? They're not, they're not, and they're not. It's such an easy answer. End of story period. Yeah. Neither of them, neither of them are wrong.

SPEAKER_00

Three's not too little, 300 is not too much, is just the person who read three might have a variety of hobbies that they choose to do, like play video games, or they watch movies, or they have like they binge a show. And the person who reads 300 books might just solely read.

SPEAKER_03

Three books is all they can manage in a year, and that's fine. And if there's people that read 300 books a year, I'm impressed. Yeah, yeah. Impressed.

SPEAKER_00

But not judging. Or questioning. Even if you read zero books a year, like it doesn't affect my day.

SPEAKER_03

No, I don't care. Yeah, this is exhausting. It's too tired.

SPEAKER_02

Even this whole conversation's just so many, so many things. It's just constantly having to watch your back. All right, let's talk about the page count drama, which we've actually personally dealt with recently. I know I personally dealt with it recently. Did you really? I know we talked about it because Cheryl and Brandy had both read Star Side. Brandy stopped. It was on her PFN list, her pause for now, and Cheryl loved it. Brandy, I think, was having a hard time. She said sometimes, like certain books, if she's jumping into it, she's just not ready for she's a mood reader. So if she's not in that right mood, then yeah. Yeah. So she kind of wondered if that was it. And we had talked about doing Star Side, but one of the things that kind of deterred us was how big the book was, and we were we're kind of coming off of some other really big books. And I know even for me, it was like, oh man, like I've done some chunky books. It'd be nice to have nice to have something a little bit lighter. Yeah, yeah. And I kept saying it was gonna do it, and I did do it, but this is the thing is that so, like, I was hearing from people this this book was like 700 pages, and then you look it up and it said six, like when I looked it up, it said 600, and like it was like 631 pages or something like that. Yeah, I'm pretty sure I had that with the Boys of Tonman as well, but the actual page of the book was different. And the page number had changed, someone had changed it. So someone had actually commented that the page number was wrong for Star Side. Um, I'm pretty sure it saw it in like the book threads, and they had said like they like people had gone in and like you have to manually change it. Interesting. Okay. Other people had gone in because some people their their competition is the amount of pages they are reading.

SPEAKER_00

That's not even an accurate representation of what you're like reading though, because there's different book sizes, different font sizes, like yeah, you can't measure how many books or whatever your reading goals from that. Yeah, because it's so varied.

SPEAKER_02

Well, and like I almost pushed out reading this book because I was like, ooh, I just don't know if I'm ready, I'm uh like in the the right space to be diving. A bigger book like that right now. So like maybe I'll wait. And like then I was hearing like um like Cheryl said, she's like, oh, like love, like is loving the book. She's like, I don't even think it, she's like, I'm going through it so fast, I don't even think it seems like that big of a book. And then things started coming up about like page numbers and stuff, and I was like, What? I very much enjoyed it. You guys should read it. It is on my list, it's on a list.

SPEAKER_03

So actually, I want to see what it says. I feel like I'm just very much in my thriller era right now. are. I've been missing them. I'm just very much enjoying every throw.

SPEAKER_02

Fable now says the page length is 544 pages. That's not too bad. Yeah. I know it was like in the 600s when I first looked at it. Weird. Yeah. Okay. That's very strange.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

But apparently that's the thing. And I know like some people like it's it's even like there's like you can do like word counts.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

So it's not just the amount of books that you're reading in a year. It's not now it's like your page counts and your word counts and I would just stick with books read.

SPEAKER_00

It's so simple. Word counts are well word counts are more accurate rather than page counts. Like if you are going to measure anything I wouldn't measure by pages.

SPEAKER_03

I think Fable Plus kind of it does that for you. It does that for you.

SPEAKER_00

But like I don't look at that.

SPEAKER_02

I just I like I just having it the option there but I don't measure I know like what I saw was that some people were saying it's a more accurate count of how much you're actually reading in a year compared to a book count because you have your novellas, you have your audiobooks, things like that. So if you are actually like putting in how many pages you read or the words that you read in a year, it was a more accurate how much you actually visually read that year. But people are arguing that as well. Well now people have been fudging numbers or why why is it this serious thing it's not that it's not that deep.

SPEAKER_00

No really it's not so it's like a fight for intellectualism. Like I'm smarter than you and you're dumb.

SPEAKER_03

This is so painful.

SPEAKER_02

Well here's a little hot take does someone have to finish a book to have an opinion on it? I would say well yes and no no DNFs DNFs I have many opinions on DNFs I saw someone talking about this. So for them they said it's the difference between someone DNFing at 7% and someone DNFing at 70%.

SPEAKER_03

Well I think an argument if you're DNFing that early on it's probably due to writing more so than the story itself.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. I guess it depends on like yeah your where you DNF'd it gives you a right to have that opinion on it like what Cass said the writing pacing even at 7% is valid. The actual story or character development would be tied to people who DNF'd yeah earlier. If you're already making conclusions like you haven't given the story enough time to like make those opinions or you can have those opinions but I don't think you should re like put those on your review.

SPEAKER_02

No. Yeah. So overall I think today what we're kind of talking about is does reading faster mean you're reading less deeply? No.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah I would disagree. Because you read insanely fast and remember more details than Susie and I combined.

SPEAKER_00

You're the prime example.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

I said there's probably three camps. So you have camp A. I read quickly because that's just how my brain works. That is you you mean camp B, I read quickly sometimes but I definitely retain less me and Camp C. I need to take my time or I don't enjoy the book.

SPEAKER_03

You yeah I revive Camp Cat Camp C. Yeah Camp Cass.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah so can someone read 300 books and have a deeper relationship with books than someone who reads 20 books? Yeah. And again it could also be how big that book is the topic. Yeah. And quantity doesn't tell you how someone experienced the book. Agreed. So this is for you guys. If nobody could see your Goodreads or your fable your bookshelf your reading goal or your yearly total would you still care how many books you read?

SPEAKER_00

Can I answer that? Sure for me. Before I even had Goodreads or fable I didn't count the amount of books I've read I just read for the It's it is a little fun now to like challenge myself. Yeah. But like I only really got that when we started the podcast. And before that I didn't count. I had it before that.

SPEAKER_02

Well I'm just saying I didn't yeah I know I had it before it I had it before but I got because you told me to get it you're like don't you're like if you're gonna do an app don't do good reads do fable.

SPEAKER_03

That's true. And I was like okay yeah I just like I don't know I just like counting it. I don't really care about the numbers I just I'm like ooh book finished the dopamine that gives me when I'm like book finished. I don't even rate them like I don't I'm not that deep. Have you started doing your vibes rating no but Cassandra you have that wait I did review it in our milestone for nightshade. Yeah nope daybreak I did it in there.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah no I have been trolling other people's reads what those are two very disappointing books you just show up in my comments on my reviews you're like no vibes so why can't we bring the conversation back to the reason most people started reading in the first place because they fucking loved books.

SPEAKER_02

Simple boom mic drop period all right which brings us to Lines we loved I'm trying to find one just like this go that's what I did.

SPEAKER_00

Okay well I'll go I'll go first then you are gonna want to pay attention to this because hold on let me pick one then I was just about to do that we can do it together Okay what book are you doing?

SPEAKER_03

The Gravewood. Okay what book are you doing? Star Side Okay we're good okay are you ready?

SPEAKER_00

No yes yeah I was gonna start again okay go ahead all right minus from the Grapewood again great book by Kelly Andrew page 249 pick me some small twisted part of her bags the part that craves the part that wants him to need her the way she needs him she stifles it but it's too late he's seen it in her face perhaps or else her eyes the hunger that poisons the well of whatever this is between them something akin to disgust curdles his lip and he turns away from her craning his neck until it cracks oh that's good you guys gotta read it all right Cass you want me to go?

SPEAKER_03

Yeah I'm gonna do Daybreak um by Autumn Woods our book club of the month book for the first part of August page 125. I never want you to have to choose again I never want you to be split in two again I never want to feel the way I did when you left again it won't happen again. How can you know that he pulls me to him sheltering me from the rain. His voice is softer now barely audible over the howling wind because every day that you're not mine is knocking another year off my life. So good. I just have to say it is a vast difference between the two books but the one thing that was consistent is the way grief and depression is portrayed.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah so well done yeah very realistic yeah yeah that's very true yeah so yeah so I did Star Side so it's by Alex Astor page 211 convince me to read it. I'm ready his fingertips barely brush the fabric at my wrist as he convinced barely brushed carry on his fingertips barely brush the fabric at my wrist as he gently twists my hold then his long fingers uncurl smoothing down mine callous from battle scraping my skin like a rough whisper and a chill ripples up my spine I swallow his other hand shifts my hip at the same time as his knee presses into the back of my thigh using it to push my leg forward to where he wants it leaving us for just a moment almost completely flush. Yes better he whispers right into my ear my lips part my every sense is narrowed on the place where he's still touching me against my hip against my thigh against my hand that hand. Seeing it the sheer difference in size the way it so expertly holds a blade it makes me think about what else his hands might know how to do. What the fuck is wrong with me? He's a monster I could have died and he would have just watched on unimpressed I hate him but that doesn't mean something in me doesn't ignite having his body curled around me like that. I have a heat flowing throughout my body now yeah I got really hot the yearn all right it is very yarny it's up there you don't get no spice until the end. Oh I already bought it so I have it already I bought it too it's actually been on my stuff there a long time I'm like I don't have to buy them I believe that book two has been pushed back unfortunately but it is coming sometime 2027. Yeah okay what is going on with all these duologies being pushed back but again I'd rather them be pushed back than to get the audacity that was Nightwitch and Daybreak or not Nightwitch Daybreak was good. Daybreak wasn't as bad it just the fact that the book ended at like 75% and then still kept going forward that was the biggest problem for me.

SPEAKER_03

I liked up until the 75% is total flop. We'll say that it's so upsetting.

SPEAKER_00

I just don't like when it's so far away because again I'm gonna forget yeah and then I don't have a podcast episode about this book to go that's where we're gonna do little mini reviews.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah yeah coming to you soon. So we got two things to wrap up this episode about we're gonna be talking it our 10k we'll be doing a 10k giveaway which is in the works.

SPEAKER_00

And then the next one won't be for a while after that I think we agreed on like what 25? 25.

SPEAKER_03

And I think this giveaway will be more so geared to YouTube. Yes. So stay tuned because there were some people that went down the wrong shoot.

SPEAKER_02

I did our our first giveaway we did we did get some comments that if you because we had Instagram attached to it if you did that they didn't have Instagram and they couldn't they couldn't apply yeah we didn't think about that and we're sorry about that. Yes but with each new thing that we bring in there is a bit of a learning curve. So this one is going to be YouTube specific so if you are listening you should go check us out on there because that will be coming there. And sadly Fable book club is now private. Where? So we've decided to make the Fable book club private. One of the things we love most about the community we have built there is the atmosphere we've created together with our members the conversations the friendships the openness and of course all the chaos the best way for us to keep those same vibes as the podcast grows is for it to remain small private and filled with like minded readers. If you'd like to join our Fable book club please send us an email at hello at plottwistplease.com and tell us a little bit about yourself. Yeah yeah we are sorry it's not something that we necessarily wanted to do but it was getting to the point where something that was necessary.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah yeah just for you know everyone's like enjoyment of the book club and you know keeping those close knit vibes and keeping it as a space.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah yeah yeah if you are worried that you're gonna be missing out we are still gonna be posting our books that were like our book of the month for our book club picks uh which you can totally join along with us with that and you can comment on those uh if you wanted to leave any your reviews or how you felt about the book or things like that. Uh that is always open to you as well. On Instagram, YouTube community primarily. Yeah yeah so I know we've talked about maybe opening up a different avenue that people can join in as well. But again those are we have some things that are in the work. So yeah we're just working through Kings bear with us you're learn we're learning with you guys basically yes we're learning and trying to figure out how best that we can do things for you guys.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah yeah so yep we're all kind of doing this for the first time like I have YouTube but I don't do this kind of stuff and then you guys didn't have like you guys weren't influencers before this podcast. So it's all just learning curves. Yep. Yeah we're doing it all together.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah if you're here we do appreciate you and thank you and yeah thank you for staying with us. Yeah through all keep your eyes open because there is so much coming uh we do have season two that is coming out in September and with that there's going to be a lot of things that are going to be launching around the same time so make sure you keep an eye out.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah on that note see ya see you later bye love you guys you can find us on Instagram TikTok and YouTube at Watwist Please 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 and as always keep your glass your bookshelf and your TBR full cheers