Book Talk: The Letters of Enchantment

Join Mikayla and Samm as they chat about Rebecca Ross’ best selling  duology The Letters of Enchantment (Divine Rivals and Ruthless Vows). Was it a 5 star? What were their favorite quotes? Come listen to the conversation and find out! 

Trigger warning: 

This episode does contain talks of grief death and suicide. Please listen with caution and care for yourself. 

If you or someone you know needs help please contact 988 or visit https://988lifeline.org/

Follow us On Instagram and TikTok 

@inaplothole

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:00

Hello, hello, hello.

SPEAKER_01 0:02

Hello. We're doing this differently today. We are. We're not we're not next to each other.

SPEAKER_02 0:13

Okay, yeah, we're not next to each other.

SPEAKER_01 0:16

I know. We're but we're still gonna bring you in the same great content.

SPEAKER_03 0:26

Should we start the intro then?

SPEAKER_01 0:28

I thought this was the intro.

SPEAKER_03 0:31

Oh.

SPEAKER_01 0:34

Well, just welcome to In a Plot Hole. Welcome back to In a Plot Hole. Isaac can decide if he wants to keep that in because I thought it was the intro. Sorry. And I thought we were informing them that we're recording differently today. Okay, sorry. So no, it's don't sorry. Don't be sorry.

SPEAKER_02 0:58

Anyway, welcome back to episode four.

SPEAKER_01 1:02

Episode four. Episode four. Recorded five days after episode five. Yes. Because we finally finished the books. We finished the books.

unknown 1:18

Woo!

SPEAKER_01 1:19

This will still be up on time though. Thanks, Isaac.

SPEAKER_03 1:23

Love ya.

SPEAKER_01 1:26

Anyway.

SPEAKER_03 1:27

Welcome back.

SPEAKER_01 1:29

Welcome back. Welcome to but before we start, I want to say something. I want to say something. Hold on. Let me move her in a little closer. So I was listening to episode three. Because I like to proof listen to it before I put it up on the thing. Just in case. Um so I was listening to it in my car, and I told you, I was like, oh, I want to talk about something. But I specifically wanted it in this episode because it was the next episode. Yeah. But I noticed I could not stop smiling, listening to us talk. And that made me really happy because it's like, Aww. I'm like, I really, I'm like, I'm just like, I love that we're having fun doing this. And I like that's what it's really about.

SPEAKER_02 2:29

And that's how I felt listening in the first episode.

SPEAKER_01 2:33

Yeah, I just couldn't, like, I wanted Michaela didn't know I was gonna say this because I wanted her like actual, like genuine reaction to it. But I just I don't know, I had like you know, when you like feel just like pure joy. That's where I felt listening to that episode. And I and I just was like, I'm having really fun doing this.

SPEAKER_02 2:58

I think like I'm really enjoying this a lot, and I've learned a lot from it already, even though we're we're so very early into it, but like it's given me a reason one to read again and to fall in love with reading, and now with things have kind of changed within our lives, it's still a way that I can connect with you because I'm not seeing you as often anymore, so that's why I'm really glad we started doing this when we did.

SPEAKER_01 3:23

Yeah, but I just wanted to tell you that because I have and I miss you. It's been like I it's been like six days since I've seen you, which is the longest I haven't seen Michaela.

SPEAKER_03 3:37

I think that's that's crazy.

SPEAKER_01 3:39

But I we talked about it in episode five, but I could talk about Hint. I I I started a new job, so I no longer work with Michaela, so I don't see her four times a week plus hangouts. Um but I did start a new job, so I'm not seeing it.

SPEAKER_02 3:55

It's closer to her, so it's it's better for you in the end.

SPEAKER_01 4:00

Yeah, it's closer to my house, so you're saving a lot more money.

SPEAKER_02 4:05

It's because you you were driving a long time, just sick just.

SPEAKER_01 4:09

Yeah, I was driving like an hour and a half to work and an hour and a half back on good days. Good days, and that it was just getting to be really expensive gas-wise, because gas where we are is really expensive. I mean, gas anywhere, honestly.

SPEAKER_00 4:25

Yeah, just right.

SPEAKER_01 4:26

But I yeah, but also the last two weeks, like my mother-in-law was in town, and one of my best friends um was also in town, like back to back. So, like, I've been focusing on them, which not complaining. I love my mother-in-law and I love it. So I was more focused on that, so I haven't really been able to see Michaela as much, but things will change. We will hang out, more TikToks will be made.

SPEAKER_02 4:57

Someone's birthday's coming up.

SPEAKER_01 5:02

Me! Uh so we have some fun stuff. Literally, it by coming up we mean in over a month. So should we do a birthday episode for you? We can do a birthday episode. Read Twilight!

SPEAKER_02 5:20

Honestly, if that's what I think.

SPEAKER_01 5:22

Sam's birthday episode is Read Twilight. Don't tempt me. Don't tempt me. Just throw the idea. That's what I wanted to say. Yeah. But I just wanted to say that before we started the the episode. So, but question What are you drinking?

SPEAKER_02 5:40

So uh so funny enough, I had ordered a Dr. Pepper. I had ordered a Dr. Pepper, but they did not give me the Dr. Pepper, they gave me a Pepsi, so I'm currently drinking a Pepsi.

SPEAKER_01 5:52

Oh! And it's not even Coke, not even Coke!

SPEAKER_02 5:55

Not even Coke. Thanks for the case.

SPEAKER_01 5:57

Are you Team Pepsi or Team Coke? Or side team Dr. Pepper?

SPEAKER_02 6:02

Tell us down below. You know, you already know our answers. If you've been listening, you should know our answers.

SPEAKER_01 6:09

Can we guess what I'm drinking?

SPEAKER_02 6:12

I know what you're drinking because you told me earlier.

SPEAKER_01 6:14

Yeah. Plot twist, it's not Dr. Pepper. I have a massive coffee cup full of wine and water. So.

SPEAKER_02 6:25

It's always when I'm when we're at my house recording, we always have a Dr. Pepper, but if we're separated, I've noticed you're drinking wine and I'm drinking some soda soda or something.

SPEAKER_01 6:36

Yeah. I mean, I drink wine here because I have a lot of wine in my house. Not for any reason except for the fact that I have a lot of leftover from my wedding. So I just been drinking. But I mean, I have Dr. Pepper here. But normally me and Dylan, we don't keep soda in the house.

SPEAKER_02 6:54

I wonder who the reason for you.

SPEAKER_01 6:58

I know. Yeah, but we don't normally Yeah, but we don't normally keep soda in the house because I am a midnight drinker. Um in the fact that like I will wake up and like chug beverages, so like if I get thirsty, like my initial thing is to midnight Dr.

SPEAKER_03 7:18

Pepper.

SPEAKER_01 7:19

Yeah, I'd love a good midnight Dr. Pepper, but we don't we don't keep soda. Because if anything, I could just drink soda like back to back to back to back. So if we do have soda in the house, we typically keep like low is like the zero sugar or the diet, and occasionally I'll have a little treat of a 12-pack of Dr. Pepper in the can.

SPEAKER_02 7:40

Yeah. Okay. So moving on to what's our high? Our high antelope. So it's our high antelope. And then a question of the day. So I'll have you go first with your high.

SPEAKER_01 7:55

So my high of the day, well, I officially started training today. Um, so did that, and I got a pre-pair shoes.

SPEAKER_02 8:10

Ooh, we love good shoes.

SPEAKER_01 8:12

Yeah. Um, but so but yeah, I started my training today and it was really good. Everyone's really nice. I'm training at a different location because my actual location isn't opened yet. Um, so I'm kind of sad because I'm meeting some really cool people, but I'm also meeting people that are gonna be at my store as well. Um, but you know me, I love meeting people.

SPEAKER_02 8:39

Yeah. So the opposite of me. She'll be the more outgoing one, but I will, I will, I will stand back and listen to you talk. It's not because I'm being rude or anything. I'm just a listener.

SPEAKER_01 8:53

Yeah, it depends on the vibe though. Like if I can catch I have to catch a vibe first.

SPEAKER_02 8:58

True, gotta catch a vibe first.

SPEAKER_01 9:01

Alright, what's your low? My low. Um. I didn't really have a low. I mean, I had to do laundry today.

SPEAKER_02 9:13

That's not bad.

SPEAKER_01 9:15

Yeah, that's good. That's not bad.

SPEAKER_02 9:16

It's always good not to have a low day.

SPEAKER_01 9:19

Yeah. I like laundry though. I just listen to my book. Um my low is that we started recording 40 minutes, well, an hour and 40 minutes later because for some reason my brain was not processing the book.

SPEAKER_02 9:35

It's okay. I barely processed those last five chapters of the book. I like it, it went by so quickly, I was like, what?

SPEAKER_01 9:43

Yeah. That was what happened. Like, some of them I had to like keep going back to and like, wait, what did I miss? Like rereading it. But I think it was just more of like um, it was the ending of a story. And that always happens with the story. Ending of a good story. Especially like a story like this that yeah, it's like you linger, you start lingering because you're like, I don't want it to end. Yeah, it's kind of thing.

SPEAKER_02 10:12

So okay, and then I'll do my high and a low, and then we'll get to the question. So my high, ooh. My high was probably coming home from work because I was excited for this, and I wanted to see my dog, and obviously my boyfriend. Uh they don't greet me when I get home, so.

SPEAKER_01 10:41

They greet me when I come visit.

SPEAKER_02 10:43

That's true. They love you. All of my animals love you.

SPEAKER_01 10:46

Um that sounded really bitchy, I'm sorry. Oh wait, here's my meow for censoring.

unknown 10:53

Meow.

SPEAKER_02 10:55

Was that a nala meow?

SPEAKER_01 10:57

Yeah. That's our uh that's our censoring meow for the for the episode. Every episode, I think I'm gonna do that. Just create a different meow. That'd be really funny. And then the intro is gonna be different sounds meows. We're working on an intro, guys.

SPEAKER_02 11:15

I love that idea. Um I was probably coming home. Getting to kind of relax a little bit. Work was good, but it was a little hectic. But that's okay. Um and then my low. I don't really have a low either. Now that I'm thinking about it.

SPEAKER_01 11:42

Today was like a not low day. I do have a low of the week, though.

SPEAKER_02 11:47

Hmm. What was your low of the week?

SPEAKER_01 11:49

I ripped my entire pinky nail off at Magic Kingdom. I slammed it against a railing, and the whole nail, gel tip and actual nail gone. And they I went to First Aid to like get it clipped off because it was still it was still there. Okay, trigger warning kind of graphic. Please skip a little bit if you don't want to hear stuff about phalanges, okay? But it was still like attached to my nail, but it like it it would have fallen off, but with how long my nails were, like, it was too much of a risk. So I went to go get it, but they can't cut it for you.

SPEAKER_02 12:33

So you have to do it.

SPEAKER_01 12:34

I had to do it, and it was the most excruciating thing ever, and then I went to clip it, and it just ripped the whole thing off. Like completely, because I could have probably like I mean it was gonna fall off anyway, but now I have just tiniest little nub. I haven't shown you.

SPEAKER_02 12:53

You're gonna have to send me a picture.

SPEAKER_01 12:55

Yeah. I texted my nail tech. We have the same nail tech. I texted her and I was like, hey girl, I'm panicking. My pinky's falling off. Like, not my pinky nail, just my pinky, and all she goes is show me.

SPEAKER_03 13:10

Show me.

SPEAKER_01 13:13

So I love her so much. I love her. We we have issues with my nails. That's a that's a story for a different day. But yeah. We could yeah. Okay, now if you skipped, you can start here.

SPEAKER_02 13:26

If you skipped for nail talk is done. Nail talk. Okay, so question of the day. What it kind of pertains to the books we've been reading. If you had a magical item in your house, what magical item would you have?

SPEAKER_01 13:48

Like what I have and what would it do, or just what I would have?

SPEAKER_02 13:52

Like uh how I guess it's basically two questions. What would what would you have and what would it do?

SPEAKER_01 14:04

That's a good question. So for reference, we think of the questions, but we don't tell each other till the episode, so like I don't have time to prepare an answer.

SPEAKER_02 14:15

Um I also did not think about this question at all. I just randomly thought of it like ten minutes before we did the studio.

SPEAKER_01 14:23

Yeah. So that's like the best that's the best time to get a question. So um a magical item and what would it do? I mean a magical door to that you could just open up and go anywhere would that would probably be cool. That would be cool, but I feel like there would be limitations with that because like you would need multiple magical doors.

SPEAKER_02 14:54

Right.

SPEAKER_01 14:56

Or you would have to leave the door open so you could find it again.

SPEAKER_02 14:59

Yeah, unless it's like Monsters Inc. rules where it kind of just shows up.

SPEAKER_01 15:04

Yeah. Yeah, I think something like that.

SPEAKER_02 15:08

Let's say you're Doctor Strange and you can just open a ring door. Yeah, you know.

SPEAKER_01 15:13

I I think something like that, or a pair of glasses, like a pair of like reading glasses, where anything I read, I remember it.

SPEAKER_02 15:21

Ooh. That's a good one.

SPEAKER_01 15:22

Like photographic memory, but like by choice.

SPEAKER_02 15:28

I like that idea. Um I was thinking about it, and I think I would want either like a magical like I don't know how to describe it. Like potting bench to where like I could do all like my plant stuff and it like comes out perfectly every time. Or like the plants the plants are always watered, like to the perfect amount, so I never have to water anything again. That would be perfect. A magical watering can would be perfect, or even a magical record player that like always plays the right music, or something like that. That'd be kind of cool.

SPEAKER_01 16:14

Yeah, and then you don't have to like flip the record. It just does it itself. Yeah, it does it all for you. That's just a jukebox.

SPEAKER_03 16:23

Or that is just a jukebox.

SPEAKER_01 16:26

But you just need a no quarters required.

SPEAKER_02 16:30

Or it would be I'd be like Miss Weasley, I'd make the magic do the dishes and stuff.

SPEAKER_01 16:35

Oh yeah. Just magic and a magical house that does my chores.

SPEAKER_02 16:41

Yes. Or even better, just like a kitchen that cooks for me.

SPEAKER_01 16:48

That would be cool. Anyway, I have to buy groceries again.

SPEAKER_03 16:52

And you have to revive groceries again. Okay. Are we ready to talk about the books? I'm so excited.

SPEAKER_01 17:02

Yeah. Oh well, we have the cur. Do you wanna are you currently reading anything or have you not started anything?

SPEAKER_02 17:08

Oh, oh, um. Well, I'm always currently reading Silver Flame, but that's just an ongoing thing. Um, but I have not picked up anything else because I just put down Rufus Vows yesterday. So um I'm kind of in my reading.

SPEAKER_01 17:28

You're mid.

SPEAKER_02 17:29

I'm I'm yeah, I'm I'm at a processing point with this book, so it took me a minute to process. There's a lot. Anyway, we'll talk about that in a minute.

SPEAKER_01 17:43

Um I'm currently reading Glass Sword and Dungeon Crawler Carl 2, uh Carl's Doomsday scenario. Because I haven't picked anything else up because I literally just finished this book like 30 minutes ago. So me? Okay. Slacking? Crazy.

SPEAKER_02 18:05

I know. I'm surprised it wasn't me.

SPEAKER_01 18:08

I know, you finished before me.

unknown 18:09

Shocker.

SPEAKER_01 18:10

Like actual shock. Shocker.

SPEAKER_02 18:12

I was so I was so proud of myself those.

SPEAKER_01 18:15

But again, I've been busy the last couple weeks.

SPEAKER_02 18:17

You have been very busy, so I don't. I'm not I'm not worried about it at all. But we have also been busy. Let's get into it.

SPEAKER_01 18:28

Yeah, let's talk books. Woo!

SPEAKER_02 18:31

Let's talk Divine Rivals specifically, and I have been wanting to talk about this book.

SPEAKER_01 18:37

Well, hold on. Let me introduce the whole thing. She's getting ahead of the I have a script. I wrote a script, and I literally said, Hey, the pink means me. I know, I'm sorry. I'm getting excited. Okay, so we're gonna talk about our duology. I hope you guys read along. If you did not read along, I'm gonna say a couple things. I know personally, I have some possibly triggering topics to talk about. So I'm gonna warn people there. There could be talks of triggering subjects on my end. I don't know if you have any on your end, but just a generic trigger warning. There could be talks of some triggering topics including but not limited to like death, grief, suicide, like yeah. Just to let people know. Um, but also if you did not read this book, there is gonna be spoilers.

SPEAKER_02 19:44

We are gonna talk about the books in the in their entirety.

SPEAKER_01 19:49

So we're gonna talk about them in their entirety. So there will be spoilers, but also a big disclaimer, these are our own opinions. If you had a different opinion, that is also totally fine. But just know that these are our opinions. We are not told to say anything, we are not paid to say anything. God, I wish we were paid to say stuff, but we're not. But anyway, but we are these are our own opinions, so please be kind in the comments if you disagree with us. We ever we will agree to disagree, but we love hearing your comments. So if you thought something was different or you felt something different about what we thought, please tell us.

SPEAKER_02 20:34

But with that-we can have a book conversation about this. The whole point we were having a conversation, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:41

But so with that, we're gonna talk about the Letters of Enchantment Duology by Rebecca Ross. This is a YA fantasy kind more kind of love story historical fiction book. Um, it's takes place in more of like a setting of like World War One, but it includes gods and goddesses, and there's magical like elements in it as well. But there is so there's a war going on, but like the general synopsis is there is Iris, um, Winnow, and there's Roman Kit. They are rival news um correspondents. Um, they are at the start of the duology, they are fighting for the same title, and then they it is a rivals to lovers book. Yes, so lovers. Yes. But we'll start with Divine Rivals first, which is the first one. This is so this book specifically is about the start of Irish and Romance relationship. What did you rate this book?

SPEAKER_02 21:59

So I rated this book a five. A five.

SPEAKER_01 22:05

I oh I want to preface that. I I want to preface. I have read these before. Michaela has not, but I read them when they first came out. And so Yeah. But I read them when they first came out, so I literally texted Michaela. I was like, I don't remember how this book ends. So this series ends. So, but I have read these before. And my rating did not change. I also, I also rated Divine Rivals a five. Five stars.

SPEAKER_02 22:43

Yay, we love. Sorry, I'm putting my phone on the charger.

SPEAKER_01 22:49

I was like, I was like, she's moving around a lot. I was like, you could. But so I rated you rated this a five as well.

SPEAKER_02 22:57

Yes, I did.

SPEAKER_01 22:58

Okay. Uh briefly, can you like in a very short can you tell me why you rated this a five star?

SPEAKER_02 23:06

I just really liked one, the way it was written. Two, the characters and their relationships with each other.

SPEAKER_00 23:14

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_02 23:16

That's my brief review of the book.

SPEAKER_01 23:22

Well, I I we have two books to talk about. So I was I'm the same way. Like I really loved the characters. Rebecca Ross's writing. She's very descriptive. There's a quote from the second book that I can.

SPEAKER_02 23:36

Yeah, she's not too descriptive to where it's not like it's overwhelming, but you have enough to like compl kind of yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:45

Yeah. No, she's just she writes so like beautifully. Like there's I'm gonna there's a there's a line in the second book where she goes, she talks about the fee a feeling feeling like snow melting. I can't remember the quote, but it's just the way she described it. Like you see everything in your head.

SPEAKER_02 24:15

You also like as she's describing the character's feelings, also very on point too, because like I she kind of described feelings that I never thought that I knew how to describe until she said it. And I was like, oh, I've felt that before.

SPEAKER_01 24:30

No, yeah. So that was she's just she's just very like descriptive, it's captivating, that's like the words she writes, it just flows. Like it doesn't feel yes.

SPEAKER_02 24:47

Like it doesn't feel it's so good. It's just so good. Sorry, I keep interrupting you. I don't know meaning to.

SPEAKER_01 24:55

No, it's fine. No, it I think it's because of the Discord delay. I think it is the Discord delay. Yeah. Um, but it just the words just flow like from like chapter to chapter. Like there's different point of views. So the books are written in third per Hi Moon. Um so the the books are written in third person point of view, but in Iris's and Roman's point of view. And yes, yes. Like you don't have an issue telling whose is who because even though it that hurts so bad. Mooney is being disruptive today.

SPEAKER_02 25:44

She really is. She's meowing at me too. You probably I probably picked up on the microphone. She was meowing at me. Anyway.

SPEAKER_01 25:53

But so you have no issue hearing, like knowing who's is who, even though it is in third person.

SPEAKER_02 26:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 26:02

But it's just like she taught, like, she writes in a way where it's like, oh, this is Iris. Oh, like you can definitely tell. Like you know who's is who.

SPEAKER_02 26:14

It's almost like she had a different, like, she was in a different mindset for both of them, which was kind of interesting.

SPEAKER_01 26:19

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_02 26:20

The way she wrote like romance letters to Iris. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 26:27

I wanted to talk about that before we actually like talked about it. But in the book, they have magical typewriters. Yes. That are connected by magic. And in Divine Ribles specifically, Iris is right, she thinks she's writing to her brother who has gone off to war. There's a war going on between Enva and Deka. It's it's spelled like Decray, but everything I've seen, the pronunci The pronunciation, I think, is Deka, yeah, or something. Um But they are they're married gods. Like they were married to each other, but Deka has like this one view of like how humans should bend to the will of gods, where Enva is humans and gods and goddesses should live together, like harmoniously, and so the story of Enva and Draca is she um she marries him and then she puts him to sleep for years, like with years, decades with her music.

SPEAKER_02 27:42

Yeah, she's a harpist, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:46

Um and eventually he wakes up because the spell wears off.

SPEAKER_02 27:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:52

Um, but so then he is out searching for her, but then it causes a war between Enva's armies and Deka's armies. But Forrest, who Forrest is Iris' brother, he went to go um, he went to go fight for Enva's cause, and months have passed since um you start the book by Iris w at the train station putting Forrest on the train to go fight in the war. And then and then the next couple chapters later, the next chapter, it's like nine months later, she dropped out of school. She works now at the the Oath Gazette. She's trying because her mom became uh alcoholic and is not able to work, so she's now working, so it's a support for her mom.

SPEAKER_02 28:49

Oath is the city that they live in.

SPEAKER_01 28:51

Yes, Oath is the city that the main story kind of like well, not the main story, but it's like where they their homes reside.

SPEAKER_02 28:59

It's a s it's like a central location to the story.

SPEAKER_01 29:01

Yeah. Yeah. Um, so they so now that's and then Kit also works at the Oath Gazette and they're Roman Kit. Roman Kit. I will call him Kit and I will call him Roman. Just know it's the same person.

SPEAKER_02 29:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:20

Um, but he's from a very wealthy family, and she is not.

SPEAKER_02 29:29

And he he thinks he's better than her and is like, oh, I'm gonna get this like the bleed columnist position, and she's not, and he makes like assumptions about her because like she didn't graduate school, she comes from a low-class family, and he's just like, oh, whatever, she's not really much of a yeah, she's not competitor. A competitor. Yeah, he's not she's not much of a competitor to him until Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:59

But back to the typewriters, she thinks she's writing these letters to her brother. She types these letters up on the typewriter and then puts them under a wardrobe and they just magically disappear. She doesn't hear anything. This has been happening for months, and then one day she gets a letter back saying, This is not Forrest. So these letters have been going to somebody, and we get the point of view of Roman. So we know it's Roman.

SPEAKER_02 30:34

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 30:34

But she does not know.

SPEAKER_02 30:36

She does not know correct.

SPEAKER_01 30:38

It's Roman. But then in the point of view, we find out Roman knows it is Iris. So Roman knows he's talking to Iris. Iris does not know he's talking to Roman. And then her. Um and then one day her mom dies. She is out drunk. Did I skip parts? Uh no, I'm not skipping anything really. Because they just go back and forth. They eat sandwiches on a on a bench.

SPEAKER_02 31:10

They have cute little moments.

SPEAKER_01 31:12

Yeah, Roman is engaged, is betrothed to somebody of the city. Oh, yeah. That's another class. Who is Roman's dad work is fighting, is like working for decry d Deka's army.

SPEAKER_02 31:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:28

Uh I think it's Deka. Because it's D-A. It's D-R.

SPEAKER_02 31:33

It's D-A-C-R-R. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:37

I think it's I think it's in the audiobook it's pronounced Deka.

SPEAKER_02 31:42

Yeah. So I remember the audiobook pronouncing it that way too.

SPEAKER_01 31:47

So, but um, he works to make bombs and like gas for Dake Deka's army.

SPEAKER_02 31:56

So he's which Roman is like Roman Roman was betrothed to I think her name was like Emily Little Eleanor. Eleanor Little. And uh and so so that way his family and Eleanor's family can like make both do like yeah, have like a whatever.

SPEAKER_01 32:20

Yeah, basically they're supporters of Draca's cause.

SPEAKER_02 32:23

Yeah, so they create I wanna say she's a bi no, she's she's a biologist, and I think her dad's a scientist. So they have been making, like you said earlier, they've been making gas for for the Yeah, they're making gas and bombs. Yeah. For the army.

SPEAKER_01 32:44

And he doesn't want to. He's like, oh, I want to be married for love, and then that's a thing.

SPEAKER_02 32:50

And then um Also she doesn't want to get married either.

SPEAKER_01 32:56

They're like, so they they have they have lunch one day and they're like, yeah, like we don't want to be married, like, to each other.

SPEAKER_02 33:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 33:06

We're just doing this because our families tell us to.

SPEAKER_02 33:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 33:10

But I r but Roman is secretly in love with Iris this entire time, which we you do know.

SPEAKER_02 33:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 33:18

And so I'm trying to like describe the whole story as like best as I quick as I can.

SPEAKER_02 33:26

No, you're doing you're doing a good job. You're doing a good job.

SPEAKER_01 33:28

You're hitting all the key points. If people yeah, I'm trying to hit like the I'm trying to cliff note it, okay? Spark note.

SPEAKER_02 33:34

Um I'm also like adding little tidbits that way I'm also talking about.

SPEAKER_01 33:39

Yeah. Yeah. Well, if I forgot anything. Um then one night Iris goes home and her mom's not home. And she does, she's like, oh, my mom's probably out, like on the town. Whatever.

SPEAKER_02 33:52

Normally arrives like late.

SPEAKER_01 33:54

She's like, oh, this is not like and then she wakes up and her mom's not home. And then she sees an uh a little flash alert in the newspaper of a woman who was hit by a trolley wearing a jacket that describe describes her mom.

SPEAKER_02 34:13

Yeah, because she had to write down like um no like identify this person.

SPEAKER_01 34:19

Yeah, she had to like type, she had to type it up because she has she works in the obituaries right now. Um so then she went and she identified the body, and then she also had to write her mother's obituary.

unknown 34:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 34:32

So the day she found out her mother had just passed away, Roman gets the columnist position and she quits and goes works for the Tribune because they were hiring um court war correspondents for more money. And she's like, Well, my mom's not here anymore, my brother's at war, so I don't have anything.

SPEAKER_02 34:53

She doesn't have anything, so she she picked up everything and left.

SPEAKER_01 34:58

Yeah, well, she just took her typewriter and that was it. Um, so and so she messaged the dude. She messaged so she calls him Carver. That's what she knows the I think it started out it started out at C. C, and then it changes to Carver. And changes. So she's talking to Carver. Yeah. So she's talking, she tells Carver, Oh, I'm not home. I'm not in Oath. And now Roman's like, oh my gosh, where is she? Like, what's happening? And then he sees that her is her her mom had passed away. And so he packs up everything and quits to go be with Iris. Travels.

SPEAKER_02 35:45

But she doesn't like a couple letters.

SPEAKER_01 35:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 35:50

Something like that. It was like a long letter. Very long distance away.

SPEAKER_01 35:54

Yeah. So he also now works for the Inkridden Tribune. But she thinks he's there to best her. To like be like, I'm better than you. Yep. And he's not, he's just, I want to make sure she's safe, because I love her.

SPEAKER_02 36:13

But I think he's also kind of just like at this point, he's like he like, he acknowledges that he like loves her, but he hasn't fully like yeah. He hasn't fully embraced it yet.

SPEAKER_01 36:27

I think because she doesn't know it's him. Because she's like, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 36:32

It's like something that he doesn't indulge on because he's like, I don't know if she reciprocates the the feeling. Yeah. Or something like that. Um yeah, so they meet, I think it's Marisol. Marisol. Marisol? Marisol. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 36:52

The only reason I know this is because I had a cafe next to my undergrad called Marisols, and it was spelt the same way.

SPEAKER_02 36:58

Yeah, so Marisol, they meet Marisol. She's one of my favorite characters in the books.

SPEAKER_01 37:02

Marisol and Addy.

SPEAKER_02 37:04

I love Marisol and Addy.

SPEAKER_01 37:06

Do you wanna do you wanna continue the rest of what happens in Divine Rivals and then we can kind of like talk about like our thoughts and stuff like that? So And then we could talk about the other one.

SPEAKER_02 37:19

They get to so um Iris and meets this other correspondent that was also hired that same day named Addy. Um at least that's what her friends call her. Her her real name is Thea Atwood. Everyone calls her Addy. So um she Addy is a um, she was and was studying to be in a symphony one day, but this in this story they had outlawed all music, so she was not able to um play her in the world. Yeah, they had to be.

SPEAKER_01 37:56

Enva would use her music to get people to join her army.

SPEAKER_02 38:00

Yeah, so they outlawed all music in the city of Oath. So she was she has a like a I think it's a violin. Yeah, so she has a violin um that she secretly learned how to play um in her in her basement um when her siblings were in school. Anyway, that'll become important later. But so she meets Addy. They go to Avalon Bluff, which is where they meet Marisol, and um it's Marisol owns an Airbnb that um houses correspondence and people um.

SPEAKER_01 38:32

It's not an Airbnb.

SPEAKER_02 38:38

That was what came to mind. Anyway, so it's a BBC. It's just a bread and breakfast. My bad guys. Um anyway, so they picked the room. You're such a millennial. You're such a Gen Z. Or what do you mean, Gen Alpha?

SPEAKER_03 38:55

Don't associate me with those kids. Never again. Never again. Don't ever say that to me ever again.

SPEAKER_02 39:05

How dare you! What are you, Gen? You're you're Gen Z. I'm Gen. I'm technically Gen Z, yes. Um, I don't anyway. So they get to the P. She's telling them all the rules. There's like three different silens that they have to listen to. There's one for hounds, there's one for like these big, like almost like they call it They're called Wyvern. They're kind of like wyverns.

SPEAKER_01 39:35

Um, they are called they're ethereals. Ethereals. They're called Wyvern's. They call them wyverns, and I every time they said it, I was like, ooh, the original wyvern.

SPEAKER_02 39:45

The original wyvern. But so they were dropping, so they use those to drop bombs, and then hounds will come through and like eat people, I guess. So they're like learning, they're getting to know like kind of their war, and then Addie ends up going to the front lines first. She doesn't really talk about what happens. Um, she comes back. She's like a oh, like you'll know when you Yeah, you'll know when you go there. And then I think while Addy's gone is when Roman shows up. So Roman shows up walking in this field, an alarm goes off. Iris is like, bro, you gotta get down. They're gonna start like jumping bombs on you. So like she's sprinting out into this field and like basically tackles him to the floor, and she's like, Don't move, don't move. And he was like terrified, and as he's seeing like these ginormous, like dragon-like creatures like crossing the sky with bombs in their claws.

SPEAKER_01 40:46

Yo, Deka's got some gnarly, gnarly creatures. The hounds, they're described as translucent, they're described as translucent dogs with glowing beating hearts.

SPEAKER_02 41:00

Yeah, so like the they they describe them as like from far away, we can see the scarlet like flash.

SPEAKER_01 41:06

Yeah because of how the Yeah, you just see like the flashing of the heart. Terrifying.

SPEAKER_02 41:11

Yeah. The way that's another thing, is the way she describes how like guttural and how visceral these creatures are. Like, every time they just she describes Wybird, she's like it like she describes it as smelling like rotten flesh and like just a disgusting mold. It's ugh, she's so good at writing.

SPEAKER_01 41:32

It's just so we were kind of talking about this like before like we started recording, but I love that when Rebecca Ross writes YA, she'll describe it so you know, but like not so graphic that it isn't like too much. It's over it's not overwhelmed with the young adult. But it's like just enough where you know, like you you know.

SPEAKER_02 42:01

So they get to so Roman like gets put in the house or whatever, and Roman just kind of starts writing his articles like he normally does, and then he started inviting Iris out on day like daily runs, like they would run up a hill and run back, because I guess he used to do track cool. Could never be me, I would never run up a hill.

SPEAKER_01 42:28

If I'm running, if I'm running, y'all be running.

SPEAKER_02 42:32

So then they have some like another some more like cute moments and then so then oh my god, I'm I'm blanking. Do you remember?

SPEAKER_01 42:53

Oh, she finds out it's him because she finds her letters. Yes, yes, yeah. She finds out it she finds out Roman is Carver because she finds her letters in like his pocket or something.

SPEAKER_00 43:07

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_02 43:08

And he like he was like, I was gonna tell you, like, she was mad at first. Yeah, she's like, you, you, you know you, you know. So that was so Iris and no, I remember now. Iris and Kit went to the front lines. They got into some shit at the front lines. Um, they got separated because um Iris was helping transport wounded soldiers out of the um area and um Kit was wounded, so she had picked him up and put him on a uh like a car to go. Oh, yeah. So he had left he had left his messenger bag, which had the note in it, explaining to her that he was he was Carver. And then that's when she found. Found it and it was like went to the him into the hospital and was like, You were Carver this entire time.

SPEAKER_01 44:13

But she thought she was he was doing it as like a way to like get into her head and like Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 44:20

She thought she was he was messing with her.

SPEAKER_01 44:22

Yeah. But he wasn't.

SPEAKER_02 44:26

He was Okay, and we're back.

SPEAKER_01 44:30

Technical difficulties. Sorry, my phone died.

SPEAKER_02 44:35

Where did I leave off? We left off at Roman Kit. Um Roman Kit was injured in the hospital and Iris went to confirm about the letters.

SPEAKER_01 44:51

Yes, yes, yes. So Iris now knows that it's Roman. Yes. And then she comes to like term that like, oh, he actually likes me.

SPEAKER_02 45:03

Yeah. And so, because then sh while the r the remainder of the time that he was in the hospital, she did not go to see him.

SPEAKER_01 45:12

So she realizes that he actually um loves him, loves her. And then they he comes back from the hospital and they start talking and all this other like cute stuff happens, and he's like, Oh, I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Like, you're the air I breathe kind of deal.

SPEAKER_02 45:37

Yeah. And then some hosier music stuff.

SPEAKER_01 45:40

Yeah. Hosier book talk stuff.

SPEAKER_02 45:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 45:48

And then they get married in the garden.

SPEAKER_02 45:55

They have a beautiful ceremony with um Addy.

SPEAKER_01 46:00

Addy, Marisol, and Keegan. Keegan is Marisol's wife.

SPEAKER_02 46:05

La Lesbians Happy Pride Month, by the way. Happy Pride Month!

SPEAKER_01 46:12

We're talking about a book with some some women-loving women, so.

SPEAKER_02 46:17

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 46:19

Which is very refreshing to see in a YA book, by the way.

SPEAKER_02 46:24

Yes, I was thinking the same.

SPEAKER_01 46:26

Yeah. You don't see it often. It's not like it never it's not like it never happens, but you don't see it often.

SPEAKER_02 46:33

You don't see it that often.

SPEAKER_01 46:34

Yeah, they get married in the garden. They exchange their vows.

SPEAKER_02 46:40

Cause I think the next day is like imminent war.

SPEAKER_01 46:45

Yeah, like d Deka like declares, like, I'm going to blow this whole area up.

SPEAKER_02 46:53

Yeah. So they have that one night together Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 46:56

So they get married and they have one night together as husband and wife. And then they immediately start like into war. Into war.

SPEAKER_02 47:06

Immediate.

SPEAKER_01 47:07

And they make a plan, they're like, they will not separate for the entire time. Separate. And they'll meet Addy and Umersol in a like a couple towns over. And then things start to go missing in the house.

SPEAKER_02 47:24

Yeah, like so there's two packs that go missing, um, a jumpsuit that goes missing. So um the war correspondents wear jumpsuits so that way they know they're neutral territory, and then they should kill them. They're just reporting on what they see. So one of those was stolen. Two backpacks of stolen.

SPEAKER_01 47:40

Like two like like emergency kits were stolen, and no one knows where, and they're like, oh, it's probably like Deka's like army is like just breaking in. So they don't really think anything of it. And then Roman and Iris are like running through this field, and he trips, I think. No, there's gas. Gas comes. Did you just remember what happened?

SPEAKER_02 48:05

No, it's I I know what happens, and it just it's it makes me sad.

SPEAKER_01 48:11

Yeah. She so they're running like to get away from the bombs because the bombs start going like going off, and there's like this gas, and Roman falls, like he trips or something, and he starts breathing in the gas, so he's not able, and sh they let go of their hands, and they get separated, and then this then someone cut in a war correspondent jumps to comes up to Iris and says, Come on, we have to go with the gas mask. With a gas mask. With a gas mask.

SPEAKER_02 48:43

So she can't see who it is. She thinks it's Roman.

SPEAKER_01 48:46

Yeah. So it's we'll say. We'll just say. To Iris. Roman comes up and it's like, hey, let's go, let's go, let's go. Plot twist, it's not Roman.

SPEAKER_02 48:57

Plot twist, it's not Roman.

SPEAKER_01 48:59

Um they takes the gas mask off. It's her brother. It's Forrest. It's Forest. Forrest. He took the bag, he took the jumpsuit. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 49:07

And they mind you. Mind you, Roman is behind them running in the same field of grass that Iris had saved him from the it um those wyvern. Running through this field, he's literally gasping for air. So he keeps breathing in this gas, and he's literally, literally crawling to her. And crawling, reaching out his arm.

SPEAKER_01 49:32

And she can't see him, but she can't she can't see him. She can't see him. Oh my god. The first time I read it, I sobbed. Like I was like, Kate, turn around! But then like there's gas, you can't see. Um so but so.

SPEAKER_03 49:50

And I think that's where the first book ends.

SPEAKER_01 49:53

No, no, no, no, no. The first book ends. They're back in their apartment, and Iris is like, I have to go back. He's my husband. I have to go back. That's true. And he's like, he's gone. He's with him now. And then you find out, like, yeah, um, Roman is taken by Deka's army. Yes. And that's where it ends.

SPEAKER_02 50:13

Yep. So that's where the first book ends. Yeah. So do we want to kind of talk about the first book a little bit before we move on to the second?

SPEAKER_01 50:22

Yeah. So what did you think of the first book, like overall? Like just the first book.

SPEAKER_02 50:26

So I thought, oh my god, this book. I loved this book. It was a good duology to start with. It was so good. It was so well written. I loved the I loved the relationship between um Iris and Roman. The th the uh it's so cute. I love the It's such a good love story.

SPEAKER_01 50:51

And I was talking to you about this earlier. It's very much marketed as a love story. Like on the cover, it's like no god, no creature, no war can come between them. Like it's very much like advertised as a love story, so it's like you know it.

SPEAKER_02 51:06

It's a main theme.

SPEAKER_01 51:07

It's like the main theme of the book. But the world building's really good. Like you see everything, you can see. I do, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 51:15

And and it's almost because like you said earlier, it's kind of set in like World War I era timing. So like motor cars are a new thing, elevators are kind of a new thing. Yeah. Um, but there's like a whimsy to it because like there's like certain places that will like kind of come in later that are magical, that have like magical properties. Yeah, there's like magic. Yeah, there's like a magical cafe that always has a warm pot of of of tea that never goes cold, or like they've described things like that within the story.

SPEAKER_01 51:45

Yeah, there's like magical building. Something I really liked the relationship because like the relationship between Irish and Roman, because Iris is such a strong character, and you really see it in the second book, but Roman really pushes her to be that strong character. Like, whether it's like his teasing, his mocking him, the letters, like he's very much like you can do it, like you just do it. Like, he's very much like that, like like grounding for her to be the person that she wants to be.

SPEAKER_02 52:31

Yeah, and that's what a partner should do is is push you in a way that makes you a better person, but not in a way that you um yeah, like are not feeling supported by them. Yeah, you know.

SPEAKER_01 52:46

There's um I love Roman. There's a quote that I in the book, and I'm gonna do this quote first because this is my quote that has like the I'm gonna talk about a touchier topic. But it's a quote, um, it's Iris about Roman, and it's he found me on my darkest day, he followed me to war, to the front lines that came between me and death taking wounds that were supposed to be mine. I really loved this quote because it made me think of my husband because I'm trying not to cry at all. My husband has been like just someone who's always been there for me. And last year I had a really, really rough time. I did try to kill myself last year, and he just stood by me and helped me when I needed it, and I still struggle with a lot of my like mental stuff because that stuff just doesn't go away. And yeah, I feel like sometimes I'm the war that he has to endure, and so that just made that quote just made me think of him and like how much like he is like a Roman to me, where he will he's just my biggest supporter, and like that's why I really like love this story because Roman doesn't care about anything of her, he just cares about her, he doesn't care that she doesn't have a father or a mother, she doesn't care that she's from live she's living in this apartment with no power and eating just bread, like and like he truly cares for her, yeah, in a way that she's not felt by not had and it just it just cares for her and it just stuck with me because it just made me think of my husband and how much like I probably put him through with like all my shit and like I wouldn't say that you are the war, I would say that he went to war with you for that, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 55:33

But like you're not something he's fighting, I can tell you that.

SPEAKER_01 55:37

Yeah, so that quote just really stuck out to me because of that, because like my husband deserves a gold medal for everything. He does.

SPEAKER_02 55:48

We love him. I love him. He's an amazing person, he's like and he reminds me, like, of he's like a brother to me. Like, he he's always there for you when you need him. Like, always, no matter what it is.

SPEAKER_01 56:01

Yeah, like he will like I'm sure a lot of my other friends will say it, but like we've we've celebrated me and him in certain ways, and we've been doing stuff for me and him, and when our friends have needed us, like he's always been like, I'm gonna put me aside right now, check on them, but I but he doesn't throw us a like like he's like oh I'm going through this really good thing right now, but he won't he won't throw his passion away, but he'll always if someone needs him, he'll put them above anything else. He will always be there, and he's such an amazing man. Okay. Wow, I cried on the fourth episode of the podcast.

SPEAKER_02 56:59

There's a quote I'm trying to find, and you might be able to find it. Um It's it's one of my favorite quotes from the book is probably uh a reoccurring one throughout this the story, especially within the first book. It's a reoccurring one throughout the first book. It's where she was talking about um her armor and piece. It's him. You can find that quote for me. I think it's a quote from Rowan.

SPEAKER_01 57:30

It's actually technically a quote from Carver if we want to get technical. I have a list. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 57:38

I knew you had a list pulled up, so I was like, I know you can find it, but quicker than I would. Um, but yeah, once we got that quote pulled up, I'll talk I'll talk a little bit why.

SPEAKER_01 57:46

Um Another quote I like, but is and we can talk about this one if you want, is I think you and I are simply better together. And that was one that kind of yeah, kind of came up because she said it like when they were just rivals, like but working together, but also when they were like yeah, together.

SPEAKER_02 58:07

Together, married married.

SPEAKER_01 58:09

Oh, here, I found it. It takes courage to let down your armor, to welcome people to see you as you are. Sometimes I feel as you I can't risk having people behold me as I truly am, but there's also a small voice in the back of my mind, a voice that tells me, You will miss so much by being so guarded. Was that the right one?

SPEAKER_02 58:32

That one. Yes. That one might makes me want to cry.

SPEAKER_01 58:37

That one, she they talk about armor a lot because there's another one that's I think we all wear armor. I think those who don't are fools, risking the pain of being wounded by sharp edges of the world over and over again. But if I've learned anything from these fools, it is that to be vulnerable is a strength most of us fear. It takes courage to let down your armor to welcome people to see you as you are.

SPEAKER_02 59:02

Yeah. Yeah. And that quote reminded me of Isaac, you know, because I think it's a good thing that our our partners are resembling book characters, so yay for us.

SPEAKER_03 59:14

Not like we have a type.

SPEAKER_02 59:17

It's that like I've also noticed I do I do have a type, and I've I've definitely noticed what it is in the past couple days. Anyway, we're gonna move on. Um, but that quote specifically, because I remember when I first started like dating him, and I was it was a very interesting spot in my life. I've never dated before, and I had that wallap of like I'm I'm just gonna ignore people, I'm just gonna bear down and like do my shit, right? And then like he came into my life, and in order for me to continue, I guess, in the direction I wanted to go, I had to open myself up to him. And that was hard for me. And as it was as as it is for most people going through some some stuff, and just meeting people in general, it's hard to open up to people, especially if you don't know them, if you don't trust them. But then in the quote, it later says, But if you don't open up, you're gonna miss so much. And I learned that growing up too. Like I used to have a really big like I was scared of everything. Okay, so hopefully that should have worked. I'll keep an eye on it now. My computer's being really weird. Um it's that new Wi-Fi. We we need the new Wi-Fi. We haven't started it yet.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:44

Anyway, um It's the old Wi-Fi.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:48

It's the old Wi-Fi. Okay. So I think we're just talking about quotes um Yeah, from Devon. I think we could probably move on. I think we can move on to Ruthless Vows unless we wanted to talk about it further.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:59

No, yeah, let's move on to Ruthless Vows, because uh this episode's gonna be long, so I don't want it to be just a lot of people. Okay, okay. You want to start with since I started with the talk of this, you can start kind of Yes. Well, maybe go through this a little quicker than we did this week.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:18

So um I first want to ask. First one I asked, what did you rate Ruthless Vows?

SPEAKER_02 1:01:24

I rated it a five.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:26

Okay. Me too. Overall five-star duology.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:30

Overall, yeah, overall five-star duology. So Ruth's Vows. So it takes place right like a week, two weeks after the war, at after Roman and Iris have split. She has gone back to the Inc. Um Inkrid and Tribune. Um, she's writing um papers for them about the war. She's still being a war correspondent, she's just not on the front anymore. Addy's also back. Um, and then they have um gone back to their old flat apartment. Um living together in her mom's old apartment, which they own, figured out. So they own that apartment. So um they're going back and forth to work. Iris has been having a weird feeling of someone following her as of recently. She has this encounter with someone um that is involved with Iris' father-in-law, so Miss uh Mr. Kit. Um, Iris dad.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:31

So I think Roman's dad visits first.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:35

Roman's dad visits first.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:36

Yeah, because he's like Where is my son?

SPEAKER_02 1:02:40

Yes, so yeah, Roman, um, so yeah. Roman's dad breaks into her apartment, is like, where's my son? I don't know where he is. You were he went to war with you. Where is he? And she goes, Well, I don't know of his location, but he's not here. I he's not over there. You tell me. And he's like, he's like, I don't know. And then so then he leaves, he scares Iris, she tells Forrest about it.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:09

Forrest is like, what the fuck?

SPEAKER_02 1:03:11

Anyway, then she goes to work for the next couple days, she's kind of figuring things out how to get back to Roman. Or how to find Roman. GG, how to find Roman.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:23

So because I think Marisol said, like I think she had been in contact with Marisol. No, or Addy, and Addy was in contact with someone talked to somebody, and someone said, We went back to the field and he wasn't there.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:41

So he was just gone.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:42

He was just missing. He was just gone. So um she's trying to figure out how to find him. And so then she gets she gets stopped by this visitor, and he works for Roman's dad. Bruce. Let me find out his name. He gives her a fat stack of cash, like enough to last her probably the rest of her life.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:07

And is like, hey, if you take this money and if you annul your marriage with my son, we'll call it even. We'll call it a day. We don't need to talk to each other again. And she looks at him in the eyes and goes, No, that's I'm that's my husband. I love him. I'm not taking your money. So then, badass of Iris to do. Love that. Continues to go to work. And then she gets called to the front lines again with Addy. They go, they meet Tobias.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:40

I love Tobias.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:41

I love him.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:42

He's a little race car driver dude.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:44

He's a race car driver dude that catches a fancy for Addy. And I love I love their cute little relationship. It's adorable. So he his job is to run them back and forth from or run their articles back and forth from the front lines to the um to the um to the tribune tribune where where they print off their articles. And he is supposed to drive them further and further up closer to the front.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:13

He's not supposed to go past a specific town though.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:19

But so they get to their first stop, which is Murasol, and um they're having like a day there, they're like talking to people, they're writing things down, they're writing their articles, and then um so in the meantime, we're gonna cut to Kit. We're gonna cut to Roman. Roman has been captured by Draco. Yes. And he is being used as Draco's war correspondent and is writing positive things about Draco's war and how he is such a healer, and how he's um healing people, and um but I will say.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:00

Roman, so they found they find the they get the thing they get the um article from the Oath Gazette and Roman's writing and uh Helen who runs the Inkridden Tribune is like he's turned on us and like Iris is like this isn't right, like nothing like I don't believe this, and then um she showed it to Forrest and Forrest is like oh he's now part of his army, but he won't remember you at all or anything.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:30

He doesn't remember a thing. Draco has taken all of his memories, so now he is having to re-remember everything. And like, so he he thinks of in this moment he thinks of Draca as like a healer, a saver, that he saved his life, and he is starting to write um notes and like articles for him explaining his side of the war. But um, so he is locked up under in the underworld, whatever. Like he wakes up like really distraught, whatever, and then Draco comes and pulls him up to Avalon Clef and is like writing his typewriter, whatever. He has two, so he has two of the typewriters, Iris' typewriter and um Kit's typewriter. Draco asks Roman to pick which one, and he kind of like feels him out. And I think, doesn't he pick up Iris' typewriter?

SPEAKER_01 1:07:32

No, so he picks his own and then they give him the wrong one on purpose because when he goes back to his writing, he's like, This is not my typewriter, but it it was like it's they're testing him, they're trying to see if he actually remembers or not, because so uh Deka's like premise is he will heal his soldiers, but he won't heal them fully to see if they will turn on reliant on him, yeah. Because the power that he has that makes them forget also takes the pain away, and if they start to be in pain, he's like, Oh, I know they're starting to remember. It's a way to control his army.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:20

Yeah. So Rowan's going through all of that, and he's like starting to slowly get like images and visuals and sense, but he's not getting like the full picture yet. Like he doesn't even remember his name at this point. And so like he's like doing stuff for Draca. And then I can't remember what happens next.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:47

Um he slowly starts to remember things because he's having dreams. So he has like a dream. Yeah, he's having he has like dreams of his sister. He has a dream of Iris. Um, and he's like, Who why do I know these people? Like he's slowly starting to remember, and then the letters start again. Yep. Oh, because Iris stole the the first one from the museum.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:19

Iris broke into a Iris broke into a museum, a magical museum, by the way. Broke into this museum just to steal this typewriter, so that so there's three of the magical typewriters. I mean, we should explain that. There's three magical typewriters.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:32

Oh yeah, they refer like this one girl that was sick and um her dad had three of them made for her friends, one being Iris' grandmother, one being Roman's grandmother, which is why they have them.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:47

Yes, so then she breaks into a museum to steal the first Aluet. Alloet. Aloy. Yeah. That's that's what the typewriters are called. So she steals the first one and she starts secretly writing to Roman. But Roman doesn't know it's her, obviously, because he doesn't have his memory.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:05

Yeah, so but she's like the first one that's like, um there's it's three questions. Yeah, she sends him three questions like what's the name of my pet snail? Um, I don't know how do I like my tea in the morning or something like that. What was the name of my pet snail? What is my middle name? And what is my favorite season and why? Yeah. And it's to make sure, like originally she was like, Oh, I it was to see if like she remembered him or not. He did not.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:57

It was also her testing to see if it was actually him, though, too. She because she could she didn't know one if he she he had his memory or two if it was actually even him, because she didn't know where the typewriters were.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:08

Yeah, she didn't know where they were.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:11

And then so Roman is really confused by this letter. And he is about to tell Draca about it, but then like something in his instinct like basically fought him and told him, No, do not show that to him. That will be detrimental. Yeah, so then he doesn't end up showing it to him. And I think he does I think um Rebecca Ross describes it as like um the a letter never felt so heavy in his pocket, or it's like something like that.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:50

Because he's he's like, he doesn't know why or understand how he needs to hide that letter. But like something in his gut is telling him to hide it.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:01

Yeah. And then so sh eventually they they continue talking, and he's slowly starting to regain his memories, but he still doesn't know that this is Iris because he does not know that Iris is his wife and stuff like that. All he knows of Iris is that they used to work at the Oath Gazette together and they did not like each other. That is all he knows about Iris. And that's what is Draca knows as as well. Yeah, because he like will ask him questions and be like, Did you remember things?

SPEAKER_02 1:12:39

Like he's very like Draca's very manipulative with Roman, but luckily Roman kind of realizes and kind of gets hinted at from like the other like soldier that's there from what's happening. Shane kind of hints, hints, Lieutenant Shane hints at like things, some things going on. Um and and he's starting to like kind of put the pieces back together. And then so he kind of like he kind of refalls in love with Iris again, noting back to um the letters. He falls in love with and he tells He falls in love with Elizabeth, so that's her middle name about it. Yeah, and um It's like so he full circle here. He has crucial information on the war effort where she is stationed, so he sends her a message saying that this this place is gonna get. Yeah, he's like Hawkshire's gonna be bombed, and she's right near it. She's near it. So he's telling her to leave, whereas Iris does the exact opposite.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:46

It's like he's like, burn this, like, burn this, don't show anybody. Burn? What does Iris do? What does Iris do? Burn my words. Burn my words. That's what he says. Burn my words. What does Iris do?

unknown 1:14:03

No.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:03

As Iris does. Hey Tobias, can you drive me to Hawkshire? Addie goes, I'm coming with you. So the three of them go. Like, hell yeah. Well, first he goes, I can't drive you that far. And then he's like, she's like, it's Roman! He's telling us this place is gonna be bombed. And guess who's stationed in Hawkshire? Keegan Mary's wife.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:26

So they get to Hawkshire, they warn them about the attack, they get everyone out, everyone is safe. So then So Addy, Tobias, and um Iris are all um helping soldiers um get loaded up. So they're like one of the last people to leave. Yeah. So they get in the their race car, they drive around, boom, they got a flat tire. Yeah. Of course they did, right? They don't have the tire jack thing that they need. They don't have the tool thingy that they need to fix the tool. So Iris runs runs back into the village as into the village.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:06

Yo, right.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:07

Iris runs back into the village. Tell the story. Tell it, girl. She runs back into the village. She is trying to find this tool thing, but then she's in this one house and she hears footsteps. She's like, oh shit, they're here. So then she hides in a bedroom. She hides in a wardrobe. There are plenty of soldiers. They're yeah, so they're going out of the wardrobe. And so like she hears soldiers and this and she's hiding, like, I think in her she it's in her wardrobe, and she's carrying like this huge, like she has a wrench. She has a wrench. So she hears footsteps coming up, and like there's this a soldier that's searching around the bedroom. And so when the soldier opens up the closet, Steve's about to hit him. Guess what? It's Roman. It's not a soldier, it's Roman. It's not a soldier, it's Roman. So then Is that when he fully remembers her? So he froze. Then um he's like, he recognizes her. He's like, oh my god, this is the woman in my dreams. And he looks at her and he goes, Who are you? And she goes, I'm your wife. I'm your wife. Oh my god. And then the minute she touches him, he remembers everything. Everything. He remembers everything. And then now he is the guy on the inside and spying on Draca to take him down. Draco, Decray, Dacra, whatever the hell his name is. They use the typewriters to communicate crucial vital war information back and forth from Oath to where um to wherever. He's in the underling. He's in the underling.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:02

He's underneath the earth. Which is why they hear because they can hear them. Remember, Addy and Iris can hear them underneath the earth. Like they feel them shaking. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:13

Yes, that was another thing. So they're creating ley lines, so hence the magical houses. There's ley lines on the magical houses of tunnels underneath. But so getting back to probably one of my favorite scenes in this book is um as Iris touches Kit, Kit is like, run. Run for your life. So Iris is running back to the car, and then she's getting shots fired at her. She's running back to the car. Uh, the car's not there. So then she's panicking, like, oh my god, my best friends left me. But then Tobias scoops, scoops by, scoots by, picks her up, and like starts driving. Then, probably my favorite scene in the entire book is when the hellhounds, I'm gonna call them hellhounds because they basically are the hounds are literally chasing Tobias, Addy, and Iris in the car, and Tobias is like flooring that shit. He's okay. So I like Tobias is like maneuvering in and out of these hounds, and then they make it out and get back safely. And Tobias is just like, this is no big deal. I outrun hounds all the time because he he's used to this. So Draca had sent their the hounds after them. Um so that was a really cool scene. Um, but then they make it back. Um, and so they all of the soldiers retreated to Oath, and the Chancellor of Oath decided to not let the soldiers in. And so they had to sleep outside the city. And then, did you want to take over from here on out?

SPEAKER_01 1:19:04

Um, so they are all back in Oath, except Roman. Roman is still with Deka. But he's still a spy.

SPEAKER_02 1:19:15

And so he doesn't know it's him though.

SPEAKER_01 1:19:21

Draga doesn't know it's him. Yeah, Deka does not know it's he knows there is a spy because they're like How does an entire village just evacuate the same day that I'm going to vomit? Yeah, he didn't expect that. Um so they're sorry, I'm trying to.

SPEAKER_02 1:19:47

They're back. Since they've get gotten back, Forrest has gotten in uh with like got uh in a relationship with one of Abby's friends from the Gazette.

SPEAKER_01 1:19:57

Oh yes, Forrest is now dating Sarah Prindle.

SPEAKER_02 1:20:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:20:02

Which none of us saw coming.

SPEAKER_02 1:20:05

Yeah, that was that was really thrown out of left field. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:20:08

But I I really enjoyed that relationship.

SPEAKER_02 1:20:10

It was really cute. No, it's very cute. And then, so they get back, they found out like there's another like gang running the city called the Nightmare or something like that.

SPEAKER_01 1:20:22

Oh no, no, no, no, no, no. Okay, no, I remember. It's called the Graveyard. It's called the Graveyard, and they're kind of like neutral territory. They don't want any gods.

SPEAKER_02 1:20:32

Yeah, so they're kind of like a But they're also like We just want humans to be humans.

SPEAKER_01 1:20:38

But they so they're not letting any of the armies in. They're not, yeah. Um, but so they're still communicating, Roman and Iris. They're still talking. Yep. And then Deka's like, oh, there's a mole. Like, I'm gonna find the mole. And then, but Deka wants Iris. Yes. He wants Iris to write for him. And so Roman warns her. They he makes Deka makes Roman meet Iris. So they have to pretend they don't know each other.

SPEAKER_02 1:21:17

Without Iris getting warned, by the way, that they were gonna meet. So she had no idea beforehand.

SPEAKER_01 1:21:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:21:25

He just kind of showed up and was like, hey, I need to meet you. And she was like, okay, weird.

SPEAKER_01 1:21:30

Yeah. And so they meet, and it's he gives her a letter from Deka and a secret letter from him. Secret letter. But she caught on to contact clues to like, yeah, hey, act like you don't like me. Or you don't really know me.

SPEAKER_02 1:21:49

Yeah.

unknown 1:21:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:21:50

And basically one of the first questions was like, when was the last time we saw each other? And it was like that there and I think Iris is like, oh good, setting a timeline so that way I know when we're talking about.

SPEAKER_01 1:22:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:22:02

Like things like that.

SPEAKER_01 1:22:05

And soby. I was doing something and I got distracted. Um they're like talking the so they meet up, and so Iris reads the letter, and it's like one of them says, Iris E. Winnow. I love this scene. One of the letters is addressed to Iris E. Winnow, and the other one is addressed to my Iris. And she goes, Well, let me read the bad news first, and opens the Iris E. Winnow one because she knows. Yep.

SPEAKER_02 1:22:44

Yep. Um She says she'll always read bad news first.

SPEAKER_01 1:22:48

Yeah, so she's like, so it's Deka being like, I want you to join my team. Like, come vi come meet with me. And she's like, No, I'm good.

SPEAKER_02 1:23:00

I'm I'm chilling.

SPEAKER_01 1:23:02

And then they invite her. There was a scene where, like, I forgot when the I can't remember when it happened, but Roman gets oh, Roman, it's that same day when he's meeting. He's like, Oh, I'm in, I'm here for the night. I want you to spend the night at my my house.

SPEAKER_03 1:23:22

They have a lovely night together.

SPEAKER_01 1:23:24

They spend the night together.

SPEAKER_00 1:23:26

That's very cute.

SPEAKER_02 1:23:29

Like he has to sneak her in.

SPEAKER_01 1:23:31

Yeah. Like through the window.

unknown 1:23:34

Right.

SPEAKER_01 1:23:35

That's what's in the other window.

SPEAKER_02 1:23:36

After he sneaked, yeah, after he sneaked her out, then like he was about to get ready to go back to the underworld, but then Draca came and was like, actually, I'm staying in your house, bitch. I'm here! This is my house now. And basically, like takes over takes over the house. So at this point, no one knows that the god is in the city.

SPEAKER_01 1:23:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:23:59

Besides a few handful of people.

SPEAKER_01 1:24:01

Yeah. And Iris is also having like these weird dreams of her mom. Yes. Like throughout this time, too, which is very important.

SPEAKER_02 1:24:10

Um, and she's like hearing a specific melody while having these nightmare or these dreams about her mother.

SPEAKER_01 1:24:16

Yeah. Um. So she's having the dream. So she goes back, she goes to Addy's house, and Addy's like, You're in the same clothes, girl. What happened?

SPEAKER_03 1:24:28

What what what the hell?

SPEAKER_01 1:24:31

I forgot when and then oh, I remember. Okay, so then they and this guy I think is it Val or Bruce that invites her to the conference? I think it was Val. Val. He invites her to this conference that Deka's having. And it gets put off.

SPEAKER_02 1:24:52

Yeah, he's like having this press meeting to convince like the lords and ladies of the city to be on his call or whatever. Yeah. And then it gets bombed.

unknown 1:25:03

Let me see. Sorry, sorry.

SPEAKER_01 1:25:06

You said it earlier, so I thought it was okay. No, yeah. Okay. So it gets bombed. And but it's all so this part's in Roman's point of view, the bombing. And someone um pulls Bruce takes him out. It's Bruce that takes him out. And oh, I think we might have missed something. No, I think we No, I'll go back in a minute. Um, so Bruce takes him out and it's like, not everyone was supposed to die because your wife showed up. You find out Bruce is working for Kit's dad. Kit's dad is on both sides because he's just gonna side with whoever wins to make him look good is the main reason. He's not a good guy. Yeah. He's just picking up either side to pick whichever one's gonna win or not.

unknown 1:26:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:26:03

So Kit's Kit's dad's bombs are the ones that are blow up the conference. Yeah, but he does so then, um then Iris ends up back at the well, she's having a dream in the muse. She ends up in the museum and she has a dream. And she meets this woman after the bombing. Yeah, she meets this woman. So first you don't know it's a dream, but she meets this woman in the museum who like takes like the glass shards out of her and is talking to her, and it's like, oh yeah, like the night you came here and you stole the typewriter. Yeah, I remember that. And then you sl they they're talking, you find out the woman is Enva. Enva's been the one in her the uh the goddess, the wife to Deka. She's been in Iris' dreams, like disguising herself as her mother because she's like, Oh, people don't trust gods, but you trust the familiar. So um she's been warning her this whole time, basically being like, Oh, like this is what I'm but um I do want to talk about a scene that happened here. Um, but we can talk uh but we can talk about it with the quotes and stuff like that, but just don't let me forget. Um okay. And then the part I think I'm missing, I can't remember if it happens before. Shane finds out that Roman is the spy, and basically, like, here's um oh, it's before that because it's before the bombing. Yeah. He's like, write this confession down.

SPEAKER_02 1:27:39

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 1:27:39

And and I won't tell on you. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:27:44

And so then And then he also had him deliver a message to that he failed to do before the bombing. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:27:51

Yeah. Which is so he he's like, if you don't betray me, I won't tell on you, basically. So but you have to write this confession down. So he failed. So go back to Roman's point of view, he's talking to his dad, and then Daco shows up, and Roman's dad's like, get out of here. Like he's coming. Like, go. Um, because at the end of the day, Roman's dad just loves Roman.

SPEAKER_00 1:28:18

Like, he loves his son, like.

SPEAKER_01 1:28:22

And so, like, Roman, he you hear Roman hears Deka being like, There's a spy! I want to know who the spy is, and like threatens to like break someone's arm. And I think it was just all a ploy, because um, he already knew it was Deka. He already knew it was Roman. Because Shane turned him in. And which was another one of my lines, is like, why have you betrayed me? And he's like, I betrayed you because I love her.

unknown 1:28:55

Love her.

SPEAKER_01 1:28:57

Yeah. And he said, I will do it a hundred times over. I will do it a thousandth times. Thousandfold. Um, and then but back to the museum. Envah shows Iris this um sword that only that is the only sword that can kill a god, but you have to sacrifice your own blood for it, and it can cut through flesh and bone like butter. So, what does Iris do? Steals it.

SPEAKER_02 1:29:28

Yes. She was like, um, actually, it was gifted to me by the god. It was gifted to be by Envo.

SPEAKER_03 1:29:36

She pulls that, she pulls that at the oh and she comes when she tries to hide it at her work. She pulls that with her boss.

SPEAKER_02 1:29:43

She goes, actually, it was gifted to me. Yeah. It's very funny. Power move. Yeah. And at this point, her boss is just like, whatever, do whatever. Whatever. Anything to protect the city. Anything.

SPEAKER_01 1:29:55

Because the city's about to be bombed, by the way.

SPEAKER_02 1:30:00

Yeah, Draca announces in like a paper that's made Iris Wright.

SPEAKER_01 1:30:06

He made Iris.

SPEAKER_02 1:30:07

Yeah, they had the whole meeting. They had the whole meeting.

SPEAKER_01 1:30:09

They made Iris Wright, oh, plea move away from the South Side, because we are going to bomb the South Side.

SPEAKER_02 1:30:17

Yeah, we're gonna bomb the South Side of the City. So like all of the people who are like, oh, if you don't surrender to Draca, then like you're gonna die. Yeah. Whatever.

SPEAKER_01 1:30:26

And then Iris being the little sneaky conniving queen she is, uh, puts a secret message in the other newspaper telling people where to go to be safe so that people don't have to like completely uproot their lives.

SPEAKER_02 1:30:40

Without that, without that other um newspaper's permission, by the way. She just did it.

SPEAKER_01 1:30:46

And that guy was like, yeah, I'll make an exception. Yeah, I mean saved so many lives. Yeah. So there's this one part where you get two different POVs. You get Helen's POV, and you get Forrest's POV during the bombing. We'll talk about that later. But I just like the little like thrown I like that it was thrown in because you get to see it from different sides of the of the of the city. Like what's going on. Okay, do you want to finish?

SPEAKER_02 1:31:23

Um we can kind of like probably tangle.

SPEAKER_01 1:31:27

Well, I'm gonna finish it. I didn't know if you wanted to finish like describing the book.

SPEAKER_02 1:31:33

So like the bombing happens, and so Addy, her family, so Addy has like five siblings, and her mom and dad, um, Tobias, and then like Tobias' family all huddle up in this um cafe. Iris and Addy are like, hey motherfuckers, we are gonna go down into this secret passageway and I'm gonna play my violin Addy's like, I'm gonna play my violin to put this god to sleep. And then um Iris is like, I'm gonna use the sword to kill him. And they're like, cool, go down and do that. Just be careful. All while after finding out that Roman was the spy, um Draca had put him under in the underwhelm, like chained. In the traitor row.

SPEAKER_01 1:32:30

In Traitor's Row is what it's called.

SPEAKER_02 1:32:32

Yeah, where so like the ETH uh the wyverns will like come down and swoop you and eat you if they see you moving. So he's like standing like really still this entire time. And then so Addy and Iris go down to kill Draca. Addie starts playing the music. Roman's like, why do I hear a violin? Like not too far away from me.

SPEAKER_01 1:32:56

No, he hears a flu, and it's um Roman. It the thing he hears is a flu, and it's Daca's flu to call the wyvern to go blow up the thing.

SPEAKER_02 1:33:06

That's what it was. That's what it was. So then the wyvern uh will leave, and he's like, Okay, well, I don't I don't need to worry about that right now. So then Draga's now underground. Iris and Addie are going over to kill him. Um Addie starts playing her music. It's not working. Iris is like swinging the sword at her, and she's like, Well, shit, I forgot it needs my blood. So then she I think she cut her hand. Yeah, she cuts her hand.

SPEAKER_01 1:33:36

She cuts her hand and then fucking decapitates him. Like a big thing. I'm so proud of her.

SPEAKER_02 1:33:47

Addie was playing along, so it had put him to sleep. Um and also put Roman to sleep, too, because I think Roman heard Addy's lullaby. So the lullaby that they that Iris was having in her dreams was the song that put everyone to sleep in the underworld. So yeah, so then I can't remember. Oh, Lieutenant Shane. Is it Shane's not a bad guy? Is not a bad guy. He's working for the graveyard people. Yeah. And he was secretly a slave. Rescues rescues Roman from the underworld.

SPEAKER_01 1:34:26

The reason he turned him in was to save his so he wouldn't get captured. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 1:34:33

But then he's like, Well, you didn't tell on me, so I'm like, I might as well come save your life. So comes back for him, gets him back up to the top. Then there's a whole thing of like the graveyard people are taking over, and they found Roman with Drakear's soldiers, so then they just wanted to execute him on the spot. So then Iris, Iris heard this. Oh, by the way, Iris kills Val, too.

SPEAKER_01 1:34:59

Yes, in her.

SPEAKER_02 1:35:02

In her apartment. Um, so Bruce is like, Iris, hey, they're gonna go kill Roman. I got I need proof that he's not like Draco's soldiers. And she runs back into her apartment, grabs the letter that says burn my words, runs back, shovel in this leader's face, was like, hey, this is my husband. My husband saved so many lives today, you need to let him go. And I think they did. They needed some convincing, but they did.

SPEAKER_01 1:35:40

And then so um, it's it's um uh Keegan vouches for her.

SPEAKER_02 1:35:49

Keegan vouches, that's what it was. Keegan vouches for her, and they're like, okay, whatever. And then so Iris, I think it was like a day or so after where Iris still has not heard from No, it wasn't a day, it was that same that same time, right? Um I can't remember. It was that some time a period of time had passed.

SPEAKER_01 1:36:14

No, so it was a couple weeks, I think, or like a couple days. Um because he hadn't she had not heard from her brother or his girlfriend. Yeah. It was Yeah, it says it was noon. Cause Roman's in the hospital. Right, Roman's in the hospital. And then and he's like, where am I? Like what's happening? And so, and then and then it goes to Iris' point of view. And then um Then she's talking about how she goes to like I think they're going to like do like check on.

SPEAKER_02 1:37:08

They're taking down names for the the post.

SPEAKER_01 1:37:11

Yeah, of like body people that are missing or unaccounted for or dead. And they're like, we found some, and it's her brother and Sarah Prindle, and this scene made I had to like stop for five minutes and cry because she saw her brother's like dead body. Cause they were the last time you saw them, they were running to her parents, her father's house and during the bombing, and it's described here. I'm gonna read it because it just makes me because like you can visually like see this is um that broke me. Yeah. It says, um Iris her brother bruised a almost beyond recognition. He had shielded Sarah with his body, but it hadn't been enough. The heap of rubble had killed them both, hands entwined. And I broke down because I was like, no.

SPEAKER_02 1:38:26

Yeah, that that messed me up a little bit. But that's okay.

SPEAKER_01 1:38:33

Yeah, it was just really sad. And then Roman sees the the like the article of it, like of Hidden Dead, and he like rips his IVs out of his arm and he's like, I need to see my wife! And they're like, Can you calm down? And then two days later he gets like discharged.

SPEAKER_02 1:38:57

Yeah, I I wanted to touch up on Iris' reaction to Forrest's death. The way that Rebecca Ross describes it is very accurate from personal experience.

SPEAKER_01 1:39:14

Um you want to talk about how you first reacted to that before, before like when we were first talking about it?

SPEAKER_02 1:39:21

So I meant when we were first talking about it, I more meant as like a longevity thing, but then we kind of talked about it and it made more sense. But I mean she has a reaction. The instance after, right after you were describing as like it's it's she's drowning. That's kind of what it felt like.

SPEAKER_01 1:39:40

Yeah, it says it felt like she was drowning, like she was swallowing mouthfuls of water and everything was burning. She gasped before she doubled older, holding her hands to her sides because if she didn't, her ribs would splinter. Yeah, she literally just like fell to her knees and like sobbed. But this poor girl, like the span of like under a year, has lost all of her family. Yeah. Um but we were talking about how she uh because you you had to be.

SPEAKER_02 1:40:15

I had a problem that she didn't bring it up afterward, but then you kinda had made some good points where it was like, one this is Yes.

SPEAKER_01 1:40:23

So the next chapter is So the next chapter after is Roman finding out, like it's the next two chapters is Roman finding out that his brother-in-law and his brother-in-law Forrest and Sarah died, and then wanting to get back to Iris because he just wanted to be with her, and then him getting discharged and Iris picking him up, and then the next chapter after that takes place three months later.

SPEAKER_02 1:40:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:40:52

And I was I was telling Michaela, I was like, um, there's a span of time, so we don't get to see her process the grief. Yeah. Um I guess grief takes but for everyone, it's different.

SPEAKER_02 1:41:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:41:07

So but I was like, I was kind of explaining, I was like, at I was like, this is kind of like advertised more as like a love story, so it's focused on like the romantic relationship between Iris and Roman, and it is also a YA book, and I have noticed that in a good chunk of YAs, a lot of the time like grief isn't super brought up, and not because Which makes sense, yeah, and it's not because like not that young adults can't understand grief, but I think it's more so like it's it's a heavy thing. Yeah, it's a very heavy thing to talk about, which I c so I was like kind of but I feel like if there if we did talk about grief in this book more often than she did, the books would be so much longer.

SPEAKER_02 1:41:57

Because there is a lot of 100% true.

SPEAKER_01 1:42:00

Yeah, there's a lot of grief that goes with this book.

SPEAKER_02 1:42:02

Because you had you had also mentioned that she didn't grieve like she grieved her mother, but it wasn't like her grieving her mom, she literally like quit her job. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:42:12

And cried like after, which is fine.

SPEAKER_02 1:42:14

So like it wasn't like talked about it. But yeah, so that's my where I was more like, okay, this didn't make sense to me, but I'm glad we talked about it, because then I'm like, okay, that makes more sense after we talked. Yeah. But but like the initial reaction of Iris's like seeing them was really good, really well described. Yeah. Because after like losing someone like close to you like that, it it does feel like that.

SPEAKER_01 1:42:51

Anyway, um and then like I said, the it ends with like a three-month later, they go to their ap her old apartment, kind of pack everything up or leave what she doesn't, and she finds a letter from Forrest. And that was kind of and she kind of stated that like that was the closure that she needed. Because it was him basically being I'm with Sarah now. I'm I went to the doctor, I'm very proud of you. Like, I want to tell everybody that you're my sister, and that she kind of like explained like that was the closure that she needed, yeah, and now and she lives with Roman, and then the next chapter after that is a year later from I want to say from the last one, and yeah, which it's just it's just a really cute he's like they're ready for you, and it's like his the chapter, the next chapter of his book that he's writing, and yeah, it just kind of goes back to their relationship, like he writes and she's like editing it for him, and she's like he leaves these mistakes on purpose to see if I catch them, and I always do.

SPEAKER_02 1:44:02

And then like they have a concert that Addy's going that Addy's playing. Yeah, like they're going to dinner with his mom to achieve her dream. Yeah, she got to go to school.

SPEAKER_01 1:44:11

Oh yeah, because another thing is they talk about how his dad, the ex-fiance, and her dad are all like charged with like like like life in prison for um war crimes. War crimes against the city of and they're all in prison. So like she's like, don't forget we're going to a dinner with your m your mom and then your nan and your mom, and then we're having concert at eight. But what I liked is because like a lot of YA books they do like the one year later, and it's like they have kids and all this stuff. And I liked that like the kid they have is the book he's writing because she's like, Are they ready for me? And I was like, Oh, like their kids are like coming out. Like the first time I ever wrote it, I was like, Oh, their kids are coming in. No, it's just the book that he's been wanting to write his entire life, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:45:11

And it's just really Yeah, I just found that so sweet. And the way that they like because she has a garden now, too, which was really nice, which was a constant kind of thing within the past.

SPEAKER_01 1:45:22

Yeah, within the first one, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:45:24

Yeah, but yeah, it oh, it was such a good book. Yeah, these two books were amazing. If if you I highly recommend any of a reading, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:45:34

If you want to read any. That one we kind of like talked through all the quotes like during the things. Yeah, that's what I was just about to say. But but yeah. But okay, we want to hear your thoughts, so please tell us what you thought of the book in the thing. Or did we make you want to read it? Or also kind of like tell us like how you like this like kind of section. Um It says we've been recording for two hours, but I think with all the like technical stuff, it's not gonna be two hours long.

SPEAKER_02 1:46:06

Mine says an Yeah, mine says an hour and 50 minutes.

SPEAKER_01 1:46:10

Yeah, mine, yeah. Um, but I think we are going okay. Sorry, go back. Sorry, you were popping through mine.

SPEAKER_02 1:46:22

Um so I wanted to I think we're I think are we done talking about the books so we can move on to you can introduce series. I can tell you. Yeah, we're doing all the duology, yeah. So this time it was my turn to pick, so I pick got to pick one of my favorites because Sam did one of hers. Um, we're gonna be reading Carve the Mark and Fates Divided by um Reveronica Roth, same author of Diversion series. Um very good books. I'm very excited for us to be reading in them. They're very it's like a sci-fi fantasy romanticy YA book with a really cool magic system. Um, and it's set in space, so it's gonna be really fun. I'm excited.

SPEAKER_01 1:47:12

I'm excited. I I'm excited because the only Veronica Roth book I've read is Divergent, and I had to read it for school, so I did not enjoy it.

SPEAKER_02 1:47:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:47:23

But so I'm excited maybe this might make me want to read Divergent. That's yeah, you never know.

SPEAKER_02 1:47:30

Yeah. Okay. Um so but thank you for what listening. Thank you for supporting us this entire time on throughout these episodes.

SPEAKER_01 1:47:42

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 1:47:43

Um, putting up with our shenanigans.

SPEAKER_01 1:47:45

Please tell us what you want to read with us. Tell us what we should read. We'll do it.

SPEAKER_02 1:47:55

Answer the question at the beginning of the beginning of the episode. Yes, please. What magical item would you have and what would you do what would you use it for?

SPEAKER_01 1:48:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:48:04

But I wish I had a magical typewriter with you.

SPEAKER_01 1:48:09

We do. It's called a cell phone. It's called a cell phone. Typewriters are much more fun though. I would I would say I would love to just stick a piece of paper under a wardrobe. But yeah, we love feedback. But so tell us what you want from us, yes. But we'll see you in. So this one should be going up on June 7th. Yes. Then one after that. So uh the next one will be the 12th. So yep. Two in one week. And then Thank you for what were you gonna say? I was gonna say, make sure you read the standalones first. Yes. Yes. We did talk about those, but just to reiterate, we're doing Monstrous Kind and Black Sheep for Monstrous Kind and Black Sheep. A mini summary.

SPEAKER_02 1:49:08

Doology is gonna be. I can't remember the name of the duology.

SPEAKER_01 1:49:12

I don't know if it has a name.

SPEAKER_02 1:49:14

But it's just carve the mark and fate's divided. I have only read the first one. I have not read the second one.

SPEAKER_01 1:49:21

I have news. I this is this is what I was doing. Um I got us uploaded onto YouTube. So if you use YouTube, you don't have if you don't have Spotify, Apple Music. Um, I got us up. I it's not approved yet. I've submitted us for Amazon Music as well.

SPEAKER_00 1:49:42

Yay! That's expensive.

SPEAKER_01 1:49:44

And I'm uploading current currently to YouTube. So if that way other people have other ways to listen to us.

SPEAKER_02 1:49:52

So yay! We're expanding. I love this.

SPEAKER_01 1:49:56

But we have some fun video some v uh episodes coming up.

SPEAKER_02 1:50:02

Some playing game in the next episode. So stay tuned for that.

SPEAKER_01 1:50:06

Yeah, we have some fun guests coming up in a couple other episodes too.

SPEAKER_03 1:50:10

I'm excited for you to listen.

SPEAKER_01 1:50:12

Yeah, but I just mean in general, in like all episodes, we have some fun guests coming up. So, but thank you guys so much for listening. Thank you so much, and we won't see you, but you'll hear us in the next one. Yep. Bye, have a good night, guys.