I Just Got a Pang in My Heart

[00:00:00] That was my harem. Your harem. Reverse harem. Welcome to The Incoherent Fangirl. Where this week we have our second ever three-peat offender. Yay! You're making the space. Because you said it in the announcements last week and I was like, wait, we just said that last week but- But it's the same person. Sonora wasn't, yeah.

[00:00:30] That was the announcement. I'm just dumb. Hello. You've been busy. I've been so stressed today. Focusing on other things. We'll talk about it. We'll talk about it without spoilers, but we will talk about it. I'm Mandy of Temperance. And I'm Karin from Bishop Brews. Welcome back to the podcast, friends. Mandy, I'm very upset because she's leaving me as of tomorrow for like a whole week. It's very upsetting.

[00:00:57] I hope so. Well, everybody, well, by the time you're listening to this, we'll know if I did or not. So technically I'm leaving Thursday morning. Today's Tuesday for us. Yes. But I have a lot of stuff to do tomorrow in preparation. I have to collect children, do all the packing, all the logistical stuff. But it is currently snowing here. And it has not stopped snowing since noon and it is 638. Oh boy. Oh boy.

[00:01:25] So the fear in the South is not so much the snow. We're fine with that. Everybody laughs at us in the South because we don't know how to drive in snow. No, it's that our roads are not cool enough for that snow to just accumulate. So it melts and becomes ice. And that happens on our roads, which means black ice and you can't drive on them. So I hope I'll be able to drive to Florida Thursday morning. We'll see.

[00:01:53] Hopefully next week I'll have a really great update for you guys. I hope so. I hope so.

[00:02:31] This week has been. Yes. Between this recording and when you're listening to this. We're manifesting it. It's been a great time. Exactly. Can't wait to tell you all about it. In this week in fangirling, but next week. Yeah, exactly. But for this week, tell me what you did. So I finished Yin Yang Love Song by Lauren Kung Jessen. More on that later.

[00:02:55] I also finished Shardless by Stephanie Fisher, which I read like the story graph synopsis for you last week. So now I'm just going to like give my spoiler free thoughts. I do not for the life of me understand why this series isn't huge. Like truly, I'm so glad Brandy told me about it because I freaking love it. It has everything we love. Best friends to lovers. Slow burn with pining. You know that's my favorite.

[00:03:20] Banter, insane world building, a badass female male main character. Female male character. Female main character. Fae nobility, magic. It's got like zombies. It's got everything. It's got everything. Sounds amazing. So Tali is a human girl who survives a house fire and is taken in by Fae nobles. But she's lucky because humans are considered like second class. They're less than. But the Fae that take her in are not like that at all.

[00:03:50] They raise her like their daughter. So it's a Fae male and his sister. So they are not like romantically together, but they are her pseudo parents. So she has like a loving family. And they also have a Fae boy that's kind of their ward too named Skye who becomes her best friend in the entire world when they're little. I think she's like six and he's ten. I think when they meet maybe a little bit before that. So Tali has a, this is the interaction. What it is is kind of a spoiler.

[00:04:19] So I won't go into that. But after this interaction, she starts seeing what appears to be ghosts of the future. And that signifies some sort of time magic that is illegal. Hunted down. You are dead for this. So she flees because she's like, I don't want my family to have to watch me die basically. So Skye is not having that because they're older now. They're grown. Especially when he has a chance run in with her and pulls her.

[00:04:48] He finally is like, I'm going to pull you back into the world because I see you're living in squalor. You haven't had a hot shower in months. You're having to like scrounge and beg for food. I'm going to hire you to guide me to this gate between realms. And I've got a job for you and you can come stay at home for a little bit and have all the food you want, all the food you grew up with and hot showers. She's a sucker for a hot shower. I will give her that. So am I. Okay. Yeah. Fair. And Skye isn't so little anymore.

[00:05:19] And neither is Tali. And even though she's a lowly human and he's Fae, the yearning. I love. The yearning is chef's kiss. Okay. So the Fae have visited the human worlds and they've seen guns. So they've come back and they've recreated them to be powered by crystals that store magic. So they like store their magic into crystals and they create like human weapons and make them better. There's wyverns. There's zombies.

[00:05:46] Last week I mentioned that Storygraph said it was perfect for fans of Sarah J Maas and Holly Black. And it couldn't be more accurate. It's even narrated by Elizabeth Evans who narrated all of the Throne of Glass books. And just yesterday for us finished the re-record to ACOTAR. She posted on her Instagram stories yesterday that she'd finished. Yeah. So this book was it wasn't like Throne of Glass at all story wise. It's very different world building. Very different story. Very unique world.

[00:06:16] But Skye I love him so much because he gives me vibes of Aideon Ashriver if the author had been nice to him. And since we know that I will love Aideon until I die. It's like so far up my alley. And there's other characters that Brainy was like this one's morally gray. I think you're really going to like him. And I do. But this character is so Aideon coded that I'm like I'm living for you. Yeah. Love it.

[00:06:42] So I finished that and then I started the sequel Acolyte also by Stephanie Fisher. I can't say much but I only have about three hours left in the audiobook. Things are very precarious where I am right now. But I had to I would have finished it today but I had to read Onyx Storm. Which I finished 10 minutes ago. 10 minutes ago. So obviously I'm not going to tell anybody a thing about it. But I did write myself a letter that I will read last night when I was doing my notes.

[00:07:12] Dear Mandy, it's Monday the 20th at 1152 p.m. I know you're already feeling like you're in the bad place because of current events and gestures vaguely. And I can't imagine that things have gone really, really well for you with this book so far knowing Rebecca Yaros and not knowing what you'll have read by the time you're recording. And I know that you're probably sitting in your chair dying to log off to finish. I'm not. I finished it. But hopefully you're close. But I just want you to know that no matter what happens, it's going to be okay.

[00:07:39] You have an emotional support group chat waiting that you can unmute soon. I already did. Who you can celebrate or grieve with. No matter what, you'll get through it. There's an extra box of tissues in your nightstand if you need it. But gods, I hope you don't. I love you. Kiss Zayden, Riddick, and hopefully Dane for me. Love, Mandy. You're so cute. I thought I knew I would need some emotional support.

[00:08:06] And obviously, since this is the third book in a highly, highly anticipated series, I'm not saying a word. When you finish it, if you're listening, when you finish it, if you feel you need someone to talk to, I have a pseudo book club group chat going for it. You can DM me if you don't want to be like involved with. It feels like there's like 30 people in it already. There's more than 10. I know that. You can DM me. It's going to be a long, it's going to be a long year. Plus, however long. She said she hadn't even started book four.

[00:08:36] So. She deserves to rest, dude. She wrote. She does. My heart does not like that. My heart does not like that. I don't, I don't like that at all. I don't want her to rest. Yeah, but. My empathy wants her to rest. She's, yeah. My anxiety is like, I sit down right here. I feel like the audios that we keep seeing in the TikTok. I don't know if you've seen them, but I have where it's just a montage of Klaus Michelson from the Vampire Diaries and the original screaming. We're all back on.

[00:09:05] Like over and over again. That's what I feel like. Right. Over here. I need to know. What the fuck is happening? Oh, that's funny. Yeah. So that was my week. Fair. Fair play. What did you do this, this three days? It wasn't even a week. Right. It wasn't really a week. It's Tuesday. We recorded on Thursday. So I read Gwen and Art Are Not in Love by Lex Croucher. It's pitched as Heartstopper meets A Knight's Tale.

[00:09:34] It has been hundreds of years since King Arthur's reign. In the present day, we have Arthur, who is King Arthur's descendant. He has been betrothed to the English princess Gwendolyn because her parents thought naming her Guinevere would be too on the nose. They've been betrothed since practically birth. I think even before birth. So it's been a long time coming. But the only thing that they can agree on is that they despise each other. Not a fan.

[00:09:59] Unfortunately for them, they are forced to spend the summer together at Camelot in anticipation of their pending nuptials. When Gwen spots Arthur kissing a boy and tries to blackmail him, Arthur finds Gwen's childhood diary in order to have equal leverage. And the two strike an uneasy bargain because, you know, mutually assured destruction. Reluctant allies, the pair cover for each other as Gwen finds herself swept off her feet by the only female knight in the kingdom.

[00:10:26] And Arthur finds himself drawn to Gwen's future king of a brother. It is so gay. I love it. It makes me so... It's like, it's so... I loved A Knight's Tale. I actually haven't read or watched Heartstopper, so I can't speak to that. But I loved A Knight's Tale way back when. And this is so, like, it's contemporary, cozy, not really fantasy, but it's just, it's fun. It's a fun time.

[00:10:55] And I love that they're like, well, you were kissing a boy. Wait, but you like a girl. Oh, no. We are going to... It's like, neither of them is going to out the other. But they think that the other will because, you know, they're just terrified because of the, the, the everything around them. So it's a fun time. And they really do kind of figure out like, hey, you're not that bad. You've been putting on a front kind of thing. And it's, it's very cute. I liked it.

[00:11:24] And I also read Brewed with Love by Shelley Page, which is a cozy contemporary romanticy. It's YA. You've got Sage Bishop, who is a plant witch who just wants to run her family's apothecary one day. She is determined to create a new tonic, a heartbreak cure, in order to put Bishop Brews on the map.

[00:11:45] And of course, to cure the heartbreak that she felt when her best friend and crush, Jimena Reyes, left town four years ago, completely without a word after their first kiss. Oh. Now Jimena is back. And due to short staffing at Bishop Brews, Sage's Nana hires Jimena to work alongside Sage at the shop. On their first shift together, the apothecary gets broken into.

[00:12:10] And it turns out that the failed tonic that Sage brewed was stolen and subsequently given to a council member's child, which ended up wiping all of her memories. She doesn't even know who she is. So in order to avoid the apothecary being shut down for good, Sage and Jimena have to pair up to find the culprit. And of course, old feelings flare up again, the more the pair are forced to work together. It is very cozy.

[00:12:39] It's such a fun mix of like fantasy and romance and mystery because they have to find like it's a whodunit. But nobody's like, it's not life or death. It's very cozy. It's really, it's really fun. And it's very sweet. There's a lot of like crystals and herbal remedies and that kind of stuff. There are recipes for like Sage's different attempts to make this heartbreak tonic.

[00:13:06] It's very cool the way that Shelley wrote it. And there are little asides for like the investigation where she has like these, this is the profile of who could be the burglar. And these could be the reasons why they stole it and all of this. It's very cute. So I highly recommend it. And that was my week. That's all I've read. It's been three days and I was gone. Like two of them. How do I have, how did I have three books to talk about? Who are we?

[00:13:37] Who are we? We swapped. It was, it was just, it was a weird few days. Yeah. It was that. Well, do you have a fictional boyfriend this week? No, but I have a new fictional granny. We love a fictional granny. We do. It's Nana from Brood with Love, Sage's grandma.

[00:14:02] She is just so loving and she takes care of Sage so well, but she's also not like stifling and overbearing. She allows Sage to have a fairly good amount of independence. And of course, that's probably part of it is because she's older. She's an older teen. And also they live in a very small town. So like everybody knows everybody, but still like she allows her to kind of, do her own thing. But she's also not afraid to like lay down the law whenever she has to.

[00:14:31] And the bonus, as my daughter would very gleefully point out, she's gay. Hey. Nana has a partner in this story and they are just adorable and cute and love each other so much. And I just, I love them. So Nana is my fictional granny. What about you? Nana is your fictional granny. Granna. My fictional granny. I have another one.

[00:14:56] I would not be myself if I did not say sky from Shardless because he's 80 and Ashriver in a different font. We're on week three of recording the podcast and no one's bullied Karen enough to know 80 and yet because you won't, you don't understand. Okay. You don't understand. So many people hate him. I do not get it. It does not compute to me. I like, I get stressed thinking about this.

[00:15:20] Anyways, he's 80 and in a different font if Sarah had been nice to him and not given him such the shaft at every turn. I also wrote Vin Chow from Yin Yang Love Song because he's smooth as fuck. And you know what? I don't want this to be a spoiler because I've had this opinion and I've publicly stated this opinion and this is not even swayed by current stories.

[00:15:48] I'm giving Dane Atos the seal of fictional boyfriend of the week. Watch me now. Who are you? I feel like some of my biggest bookish flex is going to be I read Fourth Wing before you. Not you specific, but like you and John. I read Fourth Wing before you and I apologize to Dane before you. And I hope that in this and future books that will continue to be the case. God, what happens in book five if it comes out like Dane is the mega villain?

[00:16:18] It would try. You'd have to eat your words. But in your defense. I feel like I'm Ben in two then. But like you, you have a pretty decent track record. I mean, you hated Tamlin from the beginning. Yes, I did. And a lot of people did not. A lot of people were blindsided. Yeah. I didn't like Cal ever in Red Queen where a lot of people did. I was a maven girly even when he was bad. Like, I mean, obviously I was a Cologne girly more than anybody.

[00:16:45] But like between the two brothers in Red Queen, I would never have sided with Cal. So yeah, I mean, I do. I do. I hated Dane when I first read Fourth Wing. But doing a reread, I was like, no, hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. There's more here. A quick second. There's more here. Hold on. There's something there. I might have misjudged. So we'll see. There's something there.

[00:17:22] Forever. That's fair. I'm not saying anything, but I did say going into this book that if Riddick died, I would die with him. She did say that. I saw that. God. I will die. That sound means we have an intruder alert. Oh my gosh. It's a three-peat. This is so exciting. Lauren, welcome back to the podcast. We're going to talk about Yin-Yong love song. Finally. Yay! I'm so excited. Thank you for having me back on.

[00:17:52] Oh, we love having you here. I feel like you're just like another member of the podcast at this point. I feel like that. It does. Thank you. All right. So you know the drill. Let us know the elevator pitch for Yin-Yong love song. Okay. Yin-Yong love song is about a traditional Chinese herbalist who fake dates a bad boy cellist who is a heartbreaker and the two hatch a plan to try to boost their careers. I love it.

[00:18:22] It was so good. It was so good. So we know by having spoken to you on multiple episodes and by the notes at the end of the book that you are like Chrissy and that you found traditional Chinese medicine a little bit later in life, but it's like a part of your life that you maintain now, but is the cello? Or did you have to do like research into Vin and his passions and like what's behind the passion for music and the cello? Yeah.

[00:18:49] No, I've never even touched a cello. I consider taking lessons. I looked into it and it got complicated because I had to rent a cello and like it was just too much. But I wanted to like understand how it felt. I didn't get to that point, but I did do a lot of research with my ears. I did a lot of listening to music, classical rock cello.

[00:19:13] I also did a lot of research around prodigies because Vin is a prodigy and I am not. So I had to really understand what that meant for somebody because that's a huge part of your childhood. It's a huge part of your identity. There's a lot of, I think, struggles that come from having lived that kind of life very young. So I did do a lot of research around that. I can imagine it feels like a stolen childhood to some degree because you don't get to be

[00:19:42] a kid because you're in your room practicing the cello. I didn't even know rock cello existed. Yes, it does. And so if you want to listen to music, two cellos, it's like number two cellos. It's these two guys who kind of like Vin and Leo, they play rock music on the cello. They did break up. So it's only one of them now. But you should watch one of their music videos. It's amazing. I will. Because like I know and I referenced Lindsey Stirling to Karen when we're talking about

[00:20:11] the book. Like I know that there are artists who take more classical instruments and make them more rock and roll or more mainstream. But that is such a cool thing. Yeah. Yeah, it is cool. Speaking of research and, you know, we do know that you kind of practice TCM in your personal life. But where did you get started with that and how much of what's in the book came from what you already knew versus like how much deeper did you have to dive into it? I had to dive pretty deep.

[00:20:40] I had done acupuncture. So I was really hands on kind of with that. Like I had felt the effects of that and I loved it. And that kind of like sparked a lot of inspiration around. I knew I had to have an acupuncture scene in there, which lent itself beautifully, I thought, to like touch and all the like sparks that you feel with that, the zings of electricity. But I had to do a lot of research. So I do have a culinary background. So food as medicine is not too foreign of a concept for me.

[00:21:10] But I did have to really understand yin and yang. I had to understand chi. I had to understand what flowers and herbs could actually do for the body and roots and things. So I had a lot of learning to do there. And as every book I write, I am always like, I need to learn everything. I feel this prefer to like get a certificate in something. Go get a master's degree in order to write like well about it.

[00:21:35] And I have to always remind myself, I'm not writing a book about, I'm not writing a TCM book. I'm not writing a Chinese Zodiac book. I'm not writing a textbook. This is really just supposed to like enhance and enliven the characters and make them fuller. But it's, it's just like my natural like urge. So speaking of, it's like a branch of TCM, but a lot of the book revolves around in full bloom, which is Chrissy and the aunties tea, flower tea line.

[00:22:05] Do you have a favorite like flower tea blend that you make that you can share? Because I was thirsty reading. Oh my gosh. So there is a brand I love. It's called the chi. So the QI, the chi, and they sell whole flowers. It's all like hand grown and it's very like safe to eat and consume. And they have like roses. They have chrysanthemum, blue lotus and jasmine, little rose buds.

[00:22:30] They're always kind of expanding, but it's a woman owned brand based in New York, which I love their stuff. So I drink that every day. I love, I love having a flower every day. Oh, I love that. Yeah. Now I want to start doing that. I know because I bet it's so pretty too. It's so pretty. It tastes very light. It's so good for you. Yeah. It's yummy. I really should start my day with a flower tea. Yeah.

[00:22:57] It sounds like such a great way to just like brighten up your day at the very beginning of it. And you're, and you know, you're doing something good for yourself. They also do have, I don't know what they call them, but it's like a green tea and they like weave a flower into it too. I think it's like a green and peony. And that one like expands and blooms in your cup too. And that one gives you a little caffeine if you need it. Oh, that's so fun. I love that. I always fall victim to like, if you don't become, it's in the same vein as you saying

[00:23:24] you had to do, like, you feel like you have to be an expert about everything when you're writing. I feel like it should be that I drink a cup of flower tea knowing that I'm doing something good for myself. But I feel like it would, I would have to, you have to have three cups of it a day or it's not doing anything. And that's not how you should be like, enjoy it. Baby steps, little things. Any cup of flower tea is good still. Like it's still good for you. Even if it's not, I'm never having a candy bar again and I'm only drinking flower tea and

[00:23:53] I'm only chill out, Mandy. Yeah, it's all about yin and yang balance, right? Yes. So for this book, how did you come up with like the premise of it? Like what was the inspiration for this story? I know previously you had said like you had started reading fake dating and you wanted to try it. Was that kind of the jumping off point or did something else push you in that direction? Or that trope.

[00:24:19] So there were three things that I think about when that created the foundation of this book. There was, I saw a photo of Yo-Yo Ma playing cello in a forest and I was like, what if he was a bad boy? Like what if he was a heartbreaker? You know, Yo-Yo Ma has this like almost otherworldly essence about him, right? He's, he was a prodigy. He's such a good person. He does good things for the world and he is so giving.

[00:24:46] And not to say that Vin is not any of those things, but I was just like, you know, there's a, there's a story. Like, I think it's, you know, he's talked about when he went to Harvard, he was like, he had a rebellious phase, Yo-Yo Ma. And I was like, what if that was Vin? And so that was one of my seeds. Another seed was TCM. So I had been doing acupuncture and I was really fascinated by what that might look like set against someone who like heart, like broke hearts.

[00:25:15] So TCM can be used to be very proactive in your health and you want to like prevent things is very preventative. But a lot of heartbreak when you're heartbroken, a lot of physical symptoms and ailments can come from that moment. So insomnia, anxiety, stomach issues. And so I thought about how do you heal the effects of heartbreak? And then the other seed was Lao Tzu's quote, which is nature does not hurry yet. Everything is accomplished.

[00:25:45] Which when I read that for the first time, I remember a lot of quotes that I read because sometimes I need things like that, but that one like stopped me cold. And I was like, whoa, such a succinct, beautiful quote to just remind us that nature works on its own time and it's clockwork, but not everything happens at once, right? Sometimes flowers bloom late, trees leaf out early. These kinds of things just happen on their own. So all of those little seeds coalesced into the foundation of Yin Yang Love Song.

[00:26:14] And because I was like fake dating, I am loving these stories. I was like, what if he was a heartbreaker and she was a heartbreak healer and they had to, they would never have like normally come together on their own because they have these annoyances and misunderstandings about each other. And so fake dating was the vehicle to like get them to have to be together. Yes. That quote stopped me in my tracks too, so much so that I took a photo of my Kindle and

[00:26:44] sent it to my coworker because we're both really struggling with burnout right now. And we feel like, especially with work, if someone asks us the question, we have to have the answer right now and it has to be perfect. And it was just like, this is a reminder. Everything's going to get accomplished. Everything's going to get done. We can still breathe. We can still chill out. It's going to be fine. I have to know, you mentioned something else. You mentioned Yo-Yo Ma playing in the forest. Is the Firefly thing real? Or did you make that up? Oh, it's real.

[00:27:15] It's real. And I tried to win that lottery this year. I put my name in. It's a vehicle lottery. So in the Smoky Mountains, every like spring, April, May, June, like I think you start, you sign up in April. I was really nervous about putting this in the book because I was like, I'm just decreasing my chance of winning the lottery. But I couldn't not. And so when I learned about it because I wanted there to be a moment where music and nature

[00:27:40] go so well together that I wanted this scene somewhere in Tennessee because I wanted to pay homage to where I currently live. And I was like, where could they go? That's really unique. And I found that in my research and try to go, try to go because you can bring a car full of people if you win. And I didn't win. But I thought the universe would have my back. That's so unfair. I know. It should. It should. I was like. This year of all years? Of all years.

[00:28:09] So you go for like a week. There's like you get one night, five days or however long. And then the fireflies, you wait until it gets dark and then the fireflies are synchronized. And I was like this. That's magic. That is so magical. I'm going to have to play the lottery because I'm in Georgia. So I'm not that far. Oh my God. I would drive. If I win, I'll let you know. Please. You can have some of the seats in my car. I'm going to be on top of the car. I'm going to the car.

[00:28:38] Girls trip. Girls trip. Yes. So, so much. A lot of this book, even that scene excluded, obviously, but a lot of this book also felt like a love letter to Seattle. You even referenced the gum wall, which I can still smell like seven years later. I could never like take pictures with it. And I'm like, I got to get out of here. I can't. So my favorite places in Seattle are Rachel's Ginger Beer and Beecher's Handmade Cheese. Yes. Do you have some musty spots in Seattle for anybody who's listening who may visit?

[00:29:08] Oh my gosh. Great question. I'm never going to, I'm not going to remember the names. This is horrible. I'm from Seattle. Like I grew up there. I was born there. I lived there my whole life up until I left for college. And then I even went back to live for a bit. I love those places. So there is a, and I think it's still around, but there's a plant-based ice cream shop called Frankie and Joe's in, I want to say it was in Ballard. That was amazing. There's a restaurant, I think it's closed now. So that's pointless.

[00:29:36] But there is a barbecue pork, that barbecue pork bun scene where she grabs a bun to bring to her dad. That's a real place in Pike Place. That is great. I mean, go to the troll. That's not food, but you have to go there. West Seattle, there is a place called Marination Mackay and they have amazing sandwiches. And you can sit on, I just got a ping in my heart. You sit and you just like are like on the water and you're like overlooking the Seattle skyline.

[00:30:06] And in West Seattle, you can see the whole Seattle skyline, which is so beautiful. But you could take a sandwich to Alki Beach and that would be an amazing afternoon. I only got a day there because we stopped there. We went on an Alaskan cruise and we stopped and we flew into Seattle and we spent the night and I had like a, we used to, Karen and I both used to be in this fandom group. And so we had this whole meetup. And so we went to Rachel's ginger beer and got spiked pineapple ginger beer.

[00:30:34] And then we went to Annapurna, which was, I think it was Indian food. I can't remember. It was delicious. And then we went to an ice cream place that the name is escaping me. And then the next day before we got on the boat, we went to Beecher's handmade cheese. And it was so good. That mac and cheese. Yes. And did the, we walked up and down Pike Place and all that. We did the, the base needle and I was not walking out on that. Like there was no way. Yeah. Oh, I did not. Yeah.

[00:31:01] We, our wedding was on Woodby Island, my husband and I, and a lot of the spoke taste place on Woodby Island. That's where the Wildflower Inn is. And his family came out to Seattle. We showed them around and we went on the glass floor and terrifying. I know. I'm too afraid of heights for that. I haven't been, I haven't been to Seattle, but the CN Tower in Toronto I've been to and it has the similar, like the glass floor. It's terrifying. Oh my God. I'm okay with heights.

[00:31:30] If I'm strapped in, I can do a roller coaster. I can do an airplane, but I have a seatbelt standing on something and not having anything I can see under me. No, no, we're not doing that. So y'all can, you can go do that. It's not going to be me. No, I'm going to be on solid ground. Yeah. So scary. So scary. I had a question and it left me. That's okay. I was going to say something I wouldn't do is the, is the jumping off of the building because like, I cannot do that.

[00:31:57] I was going to ask you if you, if you did that to know what it felt like. I was like, should I, I didn't even entertain that idea. I was like, it's like bungee jumping, but like vertical. So that's a little bit better, right? Your head's not like, like heading toward the ground, but I don't know. That's, I don't like, Hey, I don't want to, I don't want to, I don't want to, I have no interest in that. No, I feel like my heart would revolt out of my face. If I tried to be like, I'm leaving. Nope. I'm leaving. It's gone. It's over. Yeah. There it goes.

[00:32:27] Oh, I want to know about the inspiration for the party that they meet at the four seasons. I want to go to that party so bad. It's so cool. That is the coolest thing that I have heard of. Like what, where did that come from? Thank you. I appreciate you asking about this. I was wondering if that would ever come up because, okay. So I, I'm, I'm very, I, I love that opening. I kind of like, that's where the vision came from, but the idea.

[00:32:52] I think that sparked from a New York times article about this $100,000, like six figure parties, right? These very wealthy people in LA celebrities having like these kinds of literal parties for their children. And I just was so fascinated by that. They literally are like children where they have like a Taylor Swift party and they like have little stages for every era set up. And like a fire truck comes in for like a fire themed party.

[00:33:19] And they'd like bring in shaved ice booths and like any, like whatever your imagination, wherever that can go, go there because that's what these kinds of parties are. And I thought that would be a really fun opening because I wanted to set it against like the prodigy party. So they, if Vivaldi has a song called four seasons or it's not a song, it's like a whole like series of music throughout the seasons. And I was like, well, like the most extravagant thing you can do is set up four seasons in your backyard.

[00:33:49] And if you like live very like fancily and you have a giant yard, you can have a snow, snow machine creates snow. You can have flowers to make, you know, like the flower. What is that? The flower, you know, the flowers and garlands and yeah, all of this stuff. Firework, everything. So I thought that would be fun. And I was like, he would be playing there only because it was a favor.

[00:34:16] Like he would not be, he's too much of a rock star, but people like this get paid a lot of money to perform at like billionaires parties. So it's not a total stretch. It was a way for me to set up to that. He worked with a producer to score a movie. So I was trying to build his backstory. And then for Chrissy, I was like, I guess she could be a vendor there and she can be like having her flower teas and the actress who hires her and who's going to help her with her flower tea line has to drop out.

[00:34:45] But she also is like obsessed with the tea and the wildflower in. So it just kind of helped me build the backstory, but also set up the stage for the celebrity. He's a celebrity, normal person kind of romance. Yeah. It's so good. I love it. I want to go. So bad. And I want to go to the wildflower so badly. I want to hang out. I'm not heartbroken. Like I'm happily married, but I don't want to go to the wildflower. I want some acupuncture and I want to eat all the good food and talk to the aunties.

[00:35:14] All of it. All the gossip. Me too. It's not fair. Yeah. Okay. We don't want to keep you too long, but as you know, we have several questions that we always ask. First being, do you have any new fictional boyfriends of the week? Like Vin was one of mine this week because he's so smooth. He's so smooth. Smooth. Yeah. Always a hard one. I did just read a, my very first, have I read a sports romance? Yeah. Yeah.

[00:35:40] But this was a formula one romance and I had never, I've never seen a formula one. I didn't realize it was as huge as it is. I never, I know nothing about that world. Well, now I do, but there's a book coming out called slip stream by Madge Merrill and the art, his name is Arthur in the, in the book and he's a formula one driver. And I guess he would be the book boyfriend of the week. I like it. Yeah. I'm, it was, it was so good and he's, he's great.

[00:36:10] And there's a lot of verbal sparring in that one. So he's. I love it. He's kind of like, also this like has this reputation kind of like a playboy party boy, but then we, you know, we learn who he really is. Yeah. I love that. Oh, I love it. I also recently read my first F1 romance and I was like, oh, this is interesting. I can see. I'm behind the times. I can see how, why the girlies are into it, but it's not my jam. Like I would never sit down and watch F1, but like, I can understand it.

[00:36:40] Like you telling me about your first billionaire romance the other day. And I was like, must we eat them in the end? I don't, I don't think billionaire romances are for me. I don't think so. I don't know. How do you make a billionaire lovable? It's fair. We'll see. So that the other question we have to ask you is what are you reading and recommending right now? So I just, I am doing a lot of like future readings.

[00:37:08] So I, although I am reading, have you read last night at the Telegraph Club? No, but it's on. No, but I have it. Literally right there. Yeah, I have it. Like I could see it. Yeah. Okay. You have, okay. Yeah. Yes. Yes. This one, which like, look at all of these. Yes. And it's like, I can't even get over how beloved this was in the, in the trades, but it's so good. I like, I'm like zooming through it. I, I think that one, that one's what I'm reading right now.

[00:37:35] I am also reading, I just recently read Alice Chen's Reality Check by Cara Liu and Jennifer Young. And that comes out, I think in the spring, summer, but that's like so reality TV, but it's like a little bit of a murder mystery, this romance. Ooh, hey. Yeah. It's a really fun reality TV one. Like you get like into the whole, like behind the scenes of if you were on an island on a reality TV show competing, it really felt like you were like on the show.

[00:38:03] They really, it's not like the razzle dazzle. It's like the like grueling, I'd never want to go on reality TV. No, I just love to consume it. Yeah. I just want to watch Scandavall play out. I don't want to be part of it. I just want to, I just want to know everything. Exactly. I don't know about all of it. Exactly. Another craft book I just finished reading was, it's called Refuse to Be Done by Matt Bell. And I, I like short craft books that I can like understand.

[00:38:33] Craft books have made me cry before, like thinking that I just was no good. And like, I didn't know how to do anything. You were no good? Are you sure? You know these craft books that are like so intense to understand. And you're just like, how? Like, I'm not. Do I know words? Do I know how to do any of that? Do I know how to do any of that? Do I know words? But this one, it was not like. You don't need to worry about that at all. Yeah. You don't. Thank you. Well, I didn't finish that one. I put it down and was like, no.

[00:39:02] But this one by Matt Bell is, is a really good, it's a really good one. It has a lot of like actionable tips. It makes you feel good about yourself and it makes you feel less alone. So that one is also great. Oh, good. All right. We'll have to look that up. Yeah, definitely. Okay. I think we always have to know like what comes next. I know we're excited about Yin Yang Love Song, but what comes after that? I actually don't know what I can say about it, but I am working on my next one.

[00:39:32] I am on deadline. So it is, it's going. That's all we need to know. Yeah. Oh, we can't wait. I'm excited for it. I'm sure we'll be just as hungry to read that, reading that one and to read that one. I hope so. As we have your previous books. Thank you. Well, as you know, you've been here three times. You have to keep coming back. It's the law. We just, sorry. We love that. Every single book you write.

[00:40:01] You gotta come talk to us about it. I'll just keep intruding. Yes, please. Please. All right, everybody. When this episode is out, you can go to the bookstore and pick up Yin Yang Love Song. She's so pretty. I can't wait for everybody to read it. I think you just, you just continue to get better and your craft. You're honing your craft. And it's so fun to have seen you from book one to now. Yes. And I can't wait to see what else comes. Yay. Thank you so much.

[00:40:31] Thank you both. Thank you so much for hanging out with us again. We can't wait for the next one. Yay. Me too. Thank you, Lauren. We'll talk to you soon. Talk soon. Bye. Bye. Bye. I love her so much. It's always so fun to hang out with her. And she always gives such good answers. I love her except for she makes me hungry. All the time. Every time I read it. Lauren couldn't adjust. This one, I was more thirsty. I just wanted tea. Yeah. The whole time I was reading it. I needed like a T-I-V. Yeah. The whole time I was reading this. I was just sitting there drinking, like sipping tea.

[00:41:01] I'm like, I have to go to the bathroom because I've been drinking so much tea, but I can't stop reading this book. Yeah. It was so much fun. Yay. I loved it. Yay. Yay. Good times. Okay. We have on the podcast, Vanessa Montalbott, author of These Vengeful Wishes. Every time I try to say this title, I trip up on it. It's hard. Okay. It's hard. I would have tripped up on saying trip up on it.

[00:41:29] You said that and I was like, that's a mouthful. Words are hard. Okay. They are. Anyways. Even though they're a favorite. We're going to talk to Vanessa next week. I'm so excited. I am like a few chapters. I think I'm like 10 chapters into this so far. And I'm, things are starting to pick up and I'm like. This isn't a series, right? No, it's a standalone. Okay. I mean, it would have been fine as long as it was book one. I just wanted to make sure I hadn't missed. I didn't need to catch up on anything. No, I would have let you know. Yeah. Yeah. True.

[00:42:00] Whether or not you cared. It just popped into my head. Like I'm going to be driving to writing. I won't be reading while I'm driving, but like writing to Disney, I'll be able to get started. Yeah. So I'm so excited to chat with her. It's going to be so much fun. Yay. Okay. Time for a spiel. We can do a spiel. If you enjoyed this episode, please like, follow, and subscribe wherever you are listening to us. Follow us on social media. We are at the incoherent fangirl on all the things except blue sky where we are at incoherent fangirl.

[00:42:29] I really hate that there is a limit to how long. Especially when it's dot bluesky dot hotmail dot gov dot ga dot. Stop. Take that off. And let us be the incoherent fangirl. Please, please. That's so annoying. Maybe they'll fix it soon. Hopefully they'll see how insane that is. That's too much. It is. Visit our website, the incoherent fangirl dot com, where you can also stream all of our episodes as well as read our blog.

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[00:43:25] I made a Mandy add a pullover hoodie, so that's there. I'm very excited about that. If you have any comments, questions, concerns, suggestions, design ideas you want to tell us that we're pretty, we will accept all of that in our inbox. The incoherent fangirl at gmail dot com. We love hearing from y'all. And of course, one last way to support the podcast is to rate and review wherever you're listening to us. Please give us your words. Give us your words. We love words here. Even if we trip up on them. We love to read them. We love to listen to them. Exactly.

[00:43:54] Just speaking of sometimes is a little bit. Just a little bit. Just a little. In my defense, English isn't my first language. It's my first language. I'm going with that. In my defense, I listen to an audio book at 0.3x speed for most of the day. So Josh was like, you got to go upstairs. You're giving me a heart attack. Because I just like, I didn't have my headphones on. I just had it playing on speaker. And he was like, you've got, please, I'm going to have a panic. You've got to get away from this. You've got to get away from me. That is stressing me out. Oh my God. That cracks me up.

[00:44:23] She is at Mandy Perv on all the things. She's at Ms. Made in China on all the things. And once you followed us on social media and you followed the podcast on social media, you can head over and do some self-care by visiting our internet besties. We love them and you will too. First up, you're going to head over to herecomesthenerd.com. Get you some pins and artsy goodies. Use code fangirl to get 20% off your first order. Then once you've got those pins and artsy goodies, you're going to head over to onceapontabookclub.com. You can subscribe and get a monthly box.

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[00:46:16] It's your favorite paranormal true crime and horror content. And yeah, they're they've been filming a lot. He was filming last weekend, filming in a few weeks, all over the place. So if you go to stream beacon TV.com and subscribe, use code fan girl, 10 to get 10% off of your subscription. And if you want some searchers merch, you can go to searchers, believe.com slash shop and use code fan girl, 10 for 10% off. And the merch there,

[00:46:44] a lot of it was designed by yours truly. So goodness, fan girl, 10 everywhere. Well, well, not everywhere. No, I meant for the show. Okay. I was like, yeah, on both of the show husbands things. It's fan girl, 10. That's fair. Yes, that is correct. And that was thanks for listening. We love y'all. Bye. We are sponsored by our friends at here comes the nerd pins,

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