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When Girls Talk Books
Are you ready for story time? When Girls Talks Books is a podcast with two best friends bonding between the pages. They give comprehensive reviews of books where even if you haven't read the book, you can still enjoy the story. Brace yourselves for a tornado of laughter and literary love! When Girls Talk Books is here.
When Girls Talk Books
Ep.8 Powerless By Lauren Roberts
Get ready for a fun celebration as we toast to Susie’s newlywed bliss and dive headfirst into the electrifying world of Powerless by Lauren Roberts! 🎉✨
In this episode, we’re unpacking the wild storyline and digging into our favorite characters—Paedyn, Aedena, Prince Kai, and Prince Kitt. We’ll navigate the heart-pounding Purging Trials that keep the tension high and the plot twisty!
Join us as we explore the sizzling chemistry between Paedyn and Kai, the lurking threats they face, and those surprise alliances that pop up when you least expect them. Expect lots of laughs as we dive into intense relationships, epic rivalries, and those unexpected moments that make you go “aww!” 🥺💖
We’ll also share our personal takes, connecting themes and moments that will resonate with every YA fan. And you know we can’t resist casting our dream actors for these characters—prepare for some fun picks that’ll have you daydreaming about the film adaptation! 🎬✨
Whether you’re a die-hard fan or just curious about the buzz, this episode is packed with excitement, insightful analysis, and plenty of bookish enthusiasm. Plus, we’ll sneak in some teasers about what we hope to see in the sequel! Join us for a lively discussion that’s sure to leave you hooked! 🍿📚
Editing done by Connor Luther @clfilms.co
Music by @thundercatlouis
MERCH SHOP HERE
Hi everybody, welcome to another story time, when girls talk books.
Speaker 2:I'm Susie and I'm Kylie, and today we are doing a really exciting book. This is very popular and I'm going to just start out the gate. I get why, for sure. I get why. Yeah, we're going to be doing Powerless by Lauren Roberts. I think we've decided we're also going to be doing an episode on the sequel. Yes, yeah, sure, yeah, okay. I want to do an episode, absolutely.
Speaker 2:I was obsessed with this, so we'll start off. Hold on. Before we say anything, we have a couple laundry list items. First of all, susie's now a married woman. I did it, so I'm very excited about that.
Speaker 1:I'm excited to not be planning a wedding anymore. Yeah. And crying to you about all the little problems that I didn't know I cared about, meh, but yeah, we made it through.
Speaker 2:It's a stressful time, yeah, but it was very beautiful and now she's married and it was wonderful and great and I sobbed my eyes out several times that day.
Speaker 1:She was a wonderful maid of honor y'all. She did a really good job.
Speaker 2:My speech was pretty good, it was so good, but we're very excited. So I wanted to say that I almost said it in the last episode because you were getting married but you hadn't yet. So now officially, susie is a married woman. It's very exciting. We waited a long time for this day. No, I'm just kidding, Just kidding. And then next episode we will be having Mr Shanip on yes, and my husband as well.
Speaker 1:Yes, the boys are going to join us.
Speaker 2:Yes, very exciting. Okay, let's get into it. I just wanted to say that before we started. No, I like that.
Speaker 1:Star rating Five, Five easy, Well well, I mean, if there's one thing I could change about this book. So I guess it can't be a perfect five, because I just wish it wasn't always YA.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but it is.
Speaker 1:So I will give it a four.
Speaker 2:I'm going to give it a five, because if you're going into a YA book.
Speaker 1:You can't be mad that it's a YA book. That's true. I didn't realize for longer than I should have.
Speaker 2:And then I was like oh, you're in like Zodiac Academy fantasy world, where this is not no, not, no, no, no, no. Susie wants spice, yeah, and this did not have spice.
Speaker 1:I've, you, know, just begun my smut era.
Speaker 2:She's getting pretty comfortable. Yeah, exactly. Um. Yeah, I get what you're saying. I still gave it five stars. I was obsessed.
Speaker 1:Obsessed with this. I loved the storyline. I loved everything about it. It was a really good book.
Speaker 2:Kai Prince Kai, aww, he is. This is my book boyfriend list. He's here.
Speaker 1:Wow.
Speaker 2:He's so I loved, loved, loved him so much.
Speaker 1:Same. I was on the. I was like teetering about Kit because I was like I feel like you're going to go crazy yeah.
Speaker 2:Okay, let's get into it, yeah, okay. So we start with Peyton and Adina and they are best friends. They live in what's called the loot and they don't have any money. Adina does like seamstress work and then Peyton just steals from people. That's like her job and they live together.
Speaker 1:They steal she brings it back to Adina. It seems like they're like both orphans together kind of situation, like they don't have anybody else.
Speaker 2:Yes, which Paiden is an orphan, and I think Adina is too, so those are kind of two. And then we also have Prince Kai and Prince Kit. Kit is the heir to the throne, and then Kai is the enforcer. Well, he's the enforcer. That's true, he's a professional killing machine yeah, literally, but they're two very different lives.
Speaker 1:While still both being princes. Yeah, yeah, it's kind of like it happens in everyday, real life.
Speaker 2:Two siblings can grow up in a home and have two totally different experiences in a home, yeah, and we learn a lot about, like the king's treatment of each of them is very, very different, and that's where we get into there. So then we have the elites and the mundanes, and every year there is a trial that happens, yes, the purging trials Yep, very Hunger.
Speaker 1:Games-esque. Okay, I was going to. I was like so you don't sound like a hater, I'm like it is, and I'm not saying it in a bad way, but this book was very like a little bit of that and a little bit of like other Harry Potter-ish vibe. I'm like okay, okay, I got a lot of Hunger Games. I really liked it.
Speaker 2:Yes, yeah, so there's the trials. Every year, a lot Elites have already kind of been known that they're going to be in the trials, and this is like royal families, people of high society, essentially the hoity-toities.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and then?
Speaker 2:they pull out some mundanes from like the loot and things like that For some razzle-dazzle. For some razzle-dazzle, I guess, and the mundanes, just like, don't have the kind of abilities that elites have. Elites are very powerful people and the mundane are just kind of I can't say, ordinary. Can you imagine to?
Speaker 1:have those kind of powers, they'll be like oh, I'm just a mundane, like all I can do is read minds. My sister over here can burn cities.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's very much like that, but you can't even call them like ordinary, because then the ordinaries, the people without abilities, the muggles, yeah have been shunned from society, from this society.
Speaker 1:Like getting exterminated kind of, is the way they're being treated.
Speaker 2:Well, yeah, it's terrible, and if they're found in town, they essentially send Kai out to kill them. Is the way this happens, and this is kind of new. This is like within their lifetime. Pretty sure it's sad it doesn't seem like it's very old. We come to find out that payton's ability she is a psychic, which she's actually in ordinary she doesn't have any abilities, but her dad has taught her how to like train her brain to like pick up on things. This is have you ever?
Speaker 1:seen, made her like a professional con artist kind of have you ever seen?
Speaker 2:Psych Made her like a professional con artist kind of, exactly.
Speaker 1:Have you ever seen Psych? I don't think so. Okay, so I mean add that to the list of things I've never seen.
Speaker 2:But he like says that he's a psychic, but he really just like picked up all this stuff from his hold on. I just saw the like. It's the same thing. His dad was like a cop or an FBI agent or something, and so he taught him to like read people, essentially, or like there's a dust on there with a fingerprint and he'll like pick that up and then he says that he has these psychic abilities it's exactly the same thing, now that I'm sitting here thinking about it, but anyway.
Speaker 2:So payton is a psychic, but she's not a psychic she's just an ordinary, but she's very good at reading people, so if anybody was to ever question her about it or anything like that, she can like say oh, I'm a psychic and here's something I can tell you about yourself.
Speaker 1:She can like bs her way out of it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, she's a professional like the cop guy that's in town and she's like, oh, you're getting divorced and yes, that was interesting that was really good, and then he ends up hitting her, which she kind of anticipated, but anywho. So that's payton's whole deal. Kai is just, he can mimic other people's abilities. That would be so cool to have. I'd be all over that but what I was thinking about is, if he's by himself, he has nothing yeah that's kind of scary yep, which is kind of like almost makes you ordinary.
Speaker 1:That's kind of what I thought. Yeah, I don kind of like almost makes you ordinary.
Speaker 2:That's kind of what I thought. Yeah, I don't remember what Kit's ability is Fire, fire. Good job, kitty. Yeah, so Peyton is on her daily thieving route and she sees Kai and he's walking through town and she sees him and instantly it's like money. Yep, he's got money. He's got like swagger, whatever. His shirt's like unbuttoned or something. You know, he's a broody guy, yep. And her whole spiel is she, especially with men, like pretends to fall or something, plays stupid and is, oh, I'm so sorry, I'm just so clumsy. And then she steals from him. And that's exactly what she does. Surprise, surprise.
Speaker 2:To Kai and he says hold on, sorry, do you always fall into the arms of handsome strangers, or is this a new thing to you? Okay, hold on. Do you always fall into the arms of handsome strangers, or is this a new thing to you? Okay, hold on.
Speaker 1:The things that Kai says are just like In real life. If someone said that we would like punch them, we'd be like shut up.
Speaker 2:Yes absolutely, first of all, yes, absolutely. I would be like nope, don't like this. I actually think you're ugly. But in the book, though, it's great, I ate it out. So bad I this is one of the I was so in love with kai by the end of this book, kind of sort of throughout the story. Throughout the story, yeah, um, but anyway. So they have that moment and it's's very like ooh, he's looking at her and he gets so distracted by her that he doesn't actually realize that she's stealing from him until she's already gone. Ha ha, ha, yeah. And she's like hmm, took that and she gets a lot of money from him. That's true.
Speaker 2:It's like more than she gets in a month.
Speaker 1:Exactly.
Speaker 2:It was a lot of money. And then she takes off and she's like so excited to tell adina and so on and so forth. So then we cut to kai and kai is on a job from the king and there's a girl named abigail who is living in the loop with a family of mundanes and he goes and is like I hear you're holding an ordinary and they're like no, we're, they were acting so innocent too and I'm like, oh agreed, even I was starting to believe it.
Speaker 1:And then, when he got to the part about the porridge, I was like, no, come on. Yeah, just be stupid, just look the other way, like there's got to be another way.
Speaker 2:But he like sees an extra bowl and he's like like under the floorboards because, of course. But there's a little girl named Abigail and it turns out the family ended up taking her in when she was like two or something.
Speaker 1:They had her for a while.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they found her on the streets and it's this whole traumatic thing. He gets into a fight with the dad, a big fight, who's a brawny and so like he has super strength and it's a whole mess.
Speaker 1:They're like hulks kind of.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but they end up taking the family to like. The desert is what it is, and essentially you've been banished and good luck surviving. You're gonna die out there. You're gonna die. Yeah, if you can make it to the other town, great. But the odds of you making it over there are pretty slim and they also don't have any supplies. They don't have anything. It's just like go ahead, um, and he takes abigail and he takes her out. He's supposed to kill her and he cannot. He cannot kill her.
Speaker 1:I don't uh unalive children.
Speaker 2:He doesn't kill children yeah, and what he ends up doing is taking her to the same place where he knows they're going to be, and they end up going as a family.
Speaker 1:Which was as sweet as he could be.
Speaker 2:for that, yes and he still knows that he's kind of sending them to their death in a way, but at least they're going to go together. He's so kind, I love you it has begun. Literally. And then he's coming back into town and there is a silencer. Well, these guys try and like mug him because again same thing.
Speaker 1:He looks like money. A bunch of dumb drunk friends thought they could like jump him. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:They thought they could jump him in like this alleyway or something, and it's this whole fight. And then what's called a silencer comes and they essentially have the ability to take away your ability. They like what is the word I'm looking for they.
Speaker 1:They can control you with their minds, like they can completely shut you down as a person they like shut you down, yeah, in the most painful way possible and it feels like your head's exploding, like it's this whole thing.
Speaker 2:And what are they called? Oh, what was that?
Speaker 1:ability in Twilight that that one girl could do, and she was like look at people and they'd be in pain, oh Jane yeah that's kind of what the Silencers do.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but those people, what are they called the Fatals?
Speaker 1:I think it is People with like super super abilities have also kind of been shunned from society, yep, because they're too dangerous, or well, the king can't control them exactly.
Speaker 2:So for real right but he has, like, the royal silencer, so that's okay, but the rest of them have kind of been shunned to like the slums and voted off the island so then of course, payton's walking by, she sees this fight happening and she goes over there and it's kai. She's like oh my gosh, what this handsome devilish man.
Speaker 2:I have to save him and she is like a super soldier Yep, she's whooping ass, she just. And we come to find out her dad has trained her very, very well for these things and I think at this point we know her dad has died. He was killed. This is where we find out. Her dad was killed by the king or the king's working people, but in her mind she saw the king do it, she saw the king do it and as she is kind of like beaten on the enforcer, all this rage comes to play onto the king's killed my dad and this is what he deserves and this is what all these people deserve. Yada, yada, yada. And she doesn't know that kai is even a prince. So that's kind of all together, also with kai having the ability to mimic other people's ability, he can sense who the ordinaries are, so that made me nervous.
Speaker 2:That made me so nervous, but this book will keep you on your toes, okay, because the whole time you're like I have a secret, um, I know something. You, literally. And so, long story short, payton ends up kind of knocking the silencer out. He ends up getting taken by guards who all of a sudden show up after Payton's already saved the day.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah.
Speaker 2:And Payton and Kai have a moment of he kind of he thinks that she's an ordinary.
Speaker 1:And she has to prove it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and she's like you were just in the desert and something.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you were in a fight, not this one, another one because she noticed she was looking at details about healing wounds. His hands, yeah, and the dusty boots and his like facial features and stuff, and she was like you know and you feel guilty about it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you have a lot of guilt. That's what made me be like uh, because she's like, oh, I'm a psychic. That's what made him be like, uh, because she's like, oh, I'm a psychic, like it's just such a small ability, like you probably can't sense it, because I feed off of other people's emotions and that's what gives me the visions. And he buys it, I guess. But that's also why a silencer can't get into her brain, because he's like well, why weren't you affected by it, correct?
Speaker 1:Like why were you?
Speaker 2:able to kick his hiney in Wait a minute, yeah. And he feels so powerless in that situation that he kind of he ends up deciding that he needs to train with the royal silencer so that never happens to him again. So kind of keep that in mind. So then we find out about Bindon's dad, how he was killed by the royals, and she despises the king with a fiery, fiery passion.
Speaker 1:Like yeah, Wow, Rightfully so too. But damn girl. Yeah.
Speaker 2:After that, the purging trials names have been announced Bum, bum, bum, and Peyton Gray is on the name. Oh Sorry, gasp Pretends to be shocked. Yeah, and everybody in the town is calling her the Silver Savior, which is a whole theme, because she has very white hair, silver and white hair.
Speaker 1:Yeah, she has a level of blonde that I could never dream of reaching.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Well, it's like, it's like, literally silver. Yeah, not even yeah, because they talk a lot about her hair, like almost the whole book, like literally silver, silver, yeah, not even yeah, because they talk a lot about her hair.
Speaker 1:Like almost the whole book, Like I get it In the series they talk a lot about her hair. Okay.
Speaker 2:And that kind of goes into like mutations from like this power can like come into play in different ways with people. So like some people have like blue hair.
Speaker 1:Oh I see.
Speaker 2:But so the purging trials are happening. Kai is in the purging trials and he's expected to win, and the king is very clear that he needs to win.
Speaker 2:Like if you don't win this is such an embarrassment, Like you're the future enforcer of the kingdom or he is the enforcer, Like you and Lasertag, Don't embarrass me. We have to win. Get it together. This 3,000 score, this is not going to get us there. Those are rookie numbers. So there's Kai, there's Paiden, there's Jax. I love Jax. Wasn't he one of the other princes? He's kind of been like adopted by them. So he's not actually royal, but they think of him as their brother and he's just the sweetest guy I loved him 100% good boy.
Speaker 2:Just so sweetheart he's just a little boy, and then there's Kit and Kai's cousin, and Blair, a friend.
Speaker 1:Blair Wasn't a fan of her.
Speaker 2:Blair's, not the cousin. Sadie's the cousin, I think her name is. There's Blair, who is just the absolute worst, and then a few other people. One contestant I would love to speak about really quick is Ace. I hated.
Speaker 1:Ace. Is he the shapeshifter?
Speaker 2:Yes, yeah, he was a. He was a. He's like an illusionist. I was not a fan of him.
Speaker 1:I hate him and immediately him and blair, I want them to have a coward off.
Speaker 2:Oh, you know what I mean like, but he's like immediately really horrible to pay him because you have the again like hunger games. They go and they pick up the contestants and you have to say goodbye, and yada, yada, and it's like day up that the list is announced. So she has to, like, run to adina, she has to say goodbye, and I bookmarked this because, um, she says, uh, it's not a goodbye, only a good way to say bye, until I see you next, because, also because she is a mundane, everyone kind of expects her to die Because these trials are really intense. But what I thought was interesting is it's not like the Hunger Games, where everybody has to die besides the winner Correct, which I thought was kind of an interesting way. Just, people end up inevitably dying Not all of them, though, but Ace back to that is horrible to her immediately, is very snooty, is like I'm better than you and I despise him with everything I have.
Speaker 2:I fully support you on that. Yeah, and Kit is not involved in the trials because she, he is the heir Correct, so he's not allowed to.
Speaker 2:I have to protect him, yes, um, then they end up going to the palace and they have to stay, but they're like locked in their rooms for like three days or something and it's a total like mind game oh yeah, yeah, talk about make you go insane there's nothing for three, two or three days.
Speaker 2:Whatever it is, yeah, I would feel like covet again but that happens, and then she finally gets let out of the room. By what is her guard's name? I, I think I wrote it down Lance Lenny, lenny. So Lenny is like her guard guy.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Lenny.
Speaker 2:He lets her out of the room and she's like what the heck? And he's like it's not just you. All the contestants you know were locked in their rooms. It's time for dinner. You gotta get dressed and let's go. He was funny. I liked how funny he was. I liked Lenny. So she meets the other contestants and then, of course, kai is there. They have a moment. They have a lot of moments we can't talk about them all because we'd be here all day. We'd be here all day and then she feels like guilty for eating in a way, because everyone she knows is starving yes, exactly. And so kai ends up just like giving her food and being like I have to feed you, oh man. Because he can see that she's feeling very uncertain about this whole thing. They have a moment walking back to the room, she like holds a dagger to his throat. This happens about a thousand times.
Speaker 2:Girl with the knife play Sometimes you need to make sure that you are consenting Payton. He likes it, that's true, that's true. And then there's a lot of Hunger Games-esque training that's going on. They're all kind of doing their own thing. And then, of course, kai always comes and tries and helps Payton, helps Payton.
Speaker 1:While Blair tries to like sort of kill her. Yeah, who are Blair's parents Like? Why is she so special? I don't know F is her Like I don't, is her I?
Speaker 2:don't like her. I think they explain it, but I just didn't really care enough. Yeah, don't know, don't care. Anyway, moving Back to Peyton and Kai, here, uh-huh, but yeah, at some point Blair like ends up throwing the knife and it cuts Peyton's ear and she's like, oh, territorial, oh, because Blair likes Kai.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's kind of sprinkled in there, and Kai does not like Blair no.
Speaker 2:But he kind of like has to deal with her because of her family.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I need to do some more investigating. Or a listener watch her. Somebody help us out. Yeah, Do some digging.
Speaker 2:And then there's like moments of Kai braiding her hair to keep blood out of her hair.
Speaker 1:That was sweet, but of course she was always so like hard on him. I'd be like girl and then I'm like I probably talk to my husband the same way, hey nice, I'm like.
Speaker 2:Oh, I'm finding it, you like me? Yeah, yes, there's a lot of banter, a lot of. I hate you, I'm going to kill you.
Speaker 1:Don't tempt me with a good time.
Speaker 2:Clearly that's not what's going to happen. They like each other, but they're not going to say they like each other. Very, very, very enemies to lovers to lovers. Spoiler alert yeah, um, but, and then also, kit likes payton, so kit and payton meet in the hall and she immediately is like oh, he kind of looks like Kai but different.
Speaker 1:He's a lighter font.
Speaker 2:Yes, there's like dark and light, and he has his dad's eyes. They're green and so she like has a really hard time, but she kind of starts to see the king in him, even though they're two very different people which is hard, but when you're programmed to be someone, it starts to show.
Speaker 1:yeah, and then it's extra like oh, but you're like forbidden because of what you did to my family.
Speaker 2:Yes, but Kit is also very much likes Peyton and him and Kai don't really talk about it, but it's definitely.
Speaker 1:Just a there, Like it's on the radar, but yeah.
Speaker 2:And she talks a lot about with Kit. Play the part Like, even though she can't stand to look at him. Play the part More heavily.
Speaker 1:She got real good at playing along.
Speaker 2:Yes, because they have to impress the public in a way, like these contestants. It's a weird thing. Oh yeah, because they vote.
Speaker 1:I forgot All the people like vote for.
Speaker 2:Well, they can like send you stuff Again. Like in the Hunger Games. They can send you things, I think.
Speaker 1:I guess I wasn't. I mean, I was noticing the parallels, but I was just focusing on, like, finishing the book and taking notes that I wasn't realizing just how similar these books are.
Speaker 2:I watch the Hunger Games probably at least twice a year, like the whole thing. So Wow, it's very fresh in my brain almost all the time.
Speaker 1:I have seen it, I think twice. Yeah, I love the Hunger Games movies. Yeah, I think there's four, three, four, three or four. I've only seen the first one.
Speaker 2:No, there's four.
Speaker 1:Yeah, okay, so we need to do a. Yeah, I mean, I do it like twice a year. So, okay, let me know when the next rotation begins.
Speaker 2:I'll make time. Okay, they have the bowl, or like the arena that all the contestants have to go to. And before this she like opens the door and she's like what the heck am I supposed to wear? And that's when she meets Kit, and he's like whoa Yep, like we'll send a maid to help you. She's like I don't need a maid, I don't need help. Yeah, and so they have a moment, like walking into the bull area, which is also like you go in through the king's box. It's very. It's this kind of complicated setup.
Speaker 1:I was picturing a football stadium and so they have their suites and yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:But for some reason Kit's there, the sky box and whatever it's called, yeah, and he's like oh, I see, you found something to wear, da-da-da-da.
Speaker 1:And he's flirty and like sweeter, like sweeter flirty.
Speaker 2:He's very sweet.
Speaker 1:Whereas Kai is like you know. Oh well, you look less like shit than you did yesterday. That's the kind of hint and we all go ooh.
Speaker 2:He likes me, but so as they're going through like these tunnel things, they have to like boost themselves up into the king's box to get to the arena area.
Speaker 1:I already completely forgot about this. It's like you're telling me it's my first time you forgot about this. Yeah, I'm like uh-huh and One of my notes.
Speaker 2:here she like boosts herself up but she can't quite get in there because her dress, like, is too tight, or whatever, around the legs. I don't know why. This is probably one of my favorite parts in the whole book, but Kai ends up like grabbing her and cutting a slit in her dress.
Speaker 1:Oh how could I forget such a part, wow?
Speaker 2:And I was like sheesh, this is so dumb, I know that, but I was like, oh my gosh. And then he's like he literally rips her dress up to her thigh and it's like I'm more than willing to rip dresses for you, gray, to help. Of course. You only need to ask.
Speaker 1:That's not the only time he alters one of her dresses. For her, then, true.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but I love that, Yep. Anyway, I had to specifically talk about that. I'm glad you did, yeah. So then talk about I'm glad you did, yeah, so then, um, they have like, uh, interviews. Essentially, is what the whole point of this arena thing, the I almost want to say it's like the elite people are invited, they're like in this arena and they go one by one, by one to talk about the person and their abilities and things like that. And, of course, payton being a psychic, she's very nervous about it.
Speaker 1:Oh, I forgot because it's like you, gotta fool everybody here um a whole arena and everyone's answering stuff, like you know. Oh, I just want to bring pride to my kingdom and I just want to make my kingdom proud.
Speaker 2:You're like okay, and she says I just expect to survive, we survive, I just want to survive this thing. But like she has to go through so many people and be like, oh, this happened to you and you're dealing with this, and yada, yada, yada.
Speaker 1:They like messed with her more than the other contestants.
Speaker 2:Yes, and I think that comes down to like the ability. Like everybody she meets, I feel like tests her out, Like, oh, you're a psychic, well, tell me something that seems to happen a lot, and she's like 20 psychics out there.
Speaker 1:Is that what it's like for you all day, every day?
Speaker 2:it sounds exhausting yeah, well I mean, but like, if you met a psychic, you'd be like, I'd be like so.
Speaker 1:I'm not like regular girls, but could you tell?
Speaker 2:me something I'll pay, like I'm not trying to use you and then the next day. But could you tell me something? I'll pay Like I'm not trying to use you. And then the next day Kai and Peyton like meet in the hall because their rooms are right across from each other, of course.
Speaker 1:Coincidentally.
Speaker 2:Yeah, because Kai also is staying in like a contestant room, which is like nicer than anything she's ever stayed in, obviously, but they like meet and he's like well's like. Well, come on, you know, it's my job to feed you, and they go downstairs and they meet gail the cook, oh yeah, I liked her. She's just the like she's.
Speaker 2:I don't know, I feel like you have this in a lot of books, where they're like there's somebody that's like part of the help, but when, like, you get to see like the, the hard guys like soft side to her because she's like been around since they're kids and correct.
Speaker 2:It's very much like that, um, and payton kind of starts to see kai in a different light as a human being. Yes, um, but then also there's more training, and at this point there's never enough. I think that they know that with the ball they're expected to have a partner among contestants. Typically Kai hasn't asked Peyton, but they do like each other at this point and there's the training where they fight and he's like oh, you're trying to take me on, and then he's like abilities or no abilities and she says, no, I just want you ah, I like that.
Speaker 2:I like that part a lot too, it's okay, um, but they so they fight and she's like, oh, taking it easy on me and like they beat each other up, and I was like, oh, okay, um, but she still says that he's like going easy on her and don't do it again. I'm like she means business.
Speaker 1:Then we have the ball, which kit ends up asking payton and I was like oh no, this is gonna get complicated, which?
Speaker 2:he's not a contestant, but I mean, I guess he is expected to have a date, true.
Speaker 1:Especially because he's the prince, he's the heir, because like I know, kai is a prince too, yeah, but he's like a prince prince. He's like a special prince yeah.
Speaker 3:But so she kind of thinks this at the time of.
Speaker 2:Well, this will help me popularity wise, correct? Because kit is very much favored. Play the game, the air, play the game, I can do this, um. So she ends up saying yes, and she's expected to have these outrageous gowns not really her thing, but they mentioned that she can like pick a seamstress. And she immediately is like I can bring adina to the palace.
Speaker 1:That'd be like you being someone they're like. Well, you know you can have someone help you with your hair and makeup. Even though you were the one that taught me how to do makeup, you'll be like I need my friend suzy, I can bring her this house is so nice you need to get here.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's exactly like she'll be fed.
Speaker 1:She'll have a bed Girl.
Speaker 2:This is fun, She'll be taken care of At least until the end of the trials. And then she I think she I could be making this up, but I'm pretty sure she says at one point like I just need to make it to the end so at least she'll be safe for that long, correct? Because if she dies, then Adina's out, but then also there's a knock at her door at night and it's Kai and they.
Speaker 2:He's like I'm gonna teach you how to dance, or he doesn't even say that at first, he's just like follow me. Yeah, she's like correct dance practice. Yes, and they go to his actual room, not his contestant room. They go to his actual room and they have dance lessons and they're very close and it's a whole thing.
Speaker 1:There's a lot of tension, y'all A lot of tension In there and then nothing happens.
Speaker 2:Yeah, a whole lot of nothing. But he's like he says something about like helping his brother out and that, I think, is kind of a little bit of a slap in the face to her.
Speaker 1:It would make me irritated, yeah, but at the and that I think, is kind of a little bit of a slap in the face to her.
Speaker 2:It would make me irritated. Yeah, but at the same time he's got a point, mm-hmm, but anyway, but that's his reason for the dance lessons, right.
Speaker 1:It's so she doesn't embarrass his brother, of course, yeah, it's not because he wants to be close to her. No, oh, no, no, no, no.
Speaker 2:Of course, first ball, which is a very big deal.
Speaker 1:Um and she, it's expected that all the women wear green, because it's like the color of the city, country, whatever it's called ilia and she doesn't.
Speaker 2:She's the only person who doesn't. She wears a silver gown with her silver hair and she very much sticks out which I'm sure blair was just so angry like I would have worn a lavender dress had I known.
Speaker 2:She's wearing a silver gown with her silver hair and she very much sticks out, which I'm sure Blair was just so angry Like I would have worn a lavender dress had I known. But there's a lot of tension here. There's a lot of things. Let me see if I bookmarked any of this. Oh, and she has her dagger on her.
Speaker 1:Yes, I love that. After the end of this book I'm like I want a thigh thigh strapped dagger to wear around places at this point I mean, I'm not going to, but that's just kind of like based on the places I go.
Speaker 2:There's a line in here where they're dancing and she's like dancing with this guy and he's just like not really her vibe. And kai steps in and says I'll be stealing her now, in the middle of a dance, which is kind of inappropriate, rude. And it says, eee, and they have a lot more banter, I'll, you know, stab you Da-da-da-da-da.
Speaker 1:I'll stab you. I love you too. You know just the general.
Speaker 2:And then she's like kind of checking him out and he says, by all means, carry on, I'll never deny myself the chance of watching you, watch me, oh.
Speaker 2:and then he's like because it's better when it's mutual, because he's always checking her out, he's got, he's got a bunch of smooth lines, yeah, and she ends up seeing this guy that she recognizes from the loot and she had stolen from him at one point and there was like an address on it and it was the address to her house that she had as a child. Nothing ever really comes of it at that point. But she ends up seeing him like in the ball and she's like, wait, I recognize him. And then, well, we come to find out the rebellion people and they're like bombing and it's this whole thing. They're just a bunch of ordinaries for the most part.
Speaker 2:That have had enough. And it turns into this whole thing and Kai's like you have to get to the safe room and she's like I'm not leaving, oh, and he's like I'll throw you over my shoulder.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, and he like literally carried her in there he literally throws her over his shoulder. What I wouldn't give her, but like what we wouldn't give to be thrown over the top.
Speaker 2:Anyway, then there's also a moment with him and Kit and Kit's like I don't wanna leave and he's like you have to leave.
Speaker 1:I picture Kit being like I'm a big boy now I don't wanna go and Kai being like bruh.
Speaker 2:And he's literally holding Peyton over his arm. Can we not do this right now? Like I have the carrot, let's go. Yeah, I think Kit feels a lot of guilt. Well, we kind of find that out during the book Of Kai always being the one to like do the battles for him in a way, and he doesn't really like that. But he, kai, ends up winning it Like we need you, we need you for the future, we cannot have you getting hurt. And so he throws Kai and Kit, or not Kai and Kit, it's okay.
Speaker 1:I knew exactly where you were going and Kit into the safe room. And they're stuck with everyone else.
Speaker 2:Yeah, then obviously Kit is very distressed and Peyton is like this is my time to get like information out of him, and so he ends up telling her about the resistance and how those ordinaries who are trying to fight back, and you during this, you kind of start to figure out that kit is very unsure about everything. It seems he's been taught that ordinaries are bad people and they're diseased and all these things he seems very educated but very misinformed.
Speaker 1:That's like he's very misinformed about a lot of things and he has a lot of emotions about it all yes, yeah, he just like I don't know.
Speaker 2:He seems very lost, but he's kind of like being groomed to be king, essentially. And Peyton ends up asking him do you want to be king? And he's like nobody's ever asked me that and it's this whole thing. Anyway, kit's kind of a softie which we start to find out. Kit's kind of crazy. No, he's not yet. I, okay, no, he's not yet. I'll say I have a lot of hope for him. Okay, even after reading the second book, I think he's either gonna go one of two ways he is going to be everything that the kingdom needs and the like bring everybody together, or he's gonna be the next, like bring everybody together, or he's going to be the next, like mad king, yeah, the mad king that ends up dying. Like it's got to go one of those ways. In my mind At this point he's very kind. He really opens up to Peyton and she kind of starts to see him differently of like he has his dad's eyes but they're softer. She says that at one point.
Speaker 1:And about his hair and like his features.
Speaker 2:Yes, Then the doors open or whatever, to the safe room and she comes out and Kai is wounded and she's like, where are you hurt? And he's like, before we say anything like, have you been healed? And I'm like he cares about her.
Speaker 1:This is so dumb. It's okay, we're in this together.
Speaker 2:Yes, but he ends up being like stabbed in the shoulder or something and she has to like rip the knife out and then he's healed and everything's fine. So then we get to the first trials and they're drugged before the trials Trials round one.
Speaker 2:They're drugged beforehand and then they're like put out into this forest, essentially, and they all have armbands and whoever gets the most armbands like wins the round. I guess, which I don't think that ever really comes into play, because at the last trial it's like whoever wins this trial wins. So that was kind of interesting. I thought so too, that's a little bit of a plot hole there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, what was the point of the leathers and the bands this whole time?
Speaker 2:anyway, and winning the rounds. Yeah, because it's not best. Two out of three friends, anyway, all right, but they're like like in the forest and they have armbands and whoever has the most will win and if you don't come back with an armband like you're cut from the show and I always wondered does that mean you're dispatched? Dispatched like dispatched, like dispatched killed. Yeah, no, I don't think you're killed cause not everybody dies during the trial.
Speaker 2:Okay, yeah, that makes sense. You know, no Hair on the head, but no. And so the first run in is Kai and big old buddy Brawny I don't even remember his name.
Speaker 1:I don't either, but yeah, they have a tussle, kai ends up like burning his face. Yeah, somebody gets tossed into the fire and the other one gets rolled into the fire. It's intense, Braxton.
Speaker 2:There it is. Kai ends up getting hurt, but it's definitely not as bad, and the whole like point of this kind of area is there's water right there, so there's a everybody's fighting for it. Yeah. So they have a fight. Kai's fine, braxton like takes off and he took his band from him. So now Kai's got two bands, ha ha ha, hee hee winning. And then we have Payden who comes across kind of the same area and in the water she sees Kit and he's hurt.
Speaker 1:She like like jumps over there and then it turns out that it's not real at all and kit's not there and she ends up like hurting her leg and ace is there.
Speaker 2:And what's hard is like this is the name of the game like he's expected to like work with his abilities, but it's like you don't gotta be such a jerk about it. Yes, so he shows her that she hurts her leg. They fight, he ends up she hurts her leg a lot.
Speaker 1:Yeah, she ends up hurting herself a lot, which everything can be healed in this and he stabs her right or there's a spear, it's a spear and he ends up spearing her, oh my god.
Speaker 2:Then she's like walking and she realizes she's really hurt and there's like infection kind of already in a way, and she comes across who other than she finds little, mr dreamy? Yes, but at this point she's very delirious, like she's. She's having a really hard time even be mean to him.
Speaker 1:She was can't be mean to him, but she's having a really hard time. She couldn't even be mean to him.
Speaker 2:She was, so she can't be mean to him. But she's scared so she's like still trying to protect herself and she ends up just like collapsing and he's like Payton, payton.
Speaker 1:Payton, pay, pay, pay. That's when he starts calling her Pay and I'm like oh.
Speaker 2:And then she says I don't want to die, If only so I can hear him say my name one more time.
Speaker 1:And she's time. I was driving for work in this part and so I'm like going no.
Speaker 2:Oh my gosh. And he's like running his hands all over her, like trying to find the wound, and she's like smiling. And he said remind me to make you smile again when you aren't dying. And I have all the time in the world to memorize it.
Speaker 2:Because he's like panicked, but he's like and she's coming in and out, she thinks she's going to die and she closes her eyes. Peyton, open your eyes, wake up, and if you die, I'm going to kill you. Yep, that was funny. I love this kind of moment of like. He's so panicked, of like I have to save her, I have to protect her, and she's like dying. And he's like don't you dare do this.
Speaker 1:It's very, very movie-esque. This would be a fantastic movie, yeah.
Speaker 2:I think it would cause a lot of ruckus, though, just because of all the similarities. 100%, yeah, not that I want to like it, but and he ends up finding the wound, stitching her up, stitching her up, Stitching her up he goes over. He takes like the balm that he ended up taking from Braxton the healing stuff.
Speaker 1:He puts it all on her.
Speaker 2:And she wakes up and she's like that hurts, like what the heck are you doing? And he's like you don't even know her yet, like I gotta stitch you up, I'm saving your life. She's dehydrated, she's all these things. Long story short, he ends up taking care of her and then his fingers find her chin and he makes her look up at him. He says who did?
Speaker 1:this to you Every time. You know it's getting good. When you get to that part in the book You're like oh boy.
Speaker 2:Yep, I'm going to ask you, you again, who did this to you? Who did this to you? Swoon.
Speaker 1:Swooning Me. If Eric grabbed my chin Get the f Get off me. Why are you?
Speaker 2:touching me. I just did my skincare yeah, you lost your mind. And he ends up kind of like distracting her while he's trying to sit her up, asking about home, asking about Adina like their life Distract, distract, things like that. He also like triesina like their life Distract, distract, things like that. He also like tries to like piss her off too, like to distract her from the pain because she's so like I don't know, a fighter.
Speaker 1:You know, I can imagine it'd be like you being like. What was that? What did she do to you again ten years ago that made you so upset?
Speaker 2:I'd be like, oh well, this bit. You're like, oh well, this bit. You're like, oh perfect, okay, anyway, go on Moving forward. They end up like staying together for the night because she's hurt and they like snuggle to stay warm. Is that at this point?
Speaker 1:That's not this point, oh damn it.
Speaker 2:I got so excited. But he does end up like watching her and he's like she's too good for me, trope. I don't like that by all standards in this society. You're too good for her. But like he doesn't think of himself that way because he's not, I'm a monster.
Speaker 1:It's all men. They're always. I'm a monster. There's a monster in me. There's my dark side. I'm like shut up, they're always. I'm a monster. There's a monster in me. There's my dark side.
Speaker 2:I'm like shut up. But as he's watching her and he decides that she's too good for him and all the toying and teasing has been like a distraction, but now he's not entirely sure what it is, I'm conflicted. He said if I am to be her enemy, I want it to be because she loathes herself for wanting me. Damn, he's very much like I think he's accepted at this point that he likes Peyton and loves everything kind of about maybe not loves, but likes a lot of her characteristics and her fieriness.
Speaker 1:You can tell we're romantics over here. We're like they were officially in love at this point fieriness, you can tell we're romantics over here.
Speaker 2:We're like they were officially in love at this point. But he doesn't think that she should want him. But he's gonna do everything he can to make her want him. Is kind of the thing about it Because he's a notorious flirt with her and she thinks he's like that with everybody. But he's not True.
Speaker 1:Kind of he's just like straight up grumpy but polite to everyone else and she thinks that he's like grumpy, flirty with everyone else.
Speaker 2:Yes, she wakes up and they ultimately decide they're going to be partners during this trial. She's hurt, do you?
Speaker 1:want to form an alliance. Yes, yes, I do.
Speaker 2:But they don't really trust each other and he's like well, I think you should trust me because I just saved your life.
Speaker 1:So maybe Us with trust issues would be like yeah, but like now you just have something on me. That's why you did it. You did it so that you would have something to hold over my head. I knew it.
Speaker 2:And she ends up seeing that he has a burn mark on his chest and she's like, oh, let me go make this paste real quick. I have a magic salve. Yeah, Let me get my balms. And she ends up making it and is like putting it on him. And now it's her turn to distract him from the pain because he's like this hurts. What the heck are you doing to me? I'm convinced you're trying to torture me. So she kind of does the same thing to him.
Speaker 1:Tell me about you and Kit growing up and what it was like oh, you want to tell me, you want to know about how I was never favored and how I was treated differently and tortured as a child. Sure, okay.
Speaker 2:And he kind of like he says, like the way that he was trained was pretty severe and there's a lot of torture and things like that that just he had to experience but his brother never did, didn't? Yeah, very different relationships for the king. Because of it, kit will make a great king and I will be his killer I just glanced down at your note oh, that's the king pos because, I have a very similar.
Speaker 1:Let's see where my note is about the king edrick.
Speaker 2:Piece of shit, same thing uh, she asked him like what do you think of it, your role in this life? And he says I never wanted to be this. I never wanted to be what I am today. But monsters are made and not broken, and I had no choice in the matter. I have no choice in the matter, but I won't deny what I am and I'll do what I must for my kingdom and for my king, beauty and honor. But it's his brother, in a way, like that one, that makes it harder, I think, like it's not just his dad, it's his brother, who he loves. He does love his brother, so that makes it hard, anyway. So now they're buddies and there's wolves.
Speaker 1:Yeah, there's twilight wolves.
Speaker 2:They're huge A lot of fighting, slashing, slicing, dicing, maybe, so for real. Anyway, moving on, he ends up like saving her, and she says like, after this is done, like you don't listen. And she's like, yeah, I'm not going to take orders from you like one of your little soldiers. And he says you're right, right, you're not one of my soldiers. Uh, my soldiers don't mean anything to me, they're expendable and easy to replace. So, yes, gray, you're not one of my soldiers.
Speaker 1:Oh, that means I'm important to him delusion well, not even delusion.
Speaker 2:And then he's hurt again his shoulder constantly. He's like always hurt, she's not even delusion. And then he's hurt again His shoulder.
Speaker 1:He's like always hurt. She's like I got a bomb, Yep.
Speaker 2:And he says I'm beginning to think that you enjoy getting hurt. If only I could have my hands all over you. Or she says no, she says that to him. They're healed up, they have their, like camaraderie is going and they end up dancing. Oh yeah, I like this part. It's very like simple. It's very much like what's your favorite color, what do you like to eat, Things like that. But it's kind of like a touchy moment and they are really vulnerable, I guess you could say, and then nothing happens. Yet again, it's a theme Anytime you think that they're getting close, it doesn't happen.
Speaker 1:Yeah, don't bother getting excited, Don't waste it, it ain't happening.
Speaker 2:Yeah, sadie shows up. Sorry to interrupt. There's a whole fight, not a whole lot to it, but she can kind of like mimic herself, so she makes a bunch of sadies, and they're all creepy. That would be yes, and sadie is a very like kind person though, and so she kind of tells me like I don't want to do this, like as she's like ready to kill her kill you yeah but she's, she's gonna, she's about to kill payton, um, and then kai ends up killing sadie or payton.
Speaker 2:And then payton is like really freaked out and he's like just go back to camp, I'll take care of it, um, and she doesn't. She ends up like walking back out and he had buried sadie and put flowers on her grave and that was specifically for payton, because she felt so bad about it, which is very sweet.
Speaker 1:Yes, and then Some of our friends can't even get a text back and this guy's burying a stranger for this girl. If he wanted to, he would.
Speaker 2:Ladies, oh, for some reason, I was like I have a really hard time texting back. No, none Like dang calling me out. Okay, no, oh, okay. So then, at the end of the trials, like the trials haven't really ended yet, but they have to like walk out. Well, they have to like walk out of this forest area, got it? And this is where, like, the contestants meet, and then some of them have also built alliances I think it's Andy and Jax actually have also built an alliance. They meet up with them. They're like walking out, and Blair is like don't you know, alliances ruin everything. And then there's like this massive fight, correct, and in that fight, ace has made Jax look like him, oh this part.
Speaker 2:And so Kai I was oh, this part. And so Kai. I was so upset reading this part. Kai is going after him because of what he did to Peyton, correct. But then he actually ends up stabbing Jax. And then Jax's eyes appear and he's like, oh my gosh, what have I done? There's like the panic moment he picks him up. He's like running amongst the crowd to try and find a healer, to find the healer energy.
Speaker 2:So that he can heal him. And he does end up healing him, and this is my note, I hate Ace Can't wait until he dies when.
Speaker 1:I tell you I was reading that. Then I had to go to work that day and then I drove to my client's house and I moved to the farther away driveway so that I could park and finish that shop. I got to finish this yeah, and then their dog is always waiting for me and he's just like come on, Hello, Where's my biscuit? I'm like hang on. Yeah, this scene was so stressful, like when you read this book. This part, it's a lot.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's so emotional because you're getting to see, like the soft side of Kai and how he cares about his siblings and he cares, like he cares a lot about Jax, because when he found out that Jax was even going to be in the trials, he was not happy.
Speaker 2:He was like great. Now I have to like not only win and protect myself, I have to take care of him as well now, and it's like a whole thing. After that. Kit ends up taking Peyton to the gardens and they're like walking along, she very much like kind of makes him question things about the kingdom and he wants to know what she would do and what her opinions are and things like that I thought that was weird.
Speaker 1:Yeah, just I don't know why I don't know.
Speaker 2:I think it was like the whole point of it was make sure that we knew he's different than his dad. I think that's kind of the whole thing Okay. And he says I kind of like him. That face is so funny. I kind of like him.
Speaker 1:He says I don't know why I'm being such a hater, I'm sorry, like he really didn't do anything that bad either. I'm just like.
Speaker 2:He ends up saying like Peyton, if I listen to you, will you at least like look at me? So he's like constantly trying to like catch her eyes and things like that because he likes Peyton and Peyton like has a really hard time looking at him because she sees the king and anyway, it's this whole moment and he's like you won't look at me, I just want you to look at me, anyway.
Speaker 2:so there's this fountain and it has a bunch of coins in the bottom of it and she just looks at it and she's just like what a waste of money. What a waste of money. This could feed so many people and Kit is like okay, I'll have it picked up and distributed out to people that need it. She's like huh. And he said I told you I'd listen to you.
Speaker 1:And I'm like see, he's a good guy If he wasn't so desperate to please his father, he'd be a good guy.
Speaker 2:But like that's his role.
Speaker 1:And like I get it. Yeah, I think I give him a lot of grace, that's true. Yeah, but that's okay, like you're allowed.
Speaker 2:He's never done anything at this point to not be deserving of it. Like he's shown that he is a good guy, like he is kind of born into this position. There's not a whole lot he can do about it. It's true you don't pick your parents Exactly. After that, peyton sets out to find the resistance. How to find the resistance? She has that note from the very beginning of the address of her old house.
Speaker 1:She knows that that guy was a part of the resistance that night.
Speaker 2:So she shows up and extremely long story short. Her dad was a part of the resistance.
Speaker 1:Like the head of it.
Speaker 2:Yep, and that's kind of why they think he was killed. He was killed in front of her, we come to find out and stabbed through the chest in his chair while he was reading by someone and the royal guard. The king is what she says, and so there's Callum, who is has an ability. Oh, the mind reader.
Speaker 1:I don't know how I feel about Callum for being 110 percent.
Speaker 2:I'm like, okay, he's a little hmm, I still, I don't know how I feel about him.
Speaker 1:Okay, that's nice to know. Someone else was like on my side of it, yeah.
Speaker 2:At this point I did like him, but I was still kind of unsure about him. But so, as she shows up there, lenny is there. So Lenny the guard of her row is also a part of the resistance, like about time you showed up. Why?
Speaker 1:did he have to be southern? I didn't pick that up in the in the audiobook when I listened to this part on audible southern. Yeah, like like they. They gave him a distinctive southern drawl and then they only had the female narrator read his lines. So it was just number one complaint, like I'm sorry to be an audio book complaint.
Speaker 1:It was not great, I don't anyway. That's it, that's my one. I don't know why he had to be southern, because then it ruined the whole like picture in my head for who he is. Yeah, everything and it was was just weird.
Speaker 2:I kind of pictured him. I pictured him a little Southern, I think, like I pictured him as a redhead, freckles, like just kind of boyish Yep, kind of Southern vibe.
Speaker 1:I'll have to play you a little bit of what his voice was for that and you'll be like, oh, there's a lot more people in on the resistance than she realized. This is a big deal. There's like charters. This is real. Yeah, and it's coming.
Speaker 2:There's charters and then all the leaders kind of group together and Callum is the ultimate leader of the whole resistance. They tell her that they're planning on striking, but they need to find a way into the king's box under the tunnels.
Speaker 1:He's the shady one in. He would be the shady one like in Hunger Games.
Speaker 2:He always had like the blue hair and he was always next to oh, that would be him. And she's like okay, well, how am I supposed to find that? And lenny's like it's almost as if you have some princes in your pocket that you could probably figure out how to get in there. Like, come on, bat your eyelashes, girl. Yes, exactly.
Speaker 2:And she's like okay I suppose, and she knows that her way to do that is through kit. It's not going to be through kai, it's going to be through kit. So she inevitably play them both gets closer to him and so, like, as they're talking, they're talking about like the people and things like that and kit tells her that he wants to see luke, he wants to see the people he wants to like I want to see how my people live, or something like that was his line and she's like she's like well, how are we ever gonna get out?
Speaker 2:And he's like I can find us a way to dolphin. Not so much like that Stupid too. He's just like, and we're like she is playing you like a fiddle, which is kind of her thing. Like to play these men of like oh, I have no idea, I'm just so stupid.
Speaker 1:Me and my girl brain. You can get us out.
Speaker 2:You can get us out of the kingdom. And he's like, yeah, I can get us out.
Speaker 1:Go see it, no problem, let me show you how cool I am.
Speaker 2:Yes, and then the king like stops her and Kit and is like Kit go do whatever, whatever and he kind of threatens page. She's like get the.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he's like stay away from my son stay away from my something he was really shitty like you shouldn't don't expect to win this thing because you're not going to correct. And then he also kind of has a moment with kai of like just clarifying you need to win this thing, also not in that nice of words, but he does say that. So the second ball again she's going with Kit and Kai ends up drunk and oh, this was so funny, he got so drunk, she ends up like spilling wine on him.
Speaker 1:They're trying to fix it and they're flirting while he's. You know the whole thing.
Speaker 2:It was a very cute little exchange Because she ends up like spilling wine on him and he's like it's okay. And then they like walk over to him and he's like it's okay.
Speaker 1:And then they walk over to the trees and she's trying to blot it. Yeah, and then they go back and he's like let's dance, and then she panics. Yeah. And then he takes her away and unties her dress so she can breathe.
Speaker 2:Okay, in my mind he ripped it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's true, which isn't Like pulls out a Benchmade.
Speaker 2:No, he ripped it with his hands In my brain, sheesh, which I think he kind of Damn. He like tugs on it Okay, for sure, because he doesn't rip it, but he definitely like loosens it so she can breathe.
Speaker 1:Okay, me forgetting that he's a man that wouldn't know that. I'm like no, he would just untie it and help loosen it for her. You know, like a gel. I'm like no, susie, no Stop being boring.
Speaker 2:And then she says to him at some point you can touch me when you're sober, because she can tell that he's drunk and he's like obviously really lovey-dovey. Randomly during this, like this, I picture it like a podium thing comes up and it's like oh, you thought this was a regular ball, just kidding, you all have to fight. Mm-hmm, sure, okay, got it. And she ends up going against Blair. Surprise, surprise.
Speaker 1:She keeps getting put against Blair.
Speaker 2:Yeah, she technically loses it, but she embarrasses Blair enough. She hurts Blair's pride.
Speaker 1:Yeah, which is more important than Blair's body.
Speaker 2:Yeah, which is just kind of okay, which she punches her in the face and that's embarrassing for Blair. But what I didn't get is like Blair ends up taking off after she like threw Peyton to the ground but she like she literally leaves, and then Peyton says that she won the match. I don't get that. I don't either. What do you mean? Anyway, that's weird Moving forward. So then we have trial number two and he wakes up and on his palm it says she said I can touch her when I'm sober, so sweet and I love that. That is good.
Speaker 1:Aw, but the second trial is teamwork, but the second trial is teamwork and they have to like make it up this hill and the king purposely puts them on weird teams, like he put weird people together.
Speaker 2:Peyton and Ace are together, and then Kai and Blair, I think, are together, and then miscellaneous people. Peyton is with Jax, at least, Anyway. So they wake up, and whoever makes it to the top of this tower thing is the one who wins.
Speaker 1:And there's snakes and there's rocks and all this stuff, earthquakes and everything you can think of.
Speaker 2:There's challenges along this hike, yep. And then they get to the top. And it's actually just kidding, it's capture the flag.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, okay, as if this couldn't get any weirder.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So then everyone ends up fighting and then Ace is like going for Peyton, because of course he is. And then Peyton is like ready to kill him. She like gets the upper hand because she's like the super assassin, gets the upper hand, is ready to kill him and says oh wait, you're not mine to kill. And then she like brings Kai over to kill him. Oh, I like that. Then Kai tells Peyton okay, go get the flag. And she ends up winning the second trial, which the king is just like God damn it. He says something to the boys, boys like that was interesting how Peyton won the second trial, you know. And they're all like yeah.
Speaker 1:I don't know.
Speaker 2:Crazy, crazy world.
Speaker 1:Lots of smells. They're like no, I've had the chicken defrosting in the sink all day. I don't know what's for you.
Speaker 2:So then, ace is dead, and it's sweet, sweet victory for that one. For me. And then Kit and Peyton, they go to the loot. He takes her in the tunnels. He ends up showing her exactly what she needs to see of.
Speaker 1:This is how you get into the box and she's like Isn't this, when she gets the key, too, like she gets it off him?
Speaker 2:No, she gets that at the final ball. Oh, right, so then. I don't know why I had to growl that right um, but he shows her exactly what she needed for the resistance. And then they find out that there's actually a key also yes, she needs to lift off of him and her and lenny decide, or I guess there's kind of probably a group decision. She's going to take it off of him at the final ball and then give it to Lenny, and then they'll have it.
Speaker 1:It'd be so I would not be able to keep it cool during all this the way Peyton does Like I would be my nerves, but she, she's trained. You know what like she's?
Speaker 2:not just a regular person. Well, she is, but she's not. So then we have probably one of my favorite tropes of. Kai is in his room. He's having a dream this just made me so mad. This was just Peyton is like dead and he's freaking out and he's holding her in his arms. He has a nightmare. He has a bad dream. Peyton rushes in. Yeah, kai, kai, kai. And he.
Speaker 1:You know the classic wake up, wake up, and he won't, and angrily wakes up, so scary.
Speaker 2:He well, he like, ends up flipping her, Like they always do, and he has a dagger to her throat.
Speaker 1:Every time it's always like that, but did I totally eat this up?
Speaker 2:Of course, I did For real and she grabs his face it's me pay, yeah, it's me. And he's like and then she's like don't hide from me, it's this whole thing, yep, or anyway, you don't get it until you read it. Okay, I can't explain it. And he like calms down and she's like, okay, you're okay, she gets ready to leave and she does, she stays, and then the next morning they wake up and she's just you know the picture of beauty according to Kai Harris spilled over the pillow and her lips are softly parted Yep, and her 53 freckles.
Speaker 1:Her 27 freckles or something.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he counted. Yeah. Anyway, so he goes. He counted her freckles. So cute I could die For real. He goes and he like grabs breakfast and he's bringing it in and she like has a shoe and is ready to throw it at him or something. Anyway, she shoe and is ready to throw it at him or something.
Speaker 1:Anyway, she's always on edge. Yeah, she's always ready to fight. Yes, rightfully so. I'm not a Peyton hater, don't worry. I'm hard on the girl Sometimes it's a little frustrating.
Speaker 2:It's like just give in for the love, the way I would fold so quickly. But she's stronger than I am, I guess. But there's a moment, lots of tension, and then it breaks and he says something about like oh gotta get ready for my brother at the ball, or something like that, because of course anytime they get too close, god forbid they. I mean they wouldn't kiss right, of course not. It's annoying.
Speaker 1:It's so annoying. It's like I didn't realize I could feel that kind of frustration.
Speaker 2:Oh, my people aren't even real yeah, but then we have the final ball. And this is before the final trial. And my big takeaway from this final ball is she ends up kind of having a panic attack. She's trying to distance herself from kai also. Then inevitably they have to dance together and he says you've been avoiding me. And she like freaks out, she wants to go outside. The soldier dudes say you can't go outside. Kai comes and is like better, let her do what she wants you can do whatever you like, well, it's also the, the guy who's telling her.
Speaker 2:No, well, they're kind of um, not being very appropriate. Oh lady, let me show you a good time, like that kind of thing. Um, and then also one of the guys is the guy that hit her back in the loop, yeah, and so kai kind of puts them in their place. She can do whatever she wants. I'll take care of you later. They go outside. It's raining.
Speaker 1:Every time here it comes, it's raining, she'll say something all exasperated, I'm sure it's not that simple. It's not that simple.
Speaker 2:What do you want? And then they like get together and he's like tell me what you want me to call you. And she's like what do you want to call me? And he says I want to call you mine. And then there's a moment of tell me you don't feel this and she's like I don't feel it.
Speaker 1:Feel what.
Speaker 2:She's like I don't feel this.
Speaker 1:That's when I wanted to punch her as well. I was like ew okay.
Speaker 2:And then she's. Oh, he says, you promised I could touch you when I'm sober and then, but I'm never sober around. You pay, never drunk on every detail that is you.
Speaker 2:Drunk in love At this point. Do it already. And then, if I kiss you how I really want to kiss you, should I expect a dagger at my throat? And she said find out. And then they I kiss you how I really want to kiss you, should I expect a dagger at my throat? And she said find out. And then they get closer, and then a guard interrupts hey hey, nothing happens.
Speaker 1:No, this book is squeaky clean.
Speaker 2:It's so annoying and that was kind of set up by the king. He like saw them or whatever and wanted them to go in a room there's a chance of love. Stop that For real. Um, and then we have the final trial, which is a maze. Essentially, that kind of like moves the world's most fucked up maze.
Speaker 1:Alright, that's what it was Like a bunch of angry tree people being like this way, just kidding.
Speaker 2:I picture it like the maze runner, where it just shifts. Here's the pathway. Just kidding, and that's how it is. I have been waiting to talk to you about this and it's like get through the maze and at the end of it you have to kill the person that's in the center, because they're a traitor.
Speaker 1:No, I cried.
Speaker 2:I cried Because they're a traitor to the kingdom and they must be killed. And I'm not a crier in a book. Did you cry? Yes?
Speaker 1:Like for real, for real, yes.
Speaker 2:Like there was tears.
Speaker 1:I was parked at the third pool of the day and just had to take like Take a moment. I was so upset this whole thing Buckle up. I don't think I cried.
Speaker 2:I was sad for sure. This book really moved me. You were in it, it was so. During the final trial, kai goes against his cousin who's Andy, that we've concluded on, but he doesn't want to kill her, and so he knows that she's like a shapeshifter thing. She's the jaguar, right, yeah? And then, of course, blair and he didn't go against each other.
Speaker 1:It's very dramatic, yeah, peyton ends up hurting her foot.
Speaker 2:It gets like crushed in a wall or something.
Speaker 1:The way I pictured this was like it was mangled. Like I did too. I pictured, you know, it's like turned this way. It's just not no natural way.
Speaker 2:I literally pictured it like shredded.
Speaker 1:Oh.
Speaker 2:Well, because they talk about the vines and the thorns and things like that, like I pictured it, like how are you walking? Yep, anyway. But they get to the middle of it and go ahead. It's Adina. Adina is in the middle of it. Yeah, and like not just scared in there, like been tortured, beat up, tied up, yes, Blindfolded and Payton is like oh my gosh, oh my gosh, and she goes running to her and she's crying.
Speaker 1:They're both crying and this is why I hate Blair.
Speaker 2:And well, adina says I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry, and Payton's like what?
Speaker 1:happened.
Speaker 2:You know, look, Adina's the traitor, Anyway. And Blair ends up killing Adina, which ultimately makes her the winner, which I didn't understand, because she didn't win a single trial before this.
Speaker 1:She didn't win anything, she didn't complete anything, she was never there first she's not the fastest and she's not the best fighter, but because she could land the final blow. She didn't even physically do it either, that's what you know and I know Peyton had talked about that in the book that she's a lazy fighter. Yes, that's why I don't like Blair. If you're gonna kill somebody, do it right coward Inexperienced. The first time I understand, but by your fifth or sixth. Yeah, I get that figured out.
Speaker 2:But it's very dramatic. She's sobbing, she's crying.
Speaker 1:I'm so sorry. It's a horrible slow moment.
Speaker 2:Very sad thing. And then Kai sees it happening. Adina is also like all she has, so at the end of this, especially because she didn't win, she is expected to go back to the loot. And now she has nobody Like. This is all she has.
Speaker 1:Like she should have just not made it either at that point.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And that's how she's kind of feeling.
Speaker 2:Then Kai sees her and like the arena kind of has like this bubble around it and they look up. Or kai looks up and he sees callum in the king box, like the resistance has started to take over, the silencer are silencing all the people in the crowd and things like that, and payton takes off because she's like I gotta get out of here.
Speaker 1:Oh, and remember.
Speaker 2:This is the part when kit is just staring looking at all in her, like I know it was you, and kai puts that together too, because she runs it was so sad. I was like oh no, yes, oh no and um, because kai was silenced, that one time he had been working with the silencer in the kingdom to understand that ability and be able to stop it too.
Speaker 2:Yes, okay so what he ends up doing in my brain this is how I took it is he connects with all the silencers that are there and, like, pushes back against them and then they all like burst into flames he uno reversed them. Okay, anyway, I like it so this whole resistance thing didn't exactly go to planned. It's just a huge battle, a lot of people die, but ultimately they don't end up winning.
Speaker 1:I guess you could say yep, um, and then the king because they didn't go about it the right way, mr shady mcshaderson decided to all of a sudden get real demanding and talk about how he's going to kill the king.
Speaker 1:In the air is when that was never part of the plan but then the king runs into Paiden and he calls her out for being an ordinary and a traitor and a part of the resistance Paiden is running for her life through the rain and a fucking figure stumbles out and at first I thought it was Kit. I did. I was like she's gonna have to fight Kit, oh no. And then I was like, oh shit the king and the to fight Kit, oh no. And then I was like, oh shit the king, and the king is a brawny right. So like he's really strong, yes.
Speaker 2:And pissed. Also before this she went back, she got her vest that Idina made her, she got her things and she got her foot healed. Yep. Anyway, just to clarify, she's healthy at this point. Yeah, she point. Yeah, she. Uh, she thought quick and got ahead. Yes, so anyway, her and the king have this whole knockout, drag out, fight. It was quite the fight too like, and she's pissed like. This is also kind of that same aggression in the beginning yeah, with the silencer, like that comes back of.
Speaker 2:Like he did all of these things he ruined my life he did. Like he ruined kai's life. Like he's tortured him. My father, Like all these things are coming to the forefront of her brain and at some point he has the upper hand on her and he carves an O in her chest for ordinary.
Speaker 1:That part was horrible.
Speaker 2:Yes, so she never forgets.
Speaker 1:Oh she is.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's a whole thing. Anyway, he's a barbaric human being. Yes, because Paiden is the master assassin. She ends up getting the upper hand, of course, and she ends up killing him. And she said this is for me, this is for Idina and this is for my dad.
Speaker 1:In all caps.
Speaker 2:Paiden is a kingslayer, literally, and she ends up stabbing him, her and Jamie. Lannister. She ends up stabbing him with her dad's dagger.
Speaker 1:So it's kind of cool. Yeah, just like you like it Tied up in a little bow, yes, but then she ends up running. No, let's also remember what he says.
Speaker 2:Kai ends up coming out and is like I should kill you.
Speaker 1:As the king is telling her that it was Kai that killed her father.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, no, Kai doesn't know that. He ends up coming out Before the king dies. He tells him who do you think killed your dad? She's like I know it was you and he's like no, it wasn't, it was Kai.
Speaker 1:And that was the first job and he almost cried.
Speaker 2:That was the first job he ever went out on as the enforcer.
Speaker 1:Can you imagine the what, the fuck moment for her?
Speaker 2:Yeah, she's like it's not true and he's like, yes, it is, and she kills him. So then after that, then Kai comes out and he's like I should kill you. You're a traitor, you're part of the resistance.
Speaker 1:But you hated your dad. Like don't get all self-righteous all of a sudden Kai, thanks to his sudden kai, his dad, or malachi, sorry yeah, that's his actual name.
Speaker 2:He says I'll give you a head start, which was and you better run because as soon as I catch you, I'm gonna have the courage. I need to do like what I have to do essentially very I don't miss, yes, but like he's so conflicted because it's payton and he's like I don't want to have to do this, but but I will. And so she ends up taking off and Kit is now king, but he's really struggling with the death of his dad and he, essentially, end of book, says to Kai, bring me Peyton.
Speaker 1:Gray, my enforcer. Yes, and it's all woo, yes, and he's all yes, your majesty, and I'm like, ooh, yes. So that's all.
Speaker 2:Woo, yes, and he's all, yes, your majesty, and I'm like, ooh, yes, so that's the end of book one. And now you can see why I immediately picked up the second one and was obsessed. It's intense. And I read the second one the other day, so now I'm just kind of twiddling my thumbs until the third one comes out.
Speaker 1:Glad I'm going to take my time then.
Speaker 2:Yeah, time then. Yeah, well, there is also a novella of um adina, which I think in there you probably find out what she did, okay, that made her a traitor, but I haven't read it yet, okay, so at some point I'll read that. And I think that one's called powerful, okay. So, anyway, what a ride yeah, we did it.
Speaker 1:Do you have thoughts? Not too much, just I liked it. I liked it. Um, I I did struggle. I don't know why I struggle to get into books like those first few chapters it's hard pulling teeth with me but it's always a good book. I just don't know what.
Speaker 2:It is so hard to get me to commit specifically fantasy series, though, because it's so much world building.
Speaker 1:Yes, that's true. I don't care about the moss-covered tokens and the whatever. This uh kinda.
Speaker 2:Too much over-explanation of some things, but you kinda need it in the beginning.
Speaker 1:Very important, it's needed.
Speaker 2:Yes, 100% Like you have to understand what the loot is and who these people are, and like the difference between the two communities, the mundanes and the elites, and the difference between the two communities, the mundanes and the elites. True, there's a lot of that which, again, I think is needed. But I totally understand what you're saying. It's hard. It's hard to get into a fantasy series. Here we go.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and then the whole time you're like, if I'm going to be investing this, this had better be good, this has got to pay off.
Speaker 2:This had better be good.
Speaker 1:Oh hey, they never kissed throughout the whole book.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there's not even a single god darn speech. There's like a whisper of it before they're interrupted.
Speaker 1:So yeah, don't worry, this is like as G as it freaking gets.
Speaker 2:I don't think I've ever read such a Well, there's a lot of like killing and things like that, so maybe not. G rated Okay yeah, I guess.
Speaker 1:so that's true PG-13. Yeah, that's true. But yeah, don't worry parents, there's no smut to be found in here, there's a lot of pining though, which I think almost is better.
Speaker 2:I'm not going to lie to you. Like when you're sitting there reading a book and you're like, oh my gosh, like that is what gets me more than like just the like, if it's too much, it's like okay. Moving on, moving on, got it, I got it. You know which? Sometimes I think the buildup is better than the actual. Anyway, my thoughts Okay.
Speaker 1:I like that, though. Would you like to tell us what a fan cast is? Fan cast is if Kylie or I were going to make this book into a movie or a TV show, like who would we cast from actors, actresses, any kind of famous person, you know, who would you choose to be those characters? We kind of vary every month how many characters. We do it just kind of like depends on the mood or how we feel about it. So like this time, I have like five.
Speaker 2:I have Kit Kai Peyton and Adina Nice, okay.
Speaker 1:You go first For Peyton. I don't know her actual name, but the girl from the movie Atlantis. Have you seen that movie? The animated kids Atlantis? Yeah, the girl that gets discovered. Whoever, I don't remember her name.
Speaker 2:She's got white hair.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's like perfect. For Kai, I had Kit Harington Okay, because he's got dark hair, okay. And then for Kit, I have a young Brad Pitt.
Speaker 2:Okay, that's fair.
Speaker 1:And then for King Edric, I have Charles Dance from Game of Thrones, because he plays a perfect douche. And then for Adina, I have Emmy Rawson from Shameless.
Speaker 2:Oh, okay, yours are older than mine. I always do that, yeah, okay. So for my paid in gray I have, uh, josephine Langford, who is from the after series. She did. She looks a lot like Amelia Clark. She's sister with the girl from 13 reasons. They're sisters. Yeah, oh, that's cool. So she did. After she did, knock, knock. She did the other Zoe on Amazon prime. Anyway, throw some silver hair on her Like that's Peyton Gray to me.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I could see that completely.
Speaker 2:She's so pretty With her eyes Because they talk a lot about her eyes, about the eyes and it's his favorite color and he's never thought about that until now.
Speaker 1:I know us brown-eyed girls never get a fucking moment ever.
Speaker 2:Like nobody ever. Not ever, never, get a fucking moment ever, like nobody, ever, whatever. Um no, I was about to say something so mushy, gushy, never mind. Um, well, okay, I'll say it. Well, I was gonna say like I've never really thought about it, but like bash has my eyes, my son, he has my eyes and like, looking at his eyes, I'm like your eyes are so beautiful.
Speaker 2:Pretty right, like it's in a weird way, like I would never look at myself and be like, oh, your eyes are so pretty, but seeing them in him, you have beautiful eyes.
Speaker 2:Seeing them in him, I'm like it's gross. Anyway, moving on, it is very sweet, okay, I, I have two for Kit and Kai. Okay, so my first, kit and Kai, because I had the hardest time with this because they're brothers. I had a hard time too. So at first I was like, hmm, damon and Stefan from Grand Retire oh, that would have been so good. Yep, yep, easy, easy. The good brother, the bad brother, the lighter one, the darker haired, one, yep, yeah. But then paired one, yep, yeah, um. But then, like, as it got more in depth into it, I was like I actually need people for this. Um, so for Kai, I did. Um, charles Melton, wow, like that was Kai to me. He's so symmetrical, yeah, holy cow. And like that face that look like that's an enforcer right there. Okay, and they talk a lot about him being darker than Kit.
Speaker 2:Yes, so, I was like he's darker. We both chose like very different. Yes. And then for Kit, I did Rudy Panko from Outer Banks. Oh my God, that's perfect, because they both have like that. Really I forgot about him. I'm so sorry, bro. They have like that. Really I forgot about him. I'm so sorry, bro. They have like those, very like strong jaw lines they're around the same age. Like I feel like it could just work 100%.
Speaker 2:And then, for I agree I agree, yes, yes, yes For Adina, because my picture of the Hunger Games was so so much heavily influenced, I did the girl who plays Rue in the Hunger Games oh, amanda Stenberg. Nice, okay, good choice.
Speaker 1:So that was my Idina, okay, but yeah, I had gone back and forth for Idina being Zoe Deschanel. I was like God. I kind of picture Jess sometimes being goofy and witty and curly hair.
Speaker 2:So do you have any final thoughts?
Speaker 1:I feel bad that I don't, but it was just a really good book. I really enjoyed this one Because no part of this podcast feels like a job to me, but sometimes I get a little bit like okay. I need to keep moving.
Speaker 1:I don't have time to digest it, whereas this one, like, I just enjoyed it. I enjoyed the shit out of it. It was really nice. It got me out of a book rut. I really like fantasy, like for sure, because I mean you got me into Zodiac Academy, but that's the only like fantasy book I've ever read, and so it was nice to try something else and I still liked it, I think it's technically called romantasy oh, okay, and this is just kind of a subcategory because it's heavily romance in it. Got it.
Speaker 2:Because if we're going to be so for real, the resistance don't care, yeah, don't care, we don't care, it's true, there's a trial, stuff happens. So tell me again how Kai looked at her Moving forward yeah, um, so that you know it is definitely heavily kind of. Can I get?
Speaker 1:a kiss Next book. Can I get anything? Just a kiss a handhold.
Speaker 2:Please. Um, yeah, I would have liked a little something, but at the same time, like it's YA, I can't really expect a whole lot, that's true, but are we going to get like anything by the end? I can't say anything. Even a mewage. Expect a whole lot, that's true, but are we gonna get like anything by the end? I can't say anything. Even a marriage? I can't say anything at all.
Speaker 1:I've read the second one you're like.
Speaker 2:Can you please just read so we can talk um, but yes, this is very much different than zodiac academy, which guys for everybody. Go read it. Go pick it up. Read. Maybe don't If you want it to ruin your life. Yeah, sure, Pick it up. Yeah, you'll be wrecked, but Zodiac Academy is. So this is Well. This is kind of going off topic here.
Speaker 1:We're out of the boat Back it up out.
Speaker 2:We're out of the boat here for a second Zodiac Academy is so it's not even funny. It's foul, like you can't, and they're thick books. This is like a quadruple cheeseburger of a freaking burger of a book Like it's insane. She's thick with four Cs, okay, and you like can't stop. So, hey, everyone, prepare to be sick of me. I picked it up again. So I'm halfway through book seven and I'm about to be so annoying about it, and I'm about to be so annoying about it and I know that. So really sorry to Justin because he has to deal with it. And the end of every Zodiac Academy book is there's so much that happens that you're just like, and then sometimes most of the time, you cry, and then you're trying to explain it to someone and they'll look at you like you're crazy. So, hey, reading is so fun, I love it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, make emotional space for your reader, friends or wives. Justin, make space for her.
Speaker 2:He does Because I come in there. Hot. He's like, okay, sure, right, right In the dark, I love it. Okay, especially a fantasy book. You sound like you're insane, yeah, anyway. So would recommend Zodiac Academy. Would also recommend Powerless powerless. This was probably one of my favorite reads of the year so far too, yeah, yeah, I did.
Speaker 1:The only book that I like could say I enjoyed just as much was um archer's voice and royals next door. Like I really like those books. We know those are cute.
Speaker 2:We know suzy's sorry I love her era um, no, I did like those. I think I just read too much romance for those to kind of be top Got it so far has been this Iron Flame, which is the fourth wing sequel. You haven't read yet, but we'll get there.
Speaker 2:And then the Women by Kristen Hanna, because that just ripped my soul out of my chest. So two fantasy and then one. Okay, historically, anyway, that two fantasy and then one. Okay, anyway, that was a long final thought. Sorry, rambled there for a moment, it's alright, it's been a while.
Speaker 1:That's alright. Last time we didn't talk as much because we had a lot going on too Like.
Speaker 2:Yeah, if you didn't catch the energy in the last episode, it was not, it was tired is what it was.
Speaker 1:I felt so bad. I'm back to I'll be better from here on out, okay. Hey, she's a trooper, she's sick. I was planning a wedding. My fiance was at the hospital last episode.
Speaker 2:It was a lot.
Speaker 1:Things were scary, so everything's fine now, and yeah. I'm fighting a man cold so I mean, you know, it's a small price to pay to be an auntie.
Speaker 2:Exactly. And sometimes Auntie needs to watch him when he's sick. So this is just the repercussions.
Speaker 1:Yep, strengthening that immune system. We appreciate that Everybody enjoy this book. Go give it a read and I guess we'll see you next time.
Speaker 2:Yes, we'll be here With men. They're poor souls. Yeah, they don't know.
Speaker 1:They're poor souls. Yeah, they don't know. They don't even know. Poor babies.
Speaker 2:But pick it up. I think we're going to continue this on the podcast. If not on the podcast, we're going to do it outside of the podcast, because you have to with that kind of ending.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I can't just sit here and wonder.
Speaker 2:No, definitely not. You can't. You can't do that to me. Oh yeah, like. Subscribe. Share it with somebody. Yeah, hey, it doesn't hurt.
Speaker 1:We all have book besties Plus. You've got nothing to lose. They would just think we're weird, not you. They'd be like those people are so weird in the podcast. You'd be like oh yeah, I totally thought so. That's why I said it to you.
Speaker 2:Hey, we've accepted it exactly. It's all right, but anyway, we'll see you guys next time. Bye this podcast was written and performed by kylie and suzy and produced and edited by connor luther and filmed at the sdf collective. To like, keep it in line, you know, like if we, if I didn't write it out it would be the biggest mess. We tried it before. Yeah, it was terrible, it was so bad. It was bad Because our brains are just choo-choo-choo-choo-choo-choo-choo-choo-choo. So I kind of like I have to keep an outline, or else it would because it's not just his dad who he has all this animosity animosity.
Speaker 1:It's okay, that word's hard animosity.
Speaker 2:I'm gonna get all out of sleep um reading. So fun, I love it yeah.
