Ep 79 Should You Read This TREASURE HUNTING ROMANCE?? | Among the Curse Gods by T J Lundin

It’s officially time to celebrate the release of the insanely entertaining contemporary treasure hunter romance that took Ashley and Liz by storm! Among the Cursed Gods by T.J. Lundin is out now and available to order on paperback and Kindle. Today we’re following up on our author interview with T.J. with a deep dive into the plot, tropes, characters, and as usual, our spoiler free star and spice ratings! 

T.J. is a friend of the podcast and the self published author of The paranormal romantasy series The Fates of Eporanios, and now, Among the Cursed Gods, a very steamy, tension filled race between rivals to find an ancient Peruvian artifact that can bring people back from the dead. Guys, we are screaming at you to read this book. It’s just so darn good. It’s everything we knew that we loved when watching movies like The Mummy, Tomb Raider and National Treasure but with (much more) spice, quippy banter, and a twist on an enemies to lovers story that we just ate right up. 

Go check out our author interview with T.J. to get some behind the scenes insight into her inspiration, her liberation and transformative experience writing spice, and potentially some teasers for future books. We hope that you enjoy this unique story as much as we did. 

And make sure to catch our faves and fails about our most recent audiobook experiences and a smash or pass that truly fits the treasure hunter theme! 

Don't be shy, subscribe! New Podcasts every Tuesday!! (And sometimes Friday!…)

Check out these author interviews? ⬇️

Indie Author Interview with T J Lundin | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWtTZso3tW0&t=11s

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

____

Bookish apparel worn in this episode!
SHOP OUR NEW BESTIES and the BOOKS X CROW Merch! | * https://besties-and-the-books-shop.fourthwall.com

Ashley is Wearing: Cresent City “Through Love All is Possible” Necklace from Etsy | https://go.magik.ly/ml/34jkx/ 

Stacked with a chunky paperclip necklace from Pavoi | * https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTHWe2xAvSA1D-Gd280/

Liz is Wearing: Good Girls Read Smut tee from a closed bookish shop. 

Any link with an * is an affiliate link through the service Magic Links and is eligible for a commission to us with no extra cost to you. Thank you for helping support our podcast!

Chapters

• 0:00 Spoiler Free Intro
• 3:00 av and Fail Recent Audiobook Edition
• 10:55 Among the Curse Gods Book Reviews
• 13:48 5 Sentence Book Summary
• 17:05 Favorite and Least Favorite Things in Among the Cursed Gods
• 44:05 Unhinged Smash or Pass

Transcript

0:00

in the archaeology space. The Mummy, National Treasure, or even Indiana Jones. Are they going to be smooshed by a bunch of rocks or are they going to make it through into the secret passageway? Like it's like crab hands. I mean, it's scorpion hand. Their original meat cute. Loved it.[Music] Welcome to the Besties in the Books podcast, guys. I'm Liz. And I'm Ashley. and welcome to our little deep dive video covering Among the Cursed Gods by TJ London. Oo, just in case you guys haven't checked it out yet, we did do an entire spoiler-free interview with TJ London. Check that out if you would like to find out more about this book in a spoiler-free version because today we're going to be giving you the deep dive, our thoughts and opinions, our likes and dislikes, fave tropes, all those things. Very exciting. I know. I'm looking forward to talking about this book because it was just so it was just so different, so unique, just I don't know, something to kind of like mix it up, you know? Yeah. Um, so just like usual, today's episode will be spoilerfree for the first 15 minutes, though. We'll go through our faves and fails with you guys. Um, and then we'll give you our completely spoiler-free, you know, really basic. It's supposed to be one sentence, but we're just going to say short short review. um star rating and spice rating so that you guys kind of know the gist before we actually like get into any of the spoilers or the five sentence summary which we'll give you a warning for. Um and then we'll be talking about all the usuals, you know, our favorite characters, least favorite characters, uh tropes, plot points, all that kind of good stuff. And we'll be explaining why we think this book is so different and brings something kind of new to the romance genre that we think that you guys will really look forward to and enjoy. Um, and we'll share some quotes and things like that, too. If that sounds good, please stick around. But before we get into that, we just want to say thank you so much for being here. Yes. Thank you guys so much for being here and taking time out of your day and your book to come and listen on in and find out if this book is for you. By the way, if you love indie authors, TJ London is currently an indie author and specializes, I would say, in paranormal romantic, this book gives you that treasure hunting romance that you might be looking for. Oo, and some behind thescenes action. So, if you're intrigued, then definitely keep listening on in. And make sure to like, follow, and subscribe everywhere you like to listen your favorite podcast, including YouTube. We're at Besties in the Books podcast everywhere, including Instagram and Tik Tok. And then you can follow along our book club picks and buddy reads over on the Fable app. We're at Besties in the Book Club there. So, come hang out with us. Come hang out with us. Come read with us. We've got lots of good reads going always. So, we always look forward to you guys and all of the input that you're willing to give. It makes the conversation interesting, you know. Yeah. Okay. So, should we just kick this off with our fave and fail audio book edition? My favorite audio book of the year so far, January through June 2025, is Under Your Scars by Ariel and and N. And Anderson. That's hard to say. Sorry. Ariel N. And Anderson. Um, and the audiobook narrators are Joe Arden, who if you guys are in the romance space, you're in the audiobook space. Obviously, you know who Joe Arden is. Like, that's no novel idea. But the way that he delivers this narration was so just like next level to the point where like I actually was listening to it and reading it at the same time. It was one of those where it's like I wanted both. like I was reading it with my eyes and my ears at the same time. I needed to have like both of the experiences because like the voice acting was so good and so intense. Yeah. Um Lee Daniels was the female narrator, so you know it was a duet. She was also excellent. Um so yeah, that for sure took the cake for my favorite audio book of the year so far. five stars with a close I have to give my close runner up to Quicksilver, which we've talked a lot about over on the podcast, which is Stella Bloom and Anthony Palini. Anthony Palamini is another one of those that is kind of floating around the romantic space and is uh you know kind of gaining a little bit of notoriety as not just King Fisher, but also as Reand and Slade. So if you know, you know, you know. Yeah. Yeah. If you weren't sold yet, now you are. Now you are. I know. When I reread The Plate of Prisoner, I'm definitely doing audio for that reason. Um, so yeah. So, favorite Under Your Scars. If you guys haven't read that and you like Dark Romance, check the trigger warnings, but please read it. It's amazing. Um, and then Quicksilver. I think everyone kind of knows the audio for that. It's great. Um, obviously that's by Kie Hart if we have to say it. Yeah. Um, my least favorite audio book of January through June. And we've kind of mentioned this a little bit on the podcast before was actually Wild by Cheryl Strade. And we we think this was because it was probably before like audiobooks exploded. And so they were definitely done a lot differently. Um, it was less a performance and more just kind of like someone reading the book to you. Um, but the voice just kind of didn't fit the part. Um, and so the voice actor for that is Bernardet Dune. And she didn't do a bad job. She just didn't fit in my opinion with like who we would picture Sarah Cheryl Stray to embody at that point in her life. Yeah. Um, so that is why that was my least favorite, which actually all things considered is means that I didn't really have a horrible audio book yet this year because there's definitely been some in the past that I'm like, "Dear Lord." Yeah. You know what I mean? Like it's so cringey. This one was just kind of like not great, but it definitely wasn't like horribly cringey or anything like that. So that's good. Maybe I won't have a horrible audio book this year. We'll see. Yeah. Yeah. What about you? Well, we have the same list. No. No. So, I was going to mention Quicksilver just cuz when I think of like what stood out to me so far this year, Quicksilver. Absolutely. That's one that I read the first half and then switch over to reading with my ears audio and I was like, "Oh my, this is great." So, yes, both narrators did a fantastic job. And that is one that I probably will reread, you know, later on after there's a few books in and I will reread it the subtitle way where I'm listening and reading at the same time because it was so great. And then um also I loved Fahrenheit 182 by Mark Hoppus and he narrates it himself. So anytime a memoir is narrated by the person that it's about. It's just top tier. But it was just so cool. It was just such a fun time and so yeah and that was a fun episode that we did. And most of these books that we always talk about, there's probably an episode covering all of that. So if you want more deep dive. So I loved that. And then my fail was also going to be wild for the same reasons. So, let me give a different one just to spice it up for you guys. Um, I Okay, so Ann of Green Gables, we're reading right now for the series. I think the series might be complete on our mini episodes by time this video goes out. So, we'll have that link down in the description box if you're interested in finding out if Green Gables is for you, if it's worth the reread, any of those things. But the first one, we switched over to the audio and Rachel McAdams uh narrates it, which was great. So, that's not a fail. Liz told me about that. You know, there's a bunch of different versions, so make sure you get that one. And she just does such a good job because it just sounds very similar to what Ann's tone might be. And then and it's free on Audible. Just listen to it. Yeah, there are some paid and there are some freed. And that one was free. It was great. And then so I and then so we went to, you know, Anna Vanley, which was the second book. And yeah, it's just kind of what we talked about with Wild. You know, it's a it's a older nar it's they narrated it before narration was a thing. So, it's just kind of um not as exciting and you don't have the tone inflection as much. She does really good, the narrator does really good on the older people's voices cuz you could just tell it's an older kind of voice and you know, Ann is at this point, you know, a young adult, 17, I think. Yeah. Yeah, maybe teens. And so, it just was whiplash, you know, so didn't love that. There were other ones to choose from, but hey, I wanted it to get it for free. So, that's on me. I found I actually on Audible found an Ann of Aanly podcast where it's like a dramatic reading per episode. Yeah. Yeah. I saw that but from time constraints I didn't. Did you do that? Yeah. So that's what I have been listening to and I've really liked it. Um I mean it's literally I don't think it's any longer than if you were just to listen to the regular audio book. It's just it's split into all it is is just split into chapters. I will say cuz like the girl like it's like per episode is a chapter so I just you know listen to them in order. Um but I will say the narrator is excellent. She's definitely like what you would you think Ann would sound like but and she does like she actually has different voices for all the different characters because it's quote unquote a dramatic reenactment. There's a couple voices that I'm like is this a robot? Like what is this? cuz it sounds kind of robotic, but they're very small parts, so it only lasts for like a couple minutes. Um, so I would say that I cuz I tried listening to the version you were talking about and I was like, I can't do it. And so I tried to find something else and this is what I found. So I've been liking it better. Um, because obviously majority is an talking or thinking and so, you know, that's the voice that we're hearing 95% of the time and I like her voice. So that's been good. I had to put it Rachel McAdams. Why couldn't you just do all So if everybody can do us a solid and uh listen to the first Anna Green Gables by Rachel McAdams. Maybe if enough of us listen to it, they'll be like, "Hey, why is this trending?" Oo, let's pay her to do them the rest, that'd be great. So my daughter's reading them. I had to skip her, though. But she wants to listen to them as well. So maybe I'll have her do the dramatic reenactment, you know, episodes for book two. So maybe she'll like it better. Good tip. Yeah, I like it better. We was like, yeah, we were listening to it anyways. Um the first like quarter of it together and the girl talks so slow that I had to put it on. Yeah. I don't know, one one and three/4ers, which I don't usually do with my kids are listening to it, too. And we didn't even notice like it seemed like normal talk, you know? Yeah. Mhm. So, yep. There we go. All right. All right. Well, should we just get into our spoiler-free reviews of Among the Cursed Gods real quick? Let's go, guys. Let's go. Okay. Okay. So, I rated Among the Cursed Gods by TJ London a four stars because I feel like it was a very entertaining and unique take on a romance book. It was unlike anything I had read before being more of that like fun kind of yeah treasure hunty like the mummy style romance. So very entertaining, easy to read. I think a lot of people would enjoy it. Four stars. Totally. Totally. Mhm. And you're our spice girl. What spice level? I would say for this one was like a little bit hard for me because I feel like it was spicy, but it was nothing that in my opinion could have been particularly like taboo or triggering or anything like that. So, I would probably Oh, but did you read the bonus chapter? The bonus chapter? I don't think I ever did read the bonus chapter. Oh, guys, read the bonus chapter. Anyways, I don't want you like Well, now I want to know. I would say that The Spice for like a contemporary romance, I'd probably rate it like a three. Yeah. Yeah. For contemporary like um Yeah. Cuz it's not dark romance. It's essentially like a contemporary I'd say like treasure hunty romcom kind of. I would say three based on frequency. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Frequency for sure. Um, and like a nice like little kind of enemies to lovers kind of slow burnish. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It was I think more spicy than a lot of the like uh contemporary romances that I've read, but definitely not as spicy as like a dark romance or something like that. For sure. For sure. So, we'll stick with a three for the genre in which it is in. Yes, that sounds good. What about you? I five stars for me. Okay. Listen, there's nothing I didn't like about it. I had a great time. It was super entertaining, but there also was some character development in there, which I love. Yeah. And while growing up, if you were like me and obsessed at one point or another with The Mummy, National Treasure, or even Indiana Jones, then this book is for you. It's all those vibes for treasure hunting, but for adults, cuz it is spicy. TJ creates a dynamic balance between treasure seeking a personal growth and self-development and a well-written spicy scene or a lot a lot of spicy scenes that were well written. Yeah. Okay. For sure. So, if those were checking off all your boxes, give it a try. I will recommend. Super fun. Yes. It gets our stamp of approval 100%. Yep. Click click. Mhm. So, should we get into the five sentence summary and the spoilers? Let's go, guys. Get out of here if you don't want any spoilers cuz they're coming in hot. Let's go. Okay, I'm ready. I'm locked and loaded. Are you? I need more musical instruments. I need more. I'll do the gong. Yeah, I was going to say I feel like that the gong fits a little bit more with like this vibe. Yeah, let's do it. Okay. Feel the vibes. Let's go. Feel the vibes for the five sentence summary of Among the Cursed Gods. Among the Cursed Gods. Let's go. By TJ London. Yes. Okay. Victoria, an archaeologist, is working in Washington DC at the Smithsonian, researching and cataloging artifacts, living a low-key life after the untimely and tragic death of her husband Derek 3 years ago.[Music] One, her boss proposes that she go back out into the field like she used to love doing before Dererick's death to Peru to help locate the Taza Devidita or the cup of life said to bring people back from the dead. Two, she agrees to go to Peru where she meets up with LJ, her trusty behindthe-scenes tech co-pilot, Dr. Lopez, the super rich guy. they were hired by who is obsessed with finding the cup and bringing his wife back from the dead and her bodyguard bodyguard of sorts, Marcus, a sweet and well-intentioned henchman who was raised by Dr. Lopez and who Victoria hooks up with once three. Victoria soon realizes that she is not the only one after the artifact. Grady, a hot man for hire who previously worked special ops in the military, and Raphael, Dr. Lopez's brother, are both after it as well. And after several tension-filled attempts at thwarting each other and some spicy time, Grady and Victoria agree to work together to solve the clues and find the cup. H four. They find the cup and Lopez makes them all engage in the ritual where his wife's body is resurrected. But the goddess Urkaguary, sorry, I have no idea how to say that, is actually the one inside. She rips Lopez's heart out and kills him. But before she can do more damage, Victoria destroys the cup, causing Urkaguary to disappear with it. And then Victoria heads back to DC where three months later, Grady shows up, insisting that they be together and go find another mysterious artifact. Ooh, five. Five. Great job. 10 out of 10. It's funny because when I'm now writing a five-s sentence summary for a romance book, it seems like exponentially easier than like I don't know when I was writing the five sentence summary for Heat of the Everflame, for example. Oh my gosh. Yeah. Oh my gosh. Cuz I'm just writing it and I'm like,"Oh yeah, great. This is what happens. This is what happens." And I'm like, you know, cuz you guys just need the general gist. Like you don't need all the details. But in like all these, you know, high fantasy books that we've been doing, it's like you kind of do need the details to some degree, and it makes my brain feel like it's going to explode. So, this was a nice experience. Yeah. Nice breather. Nice breather. Yes. So, why don't we just get into it? So, what were the three tropes that you loved the most in this book? Ah, treasure hunting, obviously. Yep. Um, personal growth and development. Love that. Mhm. And I'm going to say this one, sexual healing, whatever you want to call it. Nice. Um, I put treasure hunting as well. Yeah, we were like a generation raised on treasure hunting. Yeah. I mean, yeah, come on. Yep. Um, I put ancient civilizations because that kind of thing used to really fascinate me and still does, you know. Yeah. Um, you know, TJ definitely emphasized that she took, you know, uh, creative liberties with a lot of the lore, which is good. I mean, this was a fictional story. Um, but yeah, fictional or non-fictional, like I just eat it up. I love it. Um, and then I put trauma healing. So that's like adjacent to what you said because I feel like yeah, there was a lot of trauma healing going on for Victoria, the main female character, but then also for Grady, the main male character, and to a degree also for Marcus, the other like main male character on the side. So I feel like they all kind of were working through stuff in their own way. Yeah. Which I appreciate. So with the treasure hunting, I loved in particular that like Yeah. You know, we talk about the mummy and all those things. We think of pharaohs and the lost mummy artifacts and stuff. I like that she gave us something that we haven't really like explored yet to my knowledge, you know, Peru and that exciting landscape and history and things like that that she took inspiration from. So, it was very refreshing and different. Yeah. Totally. But I feel like Yeah, it still had like the obviously like ancient civilization like Incan Mayan kind of vibes. So that was awesome. Yeah. Yeah. You get the same feel but set in a different setting. So that was what I loved about it. It was really cool. What about a trope that you really didn't like? I really couldn't think of any. I had a hard time with this, too, but I did come up with one. Okay. Hit us with it. We had to TJ, if you're listening, we really had to dig deep to find something bad about this book. Okay. Um I just put And this isn't even necessarily something bad. It was just something I didn't like. Crazy Rich guy. I'm tired of crazy rich guys coming in with all their money and being like, I'm gonna find this artifact to like freaking resurrect the dead. You know what I mean? It's like, and then what happens? It it actually works. So, on the one hand, it's like, how crazy was he? But what you really did was you resurrected like this ancient god who then took like ripped your heart out from your chest and then ate it. So, maybe not a great idea. Yeah. tail as old as time if you you know if you ask me but it's like it's definitely a consistent thing right not just in books but in movies it's always just like this guy who knows nothing of like doesn't respect the culture doesn't respect the history and just wants to swoop in and like do something kooky that's why it's satisfying when he gets his heart re ripped out and eaten like a Big Mac though so yeah I see what you're saying it's not that like I wouldn't change a thing but yeah gh let's like come on these freaking old rich white guys honestly. Yeah. Like get it together. Yeah. Micro tropes. Uh I loved alpacas, you know. It's so cute. Yeah. Adorable. Uh cursed artifacts if that could be considered a micro trope. Love it. You know, like um runes and stuff like that and signs and the little mini scavenger hunts she has to go on. Yeah. I like like booby traps. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It reminds me of Goonies every single time. Yeah. There's just something so satisfying about, you know, cuz they're going through with the medallions and clicking them into place and then are they going to be, you know, like smooshed by a bunch of rocks or are they going to make it through into the secret passageway? Like it's cool, you know. Yeah. And then the bad some of the bad guys get wiped out. It's great. Yeah. Mhm. So fun. I mean, love a good movie. I totally just uh me and my husband inspired me to rewatch The Mummy, so I just rewatched that a couple nights ago. Perfect. That was great. I need to do that. It was a good time. We bought the whole collection, so we'll probably start the next one tonight. Maybe. We'll see if we're too tired or not. Yeah. Yeah. It's a good summer movie. Summer movie series. Yeah, for sure. For sure. Okay. So, um, what was your favorite part? Favorite part. Um, I love just that whole I want to say the last I don't last part of the book. We'll just say where they're in like the tombs or whatever you want to call it. You know, they're in that underground labyrinth, cave labyrinth, whatever it was. Love that part cuz yeah, you have all the booby traps, the scavenger hunt. That's the meat of the hunt right there. So, the journey, the full journey has begun. But I do love the uh the the what was it? Was it opera? know what was the ball that they go to? Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know the official name of it, but yeah. When she was there trying to do the heist basically. Yeah. That gave me like the Mr. and Mrs. Smith tension vibes that I just ate right up. So, I loved that scene as well. Yeah. cuz they're like dancing, but then she's got the other guy who's interested in her, and they're like kind of talking about stealing the knife, and then they have to like go and do this like covert ops like thing to try to like, you know, deactivate the stuff and like go under the lasers and like get the knife out. See, it's all vibes. We love it. It's good. Yeah. Yep. Mhm. Um, I put for my favorite part, I mean, I liked a lot of parts as well, but I put them meeting in the bar. So, like their original meat cute, loved it. It was so good. And just I really liked Grady's character a lot. Like I just love that kind of like like he acts like an aloof personality, you know what I mean? Who's just very like carefree and flirty and silly, but that's not really who he is deep down. We love a guy like that. Um, for sure. And then I also put the epilogue. I really enjoyed the epilogue because I love a good cliffhanger, especially when it promises us that we get to go on another adventure for another artifact. I was like, "Ooh, I love it." Yeah. So fun. Yeah. I also liked that she said that she wanted to take 6 months, you know, before officially deciding if she wanted to like be in a relationship cuz she needed time and that he gave her 3 months but then like romantically came back and was like, you know, basically if you'll have me like I'm ready for this. You know, I was like, "Oh, that's sweet." Because he still gave her some space. Um, but kind of gave her the opportunity to know that he's on that same page. So, I liked it. Yeah. Mhm. That was sweet. Yeah. Yeah, it's really without being cringey making me out. A very mature relationship that we're seeing. It's not, you know, she's not young. She's young, but she's not young. She's not an 18-year-old fresh out of high school. You know, we're looking at, you know, mid to late 20s or whatever. And so, you get that maturity that can come with age and experience. So, I appreciated that take. That was also refreshing, too. Mhm. You know, well, and they both, I think, seem a little bit more grown up, too, because like they've been through some stuff. They've lived some life. They've traveled a lot. Um, they have really unique jobs. So, I think it just like opens up their worldview a lot. So, I think that they do interact um on a more mature level than like I think lots of times we're used to in romance books. Yeah. At least in the beginning before the characters really advance. Yeah. Mhm. What about your least favorite part?[Music] Well, that might have been your favorite part, but that guy in the bar was my least favorite part. If I had I didn't like him. I liked that Grady came in and did all this stuff. Yeah. Yeah. But I was like reading it like,"Oh, icky icky guy. Red flag. Ah, run." But it all worked out obviously as meant as a literary device. So, it was great. But if I had to pick something technically, I mean, it wasn't great that she got kidnapped either, but hey, it's all part of the plot. Yeah, those are important plot points. Yeah. Yeah. I wouldn't change it. Yeah. Yeah, that's what I put. I said, uh, the shootout WTF. I was so annoyed by that part because I was like, I feel like her boss in the States like perhaps did not clue her in to like the severity of the situation. Yeah. And that bothered me. I was like, um, okay, it's one thing if you have like multiple people looking for the same artifact, but like you're clearly dealing with like thugs who will kill you. Like that's a different level. And so yeah, when that happened, I was like, not cool, dude. Not cool. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Disliked. Disliked it very much. Uh, okay. So, what about your favorite character? I loved Victoria, aka Vic. She was my favorite. Yeah, I loved her journey. I like that she was Yeah. already mature, but she still had some learning to do because we all do, right? We all have more learning that we can do and embraced the change and was like, you know, just that at that point in her life where she's like, I got to got to do something. Got to change things. Got to move forward. It's time. And we got to see that whole progression and taking her life by the reins once again. Mhm. Yeah. Well, yeah. kind of coming out of that like grief fog, but then like also giving herself this space to like, you know, have fun and meet guys and like not feel guilty about it and, you know, recognize that she's allowed to have fun and to move on and to also recognize that there was a lot that was wrong with her previous relationship and that's okay. Yeah. Yeah. Um, I really appreciate that, too. My favorite character was Grady for sure. Um I mean I loved Victoria as well and I really liked LJ too. She was a cool character. Yeah. Yeah. Um but Grady, like I said, there's just something about like a guy who just moves through life with such a carefree nature. Mhm. But that once you get to know him, you realize that he's actually anything but. You know what I mean? It's like he's very like the re whole reason why he's doing this is to get the money to bail his sister out of the problems that she created in her life. Like he's not even keeping this money for himself. Ooh. You know what? Very Matthew McConnA like romcom coded. Yeah. Totally. Totally. You know that like kind of arrogant but silly, fun, having a good time, but like secretly there's um motives behind it that keeps him going and some trauma. Yep. So, I love that kind of like dichotomy in a character. Like, I feel like it just it makes a good character. She wrote a really great MMC that, you know, is he has his issues, but we all still really like him and we're rooting for him, you know, and they're not even on the same team the whole time. And we still like that's to me a good character when it's like they're in direct opposition to like what, you know, our main character that we are rooting for is trying to get. You know what I mean? like and he's trying trying to like thwart her at every turn and we still like him too. We're like, "Oh, interesting." Like, you know? Yeah. Where's this going to go? So, I definitely liked him the best for sure. Nice. Mhm. Yep. So, what about your least favorite character? I mean, just it's hard when they all feel like, you know, they're necessary. I mean, obviously the Dr. Lopez is a dick. Yeah, but he was supposed to be otherwise we wouldn't have had any problems. So, guy in the bar gets it again. Favorite character representation for what's wrong with males. Yeah, I would say I have to agree with you cuz I put the same thing where I was like Lopez question mark, but like he had to be there had to be some kind of conflict, you know, and it was due to him. So, yeah, I'll I'll go with Krepo as well. Yeah, cuz why not, you know? Yeah. Yeah. All the red flags for him. Yes. So, do do you have any like special quotes that stood out to you from this book? Yes. Let's go. We'll go back and forth for a minute here. Share some good quotes with you guys. All right. So, first one. For what it's worth, whatever obstacle that's hindering you right now, it doesn't have to keep controlling your life. Mhm. It's beautiful. Yeah. Yeah. And it just kind of goes back to like the themes we were talking about, you know, just about like healing after a trauma, moving on with your life, like recognizing that those things happened to you, but you know, trying to I mean, literally, she's like, I'm going to go to Peru and solve this crazy mystery and meet these two guys that I like and like do all this stuff. Like, it's okay to do that. Like, you don't have to, you know, just put your head down and be sad forever. Yeah. So, let's see. True love is one you nurture with a single act every day, even when you don't want to. If you are willing to keep showing up with one small act, then you know it's meant to be. I was like, that's really sweet. I really like that, too. Mhm. Yep. Here's the next one. Fear clings onto a weary soul, but evaporates against the fierce at heart. Mhm. Like, excuse me, Tiffany TJ. That's beautiful, dude. There's these nuggets in there that are just like, "Oh my goodness." Yeah. Stop and highlight. I will say, okay, I had to uh highlight this quote because I laughed out loud. Um where she is What does she do? She's like seducing him to get something. Mhm. I can't remember. Do you remember what she was trying to get? Was it one of the medallions? Yeah, that sounds right. Okay. Yeah. So, they're like at this ball. they've been dancing, whatever. She like corners him into a corner, right? And she's like trying to get one of the medallions from him, I think, is what's going on. But basically, it's like this whole like very um like tensionfilled scene and you think, "Oh, are they going to hook up?" And like he's obviously into it. And then she steals the medallion and just says, "Go[ __ ] yourself, Grady." And leaves. And I was like, "Oh my god." I laughed so hard. I was like, "That was the perfect like response. It's like just reel him in, pickpocket him, and then just be like, "F you, dude. I'm out." Yeah. Yeah. It's like that's one of the reasons why like Yeah. Victoria was just such a funny character to me. For sure. So, there's freedom and letting go of trying to be someone that you aren't. Yeah. I really liked that one cuz that kind of encapsulates like I feel like a lot of the themes of the whole book right there, you know? Mhm. Yeah. Um, and then kind of like one of those mantras that she says that her dad told her that she kind of says to keep her going that we talked about with TJ on the interview and she kind of explains a little bit more is the art of bluffing is what keeps you in the game. And it's kind of like the Yeah. It's like the fake it till you make it mentality, but like not in like a toxic positivity way, like more in just like a one foot in front of the other kind of way. Mhm. So yeah, we really liked that one as well. Mhm. So, let's just kind of like talk about the spice here for a second. Yeah. So, what did you think? Like, did it flow well? Was there enough? Did you want more, less? Like, was it cringe? Like, what did you think about it? I thought it was an integral part of her healing journey and stepping into who she is. And um I touched on so many themes like we talked about with TJ, you know, and getting over that shame from purity culture basically, you know, and having, you know, only that one experience so far and being like, hey, I'm an adult woman here and let's have a good time and that's okay, you know, and then what it cuz it represented so much more to me than let's say just, you know, the spice. So I thought it the use of it as a lit literary device was excellent. And not only that, I felt like the scenes were well written. Yeah. So, 100% agree. Good pacing, like perfect amount of like, you know, didn't drag on and it wasn't too fast either. It was just all around loved it. Nothing was cringey about it in my opinion. And I like that she was balancing, you know, different experiences with different guys as well. Yeah. And not being ashamed about it. Yeah. I completely agree. I liked that it wasn't a love triangle necessarily. Uh but there was still, you know, um you know, she was having encounters with two different guys on her own terms. And I really liked that a lot. Um I liked that she never went back and forth like feeling guilty or like self-loathing about it. That wasn't the point, you know. Um I really appreciated that and I agree with you. It was like, you know, she's taking this like literal journey and this trip to kind of help her get, you know, her life back and help her come back to herself, but then she's also allowing herself to have new fun experiences without Yeah. without like any of the guilt that comes with, you know, not just purity culture, but also having a spouse die, like those kinds of things, too, you know. Um, it's been 3 years. She's like, I need to start moving forward. Um, and also not putting such an immense amount of pressure and like importance on a sexual encounter. I think that's the other thing. It's like I feel like when you grow up in purity culture, it's so deeply ingrained that it's like the end all be all experience that will define your life in so many ways. And at the end of the day, it's like learning that like actually you could just have sex for fun also. Yeah. Just because you want to and move on with your life. It's not that serious. Yeah. Exactly. Like if both adults are consenting and into it and you just want to have a good time, that's also a thousand% acceptable and fine. And I like that she's just letting herself do that. Yeah. I was like, it was great. Um Yeah. And then as far as how the spice was written, I feel like the frequency was perfect for the story. I feel like all the scenes felt very organic. Nothing felt out of place. Nothing was cringy. I feel like everything flowed with the characters personalities. Um you could see it playing out, you know, just Yeah. like a movie would play out and I was like, "This is great." Yeah, it was just a good time. Loved it. Yeah, for sure. For sure. So, you know, we know that that a sequel, according to, you know, TJ's interview, that a sequel will eventually come out. There's no date planned for it or anything like that at this time. So, if we weren't covering this for the podcast, would you read a sequel? Absolutely. Absolutely. I'm I'm hoping because for me, this is like such like we talked about, you would just watch The Mummy. It's such summer vibes. Like treasure hunting to me is like that's what we would watch in the summer when it was like you just watch them all back toback and do a marathon as a kid. So, I'm really hoping maybe this will have like a May or June release. Maybe, you know, we were lucky enough to be able to read this, you know, right during summer and I know it was released just now in September 15th, but we're hoping that in the next one, too. Yeah. Summer read. That would be perfect timing for sure. I don't know. That's might be too soon. Sorry. No pressure. But like if you can't tell, we're we're theme girlies over here. We're vibe girlies and I love to like have the full vibe everywhere going, you know? So, like I'm in Hawaii, I want to be reading, I don't know, something tropical. I don't know. If it's summer, I want to be reading things that would be like to me, you know, treasure hunting. It would be one of them. But there's not a lot available on the market. No, there's really not. Yeah. Hey, here we go. I would say, you know, if this sounds interesting to you, you know, get your copy, read it, you'll enjoy it. If you already love this genre perhaps and you have other suggestions, share them with the group because I feel like, you know, we would love the more the marrier, you know, so send us your recommendations in this kind of in the archaeology space. Send us your recommendations. Yeah. Leave a comment, you know, on YouTube, Spotify, or you can DM us if you're listening on a different platform or you're driving and, you know, you're on our Instagram later and like, hey, this try this book out. We would love to hear it. So yeah, we can all share and we'll share those to the people to community people so that way everybody can know. Yes. Yeah. Um and then let's see. Were there any things that you feel like we haven't talked about so far that make this book like unique to you or you know if you were to like pitch it to someone who's like should I read this? Like anything that you would want to mention? Anything else that hasn't? I mean, I feel like I'm harped on it a million times, but yeah, if you want all those vibes, Mummy National Treasure, but Mr. Mrs. Smith tension, it's great. You know, if you guys read it, you know you love it. Tell everybody. Tell everybody. Get everybody to read this, you know, cuz it's good and we want her to keep making more. Yeah. Yeah. I agree. I mean, I would say that that's just what makes it unique. Like, do I read a lot of books that I enjoy? Yes. Do I necessarily read a lot of books that are so unique that I sit there and go, "Wow, I've never read another book quite like this before." Like that doesn't happen very often. I feel like to me, you know, where I'm like, "Wow, what a cool idea." And that's just so exciting to be able to like read the romance version of a lot of plots that we really like, you know? So, um, yeah, that's what made it unique to me, made it stand out. I think that's about it. I mean, and I think what I love for me is what TJ did is she kind of took everything that I love in fantasy, like, you know, character development and trauma healing and, you know, a sk good scavenger hunt. I always love that. And she made me like a contemporary book, but there is like a little bit of what you would say magic, you know, with the curses and the cup and everything. So, it's kind of like that good little mix in there that gave me something fresh and unique and not repetitive. So, well, and also I guess like as someone who en you know for you, you enjoy fantasy a lot more than contemporary romance typically. So, I think that what that did for you was like really added enough elements like supernatural elements and like adventury type elements to like suck you into a story that maybe without those things you wouldn't have loved as much. Totally. Yeah. Totally. Mhm. Yeah. 100%. We all love a good mystery, you know? Yeah. Yeah. A cursed object. Like, come on. I do. I love it. So, who would you recommend this book for? So yeah, if you loved grow up love those treasure hunting movies, Mummy, all those things, you guys try it out. If you love contemporary, but you're like,"Oh, let let me go on like a little adventure, try this out. If you like fantasy, but maybe you kind of need like a little palette cleanser, you know, so you have that fantasy element in there, but you want to switch it up, try it out." Like character development, character growth, amazing. Love it. Just everybody try it. Whether you love fantasy, you love contemporary, you love romance, or you're looking to get into it, this would be a good intro book into any of those three things. I think whether not necessarily fantasy, but there is a fantasy element. So maybe it would dip people's toes in, you know, I feel like sometimes when you tell people fantasy, they're like hiss, you know, it's like just not something that like they a lot of people that I'll make suggestions to, well, I read romance, but no fantasy, please. you know, I think that they're kind of turned off by like just the level of like world building that sometimes will go on can get a little bit cumbersome, but with a book like this, it's like you get a little bit of magic, but it's not like over the top at all. And so maybe Yeah, maybe it could help convert more of those people over to our side. Yeah, exactly. Like cuz if they Hey, hey, did you like that? Now, you know, you can introduce them to your entire catalog, but ease them in. Yeah. Ease them in. Ease them in. Yeah. you know, you like adventure books, great. You like romance books, great. You like fantasy books, you know what I mean? It's like, yeah, that's why I think, you know, very rarely, I think, do we read a book that checks enough boxes to where it could be, I think, very universally accepted. Um, you know, obviously we read a lot of popular books that are popular among people who love the books we like, right? But I think that this is one of those books that if you just saw it at the bookstore on the new releases and picked it up, a vast majority of people would really enjoy it, I think. Yeah. Truly. Yeah. Yeah. So, any last words for Among the Cursed gods? Last words. No, just please if you haven't if you really if you listen to this whole thing, you got spoiled and everything. Just go read it for yourself cuz it's about the journey. Okay. Everybody about the journey. Yeah. Yeah. Cuz we miss a lot of We missed all the vibes. You got to go feel it. You got to go vibe with it. I'm already ready to read the sequel. So, when she was like, I'm not sure yet. I'm like, no, I want to know. I'm ready to read it. But yeah, you reminded me that I need to read the bonus chapter. So, I'll just read that later and that'll give me a little taster, a little it'll tie me. It's kind of I'll say this, you know, since we're in the spoiler section. It's like how it's more so like um you can add it in if you want, you know, in your mind to a part of it. kind of how Lindsay Strob Strohu Lindsy Strawby did with Kiss of the Bassis slash, you know, and the Challenger scene perhaps. Yeah. And the challenger scene. So, it's one of those like it doesn't do have anything to do with the plot. You could add it in in your brain or you could not, you know, you could omit it, you know? So, choose your own adventure with that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'm excited. Um, cool. Okay. So, then we should probably just wrap this up with a smasher pass. Let's go. So, we're talking about the mummy. So, I got to pick somebody from The Mummy. Okay. But it needs to be unhinged. Well, it's kind of unhinged. It's not unhinged for everybody, but it might be for some. Okay. Cuz we've already talked about the goddess lady, I think, in the interview with Tiffany. Obviously, she was like a smash. Brendan Frasier, I think for most of us, is a smash. Is he a smash for you? Brendon Frasier and the Mummy. In the Mummy. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. Um, so there's a villain. I don't remember his name, but you just watched him. The guy. Okay. The guy. Villain. Mummy. The mummy. Smasher pass him. Wait. This guy, the vault guy. Yeah. Uhhuh. That was my smasher pass for you as well. Ah, well, hey. Yeah. Um, so his name is Arnold Vaselu. That's his name. Easy to remember. Uh, specifically though as the guy in The Mummy who like brings back his like lost love and whatever, right? Like that character that as that character, he's a smash for me for sure. Oh, it's good. Yeah. What about you? No. Really? No. Yeah, that's interesting. Yeah, I just remember him being a dick, but it's been like 10 years since I watched it. Well, but he's only like that because literally he's very like tunnel vision. All he wants is to bring back his lost love and that is very like, you know, touch her and die like true vibes. So, you know, ask me when I rewatch it cuz this was the lens of a kind scary. He's scary, but so are the best of them. You know what I mean? Yeah. Hey, I I got I just got one that I remembered. Okay. Specifically, this is nice and unhinged. Okay. Specifically, I think it's the Mummy, too. Oh, I don't rock. The rock is the scorpion guy. Okay. Okay. The rock is almost even as a scorpion. As a scorpion like does he turn into a scorpion? I don't remember. Yeah, he's like a he's like a centaur scorpion. Look it up. Oh my god. Okay. The rock like in the mummy. I haven't watched The Mummy 2 in. No, I'm just kidding. I think it's the main like villain guy. It's been a long time. Oh my god. Okay. Look it up. I am I mean vibes. Yeah, but past because like that's a lot of like pointy legs. It's very spidery. It's grossing me out just thinking about it. All the pictures that are popping up are just of him and like a loin cloth or weird pants. Um I'm not swaying your opinion a little bit. Oh, wait. Oh, here we go. The mummy the rock scorpion. I just Googled it. It came right up. Okay. The mummy the rock scorpion. Yeah, cuz I'm like right now it's just the rock. So guys, no. Also, this is like when pre CGI was fairly new to the scene. I feel too scary. Too scary. So scary. It's like crab hands. I mean, it's scorpion hands, but he's very crabby. Crab hands. Absolutely not. Even if I was whatever he was. I don't know. If I was what he was, then probably Smash, though, because I would look like that, too. I mean, true. And you wouldn't be grossed out by the limbs. So, if I was if I was a centaur scorpion, then smash smash the rock as a centaur scorpion. But as far as like monster romance goes, like would I let him take me back to his nest? No, I don't think so. Like what if he, you know, was the rock and he shapeshifts cuz I think that's what he does. He shapeshifts into the scorpion. Then still smash. Pretty sure that's his character. So still smash knowing that's that's what it's underneath. Yeah, because it's like if he can h if he can assume a human form then it's fine. Yeah, I don't want to see that. I get the ick I mean it's gross for sure, but I would just be like just do that away from me. Do that away from me. Go get it out of your system somewhere else. Yeah, the scorpion king is what it's called. The scorpion. I mean, that makes sense for sure. Wow, what a what a treasure to look forward to. What a treat to look forward to later. It's so bad, everyone. That is really bad. I think the CGI was bad then cuz it looks like a a bad CGI uh video game, you know, totally like where the faces are kind of flat and smash. Yeah. Well, I might regret my decision. I'll watch it and then I'll report back and I might have to like amend my answer. But like I said, like if as long as I didn't have to see him in that form, I'd be okay with the knowledge that that's a thing. You know what I mean? If I only ever saw him in the human form. I mean, The Rock is pretty typ casted, so he pretty much plays the same kind of if he's either funny or he's like fearful. Yeah. You know, like feared to be feared. He gives like, you know, kind of like a call Drogo vibe it looks like. So, I'm okay with that. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Well, what if they redid that? What if they redid the movie with Jason Mimoa? Yeah. Jasona is not even my type and he would do a great job. Yeah, he would do a great job. I He wouldn't He isn't usually either for me, but for some reason it's that it's the lighting of the mummy with the flames. It's the scared of the claws. Yeah. Yeah. But I feel like he would fit the suit a little bit better, you know? I mean, yeah. Jason Mimo, he's an interesting one because it's like it's like it's all personality for me. I know a lot of people it's uh literally just how he looks. You know what I mean? But he is not my type. And so for me it's not the looks, it's his character. It's like him as called Drogo. Yes. It's like him as Aquaman. Absolutely. Like but like him walking down the street as Jason Mamoa. No. Absolutely not. No. Him as a scorpion. Sure. Sure. Why not? Why not? A little why not action. Okay. So, we're officially starting the petition to remake these movies and have But don't remake the first one. Don't touch that. It's perfect. Breny Frasier's perfect. Well, cuz they would cast some guy who's like 22 and then we'd have to have that in our brain. No. Goodbye. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Well, we'll get your votes on all those things. I think that what we should do is we should do a smasher pass for Yeah. The Rock is a scorpion king. Um, obviously the mummy guy, the bald guy and then um Brendan Frraasier as well because we're assuming that everyone's gonna smash Brennan Frasier, but there's gota there's probably gonna be a few people who wouldn't. Yeah, he's a big like personality. He was a big like awakening for me for sure. George of the Jungle, you know, he was ripped. So, Incino Man, like all those things. I So, my husband and I determined I've never seen Inen Man. I had actually never heard of it or seen a trailer until he showed it to me the other night. So that's weird. George of the Jungle I did watch uh and I wasn't really into it. So as a kid, you don't need to watch it now. That's what I'm saying. As a kid, I watched it and I was like, I don't really like this. Um so yeah, Brennan Frasier pretty much the only thing I liked him in was The Mummy. Did you watch that one? I loved it. It was like the um Blast from the Past, that one. And then what was the one? He used to be in so many movies. Bedazzled. Is that what it was called with that girl? She's so hot. She's in um uh you know, this is helping. Uh he backs up his car. Austin Powers. He's the girlfriend in Austin Powers. I'm pretty sure you It's Bedazzled. You never watched Bedazzled. She's like He like sells his soul for three wishes to get the girl. Oh my god, I forgot about that movie. Guys, watch it. It's such a good summer class. Elizabeth, yes, I forgot. I did. I really liked this movie and I completely forgot about it until right now. Ooh, I want to rewatch it. Let's watch it next week. Yes, let's watch it next week. After Dark. Yeah. Oh my god, that's such a mustache. Yes. Oh my god, it's so good. It's so good. Okay, so yeah, it would have been The Mummy and then Bedazzled, which I completely forgot existed until right now. What a time to be alive. Okay, I'm excited. There you go, guys. Book recommendations and movie recommendations. You're welcome. Just the Brendan Frasier catalog. There was a couple summers there in my youth that was just like all Brendan Frasier movies. He was a commodity back then, you know. He was in everything. I like his personality in uh The Mummy as well, though. For sure. Yeah. Yeah. He's got a good personality. Yeah, for sure. But you guys let us know in the polls, okay, over on Instagram, Besties in the Books podcast, cuz some of you are probably like blleh. And so we want your voice to count too. So cast it in the polls. Let us know. And while you're at it, make sure to like, follow, and subscribe everywhere you like to listen to your favorite podcast, including YouTube. But you guys, I think that's all she wrote today. Yep. All right. All right. We'll see you next Tuesday. Next Tuesday. Bye.[Music]