Ep 82 “Halloweentown for ADULTS?” Stepping into the Haven Ever After Books Series by Hazel Mack

Today we’re bringing you a deep dive follow up to a very exciting and mostly spoiler free author interview episode with Hazel Mack all about the monster romcom series that stole our hearts: Haven Ever After! We’ll be discussing all NINE books that complete this lighthearted happily ever after series including eight full length books, and one short novella. 

This series has every type of monster - gargoyles to vampires, witches to werewolves, and everyone in between… and they are ALL falling in love. Single dad, sports romance, enemies to lovers, fated mates, second chance romance, and he falls first are just some of the tropes we love. And don’t worry… every book is at least a 3-4 on the spice scale, despite the Gilmore Girls vibes. 😉

We hope you’re going on this journey to the magical, sentient town of Ever with us. If not, there’s still time! We give a brief description of the series as a whole and then get into our least and most favorite moments, MMCs, FMCs, and couples, and even share notable quotes and an overall ranking of every book. Just read it, we promise you’ll love it! 

And then stick around for a good old fashioned fave and fail about vacation prep, good bookmail days, and a Ricky Bobby baby, and a smash or pass full of monsters! 

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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

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Chapters

• 0:00 Spoiler Free Intro
• 3:00 Fav 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

If you're in the fall mood, you're just going to eat these up. Sentient houses. Dude, there's something about Minota. If you are cool, you'll read it. [Music] Hey everybody, I'm Liz. And I'm Ashley and welcome to the Besties in the Books podcast. Here we are. I feel like my arms just looked really long for some reason. I don't know why. You know, it's a happy Halloween. Happy Yeah, happy Halloween from Liz's long arms. I do have long arms, but they just looked abnormally long or something. You got a little self-conscious there for a second. Well, you have beautiful arms. Don't worry about it. It's great. It's great. Well, welcome. Way to way to come on in and enter our space, guys. What's up? How's it going? Today's episode, it will be our follow-up episode, in case you missed it, or in case you didn't, to Hazel Max interview. We interviewed the author of the series that we're featuring today on this deep dive episode, which is the Haven Ever After series, and we're kind of deeming her, at least in our lives, a bit of the, you know, the queen of monster romance because we fell in love in all the right places. I'm like literally mixing up so many songs in my brain. It just shortcircuited. Guys, we're filming late at night, which we rarely do. So, buckle up. It's going to be extra fun. I'm excited. Was that like friends in low places? It was like I've got friends. But then what was it like? Low places mixed with like looking for love in all the wrong places like And then I don't know, something really off key in there for sure. So, yeah, it's our theme song for today. Mhm. All of the songs. Yep. Yep. All of them. Like all the love songs and just went in went in deep. Went in hard. Mhm. That's appropriate for this. I feel like Yeah, we should. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. All right. So, anyways, uh Hey, let's talk about this a second. So, hey, so in case you are like, "What the heck is Ever After?" Like Haven Ever After series, what's that all about? This will be spoiler-free for the first 15 minutes or so. So, feel free to hang out with us. Uh, you know, we'll peique your interest with our reviews that are remain spoiler-free for that portion and then we'll get into the deep dive, the nitty-gritty. So, there's eight books to cover today, which sounds crazy, but we break them down for you quick and rapid, one at a time. This episode is 10 hours long. 10 hours like at least. Well, there's a novella 8 and 1/2 hours. No, we we're try and keep it as our normal. It was hard. Liz is our map girl as well as our spice girl. So, she handled it good, good and hard, long and fast. So, we're gonna be like talking about our favorites, Lee's favorites, you know, just rapid fire cuz we really just want to peique your east in your interest, your interest. And uh if you want to remain completely spoilerfree though, you can definitely check out that interview that we had with Hazel Mack where you get a good glimpse into the world, some insight about behind the magic, if you will. and we'll have that linked on the description box. But feel free to hang out cuz like we said, we're not going to be going too deep into spoilers. It's cuz it's really about the journey with the Haven Ever After series. It's a cozy times. It's a Gilmore Girls and the you know Halloween Town but for adults. Yeah, this is great. Yeah, we'll give we'll be giving you guys kind of like a breakdown of generally what to expect from this series and then we'll be ranking all nine books. So, we're we are including the nolla um as one of them as well. Um, and yeah, giving our overall review of the series as a whole, um, spice rating of the series as a whole. So, yeah, I mean, it's definitely going to have spoilers after that 15 minutes, but they're not going to be major ones. So, yeah, there's that. That's what you guys can expect from today. We will be getting into some of our favorite tropes from the series, our favorite couples, um, you know, just kind of like favorite characters, least favorite characters, all that kind of good stuff. But we're just going to be covering the whole series together. That way you guys can decide if I mean sounds silly even saying it out loud, but if like Halloween Town for adults with Gilmore Girls vibes like is for you, like I'm sorry, but is that not for everybody? Come on. If you're hanging out with us, it is for you. I know it. I just know it. I mean, if you're not watching the video, I mean, we're literally in Halloween vibes right now. Halloween spirit. You have a skeleton ham Lincoln 82T. I'm in a skeleton like onesie jumpsuit with a orange beanie. You know, we're just feeling the vibes over here. So, get into it with us. Let's go. So, before we get into all of that, uh before we get into the Haven Ever After series by Hazel Mack, um we just want to say thank you so much for being here. Seriously, thank you guys so much for being here, taking time out of your day and your book to come hang out with us, goofballs. Especially if you've gotten past this beginning intro, then you're the real ones. What's up? You might as well like, follow, and subscribe if you've watched it this far already because you're one of us. One of us. So, hit that subscribe button. Hit that like. If you feel like leaving us a little review, that definitely helps our podcast out a lot. You can do that on Apple Music and or podcast, Apple Podcast, Spotify, like wherever you like to listen. Music. Now, we're just going to sing you some songs. Great. For a half hours. Yeah. Buckle up. We got uh we made a new song for every book, and each one is long. Go. Uh, people are like, "What are we even doing here? What's going on?" Um, yeah. So, hey, you want to see more weird stuff from us, go check out Instagram, Tik Tok, we're at Bessies in the Books podcast everywhere. So, come say what's up. Come say what's up. So, okay. Before we get started, should we just do a fave and fail of the week? Yeah, let's do it. Fave and fail of the week. You go first. Okay. Uh, well, I mean, my f I have a couple faves of the week. Great. Yeah, it is great because it's been really chaotic. So, you know, hey. Um, so my first fave of the week is that I leave to go on vacation tomorrow. So, obviously that's a fave for real. Um, I'm really looking forward to it, but you guys know it's always very, very hectic. My fail is just that it's always very hectic to get out of town. Um, I feel like especially like when you own a small business, it's like good luck, you know what I mean? So, it's been very crazy. But yeah, the fave is that I do get to go on a fun vacation. Really exciting. Um, you know, I get to see Wicked on Broadway in a couple days. So, like that's a huge fave for sure. Um, so yeah, that is definitely my fave. And uh my fail is just that my life has been in chaos the last probably at least I don't know one to two weeks just trying to like prepare to go um and I'm still not ready. So hey it's only the night before we leave. It's fine. High five. And here we are doing this. Yeah. Um my other fave is that I have it's been a good book mail week. Ooh. Yes. Yeah. So, I just came home to Tourist Season by Bin Weaver. So, I know everyone is freaking out about that book. Everyone loves it who, you know, read it early as an ARC. So, I'm very very excited to dive into that one. I I did uh the Ruinous Love trilogy on audio. So, I'm thinking that I'll probably do Tour Season on audio as well, but I had to have my shelf trophy. Plus, I ordered the signed special edition copy from Barnes & Noble, so it's very cute. Cute. Yeah. Um, I also got Alchemized in the mail. Um, you know, and that is a I don't know 900ish page big big guy for sure. So, I'm excited to read it. I just have no idea when that's actually going to occur. But I am excited to read it and learn what the hype is for sure. Um, what else? Oh, I got um I'm like, what else did I get? Oh, I picked two books up at Target that were un I don't want to say unlikely that I would pick them up because they're not at all, but they were just something that was a little bit different that I kind of like forgot about. Um, so I picked up Elizabeth Gilbert's new book. It's called All the Way to the River: Love, Loss, and Liberation. So, this is her third memoir. Um, I'm sure most of you guys are very familiar with E, Pray, Love. Then her follow-up memoir, Committed, which I'm obsessed with that book, and I feel like no one talks about it, so you guys should read it. And then this is her third one. I'm like, "Wow, to have three memoirs out." Yeah, that's that's pretty impressive. So, I'm excited to read that. Also, the other one I picked up from Target would say. And then I did I started The Laundry and 3 days later, it still wasn't put away. And that's my book. So, good for that lady for having enough stuff in life to write three books about. Could it be me? Truly. Truly. I mean, I feel like our our book would be interesting. Like if we ever if we ever got to write a memoir, you know, like, you know, about our podcast. Mhm. It would be a good one. Yeah. What would it be? What would it be about? Very excit I don't know. I think we indoctrinated them with the crows and then they all became a a crow member and it was great. It was beautiful. The end. Here's the five crowandments. You're welcome. Yeah. Hey, it's just our It's just our cult manifesto. That's it. Right. So, for anyone who doesn't know, and we've talked about it before, we both really enjoyed Matthew McConna's book, Green Lights. Yeah. Uh for for anyone who does not realize it, Matthew McConna just came out with a second book. Oo. Okay. But what is it, you ask? It's a book of poems and prayers. It's a poetry book. Just give us a sentence. Just pick a random page and give us a sentence. Let's see if it's good. All right, here we go. Random page.

Uh, be best at what you're good at, not better at what you're not. Win again at what you won at before you fight with what you fought. I am not making this up.

It's It's like I always say, you just took the words right out of my mouth. Good job. You You fight for what you fought. Yep. Like like the saying goes. Matthew McConn. Yeah. He's consistent and sometimes that's all we want in life. So yeah, that's beautiful. You know, I thought about listening to it on audio, but I was like, hm, I think it might be even more nonsensical if I do that. You know what I mean? but then his voice. So, I don't know. I think I might do both. We'll see. Yeah. Um or just if you a little nugget throughout the day, just do that. Just flip through a page and pick a random poem to read. I think that might be a good idea. Yes. Dressed up for the evenings, they like to be seen. Heavy on maintenance, they leverage their lean. Not sure what that means, but All right. An excerpt from page 49. There you go. Um, I saw it and I knew that I was going to buy it. I was at Target and I was like, I don't know. And then I was like, "No, who are you kidding? Just get it. Just get it. You're curious. You want to know. Well, people want to know." So, anyway, there's a little gift or gift to you is if you didn't know about that book, go get it. Yep. Uh, so those are my faves and fails of the week so far. What do you have for us so far? The faves have failed so far. The week is young. It's Thursday. The week is young. It is. Yeah. So, hey. Okay. So, I'll start off with my fail. End on a good note. Um, I accident I think all of us can relate to this. I'm looking at you guys. Um, I accidentally ordered a book that I already owned. So, hey, you know, I went and promptly returned it to Barnes & Noble and bought a different What did you order? The the second Crow book. Cuz when we went to Oh, when we went to meet Lindsay Strappy when she was here for Kiss the Bassilisk down in San Diego, we stopped by uh you know, it was the shop, the bromance shop. Uh what was it called? Meet cute or was that the one it was supposed to? Yeah, the bookshop. And then we shopped after while we waited to meet her. And that's when I bought my two crow books. And um so I ordered the second one after I finished the first one. And then I happened to reorganize my books the other day which like needed to happen but I wasn't meaning to do. You know what I mean? Like it's something that I was like not my problem and I just happened to get a wild hair and do it and I was like perfect timing cuz there's that book and I can go exchange it for a different book. So it was great. So you know not the worst thing. It was in time you know. I mean I would have just gifted it if I did if I couldn't exchange it. Speaking of that, I ended up with, because people are so generous and lovely, I ended up with two gifted copies of uh Making Out with Mermaids, which is book seven in the Haven Ever After series, just to bring it all back in. So, I'll save that if you'd like it. Oh, I'll take it. So, there's that. Beautiful. Yeah. Mhm. Sneak peek is one of my faves. So, uh and then a fave. Uh, I'll say hey. Hey. I don't remember this. Last week I blacked out. I don't know. Um, I'll give a shout out to my sister who threw her uh I saw the It's so cute. And I got to say this mean this this means a lot coming from me cuz I'm not a sucker for kids birthday parties. So, this is a high compliment. Okay. to give a special shout out uh because it's her son's first birthday. And so what the theme was was if you ain't first, you're last from Tallaladega Nights. And if that couldn't be more perfect. Oh my goodness, it was so funny. My favorite part cuz you know, she had little like nods to the movie with throughout cuz he's a baby and he like sure race cars, whatever, but it's really for the adults anyways, you know. So I loved that. And then she had a printed out a giant cut out of his face. And then next to it was a sign that said, "Sign my baby because that's what he does on what the lady says, sign my baby." And he's like, "Okay." And so we all signed his head. It was so funny on the printout, not the real baby. And just to clarify, so it just great. That's great. So shout out to her. That was super fun. I mean, obviously, we got to see family. It's been a while since I was able to see everybody because the crazy summer and uh so it was good good times. Kids got to play. It was super fun. She did a great job. Yeah, I saw the pictures and the one where um it's like a group of all of them and over Ricky Bobby's head they put the baby's head. I was like, "Oh my god, that's freaking hilarious." I was like I was just cracking up. Yeah. Yeah. It was so I was too busy talking to everybody to take the pictures of like everything that was there, but it was just so funny. It was so Well, they were dressed up, too. Yeah. Yeah. my sister and her husband, he was wearing he literally, we were trying to figure out, we're like, why does he look so natural as like a NASCAR driver, you know what I mean? Like the costume just looks like he had it. Like it just made sense. It didn't look like he was wearing a costume. You know what I mean? And then we figured out he looks like the villain guy in the thing. Uh, you know what I what is his name? Cuz he plays he's a comedian. Yeah, he's super famous. I can't remember his name either, but I know exactly who you're talking about. He literally looks like that guy cuz he has the same hair and everything. I was like, "It just just say you like crepes. It's just tiny pancakes." I was like, "Oh, there you go." And then my sister looked so cute cuz her friend had her borrow the Wonderbread NASCAR, you know, jacket. She had her big old high country boots. It was so cute. Yeah. And then obviously the kid looked cute and we all I didn't take pictures of my family, but we all got talight shirts, too. And it was really cute. But again, I was too busy running around. But we we got to still wear them. I cut off my husband's like sleeves, you know, so he could be tank top style. It was great. It was great. We're big fans. We Yeah, I was going to say any Ricky Bobby moment is a good moment, you know. Well, Feral, really? So, tie that in. I'm like, that's genius. If you ain't first, you're last. Wow. Genius. Genius. Genius. So good. So, okay, let's just give our spoilerfree. So, we're still spoilerfree over here. Mhm. Uh, star and spice rating for the whole Haven Ever After series altogether. Uh, and if you'd recommend it, who you'd recommend it to? We're like, we're going to do a whole episode on it, but we don't recommend it. Yeah. On all nine books that we read for this episode. Can you imagine? Yeah. Um, hey, as one whole collection, I'll start us off here. Yeah, you know, it's going to be a five star for me all around, dude. Yeah. So, hey, you know, what can be said? Uh, that's spoilerfree. If you are cool, you'll read it. No, if you know what this was, this was my first monster romance when it started. Was it your first monster romance technically other than vampires? I feel like that's Yeah, that's gray area. This was like a gargoyle. Okay, that started us off. Mhm. Um I'm trying to think. Other than vampires, other than the traditional shifters, like this is specifically. Yeah. Yeah. Um monsters outside of the traditional paranormal romance realm. That's like fairly common, I would say. Yeah, I think so. Well, we may be completely wrong and it may be like our 97th, but nonetheless, it's the one that really stuck. Yeah, for sure. For sure. Yeah. So, with that said, uh yeah, if you either like Monster Romance or you're curious about it, you know, little monster curious, check it out. If you liked Halloween Town or the idea of Halloween Town, cuz I I you know, uh Hazel Mac said she hadn't even watched it until recently. Was like, "Oh, yeah, I could see it." I didn't watch it fully until maybe last year and even still I kind of zoned out a little bit but like I was going to say I think we watched it together. Okay. Yeah. I knew the vibes, you know, so it gave me those vibes and like it's such a cozy cute time. There's a story line. There's multiple story lines going on there. I'm not very eloquent right now, but just do it, guys. Just start with one and then you'll read them all. See where it goes. Yeah. It's only like what? The first one's only like 200 to 300 pages. Just give it a try. I'd say that most of them they're probably average about 250 to 300 pages each and um with one nolla that's like a 100 pages. Yeah. Yeah. What would you do? You want me to just give my spice rating or do you have a spice rating for the series as a whole? I will guess mine. Uh right. Four. Yeah, I agree. Oh, see I'm getting better at this. Yeah, there you go. Um, okay. So, I don't know that it needs to be said, but it's a five star series for me as well. Um, I do have a question, like a little surprise question for you, if you will. Did you rate any of the individual books lower than a five star? Um, yeah. Yeah. Lower than four star. Was there anything lower than a four star? Yeah. Me neither. But you're like cuz like you know ranking you know I there's a couple that were like oh that's easy to put on the lower part for me but like it's still a four. It's just cuz maybe it didn't resonate with me for one reason or another you know. Yeah. This is like ranking like ranking a bunch of books that we enjoy. So yeah I didn't rate anything lower than a four star either. Just I felt like the clarification would be good for people. Yeah. So all of these in our opinion are four or five star for sure. Yeah, five star series. Um, I would agree with the four spice rating because I think lots of times when we see romcom, when we see a cartoon cover, um, and I mean they're gorgeous covers, but they are cartoon covers still. Yeah. Um, I think lots of times we can assume that maybe the spice level might be a little bit lower. And I think this is one of the reasons why I would recommend this series to literally anyone who enjoys romance, dark romance, even like monster romance, because I feel like The Spice is so well written. Um, and it's not like it's not super tame and just cutesy because it is monster romance. So, we've got a fair amount of like, you know, quote unquote unconventional kinks in there that I think like, you know, a wide array of folks could enjoy. M yeah. Um and but at the same time like you know Hazel Mack herself described them as very lighthearted. I think at the end of the day like they are happily ever after. They are lighthearted. Um but they do have important themes. Um they representation. Yeah. They have great representation. So I feel like they're just a very well-rounded series that like I mean I feel like I'd be pretty hardressed like to find someone I think who wouldn't be able to enjoy at least one of these books. but probably multiples of them. Um, yeah, if you like reading any of those types of books. So, I would recommend them to everybody. Yeah. But for real, and especially, I mean, if you're in the fall mood and you want something to put you in the Halloween, you know, time mode, like, you're just going to eat these up. And they're all on KU, so bonus. Yep. I mean, it's it's crazy to me that we're sitting here today talking now about nine of these books when if you guys have been here since maybe the beginning almost pretty early on that Liz and I did a like episode. What gives you the ick in books and book boyfriends and things like that. And so mine was tails. Liz's was um not earrings that came from the book. Uh was like small town romance. Yeah. Cowboy. I mean here we are. this is a small town monster romance and Tales was what, you know, Liz was searching for to try to ick me out. And actually, it's not that I'm okay with Tales now by any means. I'm not. I'm willing to look past it cuz the story and everything is so good. Um, and obviously the tale situation is only in the first one, but um it's like it's Well, yeah. I mean, there's multiple like specific like happenings with the tail. happenings with the tail. Yeah. Or or I blacked out there any other ones I could because I'm willing to look past it. I think just the gargoyle books have like quote unquote happenings with the tail. Um but there are multiple I mean like book the minotaur book obviously like he has a tail but I don't think they use it for anything. Yeah, I'd be really um throwing it across the room cuz that is like high on my level of kinds of tails with the tuft. Yep. For sure. Uh that'll do it. So, hey, but I'm just saying like, yeah, give it a chance. Give it a try. You're like, I don't know, Halloween Town for adults sounds like cheesy or I don't know if I like spicy romance books. Like, give it a try because it's just if you love Halloween stuff, give it a try because it's so fun, you know, and like she said, it's lighthearted, it's sweet, but then they have heavy themes in there. I just think it's so well balanced, and I love that, you know. I like being able to read a book sometimes that it's just it's just a nice fun time, you know? Yeah. Well, and I think what's really awesome about this series, too, is that you don't necessarily need to read them all. You don't necessarily need to read them all in order. Like they are connected and there's like definitely, you know, like a a cohesive enough storyline throughout them all, but each book um follows a different relationship. And so, you know, they are connected but separate. I also read the first two last Halloween and then went back in and started reading book three for, you know, this episode and went through the rest of them. You don't need to go back and reread the other ones if there's a span of time in between. I felt like I could just pick it right back up and I wasn't lost at all. So, I love that. Agree. Yeah. You don't have to cram it all in in like a month like we did. Yeah. You can spread it out. But yeah, as like a little treat, you know. Yeah, they are they are a very bingeable series though, I will say, because the other thing that I was concerned about is like, are they gonna get repetitive? And I know we talked about this before, too. And I felt like every story was so special in its own way that it didn't start feeling repetitive to me. So, I really appreciated that, too. That's hard to do, I feel like, for some authors. And she nailed it. Super good. Yeah, it's great. So should we get into the spoiler section? Should we just should we go there? One more thing I want to say is you know this is this is a book series that can that painted such a beautifully easy to imagine town that like I want to be there. I think about it all the time. Like I think about these books all the time cuz they're just so nice, so lovely. I know. It makes me want them. It would be like the perfect story to turn into like a show. I feel like so much. Yeah. Like because you just like you can visualize it and be in it in the books. Like I feel like I'm there every single time. Yeah. Like I would start reading it again. I'm just in that town. It's so great. You know, you miss them. It's that kind of entrenchment into the story. Yeah. And yeah, it's one of those that like, yeah, I want to visit it. I want to watch a show on it. I don't want to watch a movie. I want it to be a miniseries. like I want to consume all the media on it because it just seems like it's just that perfect perfect storm. It's beautiful. Well, it's like I mean, as we said before, I feel like we have a lot of media, right, with like the more popular monsters, right? So, vampires, werewolves obviously are the most popular, but it's like I think it'd be really cool to get better monster representation. Throw in some gargoyles and trolls in there. Like, you know, I loved the Minotaur book. Like, I you know, it's like I don't know. I feel like it'd be cool to see a show with like kind of some more variety instead of just like the tried andr like we love a vampire, we love a werewolf, but let's like what about that? but almost like that throwback feeling like all cuz we got so much like you know TV and show and movie uh media growing up you know that in the '9s early 2000s where there's like a a certain how much we all love Halloween and are vocal about it. It's weird that they're not capitalizing on that and this would be a good series to capitalize on. Just saying Big Wigs and Fat Cats of Hollywood. Seriously. Come on. Come on. It would be so good. And you could m you can make it a little mild, you know? You don't have to go full spice. You don't have to go full steam ahead. It'd be so so it would be so cute. It would be so cute. I know. You could do like different levels. You know what I mean? It's like if they were like, "Okay, well, I think that this idea would like be a really great show, but it might be a little bit too like, you know, technically. I mean, it's really sweet, but it would still it would be a rated R." You know what I mean? Um, and so if they were like, "Eh, we kind of want to tone it down a little bit." I think it would still be fully enjoyable and really sweet and fun to watch if they toned it back to like a P even a PG, you know what I mean? Like that would be great because you see relationships building like you see that whole story line too. It's not just in the bedroom the whole time. You know, you get a lot of spicy action but it's enough of the other stuff because you know with us I feel like with the spicy books we read that can take us if it's only spicy the whole time then we're just like what are we doing here you know? Yeah. Yeah. it like it really it has if it's only spice then it needs to be like a certain I don't know like it has to have a certain something to like make it worth it to me like I like a little bit at least a little bit of plot this is just it's so well balanced yeah that's what we're trying to say that is a very long review we just want you guys all to try it out that's just like what we've been screaming from the mountains for I think a year and a half now and we won't be stopped so Can't stop. Won't stop. Yeah. Um, okay. So, let's get into the spoiler section, shall we? Okay, let's go. I'm a monster. Spoilers up ahead. Watch out. Go on. Get. Just to give you guys kind of like just a brief overview of like the premise. So essentially you have it starts off with just three triplets sisters who find a magical map that transports them to um a haven which is essentially a glamourred uh monster town that's in Massachusetts. And so you have all these monster towns called havens that are secret like they're secretly hidden all over the place in the human world but obviously humans aren't aware of them because monsters aren't welcome in the human lands. Um, and then you know what ends up happening? Obviously the sisters fall in love with different monsters and then we branch off and into different couples within the Haven. And what I loved about it is once we started getting to the end of the series, we start getting introduced to different havens. Yeah. Um, which is really cool. So, one in Mexico and then one in Montana. Mhm. And so that's really cool because we're seeing that even though this series is now technically over, we're going to get, you know, and we found out from Hazel Mack too when we were doing the interview that we're definitely going to get um some new series that are going to take place in different havens. So like the next one that's coming out is going to be taking place in Pine Gulch, which is like the cowboy haven up in Montana. So we're going to get cowboy monsters. So I can tell Liz is excited for that one cuz she gets excited every time it comes up. I'm so excited. I don't know. There's just something about I don't know, a cow a minotaur cowboy.

Why is that more appealing than a man cowboy? I don't know. I don't know. But hey, you know, we'll talk more about that as we get into our uh least and most favorites. But um yeah, I would just say, you know, I loved that. And then each book also has kind of like different popular tropes. So, we have like a single dad trope. We have like a sports romance trope. We have like vampire trope. You know what I mean? So, I feel like there's so many. There's something for everybody. Yeah. Yes. Yeah. So, even though it's monsters, I feel like she does, you know, it's like she takes popular tropes that we might not necessarily like some people might not necessarily find appealing. Like I don't know that a single dad romance would be something I would gravitate towards normally. Um, and I I loved it. So, hey, I guess you just have to make the single dad a gargoyle and it's like great. Yeah. I mean, literally, small town romance was one of our commons. And look at us. It just has to be Halloween and then we're fine. Yeah. It has to be a magical town now. Then magical town, small town, then that's fine, you know? Cuz even one of the love interests was a rekindled like reacquainted love, which usually I can't stand. And this was great. It was so good. It was so good. I loved it. Okay. So yeah, I literally couldn't say it better myself. So there you go, guys. We didn't sell you yet. Hopefully that did it since we got a little we're able to say a little unveil a little bit more. Yeah. To you. So, okay, let's just let's get into it. Let's get into the books. Let me pull up my notes that would not air dropped to myself, so I had to email them like a like 10,000 years ago. Okay, so fax it page. Yeah, exactly. Let me just check my fax machine, guys. Okay. Um, so let's just start off with your favorite book out of all the books. That's hard. Yeah, it was hard. As it is with nine books, that's always that is always hard. So, what I'm going to do is I'm going to say my answer is going to be what would I go and pick up off my shelf right now to reread. Gotcha. Okay. Okay. And I'm just going to go with number one, Getting On with Gargoyles because it's the book that started it all. I love And that's hard. I don't think I would often pick the first book of a series, you know, but it's like you get introduced to the magical town, the girls are on their road trip, like you find you get to discover all the stuff that the girls are discovering, you know, and that's just so you get to find out that these houses are imbued with magic and it's just so whimsical and fun and just will always have a special place in my heart. So, I'm going to go with that one. I will give a special runner up to book three, Partying with Pixies, because that's what I would pick to reread this time of year since it's specifically about Halloween is about Halloween because monsters don't celebrate Halloween and so the sisters introduce them to it and one of the pixie of the main character in that one, she makes a Halloween party for them and I just think it's so cute cuz they're like, you know, dressing up. The monsters are dressing up and the monsters and the lollipops are changing hair colors so they make magical candy. Yeah. Like, oh, I loved that. I loved it. So cute. Yep. What about you? My favorite I will have to give to Wrestling with Werewolves, which I'm like, that's a great one. Book five. Yeah. Um, so that one is a technically it would be an age gap romance um with your dad's best friend. Yeah. Yeah. So, those are the tropes. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, where's the trope? bingo card. Did everybody get theirs? Start stamping them out. So cute. Um, he just happens to be a werewolf, so hey. Um, so yeah, I would definitely give that my number one. I just loved their story. That is the one where we were introduced to the Haven. The FMC is from the Haven that's kind of loosely based on Mexico. That was really cool. Um, and then they're tech they're both werewolves, so I loved that, too. But yeah, so the MMC is her dad's um very much, you know, hundreds upon hundreds of years older best friend. So that that was a fun one for sure. And then if we had to give I mean this was really hard for me honestly. Like if you had to pick cuz we have to a least favorite. Yeah. Which one would it be? I just went ahead and went with Slaying with Silves just cuz for me like the story didn't really stick enough in my brain to like remember key things for me, you know, and it just the relationship personally just didn't resonate with me, but and it was a little less about the town, which I cuz I love the town. I really do. Yeah. You know, but you have three people they're following, so you you only have so much space to write. So, hey, I get it. Mhm. So, that was the one I picked. What about you? I picked the nolla Victory for Vampires. You know, the reason why I picked it, and again, this was still a four-st star read, so we're really like splitting hairs here. Honestly, the reason why I picked it as my least favorite was just because it was a novella, and so I feel like I would have preferred just a fulllength book about those characters because I feel like I didn't get enough to really get attached to them. Um, and I think what I love so much about these books is that I love the characters so much like and so I just feel like I I still don't know I still don't know enough about them. And so for that reason I gave it uh four star my least favorite. But you know even so if it got turned into a full- length book it probably might get booked or bumped up on the list a little bit, you know. Yeah. Cuz I really loved the storyline that was going on in that one also. But I did I needed more. Mhm. Yeah. Yeah. Mhm. Yeah. Okay. Cuz that was the one where she was like making um the Grand Portal Station. Yeah, the Grand Portal Station. That was so interesting. I loved that. So cool. Basically took that segueed us to the next book. So like definitely needed. I would have I would have eaten up and did it even longer. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, and that's what we're talking about. It's just so cool. Like this idea that like all of the monster towns or like the havens were kind of hard to travel between for like security reasons and so they figured out how to have like Yeah. like a Grand Central Station with a whole bunch of magical portals so that you could just step through to the different magic towns. Like that's so cool. So cool. That's so cool. Yeah. Love it. Okay, so let's do our official book ranking then for all nine books. All right, we'll start with our lowest and go to our highest even though we just kind of we went over that real quick, but a little bit. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. All right. So, obviously, uh my number nine is slaying with silves. Is that right? Yeah. Did I say that right? Did I type that right? Okay. Book number six. What's your nine? Uh, Victory for Vampires. So, the November Victory for Vampires. All right. My number eight would be uh Misbehaving with Minotaars cuz I don't love sports and I don't love Minotaur. No, I love Minotaars just fine. But Cowboys, I'm not sold yet. But again, we're splitting hairs. We are splitting hairs. No pun intended. Yeah. So, hey, you know, he was Yeah, he was definitely definitely more animallike. So, it was hard for me to uh you know, envision envision the vision. Yeah. Um my number eight was Partying with Pixies because Oh, interesting. The only reason is because like it was a single dad romance and that's just like if I again, you know, it's still a four star or was still No, I think I rated this one a five star. I think the only one I rated a four star was just the Nolla. Um, so it's still a five star, but it's just for me personally, I didn't connect as much with those characters. Yeah. But it was still good. That's fair. Yeah. Yeah. Fair. Fair. What's your next one? Uh, number seven, Victory for Vampires. Same reasons, just wanted more. Mhm. Yeah. Uh, my next one is slaying with silves. Okay. Yeah. Um, I'm like, do I have an explanation? I think it was kind of just because like both of the MMC's were kind of not my type. Yeah. And so that's what it is. Yeah. And so I just didn't really connect with them as much. Um, they were still like they were great and I feel like the relationship was really fun. It was about the original triplets. It was their aunt which was really sweet. I liked that for her. Um, but yeah, just like the two guys, I was kind of just like underwhelmed by them a little bit. So that's why it was lower on my list, but still a five star. We're happy that the representation's out there cuz they are a throppple, so you can see what that is like. Um, but yeah, just their personalities were just like, okay, that's good for you guys. It was the I think it was probably maybe the most frequent spice would be this one. Maybe I honestly also victory with vampires, but because you're getting less of the plot. Um, so I'm just not a spice girl, so hey, you know, I want lots of plot. I will say though, it was the only book I think out of the series that did have a MMC with an accent. Durk did have I couldn't tell if it was Scott. I think it was Scottish. Also, I Yeah, I didn't love it, but it's great. Yeah. Yeah, cuz he said ye a lot. Yeah. I am not even going to try to do a Scottish accent. I will say I did enjoy it that I listened to that one on audio. I felt like the um voice actor, the male voice actor did a good job with that accent and so Hey, that helps. Yeah, there you go. Yeah, it sounded more Gerard Butler and less like um Yeah, and less uh like leprechauny, you know. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Okay, then I then I sold Put it to number one. Sold to the lady in the back in the orange beanie. Yeah. Sign me up. Let's go. Number six. Tangling with Trolls. Uh, book two. Basically the same reason. Splitting hairs, guys. You know, it's just it was it was great. This one was the most like repetitive feeling of number one was right after it was it seemed Yeah. like kind of similar for sure, but then it changed everything after that. Yeah. Yeah. So, I think it was just introducing us to because in the Havens they have kind of different areas and so you have like the downtown where like the gargoyles live, but then you have um the hollow which is where like the werewolves and the trolls live and like some of the like larger creatures, I guess you could say, that need more space. They live more in like the forested area. So, I think it was like introducing us to that like side of town or whatever. So, yeah. Mhm. Um, my Yeah, my number six is getting it on with gargoyles. Oh, yeah. Loved it, but just loved other ones more. That's all. Fair. Hey. Yep. Number five. So, sorry. Wrestling with Werewolves, book five. Loved it still though. Yeah. Yep. Mhm. Uh, my my number five was Tangling with Trolls. So, there we go. There we go. Mhm. Number four. Is this right? I don't know. I don't know if I trust my list. I'm going to go with Making Out with Mermaids, book number seven. That's my for as you can see. Oh, interesting. Yeah, very much liked it, though. Obviously, I like I don't think I need to keep saying it. I liked it, too. I mean, it introduced us to the Myrr people. So, we got like Haven. I mean, they live in the haven, but still, there's another mer haven. There's a whole mermaid society, dude. The world building is so cool. It is. I agree. Number three, Walting with Witches, book four. Same, same, same, same. Oh, look at that name. Yeah, same same. I know your name. Yeah. Walt with witches I feel like had the most like uh emo like kind of like emotional growth and like um you know we love a good like what am I trying to say the trauma healing part yeah trauma healing trope um oh what is the trope called cuz now we're in spoilers we can talk about it but that moment when she finds out they were at the concert and she had the best kiss of her that she could never stop thinking about. But it was him. It's like a full And that was building for three, no, four books. Yeah. You know, because he was a dick to her, you know, and but it's cuz he's trying to push her away cuz he has to have this stupid job because he knows that they're maid, but he can't they can't be together because he has this horrible job that brain. And then he like felt her sadness when her parents died and he couldn't take it anymore and summoned her. He was the one who summoned them there. I know that was the that was the book that made us cry. So out of all the books, that's the only one that I was the one and I think that's deliberate and it was beautiful and it was so that those characters, you know, it was kind of like, you know, she was a little bit nesty in her vibe and he was very brooding, brooding. I can never say that word right. And um yeah, he's a he's a vampire. Yeah. Yeah. Very dark vampire like guy. Loved it. Ate it up. He's like the mayor of the town and we don't really know why he's such an a-hole, but then we get his backstory and you're like, I see. And it was it was just rip your heart out. It was a good one. Yeah. Yeah, it was a good one. It was a good one. So, what was your number three? Uh, also Walt with Witches. Same. Oh, yeah. Okay. All right. There we go. So, we're in our top two. So, ooh, what's your top two? Okay, because I'm a simple lady partying with pixies because of all the Halloween stuff. Yep. Loved it. Honestly, yeah, the pixie. I don't even care about her that much. I just loved all the Halloween stuff that much that I put it in number two. Um, simple. What was your number two? Uh, my number two is Misbehaving with Minotaars. Yeah, you love it. I love it. I loved it. I didn't see it coming. me six months ago wouldn't have seen it come in. Me lately was like, "Yeah, you'll love this." You know, it it wasn't about the sports for me. It was just about his personality. Yeah. It was the cow boy, like we said earlier. He just he was he had good vibes. I liked him. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um and then obviously you guys know, but we'll reiterate what's your number one and Getting On with Gargoyles book that started it all. And then mine was uh wrestling with werewolves. Yep. A good old ancient werewolf. Yep. There we go. Beautiful. So, what a time out of all of the relationships? Who was your favorite? That is so hard. These are the hard-hitten questions. Um, they were all so sweet and I love the different types of relationships represented that we got to see. But I think the one that really stuck out to me would be the making out with mermaids relationship. Oh, okay. Yeah, cuz that was the uh vampire and mermaid, right? Yep. Yeah. So, you know, and he was very much like touch her and die protector vibes, which, you know, I'm a sucker for. What can I say? You know, stop a kingdom who's trying to conquer you. She had lost part of her fin and he was like bit of a what did you you texted it to me is like bit of a billionaire romance. Yeah, that's exactly what it was. Million dollars in your account to help us make this art for this book. And she's like, "No, it's very like how Fifty Shades of Gray should have been." Yeah. He should have been He should have been a vampire and she should have been a mermaid and we would have been sold and just like here, let me fix your problems and there you go. We're done. She lost She lost part of her fin. And so in her human form, she had a prosthetic leg. Yeah. And um so she's an artist. That's what she does for her job. And so he basically like, you know, helps her get a better fitting prosthetic because her evil uncle who's the king like wouldn't let her get one, which was crazy. And then, you know, he hires her to do this art job or whatever. And she's like, "Oh, well, how much does this pay?" And he's like, "Oh, a million dollars a and a a piece of art or whatever." A wink. Yeah. Million dollars a wink. And she thinks he's joking. And he's like, "Haha, I am a, you know, million-year-old vampire. I will deposit a million dollars into your bank account every week." Yeah, it was awesome. I was like, I mean, he built her a freaking lake, too. That was great. Come on. So good. Yeah, it's beautiful. Beautiful. It was a good one. What was your favorite relationship that you want to discuss? Uh, Richard and Lola. So, from um Wrestling with Werewolves. I just I love a good like what I mean this one was the age gap romance. And so I just I love that really like strong like older protector vibe. Mhm. It was just I I really loved their relationship. like she, you know, she's like this rocker chick who's also like a princess who wants to like be free and of all of she doesn't necessarily want to be free of her duties, but just of the old ways that like her father, who's the king, has been running things, you know, and of course, he doesn't take it well when he finds out that she's mates with his best friend who's like centuries older than her. Um, and I just loved how he just handled the whole situation and just kind of like took control, but like still let her have her freedom. I'm like, that is the vibe. Like, I am going to not just handle myself, but make your life easier in any way that I can and just, you know, handle it, but then at the same time understand that like you need to be free and have your independence and like let your own self shine. And Richard was just like, "Yeah, 10 out of 10." H Yeah, she got like all those extra powers. She ended up being like the most powerful because they were mated together. Dude, that was so cool. She could turn into like any animals. It was neat. Yeah. Mhm. Mhm. Yeah. So, that was definitely my favorite relationship. What would you say was your least favorite relationship if you had to choose one? Uh again, that's hard. But like I guess the vampires with the uh you know what is the victory for vampires just because we didn't know very much. We didn't know enough. So that's all I'm basing it on. You know, I would have to agree with you. I did put here if I'm not picking the nolla then I would pick um Connell Dirk and I'm blanking on her name Lou um just because I didn't really I loved Lou but I didn't feel like I really connected very well with Durk and Connell um so this is the slaying with silves um and so Connell is a werewolf and Durk is a silf which I did not know what that was, but it's like a he's like a angel, right? Uh, no, like an air elemental, I thought. Oh, I thought this whole time ss were angels, maybe. What am I thinking of? What am I thinking of? I don't know. I don't know. What was that awful book that we read where as they were just banging the whole time? Um, we've read queen of the vampire damned of the threesomes of the foresome. Court of the Vampire Court of the Vampire Queen. Yeah, I don't remember. But yeah, I was under the impression cuz he wore like a special vest that would like turn him into air or whatever. So, I thought he was just like an air elemental. But, um I also don't love the peeping tom trope, so that's also on me. Yeah. So, uh it was like stalker adjacent, but I felt like the way that it was written was a little bit different. And so, I also didn't really connect with that either cuz I love a good stalker trope. He was just he wasn't he wasn't morally gray enough to be a stalker in my opinion. He kind of just came off as like a normal guy who just like yeah was like more of a peeping tom. So I don't know. Yeah. Um another word for angel. It's going to bug me so I'm looking it up. Oh uh Sarapim. There you go. My bad. Thank you Supernatural the show for that for Thanks solidifying that somewhere up here in the old donkey. Thank you. Sulf Saraphim. Those were the same in my brain. Hey, my bad. It's fine. Well, I was like, actually, now I'm bumping it all up on the list. Air elemental. Let's go. Yeah, just joking. Okay, so what do we have here? We have uh three tropes from the series that you loved. He falls first. I feel like that's almost every one of the stories, which I love. We love it. We love it. Uh, faded mates. Again, they're almost all faded mates, I think. Um, and then, golly, what's another trope that I loved? Um, again, that big like twist where they met. I don't know what that would be called. Someone help me out. But like it's, you know, they meet at the concert and they're the best kiss of their life and then they find out their mates and I think I think that falls in under the faded mates category. Okay. Well, pining. How about that? Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Sure. Um I put age gap. Yeah. We love a good age gap and it was like through I I mean obviously we're dealing with monsters. Lots of times both of them are quite old but there's still an age gap. So, you know, you could have that but like the youngest person in the relationship is still like 200 or whatever. So, that's cool. I like that cuz it's like we're not dealing with 18-year-olds, you know, which is refreshing. Um, yeah, which I will say most of these, if not all of them, they're not a bunch of 18-year-olds running around. Like the sisters even are like 30 or maybe 20s, I think in their 20s, like mid 20s at least at least. Also, in case you know, you haven't read it yet. They're witches, you know. So, that's cool, too. So, you don't have to worry about that immortality problem. So that's good. Or else that be different. Lots of Hocus Pocus references too in the beginning. Yes. Yes. Yeah. Um Okay. So yeah, we've got age gap. I put slash dad's best friend because we love that. Um I put uh second chance romance later in life. So that's one of the reasons why I really liked um the minotaurs book. Yeah. misbehaving with minotaurs. Uh because you know, Catherine, she's kind of like she's she owns the bed and breakfast of the town. She's kind of she's older. They describe her as having gray hair. You know, she's a succubus. Um who's like centuries old. Um and she and you know the main character who's the minotaur, whose name I'm blanking on right now. Who was it? What was his name? Manory. It was hard. Does that sound right? Something like that. Yeah. Um they had fallen in love when they were younger and then parted ways um and then end up falling back in love like you know a hundred year I think it was like a hundred years later and I loved that. It was so sweet. It was so sweet. Um and they were able to solve their problems cuz the new Grand Central Station and then well since she's a succubus and then she has other powers where she can make portals was able to make a portal straight to Montana. Yeah. straight to Montana. So, yeah, I loved that. I loved the representation of like later in life second chance romance. I thought that was very sweet and not something that I've ever seen before, like ever read in a book before. Um, and then what else do we hear? Oh, I just put I just put Dom Daddy's because I feel like there was so it was like it was a smorgus board. Yeah. Take your pick. Mhm. you know, we we've got the 500y old males, you know, choose choose which kind you want, and I'm here for it. So, yeah, those are some just a few of the tropes that I really enjoyed. Um, if you had to pick a trope that you did not like, what would you pick? [Applause] [Music]

I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. You can't find one. Yeah. I had a romance. I mean, I don't love sports romance, so there. I wasn't sold yet. How about that? Yeah. Okay. Okay. Yeah. So, I put um single dad. So, yeah, I figured that. But I did I did include something that was like very very like specific and um I really had to dig for it because I really thought about it. I was like what was something I didn't like in these books? I had a really hard time coming up with something that I actually did not like. Yeah. Um the one thing I could come up with that I actually didn't like was that um in the werewolf books they had to basically wear like the equivalent of a condom. And I was like, absolutely not. Like, this is fantasy. It's in a magical town. Like, can I mean, isn't that supposed to be one of the things that we enjoy about reading books like these is that it's like just a magical spell and then everything's fine? Like I I didn't like that. Yeah. But I mean, I'm like really nitpicking. Yeah. You know what I mean? Yeah. Yeah. And some people honestly, they might like it. So, hey, same thing with obviously sports romance. It's you got we got to find something that we're having a hard time with. So, there you go. I get it. I get it for sure. It was small. It was small though, you know? Yeah. And it didn't ick me out. It just kind of like pulled me out for a second because I was like, why are they why are they doing that? They just be magical like you know. Yeah. Yeah. So, what about a niche micro trope that like you really liked or disliked? Either way. Oh, I got one. Sentient housees. Dude, did you put it to I did not put it too, but I feel like I did want to bring it up and talk about it because in Walting with Witches, so that's the one that we were talking about with the faded mates Ashley really liked. Um, she's a witch, he's a vampire. They So, all the houses are sentient, first of all. So, you know, they do cute things like, you know, they'll open the door for you when you come home or they'll communicate by like closing the shutters or opening the shutters or like rolling the floorboards or, you know, if they're happy or sad. personality. They have a personality. It's really cool. Well, but in that specific book, the house particip participates in the spicy activities. Yeah. Didn't see that coming. Didn't see that coming. But I thought it was cool. I was like, that was uh a curveball that I thought was really unique and interesting. Very unique. Mhm. So, no, the niche micro trope that I put was minur lore. Ah, so I didn't really guys, my search history. RIP my search history on my iPad. Um, but no, seriously, I didn't really know much about them and so I just like looked them up and started um just kind of like researching them a little bit. I didn't realize there was all that lore about like, you know, them chasing women through uh mazes and whatnot. I was like, "Oh, this is interesting." So, niche micro trope. I'm here for the Minotaur lore. Hey, that's great. Something for everyone. So, listen, there's a there's a scene in the um American Horror Story The Coven that literally made me stop watching the series. and it has to do with uh cow head. So if anybody's anybody there you go. So listen that wasn't as lovely and nice and sweet as these books. Very different. But this is I think where I just figured out my problem stems from. Oh no. See I didn't see that because Coven freaked me out too much in the beginning. Yeah. It was super freaky. So I'm like okay I'm out. That's when I stopped. I can't I didn't get to that part though. I don't think so. or either I did and they blocked it out. I don't know. Yeah. Yeah. Yep. I will not be watching that because my only uh reference to Minotaars at this time is Haven Ever After and it's delightful. So, we're just going to keep it there. It's great. It's good. Yep. So, um well, let's talk about it. If it's popular, the series, do you understand why? And if it's not, should it be? I don't know if it's popular, but I would say because of that, it's not popular enough and it needs to be popular and we're screaming it for the mountain tops. I'm going to just yell it at you guys until you do it. Give it a try. Yeah, I would agree. I think I mean I just, you know, it's not a series that I hear about a lot on Bookstagram and Book Talk. So, for that reason, I would say it needs to just go it needs to go viral. It needs to blow up. and explode and be everyone's favorite fall read. So, I mean, she's not so dying um for this series. So, that says enough. And I'm mad, you know. I mean, I'm looking at Goodreads and she all her reviews are about the highest amount are 5,000 reviews on the first book, you know, and then it goes obviously less from there. Averages about 2,000 for the ones after. That's not enough. That's not enough, you guys. So, get to reading. Have a good time. You know, if you don't like it, sorry, but you will. But, but you will. So, sorry. You're wrong. Well, that's the thing is like they don't have a lot of reviews, but they get good reviews. Like most of them, if not all of them are above a four star that I saw, I think. So, that's exciting. Yeah. Very cool. Um, so I agree with you. I think that they should be more popular. They're on Kindle Unlimited. Just go download one and try it out. Um, Getting It On with Gargoyles, book one. Start there. Yeah. Um, do you have a favorite part in the entire series that kind of stood out to you or just something that stood out to you in general that like really is like solidified in your brain as something that you enjoyed? I don't think I can say it enough, so I'll say it again. Magical town with a caring monster community. You know, a caring monster community. Well, cuz I mean they're monsters, right? So, I love the juxosition that they're supposed to be scary and evil and bad and they are they have their [ __ ] together unlike us humans and and it's you know it's the real world with these hidden little monster societies that have it figured out. We need to figure it out. So, no, I love I loved it. I loved that. That's what stuck out to me. That's what kept me coming back for more and I will continue to come back for more. So, what about you? Yeah, it's a very egalitarian society. I feel like they have outliers obviously because there is conflict but I feel like they very democratically decide what to do with these outliers and it's Yeah, it's awesome. They do have their [ __ ] together. I agree with you. Yeah. Um I put if I had to pick something that really stood out to me about the series like from an emotional standpoint I put Abamett. So Abe the vampire's history when we find out why why the mayor of the town he's called the keeper. Why he is the way that he is and we get that really emotional backstory. So that really stood out to me for sure. Yeah. I feel like if you maybe you're married to somebody in law enforcement like some of that stuff or in the military, his story might really resonate with you because you know it's almost described in a way that you have to I mean literally they go through a magical change to become the keeper. But it's kind of what happens in jobs like that where you have to disconnect who you are because of what you have to deal with on the dayto-day. I mean, even in nursing and doctors and like some of the things that people have to see, there's lots of jobs that this people would resonate with. So, having that representation, you know, in Monster in such a way that it's easy to digest and honestly, I didn't even think about that till we're talking about it right now. I was like, why did that story resonate so much? It's because yeah, you have sometimes you have to like literally change who you are in order to do this thing that you have to do. So, Yeah. And then showing how he can heal from that and become, you know, get back to who he wants to be for sure outside of the profession. I feel like I think that's one of the reasons why, you know, we enjoy reading fantasy so much is because they are it's a way for us to in a less intense and depressing way examine really um important topics like that. Totally. You know. Yeah. Yeah. So, if you had to choose something that you didn't like, like a least favorite part from the whole series, what would it be? This is This is stupid. Okay. And it's fine. And I wouldn't even take it out. It's just for me. It's just a nick for me. Um I'm going to I'm going to go with the troll whip. Really? I troll whip. It was funny. Yeah. It's the It's the um how she reacted would have been me. Like I was doing what? I was drinking what? My sisters are drinking what from you? You know, but I loved that he was like, I won't do it anymore if you don't like it. That's okay because it's like this health thing that they do, you know. So, it's not weird for them. Um, but for me, it would have been like, hey, we do things a little differently where I come from. Where I come from, the human world. Yeah. Um, Freddy would do here. Um, so, you know, there's a really popular coffee shop on Main Street that everyone loves and goes to that's owned by the vampires, you know. Um, and it has like this super delicious like, you know, green thick whipped cream, very Starbucks like, you know, only green that tops all of the coffee drinks. And you find out that um Ren's mate from Tangling with Trolls, Oaken, um produces the special wink wink ingredient that goes in the troll whip. Yeah. Mhm. That goes on everyone's coffee that every It's just like you would add like, you know, a shot of greens to your smoothies and things like that. So, hey, you know, hey. Yeah. So again, I wouldn't I wouldn't change it cuz it's hilarious, but you know, for me, if I have to pick something I didn't love where I was like making that face. Um that would be it. So yeah. Yeah. Uh mine is also stupid because I couldn't come up with anything that like I really didn't like, you know. Um I put anytime because this is an ick for me. Like ask my husband like he'd be able to tell you. Um, anytime anyone feeds anyone, it makes me want to crawl out of my skin. And this is not this is not like just a Haven Ever After problem. It's like if in a movie someone feeds someone, I'm like I need to close my eyes. Like I can't even look at it. It's just there's something about it that just I can't I can't do it. Yeah. So there was a couple scenes and I was like please no, make it stop. But that, like I said, isn't exclusive to this. It's just in life, something that I hate. Yeah. Yeah. There you go. So, yeah. If you ever see me feed my husband a piece of food anywhere, know that I have been kidnapped and my body has been replaced by aliens. That's my

great. So, let's see here. So, least favorite part. Okay. Uh, if you had to choose a favorite character in general, like I there's so many good freaking characters in this series, who would you choose? Yeah, it was hard. I'm going to go with Morgan though from That's what I chose. Oh, yeah. I mean, she's the most likely that we'd hang out with like the most I think like us in relationships definitely how I I'd be like, "No, you were a dick to me. Back off." You know, that's how I would be. I'd be like, "Forget it." So, I resonated with her the most. I I don't know. I'm I related to Morgan cuz I'm like, you know, I'm like, "Nick, stop yelling at me. You'll make me fall in love with you." It's like I would recognize like, "Oh, you are a dick." But then I would I would proceed to fall in love with you. Yeah. For sure. Exactly. Exactly. It's a It's an enemies to lovers situation. We love a good enemies to lovers situation. Yeah. Um, if you had to choose a favorite bonus question, if you had to choose a favorite MMC though, like who would be your book boyfriend from Haven Ever After? Like who would be your guy? Yeah, he definitely won me over with that one. Abe for sure. Honest. Abe. Yep. He won me over. You know, I do love Shepherd because he just seems great. You know, that's the first one from Tangling with Trolls. And then I do love the other vampires. So, I love the vampires. What can I say? Um, yeah, the vampires from the mermaids. Making out with mermaids. What's his name? He was the millionaire. And he was Give me his money. That's great. Build me a lake. That's awesome. I forgot his name because there's so many names, but yes. Yeah. So, I want to make sure I get it right. Yeah. Manorin is the name of the minotaur. Look how cute he is. Okay. So, this t-shirt is pretty cute on. Yeah, it is. The artist did such a cute job on that. I don't usually love character artwork and I love the the character artwork on these books. I think it's so cute. Me, too. So cute. Yeah. My favorite MMC. I said it was tied between Richard and Manorin. Like literally. Yeah. You love Richard. Mhm. H Richard, he's just so great. Yeah. So, he's werewolf. Manorin's obviously the minotaur. Um I you know they both just have the take charge kind of sarcastic whippy because it's a minotaur. Yeah. Bossy. They charge on out of there. Like they're just bossy and old man. I like a bossy old guy. Like I'm sorry. I do. I I need I need someone who's just going to like be a man and take charge of the situation. Yeah. and who is self-aware enough to like you know um understand that like the needs of the other person are also important you know what I mean I think that was a big theme with Richard and Manor I mean all the guys for sure but I feel like it was very very strong with those two for me of like I'm going to take charge but also like put their needs first and there's like a quote that I'll share in a little bit that kind of like exemplifies that I feel like but yeah so it was ti it was tied between those two for me but Morgan is definitely my favorite female character. So, yeah. Okay. Yep. Who is your least favorite character other than the obvious villains that we weren't supposed to like the whole time? I know. That's what that's all I could come up with, though. I was like, I don't know. Okay. So, if we have to pick a least favorite from the main like good characters. Is that what you're saying? I'm just picking somebody random here. I remember that Pixie Boss who was a total a-hole, you know, to the Pixie Girl and Partying with Pixies. Oh, yeah. Yeah. They suck for sure. working her to the bone when she was like the best producing one. It's like chill out like micromanager. It's too too real world. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um I'm like I literally It's hard. Can't even think. Yeah. I Everybody's great. Yeah. Everyone's great except for the villains. So I just have put Avenia who's a who's one of the villains. Yeah. Or like you know the the Myrr uncle. The Merr uncle. Yeah. Yeah, he sucks. But I mean, he got what's coming to him. Yeah. From the vampires. So Sounds great. Yep. Wouldn't have it any other way. Exactly. Exactly. Yep. So, let's see here. Do you have any quotes then that stood out to you that you'd like to share with the group? Sure. All right. So, book two, which was uh Tangling with Trolls, I had highlighted that used to be my mother's favorite advice. It'll either work out or it won't. which isn't advice at all, but more like a statement of the obvious. Kind of not not unlike the Matthew McConn quote that you posted. He stole it from Hazel Mack. But yeah, it's great. I love it. It's true though. You know, it's a statement of the obvious, but sometimes it needs to be said. It'll either work out or it won't. So, get over it. Figure it out. You got to keep on keeping on. Yeah. Uh, okay. Okay, my first quote is from our um resident minotaur daddy. Okay, he says, so he's talking to um Catherine, who's obviously his love interest. He says, you first, extended family second, everything else third, including my job. We clear on that. And I was like, see, that is the energy that we need to bring. Yes. It's not that hard. It's not that hard. Yep. What else you got? I have a quote from the Making Out with Mermaids. I'm sorry for falling in love with you. I answer with a laugh. A sweet. That's it. Cute. So, to bring it back around to what I was just talking about, um, so this is Richard Werewolf, the only way I can lead is because she allows me to do so. Yeah. You know, Yeah. Yeah. It's not a control thing. It's like a she is just as powerful as him and actually ends up being more powerful than him once um she gets her powers to change into all animals and stuff. Plus then she becomes queen. So there's that too. Um but she recognizes that they're stronger when they work together. So she lets him take charge in certain circumstances. I love that. That's great. Yeah. Yeah. That's good. What else do you have? That's all I got. That's all you have? Yeah. Okay. Let's see what else do we have. Oh, I had a good one from good old Abe. Good old honest Abe. Yeah, I have loved you across space and time. I loved you before I even knew you. And now that you're here, there is no depth, no end to what I feel. I'm not a whole person, Morgan. I'm deeply flawed, but I will spend every day attempting to become someone worthy of such a gift. Yes. See, that's what we want. Profess your love this way. Yeah. Yeah. We could always count on the vampires to bring like the deep the deep thoughts, you know. Yes. Yeah. Mhm. So, we said that the spice is a four. So, I would say it's a four because of frequency, but then also because Yeah. I mean, literally, we've got such an array of different interests, right? Um but nothing is really like triggering or you know. Correct. I would agree. I would agree. harmful. It's all in good fun. Very consensual. It's all very consensual. Um we do have the peeping tom situation in slaying with silves. Um but she's into it. Yeah. So yeah, that changes things. Um and when the other person who was involved wasn't into it, when Connell didn't like it, he asked him clearly to stop it and the other person did. So it's all, you know, um so I would agree with you. Not very triggering at all. Um, and I think that the spice ratio with plot was like perfect. Literally perfect. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Yep. So, here. Okay. So, now that we have all that established, here's the million-dollar question. So, we have Pine Gulch coming out soon. So, our good old Minotaur man is from Pine Gulch in Montana. So, that's where he's from. We got introduced to that. That's where the cowboy uh monster romance series is going to take place, I'm assuming. Um that comes out pretty soon. Will you be reading those? I will be reading them. Yeah, I'll read them. Yeah. Yeah. Same. I can't. We have a laundry list of other books that we have to read soon, you know, including Wicked, our Wicked series, which is starting soon, guys. Make sure you're subscribed for that. But yeah, I'd like to read the other ones for sure. For sure. Yeah. Yep. The question as it stands is like, will you read sequels? Well, we read nine, so how about that? Yeah. Oh, yeah. Now we're not going to read anymore. Like, yeah, we draw the line. This is where we are. The question really is, are you going to read her other pen name, the Ann Fury series stuff that she has. Okay, so here's the thing. If you guys didn't listen to the interview and you're curious, so Hazel Mack is the pen name that she writes her more like romcom light-hearted books under. Anna Fury is the pen name that she writes her more dark paranormal romance and Omegaverse stuff. Um, and so yeah, I will for sure. She said that um, one of her series is very dystopian as well. So, I think I might start with that one because that sounded interesting to me. Yeah, I think if you can take this like what we get in this series, if you can get us to take it seriously and love it, you know what I mean? and write the kind of balance that we like to see, you know. I think all of it's gonna be good. I do. Yeah. So, yeah. So, I definitely when I have some free time, I will be downloading those on Kindle and probably binging some of those as well. We know I love a dark romance. So, yeah. Yeah. So, we've I feel like we've already kind of explained why these books stand out. They're very unique. Yeah. In every way, for sure. Yes. Agreed. Do you have any other things that you want to discuss? Any last words or mentions? Honorable mentions? Oh, I'll never stop talking about it, guys. So, can you just do us a favor and just read it, you know? Then you'll get it and you'll understand. It's just so fun cuz like I just know you I just know you guys. I know you guys so well. No, you're like you're like us and you love the nostalgic Halloween vibes and you know, even though it's not necessarily Halloween except one thing, but it's just that kitschy monsters and I don't know. God, it's just all the things we talked about. If we haven't sold you yet, I don't know what to tell you. It's great. Yeah, there's nothing else I can do or say. Do you have a smasher pass? Well, I better find one. I better find one that is uh representative to what we're talking about. Do you have one yet? Well, yeah. I mean, I just chose one cuz I was genuinely curious. I just chose one from the series cuz I had to know. Oh, okay. Yeah. Hm. Okay. I guess I'll do that, too. Well, yeah. I need to know Smash or Pass Manorin at the end of the day.

Be a pass for me, dog. Sorry. It's the snout. He's so He's so sweet. He's the most monster like, you know what I mean? He stays the mostlike out of all of them. So, but like listen, here we go. When he changes into his full minute form, she like he can run really fast. So, like literally she just hops on his back and they just like run through the woods. Like that's cool.

It's very Twilighty in my head. Yeah. which is not a bad thing cuz it's super KY and fun. But yeah. Yeah. As just a smash for me. No, as a friend for sure. It's great. Yeah. Yeah. Smash all day long. Good for you. Yeah. Yeah. Good for me. How about this place? Is there any Haven Ever After MMC's that you wouldn't find smashable that are main characters? Let's see. Okay, we've got Shepherd and Aloe. Those are gargoyles. Yep. Smash. Smash. Smash. We got the troll. Oaken. Smash. Smash. Um, we have, you know, two vampires. Obviously. Smash. No. Smash. I'm like, who? No, we've got tech. Uh, okay. Maybe the sil. I would say if I had to choose one, it would be Durk and and he's the sil. Yeah. Not to discriminate against silves. I mean, okay. Um, no. Like I think it's literally just because he in my opinion was the most feminine male and for me personally that is not my type. Clearly if we're talking about a minutear okay um see I didn't feel like his personality was feminine but I'm looking at the character art and judging it purely on that and yeah he's the most uh boy bandish boy band. Yeah, he's a little I like him rough around the edges. I feel like his personality was He's very dominant. M I mean, well, not when it came to it, but you know. Yeah. Yeah. I I I be more inclined to I need We've already talked about You need a boy. I need Yeah. So guys, you need a cow or a werewolf. I'm not a cowboy. I'm a cow man.

[Applause] But hey, so I would say if I had to choose one, it would be Derk. Dirk. Yeah. What Who is your most smashable? Is that No, it would be Richard. Oh, Richard. Okay. Richard's your most smashable. Okay. Yeah. All right. So yeah, I mean like I said though, Manorin would be a close second, but um definitely Richard because he does have a fully human form also. Yeah. Yeah. This is tough. It is tougher than I thought. Okay, so obviously my least smashable is going to be the Minotaur. Sorry, guys. Um my most smashable cuz like vampires I feel like are a copout in this situation cuz they're so humanike. Um, so we need to be unhinged over here today. Um, I'm going to go purely based off the character art with Oaken the troll. Oh, he has like he has red hair. It's cool juxtaposition. It's contrast and he's buff and uh tall. But I do I have a shot. I do have a soft spot for Shepherd, but he does have the tail. So therefore, you're out. You're out because I Yeah. Get that thing away from me. Don't try to cuddle me with it. Shepherd and Aloe, the the Gargoyle brothers, I really liked them a lot and they're super cute. But I think the difference for me is like they just come off as a bit more young to me. Interesting. Because they are, you know what I mean? They're only like 150. Yeah. Yeah. They're not like as ancient as the other ones. Um, and so I need like Richard's got the gray on his temples, you know? Yeah. Like 10 out of 10. Recommend. Yeah. Yeah. So, you heard it here first. We need you guys to read these and then tell us about it. How about that? About that. Yeah. Well, you feel like that you feel good about it. I feel good about it. I don't think there's anything else that can be said, but we'll say it some more later on. Okay, guys. So, do yourself a favor, just rate it, and then DM us and let us know if you did. We would love to hear how you guys liked it, cuz we could be wrong, I guess. But I know we're not. So, hey, make sure to like, follow, and subscribe anywhere you like to listen your favorite podcast, including YouTube. We're at Bessies the Books Podcast everywhere. And we're at Instagram and Tik Tok at Bessies in the Books Podcast. And you guys, we'll see you see you next Tuesday. Bye bye. [Music]