Back in Ye Old Days of Romance Publishing

[00:00:00] Okay, can I hear you? I can hear you. Welcome to The Incoherent Fangirl. Where we're scrambling a little bit today, but we'll get through it. We can do it. I believe in us. We? We? We. We. Okay. We. It is a joint effort. I'm scrambling Mandy of Montecito.

[00:00:27] Hi, I'm Karin from the Enchanted Vale. Welcome to the podcast. Welcome to the chaos. Yeah, truly. In our timeline, it is March 20th. And in y'all's timeline, it is March 28th. Yay! That's so crazy. Also, but how? I don't know, because I feel like it was January so long. I'm pretty sure Christmas just happened.

[00:00:56] Yeah. Three months ago. No, like yesterday. Weird. Time is weird. I know. I don't like it. Mm-mm. This week in Fangirling, what'd you do? I had the plague. So, like I finished recording. I text Karen before we recorded last week that my stomach like was really hurting, but then it went away and I was fine. Like everything was great, whatever.

[00:01:24] I go down and get in my bed and it was like a flip just switched. Like I tidied up the house. I did a few things. I got in the bed and it was like, oh, you might be dying. I was in so much pain that I knew it wasn't appendicitis because I don't have an appendix, but I thought for sure that my gallbladder had like ruptured and it was gone. It was not. It was a stomach flu.

[00:01:47] I was laying on my bathroom floor dying thinking that like Josh was out of town. So, I was like, I'm going to have to wake the twins up to drive me to the ER. Friday night was miserable. Saturday was bad. Sunday was getting better. And then I ate more like I ate some toast.

[00:02:02] And then I got bad again. It took forever, forever to recover. Like I still today, a week later, not a hundred percent. Yeah. So, I didn't do a lot of like I couldn't do any physical reading. Like I was miserable. I was running a fever for most of the weekend. So, like looking at something here made me wait, like so dizzy.

[00:02:26] So, I did, however, watch, I binged through With Love Megan. Which is Megan Markle Sussex's show. Obsessed, once again, people who hate her can shut up. Most of the episodes are her like learning something from someone. And she seems so gracious and earnest. And like I do not get the vibes that people say where she doesn't seem genuine because to me she seems like over eager and genuine.

[00:02:54] People complain that it's not relatable. And to that I say, who says it's supposed to be? I don't want to relate to my princesses. Thank you. Like I don't want to relate to the royals. I just want to watch her in her little cottage that she rented in Montecito. And watch her pick food out of the garden and make it into a beautiful salad. She's literally a royal. Like do you really think you're supposed to relate? I mean like.

[00:03:19] Yeah. And then people are mad that she didn't film it in her own kitchen. And I'm like, wait, no, sorry. She has two small children. And film crews like take up a lot of space. You want her to upset her children's home and their space for weeks to film this show? No. No. Like let her be in her little rented cottage. It was wonderful. People were hating on her because I saw an article where somebody was like, oh, she wore a lot of actually like affordable clothing on the show.

[00:03:46] There was Zara. She had some Crocs, like some Crocs mules on and people are like, well, I would never spend $40 on Crocs. Okay. Just because you wouldn't spend the money on it does not mean that $40 shoes are not affordable. Like, right. That's an important. That's affordable shoes right there. Like you're just people look like for reasons to hate her. And I don't get it. I don't get it. Yeah. So I loved it. I also binged the latest season of Sweet Magnolias.

[00:04:15] It's a Netflix show that I've watched and didn't realize there was a new season. It's only been out a few weeks. Very, very, very typical Southern town, except for most of the people there seem to be very liberal in their views. And there's nary a single MAGA hat. That's not a real Southern town.

[00:04:34] I was like, there's no way. That sounds made up. Right. But fun fact, it's filmed in Covington, Georgia, which I've been to several times, which is also where the Vampire Diaries is filmed. And exterior shots of like the famous restaurant in the town is the Mystic Grill, which opened because of and was the location for the Mystic Girl and the Vampire Diaries.

[00:04:58] It's like the fourth season. So I can't tell you very much about the plot, but it's a good time waster if you're laying in your bed or on your couch dying of like the plague. I've still been listening to a little bit of City of Gods and Monsters by Kayla Edwards. It's fine. Like I, I have to keep taking breaks from it because it's a Crescent City kind of fantasy and not a Throne of Glass kind of fantasy.

[00:05:23] And I'm just getting burnt out on like the dudes in leather jackets, you know, don't even look at her. Okay. I then started working through some famously banned books on Audible or not Audible on audio Libby because books and libraries are currently being threatened. And if the powers that be don't want you to read something, then it's that much more important that you do read it. So I'm going to be slowly peppering in some banned books into my reading.

[00:05:53] So I read Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. So we have Guy Montag. He's a fireman in America's dystopian. In America's present day. America's dystopian future where books have been outlawed and firemen's jobs is to burn any books and the houses that have them to the ground. So one day Montag meets his new neighbor, Clarice, who's a free thinking radical teenager.

[00:06:21] And the conversations that he has with her kind of have him start reflecting on his life and his job and his happiness. He goes home to find that his wife Mildred has overdosed on sleeping pills. So EMTs come, they pump her stomach and basically do a blood transfusion right there on the floor. And then they have to leave because they have to go save the next overdose victim because that is so common. As they're leaving, Montag hears Clarice and her family talking about the illiterate society.

[00:06:49] At the next fire, he and his fire crew are starting, which sounds so crazy to say. Montag sneaks a book into his pocket and he notices that like the woman whose house they are burning, they're like drenching her house in kerosene to light it up, refuses to leave her books. She lights a match and lights herself and her books up because she's not going down. She's not letting her books go down without her. This further screws up Montag who goes home to his wife who is so distracted by the parlor wall.

[00:07:18] So it's like floor to ceiling, wall to wall TV screens on I think there's three of the four in their house or in their living room because she's begging him to get the fourth wall. All she cares about is her family and the show that they put on in the parlor. And it's all day every day. And they can talk to her like you can program it to know your name. So Montag gets a visit from his captain, Captain Beattie, who tells him that a lot of firemen come to this like existential crisis with books

[00:07:45] and have to work through it and he can kind of see it happening in Montag. So he gives them like a brief rundown of the history of books. So as people began to embrace new media, film, movies, sports and like a faster paced life, books were having to be abridged because people's attention spans were shorter. And then technological advancements made buildings fireproof. So fighting fires was no longer really needed.

[00:08:13] Then the government decided to make firemen into officers of society's peace of mind and charge them with burning books, which had at that point been condemned as sources of confusing and depressing thoughts that complicate people's lives. Things happen. And of course, it's a cautionary tale about how critical books and literacy are to us as a society. And like you have to read it like as an American citizen, you have to read Fahrenheit 451. And like have it in your mind, like not, well, I read it in eighth grade.

[00:08:43] Like, no, you need to like refresh it every now and then and keep it because, oh my God. I also listened to Animal Farm by George Orwell. So it's a criticism of the Russian Revolution of 1917, but will also sound very familiar. So we have Manor Farm in England. It's run by an alcoholic farmer, Mr. Jones. It opens with a meeting between all of the animals on the farm led by Old Major, who's the most like respected old boar on the farm.

[00:09:09] He calls on the animals to overthrow the humans and then teaches them like a revolutionary song called Beasts of England. A few days later, Old Major dies and two young pigs, Snowball and Napoleon, take command and stage a revolt. The animals do successfully drive Mr. Jones off the farm and take control, renaming it Animal Farm. They adopt seven commandments, the most important of which is all animals are equal. They paint the commandments on the side of the barn.

[00:09:38] Snowball starts teaching the animals to read and write while Napoleon educates puppies on the seven commandments. So he's like, I'm going to take the dogs. For a time, the farm runs smoothly. There's an overabundance of food for everyone. No one is whipped or forced into the hard labor that they are used to from Mr. Jones. And everyone is happy. But then things like weird things start happening. Like the cows have to be milked, but like no one needs, like none of the animals really have anything to do with the milk.

[00:10:07] And they're like, well, we could supplement our diet. But it starts going missing because the pigs have started mixing it just into their food and not sharing it. The pigs eventually assume leadership roles and start setting aside special food for themselves, which no one notices or cares about. Then Snowball says he wants to modernize the farm by building a windmill and Napoleon disputes it. Eventually having his loyal dogs run Snowball off of the farm.

[00:10:32] Napoleon changes the government of the farm immediately, placing control in his hands and the hands of a committee of pigs. And builds the windmill, claiming he always wanted the windmill. He just opposed it to expose Snowball trying to get all the animals on his side. The animals are forced to work harder than they did for Mr. Jones, but with the promise that it's temporary until the windmill is built.

[00:10:56] After a particularly violent storm, the windmill collapses and Napoleon and his cronies convince everyone that it was Snowball trying to sabotage them. Then they start purging the farm of any animals that they claim are sympathetic to Snowball and his cause.

[00:11:12] So it's a cautionary tale about how even after you get the revolution that you wanted, if power lands in the wrong hands or the hands of a small select few, devastation can still follow and lead you right back to where you were and what you were revolting from or in a worse situation. So the United States. Yeah. Basically, I mean, a pig. These were supposed to be fictional, not handbooks. Right.

[00:11:41] And there are like, I don't want to give too much away, but like the commandments start slowly changing to where people like the animals are like, was it always like that? Did it always say that? Or am I, you know, am I misremembering? Like there's one that's four legs good, two legs bad.

[00:12:00] Well, the pigs teach themselves to walk on two legs and they take all the sheep away and spend a week teaching the sheep to chant four legs, four legs good, two legs better instead of two legs bad. And so the sheep are all chanting this and the rest of the animals are like, was it always that? Or was it now? I can't remember. Sheep.

[00:12:27] I can't remember. What I can.

[00:12:54] I started on some Original Sinner by Kate. It's like my autocorrect change. Kate Ballinger. More on that later. And then today at work, I started listening to Pride or Die by C.L. Montblanc. So we have Eleanor Finkel, who is the leader of an LGBTQ plus group at her high school where she wants to leave a legacy and then leave Texas when she graduates. That's fair. That's fair.

[00:13:20] So she wants her club to stay and be a beacon of help for the LGBTQ community. But she don't want to stay with it. Don't play there. So one day the club is having a meeting after school when they hear a boom and a scream and walk out to find the body of a girl who's tormented Finkel in the club since its inception. Even going so far as to encourage others to joke about how it's a sandwich club. The BLT club.

[00:13:49] She calls Eleanor a sandwich girl. I'm curious. I'm curious about how that's going to play out. I wonder if this girl isn't doesn't realize that she's being an asshole and she thinks she's flirting. We'll see. I'm 25 percent in. So they, of course, rush to help her and end up covered in her blood and holding a hammer that they were using to hang art inside the classroom. Oh.

[00:14:16] Now the girl isn't dead, but she is hospitalized and the principal is out for metaphorical blood, shuttering the club until they are proven innocent when he may consider making the ban on the club temporary instead of permanent. So like I said, I'm about a quarter of the way in. It's been, I want to say fun so far because it is like a dark comedy. No one is actually dead yet, but obviously there are heavy topics too.

[00:14:43] But it has been an enjoyable, fun read because this is like a quirky teenage narrator. Uh-huh. So it's been really cute. Okay. And that was my week. A lot of audio books, a lot of TV shows, a lot of dying. A lot of dying. Just casually dying. No big deal. Just casually, casually dying. No big deal. What did you do this week? I read quite a bit and I actually have notes for most of it this week. Oh my gosh, look at you go. You're not scrambling.

[00:15:12] Just for the beginning part of it. I read Emily Wilde's Map of the Other Lands by Heather Fawcett, which is the second book in the Emily Wilde series. It's a sequel, but I think of it in like a similar way to like episodic television. Like, did you have to watch last week's episode of Parks and Rec in order to understand this week's episode? Probably not. Not really. But do you get a little bit more backstory that may or may not be like relevant to this week's episode? Yeah, probably.

[00:15:41] That's kind of what the sequel feels like. So this one continues to follow Emily Wilde, obviously, as well as her infuriatingly charming colleague, Wendell Bumblebee. This time their adventure takes them to the Austrian Alps for Emily's research project, but also for a more personal reason. This is where like the backstory from the first book would come in.

[00:16:06] But I think you're still able to follow along even if you didn't read book one, because it's like brought up and explained in a way that doesn't feel like exposition to people who have already read it. But it's good for people who haven't read it kind of thing. And I think that you'll have kind of like a deeper attachment to this personal reason than if you hadn't read the first book. It's another cozy fantasy with a little bit higher stakes than the first book.

[00:16:35] I had a good time. I still don't understand all the hype that the series has. I think it's good, but I think it's a little bit overhyped. It's a good series, but like, I think we can tone it down. I get that. I started the first one and I didn't finish it at the time because I just wasn't in the headspace for it. It's a little bit of an undertaking. Yeah, for sure. For sure. I read The Third Gilmore Girl by Kelly Bishop.

[00:17:02] This is the memoir of Kelly Bishop, who we know best from Gilmore Girls. It was really fun to read. I listened to the audiobook, so Kelly is the one who read it. So it was really cool to have Emily Gilmore in my ear just kind of talking to me. But it was like there's so much information that I just didn't know. Like her legal name is not Kelly Bishop, first of all. That's her stage name.

[00:17:30] And she actually started out as a dancer and not like acting. All right, Emily. She only transitioned to acting because she was getting too old to be dancing and she wanted to keep performing. So she, yeah, it's really lovely. I would obviously recommend having your tissues handy when she gets to the part about Edward Herman's passing.

[00:17:55] So, yeah, it's incredibly sweet. Like you can hear like a little bit where she like kind of her voice breaks a little bit and it's just it hits you right here, you know, because they were such good friends. They were, you know, husband and wife for however many years, you know. And the way that she got to say goodbye to him was very, very sweet, I thought.

[00:18:23] So, yeah, definitely have tissues handy. I read Cursebound by Sara L. Arifi, which is the second book in the Faebound series, which I legitimately, truly believed was a duology. I went into it thinking it was the end of the story and I was not mentally prepared for it to not be the end of the story. Oh, no. It is the second book in a trilogy and I did not realize that. So I'm unwell.

[00:18:53] I was so ready. I was like, oh, my gosh. I was looking at it and I was like, oh, my gosh, how are they going to wrap it all up? Well, they're not, Karen. They're not. There's a whole other book. So that being said, obviously, I can't say much about it because it was a sequel. I really enjoyed it. I will be waiting on bade breath for the actual final book. And I did confirm that it is a trilogy. So it is the final book. I really need to be better about this because this is not the first time that I've done something like this.

[00:19:23] And I traumatized myself. Hey, throne of glass is completed for now. For now. Next up, I read Bonded by Thorns by Elizabeth Helen. It's the first book in the Beast of the Briar series. It is very obviously a Beauty and the Beast retelling, but it's aged up a bit, set in a fantasy world and very spicy.

[00:19:43] Our bookworm is Rosalina and she works in a bookstore in her small town where she is the subject of all the gossip because her dad regularly runs off to find her mom, who, according to him, was taken by fairies. And nobody believes him. They just think she just left you. Get over it, dude. Yeah, get over it, man.

[00:20:01] Now, after a very, very public proposal from her on-again, off-again, toxic fuck buddy, Lucas, it's interrupted by somebody running in informing Rosalina that they found her dad's jacket and has blood on it. She rushes out of there with that person and Lucas in tow in order to find her dad because she hasn't seen him in a while. And obviously he's her dad. She loves him, even if he's not the best dad because he keeps leaving her behind.

[00:20:28] Rosalina and Lucas end up going through a rosebush, which is like the entrance to the Fey world, and find themselves in the Enchanted Vale. While trying to escape from goblins, Rosalina falls off a cliff and Lucas, ever the gentleman, leaves her for dead. She's like hanging off the cliff and he sees her and he turns and he's like right by the rosebush and he just books it. So... What a cool guy. He's great. He's really great.

[00:20:57] So she finds her way to Castle Tree, which is indeed a castle that has a tree growing through it. Where she finds her father locked up in a dungeon and tries to break him out, but the master of the castle catches her and she volunteers herself in her father's place. What? Does this sound familiar?

[00:21:17] Oh, it gets even better because the castle is home to four cursed Fey princes who turn into wolves when the sun goes down and stay wolves until the sun goes up and all of the servants in the castle also turn into animals. If you didn't know what the story was based on... Do you know? Now you know. The only way for them to break the curse is for the four princes to find their mates and accept the mating bond.

[00:21:42] They have to do this before the four roses that represent their lives lose all their petals. Otherwise, the curse becomes permanent. So Rose enters into a bargain with the winter prince, Keldarian, who is the master of the castle. He's like the leader of all of them. She will help them find their mates in order to break the curse and then, in exchange, she will be set free.

[00:22:06] She spends her days researching in the massive library with rolling ladders, with the smart and sweet autumn prince, Farron, flirting with the very flirty and confident summer prince, Dayton, trying to break down the walls of the mysterious and deadly spring prince, Ezran, and generally avoiding the very hot-tempered winter prince. Time is running out and it's not just the princes and the servants at risk. The entire, all of the magic in the enchanted veil will be stolen by the evil but stupidly hot prince of thorns

[00:22:35] if the curse becomes permanent. And, oh, surprise, it's a white shoes romance and ends on a cliffhanger because it's the first book in a series. There is male-female and male-male pairings and I, it, it was fine, but the whole time reading it, I was like, this is very much a beauty in the, like, I can see all the beats playing out. And also at the same time, I was like, ACOTAR? Yeah, well, ACOTAR's a beauty in the beat.

[00:23:04] I know, but it was like, it just felt so like, I don't know, it was, it just, yeah, yeah. So it was fine. I'm gonna finish the series. It was just like, like with ACOTAR, the first book, it was, you know, a trudge to get through. Yeah. Um, because it's just like, I've read this before. Yeah. So hopefully now that I'm past the first book, it gets, like ACOTAR, will improve. Yeah, get better. I read The Shadows Between Us by Trisha Levenseller.

[00:23:31] Direct quote, they've never found the body of the first and only boy who broke my heart and they never will. Do I really need to say more? That's the vibes of this book. I love her. It's amazing. Um, so you've got Alessandra, who is the second born daughter of a prominent family. Her mother has passed away. Her dad is up to debt in his eyeball. Up to debt in his eyeballs. Is, is in debt up to his eyeballs. There we go. That's the one.

[00:23:56] Um, he has always favored her older sister and she's just kind of existed. So she kind of just does her own thing. She woos wealthy boys, sleeps with them, and then makes them fall in love with her so that they'll buy her expensive gifts. And once they inevitably propose, because she's very good at what she does, she breaks up with them and moves on to the next. Well, there's a rule, there's like a law in this land where the second daughter is not allowed to like start being courted until the first daughter is married off, which is dumb.

[00:24:27] But now that her sister has finally found a suitable match, her father is now turning to her to marry her off so that he can, you know, get money because he's in debt. Her father has all these ideas for who he thinks that she should marry. And she is just like, absolutely the fuck not. I actually have a great plan. I'm going to marry the king.

[00:24:47] What she doesn't tell him about her plan is that she's going to marry him and then kill him after she marries him so that she can take his kingdom for herself and have all the power. And truly, we support women's rights, but we very much support women's wrongs. We know women's wrong. So she, you know, catches the eye of the prince and he is secretly not so secretly known as the shadow king because he commands shadows.

[00:25:16] We cannot call him a shadow daddy, though, because he is 19 years old. And this is YA. So if we pretend that they're older. To be fair, Aaron Warner is 19 years old, but he's not in my head. Well, technically he's not going to be anymore. Yeah, he's going to be 30 now.

[00:25:38] So as she has this plan to woo him, he comes up with the plan to fake court her to get his advisors off his back because they want him to get married and have an heir to secure the throne. And so she's like, damn it, he needs to fall in love with me. And he's like, no, we're only going to be friends, but we're going to fake be in this fake courtship. And she's like, you know what? We'll do that, but I'm going to convince him to fall in love with me. And there's lots of scheming involved and blah, blah, blah. And it's really fun.

[00:26:08] It's really fun. I had a really good time. Yeah, so this is where my notes stop. Our favorite songs by Anita Kelly is the second book in the Moonlighters series. The first one was, oh gosh, what was it called? I don't remember what it was called, but it was set at Mooney's Cafe. And so we have no notes, no names. This guy is at the bar waiting for his best friend for karaoke.

[00:26:34] His high school nemesis shows up and he's like, why are you here? And why are you talking to me? And turns out he was invited by his best friend, whose name is Penelope. And I can remember that. Why can't I remember the main character's names? I don't know. So Penelope has invited them both to karaoke night without telling each other that they're going to be there. And so, but then she apparently gets into an accident and is in the hospital with a concussion and she doesn't show up. And so, but they're like, you know what? We're already here.

[00:27:04] Let's, let's just see if we can have a good night and put the past behind us. And it ends up, they get, one thing leads to another. They end up at one of their apartments and then they get snowed in and things happen. Oh no. And it's a romance and it's a short story. It's like a novella and it's very cute. And I loved it. It's Anita Kelly. So I loved it. Love them. Mrs. Nash's Ashes by Sarah Adler, which you have talked about on the podcast already.

[00:27:34] But yes, it was so cute. Like within like two minutes of starting it. I was like, this is adorable. I love her so much. Yeah. It's so good. I loved it. Wind Witch by Susan Dennard, which is the second book in the Witchlands series. I can't say much about it because it's a sequel. But again, it's Susan Dennard. She can do no wrong. Nope. And then I, I DNF'd my first book ever this week.

[00:28:02] And I am, I don't even know where to start. I really do not even know where to start. I will probably cut it out of the podcast, the name of the book, but it's called This is literally the first book that I have not enjoyed reading at all. Like I started. This blows my mind. I like, I've all, I am so like not critical. Like I always find something that I can like latch onto where I'm like, okay, I'm enjoying

[00:28:31] this part of it so I can keep going. There was not a single redeeming factor in this. I read four chapters and there was not a single redeeming like moment. The premise sounds really interesting. And I thought it had a lot of promise. And I was actually really excited to read it. And I think there really is a very powerful story there. But it just, it reads so clinically.

[00:29:00] Like there was no hint of, you're supposed to evoke emotion in your writing. That is the whole point of being creative is to evoke emotion from whoever is consuming it. I did not care about any of these characters. There were somehow two spicy scenes in the first two chapters. And it was truly like somebody was reading the phone book to me.

[00:29:26] I would rather reread all of Fifty Shades of Grey than read another sentence of this book. Oh God. I would not recommend this book to my worst enemy. It was just, it was awful. I did not enjoy myself at all. And this is not related to the writing, but I was listening to the audio book and the narrators. I've called them Azeleas. No. Never in my life have I heard it pronounced that way. I don't know if that's a regional thing. It's not. Okay.

[00:29:56] Because in the region, it's not. I have never, Azeleas. Azeleas. Right? The first time I was like, what? We may add a little length in there, but. But like. Azeleas. Azeleas. I'm not, I swear to God. So that didn't help it at all. But also, this is the greatest offense. The greatest offense of this book is that the author is a white woman. I wondered. The author is a white woman.

[00:30:26] I wondered when you said, like the second word in the description was a light-skinned. Yes. Black woman. It's like, I think that all authors should write diverse characters. Like I have. Right. But not having that be your main character. But not my main character where I'm saying I understand your plight. Like, I don't. I know what it's like to be a white girl. Right. This is so embarrassing. I. I don't want to claim her. I have to. But I don't want to claim her.

[00:30:53] I saw, I, when I went to Storygraph to mark it as DNF, I saw the average rating and it's like 1.97. So I feel very, very validated. The fact that this is still a thing that exists though. Like, how embarrassing. That's crazy. How embarrassing. I cannot. It is. It was like, truly, if I am somebody who's telling you that I couldn't read it, I read every fucking thing. See, I'll DNF like that.

[00:31:23] I read. I don't like the way the weather looks outside. I'm going to DNF a book that I'm not enjoying. Listen, I read Fifty Shades of Grey twice. Okay? Oh. I have read Fifty Shades of Grey twice. If I am DNFing your book, it's bad. Oh. So that was my week. It was. I like. What a week.

[00:31:49] I'm glad everything else I read was so good because that was just so traumatizing. Yeah. So awful. Ugh. Yeah. Do you have a fictional boyfriend this week? I have a fictional girlfriend and it's Alessandra from The Shadows Between Us because she is a badass girl boss who is not afraid to stand out.

[00:32:14] In fact, her choice to not adhere to the court nonsense is what endears her to the king and also sets the trends of the court. She's caught the king's attention so therefore we have to do what she's doing in order to also catch the king's attention. Like she sets the trends to the point where like the women are like trying to bribe her maidservants

[00:32:41] to find out what color she's going to wear that day so that they can also wear that color. Like she is so just badass. I love her so much. There's this one scene where there's like the whole like nonsense propriety like where women are expected to be virgins before they get married and she's like slept around and all of this right and she's like does not care.

[00:33:09] But and her father is like why would the king want you? Why would anybody want you? Your spoiled goods blah blah blah. And she's like no no father. You don't understand. I have them all under my thumb. Not a single one of them would ever say anything because she has all the blackmail. Like yeah absolutely all the blackmail to the point like one of them is like she like knows

[00:33:34] like he inherited a family heirloom and then gambled it away and if he and if his father finds out like he would be disinherited and that's like her blackmail like it's so good. She's like she's absolutely glorious. I love her so much. Love it. What about you? I'm going to go with Eric Whitley from Sweet Magnolias. So he in like the first season comes to town and ends up I think Serenity is the name of

[00:34:03] the town and he ends up as a chef for Sullivan's which is the restaurant the like main restaurant it's their rookery. Okay. If you'll remember the rookery here. It's their local place. Yeah. And the Magnolias are three girls who have been best friends for their whole lives. So it's Maddie, Dana Sue and Helen and he and Helen have this like will they won't they on again off again kind of thing.

[00:34:30] And it's like clear that he's been in love with her this whole time. But like one thing or another like I think they tried and something happens and and the yearning. Oh, we know how you love a good year. It's just palpable. And I don't want to spoil it. But there's like a scene where something really scary happens. There's a hurricane that comes through and something really scary happens with Helen.

[00:34:55] But Eric is there like powering through this like sheeting rain that's raining sideways to get to her. And it's like chef's kiss. I eat it up. Love it. Love it. Love him. Love Eric Whitley from Sweet Magnolias. That sound means we have an intruder alert. Oh my gosh, it's an intruder. I'm so excited. We have Kate Ballinger here, author of Original Sinner.

[00:35:25] We don't have the final cover yet, but we will eventually. Do you have it? I know. You're looking at. Yeah. Do you have it? You were looking down. I saw you. I love it so much. Oh, thank you. Beautiful. It's gorgeous. Thank you so much for being here, Kate. We're so excited to chat. First thing we usually ask if you can give us like the elevator pitch of the book for anybody who hasn't heard of it. Yeah.

[00:35:50] So Original Sinner, I like to say it's like Netflix's Lucifer meets Fifty Shades of Grey, but better BDSM portrayal. So the idea behind the story is that Lucifer and the Seven Deadly Sins are now billionaire celebrities who rule a God abandoned New York City.

[00:36:15] And romance ensues with his intern who's running away from her ultra religious family. I love it. Look, Lucifer got me through like a big part of quarantine. So special. The first thing I read about the book was if you love like the TV show Lucifer, then this book is for you, which is like high praise. So where did this story come from when you sat down to start writing?

[00:36:43] So I actually had not watched the TV show Lucifer when I started this book. Yeah. So when I started it, I kind of came up with the concept of, you know, the Seven Deadly Sins as these billionaires. And I was like, well, of course, we're going to start with the pride and that's Lucifer. And so I started the story and I wrote about like the first 50 to 100 pages of it, sent it off to my agent. And she was like, have you seen the Netflix show?

[00:37:10] And I was like, well, I know it exists, but no, I haven't seen it. And she was like, you need to go watch it before you finish the rest of this book. So it was not necessarily intentional, like originally that it was going to be similar to the show. But then when I went and watched the show, I was like, oh, okay. Like I can see the appeal of what's going on in this series. Like I really loved it. It was a lot of fun. But I will say Netflix is like Tom Ellis's Lucifer.

[00:37:40] It's a lot more kind of like silly and a little bit goofy than my Lucifer. Mine is a lot darker. Much more brooding. Yes, for sure. Oh my gosh. So there's an author note at the beginning of this that this book is not necessarily inspired by your own life, but like informed by like your upbringing, if that's a good way of saying it.

[00:38:05] Um, how, how much of like the story, did this story come strictly from wanting to kind of reclaim that? Or did it kind of come about, like just kind of popped up in your head and then it turned into incorporating that in, if that makes sense. I feel like it was a mix of both. Okay. So like when I started, um, writing Original Sinner, it, I was in between, in between publishing

[00:38:31] contracts and had been for a while, was doing the indie thing and was trying to, had been trying and failing basically to get another, uh, contract with traditional publishing and was getting really like very frustrated by it. And so I was like just over doing the trad publishing thing and was like, you know what, I'm just going to write a book that is everything I love in a book. Like I'm not, I'm going to throw out the whole rule book and like everything they tell

[00:39:00] you, you should or shouldn't write. And I'm just going to write something that's just solely 100% for my joy. And if trad publishing doesn't want it, like who cares? Cause I'm indie publishing it anyway. Right. So that was what I, what I was doing when I set out to write Original Sinner. And so when I came up with the concept, I don't know that I was thinking about like my own traumas, right? Like, um, I feel like that's something that comes out more in the writing process.

[00:39:28] So like for me at the time I was really into reading, um, Hades Persephone retellings. And I was like, I want to do a Hades Persephone retelling, but like not Hades. And so, um, Lucifer is the Hades of Christian mythos, right? Like he's this, this kind of bad boy rebel, right? That's cast out and away from the rest of the group. And so that was kind of where that idea was born from.

[00:39:55] But as I started writing it and getting deeper into it, um, you know, there, there's parts of me in my own life and past traumas in all my books, I would say. And I can't say that I was brought up in like an uber religious cult in the way that Charlotte was poor girl. But I mean, like, but I do have past like religious related trauma stuff and like, and that came out, I guess on the page, right?

[00:40:22] Um, and so it wasn't really intentional, but it like, it was there. Um, I, I wasn't raised in an ultra like religious, uh, setting, but around the time I was 15 and my family relocated from Detroit to Florida. Uh, the, the area of Florida that I still live in now is very much like the Bible belt. And so, um, I kind of got sucked into some of those, uh, groups that are not always like

[00:40:51] very positive, right? Like, like it wasn't always a great experience. And so, um, I think that when I set out to write this book, I don't think I realized that I was working some of that out, but like it ended up being worked out on the page. Look, I'm in Georgia. Like I feel exact. And I even have a note about it. I said, your bio says that you live in Florida's Bible belt. I'm your neighbor.

[00:41:15] How much fun is it to market this book locally and snub all of the religious snobs? Yeah. I mean, like, I don't like, uh, I'm going to be honest. Like the people who already are not going to like me locally already don't like me for just writing spicy romance in general. So I'm already that like, so I'm already that outcast in that way.

[00:41:40] Um, we, you know, we'll see how they react to original center, but like, you know, it's, um, I am fortunate that Orlando's not too far away and that's not quite as, uh, you know, conservative and Bible thumperish. Yeah. But I can imagine that this book is probably going to make a lot of people angry. For sure.

[00:42:07] We had a guest on, um, a few weeks ago that also had a story in Florida and we had to joke about how like everybody thinks that it's like beaches in Disney world. And it's like, no, this is like swamp swamp land in Bible thumpers. Horse ranch, swamp land, Bible thumpers, 90% of the state. Yeah. So if I could leave here, I would. I say it about Georgia all the time.

[00:42:36] I have too many little kids here that I love that I can't leave. But yeah, same. That's fair. Yeah. It's, it's, well, and especially having grown up somewhere like Detroit, which is a lot different environment. Like, I'm like, I know that it can be better than this. Yeah. It's better elsewhere. Yeah. Like, why did I end up here? Get me out of here. I do. Damn it, mama dad.

[00:43:03] I like to tell people, right, that like, I know what hell is actually like because I'm living in the Florida humidity all the time. That's fair. True that. A hundred percent. So you, you touched upon this and I, I love that it's like, while writing this book, you kind of, you discovered the characters, right? While you were writing, but you also discovered bits and pieces of yourself.

[00:43:29] Do you find that that happens all the time when you're writing with like every piece? Like, obviously you put bits and pieces of yourself into all of your books that you write, but this one in particular feels very like personal. So like, do you feel like there was a, you've done that multiple times? I, my questions feel like they don't make sense today. No, no, that totally makes sense.

[00:43:54] And I do think that like, I do think I do that with every book and I can't say that like, usually it's by the time that I'm like at the end and like, I've written the very end of it and I look back over it and I'm like, oh, okay. Like that's the thing I was working out with that. But like, um, so, so that, I think that's true of any of my books. They're, they're all, they're, they all have personal elements of me, but I feel like

[00:44:21] original sinner kind of went there a bit more than usual. Um, just because of, I mean, I, I think there was a number of things, like I said, that I had decided that I was going to just completely eschew the rules of like, what is what you should and shouldn't say in a book. Like I get very irreverent about a lot of things people consider very serious about religion and like very critical of it.

[00:44:46] And, um, and so I, I think that that, like that element, like giving myself the new, no rules and that thinking I was just going to publish it indie, um, before Amazon picked it up that, that kind of helped with that. And I think there's also just a shift in the fact that most of my previous books are written in third person and, um, original sinner is written in alternating first person point of view.

[00:45:15] So we get Charlotte, the heroine's point of view and also Lucifer's and writing in first person, I think allows you to kind of like open up a little bit more as a writer. Cause you're putting yourself very much in the place of the character. And so you kind of have to put more of yourself into the book by nature of writing first person. Yeah. I feel like I hurt my own feelings a lot writing in first person. Yeah. Yes. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:45:43] I frequently hurt my own feelings with this series and I'm like, what was I, oh, I didn't know. Like until I'm reading it again. So original sinner is the first in a new romanticity series, but you have two other like well-established series. So you've got one about shifter clans in Montana and then one about paranormal hunters. You've mentioned that like, this is your first foray into writing first person. Yes.

[00:46:08] What was your writing process like switching between writing those series and writing like romanticity and, and did it change at all? Or are there any like nuanced things that you have from this that you didn't from your other series? Yeah. Okay. So this is going to be like, this is going to be a little mini romance history lesson. I feel like, okay. Um, so like, so if anybody who's visited me on social media, you'll see like in my bio

[00:46:38] that it says like I wrote romanticity before it was cool. And right. And the, and the reason I said that, right. Is because, uh, back in ye olde days of romance publishing, like, uh, before romanticity as a term was like a big thing, there was really very limited choices in what you could do if you were writing, um, fantasy plus romance or paranormal plus romance, like any combination of speculative plus romance. Right.

[00:47:07] And the choices where you could either write paranormal romance, which had this very narrow subset of it had to be third person, usually alternating points of view, or you could write YA and there would be no sex allowed because like, you can't do that. Right. Like this was pre Sarah J Maas days before she broke open the door on writing sex in YA and then NA and that whole scandal.

[00:47:34] Um, so, so there was very few choices of what you could do. So my first book was what would now be considered like a romanticy, but at the time was told that it like, it's upper YA, right? Like it's, um, you know, it fits in this very narrow like range and it ultimately didn't end up selling. But what I learned from that experience early on was that you had to write something, you

[00:48:04] know, within these very narrow markets because there was not editors taking and accepting a lot of other work. Self-publishing was new at the time. Like it wasn't as big of a thing as it is currently. So I went into writing paranormal romance in alternating, you know, third person POB because that was what you did at the time. Like if you wanted to write a combo of fantasy and romance. And so when romanticy got big, I was like, this is what I had been trying to do.

[00:48:34] What the heck guys? Like the door has been broken up open for all of us who wanted to do this. And so it was kind of a coming home to like come back to first person because that's how I had learned to write. Um, my MFA degree was in writing for children and young adults, which if you've read Original Center, you're like, what? But at the time, if you were writing first person fantasy, you had to throw out all the

[00:49:02] sex and it could only be YA if you were a woman writing fantasy. And so that was what, you know, my concentration was in. But so it felt really lovely to go back to writing first person in Original Center because that was what I had always wanted to be doing and had been told I wasn't allowed to do because people weren't writing first person paranormal romance then. And that was more of an indie thing that came later in the genre. So, yeah.

[00:49:29] I hate that there are so many like arbitrary rules. Like who says that it has to be? Like why is it a thing? But also what a beautiful way to be like, fuck the rules. Yes. Right? Yeah. Yeah. And I think there's less rules now, right? Like now that indie publishing is a thing and like, and more authors can, you know, start off that way. There's less rules than there used to be.

[00:49:54] But like back in the day when it was like trad publishing or like just the start of like the baby era of indie days, like you didn't have all those choices. So you kind of had to play by the rule book unless you wanted to be one of the people forging the self-publishing path, which at the time wasn't as amazing as it is now. Yeah. No. No. It is definitely the, the landscape has definitely changed even in just the past couple years. And I love it.

[00:50:24] Yeah. Yeah. It's, it's really a lot of things I think have changed for the better, for sure. I want to know who was your favorite character to write because some of them are really like, not just obviously Lucifer and Charlotte are awesome, but like there's some, some side characters that are pretty fun in there as well. Did you have a favorite one? So all time favorite character, but also biggest pain in the ass is definitely Lucifer.

[00:50:52] He is the biggest pain in the butt like character, but at the same time, also the most fun to write because he's just so devious and can do whatever he wants. But as far as like secondary characters beyond them go, I really love Asmodeus, which is Lust, Lucifer's brother. I think he, he just steals the scene like anytime he's on the page and, and he's in book two a lot more, I will say. I'll just throw that bit out there.

[00:51:22] Um, and I'm, yeah, I, I really love him as a character and I also love greed. I, I, I love her too. She's also a show stopper. Yes. I love it. So that kind of segues into a question we like to ask, which is what comes next? What, uh, can you tell us anything about book two or future books? Yeah. So, uh, book two is called Wicked Believer and it is out on September 9th. So not super long from now.

[00:51:50] Um, and it follows Charlotte and Lucifer again. So the first three books in the series are going to be following them. Um, but I'd like to write about the other centers. So that's kind of like a tentative thing in my plan. Oh, I love it. I love that. I love it. It's fun. I like, I read, we read so much romance and like, I love like internet connected stand and loans, but it's also really fun to be able to like follow one couple for several books because yeah. Yeah.

[00:52:18] And that was very intentional because so many, all my other series are interconnected standalone. So there's a different couple each book, but I'm first and foremost, a character writer. And so I was like, I really love the idea of being able to like follow these characters for more than one story. And so I really wanted to do that with this series, but I also really want to write about the other centers. So for sure, for sure.

[00:52:43] I'm, I am glad that you said that though, because after that epilogue, I was like, but you can't go to another couple after that. So I do have to laugh about the text Karen sent me today because I'm not, I'm not finished. I'm not as far as Karen is because I had a stomach flu that like completely derailed me the whole like last week. Poor thing. Um, but she, I'm, I get squeamish really easily.

[00:53:10] And so she's been texting me like, be prepared in this chapter. I can't really tell you what happens. I was like, I can tell you it's bloody. And if I tell you anything else, I'm just describing what happens, which defeats the purpose of me warning you. And then like immediately afterward, I was like, oh, the next chapter is worse. Yeah. I, I, I really feel like the end of the book really like, you went hard off all the like

[00:53:38] magical elements and things get real. You went real hard near the end there. I want to say, I can't wait, but I'm going to, I'm going to be reading like this. You're like, I'm scared. Yeah. I was just like, it's, I, and when I say it gets worse, I just mean like, she's so squeamish, like not that it's bad writing. It's just, she's squeamish. That's what I meant. Like it gets bloodier. Yeah. Yes. Be forewarned. It does get very bloody near the end.

[00:54:08] She just has a lot tougher stomach than I do. And she reads a lot faster than me. So like, I have a built in like trigger warning specialist. I love it. Well, it's, and it's very specific to her triggers and her tastes. Like the things that I warn her about, I probably wouldn't warn somebody else. There's a frog in this book. I'm like, this, this chapter has a frog in it. Don't read, you skim over that really fast. Like things like that. But oh my gosh. Yes.

[00:54:38] That, that was funny. I just had to laugh about the text I was getting. Like when you get to this chapter. Just read real fast. Just prepare. Move real fast. Okay. Okay. Oh, go ahead. You go for it. You go ahead. No, I was probably going to do the same thing you were going to do. So we have a few questions that we always ask our authors. One of them was what comes next, which you've already answered. But this is the moment where everything you've ever read, watched, any kind of media you've

[00:55:06] consumed is just going to like, never existed. Oh, okay. We have a segment on the podcast that we call fictional boyfriend of the week where we pick a fictional character that we read or watched on TV or a movie that week that we're like, that is my boo thing. That is my heart. I want everybody to know about them. It doesn't have to be a boyfriend. Karen's had a fictional granny. I've had a fictional son, fictional pets. Yes. Do you have any fictional characters that doesn't have to be this week for you? Okay.

[00:55:34] Any fictional characters where you're like, that is my comfort character. That's my heart. That's who I care about. And do you care to share? Comfort characters. Okay. So this one's an oldie, but a goodie. So Derek Craven from Lisa Kleepatz's Dreaming of You. So this is a historical romance. And he has like a cult-like following among older romance readers. I love that. Yeah.

[00:56:02] He was like one of the first very like kind of blue-collar-y heroes to appear in a historical and he's got this very cockney accent and he's very morally gray and like super, yeah, he owns this gambling hell. And like that book is such a comfort read for me. I love it. I would reread it again and again. Like would gladly, like would do anything for Derek. I love that.

[00:56:30] And that's also a perfect transition to our next question that we always ask, which you've kind of answered a little bit already, is we know we love your book. So we'll be recommending that. However, we want to know what you're reading and recommending. Oh, okay. Doesn't have to be now. Right. It could be like your all-time favorite. Just whatever you want people to go out and read. Okay. That's a hard one. Because there's so many like good things that I love to rec. You can pick a few.

[00:56:59] And this one I feel like is an obvious choice because like it's super popular already, but I've been telling anyone who will listen to me about it, like about the audio book for Lights Out by Nevesa Allen, like, which is just amazing. Like if you like dark romance, it's like the best and best audio listening I've, I've done in a while. And then I'm also listening to, this is more of like a backlist title.

[00:57:28] I think I'm struggling to remember the title. I think it's like American Royals by Tracy Livesay, which is fun. So I'm listening to that currently as well. Oh, fun. Very cool. I literally just went to like a book club meeting last week where somebody was like, everybody needs to read Lights Out. Like, please read this. So I'm like, okay, this is my sign. Yeah.

[00:57:51] So, so if you like dark romance, it is an absolute must read slash listen. I listened to the audio and I like, and I'm picky about the audio I will listen to. Like most of the time I'm reading like paperbacks or ebook. Right. But the audio for this was so like incredibly good. So incredibly good. I love the main character. The man's name is Josh, right? Yes.

[00:58:18] The main character is Josh, which is so ridiculous because he does not seem like a Josh. I know. See, I'm married to a Josh and like, it's always like Josh is the bad rap. But what's also funny is we have a production company called Lights Out that we've had for like 15 years. Oh my gosh. So I'm like, I have to read this book eventually. It's got a Josh with Lights Out. I completely forgot about that. Yeah. Yes.

[00:58:46] You, you absolutely have to read it then. And like, it is, it is so unhinged, but so hilarious and also just amazing at the same time. Like so good. I love it. I'm going to have to, I'm going to have to bump it up the TBR. Yeah. I love it. That's amazing. All right. Well, we've already asked you about what comes next. Um, in terms of this series, do you have anything else that you're also working on other than this series? No, I'm kind of a one track focus when it comes to writing.

[00:59:15] So like when I'm in a series, that's what I'm in. So right now I am finishing up copy edits for Wicked Believer that comes out in September and working on book three in that series. So Original Sinner is the, the, that series is the focus for me right now. Oh, that sounds nice. Meanwhile, I'm over here jumping between like four different things. I'm like, I can't focus. It's, it's exactly how I read too.

[00:59:43] I'm like, I need to have four different things that I'm reading at all times. What works for you works for you. I'm like, I don't think I could keep track of four things at once. I'm like, no, if I've just got to do one at a time, like my brain just cannot focus on one thing at a time. And it's so mean. I don't like it. Oh man. Well, we do have to give you a little bit of bad news.

[01:00:09] Now that you've been on the podcast, you're actually legally obligated to come back for all future book releases. So sorry. I'm not sorry. Karen always apologizes. I'm not sorry. Listen, I always apologize. And then Mandy is like, so like, I don't apologize. I'm like, I don't actually feel sorry, but I'm trying to be polite. Okay. Well, I would absolutely love to come back. Thank you so much for this. This is so much fun. Everybody go out when this episode airs.

[01:00:39] I believe Original Sinner is out. So you can go and pick it up wherever you get your books. That beautiful, gorgeous cover. It's so pretty. Show us again. Show us again. Show us again. Yes. I know. Normally we hold ours up. I know. It's prettier. It's so pretty. Thank you. I love it. Yay. The cover designer did such a good job. It's amazing. Incredible. Yay. I'm so excited. Thank you so much, Kate, for hanging out with us. It has been such a blast. Yeah. Thank you for having me. It was great chatting with you all. Oh my gosh. You too.

[01:01:09] We'll talk soon. Okay. Thanks. Oh my God. I meant to bring up Roy and then I, because I was going to bring him up with fictional boyfriend. I was going to say, I'm sure Roy has been both of our fictional boyfriend at some point. Roy is everything. I'm really trying to get my nieces to watch Ted Lasso because one of them plays soccer. Like, hello.

[01:01:38] Everything I know about soccer, I've learned from Ted Lasso. Right. For real. Oh my gosh. Anyways. So much fun. So much fun. That was such a blast. So much fun. energy and joy and just like, yeah, she reminds me of one of my cousins. Oh really? That is one of the cousins that I'm like drawn to at the family events where I'm like, oh. I love that. No, I feel like, I truly feel like I just had like a cup of coffee. Like I feel energized. Yeah. Like, yeah. My face hurts. That's the vibe she gives me. And I'm like, yeah. My face hurts.

[01:02:08] Forget coffee. I'm just going to go call Kate real quick. Patreons. The show dog has come. The show dog has arrived. His little tongue is not out. Where's your tongue, mister? I thought it didn't stick. I don't see it. You got it in your mouth. You figured it out, buddy. You did it. He's looking at me like, what do you mean, mother? Good job, man. You know how. Oh my gosh. I love him.

[01:02:38] He's so cute. Sweet boy. What about an announcement? Yay. Okay. So next week. So this book is out now. So y'all can go pick up a copy, read it, and then come hang out with us. Yeah. Yeah. It's Those Fatal Flowers by Shannon Ives is how I want to say it. That's what I thought. Like Merle Ives. Right. So I'm very excited. This is, is this the, this is the Greek one? Roanoke. Roanoke. Oh no, this is the Roanoke one. That's right. Yes. Oh, I'm very excited. It sounded really good.

[01:03:08] So I'm so excited. I hope now that I said that. I think so. Cause the other, yeah. Cause the other one was the Greek one and that one has Greek in the title. I'm pretty sure. I think. Wait. Yeah. Greco-Roman mythology and the mystery of the vanished Roanoke colony collide. Yeah. Okay. So it's both. Look at. It's both. Even better. And they were roommates and it's topic cause they were roommates. I love it so much. I'm so excited.

[01:03:35] So next week we will talk, be talking to Shannon about this book and you could be a part of the conversation kind of by reading it first because it is out now. Go pick up a copy, read it. And then when you come and listen, you, yeah, it'll be so much fun. I can't wait. Yeah. I can't wait either. All right. Time for a spiel? Time for a spiel. All right. If you enjoyed this episode, please like, follow, and subscribe wherever you're listening to us. Follow us on social media.

[01:04:04] We are at the incoherent fangirl on all things. Visit our website, the incoherent fangirl.com, where you can also stream all of our episodes as well as read our blog. Subscribe to our Patreon for early access to podcast episodes, full video episodes, as well as exclusive bonus content. I have some that I need to post and I am really excited about it. If you are interested in merch, you can head over to our merch store, the incoherent fangirl.com

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[01:05:00] She is at Mandy Perv on all the things. She's at Ms. Made in China on all the things. And once you follow us on social media and you follow the podcast on social media, you can head over and do some self-care because yes, the world is still on fire. The world is on fire and he is still the president. It's truly just the worst. I had a whole rant about it last night with a friend, so it's a fun time. So self-care, very important right now. So first stop, you're going to head over to Here Comes the Nerd at herecomesthenerd.com

[01:05:29] and you're going to use code fangirl to get 20% off your first order. Then you're going to head to onceuponabookclub.com. You're going to pick up a subscription, some standalone boxes, some just random goodies. We have two codes that you can choose from. They do not stack. You have to pick one. We love you no matter which one you choose. So use code karen10 or mandy10 for 10% off. But you have to spell karen right or whatever happens in chapter 48 of Original Sinner is going to happen to you. And then the next chapter that gets worse.

[01:06:00] No, I think chapter 48 is the worst chapter. Okay. Chapter 40, the end of chapter 47 is bad. Chapter 48 gets worse. Okay. That's what's going to happen to you if you don't spell it right. You guys spell it right. You really don't want it to happen to you. I'm just thinking about it. Oh my gosh. Okay. Something that is absolutely not cringe is our dear friend Amber D. Lewis.

[01:06:30] She has excellent fantasy series out. And the second book in her second series is coming out soon too. It's so good. So you're going to head to amberdlewis.com, add 10 of everything to your cart, use code fangirl10 and you'll get 10% off the 10 of everything, which means you have now officially gotten one of everything for free. That is exactly how math works. Don't question us. Hush.

[01:06:59] And then last but certainly not least, you're going to want to go support the show husband on all the things. So he's at Searchers Believe on everything is his paranormal group. And you can go to searchersbelieve.com slash shop and use code fangirl10 for 10% off merch. Also designed by yours truly, but like ghosty spooky stuff. They have, they are working on reviving the paranormal mind podcast into the Searchers podcast.

[01:07:27] I should have looked up the social media and fixed all of that. I haven't yet. I went downstairs and died last week after we talked about this. Okay. Literally laying on my bathroom floor, texting him that I was violently ill and I was afraid. It's maybe the Searchers podcast, maybe Searchers podcast. Who knows? Not me. I'm just the one that made the social media account. I'm not the social media manager or anything.

[01:07:53] But the searchers podcast is coming soon. There's two episodes recorded. What do you want from me? I'm literally just a girl. I'm just a girl. And then last but certainly not the least is to go support Stream Beacon TV. So it's at Stream Beacon TV on everything.

[01:08:14] If you go to StreamBeaconTV.com and subscribe to our latest, I was going to call it a social media app because my brain is still fried. It's a streaming platform with your favorite horror, true crime and paranormal content. Lots of shows that people who like paranormal especially coming soon. Like you're going to love these shows that he's literally filming right now as I speak.

[01:08:43] And if you'd like to subscribe at StreamBeaconTV.com, if you use code FANGIRL10, you'll get 10% off your subscription. Cool stuff. I'm tired. That would be a go here, fangirl. We're going to manifest that I'm not going to go downstairs and die tonight. I would really appreciate it if you didn't. I would too. That would be lovely if you just didn't. I will try. Okay, thanks. I appreciate it. And we appreciate you. Thank you so much for listening.

[01:09:14] Thank you. We love you. We love you. Bye. Bye. We are sponsored by our friends at Here Comes the Nerd. Pins, stickers, magnets and more. Here Comes the Nerd has happy art for all fandom loving hearts. New customers can use coupon code FANGIRL during checkout for 20% off their first order at herecomesthenerd.com. Coupon applies to ready-to-ship items only. We love you. We love you. We love you. We love you. We love you.