DIVINE RIVALS Review, Final Splinter Update, and Christmas

It’s Amy’s Week!

On this episode of the My Sister Made Me Read It podcast, it’s Amy’s week to choose what book we read, and she’s decided on the Young Adult Fantasy DIVINE RIVALS by Rebecca Ross. (19:11)

But before they dive in, Amy and Abby talk about crazy shoppers during christmas time. Abby has an update on Jose’s famous splinter. And Amy has a foot injury story that involves super glue. 

Subscribe and Leave us a Review down below! We want to hear from you, what your thoughts are of Divine Rivals, and what you'd like us to review next! Give it a rating in the comment section of your rating! 

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Credit for Intro and Outro music: This That Shizznit by Beat Mekanik, Free Music Archive, CC BY

Transcript

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 0:12

I feel like this is a, since we're struggling today, this is good.

Track 1 0:15

Okay. What is

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 0:17

soul. And again, just looking like a wow, so beautiful soul. And again, just looking like a wow. Beautiful.

Track 1 0:28

looking like? A what?

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 0:30

Just looking like a wow.

Track 1 0:33

Oh, wow.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 0:35

Wow.

Track 1 0:36

Yeah. That's not what we look like today.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 0:38

cutest thing ever.

Track 1 0:40

That is so cute. Just looking like a, wow.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 0:42

right.

Track 1 0:43

I love that.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 0:44

like, oh, wow.

Track 1 0:45

Good morning. It is a rough morning. Oh man. Why are we struggling today? I went back to work last night. I know. That's why I'm struggling.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 0:56

oh,

Track 1 0:56

It was my first day back at work. Uh, first night back at work.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 1:00

it's Christmas Merry Chrysler.

Track 1 1:03

Mary Rasler. Is it Christmas?

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 1:07

Yeah. And today's Christmas Eve

Track 1 1:09

Oh yeah. Do you hear sunshine barking?

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 1:13

No.

Track 1 1:13

Okay, good. I put them in the car. They're driving me crazy.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 1:17

Well, let's get started 'cause I have a lot to talk about. Um,

Track 1 1:20

You do?

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 1:21

yeah. To

Track 1 1:22

Yay.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 1:22

sister Mamie Readit podcast. Thanks for tuning into this chaotic podcast. Today we're diving into Divine rivals by Rebecca Ross. This is the first book of the Letter of Enchantment series.

Track 1 1:34

Mm-Hmm,

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 1:35

Found out this morning, but we'll get into that in a minute. But anything, how was your week off from work?

Track 1 1:42

Uh, it was good. It was nice. It was nice to kind of step away, but I get bored so fast. So I was pretty bored. I was really excited to get back to work last night. Um, I really didn't do anything. I kind of just like every single day it was so nice. I like woke up and just whatever I felt like doing that day, I just went and did. So that was fun. Yeah, a lot of shopping, a lot of walking. I walked the dogs for miles and miles.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 2:09

You shopped a lot.

Track 1 2:11

Yeah, I did kind of shop a lot.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 2:14

was there a lot of people out? I have

Track 1 2:16

Yes,

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 2:17

shopping, that's why I'm

Track 1 2:18

there was a lot of people out. And I made the really dumb decision on Friday. It was my last full day and I was like, I wanna go shopping again. And um, I wanted to go to this shopping center that has like a TJ Maxx, an Ulta, a Home Goods, a Bath and Body Works. And it's kind of far from my house in the city. It's kind of over in like one of the suburbs. So it's like a 23 minute drive. But I was like, you know what, I'm gonna go and just spend the day. Why I wanted to do that the Friday before Christmas. I'll never know because it took me like 45 minutes just to get there. 'cause there was so much traffic. And then when I finally went into DJ Maxx, the line, the line was like, I can't, every TJ Maxx is like different, the layouts, but the line was like all the way in the fricking back the beginning of the line. It was wrapped around in like all the way down, like past like the jewelry, past the purses, past, like all of that shit.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 3:20

Oh my God.

Track 1 3:21

And I found one thing, I went in there with the um, like idea of getting one of my friends, uh, something. 'cause I like hadn't finished her gift yet and I didn't find anything for her. And I found something for Bailey of course after I've already gotten her a bunch of shit. But I was like, okay, I need to get this for Bailey. And so I just stood in line for one little thing. Yeah. I was horrible.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 3:44

long did you stay in the line for?

Track 1 3:46

Probably at least 20 minutes, maybe longer. I don't know. Time is a construct. But then I walked over to Ulta.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 3:54

went to TJ Maxx. Oh, you went to

Track 1 3:57

I went to Ulta, and then I went to Total Wine and More, which is used to be like one of my favorite stores. But I just went in there 'cause I'm like, maybe I'll get one of my friends, like a bottle of wine. They had an entire non-alcoholic section

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 4:14

Oh, that's

Track 1 4:15

and I've never seen so many non-alcoholic beverages in my life. I was so happy. I bought wine. I bought, um, a zero proof gin spirit, which is basically like juniper water. It kind of tastes gross, but like whatever. And then I bought, um,

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 4:29

thought that counts.

Track 1 4:30

yeah, I bought some little stuff from, from there. So it was good. It was fun. And they're opening a Barnes and Noble in that shopping center.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 4:39

Oh, that's nice.

Track 1 4:40

Yeah, in February, so I might just move over there.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 4:44

Yeah. I went to TJ Maxx couple days ago too, because we're hosting like Jose's family, and I was like, I don't have and like basic stuff like that. So I was like, I'll just jump in real quick. There's one literally right down the street and so I go in and I, it's just been so busy around here, like it's just miserable. Like I've told Jose, like we turned nocturnal like during the holiday season. Like I go out after seven o'clock because everybody else is just during the day out. And, um. So I was like, okay, I'll run in and run out. So I find my tablecloths and I'm like, you know what, I'll get some like festive napkins. I don't, I like, we just have paper towels, right? So I get some Christmas napkins and I'm holding the two tablecloths, and then I have like the pack of napkins in my hand and I'm walking to go get, go to checkout. And you know, like, I mean like in the TJ Maxx, you're like weaving in between people who are just like oblivious. So I'm like weaving in between people. And especially when I shop, I very much like don't wanna socialize with people. I like sometimes even put my AirPods in. I'm like, I just came in for something, I just wanna leave. this older woman stops me and she's like, where? Where's the Christmas napkins? And I was like, oh, I don't work here. That was my first instinct to say that. And she was like, I know, but you're holding them. Because like my napkins had like Christmas trees on them and like we're in the middle of the aisle, like of the main aisle. And I was like, Oh, ha ha. Yeah. Um, and I like pointed and was like, they're down there to the right and she was like, thanks. And like ran and like walked away. And I was like, okay, And I

Track 1 6:25

That's weird,

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 6:26

I told Jose and I was like, I was just like, so it was so awkward and

Track 1 6:29

huh?

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 6:30

I was so uncomfortable. And then the other day I went to Publix to get the food and I went early on purpose I'm like walking down, you know how like the aisles go like parallel to each other. I was walking on like the perpendicular aisle,

Track 1 6:46

Uh huh.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 6:47

the main aisles at the end.

Track 1 6:48

Mm-Hmm.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 6:48

I'm walking, I'm walking and this lady comes out of an aisle and almost hits me with her car and she's like, me. And like yells at me and i's like caught off guard. It was this older woman I kind of just like looked at her and was like. Ha ha.

Track 1 7:05

Excuse you bitch.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 7:06

off. Yeah. Jose was so mad at me, he was like, why didn't you yell at her? I was like, I didn't like comprehend, like, what was going on.

Track 1 7:13

You're so,

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 7:14

I being yelled

Track 1 7:15

you're so non-confrontational though. Like, you would just be like, okay, my bad. And just run away. I would've stomped that Grandma.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 7:23

I'm like, I don't wanna go out anymore.

Track 1 7:25

Mm-Hmm.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 7:26

But, um,

Track 1 7:28

No. Yeah.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 7:28

experiences with shopping.

Track 1 7:30

I didn't

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 7:30

I was like, we're shopping next week, next year at like Thanksgiving. I'm not doing this Christmas shit.

Track 1 7:35

Yeah, it's a lot. And like as like a

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 7:38

horrible.

Track 1 7:39

I am like single by myself, you know, don't have family here really? So I kind of don't really do holidays. I just kind of chill on my own. So I don't, it doesn't really comprehend. So like even when I like went out on Friday, I was like, I did not even think this through. Like it's the Friday before a major holiday. I didn't even think about it. 'cause like I don't, of course I celebrate Christmas, I guess, but I don't like do anything

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 8:03

Um, Christmas too though, like I was talking to a lot of other people too, like it just kind of jumped on us all of a sudden. Like it came really quick this year, in my opinion. At

Track 1 8:12

bro. This year fell, flew by,

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 8:15

this whole year. This whole year needed to fly by

Track 1 8:18

did it? I didn't have a horrible, horrible year.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 8:20

This is not a good year. I got married at the beginning of the year and then after that it was just,

Track 1 8:24

Really.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 8:26

yeah,

Track 1 8:27

I don't think I had a horrible year.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 8:29

turned

Track 1 8:29

Is

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 8:29

fives this year. I turned

Track 1 8:31

you do

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 8:31

next

Track 1 8:32

in a few days.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 8:33

So hopefully 25 is better than 24

Track 1 8:36

No. After 25 it's all downhill.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 8:40

Yeah. Well,

Track 1 8:41

No, you got some time. I 27 is the worst year of your twenties. I'm convinced I had a horrible 27. Yeah. That was

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 8:49

just turned 27.

Track 1 8:51

I

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 8:52

yeah, talking to Jose, I have, um, an update on his splinter.

Track 1 8:55

Jesus fucking Christ. Did. We amputate his foot yet

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 8:59

We almost like, I, feel horrible

Track 1 9:03

now you feel bad for making fun of him,

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 9:06

kind of, because, so he's been complaining about it. He's was still saying it was hurting. This is all last week. I was like, you know what? I can't, still can't see anything. I don't know if you have more in your foot. I don't like, I don't know what's going on. And I was like, if you won't let me like sit there and dig in your foot, like very minimum, just soak your foot like once

Track 1 9:25

right? Yeah.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 9:26

soak in Epsom salt, it'll pull it out. So I went into his office one night to go yell at him to be like, you haven't soaked your foot today. And so he, he soaked his foot and I went back and did something for like an hour. And I came back in and I was like, how's your foot? And he was like, I don't know. And I was like, can I look at it? So I'm looking at it and he like. his skin back and all of a sudden it kind of like shot forward a little bit and I could see like a brown thing.

Track 1 9:49

Oh.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 9:50

And I was like, oh my God. I was like, I see it. Like can I, can I try to get it? And he was like, if you can see it. And I was, I was like, no, I, it just popped up. And so I got the tweezers and I'm sitting there and I couldn't get the tweezers in there.

Track 1 10:03

I'm so confused. What do you mean he pulled his skin back?

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 10:07

Like, he was like, kind of like, it's on the bottom of his foot. So he was kind of like pulling his like, I don't know, like

Track 1 10:14

I don't know either.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 10:14

toe and like kind of like spreading. 'cause it was like a little cut. He was kind of like spreading the cut open

Track 1 10:20

Ew.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 10:21

because it was like healing. But like, then there was like, this is, sorry if you don't like this kind of stuff, there was like puss in it. And

Track 1 10:28

Ugh.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 10:28

you have something in there? 'cause there's like, your body wouldn't be making puss.

Track 1 10:32

That is so good. Disgusting.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 10:34

so I was like, let me switch. This was like, I love this because I'm that person. I'll sit in bed at night and watch Dr. Pimple

Track 1 10:41

Oh my God, no. That is my worst fear.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 10:43

And

Track 1 10:44

Ugh.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 10:44

like, Jose and Jose knows this. So like Jose like thinks that I just wanted to like do it just because I love doing it. And I was like, no. Like I really just want to

Track 1 10:52

Nothing

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 10:52

if you don't want me to do it, I don't do

Track 1 10:53

and nothing makes me more nauseous besides strawberries

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 10:57

well,

Track 1 10:58

than that.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 10:59

I couldn't get it with the tweezers I like all of a sudden it was just like, I see it, I need to get this out of his foot. And I kind of like turned into Dr. Pimple Popper

Track 1 11:09

turn in a Dr. G medical examiner.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 11:11

it. I just kind of like squeezed it. I kid you not popped out like a freaking. like, was like, I was like, kind of like sing. And I was

Track 1 11:21

poked you in the eye.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 11:22

was like, oh my god, And like, I pulled it out and I kept, he was like, I almost, I almost threw up. Like he like saw it happen. He was like, I almost threw up when I saw that. And I'm holding it in my hand. It was half an inch long. And I was like, this was in your foot? And he was like, yeah. And I was like, I was just so shocked

Track 1 11:43

you take photos?

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 11:45

Yeah, I did. But it's kind of gross. And like, I took a picture next to the like measuring tape because I was like, we need to measure this. And it wasn't even like at an angle, it was like directly back into his foot.

Track 1 11:57

What part of the foot? Front and towards the toes.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 12:00

The front, like the ball of his foot,

Track 1 12:03

Okay. I was confused because I guess I got my anatomy confused because when you said ball of the foot, I was thinking of the heel.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 12:12

like right here.

Track 1 12:13

Ew. She has her full toes on the camera. I can't Oh my God. Okay.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 12:19

Yeah. And so then like I looked at it and there was, I'm not kidding, like a gaping hole in where it was in his foot.

Track 1 12:26

Hmm. We don't need to say gaping. We don't need to say that.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 12:28

then I started getting angry because I was like, we literally went to the urgent care. As silly

Track 1 12:32

I,

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 12:32

it was, we went to urgent care and this bitch was like, there's nothing in

Track 1 12:36

yeah, that doctor sucked.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 12:38

Yeah, I was like, I'm pissed. Like I don't wanna call the urgent care and be like, hire someone new.

Track 1 12:42

Yeah. Fire this lady.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 12:44

Army Dock. My ass

Track 1 12:46

my ass. Army. Duck my ass

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 12:52

yeah. So we got it out. It's been healing. He said it's been getting better. It was just tender. But I

Track 1 12:58

Poor guy.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 12:59

update that we finally got it out.

Track 1 13:01

So we think it's completely out, completely gone.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 13:04

Yeah,

Track 1 13:04

He's ridden of the splinter. I hope so. It's a Christmas miracle.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 13:08

and looked at it. I looked at it and it was like healed over and looks, it looks fine. It's just like super tender. 'cause he had like a in his foot

Track 1 13:16

That's so gross. Poor guy.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 13:19

he can walk on it. Not like he couldn't walk on it.

Track 1 13:21

Yeah.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 13:22

was like, I feel, I told him, I was like, I feel so bad. Like I should have advocated for you Better at the urgent care.

Track 1 13:30

No, Abby, anybody who literally, specifically asked for a grape lollipop, we don't advocate for them. So he, he learned his lesson. Well, good. I'm so glad my brother-in-Law's gonna make it. He's got both feet.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 13:42

yeah.

Track 1 13:42

Um, that's wonderful news.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 13:44

the rest of his life.

Track 1 13:45

That's wonderful news. Make him some meatballs. He'll be okay.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 13:48

I did make, I made meatballs yesterday for Christmas.

Track 1 13:50

Those are big meatballs. You made meat boulders.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 13:54

I did make meatballs, big ones.

Track 1 13:56

They were really big.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 13:57

I like 'em bigger, but, um,

Track 1 13:59

Oh yeah. Tell us more about that.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 14:03

I'm gonna assemble the lasagna tonight. And then, yeah. Everyone's coming over

Track 1 14:07

Speaking of foot injuries,

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 14:09

Mm-Hmm?

Track 1 14:10

Um, we have these really sharp pairing knives and like at work, but we all have them at the house 'cause everybody who works in a bar steals things from work. So Bailey dropped one directly on her foot, literally directly on her foot.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 14:26

Side down.

Track 1 14:27

Stabbed her foot. Split her whole foot open.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 14:30

Oh gosh.

Track 1 14:31

Yeah. She needed stitches, but guess what she did? She super glued it.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 14:39

That's, I don't know if

Track 1 14:41

I don't know if that's okay either. But you know what? She was really scared to get a stitch and I told her she needed stitches. It was literally split open. I couldn't believe how bad it was. Like it was really bad.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 14:52

Does

Track 1 14:52

She had a sock on, literally stabbed her foot. And then like Uh, like lost momentum fell out of her foot, but it like up the top of her butt. And you know, that's like a bony part. So like, you know, when you get like, punched in the eyebrow, it splits open. That's like what happened? I'm like, you need a stitches. And she was freaking out. So she's super glued it and you know, it's been holding true. It's been holding, but her whole foot is bruised. Like her whole top of her foot is like black and blue, really bad. But yeah.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 15:24

bet.

Track 1 15:25

Damn. These feet

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 15:26

know

Track 1 15:26

injuries

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 15:27

glue. That's like, I was talking to mom last week and she was telling me, I think like a crown came out. So she was telling me she had to go, she needed to go to the dentist and she was talking to somebody and someone was saying to put, to super glue it back

Track 1 15:38

in her mouth.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 15:39

and her mouth.

Track 1 15:40

I hope she didn't listen to him.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 15:42

no. She was like, I'm not gonna do that. And I was like, yeah. I don't think I'm supposed to put super glue in your mouth. I think it's poisonous.

Track 1 15:48

Yeah, it's not good for you. Put some Windex on it.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 15:51

Yeah.

Track 1 15:54

uh, funny stuff,

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 15:55

I don't know. I don't

Track 1 15:57

but.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 15:57

is going

Track 1 15:57

Nothing else happened this week at all. I was just, I read like three books,

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 16:03

Yeah.

Track 1 16:03

you know.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 16:04

Oh, that's what I was gonna tell you about. I, um, did you watch, you probably didn't, 'cause you don't like this kind of stuff. Did you hear or watch about the My Life with the Walter Boys on Netflix?

Track 1 16:16

No,

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 16:17

So this book, story short, um, came out literally when I was probably like 14 or 13 maybe. Dad

Track 1 16:25

I.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 16:26

yeah, I think dad was still alive. So like 13, maybe 12. And remember I used to, there was this app when we, when I was younger, called Wattpad and like anybody can upload a story on a Wattpad and it was free. Like I could go and read a story. So that's like how I read a lot of my books when I was a kid. And I found this story and it was called My Life with the Walter Boys. And I read it, loved it, and then I, and then it got like picked up by a publisher and they published it into like a hardcover book. And, um, I have it over there. And so I went and bought it and like reread it and loved it. And then like, that's kind of was the end of the story. It was probably like 15, 16 when it got published. Well, they just made a, like a Netflix series on it.

Track 1 17:07

Wow.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 17:08

I was like, oh, that's so cool. So then I watched it. It was not the great greatest,

Track 1 17:12

What is it about?

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 17:14

horrible. It's like a, um, so the main character's, Jackie and her whole, her family dies in like a car accident.

Track 1 17:22

Hmm

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 17:22

And her, she gets like, her guardian becomes her mom's college best friend. And her mom's college best friend lives in like the country on like, um, a farm. And she's from New York City. So it's like a different setting. And family has like mult, like multiple kids in the book. It had like 13, they had like 13 kids. in the series they

Track 1 17:46

She went to the Duggar farm.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 17:48

they, yeah. Where they had like seven kids and then they had like. They were taking care of a few other kids for someone who was like in, um, the Army. And so she like goes lives on his thing. So it's like she falls for two of the brothers. And so it's a kind of like, which brother is she gonna choose? It's very like, um, this summer I turned pretty no, yeah. Coded,

Track 1 18:11

Okay.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 18:11

if you know what that is, but

Track 1 18:12

No, I

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 18:14

yeah, it was just bad acting. Like it's such a good, it was a good storyline, but like the, I don't know if they had a big

Track 1 18:22

budget.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 18:22

production budget. Yeah. So like was watching it and I was like, that looks like a green screen. Like, you know, when you can like just

Track 1 18:30

Yeah,

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 18:31

and it was just like frustrating. But it was, I mean it was cute. watched that. I think it's like 10 episodes. It's not that bad. then I finally watched, um, queen Charlotte on Netflix.

Track 1 18:43

no idea. I don't watch TV really.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 18:45

the, that's the bridgeton one. That one came out a while ago and I just haven't gotten to watching it.

Track 1 18:50

No, I,

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 18:50

some time 'cause I was like wrapping presents and decorating the house for people to come. So I just had it on. That one's really cute too.

Track 1 18:58

all I watch is Housewives and I've all caught up. I finished, I caught myself all up on the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills this week, so I'm caught up in the current season.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 19:08

Well,

Track 1 19:08

That's all I want.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 19:09

good job.

Track 1 19:11

Okay, let's talk about this book.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 19:13

Okay.

Track 1 19:14

Um,

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 19:14

you chose this book, this

Track 1 19:16

I did, I did choose this book, divine Rivals. I liked it a lot. It felt okay. Um, Okay. I feel the same way. I think I went in, I do like, I do like it, but you know, I like pretty much everything I read.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 19:35

Yeah.

Track 1 19:35

Um, I had a higher expectations for it. I think I.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 19:39

Yeah, that's what I was gonna say. I was gonna ask you like

Track 1 19:43

I am kind of disappointed that I didn't

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 19:44

Wing.

Track 1 19:45

love it.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 19:46

Yeah. This book came out April 4th. So like around the same time as Fourth Wing did. And people like on TikTok and on on Instagram or whatever were saying like, if you're in the book Hangover of Fourth Wing, like read this book, you'll love this book. So I guess I was kind of just thinking they were similar in the fact of like dragons and like

Track 1 20:03

Oh no.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 20:04

like a war college or something like that. And it's nothing like that.

Track 1 20:07

Well, I felt like it was an easy read, like as I was reading it, like I finished this book so fast and I was like, damn, I'm flying through this book. Like it was a really easy book to read.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 20:18

it took me a minute to get into it,

Track 1 20:21

Really.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 20:21

so like, yeah. But

Track 1 20:23

I.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 20:23

I don't know if that's just me because this book is third person omniscient, which. if you don't know what that means, it's basically like there's a narrator and they head swap. They like jump between people's thoughts. The narrator knows every, what everybody's thinking. And so it just like took me a minute to kind of get immersed in the story. And then on top of that, there's like some use of passive voice, I'm not a huge fan of. I think it's sometimes people can use it for like, um, like a way of using it. But I just, I don't really care for it

Track 1 21:00

What is passive voice?

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 21:02

when the action isn't happening to the actor. the actions happening to like, just like in general, I highlighted one, let me pull it up.

Track 1 21:13

You Yeah, I mean, it, it did jump like between like point of views and stuff and I kind of, I didn't mind that. I like seeing both point of views though, from characters.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 21:22

I don't mind seeing different point of views, like chapter to chapter.

Track 1 21:27

Yeah.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 21:27

I'm in the same chapter and I'm reading a paragraph and it's like in Iris's, um, point of view, and then the next paragraph is like, this is what he was thinking,

Track 1 21:36

Yeah,

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 21:36

too much for me.

Track 1 21:38

I guess

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 21:38

like on on page 12, I, this was the, I think that was the only time I highlighted it 'cause I just didn't wanna keep doing it. But it was once he was gone, she had finished reading his article in peace made her heartache. His writing was extraordinary and she had dreamt about him that night. Like the use of, like, she had, had finished, she had dreamt she had promptly torn the paper to shreds. Like why don't you just say

Track 1 22:03

like past tense.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 22:04

that night?

Track 1 22:04

Well, it's past tense.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 22:06

it's not past. It's not, yeah, I guess it's similar.

Track 1 22:10

Okay.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 22:11

I get, yeah,

Track 1 22:12

You know more than me.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 22:13

to explain.

Track 1 22:14

I don't know. I didn't,

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 22:15

explain and I don't really understand it. A lot either. I just know when I see it kind of thing.

Track 1 22:22

it's, it was a sweet story. Another young adult book.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 22:26

Yeah. And I didn't know that either. I literally, went to go make my notes about this and realized that it was a young adult book

Track 1 22:33

I don't think I really knew that. I think I might've known that, but I mean like it wasn't as young as the last book,

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 22:39

on.

Track 1 22:39

but they are still fucking young. They're still what?

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 22:42

age. I thought they were 19 in this book.

Track 1 22:45

No way. I don't know, man. That last book we read was about kindergartners. I don't know this one. It felt a little bit more adult.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 22:53

On Amazon the, it says the reading age is 13 to 18 years old for this book and the grade level is seventh through ninth.

Track 1 23:01

What?

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 23:02

Yeah. Which was a shock to me too, which kind of makes sense. 'cause there wasn't like a sex scene, there wasn't like anything spicy.

Track 1 23:10

No, there wasn't any spice

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 23:12

there wasn't really any violence.

Track 1 23:16

kind of some not. Not gruesome though. There's no like body horror in this book or anything. I thought it was sweet.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 23:23

I mean, like,

Track 1 23:24

I thought it was a really sweet book. Okay. Talk. Talk about it.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 23:27

I thought it was a, I thought it was a really cool idea. I just thought the execution wasn't there. It just wasn't there for me.

Track 1 23:35

Okay.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 23:37

um, I finished reading it and that night like I just couldn't sleep. And like oftentimes when I can't sleep, Jose will just like, we'll just sit in bed and talk. And like, he was like, he knew I couldn't sleep and he was like, what do you wanna talk about? And so we started talking about this book. 'cause Jose's like main genre is fantasy. So sometimes I asked for his advice about stuff like this and

Track 1 23:58

I did not know that

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 23:59

me, yeah, he loves fantasy. And

Track 1 24:02

has ha

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 24:03

this one series that has like 11 books in it.

Track 1 24:06

What's it called?

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 24:06

It's like kind of crazy. I don't know. I think it's a self-published guy, but he

Track 1 24:12

Okay.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 24:13

'em.

Track 1 24:13

D Has he read? Um, aar.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 24:16

No, I'm gonna read it first. He doesn't like reading like spicy scenes like that.

Track 1 24:20

Oh

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 24:21

He

Track 1 24:21

that's true. He just likes the,

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 24:23

sci-fi.

Track 1 24:25

does he like, like, like literary fiction, fantasy like period pieces. He should read babble. I don't

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 24:32

puree piece.

Track 1 24:32

look up babble for him. I bet he would like that. I don't think there's much spice in it.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 24:36

have to.

Track 1 24:37

Okay. Anyways,

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 24:38

Yeah, mean, I made him read like Fourth Wing and Iron Flame and like, he likes those books,

Track 1 24:42

he just skips the sexy scenes. That's so funny.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 24:45

dog ear. I dog ear the

Track 1 24:47

He would hate

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 24:47

so

Track 1 24:48

AAR then because it is sexy.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 24:50

Yeah, that's what I've heard. I haven't read it yet.

Track 1 24:52

I'm

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 24:52

I,

Track 1 24:53

obsessed.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 24:54

no, so we were talking about it and he was saying when he reads fantasy books, he usually like, kind of weighs his review or like how he feels about it on three things. that's world building pace. And then the action scenes. And I think this is pretty cool. Like this is pretty accurate for fantasy books because. you have to have the world building pace is really important in any book. And then like action scenes are really important if you're having like a fantasy book.

Track 1 25:18

Mm-Hmm.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 25:19

Um, yeah. So he was like asking me to rate them for this book and it kind of made me realize that maybe this book didn't have it as good as edu uh, execution because the world building just didn't do it. Like I am

Track 1 25:32

There was no,

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 25:33

the world.

Track 1 25:33

let me do a brief synopsis. Sorry, I'm eating my poptart. Lemme do a brief synopsis of what this book was even about. 'cause I feel like we kind of haven't even said it up. So, oh my God, I'm so disgusting. I'm sorry. I'm so hungry. So Divine Rivals is about this girl named Iris and she is a writer, journalist. I.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 25:58

Journalist. Yeah.

Track 1 26:00

And she lives with her mother and her brother. Forests. Forests. We don't get very much back. There's a war going on in this world. We know that. We don't really know much about it. I was kind of confused because Forrest decides to enlist in the war. Like first three pages is basically what we're, how we find out about this war. And Iris is upset. She keeps referring to him, choosing her as in the God of war,

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 26:36

and we, yeah.

Track 1 26:37

ENVA over his family. So he goes off to war literally overnight, and she's upset about it. Lots of confusion on, on that for me. Um, but anyways, he goes off to war. She goes back to work. She's an editor at this publishing company or a journalist at this company. Um, and she has a rival at work. Um, what was his name? Roman. She has a rival Roman at work.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 27:04

kit.

Track 1 27:05

And, they kind of are fighting for like the top position at work. Long story short, she's like, at work, they kind of like beef a little bit. She's back at home. She has a typewriter that was gifted to her from her, her grandmother. Um, she has the idea that she's gonna start writing to forest, right? To like see where he is or just kind of like reach out. She hasn't heard from him. He what? She hasn't heard from him. Yeah, he said that he was gonna write her.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 27:35

heard from him and he said, yeah. Yeah.

Track 1 27:37

Um,

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 27:37

thinks he's missing

Track 1 27:39

so she types out a letter. Why did she end up, she types out this letter and then she puts in her wardrobe. And I don't remember,

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 27:47

I'm like, on.

Track 1 27:49

I don't remember why she did that. Do you,

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 27:53

I

Track 1 27:53

did she know?

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 27:54

I don't remember the first time. No.

Track 1 27:57

Maybe she just was like,

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 27:58

think she just slid it under the door to just kind of get rid

Track 1 28:01

get rid of it. Okay. So anyway,

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 28:03

I wrote it down. Okay, we'll get into

Track 1 28:04

she

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 28:05

going.

Track 1 28:05

puts the letter under the wardrobe, um, and nothing, but she did it again.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 28:13

She did it like two or three times because she, I think she was just like writing into the void

Track 1 28:17

Okay.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 28:17

then finally a note

Track 1 28:19

And then a note comes back underneath the wardrobe and she's like, what is this? She picks it up and it says, this is not forest. And then we're like, oh, weird. Okay. So the idea is she types out a letter, she puts it under her wardrobe, and then it goes off somewhere. We don't know who it's going to.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 28:33

it dis they disappear. So she kind is like, hopefully think she thinks she's thinking because she's addressing them to her brother, that they're magically going to her brother because there is this world that is magical. And she mentions early on in the book that there's some things as enchanted houses who can

Track 1 28:50

Oh

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 28:50

for them.

Track 1 28:51

yeah. I don't know. Yeah. Like I said, there's not much background on what we're dealing with, what world we're dealing with.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 28:57

Yeah, it's hard to pick up on it. So that, so she's thinking, they're getting sent to forced until that note comes back saying like, this

Track 1 29:03

This isn't for us.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 29:04

well then where are my notes going to? Who are my notes going to?

Track 1 29:07

Yeah. Um, yeah. So that's kind of the premise of the book. Mm-Hmm.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 29:12

But like I wrote down in my notes, like, why does she have to slide it under a wardrobe? So like we, we later find on, find out that it's not the wardrobe that's magical. the typewriter is magical and the typewriter connects her. It's like the specific kind of typewriter. And there's, there was only three one's in a museum and two people have these two typewriters and that's how these letters

Track 1 29:37

They're, they're connected. Mm-Hmm.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 29:39

um, but they each have to put it under wardrobe. Even later on in the book when they're, um, in Marisol's house, they're still putting it under a wardrobe. And like that idea is just so, kind of like Weird to me. Like why didn't she make it to be like, like pick up the typewriter and put it underneath the typewriter? Or, or like something typewriter related. Like what if you were in the middle of nowhere? You couldn't, you just couldn't send your letter

Track 1 30:04

I don't know.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 30:05

even though the typewriters were connect, supposed to be connected. Like, that was just like part of the world building where I'm like, that just doesn't make sense. And um, yeah. So then like it's Enva and Dr. Dark say, I think that's how you would say it.

Track 1 30:24

Yeah. Like the two gods of war.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 30:25

god and a male God. It's the sky wards and the underlings. They're the people who are battling, but like, maybe like 60% of the way of the book. Through the book, we find out that there's actually five gods and they, these two people are just two of the five gods. And like, I was like, well,

Track 1 30:42

And they're all sleeping.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 30:43

on with the other people?

Track 1 30:44

It was all over the place. And with the, with the female gods, she sings to them and like, kind of like seduces them to go to war. Like that's how for

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 30:51

like a siren.

Track 1 30:53

Yeah, that's how Forrest like went off to war because she's sang to him or something. And that's, that's why like she was like, she's choosing, he's choosing like her over our family. I don't know. Weird. But yeah, it is kind of hard to follow when it, I kind of see your point when it goes between both of them and like the point of view is it is kind of difficult to follow because what we know as a reader is that the mystery, so Iris is continuing to, to, to like write letters back and forth to this mystery man. They develop a, a friendship.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 31:29

Mm-Hmm.

Track 1 31:30

Almost like a relationship type, like it's, there's little sparks. So they developed that. She doesn't know who he is, but the person on the other end of the typewriter knows who she is. So he knows who she's writing, who he's writing to. And as we find out is it's Kit Roman Kit, her rival at work.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 31:48

Mm-Hmm.

Track 1 31:49

which she doesn't know, but he knows it's her.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 31:51

He figured it out. 'cause she was talking

Track 1 31:53

mentioned her job.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 31:55

was going for the promotion

Track 1 31:56

Yeah.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 31:57

job.

Track 1 31:57

Yeah. There is some chemistry between her and Kit at work, but she has no idea who he, or that she's been talking to him, um, through the typewriter. She doesn't get the promotion. So she decides, you know what, what,

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 32:16

you skipped over the mom dying.

Track 1 32:18

I know it's not very significant to me.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 32:20

I just thought it was weird.

Track 1 32:21

She just died. I mean, whatever. I think it.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 32:24

by a train

Track 1 32:25

She got hit by a train. It was random. I think like the point of having the mom die was just to emphasize that she really is alone and had no nothing else to do. Like her brother had gone, her mom is dead, she lives in poverty. She didn't get the promotion. She's like, fuck it, I'm going to find my brother.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 32:41

Yeah.

Track 1 32:42

So she quits her job and is, goes to be a war correspondent

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 32:48

Mm-Hmm?

Track 1 32:48

the war with the idea of finding her brother Forest. Um, so she leaves and then I liked that she left 'cause she kind of found like her little chosen family. So she goes and like, stays with Marisol who's kind of like the keeper of these correspondence.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 33:04

Mm-Hmm.

Track 1 33:04

kinda like a host mom really is how I looked at it. Um, and then there's another correspondent there who she becomes close with Addie, so it's her Addie and um, Marisol in this house. And they're kind of just doing, like little household things. Marisols kind of like briefed them on the different sirens. 'cause they're literally in the middle of the war, like sirens to look out for what to do if you hear them. And then we see Kit walking through the garden and she's like, what the fuck are you doing here? So Kit comes to the, the house and we find out that he quit his job and followed her into war.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 33:41

Mm-Hmm. Well, like he was his father. They're very different in the fact that she was very poor and he comes from a very privileged family. his dad had, um, done an arranged marriage for him. And this girl, like he was like, arranged to marry, was like kind of weird and like it wasn't gonna work out and he didn't like his life. And, um, so yeah, so he shows up when there's a siren, Iris looks out the window and see someone walking. This specific siren is like, even if you're outside, you lay down and you just are still because. I don't know what I imagined, but these big

Track 1 34:18

It's a Wen a Wen, how do you say it?

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 34:23

ver.

Track 1 34:23

W

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 34:24

how I say, I don't know. I dunno.

Track 1 34:26

from Fourth Wing.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 34:28

I know, but I forget how to say all of 'em. Jose's, like, that's not how you say it.

Track 1 34:32

I don't know how to say 'em either, but it's the same thing. And that's what's

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 34:34

do English

Track 1 34:35

And that's what's interesting is like with some of these fantasy books with the world, there's some over, there's some like overlay. So there's RINs in all of the fantasy books pretty much. And then they, she talked about ruins in this book.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 34:47

she called them, she called them something else though. It it started with like an E.

Track 1 34:51

Ethereal's

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 34:53

Yeah, that's what she

Track 1 34:55

I, yeah, but they were RINs.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 34:57

fly over, when they say see movement, they drop a bomb. And so she's like, we're about to get leveled because of this idiot. And so she runs outside. She like, as she's running to him, realizes it's Roman, she tackles him and whatever. And then she's like, why are you here? What are you doing? And he's like, I came to be a work correspondent. Like he doesn't tell her.

Track 1 35:14

Yeah, he keeps it quiet.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 35:15

letters.

Track 1 35:16

Yeah. So they're going through war together, basically. They get called to the front lines, or Iris gets called to the front lines and he's like, I'm going with her. At this point, Roman is completely in love with Iris, but she doesn't know that it's.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 35:30

She's like going back and forth. She like, loves so in the letters, the person in the letters has said like, you can call me Carver. And so she goes back, she's in her mind is like, I think I love Carver, but like, kit makes me feel, have feelings and like seeing 'em again, like kind of brought those back up

Track 1 35:48

Yeah,

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 35:48

this point she doesn't know that that's like the same person.

Track 1 35:51

yeah,

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 35:52

So then, um, they go into like active battle I guess.

Track 1 35:57

Yeah. There.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 35:57

had left, kit had like sent a letter and then they found out that they were gonna be leaving. And so she like kind of doesn't have time to read the whole letter. And while they're like in active battle, she, they're like basically in the trenches and she's like trying to read this letter and he's trying to distract her. 'cause in this le letter he put basically tells her like, I love you and I wanna be with you and all that. And he, I guess he just doesn't want her to like read it at that time. 'cause they're like in the trench,

Track 1 36:28

Yeah, I don't know. The more we talk about this book, I'm like, damn, it kind of was all over the place. Huh?

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 36:34

Yeah.

Track 1 36:35

I enjoyed reading it. 'cause as, and like I said, it's a fast read, so as I read it through like from beginning to end, I was like in it like, you know, I liked reading it. Um,

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 36:44

Yeah

Track 1 36:45

but it kind of was all over the place. But, and it, it kind of, I don't like, this is why I don't like, really love ya novels because like, they're kind of unrealistic. I mean, we're talking about fantasy here, but the relationship side is kind of unrealistic. It's very young and they're in the trenches. Bombs go off, they're like now like kind of in, actually in danger. Yeah.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 37:08

Yeah.

Track 1 37:08

Kit gets hurt. They're running away. She realizes when like he's hurt and she's trying to save him. She realizes like, I love kit and my, I wanna be with him. And I thought that was weird.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 37:22

It was

Track 1 37:23

Like, I, I liked that moment. I did, I liked reading that moment and it was sweet to read. And I, I like, um, you know, the feelings that it ensued, but it was kind of just like in that moment of like him, like she thought he was gonna die. She was like, my life is with him. I imagine my life with him, blah, blah, blah. I have to save him. If there's no kit, there's no me. You know what I mean? Um, and up until this point, we ha like, keep the same energy. Energy girl.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 37:49

It just felt like, it just felt very ya from there on, like the romance felt

Track 1 37:54

Three mm-Hmm.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 37:55

down very like fast paced, felt rushed and ya like.

Track 1 37:59

Mm-Hmm.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 38:00

like, no problems. Like, I love you, doesn't matter. Like the whole, like I get the whole idea and I, this goes back to like the pacing issue for me. 'cause I get the whole idea of, you know, we're in, in battle, we're going to war. Like we don't know if we'll survive the rest of the night. So like, let's get married and let's love each other and let's be united. like, it was, it literally was like within 24 hours and it was, I mean,

Track 1 38:27

Well wait.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 38:28

book was instant love.

Track 1 38:29

I know. Well, I don't feel like this was as instant because they had been having a relationship.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 38:33

But like the progression of the relationship was very

Track 1 38:37

Well, you know, you do have to think about it in a perspective too. So lemme just get through this. So he's injured, she's trying to save him. She does save him, right? Yeah. She gets him to the hospital.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 38:50

gets him on a

Track 1 38:50

Yeah, they take him to the hospital. I don't wanna jump too far. I'm like trying to remember what happened. So he goes to the hospital is being taken care of. She helps, she helps get other people. To the hospital too, right? Um, when she trusts that, that Roman is gonna be okay. So once Iris gets through all of that, she arrives at the hospital. Marisol and Addie are there to greet her. She's okay. So she's like, Roman, Roman, where's Roman? Is he okay? And they're like, he's fine. He is like upstairs, whatever, sedated. So she goes, she just wants to lay eyes on him, which I can really like a loved one. You wanna just make sure they're okay. So she goes,

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 39:30

think she sees him that

Track 1 39:31

yes she did. She yes she did. She went and she saw him and he was asleep. So she was like, okay, I, I see him, I know he's okay. I'm gonna go home with Addie Am Marisol. So she goes home and that's when she goes through his backpack and his letters.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 39:47

Well, she like while he was, while they were in the trenches and he A bomb went off behind them they get kind of flown. He gets shrapnel on his leg and he, she's like trying to worry about him. He's like, get my bag, get my bag, get my bag. And so she's kind of like reflecting when she gets home. Like why does, that was kind of weird. And

Track 1 40:06

Yeah.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 40:06

his bag. So she had his bag

Track 1 40:08

Mm-Hmm?

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 40:09

so she goes in to see like mom's FaceTiming me, goes in to

Track 1 40:14

Answer it. guess to the pod.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 40:20

Hi, I'm podcasting with Amy.

Track 1 40:24

Hey, mom, what you doing mom?

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 40:28

Where is she? She can't hear you. Hold on. I'll let you go. Okay, love you. Bye. Bye.

Track 1 40:35

She hasn't called me today. What a bitch. She usually calls me first. I'm her

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 40:40

She

Track 1 40:40

one.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 40:40

probably calling me about the lasagna make gonna make, um, yeah, so going back to it, she, um. Was talking. She, so then she's like, I'm gonna go look in this backpack. And she looks in the backpack and she finds all of her letters she's ever sent with this

Track 1 40:55

Oh yeah, she does.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 40:57

And she's like, why does

Track 1 40:59

Why does he have the letters? And then it, it hits her and didn't, isn't this when she found a letter that like wasn't sent? Okay. I don't know. I'll bring that up later. So she,

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 41:10

Yeah.

Track 1 41:11

basically connects the dots and she's pissed because now,

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 41:15

angry.

Track 1 41:16

now she realizes like this person that she was falling for, like, has kind of deceived her and, um, um, was the same person. So then she goes to the hospital to see him the next day and carries the letters and he's awake and he's eating soup and he like lights up when he sees her and she's like, Hey, what are these? And like, throws the fucking letters on his bed and he's like, I can explain. I can explain.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 41:43

Yeah.

Track 1 41:43

And they kind of get in a little tussle. Um, and I like Roman because he's like, I do like him as a character. He's,

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 41:53

he was a good

Track 1 41:54

yeah, he's very like, I don't know, I don't know if persistence is the right word, but he loves Iris so much and like will do anything for her.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 42:04

I feel like he's just confident in his feelings.

Track 1 42:07

Yeah, that's a great way to put it.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 42:08

is the right word. Yeah.

Track 1 42:10

He is very confident in his feelings.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 42:12

she's like upset with him in the hospital and he's kind of like, it gets to the point where they're still arguing and she's like, I'm gonna walk away, whatever. And he pulls out his like, IV and like, you know, has like this, like shrapnel filled leg and he like

Track 1 42:24

chases after her for a moment.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 42:26

out of the bed and, and is like, no, we're like, we're not done talking about this type of thing. So, I mean, yeah, it was cute. I mean, I think that like, I, I think her characters were out, well-rounded and I think she wr wrote them

Track 1 42:37

So this is when that happens. Then I think because, so she's like, no, I still have to leave. Like, it's fine, we're fine. Like rest, she goes back home. 'cause she's just like all in her fields in her head. She doesn't know what to think. And then is it, I think this is when she finds that one letter that says like it was meant to be sent to her, but like she hasn't received it. 'cause, or it was like under the wardrobe, but she hadn't seen it yet. 'cause they were off at war and it says Iris, it's me. It's me.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 43:05

that was the very end of the book.

Track 1 43:06

No, it wasn't

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 43:08

Yes. It what Amy? Yes, it was That's

Track 1 43:11

know.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 43:11

goes back with forest

Track 1 43:14

Ah,

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 43:14

she

Track 1 43:14

fuck.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 43:15

room to sleep and she sees the letter that she never opened.

Track 1 43:18

Oh fuck. You're right.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 43:19

Yeah.

Track 1 43:21

Whatever. Anyways, he gets outta the hospital, She was like, sorry, I was being a bitch. She kind of realizes like, hey, like, I'm sorry. And, and decides that she wants to be with him and they make up and it's all fine. And then he asked her to marry him.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 43:33

Yeah,

Track 1 43:34

So, but in the whole perspective of things, like they're thinking like, okay, we're in the middle of this war, and the war seems like very doomsday esque. Like it's like apocalyptic.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 43:47

it felt very, like, that's why when I was explaining it to Jose, I was like, it feels very like a historical fiction piece because it felt very like World War ii, like

Track 1 43:57

Yeah.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 43:57

I guess. Like, especially when they were in the trenches and they were talking about like no man's land and like she was talking to, um, was it like s the Sycamore Squad or something like that?

Track 1 44:07

Mm-Hmm.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 44:08

the leader when she was talking to him, I was like, this feels very like historical fiction. 'cause it, it. that's where I go back and forth with the world building because there were some things that felt so like real to like our world. And then there were so things that felt real to like that kind of world. Like even like they had weekdays and she would like say the, I don't remember what they were called, but she would say the weekday, Inva was like Friday or something. And it would just take me outta the story. 'cause like

Track 1 44:39

Did you catch the part?

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 44:40

this

Track 1 44:40

Did you catch the part when she said that they were centimeters tall?

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 44:45

no,

Track 1 44:46

You didn't

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 44:48

I might have actually, when was that?

Track 1 44:50

I kind of, at the beginning, I think, but she said something about being centimeters tall, and I was like, what?

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 44:56

did it take you out

Track 1 44:58

Well, I just was confused. I was like, I don't, there's like, are they many people? I was very confused.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 45:05

No, Amy. People in other countries besides the US use centimeters.

Track 1 45:09

my God, I'm so stupid.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 45:15

We're the

Track 1 45:15

I,

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 45:16

country that uses inches. You dumb ass

Track 1 45:18

oh my God,

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 45:21

That's

Track 1 45:21

I'm literally imagining.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 45:23

out?

Track 1 45:23

Yeah. 'cause I thought, I was like,

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 45:25

like a little

Track 1 45:25

I thought they were like these little mini like fairy people. Oh my God, Abby. Wow. I didn't finish school. I don't know what to say about it. Okay, so, well, I don't know. We're gonna have to revisit that because it made me, for some reason, it made me think that these people were like mini minis. But I guess you're right. I guess some people do like centimeters. That is so funny. I literally was like, why are they mini?

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 45:53

have family in Canada. We should know this.

Track 1 45:56

Do they refer to themselves as centimeters tall.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 45:58

Sometimes they're like meters tall.

Track 1 46:00

Really?

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 46:02

Yeah, like I just, I mean, this is kind of random, but I was listening to an interview about with Jacob and he, someone was talking about how he's six five and he was like, yeah, I'm six five, like blah, blah, blah centimeters. And

Track 1 46:15

What?

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 46:15

England, I think.

Track 1 46:17

He's from England.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 46:18

No, he's Austria. Is he Australian? What are those?

Track 1 46:20

This is important.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 46:21

he's not from here, huh?

Track 1 46:23

I said this is important. So in in other countries, they don't say like, I'm six feet tall. They say, I'm like three meters.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 46:30

Yeah.

Track 1 46:31

What? Why is this news to me?

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 46:38

I don't know.

Track 1 46:39

Okay.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 46:39

continue. These people are normal sized.

Track 1 46:41

Wow. Okay. Makes a lot more sense.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 46:44

Did I change the whole

Track 1 46:45

Yeah. I mean, not really, but like, I was like thinking like, why are these many people like Oh, I, I don't know. I thought they were tiny.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 46:55

Yeah. No,

Track 1 46:57

Hmm.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 46:57

I didn't catch the centimeters part though. I mean, they could be And It could have been like, Hey, I'm 15 centimeters, but I doubt it.

Track 1 47:04

No, I think I'm definitely wrong.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 47:07

Yeah, well but like going back, I mean it's just, that's part of the world building for me that just fell off. It was, especially when you're building this type of world, I think you have to be original in a lot of the things you can't really pull from our world. 'cause it will instantly take a

Track 1 47:23

I,

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 47:23

out of the story. And I think she just did it a little too much. Like if we think back to Iron Flame or we think back to fourth wing, she does it really, she does her world building really well. And

Track 1 47:35

yeah.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 47:35

mean, we've said, we've said that on the, uh, episode of we just love entering that world,

Track 1 47:40

Mm-Hmm.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 47:41

know? 'cause we can see it so clearly this world, I just couldn't see it clearly. Um,

Track 1 47:46

Yeah. I could not. I could not either. I couldn't either, but

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 47:51

but um, yeah, so then they like decide they wanna get

Track 1 47:54

They wanna get married like that day. But like I said, like I know it's, it feels fast, but like, they don't know if they're gonna survive like the next week because they're now kind of at the point in the war where it's getting like really serious. This is how I was thinking about it. They were, the enemy was kind of infiltrating the city they were in.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 48:14

Mm-Hmm.

Track 1 48:14

Um, and there was no protection anymore. And I kind of was imagining like the wards,

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 48:20

This is what I like. If I was writing this book, this is probably how I would've written it and how I would've liked to read it. I would've liked them going into active war. liked her knowing it was him, like had just found out, had just maybe found the letters on like accident, and she was angry with him,

Track 1 48:41

okay.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 48:41

then they would go into the trenches and she'd be angry with him, and then she'd have that moment of like him dying and

Track 1 48:46

Mm-Hmm

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 48:47

know, I can't be angry anymore.

Track 1 48:48

And then she realizes she loves him.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 48:50

and then that's when like she, they would have the argu like an argument about it. And then that's when they would decide like, you know what? Let's just get married. Because they would be like that, that progression of you know, accept like anger and then acceptance and then like, like for going forward,

Track 1 49:06

Yeah, you're right.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 49:07

was just like, it was just too fast from them coming home from active war to then this, like, this siren of you have to evacuate the city.

Track 1 49:17

Yeah. Yeah. So

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 49:19

I mean, how much, how long was that? Like a day and a half?

Track 1 49:21

maybe not even, yeah. So they come home, they decide they're gonna get married, then they get the word that they have to evacuate immediately. So then they decide to go ahead and do a quick marriage. So now they're married, and then, um, they're in the garden and like some stuff ha starts happening. So basically, long story short, these things are dropped from the skies. They think it's Bombs. So her and kid are kind of looking at each other like, fuck this. Is it like they think they're about to die?

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 49:49

That was another thing too. Like she, there's a sentence during the scene, it's, it's darce or whatever that God, he's coming to like, take over their town. And so there's this sentence in, during the scene when she says something to the effect of, didn't expect him to bomb it. Like I, I expected him coming and like shooting

Track 1 50:09

I thought you, I thought you just said vomit.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 50:13

no, bomb it. And like I was kind of like, he just bombed that other town. Why wouldn't he bomb yours?

Track 1 50:20

Yeah.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 50:21

Like I, that was also just, that was also just a sentence. I was like, that doesn't really make sense, but yeah. So then it's not bombs. It's like these gas can things

Track 1 50:30

Yeah. So there are these, like these gas things that are like literally like killing them. So she is scrambling. Uh, I don't really remember very clearly how this happens, but

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 50:44

She

Track 1 50:44

her and Kit were separated in like the gas thing. And then she sees somebody come to her rescue with a gas mask on. She assumes it's kit. She assumes he found like a gas mask and came to grab her, and she's like, oh, kid, thank God. And he's like, come on, we have to go. We have to go. Pulls her, pulls her, pulls her out of the gas. What?

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 51:06

Yeah, no, I'm just laughing at the scene because

Track 1 51:08

Oh.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 51:09

time I was reading it, I was laughing. 'cause she looks down at his jumpsuit and is like, that's kid's jumpsuit. He like, I guess, wore his belt like a weird way. And so she's like, oh, that's him. puts the gas thing on and they're running away.

Track 1 51:21

mm-Hmm.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 51:22

from the gas. And the whole time I was reading it, I was like, bitch, he's not, why is he not limping? Why are you not pulling him?

Track 1 51:29

Oh, I didn't even,

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 51:30

like he's supposed to have like this that he like has like a limp.

Track 1 51:34

yeah.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 51:35

And um, so I'm like, who the, like, this isn't him. Obviously this isn't him.

Track 1 51:39

No, I know immediately who it was.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 51:40

away

Track 1 51:41

And she realizes that he doesn't have a, have a limp and, um, it's Forrest the brother.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 51:47

Yeah. Does she find out there, does she like rip off his mask there? I forgot.

Track 1 51:52

Yeah, I think so.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 51:54

Yeah. And then she's trying to go back to get kit and he's like, no, we're not. We can't, we

Track 1 51:57

Oh yeah. And then kit's like crawling on the ground, like half her eyeballs hanging out and he's like crawling.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 52:02

it was getting

Track 1 52:03

He literally,

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 52:04

basically.

Track 1 52:04

yeah, he's like crawling towards her, like Iris and she's like, kit, like they're screaming trying to get to each other and forest is like pulling this bitch back, which I thought was like weird of you for us. Like let her get her husband

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 52:15

Yeah. I thought this character was really weird because

Track 1 52:18

so odd.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 52:18

like, that's my husband. I love him. That's my husband. And he was like, we don't have time. And it's like,

Track 1 52:24

Yeah.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 52:24

a mask.

Track 1 52:26

I don't know. I thought it was kind of weird.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 52:28

then they run off

Track 1 52:29

Yes. Now she's suffered from kit, obviously, like presumably like kit's probably dead.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 52:34

yeah, and like, so then she's just

Track 1 52:37

They just go back home.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 52:38

well, she's put so that they, they're traveling. He tells her that they're gonna travel back home and it takes a few days. And I thought it was all too, like she just has like this trust in him that her brother is the same person he is when he left. she finds out early on in this journey that like, um. He wasn't fighting for Enva anymore.

Track 1 52:57

Mm. Fighting for the enemy.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 52:59

Darce. And she still is like trusting him and is like, oh, he's the same person. I, I love him. Whatever. Like, this is my brother. And I'm like, this is not your brother anymore.

Track 1 53:12

No.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 53:12

Like I, I thought it, he was just written weird. He, and I don't, I'm interested to see in the sequel what, how she, kind of, what she does with this character because it made me hate him. Like, I don't like him at all.

Track 1 53:26

Yeah, I mean, I understood,

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 53:28

what he was introduced as

Track 1 53:29

I did understand a little bit like as an older sibling, like if you're so desperate, like if, if I went off to war and I had, I knew that you were there, I wanna give a fuck about who you married, I'd be like, get, let me get my baby sister and get outta here. Like, so I do understand, I do understand that perspective a little bit for him. And like, you also have to think like, it hasn't been very long. So like he's probably just like, no, we gotta get the fuck outta here, dude. Like, come on. So he just kind of, his number one sole focus was just to get his little sister and get her safe. And I do understand that. I just like, it just felt, I don't know, I just didn't love him.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 54:14

in the moment, like when it was all going down. But like the whole journey was weird to me. Like, he kept, he said like a few times like, oh, I thought you would try to escape by now, or, I thought you would try to do this. And she's like, no, I trust you. I trust you. It, I, it was just odd. I don't know, like, I'm thinking to myself, he's possessed, like he has a demon in him, like

Track 1 54:35

really?

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 54:35

going

Track 1 54:36

I never thought that.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 54:36

what I was thinking when I was reading it,

Track 1 54:39

Well, they, they finally,

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 54:41

that he was like revived by Dray

Track 1 54:44

yeah,

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 54:44

Darce.

Track 1 54:45

well they allow him to, they, she, he allows Iris, like he takes her back to where Kit was. 'cause she's like, he's still there. I have to find him. I have to find him. There's like a big, like circle on the ground and she's like, fuck, he's not here. But that's odd that there was a circle. And then, um, yeah, so basically she just goes back home and they,

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 55:06

yeah. He goes back, which is, still have that apartment.

Track 1 55:10

they're in the apartment. Yeah. There's not really much wrapping up on their end. Is there?

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 55:15

Yeah. They just like go back to the apartment and he sits on the couch and is like, I'm gonna sleep. And she's like, all right, I'm gonna go to my bedroom. And that's when she sees that letter on the floor and she opens it and it's

Track 1 55:24

Oh, don't go. It's me.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 55:26

Kit.

Track 1 55:28

Oh, okay. Gotcha,

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 55:30

And then the book ends. And then the last chapter is, well, the book doesn't end. Her point of view ends. And the last chapter is Darcy. And it's. He comes up upon like kit in that field it says how he's dying and how he can feel. People's like souls and sometimes they're full of heat and sometimes they're full of ice. how kits is full of ice,

Track 1 55:51

What?

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 55:51

kind of like, I guess it was the way I picked up on it was it was symbolic for like, he has like evil in him.

Track 1 55:59

I didn't see that. Let me go back to that chapter.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 56:02

And so the last chapter, and then he decides Darcy's, like he caught me on a good day. Like I'm, I'm feeling generous. And he

Track 1 56:10

Yeah.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 56:11

his like, assistant guy to like take him to the underworld. And that's why there's that circle there. 'cause um, gets like pulled down to the underworld.

Track 1 56:19

Uh, it says, Daria was in a, in a good mood that day, or else he might've let, let the ice in this one melt away.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 56:27

Hmm.

Track 1 56:28

Oh, I see, I see, I see. Hold on. It says he felt the staggering, gasping soul before he saw it. This one was made of ice, a cold, deep spirit like the northern Sea. It drew him closer. Oh, I didn't even hit that. Oh, okay. He says, he says, mortals ran either cold or hot. They're souls like ice or fire. He had discovered long ago that I served him best, but every now and then fire would surprise him. Interesting.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 56:56

Mm-Hmm.

Track 1 56:56

felt the staggering, gasping soul before he saw it. This one was made of ice, a cold, deep spirit like the Northern Sea, so he was sensing Kit. Cool.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 57:05

Yeah.

Track 1 57:06

I don't know. I was just like so desperate to like figure out if, if Kit was alive. I was like, like scamming it. So I didn't like read into it very much.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 57:13

this ending was really reminiscent too. Like iron Flame had a similar ending.

Track 1 57:18

Mm-Hmm.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 57:18

Like the, main characters get pulled into the dark

Track 1 57:21

Mm-Hmm.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 57:21

the dark side.

Track 1 57:23

That's so true. Yeah. So they save him. Let's see, let's see, let's see. It says he could heal those wounds. He was a merciful God. After all the God of healing this mortal once mended would do very well in his army. Take him below, Val bowed before he drew a ring in the ground in circling the mortar mortal. A quick way to open a portal to pass below. So that's what Iris saw was that circle on the ground.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 57:47

Mm-Hmm.

Track 1 57:48

Cool. And then like, that's when I realized I didn't know this was a duology, so I didn't know there was a sequel to this book. Until I read that last page. So now we have to read the sequel to find out what's gonna happen. Do you have any, um, predictions?

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 58:05

I have a theory Addie is enva.

Track 1 58:10

No way. Why?

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 58:12

I don't know why. So she talks about, she comes from a big family and she talks about how her father was really huge into music and how he all, he made all his kids kind of like, choose an instrument or like, have musical abilities. And when Enva, like seduce doc, doc Ray or whatever, um, music was kind of banned in the city

Track 1 58:36

Mm-Hmm.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 58:36

and had her father let her keep, And so she like still plays the violin occasionally and like she has just like this music ability and I don't know, I just was kind of like, why would they be mentioning it?

Track 1 58:48

Mm-Hmm.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 58:48

because music is so heavily related to Enva. So I have a feeling that she's gonna be connected to Enva somehow if

Track 1 58:56

Interesting

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 58:57

her

Track 1 58:57

you pick up, this is so fun to do with you because you pick up on so much more than I do. I just read the stories about like such a surface level just for pure enjoyment. But like you read, you like really pick up on a lot more than I'd pick up on.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 59:10

wish I could like, and I read books with that like filter because I really wanted to like this book and I was kind of just disa, like I was just disa disappointed and I was like, dang. Like I,

Track 1 59:21

Well, I liked it.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 59:23

a critic on books, but

Track 1 59:24

I really did like it

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 59:26

I What would you rate like I still just don't even know what I would rate it.

Track 1 59:33

Hmm hmm.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 59:34

I'm feeling like a 3.6.

Track 1 59:37

Wow. Okay. I was thinking, my initial thought was 3.8,

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 59:42

Yeah.

Track 1 59:43

but I think I would, I would put it in the realm of 3.8 to 4.2.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 59:48

Yeah. It's just like if I keep going back to like, is this a good fantasy young adult fantasy book? I'm just, I don't know if the execution is there for

Track 1 59:57

I think it's a good young adult fantasy book because it's not, um, it's different.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 1:00:04

Hmm.

Track 1 1:00:05

don't have the dragons, we don't have the shapeshifters, we don't have the fairies. We don't have shit like that. We have humans pretty much.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 1:00:12

We have gods and magic in humans and enchanted houses and enchanted typewriters.

Track 1 1:00:18

Mm-Hmm,

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 1:00:20

Maybe a 3.8.

Track 1 1:00:21

It's cute.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 1:00:22

probably settle on a 3.8.

Track 1 1:00:23

I thought it was cute. I mean, we do have to put it in perspective too. Like, like I'm in the Sarah j Mass world right now and like that's, that's, that's a world builder. Like she's hard to beat, you know? Like she's, she does better even than, um, fourth wing author, like it's and Fourth Wing's. Amazing writing.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 1:00:46

Yeah.

Track 1 1:00:47

So like coming from that world and then Sarah j MA's world, that is incredible. Like, it's hard. It's like, yeah, of course this is gonna fall a little bit short.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 1:00:58

I'm so excited to get into Ser J. Mass. I haven't because I wanna read them all at once. and so I've just been trying to like plan out my books for the next few months. I think it'll probably be a summer thing. I'll all of the books.

Track 1 1:01:11

I've had a cord of thorns and roses just on my bookshelf for months and months and months and haven't been able to kind of just like really dive into it. And then the other night I finished, what was that book called that I read that little tiny book, the Laws of the Skies.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 1:01:30

Hmm.

Track 1 1:01:31

I finished that and I was like, I, it's only like eight 30 at night. Like let me just pick up um, a quarter of thorns and roses and I I'm obsessed. I'm gonna go buy the sequel today,

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 1:01:43

Yeah.

Track 1 1:01:44

and I'm buying them one at a time,

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 1:01:45

are

Track 1 1:01:46

so I don't like, so it like forces me to like get through them, you know?

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 1:01:51

Yeah. All right. Well, I mean, it was, I enjoyed it.

Track 1 1:01:56

Me too.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 1:01:57

onto the next. Uh,

Track 1 1:01:58

Exactly.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 1:01:58

this is, this is our last episode of the year of 2023. so, and this comes after Christmas, out after Christmas, but

Track 1 1:02:08

Well, Merry Christmas.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 1:02:09

had a hoppy holidays. Um, have a good New Year. Be safe. The next book we're reading is Icebreaker by Hannah Grace.

Track 1 1:02:21

That's a thick book.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 1:02:24

it's not that thick.

Track 1 1:02:25

I,

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 1:02:25

bigger writing.

Track 1 1:02:26

I mean,

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 1:02:26

see, four 30

Track 1 1:02:28

isn't it another young adult book? I can't do it.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 1:02:32

Uh, I think it's New Adult. It's a spicy book. I heard it's pretty spicy.

Track 1 1:02:35

Thank God. Gimme something.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 1:02:37

hockey romance. And I've been like wanting another hockey romance. I love hockey romances.

Track 1 1:02:42

never read. You've got me reading the weirdest shit like all these romances.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 1:02:45

You'll like it.

Track 1 1:02:46

I think I will.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 1:02:47

like it. I've heard good things about it, so I'm excited about it. I've been wanting to read it and I saw it was on sale on Amazon, so I

Track 1 1:02:53

Oh really?

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 1:02:53

that's

Track 1 1:02:54

gonna go,

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 1:02:54

book.

Track 1 1:02:54

I'm gonna go get it at Target today.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 1:02:57

Well, uh, yeah, next week we'll do icebreaker. Um, so tune into that for on Wednesday. That will be January 3rd. That episode will come

Track 1 1:03:04

What are y'all doing for New Year's? Are you doing anything? I,

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 1:03:08

now we're going to Charleston the 29th and we come back the 31st and then night we're just gonna chill at home.

Track 1 1:03:16

yeah.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 1:03:17

So watch, probably watch the ball drop on tv.

Track 1 1:03:19

Yeah. The New Year's this year is on a Sunday. The, I feel like the holidays are on weird days this year.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 1:03:25

Yeah.

Track 1 1:03:26

Like we have Christmas on a Monday. We have New Year's on a Sunday. We're usually closed at work on Sundays, but we're opening up for New Year's.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 1:03:36

Oh, I'll be fine.

Track 1 1:03:37

Not really

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 1:03:40

All right. Uh, thanks you guys for listening. You can follow us on Instagram at my sister Mamie Readit podcast. Amy is Amy Preti. I am Abby Preti on Instagram. Please rate us on the platform you're listening to, maybe put your thoughts, us your ratings, give your us your thoughts on this book. Because I was reading on Good reads. A lot of people liked this book

Track 1 1:03:58

Yeah, that's why I was like kind of shocked 'cause like it was so high rated.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 1:04:04

Yeah. So we're interested to see what you guys

Track 1 1:04:06

Yeah.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 1:04:06

Um, if you don't wanna do that, there's a form at the link for a bio that's anonymous. Um, we appreciate hearing from you guys. Yeah, that's about it.

Track 1 1:04:17

That's about it.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 1:04:19

Mary Rosler

Track 1 1:04:24

Okay.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 1:04:25

Alright,

Track 1 1:04:26

Love you.

abby-preteroti_1_12-24-2023_113251 1:04:26

later. Love you. Bye.