Latest / Gorls Unplugged / Bookish drama and a beginning of the year reading update! 👀
Transcript
- 0:00Why is book talk always in chaos every single time we open the
- 0:03app at the moment? Literally at this point it is
- 0:06more like a reality TV show than a bookish community.
- 0:09There's just always something going on.
- 0:11So true. From that anti intellectualism
- 0:14debate pumping back up that comes around every three months
- 0:17without fail. And the audio book not being
- 0:21pointed. Towards reading, yeah.
- 0:23Then there's always some authors behaving badly.
- 0:27There's probably. Authors behaving badly.
- 0:29That's literally the name of a reality TV show.
- 0:31The book? Top version of Geordie Shore.
- 0:33That is. And what did you say earlier?
- 0:38You know that Jessa Hastings is probably.
- 0:40Oh yeah, Jessa Hastings is definitely causing drama
- 0:43somewhere. That woman is always doing
- 0:44something rogue. Kicking off in a corner
- 0:47somewhere, We just don't see it anymore.
- 0:51But yeah, we're going to go through a few little things that
- 0:54are popping up in the bookish community again today.
- 0:57But just before that, don't forget to like, share, subscribe
- 1:00and follow. All the things.
- 1:02We do new episodes every two weeks on a Thursday, OK.
- 1:06So the latest one that is going around is actually pretty timely
- 1:11because it ties into kind of everything that's going on
- 1:14politically in the landscape, which is obviously the the lap
- 1:17at the minute. There's two authors who are kind
- 1:21of beefing with each other. And I'm not sure if you've seen
- 1:24this because it's on threads. And I do feel like Threads is
- 1:27where a lot of the drama happens.
- 1:28It's like Twitter. Yeah, it's wild.
- 1:31People are really angry on that and some of the things like
- 1:34rightly so. So this was KM Mouranova.
- 1:39I think that's how you say her surname.
- 1:41She does some of those dark romance, like military romance
- 1:44books with the cartoon covers. You'll know them if you see
- 1:46them. I'll put one on screen.
- 1:48And then an indie author called HM Wolf.
- 1:50So what happened was obviously with everything that's happening
- 1:54in the US with ICE, people are showing their political views
- 1:59around that and trying to support the community that is
- 2:01being impacted the most. So HM Wolf posted a quote from
- 2:06her own book and then another picture that said I think it
- 2:09said fuck ICE and fuck Donald Trump or something like
- 2:12something along those lines. KM Morenova took huge offence to
- 2:18this and went on kind of a rant about it, saying that she was
- 2:22using her own book to sort of like promote self promote during
- 2:27a political situation that shouldn't be used to do that.
- 2:30And she compared it to SJM using the photo of Brianna Taylor and
- 2:39that situation when she promoted the release of A Court of Silver
- 2:42Flames. Somebody else said in the
- 2:45comments, well, HM Wolf is an author of colour, so actually is
- 2:51it the same? And then KM Moranova said that
- 2:54she was also the daughter of immigrants and she found it
- 2:57really offensive. So that is all kicking off at
- 3:00the minute. I think KM Moranova has since
- 3:03apologised from what I've seen, because one of the points that
- 3:08someone made, which I actually thought was quite a good point,
- 3:10was, well, are you the person to talk about this political
- 3:14landscape and what's right and wrong within it when you write
- 3:18military romances and you're. She apparently after she did
- 3:22this rant, she went straight back to promoting her own book
- 3:25that was a military romance. So I just thought this was quite
- 3:29an interesting one. It's not so similar to the
- 3:31typical drama that we see in the author space.
- 3:36It's a little bit of a Gray landscape this, I think.
- 3:39There's a lot of nuance to it. I feel like the problem is as
- 3:43well is that people are just so emotionally charged right now.
- 3:48And maybe she genuinely took offence to that author's post.
- 3:54Maybe she didn't, maybe she's dramatic.
- 3:57I don't bloody know. But I just think people are
- 4:00emotionally charged at the moment with everything going on.
- 4:03I don't even live in the USI feel very emotionally charged
- 4:06about the situation. And you know, potentially she's
- 4:10just kind of like she could have been seeing things for weeks
- 4:13that were driving her crazy about the ice situation.
- 4:15And so that one thing and like just pounced without thinking
- 4:21and maybe I'm thinking about this wrong but.
- 4:25Should. All All authors stop posting
- 4:27about their military romances. Do you know what you mean?
- 4:30I'm like it is all a bit grey, this drama, but acting, reacting
- 4:35so strongly and aggressively towards another author, I don't
- 4:38think ever. I don't think that's ever OK
- 4:41when someone hasn't specifically done something, really.
- 4:44I think for me as well, it's the fact she did it publicly when
- 4:47she could have obviously just deemed her and said, hey, I'm
- 4:51not sure this is being portrayed in the way you think it is.
- 4:54You know, would you consider not doing that?
- 4:57But she's obviously sort of led people to then sort of almost
- 5:00attack with her by making it public.
- 5:03And I also think it depends on the context of the book.
- 5:06So like, if that author, HM Wolf, I'm pretty sure that's her
- 5:09name. If the book was dystopian, then
- 5:12of course it makes sense to take a quote from it because dystopia
- 5:16is inherently, at its core, influenced by politics and
- 5:20things like that, imperialism, whatever.
- 5:23So then yes, of course that makes sense.
- 5:25I personally don't think that's the same as using a picture of
- 5:27someone who's died at the hands of police brutality to promote
- 5:30your new book. I don't think that's comparable
- 5:32in any way, but I understand, I feel the same as you, that this
- 5:36is a very emotionally charged situation.
- 5:38People have really strong views. People feel personally affected
- 5:44by it because so many people are affected by it and they know
- 5:47people that are. If they're not and it's, it's a
- 5:49difficult one. But I suppose the question is,
- 5:53do you think authors should be more careful using real world
- 5:57events? Yes, definitely.
- 6:00I, I do think, and I think we kind of like vaguely touched on
- 6:03this with with Luce before Christmas.
- 6:06I feel like authors and creators with influence always have to be
- 6:12mindful of the position of privilege and power that they
- 6:16have over other people's thought processes.
- 6:19And I think that's really important.
- 6:20Whether you have, you know, 1000 followers or 50,000 followers,
- 6:23you still are in a position of influence over your own
- 6:27community. So I think that everyone always
- 6:29needs to be mindful of what they're doing.
- 6:31But that doesn't mean that I believe anytime someone steps a
- 6:35toe out of line that they should immediately be cancelled because
- 6:38we people do stupid things and they don't always think about
- 6:42things in the right way. Even like with the SJM
- 6:45situation, I'm like, I don't, I wasn't very into SJM at that
- 6:51time. I wasn't really within.
- 6:52I didn't didn't know of the news of the bookish community when
- 6:55that was happening. And yes, I don't think that she
- 6:58should have done that. But does that automatically mean
- 7:01we all know that she did that with any type of like malicious
- 7:04intent? Like you just don't, you just
- 7:07don't know. People make mistakes.
- 7:09And I think that the cancel culture that comes with, you
- 7:13know, these two authors, for instance, that doesn't mean
- 7:16everyone should automatically be like, we're boycotting them,
- 7:19like, especially if they're going to publicly come out and
- 7:22apologise. That's it.
- 7:23I think it's the apology, isn't it?
- 7:25That's what we've said before about Jessa Hastings or other
- 7:28authors. It's how you take accountability
- 7:30for what you've done to upset people.
- 7:32She has, apparently. I haven't personally seen it,
- 7:34but she has since apologised for me.
- 7:37That would be enough in a situation like this.
- 7:39I don't think this one is anywhere near as big as Jessa
- 7:41Hastings being racist or, you know, anything.
- 7:44Yeah, anything, whatever. She wants down with Jessa
- 7:46Hastings. Like, I don't think this is
- 7:50anywhere near that level at all. I think this is two people who
- 7:54probably have had a misunderstanding and come across
- 7:57wrong on social media and hopefully.
- 7:59They've learnt a lesson from it, like you said.
- 8:00Hopefully next time that KM Moranova will think I'm going to
- 8:04DM this lass, you know? Yeah.
- 8:06Why did everyone else need to see that?
- 8:08We didn't really, but I personally think, yeah, they do.
- 8:12Authors do need to be be careful using real world events.
- 8:16I don't think that means they shouldn't use real world events.
- 8:18I think what it comes down to is research.
- 8:22So part of what we talked about before as well is how fast books
- 8:25are being pumped out. And I do think that is evident
- 8:28when it comes to things that have a real world reflection or
- 8:32real world events are in in the book.
- 8:35Because you can tell the difference between someone who
- 8:37has researched for years and years like RF Kwang compared to
- 8:42someone who has maybe written something in six weeks, six
- 8:45months and pumped it out. I definitely think research is
- 8:48key and sensitivity readers are key.
- 8:51And you should be listening to those people because you can.
- 8:55You unfortunately, you can tell the difference, like when you
- 8:58listen to RF Kwang do an interview about the sources and
- 9:03the inspiration behind her books.
- 9:04It's so comprehensive. Very well thought out.
- 9:08Very well thought out and you can see those influences in the
- 9:12books you read. You know, hearing her talk about
- 9:15Catabasis and then reading it was so fascinating because I
- 9:18could put all of those pieces of what she researched into it as I
- 9:22was reading it. So I think that's another thing
- 9:24that comes down to it is if you're going to do it, do it
- 9:27well and research it hard. Yeah, definitely, definitely
- 9:30wasn't near a grey area to be thought about.
- 9:32And in case there is any misunderstanding about our
- 9:35political positioning, we hate Trump and we hate reform.
- 9:41Yeah. So unfollow us if you don't like
- 9:45those statements. Because that is not going to
- 9:47change. Ever OK, so moving on to the
- 9:50next next thing. And we've spoken about this so
- 9:53many times. It came up a few times last year
- 9:55but we never actually ended up talking about it on the pod.
- 9:57And yet again, I saw another video about this literally last
- 10:02week and poor fucking Victoria Aviard.
- 10:06Aviard. I don't know how Aviard has had
- 10:10to speak out again on her TikTok about someone calling her out
- 10:15for copying Powerless. I just need to explain for the
- 10:19bimbos that are leaving these comments on Victoria's platform,
- 10:22OK, check publishing dates. It's really, it's really that
- 10:25simple. And poor Victoria Aviard, if you
- 10:28don't know what this is about, she wrote a book 10 years ago
- 10:33called The Red Queen. Lauren Roberts wrote Powerless
- 10:39three years ago. Four years ago, yeah.
- 10:42Roughly that. However, people keep attacking
- 10:46Victoria Ebiard on her social media online, basically saying
- 10:50that she's that she has ripped off powerless with her book the
- 10:55Red Queen. And that series, that series is
- 10:57like a five book series, like I said that she released 10 years
- 11:00ago. Lauren Roberts wrote her book
- 11:03three or four years ago. And let's not even dive into the
- 11:05fact that actually Lauren so Lauren Roberts book is actually
- 11:08a RIP off of Red Queen. I mean mixed with The Hunger
- 11:11Games. They.
- 11:11Literally say that in the marketing.
- 11:13That's the most frustrating part.
- 11:15On the back of the book it says Red Queen meets Hunger Games.
- 11:18Does that not tell you which one?
- 11:20Came out first, so yeah, I just, I get so frustrated about that
- 11:25situation. I feel terrible.
- 11:26For her, I mean, you know how I feel about this because when I
- 11:30read that book when it came out, we did it as a book club.
- 11:34I did a negative review that went very viral and people were
- 11:37not happy with my thoughts because.
- 11:40That was so funny. I literally got death threats
- 11:43because I said I didn't like it and it was a RIP off of Hunger
- 11:47Games and I hadn't even read Red Queen at that point so I didn't
- 11:50even know how similar it was to Red Queen and and everyone was
- 11:54fuming at me. And then Fast forward two years
- 11:58now a lot of people say that and there was this one specific
- 12:01girl. I'll have to see if I can find
- 12:02the video to link it. Who did a full video comparing
- 12:06line for line? Like exact quotes that are from
- 12:10Red Queen in Powerless and also other books that had been in
- 12:14like she'd taken inspiration from.
- 12:17And Lauren Roberts has literally said herself that it was written
- 12:21originally as a fanfic of Hunger Games and Red Queen, and then it
- 12:26got picked up for trad publishing.
- 12:29And I just think from the publishers that is also really
- 12:32irresponsible because you're almost like capitalizing on
- 12:36plagiarism. And I know that's a big
- 12:37discussion in book talk at the moment as well because of like
- 12:40the Germany rewrites and things like that.
- 12:43But it frustrates me no end when I see these comments because the
- 12:48book isn't even good. Sorry, but it's not, it's not
- 12:51good. And I just feel so bad for
- 12:53Victoria because she's so classy with it.
- 12:56She is. She's.
- 12:57So she takes it all on the chin so well, she really.
- 13:01Does she does? And it's a name.
- 13:03Thing and I also just feel like most of the time the people
- 13:07leaving these comments are about 17.
- 13:09I was about to say, don't you just think that sometimes the
- 13:14people online, the people consuming the books, they forget
- 13:17the authors are real people? 100% that's what.
- 13:19It feels like they forget that there's someone behind that
- 13:22account with real feelings. That's like really hard to write
- 13:26that book or that series. And like you said, it just takes
- 13:29a simple bit of research. It's so quick to find out that
- 13:33actually Red Queen came ten years prior.
- 13:36Yeah, it's mad. People will research a
- 13:39restaurant on Google for 100 hours to find the right place to
- 13:43go and eat, but yet they can't simply Google.
- 13:45When were these books published? Well even just check them.
- 13:48It's just it's to me like you said, even with like the quotes
- 13:52on it. Like Hunger Games meets Red
- 13:54Queen is literal fucking common sense in most cases.
- 13:58It's crazy. But honestly guys, don't get me
- 14:02started on this one because I don't like the book anyway.
- 14:04I know loads of people love it. If you love it at home, I'm
- 14:07really sorry. I'm not shitting on you.
- 14:09I hate that, but with a visceral passion.
- 14:12There, I said it. I actually recently unprivated
- 14:17that video as well. You know how I put it.
- 14:19You know how I put it on. Originally, when that video went
- 14:21private, I was like, I can't be dealing with these comments
- 14:23anymore. People are crazy.
- 14:24You're back in your. Sassy girl.
- 14:26Yeah, I feel like a Zola would call.
- 14:28It now I'm like, do you know what?
- 14:29If you want to say horrible things, go for it.
- 14:32I stick by my opinion on that book.
- 14:34Yeah, I think, yeah, I think it's hard sometimes if you're in
- 14:37a funny headspace and you've got a video where people are getting
- 14:40a bit negative about things. I'll never forget I've posted
- 14:43this video on my personal TikTok about using IKEA childcare for
- 14:48an hour free to just like clear my headspace.
- 14:51And some woman was like, Oh yeah, just get strangers to look
- 14:55after your kids, why don't you? Real good mum.
- 14:57And I'm like. Excuse me guys, I used to do
- 14:59face painting for kids at IKEA. We are all very properly vetted.
- 15:05I used to love when people brought their kids over.
- 15:06OK, it made my day go quicker anyway.
- 15:09Just. Wild people just forget.
- 15:11I think people are just crazy. But anyway, anyway.
- 15:13Coming away from the drama now, shall we talk about books we've
- 15:16enjoyed so far this year before we spiral too far down the
- 15:20negativity rabbit hole? Yep.
- 15:22They're absolutely because we know that will and sat here for
- 15:24another hour and this is supposed to be a short episode
- 15:27for you guys. Yeah, true.
- 15:29OK, give it to me. Hit me with the ones you've been
- 15:31doing me. Yeah, OK.
- 15:32So I'll go through it super quick, but I've read 6 books so
- 15:36far this year. Yeah, 1-ID NF, really popular.
- 15:41The Night Prince, which is the second book to The Wolf King.
- 15:43Oh, I didn't. Know you DNF?
- 15:45That do you know what first book was fun.
- 15:48I was obviously in the right mood for it.
- 15:49But this year I'm very much in like a plot forward fantasy vibe
- 15:53and that is very much about the romance and it just I still gave
- 15:56it like two or three stars actually, even though DNF D.
- 15:59It that girl that. I know.
- 16:01Someone commented on our episode last year saying you DNF D it
- 16:04and gave it three stars. I'm DNF ING this episode so
- 16:07she's going to be she's going to be cursing us again if she's
- 16:09still. Here so I I think that I get why
- 16:13people like it and that's why I didn't give it a one star
- 16:16because it's a good time and the romance is great, but it just
- 16:18wasn't for me at the moment. I have also read Breathe with
- 16:22me, Becca Mack 5 stars. Anyone that has known me on
- 16:27booktop for a long time will know that Heartless has been my
- 16:29number one romance for so long. Literally the girls even like
- 16:33bound an extra copy of it for me as a wedding gift.
- 16:37But breathe with me has actually overtaken it because it was just
- 16:40so emotional, so raw, so well done.
- 16:44Beckham Mattress did an absolutely phenomenal job of
- 16:47that book like Roman Empire book, so that was fantastic.
- 16:52I also read Dire Bound which was finally, finally really good.
- 16:59Absolutely understand the height.
- 17:01Totally get it. Bronte was right.
- 17:03I fucking devoured it. Couldn't put it down, was
- 17:06obsessed. Can't wait for Fury bound.
- 17:08And then I also read A Scar on the Bone, which is the sequel to
- 17:14A Fire in the Sky, which is now a completed geology.
- 17:17Yep, Yep, Yep. Such a good time.
- 17:19Dragons, witches. That world is building out, in
- 17:23case you didn't know. So we're going to get more books
- 17:26in that universe, which I'm very excited for.
- 17:28I think Sophie Jordan's writing and fantasy is really easy to
- 17:33consume for people trying to get into fantasy.
- 17:35It's just, it's just a good time.
- 17:37And then I also just read Go Me because one of my things for
- 17:41this year was to actually read some of my fairy loot books.
- 17:44And I got We Who Will Die in my romance subscription this year.
- 17:48And I actually picked it up at the same month that I got it.
- 17:51And it's like ancient Rome and gladiators meet serpent and the
- 17:57wings of night. There's like people with magic,
- 18:00there's humans and there's vampires.
- 18:04It's just a really good time. I actually listened to an audio
- 18:06book and it was done in Duet. Troy Duran, who did Ruthless
- 18:10Boys of the Zodiac, was the male narrator in it.
- 18:12It's just a good time, nothing groundbreaking.
- 18:17It wasn't like, you know, 4th Wing Dire Bound, but it was
- 18:20really good fun time to read. Yeah.
- 18:23So I've had an actually quite a good start to the year for books
- 18:27so far. And I'm also reading Heavenly
- 18:29Bodies, which is a good time at the moment.
- 18:30Though you're doing well, I'm not doing so well.
- 18:34I'm in a reading slump. However, before the reading
- 18:36slump I did read 4 books. This year so far I have had one
- 18:40five star read which was If it makes you happy this is.
- 18:45Her effect? For three types of people, 1
- 18:50Gilmore Girls lovers, 2 Abby Jimenez lovers, and three lovers
- 18:55of the single dad trope. Because it is all three of those
- 18:58things. Yeah, perfect.
- 19:01So it's set in the 90s and it is about a woman that moves to this
- 19:06small town to take over her late mother's Airbnb.
- 19:09That's very modern of me. B&B and it's she moves next door
- 19:14to this single dad with two girls and it is very much like
- 19:18if you flipped Luke and Lorelai in Gilmore Girls.
- 19:23The town is so quaint and so autumnal.
- 19:25It's definitely has that star's hollow feeling.
- 19:27There's like loads of 90s music references, but the writing
- 19:31style is very similar to Abby Jimenez.
- 19:34And the romance relationship is very similar to Abby Jimenez in
- 19:37the fact that the love interest is like a green flag.
- 19:41He's such a good guy. It's just the most cozy,
- 19:44wholesome book and it's also not annoying in any way.
- 19:48Like it doesn't have an annoying.
- 19:50I'm wondering if this means I'm gonna hate it.
- 19:52I know. I really can't decide if you're
- 19:54gonna like it, especially because you don't have the
- 19:56Gilmore Girls attachment. Yes.
- 19:58I love single dad and I do like Abby Jimenez so.
- 20:01Yeah. So I don't know.
- 20:03I can't work out if you don't. Like it or not, I'm going to
- 20:05have to try it. Yeah, I mean, I gave it five
- 20:06stars, so she's probably going to give it two or three because
- 20:09our romance taste, as you know, is very different.
- 20:12I have also done Breathe With Me Like tour with big Becca Mac
- 20:17fans. I really enjoyed this book.
- 20:19Was it my favorite in the series?
- 20:21No, but I still loved it. I still had a really great time.
- 20:23I still cried. Becca Mac is queen of making me
- 20:26cry. And yeah, it was a great
- 20:28conclusion to the series. But another book that I've
- 20:32really loved, which is really out of my wheelhouse was a book
- 20:36called Sugar Town. And basically I just kind of
- 20:39read this on a whim. It wasn't on my TBRI.
- 20:41Saw it on 99 P deals and it said it was an Irish debut author who
- 20:46has been nominated for quite a few awards with this book.
- 20:49And it was for fans of normal people and I had just read that
- 20:53five star romance. I tried to to read another book
- 20:56that I wasn't really getting into, so I kind of wanted
- 20:59something a bit different. And I read that and I absolutely
- 21:02loved it, gave it 4.5 stars. But honestly, I haven't stopped
- 21:05thinking about it since I've read it.
- 21:08Really simple Plot is about a girl who breaks up with her
- 21:11boyfriend in London, so has to move back to her mom's house in
- 21:14like rural island where she had a difficult teenage upbringing.
- 21:19And then she kind of reverts back into that toxic teenage
- 21:22lifestyle because she's under her mother's roof.
- 21:24Her mom's got remarried and had two little girls that she feels
- 21:27like she's not a part of. And it's just this, like, sad
- 21:31girl book about sad girls. You know, like, it makes you
- 21:35sad, but it's about sad people. However, it was really well
- 21:39written, relatable, especially with, like, the parent dynamics
- 21:43and stuff like that. And it was just something a bit
- 21:45different. And I, I really enjoyed it even
- 21:46though it's not, you know, my usual fantasy romance or
- 21:49romancing. Yeah.
- 21:50Yeah, love this for you. Yeah, so three out of four of
- 21:53the books I've read have been good.
- 21:55Nice. Yeah, I love this.
- 21:56So that's the books we've read so far this year.
- 22:00What are you excited for in 2026?
- 22:04I never thought I'd say this, but the book I'm most excited
- 22:07for this year is The Knave and the Moon, which is the sequel to
- 22:10The Knight and the Moth. I did not love One Dark Window,
- 22:14so the fact that I am now so obsessed with the Rachel Gillig
- 22:18book and so excited for the sequel is crazy.
- 22:21But it's just so me in a sense, it's really gothic.
- 22:27It has a lot of like religious imagery and Old English
- 22:30inspiration. There's comedy side characters,
- 22:33there's like tragic backstories. There's just everything in it
- 22:35that I love. So I'm really excited,
- 22:38especially because this is going to round out the duology.
- 22:41So it's going to be. Oh, it's just a duology, is it?
- 22:43I do love a duology. And just don't drag it out too
- 22:46long, you know? So I'm excited to see how it
- 22:48concludes. I'm also really excited for, I
- 22:52think it's called. I can picture the letters in my
- 22:54head, but I think it's called Emerata by Ava Reed.
- 22:58Oh yeah. So this is Ava Reed's upcoming
- 23:00book. I have got an ARC of it so I
- 23:02will update at some point. This, if I remember correctly,
- 23:06is also Gothic romanticity, and I feel like that's what she does
- 23:10best. Yeah.
- 23:11So I'm hopeful that I'm going to love this one.
- 23:14I didn't love a theory of dreaming it was.
- 23:18A big let down for you wasn't. It big let down, but then I read
- 23:21Fable for the end of the world and really enjoyed that, so I'm
- 23:24hopeful I'm going to enjoy this one.
- 23:26And then the third and final one for me is the sequel to Die
- 23:31Bound, which is Fury. Bound.
- 23:33Just because I loved book 1 so much.
- 23:34It was a fun time. Really easy read, packed full of
- 23:37action, quite fast-paced like it's a.
- 23:39Good. The pacing was so good in die
- 23:41bound. I think that's what made it so
- 23:43good was it was just, it wasn't like it wasn't so quick that you
- 23:46were like what the Hell's going on?
- 23:48But just the actual pacing was done so well.
- 23:51Yeah. And it was really addictive.
- 23:53That was the fastest I read a book, I think all last year
- 23:55because I read it in like one night.
- 23:58Tipped you? Yeah, I don't do that very often
- 24:00these days as well. So yeah.
- 24:02So good. But I need to.
- 24:04I need to find my list because I did write them down because I
- 24:07knew that I'd forget. Let's be realistic.
- 24:10I'm impressed that I remembered mine off the top of my head
- 24:13because mine are in my phone as well.
- 24:14So I've actually, I've actually, I've actually got more than
- 24:18three, but Fury bound is on my list as well.
- 24:20So you know, we'll forget about that one because we just spoke
- 24:24about it in her own league, which is the spin off from the
- 24:27Windy City series. I'm so excited for this book.
- 24:31We got introduced to the characters in the series and
- 24:34it's just going to be a fun time.
- 24:36The dad energy in this book, and he's an older dad as well.
- 24:41Silk Fox. Like I'm, I'm going to be all
- 24:43about that life Light wielder. Oh yeah.
- 24:45Which is the sequel to Metal Slinger.
- 24:48I am literally frothing at the mouth of that book.
- 24:50I cannot wait to read it. Yeah, that should have been on
- 24:53my list really too. Daybreak should have also been
- 24:56on your list. Oh my gosh, yes, that is
- 24:59criminal. Of Me, the sequel to Nightshade.
- 25:02We are getting that this year and that is going to be such a
- 25:05good time. I hope I can't wait.
- 25:07And do you know what else I've missed?
- 25:09The Ballad of the Fallen Dragons.
- 25:10That is also on my list. I am out of it guys.
- 25:13Ballad of the Ballad of Falling Dragons is the sequel to When
- 25:17the Moon Hatched. I am definitely going to have to
- 25:20do a reread of when the moon hatched because I can't remember
- 25:24everything that happened and it's very much When the Moon
- 25:27Hatch is definitely like more what I would call like high
- 25:31fantasy meets, you know, an element of romance over.
- 25:36It's not just like a simple, easy to consume romance to see
- 25:39book. There's a lot going on in it.
- 25:41There's a lot of world building. There's a lot of past history
- 25:44that you have to remember. There's a lot of different types
- 25:46of creatures that it's difficult to remember the difference of.
- 25:49Yeah, I need to reread as well. And my final one I have on here
- 25:53is The Wretched Divine. And this is Adeline Grace's
- 25:58newest release. I believe it's her debut adult
- 26:01fantasy I. Think that's right?
- 26:03I was very lucky enough to meet her at a book event for
- 26:09Phantasma's author, Kaylee Smith.
- 26:11They're actually really good friends, and I actually got a
- 26:13sneak peek at the cover of the book.
- 26:18I don't think I can say anything about it, but the vibes, it was
- 26:21just, it was just. It's made you excited.
- 26:23Yeah, 100%. It's really made me excited.
- 26:26I think it's going to be a great book.
- 26:27I personally really love Adeline Grace's writing.
- 26:29I know that you didn't like Belladonna, but that wasn't
- 26:33really about the writing. It was the.
- 26:34Writing. No.
- 26:35It was more of like how slow I found the plot and then like I
- 26:39didn't love the fact that the love interest potentially knew
- 26:43her from a baby. It just icked me out a bit.
- 26:46I didn't hate it, actually. That's the idea.
- 26:49And after I didn't. Hate it.
- 26:50Yeah, she did. But it wasn't the writing.
- 26:52I actually quite like to write him.
- 26:54The other thing I'm excited for, which we don't actually have a
- 26:57release or any information of, but it was on a group chat with
- 27:02Helen Shura last year as part of a read along with Pan Mac and
- 27:06she did hint at that she is writing something new.
- 27:09And I'm absolutely obsessed with Blood and Steel, the Ashes of
- 27:13Desmar series, the Legends of Desmar series.
- 27:16So I'm very excited to see what we get from Helen this year as
- 27:19well because she's a fantastic author.
- 27:20Do. You know what I've just
- 27:21remembered as well? The Twisted Sisters have just
- 27:24teased a new book relating to the Solaria world.
- 27:28Yes, and I thought about that. What is that going to be?
- 27:32Because it doesn't sound like it's going to be the next
- 27:35wanting this Never keep echo. No, because I'm excited for
- 27:37that. That's called Cinder Veil, but
- 27:39really that's that's coming in a few months.
- 27:41I think it. Sounds separate, right?
- 27:42It sounds like it's going back. To, because that's not actually
- 27:45part of Solaria. No, it's like same universe but
- 27:48not Solaria. They said think of it as like
- 27:50Solaria is America and the never keep world is like Europe.
- 27:54Kind of thing. Yeah.
- 27:55So I wonder what that's going to be.
- 27:57I'm quite excited for that. I don't know who knows when that
- 27:59so many things to look forward to this year.
- 28:01Feel like it is a really good year for book releases.
- 28:04Yep. Book releases, TV releases, Film
- 28:07releases. Yeah, and we have actually just
- 28:09done an episode on book and TV adaptations, if you want to go
- 28:13and listen to that. Yeah.
- 28:14So yes. We promised you it'd be a quick
- 28:17episode, and I feel like we've made it a quick episode.
- 28:19Yeah, we have. We have a waffle too much.
- 28:21Well done on round of applause. Pat on the.
- 28:23Back. Yeah.
- 28:24So that's a wrap for today. We'll see you in another two
- 28:26weeks. Don't forget to like, comment,
- 28:29subscribe. If you're excited for any of the
- 28:31books that we spoke about or anything else, make sure you
- 28:33comment below and we'll see you in a couple.
- 28:35Of weeks, bye bye.