He Said “Where’s My Wife” And We Said “Sold”

What makes a romance trope irresistible, and what makes us slam the book shut? We jump straight into the messy middle—age gaps that explore power and care, love triangles that test agency rather than ego, and the micro-moments that make fictional desire feel startlingly real. From the electricity of “Where’s my wife” in arranged or mafia setups to the storm-soaked wardrobe swap that tips friends into lovers, we unpack why these tiny narrative devices hit like a pulse.

We don’t hold back on the tough stuff either. Miscommunication and third-act breakups? Hard pass when they’re manufactured drama. Slow burns? Mixed feelings, until that glorious split second when restraint snaps and intimacy finally lands. We go deep on aftercare—hair washing, tending, quiet assurance—and why on-page vulnerability matters more than sheer heat. That’s also why closed-door romance can feel thin when the emotional proof of intimacy never arrives. Secret relationships thrill at first but can erode trust if secrecy drags on; the best versions balance risk with recognition and worth.

Dark romance and possessiveness get a sober look. “Touch them and die” can work in fantasy and mafia worlds where danger is explicit, but there’s a line between protective and controlling—and it’s okay to step off the ride when a fantasy brushes too close to real-life harm. We round things out by mapping how tropes shift across genres: fantasy’s bargains and found families, contemporary’s proximity and workplace tension, thrillers’ moral fog. The joy lives in the remix—when an author threads aftercare through a dangerous plot or pairs a one-bed detour with a bisexual awakening, the familiar feels new.

If you love candid talk about what makes romance tick—structure, psychology, chemistry—you’ll feel right at home here. Hit follow, share with a friend who has strong trope opinions, and leave a review with the one microtrope you’ll never skip. Your recs may end up on our next reading list.

Check out our Bookshop.com book store where you can get your own copy of the books we are covering!  https://bookshop.org/shop/wreckedbyfiction

Transcript

Welcome To Wrecked By Fiction

Emma 0:00

Um to the wrecked by fiction.

SPEAKER_04 0:06

Did I read it on my website? Yeah.

Emma 0:13

Okay, everything's first grade while I was watching a movie with my six girls. Yeah. I didn't know I could be both right and so fucking wrong. Recked by fiction, where we read, cry, and question our emotional stability.

Setting The Agenda: Tropes

SPEAKER_05 0:33

Hi, how you durn? Hi Dorn. Hello. Hello. We just needed a quick reset, that's all.

Emma 0:45

Um so we're gonna talk about tropes today. And we're gonna do our favorites, our least favorites, and then we'll get into some specific like microtropes that we like. And that's where the the dirty stuff comes out to play, probably.

SPEAKER_05 1:04

So I mean to be fair, we haven't actually gotten dirty yet.

Emma 1:09

Not a lot, so no, we've talked a little bit about it, but nothing like intense. No dip the toes in and now we're gonna so I think that there's a difference between my favorite book tropes versus what I read most often.

SPEAKER_05 1:29

Okay.

Emma 1:30

Um I think that some of my favorites are um like I really like I like an age gap, I like the single parent um trope. I also like the um a lot of people don't, but I like the surprise pregnancy trope. Yeah. Um however I read a lot of like RH, a lot of reverse harem. I also read um a lot of um there's another one that I wrote down. Um Small Town. Okay. That's huge in like my like list of what I've read, but I wouldn't consider it a favorite, it's just common, I guess.

SPEAKER_05 2:19

Yeah.

Emma 2:20

But I have some some absolutely knots that make it on there, and they they ruin a book for me. And I kinda wish that you that they were like required to list it out. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 2:36

Yeah.

Age Gaps And Power Dynamics

Emma 2:36

Cause there's some things where I'm like, I really don't want to read like the third act breakup for me goes alongside the the miscommunication. Because that's typically why a third act breakup happens where I'm like, we've got 10% left in the book, and they break up, and I'm like, I'm done. That's it, that's the end of the book for me, right? No more. Because just fucking talk to each other. I can't. God, Amanda, miscommunication in a book, in general, I can't handle it. And that sounds really dramatic. I don't want it in a book. That sounds really dramatic, but like I hate it. Yeah. It makes my palms sweat. And I'm like, they're not talking to each other. There are things that they need to say. Anyway, I need to know your favorites versus like what you've what you have read.

SPEAKER_05 3:40

Um, favorites would probably be like reverse harem is one. Uh I just get behind that. I don't know. We'll just admit it. It's fine, whatever.

Emma 3:51

They'd get behind you, so that is sorry. That's like the whole point.

SPEAKER_05 3:58

Um, love triangles. I don't know why. It's kind of interesting. I guess it kind of goes with the reverse harem thing, right?

Emma 4:04

Like a love trial triangle where they end up as a threesome or where they she ends up picking one?

SPEAKER_05 4:12

Either. Do I have to pick one?

Emma 4:14

No, I just didn't know if you had a preference. No. Interesting.

SPEAKER_05 4:17

Yeah. Um, enemies to lovers. Okay. Is fun. Okay. Does that typically end up being what I read? No. No. Not really. No. Okay. Um, well, but there's not like a lot of uh, I mean, sure, there probably are, and I'm probably missing them all. But, you know, it's they're not they're not the more popular tropes that are out there. So yeah. On the age gap thing, for you, do you prefer older man or older woman? Either is fine. Either. Okay. Yeah.

Love Triangles And Poly Possibilities

Emma 4:52

I think it depends on the like uh like the setting of the book. Right. So like I've read where you get the the millionaire trope, right? And it's also an age gap. So like the man is 55 um and loaded, and she's, you know, 27, um and you know, uh uh a bartender or something along those lines, right? Or uh, you know, she failed out of college and she doesn't know what to do with her life. And I get I like those. Um, but I also like the uh where the M uh FMC is older and you get the younger guy who is just like Golden Retriever. Yeah. Yeah. He just wants to make her happy and please her and do whatever she says. Because really, for me, when I read an age gap where she's older, it's it falls into that category of like the the Dom sub situation, too. Um, there aren't a lot where it's like an excessive age gap where she's like a lot older and it's just like a normal relationship where there's no like play. Right. Um but yeah. So traditionally, yeah, I I I will choose a age gap where he's older, but that also is like the most common form of it. Right. So the content is there to consume, you know? Right. Do you like um when you say the love triangle where maybe they all end up together, maybe they don't, and she picks one or you know, he picks one or whatever it is. What about where it's a there so two-part question? Number one is do you like it when it's like they're fighting over there's like a central person and it's like they're competing for attention?

SPEAKER_05 6:59

No, no, no, I think there's um I think I get drawn to the one person struggling to pick versus them like trying to get the main person to pick. Understood. I don't know why. I'm sure a psychologist would love to play that apart. Go ahead, tell me what's that mean?

Emma 7:23

I think, yeah. Uh-huh. There's a lot of things that uh I'm sure you could take to your therapist, and there would be an interesting conversation had around it. Um, okay, second part of that question is um, so it's not about the fighting. Do you what about it's an established couple and a third?

SPEAKER_05 7:44

Is it like cheating or no?

Emma 7:47

It's like they uh Like a poly kind of thing. I kind of like a poly kind of thing, but like specifically the book that comes to mind for me is um I'd have to find it's like axes and o's, and it's like a lumberjack and his wife, and then a man gets uh he's driving and he gets like his car breaks down or he gets into an accident, he's like slides on the ice or something, and they like rescue him from the side of the road so he doesn't die in the wilderness. And it was pretty good. It's very dirty, but it was pretty good. And um he the third man, the third is a man, and he uh at first is like he's automatically attracted to the woman, um, and then it's kind of like a by awakening situation, which is a like micro microtrope, right? But like in that book, but yeah, so it's like established couple insert odd man out or odd woman out, and everybody loves everybody.

SPEAKER_05 8:54

I'd be down for that. Yeah, I haven't read one like that. You haven't read one? I wouldn't be opposed to it, you know.

Microtropes We Secretly Adore

Emma 9:00

There's uh Sarah Kate, one of these books um is I don't have it. I only have the four. It's not one of the ones that I have, but it's in this series where it's an established Oh no, there might be two, actually. Oh wait. This one. This is Madam, a it's it takes a different turn, but there is an established couple that adds a third. And then I believe give me more is also an established couple that gives that adds a third. So that's something for you to borrow off of your bookshelf and see if it uh yeah, I'm gonna say something weird. Never mind. Trips my trigger. I was gonna say tickles your fancy. Why are you turning red over there? Oh god, because I sh um I could never be an audiobook narrator. Um my eyes would be watering and I would be um giggling into a microphone. Okay, so we touched a little bit on the microtrope, like in that book that I just mentioned, where it's like my awakening. Um so for me, the microtropes that kind of get like if if an author is like marketing their book, you know, on social media, you'll see like a picture of the cover of the book, and then there's like arrows, and it'll say, you know, like little little pieces of the book on the outside. Um so I'm drawn to the the my wife microtrope, okay, where really like ties into either a uh like arranged marriage slash um like fake fake marriage situation where maybe they got married for like a business arrangement or like they're both getting something out of it. Right. And then uh she is in trouble or something, and he storms into a room and he says, Where's my wife? That that's that gets me. That gets you, yeah. It does. But I also I'm a big fan of I love a mafia romance, and that's really big in the mafia romance world too.

SPEAKER_05 11:17

Yeah.

Emma 11:18

Is the my wife microtrope.

SPEAKER_05 11:20

I now want to find you in public somewhere and just walk in and be like, Where's my wife?

Emma 11:26

Hey, you could probably should we should do that in Hobby Lobby and then be told we are never allowed to step foot in that place ever again.

SPEAKER_05 11:33

That would be fun. Um TikTok idea.

Emma 11:40

When I'm on the road, okay. Um one of the other microtropes that I really like, and it kind of goes, it's different. So I would not say that I enjoy like a slow burn.

SPEAKER_04 12:00

Okay.

Emma 12:01

Um and that really you get most of that in like a fantasy fantasy world. I don't get me wrong, many a fantasy series where everything is the tension and the building and the laying the foundations and all of the different types of relationships and all of that, and then it's you know, you're two thousand pages into the series, and then you you get before anybody finally touches each other, yeah. Yeah, and then you get the uh the fuck it moment.

SPEAKER_05 12:34

Yeah.

Emma 12:35

Um, where one looks at the other and realizes, why have I been waiting? I like that. I don't like a slowburn particularly. It's not like right what I will choose every time, but I do like that moment where they're where they are like, It's been it's been too long. Right? I've been waiting. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 12:55

I get that. Uh yeah. Sorry. Yep. No.

Emma 13:00

You're thinking, is there a book in mind that you specific that fuck it moment that it reminds you?

SPEAKER_05 13:05

It wasn't a book.

Emma 13:07

Oh. You're thinking about your own life? Yep. Oh. Um, we won't go into anything. We're just gonna No real life retellings. Nope.

SPEAKER_05 13:19

Nope, books only. Um, yeah, so I tend to like one where something has happened and they like got caught in a rainstorm or whatever.

Emma 13:33

Oh yes.

SPEAKER_05 13:34

And there's gotta be like a, you know, somebody's gotta wear the other one's clothes, right? Like typically it's her in his shirt or whatever. Yeah. It's kind of hot. Yeah. I also like to steal men's hoodies though. Yeah.

Emma 13:48

So, you know, well, when they go in the same way, when they describe a scene like that when it's like, uh, you know, it's always from his point of view. Right. And she walks out and she's wearing his shirt, and he, you know, he says, Oh my god, it brushes her thighs or something along those lines. Yeah. Um, and then, you know, there's always the caveat of, well, I didn't have underwear that would fit her or pants. Right.

SPEAKER_05 14:12

So she's just wearing just a shirt.

Emma 14:15

Yeah. I do like the I do like the other wearing each other's clothes thing. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 14:22

It's pretty hot.

Emma 14:23

Yeah.

Slow Burn Tension And The “Forget It” Moment

SPEAKER_05 14:23

Um the any kind of movement or like a hand over the mouth or kissing to get them to stop talking. Like even just like the shh kind of finger on the mouth kind of thing. That's yeah. I'd go for that.

Emma 14:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 14:45

Yeah.

Emma 14:46

Do you have an idea of is there any in mind that you have even out of what we've read together? I'm trying to think if there's anything that I don't might fit that. Cause the um one of mine is that like is the showering together or bathing together. I like, and that kind of goes um with the each other's clothes, that kind of goes in along the same lines. Um, I love the the hair washing. Yes. Is one of my favorite microtropes because I'm always like, I know that that feels that having someone else wash your hair is one of the best feelings ever. Yes. Um, and so I can't, yeah, I do I like that trope a lot. That microtrope because it just feels so good.

SPEAKER_05 15:37

It really does. Any kind of like not self-care, but any kind of care towards the other person is always kind of a nice thing to to read about. To think that that's actually happening. To picture it for someone else, is that what you're saying? Yeah, pretty much. Yeah, because Lord knows it's not happening in my life.

Emma 16:01

So yeah, I the um that like and while it's not necessarily um a trope or a microtrope because this is fiction, right? And so nine times out of ten, every uh book after an intimate scene aftercare is involved. Right. Um so I it's not technically considered, you know, it in one of these categories. Right. But I do agree with you on the way that that makes me feel. Yes. Um, reading um one partner taking care of another partner after they were intimate is one of my favorite things about reading naughty books. For sure. I think too the vulnerability that comes with a lot of that, especially where like it's like a rougher book. Like the intimacy is rougher, whether that's BDSM or um Dom Sub, or you get even just like a lot of times it's paired in fiction with um like coming out, right? Where you get your first, you know, uh MM experience and the the man has never been with another man before, and so you get all of that aftercare afterwards, and the vulnerability there is like for sure makes you melt a little bit experiencing that like the wholeheartedness, um that's not the right word. Just being cared for, yeah, yeah, the vulnerability and the way that that like watching uh that happen to other people, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 17:49

It's very intimate for sure. Yeah.

Clothes Sharing, Shushing, And Care Scenes

Emma 17:53

I'm trying to think of the last books that I have read, there was that like oh, you know, sexuality awakening piece. I read one of those. Um and I think that that like oh the other there's another the secret relationship trope. Um number one is huge right now, especially because of like heated rivalry and um all of that going on on the internet. But I have read a few of those that like aren't relate, like recently that aren't related to heated rivalry, and that I do I do like those relationships too. But um sneaky sneaky. Yeah, but I'm always just like at a certain point, I'm like we've been we've been secret for too long.

SPEAKER_05 18:50

Tend to just be out there.

Emma 18:51

I say not being in public with your partner has to get boring.

SPEAKER_05 18:57

Yeah. You know, we're just not even so much boring, just it starts to wear on your psyche. Like why can't we, you know, you start to question things and question yourself and why you're not able to do that. Is it am I not good enough? Is it your you know, yeah, another relationship, you know? It just makes you start questioning things, even if you were secure in it to begin with, it starts to wear on you.

Emma 19:25

Yeah, like you had agreed agreed on it together, right then. Yeah. I think that it's so interesting like that specific piece because the way that you just mentioned it is something that I think about all the time where um I view if this was my relationship, right? Right, and you know, you said like it starts to wear on you, it starts to and I'm like, if it was me, I don't think I could go, God forbid, heated rivalry, Shane and Ilya are secret private for seven plus years before anybody finds out, let alone the public. No way. And I'm like, imagine being private for so long, not being able to hold hands in the grocery store. Right. Oh man.

SPEAKER_05 20:21

Like I'm a fairly private person as it is, but I still like if I'm excited about somebody, I want to share that I'm in that relationship and that I'm excited about them.

Emma 20:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 20:33

I may not give you all the details, but I'm gonna tell you that they're in my life. So I can't imagine going that long at all. It's wild.

Aftercare, Vulnerability, And Why It Matters

Emma 20:42

Yeah. I think that like to get back on the like tropes piece is with when you have that secret relationship, and that's like the whole theme of the book, right? Um, that ties everything together. There are so many little pieces that go that they like sprinkle in other tropes where you get the whether it's the sexual awakening or the uh fake dating alongside, so like they have the secret relationship, but they have their fake dating someone else. Right, the pretend girlfriend or whatever or whatever it might be. Yeah, I think that the way that some authors are able to kind of like overlap tropes is very neat, and one of my favorite things about um certain authors, but yeah, trying to think if there was anything else on my list. Oh, how do you feel about the the one motherfucking bed microtrope? I don't know that it's something that I've really come across. No, no, not in the like fantasy land or like the realm of reading, there where they like are traveler on a journey and they come across the only inn they can find and there's Only one room left, and God forbid that one room only has one bed and now they have to sleep together. It's not no they do it, authors do it in the like contemporary um books too, where it's um a boss and the assistant, or you know, something like that, and they're on a business trip and or I get there was one, it's not over there. Um it's an Elsie Silver book and uh it's called Powerless. And actually, um the brother's girlfriend borrowed it when she was over here a couple weeks ago. Um, but it's they're on like a cross country road trip and they stop and the their reservation is messed up. And so their reservation is only has it's only one room instead of two. Um and then the he offers to sleep on the floor, which is pretty common in that trope, right? Right. Um, and she says, Oh no, we'll build a wall of pillows in between us. And then the micro trope that goes along with that is that they wake up wrapped in each other, that she has climbed the wall of pillows. Um, and they wake up wrapped and eats so disappointed about it.

SPEAKER_05 23:18

Oh god. Because they were secretly harboring crushes for each other and didn't want to admit it.

Emma 23:23

He just wakes up hard as fuck and has to sneak out of bed so that she can't tell that that's happening. Or boy, or he wakes up and she has nestled herself so close to him that it doesn't matter if he moves or not, she can tell that he has awoken with um that thing that boys wake up with. Morning wood. I have no fear. We're t we're saying we're saying the quiet part out loud on this podcast. Yeah, we are. But yeah, I don't know. I have one on this list that neither one of us has mentioned. It's a naughty one.

SPEAKER_05 24:01

It's the one that has the asterisk on it. Yeah, I saw that one. It makes me giggle every time.

Emma 24:07

I'd like to know what you're have you have you ever read a book where that happens? Yes.

SPEAKER_05 24:13

Okay, where he um I don't remember what book it was, but yes, I have read a book that it has happened in.

Emma 24:20

Where he enjoys himself so much that he doesn't even get to take his clothes off. Yes. I would say I have there's a list of books where that is uh that where that happens, if that was something you hadn't read before. But yeah, I didn't know how you felt if that was something I because a lot of people are really like, I love it.

SPEAKER_05 24:42

I love when they include I wouldn't be disappointed if I could make a guy that excited in real life. So yeah. Like, why not? Why not enjoy it in a book if I could make a guy that happy?

Secret Relationships And Their Toll

Emma 24:55

Yeah. You know, whatever. I'm trying to think. I don't know. Nope. That's too real life, I think. For me. Um nope, we're gonna I'm gonna change directions. Good idea. Um uh one of the other along this, not necessarily like the same lines, but like the along the microtropes is I have um the the touch them and die piece, which is you get in certain realms of fiction where fantasy that's huge, right? Um you also have it in like the mafia romance or the uh dark romance in general. Right. You get a lot of that like the jealousy thing. Yeah. Yeah. The I'm gonna kill every person who lays at you. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Or someone who slung their arm around you in the bar when they were drunk and wasn't paying attention. Yeah. Um, which you haven't read um haunting and hunting Adeline. And I have told you that you should not. Right. I don't think you would like it. However, Zayd Meadows in that in the first one uh sends a man's hands to Adeline in a box to her house. He drops them off because she tried, didn't even get to complete the act, but like tried to have sex with another person. And Zayd like fucked with the house and was like pushing the doorknob and or the uh doorbell and messing with stuff, and the guy was like, Fuck this, I'm leaving. And he leaves and uh she never hears from him again, and then like a couple days later, uh his hands show up in a box on and Zayd leaves her a note saying, like, I told you this would happen. That's a red flag. Uh Zayd Meadows is a walking red flag. Um, however, I really like those books.

SPEAKER_05 26:56

No judgment. I'm just saying. Yeah. Ladies, if you're in a relationship with a guy that does that, you need to run.

Emma 27:06

Um not only run, but call the police. Uh yes. And I guess if we're if you're dating a real-life Zayd Meadows, you probably have bigger things to worry about than him sending hands to you. Um, and those of you who have read Haunting Adeline know that that's the truth. Um because Zayd is like this uh he's he's the the worst good guy ever. Um he hunts like sex traffickers.

SPEAKER_04 27:40

Okay.

Emma 27:41

Um as like his like job. That's like what he does. Right. Um and rescues women and children. However, uh he also stalks the ever-loving fuck out of Atline. That's just creepy. Breaks into her house and leaves roses everywhere and stands in her driveway in the dark watching her home and she can see him. She sits inside her house and watches him through the window.

SPEAKER_05 28:12

Like I have had relationships where the other was very jealous, very insecure, and I've tried really hard to there's a fine line, right? Of like a healthy amount of jealousy or insecurity or protectiveness of your relationship. Okay. That that doesn't do anything for me. Like at some point, if you've gotten super overprotective, I'm out. So yeah, that I'm glad you have suggested I not read those things that would you wouldn't like it.

The “One Bed” Setup And Pillow Walls

Emma 28:54

But I I do think that there's a piece of that like possessiveness, which I do get off on. I think I think that I get it.

SPEAKER_05 29:04

A little bit of it is nice, it makes you feel good because it makes you feel wanted and loved and cared for, and yeah, I get it.

Emma 29:11

But then after a certain point, yeah. There's a certain like I'm out, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 29:16

Where it's like I'm gonna go hang out with my friends that existed before you.

Emma 29:21

Zayd Meadows wouldn't let you leave when you decided that you were out of it, so um good to know. I don't need a Zayd Meadows in my life.

SPEAKER_04 29:31

Thanks.

Emma 29:32

Uh there's a point in those books where she realizes that she doesn't know his last name, and so she asks him and he says, Meadows, baby. Our last name is Meadows. And if you listen to the audiobook, it like actually sounds like that when he says it. And I'm like, Zayd, you're not married yet.

SPEAKER_05 29:52

Weirdo.

Emma 29:53

But yeah, yeah. I don't know, that whole the the touch them and die thing. I I I was going a direction with that when I started this whole piece of this conversation. But sorry that I took you off on it. Well, that's the whole point of sitting here and talking to each other. It is. But there is a book, and this is where like I'm this is like me placing like a call to action to anybody who listens. Is that there is a book that I cannot remember the title of. Okay. I have never read it, I've never downloaded it. I have seen it in like recommended, like in like forums or like on TikTok or in one of my like book club groups. Right. But I've never downloaded it, and it's a touch them and die, or like a my wife situation. But the husband is the one who's kidnapped, and shit starts. I'm pretty sure it's fantasy realm of fiction, and shit starts going down, and the bad guys are like, oh my god, what's that? Because they can like hear like explosions or something going on, and the man is like tied to a chair, and he says, That's my wife. And inverse this badass, like lady, archangel situation woman. I don't know what it is, but I have seen it's I know it's the same book that's being recommended over and over again. Uh-huh. So somebody has to know what the title is of that book.

SPEAKER_05 31:24

Well, you know how phones work. Now that we've talked about it, it's gonna come up again.

Emma 31:28

Yeah, my FYP, I it will automatically be recommended to me. They've been listening today. Probably. I mean, I wouldn't be surprised. Speaking of creepers. But our phones are stalking us. Well, that's guaranteed. Yep. So well, is there any that you won't read? Probably not. Other than that, like overly possessive piece or like the I mean, even that I could read.

SPEAKER_05 31:57

It just I would just be like, meh. You know, it wouldn't necessarily do anything for me. There's not really anything that I wouldn't read. Um I mean, there's things I don't that you don't enjoy. Yeah. Um the fake dating thing doesn't really do it for me. That just seems kind of silly. Um slow burn drives me nuts.

Emma 32:22

It takes too long.

SPEAKER_05 32:23

It does. Like there are times where it's okay, where you need a little bit of build-up, whatever. But sometimes if it's like I've read three quarters of the book and they're still toying with each other, like just get it on already. Come on. Um so yeah, that gets that gets frustrating.

Possessiveness And “Touch Them And Die”

Emma 32:46

Yeah. But yeah. I think under that same kind of category is after the amount, number one, the amount of books I've read. Right. Yes. We're not gonna do a total count because that would be absurd. Um, good good reads would tell you how many um I've read in the last couple of years. So between the like everything I've read and the uh the different genres that I've read, whereas most of them being some subcategory of romance, right? Right. I cannot bring myself to read closed door. And do you know what I mean when I say that? No. So like the books we picked up when we started, those are obviously open door scene books, right? You get word for word descriptions, dialogue, uh, all of the above. Yes, closed door, you get none of that. You get the lead up, you get the lead up and then the next morning. Right. Yeah. Where it's you know, uh hinted at that they were intimate in some way. But I cannot, there's actually a book on my shelf. Um, and not to like call it out, but it is one of the only books that I have uh DNR'd, or not DNR'd, although that's accurate too. Uh DNF'd. Yeah. Yeah. Because I kept I read over half of it. And there kept being these scenes where they were leading up to, and you get all of the tension, all of the foreplay, not like explicit foreplay, right, but like, you know, like verbal sparring. Yeah. And then there's like a page break and then they're cleaning up afterwards. Right. Or a page break and it's the next day. And I'm like, why am I here? After the amount. After the amount I have read. Why? Yeah. I I just don't and I get it. Some people really don't want to read sex. Right. They don't on page. I get it, okay? Right.

SPEAKER_05 35:05

Um, but I need it broken out on the front of the book, but I am not gonna get it in there.

Emma 35:10

I am not one of those people that needs the clean, clean pages. There is there are two authors over there on the bottom shelf. Um I when I think of like beach read, there's one author over there that is like that. Right. Where she it's closed door, you get a little bit more of like the intimacy part and some some like some dirty dialogue, not like obviously while they're being intimate, but like the lead up. Yeah. Um, and then she just isn't like explicit. So they're fine. Again, it's not I I won't I won't pick it up if I have something else to read. Right. Um, but I will never finish um it's the red, white, and royal. The the red, white, and blue. It's over there, it's pink, and the top word says red. What does it say? Red, white, red, white, and royal blue. Yeah. Um, and they made that into a movie. You can watch it. No thanks. I won't finish the book ever. I have thought about actually I got it on sale, not second hand, but it was like on the clearance shelf at the bookstore. And I was like, oh my god, uh the movie was supposed to be really good. I bet the book is good. No. I was bored. Yeah. Was the movie any good? I don't know. I didn't watch the whole thing. Which of the tracks? Right. I watched like half of it. And I also read like half of it, so yeah. I don't know. But yeah. I can't do the closed door. I just, it doesn't. If I'm choosing something that doesn't have like open door scenes in it, I am choosing it for something other than the love story. I am I am not reading it because these people are having a cutesy like the spell shop is there's no sex in the spell shop, which was one of the ones you tried to pick earlier for our game. Um, but that there's no sex in that book. I did not choose that book because of the relationship in it. I chose that book because of the magic system. Right. Um and the fantasy piece.

Content Boundaries: Closed Door vs Open Door

SPEAKER_05 37:26

So there's a series that I have read. My grandma and I actually read it together that I guess would be considered closed door. Um she does they get the lead up and then she does give some of the details on what's going on, but it's also kind of a comical detective private investigator series, and so it's you read it more for that refresher kind of thing in between something that's been deep and dark, right? Yeah. So you get the laughs and the the comedy out of her being a disaster bond enforcement agent, is what she is. Um, but there is some love story and a love triangle in there, and you know, one of these days I keep hoping that she'll finally pick one of the dudes. We're only like 40 books in, it's fine.

Emma 38:18

So well, I think that for me there are there are things I won't read, but it's not it's not a long list. I'll try just about everything once. I mean that in most ways. Uh that's just the truth. I don't I there isn't a lot, aren't a lot of books where someone could be like, you'll probably hate this. Right. Because I probably won't. Um there are books where I won't I can't bring myself to read them. Not because I think I won't like them, yeah, but because whether they've been overly hyped or they've been out like a really long time and I'm like really late to the party, and then I'm like, I might as well just not read it. Right, which is probably stupid because I'm sure I'm missing out on a lot of good content that way, but I don't know.

SPEAKER_05 39:14

Maybe not. I'm not I don't tend to be the one that kind of goes with whatever is popular. I was that way with music and I'm that way with books, and you know, it's just kind of how I roll. Yeah. There there are certain popular books that I have kind of given in and read. Like Fourth Wing. Fourth Wing, Actar, Throne of Glass. And half of the time I go, I don't understand the hype. I just I don't get it.

Emma 39:43

You liked Fourth Wing, though.

SPEAKER_05 39:45

I do like Fourth Wing. I wouldn't say that it's one of like I don't think it's like this out of this world series. Okay, right? But I do like it and I would recommend it. For me, it's an easier read than Akitar or Throne of Glass. That's interesting. Why?

Emma 40:07

I haven't read Four Thing. Yeah. Because number one, I don't love an incomplete series. Series.

SPEAKER_05 40:14

Yeah.

Emma 40:15

Um makes sense. Especially when you don't have a date for the next one. Yeah. That's like I will read a series that isn't done, but you know six months from now you're getting the final book or whatever it is. Right. That makes sense. But uh Fourth Wing doesn't have a date. Yeah. Um I so I haven't read Fourth Wing. I have read Akatar and all of them. Um and I thought those books were easy peasy. Like the like when you say easier to read about Fourth Wing, do you mean like the style of writing?

SPEAKER_05 40:55

Do you mean like uh if you were gonna rate it like elementary reading level type of situation or no, I mean and I like we've talked about how we were gonna do, so I don't really want to dive into all of that because I don't want to give away what we were gonna go over in that episode. Okay. One of my biggest things with Sarah J. Moss is that a lot of her character names are very similar to each other. Okay. Yes. So then you it's hard to track characters and what they're doing and who they are. And then she goes so deep into the world building, but tends to fast forward through the actual action. Does that make sense?

Emma 41:37

Yeah, I think that that happens. The I think there's a lot less world building in Aquatar as there is in Throne of Glass.

SPEAKER_05 41:45

Mm-hmm. I would agree.

Emma 41:47

Um, I also think that the name thing is not as bad in Aquatar as it is in Throne of Glass. And again, that doesn't bother me, but I know it bothers you, and I know we've just we've discussed in Throne of Glass how that, especially as an audiobook listener, yes, the back and forth with the names is difficult for you because you can't track who we're talking about now. Right. Um, but I have yes, we we have talked about that before, and I I understand what you're saying. Yeah. So, but you're saying that in Fourth Wing, that's not happening.

SPEAKER_05 42:21

Fourth Wing doesn't have as much of the description for the world building.

Emma 42:26

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 42:27

So there's less information to intake on that. Like you're not bogged down with that. So that's what I mean when I say that it's an easier read. Because it's more of the straight into the action and straight into the you know what is going on versus telling me all of the nitty-gritty details about everything that's in the surroundings. Got it.

Hype, Audiobooks, And Worldbuilding Fatigue

Emma 42:54

So I think there's um the uh to kind of round us out on that trope talk stuff. I think that when you cross over from like whether it's from genre to genre, whether that's fantasy to contemporary to um, you know, I mean, I love a psychological thriller book. Um give you know, the the more mind fucked up uh the better for me. Um and I do think that it's interesting when you look at tropes across the genres, because in the like psychological thriller world, you get entirely different um, you know, in that murder mystery piece and all of that stuff. You get a really like different kind of like basket of tropes that you get if you were only reading fantasy novels, um, or you're only reading romance books, there's a different number. And so I do think it just depends on what you prefer to consume. Right. Um, and there are kind of there's I I really, you know, I'm a big believer in that there's something for everybody. Agreed. And you know, if you love a small town romance book and that's the only thing you like reading, there's two thousand books that are small town romance, and I promise you you will never finish at list. No.

SPEAKER_05 44:29

So and there's no judgment. Yeah. Like I don't care what you want to read. Yeah. Read what you want.

Emma 44:34

I read it all.

SPEAKER_05 44:35

Yeah. Don't get mad at me if I don't enjoy what you enjoy though.

Emma 44:39

Because it may not happen. No. So it's all over the place. But thanks for playing games and talking about tropes with me. Absolutely. And uh getting a little bit uh naughtier today. Woohoo! Okay. We're Wrecked by Fiction, and we'll see you later. Bye. Wrecked by Fiction is recorded and produced by West House Productions. They handle all the audio, video, and post production so we get a clean sound, smooth edits, and zero tech headaches. Westhouse Productions aligns with podcasts, live music, and creative projects that want to sound professional without losing their edge.