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Rhiannon Hargadon: Pirate Dark Romance & Witches · Two Girls, One TBR

• 0:05
  Before we begin today's episode, we want to share a brief content
• 0:08
  advisory in our discussion of Bloody Black with Rhiannon
• 0:12
  Hargadin. We will be exploring mature
• 0:16
  themes, including detailed discussions of sexual assault,
• 0:19
  referring to it as essay through the episode Trauma, Emotional
• 0:24
  journey of survival. We believe these stories are
• 0:27
  vital to tell, but we recognize that it can be difficult to
• 0:30
  hear. If these topics are heavy for
• 0:33
  you today, please feel free to skip this episode or listen when
• 0:36
  you're in a headspace to do so. Take care of yourself, and we'll
• 0:41
  see you in the next chapter. Hey book babes, welcome back to
• 0:45
  2 Girls 1 TBR, your chaotic book besties here to wreck your
• 0:48
  reading list. 1 Morley, Gray, man at a time.
• 0:51
  I'm Chelsea. My mother.
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  So hey guys. So I've made this now that this
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  is our little cozy corner. First at the beginning since we
• 0:59
  like to talk. So what have you guys been
• 1:03
  doing? You know, I got my reading list
• 1:06
  down to 324 books. Oh, look at that.
• 1:11
  Learning. That is so cute Chelsea, Have
• 1:15
  you ever did a cross stitch or anything like that?
• 1:17
  No, you know, and maybe I should add it to the list of things
• 1:21
  that that I try to do. I know that's how I felt.
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  I'm like, Oh no. That.
• 1:26
  Looks really. Cool, I'm going to try that.
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  But you could be like me and be working on a lap quilt for it
• 1:33
  has to be 19. It has to be because I told you
• 1:37
  my husband and I will be together 17 years and I know I
• 1:40
  was doing this before I met him. Yeah, but a quilt.
• 1:43
  I mean, that's a big surface. This is a little tiny circle.
• 1:47
  I love that you're documenting it though, Heather, because like
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  I liked your video where you're where you're saying like, I
• 1:53
  don't know if I'm just like, not if I don't know yet.
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  But it is hard. It's a lot harder than it looks.
• 1:58
  Like I'm trying to do the eye right now and it's so tiny.
• 2:02
  It's so hard to get in there and do the whipping.
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  Like the stitching's fine. It's the whip stitch that gets a
• 2:09
  little difficult on those smaller places.
• 2:13
  So it's. Harder to do things.
• 2:15
  It's harder to do embroidery than it is to even do just
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  regular cross stitch. Cross stitch, you're just making
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  X's. But like, like when I'm working
• 2:25
  on the pillowcases that I've been working on for a very long
• 2:28
  time, there's the cross stitch part and then you outline it,
• 2:32
  which you're doing. And then there's embroidery.
• 2:35
  Embroidery where it's, it's the part where it looks more smooth.
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  Do you know what I'm talking about?
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  It's kind of like humped up raised.
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  That's that. Are you going to hang it up on
• 2:44
  your wall when you're all done? What I'm going to do with it,
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  you know, I joined a group embroidery group where the girls
• 2:53
  have their little sweatshirts that they stitch like charms or
• 2:56
  sayings onto it with every book of the year that they're doing
• 3:00
  or have read. And so maybe I'll make it into a
• 3:03
  patch and put it on like a sweater sleeve or something and
• 3:08
  then maybe do a few other ones. The girl that owns the Stitch
• 3:13
  Ferry Studio is in the same book club as us or me called Mojo
• 3:19
  Dojo Book Club. And we have like, I think
• 3:22
  Rhiannon's on there. Actually.
• 3:24
  We will be talking with her on there and asking her questions
• 3:28
  after her read. And yeah, so she'll probably
• 3:32
  have one. I'll probably get to do a bloody
• 3:34
  black one because Rachel, who owns this, is doing a Between
• 3:39
  Tides and Thunder one right now. And that's the Curt read.
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  So yeah. And they have a poison Daughter
• 3:45
  one that they did in March. So I might buy that one and do
• 3:49
  that one. That's cool.
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  Now this is something I suggest to you.
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  This is something I learned through my years of doing this.
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  Once you complete it and you get it all done, you know how like
• 3:58
  the back looks, you know, with all your stitches and stuff.
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  Now, of course yours isn't like a pillowcase that could be
• 4:04
  washed a whole bunch of times. But one of the things I suggest
• 4:07
  you go to like the fabric store and they have like it's like
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  this silky stuff that you can buy and you can iron it on to
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  the back of it and it'll just go flat on it and then it seals
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  your stitches so that they don't come out.
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  But I am. If you are going to do it like
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  as a patch and you are going to put it on something that will be
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  washed, that is something I suggest because that's when I
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  did pillowcases. That's what I do.
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  And it keeps and it of course, you'll have a million little
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  strings. It makes it smooth.
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  OK, that's just something I've learned.
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  That's really smart. My aunt.
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  Should almost. They should almost include it in
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  their little kits. That's a good idea.
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  You should tell them, Heather. Yeah.
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  It should have. But I mean, so she sells the kit
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  like where you could get like the little goodies like I was
• 4:53
  talking about and then. Little scissors, did you see?
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  Them, they're so cute, Oh my God.
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  But these little things are like lifesavers.
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  I would have never known these existed.
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  So I'm happy she included that in the total kit.
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  And then you could buy like a neck the next kit you could do
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  like where you're just buying the ring and the string and the
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  pattern patch and stuff like that.
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  So I I won't get another 10, but I would just get the essentials
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  next time. So but that was really good
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  thought. I've never done this before so.
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  I'm glad you've joined the adventure of embroidery.
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  So that's like, you know, they said that like our age group
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  and, and even like into your age group area that we're picking up
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  like old lady skills and that's like our past times are going
• 5:44
  more into those kind of things, embroidery, gardening, those
• 5:49
  kind of things. Yeah.
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  Like my 20s hours roaring. OK, we're out, we're partying,
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  we're social. Now I'm introverted and I'm like
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  ready to like sit embroidery and listen to my audio box.
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  They had a video and it said like people used to go out, like
• 6:07
  out in the field and have parties and take things from
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  people that they didn't know. And now they're nervous just to
• 6:12
  to go to the grocery store with the people around them.
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  Yeah. I don't like being in crowds of
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  people either, so I relate. I avoid Costco on the weekends
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  because it is always horrendously busy.
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  So my my husband's like we need this and this.
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  I'm like, I'm not going until Monday.
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  My husband, I, I've told you he works, he works for Costco and
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  the weekends are absolutely insane.
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  And I will, I won't go there. I go through the middle of the
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  week when it's calmer. Now I'm not saying that it's not
• 6:47
  insane and busy, but it's not like Saturday, Sunday busy.
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  Right. That's when people lose their
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  minds in the parking lot and sit there with their turn signals on
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  waiting for a parking spot and stuff like that.
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  And I park all the way in the back.
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  I don't park up front. I'm not one of those people that
• 7:05
  try to get as close. I will park all the way back
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  where the employees park and then I'll I don't care if I have
• 7:11
  to walk like a whole football field to my car.
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  I'd rather then there's not people trying to hit me with
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  their. Yeah, or chase after you, like,
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  stalk you while you go to the back of your car and, like,
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  unload and they're watching everything that you bought,
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  like, like tampons, toilet paper.
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  You know, I have to say this though, when we have gone to
• 7:31
  Costco, like like say my, like I have the vehicle and I have to
• 7:34
  go pick him up. My oldest son and I, we love
• 7:37
  going there and just like having like 1/2 hour before, like we
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  have to pick him up and just walk the people because people
• 7:45
  are interesting. And then what they buy and what
• 7:47
  they do and how they act around their cars.
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  I don't know. We we, we call it our people
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  watching time, and it's fun. So I don't want to meet that
• 7:55
  person where you're like, Oh my God, what'd she buy?
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  Why did she buy that? And and then you'll see some
• 8:02
  people will come out and like, they'll have like one thing.
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  I'm like, why did you run in there?
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  So, and it's just like one thing or people I'll see like, or my
• 8:11
  husband will tell me like people will leave stuff in their carts.
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  Like they'll load their car and they'll leave like giant things
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  of toilet paper and paper towels in the cart and leave.
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  Like, how do you miss those kind of things, those.
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  Are big, like they'll leave them in the parking lot.
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  In the cart and they'll put it like in the car corral, he said.
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  It's very weird, He said purses, wallets, people will leave.
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  He had one. He found an iPad.
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  Someone had purchased an iPad and you know how expensive they
• 8:42
  are, and he found it in the cart and turned it in.
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  It was brand new. How would you leave?
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  That that's like like 1000. Dollars, yeah, like that would
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  be the first thing, like tucked like so close to me in the car.
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  Like, OK, I have this, I have this with me.
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  Yeah, and, he said. And then people get like their
• 9:03
  desserts and pizza like and they haven't ate it and they'll leave
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  it in the cart and forget it and drive off without it too.
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  I said that's. So weird.
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  That's really weird, yeah. Costco is an interesting place.
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  It's one of my favorite places in the world to shop.
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  I love the Costco him and I have it's, it's a different vibe.
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  You know, me, I'm like, this is like the most wonderful world,
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  you know. And then of course, his is, it's
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  his job, you know, it's work. So it's a a different
• 9:31
  perspective than what I'm looking at.
• 9:33
  But right now they do have a lot of bushes and ferns and giant
• 9:37
  shrubbery. Right now that.
• 9:38
  Everybody's buying. Right here I want to get like a
• 9:41
  fiddle leaf maybe. They have, I don't know if they
• 9:45
  have it right now, but Costco did have the giant fig.
• 9:49
  Is it a fig tree? It's, but it's silk so you don't
• 9:53
  have to take care of it, you know, and it was big and it came
• 9:57
  in like a big pot. But I don't know if they have it
• 9:59
  right now. Costco has a lot of amazing
• 10:01
  stuff right now. Also playsets, you know, for
• 10:04
  outside like your swing sets and stuff and sheds.
• 10:08
  A lot of people are buying that stuff and patio furniture or
• 10:11
  patio furniture right now is really pretty too.
• 10:15
  So that's but now did you now since we last talked, did you
• 10:18
  guys get your TBR list now? I got mine down to 324 books.
• 10:24
  I think I added a few more, but I've also probably like read
• 10:30
  maybe five of them so well. That's not bad, that's the same.
• 10:34
  Spot, you know. Yeah, I think I'm in the same
• 10:38
  exact spot that I was, honestly. And I've been listening to that
• 10:42
  Blood and Ash series still by on on Graphic Audio.
• 10:45
  OK. What's your thoughts?
• 10:47
  It's. Good.
• 10:48
  It's good, but it's so freaking repetitive and fluff.
• 10:51
  Like there's so many times that they say the same thing over and
• 10:55
  over again. And if I have to like the
• 10:57
  talking about tastes and smells, I'm so over it.
• 11:01
  I'm like, I don't want to hear what anything tastes like or
• 11:03
  smells ever again. Yeah, and it's like the eternal
• 11:07
  dialogue that they have, like the little monologues about each
• 11:11
  other and how they're feeling at all times, but it's very similar
• 11:15
  over and over and over. Yes, yeah, yeah.
• 11:18
  It's like, I get how you feel about each other.
• 11:20
  I get like, let's just let's move on with the story.
• 11:24
  Please over informative to that point where it's like let the
• 11:28
  reader like figure it out themselves kind of like you
• 11:31
  don't have to like overload us with all the information.
• 11:34
  There could be a. Little bit of a mystery there, I
• 11:36
  I don't need to know. After all this that got removed
• 11:41
  from my list, I I took that off. And like when people say, oh, I
• 11:45
  love that series, I get it. Like I know Castiel and Poppy
• 11:49
  and like they're a cool couple, how they meet all that stuff is
• 11:53
  really fun. But the just the way it's
• 11:58
  written, it's dragged out. Like it literally it could have
• 12:02
  been done by now. There's no reason that it
• 12:04
  there's how many how many series. 5 she can Owen and I was
• 12:10
  like how? It might be more than 5.
• 12:12
  Yeah, well, I know. And then there's like a prequel
• 12:14
  series, right? Or no.
• 12:17
  The Flesh and Fire series, and it's similar to that where she
• 12:23
  kind of like overdoes the monologuing.
• 12:26
  It's a really cool, I like the first two books, I'd say.
• 12:29
  But then after the end of book 2 and you get into book three,
• 12:33
  you're like, all right. Yeah, I like the premise.
• 12:37
  I like the idea of it. It's just like the overall
• 12:39
  execution and the repetitiveness is just driving me.
• 12:42
  Yeah, it's driving me insane. Yeah.
• 12:45
  And then I always see people talk about Daddy Nick Dose, but
• 12:48
  I haven't met him yet. So I mean, I'm like, I'm hearing
• 12:51
  about him. Is he more in the prequel?
• 12:54
  He is, yeah. He's like the main guy in the
• 12:56
  prequel. Yeah, that's why.
• 12:57
  OK. And he's that like he's more God
• 13:02
  like. Yeah, because they talk to him.
• 13:05
  They talk about him like he's a God.
• 13:07
  Yeah, so he's like a big God. I can't remember who, like where
• 13:12
  he is in the lines, but yeah. So he's like Daddy Nikos because
• 13:16
  he's more powerful and like. Yeah, I.
• 13:19
  Think he's more shadow than daddy so.
• 13:21
  I don't think I'm going to, yeah, I don't think I'm going to
• 13:23
  read the prequel. I think I'm just going to read
• 13:24
  the Blood and Ash series and then I'm going to be done.
• 13:26
  I don't know that I can handle it.
• 13:29
  Take a long break. Yeah, I also messed up my net
• 13:32
  galley percentage because I've been listening to it and I
• 13:35
  didn't realize that one of my Alcs was going to be archived
• 13:39
  before I could finish it. So it messed up my ratio and I'm
• 13:42
  so bad. Oh my God, Mine is probably
• 13:44
  really bad on there because I get books from from them like
• 13:49
  they're just like here, download this book.
• 13:50
  I'm like sure. And then I never go on there
• 13:53
  unless I go on there to get something like LJ Andrews books
• 13:57
  or like I tried for bloody Black and they did not give that one
• 14:00
  to me. Probably give my ratio so bad I
• 14:03
  think it's at like 70 something percent.
• 14:05
  Yeah. Oh my gosh, yeah.
• 14:07
  So Rebecca, for for all this net galley stuff, you you should
• 14:10
  have it. What is it?
• 14:11
  You should have it 80% or higher.
• 14:13
  And better. Yeah, in order to get books like
• 14:15
  that's kind of how they base it. But when you're first starting
• 14:18
  out, it's hard. Like for me, I've only done like
• 14:20
  four or five on there. And so I miss one and it's like,
• 14:24
  OK, now you're at 60% or 700% and it sucks.
• 14:27
  Or I DNF. I think two different ones and
• 14:32
  so I dropped and because they deemed you for DNF ING.
• 14:36
  I'm like, do you want a bad review or do you want me to just
• 14:39
  say IDNF? D it see, that's that's again,
• 14:42
  that goes back to our discussion that we've been having forever.
• 14:46
  I think, you know, like again, if you're going to do like a one
• 14:50
  or two star, just just put it in ADNF thing.
• 14:54
  Just don't do that just because you didn't you know, you didn't
• 14:57
  enjoy it. Other people might but put it in
• 15:00
  your DNF and then explain why you DNF D it and have it in that
• 15:04
  that it doesn't drag the thing down.
• 15:05
  And I think that galley even has like a little thing, like, did
• 15:09
  you finish the book and you click it?
• 15:11
  Like, no. But yeah, they I guess that
• 15:15
  doesn't count as a review. Yeah, they probably just want
• 15:18
  you to like, hate, read it and finish it, no matter what type
• 15:21
  of thing. Yeah.
• 15:23
  What are you reading, Heather? Right now?
• 15:26
  I just we know what Chelsea's doing.
• 15:27
  Well I just finished Bloody Black, I did the audio so I ran
• 15:32
  through that thing in like 2 days and I kind of wish that's.
• 15:36
  Impressive. I it was really good.
• 15:40
  Yeah, it's very good. It's very good.
• 15:43
  I liked it. I like I I liked how she I don't
• 15:47
  know, there's a lot of darker things like we know that, but
• 15:50
  the vengeance part and like coming to pirate and like the
• 15:55
  magic. It is not very like heavy based
• 15:58
  magic. But I know me and Rebecca were
• 16:02
  talking about the ending and I was like, OK, I have a question
• 16:06
  about that for Rhiannon so well, her and.
• 16:11
  I were. Talking so maybe, maybe I will
• 16:13
  say, maybe I will say bye bye. Yeah, I'm so afraid.
• 16:18
  Spoiler per SE if we word it correctly or if I ask her like
• 16:23
  where to find the answer. Well, now I'm intrigued.
• 16:28
  Now I kind of let her know, yeah.
• 16:30
  Now, her and I had a cause. her and I talked a little bit prior
• 16:34
  to us recording because her and I were checking her mic and all
• 16:36
  that kind of stuff, and I told her that I could see.
• 16:42
  I would love to see this story continue on.
• 16:45
  It's not an interesting answer to that, so we'll have to talk
• 16:48
  to her about that now. But what are you reading?
• 16:51
  Oh, you just did that, that's what.
• 16:52
  You're doing? Yeah, but I'm reading a couple
• 16:54
  different things. I'm doing, yeah.
• 16:56
  You can read multiple books, I can't.
• 16:59
  I have audio book right now I'm doing the LJ Andrews first
• 17:04
  series, The Broken Kingdoms. Yeah, I know, thank you.
• 17:08
  I was like TBK, what does TBK stand for?
• 17:11
  Yes, the Broken Kingdom. So I did one through three.
• 17:14
  I just finished book 3 last night and then I'm doing an arc
• 17:19
  Haunted by the dragon shifter by Courtney Winds.
• 17:24
  They're they're like a bunch of indie authors that are getting
• 17:27
  together and doing a haunted like a haunted.
• 17:32
  Remember how like Carissa Broadbent did like slay and the
• 17:35
  vampire and Helen Scheuer and hers and there was like a
• 17:40
  cluster of those authors that got together and did like a
• 17:43
  slaying series of sorts, like with their characters.
• 17:47
  So that's what these people are doing So A and coddle.
• 17:50
  I just did hers, like the demon bow one and there's a few other
• 17:55
  ones that are coming out haunted.
• 17:57
  They're all start with Haunted by so yeah.
• 18:01
  So I signed up for you to do that.
• 18:03
  Yeah. So it's like prequels or kind of
• 18:07
  like spin offs and stuff like that to their other books that
• 18:11
  they do. So it's pretty cool.
• 18:12
  It's. Cool.
• 18:13
  I actually did not know that that was a thing, so that's
• 18:15
  really cool. Yeah, and the only reason why I
• 18:18
  understand it is because Helen Scheuer and those gals did it,
• 18:23
  and that's where those slaying books came.
• 18:26
  Because hers was slaying the Shadow Prince and then slaying
• 18:29
  the vampire conquerors. The one that Chris of Broadbent
• 18:32
  did. I don't know who, but I think
• 18:34
  there was, there was several of them that did it.
• 18:37
  And even though they don't have anything to do with each other,
• 18:41
  it's just like with the name. And they did it as a thing and
• 18:43
  they were like standalones is what they did.
• 18:47
  That's cool, I'm such a noob but I didn't know any of that so
• 18:49
  that's awesome. Welcome.
• 18:55
  But now again, I'm still, I'm almost done.
• 18:58
  I've just been so busy here. But I am.
• 19:00
  I know I'm still on it, but it's really good and.
• 19:04
  I'm this looks. Very good.
• 19:05
  And I'm and I only have this this little bit to go it it
• 19:08
  won't take me that long. It's just I've been well, I've
• 19:12
  been so busy doing like the podcast stuff and then doing the
• 19:14
  Mother's Day thing, getting all that stuff ready and then my
• 19:18
  husband's schedule changed. So he was going we're going to
• 19:21
  bed earlier instead of later. So when I when I'm reading I, I,
• 19:26
  I get tired and I can only read for so long and then he starts
• 19:30
  snoring so. Audio finished.
• 19:33
  Yeah, audio books. But I just finished Landon
• 19:36
  Hill's book for Phillies and Monsters, the first one, and it
• 19:39
  was good. Yeah, it was good.
• 19:45
  It's hard for me. Like, I don't know that I'm
• 19:46
  ready for dark, dark romance quite yet, but it was like very
• 19:50
  well written. Like, so I'm not saying that
• 19:53
  it's not good, but like, I have a little bit of a hard time
• 19:55
  where I'm like, EW, gross. But I don't want to yuck
• 19:57
  anybody's Yum. Yeah.
• 20:00
  Especially when you're going to romance and then it's like gory
• 20:04
  themes with the romance. Yeah.
• 20:06
  It kind of reminds me of like Butcher and Blackbird.
• 20:10
  Yeah, that one by Brian. Butcher and the Blackbird, yeah.
• 20:14
  Yeah, and like that one, it's like gruesome.
• 20:18
  Yeah, the dark. The very dark but comedic.
• 20:22
  Like a ROM com. That's what it looks like.
• 20:25
  Interesting blend. At the end of Landon's, I was
• 20:27
  like laughing and giggling. So she puts those funny things
• 20:30
  in there and it is. And then it's like, OK, it is
• 20:32
  pretty damn funny and I love that.
• 20:34
  But it's also like just getting myself in that mindset.
• 20:36
  I'm like, after meeting her, I'm like, how did that woman come up
• 20:39
  with this stuff? She's like the sweetest person
• 20:43
  in the entire. World it's like, so I'm like
• 20:45
  imagining her writing it and I'm just like giggling to myself
• 20:47
  like where the where the hell did she come up with this shit?
• 20:51
  It's so funny, I know. It's the book that you read,
• 20:54
  Heather, where you said that the, the, the rib cage was
• 20:57
  ripped open. It was something you were
• 20:58
  reading and you said it was at the beginning of it and there
• 21:01
  was something with a rib cage. It was, was it?
• 21:06
  Oh, that one with the Harry Potter one, the the redo one.
• 21:09
  What was it? Oh, alchemized.
• 21:12
  Was it alchemized? Is that the one?
• 21:14
  Yeah, you said that was quite worry.
• 21:16
  Too. Yeah, that one, I remember, it
• 21:18
  starts off just like ripping and shredding and people are already
• 21:25
  under the thumb kind of situation.
• 21:27
  It was bad, yeah. See, and I wouldn't even say the
• 21:29
  Landon's books are like that really.
• 21:31
  It's more just like dark sexual preferences.
• 21:36
  Anything else. Yeah.
• 21:37
  Yeah, exactly. Yeah.
• 21:39
  Well, she said her thing is she's trying to to show the the
• 21:44
  dark romance people that love dark romance that her book is
• 21:47
  that it is cowboy, but it is dark romance too.
• 21:51
  So she's a hybrid of the two. And it's really good.
• 21:55
  I liked the storyline. She did a really good job with
• 21:57
  it. I loved the end like the kind of
• 21:59
  like twist and what happens like this is kind of like the
• 22:03
  suspense part of it. She did a really good job.
• 22:06
  And then I'm definitely going to like keep reading her series.
• 22:09
  I I really liked it. For me it was probably like a
• 22:13
  4.5 and I cuz I would hate to give it any less just because I
• 22:17
  didn't like some of the the sexual forever and stuff like
• 22:21
  but I'm gonna like take a break in between kind of like I do
• 22:25
  with the Elsie Silver books and like read a romanticy and then
• 22:28
  go back and do her dark romance. Cuz I don't know that I could
• 22:30
  read like that's kind of. Like Nevaeh, who does the caught
• 22:38
  up and lights out. Oh, Nevessa Allen.
• 22:41
  Yes, so those two are like those darker ROM coms, right, where
• 22:47
  there's like heavy stocking and knife play kinks and vibrators
• 22:52
  involved and like edging and all this stuff and you're like Dang,
• 22:57
  like. Yeah.
• 22:58
  This was like, I mean, it could be real.
• 23:01
  Like people get into these things and role play for sure.
• 23:04
  But I mean, I mean, it's out there, but I mean, it kind of
• 23:07
  blows your mind too. Yeah, I kind of like take a
• 23:10
  break from it and be like, OK, let's yeah, well, I need
• 23:13
  something a little darker, yeah. This is dark here, even though
• 23:17
  this is vampires, but it's, you know, it's submissives and doms
• 23:21
  and. Stuff like that is.
• 23:23
  Happening in this movie. As well.
• 23:24
  OK. So there's a lot of I, I like, I
• 23:28
  like dark romance. I mean I, I, I, I haven't found
• 23:32
  a dark romance so far that I have read that has made me pause
• 23:35
  and say I can't read at. Least for sure.
• 23:38
  As of yet, but that's. I mean, if I got through hunting
• 23:43
  and haunting Adeline, I can get through anything because that
• 23:45
  was like very dark for me. And people say that's not even
• 23:47
  as dark as it goes. But it was rough to read.
• 23:52
  It was hard. So I.
• 23:53
  Think we've been doing good though.
• 23:55
  I'm just proud of us that we removed some off of our list.
• 23:59
  Make room for more. And now I do have one other
• 24:02
  thing. Now, I don't know if you all
• 24:04
  have seen this, I seen it on Instagram.
• 24:06
  Now we are. You're not sponsored by these
• 24:08
  people or anything like that, but it's a new app that's on.
• 24:13
  Let me see, where did I write it down?
• 24:15
  It's called bookmarked. It's bookmarked an apostrophe D
• 24:20
  It's an app you can put in all your authors that you love and
• 24:25
  you add them and it puts all when their books are coming out
• 24:30
  so that you don't have to keep track of their release dates.
• 24:34
  They have it for you and it gives you a countdown to how
• 24:37
  many days of when the book comes out.
• 24:40
  So we're not sponsored by them, but we'd like to be.
• 24:45
  Yes. That sounds like a great idea.
• 24:50
  And I don't know how many now see, I put a whole bunch of my
• 24:53
  authors on, but I don't have a vast, you know, author list like
• 24:58
  some people do. But if you want to have the the
• 25:00
  pro version or whatever, I don't know what they call it, it's
• 25:03
  like 299 a month. And you can put unlimited amount
• 25:06
  of authors and book series and all this kind of stuff.
• 25:10
  I just wanted it just for my main authors that I do.
• 25:13
  And it has and it does the countdown and stuff.
• 25:15
  And you can suggest series and you can suggest authors.
• 25:19
  So say you find like an indie that or you can't find an indie
• 25:22
  author that you like, you can suggest to them to add it, add
• 25:26
  them to the list. But it's a new app.
• 25:29
  And I'm like, I know we have a million apps, but this one
• 25:31
  actually, it's helpful. Yeah, that would be good.
• 25:34
  That's the hardest thing. Yeah.
• 25:37
  And like you said, you'd probably have to, like, go
• 25:38
  through, I mean, we have to be checking everybody's social
• 25:42
  media and Googling it to be like, when is this book coming
• 25:44
  out? And so it is nice to have it all
• 25:46
  in one spot. Yeah.
• 25:48
  And sometimes they change on, you know, Yeah, So.
• 25:52
  Because a lot of times what you'll see on, like if you look
• 25:54
  on Goodreads or you'll look on Amazon, it's a placeholder.
• 25:58
  So it might say that it's coming out or it'll say May 15th and it
• 26:03
  might not come out until fall. Yeah, 'cause they do that, their
• 26:07
  publishers do that kind of thing.
• 26:09
  So. So I thought that was kind of
• 26:11
  neat. So if you look, it's on Apple
• 26:12
  and. Oh yeah, but Speaking of
• 26:16
  releases, did we see Penn Cole and her burn on September 8th?
• 26:24
  Are you saying you have? Gotten a date?
• 26:27
  How many? Years to get an arc, so I'll get
• 26:29
  an arc from her. Yeah.
• 26:33
  And how many years have you been waiting on this?
• 26:36
  Probably 2 1/2, yeah. Maybe 2-2, No, Maybe 2 1/2,
• 26:43
  yeah. Preordered the I preordered
• 26:46
  Aurora crate by the way. Oh, good.
• 26:49
  Yeah, I know. I was looking at my credit card
• 26:52
  statement this morning. I was like, gosh, that I put on
• 26:55
  there. I was like, Oh yeah, yeah,
• 26:58
  That's like. Books and more, but.
• 27:01
  Well now what do you guys think of Rebecca Yaros's is now she
• 27:05
  vote made it clear that it's not book 4 so but it's only 100 and
• 27:10
  some pages so I'm assuming what she's putting out as a novella.
• 27:14
  It is she kind of saying confirmed that.
• 27:18
  Well, they're saying the Dragons on the edges match book 1, and
• 27:22
  so they were wondering if that's something to do with that.
• 27:25
  It could be it's not the graphic novel.
• 27:27
  She said that already. So she confirmed it's not the
• 27:29
  graphic novel and it's not book 4.
• 27:31
  So and she said it was a surprise that she's been working
• 27:34
  on. So I I think it is probably like
• 27:37
  a novella of either PO BS from the other books or something in
• 27:41
  between. I don't know like.
• 27:44
  Like maybe how it all began. Like the origin story of the
• 27:49
  Dragons becoming friends with the humans and creating.
• 27:53
  Yeah, the interesting Shields and stuff.
• 27:56
  It also makes me wonder if we're getting like, I don't know, do
• 28:00
  you think we might be getting like a what's happening in
• 28:03
  between while they're separated? Because we know they're going to
• 28:07
  be separated. Like Zaden?
• 28:09
  Yeah. And maybe like his point of
• 28:12
  view. Yeah, or like other characters,
• 28:15
  like maybe it's going to be like Sloan.
• 28:18
  Yeah. What's going on in her life and
• 28:20
  kind of like break away from them, I don't know.
• 28:23
  Hope not like a character arc novella.
• 28:28
  Maybe. I know, I don't know.
• 28:32
  It's it's crazy, but I yeah, I hope it's just maybe we get a
• 28:36
  whole Zaden POV novella. That'd be awesome.
• 28:38
  What would be that A. Whole villain novella.
• 28:41
  In September. Yeah, September.
• 28:46
  So we got Pencole that came out, Rebecca announcing her 4th Wing
• 28:52
  stuff and now a novella and we get 2 books for Avatar this
• 28:56
  year. Like this is a fucking amazing
• 28:59
  year. Like we get all this news and
• 29:00
  all these books this year and we'll have to wait six months or
• 29:04
  more, but. Three and quarter 4 going into
• 29:06
  and then quarter one of next year, there is so much.
• 29:09
  When we do. Our when we do our next quarter
• 29:13
  episode and stuff, there's a lot of.
• 29:16
  Yeah, and we have Comedy Bound and.
• 29:21
  The Wolf Queen. Wolf Queen, you know, I got that
• 29:25
  audio book and they're like, sorry to tell you.
• 29:29
  And I was like, excuse me, what? And they're like, we had to
• 29:33
  postpone the audio book till September or something.
• 29:36
  I'm like. Mother phone.
• 29:39
  So I might not get to read that until the till then, but we'll
• 29:44
  see. I did see that further for it.
• 29:46
  I signed up for the art. We'll see.
• 29:48
  OK. We'll see.
• 29:49
  Did you see the cover art for Book for the The Wolf Queen?
• 29:53
  I think it's on, Yeah, it's either on Goodreads or it's on
• 29:57
  Amazon, one or the other. And I seen and it's really
• 30:00
  pretty. I might have a picture of it.
• 30:03
  I just can't wait to see what fairy loot does with it because
• 30:05
  I have yeah from fairy loot so I got to finish.
• 30:09
  I know I saw the e-mail from Fury bound and I was like, well
• 30:11
  I don't have Dyer bound so how the hell am I supposed to have
• 30:14
  this? I know I did it anyways though
• 30:16
  because Stark is on the cover so I was like OK I'll buy it hey.
• 30:21
  If you like the art, get it. Yeah, No, it like reminds you of
• 30:25
  the dude. Like in your head.
• 30:27
  I buy the I buy the art. I buy the book for the art.
• 30:30
  I really wish I could have had dire bound but I wasn't a fairy
• 30:33
  leader back then so. Maybe they'll do a reprint or
• 30:37
  something. Or no, they never will.
• 30:40
  They don't do that. Not really.
• 30:43
  They like, they like creating. Yeah, they like creating a
• 30:47
  frenzy for their books. Well, I mean, from a marketing
• 30:51
  standpoint, that is very smart because it makes some limited
• 30:55
  editions, it makes them special and makes them more valuable.
• 31:01
  That's why. I'm signing up for fairy loot.
• 31:05
  Yeah. Yeah, that's why we do it.
• 31:07
  We pay the what 40 bucks a month to be on a list just to get the
• 31:12
  emails 1st and yeah. When you're with fairy loot, do
• 31:16
  you get something every single month since you're paying $40
• 31:19
  every month? Well, at least you get something
• 31:20
  every month, so at least that's. And it's gorgeous books.
• 31:24
  Yeah, you just don't know what you're going to get.
• 31:26
  But they're always really pretty, so it.
• 31:28
  Doesn't matter. So picky though I don't know.
• 31:32
  I I've told just before I don't know.
• 31:34
  I don't like the unknown aspect of it, even though I think they
• 31:38
  would be. I would love them and they would
• 31:39
  be beautiful, but I just. Well, and they come with sulfate
• 31:43
  or shrink wrap on them, so you can always sell them to somebody
• 31:48
  who wants the book too. Like if you're like, oh, the you
• 31:51
  know, when you get your like they come with a card with the
• 31:55
  synopsis and tropes and stuff and you're like, oh, you know
• 31:59
  what? I'm not into Dragons.
• 32:02
  I'm going to give this one away. So you can do like giveaways
• 32:05
  with them or sell them and for the same price and, and just get
• 32:10
  rid of them that way. You don't.
• 32:12
  Have sure there are people that you know they're disappointed
• 32:14
  they didn't get them, the ones that you don't want.
• 32:17
  Yeah, interesting. Iron and Embers through Helen
• 32:22
  Shearer. I was so mad that I could not
• 32:26
  get that copy from fairy loot. The one that it's like, it's
• 32:28
  like a partial bottle on in purple.
• 32:30
  Yep, Yeah, that one is. It had gorgeous art inside.
• 32:34
  Yeah, but. I would buy that from somebody
• 32:37
  if they didn't want that. Yeah, I bookish box is doing
• 32:42
  that. So I I know like because I
• 32:45
  couldn't get the fairy loot one, I was like, all right, I'm I'll
• 32:47
  do the bookish box and then I'll feel fine.
• 32:49
  Yeah, better about it. Yeah, I'm still debating because
• 32:53
  I, I don't really like the cover with I, I don't know, I think I
• 33:00
  like more of like an art, not just the lines and the title.
• 33:09
  I I kind of like when we have, you know, the, the books that
• 33:12
  have like the secret messages in the artwork and stuff like that.
• 33:17
  So yeah. Oh wait, wait a little longer.
• 33:24
  Well, now before we bring Rhian about on, I just want to mention
• 33:27
  also we did do a drink and stuff for her as well inspired.
• 33:31
  Now again, you can find this on our our Instagram page under the
• 33:36
  highlights under Sips, this one here.
• 33:39
  The collection is the heart of the Emerald Isle because our
• 33:44
  Rhiannon, she is moving to Ireland.
• 33:47
  So we are doing a little tribute to that.
• 33:50
  So, so this is to the one where we toast Ireland and the female
• 33:54
  rage because of Bloody Black. So the first one is it's first
• 33:58
  up is the, oh, it's the obsessed MMC that's our alcoholic one.
• 34:03
  And then our mocktail 1 is the witchy dark romance.
• 34:07
  Those are the 2 drinks. And again you will, we will have
• 34:10
  those up and you'll be able to hopefully try them out.
• 34:13
  And again, Heather, Chelsea and I were talking if we get our
• 34:17
  Patreon page, if we get that going, we want to have it.
• 34:20
  And then you have to make some fancy drinks.
• 34:22
  That would be really fun, yeah. People can come and join us.
• 34:26
  Yeah. And I was saying that we have to
• 34:28
  get better at like making the drinks that we're putting up
• 34:31
  here. Like I'm so bad.
• 34:33
  I. Would say that too.
• 34:34
  Time. Yeah, I spent too time.
• 34:36
  But I really want to make a lot of these drinks.
• 34:38
  They sound so. Good.
• 34:39
  Come on in Cali time. So what it's like. 9:00.
• 34:44
  Early drinking. Yeah.
• 34:46
  So we need to make like a morning drink for Chelsea and
• 34:49
  then like an afternoon drink for us or nighttime drink.
• 34:52
  So yeah. I mean, I'll start.
• 34:55
  I don't care. I'll start at 9:00 AM.
• 34:58
  It's nice and. These are really nice, though
• 35:01
  they're not a lot of ingredients, too.
• 35:02
  That's the other thing that makes it kind of fun, yeah.
• 35:05
  Yeah, that wouldn't be hard. But now I'm just going to say
• 35:09
  this one last time for everybody who is listening to us.
• 35:12
  I'm before we bring Rhiannon on behind the mic here, I do again
• 35:17
  want to shift gears for a moment.
• 35:18
  Again, we are going to deep dive into the heart of Bloody Black.
• 35:22
  We're going to be discussing again sexual violence and the
• 35:26
  long term impact of trauma on characters like Anne.
• 35:29
  As you know, your book besties here.
• 35:32
  We always want to keep it fun, but we also want to believe in
• 35:35
  honoring the weight of these stories.
• 35:37
  Our goal today is to look on at these subjects so that they're
• 35:42
  handled with respect that they deserve, focusing on the journey
• 35:46
  of the victim to survivor and reclaiming the power.
• 35:51
  So when we come back, girls, we will have Rhiannon.
• 35:55
  Awesome. Please welcome the incredible
• 36:01
  Rhiannon Hargaden. We are so happy to have you here
• 36:06
  today. Thank you for having me on the
• 36:09
  podcast. It's I'm, I'm excited, super
• 36:12
  excited for this. So Rebecca was telling us that
• 36:17
  you're moving. Where are you moving from and
• 36:20
  to? Yeah.
• 36:21
  So I currently live in Cary, NC and we are moving to Ireland in
• 36:28
  September. So we'll be, I'll be a
• 36:32
  international author, I guess. Yeah, I.
• 36:34
  Didn't know you lived in North Carolina.
• 36:36
  I'm in Wendell right now. Oh, cool.
• 36:38
  Yeah, yeah, yeah. Here I am.
• 36:41
  Yeah, Oh my. Gosh, so you're like across the
• 36:44
  way. Yeah, yeah.
• 36:46
  And I grew up in, I, I was born in North Carolina, so I'm
• 36:48
  originally from here and then moved all around, graduated high
• 36:52
  school in Oregon, went to College in Massachusetts, and
• 36:55
  then just moved, moved all around the United States for a
• 36:59
  while with my real job, which I'm trying to escape.
• 37:04
  And, and then and then now we're moving to Ireland for my
• 37:07
  husband's work, so. OK, that's that's why the jump.
• 37:11
  So yeah, I always, I mean, what a great place to go.
• 37:15
  What? A great adventure, yeah, And
• 37:17
  I'm. Like.
• 37:17
  How about we rent a castle and and he his response was you're
• 37:21
  clinically insane. It's I guess it'll be a small
• 37:26
  apartment for us. We'll see.
• 37:29
  Do. You know what part of Ireland
• 37:31
  you're going to be moving to. Well, the job is in Dublin, but
• 37:36
  it's, you know, like all big cities, it kind of sucks.
• 37:39
  And so maybe we'll be looking at, like, the outskirts.
• 37:42
  And, you know, Ireland is an island.
• 37:44
  So I said if I'm moving there, I need a view of the water,
• 37:47
  wherever it is. It can be a small town full of
• 37:49
  sheep, but I want a view of the water.
• 37:52
  Yeah. So that'd be really cool, like
• 37:54
  get a cottage on the cliffs or yeah.
• 37:57
  Yeah, I want to be able to write my favorite romanticities while
• 38:00
  staring like the ocean and. Airlines in US, Yes, Yes, I
• 38:03
  could see that. That would be awesome.
• 38:05
  Yes, maybe they'll be more romantic and less dark.
• 38:08
  Have you ever been or is this, have you ever been or is this
• 38:11
  OK? Yeah, Yeah.
• 38:13
  We just went in January to look around at, like, towns and
• 38:17
  houses and, like, get a feel for the place.
• 38:19
  So. Paul.
• 38:22
  You have time to pack now. How much stuff will you be able
• 38:25
  to take with you? My gosh.
• 38:27
  Yeah. I don't have to.
• 38:28
  Sell everything kind of deal. Oh, I don't know.
• 38:32
  I don't know what's happening. And in fact, like getting a pet
• 38:35
  to a foreign country is also apparently a nightmare.
• 38:38
  So I think I might, my husband and children might take a plane
• 38:43
  and then I'll be taking a boat with the dog.
• 38:45
  I have no idea because there's actually a ship that you can
• 38:49
  take with your dog to Europe. And I really don't.
• 38:53
  Our dog is like a nervous Nelly, so I really don't want to have
• 38:57
  her be in the hold of a plane for 10 1/2 hours or whatever.
• 39:01
  So I don't know. Well, don't they usually have to
• 39:04
  like, quarantine and stuff too? Or would that.
• 39:06
  Yeah, see, that'd be so sad. I know, I know.
• 39:10
  It's just it seems like architected to be traumatic.
• 39:14
  Yeah, so. Yeah, yeah.
• 39:16
  Big move. Fun.
• 39:18
  It isn't big. Big Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 39:20
  Are you gonna ship your books? Over or are you gonna have to?
• 39:24
  I don't know. I don't know what I'm doing.
• 39:26
  I'm just going to shit in a bag and show up.
• 39:29
  That's sort of so Heather's in North Carolina, and I think that
• 39:33
  she said that she'll be your stripping hub from from the US
• 39:38
  right over your. Books.
• 39:42
  I've got a whole room here that has nothing in it.
• 39:46
  Yeah, it's been, yeah, it's been kind of.
• 39:50
  So I'm indie and it's been kind of in a, it's been a real
• 39:53
  learning experience, like running all of this out of my
• 39:57
  house, shipping stuff out of my house, TikTok shop out of my
• 40:02
  house. And I now have some of the
• 40:04
  members of my street team fulfilling orders
• 40:07
  internationally. And it's just been, it's been a
• 40:09
  wild journey for sure. Yeah.
• 40:12
  Awesome. You gotta find the loopholes to
• 40:14
  where you're not putting a bunch of money trying to please your
• 40:19
  readers. And yeah, for sure.
• 40:21
  But I'll get them what they want to.
• 40:23
  Yeah, yeah. Are you going to document your
• 40:28
  journey as you go and stuff like that?
• 40:31
  Because I think people would love to see like, like, just
• 40:34
  like your adventures in Ireland and what experiences and stuff
• 40:38
  you might have. Yeah, I mean, you know, it's
• 40:42
  funny. I'm not much of AA face person.
• 40:48
  I don't have like a lot of photos of myself or videos of
• 40:51
  myself. I know a lot of authors do that.
• 40:54
  I don't really do that. I just don't think I'm very like
• 41:00
  photographable or. We all say that.
• 41:04
  We all say this absolutely. But I'm I'm still, I'm still on
• 41:08
  my also my journey as an author with that because originally,
• 41:12
  you know, I was like, why would I create a street team?
• 41:14
  Like nobody will ever post about my books.
• 41:17
  Why would anybody do that? And my PA was like, are you
• 41:20
  insane? Yeah.
• 41:21
  Yeah. So Storm was on here the other
• 41:25
  week and I was like talking to her about a straight team.
• 41:28
  She's like, I don't know, I'll throw it out there.
• 41:31
  We'll see who applies. She's like, I was surprised how
• 41:34
  many people want to do this for me.
• 41:36
  I'm like. Yeah, yeah, several people who
• 41:40
  who have this, I think the official name is Imposter
• 41:44
  syndrome, but that would assume that I'm like even putting a
• 41:47
  label on it. But I know several authors who
• 41:48
  have this sort of point of view, which is like.
• 41:51
  Well, why would I? Offer arcs because no one would
• 41:53
  read them and it's like OK well I bet you'll have 700 signups in
• 41:57
  an hour. And they do.
• 41:59
  They usually do. They do.
• 42:02
  So as we're kind of like getting to know you a little bit more,
• 42:06
  can you tell us? I'm kind of putting you on the
• 42:08
  spot, but like, can you tell us more about yourself, like where
• 42:11
  the inspiration came from for your, for your first debut
• 42:15
  novel, taking that leap of faith?
• 42:18
  Like talk to us about that. So it's actually kind of a funny
• 42:23
  story. So I had, I, I wrote some when I
• 42:26
  was very young, right? Like I, I won some poetry
• 42:30
  competitions when I was a kid, but in my family has always said
• 42:37
  I should be a writer. So my grandmother or my mother,
• 42:39
  other people, but I was never going to do that.
• 42:42
  I was always like doctor, lawyer, finance doctor, doctor,
• 42:46
  you know, and because I was like everyone who writes will end up
• 42:51
  poor and I was already poor. So I was, I was looking for some
• 42:57
  kind of fast track to making money and, and getting out of
• 43:00
  poverty. And during COVID, my cousin was
• 43:07
  at college at Meredith College here in North Carolina and it
• 43:11
  shut down. So she came to live with us.
• 43:12
  And when she came to live with us, she brought all of her
• 43:15
  books, right? I, my, my house was, was
• 43:19
  suddenly a 20 year old girl and all of her books, right.
• 43:23
  And so it was a Qatar, Red Queen, Divergent, like all of
• 43:30
  it. And she was constantly reading,
• 43:33
  I'm like, what are you reading? She's like, you got to read
• 43:36
  this, you got to read this. You're going.
• 43:37
  To love it. And I was skeptical.
• 43:41
  I basically had stopped reading books after college because I
• 43:45
  was just worn out of reading. And so I, I do think the first
• 43:51
  one that I read was Victoria Aviard series and incredible,
• 43:55
  amazing, really nice. And then I read the, you know,
• 43:59
  Court of Thord and Roses started on these.
• 44:02
  Sarah J. Moss.
• 44:03
  Backlist. Oh yeah.
• 44:04
  Infinite backlist of Sarah J. Moss thrown a glass.
• 44:07
  All time favorite. And she said, you know, I think
• 44:12
  you could write a book like this.
• 44:14
  And I laughed hysterically. And she was like, no, seriously
• 44:17
  though, what if you wrote a book for me?
• 44:21
  And so, yeah. So in my first book, the
• 44:24
  dedication is for Elizabeth, right?
• 44:28
  That's and that's my cousin. So I started writing a book for
• 44:31
  her and it was nothing like the book that ended up being
• 44:34
  published, right? It was kind of like the
• 44:38
  selection if you read that, which is sort of like a
• 44:42
  Princess, it or no, a Prince is conducting a trial for whoever
• 44:48
  wants to be his wife. That's how it started out.
• 44:51
  It was terrible, absolutely terrible.
• 44:52
  However, I ended up, you know, getting around 75% there and
• 44:57
  sending it to an editor who then, in fact, told me that it
• 45:00
  was terrible. But she also told me that she
• 45:02
  thought I was a really good writer, and so she was willing
• 45:05
  to work with me. And so that was, you know, by
• 45:09
  that time it's 2022. And so that was my first book
• 45:13
  that came out in 2023, which is a retelling of the Grim Reaper.
• 45:18
  But the Grim Reaper is a woman who doesn't want to kill people.
• 45:20
  So she's sort of fighting against this very horrible dark
• 45:24
  destiny every step of the way, but all these other forces
• 45:28
  around her are trying to to make her be this thing that she
• 45:32
  doesn't want to be. So that's that series.
• 45:34
  And that. And that's really where it
• 45:36
  began. Yeah, That's awesome.
• 45:39
  And why? And of course, I thought nobody
• 45:40
  would read it except Elizabeth, but I was wrong.
• 45:44
  So. Yeah.
• 45:45
  And what was the name of that series?
• 45:48
  Oh, that's Descendants of the Fates.
• 45:49
  Descendants of the Fates. So it's a retelling of the three
• 45:52
  Fates, Life, death and time. Yeah.
• 45:54
  Yeah, like one of the books is called Queen Moray.
• 45:58
  Queens of Morai, yeah. Morai yeah, I have that.
• 46:00
  I grabbed that on the site. Yeah, so I have all that on my
• 46:05
  cool now. Yeah, we actually have a few
• 46:08
  friends in our, like we have a little group on Instagram that
• 46:10
  we chat in, and there's actually a few of them in there that have
• 46:13
  that book because they were mentioning that.
• 46:16
  Yeah, it was an ambitious project that maybe I was
• 46:20
  actually just just talking to somebody online today who was
• 46:23
  their post was about people's main reviews.
• 46:27
  And I was like, I will never forget the review that I
• 46:30
  received that will stick in my brain until probably my death,
• 46:33
  which is someone said on that book, this book would have been
• 46:36
  better if it was written by somebody else like Sergey Moss.
• 46:40
  And I was like, you're right. And what?
• 46:42
  It would be amazing if she wrote this book.
• 46:45
  Maybe we can mail it to her and ask her to clear her busy
• 46:47
  schedule to to to. Rewrite this place for me some.
• 46:51
  It would. Be incredible we find it to hurt
• 46:55
  my feelings as much weird made me laugh I find.
• 46:58
  It weird how people think it's OK to write you and say those
• 47:02
  kind of things to you. Incredible.
• 47:04
  It's weird. However, however, yeah, I did
• 47:09
  take on a lot with that book, right?
• 47:11
  And I think, you know, hindsight is 2020.
• 47:14
  But certainly like a lot of it's just experience, which is that
• 47:17
  like, you know, maybe the Naive version of me was like, of
• 47:22
  course I can do a book with a love triangle and time travel
• 47:25
  and all of the tropes and a dragon shifter.
• 47:29
  And so there's a lot happening in that book.
• 47:32
  If I had only picked like two things and executed well, it
• 47:35
  would have been way better. I do love that series though.
• 47:39
  I love the character so much because there's so much lie
• 47:43
  lying in betrayal. And so there's a ton of plot
• 47:48
  twists. And it's certainly, it's sort of
• 47:51
  established for me that I didn't really want to write traditional
• 47:56
  romanticity for sure. Yeah, and where does Bloody
• 48:01
  Black come in? Yeah.
• 48:03
  How or which book is that in your publishing?
• 48:07
  That is my 5th book technically. And I was, you know, I really
• 48:16
  did enjoy like flipping the most people expect the Grim Reaper to
• 48:20
  be a man and she's a woman. And so I was kind of loving
• 48:24
  that. And I was like, you know, I like
• 48:25
  doing retellings. I would love to do a retelling
• 48:28
  of another, like, male historical figure as a woman.
• 48:32
  And so I was thinking through a lot of ideas.
• 48:35
  One of my ideas everybody hated but I still like, which is
• 48:38
  redoing George Washington as a woman.
• 48:43
  It's just the way you said it, it's like it's making me laugh
• 48:45
  of like, wait, what? I love it.
• 48:49
  I would love to do that. And so I was thinking about that
• 48:53
  and I was just kind of making a list and I was like.
• 48:55
  Oh. What about And I'm like looking.
• 48:58
  I was like, why hasn't anyone ever rewritten Blackbeard?
• 49:01
  And so then I was like, OK, I'll rewrite Blackbeard as a woman.
• 49:04
  And I don't really know. I don't really know when the
• 49:11
  story took a turn right. Like I think there's ways that
• 49:14
  it could have been written where it was just a swashbuckling.
• 49:19
  Good time. But that's not the story that
• 49:22
  that happened, right? And so it became like a very
• 49:25
  dark, like, rally cry about revenge.
• 49:30
  And whether or not revenge is worth it is really what the
• 49:34
  story became. Yeah.
• 49:35
  Yeah, and it's written very well like that.
• 49:37
  Like, I understood all of that. That yeah, like her, how it
• 49:43
  happened. Why?
• 49:44
  Why she becomes that way, how she becomes Blackbeard.
• 49:49
  It's very cool. But it is dark.
• 49:52
  If you think about it. Blackbeard was was known as like
• 49:55
  this ruthless scavenger of the Seas, right.
• 49:59
  And pirated. And like they say, no mercy, no
• 50:03
  quarter or I said that backwards, I think.
• 50:06
  But yeah, you know, he's he's very ruthless.
• 50:09
  And so that comes through. And I mean, that brings your
• 50:13
  dark themes. So yeah, I, I enjoyed it because
• 50:19
  it felt like a real pirate story where that would happen back in
• 50:26
  the day of that time. Like this is what people do.
• 50:29
  Yeah. Well, and I also, you know, once
• 50:32
  it once the story, like I want to say, like the story was
• 50:37
  revealing itself. I also wanted to spend a lot of
• 50:42
  time on how people handle trauma because, you know, I am no
• 50:50
  stranger to trauma myself. And then all of maybe not all,
• 50:54
  but certainly most of my group of female friends have been
• 50:58
  through things and we all handle it a bit, a bit differently.
• 51:02
  And I don't think there's any like right or right or wrong way
• 51:06
  to handle your trauma. And and that was also something
• 51:09
  that I wanted to be very obvious in the book, right?
• 51:12
  There's a character who's like, let's, we should forgive, right?
• 51:16
  And everyone else is like, oh, no.
• 51:18
  And then there are people who are like, actually, we should
• 51:21
  just murder them. Like, that's what we should do.
• 51:24
  We should just do some rationalistic killing and it'll
• 51:27
  feel awesome. And then there are others who
• 51:30
  are like, you should let it go. You don't have to forgive, but
• 51:34
  you don't get to just kill people.
• 51:36
  Like maybe just let it go. And so I think the tension
• 51:41
  between the characters is really about the reader, which is like,
• 51:45
  what do you believe? And so it's kind of interesting
• 51:48
  whenever people ping me, which I do get a lot of pings in the
• 51:51
  middle of the night from people who've read the book.
• 51:55
  And it whoever their favorite favorite character is, is either
• 52:00
  who they real, who they are, or who they wish they were right as
• 52:04
  they handle their own trauma. Right.
• 52:06
  Yeah, but really. And you have a group of girls
• 52:10
  who are all going through the same trauma and whether it was
• 52:14
  at one time or another, you know, and they kind of rescue
• 52:19
  each other. And we're talking about like
• 52:21
  sexual assault here. Essay and the book.
• 52:24
  So this happens to our group of characters and they rally
• 52:28
  together and they create this like vengeful story and they
• 52:32
  come. There's a lot to it.
• 52:35
  I can't spoil anything for those of you that haven't, but there's
• 52:39
  a lot of finding friendship with those people.
• 52:43
  But maybe also the friendship breaks off and because you learn
• 52:49
  like, I can't validate how you are dealing with your trauma, so
• 52:55
  I need to separate myself from you because of that.
• 52:58
  And and that's really heartbreaking because you think
• 53:00
  like these girls have been through these things together,
• 53:03
  They're best friends. They've come together at that
• 53:07
  time to heal and then you grow apart again.
• 53:10
  And so that that part was kind of sad there.
• 53:17
  I don't know. There's there's more points to
• 53:20
  the story that as she goes through her, Yeah, we've heard.
• 53:27
  Journey of vengeance, since we're kind of moving that way
• 53:31
  for somebody like me who hasn't gotten to the point yet where
• 53:35
  we've gotten into any of the trauma or for readers who are
• 53:39
  looking at your book, looking at the synopsis saying that there's
• 53:41
  the trigger warning. Let's address that for potential
• 53:45
  readers that are listening. So, and, and I've said this
• 53:50
  before, I think on on prior episodes, I've heard a lot of
• 53:54
  authors say like, look, this is like meant to be healing for
• 53:58
  people. And so people that like back off
• 54:00
  of it right away because they just see the trigger warning.
• 54:03
  It's like, yes, we're going to talk about something that's deep
• 54:06
  and heavy, but it's meant to be healing.
• 54:08
  So you can you speak on that from your perspective as an
• 54:10
  author for sure? Yeah.
• 54:12
  I I thought it was really important to include and it is
• 54:23
  realistic, not gratuitous for those who are triggered by
• 54:32
  sexual assault, skip chapter 6. And I say that really clearly in
• 54:36
  my trigger warnings. And it's also totally fine and
• 54:41
  possible to skip that chapter and still know, right?
• 54:44
  You're not going to miss any other facts you should have
• 54:47
  known, right? So I've had readers who read it
• 54:52
  anyway and messaged me, including actually some authors
• 54:57
  who did ship skip that chapter. So you can skip that chapter and
• 55:00
  and, and it'll be OK. I also felt though, that like,
• 55:07
  you know, part of women's experience, honestly, is this
• 55:16
  for real? And I think we are sometimes too
• 55:22
  shy to name deep violence for what it is, right?
• 55:29
  And too quick to excuse it, and too quick to say he had reasons
• 55:35
  or he didn't mean it, or maybe he's a nicer guy now.
• 55:39
  No, right? And so I wanted that to, to
• 55:44
  just, to just to just put a line in the sand actually in a way,
• 55:49
  right. It's easier to victim shame
• 55:51
  somebody when you don't know what they've been through
• 55:53
  because it's so hard for them to talk about it.
• 55:55
  So yeah. And I actually think like, if I
• 55:58
  may compare for a second, like I think there's a lot of readers
• 56:02
  who dislike Nesta. And I think one of the reasons
• 56:05
  that's that's possible is because we don't really see her
• 56:09
  trauma or right, we don't see. Unless.
• 56:12
  You. Relate to it.
• 56:14
  Yeah, exactly. And so I'm putting Anne's trauma
• 56:17
  right there on the page for you. Like, you can't, you can't
• 56:23
  pretend it didn't happen. And so, so far, in all the
• 56:26
  reviews I've received, I think there's only been one person who
• 56:30
  was like, you know, she's kind of mean.
• 56:33
  Right. They're talking about Anne.
• 56:37
  Yeah, yeah. And so, you know, I'm like,
• 56:44
  well, there has to be 1 apologist for the men here
• 56:47
  somewhere. It's not me.
• 56:49
  I thought it was really well written in all of those points
• 56:55
  that you said, like, do you forgive because of this?
• 56:58
  Or now that it's 10 years later and you get your vengeance and
• 57:03
  they've maybe changed, do you still get your vengeance or do
• 57:08
  you, you know, let it go or they're a different person now.
• 57:11
  There's too much. Effort because you know, like
• 57:14
  maybe living well is the best revenge.
• 57:16
  That's definitely a way to feel. And so I wanted to also like, I
• 57:22
  think that's also why it was important for me to treat all
• 57:26
  the characters in a very balanced, loving way, right?
• 57:28
  Like I don't want it to be like. So we'll talk a little bit about
• 57:33
  the characters for a second. So like for Domino, her mindset
• 57:36
  is reciprocity, right? So she was traumatized.
• 57:40
  So she implements her trauma exactly as it was done to her.
• 57:44
  Nothing more, nothing less. I love that about her.
• 57:49
  But she's she's having a good warm, caring person otherwise.
• 57:54
  But she will take a knife and carve.
• 57:56
  Words into your and she's like, hey love.
• 57:59
  How are you? Yeah.
• 58:01
  Are you married? Yeah, hey.
• 58:04
  Oh, I love how she does that. Oh.
• 58:06
  She's like, you think he's married because her trauma is
• 58:10
  that a married man basically like had her as his mistress.
• 58:14
  She didn't know and then and then was like basic basically
• 58:18
  blamed her for it and called her a whore.
• 58:21
  And so now she finds married men and she like carves the word
• 58:24
  whore on their chest and leaves them on their doorstep for their
• 58:27
  wives to find so that they can rationalize their behavior.
• 58:29
  And how did this get there? I love her so much, right?
• 58:34
  So I didn't want to I, I think, you know, each character has
• 58:38
  their own way with dealing with their trauma, but there's no,
• 58:42
  there's no judgement from me as the author about which is the
• 58:46
  right or wrong way to be right. So.
• 58:49
  Yeah. But I like that you give all
• 58:51
  those options and all that, so. So there's lots of relations for
• 58:56
  whoever reads it, and whether it happened to you or did not
• 59:00
  happen to you, you could still relate.
• 59:03
  And maybe some other kind of trauma, because it's a book
• 59:07
  about how you deal with the trauma that happened to you.
• 59:11
  It's a huge found family. I actually, I'm kind of still
• 59:15
  like looking back in disbelief that it's such a large cast, to
• 59:19
  be honest. It kind of is now that it is.
• 59:22
  It's a big nest, yeah. And I love it.
• 59:25
  And you can. When you first start the book,
• 59:28
  you can see them and you can. See them?
• 59:30
  I love that. And I love that too.
• 59:33
  I. Was going to say so I have the
• 59:34
  e-book is the art like I I love the little ship and everything
• 59:38
  up above all the chapters. Is that in the in the book as
• 59:41
  well? The physical yeah yeah, the
• 59:42
  chapter better. Yeah, Yeah.
• 59:44
  It's pretty. Yes.
• 59:46
  I love those. I go really overboard with
• 59:49
  artwork. Really overboard.
• 59:51
  The chapter headers, the title page, the scenes.
• 59:55
  I go really overboard. Sets you apart for sure.
• 59:58
  I love it. It's an addiction.
• 59:59
  Beautiful. Yeah.
• 1:00:01
  It helps bring the story to the imagination, you know?
• 1:00:05
  Yeah. Yeah.
• 1:00:06
  So. How, how do the characters live
• 1:00:09
  in your head or where do you get the inspiration?
• 1:00:12
  How, how does it work up in here in this brilliant little mind of
• 1:00:16
  yours? Well, I think in the beginning
• 1:00:23
  it's just for me, right? For me, In the beginning, it's
• 1:00:27
  just writing, right? It's just outlining.
• 1:00:29
  And then there's some invisible point where they start to it's a
• 1:00:34
  little bit of a velveteen rabbit like they start to feel real.
• 1:00:40
  And that's how I know that that it's that it's that the train is
• 1:00:44
  really moving, if you will, right.
• 1:00:46
  So I'm currently working on a book for this fall.
• 1:00:50
  And in the beginning it's like, OK, here's my idea.
• 1:00:54
  It's a witch witch he romanticy 2 men, right?
• 1:00:59
  And, and at a certain point, though, it's just they just,
• 1:01:02
  they're just talking, they're just talking in my head.
• 1:01:05
  And it's like, well, I didn't say that this is what I said.
• 1:01:07
  And then then she she said this. And that's right.
• 1:01:11
  And so it starts to feel like they're a group of friends, like
• 1:01:15
  kind of arguing around me around about what's happening in the
• 1:01:18
  book and, and where it should go.
• 1:01:21
  And so for me, that's how they come to life in a way.
• 1:01:27
  So at that point it stops being a story I'm writing and it's
• 1:01:31
  more a story that I'm telling, but it belongs to these other,
• 1:01:35
  it belongs to them, right? And so I think that's how real
• 1:01:41
  is that to me. They sort of are actually.
• 1:01:46
  And so, you know, I was talking to a group of other authors and
• 1:01:50
  I was like, I'm just trying to do and story justice.
• 1:01:52
  I'm not trying to do, it's not my story, it's her story, and
• 1:01:55
  I'm just getting it out on paper for other people to read.
• 1:01:58
  And so I'm just trying to make sure I reflect like how she
• 1:02:01
  really felt and what she would really say about these events in
• 1:02:06
  her life. Right 'cause I was her pirate,
• 1:02:09
  right? So yeah.
• 1:02:10
  And for Anne's story is I mean, we obviously don't have to go
• 1:02:15
  too deep into the inspiration for her.
• 1:02:17
  If, if, but depending on how I'm how I'm presenting it to you,
• 1:02:22
  Like is it something that's completely new that you just set
• 1:02:25
  up on your own? Are the character fit to you?
• 1:02:28
  Or is it a culmination of real life experiences from friends,
• 1:02:33
  family, for yourself? Kinda.
• 1:02:35
  So this will this will be sad. I'll try.
• 1:02:37
  I try not to get too emotional. So I am a survivor myself of a
• 1:02:47
  abusive relationship that I thought I would never get out
• 1:02:50
  of. And I don't want to talk a
• 1:02:55
  terrible amount about that. But one of my other cousins was
• 1:03:01
  killed by her husband, who was her high school sweetheart, and
• 1:03:04
  nobody saw that coming. So you never know what's
• 1:03:07
  happening behind the closed doors at all.
• 1:03:10
  And we were all just very, very shocked.
• 1:03:15
  And so I have that, which is like sometimes the person who
• 1:03:21
  betrays you is the person who you love, who you expect to the
• 1:03:25
  only the best from, who you have total trust in.
• 1:03:28
  And nobody sees that coming. And then for me, it's more like
• 1:03:33
  everybody saw it coming but me. And I think the trauma that I
• 1:03:40
  carried forward from that, and to be honest, I think this is
• 1:03:43
  not unlike some other women, which is that I did a lot of
• 1:03:46
  self blaming for like what I could have done.
• 1:03:49
  But the most important self blame that I did was I knew that
• 1:03:55
  whoever he dated after me was doomed.
• 1:03:59
  And I didn't warn her, didn't warn her because I'm sure that
• 1:04:03
  he was the same to her as he was to me.
• 1:04:06
  And obviously, you know, this is some like beautiful, like fun
• 1:04:13
  loving and he I'm. You know he's going to.
• 1:04:18
  Destroy her. And I knew that, but I was so
• 1:04:21
  happy that he'd found somebody new that he would finally stop
• 1:04:25
  like stalking me and calling my grandmother's home and like
• 1:04:30
  threatening my life that I was like, I was just happy to that
• 1:04:35
  he had found somebody else. And and now and, like, I still
• 1:04:39
  really regret that I didn't warn her, you know what I mean?
• 1:04:43
  Yeah. But at the same time, would you
• 1:04:45
  have even believed me, though? That's what I.
• 1:04:47
  Was going to say there. There are so many times where
• 1:04:49
  it's like even our loved ones, like, you know, I have people in
• 1:04:53
  my family that have gone through certain things and it's like you
• 1:04:56
  want to tell them like, hey, I feel something off about this
• 1:04:59
  guy. But the more you say that, the
• 1:05:01
  more you push them away totally into this person or like, and it
• 1:05:05
  isolates them. And so sometimes it's it's it's
• 1:05:08
  a really hard, delicate situation.
• 1:05:10
  And it almost comes down to the person that's in that situation
• 1:05:14
  has to fight for themselves. And it sucks.
• 1:05:17
  Yeah. It sucks to be a family member
• 1:05:19
  or a friend. And and that happened to them
• 1:05:21
  and been like, I wish I could have helped you.
• 1:05:24
  Like, I wish you could have said something to me.
• 1:05:26
  But you're fighting this battle internally and you feel like you
• 1:05:28
  can't turn to anybody. I know.
• 1:05:31
  And I don't think anybody, I mean, people certainly tried.
• 1:05:34
  I don't nobody could have talked me out of that relationship.
• 1:05:38
  And then nobody could Get Me Out but me.
• 1:05:42
  Honest. So.
• 1:05:44
  And so then, if you don't mind sharing, like, did you do
• 1:05:47
  therapy? Was writing your therapy OK?
• 1:05:51
  Yeah, I was traumatized. I if I heard my phone Ding with
• 1:05:56
  a text for like the next year, I started feeling a little
• 1:06:00
  panicky, right? Yeah, and would wake up in the
• 1:06:04
  middle of the night. And like check.
• 1:06:05
  My locked door and check my window locks and make sure no
• 1:06:09
  one was there outside. So I was very vigilant for a
• 1:06:16
  really long time. I think it took me like 3 years
• 1:06:18
  to save phone numbers to my phone again because he had like
• 1:06:20
  gone through my phone and would just call, rent call.
• 1:06:23
  If it was a man who was in my phone, he would call them and
• 1:06:25
  accuse them of sleeping with me, even if it was like my manager
• 1:06:27
  from four years before. So it took me a while to like
• 1:06:32
  become comfortable with phones again.
• 1:06:36
  But. But but yeah.
• 1:06:38
  So I cried so much writing this book actually, because I was
• 1:06:44
  like sort of reliving, reliving my own pain.
• 1:06:48
  And certainly I made other people cry reading this book,
• 1:06:53
  including my editors, including my ARC team, including my PA.
• 1:06:58
  So I think if you haven't read it, I would definitely expect
• 1:07:04
  emotional damage that will stick with you, to be honest.
• 1:07:10
  Yeah. And the awesome part about it
• 1:07:12
  being a book is that, like you said, you can skip Chapter 6.
• 1:07:16
  You can read it and then maybe you can come back to it, revisit
• 1:07:20
  it if that's something that is pulling to you or calling to you
• 1:07:22
  to go back and read. It's just so awesome that you
• 1:07:27
  put. It all out there.
• 1:07:28
  And thank you for talking about that.
• 1:07:29
  I know that isn't easy, but bless you for doing that because
• 1:07:34
  so many people are going to be able to connect with you through
• 1:07:37
  that and heal because of what you put on the page and and what
• 1:07:41
  you've said even today. So thank you very much.
• 1:07:44
  Yeah, awesome. There is a.
• 1:07:47
  Wholesome green flag. Romance in this book, however, I
• 1:07:50
  did see that there's a happy ending everybody so there is it
• 1:07:53
  got it got deep, but there's there's a happy ending like even
• 1:07:58
  to the very end you're going. OK, what is it going to?
• 1:08:01
  When is it going to change? What?
• 1:08:03
  What's going to happen now? Wait a minute.
• 1:08:06
  Always my my mark of A. A.
• 1:08:08
  Good book is if it makes me cry and even and and all kinds of
• 1:08:12
  different things. And this book does do that.
• 1:08:15
  And that leads me into my question with you.
• 1:08:18
  We've talked about it when you and I were just talking because
• 1:08:21
  I know it's a stand alone, but I would love if Anne's story
• 1:08:26
  continued. Yeah.
• 1:08:30
  So, thoughts? There is there ever any?
• 1:08:33
  Hope that Anne could reappear for us.
• 1:08:37
  There is hope. There is hope.
• 1:08:40
  So I you know, with my first series I'm still digging at the
• 1:08:45
  crawling out of that hole. And so the last book in that
• 1:08:50
  series will be published this year.
• 1:08:52
  And if it basically made me feel like I just want to write
• 1:08:54
  standalones for a while just because I don't want to make
• 1:08:57
  like a multi year commitment again.
• 1:08:58
  However, I have had an idea, which is only an idea about what
• 1:09:05
  a sequel could look like. So I'm pondering it.
• 1:09:09
  The problem is I have my series end this year and I also have my
• 1:09:16
  standalone witch romanticity for fall and then for next year I
• 1:09:21
  have a few books like that I had written like 50 to 70,000.
• 1:09:27
  Words on already they're. Just sitting that I put on hold
• 1:09:31
  and so I'm like, well, I could start something new, but I
• 1:09:34
  should really finish the ones that are like 50 to 75% done.
• 1:09:40
  So it might not be. Soon, but that.
• 1:09:42
  Depends on the loudness of the characters in my head, right?
• 1:09:47
  Because it just depends. But I do have an idea.
• 1:09:51
  Now your idea let's. Talk about a little bit more.
• 1:09:53
  About your idea like interconnected standalone type
• 1:09:58
  of idea or or like continuation. Of a series kind of idea.
• 1:10:04
  No, it it would be more like an interconnected standalone.
• 1:10:08
  All hypothetical, of course. All hypothetical.
• 1:10:13
  There's a another. So I'm trying not to spoil
• 1:10:17
  anything for you. At one point in the book, we we
• 1:10:21
  have this run in with another ship and the captain of that
• 1:10:24
  ship, he sucks. And so maybe we might want to
• 1:10:28
  see this man get his comeuppance.
• 1:10:31
  Hell yeah. Right.
• 1:10:33
  Maybe. And so I, I think I, I think I.
• 1:10:40
  Think I could do something with that?
• 1:10:41
  Right. And the the characters do talk
• 1:10:44
  about it at the end of Bloody Black.
• 1:10:46
  So is that what you were talking about, Heather?
• 1:10:50
  No. OK, now, yeah.
• 1:10:53
  I want to know what the wish. Was oh, oh, oh.
• 1:10:58
  Is there a? Page where she wishes.
• 1:11:02
  Oh, she wishes. Yeah.
• 1:11:04
  So she wishes to just build her own ship and, like, be happy.
• 1:11:09
  And that was earlier on. Yeah, yeah.
• 1:11:12
  She wants to build. Something rather than just
• 1:11:15
  killing stuff, yeah. OK, I remember.
• 1:11:18
  That part but I was like. Wait a minute, I was like Anne
• 1:11:21
  in that situation. Wish what?
• 1:11:23
  What? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 1:11:25
  It was just a sort of a minor. Comment and I think, you know, I
• 1:11:31
  think. It was something.
• 1:11:33
  That Zandretta held on to, yeah, which is amazing.
• 1:11:38
  So I don't want to spoil it for Chelsea, but that is kind of
• 1:11:42
  like another like moment. Yeah, during the story.
• 1:11:46
  I'm so excited. I'm so excited.
• 1:11:48
  The more we. Talk about it, the more excited
• 1:11:50
  I am to read it, yeah. No, it was a it was a great.
• 1:11:55
  It was a, it was an emotional book to write.
• 1:11:58
  And then, you know, I actually have to tell you like because of
• 1:12:01
  the process being what it is like when it went to editor to
• 1:12:04
  editing. I have a, so I have a first line
• 1:12:09
  editor who, you know, she has been in the industry for a
• 1:12:14
  really long time and she's very brutal.
• 1:12:17
  And she wrote back and she was like, I'm sorry, but you're
• 1:12:19
  going to have to change the whole, change the whole ending.
• 1:12:21
  And so actually the ending that every, all the readers got is
• 1:12:25
  not the ending that I originally had.
• 1:12:28
  And so so she made some suggestions for what she thought
• 1:12:33
  the ending could be. And I was like, oh, that makes
• 1:12:35
  so much sense. And so I went and rewrote the
• 1:12:38
  entire ending at. Her direction.
• 1:12:43
  And I think the ending is much stronger as a result.
• 1:12:47
  So, So yeah, so then that happened.
• 1:12:50
  And then I have, you know, my beta readers and ARC readers
• 1:12:54
  and, and all that. And so those actually, I usually
• 1:12:57
  implement some small changes as a result of those readers
• 1:13:00
  feedback as well. So yeah, that's the now I want
• 1:13:05
  to know what was. I know, OK.
• 1:13:07
  So I was going to. Say I can't.
• 1:13:09
  Tell you because Chelsea. I know.
• 1:13:10
  So I kind of wanted. To say like, we're going to have
• 1:13:12
  to do another episode once I finish reading it, and for
• 1:13:15
  everybody that's already read it so we can hear what this
• 1:13:18
  alternate ending is. Because now I'm on.
• 1:13:19
  I'm on. I'm gonna finish it today, OK?
• 1:13:21
  I'm not going to get up. I'm going to binge read.
• 1:13:25
  I'm so excited. Yeah, we'll have to do intrigue
• 1:13:28
  spoilers. Yeah, well.
• 1:13:29
  And I feel like. Because, Chelsea, you haven't
• 1:13:31
  read. Far enough along for us to even
• 1:13:33
  talk about the MSC. Because you don't even know who
• 1:13:35
  he is. Nope.
• 1:13:37
  I don't want to hear it. None of it.
• 1:13:39
  I mean, I do, but, but I don't at the same time.
• 1:13:41
  It's. Yeah, it is.
• 1:13:43
  But it is. Such an amazing, amazing.
• 1:13:46
  Book and I absolutely I absolutely loved it, you guys,
• 1:13:50
  you guys can give me some bones, some teasers.
• 1:13:53
  Without without spoiling too much, one of my favorite
• 1:13:56
  characters is. Jolly Roger.
• 1:14:00
  Oh, yes. Oh, yes.
• 1:14:02
  Oh. Absolutely.
• 1:14:03
  Look at the jolly. Roger, Yeah, you.
• 1:14:07
  Didn't even win. OK, Yeah.
• 1:14:08
  Remember that Chelsea. Yes.
• 1:14:10
  Remember that. Yes.
• 1:14:13
  I'm so excited. Oh.
• 1:14:14
  Jolly Roger and. The boot.
• 1:14:17
  I love the boot saying. Cracking up with that.
• 1:14:23
  I've never laughed so much at bodily mutilation.
• 1:14:26
  In my whole life. And they just, like, carry on
• 1:14:29
  like, oh. I.
• 1:14:30
  Want me to be OK? That makes sense.
• 1:14:34
  Oh yeah, yeah, Chelsea. You'll have to let us know.
• 1:14:37
  When you get to that point and let us know what you think, I'm
• 1:14:41
  very excited on my street. Team kept.
• 1:14:43
  Send me sending. Me the.
• 1:14:45
  Scene from Finding Nemo with the seagulls and like just laughing
• 1:14:49
  helplessly because they were like the seagulls feasting.
• 1:14:54
  It's great. Yeah, say coming up here this.
• 1:14:58
  Is it in May or June you have a couple book boxes coming out?
• 1:15:02
  I do, yeah. So bloody black was.
• 1:15:05
  Selected for two UK book boxes. And so that's every heart and
• 1:15:10
  butterfly. And they decided to just be
• 1:15:15
  back-to-back. And I, I was like, Are you sure?
• 1:15:19
  I mean, yeah, but the, they, the designs and overlays and
• 1:15:26
  everything are exquisite. And they're so different from
• 1:15:29
  each other that I actually, you know, I people have already
• 1:15:34
  pinged me to be like, I signed up for both and I have all of
• 1:15:37
  the other additions. And so they're really, really
• 1:15:42
  beautiful. I'm going to be giving some away
• 1:15:47
  like through, through my Instagram.
• 1:15:49
  But yeah, they're both incredible.
• 1:15:51
  They're both really nice. And the overlays are, yeah.
• 1:15:56
  They're really good. Not safe for work overlays
• 1:15:59
  coming. Our way.
• 1:16:01
  That would be awesome. I do have, I do.
• 1:16:03
  Have a spot? Marked.
• 1:16:05
  It's my only annotation of a mark of when you discuss an
• 1:16:11
  anatomy, part of how she has to touch something.
• 1:16:14
  So I I have it marked. So when Chelsea gets there, I
• 1:16:18
  didn't know what you marked. Send it to me.
• 1:16:22
  So I'll make. It true, I'm kind of open to a
• 1:16:25
  spoiler. Right now.
• 1:16:26
  Read it Rebecca. Oh Lord you.
• 1:16:28
  This is when my contacts. Are blurry and then I can't I
• 1:16:32
  can't read well here it's it's where her fingers can barely
• 1:16:35
  wrap around him now what do we talk about when we're we're
• 1:16:39
  always saying it's like it's my hand maybe she has.
• 1:16:43
  Really tiny hands. OK, they.
• 1:16:47
  Have to take. Whatever.
• 1:16:48
  It's not and she's not. A dainty woman, actually, and.
• 1:16:51
  Yeah, she's not a dainty girl. She will kick your ass.
• 1:16:56
  Yeah, no. I.
• 1:16:58
  Loved that scene, the kiss, the first kiss scene.
• 1:17:02
  I think I loved it so much and I yeah, I loved it so much.
• 1:17:09
  I think there's so much about this.
• 1:17:10
  Book that like really flips things on their head.
• 1:17:13
  He's tied up, not her. She's the aggressor, not him.
• 1:17:16
  He's like I love you forever and she's like fuck off.
• 1:17:20
  I just I that's great. I think I loved it so much.
• 1:17:24
  The dynamics. Between do whatever you want to
• 1:17:26
  me and she's like fuck you. But.
• 1:17:31
  She's like, I want you to get your charming.
• 1:17:33
  Face on my face. And he's like, you think I'm
• 1:17:36
  charming? And she's like, no, yeah, no, I
• 1:17:39
  despise. You actually and he's like I.
• 1:17:41
  Don't think you do. Yeah, your your body's.
• 1:17:44
  Telling me something else, lady? Yeah, it's my.
• 1:17:48
  Favorite. I can't wait.
• 1:17:50
  Till you get to these. Parts Chelsea so.
• 1:17:52
  You can, you know, I'm so excited, but Oh, yes.
• 1:17:55
  I did make sure to mark. That when I was reading it
• 1:17:57
  because I was like, yeah, those are some of my favorite.
• 1:18:01
  Moments. In books I have to tell one of
• 1:18:03
  the one of our like running jokes Rhiannon.
• 1:18:04
  Is that Rebecca's always the one in our like group chat to ask is
• 1:18:08
  there spice? And so it's so funny that her
• 1:18:11
  one annotation is in this that one part well.
• 1:18:18
  Because none of my books I. I don't do vanilla books, it has
• 1:18:23
  to. I am full open door and I like
• 1:18:26
  descriptions and I like to know details and that is right there
• 1:18:32
  and this is how she started like our whole little.
• 1:18:35
  Group chat and this podcast was Rebecca's like she had all the
• 1:18:39
  really good like dark romanticy dark romance Rex like right away
• 1:18:43
  and so that like started the whole thing I and so I like
• 1:18:49
  trust any dark romanticy that she that she recommends yeah
• 1:18:53
  which does her homework and I. Do like you know?
• 1:18:56
  Bloody black is also. Like a green flag romance where
• 1:19:00
  it's like it's the dark book with like a I wouldn't say it's
• 1:19:04
  dark romance except for his bondage maybe right, But.
• 1:19:11
  Yeah, you're. I mean it's.
• 1:19:12
  Gory. But that's not like dark romance
• 1:19:16
  romance, like their romance in it is not dark.
• 1:19:21
  So what I'm getting though is that he helps.
• 1:19:24
  Her heal, absolutely. OK, so he's like our green flag
• 1:19:28
  MMC that comes in and helps her heal.
• 1:19:30
  He's kind of a golden retriever in many.
• 1:19:33
  Ways, yes. And I love that.
• 1:19:35
  Because how many of us? Like.
• 1:19:37
  Are the Black Cats in our relationship like I know I am?
• 1:19:40
  I'm the grumpy 1. I don't want to talk to any of
• 1:19:42
  the neighbors and my husband's out there, you know, like
• 1:19:45
  talking to everybody. And I'm just like, don't talk to
• 1:19:47
  them. They're annoying.
• 1:19:48
  Like they always want to know our business.
• 1:19:50
  And he's like sitting at the window and waving at everybody.
• 1:19:54
  So totally. So I do love that because it's
• 1:19:56
  like we can connect to these female characters that have all
• 1:20:00
  this pent up rage for sure. That's totally their dynamic.
• 1:20:04
  And yeah, he's he's Mr. Consent for sure.
• 1:20:09
  He also is just very patient and.
• 1:20:14
  Frankly, adoring of her, yeah. And and the way.
• 1:20:20
  She which you will. Discover.
• 1:20:22
  And and and the way and like how she was saying like.
• 1:20:24
  How she like how she is towards him.
• 1:20:27
  He is, he has such patience for her and he, he really, he tries
• 1:20:32
  and he's very, you know what I mean?
• 1:20:35
  And she's like very bristly because I mean, from her
• 1:20:39
  experiences that would make you very bristly.
• 1:20:42
  And he has patience and he's just like, he just.
• 1:20:46
  And he doesn't know, like he doesn't.
• 1:20:48
  Understand why she's that way until very later on.
• 1:20:52
  So he's just kind of like. Going with it.
• 1:20:54
  Like OK, I know something happened or is wrong and you
• 1:20:59
  have trust issues, yadda yadda. But I'm here for you because I
• 1:21:04
  like you and you're, you know, Yeah.
• 1:21:11
  For sure. Now you are.
• 1:21:13
  She was telling me when we. Were talking earlier she has
• 1:21:16
  just started the plated prisoner series.
• 1:21:18
  She's on the and I told her she don't.
• 1:21:20
  Know. Good ideas for books?
• 1:21:23
  I told her she will be meeting my book husband.
• 1:21:26
  But I can't tell her who cuz she's not on that book yet.
• 1:21:28
  OK no I'm just in the first one. I'm.
• 1:21:31
  I I. Usually I have like an audio
• 1:21:33
  book and then I'm reading maybe one or two books on ebook at the
• 1:21:37
  same time. And so right now I'm reading
• 1:21:40
  Bones and Guild and then my audio book is The Everlasting.
• 1:21:44
  So, OK, yeah, I will say when I. Started.
• 1:21:49
  So when I started Bloody Black, it kind of reminded me.
• 1:21:54
  Of brave. The Disney movie.
• 1:21:56
  And like Meredith, she's like, I'll be fighting for me on hand.
• 1:22:00
  Like, that's just like, totally how?
• 1:22:01
  Like what it came in as. Do any of your characters have
• 1:22:04
  accents in your head? Oh, yeah, totally, totally.
• 1:22:09
  Nell, who did the audio book. I went with her because I
• 1:22:12
  thought she actually did sound like Nell, like Anne in my head,
• 1:22:17
  which is a slight like sort of Britishy Welsh accent.
• 1:22:20
  That's what I heard in my head when I first.
• 1:22:24
  Because I, I was like, it's like she's like very proper and she
• 1:22:27
  sounded like she came from a very fancy family.
• 1:22:30
  And that's how I, that is how I heard her.
• 1:22:32
  And then as the story progressed, I see in my mind she
• 1:22:37
  lost that properness and got a little bit more gritty in her,
• 1:22:40
  in her way. She still loves her fancy
• 1:22:43
  sunscreen. And face cream.
• 1:22:45
  And perfume. There's no need to smell like a.
• 1:22:48
  Barrel of fish. On the high seas.
• 1:22:53
  As a former Princess, yeah. Now I'll say.
• 1:22:56
  Something stick with you. Yeah, Yeah.
• 1:23:00
  That's what I would do. I would I.
• 1:23:01
  Would try to wear. Sunscreen.
• 1:23:02
  If I was forced to be out in the sun all day, now you're now you
• 1:23:07
  said you. Have a book coming out this.
• 1:23:09
  Fall, do you have a date of when that bull will be released or a
• 1:23:13
  kind of a ballpark? I have a ballpark.
• 1:23:18
  I was going. To do it, you know, the couple
• 1:23:21
  days before Halloween. But now, Sarah, SJM has ruined
• 1:23:26
  everyone's plans and everyone is moving their releases because
• 1:23:28
  nobody wants to interfere with the unstoppable change.
• 1:23:33
  Yeah, so. I.
• 1:23:36
  I'm thinking it will be, you know, maybe second week of
• 1:23:40
  October ish. I did pre-orders for bloody
• 1:23:45
  black. It was a huge amount of work,
• 1:23:47
  insane. I will not do it again.
• 1:23:50
  So I'm not going to offer pre-orders or anything.
• 1:23:51
  It's just going to it'll go out to my arc team and you'll start
• 1:23:54
  seeing it and then it'll just it'll just be there.
• 1:23:57
  So yeah, said this one has a witchy vibe to this one.
• 1:24:01
  Yes, yes. Witchy coven, Witchy pirates.
• 1:24:07
  Witchy. No, no.
• 1:24:10
  So. So the the general gist is she,
• 1:24:15
  her and her family are on the run and we don't really know
• 1:24:20
  exactly why they're on the run. And they settle in a town and
• 1:24:25
  she just wants to fit in and she makes friends with a group of
• 1:24:29
  girls who practice a little bit of witchcraft in their spare
• 1:24:32
  time. So she gets sort of caught,
• 1:24:35
  caught up in wanting to be their friend.
• 1:24:39
  And they're they're not so nice. Maybe.
• 1:24:44
  Yeah. And so we have a witch, We have
• 1:24:47
  a male witch who's also there who becomes sort of like a
• 1:24:51
  mentor teacher. We have a Crone as another
• 1:24:54
  mentor teacher. Love the Crones and.
• 1:24:58
  And then? And then we have a sort of
• 1:25:00
  forced marriage situation, so we'll see what happens.
• 1:25:03
  I'm excited. I want to give.
• 1:25:06
  Way too much geographically. In that.
• 1:25:08
  Story, like do you kind of have like a setting in mind or that
• 1:25:11
  you could describe for us? Like is it based on your Ireland
• 1:25:14
  visits or what? What is in your head?
• 1:25:17
  Is it London, New America? Yeah, yeah.
• 1:25:19
  Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I'm currently I'm currently
• 1:25:25
  I'm currently planning for it to be a retelling of the Salem
• 1:25:29
  witch trials. I was going to say that sounds
• 1:25:31
  yes like Salem from the point. Of view of basically.
• 1:25:35
  Of a woman who's trapped in them, but not really the reason
• 1:25:40
  or the big like main event. And it's sort of you're you're
• 1:25:44
  watching it happen and you're like being accused.
• 1:25:46
  But it's like isn't really witchcraft.
• 1:25:48
  All he did was burn a candle one time, like come on.
• 1:25:51
  So we'll see what happens. I'm not sure how much of A
• 1:25:54
  actual witch I will make her versus somebody who's accused of
• 1:25:58
  being a witch and who at the time when it happens, it's maybe
• 1:26:02
  like, yeah, OK, so I like made a special tea and burned a candle.
• 1:26:07
  Like, I don't think I should be hanged for that, right?
• 1:26:11
  Versus some actual witches who are escaping, right.
• 1:26:16
  So we'll see what happens. We'll see what happens.
• 1:26:22
  And is that the title reveal on? Instagram right now that we're
• 1:26:25
  guessing that yes, OK, now I have.
• 1:26:29
  An idea so. By the time this podcast will be
• 1:26:32
  spicy. Though, Rebecca, just so you
• 1:26:34
  know, it will be very spicy by the time this podcast releases.
• 1:26:40
  Will we know what the title is or is that going to come after
• 1:26:43
  the podcast releases? I think it will be right around
• 1:26:46
  the same time actually. OK, OK.
• 1:26:48
  I was going to say, does Heather get to hear it right now or no?
• 1:26:52
  We can we can delete we could delete this part out right here.
• 1:26:55
  I mean the only thing is if I guess it.
• 1:26:57
  Like I like you can't guess on the Instagram.
• 1:27:00
  Yes, Sir. Yeah, yeah.
• 1:27:01
  Yeah, yeah, because I I would be.
• 1:27:03
  Up to you. I'm.
• 1:27:04
  I can tell you I OK, Tell me. It's tallow and bone and I was
• 1:27:10
  tallow and bone. I was like, I'm going to be
• 1:27:11
  confused with everybody who's like trad wife giving recipe Rex
• 1:27:15
  right now. Whatever, it's tallow and Bone
• 1:27:19
  and I, I'm really excited about the covers.
• 1:27:23
  I'm started. I've already gotten some of the
• 1:27:25
  art in. It is fire I love.
• 1:27:28
  So I'm really excited about this one.
• 1:27:33
  Yeah, I'm excited. About it, we'll see what
• 1:27:35
  happens. You never know.
• 1:27:36
  I actually did not know about bloody Black.
• 1:27:38
  Like performing the way that it has.
• 1:27:40
  I didn't know, right? I was like, this is not
• 1:27:43
  traditional romanticity. It's dark romance, but the
• 1:27:47
  romance, it's not that dark. Like, I don't know.
• 1:27:49
  And so I didn't know what kind of reception it would would
• 1:27:54
  have. And so I, that's how I feel
• 1:27:55
  about all of my books, right? I, I don't know how it will go.
• 1:27:58
  So yeah, we'll see. I mean, tropes are tropes.
• 1:28:01
  Sometimes you have to make up your own, you know, people.
• 1:28:05
  They're enemies of lovers. Except he loves her.
• 1:28:07
  Desperately. And she disguises every fiber of
• 1:28:10
  his being. I just write all that in there.
• 1:28:14
  Yeah, we like when people have unique trips.
• 1:28:17
  So I I find that we like a lot of those kind of books where
• 1:28:20
  you're like, yeah, but it's like this, but it's also kind of like
• 1:28:23
  a mixture of different. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 1:28:25
  I feel like the trope thing can kind of be suffocating.
• 1:28:28
  It's like we all. Love them and it's great, but
• 1:28:30
  it's also can we stop trying to fit everything into these little
• 1:28:33
  boxes, like let's just enjoy it. We don't have to.
• 1:28:38
  We don't have to identify every single thing.
• 1:28:40
  Yeah, yeah. Well, and that's also.
• 1:28:43
  I was like, OK, we'll. I'm like, no, don't say his
• 1:28:46
  name, no. Nobody.
• 1:28:48
  I've seen that, you know, he's tattooed.
• 1:28:52
  He's dark haired. He is the least broody man.
• 1:28:55
  Yeah. So someone was like, oh, he's my
• 1:28:58
  sunshine pirate daddy. And I was like, oh, that's
• 1:29:01
  absolutely how I would describe him.
• 1:29:02
  He's so he looks dark and. See and eat avocados and she's.
• 1:29:07
  Like piss off, right? Like she's so full of venom.
• 1:29:11
  For this man. And he is so.
• 1:29:14
  Every step of the. Way you know from when she first
• 1:29:19
  sees him all that he is so sweet to her the entire time he has
• 1:29:23
  that that love for her or. Whatever how you want to put.
• 1:29:27
  It that connection with her and she does not want that part of
• 1:29:33
  him and well, she does, but she doesn't.
• 1:29:35
  But you know what I mean? Yeah, it's brilliant.
• 1:29:38
  She's the internal turmoils. Going on.
• 1:29:41
  With her feelings, she has a lot of internal turmoil going on.
• 1:29:44
  Not that you could. Blame her.
• 1:29:47
  So, yeah, so. Anyway.
• 1:29:51
  So that's there's just, there's a lot.
• 1:29:53
  There's a lot going on actually. Yeah, you've got a full calendar
• 1:29:57
  here. And dealing with an
• 1:30:00
  international move in the midst of it all.
• 1:30:02
  Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And.
• 1:30:05
  So. I guess, yeah.
• 1:30:06
  The biggest news this, which won't be news by the time this
• 1:30:09
  airs, it's like there we're doing an announcement on Monday
• 1:30:12
  of a book deal for Bloody Black. So that's very exciting.
• 1:30:17
  So we'll just be staying tuned. Yeah, that's exciting.
• 1:30:22
  We have to come back and we have to do a deep dive.
• 1:30:25
  Of bloody black, because once we get Heather that or not Heather
• 1:30:28
  Chelsea, we get you that you have read the whole thing.
• 1:30:30
  Then we can discuss the real ready parts of all of it.
• 1:30:35
  And and then, of course, then you'd have to come back another
• 1:30:38
  time and talk to us about your new book as well, because that
• 1:30:43
  would be so much fun for all of us.
• 1:30:46
  Yeah, this has been a super fun thing doing this, but there's.
• 1:30:50
  A couple of other. Witch books coming out and so.
• 1:30:52
  I'm, I'm excited about those because I really felt, you know,
• 1:30:56
  Amelia J and I were writing at the same time and we're friends.
• 1:31:00
  And so I was like, is this going to be similar to bloody black?
• 1:31:03
  I'm so worried about the Wraith beneath the tides, right?
• 1:31:06
  I was worried and then they came out.
• 1:31:08
  They're nothing alike, like literally nothing, these two
• 1:31:11
  books. And so I have a few other other
• 1:31:14
  friends who are doing witch books and I'm like, quick check
• 1:31:16
  in, is this trope in your book? And they're like, no.
• 1:31:19
  And I'm like, sweet. So far they.
• 1:31:23
  The WITCH cohort is sounding very, very different, so that's
• 1:31:27
  good news too. You don't want to overlap too
• 1:31:29
  much, Yeah, but it's also good to have like.
• 1:31:32
  More spectrum out there too. So you're not like one witch
• 1:31:37
  book and you're like, yes, well, and I also think most.
• 1:31:40
  Most, most people in my friend cohort don't write books any
• 1:31:44
  near anywhere near as dark as mine, so that's also a plus.
• 1:31:49
  They're more pure fantasy romance.
• 1:31:53
  I'm, I like to think of it as grim dark romantic.
• 1:31:56
  See. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 1:31:59
  I'd say that Heather also. Came up with a.
• 1:32:01
  New term. For plot twist.
• 1:32:03
  Oh no, yes, I was trying to say plot.
• 1:32:06
  Twist and I was like, she has some good twat.
• 1:32:10
  Oh. It's so hard, I'm crying.
• 1:32:13
  Sure, that would make it through the Instagram filters so hard.
• 1:32:20
  Probably like, Oh yeah, she's got some great twat.
• 1:32:23
  And she's like twat twist grade A.
• 1:32:29
  Now there are so many plot twists I do.
• 1:32:31
  That in all of my books, actually, yeah.
• 1:32:36
  Oh Lord, that's hilarious. Oh my God, that is funny.
• 1:32:40
  Yeah. I I told you, if we say this,
• 1:32:43
  this is a new term, we people will can start using that term.
• 1:32:47
  It may yeah. It might be like fetch.
• 1:32:49
  Though. But we'll try it.
• 1:32:52
  We're going to try to make twat happen.
• 1:32:56
  I was saying I was. Like it's like when I said.
• 1:32:59
  The only way we could really use it if it's like the when the
• 1:33:01
  twist comes before the plot or something like, I don't know,
• 1:33:03
  it's a twat, yeah. We're gonna make it a thing.
• 1:33:08
  Somehow. There are.
• 1:33:09
  A lot of what we were doing prior to talking.
• 1:33:12
  To you. Before we were laughing, sorry
• 1:33:14
  and it's when we stopped between when we recorded and bringing
• 1:33:18
  you in and we didn't have it we it was funny.
• 1:33:21
  That would have been really fun to have that would.
• 1:33:23
  Be a good one, yeah? Well.
• 1:33:27
  So for the I also. Want to ask that real quick.
• 1:33:30
  Because Heather, listen to the audio.
• 1:33:31
  Rebecca, you're reading it. Physical copy.
• 1:33:34
  I'm reading it on my Kindle through Kindle Unlimited.
• 1:33:37
  So for the audio book, is it a male and female narrator?
• 1:33:41
  Is it a female that does all of it?
• 1:33:43
  I wish. No, it's just a single narrator.
• 1:33:46
  I really did want a duet. But sometimes we don't get what
• 1:33:50
  we want in life, so it's hard. I loved her, though.
• 1:33:54
  I was really happy with her, with nails, with her, with the
• 1:34:00
  single narration. I one of my other books is
• 1:34:04
  coming up. Lillian Thorne is coming up.
• 1:34:08
  The audio book should be released in the next week or
• 1:34:10
  two. And it's a duet, but I, I would
• 1:34:12
  love to do more duets just because I'm an audio person
• 1:34:16
  personally, and a man growling good girl into a microphone
• 1:34:20
  reduces me into a pile of Jelly. So I just, I have to write a
• 1:34:23
  book where I can get a duet happening where that happens for
• 1:34:25
  me, 'cause I just need. Yeah, it's hard.
• 1:34:28
  I, I've done some narration for a couple of indie authors and I
• 1:34:32
  think that people don't realize like it's hard budget wise and
• 1:34:37
  just even with like getting it on to ACX, like there are a lot
• 1:34:41
  of moving pieces and parts. And what kind of sucks for
• 1:34:45
  narrators is that like people will rate it low lower because
• 1:34:49
  it did, wasn't duet. And it's like, that's not really
• 1:34:51
  fair. Like can you just listen to the
• 1:34:53
  narration? Like, keep that in mind that
• 1:34:56
  like, not everybody can get the two voices.
• 1:34:58
  And like, based off of that, like, because I've seen a couple
• 1:35:01
  where it's like, Oh, it's a four.
• 1:35:02
  It's a three because they didn't have a male narrator.
• 1:35:04
  And it's like, yeah. Well, and it's also.
• 1:35:09
  So much more effort for everyone to do the editing between the
• 1:35:14
  two voices because people, you know, there are some cases where
• 1:35:18
  it's, you know, a man and his wife and they're a duo and they
• 1:35:22
  do the duets. But otherwise, for the most
• 1:35:24
  part, this is a human being who's like, you know, in Orlando
• 1:35:28
  and the other person is in Seattle and they literally don't
• 1:35:32
  know each other recording their parts of the book.
• 1:35:34
  And then someone has to edit it all to make it all sound nice
• 1:35:38
  for us, the listener. And it just adds a lot of extra
• 1:35:41
  time and a lot of extra cost. So I think it's very hard for
• 1:35:45
  Indies to do duet narration. And so.
• 1:35:52
  So there's one day, there's that.
• 1:35:53
  Well, since we're getting a book deal, maybe.
• 1:35:55
  We could get a graphic audio. I would really like to that
• 1:36:00
  would be. Cool, that would be cool.
• 1:36:02
  Yes, it's. Like you said on a total cast.
• 1:36:06
  That'd be awesome. Yeah.
• 1:36:09
  So on a totally unrelated note, so yesterday I went to tits,
• 1:36:12
  which is Temptation in the Triangle, which is a book con
• 1:36:16
  here in in Raleigh. A man stops at my table.
• 1:36:20
  He's looking at all the. Not safe for work artwork.
• 1:36:23
  And he's like, oh, this is beautiful, this is so nice.
• 1:36:25
  I look at his badge. Gorvin King.
• 1:36:28
  I was like, you could have it all for free.
• 1:36:32
  Also please do my audiobooks. Please don't leave before.
• 1:36:35
  I introduce myself and ingratiate myself so that you
• 1:36:37
  like me as a person and do my audiobooks.
• 1:36:40
  So it was really cool. That was really.
• 1:36:43
  Cool. And there were some other
• 1:36:43
  audiobook narrators there reading people's passages from
• 1:36:46
  their books. It was just really, it was
• 1:36:48
  really fun. It was a great event.
• 1:36:49
  Yeah, that's awesome. Is he?
• 1:36:51
  Was he visiting or is he? Here in North.
• 1:36:53
  Carolina. I was like, does he live here?
• 1:36:55
  I have like. A random weekend.
• 1:36:58
  Drake. To Raleigh.
• 1:36:59
  Raleigh. So maybe he lives here or
• 1:37:04
  around. As we all come into our
• 1:37:07
  collective stalking. Online, yeah.
• 1:37:09
  No research. Yeah, this weekend too is also.
• 1:37:13
  Up in New York City is book. Con did you guys, did you see
• 1:37:17
  the pictures of the line looks horrible, right?
• 1:37:21
  I mean it looks. Fun, but also horrible.
• 1:37:25
  I didn't even apply 'cause I'm still.
• 1:37:26
  Learning. That these things even exist,
• 1:37:28
  right. People are like, oh, have you
• 1:37:30
  applied to Imaginarium? I'm like, what is that?
• 1:37:32
  Yeah, I'm learning up. There in my Arthur.
• 1:37:36
  Journey. Yeah, they Maggie Senseri the.
• 1:37:40
  Author, She was there. She didn't know what to expect
• 1:37:43
  because I don't think she's ever gone to that particular one
• 1:37:46
  before. And she only brought just so
• 1:37:49
  many books with her and she completely sold out last night.
• 1:37:52
  That's awesome. And she's like, she's like, I'm
• 1:37:54
  going to be there today. But she said I don't have
• 1:37:58
  anything that they can purchase. Yeah, amazing.
• 1:38:03
  So she. Did that now.
• 1:38:04
  Now we've talked to. That like, if you have your
• 1:38:08
  your, like if, if Bloody Black was made into a movie, who would
• 1:38:12
  you put in the roles of Anne and some of these people?
• 1:38:20
  Should we start with Heather giving some of her ideas?
• 1:38:23
  And then you can say if you agree or you have somebody else
• 1:38:26
  in mind, you know, with. Anne.
• 1:38:30
  I just saw a character art of her for your sale of Bloody
• 1:38:34
  Black $0.99 and she looks a lot different than I thought she
• 1:38:39
  would. But like also like yes I was
• 1:38:42
  like yes that makes more sense in my head.
• 1:38:46
  This character art. Oh, you mean the one done by
• 1:38:49
  Trina? That's more like realistic
• 1:38:51
  looking. Yeah, with her eyes kind of
• 1:38:53
  blue. Glowing the.
• 1:38:54
  Long hair she she has like this unruly like curly hair.
• 1:38:59
  So I was just thinking like, I don't know who has like big like
• 1:39:05
  curls and their hair. Maybe like the girl from
• 1:39:09
  Seinfeld that's like whale. But no, I should have imagined.
• 1:39:14
  Yeah, I should have imagined like Ruby Rose or even Zendaya.
• 1:39:25
  Or someone. Who's clearly, you know, not
• 1:39:30
  like completely pale skinned, to be honest.
• 1:39:35
  Yeah. And then the.
• 1:39:36
  Tattoos and. On her on her were done well
• 1:39:40
  because I was thinking like OK, and how is it like here is it
• 1:39:44
  here like where does the the beard kind of come from and
• 1:39:49
  stuff and so I liked how they did that and the character arc.
• 1:39:53
  So I was like that looks pretty. I like that a lot, so.
• 1:39:56
  Yeah, and. Then.
• 1:40:00
  I don't want to. Not.
• 1:40:02
  For Rob, who's the guy who? Jake, Jacob.
• 1:40:07
  Allordy maybe like. Or someone who has would have.
• 1:40:12
  I think you want somebody who has sort.
• 1:40:14
  Of a sweet. Face to be honest, right see,
• 1:40:17
  for me, every guy that has like dark hair is going to be like a
• 1:40:21
  Henry Cavill. Cavill Sorry exactly.
• 1:40:25
  I know or a or who's my other one that I love.
• 1:40:29
  Has dark hair in the blue eyes. He's getting a little old,
• 1:40:32
  though. He was in 27 Dresses and the
• 1:40:37
  Notebook, but he's the guy that she doesn't pick.
• 1:40:39
  No, not Chris Pine, no. Oh, Gosselin.
• 1:40:43
  No, no, the guy she doesn't pick.
• 1:40:45
  Oh, I know who he is, but I can't think of his.
• 1:40:47
  Name. Oh, it's the the guy that she
• 1:40:50
  was gonna marry. He was the military guy,
• 1:40:52
  remember? And she said no, Yeah, but she
• 1:40:54
  doesn't pick him. She's getting a wedding.
• 1:40:56
  Dress and she's a Sonic the. Hedgehog movie Heart of the.
• 1:40:59
  Movie I just can't picture. You have to.
• 1:41:01
  Look at it, I can't think of. Hold on, he's in Sonic the
• 1:41:03
  Hedgehog. I'm gonna find this.
• 1:41:05
  What is his damn name? I've seen that movie and I'm
• 1:41:07
  still blanking on the name. Hold on.
• 1:41:10
  OK. He's very.
• 1:41:12
  James Marston. James Marston.
• 1:41:15
  Oh, yeah. Or the guy from Once Upon a Time
• 1:41:19
  that played Hook. I always like see him.
• 1:41:23
  Yeah. Yeah.
• 1:41:26
  But I like your Jacob. Lordy, I like that too.
• 1:41:28
  I can see it. Yeah, I can see that, I think.
• 1:41:35
  Yeah. And then for you know.
• 1:41:37
  Domino I like whoever who played Daenerys Targaryen or Amelia
• 1:41:48
  Clark. Amelia Clark And then for like
• 1:41:52
  Prudence, I really. I really.
• 1:41:56
  Saw her as like Jada Pinkett Smith or I could see that.
• 1:42:03
  She's such a badass, she's so cool.
• 1:42:05
  Yeah, so cool. So.
• 1:42:08
  Strong. So yeah, she's edgy.
• 1:42:12
  Yeah, yeah. She's magnificent.
• 1:42:15
  Still one of my favorite, still is.
• 1:42:17
  Domino She. Still is my I can't wait for
• 1:42:20
  teach. Oh.
• 1:42:22
  Teach. Oh, teach.
• 1:42:26
  Yeah, he has my. Heart.
• 1:42:27
  And I can't. Reveal anything?
• 1:42:28
  Until we talk later, but I feel. Like I'm ruining.
• 1:42:32
  It for all of you, but. Then we're trying to get new fan
• 1:42:35
  base too. So yeah, yeah, that's why we
• 1:42:38
  have to do. We'll do an episode.
• 1:42:40
  Where we can deep dive into all of this kind of stuff.
• 1:42:42
  But oh, he's what is driving me crazy.
• 1:42:45
  He's so wonderful. Yeah, actually we can talk about
• 1:42:48
  him in sort of like a more abstract sense.
• 1:42:51
  So the history of Blackbeard, right, For those who aren't, you
• 1:42:55
  know, super into early North American history, who could
• 1:42:59
  blame you if you weren't? It's Edward Teach, also known
• 1:43:03
  as. Edward.
• 1:43:04
  Thatch is the original Blackbeard.
• 1:43:06
  So Edward Teach is a character in this book.
• 1:43:09
  He's actually a first, like a first mate to Anne, our FMC and
• 1:43:15
  just a incredible friend and always is at her side.
• 1:43:21
  And whenever they are on land, he's faking being the captain
• 1:43:26
  and she is trying to be like unrecognizable or like his lady
• 1:43:30
  wife so that, you know, she doesn't get found out.
• 1:43:34
  And so that dynamic between the two of them and then also him
• 1:43:39
  and the crew is really cool because the rest of the crew is
• 1:43:42
  like, you know, to, to pilot this huge ship, you actually you
• 1:43:47
  require like 100 plus people, but there's this section up top
• 1:43:52
  of the ship and then there's the main.
• 1:43:54
  And so as she is captain and she has her first mates and then she
• 1:43:58
  has the people who are sort of her inner circle, that whole
• 1:44:02
  actually in historical records, they talk about Blackbeard
• 1:44:05
  having an inner circle and they talk about how he freed slaves
• 1:44:11
  and then allowed them to stay on the boat and like earn money and
• 1:44:15
  they split the whatever they stole 5050.
• 1:44:18
  So that was one of the ways that people who were slaves could be
• 1:44:22
  quote UN quote free is by being a pirate.
• 1:44:24
  And so there's people of color on the ship and but you know,
• 1:44:30
  Blackbeard and the inner circle are like up top.
• 1:44:33
  And then there's this like amorphous bot mass of like,
• 1:44:37
  quote UN quote sailors for sailor pirates who are down
• 1:44:39
  there like doing stuff and like having fights or whatever, which
• 1:44:43
  we don't know much about any of them.
• 1:44:45
  But then and teach and the rest of the group are like up there
• 1:44:49
  with Anne piloting the ship at the helm.
• 1:44:53
  Yeah. So you just made.
• 1:44:54
  So there's a lot of. Historical facts in there you.
• 1:44:56
  Just made early North American history sound really freaking
• 1:44:59
  cool. So yes, Well, absolutely.
• 1:45:03
  It so is and. If you saw like Pirates of the.
• 1:45:05
  Caribbean, they actually incorporated a lot of facts
• 1:45:08
  about Blackbeard into that movie.
• 1:45:10
  So for instance, like Blackbeard, they did put cutlery
• 1:45:15
  into the cannons and fire that emit people and tried to kill
• 1:45:21
  the people but not harm the ship because they would steal the
• 1:45:23
  ships, right? So you don't want to, you
• 1:45:26
  actually don't want to fire a bunch of cannonballs along the
• 1:45:28
  water line and sink a ship if you're planning to steal said
• 1:45:31
  ship, right, and add it to your fleet.
• 1:45:33
  You just want to get rid of the people on board.
• 1:45:36
  So if they're not going to join your merry crew, they can, they
• 1:45:42
  can swim, right? They can die or swim.
• 1:45:45
  And usually if you swim, you die.
• 1:45:47
  So, you know, the choices are not great, which is a thing we
• 1:45:51
  also see in the book. So in the end of the book, I
• 1:45:53
  really recommend reading the author notes because it has like
• 1:45:56
  a lot of historical research and then how that maps to the
• 1:45:59
  characters, because I tried to keep a lot of like real facts
• 1:46:03
  about Blackbeard's life and death accurate.
• 1:46:07
  That's really cool. And the fact that you have that,
• 1:46:10
  it actually reminds me of since you're talking about your how
• 1:46:12
  you're reading plated prisoner Raven Kennedy will do like this
• 1:46:15
  fun fact Friday and she'll put on there like don't read this if
• 1:46:18
  you haven't gotten to this book yet or whatever, but she gives
• 1:46:21
  some of that lore and the background into where she came
• 1:46:25
  up with a lot of the of the series.
• 1:46:27
  And so I really enjoyed that. So I love authors who give us a
• 1:46:30
  little bit more more a little bit more insight or we have that
• 1:46:33
  background. I'm actually like, currently
• 1:46:35
  reading all of these manuscripts and like, old scans from
• 1:46:40
  libraries of the Salem witch trials.
• 1:46:42
  And girl, you're putting in the water, like been emailing with a
• 1:46:46
  professor who, you know, teaches about the American Revolution in
• 1:46:50
  the Salem witch trials. So.
• 1:46:52
  And you said you went to College in Massachusetts?
• 1:46:55
  Have you ever been to Salem? No.
• 1:46:59
  No. I haven't.
• 1:47:01
  I haven't. I need to go really.
• 1:47:03
  Desperately and I, I. I need to go before this book is
• 1:47:07
  published, just because they have a library there and stuff.
• 1:47:10
  Yeah, for sure. Before you leave the States, you
• 1:47:12
  got to go. Yes, Yeah.
• 1:47:14
  No, I've only I've gone. To Sleepy Hollow.
• 1:47:16
  That's my only like spook place of in America that I've gone to
• 1:47:20
  is Sleepy Hollow, which is not nearly as spooky as one would.
• 1:47:23
  Expect. Yeah, sleepy.
• 1:47:24
  Hollow. Is that in New York?
• 1:47:29
  Yeah, because the fog when you're.
• 1:47:32
  Like you do England and up in those areas in the fall and
• 1:47:35
  stuff. And the way the fog is, it has
• 1:47:37
  such a creepy, but I'm originally from Pennsylvania, so
• 1:47:41
  you know, it has that, that that vibe because even being because
• 1:47:45
  I'm down in Kentucky now, the fog is different.
• 1:47:48
  The falls are different. It's not the same feel.
• 1:47:52
  No, it's not the same. It is.
• 1:47:55
  Not and you said then you were originally.
• 1:47:56
  From Oregon, correct? I graduated high school in
• 1:47:59
  Oregon and I. I'm from North Carolina
• 1:48:02
  originally. That's the terrifying Southern
• 1:48:05
  accent I have been to. I have been to Oregon because.
• 1:48:08
  My ex-husband was from Oregon. He was from the North Bend.
• 1:48:12
  Coos Bay Area is where he was from.
• 1:48:15
  It's a nice area. Actually, it is.
• 1:48:17
  Beautiful. My beautiful.
• 1:48:19
  My favorite? Place out there, even though he
• 1:48:21
  was a miserable person to ever travel with or go anywhere with.
• 1:48:24
  I do or be with maybe. Oh.
• 1:48:27
  Oh, that's why he's an ex-husband.
• 1:48:29
  He's and, and now he is no longer with us.
• 1:48:32
  He is a ghost, but, but that's just because of his own.
• 1:48:35
  That was his own doing of his but but the second did not bury
• 1:48:39
  a body. There was nothing like that.
• 1:48:42
  No, that happened nine years after.
• 1:48:44
  I divorced him. But, but there's a place out
• 1:48:47
  there. It's called Short Acres and it
• 1:48:49
  is so beautiful. Have you ever been there?
• 1:48:52
  It's a Botanical Garden. It's I think it's South of Coos
• 1:48:58
  Bay. I can't remember anymore, but
• 1:49:00
  it's right there and then you can.
• 1:49:01
  It's right on the ocean and they do over 1,000,000 Christmas
• 1:49:05
  lights. And if you walk out to the edge,
• 1:49:08
  you can see the big, you know how like the plates of the earth
• 1:49:11
  are sticking up out of the the ground right there at the ocean.
• 1:49:15
  And it is absolutely one of the most beautiful places I've been.
• 1:49:18
  That was where in Oregon is where I put my feet in the
• 1:49:21
  Pacific Ocean because I've had my feet in the Pacific and I've
• 1:49:24
  had them in the Atlantic and that was in Virginia Beach.
• 1:49:27
  Those are the 2 cases. Well, I definitely was thinking
• 1:49:30
  of the Oregon Coast. When I was riding Celestia,
• 1:49:33
  right, Because it's rocky, it's cold, it's misty, So yeah.
• 1:49:38
  And that's a fog all in its own there, too.
• 1:49:41
  Because I, my, my mother in law's place was in Myrtle Beach
• 1:49:46
  or not Myrtle Beach. Myrtle.
• 1:49:49
  It was something Myrtle. I can't remember what it was
• 1:49:51
  called. It's something Myrtle.
• 1:49:52
  And, and I remember the fog was so thick like it is, and you
• 1:49:58
  would open the door, you could not see it.
• 1:50:00
  You could cut it with a knife. And I've never seen fog like
• 1:50:02
  that before in my life. It's very different than here or
• 1:50:05
  even like what I would get in Pennsylvania kind of stuff.
• 1:50:08
  But it was very beautiful area. It is a beautiful area.
• 1:50:12
  But thank you though for. Being an open book with us.
• 1:50:14
  Today for sure, we are so excited for your move and for
• 1:50:18
  your future releases, and we do want you to come back.
• 1:50:22
  We'll do a deep dive on this and then we would love you to come
• 1:50:25
  another time to talk about your upcoming Witchy book as well.
• 1:50:30
  Great. OK.
• 1:50:31
  Yeah, when we get a little closer right now.
• 1:50:33
  It's like still not written. So I'm like, yeah, it is also a
• 1:50:38
  fog. Well, I've.
• 1:50:41
  Walked him through it and. Then and then where can?
• 1:50:44
  People find your Instagram, and where can people find your
• 1:50:47
  books? Yeah, so Rhiannon Hargadin.
• 1:50:50
  On Instagram and then my books. It depends.
• 1:50:54
  They're available Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Waterstones UK, but
• 1:50:59
  if you want special editions you can buy them at
• 1:51:02
  rhiannonhargadin.com. Hell yeah.
• 1:51:05
  Those are really cool looking too, so.
• 1:51:08
  They come with a pirate flag. I have to get one of those.
• 1:51:14
  Well. For all of our.
• 1:51:15
  Listeners. We are currently chasing 100
• 1:51:19
  subscribers on YouTube and we are also on Apple podcast,
• 1:51:23
  Spotify anywhere podcasts are. So come follow us, subscribe all
• 1:51:28
  that fun stuff and check out our potion recipes on our Instagram.
• 1:51:32
  Yes, hit the subscribe button every.
• 1:51:34
  Subscription helps us bring on more incredible authors like
• 1:51:38
  Rhiannon. As always, stay spicy.
• 1:51:41
  Keep those TBRS dangerously high, all right, babe.
• 1:51:46
  Good night. Thank you.
• 1:51:48
  Bye. Bye.