Enchanted and Exhausted
Enchanted & Exhausted is the podcast where romantasy obsession meets real-life motherhood. Join Kayla and Sam each week as they dive into the latest BookTok favorites, fantasy worlds, unforgettable characters, and all the books keeping them up way too late. From spoiler-free recommendations and monthly book club picks to author interviews and conversations with indie bookstore owners, there's always another chapter to explore.
Between the dragons, morally gray book boyfriends, and overflowing TBRs, you'll also find honest conversations about motherhood, creativity, small businesses, and navigating the beautiful chaos of everyday life.
Whether you're here for the books, the laughs, or the reminder that you're not the only one reading "just one more chapter" at 2 a.m., grab your favorite drink, get cozy, and join us.
New episodes every week wherever you get your podcasts, with full video episodes available on YouTube.
✨ Because life is enchanting... and exhausting.
Enchanted and Exhausted
Episode 2: Reads, Reds, and Communication
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
📚✨ Episode 2: Reads, Reds, and Communication
We’re back for Episode 2 of Enchanted & Exhausted—and this week, we’re talking books, reading stats, and the realities of navigating your village as a mom. 🐉☕️
Sam & Kayla are breaking down our 2026 reading stats so far:
📖 Our favorite reads
⭐️ The books that earned top ratings
😬 The ones that disappointed us
🚫 And, of course… the DNFs. Because life is too short to force yourself through a book you’re not enjoying.
Then we get into some real mom talk. Motherhood takes a village—but being part of a village also means communicating. What happens when someone simply doesn’t show up? When plans change but no one says anything? We’re talking about how a lack of communication can leave the people in your village feeling hurt, frustrated, or like their time doesn’t matter—and why moms need to give each other a little grace and communicate.
It’s books, motherhood, friendship, a little chaos, and probably a few opinions we feel very strongly about. 😂
🎙️ Enchanted & Exhausted
✨ New episodes every Tuesday
📚 Books. Motherhood. Beautiful chaos.
Tell us: What’s your favorite read of 2026 so far—and what book did you DNF? 👀
Welcome to Enchanted and Exhausted, the podcast where we find enchantment among everyday chaos. Welcome back to our podcast. Welcome back to Enchanted and Exhausted. I'm Sam. And I'm Kayla. And today we are going to talk book stats and everything 2026 book related. So it is at the time of this recording, it is July of 2026. End of July. End of July, yeah. Today's the 23rd. I don't even know what day the week what day it is.
SPEAKER_01I know. I know. That's mom life.
SPEAKER_00Mom life. You don't even know what day of the week it is, but you know when your kids' doctor's appointments are.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Heard smacking. All right.
SPEAKER_01Um let him let him let him duke it out. I totally I'm one of those with my kids. I'm like, you know what? Stop titling and just figure it out. If it gets to the point where there's blood, then come get me.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01I'm like, but you guys need to solve your own problems. I can't fix your problems for you every single time.
SPEAKER_00Yep. The little one is kind of a bully though. He'll just walk up to his older brother and just.
SPEAKER_01You know, that's what second ones are really good at that. They know how to push those buttons.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01They're really good at that.
SPEAKER_00All right. 2026 book sets. As of July 23rd, when this video is recorded, I have finished 29 books. I am behind my schedule. Um, I have a goal of 75 this year because I did 50 last year. And yeah, I don't know if I'm gonna hit 75 now. Um, favorite genre. I don't really discriminate genres, but I went ahead and did it by the most read genre that I've done, which was um, you know, obviously fantasy.
SPEAKER_01Um was it just fantasy or like romanticy though?
SPEAKER_00Um honestly, it was a mix. It was a mix. Um, probably like a mix of romanticy and fantasy. Um, average rating, I feel like I rate books like I finished it and I'm like, oh, that was so good. And then I rate it and I'm like, why did I give that five star stuff? So according to Goodreads, my average rating is 4.25. Um physical versus audio versus Kindle. Yes. I do not discriminate. I do not discriminate. All of the above. I do not discriminate. Um, I utilize all three. I have a Kindle unlimited subscription. I listen to audiobooks on Libby and Spotify, and I have a personal library of like 120 books. So we don't discriminate in this household. Lucas is coloring his toes with a crayon.
SPEAKER_01You know what? He's he's in his own world. Go for it, dude. I pick my battle, my daughter will come out covered head to toe in colors. I'm like, you know what? It's not on the wall.
SPEAKER_00And if it is on the wall, I have magic erasers. As long as it's not on the couches.
SPEAKER_01I'm just like, you know, I drew on myself all the time as a kid and wrote notes on my hands. I'm just like, whatever.
SPEAKER_00Now I do it permanently.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Exactly. Me too. I was kind of like super excited randomly. My husband, the other day, he goes, I want to get a tattoo. And I'm like, like so shocked. Number one, he has no pain tolerance. That's why my husband and number two, just because of our religion, I wasn't sure if he ever would, but I've kind of made him lax on a lot of things with that. And um personally, I'm like, tattoos are hot. So I'm like, yeah, let's do it.
SPEAKER_00My husband is like, my husband's like, tattoos are so hot, get as many as you want. And I was like, um, sidebar, Amy is bringing a tattoo artist to the Avatar Midnight Release Party, and she's doing Avatar-themed flash tats, and I will be getting another Avatar tattoo that night. For sure.
SPEAKER_01I want to go to Texas.
SPEAKER_00Okay. Um, biggest reading month was May with seven months. Seven months. Oh my gosh. Seven books. Um, most read author for the year has been a tie strictly because of reading longer series. Um between Sarah J. Mass and Raven Kennedy. I've both read, I've read six of their books each because Plated Prisoner was six books long. Like six books long. And then I've read six uh Mass verse books. Um D and F, I don't know her. Like physically cannot not finish a book because I need to know how it ends. Even if I don't like the book, I I still I have to know how it ends. So those are my 2026 book stats. Seven months in.
SPEAKER_01All right. So for me, I have read a total of 43 books. Um, my plan by the end of July is to have 45, because I'm currently reading, so pretty much finish up what I'm currently reading. Um also throw out there, I might cough or clear my throat. I was sick and completely lost my voice, and I'm finally getting it back. I might sound a little different because of that. So just we record early in the mornings, and so that's when it's worst for me. So just sorry if I clear my voice a lot and stuff this time, but um forgive her.
SPEAKER_00Don't forgive her. How dare you? I know, right? Why are you standing on the table?
SPEAKER_01He wants to know what it's like to be grown up. Come on, mom.
SPEAKER_00He's in the 99% tile for height.
unknownOkay.
SPEAKER_01So is my so is my almost six-year-old. My almost six-year-old is taller than his eight-year-old brother.
SPEAKER_00I keep telling Omar we're raising D1 athletes. Mom and daddy are trying to retire early.
SPEAKER_01We me and my husband just said that we have created another species because also our almost one-year-old is coming up on that. She is pretty much we put her in size 18 month and size two close. She's not one yet. So all right, back. Um, my favorite genre or most read genre this year is romanticy and dark romance. So dark romance, but then I'm also I've only read like one of these this year, but I want to integrate it into my reading a lot more because it was a lot of fun with a rom com. Like just once in a while, just throw in a rom-com because that was just a good breather, a good, you know, from the same kind of dramatic romantic thing. It was it was a good, yeah. I do like comedy ones. Um, physical versus audio versus Kindle. So I'm same as Sam. I don't discriminate. However, when it comes to convenience in my life with six children and running a household, audiobook is my most convenient way to listen. I do love to physically read books, but I will um I'm I don't like to leave them lying around. I have a one-year-old that loves to rip up pages and to carry that book around with me all the time. I'm worried about bending the pages and stuff too from having it stuffed in bags. And um so then I also have my Kindle. So I prefer if I'm gonna read, read, it'll most likely be on my Kindle. But there has been times where I will read on my Kindle and then switch it to audiobook because I I'm taking too long to read. So, and I want to finish it sooner. Um, my biggest reading month so far this year was March. I read nine books. And um my most read author, same kind of thing as you. It's just a matter of because of the number of books in the series this year so far. Um so same for you as um the Plated Prisoner series. I've read six of those books, so Raven and Kennedy. But then also my other one that I have read um a lot of is the Zodiac Academy books. So it's Caroline Peckman and Susan Valenti, because that's dual authors. Um I have DNF'd one book.
SPEAKER_00Like Evan.
SPEAKER_01Um, my ratings. Okay, sorry, I forgot to say my overall ratings for mine, um, according to my Fable, because that's where I keep my list updated the most, is in Fable. Um, I think it said it was 4.4. I only have one book that is below a three and a half rating. And um I'll talk about that one later because that one is just I think it's a personal one for me. A lot of people love the book, and I had my own personal reasons for not liking it. All right. Um oh I was finishing off my DNFs.
SPEAKER_00Your one DNF that you've ever had in your whole entire life.
SPEAKER_01At least this year. Okay, so my one DNF that I've had this year is actually from the Red Rising series. And it is the second book in the Red Rise Red Rising series, Golden Sun. Um, I will most likely pick this up again. I think it was just the time I was reading it. Um and it's very political, and I just I would put in the audiobook, but not listen. And that's not like me. So it just didn't grab my attention right away. It's actually a series written by a man, and this is what I've heard. Have you heard about Red Rising series, Sam? I've heard it's the male version of Throne of Glass. So it's like how Throne of Glass has a female main character going through this whole thing, right?
SPEAKER_02Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_01That's how, and the first one is really, really good. I loved the first one, so I was really disappointed with myself that I couldn't finish the second one. I will get back to it. I have heard that pretty much where I stopped. I have about four hours left to listen to it, and I've heard that, oh, that's when it gets good. But because I don't even really recall what I was listening to, I need to listen to the whole thing again. So I'll give it another shot. I just need to be. I had so many anticipated reads when I started reading that one that those were on my mind so much more than this one. So I need to kind of like cut down on my anticipated reads to get back to it.
SPEAKER_00That's how I feel with the um Red Queen series. I haven't read that one yet. The dystopian series, like dystopian fantasy type thing.
SPEAKER_01I have um a special edition Red Queen book, but I haven't read it yet.
SPEAKER_00Alright. Um, let's do our 2026 book awards so far. Um, I picked five categories. So best book overall.
SPEAKER_01And to be clear, we have different we have different categories. We had like a huge list, and her and I just picked from that list of like 15 or 20. We picked the our top five we want.
SPEAKER_00Um, this is also like we filmed this in July. Um, so I will be adding to this list and potentially changing my best book overall.
SPEAKER_01Well, yeah, we're gonna be going through this. I I feel like we're gonna be going through an episode like this every once in a while to update where we're at in our reads and things like that because it does, it updates a lot.
SPEAKER_00So yeah. Um, best book overall has been Goldfinch, which is the last book in the Plated Prisoner series by Raven Kennedy. I just I don't know, I am obsessed with the series. I recommend it to everybody who hasn't read it already. Um, and just like that book, it just wrapped up the series, and I love the way that it wrapped up. I love the series itself, and I love the author. So that is my top book of the year thus far.
SPEAKER_01I gotta say, I was actually so sad when that series ended.
SPEAKER_00I was too. It was like I wanted more. I wanted more. I wanted more, and I was really sad that it ended, and I have abandonment issues. Um that's why I can't finish Grey's Anatomy. I can't get past like season 18 on Gray's Anatomy. Um, but I just like I love the series. I'm sad that it ended. I wish there was more, but I love the series so much that I am like content with where it ended. Um biggest disappointment was really hard because I had such high hopes for this book, considering the other books that this person had written. And it was Blood and Roses by Kelly Hart because Quicksilver and Brimstone, Blood and Roses is not a fantasy book, it's a dark romance. Quicksilver and brimstone are romantic books, and I feel like Quicksilver and Brimstone, compared to Blood and Roses, were like masterpieces. Um, obviously, Ceres needs a little bit more character development. We kind of touched on that earlier, but then Blood and Roses was just like such a letdown. Like it was there was no character development, there was no chemistry, it was literally just smut and mafia slash like gang type. It wasn't really a mafia, but like smut and gang, and that was it. There was no character development, there was no chemistry between the characters. It felt very the relationship between the FMC and the MMC felt very forced with no time to really like no flow or give and take kind of thing. I also feel like it's a trope, not necessarily a trope, but like she's a doctor, he's a bad guy. Like that is a very common she's an ER nurse, or she's an ER doctor, and he's a bad guy, and they meet because he brings a girl in that is hurt. Like, I feel like that's a very common play in mafia cartel books like that. So that was my biggest disappointment. Um, best audiobook was Quicksilver and Plated Prisoner. Like it's a tie because I think that the voice actor for the male character is the same in both of them. I think you're right. I think so. And he just he brings so much uh depth to the character he's narrating. He also has a very nice.
SPEAKER_01He's he's also in I wanna say he's also in Zodiac Academy. Probably that I listen to.
SPEAKER_00He has a very nice, grumbly voice. Um, biggest surprise, I actually only read these specific books because they popped up on my Kindle, like on the you should read. And it is the Poseidon Trials by Ezra Rain. So there's actually three books. Um, the Hades Trials, the Ares Trials, and the Poseidon Trials. I read the other two last year, so I didn't include them in this year. But for being a not very well-known author and not a very well-known series, like I was thoroughly surprised by the books. There is she does need a new editor because there is a lot of grammar errors in the book itself. Uh but uh very good storyline, very good play on Greek mythology, which I am slightly obsessed with. Um most underrated.
SPEAKER_01Are you gonna go see the new audio movie or Odyssey movie that's coming out?
SPEAKER_00Maybe possibly. I don't know. I'm not a big movie person, like in-theater movie person, I'm an at-home movie person. Um, most underrated, I feel like, because it's geared more towards like the young, the truly young adult crowd of the YA books is Red Queen. It is the series, it's a nice little dystopian slash fantasy series, and I feel like a lot of people equate it to Hunger Games, but Hunger Games is a lot more popular. Like there's a there's a power imbalance.
SPEAKER_01I've seen something along the lines of um, I've seen people rating the powerless series. That was plagiarized, 100% plagiarized from to the Red Queen to Hunger Games, and that that it's it's yeah. I mean, they say it is, I don't know. I don't wanna I haven't read those other two series outside of Hunger, even then Hunger Games, I haven't fully read it. That is actually a DNF that I did years ago was Hunger Series. Years of years ago, yeah. The first, the very first one, because it got to the point where they opened up to the cornucopia, and I knew from watching the movie that it was going to be just bloodshed of kids, and I I couldn't keep reading it.
SPEAKER_00I might be able to before they before I read the books long before they turned them into movies.
SPEAKER_01Uh, not me. I think uh but like if I I could probably now, but but at the time I was like, oh, this is gonna be kids being hurt and killed, and I just I couldn't keep reading it. And then here's my 12-year-old daughter has read all of them.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Um, I am gonna throw a sixth category in there strictly for rage bait purposes. Okay, go for it. Um, most overrated anything by Colleen Hoover.
SPEAKER_01I've never read Colleen Hoover.
SPEAKER_00I have read one Colleen Hoover book. I have done research on other Colleen Hoover books, and I just am not a fan. What is it? She romanticizes, she romanticizes abusive relationships. Like, and as somebody who is a d v victim in the past, many, many, many years ago, it just doesn't is yeah. Um the book, the one book that I have rated one star is also written by her. So why are you crying? Anyway, um, it's your turn. I'm gonna mute my audio real quick so I can okay.
SPEAKER_01All right, um, my categories or the awards for what I've read so far this year. Um I have two for books that have made me laugh. Rules for the summer, super, super funny. Um, that one is a rom com by Megan Quinn. If you haven't read it, I highly recommend it because it is just very funny. And if you can't, I recommend the audiobook because the audiobook gives the, even though it's not a dramatized adaptation, they still have different voices for the main characters. And so that helps to give more insight to that character. And because like two of them are British, two of them are not, but one's a kooky aunt, one's a funny British best friend. So it it just it it's funny. I was literally laughing out loud when I read that book. I actually sent it to a friend who um bought one of my blind dates for a book, and I sent her that one, and she, same thing, was like, I am laughing out loud reading this book. It was it's very very funny um another one that goes into this category I will name off because I have a best overall and I kind of added the best overall um feeling like it fit most of all of these other topics so um I'll reveal that one last I felt like one of the most underrated books is um A Curse of Shadow and Ice it is one I honestly haven't heard people talk about at all. I happen to read it because I was trying to do research on my own book that I'm writing and I am I'm wanting to write a book um about like I love I I've always wanted to be a marine biologist so I love marine animals and I was like okay if I did like an animal shifter kind of story and I have this whole idea in my mind but I just wanted to do research on it um to see if there's like different lores and things like that to play off of and for some reason when I put it into Google they recommended that this book be part of that lore so I started listening to it. Yes and it's I heard you talking about it so I grabbed it. Yeah so this is my most underrated book it is not a part of that lore at all it is actually a beauty and the beast shield of sparrows combination standalone book is so good and I love Beauty and the beast and I love Shield of Sparrow. This is from Kayla got this from Kayla yeah I sent that one to her in a blind date for a book too um it is so so good and if you just need you know instead of like all of because with romantic being our favorite genre it tends to have lots of books in series or long ones and this is a really good short standalone. Yeah so um I gave that one five stars I loved it I even have a rating for it on my TikTok account and I loved that it's by a smaller author too because um not actually necessarily a smaller author her TikTok she has a good following on there and stuff I tagged her in that post and she actually went and commented on it. It was like one of those like fan star moments and she's like oh thank you for doing this that's so exciting that's so exciting. I know I was like of course I love this book. So um yeah I think it'll be fun who knows maybe because she commented on it maybe she'd be opening to coming on the podcast with us if you read it and then we can talk to her about who knows but okay um my uh a book that made me cry this I put this book on the list because it threw me off guard. I didn't expect this book to make me cry but it did it's called in five years and it's I have it um it's not romanticy I read this for a book club book and I don't even a fiction it's just a fiction book. It's not even a romance it's not any of that but what they don't tell you about this book what it's not it should it really needs to give this as a trigger warning because it doesn't is that it has cancer in it and I cried because I could really relate to me and my best friend in this book. And it just reminded my best friend since I've had since the first day of kindergarten we've had babies together and all of that. So we um I really that book made me think of her and if that was going to be our situation and that's why I cried in that book. I kind of put myself in this situation. Yeah. I feel like cantonism is always so if if you want to read this book it is really good but there is a trigger warning that this does involve someone getting cancer and passing away from it. So um I I I think people need to be warned about that because I feel like if you refreshly had that happen to your life and then you picked up this book it would be very very hard to finish reading it. So if you like I I'm even even like the person who led our book club for this was like I'm surprised they didn't talk about that. She's like I had no idea that was in there until we read it and a lot of us didn't know because it wasn't revealed so I do want to say it has cancer death of cancer trigger warning for anyone who wants to read it but it is a really good one. And also when you read it it's it's led to believe it's a romance book but it's really not it's really a story about two best friends. So um that one made me cry um and then my favorite series that I've read this year it's pretty much a tie between two series um the Shield of Sparrows series and the wolves of ruin series which is uh dire bond and fury bound um or dire bound and fury I can't remember the word that's my that's direbound and fury bound yeah it is bound yeah they're both bound and then the third one that's one of my anticipated ones coming out but um those two I feel like out of the top of those two though my most favorite series was Shield of Sparrows that one I couldn't put down I couldn't put down reading those at all but they're still top two of what some of the best series I've read um and right now there's only two in each and next year the third book comes out for both my best overall book if you can't guess it Sam I'm sure you can because I talk about it all the time I am in love with Night in the Moth I it is always on my mind this book is so freaking good the second one comes out September 1st this year and I'm so excited I got these cute little gargoyles and moths to make my pen. Here's her like shroud the example of the shroud she has to wear over her eyes the night in the moth is just it's perfect. It's absolutely perfect um I would recommend listening to the audiobook because there is this character in there that is a comic relief character. Reminds me of a lot of myself um because of my ADHD and my dyslexic I tend to like mix up letters and words a lot more so when I speak especially quickly or like last minute kind of things I don't really um I mix I just mix stuff up all the time aw and he does that a lot too boy yeah one of my favorite lines that this he goes every dog has its day oh no no no he says but he says every day has its dog you know he just mixes them up and that's something I would do so I love that but the whole story is just amazing amazing and I have mom life I have three books of it you can't see them back there but I have this that's that's a special edition one I have two more special edition one of them's in German just because it's beautiful I'll show you yes because it's a beautiful beautiful German edition book and she's getting an indie edition from me yes but I mean look at this I mean it's all in so there's the map and then this is the front cover of the German edition it's just beautiful book um sorry so that is my overall favorite read this year and I really hope the knave in the moon doesn't let me down because I'm probably gonna listen to this one more time next month before it comes out September 1st too I'm gonna try to read it before it comes out that's on my TDR so so good.
SPEAKER_00Listen to the I might have to pause Akatara to read it you'll you'll get through it really fast.
SPEAKER_01I did I think I got through it in like two days listening to it because I couldn't stop reading it.
SPEAKER_00So my top 10 books I'm hoping to read this year. We just talked about it The Knight and the Moth is one The Nave in the moon is the second one I really want to read the Little Stranger Little Liar duo I haven't heard of that one. The one with the spider on the front hold on I have the I have the book please pause um so it's the Web of Silence duet the web of silence duet the first one is called The Little Stranger okay and the second one is called the Little Liar. They're very short books um the first one is 251 pages the second one is even smaller so they're not very long route these are dark romance books trigger warning content warning take seriously so I want to read that duet I want to read the mad wife I've had a lot of friends read it and say that it's really good. So want to read that one I have um the actual physical copy of the seven husbands of Evelyn Hugo been on my TBR forever just haven't like sat down and read it yet um Variation by Rebecca Yarros because okay hello Rebecca Yarros it's one of the contemporary novels that she wrote in between writing umpyrean I don't know how she does that she has I I do because she has to take a break like I can't read I have to take a break between dark romance romanticy I have to read something I I do too I get that but when you're writing it's like I feel like I I don't know I could be wrong I've never written a book yet so I I could be wrong but I think she also does it as like a suspense like to her readers.
SPEAKER_01But I feel like my what what blows me away is she has so many books that she releases back to back that I'm like man you have to think about how to put your mindset in from writing a fantasy to switching that like oh I can't put fantasy in you know what I mean I feel like that's what like blows me away yeah yeah um so I I also want to read read alchemized the giant book I do too maybe we could make that a book club read because I want to read that one too but it is very intimidating.
SPEAKER_00The read between the wine nights that I was telling you about that we get four like we get a choice of four books. Yeah um one of them I got from there I haven't read yet it's called In Her Own League and it is about the first um woman owned MLB team like she's the first woman to own an MLB team and they have a movie about that don't they I think so um but I don't want to watch the movie okay I get heartbroken by movies because they're not the same as the books.
SPEAKER_01Yeah isn't it the one with uh what's her name is it Jennifer Gardner she does 13 going on 30 yes and then like the owner the manager of the MLB team that she owns is just not very nice at first so I'm I really want to read that um I obviously have to finish Mass first um I don't know if you sent me this one or if I bought it somewhere but it's called um it's the Kingmaker series not me I have the first one I have the first one I might have got it from somebody um I have the first one so I want to read that and then I want to read both of these this do it I just wrote that one down I have the same I have the same special editions same ones I love them um I just wrote that down that I want to read those I actually like I'm going through my list of books that I have already purchased with my credits that I haven't listened to and I'm like oh my gosh there's so many.
SPEAKER_00And then I'm gonna throw an honorable mention in there strictly because if I get to it I get to it I bought this book because of how pretty the cover and the sprayed edges are I have no idea what this book is about um I didn't even read the back it's just pretty it's writ it's written by Emily McIntyre which is who wrote the Never After series which is another dark romance series oh I have that one too I've heard it's so funny I don't think I have this you and Juliet are the sun I don't have the sprayed edges because I got this in it's it's a romance I got it in um unwrap a romance from Target and it was this one and my one of my best friends read it and she said she loved it and it was just funny and really good.
SPEAKER_01So I should put this one down because I do like rom-coms. Man see like I'm like I'll hear this down to 10 books.
SPEAKER_00I have 11 apparently it's like a ploy on a Romeo and Juliet story obviously um I've heard it's funny though the main character's name is Juliet um but I bought it strictly because of the covert and the edges.
SPEAKER_01I know I wish I bought it when this I I would love to get one with the sprayed edges might have to look and see if I can find one and then I can put this one in my blind name for a book if you sprayed it. Okay if so let me know because then I'll throw this in my blind date for a book inventory.
SPEAKER_00I'll see if Amy can find it Amy Amy is my local indie bookstore owner hashtag Amy is bell love you you're the best she's gonna be on here right we're gonna have her on here one of these episodes okay she is hopefully opening her new location August 15th okay cool and that's what we're gonna do like I'm gonna hold hold my personal local book club meetings there.
SPEAKER_01I've already talked to her about it I'm so excited if we could almost even do a podcast episode there with her I think that'd be cool too that would be really cool. I would if not but I mean if so I think that yeah anyways so those are my top 10 slash 11 I want to read the the last five months of this year. I don't know how to narrow down this list. I know that's what I was doing good reads and looking at all of my want to reads I know I'm like looking at like the ones I've already purchased the audiobooks because I like having those on hand I'll get like the notification from Audible like oh you can get two titles with one credit. So then I go through ones that are on my list and I'll purchase them because then I'm getting two of the ones I want to read and then if I run out of credits that month I already have books to listen to until I get my credits again. Yeah. Uh see I have like series I want to start I have like series I need to finish okay so for sure series I need to finish and I kind of count these almost as like one book in a way because of the series part of it. I need to finish Carval and the book of Azrael still I love how you keep saying all of these books and they're on another list we're gonna talk about here in a little bit right the Book of Azrael um I've read the first one I need to read the second one third one's coming out in October special ordered the sprayed edge edition of that that's another one that's coming in going to be like Christmas I want to say I have too I could be wrong though I'll have to double check um okay so one of them I really want to read this year is The Wicked Sea because like I said I'm I'm writing about that I've heard amazing things and because I want to write my own book based off of ocean lore and things like that I feel like it would be a good research one and I have a beautiful version of this book. That's pretty it's very very pretty that is pretty it's very pretty and um I mean that's not even the inside yeah it's just very very pretty oh that's very pretty um so I want to I I have a couple books I want to read for my own laurel lore reasons and research um and another one so there's that one um I'm like writing my thing down here Lord of the Tides is another one I want to read also I haven't really heard about it but it was a pretty book I snagged it during my um I did my Barnes Noble challenge for Mother's Day my husband that's what he gifted me and I saw this and I just snagged it. I'm like that looks cool I'm just gonna grab it Barnes and Noble challenge.
SPEAKER_00You haven't heard of this oh you have to go to my no my birthday is in less than a is in like a little over a month I need to know this so that way I can be okay so look it up because everyone kind of has their own little sets of rules so what I did is so seriously go on TikTok and just type in Barnes and Noble challenge and you will see all of these different challenges for this so what it is is you have a set amount of time to look at books.
SPEAKER_01I gave myself two minutes um I should have given myself about five minutes. So you go through you start at the front of the store and a timer is set someone's following you around with the camera and you go and you look at all of the books. You just look and kind of get an idea in your mind of what you want to grab. Then you go back to the front of the store and you have less time typically I I gave myself two minutes for each two minutes to grab as many books as I can hold and that's what I got to purchase I'm making it a yearly thing for Mother's Day I think I'm gonna make it a twice a yearly thing for my birthday and Mother's Day because they are almost six months apart. I look forward it was it was fun so books that I had been wanting to get and stuff like that I was easy to just go and snag them up and um yeah watch go go watch my video it's on my page and then you can you like I said go type it into TikTok and you can see a lot of people do it. It's the Barnes and Noble challenge a lot of fun and then I did a book haul review on it afterwards I'm gonna it's one of my most watched videos on my page I'm gonna have to do this.
SPEAKER_00Okay now I have something new to do.
SPEAKER_01You're like oh this is what I'm doing for my birthday now I was gonna go to Houston and do like bougie female version of the hangover type things because it's my 30th um but now I think I'm just gonna go to Bartsnoble do the book challenge yeah I thought it was pretty I snagged it I told all my friends we might have to I might have to put off my birthday party since I want to go to LA with y'all cool that'd be fun that's gonna be your birthday party late celebration birthday party for all of us it's a late celebration or early whoever's there and their birthday's after um I so there's that one I also really want to read Web of Vows and Vengeance I've heard amazing things about that book and it's been on my TBR for quite a while and I really need to just read that one. I'm gonna add to my TBR I know right I'm gonna do I want to do Burning Daylight since you just told me about reminding me of that one I told me about reminding me of it because that one I want to throw in a couple of ones that aren't romanticy. And another one I want to throw in that's not romanticy is the um the last letter. I have a signed edition. Oh my god, it's so good. I have a signed edition. It's so good. I know you told me that too, and I need to be expect to cry because you and Jenna both said I'm gonna cry.
SPEAKER_00That one needs to come with another um cancer trigger warning. Really?
SPEAKER_01It's not in there. Okay, good to know.
SPEAKER_00Yep, and it's childhood cancer, so harder.
SPEAKER_01Um, another one is the poison daughter. I've heard amazing things about the poison daughter. So I want to do that one. Um yeah, another one that's not a romantic season our perfect storm, also. Um I think I've heard of that one. I I have it right here. I got it the pretty version from Target. And um Oh, I've seen that one. I keep eyeballing it. So I haven't heard much about it, but reading what it's about sounds really good. It's like Frankie and George have been best friends since they were eight years old, both passionate, impulsive, and headstrong, they've always clashed and come back together until now. It's the eve of Frankie's wedding weekend, and she didn't doesn't uh know where they stand or even if George will show up as her best man. And then like her fiance leaves her the night before her wedding, and they end up going on her honeymoon together. So I'm like, that sounds like a good one.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, for real. Sounds like something I would have done.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, right. Um, and then I really want to read the Metal Singer series. There's two of them since the second one just came out, also. Um, and then um the Twisted Crowns one, also, like you said. And then Nockadia, is that how you say it? I've heard that looks amazing too.
SPEAKER_00Oh, yes, yeah. I know which one you're talking about.
SPEAKER_01Um so, like outside of the series I need to finish, those are the ones that I want to start.
SPEAKER_00Um, rewind to the one that you were talking about, Web of Vows and Vengeance, the first review on Goodreads. This was a romantic candy soup. What a good time, Violet and Zaden in the Hunger Games.
SPEAKER_01Okay, yeah, I've heard amazing, amazing things from this from people who are pretty big on book talk that they're like, this book is not talked about enough. It's a 55 stars. I have only heard good things about this book. I haven't heard any negatives, anything at all. So that one's been on my list for a while, and I do have the audio, so I just need to. It's so hard because I I have like these lists of books, and then I um a new one will come out and be like, oh, let's add that one, and they'll start that one because it's fresh in your mind, you know.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, okay. Um, so I wanna scroll backwards to um I want to do some hot takes. Um popular books you didn't love, books you expected to hate but love, books everyone should stop sleeping on, etc. etc. Okay. Um, so books that I think everyone should stop sleeping on, and I will forever y'all are gonna get tired of hearing me talk about this series. Plated prisoner. I think I'm gonna talk about it in almost every single episode.
SPEAKER_01It is a good one. I did read that one. Trigger warning.
SPEAKER_00The first page, the first sentence is a little spicy. Um, actually, it's a lot spicy. Rewind, it's a lot spicy. It is a straight up, like smexy scene. Um, but the whole series is not like throwing it out there past the yeah, it like that lays the foundation for who the main female character is. I feel like that, like um, not necessarily the foundation for her, but even for who who what she lives through. Yeah, what she lives through, who the main male character is treated. How she treated the main male character in the first book, um, and how she's treated and everything else. Who you think is gonna be the main male character. That's it's who you think is, yeah. That is books that everyone is sleeping on. I also touched on these as well: the Poseidon trials, the Ares trials, and the Hades trials by Ezra Rain. They're good. If you like Greek mythology, I am slightly obsessed with Greek mythology, just a little bit. They're good. Um, they don't have to they don't have to be read in order, but it is best to read them in order because there's little like characters from each book. So it goes the Hades, the Hades trials, the Ares trials, and the Poseidon trials is last. And they're good. I think they're fantastic. Um, series that I'm scared to start. Zodiac Academy and the entire world of Solara because of how many books it is. It's a very daunting series.
SPEAKER_01It's good. I've only read five and I don't feel left out, and I don't feel um super pressured to continue. I think to go at my own pace is okay. Does that make sense? Um because I like to listen to the audio, the dramatized audio, which they haven't released all of them for, so I'm waiting for those to come out. So if you kind of maybe stick to it like that, it won't be so overwhelming. At least that's how I am doing it.
SPEAKER_00I think it's because I still have to get through Mass Verse that's got to be an Academy just seems so daunting. Um Popular Books You Didn't Love. And I'm gonna use popular books as like book talk books that everyone always raves about. And it's the Into Darkness series, which is Lights Out, Caught Up, and Game On by Nivessa. Really? And it's not that like I didn't like them, I just feel like they're overhyped. Okay, like I guess the hype on TikTok and on social media just did not match the book themselves. So um, books you expected to hate but loved, and um, this is gonna be a rage bait because I'm gonna get a lot of hate for this, but Mass Verse, because of the hype. Like I felt like they were so hyped that I was gonna be like, they're not that good, they're not that good. And really, like, I don't know. I'm invested. They are I'm emotionally invested into 18 books at minimum.
SPEAKER_01If they're I know I've heard people saying, I don't like to read books that are overhyped for that, you know, for that reason because I'm gonna get let down, and it's like you won't with this. Like, yeah. So those are my hot takes. All right, so my hot takes, um, people need to stop sleeping on. I have a book and I have a series. So the book, the second one actually is coming out next week. It is a really good book. It's Nightshade. And um the second one, Daybreak, is coming out next week, and that is a um a dark romance university kind of book. It's um a girl who's going into, she got like a full scholarship to a university where her parents used to work, and they had a they were um, they both died, and it was claimed as an accident, and she claims it as not an accident. So she is kind of doing research on all of it and how there's all these like big families that have a lot of control on things and are a big part. So it's like a an elitist college or university. Um, so the second one's coming out next Tuesday. I'm pretty excited for that one. Um, and then the series you have to read from Blood and Ash. It's so good, which is where I'm wearing this sweater. I am still not done with it, but I am getting through it, and it is a very, very good series. Um, a series that I am scared to start is probably the Bonded by Thorns series, because there is more books in that series than I realized as I keep doing research on it, but I've heard it's really, really good. And also because I have so many started series right now that I need to finish, it's like I don't want to start another one. Um popular books that I didn't love. I have two of them on here. They were actually my two probably least rated books that I've read this year. Um first one was Hollow by uh Carolyn. I think she's she's she wrote also Zodiac Academy. And so I was super um from reading Zodiac Academy and then going into Holo, I was like, oh, Zodiac Academy is amazing. Holo's gonna be great too. And I just didn't think it was. I felt like it was very um like what you expected to be twists or moments of twists in the book or plot points, things like that. It almost would hype it up, and then it felt like it didn't go anywhere. It didn't, it just kind of like like died down. It didn't actually give like a really anticipated climax when it should have. And as the book ended, too, the book ended very much like you didn't feel resolved in the ending. You were like, oh, we went from one huge thing that they had to go do, and as soon as they went and finished that and accomplished that goal, it created a whole other goal for them to do, and that's a what the second book is going to be, but it didn't give you that resolved feeling. Like, like, I feel like I should have had a resolved feeling at the end of the book, and then the second one start off with the new journey and build up from it versus like I don't know if that makes sense. I just was not a huge fan of how that went. Um, and then another one was Fate of the Royal. I've heard everyone like love this book. I only read it because I was part of a um a reading arc group for it. I was not a fan of this book at all. It um it felt like the author tried to put in as many curse words as she could in every single sentence. So it was kind of annoying to read.
SPEAKER_00Not really, but you know.
SPEAKER_01It's like the first line of the book is like the F-word. Like it just was like it was like almost trying too hard.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00But then also what I also didn't like about this book is that there were situations he wants me to tell you he fell off the couch and bumped his head on the floor because he was trying to ride the broom. But we learned today that we're not a wizard. You're not a wizard, Harry.
SPEAKER_01That's a bummer. Oh, popular books I didn't love. Yes, I was talking about Fate of the Royal, because I felt like um yeah, all the curse words and then which curse words don't usually bother me in books, but this one because I felt like they tried too hard, it did excessive. Yeah, and then I do feel like there was like a rape situation in the book because the girl who she was kind of quote unquote chasing after had a twin that she didn't know about, and there was a situation with that twin, and she didn't learn about it until later. And I'm like, I don't like that. Like they just kind of brushed over it like it was no big deal. I'm like, yeah, that was not a good situation. So um, and then I I don't know if there was a book that I expected to hate, but I ended up loving. But I will say this was a book that I had zero expectations for and ended up loving, loving. I did actually cry a little bit on this one too. Was Theo of Golden. I loved that book. I saw that on your boy on your I read it for a book club book, and I had zero expectations from it, and it is a very much a um just a wholesome, wholesome book, though. It's just if you want a good feeling book, this is that good feeling book that you need. So um, yeah, it wasn't that I expected to hate it, but I had no expectations from it and ended up loving it.
SPEAKER_00So that's good. All right, um, new releases that we are looking forward to, and then we will get into the um mom talk of the week.
SPEAKER_01But you and I have a couple of the same ones on here.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so obviously, and I'm only going through the end of this year. Um, I'm not including anything for 2027 yet, because it is only July. Um, this year I'm looking forward to Acatar 6 and Threshing Day. And Acatar 6 comes out, well, Thrushing Day comes out uh September 29th, and Acatar 6 comes out October 27th. Um the moon, even though I haven't read The Night of the Moth yet, I'm still excited for it because I'm really hoping that Amy gets another indie bookstore copy of it. Yes, so that way I can have it for both indoor, both indie bookstore copies.
SPEAKER_01If you if she does, snag it for me and I will.
SPEAKER_00I'm gonna message her and ask her if she knows anything about it. Yeah, I will. I'm also looking forward. Yeah. I'm also looking forward to The Last King of Fairy, which is by Cassandra Clare. Um, if you don't know who Cassandra Clare is, she wrote the Shadow Hunter series. I read the Shadow Hunter series back in like high school and loved it. Shadow Hunters, um, the no, it wasn't the shadow, like it's not the it's City of Bones, City of Ash, City of all of that. Comes out, it's book one of the Wicked Power series. It comes out November 3rd. Wait, what's it called? And then the first book is called The Last King of Fairy. The series is called the Wicked Power series.
SPEAKER_01Fairy. Fairy like fancy.
SPEAKER_00Okay, um, and then the sweetest fiend, the last one I'm looking forward to is The Sweetest Fiend by Raven Kennedy. She wrote Plated Prisoner. She is starting a new series called Played by the Piper, and that one comes out on September 22nd. Um, so I think Raven Kennedy's thing is that she likes to do spins on um like folklore. I don't want to call them fairy tales, but old folklore.
SPEAKER_01They kind of are fairy tales in a way. They mixed into the fair, yeah, folklore.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I think this one, I think this series is gonna be a spin on the Pied Piper series.
SPEAKER_01I'm almost thinking about um I need to look into it because if she releases special editions of these, I even if I'm not gonna read them, I want to buy them up because I want to get the played the prisoner special edition.
SPEAKER_00And oh my gosh, I want the gold dripped covers so they're so hard to find or they're expensive like crazy. Yeah, they're stupid expensive. Yeah, so it's like my um new releases that I am looking forward to the most. Um oh, she actually has released the book description for the sweetest fiend. Um and it is it's the Pied Piper reimagined. Okay. It says, it's time to pay the piper. Our world cracked open like an egg, power burst out, and with it nine monstrous banes ready to destroy everything. The powerful core fe finally slayed them all, but each bane left a plague to punish us. But that's not the only thing they left behind. I'm half bane, half fey, and wholly hated. Survival means enduring every vicious glare and cursed outbreak until one day a plague descends upon my city that means certain death. Then he comes, the Pied Piper. He ridds my city of the plague. He rids my city of the plague, but it comes at a cost. 130 people are taking us payment, including me. I don't know what he's going to do with us, but I know I have to get home. My family's lives depend on it, but the piper won't let me go, and something wicked stirs between us. The sweet scent in my veins beckons him, while the seductive lore of his magic sinks under my skin. I have to escape before it's too late, because if I don't, it's not just my heart at risk, but my entire world. Okay. I'm excited. It is a duology, so it's only gonna be two books.
SPEAKER_01That's nice to know, considering Playing Prisoner was six.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Um, very excited for that one.
SPEAKER_01Now that I've read the um, so my anticipated new releases, the first three, are the same as Sam. It's a new Avatar book, which the title hasn't even been released yet, and that one's October 27th. Threshing Day, September 29th. Um, The Nave and the Moon, September 1st, which that one, yeah, I I think that one's what I'm most anticipated for because it's my all-time favorite read this year. Um, Daybreak comes out in like five or six days, whatever day it is today. So I'm excited for that one. That one will be out before by the time this episode is released. That is the second book to Nightshade. Um, I'm going to mention this one because it was originally supposed to be released this year and the dates got pushed back. So for anyone who didn't know the dates got pushed back, I just am kind of letting you know. It's The Wolf Queen. So it was originally supposed to be released September 8th. It got pushed back to November 17th, and then got pushed back again to May 18th of 2027. So um, I just want to mention it because it was an anticipated one for this year, and that got pushed back. Um, and then I'm gonna mention these two, they're also 2027, but it's because I've already pre-ordered the books. Um the third book of Shield of Sparrows, it's the Seven and Swift. That one comes out March 9th, and then Ruin Bound is July 27th. So um, I think I've pre-ordered all of these books outside of The Wolf Queen and the Avatar series, but I'm holding off on Aquatar because I haven't um I number one, I've heard that she's only gonna have these books in hardcover. So I want to have a whole complete series of all of them together. So I'm kind of waiting until they all come out in a big series to buy them so that way they're all because I've even heard of people buying like hardcovers that are different, like levels and heights and all. So I'm I'm just kind of waiting so it's all a complete looking set to get it.
SPEAKER_00So I mean, I ordered I already ordered, I pre-ordered six and seven, um, and I have the paperback copies of the other five. So if I do find the hardcovers that match, I'll probably just give my paperbacks to my sister.
SPEAKER_01I just want the hardcovers and all like I honestly, you know, acrylics is gonna come out with something, and I love their stuff, and I want to buy all of their stuff, so I'm like, maybe I'll just wait to get them with all of that.
SPEAKER_00So yeah, all right. Well, let's talk mom life for a hot minute. Um, my this is my life every day. He's yelling about monster trucks. Um, so we had um meltdown of the week yesterday, and I don't know if my kids just woke up on the wrong side of their bed or what, but yesterday I have a video of it. Um I'm not gonna include it because like that's my two-year-old. But he I got him dressed. We were getting ready to leave to go to the children's museum, and he just fell out on the floor and started crying. I told him to put I told him to come here so I could put his shoes on. He just fell out on the floor and started crying for like five minutes. And when he was done, he brought me his he brought me his cup so I could refill it. And like their drinks, we give them water, but we put like a little bit of like the squeezy flavor mix in. And so he brought me his cup and I opened it and I put uh water in it and I squeezed some squeeze in it, some squeeze lemonade and sweet tea, I don't remember. Put it back onto him and gave it back to him, and he fell out on the floor again. Because I gave him what he wanted. So yeah, mom meltdown. Mom meltdown of the week. Um, apparently I failed because I gave him the wrong drink.
SPEAKER_01Um
SPEAKER_00Well, you had a whole elbow incident a couple days ago.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, but that wasn't fully a meltdown. That was her and her brother were wrestling and playing. My eight-year-old tends to forget that he my eight-year-old he doesn't have bad intentions at all.
SPEAKER_00He just forgives bigger.
SPEAKER_01Well, he loves to have fun. He loves he loves to play and have fun. And so he really just gets wrapped up in things. And so he he doesn't fully. I think he does see when the kids are done, but he likes to push further. So even though if she's expressing to him that she's done playing, he'll keep going because he thinks it's fun. You know, like he's he doesn't respect those boundaries here and there. Um, so yeah, eight-year-old um playing with the two-year-old, and all of a sudden, like I was doing dishes, I was like cleaning the house, and you hear her crying, and I was like, what happened? And you know, he's like, I just he's like, I I like he said he laid on top of her, like pinned her to the ground kind of thing. And she didn't like it. And she she does get that way. She gets very, um, when she's done, she's done, and she gets very stubborn and very hard-headed, and so it'll get to the point where he looks at her and she screams at him to like go away. So she's she's very, very, she's done, she's done with him. And it's not just done with him playing, it's just done with him. She's done. Like she's so I was getting stuff cleaned up. Dad came out and picked her up and held her, and I went into after I was done, I went in the room with him, and he gave her to me, and I noticed she was holding on to her wrist and like cradling her arm. And I didn't say anything because I'm like, okay, maybe that's just how he's holding her. But she was wincing also every time her hand moved or anything like that. And so I was like, I'm like, uh, John, did you notice this? And he didn't notice it because he picked her while she was crying and just held her, and then she stopped. And so she's just sitting still in his lap, so he didn't even realize it. And so I would sit there and I'm like, Can you go like I, you know, asking her to make a fist? And she would try, and she like her fingers were shaking, she couldn't do that, and she where she was holding was on her wrist. So I was really worried she broke her wrists. And we gave her some ibuprofen, gave her some food because she we were like, we know how she gets. She could be fixating on this because she's hangry and she can become moody and all that stuff with it. So we're like, okay, let's give her medicate medication and food and see if she starts to act like her normal self, because if so, then she was just over-dramatizing an injury, right? Nope, didn't happen. So took her into the ER, and turns out the doctor was like, Well, it could either be a dislocated elbow or she has a break, and we can get her the x-rays and stuff, or I could try to pop it back in, but if it is broken, it's gonna hurt if I try to pop it back in and it's really broken. I was like, I'd rather try that than sit here and wait for x-rays and stuff to go through and be here for another hour, hour and a half. Sat there, popped it back in, back to normal. Nothing, like nothing was wrong. Like, I'm like, okay, so we just have to watch for that because now that it's happened, it's gonna happen more or easily.
SPEAKER_00She's more likely to.
SPEAKER_01So I don't know if that's necessarily a meltdown.
SPEAKER_00I mean, I probably would have had a meltdown for it. I took my kids to leave me personally, I would have had a meltdown because I'm like, can we just not?
SPEAKER_01My husband was upset. I I didn't get so upset because I'm like, it wasn't intentional. They didn't know they were playing, you know, like she was playing along to begin with, and it was because she got hurt that she was done, you know.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And um I had more of a panic meltdown when I found my kid in the shower passed out and had to take him to the emergency room for that one. That was like a week and a half ago, two weeks ago, yeah.
SPEAKER_00All right, guys, we're almost done, I promise. Um, I do want to talk about one thing um that has just kind of been irritating. If you guys follow me on social media, you know that I run a local mom talk group. Okay, and I do this because I did not have a very big mom village when my children were like, especially when I had my first one, like when they were little, little. I didn't have a whole lot of I didn't get out of the house. Adult interaction. Yeah, like I didn't have friends that had kids that this were the same age as mine, so I didn't leave the house. And I wanted to start a group for people who also like related to that. Well, here's the thing about wanting a village, okay? Everyone's like, I want a village, I want a village, I need a village. Well, you can't have a village if you don't if you're not a villager. So, friendly reminder that if you expect people to show up for you, show up for them too. Yeah, just kind of or at least let them know you're not gonna show up.
SPEAKER_01Exactly. The communication of it, because like I feel like that's a big part of mom guilt, is like I have a friend um here locally, and we love we love this about each other, and we actually praise each other for this and don't give each other shame. Is that if we make plans together, if one of us cancels last minute, we're not going to shame the other person for that because things do come up. We we all have kids, right? Things do come up, and um or maybe you got a crappy night of sleep, maybe your kids having a massive meltdown, they're going through a growth spurt or the leaps or whatever they might be going through that you didn't expect when you made these plans, and that her and I will cancel on each other all the time without shame, without guilt trips being on you, anything like that. It's just an understanding, and I feel like that is so much easier to do than someone who's like last minute, like you know, I just I just won't show up, and then I'm gonna just avoid that person for a while until it's not a big deal anymore.
SPEAKER_00And it's like that hurts more than yeah, and then I'm gonna go back in the same Facebook group and complain about not having friends.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and so it's just like it's it's like consider those person's feelings, and if all you can do is say, hey, look, I can't physically show up, but I'm here if you need to talk, that's better than nothing, too. It's like, okay, then at least talk. Or it's like, hey, I can't commit to so many of these play dates because it's just too much for my schedule, but maybe once or twice a month, okay, cool, you know, and I feel like it's better to give a real expectation even for yourself than to like try to promise to show up and you can't. Because then because because I also feel like that's not just a letdown on those people that you told you'd show up, but it's also on yourself and you almost also internally beat yourself up for that. So it's like be honest with yourself and them. It's okay. We're all adults. If someone gets offended because you can't do everything fully, that's that person's problem. But if you're not gonna communicate that to them, then I do feel like, like for you, I do feel like you have a right to be offended that you had eight people tell you they're gonna be somewhere and no one showed up. To me, that's insane. That eight people blew you off when all they had to do was simply communicate, and then you would have known, okay, well, this is just gonna be a day with me and my son then, versus yeah, you had all these other expectations. Not only that, you probably told your son other kids were gonna be there, and he didn't get that too. Yep, you know, and so a lot of people said that, oh well, I can't make the drive, I can't make the drive.
SPEAKER_00I don't know, I don't let me go ahead and put this out there. I live in Texas, okay? Houston is an hour from Houston. El Paso, Jenna and I were talking about this the other night. She was like, why don't you just drive to LA whenever we plan our trip? El Paso is closer to LA than I am to El Paso. If you drive straight without stopping, without stopping for gas or food or anything, it takes 14 and a half hours to get from where I am to El Paso. And it's a straight spot down Interstate 10. So for people to complain about driving an hour, that's like that's nothing. I drive an hour to go to my friend's house in Silsby whenever she needs me to, and I'm like, hey, do you need me to come over? I know you're having a rough time with the kids. So for people to complain to drive an hour after you already said you were gonna come, I send you the address, I sent you how much it was gonna cost. It's nine dollars per person for all day access. You can leave and come back. Like they give you a receipt, and all you have to do is shut your receipt when you come back and you've to you say a day out of it. Yes, and there's so many, like the children's museum we went to, there's so many restaurants around the area that have playgrounds. So we could have all hung out at the museum for an hour or two and then gone to eat together, and the kids could have played on the playground while we had like adult conversations with each other, but instead you ghosted me and you couldn't even have enough common courtesy just to send me a text message that says, Hey, the kids woke up late or the kids woke up in a bad mood, or like we we had to I slept like crap. I yeah, yeah. We filmed we moved our podcast film day from Tuesday to today because my kids slept like crap the other night.
SPEAKER_01Well, honestly, we moved it from was it last Friday to today because I got sick and lost my sick. Yeah, so that's where I think it's just I think it's very healthy to communicate with your friends that last minute stuff happens and to communicate with them like, hey, I will try my best to go to activities we plan, but I might last minute drip dip out, and it's like that's that's okay. And I feel like as long as that's like foretold ahead of time, and I think that just helps with all moms, not for your own self-guilt, for for the other mom and person to understand, like, oh yeah, well, I'm glad they communicated because guess what? That might happen to me too. So then when I have to have a situation that you know, you might plan something and all the other moms are able to go, and you might have to dip out the last minute, you wake up sick or whatever, you know, and so it's like or the husband winds up working. As long as we all understand last minute things happen and we communicate that, then there's not gonna be this feeling of like a hurt feeling you feel. Yep, you know, and then the mom guilt of and self-shame of the other mom for like dipping out. You know, it's just communication, it's the answer and understanding, communication, understanding.
SPEAKER_00Um, another hot mom hashtag slash rage bait. Um, my kids have screen time all day long.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, me too. Nope, that's something that um it's something I I really do want to point out. Um, it's something me and my husband have talked about because I feel like a lot of moms parents roll out. A lot of parents in general have this shame around letting their kids have screen time. Um, and I feel like that's because of the generation that parents now grew up in. We grew up in a generation where we still had dial-up internet, at least I did. Still dial-up internet. Oh man, I still had it to where if the phone rang, we got disconnected from Wi-Fi. Internet. We're on the very edge of dial-up. What? Um okay, well, go lay down on the couch. The only handheld device I had growing up was a Game Boy. And it was my brother's.
SPEAKER_00I loved my Game Boy.
SPEAKER_01And so, and then my you know, like I well, mine was like the legit, it wasn't the DS with the two screens. This was like the legit brick Game Boy. Oh my color one. Mine wasn't the DS, but it also wasn't the like mine had like the that was the I think that was the DS with dual screen, right? That was the DS, the dual screen.
SPEAKER_00It didn't have a screen, it had the screen on the top, and then the bottom was the control.
SPEAKER_01Oh, okay. I don't know what they're all called. But it's like because of our day and age, we didn't have that. And I so I feel like as parents now we feel guilty for giving our kids screens. But that is the world our kids are growing up in.
SPEAKER_00And I don't think Chromebooks in Kinaparken, okay?
SPEAKER_01They're giving Chromebooks and iPads up until I think third grade, they get a Chromebook to bring home. Besides that, they have iPads in their classroom until then. And um we have our we're on our phones all day. And I like to play video games. I, you know, me and my husband, that's one of the things we always do on a Sunday. We have our our our weekly game that we play. And then um sometimes I just I have to give them something to do because I have to work, I have to do my own stuff, I have to edit this podcast. I also have content I create, I help my husband with his business. Um and I can't quilt and entertain my kids. Yeah, well, not only that, so we require our kids to read for an hour before they get screens, and a big way they read is through an app called Epic, which it's a book app that has for all age-level kids books. And my kindergarten, he can't read yet, but he can follow along and be read too. Um, my older ones, they can, they do like my 12-year-old, she has her own books she reads. She's she she's just our reader in general. She'll go do it for fun, like me. But my other ones, they they prefer graphic novels, which I don't mind, but also to read the epic books at their grade level. And not saying that I don't force them to play and do other things, because I do. I will say, you guys gotta turn screens off now. It's been long enough. Go do Legos. I don't always say go outside and play because sometimes it's a hundred degrees outside and I don't want them to get heat stroke from California. Okay, or sometimes you have a tropical storm. Yes, yeah. So a lot of times right now in the summertime, we try really hard to get them to go outside in the morning before it gets too hot, but then in the afternoon when they're just bored on the inside, and you know, it's like, okay, they have exhausted coloring, they've exhausted Legos, they've exhausted all these other things, they've done their chores. Yeah, the privilege they can get is screens. Or I just need to honestly even go in and taking a nap, they're quieter on screens. So if I have to go lay the girls down for a nap, I'll let them have screens because they actually stay quiet. Versus if they're not, then they run up and down the halls throwing balls around, screaming at each other, riding broomsticks. They were doing that the other day. So I'm like, you know, you gotta pick your battles, and you can't give yourself guilt for all this screen time because it is the generation our kids are growing up in.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Um, I want to wrap this up today with um toss or keep.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_01Okay, so we're gonna we're gonna start doing this, I think, every episode.
SPEAKER_00Um, so we are going to name two to three books off of each other's red list. And we have to decide whether to toss or keep them. For the future.
SPEAKER_01I there is also, if you want to keep it forever, like if you had the physical book, would you want to keep it forever? Do you want to donate it? Read it again, recommend it with only warnings. I feel like that's what we do for the Plated Prisoner series. We recommend it with only warnings. So just heads up. Yeah, just heads up or never speak of it again.
SPEAKER_00Oh, one of those I could do. Alright, so the ones that I picked for you. Fate of a royal.
SPEAKER_01So funny enough, I bought it before I read it, considering it's like my lowest-rated book now. Um and it was a pretty book, but I ended up actually just going ahead and donating it.
SPEAKER_00In five years.
SPEAKER_01I would keep it and recommend with warnings, which I did. Because that is one that people need to know is cancer related. Okay.
SPEAKER_00I also want to point out that I had no idea that she was gonna say this about any of these books before I picked them, because I picked them before we started this recording. But still, that's good to know, though.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, the last one rules for the summer. Oh my gosh, I'd keep it and read it again. So funny. So, so funny. You need a good comic relief, that's the one you need. So funny. And also smuddy. So if you like smud, it's smuddy and funny. Alright, so I picked two from yours, which same thing. You have talked about this one today, but I didn't know that. The Poseidon trials.
SPEAKER_00Um, I gotta go find our keep it forever, read it again. Recommend only with warnings. I love it so much. It's so underrated. And I read it at the beginning of the year, so I kind of do want to go read it again.
SPEAKER_01And then the last one was The Dark Places by Gillian Flynn.
SPEAKER_00Keep it forever. I recommend only with warning. It's so good. It's what genre is it? She's uh thriller. Well, murder mystery. Um, she's the same woman who wrote Gone Girl. Okay. The book where she like fakes her own death and then gets kidnapped for real. And yeah, she's the same one that wrote that, and it is so good. I listened to the audiobook and it's so good. Well, I'm starring that one. And it's not a long read either. I think the physical book was like maybe 280 pages. Oh, yeah, that's a good quick read. Yeah, it's a good quick read. It's not super long.
SPEAKER_02Um yeah.
SPEAKER_00Now, if you would have said never never by Colleen Hubert, never speak out of again, burn it, donate it, give it to somebody who's obsessed with Colleen Hubert. It's the only book I've ever rated one star. Horrible.
SPEAKER_01I'm gonna go through my my red list and confirm that I I have a bunch of what I've read this year and some of last year, but I want to go through and even add in stuff that it's been years since I've read because I gotta go through my book. Yeah, and just it'd be good to go through all that too. So so when we do this, we have a good selection of books for us to go through.
SPEAKER_00Yes. Alright, guys, that is all for episode two. Um, episode three, are we gonna do the deep dive? Yes. Episode three will be our fourth wing deep dive.
SPEAKER_01And we kind of want to, we're going to kind of do a selection of all the different theories and really deep dive into it because there's so many out there that we kind of do have to narrow it down. I want to kind of focus a little bit more on um theories for what threshing day is gonna look like.
SPEAKER_00And then a couple of other small ones. Threshing for dragons. Or you think there might be like Wyvern 2 kind of Theophany story.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So wanting to dig into that, but also I know Sam wants to dig into the other brother.
SPEAKER_00Mm-hmm. I have a very good theory.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. And then I even have a theory about um I guess this would include Threshing Day, but I do even have a theory when it comes to Taryn and Coda and things like that. Because I'm rereading the series. I'm picking up on things and I'm like, hmm, interesting. So I'm gonna do some research on it.
SPEAKER_00See if other people I I just thought of this. I do wonder if one of the 13 POBs is gonna be Jack Barlow. Because I think he was Venom before he bonded with Blade. Or bade. And if that's the case.
SPEAKER_01I'm trying to think. When did when did Violet Violet uh had challenged him after Threshing Day, right? When they had a challenge on the mat. So when his eyes first turn red. Because that tells you right there he was Venin.
SPEAKER_00So it definitely bade bonded him knowing that he was Venin. What else are the dragons hiding?
SPEAKER_01Oh yeah, they don't let anyone in the veil.
SPEAKER_00There's so many things. Oh now I have that. I have a Melgram and a Coda theory that we're gonna talk about too. Um Jake, he's fine, baby.
SPEAKER_01Um actually that was something I read yesterday, is that if Taryn is the general for Violet, and when they're up in the sky, what matters is the dragon say, not what is not what the leadership is. So then what is Coda to Melgram if Taryn's a general? Yeah. He's he there's a lot more in this. So there's a lot we're gonna deep dive into it. Um yeah. Well, and also because Jack even says the villains are the dragons. You're bonded to two villains. So it's you gotta wonder, what are the dragons hiding? So yeah. So we're excited to deep dive into that. Um, I'm excited, I'm almost done with Onyx Storm again, so then I that'll be fresh in my mind.
SPEAKER_00Stay tuned for episode three. Um, I'm gonna get off here and go to mom life and feed my kids and maybe put the little one down for a nap because he's been up since 5.30. And it is now.
SPEAKER_01Make sure you go to all of our, we do have a link tree in the bio, and you can find it on any of our um our pages. So go to all of our different channels and follow us, because like TikTok, we like to go live. Um, and we may post different things on different socials. So go to all of our socials and follow us. And um, we will see you guys next time.
SPEAKER_00Next week for episode three. All right. Bye. Bye.