Ep 26 Kiss of the Basilisk with Lindsay Straube! | Split or Swallow Series Author Interview

Today’s Episode is BATB Podcast very first author interview! With none other than Lindsay Straube, Amazon BESTSELLING author of her popular love triangle basilisk romance, Split or Swallow.

*Author interviews will always be spoiler free so everyone can enjoy them and determine whether or not we want to add these books to our never-ending TBR. So, proceed with absolutely NO caution!*

Pick up your paperback copy or kindle download of Split or Swallon now @ Amazon! | * https://amzn.to/4cNcKm8

We discuss everything from what inspired Split or Swallow, which of the MMCs Lindsay herself has a crush on, and what’s it like to write a book and have it be seen by people you know in real life. What are the themes and major takeaways of the book? And are there more sequels to come? 

In true Ashley and Liz fashion, we also include a fave or fail book writing edition, and put Lindsay on the spot for her own smash or pass.

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Besties and the Book Club on Fable!
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Liz
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Ashley
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Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome to Besties and the Books Podcast
• 3:17 Author Interview featuring Lindsay Straube
• 4:14 Lindsay’s Fave & Fail of Writing this Book
• 6:45 Spoiler Free Summary for Split or Swallow
• 11:01 What Inspired You to Write Split or Swallow
• 14:30 How Long Did It Take To Write SOS?
• 20:29 re You Planning On Releasing Any Other Books?
• 21:54 Was Split and Swallow Finished Before Chapter drops?
• 26:24 Who Are Your Favorite Authors and Fav Books?
• 28:34 Leo or Caspen?
• 32:40 We’re the MMCs inspired by any IRL Men?
• 33:40 Do You Feel Like You Relate At All To The FMC?
• 41:23 Any Extra Meaningful Themes In The Book?
• 44:50 Why Basilisks?
• 48:28 The Challengers Scene
• 50:38 Will There Be A Sequel?
• 52:15 What Do Your IRL Friends and Family Think Of The Book?
• 54:14 What Do You Hope People Take Away From Split Or Swallow?
• 55:42 Unhinged Smash Or Pass!

Transcript

0:00

[Music] hey you guys I'm Ashley and I'm Liz and this is the besties in the books podcast so we have a very very special episode for you today we have our first guest it's so exciting our first ever guest interview with Lindsay stobby author of her brand new book split or swallow I've got it I've got it back here for the visual AG got mine back there available on Kindle and paperback now so don't you worry though today's episode will be spoiler-free so we're going to be doing a really great author interview we're going to obviously talk about the book but it is going to remain spoiler-free so don't be afraid to stick around um to chitchat with us to find out you know what this book is all about why you should go pick it up um and to find out some more about the author behind the story which I think is is uh what we're most excited about here today um but before we get into the interview and we invite Lindsay on we just wanted to say thank you so much for being here you guys thank you so much for being here it means so much to us you tune into to us every week take time out of your day and your book we know how hard that is to come and take a listen and if you are new here you just stumbled upon us for the first time please make sure to like subscribe follow all the things anywhere you like to listen to your favorite podcast and you can also follow us over on Instagram and Tik Tok at Bess in the books podcast for some extended content you know our unhinged Smasher passes that we do every weekend we bring it to you the people and find out who you would smash or pass on in those unhinged PS and we just love it we just love Community Outsourcing and feedback and everything so much fun yeah so thank you again so much for being here um you can expect definitely more guest interviews in the future too so you know if that's something that you're interested in if there's someone you really want us to interview shoot us a DM and let us know yeah oh and also follow Lindsay over on Instagram too she's at Oxford lemon best memes in the house man yeah I mean it's a good name for sure okay so let's bring on okay so here's the thing I was writing the introduction for Lindsay she's like write whatever you want I'm like all right um and you know if you guys have been following Oxford lemon you know that it's she's just such a funny Joy of an account to follow she's one of the first accounts that I really started continuously following on bookstagram when I kind of joined the community um so when I was putting together this little intro I was like what do I even say like what can I how can I Encompass this person so I just put that you know she's a hilarious meme account turn Amazon bestelling author like how freaking cool is that dude um she's I know so awesome she's a future bookstore opener like bookstore owner um Lindsay lives in Portland Oregon where she enjoys drinking TIY so so um which she talks about a lot which I find really hilarious she likes to eat lemon Oreos she goes to the movies her favorite one is Dirty Dancing and splitter swallow is her first book and I looked it up on Amazon earlier it's currently rated number one in love triangle romance which is really freaking cool awesome so welcome Lindsay Lindsay welcome thank you thank you for having me thank you guys for having me thank you for having me so much I'm so excited my first podcast thank you for choosing us to well ah we're just we loving it thank you so much for coming in joining us no thank you for having me I love you guys I followed Liz for a very long time Ashley I think you were more recent but Liz you must have been I think you were in one of the first like 500 accounts like on Instagram like right in the beginning there like right in the beginning of bookr I faudio that makes me feel really special here was like she's like oh my gosh so ox you have to see what she posted today and I was like who and she's just like what blasphemy and so addicted ever since so you know she shows me the way always so all right so here's the thing we wanted to so we always start our long form episodes with um a fave and fail of the week um we're not going to be giving a fave and fail from our week this week we're going to be asking you what your favorite part you're just going to kick us off what was your favorite part of writing this book and what was the hardest part of writing this book or like what would you consider it's not really like a fail but we just call it that yeah or unless like you have like a fail like a printer issue or something crazy yeah yeah yeah yeah tell us about thankfully I mean thankfully no huge fails that I can think of favorite part by far is kind of seeing the result that it's had like seeing it take off and seeing people send me pictures of it on their bookshelves that never gets all can I swear on here oh yeah do it feels right that's what we always say I was about to say that never [ __ ] gets old and then I was like I don't know if I can say okay that never [ __ ] gets old um it's amazing I think the the response from the community has been mind-blowing and it's my favorite thing to talk to people about it people have made fan art of it I lose my [ __ ] I lose my mind when I see fan art like I can't even believe that that's my book um so that's the fave the the readers in the community that this has like kind of created Beyond a fave um a fail hm one thing I mean it didn't end up being a fail but I will say that my something that put the fear of God In My Bones was when I was was when I was doing the chapter drops and I was terrified that I was going to email one that was further along than the ones I had already done oh yeah I cannot and if I had done it on the website it wouldn't have mattered but if I sent it to the email subscribers and I sent like the last chapter oh yeah I can't I can't take it back I checked it so many times what did I what did I just post what am I about to post what did I like back and forth just to make sure cuz like that would have ruined it you know what I mean like I would have died yeah that would have been rough that would have been rough horrible o yeah very stressful every week you got to put yourself that so thank you for doing that for us we appreciate it so okay so should we just get into the rest of the questions we had so like I felt like I was like okay we're putting together these interview questions there's so many things that I to ask you but then at the same time it's like I feel like one of the fun Parts about following your account is that you like you glue us into like the daily like happenings which I love it's so funny but you know getting a little bit deeper like I guess one of the first things is that we really wanted to know is what should people expect if they're thinking about reading your book like how would you in like a spoiler-free way like summarize um just like basic like plot like if you're thinking about picking this book up just know that X Y and Z is what it's about yeah and you guys will have to just rail me in because like I am not great at being spoiler-free so if I start going if I start going somewhere just tell me I'll make one of my sounds my weirdo spoiler sounds Give Me A Sign or something like we but I'll try um let's see the basic premise I always describe it as like um The Bachelor like it's kind of like The Bachelor because we've got a human Prince and there are girls who are going to be competing for his hand in marriage essentially competing to become the princess and the future queen and the way they do that is by um he'll make his decision based on who he likes in bed so whoever's best at sex essentially like gets gets to be the queen um and how do they get good at sex they're trained by a basilisk and so like the Basilisk has a human form and a snake form and things get very messy as she as our main as our main character T becomes involved with the prince and with the Basilisk and and that's the general premise does that yeah I mean I feel like that sums it up perfectly what's funny about like as you're saying that I used to be like an avid watcher of The Bachelor and The Bachelorette yeah and I definitely like fell off the last like few years I don't really watch it too much anymore um but it's so funny when you said it that way because I was like I mean isn't that kind of like what they're doing anyway like only without the Basilisk you know without the extra fun part yes exactly exactly and like why not make it at its most basic level like you know like and I always thought that the what do they call it the paradise Suite or end yeah whatever I know what you're talking about but I can't remember whatever they whatever they do at the end of that show where they go and they have sex for the one one the last two or three people yeah yes it's like it's like after hometowns whatever and I was and I was like well what if the whole show was just kind of that and it was based on that and it like that is the only thing that mattered is like who's best in bed and so like that's the premise yeah yeah oh my gosh and it goes so deep into all of it just it's and it's even more than all that I got to tell you guys it's so good so good MH yeah but I feel like that was a great way to sum up the plot like if you like you know if you like spice if you like a good like backstory to go with the spice I feel like it's such a good balance one of the reasons why I really enjoyed it cuz like very rarely I will say I will say very rarely will I rate something a five star and also rate it a five spice like to me that's like the perfect combination yeah yes yes and okay Liz too you're like a dark romance girly and so you were reading this and I was like I don't know if this is going to be like interesting enough for her like I don't know like if she's going to there's nothing like I mean I think like one thing about it is it's very approachable I think I like draw you in very like slowly with like the sex and it gets progressively kind of more like I don't know if it I don't know if it's even taboo I'm not sure like the official definition I think I mean it is at a certain point probably but like there's a lot of you know regular human sex and like I was like I don't know if she I don't know if she's going to be that drawn in by it I mean but you have to think like there's a good balance I think that's what I liked is there was a good balance with you know what you could consider monster romance mhh um and then I definitely think that there's a fair amount of taboo romance in there too yeah and I think like one of my goals was like I want to make it so that you I pull you in so subtly that by the time you're reading the ritual and by the time you're reading the council meeting and by the time you're doing these like you're reading these no spoilers crazy scenes like you're just in it already and you're like why do why do I find this hot like how do we how do we even get here you're just accepting it you're just taking it Taking it as it comes yep I love it oh my God there you go so Ash why don't you go ahead and come in with the next question okay so you touch based on The Bachelor but was there anything else that kind of helped you come up with this idea to write SOS so there was like one particular scene that kind of inspired specifically the kind of monster romance basilisk aspect of it whatever you want to call it ironically it never made it in the book The Scene is not in is not in the book so maybe see it in another book but like I specifically had like a I don't know a vision of like a girl in a cave and like we could if I can swear I can probably talk about sex right like like I it was like a girl in a cave and basically I just had the vision of like she's [ __ ] a monster but like it's just his tongue I like pictured like this giant this and and not and let me describe it so like not like so like not penetratively like it's not she's not like [ __ ] his tongue it's more like the monster's huge she's looking straight on into his like mouth his mouth is open his tongue is out like this and she's straddling it as if it's like a pillow or like a l like whatever that's what's happening and she's riding it basically and I like that came to me and I was like why not I was like I feel literally I was like I feel like there's something there and I it wasn't a basilisk at that point it wasn't the monster didn't exist like I didn't and I just went from there and I was like why is she in the cave what kind of monster it like what's going on and then I kind of followed that thread of like unconventional sex I was like where can we go with this like what can we make hot that is not like PE and V like every time you know yeah and I feel like you really developed an entire full-fledged story around that whole thing you know like de you developed charact not I mean like you developed characters you develop a setting so it's yeah it's very well thought out everything I think you did a great job thank you thank you I feel like it's also like for someone who maybe doesn't read a whole lot of like quote unquote monster romance like because of the fact that like he does have a human form most of the time it does make it a little bit more like I think like digestible for someone who's maybe new to that genre too yeah absolutely and that that was a purposeful thing I wanted to really start you off with human caspen and like kind of get you there like slowly you know what I mean like I think monster romance used say that and like not you just you colloquially monster romance has such a like maybe a stigma I'm not sure if it has a stigma but like it has a certain connotation whereas like I don't know how approachable it is to like the general consumer um and this is a monster romance but it's also just a regular romance and so like I think it's I think it's extremely approachable for anybody like whether you into monster romance or not CU to be honest I literally have not read a monster romance people people ask me all the time what would you recommend that's like your book and I was like girl no[ __ ] I mean I think that the idea of like quote unquote monster romance is really widely accepted like you know we've talked about it a lot on this podcast with like Beauty and the Beast for example right like no one really bats an ey at that but then for some reason when you bring up like dark romance that has you know like any type of anything that's not human anyone who's not human then for some reason people feel a little bit uncomfy about it sometimes uhhuh yeah so I think that this was a really good like bridging mhm that Gap yeah absolutely totally so how long did it take you to write it well the answer to that is a little like winding so again just real um but I wrote it I began writing it um I had actually written a book before this um and I had gone through the querying process which is where you try and Pitch agents to try and get an agent and then have it traditionally published so I'd written this whole book I had gone through that whole process and I did not get an agent and that was very like very devastating to me very heartbreaking the book I wrote before this felt like my Roman Empire I'll never write anything this good again like and so when it didn't succeed it really kind of just like broke me I it was the kind of thing where I was like I'm I'm never going to write again this sucks and so and then I eventually was like I went to a very dark place and I was like well I can't never write again because I'm a writer and so like that won't work so in order to get back to writing I need to write something that is just like so unhinged no rules like something that I don't try to make good and that I don't try to make as a followup to what I just wrote like I need to I need to write something that is just like free writing basically and so I wrote about 75 pages of this book and this horny you know book no no no plot it did not have a name uh most of the characters didn't have names like nothing like it was just like truly like random sex scenes in this cave and so it it sat about like at 75 Pages for a very long time and then I made this book sagram Oxford lemon and I started posting snippets on my story literally one sentence at a time and people lost their minds for it they're like what they were like what is this and so I went through this whole kind of there's a highlight on my story or on my profile called bassil's porn which like shows the whole history of it shows me like finding it in my Google Docs like posting the first couple Pages like talking about it and people just wanted it and I was like okay well nobody wanted my other book but like somebody wants this book so then throughout the next year to Circle back to your question how long it took to wrote like throughout the next year on this account I just started finishing it like basically I just started putting together started doing chapters like started really like trying to find a plot and like figure out what it was going to be and it took about a year I would say but on and off and then the final like stretch was when I got back from Venice like I went on a vacation to Venice and while on vacation there I found out that a bookstore location that I was looking at fell through and I was like yeah like fine I mean and that like broke my heart in a different way whatever and I came home and I took about I took like 13 days and I just finished the whole thing and I was like all right we're back and then that's when chapter drops started up again for real and serpent love it summer awesome I mean I also just want to say I feel like that was so unique of you to release the chapters you know for free to read on your website that was so cool and made it just so you know so accessible to so many people and I really just wanted to say that I appreciated that a lot yeah thank you that was super purposeful everyone told me not to not to do that everyone was like don't do that charge for it whatever make a patreon like wait until you know and I was like no like I am right now I'm looking for readers like money sales whatever that'll come later but it won't come unless I have readers so like I want readers now and how to do that you make it Baseline accessible you make it free yeah I mean I Lov it CU I would just I would just go around and be like so you know I I work with clients all the time so I have to like feel it out you know what I mean I'm not just going to tell everybody like that is my treatment room like I wish I could like honestly for sure um but you know if I had a client who I know reads romance or whatever I'd be like listen i' like I'd like text them the link and be like it's on there like she's releasing chapters like it's free just read it I feel like it's just you know people are way more likely to just click that link and then get sucked in immediately just like if they could just pull it up on their phone and start reading so it was really cool 100% 100% And I think one of the interesting things that I did like Midway I was like I had a link in my bio to my website but it was just to the page where I had all the chapters listed it was like chapter 1 2 3 four and one day I like tapped it with my finger and I looked at that page and I was like that's very overwhelming so I changed it to just be to chapter one so it just goes straight in you start reading it if you click the link in my bio you start reading my book and after that my newsletter subscribers started building cuz they would like they would read through they would click that and be like what is this and you get hooked you're you're hooked you're hooked like three three sentences in you're like what is happening and then you get all the way to the end and you're like anymore and then you sign up for the newsletter and then you go and so I think that was like a big factor and I think it it really is approachable in that way like you're like okay I'll see what this about yeah I completely agree I totally agree yeah it was I think it was it was so cool to watch like it built and see the anticipation and the excitement and yeah like people want you're the perfect Community to do that because we all want trophies you know so we're all going to buy it and he like it's all good no exactly exactly my mom said that my mom said that too she was like people will want it for their shelf and I was like there's a word for that it's called a shelf trophy like that's a thing like people will read it all online they may never even read the hard copy but they want it for their shelf like it's a thing like trust me it'll it'll work out like they'll want it yeah they did yeah so exciting so you kind of already answered our question that you've so you've always been a writer yep and you have the other works that youve worked on um so I'm going to sub a question cuz I'm curious that we're talking I'm kind of curious though about something of that I'm just going to interject really quick oh oh good go ahead yeah so okay so you you have other works that you have written are you planning on like releasing any other works that are not related to this um like in the near future or are you not sure or do you have anything ready that would be you know published or anything like that I guess I'm just C kind of curious about other stories I mean I have I have the book that I wrote that I tried to get an agent for that's fully written um but I don't have plans to release it when I I don't know if you guys watch my stories but when I like um was watching Divergent the other day and I posted about how I wrote a Divergent like Hunger Games fanfic that's essentially what the other book was but I edited it down to be like palatable for Trad publishing um so I have a very long unedited like version of that that I could like I want to read that I know I and I I think that there's like an audience for it but I think right now no I have no plans I'm really living in this universe right now I don't I have no plans to release anything that's not connected to the splitter swallow universe so anyway Ashley you can go ahead move on I just I had to have that answered for me I was I was dying to know I was saving the question um and you you don't have to answer any of these that you're not comfortable with but I'm just kind of curious did you finish um was split and swallowed finished while you were dropping the chapters or were you still kind of building chapters while you were releasing them does that make sense so yeah totally um so there was actually two like iterations of chapter drops the first one is when I hit I think I hit 10,000 or 15,000 followers I forget and I launched merch and I for fun put chapter one on my website and was like oh and by the way that like silly goofy book that I've been posting in my like it's there and it like so many people read it and were like what the [ __ ] give us the rest and so then so the next day and I had about 14 or 15 chapters done at that point so for the next like two weeks I just released all of those day day by day and then I ran out and I was like I was like I don't know what I don't know what you want for me like I so I had yeah so I had to stop I had to stop and I by the way I already forgot your question drops one at a time or you were still building it so it's kind of like a mix yes so at that point I did not have it all and then I stopped and then I it was a couple of months and I went to Venice and I came back and I finished them and then I came back for round two of chapter drops and during that section it was done however I like it was done except I knew the end wasn't quite right but I knew I could get it done by the time I'd reached the end which was 3 months from now you know the end of the summer and I was like it'll be fine and I just started going and I just hoped that I wouldn't have to correct anything I had already posted it was very complicated cuz I had 15 chapters out so the rest of the book had to adhere to that lore I didn't change anything I was like I can't go back and I was like well I was like well I I better hope that what I set up doesn't [ __ ] anything up later and for by like by the grace of the universe it didn't I didn't have to change one thing like it just somehow I set it up and I stopped at exactly the right point and I set it up in such a way that the rest of the book was fine yeah dude that's so impressive like it worked out I mean I felt like the writing was so well done it felt like I mean anybody could go pick up at Bars & Noles it was like when through that did didn't go through a million drafts is blowing my mind right now you know what I mean like edits and stuff you did an incredible job that's crazy yeah thank you yeah sorry we're just going to keep going off on side tangents but now that makes me think of another question and another thing and another thing um did you edit it yourself yeah yeah and that's another thing like I am well aware that it's not perfect in that it needs a professional editor or like some people think it does I feel like you did such a good job I I've read ones that appr I had you know issues and this I it was good good yeah I think I think the reason it was a conscious choice not to do an editor I had people offering to do it and I just was like no because I don't want anyone to change it an editor is going to talk me out of some ridiculous plot point and then I'm going to be like oh you know what and this I had the blessing of being able to just do it exactly the way I wanted it and so like I I had I had like me I had I readit my mom read it I love those updates oh my God and my mom well and she found it without me telling her about it she found the chapter drops she likes one day cuz she stalks my Instagram she's she's not allowed to watch my stories she knows that but she like she's like that's your business but she she found the chapter drops and she read it but anyway yeah so I didn't do an editor um and I just figured it was honestly kind of more fun that way like if you have your your your original copy and like it's got a couple of mistakes like it's fun like and if you want something perfect read something that [ __ ] AI wrote like this was written by human this was fueled by Mero and like this is this is a good silly goofy time so like I don't I don't feel any kind of Shame about not getting an editor I and and like I'm an English major I'm a creative writing major so like I know I can string a sentence together I knew it would be it'd be readable it's more than readable it's more than readable it's more than fine yeah thank you thank you so okay so then our next Like official question would be who are your favorite authors or like a few of your favorite books like doesn't have to be related to this at all just like you as a person like what do you love yeah I I get asked this all the time um and I you're not it's not like an interesting answer because I I don't read anything in this genre which I know you said doesn't have to be in this genre but it's true I don't read anything in this genre so I have nobody to recommend like in that regard um but I my favorite book is The Hobbit great choice we love the hobit Y like that's like a childhood favorite I call it my like travel book because I would always take it on airplanes or on car rides like it's a journey book and so I liked to take it when I was going on a journey and I like I just love the way it's written it's the ultimate Comfort read it's so like peaceful and vibby and like that little first paragraph about like how Hobbits are live live in a hole and not a damp hole but like a Sandy nice hole or like whatever I love that passage like the best soes that's my favorite book and then my other favorite book is crime and punishment um because we were assigned that in English class in high school in AP English and I read it like five times in the two I've never read that me neither we got to put that on our list yeah okay well look it's an acquired taste it's it's extremely claustrophobic and paranoid and like very visceral and kind of difficult to read but I loved that about it so I do recommend it for that is it like this kind of entertaining Book Like No but it's it's a journey and I really like it um so those are my favorite books honestly I'm not sure I have a favorite author I don't read like in author yeah you know what I mean like if I read one thing by an author I'm no more I'm no more likely to pick up their next book I'm just that way I'm like well that was fun like so I don't know Fair yeah that's totally fair yeah I know now I feel like we need to like read Crime and Punishment and back yeah I need to I need to know cuz we read all the things if it's words we'll read it yeah it's just brutal we we don't discriminate yeah the people want to know 100% I don't know if you've outwardly said it yet but you have to choose which one would you choose caspen or Leo so easy it's not even a question I'm team Leo team Leo oh wow that actually shocks me why oh my God I because the whole inspiration now that I've heard for the book no I'm so I'm so team Leo it's not even funny I love Leo I love Leo so much um caspen to me is just he's every old Shadow daddy whatever like older guy who's like mysterious and hot and kind of controlling and like it's it's but it's hot it's fine and like he's you know he's hundreds of years old and so like that's cool and intriguing but like to me that's so not interesting like I him for the shadow daddy girlies and I was like they're going to love him and they did I mean like there's there's so many like team Cas team Casp and girlies who are just like oh my God he's you know he's everything and I'm like that's great fabulous but like I am here for the little skinny spoiled misunderstood like little rat boy I love that misunderstood oh he's so misunderstood and he lashes out and he has so much attitude but underneath he's like so soft and like he's I like I love Leo so much and I think like like I think he challenges Tim in a way that caspen does not caspen is just like and and so many people I have not read acatar but I know the Tamlin like um bait and switch or whatever so many people were like don't make caspen Tamlin and I was like he he he's not like I'm I don't like that like if someone's a love interest they'll remain one they're not going to then be the villain somehow like I don't know whatever like I was like don't worry just because I'm team Leo doesn't mean like casine is like I'm still going to write him how he is you know that's that's one of the things I I mean that's yeah that's one of the things I loved about your book that I felt made it really unique was the fact that you know I mean in the back of my mind I was wondering that too like are we going to end up really disliking one of these male main characters you know and without spoiling too much like no I feel like it was really well-rounded and um I just really enjoyed that about it y something something for like something for everyone and I think like this book like lives in the gray area and I think that's why it's so interesting and intriguing to people like I don't make it easy to choose between them and that's kind of the point like so many people were like oh my God I was so diard caspen in the beginning and now I'm Leo and like whatever and I'm like you'll change chapter by chapter I do it that way on purpose every chapter I want you to be like oh oh because neither of them are perfectly right for her and neither of them are bad for her either they're they're both right for her you know like yeah I just loved I loved their Dynamic and I loved how respectful both of them were to the situation at hand I just yeah it was I just really enjoyed it I mean you just to speak for myself and you know how I feel about this you threw in Bastion we won't give anything away about it but he is who I was here for I know I know I know trust me the team Bastion conglomerate does exist um and they're very enthusiastic uh but yeah I but like I just there's nothing hotter than than little Leo Leo Leo is willing to just take he's willing to take just part of her what's hotter than that like I don't know what's hotter than a man who's like no no literally some of you is better than none of you at all like that's that's what I need I love that I love that you're so like definitive ly team Leo I didn't think that it was going to be that like clearcut of an answer so I love that yeah yeah I thought you're going to have an internal Struggle No No all right well good to know you're like none of that yep um she has spoken people she has spoken so the two the 2.0 the second part of that question was were the men inspired by anyone in real life we have to um again easy answer no no like what there's no in real life men that were as intriguing as the cosin what a no yeah this is this is fantasy fulfillment I mean I wrote who I wanted like that's it like I wrote the perfect I I I wrote the perfect man and I couldn't write the perfect man so I wrote two of them like and they both have two different like there's I I I couldn't even write just one so I needed I needed both and I needed them both to have certain things and no God bless my the people that I've been with no none of them are anything like yeah yeah you know we get it so you know we talked a lot about the MMC so let's talk a little bit about the FMC 10 so do you feel like you relate to her character at all yeah um for sure sorry I feel like there's a little bit of a lag I just want to make sure we're good I'm still here oh you're fine um yes I do T is um T's a late bloomer and I was very much a late bloomer too and I think like that's something that was very like close to my heart it sounds like stupid but it really defined a lot of my childhood um every sleepover I went to you know we would sit around in a circle and everyone would be like put hold up your finger if you've been kissed and like I had to to not because it was never me and like I got a boyfriend after everybody else I lost my virginity after everybody else I had to I had to go study abroad in Germany to have anybody kiss me um in high school because I lived on a I grew up on a small island and like I had known everyone since I was a kid and just that like being a sexual being which is very much part of my identity as an adult was not something I was afforded younger because I just had no access to it and I think a lot of these lines that t says about she's just like she's the last to know she's the last to find out she's the last to experience this why is everyone else getting to do these what she views and what I viewed as a kid as these basic human rights of like being touched be touched be desired she's last and like I just I so I so related to that and I just wanted to write her journey and have her come out in a way that like by the end of it she's really empowered and she's like she's absolutely killing it like she's just absolutely slaying the game in every in every regard um and like I wrote I wrote her that way cuz I kind of wanted to like almost heal that part of me like through her I was like if she can do it like let's give her this journey cuz like that was similar to my journey you know I think like advocating for yourself in bed and also in life is not something women are taught like we're not taught how to do that like it's a learned skill and I just think like I I wanted ttim to go through that and I related to that Journey a lot yeah yeah well and I think it was like a couple of things that stood out to me as far as like T's journey goes is I feel like lots of times when you're reading you know like other um you know books where we have relatable fmc's lots of times in the beginning they're not very relatable to me because I'm like they seem very like I don't want to say clueless but kind of Clueless and T never felt that way to me yeah I feel or just like very unaware of her own self-worth things like that t never exemplified those things to me like she always in my opinion in my reading of the story understood that she was worth everything and I really appreciated that about the story for sure because then as she's moving along like through you know this journey of like you know self-discovery um or whatever you want to call it um it was it made it more believable to me yeah and more way more relatable so I really likeed character there's a line very early on I think it's when she first goes to the castle it's not a spoiler um and she and she meets Leo for the first time and I think I honestly I think they're in the study and he like something about like he kind of insults her he's like oh you're a lamb to the slaughter whatever and she's like just because he's the prince like does not give him the right to insult me and she said that so early on she hasn't done anything yet like she's just meeting him but she did have a sense of her selfworth even though she hadn't experienced anything and so in her mind she's inferior even though she's not but like that's how she felt she still even then so early on stood in her power and was like no no no like don't talk to me that way mhm yeah I I loved that refreshing yeah so refreshing wanted to build her a little differently than like the other fmc's who are always which like I don't want to hate on any books so like whatever I'll just say in general they're always like skinny starving providing for their family somehow and likew not not not to point any fingers but that's every book it could be every single book yeah like I'm no better than all theere roast as much as you want here you're roasting is safe with us okay we roast things we love and we roast things we don't like I just I yeah but I wanted to like I wanted to give her a little more depth than that and I just like I built her very specifically I didn't describe her um physical appearance at all like people ask me all the time what does she look like who's your fan cast I'm like she's whoever you want her to be all I did was give her curly hair and freckles other than that her skin tone is whatever you want her weight is whatever you want like I don't care like it's she's you she's supposed to be you she's me she's you and so I just think like I think being able to implant yourself on that character as the reader reading it is like super important to the experience and then when she's Brave you feel like you're being brave yeah I feel like the other part that I took away from like T's experience too and you kind of touched on this a little bit earlier was like this idea that like you know obviously like we like to read romance because it's like very like female Centric a lot of times right it's like we enjoy it because it's about us it caters to us I feel like what made this really unique in my eyes was the fact that it was like Not only was the majority of this book very centered on T's pleasure but I did not feel that she was ashamed or apologetic about that at any point in time and I really appreciated that about it too yeah yeah I I think you know those corny they're not t-shirts certainly but they're like stickers or whatever it's like consent is sexy like whatever and you're kind of like but like I really set out to try to make consent sexy in this and to make like communication a thing caspin is constantly asking her she's constantly like what do you want what do you want me to do like what do you like and Leo does the same thing he's extremely vocal and T learns it's like a blueprint for learning language of how to talk during sex I don't even mean dirty talk I mean like how to talk about what you want in bed and that's like that's a learn skill and that's something I didn't learn until later in life and once I learned it and kind of discovered it I was like my pleasure increased and like I want I want people to not be afraid to do that doesn't have to be scary it can be sexy it can be a part of the experience in fact like it could be the best part about it like when you're sex is literally just about pleasure like T unashamedly experiences pleasure and that's and and I feel like she unashamedly experiences pleasure and then I also don't point out that she's experiencing it it's just part of it it's like it's just it's just said that that's what's going to happen and I feel like that's also key because when you're hit over the head with it that's not good either like it should just be built in it's part of it mhm totally natural yeah so were there any themes you put into the book that were like extra meaningful to you I know we kind of touched a little bit on it just now but anything else you want to touch on oh man and with no spoilers okay yeah I know that's the tricky part um yes there's one that uh I really liked um while I was writing it but I kind of just was like that's nice and then afterward like a couple of things happened where I was like oh that is a really like kind of valuable scene um and it's when again I'll just not spoil it but it's towards the end it's when Tam and her mom are talking in the kitchen like in her Cottage they finally have a come together moment where they talk about T's T's past what she's been through and what her mother has been through and they talk about it together and the whole book the whole book they've not been commun they haven't been communicating properly and finally they sit down as mother and daughter and they do that and my mom told me that she cried when she read that because because I wrote in there that um your mom is or like your family is supposed to be your soft place to fall and something my mom always says to me like whenever I'm going through something she's like you can turn to us where your soft place to fall like and so I wrote that and that meant a lot to me MH and it meant a lot to her and then afterward once the book was released I had people reaching out about that scene specifically and they were like that's a conversation that I I either I've had with my mom and it was nice to see it like kind of mirrored or I'll never have that with my mom and so like I got to read about it like because my mom's not supportive of X Y and Z and I was like well that's that's totally what I was going for I was going for like a full circle moment where mother and daughter generationally who went through these similar things sit together and and are and like look at each other and are like we're the same and so that that scene really me it felt very realistic MH you know yeah yeah yeah yeah given the extraordinary circumstances still seemed very realistic that's great yeah yeah that's why like I you have this what inspired book is so it's you know entertaining and it's funny and you got your smut going on but you have so many themes interwoven so beautifully that there's I like you know like I always tell Liz like I'm not a huge smut girly but I as long as there's a good plot going on in weaving and you nailed it so you do you have those heavy themes in there that are just woven so beautifully like a beautiful tapestry so well done thank you thank you there are there are a lot of themes like that are heavy and that are serious like breaking generational you know abuse like whatever like uh owning your sexuality like female empowerment a lot of societal things that are touched on like one thing that t is always telling to Leo she's like this is wrong like just because this is the way things have always been done you you have to stand up and say no when you are handed the power to do so like that's a huge theme and it's in a it's in a it's in a book about snake sex but like it's really it's it's really it's really [ __ ] important and I think like you read it and you're like damn that's right yeah yeah Agreed 100% so just to bring it back to snake sex because you know as you do as one does as one does yeah um so out of all of the okay so you said that you have this vision of like this girl with this monster in the cave so like out of all of the creatures that you could have chosen like why basilisks specifically um because snakes are kind of sexy I don't know um no it's funny you ask that cuz cuz it was a it was a a a deliberate Choice um I say it jokingly but snakes are sexy there's something kind of sexual about them they they are fall shaped like they are they glisten like they're just kind of sensual and like there's a power to them cobras vipers these are sexual things like and when you think of other reptiles I could have done an iguana or a lizard are notx Sil at this point I those those make you laugh like those aren't sexy they're they're like they're kind of gross and like snakes for a lot of people are gross I know snake phobia is a thing but like for those of us you know who watched the Chamber of Secrets and were like I would um Smash and smash literal smash immediate um I that's and I was like also but Harry Potter is a factor because the Basilisk already had a visual I didn't have to explain that like if I had to I would have to explain and I also I didn't I didn't want to do a dragon because fourth wi it just happened and those were too popular and like I was like whatever we need we need dragon adjacent and something that's sexy and its snakes M it makes perfect sense when you say it like that has a mythical element to it too yeah yeah yeah and the Basset have a lot of interesting lore like they can look in a mirror and they die and like uh the crow of the rooster Andel I mean there's just there's a lot of I love that you said that Ashley because there's a lot of like mythical stuff I went down a lot of Wikipedia pages and there's a lot of weird crap with them then I was like fascinating it's cool yeah 100% there's no there's no lore about uas you opened up a new like you know yeah monster realm for us it's great well see yeah I didn't realize that apparently there's some type of like subset of Basilisk that's like a serpent body but then like a rooster head oh oh my God so okay so I didn't know that or like I might be wrong people might come out of the woodwork and be like correcting me about this but the reason why I found that out was because my husband asked me what I was reading you know he ever so often be like what you reading I think he just asked me that cuz he's just like thinks that he should take interest a little bit and whatever um and I was like I'm reading this like you know book about like basilisks basically and he was like wait the like snakes with like the rooster heads and I was like what now cuz I I that's not what I was picturing but now I feel like I need to look it up and I did and there are pictures of that so that was pretty crazy that's Terri terrifying that's terrifying I did not know that I did not know that at all I get you know I get sent a lot of very odd um things in my DMs every day and people always send me snake related stuff and I have seen some very weird [ __ ] um like you know some weird [ __ ] snake thing and the the caption will just be like C question I'm like no that's great no is that you Casp that's hilarious it is not that's great um okay so the Challenger scene want don't you explain to us just briefly again no spoilers what the challenge what the Challenger scene is and where we can find it so the Challenger scene um was born from me watching the movie Challengers with Zinda Mike Feist and I forget the third guy Josh something um and it's a movie about tennis and it's these three tennis players two guys one girl and they're all very young and hot and sexy and like there's this one scene where they all make out in a motel room and I'm it's very misleading well like my thing is so misleading cuz like I call it the Challenger scene and then in the movie all they do is make out but in my scene it's a lot more um and basically it's a alternate ending to one chapter in the book where I placed it in the book so it's at the end but you can you can know where to read it it's like one of those Goosebumps like Choose Your Own Adventure you you can you can can put it in you can put it in and read it and then go back if you want um but it's in the Kindle version and in the paperback version it's not on the website and I just figured that would be one fun little thing to put in there like as a like a reward if you want to buy it like then you get the Challenger scene I'm sure it's online it's probably online by now I don't know but like that's where it is and you yeah you get the full experience I just wanted I just thought so many people were like do they all get together do they all get together and I was like honestly it would be super hot if they did just like started writing it after I saw that movie and I was and I was like honestly this is like my best work that scene is so that scene is so good I'm extremely proud of it sometimes I'll just reread it just to feel something feel something feel something that's our motto over here I really do I really do and I read it last night and I have to say the even just like that's what I'm saying your writing style is just so great that the way you built up in within that chapter to Choose Your Own Adventure was great was great yeah yep I fully appreciated it as well yeah uh is there a sequel coming for this one is you know do you think there needs to be are you working on something what do you got up your sleeve here if if you want to say if you want to say there's definitely there's definitely a sequel um whether or not that's what I'm working on now and that's what's coming out next that'll just be a secret but there's for sure a sequel I know how the whole thing ends oh yeah um I know who she ends up with and like what happens and how they and how they get there um but I don't know and I'm also working on a prequel um because I think that there's so many there's so many cool stories we've got like her mom's Journey Through the training we've got Leo and Evelyn we've got I think um maximus's like rise to kingdom is probably really interesting I like what Suzanne Collins did where she did The Hunger Games and then she did the ballot of song bird and snakes which is um President Snow the villain like it's to and so iy with the idea of doing Maximus and like how he came to be and young Leo and how he chose to raise him and that kind of thing so I think there's two two more big stories I'll tell wait but wait you didn't mention Bastion anywhere in there and I'm a little afraid a little offended he's he's totally in there okay he's totally in there he's totally in there and like I'll I'll write a fanfic just for oh God my day my life will be made yeah I will just for you love that okay so we have to ask and you know if we've been if you've been following Along on Oxford lemon you definitely see some of these uh updates but we just have to know so what do your in real life people think about this have they read it are they supportive what do your parents think of it we we must know so everyone in my life could not be more supportive quite frankly um I think the first people that I thank in the acknowledgements are my parents because they're phenomenal people and they're amazing And they support everything I do bless them I can't thank them enough um my mom read it and bless her like she forbid my dad from Reading him and and that's and that's probably a good call and like he he formatted the entire thing for Amazon like so he had and we sat down to do it and I was like Dad Dad you're going to see some things and he just held up his hand and he was like Lindsay I understand that I am not the target audience for this and I was like okay and then he was like and also I understand that it's art and I was like okay like then I think we'll be fine and like yeah so they couldn't be and my my friends have all read it and they think it's a hoot and like you know my sister reads everything I write and like she always is so supportive and so everyone's supportive it's definitely weird but if if you know me in real life you know that like me ending up writing this book is not weird at all for me like it's just it makes total it totally checks out it's totally normal and like I I don't think anyone's surprised that this is happening I mean that's awesome I love the yeah following the whole your parents like and your writing SOS Journey like has been one of my favorite parts of this like I'm not going to lie it's been hilarious and so entertaining yeah love it um it's it's so funny so the other part of that question is what do you hope that people will get from your book like a main takeaway from your book like after they read it like what's something that you can help bring to people's lives I would say I really hope that people who read this are feel comfortable kind of standing in their power and asking for what they want in life I think a big theme I dedicated the book to people who have always wanted more and I really mean that in like a lot of multi-layered ways like people who just want more from Life who look at life and are like that's that's not enough like I I want to live on my own terms and my own rules like and I think ttim ends up doing that and I think anyone who reads the book I would hope that they read it and feel empowered to ask for what they want and to go after it I think like that's a huge theme and that's kind of on the larger thematic level but also I would love if people felt kind of sex positive after it as well like I I do think that's awesome yeah I love it I love it that sums it up so well it's perfect yeah yeah all right so I feel like you know if if uh we don't have any more questions we want to ask and Lindsay you don't have anything else you want to you know chime in with then I think Ashley has a little um a little treat to sign us off with here all right all right well you know you guys every week we like to do an unhinged Smasher pass so we are putting it to Lindsay here for an unhinged smash or pass I don't know how unhinged it is we'll see we'll see maybe she surprised us with the cas and Leo so I don't know so we have for you you have to choose one okay row and this is no spoilers so nothing you know nor normal row row or Bastion if you had a pick you have to have one it's it's Bastion hands down like Bastion come on he's he's so hot and my fan cast for him is Oscar Isaac so when you posted that I was like she is my people 100% like oh my God yeah oh yeah yep yeah totally I don't even have like a name for the guy but like that's who came to mind when I was reading it it's crazy so you just know you know know people want yep yes I love that so much all right well we just want to say thanks again for being our first guest on the best of the book podast to have you here everyone go pick up your copy of split or swallow we'll just show you guys all of our copies we love it so much just do it please snaky snake do it for the snakes come on do it for the SNES now seriously thank you guys so much for being here and thank you so much Lindsay for being here make sure to go over to Instagram and follow Lindsay at Oxford lemon and follow us at Bes books podcast we will put it to the votes put it to you guys so you can vote too in our unhinged smash or pass for both those guys make sure to follow like subscribe at all the places you like to listen to your favorite podcasts and you guys we're going to see you next Tuesday next Tuesday and Friday Friday sometimes and we'll see you on the line with Lindsay as well you guys bye bye[Music]