Julia: Hey reader, welcome back to another episode. I'm your host, Julia Bodwell and joining me again today is a bookseller extraordinaire, Kyrstie Atwood. Hey! we love Kyrstie so I'm super excited to have her back on the show. Thanks for joining me again.
Kyrstie: Of course I'm so excited to be here.
Julia: so I've been dying to get you back on the show because obviously, for those that shop at the Gilded Page and know you well, they know that you're the dark romance girly. that is your that's your vibe, that's your thing. and you you got me to read Brynne Weaver which I love her, Butcher and Blackbird, which is the Runus Love trilogy, and then Tourist Season, Harvest Season, that whole series. Love it. But you also know that I am a thriller horror reader. So So it made sense for you to recommend that to me. Right? This is like it's like
Kyrstie: Serial killers and love.
Julia: it was like it's like Dexter if if the main plot was also like spicy romance. So like
Kyrstie: Exactly. Literally the best way to
Julia: a good mashup. Like they're doing Dexter, vigilante shit, and then there's also spicy, steamy romance happening. So
Kyrstie: yeah, there is.
Julia: I thought that's what dark romance was.
Kyrstie: Spoiler learn. Spoiler learned she learned.
Julia: of you that don't read dark romance should probably understand the tropes before you get into it so yeah I I can't remember if you recommended it somebody recommended of Ink and Alchemy by Sloane St. James which I really enjoyed he they they're tattoo artists which again love tattoos I have a tattoo artist for a brother I was just like alright cool Kyrstie
Kyrstie: Can I hold on real quick. It was so funny when you came up to me and you were like, Kyrstie, is this what a dark romance is? And I'm like, what's happening? You're like,
Julia: This is this is concerning.
Kyrstie: he did this thing and she she I I don't want to spoil anything for but like it was the typical Yes, if you've read a dark romance, it is the typical dark romance where you know, we're gonna get married and she's just gonna have to be okay with it. And
Julia: Like he's doing all of these questionable things, very questionable things, but it's okay because he loves her and it's all out of love. And so I remember coming to and I hadn't finished the book yet, and I was like, Here Kyrstie, am I supposed to be okay with this? Because this is very questionable, and we shouldn't be okay with this. Like, we're supposed to be okay with it because he's doing it out of love, but also he's kind of a stalker, and these are he's crossing some very serious lines. And I remember you looking at me and being like, Yeah, that's what morally gray is.
Kyrstie: It's the fact that like yes, he does all of these things, but he only does these things for her. Like, it is the fact and like the Okay, but
Julia: This isn't in real life.
Kyrstie: no, no, no. my gosh, terrifying. Like, please, I that's the that's one of the biggest misconceptions that I have, with people that talk about dark romance readers, is that they're like, so you want some guy to stalk you and you want him to cut the hand off of the guy that you were talking to, even though he's stalking you, and it's like, no, no, I don't. But the fact that there is a Man in the book that would do that for someone and that only one person. Yeah. No one else in the world. Everyone else just like, yeah, don't care about them. I'm obsessed with you, and so I'm gonna do all these things for you, and you're gonna love me too. Okay. And like I know it sounds so crazy, but I mean, it's just it's just how it is in dark romance. And in real life, no, I would not. So so
Julia: readers are not reading this because they want this to happen to them in real life. It's it's almost it's escapism, you know
Kyrstie: It is. It's a book. And a lot of it has to do a lot of like if you look up a lot of the authors, it's like H. D. Carlton is a very good example. A lot of people give a lot of hate towards haunting Adeline because they're like, Well, how can you have a guy who is a stalker and does they call it the non con where or the consensual non consent where like you know when you're in the mind of the person, they are consenting. They just don't it's new for them, so it almost seems like it's crossing that line. But then he also is a guy that is killing people that are in some sort of sex trafficking ring. So it's people are like, Well, how can he do that? But then also do Yeah. But H. D. Carlton talked about the character.
Julia: Yeah.
Kyrstie: She went through a lot of trauma and her being able to like write that character, being able to defend, and even though he was because I mean it is still a dark romance, yeah. But it helped with her healing through her trauma, and a lot of dark romance readers have gone through things in which when they read books about you know, people that will protect them no matter what. It's it brings them into a part of their life where they didn't have someone like that and they went through something and they can read and it's just kind of it's just a little healing. I don't know how else to like describe it.
Julia: Okay. Well and I'm sure every reader's journey is different, you know. Yeah. If you read it and you're like, Whoa, like this is not for you, you know, that the genre doesn't have to be for everyone. No, I also think of it like, you know, 'cause someone who grew up watching horror movies and and still watches a lot of horror movies and reads a lot of horror, think about the the writers and directors for these movies. Like some of them are very deranged.
Kyrstie: Like Saw perfect example of Saw. That's like l hostile. literally it's just a whole entire torture movie, but though they have such big cult followings that just love those kinds of things and I guess yeah it's just it's just a I don't want to say a niche 'cause it's so big now but I guess kind of in a way it is. Yeah.
Julia: Like well, I do feel like social media has kind of helped it become broader, more accessible.
Kyrstie: One hundred percent book talk and Instagram and all that. One hundred percent. Yeah.
Julia: Okay, so we have morally Gray, which I have figured out for myself what that really looks like and what that means. And I I you know, of Ink and Alchemy, you know, if if you're a dark romance reader, you will love that book.
Kyrstie: Mm-hmm.
Julia: Not like the book. I'm not gonna say I didn't like the book. I just there were reports about the character that I was like, hmm, okay, this gives me pause and I'm not sure how I feel, but I finished the book and I was like, okay, I thought it ended really well. There was a twist, I will say. There was a really good twist at the end. So for someone who r loves thrillers, I was like, you got me with the twist. so I definitely am glad I suck it out. but okay, so we have morally Gray. Like what are what other tropes do I need to be aware of and Well not not afraid of but just you know if I'm going to read another book
Kyrstie: So you get I mean there's nothing wrong with like the rom com dark romance. Yeah that kind of like dark humor. Yeah, so like Sinners Retreat by Lauren Beale is an another really great one that kind of fits in the same realm as Butcher and Blackbird. but I mean
Julia: Give me all of the I'll I'll need like all of the like Butcher and Blackbird adjacent books. I don't
Kyrstie: That's for you too.
Julia: think because I did you you recommended good for her. there were a lot
Kyrstie: I loved good for her.
Julia: of trouble with that one. But I wasn't I was not as I guess it was just that one that one element in the oven canalchamy that I told you, and I don't want to say it because I don't want to spoil it, because that was the big piece where I'm just like
Kyrstie: And I am
Julia: are we supposed to be okay with this?
Kyrstie: In dark romance, yes. In real life, no. No. No. As long as you understand that
Julia: No. In our characters, fine, but but yeah, 'cause good for her had a lot of a lot of dark romance to show up to. But that one seemed like it was closer to the the dark, you know, romance with the humor and again you know, killing people for justice. I love the video.
Kyrstie: I do too. I do too especially
Julia: Who wronged you so they deserve it.
Kyrstie: Especially a man that literally wants you to fall back in love with him so he will kill so that you fall back in love. Like you want these men you want these men dead? I will kill them. Like seven men, seven dates, and you'll fall in love with me, right? I'll do that for you. Like come on. But in real life, if someone told me that I'd be like, huh. I'm gonna call I'm gonna call the police. Be dial yelling, I'll know what you're mercy. Like, no, but like in the book, my gosh, man, there's just I don't know what it is about dark romance men, but Okay. But but there's a lot of Like all of the I like to I know that there's tropes, but I feel like a lot of Dark Romance is more on trigger warnings. Okay. So like there are the tropes like, you know, Touch her and die, you know, Morally Gray, Morally Black. Morally Black would be like
Julia: Wait, what's morally Black?
Kyrstie: haunting. Like yeah, my gosh. so there's like Morally Black where it there's there's some books that I would say definitely to some people would one hundred percent cross the line. Haunting like I said, Haunting Allen would be w a really big one. Correct. Yes, because the it is on he is like on the line. Yeah, like he is on the line. But if you did Lights Out by Nivessa Allen, like I would consider him morally grey because you know he's that's kinda
Julia: Like a Brent Weaver butcher and blessing.
Kyrstie: Exactly. So it just go that's yeah, so that's kind of the differences on all of them. So like yeah, so you're morally great spectrum. Exactly. And some people say that some are morally gray where they're just like, no, he's like he's golden retriever and I'm just like okay, like yeah, like Josh from Lights Out would be considered a golden retriever, even though I still consider him morally great because you know, he's a stalker and he follows her around and you know
Julia: Doing all the things that in real life would be red for
Kyrstie: Exactly. So I guess that's more of how you kinda differentiate all of them. You got your Morally Grey, which is you know, more dangerous than your contemporary romance. And then you got your Morally Black, which would be like the aha, okay, I can't tell this is too much, but I still really like it, so I'm okay with it. Okay.
Julia: Okay. So just thinking this'll this'll probably date me, but like 'cause, you know, twenty years ago or whatever, th this genre it probably I mean it existed, these books existed, but it wasn't as, you know, widespread and again I think a lot of that is because of social media. So just thinking of the only one that I can think of that's Fifty Shades.
Kyrstie: I knew it. Like, my gosh, yeah, like I used to be fifty stage de gray and that used to be so spicy for me. I'm just like, dude, that would be well and I thought at that time too that it was the spicy because it
Julia: like the only thing really that was mainstream that would be considered and it was so still and nothing else really again not to say that these books didn't exist and people, you know, authors weren't writing them, but they didn't exist in the way that they do now. So that one was the the most taboo, like my gosh, I can't believe you're reading that. Well and then looking back at it it's just like that's probably very tame compared to some of these movies and dark romance.
Kyrstie: Well, and I also think it really goes in hand with I feel like a lot of women are taking control of their sexuality, like they're not scared. I remember not that my family was like this, but I know that generations from me and older than me, you weren't allowed to really talk about sex. Like it was very hush hush and you know, guys do their thing and you know, girls are very you know, we don't talk about that, you know, it happens but whatever. And so especially when fifty shades of gray remember I was reading Fifty Shades of Grey and I hiding it. I didn't want anyone to know. I like reading it at home. Like I almost didn't want to tell Levi I was reading Fifty Shades of Grey. That's how much shame it was. and for no reason. Because
Julia: Wrong, like you felt like you weren't.
Kyrstie: everyone was all you're reading is just you're just reading smut you're just reading sex in a book and it's like hey who cares? at least I'm reading it. I mean I could watch it but maybe
Julia: Think about how how many movies and shows, you know, exist out there, especially for the male gaze. Yeah. But there's no problem in in watching those. But if a woman wants to read it in, you know, a book form.
Kyrstie: Mm-hmm. And I think with social media and everyone just being like open, being like, No, it's not weird. there's so many other people that read the same stuff that I don't know I don't know the author side of it that also helped a lot of authors be able to write dark romance type books. But it's more acceptable now. And so I think that it's now just gotten so much bigger and now when people shame people for reading dark romance, we're like, I'm gonna read what I want, leave me alone, I don't care. Go back to your I don't know, whatever you wanna read because you can be whatever you want to
Julia: Well that's right. I hate the term guilty pleasure. You shouldn't feel guilty for doing something that brings you joy. As long as you're not hurting anyone, you're not enacting some of these things that are happening in the book. Yeah. Read the book. Enjoy it. And I love
Kyrstie: books I've I've looked I've jumped into some fantasy, I've jumped into some horror, but there's just something like I you always I always and like I will read like five or six dark romances that back to back to back to back and then I'm like okay well I guess I do need a break and I'll I'll read something different but I whenever I'm in a slum, I my my go-to is always Darling Venom. I will always go back to that book as a dark romance and it's just I
Julia: Yeah.
Kyrstie: It really is, which is so funny to say about a dark romance with like you know, like all this trauma dumping in the books and like all these horrible things happening and being saved and my gosh. But yeah, no, it it really just gets me back into back into the flow of everything. Yeah.
Julia: Okay, so for someone like me who doesn't read much of it, and I know we talked a little bit the last time you were on the show, but kind of remind us or maybe even dive a little deeper. Like if you're looking for something that's not too extreme, obviously, you Bryn Weaver and Navessa Allen, are there any others that you say kind of are a nice toe dipping in and just just getting started with with we're not gonna jump in off the debont and
Kyrstie: Yeah, go straight.
Julia: Although some people have and they're and they love it. So again,
Kyrstie: Yeah, no, not at all. I I love those books. I mean it's I've
Julia: I guess like what's my next rec? 'Cause you 'cause you recommended Good for Her, which I enjoyed. My only my only problem with that was I thought it was a little too long. Like it I think I'm a short book, it's like under four hundred pages. Yeah. Short chapters under four hundred pages. get in and get out. and that's probably the the thriller aspect of my mind. It's just the plot has to move quickly and things don't happen. but I enjoyed that one. And then yeah, like I said, the of Inc and Alchemy, other than just being surprised by Is that
Kyrstie: I morally graded you were like Kyrstie, is this normal? And I was like, my god I'm supposed
Julia: Is this your bird?
Kyrstie: to be my god we bought a new cherry in Dark Romance.
Julia: I mean if you don't count Brynne Weaver, which I feel like she's I feel like she's her own genre of dark romance. She's like her own
Kyrstie: Feel like she's been able to like kind of build yeah, like she's been able to Yeah, one hundred percent
Julia: create such a a strong following. pretty much at this point if she writes it, I wanna read it. Anxiously
Kyrstie: Yep. yeah, one hundred percent same.
Julia: awaiting the the conclusion to her seasons of carnage trilogy because it's so good.
Kyrstie: yeah, I'm very excited. But I would so Sinners Retreat by Lauren Beale. I wouldn't say Lauren Beal. Yes, that that is a lot like Butcher and Blackbird. It is about serial killers who get invited to a resort and basically have a vacation at the resort. But the the activities that they have are murderous against, you know, bad people or whatever. And so the main
Julia: Again, it's like a horror movie.
Kyrstie: They're like they're like, yeah, so we're gonna play like Capture the Flag, but it's like capture the like the bad person and like yeah, they like do and like get all creative and stuff and the main male character is obsessed with a serial killer that he's been hearing about, doesn't know if it's a man or a woman, come to figure out is the female main character who's looking for the person that killed her brother. And that's all I will say because there's so much no, there's so much that happens there. Okay. Is that It is a standalone, but it is a series as well. So there's like Sinner's Retreat, there's Slaycation. Yeah, so she did like all kinda I it's kind of like Brynn Reaver's Ruinous trilogy where it's different stories interconnected. Right. And it's some of them are with the different holidays. So you if you're feeling like, I want a Christmas read, there's Slaycation, so then you can read about their slacation. so that is another one. I would be careful if you're just specifically looking up Lauren Beale though, because she has some morally black Yes,
Julia: So she goes all over the spectrum with her.
Kyrstie: all of them great. and then Yeah. Like I always
Julia: Depends on where you want to start on on this.
Kyrstie: start with when anyone comes in and needs a recommendation, I always ask, What have you read before? 'Cause if you have never read any dark romance, I'm not gonna give you a haunting Adeline or Priest. Well priest wouldn't be too bad as a starter one. So Priest by Simone. Sierra Simone. Sierra Simone, I would definitely recommend that as one because it's not it's not so much funny, but you know, it's just it's more it's a little bit tame. Yes, because he's a he's a priest and you know she is, you know, she's had her own thing going on and you know she's like a temptress and he's trying not to so it's very like, you know, there's still the dark stuff that goes on in there, but it's a little bit more tame.
Julia: So even within the dark romance genre, some of the authors will some of their books or their series will be on the lighter side and some so really you have to know what you're getting into before you just latch onto an author and
Kyrstie: And a lot of the descriptions will let you know. It'll either say like a dark rom com and then another way to know.
Julia: For sure. Dark rom com is that kind of you're gonna get co kinda more like the Novessa Allen, Bryn Weaver type where it's like the dark humor and it's still a romance, dark romance, but I
Kyrstie: And you're still dealing with
Julia: say lighter, even though people are being murdered.
Kyrstie: Yes. But I mean compared to other one Good for Her. Like yeah, like Good For Her I w is still like a dark rom com, but I would still say that's a maybe a little bit a s one more step above Bryn Weaver, just a little bit. Okay. I don't know why, but I don't I wouldn't I would do Butcher and Blackbird before I recommended Good For Her. Okay. If someone said that they had Right. I don't I don't know why. Maybe because that one is a little bit more detailed as the traumatic team or traumatic themes. That maybe that's why I would. Okay. But if you're really worried about if the dark romance is gonna be too much for you, there's always content warnings. At the front at the very front. Like Brendan Weaver, I'm don't mean to keep bringing her up, but she is notorious for having pages of
Julia: The church.
Kyrstie: of the trigger warnings. Because you just you you you wanna know what you're getting into. And if you're not doing one that is not considered a rom-com, a dark rom com, I would 100% check check your trigger warnings because they are it's very open to let you know okay everything like
Julia: The authors do their their their part in making sure the readers are aware, like, hey, if you're easily triggered by XYZ, ABC
Kyrstie: Mm-hmm. This is A through Z
Julia: well the nice thing too is you know, you can DNF a book, in any genre. I mean we we talked about that last time too, but you don't need to feel bad about that. if you pick up a book and you wanna give it a try and even if you look at the trigger warnings and you're like, okay, I think I can handle this, once you get into it, you might not have been fully prepared even with the warnings. Maybe it's a situation or it's described it a way That you're just not comfortable with. Yeah. That's okay. I mean, for any reason, just like, I I'm not enjoying this book or it's boring or whatever it is, if you're feeling uncomfortable with a book, you're not forced to finish it.
Kyrstie: Yeah. And like we've said before, there's too many books out there to force yourself to read something you're not enjoying. Yeah. Like it's or even if you just want to pause it, maybe you're just not in the mood for it, you can also just pause. Or back. Or not
Julia: And come back.
Kyrstie: at all. Like yeah, it is okay to just not
Julia: We can't drive that point home enough, I think, to our to our customers and and readers and listeners, there's no shame in not liking a genre or not liking a book, especially if it's something that's super popular. You know, you keep hearing about all these bestsellers or all these books, and I'm I felt that way. I'm just like, what's wrong with me that I didn't like this book? there's nothing wrong with you. Not every book is for every reader. no. But I like that, you know, it you can kind of just almost know ahead of time just based on those trigger warnings. What are getting into? What what kinda what kind of situation?
Kyrstie: It does make it nice. More people what do they say that it it's like my grocery list, that's what people say. Like my gosh is my I have a I have a nice grocery list girl.
Julia: Yeah. Go down each aisle and
Kyrstie: Exactly. My checklist
Julia: So do you being, you know, a a dark romance reader like that is your main genre? do you even look at the Trigger Warnings at this point? Or you're like gonna read
Kyrstie: Regardless. Honestly, I love going in blind. a prime example of a book that I just went in blind was Kiss of the Basilisk by Lindsay Straube which originally was independently published in it was called Split or Swallow.
Julia: Which I remember when we got that book in at the store, I looked at it very quickly and it was a very tiny print because it's still on the the traditionally published copy and I was like, spit or swallow? This is a spit or swallow novel, Kyrstie We're just going with that. And you're like, no, split. There's an LM. It could it could
Kyrstie: Well there's no spitting.
Julia: work.
Kyrstie: But when it originally came out, my one of my really good friends, Ashley, she told me, You need to read this book, but you are not allowed to look into what it's about. You're not allowed to nothing. And I was like, Okay. So you have to just go. And I just went in blind and dude, that was the craziest book. I've going in blind, I feel like now people are like, Yeah, I mean it's kind of crazy, but when it came out and you went into that book blind. I had no idea what was going on and what was going on in that book. I I read the whole first book and I was like, Well, what did I just- Read, but in the best way. I was like, I have no idea what I just read and I need more. And so luckily there are more. Yeah, so ever since that, I have definitely been more comfortable jumping into books blindly. I feel like I've read enough of the dark romance genre that it's kind of hard to shock me. Yeah, no, definitely.
Julia: Like so I don't I don't wanna say desensitized, but like used to and accustomed to what you're gonna get.
Kyrstie: Yeah, and when you're first learning to read dark room or like not learn, but when you're first reading
Julia: You first learning to read.
Kyrstie: you start with your A B C No You kind of figure out what you like and what you don't like. Okay. And there hasn't been I mean there's been things that obviously in books that I haven't liked, but it hasn't been enough to where it's like Where you put the book down. Exactly. So like I haven't found that in a book, so I'm I'm okay with going in blind and I'm almost hoping something will shock me out there.
Julia: Just like waiting for that one thing, like finally give me a reason to be like, Wow. Yeah.
Kyrstie: Yeah. Okay. And there always is something, but you know, it's just yeah, there's just it's never gotten to that point where like I need to keep checking my grocery list before I okay go shopping in my book.
Julia: I love that the grocery list. I guess that's kind of how I feel about horror is you know, even my all-time favorite horror book, Fantastic Land, which I can't speak highly enough or or recommend to enough people. I feel like I've literally handshold that to every person that's walked in to the bookstore. there were some scenes in there too that some people might have been shocked and I was just like, Give me more of that. Yeah. This isn't enough, I want more. So I don't know what that says about my deranged brain, though I'm like, Yes, more murder please.
Kyrstie: Maybe maybe sound a little bit more sane, so thank you.
Julia: Which I did I did grow up liking the hostile movies and the Saw movies, so yeah.
Kyrstie: It all goes hand in hand. Yeah.
Julia: so what are you reading right now, currently?
Kyrstie: So I'm actually reading In the Dark. Okay.
Julia: Chao.
Kyrstie: Yes, yes, which is so I just went to Halloween Horror Nights and I really wanted a haunted house dark romance to read. Okay. And so I wanted that.
Julia: How far are you how far in are you?
Kyrstie: I'm only thirty percent in. Okay. So I'm not very far out. And you get like
Julia: Like fifty, sixty percent, let me know if you think that it's a Julia vibe. So I
Kyrstie: Because I
Julia: would love the idea of that.
Kyrstie: So far I will say I feel like you would enjoy it, just because the dude obviously, I would say he he is mm-hmm.
Julia: Are these characters in the haunted house?
Kyrstie: So he is. And then she actually doesn't like scary things, but her best friend is like one of the performers in one of the shows. And so she's like, You have to come and see my show, you know, you've never gone, come on. She's like, I'm so scared, I don't wanna do it. And she she's like, No, you have to come, you have to Yeah, and so they go into the haunted house and the guy that is in the haunted house is the face of everything. So you know, he's so hot and so class Yeah, and so so she goes to and this is the V and that's why I'm just I'm just letting you guys know. I'm just giving you little little pieces, little pieces. Especially right now while it's you know spooky season, so this would be like the perfect book so far. so she goes through the haunted house, gets so scared that she kind of gets shuffled and accidentally ends up in their break room or whatever, and he's in there. And he's again, of g because this is how they all are, you know, he's normally like whatever. I get women all the time. I don't care, it's not even that big of a deal. But then she walks in and he's like, Whoa. Immediately I'm curious about you. She's Yeah, then he's like, What you doing? will go for you. And she's like, Nothing, leave me alone. And he's like, Alright girl, you need me to take you back. And she's like, Okay, sure. And she's acting like she doesn't want it, but inside, you hear her mind, she's like, gosh, this is Naanna. Like I don't want to leave, but I can't be too obvious. And then yeah, that's like and then he's like, Okay, well, boop, go back out. And instantly he's obsessed with her. Like it goes to his monologue and he's like, What's her name? I need the cameras, who can help me? How can I find her? Like I need to know all the names. And his best friend's like, dude, yeah. And he's like, Dude, chill.
Julia: No, they never do that.
Kyrstie: No, they never do. And he has a dark past, you know, he used to do things and now he doesn't anymore. But every so often he still gets a job and that should be tied in later according to the description. So I'm very I'm very excited to see how like So Yeah.
Julia: Good good spooky season in the dark.
Kyrstie: Yes. Where you get enough of like your dark romance where, you know, but I also feel like it has a lot of the like Rowan from Butcher and Blackbird, you know, where you get all that, you know cuteness and golden retriever, but like Rory's not really a golden retriever, just really
Julia: It's just like he's a morally gray.
Kyrstie: Which I know this is kind of a sidebar, but this also still goes with dark romance. I actually saw Brynne you're like our number one person who's talking about in this book. But did you see she read She recently posted how like even though everyone considers Rowan from Butcher and Blackbird a golden retriever, he actually isn't. Like if you actually like look at the way he is, she wrote him. Yeah,
Julia: Gold reachie.
Kyrstie: he's a but she said that he she wrote him in Sloane's eyes. So Sloan sees him as a golden retriever, but he's not actually a golden retriever. there's multiple parts, and she puts it in her description. So I don't want to spoil in case anyone hasn't read the series, but there's a couple of points where she's like, Yeah, he was supposed to do This, but he only cared about this because it had to do with Sloan. And I was like, my gosh, he is not a golden retriever. in the dark romance golden retriever sense. he actually was super dark, he just was so bad for her. Yeah. Makes me love him even more. See, it just goes right back. I guess her. For her,
Julia: Also we'll go to the ends of the earth for
Kyrstie: and only that's it. Yeah. Yeah. And I just thought that was really I thought that was really cool. Just like a random little dark.
Julia: Okay, I'll have to go find that the little bit of of like like extra behind the scenes of of Brynweaver's brain.
Kyrstie: Yeah. It's just it yeah, I just like learning about all the different characters, how people come up with them and
Julia: Which I have to say, because we're since we're talking about Bryn Weaver and I loved Butcher and Blackbird so much, I'm very interested to see how they adapt that into a movie because it's made into a movie and I'm
Kyrstie: my gosh, me being made.
Julia: simultaneously excited and terrified.
Kyrstie: Butcher and Blackbird scene? Any of it. Any of the any of the restaurants. my gosh. Yeah. So like all that.
Julia: read the book, you're probably also just simultaneously like, please give us the movie now but also I'm afraid.
Kyrstie: Yeah, the visual of my food being ruined. Yeah.
Julia: Yes, please make sure you've eaten your dinner before Andrew
Kyrstie: I mean your ice cream. Not before.
Julia: No, so well I feel like we could sit here all day and talk about our present.
Kyrstie: One hundred.
Julia: but obviously we have to go on with our lives, so we'll we'll have you back again to tell us what else you're up to w with your books and what you're reading. But thank you so much for joining me. You've
Kyrstie: Of course.
Julia: got some really great recs. I feel like I I would I think I would like to try that in the dark.
Kyrstie: I think about twenty more percent just in case.
Julia: bit closer to the end, like just let me know. but I just I'm intrigued by the idea of like a haunted house dark romance because you I love I love me some haunted houses.
Kyrstie: I have a I have a few I have a few good rags. I there's my gosh.
Julia: Yeah. Okay, before we go, like I need them rapid fire. That's okay. We'll we'll we'll get the authors' names in the
Kyrstie: One of my one of my favorites I I hate that I can't remember her name 'cause this was like one of my favorites too. one of my friends having read it too. There's so much and I again I read not that anyone is less important than anyone else, but I just read so much that like some I sometimes I just go back to back to back to back that I don't even notice. But it starts to blur together. Yeah. There's one called No Place to Hide and it is like a novella. It is literally like Haunted House?
Julia: Good house.
Kyrstie: Yes. Okay. He works at a haunted house and she goes there and they only have one night. Ooh. Allegedly. Okay. One night. Okay, this is wrapped up. my gosh, that's okay
Julia: Like so you can't tell us any more no place to hide?
Kyrstie: No place to hide. God.
Julia: Now that you're like on the on the clock. Okay. So
Kyrstie: I'll send some reps and put in the description.
Julia: We've got In the Dark and No Place to Hide, th those are our our haunted house reps for the
Kyrstie: And then I would say good for her would be a good spooky season just because it is centered around people working in horror. Like they're horror actors. Yeah. So that's like I would say that that could also be part of the season. Songbirds of the gallow, just because that's a like a blackbird re a blackbird black beard reimagining. And it also kind of has like that spooky vibe because it's like a whole town that gets made for a bunch of like bad people, but they're not really old bad I think you would like that one. Yes.
Julia: You've already finished that one, would that be a good reference? It's not like too like morally black.
Kyrstie: I don't well, I mean, I don't know, he does have a therapist that you know, he tells all of the fact that he used to be a killer. But he's not a killer anymore. Okay. He's not. Okay. But he's gonna train her to be a killer. Okay.
Julia: But he's not gonna do it. But do they kill bad guys?
Kyrstie: Yes. Okay. Well she does, 'cause he doesn't kill anymore.
Julia: But he but he used to. Okay.
Kyrstie: Yeah.
Julia: She's looking at me like for those of you not watching, she's looking at like I can't say anymore, you just have to read it. Yes. Okay. Well we'll leave we'll leave everyone on a cliffhanger there. thank you so much for for babbling with
Kyrstie: my gosh, any time I love babbling with you. I love talking books about like anything really. So can talk
Julia: Again soon, and everyone can listen to us babble some more. Until then, listeners, we'll see you next time. Bye!
Kyrstie: Of course I'm so excited to be here.
Julia: so I've been dying to get you back on the show because obviously, for those that shop at the Gilded Page and know you well, they know that you're the dark romance girly. that is your that's your vibe, that's your thing. and you you got me to read Brynne Weaver which I love her, Butcher and Blackbird, which is the Runus Love trilogy, and then Tourist Season, Harvest Season, that whole series. Love it. But you also know that I am a thriller horror reader. So So it made sense for you to recommend that to me. Right? This is like it's like
Kyrstie: Serial killers and love.
Julia: it was like it's like Dexter if if the main plot was also like spicy romance. So like
Kyrstie: Exactly. Literally the best way to
Julia: a good mashup. Like they're doing Dexter, vigilante shit, and then there's also spicy, steamy romance happening. So
Kyrstie: yeah, there is.
Julia: I thought that's what dark romance was.
Kyrstie: Spoiler learn. Spoiler learned she learned.
Julia: of you that don't read dark romance should probably understand the tropes before you get into it so yeah I I can't remember if you recommended it somebody recommended of Ink and Alchemy by Sloane St. James which I really enjoyed he they they're tattoo artists which again love tattoos I have a tattoo artist for a brother I was just like alright cool Kyrstie
Kyrstie: Can I hold on real quick. It was so funny when you came up to me and you were like, Kyrstie, is this what a dark romance is? And I'm like, what's happening? You're like,
Julia: This is this is concerning.
Kyrstie: he did this thing and she she I I don't want to spoil anything for but like it was the typical Yes, if you've read a dark romance, it is the typical dark romance where you know, we're gonna get married and she's just gonna have to be okay with it. And
Julia: Like he's doing all of these questionable things, very questionable things, but it's okay because he loves her and it's all out of love. And so I remember coming to and I hadn't finished the book yet, and I was like, Here Kyrstie, am I supposed to be okay with this? Because this is very questionable, and we shouldn't be okay with this. Like, we're supposed to be okay with it because he's doing it out of love, but also he's kind of a stalker, and these are he's crossing some very serious lines. And I remember you looking at me and being like, Yeah, that's what morally gray is.
Kyrstie: It's the fact that like yes, he does all of these things, but he only does these things for her. Like, it is the fact and like the Okay, but
Julia: This isn't in real life.
Kyrstie: no, no, no. my gosh, terrifying. Like, please, I that's the that's one of the biggest misconceptions that I have, with people that talk about dark romance readers, is that they're like, so you want some guy to stalk you and you want him to cut the hand off of the guy that you were talking to, even though he's stalking you, and it's like, no, no, I don't. But the fact that there is a Man in the book that would do that for someone and that only one person. Yeah. No one else in the world. Everyone else just like, yeah, don't care about them. I'm obsessed with you, and so I'm gonna do all these things for you, and you're gonna love me too. Okay. And like I know it sounds so crazy, but I mean, it's just it's just how it is in dark romance. And in real life, no, I would not. So so
Julia: readers are not reading this because they want this to happen to them in real life. It's it's almost it's escapism, you know
Kyrstie: It is. It's a book. And a lot of it has to do a lot of like if you look up a lot of the authors, it's like H. D. Carlton is a very good example. A lot of people give a lot of hate towards haunting Adeline because they're like, Well, how can you have a guy who is a stalker and does they call it the non con where or the consensual non consent where like you know when you're in the mind of the person, they are consenting. They just don't it's new for them, so it almost seems like it's crossing that line. But then he also is a guy that is killing people that are in some sort of sex trafficking ring. So it's people are like, Well, how can he do that? But then also do Yeah. But H. D. Carlton talked about the character.
Julia: Yeah.
Kyrstie: She went through a lot of trauma and her being able to like write that character, being able to defend, and even though he was because I mean it is still a dark romance, yeah. But it helped with her healing through her trauma, and a lot of dark romance readers have gone through things in which when they read books about you know, people that will protect them no matter what. It's it brings them into a part of their life where they didn't have someone like that and they went through something and they can read and it's just kind of it's just a little healing. I don't know how else to like describe it.
Julia: Okay. Well and I'm sure every reader's journey is different, you know. Yeah. If you read it and you're like, Whoa, like this is not for you, you know, that the genre doesn't have to be for everyone. No, I also think of it like, you know, 'cause someone who grew up watching horror movies and and still watches a lot of horror movies and reads a lot of horror, think about the the writers and directors for these movies. Like some of them are very deranged.
Kyrstie: Like Saw perfect example of Saw. That's like l hostile. literally it's just a whole entire torture movie, but though they have such big cult followings that just love those kinds of things and I guess yeah it's just it's just a I don't want to say a niche 'cause it's so big now but I guess kind of in a way it is. Yeah.
Julia: Like well, I do feel like social media has kind of helped it become broader, more accessible.
Kyrstie: One hundred percent book talk and Instagram and all that. One hundred percent. Yeah.
Julia: Okay, so we have morally Gray, which I have figured out for myself what that really looks like and what that means. And I I you know, of Ink and Alchemy, you know, if if you're a dark romance reader, you will love that book.
Kyrstie: Mm-hmm.
Julia: Not like the book. I'm not gonna say I didn't like the book. I just there were reports about the character that I was like, hmm, okay, this gives me pause and I'm not sure how I feel, but I finished the book and I was like, okay, I thought it ended really well. There was a twist, I will say. There was a really good twist at the end. So for someone who r loves thrillers, I was like, you got me with the twist. so I definitely am glad I suck it out. but okay, so we have morally Gray. Like what are what other tropes do I need to be aware of and Well not not afraid of but just you know if I'm going to read another book
Kyrstie: So you get I mean there's nothing wrong with like the rom com dark romance. Yeah that kind of like dark humor. Yeah, so like Sinners Retreat by Lauren Beale is an another really great one that kind of fits in the same realm as Butcher and Blackbird. but I mean
Julia: Give me all of the I'll I'll need like all of the like Butcher and Blackbird adjacent books. I don't
Kyrstie: That's for you too.
Julia: think because I did you you recommended good for her. there were a lot
Kyrstie: I loved good for her.
Julia: of trouble with that one. But I wasn't I was not as I guess it was just that one that one element in the oven canalchamy that I told you, and I don't want to say it because I don't want to spoil it, because that was the big piece where I'm just like
Kyrstie: And I am
Julia: are we supposed to be okay with this?
Kyrstie: In dark romance, yes. In real life, no. No. No. As long as you understand that
Julia: No. In our characters, fine, but but yeah, 'cause good for her had a lot of a lot of dark romance to show up to. But that one seemed like it was closer to the the dark, you know, romance with the humor and again you know, killing people for justice. I love the video.
Kyrstie: I do too. I do too especially
Julia: Who wronged you so they deserve it.
Kyrstie: Especially a man that literally wants you to fall back in love with him so he will kill so that you fall back in love. Like you want these men you want these men dead? I will kill them. Like seven men, seven dates, and you'll fall in love with me, right? I'll do that for you. Like come on. But in real life, if someone told me that I'd be like, huh. I'm gonna call I'm gonna call the police. Be dial yelling, I'll know what you're mercy. Like, no, but like in the book, my gosh, man, there's just I don't know what it is about dark romance men, but Okay. But but there's a lot of Like all of the I like to I know that there's tropes, but I feel like a lot of Dark Romance is more on trigger warnings. Okay. So like there are the tropes like, you know, Touch her and die, you know, Morally Gray, Morally Black. Morally Black would be like
Julia: Wait, what's morally Black?
Kyrstie: haunting. Like yeah, my gosh. so there's like Morally Black where it there's there's some books that I would say definitely to some people would one hundred percent cross the line. Haunting like I said, Haunting Allen would be w a really big one. Correct. Yes, because the it is on he is like on the line. Yeah, like he is on the line. But if you did Lights Out by Nivessa Allen, like I would consider him morally grey because you know he's that's kinda
Julia: Like a Brent Weaver butcher and blessing.
Kyrstie: Exactly. So it just go that's yeah, so that's kind of the differences on all of them. So like yeah, so you're morally great spectrum. Exactly. And some people say that some are morally gray where they're just like, no, he's like he's golden retriever and I'm just like okay, like yeah, like Josh from Lights Out would be considered a golden retriever, even though I still consider him morally great because you know, he's a stalker and he follows her around and you know
Julia: Doing all the things that in real life would be red for
Kyrstie: Exactly. So I guess that's more of how you kinda differentiate all of them. You got your Morally Grey, which is you know, more dangerous than your contemporary romance. And then you got your Morally Black, which would be like the aha, okay, I can't tell this is too much, but I still really like it, so I'm okay with it. Okay.
Julia: Okay. So just thinking this'll this'll probably date me, but like 'cause, you know, twenty years ago or whatever, th this genre it probably I mean it existed, these books existed, but it wasn't as, you know, widespread and again I think a lot of that is because of social media. So just thinking of the only one that I can think of that's Fifty Shades.
Kyrstie: I knew it. Like, my gosh, yeah, like I used to be fifty stage de gray and that used to be so spicy for me. I'm just like, dude, that would be well and I thought at that time too that it was the spicy because it
Julia: like the only thing really that was mainstream that would be considered and it was so still and nothing else really again not to say that these books didn't exist and people, you know, authors weren't writing them, but they didn't exist in the way that they do now. So that one was the the most taboo, like my gosh, I can't believe you're reading that. Well and then looking back at it it's just like that's probably very tame compared to some of these movies and dark romance.
Kyrstie: Well, and I also think it really goes in hand with I feel like a lot of women are taking control of their sexuality, like they're not scared. I remember not that my family was like this, but I know that generations from me and older than me, you weren't allowed to really talk about sex. Like it was very hush hush and you know, guys do their thing and you know, girls are very you know, we don't talk about that, you know, it happens but whatever. And so especially when fifty shades of gray remember I was reading Fifty Shades of Grey and I hiding it. I didn't want anyone to know. I like reading it at home. Like I almost didn't want to tell Levi I was reading Fifty Shades of Grey. That's how much shame it was. and for no reason. Because
Julia: Wrong, like you felt like you weren't.
Kyrstie: everyone was all you're reading is just you're just reading smut you're just reading sex in a book and it's like hey who cares? at least I'm reading it. I mean I could watch it but maybe
Julia: Think about how how many movies and shows, you know, exist out there, especially for the male gaze. Yeah. But there's no problem in in watching those. But if a woman wants to read it in, you know, a book form.
Kyrstie: Mm-hmm. And I think with social media and everyone just being like open, being like, No, it's not weird. there's so many other people that read the same stuff that I don't know I don't know the author side of it that also helped a lot of authors be able to write dark romance type books. But it's more acceptable now. And so I think that it's now just gotten so much bigger and now when people shame people for reading dark romance, we're like, I'm gonna read what I want, leave me alone, I don't care. Go back to your I don't know, whatever you wanna read because you can be whatever you want to
Julia: Well that's right. I hate the term guilty pleasure. You shouldn't feel guilty for doing something that brings you joy. As long as you're not hurting anyone, you're not enacting some of these things that are happening in the book. Yeah. Read the book. Enjoy it. And I love
Kyrstie: books I've I've looked I've jumped into some fantasy, I've jumped into some horror, but there's just something like I you always I always and like I will read like five or six dark romances that back to back to back to back and then I'm like okay well I guess I do need a break and I'll I'll read something different but I whenever I'm in a slum, I my my go-to is always Darling Venom. I will always go back to that book as a dark romance and it's just I
Julia: Yeah.
Kyrstie: It really is, which is so funny to say about a dark romance with like you know, like all this trauma dumping in the books and like all these horrible things happening and being saved and my gosh. But yeah, no, it it really just gets me back into back into the flow of everything. Yeah.
Julia: Okay, so for someone like me who doesn't read much of it, and I know we talked a little bit the last time you were on the show, but kind of remind us or maybe even dive a little deeper. Like if you're looking for something that's not too extreme, obviously, you Bryn Weaver and Navessa Allen, are there any others that you say kind of are a nice toe dipping in and just just getting started with with we're not gonna jump in off the debont and
Kyrstie: Yeah, go straight.
Julia: Although some people have and they're and they love it. So again,
Kyrstie: Yeah, no, not at all. I I love those books. I mean it's I've
Julia: I guess like what's my next rec? 'Cause you 'cause you recommended Good for Her, which I enjoyed. My only my only problem with that was I thought it was a little too long. Like it I think I'm a short book, it's like under four hundred pages. Yeah. Short chapters under four hundred pages. get in and get out. and that's probably the the thriller aspect of my mind. It's just the plot has to move quickly and things don't happen. but I enjoyed that one. And then yeah, like I said, the of Inc and Alchemy, other than just being surprised by Is that
Kyrstie: I morally graded you were like Kyrstie, is this normal? And I was like, my god I'm supposed
Julia: Is this your bird?
Kyrstie: to be my god we bought a new cherry in Dark Romance.
Julia: I mean if you don't count Brynne Weaver, which I feel like she's I feel like she's her own genre of dark romance. She's like her own
Kyrstie: Feel like she's been able to like kind of build yeah, like she's been able to Yeah, one hundred percent
Julia: create such a a strong following. pretty much at this point if she writes it, I wanna read it. Anxiously
Kyrstie: Yep. yeah, one hundred percent same.
Julia: awaiting the the conclusion to her seasons of carnage trilogy because it's so good.
Kyrstie: yeah, I'm very excited. But I would so Sinners Retreat by Lauren Beale. I wouldn't say Lauren Beal. Yes, that that is a lot like Butcher and Blackbird. It is about serial killers who get invited to a resort and basically have a vacation at the resort. But the the activities that they have are murderous against, you know, bad people or whatever. And so the main
Julia: Again, it's like a horror movie.
Kyrstie: They're like they're like, yeah, so we're gonna play like Capture the Flag, but it's like capture the like the bad person and like yeah, they like do and like get all creative and stuff and the main male character is obsessed with a serial killer that he's been hearing about, doesn't know if it's a man or a woman, come to figure out is the female main character who's looking for the person that killed her brother. And that's all I will say because there's so much no, there's so much that happens there. Okay. Is that It is a standalone, but it is a series as well. So there's like Sinner's Retreat, there's Slaycation. Yeah, so she did like all kinda I it's kind of like Brynn Reaver's Ruinous trilogy where it's different stories interconnected. Right. And it's some of them are with the different holidays. So you if you're feeling like, I want a Christmas read, there's Slaycation, so then you can read about their slacation. so that is another one. I would be careful if you're just specifically looking up Lauren Beale though, because she has some morally black Yes,
Julia: So she goes all over the spectrum with her.
Kyrstie: all of them great. and then Yeah. Like I always
Julia: Depends on where you want to start on on this.
Kyrstie: start with when anyone comes in and needs a recommendation, I always ask, What have you read before? 'Cause if you have never read any dark romance, I'm not gonna give you a haunting Adeline or Priest. Well priest wouldn't be too bad as a starter one. So Priest by Simone. Sierra Simone. Sierra Simone, I would definitely recommend that as one because it's not it's not so much funny, but you know, it's just it's more it's a little bit tame. Yes, because he's a he's a priest and you know she is, you know, she's had her own thing going on and you know she's like a temptress and he's trying not to so it's very like, you know, there's still the dark stuff that goes on in there, but it's a little bit more tame.
Julia: So even within the dark romance genre, some of the authors will some of their books or their series will be on the lighter side and some so really you have to know what you're getting into before you just latch onto an author and
Kyrstie: And a lot of the descriptions will let you know. It'll either say like a dark rom com and then another way to know.
Julia: For sure. Dark rom com is that kind of you're gonna get co kinda more like the Novessa Allen, Bryn Weaver type where it's like the dark humor and it's still a romance, dark romance, but I
Kyrstie: And you're still dealing with
Julia: say lighter, even though people are being murdered.
Kyrstie: Yes. But I mean compared to other one Good for Her. Like yeah, like Good For Her I w is still like a dark rom com, but I would still say that's a maybe a little bit a s one more step above Bryn Weaver, just a little bit. Okay. I don't know why, but I don't I wouldn't I would do Butcher and Blackbird before I recommended Good For Her. Okay. If someone said that they had Right. I don't I don't know why. Maybe because that one is a little bit more detailed as the traumatic team or traumatic themes. That maybe that's why I would. Okay. But if you're really worried about if the dark romance is gonna be too much for you, there's always content warnings. At the front at the very front. Like Brendan Weaver, I'm don't mean to keep bringing her up, but she is notorious for having pages of
Julia: The church.
Kyrstie: of the trigger warnings. Because you just you you you wanna know what you're getting into. And if you're not doing one that is not considered a rom-com, a dark rom com, I would 100% check check your trigger warnings because they are it's very open to let you know okay everything like
Julia: The authors do their their their part in making sure the readers are aware, like, hey, if you're easily triggered by XYZ, ABC
Kyrstie: Mm-hmm. This is A through Z
Julia: well the nice thing too is you know, you can DNF a book, in any genre. I mean we we talked about that last time too, but you don't need to feel bad about that. if you pick up a book and you wanna give it a try and even if you look at the trigger warnings and you're like, okay, I think I can handle this, once you get into it, you might not have been fully prepared even with the warnings. Maybe it's a situation or it's described it a way That you're just not comfortable with. Yeah. That's okay. I mean, for any reason, just like, I I'm not enjoying this book or it's boring or whatever it is, if you're feeling uncomfortable with a book, you're not forced to finish it.
Kyrstie: Yeah. And like we've said before, there's too many books out there to force yourself to read something you're not enjoying. Yeah. Like it's or even if you just want to pause it, maybe you're just not in the mood for it, you can also just pause. Or back. Or not
Julia: And come back.
Kyrstie: at all. Like yeah, it is okay to just not
Julia: We can't drive that point home enough, I think, to our to our customers and and readers and listeners, there's no shame in not liking a genre or not liking a book, especially if it's something that's super popular. You know, you keep hearing about all these bestsellers or all these books, and I'm I felt that way. I'm just like, what's wrong with me that I didn't like this book? there's nothing wrong with you. Not every book is for every reader. no. But I like that, you know, it you can kind of just almost know ahead of time just based on those trigger warnings. What are getting into? What what kinda what kind of situation?
Kyrstie: It does make it nice. More people what do they say that it it's like my grocery list, that's what people say. Like my gosh is my I have a I have a nice grocery list girl.
Julia: Yeah. Go down each aisle and
Kyrstie: Exactly. My checklist
Julia: So do you being, you know, a a dark romance reader like that is your main genre? do you even look at the Trigger Warnings at this point? Or you're like gonna read
Kyrstie: Regardless. Honestly, I love going in blind. a prime example of a book that I just went in blind was Kiss of the Basilisk by Lindsay Straube which originally was independently published in it was called Split or Swallow.
Julia: Which I remember when we got that book in at the store, I looked at it very quickly and it was a very tiny print because it's still on the the traditionally published copy and I was like, spit or swallow? This is a spit or swallow novel, Kyrstie We're just going with that. And you're like, no, split. There's an LM. It could it could
Kyrstie: Well there's no spitting.
Julia: work.
Kyrstie: But when it originally came out, my one of my really good friends, Ashley, she told me, You need to read this book, but you are not allowed to look into what it's about. You're not allowed to nothing. And I was like, Okay. So you have to just go. And I just went in blind and dude, that was the craziest book. I've going in blind, I feel like now people are like, Yeah, I mean it's kind of crazy, but when it came out and you went into that book blind. I had no idea what was going on and what was going on in that book. I I read the whole first book and I was like, Well, what did I just- Read, but in the best way. I was like, I have no idea what I just read and I need more. And so luckily there are more. Yeah, so ever since that, I have definitely been more comfortable jumping into books blindly. I feel like I've read enough of the dark romance genre that it's kind of hard to shock me. Yeah, no, definitely.
Julia: Like so I don't I don't wanna say desensitized, but like used to and accustomed to what you're gonna get.
Kyrstie: Yeah, and when you're first learning to read dark room or like not learn, but when you're first reading
Julia: You first learning to read.
Kyrstie: you start with your A B C No You kind of figure out what you like and what you don't like. Okay. And there hasn't been I mean there's been things that obviously in books that I haven't liked, but it hasn't been enough to where it's like Where you put the book down. Exactly. So like I haven't found that in a book, so I'm I'm okay with going in blind and I'm almost hoping something will shock me out there.
Julia: Just like waiting for that one thing, like finally give me a reason to be like, Wow. Yeah.
Kyrstie: Yeah. Okay. And there always is something, but you know, it's just yeah, there's just it's never gotten to that point where like I need to keep checking my grocery list before I okay go shopping in my book.
Julia: I love that the grocery list. I guess that's kind of how I feel about horror is you know, even my all-time favorite horror book, Fantastic Land, which I can't speak highly enough or or recommend to enough people. I feel like I've literally handshold that to every person that's walked in to the bookstore. there were some scenes in there too that some people might have been shocked and I was just like, Give me more of that. Yeah. This isn't enough, I want more. So I don't know what that says about my deranged brain, though I'm like, Yes, more murder please.
Kyrstie: Maybe maybe sound a little bit more sane, so thank you.
Julia: Which I did I did grow up liking the hostile movies and the Saw movies, so yeah.
Kyrstie: It all goes hand in hand. Yeah.
Julia: so what are you reading right now, currently?
Kyrstie: So I'm actually reading In the Dark. Okay.
Julia: Chao.
Kyrstie: Yes, yes, which is so I just went to Halloween Horror Nights and I really wanted a haunted house dark romance to read. Okay. And so I wanted that.
Julia: How far are you how far in are you?
Kyrstie: I'm only thirty percent in. Okay. So I'm not very far out. And you get like
Julia: Like fifty, sixty percent, let me know if you think that it's a Julia vibe. So I
Kyrstie: Because I
Julia: would love the idea of that.
Kyrstie: So far I will say I feel like you would enjoy it, just because the dude obviously, I would say he he is mm-hmm.
Julia: Are these characters in the haunted house?
Kyrstie: So he is. And then she actually doesn't like scary things, but her best friend is like one of the performers in one of the shows. And so she's like, You have to come and see my show, you know, you've never gone, come on. She's like, I'm so scared, I don't wanna do it. And she she's like, No, you have to come, you have to Yeah, and so they go into the haunted house and the guy that is in the haunted house is the face of everything. So you know, he's so hot and so class Yeah, and so so she goes to and this is the V and that's why I'm just I'm just letting you guys know. I'm just giving you little little pieces, little pieces. Especially right now while it's you know spooky season, so this would be like the perfect book so far. so she goes through the haunted house, gets so scared that she kind of gets shuffled and accidentally ends up in their break room or whatever, and he's in there. And he's again, of g because this is how they all are, you know, he's normally like whatever. I get women all the time. I don't care, it's not even that big of a deal. But then she walks in and he's like, Whoa. Immediately I'm curious about you. She's Yeah, then he's like, What you doing? will go for you. And she's like, Nothing, leave me alone. And he's like, Alright girl, you need me to take you back. And she's like, Okay, sure. And she's acting like she doesn't want it, but inside, you hear her mind, she's like, gosh, this is Naanna. Like I don't want to leave, but I can't be too obvious. And then yeah, that's like and then he's like, Okay, well, boop, go back out. And instantly he's obsessed with her. Like it goes to his monologue and he's like, What's her name? I need the cameras, who can help me? How can I find her? Like I need to know all the names. And his best friend's like, dude, yeah. And he's like, Dude, chill.
Julia: No, they never do that.
Kyrstie: No, they never do. And he has a dark past, you know, he used to do things and now he doesn't anymore. But every so often he still gets a job and that should be tied in later according to the description. So I'm very I'm very excited to see how like So Yeah.
Julia: Good good spooky season in the dark.
Kyrstie: Yes. Where you get enough of like your dark romance where, you know, but I also feel like it has a lot of the like Rowan from Butcher and Blackbird, you know, where you get all that, you know cuteness and golden retriever, but like Rory's not really a golden retriever, just really
Julia: It's just like he's a morally gray.
Kyrstie: Which I know this is kind of a sidebar, but this also still goes with dark romance. I actually saw Brynne you're like our number one person who's talking about in this book. But did you see she read She recently posted how like even though everyone considers Rowan from Butcher and Blackbird a golden retriever, he actually isn't. Like if you actually like look at the way he is, she wrote him. Yeah,
Julia: Gold reachie.
Kyrstie: he's a but she said that he she wrote him in Sloane's eyes. So Sloan sees him as a golden retriever, but he's not actually a golden retriever. there's multiple parts, and she puts it in her description. So I don't want to spoil in case anyone hasn't read the series, but there's a couple of points where she's like, Yeah, he was supposed to do This, but he only cared about this because it had to do with Sloan. And I was like, my gosh, he is not a golden retriever. in the dark romance golden retriever sense. he actually was super dark, he just was so bad for her. Yeah. Makes me love him even more. See, it just goes right back. I guess her. For her,
Julia: Also we'll go to the ends of the earth for
Kyrstie: and only that's it. Yeah. Yeah. And I just thought that was really I thought that was really cool. Just like a random little dark.
Julia: Okay, I'll have to go find that the little bit of of like like extra behind the scenes of of Brynweaver's brain.
Kyrstie: Yeah. It's just it yeah, I just like learning about all the different characters, how people come up with them and
Julia: Which I have to say, because we're since we're talking about Bryn Weaver and I loved Butcher and Blackbird so much, I'm very interested to see how they adapt that into a movie because it's made into a movie and I'm
Kyrstie: my gosh, me being made.
Julia: simultaneously excited and terrified.
Kyrstie: Butcher and Blackbird scene? Any of it. Any of the any of the restaurants. my gosh. Yeah. So like all that.
Julia: read the book, you're probably also just simultaneously like, please give us the movie now but also I'm afraid.
Kyrstie: Yeah, the visual of my food being ruined. Yeah.
Julia: Yes, please make sure you've eaten your dinner before Andrew
Kyrstie: I mean your ice cream. Not before.
Julia: No, so well I feel like we could sit here all day and talk about our present.
Kyrstie: One hundred.
Julia: but obviously we have to go on with our lives, so we'll we'll have you back again to tell us what else you're up to w with your books and what you're reading. But thank you so much for joining me. You've
Kyrstie: Of course.
Julia: got some really great recs. I feel like I I would I think I would like to try that in the dark.
Kyrstie: I think about twenty more percent just in case.
Julia: bit closer to the end, like just let me know. but I just I'm intrigued by the idea of like a haunted house dark romance because you I love I love me some haunted houses.
Kyrstie: I have a I have a few I have a few good rags. I there's my gosh.
Julia: Yeah. Okay, before we go, like I need them rapid fire. That's okay. We'll we'll we'll get the authors' names in the
Kyrstie: One of my one of my favorites I I hate that I can't remember her name 'cause this was like one of my favorites too. one of my friends having read it too. There's so much and I again I read not that anyone is less important than anyone else, but I just read so much that like some I sometimes I just go back to back to back to back that I don't even notice. But it starts to blur together. Yeah. There's one called No Place to Hide and it is like a novella. It is literally like Haunted House?
Julia: Good house.
Kyrstie: Yes. Okay. He works at a haunted house and she goes there and they only have one night. Ooh. Allegedly. Okay. One night. Okay, this is wrapped up. my gosh, that's okay
Julia: Like so you can't tell us any more no place to hide?
Kyrstie: No place to hide. God.
Julia: Now that you're like on the on the clock. Okay. So
Kyrstie: I'll send some reps and put in the description.
Julia: We've got In the Dark and No Place to Hide, th those are our our haunted house reps for the
Kyrstie: And then I would say good for her would be a good spooky season just because it is centered around people working in horror. Like they're horror actors. Yeah. So that's like I would say that that could also be part of the season. Songbirds of the gallow, just because that's a like a blackbird re a blackbird black beard reimagining. And it also kind of has like that spooky vibe because it's like a whole town that gets made for a bunch of like bad people, but they're not really old bad I think you would like that one. Yes.
Julia: You've already finished that one, would that be a good reference? It's not like too like morally black.
Kyrstie: I don't well, I mean, I don't know, he does have a therapist that you know, he tells all of the fact that he used to be a killer. But he's not a killer anymore. Okay. He's not. Okay. But he's gonna train her to be a killer. Okay.
Julia: But he's not gonna do it. But do they kill bad guys?
Kyrstie: Yes. Okay. Well she does, 'cause he doesn't kill anymore.
Julia: But he but he used to. Okay.
Kyrstie: Yeah.
Julia: She's looking at me like for those of you not watching, she's looking at like I can't say anymore, you just have to read it. Yes. Okay. Well we'll leave we'll leave everyone on a cliffhanger there. thank you so much for for babbling with
Kyrstie: my gosh, any time I love babbling with you. I love talking books about like anything really. So can talk
Julia: Again soon, and everyone can listen to us babble some more. Until then, listeners, we'll see you next time. Bye!
