Ep 86 Between Two Kings Power, Passion, and the Price of Loyalty (SPOILERS INSIDE) | Review & Deep Dive Discussion

Just in case you haven’t noticed… we are completely OBSESSED with the Split or  Swallow universe, created by the amazingly talented and hilarious Lindsay Straube. Last year we did a deep dive and our very first author interview with Lindsay covering all things Kiss of the Basilisk, and now we’re back to yap about the highly anticipated sequel Between Two Kings! Out today! 

Last week we had Lindsay on for a spoiler free interview picking her brain on what it’s like to go from independent to traditional publishing in just a short year, what we can expect from this sequel and the upcoming prequel (yay!), and what’s on the horizon, including book tours and new projects. 

Today we’re following up with a spoiler filled deep dive of Between Two Kings where we discuss everything, including the ending heard ‘round the world. We even include an exclusive clip of Lindsay addressing the ending and what it symbolizes for her, just in case any of you are dying to talk about it!! We know we were! 

Follow along for our official reviews, favorite tropes, characters, and themes, and what parts were maybe not our favorite. Do we recommend Between Two Kings? And if so, do we think YOU should pick it up? And as usual, we’re bringing you our fave and fail of the week and a smash or pass, monster style. 

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Check out our coverage of the Split or Swallow Universe! ⬇️🐍⬇️

Check out our *NEWEST* interview with the Serpent Queen herself, Lindsay Straube, all about Between Two Kings! https://youtu.be/OW1cxXTVcTc?si=die5tQVTSH8wky7R

Watch / Listen to our first 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

Kiss of the Basilisk FULL DEEP DIVE https://youtu.be/R-iw4Bznxw8?si=nC5dNRD3QVpMdgpx

Anthema Live Book Club Replay | ​​https://www.youtube.com/live/CVVmDm3Z-jA?si=COoGKDYN_F8rcXe2

Check out these additional author interviews? ⬇️

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

What we are wearing:

Ashley is wearing a Lord of the Rings "Even Darkness Must Pass" T-shirt from @etsy | * https://go.magik.ly/ml/2cqg0/

Liz is wearing a Serpent and the Wings of Night Hoodie from @ Willow and Co (out of business :( )

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Chapters

• 0:00 Spoiler Free Intro
• 3:25 Favs and Fails of the Week
• 17:21 Spoiler Free Review and Spice Ratings
• 21:25 WARNING SPOILERS for Between Two Kings from here on out!
• 24:26 BONUS CLIP LINDSAY STRAUBE Exclusive Ending Discussion
• 34:02 5 Sentence Between Two Kings Book Summary
• 37:40 Fav and Least Favorite Discussion for BTK
• 1:03:38 Unhinged Smash or Pass

Transcript

between two kings, which is the point of this discussion. Is it me from the past? I'm calling me from the future. This is the way that like a real man would deal with this situation. Two, three, golden weasel.

Welcome to the Besties in the Books podcast, guys. I'm Liz. And I'm Ashley. And today we're going to be doing our deep dive into Between Two Kings. Ah, which is a follow-up episode to our second interview with Miss Lindsay Stra. That was so fun. It was so cool to be able to talk more about this book series with the author herself. So cool. So, we'll have that link down below in case you missed that episode. It is completely spoiler-free and if there's a little spoiler, we'll give you a warning. No big deal. But it was super fun. So you if you want to check that out because this book just came out today. So hey, if you need to pump the brakes a little bit, you know, we get it. We we'll let you know when spoilers are coming for this episode. But if you want to, you know, go check out that interview. Choose your own adventure over here, guys. Yeah. Super fun. Yeah. So stick around because we have some really deep thoughts, deep, long and hard thoughts to go over with this book, but for real. And we will be inserting some exclusive bonus commentary from the author herself that we couldn't put into last episode because it was very heavy on the spoilers where we talk about some crazy stuff that happened, the ending, and we'll be inserting that. So, about this section right after our spoiler-free reviews, we'll give you a warning. We'll pop that in and then we'll get into it cuz you guys ah we need to talk about it. We need to talk about it. We're deep diving it today. H deep dive. So, you know, as you guys know, as per usual, for first 15 minutes or so will be spoilerfree. We'll be giving you our faves and fails of the week as we always do. Um, and we'll be getting into our spoiler-free kind of one-s sentence simple star rating and review, our spice rating, and then that's when we'll give you guys that warning that that big spoiler will be coming for you, that extra exclusive like little behind the scenes with Lindsay from our last interview specifically about the ending of of Between Two Kings, which is so exciting. Um, and then we will get into our deep dive, our thoughts on this book. I'm so excited to talk to Ashley about it because we haven't really talked too much other than just the interview with Lindsay. So, super exciting. Um, and we will be doing the uh plot in five sentences or less. So, hey, it's coming. It's coming. Uh, but before we get into that, we just want to say thank you so much for being here. Seriously, thank you guys so much for taking time out of your day and your book to come and hang out with us and chitchat. Let us know if you've read this book yet. If it's on your TBR, where are you at in your split or swallow journey? We want to know. Make sure to like, follow, and subscribe anywhere you like to listen your favorite podcasts, including YouTube and Instagram and Tik Tok. Besties in the Books podcast everywhere you can find us. Look behind the corner. We're there. It's us. Hey guys, what's up? So, hey, come hang out. So, okay, let's just kick it off with our faves and fails of the week. What What have you got for this week? You want me to go first? Oh golly. I I'll I'm going to be short and sweet here. Listen, my fail of the week. I've been sick all weekend. I'm still struggling with that like, you know, residuals, which is not fun. So, sorry guys if I sound a little different, but the show must go on. Um, so I feel fine. It's just, you know, hanging on hanging on by a thread. Um, not fine, but I'm hanging on by a thread. So, blink five times if I'm holding you hostage. I'm just kidding. My actual fail though that I just thought it would be funny to like bring up is for months, maybe years now, this poor this poor old lady keeps trying to contact her friend through my phone number. Someone gave it to her wrong. She got it from a list, she said. So that's great. So it won't stop. Um and it comes by surprise. It comes in at any time of the day or night. a text, sometimes a message and I have picked up the phone now. I don't think it's been h it's probably been happening for like six months randomly and she'll call me and it's so sad. She's inviting this lady to bridge and she's like I know the whole story now and she's like I I felt like we really hit it off, you know. So, first call I want to say is her saying I thought it was going to be a little bit more like uh hey moment because she's like my husband's gone. I was thinking if you wanted to come over and I was like, this is juicy. But no, it was very sweet. It was just like, you know, and we can get around to playing bridge and we really hit it off. I'm going to make some tea. Very sweet. And I had missed the call cuz I don't answer my calls for nothing. Listen, I don't as soon as I had babies, I put that phone on silent and I never turned back. It's on, you know, it vibrates or whatever, but I don't feel it. I'm not holding it most of the time. So, hey, good luck. don't call me. But like it'll go straight to voicemail. And I do like that feature now that voicemail comes up as it's going. So that's when I was actually able to finally pick up for her because usually it's, you know, it's some other and I hate spam callers can use such a similar number, too. It's so crazy. I love the thought. I'm going off on a million tangents here, but that's just what's going to happen. Uh where it's like, have you gotten a phone a spam phone call that's almost your number? Yeah, for sure. It's like one off and it's like, what am I going to do? Like, oh, I'm calling me. Weird. Like, what is the thought process from the past? I'm calling me from the future. They're trying to warn me. Of course, I'll pick up. I'm on a helicopter dying. I need to send you $10,000. Great. Like, I don't get it. I don't get it. Somehow the printers are behind this. That's all I'm saying for sure. It's just printers. You know, it's just one time my daughter's uh musical theater coach was calling me and I didn't have her number saved yet because it was pretty early on and her number is almost the same as mine. It's like the last four digits are different, right? And so obviously I'm like, "Here we go again." And then she leaves a voicemail that they got out early. I needed to pick her up. I'm like, "Great." So anyways, um moral of the story was none of that. It's that this poor lady is not getting it. And I don't know what else to do now. I feel bad saying it, but do I block her? Cuz you know, I probably would. Calls themselves are intrusive. You know, don't bother me. You know, I get like five spam calls every time Liz and I are filming here. Guys, my voicemail says like, cuz I'd say the majority of people who try to call me on my phone are clients. My voicemail literally says, "If you are trying to call me to get a hold of me for two beauties, hang up and call the business." And then I leave my business phone number. I'm like, "Don't even bother leaving me a voicemail. Well, it might be 2 months before I check it. Sorry. It's just the way that it is. Yeah. Like people know people know me better than that. The people that know me, come on. They know. It's like Ashley and I know if we ever call each other cuz we talk every day constantly, but it's always through voice memos and texts and DMs. If we call the first thing we say is everything's fine. Yeah. Yeah. You know, if we're calling like we panic. Yeah. Everything. And maybe it's a millennial thing. I don't know. But like, hey, cuz my husband doesn't get it. He doesn't. He calls people. I'm like, that's so intrusive. He'll call people to invite them somewhere. And I'm like, you don't put people on the spot like that. This could have been an email. Could have been an email. Could be. I'm like, you know what? If you're trying to get a hold of our generation, you need to text us cuz we need to marinate on it. I don't want to be put on the spot like that. Even if it's something I want to do. Yeah, for sure. It's very intrusive. So anyway, she keeps randomly calling me and I feel bad for her because I want her to meet her friend, but I have no help. Say I can't do nothing. You only have two options. You only have No, you have three options. Block her or go play bridge with her. Yeah, exactly. That's what I was going to say. So unless you want to start playing bridge. My husband loves Bridge. Maybe he'll go Listen, I don't know how to play it and that's just too I That's too much. It's too hard. It's too fast. I did get uh some text messages from a lady who was trying to get a hold of a guy who she was like, "Hey, thought things were really fun yesterday. Do you want to get back together?" And I was like, "Hey girl, it's me."

I was like, "Stop your boy." Yeah. Yeah. I was like, "I wish you well." She's like, "Oh, thanks for texting me back." I was like, I don't know if this was like started off and meant to be a scam, but that I was like too nice. I don't know what happened, but either way, we were cool with each other. But I did feel bad for her, too. So, yeah. Yeah. It's a very like Monica and Chandler on vacation situation where they give their phone number to that other couple. Like, we're fun. We're fun. Yeah. Or I mean to me, like in that case and in this case, it could be one little digit that's different or they had weird handwriting and you don't know, you know? So, I picked up one of the times that once voicemail would say and I'm like, "Oh, it's this lady again." cuz I wanted to try to pick it up on time to let her know like leave me alone. Sorry. Um and she's like, you know, she wants to give me her whole life story and God bless her. I don't want to hear it. Um so yeah, well she said she claims that she got it from the the towers directory. And I'm like lady, I don't know what the towers is. So literally I don't know. This is it. This is the end of our relationship. Phone. Best of luck to you. Yeah. So she's like, okay. I didn't hear from her for a long time. The text started coming again this weekend. Not the text, the calls, but the calls turned into text now. And then so I tried texting back last week and then it was says it can't go through. I don't understand. And then so I was like, maybe it is a spam, but I don't know what the point of this is. The same lady's voice every time. So no, I don't think that's the case. And then so she so she texted again and it's a couple times she said, "It's really sad. I thought we had a good connection." like she's having some issues internally with this being left on red with this lady, you know? So, I'm like, I'm causing this pain to this poor old lady that just wants a friend and it's not even my fault. And so, I texted her back like, "Sorry, you have the wrong number." And she and then she said, "I'm sorry, I got this number from whatever the registry was and I thought it was the right one." And I said, "Well, it's not." And I left it at that. Move on. Move on, woman. Please have some selfrespect. Yeah. Okay. And I think I said again, I don't know what the towers is. And she described it to me. It's like some, you know, assisted living facility. And I'm like, I still not the person you're looking for. Yeah. It's not going to change. A so sad. So that's my fail of the week. Okay. Maybe it's my fave, too. Yeah. Hey, cuz listen, I was sick all week. I don't really have much to talk about. I loved interviewing Lindsay. It was great to reconnect. It was our second time interviewing her, so it was super fun. I think that was my fave of the week. Um, being for reals. Yeah. Yeah. For real. Yeah. Yeah. Um,

my fave of the week is that, guys, don't be mad at me. Don't be mad at me. I finally am reading Anathema by Carrie Lake. It was voted for book club last month and I'm finally getting around to it and it's literally so freaking good and I'm obsessed with it. And oh my gosh, like all of you guys were not wrong. Obviously, I've never read anything by Carrie Lake before and this is blowing me away. And so that is my fave of the week because I've just been binging it and it's been literally fantastic and I can't wait to get on the live with Ashley and um talk about it more with you guys here very soon. So that's definitely the highlight. It's so good. H it just it reminds me of like a very dark old fairy tale. Yes. Yes. Perfect for this time of year. Yeah, exactly. Like that Grims fairy tale where you're like, "Ooh, that took a turn. Ooh, that's spooky." Like that vibe, you know? And I'm here for every rough and dark and deep and long hard. Hey, and hey, and hey, by time we're pre-filming this. By the time this video is out, our live episode is out for replay where we talk about anthemma. So, you can check that out. We'll have it on our channel. We'll link it if I can. You know, it's going to be everywhere. We're again, we're everywhere talking about all the things, reading all the books, having all the discussions. Yeah, that is so good. Definitely. I am. Let's see. I started it in earnest yesterday morning and I'm already at 35% and that book's like almost 700 pages, so I'm making my way downtown. I'm excited. It's going great. Moving fast. Face is fast. I'm pretty sure I finished that in two days. Yeah. Yeah. Zavander,

add it to your list, guys, if you haven't yet. Most of you though probably have and you're like, "Yeah, it's good." Yeah. So, that's the fave of the week for sure. Uh fail is I finally So, we uh booked tickets to go see Phantom of the Opera next March and I'm really excited. I've never seen that one before, uh like live and so I was like, "Okay, got to rewatch the movie, you know, the good classic Gerard Butler version." Um and you know, okay, here's the thing. I can sit down and read 250 pages of a book and be just like fully engrossed zone lasered in but then I put on a movie and I'm like all right I made it an hour my attention span is gone and I have to turn it off. You know what I mean? It's like what is my issue? I like can't even watch movies anymore. I don't know what that's about. But I'm like okay I can't make it through a movie but I really want to make it through the rest of Phantom of the Opera someday. So, that is my fail of the week is that I just can't I don't know what it is unless I've seen the movie before. Like, if I were to pop in like Mean Girls, like I would I would just watch that like and it would be in the background. No big deal, you know? And I've seen Phantom of the Opera before, but it's been like since it came out, so like high school or whatever. So, it's been a really long time. I don't remember it that much. So, it's not like a comfort watch for me. So, I'm just like, "Okay, good luck. Maybe I'll finish it in a month." Yeah. You know, I feel like this is how crocheters are born, you know? It's like you gotta be doing, as they always say, it's like you got to be doing something with your hands, you know? Got to be like knitting, crocheting. I do slime. So, hey, like playing with the slime as I watch something. You got to do something. Otherwise, I'll start looking at my phone because it starts with Oh, what's that guy from? Let me look it up. What's the IMDb on that one? Let me see. And then I'm on my phone. That's where my attention leads. It's like I need more. Like I need more for some reason. Yeah. Maybe you can find I know you don't like crafts, but maybe you can find a loweffort something to do with your hands that doesn't need anything. Anybody have any recommendations out there? Let us know. You know, I don't think craft Yeah, I don't think you know, crocheting and knitting would be your calling cuz you have an aversion. But something along those lines that minimal effort and well that's not minimal effort that's the problem but minimal effort for you to do something on the same level as like folding laundry you know that yeah you could fold laundry but hey that's I know but that's not like I need something else like I don't want to just fold laundry forever you know what I mean hey you just unlocked a memory remember when you were here maybe last time I don't remember and I had to race the um after dark clock while folding laundry to see. That was hard. And then when it hit it hit, I'm like, "Oh no, I don't want to do that." It always happens. It always happens. It was fun though. We're watching something. I don't know. Every time. Okay. So, you know when you turn that like uh defrost setting on on your microwave and it turns the microwave numbers to like it's like four digits. So, it'll say like 2213 or whatever because it takes forever. I don't know why. Um, remember when we were like doing after dark? Now, every time I set something on the defrost, I always think about this cuz me and Ashley were like, "Hey, what time is it?" And we like both look at the microwave at the same time and I had forgot to reset it after defrosting something. So, it said something like that like 30:15. And we both were like, "That's hilarious. How is that a time?" And now every single time I thought it last night. I thought it last night. I was like, "How is that a time?

Oh, hey. Good times. There you go. That's what that is. Yep. All right. All the information you did not ask for is brought to you here first. So, all right. Hey, if you don't like our fave and fail, you can always skip chapters, but you'll hurt our feelings. So, that's on you. Can you sleep at night? Hey, like, yes, we can. So, should we get back to Between Two Kings, which is the point of this discussion? Let's do it. Let's go.

So, spoiler-free one-s sentence review, star rating, spice rating. Uh, I will go first. I gave it five stars. Okay, great. This is one of those rare books. You guys know that is a five star and a five spice, which is the pinnacle, the holy grail, if you will. It is the holy grail, if you will. Um, it's a feat that is hard to accomplish, I think, because you have to be able to balance spice and plot in such a way that it's just perfect, and neither is too little or too much. Um, and I love that, you know, when we were talking to Lindsay, she mentioned that, you know, it's like it's as deep as you want it to be. No pun intended, but really it's like, you know, you can read it as a fun, good time, easy on the brain, you know, smutty book or and or you could also really read into some of those deeper themes that she does put in there intentionally. Um, and what a treat it is if you were able to do both. Yeah. And for that reason, it is five stars, five spice. Amazing. Loved it so much. Recommend it for anyone who likes to read romance. Uh, for sure. And yeah, I think that that pretty much wraps it up. What do you What did you rate it? Yeah, five star, baby. Five star. So, hey, it's so hard to remain spoilerfree right now because so much of what I loved about it is what happens in it. Spoilery. Well, yeah. Um, but yeah, you want to if you're trying to decide right now, you know, I wrote the first one. Do I really want to read more? I'll say this and it's not that she intended this, but this is what I took away from it. What happens after a happily ever after? Is there a happily ever after? What does that entail? Like what can go on further past whatever we found out in book one, you know, not that everything was happy at the end, but it feels resolved enough, right? Yeah, for sure. Is it that simple? So, that's what I loved exploring what that world looks like after that big explosion cuz if you've if you're watching by now, I'm sure you read the first one, you know. So, um I loved that. We had a lot of emotions that came out in this one that maybe I didn't have in the first one. And so it didn't feel repetitive. I loved that. And it was such a wild ride. Enjoy them. Buckle up. Twisties and turnies all the way through. Yeah. Yeah. There you go. Love it. And you would you also rate it a five spice? Uh well, yeah. If hey, if you didn't love the first book, you might not love this one because, you know, depending on why you didn't. If you didn't love the first one because of the heavy, you know, maybe triggers, themes, smut, whatever, you know, you're getting the similar balance in this one as that. So, know that. Um, but if you loved it or even liked it, you'll still love and like this one. Yeah. Right. There you go. I dare say you might like it even more depending on what you like in a book. You know what I mean? That's a good question, Liz. Which, cuz we rated five stars for both of them. Both of us. Which one do you like more? Two. One or two? Oh, two. Oo. I can't say why without giving spoilers. So, okay. So, stay tuned. That's hard for me. Mhm. Um cuz I like them both for different reasons. I'm going to go with book two also and a very spoiler reason why. So, not yet. Well, I was going to say I mean right about here is where we're planning on inserting the um kind of spoilery comment that Lindsay makes, right? Yeah. So, that would probably explain

I had that handy from Wicked. Um, spoilers coming in hot. We understand that this book was just released today. If we've piqu your interest at all and you haven't picked up your copy yet, you can pick up your copy now. I don't think we've said it yet. Anywhere you buy books pretty much, you know. So, hey, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Books, a Million, uh, small indie bookshops, mute keep me cute bookstore, Miss Gallery, all the places. Just go and get them. Support your local bookstore if you can. That would be great. Um, and there you go. Go buy it. Ebooks, everything. Audio. I think audio books should be available now. if not now soon. That's what she's saying, I think. Right. That's exciting. Yeah. So, like go buy your books, go get your copy, save us to your playlist, come back later because full steam ahead, no holds bar. We're getting into it now. Okay. So, before we introduce that clip for Lindsay, do you want to say what made book two unbeatable for you? That's spoilery. Yeah. The fact that it Wait, I'm allowed to be spoilery or no? Yes. Spoilers. Spoilers. Um, yeah, because it ripped my freaking heart out. The ending was amazing and I cried for 10 minutes straight. Yeah, once a book can do that to me. Oh, you guys, the ending, for those of you who've read it now, if you haven't yet, this is on you. You might want to go in blind. Just a last warning, you know. But oh my gosh, the ending. Yeah, Caspen makes the ultimate sacrifice. Even though I I knew it was coming once I knew. You know what I mean? Like you know at a certain point. Did you see it coming? I saw it coming at a certain point. Like I'm like once there once the roof was collapsing and everything chaos is happening. I'm like oh Caspen has to that's the other way cuz he says there's no other way. I found one other way out of the Yeah. issue. Well, and the whole time I kind of had a suspicion because of the fact that we were introduced to Apollo and I was like, there has to be something else going on there between those two because we needed to have a character who he would trust enough to kill him basically. Yeah. Yeah. Um, yeah, it was I think the part that was I mean obviously Caspen dying is really sad, right? And I think that got me. I think what really emotionally got me though was this idea, exactly what, you know, Lindsay talks about in this little section, too, is just this idea that you can't be who you're going to become to be with your forever person until you've gone through some [ __ ] you know? And I feel like that's what really resonated with me. And you know, she had to like let this other version of herself go in order to grow into the person that she needed to be to be with Leo. And that was just pretty heart-wrenching. It was pretty heart-wrenching. It was brutal. So good. Yeah. So good. With that said, play the footage. Is there anything that you can tell us about what Leo and Caspen each represented to you without giving any major spoilers or if you have to do a spoiler? I I can't do it without a spoiler because it'll then we'll know. So, spoiler. Okay. Spoiler. But I'll just answer your huge spoiler. It's really the thing of like, have you guys seen Vampire Diaries? Mm- No, I haven't. Oh, okay. Well, that's Put it on the list. Put it on the list, but it's a short it's a short aside. There's a character in there named Klouse, and he says to another character named Caroline, he's like she currently has a boyfriend, and he's like, "He's your first love. I intend to be your last. And so like that's the energy is like Caspen is her first love. Leo's her last. Like I think there's such a a value and a a difference between like you have that first love. It changes your life. It changes you. But ultimately like it's not necessarily who you're supposed to end up with. It feels like it is, but it's not. You're actually meant for like whoever you whoever you find after them and you now are ready for because of that first person. So, that's what I'll say. Yeah. First love versus last love is a huge theme. And I don't I don't think I even realized it was until I was doing a reread of it forever ago before it was due. And I was like, I really harp on this a lot, don't I? And I didn't even realize, but I just like as I went through, I was like, that's what we're getting at is like TM had Caspen and he changed her and he opened her up and then Leo and that made her ready for Leo. Yeah. I literally like texted, you know, the emoji of like Jessica Day sobbing her eyes out with that line to Ashley after I finished reading it. Yes. Yes. And then there's also we also have Evelyn who is Leo's first love and Tim is his last love. And so like I think it's it's just a full circle of of that's what everybody kind of has going on is you you don't necessarily end up with that first big great love cuz it's just not necessarily right. Yeah. as somebody who like personally doesn't love the trope of like going back to their first love, you know, like small that small town romance usually does that, you know, I don't know what to call it specifically, but it was very I loved it because they didn't even though it what it represented was the growth and the change. Yeah. So, I did love what you took with that and did the first love and last love. It's second chance romance. I think that's what you're Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So it's hard for me to like resonate with this. So this one felt very satisfying even though it was such a different It's very different spin on it. It's not doing the second chance romance. It's it's almost like holding you explored that place of holding that person as value obviously my heart but you know still having the space in Tim's heart for her last love you know and all the growth that you get from that first love and all the experiences that you have you know it's personified it's to the extreme but it's a it's very relatable I think if people break it down is like what you experience when you're when you're a teenager and having that first love and it's so impassioned and it might not be who you end up with but you learn something from that and you became a better person because of it even if it wasn't the best relationship you know. Yeah. You learn something and it also I mean it makes you who you are. It it changes you in in ways that you just you it's it's essential to who you are. It it's essential. So like not only is it valuable, it's it's required. You have to have that love to like move on. Yeah. Honestly, like it made me have like a complete cuz I've been like a Caspian girl like throughout this whole process. I mean, technically I'm a Bastion girl, but hey. Um, but I feel like the fact that, you know, after all is said and done, Leo is able to hold that space for her to like go through what she goes through at the end of Between Two Kings. Like, that made me respect him like all the more. Like I know. I I writing that writing Leo that way like was so sweet and I was just like this is the way that like a real man would deal with this situation. A real man who loves this girl and is like it not only does Tim understand Caspen and everything that he gave her. Leo understands everything that Caspen gave Tim and is and is thankful for that because that's who brought them together. Like it's, you know, it's a whole it's so much bigger than just them. Yeah, I gotta say, I knew it was coming, but I wasn't prepared. I'm so sorry. No, it's okay. It's okay. We love it. We want to get our hearts ripped out. So, it's totally I'm so glad you did it the way you did it because it gave the entire story the meat that it fully needed. You know, it wasn't it wasn't an easy way out by any means. I can't even imagine what it was like writing that scene. Oh. Oh. It was just me crying on my couch and like sobbing like gross baby snob like disgusting. And then I would kind of like stop and like look around my empty apartment and be like, "Lindsay, get it together. Get it together." Like these are characters that I wrote myself. Like I can change the course of this if I want. I can write whatever I want. And I was like, "Why am I choosing to put myself in so much pain? It was horrible. Awful." Yeah. Because you knew it would be perfect. That's Yeah. Yep. Yeah. Okay. So, guys, we're back. We didn't talk as much about the necklace as I wanted to. You guys, the necklace. I'm already crying because Caspen's dead. And you know what? We'll talk about this in a second, but I didn't love Caspen in this one. Caspian. Caspen. Casp. Caspen. Okay. It's also Caspenon, right? Or something like that. Caspon. I do like that name. It's a good name. I didn't love him in this book. you know, he was on the fence over the last one. I was actually a Leo girl in the last one. This one, you know, he did a lot of things that pissed me off, which we'll talk about. Um, but I still was balling and I was I was cry I was crying. I was crying. And then when she describes the necklace melting down her chest and that last kind of piece of him almost that she had, I was balling. Oh, I probably look disgusting and it was glorious. And that's to me what like fully solidified this book as a five star. Oh, five star and my favorite out of the two so far. Yeah, for sure. It's like the full circle was complete. What did it for me was the, you know, I was your first love, he'll be your last. That's what did me in. I was like, dude. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you know, it's like great, now I'm a Casper girl again. And then he's dead. Well, see what really really like So, part part A of my emotional breakdown uh was that line. Part B of the emotional breakdown was her going through the grieving process and Leo being capable of like holding that space for her without being threatened by Caspen's memory and and legacy. And that to me was huge. And almost like in that point I would say like if I had to choose like I wouldn't choose between Leo and Caspen anymore at that point because to me they'd both bring equal things to the table. I've been a Caspen girl this whole way through. Um like if I had to choose between just those two cuz you guys know I've always been um you know a Bastion apologist. Um so I've always been team Bastion. I want his prequel. I love Apollo as well. Um, to me, he's probably the least problematic out of everyone, honestly. Um, but if I were to choose between Caspine and Leo this whole time, up until I saw just in those final pages of the book how Leo dealt with the aftermath of Caspin's death and understanding that she loved Caspen just as much as him up until he died, that turned me just as much a Leo girl as a Caspen girl in that moment. And I never had up until that point because the respect that I like have for that character just like times a million because like what a per like what a person to be able to like not think of yourself in that way but understand that like she needs you to work through this insane thing that's just been happening you know but doesn't mean that she loves Leo any less. It's just that she loved both of them you know. Beautiful. It's beautiful. Yeah, that's that's beautiful. That's beautiful. So, yeah, there's that, guys. I know we kind of mixed it up for this one. But we definitely want to hold some space for authors to say to speak a little bit more freely in a spoilery way. So, definitely look forward to that in our future author interviews if we can include them. We decided to include it in this episode this time, her snippet, because the book hadn't been released yet when the interview came out, you know. But in the future, if we if we interview authors, we'll leave a spoiler section specifically at the end if the books are already out, so that you can um get a little bit more of their thoughts on some of these endings and stuff. Um, and if not, we'll include them in deep dives as we always do. So, yeah, it was a special moment. It's five sentence time. Time for me to get the gong. I feel like a gong is very snake like for some reason. And I don't know, maybe it's just the gold is cool. I don't know. Maybe it's just it's a vibe, you know? A hiss would be better, but that's all right. Yeah. Okay. I'm just going to hiss and then like we can't even hear it barely. Okay. Great. All right. So, five sentence summary of Between Two Kings by Lindsay Strawby. TM is still equally in love with both Leo and Caspen, but knows that she has a duty as the Basilisk Queen to put her feelings aside to forge a new future with the human kingdom. So, she and Caspine agree to meet with Leo and Evelyn every Sunday to negotiate terms, even though this is torture for both of them. Many tensionfilled and often inappropriate moments are shared, and Leo looks like he's slowly wasting away due to the power of the crest not being consummated.

One. Due to the banishment of the bassilisk bloodletting, the human kingdom is now struggling financially, and the regular town's people like TM's family and Gabriel are the ones suffering. So, they begin to revolt against the crown. In a desperate attempt to quell the descent, TM volunteers to bleed, and Leo lets her. She also invites Gabriel to experience Bassilisk society, and her plan to forge common ground works when he falls for one of the Dracon brothers, Damon, who determines Gabriel is his mate. M two cute cute. Evelyn and Leo are meant to be married, but he is clearly extremely unhappy with her. So Tim finds out from Maximus in the dungeon dungeon that he paid her to leave Leo. And since her only interest has ever been money, she accepted and has only returned for more money and power. Meanwhile, TM and Caspen's marriage is contested by the other Basilisk clan. So Caspen, Ro, the challenger, and 11 other suitors must compete in a sex tournament for her hand. three or I guess it would be 10 other suitors. Whatever. There's 12 of them. Okay. Caspen loses the initial battle with Ro because he cheats. But since there are no rules in Basilisk society, they proceed and Tim has sex with all other contestants including Apollo. Caspen's extremely attractive and kind brother who she has formed a close bond with and who ultimately helps Caspen to win her heart by extracting her love for Leo in the last moment. In addition to also helping Tm hone her bassless skills like petrifying and turning into her true form. Poor Apollo. We love We love We love him. He's so good. Okay. A weasel is set loose in the caves, killing many bassilisk. And Caspen blames the humans. So Leo comes to apologize in person when suddenly Ro and his clan storm the kingdom looking to kill Tim because he is unhappy with the results of the tournament. So Caspen flees and tells Temp to sleep with Leo in order to consummate the crest to get to her full power in order to battle Row, even though he will then be forced by magic to kill her for her betrayal to him. But instead, he sacrifices himself by forcing Apollo to kill him in order to let Tim live after she gathers enough magic to kill Ro.

Five.

There you go. There you go. So she ends up Leo. Obviously, I felt like I I was like, do I need to include that? I don't know. I think it's kind of like, you know, we already talked about it. But now we get our our second our happily ever after 2.0, but with a little bit more of a realistic uh rosecolored glasses are kind of taken off. You know what I mean? We had to go through a lot to get here, basically. Yeah. Yeah. So, what would you say were your three favorite tropes if you had to pick three favorites? This is how you do a love triangle, baby. I really liked this take on it. Yeah. Yeah. Not as simple I think as some are written. So I really liked the Lindsay's take on it. I also put this is how you do a satisfying first love for me personally. You know I think we talked about the interview with Lindsay how I don't usually love that first love you know situation. Um, but this was a really beautiful take on it. I'll be your first love, he's going to be your last. I also put girlhood cuz I loved her relationship with Adeline. I think that that's not how you say it. Sorry. But Adelaide. Adelaide. Yeah. Yeah. Mhm. Yeah. What about you? What other ones did you put? Yeah, I put love triangle, too. Loved it. I feel like usually I'm more of a um I have a hard time with love triangles or why choose because I'm I'm a Caspin girl for a reason, right? It's like I like when a guy is like very all obsessed and encompassing and doesn't want to share and like that's kind of more of my style. Um but this was just done perfectly. So yeah, dare say converted to the love triangle, but it would be hard to to do one as well, I think. Um, I did put found family. So, very on the same kind of like level because um, not just Adelaide, but I also loved Apollo's character. And they had a really interesting relationship because it's almost like they had a like it's like a brotherly like he's teaching her how to do these things, but then at the same time they're like sexually attracted to one another because that's just basilisk culture. So, it was really a unique relationship because you knew that they didn't love each other that way, but that he would literally die for her. And I'm like, what a cool like that's awesome. I love that. And I did also love Adelaide's character. Like, she was great as well. Um, obviously Gabriel brings a lot to the table. So, found family was just in my opinion top tier here. Yeah. Um, and then I put tragedy. Oh, yeah. That's what it was. That's what it was at the heart at the end. It was a tragedy for sure. And we Yeah. ripped our hearts out. Love it. It'll stick with me forever. I can't wait to see people's reaction on the ending cuz I know some people hate that. They don't want their hearts ripped out. That couldn't be us. We want it. We want to feel all the things. No fake out deaths here, man. Dead. No. Dead. Dead. Dead. We love it. We love it. I know. I know. As hard as it is, I feel like it was a good choice that she made and it was a great way to, you know, end these two books for Can't have high stakes without high stakes, right? Yeah. Yeah. Yep. So, what about one disliked trope? Could you find one? I have to be for reals. Um, yeah. Something I would have a hard time with if I was in T's position. Brothers. Like, I get it. I wouldn't change it any other way. And I love Apollo obviously, but that's that would be easy. I'd be like, "Bye, Caspen. I'm with Apollo. Bye bye." Yeah. No, but brothers. Yeah, that's definitely hard. That I I was struggling it with it just as much as she did. She didn't struggle with it for as long, but Yeah. Mhm. Siblings. I think I think, you know, and I like that Lindsay addressed that, right? Because it's like we have our our kind of, you know, what's normalized, our quoteunquote moral compass, right? It's like this thing where it's not like she's like, how do I explain this? She's doesn't just have a kind of a side thing going on with Apollo and then something going on with Caspen. Sometimes they do all three of them interact together. Yeah. Um and so I feel like that can be hard for some people like um so you know, but I did not mind that. So hey yeah, they're basilisks after all. Yeah. I mean, yeah. Mhm. Um, one dislike trope I had. Okay. And I really had to grasp at straws because there's nothing I freaking disliked about this book. Like, to be honest, I still wouldn't change it. Yeah. Yeah. Um, was I put Evelyn being a gold digger. Okay. So, the reason why I didn't like this is because I almost wanted Evelyn's character to be a little bit more complex than that. Like, it kind of at the end of the day almost bothered me a little bit that she was just a straightup gold digger. Yeah, that's it. Like I kind of wanted her to have more of a story than that. Um, and so if we're splitting hairs, that would be the only thing. Mhm. Yeah, I think. And I get it. I mean, I'm sure there's gold diggers all the time who would like, you know, try to hook up with the prince or the king or whatever, you know? I'm sure they were just swarming around all the time in those days. In those days, in the Bassilist days. Um, but you know what I mean. But still, I would have liked for her to have something else going on. Yeah, that's fair. Yeah. Um, it made me because it also made me question Leo's character a little bit. Yeah, for sure. I think that's at the end of the day a part of it because it's like he was genuinely in love with her and then he even says that she's always been like this. So, it's like he might not have known that she was just a quote unquote gold digger, but like he always knew that she was vapid then, right? Like she's always been like this. Like, so I'm just kind of like hm interesting. But we did see a lot of growth with him in the first book and that was post Evelyn also. For sure. You know, I mean, he was literally probably he was a kid, right? He was what probably like 13. So, yeah. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. A lot's changed. Yeah, for sure. That was his first love and that changed. What's one like small or niche micro trope that stood out to you, good or bad? Wise father. Yeah, Kronos. I loved their relationship with her parents, you know. I would have I would love to see more of that, but he was just it was just so natural for him to integrate back into her life and he was such a wise old basilisk and I loved that. Yeah. I mean, we will get more of their story, right? Yeah. Yeah. Exciting. Yeah. Um I put brother I put brother sex. There you go. What's one person's treasure is another person's treasure. Yeah. Um Hey Do you like what you like? You know what I mean? It's like he was I think the thing is it's like the best and I told Ashley this. It's like I don't really love comparing characters, but he reminded me so much of Cassian. Yeah. From the Acatar world that I was just like you can't help but love the dude. Oh yeah. He's just great. Yeah. Oh yeah. He's great. Um so what about some themes that you took away from the story? Were there any that stood out to you that you think were extra special? Not that we haven't talked about it. a lot already, but first and last love, you know, was just really special. Something I haven't read yet. Um, and just empowerment overall. You know, she's having to not only navigate and accept this completely different culture than what she was raised in, but then transform and be empowered by it. So, and finding and stepping into her own power and all those things. Yeah, for sure. Um, I put same thing, first love versus last love. Um, and then, you know, we talked about this on the interview, too. The experience is making who you who you are. Like, at the end of the day, you know, it's one of those things to where it's like, could she have happily ever been with Leo if Caspen didn't die? Probably not. Yeah. Would she and Leo ever would have been suited to be together long term, you know, as quote unquote soulmates or whatever you want to call them? Um, if Casp if she didn't have all these previous experiences with Caspine, Caspen was necessary in her existence to drive her to Leo and to help her become the person that she was meant to be to be with him. And so, yeah, loved that so much. So, that's kind of both of those mixed together. First love versus last love and then experiences making you who you are. Those were my How about accountability? Also, Leo taking account, not Leo, Caspen taking accountability that TM is actually in this problem because of his hand forcing her to crest Leo in the first place, you know, even though he didn't really know that that was going to be a problem. He did though. He admitted that he did know. He just didn't He wasn't willing to accept that TM's feelings were as strong as she was clearly telling him. Yeah. He was in a bit of denial for sure. Yeah. And he accepts that and the letter that he writes to her. Oh no. The letter that final letter. Yeah. Just makes you realize he that's he knew what he was doing ever since then. Yeah. It wasn't just Yeah. like um emotional response, last stitch effort. He really like thought it through and reasoned with it and gave her some closure in that way. And it's beautiful. It's beautiful. Um, okay. Then just have to ask if it's popular, do you understand why? And if it's not, should it be? I think I mean obviously this one just came out so it's hard to say, but the series in general, I think it's popular. I mean, I see it randomly on posts and I think it's taken the world by storm for for positives and some what some people think negatives. It gets the people going and I love one way or the other. Yeah, I do love a good um what's the word I'm looking for? Polarizing topic of conversation. So, I love it. I think it should be popular. Obviously, it was five stars. So, yeah. What about you? Yeah, I agree. I think that it's what it's doing is it's forcing us to have a conversation, good or bad, about it. Um and in that way, it's becoming popular for good or bad, right? like as you were just saying because I feel like people either love or hate it. There's not a whole lot of people who are like kind of in the middle on it. Um but I think the value in that is that we're talking about a book that is very very you know I mean we're talking about a book where uh the main female character has to have sex with 12 basilisks to choose who gets to you know marry her. Mhm. Um it's like what a day to be alive. I think that's you know that's what stands out to me. The more popular this get this gets in either direction whether people disagree with like that kind of representation or agree with it and see it as liberating. The point is that we're now at a point in time where we have the ability to write these things and read these things and talk about these things and whoa that's so cool. Yeah. And so cool that not only was she self-publishing this, but the fact that the publishing world saw it and picked it up, loved it, picked it up, signed her on for more, like whoa, breaking waves here. That's not the word. That's not the same. Yeah, but like I get what you mean. It's like it's really it's paving the way for a lot of other important things to come down the pipeline later on from all different authors and people. And that's really freaking cool. Yeah. Cuz 10 years ago, Yeah. Right. this wouldn't have gotten picked up by a publisher because they were not accepting and open to that. And it's just it's showing us that like, okay, they're starting to understand. They're starting to get it. The fat cats in the boardrooms, you know, as I always say. So So yeah, I mean it is popular. I think it's really popular amongst the people that enjoy, you know, romance, monster romance, that kind of thing. Um, but I think that it's definitely spreading out to bigger audiences as well. And it deserves to just have all the popularity in my opinion because it puts so many important themes that at the center all lie women's empowerment and um sexual liberation also. And so I think that those are just hugely important. Yeah, totally. Yeah. Yeah. So, what would you say your favorite part would have been in this book? I honestly loved when Tim took her life in her own hands and went to Apollo to ask him to teach her how to petrify. Is that the right word? Petrify. Yeah. Mhm. Um because dude, Castine was bugging me. He was like, you know, kind of stunting her growth in a lot of ways because he felt like he knew better for her. And I I get it. He's thousands of years old or whatever. Uh and she's just a little young and but you know, it was hindering her in so many ways. And not only that, when they're walking in the forest and she's like, "Ah, my feet are freezing." And he's like, "Well, warm them up, you dummy." And she's like, "What?" You know, so she got to learn how to like regulate her body temperature. Like that's super handy. So, not like the act of petrifying, but just that she finally was like, "Okay, enough. Like, I got to learn how to do this." And even though Apollo was doing it cuz he thinks he's, you know, going to get a happy ending from it, she doesn't know. She doesn't know that. But it's still great. I loved it. And then we do get a fun time with Apollo. So, hey. Yeah. Um, you know, I put the same thing for my favorite and least favorite part. Like, literally, it was the ending. It was Caspen dying. It was my favorite part. It was my least favorite part because it was so tragic, but it was so necessary and important and it just it shaped Tim's, you know, future character and so I had to just I had to choose that. It was so good. Yeah. It'll stick with me till forever probably. I feel like any other ending would have been disappointing. Mhm. I agree. Somebody had to die. Was that your least favorite part or did you have a different least favorite part? Oh, I mean that's still my favorite part for sure. I just wanted to give you something else to talk about. Um, least favorite part. Oh, I I guess I did put it the brutal ending. Hey. Yeah, cuz but again, favorite and least favorite. Literally wouldn't change it. I think just like that necklace dripping down her and leaving that scar and she refuses to heal it deliberately even though it causes her pain afterwards.

Beautiful. Yeah. Horrific. Beautiful. Loved it. Hated it. Loved it. Yeah. It's like, you know, I put here if I had to pick like less like more light-hearted fa, you know, favorite and least favorite. I really loved that Gabrielle bonded with their brother and um you know, at the ending just like went off to live with them in the sea or whatever. I was like, how cute is that? I love that so much. So, that was definitely a fave. And then um something I really didn't like. I think that Do I know what you're going to say? Do I know? Let's see. I don't know. Say one word in three, two, one. We'll see if it's the same. One, two, three. Weasel. It was not the same. What did you say? What penis? Gold. Oh, gold penis. And I said weasel for anybody that couldn't hear that. But I mean, no, cuz the Okay, the weasel thing definitely threw me, but I didn't hate it like I did the gold. Okay, so the rose freaking fake gold thing. Okay, here's the thing is like I kind of could wrap my head around it until you realize that it was literally like hard like gold and I was like like every time I just kept thinking about like how uncomfortable that would be and I like couldn't get over it. I hated that like no ramifications came from that. I did hate that. Yeah, cuz there's no rules and passes. Yeah, but they said but there are rules but there's not. So that was a little didn't love. But I'm like like that just sounds so like terrible and cumbersome. I don't know. And then it would just be like because they all walk around naked all the time. So then I'm like ew. It would just be like out staring at you all the time. Like I don't want to look at that. Yeah. Freak me out. It would freak me out. And so then I just kept thinking about that. So anyways, I didn't like that. But the weasel thing. Okay. Was just funny. It was just funny because all I kept thinking of guys was that episode was CeCe's wedding where freaking Winston sets the badger free in the air ducts above the place and that's all I kept thinking of. And it was such a tragedy and so many bassilists were dying and all I could think of was a freaking badger. Winston Winston Biddy. Yeah. Yeah. So funny. So yeah. So there's that. M. So, those are my less serious ones. Yeah. Um, do you have a favorite and least favorite character? Perhaps. Favorite character? Apollo. Yeah, hands down. Love him. He's the best of both parts of Leo and Caspen in one. Cuz I could I was like there's always like Caspen bugs me cuz he's a little controlling even though that could be a fun time, you know? And then Leo sometimes is like a little bit of a manchild in a way because he's inexperienced. I feel like Apollo has that kind of arrogance that Leo had in the first book, you know, and flirtation and taking what's mine and but then he's a bassilisk like Caspen, you know. Yeah, for sure. Loved it. Yeah. He's cocky, but he's fun. He's got that, you know, like bad boy exterior, but like the heart of gold. That's why I compare him to Cassie because I feel like that's the vibe where it's like wants what's best for everybody. Yeah. He's like, you know, he's at his core just like a protector, but isn't controlling in the same way as Caspen is. Um he's fun. Yeah. He's just I loved him on every level. He was the perfect character. I want to know all the things about him. I want him to end up happy and with someone. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Truly. Um who was your least favorite character? Evelyn. Yeah, I hate a sinister [ __ ] A sinister [ __ ] Sneaker sneaker cell pretending to be all sweet and deeeyed, you know, and and she's stealing forks. I get it. She's poverty. But like, yeah, literally stealing forks. Like, come on, lady. I mean, and I think that's why I mean, I would, if I had to pick anything apart, it would have been a little bit more of a complex backstory for Evelyn because really at the end of it is like, is she an evil gold digger or was her family starving and that was her choice? Yeah. Or, you know, whatever. Like, we don't really know. We don't know much about her. And so, that's why I think I would have liked to know a little bit more about her. Yeah, based on face value, what we do know, what's on page, she Yeah. was conniving and evil and she wanted the bloodletting to come back just so that she could have fancy a fancy wedding and 12 swans and whatever. Yeah. So, obviously based on that, we would not like her. Yeah. Is that who you picked, too? Yeah. Oh, yeah. For sure. How was the spice level? Okay. So, I came up with a new word in my brain thinking about this specific book, and it's smot or spot. We It's up for debate. You guys decide. It's either smut versus plot ratio or spice versus plot ratio. I mean, I kind of like smot better. Yeah, cuz smat's already a word. So, smot. Perfect smot in every way because I obviously my brain put the two together when I was trying to think of it. I was like, "Oh, it's a smot." Yeah, perfect smot. 10 out of 10. Great. Yeah. Five stars. Five stars. Like you said, five stars. Five spice. I mean, the fact that she could come up with ideas like the sex tournament and work it into a story and have it make sense Mhm. is like next level. I don't know. That's like some talent right there in my opinion. You know what I mean? It's like she's taking ideas that out of the context of this splitter swallow world would just be completely bonkers and makes it make not just sense but makes it good and interesting and uses it to move the plot forward in such a way that is just like magical. Yeah. Yeah. I agree. It's like the perfect ratio. Yeah. Perfect ratio. I mean even in the sex tournament you can see that things were leading up to that. you know her relationship with Paulo had to be Apollo had to be where it was and you are still kind of questioning is she starting to fall in love with Apollo like what's going on there you know and so by having yeah by having to take that truth elixir you know she can confirm to herself too that I love these two guys equally crap well and you know there's something so special just to go back to Apollo 2 there's something so special about a guy who you know it she looked looks to him for help with Ro because obviously she's like in this trance because of his stupid gold dick. She's digmatized. She's digmatized by this stupid thing because of its magic. He's using forbidden magic. Okay. Yeah. And um she looks to Ro and she's like, "Help me." And he helps Apollo. Yeah. Or Apollo. Yeah. And he helps her. And then, you know, when she is struggling to choose because she obviously loves Leo, but he's not there because he's not a bassilisk. So, you know, then Apollo goes in and helps her out there in that 11th hour as well. It's like, what a guy. Yeah. What a guy. That's great. Yeah. Um, so we know at this point that there will be a prequel that will be coming out in probably about a year, Lindsay said. Yeah. So, will you read it? A duh. Same answer to you. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, like, I just want to know about everyone. I think that's the thing. It's like, you know, it's like when you read Throne of Glass and you're like, I need to know these characters story. I need to know these characters story cuz they're all written so well. It's like, I want to know Apollo's story. I want to know Adelaide's story. I want to know more about like literally all the side characters are so great that I'm like I just you know obviously her mom and dad's story like that I just want to know it all about everyone so I will read all of the things in this universe that ever come out. There you go. There you go. Simple answer. Yeah. Do you have any other things you want to say about why this book stands out? Any things you want to discuss? Any bonus questions for me? Anything like that? Honestly, I'm just happy to be here, you know, in this moment in time. Listen, I as somebody who is not a Spice Girl, it threw me how much I would love these books. Does that make sense? Mhm. No, it does. I actually Well, no, it makes sense to me because we, you know, we did Serpent Summer last summer. We were on the cruise and we read um SOS. That's what it was back then together, you know. And um I was honestly wondering that when we were reading it because I was like this is very very like sexheavy. I mean like literally it's a book with a lot of really important themes but is uh based a lot on a culture that is very like all almost all of their customs are related to sex in some way, right? And so, um, I was like, I wonder how Ashley's going to feel about this being someone who can generally take or leave the spice in something. Yeah. And while I could still take or leave it, I feel when I went into reading this book, the first time, the first one, I went into it completely with an open mind cuz I knew that this might not be a book that I would normally pick up if I heard about it, you know, be like, h, you know, cuz I'm just not a spice girl. That's really what it's talked about. You know, like I said, it's kind of watered down a lot, just snake sex. And and that's okay. I love that Lindsay talked about that. And it's okay if it is just snake smud, you know, that's fine. It's okay if it's just a book on sex. For me as a reader, though, I do really like the plot. So, I'm a very plotheavy reader, you know, and if there is sex, I do want it to have a purpose. And while there are some scenes in there that are fun, they still usually serve a purpose. And so for me, that's what I need to. So, I'm so glad that I went in there with an open mind and gave it a chance because I loved it. It was a great time. And yeah, I could still take or leave the sweat scenes, but that's what's so great that there's something for everybody if you're open to the journey. You can not worry, don't worry about the plot. Like, it's just it, you know, it's moving things along. It's making it have a purpose, but if you want to have the plot there, it's there, you know, and it's like she said, purposeful themes woven throughout. If you're willing to look into it, you'll see them. They're there. All right. So, do you want to get started on What's wrong? Nothing. Hey guys, we're we look a little different if you're watching the YouTube video. Sorry for the jump scare. We have tech isn't real. It's just a bunch of monkeys behind the scenes duct tape bean things. And our memory card decided to just delete a couple videos. So, it's been a thing. Yeah, it's been a thing, but luckily it's just, you know, a wrap-up portion, which is the fun part. So, we'll just do the fun part again. You know, come hang out with us. You haven't seen it yet, so it's new to you, but we look a little different to the people watching YouTube. If you're listening though, you wouldn't have been none the wiser that we a different day. We're different people now. Yeah. Yeah. We could be completely different than our normal and you have no idea. In the future, and it's in the future of that video, but it's in the past for when you're seeing it. So, what is time? Time travel freaks me out. We can't go there. I won't be able to recover for the rest of the day. I'll have no idea. I'll just be thinking about it now forever. Great. Oh, great. Great. Well, time for an unhinged smash or pass. Sounds Are you ready for it? I am always ready for it. Okay, you you hit me with it. Okay, so mine is uh split or swallow universe related, of course. Yeah. Okay. Okay. So, mine is more of a concept, if you will, not a person, but a concept. Yeah. Okay. So, uh, smash or pass. You have to choose one. Are you choosing to participate in the ritual or the aura?

Oh,

I don't even remember my answer from last time. And I don't know what it's going to be. I'm a different person today. I do think it's a different I don't I don't want to do either. TBH tbh. Okay. I There's There's cons to both. I don't I'm really terrified of getting my pelvis cracked. So, but the whole orospores also really freaks me out. That's a lot of people.

At least I can walk away literally. So, I'm going to go with Oro because I'll be still standing after. Yeah, I'm going to go with that. Lock it in. No ritual for me. I don't want to be broken in half. Yeah. What about you? But but we do. But we do. Um Oh, well. Hey. Hey. I know. Well, my issue is that you guys know that I'm team Bastion. So like my snap like I don't know original answer would be like the ritual but for the same reason as you like the fact that I do not want my pelvis snapped in half I have to go with the oraoros and hey if Apollo is coming down the pipeline we're just going to be okay with that. Yeah I mean I feel like Apollo filled the hole that Bastion left behind. Yeah. If you have learned anything from today, guys, it's that if you haven't read the book yet, know Apollo is just top tier. If you have read the book, hopefully you're nodding along. Like, yeah, literally the best of both worlds. Like we said to Lindsay, like it's Leo and Caspen in one. Yep. All the pros, none of the cons. Mhm. With a little sprinkle with a little sprinkle of Bastion because he does I think it's mentioned somewhere in there that he looks more like Bastion than Caspine does. And I was like, she wrote that just for you. I'd like to think just for me. Thanks, Lindsay. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So, now that that's settled, I'm curious to hear what you guys have to say about that one, too. Which one wins and the polls? So, what do you have for me? All right. Um, I'm pretty sure we already did the bassilisk from Harry Potter. So, I'm going to give you uh you have to pick one, even though I don't remember our answers from those. Yeah, me. I'm thinking if you were a snake, you have to pick one. The bassilisk from Harry Potter and the I think it's Chamber of Secrets. Okay. And the andaconda from Andaconda. Andaconda. Why am I saying that so weird? Anaconda. It's a weird like early 2000s movie. Straight up. Well, I feel like I mean it's big. It's a big boy. Yeah. I'm going to go with I think the Bassilisk from Harry Potter for sure. That was probably too easy, but yeah. I mean, I'm more of a personality really at the end of the day. I'm fantastical. Yeah. got powers. Anaconda's just going around eating people. Have you seen the trailer for the new Andaconda? Why do I keep saying it like that? Anaconda. Anaconda. I keep adding another D in there. Um, have you seen it yet? No. Who's in it? You need to look it up. Okay, so it's Paul Rudd. Hello, Jack Black. Hello. So, they're they're remaking Anaconda, but it's as if the movie is about remaking Anaconda. Oh my god. It's like so they like actually find a snake in the Amazon and people are getting eaten but it's the funny it's Paul Rudd and Jackbox. So it's funny. Watch the trailer. Jeff and I were dying. Oh my gosh. Listen, you guys check it out. It looks so funny. I can't wait. Actually, I did want to give you an update, too, cuz for those of you who've been here for a little while, one of the smasher passes that we had in the past was the Scorpion King from The Mummy 2. Yes. Okay. Update update. Uh, I started watching that last night after dark. Wink wink wink. Um, I have not gotten to the part yet where he turns into a half scorpion, but once I do get there, I will report back on my thoughts. Okay. Well, thanks for the fake out update. Like, what? Thanks for nothing. Well, I wanted to let you know that I hope you're hungry for nothing. I wanted to make sure that you knew where I was in my Scorpion King journey. So, there I am. I literally bought the movie. I own it now. I'm halfway there. So, I will let you know. All right. Okay. We're just And hey, it's a sign of the times where we are in our life that we take two maybe three business days to watch a one and a half hour movie. It's, you know, it's true story. Yep. That's the way that Who can relate? Here, here. Oh. Well, you guys let us know down below who's your favorite snake. What's up? Let us know down below where you'd like to go or you like to go down the rabbit hole. No, that's sneak involved. If you are new here, thank you so much for joining us today in this fun little journey. I hope that you consider like, following, and subscribing anywhere you like to listen to your favorite podcasts, including YouTube. And come hang out with us over on Instagram and Tik Tok. We're besties in the Books podcast everywhere. But you guys, for now, we'll see you next Tuesday. Next Tuesday. But before that, Friday. Wicked series. All right. Bye, guys. Bye.