"What if ANNE was one of us?” Anne of the Island and Windy Poplars | Book 3 & 4 Reviews & Summary | Bonus Minisode 2

Today we continue on with our newest miniseries covering the Anne of Green Gables 8-book collection by L.M. Montgomery. We’re diving into classic literature like we’ve never done before to give you the 411 on beloved “children’s” books that we KNOW are actually for everyone! 

In this episode we dive into books three and four: Anne of The Island, and Anne of Windy Poplars - we’re officially moving past the well-known initial trilogy into Anne’s life as an adult, and the tone has definitely shifted. What do we think about the differences, and how do we currently feel about book four? Who were our favorite and least favorite characters and plot points? Do we think Anne helped pave the way for our favorite FMCs of today? And what literary devices does Montgomery use to critique women’s roles in society? 

Check out our kickoff episode all about what the Bildungsroman is, why women and girl’s stories are so important for everyone to read, and how Montgomery expertly uses this book series to critique social and political issues of the early 1900’s, with an emphasis on women’s roles in society. We also provide a bit of context by discussing Montgomery’s life, and the political climate in Canada when this story takes place. 

Coming of age tales can be so much more than simple children’s books. We’re here to discover why! Listen on for our reviews of books three and four, our deep dive reactions, and fun facts about this timeless classic! 

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Check out these author interviews? ⬇️

Penn Cole talks with us about Strong Female Characters, Feminist Themes, and her debut bestselling Spark of the Everflame Series! https://youtu.be/7ukNImyoObw?si=7C3Y9kOUMN4hfcKb

We interviewed Callie Hart all about her NYT Bestseller Quicksilver! Watch it here! https://youtu.be/CED5s7qDBdQ?si=8xtIRO1IzX6Rsld4

Check the official Author Interview with Lindsay Straube of Split or Swallow! Now a Barnes & Noble & Amazon best seller titled: Kiss of the Basilisk!  https://youtu.be/fknhocSNIKM

Need more ACOTAR in your life? Cook your way through Velaris with the help of Chelsea Cole and her cookbook A Feast of Thorns & Roses. Check out our author interview here! https://youtu.be/fjzmqd-x3OA?si=kNJ4D9cxvUjhp-Ik

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Ashley is Wearing: Ashley is wearing a green Throne of Glass “Fireheart” tshrit from @shopsecondbreakfast | https://www.etsy.com/shop/ShopSecondBreakfast

Liz is wearing a black Anne of Green Gables Tee from Amazon | * https://amzn.to/472WzSp + an exclusive “Besties and the Books Beanie” DM us on instagram to get on the waitlist! 

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Chapters

• 0:00 Spoiler Free Intro
• 5:18 Anne of the Island Book Reviews
• 7:50 Anne of Windy Poplars Book Reviews
• 8:42 5 Sentence Book Summary
• 13:15 Favorite and Least Favorite things in Anne of Green Gables books 3 & 4
• 53:52 Favorite Quotes
• 1:00:03 Critiques and Reviews
• 1:02:48 Anne of Green Gables Fun Fact

Transcript

0:00

I didn't know that this would withstand the test of time that well, but it does. So, I was crying. It was heartbreaking. It was a jump scare for me. You've ruined my life. End of the island. It's going to start. It starts now.[Music] Welcome to the Besties in the Books podcast. I'm Ashley. And I'm Liz. And today we are continuing on with our newest mini episode series all about one of the most classic and beloved tales and of Green Gables. Woo! By Ella Montgomery. Here we are. I thought you were going to say, "Dear Lord, dear Lord." No, I'm just kidding. Help us all. No, no, it's great. It's great. No, it is great. It's great. If you've been following along, then you know that we kicked this off with a whole episode where we kind of talked about what a coming of age story is. Um, we talked about why that genre is important, especially in relation to telling girls stories, telling women's stories. We even gave you some context uh by kind of explaining what was going on um in Canada, specifically Prince Edward Island, where this takes place at the time. a little bit about LM Montgomery, the author. Um, and then we followed it up with um, episode technically two where we covered books one and two. And so today, since there are eight books in the series, we'll be covering book three, which is called Ann of the Island, and then book four, which is called Ann of Wendy Poppplers. So, we will be releasing a mini episode each week on a Friday about all eight books, but we are clumping together the books. So, it's like books one and two were one episode and then today books three and four will be one episode and so on. Um, and then the final episode that we will wrap up with will cover the 1980s movie adaptations and kind of like our final thoughts and reviews on the whole series as a whole. Um, we're covering the series because it's summertime. We wanted you guys to be able to read something with your kids if you wanted to. I know Ashley's been reading it with her daughter, which is so exciting. Yeah, she's been loving it, too, guys. She's 10 and loving it. She was wearing her shirt today that we got her. So cute. You got her little Anna Green Gable shirt to like be a part of the crew. She was so happy and she loves it. Yeah. When Ashley was here, she was very into watching the movies with us. It was like every night, are we going to be watching Ann of Green Gables? are we going to be watching? I'm like, I didn't know that this would withstand the test of time that well, but it does, which is so Oh, and she's running around talking about chicken salads all the time. It's so cute. They're like quoting it. It's so cute. Even my little four-year-old was into it. I mean, into it because like we're all into it, but it was so cute. Just give it time, Gilbert. Yeah, just give it time. Um, and you know, we wanted to dive deep into a classic story. I know that we want to cover more classics moving forward. um you know specifically about a unique, smart and outspoken girl that has inspired a lot of us but has also inspired a lot of authors that really changed the genre. Um and you know we wanted to cover complex female characters that you know exist outside of you know the quote unquote norms of what women should be doing and I use should obviously as a loose term at the time in society. So, like what do these stories tell us about what's going on in the world and the society that they're living in at the time and what commentary can we kind of take from that? So, that's what this is all about. Um, the first five-ish minutes will be spoilerfree. We'll give you our basic uh star rating on these. These are spice free, so no spice rating on these. Um, but before we get into that, we just wanted to say thank you so much for being here. Seriously, thank you guys so much for taking time out of your day and your book to listen on in on what us goofballs have to say about this literary classic. If we haven't mentioned in the series yet, I think we have, but just a reminder, you know, the most popular books of this series are books one through three, right? Yeah. So, we're going to be diving into four starting today. And we're kind of wanting to find out for you guys also like is it worth continuing on past that popular book three? Is 4 through eight worth the read? So, we'll talk a little bit about that, too, when we start getting into these farther along books and the farther along in An's journey through life. So, make sure to like, follow, and subscribe so you don't miss out those episodes. Like Liz mentioned, those are dropping every Friday until the series complete, finishing off with a wrap-up comparing the movies to the books. And you don't want to miss out on that. Of course, we have our every Tuesday episode. If you know if your journey with Ann and us ends here and you just want to go back to Tuesdays, we're still posting on Tuesdays our normal bookish episodes. Sometimes book specific, sometimes just book and fun, whimsical fun things. So, thank you guys so much and make sure to follow us over on Instagram and Tik Tok. We're at Besties and Books podcast everywhere as well as the Fable app for your virtual book club memes and that is Besties and the Book Club on Fable. So, just search that and you'll find us. There will be there. No, we will be. We will be. We'll be there. And Shirley would be disappointed in our grammar, but that's okay cuz it's all right. It's all right. We're making it through. So, all right. Let's just start off with our star our spoiler-free one-s sentence review and star rating for book three. Book three, Wendy Popppler. No, Ann of the aisle. Ann of the Island. It's going to start. It starts now. The confusion of the titles. I constantly have to look. Okay, so book Ann of the Island. Uh, this one is actually more of a four-st star read for me. It was a good time. I had fun, but nothing was profound, per se. It was more little quick, you know, things throughout the book, but I I really enjoyed my time. It was fun, you know, just not life-changing, per se. Mhm. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. What about you? Um, I rated book three, Ann of the Island, a five star. Oo, I loved it. It it was very nostalgic for me. Like not I feel like I liked reading it at this time in my life because it all covers Ann's college years which I feel like reading that now after having gone to college it was much more relatable than when I read it as a kid. Obviously I had no idea what they were talking about. Yeah. Um so I really enjoyed it for that reason. Five stars for sure. Yeah. Yes. Full of nostalgia and just like a good time. What about book four, Ann of Wendy Poppplers? What do you think about that one? Kind of the same thing. Um, four stars for Ann of Wendy Poppplers. I did like how she's kind of going around collecting kindred spirits, if you will. Much quicker quicker collecting. So, yeah. Again, I had a good time. Nothing life-changing, but I liked it. It was good. Yeah. Okay. What about you? Well, this one was hard for me. So, I so far, just to recap, I have uh rated books one, two, and three all five stars. This one I gave a four star, but I'm waiting for this conversation and I might reduce it to three stars based on what we talk about. Um, and the reason being I felt like it was very disjointed to me. To keep it spoilerfree, it was very disjointed to me. I didn't feel like Ann's personality was similar enough to similar enough to her personality in the first three books. It took like a weird turn and the tone was completely different and for that reason I did not enjoy it as much. So I I'm we'll share this later on, but it seems to be kind of a common um review. Okay. Um, and then things turn back around with book five is what I'm finding when I'm reading reviews. So, for some reason, this seems to be like the low point for a lot of people in the series and then it comes back around. So, I'm curious to see if that'll be for me as well. Like I said, I rated it at four stars, but that's pretty generous. And so, after this conversation, I'll either keep it at four stars or I will reduce it to three depending on if Ashley can convince me that I'm being too critical or not. We'll see. We'll see. Well, and and you know, not that my not that four stars is bad for book three, but honestly, I read it a few weeks ago now. So, you may refresh my memory on book three right now as we're talking and I may bring it back up to five stars, but as I'm like right now, I'm like, I don't know. It just seems easy enough. I don't know if it's five stars. So, yeah, we'll see if we can change each other's mind for better or for worse. Yes. Through this debate. Okay. So, let's get into our spoiler section, shall we? Okay. Yeah. Get out of here if you don't want reviews of spoilers to be coming at you. There you go. Spoilers are coming. I was trying to mimic the Oh, that was good. You're getting better. It's only the second time. I'm like practicing every night. Sorry, I haven't finished reading this book yet. I'm like practicing my recorder. So, um, just to give you guys a heads up if you're if you don't remember from last time, the five sentence summary will actually have a flute protect flute. Yeah. Um, I will be combining books three and four into one five sentence summary. So, yeah, not two, just one. Okay, here we go. Ann of the island and an of Wendy Poppers. Five sentence summary. Anne moves away to Victoria Island to go to Redmond College to earn her BA, where she becomes very good friends with several young ladies, including Priscilla, Filipa, and Stella, who she eventually moves in with at a lovely cottage called Patty's Place that they sublet from two older women on a year's long European holiday. Great. You and my daughter like put a lot of pressure on me to make it try to sound like the theme song and I don't even remember what the theme song sounds like. No, it sounds great. Just just do whatever your heart feels. You know, that's what Ann would want. That's what I do. Yeah. Yeah, I agree. Yeah. During her time at college, an is proposed to several times, including once from Roy, a young man she thinks she wants to marry after falling for and dating for years, but decides she does not love him. and once from Gilbert, who she turns down, saying she doesn't think of him that way either.[Applause] Poor Gilbert. Let's play this happy tune. Oh, I'm doing pretty good. There we go. There we go. I loved her like We'll get more into it, but I loved her like uh just getting proposed to left and right. I only mentioned two proposals, but there's at least what, two more. Okay. Yeah. Um, as the girls grow up, many big life events happen. Philippa meets a minister and they get married. Anne's childhood friend, Ruby, dies of tuberculosis after telling Anne that she should never quit writing her stories. Diana also gets married and after graduation, Anne receives a prestigious job offer, but also learns that Gilbert is sick with typhoid and will likely die. So, she rushes to be with him. Then, she realizes she loves him. He gets better. He proposes and Anne accepts. three and I officially changed it to five stars. I'm so sorry I forgot about some of that stuff that happened. I'm a terrible book reviewer. What can I say? It was just such a lovely time. I loved book three. Yeah. Yep. Yep. Uh I love how Gilbert had to be literally on his deathbed though for her to be like, "Ah, I like I love you." Yeah. Same thing with me giving him five stars. Okay, he's on his deathbed. Five stars. Back story. I'll give it to you. Okay. Um, Ann accepts the job offer for principal at Somerside High School where she lives with two elderly widows and their housekeeper who she becomes good friends with. While Gil While Gilbert lives far away at medical school, she writes him letters all the time about her new life and all the people in it. Four. I feel like you're making up like your whole own soundtrack. I love that. That's great. Get it download on Spotify. Let's go. Yeah. Uh Ann continues to write and sell her stories, learns to win over the entire community, including the Pringles, who are the town paras, and even helps to reunite a lovely young girl, Elizabeth, with her longlost father. And at the end of her three years, she says goodbye and heads back to Aan Lee. Hey, that sounded like What if God was one of us? Yeah, totally. Don't ask me to recreate it.[Music] I heard it too though. I heard it too. Just it came from my heart like I like you told me to do. Yeah. It was Ann's spirit through the flute. Yep. I love it. So that's what happened in books three and four. Mhm. Okay. So, what was your favorite part in all of this time? I Okay, so yeah, I officially Sorry, I changed my star rating to five. I needed a refresher just like you guys, right? Some of you read this when you were just a wee little one and you're just coming here for hanging out with my weird flute playing and Liz's amazing five sentence skills. So, I changed it to five stars because I think the two books blended together for me. Um, my favorite part was in book three, Anna of the Island, where she was able, it was so quick and so fast, but she was able to get to go to her birth home and the lady let her come in and found a box of letters, you know, gave her a box of letters that the previous owners, which are her parents, had left. So, there were those also those little nuggets in there that like I was tearing up when that happened, you know, so I forgot like the emotional like feelings that I had throughout this book. And that's what I want in a fivestar read for me. So that moment in particular really stuck out to me between both books. Yeah. Well, because she got to have an insight into like how much her parents loved each other but also loved her. Like she she was so loved. Like even though she's an orphan, it's like she got to find out that it's like no, my parents wanted me. Like my parents loved me. Like they were like deeply in love with each other. like they just unfortunately got sick and died as a lot did back then. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It was kind It was kind of like a moment of closure for her but also confirmation because she felt like her parents must have loved her. She had a very romantic, you know, feeling of her just of the little pieces that she was able to find out about her parents. So, it was kind of like confirmation like, okay, all those feelings that I had about them, they were real, you know. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And that's nice as a someone who's full of whimsy and romanticizing things to get like validation that it wasn't just make believe in a childlike mind. So, totally. It was very good closure for her. Yeah. Yeah. Mhm. Definitely. My favorite part, much less sentimental, uh, was her breaking up with Roy. Oh, I loved it. It was so funny. It was funny, but it was also really admirable in my opinion. Especially in those times like Well, even these times people, you know, make a big stink. Yeah. Well, or just get married. Like, so the thing is it's like Roy on paper is the perfect guy. Yeah. Right. He's highly educated. He's super nice. He's romantic. He's good-looking. He's super rich. He comes from a great family. and he loves Anne and he does all the romantic things, you know, and Anne talks about this. He does all the romantic things that she always thought that her future husband would do, you know, in her like most like fantastical imaginings, right? And but she's not in love with him. Yeah. Like she really likes him, but she at the end of the day she's not in love with him. And so they've been dating for I think it's like 2 years, which back then has got to be like a freaking century of dating, you know? Yeah. Yeah. Since people get married usually after like five minutes. And um you know he he proposes and she says no I can't do this. I don't love you and he doesn't take it well. I think he takes it gentlemanly but like after he freaks out you know like he has to compose himself and I think I texted Ashley cuz he literally says you've ruined my life and I was like oh my god like we thought Ann was dramatic. Okay. you know, um, so I was cracked up. But, um, I just, it was funny and a good comic relief moment, but I think it was also a really, really important lesson in Ann's life about staying true to herself and not doing what society is telling her to do every step of the way, you know, and not being afraid to be like, cuz everyone's like, "You let him on for 2 years." Like, even her friends are saying that to her. you led him on for two years and she's like, "Well, I can't marry him. Like, I don't love him like that. Like, I don't want to do that to him or me." That takes a lot of bravery to do that. People still, as you were saying, to this day, will marry people because they feel like, "Oh, my parents spent 30 grand on this wedding. I can't not do it now, you know." Yeah. Or we'll pass judgments when people break it off. Yeah. You know, but right before the wedding, but it's like it's better to do that than deal with a divorce, you know? Or live a life of untruth. So there's that. And also, I mean, she's literally saying to them, I didn't lead him on. I was living in my truth. And in that moment, I it all connected. Yep. All signs lead to no, I can't say. So, I was living the day-to-day thinking I was going to marry him. This is what my life is going to be like. And sometimes it does, you know, we villainize people a lot, I think, that initiate the breakups, but sometimes it's the right thing to do, you know. Well, I wrote a quote down. I was going to share it during the quote section, but I think it's really pertinent right here when she's um I think she's addressing Philippa. I don't know how you say her name, so that's just how I'm going to say it. Um who is really judgmental about it at first. They kind of get into a little fight like why would you do this to him kind of a thing, you know? You've been leading him on, you have the guy that everyone wants and you're just throwing him away, you know, and she's saying like how did you Yeah. like how would you not know basically you know and Ann says I do know my own mind the trouble is my mind changes and then I have to get acquainted with it all over again and it's like I love that because that's so true it's like why do we expect people to make one decision and then just that's how you are for the entirety of your life and existence like that's I mean and they're literally like 19 or 20 you know yeah they're still so young too so I just love that was a very good way of explaining that like yeah I do know my own mind, but like I am a person. I evolve and so I have to relearn myself over and over and over again probably forever, you know? Yeah. And being open to that and not being like so set in your ways that you can't adjust things, not being flighty, but also Yeah. Just basically making adjustments as new information is presented to you on the dayto-day. Yeah. And then also, I just really like the way Ella Montgomery wrote that whole situation because, yeah, she has to deal with the the feedback and sometimes fallout and different people around her. And then, you know, she's hanging out with her ex fiance to be's uh sister who was one of her best friends there and is like, "Oh, I hope that we could still be friends." And she's like, "Yeah, duh." Which also is nice to see cuz it's it's really hard to maintain those relationships if a fallout happens. But, you know, they're talking and she's like, "Gh, he falls in love with everybody he meets. Don't worry about it." You know, it's just like she knows her brother better than anybody. And it's like, "Oh, he'll be fine." She said he ru, you know, he said I was I ruined his life. He's like, "Oh, he said that the last girl that, you know, he had actually proposed to like two other girls before her that said no." So, it definitely Yeah, poor guy. But also like I don't know, you know, maybe reel it in a little bit. Yeah. Maybe Yeah. Maybe you're coming on strong. I don't know. Something's not clicking. if it's the third proposal or something like that, it's not working out for you, Ross. But it just helped like how he's dramatic every time and then he just finds another girl the next week, you know? It's kind of like what her sister made me feel like he's just like he falls in love with falling in love, you know? So, Yep. Yeah. Well, it's probably expectations, societal expectations on him as well, you know, coming from that kind of family. Yeah. And then also, I mean, yeah, totally. We could do a whole, you know, segment on that is like what kind of toxic toxic masculinity is also at play, you know, and um misogyny even for the males to he comes from a good family, he has um he's been to university, he's educated, he has all the things, and he's still getting told no over and over again. So, you know, and and so does he really want to be married or is he Yeah. falling in love to just get that next step done. Yeah. And that's probably some part of what Ann feels, too. It's like, well, he probably doesn't really love me either, you know? Yeah. Totally. So, yeah. Yeah. What about your least favorite part from books three and four? Well, it was meant to be bad. Um, okay. There's two there's two things. So, one thing flat out that I just hated in book three was when they tried to kill the scraggly cat. That was just terrible. And the cat I love I can't remember his name. Dusty. No. No. The name Rusty. It was Rusty. The name of a color. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Dusty. Um. Yeah. That was really sad and cringe. That was sad. Yeah, that was cringe. I had to rewind it like not rewind it but like go back and like reread like was that right? Yeah. They were trying to kill the cat cuz then they're like, "Oh, you won't die." And she's like, "I'll take him." You know, which is great. She and ended up taking him in and being her cat, but it still was like gh. But then the other bad part that I just wanted to talk about, it was meant to be bad, but some good came out of it. So, it was sad. I definitely was tearing up from this part in book four, Wendy Poppplers. I'm trying to teach my brain the differences. Um, the little boy that died that they met when they were basically out soliciting, you know, for selling stuff. It was so I got the flu and died. I was like, "Are you that was like imp like we just made a hard left like you know what I mean? I'm like whoa. Yeah. Yeah. So they meet this little boy out, you know, at Yeah. I figure like the end of his driveway kind of situation and his dad's grumpy because his the mom died. It's kind of like a secret garden situation in that, you know, the mom died and he's all grumpy and grumpy and whatever, crotchety. And so the son though is yearning for some connections cuz he doesn't let his boy go to school, but he's thinking about sending him to school now. And then they ended up taking a picture of him. And then they go to develop the picture, right? And then they find out, oh, that boy just died from the flu as they did back then. And at least though, they were able to go and give the father that one photo that he had because obviously pictures were so rare back then. And that's all he was saying to the people when when the his son passed away is I wish I just had a picture of him cuz I don't remember what he looks like, you know, cuz I have one of those bad memories that can't remember faces. And that's so heartbre. Can you imagine like like living in that age and not having that kind of memory that you don't even remember what they look like? How sad. So I was crying and so that was that was a terrible. So I was Yeah, totally. So I was crying. It was a heartbreaking. It was a jump scare for me. Yeah. I didn't expect it to go there. Yeah. Yeah. Cuz it was just kind of like, you know, hanging out with the widows, having a grand old time, boopping around. Oh, death. Yeah. Destruction. Totally. Totally. Yeah. So, I mean, it was nice that they were able to give that to them, but O. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. What about you? Um my least favorite part other than the boy dying because that was on my list as well. Um was that in book four, so book four is predominantly composed of letters that an writes to Gilbert over the course of three years that she's teaching out in Somersside and then Gilbert is at medical school. So they're separated. They only see each other like very rarely. Um I didn't like the format because I felt like it made it feel very disjointed to me. Um, but furthermore, I feel like I would have liked it better if there was any letters from Gilbert. Oh, yeah. It was weird to me that it was like only letters from Anne to Gilbert and then just none back from him. And we know he wrote her letters. It's not like in three years he didn't write her at all. And I was like, why are we not getting any of his POV? I thought that was really weird. Well, in I guess the defense of the author, not that she's asked me to defend you, but or defend her. Um, what if that was intentional because she just wants it to be about Ann's voice? Yeah. And you know, it's not so much about her relationship with Gilbert or what's going on with Gilbert and just very strategically keeping this a woman's story. Yeah. Yeah, I could see that. I just feel like for some reason I feel like I would have connected with it more if we could like see both sides. You know what I mean? Yeah. As far as their love growing, for sure, you know, because she mentions one of the quotes. I don't know if I wrote down no, but it was something about like oh dramatically I love you something. And it's like, yeah, but how like I feel like how is your love blooming? Because we're not hearing any of that kind of correspondence about getting to know each other more, falling in love with each other more. So, for their love story, I felt disjointed. Mhm. Cuz I'm like, eh, I don't know. You know, other than the childhood connection, I don't know. Yeah. I feel like cuz it was just like glimpses of her every day. Yeah. Cuz that's what it was. It wasn't really like one long story like the rest of the books are, like most books are. It was like little snippets of different parts of her life that were happening over the course of these three years that she was choosing to write and tell to Gilbert. And so to me it just yeah it seemed very disjointed. So yeah, that was kind of my biggest critique of this book. Um the tone was different for sure. I did appreciate that every once in a while it would tell us that like two pages in one of her letters was redacted. I was like does that mean it was like steamy? Like what does that mean? Yeah. I'm like I love that. It was cute. Um but yeah, so that's my biggest critique. Disjointed. Would have preferred even if it was only like two letters from Gilbert. You know what I mean? Just like it didn't have to be a lot, just something. Yeah. Yeah. I can see where you're coming from. But I kind of liked it as like just a change up from the other three books that we read. I was like,"Oh, cute. I like this. This is nice." Different style. Yeah. Yeah. Um, who was your favorite character? Choosing someone other than an honestly, I thought the grumpy widows were funny. Yeah, for sure. Yeah, I had a good time with them. Yeah. So, especially how she's like kind of, you know, helping the one with her face cream and, you know, then the other one's grumpy and naysayer. I thought it was fun. You know, I was having a good time reading about it. Also, I loved the girl um who let them stay in her house. What is the house called in college? Patty's Place is what the name of the house is called. I don't remember their names. I don't remember if one of them was named Patty, but yeah, they were great for sure. Yeah. Yeah, they're great. Yeah. Who stuck out to you? Um, so I put two. I put uh Rebecca Dub, who was the housekeeper for the widows. I loved her. Her character was so great and just you know, cuz she she was very similar to Merilla almost, you know. I think that was kind of intentional, like very like stoic um you know, god-fearing old school lady, but like who really appreciated Ann's personality and kind of allowed her to bring her out of her shell a little bit. Um like Ann brought her out of her shell. I really appreciated her. I also really appreciated um I'm mixing them up now, but was it Filipa or Philippa? Who was the one who she's the one who married the priest, right? Or the minister or whatever. Yeah, I don't remember her name. Okay, I'm pretty sure that's who it was. I'm like getting it confused right now. But anyways, one of her college friends. And I loved her character because she reminded me a lot of um I'm so bad with names. It's driving of Jordan from The Great Gatsby. So to me, she kind of like really represented that like she was like the fun college party girl. That's who she was. And she, you know, ultimately ended up settling down and marrying a minister, which was kind of hilarious. And even she understood the irony behind that. Um, but I really liked her character because she really like challenged Ann's way of thinking and also like showed us another kind of like feminine archetype that I feel like we hadn't seen up until this point. Yeah, definitely. So, I really appreciated both of them. What about your least favorite character? I mean, the Pringles in general in book four, but specifically that little Pringle girl who was just a menace. A menace to society and specifically Ann. Yeah. Yeah. I had two least favorites. I don't remember either of their names. Um, the lady who won't let her daughter go anywhere, who like would never stop complaining about everything. Oh my god. I was like I Oh my gosh. Yeah. The like 80some. Yeah. Yeah. The one who like Ann's like, "We're just going to wheel you outside so that you can eat out here." And I was like, "Just push her off the porch. I haven't been outside in 40 years. Good luck. I'm going to get a cold." But then she's like obviously enjoying herself. Yeah. It's super annoying. It's like, can you just like not be so crotchety and complain about everything? Literally, she was negative Nancy from SNL. Like literally. Yes. 100%. She's like, "Oh, I love eating crackers. Did you know crackers is the leading cause of death among 20 year olds?" Like, what? Okay. Uh, so she is tied with the high school or like early college, I think it was probably late high school since that's what Ann was teaching girl who didn't supposedly didn't want to marry that guy. So, she asked Ann if she would tell him and then freaked out and said that she was sabotaging their relationship. I was like, you're the worst. Dude, that was like I couldn't believe I couldn't believe it. And I was like, it's so funny because I was like, oh, Anne is like the perfect person for her to come to about not wanting to marry this guy she thought you wanted to she thought she wanted to marry cuz Ann's been through it, you know. And she very much just kind of like just barely guides her. Just kind of lets her hash it out, but it's like I'm not going to go tell him for me. No, I'm not going to get involved. You got to do it yourself. But like and then it happens to naturally be able to be brought up from the guy. It's like, oh, well then it's perfect cuz she doesn't want you either. Then she freaks out, says that she's sabotaging like she wants to be with him. I was like, "Oh my god, come on." It was kind of wild to me that there was no real like closure from that scenario. It's just Ann being like, "Gh, whatever. Golly." Well, I think that was the point, right? It's like I feel like that's kind of the point of book like the point of book three is college years, right? Like what do we learn in college years? The point of book four was very much like you're a young adult with your first real job like learning to navigate like society. And so I think it was like a bunch of anecdotal stories to kind of like show that an is maturing and how to deal with these kind of situations. And sometimes you just kind of got to let it go cuz this is like a 18-year-old that's just spiraling and having a temper tantrum. What are you going to do? Argue with this like high school student about who thinks you want to steal her boyfriend? like no. And she has like a cold. Were you listening to that one? That book. And the narrator even like a talking like a stuffed nose. It was so funny. That narrator did a good job. I will shout out whatever that audio book narrator was. Super good. She did super good job. Yeah, she does a lot of them, too. Um, yeah. Okay, so bonus question. What would you have found most relatable as a young girl versus an adult woman now? Um yeah, probably her saying no to her proposal, you know. Yeah, definitely. Um you know, feeling like you can get out of a relationship that's not serving you. You know, I think that that is a good role model, dare I say. It's something that we don't often see as women as being an option even boys you know and I so I think that is important to show. So whatever age it is and it doesn't even have to be relationship but a certain scenarios that aren't serving you and you thought that they were it's okay to let them go. You don't have to hold on. It's okay to let them go. It's okay to let maybe even that friendship go or maybe even that job go that you thought was going to be the most important like the mo the best job you ever had and it's like well this one it sucks the boss sucks or whatever it's not fulfilling and maybe I need to in the you know meantime figure out something else to do with my life you know whatever it may be totally I put very similar thing you know Ann calls them the quote unquote bends in the road so I just put looking back and seeing everything as temporary fluid or much less permanent and serious so it's like I feel like when you're young. It's like, no, I'm going to get this career and I'm going to do this job and this is what I'm going to do until I retire or whatever. Or like, you know, if I'm in this relationship in high school, this is the guy that I'm going to marry and be with until I die or whatever. It's like everything just seems so black and white, so permanent, so serious, and it's like no, everything is actually the opposite of that. Anything can change at any time. And I think that um yeah, just recognizing that everything is temporary and you don't have to necessarily subscribe to Yeah. a job or a way of thinking or a relationship for your whole entire life just because you decided you thought that's what you wanted when you were 17, right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I got that out of it, too. So, that's good. Look at that. Yeah. So, how did books three and four make you feel? Like, were there any specific literary devices or, you know, techniques that Ella Montgomery used to help us get there? Well, I will give a shout out to the Christmas story in book four. I did like the Christmas scene. Um, so that made me feel nostalgic, you know. I love it. And, uh, how she brought yet another kindred spirit. That girl, it did. That girl reminded me of a lot of girls, I think, growing up. The one that was very like grumpy and naysayer and not interested, but really it was a defense mechanism, you know, because she was always told she was ugly and she wasn't worth anything. So, she just didn't put herself out there. She was in a on a career path to a job she didn't want. Well, she was in it. She was a school teacher. She didn't even want to do that. She was just told that's pretty much the only job you can have as a woman back then, you know, not not even allowing herself to live her full potential. And I loved how we could see that through relationships with others sometimes that we can bring the best parts out of us. So Ann kind of pulling her out of her shell and the girl having to intentionally let her guard down and be open to the possibilities of a different lifestyle and living her true self in action. So we could see kind of what an does like fully blame like clear as day black and white for us, you know, for what she can do through her relationships with different people. So, I thought that was great. Yeah. Um, I put that Yeah, it made me feel nostalgic. Um, for sure. Like just as far as like what Yeah. How did how did these books make me feel? I feel like book three definitely made me feel nostalgic just because I put um like living with all your girlfriends in college. Like I loved that vibe. Um, book four made me feel kind of a little bit annoyed because the tone was so different. So that's going back to like I was really struggling with book four. Like I didn't love it as much for that reason. And I didn't find it in my opinion all that relatable. um to me in a lot of ways like I feel like a lot of the lessons are relatable but as far as like kind of the anecdotal stories I was like well I don't know like I don't encounter and I mean I talk to a lot of people all the time at my job and still I feel like I don't know it was very different back then so I had a little bit of a harder time relating but for the book that I really did enjoy which was three I felt like the whole yeah like college years like figuring out who you want to date and you know like just enjoy enjoying those special times with your really close friends while you try to figure out who you are. Like that's what I really loved about this kind of section in Ann's life. Yeah. I will say so book four to me was an example of her being a little kindred collector, right? Which we've already seen, but we heavily saw it because we're only seeing glimpses into her life for three years. Um, so for me it was kind of a reminder, I guess you could say. I don't know how to word this, but maybe after I say this paragraph that I wrote, I'll it'll help. Um, that people can be mean, crotchety, and judgmental. But these days, right, everybody can be like that. We all have the ability, but then just people in general, they could have a disposition. Oh, you come across somebody in the store and they're mean and they're crotchety and they're judgmental, you know, but nowhere near do we experience that amount of that as they did back then. Like back then that was the that was the neutral personality. Like that was across the board. Almost everybody she comes across, especially in this Wendy Popppler's place, are mean and crotchety and set in their ways and just the worst. So, it's kind of like, you know, maybe people are pretty good, you know, because we for the most part it's more like, oh my gosh, there was this lady in the store today who was so mean when Ann what she's going through is it's more like, oh, that one person was actually nice, you know. Yeah. But it's also a reminder that those people that that still hold that disposition these days, it's kind of they came from somewhere, right? They It's kind of like over time we're trying to dilute that and not be so quick to judge, not be so crotchety and um act so bitter and it even just the people that are acting ancient when they're 28 years old. I know, right? Oh my gosh. It's kind of like look how far we've come. As much as people can annoy us and be ridiculous, I'm grateful. So maybe this book made me grateful that it's not back then, that it's not the early 1900s. We do have hold some, this is only a hundred years ago. We do people in our society still do still hold some of these same values of getting get you need to get married at 18, you know, you need to do this. But overall, we have come a long way. So that's kind of I don't know what to word that as, but it kind of just shows me it makes me feel grateful that we have we have more work to do, but we've come a long way. Yeah. Okay. As a society, some perspective. Yeah. As you're saying this too, I'm kind of realizing like, you know, books one and two were obviously like Ann's childhood and high school, we'll just say, right? Book three is college. Book four is like her young adult three years before she gets married. I'm assuming in the next book, I don't know cuz I haven't read it yet, but I'm assuming in the next book she gets married to Gilbert and that starts their life together. It's kind of like that inter lens and this is what I mean about having to like talk it out before I make like a final review. Yeah. Now that you say that like or I'm looking at it in that way, it kind of makes more sense to me. Yeah. Yeah, because like when I was reading it not through that lens, I was kind of like, what is this weird like collection of miscellaneous stories about like all these random people, I was like, well, that's kind of what it is though before you have, you know, your own kind of like family unit, you know what I mean? That everything centers around. It's like you're just this individual person kind of figuring out how to form your own identity and personality based on all the different interactions and people you have around you all the time. You know what I mean? So, okay, it makes it make a little bit more sense, I think. I mean, and through these people, too, she's getting different glimpses of possible paths, possible bends in her road. She's in a house of widows who, you know, got married young and then they didn't, some of them didn't really develop as people or some of them are still, you know, unmarried spinsters at 28 years old. So, she's able to kind of like start making decisions for what path she'll want to go down, you know, her life by these relationships with other people. So yeah, it's so funny. Anytime we are reading about, oh, she's so old and crotchy, she's like, oh, I'm gray and old and she's like 41. It's like, what? It's just that the whole like story that I really enjoyed about um, you know, the girl who was last in her family to get married and she didn't know if she'd ever get married and she had too big of a nose and like whatever and there was this man that, you know, she loved but then it wasn't working out and then Anne kind of helped to bring them together or whatever. You find out she was literally 28. Yeah. Yeah. It's like, oh my god, I thought she was I thought she was literally like 60 years old. I was like, oh, you're 28. Okay. 28. Yeah. 20 almost 10 years younger than us. Please. It's it does show you though like too in that time and like I said still happens today like how centered people's happiness can be on whether they're in a relationship or not you know and I think Ann is you know she's fighting that um obligation in the times that are there you know and seeing and saying hey I don't have to like she's even like girl calm down you know it's all fine but then also helping the ones that harboring their feelings and not acting upon them because they feel so, you know, it's like, okay. Yeah. Yeah. So, hey. So, what about um you know, any particular feminist issues that you feel like Ella Montgomery was addressing during this time or just society society at large all that getting married young, you know, have um only answer is to start a family and that is how you become a successful woman. I think she's getting that pressure a lot. Um, starting when she was in I don't know what they would call it, elementary school, high school, but back in book two, you know, and we still see those themes today. And she was writing this during the present times, right? Of not present times, but of these present times, right? Yeah. Like literally, she saw all of this happening. You know, we grew up in a small town and we saw it happen. My family even was like, "You're gonna be a spinster. You're 22 and not married." And I'm like, "Oh my gosh." You know? So, I think addressing those themes and helping to even by just calling out,"Hey, this roommate is only 28 years old." It kind of lightens it up a little bit, I think, for people hopefully too in that time. That's like, "Oh, there are other ways to live, you know?" Yeah, totally. 28 isn't that old, you know? So yeah, that's what really stuck out for me. Yeah, and I think, you know, I mentioned this in the last episode, too. I kind of gave a list of like all the different women who I thought kind of represented different things. And I think that that's kind of like one of Ellen Montgomery's tactics, right? Or like use like literary devices she uses is like, how am I going to have these characters symbolize like women's different like roles, you know? So, you know, we have Diana who gets married and then has a baby, right? So, she's still kind of sticking with that very like traditional woman, like she's fulfilling the expectations. Um, you know, and then you have the friend at college who I was talking about before who kind of represents more of that like kind of free spirit. She ultimately ends up getting married as well, but I feel like, you know, she's it's unusual at that time for women to go to college at all. Yeah. And was the first one, you know, to go to college from Prince Edward Island. And um if you did go to college as a woman at that time, the expectation was that you went just to find a man to marry. That's why you went. And so um you know, kind of representing like no, I can go to college and I can learn and I can get straight A's and I can have fun at parties and I can live on my own and like all these kind of that kind of stuff. I liked that. Um, I, you know, listed Rebecca Dub, the housekeeper for the widows, like who I said was very much like Merilla, the widows themselves. Um, the traveling ladies who went to Europe for, you know, 3 years or whatever, four years. Um, I just feel like that's kind of the method that the author is using to kind of show that it's like even at that time with women being put into these really strategically created boxes, there was still like so many other ways to be and there were so many women breaking out of that even back then. Yeah. Um, because I think lots of times we can have kind of like a reductive perspective on Mhm. like women in history, right? Because of the expectations. And I think that's what she's saying is like, well, they keep on trying to put us in the boxes. But no, there's actually all these different characters just in Ann's life, so you can imagine how the world is, right? And so that's what I really appreciated for sure. Yeah, definitely. Um, and then I just put Yeah, like all the marriage proposals, which were crazy, a lot of them. that one like ugly boy down the road from her in book three is like all right well you'll just marry me right says Billy Billy Andrew is that right and then um the one who's like sister proposed for him like that one was crazy like yeah um yeah I just feel like that was really funny just the fact that yeah she went to college at all that she is getting a job that she's a published author that she's dressing a certain way you know they made someone in the story made a big stink about wearing, you know, dresses without collars and Ann was like, "Well, I'm not wearing dresses with collars. Like, what's the big deal?" Like, they're only wearing three like undergarment layers or something like uh and can you imagine no AC with all those clothes. Um so, I just put here, you know, all those things, everything from, you know, getting a job to reading to writing to dressing a certain way, those are all political acts. um especially when those things are attempting to be controlled by you know the powers of bee. So yeah, you know just by being who she is, she's making inherently political statements. So really loved that. What did you think of Ann's character in these books? Like do you think it was typical for girls and women to be portrayed this way in popular literature at that time or do you think that she kind of was a unique character? I haven't read enough uh literature of that time to give like a proper analysis to be fair but overall as someone who lives in the here and now and of you knows a lot of generalization of that time yeah she's a different unique character that is very important for especially young women to see alternative lifestyles from even though it's not that alternative you know it's not that for us now, but for them now. That's the key. Yeah. Cuz I mean, what is she doing? She's doing all the things, right? Like she's a great student. She's growing up to go to college. Then, you know, she's already engaged to Gilbert, assuming she'll get a house and a husband as soon as she's done, you know, has her career. She's kind of checking all the things off the list that like now would be like traditional kind of expectations almost. You know what I mean? Um, but she's doing it on her time, you know, very much. Oh, she didn't say yes to Gilbert the first time he asked, you know, years ago. Three times. Yeah. Oh my god, Gilbert. You know, um or said yes to any of the other like five guys who are asked who have asked her about even though she's getting pressure from especially all the other women in her life. Like, oh, yep, you're you're nearing your college end. Like, good thing you have a guy secured, you know, and like you're got to say yes to this one. Well, you better hurry up. You could be an old spinster like me, you know, at 28. So, she's pushing back just by being herself. It's not even that she's inherently trying to make these acts of resistance. She's just like, why? Like, I'm just going to be me, whatever. You know, it's through women like this, honestly, that have helped pave the way to be sitting here doing a podcast with you wearing pants. You know, honestly, like as much of like how silly that sounds, it's literally like through these people that question the status quo, even by just naturally being themselves, just choosing not to put on a collar that day, who have got us to where we are today, you know? Yeah. And that's why as a society, there are more steps we can make, but we can just see in this hundred years just how much we've changed as a society in a positive way, you know, steps towards more independence as women. Yep. For sure. Yeah. I mean, I think that takes us kind of into the next question, too. Like, you know, does Ann have characteristics similar to those we value in the popular books we read today? And I would say definitely for sure. Yeah. You know, I I feel like we read a lot of fantasy. So, it's like this isn't fantasy, but a lot of the characteristics that we appreciate in our favorite, you know, fantasy heroins and just has as a regular regular old person existing in life, you know. So I isn't that crazy to think about though like the fact that you know it's a big topic of conversation especially on our podcasts how we are getting female r representation in fantasy novels how a hundred years after Anna Green Gables that's crazy and wild and amazing that that hasn't happened yet and right now it's you know he we're having a renaissance if you will of you know badass FMC's especially and it took a hundred years to get there almost. Not to say there wasn't. Not to say there wasn't before, but it's specifically blowing up right now, you know. Well, it's blowing up. It's becoming super super popular in like traditional publishing. Um Yeah, that's Yeah, that's crazy. Had to start somewhere, you know? It's been going for a long time. I think that that's kind of like the point, right? Is that change takes time. And it's crazy to think that like Anna Green Gables first came out in 1908. Here we are in 2025. we're, you know, finally fantasy that's centering women's lives, uh, pleasure, accomplishments, etc. is becoming as popular as it is. So, that's pretty cool, though. Yeah. So, anything else that you wanted to say about like any of the growth that's happening with an any of the, you know, moral, psychological development that's going on with her in regards to, you know, this is a coming of age story that you wanted to address. I feel like this is pretty much just her learning to navigate college and then society, you know, as a young early 20some kind of. Yeah, I do appreciate her call outs on herself, too, because as a reader, it's nice to know that it's intentional. It's just her call outs of like, oh, you know, I'm still whimsical and romantical, but I'm not the same girl that I was at 11, you know, when we were first introduced to her. That she has understood the world. She's not like because that would get a little out of control, right? you know, so you you can still have that whimsy, but she also is balancing it right now with seriousness and the serious things that are coming through her life, you know. So, she's a becoming a fullyfledged adult, but not losing that side of her. So, do you have any notable quotes or cringy quotes that you'd like to share? Got a nice mix. We'll go back and forth. Most of the trouble in life comes from misunderstanding, I think, said Anne. See, Anne gets it. Misunderstanding trope is bad. Wait, that was in book three. Yeah, that's funny. The one quote that I liked from book four is I think it is just misunderstanding that makes most of the trouble in the world. That's from book four. So, that was So, it's kind of like a rewarded Yeah. It's the same quote but different. Yeah. So, that must be like a theme. Mhm. Yeah. Mhm. She really wants us to understand. You are the first Aan Lee girl who has ever gone to college. And you know that all pioneers are considered to be afflicted with moonruck madness. I loved you ever since that day you broke that slate over my head in school. Yeah, that was cute. I have that one, too. Very cute. Um, I loved this quote. I hope no great sorrow ever will come to you, Anne," said Gilbert, who could not connect the idea of sorrow with the vivid, joyous creature beside him, unwitting. That those who can soar to the highest heights can also plunge to the deepest depths, and that the natures with which enjoy most keenly are those which also suffer most sharply. I was like, that's such a good quote. So poetic. So poetic, but also just like make so much sense because it's true. It's like, yeah, you know, if you have someone who like feels that deeply, it's going to be both sides of that coin. You know what I mean? It's not just going to be one side. So, yeah. Yeah, definitely. Okay. She said, oh, she thought how horrible it is that people have to grow up and marry and change. She had had her secret dreams of the first time someone should ask her the great question. And it had, in those dreams, always been very romantic and beautiful. And the same one was or and the someone who is to be very handsome and dark-eyed and distinguished looking and eloquent, whether he were prince charming, to be enraptured with yes, or one to whom a regretful, beautifully worded but hopeless refusal must be given. If the latter, the refusal was to be expressed so delicately that it would be the next best thing to acceptance. And he would go away after kissing her hand, assuring her of his unalterable long lifelong devotion. And it would always be a beautiful memory to be proud of and a little sad about also. And now this thrilling experience had turned out to be merely grotesque. So that's what she's talking about like the first time she gets uh proposed to and I'm like I just it was those moments cuz at the end of that she says with the painful process go on until everything became prosaic and humrum. So she's realizing that not everything in life even a proposal is going to turn out as you have like pictured it in your head. So I that was like a really good marker in my opinion of growth. And she's questioning like you know is everything in life going to just turn out to be this humrum and boring even though I've lifted it up to such this like you know kind of put things on a pedestal and I'm like it's kind of like that reality check but like while also not becoming cynical you know. Yeah. Mhm. Yeah. This one's for the cat people out there. I myself love cats and dogs. So here we go. I love them. They are so nice and selfish. Dogs are too good and unselfish. They make me feel uncomfortable, but cats are gloriously human. Thought it was cute. So, she's talking to one of the older women. How many girls were you, Aunt Jimsy? About half a dozen, my dear. She's talking about how over the course of a lifetime, like how many different people are you? Yeah. Yeah. All right. Those are my book four quotes. Now I'm getting into Okay. You were never poor as long as you had something to love. Yep. Beautiful. Yep. Not someone, something, you know, because it could be it could be a someone, it could be a something. Yeah. Just something. Yeah. Some like anything. Yeah. Just like something. Um Oh, no. I wouldn't want to marry anybody who was wicked, but I think I'd like it if he could be wicked and wouldn't. Mhm. I was like, hm. and was on to something. Yeah. Even back then. Mhm. And all of us book babes can relate to this. I hate to lend a book I love. It never seems quite the same when it comes back to me. No. Yeah. Yeah. It's true. Sometimes it does. Sometimes it does. But, you know, sometimes it's covered in coffee. So, hey. Um, this is Gilbert. I asked you a question over two years ago. Anne, if I ask it again today, will you give me a different answer? Still, Anne could not speak. But she lifted her eyes, shining with all the love rapture of countless generations, and looked into his for a moment. He wanted no other answer. Like, how sweet. Okay, this is the last one I have. Okay. But I believe I rather like superstitious people. They lend color to life. Wouldn't it be rather drab world if everybody was wise and sensible and good? What would we find to talk about? Yeah, I thought was cute. Yeah, it's kind of like a good thing we're not all the same. You know, some people can be crotchety, you know, spices up life. Yeah. So, this is also my last one. Gilbert drew her close to him and kissed her. Then they walked home together in the dusk, crowned king and queen and the bridal realm of love. Along winding paths fringed with the sweetest flowers that ever bloomed and over haunted meadows where winds of hope and memory blew. After they got engaged, I'm like, how sweet. You're so sweet. You're so sentimental. I love it. I mean, it's like a very classic love story and I just I love reading. It's nostalgic for me because I loved it so much as a kid and I'm like, this explains a lot. You know what I mean? I'm like, it makes sense. It's like totally Gilbert walked so that you know our book boyfriends could run. Like literally, it's a perfect example of that. Yeah. So obviously I think that we both find it to be a positive contribution to the canon, right? Like no critiques as far as that goes. Yeah. Nope. 100%. So I just wanted to give a little context. So book three, Anna the island on Goodreads has about 188,000 reviews and it gets a 4.28. Book four has 107,000 and it gets a 4.01. So it barely hits that four. So, I think a lot of people shared a similar opinion as I did on liking book four a little bit less. Um, I did find a critique on Reddit from um someone who was talking about kind of the same issue I had. So, I am rereading the Ann books and discovered this book for the first time. I read it in the order of Anne's life's progression. I honestly wasn't particularly enjoying it. It was okay. I finished it though and when I finally started Anne's House of Dreams, I could almost taste the original Anne flavor and I'm really enjoying Anne again immensely. I think that Ann in the Wendy Popplers books is very unlike her and I that's exactly how I felt. I felt a little bit like it was disjointed and their personality was a little bit different but like as I'm talking this out with you and just in general, I'm wondering if that's because no one really knows who they are during that time and so maybe that's intentional. You know what I mean? Like I might be thinking a little bit too far into it, but it might also just be, hey, between the ages of 20 or like 18 and 23, how many of us really know anything about who we really are? You know what I mean? So that might be kind of the point. Well, and also the other books, right, are narrated. So it's the narrator's perspective of Ann and all these people. These are letters and what she's choosing to write about other people really and her responses. So maybe not as romanticized or dramatized as the narrator witnessing an Ann's personality with these people, you know. So that's definitely why there's a different tone 100%. So is it because the narrator, you know, the author I mean wanted to give a different perspective? Is it deliberate? Is it I tried it, it didn't work. Let me change it back to the original. You know, we'll find out as we go. We'll find out. Yeah. Okay. So, do you have any bonus questions for me today? I couldn't really think of any cuz obviously with the end of book three, I was like, are we finally going to get the Gilbert romance going on? A. And they're like, well, kind of, but not really. So, yes, it's there. She professes her love to him occasionally, but we're not seeing that. But again, I don't think that's what the focus is right now. Mhm. So, you know, I'm curious for book five to see if that's kind of like where this goes. Yeah. Yeah. We'll see. I have no idea what is going to be next. Me neither. So, we'll see. We'll find out. No spoilers for me. Yep. Do you have a fun fact? Okay. So, specifically regarding Wendy Popplers. Okay. Okay. A fun fact. Wendy Poppplers was actually originally titled Wendy Willows. However, American publisher requested a title change due to its similarities to The Wind in the Willows, which we all know and love. And the UK publisher, on the other hand, actually retained the original title just to make things more confusing for everybody. Right. So, there you go. That's interesting. Yeah. The Wind in the Willows. I remember. Yeah, it's been a long time. That's too complicated. Wind in the Windy Popplers. No, Wind in the Windy Willows. Okay, maybe it is. Poppplers is better. You're right. My My daughter was so cute. She's like,"Poppplers? Who ever heard of a popppler before? What even is a popppler?" I'm like, "Oh, it's a type of pine tree." She's like, "Oh, okay. This is cute." All right. Well, I feel like that pretty much wraps up books three and four. There we go. Okay. So, we'll be back for five and six. I'm excited for five. Okay. Not closed. So, hang on. Okay. So far, is book four worth a read in your opinion to the people? I think it's worth a read, but is my least favorite? Yeah. So, I'll be curious like once we read all eight, right? So, we we're halfway we're officially halfway through. It's also truly half about halfway through because I have it on Kindle and like pages wise it's like almost smack dab around 50%. Um, so yeah, you know, I'll be curious to see how we end up ranking them all. It wouldn't shock me if this is my least favorite of all of them. Um, just based on what I kind of read with reviews and things like that. Um, but we'll see. Yeah, I definitely think it's worth reading, but I would be lying if I said that I liked it as much as the other ones because I did not. For sure. I get it. I get it. Yep. Yeah. But I think I will I will retain the four star rating that I gave it at this time. Okay. Did it Did it knock it down to a three? No. Okay. I moved my book three up to a five star. So there you go. And so book four for you is still a four star though. Still a four star. Yeah. Yeah. I would say is it worth a read if you really love the the world in Anna Green Gable stories? Yeah. But we'll figure out as we go. Too soon to tell with only one book to say. Yeah. Exactly. I got to dive into I mean I only have ever as a kid read three. So, and I think that's pretty common for most people. And so, yeah, I'm excited to get into book five. Maybe see if there's some little romance that goes on between her and Gilbert finally. Um, and go from there. There we go. There we go, guys. So, make sure to like, follow, and subscribe anywhere you like to listen to your favorite podcast, including YouTube. And then also hang out with us over on Instagram and Tik Tok at besties in the books podcast everywhere. And on Fable we are at Besties and the Book Club. You guys before next Friday we will see you next Tuesday. Bye bye.[Music]