Latest / Fated / Halloween Romance Reads
Transcript
- Tay: Welcome to the podcast where your next favorite story is already written in the stars. April: Where your new book besties, April. Tay: Ante here to get your book craving started and satisfied. April: Why? Tay: Because around here it's faded. April: So grab your current read, maybe a cozy drink, and hide your TBR list because today we are having a Halloween episode. As if you couldn't tell, we don't just run around wearing costumes. I do Tay: Yeah. April: sometimes, but Tay: I do like to emulate my favorite soda and I did talk to you before we got on here and I am also partaking in its smaller counterparts. So then I was like, Is this cannibalism? Cannibalism? Get it. because that's a can. okay. Also, for the people that April: jokes. Tay: are listening and can't like obviously see me, I am dressed up as a Coke can and I am drinking a soda. So that is why I'm saying this. I was just thinking. I April: Yes. Tay: was like, our audible listeners are like, what is occurring right now? And our cute little April is dressed up as a pink lady. April: Yes, I know. It's funny when you look around your house and Tay: Doesn't love Greece. April: what do I have for a costume? And then, things just appear. So I'm a pink lady. And of course you are Die Coke. I love it. I love it. Not sponsored. We wish. But Tay: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Sponsor me. Hit me up. If y'all like dirty books and dirty sodas, I'm your girl. April: This is so true. Tay: Maybe not from Swig though. They did try to kill us. April: For real, this is not sponsored either, and this is all allegedly, but we allegedly almost died. Tay: Yeah, allegedly almost died. Gave our friend a soda and she was fine and we are sitting there poisoned, literally guts hurting. April: Allegedly. Tay: Allegedly. April: I had to take a lot of Tylenol. Tay: The the headache. I haven't had a hangover headache like that, maybe ever in my life. I can remember drinking bottles of wine and yes, getting that sugar April: Yeah. Tay: headache, but this one was so viscerally intense. I was like, April: Yeah. Tay: I don't think I can just like function It was terrible. It was terrible. I'm so sorry to our swig lovers. I don't know. I don't know. April: maybe we just don't have the right drink order. I don't know. I'm too scared to try again. Yeah. Tay: Rip. We tried two different things too. I had a butterbeer something or other, and you had a diet or no, Dr. Pepper something. Pain. Pain, y'all. Anywho, happy Halloween. For all the people that celebrate April: It was a d dirty Dr. Pepper thing. I don't even know. Ugh. Yes. Tay: it, for all the people that don't don't. Yeah, happy fall. The leaves are changing. April: Happy fall. Yeah. Tay: Go crunch some leaves. this episode is specifically geared around Halloween and a little bit of unhingedness. that April: Mm-hmm. Tay: comes with this holiday. we thought it'd be fun to kind of start the episode off with just like a little like get to know our favorite Halloween thing. So I'll ask question April: Yes. Tay: first. April, what is your favorite Halloween movie? And also to maybe like give you like April: So Tay: if you can't decide between like spooky and cute, like or spooky and horror or whatever, like you know, feel free to give me April: Mm-hmm. Yes. Tay: multiples. April: So I have to say, I think my favorite Halloween movie, I watch it every single year, multiple times a year, leading even all the way up to Christmas is Nightmare Before Christmas, which is like a total classic. I love it, love it, love it. My kid watches it now with me, it's a whole family affair. but okay, this is wild though. So I've been going through and watching like Halloween movies that were popular when I was a kid, Halloween Town, love that show too. That's a close runner up, okay? But I watched Don't Look Under the Bed, I think is what it's called the other day. And I don't like I have very little memory of this movie as a child. And I'm like, my God, it was terrifying. Like as Tay: What's it? April: an adult. this is so scary. Cause the whole premise of it is about the boogeyman and how your imaginary friend, when you forget them, turns into the boogeyman. And I was like, That's terrible childhood trauma. Tay: not remembering this, but I did see it advertised. I think it was on the Disney I was like, hmm, I don't remember that. But now I'm kinda like, Okay. April: Yeah. Y'all go watch that if you need to be like, wow, and we talk about kids' shows today being awful. That is terrifying, y'all. Tay: my gosh. Yeah. I will need to watch that because I definitely April: Mm-hmm. Tay: around this time I I center myself in the spooky. Like I want to watch all the things. April: Mm. Tay: like for me, I have my spooky cute movies like The Halloween Town, Twitches. I loved that one growing up. April: Mm. Mm. Tay: and like there's a whole like grouping of those, like Hocus Pocus, all of those that I kind of had to April: Mm-hmm. Tay: watch during this time. But like what for me is like inherently Halloween is actually Halloween. The movie Halloween with Michael Myers. And like, yeah, it's spooky, April: spooky. Tay: but it's also so cult classic. rewatching it as like an adult. I would never not let my child right now watch it. She was definitely not old enough. But whenever, I think it comes to a point, like, I think that would be a great first introduction into a scary movie because it's really just gore and it's so silly. he gets stabbed like 200 times and he still lives. you're April: Mm. Tay: like, what is this Michael Myers made of? My goodness, he just cannot, he just keeps bouncing back, keeps bouncing back. So and then too, April: Yeah. Tay: ultimately I think the underlying is I'm a girl who likes reading dark romance and I could see how it could turn the other direction. April: That's like all the scream fan fictions too. Tay: my gosh, yes. Hey, but Matthew Lillard April: That could be on the hear me out list. Tay: Like me some shaggy do. What? I love him. yes. April: Yeah. Tay: And then I can't remember the other guy's name, but the other guy in that same movie, he's also and he was like Jughead's April: Mm-hmm. Tay: dad in Riverdale. And I April: Yes. Tay: was just like, move over, Jughead. Hello, Daddy. April: Ha ha ha. Tay: So I was like, that's the guy though from the screen movie. So yeah, I was like, April: Mm-hmm. Tay: that just like ties hand in hand. So I don't know. I get I I do like the spooky. Me and Austin, one year did like a whole marathon of all the classics. We did Elm Street. We did Freddy Krueger. We did all the ones under the umbrella just so we could see the shining, just to see what our favorites were. And I always go back to Halloween. I mean, the other ones, they're okay. I don't know. I just April: Hmm. Tay: Find silly sometimes, but April: I think in my old age I no longer digest like scary movies anymore. I'm just like, I don't wanna watch that. So then here Tay: Yeah. April: I am with my Disney Plus watching kids' movies that are still scary to me, y'all. Don't look under the bed, it's terrifying. Tay: I'm sure it is terrifying. I've watched some of those older ones and I'm like, how is this okay? April: Yeah. Tay: I just digest what I can, which usually is April: Mm-hmm. Tay: gore, 'cause I think my brain rationalizes as this is silly. April: Okay, so are we the kind of ladies who dress up? I am not. Tay: I have my I have my moods. I have my moods and I would say I actually dressed up more before I became a parent. 'cause I think I spend more time and energy worrying about my child's costume than I do myself. and so I will now have been a soda for two years in a row now. The first year I April: It works. Tay: wasn't anything 'cause my child's three. this is honestly I think about as much as I can handle. I got my man's. I don't gotta look sexy for no one. and so I mean, April: Right. Tay: you know, he likes a little bit of Dr. Pepper or Diet April: Mm-hmm. Tay: Diet Coke, whatever your flavor is, you know, I'll dress as that, but you know, I'm just not into April: Yes. So hot. Tay: the I just I have no energy anymore to put on April: Yeah. Tay: something tight and show off my goods. April: See, that's me. I it's funny because I do have to dress up for my work. We dress up every single year. Tay: Yeah. April: In fact, I have multiple costumes and dress up days throughout the year. but I think that like literally does me in. Like, so then on Halloween with my own family, I do not dress up, but my kids do. And that's great fun, but it is not for me because I am usually exhausted by then. So Tay: Yeah. I I think the first year I really had it in me, I wanted to match so bad. I was April: Yeah. Tay: like, I wanted to match, match, match. And I don't know, suddenly like the week prior, because I couldn't decide on, you know, making a matching costume or anything, like I genuinely April: Mm-hmm. Tay: was like, Why am I letting this like run my life? I just want to focus April: Mm-hmm. Tay: on my kid and getting her dressed. And of course she's a baby, so she wore it for like two seconds. And then after that I was just like, I don't want to do that anymore. Like April: Mm hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah, no. Tay: The idea was nice, but like no. And so me and Austin actually dress as I'm Diet Coke and he is Coca-Cola. So, you know, hey, that's April: I love that. Tay: a great couple's costume, y'all. We did thought about changing it up this year. We saw a burger and fries at Target and we were like, and also two pizza. April: Mm. Tay: Millie loves pizza. So we could have been pizza, but I don't know. Maybe we'll April: Mm-hmm. Tay: keep up like just like I feel like the soda thing will be hilarious if we do it like 10 years in a row. April: Right. It's cute. Tay: what's Taylor gonna be a soda? April: Yes. It's cute. Tay: One year I'll make a lime head. April: My gosh, I know. Goodness. There you go. Tay: But no, our d sexy days are behind us, y'all. So if that's April: Yeah. Tay: what you came here for, you're in the wrong place. Sorry. April: Hey, but if your sexy days are what you came here for, I got book for you. Tay: boy, let okay, she y'all, she has prefaced me on these books as far as just along the lines of as I can't wait to talk about it. And I that makes me nervous in April language. So I'll let April: Mm. Tay: her lead the floor on this one and I'm sure I'll have questions. April: Okay. So I was scrolling and through the Tick of Talk as one does at, you know, late at night when you can't sleep and your anxiety is just running. and I came across this book that somebody like listed out like tons, and I wish I knew who it was so I could credit them, listed out like a ton of different Halloween reads. Okay, didn't give descriptions, just literally screenshots of all the covers. so I picked one and it is called Halloween Fumble. And it was written by A. Winchester. And I was like, ooh, football, Halloween, that sounds really great. awesome. Sign me up, right? And I read the I read the synopsis. And I guess I I think I I doubt well, I know I missed some very important, obvious, ding ding ding signs in the synopsis. But essentially, it is about two people who are at this Halloween, frat party and It's all smut. This whole thing from start to finish. It's really short. It's all smut. I don't even know. Tay: Mm-hmm. April: I should have looked to see how many pages it is. 65 pages of essentially smut, y'all. So if you are looking for a dirty Halloween read, this may be up your alley. this is like a little miniature complaint for me on Kindle, and I'm sure that there's a setting. I can probably turn this off somewhere. This may just be me like first world problem it. but you know how it skips right to the first chapter when you get a book. Okay, Tay: Yes, and I hate that. I hate that so much. April: I got this and I was like, I've got to get this book read. We have this podcast episode coming up. I've got to read this book. So I just read the book, right? And as it goes down, I'm like, my God, there's wieners. There's wieners everywhere. Why are there wieners everywhere? Okay. And What I missed because Kindle skipped me to the very first, chapter, and the synopsis was very vague. Tay: No prologue. Just raw dog. April: it's pretty immediate. And I'm like, my god. I didn't realize that there were a load of trigger warnings in this book. Okay. Like there are so many. And I was like, what is happening right now? This is not a cutesy football Halloween read like I thought it was. And instead it's a male male, but it's like a hookup. they're not in a relationship. So it is super hot. So if anybody is looking for that, this might be your read. so essentially we have Rhodes and Theo. it's like lust at first sight. and it's also a major age gap too. I am not good with major age gap books. we've established that. they make me uncomfortable a lot of times, but I know a lot of people are. Like you've read some really good age gap romances, you know? Tay: Mm-hmm. April: And but for me, it's something that I'm kinda like, I don't know if I really like that. Well In this one, I'm like, I can't even in this one, this guy who's in his 30s, okay, he's out of the military, so there is some like PTSD things going on, gets like drunk texts from his little brother who's in college, like a freshman in college or something like that. And his little brother plays on a football team. He's like 19 years old or something like that, a kid, okay? And he goes to this Halloween party at this frat house to pick up his little brother who needs a ride, right? he gets to the frat house and the frat guy's like, you gotta have this mask. You gotta wear a mask, you know. and he's like, Well, I don't have a mask, but I look like a lumberjack. And then this is when I started giggling, because this is just so cliche, of course. He looks like a lumberjack. he ends up getting a mask and he goes into this party and he meets eyes with this guy who's in this wolf mask and Our character is in this devil mask and they see each other and it's like installust. And they go into this bathroom and they start doing it. And there's a lot of doing it. And I just wasn't really prepared. I guess I just thought that there was gonna be a plot. There is no plot to this. So if you're looking for something with plot, this is not the Halloween book for you. but so they are going at it. Well, it turns out that this young, very young adult that this older guy has just done this with in the bathroom is his brother's best friend. And so I guess it leads into a whole book series. I also did not know this. Essentially, this book is like a prequel novella. and so yeah. And I I do wanna say, like, I do think it was really well written. There is a lot of smut. if you're somebody who's okay with that or you can get past that, I bet that there probably is, I'm hoping, a good plot line to this story. But Honestly, I just was dying during it. I was not expecting it. and this is no shame on the on the author. Tay: You're like, now I can't sleep and I need to dunk myself into a pool April: Yeah. Tay: of cool water. April: And it's not even the author's fault because had I not been loaded in to the first chapter, I would have I would have picked up on this. So my advice, y'all, scroll backwards. Tay: Y'all, please, if someone yeah, and if somebody knows how to fix that, if that is a setting, please help us. Because I get so frustrated every time that happens. And I'm like, I wanna know. Like, I wanna see if there's a map in the front of the book. I wanna see the trigger warnings. I wanna see the playlist. I wanna April: Yeah. Tay: see the dedication to their grandma. Like, I wanna see it all. Show it me. No. April: It's on me. Yeah. I should have scrolled backwards, but also I guess I just didn't know. But now I do. I know so much about them. Tay: Yeah. I wish I was a fly on the wall when you saw that and you were just like continuing to read and you're just like April: my gosh. my gosh. Tay: maybe the other series, you're like right, is like I was like a hey, April: Mm-hmm. Tay: like we need to show a prequel or something. And she was like, Yeah, April: Mm-hmm. Tay: I need to create this. I've seen what people do for that. So April: Yeah. Tay: all right. My book. Okay, so I quite literally typed in the word Halloween romance and I think this is like number two. On my Kindle recommended. And April: Mm-hmm. Tay: it immediately got me. And it got me because the cover of it definitely looks like one, something I would read, but also it kind of innuendos at stuff I've read in the past. but the book April: Mm-hmm. Tay: is called Step Sinners by Kate Love. Okay. So I see this April: Mm-hmm. Tay: book cover and I let me see. Let me see if I can pull up the book cover of this. April: Ooh, I like the cover. Tay: So this is the cover of the book. Yeah. So I see it. I'm like, okay, I'm sold. in essence, there is Nico and there is Francesca. it starts the book off like you're in the middle of a scene. she is trying to get her stuff moved. She has luggage. This other guy's luggage. They're at this, like, I think it's a dorm school where they have to move in. and she realizes soon that this is not her trunk. She opens this trunk and it has rope, it has a mask, it has gloves, it has all this stuff in this trunk. And she's like, Whoa, this is not my stuff. Where is my stuff? And Nico is like, I would say a rich frat boy equivalent. he's, you April: Mm-hmm. Tay: know, hoity toity at the school. He's the one who ends up with her luggage. and he looks in there and he finds a diary. he finds all these written things that she wants to have done to her, including but not limited to being chased by a man wearing a mask. And I'm like, okay, she opened his trunk, he has a mask, opened her diary, you know, something. Yeah. I was like, this is like a match made in heaven. April: It's Tay: well, Not a matchmade in heaven because they're flirting after they get this thing and she's just like, whatever, and he's like, I don't know, you kinda sound like you really want to be chased and held down and this is definitely CNC, y'all. So I'm giving y'all like that heads up there. April: Mm-hmm. Tay: she goes, yeah, I'm into this, blah, blah, blah. Or her mom's like, hey, I need to go to dinner. By the way, I'm really in love with my boyfriend. And she's like, okay, April: Mm. Tay: news to me, but I thought you were just steadily dating him. She's like, nope, I'm gonna marry him. And guess who he is a father to? April: Mm. Tay: and so then Nico and Francesca have to be step siblings. they parents get married, they move into each other's house. there's a night at a party and he's like, let's just have this one night. Let's just have this one night. Get it April: Mm-hmm. Get it out of our system. Yeah. Tay: out of our systems. It will never happen again. So he says, at the strike of midnight, you have five minutes to get as far away from me as you can. Nico puts on the mask, he's gloving up, and so when she realizes that he's not playing and the the clock has already struck and her time is running out, she takes off. and let me tell y'all, it was hot. April: Yeah. Tay: So hot and so dirty and all the wrong ways. needless to say, it was a very short book. at the very end, and I think that was like the Halloween aspect to it. They didn't really say, but I'm guessing it was because it was a Halloween party ball, whatever you call it, and they were dressed April: Mm. Tay: up. So like that was that part of it being a Halloween read. on terms of one of Halloween, it wasn't giving me full pumpkin jack-o'-lantern man, but hey, it still fits April: Mm-hmm. Tay: the Halloween vibe at you you had a party, this one had a party. the parents find out, spoiler alert, they think it's gross. And April: I wonder why. Tay: yeah, they're like, Under our roof, that's your sibling, blah, blah, blah. They have a whole spat. the the son tells them, I don't want to live with you anymore. I'm gonna live by myself. then he's like, Actually, I want her to live with me. So do you wanna move in with me? Yeah, and they leave, abandon her parents, and then they live together, and the epilogue is them living in their apartment, and then she's reading a book. He takes the book out of her hand and he proceeds to read lines from the book while he finger skates. April: Mm. Tay: I'm coining Kevin's term. Finger April: Yes. Tay: skates while he reads from her book. And that's literally the end of the book. So yeah, I was like, hey, April: snaps for that, it sounds like a great book. Tay: they're living happily ever after. you know, who needs your parents? Who needs that? April: Yeah. Yeah. Who needs them? Tay: yeah, they basically were like, I'm gonna make my own way in the world too. I don't need because your parents were rich. So they're like, we don't need your money, and like, you know, good for them, but also. how April: Choosing love. Tay: what a strange circumstance. And also too, they basically ended it with April: Yeah, it came full circle. Tay: like we liked each other first before y'all even got married. All right. April: All right, hey. Tay: But I will say the scene with the you have five minutes to get as far away from you as can, I was like and there was a scene that went viral a couple months ago where it's like it's got like Tanner Egerton and it's like the scene from him being a crazy, which y'all, that is not a sexy movie. That is a disgusting, disgusting. April: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Tay: I was so ill after I watched that horror movie, y'all. April: Mm-hmm. Tay: I'm just telling y'all, don't watch it if that's not your thing. But The clip April: Mm. Tay: that people were sharing where he's like, You have to get as far away from me as you can. And it was like filling all the voids of the girls where it's like, it get hard, April: Mm. Tay: get it hard at the find. I think it was like Megan the Stallion. I don't know who it was singing, but like in like everybody did their own thing to it of like, my guy chasing me. Like it April: Mm-hmm. Tay: fills that void without being a disgusting movie. So yeah. So April: Interesting. Alright. I might have to look into that one. I'm gonna need you to read this next book though. Like I'm Tay: Okay. April: gonna need you to find it. It's very short. I don't know how many pages. I really should have looked this up, y'all, before 132 pages. Tay: my gosh. April: which sounds like a lot, but it really goes quickly. Tay: No, it's yeah. April: This book is called No Bones About It. And it is a Halloween sentient object romance. Okay, that seems to be our niche now. It was a niche we never asked for. It's the niche we got. And yes. Okay, so it's exactly what you're thinking. Okay, so our main character, Tori, here. Okay. This book, I'm sorry, this book was written by Cassandra Elizabeth with two Z's, by the way. but our main character, Tori. Has just gone through a divorce. And like any divorced woman, she decides that she's gonna do something for herself, right? And so she is online shopping and she is click, click, clicking, trying to buy this item that is out of stock. And magically it pops up with just one in stock and she buys it, and it is the viral 12-foot skeleton from your favorite home store. Okay, okay. And so, yes, this goes exactly where you think it goes, y'all. Tay: One in the front yard. April: Yeah, y'all, 12 foot tall. Okay. Anyways, so I literally was cracking up while reading this. Like, Tay: Hmm. April: I highly recommend this book. This is, if you need a giggle, y'all, this is the book to read, okay? And surprisingly, as we found with some of these sentient object romances, there is a little bit of a plot to this story. So yeah, that's it. That's him. she goes and she gets him and she names him. Guess what? Do you want to know what his name is? His name is Mr. Bone Jangles. Bone Jangles. And his nickname that she starts calling him is BJ. And that just like took me out, y'all. I just could not after that. I was dying. Okay. Anyways, obviously he's a sentient object. Now, unlike my scrub daddy, one that I read, who would transform into some sort of a human, this skeleton guy does not. So lo and behold, he is sentient. And Tori starts to, you know, get. feelings for this 12 foot tall skeleton, okay? But he does have a magical power. He cannot suddenly become human or human like. He can transform, bend and snap and break his own bones to form other body parts. I'm sure you can imagine what he forms with his other bones. And I just have to say it was a wild time. It was a great time. I don't know how if I fully digested it yet. But I will say, it would get weirdly like philosophical, really deep and really like, Halloween is imagining about what could be. it got very like poetic. And I was like, whoa, whoa. So honestly, I had a great time. the dedication in this book I saved because I loved it. the dedication in this book says to everyone who looked at the 12-foot skeleton and thought, Hear me out. And really that's what this story is. Tay: Hear me out. my god. I cannot believe. First of all, that actually I can. You know what? Nothing surprises me anymore. I April: Hm yeah. Yeah. Tay: genuinely like, you know, I think sometimes I'm like, where do these authors draw inspiration? That one genuinely I can put a name to. April: Yeah. Tay: Not like the I can't hear her out. I mean, did, but like we still said no. April: We heard you out, we still said no. Tay: I know there's that we listen and we don't judge. I'm judging a little, but I also see the plot of where you were like, you know what? April: Yeah. Tay: What if that was alive? What would it April: Yeah. Tay: do? What would it turn into? The number of boner jokes, y'all, that I just can imagine that April: There's a lot. Yeah. Yeah. Tay: is in this book. April: Yeah. It's great. I giggled a lot. Tay: That I can laugh at April: Uh-huh. Tay: boner jokes all day long. yeah. April: Yeah. There's a lot of that. It's it's very, you know what? It gets very touching at the end. you're like, this is actually really kind of sweet, which is how I felt on my last object romance that I read. so maybe this is a common theme for them. I don't know because this is the second one I've ever read. but honestly, I just need other people to go and read this book and to share their thoughts with me. So please, please, please. It's called No Bones About It. It's for free on Kindle Plus, as it's called now. pick it up if you need a really funny, lighthearted Halloween read and you're okay with weird stuff. Yeah. Tay: Say yes, do it. honestly, I probably out of the three, like if I hadn't already read The Steps, I probably would read that one just out of the goggles. Like that it feels right up my alley. I would have probably been like, yes, we're gonna read this. April: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. all right, besties. That's it for today's episode. Tay: Make sure to follow, download, and share our podcast socials with your other book besties. We would love to hear about your current spooky reads. please leave a comment on our favorite platform letting us know. April: And join us next week where we are trauma dumping books. Tay: Give us all the sad books that we want to love, but they just wrecked us. And remember. April: hurt us deep down inside. Yeah. We're glad you're here because Tay: It's faded.