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Transcript

PCJ Book Club: Romantasy Recommendations · Pop Culture Junkie®

• 0:00
  ♪ Entertaun me, entertain me right now ♪
• 0:04
  - Welcome to the Pop Culture Junkie podcast.
• 0:06
  I'm Olivia, and I'm Shauna.
• 0:08
  And our last two shows had some very special guests,
• 0:11
  but now it's just you and me again.
• 0:13
  So Shauna, it's been a while.
• 0:15
  What have you been up to?
• 0:17
  - I have been living the dream out here in Arizona.
• 0:20
  It is monsoon season.
• 0:22
  - Ooh.
• 0:23
  - So for the uninitiated non-era zones,
• 0:26
  monsoon season we get these big dirt storms called
• 0:30
  haboobs, and that is what they're actually called.
• 0:33
  And it's just like a towering wall of dirt
• 0:35
  that engulfs the whole city.
• 0:37
  - There's also rain.
• 0:38
  - There is rain.
• 0:40
  Haboobies are usually accompanied with rain
• 0:43
  and thunder and lightning and wind,
• 0:45
  and it's just a whole ship, so that's been fun.
• 0:48
  - But this weekend, I'm gonna go see Olivia.
• 0:55
  I texted Shauna and I was like,
• 0:56
  it's gonna be 74 and sunny, which for me now,
• 1:00
  I was like, oh my God, what a perfect day.
• 1:03
  It's been solidly, I don't think I've been here
• 1:06
  when it's been 74.
• 1:08
  - That's insane.
• 1:09
  I can't even wrap my head around it.
• 1:11
  I asked my Google speaker the other day,
• 1:14
  I hope that's like, did I activate her?
• 1:16
  Like why is it so cold in San Francisco in the summer?
• 1:20
  Something about mist and ocean.
• 1:22
  - Well, yeah, there's like a weather phenomenon
• 1:25
  that happens over the bay.
• 1:26
  - But basically, it is just like a ton of fog,
• 1:29
  but it only happens in the summertime
• 1:32
  and it gets warmer in like September, October.
• 1:34
  So I will have my summer in the fall,
• 1:39
  so but I am very excited.
• 1:40
  I mean, if you go outside of San Francisco, it's much warmer,
• 1:44
  but yeah, yeah, no, I'm excited.
• 1:47
  We're gonna see the sun.
• 1:48
  It's gonna be sunny too.
• 1:49
  - We're gonna go eat all the foods and drink all the drinks
• 1:52
  and watch all the music
• 1:54
  and go to the golf club.
• 1:56
  - Go to the golf club.
• 1:58
  I'm excited for that.
• 1:59
  - Yeah.
• 2:00
  - Metalware. - A world golf club.
• 2:02
  - Yes, it's gonna be a metal golf,
• 2:04
  syrifty, drunky little weekend.
• 2:07
  I have some branding deals that I'm gonna rope Olivia
• 2:10
  into filming me do content for.
• 2:12
  I haven't told you that yet.
• 2:14
  I got some fun shit for us to record.
• 2:16
  - All right.
• 2:17
  - So fun.
• 2:18
  - I'm coming.
• 2:18
  - We're doing business.
• 2:20
  - We are doing business.
• 2:22
  - Olivia, this episode is being recorded on August 26, 2025.
• 2:27
  I feel like nothing happened today
• 2:30
  that you were excited about.
• 2:32
  I feel like it was just any regular day.
• 2:34
  - Right?
• 2:35
  - Just another day where I saw a tweet
• 2:38
  and it was like single ladies in your 30s.
• 2:42
  We lost our strongest soldier today.
• 2:44
  Taylor Swift got engaged.
• 2:46
  I literally, okay.
• 2:48
  So she's in an album rollout right now
• 2:51
  and I got a push notification from Instagram.
• 2:55
  Like Taylor Swift has posted a new Instagram.
• 2:59
  And I, of course, I have alerts on.
• 3:01
  - You have your push.
• 3:02
  Don't know about my God.
• 3:04
  - And I think it's another album cover.
• 3:07
  And I'm just like just perfectly like changing a song
• 3:10
  on Spotify at that time.
• 3:11
  So I go, oh, I click on it.
• 3:13
  And I literally go in the middle of my office
• 3:18
  and like my new boss looks over and is like,
• 3:21
  "You think okay?"
• 3:23
  - Taylor Swift doesn't get engaged.
• 3:26
  - I was so excited.
• 3:27
  I've never been excited for somebody
• 3:29
  that I, this excited for somebody
• 3:31
  that I don't know to get engaged before.
• 3:35
  - Oh my gosh.
• 3:35
  It is so beautiful.
• 3:37
  Like, and two, okay, to no Taylor Swift songs
• 3:41
  and like to really like know her last few albums.
• 3:44
  Like she wrote quite a few songs like,
• 3:48
  will, like did I give up the ability
• 3:52
  to like have a long loving relationship
• 3:55
  by wanting to be famous?
• 3:57
  And so she wrote like, you're losing me
• 4:02
  and the prophecy to my favorite songs.
• 4:05
  I don't know what the problem is.
• 4:06
  (laughs)
• 4:07
  And they're just so deeply like, am I able to be loved?
• 4:12
  Right?
• 4:13
  - I think that, yes, Taylor, you are.
• 4:16
  - Yeah, and so it is quite beautiful.
• 4:19
  I mean, we suspected like with the podcast episode
• 4:24
  that she did on New Heights, which is great.
• 4:28
  Honestly, it was like so beautiful.
• 4:29
  Like I loved Jason at one point.
• 4:33
  Like Taylor is talking about Travis Kelsey
• 4:35
  and like Jason is literally tearing up
• 4:37
  because he's like, you love my brother so much.
• 4:40
  It's so cute.
• 4:41
  - So cute. - So it's a great episode.
• 4:42
  I just love love.
• 4:44
  I'm happy for them.
• 4:45
  And I love, Olivia and I were in this group chat today.
• 4:50
  And right when our friend Jessica and the group chat
• 4:55
  texted us about Taylor,
• 4:56
  I was about to send another text that was asking if a bruise
• 5:01
  in an elderly man's hand,
• 5:05
  might indicate that he's passing away.
• 5:07
  No context, no context, of course.
• 5:10
  Jessica's a doctor says she'll know if a bruise
• 5:13
  on a random elderly man means he's dying.
• 5:15
  And we got our signals very crossed with.
• 5:18
  - Yeah.
• 5:19
  I was like, Shauna, we are not talking about this man.
• 5:22
  We're talking about Taylor's with going to get engaged.
• 5:24
  Get that out of my special moment.
• 5:26
  Like I'm trying to feel joy.
• 5:28
  - And I said, we could feel joy also for another show.
• 5:32
  - We could feel another show.
• 5:33
  - If she says yes to the bruise dying.
• 5:39
  - We could have several good events in 2020.
• 5:41
  - Stopping.
• 5:42
  - Stop putting him up.
• 5:43
  We're talking about Taylor's with.
• 5:44
  (laughing)
• 5:46
  - So I am very happy one that she announced an album.
• 5:50
  We haven't talked about it because I did make a very bold claim
• 5:53
  at the beginning of this year.
• 5:55
  - I don't have a word.
• 5:56
  - I did release an album like this year
• 5:59
  that I would stop talking about her.
• 6:01
  - So, oh my God.
• 6:02
  As if there's this woman releases more albums
• 6:05
  than any other artist.
• 6:07
  Like,
• 6:08
  - I'm not gonna be excited for an in love album.
• 6:11
  - Yes.
• 6:12
  - It's gonna be great.
• 6:12
  - Like, reputation is such a good album.
• 6:16
  - When she first met Joe, you know,
• 6:19
  I could subscribe to the headlers.
• 6:22
  (laughing)
• 6:24
  - And I thought Joe would answer.
• 6:26
  - I forgot the other Joe.
• 6:27
  - She stated that Joe.
• 6:28
  - Oh yeah, Joe Alwyn, not in porn.
• 6:30
  - So I'm very excited for Taylor Swift and love album.
• 6:34
  The second I saw the post,
• 6:36
  I listened to So High School.
• 6:38
  And if that's any indication,
• 6:40
  that is such a fun little Bobby song on TTPD.
• 6:44
  And so, yeah, I'm very excited for her.
• 6:46
  I mean, the ring is beautiful.
• 6:48
  - The ring is so pretty.
• 6:50
  I've been listening to Taylor Swift.
• 6:52
  I think I manifested it, honestly.
• 6:54
  Like, I kind of think I did.
• 6:56
  - Okay.
• 6:57
  - Because,
• 6:58
  because I've been listening to Taylor Swift all weekend.
• 7:02
  And I sit this year in a snap,
• 7:04
  'cause I said,
• 7:04
  I gotta get my Olivia hype.
• 7:06
  I gotta get ready.
• 7:07
  I gotta listen to songs that I haven't heard in a while.
• 7:10
  It's like,
• 7:10
  - Meanwhile, we just said we're having a metal golf weekend.
• 7:13
  - We're Taylor!
• 7:15
  - I mean, we're gonna listen to Taylor while we get ready.
• 7:18
  It's gonna happen.
• 7:20
  - Probably, probably.
• 7:21
  But, yeah.
• 7:22
  - I'm very excited for her.
• 7:24
  - Me too.
• 7:24
  Me too.
• 7:25
  - The engagement photos are so beautiful.
• 7:27
  - There's so pretty.
• 7:29
  - She's in a secret garden.
• 7:31
  - Yes.
• 7:33
  - You know, one of her lyrics from TGPD
• 7:37
  is I go to secret gardens in my mind.
• 7:39
  - TGPD.
• 7:40
  - And I was like,
• 7:40
  - TGPD.
• 7:41
  - The torture post department.
• 7:42
  - The torture post department.
• 7:43
  - Sorry, sorry, sorry.
• 7:44
  - I just, I forget.
• 7:45
  - Don't abbreviate for the fan.
• 7:47
  - And so, yeah, super cute.
• 7:51
  I'm very happy for her.
• 7:54
  - I am too.
• 7:55
  - I'm gonna say anything about that wedding though.
• 7:57
  - I mean, we might see one picture.
• 7:59
  She'll post like little art up close.
• 8:01
  - I think if we could see.
• 8:02
  - Little artsy details of her shoes.
• 8:05
  I don't know, something.
• 8:06
  - I think if anything,
• 8:07
  we'll get Ariana Grande's wedding announcement
• 8:10
  where she gave us one picture.
• 8:12
  And that was.
• 8:13
  - Oh, maybe.
• 8:14
  Oh my God,
• 8:15
  I just realized that Taylor and Selena
• 8:16
  are gonna get married in the same year.
• 8:18
  It is the year of romance.
• 8:20
  - I don't know if they plan a wedding in the same year.
• 8:22
  - That's true.
• 8:23
  We're gonna think 2026 is the year of romance upcoming here.
• 8:27
  - Okay.
• 8:28
  I love that.
• 8:29
  - Well, speaking of secret gardens and.
• 8:31
  - I'm gonna throw fantasy things.
• 8:34
  We are gonna bring you guys a special episode
• 8:37
  of the Pop Culture Junkie podcast.
• 8:39
  We're talking romance a sea in this Pop Culture Junkie book.
• 8:44
  (dramatic music)
• 8:47
  - So as you guys know,
• 8:50
  Sean and I are both avid readers.
• 8:53
  We made her that way.
• 8:54
  - Thank you.
• 8:56
  - Thanks for being.
• 8:57
  - Thanks for being.
• 8:58
  - As Pop Culture Junkies,
• 8:59
  we are usually ahead of the trends.
• 9:01
  And that certainly is the case
• 9:03
  when it comes to tonight's topic.
• 9:05
  Romanticity, it's literally a genre
• 9:07
  that you have probably heard tons about.
• 9:11
  Men like to call it reading Smite.
• 9:13
  While some romanticity books are considered a Smitey or sexy,
• 9:19
  they're not explicit,
• 9:21
  we only about sex, right?
• 9:23
  Like what makes them different
• 9:25
  from just the romance genre is there is some sort
• 9:28
  of fantasy element
• 9:30
  within it.
• 9:31
  We really saw Romanticity become such a craze
• 9:35
  from a few select authors that became super popular
• 9:39
  and we'll talk a little bit about them.
• 9:41
  We have the fourth wing series that came out in 2023
• 9:45
  by Rebecca Yarros,
• 9:46
  who is actually a contemporary romance author.
• 9:49
  This was her first oryee into fantasy, great first book.
• 9:54
  - Oh my gosh.
• 9:55
  - Oh my gosh.
• 9:56
  Yeah, her contemporary romance is really good as well.
• 9:59
  Before that, we had the one, the only Sarah J. Mass.
• 10:03
  And she is most known for her popular series,
• 10:06
  "A Court of Thorns and Roses,"
• 10:09
  which released in 2015.
• 10:11
  She has also a YA series
• 10:14
  which is still considered Romanticity,
• 10:16
  but it's a lot more mild if you wouldn't call it Smite.
• 10:19
  - Not like sexual.
• 10:20
  - That was my chief complaint.
• 10:21
  - Super sexual.
• 10:22
  - Yeah, which is the third of Glass series.
• 10:26
  And then Sarah J. Mass also has Crescent City.
• 10:30
  But Romanticity is nothing new.
• 10:32
  There are older examples of the genre.
• 10:34
  You know, we had Twilight, which is definitely
• 10:37
  a YA Mormon Romanticity.
• 10:40
  - Yeah, it still counts them.
• 10:41
  - Yeah.
• 10:42
  - It still counts, yeah.
• 10:43
  It's in the YA genre.
• 10:44
  We have Tomorrow Peerces Immortals.
• 10:47
  And even the Princess Bide,
• 10:49
  which was first published in 1973,
• 10:52
  proves that there has always been this appetite
• 10:55
  for Romantic Fantasy fiction.
• 10:58
  And, Shana, what was your first Romantic read?
• 11:03
  - It might be Akatar, actually,
• 11:04
  because I mean, I've read all of the Harry Potter books,
• 11:07
  all of the Hunger Games books and the Divergent series.
• 11:11
  And while there was Romance in them,
• 11:14
  it wasn't the main point of the book.
• 11:17
  Not that the Romance is the main part of like these other books,
• 11:20
  but I would say it's one of the main components
• 11:23
  is the Romance.
• 11:24
  And kind of the sex, right?
• 11:26
  I mean, the Twilight series is not the sex, obviously,
• 11:29
  but the Romance is the big overarching theme of the book.
• 11:33
  So I think Akatar books actually are my first Romanticie novels.
• 11:38
  And then I read all the fourth wings.
• 11:40
  And I mean, now I'm just a crazy reader.
• 11:42
  - A crazy reader.
• 11:43
  - No, I'm just reading the stuff.
• 11:45
  - Now I'm reading that weird monster baiting shit
• 11:49
  where they're having sex with non-humans or half-human.
• 11:52
  - Or our friend book club.
• 11:55
  We're currently reading Morning Glory milking farm.
• 11:58
  So we'll have plenty of opinions and thoughts
• 12:01
  for you guys on that.
• 12:02
  - Have you started yet?
• 12:04
  - No.
• 12:05
  - I'm like,
• 12:06
  - I'm like,
• 12:06
  - I'm like,
• 12:07
  - It is terrible.
• 12:08
  I'm like,
• 12:09
  - Halfway done with that book.
• 12:10
  - Yeah, maybe you can bring me a good--
• 12:11
  - So good.
• 12:12
  - It's good.
• 12:13
  - I already promised Stephanie.
• 12:14
  It has no reason to be this good Olivia.
• 12:18
  The world,
• 12:19
  it's the world building in this book is so unnecessarily good.
• 12:24
  It's so weirdly well written.
• 12:27
  - Okay.
• 12:28
  - And it doesn't need to be.
• 12:30
  - Yeah, okay, good to know.
• 12:31
  - Good to know.
• 12:32
  - But I am so--
• 12:33
  - It's really eye-blowing.
• 12:34
  I mean, this one is,
• 12:35
  it's filthy.
• 12:36
  It's fucking lude.
• 12:38
  - Yes.
• 12:39
  - So it's,
• 12:41
  you know, you have that romanticy scale
• 12:42
  from Twilight to milking,
• 12:45
  Morning Glory milking farm.
• 12:47
  You gotta find where you're most comfortable at, right?
• 12:49
  And I'm usually over on the milking side.
• 12:51
  - It's a gradual move.
• 12:53
  - It's a gradual move.
• 12:54
  - Yeah.
• 12:55
  - And so, you know,
• 12:56
  a lot of people always ask like,
• 12:58
  what is Romancey versus fantasy?
• 13:01
  And ultimately,
• 13:02
  it is the fusion of the two romance and fantasy.
• 13:07
  - And basically,
• 13:08
  it is if you strip the romance from the book,
• 13:11
  just the plot collapse.
• 13:13
  If so, it's Romancey.
• 13:15
  If you take away the romance and the book still stands,
• 13:18
  then it's just fantasy.
• 13:19
  It's like, like I just mentioned, Harry Potter, right?
• 13:23
  Sure, they got little crushes and dates,
• 13:25
  but it's just like a side plot.
• 13:27
  There doesn't need to be Romance in that series.
• 13:30
  If you take away the romance from the Ackatar books,
• 13:32
  there's no book.
• 13:33
  - Yes, exactly.
• 13:36
  And so, that's kind of your, you know,
• 13:39
  North Star like,
• 13:40
  is there a ton of sex in Game of Thrones?
• 13:44
  - Yeah, like gratuitous.
• 13:45
  - Yeah.
• 13:46
  - More so than any, you know,
• 13:48
  S.J.M. book that you're gonna read
• 13:50
  or any Romantisy here.
• 13:52
  - Mm-hmm.
• 13:53
  - But it ultimately is the focus on romance.
• 13:56
  And ultimately,
• 13:59
  that is what makes these books very well read by women, of course.
• 14:04
  I actually was watching a TikTok earlier today.
• 14:08
  I wish I could remember the creator's name.
• 14:10
  It was a man who was reviewing Ackatar.
• 14:12
  - Okay.
• 14:13
  - And a very similar point to the,
• 14:17
  you know, all of these books,
• 14:19
  like even if you look at like a Stephen King book,
• 14:21
  there is a lot of sex within it,
• 14:24
  but because it's the way that men write about sex, right?
• 14:28
  - Yes.
• 14:29
  - For play, there is like actual like intercourse.
• 14:34
  And then there is orgasm and after blow.
• 14:38
  Men's sex focuses on intercourse and orgasm.
• 14:42
  But what women's focus on is all four parts.
• 14:46
  And that is why it is thought of so differently within it,
• 14:51
  where it's the four play leading up to it.
• 14:53
  It's the thought, it's the care afterwards
• 14:56
  that ultimately makes these people feel different.
• 14:59
  Oh my God, it was an amazing.
• 15:00
  I was like, this guy, no, no, that was amazing.
• 15:04
  - You're blowing my mind right now.
• 15:05
  That is just so true.
• 15:07
  Like, and that's one thing that I really like
• 15:09
  about Romantisy books is that,
• 15:11
  yes, they're explicit, they're sexy,
• 15:13
  they make you giggle and go, oh that was dirty, right?
• 15:17
  But at the end of the day,
• 15:18
  every Romantisy novel that I've read so far,
• 15:21
  and you can correct me because you've read so many more than me.
• 15:24
  The sex is consensual.
• 15:26
  If there is non-consensual sex that's mentioned,
• 15:30
  they never write it out in detail,
• 15:32
  and it's always just something that happened
• 15:34
  that like has impacted the woman in some way, you know?
• 15:37
  But like, the sex that takes place in the pages
• 15:39
  of the book that we're all giggling and kicking our feet about
• 15:42
  is consensual.
• 15:44
  It's like, yeah, all the stages from it,
• 15:48
  there's the aftercare, he usually takes care of her,
• 15:50
  they take care of each other, they talk to each other.
• 15:53
  - Yeah. - But yeah, I think it's all just,
• 15:56
  I think the consent is super important in Romantisy too.
• 16:00
  - Yeah, absolutely.
• 16:02
  And you know, we talk about like Romantisy a lot of the time,
• 16:06
  like, oh, it's a woman, Jean-Roye,
• 16:08
  but ultimately, I mean, this is a,
• 16:11
  Jean-Roye is shaping the literary world.
• 16:15
  Like, books were dying sadly up until, you know,
• 16:19
  this giant craze.
• 16:20
  And so for Romantisy, they saw $454 million in sales in 2024.
• 16:25
  2025 is projected to finish at 610 million.
• 16:34
  And Romant sales have grown 116%.
• 16:39
  And fantasy sales within that have grown 163%
• 16:45
  from 2020 to 2023.
• 16:47
  So, and it's not just that, right?
• 16:50
  Like Spotify is spending a ton of money
• 16:52
  to get all of these audiobooks on its platform.
• 16:55
  Games are being made based off of this.
• 16:58
  I have a Akatar coloring book that I go through.
• 17:03
  And so it really is kind of that next craze of book publishing
• 17:08
  and it's brought so many people back into reading.
• 17:12
  - You know, I'm-- - If I'm back into reading, absolutely.
• 17:14
  I mean, I loved reading as a kid and as a teenager,
• 17:19
  but I think like a lot of millennials,
• 17:23
  especially the hashtag formerly Gifted Child Millennials,
• 17:27
  we were all forced to read all of these old novels
• 17:31
  in like literature class and English class and stuff, right?
• 17:35
  And it wasn't anything that we really wanted to read.
• 17:38
  Like, yeah, sure, I enjoyed a lot of the books
• 17:40
  that I read in high school,
• 17:41
  but it wasn't anything that I would chose in myself.
• 17:44
  And so in college, you know, everything was online.
• 17:48
  You don't really need to read novels
• 17:49
  anymore unless you're a lit major.
• 17:51
  So I kind of stopped reading.
• 17:53
  Yeah.
• 17:53
  I mean, I would pick up books every now and then
• 17:55
  on like feminism.
• 17:57
  That's kind of, it kind of got me back into reading
• 17:59
  a little bit with just kind of autobiography of like celebrities
• 18:02
  that I liked and books on feminism.
• 18:04
  That's the millennial curse because we grew up
• 18:07
  in the girl boss era where it's like,
• 18:09
  I've just spent every minute improving myself.
• 18:12
  Yeah.
• 18:13
  So I have to read self-help books.
• 18:15
  Oh my god, I was in that phase in--
• 18:17
  Me too, as well.
• 18:18
  She can suit for the soul.
• 18:19
  Like, yeah.
• 18:20
  Or--
• 18:21
  Or mark it into--
• 18:22
  Or mark it into yourself.
• 18:23
  Yeah.
• 18:24
  Yeah.
• 18:25
  And--
• 18:26
  So many women think that we have to just--
• 18:27
  you'll never meet a man who's like, oh, I love self-help novels.
• 18:31
  No, it's always those who are marketed to women.
• 18:33
  How to get your shit together.
• 18:36
  How to be a girl boss?
• 18:37
  Like--
• 18:38
  Yeah, sometimes--
• 18:39
  Sometimes no.
• 18:40
  Reading became a chore and an exercise in self-improvement.
• 18:45
  Yes.
• 18:46
  And I do think that a lot of people
• 18:50
  started reading again during COVID.
• 18:52
  We had way less things to do.
• 18:54
  But I do think that returning to books
• 18:56
  has been one of the great things that I've found.
• 18:59
  And so we're here to teach you a little bit about Romanticie.
• 19:03
  See if we can get you back into reading.
• 19:05
  Get you the literate class.
• 19:06
  Join us.
• 19:08
  Be literate like Pharaoh.
• 19:10
  And we'll talk about it right after the break.
• 19:12
  There are so many types of Romanticie as well.
• 19:21
  So Sean, tell us a little bit about what they could foray
• 19:25
  into if they chose to pick up a romanticie.
• 19:28
  They are not all created equal.
• 19:30
  They are not.
• 19:30
  We're not asking you to read Centaur milking books right
• 19:33
  out the gate.
• 19:35
  Work your way up, you know?
• 19:36
  Yeah.
• 19:37
  Gradually.
• 19:38
  Gradually.
• 19:39
  Gradually.
• 19:39
  Like a--
• 19:40
  Comal.
• 19:40
  Something that gets bigger as you go.
• 19:42
  So Romanticie spans age ranges.
• 19:45
  You can have young adult, new adult, and adult, and tones.
• 19:49
  There's dark and spicy versus kind of more cozy ones.
• 19:52
  So the tropes act like shorthand to signal what the readers
• 19:56
  are craving.
• 19:57
  So some of these most popular tropes
• 19:59
  and tell me which ones you like out of these Olivia.
• 20:01
  Animes to lovers.
• 20:03
  That's probably just my favorite trope of all time.
• 20:05
  I think we've talked about how much I love that
• 20:07
  on the show before.
• 20:09
  So you have a court of thorns in roses, fourth wing.
• 20:13
  You see this trope outside of literature,
• 20:16
  Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
• 20:18
  More recently, we see it in K-Pop demon hunters, right?
• 20:21
  Everybody likes to see when they start out being antagonistic.
• 20:25
  But it's just because they're flirting and really in love.
• 20:27
  You also have--
• 20:28
  this is like a common character within that.
• 20:31
  But it's like Shadow Daddy or like Morally Gray character.
• 20:36
  And if you cringed when I said Shadow Daddy,
• 20:39
  don't worry, I did too.
• 20:41
  I loved it ultimately.
• 20:42
  I'm like, oh, I love them.
• 20:46
  So at this point, like a Morally Gray male main character--
• 20:52
  Spiking Angel.
• 20:54
  Yes, yes, where they're a little bit of a bad boy,
• 20:57
  but in a magical sense, you know?
• 21:00
  I love me a bad boy, as long as they're not--
• 21:04
  the funny thing with these characters, right,
• 21:06
  is they're, quote, bad boys with these Shadow Daddy's.
• 21:11
  But they're like the nicest, most caring man
• 21:13
  that you wish you could find in real world.
• 21:15
  They're literally like--
• 21:17
  As I explained to Andrew, they're
• 21:19
  going to do the filthiest, most disgusting things
• 21:22
  to bet on you with your permission.
• 21:25
  And then afterwards, they're going to like bring you
• 21:27
  like a glass of wine, like some cheese and bread,
• 21:31
  and like get you like a hot towel.
• 21:34
  Oh, I know.
• 21:35
  If you're a straight man listening to this,
• 21:37
  you just know like a little foreplay goes along what?
• 21:40
  A little foreplay and a little postplay, right?
• 21:43
  Or am I sub, get us to our peak, and then when we're done,
• 21:46
  like get us a towel, first of all.
• 21:50
  Step one.
• 21:51
  OK.
• 21:52
  OK, anyway.
• 21:53
  Or diegres, I don't like that.
• 21:54
  I'm like a trope.
• 21:55
  Oh my god.
• 21:55
  Focus.
• 21:57
  Squirrel.
• 21:58
  All right.
• 21:58
  "Fay Human Romance."
• 22:00
  So this is rooted in Celtic folklore.
• 22:02
  So we see this.
• 22:04
  Again, we're going to talk about this a lot in Akatar.
• 22:06
  So the men are "Fay."
• 22:09
  The main character starts this human.
• 22:12
  I don't want to spoil it.
• 22:13
  She's a human.
• 22:15
  So we see this trope a lot as well.
• 22:17
  "Magical Academies."
• 22:19
  So romance plus a training ground equals high tension.
• 22:25
  So your magical school, your dragon writing school.
• 22:29
  Zodiac Academy is a big one that a lot of people read.
• 22:33
  We see this trope in like anime a lot too, which is funny,
• 22:36
  where they all go to some kind of magical school,
• 22:39
  or magical college, or superhero school,
• 22:41
  you learn to be your best and you fall in love.
• 22:44
  And you always have to usually save the world at the meantime.
• 22:47
  Basically Harry Potter.
• 22:49
  Basically Harry Potter.
• 22:50
  Harry Potter with "Doin' It."
• 22:52
  Dragon bonds.
• 22:53
  So this has a recent resurgence via fourth wing.
• 22:56
  We did mention "Game of Thrones."
• 23:00
  And obviously that's not romanticy.
• 23:01
  But I think that's when people think dragon bonds
• 23:04
  and popular culture, they probably immediately
• 23:06
  think of like Daenerys Targaryen.
• 23:08
  The dragons are her children, right?
• 23:10
  Or like how to train your dragon has the dragon bonds.
• 23:13
  Romanticy has a lot of that as well,
• 23:15
  especially we saw in fourth wing.
• 23:18
  Love triangles, love me, a love triangle.
• 23:21
  As long as she ends up with the person that I shiver with,
• 23:24
  then I like it.
• 23:25
  - Yeah, why is this specifically like a YA,
• 23:29
  like romantic tension builder?
• 23:31
  Like you would think, and maybe it's because like,
• 23:34
  if it was like an adult one,
• 23:36
  they'd just be banging both of them.
• 23:38
  - Well, you know, like a...
• 23:40
  - That's called a Y-Choose romance.
• 23:41
  - Yes, yes.
• 23:43
  - Y-Choose. - But love triangles.
• 23:45
  I mean, we talked about Buffy, Spike and Angel.
• 23:49
  We also have Twilight, Jacob and Edward.
• 23:52
  There are so many love triangles.
• 23:56
  - Yeah, I mean, I would really, I guess the Hunger Games,
• 24:00
  I wouldn't count as a romanticy,
• 24:01
  even though the romance is important in it.
• 24:04
  It's sci-fi. - It could...
• 24:06
  More too.
• 24:07
  - Yeah, exactly.
• 24:08
  And you could strip away the romance in that book
• 24:11
  and it would still be important.
• 24:13
  - I guess her and Peter are pretty core to the novel,
• 24:15
  but I agree.
• 24:16
  It's more sci-fi. - Yeah, Peter and Gail.
• 24:18
  I feel like if you took away, yeah, it would work,
• 24:22
  but you'd have less development of Kat.
• 24:25
  - Yes. - And you'd have to find
• 24:27
  a different way to character arc her.
• 24:29
  - Exactly. - And show that journey,
• 24:31
  but it could exist without them in it.
• 24:34
  But yeah, we loved our little love triangles.
• 24:39
  That's weird.
• 24:40
  - I love a love triangle.
• 24:41
  I don't know. - I don't mind it,
• 24:43
  but why is it such a YA thing?
• 24:46
  - No, I totally agree.
• 24:47
  You think back to when you were in high school,
• 24:49
  middle school, where you ever caught
• 24:51
  in a fucking love triangle as a teenager?
• 24:54
  I mean, I guess you have crushes on multiple boys at once
• 24:58
  and you're less able to regulate your,
• 25:01
  okay, that one's good for me. - Every big deal.
• 25:05
  - Yeah, everything feels super strong and intense at once.
• 25:07
  You can't be like, all right, I really am in love with that guy.
• 25:10
  I just kind of a crush on that guy.
• 25:11
  So we're gonna choose that one instead.
• 25:14
  - Yeah, absolutely.
• 25:16
  - The final trouble I mentioned is found family.
• 25:18
  So romance is nested inside a friendship
• 25:21
  and loyalty kind of arcs and relationships.
• 25:24
  And I like this a lot in Romantic Seed Books that I've read.
• 25:27
  So far too is that the female character
• 25:30
  is never just alone.
• 25:32
  She's never just always pining after a man
• 25:35
  and has no one to talk to and no friends
• 25:37
  and nothing else to do.
• 25:38
  She has friends, she has a found family,
• 25:41
  she has hobbies that she cares about outside of just
• 25:45
  being in love with a man.
• 25:47
  Imagine personality. - She's an actual human
• 25:52
  with dynamics.
• 25:53
  But yeah, she's surrounded by like friends and family,
• 25:56
  which is always nice.
• 25:56
  And it's not always blood family.
• 25:58
  It's that found family.
• 26:00
  I'm weird and different.
• 26:01
  No one understands me, but I found this group
• 26:03
  of misfits who I fit in with.
• 26:05
  - Yeah, I would also add within that like found family,
• 26:10
  like friends to lovers is a big one as well.
• 26:13
  Like, you know, I've known this person my whole life
• 26:16
  and then I fall in love with them.
• 26:18
  Me and high school and college never worked out.
• 26:21
  - Oh God, that never worked out for me in college.
• 26:24
  - I would go into the friendship for sure.
• 26:26
  - Friends to sleeping together to never speaking again.
• 26:29
  - To never speaking again.
• 26:30
  But that's why it's a fantasy, you know?
• 26:33
  So another one that I really love,
• 26:35
  which I feel like kind of goes with enemies to lovers.
• 26:38
  It's less intense, but is grumpy,
• 26:41
  and grumpy sunshine, but dynamic where a lot of the time
• 26:46
  it's the man who is quite grumpy.
• 26:48
  Like he's not mean, but he's just like a real
• 26:50
  - Black cat and golden retriever.
• 26:51
  - Yes, it's that.
• 26:53
  But a lot of the time the man is the black cat
• 26:55
  and the FMC, but I do like it when it's the opposite as well,
• 27:00
  which is that black cat and romance.
• 27:02
  But there's so many different tropes.
• 27:04
  And honestly, like if any of those caught your mind,
• 27:07
  like just go to good reads and put in like that trope
• 27:11
  and recommendations, go to TikTok.
• 27:12
  I mean, there are so many different ones.
• 27:14
  Also just message us, we probably would have done that.
• 27:16
  - Literally, I want to talk about one final trope
• 27:19
  that's not on the list that you may, but it counts
• 27:22
  because it's in everything almost laughably so.
• 27:26
  If you do read a romanticy novel where there is sex,
• 27:31
  he's gonna be huge.
• 27:33
  - Oh yeah, they can never get both hands around it.
• 27:37
  You're like, what?
• 27:38
  - It's going on.
• 27:39
  - Comically large.
• 27:41
  He's the hottest.
• 27:42
  - Like a pickle jar down there.
• 27:43
  (laughing)
• 27:44
  - He's the hottest man you've ever seen in your entire life.
• 27:48
  He's a bad boy and he's just hung to the gods every time.
• 27:53
  You're never gonna read a book where she's like,
• 27:55
  he was, it was fine.
• 27:57
  She's like, how is it even gonna fit every time?
• 28:02
  I wasn't even sure.
• 28:04
  So I'll throw that in.
• 28:05
  That's a good one.
• 28:05
  - Okay.
• 28:06
  - Okay, yeah, we're really living in the illusion.
• 28:09
  So we're gonna take a quick break and we'll be right back.
• 28:12
  (dramatic music)
• 28:17
  - One of the things about a lot of these romanticies stories
• 28:20
  that have become very popular or stay within the zeitgeist,
• 28:25
  do follow this retelling or a reimagining of Greek mythology
• 28:30
  and or Norse mythology?
• 28:34
  And so really, I mean, Greek mythology is known
• 28:38
  as like the first shared cinematic universe of the West, right?
• 28:42
  We have gods, we have monsters, we have heroes,
• 28:45
  we have archetypes, tropes, sex, violence,
• 28:49
  relations, tragic lovers, and despite tragic moments,
• 28:54
  we still see all of these, you know,
• 28:57
  this romance and perseverance and ultimately,
• 29:00
  we see that within Norse mythology as well.
• 29:03
  And it's a little darker.
• 29:06
  I would say Norse mythology does feel like a little less MCU,
• 29:11
  like a work.
• 29:14
  - Even though there's a lot of Norse characters in the MCU.
• 29:17
  - Yes, but it doesn't always end well, right?
• 29:21
  - I see.
• 29:21
  - And so of course we see these stories retold quite often
• 29:25
  because open source and intellectual property,
• 29:29
  they've been told for 2000 plus years.
• 29:32
  Why do you think that we come back to these stories
• 29:37
  over and over?
• 29:38
  I mean, we had Greek mythology, we had Roman mythology,
• 29:41
  Norse, so many different parts of the world
• 29:44
  through different parts of time.
• 29:46
  Why do you think that we revisit these so often?
• 29:49
  - You think even religious texts, the Bible, the Torah,
• 29:53
  like there's the Quran, there's stories of love
• 29:57
  and murder and passion and betrayal in those two.
• 30:00
  And I think it's just because we all insert ourselves
• 30:04
  kind of into these stories.
• 30:06
  A lot of them are kind of told as a lesson too.
• 30:08
  I think this is what happens if you become too greedy.
• 30:12
  This is what happens if you fly too close to the sun.
• 30:15
  Or also, this is what happens if you might God
• 30:20
  and this is what happens if you piss off Zeus.
• 30:23
  But I think at the end of the day,
• 30:25
  it's all something that we kind of insert ourselves into.
• 30:29
  And also things that we think, we know logically,
• 30:33
  this isn't gonna happen to us, right?
• 30:35
  We're not gonna get whisked away to wizard college
• 30:38
  and find a dragon and fall in love with the guy
• 30:41
  with the 13 inch penis who cooks his dinner.
• 30:45
  - It's not gonna happen.
• 30:48
  - Hey, not with that attitude.
• 30:50
  Well, maybe not for you.
• 30:51
  - Maybe not for you.
• 30:53
  - I never told you how big it is.
• 30:55
  It could be 13 inches.
• 30:57
  - To be fair, I would know.
• 30:58
  You would not shut the fuck up.
• 31:00
  - That's true.
• 31:00
  I would have absolutely told you by now.
• 31:02
  I would have sketched it for you.
• 31:04
  - You would have just, you know,
• 31:06
  you probably would have been like polar pants down Andrew.
• 31:09
  - Show her, show her, she doesn't believe me.
• 31:11
  Fucking show her.
• 31:12
  - And he's just like shut up.
• 31:13
  - He's just like of our bullshit, but it's okay.
• 31:17
  He loves us.
• 31:18
  But we know these things are gonna happen, right?
• 31:22
  Or also waiting for our letter to Hogwarts
• 31:25
  or to become a fay after hunting a wolf in the woods.
• 31:30
  It's not gonna happen.
• 31:31
  So I think that as much as we insert ourselves
• 31:34
  into these stories, we also have that layer of like removal
• 31:39
  where we know, oh, we can just kind of get away
• 31:41
  from the real world for a second.
• 31:43
  Put our thoughts in carousine, you know,
• 31:45
  if my family is sick or you know,
• 31:48
  the government is collapsing or I'm going through a divorce,
• 31:52
  at least in my fantasy world, everything is okay
• 31:56
  and they're falling in love.
• 31:58
  - Yeah, it's very, very interesting.
• 32:01
  I mean, I think about this quite often as I read
• 32:06
  really any story, but Romanticity really does kind of follow
• 32:09
  this, the heroes journey, you know, Joseph Campbell's
• 32:13
  monometh, which really depicts like how most epics
• 32:18
  from Greek mythology, North mythology were broken down.
• 32:22
  And it's really all stories.
• 32:24
  It's the departure, the initiation and the return.
• 32:28
  And we see it a lot like with, oh, the female main character,
• 32:32
  we use her safe life encounters trials, falls in love,
• 32:36
  returns, transforms or save the world, right?
• 32:40
  We see this a lot as well, like the male version of this,
• 32:44
  I think, you know, is the MCU as well.
• 32:47
  Like we see the heroes journey in so many different stories
• 32:50
  in so many movies and books and all those things.
• 32:53
  - Even Dune, now I'm thinking of so many novels
• 32:56
  where it follows the male's hero journey specifically, right?
• 33:00
  Not that there haven't been novels before the Romanticity,
• 33:04
  you know, boom, where there's a female main character,
• 33:08
  but I feel like a lot of time with these fantasy books,
• 33:11
  we are following a man, right?
• 33:13
  If you're thinking of like the Iliad even,
• 33:15
  if you, you know, Lord of the Rings,
• 33:18
  - And a piss.
• 33:19
  - Get 'em in that.
• 33:20
  - Yeah.
• 33:20
  And Dune, like I said, those are,
• 33:22
  it's following a male hero's story.
• 33:25
  And the romance there is kind of all support,
• 33:28
  seen as part of his conquest.
• 33:30
  He, you know, it's, he, it's, he's conquesting a woman, right?
• 33:34
  It's not like he's, she's thrown in there
• 33:36
  to be a damsel in distress or, you know,
• 33:38
  even like Star Wars, you know, getting away from novels
• 33:41
  for a second.
• 33:42
  It's a man, maybe he falls in love with the woman,
• 33:44
  but you know what I'm trying to say?
• 33:46
  Like we're following his story.
• 33:48
  - The woman is like the reward.
• 33:49
  - The woman is the reward.
• 33:52
  - Yep.
• 33:53
  - Yeah, and I think, you know, we revisit these stories
• 33:57
  through, you know, mythology all the way
• 33:59
  to modern literature because it really just me
• 34:02
  or how we process like struggle and growth.
• 34:05
  And I think that these stories give almost like a way
• 34:09
  of everything happened for every.
• 34:12
  - Well, you didn't know that you were going
• 34:14
  through struggle or strife, but when you look back,
• 34:17
  you can see that these things got you there.
• 34:19
  And I think that that level of storytelling
• 34:22
  and seeing really goes within that.
• 34:24
  And, you know, I think that these books are so powerful
• 34:28
  for that reason.
• 34:28
  Well, you know, we make jokes and we say like,
• 34:31
  "Oh, it's not whatever."
• 34:32
  Like there is deep like powerful messages within it.
• 34:36
  - I have cried in so many Romantic books just like,
• 34:40
  - Nasty.
• 34:41
  - Yes.
• 34:42
  - Akatar.
• 34:43
  - So they overcome like real tragedies in these books.
• 34:47
  I definitely cried during Fang Fiction,
• 34:49
  which we'll talk about in a second.
• 34:51
  And, okay.
• 34:53
  - I was shocked.
• 34:55
  I'm not like a big cryer.
• 34:57
  I guess as I got spoiled.
• 34:58
  - You can't spoil any of these books, by the way.
• 35:00
  - I will not spoil.
• 35:01
  Yeah, but I'm not like, I guess as I've gotten older
• 35:05
  and closer to death become more of a cryer.
• 35:09
  But there is actual real trauma that characters overcome.
• 35:12
  Like you said, and there you can see the growth
• 35:15
  from the beginning of the novel to the end.
• 35:18
  I read one novel recently called So Thirsty.
• 35:23
  And it was definitely pop.
• 35:26
  And it's in the beginning of it.
• 35:28
  Her husband, she's in this loveless marriage.
• 35:30
  He's cheating on her.
• 35:32
  She's comfortable in this life and doesn't wanna leave him.
• 35:35
  And by the end of it, like no spoilers,
• 35:37
  but like she's in a totally different space emotionally
• 35:40
  and fantasy-wise transformation.
• 35:45
  Then she was at the beginning of the book
• 35:47
  and it's powerful.
• 35:49
  - Even if it is set in vampires, it's still powerful.
• 35:53
  - Yeah, absolutely.
• 35:55
  And so there is, so honestly, I was listening to
• 36:00
  an Aka-Tar recap podcast.
• 36:05
  I just did a course read of like Crescent City and Aka-Tar.
• 36:09
  And I am still like deep in a hole for it.
• 36:12
  Whereas I saw this recap podcast on TikTok
• 36:16
  and I was listening to it.
• 36:17
  And I was like, God, I love smart women.
• 36:20
  - Yeah.
• 36:21
  - Like you can rip it apart.
• 36:22
  Like Sarah J. Mas, her writing is very specific
• 36:26
  and I understand people's criticism of it.
• 36:29
  But she has brought so many people to it.
• 36:32
  And if your world building is insane.
• 36:35
  - Yeah. And if you want like a fun, light read,
• 36:37
  you can look in Aka-Tar that way.
• 36:39
  But if you really wanna go deep into it,
• 36:41
  you can find so many different things
• 36:44
  and so many parts of the world.
• 36:46
  And yeah, world building is just so powerful.
• 36:48
  And like, of course I wanna pretend
• 36:50
  that I'm in a fake world for a night or a couple hours.
• 36:54
  And yeah, I think that these stories have been told
• 36:57
  through time because there is something
• 37:00
  that we can learn from them.
• 37:01
  And a deep sense of humanness
• 37:04
  within that storytelling structure.
• 37:07
  - Exactly.
• 37:08
  And now that they are woman-led, woman-row, right?
• 37:12
  Most of them.
• 37:13
  I'm sure there's multiple Romantic novels
• 37:15
  with male-lately characters with male writers, right?
• 37:19
  Or non-barric binary writers.
• 37:20
  But like, it's something about that female voice
• 37:23
  and that consent and just like,
• 37:26
  it feels different than like just a, I don't know.
• 37:30
  It feels different, especially as your female reader,
• 37:32
  you relate to it more, I think.
• 37:34
  And they can be so diverse.
• 37:36
  Like in "Infangfiction", there's LGBTQ romances, right?
• 37:39
  And it's just, it's a whole world.
• 37:42
  - Waiting to be discovered.
• 37:44
  - Yeah, absolutely.
• 37:45
  It's an amazing genre to dive into.
• 37:48
  And if you are looking for a reason
• 37:51
  to get back into reading, we highly recommend it.
• 37:54
  So we're gonna take a quick break.
• 37:55
  And then we're gonna dive into our recommendations
• 37:59
  or different romantacies and different tropes
• 38:02
  that you could find yourself with.
• 38:04
  So, Shana, if someone is getting into romantacy,
• 38:12
  what are we recommended?
• 38:15
  - So the first two books that I'm gonna recommend,
• 38:17
  we already touched on a little bit,
• 38:19
  but because I don't have as deep of a,
• 38:23
  you've read a lot more than me.
• 38:25
  (laughs)
• 38:27
  Hey, they're goodies, they're popular for a reason.
• 38:30
  - Absolutely.
• 38:31
  And I am also in my horror novel era.
• 38:34
  So I go back and forth between romantacy and horror
• 38:37
  a lot this year.
• 38:38
  So I'm gonna mention some popular ones.
• 38:40
  A Court of Thorns and Roses,
• 38:42
  also known as Akatar by Sarah J. Mass.
• 38:45
  Spoiler free, it's about Fera Immortal,
• 38:48
  who was drawn into the Fae world after killing a wolf Fae.
• 38:51
  She must navigate political intrigue, danger,
• 38:54
  and a seductive, yet perilous high Lord's Court.
• 38:59
  There's magic, sacrifices, and intense romance.
• 39:02
  Some of the tropes you'll see is like a beauty
• 39:04
  in the beast type setup, Immortal Fae Romance,
• 39:08
  and that shadow daddy that we talked about.
• 39:11
  So definitely gonna say that can be your launching off point
• 39:15
  if you're like, I kinda wanna dip my toes in the water.
• 39:18
  There are what five books right now
• 39:20
  and a sixth on the way.
• 39:22
  - Yes, so good, start there.
• 39:24
  - Start again, real well.
• 39:26
  - And I'll take you in real well.
• 39:27
  - It will drag you in, man.
• 39:29
  It dragged me in in a good way.
• 39:31
  It's like being dragged into a puddle of 13 inch dicks.
• 39:34
  - Or starlight.
• 39:37
  - Or starlight.
• 39:38
  - Or starlight.
• 39:39
  (laughs)
• 39:41
  - Yeah.
• 39:42
  - Same thing.
• 39:43
  - Come on.
• 39:44
  - The next one is fourth.
• 39:45
  - Wing, which we also mentioned,
• 39:46
  also known as the Imperian series by Rebecca Yarros.
• 39:51
  So a spoiler free description for this one,
• 39:53
  Violet Soaring Gale, physically fragile,
• 39:56
  is forced into a dragonwriter academy.
• 39:58
  Death lurks in every lesson.
• 40:01
  She must survive.
• 40:02
  Enemy's to lover's tension ignites when she bonds
• 40:05
  with her dangerous instructor in a life or death conditions.
• 40:10
  - Ah, Zaden.
• 40:12
  - Zaden, Shadow Daddy.
• 40:13
  He is the ultimate Shadow Daddy.
• 40:16
  So dragonwriter fantasy school setting,
• 40:19
  enemies to lovers with high stakes,
• 40:22
  found family from peers in boot camp,
• 40:24
  style training to life or death comrades and more,
• 40:28
  high intensity action and spicy romance.
• 40:30
  I will say that about both Akatar and fourth wing,
• 40:34
  they be doing it.
• 40:35
  And they be describing the doing it in both of these.
• 40:38
  So if you were, but not in like a,
• 40:42
  you know how I said the milking book was filthy?
• 40:45
  - The book is filthy.
• 40:46
  These are more like,
• 40:48
  - The spicy scenes are spicy,
• 40:52
  but there is good world building.
• 40:54
  - Yes, there is world building in plot.
• 40:56
  It's not just a porn.
• 40:57
  You're not reading porn.
• 40:59
  - Yes, I always recommend people start there,
• 41:02
  especially with they're interested in kind of that,
• 41:05
  like female romance side of things as well,
• 41:08
  'cause they're just so good.
• 41:09
  And I mean, like when things are popular,
• 41:11
  they're popular for a reason they're just good.
• 41:14
  - Exactly.
• 41:15
  - One of the ones that I wanted to recommend
• 41:17
  is actually a fate,
• 41:19
  Inkton blood, which is based on Norse mythology.
• 41:23
  So Brea is bound in a stifling marriage
• 41:27
  is revealed to be the shield made in with divine blood,
• 41:31
  which is a very common Norse mythology tale.
• 41:35
  And she's forced into a prophesized role.
• 41:38
  She must train to fight while battling
• 41:41
  a forbidden attraction to a warrior beyond
• 41:44
  and Viking mythology meets high stakes destiny.
• 41:48
  So types and tropes shield made in from Norse mythology,
• 41:52
  forbidden or arranged marriage romance,
• 41:56
  prophecy and fate versus choice,
• 41:59
  and ultimately a slow burn chemistry.
• 42:02
  - Yeah.
• 42:03
  - So that's another big trope.
• 42:05
  So slow burn is like it's a lot of the time,
• 42:08
  like an enemy's to lovers,
• 42:10
  like and it also like it takes a while for them to get there.
• 42:14
  The tension really builds.
• 42:16
  It's not like, oh, I hated him.
• 42:17
  And then the next day we're in love
• 42:19
  and all those things.
• 42:20
  But those are kind of like sub parts
• 42:23
  that enemy's to lovers, I would say there.
• 42:26
  - I agree.
• 42:26
  I love a slow burn.
• 42:27
  I wanna know why they're falling in love,
• 42:30
  how you're getting there.
• 42:31
  I think the only time it gets frustrating
• 42:33
  is if it's like, okay, come on guys.
• 42:35
  (laughs)
• 42:36
  - Yeah, just I don't know.
• 42:37
  - I don't know.
• 42:38
  - Just kiss already.
• 42:39
  Hold hands, do something.
• 42:41
  - I was reading one series and it was the fourth book
• 42:46
  and they literally had never done anything.
• 42:49
  And I was like, okay, this is slow burn.
• 42:52
  - I can't do that.
• 42:53
  - I know better burn.
• 42:54
  - No, I need something a little quicker than that.
• 42:57
  Like if it has to be in the same book at least,
• 42:59
  I don't care if it's like the second to last chapter
• 43:02
  or the second book.
• 43:02
  - I can do a second book where it happens,
• 43:05
  but it's got to be a little like spicy going into it.
• 43:08
  So another really popular one that I think it came out
• 43:12
  last year that has been taking book talk by Storm
• 43:17
  is Quick Silver by Callie Hart.
• 43:19
  It's based on Sarah's fame who steals to survive
• 43:23
  in like almost like a drought ravenge kingdom.
• 43:27
  And she's captured by the undying queen.
• 43:29
  She was a strange compelling faye through a Quick Silver portal
• 43:34
  and the spark between them ignites danger, magic
• 43:39
  and unlikely alliances.
• 43:41
  So this is also an enemy to lovers.
• 43:44
  It has portals and fantasies in different worlds.
• 43:48
  It's a magic and blood like significance
• 43:52
  and it's very snarky.
• 43:54
  It's also very funny.
• 43:55
  Like there's good banter through them as well.
• 43:58
  I love it when it's funny.
• 44:02
  I guess it's not romanticy, but lights out
• 44:04
  is just a straight up kind of smug book.
• 44:07
  - Yeah, I was laughing out loud at that book.
• 44:11
  So I like it when there's the snarky banter.
• 44:15
  They're kind of flirting and you know,
• 44:16
  negging each other but not in like a cruel way
• 44:19
  just in like a flirtatious way.
• 44:21
  I love that.
• 44:22
  - Yes.
• 44:23
  And if you are listening to this and you're like,
• 44:26
  Shana Olivia, I cannot do romanticy with faye people.
• 44:31
  I need something a little bit more rooted in reality.
• 44:36
  Maybe with just like a little bit of magic in the world.
• 44:39
  But you know, as some girls hope for within life.
• 44:44
  - A sprinkle of magic within there.
• 44:46
  I did want to recommend this book.
• 44:48
  I actually texted Shana and our friend group
• 44:51
  that I was like, I need all of you to read this book.
• 44:53
  It is so incredibly good.
• 44:55
  - Yes.
• 44:56
  - It was, you know, it's sad.
• 44:58
  - You say it's sad.
• 44:59
  - It is sad.
• 45:01
  - Okay.
• 45:01
  - It's okay.
• 45:02
  - I found it at a time when I ultimately needed it.
• 45:06
  I just re-read it because it's so good.
• 45:08
  It's called The Seven-Year Slip by Ashley Poston.
• 45:12
  Ashley Poston is kind of like a magical realism writer
• 45:16
  where it's set in our world.
• 45:17
  It's set in our time.
• 45:19
  But there is magic within the world.
• 45:21
  - Okay.
• 45:22
  - So she's some good ones.
• 45:23
  Like she's Dead Romance Club.
• 45:24
  It's also good.
• 45:25
  But I really love Seven-Year Slip.
• 45:27
  So Clementine is our main character
• 45:30
  and she inherits her late on New York City apartment
• 45:34
  and discovers it can unpredictably transport
• 45:37
  her exactly seven years into the past.
• 45:41
  - Oh.
• 45:41
  - And there she meets Ewan and their instant connection
• 45:44
  challenges both time and fate.
• 45:47
  It is like a really good blend of rom-com magic
• 45:51
  in second chances.
• 45:53
  - Do you know what this reminds me of?
• 45:54
  - It reminds me of a beautiful book.
• 45:56
  - Oh my God.
• 45:57
  That Sandra Bullock movie that we reviewed,
• 46:00
  I think this might have been before you joined the podcast.
• 46:03
  And it's where her and Kiana Reeves
• 46:06
  write each other's, the lake house.
• 46:08
  - Oh my God.
• 46:09
  - The lake house, yes.
• 46:10
  - They're both in like two different points in time
• 46:13
  and write each other letters through this mystical mailbox.
• 46:17
  - They do exist like, it's different than that.
• 46:21
  - Okay, similar vibe.
• 46:24
  - I love that movie.
• 46:26
  - That's so good.
• 46:27
  - So the tropes that you'll find in this,
• 46:30
  obviously time slip romance, second chance,
• 46:34
  grief and healing arc.
• 46:36
  Obviously inherits her late and New York City apartment.
• 46:39
  There is something there and then right person wrong time,
• 46:43
  which I love that room.
• 46:46
  - No, that's frustrating.
• 46:48
  - So good.
• 46:49
  And it is such, honestly, like if I had to try to get someone
• 46:54
  to breed any of these books, it'd probably be that one.
• 46:58
  - Okay.
• 46:59
  - 'Cause it'd be like lost a very close-up family member
• 47:01
  or things like that.
• 47:02
  So it is just such a beautiful, beautiful book
• 47:05
  and going into it, knowing that it is more rooted
• 47:09
  in regular world.
• 47:11
  - Maybe I'll add that to my list after I finish
• 47:13
  the milking farm.
• 47:14
  I'll need something a little more grounded
• 47:17
  and rooted in reality.
• 47:18
  - It's so hard though.
• 47:19
  (laughing)
• 47:20
  - Oh my God.
• 47:21
  - It's a part of a dead mom club you will definitely.
• 47:23
  - Oh.
• 47:24
  - Sometimes I need a cathartic cry every once in a while.
• 47:28
  - Right.
• 47:29
  - It will.
• 47:30
  - Like I said.
• 47:30
  - It'll get you in there.
• 47:31
  - The closer I get to death as time marches on the more I cry.
• 47:36
  - Yep.
• 47:36
  - Yeah.
• 47:37
  - So just happen, happen, walking over here.
• 47:40
  - I'm ready.
• 47:41
  - I'm ready.
• 47:42
  - Trying right now, you just can't tell.
• 47:45
  - Well, I think it's about time to close the book
• 47:48
  on this episode.
• 47:49
  (laughing)
• 47:50
  - Shauna, where can our listeners find you on social media?
• 47:54
  - You can find me, Shauna, on Instagram and Threads
• 47:57
  @shaunatrinidad S-H-A-U-N-A-T-R-I-N-I-D-A-D.
• 48:02
  - And you can find me, Olivia, on Instagram,
• 48:08
  @livimariez L-I-V-I-M-A-R-I-E-Z.
• 48:13
  Follow me, trying to get more followers.
• 48:15
  I wanna be coo.
• 48:17
  (laughing)
• 48:18
  And you can also look us up online at our website,
• 48:22
  popculturejunkie.com
• 48:24
  That's where you can find our podcast on all platforms,
• 48:27
  social media links, blog posts, pop culture junkie store.
• 48:31
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• 48:33
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• 48:37
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• 48:39
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• 48:41
  to follow, subscribe, rate and review the show.
• 48:44
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• 48:46
  It helps us get discovered and bring you guys
• 48:49
  more of the pop culture that you love.
• 48:52
  Talking about, you know, 13 inch dicks.
• 48:55
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• 48:58
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• 48:59
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• 49:06
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• 49:11
  and get a special shout out from us.
• 49:15
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• 49:18
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• 49:21
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• 49:26
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