Latest / Dubious Creatures Presents / The Dubious Book Club Podcast Ep 5 - Loving A Vampire is Total Chaos Part 1 (Preview)

Transcript

The Dubious Book Club Podcast Ep 5 - Loving A Vampire is Total Chaos Part 1 (Preview) · Dubious Creatures Presents

• 0:00
  Hello everybody, and welcome back to the Dubious Book Club
• 0:03
  podcast. I'm Aubrey and say hi other
• 0:07
  dubious creature. I am the other dubious creature.
• 0:12
  We've taken over and kicked Soldier out.
• 0:16
  No, he's just not here because this book was very much not his
• 0:19
  speed. And that is OK.
• 0:22
  This is very OK many books because different strokes for
• 0:27
  different folks. And yeah, the the book we were
• 0:31
  talking about is Loving a Vampire is Total Chaos by Ora
• 0:35
  Hayes. And you know, before we get into
• 0:39
  the nitty gritty, quick content warnings for all of you.
• 0:46
  We've got gore, graphic violence, kidnapping, vigilante
• 0:49
  justice, sexual content, blood and dementia.
• 0:52
  Believe that's everything. I think that's everything for
• 0:57
  the first half. Yeah, I think there might be
• 1:00
  stuff that comes up in the second-half.
• 1:01
  Oh, there. Definitely is, yeah.
• 1:06
  So yeah, this book is a a vampire ROM com we have we have
• 1:14
  our two protagonists. We have Celine and Xavier.
• 1:18
  Celine is a police detective and Xavier is a vampire and a serial
• 1:24
  killer. But you know, no one's perfect.
• 1:27
  OK, first stop, Celine is so Raleigh coded it makes me angry.
• 1:33
  Oh. God, yeah, I.
• 1:37
  Was reading it OK When I say reading it y'all I mean
• 1:41
  listening. When I was listening to it, I I
• 1:43
  was like, but I could see Raleigh playing this character
• 1:47
  in a cop drama. Yeah that like 100% if this was
• 1:51
  this was made into the movie, they would cast Elle Raleigh
• 1:55
  like character as Celine. And then like, I love the idea
• 2:04
  because it's all right. So like I'm a big Criminal Minds
• 2:06
  fan and one of the character that I love from Criminal Minds
• 2:11
  outside of Spencer is Penelope. So the fact that her best friend
• 2:18
  and like partner on on the detective force is just a bubble
• 2:23
  gum Princess made me so happy. Yeah, he thought he was also a
• 2:29
  little aster coded. Oh, for sure, for sure.
• 2:34
  I was reading it and I was, I think I messaged you.
• 2:36
  It was like they're astronautically coded.
• 2:39
  They really are. They really are.
• 2:45
  But yeah, no, the whole everything kind of starts off
• 2:51
  with we start, we start in Zap's perspective, which ones he Yeah,
• 2:59
  as he is dealing with some, Yeah, as he does the serial
• 3:04
  killing. And yeah, no, I, I actually
• 3:14
  highlighted something on page 4 because I was going through my
• 3:18
  highlights and annotations because I read this on my Kindle
• 3:24
  and there's something on page 4 of I, I know Sawyer said he he
• 3:30
  does not like the prose of this book, but unfortunately this
• 3:36
  book scratches something in my brain.
• 3:39
  I love that I love him so. Much I love the way he talks and
• 3:44
  the way he thinks it's it's. I have been unfortunately very
• 3:51
  Joss weed and pilled through my entire life because I watch
• 3:55
  Buffy once a year and I saw Buffy the first time when I was
• 4:02
  12 and it changed my life. Spike made me realize I was into
• 4:08
  boys. I want to hug you.
• 4:13
  Yeah, that was. So valid though.
• 4:18
  Like that was where I went. Oh no, that's what that's what
• 4:23
  I'm into. You've lived a rough life,
• 4:28
  haven't you? Just a little.
• 4:32
  I'm so sorry. It's OK.
• 4:37
  All the girlies that like spikes, have lived a rough life.
• 4:45
  I I continue to have questionable choices in
• 4:50
  fictional men and Zab just continues that.
• 4:55
  Just continues that. He set the bar so high he broke
• 5:00
  into her apartment. OK, yeah, OK.
• 5:01
  That's kind of creepy. Hold on.
• 5:04
  Kind of creepy First off. But then he, like, cleaned her
• 5:08
  apartment and folded her clothes.
• 5:10
  I mean, yeah, OK, he stole some panties, but like he faded her
• 5:13
  clothes. Yes, yeah, no, and he also he
• 5:20
  meets meets meets Selena at the end of chapter 1 where you know,
• 5:26
  he sees her for the first time, spells her and goes oh shit,
• 5:29
  that's my mate and yeah, we're doing a faded mates.
• 5:35
  Again, also not a bad trope. It's kind of fun it.
• 5:40
  Can be fun when done well. Yes, yes.
• 5:45
  And like I'll give him for all of Zaves or Zabs.
• 5:52
  Is that what they his nickname? Zab I think.
• 5:56
  Yeah, but he, he, he, he, his inner monologue was like, I have
• 6:03
  to have her now. But he actually did wait.
• 6:06
  And he you know, I'll give him props for doing it the the
• 6:09
  appropriate way. Yeah, he you know what is a
• 6:16
  little stalking between faded mates.
• 6:18
  What's a little stalking between faded mates?
• 6:21
  I mean, come on, not. That bad?
• 6:28
  Yeah. So yeah, we, we meet and then
• 6:31
  we, we meet Celine actually in like chapter 2.
• 6:35
  And you know, she's a she's a police detective in
• 6:39
  investigating Saviour's serial killings. :). :) and then we
• 6:55
  sort of get a little bit more sort of view at her life.
• 7:00
  You know, her in the police station, she's like her dad was
• 7:06
  like a detective as well. So it's kind of just like this
• 7:09
  is the family business. Yeah, I, I can't remember
• 7:18
  exactly where or when it happened.
• 7:21
  I think it was on their date. I don't remember exactly where
• 7:25
  in the story that is. Y'all, I got really absorbed
• 7:29
  into this like and I'm really absorbed into this book and I
• 7:33
  instead of stopping at the chapter we were supposed to
• 7:35
  stop, I totally blew past it and read everything.
• 7:39
  I said, I mean, it's it. We're really bad at keeping to
• 7:44
  that chapter thing. We really are.
• 7:47
  The only reason I did it was because I was reading it on
• 7:50
  Kindle, so therefore I'd be like Oh yes, here's the chapter, let
• 7:54
  me close my Kindle and put it over there so I am not tempted
• 7:57
  to read more. Well like even in audio bugs, I
• 8:00
  even announced like what chapter you're going on to and like I
• 8:04
  sure as fuck heard it, but my brain was like Nope, no you
• 8:07
  didn't. I was.
• 8:09
  I got really absorbed into this. I listened to like the first
• 8:13
  couple of chapters because I was I was just kind of curious like
• 8:18
  about what format I was gonna like absorb this book through
• 8:22
  and the audio. The narrators are good.
• 8:25
  The narrators are very good. Teddy Hamilton is the the the
• 8:31
  one for his have and he is he is fantastic.
• 8:33
  He is one of those ones I would listen to most in e-book.
• 8:36
  He narrates. He could read, he could be
• 8:38
  reading a cookbook and I would listen to him.
• 8:43
  And now adding the onions. Yes, OK.
• 8:46
  Yes, Sir, I'm doing that. God.
• 8:51
  Sorry. Yeah.
• 8:52
  Oh, you're good. So yeah, we we start to like,
• 8:56
  learn a little bit more about Celine.
• 8:58
  Celine's a detective. She's doing detective things and
• 9:04
  she's. Kind of a sad girl.
• 9:06
  She's a very sad girl. She's had a she's had a rough
• 9:08
  life. She has had a rough life.
• 9:12
  You know, we learned pretty early on that her dad has
• 9:16
  dementia and her mother just kind of up and left when her dad
• 9:19
  got the diagnosis. Which is shitty.
• 9:23
  Yeah. Like boom.
• 9:28
  Yeah. And so, you know, as as this is
• 9:35
  going on, she also learns about this club that's being weird and
• 9:39
  sketchy in town. What, you don't have a good
• 9:44
  sketchy club where there's potentially human trafficking
• 9:48
  happening? I mean, I could do without the
• 9:51
  human trafficking, but I do like a sketchy club.
• 9:54
  I mean, that's super fair. So yeah, we we learn about that
• 10:04
  and we also Ava tries to set Selena up on a date.
• 10:18
  This is where Zab's creepy stalking behavior becomes
• 10:22
  endearingly creepy. Yeah.
• 10:26
  No, I think when he broke into our apartment and folded clothes
• 10:29
  was really endearing. Stalkery, but endearing.
• 10:33
  This one is a little more like territorially stalking.
• 10:39
  Not the worst thing. No, not the best, but not the
• 10:46
  worst. He only kills one of them.
• 10:53
  That was the the former like next door neighbor, right?
• 10:59
  Yeah, he kills the next door neighbor on accident.
• 11:02
  I will give him. He goes, oops, I didn't mean to
• 11:08
  hit him that hard. I forgot he does.
• 11:12
  Oh my God, you. Yep.
• 11:15
  He, he does kill the next door neighbor.
• 11:18
  He hits him a little too hard and then, you know, moves in
• 11:23
  next to Celine and there's a, there's a bowling ball date.
• 11:31
  It's a bowling date, which he interrupts by just getting a job
• 11:35
  at the bowling alley. How did he get a job?
• 11:39
  Or did he mesmerize his way into a job?
• 11:41
  I'm. Pretty sure he just mesmerized
• 11:43
  and being like hey, I'm working here tonight.
• 11:45
  Yeah, yeah. I would agree with that.
• 11:52
  Dad, looking at my highlights, you know what I'm also a fan of?
• 11:55
  I'm a fan of when the the love interests pet is already a fan
• 12:00
  of the potential other love interest.
• 12:03
  I also love that Midnight, he's arguably a great judge of
• 12:09
  character, Midnight being Celine's cat.
• 12:20
  But yeah, like, I, I adore Midnight just constantly being
• 12:26
  like, yeah, OK, this is it. This is my lot in life.
• 12:29
  Yeah, you can wear me as like a boa.
• 12:31
  It's cool. Yeah, I also love the the banter
• 12:35
  that I have has with Midnight. Yes, like the internal monologue
• 12:41
  that becomes external. There's a there's a highlight I
• 12:47
  have in here. It's on page like 166 and it's
• 12:50
  midnight. I grind out.
• 12:51
  Your mother's going to be the death of me.
• 12:53
  Not the literal death, since I can't die easily, but at least
• 12:55
  the death of my Dick. Meow.
• 12:59
  I sigh. Thanks bud.
• 13:03
  Can we talk about the term Fang boners for a second?
• 13:06
  Yes, we can. Fang boners is my favorite thing
• 13:11
  to come out of anything ever. It's going to be a really like a
• 13:18
  a struggle to not just slip it into character.
• 13:22
  Do it if. You're recording.
• 13:24
  I would. Say Fang boner.
• 13:26
  Ask your fucking wife. Like I actually OK, so like, I
• 13:31
  feel like Aster and ZAP would click in all the worst ways.
• 13:35
  Like if they would, that would be a very devastating
• 13:39
  combination. It would be phenomenal to see.
• 13:48
  Sorry. No, I mean you're, you're 100%
• 13:51
  corrected. You should say it.
• 13:53
  He's. Like oh God, he's so Fang
• 13:55
  boners. It's so good, Yeah.
• 13:58
  He can't control himself around, like, around her and like is
• 14:03
  burning through her blood or bringing through his, like, his
• 14:06
  blood supply. And I, I, I really like the
• 14:11
  world building that's done around vampires, especially
• 14:13
  early on. The coffee shop is also blood
• 14:17
  bank. Like that's a really good cover.
• 14:19
  It's. An incredibly good cover.
• 14:26
  Lots of great reasons to be open very early or open very late.
• 14:34
  But also in this world, vampires can just go out in the sun.
• 14:37
  That's not a problem for them. Yeah, because it was described
• 14:41
  as more of like, oh, I don't remember where that happens in
• 14:44
  the book. JK.
• 14:45
  It happens in the 1st. Half.
• 14:47
  OK, cool. Yeah, we're there talking about.
• 14:55
  They were created by science. Yeah, they were created by
• 14:59
  science in like the 1800s. Yeah, 1700s I think was around
• 15:06
  the time of smallpox in like which, which I think was
• 15:10
  literally right before, like right around the time of the
• 15:13
  Revolutionary War. Oh.
• 15:15
  Snap 'cause it was a really big. Like the 17 or something.
• 15:21
  And that was when Zav. Zav is one of the first
• 15:25
  vampires, probably very early of that.
• 15:30
  So vampires aren't like a thing that's thousands of years old.
• 15:32
  Vampires are about 300 years old.
• 15:36
  Which is interesting and. It's going to be interesting
• 15:39
  because I know the second book is about a witch, so I thought
• 15:47
  the. 2nd book was going to be about Ava.
• 15:52
  I don't, I don't remember. I just know one of the
• 15:54
  characters that's in the second book is a witch and the other
• 15:56
  one is the vampire. Well that's fun.
• 15:59
  I'll probably end up getting it with some.
• 16:07
  It'll be released on April 15th, for those of you who want to
• 16:10
  know. Yeah, it is about Ava.
• 16:14
  Apparently, Ava is a witch. OK.
• 16:22
  You know what? That actually kind of makes a
• 16:24
  little bit of sense with the way Ava is written and described all
• 16:28
  the time. You.
• 16:30
  Know it has some very uncanny abilities to be exactly where
• 16:32
  she's needed when when she's needed.
• 16:35
  Yeah, which, you know, with the added like tidbits of her being,
• 16:41
  which makes a lot of sense, Yeah.
• 16:50
  Thus, after moves in, it thus starts the cording of Celine.
• 17:02
  The awkward, very, very awkward cording of Celine.
• 17:09
  He's I, I, yeah, it's he's, he's got the awkward game.
• 17:15
  He does kind of have a but like it's not awkward.
• 17:18
  God he's so suave. The whole like him dancing when?
• 17:22
  He when he when he wants to turn it on, he's really fucking
• 17:25
  suave. The date.
• 17:33
  Sorry. The date.
• 17:36
  Listen listeners, that date was epic.
• 17:41
  Yes. I want a date like that.
• 17:46
  Thank God. Yeah.
• 17:47
  It was right around the date where page one, version 7.
• 17:52
  And it's, you know, he he does the thing where she's like, I
• 17:56
  don't even know your last name. And he goes Lockwood, That's
• 17:59
  Xavier Lockwood. And it spells it out.
• 18:01
  And then it's like, why aren't you writing this down?
• 18:03
  It's going to be your last name too.
• 18:06
  Just like, God damn it, motherfucker.
• 18:09
  That's so much game. Oh, God.
• 18:12
  And none all at the same time. Like he's so confident that
• 18:17
  she's just going to be with him. And I mean, OK, yeah, faded
• 18:20
  lovers. I get it.
• 18:22
  But like, sometimes it comes off as arrogance.
• 18:25
  And then sometimes it's it comes off.
• 18:29
  It's like really endearing. And that was the one of the
• 18:32
  moments where it was like actually endearing.
• 18:34
  Yeah, it was. It really was.
• 18:40
  And God, yeah, no, there's there's this back and forth.
• 18:44
  They start to get to know each other as she's like, wow, what's
• 18:49
  his name? Moved out.
• 18:50
  That was real fast. He's like, yeah, I know.
• 18:52
  That was just like I was on a wait list and this opened up so
• 18:55
  I just had to jump on it. So smooth.
• 19:01
  So smooth and then like we're we're getting like little bits
• 19:07
  of information, like the club, the club Vex is starting to look
• 19:13
  just more SUS. But Celine's been taken off the
• 19:15
  case so she can't really like take a look at that.
• 19:18
  And for A and then like a lot of the crime procedural stuff, just
• 19:26
  like takes a back seat. Oh, for sure.
• 19:30
  For a bit, there's a time where Celine goes and visits her dad
• 19:34
  and comes back crying and see if he comforts her and that was a
• 19:37
  very sweet scene it. Was super sweet and it was like
• 19:42
  the first time that like she broke down in front of him.
• 19:48
  It was cute. It was a cute scene y'all.
• 19:52
  Yeah, he calls her Pretty Girl. Pretty girl, which is.
• 20:04
  The way the the narrator said it is is a little like, uh huh.
• 20:10
  Pretty. Girl.
• 20:13
  No, I know Teddy's voice. I know it so well.
• 20:17
  I know how he would say it. He.
• 20:20
  Can fucking hear it. Oh God, every time I think about
• 20:24
  it I can fucking hear it. I'm just like fuck.
• 20:30
  If you have an audio thing, I recommend it.
• 20:32
  It's all the same. Yeah, the the audio book is
• 20:35
  really good. I I specifically just wanted to
• 20:39
  read it on Kindle so I could just highlight everything that I
• 20:41
  wanted. You're so smart though I don't
• 20:46
  have a kindle and like. I mean I just I have just
• 20:50
  Samsung tablet. I just used the kid lab.
• 20:54
  Oh, I'm just yeah. No, it's fair.
• 21:02
  I don't know, I have no reason or justification, I just don't
• 21:06
  have one and like audio books are easier for me.
• 21:10
  It's so fair, like I usually like the last bunch of ones.
• 21:13
  I've kind of jumped between reading it or listening to the
• 21:16
  audio book because there's a lot of really fucking talented
• 21:20
  narrators out there right now. Yeah, there are.
• 21:27
  There are a, there's like, like a good number of them where I
• 21:31
  will, I will listen to a book that I know nothing about
• 21:35
  because I know that Anthony Palmini or Teddy Hamilton or
• 21:40
  someone else is able to like someone else like is reading a
• 21:48
  book. And then I will be like, OK,
• 21:49
  what's this book about? They tickle the right response
• 21:53
  of my brain. Oh yeah, 100%.
• 22:02
  So yeah, there is that, there's the failed, there's the date,
• 22:06
  there's the bowling date that he takes her home from and has a
• 22:10
  Fang boner. So he's just like, Yep, Nope,
• 22:12
  money off at the elevator because I'm a gentleman and not
• 22:14
  because I don't want you to see my fangs.
• 22:18
  Totally. Because he's a fucking
• 22:19
  gentleman. I mean, I get it.
• 22:22
  Sort of. Sort of kind of get.
• 22:26
  It then there is the yeah, there is, there's the official asking
• 22:32
  on the date and then there is there's something in between.
• 22:36
  OK, hold on. There wasn't an official ask.
• 22:39
  There was Ava forcing it. It's fair, like Ava, like you're
• 22:48
  going on a date with this guy. Pretty much.
• 22:53
  And Celine was like, can I just nod?
• 22:56
  And Ava was like Nope, which is also really Astra energy.
• 23:01
  I'm so sorry, yes. Raleigh would be like the can I
• 23:05
  not? And the Astra would be like, no,
• 23:07
  you are. You're going on the stage.
• 23:09
  You're going? Sorry, let me put some makeup on
• 23:12
  your face. Yeah, so there is the the date
• 23:19
  and also and Seth, you know, keeps getting random odd jobs
• 23:26
  around town wherever Celine happens to be.
• 23:29
  It's kind of funny. Yep, like the the pottery
• 23:35
  studio. Pottery studio.
• 23:39
  And there's like, there's at least one more and I'm trying to
• 23:42
  remember what it is. Let's see the bowling alley.
• 23:48
  There's the bowling alley, the pottery studio, I.
• 23:55
  Feel like there's one more but I know where everyone.
• 23:57
  Is no. You're so right.
• 23:58
  Though I do think that there is one more after the date or
• 24:10
  during the date is when they find out Celine's apartment has
• 24:14
  been broken into. Yes.
• 24:18
  And I think that's where we that's that's when we see like
• 24:22
  peak territorial Zav, that's her.
• 24:29
  Boss Tortilla chip. You know, for such a nerdy
• 24:40
  looking dude, because he does look a little nerdy, God, he's
• 24:46
  got like he's got that clap back game.
• 24:51
  He really does. If you are a fan of like a good
• 24:57
  witty character, Zab is a very witty character.
• 25:05
  He is he is everyone. Everyone in this book is pretty
• 25:07
  witty like Celine and Zab got top tier banter.
• 25:12
  Yeah, they they have good banter.
• 25:17
  Yeah. So yeah, they're they're on a
• 25:19
  date. And yeah, he just continues to
• 25:22
  be a smooth motherfucker on that date.
• 25:25
  He's so smooth. You know.
• 25:28
  I'm on a date like that so bad. Oh God, same.
• 25:33
  Picnic and everything. Fuck food that he cooked.
• 25:39
  Food that. He should also eat in the
• 25:40
  setting. Which is nice.
• 25:42
  It's like everyone has the built in eat food merit.
• 25:45
  Yeah, yeah. And that's when she gets the
• 25:50
  call that somebody's broken into her apartment.
• 25:52
  So they go back and, you know, there's there's somebody broke
• 25:58
  into her apartment and there's some not, there's some things
• 26:02
  missing, but there's not a lot missing.
• 26:05
  So it's very like, what's going on?
• 26:12
  It to me it, it really read more as like, or at least I got the
• 26:18
  vibe that this is like this was more of a scare tactic thing by
• 26:25
  somebody. Yeah, she was looking a little
• 26:30
  too hard at something. Yeah.
• 26:31
  It's a nightclub. Yes, a nightclub.
• 26:36
  I guessed it was a giant. This is about supposed to be a
• 26:41
  giant neon sign saying it was the nightclub guys, but yeah
• 26:48
  now. Oh God.
• 26:51
  I forgot to mention that they danced at the nightclub.
• 26:53
  That was the first time like they were together.
• 26:56
  Fuck I that sounded so unholy. I'm so sorry for when you had to
• 27:00
  add to that. We're both peak ADHD, so there's
• 27:06
  this scene, yeah. As as someone who has been to
• 27:19
  many nightclubs, I'm sure you have too.
• 27:24
  I have never been a girlie who like enjoys when people come up
• 27:30
  and dance with me. That is not to say that it
• 27:35
  hasn't happened or that like I've been dignitized I because I
• 27:40
  have for sure. Oh my God, fucking mood.
• 27:48
  But like, that would dictate me too.
• 27:56
  I'm right there with you. Oh my God.
• 28:05
  Yeah, the dancing in the nightclub scene was.
• 28:07
  That was very good. Right, the second nightclub
• 28:11
  scene, because they do. There's, there's, there's a a
• 28:13
  scene where they go back to the nightclub.
• 28:17
  That is. Quite fun in the second-half of
• 28:20
  the book and I can't. Wait to get to it.
• 28:22
  I can't wait to read it. They haven't banged yet in the
• 28:24
  first half of the book, and I'm just.
• 28:26
  Literally just like not banged. I am so proud of them.
• 28:29
  Like kudos to Celine because like, I'd have done done it
• 28:36
  first night nightclub. Let's go.
• 28:40
  Yeah. No, Steve is very much just
• 28:42
  like, no, I would not have helped out this long.
• 28:45
  Nope. Kudos to her.
• 28:51
  Fuck right right. So I, I am quite proud of them
• 28:59
  for not going and doing the do. And later it kind of in the in
• 29:06
  the later half of the books, it kind of becomes less about like
• 29:11
  just wanting to do it and more about he really does want her
• 29:15
  consent for it and wants her to know the whole truth 1st.
• 29:20
  And I fucking adore that. So like you know this like.
• 29:24
  No, he's a vampire and of their mates.
• 29:28
  So instead we just get all this like hot fucking build up to it.
• 29:33
  And it's just like, I love the good teas.
• 29:36
  So I'm, I was like, I'm here for this.
• 29:40
  So yeah, you know the the the break in happens and Sav calls
• 29:47
  the her boss Detective Cornership, and then he says
• 29:50
  Nope, she's staying with me. Don't worry, I'll keep her safe.
• 29:53
  And then everyone looked at him like, excuse me, what?
• 30:02
  And she ended up staying with him and that is rare on when Ava
• 30:07
  was like you two were going on a date.
• 30:10
  Yeah. Or no, that's not when, that's
• 30:16
  when they have their friend date.
• 30:18
  They have the friend date and there's like, you know, Ava
• 30:22
  comes over and hangs out and then they just hear a crash from
• 30:25
  next door because he was clearly leaning against the wall
• 30:29
  listening. And then she said something nice
• 30:31
  about him and he freaked out.