Kyrstie: Three two one dot. I won't, I won't, I won't, I won't. Okay. Okay.
Julia: Should we look at the camera? When we say that?
Kyrstie: Well we we're saying hay we are 'cause it's like we directly dog.
Julia: And then I'll say it it's Julia. It's your host Julia.
Kyrstie: And her and then
Julia: We can say a little bit about ourselves and
Kyrstie: Yeah. Okay. Yep. Mm-hmm. Yep. Yep. Okay. Okay. Okay.
Julia: Three, two, one.
Kyrstie: Hey reader! Thank Kirsty.
Julia: and we coming to you with our first ⁓ episode ⁓ of Hey Yes. So thank you guys for joining us. ⁓ for those of you that don't know us, ⁓ I'm Julia. I own the Gilded Page bookstore. I'm also an indie author ⁓ and an reader. ⁓ I'm also a former middle school language arts teacher, so books have just always been my life.
Kyrstie: Yeah, very exciting. I'm Kyrstie ⁓ I am a bookseller at The Gilded Page. I have been reading like my whole life on and off. ⁓ I am originally a baker, which I still do on the side. She makes stop. But reading is definitely another passion of mine. So being able to work around books and also bake is a dream. Come true. Yep. Literally your your tag Lime and Laura Kirsty at Wood Bookish Baker. That's me.
Julia: Amazing cookie. You're you're the bookish baker, right? Isn't that So what would you say was like the book ⁓ that got you into reading? Whether it like your f your favorite book of all time or just like the book that like for you solidified like I'm gonna become a lifelong reader.
Kyrstie: Well, when I was a kid, it was definitely like Matilda and then a little bit older, Great Gatsby, and then course college happened and so I kinda paused on reading. And then ⁓ actually Sarah J. Mass, the ACOTAR series, got me right back into reading like three years ago. And ever since then I've not stopped. I don't know what she put in that book and that series. Like and I know peop it's like a dr yeah, and I know people have mixed feelings, but that I don't know. It just brought me right back into reading and now I I'm in the dark r I'm just all over the
Julia: Okay. I feel like I've heard that. I mean, I've never read Sarah J Mass. ⁓ Romanity's not really my my jam. I've read a couple books, you Fourth Wayne I enjoyed that. But I feel like I've heard from so many people, you know, just w with bookselling and just in general, like on the internet, that the ACOTAR series either got them into reading or got them back into reading. So like it's it's w you know, whatever you want to say about that, like love it, hate it, whatever, I feel like it's been a good gateway series for people to just really fall in love with reading, either again or for the first time and ⁓
Kyrstie: It also helped that, you know, since it is romantasy it has like the fantasy element, so like you got you get to learn a little bit, but it's not so heavy on the world building that like I felt lost and so I had to put it down. And there was like in the first one there was enough like romance that kept me gripped in, and then yeah, as the series kept going, like it was just the perfect had enough of everything that reminded me of why I loved reading and just kept on going with it. Yeah. ⁓
Julia: the world building probably where you would lose me. But if there's not if there's not that much, then maybe maybe I could maybe I could one day. ⁓ so for me it would probably be Michael Crichton's timeline. ⁓ when I was a kid, I mean I've always been a voracious reader, but like my dad would basically just let me read what was ever on his shelf. And ⁓ he was reading a lot of Dean Koontz and Michael Crichton, and ⁓ I just remember picking this book up and
Kyrstie: It's it's not too bad.
Julia: I mean, I was probably like eight or nine. So I'll I'm sure a lot of it went over my head and like the language and the way it was written probably didn't absorb much of it, but just
Kyrstie: Like obviously something grid too you're still talking to
Julia: Plot. You know, just like the story itself and ⁓ because it's sort of you know, for those that haven't read it, it's like sort of science fiction. ⁓ it's this ⁓ scientist who's found a like a loophole ⁓ or like a ti time time hole? Wormhole. ⁓ yeah, wormhole Wormhole Timeworm ⁓ wormhole. ⁓ and so back to this the specific moment in medieval history and so, you know, they go back and so you know, it's got like time travel and I mean they they adapted it into a terrible movie.
Kyrstie: ⁓ yeah. I was not saying was that the one with Paul Walker? The movie the movie did sounds familiar to me.
Julia: Is it? As it tends to was not as good as the book, ⁓ obviously. But just yeah, I remember reading Yeah, it never is. ⁓ I remember reading that book and just being like, Wow, like books like can transport you to different worlds and ⁓ I just gobbled it up and yeah, for for me like that's one that I'll always like come back to and remember. Maybe it's not my favorite book of all time, but like it's it's a sentimental book, like it's important to
Kyrstie: Because it's held it's like owned to you. Like yeah. That's crazy. Yeah. I haven't read that, I need to add that to my list. Yeah.
Julia: It's definitely definitely a ⁓ like a top of my recommendations list again, just because it has so much meaning to me. ⁓ but yeah, I I I definitely feel like one day I will read ACOTAR just so I know what's going on.
Kyrstie: I know it's not for everyone. I totally get it. There's other books out there, but yeah, that one just I will always hold a special heart or place in my heart and I always will tell people to read it, especially if they haven't been reading for a while. Like I was never a fantasy person growing up even. Like I I guess the closest would be like Maze Runner and like Hunger Games Those kinds and I don't even really ⁓ so that was definitely ⁓
Julia: Like dystopia. Also great series, you know. Of course. We talk about ⁓ Sunrise on the Reaping Hell. Really?
Kyrstie: No, we can't because I haven't read that yet.
Julia: In a future episode, you'll have to read it and the movie's coming out in November. So get the tissues ready, definitely.
Kyrstie: Yeah, we'll have to talk about it. Yeah yeah. Yeah. But yeah, I just thought that was a good one to start into the the genre altogether, I guess. Yeah. Yeah. And then I keep I keep reading it. ⁓ I guess we can talk about what we're current like the type of genres we currently read now we've talked about what we did. Yeah. Obviously. Romantasy And then my other favorite, Dark Romance. I'm definitely going into the other genres though. I've tried my dip in fantasy with the dungeon crawler Carl officially joined the cult, so
Julia: I'm I'm still in the middle of book three right now. ⁓ is that the Dungeon Anarchist cookbook, which yeah I'm I'm really enjoying. I struggle with with long books. ⁓ I also don't really love series. ⁓ obviously I read Hunger Games. I know it's only ten books, you know, Harry Potter series, Hunger Games. I think I had a series of unfortunate events. Love that series. I think as a kid I had a better like bandwidth and like brain capacity for series.
Kyrstie: Please. And those series books were like this thick. It makes it a little different when you start with and then we end in a series with like over a thousand pages.
Julia: struggle yeah when the when the books are long or it's an incomplete series because I read so many books between you know the next release but ten book series ⁓ I I've committed I'm on book three ⁓ and yeah it's just sort of taking the world by storm right now but rightfully so I mean the characters are so great who doesn't love you know Carl and Princess Donut ⁓ but you finished the first book already.
Kyrstie: I did. Yes. I I did finish and now I'm waiting for it because I bought paperbacks. She's I need the paperbacks. Yeah, so I'm waiting for the paperbacks.
Julia: Hopefully by the time I get to so eight just came out. So hopefully by the time I get to nine and ten, like they'll already be out and that'll be a complete series. I won't have to be like, wait, who was who was doing what and who who was the characters? Yeah. Yeah. Cause that happened with me trying to read ⁓ because I read Fourth Wing. I'm like, all right, I'll see what the buzz is all about. And I remember I enjoyed it. And I'm like, I'm not a Romantasy reader, but I enjoyed it. You know, it was a great story. Yeah. And then by the time I got to the second one, is it ⁓ Iron Flame? Yeah.
Kyrstie: You're gonna buddy read that one.
Julia: that was like over a year had gone by between it it coming out and then me actually finally picking it up and I was just like, I have no idea who any of these characters are and I don't care about any of them anymore. And I'm not going back and rereading. So maybe once the series is finished, I will try again. ⁓
Kyrstie: ⁓ sidebar, there will be no spoilers in this podcast unless
Julia: We will try not to spoil, but if we're going to we will have a warning.
Kyrstie: Yes. Just wanted to throw that out there so everyone doesn't get scared now that we're talking about certain books that don't have spoilers.
Julia: ⁓ so yeah, I mean we yeah, we know you you love your romantasy but you also have gotten me into dark romance. Like I have you to thank for getting me into dark romance. ⁓ Butcher and Blackbird was the first one. Right. Which I mean, since I love horror and I love mystery thriller, like I think you were you were just like, well, it takes that, but then it also adds the romance. Yeah.
Kyrstie: 'cause they're both serial too. Like they fall in love. Like what could go wrong? What could go wrong, right?
Julia: What could go wrong? So that was a great series. ⁓ and then you know, her spinoff tourist season, which you need to read.
Kyrstie: Still. Which is in your in my in your two B necks. Yes, my two B red next file.
Julia: Next pile. Yeah.
Kyrstie: So excited. Even though I haven't even read Torch.
Julia: You already the book. But you but you read the other like you read her other books. Like you've read her small like you know her style.
Kyrstie: Yeah, I just love the the men she writes are always great. The women are always so strong and fierce and I just yeah, I just love that writing. I just I just love it. The darkness. And the and the and then you know, of course it's the dark romance, so you know there's some extra things in there.
Julia: There's some them some some spice so aside aside from Bryn Weaver, like who if you were recommending, you know, as you do a lot as a bookseller, ⁓ like what would be a good gateway dark dark romance book? And then like once you're fully in dark romance and you're like ready for new
Kyrstie: Yeah, just some. You really want to test your water? Yeah.
Julia: The trick learning, yeah, what to. So like just touching my toe in and like s getting started and then like I'm ready to jump fully into the deep end.
Kyrstie: Okay, so there's different ways you can go with this, but we'll go easy. ⁓ so Brynne Weaver and Navessa Allen I would say are like toes dipped in like your big way. Yeah, because I would consider those like there are deep issues obviously and there's things that happen to the characters that they have to go through, but there's a lot of laughs, there's a lot of ⁓ funny banter, funny moments. So there's yeah, yeah. And then if you go to like L J Sheen, her books are just
Julia: Some like comic relief to the darkness.
Kyrstie: Star Bad Bishop Bad Bishop, Twisted Pawn, Fallen Hook. I'm so excited. Like I will tell everyone about LJ Jean. I love her. But ⁓ yeah. ⁓ yeah. Definitely like more mafia, more ⁓
Julia: Or is they're a little darker. Mafia gangbang. Yeah. No one
Kyrstie: Bad man. If you know you know. If you know you know. But she's just it's just more dark. It's not as it's there's not as much comic relief and if it is comic relief it's ⁓ it's in a darker sense. It's not like L O L I'm driving LOL. It's more like mm, I don't even know how to describe it. Yes, and then like Penelope Douglas who did ⁓ Kill Switch, which is the one that I always did the Devil's Night series. ⁓ she definitely is another one ⁓
Julia: It's definitely on the darker end.
Kyrstie: That is very, very dark. That I I only recommend to like the ⁓ only dark romance. Yes, like if you've been reading the dark romance, this is what I okay always will recommend. And then my new favorite is Ty Tyler Page, who did good for her. Okay. Love that one. Obsessed. Obsessed. Absolutely loves.
Julia: I know you are obsessed with That was does that one have ⁓ I can't remember the premise of that one. Is does it have like serial killer vibes?
Kyrstie: Yes. Her so basically she is the daughter of a famous movie star and her mom gets murdered but they try and say that it was a suicide. And she knows that there were five men that are were involved. So then she decides to go back
Julia: Okay. So someone like me who likes the crossover, you you can give me some romance, but I also need like a body count and like some murder and
Kyrstie: And then Sebastian is the boy in it, and they've known each other for forever. But when her mom died, she like ghosted and he wants her back. But she's like, Mm-mm, after all this is over, I'm not gonna be Again, not spoiler, this is a thing. Okay. And then on the back cover. Yes, like it's literally on the back cover. And he's like, Okay, well, if you give me five chances to sleep with you and fall in love, then I will help you kill these five men. And that's basically the premise of the story. Is he just wants to love her and she's just like, I want to kill men. And he's like, Okay, well, I'll help you if you help me. And so yeah.
Julia: So it's a it's a mutually beneficial ⁓ relationship.
Kyrstie: Yes, yes. It du it definitely is one of the darker on the d ⁓ more it did have a lot of comic relief as well, but it definitely still was very I wouldn't say it's like a Nevassa Allen. Okay. Light stark.
Julia: Darker. Okay. All right. So so maybe like a midway, like so you start with some Bryn Weaver, Navessa Allen, you make your way to you make your way to was it Tyler Page? Was that for her? And then maybe you can end up at some LJ.
Kyrstie: Yeah. You make your way through good L J, Penelope, Douglas, H D Carlton is definitely like hierarchy.
Julia: Which I haven't read but I do know that like that's
Kyrstie: Stark. Yeah, like that's yeah, she's definitely one of about. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But the very top. Very top.
Julia: And always always you know, always read the trigger warnings to make sure you're you're, you know, mentally prepared for what you're getting into.
Kyrstie: Yeah. It's okay to take breaks while you're reading too. It's it's fine. And sometimes you might, but they're so good. They're so worth it.
Julia: So worth it. So we know Torah Season is on your two read list. So what are you currently reading?
Kyrstie: ⁓ currently I'm reading Death Meets Cute. It recently came out on the twenty eighth of April. is I don't know, it's ⁓ it's one of those like cozy fantasies. She wants to be evil. She has sisters and all she wants to be is evil, but she's just she's just not as evil. And she ⁓ needs a bodyguard to give off the oppression again to a town that she lives in that she's evil and orc dies like right on her doorstep. And she brings him back to life being like, ⁓ heck yeah, I finally got a new bodyguard. And he wakes up and he has the cutest smile and the sweetest banter. And she's like, ⁓ my gosh, this isn't gonna work. But also, why is my chest beating so fast? Why do I have butterfly? No, no, no, no, no. We're growling, we're mean. But why when he looks at me like that? Yeah. So yeah, so it's ⁓
Julia: So is it like a cozy like romantic?
Kyrstie: ⁓ yeah, definitely. And it's so cute. I'm literally laughing out loud at like the little things that he does and the way that she acts 'cause again, she just she wants to be evil so bad and the way that everyone else perceives.
Julia: Her siblings you said are are evil.
Kyrstie: It's just because she just wants to be evil. Like she just doesn't want to she wants to be like left alone, but at the same time it she has this inner turmoil where she feels lonely. Like so every often, every so often, like an interaction will happen and she'll be like, ⁓ well that was nice. Well, it must be because I'm lonely. But I'm evil, so that's how it's supposed to be. Like that's kind of like how her dynamic is.
Julia: Is it kind of like assistant to the villain vibe?
Kyrstie: Signed them. Yes, yes, yes. Only as a I did enjoy that. I should have such a good one too.
Julia: I did read the first one. But again, I'm so I'm stuck with the like I can't I series. I can't and that one's not finished, so I've only read the first one. But I really enjoyed it.
Kyrstie: That one was a good one too. But yeah, I guess it kinda gives me those vibes. Yeah, like those vibes only as if the characters were flip-flop. Yes. And she's trying to train to be a grump, but he's not very good at it. She's like, show your teeth, and he's like smiling. And she's No, like growl, and he's like, Growl. And she's like, No, like and he's like,
Julia: Sunshine and she's the grump. So he's just too he's too like sunshiny. And it's so but I just I know, I like the cover is adorable.
Kyrstie: Yeah. just the cover, like you can even see it in her face. She's like, ⁓ my gosh, what is wrong with me? And he's like, Hey Iris Wayward. And she's like, just call me Iris. Like, that's just great. I love it. What are you reading, Julie?
Julia: ⁓ so I am I just started ⁓ Lost in the Summer of Sixty Nine by Eliza Knight, which is sort of a cozy historical fiction. ⁓ Eliza's great. She ⁓ was here last year at the bookstore ⁓ for Confessions of a Grammar Queen which is great. So this one is I only just started it, I'm only a few chapters in. ⁓ three generations of women and so the eldest, the the grandmother, ⁓ she is sort of ⁓ losing her her memory. She's, you know, got dementia, kind of early onset dementia diagnosed. And so she decides she's gonna just leave and she's gonna go to ⁓ this music festival in California. ⁓ because it it it sounds like she used to be a musician is what I'm gathering. And I don't think that's a spoiler. I think it was ⁓ or it's it's told to you pretty quickly in the story. So even if it is, ⁓ and but she doesn't tell anyone where she's going. So she just leaves. And so her daughter of course is like Where did she go? We have to find her. ⁓ and so then she her daughter and her granddaughter basically have to go after her. And so it's just sort of it's gonna turn into this sort of like epic cross country road trip. ⁓ I believe it's the summer before the granddaughter is going to ⁓ college, her undergrad at Yale. So yeah, it's sort of like a chance for the generational women to come. Yeah, bond. Fine. Bond.
Kyrstie: Together. For
Julia: the women to sort of bond and you know have this like ⁓ one last summer together before things change for all of them. So I know the art is great. ⁓ obviously, you know, it's set in the summer of sixty nine. So ⁓ it's it's gonna be fun. I know it is. ⁓ everything everything Eliza writes is just sort of like a lighter she she does historical fiction. ⁓
Kyrstie: Yeah.
Julia: And she has historical romance. She actually she does she does all the things. She's she's a prolific writer. She she writes in in multi ⁓ genres, but when she's writing her historical fiction, it's it always tends to be sort of lighter. ⁓ you know, has just like strong women characters, ⁓ a little bit of feminism. So, ⁓ I'm really excited to get more into this one. ⁓ and I'm trying to finish up Under Lake, which has also had me grip. Yeah. It's I just was really ⁓
Kyrstie: Yeah.
Julia: Taken by the premise because
Kyrstie: It's so interesting and it's so deprav I I literally I've never heard of a concept that yeah would
Julia: ⁓ Erin L. McCoy. This is actually her debut. And if I didn't know before I started reading it, and 'cause she was in the bookstore with us ⁓ last week to do an author event. ⁓ She was in the bookstore with us recently to ⁓ do an author event and talk about this book. And if I didn't know beforehand that this was a debut, I would not have believed it because the prose is just it's beautifully written. I mean, she's a poet, so that makes sense.
Kyrstie: ⁓ so it's probably very eloquently like put together and like sentences almost seem like they're like strung together and like woven.
Julia: Very, very, ⁓ very artistic language. And just the premise, ⁓ and I told her when she was here for the author talk that I mean, just the premise itself, you know, this marine biologist ⁓ pairs up with a mother whose daughter has gone missing and she claims that she's alive beneath this lake where there's this hidden underwater settlement. ⁓ that for few you know, of people that refused to leave when they flooded the valley to make way for a dam. And that alone just sort of like gripped me and had me interested. Because when I was a kid, I I grew up near such a lake where it had been a town in the valley and then they flooded it to make a dam and create a lake. And of course, you know, mine was a little ⁓ as a seven year old was a little more ⁓ terrifying because my cousin, we would, you know, summer there, she had a house and we would swim in the lake and she would tell me about this, you know, town that was down there and and I'm seven, so I'm thinking like But she's like, The people drowned and they're still down there and so I'm like assuming, you know, they're gonna reach up and grab me and pull me down or like if I put my feet down, like I'm gonna top touch the tops of the house or
Kyrstie: That's so crazy. I wonder if every town has something like that because where I lived in Fishers there was something called Guy's Lake and it's the same thing. So allegedly there was a town that was there and then if the water was low enough, you could see the cross that was on top of the church sticking up. So like yeah, every time you would go across Guys Bridge, we'd always like, Where is it? Where is it?
Julia: you definitely need to read Underlake then because and Erin talked about, you know, the research that involved ⁓ that there's hundreds of these towns all across the country and thousands of them across the world. ⁓ and so that was sort of the the image that I get as I'm reading because, you know, the people are living down there. And so it's sort of like she took this idea. ⁓ all yeah, we all have this sort of like folklore that like, okay, there are these towns and and they were in these valleys and they flooded them and while
Kyrstie: We all know.
Julia: They probably didn't try to stay behind and live. What what if they had, you know? So yeah, I'm I'm about halfway through, a little more than halfway, and I love this book and it's just so well written. So I'm excited to see what she's gonna write next because this is her debut and and if it's this well written, you know, whatever she she said she's superstitious and she won't tell us what she's working on now. Understandable. I can't wait. So ⁓ that's that's kind of what I'm reading right now. I'm also reading ⁓
Kyrstie: Yeah. ⁓ I know. Right.
Julia: an arc ⁓ an ebook arc of ⁓ devil inside by clay chapman i'm gonna mess i'm gonna mess the name up I have to I'm like I'm seeing it in my mind. ⁓ and he because he writes horror and ⁓ this is a horror romance. So the two main characters, one of them ⁓ is in a a pretty horrific biking accident, bicycle accident, and dies and then comes back. Is you know is in a coma and then it's comes back. So he like Went to hell for a minute. Yeah. And then comes back and then the other character is a demon. So she's just like moving through life, possessing people, and then they meet. So that's all I'll say about that. Devil inside. Wow, I feel terrible that I can't remember hit it's a three name. Yeah. So that one's coming up.
Kyrstie: Yeah, no. Put it in the description. It'll be in the description. Yeah. Yeah. Just in case. Yeah. I'm also reading currently, I literally just started it. ⁓ Ice Planet Barbarians, ⁓ for our Unhinged Book Club that we have. ⁓ this is our next one by Ruby Dixon. This is one that everyone has talked about, and I feel like everyone talks about it but hasn't actually read it. Okay. And so I thought it would be a good one. It's basically where a bunch of women are on this alien planet and then ⁓ she falls in love with an alien. Well he falls in love with her. He falls first and she's just kinda like, okay alien and
Julia: Even though it's alien human it still has like your typical romance.
Kyrstie: All the typical tropes. Yeah, no, it definitely does. And Ruby Dixon is just a legend within a lot of her unhinged like I mean, there's twenty one books in this series. In that series alone. In this series alone. And she also did like Bull Moon Rising, which was also an an excellent book.
Julia: Always does like a ⁓ like a creature and a human
Kyrstie: Typically, yes. Yes. At least all the ones that I have read, yes. Typically that's what she has going. And so I'm very excited to continue because li like I said, for years people have been telling me to read this. One, because I love aliens. ⁓ I always say that I married an alien. ⁓ so this would definitely is right up by alley. So I'm very excited for this in our unhinged book club and everyone else seems super excited too.
Julia: And you have a few ⁓ ebooks going as well.
Kyrstie: I do, I'm reading Fossil Fueled. I hate that I don't remember. Gosh, we should have
Julia: When you don't have the when you don't have the physical book. Yeah.
Kyrstie: Yeah, so I'm reading Fossil Fueled and then I'm also reading The Kiss Thief by LJ Shane. So I'm getting my archaeolog Archaeology how do you Archaeology? Archaeol Archaeol Not she said. ⁓ I'm getting that fill It's it's super cute, cozy. She's trying to ⁓ find a dinosaur fossil that no one else has found before. She's trying to find it before everyone else, but then there's also a rival that says that they already have it. And she's like, don't believe it. So
Julia: Archaeological?
Kyrstie: She works with another famous guy and they are working together and it that one's just super cute. It's very cozy. It's not super intense, but it keeps me gripped. And then ⁓ the kiss thief. Yeah, that's a that's a dark romance. I did say L J Sheen, so we already know how that's going. It it's it's a bishop or a bad bishop. Same yeah, bad bishop. ⁓
Julia: Same offer. own is that its own like standalone or
Kyrstie: It's it's its own ⁓ as far as I know, it's it's just its own.
Julia: Okay. ⁓ it's not connected to bad bishop in that
Kyrstie: No no no, no. It's it's a whole other a whole other realm. a girl is told that ⁓ whoever the first boy that she kisses, ⁓ is who she's supposed to marry and a mafia guy decides he's gonna be it and that's not who she thought that it was gonna be. And so Yes. So you got the forced marriage, you know, the arranged marriage, love, enemies to lovers, love, like it's just I just love it. I just love my dark room. Like you
Julia: I know that's your That's that's like your, you know, the go to's if if you need a rec for that, like Kirsty is your girl. She's got you. And I and I of course am the the horror mystery thriller. That's that's usually what I'm reading. I'll read I mean I'll read just about anything, but yeah, I'm so excited to start. ⁓ I specifically asked for an advanced copy of this 'cause it doesn't come out until
Kyrstie: You always You have one that you're right, yeah.
Julia: The fall, ⁓ but Rachel Harrison who wrote Play Nice, which I loved, and her favorite Black Sheep, which I loved. Her favorite. It is funny, she is one of those authors for me though. Like I haven't read everything that she's written, but I read a lot of it. And some of her books are hit or miss for me. ⁓ but more of them I've loved than not. ⁓ and so I'm really excited to start Kiss Slay Replay. As soon as I f finish one of my books that I'm very close to being done with, I'm gonna start Kiss Slay Replay, which is a time loop ⁓ novelist ⁓ apparently. It really reminds me of ⁓ like Happy Death Day. Yeah. But like at a wedding. Yeah. So Yeah. So, ⁓ but it, you know, like throw in a little bit of ⁓ rom com where, you know, she's gotta go to a friend's wedding where her ex will be and sh you know, she hasn't seen him and he's got a date and so you know, everything's gonna feel awkward for her, but then also throw in, you know, a masked killer who's terrorizing everybody and she's not a final girl, so you know, she's like, I'm definitely dead.
Kyrstie: The release.
Julia: But then wakes up and like it's starting all over. So like yeah, like groundhogs
Kyrstie: Gosh to live that anxiety and then know that you have a killer and then know that your ex could be around the cornering. So much anxiety that would be the worst night.
Julia: Like, am I gonna do ready for a wedding? Yeah, a lot of stress. So but ⁓ like I said, ⁓ more of her books than not I've really enjoyed. ⁓ Play Nights was her most recent one that came out last year, I believe. ⁓ and that was about ⁓ a haunted house, like a demon, you know, haunting a house that ⁓ the woman returns to that she grew up with, ⁓ her and her brother and her mother, and then Black Sheep, which is probably my favorite of hers that I've read so far, ⁓ because that one is sort of like a ⁓ you know, cult f returning back to your, you know, your family let you've left and and this kind of cult commune that that you grew up in. So but yes, I'm very excited to start this. ⁓ 'cause she she's written some really great, great books and I love me my horror. Yeah. So you are, you are. But it's it's good, you know, we all we all have what we like and then we we dip a toe out. ⁓
Kyrstie: Yeah. Yeah, we branch, we try.
Julia: When we feel like it's always good to to try something new and get out of our comfort zone.
Kyrstie: 'Cause you just it's so crazy to think like when you not that there's anything wrong with sticking with your genre, but when you do try and find a book in a there's literally a book for everyone in every genre. You just have to find the right one. Yeah. And that's why I always tell people if you need a DNF a book, like there's so much to read out there. Don't do Don't just say, I'm gonna pause. I'm gonna put a pause on this book. Like I've done that a few times.
Julia: Two bucks a little time. But you don't even have to come back to it.
Kyrstie: But but it's yeah, so like if just you just So yeah, I just like to pause my books because for some reason saying D like to D and F a book, I'm like, ⁓ well that means I it's unfinished but if I pause it then it just makes me feel like ⁓ I could go back to it so No no no but my mind plays tricks on me. Yeah so I have to play back.
Julia: You don't have to And I just, you know, I just so much to read. I used to tell my students this when I was teaching and I wouldn't follow the like my own rule. It's like if you're not enjoying it, yeah, there's so many other books out there, like you're not the right reader for that book, or maybe it's not the right moment for you. Like I've DNF books and I've come back, you know, years later and gobbled them up. So it's like sometimes you're just not right in the right headspace or sometimes it's just not the right book for you, period. Mm-hmm. ⁓ we shouldn't feel bad about that. And there's just we're never gonna get through all of the books, like we're we
Kyrstie: Well,
Julia: Like we're gonna be buried with all of our books that we didn't finish. ⁓ but that's okay with life is too short and there's too many good books. So we we have some great recs here. ⁓ and we'd love to know what you guys are reading in the comments. ⁓ And what you would like to ⁓ hear us yeah, yeah, yep.
Kyrstie: Please let us know.
Julia: And what you would like to hear us chatter about, about on our on our new show. ⁓
Kyrstie: We're still doing We're still learning. We're gonna be continuing to grow. ⁓
Julia: We'll have some guests on. We will
Kyrstie: Just yappity wapity yup.
Julia: Yeah, we'll yap it away. So to be determined what our next episode will be about. Don't ENF us, please. ⁓ like and subscribe, right? Are are we supposed to say that?
Kyrstie: Well T. But don't DNF S. Click that button, hit the little bell next to it so you get notified. Yeah, don't button.
Julia: ⁓ so thanks for tuning in. I hope you enjoyed listening to us ⁓ yap about books and we'll be back we'll be back we'll be back soon.
Kyrstie: Thank you so much, readers. Bye reader. Should we say bye reader at the end? Bye reader. Yeah, since we say hey reader and then at the end you just go bye. But you don't have to. I just said it. You're weird. I know. We did good though.
Julia: ⁓ God, I'm gonna lose my mind if it was not filming.
Julia: Should we look at the camera? When we say that?
Kyrstie: Well we we're saying hay we are 'cause it's like we directly dog.
Julia: And then I'll say it it's Julia. It's your host Julia.
Kyrstie: And her and then
Julia: We can say a little bit about ourselves and
Kyrstie: Yeah. Okay. Yep. Mm-hmm. Yep. Yep. Okay. Okay. Okay.
Julia: Three, two, one.
Kyrstie: Hey reader! Thank Kirsty.
Julia: and we coming to you with our first ⁓ episode ⁓ of Hey Yes. So thank you guys for joining us. ⁓ for those of you that don't know us, ⁓ I'm Julia. I own the Gilded Page bookstore. I'm also an indie author ⁓ and an reader. ⁓ I'm also a former middle school language arts teacher, so books have just always been my life.
Kyrstie: Yeah, very exciting. I'm Kyrstie ⁓ I am a bookseller at The Gilded Page. I have been reading like my whole life on and off. ⁓ I am originally a baker, which I still do on the side. She makes stop. But reading is definitely another passion of mine. So being able to work around books and also bake is a dream. Come true. Yep. Literally your your tag Lime and Laura Kirsty at Wood Bookish Baker. That's me.
Julia: Amazing cookie. You're you're the bookish baker, right? Isn't that So what would you say was like the book ⁓ that got you into reading? Whether it like your f your favorite book of all time or just like the book that like for you solidified like I'm gonna become a lifelong reader.
Kyrstie: Well, when I was a kid, it was definitely like Matilda and then a little bit older, Great Gatsby, and then course college happened and so I kinda paused on reading. And then ⁓ actually Sarah J. Mass, the ACOTAR series, got me right back into reading like three years ago. And ever since then I've not stopped. I don't know what she put in that book and that series. Like and I know peop it's like a dr yeah, and I know people have mixed feelings, but that I don't know. It just brought me right back into reading and now I I'm in the dark r I'm just all over the
Julia: Okay. I feel like I've heard that. I mean, I've never read Sarah J Mass. ⁓ Romanity's not really my my jam. I've read a couple books, you Fourth Wayne I enjoyed that. But I feel like I've heard from so many people, you know, just w with bookselling and just in general, like on the internet, that the ACOTAR series either got them into reading or got them back into reading. So like it's it's w you know, whatever you want to say about that, like love it, hate it, whatever, I feel like it's been a good gateway series for people to just really fall in love with reading, either again or for the first time and ⁓
Kyrstie: It also helped that, you know, since it is romantasy it has like the fantasy element, so like you got you get to learn a little bit, but it's not so heavy on the world building that like I felt lost and so I had to put it down. And there was like in the first one there was enough like romance that kept me gripped in, and then yeah, as the series kept going, like it was just the perfect had enough of everything that reminded me of why I loved reading and just kept on going with it. Yeah. ⁓
Julia: the world building probably where you would lose me. But if there's not if there's not that much, then maybe maybe I could maybe I could one day. ⁓ so for me it would probably be Michael Crichton's timeline. ⁓ when I was a kid, I mean I've always been a voracious reader, but like my dad would basically just let me read what was ever on his shelf. And ⁓ he was reading a lot of Dean Koontz and Michael Crichton, and ⁓ I just remember picking this book up and
Kyrstie: It's it's not too bad.
Julia: I mean, I was probably like eight or nine. So I'll I'm sure a lot of it went over my head and like the language and the way it was written probably didn't absorb much of it, but just
Kyrstie: Like obviously something grid too you're still talking to
Julia: Plot. You know, just like the story itself and ⁓ because it's sort of you know, for those that haven't read it, it's like sort of science fiction. ⁓ it's this ⁓ scientist who's found a like a loophole ⁓ or like a ti time time hole? Wormhole. ⁓ yeah, wormhole Wormhole Timeworm ⁓ wormhole. ⁓ and so back to this the specific moment in medieval history and so, you know, they go back and so you know, it's got like time travel and I mean they they adapted it into a terrible movie.
Kyrstie: ⁓ yeah. I was not saying was that the one with Paul Walker? The movie the movie did sounds familiar to me.
Julia: Is it? As it tends to was not as good as the book, ⁓ obviously. But just yeah, I remember reading Yeah, it never is. ⁓ I remember reading that book and just being like, Wow, like books like can transport you to different worlds and ⁓ I just gobbled it up and yeah, for for me like that's one that I'll always like come back to and remember. Maybe it's not my favorite book of all time, but like it's it's a sentimental book, like it's important to
Kyrstie: Because it's held it's like owned to you. Like yeah. That's crazy. Yeah. I haven't read that, I need to add that to my list. Yeah.
Julia: It's definitely definitely a ⁓ like a top of my recommendations list again, just because it has so much meaning to me. ⁓ but yeah, I I I definitely feel like one day I will read ACOTAR just so I know what's going on.
Kyrstie: I know it's not for everyone. I totally get it. There's other books out there, but yeah, that one just I will always hold a special heart or place in my heart and I always will tell people to read it, especially if they haven't been reading for a while. Like I was never a fantasy person growing up even. Like I I guess the closest would be like Maze Runner and like Hunger Games Those kinds and I don't even really ⁓ so that was definitely ⁓
Julia: Like dystopia. Also great series, you know. Of course. We talk about ⁓ Sunrise on the Reaping Hell. Really?
Kyrstie: No, we can't because I haven't read that yet.
Julia: In a future episode, you'll have to read it and the movie's coming out in November. So get the tissues ready, definitely.
Kyrstie: Yeah, we'll have to talk about it. Yeah yeah. Yeah. But yeah, I just thought that was a good one to start into the the genre altogether, I guess. Yeah. Yeah. And then I keep I keep reading it. ⁓ I guess we can talk about what we're current like the type of genres we currently read now we've talked about what we did. Yeah. Obviously. Romantasy And then my other favorite, Dark Romance. I'm definitely going into the other genres though. I've tried my dip in fantasy with the dungeon crawler Carl officially joined the cult, so
Julia: I'm I'm still in the middle of book three right now. ⁓ is that the Dungeon Anarchist cookbook, which yeah I'm I'm really enjoying. I struggle with with long books. ⁓ I also don't really love series. ⁓ obviously I read Hunger Games. I know it's only ten books, you know, Harry Potter series, Hunger Games. I think I had a series of unfortunate events. Love that series. I think as a kid I had a better like bandwidth and like brain capacity for series.
Kyrstie: Please. And those series books were like this thick. It makes it a little different when you start with and then we end in a series with like over a thousand pages.
Julia: struggle yeah when the when the books are long or it's an incomplete series because I read so many books between you know the next release but ten book series ⁓ I I've committed I'm on book three ⁓ and yeah it's just sort of taking the world by storm right now but rightfully so I mean the characters are so great who doesn't love you know Carl and Princess Donut ⁓ but you finished the first book already.
Kyrstie: I did. Yes. I I did finish and now I'm waiting for it because I bought paperbacks. She's I need the paperbacks. Yeah, so I'm waiting for the paperbacks.
Julia: Hopefully by the time I get to so eight just came out. So hopefully by the time I get to nine and ten, like they'll already be out and that'll be a complete series. I won't have to be like, wait, who was who was doing what and who who was the characters? Yeah. Yeah. Cause that happened with me trying to read ⁓ because I read Fourth Wing. I'm like, all right, I'll see what the buzz is all about. And I remember I enjoyed it. And I'm like, I'm not a Romantasy reader, but I enjoyed it. You know, it was a great story. Yeah. And then by the time I got to the second one, is it ⁓ Iron Flame? Yeah.
Kyrstie: You're gonna buddy read that one.
Julia: that was like over a year had gone by between it it coming out and then me actually finally picking it up and I was just like, I have no idea who any of these characters are and I don't care about any of them anymore. And I'm not going back and rereading. So maybe once the series is finished, I will try again. ⁓
Kyrstie: ⁓ sidebar, there will be no spoilers in this podcast unless
Julia: We will try not to spoil, but if we're going to we will have a warning.
Kyrstie: Yes. Just wanted to throw that out there so everyone doesn't get scared now that we're talking about certain books that don't have spoilers.
Julia: ⁓ so yeah, I mean we yeah, we know you you love your romantasy but you also have gotten me into dark romance. Like I have you to thank for getting me into dark romance. ⁓ Butcher and Blackbird was the first one. Right. Which I mean, since I love horror and I love mystery thriller, like I think you were you were just like, well, it takes that, but then it also adds the romance. Yeah.
Kyrstie: 'cause they're both serial too. Like they fall in love. Like what could go wrong? What could go wrong, right?
Julia: What could go wrong? So that was a great series. ⁓ and then you know, her spinoff tourist season, which you need to read.
Kyrstie: Still. Which is in your in my in your two B necks. Yes, my two B red next file.
Julia: Next pile. Yeah.
Kyrstie: So excited. Even though I haven't even read Torch.
Julia: You already the book. But you but you read the other like you read her other books. Like you've read her small like you know her style.
Kyrstie: Yeah, I just love the the men she writes are always great. The women are always so strong and fierce and I just yeah, I just love that writing. I just I just love it. The darkness. And the and the and then you know, of course it's the dark romance, so you know there's some extra things in there.
Julia: There's some them some some spice so aside aside from Bryn Weaver, like who if you were recommending, you know, as you do a lot as a bookseller, ⁓ like what would be a good gateway dark dark romance book? And then like once you're fully in dark romance and you're like ready for new
Kyrstie: Yeah, just some. You really want to test your water? Yeah.
Julia: The trick learning, yeah, what to. So like just touching my toe in and like s getting started and then like I'm ready to jump fully into the deep end.
Kyrstie: Okay, so there's different ways you can go with this, but we'll go easy. ⁓ so Brynne Weaver and Navessa Allen I would say are like toes dipped in like your big way. Yeah, because I would consider those like there are deep issues obviously and there's things that happen to the characters that they have to go through, but there's a lot of laughs, there's a lot of ⁓ funny banter, funny moments. So there's yeah, yeah. And then if you go to like L J Sheen, her books are just
Julia: Some like comic relief to the darkness.
Kyrstie: Star Bad Bishop Bad Bishop, Twisted Pawn, Fallen Hook. I'm so excited. Like I will tell everyone about LJ Jean. I love her. But ⁓ yeah. ⁓ yeah. Definitely like more mafia, more ⁓
Julia: Or is they're a little darker. Mafia gangbang. Yeah. No one
Kyrstie: Bad man. If you know you know. If you know you know. But she's just it's just more dark. It's not as it's there's not as much comic relief and if it is comic relief it's ⁓ it's in a darker sense. It's not like L O L I'm driving LOL. It's more like mm, I don't even know how to describe it. Yes, and then like Penelope Douglas who did ⁓ Kill Switch, which is the one that I always did the Devil's Night series. ⁓ she definitely is another one ⁓
Julia: It's definitely on the darker end.
Kyrstie: That is very, very dark. That I I only recommend to like the ⁓ only dark romance. Yes, like if you've been reading the dark romance, this is what I okay always will recommend. And then my new favorite is Ty Tyler Page, who did good for her. Okay. Love that one. Obsessed. Obsessed. Absolutely loves.
Julia: I know you are obsessed with That was does that one have ⁓ I can't remember the premise of that one. Is does it have like serial killer vibes?
Kyrstie: Yes. Her so basically she is the daughter of a famous movie star and her mom gets murdered but they try and say that it was a suicide. And she knows that there were five men that are were involved. So then she decides to go back
Julia: Okay. So someone like me who likes the crossover, you you can give me some romance, but I also need like a body count and like some murder and
Kyrstie: And then Sebastian is the boy in it, and they've known each other for forever. But when her mom died, she like ghosted and he wants her back. But she's like, Mm-mm, after all this is over, I'm not gonna be Again, not spoiler, this is a thing. Okay. And then on the back cover. Yes, like it's literally on the back cover. And he's like, Okay, well, if you give me five chances to sleep with you and fall in love, then I will help you kill these five men. And that's basically the premise of the story. Is he just wants to love her and she's just like, I want to kill men. And he's like, Okay, well, I'll help you if you help me. And so yeah.
Julia: So it's a it's a mutually beneficial ⁓ relationship.
Kyrstie: Yes, yes. It du it definitely is one of the darker on the d ⁓ more it did have a lot of comic relief as well, but it definitely still was very I wouldn't say it's like a Nevassa Allen. Okay. Light stark.
Julia: Darker. Okay. All right. So so maybe like a midway, like so you start with some Bryn Weaver, Navessa Allen, you make your way to you make your way to was it Tyler Page? Was that for her? And then maybe you can end up at some LJ.
Kyrstie: Yeah. You make your way through good L J, Penelope, Douglas, H D Carlton is definitely like hierarchy.
Julia: Which I haven't read but I do know that like that's
Kyrstie: Stark. Yeah, like that's yeah, she's definitely one of about. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But the very top. Very top.
Julia: And always always you know, always read the trigger warnings to make sure you're you're, you know, mentally prepared for what you're getting into.
Kyrstie: Yeah. It's okay to take breaks while you're reading too. It's it's fine. And sometimes you might, but they're so good. They're so worth it.
Julia: So worth it. So we know Torah Season is on your two read list. So what are you currently reading?
Kyrstie: ⁓ currently I'm reading Death Meets Cute. It recently came out on the twenty eighth of April. is I don't know, it's ⁓ it's one of those like cozy fantasies. She wants to be evil. She has sisters and all she wants to be is evil, but she's just she's just not as evil. And she ⁓ needs a bodyguard to give off the oppression again to a town that she lives in that she's evil and orc dies like right on her doorstep. And she brings him back to life being like, ⁓ heck yeah, I finally got a new bodyguard. And he wakes up and he has the cutest smile and the sweetest banter. And she's like, ⁓ my gosh, this isn't gonna work. But also, why is my chest beating so fast? Why do I have butterfly? No, no, no, no, no. We're growling, we're mean. But why when he looks at me like that? Yeah. So yeah, so it's ⁓
Julia: So is it like a cozy like romantic?
Kyrstie: ⁓ yeah, definitely. And it's so cute. I'm literally laughing out loud at like the little things that he does and the way that she acts 'cause again, she just she wants to be evil so bad and the way that everyone else perceives.
Julia: Her siblings you said are are evil.
Kyrstie: It's just because she just wants to be evil. Like she just doesn't want to she wants to be like left alone, but at the same time it she has this inner turmoil where she feels lonely. Like so every often, every so often, like an interaction will happen and she'll be like, ⁓ well that was nice. Well, it must be because I'm lonely. But I'm evil, so that's how it's supposed to be. Like that's kind of like how her dynamic is.
Julia: Is it kind of like assistant to the villain vibe?
Kyrstie: Signed them. Yes, yes, yes. Only as a I did enjoy that. I should have such a good one too.
Julia: I did read the first one. But again, I'm so I'm stuck with the like I can't I series. I can't and that one's not finished, so I've only read the first one. But I really enjoyed it.
Kyrstie: That one was a good one too. But yeah, I guess it kinda gives me those vibes. Yeah, like those vibes only as if the characters were flip-flop. Yes. And she's trying to train to be a grump, but he's not very good at it. She's like, show your teeth, and he's like smiling. And she's No, like growl, and he's like, Growl. And she's like, No, like and he's like,
Julia: Sunshine and she's the grump. So he's just too he's too like sunshiny. And it's so but I just I know, I like the cover is adorable.
Kyrstie: Yeah. just the cover, like you can even see it in her face. She's like, ⁓ my gosh, what is wrong with me? And he's like, Hey Iris Wayward. And she's like, just call me Iris. Like, that's just great. I love it. What are you reading, Julie?
Julia: ⁓ so I am I just started ⁓ Lost in the Summer of Sixty Nine by Eliza Knight, which is sort of a cozy historical fiction. ⁓ Eliza's great. She ⁓ was here last year at the bookstore ⁓ for Confessions of a Grammar Queen which is great. So this one is I only just started it, I'm only a few chapters in. ⁓ three generations of women and so the eldest, the the grandmother, ⁓ she is sort of ⁓ losing her her memory. She's, you know, got dementia, kind of early onset dementia diagnosed. And so she decides she's gonna just leave and she's gonna go to ⁓ this music festival in California. ⁓ because it it it sounds like she used to be a musician is what I'm gathering. And I don't think that's a spoiler. I think it was ⁓ or it's it's told to you pretty quickly in the story. So even if it is, ⁓ and but she doesn't tell anyone where she's going. So she just leaves. And so her daughter of course is like Where did she go? We have to find her. ⁓ and so then she her daughter and her granddaughter basically have to go after her. And so it's just sort of it's gonna turn into this sort of like epic cross country road trip. ⁓ I believe it's the summer before the granddaughter is going to ⁓ college, her undergrad at Yale. So yeah, it's sort of like a chance for the generational women to come. Yeah, bond. Fine. Bond.
Kyrstie: Together. For
Julia: the women to sort of bond and you know have this like ⁓ one last summer together before things change for all of them. So I know the art is great. ⁓ obviously, you know, it's set in the summer of sixty nine. So ⁓ it's it's gonna be fun. I know it is. ⁓ everything everything Eliza writes is just sort of like a lighter she she does historical fiction. ⁓
Kyrstie: Yeah.
Julia: And she has historical romance. She actually she does she does all the things. She's she's a prolific writer. She she writes in in multi ⁓ genres, but when she's writing her historical fiction, it's it always tends to be sort of lighter. ⁓ you know, has just like strong women characters, ⁓ a little bit of feminism. So, ⁓ I'm really excited to get more into this one. ⁓ and I'm trying to finish up Under Lake, which has also had me grip. Yeah. It's I just was really ⁓
Kyrstie: Yeah.
Julia: Taken by the premise because
Kyrstie: It's so interesting and it's so deprav I I literally I've never heard of a concept that yeah would
Julia: ⁓ Erin L. McCoy. This is actually her debut. And if I didn't know before I started reading it, and 'cause she was in the bookstore with us ⁓ last week to do an author event. ⁓ She was in the bookstore with us recently to ⁓ do an author event and talk about this book. And if I didn't know beforehand that this was a debut, I would not have believed it because the prose is just it's beautifully written. I mean, she's a poet, so that makes sense.
Kyrstie: ⁓ so it's probably very eloquently like put together and like sentences almost seem like they're like strung together and like woven.
Julia: Very, very, ⁓ very artistic language. And just the premise, ⁓ and I told her when she was here for the author talk that I mean, just the premise itself, you know, this marine biologist ⁓ pairs up with a mother whose daughter has gone missing and she claims that she's alive beneath this lake where there's this hidden underwater settlement. ⁓ that for few you know, of people that refused to leave when they flooded the valley to make way for a dam. And that alone just sort of like gripped me and had me interested. Because when I was a kid, I I grew up near such a lake where it had been a town in the valley and then they flooded it to make a dam and create a lake. And of course, you know, mine was a little ⁓ as a seven year old was a little more ⁓ terrifying because my cousin, we would, you know, summer there, she had a house and we would swim in the lake and she would tell me about this, you know, town that was down there and and I'm seven, so I'm thinking like But she's like, The people drowned and they're still down there and so I'm like assuming, you know, they're gonna reach up and grab me and pull me down or like if I put my feet down, like I'm gonna top touch the tops of the house or
Kyrstie: That's so crazy. I wonder if every town has something like that because where I lived in Fishers there was something called Guy's Lake and it's the same thing. So allegedly there was a town that was there and then if the water was low enough, you could see the cross that was on top of the church sticking up. So like yeah, every time you would go across Guys Bridge, we'd always like, Where is it? Where is it?
Julia: you definitely need to read Underlake then because and Erin talked about, you know, the research that involved ⁓ that there's hundreds of these towns all across the country and thousands of them across the world. ⁓ and so that was sort of the the image that I get as I'm reading because, you know, the people are living down there. And so it's sort of like she took this idea. ⁓ all yeah, we all have this sort of like folklore that like, okay, there are these towns and and they were in these valleys and they flooded them and while
Kyrstie: We all know.
Julia: They probably didn't try to stay behind and live. What what if they had, you know? So yeah, I'm I'm about halfway through, a little more than halfway, and I love this book and it's just so well written. So I'm excited to see what she's gonna write next because this is her debut and and if it's this well written, you know, whatever she she said she's superstitious and she won't tell us what she's working on now. Understandable. I can't wait. So ⁓ that's that's kind of what I'm reading right now. I'm also reading ⁓
Kyrstie: Yeah. ⁓ I know. Right.
Julia: an arc ⁓ an ebook arc of ⁓ devil inside by clay chapman i'm gonna mess i'm gonna mess the name up I have to I'm like I'm seeing it in my mind. ⁓ and he because he writes horror and ⁓ this is a horror romance. So the two main characters, one of them ⁓ is in a a pretty horrific biking accident, bicycle accident, and dies and then comes back. Is you know is in a coma and then it's comes back. So he like Went to hell for a minute. Yeah. And then comes back and then the other character is a demon. So she's just like moving through life, possessing people, and then they meet. So that's all I'll say about that. Devil inside. Wow, I feel terrible that I can't remember hit it's a three name. Yeah. So that one's coming up.
Kyrstie: Yeah, no. Put it in the description. It'll be in the description. Yeah. Yeah. Just in case. Yeah. I'm also reading currently, I literally just started it. ⁓ Ice Planet Barbarians, ⁓ for our Unhinged Book Club that we have. ⁓ this is our next one by Ruby Dixon. This is one that everyone has talked about, and I feel like everyone talks about it but hasn't actually read it. Okay. And so I thought it would be a good one. It's basically where a bunch of women are on this alien planet and then ⁓ she falls in love with an alien. Well he falls in love with her. He falls first and she's just kinda like, okay alien and
Julia: Even though it's alien human it still has like your typical romance.
Kyrstie: All the typical tropes. Yeah, no, it definitely does. And Ruby Dixon is just a legend within a lot of her unhinged like I mean, there's twenty one books in this series. In that series alone. In this series alone. And she also did like Bull Moon Rising, which was also an an excellent book.
Julia: Always does like a ⁓ like a creature and a human
Kyrstie: Typically, yes. Yes. At least all the ones that I have read, yes. Typically that's what she has going. And so I'm very excited to continue because li like I said, for years people have been telling me to read this. One, because I love aliens. ⁓ I always say that I married an alien. ⁓ so this would definitely is right up by alley. So I'm very excited for this in our unhinged book club and everyone else seems super excited too.
Julia: And you have a few ⁓ ebooks going as well.
Kyrstie: I do, I'm reading Fossil Fueled. I hate that I don't remember. Gosh, we should have
Julia: When you don't have the when you don't have the physical book. Yeah.
Kyrstie: Yeah, so I'm reading Fossil Fueled and then I'm also reading The Kiss Thief by LJ Shane. So I'm getting my archaeolog Archaeology how do you Archaeology? Archaeol Archaeol Not she said. ⁓ I'm getting that fill It's it's super cute, cozy. She's trying to ⁓ find a dinosaur fossil that no one else has found before. She's trying to find it before everyone else, but then there's also a rival that says that they already have it. And she's like, don't believe it. So
Julia: Archaeological?
Kyrstie: She works with another famous guy and they are working together and it that one's just super cute. It's very cozy. It's not super intense, but it keeps me gripped. And then ⁓ the kiss thief. Yeah, that's a that's a dark romance. I did say L J Sheen, so we already know how that's going. It it's it's a bishop or a bad bishop. Same yeah, bad bishop. ⁓
Julia: Same offer. own is that its own like standalone or
Kyrstie: It's it's its own ⁓ as far as I know, it's it's just its own.
Julia: Okay. ⁓ it's not connected to bad bishop in that
Kyrstie: No no no, no. It's it's a whole other a whole other realm. a girl is told that ⁓ whoever the first boy that she kisses, ⁓ is who she's supposed to marry and a mafia guy decides he's gonna be it and that's not who she thought that it was gonna be. And so Yes. So you got the forced marriage, you know, the arranged marriage, love, enemies to lovers, love, like it's just I just love it. I just love my dark room. Like you
Julia: I know that's your That's that's like your, you know, the go to's if if you need a rec for that, like Kirsty is your girl. She's got you. And I and I of course am the the horror mystery thriller. That's that's usually what I'm reading. I'll read I mean I'll read just about anything, but yeah, I'm so excited to start. ⁓ I specifically asked for an advanced copy of this 'cause it doesn't come out until
Kyrstie: You always You have one that you're right, yeah.
Julia: The fall, ⁓ but Rachel Harrison who wrote Play Nice, which I loved, and her favorite Black Sheep, which I loved. Her favorite. It is funny, she is one of those authors for me though. Like I haven't read everything that she's written, but I read a lot of it. And some of her books are hit or miss for me. ⁓ but more of them I've loved than not. ⁓ and so I'm really excited to start Kiss Slay Replay. As soon as I f finish one of my books that I'm very close to being done with, I'm gonna start Kiss Slay Replay, which is a time loop ⁓ novelist ⁓ apparently. It really reminds me of ⁓ like Happy Death Day. Yeah. But like at a wedding. Yeah. So Yeah. So, ⁓ but it, you know, like throw in a little bit of ⁓ rom com where, you know, she's gotta go to a friend's wedding where her ex will be and sh you know, she hasn't seen him and he's got a date and so you know, everything's gonna feel awkward for her, but then also throw in, you know, a masked killer who's terrorizing everybody and she's not a final girl, so you know, she's like, I'm definitely dead.
Kyrstie: The release.
Julia: But then wakes up and like it's starting all over. So like yeah, like groundhogs
Kyrstie: Gosh to live that anxiety and then know that you have a killer and then know that your ex could be around the cornering. So much anxiety that would be the worst night.
Julia: Like, am I gonna do ready for a wedding? Yeah, a lot of stress. So but ⁓ like I said, ⁓ more of her books than not I've really enjoyed. ⁓ Play Nights was her most recent one that came out last year, I believe. ⁓ and that was about ⁓ a haunted house, like a demon, you know, haunting a house that ⁓ the woman returns to that she grew up with, ⁓ her and her brother and her mother, and then Black Sheep, which is probably my favorite of hers that I've read so far, ⁓ because that one is sort of like a ⁓ you know, cult f returning back to your, you know, your family let you've left and and this kind of cult commune that that you grew up in. So but yes, I'm very excited to start this. ⁓ 'cause she she's written some really great, great books and I love me my horror. Yeah. So you are, you are. But it's it's good, you know, we all we all have what we like and then we we dip a toe out. ⁓
Kyrstie: Yeah. Yeah, we branch, we try.
Julia: When we feel like it's always good to to try something new and get out of our comfort zone.
Kyrstie: 'Cause you just it's so crazy to think like when you not that there's anything wrong with sticking with your genre, but when you do try and find a book in a there's literally a book for everyone in every genre. You just have to find the right one. Yeah. And that's why I always tell people if you need a DNF a book, like there's so much to read out there. Don't do Don't just say, I'm gonna pause. I'm gonna put a pause on this book. Like I've done that a few times.
Julia: Two bucks a little time. But you don't even have to come back to it.
Kyrstie: But but it's yeah, so like if just you just So yeah, I just like to pause my books because for some reason saying D like to D and F a book, I'm like, ⁓ well that means I it's unfinished but if I pause it then it just makes me feel like ⁓ I could go back to it so No no no but my mind plays tricks on me. Yeah so I have to play back.
Julia: You don't have to And I just, you know, I just so much to read. I used to tell my students this when I was teaching and I wouldn't follow the like my own rule. It's like if you're not enjoying it, yeah, there's so many other books out there, like you're not the right reader for that book, or maybe it's not the right moment for you. Like I've DNF books and I've come back, you know, years later and gobbled them up. So it's like sometimes you're just not right in the right headspace or sometimes it's just not the right book for you, period. Mm-hmm. ⁓ we shouldn't feel bad about that. And there's just we're never gonna get through all of the books, like we're we
Kyrstie: Well,
Julia: Like we're gonna be buried with all of our books that we didn't finish. ⁓ but that's okay with life is too short and there's too many good books. So we we have some great recs here. ⁓ and we'd love to know what you guys are reading in the comments. ⁓ And what you would like to ⁓ hear us yeah, yeah, yep.
Kyrstie: Please let us know.
Julia: And what you would like to hear us chatter about, about on our on our new show. ⁓
Kyrstie: We're still doing We're still learning. We're gonna be continuing to grow. ⁓
Julia: We'll have some guests on. We will
Kyrstie: Just yappity wapity yup.
Julia: Yeah, we'll yap it away. So to be determined what our next episode will be about. Don't ENF us, please. ⁓ like and subscribe, right? Are are we supposed to say that?
Kyrstie: Well T. But don't DNF S. Click that button, hit the little bell next to it so you get notified. Yeah, don't button.
Julia: ⁓ so thanks for tuning in. I hope you enjoyed listening to us ⁓ yap about books and we'll be back we'll be back we'll be back soon.
Kyrstie: Thank you so much, readers. Bye reader. Should we say bye reader at the end? Bye reader. Yeah, since we say hey reader and then at the end you just go bye. But you don't have to. I just said it. You're weird. I know. We did good though.
Julia: ⁓ God, I'm gonna lose my mind if it was not filming.
