Tay: Welcome to the podcast where your next favorite story is already written in the stars.
April: For your new book besties, April.
Tay: Ante here to get your book craving started and satisfied.
April: Why?
Tay: Because around here it's faded.
April: So grab your current read, maybe a cozy drink, and hide your TBR list because today we're talking about great beginner romance and some not so great beginner romance books.
Tay: Do believe that some of those books should come with warning signs, maybe like taped all over the book before, like, you
April: Yeah.
Tay: as a discretionary post to new readers that are like, I want to get into romance. covers can be deceiving, y'all. So you can't just like willy-nilly, me and April are here to take your hand and take you on a smut journey and say that it's gonna be okay. You're with us, we're not gonna lead you astray. And that's what that's about today.
April: Yes. I agree. On all those things. Ditto.
Tay: You know, it is so true though. I mean, like, there are some deceptive covers that, you know, don't really lead into what the book is about. And I think
April: Yes.
Tay: that some people, you know, and I've heard this story. I have actually, I was getting my hair done with this fabulous hairdresser that I used to go to in our old home area. And she was doing my hair and she was telling me, yeah, I like really wasn't into romance books. And then like You know, I was recommended this book and I was like, excuse me? Like, yeah, yeah. And so I took a big break because it was just a lot and like I've never read anything. I I was like, and we're gonna talk about that book today, y'all. We're gonna talk about it. but I'm gonna save it for when we get to that point. But let me tell you, that shook me because I was like, I would never recommend a book like that to somebody that like never had read Smut. you're not just gonna go. From like gentle hand holding and gazing to shoving a gun up a you know special place. So I was just like where they don't
April: Into places where they don't belong.
Tay: belong. Yeah. I love that one nurse on TikTok last year that was taking all the Christmas stuff and was like, This is great. This is decor. This does not go in places that it should not. And like
April: Ha ha
Tay: was like going through all the stuff in a shelf. that's a cute decor. Don't put that where it doesn't supposed to go. I'm like, that's that's the way of some of these books. Like trigger warning, don't don't go there. At least not until you're ready to explore there safely and discretionally.
April: Yes, exactly.
Tay: but there are some great beginner books out there. There's some great ones. So we're gonna mention some of those today.
April: Thankfully there are some really great beginner books out there. And I know everybody kind of has their own books that get them into it. Some people are good to go with the ones that are not so great for beginner romance. But if it were me, I think it would probably scare me away like reading some darker themed books or books that have more taboo things. If that was how I was just starting out, there's absolutely no way. I would still be a romance reader, probably. I had to work my way into that. And I got there eventually.
Tay: Yeah, you gotta
April: It just took time.
Tay: Yeah, and you just gotta like gauge the person too. If this person you
April: Yeah.
Tay: know is the person that's like out loud and has all the things, but like let's say you have a friend, they marry their first boyfriend, never dated anybody else, never did anything with anybody else, maybe like they all they know is vanilla and showing them a book that's like, you know, I'm trying to think of the equivalent of something crazy cotton candy ice cream. You know, we might it might be startling at first. So, you know, you gotta
April: Yes.
Tay: ease into it. You gotta start with chocolates and then you start with like your like very basics and then you go into something fun
April: Mm-hmm.
Tay: and funky. So definitely
April: Yeah.
Tay: gauge gauge your friend, test them out, see what they, you know, and then you can give them a book recommendation. But my first book recommendation is a good one, y'all. I am gonna recommend that if you are a first-time reader and you're just kind of getting your feet wet, a lot of people do recommend this. Some people hate on her, whatever you say. I'm gonna say specifically to this book. We're not thanking Verity, we're not thinking some of her other books. We're gonna go with It Ends With Us. Now, this book has loads and loads of controversy behind it, y'all. Let's look past that. Let's look at this as just the book and ignore all the drama that was associated with the movie because. We are a book podcast, y'all. We're gonna focus on the book and not the movie. this book here, when I first read this book, it one resonated so much with me as far as you know, what the character was struggling with, and it really hit home for me. But Lily is our main star in this book, Lily Bloom, to be specific. And at the beginning of the book, she's going through some dark days. Death of a family member. It's hard on her. She doesn't really know what to do and how to cope. she meets Ryle. Ryle is a young resident doctor, cool, like very suave, they flirt and they kind of cross paths. Lo and behold, they end up crossing paths again. And he is like, ends up, you know, being her boyfriend. And she's like, you know, like, this is all meant to be. They do a flash in the past to her old life when she was young and her first love. Her first love was a boy named Atlas. And you get to kind of hear about the journey of that first love and how it kind of shaped her into the woman that she is now. you slowly you f fall in love with Ryle and you fall in love with Atlas. And they're both different ways. You're like, This new love, it's new and exciting. he's doing all of these things for her, like he's love bombing her. And then you have Atlas that's like that first love, very timid. She, you know, lost her virginity to him is very wholesome. And that regard of like that like closeness that you build with that person. So, and then there's a lot of stuff in his storyline. He's homeless and she takes him in, there's just like this whole plot there that's just really beautiful. Well, her and Atlas ended up parting ways he went on with his life because he joined the military and she went on with hers. and she's with Ryle and they go out to dinner one night at this restaurant and realize that the restaurant is actually Atlas's restaurant and she crossed paths with Atlas again and just wants to know about his life. Totally harmless. Okay. Well, this Flips a switch for Ryle. And Ryle ends up being the villain in our story. and it's devastating, it's heartbreaking, it's a beautiful story as far as you know, overcoming something. And specifically, Colleen Hoover wrote this with her own mother in mind about how what her mother did. she recounts this story so many times, but she's like, I just remember my mom being in the front seat of the car, driving us away from our our father. who had beaten her face black and blue, and she was basically saving them from a situation because eventually if he was gonna get tired of hitting her, who was he probably gonna turn to? It was probably gonna be the kids. And she did what was best for her family and her life and took care of Colleen, her sisters and got them out of a bad situation. knowing all of that and the like this book and what it means to Colleen and all of that, I just couldn't help but love this book. I definitely think it's a great read for a first reader, especially to it is a heart-wrenching, but it is like a happy ending. So if you want an A, it is that. but it's definitely to me an overall good story. Like it's a good storytelling, it leads up to it, has a good ending, and then you can find out all the other stuff in between. But I definitely recommend this for a first time reader. Because I think it'll hook you on a romance at that point. It gives you all the feelings. You realize that people can love two people. It's totally possible.
April: Mm-hmm.
Tay: and I'm a big believer in that there's probably multiple loves of your lives. I don't think there is just one. just because you could have ended up in separate situations, y'all could have
April: Mm-hmm.
Tay: but I do believe in fate. Clearly with us being fated, and things are just being meant to be and like My husband is the love of my life, but I think it was just because of fate bringing us together. But like if he would have ended up somewhere else, he probably would have had a d different love completely. then and same thing with me. If I would have went somewhere else, we might have had two different loves, but we cross paths at through just the right time and like it was just meant to be. But I really just love this book. So ten out of ten, y'all.
April: It is a good book.
Tay: Y'all need to read this one.
April: It does come with its own trigger warnings
Tay: Mm-hmm.
April: and emotionally heavy things too. but it has a pretty good message overall, I think. And I think she handles the topics that are really heavy in there as best as she was able to. And I think she did a fabulous job. I sobbed while reading that book. It was a good one. Yes.
Tay: Mm-hmm. Yes. Same.
April: Okay, so to kind of keep us moving, okay. My
Tay: Mm-hmm.
April: next one. I'm gonna switch it up a little bit. We're gonna go historical. Okay. So I have here The Secret by Julie Garwood. First of all, this is the bad women's book cover, and
Tay: Ooh.
April: I am obsessed with it. It's so good. but in this book, it's a historical romance. It's set in the Scottish Highlands. She's, of course, an English woman. But I just have to say, I'm mentioning this as a beginner book for romance readers because I want historical romances to make a comeback. Like I am ready for it. They're no longer, you can no longer find like a lot of the most popular historical romance authors are no longer publishing historical romance. And it makes me so sad because they're so good. but in this particular one, the one of the main themes, and actually it sets off the rest of the entire book, is friendship and being girls together and that's probably like my most favorite thing. So in this story we have Judith. She's our female main character. And she is going to go to the Scottish Highlands to help her best friend, Frances, give give birth. Like she's going there to help her best friend. it starts off so sweet. It literally starts off with like them learning to be friends as little girls and like their just their friendship story is like told throughout the entire book. And I love that so much. It's so sweet. And then, of course, we have the Scottish Highlander, male main character. I think it's pronounced Ian. I am probably butchering that. And I'm so sorry to any Scottish people we have in my head, it is Ian. but of course, he is the one who is tasked with helping her to cross safely from England into Scotland and getting her to where she needs to be. And of course, they fall in love because who could resist a Scottish Highlander? But Really, truly, it's a fabulous romance book. It's very sweet, very sweet. And it's really not that long. I know some people are kind of like intimidated. I especially feel like darker romances. I feel like those books are huge and giant because they deal with a lot of trauma. This
Tay: They are. Mm-hmm.
April: one, very, very, very minimal trauma. I don't even think there's any trigger warnings for this book. It is really, truly a good solid, solid read. So Have to recommend The Secret by Julie Garwood, who is also probably one of my most favorite historical romance authors. She writes good stuff.
Tay: I agree. There needs to be more historical romance. I need somebody to come out with that. I am on the side of TikTok right now where people are talking in Victorian accents. And honestly, we should all talk in Victorian accents because the T slays so much better. and I he like he literally this was his like one of his like digs, and I was like, that is hilarious. He goes, the wench, her family tree resembles a wreath. And then I I was like sitting there and I was like her family tree resembles a wreath. I was like, my God, because they're inbred. I
April: Yeah.
Tay: was like, that is so funny. I want to talk like that now all the time. I'm like, we need to bring that back. Let's study some Victorian
April: Yeah.
Tay: English. Like, somebody put that in a book, please. create a historical romance, but like slay with normal, everyday verbiage that we use now. I think that would be the funniest.
April: Right.
Tay: most enjoyable read ever. but yes, I'm on that weird side of TikTok. I don't know why, but I love it so much and I need it to continue. But that book sounds fabulous. I also get confused with Scottish names. I remember specifically in Leapier, that movie with my gosh, I'm not gonna remember his name. But anyways, Leap Year, it has Amy Adams. I know that much. and she goes overseas to like propose to her husband or guy, boyfriend, whatever. on a leap ear and he's total trash and she ends up falling in love If y'all haven't seen it, this movie's been out for a hot minute, so so sorry, spoiler. but she goes into the thing and she reads it and she's like reads the guy's name and she goes, Eogon and he's like, Owen I was like, okay. Like it's spelled, not like the the normal of what you would think of a standard Owen. It was, you know spelled that way. So I think when I've read a couple of those too, I give them my own name. So maybe it is Ian though you might be spot on, That sounds like a fabulous first read though. I 10 out of 10 historical is always a
April: It is. Yes.
Tay: good way to go
April: I feel like it's a good way to get into it too, because for the most part, there's not a lot of wild things in them. Some of them are seriously outdated. And I understand that. Some of them have some concepts and some things that were okay back in the 80s when they were written that obviously are unacceptable in today's day. There are some popular authors have gone back and edited their ebooks to change some of the parts of the story. So Lisa Clay Poss is one that I think of. She's actually gone back and had her books edited to just make with yeah, just like to make it better for things that are, you know, we don't stand for So I appreciate that. But my next book I don't have, and I'm super
Tay: Right.
April: sad I don't have a copy of it to hold up, but It's The Wrong Quarterback by C.R. Jane. And in this book, I've talked about it before. I put this one here as like a bridge. Okay. So you've been spending some time reading some romance books. Maybe you've read It Ends With Us. Maybe you've read The Secret. Maybe you've dabbled into like maybe some fantasy Avatar Fourth Wing. And you're like, okay, I'm ready for like some darker things. I don't want just fangirl, really light, funny vibes. Okay. I want something that's gonna be good, have some humor, but also. maybe start heading towards Cuckoo Bananas Town. and so this book has Casey is our female main character and it does start out with the death of a close family member. So check of course for trigger warnings. Always, always, always practice self-care before and after reading a book. But she goes to college and she's a freshman in college and she meets like kind of reunites with Her brother's best friend, and it's he's also kind of like her first love, and they officially start dating. Well, then she meets the quarterback of the football team, college football team, and his name is Parker. And it's like very insta-love. And it's honestly the way that it's written is very much like fated mates, but like in a not, you know, fantasy setting. so that's kind of cool. I really enjoyed that aspect of it actually. And so it's just their story of getting together. But Parker does some, like I said, cuckoo bananas things to get the girl. I don't want to spoil big plot points, but we can say one of the things that I feel like has already been spoiled for this book is he does technically lock her in a basement. Okay. And I'm gonna leave it there. I'm not gonna tell you why. I'm not gonna tell you what happens in this basement. this leads us into some of those darker things in books. But Truly, truly, I enjoyed it. They have a really
Tay: Mm-hmm.
April: funny best friend named Jace in the book who cracks me up with the best jokes I've ever heard. As I was reading it, I was like laughing and my husband's like, what is wrong with you? And I'm like, but it's just so funny.
Tay: What?
April: And it's like these stupid dad jokes, but I love those things. So truly, truly, I did enjoy this book.
Tay: Love when a book can make me giggle. I'm like, make me
April: Yeah.
Tay: laugh. that just truly like that takes
April: Yeah.
Tay: some work. So if I can actually genuinely laugh out loud when I repeated a book, you've hit the nail on the head. And like that's
April: Yeah.
Tay: great. So I think that's probably sounds like a great transitional book. Like I think that's
April: Yes.
Tay: a a great, okay, I want to get into romance. I'm a little, I'm not vanilla, we're vanilla with sprinkles. and we're gonna tiptoe into our way into cotton candy. so I think that is a good book for that. That's a good one.
April: Yeah.
Tay: Thank you for that recommendation. Now we're gonna head into a different way, y'all. We're gonna we're gonna we're gonna head down a dark like the the Robert Frost poem where it's like two roads diverged in a yellow wood. This one is a crazy wooded area, okay? First book. That I'm bringing up is the story earlier where I talked about my hairdresser, and she was like, you know, I wasn't really into romance. this was the book that they recommended. This book is Haunting Adeline by H. D. Carlton. As a romance reader, and you've read that book and you've read other books, and then somebody tells you that that is their first read of romance, is like, holy cow, are you okay? And she was like, No, I was not. I literally read it, was so shell-shocked, and then couldn't read again for like months and months until I got the courage to read another book. And I was like, fuck that friend for recommending that to you. It's like honestly.
April: Mm-hmm.
Tay: And she was like, what? And I was like, yeah. I was like, that's a bad friend. I would never recommend. if I wanted, like, let's say me in April are just meeting and April hadn't read anything. What kind of disservice to her of being like, Hey, I want you to be a reader like me. Read haunting Adeline. Like messed up. this Yeah.
April: Absolutely not. And let me just preface this by saying HT Carlton's fans legitimately scare me, so please don't come for us. We are not giving our opinion
Tay: They yeah, they they do. They scare me
April: on this book in terms of if we think it's good, if we think it's bad. We're just saying it is not for beginner romance readers.
Tay: It is not for it is not for beginners. And so that is like like me having read multiple books and then reading it, meh. Like, you know, I've read
April: Yeah.
Tay: a good amount of books. So I'm like, you know, n nothing shocks me too bad. So I get more shocked by sentient object romances than I ever do by dark romances. Like the sponge did what? but this one is definitely very much a trigger warning. the trigger warnings I did screenshot them. so graphic scenes of things like SA, graphic violence, murder, kidnappings, all kinds of stuff, y'all. Lots of trigger warnings in this book. So
April: And I feel like sometimes they
Tay: Extremely dark.
April: say graphic and I read a book and I'm like, that wasn't really as graphic as I thought it was. No, this is very graphic. It is very graphic.
Tay: This is very graphic and for people that I know that love dark romances, they love this book and HD Carlton is one of their favorites. So you know, I'm not gonna knock anybody's read of what they enjoy, but it's definitely not a first-time read, y'all. so that one is gonna be one of those ones that like I'm gonna tell you that that's not one you recommend to someone you want to be friends with. that can be recommended after you know stuff about like if they read a lot. if you're like, okay, you read you've read it all under the sun. You have read Verity. You have read like weird stuff where you're like, okay, like I can gauge how they'll handle this, then you could do that. But like if you don't know what they like to read, don't recommend this. This just just hold it in, see a little more, and then go from there. but yeah, that one is not one of those ones I recommend. as a first time reader of the smut.
April: Absolutely not. And it is like it's it's like a stalker romance for those who don't know. It's yeah, it's a stalker
Tay: Yes. Also another trigger. Yeah. Like so
April: romance. And honestly, when it starts out, like I didn't think it was going to be as dark as it was, even though there's all those
Tay: Yeah.
April: trigger warnings. I will say the author is very upfront about the content that's in the book, but it starts out super cool. she's like renovating this Victorian house, living in it, and she's I just I loved the vibes of the setting in this story. It is very good for like a fall
Tay: Yeah, and I honestly, like when I
April: spooky read.
Tay: when I first read the book, I thought that Zayd, Zayd is the main character of the book. I thought he was a ghost. Like I thought that was the
April: Mm-hmm.
Tay: direction it was going. because she's yeah, like she's renovating
April: Like paranormal, yeah. I can see that.
Tay: this house. And like sh at the time too, y'all, she is an author. our main male character or female character, Adeline, she's a she's an author, she's writing a book. Like,
April: Mm-hmm.
Tay: I thought she was like writing about a the house being haunted, but then would dream about it and then a ghost was somehow like interacting with her. But the direction it goes actually is that he's a real guy and he is actually stalking her. and
April: Mm-hmm.
Tay: so it's not in her head. She's not cuckoo bananas. Maybe a little bit, but like, you know, cuckoo bananas enough to know that there was somebody like messing with her and that it was him. So
April: Mm-hmm.
Tay: definitely trigger warnings with the stalker stuff, because it is for sure that. but that was the direction I thought it was going. I did think he was like a ghost and I thought she was making it up almost and you find out that she's gone she had gone cuckoo bananas in a way. Like, I don't know, like I thought that was so but like that book sounds good. So if somebody made that, let me know.
April: Yeah.
Tay: Yeah, popping off ideas there. So if somebody knows a book like that and it already exists, send it my way. And if it doesn't, tell me to write it. And I might.
April: Yeah, right. Okay, so my next book that I'm gonna talk about is another
Tay: Mm-hmm.
April: CR Jane book. I love her books. I feel like they go from it's fine, to like, what is happening? And honestly, I'm here for it. So this is actually her latest release. It's called Don't Say Mafia. so the title actually comes from like Claire back in book two in the other series that I was talking about. So this is carried on for a while now. This is actually the older brother Jagger, of one of our characters that we meet from her college football series, which is kind of cool to see. And he is essentially a part of a syndicate, of a mafia syndicate. And Eden is like this kind of like down on her luck female main character. She got married young to escape a poorer home life. and essentially the boy that she married was someone she had grown up kind of loving, who also came from a Not so great home, and they kind of relied on each other, but he ends up kind of like letting her down a lot. He's not the best husband. but and I thought this went, this went in a way different direction, y'all, than I thought it was gonna go. And I was like, what am I reading? I literally was texting our group and I was like, y'all, this book is bananas, cause I I just got wild. it starts out very normal and I'm like, and then I'm I like you know that they're gonna obviously end up together. So I'm like, well, what about the husband? Cause I mean, that's a big, you know, hurdle to get over. no, Jagger takes care of that pretty quickly. And I don't want to spoil it, but he takes care of it. Wink, wink, wink. Yeah.
Tay: Dead.
April: And it just kind of goes from there. And that's not even the most craziest thing in the book. So Honestly, you should read it if you're down for reading something that you really need to suspend some of your beliefs and are okay with a bunch of trigger warnings. but truly, I enjoyed it. I thought it was good. The spice is really good. C.R. Jane writes, excellent spice.
Tay: I do think we need to do a mafia. and
April: Ha ha.
Tay: and I and I say that because you know I don't really necessarily like mafia, but I think I need to do it just as like a branch myself out there to see what
April: Yeah.
Tay: I can find that like is maybe that middle ground of not too far into mafia, but just enough. Because y'all, when I watched The Godfather growing up, my family is Italian Catholics, Sicilian specifically. someone may come for me that'd be like, they're two opposite things, it's two separate. Okay, sure. Yeah, I know. But like either way, they're feisty and they do, they understand it. but my mom was very into The Godfather, loved it. And I started watching it and I I mean, he's gross now, but like back then, Al Pacino, watching that movie, I was like, he's fine. I like that Italian man. So, I could see a mafia boss being you know, very attractive in a
April: Yeah.
Tay: book and very appealing and whatever else. So I'm like, I need I need to give it a try. Y'all, if there's some recommendations for some books, throw them in the comments. At some point we can put it in the lineup and do a whole mafia one and cater to whoever is loving on that trope. But I need to do it as almost like a shock therapy. Just dunk me in. Like Taylor, just take
April: Yeah.
Tay: me and just anoint me in the mafia waters.
April: Mm-hmm. We gotta get you reading some Rena Kent. She's a super popular mafia author. We're gonna talk later. We'll talk later about it.
Tay: Okay. You Yeah. Okay. All right. So I have mine here for another do not read. I am gonna preface by saying, I love this book. I love it. I love it so much. I think it's a great book. It's my favorite, but would I recommend it as a beginner? Absolutely not, because it is like so crazy. And like if you haven't read anything like this, That is not one I would recommend as a start. Because if you're vanilla, this is definitely not not for you. the book is Madam by Sarah Kate. And we meet Eden St. Clair. Eden St. Clair works at a kink club and Eden is a Madam. And if for our friends that are on the lower tier of like, what is that? What is that? A Madam is a dominant. She you know, takes care and belittles the person, but she only does the belittling of the person because they enjoy it. It's pleasurable to them. They like being dominated by a woman. she has a list of clients and they all come to her and she caters to their whim and what they want to do, but she enjoys it. they both get personal satisfaction out of it. She's getting personal satisfaction out of being a dominant and like the person that she's with is getting satisfaction out of being a submissive. And she ends up meeting Clay. Clay comes to the club. They end up hitting it off. And Clay kind of gives it to her a little bit in reverse, kind of makes her the submissive in this scenario. it's cool to see her kind of get in this transitional phase of like, you know, I could be submissive to this guy. I kind of like it. Cause she's not usually that way. She's usually the full dominant and he likes to be the submissive. So now it's kind of nice. She's like, like he basically has like a line, I think in the book that's along the lines of like, you know, everywhere else you can be dominant to me and that's okay. But in our bedroom, I'm gonna be and she
April: Yeah?
Tay: just loves it. She was just like, okay, she does have her moments of still dominance and everything. So they kind of give this back and forth. And this is where this book, I was like, okay, like, you know, like this I get, I could recommend and this not be too crazy. This is where we're gonna add our crazy. Then we meet Jade. Jade and Clay hit it off. And she's the third woman that gets introduced in this group. Now for Jade, she's just like kind of dipping her toe in. She's really like, I don't know if I like this, you know. You know, learning what she likes and and she's dating Clay because Clay has a life outside of the kink club. that's just like the
April: Yeah.
Tay: thing that he has going on with Eden. he meets Jade and they start going on dates and whatever. And then of course, being a good partner, he kind of opens up to the stuff that he likes. And she actually goes to the club and meets with Eden and says, like, I have this guy. I wanna be a dominant
April: Mm.
Tay: to him. 'Cause I heard that's kind of what he likes and I wanna do that. And so her and Eden go on a journey of her discovery of like getting her to be a dominant as she's doing all these things to her. They put air like y'all, it's crazy. They get go in a glass room at this kink club and everybody and their grandma can see them. Not your grandma, your grandma's not in there, but like everybody can see into this glass of what Eden and Jade are doing. So Jade is like, my gosh, I have to tell Clay. Well then Clay is like, stop and hold the phone. this is so hot. And they end up y'all being a thruple at the end of the book. Spoiler, sorry. but to me, it was the first time I was ever introduced to a thruple where I was like, okay, I'm sold. I was genuinely like, I was like, you know, yeah.
April: It actually like made sense. Yeah.
Tay: It made sense. I've read a couple of reverse harems, y'all. And I am a very much a one man kind of lady.
April: Mm-hmm.
Tay: and for me I always gravitate towards one. So when reverse harem, when there's like three guys I'm always kinda like. I always like one over the and I'm like, I don't want all that drum you know, I'm like,
April: Yeah.
Tay: guys, you know, no, too much, too much testosterone there. I don't want it.
April: Yeah. Yeah.
Tay: and for some reason this book has like that great balance and they all three bring out the best in one another. I don't know. It all made sense. I was like, the stars are lining. I love this, I ate it up.
April: Yeah.
Tay: As a trigger warning, there's history of abuse and trauma. Obviously, no one ends up in a kink club because they're absolutely normal. They got some past things that like are suppressing and that's where all the kind of things, feelings and needs for those things kind of stem from. and so there's that. you know, toxic relationships, cheating is involved, you know. it ends up working out, but like. Cheating, you know, child neglect, things, stuff like that. All personal struggles and whatnot are kind of in this book. So I always just like to preface that, but I definitely would not recommend this to the very first reader of Smud. You're like, this is like
April: Yeah.
Tay: in deep. if somebody's never read a book with more than just two
April: Mm-hmm.
Tay: and gone into the polyamory in a book, I would not recommend just because I, you know, that is not for everybody. and
April: Mm-hmm.
Tay: like I said, with some books, I'm not sold on it. when they all stand up and go, I marry you, I marry you, I marry you. I'm like,
April: Yeah.
Tay: Ew, there's one book. I can't remember. I think it was like called The Roommates or The Friends with Benefits or The Roommate With Friends. I don't remember some along those lines, but it's like a new
April: Ha ha.
Tay: girl retelling. And it's like if Jess had ended up with all three guys, basically, and that's basically what the book is. They all live in the apartment, whatever. And at the end they do this whole like I stand up thing and I marry you. I marry you. I was like it's like shut up. Shut up, shut up, shut up. And then I just I like
April: There's too much marriage going around.
Tay: kept like one I like if I was in that room, I would have smacked their head, like smack, smack, smack, sit down. That's so dumb. Like I could not.
April: Ha ha ha ha.
Tay: So this is one of those where I'm like, this is not something I would lightly recommend. Think about it, think about and see. But I definitely think it's a good transitional if you're like, Maybe I want to read something like that. You could.
April: Yeah. Mm-hmm.
Tay: but like I it's just it's not a first read, y'all. That's not one you're like, I have a first romance
April: Not what you want to just jump into.
Tay: book for you, madam, kink stuff.
April: That's right. Yeah. gosh. Well
Tay: gosh. But I think we gave y'all all some wonderful things. So let us know, you know, if
April: Yeah.
Tay: there were some other ones that you'll want to give us. But yes, we hope you enjoyed that today.
April: Yes, the lesson of today's episode is
Tay: Mm-hmm.
April: do not recommend your favorite book, Haunting Adeline, to a very brand new beginner romance reader. Please work your
Tay: Amen.
April: friend into it, okay?
Tay: Yes. Coach them like the good girls that they are.
April: Exactly. all right, besties. That's it for today's episode.
Tay: Make sure to follow, download, and share our podcast socials with your other book besties. We would love to hear what you recommend as a first-time read. Please leave a comment on your favorite platform letting us know.
April: And join us next week where we talk about monster romances by CM Noscosta.
Tay: I can't wait and remember
April: We're glad you're here because
Tay: It's faded.
April: For your new book besties, April.
Tay: Ante here to get your book craving started and satisfied.
April: Why?
Tay: Because around here it's faded.
April: So grab your current read, maybe a cozy drink, and hide your TBR list because today we're talking about great beginner romance and some not so great beginner romance books.
Tay: Do believe that some of those books should come with warning signs, maybe like taped all over the book before, like, you
April: Yeah.
Tay: as a discretionary post to new readers that are like, I want to get into romance. covers can be deceiving, y'all. So you can't just like willy-nilly, me and April are here to take your hand and take you on a smut journey and say that it's gonna be okay. You're with us, we're not gonna lead you astray. And that's what that's about today.
April: Yes. I agree. On all those things. Ditto.
Tay: You know, it is so true though. I mean, like, there are some deceptive covers that, you know, don't really lead into what the book is about. And I think
April: Yes.
Tay: that some people, you know, and I've heard this story. I have actually, I was getting my hair done with this fabulous hairdresser that I used to go to in our old home area. And she was doing my hair and she was telling me, yeah, I like really wasn't into romance books. And then like You know, I was recommended this book and I was like, excuse me? Like, yeah, yeah. And so I took a big break because it was just a lot and like I've never read anything. I I was like, and we're gonna talk about that book today, y'all. We're gonna talk about it. but I'm gonna save it for when we get to that point. But let me tell you, that shook me because I was like, I would never recommend a book like that to somebody that like never had read Smut. you're not just gonna go. From like gentle hand holding and gazing to shoving a gun up a you know special place. So I was just like where they don't
April: Into places where they don't belong.
Tay: belong. Yeah. I love that one nurse on TikTok last year that was taking all the Christmas stuff and was like, This is great. This is decor. This does not go in places that it should not. And like
April: Ha ha
Tay: was like going through all the stuff in a shelf. that's a cute decor. Don't put that where it doesn't supposed to go. I'm like, that's that's the way of some of these books. Like trigger warning, don't don't go there. At least not until you're ready to explore there safely and discretionally.
April: Yes, exactly.
Tay: but there are some great beginner books out there. There's some great ones. So we're gonna mention some of those today.
April: Thankfully there are some really great beginner books out there. And I know everybody kind of has their own books that get them into it. Some people are good to go with the ones that are not so great for beginner romance. But if it were me, I think it would probably scare me away like reading some darker themed books or books that have more taboo things. If that was how I was just starting out, there's absolutely no way. I would still be a romance reader, probably. I had to work my way into that. And I got there eventually.
Tay: Yeah, you gotta
April: It just took time.
Tay: Yeah, and you just gotta like gauge the person too. If this person you
April: Yeah.
Tay: know is the person that's like out loud and has all the things, but like let's say you have a friend, they marry their first boyfriend, never dated anybody else, never did anything with anybody else, maybe like they all they know is vanilla and showing them a book that's like, you know, I'm trying to think of the equivalent of something crazy cotton candy ice cream. You know, we might it might be startling at first. So, you know, you gotta
April: Yes.
Tay: ease into it. You gotta start with chocolates and then you start with like your like very basics and then you go into something fun
April: Mm-hmm.
Tay: and funky. So definitely
April: Yeah.
Tay: gauge gauge your friend, test them out, see what they, you know, and then you can give them a book recommendation. But my first book recommendation is a good one, y'all. I am gonna recommend that if you are a first-time reader and you're just kind of getting your feet wet, a lot of people do recommend this. Some people hate on her, whatever you say. I'm gonna say specifically to this book. We're not thanking Verity, we're not thinking some of her other books. We're gonna go with It Ends With Us. Now, this book has loads and loads of controversy behind it, y'all. Let's look past that. Let's look at this as just the book and ignore all the drama that was associated with the movie because. We are a book podcast, y'all. We're gonna focus on the book and not the movie. this book here, when I first read this book, it one resonated so much with me as far as you know, what the character was struggling with, and it really hit home for me. But Lily is our main star in this book, Lily Bloom, to be specific. And at the beginning of the book, she's going through some dark days. Death of a family member. It's hard on her. She doesn't really know what to do and how to cope. she meets Ryle. Ryle is a young resident doctor, cool, like very suave, they flirt and they kind of cross paths. Lo and behold, they end up crossing paths again. And he is like, ends up, you know, being her boyfriend. And she's like, you know, like, this is all meant to be. They do a flash in the past to her old life when she was young and her first love. Her first love was a boy named Atlas. And you get to kind of hear about the journey of that first love and how it kind of shaped her into the woman that she is now. you slowly you f fall in love with Ryle and you fall in love with Atlas. And they're both different ways. You're like, This new love, it's new and exciting. he's doing all of these things for her, like he's love bombing her. And then you have Atlas that's like that first love, very timid. She, you know, lost her virginity to him is very wholesome. And that regard of like that like closeness that you build with that person. So, and then there's a lot of stuff in his storyline. He's homeless and she takes him in, there's just like this whole plot there that's just really beautiful. Well, her and Atlas ended up parting ways he went on with his life because he joined the military and she went on with hers. and she's with Ryle and they go out to dinner one night at this restaurant and realize that the restaurant is actually Atlas's restaurant and she crossed paths with Atlas again and just wants to know about his life. Totally harmless. Okay. Well, this Flips a switch for Ryle. And Ryle ends up being the villain in our story. and it's devastating, it's heartbreaking, it's a beautiful story as far as you know, overcoming something. And specifically, Colleen Hoover wrote this with her own mother in mind about how what her mother did. she recounts this story so many times, but she's like, I just remember my mom being in the front seat of the car, driving us away from our our father. who had beaten her face black and blue, and she was basically saving them from a situation because eventually if he was gonna get tired of hitting her, who was he probably gonna turn to? It was probably gonna be the kids. And she did what was best for her family and her life and took care of Colleen, her sisters and got them out of a bad situation. knowing all of that and the like this book and what it means to Colleen and all of that, I just couldn't help but love this book. I definitely think it's a great read for a first reader, especially to it is a heart-wrenching, but it is like a happy ending. So if you want an A, it is that. but it's definitely to me an overall good story. Like it's a good storytelling, it leads up to it, has a good ending, and then you can find out all the other stuff in between. But I definitely recommend this for a first time reader. Because I think it'll hook you on a romance at that point. It gives you all the feelings. You realize that people can love two people. It's totally possible.
April: Mm-hmm.
Tay: and I'm a big believer in that there's probably multiple loves of your lives. I don't think there is just one. just because you could have ended up in separate situations, y'all could have
April: Mm-hmm.
Tay: but I do believe in fate. Clearly with us being fated, and things are just being meant to be and like My husband is the love of my life, but I think it was just because of fate bringing us together. But like if he would have ended up somewhere else, he probably would have had a d different love completely. then and same thing with me. If I would have went somewhere else, we might have had two different loves, but we cross paths at through just the right time and like it was just meant to be. But I really just love this book. So ten out of ten, y'all.
April: It is a good book.
Tay: Y'all need to read this one.
April: It does come with its own trigger warnings
Tay: Mm-hmm.
April: and emotionally heavy things too. but it has a pretty good message overall, I think. And I think she handles the topics that are really heavy in there as best as she was able to. And I think she did a fabulous job. I sobbed while reading that book. It was a good one. Yes.
Tay: Mm-hmm. Yes. Same.
April: Okay, so to kind of keep us moving, okay. My
Tay: Mm-hmm.
April: next one. I'm gonna switch it up a little bit. We're gonna go historical. Okay. So I have here The Secret by Julie Garwood. First of all, this is the bad women's book cover, and
Tay: Ooh.
April: I am obsessed with it. It's so good. but in this book, it's a historical romance. It's set in the Scottish Highlands. She's, of course, an English woman. But I just have to say, I'm mentioning this as a beginner book for romance readers because I want historical romances to make a comeback. Like I am ready for it. They're no longer, you can no longer find like a lot of the most popular historical romance authors are no longer publishing historical romance. And it makes me so sad because they're so good. but in this particular one, the one of the main themes, and actually it sets off the rest of the entire book, is friendship and being girls together and that's probably like my most favorite thing. So in this story we have Judith. She's our female main character. And she is going to go to the Scottish Highlands to help her best friend, Frances, give give birth. Like she's going there to help her best friend. it starts off so sweet. It literally starts off with like them learning to be friends as little girls and like their just their friendship story is like told throughout the entire book. And I love that so much. It's so sweet. And then, of course, we have the Scottish Highlander, male main character. I think it's pronounced Ian. I am probably butchering that. And I'm so sorry to any Scottish people we have in my head, it is Ian. but of course, he is the one who is tasked with helping her to cross safely from England into Scotland and getting her to where she needs to be. And of course, they fall in love because who could resist a Scottish Highlander? But Really, truly, it's a fabulous romance book. It's very sweet, very sweet. And it's really not that long. I know some people are kind of like intimidated. I especially feel like darker romances. I feel like those books are huge and giant because they deal with a lot of trauma. This
Tay: They are. Mm-hmm.
April: one, very, very, very minimal trauma. I don't even think there's any trigger warnings for this book. It is really, truly a good solid, solid read. So Have to recommend The Secret by Julie Garwood, who is also probably one of my most favorite historical romance authors. She writes good stuff.
Tay: I agree. There needs to be more historical romance. I need somebody to come out with that. I am on the side of TikTok right now where people are talking in Victorian accents. And honestly, we should all talk in Victorian accents because the T slays so much better. and I he like he literally this was his like one of his like digs, and I was like, that is hilarious. He goes, the wench, her family tree resembles a wreath. And then I I was like sitting there and I was like her family tree resembles a wreath. I was like, my God, because they're inbred. I
April: Yeah.
Tay: was like, that is so funny. I want to talk like that now all the time. I'm like, we need to bring that back. Let's study some Victorian
April: Yeah.
Tay: English. Like, somebody put that in a book, please. create a historical romance, but like slay with normal, everyday verbiage that we use now. I think that would be the funniest.
April: Right.
Tay: most enjoyable read ever. but yes, I'm on that weird side of TikTok. I don't know why, but I love it so much and I need it to continue. But that book sounds fabulous. I also get confused with Scottish names. I remember specifically in Leapier, that movie with my gosh, I'm not gonna remember his name. But anyways, Leap Year, it has Amy Adams. I know that much. and she goes overseas to like propose to her husband or guy, boyfriend, whatever. on a leap ear and he's total trash and she ends up falling in love If y'all haven't seen it, this movie's been out for a hot minute, so so sorry, spoiler. but she goes into the thing and she reads it and she's like reads the guy's name and she goes, Eogon and he's like, Owen I was like, okay. Like it's spelled, not like the the normal of what you would think of a standard Owen. It was, you know spelled that way. So I think when I've read a couple of those too, I give them my own name. So maybe it is Ian though you might be spot on, That sounds like a fabulous first read though. I 10 out of 10 historical is always a
April: It is. Yes.
Tay: good way to go
April: I feel like it's a good way to get into it too, because for the most part, there's not a lot of wild things in them. Some of them are seriously outdated. And I understand that. Some of them have some concepts and some things that were okay back in the 80s when they were written that obviously are unacceptable in today's day. There are some popular authors have gone back and edited their ebooks to change some of the parts of the story. So Lisa Clay Poss is one that I think of. She's actually gone back and had her books edited to just make with yeah, just like to make it better for things that are, you know, we don't stand for So I appreciate that. But my next book I don't have, and I'm super
Tay: Right.
April: sad I don't have a copy of it to hold up, but It's The Wrong Quarterback by C.R. Jane. And in this book, I've talked about it before. I put this one here as like a bridge. Okay. So you've been spending some time reading some romance books. Maybe you've read It Ends With Us. Maybe you've read The Secret. Maybe you've dabbled into like maybe some fantasy Avatar Fourth Wing. And you're like, okay, I'm ready for like some darker things. I don't want just fangirl, really light, funny vibes. Okay. I want something that's gonna be good, have some humor, but also. maybe start heading towards Cuckoo Bananas Town. and so this book has Casey is our female main character and it does start out with the death of a close family member. So check of course for trigger warnings. Always, always, always practice self-care before and after reading a book. But she goes to college and she's a freshman in college and she meets like kind of reunites with Her brother's best friend, and it's he's also kind of like her first love, and they officially start dating. Well, then she meets the quarterback of the football team, college football team, and his name is Parker. And it's like very insta-love. And it's honestly the way that it's written is very much like fated mates, but like in a not, you know, fantasy setting. so that's kind of cool. I really enjoyed that aspect of it actually. And so it's just their story of getting together. But Parker does some, like I said, cuckoo bananas things to get the girl. I don't want to spoil big plot points, but we can say one of the things that I feel like has already been spoiled for this book is he does technically lock her in a basement. Okay. And I'm gonna leave it there. I'm not gonna tell you why. I'm not gonna tell you what happens in this basement. this leads us into some of those darker things in books. But Truly, truly, I enjoyed it. They have a really
Tay: Mm-hmm.
April: funny best friend named Jace in the book who cracks me up with the best jokes I've ever heard. As I was reading it, I was like laughing and my husband's like, what is wrong with you? And I'm like, but it's just so funny.
Tay: What?
April: And it's like these stupid dad jokes, but I love those things. So truly, truly, I did enjoy this book.
Tay: Love when a book can make me giggle. I'm like, make me
April: Yeah.
Tay: laugh. that just truly like that takes
April: Yeah.
Tay: some work. So if I can actually genuinely laugh out loud when I repeated a book, you've hit the nail on the head. And like that's
April: Yeah.
Tay: great. So I think that's probably sounds like a great transitional book. Like I think that's
April: Yes.
Tay: a a great, okay, I want to get into romance. I'm a little, I'm not vanilla, we're vanilla with sprinkles. and we're gonna tiptoe into our way into cotton candy. so I think that is a good book for that. That's a good one.
April: Yeah.
Tay: Thank you for that recommendation. Now we're gonna head into a different way, y'all. We're gonna we're gonna we're gonna head down a dark like the the Robert Frost poem where it's like two roads diverged in a yellow wood. This one is a crazy wooded area, okay? First book. That I'm bringing up is the story earlier where I talked about my hairdresser, and she was like, you know, I wasn't really into romance. this was the book that they recommended. This book is Haunting Adeline by H. D. Carlton. As a romance reader, and you've read that book and you've read other books, and then somebody tells you that that is their first read of romance, is like, holy cow, are you okay? And she was like, No, I was not. I literally read it, was so shell-shocked, and then couldn't read again for like months and months until I got the courage to read another book. And I was like, fuck that friend for recommending that to you. It's like honestly.
April: Mm-hmm.
Tay: And she was like, what? And I was like, yeah. I was like, that's a bad friend. I would never recommend. if I wanted, like, let's say me in April are just meeting and April hadn't read anything. What kind of disservice to her of being like, Hey, I want you to be a reader like me. Read haunting Adeline. Like messed up. this Yeah.
April: Absolutely not. And let me just preface this by saying HT Carlton's fans legitimately scare me, so please don't come for us. We are not giving our opinion
Tay: They yeah, they they do. They scare me
April: on this book in terms of if we think it's good, if we think it's bad. We're just saying it is not for beginner romance readers.
Tay: It is not for it is not for beginners. And so that is like like me having read multiple books and then reading it, meh. Like, you know, I've read
April: Yeah.
Tay: a good amount of books. So I'm like, you know, n nothing shocks me too bad. So I get more shocked by sentient object romances than I ever do by dark romances. Like the sponge did what? but this one is definitely very much a trigger warning. the trigger warnings I did screenshot them. so graphic scenes of things like SA, graphic violence, murder, kidnappings, all kinds of stuff, y'all. Lots of trigger warnings in this book. So
April: And I feel like sometimes they
Tay: Extremely dark.
April: say graphic and I read a book and I'm like, that wasn't really as graphic as I thought it was. No, this is very graphic. It is very graphic.
Tay: This is very graphic and for people that I know that love dark romances, they love this book and HD Carlton is one of their favorites. So you know, I'm not gonna knock anybody's read of what they enjoy, but it's definitely not a first-time read, y'all. so that one is gonna be one of those ones that like I'm gonna tell you that that's not one you recommend to someone you want to be friends with. that can be recommended after you know stuff about like if they read a lot. if you're like, okay, you read you've read it all under the sun. You have read Verity. You have read like weird stuff where you're like, okay, like I can gauge how they'll handle this, then you could do that. But like if you don't know what they like to read, don't recommend this. This just just hold it in, see a little more, and then go from there. but yeah, that one is not one of those ones I recommend. as a first time reader of the smut.
April: Absolutely not. And it is like it's it's like a stalker romance for those who don't know. It's yeah, it's a stalker
Tay: Yes. Also another trigger. Yeah. Like so
April: romance. And honestly, when it starts out, like I didn't think it was going to be as dark as it was, even though there's all those
Tay: Yeah.
April: trigger warnings. I will say the author is very upfront about the content that's in the book, but it starts out super cool. she's like renovating this Victorian house, living in it, and she's I just I loved the vibes of the setting in this story. It is very good for like a fall
Tay: Yeah, and I honestly, like when I
April: spooky read.
Tay: when I first read the book, I thought that Zayd, Zayd is the main character of the book. I thought he was a ghost. Like I thought that was the
April: Mm-hmm.
Tay: direction it was going. because she's yeah, like she's renovating
April: Like paranormal, yeah. I can see that.
Tay: this house. And like sh at the time too, y'all, she is an author. our main male character or female character, Adeline, she's a she's an author, she's writing a book. Like,
April: Mm-hmm.
Tay: I thought she was like writing about a the house being haunted, but then would dream about it and then a ghost was somehow like interacting with her. But the direction it goes actually is that he's a real guy and he is actually stalking her. and
April: Mm-hmm.
Tay: so it's not in her head. She's not cuckoo bananas. Maybe a little bit, but like, you know, cuckoo bananas enough to know that there was somebody like messing with her and that it was him. So
April: Mm-hmm.
Tay: definitely trigger warnings with the stalker stuff, because it is for sure that. but that was the direction I thought it was going. I did think he was like a ghost and I thought she was making it up almost and you find out that she's gone she had gone cuckoo bananas in a way. Like, I don't know, like I thought that was so but like that book sounds good. So if somebody made that, let me know.
April: Yeah.
Tay: Yeah, popping off ideas there. So if somebody knows a book like that and it already exists, send it my way. And if it doesn't, tell me to write it. And I might.
April: Yeah, right. Okay, so my next book that I'm gonna talk about is another
Tay: Mm-hmm.
April: CR Jane book. I love her books. I feel like they go from it's fine, to like, what is happening? And honestly, I'm here for it. So this is actually her latest release. It's called Don't Say Mafia. so the title actually comes from like Claire back in book two in the other series that I was talking about. So this is carried on for a while now. This is actually the older brother Jagger, of one of our characters that we meet from her college football series, which is kind of cool to see. And he is essentially a part of a syndicate, of a mafia syndicate. And Eden is like this kind of like down on her luck female main character. She got married young to escape a poorer home life. and essentially the boy that she married was someone she had grown up kind of loving, who also came from a Not so great home, and they kind of relied on each other, but he ends up kind of like letting her down a lot. He's not the best husband. but and I thought this went, this went in a way different direction, y'all, than I thought it was gonna go. And I was like, what am I reading? I literally was texting our group and I was like, y'all, this book is bananas, cause I I just got wild. it starts out very normal and I'm like, and then I'm I like you know that they're gonna obviously end up together. So I'm like, well, what about the husband? Cause I mean, that's a big, you know, hurdle to get over. no, Jagger takes care of that pretty quickly. And I don't want to spoil it, but he takes care of it. Wink, wink, wink. Yeah.
Tay: Dead.
April: And it just kind of goes from there. And that's not even the most craziest thing in the book. So Honestly, you should read it if you're down for reading something that you really need to suspend some of your beliefs and are okay with a bunch of trigger warnings. but truly, I enjoyed it. I thought it was good. The spice is really good. C.R. Jane writes, excellent spice.
Tay: I do think we need to do a mafia. and
April: Ha ha.
Tay: and I and I say that because you know I don't really necessarily like mafia, but I think I need to do it just as like a branch myself out there to see what
April: Yeah.
Tay: I can find that like is maybe that middle ground of not too far into mafia, but just enough. Because y'all, when I watched The Godfather growing up, my family is Italian Catholics, Sicilian specifically. someone may come for me that'd be like, they're two opposite things, it's two separate. Okay, sure. Yeah, I know. But like either way, they're feisty and they do, they understand it. but my mom was very into The Godfather, loved it. And I started watching it and I I mean, he's gross now, but like back then, Al Pacino, watching that movie, I was like, he's fine. I like that Italian man. So, I could see a mafia boss being you know, very attractive in a
April: Yeah.
Tay: book and very appealing and whatever else. So I'm like, I need I need to give it a try. Y'all, if there's some recommendations for some books, throw them in the comments. At some point we can put it in the lineup and do a whole mafia one and cater to whoever is loving on that trope. But I need to do it as almost like a shock therapy. Just dunk me in. Like Taylor, just take
April: Yeah.
Tay: me and just anoint me in the mafia waters.
April: Mm-hmm. We gotta get you reading some Rena Kent. She's a super popular mafia author. We're gonna talk later. We'll talk later about it.
Tay: Okay. You Yeah. Okay. All right. So I have mine here for another do not read. I am gonna preface by saying, I love this book. I love it. I love it so much. I think it's a great book. It's my favorite, but would I recommend it as a beginner? Absolutely not, because it is like so crazy. And like if you haven't read anything like this, That is not one I would recommend as a start. Because if you're vanilla, this is definitely not not for you. the book is Madam by Sarah Kate. And we meet Eden St. Clair. Eden St. Clair works at a kink club and Eden is a Madam. And if for our friends that are on the lower tier of like, what is that? What is that? A Madam is a dominant. She you know, takes care and belittles the person, but she only does the belittling of the person because they enjoy it. It's pleasurable to them. They like being dominated by a woman. she has a list of clients and they all come to her and she caters to their whim and what they want to do, but she enjoys it. they both get personal satisfaction out of it. She's getting personal satisfaction out of being a dominant and like the person that she's with is getting satisfaction out of being a submissive. And she ends up meeting Clay. Clay comes to the club. They end up hitting it off. And Clay kind of gives it to her a little bit in reverse, kind of makes her the submissive in this scenario. it's cool to see her kind of get in this transitional phase of like, you know, I could be submissive to this guy. I kind of like it. Cause she's not usually that way. She's usually the full dominant and he likes to be the submissive. So now it's kind of nice. She's like, like he basically has like a line, I think in the book that's along the lines of like, you know, everywhere else you can be dominant to me and that's okay. But in our bedroom, I'm gonna be and she
April: Yeah?
Tay: just loves it. She was just like, okay, she does have her moments of still dominance and everything. So they kind of give this back and forth. And this is where this book, I was like, okay, like, you know, like this I get, I could recommend and this not be too crazy. This is where we're gonna add our crazy. Then we meet Jade. Jade and Clay hit it off. And she's the third woman that gets introduced in this group. Now for Jade, she's just like kind of dipping her toe in. She's really like, I don't know if I like this, you know. You know, learning what she likes and and she's dating Clay because Clay has a life outside of the kink club. that's just like the
April: Yeah.
Tay: thing that he has going on with Eden. he meets Jade and they start going on dates and whatever. And then of course, being a good partner, he kind of opens up to the stuff that he likes. And she actually goes to the club and meets with Eden and says, like, I have this guy. I wanna be a dominant
April: Mm.
Tay: to him. 'Cause I heard that's kind of what he likes and I wanna do that. And so her and Eden go on a journey of her discovery of like getting her to be a dominant as she's doing all these things to her. They put air like y'all, it's crazy. They get go in a glass room at this kink club and everybody and their grandma can see them. Not your grandma, your grandma's not in there, but like everybody can see into this glass of what Eden and Jade are doing. So Jade is like, my gosh, I have to tell Clay. Well then Clay is like, stop and hold the phone. this is so hot. And they end up y'all being a thruple at the end of the book. Spoiler, sorry. but to me, it was the first time I was ever introduced to a thruple where I was like, okay, I'm sold. I was genuinely like, I was like, you know, yeah.
April: It actually like made sense. Yeah.
Tay: It made sense. I've read a couple of reverse harems, y'all. And I am a very much a one man kind of lady.
April: Mm-hmm.
Tay: and for me I always gravitate towards one. So when reverse harem, when there's like three guys I'm always kinda like. I always like one over the and I'm like, I don't want all that drum you know, I'm like,
April: Yeah.
Tay: guys, you know, no, too much, too much testosterone there. I don't want it.
April: Yeah. Yeah.
Tay: and for some reason this book has like that great balance and they all three bring out the best in one another. I don't know. It all made sense. I was like, the stars are lining. I love this, I ate it up.
April: Yeah.
Tay: As a trigger warning, there's history of abuse and trauma. Obviously, no one ends up in a kink club because they're absolutely normal. They got some past things that like are suppressing and that's where all the kind of things, feelings and needs for those things kind of stem from. and so there's that. you know, toxic relationships, cheating is involved, you know. it ends up working out, but like. Cheating, you know, child neglect, things, stuff like that. All personal struggles and whatnot are kind of in this book. So I always just like to preface that, but I definitely would not recommend this to the very first reader of Smud. You're like, this is like
April: Yeah.
Tay: in deep. if somebody's never read a book with more than just two
April: Mm-hmm.
Tay: and gone into the polyamory in a book, I would not recommend just because I, you know, that is not for everybody. and
April: Mm-hmm.
Tay: like I said, with some books, I'm not sold on it. when they all stand up and go, I marry you, I marry you, I marry you. I'm like,
April: Yeah.
Tay: Ew, there's one book. I can't remember. I think it was like called The Roommates or The Friends with Benefits or The Roommate With Friends. I don't remember some along those lines, but it's like a new
April: Ha ha.
Tay: girl retelling. And it's like if Jess had ended up with all three guys, basically, and that's basically what the book is. They all live in the apartment, whatever. And at the end they do this whole like I stand up thing and I marry you. I marry you. I was like it's like shut up. Shut up, shut up, shut up. And then I just I like
April: There's too much marriage going around.
Tay: kept like one I like if I was in that room, I would have smacked their head, like smack, smack, smack, sit down. That's so dumb. Like I could not.
April: Ha ha ha ha.
Tay: So this is one of those where I'm like, this is not something I would lightly recommend. Think about it, think about and see. But I definitely think it's a good transitional if you're like, Maybe I want to read something like that. You could.
April: Yeah. Mm-hmm.
Tay: but like I it's just it's not a first read, y'all. That's not one you're like, I have a first romance
April: Not what you want to just jump into.
Tay: book for you, madam, kink stuff.
April: That's right. Yeah. gosh. Well
Tay: gosh. But I think we gave y'all all some wonderful things. So let us know, you know, if
April: Yeah.
Tay: there were some other ones that you'll want to give us. But yes, we hope you enjoyed that today.
April: Yes, the lesson of today's episode is
Tay: Mm-hmm.
April: do not recommend your favorite book, Haunting Adeline, to a very brand new beginner romance reader. Please work your
Tay: Amen.
April: friend into it, okay?
Tay: Yes. Coach them like the good girls that they are.
April: Exactly. all right, besties. That's it for today's episode.
Tay: Make sure to follow, download, and share our podcast socials with your other book besties. We would love to hear what you recommend as a first-time read. Please leave a comment on your favorite platform letting us know.
April: And join us next week where we talk about monster romances by CM Noscosta.
Tay: I can't wait and remember
April: We're glad you're here because
Tay: It's faded.
