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Bring Your Own...Booktok Fave | S1Ep15
434 Plays2 years ago
In the season one finale we’re taking it back to our bookish roots and talking about our #BookTok Favs!
Before diving in we discuss how we discovered #BookTok, what we love about the community, the things we wish were different, and mention some of our favorite creators on the platform. Personal picks for this episode include:
Heartstopper by Alice Oseman - 44:11
Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros - 59:10
Legendborn by Tracy Deonn - 1:14:44
Stay up to date with the podcast during hiatus by following us on instagram @bringyourownpod
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Transcript
Season Finale Introduction
00:00:05
Speaker
Hi. Hi. Welcome to Bring Your Own, a catch-all bookish most of the time podcast. I'm Brandi. I'm Kendra. I'm Kayla.
Book Talk's Influence
00:00:19
Speaker
And today is our season one finale. So excited to talk about our Book Talk phase because we were like, why not just wrap it up with what started it all? You know what I mean? That's fair. Yeah. So we're going to talk Book Talk phase.
Brandi's Vacation and Reading Habits
00:00:39
Speaker
But before we do that, what are you guys reading? What are you guys drinking? I'll go first. I'm drinking. This is actually a shocker water. Crazy.
00:00:48
Speaker
I know. Thank you. Dimly light it. Dimly lit apartment of mine. Yeah, I've been really dehydrated. We are fresh off of vacation together. And I think the whole time I was on vacation, it was when I drink water, but it was mainly alcohol. And I think I'm trying to like write my body. I'm feeling really tired. But I mean, literally the minute we get off of this podcast, I'm just gonna pour myself a glass of wine.
00:01:15
Speaker
and continue reading Once More with Filling by Alyssa Sussman, which I just started like a day or two ago. It's her newest release. She wrote Banishas last year, which I really enjoyed. I wasn't reading much last year. I was trying to figure out what my initial thoughts were. I want to say there were things that I wanted more of in that book, but I still enjoyed it, had a great time. But I think I'm going to end up liking this one more when it's all said and done. The banter in this is really good.
00:01:44
Speaker
That's crazy. Really, really good. Yeah. And I mean, at least Alyssa Sussman writes books for millennial women, like middle millennial women, maybe upper.
Generational Media References
00:01:56
Speaker
Kayla, why are you fist pumping? You are millennial women. You guys are young millennial women. She writes for older women.
00:02:07
Speaker
Because like she's writing about things that I personally feel like you guys are like children. Like because she bases a lot of her books off of like big media events that like you guys were kids when that shit happened. Like I know she took inspiration from like Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake and like that whole mess to write this book. But I don't remember any of that when it happened.
Book Plot Discussion
00:02:28
Speaker
So I'm just been picturing like
00:02:30
Speaker
like the Jonas Brothers, and like Daniel Lovato, or like a Miley Cyrus, or even like Ariana Grande, because the girl has like very big Broadway ambitions. So yeah, it's pretty, it's pretty good. It's like borderline second chance romance, not really. And there's a trope in it that I want to say. I don't know if it's confirmed. That's the thing, because I'm at the part of the book where I don't know if it really happened. Do you know what it is? Because it's the thing you hate.
00:02:57
Speaker
Oh, no, I wasn't gonna say that. I was gonna say I remember when the book description came out. And I remember I like sent it to you guys or something. And I don't want to like, I guess I don't want to say just in case somebody wants to go into it blind. But I remember being really excited about it. And I don't remember. I think I remember what it is. But like, don't. I feel like I can say it because it happens. Like, like you learn like, or like super early. Well, I think one of them is I think one of them on the back is a reverse age gap. Is that right?
00:03:28
Speaker
then nevermind. I am thinking of it totally different books. That's crazy. I don't know. I really don't know. I don't remember anything about the book description. Can I like say like the like the print? Well, yeah. So it follows this girl. He used to be like a teen pop star. And we know that her career imploded because she cheated on her boyfriend with who was also in a band like a pop band. She cheated on him with another bandmate of his.
00:03:59
Speaker
And flash forward, like 10-ish years later, that bandmate who she cheated with, which again, like I haven't, like it's told in past and present, so I'm not sure that's what happened. We're just led to believe. Fast forward though, he is directing a Broadway musical that her best friend wrote and like wrote the part for her. And so now they have to work together. And
Cheating Tropes and Reading Stress
00:04:19
Speaker
it's pretty, yeah, the banter's, it's good. Like there was a part that I read last night in my jaw. I was like, whoa, because it was hot. So. I love that.
00:04:28
Speaker
Yeah, so Kayla loves herself a good cheating trope as everyone knows. She hates it. I see. But again, like it. I think you'll like it though. It's good. Okay. Or you'll hate it. Who knows? Sorry, that was so long. I am currently not drinking anything. I don't know if my brain is just like...
00:04:47
Speaker
I've talked about it here before, but I'm a teacher. And as of the time of this recording, I have one week left of school. So my brain is just lit. I'm so excited you guys, but my brain is just literally off like I just can't do anything. So I forgot to grab a little drinky drink. But that's okay. I am currently reading physically the fourth wing, or just fourth wing, not the fourth wing. Yeah, I always I thought it was the fourth wing for the longest time. But yeah.
00:05:14
Speaker
Fourth Wing. So I'm finally, finally, the FOMO got to me and also like I trust Kayla with my life. So I'm reading Fourth Wing right now, which I'm very excited about. And then Audio, I'm listening to Love Theoretically by Ali Hazelwood.
00:05:29
Speaker
Libro FM does like an influencer program that I just think it's my favorite influencer program that I'm a part of because I am such an audiobook girlie. So this one doesn't come out for a couple weeks, but they have it on their June influencer list. So I got to got to listen to that one. I'm enjoying it so far. Actually, our friend Sam, who
00:05:49
Speaker
is really, really into Ally Hazelwood. So this is her least favorite Ally Hazelwood, but she still really liked it. But I have a feeling that I think it might be my favorite just based off of vibes alone. Interesting. Wow. Interesting. It's her least favorite. Yeah, I'm interested in that one. It's her least favorite of the big three that she's done so far. I don't know if Sam's counting novellas. I think she's probably not. I mean, I've only read Love Hypothesis, so I can't talk. Yeah, I do too. I never read Love on the Brain. But I will read this one, I think.
00:06:18
Speaker
Love on the Braid was not it for me. Like I gave that book three stars. I was not vibing. But that's okay. But I'm really excited about this one and it's narrated by the same person who narrates Rose Calloway who I love. I don't even remember her name. Therese Palmer I think. Something like that.
00:06:33
Speaker
But anyways, yeah, that's what I'm reading. But also, I feel like I have to mention that since our last recording, I have read The Right Move by Liz Howard, which I loved so much. It just felt gross and weird to not mention that I read and loved that book on here, even though it was a couple weeks ago. But yeah, so that's my view. Amazing. I'm so happy that you loved it. Me too. We're so happy.
00:07:00
Speaker
Um, okay. I guess all of our like drinks that we brought are super boring today because I also have water. So I had nothing exciting. No, goog zero today, guys. No, goog zero. I'm telling you, vacation beat it out of us. I know. I think I was like really, I really dehydrated on vacation. I mean, again, I was drinking water, but like not nearly enough. Um, so yeah, trying to get back to normal. Um, I'm currently reading, okay. Uh,
00:07:30
Speaker
On my Kindle, I'm reading Baby Moon or Bust by Ava Hunter. Ava Hunter, thank you. Yeah, that's correct. I'm only, I'm not parent at all. I just started it this morning, only 20% in, but it's really funny so far.
00:07:47
Speaker
And it's fun. It's just fun right now. So it's about this girl and guy who have a one night stand and then it time jumps to six months later, she's pregnant. Anyway, he finds out a certain way and they end up going on this babymoon vacation together to Mexico. So that's currently what I'm reading. And then I'm also listening to The Winter King. I am almost done, Brandy. Almost done. I only have two hours left. I'm not like the big third act.
00:08:18
Speaker
Uh, I don't want to say it's a conflict because it's not really a conflict. It's just like a big third act, third act, I guess. So, um, I'm having fun with that one. It's very like silly goofy, but why are you? Cause I think you hate it. I don't hate it at all. It's just wrong. It's just taking me a while to get through. I haven't read an audio book this long in ages. Well, we all know that you listen to it.
00:08:48
Speaker
Now we were in the car on vacation Taylor like listening to this book the whole time I'm like damn like let's beat it up. We had to compromise because I was like I can't do 1.8 you guys. My P brain can't handle it.
00:09:05
Speaker
That's okay. This is one of those books where I'm just like, I believe you. Okay. But I'm just saying like, this is one of those books where like, if you did hate it, I'd still be okay. You know what I mean? Oh, okay. But I hope you do like it, just because it's like, it said it, it is such a time commitment that I hope it's not a waste of your time when all is said and done. No, it's the perfect thing to listen to while I'm cleaning my bathroom. It's great. That sounds really mean. No, I know exactly what you mean.
Anticipation for 'Reckless'
00:09:30
Speaker
I know exactly what you mean. You were like, oh, okay.
00:09:35
Speaker
Oh, god. Anyway, that's what I'm currently reading. And also, I want to mention, since Brandy mentioned the right move, I want to mention that Brandy and I both finished Reckless a couple days ago. And oh my god, you guys, it's so good. By the time this episode comes out, Victor's just sitting here like, I hate you so much. By the time this episode comes out, the book will be out. But I think it's our favorite in the Chestnut Springs series. Yeah, it's my new favorite Chelsea book. So good. So good.
00:10:05
Speaker
Kidder, you'll love it. I'm just sick and tired of seeing everyone and their mother post about this arc and I don't have access to it. You didn't apply. I know. I'm not an arc girly, but like I feel like it's frustrating guys. Okay. Cause like when I read Elsie Silver, like I was able to go to her right away. Like because two of the books were out, but now I'm at the like waiting period and I hate it and like,
00:10:35
Speaker
You can do we weren't all that. We weren't all that. What's the word I'm looking for? Yeah, we weren't enthused or that please powerless. Yeah. So the fact that y'all are like, Oh my gosh, reckless is like the best one. I'm like, shit, I need this book like
00:10:51
Speaker
now. The way it's gonna be worth it though, because like, you're gonna get to listen to the audio. And I think Joe Arden is going to do so good. Yeah, that's true. I've been debating since I did the other two, like on my Kindle, I'm like, maybe I should just continue it. But I don't know, maybe I will do audio because it will just help me get through it.
00:11:07
Speaker
I can't wait for you to read it. Kayla and I did like a wrap up at the end and no spoilers but like we were like she gave us this and this and this and this and this and this all in one book like it's genuinely like damn that's crazy. That's crazy. I was talking to Jasmine who is Stella Candlecoat earlier today and she was like it makes me feel gross that I like it more than heartless or whatever. She's in denial. She's like I refuse to believe that
00:11:35
Speaker
This is better than Heartless, but it is. It makes me feel better. Also, speaking of Stella's candle-co, I want her reckless candle when it comes out. I saw Logan got like an early one and it had all this cute cowboy stuff and I'm like, I just love me a good candle. I have the center one by her, but I haven't burned it.
00:11:54
Speaker
yet. Yeah, it'll set my apartment on fire because it's too hot. But I'm gonna save it for the winter and it'll be great. I want it to smell like it's sick so bad. I'm so sorry, that man is a musty. Yeah, it doesn't smell like a little musty and like a little sperm-y.
00:12:18
Speaker
Oh my god. That's what I wanted. Never coming to your apartment again. The way you did the hand motion. I just want to put my face directly into the candle. Guys, I would eat his ass. That's like crazy.
00:12:38
Speaker
Because he would be so into it. This is taking such a left turn. Like, he'd be so into it. Oh my God. What am I talking about? He'll never look my way. He's so up his in his ass. Like, you know, he's too in love. But like, we should get to watch.
Colorado Trip Highlights
00:12:52
Speaker
Does that need to do it? In a book. Yeah. And then him do it to her. Yeah. Yeah, they're so hot. House eating 69-ing.
00:13:03
Speaker
Anyway, that's what I'm reading. The next strength to ask eat well 69 because you have to go like amazing. Well, that's what we're reading and drinking today. I know that we kind of a little bit mentioned it, but you guys want to talk about our trip at all. Oh, yeah, we, along with our friend has have been planning to go to Colorado for
00:13:34
Speaker
like nine months probably. I think we planned October, yeah. But we like had the idea since like last summer. And then we planned October.
00:13:46
Speaker
Kayla, our little ultimate nature mommy, found us this amazing Airbnb to stay at right outside of Denver. It was gorgeous. It was right next to this creek. It was the best time. It was such a nice cabin, too. It was updated. Good Wi-Fi. Yeah, it was fantastic. Yeah, it wasn't like we were glamping.
00:14:10
Speaker
Yeah, we kept joking that we were saying, or at least I kept joking that we were saying, John and Calla's house. Because that's what I imagine like, at least parts of their house to look like. Yeah, except they have like way more land and like a big ass link in the backyard. Yeah.
00:14:26
Speaker
We wanted to live out like our small town. Yeah. Dreams, Daphne Perry, Elsie Silver type of thing. We were initially thinking Montana for that reason, but Taz was coming from Toronto, and there was just like no easy way to get to Montana. It's very difficult to get to. Like, it's just not as accessible as some other places. So we chose Colorado.
00:14:48
Speaker
And we stayed in a little town. It was cute. We drove outside of Denver. It was so cute. And then we did Garden of the Gods one day. We went to Rocky Mountain National Park one day. We just explored Denver. It was just so sweet. And the thing that I took from this that was so incredible is that we travel really well together, which I love. Not every friend group travels well together, but we really, really did. Yeah, exactly. I would trust you guys to go to Miami. Yeah.
00:15:16
Speaker
that Miami tests your friendship. And like most people leave Miami no longer friends, but we honestly leave Miami probably even closer. Cause we all like can get up early. Like we all vibe the same way. It was just so much fun. And I love you guys so much. Like I was, I was thinking like, damn, like I would have never done that. Like, you know, like it was just, it was nice to like go on a trip with people. Cause I live alone. I do a lot of things by myself. And so I was like, Oh, I got to like experience, like I got to experience something with people like that. It just, I was like, wow,
00:15:46
Speaker
I love being a woman. I love living life, breathing in. Life's so fun. Life's so fun. And I drove there and the other girls, the other three flew. And on my way home, because we drove like everywhere. We drove all over the place.
00:16:04
Speaker
Um, and, uh, on my way home, I was like, Oh my God, I am so bored. I was like, I didn't have the girls in the car with me. I was like, this is so hard. I called Jared like three or four times throughout my driving experience. And I was like, Jared, I'm so bored. Talk to me. What are you doing? I was so bored. We were like, we were driving like a couple hours at a time to like get to the places that we want to check out. And yeah, it was so fun.
00:16:32
Speaker
Yeah. Kayla, did you tell Jared that I drove your car? Nope. Did you tell him that I drove your car? No, I don't think he'll care. I don't think he'll care in the long run, but no, I never told him. Is he there? That's why you're like, look at him. No, no. He just really drinks. Yeah. That is so funny. Yeah. They did a good job. They did a good job. Yeah. Everyone in Colorado has a Subaru we discovered, just like Kayla. They're no bitches out there. Yeah. They really are.
00:17:02
Speaker
It was great. So
Social Media and Bookish Friendships
00:17:03
Speaker
we highly recommend doing a trip with your bookish besties. And while we're on this topic, because I've been posting about our little trip nonstop just because I did have so much fun. And a lot of people are saying things like, I wish I had book friends. And while we're on this topic, I will say, if you want more book friends, genuinely just start DMing people. And that is just where it starts every single time.
00:17:29
Speaker
And I just like, I don't know, I just have never gotten a DM from a bookish person and been like, you know what I mean, like, I'm just like always so happy to talk about stuff with people and, and to chat with them and I like, we have been talking about like we have become real life friends and like we have other friends like our friend Selena who we're all super close with and
00:17:49
Speaker
Logan, who we had on a couple of episodes ago, like literally all this is like born from DMing and like talking about your shared interests. So I highly recommend doing that too. Yeah, put the social and social media
00:18:04
Speaker
That's why I used to always admire Kayla, because she would just be in everyone's DMs. And it worked for her, because now I'm obsessed with her. It's crazy. Same with Brandy. You guys just snuck your way into my DMs, and you snuck your way into my heart. I was going to say, oh my god. Now I know your social security number. I know when you use the bathroom.
00:18:29
Speaker
Oh, credit card numbers. Yeah. I know everything about you. Wait, what'd you think I was going to say? I don't know. I was like, wait, how do you know my social security number? That's a little scary, but it's okay. I trust you with it. I fucking fell asleep in Colorado. Yesterday, Brandy, I sent Kayla this TikTok because it's Pride Month. And this TikTok.
00:18:50
Speaker
What is his at name? It's like, I forget, but he's this funny one where he undoes something like that. And he was like, to all my allies out there, I need you to take your credit card out of your wallet, send me the digits on the front of the back. He's like, if it's an Amex, just send me the whole thing. And he was like, after you do that, as I'm spending your money, write a 10 page paper on what it means to be an ally. And now's the time to show up. Oh, there you go. You know it.
00:19:20
Speaker
Yeah. It's due by the... How far are you, Kayla? I did tell Jared, I was like, I showed him not TikTok. And I was like, Jared, I'm really sorry about our budget. It's going to be like blown up this month. So. Cash. Sorry. That's so funny. When we're at Book Bonanza later this month. Well, actually, if I look at our calendar, I'm pretty sure this episode comes out the Thursday before Book Bonanza. So happy Book Bonanza weekend, everyone.
00:19:49
Speaker
When we're at book bonanza for pride month, Jared's gonna buy his dinner one night. Okay. Dallas is most exclusive. Okay, so Jared is homophobic. That's crazy. I can't wait to buy you any book you want to book bonanza.
00:20:19
Speaker
Yeah, actually, not any book, any books, plural. Mm hmm. Correct.
Impact of Colleen Hoover
00:20:25
Speaker
Yeah, books. Yeah. YouTube, Randy told me I'm going to get to work. We need good allies. Get to work. Amazing. Well, I think that's a good segue, because we're talking about Book Talk faves. Book Talk is something that brought us all together. Yeah, when did we might have already talked about this in the first episode, but
00:20:46
Speaker
reiterate shortly how you discovered Booktalk. Like what was the first viral Booktalk book you recall? Did I recall seeing or like reading? Yeah seeing both if they're the same. I mean I ended up on Booktalk like spring 2021. I think that's when a lot of people
00:21:08
Speaker
I don't want to call it like the first iteration of book talk influencers, but I feel like that's when it started to ramp up. It was late 20, early 2021. And the first one that I remember seeing was Colleen Hoover, and that's initially who I started reading first. The first book that I read was Heart Bones, and it ends with us by Colleen Hoover from book talk.
00:21:38
Speaker
um for me because i discovered book talk on pinterest but it was same it was like calling hoover um and then also serpent and dove by shelby muhern which was like that summer of 2020 was huge and that was like the first YA fantasy book i read and i loved it i don't care what the haters say i thought that book was great and yeah i was like calling
00:22:00
Speaker
How do you find it on Pinterest? You were just scrolling on Pinterest and you saw it? Yeah, so Pinterest does. I don't know who uploads it to Pinterest, but if you go on Pinterest and you're looking at bookish content, you'll see people's book talk videos. I've messaged people before. I'm like, hey, I saw your video on Pinterest.
00:22:17
Speaker
like some of my mutuals will end up there. You know what's so funny is I was looking at aesthetic pictures for a book journal page and I saw Brady's video. One of Brady's book journal videos. I don't know what to look for, but yeah, you were on Pinterest. Like making a page? Yeah, it was like a screen grab of one of your videos.
00:22:36
Speaker
Yeah. Again, I don't know who how over there. Yeah. Oh my god, I'm famous. What? That's crazy. Yeah, but it was um, I want to say the first the first book talker I saw on Pinterest specifically not on tik tok was Steph Brewer, who I'm not mutuals with. She's really nice. But yeah, at that time, she was reading like a lot of like Colleen Hoover, probably like, I think all of Colleen is who I remember her talking about at that time. Yeah. And then some other books I actually ended up hating so
00:23:05
Speaker
much. So yeah. Yeah, I talked about it before that, like, I got back into reading because I'm the next son. And then immediately after that, I was like, now what? And yeah, Colleen Hoover as well, like, Anansethos was the first like big book talk book that I read. And then the Song of Achilles and The Seven Husbands of Evelyn and Hugo, like back to back to back. So like,
00:23:28
Speaker
Book talk, book talk, book talk. So those ones. And then I found Pauline very, very, very early in my book talk journey, back when she wasn't even showing face on her page, like back when. Yeah, she would just do like, she would hold the books. And then like, Pauline who is the books I've loved, by the way. Yes. Yeah, I would argue is like probably, at least in my realm, the biggest book talker that I'm like, mutuals friends with.
00:23:58
Speaker
Yeah, she has a crazy, crazy well deserved following. She's just the nicest person. I love her so much. She's so sweet. I know she helped you get the Kiss Quotient books. She helped me get the bookish box fourth wing special edition too. She's
Discovering New Reads
00:24:17
Speaker
our special edition securing queen. She's always aware.
00:24:22
Speaker
when things are going on sale and like sets alarms. Yeah, I wanted the kiss potion so bad and I literally just posted in my stories. I was like, I'm so stressed that I won't be able to get this. I'm going to be teaching while it goes on sale. And she's like, girl, I got you. Like she's just so nice. Yeah. So I saw her videos really, really, really early on when I was just a lurker. And yeah, so that's how I got a lot of, I got a lot of wrecks from Pauline at the beginning of my reading journey. Like all your perfects by Colin Hoover was a favorite of hers.
00:24:47
Speaker
Yeah, for the first book talkers before I started making content myself that I followed were Pauline, Kimmy from At Kimmy's Books, and then JvN. JvN!
00:25:01
Speaker
Yeah, in the book that I'll be talking about today, I actually like saw his video talking about it. And at that point, like I already like the way Javian speaks about books, like he's only gonna speak about like he cannot lie, like he can't ever lie. So if he says he likes something, you know, he genuinely likes something. And I just like trusted him through the screen. And then when we eventually became mutuals, I freaked out because I was like, Oh my God, he followed me. And now we talk like every day. It's crazy. That's so sweet.
00:25:31
Speaker
Yeah, mine were Kemi, Gracie, Kendra, and Lomi were my first group. Yeah, same pretty much. Wow. And now we're just like friends. So cool. I know I've literally have become friends with like, that's one thing I love about book talk so much. But it's so crazy because it only happened on book talk for a few people and then like the rest were through Instagram, like bookstagram. But yeah, now I'm like friends with like all the people I used to just like watch from
00:26:01
Speaker
the sidelines, which is crazy. Oh my god. Yeah, so say what you want about book talk books, but they bring people together and you can't say they don't. Yeah,
Book Talk Stigma and Criticism
00:26:13
Speaker
I'm like the the stigma around book talk is like so interesting to me. Because like, yeah,
00:26:21
Speaker
Yeah, people who have been in book communities for a really long time say that this happens every time that there's a new internet community of books, like, because when like book Twitter became a thing, like book bloggers had a lot of shit to say about book Twitter, and then bookstagram, and then booktube, and whatever, like, I guess like, because I follow Oh, she's
00:26:40
Speaker
forgot her name, but her app is the cool table. And I think she's just so cool and funny. And she's like in her 40s and has like grown ass kids and shit. And she's so cool and funny. And she's just been around for a long time. She talks about how she's been in these book communities forever. And she says it happens every single time. So I think that's probably what's just happening right now. Like I can't speak to excite book talk. Well, bookstagram is where I joined the book community. But like, I wasn't in them before this, you know, same book talk was like my first
00:27:10
Speaker
venture. I watched like the occasional booktube video like when I would like really love a book and I just like wanted to see more people talk about it like that's when I would do it but yeah I'd never not until book talk. Yeah same. I remember being like sort of kind of on booktube like just like obviously not me making content but like during the hunger games divergent days I would go on
00:27:32
Speaker
booktube and like search videos and things like that but nothing like I wasn't like subscribed and watching like all the time really yeah I think that's another reason why book talk works so well or just like tiktok in general because it's all short form content like I personally like in my comments I've had like throughout my time on book talk people being like makeup booktube and I'm like y'all don't want to hear me talk for more than like three minutes I did I did a 10 minute video reviewing happy place like
00:28:00
Speaker
And that was just too much. And I can never do that long term. Three minutes is like my max. Straight to the point. It's perfect. And then if you want to make more videos about it, you can, which is nice. Yeah, go to part two. Yeah. So some of my favorite books are considered book talk books. And it's so interesting. Like you said, there is a stigma around them where
00:28:27
Speaker
I saw this video the other day where a guy was going around asking, like, what's your favorite book ever? And people were like, oh, like, probably Be Treat by Emily Henry, or I Really Love Verity by Colleen Hoover. And the comments were just like, these people have never read another fucking book in their life. And it's just like, you're so fucking annoying. Like, go outside, breathe some fresh air, touch some grass, because why are we upset that people are reading? That's my thing with Colleen Hoover.
00:28:56
Speaker
I will never say I have enjoyed every single book of hers that I have read. Have I read everything? No, but what I have read I've enjoyed. Are they the greatest books ever? No.
Healthy Book Talk Discourse
00:29:06
Speaker
And I think I went in knowing that but like, I get what I need from them. But with her specifically, she blew up on book talk when she already had an extensive backlist. I think that's why her success has been like, multiplied because yeah, like, you read one book and you read like 25 other books of hers, and they just kept going and going. And then also, I think people were just like,
00:29:26
Speaker
They saw how simplistic her writing is and how many people who typically weren't readers were reading her books. And they thought, well, usually when you're New York Times bestselling author, you're writing like, you know, the next great American novel, like that's the cliche. And like, that's not her work. She's never claimed that to be. So like,
00:29:44
Speaker
been interesting on book talk to see like her rise and fall of people being like oh my gosh like everyone go read her like these stories like they're very entertaining and then everyone started reading her and then it was fuck Colleen Hoover but anyone who reads Colleen Hoover you guys have no taste and I'm like okay if you genuinely don't like her that's fine but like some people are just so like
00:30:04
Speaker
Oh, I also think that there is just like, that happens in all media too. It's like, everybody wants to like something because they enjoy it. And then once it becomes popular, you're like, Oh, me never, I would never. So it is really interesting. I mean, I catch myself doing that sometimes too. But you don't publicly get on the internet and like shame people. That's the part that gets me
00:30:29
Speaker
I think it's so wild that people take time out of their day to read a book that they know they probably won't like. I have too many books on my TBR that I think I'll love to read a book that I think I'll hate. What are you doing? That's so sad to me. I feel like that happens with book talk books all the time.
00:30:49
Speaker
since the stigma around book talk books is that they're not really good is that so many I have found the trend is that people who have usually been in bookish spaces the longest and are now joining book talk
00:31:01
Speaker
they are the ones who shit on these books the most or they, you know, they get mad that readers are discovering books for like the first time. I'll never forget, I saw a book talk video once of a person saying that book talk Christopher Columbus is a lot of books. And I'm like, sorry, I was 12. Yeah, I was like, sorry, I was 12 when this smutty book came out that I shouldn't have been reading and now I'm 25 and I can finally read it and enjoy it.
00:31:30
Speaker
earlier than five years ago. Like, like, sorry. Yeah, and they're usually the ones who are like, I'm gonna read this book talk book and I'm gonna hate it. If I see a book talk video, and I'll get the general consensus around it, I can easily decide if that book is worth my time. Yeah. And if I know it's not gonna be worth my time, why would I read it? I have never gone into a book that I've gone off a book talk wanting to hate it. That's never been the vibe. Sometimes it just doesn't work out. Yeah, I mean,
00:32:00
Speaker
Looking back, like I own nine Colleen Hoover books and I've read all nine of them. I'm not, I don't think I've enjoyed every single one. I think I've enjoyed most, most of them, but like, and if I were to go back and reread them now, would I enjoy them as much as I did? Probably not, but that's okay. Like it doesn't really matter because at the time that's what worked for me and that's what helped me get back into reading now. You know what I mean? So it's like, why does it
00:32:28
Speaker
Why does it matter? It's like exercising almost like it because it's like exercising your brain, right? Like reading is like a hobby that exercises your brain. And if you're thinking about like physical exercise, you can't go run a marathon after not running for years. Like, of course, like palate cleansing, like introductory, like simplistic books, not that I'm saying like everything that she has written is simplistic.
00:32:50
Speaker
But the general consensus around book talk books is that they're easy to read and whatever, the lack of depth. And I think that's really, really, what's the word I'm looking for? Overgeneralizing. But even if that's true for some books, if that's what people need to get excited about reading again, shouldn't we be excited about that?
00:33:10
Speaker
as a book community, shouldn't we be happy that people are enjoying the hobby that we love? Like what? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, we say all this and then like, I know like once the New York Times bestseller list comes out for paperback on me, I'll be like, Oh my God. Oh, Colleen again. I can't get mad at it. I mean, like good for her. She's like, that's what I'm saying. The thing is like, we can keep it in our group chat and we can talk to our friends and people we know about it without like, yeah.
00:33:40
Speaker
And now I mean, obviously, now we're talking about on the podcast, but like, I anyone, I don't know, I love talking about this stuff. Yeah, I love talking about this stuff, because like, obviously, it's a community that like, we're very much a part of, but I never have ever wanted to make anyone feel shitty or anything for what they choose to read and what they choose to share on the internet. There's so many videos I see of people saying things I just don't disagree with. And you know what I do, I keep scrolling.
00:34:07
Speaker
It's crazy how that works. I genuinely think that's like, I think that fosters longevity in these communities too. Like how do you, how do you keep making content and engaging in content and doing this? If you're just like mad all the time at everybody else in the community, like I just don't have the mental space for it. Yeah. And like, you know, a big criticism of book talk is that like, you know, they only show the same five books all the time.
00:34:37
Speaker
And the people who are actually like in book talk spaces and like making videos and like growing their community, we all know that that's false. Like you have to like diversify your page, your for, it's literally called for you page. If you're seeing the same five books, babe, go to your search bar, type in another keyword, like it will work. And then you'll find people who constantly, um, are talking about different books and evolving their tastes. And it's great. Like I love, like,
00:35:07
Speaker
all the people I follow and get recommendations from. And I think when you find somebody who aligns with your tastes really well, look at who they're stitching, look at who they're interacting with, look at who they're reposting, because they probably also have wrecks that are similar in taste or whatever. It's all exactly like you said, it's all about just like building it for yourself. Crazy, let's call that.
00:35:32
Speaker
crazy. Yeah. So insane. While we're on the topic of like, book talk discourse or whatever, I mean, this isn't really about discourse. But what about the the phrase that like, this book is overrated? Or is it worth the hype? Like, because I see that all the time, especially about book talk books, but like, what are your thoughts on that? It's I think I only ever see that when it comes. I mean, because I definitely have used it in videos where I'm like, Oh, like,
00:36:02
Speaker
I don't know, I need to go back. The first thought I had was the love hypothesis because that was one of the like times I remember clearly where that book was getting so much hype and I was like, is it worth it? And I made a video and I was like, well, I'm going to find out like and I thought, you know, it's pretty good. And I got what people loved a lot. But
Trends and Cyclical Discussions
00:36:20
Speaker
it's mainly using a negative connotation. And I think that's the thing where I'm like, huh? Yeah, I don't know. I don't know. Yeah, the phrase overrated. I don't know that I necessarily believe like,
00:36:33
Speaker
believe in that term um or like i agree with that term i guess like um like the books that i brought today that i'm going to talk about later it's a very new book talk book but like every single book that gets uh super super popular is going to get labeled overrated like no matter what like the love hypothesis did like you know whoever books are like every single book is going to get that
00:37:03
Speaker
And yeah, I just, sometimes I just don't agree with, I think people can obviously dislike the book. That's fine. You can have your own opinion, but I don't necessarily think that because you dislike it, it makes it overrated automatically. Yeah. There'll be like, book talk lied to me. And I'm like, I need to stop saying babes. I don't know why I said my word first today. She's getting ready. I know. Um,
00:37:28
Speaker
they didn't lie to you and I think it takes a minute for everyone to figure out like that like no one lied to you because it's such a like buzz phrase on that app like oh y'all lied y'all lied and it's like no like they just shared their opinion and like you didn't agree with it like oh it's so frustrating yeah yeah I agree with what you guys are saying there have okay I will say this about the whole book talk lied thing
00:37:53
Speaker
I when terms and conditions came out obviously I was like very protective of that book because I like love it so much and like I don't know like I loved it and it was one of my most anticipated reads and the discourse around terms and conditions was so crazy to the point to where a person made a video and they were like well I just couldn't tell that like Iris was like black and this is like a black person who said this like I couldn't tell that Iris is black blah blah blah
00:38:23
Speaker
I tell you I ran to that fucking comment section so fucking fast and I was like what do you mean? And usually I like stay out of stuff unless it like just it's too far but I was in that comment section I was like oh did you miss the part where she said this she said that like did you want her fucking picking cotton like what did you want her to do? To like it's like and that was because their whole thing was like yo we're lying you're lying no we're not like I'm sorry that you were probably skimming that book and missed everything like don't oh they frustrated me so much but
00:38:52
Speaker
book talk be I tend to stay out of it because that's another thing on book talk where like one person will make a video they make it intentionally to get a lot of stitches and you know interaction and then my whole for you page will be people just reacting to this video and I'm like you guys if you leave them alone it goes away and it's the same discourse over and over and over again our friend it's so cyclical
00:39:19
Speaker
our friend Gracie made a book talk bingo sheet to keep up with how many times like certain conversations get brought up. She gave Tessa Bailey and Colin Huber both three strips. I'll have to ask her to send it to me so I can be sure to post it on the page when this episode comes out, but it's so fucking funny. Like the free space was Kevin versus bookish boxes. So
00:39:47
Speaker
Oh, for people who don't know Kevin, I have what is his at name I forget but he's a pretty big book talker, queer book talker, and he has
00:39:57
Speaker
this beef with a bookish company called The Bookish Box. They make special editions and you know their customer service is not the best. Their quality of books is questionable. I will say I ordered one book from them and I got it at a great time. Like I must have been an anomaly, but he will make videos calling them out like so much and it's funny.
00:40:18
Speaker
He got a cease and desist. He got a cease and desist from them.
Sensationalism vs Genuine Discourse
00:40:22
Speaker
It was like true beef. He did not care. He kept going, kept going. And moments like that, I laughed. That was funny. He had facts as to why he was so fed up with them. I just ordered something from them for the very first time, and I am scared. I'm very nervous. What'd you get?
00:40:44
Speaker
my fourth wing. I haven't heard anything about them for a while. So maybe they hired some more people. Yeah. If something goes wrong.
00:40:59
Speaker
I will call Kevin up. What if you just called Kevin up? And it's so funny because like his videos are so dramatic and he'll have this like music that's playing that's like it's like I'm in like a courtroom and he's like a lawyer giving his final statement. But yeah, it is just all so cyclical and like I've really learned which which battles to pick
00:41:25
Speaker
quotes, you know, air quotes around that, whatever, like where where my energy is best spent when it comes to a lot of this discourse, like, do I really need to talk about it? Or is it something that I can work on myself? Is it like, whatever? I don't know. Yeah. So I think that's something that a lot of people might benefit from. What am I adding to this conversation?
00:41:46
Speaker
No, just a question you should ask yourself. And I think like, and it's not a saying, you know, there should never be this discourse, whatever, because I think sometimes, a lot of times, it's actually very important, like a one that I found to be really interesting. And it was it was for a book that I haven't even read, it was with when Babel Babble by Mr. Becca Kwong came out, and there was so much discourse around that book. But I thought it was all like,
00:42:15
Speaker
everyone responding to the negative reviews of that book, I thought it was very much needed. Because people were saying like some really borderline racist out of pocket things when it came to her work. Yeah, that whole book sparked a lot because it was very like not subtle, right? It's like it's a scathing critique of academia, white supremacy, tradition and institutions. And yeah, it did cause a lot of like really important discourse because of course,
00:42:43
Speaker
dumb ass people open to their big ass mouth about thoughts. Yeah, whatever. Anyways, like you were saying, there is useful discourse and there is discourse that is just because people are bored on their couch. Yeah, because I don't agree with the people who are like, there should never be any negative, you know, reviews on book talk or like in the bookish spaces in general.
Fan Art and Book Popularity
00:43:03
Speaker
I'm like, no, like, there's definitely a way to do it. But I would say more so on TikTok than any other bookish platform, you get the very like sensationalized
00:43:11
Speaker
negative reviews because like they know they'll go viral. And that's kind of the thing that I don't agree with. Like if you have genuine valid critiques and like it's important, great. But like if you're getting on the internet to make a video talking about why you didn't like ACOTAR, honey, no one cares. I'm sorry. Like we've seen that video 12,000 times and then you make content where you're like, I hate SJM. I hate SJM. I hate SJM.
00:43:37
Speaker
then why is every video you make about SJM, why are all your hashtags CRJ mass? If you don't like them, then don't talk about them and then your feed will be free of it. And then you can see the stuff that you love. Like there were so many authors where I'm like, I don't know how to vibe. I just, I never interact and then I never see it. And it's just so happy. I'm so happy.
00:43:58
Speaker
life's so fun. life's so fun. got my mini skirt. am i real or am i done? should we talk about the books we brought? our book talk babes. totally should. let's do it. i'll go first. i brought heart stopper by alice ossman, which is a book i just don't think i would have read without book talk and i'm so so happy that i did it. it's a graphic novel
00:44:22
Speaker
coming of age queer story about Nick who is in the first couple of books realizing that he is bisexual and Charlie who is openly gay. And you get a lot of like backstory about that. They're both in high school. It's set in England, so they have different years there. But in America, I think Charlie would be a sophomore and Nick would be a junior. And it's just like,
00:44:47
Speaker
achingly sweet. It just made me want to scream into my pillow and I did. My best friend read this before me and she was like, you have to read it once I was telling her that I was seeing it everywhere. It was my first time ever reading a graphic novel. That's a lie. I read
'Heartstopper' and Queer Representation
00:45:03
Speaker
Lore Olympus, but this was one of my first graphic novels that I ever read.
00:45:07
Speaker
And it's just, the art is so beautiful. Alice Hospital is just so talented. And it's just, it's so sweet. And she does such an incredible job of capturing those feelings of, like,
00:45:20
Speaker
first crushes or like first crushes that mean a lot. And she also tackles like really, she's very successful at tackling really heavy topics like Charlie throughout the story is struggling with an eating disorder. Nick is obviously learning about his sexuality and like coming to terms with that and what that means for him. And Charlie you learn about how he was outed and the feelings he went through.
00:45:45
Speaker
The band of characters in it, their friend group, is just so well done and beautiful and beautifully diverse. They have some friends who are also queer and it's just the whole story is just so good. Yeah, I wasn't reading a lot of YA at this time, so I was like unsure. But yeah, the giddy, like kicking my feet, twirling my hair feeling that I got while reading these books.
00:46:13
Speaker
I'm just, yeah, so grateful that I saw them all over TikTok because they deserve it all. Yeah, I don't know why, but well, I haven't read this one, Heartstopper yet, but I don't know why, but like graphic novels, I've not read any graphic novels before. And I, I know that maybe that's crazy. But like, I just don't know why I've not picked one up before.
00:46:36
Speaker
I don't know, I feel like honestly, Kayla, like maybe this would be like your first one because yeah, they're so good. I've only read the first two volumes, but I love I cried a little bit actually reading the first one. Like the art is so cute. Like they're just so cute. I haven't watched the show.
00:46:53
Speaker
neither have I but they're also super diverse like and like not in a way that's like I want to put all these people of color and marginalized queer folk in a book like no it was like very natural yeah like like if you're in a diverse friend group it feels yeah true to how that feels and it was great
00:47:11
Speaker
Yeah, like there's, I'm blanking on everybody's name in this book besides Charlie and Nick, because it's been I read them in summer of last year. So it's been over a year since I've read them. And of course, I just pitched them like back to back to back. But it's just like there's really beautiful conversations surrounding it that don't feel forced. They feel very natural to like how
00:47:30
Speaker
how you would talk to your friends about like your identity and your feelings and your sexuality, especially at that age, right? Where you're starting to date and starting to get serious. I just love them so much. I don't think the fifth volume is out in print yet. And now we need to check.
00:47:49
Speaker
Yeah, they come out in the UK quicker than they do in the US. You said that it was your friend that convinced you to like pick this up. So like, had you been seeing it a lot on book talk and you were like thinking about it? Or like, how did you get to pick this one up? Yeah, so my best friend Bailey, who's like, loved my life, like we talk every single day, we
00:48:11
Speaker
didn't like even realize that we had both gotten back into reading it like the same time. Like I read Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo actually and I was like, I actually think you might like this book. And she's like, no shit. I read it like two weeks ago. And we got back into reading around the same time. So we had been texting and I was like, I keep seeing heart stopper
00:48:26
Speaker
all over Booktalk. I think I'm gonna try and read it. It looks so cute. And she was like, you need to pick it up immediately. I am so obsessed with them. Send me all of your updates, please. And that was the fun part about reading a graphic novel with somebody as well, is that I got to take pictures of the page and send it to her and be like, oh my god, this just happened or whatever. But yeah, I had been seeing it all over TikTok. And then once the show, once it was announced that it was picked up by Netflix,
00:48:56
Speaker
I think it blew up even more because people were really excited about that. So yeah. And you haven't watched it yet? I'm shocked. I'm not sure I will to be completely honest with you. I've heard nothing but good things. I heard it's perfectly cast. I've heard that everybody's obsessed with the cast, but I think
00:49:16
Speaker
I don't know, maybe I'll wait to see if and when it gets canceled. Our friend Taz, who we've talked about, made this whole video about how Netflix has ruined television for her because they just cancel shows willy nilly on streaming services. And I want to see how season two of Heartstopper works out before I take the plunge. Fair, fair, fair.
00:49:46
Speaker
Um, what do you, what about heart stopper? Do you think made it like a book talk favorite for a lot of people? Like, why do you think it went viral on the app? I think part of it is that it's like a really, really well done graphic novel. Like, I think as like young adults and adults who are like makeup book talk, I think
00:50:06
Speaker
the idea of a graphic novel is like really exciting, right? Like who doesn't want to look at pretty pictures while you're reading? But again, like how do you find a good one? I think that's like less accessible than finding just like a good like novel. So I think people saw how well this was done.
00:50:23
Speaker
I also do think just queer love being celebrated is a huge reason that it went viral. There's moments in this where they discuss really heavy topics, like I said, and sometimes it's sad and it's not always just peachy, but at its heart, heart stoppers, a celebration of queer love in so many different facets. So I think that is a huge reason why people gravitated towards it.
00:50:46
Speaker
Yeah, and like I will say like queer book talk. That's like another thing about like going back to like book talk recycles the same five books, but I'm like there are so many different sections of book talk. There's black book talk, there's queer book talk, there's literary fiction book talk, there's non-fiction book talk, there's mystery, like almost every genre sub-genre and marginalized group has its own section. Yeah and I think at the time I was following a lot of and just seeing a lot of queer book talk content
00:51:15
Speaker
Cause I read it in 2021, the first two volumes and yeah, like they just, everything you just said, Brandy, about it being like a celebration, which I think is like a big thing. Cause you don't, I mean, I don't want to read about like queer people and in my case, like black people being sad and like going through a lot of shit. Cause it's like, I can turn on the news and like, that's why I don't, I steer away from like nonfiction a lot of the time. Um, so yeah, it was just nice seeing like people get to live their life and breathe air and yeah.
00:51:44
Speaker
Yeah, just young people getting to live their lives. Yeah, it's just it is really sweet and beautiful. And I think that's why a lot of people gravitate towards it. It's not only is it just so well done. I'll toss mine, like I've said, like a million times, she's so talented, the art is beautiful. We'll post some spring grabs from what she has online. So obviously, it won't be like stealing or anything. We'll post what she has posted in our post this week. But yeah, it's
00:52:11
Speaker
it's so sweet. And like I said, like to capture those little moments of what it feels like to fall in love at such a young age, like the hand brushes that feel like everything was staying up late to do homework, like the first kiss, like oh my god, it's all so well captured. A slight spoiler for a heart stopper. So if you don't want to know, you should keep, well, Kayla, this is fine. Okay. But if you don't want to know anything, but a part that I
00:52:36
Speaker
that I like cried at and got really emotional in the first volume was, or it's either the first or the second, but it's when Nick comes out to his mom and like how just like accepting and understanding she was like, he was so scared. And she was just like, I just love you so much. Like, it's like, it's okay. Yeah, it was it was just done so well. And I just know like it was important to me. And I know it's even more important to like so many
00:53:00
Speaker
kids that are Nick's age and also yeah like I'm hoping that like anyone who is yet to become a parent or has a little one like they read that and they're like okay this is how I should treat my kid if they ever come to me about anything especially regarding their sexuality so oh so good yeah I cried a lot reading these as well and I think a big one which like we've talked about this on past episodes here and there but
00:53:30
Speaker
Nick realizing he's bisexual and what that means for him was just a really beautiful conversation that happened inside his head and also people he loved in real life about
00:53:43
Speaker
Okay, I am definitely attracted to Charlie. Charlie's a boy, but I've had girlfriends in the past and I've been attracted to them too. What does that mean? Does that mean I don't fit entirely into one box? Or is there a box for me? And he does discover when he decides that he wants to pick that for himself, that he would like to identify as bisexual, that made me cry. So that's
Diverse Content in Book Talk
00:54:10
Speaker
Heartstopper. Okay, I'll do it.
00:54:13
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. Yeah, I haven't read a lot beautiful they are like, just like the actual looks like the size is like so good. Yeah, I don't know why but like when I since I've never read a graphic novel for some reason my mind just like automatically assumes that it won't
00:54:31
Speaker
Like I won't get the same, I don't know, like I won't be in the characters like heads as much because there's not as much words because I know that like doesn't really make sense. I know it's irrational, but like that's what my mind automatically assumes. I think you should try it, especially because you get through them. Like you could, if you really wanted to, you could read all volumes in a single day because it'll only take you like an hour, hour and a half to get through like volume one.
00:54:57
Speaker
And I haven't done volumes three or four. So if you want to do volumes one and two, we can buddy read three and four together. Okay. So yeah, that's Heartstopper, one of my book talk faves. I love a lot of book talk books, but this one really stuck with me. So I wonder, I wonder who the first person was to post about Heartstopper because
00:55:17
Speaker
That's another thing you see is like so many authors want to become a book talk book. Right. And so they they think there's like a formula to it. And maybe like if we really sat down, like a lot of these books will have like certain things in common, et cetera, et cetera. But I always tell people it only takes one video going viral for something to become a book talk book. Like that's it. One single video can get millions of views. And then suddenly so many people are buying it, reading it. And that was never that creator's intention. Like it's happened to me.
00:55:45
Speaker
And it happened to the loss of my mutuals. And then it just becomes a book talk book. Ally Hazelwood like really loudly credits Pauline for blowing up the love hypothesis. And all Pauline did was randomly pick it up. It was a book of the month book that she read. Yeah. Yeah.
00:56:01
Speaker
I think you're, Kendra, I think you're a big reason. I don't know if I would necessarily consider this like, I don't think The Simple Wild is like one of the book talk books, right? But it's, you'll see it, like you see it a lot. But I do think that like, you obviously influenced a lot of people, Brandy included, to read
00:56:18
Speaker
which is still really popular today like people still read it all the time yeah which is sometimes books go through like phases where it's like really popular for like a few months and then it kind of dies down i feel like this one is one that just stays consistently steady which is crazy because you're the one that told me to read it yeah um which is like lomi and i used to joke that like kayla
00:56:43
Speaker
was like running book talk because like Kayla would tell me to read something. I would read it. I would love it. I would like publicly talk about it. And then like, you know, it could do numbers. Like people were tagging me and this is before Kayla had socials. And so I'd be like, no, she really, she really was. Um, the only like book talk books that I feel like I can like trace back to me, but even then like, I never want to take credit because I feel like there's always someone who read it before me, talked about it before me, like has always done something. Yeah. I was going to say people.
00:57:13
Speaker
um I saw like a direct like I've made one video about or like a few and then like that summer I swear to god guys like I got so many tags on on book talk of being like I read this because of Kendra I read this because Kendra I was like that's wild um which is yeah insane to me to this day it was that one and then
00:57:36
Speaker
My Brutal Birthright video by Sophie Lark. Yeah, that's it. You're the reason I read those ones. But that again, that came from my friend Melina, who just made a video of her. I think that book was recommended to her by Alexandra, literary Alexandra. So then Melina read it and she really connected with the character so much. And then she marathoned the series and like kept talking about it. So I was like, I'll read it.
'Fourth Wing's Marketing Success
00:58:00
Speaker
And I was like, Hey guys, I'm reading this because of Melina and then just took off and like that whole series took off and then
00:58:06
Speaker
Yeah, those are like the only two words. I mean, there are more to like, so people will message me all the time and be like, Oh, I read this book because you know, it'll be like some book that I have not thought about since I posted. I'm like, Oh, cool. You know, what's so interesting too, is I still get like, I don't I'm not on like, tick tock really, like I said, like, I don't have an active account. Well, I have an active account, but I don't post. But like, when I used to be like, well, I still am.
00:58:32
Speaker
in Kendra's comments a lot. Like I'll still get notifications all the time about people liking my comments from her videos from like two years ago. I'm like, how did you get ahold of this video? No, um, Jvian told me that he commented something I think was on like my wall of Winnipeg video that I made.
00:58:52
Speaker
And he's like, I have a typo in that comment, but people still like it to this day and it annoys me because I don't want to delete it because it gets a lot of engagement. But the typo, the typo drives him. That's fine.
00:59:05
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. Well, I can go next. Yay. I think it's interesting. You said like, can sometimes there's not always like a formula for a book going viral, like sometimes it just happens. I think this one is, I feel like a mix because mine is a very new to well,
00:59:26
Speaker
When I say new, I mean, like within the past few months, book, talk, book, I was like, when we initially had this topic, I was thinking like way, way back, you know, for a book, talk, book. So I was like, you know what, I think, I mean, this counts. I think this will go down as a book, talk, classic when everything is said and done. So I brought the fourth wing or fourth wing, excuse me, I put the thought in there by Rebecca Yaros. And if you
00:59:51
Speaker
have been anywhere on book talk for the past two months. You will definitely have seen this book. And this one, I know that there was a lot, there still really is a lot of discourse on whether or not this book's popularity was manufactured. I think that it, I don't think that people are lying when they're talking about how much they love this book. I think that it's really just a mix of this publishing company had a really, really good marketing campaign.
01:00:22
Speaker
And then once people started to read it, then it just took off because I think this book scratched an itch basically for a lot of people. So if you again, have been living under a rock fourth wing is about Violet who goes to this drag war college, I guess, and she's put in the dragon writer's quadrant. She wants to be a scribe, but her mom is forcing her to become a dragon writer.
01:00:47
Speaker
And she has this chronic illness where she has really brittle bones. She's really small. She doesn't have the same abilities that a lot of dragonriders do who are really strong and big. So she has to overcome a lot of different things throughout this.
01:01:04
Speaker
this book basically just by being smart. So that's what this book is about and it's obviously a romanticy so there is a big romantic element in there too. And so yeah I first saw this book I think in like early April like somebody was talking about their art copy that they had gotten and I remember that's when I first saw it on Book Talk. I remember seeing it actually like on Goodreads a while ago
01:01:29
Speaker
And I put it on my wanna read, but like I never really thought about it. But then when I saw like a couple of videos about it, I was like, let me get this. And like all the barns for some reason we're putting it out early like every single barns in America was and so I remember you're gonna get early. Yeah, I got it a couple weeks early at my barns, like the fancy first, first edition one that they had.
01:01:51
Speaker
And so then I immediately wrote it that weekend, and I fell in love, and I loved it. And it's one of my favorite reads this year, I think, for sure. A lot of people have said, will this book win? Taz said it best, will this book win the Nobel Peace Prize for writing? So it won't. But again, it's scratched and itched, I think, for a lot of people. And I don't think that it really matters whether or not this was the best
01:02:21
Speaker
you know, the writing was super lyrical or super poetic. Like, I just don't really care. Like, you just want it to be. I just don't care. Yeah. Yeah. I think that again, like, that's what I was saying earlier is that some people see like a book selling really well and like really popular and they expect it to be like the next great American novel. And it's like, no, like some people just want vibes. And every single person I've heard talk about fourth wing has been like vibes. Yeah, no, it was perfect vibes.
01:02:45
Speaker
Yeah they say yeah they say that like it's not like good writing or like and then they think people are lying because they were like paid to talk about the book. I don't think anybody was paid to talk about the book. I remember actually seeing a creator say that when Entangled slash Red Tower reached out to them about receiving
01:03:07
Speaker
the box for the book they were just asked that you film and we'll send you this box if you film in unboxing and if you post a review video and nowhere did they say that the review had to be good in order for you to get this box they just said that you post a review somewhere um
01:03:24
Speaker
So yeah, that's like what that's what the whole thing I'm um, I'm on entangled smelling lists and I got the fourth wing box Yeah, but they when I joined their mailing list, they made it very clear like we're just gonna send you the box We're gonna send you boxes like throughout the year if you want to post about them great But we really just want you guys to like have the books and they like make really good boxes and I got fourth Yeah, and I was like, all right. It's fantasy. So I was like, let me just put this aside and then let Kayla read it loved it and I was like, oh
01:03:51
Speaker
And then I went to Rebecca, I went to her Instagram, and I saw she was wearing a sweatshirt that said book dragon. And I was like, wait, I have the exact same sweatshirt that I got from Entangle. And I didn't put two and two together that it was from the fourth wing box that I got. And I had a fourth wing art copy just sitting in my house.
01:04:12
Speaker
She had it, I know, she only realized this like maybe like a week after I had read it and I was raving about it for forever. And then she's like, oh my God, wait, I think I have this. And I was like, are you kidding me? Everybody in their mother got that art copy, I feel like.
01:04:27
Speaker
Yeah, and people want it now because it's it's paperback. So they want like, yeah, the well, yeah, the art copy is the paperback. And now the first edition is like sold out, you can't get it anywhere. If you order it on Amazon, it's like a month to two months wait.
01:04:44
Speaker
Yo, shout out to that author. I know she's having a great, great time. That's incredible. But not like truly, like, that's like, that's really the thing behind it. Because like, for tik tok, it blowing up, I really just think that they just sent that book to like, everybody. Yeah, me. Shout out entangled. I love you. Please send me the next copy. Please send her attitude.
01:05:08
Speaker
I went to the list. I literally emailed them. That's great. Anyway, so yeah, I think it was just they sent that book to everybody and the people that the audience that it was intended for got reached. And that's, I think, what happened. I remember seeing a video back in April from our friend, Mary Rose, and she made a video and she was like, I have a big statement to make, but I'm going to stand behind it. She's like, I think that this book
01:05:38
Speaker
is going to blow up. And she was so right. She was like, that was the first video I saw about it. She was like, it's a romanticy. It's giving, like we said, she's like, giving the vibes. She's like, I just think that people are gonna love it so much. And she was so right. Yeah. Yeah. And like
01:05:55
Speaker
I don't know if this conversation, I want to say, I mean, this conversation happens a lot, but I think it was like picking back up leading up to the release of fourth wing. And that is like, you know, what makes a good romanticy, like, why can't we just get like romantic fantasy books that like, you know, are outside of the ones that we already read, like Akatar. I'm blanking on literally every other one.
01:06:16
Speaker
um but that's what people were wanting and then like the book came out and people are like oh yes finally and then book two comes out in november which i think is like perfect timing so again it's just a good fucking strategy
01:06:28
Speaker
It really is. Yeah, because I had read this almost immediately following the Carissa Broadbent high that I had come off of another romanticy author. And I was like, yeah, and I was like, Oh my god, I love romanticy. Like I need more books like this. And like I said, this just scratched an itch like it. And also this book made me feel I've said this like before, but this book really made me feel
01:06:53
Speaker
just like similarly to how I did when I read it in high school, you know, when I was reading Divergent, like it just, like I could not wait to finish work at the end of the day and go read this book. Like I, I've had that feeling since then, but not at all, I feel like in the same way that I have, you know, had since I was in college and high school.
01:07:18
Speaker
And people have said this is like a mix of divergent and how to train your dragon and the Hunger Games sort of, but with adults. And the romance is, yeah, exactly. The romance is like part of the main plot. Like it's not like a subplot the same way it would be like in Cruel Prince.
01:07:36
Speaker
Um, it's like a main portion, at least in the last half. Um, so I just think it reached the target audience and the target audience loved it. Yeah. I also think, um, I think fourth wing, and this happens with like a lot of fantasy books. I think fantasy book talk is how a lot of people get into fantasy, at least that's how it was for me. And a big reason as to why I think it works is because you get fan art.
01:08:07
Speaker
Artists love drawing fantasy books, and I love seeing it. But I swear to God, the contemporary books, if they got the same treatment, they would be doing numbers consistently. Because fan art, it can literally change your whole perspective on a book if you can just see what something looks like.
01:08:26
Speaker
Literally, the covers for the His Motion series are so fucking stunning. And they're just really well done fan art. And then I just paid a ridiculous amount of money for the so-called equation in The True Love Experiment. I found The True Love Experiment on Mercari. Ask me how much for that singular book. 200? Oh, wait, less. Thank God. I was going to say, I found a Fairy Loop version of Divine Rivals on Mercari that I still want, and it was $85.
01:08:53
Speaker
Yeah, it was $80. But then I had a paper shipping. So it's like $102 when all is said and done. That's not too much for one book scares me. But I so I want that divine rivals one so bad. I should get it because you love that book, Kayla. I do. I love that book so much.
01:09:10
Speaker
Anyway but yeah with the fan art we've like Kendra and I and Brandy have had this conversation before like are this let's give the same energy for romance books for fan art please but yeah most most fan art girlies are fantasy girls so I mean I'm not complaining like once once I read this book I was like all right fan art now the fan art girlies need to get a hold of this ASAP and it's they're starting to trickle in it took it there was a lot of bumps along the road for
01:09:38
Speaker
interpreting some of the characters, but I think we're finally getting to a point. I think it's also really great when authors take a stance on, no, this is not how my character should look. My character's not white. And Rebecca has done that. And she's also not supportive of AI art, which I really appreciate too. That's good, yeah. So yeah, fourth wing.
01:10:00
Speaker
You're always welcome to talk about it with me and the DMs and Brany's getting started with it. You make me so excited. I feel like, sorry, not to step on your toes, Kendra, but I feel like a lot of the times Kayla and Kendra will read books together and then I'm the one who plays ketchup. But Kayla's reading The Winter King and we read Reckless and now I'm reading The Fourth Wing. Can you Kendra ketchup?
01:10:28
Speaker
wow i can't believe i'm like being excluded from this friend group that's oh welcome to me i am the third wheel a hundred percent recently i've been in like my fantasy bag like reading a lot of chris and broad men um rebecca ross who i love shot out rebecca ross you're amazing um and then you know fourth wing and so like
01:10:51
Speaker
Kendra and I like read similar books like within a few weeks if you know or months if not weeks of each other and recently I've been reading a lot of fantasies and she's like she's probably like oh my god yeah she's like I don't want to hear this but one day she will read fourth wing one day one day one day one day
01:11:11
Speaker
We bought it. Kendra and I were both tipsy. We went on her birthday. We were out to lunch and we drank a lot of Mojitos. And then we went to Barts and Noble and we were like, we should probably just buy these. We're gonna read them eventually. So we both own the fancy Barts and Nobles exclusive edition. I mean, of those ones that I just mentioned, those fantasy books that I just mentioned,
01:11:30
Speaker
this is the one I think that she would enjoy the most. So I mean, I know she's like, I read Bella Donna for you. Okay, well, you like Bella Donna. So you'll like this one. So just something I do love when I find out that my friends aren't gonna read a book that I love, though, like when they're like, I'm not gonna read it, like Kendra on the way home from Colorado, she's like, I'm not gonna read the Winter Bride Brandy, or the Winter King. And I was like, Bet. So instead, she just let me explain the entire plot to her. And that is so fun to me. Like, I love that shit.
01:11:58
Speaker
I don't remember half of what she said. That's okay. That's okay. Just like the act of telling you you want to like getting it out. And I was like, Oh, okay. Okay, cool. Cool. Cool. This is another book that I've seen a lot of people who aren't fantasy girls read and love. So I'm just throwing that out there. Kendra, I'm just throwing it out. I mean, I believe you. Like, I believe you. I believe you. Kendra, look at your bestie. Oh,
Humorous Tales and Fantasy Love
01:12:22
Speaker
fuck that.
01:12:25
Speaker
Oh my God. Because her cat hates me. I have been, I tried to be nice to Peach so many times. It's crazy. But no one will hate an animal as much as Kayla's husband hates one of their dogs. You guys, Kayla posted a photo dump on her personal Insta of like her month of May. You know what's so funny? She included
01:12:55
Speaker
photos of one of her dogs, Kylo, who's like her favorite, and then two other dogs who don't even belong to her. They're, they're my, they're my nieces and my nephew. Okay. Yes. But again, dogs that physically don't live in your house and you have a whole other dog that lives in your house that you take care of, that you're responsible for, that didn't even make it into your maid dome.
01:13:17
Speaker
Where was Casper? We were not letting up on Kayla this entire fucking weekend, the entire time we were on the trip. We were like, are we sure he's still alive? I told Jared how, I was like, they really think that you're going to kill Casper. You know what Jared says though? He's like, when Casper dies, I'm not allowed to be present because you will think that I killed him if I'm there. You will kill him.
01:13:41
Speaker
If, if I'm there with Casper when he dies, you will somehow think he's going to weekend at Bernie it so that he's not dead when you get home. Yeah. Oh my gosh. And that Casper just rejoiced the minute Kayla walked through the door again after being away. He's like, Oh, we get to eat again. Kayla, I've been holding my pee all weekend.
01:14:06
Speaker
I love my dogs. I promise. Yes. You're dramatic. You love your dog. She loves them so much, you guys. It's Jared that we're concerned about. I'm the only one that takes him out on walks. He doesn't take Casper out on walks. So, Casper didn't get any fresh air when you were gone. Any fresh air. I'm sure he got fresh air because he went potty, but... Are we positive, Kayla?
01:14:31
Speaker
no he was holding it until you got back oh my god yeah well okay that's okay i can go your turn you know it's so funny y'all keep saying oh kinder's not a fantasy girl kinder's not this kinder's not that why did i bring a fantasy book i was actually debating between two fantasy books today so huh yeah i was thinking about that actually
01:14:53
Speaker
When we when we were picking our books and you said Cool Prince, which you changed to the book you're gonna talk about, I was like, oh my god, two fantasy books? Who are we? Yeah, it's crazy. I mean, because like, it was book talk that like made me like, get into fantasy. And you know, that was a cute little phase in my life. I just don't have it in me. I have a whole fantasy shelf. I read Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom. I just read Belladonna recently.
01:15:23
Speaker
Stolen Air this year. Yes, I read Stolen Air. I mean, I love the co-print series. I think that's amazing. These are all YA fantasy. Yeah. And I read like all of Akatar to Crescent City. Like I've done every like I've done I've done the big ones. Right. So I mean, that's why like I know I'll read fourth wing just so I know what's going on. Because eventually the FOMO will get to me and I think it'll happen right when that second book is coming out.
01:15:46
Speaker
and then I'll wanna read it. But the book I brought today for my Book Talk favorite is the one and only Legendborn, which is probably, I feel comfortable saying this, the most popular black fantasy book on Book Talk. I'm just saying, based off of popularity and how big it was and is, it's her. I gotta give her her flowers.
01:16:15
Speaker
Where's Kimmy? This is her favorite. No, literally so I think the reason she is Brie Matthews, it's so crazy. If they ever make a movie, I hope she gets the part. I picked up Legendborn because JBN, who recently changed his at name, so I think it's like at JBN's books or JBN's reviews, it's something. One of my closest friends, before I started making books, content, I would see a lot of his videos.
'Legendborn' and Representation
01:16:40
Speaker
And again, he's just like, he just keeps it so real.
01:16:43
Speaker
And if he hates something, he's going to be very honest. And if he loves something, he's going to shout from the rooftops. And I remember watching this was like late 2020, watching his videos on legend born. He was doing like reading updates for it.
01:16:59
Speaker
he at the end he was like guys I usually don't give out five stars like I'm so hesitant to give out five stars but I gotta give this book five stars like this book was so good um and he didn't even really explain like truly like what it was about um he was just like showing the cover um I may have to explain a little bit but I was like you know what like I should I should do it and you know influencing works
01:17:23
Speaker
And this I bought Legendborn. I spoke about this on the Emily Henry episode we did. But like I had gotten this big like $300 gift card. I spent most of it at Barnes and Noble and I got like a shit ton of books. And Legendborn was one of the books that I also bought that day when I blew a bag. But Legendborn follows Brie Matthews, who is 16 years old. It is a she's a she should be 18. That is like my one thing with this book is how young they are. But
01:17:51
Speaker
She's 16 years old. She's Black, lives in North Carolina. Her mother recently passed away and she goes off to this college prep program at the University of North Carolina. And there she is introduced to a magical, how do you say, Arthurian?
01:18:15
Speaker
King Arthur inspired world. And she soon discovers that she has maybe had ties to this world her entire life that she just did not know. And there is a really nice love triangle that starts in this book. I don't tell anyone this stays on the pot. I was just gonna say mouth shut. I have not read it yet.
01:18:43
Speaker
I said I was gonna read it. It's so funny. Kayla was like, oh, like, I'm gonna read Legendborn before book two comes out. And then she ends up reading the first one and the second one before I could even touch the second one. I don't know what was going on with me.
01:18:58
Speaker
Why are you making me the bad guy in this? No, you're not the bad guy. Like, I'm embarrassed. Like, I should have read it. But it's gonna be a trilogy, I believe. So I'll just read book two. Yeah. Kendra and I went to an event with Tracy Dion. That was really, really cool. We got to hear her speak about it. Like right after Bloodmark came out. It was really good. Cool event. But we decided there that like,
01:19:21
Speaker
we also might just wait to read book two until the third one is on the horizon because like the the cliffhanger at the end of book one like stress me the fuck out so like I don't know if I can do that again like in the best way in a great way but I just like I think I need I think I need book three ready to go I will get to it I will get to it um you say you'll get a lot of things I know you guys I am the most in I am the most indecisive person on the planet Kayla
01:19:49
Speaker
I'm glad that you have come to realize this. Because I will be like, yeah, I think I'm going to read this. I'm going to read it. And then weeks will go by. I don't even know what book I was talking about a few weeks ago. But yeah, I love this book. It's just a really beautiful story. And I think for me, the reason why it works so well and it's stuck was because
01:20:14
Speaker
it's set in the contemporary world. So it's our world with magic. And that to me, it's just so much easier for my brain to process. And it also gave me like, I mean, we love a good love triangle. Well, Brandy, I forget, you said you like love triangles, but Kayla and I love love triangles. Yeah, and this book, even though it brews in this book, I thought the setup for it was so good and so unique because
01:20:44
Speaker
it's not just like your typical straight like one is the better option. And Tracy Dion is so inclusive in her writing. I mean, this is already a book written by a black woman featuring a black character. And that to me would have been like enough. But then she went and added so many clear characters, characters like
01:21:08
Speaker
There is a character in this book who is non-binary and there is never a conversation around
01:21:16
Speaker
their use of pronouns like we're just told and Brie from the jump is like uses they them and I like I love how casual that is and how it's like no like you were going to adjust to it um that's like I love when the diversity she's very unapologetic and I feel like she wrote very unapologetically with a lot of her um representation and yeah I'll say it's similar it's similar in fourth wing the representation is very casual
01:21:46
Speaker
Um, and I really loved that too. It's just, it's so good. And I think it's just, it makes it like, I don't want to, sometimes we need to spend the time having those conversations in books. Like they are very important, but sometimes like, I want to feel like I'm talking to my friends. And like, if, if I have a friend who identifies as a certain way or whatever, like. Right. You're not going to be like, explain to me why you're using these pronouns. Yeah.
01:22:09
Speaker
all right cool thank you you know if i like mess up i'll be like thank you for correcting me whatever you move on and you start talking about the shit that's like that you were talking about you know you're not making um a big deal about it and yeah i just love how casual it was i we mentioned this just um a few minutes ago but my one gripe with this book is how young the characters are um i have to age them up in my head which i think is a very common thing for a lot of like popular book talk books especially like younger ones or like um new adult ones where people are like
01:22:38
Speaker
Oh, well, she was 18, and I couldn't picture her as 18, so I had to age her up. Bre Matthews is 16, and I could not picture her as 16, mainly because of the setting. Because it takes place on a college campus. And I was just like, Tracy, why not? Like, why didn't you just make her a college freshman? The exact same story, literally the exact same story. She just could have been a freshman.
01:22:59
Speaker
would have been better. And like, that's just me being like, I want like, you know, a little bit more romance, a little bit more this, which in YA, like, you know, I'm not gonna get I don't know. That's tricky. But still a lot of amazing things in this book. You touched on like the diversity of the book. Do you think that's part of the reason that people resonated with the book so much? Like, what made this blow up? Do you think on book talk? Yeah, I think it was the diversity of it. And also like,
01:23:30
Speaker
know, this book came out in 2020. And that was a year when like a lot of non black people were like, Oh, shit, black people are still being like very poorly treated in America. Like that summer was rough for a lot of people. And that was the year where we saw so many people be like, How can I support? How can I support? How can I support? And they jumped on any opportunity. And I think within the book community, you saw that happen with a lot of black books. And I think legend born,
01:23:57
Speaker
at least on book talk got swept up in that. And it just so happened to be good. Yeah, people read it and loved it. Yeah, yeah, it came out in 2020. And so I think people were, you know, trying to push the whole like, I read diversely. Because like, if you look at a lot of specifically like white, white fantasy book talkers, like, every time they mentioned like, a fantasy, a non white fantasy that they really loved and enjoyed Legend born nine times out of 10. So
01:24:26
Speaker
Which, again, I love because I think it's worthy of its praise and its hype and so incredibly proud of Tracy because it was a debut as well. But there are so many other Black fantasies that are equally as good. And they don't get the same hype because they came right after. Also, Legendborn features a lot of non-Black characters. It's a very inclusive world, but both of the love interests are white and that's more
01:24:55
Speaker
palatable for people versus like some other black fantasies where like the whole cast is black and that's just like
01:25:01
Speaker
I don't know. But yeah, I think I think that's a big reason why I did so well. And again, like, I just it was also also consistency. Kimmy at Kimmy's books was just she just made so many videos about it because she genuinely loved it and still loves it so much. And once you see someone talk someone that you, you know, have come to enjoy talk about something for a long time, you're like, let me just give it a try. And obviously, that was me and JVN. But I know a lot of people read Legendborn because Kimmy just kept making
01:25:31
Speaker
kept making videos about it so yeah and she's not even like a fantasy person but this is like the one fantasy that she yeah she like that she loved um so much and like it just has like a really enticing cover stunning brie looks like this she's a beautiful girl um you're just like what is going on with her because you know she has like the red and the blue and
01:25:59
Speaker
Yeah, it's so good. It's, it's great. I think just like another testament to Tracy ons writing is like, there's also like such a beautiful grief story that happens in this book. Because she really loses her mom. And that's not a spoiler. You learned that in chapter one, or even the prologue, I think, but
01:26:20
Speaker
Yeah, I just you could tell how personal that writing felt for her. And yeah, like you said, for whatever reason, somebody picks this book up, you read it. And it's a fucking good book. Like, it's so good. Yeah, I consider myself a romance reader who really enjoys reading fantasy. And this book, I was just like, this is just so fucking good. Yeah. And another reason why I forgot to mention this earlier is that
01:26:46
Speaker
I mean, again, there are tons of black fantasies out there, but the majority of them are based in African mythology and more. I'm like, I'm not African. I'm African American. Like I'm black American. I can only trace my roots back. I always tell people I can only trace my roots back to Mississippi, like that's it. So to have a black fantasy based in that, like based in American lineage,
01:27:12
Speaker
I just thought that was beautiful because again, like I read so many other, well, I have read a few other Black fantasies where I'm like, the lore is great, everything is great, but I have no connection to the magic system that they chose to use. But one of Bri's magic systems being Root Magic and how Tracy just explored all of that, I thought was just so well done and just made me like really emotional and like also just really appreciative.
01:27:39
Speaker
yeah I can't wait to see like what she does next too like outside of Legendborn. Me too. Yeah like she's a self-proclaimed nerd. She's also like pansexual which I love like she's so like out and proud and again Pride Month like you know I love her and I just think she just I love when an author cares and I think that's like another good sign of a book talk book and maybe that's why Fourth Wing is also doing so well because like you can tell Rebecca Yarra just like truly cares about this story um because like sometimes
01:28:05
Speaker
you'll get authors who who want to make who just want to have a successful book period on book talk but like they don't really like you can just tell like the way they're talking about it like they don't care that's why like they let people miscast their characters they let people just run wild sometimes with how they talk about their books but i think tracy dion and you know a few other authors they they genuinely care like they want to tell a good story that's important and that's fun so yeah i think if you care about your work you'll chances of you having a good book talk book will be high
01:28:35
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. I can't wait to see what she does next too. I wonder if she'll keep writing fantasy or because she used to write fanfic, just like romance fanfic. So I'm really excited to see whether she sticks with fantasy or just goes like contemporary romance route. I'm so excited. Yeah, I think that's so cool. Yeah, a lot of a lot of authors just like Olivia Blake, too, was a big fanfiction writer. She and Olivia Blake, or she used to read Olivia Blake's fanfic.
01:29:03
Speaker
Yeah, we learned that at the event that... So nice. At the event we went to. Yeah. So funny. Wow. What are some? You guys should read the book too. It's really good. I will. I think the minute she announces a release date, I'll probably read it then because then I'll have something to look forward to. You know what I mean? Yeah. Okay. That cliffhanger at the end of book one tore me up.
01:29:28
Speaker
yeah i was like just waiting for book two for so long i was like i need book two i need book two like come on tracy come on tracy and then book two dropped i was nowhere to be found you're like i did i did not read it um and i will it's also just like i don't know sometimes i don't know you know so it's just it's a lot of fact like sometimes your brain is just like not now and i gotta listen to my brain yeah which is so crazy because i don't think before book talk i would never consider myself to be a mood reader like i used to guys i used to buy books like maybe like
01:29:58
Speaker
three or four. Yeah, read them right away and not buy any more books until I finish the books I already read. And now I'm like, I'm gonna get this because it looks good. And then never touch it.
Buying Influences on Book Talk
01:30:10
Speaker
Mm hmm. Yeah, I bought a whole series that I still haven't read sitting on a fantasy series that I've never read. And it's just sitting on my shelf. What is it? Caramel. Never read it.
01:30:21
Speaker
That's YA. And like, you're not a big YA person. Yeah. Well, the only reason I read it is because I really want to read this, the, the, like the sequel series. But like, everybody's like, you have to read Care about first. And I was like, okay. So I bought it. That is one thing about book talk that I have not fallen victim to is like the overconsumption that, yeah, like it's a little like prevalent sometimes on book talk. I personally, I've talked about this a lot of my books to gram.
01:30:49
Speaker
But like I only own books, I would say I probably own less than 10 books that I haven't read on my bookshelf. Like I only, I almost always read a digital version or an audio version first and then buy it if I love it so I can keep it for like a keepsake. Yeah, I will say that like that is a rare occurrence for me. Oh yeah, you're so good about reading your physical books.
01:31:12
Speaker
Yeah, I definitely fell into I don't want to call it a trap, but like the trend of like going to Barnes to browse during a book haul. And I am a recovering Barnes and Noble addict, I think like I only go now to buy books I know I want to read. Right, exactly. And then if you find one while you're there, that's like shopping.
01:31:34
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. Brandi and I are so good at convincing each other to buy things. It's honestly kind of dangerous. You should have seen us. We were in a gift shop in Colorado. And Kendra was like, do I need this $80 sweatshirt? And I immediately was like, yeah, get it. You deserve it. You can get it, whatever it was. And Kayla was like, oh.
01:31:55
Speaker
Like we're so like, oh, Brandy and I will literally buy it. We're just like, money doesn't exist. Like, just get it. Just get it. Just get it. It exists on our phone. That's not for us to worry about. I mean, I will say on vacation, money doesn't really exist to me. But yeah, well, I mean, I don't see that's 100% true. It's definitely more true on vacation than it is at home, for sure. Like since book bananas, if you're listening to this book, man is probably happening right now.
01:32:24
Speaker
Gianna Darling is gonna be at Book Banana. And we all read the Fallen Men series in like the past few months. Like Randy read it at the end of 2022 and then I read it and Kayla read it at the beginning of this year. And I fucking love that series. And then she was like, yeah, like I'm gonna be giving out the hardcovers of the girl edition of the like the girls in the cover, but they're gonna be in hardcover. I initially only bought one, which was Good Gone Bad, which is like my favorite book in that series, one of my favorite books of the year.
01:32:53
Speaker
And then I was like, in the group chat, yeah, everyone's like, I think we should buy all of them. And I was like, shit, I'm brand new. So I went back and I placed another order and I got the entire fallen men series in hardback. And I got a t shirt that says welcome to entrance spent $200.
01:33:17
Speaker
We were at the top of a mountain in Colorado and we got an invoice. I was like, your payments do. And we were like, oh my god. Because if the money came out right away, I would have been like, okay, whatever. But no, I had to like, wait, I know. Oh my god. Like face the consequences of our actions. That's crazy. But I know I'm like, I'll love it.
01:33:36
Speaker
I know, I should have just ordered you one, Kayla. They're back on sale on Amazon. They're on Amazon. I'm like, are you fucking kidding me? Yeah. But also, we're going to get them signed. We're going to get to pick them up. We're going to get to meet her. It's going to be fine. But yeah, that is crazy. We're so bad. We go out to lunch together. We'll go out to lunch together. The bill's less than $200. We're like, it's not that bad. Yeah, it's not that bad. Kayla's crazy. Oh my god. No, Kayla, you don't get it. It's bad.
01:34:04
Speaker
Yeah, cuz I'm like, let's just keep thinking. We could be convincing each other to do like drugs. Drugs, yeah. Would you rather it be drug addicts or just- Yeah, Kayla. Just spending a lot of money on food. Um, I don't want you to go broke. Oh, you're fine. I live, well- Catch me working until I die.
01:34:24
Speaker
Yeah. I'm never retiring. I didn't open up a 401k until I became friends with Kayla. It's true. It's true. I had to convince her. I literally was like, we don't have a 401k. Thank you, mommy. That's why I have you in my life. You just keep me grounded. It took my dad yelling at me to figure out if I had a retirement fund.
01:34:51
Speaker
I was like, I don't want to. I was like, I don't want to. I was like, I don't want to. He's like, you need to email your employer. No. Kayla, it's because I'm a silly- What am I supposed to know? I have direct deposit. Do you think I look at my pay stubs? I don't know. And I'm a silly little, innocent little girl. Like, it's not my job. You're my husband who runs your finances.
01:35:13
Speaker
Yeah, but I know about my 401k. Okay, it's different for teachers. That's why I didn't know. Oh, okay. I guess I don't know. Anyways, guys, we're doing fine. Thanks, everybody. Hire me as your financial advisor. Okay, sorry to keep talking about the trip on this episode. We literally just came back, you guys. We were together like four days ago, so give us some grace. But when we found out that Kayla enjoys planning, and when that's part of the fun of traveling for her is that she plans, it was literally, I was like,
01:35:44
Speaker
That is my least favorite part. It would not have happened without Kayla planning. Kayla found our Airbnb. Kayla figured out what days we were going to do what. Kayla made sure we always had gas. Mommy.
01:35:55
Speaker
no literally like mother like i love her like she was so good like i told brandy i was like i don't think we would have left the apartment if if kayla like wasn't there yeah i mean i once said i was like forcing them to get up at the crack and dawn not really but no but like are you guys believing at 7 30 in the morning
01:36:16
Speaker
But you know, you have some you have some people that are like really strict in their plans. And that's not you. Like you built like the perfect schedule. And you're like, okay, like, here's some options. Like here's where we can have like downtime. Like here's where we can chill. Like it was honestly truly Kayla. Like I you're amazing. But you should do it. Yeah, you should plan trips. I would love to.
01:36:36
Speaker
hire me as your travel agent. I will tell you where we stayed. Yeah, it was great. Anyway. Fantastic. Um, so we talked about all of our personal book talk books. What are some other book talk books that you can think of off the top of your head and say whether or not you love them or hated them?
Mixed Reviews and Personal Tastes
01:37:04
Speaker
I can go first. The most recent Big Talk book that I read that I didn't like was Icebreaker.
01:37:12
Speaker
Also, Icebreaker having such good, but I will say props to Hannah Grace. She's having an incredible year, has yet to leave the New York Times bestseller list since it got re-released because it was originally indie published, did so well. And that's like another beauty of Booktalk is that you have so many indie authors who just put their book out on KU. So many people flock to it because of one viral video. And then next thing you know, they are being traditionally published all across the world and their lives are changed.
01:37:40
Speaker
um forever and that's what's happening with hannah grace right now um yeah i didn't i personally didn't like icebreaker but i know so many people who did and i i read it and i got why people liked it so i was chilling to be honest and it has a really stunning cover so
01:37:59
Speaker
yeah that's the most recent one for me. it was one that you loved. i mean i love all of lauren asher's books obviously i feel like she is a really big staple now in book talk from the romance community i'm trying to because like the thing is is that i think i come in the ones i really love i'm usually coming in like right as they're taking off so like a good example is magnolia parks like when we were reading that series
01:38:25
Speaker
like, I think they were already big on book Twitter, but then like they became big on book talk as we were reading them. So it was like I got to see the hype happen in real time. It wasn't like me seeing it happen and then joining in. Yeah, I mean, I just read all of Helen Huang's books and I feel like they were at least the I know the kiss question for sure was like a book talk favorite and the other two like people I don't think read as much but I love The Heart Principle was fantastic.
01:38:49
Speaker
Absolutely. I almost brought the song of Achilles, which is like a huge book talk book. Like that book just came out in like 2012. And then it blew up in like 2020. I love that book with my whole heart. I love Madeline Miller. Love that one. One that I can think of that I finished and didn't love was the Spanish love deception. Oh, yeah. Huge on book talk for a while. I liked the first 50% of that book. I did not like the last 50% of that book. But yeah,
01:39:18
Speaker
Um, fun fact, Kayla, I was like, oh, I'm going to either read, I made a video, it was during Spicy Girl Summer and I was like, I'm either going to read Credence or the Spanish Self Deception next, but I'm going to read both books. Everyone at the time, because Spanish Self Deception was like the book talk book of that time. Um, and Kayla, I was like, everyone voted for Spanish Self Deception and Kayla in my comment section was like, Kendra, I think you're going to love it.
01:39:42
Speaker
and then I didn't like it and that's one of the only rare instances and this is before Kayla and I became friends so I like I don't even really count it but I did not like that book um it was just too long and like I had a I have a whole lot of other problems with this that I won't go into but main thing it was it was too freaking long yeah I I don't know like I can't really think of like a really big book talk book that I like really just didn't like like maybe I thought they were okay
01:40:12
Speaker
But I feel like I know what I like. And so it's easy for me to decide that before reading a book. That's why I don't have as many DNFs. I've only got two DNFs this year, which for me is really good. Did you like The Hating Game? Oh, never mind. You're right. That one. I didn't love that one. But again, I didn't think it was the worst thing I've ever read, but I don't like that book really.
01:40:41
Speaker
Um, so yeah, that's one. That's true. I don't own it anymore. I got rid of it. So, um, yeah. The most recent ones, like obviously fourth wing. Um, and then like, yeah, I've been in, like I said, I've been in a big fantasy kick and I read the serpent and wings of night series because of tiktok. So yeah.
01:41:09
Speaker
Yeah, we're girlies who will try a book talk book. Yeah, they're not scared of it. Yeah, they usually. They don't lie to us, usually. Oh, you know another book talk book that I think, I mean, I know we all loved is The Right Move, which Brandi mentioned at the beginning, the stuff that she just read. But I would consider that a book talk book. But again, it's what part of book talk are you coming from? Because there are the general hits, and then there are the sub-genre hits.
01:41:38
Speaker
And I feel like we exist in like this bubble of people who have very similar tastes to us. So when a book is hitting in our little like corner of book talk, we're like, yeah, it's huge. And then I go and check Goodreads and it has like 17 reviews. I'm like, I'm always exaggerating, obviously. But if you haven't read the right movie, guys, do it, please do it. And I think you should read Mile High just so that you can be like set up even better for the right move. Yes.
01:42:07
Speaker
I also think right now like I'm seeing so many people read like Lizzie Blake and the plus one but I know if I were to go anywhere outside of my bubble like people are like, what's that?
01:42:19
Speaker
Yeah, Maisie Eddings, I think, oh, she only has like 12,000 followers on Instagram, which is crazy. Which is, she's so fucking tech. If you do anything this year, check out Maisie Eddings, specifically Lizzie Blake and the plus one, a brush with love, I thought was fine. You can definitely tell it's a debut novel. So like it has some really strong moments in it, though, I will give it that. But Lizzie Blake and the plus one are just like eons better. And they're so fucking good. Yeah, thanks. But talk for bringing us all together, though. Yeah, literally, that's fucking crazy.
01:42:48
Speaker
We have a lot to talk about. It feels right that this is our last regular episode of the season. Yeah. How are you guys feeling? We did like a whole season together. That's crazy. I feel like we just got started. That's crazy. That's so funny because like I remember just like sitting on my couch with Kendra one day and I was like, what if we did a podcast? What if? And then we immediately texted Kayla and we were like, what if we
01:43:13
Speaker
than this. Yeah. This is Brandi's idea from the jump and we made it happen. Yeah. Well, it just because I love talking to you guys so much about that. Because we used to just like get on FaceTime like every now and then and like have these exact same conversations for way longer. Or it's like sending voicememos back and forth. There's like in our group chat. So like it is nice to like share it out.
Season Reflection and Future Plans
01:43:40
Speaker
Yeah, and to be able to have these conversations with even more people like just like, yeah, everybody who deems us or messages us about the things we talk about it just like it makes makes my heart feel good. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, we all have a crazy summers going on, but we're not just like gonna be dropping off the face of the earth. So yeah, we're just content.
01:44:02
Speaker
just taking a little summer break because like Brandy said we're going to be busy busy busy girls this summer. Our Instagram will still be active so definitely give us a follow at bring your own. You can also follow all of our personal bookstagrams as well. I'm super excited to see what we do in season two. I already know some of the episodes we've been talking about and I'm just
01:44:27
Speaker
I'm super excited. I'm glad that we're doing this. And maybe next season, you know, Barnes and Noble will be like, girls, we want to give you $12 million. We're all gonna quit our jobs. Yeah. Our podcast is just gonna be, it's just gonna become one big ad, you guys. We love Barnes and Noble. Have you guys ever heard of Barnes and Noble?
01:44:48
Speaker
My best friend Madison is obsessed with the H3 podcast and I want to become the H3 of the bookish community. Do a little ad break. Oh, 5%. Oh my gosh. Yeah. Well, we will see you sooner than you think. Yeah. And if you're at Book Bonanza this weekend, which is like,
01:45:16
Speaker
what June 22nd through, I don't know, no. 24th. Yeah. Come say hi. Like we love talking to everyone. We can't wait to see all of our friends. We're so excited. I can't believe Bookman Anza is finally here. Can't wait to see all of our favorite authors, including those evil twins. And if y'all see a photo, if y'all see a photo of me and KBR and I'm smiling ear to ear, mind your business. If you see us talking to them and being so far up their asses, please don't tell them about our episodes.
01:45:47
Speaker
Please don't, or else we will never give y'all the ripping apart of the Like Us series. So be quiet, keep a secret. Love you guys. Love you guys. See you soon. Bye. Bye.