March Book Report

We are a little ways into April which means it is time for another book report. Usually I am good about getting it out sooner but life is lifeing. March was the month where I read the most books.

Here is a link to my other podcast-https://open.spotify.com/show/6dTngjtXoqqBomtzGyzKFH?si=571827cd967c41b7

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a-simple-discussion/id1843198044

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:50

Hello, and welcome back to another episode of the Let's Talk podcast. I am so glad to be back with you again with another episode. But you know what this episode is about? It's another book rapport. I know we are a little bit into April and I'm now recording this episode. I was finishing up a book before the month ended, and that's why I'm just now recording it. And that's my plan is to try to read to read till the latest date as humanly possible because I want to get as many books read as possible. So please excuse me if I want to read as many books as humanly possible. Because my goal this year, if I did not share, is 50 books. And right now, while we're in the month of April, let me go check my Goodreads account. Yes, I have Goodreads. I'm not gonna tell you my name or how you can find me. Not there yet. Right now, I have read nine books. I am currently on my 10th book, and I would like to be by the time this episode is out, be on my 11th book, possibly, because my goal for April is to be in my 12th or 13th book, hopefully. I don't know how the month will pan out, but we'll see how it goes. And with editing and all the stressors of that and all of life, because I have a lot of catching up of editing to do since sports season has ended, and I have recuperated, and I'm recording a bunch of episodes coming up, which is gonna be so fun for this podcast and my other podcast I've run. So we'll see how my reading goes in the next couple months. We'll have to wait and see. I feel like I'm on a strong ride to get to close to 50 books, hopefully. I feel like summer is where I read most of my books, so we'll have to wait and see. I might in the next book talking episode bring another book nerd on with me. I don't know. I've kind of been thinking about it. I think it would be fun to hear different books that people are reading because sometimes we get in our slumps of what we read and we need to hear other books people are reading. And I have something exciting to say. I'm officially done with the Bridgerton series. I know it took me three months to read the whole main eight books of the Bridgerton series. I'm I know I could have knocked it out in two months if I had had more time and spent more time reading. But usually the beginning of the year is my busy time for high school sports. So I was super busy and didn't have as much time as I realized in February because I could have finished in February, but that is okay. We are officially finished. Took three months. Some people think it's crazy. It took me three months to read eight books. Hey, I'm slowly becoming a faster reader. It's just there were some days between January and February and March I didn't want to read, and I don't force myself to read because I don't want to come burn out. And there were close to burnout moments of me wanting to DNF some of the Bridger 10 books, I'm gonna be honest, because they hit some dull points, especially Eloise's love story. That was my least favorite of all the books I read, but I tried to push through because I knew I had other books to get to, and each book leads to another love story somehow. I don't know how that works. Julia Quinn, please explain. Yeah, why did it take me so long? High school sports. The only reason I read so much in January was I was snowed in. When you're snowed in, you have so much time to read and catch up on life, and I'm just now back to the face of I'm catching up on life and I'm trying not to overwhelm myself, which it is very easy to do in overwhelming yourself. Do I plan to read more from Julia Quinn? I'm gonna be honest, I have bought some more of her books on my Kindle. I am taking a little break from my Kindle at the current moment and reading a paperback book because I want to re-remember the feeling of what does a real book feel like? Because I have been on a pretty big Kindle kit for about almost two years at this point. Yeah, or since I got a Kindle because it's easier to carry a Kindle around than a real book. So I am getting back into reading real books and trying to go back and forth between a Kindle and a real book. We'll see how that goes. I tried that back with a different book a while ago, and I just prefer my Kindle. I I'm very much into my Kindle. And it's you can read on a Kindle way faster than a real book, is what I've learned. And maybe I'll talk about it more next month and go into details about that if y'all are wanting to know my real thoughts, or I might just write about it. I don't know, but I read all of the Bridgerton series on my Kindle. I felt like I got through more pages on my Kindle some days than I actually realized, and I find that very interesting. Are people the same way? Because I've heard from other book talkers saying they feel like they read Kindle books way faster than a real book. I would like to know your thoughts. If I have some other book keys listening to this episode, are you the same way of you be you go between a real book and a Kindle or a Nook? I am interested to hear your thoughts of do you prefer having a Kindle or Nook in your hand or a real book? I'm trying to figure out my flow. But I know books are cheaper on Kindle than getting a real book from let's say Walmart, Target, Barnes and Noble, just to name a few places. Even getting a real book off Amazon. It seems that buying a book on Kindle is cheaper than getting a real book off of Amazon. It just blows my mind. Or maybe when I buy the books on my Kindle, I get it during sales. And that's why I get so many books, is because I'm smart with my money and I only get them when they're on sale. Maybe that's why I've gotten so many books is because I get them on sale. Just wondering that. What is the next thing I am going to read? Since it took me three months to read the Bridgerton series, I have decided to take a break from reading another series because I thought about going straight into the Powerless series because I've heard that is a very popular series, or A Court of Thorn and Roses was the two series I was looking at, possibly Hunger Games. But after going through three months and reading eight books of a series, I felt I needed a break from a series and just needed to read some singleton books. One of them being a single book at the end of this month, as soon as I finish the Bridgerton series, which I'll be talking about in a few minutes. And right now I am in my historical made-up story world. That is my type of books I want to read after reading Bridgerton. I just like historical made-up stories. It has always been my jam. And I have my preferred authors of those I read. I like reading Kristen Hannah, Kay Quinn, and now I can add Julia Quinn to that list because I like Julia Quinn's taste in her writing of that. So yes, I I had always been drawn to historical made-up stories for almost the last two years. I can't wait after I get caught up on some stories of possibly diving into the world of fantasy. I've heard fantasy is coming out with a lot of great books, and the same with romance. I'm afraid I won't like romance, but I might like the world of fantasy. We'll have to wait and see because there's two fantasy series that are on my list to read. I also love to read some good biographies, and I have some biographies I want to get through as well this year. I always seem to get a few biograph biographies in every year when I read. I read some good ones last year. It'll be interesting which ones I read this year. I might be reading some by some rockers, I no, or some reality stars. I don't know which biographies I will be reading this year. It will be interesting, or even actors. But right now, I'm gonna be taking a series break and reading reading a couple singleton books is my goal, and that's what I I'm gonna spend most of April doing, possibly some of May. We'll see where this goes and seeing how many real books slash Kindle books I can get through. Before I get any more books, I am trying to stop myself from buying books at the current moment, and I'm also going through some of my Audible books as well because those have gotten stacked up over the years. I keep I kept saying I'm gonna go through some and not buy any. I have not been faithful about it, but so far I have saved up four credits, so hopefully I can make it to June, July range and get about five to eight range. And hopefully I'm doing mental math correctly. I got two arts degrees and no math degree, so please excuse if I didn't do my math correctly. Now let's move into all the books I read for this month, and this month I read the most books I have ever read in a month, which is mind-boggling. I almost got close to this goal back in January with the snowstorm. I almost read four books in January, but I just didn't have enough time and I was catching up on other projects on top of reading and didn't hit this goal. But I got pretty close in January, but in March, since I had so much free time on my hands, and I was trying to take a media break, by the way, I was able to read four books. Isn't that wild? And three of those books are Bridgerton books, and the fourth one was a singleton book, which I had been wanting to read for a while, and I was so excited to finally read it. It only took me it took me the shortest time to read. I feel like these historical fictions that are singleton stories don't take me long to read, and that's why I read it so fast. I want to dive into the books I read for March. This is the most I've read, and I prayed that. Is this what a how much I'm gonna have to read every single month or close to it? We'll have to wait and see. I'm willing to give up social media for a month and again and just read. I know some people might think I'm crazy for the field of study I am in to just randomly give up social media. I've heard of people giving up social media for Lent, and I almost did again, just barely getting back on and being back on for about two months. I was very tempted to go back off just for Lent because sometimes it is well worth going off for Lent. But let's get back into talking about the books I read. The first book I read was When He Was Wicked. That was a Bridgerton book. And why was this book divided into two parts? Okay, this followed the love story of Francesca, yes, Francesca, which is the sister who is married twice. She is the only Bridgerton sibling to be married twice, if you're wanting to learn some facts, and also if you keep up with the Bridgerton series, this is lightly touched on the most recent season that came out, and I'm gonna share a thought real fast, but I need to do my Bridgerton episode sometime soon. That might be something I do over the summer, because I've talked about just talking about the whole series as a whole, as an episode, and I'm I'm gonna get around to it the same with the newest season of Love on the Spectrum. You're probably gonna find that episode mainly on the a simple discussion channel. I'm just gonna give that a fair warning. I'm only doing that episode uh for a simple discussion because it makes more sense. And if you're wanting to look for that episode, you will you will be finding it on my other podcasts. Um I know people are gonna ask, hey, why is it not on your pop culture one? That's why. But yes, the Bridgerton series kind of touched on why Francesca's love story is divided in two, because the first part is about Francesca's first marriage, which ends very suddenly. Her husband dies pretty young from a brain aneurysm, is my guess, is how he dies, and they didn't have the health care or technologies to stop an aneurysm, and her husband died of died asleep from a brain aneurysm, is probably what happened, is my good guess. And you also find out that her first husband's cousin has always had a crush on her. It kind of goes between both their perspectives throughout the whole book, which is pretty wild. I would have never thought that they would touch something like that. Found it very, very interesting. The cousin couldn't settle down, and that he had always had a crush on Francesca, and then he just randomly leaves England and all his duties to Francesca while he tries to refind himself in this grief and just leaves Francesca all by herself to handle everything because he trusts Francesca, is what you learn is oh, I'm just gonna go leave Francesca to handle everything, and you're like, oh, okay. And she handles everything perfectly well while the cousin goes and finds himself, which is Michael. I should have addressed what his name was. His name was Michael, and he goes over to India for like a good three to six year range, and goes and finds himself, and then comes back going about to go on the dating scene when he really realizes who he really wants is. Francesca once Francesca decides, they decide within the same season that they're gonna they're out there to find love, when in reality Francesca and him love each other, and they end up marrying and having I think two kids together. And some something else that's addressed in the book is that during the funeral, she finds out that she is with child, her first first husband's child, which his name is John, which is really interesting, and she ends up losing that baby, which scares her of she'll never have kids because she can't carry a kid after that, but she does. And it also made me question is why is this book starting with a death? I would have never started a book off within the first 15, 30 pages, and there's a death, and it's a pretty serious death. Like one moment they were fine, and the next couple hours they're gone, which really broke the two main characters characters' hearts and all that. Why was this book easier to read than start fill up with love? I think it was the flow and how it was written, and how the love story was told, and how well the characters got along and the dialogue. That's just my feelings, and there was a lot of doling moments to start fill up with love. There was parts I liked of that one, whereas there was no real dull moments of when he was wicked. And which Bridgerton love story is it following? I just said it Francesca's two marriages. Which Bridger which Bridgerton sibling predicted Francesca's second marriage? Oh, I don't actually remember. I think it was it was either Hy no, it was Colin who who predicted Francesca's second marriage because he was out with drinks with Michael one night, and he admitted every family occasion. He noticed that, oh, you kind of had affection for my sister, and he's finally admitting it. It just took me a minute because it's been a while since I have seen this, and I should have been in more detail. I'm learning as I go when I write all this stuff down, so I'm lucky I remember things, okay? So yes, it was Colin who predicted, and he was out with drinks with Michael one day. Before the second marriage, the relationship between Michael and Francesca was a very good friendship. They were considered really good friends. She seemed to be the only one that made him laugh some days when he would go and visit, is what I understand from the book. And what issue is mentioned during the second epilogue. Oh, that is hard, and it's been so long since I read it. I'm looking this up because it's been a minute. Please forgive me. I feel like it was something to do with trying to have children. Because I think with I think since I mentioned it, it was them trying to have a child, or they were trying to have a second child. Something of that nature. Of how Francesca was still pining for children. She went and visited her family. So it was talking about her infertility, and she thinks her mother thinks she's pregnant, and she doesn't know, and then she figures out she's pregnant. I understand correctly. I hope I'm right. It's been a while. Now let's move to the second book I read, which is the second to last book of the Pritchard Tinton series, which is Hyacinth's love story, by the way. Yes, we get hyacinths before Gregory. Gregory's, I know it's very interesting because Gregory is technically older than Hyacinth, but Hyacinth seemed to be a much better option. And that book was very interesting. And that was one of those I could have read faster too. So little known fact. I swear I need to put more detail when I write these because I was like having to think for a moment when I wrote these. And I just said which Bridgerton sibling it is hyacinth. Who is Gareth related to? I never knew this would tie back around to somebody who has appeared in and out of every book of the Bridgerton series. I literally mentioned in the last episode a book talk of this person is one of my favorite characters throughout the whole series and the whole three months. I have read the series, which is Gareth is related to Lady Lady Danbury. And I love Lady Danbury. She is one of my favorite characters. Lady Danbury is Gareth's grandmother. If you're looking for context, her daughter was married to Gareth's father in the grand scheme of things, and you learn that throughout the whole book. Uh, which what is Gareth's relationship with his father? It's not a healthy relationship. It's so unhealthy that he disowns his father and goes to live with his grandmother, Lady Danbury. And she's the one that pays for his schooling and all this and that and the other. And that she doesn't believe what his father is saying, and that Lady Danbury has never really liked his father. You learn that throughout the whole book. She makes it very well known throughout the whole story. And that she supports her grandson and whoever he marries, and that she believes he will find love someday. And he found love. And even Gare's father said, Oh, you will never marry a Bridgerton. Well, he married. I said the character that's heavily involved already, which is my favorite character, Lady Danbury. And how many proposals did has Hyacinth had and she said no to? Six proposals. She is just like her sister Daphne. She and Eloise, she is very picky in who she's gonna marry. I swear in the sisters, they're very picky on who they want to marry, and it's very well known throughout this series. They are very very picky in who they want, and I will say some of the siblings and even her mother were excited to finally see that she finally said yes to a marriage. They were getting worried that she was never gonna marry at some point, is the vibe you get throughout the story, in that some of the proposals she said no to. Even though he is biologically his mother's child, and maybe he should have gone and lived with his grandmother after his mother died instead of having to live with his father who was not great to him. What language is Hyacinth fluent in? I found this very interesting because of how this scene took place. She was at Lady Danbury's one day reading to her. She does this once a week. So Lady Danbury gets some social socialization in, and Gareth brings in this journal and he needs it to be translated. Hyacinth tells him, Oh, I'm fluent in Italian and I can help you. And that is how their love story comes to be, which is very interesting. I never knew that's how their love story came to be, and it it's such a beautiful love story, it had its moments, but of course they ended up together. And I'm glad Lady Bridgerton made sure her girls were well educated, even though they were not allowed to go to college. She she is one of those that makes sure her daughters had the best education possible, and that she was paying them out in this out in society, knowing that they are worth it and not. She didn't want to have children, children that were ignorant, and that meant her sons and her daughters, meaning all her kids had to be educated. What book is Hyacinth reading to Lady Danberry? It was something called Mrs. Buttersworth, and it's actually a real book you can actually read by Julia Quinn. And let's just say Lady Danbury is tired of the book, a little bit into the book, and she said, Can we find something different to read? And Hyacinth had mixed feelings about that, but they finished it, or close to finished it. And can Gareth St. Clair be considered a people pleaser? Oh, with Hyacinth not being a people pleaser, and she marries a people pleaser. Yeah, Gareth was very much a people pleaser because of he was always trying to make his father happy, even though his father did not like him. It's very well known, very sad. I feel so bad for him. Wish he could have been treated way, way better. And what have they been looking for during most of the book? Gareth's grandmother's jewels. And this is the grandmother who came all the way from Italy, and she hid a ton of nice jewels from her children and her husband, and wanted to make sure somebody who had worth was gonna find it. And it took most of Hyacinth's time to find it, and she never found it. And you don't find that out. Her daughter Isabella, which Isabella is named after her great-grandmother, the one who came from Italy. It was weird where Grandma Isabella hid the jewels. You'll find out where she hid them. And that Isabella found it as a young child and just hid it and never told her parents because her she didn't know her parents were looking for these, is was very interesting. Because it was hidden in uh the nanny's bathroom or the children's bathroom, is what you find out that they find the jewels, and that's how I was I would say that was the one that kept me on my tolls the whole time because of hyacinth's personality, and them trying to hope that she would fall in love with Gareth, and then you and then you just add Lady Ba Danberry into it, and it's so good. And now let's talk about the last Bridgerton book, which is the eighth book in Gregory's love story. I am so I was so excited to get to this book and finish it, it felt like a relief because it took three months to read all eight books. I know some people could probably read it in a month, but I am like reading when I can and I don't want to have burnout. And something I want to do sometime soon is do a 24-hour readathon, and I've been kind of slowly researching and seeing what to do. I've heard of people doing 12-hour days and then sleeping. We'll have to wait and see what happens. We'll have to wait and see. But on to Gregory's love story on the way to the wedding, what is trying to be stopped in the prologue? This is very interesting. I have never had a book start the way it did between reading now all eight books. Is Gregory is trying to stop a forced marriage of a woman he loves, and her name is Lucy. But her real name is Lucinda, but she goes by Lucy. I've always loved the name Lucy. So Gregory's trying to stop her marriage that she's been forced to marry in, which she never wanted to marry the guy because the guy is not interested in women. And is a certain character supposed to supposedly named after Harry Potter character? And in which character could possibly be named after another series. Okay, if you're a book nerd, you will notice these things and you'll be like, oh my gosh, I can't believe I didn't see this. But Lucy's last name is Abernathy, which is after a certain character in the Hunger Games series. If you're a Hunger Games fan, you would notice that. And then Lucy's friend is Hermione, which that comes from the Harry Potter series. And if you're a Potterhead, you'd be like, oh my gosh, I can't believe. And is Julia Quinn a big reader outside of writing her books? Is what I'm wondering. I want to know when she was writing this series. And where does most of the story take place? Oh, I've never had any book just take place in one area for most of the book. And this is the first book this has happened in. And it was just over a couple days span, by the way, until after you hit a certain point in the book. Like probably the first hundred or over a hundred pages took place in this one area, which is owned by the Bridgerton family, which was their house in Kent. They had a nice like piece of estate in Kent. They go to and host bigger parties and all this. Which character is caught with another character's sibling? Hermione was caught with Lucy's older brother, who was brought there to grab Lucy to force her into a marriage she didn't want to be a part of, but ends up staying to finish out the week at the Bridgerton house party. And he stays for the masquerade ball that Gregory's sister-in-law Kate is putting on, which is quite a beautiful thing going on, and then and then Lucy notices that oh Hermione has disappeared. Where's she gone? And then they go looking for her, her, Gregory, and Kate, and find her in not a great position with Lucy's older brother, which leads to them getting married a couple days after the party, which you find very interesting. And was Lucy's aunt or why did I just say aunt? It's uncle. Was Lucy's uncle very controlling? Yes. To be forced into a marriage to fix her uncle's debt was not really cool. She didn't want to be in that marriage. She didn't even like the person she was marrying's father. She thought he was a very vile man. She didn't want to be married into a family where the head of the household was a vile man and was willing to produce a child, even if his son wouldn't, which was very sickening to read. There were points in I I had to take some breaks because of how vile it got. And do I question Uncle Robert as a person? Yes, he forced her into a marriage that she didn't want and she should have had a season. Like he denied letting her have a season, which is very common throughout the whole series, because he was a very shady person and was trying to force her into a marriage once she was out of the schooling she had. He was just a very, very shady person. I was like, oh, like he even like was keeping her in house, refusing to let her talk to people, didn't let her go to any social gatherings leading up to her marriage, just all this. And did he know that she had a love interest? We'll never know. And why is Lucy being forced to marry Hazelbean to pay her uncle's debts? And that I think the uncle caused Lucy's father to be killed, and that it was the uncle's fault, is how I'm understanding the story. Yeah, it was very, very interesting, and that she never wanted to marry Hazelby, but it's to clear her uncle's debts, which she didn't want to do. She her uncle never loved her, by the way. You will very much see that throughout the whole book, which is very, very sad. Because the uncle was more worried about himself and nobody else. Her brother got to have a lavish wedding of he got to pick his lover of who he loved, and she was being forced into a marriage, which got annulled, by the way. You'll find that out. Who is the real traitor of Lucy's family? I was just talking about this. The real traitor of the family was not Lucy's father, even though her father did not do some good things, you'll learn. It was mainly her uncle who was the traitor. He kind of did some stuff to the family and then was forcing Lucy into a marriage and said, Oh, your brother and your now friend who's married your brother are gonna lose everything if you don't do this. I think he was a little sick in the head because he didn't lose anything, only the uncle did, and you find out he is forced to go to another country by the end of the book after what he did to Lucy, which is even sadder. And who helps with ending the black male marriage? That is very interesting of how it's always Colin. It's always Colin that gets pulled into these situations for some reason. He helped with Francesca's, and he also helped with this one with getting it ended, and also he told Anthony about it as well, if I am remembering correctly, is that is what happens, is that's how they end it, and then also getting the some of the other parties aware, like Lucy's older brother and Hazelby, and telling them what's been going on behind the scenes because they were not aware of what was going on behind the scenes, which is really, really sad. But it all ends in happiness, they get married and they have eight kids, one more than Gregory's mother did. And you find out that they almost lost Lucy in the epilogue because Hyacinth came to take care of Lucy during her last delivery, and that she almost died from childbirth, but she does not. She happily lives, and that is what most of the second epilogue is about in that book, but that is how the main eight books of the Bridgerton series ended. It was a grueling three months, but I made it through, and it was such a good series. I have my favorite books and I have my least favorite. I hope I have not written the book and I'm glad I remembered what I remembered. I'm glad I wrote points down. I maybe need to be a hit more detailed with points by the time I record. Or since what I use, I might record it in chunks. I might do that. Now onto my first singleton book that I have read since finishing the Bridgerton series, which I am so excited to be onto the single book realm for a little bit to get through some. Amen. And that book was a book I've been wanting to read since it came out, and I never found the right time to start it. And I first bought it in audiobook form and was just gonna listen to it, was the plan, but I kept starting and stopping it, and now I bought the book to link with my audiobook, and I was like, I'm gonna read it now. I finished my Bridgerton series and I want to get a fourth book read because this was a very interesting book, by the way. I always love uh Kate Quinn book. I have always had they're always kind of happy, I I feel when I read them. And this book is The Phoenix Crown. I was so excited to read it finally. Where does this book take place? It mainly takes place in San Francisco. Now the intro or prologue kind of throws you for a bit, and I think that's why it took me a minute to start it, because it starts with not the main character, but what at least it kind of starts in present and then moves backwards to the moment of what happens to the end, which I found interesting. The book takes place in San Francisco. The main part of the story is San Francisco. Why am I just now reading this book? It's because it took me a while. And when I was starting it, I was in college, and then I tried to start it a little bit after college, and I just didn't feel like it was time. How many times did I try to read this book? Three times, and the third time was The Charm. I tell you, you know when it's the right time to read a book. I know that's weird, but that's what happens. Who are the characters we are following? Gemma Garland, that's not her real name, but she changed her name since she had been living in an orphanage and was trying to make it in the world of opera. Sulein, who is one of the characters, and then Alice Eastwood. Alice Eastwood is the character that kind of floats between both of the main characters of this story, and then and of course Gemma's friend Nellie, who goes also by Reggie, she kind of goes between two names. What is the story leading up to? Oh, this is so interesting. Part one of the story, because this is this is divided into two parts, by the way. If you're wondering about Kate Quinn, she divies her books up. It is leading up to the earthquake of San. I'm looking this up real f fast on Goodreads of what it's about. The earthquake of San Francisco 1906. That is what and I just barely finished this book like on the 31st of March. So the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. It's leading up to that and what is happening between Su Lene's life and Gemma's life. Who is my favorite character of the story? That is very interesting because you you're following the Asian community and then the non-Asian community between Gemma and Su Lene, which both of those are some very interesting crowds to follow for me. And I would have to pick if I had to actually pick, it would be neither Gemma or Su Ling because I think they're equal. And I'd have to pick Alice Eastwood because she's a character. I like the weird ones. And sometimes they're the ones that are not the spotlight of the story. Because sometimes the ones that are not the spotlight of the story makes the story. What do I think of the transitions between Gemma and Sue Ling? I think, and this was written by two people. I think they worked so well with each other with creating these characters, it meshed really well. I just kept I felt like it kept the story going and flowing, which is a very big deal when you're doing historical made-up stories, which really helped. I said what it was leading up to in part one, which was the earthquake and the a little bit of the aftermath, and then what happened and then what happens after the earthquake for a little bit for a couple chapters, and then where all the women go after the earthquake, because Sue Ling and Reggie go off to Oakland, California to help with Sue Ling's ants business, and then to Paris, France, and then Gemma fall fell in love with George, her pianist. She met in San Francisco, they fall in love and have kind of traveled the world a little bit in our Buenos Eros, which is South America. And something that is addressed in the book that I have not mentioned, Gemma suffers from migraines, which has actually hurt her career as an opera singer because she never knows when a migraine is gonna come on, which could can hurt her career in that she's lost roles due to her migraines, and she feels broken inside. She by the time she had hit San Francisco, she was almost at the end of her career of doing opera. She was probably gonna give it a couple more years and then probably marry somebody and give up on her opera career or just settle for just being a coarse person traveling the world. How how did Su Ling and Gemma connect through Nellie slash Reggie? Reggie was Su Ling's lover, even though Su Ling was being forced into a marriage she did not want because her uncle was trying to pay debts, because her uncle had a Gambling problem, and Reggie was Sulein's lover. And then Gemma and Nellie met in New York and became good friends. And that they kind of grew up together, I think, in the orphanage. I think that's what happened, and then really connected in New York. And that and how they all got connected was they all worked with this guy named Henry Thornton, who is a millionaire or billionaire. I don't know how much money he had, but he had a ton of money. And that Reggie and Gemma were his lover because he always loved the art and always had to pick somebody of the artistic variety because Reggie was an artist and Gemma was an opera singer, and he said, I'll help you with your career. But Gemma made sure to leave him before she got sent to an asylum like Reggie did, but Reggie was saved by Su Ling right after the earthquake happened. With well, what am I trying to say? Yeah. Suene saves Reggie after the earthquake, because she finds out right hours before the earthquake, like during Gemma's opening night, that Reggie had been put in an asylum to be silenced because of something Reggie saw. Without ruining the book, and that you should read it. And that what are my thoughts on Henry Thornton in Did he kill the Pinkerton detective? My thoughts on Henry Thornton. Yeah, he's not a good man, and that he's gotten away with way too much because he had money. And you find that out throughout the book. From he, I think he won he wanted to keep some silence from what happened in New York by killing this detective, which was not a smart or bright move of his, and that is what happened. He killed the man, and he's like, nobody will hear about it because I'm gonna put Reggie in an asylum. Yeah, don't think that people are gonna go looking for her, which is what happened, and then and then he sat set his house on fire trying to kill him, and they got out and survived that, which is very scary. I will say, I don't know how they made it, and then he gets caught in France. Yeah, yeah, he got caught in France, and that's when he got finally got arrested because the person who loves Sulein's aunt, which was a high-up police officer in the San Francisco police, police, um, wanted to get back at Thornton for killing his lover, who he wanted to marry, but couldn't because of the laws back during that time of races couldn't mix in marriage, and also Sulene's aunt was never gonna get married, but she did love that police officer, and the only way he could come to peace with it was making sure the guy was behind bars, and the other four main characters felt the same way because Thornton tried to kill him, like he didn't want any information to get out, and that's why he sat his house on fire was so they wouldn't tell his story of what he had done, and that he had technically stolen stuff from the hotel that was lit on fire in New York back in the 1900s, and that he was kind of co-ing by two different personalities, and it makes you wonder of was Thornton not right in his head and that he was hiding himself between two different people, which is what you find out in part two, and why they are in Paris because of a certain plant that only blooms like one day a year, and the one day it did was I think was it right before the earthquake or right after the earthquake is when it did all this plant knowledge was way over my head, and I found it very interesting to read about, and I loved how they went well well into detail about the aftermath of San Francisco after that huge earthquake, and how it took them forever to recover, and what kind of lengths people would go to to save things, and that there was a big fire after the earthquake, it was just so so sad. I hope you have enjoyed this episode of me talking about the books I read. I hope you read them because I know reading is becoming a trend right now and is still a trend. And I hope I have encouraged you to maybe pick up a new read for this month in the month of April. Hope you have enjoyed this episode. Bye.